#I actually drew this over winter holidays but only now got to post it

[kalolasfantasyworld]

What if both of them were chibi?

[hikari-kaitou]

Capcom's Official AA Fanclub Surveys - DGS Edition

Many Western fans may be familiar with the Turnabout 4koma comics that get posted on the official AA fanclub site that Capcom runs, thanks to some lovely fans on tumblr and elsewhere who have shared their translations. What fewer people seem to know about is the character surveys.

Back in the old days, they used to hold a survey on Capcom's official AA fansite every few months where they'd write about the seasonal activities of a handful of characters and ask fans to vote for the funniest/most pleasant/strangest/etc answer.

They stopped doing them in like... 2016? 2017? The original text is lost for good as far as I can tell. Even the wayback machine couldn't help because the content was password locked and you can't get past the password wall while remaining in the archived version.

Fortunately, I saved some of my translations of them so I thought I’d share them.

Cut for length...

"February has begun, and the DGS cast is nearing the end of their journey aboard the RFS Alacrei. Which of them acted the most strangely?"

Ryuunosuke ~ Exhausted from his intensive study session, he decided to try some katana swinging practice as a change of pace and to combat his recent lack of exercise. But because he wasn't used to handling the katana, he swung it too hard and it went flying out of his hands and got stuck in the wall right next to Sherlock, who had just entered the room. Sherlock asked him, "aren't you supposed to be studying right now, Mr. Naruhodo?" and handcuffed him to his desk.

Susato- worked on developing a curriculum for Ryuunosuke. 'If we keep going at this pace, he won't be able to learn it all in time... It'll be hard on Naruhodo-sama, but we'll have to work hard through a couple of nights together.' With that thought, she created a harsh study schedule, and almost seemed to be looking forward to it for some reason.

Sherlock- Driven by excitement over the thought of returning to England after a long absence, he went up on deck to stare at the ocean. Being February, it was very cold out there and he ended up being chilled all the way to the tips of his fingers. He returned to the ship cabins and amused himself by putting his frozen hands on Ryuunosuke, who was stuck in his room studying.

Van Zieks- Upon hearing from Vortex that there was a Japanese exchange student coming to England to study law, he smashed a Lord's Bottle. He apparently also didn't care for the fact that that Japanese student wouldn't be alone, because he proceeded to shatter his chalice, too.

Hosonaga- in order to provide a respite from studying, he provided some hot chocolate. They enjoyed a pleasant tea time, marveling over how sweet and delicious the drink was until Sherlock piped up with some unnecessary trivia: 'Actually folks, chocolate has long been used in Europe as an aphrodisiac!' Everyone promptly spat it out."

"The long winter is nearly over and spring is on it's way, putting the DGS cast members in a celebratory mood. Who found the best way of enjoying spring?"

Ryuunosuke: the Yuumei University faculty members were holding a flower viewing event, and he joined the assistance committee. He exhausted himself keeping the blankets clean so the intense shower of flower petals wouldn't pile up too high on them, delivering sake and snacks, and mediating whatever pointless fights arose. To top it all off, for some reason his compensation was only a single piece of leftover candy. Talk about a sad result!

Susato- her father and the others living in his dormitory were  holding the flower viewing event, so she got up early to prepare the bentos. But her father carelessly forgot to tell her that they wanted tea cakes, so she had to go around the house and neighborhood collecting sweets. For some reason, she ended up being able to gather caramels, biscuits, candy sticks, basically everything but tea cakes, for the tea ceremony.

Sherlock- he disguised himself as a beat officer and infiltrated Scotland Yard to have some fun. There was a real beat officer napping on his feet in the spring sunshine, and while observing him, Sherlock ended up falling asleep too. Detective Gregson gave them a good scolding when he found them, but then Sherlock revealed his true identity with a "hey, it's me, folks!" "What the blazes do you think you're doing?!" Gregson shouted, his rage growing even more, and Sherlock ended up making a run for it.

Van Zieks- went to the vineyard to oversee the production of the contents of his Lord's Bottle. As he viewed the still unopened grape blossom buds, he thought about how they would someday grow up to fill his Lord's Bottle, and ended up going around to look at each one. But the farm hands couldn't stop wondering whether the bottle itself or its owner's heel might come flying at them and were quite uneasy.

Asougi: exhausted himself running around since early morning helping with the professors' flower viewing event. When it was over, he took a break, sharing his reward candy stick [the name of the candy literally translates to 1,000 year candy] with Ryuunosuke, who had also been helping out. 

"I wonder if the candy's effect is halved if you share it with someone."

"That still gives us 500 years."

They laughed and enjoyed looking at the flowers until dark. Then they parted ways with a handshake and a "see you later, best friend."

(This one was something about celebrating New Years. For some reason I didn't save the original question)

"Ryuunosuke ~ To celebrate New Years, he planned to pound mochi with everyone at the office. He somehow managed to get his hands on some mochi rice and he and Sherlock started pounding. Iris was having such fun watching them that she steamed a whole bunch more mochi rice so they could have some to share, and he and Sherlock spent the whole evening pounding mochi like crazy.

Asougi~ Because it's New Years, he went around to a bunch of shrines. When he drew his new year's fortune, he got a "horrible luck" result. "I'm not worried about it," he claimed, and headed up to the mountains early on New Years morning and work hard on a full training course of purification by water, meditation under a waterfall and wooden sword practice. It seems that he was working really hard to clear his mind of all earthly thoughts

Sherlock- Agreed to help Ryuunosuke pound mochi. As Ryuunosuke was flipping the mochi over, he carelessly dropped his badge into the bowl and Sherlock mixed it in without noticing, so they had to crack open both the hard and soft mochi to look for it. Fortunately they found it in the 4th one they checked, but apparently Sherlock got his hands and face covered in sticky white mochi in the process.

Susato- Wore a furisode and went with her father to do the first shrine visit of the year. The shrine was incredibly crowded and they had to wait in line for a long time, but she brought the Encyclopaedia of British Law and a copy of the Strand Magazine in her sleeves to secretly read as they waited so she actually ended up enjoying the wait.

Van Zieks- Ryuunosuke cheerfully gave him some mochi as a New Year’s (which at that time was celebrated at the same time as the Chinese New Year) gift, which he accepted confusedly, wondering “...Can the Japanese not even keep track of when the New Year is?” Because Ryuunosuke referred to it as a rice cake, he tried to eat it like a regular cake without softening it with heat first. It was so hard that he couldn’t imagine how it could possibly be food, and ended up misunderstanding the Japanese even more!

"Autumn has arrived, and the weather is starting to cool off, which means that everyone is becoming more active. Which character chose the most pleasant autumn activity to keep busy with?"

Iris was making bread but her hands are small and it’s difficult for her to knead the dough, so she asked for Ryuunosuke’s help. She wanted to make enough to hand out to Gina and all the other homeless children in the East End, so she made a massive amount and Ryuunosuke was stuck kneading this massive mountain of bread dough all day. Apparently he became such a expert at kneading that he could be a baker now.

Asougi was practicing with his sword, slicing autumn-colored ginko leaves as they fell from the tree. He cut so many leaves, though, that he ended up making a big mess on the ground, the number of fallen leaves now having increased, and it took him a long time to clean it all up.    

Sherlock: Ryuunosuke told him that he was making anpan (bread filled with sweet red bean paste, the bane of my Asian-dwelling existance) and asked Sherlock to help by being in charge of getting the poppy seeds they’d need to sprinkle on top, so Sherlock went out and gathered a ton of poppy seeds. In fact, he got so many of them that no one knew what to do with them all cuz they had a huge amount of leftovers. Sherlock said, “Well, they’re only the size of poppy seeds! Surely you two can deal with them somehow! Ahahaha!” and Iris scolded him.   

(I couldn’t capture it in English, but Sherlock’s line contained a pun, and a pretty stupid one at that, so that’s part of why he got scolded)

It’s grape harvesting season, so Van Zieks commutes to the winery regularly to direct the production of the contents for his “Lord’s Bottle.” He demands perfection in everything from the selection of the grapes to the way they’re squeezed, and the winery staff is terrified by the “grim reaper’s” gaze and heel swinging (i.e. the leg thing he does in court) so they grumble as they work. 

"Hearing that there’s a holiday in the West called Halloween, the people involved with the court in Japan decided to try it out themselves. Naturally Halloween is a big deal in England as well. So, which member of the DGS cast had the best celebration?"

Team Ryuunosuke and Asougi- Asougi got Naruhodo up on his shoulders and they draped a white sheet over themselves to make a ghost costume. They went out like that, but Naruhodo had such exaggerated reactions to the fear of the people who saw them and to bumping his head on tree branches that they ended up losing their balance and falling on top of each other?!   

Sherlock Holmes- went wearing a horse’s head mask. Iris used her skills to make it a fancy horse covered in stars, but the eye holes weren’t well made and he had to wander around blindly. Because of that he tripped hard over a pile of coal! He ended up getting so dirty that the stars on his costume were covered up!

Van Zieks- took inspiration from his nickname and dressed up as the grim reaper. He covered himself up with a skeleton mask and hood figuring no one would know it was him. Unfortunately he got angry when he saw Megundal (McGilded) pass by and started throwing bottles and glasses and ended up giving himself away.

"November has arrived, and autumn is nearing its end. However, the DGS cast is still keeping busy, even on their days off. Which character chose the most interesting way to spend their late autumn day?"

Ryuunosuke- Thinking that he’d better learn more about British culture if he was going to be a defense attorney in Britain, he went down to the East End with Gina for a little observation. However, because an Asian like him stood out so much, he got mobbed by the other children. On top of it all, his arm band got stolen from him and he had to send a replacement request to Yumei University on the other side of the ocean.

Asougi- He went for a meal at La Quantas. The customer at a nearby table got a persimmon for dessert and scarfed it down, saying “Mm! This is it! This sweetness makes it worthy of being called a treasure among foods!” Asougi tried to comment on this by saying, “The customer at that table sure is enjoying his pershim--gak!” but he may or may not have accidentally bitten his tongue in the process and been unable to finish his sentence.

Iris- She accepted Ryuunosuke’s request to learn more about British culture and prepared a bagpipe and kilt costume for him. “This outfit sure is breezy,” Ryuunosuke said shyly upon trying it on. With Ryuunosuke now dressed, he, Iris, and the others from their office headed over to Gregson’s place to get him to treat them to some fish and chips.   

Sherlock- He accepted Ryuunosuke’s request to learn more about British culture and cooked up some European style curry for dinner. Thanks to the fact that his secret ingredient was a large amount of Chinese herbal medicine style spice, it caused some strange side effects and Ryuunosuke, who’d eaten it, ended up passing out and falling over.

“Another taxing trial for Ryuunosuke has finished and now it’s December. As the year draws to a close, which character acts the strangest?”

Ryuunosuke- he was recruited to help with snow removal around Yumei University and the courthouse and he enthusiastically began his task with the help of a large shovel. He got a little carried away, though, and ended up accidentally burying his umbrella, which he’d left propped up against the side of the building, in the snow he’d just finished shoveling.  He had no choice but to share Asougi’s umbrella on the way home.

Asougi- On the way home, he nods silently to Ryuunosuke’s question of whether he’d finished his travel preparations and changes the subject: “...Come to think of it, it seems that tomorrow is celebrated in the West as God’s birthday.” “I’ve heard that they eat chicken as part of the traditional celebration. Wanna try it?” Ryuunosuke asks invitingly. Asougi is strongly opposed to that particular menu item, however, and they end up going out for their usual beef stew that night instead.           

Susato- in addition to her year-end travel preparations, she also was busy with straightening up the book room in her home. She managed to get the law books in order when she suddenly stumbled upon some old issues of Strand Magazine! She hurried through the rest of her cleaning, then began flipping through the magazines she’d found, trying to decide which to take with her on her trip. She accidentally lost herself in her reading and didn’t realize it until it was already the middle of the night.

Sherlock- he was in the middle of a long ship voyage when Christmas night came. His mind on his partner in a far-off country, he made a toast alone on deck, when suddenly the crew began shooting off fireworks with a cry of “Merry Christmas!” Sherlock had to dart back and forth across the deck to prevent the fireworks from hitting him and setting off the explosive chemicals he carries with him.

Main series edition

[just2bubbly]

To Us

Masterlist

TLC Ship Week 2021!

*written for tlcshipweek2021- kaider for the prompt 'Journey of Us'

@kaiderforever

Summary:

"I'm thinking."

"A coin for your thought?"

"Nothing much... just I'm 27 and have this beautiful person seating on top of me, not that I'm complaining-"

"Come to the point Kai, you were definitely not thinking that."

...

The night before their second anniversary is quite extra-ordinary as both of them reflect back on their past. The present that they are living seems unbelievable to the two royals- just the two of them, together. What more can they ask for?

Ship: Kaider

Words: 3k

Genre: Fluff, Sick

Prompt: 'Journey of Us'

__

*Post- Winter

Cinder's Perspective:

"I'm so sorry, Kai," she said as he handed her the bowl of soup.

"No worries darling, it doesn't really bother me-"

"Yeah, but I know you wanted to have some alone time and I just ruined your plans."

"C'mon Cinder- you are more important than my plans. Besides we can go after you have recovered."

"Even then I feel extremely sorry for being under the weather at such a happy moment-"

"Sickness does not come looking at your calendar- wondering if it's the right time to crash on Miss Selene now that she does not have anything planned," he jested.

She glared at him while inhaling the smell of the chicken noodle soup wistfully.

"I'm gonna forget you said that because this soup tastes so good. You have really mastered cooking."

"Thanks- I asked Suho for his recipe, seeing how you liked the one he made when we visited them last month."

"So have anything planned- now that I'm going to be staying in the bed for at least two more days?" she questioned.

"Well- No?"

"No?" she mimicked, surprised at his answer. She had assumed he might have come up with some different sort of elaborate plans for the day.

"Like there is not really much I can do with you being sick that will qualify as classy and romantic... you know that right?"

"You don't have to."

"I'm going to!"

The thing they happened to be talking about was their second anniversary. Kai had wanted to go to a nice cottage home that his mother had brought on Wusong Island in Jilin. Cinder knocked off all his plans with the unwanted and very bad timings of the flu she had caught. hence they or rather she was forced to stay in bed for an entirety of 5 days?!- well the doctor had told 3 but her very sensitive and caring husband made it 5.

Her husband observed her as she drank the soup, feeling slightly awkward at the sudden attention she barked, "What?"

"Nothing- just staring at my beautiful wife!"

"Don't- it's making me self-conscious, for a minute I thought I was drinking it wrong or something and you were going to yell at me for not holding my spoon properly. And Kai, stop calling me beautiful when I have a runny nose, that's too sore and pink from all the tissues I am blowing into and I feel like I'm wearing rags right now," she said pointing out to her loose grey t-shirt and shorts, that were quite old with its colour faded still they were comfortable and that's what mattered.

"You always look beautiful to me!"

She smiled and asked, "What do you want?"

"Can't I just call you stunning babe?"

"Oh, and won't you be honest with your beautiful wife?"

He sighed and asked, "Can't I join you?"

She wished he would but instead settled for a bittersweet smile and said, "Kai you won't want to catch the flu. Believe me, you don't want your one nasal cavity feeling like a desert and the other one like a shitty waterfall!"

Kai had been adamant about cuddling while she was sick- she did not want him to catch her sickness. Hell, she would have actually made him sleep on the adjacent very large couch in their room if he would have not been half as stubborn as her. Alas, he would not budge and they had settled for some distance between them for Kai's well being.

"Please," he said in an annoyingly cute way, pouting his lips and crinkling those damn beautiful eyes of his to make an impact.

She was not going to budge to his antics- after all, she was supposed to look after him when he decided to make dumb desires.

"Only if you take the couch to sleep today," she argued.

"Cinder didn't we already talk about this?! I'm not taking the couch even if it's too comfortable and for my own good!"

"Don't tell me, I did not warn you, when you get sick," she said and patted the space near her, keeping the bowl aside while scooting away to make space for him.

He jumped at the offer and settled close to her as she leaned against his chest.

"Hmm... I missed you," he mumbled as he pressed his chin on her head, his words filling the comfortable silence.

"You are not really sad that I'm sick, are you, Kai?"

"I'm not, Cinder- it would not matter if I spend our anniversary on a beach, a cottage or in bed as long as you are there beside me- even if you are sick," he said reassuringly.

"Okay,' she replied.

He drew circles on her back and she reclined into him until she was more or less practically into his lap- all thoughts of making him sick with contact forgotten.

She had almost dozed off when he muttered quietly," Torin said we could have a week off if you wanted."

"Oh? and are you- are we?"

"I dunno, it's not every day that I can take a day or two off and it's pretty chill right now- not much work so I'm thinking about it."

"Maybe we should," she suggested, already knowing that they would be taking a holiday soon.

"Maybe."

They remained silent, just enjoying each other's presence and the quiet around them, the beats of their heart providing a soothing sound as they beat together. She would have been more than happy to sleep like that- in Kai's arms with the rhythm of their hearts as music to her ears.

"I'm thinking," he whispered his lips near her ear.

"A coin for your thought?"

"Nothing much... just I'm 27 and have this beautiful person seating on top of me, not that I'm complaining-"

"Come to the point Kai, you were definitely not thinking that," she challenged.

"Well,- yeah you caught me there- just I'm so happy in this moment. I married the love of my life and 10 years ago, I would have never thought that I would end up where I am right now."

Thinking over his words, she responded, "Well you would not be the only one now there now, would you?"

"Yeah- at 18 I had as good as convinced myself that I would not see myself grow to become 19- probably be killed by Levana before that-"

"Who knows maybe she would have loved you and vice versa," She joked, having come to terms with the horrors of her past by now.

"Yeah, weren't you just jealous of my wife, Cinder?- killing her like that."

"Oh! No Kai, I fought for you and came out as the winner," she jabbered with a wink.

"Quite a prize I'm, now aren't I?" he boasted, winking in response.

"Stop sounding like Thorne- besides, stop using sarcasm to just avoid talking about your feelings," she said, clearly forgetting what had started the mild flirting.

"Like you don't," he muttered under his breath.

Taking quite his chances trying to figure out if she had forgotten or not-

"Kai, continue," she ordered.

"There's nothing serious- just got me riled over a silly thought, that's all!" he said, avoiding to speak.

"Talk," she ordered before he could make any excuse.

Sighing he said, "Back when I was 9, I had always thought that I would have a wife that loved me like Mum loved Dad, but I was too simple back then. Later I quite got the hang that I would be the Emperor and... you know right, how marriages are looked upon as alliances in royalty?- so, maybe I thought- I would not know what love is, like what it really means. Levana just happened to come around the time when I had wholly convinced myself that I would never marry out of love- just some woman who was the daughter of some important person to strengthen bonds or something like that. And at the same time you decided to pop in my life- well I popped in yours but after a few days I had certainly started liking you, sort of even had a crush on you while you were on the run but things happened and well you know what happens later.. " he trailed.

"You did marry someone important Kai, remember I am the ex-Queen of Luna?" she said, turning around to look at him.

"How can I forget? have got quite a knack for Queens," he said, a grin breaking on his face however it did not reach up to his eyes.

"Yeah- even then you love me and I do love you! Although you had to marry someone before- you supposed to make the right choices later, you found love with me, I was quite a big show myself- a simple mechanic and then I come out as the long lost princess of Luna. I am happy- elated for where I am right now-minus the sick part but I think I can endure it," she admitted.

"I see, my happy outlook has quite rubbed on you - I don't want to change anything even if I could- I'm so fortunate to be here with you," he exclaimed, caressing the back of her hand with his thumbs.

"You know if someone had told me when I was 15 that someone would love me when I grow older, I would have called them a fool and probably shut my door on their face. If they had told me that I would be married to a kind man at 23, found true love at 16- I would have yelled at them to make young girls fantasize about something like marriage when there were important things in life. If they had told me that I would marry a man who loved me, much less an Emperor- I would have been shocked for the love of my life. No pun intended so don't point it out or grin- " he did grin even when she asked him not to "-Can't believe I'm really married to you even at the age of 25- like you are believable but the whole Emperor of EC is a too big thing for me who felt unlovable till 16- like hell with the world but I had thought I would probably be those single cat ladies just without the cats- I think they are nasty. Yet here I am!" She rambled, declaring the last part with a blinding smile.

"Quite unbelievable, ain't it?

"Yup- wouldn't change a thing though!"

"If I asked you-

"to marry you again then I would say yes without a moment to lose," she continued.

She did not know who rushed in first but his lips were on her and he whispered 'Good' against her lips, kissing them fervently. Before thinking she moved, making Kai groan at the loss of sudden contact, taking as many tissues that could fit in her hands from the tabletop, she blew her nose, feeling sickening.

Kai looking at his wife firstly in a bizarre way followed by a sympathetic smile, "Maybe we should keep kissing to the minimum."

"Yeah- I look gross," she agreed.

"Do you want to take some steam?"

"No- I'm okay," she answered, continuing to blow her nose which considerably contradicted her sentence.

"Tell me if you change your mind."

"Can you pass me more tissue?"

Having cleared her nose long enough to go without a blowing nose fit for at least a few minutes she whined, "My nose hurts- is it pink?"

"Really Cinder?- are you caring about your slightly pink nose right now instead of your health? I think it looks cute tho-"

"You had called me cute even when I was drenched in mud. Sorry for blowing up like that!"

He chuckled adding, "Quite got me confused for a minute there"

"I can't believe I'm sick on our anniversary-"

"Hey! I was sick on my birthday, don't beat yourself on that."

"C'mon aren't you even a tiny bit sad Kai- you make it sound like you are happy seeing me sick in bed!" she complained.

"I had be happy with you in bed, don't you think?" he said with a smirk tugging at his lips.

"I don't wanna sneeze and blow my nose on you so, NO!-" she replied. "-I don't think I have the energy to do anything."

"You had your meds?" he inquired.

"Yes," she said avoiding his gaze.

"And when did you take them?"

"Well- one is remaining- it's really bitter, can't I just skip it? Please!" she pleaded.

Paying no heed to her words, he just leapt out of the bed to fetch the said tablet- returning with the red and white capsule that was going to cause Cinder much misery.

"Here," he said, offering the glass of water.

"Please, Kai, it's so bitter and I don't want to spoil the taste of the soup-"

"Cinder, I'm not going to budge- you are having it. Personally, it's not that bad, you drilled Camilla into being nice for a day last week- you can handle a bitter tablet."

She stared at him not moving to pick the capsule from his hand, he stared back. It was a healthy competition, the one who blinks first will lose-

"Achoo- chu-" she sneezed rather unexpectedly making Kai victorious.

"I hate you," she mumbled glaring at him as she took the med- sticking her tongue out to him as the harsh taste of medicine could be felt down her throat.

"Love you too, Cinder."

"I was not even half as troublesome as you are right now when you were down with that stomach bug 6 months ago- I even allowed you to read those documents in bed and this is how you repay me for my kindness?"

"I repay in kindness- Come here, you can have the cuddles as your reward."

This time she kept some tissues nearby just in case and as revenge kept her very cold hand on Kai's bare torso. It did not look like it bothered him- he just snuggled closer to her, making sure that her hand was as much on her as on him.

"I can't believe it's already been two years since we married!" she blurted out.

"True."

"Quite hard to digest even after 2 years of marriage!- Sometimes my heart can't handle the sight of you in the morning- so peaceful and lovely," he declared.

"And you look so good at night when you scrunch your nose yawning- you look so adorable with those puppy eyes you make!" she added.

"Remember that time when Torin had almost found us hiding in the library trying to skip the staff maintenance meeting?" he asked.

"It was not much hiding, Kai- like he could have tracked us within seconds if he wanted to... I think he was hiding as well," she replied, remembering how Torin had spent so long trying to find them in the library even when they were loud enough to be found by anyone.

"Yeah, and when he did that toast for you after you had check-mated Camilla at her own games, I can't forget how proud he looked of you."

"Well, you had helped and I did not do much if you would not have been there to-"

""Oh, don't flatter me! It was you who stole the whole show that day. Vargas was so happy someone had skived Camilla after all these years," He chuckled and continued to add, "Stars, the toast that Thorne made-"

"No, Kai! I don't wanna remember it- I'm so happy he would not be teasing me tomorrow, I'm gonna use the 'sick' card if he embarrasses me like that again."

"He was so funny-"

"That humour traumatized me for life!"

"Well, he outdid himself that one time."

Recalling her friend's more than bizarre speech at their wedding she smiled fondly, her gaze falling on the large clock in their bedroom.

"Kai it's almost 12," she pointed out.

"Oh! yeah- quite late, uhm- er-early?" he sputtered.

"It's our anniversary!" she exclaimed with joy.

"Do you think we can make a toast? like is it okay for you to have wine?" he questioned for her approval and well-being.

"I don't think a glass of wine will worsen my flu, so why not?"

"Okay, I will fetch it before it the clock strikes 12," he said, already moving out to get the bottle of red wine they had stashed somewhere in the adjacent kitchen they had made in their chambers since they had been engaged. Cinder did not really like going to the Palace's kitchen every time she had a strong craving for some midnight snacks. Besides it was too far from their and Cinder was not really very happy about that- she liked cooking, scratch that- she liked seeing Kai cook and eat the delicacies he made.

Kai walked few minutes before it was midnight, trying to balance the two glasses and the bottle.

"Here let me help," she said, taking the bottle from his hand, uncorking it while he held the glasses for her to pour into. Having poured both their glasses to an acceptable amount, they turned to the clock waiting in anticipation for the final hour of the day to end.

"Wanna say something?"

7.6.

"Not yet!"

4.3

And as the digits changed to zeroes, they looked at each other and said, "Here's to the two years of marriage and togetherness-"

"- and many more that will come!"

"To my charming husband,"

"To my loving wife,"

The clink of the glass was unheard over their words.

"To us!"

__

A/N: I think you deserve fluff after the torture that I gave you! Here's nice married Kaider fluff for you guys.

The person named 'Suho' is none other than Torin's husband and I like to imagine Kai cooking and doing all sort of domestic stuff, even when he is the Emperor. This fic had wholesome amount of fluff, and sickness in it. I have really written so many shots this week- have been quite productive this month thanks to Ship Week.

Be sure to comment and vote!

Taglist: @cinderswrench @gingerale2017 @linhcinder686 @shellyseashell @ladyvesuvia @shelbylmkaider @levanariddle @cindersassasin @kaider-is-my-otp (Tell me if you wanna be added/removed)

[infjsnightmare]

How You Met: Guild Style

A/N: Hello! This one was so much more difficult to write. I think maybe I just don't have as good a grip on the personalities of the guild so much. Lol. So, this might have a bit more OOC than the other two. Also, I flip-flopped for a while and decided not to include Francis since he is canonically married, but if anyone wants me to, I can probably include him on the same one that I include any other extraneous characters on. With that out of the way, I sincerely hope that you like this! Feedback of any kind is always welcomed and appreciated.

John: You were scanning the aisles of the convenience store, looking for any food that was on sale. Your eyes lit up when you found a tuna salad sandwich for only 99 cents. You should have enough change for this at least. All your money went to rent since being laid off and you actually hadn't eaten in two days. This was like a holy grail. Placing the sandwich in front of the large man at the register, you turned your change purse inside out. Meticulously counting each coin, you realized you only had 87 cents, which was 12 cents too short. The man scoffed taking the sandwich away as he chastised you and told you to "get a job". You were on the brink of tears when a hand came up from behind you and dropped the remaining needed change on the table. An angry looking young blond man glared menacingly at the employee as he spat at him, grabbing the sandwich and placing it in your hands.

"Why don't you get a life, jackass?"

Lovecraft: The sun was beaming hot as you lay back in the sand and let the warmth overtake you. The smell of the ocean and the distant cry of seagulls relaxed your body. You sighed, sitting up to watch the waves crash against the shore when you saw something dark begin emerging from the water. At first it looked like seaweed, but slowly a tall lanky man in a suit slowly walked up out of the water, absolutely drenched. Your eyes widened in fear as it looked like something straight out of a horror movie. You watched intently as the man walked up on to the beach aimlessly. Then he turned his head at an unnatural to look straight at you.

"Where can I get some ice cream?... It's too hot."

Lucy: You were at work, scrubbing the floors by the cash register even though your shift ended over an hour ago. You weren't going to get paid for this overtime either, but you knew you needed the job to make ends meet. Your boss also knew this, unfortunately, and took advantage of it. The manager lazily eyed you as they were laughing with a friend of theirs who had stopped by. "Put some more elbow grease into it!" You heard the teasing chirp from the idiot. You felt like a dog. Gritting your teeth, you scrubbed furiously, imagining the spot on the floor to be your manager's face. Until you were interrupted by a the voice of a young girl with a slight blush adorning her face, almost the same shade of red as her hair.

"It's really none of my business....and it's not like I care or anything...but, you shouldn't let your employer treat you like a slave."

Edgar: You were perusing the mystery section of the library and had finally settled on which book you would like to read next. Pulling it of the shelf, you tucked the book under your arm and made your way to the sitting area to give the first few chapters a quick read before deciding to borrow it for the week. When you got to the desk, you noticed that there was a printed manuscript left on the table. You set down the book you were holding in favor of the paper-clipped pages. You were delighted by the writing. It was a magnificent mystery. You were smiling from ear to ear as you read each page with fervor. You were slightly take aback at the light tugging at your clothes, looking down to see a raccoon. Followed closely behind him was an adorable man with tousled dark hair and a crimson blush over his whole face.

"Ah! My manuscript! I must have left it here, I'm so sorry!"

Mark: You were walking through your usual peaceful trail in the woods, following the path of a small creek. The crunch of dead leaves underfoot and the crisp autumn air made the atmosphere serene and enticing. You could've have lost yourself to the sounds of nature if it weren't for the the whooping and hollering that you heard further down the creek. As you drew closer, you could hear the shattering of glass breaking, followed by another victorious yell. You finally came to a small clearing, seeing a vivacious young man with bright orange hair shooting rocks at glass bottles with a sling-shot. He looked at your direction and aimed the sling shot towards you. You opened your mouth to protest when he released the stone. It whirred past your head, hitting a bottle strung up on a tree branch behind you. The man beamed with glee.

"Boom! Nailed it!"

Nathaniel: Looking out your window this morning, you felt giddy at the light dusting of snow you saw. Snow was a rarity in December and here it was, on Christmas no less. Placing your jacket on, you dashed out of your apartment to walk and see all the lights around town and the couples holding hands. It was a joyous atmosphere despite it being a minor holiday. You stopped in your tracks when you saw a tall man dressed in priestly garb, sitting and reading from a book that you could only assume was religious in nature. You'd never seen a priest before and were rather awestruck as you watched his silver hair fall in front of his glasses as he poured over his book. You didn't even look away when he stopped reading to stare back at you. Or when he cleared his throat with his brow lifted in irritation. Or even when he stood up and walked the few steps closing the distance between you. But, once he spoke, you finally felt embarrassment as your cheeks felt hot against the winter air.

"You do realize that it is particularly rude to stare, right?"

Margaret: The vending machine whirred as you selected your drink. It was sweltering out and you definitely needed the cool liquid to combat the heat during your break. You'd been moving containers off the ships all morning, so you were pretty beat by the time your break rolled around. You sat on the edge of the dock listening to the squabble between two passengers on a boat. One passenger was dressed in religious attire and seemed apathetic towards the argument. The other passenger was a tall woman dressed in a large frilly dress with a rather robust petticoat. Her honey-hair was pulled up under a sun-hat like a true southern american belle. In opposition to the man's apathy, she seemed quite fiery, eyes steeled and jaw clenched. In a huff, she marched down off the boat. The ramp led next to where you were sitting, eyeing the woman as you drank your beverage. Her eyes snapped towards you as she noticed your watchful gaze. She relaxed her her face ever so slightly meeting your eyes as she motioned towards the man on the ship.

"Bless his heart, but I swear some men just aren't raised proper."

Herman: The rain was was all you could hear as it pitter-pattered against your umbrella while you made your way back home. Your feet were walking along the slippery cobblestone sidewalk with a practiced gait. You always took this path home. The same scenes, the same faces- nothing to shake you from your daze. However, the faintest glow of white caught your attention. You rubbed your eyes with your free hand to confirm that you were, in fact, seeing a small white whale happily floating through the air and rain. You followed it in wonderment until you came across an older gentleman sitting on a bench smoking from a pipe, umbrella propped against the back of his seat. You watched as the whale twirled around. Compelled, you sat on the wet bench, next to the sun-tanned man drawing him out of his own thoughts. He gave you a wry smile as the whale danced between you.

"Care to sit and chat with a tired, old man?"

Louisa: It was a busy day. You were run ragged as you tried to complete all the errands you had scheduled for yourself today. You had already dropped off a few packages at the post office. Renewed your insurance for the year and now you were in a hurry to pick up your dry-cleaning before the store closed for lunch. You picked up your pace, reaching for the door. Only, when you opened it, an armful of bagged clothing came tumbling on top of you. With it, fell a small-framed young lady with round glasses and the cutest flustered expression you'd ever seen. Her eyes widened in shock as her face turned scarlett.

"Oh n-no! I'm so so so so sorry! Please do-don't be angry!"

[renaerys]

PPG One-Shot: Mall Santa (Boomer/Mike and Brick/Blossom)

Summary: To earn a little extra cash over the holidays, Brick, Mike, and Boomer agree to help out their buddy Todd at a Mall Santa gig. Shenanigans ensue.

This one is for @snailbutters, @genovah, and @hanaokm. Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Enjoy some Boomike, Blossick, and Capri Sus on me. 

[Cross-posted to AO3]

xxx

There were a lot of things Todd needed: a haircut, for one. His black hair was getting too long for gel and it was really pushing the boundary between greaser sexy and sad trash hobo. Money, for another. But like any other 21-year-old townie with a high school education and two restaurant jobs, he always needed money.

A new best friend, for yet another.

“I’m not your best friend,” Brick snapped as he tied a black tie around his neck. He needed to leave in ten minutes if he was going to be early for his dinner meeting with Oliver Morbucks.

Todd put a hand over his heart like it might fall out of the wound Brick’s words had stabbed there. “Dude, of course you are. I’m totally sorry if I ever gave you the wrong idea.”

Brick grimaced so hard he was sure he’d end up constipated. “No, you idiot. I know you think I’m your best friend. You’ve never shut up about it, even after we graduated high school. I’m pretty sure the whole fucking Peninsula knows it the way you go around shouting it when you’re blasted.”

Todd looked like he’d just received news that his favorite nana wasn’t dying of cancer after all. “Oh, cool. For a second there I thought I really hurt your feelings. You know you’re kinda sensitive, right?”

Oh god.

“What do you want, Todd? I have a really important meeting and I’m not missing it for your bullshit.”

Brick checked his reflection in the bathroom mirror in his one-bedroom apartment in downtown Townsville. It was a shitty hole-in-the-wall kind of place, but Brick was used to squalor. His break was coming, he could feel it. If tonight’s meeting went over well, he’d have a more steady revenue stream and, more importantly, the connections and clout the Morbucks name brought to open doors. All the long days at Red’s Auto Shop saving and scraping by would finally pay off, and just in time for Blossom to graduate from college. It was perfectly planned, meticulously manipulated, all down to this last pivotal dinner.

“Cool, no big deal! I just need to know if you’re free this weekend.”

“Free to do what?” Brick indulged him, because Todd was one of the few people on this planet who wasn’t 100% intimidated by his very presence.

“To help me with this Mall Santa gig I got. Harry Pitt was supposed to be my number two elf, but he ate some bad prawns and they had to, like, airlift him to Citiesville General.”

Brick stopped everything he was doing and glared at his second-to-best friend, which was a key fact because second was not the same as first. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

“I know, right?” Todd knew his way around Brick’s embarrassingly small bathroom, opened up the hair wax, and fixed Brick’s styling job. “Dude always had a weak stomach, you remember. But you don’t fuck with bad prawns. I mean, obviously.”

Brick swatted Todd’s hands away and checked his reflection. It was definitely an improvement. “Not that; the Mall Santa thing, obviously!”

“Oh, yeah. So you’ll help me out?”

“Fuck no.”

“Aw, Briiiiiiick,” Todd whined.

Brick grabbed his dinner jacket from the closet barely big enough to fit a small, starving child. Todd, who had latched onto Brick in the seventh grade like a goddamned barnacle and never let go no matter how hard Brick tried to push him away, followed. “Not if you paid me.”

“You’ll get paid! It’s $20 an hour!”

Brick hesitated over the threshold. “That’s higher than minimum wage.” It was higher than his hourly rate at the garage too.

“Seasonal gigs, man. That’s how you win.”

“It’s seriously fucking not.”

Todd, one of three people in the universe who actually cared about Brick on a personal level even though he wasn’t obligated by blood, made his blue eyes big and wide in a way that reminded Brick of Puss-n-Boots from Shrek, Todd’s favorite movie. “C’mon, bruh. Do your bestie a solid? Just this once? I really need the money and they won’t let me keep the gig without two elves to fill in. So please? Pleeeeeeease?”

And Brick, former scourge of Townsville, a Super with the power to literally raze the planet if it so much as tickled his fancy, and the dictionary definition of the boy every father dreads his perfect, pretty little girl falling for against her better judgment, cracked like an egg.

“For fuck’s sake,” he groused. “Just text me the time and place and get out of my face already.”

Todd punched the air with both fists. “Yes!! Oh, hell yes! I love you so much, dude.”

“Blow me.” Brick checked his watch. Shit, now he was merely on time.

“I’d consider it an honor,” Todd said, probably literally serious.

xxx

Boomer rolled glitter on his cheeks and around the edges of his dark blue eyes with the help of a compact as he huddled behind the North Pole set on the first floor of the Townsville Mall. When he was satisfied that he sparkled like the tinsel-festooned Christmas trees in Santa’s twelve-by-fifteen-foot “forest” themselves, he discreetly re-emerged just as the latest child slid off Santa’s lap.

“Merry Christmas, Dan!” bellowed a red and white-clad Todd behind an enormous, curly beard. “Remember to brush your teeth!”

The little boy ran back to his parents, who were having a word with the photographer about purchasing a picture of their son on Santa’s lap. Before Boomer could follow them, Brick was quick to cut him off.

“Where the hell were you?” he demanded. Sour as an un-sugared plum in his festive, candy-striped elf costume, Brick may have absolutely intimidated the seven-year-olds waiting in line with their parents for a turn on Santa’s lap, but Boomer only allowed him a bemused smile.

“Why, I was making toys for the good little boys and girls who came to visit us here at the North Pole,” Boomer said in a raised voice. He looped his arm through his brother’s and let his power surge with enough force to turn Brick around and face the crowd that was definitely within hearing range. “Isn’t that right, Elf Mursten?”

Brick pushed back with inhuman force, but Boomer held his ground with a smile as bright as the glitter on his cheeks as a little girl in overalls trotted forward.

She giggled. “I like your hat.”

“Thank you!” Boomer gushed, and he tipped his pom-pom-topped cap. “And what’s your name?”

The little girl giggled again. “My name’s Alynn.”

“Well, Alynn, why don’t you step right up and take a seat on Santa’s lap? I’m sure he has a great present for a cool girl like you. Right, Elf Mursten?”

Brick glared medieval torture at him, and he managed a smile that showed too many teeth to be anything other than life-threatening. “Of course, Elf Buller.”

Boomer’s smile tightened.

“Ho ho ho! Come on over, Santa doesn’t bite,” Todd said.

“What a psychotic reassurance,” Brick said soft enough for only the Super brothers to hear.

“Hey, Brick?” Boomer said, just as softly. “Cheer the fuck up.” He gave his brother a bone-crushing squeeze around the arm and broke from him. Brick could be a sourpuss when he wanted to be (all the time), but he wouldn’t mess up Todd’s Mall Santa gig when he’d bothered to show up and actually put in the effort at all. Complain as he might about Todd’s exuberance, Brick had always come through for his best friend since the seventh grade.

Boomer, on the other hand, had been very happy to accept Todd’s offer to work the two weeks leading up to Christmas. The hours were reasonable, the pay was good, and Boomer loved children. It was easy money in between local shows he and his garage band had booked over the holidays.

Plus, the photographer had a nice rack.

“Okay, Santa, Alynn. Look over here and say ‘jingle bells’!” A flash went off, and Mike Believe stood to his full height behind the tripod he’d set up for the day’s pictures. Even in reindeer antlers and a bright, red-painted nose, Mike filled out every fold of his brown Rudolph outfit almost to the point of popping a button. His broad chest puffed out when he put his strong hands on his hips and grinned brightly like he wouldn’t pick anywhere else to be right now.

Their eyes met, and Boomer flushed and smiled like a fool.

When Mike winked back at him coyly, his heart leaped into his throat. Mike had gotten home from college just two days ago, but the three weeks he had off for Winter Break would surely fly by like they did every year, and Boomer was determined to spend every moment together.

A tug on Boomer’s green tunic drew his attention. “Can I take a picture with you? Please?” the little girl asked.

Boomer beamed and scooped her up onto his hip. “Of course you can. Hey, Mike? Can you take one of us, please?”

“You bet! Get in close, now.” Mike readied his camera.

“Oh, wait a sec. Why don’t you take this too?” Boomer removed his festive hat and put it on Alynn’s head. It was big on her, but she laughed happily.

They posed for the picture, and Boomer hugged her cheek to cheek.

“Thanks!” The little girl tried to give him his hat back, but he pressed it to her chest.

“You keep it. Merry Christmas. Remember to be good, okay?”

Alynn’s father was waiting with a hand for her to take when she ran back to him, yammering about how she’d met Santa and his super cool elf friend, and Boomer watched them go.

“You know you’ll have to pay for that hat,” Brick said.

Boomer sighed and ran a hand through his cornflower hair. “You know I look better without it.”

Brick frowned deeply. “Uh-huh.”

“If you keep frowning, your face will stick like that.”

“Moron.”

He always had to have the last word. Brick went to stack the empty boxes wrapped in bright, shiny paper, which was probably more productive than blowing up the entire display. Boomer left him to it. It was time for their mid-morning break, anyway.

Todd got up to stretch. “Man, who knew sitting could be so tiring, huh? Whack.” His phone buzzed, and he grinned when he saw the caller ID.

Boomer, however, had eyes only for Mike as the latter turned off his camera and put a sheet over the tripod to protect it. “Working hard, I see.”

When Mike smiled, his dark eyes crinkled in the corners. He had a face made for smiling. “Oh, you know. Just helping out some friends.”

Like Brick, Todd had asked Mike to help out behind the camera for this gig. Mike didn’t exactly need the extra cash given his lacrosse scholarship that covered his college expenses, but the three of them had been as thick as thieves all through high school no matter what Brick said when he was annoyed. No way was Mike going to bail on the chance to help out a bro.

“This is cute,” Mike said, running a thumb over Boomer’s sparkly cheek.

“If only I could convince Brick to wear some,” Boomer said, lacing his fingers in Mike’s as they shuffled to the side of the exhibit behind a blinking Christmas tree for a bit of privacy.

Mike chuckled. “That’ll take a Christmas miracle. But anyway, I don’t want to talk about Brick right now.”

Their kiss was soft and mostly chaste, considering the venue, but Boomer didn’t mind at all. He rose up on his toes to lean into his boyfriend’s superior height and smiled into their kiss. Even in the middle of the Townsville Mall with shoppers mere yards away, for a few seconds Boomer got lost in the fantasy of the forest and the snow drifts, bright lights and magic that came around only once a year and had always touched his heart in a way nothing else quite could.

“Babe! You got here quick!” Todd’s excitement and a small commotion around Santa’s throne drew the lovers’ attention, and Boomer reluctantly broke the kiss. His Super hearing quickly picked up on what was going on.

“What is it?” Mike asked.

Boomer smiled wryly. “That Christmas miracle you wished for. Come on.” He took Mike’s larger hand in his and pulled him back toward the front of the display, where Todd had scooped up a very small, very fashionable Asian woman in his arms.

“Oh my god, don’t do shits in front of the innocent children, Toddy.” Hana patted her high bun and smoothed out her oversized black jacket once Todd released her.

“Hey, I just missed you is all,” Todd said with a genuine smile like he had really, truly missed his girlfriend since this morning when they had last seen each other.

“You guys are too cute,” said Bubbles with a giggle. As usual, she was adorable in blonde twin tails and a holiday-appropriate sweater dress. Shopping bags hung from both her arms, also as usual.

“Right?” Hana said, her deadpan façade melting completely as she beamed at her closest friend.

“No contest.” Bubbles set down her small nation of shopping bags. “Oh! Hi, Boomer!” She dashed to hug him in a flash of blue, and he caught her easily. “Oh my gosh, I love your glitter. You look like a supermodel!”

Boomer laughed and hugged her back. “Thanks for letting me borrow it. I really owe you.”

“Don’t worry about it. Oh, but you definitely need some touching up. Here, let me just…”

Mike had wandered over to Todd and Hana. “Hey, Hana. Are you staying for the holiday?”

Hana shrugged. “Yeah, my art show isn’t until after New Year’s. You know, I’m always looking for more models.” She raised her eyebrows suggestively.

Mike laughed. “I’m honored, but I’m really nothing special, honestly. You might try Butch.”

Todd guffawed. “Oh man, Butch is, like, one of her top models! She painted him for what, six weeks last summer, babe?”

“Seven,” Hana said, dead serious.

Mike smiled nervously. “That’s a lot of inspiration.”

“He is very inspiring,” Hana said, deader and more serious.

“That dude is goals,” Todd said, totally unironically.

“I guess I can’t argue with that,” Mike said.

“Aaaaand done.” Bubbles stepped back to admire her handiwork. “Honestly? You’re the most beautiful elf the North Pole ever employed.”

Boomer snickered. “Don’t tell Brick that.”

“Don’t tell me what, now?” Brick emerged from his useless empty box stacking task, glitter-less and severely lacking in Christmas cheer.

Bubbles gasped, right on cue. “Brick! Where is your glitter? Get over here.”

Brick made a weird face. “What are you talk—hey!”

Bubbles all but accosted him with the glitter pen. Hana cheered and applauded, and Todd joined in because he liked to cheer and applaud in general.

“What are you—get off!” Brick shoved Bubbles hard, but a flash of pink caught her before she could crash into anything.

Blossom peered around her totally unfazed sister, a tray of lattes in one hand and her perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised. “Brick,” she said.

Brick swallowed. “Blossom.”

She looked nice in leggings and a sweater dress that matched Bubbles’ style, except where Bubbles’ was white, Blossom’s was a scarlet that rivaled the shade of Brick’s eyes.

“I brought you guys coffee,” Blossom said, her eyes trained on Brick even as she held out the tray.

Mike took the tray before it could become collateral damage in whatever was going on between the two of them.

“Here you go.” Mike offered one to Boomer, who gratefully accepted it.

“Thanks!”

“I thought you weren’t getting home until tomorrow,” Brick said, as if he and Blossom were the only two people there.

“Change of plans,” Blossom said. “Problem?”

Brick seemed to remember what he was wearing and snatched his elf hat from his head. He bunched it up between his hands like that would hide his imagined shame. “It’s fine.”

It wasn’t fine, clearly. But it wasn’t Boomer’s place to intrude. He would have been extremely happy for it to end there, but sadly Blossom, like his brother, had a flair for the dramatic and an affinity for the center of attention.

She sauntered up to him and smeared the bit of glitter Bubbles had managed to draw on his cheek before he’d shoved her off. “Good,” she said, half an invitation and half a challenge.

Brick didn’t bend easily. Boomer knew his brother as well as he knew himself, and he knew Brick didn’t relent, never gave in unless he was well and truly beaten, which was rare. But he slackened now, lips parting and eyes falling. Even though his arms stayed stubbornly at his sides and he didn’t do something as scandalous as hold his girlfriend’s hand in public, he melted under her touch and attention.

“All right! Bloss, you’re back early! This is massive, like, supernova massive,” Todd said. “Hey, I know! Let’s throw a party at mine tonight! Brick said you weren’t coming back for another couple of days, so this is like a cool early Christmas present to all of us.”

Bubbles gasped. “Oh my gosh, yes! Let’s all go to Todd’s tonight, just like we used to. I’m calling Robin right now.”

“We can make it a real Christmas party,” Blossom said. Somehow, she’d gotten ahold of Bubbles’ glitter pen and now smeared a generous amount on Brick’s cheeks until he gleamed without suffering a nuclear meltdown. A Christmas miracle, indeed.

“You’ll wear the Santa suit,” Hana said. Demanded.

“Ho ho ho! You got it, babe.”

“That thing’s a rental,” Brick said. “And it’s, like, 75 degrees outside.”

“If he gets too hot, I’ll hose him down,” Hana said.

Brick smartly decided not to press her on that one.

“I like your elf costume, Brick,” Blossom teased. Maybe.

“I’m burning it as soon as I get paid,” Brick said.

“I thought it was a rental like Todd’s?”

He hesitated, trapped by his own logic, and she laughed softly and kissed the side of his mouth. Brick froze and played it off like it didn’t affect him, but his eyes were drawn to Blossom’s lips for the next six whole minutes. Boomer really didn’t get why he had to make everything so damn complicated.

“Hey, hombres, our break is up and I see a super cute kid waiting to sit on the softest lap in Townsville,” Todd said, sinking back onto his candy cane throne and patting his lap.

Brick visibly cringed.

“It could be worse,” Mike whispered to Brick. “At least this time we get to keep our shirts on.”

Boomer smiled at the memory of Todd’s last seasonal gig he’d roped Brick and Mike into over the summer. The shirtless carwash had admittedly been one of his more rewarding part-time jobs, and Boomer had the photo evidence to cherish the memory extremely fondly.

Blossom and Hana retreated behind Mike while Bubbles finished up her phone call with Robin and Brick admitted the next child on set.

“Welcome to the North Pole,” he said with all the cheer of an old tire. Nonetheless, his cheeks dazzled. “What’s your name, kid?”

She looked up at him but didn’t say anything. Boomer noticed her shyness and decided he better intervene.

“Hey there,” he said, taking a knee so he could be on her eye-level. “Merry Christmas.”

That alarmed her even more, and she hugged Brick’s leg.

“What the—” Brick put his hands up like he didn’t know what to do with them. “Great.”

The girl’s parents were busy talking to Mike about the picture packages and didn’t seem to notice what was going on.

“Uh,” Boomer said, ready to flag them down before the little girl got scared or started to cry. They’d been lucky this morning with only one child throwing a temper tantrum out of the tens they’d seen.

“All right, kid. I hope you have a good grip.” Brick floated off the ground with the little girl clinging to his leg and flew over to Todd’s throne.

Boomer was so flabbergasted by his brother’s gross disregard for this child’s safety in front of her parents that he was momentarily stunned where he kneeled. It was over in about two and a half seconds, with her parents none the wiser and the little girl still in one piece, miraculously. Brick peeled her off him and dropped her on Todd’s lap.

“Name,” Brick demanded. And then, reluctantly: “…To check you off the Nice List.”

The little girl looked up at him with wide-eyed wonderment, or maybe fear. “Morana.”

“Morana. Super. Tell Todd—I mean, Santa—what you want. And smile for the camera.”

Todd didn’t miss a beat and wrapped his arms loosely around her to hold her safely in place. “Morana, that’s a pretty name. Wanna tell me what you want for Christmas?”

Morana pointed at Brick. “That one.”

Brick turned as red as his messy man bun. Todd wheezed.

“Oh, yeah? Well, that one’s taken, but I bet I can get you a picture together. How ‘bout it?” Todd asked.

Boomer was up and moving in a blue flash. “That can be arranged.” He shoved his brother with a healthy burst of Super strength, and Brick all but fell on his knee next to Todd’s throne. Boomer waved back at Mike for the picture.

“Big smile now!” Mike said cheerfully, and snapped the picture.

“What the hell is up with these kids?” Brick asked when Morana skipped back to her parents and started chattering at them in a language Boomer didn’t recognize but assumed must be all good things from the way she grinned from ear to ear. “They get bolder every year.”

“Or you’re just getting softer,” Boomer teased.

“Yeah, right.”

Blossom laughed at something Hana said on a nearby bench, drawing both their eyes.

“Whatever you say, man,” Boomer said.

xxx

Todd’s party was a nostalgic and long-overdue affair later that evening. Unlike Boomer, who had to make do in a small studio apartment on the outskirts of Citiesville where the rent was more manageable and his commute didn’t matter when flying anywhere took only minutes, Todd lived in a big house he took care of for his often absent, globe-trotting parents. Blossom, Bubbles, and Robin had taken the initiative and strung up Christmas lights, while Boomer created and managed the playlist for the night. They had a good crowd with old friends from high school and new ones from work and college gathered for no excuse other than to have a good time.

Butch, Buttercup, Mike, and Todd had set up beer pong in the basement, where most of the festivities were taking place. As usual, the shit talking and macho bravado had soared to ludicrous heights.

“Come on, BC,” Todd goaded. “Money shot, right here.” He fluffed his Santa beard, the ends of which were damp with beer. Buttercup had one cup left to hit.

“I’m about to straight-up tea bag you with this ping pong ball, Todd, I swear to god.” Buttercup tried to focus on her aim after too many beers and the distraction of Todd’s stupid Santa beard.

“Do it, fucking do it,” Butch said, bobbing on the balls of his feet and slightly manic with the competition and holiday cheer, probably.

“I’m gonna fucking do it!”

“I don’t think you can fucking do it,” Mike said.

“Ohhhhh!” Butch hollered when Buttercup lost her temper and threw the ball too hard. It bounced off Todd’s beard and fell on the floor, leaving the last cup untouched.

“Mike, you cheater!” Buttercup shouted.

Mike burst out laughing.

“All riiiiight, the Toddster’s final shot. You filming, babe?” Todd asked.

Hana, across the table from Boomer, had her phone out and poised. “Kick their asses, Toddy.”

“Yeah, bring it on, Toddy,” Butch jeered.

“Oh, it’s about to be brought.”

“Oh god, please, you peaked in high school,” Buttercup said.

“Hey, he plateaued,” Mike said. “There’s a difference.”

“Just take the damn shot!”

Todd shot, hit the rim of the solo cup, and missed. Buttercup and Butch threw up their hands and whooped. They were still in the game, and the stakes were even higher now.

Boomer squeezed Mike’s arm in a silent excuse and went to change the music…only to find Brick and Blossom making out in the hallway like it was their last night on Earth.

The music was fine, he decided. No need to interrupt Brick and Blossom trying to fuse with the wall and face his brother’s cock blocked wrath. Discreetly, Boomer snapped a picture on his phone and texted it to Bubbles.

[Boomer: Shooketh]

Bubbles’ reply was lightning fast.

[Bubbles: More like shattered!!]

[Bubbles: Better get out of there before they catch you lol 💀]

After another hour (and Brick and Blossom’s reemergence from the wall in one piece with not a hair out of place because god forbid), Boomer and Mike decided to head out early. They went back to Boomer’s apartment, where a very excited Pomeranian welcomed them home.

“Hi, Pumpkin!” Mike brightened like the sun and scooped up his favorite girl, left in Boomer’s care while he was away at college. “Who’s ready for a walk?”

They walked Pumpkin and let her tire herself out running around the suburban neighborhood where it was too late at night for any cars to be out. A half hour later, they were curled up on the loveseat with Pumpkin snoozing in her fuzzy bed at their feet and an old black-and-white Christmas movie playing on low volume on the television.

“Hey,” Boomer said, lifting his head from Mike’s chest to look at him properly.

Mike set aside the hot chocolate he’d been drinking and pulled Boomer up by his waist. “Hey, you. What is it?”

Boomer smiled. It was silly, really. “It’s nothing.”

“Oh?” Mike returned his smile and leaned closer. He smelled like soap, a hint of chocolate, and something else that made Boomer want to bury his face in his neck.

“Just happy,” Boomer said.

“Really? I can’t tell.”

Boomer sat up a little higher. The neck of Mike’s old lacrosse jersey he wore dipped down his shoulder, too big on him and softer than a cloud. He pressed a chaste kiss to the underside of Mike’s jaw. “How about now?”

“Hm, nope, I don’t think I quite got that.”

Boomer threaded his fingers though Mike’s short, dark hair at the nape of his neck. Feeling coquettish, he gave his ear a nip. “How about now?”

Mike shifted on the couch and pulled Boomer’s bent legs onto his lap. His voice was as warm as the hot chocolate he’d been drinking. “I think I’m starting to get a vague understanding.”

Boomer laughed and painted a trail of kisses along Mike’s jaw, up his chin. He pressed a strong hand to his chest and put a little power behind it. Centimeters apart, he could taste the lingering heat of the hot chocolate on Mike’s breath. “And now?”

Mike’s eyes drooped and darkened. His hands slipped around Boomer’s waist, under the jersey, a silent entreaty. “I think you can do a little better than that, Angel.”

The secret nickname broke Boomer’s resolve, and he kissed his boyfriend full on the mouth with all the confidence and shamelessness he couldn’t give him that morning at the mall surrounded by children and their parents. Mike’s shirt soon found its way to the floor along with Boomer’s borrowed jersey. The loveseat was too short to accommodate Mike’s height comfortably, and after a few moments Boomer held him close and flew them to the bed in a flash.

“I’ll never get over how hot that is,” Mike said, breathless.

Boomer blushed, unable to help it. He was careful with his strength around Mike, but sometimes the X bonded to his bones pushed him to the raw, carnal boundaries of humanity. Mike’s hand on his cheek drew him out of those spiraling thoughts.

“I mean it,” Mike said. “I love that part of you. And I trust you completely.”

Words did not come easily, nor did they seem appropriate in that moment. Boomer bent to kiss Mike again and pull him as close as he could get. Wrapped up in the warm sheets and each other, Boomer’s silly little thought that he had never been happier grew and swelled to heights he never could have imagined before Mike. They lay there together, lazy and sleepy, as the credits of their forgotten holiday movie played on the television.

“One more semester,” Mike said, “and then I graduate.”

“I can’t believe you’re almost a college graduate,” Boomer said. “It feels like you left ages ago.”

“Four years is a long time, but it’s not forever. And you should get ready.”

Boomer looked up at him. “Ready for what?”

“To move, of course.”

“Move?”

“Hey, I love how cozy your apartment is, but I’m pretty sure Pumpkin would appreciate her own room once we’re living together full time.”

Boomer sat up properly. “You… You want to move in together? With me?”

“Of course! The only question is, where do you want to go?”

Boomer covered his mouth. Of course he had thought about getting a place with Mike, but that always seemed like the distant future. What if they didn’t stay together? What if the long distance was too hard? What if Mike met someone else at college? Brick didn’t talk about it much, but after a few too many drinks one night the year Blossom and Mike both left for college, he’d confessed how afraid he was that he would lose her forever. How can the old be exciting and fun compared to the amazing, new adventures she would be having?

But from the way Boomer had caught them all but absorbing each other at Todd’s tonight, Blossom seemed perfectly happy to keep him. And Mike…

“You’re serious,” Boomer said.

“I’ve never been more serious.” Mike took his hand and kissed his knuckles carefully. “I can’t wait to start our lives together.”

Boomer could have cried. He almost did. Life was hard, even for a Super like him. With endless bills to pay and the occasional monster to dispose of, sometimes he felt like he was being pulled in too many directions without anyone there to help pick up the slack. But this… This was his.

“Me too,” Boomer said. “And I don’t care where we go, as long as it’s together.”

“Well, cool. In that case, if you’re not opposed to it, was thinking farther north, like Metroville. There are some great photography jobs there that I want to apply for, and the music scene is bigger than it is here—”

“Yes! A hundred percent yes, let’s do it. When do we leave?”

Mike laughed. “June 1st, as soon as they hand me my diploma.”

Six months. It had a date now. Unthinking, Boomer threw his arms around Mike’s broad shoulders and hugged him tight. “I’ll mark my calendar.”

“It’s a date.”

Incidentally, they did not get much sleep the rest of that night.

xxx

I told myself I wasn’t going to do a ton of fluff, but damnit all, Boomike is SUPER CUTE and I couldn’t help myself. Let them have the happy ending they deserve. Thanks for reading!

[heartbreakgrill]

Serious; Luke Hemmings (Pt. 1)

a/n: I cannot tell you where this came from, but it IS ACTUALLY REALLY GOOD OMG. please enjoy, there WILL be more parts probably tomorrow. (Also omg I’m dying my hair, should I post a selfie? I’ve never done a face reveal lol)

description: he came with the falling of the leaves, and left with the cold breeze of winter. maybe this time, he’d stay.

The gentle cracking of a leaf breaking under your weight snapped your eyes to the sidewalk below. Your boot-clad feet ran into another leaf, a smile pile, and a dozen subway-like cracks caused by years of distress. You looked back up, afraid to run into anybody who wasn’t walking on the opposite side of the sidewalk. Luckily, you did just in time, because you dodged a group of girls jogging at a steady pace.

Your brows drew together; They weren’t in workout clothes. You looked for fear on their faces, but they passed quickly, without a hint of what you weren’t hoping for. Your head followed them, pace slowing, as you scanned their outfits. Some of them were dressed cute, in fall outfits similar to yours, but two or three were merchandise from a band- 5 Seconds of Summer.

You stopped completely. Your feet drew you to the wall behind you, as if they knew you were going to get ran over if you didn’t move. Your mouth fell agape slightly, and your heart raced. Fingers reached for your cellphone, hesitantly opening the contacts and scrolling past ABCDEFGHIJK...

L.

A sweaty thumb hovered over the sideways call button, tongue circling dry mouth for some kind of coping mechanism. Suddenly, it was ringing, but not from your actions.

Luke Hemmings.

You quickly answered, the hand that was still in the pocket of your jean jacket curling. “Hey,” a breathless tone, a feeling of desperation.

“I’m in town. I wanna see you,” he mumbled into the line, unable to speak much louder due to who all must be around him.

It’d been a year, a year since 19 year old Luke came crashing into your world like a hurricane. The leaves had been falling then, too, harsh winds whipping through until a calm autumn Sunday recruited your attention, the eye of the hurricane. It was a one night stand, fleeting kisses and dodging eyes when a phone number was hastily left on your bedside table.

You’d called. He’d answered. And after a month of relentless calls and texts, the winter winds took his blazing blue eyes and washed them out with read receipts and unopened Snapchats.

Of course you’d fallen for him so quickly. You were vulnerable, empty at that point in your life. Now, you were more stable, but you couldn’t resist seeing him.

You needed him, craved, as if some Pavlovian affect took hold as soon as the temperature dropped below 40 and midterms wheeled themselves into your schedule. It was Thanksgiving break, now, two weeks off from stressful deadlines, so you had time.

And, God, you were so willing to give it all to him.

“How long are you in town?” You muttered back, afraid someone on the other side would hear you.

“Week and a half. Five shows, 7 days off. Free today.”

Your eyes flickered between the people passing you, the crosswalk ten steps ahead. “I have plans for lunch, with a friend, but come over at 4. K?”

“Okay. See you soon.”

You hung up, taking control of the situation in the slightest. You wanted to grip onto the wall, your body flailing through space in his head and your own heart. There was no gripping the sand between your fingertips.

You went ahead to lunch, fingers tapping relentlessly on the tabletop, your inner thigh when you noticed Sheila glaring at the rhythm. Eventually, after you’d gulped through two ice waters and a sand which, she cleared her throat. You looked up from the floor, suddenly realizing how dry you’d been the last forty minutes.

She spoke, “okay, what is up with you?”

You and Sheila had been roommates last year, still were this year, too. Only, she was leaving today to visit family for the holiday. She’d been out running errands for before she left, and wanted to see you before she wouldn’t for half a month.

Your mouth was dry already, but you swallowed again to try to salivate it. Provide clarity to your words. You shrugged, knowing how embarrassing this would be, “Luke’s back.”

Sheilas eyebrows rose high, her arms crossing over her chest. She leaned back in her chair, tongue clicking in bashful anger. “Oh, really? For what? To apologize?”

You dryly chortled, though you didn’t smile. “No. He has some shows to do. I completely forgot. I haven’t even seen him post on Instagram in forever.”

“Y/N,” Sheila reached across the table and tightly gripped your wrist. She loosened the hold when you met her eyes. “You’re going to get hurt again.”

“I know,” you shrugged. “I just can’t say no, ya know? It sounds stupid, but maybe this will provide me closure. Or maybe this time he’ll stay.”

“You know he won’t.”

Her words didn’t hit you that hard: She was right.

The last time he’d been around, he was still with Arzaylea. You were a getaway for him, his escape from the flashing lights, the public state of his relationship with her, and the screaming fans. You promised him to never, ever tell anyone about the incident. the public would hate him, his fans would be angry, and he’d lose listeners.

“I don’t.”You denied her, though it was true, in the edge of an argument.

Sheila opened her mouth to speak, and you could tell by the breath she took, that she was going to reprimand you. You suddenly reached to the ground, hand snapping from her fingers, and tugged your back over your shoulder.

“I gotta go. He’s coming over in two hours. See you when you get back.”

Sheila sat in stunned silence, eyes barely following you as you bounced out the door. Your glare stared hard at the concrete beneath your feet, more and more leaves crunching below.

Soon to be an analogy to your heart.

-

You showered when you got home, brushed your teeth, washed your skin with glittering lotions and rose-scented body washes. He didn’t deserve all of this, no, but the way he’d make you feel for the next few days did. You should just move on, but your mind had been on him for the last year, and, yes, you would make sure this would be closure.

Or a new beginning.

A knock on the apartment door came firm and sharp at exactly 4:01. You were sitting on the edge of your couch, ignoring the text messages from Sheila, and the group chat with your other friends. Your knee was bouncing and you hoped to God he wouldn’t smell your anxious sweat.

You wiped your brow before standing and moving in shaky legs to the door. You shut an eye, peering through the peephole. There he stood, in all his rockstar glory, a leather jacket and black skinny jeans holding clenched fists, pouty pink lips framing the frantic look on his blue eyes. God, had they always been that pretty?

You opened the door wide, allowing him to move in beside you. You shut it, turning to face him.

And it all came back naturally.

Luke reached out to your waist, pulling you flush against him in a warm hug. You held his neck between your arms, fingers tucking themselves into his curls, which were much longer now.

“How are you?” His accent had faded much more, but it was still there to haunt the goosebumps on your skin.

You tugged away, fingers splaying across his leather jacket. “Okay. Uh, nervous,” you shared a laugh before he moved his hand to cup your cheek.

Your eyes melded into his own, his blue pupils flushed wide open with intoxicated lust. “Don’t be. Just me.”

You pressed your lips to his own, feeling the same balloon pop in your chest. And, some time later, you were flush against the bed, Luke’s body collapsed on top of yours. Your heaving chest puffed up with each deep breath to meet his own before he rolled over beside you.

You squeezed your eyes shut, opening them as he moved his arms around you. You turned to face him, eyelashes now fluttering against his chest.

“You’re so beautiful,” he smiled softly at you.

“Your hairs gotten longer,” you replied. You reached up and curled the strands around your pointer finger.

“Yeah, decided to grow it out after I broke up with...” he trailed off, “well, you know her.”

This was the first you were hearing of the breakup. Your eyes lit up, but you surpressed your grin. “Oh. I didn’t know.”

Luke shrugged, “S’okay, though. I’ve been better without her. Hell, even Petunia is happier. I got my own place in LA, living with Ash and Cal now.”

“How are they?” You asked him, letting your head falling into the cavity between his breasts.

He drew across your skin, “Good. Yeah, Ash has a girl. Kay, is her name. Cal’s still single, but he’s good. Michael’s still with Crystal. They’re living together now.”

You hummed. “And you?

His eyes met yours and he smiled sadly. “Still getting over it. But, I think this could help...”

He kissed you again. You held on, unwilling to let go until his phone started to ring. He answered it, other arm still holding you close to him.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in an hour.”

Your bottom lip poured, moving with Luke was he sat up. He stood and began to put on his boxers, but left the rest of himself naked. You admired his chest, more defined now that he was somewhat taller and healthier.

Maybe you didn’t regret being the other girl if she had really taken that big of a toll on him...

Luke hung up the phone with a goodbye and sat on the edge of the bed. You wrapped your arms around him from behind. Your lips grazed the skin beneath his ear and his head fall back against your shoulder.

“Everything okay?” You kissed.

He nodded, “Gotta get back for some celebration shit.”

You sighed as he turned to face you. He hugged you better, forehead pressing against yours. “Hey, pretty girl, I’m not going anywhere for another hour.”

“Another week, right?” You smiled. His head rocked forward. “Good.”

“We talked about me some, let’s hear about you.”

Luke got more comfortable after handing you his T-shirt. He leaned up against the headboard, allowing you to lay your head in his lap. His hand fell in your hair, the other splayed across your stomach.

Your fingers played with his. “Not much has changed, Lu. I’m better, I feel better. But it’s still just college, work, internships here and there. Can’t wait to graduate and just travel.”

“You look better,” the hand in your hair traced your jawline. “You look healthier and happier. I could see it in your walk.”

“I got a therapist,” you giggled.

He applauded you jokingly before his hands found their spot again. “I’m proud of you. I remember you telling me how nervous you were for that. But look at you now. Beautiful as always, but happy with yourself. That makes you the most beautiful.”

Your cheeks flushed and you looked away. “Yeah, well, thanks.”

“Where do you think you’ll go first?” He continued to inquire.

You shrugged, “I wanna go to France. Or LA.”

An awkward beat passed. Would he think you were asking to come visit? Was he going to pull away then, did he still wants no strings attached?

You cleared your throat and Luke’s tongue clicked in response. “LA’s beautiful. Not as good as home, though.”

Was that an invitation?

“Australia?” He hummed at the question. “Id like to go. See an ostrich or a kangaroo.”

He laughed, “Out of everything there is to see.”

“What do you want me to say? ‘Oh, gosh, I can’t wait to go to Australia and meet Liz Hemmings! She is the real star here.’”

You laughed loudly at the joke and Luke joined you until silence took over again. You felt him shrug. “I think she’d like you.”

“Who?” Your brows furrowed.

He traced them, feeling down to around your chin and brushing the hair away from your neck. “Mum. She’d like you. You’re kind, bubbly. Like her.”

You blushed again. “I’d like to meet her.”

“I...” Luke trailed and never picked up from it.

It was nearly 9 pm now, and your eyes were beginning to fall close. You hadn’t realized how stuck on a schedule you were from college until your body relaxed completely into Luke’s lap. Your hand held tightly to his, though, fingers threaded with them.

He glanced at the clock on your bedside table, methodically rubbing circles into your hairline. His lips puckered and he leaned to place a firm kiss onto your cheek, nose, forehead.

He gently set you onto the bed, pulling the sheets out you. He tugged in the muscle tank top he’d work under his shirt, his leather jacket, jeans, and boots before tucking away his phone. He would bear the cold for you to sleep in his shirt.

Luke kissed your forehead again, causing you to stir. You groggily opened your eyes, meeting the electric blue right above you.

“Gotta go, pretty girl. I’ll see you tomorrow? Maybe you could come to a show,” Luke squeezed your wrist.

You pursed your lips and he pressed a kiss to them. “Okay. see you.”

He was gone with the click of the lock in the door and you rolled over, wide awake.

TAG LIST: @mantlereid , @boxofteenageideas @dinosaursandsocks , @ashhdaniellee95 @stephaniemelville-blog @zhangyixingxing1 @verlaneswiftie13

[backoftheroomandnotbelonging]

What more can you give? (YUNGBLUD x reader)

A/N: A little something for the Black Hearts Club this Christmas, hope y’all have a good one!

Dom has been working on a new album, to the detriment of his health. You force him to take Christmas off.

You knew Dom was passionate. It was one of the attributes that drew you to him initially; but seeing everything else he cared about fall to the side so that he could finish his latest album was something you knew Dom would want intervention for. Remembering his excitement whenever he makes a breakthrough made you smile. Your smile falls just as quickly when you think about how he’s so easily immersed and sucked into his music. He has tunnel vision; you’d unconditionally support him but even you had to admit it was difficult to, especially so close to the holidays.

The holidays had always been a controversial time for you. Growing up despite always having ‘good’ Christmases, they always feel a little off, a little fake, to you. You dreaded your first Christmas with Dom. It was your second Christmas after leaving home and you’d quite enjoyed that first year of just you alone. Maybe ‘dreaded’ was the wrong word, you cherished every moment with Dom and loved spending secluded winter moments with him but this hyperactive puppy on Christmas Day may be too much for your lack of enthusiasm. You really didn’t want to ruin his holiday, especially right now. No matter what you felt, you wanted to make this Christmas as laid back and ecstatic for him as possible. He needed some time, an excuse, to let loose and be silly and not have to think so much. He needed to lose the furrowed brow.

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

As the season progressed it became more and more evident that drastic measures were going to have to be taken.

The morning after your work Christmas party (an event you had managed to get Dom to spare some time and headspace for) you woke intending to perform your traditional lazy morning in bed routine. You say tradition but for the last two months it had fallen by the wayside but, since you and Dom had purposely scheduled the day to be free, there was no better time to recommence it. You stretched under the pale frosty sunrays that spread across your duvet, humming with satisfaction as a cold chill tingled against your upper arms and elevated the warmth of the rest of your body. The lazy grin stretching upon your face was yearning to be nuzzled between Dom’s shoulder blades but as you wriggled around to find his body, your ankle met the brisk chill of the bedsheet. The duvet had been cast aside and the bed was empty. Now you didn’t feel quite so blissful because sat on the pillow, his pillow, was a pink post-it note reading:

Darlin

Gone to the studio

Luv ya!

You smiled at the sentiment before reminding yourself that this was now a common occurrence. Therefore, you rolled your eyes and flopped back down onto your pillow.

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

A week later and you’d come down with the flu. For the best part of three days you were practically comatose on the couch: wrapped in a duvet, high on paracetamol and binge watching American Horror Story. You had hives blotching your body, moments when your vision would blackout and extreme skin sensitivity, as well as the usual symptoms. Dom had given in to your demands that he not see you until you were over the worst and you suppose, in some sense, he was grateful you were holed up at home because it meant he could burn himself out at the studio without your physical interference. Not that he didn’t care, he maintained constant contact and care for you…just from a distance. He’d given you what you asked for and you were especially thankful as it gave you the perfect opportunity to discuss a family visit with Sam.

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

“Love? You home?”

“Yeah, just in the bedroom.”

“Whatcha doin?”

“Dominic. Baby, you know I love a cuddle but I’m trying to pack…”

“What we packing for? Are you leaving?”

“Oh, stop it, if I was leaving would I pack your boxers? I’ll tell you right now the answer is no. We are packing to spend a couple days with your parents.”

“But I got studio-“

“Uh- no, you don’t. That studio time never got booked. You can be as angry as you want but this is an intervention. You’re taking Christmas off. And it’s your mother’s birthday so…”

“Why? You understand how much this means to me.”

“Does it mean more to you than family? You’ve got to remember that everyone celebrates Christmas. Maybe Yungblud wants to be in the studio but don’t you think Adam, Tom and Michael might want to be home for the holidays?”

“I just…”

“I know, darling. I do. It means everything to you; we all know how dedicated you are and how much the fans mean to you. But take a second: close your eyes, breathe and look inside yourself. Dom, baby, you’re burning out. Please, please, just take a few days out with me.”

“I will, love.”

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

By late Christmas Eve you were back at Dom’s apartment. He’d enjoyed catching up with his parents and messing about with his sisters but had declined the opportunity to stay for actual Christmas Day because he wanted your first Christmas together to be alone and shamelessly romantic, or so his mother told you after the New Year. The entire journey to London was spent with Dom’s USB in the radio and him trying to find the lyrics to match the earworm he’d already recorded.

He then proceeded to spend the night on his laptop with headphones and composition software, only moving to sleep when you hauled him up and claimed that his present would be replaced with coal. He was out like a light. The second that boy sunk into the mattress he was gone. It made you frustrated because it proved that you were right. You loved him dearly, of course, but he was a stubborn bugger – absolute in the belief that he wasn’t too tired and too overworked so could continue his new routine. Idiot. Wouldn’t listen to reason or accept help and now he’s passing out to sleep instead of just sleeping like a log.

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

You were jarred awake to the tones of ‘Last Christmas’ by WHAM. You smiled beneath the blanket covering your face; it was Christmas. The mattress was empty next to you, again, but you knew Dom wasn’t far. And that he wasn’t working. With that reassurance in mind you burrowed deeper into the covers and allowed the gentle beat of the music drift you into a state between awake and sleep.

The floorboards began to groan but you couldn’t bring yourself to open your eyes fully. A gentle thud sounded as something was placed on the stack of books by your bed. A kiss was planted on the crown of your head. The floorboards creaked and the door squeaked as it was left ajar.

You prised your eyes open and saw a steaming mug of tea atop your battered copy of ‘the Help’. A warm fuzz filled you as a sleepy smile emerged. Shuffling to sit by your pillow you reach for you tea, cradling it in your hands and resting it against your chest. The smell and warmth bringing immediate comfort to you; the steam felt therapeutic against the dry skin of your face – the English winter wind is brutal. You stayed curled up with your drink for the next half hour. Dom had evidently unearthed the Christmas album from where you’d hidden it and you had to admit the stream of festivity in your ears was making you light up. The children in the flat above yours were scampering about, letting out excited yells and being shushed by their parents; it made you think of how your future Christmases may one day be…

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

Once the dregs of your tea had been drunk, you made a move. Swinging your legs out of bed you hissed at the cold floor and reached for the oversized pink socks you’d smuggled out of the latest Yungblud merch collection. Deciding already that you’d need another layer, you found your favourite cardigan strewn across the foot of the bed. Now amply protected from the elements you ventured out of your bedroom towards the source of the noise.

You’d intended to make Dom aware that you were awake immediately but the serenity of the scene you walked in on made you freeze. Dom was filling the coffee machine, unloading the dishwasher and clearing surfaces for the midday bomb that would be two young adults pretending to adult and cook an entire Christmas lunch. The domesticity and thoughtfulness in his actions warmed your heart. What made you tear up, however, was the sight of his shoulders.

(And not just because his unzipped hoodie was sliding off his shoulder giving you a…view.)

As he bopped around the kitchen, all bent knees and dramatic wrists, the swaying flow of his shoulders was effortless. For months they had gathered tension and rigidity, and now it seemed he no longer held the weight of the entire world there. Dom suddenly began to spin, arms out and laughing. Your stomach swooped causing a bubble of laughter to escape. As ‘Christmas (Baby Come Home)’ played out he stared at you. Up and down. You got shy in the doorway. His boyish grin returned, with the full force of his teeth behind it.

The opening chord of ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ began and you could tell from the twitch of his lip that your moment of silent reflection was over. He swung the mug from your hand, while twirling you, to place it on the side before bringing you close. For the next couple of minutes, the pair of you jumped and dropped and lively slow danced until you were breathless, sweaty and giggling.

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

Dom collapsed over you: arms flung over your shoulders like dead weight, head resting beside yours and legs each side of one of your own.

“I’ve been in my head. I’m sorry.”

“Dom-“

“No, love. I went too far. Balance is hard for me cus I just wanna throw myself into everything 100% always but I neglected you and I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Dom. I understand that about you; not just that, I love that about you.”

“The thing is, you might want to take that apology because it’s all I have to offer you today…”

You chuckled, “What more can you give me? These past few days you’ve given me the trust to make judgements for you. That means everything to me.”

“Well…you’re my favourite. And I’m going to keep you forever.”

[paintedrecs]

‘It didn’t snow in their part of California; it never had, and likely never would. But that didn’t stop him from asking, or longing, once he was too old to believe his parents could make anything happen. Maybe it wasn’t the natural state of the world, for a town that wasn’t far enough north, or high enough in the mountains, to gather that magical dusting he daydreamed about every winter. The thing was, though. Most of the world didn’t know werewolves existed outside of fairy tales and horror films. People relied on what they knew, and what they’d been taught, without opening their eyes to other possibilities.’

Honestly I just want the origin for this story. What led to it, what parts did you know first, etc. it’s one of my favorites and I love it.

Submissions are actually kinda weird (I’ve never used them before), so I don’t know if there’s a better way to post this, but! We’ll try it this way.

For this meme. 

Excerpt from the opening of tide pulls from the moon (Sterek, 45k, canon divergent, future fic)

I’m very fond of this fic, which people tend to refer to as “warm” and “healing.” Two things I wanted to achieve with it, so that’s always awesome to hear. I’m really glad that you like it! 

Funny story..........this was one of my failed attempts to write a 3k fic for the Sterek Zine. I tried like....three times, I think, and they all ballooned too much, because writing within a strict word limit is really difficult for me. (One of the reasons it’s probably the only zine I’ll ever be a part of.) So I sat down and just cranked out the rest of this fic instead, which ended up being one of my favorites for a long time.

It’s been long enough now (five years since I posted it!!!) that I honestly don’t really remember the initial inspiration or plan. I do know I was sitting in one of my favorite local coffee shops, drinking a latte. I was thinking about winter (a thing I don’t get in California) and about Derek and his family. I think I was planning for it to be a very short thing about his family - the image of his grandmother came right away - that would lead into a scene with Stiles in the snow, maybe building a snowman. Something soft and sweet about new beginnings.

Then I started writing, and I got into a little bit of the family feels, as one does with the Hales, and then this scene happened:

The holidays made Derek happy, every year, even if the weather never did shift over into the picture-perfect landscape all the movies and songs lingered over lovingly.

He even secretly loved being born on Christmas Day - "the best gift I've ever received," his mom would say. "Me too," Laura would add, since her reward for a ruined Christmas spent in the hospital had been a silky black puppy with big eyes and bigger paws. She'd spent years trying to shift into her full wolf form so they could tumble together in the Preserve, two woodland creatures at play.

She hadn't managed it - not then. Not until years later, long after the Alpha powers had coursed through her body and left her shaking and sobbing, grey-white flakes of ash drifting softly in the air and settling onto their bowed shoulders, coating their smoldering house and scorched yard into a mockery of the winter wonderland Derek had always dreamed about.

It'd been snowing in New York the day he felt her die.

And suddenly I knew this wasn’t going to be a short fic. It had to be canon compliant (or at least, compliant with the parts of canon I’m willing to acknowledge), and somewhere in the future, with Derek leaving Beacon Hills for a place where he could find things he’d never get if he stayed. Snow, maybe. Distance from both the good and horrific memories of his past. Maybe some kind of healing, if he could ever manage that.

(More under the cut.)

Derek leaving Beacon Hills isn’t a new concept - I’ve been reading Sterek fics for years, so I’d seen plenty of this concept before - but I hadn’t ever read one where he went to England. And I just...I don’t know. I took him to a place where I’d been during a sort of transitional point in my life, where I’ve felt some of the deepest contentment.

I realized after writing and editing and fact-checking and posting my fic that I’d made a mistake and Cornwall actually does not get snow either, at least not to the thickly soft level I’d described at the end, so just...ignore that part. It’s a fantasy world. In this world, Cornwall gets more than a little dusting of snow in the winters, okay. (I’d visited for several weeks during the summer, had been in England during the winter but not in that part of it, and had foolishly relied on googling images, where I’d seen evidence of snow. I mercilessly research all my fics now, largely because of this error, hahaha)

Anyway, the point is that Cornwall is this little jewel of a place that’s small and quiet and beautiful and slow-paced enough that I could see Derek really finding his footing and learning how to be himself in a world that had been so incredibly damaging for so much of his life.

Most of the settings are real places I’ve been to. Derek’s house, with the deck overlooking the tidal river, is a house my best friend’s godmother owns, and which I wish I could someday retire to. The three of us drank tea out there and journaled in the mornings and watched the river pull back, leaving boats stranded - but only until the tide came rushing back in to free them.

We walked through a bluebell-thick wood to a pub with cozy wooden booths and plates of crunchy-boned fish. We went to the Eden Project, to Land’s End, to a modern art gallery. I was, during this particular trip, pretty deeply in love with my friend, who was not in love with me, and whom I never told.

I think all of that just added.......emotional depth when I pulled out those memories and shaped them into a story that didn’t match any of my actual experiences, but drew from a backdrop of physical settings I’d embedded in my soul.

This was a beautiful place that I still think of very fondly. I wanted Derek to be able to live in a place like that - to have his pack, Stiles, his new family, join him there and see what kind of peace and happiness he’d found.

tide pulls has always been a pretty personal story to me, and I think that’s why it always makes me so happy when readers come out of it saying they feel a sense of healing and contentment, too. 

[mcrmadness]

(I’m trying out the bolding technique with this post, I personally don’t like writing with it but I like reading it, so let’s see how it goes...)

***

Thinking about my (undiagnosed) inattentive ADHD and how differently it behaves depending on the weather and seasons. I also have seasonal affective disorder aka SAD, because I live in Finland and winters days are very short and winters themselves are quite dark. Summers are the opposite, there’s not dark even during nights.

I started thinking about adhd for the first time about 10 years ago when I was 19 and had been eating antidepressants and antipsychotics for anxiety for 3 years at that point (I quit them 3 years later), and I felt like they did something to my brain. I was trying to research over this and if they can cause permanent brain damage and if they can “activate” adhd on an adult even if there’d have never been adhd in the childhood. Then I kinda forgot about it until I started questioning myself again several years later. I have been talking about this in therapy too and I have now had about 2 years of time to read about ADHD and especially the adult ADHD and the inattentive version, and I’ve been watching myself the whole time and this is now second year of this and I can now tell what I have noticed. Before I thought this all was just regular SAD but now I think it’s actually ADD that just changes itself depending on the seasons, thanks to SAD. This is what I noticed:

I am always more energetic in the spring and summer, and become very phlegmatic in the autumn and winter. For about 4 years in a row I was working and studying and this happened every year - every autumn I wished I could have just stayed at home, sleeping, and free days were the best. And in the spring I got so excited and I loved going to work and being there (my work was to be a horse groom), sometimes even looking forward the next work days.

Now I have been at home for the past 2 years and this year was the first when I didn’t do any kind of work training in the summer. Since at least 2014, I had always been working during spring and summer so I was so excited to finally have an actual summer holiday that I would spend just at home! And when the spring came, and I had no work to go, I was so full of energy it was insane. It was so difficult to be in one place, I went for walks and I just couldn’t sit 24/7 and one day I was getting so incredibly bored I actually cleaned my fridge - and I hate hate HATE cleaning! Still I think I did lots of other type of cleaning too because I was so bored but way too mentally hyperactive to be in one place. I almost felt like looking for a summer job, that’s how hyperactive I felt.

Now fast-forwarding to this autumn. I’m phlegmatic again. I’m bored very often but I would never ever start cleaning my fridge just out of boredom - I just go lie on the sofa instead of something. I don’t have the energy for cleaning. I barely can even take care of my kitchen. Or myself. I mainly just do the dishes, clean up some of the trashes and take them out when I must, and some days I also manage to cook for myself. But other than that, this place looks like a bomb would have gone off here. My sofa is filled with old drawings, books and drawing supplies I should put away. My kitchen floor is flooded from empty plastic bags + plastic bags I use for collecting recyclable things and yet I can’t even recycle every milk carton because I have no energy for cleaning them so I just throw them in the trash instead. My kitchen table looks like a landfill every other week and I clean it up only because I’m running out of space and get annoyed by that, and yet it starts looking the same very soon because it’s too much to ask to stand up and open the kitchen cabinet door, pull out the trash can tray and put the trash in there. So I just leave everything on the table(s) until I need the table(s) again clear them out.

I also noticed I am more creative during autumn. But because of executive dysfunction getting so bad during autumn, I don’t actually create as much as I would like to. But when whenever I can beat the executive dysfunction and procrastination, I can still sit down to draw and I can finally (hyper)focus once I get past the hardest part of everything: the starting point.

During spring I’m way too (mentally) hyperactive to sit down to draw (so I do weird shit like clean the fridge instead) but might get lots of inspirations I then write down - and if I do get that inspiration to draw, I can’t stop and this year there was this one night when I did 4 drawings in just one night. One or two of them were WIP’s but I still really drew 4 different drawings in one night when normally it’s an achievement to draw 1 drawing in 4 months. Would have done even more if I had more ideas or didn’t need to go to sleep.

I also had this “neuropsychiatric training” that was supposed to help me with home chores and I don’t think it was helpful at all. It maybe looked like that because we started in the autumn and stopped in the summer. And if you have read what I have already written, you already know why. Of course my home started to look cleaner and everything seemed to stay in order better because that’s how it always goes with the seasons! I explained this to the trainer too and she said that I should take credit for my good work and not just look for excuses for why did I succeed at doing a chore. Her opinion was that the seasons don’t affect like that - or so I perceived that. But on me they really do affect. On sunny weeks I got a lot more done than on those rainy weeks. Weather affects me a lot because I don’t only have (undiagnosed) ADHD, I’m also highly sensitive person (HSP) and for me that is a slightly different thing than being a neurodivergent. There’s lots of things that overlap but I experience them a little bit differently depending on which one is causing them. Let me know if you would like to hear more about my thought about the differences between ADHD and HSP, and how having both affect me and how I experience them. It’s kinda interesting trying to get those things in balance!

[poseyxharper]

Who?: Persephone Harper and Andrew Harper

What?: Posey finally calls her dad to talk after six months of avoiding him. 

When?: ...sometime post-December 25th... yep

Where?: Allen Residence in Los Angeles

Why?: B/c Cheese needed it. Let me and my wordy self be.

The warm air in Los Angeles hit her face as she stepped outside the Allen house. It was cooler than it had been in the summer, but it still was much milder than she was used to when celebrating the winter holidays. Perhaps the fact that it was milder made her think of the fact that Persephone had always been more of a fan of spring. Maybe that love had been predestined with her mother’s choice of name when the girl was born at the end of May, or maybe she’d acquired that taste for herself. She couldn’t decide most days lately. 

Between her conversations and texts that she’d had with David and celebrating Christmas in a brand new way, her dad had been at the forefront of her brain more often than not. She had enjoyed being actually happy and feeling an immense amount of love being there in Los Angeles- but there was a pang of guilt for feeling that way. 

After Genevieve left them, Posey felt as though the world had fallen onto her shoulders. With her dad in the hospital and her sister not completely understanding what was happening, that was where her will to make others happy even if she might not be really began. That was not to say that she was insensitive before the abandonment, but someone had to step up and make things okay for everyone after things started crumbling. Holidays were not exactly enjoyed as she spent the days before and during cleaning and cooking and attempting to make sure that her father and sister would enjoy it. She wanted them to have happy memories of the days, even if she made and remade multiple dishes because she couldn’t get them right. They had to be right. If they weren’t exactly right, the magic of the day would disintegrate. 

Seeing her father and sister happy was what fueled her to keep doing all the efforts she did every year. This was now the first year she hadn’t actively done everything in her being to make sure they both enjoyed their day. Of course, it was different- Dani was an adult of her own, and knew how to make herself happy now. Posey had found her own Danny and was thrilled to be sharing her holiday season with him. And this year had brought the wedding of her father and… Ciara. It was already going to be a completely different feeling. 

But it would have fine. She would have found a way to make it all work. She would have cooked and cleaned and done everything to make everything work out. Everyone could be happy. 

Everyone should be happy. 

Posey just couldn’t bring herself to show up in Denver though… not after the summer. She’d spent months now avoiding the thoughts of how upset she still was about the entire situation- filling all of her time with coursework or adding more extracurriculars to her schedule from time to time or even just throwing herself into a book or research on some random topics. But the end of the semester gave her way too much time to think.

Her eyes glanced down at her phone screen, feeling a rather familiar knot in her stomach as she hovered over her father’s number. Quickly, she tapped his name and held the phone up, the trilling of the ring echoing in her ear.

“Posey?” Her father’s voice finally answered after what felt like an eternity. “Posey, is that you?”  “Y-Yes. It’s me.” “Oh, dear, it’s really nice to hear you. I- Belated Merry Christmas.” “Yes, same to you.” -a moment passed, and she drew a breath in. “I- How have you been? What was Christmas like? What did you eat?” 

A soft laugh came through the phone. “I am perfectly healthy, Posey. I just went to the doctor last week. Everything is looking well. It was actually… very quiet. Dani stayed in New York because she booked a couple gigs for the holidays. So it was just myself and… Ciara.” He let out a soft sigh. “I’m sorry, Posey… I really am so sorry. I should have told you the truth years ago.. After your mother- after Genevieve left.. But when I got sick, and there was already so much stress on you then with that and I didn’t want to add to it… I know that’s no excuse, dear… I just hope that you can forgive me or at least we can start to try and mend things..” 

Posey listened to her father’s words carefully, breathing in shakily as her eyes well up with tears. “Dad…” There were so many things that she wanted to say, but honestly didn’t know where to even begin. She was still upset and kind of angry about how everything unfolded, but she also was exhausted with keeping this grudge of sorts against one of the only people in her life that never made her feel like she was strange or odd for the ways she handled things. Perhaps it was because he had relied on her, but she still missed being able to tell him about highs and lows of her life. Even when she was overseas, she made time to video call or chat with him about goings on. 

She sniffled, wiping a tear that finally fell down her cheek. “I- I am still upset. I can’t lie about that. It does still hurt quite a lot that this… life-long secret was just blurted out so nonchalantly as if it wouldn’t shake me. And I realize that that was Ciara’s doing and not yours, but you know me. You’ve known me my entire life, Dad… I’ve never enjoyed sudden surprises. I like plans. I like structure. I like knowing what I am walking into as much as I can and you two had over TWO years to tell me this.” She paused and took a breath. “But… I also hate this anger and sadness consuming a part of me… It’s not helping me, it’s only hurting me… So, I agree. I would like to try and mend things with you..” She chewed on her lip for a moment. “But I’m not ready to do that yet with Ciara. ...I thought I had an idea of who you were marrying, but now it feels like she is a complete stranger again..” 

“Slowly but surely, perhaps?” Her father’s voice said hopefully. “I understand that this is not something any of us can repair overnight, Posey… but I do know that Ciara really does want to explain and get to know you quite a lot. She doesn’t know where to start, but I have a lot of faith that in time, you and her will create a plan to hear each other out.”  “Let’s… re-evaluate at another time, okay?” Posey said, sniffling again.  “Okay, Posey.” Another moment passed. “Perhaps… we can video chat soon? Just the two of us?” “Yes, that sounds like a rather good plan. I will text you with updates on when I am back on the campus so we can best determine a time.”  “Wonderful. And thank you… for wanting to mend fences.” “Of course. Goodbye, Dad.” “Bye Posey. Talk soon.”

[freckled-words]

Count The Teeth - Part Eleven

I am just. I don’t even know? I swear I remember posting this final chapter last year with the whole series, I swear I did, but as far as my tumblr account can tell, it doesn’t exist.....I hate tumblr sometimes, I really do. So if this is already in existence, then let’s just roll with this being an odd duplicate.

I’m not going to post all the prior links here, as I’m setting up another post that will have EVERYTHING on it, including the original one shot ‘Smoke and Blood.’

I can’t even remember if this was edited. Regardless, enjoy this random end chapter XD

It had been the oddest thing when you left NateMare licking his wounds.

You’d gone to the driveway and found a taxi waiting for you. The driver said the fare had been taken care of and he was to take you wherever you wanted. When you asked him who had covered the tab, he said a well spoken gentleman had done so. 

Seeing your disheveled appearance in pajamas, the taxi driver became curious as to why you were there. 

You went with an elaborate story. It was your birthday, and your asshole brother had kidnapped you and brought you here for a spooky adventure. You’d gotten fed up with his childish antics and had decided to leave. You added that it was likely your brother’s friend that had paid the taxi driver.

When you got home, you took a long, luxurious, hot shower and collapsed into bed. Your exhaustion was deeper than you’d thought, leading you to sleeping for a straight 12 hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4 months later…

It had taken him a month, but Mercer had kept his word. He’d found each of his victims that had been put into a coma, and brought them out of it. When questioned about what had happened to send them into the coma, they all had the same story. They’d been out at night, and they came across a man looking for directions. After they sent him on his way, they’d become dizzy and passed out.

Authorities believed that the victims had been distracted by the man asking for directions, then jumped by a second person that knocked them out and then drained them for blood. Reddit was running rampant with theories about a team collecting blood for the black market.

You supposed it was better than them getting freaked out about a rampaging vampire. The last thing the city needed were civilians taking up guns, pitch forks, torches, and stakes to go after people that were innocent.

In the following months, you remained on alert. NateMare’s promise of retribution had left a fairly strong impression. Armed with the knowledge of something to use against him, you’d set up a collection of weapons throughout the apartment.

In the kitchen, you had a bucket of blessed water by the sink. In the living room, you had a Super Soaker loaded with the stuff and in your bedroom, you had a spray bottle at the ready. You knew it would annoy and delay him at best, but at least it was better than just standing around and letting him curse you again.

You were so intent on watching for hints of a smoke cloud, you didn’t think to watch for any bats.

Which was how Mercer caught you off guard.

You’d spent the day out with one of your friends, and had lost track of time. It was dark when you made the walk home. The night was overcast and the wind was much colder as winter was settling in.

Despite your thick jacket, you still felt the chill. Your hands were stuffed into your pockets and your shoulders were hunched up to your ears. Your attention darted between the people walking towards you on the sidewalk and the people that were walking parallel to you across the street. Leaving no room to focus on your surroundings behind you.

An arm went around your shoulders, pulling you in against a tall frame. Startled you made a noise that was barely a word and some kind of squeak.

A familiar voice chuckled, making the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. You didn’t dare look up, not wanting to get caught by his eyes. 

“What are you doing here Mercer?”

Mercer’s arm squeezed a little tighter, guiding you forward to keep walking.

He was greatly enjoying himself. You could tell from his voice as he replied, “Well hello to you too. Can’t a friend just come around for a visit now and then?”

“We’re not friends.”

“Oh, you wound me.” He lamented, without an ounce of actual dismay.

“Did you come here to get some payback for soaking you?” It was the first thing that came to mind, and you were kicking yourself for not bringing your tiny spray bottle with you when leaving earlier.

You caught sight of Mercer’s hand as he waved that thought off, “Not at all. I’ve gotten over that little trifle. As I said, I’m just here on a friendly visit.”

“At what point between you and NateMare trying to kill each other, did you and I become friends?” You could see your apartment building up ahead, and at this point, you were just utterly perplexed as to what was happening with Mercer right now.

He ignored your question, “I had some time to think while I went from hospital to hospital, and I’ve come up with a fun idea. One that I’m sure you’ll see the benefits of.”

You knew it was stupid, you could hear yourself calling it stupid, but when you both stopped in front of your building, you looked up. 

The bugger was genuinely amused, smiling brightly and in all innocence. There was no glow to his eyes and you didn’t feel any part of you go numb. He was playing nice. For now.

You shrugged off his arm and moved around to stand in front of him, “And what idea is this?” 

“Well, as we’re both aware, my dear, baby brother is all in a huff about you letting me go. The set of lungs on that boy, I swear. My ears were throbbing for an hour after his hollering.”

You winced, but you weren’t surprised Mercer had caught that.

“I was thinking to myself about how much trouble you and he were, going around and messing about in my handiwork. Good job on digging up the family history by the way. Anyways, I thought I should probably keep tabs on my brother, make sure he doesn’t come barging in on me at some point unexpectedly. The only problem is that I’m terrible at tracking idiots.”

You shuffled on the spot, getting colder by the minute. Mercer was clearly intent on dragging this out, and you doubted he’d just let you walk away. But you had no intention of inviting him inside.

“So I came to the only logical conclusion: You! I knew he was bound to come knocking on your door at some point and figured I’d keep watch. I tell you, watching a mortal for a month is boring. Which is why we’re having this chat. Much more engaging than just hovering about bored out of my mind.”

Your blood pressure rose at his declaration of stalking you for the past month. You thought you’d felt eyes on you, and it made you twice as jumpy. Knowing it was this nuisance didn’t make you feel any easier.

Processing everything he was saying all together, you just about threw your hands up.

It was the same damned position you’d been in 5 months before, only now it was reversed!

“Clearly you two are related.” You grouched stomping your feet. The cold was seeping through your boots and socks, making your feet ache.

“I am not helping you find NateMare. You are not hanging around here to wait for him to show up! And I’m not getting involved with either of you again!” You didn’t care if the neighbors heard, for all they’d understand, it sounded like a romantic issue.

You spun on your heel and stomped up to your apartment door.

Just as you put the key into the lock, a decent sized bat flew around you and clung onto your chest. You looked back over your shoulder and saw no sign of Mercer. Glaring down at the bat, you hissed, “You are not coming inside, let go and go away.”

The bat merely wiggled its ears, and much to your chagrin, he nuzzled against your coat. Even worse, it was adorable.

You heard people, more tenants that belonged to your building, coming up behind you. 

Suppressing a frustrated scream you unlocked the door, and kept your body turned away from the approaching people.

You wrapped your arms around yourself, concealing Mercer as best you could, and made a beeline for the staircase.

Huffing up the stairs you swore at him, “You’re in so much trouble. I have a bucket filled with holy water in my kitchen and it has your name all over it buddy.”

The impudent bastard gave a tiny squeak. One that conveyed no distress in the slightest.

A glance down and there was no mistaking a smug smile, even on a bat.

You didn’t stop until you were inside your apartment, at which time you were breathless and sweaty under your coat.

“You make one damn comment about me being out of shape, and I will seriously drown you.”

“I’d very much like to see you try.”

You’d been locking your door, putting your back to the living room.

It hadn’t been Mercer that had replied.

Stiffly, you hit the light switch next to the door frame and peeked over your shoulder.

NateMare lounged back on your couch. His body was relaxed, but his expression was one that read murder.

The sound of dripping drew your eye to the kitchen. Your bucket of holy water was on the floor, along with a puddle of water and some that was dripping off the sink's cabinet doors. 

“NateMare-”

“Shut it.” 

He got to his feet and stalked towards you, “You should consider yourself very lucky. Had I gone after you that same day, I would have happily ripped your esophagus out of your throat.”

You swallowed thickly.

“But I took some time to calm down, recover, and think about it. I changed my mind.”

He stepped closer, leaving two steps of distance between you, “I’ve come to realize that I enjoy having a minion doing my bidding. Unlike some other… people… I could name, I don’t have a host popping out brothers every damn holiday. Plus, you’re already semi-trained.”

He smirked and held up a hand. Smoke gathered in his palm, and formed a thick section of chains.

“Hell. To. The. No.” 

You’d done this song and dance and you were not doing it again.

Turning to face him, you pried Mercer from your chest and shoved him into NateMare, “Here, talk to your brother. Take it outside!” 

Stunned, NateMare had dropped the smoke chain and grabbed Mercer on reflex. 

Unprepared, Mercer didn’t have a chance to resist being shoved into NateMare’s hands.

The two stayed frozen and dumbstruck to the spot while you threw off your coat and went to get your mop and bucket.

There was another second of silence until you heard, “WHAT THE FUCK?!”

There was enraged squeaking, a bit of scuffling, the sound of a grunt, and then silence.

When you returned to the kitchen, you found the two were gone, and your balcony door wide open.

You were in the clear. For now.

[millennial-star-gazer]

A Very Fairytail Christmas (Deck The Halls With Nalu 2019)

A Very Fairytail Christmas

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Deck The Halls With Nalu 2019 Prompts: "Baby it's Cold Outside," "Let it Snow," "O Christmas Tree, All I Want For Christmas is You," It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year," and "A Holy Jolly Christmas"(All Implied)".

Genres: Romance, Humor, Fantasy. Friendship/Family and Poetry

Characters: Natsu, Lucy, Wendy, Happy, Gray, Carla, Juvia, Erza, Gajeel, Levy, Pantherlily and Jellal

Pairings: Multi-ship with hints of Nalu (Natsu x Lucy) , Gruvia (Gray x Juvia, Gajevy (Gajeel x Levy), Jerza (Jellal x Erza), plus Cappy/ ( Happy x Carla) with a bit of Carla and Pantherlily thrown in.

Rating: K+ to T for some adult themes with mild references to alcohol, nudity, drunken shenanigans and other mature content. Recommend reading level is for teens, young adults and higher.

Summary: Natsu, Lucy , Happy, and the rest of Team Natsu along with Gajeel, Levy and Pantherlily all learn the true meaning of the winter holidays- that a day filled with warm tidings spent with friends makes for a very "Fairytail Christmas" indeed. A retelling of the main event of the Fairies Christmas OVA in the form of a poem for the @fortheloveoffandomevents's Deck The Halls With Nalu Event. This was originally an entry for the @fairies-and-christmas Secret Santa exchange 2017 as a gift for the lovely @cosmicloveoftheages Enjoy!

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A/N: Hey guys, it's your girl back again with an entry for  @fortheloveoffandomevents Deck The Halls With Nalu Event . As some of you may know, this is a retelling of the main events of the Christmas OVA in the form of a holiday-themed poem. This was originally a submission for the @fairies-and-christmas Secret Santa exchange as a gift for the @cosmicloveoftheages. Now without further ado, here's the poem. Enjoy!

(Scroll down past the cut/”read more button” for corresponding  links and the actual poem).

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Disclaimer: As you all know by now Fairytail does not belong to me, but the most honourable Hiro-sensei instead, for whom without this labour of love wouldn't be possible. 

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Read A Fairytail Christmas on FF  other platforms, and the rest of my writing here:

(Copy And  Paste  hyperlinks into a new window/tab if reading this on the desktop browser)

1. A Very Fairytail Christmas

A. Tumblr

B. Fanfiction

I.  Primary (Main) Fanfiction (Click Here:) (or here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13442535/1/A-Very-Fairytail-Christmas-Deck-The-Halls-With-Nalu-2019)

II. Secondary Fanfiction ( Click Here) (or here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13143482/1/Millennial-Drabbles) 

III.  Other (Click Here:) (or here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13246734/1/Millennial-OTP-Drabbles)

B. A03

I. Primary/Main (Click Here:) (or here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21494713)

II. Secondary (Click Here:) (or here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18244343/chapters/43167767)

2. Master  Post of All My Writing (Click Here:)  (or here: 

https://millennial-star-gazer.tumblr.com/post/179665258923/master-fic-rec-post)

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"Enjoy the magic this holiday season by listening to music and enjoying the occasion with the people that you care for most."

(Source Unknown)

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It was the day before Christmas

Bells as as the divine as heavenly choir of an angels rang out

All the fairies were fluttering about preparing to deck the walls with care this way and that

For when the clock struck twelve, off to Lucy's Team Natsu's and company would go for some holiday cheer

Jubilant laughter ,clinking of glasses, jolly salutations of "Merry Christmas" filling the air

all fun and games until low and behold the girls succumbed to the mercy of far too much sake running through their veins

much to the dread of the red-blooded males , hearts stricken with terror

An firecesome Titania, demanding queen of the Fairies, an unholy she- beast of intoxicated fury An insensate sky maiden , might as well be dead to the world for throwing three sheets to the wind from all the spirits she's consumed

An overly-sentimental Juvia of the sea

tears flowing like a gushing torrent of rain ️

breathing new life into that cliched rhyme: "The rain ️ in Spain."

Arms latching on tightly to a terrified ice demon slayer.

An unusually giddy Levy,

lady of solid script magic runes, future mother of her and Gajeel's child , seemingly leaning in for a kiss .

Only to burst into tinkly peals of laughter in his face

A disgraced Happy and Pantherlily who might as well been

a pair of wild stallions for all the demanding daughter of Queen Shaggot could care

A mortified Salamander underneath a just as zany celestial mage,

And yet deep down he can't help but subconsciously find her antics to be oh-so endearing to But oh, what little could the shenanigans, the antics, the hi-jinks could compare

For how could they know what the fates would have in store

when the all too gleeful Erza, the ruthless beast,

would suggest her high-stakes round of "Master Draw"

A game so notorious, that only fools with the buzz of firewater singing through their veins would dare play

One stick, one draw, winner take all

Whoever didn't have the best would be at the mercy of the chosen's one thrall

And who would have guessed who might be the one to win it all?

Why Erza of course, low and behold!

A wily gleam in fathomless depths of violet , madness ensues Pleas for mercy, canine-like yips and barks filling the air

Random awkward embraces

An infuriated storm woman's jealous rage

Absurd ensembles,

stripping down to nothing more than underwear in the cold

A sexy dance by the Son of Igneel himself in the nude or two,

the most discomfiting lock of lips from two of the exceeds who may just keel over and die in of their own shame.

A sensation of blazing ️ wax on the poor astral mage's flesh

Three grown young men doing everything in their power to cram themselves into spaces no average human being should ever dare to fit

All this, debauchery galore and more, all at Titania's fellow wizards expense

But oh, little did she know,the time for revenge would come

The dread hour nigh, when the ice demon slayer finally drew his own stick,

For out in in the snow a scantily-clad, fiery redhead would boldly dare to go,

in spite of Gray's protests

A decision she would soon some to regret

But fear not, all is not lost, for salvation is at hand in the form of Jellal

a king finally come to take his long- lost queen home

and swathed in the warmth of his cloak,

Erza along with the rest learns right then and there

that a day of warm tidings and day spent with those she loves makes for a very Fairytail Christmas indeed.

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A/N: Please be sure to let me know what you think by dropping me a line leaving a review/ comment. Plus, feel free to like, share and reblog. Oh and don't forget to check out the rest of my writing! Keep an eye out on my profiles for updates and reuploads of my fics too . (Corresponding Links above, in navigation bar and bio if reading this on tumblr ). Take a look at the other Deck The Halls With Nalu Entries while you're at it and thanks for everyone's support so far! All right guys, I'm off for now. Once again, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah , Yule, Kwanzaa , New Years and holidays no matter which you celebrate ! Take care!

[casualpastelgay]

Title: Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt

Pairing: Zen(Hyun Ryu) x MC

Rating: General

Word Count: 1272

Type: Fluff

Notes: I wrote this back in December sometime for a Winter Zine that a Mystic Messenger discord I’m in hosted. While I was sorting through my files I realized I never actually posted it here. It’s fluffy and sweet Zen romance, a cold winter date topped with warm, chocolate kisses. Hope you enjoy!

~*~*~*~*~

Zen held your gloved hands close to his mouth and breathed a long huff of warm air onto them. His bright eyes narrowed affectionately as he gazed at you. “Are you feeling a bit warmer now, Jagi?” His question was as playful as the shimmering lights that wove through the trees on that winter night.

You smiled as the glittering snowflakes falling around you made it look like you’d just stepped out of a movie. “Yes, thank you.”

Zen had insisted on taking you out tonight. It was dusk when he said he had a surprise for you. He’d made sure you were both snugly warm, practically wrapping you up in a burrito of layers. The walk to the park had been serene; the quiet peace of snowfall muffled the sounds of the city as you walked to its edge.

The park was beautiful. There were lights shimmering in holiday shapes: reindeer, Santa Claus, penguins, giant snowflakes. Some of them even moved. You felt like a child, seeing how big these light sculptures were. You ran up to a baby polar bear and kneeled by it.

“He’s cute, isn’t he?” Zen kneeled next to you, absolutely enthralled by how excited you were. Nothing made him happier than seeing joy coloring your face. “Cuter than me?”

You laughed lightly when Zen made a puppy-eyed expression at you, sticking his lower lip out as he tried to make himself as adorable as he could manage. “Of course you’re cuter, Zenny.” You played along with him, to which he grinned in response, tugging you close and pressing a soft kiss to your chilled lips.

Zen stood, extending his hand to you in order to help you up. “Where shall I escort you next, Winter Princess?” He bowed, a teasingly princely flair in his actions. He linked his elbow with yours, pulling you as close to him as he could manage. Even with how many layers you were in, he worried about you being cold.

“Are there any wolves?” You asked, looking up towards Zen’s face as a sly smile toyed at the edges of his lips.

His tongue darted out over his lips as he leaned close to your face. “Only one, right here~!” Zen’s voice was a playful growl. He peppered soft kisses on your nose as you giggled at his antics.

Zen had been so busy with work over the past few weeks. The opening for his winter musical was coming quickly around the corner. He was adamant about spending quality time with you whenever he got the chance, whether it was cuddling at home or going out. As long as you could be together, it didn’t matter what you did. Before coming to the park, Zen had been in such a work-crunch that you only saw him for a brief period in the morning and  evening. It was so nice to finally get some time to just have fun, especially in a park as stunning as the one he’d brought you to.

The marked path wove through the sculptures of lights, casting shadows behind the snowflakes - which made for an astoundingly beautiful effect. You caught a snowflake on your finger. As you examined it, Zen whispered in your ear that it was nowhere near as pretty as you were.

He had such a way of making you feel like you were the most important person in the world to him. It wasn’t far from the truth. You truly were his everything. Zen wanted to take every chance to show you that you meant more to him than anything else.

You spoke together of meaningless, soft things as you proceeded through the park. There was an enchanting view of swirling magic at every twist and turn the path took. Snow danced on your eyelashes, making you blink rapidly as Zen stole them away with a kiss to your eyelids.

A playful tug of his scarf brought his lips down to meet yours, the bright smile clear as he returned your kiss with gusto. His hands rested on your waist, keeping you close to his warm body. It was so nice, you thought, having a personal heater as amazing as Zen was.

Melancholy settled in your heart as you noticed the end of the path growing closer, but beside you, Zen was getting more and more excited with each passing step. As Zen usually did when he took you on outings, he seemed to have something waiting just up the sleeves of his white coat. Just for you. Even to convince the owners of this park to stay open later so he could take you and be alone. It took a few promised theatre release tickets to convince them, but it was something Zen was used to.

“My Princess,” Zen took a step away from you to bow, then gestured with a flourish to a picnic table that was set up with a white cloth and unlit candles.

A soft blush colored your cheeks as you walked towards the table, flanked by Zen - your love. “Zen, this is beautiful…” You whispered. As you got closer to the table, you saw delicate pink rose petals scattered about of such a light peach  color that they were almost lost in the snow.

“Do you like it?” Zen whispered, his hands on your shoulders as he guided you to sit down before promptly sitting next to you.

You watched as Zen took a box of matches out of his pocket then removed his gloves to nimbly strike a match to light. It cast impressive shadows with the soft flutter of snowflakes and shimmering droplets of glassy lights tangled in the trees. “I love it.” You assured the man beside you, a soft pink coloring his own cheeks as you scooted close and wrapped your arms around him.

With the candles lit, Zen returned the matchbox to his pocket and spoke quietly. “Jagi, close your eyes.”

You did as instructed - expecting a kiss - but something else was pressed against your lips. Your mouth opened to the taste of chocolate. Once the piece of decadent-tasting dessert passed your lips, an even sweeter sensation filled your senses  as Zen followed the chocolate with a gentle kiss.

His warm breath fanned over your face as he pulled slightly away. “I thought you might be hungry. It was quite a walk.” A playful twinkle lit his eyes as he drew another piece of chocolate from the pocket opposite of the one that held the matches.

“Dark chocolate and sea salt?” You mused, smacking your lips together quietly as Zen unwrapped the second piece.

The smile on Zen’s lips widened. “Of course, I know how much you love it.” He laughed; it sounded so much louder and more jubilant in the otherwise quiet night than it would usually.

Zen brought the second piece to his own lips, then leaned towards you again. You let your tongue run over the piece of chocolate along with Zen’s lips, making him chuckle and almost drop the chocolate from his mouth. It tasted even better coming from his lips.

You shared another kiss, the snow dusting across the table as the wind played in it. He was so warm; oh, so warm. You wanted to stay in this gentle, timeless moment for the rest of your life on this earth. If time would only pause and keep you both in this state for always.

Wrapped in the gentlest and warmest of loves, you nuzzled into Zen’s chest and closing your eyes as he whispered to you.

“Come closer, Princess, I’ll keep you warm.”

~*~*~*~*~

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[thewarriorandtheking]

The Lost Prince

It has been almost fifty years since Thorin and Kaylea began their new life in the North. Now war is brewing among the Seven Families over the throne of the Iron Hills. Thorin’s grandson is missing, leaving only his daughter to rule. Can The Warrior and The King find the prince in time? 

This story grew out of a little piece I wrote called The King’s Kiss...I thought it was a great beginning for a longer story. This is the first time I am posting a story one chapter at a time (I usually only post once they are finished), decided to try it just to put extra pressure on myself...

The Warrior and The King MasterList

Warnings: None

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

1. HOME

Kaylea woke to the touch of Thorin’s lips on her cheek, his beard brushing her skin. Then his lips on her neck, the soft touch of his tongue. Sleepily she turned and put a hand behind his head, guiding his mouth to hers. She savored his warm, earthy taste, felt the cold of snowflakes in his hair.

“When did you get back?”

“Just now,” Thorin smiled at her, leaning over the back of the couch. “I cannot believe I actually found you asleep.”

“Only you could sneak up on me like that,” Kaylea pushed herself up, running her fingers through her hair. She felt foolish, she should have woken as soon as he turned the lock. But subconsciously I knew it was him, I knew I was safe.

Thorin took off his coat and hung it up, then added a couple logs to the fire. The coals in the hearth became a merry flame, popping and crackling. He took a seat on the couch, propping his boots on the table.

“Can I get you anything, husband?” Kaylea asked. Thorin shook his head and drew her close, she curled against him, laying her head on his shoulder. They watched the fire in silence for a time, Thorin gently stroking her hair. Kaylea had lived so much of her life in peril and uncertainty, she had come to relish these moments. With her husband’s strong arms around her she felt so completely safe, like everything was right in the world.

“Why are you sleeping on the couch? Is there something wrong with the bed?” Thorin teased. He turned and kissed her cheek again.

Kaylea chuckled at him. “Yes. You were not in it.” She let her fingers travel inside his shirt, tracing the muscles of his chest.

“Ah, I have been having the same problem.” Thorin tilted her head up and kissed her, deeply. Kaylea could never get enough of the way Thorin tasted, like rain on hot earth, with a hint of some half-remembered exotic spice. The smell of frankincense in his hair, the touch of his hands that should be rough but were somehow soft as silk. The feel of his lips still sent the same thrills up her spine she had felt in their first days together; she could lay in his arms and kiss him for hours.

“Shall we drink a toast to celebrate?” Thorin asked, after a long moment.

Kaylea smiled at him and pushed the blanket in her lap aside. She could feel Thorin’s eyes on her as she went into the kitchen to retrieve a tall bottle and two glasses, secretly glad she had showered and put on a clean tunic and leggings before laying down on the couch. Thorin was used to her work clothes, but he had been gone for weeks; she always liked to make an effort to welcome him home.

“What brought you home so early?” Kaylea asked as she poured the drinks. “I was not expecting you for a few days yet.”

Thorin took his drink then reached over and ran his fingers down one of her braids as she took a seat beside him. “You really have to ask that? After all this time?” He clicked his glass to hers. “You know there is no place in this world I would rather be than with you. I finished my business early and rushed home to my beautiful wife. And I got to wake her with a kiss. A perfect way to end the day.” He refilled their glasses. “There are two wagons of fine steel coming behind me, enough to last me until next year. The steel they are making in Erebor now is amazing, better than any ever made by Elves.” He sipped at his drink, frowning. “There was a meeting of the Seven Families while I was there.”

Kaylea sat back. “A meeting of the Families? How many years has it been since there was one of those?”

“So long I don’t remember,” Thorin said thoughtfully.  

Kaylea could tell there was something weighing on his mind, no doubt it involved the meeting. She watched him closely, hoping to pick up a clue, but Thorin gave her no sign. She leaned against his shoulder and waited for him to go on. After the silence had stretched on for some time, she risked another question. “Why the meeting?”

Thorin took a deep breath and shook his head. “I would rather talk about you. What have you been doing while I was gone?”

“Nothing as exciting as that!” Kaylea laughed. Tonight’s snow had been the first of the year, soon the mountains would feel the hard grip of winter. While her husband had been in Erebor she had been laying in food for them and the dogs, clearing trails and hauling wood. There were ten cords outside that needed to be bucked and split.  

“Sounds as though we have a busy day tomorrow,” Thorin said, a twinkle in his eye. “We better get a good night’s sleep.”

Kaylea shifted over to sit in his lap, running her fingers through his hair. “You wish.”  

 The next morning they started on the firewood, three cords were done before the wagons from Erebor arrived. The freighters were Men from Dale, with their help the metal was soon stacked neatly on the racks in Thorin’s shop. The wagons were moving almost as soon as the last bar was unloaded, the Men wanted to be on their way before any new snow fell and the skies had been threatening all day. Kaylea stayed out of sight, so as not to give the freighters any cause for gossip.

Later that evening, after dinner was cleared away, they sat together on the couch watching the fire and enjoying a couple bottles of the new ale from the abbey. Thorin had been playing with Kaylea’s braids and started taking them out. He was never satisfied with the way she did them, and in truth Kaylea loved it when he braided her hair. There was a kind of quiet intimacy to it that spoke more clearly of his feelings for her than words ever could. He had said nothing about the meeting of the Seven Families all day, though she could tell it had been on his mind.  

“Why don’t you want to talk about the meeting?” She asked at last.

Thorin took a deep breath, his fingers working her hair. “I keep trying to tell myself it is no longer my concern.” Thorin chuckled. “Did you know there is a statue of me on the front of Erebor? It is taller than the gate. And some of the other kingdoms are doing the same. Now they want to give me my own holiday.”

“You have become a hero to your people, surely you expected this.”

“I did not,” Thorin sighed. “And it goes deeper than that. There are some who say that I was not Thorin Oakenshield, but Durin himself, reborn to restore the glory of our people. And others that say I now sleep beside him, in the Halls of Awaiting, to rise again in my people’s hour of need. Did you know Eldarion put up a statue of me in Gondor?”

Kaylea smiled. “You did kind of save the planet.”

“Blackwolf saved the planet,” Thorin scoffed. “A case could be made it was the Vorlons. The role I played was very small.”

“Are you so uncomfortable being the hero, husband?” Kaylea turned to face him. “You really have changed. The Thorin Oakenshield I met on the road to Erebor would have carved that statue himself.”

Thorin sat back, looking a bit chastised. “Is that really what you think of me?” He shook his head, his face thoughtful. “Ah, you are probably right.” He fell silent as he finished the two braids she wore that matched his, then got up and moved around the couch where he could work on the rest of her hair. “When I was growing up it was always impressed on me that I was the heir of Durin, one day I would be king. The sense of responsibility was a heavy burden for a young Dwarf to bear. And then came Moria and it all landed on my shoulders. I did well by my people, but I never thought of it as heroic, just what was expected of me.”

“I remember that day after our first night together, walking through the city,” Kaylea said. “You wore the mantle of King so easily, you made it look natural. And your subjects clearly adored you.”

“That was after the Battle of the Five Armies,” Thorin’s fingers worked her hair. “The Thorin Oakenshield who went into that battle would have built that statue, the one who came out was a changed man. The dragon-sickness gone, I felt I was seeing the world clearly for the first time.” He stopped, laying his hands on her shoulders and leaning over to see her face. “That was Pilot, wasn’t it?”  

Kaylea kept her face expressionless. In all the years that had passed since that day she had never told her husband it was the Kzin telepath that had cured him, though she knew he must have guessed. “Yes,” she said after a long moment. “Remember, I had not seen you in many months, since we parted at the Bruinen. Pilot said you were under some kind of delusion and I asked him to clean it up.”

“When I first saw him, I felt like I knew him,” Thorin replied. “When I asked if we had met before, he said ‘In a way.’ I thought it was odd, but so many strange things happened to me that day I did not remark on it at the time.”

“I’m sorry, my king,” Kaylea looked down at her hands. “My first impulse was only to help you. Pilot said he could ease your pain, but it was a violation of your privacy for him to be wandering around in your head, let alone making changes.”

Thorin slid his arms around her, kissed her neck. “Do not apologize, my love! Without Pilot’s help I could never have become the king that Erebor needed. He freed me not only from dragon-sickness, but from all compulsive attachment to gold and riches. I never again looked on my treasury as anything other than a tool, a means to rebuild Erebor and increase its influence.”

“I would not say you lost all attachment to gold and jewels,” Kaylea teased.

“I did not say that,” Thorin grinned at her. “I still enjoy the way they look against my woman’s skin. I love to make beautiful things, but I do not covet them as I once did.” He straightened up and went back to work on her hair, falling silent again. It was some time before he was finished. As soon as she felt him attach the last bead to her braids Kaylea turned to face him, kneeling on the couch. She took hold of his hands and drew them against her breast, her eyes locked on his.

“Now you will tell me what happened at this meeting that so weighs on your mind,” she told him.

Thorin took a deep breath, looking down at his wife’s hands. “Freya’s husband has died of a sudden illness. You may remember her son fell out with his father years ago and now cannot be found.”

Kaylea nodded. “Leaving only Freya and her daughter to rule in the Iron Hills.”

Thorin frowned, now that he had finally told her Kaylea could see he was inwardly seething. “Some of the families want him declared dead. Her husband’s nearest relation is a cousin from the Blue Mountains she has never met. They want him as King in the Iron Hills.”

“Crowns pass only to sons. That is the law.”

Thorin eyes were blazing. “My daughter could rule her kingdom far better than any Dwarf who has been a miner all his life!”

“You will get no argument from me,” Kaylea said. “But no woman has ever ruled a Dwarf kingdom.”

Thorin dropped his hands and moved around to sit beside her again. He leaned his head back, closing his eyes. “I keep trying to convince myself that this is really not my problem, but I cannot abandon my daughter.”  

“The politics of the great families are no concern of a country blacksmith, and your daughter is old enough now to fight her own battles,” Kaylea said flatly. “Does Freya even want the crown? Surely the families will not expect her to marry this man. What do you know of her mind? Would she rather live out her days as princess of Erebor?”

Thorin smiled. “I can tell you she has refused to step aside. Her representative at the meeting said she will not allow them to declare her son dead without proof. She has renewed the search for him and asked the other kingdoms for their help.”

“Smart girl,” Kaylea smiled. “She has bought herself at least a year. Sounds like she will fight, not surprising considering who her father is.” Her brow furrowed. “A year is enough time to prove herself to her people, and prepare if this is to end in war.”

“There will be no war if her son is found.”

“Husband, this would be far too risky for us to undertake,” Kaylea said. “We cannot be recognized; it would undo our whole reason for coming here.”

“I want to know what has become of my grandson,” Thorin said gravely. “If he is dead, then he must be returned to the halls of his fathers. If he lives, then he must be convinced to take up the mantle of king.” He took his wife’s hand, gently stroking the back with his thumb. “I have no wish to take part in the politics surrounding this, I only want to find my daughter’s son.” He gave Kaylea his best pleading look. “Will you not help me? Please?”

“You are not playing fair!” Kaylea said sharply, clearly exasperated. “You know I can refuse you nothing when you look at me like that!”

Thorin smiled at her. “Good to know I haven’t lost my touch.”

Kaylea shook her head. “This goes against my better judgement. If we are recognized, I get to say I told you so.”

Thorin shrugged. “Fair enough. There are few who remember exactly what Thorin Oakenshield looked like now. The Dwarves of Erebor know me as Frerin, a distant relation of the king from the Ered Luin who now lives in the north. It would not be unusual for me to help in the search for his missing cousin.”

“Then who shall I be? Should I dye my hair black and be an Elf?”

“You cannot be an Elf,” Thorin frowned. “I would have to divorce you. And I forbid you to take out your braids.”

“Ah, then I will sew a hijab and be a Southron.”

“Mmmm…I have always wanted a slave girl,” Thorin smiled mischievously. “Tempting as that is, you already have an alias. My wife, the wild Northwoman who drives teams of dogs.” He chuckled at her dubious expression. “It is not so unusual for a Dwarf to marry a Human these days, though I have endured no end of teasing about it.”

Kaylea laughed. “Your new identity also has a Human wife!”

“Yes. No one dared question me when I was King, but now all I hear is: ‘at least you can reach the best parts’ and ‘how does a hairless woman keep you warm on those cold nights?’” Thorin grinned. “I expect they are more jealous than anything, there have never been enough Dwarf women to go around.”

“Does this wife of yours have a name? What does she look like?”

“Her name is Tara,” Thorin smiled. “She was quite wild when I found her, it took me a long time to tame her. She paints her face and has a pet wolf; she is still not quite domesticated.”

“We certainly have that in common!” Kaylea pushed his shoulder. “Almost a hundred years since you handed over the throne of Erebor and you can still crush people with your majesty. Domestic is a word that will never apply to you!”

“Like I have always said, we are made for each other,” Thorin leaned over and kissed her neck.  

“Do you know why your grandson left the Iron Hills?” Kaylea asked, returning to the matter at hand. “And are there any rumors of where he might have gone?”

Thorin was quiet for a moment, sipping his beer and studying the fire. “I do not know Nain well, but he and his father never agreed about anything. I believe the final break between them came over a woman, someone his father wanted him to marry. The king sent many to search for him, but he was never found,” Thorin said. “I have an idea they may have been looking in the wrong places. Nain never took interest in traditional Dwarven pursuits, he preferred maps and books to hammer and anvil. He often talked about writing a history of our people.”

“Are you sure he would want a crown? Scholars often do not make the best monarchs.”

“He is not that kind of scholar,” Thorin smiled. “He is one of those that studies the lessons of the past. I had a most enlightening conversation with him once concerning the alliances between the families. I think his political skills might equal yours.”

Kaylea took a deep breath. “So, we have no idea where he is and the trail is stone cold. If we are going to do this we have much to prepare.”  

 Read the complete adventures of The Warrior and The King on AO3 & FanFiction. All three books now also on Wattpad. 

[lastbluetardis]

Family of Six (5/14)

After James and Rose bring their newborn twins home, they work to find a balance between all four of their children, and each other. Ten x Rose AU, Soulmates AU.

This chapter:Teen, 7500 words

Ages of the Tyler-McCrimmons at the start of the chapter: James: 39, Rose: 33, Ainsley: 9, Sianin: (almost) 6, Twins: 3 weeks

If you like reading my stories, consider leaving me a tip? Or leave a reply on this post to tell me what you thought? And as always, reblogs are very much appreciated so more people can see this.

Chapters will be posted every other week → next update: September 3rd. (Notice that the chapter count went up... there’s going to be twelve chapters and an epilogue.)

Note: This chapter has some slight warnings for allusions to child abuse, as well as implying an underage relationship (between a 17- and 18-year-old).

AO3 | TSP | FF | Perfectly Matched Series

Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7 | Ch8 | Ch9 | Ch10 | Ch11 | Ch12 | Ch13 | Ch14

Robert walked into the house, immediately spotting the almost-birthday girl. 

“Happy Birthday, Sianin my darling,” he said, crouching down for a hug. She bolted into his open arms and he stood with her.

“It’s not actually my birthday yet, Grandad,” she said matter-of-factly.

“It’s not?” he asked, his jaw dropping.

Sianin giggled as she shook her head. “Nope! It’s not ‘til tomorrow.”

“Oh…” Robert glanced down at the small pile of packages in the bag he’d been carrying. “I guess I can’t give you your presents yet, then?”

“No, no,” Sianin said hastily, looking panicked. “The party’s my pretend birthday, so we’re still doing cake and presents and everything.”

Robert laughed and blew a raspberry into her neck, making her shriek and squirm in his arms. After giving her a final squeeze and a kiss, he set Sianin on her feet and turned to greet his other granddaughter. He couldn’t quite pick Ainsley up anymore, but he gave her a great big hug that lifted her off her toes for a few seconds.

“Mum’s in the kitchen,” she announced. “And Dad went out to get more ice cream.”

Robert stepped into the kitchen and saw Rose at the counter chopping vegetables.

“Hi Dad!” she said, grinning. “I’d give you a hug, but, well…” She brandished the knife in her hand.

“I’ll get one later,” he said. “Do you need some help?”

“Nah, I think I’ve got it covered.”

“Lookie what Elena and Juliette drew me!”

Sianin skipped into the kitchen, waving her right arm. He saw a bunch of little doodles, including a birthday cake with six candles and three stick figures in pointy party hats. He remembered the days when James would proudly show him and Vera the drawings Rose had made for him, especially on holidays.

“That’s lovely,” Rose said.

“I wish they could come to my party,” Sianin sighed, tracing her fingertip over the ink on her arm.

“Soon, darling,” Robert soothed.

“Nuh uh! I have to wait ‘til I’m eighteen, but that’s ages away!” Sianin whined, slumping dramatically across the table.

“It’ll be here before you know it,” Rose said sympathetically. “And it’ll be well worth the wait.”

“Your first meeting with your soulmates is going to be utterly magical and spectacular,” Robert chimed in. “It’ll be one of the best days of your life, and you’ll look back and realize that the wait wasn’t as long as you’d thought.”

Sianin made a small noise of disbelief. “What was your first meeting like, Grandad?”

“It was… incredible,” he said softly, his chest aching with a combination of sorrow, longing, and joy as the memory conjured itself in his mind.

“I’m leaving as soon as I’m eighteen. I can’t stand to be in this house a moment longer,” he’d written onto his arms one night. His father had, once again, taken Robert’s entire paycheck from his job at the butcher’s for not only rent, but more liquor too.

“I’m so sorry about your dad,” Vera replied. And after a beat, she wrote, “Where would you go?”

“I don’t care. Anywhere. I’ll hide out in the shop after it closes. I’ll go to a group home. I’ll live in a goddamned park if I have to.”

“Don’t do that! It’s January for God’s sake! You’d freeze to death!”

“I can’t stay in this house anymore, Vee.”

She was quiet for a long time. Long enough that Robert brushed his teeth and crawled into bed for the night. He kept his bedside lamp on for a few minutes longer, hoping she hadn’t fallen asleep already.

Finally, she wrote back. “Well… if you want… my house has got plenty of spare rooms. My parents said they wouldn’t mind (that’s where I was just now).”

Her words came slowly, as though she was nervous to say them.

His heart lifted, but he tried to quash the hope.

“We can’t meet yet, darling,” he said, wishing so badly they could. “You know that.”

“I know. But…” There was a long pause. “What difference would ten months make? No one would report you or anything. And if they did, they’d have me to reckon with. Just think about it? Please?”

Robert told her that he would, even though a larger piece of him told him it was probably impossible.

As his eighteenth birthday grew nearer and nearer, Robert started to seriously consider Vera’s offer. A recent winter snowstorm made him rethink some of his previous ideas. However, she hadn’t brought it up again, which made him nervous that she regretted her invitation. 

Then one night his father gave him a split lip for not forking over the entirety of his latest paycheck. His father had hit him before, but mostly uncoordinated swats or a tightly-gripped arm. Never hard enough to draw blood or a bruise. Then again, Robert had never withheld money from his father before. Robert had begun working longer hours, squirreling away the extra money for when he could finally meet Vera. But his father had somehow found out and confronted him about it.

Robert had gone to bed without dinner and his money, near tears with anger, frustration, and helplessness.

“Hey, Vee?”

“Yeah, love?”

Her quick reply made his tears spill over. He wiped them away when they rolled into his raw lip.

“I was wondering…” He couldn’t bring himself to get the words out. He felt pathetic.

“Wondering?” she coaxed.

“What you said about your house having plenty of spare rooms. Is that… Could I…”

He started and crossed out several sentences before Vera said, “You are more than welcome to come stay with me and my mum and dad. More than welcome.” She underlined those words heavily. “You’re family. Have been for as long as we’ve been soulmated. My parents already consider you to be their son.”

His tears started up again in earnest, and all he managed to say was, “Thank you.”

Barely a week later, Robert found himself on the train headed to Scotland. He’d packed the barest of essentials: clothing, mostly, as well as a few books and all of the letters he and Vera had exchanged over the years. His entire life—the last eighteen years—fit in one medium-sized suitcase and a backpack. Looking at how little he had made Robert feel hollow inside.

The train ride took forever. He tried to distract himself with a book, but couldn’t silence his racing thoughts. His father had been furious when he realized his son was leaving. Robert had hoped to be out of the house before he had woken up. Alas, his father stumbled into the kitchen as Robert was writing a brief note telling him he was leaving and never returning.

His father had shouted at him and lunged for him, but was too hungover to properly do any damage. Robert grabbed his suitcase and used it to push his father to the side, then he left the house behind without ever looking back.

Robert knew his father’s fury wasn’t due to any emotional attachment; it was simply because a source of income was gone. Robert had learned ages ago not to expect an ounce of love or affection from his father. The only thing he did learn was what kind of father he himself wanted to be, if he and Vera were lucky enough to have children one day. He would be the sort of father his children could come to without hesitation, without fear, and know that they would be loved endlessly and eternally, no matter what.

Ignoring the lingering guilt of leaving his father behind, Robert had walked all the way to the train station. He’d bought a ticket with the small amount of money he’d managed to hide from his father. Finally free, Robert was now on his way to meet the woman he’d loved his whole life.

After the train ride, he hailed a taxi to Vera’s home. If his calculations were correct, the drive would use up the last of his money, leaving him penniless and homeless to meet his soulmate.

“A great start,” he scoffed to himself.

He gave the driver the address and slouched in the back seat as he was driven out of the city to a small neighboring town. Even then, they bypassed the town until they were in a wooded area. He grew nervous that maybe he’d gotten the address wrong. But he’d been sending letters to her for years, and she’d always gotten them.

The driver made an abrupt turn that had Robert clinging to the seat to keep from toppling. The car wound through trees on a narrow, bumpy road before turning onto a long dirt road. The dirt road was actually a driveway that opened up to a huge old manor house.

Robert’s eyes widened as he took in the beautiful home with the pristine white wrap-around porch and the wide expanse of grass around it. There was a tree line beyond the house, stretching out farther than Robert could see. His stomach lurched and his heart hammered. This was where Vera lived? It was like a castle.

Self-consciousness burned like acid in the back of his throat, and he was painfully aware of his tattered, ill-fitting clothes and unkempt hair and dusty shoes.

The taxi pulled to a stop. Robert fought against the impulse to tell the driver he’d gotten the wrong address and to take him back to the train station. But he couldn’t afford another taxi ride into the city. Or a new train ticket.

A flash of movement caught his eye, and Robert saw a girl with dark brown hair jump off the front porch, not bothering with the steps as she ran towards him. His stomach unknotted and he fumbled for the door handle.

“Robert! Robert!”

She had the most beautiful voice in the world. It made his knees tremble, and he was sure he was about to fall face-first into the frozen ground.

“Robert!” she shouted again. Her face was split into a wide grin. She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen.

“Vera,” he breathed. He forced his legs to stay steady as he took a few steps towards her. His stride grew longer and longer until he was running too.

She flung her arms wide and he followed suit half a second before their bodies slammed together. The breath left his lungs in a gasp, and he heard her make a similar noise. Then he was being held and squeezed by the person he loved most in the world.

“You’re here!” she cried.

She pulled back from their embrace, tears streaming down her cheeks. It was an automatic response for him to lift his hands to cradle her cheeks, swiping at her tears with his thumbs. He didn’t realize he was crying too until she copied his movements.

“Hi!” she giggled, beaming at him.

“Hi,” he whispered, leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers. He caught a whiff of her shampoo. She smelled amazing.

“I can’t believe it’s you,” she said, running her fingers through his hair, then down his cheek, before resting her palm against his chest. “You’re here. Oh! Happy Birthday!”

She lifted onto her toes and pecked a kiss to his cheek, then rocked back onto her heels, her cheeks pink.

“This is the best birthday I’ve ever had,” he told her honestly, his eyes flickering across her face, memorizing every detail. She was more lovely than his imagination had been able to conjure; he didn’t think he would ever grow tired of looking at her.

Robert was then aware that the taxi was pulling off down the driveway.

“My things,” he protested, turning, but he saw a middle-aged man and woman holding his suitcase and backpack. “I… I didn’t pay him.”

“We’ve got it,” Vera’s mother said gently, stepping up to him. “Our birthday gift to you.”

She set his backpack on the ground and opened her arms in an invitation for a hug, one that he stepped in to. He held himself somewhat stiffly for a second—wasn’t it awkward to hug a virtual stranger?—but the hug felt so nice that he couldn’t help but relax into it.

“We’re so happy to see you,” she whispered into his ear, then she kissed his cheek.

She released him, and he turned to Vera’s father. Despite his enormous size—he stood at least half a foot taller than Robert’s six feet—his face was kind and there were laugh lines around his mouth and eyes.

Robert stuck out his hand to shake his, but was instead pulled into another hug, to his surprise.

“Welcome,” Vera’s father said, giving him a firm squeeze. He pulled away and ruffled Robert’s hair.

His cheeks burned with an odd mixture of pleasure and embarrassment. 

Vera skipped up beside him and hugged his arm to her chest, then twined her fingers through his.

“Are you hungry?” Vera’s mother asked. “Nobody’s eaten lunch yet. Let’s go inside and out of this cold. C’mon my dears.”

Vera’s parents picked up his bags and began walking hand-in-hand towards the house. Before he could follow them, Vera gave his hand a squeeze and tugged at his arm. He looked down at her and couldn’t help but smile. He was finally with his soulmate. She returned the expression, then reached up and rested her palm on his cheek.

“I love you,” she said softly.

He thought his heart might collapse in on itself, and he was slightly mortified to feel tears welling in his throat. Swallowing them away, he covered her hand with his and turned his head to the side to press a long kiss to her palm. He took her hand off his face and brought her knuckles to his lips.

“I love you, too,” he murmured into her skin. “So very much.”

Her face was beautifully pink, and he couldn’t resist kissing her fingers again. He then tucked her small hand into his and followed the people that would become his new family into the house.

“Awww.” Sianin’s dreamy coo brought Robert out of his own head and back to the kitchen.

Of course, Robert had skimmed over the details of his father and had expanded upon the details of Vera, but he stayed as close to the truth as he could.

“That sounds lovely,” Rose breathed, misty-eyed. Robert realized with a start this was the first he’d told Rose about his first meeting with Vera.

“It was,” he said simply.

Robert stuck his hand into his pocket for his wallet. When he withdrew it, he opened it up and took a small faded photograph from within. The photo was of a lanky, messy-haired boy with his arm around a petite brown-haired girl. They were both beaming.

“Look at this,” Robert said, sliding the photo across the table so his granddaughter could see. “That’s the day we met.”

“Oh!” Rose clasped her hands to her chest and smiled down at the picture.

“You look like Daddy,” Sianin observed.

“No, your daddy looks like him,” Rose corrected. When Sianin frowned in confusion, she clarified, “A child looks like their parent, not the other way ‘round, since the parent made the child.”

Sianin ignored her mother and instead looked down at the photo again. “She’s very pretty. She looks like Ainsley.” Sianin then glanced sidelong at Rose. “Er… I mean, Ainsley looks like her.”

“She was the prettiest girl I’d ever met… apart from my beautiful little granddaughters.”

He lifted up Sianin’s party hat and ruffled his fingers through her hair. She squealed and ducked out of his touch, but he caught her around the waist and peppered kisses across her neck and cheeks just to hear her laugh again.

“I love you,” he whispered to her.

“Love you too, Grandad,” she said, breathless and beaming.

The front door then opened, and James called out, “I’m back! And some guests have arrived. Sian, your mate Emma is here.”

Sianin scurried out from Robert’s arms and darted to the front of the house. He watched her go with a fond smile.

He picked up the photograph of him and Vera and tucked it safely into his wallet behind James and Rose’s latest family Christmas photo. He made a mental note to ask Rose if she had any family photos that included the twins, and if he could get a copy.

“Meeting before she turned eighteen… how scandalous.” Rose stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth as she smirked at him.

Robert rolled his eyes. “You know how big the manor house is… I had my own bedroom, and she had hers.”

“And how long did it take before you started sharing?” Rose teased knowingly.

“Longer than it took you and James,” Robert replied sweetly, laughing at the deep blush staining her cheeks and neck. “You know, I never did thank you.”

Rose frowned. “For what?”

“Being there for James when he needed you the most. And me.”

“Dad…” Her voice was soft as she approached him. She rested her hands on his cheeks and said, “You will never need to thank me for that. For either of you. I love you and James so much. I didn’t hesitate. You both needed me, so I went.”

He smiled at her.

“I love you,” he said, taking her hands off his cheeks to kiss the backs of her knuckles.

“I love you, too.” After a beat, she said, “By the way, your dad was an absolute wanker and you deserved so much better.”

“Yeah, he was,” Robert agreed. He hadn’t spared his father a single thought over the last fifty years except the day he was notified his father had passed away. He didn’t bother going to the funeral, and Vera hadn’t pressed it. “But he doesn’t matter. He was my past. I found a new home, a new life, in Vera. Then also in James. And now with you and my granddaughters, too. My life is so full, and I wouldn’t change anything.”

“Not anything,” Rose mumbled, her eyes going sad.

A familiar ache wrapped itself around Robert’s heart.

“I still miss her,” Rose confessed.

“I do too, darling.” He took Rose into his arms and rocked her from side to side. “But I still wouldn’t change anything. Even if it meant having her back, I wouldn’t erase a second of the time I’ve had with you and my grandchildren.”

Rose squeezed him tightly, then let him go to return to the vegetable chopping.

The guests began arriving in a steady trickle, with James and Sianin greeting everyone while Rose finished up the work in the kitchen. When she was able to join the party, she saw everyone was split into groups. Sianin was playing on the floor with the five friends she’d been allowed to invite, while the adults—their family members, mostly—cooed at the two sleeping bundles in James and Jackie’s arms.

“Oh, Rose, they’re simply beautiful!”

“They’re adorable!”

“Wow, you’re looking amazing, Rose!”

Rose dutifully smiled and accepted everyone’s compliments, shooting James a wink whenever anyone congratulated her on their beautiful babies. It was a running joke between them that she got all of the praise for making their children, as though they’d magicked themselves into being rather than have any contribution from him.

Ainsley was the lone misfit of the party. She was too old to play with Sianin and her friends, but too young to be fully integrated in the adults’ conversations. As a result, she hopped between groups and often hovered by the twins, helping whoever happened to be holding them.

“No Sylvia today?”

Rose looked over at her husband’s voice, not realizing new guests had arrived.

Donna, Lee—who was holding little Joshua—and Wilf stepped into the foyer. Rose went over to greet them with a hug and kiss apiece, including a raspberry for Joshua.

“Mum was indisposed,” Donna said, giving Rose a meaningful look.

“Everyone’s in the living room,” Rose said. “The pizza should be here soon, but there are nibbles to pick at in the meantime. Drinks are in the kitchen; Donna, want to lend me a hand?”

Donna gladly followed Rose into the kitchen and away from prying ears.

“Indisposed, eh?” Rose asked when they were alone.

Donna went to a bottle of wine, pouring some into a paper cup.

“We sort of… had a falling out,” Donna admitted once she drained half the cup in one go. Rose stayed silent, letting Donna gather her thoughts and continue her story, if she wanted. “Lee and I decided we want another baby.”

“That’s exciting!”

“Thanks. Mum didn’t think so. Joshua’s a little bit… behind the other kids his age,” Donna admitted, her cheeks turning pink. “Developmentally. The doctors said it’s nothing to be too concerned about yet. But he’s nearly two and hasn’t started walking yet. And because he isn’t walking, we can’t even think about preparing to toilet train him.”

“He’ll get there,” Rose assured. “And toilet training is a long way off. He’s not even two yet.”

“That what I’ve been saying, but Mum thinks Lee and I are doing Joshua a disservice by trying to have another baby when we’re… what did she say?” Donna frowned and stared off into the distance while she tried to remember. “Oh! When we’re neglecting the child we already have.”

Rose gasped, a combination of sympathy and anger bubbling up within her. “Oh, Donna.”

“Yeah. So now of course I’m worrying that maybe Mum’s right, and that we should try to get Joshua the help he needs before our lives are thrown into chaos from a new baby.”

“But you said the doctors weren’t concerned, so what help does he need?” Rose asked, puzzled.

“Exactly! I dunno, Rose. This is all so hard. I’m terrified I’m not doing the right thing for my child. But what more can Lee or I do? We have him in nursery, so he gets socialized with other kids his age and is with professional childcare experts. And when we come home, it’s not like we ignore him or anything. We play with him, we read to him, we try and get him to want to walk, but he absolutely refuses. He screams his little head off and starts crying for us to pick him up. Or he just happily crawls everywhere.”

Donna sighed and scrubbed her fist into her forehead. Rose stepped up and wrapped Donna in a loose hug.

“I love Joshua so much,” Donna whispered. “God, I love him more than I’ve ever loved anyone. But I just… want another baby before I get too old.”

Rose nodded, understanding all too well what the other woman was going through.

“Needless to say, Mum and I had it out.” Donna shook her head in dismay. “I told her if she wasn’t going to accept and support her grandson as he was, then she wasn’t going to have the privilege of seeing him at all. I’m not going to let her stand around and talk down about him where he can hear her. He might only be a little boy, but I’m sure he can understand more than we realize.”

“Good for you,” Rose murmured, rubbing a hand up and down Donna’s back. “I’m sorry about your mum though.”

“And I feel awful for putting Gramps in the middle of it. I feel like I’ve made him choose between his daughter and his granddaughter.”

Rose gave her a comforting squeeze, and once Donna had composed herself, they joined the party.

Their house was loud, hectic, and full of people—the twins handled it well though, considering this was their first time around so many other people. Rose and James ran themselves ragged, making sure that not only were their babies satisfied, but that all of their guests were attended to, especially Sianin and her friends. They appeared to be content to stay as a group and play together. 

The family all tripped over themselves to have a turn with the twins. Rose hadn’t needed to change a nappy or comfort a crying infant all afternoon. Her mother and James’s dad in particular seemed to self-appoint themselves as the babies’ caretakers, and were often disappearing into the nursery with one of the twins.

“Hey Dad? We’re doing the cake soon.” Rose leaned up against the door frame of the nursery and found her father-in-law sitting in the rocking chair, bottle-feeding one of the babies. Hannah, she thought, but she couldn’t quite see her daughter’s face well enough to distinguish.

“I hope you don’t mind?” he said sheepishly. “James gave me a bottle out of the fridge.”

“It’s fine,” Rose assured. Because she breastfed, it was rare for somebody other than her to feed the babies. She knew Robert enjoyed the task though.

The sight of her nursing daughter made her breasts become tender. She would have to sneak away and pump soon. “I was just saying, we were about ready to do the cake. Did you want us to wait for you?”

“Nah, it’s all right,” he said. “I’ll join you when she’s done.”

Rose nodded and moved back to the kitchen, where she found James sticking six candles into the chocolate cake before sampling a bit of the peanut butter icing.

“I’m sure it doesn’t taste that different from when you made it last night,” Rose drawled, smacking at his hand.

“Well, you never know,” he said innocently. “A good scientist always performs an experiment to test that his hypothesis is still valid.”

“Uh huh,” Rose said dubiously. “Last I checked, scientists weren’t supposed to go around licking the science.”

“Oh… well… ehm…” James floundered for a few moments before turning away from her for the matches. “Is Dad coming? I set him up with Hannah and a bottle a few minutes ago.”

“He said to go on without him,” Rose answered. “After this, I’m gonna need to go pump unless I want my tits to start leaking all over the place.”

“Just not on the cake,” James said, pulling it away from her.

She swatted him halfheartedly, then went into the living room to let everyone know the cake was coming out in a minute. When she returned to the kitchen, James was touching a lit match to the last candle. The flame had burnt close to his fingers, and he hissed as he quickly blew it out and dropped the smoking match into the sink.

“Ready?” she asked, grabbing her camera off the kitchen island.

“As I’ll ever be,” he said, picking up the pan.

Rose guided him out into the living room, flicking the lights off as she did so. Sianin looked up excitedly at her and James as they approached and began to sing. As they sang, Sianin looked around the room at her family and friends before she stared into the flickering candles on the cake that James set on the coffee table in front of her.

Rose loved getting this shot, when the candles reflected in her child’s eyes and cast shadows across her face. If it wasn’t such a hazard, she would love to have fire in all of the photoshoots she did.

She took as many photos as she could of Sianin’s face scrunching up as she thought of a wish, then of her cheeks puffing up as she blew out her candles. The room broke into applause as she extinguished them all in one breath.

Sianin carefully pulled the candles out of the cake and licked off the crumbs and icing clinging to the waxy surface.

“We’ll all get some cake and ice cream, then we’ll do presents,” Rose said, carrying the cake back into the kitchen.

“You can go pump, I’ve got this,” James said, making a shooing motion with his hands.

Rose skipped up to him and pecked a kiss to his cheek in thanks.

When she returned, her breasts feeling much more comfortable, Sianin ripped through the multitude of gifts everyone brought for her. As soon as all the gifts were opened, she and her friends took over half the toys out of the packaging and began playing with them.

Rose sat back on the couch with a piece of cake and her camera. She took shots of all of the family as everyone began to wind down from the excitement of the party. The parents of Sianin’s friends would be arriving soon to pick up their kids, and hopefully that would entice the rest of the family to leave too. Being a party host was utterly exhausting and Rose was ready to have her house to herself again.

“Rose! Rose, come look! Quick!”

Rose lowered the camera from where she was about to catch a photo of Sianin and Ainsley. She turned towards her husband. He was sitting on the sofa with Maddie lying in the cradle of his thighs.

“She smiled at me,” he said. “I swear it. She actually, properly smiled at me!”

“Oh, don’t be stupid,” Jackie scoffed, even as she walked towards him. “She’s too little to smile.”

Rose rolled her eyes at her mother and had to bite her tongue to keep from reprimanding her in front of the other guests. She instead snapped a quick photo of James holding Maddie before she went to stand behind him. She draped her arms around his shoulders and looked down at their three-week-old baby who, as much as she didn’t want to admit her mother was right, probably hadn’t actually smiled at James.

“Do you want to smile for Mummy? Do you want to smile for Mummy? Or are you gonna be shy? No need to be shy, my darling, not with those beautiful big dimple-wimples and those lovely pink wittle gummy-wummies. Want to flash Daddy your gummy-wummies? Eh?”

Rose smiled fondly at her husband as he dissolved into his rarely-used baby babble. But then, as James started talking about her “big blue eyesie-wisies”, the baby’s lips quirked up and her eyes scrunched as she grinned.

“Oh!”

“Look at that beautiful wittle smile!” James crooned. “Maddie-Waddie has a beautiful wittle smile-wile, doesn’t she?”

Rose brought her camera up and, heedless of trying to get the perfect shot, began snapping photos at random, hoping that at least one would turn out well.

“Anybody would smile at your daddy’s silly voice,” Rose cooed. “Wouldn’t they? He sounds so funny, doesn’t he?”

“Yes he does,” James sang. “Yes he does!”

A crowd had formed a semi-circle around them, hoping to get a glimpse of Maddie’s first smiles. Everyone began making silly faces and speaking gibberish to try to be the next person to make a three-week-old baby miraculously smile; all they managed to do, however, was overstimulate her and send her into a whimpering fit.

oOoOo

Once all the partygoers had departed for the evening, the James and Rose collapsed in an exhausted heap on the couch. Everyone and everything was quiet. The twins had fallen asleep, and Sianin disappeared into her room with Ainsley to play with her new toys.

“We should clean up,” James mumbled, even as he rested his head on the back of the couch and closed his eyes.

“Mhm,” Rose agreed, sitting in a similar position. “In a moment, though.”

“Maybe two moments,” James replied.

They each dozed for the next hour, and when they awoke, they were groggy but somewhat refreshed. They used their rejuvenated energy to clean up the worst of the mess from the party.

They weren’t particularly hungry when dinnertime rolled around, but knew they ought to eat something more substantial than the snacks and birthday cake they’d eaten that afternoon.

“Ainsley, Sianin, are you hungry?” James called out as he moved down the hall. “We’ve got some leftover pizza.”

He leaned against the door frame of Sianin’s room; his daughters were playing with the multi-tiered toy car ramp that Jackie had brought as a gift.

“Girls, are you hungry?”

“A little,” Ainsley said, looking up at him. Sianin continued playing with her toy.

“Well, food’s in the kitchen,” he said, thumbing behind him.

When he returned, Rose was sprinkling cheese on top of her salad as she nibbled on a slice of cold pizza. He scooped out his own salad and stole a bite of Rose’s pizza, earning him a smack on the shoulder.

A few minutes later, Ainsley skipped into the kitchen alone.

“Sianin not hungry?” Rose asked.

“She’s angry with you,” Ainsley said before putting a piece of pizza in the microwave.

James paused with his fork half way to his mouth; a bit of salad dressing dripped onto the table.

“What do you mean?” Rose asked.

“Sianin’s angry with you,” Ainsley repeated unhelpfully.

James looked over at Rose, who seemed just as puzzled as he was.

“Why is she angry?” Rose asked.

Ainsley shrugged. “Nobody paid attention to her at her party.”

“Sure they did,” James argued.

“Not according to her,” Ainsley replied, popping open the microwave door a second before it would have beeped.

James was utterly confused. Sianin looked like she’d had fun at her party; she played with her friends the entire afternoon.

He and Rose moved at the same time, setting down their forks and pushing away from the table to walk down the hall to Sianin’s bedroom. Their almost-six-year-old was sitting on the floor exactly how James had left her ten minutes ago.

The toy she was playing with had five car ramps that all circled around each other, and Sianin was using them to cause a massive pile-up in the center where all the ramps ended. James thought the various ramps were to race the cars against each other; leave it to his daughter to prefer making them all crash.

They knocked on her open bedroom door right as she made an explosion sound with her mouth.

Sianin looked up at them briefly, then returned her attention to her toy, resolutely ignoring them. For good measure, she even scooted further around, turning her back completely to them.

“What are you playing with, darling?” James asked softly.

“Cars,” she answered shortly.

“Looks like fun.”

“Yup.”

“Can Mummy and I join you?”

“No.”

James clenched his hands into fists, his nails biting into his palms. How had they not noticed before that Sianin was upset?

“Why not, love?” Rose asked, stepping into the room.

She crouched in front of Sianin while James sat on the bed behind his wife. Sianin shrugged.

“Are you angry with us?” James asked quietly.

Sianin shrugged again.

“What’s the matter, darling?”

Many long seconds passed before she grumbled, “I hate the babies. They’re stupid and take up all the attention. It was my birthday party but everyone only wanted to see them.”

James’s chest caved in on itself, snatching the air from his lungs. “This is the first anyone has seen the twins. It was exciting for them.”

Sianin continued on as if he hadn’t spoken. “And when I blew out my candles, Grandad wasn’t even there. Then everyone went to go see Maddie smile. How is smiling that big a deal anyway? Everyone smiles.”

“That was her first smile, love.” Rose’s voice shook slightly. “There’s only one first smile.”

“What about a sixth birthday party?” Sianin shouted. “I only turn six once but no one cares ‘cos the babies are here instead!”

“That’s not true…”

“It is true. Everyone wanted to be with the babies instead of me.”

“We’re sorry, darling. Truly. But your sisters are very little and…”

“You’re making excuses!” she screamed, angry tears beginning to leak down her cheeks. She swiped at her face and said, “I don’t want you here. Leave me alone!”

James froze on the bed, not knowing what to do. He wanted to stay and comfort his child, but he was the reason his child needed comforting.

“Sianin, we’re so sorry…”

“Go away,” she wailed. “Go away!”

Rose stood up and tugged James to his feet. Together they exited Sianin’s bedroom, and after they made it a few steps down the hall, they heard her door slam shut, making them both flinch.

“Shit,” Rose whimpered, digging the heels of her hands into her eyes. “Shit!”

“What a mess,” James agreed, rubbing his hand up and down Rose’s arm. “We’ll let her cool off, then talk to her again.”

When they walked back into the kitchen, Ainsley was just finishing up her pizza.

“Told you she was angry.”

“Yes, thank you Ainsley,” James snapped.

Ainsley held up her hands defensively, then pushed back from the table to put her plate in the full sink.

“Can you help me load the dishwasher?” James asked.

“Don’t you want to finish eating?” Ainsley asked.

“Not very hungry. I ate too much at the party,” he lied. In truth, his appetite had been obliterated upon seeing Sianin’s distress. He dumped his salad into the trash and together, he and Ainsley filled the dishwasher to capacity then hand-washed the rest.

The evening passed slowly, with Ainsley and Rose reading on the couch and James pretending to read while his brain whirred frantically to figure out how to fix things with Sianin. Sure, a lot of the family had spent time with the twins, but they’d also spent time with Sianin, hadn’t they? And besides, Sianin had been with her friends for most of the party.

Unless she’d been with her friends so much because everyone’s attention was elsewhere.

Bugger, he said to himself.

James got through nearly fifty pages of his book without absorbing a single word, but finally it was time to get the girls ready for bed. Sianin was still in her room but playing with a different toy when he went to summon her.

“Sianin, bath time.”

“No. I don’t want to,” she said.

“Well, you have to,” he countered. “Come on.”

“I’ll do it myself,” she said, grudgingly getting to her feet. “Without you.”

“You can’t be in the bathtub by yourself,” he said. “It’s not safe.”

Sianin huffed out an annoyed breath, pushed past him, and marched to the loo.

“I’m gonna do it!” she said when he turned on the water out of habit.

“Sorry,” he said, turning it off.

He gestured for her to go ahead and turn on the tap and adjust the temperature however she wanted it. It took her much, much longer than it would have taken him, and he cringed as she stuck her hand under the stream when she had the dial set all the way to hot.

She yelped and yanked her hand away, then turned the tap to make it cold.

In the end, the bathtub was filled with water that was only tepid at best, but Sianin didn’t say a word as she stripped and lowered herself into the tub.

It was one of the most torturous bath times James had ever been a part of. Sianin was utterly silent and efficient in her movements, and she snapped at him whenever he tried to assist her.

“I’m trying to help,” he said defensively, setting down the shampoo bottle he’d been trying to hand to her. “Don’t be angry with me for that.”

Finally, Sianin finished bathing herself and stood up out of the now-cold water and drained the tub. Goosebumps prickled across her skin and she began shivering lightly as she pulled a towel around her body. Rather than dry herself off, Sianin hugged her towel tighter, a frown etched into her face.

“A bit chilly?” he asked gently.

She didn’t say anything.

“Do you want a warm Daddy hug?” he asked, opening his arms.

Sianin sniffed. “I can do it myself.”

“Of course you can,” he said. “But there’s no harm in getting a bit of help, too. Daddy will always be here to help his little girl, no matter what.”

Sianin glowered at the floor for a long minute before she stepped into his open arms. Her body was damp, but he pulled her close anyway. As soon as she was ensconced in his embrace, a violent shudder rippled through her body.

“My bath was cold,” she muttered sadly.

“I know,” he said. “You’ll get better at figuring out the right temperature.”

He held her in his arms for a few minutes, trying to warm her up. When her shivering subsided, he let her step away to dry herself off then change into pajamas. After she brushed her teeth, he followed her to her bedroom and dried her hair, but when he grabbed a book off the shelf, Sianin shook her head.

“I don’t want a bedtime story tonight,” she said, tucking herself further into her blankets.

“No?” he asked, his heart falling.

“No.”

“Okay,” he sighed. “If you change your mind, or want to talk, Mummy and I are always here for you.” He set the books back and stepped up to her. He kissed her forehead and whispered, “I love you, Sianin.”

“G’night,” she said, and she turned away from him.

James exited the room, pulling the door shut behind him. With a heavy exhale, he walked to Ainsley’s ajar bedroom door, and saw her sitting up in bed, reading.

“Did Mum read aloud with you?” he asked wearily, digging his forefinger into his eyes.

“Yeah,” she said. “Only a couple pages though ‘cos Hannah started crying.”

James stepped into the room. “Let’s finish out the chapter, eh?”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to,” Ainsley said.

“I want to.” And he did. Bedtime stories were one of his favorite parts of the night, and it killed him that one of his children hadn’t wanted one that night.

Ainsley scooted to the far edge of her mattress, giving him plenty of space to sit beside her.

“Is Sianin okay?” Ainsley asked, feathering her fingers through the pages of the book.

“She will be. She’s just a little upset tonight,” he answered. “Can you do me a really big favor? If she comes to you and wants to talk, can you listen? Or if she wants to sleep with you, can you let her? Let me and Mum know if it becomes a problem, but at least for the next couple of nights?”

Ainsley nodded, and he flashed her a small smile. “Thank you. Now, what’s going on with Harry and his mates?”

He lounged with his eldest as she read about the trio’s adventures with the Polyjuice potion. When she finished, he tucked her in, kissed her forehead, then turned off the lights. He pulled her door shut behind him, then made his way back to the living room.

Rose was sitting with the twins on the couch.

“That was the worst bedtime in the history of bedtimes,” he announced dramatically as he plopped into the seat beside her.

Rose pursed her lips in sympathy. “Hopefully Sian’s in a better mood tomorrow.”

“Yeah. God, I’m knackered. The party was exhausting enough, now our kid hates us.”

“I don’t think she hates us, James,” Rose said. “She’s just… upset.”

He grunted in reply. “Have we done something wrong? Did we not prepare her enough for having baby siblings?”

“I don’t know,” Rose admitted. “Let’s try not to worry about it too much now. There’s nothing we can do. Tomorrow, we’ll talk to her and see how we can help her adjust better.”

“Yeah. I wish we could’ve ended the day on better terms. This was supposed to be her day, after all. It was supposed to be fun.”

Rose didn’t say anything. She instead rested her head on his shoulder.

James pressed a kiss to her hair and stroked his fingers absently up and down one of the twins’ backs.

“Want her?” Rose asked.

“Please.” He slipped his hands beneath his baby’s tiny body and took her into his arms.

While his heart still hurt for Sianin, holding another of his daughters helped soothe the ache. The feel of her warm, solid body released a cocktail of hormones that loosened his taut muscles and attenuated his anxiety.

He brushed his lips across the top of her head, inhaling her fresh baby scent as he did so.

“Love you loads, my darling girl,” he murmured, kissing her again. “Which one are you, eh? Daddy promises he’ll get better at determining it.”

“You’ve got Mads.”

“How do you do that so easily?” he huffed.

“Well, I was the one who changed them into new outfits, and I knew Maddie was in purple while Hannah was in black,” Rose teased, knocking her shoulder into his.

James stuck his tongue out at her, but pressed a kiss to her temple.

“I love you, Rose.”

“I love you, too. We’ll get through this, James. I promise. We’ll figure it out.”

He nuzzled his cheek into her hair, taking comfort from her presence as they both lapsed into silence.

If you’ve made it to the end, consider leaving a comment or reblogging? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[kawaiikichi]

Operation SaiOu: Start! (Saiouma)

Prompt #30 from the Holiday/Christmas prompt list for @redes22! This was going to be posted on Christmas, but then that didn’t work out. So, now I’m posting it today.

I hope you like it and let me know if you would like anything changed/edited! :D

Based off of the request below:

Title: Operation SaiOu: Start!

Prompt: “We’re kind of tangled in lights.”

Summary: Rantaro has Shuichi and Kokichi over by his house to help decorate for Christmas. What they don’t realize is that they’ve fallen right into the trap Rantaro and his little sister Makiko have set up in order to hook them up.

One-Shot Notes: Kokichi and Shuichi are pining for one another, but don’t realize that the other person feels the same way

One-shot is under the cut!

“Whoa...” Shuichi blinked up at the expansive mansion before him in surprise. “This place is humongous...” he trailed off.

“As expected of rich boy Amami-chan!” Kokichi brought his arms behind his head. “Well? Do you plan on knocking or are you going to continue gawking at his house?” he asked.

“I’ll knock, I’ll knock!” Shuichi exclaimed as he reached out to knock on the door.

Before he could, however, the door was opened to reveal a man in his mid-fifties.

“Ah, you two must be Young Master Rantaro’s guests.” he bowed before them. “Welcome to the Amami household. I am Satoru, the housekeeper.” he said.

He stepped to the side.

“Please, come in.” he said.

“Ah...excuse the intrusion...” Shuichi called out as he stepped inside.

Kokichi followed him inside and they took off their shoes.

“Right this way. Young Master Rantaro is waiting for you in the family room.” Satoru said.

They walked down the hall and stepped into the family, which was mostly decked top to bottom with Christmas decorations. Rantaro stood by the large Christmas tree tucked in the corner by the fireplace, hanging ornaments with a girl that had the same green hair as him except with blonde highlights in it.

“Young Master Rantaro, Young Miss Makiko. Your guests have arrived.” Satoru spoke as he bowed.

Rantaro turned away from the tree, smiling.

“Thank you, Satoru.” he then looked over at Shuichi and Kokichi. “Thanks for coming, you two.” he said.

“Of course! Thank you for inviting us over!” Shuichi replied.

Kokichi looked around at the decorations before locking eyes with the girl beside Rantaro.

“This is...?” he trailed off.

“Ah, this is my little sister, Makiko. She’s the seventh oldest sister out of my twelve sisters.” Rantaro looked at Makiko. “Makiko, these are my friends from school, Saihara-kun and Ouma-kun.” Rantaro introduced.

“Nice to meet you, Makiko.” Shuichi greeted.

“Nice to meet you too!” she beamed at them. “My brother’s told me so much about you two, especially how the two of you—“ Rantaro’s hand flew over her mouth before she could say anymore.

Shuichi arched a brow at this as Rantaro chuckled.

“Ah, don’t mind her.” he removed his hand. “Well, you two came just in time. I need you guys to finish decorating the tree while Makiko and I start on the cookies.” he instructed.

“Alright. Sounds simple enough.” Shuichi stated.

“Are you up for it, Ouma?” Rantaro asked.

“Uh, heck yeah, I am!” Kokichi replied.

“Now, that’s the spirit! You guys get work. If you need help, you can come get us in the kitchen.” Rantaro said before heading out of the family room.

Makiko followed after him with a bounce in her step. As soon as they got to the kitchen, they drew in close together.

“What’s the plan?” Makiko asked.

“Well, first off, we need to make it seem like we’re making the cookies. I have everything set up in the family room, so all we have to do is wait and see if this plan’ll actually work or not.” Rantaro stated.

Makiko nodded her head in response.

“Alright.” she looked at him. “What exactly is the plan, though?” she asked.

“We’re going to have them pull the traditional ‘tangled up in the lights’ scene. They’re bound to act then.” Rantaro explained.

“They’ll be able to confess to each other, right?”

“Of course they will. I’m tired of watching them mutually pine for one another without being aware of each other’s feelings like fools.”

Makiko giggled.

“I’m actually getting excited!” she chirped.

“Same here.” he responded.

He poked his head down the hall as he grinned.

“Operation SaiOu: Start.”

💜💜💜💜

Kokichi began humming a Christmas song as he hung an ornament on the tree.

“I wonder what kind of cookies they plan on making...” he trailed off.

“Who knows. We’ll see once they’re done.” Kokichi replied.

They placed more ornaments on the tree, occasionally talking about other subjects and humming Christmas songs together.

Shuichi began adding hooks to some of the ornaments as Kokichi spoke.

“So? Do you have anyone that you like?” he asked.

Shuichi nearly dropped the glass nativity ornament he had in his hand.

“What?” he answered, wondering if he heard him right.

“I asked if you have anyone that you like. Like, a crush.” Kokichi said.

“Oh...a crush...” Shuichi trailed off.

He licked his lips, chancing a glance at Kokichi in his white Christmas sweater, dark denim jeans, and brown knee high winter boots. His heart skipped a beat as he lowered his gaze.

“Uh...yeah...” a blush began to spread across his cheeks. “I do have someone I like...” he trailed off.

“Heh...what are they like?” Kokichi asked.

Shuichi tapped a finger against his chin, contemplating what he should say.

Well, I obviously can’t say that I have a crush on him. Who knows how he’ll react if I say that...maybe I should be vague, he told himself.

“Well...first of all, they’re very mischievous. They pull pranks everyday and wreck havoc wherever they go.” he began.

“Oh? So, you like the “bad boy” or “bad girl” types?” Kokichi asked.

“That’s not my ideal type! Far from it! But this person...they’re an exception. While they certainly are a troublemaker, they have another side to them. A side that’s sweet, kind, and just downright adorable. It’s rare that they show that side of themselves, but when they do, it makes me fall deeper and deeper in love.” Shuichi explained.

“Is that so...” Kokichi murmured.

“What about you, Ouma-kun?” Shuichi knew he was going to regret asking him, but he felt like he needed to. “Do you have a crush on someone?” he asked.

“Hm? I do.” Kokichi replied as he began hanging more ornaments onto the tree.

“Oh wow. What are they like?” Shuichi asked.

“They remind me of you.”

“O-Of me?!”

“Yeah, of you.”

Shuichi swallowed as he finished adding hooks onto the ornaments.

There’s actually someone who’s just like me, he wondered to himself.

He couldn’t help but feel dejected at the thought.

They finished hanging up the ornaments on the tree after a few minutes and decided to get to work stringing the lights. Shuichi watched as Kokichi carried the bundle over to the nearest outlet to test them.

“Why in the world did he decide to hang the ornaments before stringing the lights...?” he mumbled.

Kokichi shrugged.

“Who knows. Amami-chan’s weird like that.” he replied as he bent down to plug the lights in.

The lights turned on, the bundle resembling a bright rainbow in his arms. Kokichi grinned widely as he turned towards Shuichi.

“Saihara-chan, they work!” he exclaimed as he began to run over to him.

“Ah! Ouma-kun, don’t run with the lights in your arms like tha—“ his eyes widened as he watched Kokichi trip over his feet.

“Ack!” Kokichi exclaimed.

“Ouma-kun!” Shuichi called out as he dashed over to him.

They crashed to the floor with a loud thump accompanied by some groans.

“Ugh...that hurt...” he mumbled.

“How do you think I feel?!” Kokichi whined.

Shuichi blinked up at the ceiling before beginning to figure out what happened. He tried to move only to realize that something bright and colorful was wrapped tightly around him and that there was a heavy weight resting on his chest.

“Ah. I think we got tangled up in the lights.” he commented.

“Are you for real?” Kokichi asked.

“Yeah.” Shuichi replied as a voice came from the kitchen.

“Is everything okay in there? I heard a thud.”

“Ah, everything’s okay! It’s just...we’re kind of tangled in lights.” Shuichi said.

“Alright. Let me just finish up with this batch and then I’ll come get you guys out.”

“Okay!” Shuichi replied.

He rested his head back on the floor as he waited for Rantaro to come help them. His mind then drifted back to the heavy weight on top of him.

Oh yeah, what exactly is that heavy weight on top of me, he asked himself.

“Uh, Ouma-kun? Do you have any idea what’s resting on top of m—“ he looked at Kokichi and his breath hitched upon realizing just what position they were in.

Kokichi was laying on top of him, arms resting on his chest as he blinked up at him in surprise. Shuichi could hear his heart pounding wildly against his rib cage as he stared into Kokichi’s eyes. The colorful tree lights made his eyes sparkle like stars. He looked so beautiful that Shuichi wanted nothing more than to kiss him. But, he knew he couldn’t.

Not if he wanted to ruin the friendship that he worked so hard to earn.

However, his lips looked so tantalizing that he found himself moving in on instinct. He felt Kokichi place his hands on his shoulders and then, it happened.

Shuichi felt a pair of lips press against his own and only then did he realize that Kokichi had closed the considerably short distance between them. His eyes flew wide in shock.

Wait...is he really...?

Kokichi squeezed his shoulder as a sign that he wanted Shuichi to kiss back. He complied, moving his lips against Kokichi’s. He listened as Kokichi sighed against his lips before pulling away with a soft smacking sound. Shuichi could only stare as Kokichi’s eyes slowly fluttered open, blinking dreamily up at him.

“You...You actually kissed me back...” he whispered out.

“Uh...that...!” Shuichi’s cheeks flushed red. “That was because you squeezed my shoulder!” he exclaimed.

“I only did it in the heat of the moment! I didn’t think you were going to kiss me back like you also felt the same way about me!” Kokichi shot back.

“Wait...what did you say?” Shuichi asked.

Kokichi stated at him for a few seconds before drawing in a gasp.

“I didn’t say anything!” he exclaimed.

“No, you did say something. You said that I kissed you like I felt the same way about you. Explain to me what that means.” Shuichi said.

“I don’t wanna!” Kokichi whined.

“Ouma-kun, I need to know. Do you...like me, too?” he asked.

“Too?” Shuichi could tell that Kokichi was taken aback by what he said. “What are you trying to say, Saihara-chan?” he asked.

“I’m trying to say that I have feelings for you, Ouma-kun!” Shuichi said.

“You...have feelings for me...” Kokichi trailed off, blinking up at him in bewilderment as Shuichi continued.

“Yes, I do have feelings for you. I never said anything because I felt that you didn’t feel the same way. But, when you kissed me like that just now...I know for sure now that you like me, too.” Shuichi explained.

Kokichi pouted.

“You idiot...you should’ve just said something...” he mumbled under his breath.

“I couldn’t exactly do that. I didn’t know that you felt the same way.” Shuichi said.

They slowly sat up, the lights shifting around them so that Kokichi was seated on Shuichi’s lap. Kokichi began to fidget, bringing his bottom lip in between his teeth.

“So...does this mean we’re dating now?” he asked.

“Well...if you want to?” Shuichi answered uncertainly.

“Are you kidding me? Of course I want to date you.”

“Then, it’s settled.”

Shuichi smiled as he brought their foreheads together.

“Hey...can we kiss again?” he asked.

“Of course.” Kokichi replied as he began to close the distance between them, tilting his head to the side.

Shuichi’s nose brushed against the rise of his cheekbone as their lips came together in another kiss. His eyes slowly closed shut as he let the world melt away, not taking note of the footsteps nearby or how Rantaro and Makiko high fived each other upon seeing them kiss once more.