#He looks well-adjusted but only in comparison to the rest of these freaks

[toxictoad]

I can't find the original post but I keep seeing screenshots of the one person who made their tav basically the party's dad and I love that. I love making old tavs that look at their companions and go "Whelp, I guess I have seven unruly children now" and by the time Jaheira joins in she sees basically one elderly adventurer juggling a vampire spawn, a (formerly) explosive wizard, a tiefling who only recently stopped being on fire all the time, the 24-year-old blade of frontiers, a murderhobo githyanki who was betrayed by her goddess, a recovering Sharran who was betrayed by HER goddess, a Drow who was literally an Absolute general like two days ago, and Tav is just like "My kids :)" While Astarion is pickpocketing people and Minthara is poisoning dinner and Lae'zel and Shadowheart are knife-fighting (Flirting)

[cuddlepilefics]

Clean sheets/fresh pajamas

Fandom: Stray Kids

Sickie: Changbin

Caregiver: Hyunjin

Prompt: @sicktember

No one’s POV.:

It had already been a couple of hours since Changbin had returned from the studio. He hadn’t been feeling his best lately, which was why Chan had sent him home early today, and he had gone straight to bed once he got back. That didn’t mean he’d be able to sleep though. Changbin had lain awake for the past few hours, trying to doze and hoping the incessant headache that had been bothering him lately would ease up a little once he got some rest. Rest wouldn’t come easy though and the rapper shuddered. His room hadn’t felt this cold earlier but he couldn’t seem to find the energy to get up and adjust the air-conditioning. It also didn’t seem like it was enough of a reason to call out to Hyunjin and ask the dancer to check his air-conditioning, just because Changbin didn’t feel like getting out of bed.

Sluggishly pulling his blanket tighter, Changbin rubbed his nose into the fabric. He had been a little stuffed up the day before but that was no comparison to his runny his nose had gotten since Chan had sent him home. The tissues on his nightstand had long since run out, so if he wanted to blow his nose, he’d have to go to the bathroom and that sounded like far too much effort. With how heavy his limbs felt, Changbin couldn’t picture himself moving anywhere anytime soon. Too bad that he had made plans to watch a drama with Hyunjin later that night. Oh well, if his dongsaeng was serious about their plans, he’d come and collect him at some point. Changbin could still hope that the other forgot about it somehow.

Of course, Hyunjin didn’t forget. Scrolling through his phone to see what they could order for dinner, the dancer leant against Changbin’s doorframe and hummed: “What are you hungry for, hyung? You didn’t eat dinner yet, right?” Only when he glanced up from his phone, did he see the pitiful state his friend was in. “Could you- Could you check the AC settings, Hyune? It’s so freaking cold”, Changbin rasped, his voice coming out unexpectedly husky. “Oh wow, you sound rough”, Hyunjin commented, walking up to the wall controller, “Hyung, I don’t think you wanna hear this but- the AC is off….”

After a stunned moment of silence, Changbin propped himself up on his elbow, causing the congestion in his sinuses to shift. Catching a wet sneeze in his blanket, he sniffled: “Why’s it- why’s it so cold though?” – “I mean, you certainly look like you could be running a fever”, Hyunjin frowned, clicking his tongue, “Hang on, I’ll go fetch the thermometer and… tissues?” The rapper nodded gratefully and closed his eyes. A fever would probably explain why he felt so awful. It also wasn’t like this had come out of nowhere. Changbin had been coming down with something for a few days now, he just hadn’t paid his body enough mind to realize he wouldn’t get away with a mild case of the sniffles this time.

When Hyunjin returned, Changbin gratefully accepted the tissues and went through multiple blowing his nose. For the first time in what had felt like hours, he could at least somewhat breathe and he gave a stuffy sigh of relief, that inevitably turned into a cough. “Here, open up”, Hyunjin instructed, tapping the thermometer against the rapper’s chapped lips. The older complied and held it under his tongue as he leant back into his pillows. When the device beeped, Hyunjin plucked it from Changbin’s lips and scowled: “No wonder, you feel so cold. I expected you to run a fever but I didn’t think it’d be this high.” – “Too high for another blanket?”, the rapper breathed, shuddering pathetically. Guiltily biting his lip, the younger hummed: “I could get you that fuzzy throw blanket from the back of the couch. It’s not all that thick, we just need to monitor your temperature closely.”

Bundled up under two blankets, Changbin sleepily glanced up at Hyunjin when the dancer mused: “I’d have a much better feeling about this if you took something for your fever, hyung. Do you think you could eat a bite before that though?” – “My throat hurts”, the older mumbled, pulling both blankets up to his chin. “I could make a smoothie”, Hyunjin offered, running his fingers through the other’s hair, “That way, you could also get your vitamins in.” Changbin gave a tired nod but pouted when the younger left. It had been nice to not be alone. Hyunjin wasn’t gone for long though and also kept him company while he sipped his smoothie. Once dosed up and warmly tucked into bed, Changbin drifted off pretty quickly and Hyunjin left, trying to find something useful to do.

The dancer had tidied up their shared dorm a little, glad that he hadn’t heard from his friend for the past three hours. Changbin tended to get restless with fevers but he was quiet. There was no rustling of sheets indicating that he was tossing an d turning in his sleep, nor the occasional distressed groan. Hyunjin could hear him snoring softly and decided to sneak in and set up the humidifier to hopefully help him breathe a little easier. He frowned a little, seeing Changbin’s forehead glisten with sweat, and tried to tug one of the two blankets off but the older kept an iron grip on it.

Hyunjin had decided to let Changbin keep his blanket for the fear of waking him but worried about the rapper’s temperature spiking, so he draped a cold washcloth over his forehead, causing his hyung to stir. Great. That was exactly what he had tried to avoid. “Hey, how are you feeling?”, Hyunjin whispered, cupping Changbin’s cheek. Drawing a raspy breath, the older mumbled: “Like shit.” He was so hot. Changbin clumsily kicked his blankets off the bed and immediately shuddered. Maybe he shouldn’t have done that. Wrinkling his nose at the way the rapper’s shirt clung to his body, Hyunjin offered: “I think I’ll run you a cool bath. You should feel more like yourself after getting rid of all that sweat. You can put in fresh pajamas afterwards and I’ll put clean sheets on your bed. There’s no way you could rest comfortably like this.”

Changbin didn’t have the energy to argue though he also didn’t know where he should find the energy for a bath. With Hyunjin’s help, he managed the short walk to the bathroom and was glad that the dancer had convinced him. The cool water soothed the burning ache in his muscles and refreshed him. Like he had promised, Hyunjin took the opportunity to change the sheets and brought Changbin fresh pajamas to change into afterwards. When everything was set up, he prepared a pot of herbal tea and placed it onto the rapper’s nightstand along with a cup and a bag of cough drops.

“Drama?”, Changbin rasped as he shuffled out of the bathroom, running the cuff of his sleeve under his nose. Joining him with a towel, Hyunjin hummed: “In a moment, let’s dry your hair first, hm? Wouldn’t want you getting worse.” When he was satisfied that Changbin’s hair was thoroughly dry, the dancer smiled: “Get to bed and I’ll join you with the laptop in a second. There’s tea on your nightstand. Drink something, yeah? You need to stay hydrated.”

Plopping down on the edge of his mattress, Changbin shakily poured himself a cup of tea. He sipped the warm drink slowly and sighed when it soothed his inflamed throat. Sure, getting out of bed and having a bath had drained a good amount of his energy but he felt so much better now that everything was fresh and clean. Hyunjin had even remembered his favorite cough drop flavor, which made Changbin smile after popping one between his lips.

There was a soft knock before Hyunjin joined him, carrying his laptop on his arm. He shot Changbin a smile while opening the right page and waited for the rapper to shuffle under the blanket. “Are you comfy?”, Hyunjin asked before placing the laptop down at the foot of the bed. Nodding, Changbin patted the space next to him. Not feeling cold in the slightest, the dancer sat down atop the sheets and offered his friend his shoulder to rest on. Changbin cuddled closer and gave a pathetic sniffle, making Hyunjin click his tongue and frown: “How did you manage to get yourself sick like this? You’re usually the one to eat healthy and take care of yourself….” – “Guess it can’t always be avoided”, the rapper forced out, massaging his throat, “Thanks for taking care of me though.” – “Of course, I’d take care of you when you don’t feel well”, Hyunjin shushed petting Changbin’s hair but the older shook his head.

“That’s not what I mean”, Changbin denied, “You do more than take care of me than get me food and medicine. You wouldn’t have had to change the sheets but you went out of your way and did and I’m grateful because it’s comfy.” Before he could ramble on, already tearing up, Hyunjin shushed: “Then maybe don’t use the phrase ‘take care of you’. I care for you and that means more, it means that I want you to be comfortable and happy and if there’s anything I can do to help with that, you can be damn sure, I will do it. I want you to feel better, hyung. You can’t tell me that laying down in damp sheets would’ve made you feel better.” – “It’s- I don’t even know why I’m so emotional”, Changbin sniffled, wiping his eyes, “I just- Thank you.”

“It’s probably the fever”, Hyunjin smiled, rubbing his friend’s back, “Don’t worry. It’s okay to feel emotions a little stronger sometimes and hey, at least, you now got something to blame if you cry mid-episode.” – “I never cry mid-episode”, Changbin argued before they both cracked up laughing, knowing full well how easily the rapper cried during when a scene got emotional. Not that Hyunjin was one to point a finger though, always being the first to tear up when the two of them watched something. That was also why they made the perfect pairing as dorm mates, enjoying the same dramas and reacting oh so similar to them and Changbin was glad they did because he now had company and wasn’t rotting away in his bed by himself.

Not that Changbin really got a chance to cry, already drifting off against Hyunjin’s side before any emotional scene could happen. The dancer checked the timestamp and memorized it, so he could re-watch it with Changbin at a later date. Exhausted from his busy schedule, Hyunjin didn’t take long to fall asleep either, the rhythmic sound of Changbin’s stuffy breaths kind of hypnotic. He rested his head atop the rapper’s and closed his eyes, determined to only rest them a little but really, who was he kidding?

[purpleturtle9000]

*skitters in through a hole in your ceiling*

Hi

So. The oranges. How much emotional damage are we lookin at, if any? Youngest siblings who have watched their older siblings die/almost die club? Is there guilt for not sacrificing sooner or does old Mikey have the self awareness to not fall into that? Are they cooking buddies do they swap recipes who helps them with their nightmares? Do they compare scars? Is there art done to cover/reclaim that pain?

Are there pranks involving floating

Until next time

*skitters back out the ceiling hole and patches it on my way out* 👍

🍊🧡🍊

Angelo is perhaps weirdly well-adjusted to everything that happened to him in the future. It affected him, of course it did, but he had the temperament and knowledge to deal with it a little better than the rest of his family. (He's not actually doing quite as well as he thinks he is, but like, he's ten out of ten compared to Leonardo.)

He doesn't feel guilty for the last minute self-sacrifice. Seven years after the apocalypse started, they tried the same plan as in the movie, and Angelo died. The rest of the family was barely able to bring him back, and his mystic powers hadn't done shit toward making a portal, so they called off the whole idea. None of them could bear to make the call, especially when it likely wouldn't work.

There's also the fact that going back to the past was going to reset the whole future. The more intel they could take back, and the better-trained that person would be, the more likely their chances of success. Besides, if it worked, all the suffering and death technically would have never happened, so he technically would have nothing to blame himself for.

He kind of still does, though. He'd always trained toward the idea of trying the time gate again, they just hadn't been sure if he could pull it off until it was time to try it out. Sometimes he wishes he tried earlier, if only so he didn't have quite so many memories of his loved ones dying, but at least they're all still alive in the past/present.

Little Mikey, on the other hand, has an absolute damn boatload of nearly-watched-my-brother-die trauma. He heard the wrist-comm recording of what happened in the prison dimension (he wasn't supposed to) and blames himself for every injury Leo got while Mikey was trying to open a portal to him. He could have had stronger powers, he could have been faster, he could have done something else-

Hearing Angelo's account of the future, what with the first attempt at the time gate and all, helps ease his guilt a little. But it's not like Leo's prison dimension injuries can be unwritten with a time gate, like all the drama from the future. There's not as much help there that Angelo can offer, besides being a listening ear, though that does help quite a bit.

They are cooking buddies absolutely! Angelo knows a thousand and one tricks for outdoor cooking and has April's mom's much-coveted brownie recipe. He won't share it, but he will let Mikey help stir things once all the ingredients are in a bowl. Mikey keeps guessing at what's in there, much to Angelo's amusement. And Angelo knows a bunch of new secrets about greenhouses and hdyroponics that endears him to both Mikey and Donnie (botany and tech nerd that he is).

Angelo also knows the best teas for soothing stressed-out turtles, which helps with everyone. The smell always wakes him up, so he goes looking to see what's happening whenever it's in play. He and Mikey have a lot of late-night conversations. Sometimes it's about serious stuff, sometimes it's about the Lou Jitsu fanfic that Angelo kept writing all through the apocalypse.

There's not a lot of scar comparison, because Angelo doesn't want to freak Mikey out by showing him everything that happened. Y'all've seen that post about Mikey missing a part of his shell in one frame? Angelo's not gonna show a fifteen-year-old kid that, doesn't want to freak him out.

Besides, his shell has healed, and Mikey's hands haven't quite. Angelo is actually quite helpful there! He's the only turtle with strong enough mystic powers to use them to heal, but it requires a use of his hands that still causes some pain for Mikey. Angelo can do it just fine, and add a bit of warmth to help soothe any lingering aches.

Angelo doesn't compare a lot of his art therapy, either, cause uh. There's a lot of blood in some of them and he doesn't think he should really show a fifteen-year-old that either. But not all of it is vent art! And he shows Mikey everything he draws that's a little less gory, cause there were still beautiful moments in the apoclaypse, and he's glad to have someone to share it with.

Mikey shows Angelo absolutely everything he makes an attempt at, and Angelo encourages all of it. And provides some art tips! Cause he's had twenty more years to hone his art skills so there's quite a bit that he can pass on.

There are so many pranks involving floating. Angelo teaches Mikey how to make his cape float behind him even when there's no wind, and how to open doors ahead of him. Mikey calls it their Jedi mind tricks and does the hand wave every time. (He also tries to mind-trick his way out of the chore list sometimes, which Raph never falls for). It's their favourite thing to do and they use Leonardo whenever they need to work on floating people/objects. He's patient about it and only whines a moderate amount when they drop him (Angelo does it on purpose, Mikey doesn't).

Thanks for patching the ceiling hole, I've been saying I need to get to that for weeks now!

[beholdthemem]

I've got some time before work, so let's see what episode 5 has in store. The visit from Lady Briarwood’s dead minions in 4 was arguably the scariest thing I've seen animated, so I'm already afraid.

Thoughts:

- "Oh man, being bad is so EXCITING!"

Sometimes Keyleth seems like she is living in a totally different genre than the rest of the party, and is still sort of adjusting. Like. Keyleth feels like somebody decided to take a Disney princess, put her in a Rated R For Gore, Nudity, And Sexual Situations tv show with the full expectations that she’d die horribly, and instead the princess decided “Well, when in Rome...” and taught herself to kill. How long did it take for her to learn how to swear?

- “...ooh. I don’t wanna know.”

“...”

“...no, that’s a lie, I absolutely wanna know! Tell me, what’s all this about?”

I completely understand why Vax keeps coming back to spend time with Gilmore, he is DELIGHTFUL.

- Is Vex the older twin? I feel like Vex is either the older twin, or THINKS she’s the older twin. Something about her interactions with Vax have this lovingly exasperated vibe of ‘Ah yes, my idiot little brother and his trusting-to-a-fault heart’ which is objectively hilarious because I think she’s the only person in the world Vax could be considered overly trusting in comparison to.

- “And here I thought you were practicing your resting bitch face.”

“Excuse me? My bitch face??”

I need to start making a list of Best Possible Things For Percy To Say In That Fancy Accent. I can HEAR the indignant quotation marks.

- Okay, I think I got it- Vax’s outlook is like. He lost a family before, but he’s gradually starting to feel like he’s found another in Vox Machina, and is looking to encourage that. Vex’s policy is that she lost a family before, is keeping fierce hold of what’s left of it, and has zero interest in adding new people to the remainder because she doesn’t trust them not to potentially fuck her/Vax/Trinket over, accidentally or otherwise. 

I wouldn’t have originally guessed her to be a control freak, but I think she is, a little? Just sort of in the sense that she went through something so traumatic and wildly out of her control early on that she cannot feel safe and comfortable unless she’s in charge of whatever situation she’s in.

- OH MY GOD, WAIT, THAT’S WHY SHE GETS ON WITH PERCY, BECAUSE HE’S THE SAME WAY. I’ve been trying to figure out why she just tolerates everybody besides Vax but seems genuinely invested in figuring Percy’s shit out, it’s because he’s the only one whose approach to life she understands, and she wants to give him the help with it that she didn’t get.

- CAN’T LADY BRIARWOOD JUST KEEP ASTHMATIC LITTLE PURSE DOGS LIKE EVERY OTHER RICH PERSON?!

- Scanlan I need you to understand that this is attached to a dog. You are frenching a dog right now. That is a new and unique low.

- “Come ON Percy, FASTER! HYAH!”

“This thing was not built for speed and DID YOU JUST ‘HYAH’ ME?!”

What is it about life or death situations that bring out the old married couple in these two? This feels like that scene from the Incredibles where Bob and Helen are arguing over the fastest route through traffic to get to the supervillain downtown.

- So the twins have a dad, and Daddy Issues to go with it. Hoo boy.

- Seeing what Whitestone’s become after hearing Percy describe the way he remembered it feels like another death.

- I knew we’d be coming back to the people the Briarwoods ‘invited for dinner’, but there was a moment there where I thought it was going to be what was left of the corpses of Percy’s family hanging from that tree, left up there as a constant reminder to the villagers of how easily Lord and Lady Briarwood can remove obstacles to what they want- and how much joy they get out of doing so. For your sake don’t be one. You’ll fail, and they’ll have fun making an example out of you for trying.

[imlovewithpixels]

It was about time! (Encanto one-shot)

- Reader x Pepa

Requested by @hotdiggitydammit :

Where Pepa has a crush on you and tried to express her feelings for you. But you're totally oblivious and naive. Oh! And you don't understand Spanish.

- All italic dialogues are in English, while the rest of them are supposed to be in Spanish because....Colombia. uu

(( Remember that my requests are OPEN - Spanish or English, please ASK ME ANYTHING, tALK TO ME ))

Also, If you like my work, check out my Encanto Masterlist. <3

- My first language is not English, so I apologize for any grammatical error.

“Julieta!” Bruno ran to his sister, hiding behind the woman. “She’s storming again!”

Julieta stopped cooking and her gaze went to the principal door.

Pepas was entering the house, with two dark clouds on her head, and lighting everywhere. The redhead scanned the house and when she saw her sister, it rain immediately.

“Ay, Pepa, It was that bad? “ Julieta comforted her sis, giving her an Alfajor. Bruno was silent behind the older triplet.

“It was so….horrible, embarrassing.” Pepa hides her face in her hands. “I gave her a bouquet of red roses….OF RED ROSES, and she…..She just look at me with her pretty eyes, that stupid and cute smile, and say something that I couldn’t understand. “ Everything around her was fog.

“So..she did accept the flowers? “Bruno enter the conversation shyly.

Pepa laughed scarily.

“oH, she took the flowers. Do you know what she did next, Brunito? “ Bruno shake his head, saying no. But Pepa couldn’t care less. “ She started to give them to everyone! To the kids, to the adults, I think that even mama has one! “ the youngest let her body rest in the arms of Julieta, the rain above the two of them.

“You know how (Y/n) is, Pepita. She is just…” Julieta stays silent, trying to figure out the words to describe you.

“Extremely oblivious? “Bruno add. Pepa let out a grunt and Julieta scold his brother with a look.

“ Well yes, she's kinda innocent in that aspect. Also, she does not speak Spanish. And probably can not understand a single thing that you said to her. “ Julieta caress the hair of Pepa. “I told you, if you need Agustin’s assistant, I could ask hi and….”

“No! I’m sorry, Juli, but I don’t want Agustin near to her!” Pepa immediately looks angry, pushing away her siblings and crossing her arms.

Julieta was about to ask why, but the teasing voice of Bruno interrupt her.

“Someone is jealous.”

Pepa almost burned in her place, her face was as red as her hair.

“Bruno you're dead.” She chases Bruno through the entire Madrigal house, with Julieta behind them trying to calm her furious sister.

….

You came to the Encanto six months ago, everything was blurry

in your mind.

You just wanted to travel through Latin America, even though you only speak English, but end up in the middle of a displacement of people in Colombia.

You were hurt and some men almost took you with them, but a family rescued you and they carry you until the Encanto.

Everything looks magical and colorful in comparison to all the cities in Colombia that you visited. It was such a relief to finally have some calm, that you almost forgot that you were hurt. Your head was spinning and your back had a lot of bruises and cuts.

A lady looked at you with worry and tried to talk to you,

“Excuse me, madam, I don’t understand what are you saying. I don't speak Spanish” everyone saw you in confusion.

A man in his twenties walks to you, he adjusts his glasses and cleared his throat.

“Lady, do you just understand English? I read a lot of books and I know a little bit of it “ he said.

Your eyes shinned for the excitement of being lucky enough to find someone who can understand you. Agustin was his name.

He explained to you the story of Encanto and you were delighted by it. Then he took you with his girlfriend, Julieta. She gave you some arepas and all the pain on your body was just banish.

Now, you were freaking out.

You just started exclaiming how incredible it was and Agustin tried to explain the situation to Julieta. Then you met Bruno, he was kinda uncomfortable when you asked for his gift so you did not talk too much to him. And then…she came.

With some clouds above her pretty fire hair, her eyebrows were frowning and some snowflakes fly around her face. Big green eyes who look directly at you.

She kinda panicked when she notice you and tried to breathe more slowly.

“Clear skies, clear skies. “ She repeated like a mantra.

“ Wow, Agustin, she’s really really pretty, are those clouds? That’s amazing. Asked her name, please, please. “ You said, looking directly at Pepa, who was just confused.

Agustin smiled at you and then looked at his cuñadita.

“Miss (Y/n) she’s Pepa, Julieta’s sister. Pepa, she’s (y/n). She just came to Encanto today and does not speak Spanish. “ Pepa nod, understanding the situation a little bit. “ Oh, she also said that you are really pretty and that your gift is amazing, I think that she wants to be friends with you.” He added.

The redhead blink two times, processing what Agustin just told her. You smiled at her, she looked cute confused.

Pepa look at you like you were just too radiant.

You looked cute smiling.

She recomposed herself and extend her hand to you, you took it excited and shook it.

At first, Pepa thought that you were just a cute foreign passing by. You were never afraid of her, instead, you always tried to be at her side and she notices that, smiling to herself. She learned from Agustin that you have traveled since you were young and you like to learn a lot of traditions and help the people around you.

You started coming to casita to help Julieta every Monday and Wednesday. On Thursday you used to play with the kids at the plaza and teach them English, while they showed you some words in Spanish. The ladies thanked you for your help. The others days you were doing chores for the town, sewing, knitting, and even painting.

Pepa used to see you every day. When she heard that you were planning to stay at Encanto for a long time, she could not explain the extasis in her heart. It was sunny for a whole weekend.

She likes how happy you were all the time.

She likes the way that you tried to use your hands to communicate when Agustin wasn’t around you.

She likes how you were the one to walk at her side when she was furious or sad.

She likes your face, your eyes, your hair, your everything.

She just liked you.

Oh no, she liked you!

The whole casita was covered in fog when the discovered her feeling for you.

It was a month ago, and Pepa was very direct, she wanted to tell you and knew if you feel the same or not.

But she was just too nervous and unable to express a whole sentence in your presence, even if you didn't understand her.

She also notice that she started to be more protective of you. She was uncomfortable when you were around Agustin (he could understand and have a normal conversation with you, that was NOT FAIR), Bruno, Julieta, or any potential romantic interest for you.

She tried everything.

Pepa cooked for you the other day, and you eat it at her side and leave a kiss on her cheek. When she came home with hearty eyes, Agustan came telling Julieta that you were grateful for the food that SHE made. Excuse me?!

Her next try was inviting you to dance a vals. You took her hand and danced with her. Pepa wanted to say something to you, but your face near to hers distracted her and make Pepa trip. She ran away that day and looked at you dancing with Bruno from her house.

Her attempt with flowers didn’t work either.

And now, she was just furious.

Agustin came home that day without you, Pepa did not care, but when she heard the boy saying that she wanted a vision from Bruno, she run to her sister’s boyfriend.

Julieta and he shared a look.

“(Y/n) said that she wanted a vision from Bruno because she had a crush…. and she wants to know if her feelings are reciprocated,” Agus said.

Bruno walk to the room, calling Julieta because her mama was looking for her.

“Why are you looking at me like that? “ He said when Pepa dedicate him the fifth death glare of the week and then run of the house.

….

“Het, (Y/n), what are you doing? “ You hear your name coming from Pepa’s lips. She was kinda nervous and sweating, but you just notice her beautiful voice calling you.

You smiled at her.

Pepa massaged her temple and just pointed the green wool that you had in your hand.

“I’m trying to knit something to Bruno, so maybe he would give me a vision.” You explained to her, mimicking with your hand your actions. It was well known that Bruno disliked making visions, but you wanted one.

“A vision? Why?” You could understand her simple question and felt your face a little red.

You didn’t know what to say to her.

“Do you…like someone?” Pepa asked you, pointing at your heart. You nod slowly, looking at her eyes while she came closer to you.

“Who? Who do you like, (Y/N)?” Her body was basically against you.

You wanted to say her name, you fell for her the day that you saw her. But she was so beautiful, so elegant, some generous, always giving you things and presents. She was too kind, tripping while dancing with you because she knew that you didn't was the best dancer. Or giving you roses to cheer up everyone’s day.

Papa was just perfect.

Feeling her gaze on you, make your smile disappear and be replaced with a nervous grim.

Her weight was too much for you, and you fell in your back with the redhead on top of you.

“Gorgeous.” You whisper to her.

Pepa look at her reflection in your eyes, your hair was kinda tangled against the ground. Your cheeks were hot and your lips calling for her.

She could not think.

She just kiss you.

You were shocked, this was really happening? Your arms wanted to embrace the weather lady, but she pulled apart from you immediately.

Her face was terrified and a big storm in her head.

“S-sorry. I-I…” She tried to stand up, but you hug her waist.

“I look you! “ You said nervously. Pepa blinked confused. “I LICK YOU!?” Now the younger triplet was embarrassed AND confused.

This was not working.

You pointed at yourself, then at your heart, and then at her.

In her head you could appreciate a rainbow, embrace you too, leaving a kiss on all your face. When she was about to kiss your lips, a voice interrupt both of you.

“It was about time!”

“Bruno! You kill the moment! ”

“ Dear, they already saw us!”

Pepa’s siblings and Agustin were watching you two on the ground.

Pepa stood up embarrassed, she helped you and leave a kiss on your mouth. Then she ran fiercely after Bruno.

You just laughed, with your cheeks burning.

…

Thanks for the request and for reading, a really appreciate it if you leave comments or ask me anything <3.

This was so funny and sweet to write.

Besitos a todo el mundo.

Truly yours, Astrid.

[bokettochild]

About Legend having insane leg strenght: what if the reason he never brags about that is because he's embarassed about it? He thinks that pulverizing a boulder with a kick is either something everyone can do or too similar to a bunny. One day he and Four get dumped into a monster camp without their items or weapons and Legend takes desperate measures to ensure they don't die: anihilating the entire camp with only his legs. He is unironically and literally capable of killing someone with his /1

This ask references this post btw, so, check it out if you need context!

Honestly, I loved this so much! THANK YOU!!! But I am half asleep, so the cool stuff I saw in my head is being stinky and not comng out. I'm sorry, hope you like my half-asleep drabbl of Legend being weak as shit while simultaneously having the strongest kick out of the whole Chain XD

Legend hates being at Ordon.

It’s not that he hates the people; he’s used to country folk, he was raised around them, heck, his grandparents have the same strong twang in their voices that everyone in Twi’s village does! He loves the fresh air and the sounds of animals and the sight of growing things everywhere he looks.

But he hates looking around and seeing Twilight’s entire village (even the freaking kids!) wander around lifting things that probably equal his entire body weight!

Seriously, Malo (that was the terrifying toddler’s name, right? That’s what Twilight said when he introduced them all, right?) could lift up a small goat with ease, and he was an actual toddler!

What was Uli feeding her children that they turned out this strong? Were all the village women using it? How on earth was every person in all of Ordon fully capable of throwing Legend over their shoulder?

It hadn’t happened yet, but Legend was on guard because it was only so much time before someone figured out it was possible, and it wasn’t as if he could fight them off.

He wasn’t jealous, definitely not. Not even when he saw Twilight carrying a mother goat across the village with an easy stride as he brought the nanny back to her pen. When he buried his face in his arms and sighed it wasn’t because he was remembering how much he had to tug and pull to move a basket of apples, no, it was just because the mere thought of carrying goats for the foreseeable future made him tired. Definitely.

But this strength was just an Ordon thing, right? It was totally just something that was common in Ordon, and Legend took comfort in that as he sat on the front porch of Uli and Rusl’s house and helped with the mending.

Even their blankets were heavy, what the heck?

But then Sky walked past.

And Sky was carrying a barrel, an entire barrel. One that swished and clunked with the sounds of grain filling it, and if the small trail of spilled seed that followed after the hero meant anything, then that thing was full.

Okay, so Skyloftians were strong too, no big deal.

Big deal.

Their entire visit to Ordon, helping to hide away animals and supplies before a local monster band stole them, was spent with Legend trying desperately to not be jealous as he watched everyone from Wind to Time lift and carry things that he couldn’t even knock over if he pushed against them.

It wasn’t even that most of thing things were heavy, it was just... he was weak.

Uli’s gaze when she’d figured out the truth had been surprised, eyes blown wide with shock as she watched as Legend, who’d opted to help indoors since he knew working outside would lead to him being more a burden than an aid, struggled to lift buckets of water to fill the wash basin. Dark brown eyes had followed him as he’s left the bucket outdoors and stomped inside, hissing and wheezing under his breath as he moved his attention to his bag and grabbed one of his power bracelets.

“Hun,” Uli’s soft country twang caught his attention as the woman drew close, concern filling her warm gaze. “Are ya’ feelin’ alright?”

And reputation or no, Legend’s Gran would have his hide on a hitching-post if he even so much as dropped his manners. There was something about country folk that was so inherently polite and welcoming, that even the salty vet couldn’t help but return with the same manners that his Gran had pounded into his head since childhood.

“Yes, ma’am.” Crimson trailed up his neck to blossom across his cheeks and shoot up his ears. He tried to ignore that Uli had a baby on one hip and a bushel of food on the other, breath contained and relaxes as she stood there, no hint of strain in her face or body language. His fingers trailed along the clasp of his power bracelet, shame building inside as he shuffled his feet.

You just can’t walk away when lady’s talking to you, especially if she’s being all polite like and just makin’ sure you’re okay.

“Are you injured?” The farm-wife pressed. “You were huffy something huge with that there bucket.”

And Legend would like nothing more than to sink into the earth as he glances over the full bucket of water that no matter how hard he tries, he just can’t lift. “I’m just not much of a farm-hand is all, ma’am. I’ll be right as rain in a tick, just needed to grab something I forgot.”

And while the look Uli gives him is a bright smile, he knows worry when he sees it peeking out of someone’s gaze. He tries to ignore that, instead turning back to the chores he’d been assigned and trying his hardest to ignore ethe fact that no one else was wearing power bracelets when they all came back for dinner that evening.

He’s not strong. So what? He can lift his sword well enough, and he can do most other things too when he wears the power bracelets.

Yes, he knows that Ravio warned him about not developing muscles if he relied on objects so much, but he’s never had time to work out or build any muscle mass, so when he needs it it’s a bit more important to just get his work done rather than hope he’ll develop it. He’s paying for that, and he knows it, but he can’t really help that he doesn’t have the time or space to really do anything about it.

Oh well, at least the others haven’t caught on.

Warriors hefts a huge rock over his shoulder and throws it, chuckling deep and loud as he smirks at the rancher. “Beat that!”

They’re clearing a road where an avalanche swept through and blocked off the main entrance to a local town. They’ve been at it for hours, and while Legend tries his hardest to be discreet by sticking to things he can actually lift, even if it does require his bracelets, the others have devolved into a contest to see who can throw stuff the furthest.

There’s nothing on the other side of the road except for the edge of a swamp, and even Legend has to admit that it’s ridiculously satisfying to hear each of the heavy stones go ‘plop’ as they land in the marsh.

Twilight smirks at the captain, all his sharp teeth on display as he hefts a rock that’s the size of Wild and easily bigger than half of the rest of the heroes. “Watch and learn, city boy.” Twilight grunts (well at least it took some effort) before throwing the boulder and watching with the rest of them as it soars through the air and lands with a dramatic ‘splosh’ in the middle of the swamp. Cheers erupt from the younger heroes, and a few even drop their own burdens to give a brief round of applause.

Warriors humphs shrewdly, gaze thin as he looks over at Twi, who only cocks a brow in challenge. “Anyone think they can beat that?”

Legend finds his gaze meeting Four’s swirling hazel, and they both quickly look away from the captain, both well aware that the biggest rocks they’ve lifted are maybe the sizes of their heads, and no where near the horrific loads that the taller heroes are tossing left and right.

“I’ll try!” Wild’s eyes are flashing as the kid clambers over the rock slide, eyes darting to and fro until they land on what has to be the biggest, most horrifically sized piece of rubble Legend has ever seen. The Champion beams, rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles briefly before taking the stone in both hands and lifting it over his head and throwing it.

The swam erupts in goop and several of their group yelp and have to dark back as smelly water sprinkles the edge of the path. Wild beams down from his perch on top of the pile, hands on his hips as he looks down at them. “Who dares challenge my strength?”

“How about you, Vet?” Warriors nudges him lightly, chuckling with a cocked brow. The man is just teasing, and he doesn’t mean any harm, but Legend finds himself irritated anyways. He doesn’t know what it is about Warriors, but the man gets under his skin entirely too easily.

“No thanks.” He grunts, hefting his own stone (so small in comparison) a bit higher and adjusting his grip as he walks over to the swamp.

Wild scrabbles around above, knocking stones aside and sending them rolling down towards the vet. Legend rolls his eyes, dodging quickly around a few and kicking some of the larger ones in the direction of the swamp.

He smiles to himself at the satisfying ‘plonk’ as each one hits the surface.

Four’s head aches and the next time they see Warriors they’re going to kick him in the shins.

The captain is good at planning, usually, but if his planning means that Four is waking up to stare around a vast room where people in red and black PJ suits are eating bananas because said plan went wrong, then they think they’re a bit justified in wanting to kick the captain.

They’d reach to rub their head, to adjust the headband that’s riding too low and letting their hair all hang in their eyes, but their hands are bound behind them, and they’re left huffing their breath and scrunching their nose in an effort to relive their irritation. Their mind is too wild to shake their head, but they let their eyes wander.

Legend’s violet gaze meets theirs, sharp fury bubbling below the surface as Legend sits across from them, hands bound behind him, a rope leading from his wrists to a hook in the wall that is definitely higher than either of the two of them can reach.

As unkind as it is, they breathe a sigh of relief to know they aren’t alone (even if being four people in one body technically means that they’re never alone as is). It’s...nice, having Legend around. They don’t know what it is, but the taller boy feels safe and that’s something that they, especially Red, fond comfort in.

But the fact that two of them are here means that Wars is getting both his shins kicked, fair is fair.

Legend squeaks in that harsh way he does when he’s angry, a poor and rather adorable attempt at a growl, but apparently, he’s unable to make any sort of guttural noise, so the squeak is the best he can do. “I am going to strangle Wars when we get back. Yiga? Seriously?”

They raise a brow. “Weren’t we fighting moblins?”

“And a Talus. Unless these guys have transformative rings, then someone messed up.” The vet grates out, but before he can try and unravel their situation any more, a masked face is shoved into the vets own, one of the pajama clad banana eater’s apparently trying to leer over the vet, breath strong and rank even behind his mask.

“So! The friends of the hero awake! You will call me Astorah! Leader of the Yiga and supreme priestess to Lord Ganon!”

“I’ll call you annoying and maybe alive if you let us go.” legend drawls, unimpressed. “Seriously lady, get your face of mine or I’ll knock it in.”

They smirk. Legend is as polite and well-mannered as can be around the country villages, but the minute he’s away from thick mountain drawls and country twang, the Vet becomes a sour and salty speaker who’s as likely to threaten you as o smile at you. It would almost be funny if they weren’t being held captive.

Astorah makes an indignant sound, hand shooting out to smack Legend across the face. The vet can’t do anything to stop it, and the blow sends his head swinging to the side, a faint grunt escaping as the self-declared priestess stands to her full height (she’s taller than either of them at any rate) and promptly orders her subordinates to see to it that the prisoners be brought to ‘the mountain’.

“The hero will be looking for his friends,” The pajama clad leader declares excitedly, hands rubbing together like a villain in a bad stage play. “So, let's help him out, shall we?”

The vet and smithy exchange a glance, each somewhat surprised at how... pathetic their opponent seems to be.

“Their screams should do the trick; all heroes listen to cries of help after all.” There’s a mad waver in her voice and the pitching is all wrong.

She’s delusional. Vio whispers, and the rest of them are inclined to agree.

Across from them, legend scowls as another red and black clad weirdo comes to grasp his binds, unhooking them from above as yet another does the same to Four.

Ideally, they would try and escape now, but legend only follows along slowly as Astorah leads them through the endless halls and up step after step, murmuring, laughing and shrieking loudly as she goes, hands fluttering and gestures erratic as Legend’s scowl grows more and more each minute.

It all seems rather pathetic, all thing considered, until another, larger, more intimidating individual stops them, voice harsh as it grates out something in a language neither hero can understand. Astorah protests and shrieks at the figure, but they disregard her and instead turn to the heroes.

“Put them back, screams echo within a cave far better than on a mountain top.”

Four’s stomach sinks. Being outside means being closer to escape, means finding the others easier and kicking Wars for landing the in a battle where two of their own had been captured by the enemy.

Legend seems to be of the same idea, his eyes flashing as he pulls at his bonds, tugging away from the guard holding onto him.

The oddly garbed enemy slaps him again, but Legend doesn’t seem to be affected, only pushing harder and biting towards the next hand that swings his way. Astorah pulls away with a light sob, shrieking when Legend’s teeth keep hold of her hand while the enemies around them erupt into action.

Fours unsure of what happens next, their head is still spinning, and quite honestly, they’re sure Hyrule will declare him concussed when they get back, but he does see blows being thrown Legend's way, blades being drawn as shouts echo around them.

There’s a dark of movement, and one of the enemies falls. Four stares in shock for half of a moment before turning their gaze to Legend, who, for all intents and purposes, looks half feral.

Blood stains the Vet’s bucked teeth and his hair swirls as he spins and ducks beneath blows. His hands are still bound tightly behind him, a rope trailing on the ground as Legend evades contact, yet somehow still manages to down another enemy.

Four would try and help, but their mind is spinning, their brain not yet up to date with what their eyes are seeing, that and they’re still bound themself, their arms are fastened behind them and they’re not even sure how Legend is managing to get blows in.

And the he sees.

The vet’s boot swings up to make contact with one of the jaws of the enemy.

Yiga. Wild had told them about them, the Yiga clan, people out for the hero’s blood. The word only comes to mind now, but they’d had to tune out of the battle for a brief moment to remember it. They’re brought back to it as the sound of an agonized scream breaks through the air, accompanied by the harsh snapping sound that Four knows too well from having broken their own bones.

Legend fights with his hands behind his back, kicking out like an angered horse and injuring any who step near. It’s impressive honestly, watching how blood spurts and bones crumple from the force of the vet’s blows, and all that without having use of his hands.

The Yiga back away, eventually leaving the room entirely as Legend squeaks out an angry Legend sound after them, before turning his attention to Four. Four says nothing, and it appear Legend thinks that that’s okay, because he darts towards the door they had been headed too, leading Four with nervous glances being thrown back over his shoulder every few minutes.

The mountain top they emerge onto is higher than Four expected, and they want nothing more than to snuggle down in the cozy parka Legend once leant him, but they have none of their items, and they’re lucky to even be out in one piece.

It takes a lot of work to climb down a mountain with their hands tied, but their fingers are too cold to make any good of the knots, and they manage in the end to climb down. They’re in the last legs when Four notices what looks like a small group of travelers below, and they can almost hear the singing of the Four Sword from them.

They’d dropped their blade in their battle, the very reason they were caught in the first blade. They’re not happy someone else touched it, but they are glad they didn’t leave it behind.

“Four,” Legend’s voice breaks them from their thoughts, and as they turn to face him, they find that Legend’s face is flushed, ears twitching nervously as he avoids their gaze. “Could you...not tell the others about all that?”

“About what?” They clamber down another stone, Legend still within sight as he trails down beside them.

“The...kicking.” Legend flushes. “I know you guys- most of them anyway- could have it handled better. I just, Wars is bad enough as is, I don’t need him bring up my lack of strength next time he decides he needs ammo to mess with me.” There’s a scowl on the vets features as he hops down and across and small hold in the mountain side. “I get it, I’m weak in comparison, they could probably have beheaded those guys with their bare hands, but mine fingers are shit o a good day and-”

Four doesn’t know if they actually figure something out or randomly spew words, but Legend’s eyes turn to them in surprise when the smithy stares down at him. “You do know most Hylia’s can’t do anything by kicking each other, right? I’m planning on kicking Wars when we get back, and the most it’ll do is bruise him.” Their voice is flat, but they let Viol take over, he always had the best endurance out of them when it came to rocky places anyways. “You kicked a man’s ribs in, Legend.”

And it’s not funny, it really isn’t, but they giggle, watching as Legend flushes before their eyes, and when the others trail up towards them, gazes curious and concerned, Four is laughing hysterically.

It could be the head wound, it could be Legend’s face, but the thought that Legend was able to kick a man's ribs in and hadn’t done so to any of them yet was both surprising and highly relieving for whatever reason, and it’s hilarious listening to Legend try and explain himself as the vet protests and struggles against the fact that apparently Hylian’s don’t usually have enough leg strength to kill people with.

Yes, people died back there. Yes, Four just watched them die. Maybe it’s Shadow’s influence, but Four can’t find that they're overly bothered. They are tired and injured and cold, and if they can laugh about something as ridiculous as Legend’s strange strength imbalance, then Hylia danggit they’re going to!

They never do kick Wars’ shins in, they giggle to hard at the thought that Legend doing so could actually break them, so they topple over before they can lift their feet.

[colorseeingchick]

Special Cuddles Headcanons (Midoriya, Bakugou, Todoroki)

All Cuddles are special!!! But some are more special than other if there’s a bigger emotional link behind it, so here are some headcanons for those types of situations hehe

A/N: Headcanon writing perplexes me for NO REASON so I’m so sorry if this is not how headcanons work OAISDNFOWI 

Warnings: slightly suggestive? Aged up regardless (they’re all pro heroes)

Midoriya Izuku 

Cuddling with Deku is by far the most frequent form of physical affection you guys share.

Usually, you would be tucked up against him, with his arm around your waist while you who lean against his shoulder.

And you two would usually read a manga, scan his journal, or just watch videos together like that.

It was a major source of comfort for both of you.

But sometimes you wanted to be closer to him.

If you both came back from training or patrolling and were exhausted, you would usually just want to watch anime together and just relax.

Deku would probably be on the couch before you, waiting for you. 

And seeing him itself just made you put your guard down a bit.

When you would arrive you would pull his legs apart (which would, of course, get him really flustered).

“Wha-what are you doing Y/N??” 

But you were too tired to actually mess with him, so you just turn yourself around and plop down between his legs.

Your back would be resting against his chest. 

And you would tug his arms around your stomach so he could hold you tight.

Once he realized you weren’t trying to do anything more than cuddle, he would settle into the hold. 

You would stroke his arms that were wrapped around your stomach or use a thumb to stroke his knees that were on either side of you. 

He would rub your belly on instinct and would press kisses onto the side of your head and face.

He would also whisper sweet nothings and compliments into your ear. 

“You’re so cute, Y/N.” “You work so hard, baby. You deserve to rest.” “Is this comfortable? Do you want me to adjust?”

In your relationship, Deku always wanted to protect you. But just as much as he wanted to keep you safe, you wanted to keep him safe as well. 

He definitely fell in love with you when he saw how strong and resilient you were.

But that also came through in your relationship at times, in that you tried to stay strong even when you weren’t feeling like it.

So when you would cuddle with him like this, where you were entirely wrapped up in his arms and completely vulnerable, and he could feel your breathing-

This was his favorite thing in the world. And his favorite way to be with you. 

You would just stay like that for hours, eventually falling asleep in his arms. 

BONUS: sometimes you would wake up and he would still be awake watching TV holding you.

And sometimes, if you were really feeling it, you would rub up against him “in your sleep” and watch him stutter, blush, and feel his grip around you tighten (the poor baby was worried you were doing this entirely subconsciously and feared waking you up if his body *reacted*).

Bakugou Katsuki

Bakugou loved being the dominant one in the relationship, constantly being the one showering you in affection. 

When you two cuddle on the bed, he’d always pull you onto his chest so he could hold you. And you two would talk or fall asleep like that. 

Or at least, that’s the image he would usually want to project.

The truth, though- is that he’s one big cuddly baby.

Bakugou will NEVER admit it. He also refuses to initiate it.

But you could also read him well enough to know what he wanted/needed. 

If he came back from his agency really frustrated, or even worse sad, you knew what to do. 

You would sit up in bed, and when he came through the door, you would beckon him to come to you.

He would then try and sit next to you, but you would pull him so he would be directly in front of you. 

“What.” He would stare you down with an intimidating glare. 

But you see how much your boyfriend was hurting inside.

“Come here.” 

You pull him forward by his face and kiss him, stroking his cheeks.

At this point, he would let all his sadness out.

You would pull him down onto you, so that he was on top of you this time.

His arms would happily encase you and your legs would wrap around his

He would nestle into your chest (if you have boobs, he IS using them as a pillow) 

You would rub the back of his neck and run your fingers through his hair, massaging his scalp as you did so 

You could see the goosebumps rise up on his neck and arms.

And you lightly run your fingers over the sides of his arms so it tingled and made the chills worse.

Extra points if you can get him to shudder. 

He would glare up at you, but his face would still be buried in your chest so it would just be cute.

After that, you would close your eyes too, letting one hand rub his head while the other traces  “I love you” onto his back, passively humming. 

With this much soft affection, this man would knock OUT. 

You were his safe space and biggest source of comfort.

And no matter ‘weak’ or soft he may have been on bad days, you would never make fun of him for it.

Even better, you wouldn’t mention it. You knew that it would only make him defensive or insecure.

So those moments of pure vulnerability and intimacy would continue on as a shared secret between you two, always present when you looked at each other, love shining in the back of your eyes.

BONUS: Bakugou would go an extra mile to hug you tighter, tease you more, and cover you in bites and kisses the nights after he received special cuddles from you. 

Todoroki Shoto 

Cuddling for Todoroki was always a special occasion. 

You guys would cuddle on the weekends usually, if you guys could somehow get a day to spend at home (Todoroki half-lived at the agency). 

During this time, you guys would take turns being the big spoon.

Todoroki liked it. He loved it, actually. 

Physical affection made his heart flutter, and the warmth he got from you made even his own flames pale in comparison.

He wanted to be closer to you in any way possible, but he was also really sensitive to physical contact.

It could get really overwhelming because of his past experiences.

So he would be really nervous to ask you to initiate it, cuz he also didn’t know how he would react to it. 

Until one day he did, while you guys were cuddling, him spooning you.

“Y/N.” “Yes?” “Can I be closer to you?” “Like, physically?” “Yes.”

You giggle, because it was such a Todoroki question. 

It was innocent, obvious, yet genuine. Everything you loved about him. 

You also were aware of his sensitivity, so you knew that pinning him down or pulling him onto you would probably give him a heart attack, so you proceed with that in mind. 

Loosening his grip around your body, you wiggle your way around so you are now facing him. 

He looks at your eyes wide and unmoving. 

You then wrap your arms around his body slowly, so he could process what you were doing.

Closing your eyes, you softly pull yourself forward, your forehead pressed against Todoroki's.

When his hands grip your waist and lower back to pull you fully against his body, you open your eyes to stare directly into his hetero-chromatic ones.

You think it's wonderful until you realize-

"Shoto, why are you not… breathing??"

This boy had been holding his breath, and you could tell because his chest wasn't moving against yours, but his heartbeat was aggressively hammering against his rib cage so hard you could feel it.

"I was worried I would be breathing on your face and it would cause you discomfort and make you let go."

That was the last thing he wanted right now. This was everything he craved.

 It was like a hug, but better. your face was level with his now. Your body was entirely pressed up against his, both of you were pulling each other close, and your legs were intertwined. Best of all, he got to stare into your pretty, pretty eyes.

But somehow, it wasn't invasive. Probably because of the way you went about initiating it. It was heaven to him. He didn’t want it to end. 

You giggle once more before saying, "I don't mind you breathing on me, Shoto. I'm more concerned about how tight you can hold me-" 

As a response, he squeezes your waist, pulling you tightly against his abdomen.

"-so just relax, love. I'm not going anywhere." 

You two would then proceed to talk, sleep, or stare into each other's eyes, just like that. 

BONUS: This way of cuddling became more frequent for you two as Todoroki got more acclimated to the contact, but Todoroki soon realized you wouldn’t want to cuddle that way for too long because it got really hot. 

So one day, before he laid down next to you, he stripped his shirt off- and you obviously freak out.

He had an undershirt on, but STILL- AHHHHHHHH 

“Just so my clothes don’t make it hotter while we cuddle.” He said it so nonchalantly and clearly didn’t understand why you were freaking out. Oh Todoroki.

[cjtheghost-14]

Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans - Pidge Gunderson x Reader

Requests: None (but please give me some)

Notes: This came to me while I was eating chocolate covered espresso beans at 3:42 am last night, why do you ask?

Summary:  Your the White Paladin on team Voltron, and you also happen to be dating the little gremlin piloting the Green Lion. Pidge Gunderson. Lately, you haven’t been able to have much alone time, what, with saving the Universe and all. The only downtime the two of you have is at night, and the castle has run out of coffee. Your body can’t handle it, and you pass out as soon as you get in bed with your girlfriend. Pidge, on the other hand, doesn’t need coffee to stay awake. It’s not like she has a choice, anyhow. She’s always up late working on upgrades for the castle. You’ve been upset about the lack of contact the two of you have been having lately, and mad at yourself for always falling asleep. What are you meant to do without coffee? Then you remember something you smuggled aboard when you left Earth.

Warnings: Some good old fluff, being sleep deprived, stress, caffeine over load,  swearing

(sorry this took so long, blame my hectic life!)

Is it 11:00 pm already? How could that be right? You check your watch again, your vision beginning to blur from exhaustion. You take a sharp breath in, being able to just make out the time. It was, in fact, 11:00 pm. You rub your eyes in an attempt to just simply wipe the sleepiness away. Today was an unusually long day for the whole team. Zarkon apparently didn't know the meaning of sleep since his attacks have been relentless. Just today the team saved two planets. Although afterwards, the castle had been so severely damaged that we spent the rest of the day trying to fix it. Coran only let you stop a few minutes ago. He could’ve kept you longer, if not for that fact that you were practically falling asleep while re adjusting the teludav. You didn’t know if your girlfriend, Pidge, was even going to be in her room but you drag your feet in it’s direction anyway. She was always the busiest when it came to castle repairs, leaving you alone with your thoughts. After leaving your family, maybe some quality time with your depressing brain wasn’t the best idea. You have never felt more alone. Loneliness was corrosive, eating away at your heart until it left only a shell of a human. It could arguably be the worst feeling someone could feel. And ever since you left earth to become a paladin, that very feeling has taken over your already fragile mind. You depended on Pidge to pull you through, but you’ve barely been able to see her lately. Now, of course, you had the rest of the team beside you. You loved cooking with Hunk, listening to Coran’s weird stories and Allura’s beautiful ones. You loved spending time with Lance, he was your best friend after all, and you grew up with Shiro and Keith. Shiro was like a Dad to you, as Keith was like your brother. You loved them all with your whole heart. But those bonds paled in comparison to your feelings for Pidge. Your heart ached thinking about her. All you wanted to do was hold her in your arms. The thought made you walk faster, rounding the corner and not hesitating to barrel into Pidge’s messy room. You stumble over a box of electronics, your eyes landing on Pidge sitting on her bed, fiddling with something glowing. Your face breaks into a huge grin as you see her sitting there, her face bathed in blue light, glasses askew on her nose, pictures of you and her stuck on the wall behind her.

“Pidge!” You exclaim, surprised that she was actually here.

Her head shoots up, the lazy smile you love making its way onto her face. “Y/N!”

You run over to her, jumping on the bad, grabbing her face and slamming your lips onto hers. She laughs, pulling away slightly to look at you. “As much as I loved that, Y/N, I have work I need to do.”

“But I haven't seen you in days!” You say, your hopes sinking like lead.

“I know, love, but I really can’t relax now. Coran needs this by tomorrow morning. Just give me a few minutes, I’m almost done.” She says, turning her attention back to whatever she was working on.

You sigh, laying down. You can feel all of the anxiety from the past month weighing on your chest, crushing you with no hope of escape. You had hoped to talk to Pidge about it, but she was too busy, yet again. It wasn’t her fault, of course. It was Zarkons. But it didn't matter, you just needed someone to talk to. You knew that wasn't going to happen tonight though. When Pidge says she only needs a few minutes, she means she needs a few hours. Yet you decide to try to stay awake anyway, her presence was enough to make you feel better. But before you get to have any say in the matter, sleep grabs you by its claws, dragging you under.

***

You peel your eyes open, only to be met by complete darkness. You blink once, twice, trying to understand what happened. Then you realize, you fell asleep. You sit up suddenly, slamming your hand down on the mattress.

“Quiznak!”

You bring your watch up to your face, squinting, reading with difficulty the numbers 5:33 AM. Not again! How did you fall asleep again? Every rare time Pidge is actually in her room when you are, you end up falling asleep before you can talk to her. In a rush of adrenaline you bolt out of bed, maneuvering through the dark and into the hallway. Your footsteps echo through the castle as you round a corner into Lance’s room. You power off his white noise machine with a slam of your hands as you shout, “Lance!”

He bolts up, his eye mask sliding off of his face as he cries out in alarm. “I remember our bonding moment!” His head whips over to you, eyes widening. “O-oh! Y/N, w-what are you doing here?” He asks, voice rising an octave in embarrassment.

“I fell asleep!” You shout, throwing your hands in the air as you plop down on the bed next to him.

“That's why you woke me up?” He yells in exasperation, laying back down. “Go back to bed you freaking maniac” He says, kicking you off the bed with his foot. “I need my beauty sleep.”

“Too late for that.” You say sarcastically, standing up and grabbing his pillow from under his head, hitting him. “Get up!”

He yells out, bolting up, grabbing the pillow out of your hands. “I will shoot you!”

“Noted. But Lance, I fell asleep again. Now who knows when I’m going to even see Pidge again. Weeks? Months?” You sigh, sitting back down on the bed, staring at your hands.

Lance’s expression softens at the tone of your voice, resting a hand on your shoulder. “I’m sorry Y/N, I know it's been tough. But don't we have coffee in the kitchen? I swear Hunk smuggled some in.”

“We’re out.” You say sadly, shaking your head. “I have no way to stay awake, bu-” Your eyes widen suddenly, an idea forming in your head. “Wait, Lance, you're a genius!”

“I know.” He says triumphantly, crossing his arms with a smug smile. “Wait, why am I a genius?”

You chuckle, getting up, beginning to walk out of the room as you explain your idea. “The coffee Hunk smuggled in might be gone, but I totally forgot about what I smuggled in. Chocolate covered espresso beans, my mom made them. God, it's perfect! Thanks for the idea Lance!”

“Anytime. And, oh, Y/N?” He calls out after you.

You stop before you reach the door, turning around. “Yeah?”

“About what I said… I absolutely do not remember Keith and I’s bonding moment that didn't even happen.”

“I’ll be sure to tell Keith you remember, he’ll be happy to hear.” You smirk, running out of the room.

“Y/N! I said I don't remember! Y/N come back!” Lance shouts, sticking his head out of the door. “Y/N!”

A Day Later

You skip into Pidge’s room, a new sense of energy engulfing you. To your delight, you find Pidge sitting on her bed.

“Hey, lovely.” You say, plopping down next to her.

“Hi, (Y/N)” She says, looking up momentarily from her project to kiss you on the cheek. “Sorry to do this again, but I’m gonna be busy for a while” She explains, frowning slightly, her nose scrunching up in the way that you adore.

“It's alright, I’ll be waiting.” You say, leaning back on the bed to watch her work. She smiles softly before turning her attention away. You watch her slim fingers for a moment, fiddling with another glowing object before you decide to pull out your small packet of chocolate covered espresso beans. Pidge stops for a moment, turning to look at you.

“Uh, whatcha got there?” She asks, peeking into the bag.

“Some chocolate covered espresso beans.” You say, smiling softly before popping one into your mouth.

“Oh.” She says, reaching a hand into the bag before stopping, looking up. “Can I have some?”

“Of course.”

She smiles brightly, taking a handful, popping a few in her mouth as well. “Ooh, these taste like the ones your mom makes. These will help me stay awake for this project, actually. Thanks love.”

“And these will also help me stay awake long enough to spend some time with you.” You say softly, your eyes drifting over her lips.

She smiles more, leaning forward and kissing you, sending an electric jolt through your body. This was just what you needed. You melt into the kiss, running your fingers through her soft hair. You were convinced this had to be what heaven felt like. And when you pull away, theres a lingering taste of chocolate covered espresso beans.

[illfoandillfie]

Okay first a smutty one 😏 smth where ben is like super bored and it’s a rainy day and reader keeps suggesting different things they could do like board games or baking etc but he shoots everything down until finally she’s like ok you come up with smth geez and then he just tackles her and they Do It

thank you for giving me excuses to be a whore about ben sdkjsdllkdjskjsd I just really enjoy writing smut with these two cause they're such dorks and just like making each other laugh which is cute and fun.

Anyway, I did not proof read this or anything because I finished writing it at 12.40 am (ahhhh help i need to be up for work in 5 and a half hours) so apologies for any mistakes.

Words: 2,566

Warnings: Smut (obviously), a lil hint of oral (f receiving), some fingering, a single slap on the arse.

Ben jerked aside the curtain hanging over the bedroom window, humming in discontent as he confirmed that it was still raining. “Stop checking the window Ben,” you sighed, only half paying attention to him over your novel, “You heard the weather report, it won’t let up for another day at least.” “Well you know weather presenters are wrong half the time,” You chose to ignore him, much more interested in the book.  Unfortunately for you, Ben still had some complaining to get out of his system.  “I’m so sick of this weather. You know we were meant to be playing cricket today,” “Mmhmm,” “I like rain as much as the next person but this is fucking ridiculous.” “Just invite some of the others over then,” you said, pulling your eyes from the page in the hopes that displaying your interest now would give you ample time to read later, “play video games or something,” “It’s not the same,” You could have laughed at Ben’s expression as his gave another wistful glance at the window. He’d always vaguely reminded you of a puppy, especially when he got excited about something, but the comparison was even more obvious now. He’d checked the window about six times over the course of the morning, each time looking crestfallen when no blue sky had materialised. The constant downpour seemed to be driving him bonkers. You, on the other hand, were coping quite well if you said so yourself. Aside from having to work on the first two days of the rain, you’d used the dreary weather as an excuse to stay in bed, wearing your comfies, drinking steaming mugs of tea and coffee, as you read and played games on your laptop. At first you’d hoped that Ben would be similarly inclined, and you’d pictured scenes of the two of you cozied up on the couch or cooking a hot, comforting meal together. Proper rainy day stuff. Alas, Ben wasn’t interested in sitting still, preferring to wander around the house, looking through curtains and complaining about what he saw through them. Hardly surprising really since he’d been indoors indulging in warm comfort those first days while you were working. When he didn’t get much sympathy from you, Ben left the bedroom again, (heading off to try a different window you assumed) and let you get back to your book.

You lost track of time, thoroughly enjoying yourself as you snuggled into your nest, sitting up straight when you got to a particularly intense section. Once the action calmed down you rearranged the pillows to give your back a little more support and settled into the story once more. Ben did cross your mind once or twice in slower chapters, but only because the absence of his frustrated sighing was notable. Eventually he reappeared in the room though, almost sulky in the way he slumped towards you, collapsing face down across the width of the bed.  “What’s up Blondie?” You kept your eyes fixed to the page.  “’m bored,” “So find something to do,” “There’s nothing to do here.” “You could read with me,” you shifted your hands on the book, holding it open as you moved one hand to tap the spot on the bed beside you. “Nah, don’t feel like reading.” Sensing that the conversation wouldn’t be a quick one you focused your attention on Ben, “If you let me finish this chapter then we could play a board game.” Ben pushed himself up but gave a non-committal shrug.” “Or watch a movie?” “Nah, I don’t want to just sit around,” “Well Rach gave me that recipe book for Christmas right? We could bake something? Or...” Feeling a little more frustrated you scanned the room for inspiration. Where once you’d only seen Ben’s trinkets and collected items, you now saw a mix of things that belonged to both of you. Your books were next to his on the shelf, the lucky cat you’d bought him was accompanied by a figurine of your zodiac symbol that he’d picked up on a whim, the desk was a mess of printed out guitar chords and notebooks that contained scribbles in both of your handwriting as well as a few stray lipsticks and earrings. But none of it really sparked any ideas to occupy Ben.  “You could give this room a tidy,” it wasn’t a serious suggestion but you made it anyway, knowing it would be shot down. “See, there’s nothing to do here!” “Well I don’t then Ben. You don’t like any of my suggestions, so come up with something yourself. Just please stop moping around, it’s giving me the shits.”

You dropped your eyes back to your book, waiting to feel the bed shift as Ben stood and the sound of him crossing the room to the door. Instead there was silence for a moment. And the next thing you knew was being knocked back, just barely managing to hold onto your book, so you were lying across the bed with Ben on top of you. “I found something I want to do,” he said, resting his chin on your chest and giving you his best pleading puppy eyes. “Oh alright,” you said, trying not to laugh, “But let me mark my page so I don’t lose my place.” Ben lifted his head as he reached over and plucked the, slightly crushed, book from between you, replacing your bookmark before dropping it to the floor. “There’s a bedside table right th-” before you could finish your sentence, Ben leaned down again and kissed you. It was a deep kiss, Ben’s tongue pressing towards your throat as he gently grinded his hips against yours. You were nearly breathless when he pulled away and yet it felt like it had barely started.  “Someone’s in a hurry,” you said, watching as Ben hurriedly began to undress you, peeling your leggings off before going for your shirt. “Well,” he said, pausing appreciatively as he realised you hadn’t bothered with a bra, “Now that I’m thinking about your pussy....”  You laughed as he snapped the band of your underpants to emphasis his point and then quickly rolled them down your legs too.  “Well, here she is,” you bit your lip playfully as you spread your legs, offering Ben a view to rival his imagination. Ben grinned, the tip of his tongue poking out between his teeth before he leaned towards your cunt, holding your gaze. He looked ridiculously pleased with himself as he stuck his tongue further out and licked along your slit, noting the way you shivered in delight. You hummed as he repeated the action, settling back against the mattress as Ben settled into a rhythm. But, just as you were really starting to enjoy it, the first sign of your arousal pooling between your legs, Ben stopped.

With a slight groan of disappointment you pushed yourself up to see if there was a partiuclar reason he’d stopped touching you. The sight of Ben, rolled onto his back, legs in the air as his discarded his own pants and underwear, greeted you. Apparently he’d already managed to get his shirt off in the time it took you to sit up. You couldn’t help but giggle as his feet flicked through the air, trying to kick his pants off.  “And what is so funny?” “Nothing, Tiger. Just enjoying the show.” “Oh yeah? You like that, huh? Well what about,” Ben’s feet fell back to the bed and he raised his hips into the air as his fingers caught the waistband of his briefs.  You cheered him on as he tugged them down to this thighs and then raised his legs again to pull them off entirely. His arse was completely on display for you and you couldn’t quite resist the sudden urge to lean over and swat his cheek. “You’re a freak,” he laughed, flipping himself over and crawling towards you. Both of you were still laughing as he kissed you again, the comforting weight of his body pinning your down. You could feel the length of his dick resting against your thigh so slid your hand down to stroke it, feeling yourself getting wetter as he hardened against your palm.  “Why don’t you touch yourself for me Kitten,” Ben cooed, reaching down to wrap his fingers around your wrist, “Promise I don’t need any help getting ready for you.”  Your breath caught at the petname, a recent addition to your sexual dynamic but a fun one, and you did as Ben suggested, letting his guide your hand away from his cock. You were wet but not quite enough to take him comfortably. Ben kissed you again as your dragged your fingers through your folds, but it didn’t last long. He wanted to watch, sitting back on his knees to get a proper look at your fingers circling your clit.  “That’s right, keep going like that. I want to see you leaking over the sheets.” You were beginning to feel the familiar want growing in the pit of your stomach. That empty feeling that only Ben could properly fix. You groaned and let your fingers trail down towards your entrance. But before you could sink any of them into the wet heat of your cunt, you felt your walls softly stretch around one of Ben’s.  “Is that what you needed Kitten?” “Yeah, thanks,” you managed to get out between shaky breaths, resuming the previous attention on your clit. “Any time,” Ben chuckled, slowly pulling his finger out of you, circling your hole, and sliding it back in a little deeper. You keened as Ben began to finger you, getting the one finger as deep as he could before he added a second.  Your orgasm grew steadily closer as you adjusted to the width of his fingers and Ben’s touch became less delicate, your own speeding up with his. And then his touch disappeared.

For the second time you looked up, pushing yourself to rest on one elbow, wondering where he’d gone and why he was teasing you. You kept working your fingers over your clit but it wasn’t quite the same and you couldn’t help but whine as you felt the loss acutely.  Ben didn’t bother to reply. Words would just waste time. Instead he grasped one of your shins, adjusting your leg so it was closer to your body but spread further, as he shuffled forward on his knees. His dick was harder than when you’d felt it before and he wrapped his fist around the stiff length to guide it towards your waiting pussy.  You’d thought his fingers had felt good but it was nothing to the way he filled you then, pulling a moan from you faster than you’d have believed possible. Ben leaned forward on his knees as he sank into you, pulling out slowly after a moment and then pushing forward again, letting you get used to feeling.  “C’mon Benny, fuck me,” you whined, the fingers on your clit faltering as he gave you a sharp thrust, “Yeah, like that.”  Ben nodded, looking as if just swallowing was a challenge, let alone getting out words. He dropped his hands to your stomach, slowly sliding them up until he was cupping your breasts, his thumb and forefinger circling around the underside of them so he could feel them bounce with each jolt of his hips.  You tried to keep rubbing your clit but keeping yourself upright was a struggle so you shifted your hand away, better able to prop yourself up on two elbows than just the one.  Ben didn’t seem to mind, focusing his energy on fucking you hard and deep. It seemed that, now he was inside you, his eagerness had been tempered and he had no qualms with drawing the moment out.  “Jesus Y/N,” he grunted as you clenched without warning, his hips stuttering out of time as you kept him from drawing back as far as he had been.  You just whined in response.  “Fuck this is hot. Watching how you take me. How perfect your cunt looks stretched open on my cock. I’m going to fuck you until your cunt is red and sore from how well I’ve used it. And I’m going to watch the whole time.” You whined again, louder and more urgently, as his words went straight to your core, making you clench again.  “Does that mean you want to cum?” Ben teased, knowing full well how close you were getting.  It was harder to see the funny side of his comments when your whole body felt tense with an impending orgasm. The torturous stopping and starting he’d put you through had only heightened your need and the lack of clitoral stimulation made you desperate for more. Ben had managed to get you off with just penetration once or twice but it was never as good as the combination of his dick moving inside you and your clit being played with. And he knew that’s how you liked to get off best.

Ben gave your breast a quick squeeze before he shifted his hand, his thumb finding your clit and rubbing it. You clenched at the sudden added stimulation and moaned, loudly, your orgasm rocketing towards you as you balled the sheets up in your fists. Your arms felt unstable as Ben speared into you harder, trying to push you over the edge, perfectly filling you.  “Oh, oh, oh!” you choked out, right on the precipice of release.  Ben grit his teeth as his hips slammed towards yours a few times, his balls slapping against you with the motion.  It was enough. A final push to get you over the edge, the cry of ecstasy catching in your throat along with your breath. Ben swore and groaned as your pussy tightened with your release, making an effort to keep fucking you, though it wasn’t easy to maintain an even pace.  You managed to choke out his name as your arms gave out and you collapsed on your back, panting.  Ben pulled out but you barely noticed, so overtaken by the warm pleasure of your orgasm. It wasn’t until he grunted and you felt the first drops of his cum hitting your stomach that you realised he’d wanked himself off over you. You lay still as spurt after spurt hit you, watching as well as you could as his fist continued to pump over his length, milking every last drop from his cock.  Finally he sat back, sounding a little breathless.  Slowly you pushed yourself to sit up, “Well?” “Well what?” “Did you get it out of your system? Can you just sit and read or whatever for a while now?” Ben shrugged, “It helped. Might get bored again pretty soon though,” You laughed, “Well don’t expect a repeat any time soon. I’m quite content to finish my book.” “Aww c’mon,” Ben was struggling not to smile too much, “Don’t pretend you weren’t extremely turned on by the idea of fucking you until you’re sore.” You ignored him, turning towards the beside draws so you could find something to clean up with. “You could keep reading if you wanted. Wouldn’t have to do anything except lie there, I promise. And I’d just fuck you and fuck you and fuck you until I wasn’t bored anymore.” You gave a thoughtful hum, “Just lie there you say?”

[cosmicjoke]

Okay, just got a few observations about chapters 85 and 86 of SnK.  86 is obviously a majorly important chapter in terms of thematic relevance to the entire series, and I’m sure it’s been discussed by people a lot smarter than me ad nauseum, so I’ll only talk about it a little.  First, for chapter 85, just a few things.  I loved the entire interaction between Levi and Armin, as well as with Eren and Mikasa.  What kind of got me here was just how... not pissed Levi was about the whole thing that happened on the rooftop.  I mean, he doesn’t hold any anger or resentment towards either Eren or Mikasa for what they did.  Mikasa flat out threatened his life, but he still treats both her and Eren with affection, even rubbing their heads like a father would with their children.  It’s actually Hange who seems like the much more pissed of the two, making no secrete of the fact that Eren and Mikasa are going to face punishment for their insubordination.  

It always strikes me how remarkably well adjusted and, well, NORMAL Levi is, especially in comparison to so many of the other characters, who all seem supremely damaged in one way or another.  What makes this all the more remarkable is that Levi’s probably had a harder, more messed up and violent life than any of them, but he’s still so even keeled and okay.  We get that too with how amazingly supportive Levi is of Armin, the way he encourages him, and also Mikasa and Eren, in his own way.  By telling Armin not to let any of them regret Levi’s choice, including Armin himself, and reminding him that his has his own, unique abilities that no one else has.  How he tells Armin that he isn’t Erwin as a way of letting Armin know that he shouldn’t compare himself or try to even be like Erwin, but just do what he can with his own talents.  He’s basically telling Armin to be himself, and not worry about the rest of it.  When you really stop to think about what Levi’s just been through, first losing one of his closest friends in Erwin, having to watch a bunch of kids sacrifice their lives to give Levi a chance to kill the Beast Titan, and then failing to kill Zeke, the drama and struggle on the rooftop, and then choosing a second time to let his friend go, it’s kind of a miracle that Levi is acting as the voice of calm and reason here.  Like I said, he’s just such an incredibly well adjusted person, despite himself having suffered and lost so much.  

I think that’s even reflected in the scene when they finally reach Eren’s basement, and everyone starts freaking out when the key doesn’t fit, and Levi just pushes Eren out of the way and declares he’ll open it, before kicking the shit out of the door, lol.  He really is kind of like the whole groups rock at times.  

Now, I’ll just say a few things about chapter 86, because like I said, there’s a lot there, and smarter people than me have already dissected the hell out of it, I’m sure.  Well, the obvious thing to stand out is how messed up Grisha is.  Obviously, that’s largely formed by his own childhood experience of losing his sister the way he did, and we see the theme once again that’s reiterated throughout SnK of violence begetting violence.  Hatred is born in Grisha for the Marlians because of what they did to his sister, and that sends him down the path of wanting to exact revenge and retribution.  What’s so unsettling about Grisha is how he takes it to such an ideological extreme, convincing himself of the rightness of his ancestors atrocities, that they were right to oppress the Marlians, and how he wants to enable that exact same thing to happen again.  His experience of watching his own father prostrate himself and behave like a dog for the Marlians, coupled with him later finding out just how brutally they murdered his sister, is what I think causes this extremity in Grisha, and we see the awful cycle of violence and struggle for power reignite.  Again it’s that theme of violence only leading to more violence, oppression only leading to more oppression, prejudice leading to prejudice.  This cycle of revenge which only ever leads to disaster.  It’s interesting how this parallels Eren’s eventual path, and how Eren ends up committing the very acts which the Eldian’s had initially been condemned for, though Eren’s actions aren’t, in the end, rooted in revenge at all, or even a desire for power, but a desire for freedom, and a desire to wipe away all that led to such intense conflict to begin with.  Both the Eldian Restorationists and the Marlian Government seek power, and control, and that results in eternal warfare, with Marley seeking to secure their power by preparing to declare war on Paradis in order to steal away their resources and the Founding Titan, and the Restorationists seeking to regain power and rebuild the Eldian empire.  It’s always just this absurd struggle for power.  But this really does feel like a case of the “sins of the father”, and how Grisha’s actions have such a huge and devastating impact on Eren, and the outcome of Eren’s journey as a whole.  Grisha is a good example of what it looks like when something which should be positive, like seeking freedom for ones people, and an insistence on the truth, becomes twisted and corrupted by hate and revenge.  When you’re no longer content to simply live in a fair world, but desire to see those who made you suffer, suffer in turn.  Most especially when that desire is suddenly directed at an entire group, and not just specifically at whichever individual is directly responsible.  When you start condemning an entire population of people for the actions of a few, or the actions of people long since dead, it leads to tragedy. 

[punksarahreese]

Coming Out | Sarah Reese

Prompt #1 from Nova’s pride 2021 list

Word count: 2224

***

Sarah always felt like maybe she just wasn’t right. There must be something wrong because she never seemed to fit in. With her absent mother and her father who left as soon as he had the chance, she somehow felt alienated in her own home. Back in public school she never had many friends and always spent her free time with her nose in a book. Popular girls turned their nose up at her comfy clothes and unruly curls, claiming she didn’t put enough effort into her look. As she grew up, her social skills never really felt like they improved, instead Sarah would just mirror the actions of those around her in hopes that they would accept it. Yet she still went through high school being called a freak and being called out for “copying” everyone. It never made sense to Sarah, how people could make friends and converse so easily. She felt like she would sound so cliche whenever she thought about it, stating that she never fit in with the other girls, but it was true.

Sarah knew about her bisexuality from a young age, that was no secret to her. She read the term in a mental health book of all places, while she was hidden in a nook of the middle school library. It was common sense to her, of course she liked more than one gender; who didn’t? She would come to learn that sexuality was a bit more complex than that, though it would take a bit more research. It felt so black and white in Sarah’s mind but a lot of people didn’t agree with it, so she let her sexuality remain a secret for a while.

Still, she had her fair share of crushes on girls and boys in almost every stage of her life. One casual girlfriend in her undergraduate program was still the only real experience Sarah had though; until Joey at least. Neither relationship went very far, either due to Sarah’s confusion with all things social or the lack of spark there. She was so busy with school and work, and her partners in both situations just didn’t feel a connection after some time. Joey was an odd one in particular and Sarah wasn’t sure if it had been more of a him thing or her inexperience that ended it. It was weird and the end didn’t hurt as much as it maybe should have.

Her autism diagnosis was not a shock to her, though it had been to her mom. The week of her 16th birthday, Sarah had made a doctor's appointment and asked to be screened. It was the first time she could make medical decisions on her own and she wanted to know already, even though deep down she had a logical hunch. Years of research and even self-screening through countless medical journals had told Sarah she was probably autistic, so she wasn’t too surprised when she got an official diagnosis less than two years later. It was sensical to her really, the way she thought and felt and acted was so different to everyone else, and an actual label made her feel so seen. This was part of why she didn’t fit in, it wasn’t her fault it was the inaccessibility of normal life that made things so much harder. Her mother didn’t agree, she hated the idea of having a neurodivergent daughter; though she would never say it. Instead any mention of autism was ignored and Sarah’s needs were not accommodated until the day she moved out. It was how life at home had always been, as unfortunate as it happened to be.

There was something else Sarah should have seen coming, with her knowledge that she wasn’t the same as everyone else. Autism often came with a disconnect between the definition of gender and one’s identity and Sarah was no exception, since social constructs almost always went over Sarah’s head. She never felt right calling herself a girl and her brain always had a half second protest whenever she ticked the “female” box on any form. Still, she tried not to think about it too much. She didn’t feel like a boy either, she knew that for certain, so that was that.

It was, in fact, not that. As she got older and the internet queer community expanded, Sarah was exposed to more research and experiences of others in her shoes. Genders outside the binary existed, it was made clear to her, and pronouns were not restricted to those assigned at birth. It was a whole new realm of possibility and it scared Sarah more than she was happy to admit. She wasn’t a girl and she knew it, yet she also wasn’t not a girl. It was so confusing, which is why the thought was almost always pushed to the back of the mind, hidden away to worry about another day.

Curiosity got the better of her one day, though, after reading a forum about neopronouns. Someone was talking about their experience using she/they pronouns, stating that it helped them relate to her identity way more than birth assigned pronouns ever had alone. The poster had noted that they always felt detached from femininity and it was almost as if they were culturally female yet mentally out of the binary. It was that comparison that clicked with Sarah and she couldn’t stop herself from testing the theory.

“Sarah uses she/they pronouns,” she stated tentatively, “Their name is Sarah and she uses she/they pronouns…”

The instant gratification shocked her a bit, unsure of why it felt so right to say such a sentence. A few minutes passed as she sat in silence in front of the laptop, mulling it over. Something about the dual pronouns felt freeing, the idea of not being bound to just the ones she was so used to using. Maybe it would be okay to try them out for a while… just to see if it stuck and still felt as validating as it did alone in her living room.

Telling someone was the next step, though, to see if they were actually comfortable with these pronouns being used about her. Sarah was apprehensive, it would be scary to ask someone to use something different, especially after all these years at Med. Still, she had no reason to fear her friends and colleagues, they should be able to accept Sarah’s wishes.

It took a couple weeks before they were ready to bring it up, after a lot more self reflection and some serious deliberation. She thought this felt right, using new pronouns like this. They weren’t too sure if non-binary was the right label for her, but it didn’t matter in that moment. One step at a time was enough and really there was all the time in the world. So one day while a group of them were at April’s apartment for dinner, Sarah decided to speak up during a lull in conversation.

“Um… Can I ask you all something?”

Eyes were on them in a second, with a chorus of nods and agreement following almost immediately. She trusted everyone there, it was only April, Noah, Natalie, and Connor. Connor had brought Doctor Bekker too but Ava had always been nice enough to Sarah so she wasn’t worried. Besides, the rumour was that Ava wasn’t straight, if Sarah chose to listen to gossip, so she of all people should understand.

“What’s up, Sarah?”

Smiling shyly at Noah, who had looked at her curiously when he spoke, they nodded slowly before starting, “Uh… well I have done a lot of thinking lately… I want to try using she/they pronouns. So I want to ask you all to use both sets of pronouns for me.”

The silence scared her at first, instant regret setting in. Sarah wasn’t sure if that was bad or not, especially with the confusion on Nat’s face. Surprisingly enough it was Ava who broke the silence and Sarah caught the sharp nudge to Connor’s ribs that the surgeon gave before speaking.

“Okay, will do. Thank you for trusting us with that, Sarah, especially me since I know we don’t speak often.”

It was the nonchalant words from the blonde that helped them relax a bit, looking at Ava in silent thanks. She glanced at the rest of them shyly, hoping the worry knitting her brow together wasn’t too apparent.

“Um,” Natalie’s interjection was the most feared, though Sarah hated to admit it. It’s not that Nat couldn’t be trusted, she was just a little new to things out of the cisgendered-heteronormative binary and it made Sarah worried she wouldn’t be immediately accepting.

“What exactly does that mean?”

Sarah stifled a sigh of relief, an explanation was understandable and not the worst answer, “So basically I am comfortable with both she/her pronouns like you use but also they/them pronouns in the singular sense. With me you can use them interchangeably, I just like both as opposed to just she/her. I don’t... completely identify as female, I guess you could say.”

“Oh!” Noah nodded, “Like ‘Sarah said she was going to the lab, they will be back soon’?”

Sarah smiled at his excitement to understand, “Exactly like that.”

“It might be hard to adjust at first…”

“But we will still try,” April added to Natalie’s words with a pointed look, “Thank you for telling us, Sarah. We will do whatever you need to feel comfortable.”

“Reese?” When Sarah looked across the table at Connor he continued, “These two sets of pronouns, do you want us to use both at the hospital or just the ones everyone knows you as?”

“Oh yeah,” Ava agreed, “Don’t want to out the resident before they’re comfortable.”

Hearing someone else use “they” while referring to Sarah made them inexplicably happy, unable to stop the little happy hand flap she often tried to mask as she looked at Ava again. The surgeon seemed to notice the grateful glance and she nodded, a charming smile on her lips. Somehow it helped that Ava wasn’t close to her, maybe because her quick acceptance made the whole situation feel safer.

“Um, maybe just keep it between all of us at first,” Sarah answered slowly, “I’m gonna tell Maggie and Doctor Charles eventually, Ethan and Will too, but I want to give it some time before everyone else knows.”

“Got it,” Connor agreed and raised the glass of whatever alcohol he had brought with him, “Cheers to Reese’s self discovery, then.”

That made quite a few of them laugh, especially Sarah, because it eased the tension. It was still a bit weird for them, she knew that it would be an adjustment, yet no one had stormed out or gotten upset so it was a win in their book. It might take some more explanation for some time and some gentle correction, from what she knew, but it was a good start. When the conversation drifted back to lighter matters, talk of work and jokes about other things, it felt like a weight had been lifted off Sarah’s shoulders. It wasn’t perfect but they felt accepted for the most part, which helped.

When April hugged them before everyone left for home, Sarah just thanked her quietly. It went without saying that arguably her closest work friend accepted them wholeheartedly and they would probably talk about it again one on one. April just hugged Sarah a bit tighter, a reassuring murmur that things would be just fine reaching Sarah’s ears.

It was a clear night when they stepped out of the apartment complex, stopping to admire the stars for a moment before heading to her car. A call of her name had Sarah turning, though, and a familiar blonde was hurrying to catch up with her.

“Sarah, hey,” Ava’s friendly smile was visible thanks to the street lights, “I just wanted to tell you I’m proud of you for doing that. I don’t know if anyone has said it to you but I know how hard coming out can be, even as an adult. If you ever need to talk to anyone, I’m around, okay?”

“I-” Sarah felt her cheeks redden a little and they were grateful for the dim lighting that may have hid it a bit, “Thank you, doctor Bekker, that means a lot.”

“Please, call me Ava,” she laughed a little before glancing behind them, “I need to drive Connor home before he tries to walk, I’ll see you at work maybe?”

Sarah pursed their lips, stifling a laugh herself as she watched the other surgeon, clearly more than tipsy, hovering behind them looking lost, “See you then.”

“We can maybe get coffee some day,” Ava added nonchalantly as she turned to walk away, “Bye, Sarah.”

Sarah was left hovering by her car, the blush having returned to settle on her face. Once again their social skills evaded them, wondering if that was an allusion to a date or if Ava was simply being friendly. Either way, the immediate acceptance and friendly gesture from the supposedly cold and competitive surgeon was enough to make her giddy, shocked with how easily things went over. Not only did Sarah successfully come out to half her friends, but they may have made a new one in the process. It wouldn’t always be easy, she knew that, yet this was a situation that they decided to count as a good experience; all things considered.

It made her feel like maybe there had never been anything wrong with them at all. They were Sarah, that’s all, and in that moment maybe she was more than enough for the right people.

[lovely-necromancy]

A Cure for Insomnia CH.5

A scream shocks you out of your fuzzy thoughts. You look around and notice Connor sitting alert and looking like he wants to run down the hallway this very instant.

“Connor?” the head snaps to you immediately and before you can even question his presence in your home he jumps up and barks then walks in circles near the door.

Great a dog who has no sense of horror movie tropes. Since the scream did come from inside your house you should go find the person who made it and see what's wrong. Also maybe get clarification on why they're in your home. You aren't dead and are still in the same clothes so you figure you're alright around them. You follow Connor to where Toby is, in your kitchen staring out the window standing at a very odd angle. Like he caught himself before he fell backwards but hadn't bothered to get up.

“What's up....oh.” is all you can say as you see Chonk's head whip towards you and Connor before he books it for the tree line. Damn that fat raccoon can run fast, good to know if he ever wants to chase you down in the future. Which he might if you don't leave his slice of pizza out today.

“'oh' 'oh', that's all yo-you've got to say about a giant fuck-ing ra-mrrow- raccoon!?!” maybe thinking this guy was composed and unphased was a misconception, if seeing Chonk has put his world views in question.

“I mean he probably just eats a lot of pizza.” to put it simply you never gave much thought to the fat little trash thief, he was just fat and he existed. Visiting your home for the slice he deemed his every other week. Probably had other homes in Kepler he terrorized for the same reasons. God knows Leo would never put up with a raccoon trashing his store for his pizza. Or even his home for that matter.

“He's nearly half the size of Connor!” looking down towards Connor you tilt your head.

“Are we talking about with his legs or just his torso?” you could maybe see the size comparison with the dog's body but with his height it was a different matter all together.

Toby rolls his eyes before going and sitting down at the small breakfast table where he seemed to have found your fidget cube and had been well fidgeting with it. You take the seat opposite of him, it's weird having a guest over especially when you didn't invite them in. Well now that removes the chances of him being a vampire you suppose.

Perfect not a kidnapper, nor a vampire, and he's helped you out twice now. The two of you might well be on your way to becoming best friends. That is if he could get past this episode of yours.

“I still don't know what happened last night, but I'm done with the freak out.” you say as you idly pet Connor.

“...What?” he's squinting at you trying to get a read on how anyone bounces back from something like that so calmly in a matter of hours. Especially when he'd been checking up on you and Connor only to see you still staring off into space.

“Oh, uh... I have Autism. Isn't good for much but helps me rationalize events quicker and move past emotional and mental breakdowns pretty quick too.”

“Is that an Autism thing?” you shrug at his question as he jerks his shoulders forwards a few times.

“Probably more of a me thing, but I've read the trait tends to be more common in those of us who are neurodivergent.”

You hear a murmur of telling someone later later. Filing that away to take note of another day you stare at Toby who in turn stares back. This goes on for a bit, you couldn't even classify it as a staring contest since you are both still blinking occasionally. You aren't really sure if you should say 'thank you' first and then ask the man what he's doing in your home or wait for him to break the silence. But as you stare at Toby, into his eyes, you get the feeling this man is more of a zombie than anything else. The type to drag along and go at a snails pace rather than get into the messy bits in one go...ironic choice for comparison.

“Thank you for driving me home...but why are you still here?” you hear a huff of laughter?

“You weren't really in a position...” knuckles pop “to be left alone. What if you got back into your car again?” his eyes cut and there's a bit of bite to his words...it wasn't directed towards you, you can feel that much.

“Fair enough.” you glance at the stove and see the clock shine a little before six. “Would you like some breakfast” his neck snaps to the left triggering your own to snap as well, “or a ride home?” you finish asking.

“Can you make something for Connor too? Don't trust you behind the wheel yet.”

“Oh sure! What does he normally eat?” Perking up at the thought of the dog being off duty, that means actual pets!

“He-mrrow- normally gets oatmeal with some fruit or veg and anything raw I can find.” He finishes with a whistle for Connor's attention, and then a pointed finger flipping down in front of him. The dog trots over and sits down, while Toby takes off the vest you look through your cupboards to find the rolled oats you'd gotten as incentive to eat in the mornings before realizing you only liked them on certain days.

“So what does Tobias normally eat?” you call out as you look for some honey you know you threw in the cupboards.

“Anything really. I don't do slimy textures or anything watery.”

“Watery? Like soups?” Found a can of pumpkin, it's still in date too, perfect.

“Watery like...when you put too much water in oatmeal.” He nods when you silently show him the can of pumpkin asking if that'd be fine for his boy, who is sitting down drooling from his smiling face as Toby tussles his ears.

“Ahhh, thin watery got it.” You hear movement and a few grunts from Toby as you assume he tics, trying to ignore them so they won't trigger your own you look through the fridge. You suddenly take a deep breath, while looking for a meat in your fridge, and let out a shrill trill. Kinda sounds like a Togepi's cry from the cartoon. Shaking your head your eyes catch the eggs and turkey sausages you have.

“Will turkey sausage and eggs work for you two?”

“Never had turkey sausage but it should be fine.” he's leaning forward resting his head in his arms on the table as Connor lays by his bouncing feet.

You set the eye to medium heat and put the sausages on first, leaving three out for Connor. He is a big dog after all. You turned your focus on preparing Connor's oatmeal while the sausages cooked. It was kinda nice having company over even though the circumstances weren't the best. Your neck jerks to the side three times before pulling back. There's more on the way your neck didn't crack and your body doesn't let up until it does.

“So what disorder do you have?” You turn to give Toby a confused look you hope he can read through your mask.

“...I have a few..you want the list?”

“No, the tics. Lower level Tourettes or what?”

“Oh, they stem from my” head jerking twice to the side before cracking “there we go.” “Sorry, they stem from my Autism, at least that's the best I can gather without seeing a specialist. Virginia doctors suck big time.”

“Tell me about it.” that perks you right up, you knew you caught a transatlantic accent, it's pretty much the lack of an accent that gives Virginians away so easily. You already have two guesses on where Toby came from.

“I knew it, you're from Halifax aren't you?!” Since you've turned around to face him you see the exact moment his face drops. Eyes shocked wide open.

“How...did”

“Oh it's easy once you know what to listen for, in fact it was the total lack of any distinguishing accent or use of slang that gave you a way. A lot of people don't notice what they take from their communities linguistically speaking. And for us Virginians it's what we don't take. It's such a bland neutral midpoint it's why it had been so coveted during the radio era and while we might've lost the in-fluctuations as time went by, no longer needing them for our voices to be heard over various frequencies....am I talking too much you can tell me to shut up, really you won't hurt my feelings.” you give Toby a minute to process everything you've just said.

“Special interest?”

“mmm, more a...an interesting factoid.” you hope he registers your smile, hell you hope he doesn't think you're weird. You know how much you can be sometimes, especially when you info dump or overshare information. He manages to nod along with you before finding his voice again.

“Lemme guess NOVA?”

“Pfft, seriously.” you really need him to at least register the disgust on your face if he hasn't been able to read you before, “Listen the Beach isn't much better but I'd probably off myself if I was from NOVA.”

“A public service really.”

You both stare at each other before breaking into a fit of laughter. It's nothing huge but it does seem to put Toby more at ease you noticed. In the time it took you to make breakfast for all three of you you've found out a little bit more about Toby.

He's uncomfortable talking about his hometown, at least you assume, so instead he mentions that he recently came to town with his friends, Brian and Tim. Talks mostly about Connor and you learn he's to help alert Toby of his Tourettes when driving and he can even detect seizures with Brian. That's amazing, service dogs have sure come a long way! And you love hearing what a silly puppy Connor is off duty, it makes you smile. Toby in turn asks about you, and you are such a well of stories. You tell him about your family back on the coast, about your recent move to Kepler, give him a little info on Kepler to help him adjust to his stay, and even get on the topic of your extensive work with animals.

“Sounds like you were working towards being a trainer, why didn't you?”

Making a sound that sort of sounds like a jumbled 'I dunno', “Sort of don't like people that much. Dogs are fine, less complex and less likely to complain when you do something in a different way. But a trainer doesn't train the dog, they train the people.” You're placing Connor's food in front of him as he sits patiently.

It's quiet for a moment as you place a plate in front of Toby and set yours down as well. Not tense just quiet, it's very calming really. Until Toby ruins it.

“Thanks Connor.”

Like he's a voice actor who is over exaggerating the sound effects of a dog munching away at their bowl. Connor inhales harshly before diving head first into the bowl. The dog is ferociously tearing into his breakfast and you can't help the laughter that spills from you at his enthusiasm. Hands coming up near your face and shaking as you shift from foot to foot. It's a happy stim, cute dogs are of course a trigger, someone can complain later you're happy to see a happy excited pup any day.

Taking your seat and turning your attention to your food, you see Toby hasn't touched his own. He's staring at the plate with a furrowed brow, he glances up to you as you remove your mask. You feel a bit vulnerable to be honest.

“Oh is something wrong? Do you want something else?”  He's a guest who's helped you twice now the least you can do is make sure he leaves your home full.

It takes a moment but he gathers his thoughts to explain, “I have a scar...it's pretty bad.” he looks away from you.

You tilt your head not quiet understanding what he means, “Cool story, do you want me to look away?”

He stalls at this, you just keep throwing him for a loop since you met the other day. While he thinks on it you scoop some of your eggs on your spoon and into your mouth. Perfect texture and prefect flavor, today will be good.

Toby seems to have made his decision and without any show he takes his mask off to begin eating. You can see the scar he was talking about, and while the currently red and bleeding'?!' scar on the left corner of his mouth was bad it wasn't much compared to the gaping hole further up that side on his cheek. You can clearly see the even whiter, how this boy is so pale is beyond you, skin around the edges suggesting the wound was older and had started to heal at some point. But you could see most of the teeth on the left side of his mouth. You've never seen these teeth while they were still in the head. A skull or 3D model yea. But never a living breathing person's head. It's fascinating really, you hadn't even noticed that you finished your breakfast as you watched him eat, you were so enthralled.

“You know your lip's bleeding right?” eyes never leaving the boy's teeth as you see them grind down the eggs into the tiniest particles. Neat!

“Rwhatf?” the way he can talk with his mouth full without spilling it from the hole is fucking magic and you won't hear another word on it.

He takes a drink of water, again it doesn't spill. Then you notice the slight tilt of his head...oh he's had practice doing this. Impressive honestly.

“That's what you choose to comment on?” his eyes narrow at you're still gawking form.

“I'm sorry I've just never seen those type of teeth still in head, normally muscle and...and skin cover them. So this is really cool to see them in action!” gosh you're so damn weird. By his stupefied expression Toby seems to think so too.

“Plus the wound looks healed but the lips look fresh,” you get up and grab a few paper towels bringing them over to offer to Toby, “Not to mention it's bleeding and you haven't once wiped it.”

He doesn't reply as he takes the napkins from you and dabs at his scarred lip, looking back and seeing blood just as you said. He was right when he thought he'd been biting himself a few hours ago. He'd totally forgotten to check after getting you home.

“Well I don't feel it so I didn't know actually.” he just resumes eating as if this conversation didn't happen.

“Didn't, didn't, didn't” you get stuck in a loop for a bit before breaking out “you didn't feel it? What do you have congenital insensitivity to pain?” you ask incredulously.

“I haven't heard it called that since I got diagnosed.” still eating he looks at you through his long eyelashes.

This dude could not be a real person. You had to have been imagining your dream friend. Everything you learned about Toby was more interesting than the last...at least for you it was.

“Medical history podcasts are interesting.” you shrug, “should I get the first aid kit?” at his shrug you get up and go to your bathroom to retrieve the kit.

Coming back into the kitchen you catch Toby lowering your plates for Connor to lick clean. You don't see a problem with it but you will wash everything twice since the pup has slobbered on nearly everything anyway. When you don't say anything he lets Connor continue before placing the dishes in your sink.

“Such a big help” you say patting Connor's head as you pass him, “Yea I really am” Toby says as he sits back down. Propping his arm up on the table to rest his head on his knuckles, it was such a fluid and casual motion. As if he's sat at this table everyday of his life, like this was his home and you were his guest. Tied in with how comfy he is man spreading at your kitchen table you'd say he made himself at home just fine.

You smile and scoot your chair next to him first aid kit in between you on the table. Toby looks between you and the kit before leaning in closer for you to work. Grabbing the antiseptic cleaning towels you go to wipe Toby's lip when he flinches away. Probably faking to see your reaction.

“Oh, fuck off you have CIPA.” you laugh grabbing his chin to keep him in place. He rolls his eyes “And you're weird.” The vibrations feel weird against your fingers.

“I know.” you continue cleaning the small bite mark? Well he does have CIPA he wouldn't be able to feel the pain if he was gnawing at his lips. Would he be able to taste the metallic tang of his blood or were taste buds effected by the disorder too? You might need to do another deep dive on this, it just became relevant. Maybe an anxious tic, judging from the larger wound it could be possible. Wearing a mask must help to hide it but not not to stop it getting worse if no one can call you out on it.

“That wasn't an insult...” he says making you look up into his eyes as you dry the wound, “I know.” You smile down at him, knowing this time he can see it on your maskless face.

When you finished cleaning his wounded lips, you drove Toby and Connor back to their home. Which turned out to be the RV at the forgotten entrance of the forest. Toby had been a little wary you knew where he was talking about but seemed to shake it off just as quick when you mentioned hiking a lot and using that entrance because it was the closest to you.

He had put Connor's vest back on and hopped in the back with him. You noticed from the review that Connor's full attention was on you.

“This set up let's him focus on the driver, so he'll tell us if something will impede your driving.” Well that explains Brian's position the first time you four met.

Nodding you sync you phone with the car's bluetooth and pass it to Toby with spotify open.

“Rules of the road, passenger picks music.” you say simply when he questioned it.

He quickly clicked your last playlist. Probably either too lazy to find something or trying to get a better read on you. Music says a lot about a person even if not everyone thinks that way. And unfortunately for you this playlist screams mental illness and a need for therapy. But you have folk punk. So who needs therapy when you can just scream cry these lyrics.

Toby doesn't comment on it, either just totally apathetic or maybe he likes it. He's a bit of an enigma, he's open and honest for the most part but saves his opinions unless directly asked.

Even after making it to the RV without incident Toby tries to distract you for a bit and tempt you out of the car with the possibility of playing with Connor. As fun as the idea sounds and as much as you don't want to be rude, you're very tired and drained. Probably more from “hanging out” with Toby this morning than your actual episode last night. Plus you understand Toby's just trying to be nice and maybe ensure your safety.

“Could I maybe rain-check? I'm actually really tired.” you say with your most polite smile, though he can't see it through the mask  you know he sees the crinkle of your eyes.

“Sure, just get home safe.” you feel that's less about you, but you aren't sure what the hanging subject is. So cryptic.

“Yup,” you chirp, “See you later Tobias!” as you start to back out back onto the road you hear Toby say “ Later YN.”

Driving off you can't keep the smile off of your face. Toby's a nice guy, you hope you get to spend more time with him. And this time the thought isn't centered around also hanging out with Connor. Just about enjoying Toby's company.

Getting home and locking your door you strip your jeans and flannel, leaving you only in your muscle tee, and curl up in your unkempt sheets. You'll do laundry later, right now was time for a little nap.

[watchinglikeafangirl]

Second Chance - color scheme

So, here's the analysis as promised. Now I've written all my exams and my mind is free and empty, so I have enough space to fill with stuff about asian shows - especially BLs. In this post, I'm probably reading way too much between the lines and some things probably don't have a deeper meaning but who cares?

Second Chance was not a very exciting show and some parts were boring. Honestly, if there wouldn't've been the talk about loneliness whilst staring up to the nightsky, I probably wouldn't've watched it weekly. This dialogue just hit different. And this show has a few scenes, that just hit different.

The color scheme is not extremely thought out - it's not ITSAY after all - but there are some colors which are often used in certain scenes. All the couples have a signature color which, I think, is very nice. Paper and Fah are blue, Chris and Jeno are yellow and Near and M are brown. Before I'm getting started, be prepared that I'm not going to talk about Near and M at all because I really don't care about them and didn't watch their scenes properly. I was invested in the other stories but theirs was like...weird, boring and not the best acting. Near had always the same facial expression and M somehow freaked me out a bit, I don't know why.

Paper and Fah

Anyway, let's start with the main couple of this show whose scenes always contain the color blue or at least white - sometimes both.

First, let's talk about the color scheme of the scene that kept me watching: when Fah is staring at the nightsky and Paper keeps him company to make him feel less lonely. Not only did the talk feel special to me (exepct for Paper's flirting) but the colors underline this special feeling. Yellow, red, blue and green are there and each color symbolizes certain feelings which adjust to the atmosphere. These two sit on the field when it's already dark, but where they are sitting the ground is yellow, portraying the positivity and happiness they feel when they are around each other. Red stands for love, no more words needed. The dark blue could only be there to show that it's dark around them, or it is supposed to show a certain feeling of isolation and loneliness which Fah felt before, but doesn't any more because Paper showed up. Like Paper is driving these negative feelings out of Fah's head. Nearly, every scene has a green meadow or plants in the background and it just shows growth because it's a coming-of-age show.

Later this episode, Paper and Fah are playing Jenga and compare the size of hands - they manage to make this a very cute and innocent scene. Here, Paper wears a white shirt that says "dream". He feels so good, he feels like he's in a dream because we know he's not sure about his feelings. He feels true and loves this feeling but doesn't act on it. It's a dream.

In episode 2, not many memorable interactions take place but we get one very important scene. Paper and Fah have a fight and make up during a drive on Fah's motorcycle. During that scene, the background is yellow, but it's a dirty yellow. Paper is afraid to touch Fah and they just sit distantly on this motorcycle. But after a moment, he gives in and hugs Fah from behind. His head is resting on Fah's shoulder and now, the street lights are mirrored in their helmets and they smile. The whole screen lights up and I believe this is a really beautiful metaphor.

And then of course, the kiss happens. This scene is interesting as well because first, Paper's shirt says "today is a good day" and Fah's shirt says "it's not easy but, it's worth it". These lines just reflect their feelings pretty accurate. Second, Paper's shirt is white, but the lines are written in blue and Fah's shirt is blue but the lines are written in white. They complete each other which is why the rejection afterwards is so painful. Fah even shows he feels like his heart has been ripped out by touching his chest. I noticed, when Fah is crying after Paper leaves, his room is all blue except for the spot where Paper used to sit. There, the ground is brown but this warm color doesn't reach Fah.

Then, Fah has an accident at the end of episode 4 and is in the hospital. Paper is really devastated and I believe, the color Fah wears in the hospital is chosen very well because he is not wearing blue. In fact, his shirt is more like a light mint green or turqoise. Compared to his usual piercing blue, it seems like like he is fading. Well, not fading because he's not dying, but he's not concious, he's not there and this is shown through this very light color. And when Fah wakes up, Paper's shirt says "flowers need time to bloom" which is just underlining the personal growth he went through during the last days and that he is now comfortable to act on his feeling.

During the prom, Paper is dressed in black, like he's attendening a funeral. But this does fit somehow because he is kind of grieving over the fact that Fah can't be there next to him. But then, of course, Fah shows up all dressed in white. White symbolizes heaven and Fah is Paper's heaven (that sounds so cheesy, I'm sorry). He brings light into Papers life. The kiss they share shows they sorted things out entirely because now, Paper kisses Fah first unlike the first time when Fah was kissing Paper. And they look each other in the eyes afterwards, unlike the first kiss when they were evading each others looks.

Chris and Jeno

Let's continue with the side couple that gained more and more screen time throughout this show. They had a few ups and downs as well and let me say, I was surprised they are such good actors. In TharnType their roles were a joke and so much wasted potential because it was awful to watch. It's not their fault, they were instructed to act like this but it was horrible. But not here. Their story and acting is really good and I like it a lot.

Chris and Jeno definetely have the color yellow and sometimes black - or both - as their signature. What is beautiful to observe is the way Chris attaches to this color. Jeno's backpack and phonecase are yellow and the more time they spend with each other, the more do Chris' clothes contain this color. This is a great metaphor to show how much he tries to understand Jeno and be the one he needs.

This metaphor is already visible in the second episode when Jeno goes to the boxing club. Chris wears a black shirt. It's used as a neutral color, I guess, because Jeno doesn't really know Chris then. The second time we see them together, Chris wears the exact same shirt but now it's yellow because he likes Jeno and is openly hitting on him.

Later that day, Chris takes Jeno home and they talk in front of Jeno's house. Chris wants to come in but Jeno doesn't let him. The screen is devided into two parts here. Jeno's house looks pretty neat and symmetrical. It's white and brown. On the side where Chris is standing, he has the street in the background. There's a lot of yellow light because of the street lights and the plants are in a very bright green. It's like Chris is the "wild" one who will make Jeno's life a bit more exciting. Green is of course also meant as renewal and growth and when Chris is actually inside because Jeno's mom invites him in, there are also a few plants around them.

This amout of green is also there whenever they walk outside the boxing club. They always walk through this wildly green hedge.

In episode 4 the color of their clothes repeats itself when Chris invites Jeno on a date Jeno wears black and his blanket is black exept for his phone case which is yellow and Chris outside wears a shirt in stripes the same colors (black and yellow).

But then, things are messed up and Chris scares Jeno away.

But in episode 5, they make up because Chris apologizes in a very sincere way. The lighting in this scene is interesting. The library is dark and you can see the dark blue at the end of the corridor, but where they are sitting, the lighting is very bright to let them stand out. Plus they wear white shirts. White is purity and honesty. And, they are surrounded by wodden shelfs, like they are coming "down to earth", especially Chris who was very euphoric about his feelings and now realizes he did something wrong. That he didn't even listen to Jeno nor tried to understand him.

In episode 6, we feel that things have changed. They both show their feelings. I was dying when I noticed Jeno is wearing Chris' shirt during the fight...

They take things next level when Chris eats dinner with Jeno's family. They all say, Jeno never brings anybody home, so he must be a special someone which shows again that Chris' feelings are returned. Here, Jeno's sister wears a shirt saying "good things take time" to reflect on the journey they went on. They grew together and the kiss at the prom just felt like a next step on that journey. It didn't feel like everything was aiming at that very kiss and it also didn't seem as important. Unlike Paper and Fah's kiss which had a deeper meaning to both of them because they were friends for a very long time before. Chris and Jeno in comparison knew it was always going to be like this and knew their feelings for each other for a long time.

Conclusion

Sadly, Second Chance wasn't very long and it didn't have a new story or something but at least, it didn't try to be new or different. But it was different after all, I can't describe it. It is a very cute show that made me feel very single and sad that I didn't have a high school love...

But even though there doesn't seem to be much depth, you can see and feel that people behind the scenes were carefully thinking about what their rooms should look like and what clothes they should wear. The "Call me by your name"-poster in Fah's room killed me after Paper and Fah's kiss because Paper let go of Fah's hand whilst Elliot leans on Oliver in the background. Honestly, I was dead and nearly cried.

I like the idea very much that each coupe has a signature color or colors. It's what ITSAY did and it carries a special feeling.

And, the characters weren't fulfilling clichés. Yes, Jeno is the shy one. He hid his face after the kiss... but he defended Arthur on his own. He had his closure without Chris' help. He didn't even need Chris to be there. Talking about Arthur, his cry at the prom raised a very big question mark. Why did they come up with the loneliness and pain he has inside in the last 20mins? Do they want to make a spin-off? If not, then why?

What I mean with cliches are the awful stereotypes of "top" and "bottom" which none of the couples fulfill, thankfully. They are all equal and none of them is domiant over the other. In fact, Chris tries it and it doesn't work at all.

This show is one of the few BLs that has a nice intro song, so I never skipped it. I love this song, exactly my thing. It is not catchy or fast or anything, but it's very nice. Nit like the Lovely Writer song that just annoys me whenever I hear it.

Anyway, this text is too long, sorry. I'm just practicing my English here and don't know what to do with my life at the moment.

[paper-chain-queen]

Once Upon A Dream *3*

Bakugou Katsuki x F.Reader

Sleeping Beauty X Dragon Princce Katsuki

Words: 7,000+

Note: Finally got a computer again! Here’s part 3 to the Sleeping Beauty X Fantasy BNHA AU :)

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Wind whipped around the young Prince as he and his dragon flew high in the skies. A musical hum could be heard from Katsuki as he thought of the girl he was on his way to see. Eijirou could even hear it and had to stop himself from laughing. His rider was head over heels for this mystery girl and Eijirou was happy to see this side of him.  

The dragon looked down at the familiar forest and looked for the cottage that Katsuki had told him about, the one where his future bride was expecting him.  

“Oi! Shitty scales, land in that clearing, I don’t you need freaking out her parents or some shit.” Katsuki ordered.  

Eijirou let out a groan and looked for another clearing, circling the forest, his eyes piercing through the dark evening til he found a spot and landed.  

The Dragon prince jumped off and tried to dust himself off, make himself look presentable as he tried to fix his hair just a bit and began practising what he was gonna say.  

“Alright. Hello. Hello. You are the light of my fucking life and you’re gonna marry me. No, that’s lame.” Katsuki walked around the clearing, quickly picking up wildflowers, hoping that (y/n) would like them.  

“I want you to rule beside me, as my Queen, we will... we will...”  

Eijirou rolled on his back, a sound that could be called laughter, leaving his jaws only to be hit in the head with a large boot.  

“SHUT UP!” The ash-blonde screamed, his face red with embarrassment. He had never proposed before; he had never been in love before. He was terrified but excited.  

Katsuki looked down at the ring his mother had given him.  

Would (y/n) like it? Was it enough?  

Of course not, all the jewellery in the treasury wasn’t enough, all the gold in the world wasn’t enough. But Katsuki would start with his and build a hoard of jewels for her in her honour.  

The Prince adjusted his cloak and made sure all his best features were on display, fluffing out his cloak and running a hand through his spiky ash-blonde locks.  

He even breathed into his hand to check his breath.  

“Alright... stay out sight,” Kastuki ordered.  

Eijirou gave out a whine and flopped on his back, rolling back and forth as if throwing a tantrum. The dragon wanted to meet (y/n) already, the curiosity was killing him.  

“I’m gonna lead her here, but if you even think of pulling that cuddly shit or lick her of something, I’m gonna make a new armour set out of you, got it?”  

The Prince’s best friend gave him a nod of approval before, curling up and making himself comfortable in the grass meadow.  

“Stay out of sight, I’ll be back soon.”  

Katsuki marched through the forest, humming (y/n) ’s song as he went, he got excited to look into (y/n) ’s eyes once more, lay claim to her lips and then ride off together. Even the thought of her large doe eyes and bright smile brought a genuine smile to his own face.  

Out of the forest, he finally came upon the cottage, it was small and nothing like the home he had grown up in. He couldn’t wait to show her his home and the rest of the country, share his world with her.  

“Okay. ‘I am Prince Katsuki of the Dragon Kingdom and... I am going to marry your daughter.’ Perfect.” Katsuki gave a loud knock on the door while puffing out his chest. He heard a ‘come in’ and did as the voice said, strutting in as if he was coming home, ready to hand the flowers to his dream girl.  

The house was dark, not a soul in sight. Something wasn’t right.  

“Hello? (Y/N)?” Katsuki called out as he stepped into the quaint dark cottage, an eerie feeling settling over him. The slamming of the door behind him made him jump and then all chaos broke out.  

Katsuki was jumped from all sides, ropes were thrown and wrapped around him, trying to pull him towards the ground, but he fought up the multiple attackers. He could hardly see, and he was vastly outnumbered, there must have been ten minions all trying to subdue the Prince.  

“Ya shitty nobodies! I’ll kill y-” A gag was thrown over his mouth before he could finish. Even when he was tightly wrapped up in strong ropes and gagged he was still trying to make an escape.  

A shadow emerged from the corner, carrying a candle so they could get a good look at the captured soul. Katsuki squinted as the hot light was brought close to his face.  

“Well, well. This is a pleasant surprise. I set my trap for a peasant, but I’ve got a prince. And not just any prince, a Dragon prince.” Overhaul’s muffled voice taunted before letting out a malicious cackle.  

The fierce prince continued to fight and struggle against the various ropes, his ruby eyes glaring at the villain. If looks could kill, Overhaul would be six feet under already.  

“Away with him.” Overhaul ordered as he gestured towards the door. Overhaul’s minions grunted as they struggled with their captured Prince, it took all of them to drag him out the door.  

“I have the perfect lodgings for his’ highness.’” The villain mocked as he walked after them into the dark night.  

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.-.-.-.-.-..-.-.-.-.-  

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“What in the world?”  

Queen Mistuki walked through the gates with her entourage, the vast kingdom was quiet except for the sound of snores that played like a strange symphony.  

“Everyone’s... sleeping?” Denki observed as he looked around, poking a soldier who was leaning on his spear for balance as he slept.  

“Keep your guard up, it could be a trap. Mina, be ready to transform and fly us outta here if we need it.” Mitsuki ordered the pink dragon shifter, who gave her a ‘yes ma’am’.  

The small party walked their way through the beautiful kingdom, soon making to the castle where no one stopped them or even greeted them as they made their way through.  

The ash-blonde Queen quickly opened the castle doors only to be met with the end of a sword.  

“What is your business here.” A young prince of red and white hair announced, staring at the large group with his broadsword pointed. He would protect the Queens and the sleeping Princess from whatever came through this door.  

“........”  

The red-clad Queen burst out in laughter, clutching her stomach as she bent over, Denki, Mina and Sero all looked at their Queen slightly worried for her mental well-being.  

“AHahahahahahaah You... aHahaa you got spunk. And that glare! You must be that batard Enji’s son.” Mitsuki belted out, her loud voice filling the entire castle, even reaching the women who looked over the Princess in the tallest tower.  

Shouto’s glare only grew colder as he hated that comparison more than anything, and he stepped forward with his sword, only to clash swords with Queen Mistuk’s guard.  

“Hold on, we’re not here to hurt anyone.” Sero tried to reason while his Queen just stepped back and smirked, enjoying the bit of drama, this was better than some boring party.  

“Then, why are you here?” Shouto asked, eyeing everyone as he wasn’t about to let his guard down, not when the rest of the kingdom was defenceless.  

“We were invited to the party... but it looks like... plans changed.” Mitsuki had finally dropped the smirk as she took a good look around, walking through the large hall and coming to the giant thrones where the good King sat, resting his head on his hand as he slept, a bit of drool coming out of the side of his mouth and into his beard.  

“What happened here?” She asked, and before Shouto could tell her to leave, a voice interrupted.  

“Queen Mitsuki! You came!” Called out a slightly out of breath voice as footsteps clicked across the marble ballroom, lifting her heavy golden dress as she ran.

“Of course, I couldn’t turn down a royal invitation, could I?” Mitsuki went to greet her long time pen-pal, but there were no smiles as Mitsuki noticed Queen’s Sabina’s red swollen eyes.  

“What happened here? Why is everyone sleeping?” Mitsuki asked as she gestured to the sleeping King.  

“They’re under a spell, please come with me.” The Queen told her once she had caught her breath after running through the castle, she grabbed the Dragon Queen’s hand and started leading her back to the tower.  

“See, chill out, man, we’re all friends here.” Denki patted Shouto on the back to try and ease the irritated Prince.  

He let out a sigh and finally sheathed his sword.  

“I’m here to protect my Mother and Queen Sabina, not make friends. If I see any of you try to bring them harm, I will show you no mercy.” Shouto declared, taking his job seriously as he glared at the three Dragon tribe folk.  

“Brrr.. Did it suddenly get icy in here.” Sero shivered as he sheathed his own blade.  

“Let’s go explore!” Mina decided as she already ran off, her two friends trailing behind her trying to say this wasn’t the time, but the pink dragon shifter couldn’t care less, she was in a new place and was curious.  

“Let’s go find the kitchen!! I’m craving cake!” Mina announced as she bounced off, trusting her nose to lead her to the desserts.  

“.... I kinda wish I had gone with Katsuki and Eijirou.” Denki sighed as he followed after his friend and Sero crossed his arms and nodded, still wary of all the sleeping guests and soldiers as they walked through the halls.  

They were probably having a better time than them.  

.  

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-  

.  

Three small fairies raced through the night sky, as fast as they fairy wings could carry them as they flew through the forest and onto the cottage they had called home for so long, it now had lost the warm glow of home as it windows were dark.  

Bursting through the door, they looked around for the mystery man (y/n) had told them about, the one she was in love with.  

“No one’s here!” Uraraka called out as she searched the wood cottage, even checking the cookie jar to see if the stranger was in there.  

“But... Someone was.” Momo looked around the room, tossed furniture, broken glasses littered the floor.  

Izuku picked up a black feather as well a strange necklace with what looked like fangs.  

“Overhaul.... he was here... along with... someone else..” Izuku muttered, and then a loud roar broke through the silence, making the three jump in fright.  

“Wh-wha-wh-what- what was that??” Uraraka trembled as she inched towards her fellow fairies for safety.  

“A--a a bear?” Momo proposed even though she knew that the sound was much too large to be just a regular forest bear.  

A loud knock made the three scream and huddle close together.  

“Hello? I’m looking for my friend? He said he was going to the cottage and this is the only one... hello? Anyone home?” The energetic voice of a young man called out.  

The three fairies looked to another and then back at the door where the voice came from.  

“Should... should we answer it?” Izuku asked, still wary of whatever roared.  

“Oh come on, you two, enough, we are in a crisis, and we have no time to be scared.” Momo reasoned as she shook off her fright and answered the door.  

“Hello?” Momo greeted as she opened the door and was met with red eyes, red hair and sharp white teeth. The red-haired boy hid his dragon features the best he could, but his teeth were something he couldn’t change.  

“Hey! Name’s Eijirou, I’m looking for-” The boy greeted as he smiled at the three fairies, letting off a friendly energy.  

“(y/n)?” The blue fairy jumped forward, hoping that this was the man they were looking for and that their search was over.  

“Huh? No, um not really I mean.... I guess if I found her I would find Katsuki... but no I’m looking for Katsuki. Hey! That’s his necklace!” Eijirou pointed to the fang necklace in the green fairy’s hand.  

“Katsuki?” Uraraka repeated.  

“As... as in THE Dragon Prince Katsuki?” Izuku shouted, feeling like his soul left this body. The fairies had only been to the Dragon Kingdom once or twice, and while they had never met the Prince, they had heard of his foul temper and violent ways.  

“Yeah, about this tall, spiky blonde hair, wears a fluffy red cape, bit of an attitude. He came here to purpose to his dream girl, but-” The red-haired boy took a look around the room.  

“What happened here? These are the flower’s he picked for (y/n)! What are they doing on the floor?” Eijirou leaned down and grabbed the discarded wildflowers.  

“Dragon Prince Katsuki is the one that (y/n) loves?!?!?!” Uraraka and Izuku screamed in unison, and Momo let out a massive sigh.  

“Calm down, you two! We have a crisis. Eijirou, I’m sorry, but Overhaul came here and kidnapped Prince Katsuki.” Momo tried to explain as she kept her cool throughout the whole ordeal.  

“Overhaul?! Why was he here!? Did he take (y/n) as well?” Eijirou asked, worried for his friend but also for the girl he had yet to meet.  

“We’ll explain on the way, we need to go now. No time to lose. To the Forbidden Mountain!” Momo declared.  

“But we can’t... we can’t go there.” Izuku gasped, chills going down his spine at the very mention of the eerie lair of the villain.  

“We can, and we must!” The Red fairy wore a look of determination, and Eijirou rapidly nodded his head, ready to rescue his friend.  

“Alright, hop on.” Eijirou said as he turned and took in a giant breath.  

“Hop on?” Uraraka asked, tilting her head as she watched the red-haired boy roll back his shoulders as if he was getting ready for something.  

And before their eyes, Eijirou transformed into a dragon, inside the cabin...... making the entire place crumble.  

There was a guilty look in the dragon’s eyes as he eyed the now ruined wooden cottage.  

“.....”  

“Nevermind the cabin, let’s go!” Uraraka yelled as she latched herself to one of Eijirou’s horns and the others followed suit.  

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.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-  

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Eijirou flew as fast as his large red wings could, the three fairies clinging to the horns on his head for dear life, they were used to flying but not like this.  

“I- think... I think I’m gonna throw up.” Uraraka groaned as she held a hand over her mouth, her pale form alerting her friends.  

“Ura-Uraraka, hold on a little longer!” Izuku encouraged, rubbing her back.  

“There it is, take us down Eijirou, we don’t want to be sighted.” Momo ordered as she pointed out a spot.  

The dragon let out a gruff sound but listened as descended to the ground, taking shelter by a large boulder.  

As soon as they landed, Urakara ran off and threw up behind a bush as the rest tried to look away. The. Blue fairy looked a lot better when she reunited with the group, apologizing while Izuku and Momo asked if she was alright now.  

“We’ll sneak in and find Katsuki, you wait here, we’ll need you when we flee the castle.” Momo explained and the red dragon looked like he was about to protest, but the three fairies had already made themselves no bigger than sparrows and had flown off towards the dark fortress.  

Then they flew to the gates, hiding behind some stones and just when they thought it was safe walked out, only to see a guard and dart behind a pillar.  

Carefully they made their way through the intimidating fortress, looking for clues while avoiding the guards.  

The three fairies heard the sounds of merriment and looked over to a green glow from a large window. Their little wings took them to what looked like to be a ballroom, and a party was being held, and overlooking the minions was the man in purple, sitting smugly with his staff in hand.  

Overhaul watched from his stone throne as his minions danced around a green bonfire, drinking and letting out cheers of victory. The dark castle that had once been decaying was now kept very pristine under Overhaul’s haul’s rule, everything was perfect. The Princess was under his curse, and he had her Prince in his cellars. Overhaul wasn’t going to let something as simple as ‘true love’ ruin his fun.  

“What a pity that Prince Katsuki can’t be here to enjoy the celebration..” Overhaul wore a smirk behind his leather beak mask as he petted the black crow with the back of his gloved hand.  

“Perhaps we should go check on our ‘special’ guest.” Overhaul’s gold eyes moved to his crow companion, who nodded and hopped on his shoulder as his master rose up from his throne and walked down the stairs, deep into the cellars.  

Momo, Uraraka and Izuku hurried after him, carefully zipping around the dark fortress to avoid being seen as they followed Overhaul, hoping to find the kidnapped Katsuki.  

Muffled screams and the clanging of chains were heard before Overhaul even made it down the stairs, the Dragon Prince was very feisty and had yet to give up. Overhaul took a large black key from his pockets and slid into the door lock, the door creaking open and shut behind him.  

“Prince Katsuki, you shouldn’t be so upset. A wondrous future lies before you.” Overhaul explained as he stood tall in front of the Prince.  

Katsuki lunged forward, but the strong chains kept him shackled to the stone wall, the metal was starting to bruise his skin, but he didn’t care as he wasn’t going down without a fight.  

“Hard to believe that ‘you’ are the destined hero of a charming fairy tale come true.” Overhaul mused as he leaned on his staff. Katuski stopped struggled and raised an eyebrow at the statement, curious about what the villain was talking about.  

The three fairies peaked into the cell.  

Overhaul brought out his staff and waved his hand around the large green orb sitting on top, whispering a spell before holding it close to the Prince.  

“Behold, King Nahir’s castle. And in yonder topmost tower, dreaming of her true love, the Princess Aruna.” The globe showed the sleeping beauty, resting with a red rose in her hand, her lustrous dark hair flowing around her, her brown skin basking in the moonlight.  

Katsuki’s eyes widened, it was (y/n), HIS (y/n). His Sunshine. He lunged forward, filled with a white-hot rage towards his captor.  

“Ah ah. I’m not finished.” Overhaul shook his head at the Dragon Prince’s impatience, not worried for his safety in the slightest. He had won, there was nothing left to do but gloat.  

“But see the gracious whim of fate, why, ‘tis the peasant maid who won the heart of our ‘noble’ Prince but yesterday.” The image in the orb got a closer look at the sleeping girl.  

“She is indeed, most beautiful, skin blessed by the sun, black of midnight in her curls, lips that shame the red, red rose. In ageless sleep, she finds repose.”  

The image disappeared and changed, Katsuki was now seeing the gates of the castle on the Forbidden Mountain being opened.  

“The years roll by. But a hundred years to a steadfast heart are but a day. And now, the gates of the dungeon part and our Prince is free to go on his way.”  

The orb showed Katsuki as an old man, his body skinny and weak as he uses his sword like a cane to walk through the open gates, his ash blonde hair grey with a long beard. The old man’s body is struggling to even move as he walked along the stone road.  

“Off he marches, a valiant figure, straight and tall, to wake his love with love’s first kiss. And prove that true love conquers all!!” Overhaul mocked, a sick cackle sounded behind his beak mask as his gold eyes stared down at the Dragon Prince.  

“Why you!” Little Uraraka was ready to fly in, fists flying, but Momo quickly grabbed the fairy by her blue dress and pulled her back into hiding.  

Overhaul chuckled as Katsuki only fought harder against his chains, screaming muffled through the metal muzzle they placed on him.  

“Come, my pet. Let us leave our noble Prince with these happy thoughts.” Overhaul mocked, his gold eyes gleaming with amusement.  

“A most gratifying day.” Overhaul stepped out of the cell, the door closing behind him. His gloved hand reached for the key and gave it a tight turn before sliding it into his chest pocket and walking off.  

Once it looked like the hallway was finally clear, Momo peeked out from behind the small crevice they had been hiding in, double-checking that the coast was clear.  

The three fairies flew out of hiding and into the cell where Katsuki was fighting against his chains, right as they were about to reveal themselves, the chains broke free from the wall with forces and the Prince tripped forward falling onto his face. The Dragon Prince’s strength was not just a rumour.  

The fairies revealed themselves, shifting from their small size to human-sized. Uraraka was still giggling over the Prince’s faceplant, and Momo and Izuku had to shush her.  

Katsuki jumped up from the ground and raised his fists, ready to fight the intruders.  

“We’re not here to fight, we’re here to help.” Momo explained as she waved her wand and the metal muzzle around Katsuki’s face turned to bubbles.  

“Fuck off! I don’t need your help. Wimpy ass fairies.” Katsuki growled as he grabbed his red cloak from the bench and threw it on.  

“How are you go-” Before Izuku could finish his question, Katsuki and broken through the cell door.  

Momo glared at the stubborn Prince and flew in front of him, spreading her arms out.  

“If you care about (y/n), then you’ll listen!” She told him, and at the mention of the girl’s name, Katuski stopped. He glared at the red fairy and grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her to the wall.  

“What do you know, tell me now or else I’ll rip those wings right off your back.” Katsuki threatened as his crimson eyes glared down at the fairy.  

“THIS is the man that (y/n) fell in love with?” Izuku whispered to Uraraka, who let out a small sigh and shrugged her shoulders.  

“Love is strange and unpredictable.” Uraraka proposed, maybe (y/n) saw a secret side to Katsuki they had yet to see. He was certainly determined, and that was admirable.  

“Prince Katsuki, the road to true love may be barred by still many more dangers, which you alone with have to face.” Momo warned.  

“I am doin’ it alone. Now scram.” Katsuki pushed her away and continued marching down the dark hallway.  

“You are not the only one who cares for (y/n). Now at least take this and protect yourself with this enchanted Shield of Virtue.” Momo waved her wand and created a large shield that appeared in Katsuki’s left hand.  

“And this mighty Sword of Truth.” Another wave of her wand and a large sword appeared in Katuski’s free hand.  

“A broadsword? Fine, doesn’t matter what you give me, I’m gonna kill that beaked bastard.” Katsuki declared, personally, he wanted his regular curved sword, but this would do for now.  

Momo let out a cough, and Katuski glared at her.  

“What?!”  

“For these weapons of righteousness will triumph over evil. Now come, we must hurry to (y/n).” Momo just wanted to finish her speech and get out of here.  

“You extra’s are the ones holding me back.” Katsuki scoffed as he stomped forward, his red cloak fluttering behind him.  

Just as they turned the corner, they were met with Overhaul’s black crow who cawed at them before flying up the stairwell, his loud alarming caw vibrating off the stone walls.  

They hurried up the spiral stairs, and before they knew it, a small army of goons was running towards them.  

A cocky smirk made it’s way to Katsuki’s mouth as he rolled his shoulders back and got into a fighting position.  

“Time for payback, you ugly assholes.” And Katsuki easily cut down the minions while the fairies just watched in amazement.  

“Maybe... he didn’t need our help.” Uraraka wondered out loud as they watched as the Prince happily fought the various enemies.  

A loud roar sounded, and they all looked to the large window.  

“My ride’s here.” Katsuki smirked as he struck down the last minion and ran to the window, jumped out without a care.  

“Prince Katuski!” The fairies cried as they followed only to let out a sigh of relief to see Katski safely on the back of a red dragon, Eijirou had good timing.  

“C’mon, before he leaves without us.” Izuku said as the fairies transformed into the size of small birds and flew to the dragon and nestled themselves safely in Katsuki’s cape, unnoticed by him.  

“You useless lizard, what took so long?” Katsuki complained as he pulled on of Eijirou’s horns.  

The dragon made a guttural groan, and the Prince rolled his eyes.  

“Look out!” Urakaka yelled, pointing at the barrage of arrows flying their way Katuski nearly jumped out of his skin, not realizing he had stowaways with him.  

Eijirou got ready to blast the arrows away to dust with his flames, but Momo beat him to it, waving her wand and turning the arrows into pink flowers.  

“Whatever, let’s get outta here, (y/n) ’s waiting.” Katsuki ordered.  

“To King Nadir’s castle!” Izuku shouted, and Katuski nearly swatted him away like an insect, but the fairy avoided him.  

“C’mon shitty scales, we gotta get my girl.” Katsuki smirked, but he was antsy, was his Sunshine okay? Would a kiss truly be enough to wake her?  

The fairies all looked to one another, before letting out a sigh.  

“Why do I feel like the King will be less than pleased with his possible son-in-law.” Momo sighed  

“If it lifts the curse, then I doubt he’ll care if Katsuki was a foul mouth.” Uraraka pointed out, though she was looking forward to everyone meeting the brash Prince.  

“Though.... it’ll be an interesting meeting for sure...” Izuku thought out loud.  

.  

.-.-.-.-.-.-  

.  

Overhaul watched with rage as the red dragon flew off with his hostage, flying towards the currently sleeping kingdom.  

He stormed to the tallest tower in his castle, thunder rumbled around him as his golden eyes filled with malice, sending lightning strike after lightning strike to hit Eijirou.  

The red dragon was struck and went flying towards the ground. The crash sent dirt flying everywhere, and the red dragon lay in a large ditch from the fall.  

The fairies got to work on healing the dragon as Katsuki’s red eye’s watched in concern, demanding that the three work faster.  

“We’ll stay here. Go forward, Prince Katsuki!” Momo insisted as she waved her wand around one of the dragon’s more significant wounds.  

Katsuki looked at his friend, who just nodded for him to go. The Dragon Prince let out a scoff and ran off, racing towards the marble castle.  

Overhaul swung his staff to the sky, ordering out a spell making green and dark clouds appear and swirl before sending it off to the sleeping kingdom.  

“A forest of thorns shall be his tomb. Borne through the skies on a fog of doom! No go with a curse and serve me well. Around Nahir’s castle, cast my spell!”  

Dark clouds swirled around the beautiful kingdom, lightning striking the ground and the castle. A dense forest of thorns surrounded the castle, sprouting from the ground, causing the earth to shake.  

“Dammit!” Katsuki cursed as he got pricked by one of the thorns.  

The Prince used his blade to slice through the dark thorns, making good progress he finally came to the stone path that led straight into the castle. He smirked in triumph as he marched forward.  

“No! It cannot be!!” Overhaul screamed from his mountain, and in his fit, he used his magic to transport himself across the kingdom.  

Overhaul appeared in a burst of green flame, gold eyes glaring at ruby, and Katsuki just got into a fighting position, ready to take out the villain who stood between him and (y/n).  

“Now shall you deal with me, O Prince. And all the powers of HELL!” Overhaul declared as he raised his arms and wrapped himself up in the magic and a tower of green flames burst towards the sky, disappearing into dark purple clouds.  

Katsuki watch as black form shifted in the flame, growing bigger and bigger.  

“You gotta be shittin’ me.” Katsuki gritted through his teeth, clenching his sword tightly, his knuckles turning white.  

A large purple and black dragon spread its wings, their eyes glowing gold, green flames flowing from its black jaws.  

It felt wrong as the Prince of the Dragon tribe to be fighting a dragon, but Katsuki enjoyed the challenge.  

“I’ll wear your teeth around my neck, you bastard.” He yelled as he readied his sword and shield and stormed forward. Overhaul spat green fire at the Prine, who blocked it with the broad shield, the force of the flames made him stop momentarily, but he pushed forward.  

The dragon fired green flames at the stone bridge, and it melted underneath Katsuki’s feet, and he jumped back, the villain forcing him back into the forest of thorns.  

“You won’t win!” Katsuki screamed as he leapt forward and aimed for the dragon’s heart, but Overhaul swerved his head and tried to bite Katsuki. The Prince swung his sword and hit the hard skull of the dragon.  

In frustration, Overhaul doused the entire forest of thorns in his green flames, forcing Katsuki into a corner.  

“Dammit.. You ugly bastard..” Katsuki cursed, feeling the lick of the hot flames on his skin. A loud familiar roar sounded out, and the Dragon Prince smirked.  

The black dragon looked up and was quickly tackled to the ground by Eijirou, who had dug his sharp jaws deep into the villain.  

“It’s about time ya shitty lizard!” Katsuki yelled as he quickly crawled onto Ejirou’s back and ran up his spine to the top of his head.  

“I’m taking you out!” Katsuki screamed from the top of Eijirou’s head, and the red dragon roared in agreement. The three fairies flew to Katsuki’s side, and Izuku waved his wand at the sword in the Prince’s hand.  

“Now, Sword of Truth, fly swift and sure. That evil die and good endure!” He enchanted the sword, and it glowed white with magic.  

Overhaul reared his head and got ready to spew more flames and Katsuki threw the sword right at the chest of the black dragon, piercing the heart.  

A scream erupted from the dragon’s black jaws, trying to snap at Katsuki once more time, but Eijirou finished the job, and a stream of red hot flame spewed from the red dragon’s jaws.  

Purple smoke erupted from the black dragon until it was nothing but a purple and black cape, Overhaul’s beak mask sitting on top, but the villain was gone.  

The skies cleared, and the thorns disappeared, the morning sun shining over the kingdom.  

Katsuki looked to the castle where (y/n) waited for him.  

“The tallest tower, huh?” Katsuki said as he looked up and patted Eijirou’s head, who understood where he was going with his.  

Eijirou spread his broad wings and took off, flying towards the tallest tower where Sleeping Beauty waited.  

.  

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.  

.  

Mitsuki watched as her friend sat by the sleeping Princess, still not believing that true love would break the curse, but it was their only hope.  

They heard the flapping of wings, and then a large force dropped onto the roof of the tower, Queen Sabina raced to her daughter’s side, ready to protect her if needed with the sharp dagger in her hand.  

Shouto unsheathed his sword standing in front of his mother as the creaking of the roof continued, and a flash of a red tail whipped past the windows.  

“We should leave.” Shouto advised and but was interrupted by Mitstuki’s laugh.  

“Nothing to worry about, I know that roar.” Mitsuki proudly declared.  

“Fuck, move ya damn lizard.” A furious yell sounded out, and Sabina raised an eyebrow.  

“... yep, sounds about right.” Mitsuki sighed, shaking her head over her son’s language, not that her word choices were any better.  

A figure dropped down from the roof and onto the balcony of the tower, their red cape lined with white fur hood blocking their face till they raced into the room, only stopping in his steps when they laid their eyes on the sleeping Princess.  

Katsuki didn’t even notice the others in the room, just the beauty lying bed, his boots walking to her side, ( y/n) looked dead as she lay in bed, a rose resting in her hands.  

“Sunshine...” He spoke to her, cradling her face, she was still warm, her chest gently rising and falling.  

“You are?” A woman’s voice asked, and Katsuki nearly jumped when he looked to the other side of the bed, and an older woman with similar features to (y/n) stared at him.  

“None of your business, that’s who.” He spat.  

“Katsuki! You damn brat! Have some manners!” Mitsuki scolded, and Katsuki’s eyes widened as he looked over to his mother.  

“Old hag!! What the hell are you doing here?!” He yelled, pointing at her.  

“What am I doing here?! What are you doing here?!” She rebutted, hands on her hips as she glared at her temperamental son.  

The three fairies flew in the room, and all three let out a massive sigh at the sight of the Dragon Royalty yelling at each other.  

“Your highness, Prince Katsuki defeated Overhaul.” Izuku informed the Queen of the castle.  

“Overhaul is dead?” She uttered, shock painting her face.  

“Yes your majesty.”  

“Then shouldn’t she awaken?” Queen Sabina asked as she looked down at her daughter’s still form.  

“Katsuki? Is this the girl?” The Dragon Queen asked, realizing why he was here.  

Katsuki looked at the girl lying in bed and went back to her side, his typically angry eyes softening as he caressed her hair.  

“It is.”  

“Go on, Katuski.” The ruby-eyed Prince didn’t have to be told twice as he sat down on the bed, he leaned down, but he felt everyone’s eyes on him.  

“Can’t a guy get some privacy?!!?!” He growled at everyone, and they all jumped.  

“Oh! Okay, everyone, let’s um turn around.” Momo instructed, and everyone tentatively listened while Uraraka waved her wand to create a curtain around the bed that the Princess slept in.  

The Dragon Prince let out a sigh and took her hands in his, he leaned forward, slowly inching towards her red lips, their noses touched, and he took a pause.  

“What... what if.. What if I’m not your true love...” He whispered as he leaned his forehead against hers, the thought hadn’t even entered his mind. Now he was clenching his jaw at the thought of (y/n) lying here asleep till someone else came along and took her away.  

“I need you, Sunshine. I’ll dance with you whenever you want. I can take you flying, you’ll look beautiful in the sky. Hell, you look beautiful wherever you are.” He spoke softly, his eyes closing as he imagined their life together.  

“Come back to me,” Katsuki whispered the small plea and finally took the plunge, lightly touching his lips to hers. They were softer than he imagined, velvety smooth and melded perfectly with his.  

Katsuki leaned back up and opened his eyes, his breath hitched in his throat as he waited.  

Long dark lashes started to flutter, and the Princess began to shift slightly. Slowly (y/n) opened her eyes and looked upon her Prince, his ruby eyes brighter than she remembered.  

“I dreamed of you...” she sighed, her large eyes fluttering as she was still waking up. Katsuki thought he had never seen anything so breathtaking as she gently smiled up at him.  

Katsuki smirked and traced the edge of her jaw with his calloused fingers, caressing her gently.  

“Good morning, Sunshine.” He teased as he leaned down and kissed her again, this time with a little more force, and she giggled into the kiss as she leaned upwards a bit, her hand gripping the soft fur of his cloak.  

Suddenly Katsuki was pushed to the ground and arms wrapped around the Princess.  

“My baby!”  

“Oh, um... Hello?” (y/n) said as she rubbed the back of the woman, hugging her as she cried. The woman leaned back and held the young woman’s face in her hands, tears streaming down her face as she smiled at the face of her long lost treasure.  

“Mother?” (y/n) tilted her head slightly as her eyes raked over the woman’s features, there was something familiar about her. The Queen nodded her head and brought the Princess in for another hug.  

“Nice job Son.” Mitsuki praised as she tried not to cry over the family reunion.  

“... thanks...” he uttered, silently forgiving (y/n) ’s mother for pushing him away.  

A whine was heard from the balcony, and everyone turned to see a giant red dragon’s snout peeking into the room.  

“Oi! I told you to wait outside!” Katsuki yelled, and the dragon looked like he rolled his eyes. Queen Sabina tried to hide her daughter behind her, but she was already trying to scramble out of bed to get a better look, her long blue and gold skirt touching the ground.  

In her haste, she tripped, but Katsuki was quick to catch her.  

“Careful, your gonna hurt yourself.” Katsuki scolded as he steadied her, and she just blushed and apologized, but then her large eyes looked back at the red dragon with wonder, and the Prince let out a sigh.  

“Shitty scales, this is (y/n).” Katsuki introduced her to his long-time friend and dragon.  

“Acutally her name is Aruna.” Shouto informed him, relieved that the Princess was okay but slightly bewildered that her true love was this ruffian.  

“Shut it half ‘n Half, she’s (y/n) to me.” Katsuki barked at the rival Prince, but he didn’t seem to care.  

Before their eyes, the red dragon transformed into a humanoid form, but one could still see glittering red scales on his arms and neck, horns poking from his forehead, and a spiky red tail waved behind him.  

“Name’s Eijirou, nice to meet you! Can’t wait for the wedding.” The friendly Eijirou rushed forward and grabbed the Princess by her hands, and she was still in awe over what she had just witnessed, the world was a magical place, and she couldn’t wait to learn more about Katsuki’s world.

“The Wedding?! Rei.. I’m sorry, but I’m afraid we’ll have to break the betrothal.” Queen Sabina spoke softly to her long-time friend and fellow Queen.  

“It’s quite alright, who are we to stand in the way of true love. Though Enji will have something to say..” The snow-haired Queen gave a slightly worried look, and Sabina promised that she would deal with the brutish King. Truth be told, Sabina never missed an opportunity to tell off the war-hungry King.  

“The party! We need to wake everyone up! It’s time to celebrate” Uraraka grabbed the hands of her fellow fairies, and they flew off to do their job.  

“Sweetheart... are you ready?” Queen Sabina squeezed her daughter’s hands, and she smiled nervously.  

“... Yes. Can I have a moment?” The Princess requested as she fidgeted with the various gold and blue bangles on her wrist. The Queen nodded and tried to usher everyone out of the room, giving the two a moment.  

“.. Will you stay by my side.” (y/n) asked her Prince. Katuki gave her a handsome smirk that made her skin hot and heart beat faster.  

“After all this?? I’m not letting you outta my sight.” Katsuki leaned down and rested his forehead against her’s, enjoying the quiet of the intimate moment.  

“So cute.” Mitsuki cooed as peaked her head in and winked at the two, causing the new couple to turn the same colour as Katsuki’s red eyes.  

“Beat it, Old Hag!” He screamed as he threw the pillow from the bed at her.  

“... I’ll let it slide today since it’s a special day. But tomorrow... you’re dead meat boy.” Mitsuki threatened as she pointed at her son, their glares were almost identical and (y/n) stifled a giggle into the fur trim of Katsuki’s cloak.  

“Oh and welcome to the family.” She winked at the Princess, who, in turn, smiled back at her before Mitsuki finally descended down the stairs to join the party, ultimately leaving the two alone.  

“Now that we finally got rid of those extras.” Katsuki let out a sigh of relief, before wrapping his arms around his sunshine, holding her close to him.  

“Katsuki.” (y/n) playfully chided as she shook her head at her Prince’s attitude but nestled her head into his shoulder, she felt Katsuki smirk against her neck before peppering her skin with kisses, making her let out a small gasp.  

“Kastuki! We need to go do downstairs!” She giggled as he continued his playful assault, travelling from her neck up to her face.  

“I don’t give a shit about a party, I came here for you.” He pointed out before leaning down and capturing her soft lips in a demanding kiss, leaving her breathless with a blissful look on her face.  

(y/n)’s handsome prince got down on one knee before her and got out the gold and ruby ring his mother had given him. Her heart began racing wildy as she realized what was happening.

“Will you-”  

“Yes!” She tackled him, and the two fell to the ground as she laughed, and he couldn’t help but smile as he wrapped his arms around her, feeling whole and at peace for the first time.  

His girl was safe in his arms, his beautiful angel whose smile was brighter than the sun itself. Katsuki could barely wait to hear (y/n) sing to him and dance with her for the rest of his days.  

The nightmare was over, and the dream was just beginning.  

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

[sanderssidesfanfiction]

If There’s a Place I Could Be - Chapter Sixty One

If There’s a Place I Could Be Tag

June 26th, 1986

Remy watched his mom rush around the house, cleaning up this and removing that, taking certain things off the shelves and kicking around his, Toby’s, and Vanessa’s toys. Remy squawked a little when she kicked Bones to the side, but Toby put a hand on Remy’s arm and went to grab Bones for him, coming back and giving Remy the stuffed toy. “Bones is okay, Remy,” Toby said, climbing back up on the couch.

Remy nodded. “Why’s Mom acting like this?”

“Guests are coming over, and she wants everything to look perfect. This is how she gets everything perfect,” Toby said. “It’s also why we usually go to others’ houses and why they don’t come here.”

Remy made a soft, “Oh.” Then, “But did she have to kick Bones? He’s important, he shouldn’t get kicked around!”

Toby just shrugged. “Who knows why Mom does what she does?”

  April 20th, 2002

Remy paced the apartment, tweaking this and adjusting that, trying to make sure that everything was mostly neat. Emile stood at the edge of the kitchen, laughing, but Remy didn’t see what was funny about this. “Emile, your parents are coming over and you’re not even helping clean up!”

“There’s nothing to clean up,” Emile said. “We don’t even have half a pantry to organize.”

Remy froze. “We don’t have food! Emile! How am I supposed to help host your parents if I can’t cook for them?!”

“Breathe, Rem,” Emile soothed. “My parents said they were coming over with some groceries, because they didn’t want us to break the bank trying to feed four people.”

“Emile, you’re missing the point!” Remy fretted. “This is the first time they’re seeing our apartment! I want to give them a good impression, and show that we’re capable!”

“They already know we’re capable, Rem,” Emile said. “And they know that we can fend for ourselves, as evidenced by New Year’s Eve.”

Remy turned when Emile mentioned New Year’s Eve. Emile’s face was neutral enough, but almost looked impassive. “Honey, you okay?” Remy asked. “You never bring up New Year’s.”

Emile shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt like it used to, but I don’t like talking about it, so I usually don’t.”

Remy nodded. “I don’t suppose you’ve thought about...what’s going to happen this year?”

“Haven’t really wanted to,” Emile admitted. “But it’s a ways off anyway. I’m not gonna freak out about that yet.”

Remy nodded. There was a knock at the door and he jumped about a foot in the air. Emile snickered and went to open the door, chirping, “Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad!”

Looking around, Remy couldn’t see anywhere he could inconspicuously clean last-minute, and he inwardly groaned before following Emile to the door. He could help but smile when he saw Emile’s parents standing there, suitcases and groceries in hand. “You look like you’re coming armed to feed an army!” he exclaimed. “You know that you didn’t need to bring any groceries at all, right? If Emile had given me more notice, I would have saved up some money for meals.”

“The whole point of us bringing groceries is so you wouldn’t have to do that, Remy,” Emile’s mom tutted. “We didn’t want you to worry.”

“Well, now that you’re here, can I at least take the groceries in?” Remy asked.

“Oh, let me help, at least,” Emile’s mom said and Remy took the bags that Emile’s dad had been holding, while Emile’s mom set down her suitcase and brought in the groceries she had, and the two of them went to the kitchen.

 “Don’t burn anything!” Emile’s dad joked, and Emile’s mother sent him a fake glare.

“You know my sorting system is far better than yours, and you’re just jealous,” she said.

Remy laughed and began to put everything away, Emile’s mom working around him and Emile talking to his dad in low tones that Remy couldn’t hear as they brought in the suitcases. Probably about Emile’s grandfather, though, if Emile’s face was anything to go by. Not to mention, his hands were shoved in his pockets, which he did when he wanted to hide them trembling.

Somehow, Emile and Remy wound up in the living room as Emile’s mom and dad were getting set up in the guest room, which mostly consisted of pushing Remy and Emile’s old full beds together to let them sleep next to each other. Emile was watching cartoons and Remy was sitting upside-down on the couch, legs crossed as he read one of Emile’s old novels.

Emile’s mom walked out of the guest room and tutted. “Remy, you’ll crack your skull open if you’re not careful.”

“Relax, Mom, I’ve done this easily a thousand times by now,” Remy said off-hand, waving one hand around dramatically before returning to reading.

It took a full minute of the only sound coming from TV for Remy to look up and notice both Emile and his mom staring at him. “What?” he asked.

“You...you called my mom ‘Mom,’” Emile explained.

“Oh. Did I? Sorry,” Remy said, wincing. “But I mean, that’s who she is, though, right?”

“To me,” Emile said. “You’ve never called her ‘Mom’ before.”

“Ah,” Remy said, not entirely sure what to do with this information. He wasn’t going to be in trouble for this, was he? They couldn’t very well kick him out—this was his apartment as much as it was Emile’s. But that didn’t mean everyone was automatically okay with what he said.

Emile’s dad walked out of the bedroom and asked, “What’s going on?”

“Remy is finally accepting that he’s part of the family,” Emile’s mom said, slowly beaming.

“Oh? What did he do?” Emile’s dad asked.

An idea struck Remy and he shrugged, saying, “You know I’m right here and you can ask me yourself, right, Dad?”

Emile’s dad made a surprised squeak as Remy turned back to the book with a grin. Emile poked Remy in the stomach and Remy flipped off the couch and onto the floor with a squawk as a result. “Emile!” he exclaimed. “Not cool!”

“You’re not even going to acknowledge that you just made my parents’ day?” Emile asked.

Remy took a breath. “Well, once I realized they weren’t going to be mad at me for it, I decided I didn’t need to read the situation as closely. So I guess I missed the part of the conversation where calling people who I consider my parents ‘Mom’ and ‘Dad’ suddenly means that everything is covered in rainbows and sunshine and glitter,” he said drily.

“Get up off the floor and let them hug you,” Emile instructed, kicking Remy’s foot. “Better to get it out of the way now.”

Remy placed the book on the TV stand and stood, only to immediately get crushed in a hug by both Emile’s parents. Emile’s mom also proceeded to kiss Remy’s cheek and Emile’s dad ruffled Remy’s hair. “Wow, I can only imagine what it’ll be like whenever I’m legally part of your family, if just calling you Mom and Dad did this much.”

Emile laughed and said, “Well, if they don’t die of happiness on the spot, you’ll most certainly be getting this but about ten-fold.”

“Good to know,” Remy said, turning to Emile as slowly, Emile’s parents let him go.

“You said that you see me as your mother and you expect me to not be overjoyed by that?” Emile’s mom asked.

“Well...uh...usually comparisons to motherhood aren’t...uh...compliments, considering my history,” Remy said with a shrug. “But...yeah, you just...you’re more a mother to me than my own mother ever was,” he turned to Emile’s dad, “And the same is true with you compared to my own dad.”

Both of Emile’s parents were still looking overjoyed, and Remy mumbled, “Emile, did I break them?”

“No,” Emile laughed. “You didn’t break them. They’ll be back to normal in fifteen minutes or so. Until then, you’d better be ready for unbridled adoration and attention from them.”

“Oh,” Remy said simply. What was he supposed to say? Honestly, he didn’t expect this to happen, it just sort of did, he had no—

“For what it’s worth, Remy, I’m proud of you. It’s not easy to be honest and open about that sort of thing, and even if you started by accident, you finished with purpose. That’s amazing, son.”

—Expectations. Huh. Emile’s dad, at least, was proud. Apparently. Remy didn’t fully understand why.

Emile’s mom hugged him again and said, “I hope you realize this makes us adopting you practically official.”

Remy laughed. “I mean, you might get me as a son-in-law yet. Don’t doubt Emile’s courting abilities.”

“Remy, my son is many things. Loving, excitable, smart...but nowhere on that list is ‘suave,’ ‘charismatic,’ or any other words related to romancing someone,” Emile’s mom said.

Remy laughed. “Well, he seemed to successfully catch me, I don’t know what to tell you, Mom.”

“That he did, and we’re still not sure how he did it,” Emile’s mom said. “Considering that we all know him, it’s a bit of a mystery.”

“Hey!” Emile exclaimed indignantly, and Remy laughed.

“Nah, he’s not that bad! And the fact that I know him makes it all the better, you know? All of his quirks are endearing to me,” Remy said.

Emile’s dad grinned. “And to think, two years ago you couldn’t have gotten away from him fast enough. He’s done a number on you!”

“That’s one way to put it, yeah,” Remy laughed. “I like to think that he just sort of...punched a hole in my walls until he could comfortably walk in, and you can figure out the rest.”

Emile rolled his eyes. “I didn’t punch a hole in your walls, Remy, I took a jackhammer to them, or maybe some TNT. They were too thick for me to just punch through. I took drastic measures.”

Remy frowned, and turned to Emile. “What?”

“What, you think that I would move in with just anyone, to save money on tuition and to keep said person alive? Usually, I’d set them up with a friend, or something. But once it became clear what your situation was, I knew that desperate times called for desperate measures.” Emile shrugged. “Not that you didn’t like me by that point, but you didn’t like me like me for a good while after that.”

Remy blinked. “I just thought...you were that sort of person,” he said faintly.

“I...no,” Emile said, standing and walking over to Remy. “That’s something specific to you. I hope that doesn’t change your perception of me?”

“It changes it, all right,” Remy said, his eyes clouding with tears. He hugged Emile close. “It makes me love you even more.”

Emile made a soft surprised noise and Remy just held him tighter. “You...okay, Rem?”

Remy was crying by this point, softly, and close to silent, but not quite there. “I just thought...I just always thought you’d do everything in your power to help people. And...and you do, don’t get me wrong. But...there’s a difference between helping two friends who need a roommate finding one and moving in with one friend who was literally dying just to make sure they can go on. You could have set me up with a friend, whether or not that ended well. You could have helped me find a place I could conceivably afford on my own. But...but you chose to move in with me. You weren’t obligated to, but you cared about me enough that you did. And I just...I love you.”

Emile laughed just a little as he hugged Remy back. “I love you too, in case it wasn’t obvious by now.”

Remy just buried his head in Emile’s shoulder. Emile laughed. “Aw, c’mon, Rem, it’s all good. I’m just relieved this doesn’t make you think that I see you as a pity case.”

“You never have pity cases in your eyes,” Remy said, swiping away his tears. “Learned that one, at least, a long while back.”

Emile sighed with a smile. “You see, I doubt you would have believed that so whole-heartedly even a year ago. I’m glad that you know it now.”

Remy huffed. “Hey, I caught on eventually, I’m not completely hopeless.”

“You’re not hopeless, period,” Emile said simply. “Unless, of course, we’re talking about love, in which case you are absolutely a hopeless lovesick puppy in a leather jacket.”

“Hey!” Remy exclaimed, punching Emile lightly in the arm. “Am not!”

“Are so!” Emile sang. “And just FYI, if you want to make dinner at a reasonable hour, you should probably start now.”

Remy fumed at Emile before turning to Emile’s parents. “Mom, Dad, I’m confiscating your son so I can argue with him while I make dinner. Kick back, make yourselves at home. I’ll get everything ready tonight and you’re free to argue with me tomorrow about helping with breakfast. Sound good?”

Emile’s mom nodded, pushing Emile’s dad down onto the couch despite his protests. “I’ll keep him here,” Emile’s mom said with a wink. “Go ahead and do your thing.”

Remy grinned before dragging Emile to the kitchen, arguing that he was not a lovesick puppy for the next five minutes, minimum.

[bestworstcase]

I just find the way the show frames it in Season 2... strange. I understand the danger in the situation you brought up in the tags, but- she does love Eugene. Why is this about her freedom as if marriage ties you down?

Maybe it’s my own misunderstanding of marriage

the thing though is like. even a perfectly normal and well-adjusted 18/19-year-old is in a period of major transition + self discovery. at that time of life you’re just starting to figure out who you are and what kind of adult you’re going to be and what you’re gonna do with your life! you’re stepping out of childhood and into adulthood. 

as a comparison, replace “marriage” with “buying your forever house.” imagine asking an eighteen year old to take out loans and get a mortgage for a house that they’re gonna live in for the rest of their lives. 

sure they might love the house. and sure they might be the rare teenager who knows exactly what they want out of life and if they can get it so early, more power to ’em. but for the average teen? like that’s not... a reasonable expectation, and if you took a normal 18/19 year old and asked them how their house search was going and if they were ready to settle down in their forever house you’re gonna get the deer in headlights look. because teenagers aren’t, in general, emotionally ready for that kind of huge, life-defining decision. 

[i mean just look at how common it is for kids to switch majors halfway through school, or switch schools even! i’m the odd one out in my friend group in that i picked a school that i loved right off the bat, chose my major freshman year the first day i was allowed to do so, stuck with both those choices for four years, and then graduated happy with my choices and still have zero regrets. my best friend went through three schools before she found one that worked for her; my sister did community college then one year at one university then a gap year that became a gap two years before finishing her BA at a second university and graduating this spring, at age 25. because she had to figure out what she wanted and that was hard! and this sort of thing is both very normal and good and healthy.]

marriage is the same. you’re picking someone and making a legal commitment to be with them for the rest of your life, and yeah divorce is an option but it’s one that is financially and emotionally burdensome and, especially if there’s kids in the mix, you will still be dealing with the fallout of a divorce for years to come. marriage is not something that is easy to change your mind about. that’s a lot to put on a kid’s shoulders, even under the best of circumstances. [and it does sometimes work out: my mom was nineteen when she met my dad, and they’ve been married almost thirty years. there’s always exceptions]

and this goes triple for rapunzel, because she is an 18/19 year old who grew up in a horrifically abusive home where she wasn’t allowed to have any independence at all, then found out that her mother was actually HER KIDNAPPER and got dumped into the role of princess with no transition period whatsoever—literally her whole life got turned upside-down and she’s having to relearn EVERYTHING she thought she knew about her life, on top of the normal teenager thing of figuring herself and her life out. 

she’s a little steadier on her feet in s2, but she’s also caught up in fulfilling this destiny she didn’t choose, and she’s secretly scared that that destiny is going to end up killing her. she’s got... like an insane amount of stuff on her plate. and eugene is her rock and she absolutely 100% loves him and wants to marry him, but that doesn’t mean she is emotionally ready to get married right now. the only reason she tries to propose in s2 is she’s freaked out about the possibility of losing eugene to somebody else, and when eugene reassures her that there’s no danger of that, it becomes a nonissue and is never mentioned again... until s3 when she’s gotten to a point where she’s happily fantasizing about being married to eugene and planning a proposal because she is now Truly Ready. 

which i guess is all a long-winded way of saying... it’s not really about whether she loves eugene or not. and it’s not really about whether they could be happy together for the rest of their lives if they got engaged in BEA or in BtCW. it’s about marriage 1) being a big step and a huge, life-long commitment that cannot be entered into lightly, and 2) whether rapunzel is emotionally ready to make a decision that profound. 

and yeah, i think it’s perfectly reasonable and valid to portray that as a question of Her Freedom. getting married to eugene is not going to actually inhibit her from being herself, or doing what she wants with her life, because she and eugene love each other and want to spend their lives together and he would of course support whatever life she chose... but the decision itself can still be frightening. it can still be A Lot. there is a big difference between saying “i love you and i want to be with you forever” and going through the whole legal process of tying yourself to another person for the rest of your life, and it’s okay—as a teenager!—to be completely comfortable and genuine in the first while also feeling terrified, or overwhelmed, regarding the second. 

which imo is the whole point tts is making. rapunzel can love eugene with all her heart and not be ready to marry him bc she’s young and exploring herself and her world, and that’s totally okay. she doesn’t have to propose or get married until she WANTS that for herself, until it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice or a compromise she’s making but rather a dream she is pursuing. she gets to have marriage as a joyous, freeing prospect, rather than something scary that she isn’t ready for but feels compelled to accept anyway because well, she loves eugene and she has no reason to say no, right? 

like [waves hands vaguely at the plus est scene] is the way rapunzel smiles when eugene proposes in that scene the smile of a woman who is sacrificing her freedom to get married? no! of course not! that’s the smile of someone who is DELIGHTED and EAGER and EXCITED to get married because marriage is an open door to exactly the future she wants, which is precisely how marriage should be.