#I WAS GOING 2 PUT THIS W/ THE NEXT BATCH BUT AH WELL

[vellichorom]

have you posted the housewife piece i think you should post the housewife piece

oh come on, did you actually think he had a loving wife? who would want to commit their life to him?

oh, well

[aylabyu]

*cutely waves

yo! continuation from my previous work!

Random Genshin Men x F!Reader (NSFW) Pt. 2

4

"oh... sorry for intruding, i came at a bad time."

"ah? the chief alchemist? i apologize for looking so ruffled, can i help you?"

diluc calmly looked at the expressionless albedo and pulled his dick out of your pussy, making his and your liquids come out of you like a leaky faucet. it was only your upper body that was on the table, so since there was so much cum, it started dripping on the floor too.

"mm, i'll need some alcohol for my experiments. or just something strong..." albedo glanced at you, "or addicting."

"heh, well we just received our latest batch."

diluc grabbed your body who was now turned to face albedo. he separated your legs and folds to show the wet lair full of cum (and some... alcohol and grape juice too).

"there's some alcohol mixed with her addicting liquids, so you can just take some samples from her. but of course, you don't have to be obligated to accept, we have more than enough alcohol to provide."

you were embarrassed, thinking that you were just some sort of product, something that only has the purpose of being used.

hearing your thoughts, you flinched and clenched over nothing, making more cum go out of your cave.

"i think i'll put you up with your offer, master diluc. though, would you still mind if i also brought some alcohol with me? i might have an idea about my next experiment..."

diluc caressed your thighs and stated at you deeply, not entirely sure about this whole event considering how you were quiet.

though he doesn't need to worry, you were already imagining the "experiments" albedo will put you through, into which diluc might have sensed as he abruptly slapped your pussy.

"darling, what's on your mind?"

"n-ngh, albedo..?" you were starry eyed by this point, throwing your last bit of shame away.

albedo chuckled, "looks like i'll have an active participant later, hm?"

he walked towards you while maintaining eye contact and grabbed you, making your whole body clutch to his.

"master diluc, i think i would pick up the alcohol some other time. this experiment is much more crucial in my opinion."

"take your time with it. have fun."

"w-wait! we're going out while i'm still like this?" you panicked, making you grind on albedo's growing tent.

albedo grunted, "ngh, stop squirming," he slapped your ass, "you don't want others to see how much of a slut you are?"

you were shocked, you never heard albedo speak like this. though, you are being turned on.

"...a cape at least?" you glanced at diluc's tailcoat, and diluc put it over you.

"thank you, ma- agh?!"

you bit your lips and grinded hard on albedo, diluc shoved something inside your pussy.

"ma-master, ngh! ah, ahn!♡"

you were full-on grinding on albedo now, he is grunting and slowly moving his hips with yours. the long, phallic object was being moved too by diluc's hand who was behind you, grabbing your neck.

"more! m, more! please, ah!♡"

albedo pushed you to diluc who easily catched you, and pulled his trousers down. he revealed a pale, pretty dick where you think it looks absolutely delicious.

diluc removes the toy as albedo replaces it with his leaking cock. it was leaking so much that there was a stain on his underwear and trousers. he put your legs up to be in an M-position, and thrusted in with all his might.

"ah! ah, ah! al-albedo! ngh, mgh!

"mgh, you're so, tight! ♡ say, master diluc, it's around four in the afternoon right now, no?"

albedo looked at diluc who was licking a juice bottle's stained and rather, shiny, shaft.

"supposedly so, you have enough time to plow that pussy before customers start to pour in."

"just like how i have enough time to pour some, sustenance, inside, hm?" albedo chuckled and asked to you, "you'll like that, right?"

you would have answered yes in a heartbeat if you weren't so fucked too hard by albedo's dick – either way, you think he got the memo when he came and started thrusting again, under the certain gaze of a red-haired man ♡

3

"albedo, pl-please! can i take a- ngh!"

"hm? why? this is a part of the experiment i'm conducting, and you're a willing volunteer. you can't go back to your words, dearie."

albedo took you to dragonspine when he and diluc heard the telltale sign of the tavern's patrons. the alchemist took running while diluc's cape was used in covering your body. albedo was still inside you while the both of you were on the run, making him go into alleyways along the way to dump his load into you.

"haah-ha? ugh, 'bedo! 'm so, so-"

"so... hungry for more dick? not to worry, we have another volunteer for this experiment♡"

you were situated on the bed, placed on the lap and cock of albedo. you blankly stared at him when he said that, which then the other "volunteer" made himself known from the shadows.

"huh?! albedo? what-"

you weren't able to finish formulating your shocked thoughts into words when the albedo currently ramming into you right now also rammed his fingers into your asshole.

"oh? still tight? with all the men you have before me, i would have thought they will fancy your other hole here too," albedo started to be harsher with his cock and fingers on your poor body.

while the two of you were having fun, the other albedo was walking to the both of you while holding his impressive tool.

"you see dear, he was in the back while watching the both of us. he was jerking off so sadly to your whorish moans and cries. anyway, you'll help him."

albedo decidedly said, sparing no extra thought if you wanted to or not. don't worry, deep inside he really knows you want more dick.

"m-mgh, can you swallow my cock..?" second albedo wiped your lips with his leaking meat, making precum mix with your saliva.

you nodded dumbly, opening your already gaping mouth and then swallowing his dick. not caring if you think you were over-drugged from all the aphrodisiac albedo made you consume with another albedo shoving his dick into your mouth, or if you were just really near-delirium from all the dick you were swallowing in all accessible holes.

"ngh, nh! ah, ah!!♡"

"mgh, so sloppy, wet- agh!"

"heh, but it's a very fun experience, don't you think?"

for a long while, only the three of you let out cries and groans. the original albedo was much harsher with his ministrations than the second chalk prince, as if letting your body know his true colors.

"my, the test subject is getting distracted even with two dicks? do you want three?♡"

you came with a startle where the albedo up your ass came like a river too. after uncountable thrusts, the albedo up your pussy exploded too.

"haah, hah, I..."

your ears pricked up, hearing second albedo's words while he was leaning on your body on the bed.

"mh? what did you say?"

albedo queried while thinking of the... proposition he asked to you a while ago (three cocks ♡)!

"wan' more!"

the second albedo thrust up unexpectedly that you bit your lip, making blood draw out. the albedo in front of you seemed fascinated with the appearance of the crimson liquid, as if it was an aphrodisiac as his hips too became faster.

"?!"

you were shocked, they just came but they seemingly have no refractory period (well they are humanoids) compared to the... partners you encountered.

"ngh! ah, ah! wait- i'm gonna-!"

with your teeth almost drawing blood once more to your lips, you squirted as tears dribbled out.

"aw, is the princess crying due to over-pleasure?"

your widened eyes trailed the shocking voice outside the cave, a ginger-haired man...? ♡

"oh, i was just thinking about my question from earlier. looks like we have the third dick for you now, test subject♡"

2 (mm, methinks if there are some who are uncomfy with watersports and a mention of knifeplay, skip this!)

"princess, still alive?"

childe pets your hair and coos at you as if you're a kid.

"ngh, mmf, nrh-"

only muffled noises came out of you, as your mouth was stuck on his dick.

the both of you are situated in something moving, you can't comprehend what it is due to the stimulation you're receiving. since you and childe aren't the only ones present.

"oh? why did you stop sucking? come on now, don't be shy. with the two albedos from yesterday, you can't be unused to these types of situations."

you're trembling because of the phallic thing pushed inside your two holes, and the aura the cloaked man lets out while watching the both of you.

childe grabs your head when he felt your taps on his thigh where you immediately inhaled air more evidently. with your tongue hanging out and greedy for more oxygen, the toys inside you vibrated at a fast level.

"ngh! ah, ah! w-wait! my-"

you almost bit your tongue in surprise. you laid your body weakly on childe's where he embraced you in return.

"your..?"

"please, s-stop for a bit. also this vehicle, stop-"

"who are you to order us?"

you shut your mouth when you heard the other man talk. he had a deep, husky voice that can make anyone stop from thinking.

"it's, it's not like that! i-i just, wanna... p..."

"speak up, dear. not only are you noisy, but also a fool?"

tears welled out, yet there's pleasure in the humiliation. you blame it all on what you were introduced to (*heavy* sex). the toys inside your holes quieted down.

"...pee."

"you want us to pee? on you, perhaps?"

"what! no! me, i want to pee. it's been days since i had a proper trip to the bathroom."

"you smell good either way, princess. such a lusty and whorish smell♡"

"i don't think the same way?"

"you only say that since you still didn't rub your scent on her!"

"childe, if i'm going to fuck someone continuously for two days — the first day with two other men and the second day with just yourself but big... objects (toys) — i'd at least want someone clean."

"that's your type, not mine! it's fun to guess whose cum will come out of her. is it mine? or the two albedos? someone from the past week or... someone when i was sleeping."

childe cheekily grinned at the man, whereas the other party merely cocked his head to the side at his hidden query.

"hm, i do not know and do not care. take care of your pet first, it looks like she'll burst in any second."

you jolted, trying to lessen your existence when you heard childe's words from a while ago. you thought it was a dream... and even though it was real, you would have never expected the other man to have such a humongous...

"princess, why does it look like you're thinking of something else? maybe you want to disgrace yourself here?"

your closed eyes opened and saw childe's smiling, yet murderous, gaze. you thought back from yesterday when the four of you dabbled in some knifeplay.

it's not you being the one in danger, but childe as he was below you while the two albedos go to town with your pussy. you were made to hold a knife and put it on childe's neck since if your arms feel weak even for the slightest moment, or if you moved in a different way, the duo pounding you would have new, fresh materials for their research.

childe had an expectant gaze, as if he wanted to see his own blood dye your surroundings, and rubbed and came multiple times using his hands and imagination.

"princess, pee in front of us."

"what-"

the embrace childe have with you suddenly puts you in a chokehold and placed your legs in an M-position.

"come on now, pee! i'll hold you while you're peeing, don't worry!"

"childe, no! the-the interior will smell. i can just go to a bush outside-!"

"nuh-uh, your mind was wandering while we were talking. you were thinking about other men, hm? i was fucking you 'til you lost consciousness various times but you still think of other dicks?!"

childe let out a manical smile, and abruptly bit your nape.

"ah! ngh, childe! d-don't be like this-"

"i've had it with your orders."

the man reached over and single-handedly grabbed your body. childe didn't resist and let him take you. he picked you up and crouched, opened the flaps of the door of the vehicle and your pussy too.

"m-mister, what are you doing? i- agh!"

the calmed toys became excited, at their highest setting once more, which made your eyes roll back and pant.

"ugh, ngh- ah, ah!♡"

"still not urinating?"

with his gloved hand, he pinched your clit that made you unable to control your bladder.

"no, no! agh, ah! mrgh-"

your embarrased cries were cut off as the man holding you put his lips on yours. your pee went out with an arch and trickled down from the outside and slowly inside the vehicle in small drops.

"haha! so you really were the one fucking her so noisily last night! how was her pussy?"

"don't know."

"hm? why?"

the man licked your cheek and answered childe while maintaining eye contact with him, "i told you my preference of a pussy, so i simply used her feet."

"ah-ha♡"

"it's good she has two feet, one for my dick and the other for yours last night. she was so into it that i let you sleep so deeply, but i didn't expect for you to remember it in the morning."

"i guess i'm just perceptive when it comes to my princess!"

your tears were trickling down your cheeks alongside the liquids from your cave. the toys were still miraculously inside you, with how your explosion was quite strong, and making their existence well-known for their vibrations.

"say, wanna make her do a footjob while she sucks me off?"

"such coarse language."

the man positioned you as he and childe sat across from one another and your body hanging off from their legs. he grabbed your feet and placed them on a hard thing and childe was wiping your tears away.

"aw, don't cry, princess. can't have you losing your tears over mere pee! cry over our dicks instead♡"

1

"are you awake now?"

you lazily glanced at the man sipping tea by your side. it looks like you're in a bed right now...?

"ngh, ah? zhongli, is that you?"

he hummed, "mhm, good evening. i was shocked with your state when childe brought you, but i accepted either way. get some rest, we'll start tomorrow so you can have an adequate rest."

"ah? what do you mean?"

"haha, don't worry. i don't need any gratitude, just your well-rested self."

he stood up and kissed your temple, making you suddenly light-headed and sleepy.

"ah, zhongli? what..."

"shh, its all right. sleep, you have a long day tomorrow."

you were tucked in the soft bed, and zhongli went out when he heard your breathing mellowing out.

"oh, xiansheng! is she awake?"

"childe. no, i just put her to sleep again. i need a rested body for tomorrow after all."

childe chuckled meaningfully, "i swear when i brought her, i never knew it'll be tomorrow too! i can still take part, right?"

zhongli smiled and made childe straddle him when he sit down. he kissed him and then bit his neck.

"ngh~ xiansheng~♡"

"when have i ever turned you away? of course you will. it's just a bit different this time — a new person with a fertile body will join our occasion."

"how about... we start now as a warm-up?♡"

"as you wish♡"

A/N: hehehe hiiiiiiii ☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️ IM SORRY FOR THE VERY LATE POST KSNSNNSNZ This was in my drafts before @/osamu-dazaisbelladonna commented😭 BUT ILL STILL DO THE REQUEST OF COURSE !! it's just... just.. it might be a while .... (sorry too for the length on some parts of this fic hajsjssjhddn)

[thoselethalarts]

𝓚𝓪𝔃𝓾𝓸 𝓖𝓾𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓮𝓻𝓸 - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵 𝓢𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂

(SR) Ceremony Robes (Part 2): “I Won’t Let You Down!”

(Savanaclaw Dorm: Leona’s Room)

Ruggie: Almost time for the Entrance Ceremony~ Leona, are you ready yet?

Leona: Yeah, yeah, I’m dressed. You don’t have to keep nagging me.

Ruggie: Sometimes I wonder if I have to nag you more, really. Feels like getting you up on time today was pulling teeth.

Leona: Speaking of pulling teeth, how’s preparations going for the banquet after the ceremony? Leona: After how much money you asked for, I’m expecting something real good to compensate.

Ruggie: Ah, it should be going fine… I think. Ruggie: I left most of the dirty work to Kaz, since he seemed so enthusiastic to help. All I did was wrestle in a couple of third years to be his extra hands.

Leona: Hoh? Well this should be interesting. I wouldn’t put my faith in any of their hands without someone guiding them every step of the way. Leona: Well, if dinner ends up sucking, at least I’ll get a show out of it.

Ruggie: That’s cold, Leona~ you don’t care at all about your poor underclassman at all, do you?

Leona: I’m not his caretaker. If he bit off more than he could chew and was so enthusiastic to do it, I’m not about to stop him. Leona: It’s getting close to the time to leave. Let’s head down.

Ruggie: ‘Kayyy~ Ruggie: Aaahh~ I wonder if Kaz is doin’ alright manning those third years all on his own. Ruggie: I told him I’d bring some muscle to help him out, but I didn’t say I’d be corralling them for him past that. Guess we’ll find out soon enough.

(Savanaclaw Dorm: Lounge)

(The sound of sizzling meat and busy bodies bustling is thick in the air)

Kazuo: Alright, looks like the pozole’s coming along pretty good. Now all it needs to do is simmer for the next couple hours. Kazuo: By the time the entrance ceremony’s done, it should be ready! This is perfect timing! Kazuo: Hey, tamale station! How’re things comin’ along over there?

Savanaclaw Mob A: We’re doin’ good! Almost done with this batch!

Savanaclaw Mob B: Hey, what are we supposed to do if we can’t tie the corn husks closed?

Kazuo: Oh, you don’t need to tie them shut! That’s just a bonus step. Here, I’ll show you how to fold them shut, so you don’t gotta worry about it~

Savanaclaw Mob B: Oh-! Thanks, man!

Ruggie: Whoa…! Everything’s actually working out alright in here!

Leona: Huh… color me impressed. Things might go better than expected tonight after all.

Kazuo: Oh! Hey, everyone! It’s Leona and Ruggie!

(All the Savanaclaw Mobs cheer at their arrival)

Ruggie: W-What the hell’s this enthusiasm about? He really got them all psyched up.

Kazuo: Hehe~ I’m guessing it’s about that time, right?

Leona: Just about. We’re gonna start heading over soon. Leona: If you want, you and your helpers over here can stay here and keep working. I’ll let the Headmaster know you got my approval.

Kazuo: Oh! I mean if that’s alright with you. I’ve got a few more dishes I wanted to work on at the last minute, so they’ll be hot and ready by the time the new first years get here.

Leona: Yeah, ‘s no problem at all.

Ruggie: I dunno how the hell you managed to keep all these third years in line, Kaz. Like, I can keep them managed sometimes, but you give them too much to work with and they all fall apart.

Kazuo: Oh, well that’s easy. Kazuo: Everyone in this dorm looks up to Leona with high respect. All I had to do was tell them was this was for him, and they all got enthused to help out.

Ruggie: And the workload?

Kazuo: Well managing that’s easy too. Every part of today’s meal is just a bunch of small tasks that come together to make something bigger. Kazuo: I broke everything down into the easiest steps possible. Chop the onions, put the onions in a pan, stir the onions constantly until they look brown. Kazuo: Grab some tamal dough and spread it on the corn husk, put some filling inside of it, fold it and tie it shut. Kazuo: Give someone too many tasks and they’ll get overwhelmed, but give them nothing to do and they’ll feel like they’re being left out. As long as someone has something easy to do, everyone will feel like a team!

Leona: That’s about the long and short of it. You could stand to take some notes, Ruggie. Otherwise when I graduate I’ll be leaving him in charge of Savanaclaw next.

Ruggie: That’s if you even graduate, Leona. With your grades, you might just be here forever.

Savanaclaw Mob C: Hey Kaz! Should we start barbequing the veggies yet?

Kazuo: Oh, not yet! We’ll do that when the ceremony’s over, that way they’ll still be hot when everybody gets back!

Savanaclaw Mob C: Got it! Good thinking!

Leona: Well, I’ll leave you all to it. Keep up the good work, Kaz.

Kazuo: Heheh~ Thanks, Leona. I won’t let you down!

/ End

[happyandticklish]

The Problems with Legilimency

Notes: For the anon request. This is so fucking late because writer’s block is a bitch, but I hope you enjoy it regardless! ^^ I sort of took my own spin on the request, but I think it’s fairly similiar to the original. 

Summary: Two times in which Queenie’s Legilimency became a problem, and once when it kind of helped. 

1.        

“Newt!”

The sound of his name strung along by that familiar voice sent a peculiar thrill through Newt’s person. He never grew tired of hearing it. He spun carefully around, an Occamy curled in his grasp; its tiny head poked curiously out from under his arm. “Yes?”

Tina stood puzzled back in his lab, hands placed upon her hips as she examined one of the shelves. “It’s not here. That herb you were looking for. I swear I saw it when we first came in here…”

That was odd. Newt was usually very meticulous about his placement system. He deposited the Occamy gently back into their nest, though the task provided some difficulty as the creature attempted to weave through his arms to reach him once more. Eventually though, hands free, he made his way over to where Tina stood.

In the space where a small bottle of rare herbs should have been, there was nothing but empty space. “You didn’t move it somewhere?” Newt asked, his tone inquisitive rather than angry. He began rearranging bottles around it, wondering if it had simply gotten misplaced.

Tina shook her head. “I turned my back and it was gone. It’s not…” she hesitated. “…supposed to do that, is it? I mean, it doesn’t have some kind of magical property to it, does it?”

Newt laughed, the quiet chuckle of an inside joke. “No, no need to worry about that. It does contain magical properties, though they are rendered quite harmless in its current form. Aha!” He grinned, his voice filled with soft triumph. “I believe we have found our culprit.”

Pickett stood frozen where Newt had revealed him, a bottle clutched tightly in his arms. His eyes widened, and quickly he tried to scramble away from them. Unfortunately, his efforts to get away from Newt only brought him into Tina’s awaiting hands, who held him up carefully as she lifted him into the air.

“Nice work, Tina,” Newt said, a hint of pride entering his tone. Seeing two of his favorite creatures in the world interact always brought him a strange joy. “Be careful when extracting the bottle from him; he can be difficult when he wants to be.”

“Oh, um, yes, of course.” Tina seemed more doubtful of her abilities, holding the creature out carefully as though one of two of them was going to accidentally hurt each other. She attempted to gently wrestle the bottle out of his hands, but, seeing her intentions, Pickett was quick to intervene. He wrapped his arms tightly around it, and when she attempted to nudge him off with her finger, he only transferred his hold to her as devious inspiration struck him.

Tina yelped, her heart catching a little in her throat. Though she admired Newt for his love for these creatures, she still found herself a bit wary when it came to actually interacting with them. Newt himself seemed unworried by this development, a smile tugging reluctantly at his lips, like a parent attempting to be disappointed with their child but ultimately unable to help their amusement.

“P-Pickett,” she started, her voice wavering a little at the uncertainty of talking to the tiny being. “I’m going to need you to let go now, if that’s alright; we need those ingredients for medicine—your medicine, I might add.”

Pickett was unbothered, clambering onto her finger fully now and beginning to scramble up her arm rapidly. Tina jerked back in surprise, the sensation of his little arms and feet crawling on her skin igniting a long forgotten sensation.

“Newt!” she called anxiously, tossing him a quick glance.

“Don’t worry about him,” he assured her. “He’s completely harmless—it’s only him who likes to think he’s tougher than he is.”

“B-But he’s—ah!” Tina felt a fluttery laugh escape her as Pickett reached her shoulder, poking around and exploring the area curiously, brushing up against her neck. “E-Ehe, w-wait!”

“What’s all the noise down here?”

The two startled at the sudden appearance of Queenie, her curls framing her face in its innocent curiosity as she stepped off the stairs. Evidently, neither of them had noticed her descent in the confusion of the misplaced bottle.

“Tina was just helping me create a new batch of medicine for the Bowtruckles,” Newt explained quickly, an odd nervousness entering his voice at the two of them being caught alone. He felt the unnecessary need to clarify their presence there. “When a bottle, it—well it went missing, but it was fine as Pickett here—”

“Of course it tickles,” Queenie interrupted, her voice directed affectionately in the direction of Tina. Newt started, those words being one of the last things he expected to leave her mouth. “There’s no need to get all worked up about it.”

“What?” 

Tina stiffened and flushed as Newt’s gaze swiveled to her, focusing on Pickett who continued his exploration of her neck and shoulders with an unapologetic joy. He narrowed his eyes at the pesky creature, who startled at the sudden attention he was receiving and hid quickly under Tina’s collar.

Newt lurched forward, ready to remove him, but his hands paused inches away from Tina, where they hovered uncertainly over her neck. “Can I—that is, do you mind if I—”

“Yes!” Tina agreed, her voice a little too eager in her embarrassment. Quickly but carefully, Newt managed to remove the critter, allowing him to cling moodily to his finger as he pulled away.

Queenie smiled fondly at them, shaking her head a little at their antics. “Honestly,” she said as Newt tucked the errant Bowtruckle into his pocket. “There’s no need to get so worked up about it; it’s just tickling.”

“How did you—”

“Legilimens,” Queenie replied, arching a brow with a sly grin. “Or have you forgotten?”

“Oh. Right.” Newt fussed needlessly over Pickett, adjusting and re-adjusting him as he continued to avoid their gazes. Pickett himself bucked against the attention, batting in annoyance at his fingers. “Um, if you don’t mind, we were in the middle of something if we could return to that.”

“Oh.” Queenie shook her head at herself. “Of course.” There was something in her eyes that said she knew Newt’s true reason for wanting her gone, but for reasons unknown to Newt but that he was nonetheless grateful for, she declined revealing. “I’ll leave you two alone them.”

She whirled gracefully up the stairs, her silk robe fluttering lightly behind her along with her steps. It was only once she was gone that Newt allowed himself to exhale, turning to face Tina. “Are you alright?”

But Tina had already turned away from him, and was wholly engaged in the process of chopping up the retrieved ingredients as Newt had shown her earlier. The tips of her ears were tinged a dark pink, and her hair fell forward in her face, easily hiding her expression from the other.

Newt would have pursued the issue further, had he not been just as grateful to drop the subject at hand. For some reason, this new piece of knowledge about Tina stuck in his brain, a strange concoction of nerves and excitement lighting up his chest. The sudden feelings were too difficult to parse then and there, however, and Newt turned to the counter as well, making sure to stand a couple feet away as he directed her on the next steps.

“Now you want to grind it, into a fine powder.”

2.        

“Oh.”

The word was a startled little gasp, and it drew both Tina and Newt out of the world they had previously been lost in. Newt jerked away from her instantly, releasing her skin as though it were suddenly made of hot iron. Tina’s face was flushed, the remnants of laughter dancing in her smile. Less than a minute before, Newt’s fingers had been engaged in the process of reducing her into a state of flushed laughter. Now, however, he kept his hands firmly shoved in his pockets, far removed from where they could have any kind of effect on anyone.  

After Queenie had accidentally revealed Tina’s secret a couple weeks ago, Newt had found himself unable to stop finding ways to accidentally tickle her in the hopes to see that unexpected smile light up her face once more. After a while, it became less accidental, though if Tina noticed, she chose not to say anything. There was hardly any excuse for that evening, however. It was only that Tina had chosen to stretch her arms above her head moments before and Newt could hardly be blamed for what happened afterwards.

Both appeared heavily embarrassed to have been caught in such a state, and it wasn’t just Newt this time who was having trouble making eye contact.

Queenie smiled, a gentle, reassuring gesture. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to bother you. I just wanted to inform you both that dinner was ready. Although it seems you two are rather… preoccupied, at the moment.”

Newt cleared his throat, coughed awkwardly, and cleared his throat once more, clearly having difficulty coming up with words. “Sorry, we were just—that is to say—I was—”

“Tickling my sister,” Queenie answered for him, appearing unbothered by both the word and the subject. “It’s alright, you don’t have to apologize. I didn’t mean to intrude; it’s just that you were being quite loud.”

Tina’s brow furrowed as she readjusted herself on the bed; she was putting forth a failing attempt to make herself appear anymore dignified than the state in which she’d been interrupted. “How could you possibly have? We were—that is, we were trying to be quiet.”

“Thoughts speak louder than words,” Queenie quoted, though there was a truthful undertone to it that spoke of the embarrassing reality of having a Legilimens as a sister.

“Ah,” Tina said, visibly flustered. “Well.”

“Right,” Newt agreed eagerly, though it was unclear what either of them was agreeing on.

Queenie offered them a knowing look, before finally turning around to head back downstairs. “Alright then, I’ll leave you two alone. But be sure to come down soon; you wouldn’t want dinner to get cold.”

She paused at the doorknob, however, and turned suddenly back around. “Oh, and Newt?”

“Yes?”

“Her worst spot is her knees. Just in case you were wondering. Anyways.” With that, Queenie flounced from the room, her innocent air a betrayal of the words she’d just spoken.

The two of them sat frozen on the bed, both of them waiting for the other to make the first move. There wasn’t exactly protocol for this kind of thing.

After a while Tina groaned, dropping her head into her heads. “Sometimes I truly abhor my sister.”

“She can be quite… blunt,” Newt agreed. He found his gaze drawn now to her legs, swung carelessly over the bed. Queenie’s words played over and over in his mind, and before he knew what he was doing he had reached out and experimentally squeezed her knee.

Tina yelped, her hands flying from her face to shove at his arms quickly. “Don’t,” she warned, but there was a lightness to the warning that implied maybe she didn’t mean it as much as she said. A reluctant smile tugged at her lips, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “Newt, please, this isn’t—”

“Fair?” he finished softly, squeezing again to hear that adorable squeal. Her hands flailed uselessly for a moment before fisting in the sheets, keeping herself from fully shoving him off.

“Newt,” she gasped, the words filled with anticipation and a giddy nervousness that prompted Newt to quickly enact a repeat of earlier, his hands flying as he wrecked her once more. Her laughter rung in his ears, wild and carefree, and he found he would do anything to hear that sound, even for a moment longer.

Eventually he relented, as dinner really was getting cold. However, he found an odd disappointment setting in when she merely stood up afterwards and headed over to the door, albeit more out of breath than before. Before he had time to dissect that feeling, the two were called once more for dinner in slightly harsher tones, and they quickly rushed down the stairs in an effort not to induce the other’s wrath at having to wait for them.

3.      

“Nehehehewt!” Tina gasped, batting uselessly at his hands as they scribbled mercilessly over her stomach. “Plehehehease!”

The two were curled up on the couch, having retreated there for the night while Queenie and Jacob were out on an evening for two. In the beginning the two had simply watched movies, Tina propped up against the other so that her head rested on his shoulder. Movies had been Newt’s idea, a Muggle concept that he had found fascinating. Moving pictures on a screen without the use of magic…. Tina had scoffed at the idea, but even she had to admit that it was pretty amazing seeing it in person. The TV had been a purchase made by Queenie, who had decided to invest after seeing how drawn in the two had been after returning from the theaters.

After a while, however, Newt had once again found his interests caught by a different form of entertainment, that of Tina’s startled shriek when he accidentally squeezed her side whilst adjusting himself. Moments later, Tina had her back pressed against his chest as she attempted to curl in on herself and evade the ticklish hug Newt was administering.

It was truly a wonder how they kept arriving here.

“Please what?” Newt asked, his lips quirking up into that rare teasing smile that Tina both hated and loved dearly. “You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Plehehehease stahahahap!” she giggled, her legs drawing up to her chest as she attempted to protect herself. “Ihihihi—ahahah, ihihit tihihickles! Nehehewt!”

“Alright, alright.” Newt relented, merely resting his hands on her stomach now and rubbing calming circles. “You know, you’re quite cute laughing like that; you should do it more often.”

“I already do it enough, thanks to you,” she replied with a wry grin, her words coming out in an exhausted huff as she fought to regain her breath back. “I don’t understand why you insist on doing it so often.”

“I believe he wants you to return the favor.”

The two startled, Tina letting out a startled yelp as a dark crimson flooded Newt’s cheeks, and they both turned to see Queenie standing at the doorway. Evidently, the two had just returned.

“Q-Queenie,” Newt stammered, with the intent of replying some kind of denial, but Jacob popped his head around her shoulder before he could, viewing the scene curiously.

“What favor? Oh hey, is that Felix the Cat?” Jacob quickly made his way over to them, taking a seat on the couch besides them.

“He what?” Tina repeated, ignoring Jacob and focusing her attention back on Queenie.

Queenie set her purse down, delicately taking a seat besides them. The couch was growing crowded by this point, but none of them appeared to care in the moment. “He wants you to tickle him back.” She paused after a moment, her eyes widening a little. “Oh. Sorry. I didn’t realize it was a secret.”

Newt’s face was permanently burned a color as red as his hair. His mouth was open on a theoretical protest, though it was clear it was too late for that. Eventually, he merely averted his gaze, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “It’s, ah, it’s okay. You didn’t mean to, I know.”

Tina glanced between the two, trying to gather what had just happened. Jacob was the first to speak, raising one eyebrow. “You like being tickled, Newt?”

“I—” Newt started, his voice stuttering and stopping in his throat. He coughed, gripping the back of his neck tightly. Three pairs of eyes were suddenly focused on him, and while Newt didn’t prefer eye contact at the best of times, the awkwardness of the situation certainly did not help anything. Against his better judgement, his flicked his gaze up to meet Tina’s, anxiety getting the better of him. Her eyes were wide with surprise, which he had anticipated. What he had not expected was the tiny smile slowly tugging at her lips, a gentleness to the expression that made Newt’s heart clench in his chest. Ultimately, it was what prompted him to finally find the words to speak again.

“I—uh, yes. That is, I do. Like. To be tickled.” He cleared his throat again, staring at his lap. He tugged at the hem of his shirt, rhythmically pulling at a loose string to distract himself from the panic roiling in his brain. In the background, the TV hummed, though it was clear none of them were paying attention to it anymore.

After what felt like an eternity to him, but was in actuality only around thirty seconds, Jacob piped up, “Well why didn’t you just say so?”

Newt’s head snapped up, his heart slamming against his chest. “What?”

“Yeah,” Queenie agreed, a grin rushing quickly across her features. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s just another part of you.”

He felt someone grab his hand and he looked over to see Tina, her face filled with such overwhelming tenderness that he couldn’t help but smile slightly in return. “I love you, Newt. Which means I love making you happy. And if this is what makes you happy, than I’m happy to do so.”

Newt glanced around at the three of them, people who he had grown to love and care about more than he had allowed himself to with others in quite a long time. A tiny bubble of happiness rose in his chest, trapping his throat and making words impossible.

“Do you…” Tina started, before trying again, this time with more confidence. “Do you want us to tickle you? Now, that is.”

Newt flushed, the color spreading to the tips of his ears. He stammered, sentences tripping over themselves in his mouth, before he finally managed a quiet, “Yes. Only if you want to, of course.”

Jacob poked him lightly in the ribs and he jumped, a startled yelp escaping him. “Of course, buddy. After all, what kind of friends would we be if we didn’t help you smile every once in a while?”

Newt opened his mouth to respond, but his words were quickly lost to a flood of giggles as all three of them pounced at once, reducing him into a mess of squirming limbs.

Maybe Legilimency wasn’t so bad, after all. 

[jubilantwriter]

Jaspvid Week 2021: Day 2 - Baking

(AO3)

@jaspvid-week

Togetherness is Soft and Warm

Summary:  Based off of Ellohcee's Kiki's Delivery Service AU.

David forgets that working for Clementine means more than just making deliveries. An impromptu lesson is all it takes to remind David of how rewarding it is to create something to share with another. Bread isn't always meant to be eaten alone, after all.

Word Count:  3121

////

It's a rather slow day in the bakery today.  David blows his bangs out of his face as he slouches behind the cashier, watching as the townspeople go about their merry way.  It's a nice and sunny day out, and he's only a little bit jealous that he's in here working while everyone else is enjoying the sunshine.  Ah, well, he needs a little bit more money anyways - there was a nice looking cat dish that he wanted to get for Max since the little black cat keeps complaining about the dish he has now.  A bored sigh escapes him as yet more people walk by the bakery.  Not a single customer so far, and he's been sitting here for what feels like ages.

"Davey?"  A sweet voice calls for him from the kitchen. 

"Yeah?"

"Can you come here for a mite?"

"Okay!"  He hops off the stool happily and walks into the kitchen, the heat from the ovens blowing up against his face as he blinks in surprise.  "...Oh!"

"Oh, sorry, hun."  Clementine dusts off her hands with a laugh and gestures towards him to come closer.  "I take it's pretty borin' out there, huh?"

He fidgets with his black shirt and shrugs.  "I mean, it's not too bad.  Sometimes someone will wave at me when they pass by!"

"Hmm, do they now?"

"Yeah!  And, um, they all seem to be enjoying the sun too, and they all look so relaxed..."

Clementine chuckles as she bends down to David's level.  "Do ya wanna take a break from work for a bit?"

"N-no!"  With an embarrassed blush, he waves his hands frantically in front of him.  "I don't mind working!  Who knows, maybe someone will need a delivery soon!"

"That's very true!"  Clementine nods along, her bun bouncing as she straightens up.  "But... hm..."  She taps her chin, looking off into the distance.  Curious, David follows her line of sight and sees her staring at nothing in particular.  

"Is something wrong, Ms. Clementine?"

"Just a bit."  She cradles her head in her hand as she sighs dramatically.  "Ya see, the bread's been sellin' like hotcakes since you joined with your lil delivery service, but I haven't been able to keep up with the demand!"

"Is that so?"  He gasps and covers his mouth.  "Oh no, I'm so sorry!"

"Now now, that's not a bad thing!"  She takes his hands and lowers them from his mouth.  "It's a good thing, really!  It just means I gotta work a little extra harder to keep everyone happy."  With a wink, she lets go of his hands to reach for a spare apron.  "And since it's mighty slow out there, I was wonderin' if you'd like to help me in here instead?"

"You mean... to bake bread?"  He looks over at the roaring ovens, and then to racks of cooling baked goods that lined the walls.  "But... it looks like you've already got enough to sell."

"Don't be silly!"  She walks over to the flour covered counter and pats it.  "What I've learned in all my years of bein' a baker is that there is always someone who needs a little treat, be it a roll or a muffin or even a warm, fresh loaf."  She smiles and gestures him over, helping him put the apron on with ease.  The old thing covers up most of his dark clothes, and she adjusts the bandanna around his neck so that it too can be partially covered with the apron.  "Plus, it'll be loads of fun to bake with someone else for a change!  I know I do most of my bakin' in the morning, but it won't hurt to do some smaller batches during a slow time, don'tcha think?"

"Mmmm..."  He rocks back and forth on his heels, looking out to where the front of the bakery is still quiet and empty, and to the kitchen where Clementine is grinning with a bright smile.  With a nod, he smiles back bashfully.  "Okay, I wanna help!"

Baking bread always did seem like a lot of fun!  Whenever he crept down a little too early, he'd always see Clementine hard at work, the dough she prepared the previous night already being shaped and kneaded and worked to perfection, and the smells...

Goodness!  And now he gets to help in making such treats!

"Wonderful!"  She claps her hands together and giggles, a small puff of flour erupting from her hands as she does so.  David laughs along and stands eagerly by her side as she pulls out a dusty bowl.  "Now, we'll be startin' from scratch here, so would ya kindly get me-"

The door to the store opens as the bell jingles.  Max walks in from the front, his feline face scowling as he yowls at David.  "Hey!  You've got a visitor!"

"Hold on," he keeps the apron on as he stops Clementine from going to the front herself, "I've got this!  It'll just be a sec."

"Alrighty, hun."

He grins as he races to the front, intent on helping their customer as quickly as possible.  "Hi, how can I-!"

"Davey!"  Jasper rests his arms on the cashier's counter, grinning brightly as he does so.  "There you are!"

"Jasp!"  He runs over and hugs the other boy, the two of them laughing brightly as they part.  "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was feeling kinda hungry, and I thought, hey!  The bakery's got some sweet bites, and I'll get to see Davey!"  

"Oh!  If that's the case, is there anything you want?"

"Hmm..."  Jasper looks around the bakery, hovering by the shelfs and displays as he sizes up all the treats.  With a grin, he turns back to David and shrugs.  "Dunno!  What do you suggest?"

"Um, lemme see..."  He walks over to Jasper's side and looks at all the baked goods on sale.  There's muffins, rolls, biscuits, sweet breads, and so on... but perhaps, because he's been living with Clementine for a good few months, despite the good quality of all the food, he can't help but think that they've been sitting out too long and gotten a bit... cold.

When he thinks of a pleasant treat, he imagines it fresh from the cooling rack, warmth still radiating off of it, but having rested long enough that when he bites into it, all of the flavors that Clementine had carefully worked into the dough comes out perfectly.  He taps his chin and looks around the bakery some more.  His gaze lingers to the back of the bakery, where Clementine still waits for him.

Maybe... if he asks nicely...

He grabs Jasper's hand, shocking the other boy as he tugs him towards the kitchen.

"W-woah!  Davey, hang on-"

"Ms. Clementine!"  His call startles the woman, her reverie broken from where she was busy petting Max as he drank some milk.  "Is it okay if Jasper joins too?"

"Hm?"  Her gaze lands on the brunet standing next to David, the boy suddenly bashful and nervous as his hand is held tightly in David's.  "...Oh!  Of course, I don't mind at all.  You know what they say - the more the merrier!"  Before Jasper can protest, she looks around and finds one more spare apron.  She quickly puts it on Jasper, the poor boy being dragged about too quickly for him to keep up with the energy of both redheads.  "There we are!"

"What- what are we doing?"  Jasper finally manages to get a word, looking at David bewildered as the other boy grins and tugs him towards the counter.

"We're making bread!  Or something!  Actually, I'm not too sure."  He looks over to Clementine as she begins setting the ingredients on the table.  "What are we making?"

"Well, it can be anything you'd both like."  She hums thoughtfully to herself as considers the options.  "We can make something small, like biscuits and cookies.  Or we can make something filling, like pies if I've got the ingredients for it.  Or we can just do something simple!  Like a bread of sorts."  

"Hmmm..."  David taps his chin and looks to Jasper.  "What do you think?"

"Mmm, how about something sweet?"  Jasper meets David's gaze and grins.  "I think sweet breads are pretty stellar!"  

"I'm okay with that!"

"Sweet bread it is then."  

Clementine is incredibly patient with them as they bumble their way through her instructions.  Flour is spilt here and there, but she merely laughs it off and helps them make the right measurements.  David is intent on following her instructions through and through, though Jasper tries to have his own little ideas once in a while.

"Jasp!"  David bats away a giggling Jasper as he holds an orange up in his hands.  "We don't need that!"

"Hmm... actually."  Clementine holds her hand out and Jasper places it into her hand.  "I think we can do something with this."

"Like what?"  Jasper's mischief changes to genuine curiosity as she takes a tiny looking grater out.  

"Well, oranges are sweet, aren't they?  And the rinds of these fruits make for a lovely smell."  She rubs the rind against the grater, producing a zest as Jasper and David ooh and ahh next to her.  "Why don't you keep this up for me, Jasper?"

"Yes ma'am!"  He dutifully takes the orange from her and mimics her actions, his tongue sticking out a bit in concentration.  David can't help the giggle that escapes him as he watches Jasper work.  The brunet looks over at his giggle and makes a confused grin.  "What's so funny?"

"You were making a funny face, like this!"  He mimics Jasper's earlier look, earning a laugh from the other boy as he then makes a more exaggerated face.  This draws a stronger laugh from David as they continue to make faces at each other.  

"Now now, no horsin' around!  We still have bread to make," Clementine chastises, but her tone is anything but harsh as she smiles fondly.  "We still got plenty to do!"

"Yes, ma'am!"  

The rest of the time is filled with aimless chatter as the two boys follow her instructions, mixing the fresh orange juice and zest into the dough.  Jasper at one point managed to smear some flour on David's cheek, resulting in David smearing some flour on his face in retaliation.  Before they can start chasing each other around the counter, Clementine has them watch her knead the dough before letting the boys each take their turn.  Jasper is all gusto as he pushes and pulls the dough energetically before getting tired.  David takes over, and he tries to be more precise than Jasper, making sure the dough isn't too sticky before looking over to Clementine for her nod of approval.  When she dubs it done, she takes the dough and places it to the side and covers it.

"And now we wait for it to rise."

"Won't it take long?"  David looks out the window and frowns, the sun setting in the distance as worry sets in.  "Jasper, will you be able to stay long?"

"Mmm... well, I think I can push it until a little after eight."  He folds his arms behind his head and smiles wide.  "I should have some time until then!"

"That we do.  Why don't we bake some other things like cookies?"

"Yeah!"

Baking, as it turns out, is much more exciting than he anticipated.  There's something amazing with being able to make something from scratch with his own hands.  Sure, he's made eggs and pancakes before, but he's never truly baked.  And having Jasper next to him adds to the fun as the boy turns to do silly things that make David laugh.  For instance, trying to juggle a few eggs before one of them lands on his head.  Or even mixing the batter a little too fast and getting bits of it all over his face and apron.

Whatever Jasper does never fails to bring a smile and a laugh to David's face.  Nighttime comes far too quickly, and by the time Clementine pulls out their final batch of muffins and cookies, Jasper makes a startled jump as he checks the time on his watch.

"Shnikes!  It's super late!"  He rushes to pull the apron off in a panic.  "Aw man, my mom's gonna kill me-"

"Hold on, let me help!"  David unties the knot from behind and takes the apron from Jasper.  "There we go!"

"Now just a min," Clementine says as she walks to the front of the bakery, grabbing a paper bag and dropping a few of their recently baked goods into it.  She hands it to Jasper with a smile.  "For you and your ma."

"Oh, thanks," he says, fumbling to reach into his pocket to pay.

"No need, hun!"  She begins pushing Jasper towards the door as he stammers and tries to argue.

"But I gotta pay-!"

"Sweetheart, you helped make the treats, you don't gotta pay a cent for them!"  With a chuckle, she gently pushes him out the door and winks to David.  "Now why don't y'all say goodbye real quick while I go clean up and close the shop?"  She waves to them as she retreats back to the kitchen, leaving David and Jasper by themselves.  Jasper grins easily, holding the bag with one arm as he turns to face David.

"Honestly, I didn't think I'd be baking today when I came to get a snack," he says lightly, making David laugh awkwardly as he rubs his arm, "but I had a lot of fun!  It's... kinda nice to learn something else for once."

"Yeah, and it was nice to hang out with you here in the bakery.  I know I haven't been around much since I've got to do my deliveries and stuff but...  I promise to hang out with you more!"

"Nah, don't sweat it."  Jasper winks easily as David looks away with a blush.  "If anything, I'll just come find ya myself!"  

"Like today!"  They both share a laugh before Jasper shuffles his feet awkwardly.  

"Well," he says with a soft smile, "guess I'll be catching you on the flipside later?"

"Of course!  I miss flying with you, especially since the weather is so nice right now..."  He sighs, disappointment settling in as he realizes that he'd been spending more time working and training than he did taking time for himself.  A small voice reminds him to be careful, before he burns himself out again.  Before he can dwell anymore on his thoughts, a hand lands on his shoulder as Jasper's crooked grin greets him.

"We can do it whenever you're free.  I'm always willin' to wait for ya, no matter how long it takes.  You know me, I won't get upset."

"...Of course not."  A smile finds its way back to David's face.  Jasper always did have that special talent of cheering David up.  

It's probably why...

"Oh- shoot, I really should go now."  Jasper backs away quickly when he realizes the time yet again, awkwardly running backwards as he waves to David.  "We'll fly again soon!  See ya later, Davey!"

"Bye, Jasp!"  He waves to his retreating figure until he can't see him no longer.  As he walks back into the bakery to lock up, he finds that the entire place feels... more empty than it usually is.  Max coils around his feet, looking up at David with an unimpressed look.

"Stop moping," the cat says, stretching himself out as he leads David back to their room, "it's not like he's gonna be gone forever."

"Still..."  He sighs softly and looks around the kitchen, Clementine already gone now that their mess has disappeared.  "I kinda miss him already."

"Oh YUCK, that's DISGUSTING."  Max makes a hacking sound, making David chuckle at his dramatic antics.  

"What?  It's not wrong to miss friends after they leave!"

"Sure.  Friends."  Max quickly walks away, looking over his shoulder to glare at David.  "Now hurry up!  I wanna fucking sleep."

"Max!"  He follows after the cat, a little thought tugging at this thoughts.  "We talked about this- OH NO, THE BREAD!"

-----

Clementine wraps up the loaf in paper and slips it into the bag.  It's a start of another day, and he's actually got a few deliveries to make.  She smiles as she hands him a slip with a name and address.  

Jasper McFadden.  

She winks and pats his shoulder.  "It's still gonna be warm if you manage to fly as quickly as you normally do."

He blushes and hugs the delivery close to his chest.  "Right.  Um, see you later, Ms. Clementine!"  

"Fly safely now!"

He runs out of the store and quickly settles himself on his broom, concentrating with an ease that comes second nature to him.  The lift off is seamless, and he launches himself high into the air, already soaring towards his destination.

As he circles around the familiar neighborhood, a voice calls out to him from high walls as the brunet signals him down.  "Davey!"

"Hey!  I've got a delivery for you!"

"What's it?  I don't remember ordering anything."  Jasper takes the offered bag from David and pulls out a nicely braided loaf.  The soft sheen and sweet smell of oranges immediately has Jasper widening his eyes.  "Oh!  This is the bread we made yesterday!"

"Yeah, Ms. Clementine wanted me to deliver your fair share."  He stays on his broom as he hovers by Jasper.  "It should still be warm so you should try a slice!"

"Hmm, actually," Jasper looks up at David with a mischievous smile, "do ya have any other deliveries to do?"

"Um, no I don't think so."

"Sweet!"  He holds up the bread to David's eye level and gestures him down.  "Wanna try some with me?"

His heart soars at the suggestion, and he lands all too quickly as he stumbles into Jasper.  The other boy catches him easily and laughs as David straightens himself out.  

"I take it that you wanna eat some?"

"Yes!"  He grins brightly, already looking forward to spending more time with Jasper.  The scent of the warm bread wafts between them as Jasper leads him towards his house.  As they tear into it with jams and butter, the softness of the bread shows of their combined hard work, and Jasper makes a show of pointing out each little bit of zest that he made to his mother and David.  The bread is fluffy as he pulls the braid apart to eat it.  Perhaps its his bias to freshly baked goods, or maybe just simply the fact that he made it himself with Jasper and Clementine - whatever the reason may be, David just can't help but think that this bread is the sweetest he's ever tasted.  

[peaches-writes]

felix’s arts and crafts!

skz of christmas day 2: handmade presents with felix

member: felix wc: 1.6k genre: fluff, roommates au, preparing for christmas w no plot lmao

the brownies

“Y/N, does two cups of flour make more brownies?”

“Ah, I really do think we should’ve bought more of these chocolate chips!”

“Y/N, can you look at my mix? Does it need more flour? I just think it kinda does.”

“Aah, I still haven’t finished everyone’s amigurumi—“

“Felix? Felix!” Having had enough of your roommate’s incessant worried monologue over your Christmas playlist, you finally rush over to your roommate on the other end of the kitchen island and grab him by his shoulders with a chuckle. Held down in place now, the doe-eyed boy is quick to comply and stares back at you curiously. “Can you slow down a bit? Relax!”

“B-But—“ He fumbles over his words at your sudden comment, raising an eyebrow before rubbing the nape of his neck. “Sorry, I—I’m just—just a bit worried!”

“A bit worried.” You roll your eyes playfully, moving your hands down to his and taking his first batch of brownies. “You should’ve thought more about that when you started promising everyone stuffed toys and food, hm?” You then return the brownie mix back on top of the island. When your gaze naturally glances down on the recipe he’s been trying to adjust, you then continue, “Okay, how about we start with this recipe first? How many did you put in already?”

Felix follows your eyes with a pout, taking a seat on a nearby high stool. “Just the flour and sugar.” He sighs when you take a longer peek at his bowl. “I only managed to put in two cups of flour and half a cup of sugar when it started overflowing.”

“The wet ingredients over there?” You pointed to another bowl on his side, extending your hands out to which he immediately replied by handing you the bowl. “It looks a bit lacking compared to the dry bowl.”

“It’s just one and a half stick of butter and three eggs then I gave up measuring.”

“And how much yield do you want? Compared to the original recipe?”

Felix’s eyes widened at the unfamiliar term before his brows naturally furrowed down in thought. “Huh?” He asks, a gesture that definitely makes you giggle.

“It means your recipe makes 16 brownies in one go so how much are you trying to achieve with more of the ingredients?” You elaborate more in answer, laughing even more as realization dawns on him. “Help me out here, I suck at Math too.”

The boy runs a hand through his blonde hair once with a hum. “A-Ah, well around 60? Or more? Something like that?”

“So four?” You ask next, more to challenge him now with his new knowledge.

“Yeah?” Your roommate slowly nods, still a bit unsure. When you nod back almost teasingly, he then repeats his gesture with more conviction. “Yup.”

With this, you then turn around to the overhead cabinets by your stove, taking out your extra supplies of the same ingredients. “Then we’ll have to add just a bit more in your mixes. Thank God we don’t have to reduce anything or it’ll be a waste.”

Felix is quick to follow you, trailing right behind you like a lost puppy while taking the heavier ingredients from your arms. “And the same goes for the cookies later, right?”

You nod again with a hum. “We’re going to bake for a whole army, Lix!” You joke, returning to the kitchen island once you’ve got everything on hand and placing them next to their respective wet and dry ingredient groups. “Now, we should multiply everything by four in the ingredients list—and maybe take out extra trays for later.”

“Even the fractions?” He frowns, picking up his recipe again.

“Yeah, I guess even the fractions.” You sigh back before giggling at his distressed face. “We might have to call in Changbin from next door later.”

-

the cookies

“You want to what?” 

Felix looks up at you with his best puppy eyes, his plastic gloved hands clasped together to his chest as he juts his lower lip down in a seemingly quivering pout. “Trust me on this one, please?” He asks while blinking rapidly. 

You swear if he was anyone else, you would’ve smacked him in the arm for trying to look cute. Instead, you rub your temples and tear your gaze away from him to the big lump of cookie dough melting on one of your last kitchen bowls. “I mean, adjusting the brownie and cookie recipes was one thing. Now you want to freestyle the cookies?” 

“Yeah, well, it’s just the shapes! I’m sure it’ll still cook the same!” He repeats, pouting even harder and even clinging to your arm this time when you try and turn away. “Please, please, please? Pretty please with all the cherries you want on top?!”

“But Changbin and Hyunjin have cookie cutters next door.” You point out, letting him cling onto you and even rest his chin on top of your shoulder anyway. “I can go and borrow some if you w—” 

“But Binnie and Jinnie only have those weird heart-shaped ones! I want to do cookies that look like the Gingerbread man!” 

You quirk an amused eyebrow at this. “Then shouldn’t we just stuck to an actual Gingerbread recipe?”

“But I want it to taste like cookies.” He argues back.

“It’s from our Shrek movie night last week, isn’t it?” You stifle a laugh, placing a hand over your mouth when he starts sulking while nodding slowly. “Fine, because you’re cute and Chan will can sense when you’re sad from the next building, we can try one first. Just one!”

Your roommate’s face lighten up once more, clapping his hands in delight. “Yay, thank you!”

“But I’m telling you, it’s gonna be a weird-looking cookie when it comes out.”

“It’s fine, we can just eat it for later!” Felix assures with a dismissive wave, finally letting go of your hand to pick up enough cookie dough for his little experiment. “I’ll make a big one that we can share for crocheting later, okay?”

“Sure, I’ll just go and check the brownies.”

-

the amigurumis

Your little cookie Gingerbread man, comically named Yongbok II when you sent a photo of it to all of your friends, lays on the coffee table with all of his limbs and a chocolate chip button on his button up ‘shirt’ eaten. As you’ve predicted, the big misshapen cookie came out looking weird and feeling crusty but it made Felix smile and laugh anyway.

That’ll have to do with letting your roommate experiment for today.

“Wait, pause!” You exclaim when your work-in-progress stuffed fox starts looking weird on a particular row, holding it in the same hand as your crochet hook before pressing pause on your phone with your freed hand. “Did I miss something?”

Felix tilts his head over to your direction, squinting his eyes playfully as he surveys your work up and down before resting his cheek on your shoulder blade and shrugging nonchalantly. “Looks fine to me.” He huffs, scooting closer to you to press play on your phone. “Why?” 

You hold your palm up in between the two of you and place your work on top of it, demonstrating the miniscule defect on the pattern. “It won’t flatten.” You point out, letting him poke the orange and white yarn a few times. “It’s not supposed to close in on itself until the tenth row.” 

“Have you tried counting the stitches?” He then asks and when you shake your head with a pout, you hear him chuckle and take your work from your hand gently. “Here, let me.” 

“It’s at least a hundred stitches now, I don’t want to start all over again.” You sigh in defeat, leaning back on the couch once Felix starts counting the stitches carefully under his breath. “Not to mention, we still have to do five more stuffed toys for the guys.” 

You see Felix wave a dismissive hand to you as he counts, holding the crochet circle so close to his face while his current work, an amigurumi stuffed toy puppy for Seungmin, rests on his lap with its tongue poking out. “I’ll do it for you if you want but just this row!” He assures you. “Only if you do a row of my puppy toy, though.” 

“But you’re almost done!” 

“And it’s only fair!” 

Your roommate then looks up at you with a teasing glare, holding our stare until you scoff and give in. “Fine.” 

“Justice.” He sticks his tongue out before his eyes suddenly widen, realizing that he didn’t take note of the last number he was counting on. “Wait, I lost count!”

- 

the gift wrappings 

“I just think it’s more economical to put them all in the same bags instead of having them separate for each guy.” Felix repeats his argument, eyes darting everywhere on the busy coffee table. 

“I’m telling you, Lix, literally putting them in one bag with no divider or anything will spoil the food and get yarn shedding all over it.” You scold him as you continue packing the brownies and cookies in small goodie bags. “Besides, we’ll pair the goodie bags with the stuffed toys in bigger paper bags for each of the guys later. You didn’t have a problem with this a while back so why are you complaining now?” 

“Well...” He trails off with a pout, reluctantly going back to wrapping the stuffed toys in red and green Christmas wrapper. “I don’t want to wrap these anymore.” 

“You’ve only wrapped Chan’s wolf toy so far.” You roll your eyes. rummaging through the mess of haphazardly cut gift wrappings and old ribbons for the only present he’s wrapped so far. As you find it next to the Tupperware of brownies, only then does a realization dawns upon you and you immediately ask, “Hold on, did you buy the greeting cards?” 

“Ah, well, Y/N, you see...” 

-

december 18 (yang jeongin)

skz of christmas (masterlist)

m.list

@skzwriternet

[soclonely]

A Life Day Carol- Commander Cody: Part II The General

Part 2/4 of the Lifeday Carol, featuring a long lost friend of the past. 

Word Count: 1,746 Warnings: Mentions of death, ghosty mosty

____________________________________________________

Three spirits...

Past, present, and future...

The consequences.. You must change Cody...

The chrono on the nighttable next to Cody's bed chimed to life. The tired Commander fumbled in the dark to grab it. 2:30 it read. "Why is-" Cody is cut off my a small chuckle from the corner of the room.

"Up and at it Commander!" a cheerful voice said from the corner of the room. "Time to get started on your journey, Sir."

Cody's heart stopped. That voice was.. familiar.. It was his own voice, but.. Different. It couldn't be. Cody rushed over to hit the switch on the wall to reveal his unexpected guest.

A bald man in white and orange armor smiled back at him, a small patch of hair resting under his bottom lip. "Hello, Commander." He laughs, leaning against the wall behind him. "I'm sorry it took so long to come and see you."

"W-Waxer?" Cody stutters. "I-It can't be! You.. You're dead. You died years ago o-on Umbara." He sits down on his bed. "This is to be a dream. I must be dreaming." He rubs his eyes before looking back at the troubling entity still standing there.

"Sir, its really me." He says in a soft voice, gliding over to the startled Commander. "Well, was me. I am now the Ghost of Life Days past" He says proudly. "Get the promotion when your mind decided it." He laughs.

"Life Day?" Cody asks, looking puzzled. "What are you babbling about trooper?"

"Ah. Of course you don't know what today is." Waxer says, sighing. "You'd think the Empire would at least let its citizens celebrate something." He holds out a hand to the Commander. "It's Life Day Sir. Remember? We used to celebrate it in the old days, with our friends." he grunts, helping Cody to his feet. "Force, Commander life must be good to you. You seem to be heavier then I remember."

Cody side eyes the man as he steadies himself. "Watch yourself trooper." he warns sternly, before remembering that Waxer was out of his control. "So er.. What are we to do? Chat about the past?"

Waxer gives another laugh. "Actually, I am going to show you the past." He puts a hand on the Commander's shoulder. "Do you trust me, sir?"

"In theory. Why?"

"Because I am going to need you to close your eyes. For the living, this journey can be a bit stomach turning." Waxer teases. "When you feel me let go of your shoulder, you can open up."

Cody thinks for a moment, before nodding. "Well, since its just a dream, I guess it wouldn't hurt." He sighs, shutting his eyes tight. "But hurry it up would ya Wax? I don't want to go through this all night." He feels a blast of cold air. "Hey whats going o-"

"Don't open them yet!" The other man warns, gripping Cody's shoulder tightly."I don't want to be responsible for your dry cleaning. This gig doesn't pay."

Cody mentally rolled his eyes. "You know Waxer.. Despite the.. situation.. Its been nice seeing you. I am sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed the support on Umbara.. It was hard, you know. The Jedi that betrayed his." He stopped, noticing a tightness in his chest. Must be a side effect of the travel. "Anyway.. I just wanted to say that and-"

"Its all in the past sir." Waxer voice said softly. "All in the past, just like we are!" he lets go of Cody's shoulder and steps aside as the other opened his eyes. "Here we are." He smiles, holding back a laugh as Cody's eyes lit up at the colors and sounds around him.

Troopers in Orange and white mingled with their brothers of the 501st in blue and white in the Mess hall of the ship. Lights were strung along the metal walls and a small tree with poorly wrapped gifts sat in the corner of the room. Laughter and smiles filled the air as the men had drinks and snacks and swapped stories of their most recent shenanigans. "It can't be.." Codys eyes shift, Waxer and Boil entertaining a batch of shinies by the dessert table. Echo and Fives and the other boys of the 501st crowding around Captain Rex... Rex... He's here. He's here and laughing and having a good time and standing next to.. me?

"AH! Cody! There you are!" A voice from behind the bewildered Commander called, and he spun around coming face to face with none other than Obi Wan Kenobi.

"G-General Kenobi you are here!" Cody says, stepping back. "How dare you! I-" He is cut off as Kenobi walks through him and over to the young Commander standing across the room. "Waxer! What just happened? He walked right through me! He didn't even see me. But he called for.." His eyes freeze on the Jedi and his former self laughing together across the room.

"These are just shadows of the past, Commander," Waxer said. "They have no consciousness of us two." He nods his head toward the gathering they were watching. "Come on. Lets go have a closer look."

The two men make there way other to listen in on the conversation.

"General You really shouldn't have gotten me anything." Cody said, chuckling. "It really isn't necessary, Sir. Working with you is a gift every day."

"Oh nonsense, Cody! It might not be necessary, but its well deserved. As they say, 'Tis the season of giving' you know." Obi Wan responded, leading his commander to the tree."Anyway, these may prove useful to you, judging by your last medbay visit with injured toes"

Cody's face flusters slightly as  the General pulls out a nice wrapped package from under the tree. "Sir really I-"

"Just open it!" Anakin says, coming up from behind the two, followed by Rex. "He dragged me all over Coruscant looking for the right pair."

Waxer turned to look at the older commander watching the memory in front of them."You two were always close. The best leaders a trooper could ask for." He said."We were all proud to serve under you and General Kenobi."

"Yes.." Cody said absentmindedly, engrossed in his younger self opening the box. "I-I remember this. This was when I got the-"

"Steel-Toed Combat boots!" Anankin said, thumping the Commander's back. "Double enforced AND insulated to protect you the next time you decide to kick a droid in the face!"

Cody looks up at Obi Wan. "Sir I-I don't know what to say.." He smiles, setting the box down and rubbing his hands together. "Well, since we are exchanging gifts, the boys and I pitched in to get you something as well." He takes a small box out from under the tree. "Here you go sir." A small smirk on his lips appears as some of the other men of the 212th gather around, eager to see Obi Wans reaction.

Obi Wan smiles. "Cody you shouldn't have! Its... A string bracelet?!" He says, confusion appearing briefly before he forces a smile. "I never would of expected!"

The Boys of the 212th roar with laughter. "Sir! Its not a bracelet!" Wooley exclaims. "Its a-"

"Its a handle for your lightsaber, General!" another trooper laughs. "All Commander Cody's idea!"

Obi Wan turns to Cody."Ah I see," he says stroking his beard. "Is this by chance related to that battle on Ryloth when you had to retrieve it for me, Commander?"

Cody laughs. "It could have been General.. Or maybe, that time on Cristophsis?.. Perhaps Teth? Who knows." The room is filled with laughter again, everyone chattering and grabbing gifts to exchange with one another.  Cody beams at the smiles on his mens faces. "Thank you for allowing us to do this, General." He says quietly.

"Allowing what? For the men to be happy? Always my dear friend." Obi Wan says, taking out his saber and slipping the band on. "A perfect fit!" He gives his arm a little spin. "I daresay this will come in handy. Thank you." He beams. "For everything Cody."

"Anytime sir."

The older Commander watches from afar, the knot in his chest growing tighter. His throat and eyes burning at the sting of emotion. "He was a good General." He said to Waxer. "A.. very good General and friend. It.. makes no sense, the betrayal." He stiffened immediately. "The lies. He betrayed me, us! If I could stop him right now I would." He spins around to face Waxer. "Get me out of here! Now! Before I do something we will regret."

Waxer looked sadly at his old friend. "Sir you cannot change the past. These are events that have already happened. You are watching, but you aren't looking. Please just take the time and-"

"I said take me back!"

"Yes.. Commander." Waxer reaches a hand out to Cody, placing it back on his shoulder as the latter closed his eyes. The cold rush of air returns, and Waxer speaks. "Cody, I just want you to know that no matter how bad things got, I was always proud to serve by your side, all of my brothers, and General Kenobi. You were both always there, making sure we were the best and had the best. You two were quite a pair. Look deep inside yourself.. Remember the good times.." he fell silent.

Cody, eyes shut still, let his mind wander to those days of the Clone Wars, and how hard they all had worked. To fight back the separatists. Countless battles won, men lost.. And the Jedi, alongside them. The Jedi were their allies.. their friends. Until they betrayed them They were the reason for the war. It was their fault, The Jedi. Kenobi. It was his fault. He left Cody behind, without an explanation. What was he supposed to think?

"Waxer I know this will be hard to here but-" He opens his eyes, finding himself in his bed in the dark. "Waxer?" he reaches up, turning on the lights, eyes scanning the empty room. "I-it was a dream then?" he said, a small lump in his throat. He put a hand to his shoulder a moment, mimicking the pressure of the formers hand. "Just a dream." he repeats, looking over at the chrono."2:32. Great." Cody runs a hand through his thinning hair. "Better try and get some more sleep." he mumbles, laying his head on his pillow, slowly drifting off to sleep once more.

[lightspeedrobin]

Found (Chapter 2) - Morisawa Chiaki/Reader

Summary: Chiaki can vaguely remember that time in kindergarten when he saved a girl during a school field trip but he knows that it was the first time he became someone’s hero. With only a dolphin plush and a worn-out handkerchief to remind him of that memory, he finally meets her again.

A/N: This chapter took longer than i expected but hopefully the length is worth the wait~ Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 2: Lending A Hand

-

“She’s what?”

“Hmm? She’s the cafe’s owner. Kaoru told me last time we went there with Souma.”

Chiaki didn’t realize the fact until after they left the cafe, and the first thing that concerned him was if he was at any point rude to her while they were talking the other day. Judging by her reactions, she probably wasn’t but he’s really not the type who can read people’s emotions accurately. Plus, that was just the first time they met, so he wouldn’t really know. Kanata should’ve really told him. But Chiaki can’t really blame him since Kanata must've thought the brunette already knew.

Chiaki shakes the thought off as he rounds the corner to the street where the cafe is located.

Visiting the cafe in the morning would probably be a bad idea since the children might recognize him and cause a commotion. He recalls a lot of Ryuseitai meet and greet events where the children would just gather around and cling onto him in adoration. Not that he dislikes it one bit, but he might cause too much ruckus in the cafe that it disrupts the rest of the customers. So he decides a late afternoon visit would be better, where the crowd would be thinner.

Or so he thought.

The moment he enters the cafe, a pair of children run past him, almost bumping into his legs if he hadn’t moved away in time.The children’s area is completely full and the quiet, relaxing atmosphere from two days ago was gone.

He spots the owner by the display case, reaching for a stuffed bear to lend to a waiting girl by her feet. “Alright now. Take good care of her while we get your Ranger Pink parfait ready, okay?” She says, her voice in a gentle and soothing tone.

The girl sniffles and rubs her eyes before taking the bear. “...Okay. Thank you, Onee-san!” She gives her new friend a pat before trotting back to her mother. The mother mouths a small ‘thank you’ as her daughter approaches and the owner waves in reply.

Chiaki walks over just as the owner turns to the door. “Oh, you really came!” She says, a hint of excitement in her voice. However, as soon as she realizes this her cheeks turn a light shade of pink and she clears her throat to hide her embarrassment. “–I mean, welcome! Please have a seat and we’ll get back to you for your order.” The change of her tone to a more business-like one didn’t go unnoticed by Chiaki, but he passes the observation as simply being courteous.

“Thanks. I’ll be over there, then.” Chiaki points to an empty table near the children’s area and she nods before getting back to work. Now’s probably a good time to go over the script for another job while he waits, and so he opens the folder he brought with him and starts skimming over the lines.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when a glass of water was placed on the table in front of him and was greeted again by the owner, just like the first time he visited the cafe. The only difference is that this time, she is looking more troubled than cheerful. 

“I am so very sorry!” She suddenly blurts out, bowing her head. “We haven’t had this many customers at this time of the day and… well our other staff is still sick so–Ah! Sorry! I shouldn’t be blabbering all this to a customer!” She says and apologizes once more. He’s never seen her this flustered before.

“Ah, no it’s fine really. I didn’t even notice how long it has been since I started reading through this.” Chiaki quickly replies, trying to ease her worries. He had a habit of getting too engrossed in whatever he’s reading and losing track of time, after all, so a few minutes of waiting shouldn’t bother him too much.

“But it’s already been an hour since you arrived and we haven’t attended to you yet,” she regretfully explains, “so please let me take your order now and I'll get started on it immediately!” She takes out a notepad and waits for his reply.

An hour, huh? Chiaki thinks and peeks over behind her to the children section. It’s still packed, with the most children holding stuffed animals from the display case. They must already be waiting for their orders too. The barista counter has several parfaits on it, ready to be served. There are also a few new customers who are looking around and probably waiting for a staff to attend to them. It’s one heck of a war she’ll be returning to once she takes his order.

“Umm… Sir?” She hesitantly calls, clearly still anticipating his response, and Chiaki looks back at her. 

“You have a lot of people today, huh?” 

“Y-Yes. I’m really sorry for–”

“Would you mind me helping out?”

“What?” Her tense shoulders drop in confusion as Chiaki stands up and takes a quick view of the cafe once more. 

“I can go wait tables and entertain the kids to free you some tasks.” He offers, hands now on his hips and wearing a confident smile on his face. She was surprised by the offer but she quickly shakes her head.

“But that’s– We can’t possibly let a customer do that and not to mention an i–”

“It’s fine, really. A hero would never pass up any chance of helping others!”

But despite her best efforts to dissuade him from taking the place of their sick employee, she eventually gives in. Partly because she had a long queue of orders that needed preparing and she no more time to waste arguing, but mostly because of Chiaki’s persistent convincing. He had good intentions, after all.

-

Chiaki is a natural at this, being an idol and all, and is able to settle down the waiting customers, especially the children. It was only a matter of time before the chaotic atmosphere died down. 

He stops for a moment to look back at the counter to see how they’re doing with the orders, and he sees her trying her best to calm an upset boy, who was stomping his feet in front of the display case.

“I want to play with the dolphin!” The boy cries, pointing his finger on the worn out dolphin plush at the top shelf.

“I’m really sorry. That one’s only for display.” She gently replies, crouching down to meet the boy’s eyes. 

“But I want to see what it looks like up close! Mommy and I went to an aquarium yesterday and I didn’t see the real one because I was scared. So I want to play with the blue dolphin!” The boy raises his voice, already on the verge of tears. She bites her lip, not knowing what to do.

“...Mr. Dolphin up there is really old, you see? If we suddenly take him outside, he’ll… um… he might get hurt.” She tries her best to explain it to him in a way he can understand but the boy was not budging, still holding that disappointed frown on his face. “A-Anyway, I can’t really take Mr. Dolphin out. You can play with the other animals, if you like–”

“It’s just for a few minutes until Mommy comes back. Why won’t you let me play with him?!” The boy shouts and stands on his tiptoes, pressing his little hands on the glass screen and attempting to slide it open.

“W-Wait! It’s dangerous, don’t–”

Chiaki is quick to rush over, reaching out for the boy to lift him up and away from the display case. The boy was stunned by the sudden action, with eyes staring wide at Chiaki as he put him down.

“Now, now. Good boys should listen to the grown-ups. It’ll be hard for you to be a hero if you keep causing trouble.” Chiaki then says. 

“But the dolphin...” The boy looks back up at the dolphin, frowning even more.

Chiaki places a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “You said you went to an aquarium, yeah?” 

The boy nods and wipes little beads of tears forming on his eyes. “...Yeah.”

“What was it like seeing the other fish up close?” Chiaki asks, and almost instantly the small tantrum is forgotten as the boy looks at him with excited eyes.

“There were so many colorful fish and they were swimming together!” He spreads his arms wide as he tells the brunette. “There was this one fish with… um...”, the boy looks at his hands and tries to count on his fingers, “... eight legs!”

“Wow! That looks cool! How does a fish with eight legs swim, I wonder?” Chiaki exclaims and the boy looks happy to have someone listen to his stories.

The boy's face lights up at an idea. “Oh! I can show you what it looks like!” And he starts tugging at Chiaki’s hand. “Let me draw it for you.”

Before Chiaki is dragged away, he turns to her, who was still surprised at how easily he handled the situation. “I’ll take care of the boy here, you go and tend to the other customers.” He reassures her, giving her a quick wink to ease her worries and she gives a relieved smile.

“Alright, thank you.” She nods before heading back to the counter to retrieve the next batch of orders to serve. Chiaki continues to listen to the child as he draws with the crayons and sheets of paper on the table. The eight-legged fish the boy was talking about was actually an octopus. The boy then starts to tell Chiaki about the other creatures he saw on his aquarium visit and the brunette listens patiently.

From behind the child, Chiaki sees the owner slowly making her way to the display case, careful not to alert the boy of her presence. He and the boy were seated at a table with the boy having his back turned from the shelf, so when she opened the glass door and reached for the dolphin, the boy didn’t notice. 

She meets Chiaki’s eyes for a moment, and signals him to stay quiet and continue distracting the boy. He nods and she quickly ducks behind the counter and into the staff room with the dolphin. She is probably hiding it so the boy would forget about it.

The rest of the afternoon went smoothly thanks to Chiaki’s help and they were able to reach closing time without incident. That was probably the busiest day they’ve had, and it would’ve brought them a bad reputation if there were too many unsatisfied customers due to being understaffed. Chiaki was glad he could help.

–

“Here’s your Ranger Red Parfait!” Chiaki eagerly watches as his red parfait is placed in front of him. The dessert looked more appetizing now that he can finally have his own. It would be a lie to say he was not thinking about finally tasting it while he was serving them to the children earlier. The glass is tall and wide, containing a generous amount of whipped cream over the red velvet cake and cream cheese icing. It’s also decorated with walnuts, strawberries, blueberries and a chocolate wafer on top. It really makes one excited to just dip their spoon onto the dessert. 

“Ah, I can’t wait to try it! Thank you!” Chiaki replies a little too enthusiastically, earning a small laugh from her. The cafe has already closed for the day and it’s just the two of them left. Chiaki decided to sit by the children’s area and he invited her to sit across him. 

“You sure are as excited as those children earlier.” She comments, placing her arms on the table as she watches him.

“Well, I really am excited to try them out ever since I saw it on the flyer.” He explains in reply. He was looking forward to visiting the cafe again with Ryuseitai too but unfortunately, their schedules didn’t match up so he ended up going alone.

A small chuckle escaped her lips. “Yeah, I can see you practically drooling over the other parfaits you were serving earlier.”  And Chiaki’s eyes grew wide at her statement. Was he really that obvious? 

“Just kidding~” She then says, giggling again at his reaction. Chiaki can feel his cheeks getting red in embarrassment but he tries to hide it with a loud laugh.

“You got me there.” 

She watches expectantly as he finally takes a careful scoop of the parfait, making sure to get a part of all the elements so he can taste how well they would all combine. He places the spoonful on his mouth and as the wonderful flavours fill his taste buds, he notices the nameplate on her uniform, a defining gold plate with her name and the title “Manager” under it. She really does run the cafe, huh? 

“Um… Is something the matter? Did it... not live up to your tastes?” She nervously asks. He was lost again in his thoughts so she must’ve interpreted his silence as dissatisfaction.

“Uh, no. It actually tastes amazing! I can see how well they all come together.” He quickly replies and she lets a breath she’s been holding. Ah, he made her worry again. 

“It’s just that I didn’t realize you were the owner until a friend told me when we left last time.” He says sheepishly and she responds with a small “oh ” before laughing. 

She leans slightly on the table. “Well, I didn’t realize you were an idol until our barista showed me one of your concerts. The children were all fawning over you earlier too! I’m surprised you were able to handle them.” 

“Well, being in the job gives you more experience in learning how to calm them down.” Chiaki somehow feels a sense of pride as he speaks and he gives another of his confident laughs. She has a thoughtful look before nodding in understanding. 

“I see. So I guess we’re even.” She grins and Chiaki takes another spoonful to his mouth before continuing. 

“I hope I wasn’t rude to you in any way.” 

“No, not at all! You were actually a big help today.”

As if remembering something important, she lets out a horrified gasp. “Oh god, I can’t believe I let an idol wait tables in my cafe! I’m gonna get in trouble with your managers, aren’t I?” Her hands are on her cheeks in panic as she spoke. 

Chiaki quickly shakes his head at the question. “What? No! I already told you before but it’s totally fine! It’s not like we’re bound to just do whatever job our agency gives us.” 

“Oh, well that’s a relief.” She breathes out, chuckling a bit at her own reaction.  If Chiaki was being honest, though, seeing her get flustered again like this, he can’t help but find her a little cute. He grins at the thought.

She excuses herself as Chiaki is finishing his parfait and disappears into the staff room. She comes back out with the dolphin plush from earlier and begins inspecting it for any dirt or tears. She had a small sewing kit with her as well just in case. Chiaki starts to think back to what happened earlier with the boy and wonders if the old plush holds some kind of significance to her, with how adamant she was on not letting the boy touch it.

“This actually holds great sentimental value. And you can’t find it anywhere anymore because the shop I bought it from closed down.” To his surprise, she answered so easily when he asked her about it. 

It was from a field trip when she was young, she narrated. Her class went to an aquarium and in one of the animal shows they had, she was chosen to come up and play with the sea lion. The creature, however, got a little too playful and pulled the young girl into the water by her dress and was dragging her to the bottom of the pool.

“I thought I was gonna die, you know. I didn’t know how to swim and I was panicking so hard I took in a lot of water.” She ghosted a hand to her throat, as if remembering the sensation she felt when she was drowning. Chiaki listens intently as she continues.

“But then there’s this boy who was also chosen to come up on stage with me. He jumped in after I was pulled underwater and was pulling me upwards by the arm. I don’t remember much of what happened then but the aquarium staff were the ones who eventually rescued the both of us. That was one heck of a near-death experience, huh?” She then chuckles, all the heavy feelings from earlier forgotten. 

He wonders then what happened after the incident. Was she still haunted by the experience of almost dying? What happened to the boy who saved her? All these questions and more were lying unsaid in his mind but he was hesitant to ask.

She lifts the dolphin from her lap. “This dolphin’s from that aquarium’s souvenir shop. I may not have remembered the boy’s face, but that boy, probably the same age as me, bravely saved my life and this right here is my constant reminder of that fact.” She fondly runs a hand onto the plush’s soft fur, her eyes giving off a soft twinkle which for some reason makes her entire face glow like the early morning sun. Chiaki almost got lost in them, until she breaks the silence.

“That’s why I don’t want this out of my sight, nor on somebody else’s hands.” She says sheepishly, as if it was a silly reaction. But Chiaki didn’t think of it as silly at all, in fact–

“It’s a precious memory of your first hero, huh?” Chiaki smiles at her, not showing any sign of ridicule. How could he laugh at something like that? He was glad that someone was able to become a hero for her and it wouldn’t be silly to cherish a memento of that time.

Her eyes widened for a moment at his reaction, surprised he hasn’t laughed it off like the others did, but then softens into a small smile as she looks down again on the plush.

“...Yeah.” 

She has told him a story of her childhood, and not just any story too. It was a memory that she kept and treasured for so long. It might not have been a story she tells to just anyone, either. It was like she was sharing a part of her to Chiaki, a complete stranger she just met a few days ago, and for that Chiaki felt honored.

“Thanks for sharing all this to me.”

–

The two stayed for about an hour more talking, the conversation mostly led by Chiaki with his numerous stories about his unit and his high school days. After hearing a story as personal as hers, he couldn’t help but also share something he holds dear to his heart too: all the friends he made in Yumenosaki and most especially, Ryuseitai. She was eager to listen to each one, sharing a few more stories of her own when a similar experience happened to her too.

Night falls too soon, though, and she really had to close shop for the day. It would be another war again tomorrow so she needed the time to rest and unwind. The two part ways after helping her lock up, with her inviting him to come visit again

Chiaki finally arrives home, happy to have made a new friend and goes to the kitchen for a glass of water. He passes by his storage room, door ajar from when he rummaged some old stuff the night before. It’s in need of a little re-organizing, with all the boxes left open and some with its contents spilling out. He’s finished reading through the script this afternoon anyway so he decides to clean it up.

As he begins to take out the boxes from their shelves, an old paper bag tumbles off from the top shelf. Curious to know what’s inside, Chiaki takes out its contents and to his surprise it’s a dolphin plush, covered in dust and its pink color starting to fade away. Chiaki was racking his brain on where on earth he got this from when he saw the tag on the plush. An aquarium theme park, from a school trip back back in kindergarten., he now recalls. But did he actually buy a pink dolphin before?

Another interesting thing that was inside the bag was a small white handkerchief. It was decorated with sunflowers at the corners and Chiaki can already tell this wasn’t his. It was only after he unfolds it that he notices a name embroidered at the bottom.

The same name as the cafe owner.

-

hey, heyyy~! this fic is also up on my ao3, @lightspeedrobin ~ 

Ch.1 | Ch.3 

[ta0ken]

alligator teeth — i

warning; involves profanity

────┘☾└────

❝𝐃𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬.❞

────┐☾┌────

cold cold cold

WHEN IT WAS YOUR FIRST YEAR in the academy, you were sorted into Houses. At first, you were skeptical when it came to being sorted into the House of Owls, of all Houses, and you really didn’t know what to say; you thought you’d be in the House of Crows or Snakes. You didn’t remember all of the first-years that were with you (some of them dropped out), but some of the ones still stood by you as you all progressed throughout the years.

There was one thing that stuck out the most in the academy though, and that was its signature sport. Every other magic academy had its own signature, and your academy was (obviously) volleyball. You didn’t know why, you didn’t even know why it wasn’t anything magic-related, but you can’t complain. Luckily, you were sorted into one of the better Houses.

If you had to be honest, the House that had it the roughest were the Crows. You for sure knew that they had been losing every single match that they had when they were paired up against the other Houses (it was sad to see). After all, you had witnessed them lose consistently.

Your first year was a breeze, it was an easy pass. You made a maximum of ten friends, but hey, there’s always next year. But, you didn’t want to meet new people, you were satisfied with your friends. However, you supposed that with a new batch of first-years, it’d be different.

.

.

.

You definitely didn’t know how you get into this particular House, especially one with the Head of the House being energetic and hyperactive to the point you, yourself would lose sleep over trying to take care of him. Your precious, precious hours of sleep, wasted on some god damn leader that just wouldn’t sit still for god know’s how long. Honestly, you were surprised the vassal of the Head could keep up with him.

Seriously, you scowl, rubbing your face in irritation, how can I lose 2 hours of sleep because of that man? It's literally 6 AM now...

”Hey, hey, hey!” a voice chimes, loudly ringing from one ear and out the other, “[Name]~!” An arm was slung around your shoulder as obnoxious laughter left the lips of the owner’s voice. “How’re ya doin’!?” they ask, pulling you closer.

”...I’ve seen better days,” you drone, trying to tug yourself away from the man, “Bokuto-san, we have classes to attend.” You kept trying to tug the Leader’s arm off of you, brow slightly twitching in exasperation. His voice was not something you wanted to hear first thing first in the morning, especially considering he was the one that kept you up late.

”Ah!” the person, now known as Bokuto, jolts in realization, eyes going abnormally wide, “You’re right!” He sulks, realizing what class it was, “And it’s... Math...!”

You sweat-drop, raising a brow. “Bokuto-san...you’re in the same class as me, and I’m a second-year...” you mumble, holding onto the strap of your bag, your [e/c] eyes staring into him with a blank expression. Is he that bad at Math? you try to recall your first-year with him, considering he was in your last Math class too. Well—

”Bokuto-san!” another voice calls out. You turn your head, seeing that it was the vassal.

”Oh, Akaashi-san,” you blink, bowing your head in greeting, “good morning.” You didn’t expect to see him early on, usually, you’d see him in your 3rd period, but you suppose that this was an exception—it was Bokuto he was looking for, most likely.

”Oh, good morning,” he nods back, bowing his head. He then turns to Bokuto with a frown. “Bokuto-san,” his voice is calm and low, but he still showed some sort of emotion, “it’s time for class, stop bothering our underclassmen.”

”But, I wasn’t bothering him!” the white-and-black-haired male protests, lips stuck out in a pout as he slightly flails around. Suddenly, he turns his head towards you for affirmation, exclaiming, “Right!? I wasn’t bothering you!”

You merely turn away, sweating. “It’s time for class anyway, right?” you ask, glancing at the two seniors, “Then, I’ll be on my way.” Adjusting your uniform, you put your hands in your pockets, and bowed slightly. “Goodbye.” With those words, you turn on your heel and begin to walk away, sighing.

•̩̩͙･⁺｡☆ •̩̩͙ : ☾ •̩̩͙ : ☆｡•̩̩͙⁺

You were sure that you were going to have a moment of peace, considering you managed to get away from the Head of your House, but it turns out you were wrong. The first thing you heard on your way to Math class was:

”W-What do you want!?” a voice squeaks, their voice wavering. “D-Do ya want something...!?” Their tone indicates that they were trying to put up a front, but, when you fully see the person, you can tell that they were scared.

Ah, they’re first-years, you muse, watching the scene play out. You notice that the colors of their uniforms were black and orange—House of Crows. Rubbing your chin, you tilt your head in curiosity, wondering what was going to happen. The guy is waaay taller than him, the little guy’s probably going to get bullied. What a shame.

”Huh?” the other guy replies in a gruff tone, “What the hell do you want, dumbass?”

”I...I asked you first!” the orange-haired boy yelps, cowering, “So, you gotta answer me fi—EEK!” The other male gives him a harsh glare, his eyes glinting. The poor kid was sweating bullets.

Before anything could get out of hand, you chose to intercept. “Hey,” you say, approaching them with a frown, “are you guys first-years? You’re causing a ruckus, and it’s almost class time, you know. Get to class.” You gave them a shooing motion, trying to get them to move.

“A-Ah, wait, wait, wait!” the orange-haired boy says in an attempt to stop you, “W-We got lost an-and—!“

”Idiot, don’t just lie straight to their face! They’re in a different House!” the dark blue-haired male exclaimed, almost hitting the other on the head. “Don’t trust others so easily, you dumbass!”

Is his vocabulary only limited to ‘dumbass’...? you sweat-drop. “Listen, it doesn’t matter because all Houses have classes together, it’s only fair,” you state, before mumbling a small, “Especially considering some of the other Houses are a little idiotic.” Shaking your head, you look down at the contrasting duo, “Either way, if you guys are lost, I can show you the way to your classes, unless you want to be late on your first day?” You had a small smile on your face as you said that.

Almost instantly, they straightened up, stiff and rigid. They didn’t know their way and they definitely didn’t want to make a bad impression, especially on their first day.

”Well,” you sigh, glancing away, “I’m [Surname] [Name]. It’s nice to meet you two, I’m a second-year; apart of the House of Owls, and you?” You offer them a small grin, giving them a relaxed expression.

”...Kageyama Tobio,” the dark-haired male mutters, narrowing his eyes, “first-year from the House of Crows.”

”Oh! I’m Hinata Shoyou from the House of Crows! I’m a first-year, too!” the other one exclaims, attitude entirely different compared to Kageyama. He leans towards you, cupping a hand around his mouth, whispering, “Don’t mind Kageyama! He’s always in a moody kind of state!”

Sweat-dropping, you scratch the back of your head. “Err... Alright...? Well, anyway,” you shook your head, “what class are you guys trying to go to?”

”English...1,” Kageyama mutters reluctantly, looking away while sweating.

”Okay.” You nodded your head, waving your hand in the air, telling them to follow you, “Here, I know the way, follow me.” You turn around, beginning to take them to their respective class. “Judging by your confused looks, you didn’t really get a tour or a look around the place, huh? That’s fine, ask any questions and I’ll answer the best I can.”

”Um... [Surname]-sen...pai,” Hinata says reluctantly, twiddling his fingers, “I have a small question...”

”Hm?”

“Are you a guy? Your voice is like...really, really girly-like, so I didn’t wanna assume. If you are a guy, then your voice is really nice to listen to! I like it a lot, so—“ he stumbles on his words as he tries to compliment you while also questioning your gender.

“I’m a guy,” you answer, ruffling your hair a little. Sighing, you shrug your shoulders, “Well, you’re not wrong about my voice being a little feminine, considering, uh...” you nervously laugh, “Ah, never mind.” You turn around quickly, pushing the two into the door that you had opened, peeking your head in as a familiar ringing echoed within your ears. “Ah, Takeda-sensei. Sorry, these guys were a bit lost, so I had to help them—Can I get a pass?”

”Hm? Oh—!” the teacher jolts, the paper in his hands rustling and almost slipping from his hands. After he adjusts his glasses (and put away the papers), he nods, smiling, “Of course, [Name]-kun!” He hastily takes out a pass, writing his and your name on the pass, and then hands it to you.

You bow, muttering, “Thank you, goodbye.” You turn slightly, facing the other first-years, “Goodbye.” And with that, you headed towards your class, thinking to yourself, those two are gonna cause something big, and I’ll be there to witness it.

A small smile arises upon your face.

•̩̩͙･⁺｡☆ •̩̩͙ : ☾ •̩̩͙ : ☆｡•̩̩͙⁺

You knock on the door to your Math class, adjusting the straps on your bag. Waiting for the door to unlock, you scratch the back of your head, readjusting the small ribbon tied around your collar. The clicking sound of the classroom door catches your attention and the door opens.

“[Name].” The deep voice makes you grimace, but you refrain from showing your slight irritation. “You’re late,” the leader of Eagles states, looking at you from the teacher’s desk, "do you have a late pass?"

“Ushijima-san, I didn’t know you’d be here,” you stated back, walking inside and past the student that opened the door. “What are you doing here?” you ask, ignoring Bokuto’s incessant waving as though he’s motioning you to come over to his table, and handed him the pass Takeda-sensei gave you with a raised brow.

”I will explain it later when you take a seat,” he answers. Shuffling through the papers, he stares at you patiently, waiting for you to actually take a seat.

Narrowing your eyes, you reluctantly take your seat next to your leader, rolling your eyes. Resting your chin on your hand, frowning at the older male with a displeased expression. Is he gonna say it now, or did I sit down for no reason?

Ushijima clears his throat, standing in front of you all with his seemingly always passive expression, and you suddenly have the urge to just cast a spell on him, “I am Ushijima Wakatoshi. I am from the House of Eagles—the Leader and Washijou-sensei have appointed me as a substitute as he is busy with other things.” His posture was straight like a ruler, making you scoff as he says those words. “And, the instructions are that you all need to work on pages 20 to 36—they’re all due by the end of class and expected to be finished.”

Almost instantaneously, you could hear an uproar of protests against his (were they even his?) words, screeching and whining about how too little time to do it—you could understand, Math class was 1 hour and 35 minutes long. Too bad it was Ushijima they were talking to. You take a small glance at the male next to you, seeing his face slowly droop as he goes into a depressive state.

Ah... you close your eyes, dropping your head in exhaustion, he's going to that state now, is he?

“Before you all begin whining,” the leader of the House of Eagles states, giving you all a cold look, “you are allowed to have partners. Washijou-sensei was lenient on you. Now, get on with your work.”

Your face scrunched a bit, your gaze wandering around the room to examine your classmates. There were a lot of students in your class, some you recognized, some you didn't. Did some people transfer?

“[Naaaame]...” Bokuto whimpers from beside you, his head face-down on the table, “Don't partner up with me... I'll only drag you down, so don't be my partner...” His face was blank and pale, eyes lifeless, “...I'm just going to take the zero.”

“...Bokuto-san, I don't think that you should take the zero though,” you responded with a frown, glancing down at him. “If you can't pass this class, how can you call yourself the leader of our House? Also, this is a big grade and you're failing Math at the moment, so you might want to do this or you'll drop another grade.”

“AG—” he attempts to make a screech, but you cover his mouth in an instant. You can just sense Ushijima's glare on you two and you start to sweat.

Someone save me, I beg of you, you sweat, averting your gaze. ”Listen, listen, Bokuto-san, before we get in trouble, let's just work on the pages and get it over with—I promise it won't be hard, just don't make another outburst before Ushijima-san beats us up in a wand battle,” you say quickly, not wanting to deal with one of the best wizards in your academy, “and even if you're one of the top 3 as well, I'm still not looking for a fight with one of the best Houses.”

“Okay...” he mutters, sulking. He reluctantly complies with what you say, and you sigh, looking at the sheet of pages.

”Here,” you point at the even numbers of the pages, “you do the odd numbers and I’ll do the even numbers—that way it’ll be easier for us to do our work, alright?” Sometimes, you just have to treat him like he’s a baby and it’ll work, but sometimes, you also have to ignore him. A sigh leaves your lips as you bring out the needed necessities to do your work.

He nods his head, beginning to work silently. You occasionally glanced at him from time to time when you were finished with one problem, before working on the next. Though, when you were checking on him, you realized that he was just staring at one problem with a confused expression—you had to explain the problem to him and then went to finish your part.

You incline your head a little, slightly frowning. “Bokuto-san, are you finished?” you query, looking at his sheet. Ah, you sweat-drop, he's just drawing owls... Scratching your head, feeling a migraine growing, you sigh through your nose and ask, “...Do you want my help with your part? You seem like you need it.”

“Yes...” he mumbles dejectedly, ”...just a little.”

“Sure, sure.”

•̩̩͙･⁺｡☆ •̩̩͙ : ☾ •̩̩͙ : ☆｡•̩̩͙⁺

You really didn't know what to say other than the fact that helping Bokuto with his work was more of a handful than you thought. You just chose to give him your notes about the class, tiredly explaining them in the process. At first, he didn't understand by reading the notes, but when you showed him how to do them, he (surprisingly) understood the majority of it.

“And then you divide it by tw—“ you were cut off by someone standing over at your table, hands outstretched as though they wanted something. You crane your head towards the person, narrowing your eyes. Oh, it's, um... It's Sakusa-san, you realize, blinking. “Sakusa-sa—“

“Your papers,” he simply states, his mask obscuring half of his face. I'm surprised he was allowed to wear it.

You hand him your papers, Bokuto doing the same. Raising a brow, you check the clock on the wall. It read, “7:30”.

“Sakusa-san, it’s only 7:30 though,” you pointed out, furrowing your brows, “Why do we need to turn in our papers? Also—“

The member of the Weasels scoffed. His gaze shifts onto the male sitting next to you with an unbothered gaze, before looking back at you, and asking, “What’s with the Owl? He’s usually loud in the morning, why does he look like that?” Your brow twitches in response as you rest your chin on your hand with a sigh.

”I didn’t think you’d care enough about Bokuto-san, Sakusa-san,” you grin, peering up at him, eyes in a cheerful squint, irking him in the process “Anyway, I don’t know the answer to your question, so don’t ask me—go back to collecting the other students’ papers.” Your small grin drops as do the cheeriness in you at the sight of a particular third-year, a frown appearing on your face. Shaking your head, you realize that the Weasel had left, continuing his ‘duty’. Tch, he’s probably just Ushijima’s dog or something; never seen that guy interested in nobody other than him.

A few murmurs and protests echoed within the room, showcasing their frustration and irritation at the fact that they couldn’t finish their work. You could hear it in their voices, the anger, the traces of resentment, you could hear it all.

Bokuto hasn’t said a word, but you couldn’t care less; he hasn’t been quiet and you take this for granted (your other teammates, you weren’t sure). Averting your gaze, you see in the corner of your eye, the ‘substitute’ walking in the front of the class, eyes piercing through each and every single one of you. His wand is in his hand, tightly holding onto it as though he was attached to it.

”About the worksheets being turned in before class, I lied. I also lied about them being your actual work,” he states with his infamous stare, and you twitch. “First and foremost, those worksheets aren’t actually what you were supposed to be working on—think of it as extra credit; what you were supposed to be doing... were Wand Battles.”

I’m sorry, what? You could feel a shift in attitude at the male's words, but you dreaded it entirely. Sure, your House was exceptionally well at handling battles, Magic, Wands, everything of the sort, but you weren't confident about the sorting. Knowing Bokuto, he was already trembling with excitement, which was slightly funny, considering he was down in the dumps beforehand.

“Washijou-sensei and the other teacher worked together to create this lesson, which involves the usage of mathematics and using your wand,” Ushijima explains, checking the time again. “Use this extra time as a training practice, or to do whatever.”

“Hey, hey, hey!” he cheers, bouncing in his seat, “That means we get to battle each other, doesn't it!?” He turns to you with an excited face, asking, “[Name], [Name], do you think that we'll fight each other or with each other?”

You stared ahead with a blank look, thinking to yourself, why are we fighting now though? Isn't this—Isn't this Math class?

“The teacher for Combat Arts is absent due to unknown reasons.”

Ah.

“This will be the classroom you will be in.”

I see.

“But, I won't be the substitute—it will be Tendou.”

You could feel your soul slowly leave your body, even when you could hear Bokuto cheering loudly and jerking you around, back and forth with a gleam in his eyes.

•̩̩͙･⁺｡☆ •̩̩͙ : ☾ •̩̩͙ : ☆｡•̩̩͙⁺

“Oh?” the first thing Tendou notices is you in the front, and he simply grins, “It's the little second-year Owl.” His tone was mockingly annoying, his finger pointing at you. Chortling a bit, he approaches you, exclaiming, “I didn't know you were in Combat Arts for 2nd period! Well, I guess this will be fun then, right?”

“Of course, it's going to be fun!” Bokuto interjects from beside you, “We're gonna be the best duo team in this class!”

You scratch the back of your head, sweat-dropping with a blank gaze, isn't there new first-years joining us though...? I'm pretty sure that we have new people joining the class, right? Seventh-years join on the very first day, sixth-years join on the second, fifth on the third, fourth on the...fourth, and third-years on the fifth.

“Tendou-san,” you say, looking up at him, narrowing your eyes, “we have new students joining, don't we? Considering it's the first-years' first day on this campus.”

“Eh? For real!?” you hear your leader exclaim, shooting up, “But, I thought it was only for second-years and up!”

A sigh leaves your lips, your hand moving to rub your head in exasperation. “Why are you in my 2nd period, too...?” you mumble to yourself, shaking your head, “Anyway, Bokuto-san, you're thinking about the Art of Magic; this is Combat Arts.”

“Are you really the leader for the House of Owls?” Tendou asks, eyes glancing at the other, “Shouldn't you be smarter?”

“No one asked for your input,” you mutter.

“I’ll have you know that I've been working on my grades, too! I have six C's!”

Your head whipped to the man, eyes wide with astonishment. “I—I... I can't defend you anymore, Bokuto-san,” mumbling to him, you turn around to the red-haired male, raising a brow. “Either way, are you sure you should be talking to me? You're the substitute for the next class, aren't you?”

“The bell hasn't rung yet, so technically, I'm just setting things up,” he wags his finger in the air, grinning from ear to ear, “If you think about it, the teachers tend to talk to other students, too, y'know, so it isn't that farfetched!” The Eagle member puts his hands on his hips, snickering a little, “Plus, it's not like we're not going to see each other anytime soon—you have 3rd period with me, after all.”

Your face went blank, then it turns into a scrunched expression, though the other two couldn’t explain what emotion you were showing off.

”Isn’t that nice then,” you smile tightly, eyes closed; a pleasant aura radiated from you, but the others could tell you were anything but pleasant at the moment. Opening your eyes, the smile drops from your face as you state, “I think it’s time for class to begin anyway, right?”

The bell rings with fervor, echoing within the room, and the students that just walked in immediately took their seats, sweating profusely.

——————————————————

You put your chin on your hand, your frown hidden by your fingers that were covering your mouth. Seriously, you sigh inwardly, why does he have to be our teacher for this period? You gaze around, examining the new kids that arrived to class; ah, so they are first-years, you muse, seeing a kid with a turnip head. That's a sad hairstyle, oh go— your eyes land on another first-year whose hair was cut like a bowl. You wheezed.

“First-years!” Tendou calls out with a chuckle, muttering, “Never thought I'd be the one to be a substitute for this class, but oh well...” straightening up, he then says, “Introduce yourselves; don't give us the trouble of asking for names for this practice, it'll be a pain in the ass!”

“Yessir!” the same male with a bowl cut exclaims, shooting up from his seat, his hand saluting you all. “My name is Goshiki Tsutomu!” he bows at a 90-degree angle, “Please take care of me! I am also apart of the Eagles, and I aspire to be an ace better than Ushijima-san!!”

You raise a brow at the bold statement with Bokuto laughing loudly beside you. I bet he's the type of guy to show off whenever he has the chance, you think in amusement, slightly snickering. Hell, even Tendou seemed amused by the first-year's words, judging his reaction. Ah... I wonder what Ushijima would say against that.

“Next.”

“O-Oh, um, my name is Kindaichi Yutaro, it's nice to meet you! The House that I'm in is the House of Plants, or rather, the House of Royalty.”

Bokuto's muffled giggles send you, and you hide your face by ducking into your arms, coughing. F-For some reason, hearing 'House of Plants' will always be funny...! Peeking out from your arms, you see another first-year introducing himself, only to wheeze again, tearing up. That guy is a literal Angry Bird, what the fuck—

“Well, that's all the first-years, so—[Name], would you like to say something to the class?” Tendou's voice reaches your ears and you freeze, but his tone wasn't that serious, so you didn't take it seriously.

“Kidding!” he's suddenly right in front of your face, his wand at the tip of your nose and he taps it with a grin. “Alrighty, class, do you know what we're doing today?” he asks, turning around, and facing the others, his hands splayed out in front of him.

Bokuto waves his arms around in the air, shouting, “Fights!”

“Eh... Somewhat,” Tendou sweat-drops. “Hmm hmm~“ he hums, taking out some sticks, “Okay... Here we go!” Standing up, he slams the cup full of sticks (where did he even get those?) on your desk and shouts, “Alright, class! Get in a line and take a stick, whichever number you are will be what sorts you into teams. I’m not gonna watch you guys, I’m not going to bother.”

Before you could react, Bokuto began to drag you towards the line that was beginning to grow, only for someone to cut in front of you. The person who had cut in front of you had a familiar uniform, but it wasn't the one you were wearing, that's for sure.

In fact, it was one of the Eagles that had cut in front of you. Shirabu Kenjiro, a second-year. He was also the House of Eagle's setter (you were pretty sure that he replaced their third-year setter, who was now a pinch-server), and he was always seen setting to Ushijima the most—then again, they made sure to use that guy pretty well.

”Sorry, but I was already in front of you,” states Shirabu, and you can feel a vein pop. There's a cocky (or was it unbothered like Sakusa-san?) on his face, which annoyed the hell out of you.

”Really?” you smile at him, eye twitching, “I didn’t notice! Anyway,” turning to Bokuto, you tell him, “go on ahead, I’m sure we’ll be on the same team... Maybe.” I'd rather be on the same team as Bokuto-san than Shirabu.

”Alright! And if we’re not,” he points at you, grinning widely, “I’ll make sure to beat you! So, don’t think of holding back, alright, [Name]!?” His eyes were wide with excitement.

”Yeah...”

Is this really how I start off the school year? Could this get even worse...?

Hi, I hope you guys have a good day, I got an answer wrong in French, so I posted this in despair :)

[chemicalcindercat]

After Marinette finds out she’s pregnant, her and Adrien’s lives change. The problem is, Adrien still hasn’t proposed to her yet. With his reputation as a model on the line, and Marinette struggling with the idea of having to potentially give up being Ladybug, the young adults have a lot of challenges ahead of them.

Chapter Summary: Dinner at the Dupain-Cheng bakery is fun, especially when Marinette and Adrien have an extremely important announcement to make.

Chapters (2/15): 1 | 2

Fandom: Miraculous Ladybug

Rating: T (For violence and hints of adult themes)

Relationships: Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir x Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug, (Some side ships of minor characters, but mostly just Adrinette)

Additional Tags: Pregnant Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, Unplanned doesn’t mean unwanted, Baby on the way, Tikki can’t decide if she feels like an aunt or a grandma, All Plagg cares about is cheese, Protective Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir, Adrien is gonna be a daddy, Post-reveal, Marinette Dupain-Chenge needs a hug, Expecting, Bun in the oven, hahaha, GET IT, Because Mari’s a baker, eheheh what am I even doing with my life, a pun in the oven, aPitO

Marinette wasn’t sure how she expected Adrien to react to the news that she was pregnant, but she definitely wasn’t expecting him to start crying. Her beloved partner in crime hugged her close to himself, and for a moment Marinete had a fleeting feeling of fear at the thought of Adrien not wanting the baby. And then he picked her up (fairly easily, with how small she was compared to him) and spun her around, laughing.

“Mari...Oh, Princess, this is wonderful!” Adrien put her down after a moment, and Marinette couldn’t help but smile, relieved at the realization that they were tears of joy , not sadness or anger. Adrien wasn’t upset that she was pregnant, he was excited!

“How long have you known?” He asked, after hugging her and laughing for a while.

“Not long. I didn’t know for sure until a few minutes ago.” Marinette explained. “I threw up earlier while making the cookies, and then thought about how my period skipped last month, so I decided to go get a pregnancy test.”

“You should’ve texted me! I would’ve come home immediately, you’re far more important than some silly photoshoot.” Adrien said, with a big grin on his face.

“Well… I didn’t want you to panic… So I decided not to tell you about it until I knew for sure.” Marinette looked away, all of her feelings of uncertainty coming back. Adrien noticed, and the smile on his face faltered.

“Mari… Why were you crying when you came out of the bathroom?” He asked softly, putting a hand on her cheek affectionately.

“Well…” Marinette sighed. How could she even begin to explain all of the emotions swirling around inside of her? It was like she was feeling every single emotion inside her all at once. She glanced over into the kitchen, where Tikki was quietly talking to Plagg. “I just…” Marinette looked down at her hands, receiving a reassuring squeeze from Adrien’s, before looking back up at him. “I’m just… Really, really surprised, that’s all. It’s… It’s extremely unexpected, you know? I mean, we were so careful… But one slip up was all it took…” Her shoulders started shaking a little.

Adrien smiled softly. “I don’t feel like it was a slip up at all. True, we didn’t necessarily plan this… But it’s happening, and it’s an amazing thing, Mari.”

Marinette started to smile more at that. “You’re right. I didn’t think of it like that, I guess.” The bluenette relaxed a little, a true smile on her face. “So… What now? We were supposed to go to my parents house for dinner tonight, should we still go? I can’t wait to tell them, but do we need to go to a doctor first?” She tensed again, starting to panic slightly. “W-what if something happens, what if I-I’m not really-”

Adrien interrupted her by pressing a finger to her lips. “Hey, hey, hey, shhhhh, calm down, Princess. It’s alright.” He soothed her. “About that, I have to go back and meet up with my dad tomorrow to discuss the photoshoot.” He sighed, glancing at the Kwami’s that seemed to have finished their conversation in the kitchen. Marinette followed his gaze, and couldn’t help but notice how concerned Tikki looked.

“So, why don’t we go over to your parent’s house tonight, and share the news with them? Tomorrow, I’ll schedule an appointment for you, and then afterwards I’ll go meet up with my dad. Does that sound good?”

Marinette thought for a second. She didn’t want something bad to happen to the baby. If she got her parent’s hopes up just to find out something bad happened, it would be awful. However, she really needed her parents right now. In the two and a half years it had been since her and Adrien finished high school, they had spent a lot of time with her parents. Marinette hadn’t moved out of her parent’s house for a while at first, busy pursuing her dreams of becoming a fashion designer (at least, as far as her parents were concerned; they didn’t need to know most of her time was spent saving Paris from Akuma attacks). Adrien, on the other hand, moved out of his dad’s house as soon as he was old enough to. Their relationship was extremely strained, and finding out about Gabriel’s secret hobby of using innocent people to try and steal their Miraculous certainly didn’t help things. Marinette and Adrien had moved in together shortly after finding out each other’s identities (and of course dating), a few months after the end of school.

“...Mari?” Adrien repeated gently.

Marinette smiled softly and nodded. “Yeah, I like that plan. I like it a lot.” She glanced back into the kitchen. “Until then, wanna help me with the cookies? I kinda forgot about them.” She explained, walking into the kitchen and picking up the bowl. Adrien started to follow, until he heard her sigh. She turned around, giving him a stern, yet playful look and shaking her head.

“Honestly, Chaton, you couldn’t stop yourself from getting into my cookie dough?” She scolded. “You ate half the bowl!”

Adrien tried to keep a straight face, but couldn’t hold it in anymore when she started waving a whisk around at him as she lectured him. He burst into chuckles, blushing slightly at how adorable his lady was.

Marinette tried to keep her stern face, but couldn’t help but start giggling herself.

“Hey, don’t laugh when I’m scolding you!”

Tom had just finished decorating a batch of cupcakes when Marinette walked in.

“Papa?” The young woman asked, poking her head into the door.

Tom grinned, and set down the last cupcake. “Marinette! You’re here early,” he said, taking off his apron and coming over to hug her. “That’s my daughter, I’m proud of you, showing up early to places!”

Marinette laughed, and hugged her dad back. “Hey, dad. I missed you too.”

“Oh, Marinette? You’re early!” exclaimed a voice from behind Tom. Marinette peeked around him to see Sabine standing there, a big mixing bowl in her arms. She pulled away from her dad to run over and throw her arms around Sabine.

“Maman!”

Sabine laughed. “Have you missed me? You know you and Adrien are welcome anytime!”

Tom’s eyebrows shot up, and he turned around quickly to see Adrien standing in the doorway. “Oh! Adrien! I’m sorry, I was distracted by Marinette. Come on in!”

Adrien listened, stepping further into the little bakery and shutting the door behind him. “It’s alright, don’t worry about it. It’s nice to see you guys.” He greeted Tom with the common kiss on both cheeks, and then turned to Marinette.

Marinette let go of her mom, and looked around, taking in a deep breath. “Ah, the bakery smell. I always miss this.”

Tom moved to wrap an arm around his wife, and they exchanged happy expressions. They were proud of their daughter, who was not only in a pretty serious relationship with the boy she had been in love with for a couple years, but also doing fairly successful in building her own career for herself. Yet as happy as they were for her, they couldn’t help but miss her. Tom understood his daughter was busy now that she had her own adult life to take care of, but he wished she would come over and visit a little more often.

“Well, proud as we are that you made it early, dinner won’t be ready for another twenty minutes at least.” Sabine explained, smiling as she noticed Marinette grab the hand of Adrien, who was standing next to her awkwardly. “It’s Flamiche, so it’s just gotta sit in the oven for a while longer.”

Marinette gasped. “Oh, actually, that’s perfect! We uh... Adrien and I have something we need to talk to you guys about.” She took in a deep breath and looked around. “Do you guys wanna go up to the living room? You might wanna be sitting down for this…”

Sabine looked up, confused, at Tom, who looked just as confused. “Alright…” Sabine said, nodding at Marinette and shrugging. “Sure, if you think that’s best.”

A couple minutes of excited-nervousness and confusion later, and all four adults were sitting on the couch upstairs. Adrien squeezed Marinette’s hand reassuringly. “Do you want to start?”

The young woman nodded nervously. “Of course. They are my parents, after all.” Marinette turned to face her parents, who were looking even more confused than before. She took a deep breath. “Maman… Papa… I… I’m pregnant.”

…

There was a moment of silence as both of Marinette’s parents processed what she just said.

…

Tom was the first to react.

“You’re pregnant?!” He exclaimed, jumping to his feet. Marinette jumped in her seat, not expecting the sudden movement. “I can’t believe this! This… This is… great! I’m going to be a Grand-père! A Pépère!” Tom tugged Marinette up off of the couch, pulling her into a bear hug. “I can’t believe it!” He repeated, laughing.

Marinette smiled softly, waiting for him to put her down.

“Have you gone to the doctor yet?” Sabine asked, as Tom put Marinette down and repeated the action with Adrien. “Do you have any details? How far along, gender, that sort of thing?” She glanced at her husband and laughed a little. “Tom, I know you’re excited, but you should let the young man breathe.” Tom listened to his wife, smiling nervously and apologizing to Adrien, who looked downright honored to have been bear-hugged by his girlfriend’s father.

“Well,” Marinette started to explain. “We just found out this morning. It started when I got really nauseous and threw up because of milk.”

“Hahaha, my daughter, upset by milk? Not a chance!” Boasted Tom, having finally sat back down.

Marinette smiled, and then continued. “Then, once I thought of the possibility, and did some math, I realized I was overdue for a certain something, so I went to the store and picked up a test. Sure enough, two lines. We didn’t want to bail on dinner, so we’re waiting to make an appointment for tomorrow. Besides, I wanted you two to be the first to know, anyways.”

“Oh, Marinette, this is great! I’m so happy for you!” Sabine said, opening her arms wide in a gesture for a hug. Marinette happily complied, relaxing in her mother’s arms. “And we are so, so happy you came to us first.”

“This is perfect!” Exclaimed Tom, grinning. “I’ve been wanting to bake cookies lately, but I haven't been able to come up with any new themes lately. I’m going to bake baby cookies!”

Marinette pulled away from her mom and looked at her dad, laughing. “That sounds like a great idea, Papa! You could do little bottles, or rattles!”

“That’s a great idea! My daughter comes up with the best ideas!”

“What about rubber duckies?” Marinette suggested.

“Yes!” Tom smiled even brighter. “And until you find out the gender, I have plenty of neutral colors of icing we could use! Come on!” He put an arm around and led Marinette upstairs, still rambling about babies. “My grandchild will be the best baker in the world!”

Sabine watched them go upstairs, laughing and shaking her head, before she turned to Adrien. “We should probably follow them up there; dinner should be done at any moment anyways.”

Adrien nodded. “Yeah…” He rubbed his arm nervously. “Uh… Mrs. Cheng?” He asked, glancing over at her.

Sabine smiled softly and sat down next to him. “Adrien, you know you can call me Sabine…” She reassured him. “What’s troubling you? I know this all must be very overwhelming. I love my husband very much, but not everyone has his unwavered enthusiasm.”

Adrien nodded again. “Yeah… But don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m not excited! I’m so happy about this! I just…” He trailed off, trying to think of the best way to word it. “Are you… upset?”

Sabine furrowed her brows. “Why would I be upset?”

“Well…” Adrien sighed. “We didn’t wait until marriage to… We’re not married. Does that upset you at all?”

Ah, so that’s what was troubling him. Sabine’s expression softened. While she would’ve preferred her daughter to be a little more responsible and wait until marriage, Sabine trusted Marinette. Sabine looked away for a moment, trying to decide how to approach this. Finally, she turned back to Adrien.

“Do you plan on proposing to Marinette?”

…

“Of course!” Adrien exclaimed, his face lighting up. “She’s amazing! Marinette is smart, and beautiful, and she always puts others before herself! She’s adorable, and she makes the best jokes, and she’s brilliant! Have you seen the designs in her sketchbook? She’s brilliant! And she’s so brave, and responsible, she’s going to be such a good mom, and-” Adrien’s eyes widened, and he blushed, slightly embarrassed. “...And I’m rambling. To her mom. Obviously you already know how amazing she is, you raised her to be the amazing person she is.” Sabine smiled. “I guess, what I’m trying to say,” Adrien continued, “Is that I’m in love with her. I’m so, so in love with her.”

“Well, the way I see it,” Sabine put a hand on his shoulder. “You are definitely in love with my daughter, and my daughter is definitely in love with you. If you two really, truly love each other…” She smiled and shrugged. “Sometimes things happen in a different order.”

Adrien stared at her for a moment.

“Can I… Can I hug you?”

“Of course.”

When Adrien and Sabine made it back upstairs, Marinette and Tom were standing next to a table, leaning over it. Sabine went into the kitchen, after waving for Tom to follow her. Marinette turned around, grabbed Adrien’s hand and dragged him over to the table. There was an open sketchbook sitting there, the two pages completely full of sketches of baby-themed baked goods.

“Look, look!” Marinette exclaimed, pointing down at one of the sketches. “It’s a teddy bear cookie! Isn’t it just the cutest?”

Adrien smiled and hugged her. “It really is adorable, your parents are gonna be rich if they use these ideas.”

Marinette smiled wider, before glancing over towards the kitchen, where her parents had disappeared to. “What took you and Maman so long to come up?”

Adrien took her hand and squeezed it gently, smiling. “Nothing too special, we just had a nice talk. It was… It was nice. Your parents are amazing, and it makes me so happy when they include me and make me feel accepted.” Marinette kissed him. “They really like you, you know.” She said, after pulling away. “Like, really like you. Whenever I come over without you, they won’t stop asking where you are, or how you’re doing, or when they’ll see you again.”

Adrien smiled, his eyes almost watering. “You have no idea how happy that makes me feel… I feel like I’m finally part of a real family.”

“Well, this happy family is about to have a very happy meal. I’m starving. ”

Adrien laughed. “Well, let’s go help your parents set the table, and then you can have a huge helping of Flamiche. After all, you are eating for two now. We have a hungry little kitten you have to worry about feeding.”

Marinette giggled, and then stopped suddenly. “Hey, why can’t the baby be a little ladybug? Why do they have to be a kitten?”

“Because kittens are cuter, are also, I think ‘little kitten’ is a purrfect nickname.”

Marinette sighed, laughing.

“Well, I can’t argue with that logic.”

[jokertrap-ran]

[BF Kari] メモリアル 「互いを知るレクリエーション」 真山恭一郎 Memorial: Recreation to know each other Side: Mayama Kyoichiro

Memorial Translations : *Translator’s note : MC’s name shall remain as my normal (水嶋ラン) *Spoiler friendly : Translations under cut !

Masterlist

Chapter 1:

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（今日は新入生向けの校内レクリエーションで巨大なすごろく……） （学校行事とは言え……、なんだかすごい行事だな） あ、守部くん。お疲れ様！ (Today’s the day where we have a gigantic recreational Game of Dice in light of the new batch of students entering the school.) (Still, this is still on a rather amazing scale, considering how this is all just a school event...) Oh! Moribe-kun, good work!

守部 匡治 Moribe Kuniharu

水嶋さん！　良かった！　ちょうどいいところに！ Mizushima-san! Thank god, you’ve arrived at the right time!

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

？　どうしたの？　何かあった？ ? What’s wrong? Did something happen?

守部 匡治 Moribe Kuniharu

はい。実は今、すごろくの新しいペア決めを行おうと思っていたのですが あまり人が集まっていなくて……。 良かったら水嶋さんも、すごろくに参加していただけませんか？ Yeah, you could say that. I actually wanted to make a new pair for the Game of Dice, but we don’t have enough people for it… So, I was thinking; how about you join in?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

そうなんだ！　そういうことなら、もちろん！ I see! Sure, I don’t see why not!

守部 匡治 Moribe Kuniharu

ありがとうございます。では、僕はもうちょっと人を集めてきますね！ Thank you! I’ll go and see if there are anymore people willing to join in then!

—— —— ≿ -————❈♛❈————-≾ —— ——    

守部 匡治 Moribe Kuniharu

では、新しいペアを決めるくじ引きをします。集まってください！ Alright everyone, gather around! Let’s draw lots to see who you’re going to be paired off with!

—— —— ≿ -————❈♛❈————-≾ —— ——    

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（私の相手って誰だろう？　うーん……。見当たらないな……） (Who’s my partner? Hmm...They don’t seem to be coming for me?)

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

……水嶋さん？　もしかして、……３６番ですか？ ...Mizushima-san? Are you No.36, perhaps?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

あ……真山先生？　はい、そうですけど……？ Oh, Mayama-sensei? Yes, I am. Why?

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

どうやら、水嶋さんが私のパートナーのようですね。 It appears that you’re my partner.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

えっ！？　先生もすごろくに参加するんですか？ HUH!? You’re participating in the Game of Dice too?

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

新入生に学園に慣れ親しんでもらいたいので、 是非参加してほしいと、生徒会から頼まれましてね……。 教職員も参加することになったんですよ。 The Student Council came up to us, asking that we participate in this as well, in hopes of allowing the new students to familiarise themselves with the school. Therefore, all faculty staff members ended up participating in this Game of Dice.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

そ、そうだったんですか……大変ですね……。 I see...That sounds tough.

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

まったくです。新入生の為なら、と参加をした訳ですが よりによって君とペアになるとは……。 ……せいぜい俺の足を引っ張らないようにしろよ？ I couldn’t say it better, myself. I participated in this for the sake of the new intake of students, but to think that I’ve somehow ended up being paired with you… Do try not to get in my way; understood?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（わっ、真山先生が私の耳元に近づいて……！） (Whoa- He’s getting closer to my ear…!)

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

俺のパートナーになったからには、失敗は絶対に許さんぞ。 As someone who’s my partner, I’ll never allow any shortcomings to come from you.

—— —— ≿ -————❈♛♔❈————-≾ —— ——    

Chapter 2:

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

水嶋さん。どうやら私達の番が回ってきたようです。 Mizushima-san; it seems like it’s finally our turn.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

そうみたいですね。今、サイコロを投げてみます！ えいっ……！ えっと、サイコロの目は６ですね。進みましょう。 Looks like it’s our turn now. I’ll go roll the dice! Here goes…! Hmm, it landed on a 6. Let’s go.

—— —— ≿ -————❈♛❈————-≾ —— ——    

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

……ここが６マス目ですね。お題はなんでしょうか？ ...This should be the 6th square. What’s the question here?

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

『この数学の問題集を解け』、と書いてあるようですね。 “Solve this Mathematical problem”, or so, it is written.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

うっ、数学……し、しかもこれ１０ページくらいあります……！ あっ。でも、先生と半分だから、ひとり５ページですね。 Ugh, Mathematics...And t-ten pages worth of them!? Oh! But each of us only has to solve 5 questions each if I split it with you!

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

何を寝ぼけたことを言っているんですか？ これは生徒向けのお題です。問題集は君がひとりで解きなさい。 Whatever are you talking about; are you half-asleep? These questions are meant for the students. Therefore, you shall be the one to solve them all.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

えっ！？　わ、私ひとりでやらないといけないんですか？ What!? Me; solve all of these alone!?

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

……あからさまに嫌そうな顔をするのは、考え物ですね。 こんな問題は、普段からきちんと勉強していれば、 簡単に解けるはずです。わからないのなら、それは―― 水嶋さんの努力が足りない証拠になると思いますが？ It truly makes one wonder, what with that face of disapproval you made without a moment’s hesitation. These questions should be quite simple to solve if you’ve been studying properly. If you’re unable to solve such questions, then don’t you think that it’s simply evidence to show that you’ve not been putting in enough effort?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

そ、それは、そうですけど……。 T-That might be so, but still...

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

それに残念ですが、この問題集を作ったのは私です。 ですから、私が問題を解く訳にはいきませんね。 For better or for worse, unfortunately, I was the one who came up with that sheet of questions. Therefore, it’s something that I cannot have a hand in.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

そ、そうだったんですか……じゃあ、仕方ないですよね。 （でも、簡単に解けるって……と、とてもそんな問題には……） I-I see...I suppose I don’t have a choice but to do it alone. (Still, these questions are meant to be easy…? )

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

その絶望的な表情……、なかなかそそるじゃないか？ That hopeless expression you’re making right now’s really tempting...

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（っ！　み、みんなに聞こえないように、耳元で……！） (Ngh! He’s whispering into my ear so that the others won’t overhear us...)

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

……どうした？　さっさと頭を使ったらどうなんだ。 解けないなら言え。苦しみもがくおまえを見るのも愉しいが、 今日は学校のレクリエーションだ。無理なら助けてやろう。 ...What’s wrong? How about you hurry and put that head of yours to use? Or, you could always just say so if you’re unable to solve it. It’s amusing to see you struggle, but we’re here for the sake of the school’s recreational activities today. I’ll help you out if you can’t manage.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

ほ、本当ですか！？　ありがとうございます……！ R-Really!? Thank you!

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

そんなうれしそうな顔をしていられるのも今のうちだぞ。 解けない場合、数学教師として厳しく指導してやるからな？ 俺の『助けてやる』という言葉は、そういう意味だ。 Now’s the time to be happy over it, because such a chance will never come again. If you’re unable to solve the questions, I’ll have to teach you how to, as a Mathematics teacher. And my lessons don’t come easy. That’s the price of my help.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

はっ、はい！　頑張ります……！ R-Right...I’ll try my best to solve them!

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

いい返事じゃないか。しっかり俺について来い。 Good; that’s a great response. Don’t fall behind now.

—— —— ≿ -————❈♛♔❈————-≾ —— ——    

Chapter 3:

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

せ、先生……なんとか数学の問題集が終わりました……。 S-Sensei...I’ve somehow managed to complete all the questions...

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

君にしては頑張りましたね。……全問正解ですよ。 You’ve done well, all things considered. They’re all correct.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（あ……真山先生、なんだかうれしそう。頑張って良かった） じゃあ、次のサイコロを振りますね。……次は５マスです。 (Oh? He looks kinda happy...I’m glad I worked hard on them!) I’ll roll the next dice then. We got a 5!

—— —— ≿ -————❈♛❈————-≾ —— ——    

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

お題は『パートナーをおぶって１０マス進め』ですか。 The missive is to “Piggy-back your partner and proceed 10 squares”.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

……え！　えーっと。……じゃあ、真山先生、どうぞ？ …Wha-!? Uhh...then, here...?

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

………………。 ……いったい、水嶋さんは何をしているんですか？ ………… What...are you trying to pull?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

？　先生をおんぶしようと思ってしゃがんだのですが……。 I was going to give you a piggy-back ride…?

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

この場合、どう考えてもおぶるのは私の役目では？ No matter how you look at it, that’s my role, isn’t it?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

で、でも、私は重いですし、申し訳ないなって……。 B-But I’m heavy and I’d feel bad about it...

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

……。君の気遣いはわかりましたから、私におぶさりなさい。 ...I thank you for the consideration, but allow me to do this.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

えっ…… で、でも……。 Huh? B-But...

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

つべこべ言わず早くしなさい。置いて行きますよ。 Stop fussing and hurry on up. Get on or I’ll leave you here.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

じゃ、じゃあ……お言葉に甘えて失礼します。 I’ll take you up on your offer then...

—— —— ≿ -————❈♛❈————-≾ —— ——    

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（わ……。真山先生の背中って、意外に広いんだな……） 真山先生……あの……私、重くないですか？ (Whoa...His back’s wider than I thought...) Mayama-sensei, am I not heavy?

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

この俺が、おまえごときの重さに音を上げるとでも？ Do you think that I’m someone who’d voice my complaints over something like how heavy you weigh?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

い、いえ、そういう意味ではないのですが……。 N-No, that’s not what I’m saying...

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

おまえはただ素直に、俺に身を預けていればいい。 You can just leave yourself to me.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

……はい、ありがとうございます。 ...Right, thank you.

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

いい返事だ。そうやって、いつもきちんと俺に従っていれば、 これからも、可愛がってやってもいいかもしれんな。 Good. I might, perhaps, regard you with more affection in the future if you always listen to me like what you’re doing now.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（先生が笑ってる……！　ふふ、なんだか得した気分かも） (He’s smiling...Heh, I suppose this isn’t half-bad after all!)

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

……いつまでおぶさっているんですか？　進み終わりましたよ。 ...And how long do you intend to stay up there? We’re already done with this section.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

あっ！　は、はい！　すぐ降りますね……！ Ah!! O-Of course, I’ll get down immediately!

—— —— ≿ -————❈♛♔❈————-≾ —— ——    

Chapter 4:

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

まったく……いち早く、こんな学校行事は終わらせたいものです。 もたもたしていないで、早くサイコロを振りなさい。 Honestly...I’d much rather wish this particular school event to be over and done with soon. Stop dawdling and roll the dice already.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

はい！　サイコロは……あった。それっ！　 ……次の目は３ですね。３マス進みましょう。 （結構いろんなお題があるんだな……。ちょっと楽しいかも） えっと、次のお題は……えっ！？　こ、これ……！ 『猫耳をつけて５分間校舎裏の草むしり』って……！？ Okay! Where’s the dice…? Oh, there it is! Here goes! ...We got a 3 so let’s proceed 3 squares forward. (This event really does have a wide variety of missives...I think I might actually be enjoying this.) Let’s see, next, we have to...Huh!? W-Wait a minute, this- “Weed the area behind the school building for 5 minutes while wearing cat ears”!?

—— —— ≿ -————❈♛❈————-≾ —— ——  

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

（真山先生が猫耳をちゃんとつけてくれるなんて……） (He...He actually put them on...)

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

……水嶋、何をニヤニヤしながらこちらを見ている？ ...What are you snickering to yourself about while looking over here, Mizushima?

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

す、すみません。先生の猫耳姿が、なんだか意外で……。 S-Sorry! It’s just really rare to see you with cat ears...

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

……仕方ないだろう。お題には何があろうとも従うルールだからな。 教師である俺が、それを破る訳にはいかんだろう。 ...It’s not like I can do anything about it now, can I? Whatever’s being written down on the missives are technically riles. And as a teacher, myself, I can’t be going around breaking said rules even if I wanted to.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

ふふ……先生はご自分にも厳しいんですね。尊敬しちゃいます。 Hehe, you’re pretty strict with yourself too, I see. You have my respect.

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

こんな姿のときに、おまえに褒められてもな……。 来年からは、こんな行事は廃止せねばならんようだ。 To think that I’m actually receiving words of praise from you with these things atop my head… This event ought to be abolished from next year onwards.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

で、でも、とってもいい行事だと思いますよ？ 先生とお題をクリアしていくのが楽しかったですし、 真山先生のことをもっとよく知れたような気がします。 B-But, don’t you think this is a great event? It’s fun clearing the missives together with you and I think we’re closer now than we were before!

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

ほう……。俺に意見するとは、いい度胸をしているな？ Oh? You’ve got quite some nerve to be mouthing back at me.

水嶋 ラン Mizushima Ran

すっ、すみません……。 S-Sorry...

真山 恭一郎 Mayama Kyoichiro

……だが、おまえの言うことにも一理あるかもしれん。 おまえと共に過ごす時間は、なかなか悪くない気分だからな。 ...However, you do make a good point. I don’t think it’s all too bad to be spending time together with you in this manner.

—— ≿ -————❈♛  𝔉𝔦𝔫.  ♔❈————-≾ ——

[magicaleiko]

Episode 1 Script!

???: Hapupu Pafufun Pahapa Hapafa: I summon you, new TV show! Appear! My name is Eiko Kurokawa, and this is my story...

OP Theme: Kimi no Koto ga Suki Dakara by AKB48

(Scene: The beaches of the Japanese town of Futaba. A girl strolls along the sands aimlessly.)

Girl: (thinks) *Man, I can’t wait for Summer to come. Any other season, this place is practically abandoned. It’s boring.*

(She looks at the shoreline.)

Girl: (thinks) *Still, there’s nobody else here to get the good sea glass. Like that one, right there!*

(She reaches down to pick it up, but her hand meets with another one in a magenta glove. She looks up to see a woman looking back at her with golden eyes.)

Girl: Ah... Oh! Sorry. I didn’t know you wanted that one, too.

Woman: No, it’s alright. It’s yours.

Girl: R-Really? Thanks, um...

(She picks up the sea glass and looks at the woman. The stranger wears a blue dress, a yellow gem hanging by a magenta ribbon around her neck, and beige boots which are pointed at the ends. Her black hair is tied in a bun with five curls sticking out, and her nose is pointed. She seems to be in her 30s.)

Girl: Uh... You know, I probably should go. I don’t think I’m allowed to talk to strangers yet.

Woman: ...My name’s Famo Bordeu.

Girl: Huh? I’m Eiko Kurokawa.

Famo: We’re not strangers anymore now, are we?

Eiko: I guess not...

(Just then, another girl’s voice calls out to Eiko.)

Girl: Eiko? Come on, time to go home!

Eiko: Okay, coming! (to Famo) I’ll see you around, bye!

(Famo, watching as Eiko leaves, smiles.)

Title card: Eiko and the World of Magic

(Scene: The next day, at the Kurokawa house. Eiko is brushing her hair in the mirror. Her older sister, the girl who called out to her at the beach, is putting her things into her bag.)

Sister: Eiko, you’re gonna have to pick up the pace, or you’ll be late.

Eiko: Sorry, Rie.

(Cut to her putting on her school uniform. Rie waits by the door.)

Rie: You ready?

Eiko: (running to the door) Ready!

(She puts her shoes on.)

Eiko: Bye Mom, bye Dad!

(Their parents are in the den, the dad on the computer, with the family’s pet cat, Kuro-chan, on his lap while the mom talks to him.)

Mr. Kurokawa: Bye!

Mrs. Kurokawa: Have a nice day!

(As the two sisters run to school, Eiko narrates.)

Eiko: Hi. I’m Eiko Kurokawa. I’m 14 years old. I was born on January 13 on a Friday, my star sign is Capricorn, I love chocolate and milk, my favorite book is Alice in Wonderland and I suck at Math. My life’s pretty much normal, if you could call living with a stay-at-home dad who’s kinda weird and a mom and older sister who are kinda both nerds for their favorite pop culture normal. Still, a part of me can’t help but wish for some kind of change...

(They arrive at Futaba Junior High. As they put on their school slippers, an African American student comes over.)

Foreign Girl: Morning.

Rie: Morning.

Foreign Girl: Heisuke’s got a new rumor again.

Rie: (sarcastically) Oh, great.

(Scene: Outside Classroom 3-A. The sisters and the foreign student arrive to see a male student, Heisuke, talking with the other students.)

Male Student: No way.

Heisuke: I’m serious, you guys! We need to keep an eye out for her!

Eiko: Keep an eye out for who?

(There is a pause. Heisuke leans forward and lowers his voice.)

Heisuke: ...They say a witch has come to Futaba.

Eiko: A witch?

Rie: Okay, where did you hear this one?

Heisuke: I’m not kidding! My cousin swears that she saw her one night flying down from the sky on her broom. 

Rie: Last week, your cousin also said that a kappa tried to steal his-

Heisuke: Now don’t you diss my cousin just because of his awesome adventures!

Rie: Exactly which cousin are you talking about again?

Heisuke: (ignoring Rie) Anyway! Either one of you seen any strange ladies around?

(At that moment, Eiko remembers Famo, and how strange she seemed... and yet, nice, too.)

Eiko: ...No, not really.

Heisuke: Oh. Well, keep a sharp lookout, anyways.

Student: Hey, speaking of which, here comes Mrs. Asahi!

Heisuke: Oh, shoot!

(As the other students scramble into the classroom and to their desks, the sisters look at each other. Timeskip to Mrs. Asahi teaching the class, like all good teachers. Eiko is hunched down behind her textbook, texting Rie on her cellphone while also pretending to read. In Rie’s classroom, her phone vibrates. Rie answers it to read the following text from her sister:)

Eiko’s text: You believe in witchcraft?

Rie: Wh-

(She replies:)

Rie’s text: Don’t tell me you actually believe that yarn?! It’s just a rumor, okay?

(After reading Rie’s response, Eiko thinks to herself. Scene change to the school library. Eiko is in the Fantasy section. She picks out a particular book on witches.)

Eiko: (thinks) *”A Guide to Witches, Good and Bad”. I wonder if...*

(She takes a look through the pages.)

Eiko: (reads) *”A Witch’s Profile: Mysterious, owns a cat, rides on a broomstick, often wears gloves, is capable of smelling the blood of human children...”*

Rie: Eiko?

(At her sister’s voice, Eiko jumps and squeals, hiding the book behind her back.)

Rie: ...You done?

Eiko: Uh...

(Making sure not to let Rie see the title of the book, she quickly puts it back in its place on the shelf.)

Eiko: Yeah, I’m done.

(Rie raises an eyebrow. Scene change to the end of the day, when everyone’s getting ready to go home.)

Eiko: You’re not coming with me?

Rie: Nah, Yuka invited me over to her place. Wanna come with?

Eiko: Ah... No thanks, I’m good.

Rie: Eh, your loss.

(She leaves to go with Yuka. Cut to Eiko walking home.)

Eiko: Maybe Rie’s right. Maybe I should just forget about the whole witch thing.

(She walks by a trio of delinquents from her school, who take notice of her.)

Boss: Hey, look what we got here!

Lackey#1: Nice legs.

Lackey#2: Legs, pah! Lookit that form!

(They approach her.)

Eiko: Uh... Hi. Can I... help you guys...?

Boss: Nope. But maybe we can help you.

Eiko: I... I need to get home, so...

(She tries to go around the boss, but his lackeys block her path. She gulps nervously, and backs away from them. Suddenly, a familiar gloved hand is placed on her shoulder. Eiko looks up to see Famo.)

Eiko: Fa...

(Famo steps forward to address the three.)

Famo: Don’t you three have better things to do than pick on innocent girls?

Boss: Look, lady, we’re not pickin’ on her. We’re just-

(Famo fixes him a stern glare. If looks could kill, he’d be completely atomized.)

Boss: ...Dangit. C’mon, guys. (leaves)

Lackey#1: Aw, what the heck, boss?!

(As the terrible trio take their leave, Famo looks back at Eiko.)

Eiko: Wh... Whoa...

Famo: On the off chance that any more like them arrive, you should come with me.

Eiko: What, to your place? (considers this) ...Okay...?

(Scene change to the two walking down an unfamiliar pathway.)

Famo: That was a near thing. You were lucky I was here.

Eiko: Yeah, thanks for that, by the way. (thinks) *Should I really be following Famo? She seems nice, and she did drive off those guys back there, but I still don’t know anything about her!* (remembers Heisuke and the book) *What if she’s…*

Famo: Are you alright?

Eiko: Huh?

Famo: You still seem a bit tense.

Eiko: Uh, y-yeah. I’m fine.

(Famo smiles, and they continue walking. They reach an old summer house.)

Eiko: Huh. So is this where you live?

Famo: Where I’m staying, actually. It’s only temporary.

Eiko: Ah. Right.

(Famo goes up to the front door, and seems to snap her fingers instead of using a key. The door opens, and they both enter.)

Famo: Make yourself at home.

Eiko: Thanks.

(She sits down on a couch and looks around. A black cat, similar to Kuro-chan, rests on the stairway.)

Eiko: (thinks) *Famo’s pet...*

(She looks back at Famo, sensing something strange about her. Famo notices this.)

Famo: Is something wrong, Eiko?

Eiko: Uh… no. Heh-heh. Where’s your phone?

Famo: In the hallway. Would you like something to eat after your call?

Eiko: Okay.

(As Famo enters the kitchen, Eiko goes into the hall, finding the phone. She picks up the receiver, then stops. She puts it back, tiptoes to the kitchen door and peeks in, seeing Famo before an empty tray. As she watches. Famo snaps her fingers, and a whole batch of cookies appear in a puff of smoke. Eiko puts her hand over her mouth in shock. Brief flashback to earlier that day...)

Heisuke: They say a witch has come to Futaba.

(Flashback to the book...)

Eiko: (thinks) *”A Witch’s Profile: Mysterious, owns a cat, rides on a broomstick, often wears gloves, is capable of smelling the blood of human children... is capable of using magic…”* (flashback ends) *Oh god. It is her!*

(Eiko slowly backs away from the kitchen, then turns around and runs for the door. She is just about to turn the doorknob... only to freeze at Famo’s voice.)

Famo: Eiko?

(Eiko quickly turns around to see Famo holding the tray.)

Eiko: S-Stay back!

Famo: W-What?

Eiko: I knew the rumors were true! (points at Famo) You’re a… a…

(Famo’s eyes widen. She drops the tray and starts forward.)

Famo: Wait! Please don’t-

Eiko: ...a real witch!

(Famo gasps. Then, steam shoots out of her nostrils, and she screams, her body beginning to glow eerily. She is launched up into the air, and is propelled around the room like a deflating balloon as Eiko, clinging to the door, closes her eyes tightly. The cat on the stairway watches, visibly horrified. Finally, Famo’s screams die down, and what is left of her falls to the floor with a SPLAT. Eiko opens one eye, then the other as she sees what has become of the witch. A puddle of green slime is all that remains.)

Eiko: (thinks) *Mother of Mercy, I killed her! Is... Is it safe to use the phone for real? Wh... What should I do?

(Step by step, she approaches the slime, and crouches down to inspect it. Suddenly, it begins to move, startling her. The slime reforms into a small bloblike creature, almost like a frog, but not really. The thing has four stubby limbs and an almost chibi-like appearance. Five curls of black hair stick out from its head, and it’s wearing Famo’s necklace. It looks down at itself.)

Blob: (in Famo’s voice) Why...?

(Eiko comes to a realization.)

Eiko: Fa… Famo?

(The blob looks up at Eiko, revealing a face consisting of puffy, reddish lips and small, beady, yet familiarly colored golden eyes. Eiko lets out a small gasp. The two stare at each other, when suddenly...)

Girl’s Voice: YOU!!!

(Eiko jumps to her feet and looks around wildly for the source of the voice. She notices the cat glaring at her angrily. Then the cat speaks.)

Cat: You did this!

Eiko: (thinks) *Ohdeargodthecat’stalkingthecat’stalkingthisistoomuchformetohandleIneedtogetrightthefrickoutofhereNOW.*

(Before she can leave, the cat leaps off of the stairs towards her.)

Eiko: (covering her face) AH, NOT THE FACE, I’M TOO YOUNG-

(The cat abruptly changes into a tiny, flying woman midair. She has long, wavy black hair and orange eyes, and wears a tan conical hat and silky red clothing, with no shoes. This new being seizes the collar of Eiko’s school shirt.)

Tiny Girl: You turned Majofamo into a witch frog, you little- (draws back her fist)

Blob!Famo: Riri, calm down! It’s no use shouting at her.

(The tiny girl, Riri, looks at Famo, then at Eiko before slumping her shoulders and letting go.)

Riri: Alright, alright. But she still has to take responsibility!

Eiko: Whoa, whoa, take responsibility? How? I have no idea how I did this! All I did was say she was a witch, and then this happened!

(Famo hops over to Eiko.)

Famo: Let me explain. We witches have been living under a curse.

Eiko: A curse?

Riri: Yeah. A curse that you just triggered.

Famo: When a witch’s identity is discovered by a human, that witch is punished by being forced to become a witch frog. The only one capable of restoring her to her normal form is the one who exposed her.

Eiko: Y-You mean… I have to change you back? B-But I don’t know any spells!

Famo: That’s why we’re going to train you. 

Eiko: Wait, train me? I get to become a… a witch too?

Famo: Of course. But for now, you must become a witch apprentice. To become a true witch, you have to undergo various tests.

Eiko: Tests? But I haven’t studied! I don’t even have a #2 pencil!

Famo: There’s no need for that. And don’t worry. I’m sure you will do just fine.

Riri: Wait a minute, Majofamo! Do you really think this girl has the guts to become a real witch?

Famo: We have no other choice. Besides, I sense potential in her.

(Eiko eyes widen in wonder.)

*Eyecatch*

(Scene: Still at the old summer house. Famo—or Majofamo—and Riri are on a small table. Before them, Eiko is seated on a wooden chair.)

Riri: Listen up, kid! If you think your training is gonna be a cakewalk, then you’re sadly mistaken. If you wanna make it through this, you’re gonna have to do as we say.

Eiko: Wait, how long will this take, exactly? ‘Cause my family’s expecting me home any time now.

Riri: ...Wow, you’re dumber than you look.

Majofamo: Riri.

Riri: What?!

Eiko: So, uh, how do we get started? Is there a guidebook to this sorta thing or something?

Majofamo: Actually, it’s very simple. (to Riri) Riri, could you bring the chest from my room?

Riri: Fine. Whatever.

Majofamo: (to Eiko) Follow me.

(Eiko complies. Famo hops up to the back door, grabs and turns the doorknob and hops outside and onto a glass table. As Eiko enters the backyard as well, Riri lowers a small, colorful wooden chest on a rope support onto the table.)

Riri: (huffing) Here!

Majofamo: In here are what all witch apprentices need.

(Eiko opens the chest to find six circular objects. Each one has colorful buttons along its rim, and a larger one in the center with a musical note emblem. She picks one up.)

Eiko: Wow. So what do I do with this?

Majofamo: Just press the central button and put on your uniform.

Eiko: My uniform? Okay...

(Eiko presses the button, and the device begins to play music. It floats out of her hand, flashing colorful lights, until it forms a green dress and witch’s hat.)

Eiko: Whoa!

Riri: Hurry up and put it on!

Eiko: Wait, “hurry”? There’s a time limit?!

(As the dress floats down, Eiko grabs it and struggles to put it on.)

Eiko: Okay, how do I-

(The music stops, the dress and hat disappear, and Eiko is left holding the device.)

Eiko: Ah...

Riri: I told you to hurry! You have to put it on before the music stops!

Majofamo: It’s not the end of the world. Just try again.

Eiko: Okay, got it! Here goes...

(She presses the button again, and all happens as before. This time, she manages to pull the dress over her head. As she sticks her arms out through the sleeves, green opera gloves with colorfully beaded bracelets appear on her arms, and pointed green boots with pale green stockings magically materialize on her legs. She grabs the witch hat and puts it on before striking a pose.)

Riri: The fresh heck is with that pose...?

Eiko: This is so cool! So, what next?

Majofamo: Well, press the buttons “Do mi so do” on your Tap.

Eiko: Gotcha! (looks down at the Tap on her front) Uh...

Riri: I got you.

(Riri presses the correct buttons, and a ball of light pops out, forming a pink wand with differently colored spheres in a glass tube. Eiko instinctively grabs it in midair.)

Eiko: Oh wow.

Majofamo: This is a magical instrument called a Peperuto Pollon. To cast spells, you must first say an incantation before announcing your wish. Your spell is “Hapupu Pafufun Pahapa Hapafa“.

Eiko: Okay. (raises the Pollon) Hapupu Pafufun Pahapa Hapafa: Make me a big chocolate cake!

(Sure enough, a chocolate cake appears on the table in a puff of smoke.)

Eiko: SWEET! It’s just like my birthday! 

(Suddenly, the cake is gone.)

Eiko: (sheepishly) ...What just happened?

Majofamo: It only lasted a little while because you're still a beginner. When you pass witch exams, your Pollon will cast more powerful magic.

Riri: Yeah, so stop wasting Spellspheres on personal stuff.

Eiko: Spellspheres?

Riri: See those balls inside the Pollon?

(Eiko inspects them. One is missing.)

Eiko: Oh yeah, those. So, it’s like Mana?

Riri: ...What.

Eiko: Like in a fantasy MMORPG. The kind my sister and I-

Riri: NEEEEERD!!!

Eiko: Wh-Wha?

Riri: Majofamo, just tell her how to summon her broom!

Eiko: Uh, yeah. What she said.

Majofamo: Well, to summon your broom, press the buttons “Do fa la do“.

Riri: These buttons right here! (presses said buttons)

(Another ball of light pops out, this time forming a broom, which Eiko catches.)

Eiko: Cool. So I can fly around on this?

Majofamo: Of course. But you have to be careful when-

(Eiko flies up into the air on her broom.)

Eiko: YEAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

(Majofamo and Riri stare up at her.)

Majofamo: Oh.

Riri: I’ll stop her.

(She flies after Eiko, who is beginning to have some difficulty flying.)

Eiko: Whoa! How do you steer this thing?!

(Riri lands on the tip of the broom, straightening it out.)

Eiko: Phew! Thanks, Riri.

Riri: Look, this isn’t just about your broom flying, okay? People could see you, and if you’re exposed, what happened to Majofamo could happen to you!

Eiko: Y-You mean... I could turn into a...

(Eiko imagines herself as a witch frog, frolicking hand in hand with Majofamo through a flowery field, both laughing merrily.)

Eiko: WHOA!

Riri: Yeah. 

Eiko: I could be an adorable green thing for the rest of my life?

Riri: Well, actually, only until- (realizes that Eiko missed the point) Whaddya MEAN “adorable”?! Look, let’s just... Let’s get you back to wherever you house is.

Eiko: Okay! (speeds of in the direction of her house, leaving Riri behind) WHOOOOOAAAAAAA!!!

Riri: HEY! (flies after her)

(Scene: The Kurokawa residence. Eiko flies in, followed by Riri.)

Eiko: BrakebrakebrakebrakebrakebrakeBRAAAAAAKE!!!

(She crash-lands in a tree in her backyard. She chuckles sheepishly before the branches break, sending her falling into a bush with a shout.)

Riri: (shaking her head) Rookie...

(Eiko staggers out of the bush, slightly dazed. Riri flies up to her and presses the central button on the Tap, causing the apprentice uniform and broom to disappear. Eiko is now back in her school uniform, holding the Tap.)

Riri: We’ll come here to check on you, just in case you decide to do anything stupid.

Eiko: Yeah, sure.

Riri: And make sure you stop by our place tomorrow, too.

Eiko: Okay, bye! (runs to the front of the house)

(Scene change to the house’s interior. Eiko takes off her shoes and runs to the stairs, passing her father along the way.

Eiko: Hi, Dad! Bye, Dad!

Mr. Kurokawa: Uh...

(Eiko runs upstairs to her room. There, she collapses onto her bed.)

Eiko: (thinks) *This is amazing. Me, learning magic from a real witch!* (looks at the Tap in her hand) *I gotta make sure I’m not dreaming all this...*

(She pinches her cheek hard, and flinches from the pain.)

Eiko: OW! Okay, definitely real!

(Scene change to Rie coming home from Yuka’s place. Once inside the Kurokawa house, she takes off her shoes, and heads for the stairs.)

Rie: I’m home.

Mr. Kurokawa: How was your day?

Rie: Meh.

(She goes upstairs, and Eiko sees her.)

Eiko: Hi, Rie!

Rie: Hey, Eiko.

Eiko: So, uh, how’d it go at Yuka’s?

Rie: Eh, we just ate and watched TV. What about you?

Eiko: Uh...

Rie: What, you’re still on about the whole witch thing? I told you, it’s just a rumor!

Eiko: Well, actually, ah...

(Just then, she remembers what Riri told her.)

Riri: ...If you’re exposed, what happened to Majofamo could happen to you!

Rie: What?

Eiko: Nothing. Bye. (goes back into her room and shuts the door)

(Scene change to Eiko in her room, looking at her Tap in thought.)

Eiko: (thinks) *Can I really keep a secret from my own family? I mean, this is some really big news, here! But, then again, if I tell anyone...*

(She imagines the earlier witch frog scenario again.)

Frog!Eiko: (laughing) AAHH, I BOTCHED IT!

(Back in reality...)

Eiko: ...Oh my god.

(Meanwhile, in Rie’s room, she thinks to herself.)

Rie: (thinks) *All this witchy talk, and now Eiko’s acting weirder than usual... Just what is my little sister up to?*

ED Theme: Koisuru Fortune Cookie by AKB48

On the Next Episode...

Eiko: WHAAT?? Famo’s house is...

Riri: Getting torn down, yeah. That’s why we need someplace to stay!

Eiko: Well, how about my place?

Rie: Eiko, What are you hiding?!

Eiko: Oh no, Rie’s getting wise! Now what?!

Next Time on Magical Eiko: The Suspicious Sister

Wishing you a magical day!

[minigenos]

Holidays, Part 2

Part 1 ― Part 2 (you are here)

Genos plans a romantic holiday evening for Saitama. However, as this is the One Punch Man universe, things quickly start going to shit when monsters attack.

The atmosphere at the banquet hall was relaxed and friendly, though one wouldn't think so based on Genos's expression. While Saitama was nearly halfway done with his food, the cyborg hadn't touched anything in his bowl. He was just... staring at it.

Oh god, not again, the hero thought to himself as he looked over to his date. He's over-anaylizing something again, isn't he?

Saitama knew the only way to snap Genos out of his current mood was to get him to say what was on his mind, much to the older hero's chagrin.

He really hoped it wouldn't be another ten-minute long essay this time.

“Uh, Genos? You haven't touched any of your food yet. It's going to get cold...”

“Oh?” Now that Genos had been brought back to reality, the only thing left to do was brace for whatever he had to say next.

“Sorry sensei, I was just thinking. I should have been able to detect those two monsters you defeated well before we actually saw them. Now I'm beginning to wonder if my sensors are faulty or monsters have developed some way of hiding from them...”

Saitama looked over at Genos. Or, more specifically, the crack in his head from when the hero mistakenly hit it like an alarm clock.

Hmmm...

That might be the reason why his system wasn't working properly.

But it was Christmas, and Genos shouldn't have to worry about something like that. If anything came along Saitama could handle it. Now all he had to do was convince the cyborg of such and get him to drop the subject.

“Ah, yeah, well don't worry about it. They're gone and if anything else shows up I can deal with it, no problem.” Saitama managed a smile to make what he said more genuine, which Genos seemed to begrudgingly buy.

“You're right,” he finally admitted. “I'll just have to make sure Doctor Kuseno checks it the next time I go in for repairs.”

For a brief moment Saitama was exceedingly glad the doctor didn't have any means to contact him – he probably would have gotten an earful from him over damaging Genos in such a stupid way.

With Genos's mind put at ease for now the pair could finally relax and enjoy their dinner in peace.

Except not really.

With Genos's sensors out of commission, everyone was taken completely by surprise when part of the roof and wall caved in and the shadows of a dozen monsters materialized in the swirling dust and snow.

Every single one of the workers fucked right out of the room at the very first sight of the monsters. They definitely weren't getting paid enough to deal with that kind of crap.

“Hm, hm! Well, isn't this a surprise,” one of the monsters said. “Someone who didn't run away for once. Are you too scared to move, or too stupid to know when to get out of the way?”

At the direction of the monster closest to the heroes, the entire group began to move forward well before the dust and snow had settled.

“Well, since you gave us such a warm welcome,” the same monster as before said, “please allow us to introduce ourselves.” Standing before them was what seemed to be an animated tree with two sets of stubby, gnarled legs and one pair of over-sized arms that ended hands with varying numbers of sharp claws. On what could be considered its torso was a giant number “1” while where its head would have most likely been was a circular robotic structure that held a bird within it. One of the bird's eyes and part of its head were robotic while a monocle was somehow held up against its other eye.

With a couple egotistical chuckles the bird spoke again. “We are The-”

“Hey look Genos, it's a cute little pigeon!” Saitama said, completely cutting off the monster. “Do you think they have any bread in the kitchen we can feed it? I wanna go check.”

“Sensei...” the cyborg whispered in what could be considered a pleading voice for him. He tried to grab onto his mentor to stop him, but the man was already out of his normal reach.

“Would you stop that!” the bird monster shouted, causing Saitama to freeze in his tracks. The tree it was positioned on top of lurched a huge step forward in response.

“Oh hey it talks!” Saitama smiled over his delayed realization. “Neat, a talking pigeon”

“I'M NOT A PIDGEON YOU IMBECILE!”

Now that Saitama's focus was solely on their newest adversaries, the hero finally took the time to look over each monster in the group. Thankfully for him, all but one were number-coded for easy identification.

1 – The talking pigeon (“I'M A PARTRIDGE YOU TWAT!!”) and animated tree.

2 – A bipedal, mostly white, turtle with unusually large claws. Saitama could see bursts of pink flames erupt from the limbs every so often. Its number was sewn onto a silver arm band.

3 – One of the most human-looking of the group, this monster had long, flowing silver hair and held a long cigarette marked with a “3” in a gloved hand. Her white boa provided a sharp contrast to her floor-length black dress.

“Oh hey, you look really nice!” Saitama couldn't help but compliment the monster.

“Oh? Tu es un charmeur,” she replied in a somehow italicized French accent.

4 – While the head of this monster was identical to that of a common sparrow, just enlarged to fit the rest of the body, everything from the neck down looked almost boringly human, even down to the black suit and polished shoes. A small “4” was monogrammed onto its pocket square. It might seem rather uninteresting, but this was definitely a high-class monster.

5 – A solid gold-colored, cartoonishly haute humanoid. He probably wasn't real gold; maybe 10k at max. He seemed to use psychic powers to continuously levitate and spin five circular gold blades at speeds fast enough to rip through flesh. Instead of telling time, his watch showed only the number 5 – honestly, there were some days where Saitama could get behind that sentiment.

6 – The only un-numbered one of the bunch, it was literally just a giant goose. Likely it had ripped its marker off.

7 – This monster seemed to have the head and upper body of a black-colored swan wearing a long, iridescent black feathered dress that trailed on the floor. Saitama couldn't tell if it had normal human legs, really long bird legs, or if it was just two swans standing on top of each other. He figured it would be too rude to ask. A black corset with a silver “7” jutting from it indicated where her place was in the group.

8 – This monster seemed... suspiciously human. A burly woman in a red and white maid's outfit, combat boots, and spiked punching gloves marked with one bright red “8” on each one seemed like something one would see at a cosplay convention than with a group of blatantly obvious monsters.

At this point Saitama wished there were fewer monsters because the descriptions of each individual one was becoming extremely tedious.

9 – Saitama had to admit, this monster looked surprisingly interesting. It was a ballet dancer made up of possibly millions of shards of crystal that seemed able to shift and reform its body at will, though most of the time was contorting its body in the approximate shape of the number 9.

10 – This monster seemed like it would again be more at home at a cosplay convention, or even a Renaissance festival. They looked like a ridiculously over-sized elf, aside from the mask over its eyes which turned them into a pair of glowing white dots. A belt held together with a “10” buckle stored numerous smithing tools and picks while the monster held a heavy mallet in each hand.

11 – A massive, completely mechanized hedgehog with a thick black sack for a belly and musical pipes as opposed to quills. Its number was engraved into large gears placed at the monster's hips.

12 – The final monster of the batch, and one of the few that looked like a monster to boot; a large demon drum with rows of spikes along both sides of its body. Based on how easily rubble was crushed into dust under its feet, it was safe to say this monster was notably heavier than it looked.

With each monster finally registered, Saitama had only one thing to say.

“You guys seriously take orders from a pigeon?”

“OH MY FUCKING GOD I AM NOT A PIDGEON!” the bird shouted as his wings slapped down onto the rim of his mechanical nest.

“He's an angry pigeon,” Saitama teased, which resulted in even Genos rolling his eyes. “Oh! Wait, I get it now! It's like the song! How's it go?”

“W...what?” the bird muttered in a perplexed voice.

“FIVE GOLDEN HENS!!” the hero bellowed at the top of his lungs, startling both Genos and the group of monsters. His student was the quickest to recover and pointed out his mentor's mistake.

“No, no, sensei. It's five golden rings. The hens are day three.”

“Are you sure? I thought they were golden hens...”

The pair spent an obscenely long time debating among themselves what item corresponded to each day and wildly failing, while the group of monsters that were very blatantly based off of the song stood. Directly. Across. From. Them.

“What shall we do?” the monster marked with a 3 asked.

“This is getting ridiculous,” the feathered ringleader of the group replied. Together they were no less than a Dragon-level threat, possibly bordering on that of God.

And they were being ignored by an over-literal cyborg and hoodie-wearing humanoid egg.

“Just kill them already!” the bird ordered with a wave of his wing, which triggered the monsters into launching forward – fangs, claws, fire, or tools bared – and bear down on the two heroes.

The sudden commotion was finally enough to break the pair from their discussion. Genos dropped down while his robotic body flared to life, while Saitama merely just turned his head.

“Don't you know it's rude,” he started while balling his left hand into a fist, “to interrupt other people's conversations?” He swung his fist in an arch, which made direct contact with the “1” on the sentient tree, causing the monster to disintegrate instantly. The shock wave from Saitama's punch completely destroyed the other monsters, causing their bodies to be torn to shreds and splatter in a wide arch around where they died. Only two monsters managed to survive the carnage by getting blown back and managing to avoid a fatal amount of damage.

“Get up Golde. We need to get out of here.”

“W... what happened?” The gold-colored monster rose shakily to an approximate sitting position and looked at the other monster. Hen looked pretty roughed up, to say the least. Her dress  and boa had seen better days, and the cigarette she had gotten from Par as a gift for joining the Knights was long gone.

The pair had been knocked notably far away from their original spot and landed in a poorly-lit area far enough away from the heroes to escape their notice. A true lucky blessing for them if ever there was one.

“I don't know how, but we survived.” The made a long, pained sigh. “I think we're the only ones who did.”

“But- but you've got to be joking! We're notably weaker than some of those monsters! Heck, we're not even full-fledged monsters like they are-”

“Were.”

“...were... but you're saying we are the only ones that made it out alive?”

“Oui.”

Golde let out a dejected sigh and held his head in his hands. His partner stretched out her hand as a silent reminder for him that they needed to get up and get the heck out of there before reinforcements arrived. Or, even worse, those two heroes found them.

“How the hell did it end up like this,” he muttered to nobody in particular.

Neither Golde or Hen, his female co-patriot, were full-fledged monsters just yet, but were welcomed into the Demon Knights because they fit the rolls so well. Originally they had planned to just wait it out under the other monsters' protection until they had completely turned themselves, but now those plans had been completely shot to hell.

“Well, what now?” Golde asked as he wrapped one of Hen's arms around his shoulders.

“I have some items left in storage,” Hen replied. “If my contacts are still around I might be able to sell them and make enough money to open a store somewhere.”

“Hm? What kind of store?”

“I was thinking... a café or bistro maybe? I always enjoyed visiting those places as a child...”

“Ooh! Can I help?” Golde seemed to perk up at Hen's words, causing the woman to get knocked off-balance. “I've always had an eye for interior design and art.”

“Oui. But first,” Hen said as she readjusted herself, “let's focus on getting out of here.”

Golde had no choice but to nod dejectedly at the suggestion. Heartbroken over their loss but determined to make it out of the shitty situation they now found themselves in, the pair walked off into the night to piece their lives back together again.

On a positive note, the Demon Knights had been swiftly vanquished by Saitama. On a less positive note, about a third of the banquet hall had been demolished. That was a small problem for the heroes. The hall's owner probably wasn't going to be very thrilled over what they did.

As Genos called the owner and tried his best to explain what had happened over the other person's loud swearing, Saitama checked out what was salvageable from the food tables. It seemed only the fruit, vegetable, and one try of miniature cakes were, as those three were the only ones to still have a covering on them. Still, it was better than nothing. The hero picked up the three trays and walked over to a mildly frustrated Genos.

“I called the owner and they will be here shortly,” the cyborg said as he pulled out a Hero Association contact card and sandwiched it between a piece of rubble and one of the remaining tables. “I'll leave a card just in case he couldn't hear me over his own swearing.”

“Good thinking Genos,” Saitama commended his partner. He would have given a thumbs up, but his hands were full from the salvaged food. Genos turned around to thank his mentor for the compliment, but froze when he saw what the hero was carrying around.

“Sensei... why...”

“What? I don't wanna waste food if it's still good. This stuff's still covered so it's fine.”

“Yes, but...” Genos quickly realized any argument against taking the food would be futile, and let out a defeated sigh. “Fine,” he acquiesced, “but what now?”

“Hey, are you two OK?!” a familiar voice shouted from outside the newly “renovated” hall. The pair turned to find Mumen Rider in full uniform with a bag of groceries hanging from a handle bar.

“Oh, hey Mumen,” Saitama said before walking over to the other hero.

“I heard a loud explosion while I was out getting groceries, so I checked out and came as fast as I could. Looks like you took care of... everything... though,” he finished while looking around at the destruction.

“Yeah things got kinda messy,” Saitama nodded. “But, uh, we still managed to salvage some of the food, so that's good.” He hoisted up the trays in his arms to show off to the hero.

“Hmmm,” Mumen mused for a few seconds. “Hey, I have an idea!” He held up his pointer finger to emphasize the fact that he had an idea. “Why don't we stop off at the store so I can pick up a little more meat, and we can use it and those vegetables in a hot pot? I haven't had a chance to make that in ages!”

Saitama was on board almost immediately.

“Heck yeah!” the hero beamed. “That sounds great! You wanna do it, Genos?”

Even though the cyborg wasn't particularly thrilled about how the night had gone, he couldn't overlook the fact that Saitama seemed exceptionally happy over the suggestion.

“That's great,” Mumen smiled. “The store's right on the way home, so it won't take long at all to go in there, get what we need, and head back out.”

The group of three left the hall's parking lot with some light-hearted discussion, and completely ignored the owner of the establishment, who had just shown up. It was probably for the best that nobody was around him in the end; the string of expletives that spewed forth from his mouth could have made even Tiger-level monsters shrink back in horror.

“Alright, took a minute to put together, but here we are!” Mumen smiled as he set the hot pot assembly on the middle of the table. Finely-sliced pieces of beef along with vegetables had been carefully arranged in the bowl which was just now starting to heat up. It would be a little while before everything was ready, but even now the aroma was enough to make Saitama's mouth water.

“Hey, thanks for this,” Saitama said as they continued to sit around and wait for their food to be ready.

“It's no problem! Honestly, I was surprised to see you two out tonight of all nights.”

“Yeah,” the hero replied. “Funny enough, I almost overslept and forgot about it! Ha ha!”

Saitama's last sentence was enough to cause Genos to turn around and give him a mildly stone-faced look. The crack on his head was still very much visible, thank you very much.

In the end Genos couldn't deny that laughing off the incident was probably the best idea, despite the fact that it 100% was Saitama's fault in the first place. Tonight had turned out alright in light of their earlier setbacks, and nobody wanted to ruin it now. Genos merely waited silently for the hot pot to finish cooking as the other two heroes talked about everything and nothing at all.

“Is it done yet?” Saitama eventually asked, prompting Genos to pick up a pair of chopsticks and poke at the food.

“Seems so,” the cyborg replied.

“Aw sweet!” Saitama eagerly picked up his bowl and chopsticks, then pulled out a little bit of every item from the hot pot that was within his reach. Mumen and Genos quickly followed suit.

The pair didn't leave until nearly midnight, and to Mumen's delight cleaned out the hot pot bowl and all the dishes they had used. As the lone hero turned off the lights to his kitchen and living room, he couldn't help but let out a contented sigh. He had only planned on having dinner on his own tonight, but sheer chance had led to Saitama and Genos joining him for the evening. It wasn't anything fancy or extravagant, but he had a great time and hoped the two other heroes did as well.

Saitama woke up with a start the next morning.

They had left all of their food at Mumen's house!

[the-goddess-of-change]

Requested. The sound of thunder roars across the skies as i look out onto the pouring rain drinking my cup of coffee and thank myself i'm not out there I look up at the blue skies to see the skies light up as yet another lightning rides across the sky as the thunder roars It is already late at night and the storm shows no sign of stopping i walk back to my chair and sit down as i take a sip of the coffee and put it down on the table next to me The sound of thunder...the flash of lightning and the pouring rain, it makes it all feel quite...calming the rain is hitting my windows but i just feel at ease as i close my eyes and listen to it ...... ....... i wake up to the sound of two cars honking as i see its sunny outside i guess i must have fallen asleep i think to myself as i notice the cup of coffee is still next to me i stand up and pour out the coffee in the sink as i stretch my arms and start brewing another batch of coffee I yawn as i do as i spot the mail from my kitchen window i look at the coffee brewer which is still well bellow the middle as i step outside and pick up the mail as my feet hit something i look down as i spot a small ring i lean down and pick it up as i look at it some more it has a sorta dirty look to it, like its been lying under dirt for ages i put it in my pocket and walk back inside and turn of the coffee machine and pour myself a cup of coffee i take the ring out of my pocket and put it under the sink and start cleaning it i keep cleaning it but it still has a bit of a dirty look to it as i just put some warm water in a cup and drop the glass inside as i keep sipping my coffee I walk over the living room and sit down as i turn on the tv but it just shows static...probably thanks to the lightning storm last night i sigh to myself as i finish up my cup of coffee and head to the bathroom to brush my teeth and do some laundry After i am done with the laundry i go back and look at the ring as it still look dirty i remove it from the glass of water and look at the ring as i try to put it on my finger and to my surprise it actually fits as well ''Huh...look at that'' i say to myself as i think to myself that maybe i should pawn it i nod but before that i have to take a shower i think as i walk back to the bathroom and turn on the shower and step inside the warm water hits my face and rolls down my back as i start scrubbing myself with some shampoo then washing it out as i turn of the shower and dry my hair quickly and put on a new change of clothes as i decide to head to the pawn shop i put on my shoes and walk outside as something shakes...or not really shakes but...it feels like...im moving but im standing still there is a small flash of light as i close my eyes once i slowly open my eyes back up i look outside and i cannot belive what i see...instead of the usual cars parked on the road...there is no cars...the houses looks...newer somewhat but still very...old the road is made of cobblestone instead of asphalt Several people are outside walking, one man wearing a suit with a woman wearing a yellow dress while the man is smoking a cigar and top hat the woman has short red hair that is curled up towards her head and she is wearing very...distinctive old timey clothing i rub my eyes a few times as i step forward out into the street to see the small shop nearby looks completely different as there is one of those barbershop poles by the door and its full of smoke inside ''What the hell?'' i say to myself as i look around and looks around as i hear a weird strange sounding noise as one of those old timey cars drive past me going reasonably slow... i look around as a gust of wind blows something onto my feet i look down and pick up the piece of paper that looks like a newspaper as i read it ''June...1942...hottest weather of the year...'' ''Wait...1942?!'' i yell as i read it again as a man wearing a suit walks over to me and blows some smoke out from his mouth from the cigar ''hello there good sir, thank you so so much for grabbing my newspaper, Damn thing blew out of my hand while i was reading it'' he laughs as i hand it to him ''Huh but my good sir, you look mighty strange wearing that Garb...say it is foreign perhaps ? say those people come up with new things all the time'' He laughs at me and walks away ''W-Wait!'' i yell at him as i walk over He looks at me with a confused look ''Ah...sir, is something the matter?'' ''Ah...kinda yeah...uh...what year is it ?'' ''You must be joking, its 1942 of course! you should really read a newspaper, it only costs 2 cents over by Timothy's generals'' i say nothing and just look at him with wide eyes as she turns and walks away ''What the hell...1942 ? how the fuck did that happen!'' i say to myself as i walk around the city which looks distinctively...older yet newer in some ways... Looking around i find myself where the pawn shop used to be where there is now a clothing store instead as a couple of women are standing outside smoking one with a stroller as they notice me ''huh...look at that Miranda...those young men are dressing worse and worse by the day'' ''Oh my yes...you are right Sally, it is absolutely dreadful'' they say as the look at me ''you know smoking causes cancer right ? and should you be doing that right next to your kid'' i say to her as she grabs her purse and hits me with it ''Mind your own business you rampant fool! dont meddle in or i will call the cops and have you sent to the Asylum!...smoking causes cancer....have you even heard such nonsense...'' they both scoff at me as i walk over to the park...which is thankfully still there and sit down on a bench as i spot a couple of guys drinking heavily and yelling at each other ''Holy shit...this really is the 1940's but what the hell am i doing here....'' i ask as the ring glows and i hear a voice in my head ''You are meant to be here'' i hear the voice say as i look around ''Hello ?'' i say and look around but there is no one around me ''Do not be alarmed i'm speaking to directly to your mind'' ''.....'' i say nothing ''You were sent back here to correct a mistake we are afraid....you were meant to grow up in this timeline instead of your own one...there was a small mistake and just thanks to the lightning storm we managed to correct it'' ''What the hell...meant to grow up in this timeline ? the 1940's ? for real what the hell kinda stoner talk is that'' ''Oh joke all you will but remember someone is talking to you in your head and you cannot deny this is the 1940's right ? so are you really in the position to demand?'' I shrug as i ponder the situation ''Well i don't care, send me back at once, this is fucking insane'' ''Sorry, we cannot do that, once you go back, going to the future might affect certain things so going forward is impossible i am afraid'' ''So what ? You're saying im stuck in this fucking place ?'' ''Well...stuck and stuck...you were meant to live in this time..so you are not stuck and look on the bright side, you are rich here, we brought back your money and exchanged it into this timelines currency so you are basically a millionaire now'' ''That is...that is kinda awesome...'' i say to myself ''A millionaire....that is awesome!'' ''Yes yes, it is the least we could do but we are afraid there is one more issue to take care of'' ''You see as you were...a mistake in some ways growing up in the wrong timeline that is not the whole story...'' ''Oh damn, what now then !?'' ''Well you see...it is you...or rather...''you'' since this whole thing was a mistake on our part well there is no easy way to say this to you but'' ''But'' i say feeling uneasy ''Well it is you see...it is...Nick right?'' ''Yes....it is'' ''Well it's supposed to be Nicole'' ''Wait what ? what ? say what ?'' i reply back to whatever it is talking to me ''Right then, you were meant to be a girl named Nicole, not a man named Nick So we have to rectify that predicament'' ''What ? no no, that is insane...'' ''Not as insane as going back in time though...right?'' ''Well...yeah...but still'' ''So to explain to you in one simple sentence, you were meant to grow up as a girl in this correct timeline, but due to some mistakes here and there you are not in the correct timeline'' ''So our job is to remedy that and to do that we have to start with your personally So if you would please do not react strongly or cause a scene we will correct that mistake right here and now'' it says as i stand up from the bench and try to remove the ring but its stuck on my finger The ring sends out some kinda electric shock trough my body as i go limp and fall down ''Dont try to remove it or that happens...you have to wear that ring to not mess up the timeline so its is permanently stuck to you now'' ''Now then where did we leave off...oh yes'' It says as my insides starts to feel like they are one fire as i can feel things moving around inside me cracking and fitting into place ''Augh...what the hell was that....'' ''Replacing your male organs just for now, the insides are easier to do since it just overrides and removes some stuff but we did replace it with its female counterparts'' ''it fucking hurt...'' i reply weakly back as i stand up on my legs and crack my fingers ''Ah yes let us start with the fingers'' it says as my fingernails grows longer and my fingers turns longer and more petite as the same happens to my arms as it turns smaller and slender my shoulders turns less broad and instead a bit sharper and smaller ''There...fingers and arms done....this will not take long Nicole so please just remain calm'' ''Remain calm ? what the hell kinda shit is this! who even are you!?'' ''You dont need to know that and you dont want to know that....'' it says in a more sinister tone ''Now then, the legs might be a good next step'' it says as i can feel my feet growing smaller and a loud crack can be heard as my legs grows wider as well as my hips then my ass grows decently larger and rounder ''Corrected'' it says as i look at the ring wanting to just throw it away ''Oh please, dont even try, you know i can read your mind so doing that would just give you yet another electrical shock and you dont really want that now do you?'' ''...I dont...'' i say lowly ''we thought so'' it says ''Now then where did we leave off ? oh yes'' it says as it starts to feel like someone tugging at my hair as it grows longer and longer and rolls down my back as it turns a gentle chestnut brown or blonde color and rolls up back as one side rolls down my shoulder ''Very classical and time precise Nicole'' The voice says ''Very...'' i say back as i sneeze I wipe my nose as the voice exclaims ''Ah yes, of course let us fix the face'' it says as i hear yet another loud crack as my face cracks and contorts as my eyes goes from blue to the same chestnut color as my hair, my lips gets fuller and my takes on a considerably feminine form as i walk over to the nearby lake and look up at my reflection and gasp ''Oh...damn...'' i say lowly to myself as i cover my mouth hearing my new voice ''oh damn...damn...'' i say yet again looking at the reflection in the water ''Yes yes, stop your complaining now'' ''Complaining ? i got every right, i have lived my whole life and now you are telling me that is just a joke ?'' ''Not a joke, a mistake we said'' ''Well whatever...but i look...'' ''You look what?'' ''I look good...that face...'' i say and run my finger across it as it feels gentle and smooth ''Okay okay so what now ?'' i say feeling a bit excited as i say it ''Oh ? that is a little turn around now, are you suddenly excited ?'' ''Well, no...not really but...the money drives me i guess...'' ''oh yes, the money keeps you going you say...'' it says ''Well...yes i mean...look...okay...what do you want me to say?'' ''if i cannot change reality...and this is just fate right ? what can i even do...walk around hating everything and myself and get thrown into jail for female hysteria ?'' ''Ah well, look here now, common sense, such a rarity and yes you probably would so it is smart to take the right choices'' it says as my chest starts to grow poking against my black Band shirt they grow larger and larger and fully develops into full functional breasts ''Now then we only have the last part of your ordeal left Nicole'' I look down as i cup my chest with my hands and looks around ''Mmm...these feels nice...'' i say to myself as i blush ''i do not think this is the right time to fondle yourself now Nicole, please be an upstanding woman of society now'' it says as i feel a weird sensation between my legs it feels like im being pushed up or something pressing against me penis as it just creeps back into my body as a pair of lips and a vagina starts to form down there instead as my hips once again grows a bit wider As it finishes it send a wave of pleasure up trough my body as i let out a gentle moan to myself ''there there Nicole'' ''Yes'' i say in a gentle soft tone ''Now you are who time meant for you to be but let me just fix your clothing as that is definitely going to break reality if someone spots you wearing that and besides as you might as well know, no women wore pants during this time'' ''Oh...yes yes, of course...my mistake'' i say cheerfully ''Please do not excuse yourself miss Nicole, you have nothing to be sorry for'' it says as my pants starts to widen up and creep up my legs as it slowly forms a grey skirt going down below my knees Then my band shirt slowly forms into a grey blazer with six buttons as it pushes against my body getting quite tight my converse shoes slowly start to form into a pair of black high heels with a strap around the ankels and lastly a pair of gloves wrap around my fingers and hands as a small purse forms out of thin air as i grab it ''Oh...this looks cute...and the outfit...its so fitting of the time...'' ''Well of course it is, you're a woman in the 1940's Now Nicole and you have to act like one, unfortunately your mind is something we cannot erase so you will have to learn along as it goes'' I nod as i open the purse and find a huge stack of cash ''Oh my! money! i should put these in a bank like right now...a woman with a wad of cash...this could be scary....'' i say to myself as i put the money back in the purse and hold it in my hand as i walk back into the city and look around as i spot the same women by the clothing store still standing there talking as they notice me i slowly walk over and smiles at me ''Hello...are you new in town?'' one of the women asks me as i nod ''Y-yes hello, my name is Nicole and i just moved here'' i smile ''Oh really ? Well my name is Sally and this is Miranda, it is a pleasure to meet you Nicole and i do have to say, your outfit looks very elegant'' ''Oh this thing...thank you'' i smile Miranda smiles as she looks into her purse and hands me a cigarette ''You must be smoking a lot to keep that lovely figure'' ''Oh...well i really dont...maybe once or twice'' i say as Miranda giggles and gives it to me and lights up as i take i inhale some ''it is truly a miracle cure, it makes you thinner and more beautiful and do excuse me for saying so but a woman without a cigarette in her hand is just not a classy woman'' ''Oh yes Miranda, you are definitely right but you know i just feel like good after taking one'' I just look at them as they keep talking so casually about this ''Ah..So Nicole, Do you have a husband ?'' ''Oh..no, not yet..im afraid'' i say kinda defending myself ''oh Sally, she just moved into town maybe she is just looking for one'' ''oh maybe i can ask Tom ? i think he has some single friends'' ''your husband ? oh yes maybe'' Miranda smiles I smile as i look down at the stroller ''And who is this little one?'' ''Oh that is Eric, he is my little bundle of joy barely a year old'' Sally smiles ''the little man is sleeping so i dont really want to disturb him so i hope you understand Nicole'' I nod at her as i finish up my smoke ''Ah...thank you for that'' i say as the women smile at me ''Oh dont mention it dear, we are happy to see a new face here, but i have to go on home now, my husband should be coming home from work now and i bet he is quite hungry now'' Sally smiles as she smiles at me and Miranda and walk home Miranda looks at me and smiles ''So Nicole let me invite you over to my home if you want to come for a cup of coffee and some cake ?'' ''Oh...really ? that would be quite lovely...thank you Miranda'' Miranda smiles as we walk over to her home and step inside once inside it looks typical 1940's...the old phone on the wall...the lack of...what i am used to but still it has quite the charm to it ''Oh please make yourself at home'' I smile as i sit down on a chair and cross my legs ''Oh my...just been a woman for 1 hour and already making friends and enjoying it....who knew the 1940's was such...different time'' i smile to myself as i am really getting into this Miranda out with a plate of some cake and a cup of coffee for me ''So do tell me about yourself Nicole....where do you come from ?'' ''Oh...i do not want to be rude Miranda but i left my past sort of behind...it was...quite...troubling and i do not really like to talk about it much...'' She looks at me sad and nods ''I see...that is truly horrible i am terribly sorry for asking you'' I just smile as i put my hand on hers ''it is not your fault, you couldn't have known is all...'' She smiles and nods as i remove my hand and take a sip of my coffee ''You have a very nice home...it is so cozy in here'' i say ''Oh, thank you thank you...i just love decorating and flowers so this is my little escape from the world outside'' Some things never change i say to myself ''So...what do you like Nicole ?'' ''Oh...i like...going to resturants...being with my friends...going to the mall...'' i say weakly hoping i dont mess something up ''Oh yes i just adore the mall, it is just so bustling with life and they have quite the nice selection of stores but i have to say, your fashion sense is distinctly...upper class...'' she says looking at me ''Oh yes...my father was a banker and made a lot of money...but as he died and had no other children he gave me all...my mother died when i was very young...'' i say quickly ''Oh..yes i see...so you were an only child?'' she asks me ''Oh well...like i said i dont really like to talk...about the past...'' ''Oh yes...of course of course...'' I look over at Miranda who sips her coffee wearing her red dress with sleeves going down to the ankles ''So then Nicole...have you had anything fun lately?'' ''Fun ? oh no but i did have a strange dream...'' ''Oh ? a strange dream...?'' ''Yes...i had a fever a couple of weeks ago and when i have it i get really tired...so i dream't i was a man...like...several years in the future...it was...very strange'' Miranda giggles and looks at me ''Oh ? my my, did they have flying cars?'' she giggles as i giggle back and shake my head ''oh...do you have someplace to live ?'' i slowly shake my head and sigh ''Well you want to stay here for the night then ?'' ''Well...that would be lovely but i cannot do so for free...let me at least pay for it...'' i say as Miranda lights up another cigarette and smiles at me ''oh please...i will not ask you but if you insist'' she smiles as i look into my purse and hands her a hundred dollar bill She looks at it in shock then over at me then back at the bill ''A-Are...Are you sure ? that is a lot of money...'' she says as i just smile and nod at her ''you are giving me a place to stay...it is the least i can do'' We sit down and chat for several more hours as i learn new things over and over again as Miranda yawns and looks at the clock ''Oh...miranda do not mind if i ask but...do you live here alone ?'' ''Oh..yes...my husband died in the war 4 years ago i am afraid...i have been alone since'' ''Oh...i didnt mean to bring that up...i am sorry'' Miranda smiles and shakes her head ''He died fighting for our country...in my eyes he is a hero Miranda smiles at me as she turns around and walks up the stairs as i look at her while sipping my last cup of coffee ''....oh my dear goddess....'' i say to myself as feel myself getting a bit warmer ''Oh dear heavens..no no...please...i am a woman...it is not right...'' ''But i mean...i used to be...'' ''No no...that is just absurd...i mean...its not but i cannot keep thinking like that...i have to fit in...'' i say as Miranda walks back downstairs and sits down on the sofa ''So then Miranda, you can use the guest bedroom okay ?'' I nod at her as i stand up and walk upstairs to the guest room which just has a single bed and some old drawers there it feels...quite cold I look in the drawers as i find an old nightgown as i remove my clothes and put on the gown as i lie down in bed just thinking about Miranda ''Oh...Fuck it'' i say as i stand back up and walk over to find Miranda in the bathroom i look at her as she looks at me and smiles ''that nightgown fits you very nice i am glad i saved that thing'' I just look at her into the eyes as she goes silent and just looks at me back ''N-Nicole...are you well ?'' she asks as i take a deep breath and looks at her ''I think i am about to do something...stupid'' i say as i move in closer and wrap my arms around her shoulders as i gently leans in and kisses her lips Miranda's eyes goes wide as she pushes me away ''Good heavens Nicole! what has gotten into you! Are you insane!?'' she yells at me as i look at her ''I am not insane Miranda...but...you have just been so kind to me and...look at you...you look so lovely and cute...and it just..felt right'' ''i close my eyes now and see you....and i just want to hold around you...you really...you are just...'' Miranda looks at me and pushes me away as she walks into her bedroom and locks the door i walk over and knock on it but get no reply ''I am...i am so sorry Miranda...'' i say as i walk back to my room and lie down on the cold bed as i close my eyes and just recap my day so far But as i start to recap it my thoughts flood over to Miranda...all i think about is her now...her lovely body...her cute and sweet face...her empathy and compassion...why does these things...turn me on and why do i...as a woman myself...i am killing myself... But i cannot fight these feelings anymore i remove my nightgown and lie down naked in the bed and covers myself with the blanket as i just think about Miranda all night and nothing else The next morning i wake up and look around and quickly get dressed as i find Miranda downstairs listening to the radio ''Good morning'' she says as i walk over and sit down next to her ''Good morning Miranda...'' She turns and looks at me ''i have heard of women like you Nicole...and cannot belive it just happened to me...i cannot get it out of my head what you did to me...i wanted to call the police but...i just couldn't...'' ''i am sorry Miranda...i didn't mean it...'' ''Look Nicole, you are a lovely woman but this...this...is just...absurd...'' i just keep looking at her as i stand up and walks over to her as i hold her hand against my blazer where my breasts are as she stands up and looks at me ''.....'' we say nothing and just look at each other as i yet hear the voice in my head again ''Miss Nicole...if you go down this path...you will live a secrecy...oppression and hate...'' it says to me ''Yes...but i cannot help myself...its not that she is just a woman...but i just cannot help myself...i just cannot...she...she just feel right for me...'' ''Then Miss Nicole...dont fight it...and enjoy this life that was meant to be yours from the start''it says as it fades away ''N-Nicole...'' she stammers but does not remove her hand as i smile at her ''Miranda...'' ''Nicole...'' ''Miranda...i cannot stop my feelings...when i saw you..i just knew...i fell in love...you are everything i have looked for in another person...and i cannot stop thinking about you no matter how hard i try...'' ''But...i am a woman....just like you...'' ''And so what...? does that make it less wrong ? these are my feelings...you dont have to feel the same back but...just be honest to me...'' Miranda sighs i let go of her hand as she looks at me ''....Who...who just are you...'' she says ''Just a woman like you'' i smile back I see a smile across Her face as she giggles and looks at me ''No one has to know...right?'' I nod at her ''We can move away and start a life for ourselves....'' ''Then...Y-yes...i will give this a chance but what would i even call you?'' I lean in and kiss her lips lovingly ''Wives at some point maybe ? or maybe just...girlfriends'' ''Wives...me being a wife to a woman...oh my....i would have never...but...you kiss...good'' i giggle and smile at her ''And so do you Miranda...my dear...'' ''Oh Nicole...i dont understand you but...i am sure i will soon'' she smiles at me as i kiss her lips again and giggle at her ''i know something i want to try with you...if you so desire to follow me upstairs...'' Miranda looks at me confused as we head upstairs and i show her a whole new word...just as she did to me...

[kkaebsongtypo]

Coffee and a Muffin // Mark Lee

(A/N: Wauww,,,, I want to be active and stuff so I'm back with a Mark soulmate scenario! I am also working on a Haechan Soulmate REQUEST. That one should be up maybe this weekend??? I'm hoping T.T Anyways, I'm going to work on these a/n things because, clearly, I'm not very good at them aha. That's all, enjoy some fluffy Mark time ;33)

pairing: mark x reader

genre: floooooffff

warnings/notes: possible language???

word count: 4388

(Side Note: Coffee and a muffin is kind of a lowkey theme but it's not extravagant. again, I didn't proof read, i may or may not proof read later, but I'm in class right now so yeahh♥♥♥)

Theme/Summary thing:

ink au (like my renjun au, swing set :D)

mark lee is Mark Lee from NCT

you're an nctzen

if you didn't read Swing Set then I'll explain the tattoo thingy rn

if you read it then feel free to skip this :)

if one is drawing or writing on themselves, the other can feel the pen/marker/etc. as it’s writing

same goes for tattoos ;333

random tattoo needle pains haha

pen drawings fade/wash off

if you didn't physically get the tattoo yourself, it fades to a very, very faint tattoo, almost to the point where it's barely noticable

OKAY GOOOOO

cute little back story

as younger children, you two didn't really write on yourselves like ever

so you never new about any of that soulmate writing stuff

until you were like 10 and Mark was 11

you drew this little heart on your wrist at school

so Mark felt like a pen was drawing his skin

so he looked down to where he felt the sensation and he was like

??????????

so when he got home he was like

hey mom

why is there a heart on my arm???

I didn't draw this

and his mom is like

that's your soulmate sweetie

they draw on themselves and it shows up on you too

and little Mark is all like

woahhhhh????

so his mom tells him that if he draws on himself it will show up on his soulmate

so he's like

can I write to them?????

so he starts writing to you

,,,,,,

but that only lasts around 2 years because he moved to korea and became a trainee at sm

so he couldn't write on himself/to you anymore

so he just kind of completely cut contact

and his scedual got so busy that he just couldn't contact you ever

OKAY REAL TIME NOWWW

you moved to korea with your family and now you're 16

and you have a job at this small cafe

and it's summer so you voluntarily take the night shifts

did i mention that you fucking love nct

you actually recently got your first tattoo

which was that cool nct u logo

you do sometimes wonder about Mark

you, also being completely oblivious that tattoos show up on your soulmate too

speaking of Mark

(the day you got the tattoo)

Mark was practicing with the boys for their up coming comeback

and all of a sudden,,,,, he feels this pain in his left shoulder

(if you don’t know what getting a tattoo feels like: it feels like the tip of a sharp knife slightly cutting into your skin,,,,,,it’s not that bad,,,,)

(that's somewhat accurate,,,,,, I can't really explain it,,, I mean I have a tattoo so,,,, it's more accurate than not T.T)

so he walks up to the mirror and pulls the collar of his shirt down and sees the nct u logo being drawn onto his skin

and he's like

'what the hell is she drawing with??? a knife????

so he google whether or not a tattoo your soulmate gets will show up on the other

oh snap,,, they do

wow what a surprise

so he's like

'hm so she's a fan'

he is actually looking forward to meet you because he know you like their music

so you must like him

so a week later

you're working your usual night shift at the cafe

not many people come around at night

the ones that do are usually just in a hurry for work or they're on a trip and need to get going

so you're just wiping down the counter

and then the door opens

and in walks Mark with sunglasses, a mask and his hood up

(A/N: rewriting this makes me realize how shadey that would actually be oml lol)

it was around 1:30 am when practice finished so he decided to go to a nearby cafe and get some coffee and maybe a muffin

so he walks up to the counter and you greet him and ask what he would like

so he orders a coffe and the looks over at the small glass case of baked goods

he hums in contemplation before asking you which muffin you'd recomend

you've never been asked that before so you were slightly unprepared but soon spoke

'well, I guess it really just depends on what mood you're in. I like the blueberry more in the mornings, like for breakfast, but i prefer the chocolate chip for late nights. I made a small batch them fresh about 10 minuets ago, they're prreettttyyy amazing,,,, or that might just be me being over confident in my baking skills.'

smiling up at him as he pulled his mask down and chuckled

he returned your smile and finished his order

'well then, I think I'll have one of those amazing, fresh chocolate chip muffins you made.'

so as he was getting the money out of his wallet,,,, you pulled your hair into a low ponytail

he glanced at you as he handed you the cash

and that was when he saw the nct u logo tattooed on your left shoulder

right where his showed up a week prior

he watched as you turned around to get one of the fresh muffins from the cooling rack and place it on a small white plate

he started speaking when you placed it infront of him

'i like your tattoo'

you looked down at your shoulder to peek at it as you started to make his drink

you laugh lightly because you lowkey forgot it was there and reply with

'oh, thank you,,,,,,,'

you trail off, implying you want his name

and he's like

'you can call me Min'

and so you're like

'thank you, Min'

and so he continues running convorsation as he takes a seat at the little bar area infront of you

'so I'm assuming that you're a fan of nct u'

you nod

'yeah, well, I'm a fan of nct as a whole group'

'so is nct u your favourite unit?'

you shake your head as you finishs his drink, placing it infront of him as you spoke

'no, like I said, I love nct as a whole group. But if I had to pick a specific unit, it would definetly be dream.'

he nods and quietly thanks you for the coffee

after wiping down the counter once more, you pull a stool out from under the counter and sit in front of him as he starts up conversation again

'so, who's your bias in nct?'

(oh shit time to spill the tea)

you think for a moment before saying

'Well I love all of the members so kind of just have one from each unit,,,,'

'alright, so then lets's start with u, and then 127, and then dream.'

you giggle and start

'okay well in u,,,, it's probaby~~~'

'hmm, probably Ten,,,, or Jaehyun,,,,'

so Mark is like lowkey disapointed

but nods anyways as you continue to 127

you smile and sigh before mummbling a quiet um

'in 127, Taeyong,,,,,'

you started with confidence and then you're like

',,,or Winwin.

finally you reach dream

and Mark is ike more than hopeful

third time's a charm right?

W R O N G

'in dream, 100% Renjun.'

'but like,,, Jeno.

'ah yeah, 100% Renjun.'

and now Mark is like hella disapointed and lowkey confused because he wasn't mentioned at all

he's in all three unites so he's like

I should've been mentioned at least once,, right- I'm cool ri-

his thoughts are interupted by you saying more

'Renjun is probably my bias in nct as a whole group now that I think about it,,,,,'

'but then Mark like ruins everything,,,'

'ultimate bias wrecker'

you giggled at the last part

and now he's just beaming so he starts talking again

'so, do you like any other groups?'

and y'all continue conversing about music and other interests

Mark decides to keep his identity from you

he's having a good time just talking to you like Mark and not Mark Lee from nct

and since you two are soulmates, he wants you to know him as himself and not mr. long ass ride

and he wants to know you as you and not a fan of nct

(not that the sunglasses can hide that adorable smile of his)

after a while of talking, you decide to make yourself a drink as well

so he's just observing you as you make your drink

you sit down again and get back into convorsation

you two don't even realize the time until Mark gets a text from Taeyong saying that he should come back to the dorms

because it's 3 am and they have paractice again tomorrow

so he says he has to go

but before leaving he asks if you're working again tomorrow

and you just tell him that you have the night shift for the rest of the summer

he nods and gets up to leave

but as he goes to open the door

he turns around and pushes the door open with his back

and he's like

'you're really pretty by the way'

with that beautiful smile

you blush and let out a soft 'thanks'

the next day

he comes back

this routine continues for about a week and a half

and he's falling for you fast

y'all are soulmates after all

so about a week and a half later

he came in at the usual time and you're like

'hey Min, you want the usual?'

and he nods

putting the cash on the counter as you grabbed his muffin

once you both have your drinks

you sit in front of him like usual

and he starts to speak

'hey so,,,, i have something to tell you'

so you nod and he takes off his sunglasses and hood and is all like

'heyy,, I'm Mark,,, from nct'

and you just smile and say

'hey so,,,, I have something to tell you too'

and he's just hella confused like

?????? I'm Mark????? From Nct????? One of your favourite kpop groups?????? Your ultimate bias wrecker??????

but he just nods slowly

and you're like

'i kind of figured that out when you started talking to me that first night haha'

and he's like

'????? you didn't even say anything though????'

and so you smile and explain your reasoning

'well i just thought that if you wanted me to know you were Mark, you wouldn't have come in here with sunglasses, a mask, and your hood up'

and he's just shook™

he's now just looking at you with so much adoration beacuse of your respectful act

he has fallen so hard for you at this point

so he looks down at the sleeves of his hoodie

and then he looks back up at you and asks for a pen

you hand him one despite your confusion

so he rolls up his sleeve and starts writing

all of a sudden you feel that old writing sensation on your arm and you look down to see something being writen onto your skin

when he puts the pen down you look up at him

he smiles and nods towards your arm which now reads

hey, we're soulmates

and you look at his arm too

which read the same little message

so you look up at him and you're just like

'how did you know that????'

and he whispers a quick 'oh' of realization

and takes off his hoodie

he pulls the collar of his shirt down

revealing the nct u logo on his left shoulder

right where you got your tattoo 2 weeks ago

he just smiles and is like

'I saw it that first night I came in,,,, but I didn't want to scare you by walking in and then immidiately going 'oh hey i know we just met buT WE"RE SOULMATES' y'know..'

and you just like smile and walk out from behind the counter to where he's sitting

once you reach him,,, he turns to face you

and you wrap our arms around his neck for a hug

he wraps his arms around your waist and pulls you close to him

between his knees so you could stand in his embrace comfortably

after a few seconds,,,, Mark pulls back to look at you

keeping his hands on your waist,,, and you keeping your hands on his shoulders to look back at him

you two smile at each other

and Mark begins to speak

'I really do like you y/n'

to which you reply with a giggle and

'I really like you too, Mark'

he smiles and leans his forehead on yours

he glances down at your lips for a quick second

he looks back up into your eyes and whispers nervously

'can I kiss you?'

to which you blush and nod with a smile

so he leans in and gently presses his lips against yours in a sweet, innocent kiss

one of his hands moves up to cup your cheek as you both pull away

smiling and resting your foreheads together again

he strokes your cheek with his thumb and you giggle

you peer over to the clock and see that it's almost 5 am

you pull away from Mark and walk back behind the counter and start wiping it down

you glance up to see Mark observing you with an adorable smile

you laugh quietly and speak up

'my shift ends when my coworker gets here if you wanted to do anything'

he looks up at your face and asks

'hm okay, what did you have in mind?'

you shrug and look back down at the counter as you dry it

'maybe we could go on a real date'

he giggle

'a real date, at 5 am'

'yeah'

you laugh as you took off your black apron

'a real date. At 5 am.'

ahhh oml my heart

honestly i love Mark with all of my heart

mr. long ass ride is also yaballa bahiya boy

and i love both sides

i'm working on a haechan request but i might post jeno as a filler

look forward to it

be there or be square

~ Jae☾

[dreamyarcana]

Winter Memories

o h my god someone smaSH a freaking stop sign to my face next time i think of ever doing something like this again, i say as i already have an idea for next time. 

in all seriousness, I really, really hope you guys like this (even if it doesn’t feature your apprentice) because i put a lot of effort into this piece that’s a WHOPPING 2,150 words, aka more than I normally would >.> im so lazy, have you met me? 

i had an idea of doing a multi-apprentice fanfic for awhile now, and it turned into this. I don’t know how this would actually work in canon, and it’s more like kind of an au style where multiple apprentices kind of exist in the same��‘realm.’ how they got there and whatnot, is completely up to the reader’s imagination! to the owners of the apprentices, let me know if i need to fix anything, me making a mistake? more likely than you think

I have intentions of making a part 2 because there’s a few apprentices that I’d like to write for, so if I’ve already talked/asked you about that, don’t worry if they’re not in this one~

I hope you and enjoy and if you actually read to the end, I’ll love you forever because it i s  l o ng XD

featuring (in order of appearance): Darcy [ @murielswife ], Avohkii [ @nadias-bitch ], Aveana [ @devoraakss ], Wren [ @asra-memelord ], Uma [ @julianandgems ], and Isla [ my own ] 

The first thing Muriel woke up to was coughing in the middle of the night. Non-stop, soprano pitched coughing beside him. Darcy’s small body shook delicately as she gasped for breath.

“Darcy…” Muriel murmured, worried. He pressed his hand to he forehead lightly, and could feel the heat radiating like she was the sun. The former gladiator slipped out of bed carefully as not to wake his sick magician. He fetched a damp cloth as well as some water.

“Darcy, wake up,” he gently tapped her shoulder. Her eyes fluttered open, and an expression of confusion crossed her face.

“Is something wrong, Muriel?” Her voice sounded weak and sleepy. He nodded stoically.

“You’re extremely hot.”

“W-what?” Darcy could feel a blush rising in her cheeks. “...thank you?”

“As in temperature. You’re always beautiful, though.” Muriel reassured her with a kiss on her cheek.

“I love you, darling,” Darcy’s voice was musical to Muriel, even when sick.

“I love you, too.”

“What time is it? I think we’re suppose to head over to Asra’s later to see him and Is - she yawned, her pink lips making a round O - Isla.”

“I’ll make sure to let them know you’re sick when you’re back asleep.”

“Muuuuuurieellll,” she whined playfully.

“You need rest.”

“Okay, fine…” Darcy felt too exhausted to argue. Her smooth, small hands took one of Muriel’s rough, massive hands; she daintily placed it over her heart. Darcy curled up close beside him, the side of her flushed face pressed against his slow moving chest. Muriel waited until her breathing was steady before slithering out of bed to brew some soup and inform Asra.

When he returned by her side, all Muriel could think of was how lucky he was to have such a sweet and gorgeous magician that loved him. He dearly hoped she would feel better soon and swore to himself he’d take care of her until she did.

ღ

The early morning rays peeked through tentatively through the window as a thoughtful Avohkii dressed in the dim light. They felt as if their mind hadn't quite settled down that night - like it was a running, nonstop buzzing hum in the quiet air despite the fact they were surrounded by luxury at the palace.

However, Avohkii had an idea that previous night to surprise their cherished Countess. Walking down quietly to the palace kitchens, Avohkii’s mind remained pensive, with ideas before they settled down to work.

In the palace kitchens, there were pots and pans of every size, more spices than they could ever name, and an abundant amount of handheld tools from potato peelers to whisks to spatulas. It took them quite a bit to locate the ingredients required, but Avohkii was thrilled to be using such fine flour and sugar.

Even though they weren’t a professional chef, Avohkii enjoyed baking; they figured they could at least show the gratitude for everything their Countess had done for them.

ღ

The sweet aroma of the cookies wafted up to where Nadia was approaching curiously. The servants told her the most recently employed magician was currently doing something of interest in the kitchens. Avohkii glanced behind when he heard light footsteps approaching them; a gratifying, shy smile crossed their face their features. Her magenta eyes glimmering in amusement and happiness, Nadia returned the gesture. Reaching for their hands, she moved closer.

At that moment, the timer went off, signaling to take out the second batch of cookies. Avohkii held up a finger, telling Nadia to wait a second while he took the sheet out of the oven. Inhaling the delectable scent in amazement, Nadia watched the baker with great interest and admiration. With much joy, Avohkii fetched a cookie from the cooling rack and handed it to Nadia. She bit into it thoughtfully.

“This is absolutely palatable and most pleasing to my tastebuds,” she complimented. Beaming, Avohkii stepped closer to Nadia, who then added softly, “Avohkii, you...have some frosting on your lips. May I help you get it off?”

They nodded as Nadia moved in, softly biting their lip and wrapping her arms around them, allowing both of them to lose themselves in each other.

ღ

In another part of The Palace, another magician was busy at work. Aveana had been out in the early cold morning, attempting to accomplish things. Of course, Lucio, found a way to impede her efforts.

“Come with me, you look chilled,” Lucio slyly murmured in Aveana’s ear from behind her. She jumped slightly in surprise and turned, her large eyes meeting his. He stood arrogantly and with a smirk, his arms crossed confidently in the palace hallway.

“But, Nadia’s around,” she said, her voice low and worried.

“Do you really think I’d let her catch us together?” he scoffed superciliously, raising his eyebrows. She huffed and glanced down.

“Do you even know where she is?”

“Yes. She’s currently with Avohkii right now,” he replied, as if she should know this bit of information.

Ah, yes. Another magician Nadia had insisted on bringing to the Palace. She had long since grown a liking to him since, which gave Aveana and Lucio more chances to have secret rendezvous meetings.

Aveana rolled her eyes at the Count.

“Now, do you think we’ll get caught?”

“...no,” she muttered.

“Exactly. Come with me.”

Lucio guided the magician through the festively decorated hallways to his bathing quarters. Raising her eyebrows in silence, she followed as he held the door for her, and then locked it.

Aveana had seen most parts of the Palace, but Lucio’s private bathing chambers was an area where the majority of people weren't allowed. Like the rest of the place, it had small holiday decor around. She could see her own reflection along with the fairy lights in the shiny floor, if she really squinted.

“Aveana,” Lucio’s voice was soft and inviting, in contrast to his usual demeanor. “There's only one thing I need this Christmas...and it's you.”

“...Lucio…”

Lucio’s golden arm wrapped around Aveana, drawing her closer to The Count.

“You're shivering, still. What ridiculous this did you do now, take a nap outside in the snow at dawn?”

“You're hilarious.” she answered sarcastically. “I was out getting supplies earlier, before the rush.”

“Clearly didn't dress warm enough,” snorted Lucio. “Perhaps I can help out warming you up.”

Aveana bit her lip as Lucio moved to slip off her clothes.

“...I'd like that.”

ღ

Wren felt tired and slightly put out. The previous week had been tiring as they had been required to meet with Valerius and the other members of the Court, much to their dismay. Additionally, to add to the exhaustion, Wren had used the extent of their rune magic in attempt to extract the falseness and lies as well as achievement spiritual strength. Portia had done her best to ease Wren through it with tea and small pastries, giving them a sympathetic smile.

Day after day, Wren found themselves spending more and more time with the inquisitive handmaiden. Her good nature and cheerfulness seemed to rub off onto Wren frequently - they found themselves to be more optimistic and determined because of her. Of course, between both's habit of snooping, the two bonded quicker than either normally would.

This particular day, the sky was a rare blue and snow twinkled invitingly outside. It was impossible for Wren not to be near the windows to see the day stretch across the horizon like a painting.

“Hey, Wren!” Wren glanced up to see Portia dashing towards them energetically. “Would you like to come with me to go sledding outside for a bit?”

“Sledding?” Wren asked, unsure what it was.

“Yep,” confirmed Portia, “It’s sort of complicated to explain, but you’ll see it was.”

Out of mere curiosity, Wren put on their winter wear and then followed her outside, unsure of what to expect. Sledding, apparently, was hopping on a board and riding down the snow on the ground, usually on a hill. Portia showed them the first time round how to and with encouragement, Wren tentatively got on with her and went down the next hundred times or so.

The magician enjoyed the rushing of air on their cheeks and through their hair, and couldn’t help but flush slightly when he held onto the handmaiden for balance.

Later, both returned, red nosed, flushed, and delighted with the day’s events. Portia gave a smile and a wave before disappearing to finish the day’s duties. Wren didn't mind; it give them a chance to reflect over that afternoon.

Privately, they wished they could save those memories to keep forever and ever.

ღ

“Here we are,” Uma announced happily, glancing up at the doctor. Today, she had treated him to a special place she had always treasured.

“It’s...beautiful,” Julian murmured, his eyes glancing around at the magnificent sight. Icicles hung like lights from tree branches which were covered in heavenly white snow. The muted sunlight reflected off the crystalline lake and caused the snow around to almost shimmer and shine. Privately admiring it, the doctor leaned down gently touched the frozen lake. Uma strolled over to a nearby bench and dusted the white powdery snow off of it, before setting her bag down. She slipped on the smaller pair of ice skates she had brought with her.

“It reminds me of The Palace.” she noted thoughtfully. “The frozen lake has the same elegance and refined manner to it.”

“Does it?”

“It reminds me of others magicians I’ve met at the Palace, previously. Some of them were shy and quiet, but you could tell they had so many thoughts and ideas running through mind always.” Uma’s tone was hard to decipher - there were traces of melancholy and a reflective nature buried in it; nevertheless, she shook her head and gave the doctor a bright smile afterwards. “Anyways, come with me on the ice.”

Julian’s eyes widened. “Is it... safe?”

“You would know more than I, Doctor.” Uma giggled. “Kidding, it’s safe. You can tell by the way it’s frozen.” She pushed off of Julian, skating a graceful circle before returning to him. The doctor slipped on the bigger pair she had left for him before cautiously approaching her.

Meanwhile, Uma had skated around the lake, gaining speed before slowing down to help Julian, who promptly fell on his butt, onto the ice.

“We’ll go slow,” she promised with a light laugh. And so they did together, just like they were dancing. The doctor suspecting she might be using a tad bit of her magic to help him, but it was much appreciated.

Once he had gotten the hang of it, Julian felt like he was flying - flying with his one and only, Uma.

ღ

Back at the shop, Isla was humming a sweet lullaby as she she always did when Asra slept on her lap like always. Her fingers weaved mindlessly in and out of his soft hair; she observed each breath the magician took as he napped quietly. The fireplace crackled in the background comfortingly as night fell outside.

She glanced outside, wondering what could’ve happened if she had chosen differently in the past. Shaking her head at herself, she pursued her lips. No, she has definitely chosen right. Glancing down, she beamed at the fluffy bundle of a lover she had.

“I love holding you like this.”

He opened one eye.

“I love it, too.”

Had she said that out loud? She glanced away bashfully.

“Ah, embarrassed? No need to be, Isla.”

“I'm not embarrassed,” she protested. Chuckling, Asra took her hand gently feeling the smooth skin; Isla leaned down to kiss his hand.

“Where do you hide your wings, hm?” Asra asked, his eyes glimmering in amusement. Firelight was reflected within his magenta eyes, and his lips were slightly parted. As she brushed his forehead, Isla’s features revealed confusion.

“My...what?”

“Your angel wings.”

“...Asra.”

“I'm serious.” He smiled up at her face teasingly, reaching up to touch her red cheek.

“Asra, you always make me blush so much.” Isla giggled, flushing. She bit her lip, batting her eyes playfully. “Am I allowed to kiss you?”

“Mm, I don't know. You might be violating the laws of angels.”

“Perhaps you should punish me.”

Asra’s expression changed into a rare one of neediness. “Perhaps I should, Isla.” He sat up and pulled her closer, his arms wrapping around her waist. Kissing her collarbone delicately, Asra gently pushed her to the floor.

Isla bit her lip; she couldn't be any happier than she was now.

Outside, the snow fell persistently everywhere - at the shop, the Palace, and even in the forest.

Whether they had spent the day indoors or outdoors, it seemed like everybody in Vesuvia was happy sharing winter memories with each other. No matter how old they would grow, no matter where they went, everybody knew this day had been unforgettable.