#FINALLY making stickers this time!! soft launch hi

[sohaoying]

choose your fighter 🏏💎

(no really grab em here if u want 👉👈)

[patheticgirlsteve]

After everything finally settles, El gets really into arts and crafts. She’s seen the art that Will makes and knows that she’s probably not going to be capable of that level of artistry, but watching her brother paint and draw makes her want to be creative too.

She didn’t like school in California, but she liked making her diorama for class, painting and cutting and glueing the pieces of it together. She had decorated the box that she kept letters from Mike in with stickers, drawings, and pictures. She liked doing that, she realized. She liked being creative.

She goes to Will for help. Nervously tells him that she wants to make her own kind of art, but that she doesn’t know where to start. Will is extremely enthusiastic with his help, he’s excited that El has decided to explore her creativity and he’s honored that she’s asking him for help.

After brainstorming ideas, they decide to give scrapbooking a try. El likes this idea because it gives her a place to keep all of her memories, a place that she can easily access and flip through. She can fill it with pictures and drawings and newspaper clippings of her family and her friends, the most important people in her life. And she can decorate it however she wants to. It’s perfect.

Joyce and Hopper are more than happy to support and fund this endeavor, Joyce slips El some money for art supplies with a wink that makes El grin, and Hop drives El and Will to the nearest craft store so they can get everything they need.

They come home that day with four bags filled with supplies, running up the stairs to El’s room with excited giggles that make Joyce and Hop share a secret fond smile. It warms both of their hearts to see their kids happy.

Earlier in the week El had asked Jonathan if he had any pictures of their family and friends printed out that he could give her for her scrapbook, and Jonathan had dug through all of his prints to find some for her.

El’s favorite picture, the one she puts front and center on the very first page of her book, is a picture of the Party that Jonathan had taken right before the move to California. In it, there are tears on people’s faces at having to say goodbye, but everyone is smiling and El can see the love etched into everyone’s features.

El falls in love with scrapbooking pretty quickly. She fills her first one with all sorts of mementos of her life; photos, movie ticket stubs, pressed flowers from a bouquet Mike had gifted her. Each item is carefully labeled in El’s painstakingly neat handwriting.

Everyone notices how much she loves her new craft and start contributing to it in whatever ways they can; Will draws pictures of whatever El asks for on the pages, Max finds her some cool stickers to decorate with, Steve buys her some craft scissors to make fun patterns with.

Maybe the biggest contribution comes from Jonathan. Since starting her books, El has developed a new interest in photos and photography, and Jonathan has been showing her how he does a lot of the work he does with his camera. He’s happy to teach her, he likes spending time with her and he’s glad that she’s found something to pour her creativity into.

For her next birthday, Jonathan gifts her her very Polaroid camera. He’s been saving up for it for her for a while now, and he’s nervous when she starts to unwrap it at the birthday party the group decided to throw for her.

El, of course, loves it. She sets the camera down very gently and carefully before launching herself at Jonathan to hug him tightly and whisper a soft and sincere “thank you” to him.

Jonathan wraps his arms around her and gives her squeeze, “You’re welcome.”

[raytm]

❝ Ritsu! ❞ He announces his presence once he spots his friend on the sofa, sorting through papers Shou was yet to find out the contents of. Probably lists, places they must visit, names they should meet, people they could rat out. These were usually Higashio's job to manage. Maybe Ritsu has decided to help. The thought alone sounds relieving, the idea of the newest ( dare he say best ) addition to his team getting acquainted and familiar with the rest. Shou should be content, except he is a little confused instead, so much it reaches the edges of concern. Because Ritsu has also been helping Fukuda with researches, and Ootsuki with errands, all while making sure to never miss out on his & Shou's training sessions.

It's almost fond, the feeling that makes him he want to smack Ritsu's head so hard it hits the table ahead, a scolding gesture. Ritsu is always like that, stretching himself thin while trying to compensate for something that only he can recognize. He doesn't give Ritsu enough of a chance to react before he launches himself into a seat next to him, throwing everything off balance and nearly flying except the white backpack closely hugged to his chest.

❝ I brought you something. ❞ He ungracefully searches through the interesting collection of items in his bag, the largest reveals itself to be a notebook. Shou hands it out, his eager gaze searches Ritsu's for a reaction. The notebook is bigger than any of the random worn out ones that littered his bag for as long as he remembered. A journal, "360 pages." written on a cut of small paper stickered upon soft grey leather, elegant swirls of ocean waves engraved into hardcover as decoration, an impressive brand displayed on top in small, glistening golden letters, an elastic band holding it all together, with a new pen, smooth silver, hooked onto it.

❝ I thought I could get you a book, but I realized I never learnt what you liked to read about so- ❞

( CLAW AU AAAAAAAA )

he had fallen into routine and if he were honest, sorting documents for higashio didn’t feel that different from the after school work he had done for the student council. It was unnerving how normalcy became both dangerous : patent & looming & quotidian with tasks like appraising intel & running errands. an eerie, fraught sort of normal, he thinks but does not say aloud. his days were filled with it, arduous training that went on for hours and more elementary tasks such as this. there was a subtle furrow to his brow as he focused on the piece of paper he held, the assignment was allocated in dot points, the person they were meant to be interrogating, then, their exhibited weaknesses, the sort of disclosing that would make their mission far easier. ritsu had been so focused he hadn’t noticed shou’s grand entrance until he collapsed into the couch beside him with a distinct pfft of cushion protest. paper flittered into the air, pencils sent skittering across the desk, in the upheaval all ritsu uttered with a soft sigh, his power reaching out, prismatic and encompassing and towing the workload back down to the burnished wood. i bought you something, it’s spoken grandly, the grin of shou’s mouth was a contagious luster, simmering the agitation that had him narrowed eyed in disapproval. there’s a you didn’t have to do that which rises to the surface, stifled, it felt too innate - yet,all wrong. Instead, he arches a solitary, dark eyebrow, attention settling on the backpack shou had stuffed his hands into. just how much stuff was he carrying around ? finally, after jostling with it for some time he retrieved a lavish looking journal, its cover bound in soft, grey leather,  he held it up like a prize before extending it in offering. the gilded lettering spoke of a brand he never could have afforded with his own, measly pocket money, the leather bound firm, the prospect of frays unafforded to something so expensive. tentatively, he reached out and touched it, skimming the side where the pages were exposed, they looked delicate but sturdy, an absurd juxtaposition, his mouth hung open for a moment. “  you .. remembered ? " the fact that he tended to maintain a journal had been a passing conversation, nothing impactful, just shou browsing through the pages saying it was cool and him desperately averting his gaze in an attempt to hide the heat rising to his cheeks. he writhes beneath shou expectant gaze, uncertain how to respond, how to close his mouth, what expression he should be wearing.  “  something like this ?  you didn’t have to.” however, he’s absorbed in it now, scarcely touching the spine bound and gilded, the pen, somehow just as expensive looking as the book, sat neatly attached to it. “ how..” he raises his gaze, warmth rising to his cheeks.  “ how do i pay you back for this.. better yet what am i meant to say ..?”  the whole weight of it, the book and the feeling behind it weighed heavy in his hands as shou relinquished it.  “ thank you shou.. really, thank you.” 

[slackalaureate]

With Lucy Jordan

(If anyone sees this, I have more on deck if y’all want it as well.)

Part 1: Foreword

Danny put a cassette in the tape deck and I pressed down on the white arrow. My eyes flicked backwards as the old house drew further away in the rear-view and a bittersweet feeling tinged in my throat, making it hard to swallow. Claire had her Handycam pointed in my face, eye stuck to the viewfinder.

 “Don’t make faces, this is s’posed to be candid!”

I threw my hand up over the lens, so she aimed it towards Danny instead. Twisting around, he gave her a wide smile, exposing his missing top-front tooth.

“Wanna see a magic trick?” A hand reached into the change holder on the console, pulling out a stained nickel. Mitts together, he showed each open palm to the camera, then closed them as he turned his wrists. “I’m gonna make it disappear, watch,” As the sides of his palms slapped together, the small coin fell to the floorboard-

“I saw that, Copperfield!” She pointed toward the nickel with one hand, scratched camera in the other.

We snickered for a while, then fell into a quiet spell. Claire slid the rear window open, then laid down in the back seat, camcorder resting on her bandaged knees. Picking up the fallen coin, she idly turned it through her fingers.

Danny was first to break the silence, “This is the hardest thing I‘ve ever done you know…and Thomas- ” 

The nickel once again fell to the floorboards. We must have all been mulling the same thoughts in our mind; Notions of staying a while longer, or else making a reason to find our way back later on. The small possibility that what we’d seen wasn’t reality- that Thomas might show up knocking on the back room window as if he was never gone. But the way Danny’s hand shook said something that his mouth wouldn’t- or couldn't. He knew best of all of us why.

Coming to the same conclusion, I spoke up, “There's nothin’ left for us here…I wish- I really wish, but-.”

The rest of the sentence came out hoarse. Danny nodded. Rolling over in the soft fabric seat, he closed his eyes. He laid there in the passenger seat, balled hands resting against his stomach, for as long as I looked next to me. There was no way to tell if he was sleeping, but his body turned away from us. It didn’t invite much conversation. Rummaging in her front pocket, Claire took out a loose Lucky Strike.

“Mind if I smoke, Luce?”

“Just blow it out the back window.”

We kept driving along the highway until dark, watching the waves crash along each new cliff as they passed from window to window. When I got tired of driving, we pulled into the parking lot of a state beach. I’d not been that close to the water since what happened. It all seemed so long ago now, and so empty. The other two launched into a race to the shoreline, finally collapsing just outside the current’s edge. I crawled through the rear window, finding my way on top of the long trunk. Once through, I scrunched curled knees into my stained white tee shirt and grabbed my dad’s blue Walkman from my backpack. Thumbing the crimson-stained sticker on the face, I set in a cassette with the title “Surfer Rosa” scrawled on the label. I’d let them forget about it for a while. It was all I could do to not remind them. If it could take the pain of remembering from them, at least until the time we’d finally need to put to words- I’d do just about anything.

There I sat for what seemed like forever, watching them play along the waves, teetering between warmth and cold. I knew my jacket was inside, laid down on the passenger seat, but I didn’t much care. We were finally free of it, yet the cold touch still lingered on my palms. The world drew itself in monochrome; a muddy, steely blue.

[the-void-to-scream-in]

I,, may have gotten a bit obsessed with hermit!tommy and cleminnit at the same time and this happened.

In which Beeduo arrive in hermitcraft to the delight of a healed Clementine.

Clementine is kneeling in her garden when it happens.

Her hands are in the soil. The warm, soft dirt gets caught under her nails as she digs. She could use a shovel, but something about doing it herself is soothing, the repetitive motions giving her a way to shake off any stress she collected during the day.

Her wings hang lazily behind her, the golden-brown feathers soaking up the sunlight and ruffling in the breeze. Her hair is starting to slip out of the braids Gem did for her and tickle her cheeks, but the flowers in the braids hold fast.

On one side of her is a pile of freshly dug-up carrots. On the other side, she has a collection of new seeds that she sprinkles into the holes from the old carrots. Plenty of carrots this harvest – once she makes them golden, Grian doesn’t stand a chance. She’s gonna sell so many more carrots than him.

Her comms buzz as she’s snickering to herself. She sprinkles a few seeds in the most recent hole and pushes dirt over them, then wipes off her hands on her pants so she doesn’t get mud on the screen. Again.

Her communicator buzzes again as she pulls it out and slides the screen up, watching it flicker to life. Her fingers catch on the familiar scratches and dents and she traces the L’Manberg flag sticker on the back.

The messages make her freeze.

[Tubbo_ joined the game]

[Ranboo joined the game]

No. No, that’s not possible. There’s no way they could have-

She stops and takes a breath. No, it is possible. She’s here, isn’t she? Maybe they found the same glitch, or maybe there’s a new one. Or maybe there was some form of divine intervention.

Well, she knows of at least one way to check.

Clementine wipes her hands on her pants again even though she knows it won't do much and tugs the compass out from under her shirt. She’s almost scared to look. She stalls for time, tracing the engraved words on the back, scratched in by Ghostbur’s clumsy hands.

“Your Tubbo”

She forgave Tubbo a long time ago. They were just kids and Tubbo was given far too much responsibility for anyone their age, far more than either of them would have been able to handle. It’s not Tubbo’s fault that Dream used this against them. It’s not Tubbo’s fault that the manipulative bastard drove a wedge between them.

She cried a lot the day she forgave Tubbo. It was one of the biggest steps forward in her healing journey that she has ever taken. Her friends were so, so proud of her for it. More shockingly, at the time, she was proud of herself.

So now she looks down at the compass in her hands and can’t help the small gasp that escapes her lips.

For the first time since she woke up in Hermitcraft, the needle isn’t spinning.

She huffs out a laugh, and then another, and another, giggling incredulously at the sight of the needle pointing steadily toward spawn. Tubbo is here. Tubbo is here. She can finally hug him and tell him it’s okay and tell him it’s not his fault.

She picks up her comms again and scrolls down through the frantic flurry of messages to reassure her friends.

[EthosLab]: huh??

[Grian]: again?

[ImpulseSV]: I thought X fixed that

[ClemInnit]: hang on i know these guys

[GeminiTay]: good know them or bad know them

[ClemInnit]: good know them

[ClemInnit]: really good know them

[GeminiTay]: okay :)

[ClemInnit]: oops sorry guys forgot no rockets for a bit

[Grian]: gotcha

And then Clementine shoves her communicator in her coat pocket and launches herself into the air with an excited whoop.

Once again she’s glad for Grian’s flight lessons – flying is the fastest way to get around the server and she’s gotta get to Tubbo and Ranboob quickly. If they’ve shown up anything like how she did they’ll be terrified and she really doesn’t think being greeted by rockets will help matters much.

She beats her tawny wings against the air current, the breeze ruffling her feathers. The cold wind stings her cheeks and she smiles so hard it hurts. There’s nothing quite like flying, and by Prime, she’s going to teach Tubbo and Ranboo the wonders of an elytra if it kills her.

The spawn island comes into view and she tucks her wings in tight against her sides, dropping down into a dive, laughing at the wind. She’ll have to have Gem rebraid her hair once Ranboo and Tubbo are settled in. Or Ranboo can do it! He used to like braiding hair too and now he’s here!

The island’s getting closer and she waits just a beat more before throwing open her wings and swooping in to land on spawn island.

“Hey guys!” She calls, grinning ear to ear. “Long time no see!”

Tubbo and Ranboo both jump, leaning closer together where they’re sitting in the sand, both clearly trying to shield- holy fuck, is that Michael? That’s Michael! Ranboo has the little piglin clutched in his lap, all three of them wrapped up in heavy winter cloaks that are far too warm for Hermitcraft’s main biome.

Her best friends are staring at her, and she sees the suspicious glare for only a moment before it drops away into slack-jawed shock. Tubbo’s eyes fill with tears and Ranboo clutches Michael closer.

“Oh my god.” Tubbo’s voice breaks. “Tommy?”

Clementine flinches. Shit. She forgot about that part. The last time Tubbo and Ranboo saw her… well she wasn’t the poggest woman in town just yet.

She reaches up to rub the back of her neck. Damn, this shit really doesn’t get any easier, does it?

“Oh, uh. My name’s Clementine now. I use she/her pronouns. But yeah, it’s me.”

Tubbo blinks at her a few times, knocking a stray tear down his cheek. His voice is shaking when he says, “That’s so cool. The coolest.” And promptly bursts into tears.

“Oh, oh no, oh Tubbo,” she scrambles across the beach toward him, stopping a few feet away and dropping to her knees. “It’s okay, it’s alright, you’re safe now.” She sees Ranboo’s shoulders shaking, too, and reaches out to put a hand on his arm. He flinches but doesn’t pull away. “We’re all safe now.”

[hooniee]

— ꒰‧⁺apartment 15 *ೃ༄

↷ jake x reader ⋯ ♡ᵎ

↷genre: fluff | romance ⋯ ♡ᵎ

↷warnings: kissing scene | mentions of a box cutter! ⋯ ♡ᵎ

♡ :: i see requests are open cutie <3 may i pls request fluffy jake helping you move into a new apartment? love you vivi !! @jakeysim

⇢˚⋆ ✎ hi ate gill!! thank you for being my first request both times, it’s a big honor to write for you BIURBEFIUERBIW🥺, i hope you like it and i love you more ate <333

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ────── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .*

your arms felt strained, bearing this remarkably heavy box. last time you checked, you didn't recognize this box when you were relocating the things into the moving truck. it was signed with jake’s name in messy black marker.

jake probably threw a bunch of his things inside last minute. who knew what he would have in here? from his physics textbooks to his cap collection, anything was likely.

“do you need help bun?”

jake said from behind, carrying small boxes filled with some miscellaneous things that jake insisted were "very important". you let out a gasp of relief when he took it from your hands, wasting no time to massage your arms.

“what’s even in here? it’s so heavy babe”

jake smiles, knowing precisely what's inside but he wanted it to be a surprise. he had gathered all these items to make a perfect little box for you when you would move into your apartment together.

“it's a surprise, i'll show you later! we have to finish unloading first”

you were eager, hastily scrambling to your feet and grabbing more boxes to load into the house. it wasn't physics books. what sort of surprise would physic books be? undoubtedly jake's idea of a surprise.

the last few things were finally scattered in the place you would call the living room and the both of you had collapsed on the plastic-wrapped mattress, yet to be moved to the shared bedroom.

both of you didn't converse for a while, attempting to catch a breath from moving. you had begun loading the house at 1 pm and it was around 6 pm by the time you guys were finished. you and jake still had a bunch of belongings to organize. 

“we did it," jake says

you turn to jake, smiling and he returns the gesture, high-fiving each other in achievement.

the mattress was uncomfortable with being sweaty and there being a plastic cover on it, but you scooted closer to jake. you placed your head on his chest and his arms snakes around your waist. you both gaze at the ceiling as jake taps a rhythm on your hip.

“ah right! you wanted me to show you what was in the heavy box from earlier right?”

jake remembers your curious eyes when he told you it was a surprise. he wanted to show you as soon as possible. you nod to him, and he immediately gets up from his position. he clutches the heavy box with a grunt, making sure to grab a box cutter while he’s up.

he gently settles the box down in front of you. what you hadn't noticed was on the side of the box, there was a sticker labeled "FRAGILE”

he delicately slices off the tape that coated the whole box. what kind of box needs this much protection?

dust molecules spiral in the air causing both of you to cough. he must have had this box crammed away for a while to have it collect this much dust. he opens the box to expose the inside and you look over to it, gasping when seeing the content.

the box was packed with memories from the book you guys were assigned to do together which is how you guys met. to be honest, jake wasn't the worse person you could be paired with, within english class. he was friendly and worked hard so you wouldn't have to sustain the project by yourself.

jake had scheduled meetings at his house and you had the honor of meeting his mom and layla. you quickly fell in love with the boy who sat in the front of your english class. he asked you out after taking you on an ice cream date and your world became the most dazzling planet out there from that day on.

to the letter, you wrote to him on your third anniversary. you poured all emotions you could in the letter for him. jake deserved more and sometimes, you believed you couldn't give it to him yet he always ensured that you gave more than the world.

you provided him home; a home that he could always run back to when the world was ungracious to him, a home that was filled with love and laughter, a home that he entirely wanted, and that was something that would be more than enough for him.

you glance over and a petite black, velvet box catches your eyes. you've never seen such a box and you never gifted jake something small enough to fit in a box like that, not that you knew of.

“what is this?”

you pick up the box that was soft at your fingertips. it was small enough to fit in the palm of your hand and had a tiny engraving of 'parks,' a popular jewelry brand. did you buy jake something from 'parks' and you didn't remember? you were as forgetful as dory sometimes.

before jake abruptly grabs it from you. he stumblingly hides it behind his back and clears his throat. his face gets a rush of blood and he can feel himself become warmer than the sun.

you tilt your head, not knowing why he swiftly grabbed it. you try to move around to see what it was hiding behind his back before he does this weird motion to hide it. at this point, you resembled two idiots dancing side to side from each other.

you laugh and jake giggles, giving up at this relentless dance, and pulls it from behind his back.

“i was going to give this to you later but since you saw it, i guess i’ll give it to you now”

jake lays it in your hand and you open up the box, allowing out another gasp. inside the box laid an elegant silver, thin banned ring, with a small diamond on the top. on the side of the ring, it had a little j carved in to give a special touch to the simple ring.

you look up to him, sensing your eyes pooling tears. you take an unsteady breath in, trying to soothe the stinging of tears in your eyes.

“is this what i think it is?”

jake smiles at your reaction, the response he had hoped for. he wasn't intending on proposing so soon into moving in with each other but he forgot that he put that in the box. he originally was going to hide it but you, being a smart person, would be able to find it even if you weren't trying to.

he had a couple of choices of people to give it to so that they could store it until he was ready. his best friends;  sunghoon park, jay park, heeseung lee. he quickly realized it wouldn't be a good idea of trusting them with a ring. jay would lose it, sunghoon would unexpectedly throw it out and heeseung would probably find a way to pawn it for money.

jake looks over to you. as tears glide down your cheek, yet you’re ethereal in jake's eyes. you're still anticipating his answer and he belatedly nods before speaking.

“can i have the honor of marrying you?”

your body moved faster than your brain did. you didn’t need to think twice before launching yourself into his arms and tackling him to the bed, giggling and responding with ‘a thousand times yes.' you can feel the vibration of him laughing along with you. you rested on him until he pulls away from you and grabs the box.

he takes the ring and delicately slips it to your ring finger. it was a foreign feeling to have the cooling metal on your finger. you glance at the ring, giving him one of the biggest smile you could manage. jake admired the way it fits on your finger, it looked right.

you tenderly cup his face and graze your thumb across his cheek, noticing some tears gather in his eyes. you could feel your own eyes well up while peering into the precious eyes you fell in love with. your eyes both filled with so much love and adoration.

he quietly leans in to connect your lips together. you tense at the unexpected kiss; electric shock in the best way possible. your soft lips secure against his that tasted like cherry lip balm. you both move in sync, formulating a rhythm that was unbreakable between the two of you. he took his time to make sure that you could feel the overflowing love, translated from his lips onto yours. you felt his fingers wander onto your waist. he pulls you in closer and you comply, getting lost in the euphoric feeling

you pull away for breath and you both burst out in giggles, not being able to contain the joy that beams from the two of you and your apartment. you lean your forehead on his, nose bumping, tending for a softer kiss. your lips gingerly grazed against his lips again like a pair of butterfly wings, accompanying with feathering kisses all over his face while he giggles. the heart knows when the search is over and jake's heart knew.

apartment 15 belong to the sim’s now

[kieraelieson]

Three Times Patton Got Lost in a Market

Thomas was walking through the old store with his mom, careful to hold her hand while they shopped.

“Oh, look! There’s a wind chime! It’s just like the nice neighbor lady!” Patton said.

Thomas stopped to look, and his mom stopped too, looking at something else across the aisle.

“It isn’t exactly the same,” Logan said. “Hers has a hummingbird on top, but this one has a butterfly.”

“And anyway, this one has prettier colors when the light hits it,” Roman added.

“Oooh, the red really is pretty, Roman!” Patton said excitedly. “And the purple, and the yellow!”

“It’s exactly the colors of the most beautiful rainbow reflecting back from a pot of gold,” Roman said dreamily.

“Mom!” Virgil suddenly shrieked, alerting them all to the fact that Thomas’s mom was no longer beside them.

Instantly, there was a pandemonium of overlapping voices, all very confusing, and Virgil at the front screaming.

“Quiet!” Patton yelled, as loud as he could, and then felt a little like crying. He didn’t like yelling, but this was important!

“But we have to find Mom!”

“We should run after her!”

“If we yell someone will hear!”

“Listen to me!” Patton yelled again. “Remember what Mom said? If we get lost in the store we stay put, and if we see an employee then we ask them to call mom for us.”

Virgil bit down hard on his sleeves, and Patton took his silence for agreement.

“That is indeed what Thomas was told,” Logan admitted.

“I still think we should go find her!” Roman protested, though less pointedly than before.

Thomas plopped down on the floor.

“Ok. That settles it, we’re waiting for mom,” Patton said. “Let’s look for more pretty things while she comes to get us. Roman, what else can you see around us that looks like a rainbow?”

Roman grumpily crossed his arms. “There’s a rainbow on the lawn decoration.”

“Very good!” Patton said. “Logan, can you see anything that’s science-accurate?”

“Science-accurate is a very vague phrase, but I suppose you could be intending to direct me to the collection of decorative barometers.”

“Oooh~ yes, the water swan neck thingies~” Roman said.

Logan launched into an explanation of barometers, most of which Patton didn’t understand.

He checked on Virgil, who was scanning the aisle they were in over and over again, and chewing holes in his poor sleeves.

“She’ll be here in just a minute, don’t worry,” Patton said gently.

Virgil nodded slightly, but didn’t stop checking the ends of the aisle and staring down each person that passed.

And then his eyes went wide. Patton turned to look.

“Mom!”

“Thomas, I thought I lost you for a minute there! Stay close, ok?”

Thomas took his mother’s hand and nodded.

Patton let out a sigh of relief. They weren’t lost anymore.

••^*^••

Thomas was a bit worried about high school, and especially the test coming up, and Logan and Virgil were mostly helping him with that. But now he had to go to the store for groceries. And Roman was exhausted after being all excited over the play and was sound asleep.

So Patton was helping shop!

He smiled confidently, prompting Thomas to look at the list again. He needed to get the ingredients for tacos, and some bread, milk, eggs, and ice cream. Yum!

Now what all went into tacos?

There was meat, and sour cream, and little shredded lettuce, and cheese, and taco shells, or was he supposed to get soft tortillas?

Patton considered, wandering into the store towards the food. Maybe both? Yeah. Both. Oh! And there was the bread! That would probably have tortillas near it!

Patton hummed happily, finding the bread that looked the same as what mom had been getting, noting the brand name. Nature’s Own. Huh.

Now tortillas… what kind did they normally get?

He finally just picked the one that had blue on the label.

Virgil popped up, startling him for a moment, especially with his intense frown. “People are staring. We’re taking too long near the bread, and your humming is gonna make people think Thomas is weird.”

“Oh, it’s alright!” Patton said cheerfully, glad he hadn’t dropped the tortillas. “I didn’t get in anyone’s way, and they haven’t said anything yet about thinking Thomas is weird.”

“Yeah…” Virgil glared at the people milling around and shopping. “Well they could. Just… keep it quiet.”

“Will do!” Patton grinned, and Virgil sunk back out.

Next he had to find… well, next he had to find the next thing. Should he keep walking and hope to see them, or should he seek each one out? He’d stumbled upon the bread, surely he would stumble across the rest.

Patton hummed happily and kept walking, skipping along beside the cart as Thomas pushed it. Thomas must really be out of it, poor guy. But Patton could help him cheer up!

Pretty soon, they had almost everything! Except for taco seasoning. And Patton wasn’t sure if they were supposed to get the kind that was in packets, or the actual spices. And he also wasn’t sure whether he should look in the spices area or the Mexican food area. Or where those areas were.

Surely they’d passed those special Mexican drinks a while back. But where?

Patton encouraged Thomas to turn around and go back, but after several aisles he still couldn’t find anything he was looking for. He turned back around, and then again.

“Perhaps… I need to go from one end all the way to the other…”

Virgil popped up again, rather grumpy looking, but not as much as earlier. “That’s gonna take too long. We’re already late, and Mom is gonna need Thomas home son so she can make dinner.”

Patton sighed. “Ok. Logan, help please, I’m lost.”

Logan popped up, looked around, and then pointed. “That aisle.”

“But how do you know?” Patton asked.

“There’s a sign above it.”

Patton looked up. “Oh. Yeah.” He chuckled. “I should’ve thought to look for signs. Thanks, Logan!”

“You’re welcome. However I do suggest we attempt to make our trip home expedient. I’ll need Virgil’s full attention and assistance to prepare adequately for the test.”

“Will do!” Patton said, already spurring Thomas towards the aisle.

••^*^••

“I have created the ultimate maze!” Roman said excitedly. “It is called Infinite IKEA!”

Patton clapped excitedly, and even Logan gave a single clap.

“I really don’t see the point—“

“The point is a race, Emo Nightmare, and the winner gets to pick which old reruns Thomas watches tonight.”

Virgil tried to pretend he was still disinterested, but Patton could tell he was excited. “So what would we have to do to win the race?”

Roman grinned. “I’ve hidden a copy of each of our logos in the store somewhere, except for mine, which Logan hid by sinking in and placing it in a random place, so he doesn’t know the layout of the store yet. You have to find your own logo, and then exit the store!”

Oh, so that was why Logan had a bump on his head. He’d probably tried to rise up too close to a shelf. Ouch.

“Everybody ready! Set! Go!”

They all rushed into the store. Patton looked around excitedly, getting more excited to see that the store was full of items that came from houses where Thomas had lived or visited. He ran to the section of beds and flopped onto the biggest one.

He let out a comfy sigh, looking up at the roof which, rather than being metal supports and too-bright lights, was intricately painted with something that glowed.

It was amazing.

“You did a really great job, Roman,” Patton said, even though Roman was probably running ahead to win the race— oh! This was a race!

He jumped up and started walking, looking around for his heart with glasses.

After the bed section, where he wished he could stay and flip onto each one, he wandered into the lamps and chandeliers section. That was beautiful. He was still dazzled and in awe walking out. It even had that massive one Thomas had seen in the one hotel once.

And then came books, where Logan was!

“Hi, Logan!”

“Ah, greetings Patton.” Logan was looking through the books, just as captivated as Patton had been by the beds.

“Find your logo yet?”

“Not yet. I’m not overly concerned with winning, and Roman has certainly made this an interesting place to browse.”

“Mhmm!” Patton looked around. “Where are the kids books, I want to see if the Winnie the Pooh book is still chewed on or if Roman made it brand new.”

“That way, two shelves down,” Logan said, rather distracted by a book he’d picked off of the shelf.

“Thank you!”

Patton found the children’s section, and then found the book. It was still chewed on the corners. He smiled, and flipped through the thick cardboard pages. Thomas had loved this book.

And then, when he opened the last page, his logo fell out.

“Awww, look!” He picked it up, and found that it was a sticker. He promptly stuck the sticker to his chest and put the book back. Now all he had to do was find his way out!

He wandered into the next section, which was all dark and purples and blues and blacks and everything cozily packed together.

There was even a sign warning him away from certain aisles, because there would be spiders, and Patton was very glad Roman had thought of that.

And then he remembered the sunglasses stand sitting at the beginning of the lights aisle. That was probably for Virgil. Roman had been so thoughtful in building this! Patton hoped Roman would win. He certainly deserved the prize after putting all this together.

There was a whole section of Disney, all the movies, and posters, and any Disney themed toys and figurines, and even cardboard cut outs! It was lovely and chaotic and colorful, and it bridged Virgil’s section with Roman’s very well.

Roman had every single picture Thomas had ever seen, which was so many pictures!! Patton looked in awe until he realized that the paintbrushes weren’t just for show, some of them had been used. There was a little black cat in the corner of one painting, and a little V, and the paintbrush was in a cup of black water.

Patton found a picture of a field of flowers, and picked up the paintbrush, dabbing a bit of pink onto the picture. It turned instead into exactly the kind of flower Patton had been envisioning! He smiled wide and painted another, and another, and another, and each one turned out beautiful!

He ran to another painting and gave a little boy in the background a balloon and a smile. And then he gave the lady sitting in a rocking chair a baby to hold.

He finally had to stop himself. He could stay here forever, but he probably should get to the end of the store so he wouldn’t worry the others.

He got to the end of Roman’s section, only to find a massive blanket fort. He kept himself from exploring, and passed through, coming out at… the beds again?

Ohhhhh, right. It was a race and a maze.

Patton flopped down on the bed Thomas had grown up with, wrapping up in the blanket. He let out a happy sigh.

“Logan! Roman! Virgil! I’m lost! But I’m also gonna stay lost!”

Roman rose up and leaned against the footboard, a pleased smile on his face. “Enjoying the store?”

“I’m loving it!” Patton said happily, sitting up. “You did a really good job!”

Roman glowed. “I guess I’ll have to leave it up for you to wander in then. Once Virgil finds the exit I’ll put it somewhere more obvious so you can get out once you’re done.”

“Oh, did you and Logan already get out? Who won?”

“Logan, but only by a few minutes. He hid my logo in a hard place! How was I supposed to guess he’d put it under the makeup stash?”

Patton chuckled. “Wait, I didn’t see that.”

“It’s in Virgil’s section, in one of the spider aisles. I can un-spider it for you if you want.”

“Well, let Virgil have his fun first, but I’d really like that.” Patton smiled. He could have fun in here for a long time. “You did an amazing job with the paintings too! I loved those!”

Roman puffed up happily. “I did, didn’t I?”

There was a distant, triumphant, “Ha! I made it! Wait, Princey beat me? Aww.”

Patton giggled.

Roman patted his shoulder. “Have fun.”

“I will!” Patton said happily, eyeing the blanket fort which he now had time to explore.

—————

If you enjoyed, please reblog! And consider supporting me as I try to make a living off of writing 😊

[jobean12-blog]

The Perfect Pumpkin

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader (Dad!bucky AU)

Word Count: 1,069

Summary: You and Bucky take your daughter to pick the perfect pumpkin for carving. 

Author’s Note: This is for the HBC’s @the-ss-horniest-book-club​ continuation of drunk drabbles and the fun prompt below by @buckstaybucky​ and the Fall in Love drabble challenge theme-pumpkin patch- hope you enjoy this, thank you all for reading! Much love always! ❤❤❤ 

Warnings: fluffy sweet fun, soft fluff, domestic fluff, Dad!bucky being the best :)

“Daddy! Dadddddyyy!” Bucky kneels down next to Sam, “yes baby, what has you so excited.” She hops up and down before grabbing hold of the stem of a large pumpkin, “look! I found the perfect pumpkin for us to carve!” She continues pulling on it, her little grunts and grumbles making Bucky chuckle. “Want some help baby?” Letting her hands fall to her sides she pushes her little bottom lip out in a pout, “yes please.”

Bucky grabs the stem with his metal hand, lifting it up in one swift motion while taking her small hand in his other. “Come on, let’s go find mommy.” She skips next to him, regularly checking on her pumpkin as it swings at his side. “What do you want to carve into it?” Sam stops in her tracks, “I don’t know yet. Maybe Uncle Sam’s Redwing!!!”

With an eye roll, Bucky starts walking again, laughing when she launches into a long list of all the ideas she now has. “I see mommy! Look how many pumpkins are in the wagon!” The two of them smile wide as you approach pulling the red wagon filled to the top with a variety of pumpkins and gourds. Sam climbs up the side and sits herself on top of one of the large fruits.

“Pull me fast daddy!” Bucky closes his hand around yours, walking quickly much to Sam’s giggling delight. “Weeeeeee, this is so bumpy!” Bucky laughs and gives you a quick kiss, “looks like you picked some nice one’s doll, the house is gonna look great.” Looking back at Sam’s happy face you agree, “definitely! And we will have plenty to use for pumpkin bread, muffins, pie! All of it!”

“I’m so ready to eat everything!” You rub his stomach and raise your brows, “I know, me too!” Sam’s small voice chimes in from behind you, “and me too!” The three of you check out at the farm store and pack up the car, getting home just in time for a late lunch and some pumpkin carving.

As Sam finishes up her last bite of grilled cheese, she hops off her chair and rushes to Bucky, crawling up into his lap, “I’m ready daddy!” He stands, holding her in his arms and gathering the carving tools, “ok we just need to clear off the table and put down some newspaper.” Sam’s feet dangle excitedly until Bucky puts her down, “ok, I’ll get the newspaper!”

You help Bucky clear off the table, hugging him around the waist and resting your head on his chest while you wait for Sam to return, “this should be fun.” She runs in with a squeal, wedging herself between the two of you, “come on! Time to carve!” You reluctantly let him go and get the necessary tools, putting them down on the table, “all set!”

“The first thing we have to do is clean out the pumpkin.” Sam looks up at Bucky with a confused face, “but it doesn’t look dirty, it’s so perfect and orange!” she exclaims. “You’re right, the outside is clean but watch this.” Bucky starts to cut off the top of the pumpkin and when he pulls it out, he points to all the strings and seeds still attached. “See all that? Now look inside.”

Sam stands on her chair and peers into the pumpkin, her whole head almost fitting in the opening, “woah, that’s a lot of stringy stuff and seeds! How will we get it out?” You hand Sam and Bucky a scoop and drag over the garbage pail. “Start scooping kid,” Bucky says playfully, shoving his inside and pulling out a bunch of stuff. Sam follows right along, enjoying the feel of the slippery seeds and slimy strings.

Once you have all the pumpkins cleaned out you give Sam some paint, paintbrushes, stickers and any other goodies that might work for decorating. “Ok, daddy. I’m going to decorate this pumpkin and you can carve that one so I can decorate it after! Remember I want Redwing first.” Bucky gives you a look that says he has no idea how he’s going to pull this off. “Maybe draw it first babe?” He brightens at your suggestion and searches for a pencil. You hand him one with a smirk and watch him get to work.

It’s not coming out right and he huffs in frustration. “Here,” you say softly, motioning for him to make room. He pushes back from the table and you sit on his thigh, taking the pencil and fixing what he started. It’s looking really good and once you’re done the two of you admire your work, “wow, that came so great doll.” He leans close and whispers against your ear, “thanks for saving my ass.”

Sam shoots out of her seat and rushes around to look, sitting on Bucky’s other leg. “That came perfect mommy! Thank you!” She picks up one of the carving tools and Bucky quickly takes it from her hand, much to her disappointment. “I’m sorry baby, but you have to wait for me to help you ok?” She nods, her big blue eyes round with emotion. “Let me get a chair Buck, this way you have more space.” You stand and pull out the other chair, sitting and smiling at the two of them. Bucky’s foot hooks onto the bottom of your chair and drags it close, the three of you now sitting in a row at one end of the table.

“Ok Sam,” Bucky says, picking up the carving tool, “I’m going to hold it and then you can hold my hand so we can do it together.” Sam nods, placing her small hand over Bucky’s metal one and giggles when he stabs through the pumpkin and starts cutting. “This is so easy daddy!” You comb your fingers through Bucky’s hair and laugh at Sam’s comments, her excitement contagious.

When he finally has it cut out, he shows her how to push the pieces out and Redwing slowly comes to life. “I can’t wait to show Uncle Sam!!! Daddy, can we please face time him now. He’s going to be so excited!” Bucky happily agrees, taking his phone and dialing Sam. Her small hand shoots out and grabs it from him, “Uncle Sam, Uncle Sam! Look what we made!” She turns the camera around to show him, his happiness clear from his loud exclamations of praise.

@aesthetical-bucky​ @auro-ora​ @addikted-2-dopamine​ @bugsbucky​ @book-dragon-13​ @buckys-broody-muffin​ @buckys-minty-breath​ @bucky-on-my-mind​ @buckosawrus​ @breezy1415​ @buckys-henley​ @buckstaybucky​ @chuuulip​ @eurynome827​ @hiddles-rose​ @hailmary-yramliah​ @hawksmagnolia​ @imgaril-lindru​ @ikaris-whore​ @itsunclebucky​ @jhangelface0523​ @jewels2876​ @lookiamtrying​ @loricameback​ @lorilane33​ @lokilvrr​ @littledarlinhavefaithinme​ @littleredstarfish​ @mushyjellybeans​ @marvelandotherfandomimagines​ @marvelgirl7​ @nano--raptor​ @pinkdiamond1016​ @randomfandompenguin​ @sallycanwait68​ @tuiccim​ @this-kitten-is-smitten​ @the-wayward-robot​ @softpeachbarnes​ @yansi1923​ @hopefuldreamers-world​ @survivor-reborn​ @tales-of-spring​

[kerikaaria]

Borahae Slimes Haul #4!

Oh hey look at me doing this within a more timely fashion than the others haha. I ordered every slime from this restock, so get ready for a really long one!

LOOK AT ALL THAT STUFF! All seven slimes: What’s Your Dream, The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Lost in a Maze, U Wrong Me Right Ddaeng, Shine Dream Smile, Beautiful Prison, and Not Seven With You. Plus EXTRA candies and goodies because Dean went all out for the anniversary, the photocards and stickers, a thank you card and even a recommended playlist of a bunch of BTS’ most-loved songs over the years! To say I was excited to dig in is an understatement! I was in the middle of getting ready to move (in less than a week at the time I got the package) but I couldn’t help but get into these gorgeous slimes immediately!

As always, you can check out the Instagram (BorahaeSlimes) or blog (@borahaeslimes) for updates! Items are on sale on the Etsy shop by the same name whenever a new restock is up. Dean has been selling out INSTANTLY so be ready to buy at launch to make sure you don’t miss out on the slimes you want! And of course, if you are 18 or older, Dean writes some really awesome mxm fics over at @eternalseokjin​! Alright, time to get into the slimes!

Also, I’M SORRY I can’t make the pictures side by side.... I tried editing on mobile to do that but tumblr is dumb and keeps giving me an error and not making the changes v.v

What’s Your Dream

What’s Your Dream is based off of BTS’ debut song, No More Dream. It smells very much of a teenage boy who loves his cologne a little too much (kudos to Dean for making it a smell I can enjoy even though I usually hate cologne smells XD). The bingsu and little crystals give it a lovely texture. Even if I don’t have too much to say about some of the slimes, they’re all really great! 

The Most Beautiful Moment In Life

The Most Beautiful Moment In Life is of course inspired by the albums of the same name, and the storyline they started. I had to ask Dean how what I was supposed to do with a “jelly float” slime because I was confused lol. It was kinda cool to see the gray slime just float inside of the clear red before mixing it :) When mixed, it’s still very much a red color, just a little deeper and less clear. The smell is kind of confusing to explain. Dean describes it as “the grey city streets and the sweetness of dying youth.” It does have a bit of an underlying sweetness to the smell, and I think the other part is reminding me of an incense? Overall a very unique and pleasing smell! (Also the charms were perfect and I love the lollipops!)

Lost in a Maze

Lost in a Maze is based off of Young Forever and is a basic slime with a mini fence and some feathers for accessories. I didn’t dare let those feathers anywhere near the slime (lol), but the items certainly match the song! The smell is very soft and refreshing, so it’s a great slime for someone who wants something simple!

U Wrong, Me Right, Ddaeng

This slime was one of the ones I enjoyed the most! U Wrong, Me Right, Ddaeng is based on Ddaeng and is one of his more intricate slimes. The overall texture is so nice and the little pops of color still show through the black really easily even after being fully mixed. The smell is kind of musky. Definitely similar to an incense but personally it reminds me of some of my family’s birthday and holiday parties growing up. I had some relatives who smoked a lot and kept their house completely closed off so those smells would kinda just stick around... That sounds really gross but I promise this scent is a much cleaner smell! The slight muskiness to it just reminds me of that. :)

Shine, Dream, Smile

Shine, Dream, Smile is GORGEOUS. LOOK AT HER. SO BEAUTIFUL. So much glitter and sequins and just uuuggghhhh I love it! Definitely very fitting for a slime based on Mikrokosmos! The purple is so pretty while staying very clear, and it has a very clean, light smell that just puts a smile on my face.

Beautiful Prison

Next up is Beautiful Prison, inspired by ON. When I tell you I had a mini freak out when I saw the state that my slime came in.... It was by no fault of Dean’s! But the clay topper settled a tiny bit into the slime and there was a thin layer of slime covering it. I was so worried! But then I started to very lightly scratch at it and I luckily was able to uncover the topper good enough to get some good pics! When I say that cracking the clay topper is satisfying, I mean it. I’m not a fan of ASMR (it gives me the wrong kind of shivers, more like the kind you get from nails scratching a chalkboard lol), but those little cracking sounds were so satisfying to hear even as I felt bad for destroying that beautiful piece of art. It’s hard to describe the scent, but it is a soft, kind of nature-like smell and I really like it!

Not Seven With You

The SHOWSTOPPER of the release! Not Seven With You is of course, based on We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal and it is AMAZING! So much detail and thought went into this beauty! I was SO upset when the slime was too sticky (because it was HOT that week) when I took it out to put the clay checkboard in the bottom because that meant I’d have to let it sit overnight for the bubbles to come out. But I patiently waited until it was clear enough to get a decent picture. Not perfect, but that’s because I was just too excited to finish playing with it the next morning!

The cloud slimes that come with it provide the lilac and lily scents, and it smells so soft and beautiful! I took my time to play around with it before fully mixing. It’s just so pretty!

When I finally took all the slime out and began to mix, I felt bad for ruining that clay (once again lol) and would have missed the cloud slime texture if I didn’t get some more cloud slime as the free extra! It looked really cool and marbled as I mixed it, so of course I took another picture of that. The ending color is a purple-tinted grey because the black from the checkerboard is just too overpowering. But you’re left with a TON of slime and it’s such an AWESOME texture! I seriously adore it! It’s soft and smooth from the clay, and also airy from the cloud slimes. Kind of like a butter slime, but lighter and softer! This slime was SO AMAZING! My only regret is that I can’t undo the mixing to play with all the individual parts again lol.

Extra Slime

For the extra slime, Dean gave me a white little cloud slime that smells sweet, kind of like bubblegum! I love playing with it because I adore the soft, fluffy texture of cloud slime now that I’ve had a taste of it!

So that’s it! Another AMAZING release from the one and only Dean! Check out the shop on Instagram or here on tumblr for updates when new releases will be coming so you can be sure to get some of his amazing slimes next time! 

Also, here’s a bonus. As I mentioned at the beginning, I recently moved. And I got some shelves set up to proudly display all the slimes I’ve gotten from Dean. Here’s a picture of that!

[pollylynn]

Title: Graven WC: 900

He has some choice words for the clown who first ran his mouth about the picture-to-word exchange rate. In fact, he has about a thousand of them, and yet he can’t help preening about his Cosmo cover. The tall stacks of it are satisfying on the edge of his desk, with their blue-gray spines neatly aligned and his own Mona Lisa smile peering up at him.

It’s more than just a feather in a cap that’s already flush with impressive plumage. It’s a new kind of triumph, one that bids fair for Nikki Heat’s fortunes, and though he’d sooner jump out a window than admit it, his nerves are a little frayed about the impending launch, about the fact that people are finally reading the book. His nerves are beyond frayed that she wants to read it.

It’s good. It’s not vanity to own that. It’s certainly a cut above the last few Derrick Storm books, but that’s not necessarily saying a lot. He’d been phoning it in for a while. And in any case, this needs to be better than good. It needs to be exceptional, not just because it’s important, career-wise, for him to swing for the fences with a new character. It needs to be exceptional because she is.

He reaches out and plucks the top-most copy from the stack. His thumb fans along the edge of the pages and stops, unerringly, on the fourth page of the interview—the page with the lone shot of her. It’s . . .  kind of worse than half bad, though he was more politic in his assessment to her. But it’s small and stiffly posed. It’s certainly a pale imitation of the real thing, and it’s weird.

He knows the photographer barely managed to get even this—something that would serve well enough to run in the lower third of a page beneath an overblown pull-quote. God knows the guy complained about it, loud and long, to the eye candy he’d clearly booked with the intention of getting laid.  

The memory of what a tool the guy was makes him squirm a little. He flips back to the beginning of the article with its—frankly atrocious—copy in a variety of fonts that range from mildly overblown to obscenely titanic. He studies the image of himself and the way it pushes right out to the margin of the page.

Now that the glow has worn off a little—now that he’s thinking about Will James and Wyatt Monroe and the apparent general scumbaggery of the profession—he sees this photo is pretty terrible, too. His own hands are on his hips. The eye-candy twins’ hands are in odd places. Not good-odd, just odd-odd, southeast of his sternum and  in the neighborhood of his armpit. The whole thing is stagey and awkward, and it annoys him that it takes away from the cover art on the recto. He flips the whole thing closed and tosses the copy on top of the stack that’s a little less satisfying than it was five minutes ago.

He thinks about Jenna McBoyd—the literal images of her and her body, the picture that emerged from them. He thinks about the stalker photos showing a lovely young woman, tension and misery evident in her posture and every line of her face. In the close-ups of bruises from Lanie’s file, the scraped skin on her palms, and the grotesque image of the cut on the inside of her cheek, he sees a person who just wanted to live. He sees the cognitive dissonance of her comp card, sweet here and sultry there—a girl for all seasons.

He pictures his mother, curled into herself on the couch, with her hair up in a fussy scarf as she clutched soft-focus images of her own face in what she believes to have been her prime. He spins his chair a half circle, putting his back to the pile of magazines as he thinks of the stories she must have—infinitely worse back then, or maybe not. Maybe just the same, then and now.

He takes up the top-most copy of the magazine issue again, tentatively this time. He riffles it open, four pages deep in the interview. He blots out the pull-quote with his palm and focuses on her. He sees the photo in a new light. He sees the challenge in the set of her shoulders and the take-no-shit glare. He imagines the hundred ways she must have foiled and frustrated every attempt on the photographer’s part to bend her to his will.

He sets the magazine in the center of his desk. He hems the page in between his elbows. He laughs down at the page and thinks maybe—in just this one case—the nameless clown who ran his mouth about pictures and words might be right. He likes this picture. It’s the best of them—the best one in the whole silly article—and he suddenly envisions it tacked up on the wall. He suddenly envisions her redefining the pin-up girl.  

It’s a ridiculous idea. It’s an absolutely dorky idea, but he’s already holding the magazine down with the heel of one hand. He’s already relishing the jagged sound as he rips the page free. He’s already reaching for the scissors. A/N: OMG. My Brain and its Trapper Keeper and Puffy Stickers sometimes. Hmmm.

Images via homeofthenutty

[cottonblush]

blooming days | pjs

❧ word count: 3,418

❧ genre: floof

❧ notes: i kinda hate this?? but it’s whatever. i’ll be working on more bulleted list scenarios soon (hopefully lmao). i have my ap stats test tomorrow and i literally feel like i’ll get a 1 even though i got 5s on my practice tests but imma go crazy anyway. also i started bujo-ing my ideas for my fics and i have these cute stickers that remind me of hamtaro!! anyway, i hope everyone has a nice day and is happy and healthy. don’t forget to drink lots of water. i actually started drinking it more often and i feel a lot better!  ty for coming to my ted talk! if anyone has any upcoming exams, good luck! uh also p.s: i probably spelled some stuff wrong but several of my reference sites were saying different things. p.p.s: this is unedited whoops

❧ parts: planting, budding, ---

The bustling sounds of the city slowly fade into background noise as Jisung finds his way back home after work, one foot slowly being placed in front of the other to form a peaceful saunter. He stops when he reaches an intersection not too far away from his street, eyes coming to rest on the soft glow of the neon sign that the neighborhood ramen shop has recently added. The light emanating from the quaint little restaurant is one of the few light sources that dots the street this late on a cold, wintry night as this one.

“It won’t hurt to get some on the way,” the boy mutters to himself, already stepping into the small, warmly lit restaurant, as if he would have needed any convincing in the first place.

He’s greeted by the familiar face of the ahjussi who owns the place. Eyes quickly scanning over the menu, he settles on the newest item that the store has to offer: fire noodles. He tells the older man what he would like, figuring it’ll be just like the processed noodles sold at the store he works at, before he strolls over to his usual seat by the window.

The young man turns around to resume people-watching the many teens and adults getting home at this time as well, releasing a soft sigh, placing his head in his left hand, and drumming his fingers against the soft skin of his face. The sun is setting, the last rays of marmalade tinted light streaming through the window. Jisung takes this time to remind himself that this is the part where Jaemin would tell him to take a selfie and get that “golden hour glow.” He almost does, but at that moment, a bowl of steaming noodles covered in a glistening, ruby colored sauce is placed in front of him.

The owner warily says when he finally comes around with the noodles, “It’s pretty spicy, just so you know.” However, Jisung brushes this off, telling the gentleman that he’s used to spicy food, and digs in, enjoying the familiar tingling feeling on his tongue that fire noodles tend to bring. The wet, pink muscle peaks out of his mouth and lap up any sauce that happens to escape.

After a while, the dull tingling turns into a burning sting all over Jisung’s mouth and salty tears start to well up in his eyes. Before he knows it, Jisung is full-on crying with ears full of the sounds of his own sniffles and doesn’t even notice the old lady that comes up to sit next to him.

The woman looks to be in her upper 60’s and when she gently pats Jisung’s shoulder to provide a sense of comfort, he recognizes her as the owner of the flower shop just next door. She rests her chin in her other hand and lets out a dreamy sigh. “Ah, I remember the feeling of young love,” she says.

This makes the young man turn to her, eyebrows knitted in confusion. He tries to explain, tone flustered and face quickly turning a bright shade of red, “I think you’re misunderstanding the situation. I’m not in-”

“Nonsense,” she replies, “I know just by the look on your face. You were thinking about someone special, weren’t you? And you were looking at those pretty gardenias in that vase. Everyone knows that’s the symbol for a secret love. Have you not told them yet? I think it’s best to just rip off the band-aid and get it over with, in my experience at least.”

Jisung wants to tell the lady that kids don’t just memorize the meanings of flowers, but he thinks that one: that might discourage her seeing as she runs a flower shop and seems to care a lot about it, and two: it’s a little rude. Instead, he puts on a calm façade and reassures her, “There really has been a misunderstanding here. I wasn’t really looking at those flowers on purpose. And I just ate some spicy noodles, so it looked like I was crying.”

The old lady slowly gets up and hums, “Whatever you say,” before going to place her own order. Jisung takes this as his queue to leave and gathers his things. Just before he places a hand on the door, he takes one last glance at the little flowers in the clear vase, wondering if maybe the lady is on to something.

It clearly sticks with him because later that night as he lays in his bed, covers pulled up and lights turned off, Jisung can’t seem to take his mind off the pretty white blossoms. For some reason, your face comes to mind, unknowingly bringing a small smile to his visage. His eyes slowly flutter shut, little memories of you playing against the back of his lids as if he’s in a dark movie theater watching a montage of the two of you.

I.

Halloween is quickly approaching, now less than a week away, and the gang (Jisung, you, Chenle, Haechan, and Renjun) has decided to get some pumpkins from a farm not too far away from town. As soon as you arrive, you and Haechan run ahead of the others, both trying to find the perfect pumpkin.

Jisung, on the other hand, chooses to take his time, leisurely walking alongside Chenle and Renjun as they discuss something about Chinese traditions around this time of the year. The leaves started to fall the week before, so for each step that Jisung takes, he hears a satisfying crunch beneath his shoes. The weather is still fairly pleasant, not yet to the point where you can see your breath in the air.

Sauntering through the gates to the pumpkin patch, the kids are greeted by the sight of rows upon rows of vibrant orange pumpkins, some small and cute, others larger and optimal for carving. Not even a couple of minutes in, everyone hears a high pitched yelp and looks over to find that Chenle has managed to trip on literally nothing but air, ending up face down on the ground and crushing several mini pumpkins beneath him. Renjun can’t help but snicker, leaving Jisung to help the poor, pouting boy back up to his feet.

Jisung is in the middle of helping Chenle wipe pumpkin guts off his shirt (that’s probably worth more than all of his life savings) when he notices you and Haechan bickering out of the corner of his eye.

“Dude, I totally saw it first,” you argue.

Haechan deadpans and says, “Sure, Y/n. And I’m actually Thor from The Avengers.”

You don’t hesitate to scoff at that and say, “More like Loki.”

The two of you are in your own world, not even noticing that Jisung, Renjun, and a now clean Chenle are sitting on the ground and acting like they’re watching the final showdown in an action movie.

Haechan picks up the pumpkin you two are fighting over, one of the largest in the patch that has no blemishes at all, and sets it behind him so that he can guard it. It turns out to be the wrong move because without a moment of hesitation, you launch a roundhouse kick into his side, watching as he flails on his way down to the ground. You quickly grab the prized pumpkin and run toward the owner of the farm.

Your voice is boisterous and full of glee as you call out, “Excuse me, sir. I’d like this one!” The sound of your laugh follows soon after when you see that Haechan is hot on your tail.

It’s cheesy, but as you get farther and farther away, Jisung tries to imprint the sound your laughter into his mind, wanting to save it for whenever he is feeling down.

II.

“Honestly, I don’t know how you get yourself in these situations, Y/n,” Renjun says, mirth lacing his voice as he wraps a bandage around your ankle. You’re slouched on a stool in the nurse’s office, leaning forward so you can observe the blonde-haired boy.

Renjun is the nurse’s assistant, which means that he sees you quite often given how clumsy you are. This time, you’ve managed to twist your ankle simply walking from your class to Jisu’s so you could compare grades on a recent test. Jisung happens to be there when it happens, so he helps you over to the nurse’s office and sits next to you, carefully doting over you until Renjun arrives.

You huff and cross your arms, rebutting, “Give me a break! I’m telling you one of the tiles in the hallway is uneven. I’m not that clumsy that I just trip over the air.”

At this, Renjun coughs into his elbow, muttering, “Yes you are.”

Jisung can’t deny that he feels a little twinge of something as he sees you playfully slap Renjun’s shoulder and give him a hearty laugh. He tries to laugh along, but it turns out to be an awkward chuckle.

Renjun turns to him with lips quirked upward and says, “Dude, you don’t even know how often she comes here. I’m surprised she’s not just a pile of bones at this point.”

Feeling plenty attacked, you say, “That’s it! I’m telling the administration that the literal nurse’s assistant is out here bullying me. And next time, I’ll just suffer on my own instead of coming to you.”

When the aforementioned assistant raises his hand to pinch your cheek and tell you to stop pouting, Jisung is finally able to identify the feeling bubbling up in the pit of his stomach: envy.

 III.

It’s probably well past midnight and Jisung has just fallen asleep. The sound of crickets chirping flows through the tiny opening of the window he forgot to close. His desk lamp is still on and the fan of his laptop is still softly humming. He’s woken up with a startle when the sound of his ringtone (which Chenle had recently set to the original Pokémon theme song in honor of the new movie) blares out, reverbing against the walls of his small bedroom. He’s about to throw his phone out the window when he squints at the screen and notices that it’s you and it’s a facetime video call.

The video is blurry at first, but the sound of your voice as his name falls from your lips in a shaky sigh is surprisingly clear. You aren’t crying, but every now and then, you let out a tiny sniffle. In addition, even with the low resolution of the video call, Jisung can see salty tears pooling up against your eyelids.

“I’m so nervous, Jisung,” you say shakily, “I don’t know what to do.”

Your phone is propped up against your wall or something on your desk, so the teen gets a full view of you as you drop your face in your hands and rub your eyes aggressively.

Jisung urges you to calm down, asking what’s wrong but being careful not to be too pushy. You explain that you feel like you’re going to fail the upcoming history test.

“I’ve tried to study, but everything is just going in one ear and out the other,” you explain.

The young man assures you that you’ll be fine, but when you shake your head and vehemently deny it, he tries a different approach. Giving you a couple of minutes to calm down, he offers to help you review for it.

And so he does. He starts from the beginning, carefully explaining each topic covered in class and making sure you’re paying attention. By the time you’ve covered the entire chapter, you’re resting your chin on your arm and gazing sleepily at your phone screen. After you’ve let out what Jisung thinks is your thousandth yawn, he tells you it’s time to sleep.

He packs away his notes and textbooks and is about to bid you goodnight when he notices that you’ve fallen asleep already. He freezes in his place, eyes not able to move from the way that your eyelashes gently fan against your cheeks and the way that several strands of hair have fallen to cover your face. He notices the heavy, dark eyebags that surround your eyes and the small amount of drool that’s already starting to escape your mouth.

Jisung quickly snaps out of his daze and presses the red button that ends the call, sitting back against his desk chair and closing his eyes. He’s much too tired to move to his bed and is probably bordering on a state of delirium, but he realizes that your face, no matter how sloppy or tired, is a sight he could get lost in any day at any time. And with that revelation, his mind descends into sleep while a soft smile rests on his lips.

 IV.

Jisung is stuffing his face with cheesy tteokbokki when his phone lights up with a several new notifications.

The first one is an email from his teacher, probably a response to a question he asked the day before. The second is a reminder that he has an appointment to get a haircut in a few days. And the most recent is a snapchat notification telling him that you’ve sent him a snap.

He sets down his utensils and picks up his phone, quickly unlocking it and opening the app. Tapping on your name with the red square next to it, he’s greeted with a picture of you with a small white puppy tucked under your chin.

The caption of the picture reads, “Moomin is doing great but he misses you :(”

To add some context, Moomin is a the stray dog that you, Jisung, and Renjun found one day on the way back after school. Of course, since Renjun “found him first,” he argued that he would get to pick a name.

Not even thinking about it, Jisung takes a screenshot of the picture, heart melting just a little bit at the sight of your smiling face pressed up against Moomin. But then the ten second timer expires and he’s greeted with the sight of two blue arrows, one overlapping the other. He drops his phone and covers his face with his hands, fingers split so that he could peep at his phone. He gets a text message from you not a moment later and he thinks he’s about to get exposed. His whole form is shaking with nervousness as he checks your text.

However, Jisung literally wants to bang his head on a wall as he sees that you’ve just sent him a picture of Moomin (this time without your face in the frame) and a message that reads, “If u wanted a pic of moomin so bad you should’ve just asked lol”

Only the gods will ever know how you can be so oblivious at times, but Jisung is glad. Now, he has a cute picture of you and a cute picture of Moomin, and he’s saved himself a ton of embarrassment. He also isn’t complaining because he finds it quite endearing when you’re dense (which happens a lot).

 V.

“Jeno, have I mentioned that you and Hana would look really good together? And she’s super smart just like you!”

“Wait, what?”

“Yeah, you should totally ask her out or something.”

It’s another regular day, and another occasion on with you are trying to set Jeno up with one of your many friends that are head over heels for the poor boy.

“I’m not really interested in her, though. Sorry, Y/n,” Jeno says awkwardly while scratching the back of his neck.

“You haven’t even given her a chance though,” you say, knowing that you’re beginning to sound childish.

At this moment, Chenle and Jisung run up to the two of you, asking what’s up.

You explain, “Jeno keeps turning down all of the friends I try to set him up with.”

You’re expecting Chenle to at least give you a sympathetic nod or something, but he releases a loud laugh instead.

In between his chuckles, he manages to say, “Are you kidding, Y/n? Jeno and Jaemin have been dating since my Halloween party.”

“What? What the actual heck?! Jeno! How could you not tell me?”

You stomp ahead of the trio, arms folded and head facing the ground. Jisung jogs to catch up with you, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder and assuring you that they aren’t even that public with their relationship anyway.

You continue to sulk, asking, “Am I really that oblivious though?”

Recalling many previous experiences in which you were very much oblivious, Jisung decides it’s best not to answer, causing you to pout even more than you already are. And while Jisung thinks it’s a cute expression, he’d much rather see you smile. So he spends the rest of the day trying to cheer you up, spending the rest of his allowance on snacks at the tuck shop.

At the end of the day, his wallet is weeping and he’s never craved the red bean bun that you’re eating more than he does now, but it’s worth it to see that your spirits are lifted.

 VI.

It’s the first snow of the season and the gang is out playing in the park, reveling in the fact that they have no assignments or after school classes for the day. You’re sitting on a swing, sipping some hot chocolate and swaying back and forth. You inhale deeply and let out a sigh, watching as your breath vanishes into the air.

Jaemin runs up to you and asks to try some of your drink, probably thinking it’s some type of coffee. Of course, you comply, holding your steaming steel tumbler out to the young man. He takes one sip and his nose scrunches up.

“What is that? Oh my god,” he says.

“It’s peppermint hot chocolate, Nana. Not everyone can drink coffee 24/7 like you do.”

“Peppermint?! Dude, gross. The only things that go in hot chocolate are whipped cream and cinnamon.”

You shoot Jaemin an incredulous look and ask the rest of the group, “Shut up. Peppermint is superior, right guys?”

The rest of the boys are too busy sliding down the slides or trying to make snowballs out of the thin layer of snow that’s on the ground, so the only response you get is a couple of careless shrugs.

A couple of days later, Jisung is sitting in the convenience store once again and reminiscing about the good old days like any high school student does. He remembers you saying something about peppermint and subconsciously starts perusing the store, briefly recalling that they just got a shipment of Christmas themed air fresheners.

His eyes light up when he finds the peppermint scented ones nestled at the back of the display. He grabs one and takes it to the register, trying to convince himself that he wants to make his room smell nice and not that he’s going to use it to spray on his school uniform.

However, several hours later, he finds himself spraying the canister into his closet, coating all his clothes with the soft scent of peppermint candy.

You take notice of it immediately the next day, telling Jisung that he smells really nice, and his face turns a bright vermillion.

Chenle chortles and elbows his side, saying, “Yeah, Jisung. You smell sooooo good! What is it again? Peppermint? Isn’t that a coincidence?”

Jisung proceeds to shove Chenle against a set of lockers and cover the loud-mouthed boy’s mouth with one of his hands, ignoring the way you raise an eyebrow in question of his behavior.

He’d probably die if he got found out, but he’s glad you like it and will probably continue to use his new “cologne” well into the summer seasons.

As Jisung finally descends into a state of light slumber, a warm feeling spreading across his body. It’s like he’s sitting by a fireplace wrapped up in a fluffy blanket, wearing the fancy slippers that he stole from hotel that Chenle took him to one time. It’s like the sun is shining down on his face on a cloudless day. Every memorable instance of you (which is basically every single one) is coming together, each one like a petal of a delicate flower.

He doesn’t know it yet, but that metaphorical flower will soon be in full bloom, and with it will come a realization that he may or may not be ready for.

[dontatmethanks]

Part of your world

A leviHan Fic (mermaid AU)

AN: Ah Finally, I give you chapter 4! Sorry it took so long 😭 please enjoy!💕

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Chapter 4

Recruitment day came on Wednesday, and everyone was excited to meet kids. Hange and Petra had helped Nifa decorate the lobby in the main entrance in time for their welcome, complete with a sign that said ‘welcome recruits!” Nanaba put out name tag stickers and little goodie bags for the kids, eager to meet the new interns or servants as she liked to cal them under her breath. Much to Erwin’s displeasure.

Hange was in the middle of working Levi through his exercises. He was in the water, back against the rocks. He lifted his tail up above the water and held it there for a few seconds before dropping back down, exhaling profusely. He did this multiple times until Hange stopped him at the three minute mark. This exercise kept his tail flexible enough to make up for his missing tail fin.

“Good job, Levi.” Hange praises him and squats down next to him. He grimaces in pain slightly and sinks into the water, head tilting back and pants softly.

“Tomorrow we do weights.” She tells him and he groans and glares at her.

“Are you trying to kill me you shitty human?” He whines, eyebrows pinching, and she giggles.

“Nah just trying to help you get stronger.” Levi huffs, looking up at the parted clouds in the sky.

Hange takes a moment to examine him closer. She looks at his facial features as he stares up at the sky above him, his gaze has gone soft, almost unguarded. His steel eyes are half lidded, full fluttery lashes brush against his pale cheeks as he blinks. Thin eyebrows are relaxed, matching dark, silky looking hair flutters against his pointed ears. Hange blinks slowly, her eyes remain glued to him unable to look away.

‘He’s a very good looking specimen.’ She thinks.

What? Hange double takes.

WHAT?!

Before Hange can even comprehend what just happened, Levi swivels his head to meet her gaze and she freezes, cheeks bursting into flames. Levi raises an eyebrow at her and opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted by her phone chiming from her bag. Hange praises the whatever power that was above the as she practically launches herself away from the mermyd and rummages in her bag.

It was Moblit who sent her a message that the recruits have arrived. She jumps in excitement, causing Levi to give her a weirded out look.

“Ah, Levi!” She yells at him, twirling around to look at him.

“What is it shitty glasses, you’re freaking me out.” He chides at her.

“We have some newcomers coming to the center, kids actually. They’re going to be volunteering here for the rest of the year.” She explains to him, her big smile never wavering.

Levi gives a her blank stare, not understanding a word that came out of her big mouth.

Hange scratches her head, “basically these kids are going to be helping us with our work. They learn about this place as they go, and we help them find opportunities for their future.”

Levi blinks, children? Human children? He internally shudders.

“As long as they don’t place their filthy hands on me or the water I don’t care.” He drawls in a monotone voice. Hange tilts her head at him curiously.

“It’s okay for them to meet you?” She asks him slowly. He nods, making her smile so bright it almost blinds the mer.

Hange leaves him to his own devices and heads to the main building in a frenzy. When she makes her way into the lobby Nanaba and Mike are already greeting the kids. Hange stops to take them in. There are seven of them, eyes wide as the juveniles look around the main lobby. Hange can feel their excitement raidiating off of them in waves.

Hange worms her way next to Nanaba near the front desk, Erwin is there too His voice booming as he introduces himself. When he catches sight of her he gestures for her to come foward, she happily obeys and walks infront of the young teens.

“This is Dr. Hange Zoë, She is the head of our research and rehabilitation department.” He tells them and Hange gives them a huge wave and her best grin.

“Hello everyone, I’m so glad you chose to volunteer with us, we’re going to have lots of fun and learn so many new things!” Hange’s energy is ecstatic.

“She will be showing you a tour first, please make sure to write your names on a name tag. We’ll have ID’s ready for you by next week”. Erwin finishes with a clap of his large hands. The kids all began to murmur in excitement with each other as Petra handed them each a blank name tag and a marker.

Once all the kids had their name tags, Hange raised her arm and pointed towards the elevator.

“Alright everyone! Single file into the elevator, the tour has commenced!” Hange, Nanaba and Mike showed them the their way around the main building before making their way to the medical wing.

“While you guys won’t be dealing with a lot of the patchwork, you will be assisting with things like helping to transport patients in and out of their enclosures when medical assistance is needed.” Hange explained to them, stopping near one of the medical rooms.

“Who knows? Maybe Dr.Petra will give you an opportunity to sit in as well.” Hange says, giving Nanaba a sly grin, who responds with an equally devious expression.

One of the teens raises their hand, it was a boy with straight blonde hair that almost reached his shoulders. He had bright, ocean blue eyes that shined curiously underneath his bangs.

“Yes? Er-” Hange craned her neck to read the name off of his name tag. “Armin!”

The boy smiled shyly and nodded before asking, “eh-um, I read on your website that you guys take in a broad range of species that are mostly aquatic and that you specialize in the more unique err-specimens.” The boy behind him groaned. His short hair had an ash blondish almost light brown color to it.

“Really Armin, you can’t even wait until after the tour for questions?”

The girl next to him socked him on his shoulder with her tiny fist. She too was blonde like Armin, hers was a little longer and tied in a loose ponytail over her shoulder. She was the smallest of the group but it seemed that she packed a punch. The boy rubbed his shoulder and was about to yell at her bofore the boy on the other side of the girl gave him a murderous glare. He had shaggy brown hair and piercing teal eyes.

“Shut up Jean.” The boy tells him and the the other boy-Jean-attempts to grab at the teal eyed boy. He stops in his tracks when he meets the steely glare of another girl who stood on the other side of the teal eyed boy.

“Touch Eren and you’re going to be single for the rest of the summer.” The girl’s voice almost sounded sinister. She was asian, with short dark hair that ended just below her ears. A long fringe fell over her face just between her grey colored eyes. “I wasn’t even gonna do anything Mikasa, gosh.” Jean said and crossed his arms in an angry pout.

Hange laughed, “It’s alright, I’ll answer any questions that you guys have throughout the tour.” She turns to Armin, who perks up instantly.

“You’re definitely right, we do specialize in the more special cases and species.” They’re moving towards the other side of the campus now, where the enclosures are.

“Most of our patients indeed are the usual specimens like dolphins seas turtles and sharks, ranging from the more endangered to the more common.” She stopped near the gate of the patient area, there was a large sign that read ‘Authorized personnel only’ in front of it.

As they made their way through the area the kids ogled at the various enclosures that they passed. Mike introduced them to Hans, a 50 year old Hawksbill sea turtle. He was brought to them two years ago with a missing flipper and a fractured shell. The teens were in awe when Nanaba introduced the to Winnie, a vampire squid aka Vampyroteuthis infernalis. Nanaba had found her when she was a little polyp in some sketchy ‘exotic’ pet store. She was in terrible condition, the owner kept her in a cramped tank that was never cleaned. So Nanaba bought her and brought her in and they’ve had her in their care ever since.

Hange then leads them to Sawney and Bean’s enclosure. The two reef sharks were very curious and immediately taken a liking to the new recruits. Hange was not surprised in the slightest, she let the kids feed them a couple of baby squids.

They stop at enclosure that was built underground, Hange turns towards the group of unsuspecting teenagers and grins.

“You guys are going to love the next few patients.”

Mike opens the heavy steel door of the enclosure’s entrance that leads to some stairs. Hange leads the group inside, the space is huge, the walls weren’t walls they were giant tanks that connected into one big watery enclosure above ground.

One of the teens presses her face against the side of the glass. It’s a girl with hair as brown as Hange’s that’s tied up into a high ponytail and long bangs that framed her face.

“There isn’t anything in here.” She says, eyes scanning through the deep blue water. Before anyone can retort, a large figure swims pass them. All the kids jump and gasp at the looming figure.

The creature was very large. The head resembled that of a horse, it’s tail was long and adorned with flowy skirt like fins. It had two front webbed ‘legs’ and a beautiful blue and green color pattern across its entire body. The group of kids were left with their mouths hanging open at the sight.

“Meet June, she is a Scottish water horse.” Said hange.

“Otherwise known as a Kelpie. She’s a total sweetheart, pretty old in age but loves to play fetch with pool toys.” Hange giggles as June swims closer to the group and snorts at them, creating little bubbles in the water. The kids became more enraptured with June, they all crowded near her as she curiously eyed them while swimming around in happy movements.

Hange explained to them that she was the subject of an illegal traveling circus, they had her as some kind of exhibit. When they were shut down she was brought here because she had spent her entire life in captivity and knew nothing about surviving alone in the wild. Kelpies usually stick with their mothers for a while before going off on their own, June never got to experience that.

“Hey, she kind of looks like Jean.” A boy with a buzz cut teased and everyone in their group except Jean burst out in a fit of giggles. Jean grabbed the boy and pressed his knuckles against his head.

“Say that shit agin Connie.”

He only laughed as Jean rubbed his knuckles against his head.

As the group made their way through the entire campus Hange would answer their questions with gusto. Sasha, the girl with the brown ponytail, asked about lunchtime and Hange told them that she had one more patient to introduce to them before lunch.

As they approach Levi’s enclosure Hange stops and turns to them.

“Our next stop is another special, have any of you heard of the ‘Homo Aquatis Melusine’?

The blonde haired girl perked up and shot her hand up. Hange took a peek at her name tag.

“Historia!”

Historia’s cheeks colored a little before answering in a small voice, “you mean Mermaids?”

Hange nodded with a smile. “Ah yes indeed, mermaids, merfolk, water people, Triton’s children. We’ve created many names for them, yet we still have very little knowledge about them. Mermyds are extremely stubborn and highly unpredictable, so I ask you to please be mindful. This one has been through trauma and is making a difficult recovery. This is the first Mer to be in our facility so we are still learning the ropes around caring for him.”

The teens are practically vibrating with pent up curiosity, hange grinned a little.

“No way, you mean we’re actually going to be working with a Mermyd?” Eren practically yelled, Hange Cringed.

“Yes and no, he is a difficult case. I will have at least one of you assisting me once in a while so he won’t be too overwhelmed.” She responds

“I read that they can be dangerous.” Said Armin, Hannge looks at him curiously. While she was sure that Levi was definitely a force when he was in the wild, she wouldn’t say that he’s dangerous now that he’s in rehabilitation.

Hange hums, “Yes they are. Like any other wild creature, including us, they have the tendency to react violently when it comes to difficult situations.

She claps her hands together, “Now, I’m going to have you guys change into wetsuits, just as a precaution.”

As Nanaba and Mike hand out suits to the kids and direct them to the bathrooms, Hange makes her way into Levi’s enclosure.

She smiles when she notices that he is in his hammock reading-er- attempting to read one of the books she left him. The mer squints at the letters in front of him, small lips attempting to pronounce each word.

“The cat in the hat, that’s a classic.”

He looks up at her and squints.

“What do you want?”

Hange pouts at him, “I’m giving the new volunteers a tour, you’re up.”

Levi freezes, his usually guarded expression cracks a little. Hange puts up her hands.

“They’re not going to be in here, they’ll be up there.” Hange says to him while pointing at the observation deck above the water. He visibly relaxes. Hange bends down to examine his tail, carefully telling her fingers over the bandage.

“How’s it feel?” She asks him softly, looking up at him. Levi stares back at her, his tail twitches slightly under her touch but he does no pull away this time.

“It’s better, doesn’t hurt as much like before, but it’s uncomfortable to swim with.”

Hange hums and unconsciously strokes the scales of an uninjured area of his tail. Levi’s breath hitches slightly and he shivers making Hange snatch her hand back.

“I’m sorry did I hurt you?” She apologizes but Levi shakes his head, cheeks redden slightly. Hange let’s out a sigh of relief.

“Good, hehe” she stands and checks her watch, “Okay the kids should be finished changing by now.”

Levi buries his face back into his book. Hange scoffs and moves the book away from his face. He glares at her.

“Hey, don’t be a pouty fishy, human interaction will be good for you.”

The Mer rolls his eyes.

“Are a bunch of snotty human brats supposed to magically heal me?” He says before crossing his arms against his naked chest.

“No, but it will make it easier. They’re nice kids.”

Levi looks back her, she giving him a small sad smile. Her chocolate eyes gaze at him warmly and it stirs something up inside him . He feels hot all over again, he sighs.

“Alright, But if anyone one of them even sticks a finger inside the water I won’t hesitate to bite it off of them.”

Hange laughs one of her bubbly and breathy laughs that make her eyed crinkle behind her glasses and he shoulder shake.

And the Mermyd could only stare at the goofy four eyed human, as she continued to cause whatever was happening inside his chest to flutter rapidly against his will.

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AN: Aaaaaand scene! Look at Levi blush hehehheee 😈 and yessss our fav teens have finally arrived! Let’s just hope Levi doesn’t chew any of their fingers off hehee.

Thanks for reading, see you in the next chap!😘

Part 5

[jjbaconsumedmysoul]

Eeeelll ❤ I've seen you've launched fluff hcs and you know that I HAD to yeet in... so, can I request fluff Valentine's day hcs with, big surprise, Risotto? Thank you darling ❤

In all honesty, Risotto wasn’t really one to celebrate Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate romance, that he didn’t love his s/o with all his heart, he just wasn’t one for special occasions. He was busy so much of the time, always on a mission, always scowling and stained with blood. It was when he returned to his homes with his beautiful partner that his face softened and his actions became gentle and loving. His ideal date night was a simple evening at home, curled up next to his lover, maybe watching a movie (though he would quickly fall asleep, safe in his s/o’s arms).

But he was determined to make today a success, to show the most important person in his life how much they meant to him. That morning, before he silently crawled out of bed, he kissed his love softly on the forehead. “I’m sorry to have to leave you so early, tesoro.” They mumbled in their sleep, rolling over and pulling his hand to their cheek. He smiled gently at their their fluttering eyelashes and pouting lips, giving them another sweet kiss before whispering. “I promise, I’ll make it up to you tonight. I’ll be the man you actually deserve…”

“Risotto,” his s/o finally sat up, slowly rubbing their eyes, before they yawned out reassurances. “You’re already so much more than I could ever ask for—” but he had already disappeared. It wasn’t unusual though…

His love sighed, repositioning themself under the covers. It was then that they noticed a small envelope laid on Risotto’s pillow, a sealed with a small heart shaped sticker and a kiss mark of black lipstick. They smiled to themselves and reached out to open it. Of course, it was written in his surprisingly elegant cursive hand:

“I’ll be back from headquarters by 7:00. Wait for me in that elegant silk dress, you know the one. You look beautiful in it. And you’ll look even more beautiful out of it tonight.”

His s/o blushed. Underneath his stern and commanding self, he’d always had a flirtatious side…

Of course they followed his instructions. By 6:45 they were dressed and done up in makeup and heels, nervously waiting for whatever event he had planned. To their surprise, he showed up on their doorstep fully dressed in a black blazer. He had removed his hat and unbuttoned his black dress shirt just enough to see the top of his pecs. He knew just how to tease his s/o…

He extended his arm with a sultry smile. “Are you ready, amore?”

He didn’t book anything too fancy; he had found a small Italian trattoria with a trustworthy owner through his mafia connections. It was out of the way in a narrow alley, but the atmosphere was romantic nonetheless. A flickering candle and a rose in a crystal vase sat in the center of an ornately carved table, and Risotto pulled out the chair for his s/o as they gazed around the small room, awestruck.

“Why are you so impressed? It’s nothing remarkable.” Risotto questioned as he sat down opposite them. They blushed, toying with the cloth napkin in their lap.

“It’s just unusual,” they smiled as they looked up at Risotto through their beautiful long eyelashes. “It’s not like you to make such a fuss over me,” Risotto leaned in and grabbed their hand over the table, pressing their fingers to his lips in a gentle kiss.

“But you like it, don’t you?”

They smiled again to themselves as Risotto threw them a playful wink. He then ushered over the waiter.

It was a quiet evening. The food tasted remarkable and the presentation was impeccable. Few other couples ventured into the small out-of-the-way restaurant, and they were alone for most of the time. Risotto had worried that too crowded a restaurant would make him tense and overly cautious; but it was just him, his s/o, and the waiter. So he was able to relax around them. He smiled and the adorable way they rambled on about an interesting topic of conversation, their cute little laugh when he said something sarcastic or cracked a joke that seemed surprisingly out of character for him. Eventually dessert came and the two smiled at each other as they took small bites of torte and gelato. There was something unique about the way he looked at his s/o. When he was satisfied with his work in La Squadra, he would narrow his eyes, furrow his eyebrows, the corner of his lip would turn upwards in a toothy smirk. But when he observed the love of his life having a wonderful night, laughing and enjoying the food, his eyes softened. A small lopsided smile spread across his face, his eyebrows raised in an expression of wonder as he leaned in, resting his head on his hand as he watched his s/o absentmindedly licking the melted gelato from the spoon. He suddenly laid his hand over theirs on the table, and their eyes darted back to him as they swallowed.

“Risotto?” His eyes had darkened.

“I’ll pay the check.” His s/o’s heart fluttered with that look, their thighs instinctively clenching together. It had been so special to go out like this, to take a single night to go out and do something new, but the Risotto that loved them and wanted him…. They would always love that Risotto, no matter how busy he was sometimes and how dangerous his job was.

As soon as he had slammed down a couple of euros on the table, he took their hand and quickly yet fervently kissed them before leading them out of the restaurant. As they sprinted through the darkened alleyways Risotto leaned down to whisper hoarsely in their ear:

“You have no idea how that outfit makes me feel,” his deep voice grew fierce. “How it’s men making me feel all night.” His love smiled through their blush, averting their gaze as they fluttered their eyelashes. They clung to his arm, holding his bicep to their scantily clad chest as they fiddled with his shirt and began to roll up his sleeve.

“Oh, I think I know how it makes you feel.” They jested playfully. They bit their lip as they eyed the growing bulge in his pants.

As soon as they reached the door of their apartment, he began fumbling with the keys to unlock the door. But his partner couldn’t wait, and playfully slipped their hand onto his firm ass, giving it a tight squeeze as they smirked. He snarled through his smile, suddenly replacing the keys in his pocket and embracing his s/o, who gasped as his broad arms encircled their waist and he leaned over them, their back arching as their heaving chest pressed against his own.

“You just can’t wait, can you?” His piercing eyes darted to their lips, their exposed chest. Suddenly, his hand tangled in their hair as he tugged their head to the side, giving him full access to mark this neck with kisses and bites.

The two of them stumbled through the doorway, Risotto now ravishingly their chest and groping st their ass while they began to unbutton his dress shirt. The door slammed behind them as Risotto pinned his s/o to the wall. Their fumbling fingers struggled to undo the last button, but finally they were able to rip open his shirt and place their hands onto his chiseled chest. He hummed as they ran their palms along his firm pecs, his own fingers straying to the zipper of their dress. His lips suddenly returned to their own as soon as he had started on the zipper. He bit their lip teasingly, not enough to draw blood but just enough to make them gasp as he smirked and slipped the tip of his tongue into the kiss. Despite their surprise, they grabbed at his collar, pulling him deeper into the kiss as they moaned in pleasure. While one hand continued to struggle with undoing their dress, the other grabbed their thigh, squeezing it almost hard enough to bruise and wrapping their leg around his waist as he begun grinding himself against their small body, in an attempt to satisfy the hardness between his legs. Of course he was a bit tall for them and his urges led him to suddenly pick up both their thighs and straddle them round his hips as he desperately ground into them. He held them close, still kissing them feverishly as he stumbled through the kitchen to their bedroom. Their fingers tangled in his hair and he let out a grunt, pushing the door to the bedroom open. As soon as he set (or rather threw) them down on the bed, he was finally able to rip off his shirt. His s/o sucked in a breath as they noticed how rapidly his chest heaved up and down, how tight the front of his pants strained. He quickly pulled their dress up and over their head as the reached out and began to undo his belt. But he pushed their hand away as he hastily unbuckled it himself and threw it to the side. He straddled them onto the bed, his firm grip pinning their wrists above their head as he buried his face in their chest and began kissing the soft skin until his lover moaned in pleasure. He quickly placed a kiss on their neck before leaning over to whisper hoarsely in their ear.

“Keep your hands there, I’ll take care of everything.”

They obeyed his as his nimble fingers unclamped their bra in a flash before pinching their nipples playfully. As his s/o’s back arched in a gasp, he gently slid his tongue down their sternum, goosebumps spreading across their flesh as his palms cupped their breasts. Slowly, he kissed and kneaded their chest as they resisted the urge to run their fingers along their scalp, to grip his shoulders and bury their nails into his flesh, to slide their palms across his rippling muscular back.

He teasingly flicked the tip of their nipple with his tongue, and they let out a whine as he smirked amusedly. Slowly, he dragged the flat of his tongue across their most sensitive area as they squirmed underneath him.

“Risotto—” their begging was stifled by their own gasp as he quickly kissed the tip.

“What do you say, amore?” His s/o shuddered as their chest rose up and down with their panting breaths.

“Please Risotto. Please,” without hesitation he took their breast into his mouth, sucking hungrily as his dexterous tongue slid around the edge of their nipple. In one hand he gripped their waist hard enough to leave a bruise, and the other he occupied with the breast he hadn’t latched onto with his mouth, cupping it in his palm and teasing the nipple. He hummed and moaned softly in his deep tones, the vibrations overwhelming their sensitive skin as they moaned in reply, however they tried to bite down on their lip, remembering how Risotto had teased them before for being a bit loud. But as soon as his fingers found their way to their clit, all barriers broke free and they moaned out his name in desperation. His left their chest and began to trail soft kisses down their stomach as as he groped their thighs. They looked down at his satisfied smirk, their chest heaving as he bit the elastic of their panties and began to drag it down their legs. When he’d fully removed the thin fabric, he forced them open, kneeling between their legs and hoisting them onto his shoulders. He kissed the insides of their thigh as he squeezed their ass, leaving hickeys and bite marks everywhere he could. Every once and a while his lips would stray just close enough to their entrance that they could feel the hot breath escape his mouth. They squirmed, their heart pounding in anticipation; they knew just how good he was at eating them out, and they knew that was what he was leading up towards. They just couldn’t stand the teasing.

Suddenly they tangled their fingers in his silver locks, tugging his mouth towards their core as they arched their back in anticipation of feeling his wet tongue work its magic on their clit. They were certain Risotto would come back with a quippy remark about how eager they were for him, but instead of teasing, he immediately buried his face between their thighs, slowly dragging the tip of his tongue up their center in slow strokes. They moaned out his name as he squeezed their hips, their ass, anything he could grab hold of as his tongue slowly swirled around their clit. His movements were always light and taunting, feather touches of his tongue and lips to the sensitives nerves, just enough to leave his s/o bucking their hips towards his mouth and tugging his hair even harder. He finally sucked at their clit, making them moan with satisfaction as his ministrations became more forceful. They could feel themselves becoming wetter by the second as Risotto lapped up their juices, staring up at them as if they were a god, a wonder. Those piercing red eyes showing such awe and devotion was almost enough to make them climax on their own. But slowly he began to pick up the pace and they felt that warm feeling growing in their core, the tensing of their muscles as their toes curled under and their fingers gripped Risotto’s hair, desperate for something to hold onto as their body became engulfed in sheer bliss. They let out a load moan as the pleasure came to a head, their body tingling and stomach clenching in the butterflies. And then, a swift release, the sound of their own ragged breaths as Risotto gently set their legs back on the bed, licking their cum from his lips as he looked down at them lovingly. They could barely keep their eyes on him.

“How’s that for a Valentine’s day gift?” He smirked as his s/o nodded, barely able to think of much less utter a single word to convey their satisfaction. They continued to pant as they tucked a strand of silver hair behind his ear. He placed his own hand on their cheek as he leaned in to whisper. “Oh, but amore, it’s not over just yet.”

[devolympian]

Argo, chapter 1

As the bright blue sky began to give way to the soft orange light of dusk a cold ocean breeze ran across Jasons neck.

Sweet dripped down the young mans head and soaked the wool shirt that was under his bright gold armor. The blood seeping out of the cut on his forehead blinded his left eye, while the poison in his right leg made it extremely difficult to stand properly.

Before him, resting in a tall oak tree, was the item he had sailed across the world to obtain. The golden flees; the skin of a ram, born by the god Poseidon who had taken the form of a ram him self in order to lay with the nymph Theophane.

Jason had gone through hell and back for that fleece. He had fought storms, monsters, and even gods just to have a chance to claim the golden ram skin as his own. To show it before his home of Iolcus, and prove to them that he was the right full king. The king they deserved and the one who would lead them to prosperity.

However, before him was his last challenge. 

Wrapped around the tree, its violet scales glistening in the sunset, was a long serpentine creature. A black tongue pocked out of its mouth, which was lined with dagger like teeth dripping with venom, and its orange eyes glared at Jason. Its upper-body rested on the ground, with its long, razor sharp claws digging into the grass.

The dragon was ready to end this farce of a battle, clearly having grown tired of Jasons endless attempts to steal the flee away from it.

The feeling was mutual, and with a heavy sigh, Jason prepared him self to deliver the finishing blow.

He clutched his sword firmly in his hand, and from his hip, drew a bronze dagger decorated with rare gems. 

“The gift which my beloved Medea has bestowed upon me shall be your undoing beast!”

And with those words, the captain of the Argonauts charge at the dragon who responded by launching its self right back.

However, Jason was ready and, after dipping the tip of his dagger into the wound on his forehead, flung his own blood in the monsters direction.

The taste of warm blood was to much for the dragon to resist and it tilted its body ever so slightly, just to feel the drops on its long, black tongue.

Jason took the opening, and plunged his blades into the dragons neck. 

He ignored the pain coming from his leg and forced himself forward even farther, screaming as he ran his weapons along the serpents entire upper body.

Blood and entrails spilled from the monster, staining Jasons hands and body a deep red and decorating the ground in gore. 

With one last grunt, Jason pulled his long sword from the creatures body, and swung it down, lopping its head clean off.

For a long while, the dragons body shook and slithered on the ground, its blood still spilling out of its body as it lay dying. 

Jason watched as it suffered, not wanting to be taken by surprise by the monster. However, it did not rise from the ground and eventually, it stopped moving all together, finally succumbing to its death.

With a heavy sigh, Jason proceeded to limp towards his prize.

He was beaten and bleeding. His whole body acted with pain, and he could no longer see out of his left eye, the blood forcing him to close it. 

Jason knew he looked nothing like a king, no one had to tell him this. However, how he looked right now didn’t matter. All that mattered, was the fleece.

He stood at the foot of the tree, his eyes growing wide as he beheld the golden skin he had fought so hard for.

Dropping his weapons to the ground and with hands shacking, the prince reached up towards the fleece and-

“Boo!”

I let out a loud yelp as I fell forward onto the pile of books I was suppose to be stacking, the copy of Jason and the Argonauts being thrown out of my hands.

Trying my best to look less like an idiot then I already did, I turned around on the floor and looked up at Zee flashing an ear to ear grin at me.

“What’s wrong blondie” he said, his playful smile still glued to his face, “reading a ghost story?”

“N-no” I stammered, “I’m, uh. . . reading a golds story.”

Dang it, that sounded way better in my head.

“Come backs work better when the other person knows what your talking about dude.”

Taking my hand, Zee helped pull me off the ground as I wiped the dust off my skirt and sweater.

“It was Jason and the Argonauts” I told him, while picking up an arm full of books to put on the shelf, “the version where Medeas dagger is charmed by her.”

“Oh yeah”, he said, picking up the book I head been reading, “a fearless prince sets sail on the great Argonaut, determined to claim the item which will seal his destiny as king. You do know the real one screwed over Medea and his friends right?”

“Well, yeah, but that version’s super depressing.”

“Fair enough.” He flipped the book neatly onto the shelf, and began to do the same with the others that had been strewn across the floor.

“O-oh, you don’t have to-”

“Don’t worry about it. Besides, the sooner this is done, the sooner we can hang out.”

And with that, Zee jumped up, grabbed the shelf, and shoved a copy of the hunch back of Notre Dame between our copy of Victor Hugos other books, Hernani and Les Miserables.

“Just think of me like your fairy godmother” he said, hanging off the shelf, “but instead of living in a rodent infested house with a step mom who should probably arrested for child abuse at the very least, you’re working at a library with some guy calling himself a fairy godmother.”

I let out a small giggle with out really meaning to.

“If you’re my fairy godmother shouldn't you be in a pretty blue dress?”

“Blondie, you know I’d rock that dress. I’ve got the legs for it.”

He then reached up and tossed another book into its place. Which caused the book shelf he was hanging on to fall forward and bury my fairy godmother in a pile of old books.

After about an hour or so of us stacking books and telling, extremely lame, jokes to each other, we made our way to the front of the library.

While I personally wouldn’t say our library was big, it wasn't small either. With two  floors, a large child section and computer room, as well as five study halls on the second floor, I’d say it was about the size of your average public library.

At the center of the library were two large desk, curved into a circle and with an opening between them so as to allow us to get in and out as we pleased.

My boss, Matilda, sat at the desk facing into the library, her brown hair tied into a neat little bun while the computer screen reflected in her olive eyes. She was busy typing up all the fees and check outs for the day and hadn’t noticed us yet.

A small knot formed in my tummy as I prepared to speak.

I had thought she’d be done with her work by now but she was still working so diligently. It seemed wrong to interrupt her by asking to leave.

My brain began to rock back and forth with words that I couldn’t seem to get out and I began to debate on how to approach the situation.

Should I just ask her to leave? But, she said I could go as soon as the work was done.

It’s possible she just meant my work, but what if she had meant her work as well? What is she still needed me to stay a little longer and assist with other things that need to be done before anybody left?

Oh, I know, I’ll ask if there was anything else that needed to be done. If she said no, I’ll be able to leave. Simple, right?

I swallowed heavily, and prepared to speak. It was the moment of truth.

“i-is there anything else you need done?”

There, I asked. But, it didn’t exactly come out as words. It was more like a squeak. Like, the squeak a mouse makes. In other words, to quite to hear and Matilda continued on, not noticing me in the slightest.

“Yo, Matty” Zee basically screamed, “Works done!”

That got her attention, and my boss looked up from her computer.

“Oh” she said, finally registering that we were in front of her, “heading home then Skye?”

There was a small pause as it took me a second to remember my own name.

“Oh” I stuttered out, hoping my face wasn’t as red as it felt, “y-yes. . . if, there’s nothing else you need done.”

“Nope, you’re free to go.”

“Freedom” Zee cheered, as he raised out the door.

“O-okay” I said, fallowing after him, “sorry.”

“No reason to apologies Skye” she reminded me for the umpteenth time, “have a nice night.”

“Right. . . sorry.”

Unsurprisingly, outside the marble floored building which served as my place of work, and personal stash of awesome books, the streets were filled with people either rushing on home or simply to their next destination.

Zee wasted no time in getting into a festive mood and began swinging around on a nearby street light, his spiky black hair casting a surprisingly large shadow as the summer sun hit it.

“Ah” he exclaimed in a rather over dramatic fashion, “the fresh air, the freedom, the realization that you have no money to do anything. Don’t you just love summer?”

“I’m fairly certain you’re not hurting for money” I told him, pointing to the obviously expensive motorcycle which he had parked next to the curb.

“Skye, I’m hurt. Just because I make lots of money, have great health, a cool ride, and several game consuls doesn’t mean that I don’t suffer. It means I have terrible spending habits.” 

He then picked up the extra red helmet, which we had decorated with cat stickers and a picture of Squirtle from Pokemon, and threw it in my direction. 

I, did my best to catch it, but the helmet just sort of landed at my feet.

“. . .really glad I never joined a sports team.”

“Hey, on the bright side, if you had joined foot ball, you’d get the record for how many fumbles a person could get in one game.”

“Well” I responded as I picked the helmet up, “I’m very glad my poor athletic ability can be acknowledged in a hypothetical situation. When should I expect my award?”

“Sorry” He said, scooting up to give me room to sit, “the school district can’t afford to buy plastic any more, budget cuts and the principle trying to support their gambling habit by taking out of the funding and selling sports equipment and plastic trophies meant for crappy football players. How about Dinner instead?”

“You put way to much thought into what a fictional principle would be doing if she had a gambling problem.”

“I personally think I put very little thought into that hypothetical and just said the first stupid thing that popped into my head. For example, alligators make terrible house pets.”

“Very insightful buddy” I told him, finally managing to get my unnecessarily long hair to go under my sweater, and strapped the pretty red helmet on my head, “let’s go ghost rider.” 

With a quick rev of the engine we zoomed away from the curb and into the heart of downtown.

It wasn’t really a long drive, about ten minutes if that, but the extra traffic made it a little more difficult to navigate the street. 

I didn’t particularly mind the slightly longer drive, I really liked riding on Zees motorcycle. Even though I couldn’t drive to save my life, last time I tried my moms car ended up in a tree, but simply riding side saddle on this motorized bike was enough for me.

It gave me an odd feeling of independence. Like me and my friend could go any where and do what ever we’d like with being looked at as strange or judged for what we enjoyed.

Plus, the engine made my voice all vibraty, so I kind of sounded like a robot whenever I talked. 

What I didn’t exactly care for was. . .

“Hey Zee” Someone called out over on the side walk.

Within seconds, a group of at least five people had gathered onto the other side of the street, all calling Zees name and waving at him. a lot of them pulled out their phones and took pictures or started recording videos.

Like always, Zee glued a big grin to his face and waved back to his fans.

I, tried to wave as well, but no one really cared.

Once the light turned green, Zee made sure to loudly rev the engine before shooting forward, making the small crowd cheer with excitement, and forcing me to cling to him out of fear of falling off.

We stopped a few more times after that, with a different crowed developing at each stop.

Some were smaller then the first, some where three times the size, but they were all pretty happy to see Zee.

And, with each stop, Zee made sure to put on a show with his bike. Along with wasting more then half his tank of gas.

Now, with my heart permanently relocated to my lower intestines, we pulled up to the best restaurant in our town.

Burger Boy!

Just the thought of their juicy warm meat paddies, stacked delicately on top of one another with a piece of melted cheese adorning both of them. They would both be settled between two soft buns with the perfect balance of mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise guarding the enticing beef.

On their right would be a large blue and red container, which would hold a golden treasure. Fries, cooked to perfection, with a crunchy outside, but a soft tasty inside made of the best potatoes in the world.

To their left would be another treasure box containing ten bronze chicken nuggets. I could just picture the steam flowing out of them, and the chicken meat warming my mouth as I gobbled them up.

Tying all of them together was the heart of this quartet. A large cup with little droplets of water slowly creeping down it, which you could endlessly fill with the drink only gods should be allowed to consume. Cola!

The image of this culinary combination made my heart race with excitement and my stomach scream with hunger.

And the best part?

For the past two years they have had a deal where, for just ten dollars, you can get a 50 burger big boy meal. Small coke included.

I am personally proud to admit that I have had the honor of enjoying this noble privilege on more then one occasion. I just wish they'd put more burgers in the bag.

With my memories held safely in my heart, I armed myself with the mental image I had just painted, and boldly charged for the glass door of the fast food joint.

Unfortunately, the fates have deemed it necessary to only allow the worthy into this holly domain and have sent a challenger to test me and Zee.

"Excuse me" a deep voice boomed out behind us, "are you Zee?"

We both turned around to find a large being looming over us.

They stood several heads taller then us with bright orange hair covering their eyes, while also casting a shadow over their green skin.

I could see four long fangs sticking out of either side of his mouth, and two small horns resting on the sides of their head.

Even with out being able to see his eyes, I knew the troll was looking at us. Mostly because he was standing right in front of us and had more or less yelled Zees name, but still.

I felt a large lump form in my throat as my brain began to recognize the situation we were in and form a strategy that we most insure our survival.

We couldn't ignore this opponent, however it would be impossible to take him on head on.

It was also impossible to pretend we hadn't heard his challenge do to our poor choice of turning around.

I came up with twenty four more possibilities when Zee, with no concern for his own safety, stepped forward and bravely spoke to the troll.

"Well I ain't Ab Lincoln, or the dude on the penny" he said, smiling happily at our challenger, "what's up ma dude?"

There was silence after that.

A deathly silence which consumes your soul and can drive one to madness if they were to drown in it to long.

Then, the troll reached his massive hand into its pants pocket and drew from it, his phone.

"Can I have a picture with you?"

"Heck yeah!"

The little boys green face became covered with an ear to ear grin of joy as he nervously positioned himself around Zee.

To mach the kids height, Zee floated off the ground and hoovered so that they were shoulder to shoulder together and he happily held the phone for the nervous troll who’s joyful smile seemed to grow with every second.

Their goofy grins glued to their faces, the two of them took several pictures together

Most of which were just them being goof balls.

It looked like a lot of fun.

Eventually the little kids mom called for him, a green woman with chocolate brown hair and who was twice the height as her son.

Reluctantly, the troll said goodbye to his personal hero, but not before Zee handed him a small scrap of paper with his signature on it.

With tears of joy streaming down his face, the little boy wrapped Zee in a bone crushing hug and ran to his mom with his new prized possession in hand.

Zee gladly waved goodbye to the family as they drove off, his award winning smile never leaving his face.

"Nice kid" he said before floating back down to the ground and turning in my direction, "now, shall we dine at this fine establishment filled with grease and several health violations."

"Yes" I responded, as I felt my stomach begin to devour its self out of hunger, "let's eat, right now. Like, right now, right now."

“Dude, you’re talking like you haven’t ate in days.”

“I’m a growing girl. I need my burgers.”

“Well, you’re growing in some places.”

“Thank you. . . hey!”

“To the fast food!”

With his playful smile still glued on, and avoiding my annoyed glare, Zee pushed the door open and the aroma of deliciousness that filled the air made my mouth water, and my eyes tear up from the beauty. That, or it was the pollen in the air. 

In a few minutes we managed to place our orders, with Zee paying for it because working at a library didn’t net me much in the way of money, and we made our way to the booth we’d always sit at. 

It sat snugly in the corner where there were no windows and was kind of unnoticeable. All things considered, it was rather small and cramped and a little far away from the exit. Still, it was our little slice of heaven.

We plopped our selves into the plastic seats and sat our number onto the table. The restaurant was noticeably busier then usual with several, now high school graduates, taking up most of the booths and tables.

The poor over worked elves and demon who regularly ran the registers looked ready to faint out of stress.

I slumped onto the table. impatiently waiting for our meals to get to us.

“Why did they have to be busy today?”

“Cause it’s the second day of summer and the need business.”

“Yeah. . . but does that really mean that so many people need to be here?”

The more I looked around, the more I realized just how packed it was, and the more I just wanted to hide under the table so that nobody could see me.

It didn’t help that, about every ten seconds, someone would come up to Zee and talk to him. And, every time, I didn’t know what to say or do with my self.

Once, I managed to squeak out a hello. . . which sounded more like a catatonic kitty cat dying of hunger.

Shoot, I just made my self sad with that. Poor kitty.

Eventually, the amount of people dyed down, and Zees fans seemed to leave us alone.

“Hanging in there alright blondie?”

“No” I responded to his teasing, feeling physically and socially drained, “it’s been hours, where’s our food?”

“It’s been twenty minutes.”

“Still, that’s a long wait.”

My eyes lit up as I suddenly remembered something important and I sat straight in my seat.

“You remembered to get Clair something right?”

“Apple pie and a chicken sandwich. She should be here soon by the way.”

I sighed with relief and slumped back into my seat as the guilt I felt was somewhat lessened.

We had originally made this plan without talking with Clairabell, and just kind of assumed that she would be to busy. Turns out, she had already been out for summer and had just been waiting for us to call her.

“So” Zee said, pulling his phone out for a second, “how much you wanna bet she’s gonna talk to you about what classes you should take together?”

With that, another wave of guilt washed over me as I remembered the application Clair had given me for the college she was transferring to up in Europe. And, how I had to hide it from my mom who was already telling me how great the local schools were.

“Oh, well, I’m sure she’s not that serious about it.”

I tried to let out a giggle to ease my conscience. It didn’t work, I was still a trash human being.

Zee responded with a confused look.

“. . .We’re talking about the same vampire right? The one who has spent almost every waking moment finding us a place to live that’s near campus?”

“Yeah, but still.”

I tried to find the best words that would justify what I had said, but nothing came to me. 

There wasn’t really a right way to tell him that I probably wouldn’t be going to the same school as him and Clair. Not with how excited she had been when she told us that we could all go to the school together again.

Almost on cue, the door to burger boy opened and in stepped a tall young woman with caramel brown hair, and violet colored eyes. She looked around, almost as if she were a wild animal searching for her pray.

Soon, her eyes fell onto our booth and. . .

“Guys” she cheered before running towards us and leaping into the booth.

Not wasting any time, Clair promptly wrapped her arms around Zees and planted her lips against his.

“H-hi Clair” I managed to stammer out, feeling kind of like I should give them some space.

“Hi Skee-skee” she said with a warm smile, “so, what have you two been up to?”

“Oh you know” Zee said, apparently not bothered by Clair pressing her body against him, “driving around, fighting evil, summoning giant monsters, talking like batman.”

“You know ” I added, “the usual stuff.”

“You two really need to work on your comedy act” she responded, still smiling, “oh, by the way.”

She let go of Zee for a bit and reached into her tan purse.

“Ta-da” she said, proudly holding out some papers to me, “I managed to get the class list for next semester.”

“Oh” I said, the guilt settling in again, “th-thanks.”

“. . .what’s wrong?”

I lifted my head, and swallowed the lump in my throat.

“Nothing. Just super hungry.”

“Gods” she said, a little disappointed, “they are always so slow here.”

“Hey” Zee said, “it takes time to fry up horse hooves and pig guts.” 

“You know” I said, “if they hear you talking like that, they’ll probably spit in your food.”

“Ooh, yum, spit.”

This continued for awhile. Each joke becoming worse then the last, until, finally, our food had found its way to our table.

Before me was the delicious meal I had awaited a half an hour for. 

The burger, fries, and chicken nuggets were all so tantalizing, with the sweat sent of each of them teasing my nostrils so much so that I had no idea which to bite into first.

Clapping my hands together and unable to get rid of the smile on my face, I thanked which ever god had blessed me for this delectable gift and dived into the feast.

Two minutes later, I was downing my soda to wash down the remainder of my meal.

Meanwhile, both Clair and Zee had barely touched their food. It was fine, they've always been slow eaters.

“Skee skee” Clair said, “at least enjoy the food before you gobble it up.”

“Huh” I looked at her with confusion, “but I did enjoy it. . . hey, how much do they charge for seconds.”

Clairabell then promptly slumped her head in defeat.

“Ah, it’s not fair. How can someone look so cute but be such a huge glutton at the same time?”

“Simple” Zee said, “her stomachs a black hole.”

“Some say it can teleport you to another dimension” I chimed, “but in truth all it does is devour any surrounding matter into its empty void.”

“Hey” she demanded, “you know i can’t keep up with your science mumbo jumbo.”

It was really easy science though.

With a huff, Clairabell threw her hair back and proudly picked up her sandwich.

“Alright then, black hole stomach awaken!”

She then took a big bite out of her chicken and chewed it all up.

Then her lips recoiled and her eyes got a pained look.

I offered her my drink and she quickly used it to wash down the terrible flavor that, I’m assuming, was garlic.

“Ew” she proclaimed, “when’d they start putting garlic on these things.”

“It might be an attempt to keep you from coming here” Zee said, “that, or they screwed up our order.”

She chugged some more of my soda before and Zee cracked a few more jokes while I was reminded of how out of place these two looked here.

With her make up perfectly placed on her face, and her tan shirt and black skinny jeans hugging her body, Clair looked like a super model who had just wondered in to wait for her manager.

Zee meanwhile, with his strong jaw and muscular build and v-neck that emphasized his collarbone, looked as though he had just got done staring in a super hero movie.

In short, they looked cool.

Personally, I'd like to describe our as similar to Neapolitan ice cream.

Zee was chocolate, the one everyone goes to and loves. He's a hit at parties, goes great with everything, and is always there for you.

Clairabell's strawberry, the better second. She's sweet, pretty to look at, and has a slight tang to her that makes her endearing to everybody who meats her.

I, meanwhile, was vanilla. Not necessarily a bad flavor, just one that doesn't stand out without the other two. I'm boring to look at, only taste well for a short while, and would probably make chocolate and strawberry look better if I wasn't part of the dessert in general.

Any who, Zee and Clair headed over to get her chicken sandwich changed out, while I went to refill my sody pop.

As I watched the fizzy, dark brown liquid fill the cup, I contemplated how I would explain to them that I couldn't leave the town. How it would tear my mom apart if I went to a college were she wouldn't be able to see me.

Then, I tried to think about how I could bring up Europe to mom. My dad knew my friends wanted me to go, but we both knew how much mom wanted me to stay in town. How the community college has, more or less, every class I could possibly excel in.

Then, I thought about how my soda was over flowing and spilling out.

"Oh no, no, no, no."

I pulled the cup away, splashing soda all over my hands and the counter.

With a heavy sigh, I turned to grab some napkins and clean this mess up. That's, when I noticed the person staring at me.

They were standing by the door, directly infront of the trash can to be precise. They were wearing a large, baggy, gray hoodie that seemd to conceal their physical appearance. I wasn't even able to tell what their face looked like because it was concealed by the giant hood they wore.

The only thing I could make of them was that they were rather short.

I'm sorry for how that might sound but it was the only thing I could think of that could describe them.

For a while, we both just stood there not saying anything.

I tried to think of a way to approach the sittuation. How I should great this total stranger who was just staring at me.

My heart began to raise and a giant not started forming in my stomich.

I wanted this to end. To crawl into a hole and wait until this person stopped looking at me like some strange anomaly which didn't belong in this world.

"Skye?"

I turned around so fast to meet Clairs voice that I tripped over my own feet a fell flat on my butt.

"Are you okay" Clair asked, kneeling down to make sure I wasn't hurt.

"Y-yeah" I stuttered out, "I'm f-fine."

She continued to look at me with concern clearly not believing what I said.

"S-so, what are we doing after this?"

". . .we were going to go to the arcade. But, we could just call it a night-."

"Let's go."

I hoisted my self off the ground, hoping that I didn't look as freaked out as I actually was.

In doing so I accidentally placed my hands in the sticky soda mess I had made. So, there was also that.

"Oh, okay."

She kept looking at me with a worried look even as we made our way outside.

"Alright" Zee said, "who's driving, who's riding, and who's drinking? I'm doing all three."

He then promptly pulled out a flask and started chugging.

"Zee!"

"No worries, it's sprite. I ain't an alcoholic just yet."

I was about to step forward and hop onto Zees bike, but Clair quickly grabbed my shoulder and turned me in the direction of her bright red corvet.

[jcshustar]

[ MUSE 59 ] is that KIM TAEHYUNG ?  no ,  that’s just JOSHUA MEYER-COULSON ,  the 21 year old CISMALE who is a RETAIL ASSISTANT .  some say they’re INSECURE  &  THOUGHTLESS ,  but their family  &  friends will swear they’re CHARISMATIC & OPTIMISTIC .  when i think of them ,  i think of baggy sweaters ,  zippo lighters ,  pastel sneakers ,  &  messy hair .  i wonder if HIS family knows that HIS FASCINATION WITH FIRE ACCIDENTALLY CAUSED A BUILDING FIRE IN THE NEXT TOWN OVER .

born december 12 ,  1997 ,  as park jae-wook   (  english name ;  joshua park  )   in seoul ,  south korea while his parents were back home on vacation visiting family .  giving him dual citizenship between both south korea and the united states .

he was four years old the day of his parents death .  they dropped him at daycare  &  never returned to pick him up .  it wasn’t until his teenage years that he finally learned the truth about his parents after eventually seeking closure .

he was in the foster system for just over two years before being placed in the meyer-coulson household as a tiny six year old .  he settled in nicely ,  eventually being gifted an adoption certificate for his eighth birthday .  he was over the moon that he had found his forever home .

he was in the fourth grade the first time he had picked up a match for destructive purposes .  it was nothing more than a tiny paper fire in the backyard .  something he could have control over .  eventually he moved to bigger things .  he would spend his free time at parks with a lighter ,  melting away at the plastic parts of the playground .  it was fascinating to him the way it would melt at his will . 

it was all fun  &  games with his love for fire until he started a paper fire in a trashcan inside an old building .  he had assumed it would go out by itself once the fuel had disappeared but ...  according to a news story that night ,  it had spread  &  completely tore through the building .  

he hasn’t let that stop him from fire bringing him joy .  he’s just more careful with it nowadays .  the fact he had gotten away with the first fire was a miracle ,  &  honestly the poor boy wouldn’t do well in jail lmao

but !!  all fire shit aside he’s a very soft boy who honestly struggles making friends .  he’s been alone most of his life ,  really only having his fostered  &  adopted siblings .  so like ...  pls love him .  he’s very easily persuaded with food ,  especially sweet things so one cupcake is enough to win his heart tbh .

also he has the  BIGGEST  obsession with space .  even at a whole 21 years of age he has the glow in the dark stars  &  planets stickers all around his room .  he has a few space related tattoos including the planets down his spine .  when he dies ,  10/10 wants to be cremated  &  have his ashes launched into space so he can become stardust .

???  will add more when i think of it uwu

[communistmouse42]

1989

“The failure of the future haunts capitalism: after 1989, capitalism's victory has not consisted in it confidently claiming the future, but in denying that the future is possible.  All we can expect, we have been led to believe, is more of the same - but on higher resolution screens with faster connections. Hauntology, I think, expresses dissatisfaction with this foreclosure of the future” - Mark Fisher

My mother was born in 1989, a few months before the fall of the Berlin wall and the end of the Cold War, and two weeks before NASA launched the Galileo spacecraft. That same year, almost nine thousand kilometres from the place of her birth, a man had stood alone and resolute in front of a line of advancing military tanks, holding only his briefcase.

My mother did not inherit a suspicion of communists and a de-facto hatred of socialism, despite her education in the ideology of TINA (There Is No Alternative). The evils of her time were dole-bludgers and people with tattoos. Twenty-seven years later she would sob deeply for a long time after looking at a picture of the ‘Tank Man’, without really knowing why it hurt her so much.

My mother was fascinated by space, and our place among the stars. 9 days before her 14th birthday the Galileo Spacecraft would be destroyed as it plunged into Jupiters’ atmosphere, something intended by its creators. At the time my mother would be sitting on the floor of her bedroom, her back leaned against the bed, looking out the window and not really seeing. She would have been thinking about the future. She was always thinking about the future. By this age, she had stopped worrying that God would hear her questioning His existence, despite the best efforts of her Catholic school teachers.

It’s 2004 and my mother is exactly 14 and 9 months old. The woman sitting across from her has pale freckly arms and is holding her one-page resume in her hands, weighing it up. Her face is blurry. My mothers' hands are sweating and clasped together, resting on the sticky fake marble table that separates them. The table is white with flecks of opal and other smooth luminescent rocks. Fry timers ping loudly at intervals and the light is too bright. The smell of toilet cleaner wafts toward them and my mother can’t help but notice the finger smudges on the stainless steel door handle nearby. She does not like touching wet cloths or talking to other people but she wants the job, badly. She thinks of the final instalment of her latest fantasy trilogy sitting on the shelf at Dymocks with a sticker that reads: $29.99. The woman looks up from the resume and smiles. She asks, “Why do you want to work at McDonalds?”.

It’s 2004 on a Saturday in November and my mother is walking home from work, a layer of grease between her skin and the rough material of the uniform she’s wearing. Heat bears down upon bitumen and the same brick house, seemingly replicated hundreds of times, stretches to the horizon. There are no sounds and no wind. She is lost in thoughts about flying above a dark forest on the back of a dragon when the work truck pulls up beside her on the empty street. She is exactly 320 metres away from home and 10 metres away from my great-grandparents' house. They moved to the same suburb to spend more time with their grandkids. My mother regards them as being the best people to have ever walked this earth.

“Hey, sweetheart!”. In 2004 blood is rushing to my mother’s face, hands and feet, her stomach flips and her heart begins to thud painfully in her chest. She walks purposefully towards the side gate of her grandparents' house as her heartbeat and breath distort the sound of the men’s calls. Truck doors slam at the same moment as she closes the gate behind her. Nan and Pop are not home. She runs the length of the house and hears the unmistakable click of the side gate behind her. She stands under the clothesline in the backyard looking at Pop’s lemon tree, suburban silence, peaceful a few moments ago, now menacingly pressing down upon her. Determined not to panic, she makes a decision. The washing basket is tipped upside down, she tests her foot on the weak plastic. It cracks as her backpack lands with a soft thud on the other side of the back fence, in the vacant lot. Her small body follows, awkwardly sliding down the fence, scratched on the way by a hidden nail. She is running, bleeding slightly, jolted every second step by her backpack slung awkwardly over her shoulder. She is running past the unfinished but destined-to-be identical houses on the newly tarred street of the housing estate, gulping down tears. She doesn’t look back until her key is in the front door at home. The street is empty, ugly, and no place for human beings. A truck rumbles somewhere in the distance. She does not understand this world, and at that moment she is not very interested in staying.

It is 2006 and my mother walks home with her Math test results, she has received 99/100. My grandmother looks at her and says “where did you lose the mark?”. At the time her sarcasm does not translate.