#I guess I got a kind of tilted photo of it originally but actually the only way it would fit on my phone case was if I put it on diagonally

[musicrunsthroughmysoul]

I realized that I never shared a sticker that I made several months ago (one of my DIY stickers). I put it on my phone case, although this is a picture of it before I put it on my phone case. (And yes, it is still on my phone case!)

[ssoupcup]

to avoid annoying my friend by bombarding him with multiple pictures of rocks, here's a bunch of cool geological stuff i saw in the cliffs and the beach on my walk today with lengthy explanations ! i forgot to use things for scaling in all of these so I'll just be going off what i remember unfortunately. but yeah i really just wanted to rant about my special interest because i don't live near cliffs so this is the perfect opportunity to do some geology bc I MISS MY GEO LESSONS!!!! also this is all just from memory. if im wrong about something that is why lmao

we start off with a fun little symmetrical gentle anticline. nothing too remarkable but i was nevertheless happy to see it.

some pretty visible soil creep :3

a LOT of landslips happen along this coastline (clearly), probably due to the poor cementation of the rock. its pretty young (deposited within the last 2 million years according to which papers I've read) so it's had less time to. you know. cement. its also mostly muds and clays, so they get easily waterlogged and effected by weathering which causes the landslips.

here's some more slumps and such. i *think* i saw some slump rotational slides but i don't know if i got pictures and if i did i don't remember enough about them to identify them from the images.

cont'd from above. ^^^^

also just here is some REALLY COOL folding at the base of the cliff no im serious just look at that series of folds. this one actually had a random person in the photo too so there's some idea of scale. like just look at that big eroded anticline up top and below is the other folds. YIPPEEE

so originally i thought there was a lot of tilting which technically there is but i think its mostly due to the landslips and such. i think portions of the cliff have collapsed or slipped which causes these parts of the rock face to drop down whilst still remaining in tact. you can kinda see it in these?

there is also a lot of clay which i found out is from the forest bed formation which dates from around 2ma to 500,000 years ago. its generally up to about 6m thick. the clay itself is from freshwater deposits (i think some of the stuff i read said there used to be a river there with its source being in the pennines but don't quote me on that.)

i wish id gotten closer to the cliffs to see what the rocks and sediment are like but i was walking with my sister and my dog and both of them wanted to get going lmao because the walk itself was about 2 and a half hours. for fluvial deposits at this distance from the sea, assuming this area was once the site of a river mouth, i would expect to see generally well sorted, well rounded grains, or a lot of muds. there were definitely a lot of muds present which could indicate a river mouth but it may also just be from the forest bed, and the same goes for the clays. i think i read somewhere that the clays are from 0.5 to 0.8ma, and may be indicative of a river bed since its literally the smallest grain size (platy particles which are hard to erode due to their shape. ALTHOUGH. some clays are more likely to become waterlogged and swell which can cause more cliff failures (i THINK its due to gaps between bonds but im not too sure. something like Kimmeridge clay? nope i looked it up that's a specific deposit of clay. im thinking about 1:1 and 2:1 clays - specifically kaolonite (1:1 which allows for minimal swelling) and montmorillonite (2:1 which allows for more swelling as water can penatrate the spaces). i cannot for some reason find anywhere what kind the clay here is and i don't know how to assess it myself or if i even can/could assess it so. that just remains as a tangent.))

i looked it up. i am correct about river mouth muds and clays.¹ the clays and muds are indeed from fluvial deposits. there's also floodplain stuff. i love being correct about things i like. AYO I just saw it was also an estuary look at me slaying. although that wasn't hard to guess since this is a modern day coastline and this geology is very recent lmao.

there's also glacial deposits which includes banding i believe in the rocks but im going to be real with you, i didn't do near as much research into that can't remember shit about it. here's what i think might be it though lmao. glacial stuff is characterised most often by poor sorting, generally very angular grains and such which makes up glacial till. id put a picture in but i reached the limit now im writing this bc this post was not written chronologically. here is what probably is the till.

then here's a formation i simply enjoyed the look of. we also saw a seal :3

I don't have all the references because some of this is just from my own knowledge and understanding but here are some of the papers i used to research. i can't be bothered to do proper harvard referencing, and i don't think anyone particularly cares or are going to look at them but here's them just in the off chance someone did want to look at them lmao

¹ i know wikipedia isn't a reliable source for academic research or papers but this is a tumblr post in which im literally just ranting about my special interest. this is the source.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cromer_Forest_Bed#:~:text=The%20Cromer%20Forest%20Bed%20is,and%200.5%20million%20years%20ago.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.north-norfolk.gov.uk/media/3128/appendix_a__n_norfolk_coastal_environment.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiD4pWd8oGBAxWeWkEAHaXbBHYQFnoECCQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3jvgi8XAq_s53_CYKqeQVZ

(looked at whole paper but specifically referenced pages 4, 5, 15, 16, 20, 21)

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/16198/1/Trimingham.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiD4pWd8oGBAxWeWkEAHaXbBHYQFnoECCUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw3Q21XXFHJQbRppkKhEc1LT

[jaeheewillalwaysbemyfav]

Can u make mc is the actual owner of Cerberus when he was a pup but villagers killed him because they thought that he was a monster and what how would the brothers and the undateable react to that when mc started to cry when she saw Cerberus headcanons

Oh Beans! I totally spaced when reading this and only have the brothers.

I'll post what I have here right now, but this will also be on AO3, so if you keep checking/subscribe there, you'll get a notification when I've added the undateables! It might not be for a while though, since I'm about to start school again ^-^;;

Who's a Good Boy?

The Guard Dog of the House of Hades. A vicious, three-headed hellhound that only the fallen Morningstar himself could command. Unfathomably massive. Devourer of demons, angels, and humans alike. Notoriously difficult to groom.

That is Cerberus, Lucifer’s extremely volatile pet named after a figure from Greek mythology for reasons no one truly understands. The creature has struck fear into the hearts of its housemates, and the Devildom at large, for what feels like ages.

So when MC cries upon seeing the wolf-dog for the first time, none of the brothers are especially surprised. How could a human cross such a monster’s path and live, after all?

Except those who weep in fear usually don’t then barrel full-tilt into one of the monster’s furry legs, babbling incoherently about how they thought they’d never see him again.

One of Cerberus’ heads leans down to the human, and the brothers panic, fearing the worst. It opens its mouth, revealing razor sharp fangs—

And licks MC’s entire body in a saliva-filled canine kiss. Now covered in tears and drool, MC laughs as they shake themself off, teasing the hellhound by saying that they already showered today, thank you very much.

“So, did you miss me as much as I missed you?” they ask, giving Cerberus’ central head some under the chin scritches (the only part of its head they can currently reach).

Cerberus boofs loudly, enormous tail waving back and forth at an increasingly hazardous pace.

Lucifer

What.

Lucifer is dealing with a Lot right now. He almost lost the exchange student to his own dog, except apparently Cerberus used to belong to MC?! How?!

He orders Cerberus to back away from the human, part of him still convinced that this is somehow a combination of MC being mistaken and Cerberus playing with its food, but the hellhound actually growls at him and picks MC up by the back of their shirt, tossing them onto its back.

MC, in response, finds new places to scritch.

He stares at the scene for a few minutes, unable to process what his life has become.

Later, once Cerberus finally agrees to let MC leave, they explain to him that Cerberus used to be a puppy in the human world.

Obviously, he was immediately noted as strange due to his three heads, and the people of MC’s village believed him to be an omen of death. MC themself didn’t care, and just saw “lil’ Cerb” as a puppy like any other, albeit an exceptionally drooly one.

He used to be more or less normal dog-sized, but it quickly became obvious that Cerberus was growing fast, and would be much larger than even a wolf by the time he was done. He also became harder and harder to hide.

Unfortunately, one night they awoke to poor Cerberus being chased out into the night by a mob, never to return.

They assumed the worst, mourned, and got on with their life as best as they could. But seeing Cerberus— they knew it was the same dog as soon as they saw him — brought all those emotions right back to the surface.

It’s not hard to adapt to these strange circumstances. Lucifer is actually quite relieved to have someone who is both willing and able to safely help him in caring for Cerberus, and both MC and the hellhound delight in each other’s company.

Lucifer also won’t deny the pride he feels upon seeing MC, the one he loves, getting along so well with his son dog.

Mammon

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The P A N I C of seeing MC within bite-chomp-murder-kill distance of Cerberus nearly killed Mammon.

What the hell is he supposed to do against that furball?! MC’s dead meat, a chew toy, he can’t save them again—

WHAT THE FUCK ARE THEY D O I N G ? !

Torn between passing out from fear and yelling about how brave and cool HIS human is!

So he kinda just… stands there, slack-jawed, as MC finds a spot on the creature that makes it thump its leg so hard the ground shakes.

Already he’s cooking up ways to use MC’s Cerberus-taming powers to get into all kinds of Shenanigans

Except he quickly learns that while Cerb is much more gentle with MC, it won’t let them distract it from its duties.

Has this resulted in MC semi-unwillingly riding Cerberus as it chases a terrified Mammon throughout the Devildom? Possibly~

Though when MC explains to Mammon how Cerberus used to be their dog, and what had happened to him… He can’t help but feel a touch more sympathetic to the hellhound.

Only a little bit though. It still does try and tear him apart whenever he gets too close, after all.

Leviathan

Levi’s fear metamorphoses into awe much faster than the others’. MC LOOKS SO COOL!! Riding the mighty Cerberus like a steed!

He desperately wishes he had the art skills to capture this iconic moment forever. But alas, a camera will have to do.

It’s a pretty good picture, the comparatively small human sitting on Cerberus’ back like something straight out of a fantasy novel. Levi even has a shot of them accidentally scritching a spot that makes Cerberus breathe fire (like a furry dragon!)

100% gets super emotional when MC tells him how they originally had— and lost— Cerberus as a puppy. It reminds him of his precious Henry 1.0 in some ways…

Begs MC to let him post the photos he took, along with their story as the caption. It’s just too good! It’s exactly like that arc in My Adventurer Boyfriend Keeps Adopting the Monsters He Beats in Combat and Now We’re Running Out of Space to Keep Them!

Like Mammon, Levi also quickly learns that just because he unlocked Cerberus’ tragic backstory, doesn’t mean that the hellhound will treat him any differently.

But sometimes, after a long “walk” with MC, the massive creature will be mostly asleep. And then, his hand shaking, MC will guide Levi to pet Cerberus’ flank. Its tail swishes softly, Levi’s own swaying in response.

Satan

He shakes his head and laughs, torn between relief, awe, shock, and lingering horror for MC’s safety. Of course they can tame even the ferocious Cerberus…

Guess all sorts of angry monsters like MC, huh?

He definitely wants to hear the story of MC owning Cerberus in the past, but first he’s going to drink in the absolutely dumbfounded expression on Lucifer’s face.

Toooootally doesn’t cry upon hearing MC’s story with Cerberus. No way, he’s still a cat person, he swears!

...No one is allowed to comment on Satan’s various burn injuries that occur over the next few weeks.

Not if they don’t want to be left with worse.

Asmodeus

OH SHIT!! Also, ewwwww

Once the fear for MC’s safety subsides, Asmo can appreciate the cuteness and hilarity that is MC with Cerberus. Truly no one is immune to their charms it seems, and their affections know no bounds.

...Is it that same quality that allows MC to continue to care for him and his brothers despite their past actions?

Asmo claims that the smoke from Cerberus’ fire breath is getting into his eyes, prompting him to leave. He has a good long stare-at-a-wall crisis for a bit.

Learning MC and Cerberus’ story only makes him mushier. Their tragedy got a happy ending after all!

As much as he loves MC’s charms, he still insists that they de-drool themself before touching him or any of his things. It stinks like brimstone!

Now if they need any help getting clean… That he can oblige~

Beelzebub

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH part 2

As one of the physically stronger brothers, when Lucifer’s not available it’s Beel’s job to groom Cerberus. He knows how dangerous that mutt is.

But apparently not for MC “Knows No Fear” over there!

As Cerberus continues to remain docile in MC’s presence, Beel starts to appreciate the cuteness of a human and their giant hellhound.

Unabashedly mushy upon hearing MC’s story about Cerberus. The themes of losing a loved one, only to find them much later in a new form… it kinda hits a little close to home for him.

(It’s not a perfect analogy: Beel knows MC isn’t Lilith, but having them as part of her legacy is undeniably cathartic. It’s why he doesn’t share these exact feelings with them, since he knows they’re uncomfortable with being compared to her excessively. Still, he can’t help but note the comparison.)

Naturally, he’s also very happy to have a very useful partner for grooming Cerberus. That living nightmare turns into an overgrown puppy whenever MC’s around. It’s much easier, and much safer, to work with this way.

Plus, it means he gets some quality time with MC! And there’s nothing quite like the fond smiles they share with him during these moments.

Belphegor

He has got to be dreaming. No way is this actually happening— nope, Mammon just stepped on his foot, and that hurt, he’s awake.

WHAT THE FUCK?!

Does MC not fear death? Is that it? Did that part of their brain just completely shut down when he killed them?!

Unlike the others, he can’t really shut down his panic. Sure, right now Cerberus is acting all cuddly, but that could change on a dime. That dog only listens to Lucifer, and right now all Lucifer is doing is staring gormlessly at it!!!

He nearly loses his hand trying to pull MC away from the creature (which it naturally did Not appreciate).

“Belphie, wait! It’s okay,” MC reassures him even as smoke blows out of Cerberus’ nostrils.

They explain their history with the hellhound, how they rescued it as a puppy and then lost it to the angry and frightened people of their village.

Belphegor can’t help but recall their expression when he told them about his imprisonment, the outrage there mingling with a much older emotion. Is that why they were so quick to help him?

He’s still wary of Cerberus. He refuses to be fooled by any facades the creature may be putting up.

But one day, MC invites him to one of their “playdates”. Cerberus watches him like a hawk, growling when he first approaches, but MC just shushes and soothes the monster until it allows him closer.

And maybe, after a few tense minutes, the pair begin to relax around each other.

And maybe, Lucifer has a picture of MC and Belphegor curled up in Cerberus’ fur as the three take a mid-afternoon nap.

And maybe, Belphegor lets him keep it.

[pies-writes-and-more]

shopping with the boys

pairings: tsukishima kei, iwaizumi hajime, & bokuto kōtarō, all with a fem!reader

warnings: fluffy dumbasses, tsukishima being a little bitch, some swearing obviously, but all fluff!

a/n: gotta give a hUGE thank you to @satan-ruler-of-hells​ for helping me out with this!! practically all of Bokuto’s was ideas thrown at me from Satan so tysm my darling!!!! also i guess i should thank my irl partner for being my irl tsukki lol he is very much so my inspo for this haha. also i may have made iwa’s a bit longer but i can’t help it, i love him so much. anyways enjoy! note: none of the following gifs are mine! credits to the original creators!

haikyuu masterlist

Tsukishima doesn’t hold anything back when you bring him shopping. He actually doesn’t mind shopping - to be honest, he snickers with you about all the boyfriends who try to find a spot to sit while their partner’s shop. You watch as he tilts his chin up high, a little too proud of himself, for being a good partner and helping you shop.

He’ll rummage mindlessly through hangers of clothes, pretending like he doesn’t care, but honestly, tell me how this man pulls out a really cute outfit so effortlessly.

When you try things on for him, you might literally step out of the dressing room for 2 seconds before he just shakes his head and makes you turn back in. He knows what looks flattering on you and he’ll let you know. This man will let you know of insecurities you didn’t even know you had, talking about square-shaped knees or a weirdly shaped leg.

He doesn’t mean to make you feel bad about yourself, and you actually catch him biting his tongue sometimes and apologizing over and over again when he realizes he did hurt you. But on the flip side, when he likes an outfit on you you’ll know. This man will actually smile at you, make you twirl around a little because he just wants to see you from all angles. 

He tries to act as though he doesn’t really care about some outfits, but you’ll ask him to take a picture of you in it so you can see the back or something, and later you’ll find out that he’s made that photo his new wallpaper.

There was one time when you thought he was doing it just to be nice, to like convince you that he actually liked the outfit and he just deadpanned stared at you, “Y/N. Do I seem like the kind of guy who would put it on my phone if I didn’t actually like it? If it as anything ugly, I would’ve sent you back into the dressing room and hope that it burns in flames.”

So casually lovable in such a snarky way.

If you have a different sense of style than him though, he’ll probably just scrunch up his nose in distaste but he won’t be completely against it. He’ll make some teasing comments about you looking like a toddler or say something about you being overdressed, but then will go, “But I guess it looks better on you than anyone else.”

The whole shopping trip, this man will hold your bags for you if you’ve gone on a shopping trip, and even if you don’t ask him to, he’ll still complain like a little bitch (LOL). “God how much more are you going to buy?” He’ll whine, but when you try to take some of the bags from him, he’ll swat you away because what kind of awful boyfriend would he be making you hold your own bags.

“Do I look like I’m unable to carry bags of clothes, Y/N? Do you really think I’m that weak?”

“Well you keep whining like a baby so I thought I’d help,” you’d roll your eyes but he’s just got this huge ass playful grin on his face.

“I’m just telling you you need to stop buying so much for your bank account’s sake. What happened to trying to save your money?”

You’d end up agreeing with him, because yes, save your money I guess. But because we’re talking about a big brain boy over here, he remembers every item that you liked but put away for money saving reasons, or even if you just didn’t feel confident in it (but Tsukishima knows you look really good n it). He’s going to remember every single outfit, or item, or accessory, and this salty bean is probably going to go back and get it for you as a present.

Iwaizumi doesn’t really understand what he’s supposed to do when you go shopping and knowing this, you’ve never really asked him to come with you. You’ll just say you’re going shopping and will ask if he’s hanging out with Oikawa or if he wants you to pick him up something.

He actually got a little confused as to why you never seemed to want to try things on in front of him. The two of you had gone shopping before for him, new shirts or new pants, even new volleyball shoes, but his eyebrows furrowed as he thought about how many new outfits he had seen you in but never been there when you purchased them.

So one day, he demands that you bring him. He waits for you to bring up that you were going to go pick out a new dress for some event coming up and when you ask what he’s going to do, he just tells you “What do you mean? I’m coming with you,” and shows up at your door a few minutes later.

He’ll hate himself a little for not doing this sooner because the look in your eyes when you find him at your front door makes him wish he had asked to come other times too.

You weren’t quite sure what to expect with Iwa with you while you were shopping but you were happy to have him sitting there while you tried on clothes.

“What about this one?” You asked him with a smile, coming out in a cute sundress and giving it a little twirl for him. Iwa just looked at you with a slight redness on his cheeks, nodding slowly.

“It’s nice,” was all he said, shifting awkwardly on the little couch.

You took that as a sign that it wasn’t the best looking and turned back into the dressing room. But it seemed like every outfit you put on, Iwaizumi seemed to brush it off with small compliments. You knew he wasn’t the most extravagent with words and everything (to be honest, you were wondering if you should’ve asked Oikawa to come along too since he might be better with his words) but you had hoped you were going to get some sort of reaction from him.

You stepped out of the dressing room a final time, but this time without any new clothes, holding all the outfits that you had brought with you.

“No more?” Iwaizumi asked with a small frown.

“I guess this shop just doesn’t have anything nice that flatters me ya know?” You offered, though your eyes still lingered on a few outfits or two that you had really liked.

“What do you mean?” His frown grew bigger, arms crossed against his chest. “They all looked nice.”

You sighed and looked up at him with a hint of a glare, “Iwa, I love you, but what’s the point of you being here if you’re not going to actually help me! I need you to tell me which ones look nice and which ones don’t! You’ve always had such a blunt honesty to you so I thought you coming with me meant you were going to give me your input.”

Iwaizumi just stared at you for a moment before his cheeks burned a bit pinker, his eyes dropping from yours and staring at the floor where his feet were shuffling awkwardly, “I... I just think you look good in everything. You always wear the clothes, they don’t wear you ya know?”

You sighed and rolled your eyes playfully at just how sheepish your boyfriend could get, especially cause the first time you met him, he was yelling some aggressive shit to his teammates, “You didn’t prefer any? Or like some more than others? You’re supposed to help me pick one - I can’t buy all of them.”

“I could buy them for you,” he offered bluntly, shoving his hands in his pockets nervously.

“Iwa no!” You laughed, shaking your head. “You really didn’t like any of them more than the others?”

Iwaizumi thought for a moment before digging through the pile that was in your arms and pulling out two of the outfits, both of which you had really liked yourself, “These.”

You beamed in pride as you nodded in agreement, tucking away the other ones for a different event maybe, “Perfect, now to just narrow down from two to one,” you hummed, looking at the dresses side by side.

“Why?” Iwaizumi grunted, snatching the hangers from your hands and swiftly moving towards the cashier.

“Iwa! No! I’m supposed to buy them,” you insisted, desperately trying to snatch them back but Iwaizumi practically held you at an arm’s length. The salesperson just smirked in amusement, ringing up the till for Iwa to tap his card for, wrapping it up in a nice bag. 

“There,” Iwaizumi shrugged, passing the bag to you as if that hadn’t been a big deal at all. You thanked the salesperson awkwardly as you tried to catch up to your boyfriend who had simply walked away, his hands still in his pockets like he was this cool collected piece of shit when his ears were turning red. “I’m hungry,” he stated before you could complain, grabbing your wrist and pulling you down towards the nearest ice cream shop.

You tried to convince him to take one of them back, or at least return one when you went back home and tried them on again but Iwaizumi refused to listen to you. Later that night, he snapped off the tags almost immediately after confirming that you still liked both of them, smiling at you ever so innocently when you scolded him for being too lenient with his money.

But honest to god, this man would go into severe debt for you so be careful next time you bring him shopping lol.

Bokuto’s kinda like Tsukishima, in the idea that he is actually really good at picking outfits for you. You’re not entirely sure how - if he just picked up on things when he used to shop with his sisters, or if he’s secretly really smart but has gotten hit in the head with a volleyball too many times- regardless, this man knows how to pick an outfit.

But it’s not like he’s picking it because he thinks the colours or patterns look nice or anything, at least, that’s never the reason he gives you when you ask why he picked something out. 

His favourite thing to do when the two of you go shopping is to leave you in one of the changing rooms and just run around the store trying to pick out outfits for you. He’ll come back with a huge stack of clothes in his arms and a massive smile on his face, plopping them all in front of you.

Most of the items you’d probably never pick for yourself honestly. You’ve tried to argue with him in the past about not liking certain colours or patterns, but he begs you to just try it on.

So when you ask him why he picked something out or why he seemed to want you to put it on so badly, he’ll just shrug and say something like, “The texture is really soft/nice” or “I just thought it looked really cool!”

And you try it on and honest to god, you want to hate him because it actually looks so nice. Whether it’s just the colour feels very complimentary to your skintone, or it just hugs all the right places or flows properly, you always feel so good in what he picks out. 

He gets all cocky about it eventually when he realizes just how good he is at it. He’s very proud of how good he styles you, though he always insists that everything looks good on you anyways.

You probably lose him a lot when you guys are shopping though. When he’s not throwing clothes at you, he’s too busy running around getting distracted by 7 different things. Sometimes it’s really cute things, like he was worried about a child who didn’t seem to have parents around so he paused and lingered to make sure that they were okay. But he just didn’t tell you that he was stopping, so he had kept walking only to realize that your boyfriend was no longer next to you.

You forgave him because he was worried about a kid and when that man gets into protective mode, you fall harder for him by the second. 

But other times, it’s harder to forgive him. Like that one time when he ditched you because he smelt some yummy pretzels and didn’t even buy you one because he was too overwhelmed by how suddenly hungry he was (he bought you one after though as an apology don’t worry).

The worst time was when Bokuto had straight up disappeared. You couldn’t find him anywhere even though you walked down the paths you two had taken before he had disappeared. There wasn’t anything that could’ve distracted him - no food, no kids, no interesting shops.

Imagine your embarrassment now when you heard your name being paged over the announcements after half an hour of trying to find your boyfriend. “Y/L/N Y/N, please come get your child at the front desk. Thank you. Y/L/N Y/N, please come get your child at the front desk. Thank you.”

The same monotone voice over and over again until you ran over there, finding your adorable apologetic looking boyfriend sitting there waving at you, “Y/N! I’m over here!”

You loved this man, but lord was he a handful. But it’s okay because he really does just want to love you aggressively and it turns out the reason he disappeared is because he was trying to purchase you a gift without you noticing, and ended up going down the wrong turn. A few kisses and many apologies later, you forgave him. You’d always forgive you - how could you not? Especially with those adorable puppy eyes.

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[bukojuiice]

ʚ Going to Universal Studios Japan with them (ft. Izuku, Katsuki, Shoto, Denki, Eijirou, Shinsou and Dabi) ɞ *‧.₊˚*੭

—  @bukojuiice’s 720+ followers gift! thank you so so much for supporting my works!  ♡ ily all i never would have thought i would reach this milestone 🥺

—  uni student! izuku, katsuki, shoto, eijirou, denki, shinsou and evil turned good! dabi x reader headcanons ♡

 — To further elaborate, this is a Dabi that turned Good for his bby bro because I know that this is physically impossible in the manga and i found it hard to play around with a cute and fluffy set of hcs within a villain context. so pls let me have a good Dabi just this one time qwq

— if you like to see more from me, i have an ongoing bakugo x fem reader! smau called cuddle buddy! read it here!  for my bnha masterlist check it out here!  ♡

— please reblog, reply and leave like if you enjoyed! it means a lot! c:

—  all universal studios japan photos are taken by me. Most of these headcanons are also based on my experience in Universal Studios Japan!  (๑•͈ᴗ•͈)

—  content warning: slight innuendo/sexual content, strong language and mention of Endeavor

— summary: You spend a wonderful day in one of the most happiest places on earth with your just as wonderful significant other. 

—  You and Izuku stroll through Hogsmeade of the newly opened Hogwarts area of the Park. Your hand in his and your arms interlocked.

—  Izuku would geek out. As in geek out. He very much loved Harry Potter growing up and being able to go to USJ was a dream come true.

—  “It’s LeviOSA not LeviOSAR.” You continue to make Harry Potter jokes and Izuku was loving every minute of it. He could not stop laughing.

— You loved seeing his laugh as it made your heart feel all fluffy inside. God. why must this boy be so cute?

—  Izuku is just as big of a Potterhead as you. The two of you took the Hogwarts House test online and Izuku was sorted into Gryffindor whilst you were sorted into Slytherin. Two complete opposites yet you guys were the most adorkable couple ever. 

— Even the amusement park goers (the couples in particular) couldn’t help but turn their eyes to the two of you. 

—  The two of you are wearing matching Hogwarts robes, earning compliments from the staff giggling about how cute the two of you are! 

— YOU GUYS WERE MOST PROBABLY THE CUTEST COUPLE IN THE AMUSEMENT PARK!?? 

— LIKE YES TWO SOFT CUTIES AND IN HOGWARTS ROBES OF ALL MATCHING OUTFITS THEY COULD HAVE WORN?? COUPLE GOALS

—  You were originally going to hang out with the entire Dekusquad but ofc your friends just decided to play matchmaker and instead collectively backed out and said they were busy bc of uni (obvs a lie)

—  You wonder why they would play matchmaker when the you and Izuku were already together in the first place and they know that very well HSKHSHSKHS 

—  anyways ochaco, tsuyu, shoto and tenya are very supportive wbk

—  Izuku just wanted this day to be very special and to be between the two of you only. 

—  “Izu-kun! Let’s try out the Butterbeer and see if it tastes just as good as the books and movies make them to be!” You point to a food stall that sells the famous beverage seen in the series, with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic kinds.

—  “Of course (Y/N)!-chan Anything for you!” He says sweetly and gingerly hands the money to the food vendor. 

— For fun and because why the hecc not, you decided to order the alcoholic variant of the drink whilst Izuku had purchased the non-alcoholic one.

—  In turn, you ended up becoming a little bit tipsy as the two of you enter the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride.

—  Izuku stares in awe as the waiting line makes you go through the interior of Hogwarts Castle. Both you and Izuku couldn’t help but just stare in amazement. 

—  You smile at the sight of your cute freckled boyfriend admiring the view and the area before him. It was as if he was transported into the actual world of Harry Potter and you couldn’t help but feel the overwhelming emotions he was feeling right now. 

—  The two of you hold hands during the entire attraction as both of you are seated in a 3-seater ride. T’was cute uwu

—  Albeit the fact that you were a little bit tipsy, the entire 4-D ride was magnificent as it literally took you through every adventure Harry Potter and the rest of the cast had experienced. 

— It was probably one of the best rides you’ve been to tbh??

— “The Dementors were so creeeeeeepy.” Izuku shuddered, rubbing his arm. “”They looked so real!” He turns to you, wonder and amazement plastered all over his face.

—  “THE WORST THING ABOUT PRISON WAS THE DEMENTORSSSS.” You howled, your voice practically echoing around the exit area. 

—  “IZUkU!!! I LOAF YOUUUUUUU SOW MUCHHHHHIE.”

—  Midoriya knew that you got a bit tipsy due to the butterbeer, as soon as he had noticed the body language you were showing, he supports your weight by holding you tightky and then slowly take you to the cafe near the entrance that served hot coffee.

—  Thankfully, you were able to sober up so that the two of you could go around the rest of the park before the Night show took place in Hogwarts Castle. 

—  “You know, I’m so lucky to have you (Y/N)-chan. Just like how lucky Ron is to have Hermione.” He plants a kiss on your forehead, he firmly holds you as the evening light show of Hogwarts Castle begins. 

—  “You’re overreacting Izu-kun. I’m not as smart as Hermione.” You shake your head, trying to avoid eye contact as he just made another cheesy Harry Potter Joke. “More like I’m the Ron to your Hermione. I mess up sometimes yet you’re always there for me to help me up when I’m down.” 

—  “Then I guess we don’t have to compare ourselves to Ron and Hermione then. Because I wouldn’t have a life like this with you any other way. I love you (Y/N)-chan.”

—  “I love you too Izu-kun.” 

—  An array of colorful fireworks pop in the sky and the both of you look deep into each other’s eyes, holding each other tightly til the festivities end.

— The two of you arrived at Universal Studios Japan earlier than most people. Bakugo always wanted to be first in line even though the two of you had fast passes to specific rides. He just rolls like that.

—  You forced him to wear matching matching elmo and cookie monster headbands with you. You were wearing the Elmo one and he was wearing the Cookie monster design.

  —  He’d spoil you soooooooo bad like he’d be grumpy at first and refuse to buy you this cute little souvenir item you’d probably never use, but he’d still spoil the heck out of you. Just as long as it was mildly reasonable.

—  He was all for thrill rides. As long as he got to show off how bad-ass and brave he is to you. That was until you discovered one of the Jurassic Park rides in the park and HOO BOY...

  —  You were internally squealing at the sight of him wearing the cookie monster that your brain just?? kinda stopped?? You secretly take a pic of your explosive boyfie and then change his contact name to Cookie Monster.

—  You first enter the Jurassic Park area at the insistence of Kirishima, Kaminari, Mina and Sero whomst you were supposedly going to meet after 2 hours

— As you roam around, there’s awkward silence between the two of you until you begin to obnoxiously sing the theme song of the series to try and annoy Bakugo, “TENENENEN TENENENENEN TENENENEN”

—‘’(Y/N) Geez, could you stop singing that stupid song? It fucking annoys me.’’

—‘’No way we’re riding that shitty fucking water ride. I will not get wet today.”

— “Oh really? What if you get wet in different ways?”

—He smirks at you, taking your hand and rubbing your thumb, “Let’s see when we get home.’’

— “OH WAIT BUT FIRST LET’S SHARE A TURKEY LEG!’’ You point to a nearby food stall, selling turkey legs for 980 yen. 

— Katsuki begrudgingly follows you to the stall and buys a turkey leg for the two of you to share. 

—You were deep in thought. Fantasizing if you could eat the Turkey Leg with Katsuki “Lady and Tramp” style. 

— Much to your dismay, Katsuki had finished the Turkey Leg before you could get another bite. You pout and cross your arms, yet he doesn’t notice you silently shooting daggers at him.

— You then quickly forget about the Turkey Leg as soon as the Flying Dinosaur attraction hovered above you. The amusing screams of the people riding it could be heard as it passed at a speed you could have never imagined.

—  ‘’Suki-kun!! Let’s ride that next!’’

— ‘’We just ATE. Are you fucking serious right now?’’

—  ‘’Or are you too chicken?’’ You tease him playfully. ‘’Hmm… Looks like eating the entire turkey leg turned you into a chicken now didn’t it?’’

—  ‘’Fine. Fuck this.’’ He tilts his head, gesturing you to follow suit. ‘’Let’s get into the fast pass line.’’

— You get on the ride and see up close the details of the dinosaur as it’s positioned upright for you two to get on. You take your seats and are instructed to strap yourselves in the seat. 

— You get a wonderful view of the sea as the ride continues to ascend, going up and down, at high speeds. You begin to scream your heart out, the adrenaline rushing through you. Bakugo tries to put up a face, not wanting to scream and show any weakness. You look at him again as the ride arrives at a downwards slope, creating a momentum before it descends again at high speed.

— The ride begins to move, positioning itself like a pterodactyl would. You take Bakugo’s hand and give it a tight squeeze. You look at him for comfort and he nods at you lovingly. You were at ease albeit the fact that the two of you are about to experience one of the most terrifying amusement park rides ever.

The two of you are then positioned to be dangling in mid-air, the safety strap from a while ago being the only thing holding you in place. 

—  ‘’(Y/N)! I LOVE YOU!’’ He screams his lungs out as the ride passes through the ocean again, giving you a clear view of the sea surrounding the wonderful prefecture of Osaka.

—  You smile cheekily and begin to scream from the top of your lungs too. ‘’I LOVE YOU TOO KATSUKI!’’

—  ‘’Did you really mean that I love you?’’ You ask him. Your adrenaline is still pumping you up.

— ‘’Of course I did you nerd. I had to get it out of my chest.’’ He says, avoiding eye contact, scratching the back of his neck.

—  The ride then ends abruptly and you could never feel more grateful. You could practically kiss the floor as your legs shaked once you got off. Katsuki supports you with his arm around yours and the two of you get off the ride.

—  ‘’I want to hear you say that again.’’ You poke his cheek but he doesn’t move an inch.

—  ‘’Come on. We have to go look for Kirishima in the others.’’

—  ‘’One more time Suki-kun! Please?’’ You look at him with your most dramatic puppy eyes and he couldn’t help but give in.

—  ‘’Fine.’’ He says grumpily. ‘’I love you.’’

—  ‘’I love you too. Let’s never ride that again.’’

— ‘’Agreed.’’

— Shoto made sure that he would make the most of the time with you before the two of you go back to University. Booking the most luxurious hotel available, fine dining every single night you were in Osaka and going on private local tours and taking high-end trips to Nara and Kyoto.  

— He’s spoiling you so so so bad and as much as you didn’t want Shoto to spend too much, he kept on insisting. 

— This is also why he decided your trip near your birthday so that in a sense, this is his birthday surprise for you too!

— He wanted to go all out just for you. 

— You feel like you’re in Cloud 9 every time you’re with Shoto. How much more when you’re going on an extra special trip with him? 

— “This Eren Jeager’s voice sounds familiar. It’s as if we have the same voice.” Todoroki looks at the screen perplexed, putting on the 4-D Glasses and making sure you were already comfortable on your seat.

— ‘’I know right. You’re hotter of course.’’ You whisper, giving him a peck on the cheek.

— Attack on Titan is your all time favorite anime ever.

— Shoto wasn’t too well-versed in anime, so him bringing you to USJ is one of the best things he could ever do for you.

— Especially since the park had a limited time Attack on Titan 4-D Attraction!!

— YOU KNEW you had to go there and it was also a perfect opportunity for you to bond with Shoto

— As long as you were happy and he could support you with your interests, he was happy too.

— Being able to go on the Attack on Titan 4D Ride was a dream come true.

— You brought Shoto to the souvenir shop first and bought matching headbands for the two of you.

— You were wearing a headband that had two little chibi Levis on each side whilst Shoto had little chibi Erens on his uwu

— He’d be spoiling you so so much !!! Any souvenir item you’d set your eyes on, he’d immediately buy it for you!! 

— Before you can even say no, he’s already bought it using his luxurious black credit card. YOUR BOYFIE WAS RICH OFC I MEAN WHAT WOULD YOU EXPECT!?

—  "That was amazing." Todoroki says in awe, still trying to process the thrill he had just experienced. "I wonder what would happen if titans started appearing all of a sudden?"

—  "Let's say a smol titan appears right now. I wonder if you could pierce it with your ice?" You tilt your head, beginning to think about unrealistic scenarios. "Anywhooo, shall we go to the next ride on our list? It's called Hollywood Dream!"

—  "Let's gooooo~" He hums monotonously, earning giggles from you. He wraps an arm around your shoulder, pulling you close as you walk side by side. 

— “Okay... so there are two variants to this ride. There’s one that goes in reverse and the other one goes so high up that we have an overview of the whole park.” You go through a brochure that you picked up at the entrance.

 — “Whichever one you’re more comfortable with (Y/N).” 

—  “Let’s go on the one where we can see our hotel because of how high it is!”

—  “OKAY NVM THIS WAS A BAD IDEA.” You say as the rollercoaster begins to reach it’s momentum, the ride going higher and higher.  Until you can see your hotel and every recognizable landmark from afar. 

—  Shoto then clasps your hand, giving it a tight squeeze. “It’s okay (Y/N). I’m right here. Just hold my hand okay?” 

—  You nod slowly, taking a deep breath. You close your eyes and feel a fell swoop on your stomach as the wind passes through your face.

—  Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling begins to play as the rollercoaster begins to descend from roaring heights. They purposefully attached speakers to the ride so that the park goers would feel hyped up and excited instead of being terrified of how high up they are. 

—  Shoto’s hands are still intertwined with yours. You weren’t letting go. 

—  The screams of everyone else in the ride grows louder and louder and you can’t help but sing to the song instead.

—  “I GET THIS FEELINGGG INSIDE MY BONES! IT GOES ELECTRIC, WAVEY WHEN I TURN IT ONN.” You began to sing, raising your arms up high as you slowly begin to enjoy the ride. 

—  Shoto who was sitting on the end yet is still able to keep his calm composure, turns to you, and a small smile flashes on his face when he sees you channel your nervousness through singing. 

—  He begin to sing along with you too! AAAHHH WHAT A CUTIE

—  “All through my city, all through my home, We're flying up, no ceiling, when we in our zone.” He continues. You look at him and ease up a little bit once you see his handsome face and comfortable presence beside you.

— And before you knew it, the ride came to a stop. It was finally over. You take a deep breath and Shoto helps you out of your seat.

— “I got that sunshine in my pocket! Got that good song in my feet. I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops!” You and Shoto begin to duet to the pop and colorful song. You begin to fully enjoy the ride, barely even noticing the ride making sharp and fast turns as it continues to go up and down. 

— “I might have hated it at first but that was exhilarating.” 

— “I knew you could do it.” He says proudly, planting a kiss on your forehead. “You are the bravest person I know after all.” 

— “I wouldn’t have overcome my fears if it weren’t for you though.” You scrunch your nose, and hold on to Shoto’s arm. Your heart still beating so fast. “Thank you for being my safe space Shoto. I’m always at peace whenever I’m with you. Thank you for always being my comfort person.”

— “Of course (Y/N). Why wouldn’t I be?” He tilts his head, clueless. “Are you game enough to ride the reversed one this time?”

— “Of course I am!” 

— He chuckles, “That’s my love. If you feel like you can’t do it, Just know that I’m always here to support you.” 

— The first attractions on your list were the water rides. More specifically the Jurassic Park Water Ride and the JAWS ride. 

— You and Kirishima would try every ride in the park if you could. He loved to try and experience new things especially if he’s able to do them with you!

— Kiri is a very very fun person and would always be game with anything tbh!!

— You’re wearing matching dinosaur hats with Kirishima!!

— ‘’RAWR!’’ You make cutesy dinosaur gestures at your boyfriend, jumping around in your place. ‘’Can you believe we’re finally here in USJ!?’’ He blushes profusely, pecking your cheek. 

—  ‘’I can’t believe it too.’’ He chuckles then pauses for a moment before...

— ‘’RAWR!’’ He says back, his hands forming into claws, his cute mouth open wide and his sharp shark teeth very much visible. You giggle at his returned gesture, finding it more cuter than you should.

— ‘’(Y/N) you’re adorable! You know that right?’’ He laughs and continues to hold you tightly.

— ‘’Pshh of course I do! I have an equally adorable boyfriend too!’’ You look up at him, beaming.

— The two of you then jump in your place in unison, both mimicking each other’s cute ‘’RAWR!’’ and hand gestures as Kirishima pulls you into a hug.

— ‘’Don’t forget manly!’’ He winks and grabs your hand, taking you to the Jurassic Park Water ride.

— “I actually find it smart that we go on the water rides first so that we can just change clothes immediately after. Good thinkening Kiri!” You remark, patting him on the head.

— THINKENING??? THINKENING??? Eijirou could not think straight right now because of how cute you are

— ANYWAY HE WASNT GOING TO LOOK OR ANYTHING KIRISHIMA IS A GENTLEMAN HE IS NOT A BAD BOI WHO WILL GIVE IN TO TEMPATION!!

— You looked so excited to go on the rides and he couldn’t be happier seeing you like this 

— IT ALSO DIDNT HELP THAT YOU WERE WEARING A WHITE SHIRT SO IF YOU DID GET WET THEN 👁👄👁

— The ride begins and the all too familiar theme song of the series begins to play as the gates to the Jurassic Park opens as the water ride begins to move

— Although the ride was very predictable, and you knew the surprise at the end was the T-rex trying to jumpscare you as the ride falls down a high incline, splashing all of the people on the ride. 

— Kirishima still looked like he had lots of fun. 

— He turns to you, a huge cheeky smile plastered upon his face as he tries to dry his clothes. “That was fun!” 

— The ride may seem calm at first, but then the T-Rex begins to secretly appear around the forest-ish area surrounding the water ride. 

— “It was!” You smiled back. You look down on your shirt innocently. “I didn’t expect that I’d get this wet so I thought wearing a white shirt would be-”

— “LET’S BUY YOU A JURASSIC PARK SHIRT IN THE SOUVENIR SHOP OKAY!? SO THAT YOU WON’T WASTE YOUR OTHER CLOTHES AND YOU CAN CHANGE IN THEM FOR THE JAWS RIDE INSTEAD.” Eijirou stands up so suddenly from the boat. He takes you by the hand without shooting you another glance as not to show how flustered he was. 

— “Okay then...” You reply, as Kirishima whisks you away, leading you to the souvenir shop just outside of the attraction.

— Kirishima breathes a sigh of relief as he sees you exit the comfort room. 

— He calls you over, “(Y/N)! While you were changing your clothes, I went back to the souvenir shop and realized that they were actually couple shirts!

— We are so Adora-saurable! was written on both of your shirts along wtih a cute dinosaur couple print on them.

— “Funny how you were able to find a Dinosaur pun on the word adorable! What a coincidence!” You giggle, poking Kirishima’s cheek. “I think we had enough of dinosaurs for now. Shall we check out the other rides?”

— “Right beside ya!” Kiri flashes you his signature smile, taking your hand in his again, swinging it back and forth as the two of you continue to your next destination. 

— The way you scolded him was more in a joking way though!!

— You guys arrive a bit late because Kaminari ended up sleeping through his alarm 🙃

— When the two of you met up at the entrance you scolded him so bad because you practically lost two hours and HNGGGGG

— All he could do was hug you tightly from behind and say “gomen!” “gomen!” over and over again

— you were loving every second of it!!!! denki was being super cute and you couldn’t help but just go uwu

— BUT THEN YOU SCOLDING HIM  DIDN’T REALLY MATTER BC YOU GUYS HAD FAST PASSES

— YOU DO BE FLEXING YOUR FAST PASSES THO

— THE TWO OF YOU FELT LIKE RICH KIDS FLEXING YOUR GUCCI FLIPFLOPS WHEN IN FACT YOU WERE FLEXING YOUR FAST PASSES

— OK SO you and Kaminari decided to go to the Despicable Me/Minions area first not just for the memes but also because it was the most popular attraction this season.

— You also wanted to get on the rides there first since it takes 2 hours before you can even get in

— YOU HAVE MATCHING MINION POPCORN BUCKETS WITH HIMM!!

— The design of yours was a cute little minion holding a teddy bear whilst his was a special Christmas reindeer edition.

—  “(Y/N)-chan! Look at the line! Should we line up and take a picture with the Minions!?” He points to a meet and greet line for the yellow mascots

—  You weren’t exactly the biggest fan of these abominations but facebook mom memes aside, Denki looked super super excited and you didn’t want to ruin a great start to a perfect day so you just went with it.

—  The staff attendants thought Kaminari looked super excited like cute little sparky puppy seeing the minions so they gave you cute minion button pins!!

— The Despical Me Area pretty much played Happy by Pharell Williams non-stop as people stroll around so you and Denki couldn’t help but dance along to it.

—  It didn’t matter if people looked at the two of you weirdly either!! Just being with denki and being chaotic with him is one of the best feelings ever and he feels the same way too

— You guys did all kinds of funky dances til the two of you got exhausted and decided to try out the other rides. 

— There were also carnival game stands and Kaminari ended up winning you the exact same unicorn stuff toy seen in the Despical Me movies.

— Cotton Candy, Gumballs, Skittes, anything remotely sweet being sold on the stalls, you tried all of them.

— “IT’S SO FLUFFFFFY!!!” You imitate one of the cute characters from the movie, hugging the stuffed toy to your chest. “Thank you Kami-kun! I will cherish this forever!”

— Kaminari grins widely, “I know you aren’t too fond of the Minions but thank you for still going with me to this area first.” You can see the emotion and the appreciation in his eyes. 

— “OMG DENKI OFC! WHY WOULD I NOT ENJOY THIS!?” You say incredulously. “I had such an amazing time! Minions and their annoying voices aside. I always have the best time when I’m with you!”

— Crocodile tears start to form on Denki’s eyes as he pulls you into a hug. “AAAAAAAHH (Y/N)-CHAN I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUU. THANK YOU FOR BEARING WITH ME. I’M DOING THIS FOR THE MEMES.” 

— You giggle, patting Kaminari on the back. “It’s alright alright. I love you too! But this time you have to compensate by going on a horror ride with me okay?”

— “Ahahahahahaha what?”

— Endeavor had sponsored your trip and all expenses to ~try~ and start to mend his broken relationship with his son, although you refused at first, Toya did not. When he went to visit his mother and Enji was there to visit too, He got the money from him, ignored him, and flipped him off (aka gave him the bad finger) before leaving.

His three other siblings were in on this trip too. However, Toya wanted your trip to Universal Studios Japan between the two of you ONLY. His siblings went on a different day.

— He wasn’t the biggest fan of matching outfits or any accessories with you like any couple would and you didn’t want to pry on that. He really wasn’t the type of person to do that to begin with.

— And although on the inside he does feel a bit sorry about not being able to be cutesy with you it just really wasn’t his thing. 

The two of you would most probably make out in a secluded area in the Hogsmeade area that is barely noticed by any other park goers. How daring and how secsy

 ‘’Seriously? Snoopy and Hello Kitty? THIS is the area you want to go in first?’’

—‘’Come on! It’s not everyday you get to loosen up like this. Why not try out the kiddie rides first? Besides, I want to see how long you can last without taking the cuteness anymore.”

— The staff sees you enter the Snoopy and Woodstock ride and couldn’t help but ask a very imprudent question. “The two of you look like such a cute couple! I bet your child is just as precious!”

—“Excuse me… what?” You ask, your eyes widen. “We’re not-”

—“The kid is on it’s way. We’ll have one soon once we return here.” Toya says casually, sending you a flirtatious wink and you feel flushed and slightly embarrassed.

—“Jeeeeeeeeeez. Did you really have to say that?” You try to avoid contact with him so he wouldn’t see the embarrassment or rather the arousal present all over your face.

—“What? It’s true.” He smirks, taking your hand. “Do you not want anything to happen between us?” He teases again.

—“NO NO NO NO ITS NOT THAT.” You yelp in embarrassment, your eyes still cast down on the ground.

—You notice him kneeling down and before you could even react, instead of facing the ground, you were staring down at your boyfriend’s handsome face instead. 

—“Come on… I thought we were going to the Hello Kitty ride next?

— “Oh yeah right! That ahahaha let’s go!” You look up again before he could see your face looking like a tomato.

— You couldn’t help but be flustered by his words time and time again. This time though there was no point in hiding it. He got to you.

— He grabs you by the waist, and whispers into your ear, “Besides, I’m saving matching outfits with you once we bring our child here in the future. We would be the cutest fucking family out there.”

— You’ve already been dating for a year?? and your heart still flutters every time?? anything remotely romantic comes out of his mouth???

— HE WAS SUCH  FLIRT OH LORD AND YOU JUST SWOON AND FALL FOR HIM EVEN MORE 

— The other couples for some reason never thought of going on the cutesy rides, so as soon as they saw you and Toya going on them, the line for most of the rides got even longer.

— Toya might be lowkey an edgelord  but you guys became trendsetters in a span of an hour!! 

— OK BUT SPEAKING OF EDGELORD... DABI AS AN E-BOY HURRRRRRRRR YOU MAY OR MAY NOT BE MANIFESTING YOUR BOYFRIEND TO SUDDENLY BE IN E-BOY CLOTHES ON THE SPOT TOTALLY NOT NOPE NOPE NOPE NEVER 

— He still looked hot just wearing a plain dark hoodie but you still couldn’t get the thought of Toya wearing those fits out of your head.

— “Earth to (Y/N)? You’re spacing out again.” He waves a hand in front of your face and you snap back to reality. “We’ve rode every attraction here. I think we should go check out the other rides? The Jaws one next please. I can’t stand all this cute sparkly cuteness anymore.”

—  “AHAH! YOU FINALLY SNAPPED!” You laugh, acting as if you finally got back at Toya for making you such a blushing and stuttering mess just a few minutes ago. Dabi shrugs it off however. 

— “OKIE! Now that I got out of my system, let’s continue to go around shall we?” You huff and pace off to the next ride that you wanted to go on.

— Toya shakes his head and smirks, following you to wherever you were going to take him next. That didn’t stop him from teasing you every few minutes though.

— The two of you did come back to USJ, but only a few days later to accompany Shoto since Fuyumi and Natsuo had to take the train home due to having to attend important matters.

— The same park attendant who complimented you and Dabi was managing the Snoopy ride again. She recognizes the two of you instantly and waves. “Oooh! I didn’t think the two of you would come back again so early! Is this the cute child you were talking about?”

— You and Toya collectively facepalm whilst Shoto looks at the staff with a very puzzled look.

— Hopefully, the next time you come back, you finally have a happy family with Toya and you can finally show off to that sassy ol’ attendant that you have a cute little kid with you to go on rides with.

—This is officially your 7th date with Shinsou. 

— Although the two of you are already official, you can’t help but feel and notice how cold and distant he is to you still. As if he hasn’t exactly opened up to you.

—  And you didn’t want to end this day without seeing him loosen up and open his shell.

 —  You wanted a relationship with Shinsou in where the two of you could talk to each other about your own problems and help each other out. 

— That was the ideal relationship after all, and you knew for a fact that you could have something special like this with Shinsou. 

—  He did confess to you through a love poem and if that isn’t the most romantic thing ever, then I don’t know what is. 

—  You wanted to be his comfort person after all. Just as he is with you although I think he doesn’t know that yet exactly. 

—  “SOU-KUNNNN you know what else we can do?” 

—  “...What?”

—  “Let’s go on all the boring rides!!” You take his hand and start running to the next attraction. 

—  “T-that’s not actually a bad idea. Let’s go.” He mutters, albeit shy at the touch of your hands at first, he grows comfortable after a few minutes with your hand intertwined with his. 

—  SHINSOU IS SO TOUCH-STARVED AND YOU CAN’T WAIT TIL YOU GIVE HIM ALL THE HUGS AND KITHES IMAGINABLE LATER THAT NIGHT

— It was the middle of the afternoon and the park was less busier than usual, which meant all the time for you and Shinsou to try out every exhilarating ride the park had to offer. 

—  The only ones left were more performance-based attractions where you would be watching a live musical or play. One of those being a Terminator based ride. 

—  The concept of a Terminator live-action retelling was pretty cool but certainly not you or Shinsou’s cup of tea either. However, it was your goal with him to try out every ride in the park. So, eh why not?

—  The two of you sit in the front seat, making Shinsou within range of the stage actors to be affected by his quirk. 

—  “Don’t try to make them do anything bad okay?” You whisper to him. “This live show does look boring and really needs to liven up a little.

—  “I won’t do that of course. Let’s just make this show more entertaining.” 

— He then uses his quirk on the stage actors, making them do fun and entertaining dances. 

— The audience burst out into laughter as Shinsou had unintentionally made a twist to the musical playing before you. 

— “Of course not! You made that Terminator Musical much better! I bet they took notes and try to switch up the acting and the cheesiness for the next show!” 

— “Hopefully they will. Because the show was boring as hell.” He deadpans, putting his hands in his pockets. 

— Everyone in the theatre left in good spirits. 

— He stops in his tracks and looks at you. How lucky he was to have someone like you in his life.

— “Thank you for today too (Y/N). I really enjoy spending time with you like this.” He looks away, yet fails to hide his flustered face. 

— “You’re welcome!” You lean in and tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. 

—  Despite how cold and straightforward he may be sometimes, you never complained. You accepted him for who he was and who he is. 

— The two of you take the train ride home in peace and solace knowing that slowly but surely, Shinsou becomes more and more comfortable with you and you can’t wait for the time he finally opens up and bears his heart to you. 

Thank you for reading ♡

-Fin 

[oliviayamaoka]

The Roseville Murders (Chapter 2)

Hi, just wanted to say I adjusted the plot slightly and will go into more detail with the story next chapter! This was a bit experimental and I wanted to write the growing relationship / rivalry between Y/N and Danny. I also wanted to write Y/N as a girlboss and to be just as witty as Danny!

Anyways, please comment any ideas or suggestions you may wanna see in future chapters! I have this planned out but would love any ideas or stuff I can add into the story! Tysm for reading!

It rained softly outside as you took a seat at your workplace. The desk was a bit cluttered with your art, notes, junk, and your papers regarding your current investigation.

One of the drawings on your desk was a sketch of Ghostface’s mask, attached to it was a few notes regarding the origin of the mask. Did Ghostface care for the history of it, anyways? You already theorized he was a narcissist who took pride in his work. Perhaps, he admired Edward Munch and his infamous “The Scream” artwork? Or maybe he based his persona off of it? You weren’t too sure but you did research the distribution and the company that made the masks. It wasn’t a particular popular company but it only distributed to the USA, Canada, and Brazil.

Ghostface didn’t seem too caring when it came to where he stabbed victims. As long as there was a lot of blood and something only he could perceive as art. And maybe you too. You felt excited, you already had a three year timeline. Maybe, you could get ahold of other states and ask if there’s been similar killings. Maybe even Brazil and Canada? You had to pinpoint a location and see if you could find just one name, any name.

Three years. Three countries. A part of you doubted he was Brazilian. Maybe Canadian? You weren’t so sure, you were pretty sure he was American. Y/N would probably have to go to the library tommorow to do research and use the slowly growing internet. Your research was suddenly halted when you knocked your sketchbook over.

Our slid a page. You kneeled down to pick it up, holding it as you examined the dark sketch. On the paper was a sketch of claws? No, they also looked like tentacles. Ever since the incident, you had dreams of these tentacle claws grabbing you and pulling you away from life as you know it. It must’ve been a sign of trauma or maybe it represented what happened through the nightmares? You slid it back into your sketchbook, deciding not to dwell on it. It would only make your room feel more depressing.

Beside your sketchbook was your leather journal. Y/N wrote everything in there, for mental health reasons. You included the incident and what Jonathan did for you. Your previous therapist said journaling your thoughts helped the healing process. It worked but journaling about how you killed your abuser was hell.

Your thoughts were suddenly interrupted when your phone rang. It was a chunky, black mobile phone you got about a week ago? Y/N reached for it and answered.

“Hello?” You answered, using your other hand to organize your desk.

“Hello?” A voice answered, it was a male by the sound of it.

“Hi, who’s this?” Y/N asked, paying no mind to the phone call as she started to put some of her stuff away. Art supplies.

“Who’s this?” He replied.

“Y/N L/N, am I who you’re trying to reach?” You asked, sitting back down.

“Ah, you’re no fun, detective.” He chuckled as you stopped, furrowing your eyebrows in confusion. Who was this?

“My apologies but, this is my personal phone. Can I ask who gave you this number?” You questioned him.

“Why does it matter, gorgeous? I know it’s you now.” He responded.

“Please don’t call me that. And yes, I am indeed a detective but I’d feel more comfortable discussing anything with you on my work phone.” Y/N said sternly.

“Oh, yeah… Detective L/N, huh? Think you’re some sort of hotshot because you’re new? Where did you come from? Washington? Gonna take more than the feds to catch me.” He said to you.

You listened intently and stopped for a moment. Catch him? Must be a stupid prank. Although, not a funny one since he had your personal phone number. An eyebrow raised as you looked at your notes on Ghostface.

“You still haven’t told me your name. Let’s not be rude, yeah?” You responded, being a little more cocky since you were off-duty.

“Awe, don’t tell me you forgot my name. I’ll give you a hint… I’ve been quite famous lately. In fact, I think you’ve taken quite the interest in me, Y/N.” The man teased. It was 100% Danny.

“I asked for a name, not an alias.” You said.

“Maybe after dinner, hotshot.” Danny said to you as you furrowed your eyebrows.

“I’m not in Roseville to play games. Either verify you are who you claim to be or quit wasting my time.” Y/N spoke with a stern tone.

“My last victim had three stab wounds to the throat. It was going to be two but their scream wasn’t as satisfying as I thought it would be. And they had a tattoo on their upper thigh. Bella Smith.” He said as you froze for a moment.

It was true. The latest murder victim was a middle-aged woman named Bella Smith who worked at a convenience store. She had multiple stab wounds but it was pretty much impossible to see she had three wounds on her throat just looking at photos of the crime scene.

“Okay and how did you get my number? I imagine the infamous Ghostface doesn’t have access to these types of things. How do I know this isn’t some sort of elaborate prank orchestrated by my coworkers?” You questioned.

“Honey, I am Roseville. Also sounds like you have experience with these kinds of things. You ever get humiliated like that?” Danny asked, grinning widely.

“No, it’s just a very logical conclusion. And why would you be talking to me anyways?” You asked him.

While you spoke to him, you quickly wrote down what he said and what he sounded like. You quickly speculated what his age may be, maybe 25?

“I keep tabs on the cops who are investigating my work and to be honest? They’re all stupid, it’s pathetic. Although, I noticed something about you. You come from one of the big cities, don’t you? You’re actually smart compared to those other pigs.” He said.

“Those pigs you speak of have tried their best in pursuing you. They have families too.” You responded.

“Really, huh? You’ve only been here three weeks? I think you should just trust me on this one because those other officers really don’t know what they’re doing. If you actually find out who I am, are they gonna give you credit? The newbie? A woman?” He asked.

“I don’t understand why gender is an issue. And why would they try to steal credit?” You questioned.

“They’re stuck in this shit hole city and I bet they could just really use a promotion right now. They want so badly to be the hero that arrests me… but first, they’ll let the freshly graduated detective do the work. It’s so easy to overshadow women in this world.” Danny said.

“Well, I don’t care. As long as you’re put behind bars.” Y/N responded.

“The bars at this station? I must say, your desk is quite cute. A bit plain but I like your style… interesting files too.” He mused.

“Huh?” You responded, furrowing your eyebrows.

“Your lil’ office at the station, I like it. This place has always been easy to break into. You noticed it too, didn’t you? Their security sucks and their morgue is just too damn small.” Danny said as you frantically looked around, shoving your shoes on.

“I’m going to call them right now and tell them you’re there. That was a stupid move on your part.” You said, practically yelling.

“So young and naive. I’ll be long gone.” He responded, chuckling as you hung up.

“Fuck, shit!” You said, quickly dialling the number to the police station.

You practically flung your door open, sprinting down the hallway and out through the front doors of the apartment complex after three flights of stairs. Your heart rate increased as you continued running down the sidewalk, feeling more frantic when there was no answer.

“Answer…!” You yelled, calling the emergency number.

“911, how can I help you?” A staticky voice answered as you continued running.

“I’m Detective Y/N L/N! Please inform the police station that there’s an intruder! He might be armed and dangerous! Do not touch anything since there may be forensic evidence!” You instructed.

“Oh—yes, right away, ma’am!” The dispatcher answered as you hung up, continuing to focus on your running towards the station.

Back at your apartment complex, there stood Danny with his own mobile phone. It couldn’t be traced back to him since it was stolen and he didn’t leave any DNA on it. If anything, it had the previous owners. Bella Smith. Your apartment complex had fire escape stairs outside your window. Easy enough, he thought. His outfit was black and had some stuff hanging off it. Strings? Ribbons? Danny was quite quick and extremely quiet when it came to climbing the set of stairs.

He reached your window, pulling it open gently and hoisting himself through, landing gently whilst kneeled down. For precaution, he had his knife gripped in one hand. This was purely for investigation and to see what you truly had on him. His head tilted curiously as he noticed your desk. Your art and notebook. His gloved hand reached out to your sketch of him.

Danny was truly impressed at how detailed and good it was. He read through your sticky notes and theories. Other than the fact he was blown away, he knew you were a threat since you successfully guessed his age range and height. Wait, his height? You did a careful examination of the footage he was in, looking at objects around him and his boots to correctly guess a height.

“What the fuck…?” Danny muttered as he looked at your notes.

The Scream by Edward Munch and a costume company? He skimmed over your notes and the psychological profile you built on him. He felt somewhat panicked since you were indeed no joke. His gaze averted towards your leather notebook. Eagerly, he grabbed it and opened it. Most of it was your thoughts and causes of your stress and anxiety. He stopped flipping through when he saw a darker page. It was dark because of the writing and how crumpled it seemed.

December 23rd, 1992

I was walking down an alleyway two weeks ago. It was cold so I had a jacket over my uniform. I suppose that’s why the man didn’t know I was an officer.

At first, I thought that he was going to try and rob me. It took me a while to realize that my money and belongings wasn’t what he was after. I suppose it would be appropriate to say that I was in shock for a moment. He never finished what he started. Despite being in shock, I was able to feel everything and the adrenaline only helped my rage.

Why? Why did this have to happen to me? After getting him off, I pulled my gun out and he stopped. I still remember the look on his face after I shot him. He was scared and pathetic, as he was in life. I don’t regret killing him. I never will. I just feel utterly violated. Never once have I been touched like that so violently. Is this what this fucked up world has come to? What if I didn’t have my gun and training?

He definitely did this to other women… he deserved to die. And I would do it all over again to him and to other men just like him. Of course, I had to call the police. They were going to charge me with manslaughter but they said that they would push this all under the rug, just as long as I never tell anybody. Did I contribute to corruption in the police force? This getting out would ruin everything. I don’t know but I do know that this was my gift.

Freedom was my gift for killing that man. It felt oddly exhilarating. I hope nobody remembers him, I hope his family know what kind of monster he was. Anyways, I’m being reassigned somewhere. They said they’ll give me my first investigation. In a smaller city.

Danny’s fingers trailed over the page. He felt angry and sad for you. That this happened to you. But, something arose in him when he kept re-reading that paragraph. You… enjoyed it? Behind the mask, he had a soft expression on his face. He imagined your beautiful face full of blood with you and your gun. He smiled gently as he kept the notebook.

He did indeed feel bad for you but he wasn’t satisfied with his limited knowledge of you. Danny decided to use this notebook of incriminating evidence to hold some leverage over you. Not only that but he figured he’d get to know you better if they had something interesting to talk to you about. Danny couldn’t help but grin when he thought about your journal entry and the sketches you made of him. So smart yet so naive.

Danny quickly took a look around your apartment to see all points of entry. He took a peak into your bedroom, it was neat and tidy. He seemed somewhat paranoid so quickly went back to your living room window, making his swift little escape. Not without taking some of your notes on him and your sketchbook.

About two hours later, you rubbed your eyes in frustration as another officer came to talk to you. There was a forensic team still investigating your little office space. Apparently, there was nobody here and your office seemed untouched. For about thirty minutes, you inspected any points of entry and tried to look for out of place shoe marks since it rained outside.

“Detective, are you certain it was the killer who called? We get prank calls a lot.” He said as you nodded.

“Yes, I’m certain. It was him, he knows I’m going to catch him soon.” You said as he nodded a bit.

“Okay, well, we’ll take it from here. Come early tommorow.” He said as you sighed.

“I will but please, don’t miss anything. I’m starting to think he was lying. It was him though.” You said as you turned, walking down the hallway towards the exit.

It seemed to be evening at this point and the rain stopped pouring. It was slightly humid but the city looked oddly beautiful when it was wet? You couldn’t stop thinking about your phone call with Ghostface earlier. Y/N already had some tech professionals try to track the number he called from and all of the information regarding the phone company. You’d have to wait two days at the latest for the results to come back.

As you walked through light puddles, you felt more and more tired. All the running and frantically searching for him was enough to just make you exhausted. It was all last-minute too. Y/N stopped dead in her tracks when she felt her mobile phone ring. You pulled it out of your pocket and answered it.

“Hello?” You asked, tired.

“Hey, gorgeous. Just wanted to apologize for my little deception trick earlier.” He responded as your eyes widened.

“Ghostface…” You responded, shocked that he had the courage to call you again.

“God, hearing that from you…” He said with a slight husk as you took a deep breath quietly to calm yourself.

“You know I’m close, don’t you?” You questioned him as he chuckled.

“Of course, I do… only these hands of mine can do wonders for you.” Danny said to you as you scoffed.

“You’re disgusting.” You say to him.

“Don’t lose your temper now, detective. There’s… things we should discuss.” He cooed.

“Things? Seriously?” You asked him, already tired of his bullshit.

“Yeah! Like, this lil’ notebook of yours! Really deep stuff… Victor Houston, was it? The serial rapist? Must’ve felt real good to put him down, didn’t it? Did it feel as good as you said it did in this thing?” He asked as you froze.

You probably let out a small whimper of shock as your hands trembled. Your heart pumped hard and fast. It was all you can hear as you felt your face heat out of pure embarrassment and shock. He… read your journal? This wasn’t good, this wasn’t good.

“W-What…?” You asked as he cackled.

“God, you’re so hot when you sound scared. Don’t be offended though, babe. You still sound real sexy in your cop tone.” He said as he continued.

“Yeah, I read all about the guy you killed. And how it was all covered up to accommodate you. Are you a star student or something? It’s hard covering up murders… or has it always been easy for you?” He asked.

“I-I, um… how did you get that…?” You asked him, trembling.

“You see, Y/N… we’re the same. You and I are too smart for Roseville. It’s just that I got the upper hand this time. While you rushed to the police station, I took a quick trip into your apartment.” He said as you let out a light gasp.

“Yeah, that’s right! I know where you live, I know where you’re from, and your number. I know who you truly are, Detective Y/N L/N.” Danny said mockingly.

“And what are you going to do with it?” You asked him.

“Always so straight to the point. I might give that annoying little journalist Jed Olsen. You’re trying to work with him, aren’t you? You mentioned in one of these notes… you also think he’s handsome.” He said as you covered your eyes.

You fought tears.

“Why? Why would you do this?” You ask.

“I should be asking you that. I’m a bit jealous you find someone like Olsen… attractive. He’s so boring, so normal, so… ugh, I hate talking about him. Still though, nice to know I have another fan besides him.” He said to you.

“Where are you going with this?!” You snapped as he chuckled darkly.

“I won’t tell anybody. Just as long as you halt your investigation for a while. I still want to have fun in Roseville here and well… get to know you.” He said.

“Go to hell.” You muttered.

“How original… so what’ll it be? I kinda need to know now since I’m also on a bit of a time crunch.” Danny asked you.

“W-What the fuck do you want me to do? Sit back and watch as you kill more innocent people?! I won’t let you.” You said with a venomous tone.

“What are you gonna do? Stop me behind bars?” He asked mockingly.

“Fuck you.” You said.

“I’m sure we will. But first, I just want you to sit back and not do anything stupid. We’ll see each other eventually. I’ll call you from another phone soon.” He said, hanging up.

You held your phone in disbelief and quickly made sure you had your gun. How the hell could you have been so dumb?! It was genius, leading you away from you apartment and finding such leverage against you purely out of luck. Your breath trembled as you walked back to your apartment, having your gun ready in your pocket as you did so.

[bevioletskies]

the first time (ever i saw your face)

summary: On their six-month anniversary, Apollo and Klavier decide to pose a seemingly harmless question: what did they think of each other when they first met? As it turns out, the topic is a little more complicated than they originally thought.

word count: 4.9k | read on ao3

a/n: For @klapollo-week, day one of seven (prompt: "firsts"). All seven of my fics take place in the same continuity! However, each can be read as a stand-alone, with the exception of day seven being a sequel to day five.

This fic takes place at some distant point in time after Spirit of Justice where Apollo and Trucy have learned that they’re siblings. Mild spoiler warning for the end of Apollo Justice; warning for brief mentions of alcohol. Fic title is from the song The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack.

“...why does this look like something out of a direct-to-streaming movie adaptation of a YA novel that has a three-star average rating on Goodreads?”

“If you’re trying to say you don’t like it, baby, you could just say so.”

“No, no, I - I’m actually kinda into it. It’s like we’ve walked onto the set of a staged proposal, though if you ask me to marry you right now, I will start laughing.”

Klavier sighed. “I’m starting to think the phrase ‘romance is dead’ was invented specifically for you.” Nevertheless, he tugged gently on Apollo’s hand. “Come on, liebe, I got our favorite snacks, I queued our favorite movies...and before you ask, nein, there is no engagement ring, so stop looking at me like that.”

“I’m not...totally opposed to getting married, you know,” Apollo added as he followed Klavier. “It’s just...it’s a little early for me. This is only our six-month anniversary, after all.”

“Fair enough,” Klavier hummed, the two of them settling down in their spots. He’d learned long ago that Apollo wasn’t one for flashy, photo op-worthy dates, that he preferred more intimate, low-key settings. And so, for their six-month anniversary, Klavier had taken them to his family estate. He had cleared out the conservatory overlooking the garden of all its furniture, filling it with blankets and pillows, drapes and string lights, and a projector whose screen covered the entire back wall. It reminded Apollo of what he himself had done for their three-month anniversary - because apparently, he was that kind of person now - when he’d planned a weekend’s stay in a cozy lakeside cabin. “A conversation for another time, ja?”

“Yeah, definitely.” Apollo draped one of the blankets over his and Klavier’s laps, then lowered his head to rest on Klavier’s shoulder. Smiling, Klavier turned to briefly kiss Apollo’s temples, then reached for his laptop so he could start the movie. They spent the first fifteen or so minutes in companionable silence, sharing a bag of popcorn and a bottle of wine while they watched, until Apollo eventually spoke again. “...weird, isn’t it?”

“The movie? Not particularly,” Klavier shrugged. “If anything, I’d say the plot twist is a bit predictable.”

“No, not the movie. I mean...this.” Apollo gestured aimlessly. “You and me. Us.”

Klavier’s expression darkened somewhat. “Are you...having doubts about our relationship, Apollo?”

“Wh - no, no, not at all!” Apollo protested, sitting up. “It’s just...I guess it’s mostly weird for me. Like, if someone told me, say, a couple years ago, that I was gonna be in a relationship with you, of all people...hell, can you imagine if someone told me that on the day we met? I-I wouldn’t believe it!”

“You weren’t shy about your distaste for me, true,” Klavier agreed, his slight frown relaxing into an amused smile.

“I don’t think that’s an...entirely accurate assessment of, uh, of how I felt,” Apollo said carefully.

Now it was Klavier’s turn to straighten up, looking at him curiously. “Really?” he asked. “Then what did you think of me when we first met?”

“You first,” Apollo retorted, seemingly on instinct. He then softened. “I mean, only if you want to. I’m kinda curious.”

“I don’t mind,” Klavier reassured him, setting down his wine glass so he could squeeze Apollo’s hand. He hesitated, thinking it over. “...I expected to hate you from the very beginning, to be perfectly honest. And, for a moment there...I did.”

Apollo’s eyes widened. “Wh...what?”

“‘Disgraced Defense Attorney Dismantled By His Disciple’, I believe the headline was,” Klavier continued. He then smiled wryly. “A bit dramatic, if you ask me. But then again, I’m not a big fan of alliteration, so I might just be biased.”

“Did you really hate me?” Apollo’s shout had dropped to a mere whisper. “Because...because you didn’t wanna believe it, did you? About…what had happened. What he’d done.”

“It wasn’t all bad memories, all the time, you know.” Klavier gently released Apollo’s hand so he could brush his hair out of his eyes, though he kept his head ducked low. “We had our moments, him and I. We weren’t close, but...we weren’t estranged, either. In fact, I...I first heard your name from him, not from the papers.”

“He told you about me.” It wasn’t a question. “I guess I should’ve suspected, but I never really knew what your relationship was like...before. I mean, he never once mentioned having a brother, so I kinda assumed…”

“As everyone does,” Klavier shrugged, far too casually for Apollo’s liking. “Anyway, your question was about you and me, not me and him, ja? He told me all the usual things people have to say about you - loud, eager to please, a little bit sensitive. I didn’t think much of it at the time, other than the fact you had a strange name.”

Apollo rolled his eyes, sinking back into the cushions. “Wonderful. Fantastic. Glad to know I made a great first impression.”

“And then when the headlines came along...and Mama and Papa called…” Klavier’s face darkened once more; he cleared his throat. “I looked you up. I hadn’t bothered when I first heard your name, but I had to know. Still, I...I found almost nothing. No photos, no social accounts...nichts. Just a single line on a college graduate roster and the same articles I’d been reading before.”

“...I see.” Apollo fiddled with the ends of his blanket, just so he would have something to do with his hands. “So, when we finally met in person…”

_____

The first thing Klavier noticed was Apollo’s eyes - large, round, expressive to a fault. The color of melted chocolate, though in the sunlight, more akin to the color of honey. Those eyes of Apollo’s, curious and maybe a little bit accusatory, narrowed right at him as he arrived at the entrance of People Park. He internally winced at the sight of Apollo’s companion, who was arguing with the police officer standing guard at the scene. Despite the time that had passed since he last saw her, he could never forget Trucy Enigmar-now-Wright.

Are you working for Phoenix Wright now? Klavier wanted to ask as he approached them. Why? Don’t you know what he’s done? Don’t you see what he’s become?

“I must say I'm used to being inspected by the ladies...but this is the first time I've felt this way with a man,” he said instead, leaning forward to smile somewhat condescendingly at them. Klavier was momentarily struck by how similar they were - how their hair was the exact same shade of brown, how the dusting of freckles across their identically shaped noses matched too perfectly, how their furrowed brows and perplexed frowns were one and the same. The only difference was their eyes, hers more the color of a stormy sea. Perhaps there’s a song lyric there? Klavier mused to himself. Ach, now is not the time.

“Mr...Gavin?” Apollo said disbelievingly, his eyes now widening. His arms, previously crossed tightly against his chest, fell to his sides. The motion caught Klavier’s eye, drawing his attention to the glint of the golden bracelet sitting on Apollo’s left wrist. He wondered if there was some sort of significance to it, what with the way Apollo clutched it tightly with his right hand.

“Ah, fräulein,” Klavier continued, his eyes flickering back upwards. He wondered if she knew him, if she recognized him at all. Clearly, Apollo had no idea who he was; he wasn’t sure how to feel about that just yet. “What is a sweet morsel like you doing in such a dismal place? Can I help?”

“Yes! The police man officer fellow here won't let us in!” Trucy complained, huffing. She brandished an envelope in Klavier’s face, nearly swatting him on the nose as she did. He flinched slightly, surprised by how brazen she was. “We even have a letter of request!”

Klavier’s smile softened into one that was a little more genuine. He couldn’t help but be instantly charmed by her. “You must be exhausted, standing out here. I will take you to the scene of the crime.”

“Ooh! Really?” Trucy exclaimed, brightening. Apollo looked skeptical in comparison, his intense gaze traversing the length of Klavier’s body. Usually, he would have preened at the attention, been flattered by the obvious interest and maybe made a show of looking back, but he knew that wasn’t what Apollo was looking for. I am not him, Klavier thought fiercely. I am not the one you trusted, the one who taught you everything you know. I could never -

“By your leave, officer,” Klavier said with a nod and a wink. He barely heard the officer’s affirmation over his own thoughts. Then, he turned back to Trucy and tilted his head towards the park. “Very well. This way, fräulein.”

Trucy’s giggle was sweet, melodic, as she happily followed him through the entrance. He made a show of lifting the police tape for her to duck under, which she seemed easily amused by. Apollo, meanwhile, was left standing on the street, staring at them incredulously, before he finally seemed to register what was happening. “Hey! What about me?!” he cried. His voice gets raspier the louder he gets, Klavier couldn’t help but observe. Interesting.

Once Apollo had caught up, Klavier turned to grin at them both, teeth clenched beneath his lips. Trucy was rocking back and forth on her heels, beaming back, while Apollo had braced his hands on his hips indignantly, like he had something he wanted to say and was just waiting for the opportune moment to say it. Ach, those eyes, those hands, those freckles, Klavier thought rather stupidly. Wait - you’re not supposed to think he’s cute, Klavier, hör auf!

“On that note, enjoy your investigation,” he remarked. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the flash of a white lab coat further into the park that told him he needed to leave if he didn’t want to be reprimanded - or worse, Snackoo-ed.

“Thank you! Will we see you again?” Trucy asked, hopeful.

Klavier hesitated. Apollo still hadn’t said a thing about the obvious elephant in the room, still staring at Klavier like he was a ghost. He wanted Apollo to say something, anything, to ask questions, to start the conversation that he himself admittedly didn’t want to take responsibility for. But Apollo was clearly stunned into silence, and any courage Klavier had had when he first walked up to them moments ago was long gone.

“Ask the wind, fräulein. I'll be riding on it,” he said, shooting them one last saccharine smile. He could hear the click-click of Ema’s shoes against the cobblestone as she approached. With that, he turned and left, his chest aching in confusion.

_____

The silence was heavy, heavier than Apollo expected. Klavier had turned the movie volume down long ago, leaving them with nothing but the sound of their own quiet breaths. “Makes sense,” Apollo finally said, shooting Klavier a sympathetic smile. “To you, I...I jumped ship from one corrupt defense attorney to another. At least, that’s what it seemed like at the time, right?”

“Part of me wanted to confront you right then and there, but I didn’t want to do it. Not in front of everyone, especially not in front of her. But the other part of me...I just wanted to learn more about you. To get to know you before I decided whether it was a battle worth fighting. Whether he was worth defending.” Klavier then smiled back; now it was his turn to drop his head onto Apollo’s shoulder. “Besides, you were cute, and I’m weak.”

“‘Were’, huh?” Apollo teased, nudging him. “Well, I’m glad Trucy’s presence, your curiosity, and my cuteness apparently deterred you enough to walk away. To think, what would you have done if you didn’t think I was cute - ”

“Achtung, you’re such an arschgeige sometimes,” Klavier groaned, laughing. “Anyway...I got my answer in court soon enough. I could trust you, and he...he wasn’t worth defending. Not one bit.”

“No, not at all,” Apollo agreed. “Still, I’m...I’m sorry, Klav. Not for what I did, I mean, I-I had to, but just...how it all played out. How messy things got. Whenever we, y’know, come here to see your parents, I still see that look in their eyes. It’s that face that you make when you think no one’s looking.” He swallowed. “Mr. Wright says Trucy does that, too. Less now that she’s got me and Mom, but…well.”

“It wasn’t you, Apollo, it was me. It all started with me believing he wouldn’t lie to me.” Klavier’s laughter was bitter now. “Anyway, I’m starting to think we’re all a little too observant for our own good. None of us can ever let things go, nein?”

“We’d be horrible lawyers if we could,” Apollo chuckled, rubbing Klavier’s arm reassuringly. “But fine, fine, I’ll stop psychoanalyzing you now. It’s my turn, anyway.”

“I want to hear this,” Klavier said, snuggling closer. “Lay it on me, baby. Tell me how you fell for me in two seconds flat.”

“I’m gonna lay into you in two seconds flat if you don’t let me talk,” Apollo said dryly, elbowing him again. “I, uh, I don’t think I remember it as clearly as you do, but…”

_____

“Excuse me, coming through.”

It was a voice, a smooth, musical voice, polite but firm, that caught Apollo’s attention first. He turned in its direction, confused by how familiar it felt, how similar it sounded to another voice he knew, but with a light, lilting cadence and a strangely affected accent whose origins he couldn’t quite place.

“Ah! It’s you! Mr. Gavin!”

Apollo’s eyes widened, his heart pounding wildly in his chest, then narrowed at the sight before him. Striding towards them with a swagger in his step was a man who, as far as Apollo could tell, was supposed to be behind bars. Only, his skin was a few shades darker, his hair a shade or two lighter, and he was wearing, for reasons Apollo couldn’t fathom, eyeliner and leather and chains instead of a neatly-pressed suit and wire-rimmed glasses. Who’s THIS guy? Apollo thought, his stomach turning.

“I must say I'm used to being inspected by the ladies...but this is the first time I've felt this way with a man,” the man said, leaning in close; his smile was a little wider than Apollo would have liked. Apollo also didn’t want to think about how pretty he was, how long his eyelashes were or how smooth his skin seemed to be. This can’t be him, Apollo decided, though he was still frozen in place. He could only vaguely feel Trucy’s fingers tugging gently on his shirt sleeve. No, it can’t be - it’s not - but who -

“Mr...Gavin?” Apollo said stupidly. He felt a phantom pinch on his left wrist; he released his arms from where they were crossed so he could rub the spot where it hurt, though the moment he touched it, he realized he hadn’t been in pain at all. The man’s eyes flickered down, following his fingers in curiosity, before moving back up to continue smiling beatifically at Trucy.

“Ah, fräulein,” he said; he was practically simpering now. “What is a sweet morsel like you doing in such a dismal place? Can I help?” Apollo barely managed to refrain from rolling his eyes. Of course, he internally sighed, he’s one of those guys.

“Yes! The police man officer fellow here won't let us in!” Trucy whined, shoving the envelope in the man’s face. Apollo had to bite back a laugh at his startled expression, a contrast to his otherwise indifferent smile. “We even have a letter of request!”

“You must be exhausted, standing out here,” the man murmured sympathetically, eyes sparkling. He seemed intrigued, though Apollo couldn't blame him. He supposed he and Trucy looked like a completely mismatched pair. “I will take you to the scene of the crime.”

“Ooh! Really?” Trucy exclaimed, her entire face lighting up. Apollo tried not to smile himself; her energy was infectious. Then, the man’s words finally clicked in his mind. Wait - really?! But why would he - how can he - who is he?

“By your leave, officer,” the man ordered, winking. A pleasant shiver went down Apollo’s spine, one that he was trying his best to ignore. No good was going to come out of that train of thought, not when this man was clearly someone he needed to worry about - though in what way, he wasn’t sure yet. He seemed too generous, too open. Whether he was a police officer, a detective, or, god forbid, a prosecutor, Apollo didn’t trust him not to lead them astray, not one bit. “Very well. This way, fräulein.”

Before Apollo knew it, the man was walking away with Trucy in tow, leaving him behind. “Hey! What about me?!” he shouted, jogging after them. By the time he caught up, both of them were grinning at him amusedly, as if watching him trip over his own feet was some hysterical inside joke. Huffing, he braced his hands on his hips, ready to open his mouth and protest. The man’s gaze briefly travelled down to his hands once more. What’s that all about? Apollo wondered, confused. What’s he looking at? Is it my bracelet? It’s not that weird, is it? Wait, or can he tell that it’s -

“On that note, enjoy your investigation,” the man said, speaking a little quicker than he did before. He suddenly seemed distracted, like he couldn’t wait to get away from them.

“Thank you!” Trucy chirped, bouncing up and down on her toes. “Will we see you again?”

“Ask the wind, fräulein,” the man said, recovering. He seemed almost too focused on Trucy, like something about Apollo bothered him. Maybe he already knew who Apollo was, what Apollo had done. Was he angry? Resentful? Waiting for the right moment to strike? A shiver of a different kind tingled throughout Apollo’s body at the very thought; the phrase “kill them with kindness” was coming to mind. “I'll be riding on it.” He then left without another word, leaving Apollo to stare stupidly after him, his heartbeat in his throat.

“...who was that?” Apollo exclaimed, stunned, as if he wasn’t confused enough by everything else that was going on. His mind was racing with possibility, with anxiety that he really, really didn’t need. Before he could get into it, however, his jumbled thoughts were quickly cut off by Trucy’s surprised cry.

“Eek! Apollo, look - a c-corpse!”

_____

“...interesting,” Klavier said after a moment’s silence. “Did she really think the mannequin was a dead body?”

“Seriously, Klav?” Apollo groaned. “Surprised you didn’t fixate on the part where I thought you were pretty.”

“‘Were’?” Klavier echoed mockingly, grinning. His expression then sobered. “So...mixed feelings all around, it seems. I suppose it shouldn’t be all that shocking, though. We weren’t...total strangers, after all.”

“You practically were to me,” Apollo murmured, tangling his fingers in Klavier’s hair. Klavier leaned into his touch, his eyes fluttering closed in contentment. “At least you knew I existed, while I...he never…” He then shook his head. “Y’know, I-I’m not sure if I really wanna think about this anymore. Not if it makes us think about him.”

“It’s not one of our happiest memories, nein,” Klavier agreed, humming. “I like where we are now...where we can trust each other. There’s little I hate more than ambiguity. And not knowing how I was supposed to feel about you…”

“Sucks, right?” Apollo let out a hollow laugh. “But at least we were on the same page, in a, uh, weird way. I guess that’s always been our thing. Even when you’re driving me up the wall in court - which is all the time, so don’t even question me, I see that look on your face - we’re, y’know, generally working towards the same goal.”

Klavier’s fingers danced along the length of Apollo’s forearm, tapping out a rhythm that Apollo couldn’t quite pick out. “I’d like to think so. I was never really sure until...ach, well. You remember.”

_____

Apollo was still trembling as he exited the courtroom with Trucy by his side. She was putting on a brave face for them both, but he had a feeling that she was more torn up about what had happened than he was. He wanted to comfort her, to reassure her somehow after they’d learned the truth behind her biological father’s death, but for once, he was completely speechless.

“Polly?” Trucy’s voice was tentative. “I’m...kinda hungry.”

“I...oh.” Apollo looked at her curiously. Out of all the things he’d expected her to say, that hadn’t been one of them. “Do you wanna get something to eat? We could go to Eldoon’s if you want.”

“No, that’s okay,” Trucy reassured him. Her face then lit up. “I was actually thinking about the courthouse café! We can get cake and drinks and stuff. A little sugar goes a long way!”

Apollo smiled softly. “Sure, Trucy. Whatever you’d like.”

And so, they found themselves a small table at the courthouse café - and maybe calling it that was rather generous on Trucy’s part - with two thick slices of Swiss rolls and tall glasses of milk tea. Admittedly, Apollo still felt numb, but Trucy’s running commentary of her thoughts on the trial kept him going. “Now all we need is for Vera to wake up,” Trucy said, gripping her fork with determination. “I’m still so worried about her! What if she doesn’t - ”

“We can’t think like that, okay?” Apollo said, reaching across the table to squeeze her hand. “We gotta have hope. That’s all we can do, you know?”

“I guess,” Trucy murmured, chewing her bottom lip fretfully. She went quiet for a minute or so, poking at the last bits of her drink’s half-melted ice with her straw. “Hey, um...Daddy says he’s meeting up with a friend later today, and he wants to have dinner. And when he says ‘friend’, he usually means Mr. Edgeworth. You know, the prosecutor?”

“Yeah, I’ve definitely heard of him.” Apollo sat up a little straighter at the word ‘prosecutor’. In his stupor over the whole ordeal, he’d barely spared a thought for Klavier; he could only vaguely guess how he was doing. “What about him?”

“I was just wondering if, maybe, you’d wanna...join us?” Trucy suggested. He’d never seen her so hesitant before. “For dinner, I mean.”

“...oh.” Apollo paused. “No, uh - not today, sorry. I should really go home and sleep all of this - ” he gestured aimlessly “ - off. I feel like I need to sleep for, like, three days straight.”

“Sure, of course,” Trucy nodded, smiling faintly. “But….you’re still coming back to the agency, right? Maybe not tomorrow, but like...in a few days?”

“Yeah. Yeah, definitely,” Apollo promised, surprised by how quickly he’d responded. In all his hesitation, his doubts about law and what it was meant to be, what it could be, he was finally starting to feel like the Wright Anything Agency was where he belonged.

After they finished eating, he and Trucy parted ways after a long, much-needed hug on the courthouse steps. Apollo then went to fetch his bike from the rack adjacent to the courthouse parking lot, only to spot a familiar face lingering nearby, seemingly in no rush to leave.

“...Gavin?” Apollo said carefully.

Klavier turned sharply at the sound of Apollo’s voice. His smile was a touch too wide, his eyes suspiciously glossy. “Ah, Herr Forehead,” he greeted, ducking his head; his voice sounded trapped in his own throat. “Good show in there, as always. You never fail to impress.”

“Thanks. Hey, um - I’m surprised to see you’re still here,” Apollo commented, taking a few tentative steps closer. “Don’t you have somewhere...better to be?”

“Not really, nein.” Klavier let out a short, forced laugh. “I have paperwork to do, I’m sure. But it can wait.”

“...right.” Apollo cleared his throat awkwardly. “Thanks, by the way.”

Klavier blinked. “Entschuldigung? What for?”

“For agreeing to summon your brother, and...y’know, everything after that.” Apollo found himself oddly fascinated with a few stray pebbles on the ground, nudging them around with the toes of his loafers so he wouldn’t have to look at Klavier’s face. “Look, I-I’m not gonna pretend like I know what you, or Trucy, or Mr. Wright are going through. I’m mostly on the outside looking in, so. All I really know, if I know anything at all, is that, uh...we did the right thing. Yeah?”

“Ja.” When Apollo looked up, Klavier was also deliberately looking elsewhere, staring off into the distance at nothing in particular. He’d displayed a whirlwind of emotions back in the courtroom, but none of them were quite the same as the bitter expression he was wearing right now. “...Apollo?”

Now it was Apollo’s turn to do double-take. “Huh? Wh-what is it?”

“Danke schön. For...everything. I honestly don’t think I could’ve done...any of that on my own,” Klavier confessed, his voice thick with emotion. “And I think I...I think I’m going to take a little time away from the prosecutor’s office. Not for long, mind you. Just...I need some time off. A week, maybe two. Some distance, some perspective...it would make a world of difference, achtung.” He then turned to face Apollo directly for the first time since they started talking. He looked tired, defeated, even. His posture, his expression - Apollo felt as if he was seeing an entirely different person standing before him.

Without thinking, Apollo took the last few steps forward and closed the gap between them, wrapping his arms around Klavier and pulling him close. Klavier let out a startled noise; then, he hugged Apollo back, sinking his weight against Apollo’s, his forehead dropping to Apollo’s shoulder. His exhale was long, unsteady. “Take care of yourself, okay?” Apollo said, fingers digging into Klavier’s back, his face buried against Klavier’s bicep. “And if you ever wanna talk about it...I-I mean, I’m sure I’m not your first choice, but still. I’m, uh, I’m around.”

“Danke,” Klavier murmured, barely above a whisper. They stayed like that for a moment, maybe a moment too long, just holding each other in the middle of the courthouse parking lot for anyone and everyone to see. Klavier’s breath trembled against Apollo’s ear; Apollo half-expected his knees to give out from underneath him. Then, he slowly detached himself from Apollo’s grasp, carefully schooling his expression into something more Klavier-like, something brighter and blander, his teeth blindingly white in the mid-afternoon sun. “Anyway, I should really get going. That paperwork isn’t going to take care of itself, ja?”

“Oh, uh. Yeah, don’t I know it,” Apollo said, letting out another strained chuckle.

“Until next time, then,” Klavier said smoothly, winking. “Auf Wiedersehen, Herr Forehead.” He didn’t wait for Apollo’s send-off, instead turning and heading over to his motorcycle, humming and twirling his keychain expertly between his practiced fingers. Apollo watched him peel out of the parking lot, silently wondering if he’d said all he wanted - no, needed - to say.

_____

“Of course I remember.” Apollo held Klavier just a little bit tighter. “But, y’know, again - not our best moment. Not by a long shot.”

Klavier lifted his head from Apollo’s shoulder so he could kiss him briefly, gently. Apollo smiled against Klavier’s lips, cupping his jaw so he could bring him closer. “But I’d still say our first kiss is more of a memory worth reminiscing over. Wouldn’t you agree, liebe?”

“It was a little dramatic for my taste,” Apollo teased, pulling back so he could affectionately nudge his nose against Klavier’s cheek, his fingers lightly pressed into Klavier’s sides. “But you’re into that sort of thing, so I’ll give it a pass. Still, let’s just agree not to cry all over each other ever again, okay? It was honestly kinda gross. And wet. And not in a fun way.”

“You’re saying you won’t cry when I propose?” Klavier asked, pouting exaggeratedly. “Because ach, I know I will.”

“Who says you’re proposing?” Apollo retorted, grinning as he prodded Klavier in the chest. “What if I get there first? What if, while you’re getting down on one knee, I just whip a ring box out of my pocket - ”

“Then I really will lose my scheisse,” Klavier murmured, his lips ghosting across Apollo’s skin. “I’m going to hold you to it, baby.”

“Can’t guarantee it’ll happen, but I’m definitely gonna try,” Apollo said, turning his head to capture Klavier’s lips once more. The two of them exchanged slow, lazy kisses for a few minutes, fingers loosely tangled in each other’s hair. In the background, the movie continued on, long forgotten; not that it mattered, seeing as they’d watched it together many times before.

Eventually, Klavier carefully detangled himself from Apollo. He passed him his wine glass, still half-full, then reached for his own and lifted it above his head. “To making new memories, ja?”

“Are we really cheers-ing ourselves? That’s pretty self-serving, literally,” Apollo said dubiously, though he still raised his glass all the same, amused by Klavier’s dramatics. “But hell, why not? To new memories that don’t involve us crying, sneezing, yelling - ”

“You make us sound like absolute disasters, achtung,” Klavier protested, chuckling. “We’re not that bad, are we?”

Apollo took a sip of his drink, then leaned in close, so close that his nose brushed against Klavier’s, his wine-stained, kiss-bitten lips stretched into a fond grin. “Nah. I think we’re doing just fine.”

_____

a/n: Welcome to my first entry for Klapollo Week 2021! I've never participated in any fandom challenges/events before, so I'm super excited to see how this goes. My plan is a little overambitious, with all seven fics set in the same continuity, but in a different order. For example, this fic is actually the last, chronologically speaking, while day seven's fic is set in the middle. If you're wondering why they were crying during their first kiss, you'll have to wait until then 😉

Don't worry about any of that, though, you don't need to read the others to follow along! Day seven is technically a sequel to day five, but it can be read as a stand-alone, though I think it packs more punch if you read it after day five. They're also the longest; every other fic averages out to about four to five thousand words, whereas five and seven are over ten thousand words each. Brevity is the soul of wit? Not in my Google Docs, I am wordy as hell.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Likes and reblogs would be much appreciated. Hoping you're all safe and healthy and doing well ❤️

[readingtherooms]

Vanilla

Summary: After a long day, you just want to lay down on the couch. Unfortunately, our resident genius got there first. 

Pairings: spencer reid x fem!reader

Requested: nope!! just me being in love w baby spence

Warnings: fluff, so much fluff. 

Word Count: 1568

A/N: hey guys! sorry this is a little all over the place, but i thought it was cute. I wrote this with season 1 in mind, but it’s really up for interpretation. I don't currently have a taglist but I think i'm going to start one so let me know if you want to me on it! The moodboard below was made by me however the images are not mine!

It’s almost midnight, and the team is flying back to DC from Seattle. The case had ended well. (Y/n) should be relieved. She wasn’t. She had fought with her brother right before she left, and going home means she’s going to have to talk about it.

 “I’ve never been good at that. Talking. I much rather just hug it out, I've always been tactile”, she explains to JJ as she gets out of the car. 

Boarding the jet, everyone is welcomed by fluorescent lighting and the overwhelming essence of day old coffee. Spencer quickly makes himself at home on the couch, as Hotch and Gideon settle into a game of cards. (Y/n) tries to read, but after twenty minutes of staring at the same page, lost in her own head, she debates giving sleep a shot. She glances over at Spencer. He’s awake. 

“Is there any hope of me convincing you to give up the couch”, she mumbles as she sits down across from her best friend

“Is there any hope of me convincing you to come to the Jacques Delille convention with me on Saturday?” He quickly responded. (Y/n) sighed - her and Spencer had been friends at CalTech, long before she got the job with the BAU. Over the years, she grew quite fond of the eclectic conventions he would drag her to. She loved listening to Spencer go on his signature tangents, it gave her a chance to just listen. Not worry about being awkward or saying the wrong thing, like she did around most people. With Spencer, all she had to do was listen, and she loved it. Unfortunately, she was going to be spending her Saturday in a much less pleasant manner. 

“I already told you, I have to go to brunch with my brother” she groaned. 

He chuckled, “Well then I’m not moving”. 

“You know what, screw it” she thought to herself. She was tired, she kept getting caught up in her thoughts, and if she was being completely honest with herself, she was in desperate need of physical affection. 

“You don’t need to move” she stated bluntly.

“Wait, what?” Spencer responded, not even attempting to hide the surprise in his voice. He didn’t know (y/n) to go down without a fight.

“But you can’t stop me from laying on the couch” she countered. He responded only with a slight tilt of his head, and a look of confusion. (Y/n) stood up and walked over to where he had propped himself up. 

“Can I lay on you?” she half-whispered, her confidence starting to falter. 

“W-What?” he looked up at her with bewilderment in his eyes.

“Nevermind, it was a stupid idea.” She said, barely loud enough for him to hear. The fleeting confidence she had only moments ago, had completely drained out of her. She turned to walk towards the bathroom, attempting to escape the situation.

“Wait” he stopped her, despite still being perplexed by what she had just asked. “You can, uh, lay on me - if that's, uh, what you want.”  He clears his throat. 

“Are you sure?” (Y/n) responds, equally as flustered. He nods in response. 

After an uncomfortably long pause, she begins to lower herself onto the tan leather, leaning back as she does so. 

The next three minutes were chaotic to say the least, with neither of them not knowing exactly what to do. However, after those three, awkward, giggle filled minutes, (y/n) found herself lying between Spencer's legs, her head gently resting on his chest. She knew he wasn't always great with physical affection, she kept asking him if he was comfortable. He, in return, continued to reaffirm that he was, in fact, comfortable. 

A few more minutes went by, and soon (y/n) felt herself drift asleep, lulled by the soft fabric of his cardigan, and the gentle movements of his breath. 

Spencer, in contrast, was anything but peaceful. 

This just isn't the kind of thing that happened to him. Pretty girls don't just want to lay on him. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. He had just about convinced himself that this was a dream, when (y/n) shifted slightly, snapping him back into reality. 

He was suddenly very conscious of his arms. He had them resting lightly over her shoulder blades, in a position which he originally thought to feel natural. Doubt started to wash over him, he had never really done this before. Despite Derek's mocking, he wasn't actually a virgin, but it was in that moment that he realized he had never actually cuddled before. What if his arms were in the wrong place? What if (y/n) is judging him? Wishing she had never asked to lay on him? 

He lifted his right arm off of (y/n), and managed to pull his cell phone out of his pocket without too much movement. He really didn't want to do this, but he honestly couldn't think of a better alternative. He cursed himself internally, and reluctantly opened his phone, tapping on his second contact - “Derek Morgan”

Spencer : Derek, please turn around. Do not make a scene. 

Spencer sees Derek's head whip around as he reads the message, eyes widening when he notices (y/n). Despite being fairly certain that she was asleep, Spencer shifts his arm so that his phone was out of her line of sight. 

Derek : MY MAN!!!!!

Spencer : Don’t be dramatic, I need help. 

Derek : Dramatic?! Help?! Man you’ve liked this girl since COLLEGE 

Spencer : Trust me, I know. However, what I don't know is how to do this.

Derek : Do what? Cuddle?

Spencer : Yes, where do I put my arms?

Derek : Dude, you just gotta be natural

Spencer : That is completely unhelpful. Are you aware who you are talking to? Yesterday you watched me walk into a door. 

Derek : Yes, and I got it on video. Alright I guess I’m going to have to coach you through this. 

Spencer : Yes please. 

Derek : You owe me

Derek : Okay, take your right hand, and set it right above her waist

Spencer : My right or your right?

Derek : The hand with your phone in it

Derek : Now, your left hand, set it parallel to your right hand

Spencer : Does this look right? 

Derek : You’re doing great loverboy, are you finally gonna ask her out? 

Spencer : Maybe. 

Derek leaned over the back of his seat, clearly taking a photo. Spencer furrowed his brow. 

Spencer : Why did you take a photo of us?

Derek : Penelope. 

Spencer chuckled to himself lightly. He felt much more at ease than he had five minutes ago. Scanning the jet, he noticed that Derek had gone back to staring out the window. Everything seemed at ease. Hotch was facing away from Spencer, with a passed out Gideon across from him. JJ and Elle were both sleeping across from Derek, JJ lying on the brunette’s shoulder. 

Then there was (y/n). She was so peaceful as she slept, Spencer found himself entranced by her. He tucked back a strand of hair that fell onto her nose, and he felt her hum lightly with contentment. She smelt like vanilla, she always has. It was more than just perfume though, she must use vanilla body wash, shampoo as well. Is it possible she’s been using the same body wash since college? 

That is how Spencer Reid fell asleep that night, with (y/n) in his arms, thinking about the smell of vanilla.

-

Two hours later, Spencer’s eyes slowly started to crack open. (Y/n) was awake, nestled into the crook of his neck. 

“Hey sleepyhead” she teased. She received only an incomprehensible mumble in return. She looked at her watch, 4 AM. 

“We’re going to land in about a half hour, so I’m going to untangle myself and hopefully avoid a disapproving look from Hotch” she whispered in his ear. She placed a kiss on his forehead, before leaving the couch and returning to her original chair. 

The kiss was so soft, so light, that Spencer wasn’t even sure that it was real. The morning light was just beginning to spill through the small jet windows, and he waited for his eyes to adjust, before escaping to the bathroom. He was desperately trying to process what had occured in the past few hours. His mind was flooded with questions. 

Does this mean she likes me like I like her? 

Did she just need the comfort of a friend?

Is Derek going to make a big deal out of this?

IS THIS a big deal?

Hotch was awake, was he watching us? Does he care?

How does she always smell like Vanilla?

He finally realized that he would never find answers to all these questions standing in the jet bathroom. He fixes his hair, and steps back outside. 

“Hey (y/n)?”

“What’s up Spence?” 

“How do you always smell like vanilla?”

(Y/n)'s face lit up, giggling at his question. Suddenly, all the questions in Spencer’s brain felt like they were melting away. 

“Everything’s going to be okay” he thought to himself.

Everything is going to be okay because (y/n) is sitting in front of me

She’s smiling 

That smile could grow roses in the desert. 

Everything is going to be okay because she’s sitting in front of me

She’s smiling 

She’s smiling and she smells like vanilla

Oh, how I love vanilla. 

[kissinginkitchens]

You Bring Me Home—Chapter Six: Be My Baby

a/n: welcome back lovelies! Thank you once again for all of your kindness and support for chapter five!! I am so glad you enjoyed it :’) As promised: some more Halani sweetness that is truly good for the soul. Can’t wait for you to see what’s in store for our favorite lovebirds <3 I have had so much fun chatting with some of you and hearing your thoughts, so keep ‘em coming! Happy reading :) Much love, Mel <3

Pairing: Hawai’i!Harry x Original Character

Warnings: swearing, sickeningly sweet PDA <3

Word Count: 4.7k 

catch up on parts one, two, three, four, and five 

The rain descends in full force, strong and unrelenting, but Harry and Alani are too wrapped up in their own little world inside the Bronco to notice. They sit facing each other with palms touching, comparing hand sizes while they ramble about everything and nothing at all. Harry still has to remind himself to blink every so often despite the irrational fear that Alani will disappear when his eyes open again. With the knowledge that every moment could be this perfect, she silently curses herself for not crossing the friendship barrier sooner. 

“Think you bit me a little bit,” Harry comments, scanning his lower lip for any signs of bruising. 

“Did not,” Alani defends with a light giggle. 

He pouts his lower lip in her direction and leans closer for her to observe. “Did too, look!”

“Fine. I guess I won’t kiss you anymore if I’m such a detriment to your health,”

Harry sneaks his fingers inside Alani’s sweatshirt and tickles her sides, relishing in the laughter that erupts. 

“Just teasing,” he offers. “But I think I’m ready to get hurt again. Do me the honor?”

“You are such a nuisance,” she grins, obliging his request for another kiss by slotting her lips between his. It’s sweet and chaste, but it leaves her mouth tingling long after they’ve pulled apart. Alani runs her hands through Harry’s messy hair and he hums in response, leaning into her touch. When her hand stills, he plants a soft peck to the inside of her wrist as a plea to continue. She combs through the chestnut curls while he occupies his attention with something in the cupholder between them. 

“What’s this?” Harry questions, lifting the smoothie she had prepared for him earlier. 

Alani glances down and chuckles to herself. “Oh, it’s for you. I knew you’d be suffering from a gnarly hangover,”

Harry’s head tilts and he grins, giving Alani a sighting of her favorite dimple. “So good to me. Don’t know what I do to deserve it,”

“Maybe hold off on the gratitude, I think it’s probably rancid now,”

He takes a polite sip and sure enough, the drink is lukewarm and barely edible. His nose instinctively scrunches with disgust, but he quickly musters an appreciative smile. 

“S’lovely,”

“Liar,”

“Wanna taste?” Harry challenges, leaning in with puckered lips that Alani playfully dodges. He plants a kiss to her cheek instead, trailing down her jaw and to the side of her neck in a way that sends shivers down her spine. Her hands weave into his hair and she searches for his mouth again, but before she does, her phone rings loudly on the dashboard in front of them. 

He grumbles and his head lands on her shoulder. “For fuck’s sake—”

“Sorry,” Alani apologizes, swiping the device to look at the caller ID. Her sister’s name and photo flash on the screen, so she decides to answer it. “Hello?”

Harry traces small circles on the tops of Alani’s thighs, his mind still lost in the heat of the moment while she listens to Pua’s panicked voice on the other end. 

“Where are you?” Alani questions, sitting up straighter in her seat. “Okay, I’ll be there in ten,”

“What’s wrong?” Harry asks, brow furrowed in concern. 

She collects her bearings and sighs. “Pua and her little friends got stranded at the mall because of the storm. Need me to go rescue them,”

“Can I come with?” he offers eagerly, not ready to part just yet. 

“I don’t know if you really wanna be stuck with a bunch of fifteen year old-girls,” Alani laughs bitterly. 

Harry shrugs and toys with the hem of her sweatshirt. “Dunno if you were aware, but fifteen year-old girls love me,”

He stops suddenly and registers the concerning undertones in his statement. “That came out wrong,”

“Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t say that out loud,” Alani giggles with a hand cupped to his cheek. “Let’s meet up afterwards, okay?”

“‘Kay,” Harry agrees, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Alani leans over and presses a light kiss to his parted mouth, indulging his request to deepen it by letting him glide his tongue over her lower lip. 

“I really have to go.” she warns before pulling away reluctantly. 

Harry groans, but he steals one last kiss and slips out of the car into the heavy rain. 

“Be careful!” he calls over his shoulder. 

 Alani waits until he’s secure inside his own vehicle before driving away down the road. 

********

“You’re soaking wet,”

“It’s raining,”

“And you’re blushing,”

Harry shakes his damp hair out as he strolls down the hallway towards his room, Mitch at his heels. 

“So?”

“I’m assuming you fixed things with Alani, then?” his friend probes. 

Harry stomach flutters at the mention of her name. “Yeah,”

Mitch rests his shoulder against the doorframe of the singer’s room and watches as he sifts through his closet and dresser. 

“So why aren’t you with her right now?”

“She had to go pick up her sister, we’re meeting up later,”

“Is it official, then? I mean are you two...” 

Harry rubs a hand along the back of his neck and offers a shy smile in response. “I guess so,” 

“Well I’ll be damned!” his friend cheers, clapping him on the shoulder. “We have to celebrate. Jeff owes me twenty bucks,” 

“Mate—”

Mitch snickers with hands raised. “Kidding! Well, sorta. I actually said that she would turn you down at first,” 

Harry rolls his eyes and continues his search for the right shirt. “Ha ha. Listen, I need a favor,” 

“Anything.” 

“Jeff said that there’s a projector and fairy lights in the shed. I’m gonna need you to dig them out.” 

********

Alani parks in front of the mall and shoots her sister a text. Within a few minutes, Pua and her three friends bolt out of the entrance and climb into her backseat. 

“Buckle up,” she instructs the girls before pulling away from the curb. 

“Thank you,” Pua exhales, sinking into the seat. 

Alani gives her a reassuring wink and glances up to the rearview mirror to see her sister’s friends chatting giddily in the back. Her mind briefly wanders to less than an hour prior and the lingering warmth of Harry’s touch before her sister chirps up next to her. 

“What happened to your neck?” she asks with her nose scrunched. 

Alani’s brow creases in momentary confusion before her entire body heats up in realization. “Oh—uh, nothing,”

“Is that a—?”

“What do you guys wanna listen to?” Alani asks the backseat, avoiding her sister’s questions. 

“Wait, were you with—?”

One of the girls speaks up and Alani passes the aux cord over her head. Pua narrows her eyes and a smug grin spreads across her lips. 

“You were!” she accuses, hushed so her friends don’t hear. 

Alani shoots her younger sister a stern look and mouths the word “don’t,” but it’s no use. Her attention is stolen when the upbeat drums of a vaguely familiar pop song fills the entire car. 

“Oh you’re gonna love this one,” Pua laughs, bobbing her head along to the music that plays. 

Alani feels a strange sense of familiarity in the singer’s voice, but she’s having trouble placing it. She looks over to her sister for an explanation, but Pua simply wiggles her eyebrows suggestively. 

“It’s your boyfriend,” she smirks.

Yeah, so tell me girl if every time we 

Touch you get this kind of rush 

Baby say “yeah, yeah, yeah,” yeah, yeah, yeah

If you don’t wanna take it slow 

And you just wanna take me home

Baby say “yeah, yeah, yeah,” yeah, yeah, yeah

And let me kiss you

Mortification settles into the pit of Alani’s stomach, but a hint of amusement sneaks in as she pictures the various ways that she can tease Harry about this later. 

“Oh my God, could you imagine kissing them?” one of the girls, a redhead with freckles, muses in the back. 

“I think if I kissed Harry Styles, I could die happy.” sighs another one with round glasses. 

The third girl, a slender face with a full afro, chimes in with a dreamy look in her eyes. “Do you guys think he’s a good kisser?”

“Good question,” Pua plays along, turning to her older sister. “What do you think?”

Alani’s jaw tenses and she suddenly feels flustered under the pressure. Glimpses of spearmint and vanilla flood her memory, but she suppresses them and clears her throat. “How should I know?” 

Luckily, the three teenagers have already moved on from the subject and chat amongst themselves about other relevant topics.  

After the last girl has been dropped off at her house, Alani turns to her sister with a glaring look. 

“Before you ask—”

“Are you guys dating now?” Pua interrupts excitedly. 

Alani lets out an exasperated sigh and clutches the steering wheel to ground herself. “No. Well…I don’t know,”

“How was it?” her sister poses gently, a starry look in her eye. “Was he a good kisser?”

There’s a glimmer of eagerness in Pua’s expression that makes it hard for Alani to remain serious. A bashful smile spreads across her lips as she remembers the dreamy boy awaiting her return. 

“Yeah,” Alani confesses. “He was,”

“Oh my god!” her sister shrieks, enveloping her in a tight hug. “I’m so happy for you! This is perfect,”

Alani lets herself be excited for the first time since her feelings had been set free. Everything was still fresh and exhilarating, and while she couldn’t wrap her head around all of it, she was grateful for her sister’s enthusiasm. 

“It’s new,” Alani explains, sorting through the last couple of hours. “So there’s really not much to tell,”

“But you like him?” Pua clarifies. 

“Yes,”

“And he likes you?”

Alani shrugs coyly, thinking of the way that Harry had practically melted in her touch. “I think so.”

“Then what else matters?”

Pua’s words comfort the anxious turning in Alani’s stomach. If Harry feels even a sliver of the affection she has for him, then nothing else could truly ever matter in her world. 

********

Harry’s towel hangs low on his hips as he steps out of the shower. Immediately, he reaches for his phone to see if there are any new messages from Alani, but he deflates when her name isn’t on the screen. He checks the time and registers that three hours have passed since they had last seen each other, though it feels like days in his mind. Quickly, he dries off and steps into a pair of black jeans and a silky red overshirt, adjusting the silver chain with a cross pendant around his neck before slipping a few rings onto his fingers to complete the look. His hair is still damp, so he runs a blowdryer over it and adds a small amount of product—still getting used to the shorter style. Harry spritzes a bit of vanilla scented cologne onto the sides of his neck and takes a deep breath to quell the pounding in his chest. He checks his phone again, but there’s still no news from Alani, so he decides to reach out first. 

Harry: We still on for tonight?

He can hear ruckus emanating from the kitchen, undoubtedly the sound of his friends cooking dinner with a few drinks in their systems. His stomach rumbles when he realizes that all he’s had to eat was a sip of Alani’s warm smoothie. 

Alani: Yes, sorry! Had to cook for my sister but I’m free now :) 

He hums, his dinner plans most likely foiled. 

Harry: I take it you’re not really hungry then?

Alani: I could eat…

Harry grins and grabs the keys from his nightstand.

Harry: Be there in fifteen xx

Fifteen minutes—that’s all Alani has to fix herself up and look somewhat presentable for Harry. She darts around her room and picks out a flowy, black mini skirt with embroidered cherries and its matching cropped tank. Her hair is still a bit messy from not combing it after her bath, so she smoothes it out with some water and curl cream, hoping for the best. She finishes her look with a swipe of red tinted lip gloss across her full lips and honey scented lotion over her skin. By the time her quick routine is complete, she still has four minutes to spare and spends them pacing her room back and forth with deep breaths. Her phone dings two minutes later and she smiles at Harry’s punctuality. 

Harry: Am I allowed to meet you at your front door?

Alani’s heart melts at his consideration, so she quickly makes her way downstairs and decides to respond to him in person. Sure enough, he’s already waiting at the door with eyes wide as if he’d just been caught doing something that he wasn’t supposed to. 

“Wow,” Harry marvels, taking in her appearance. 

“You don’t look too bad, yourself.” Alani compliments, closing the door behind her and with a step forward. 

He clears his throat and offers his hand out to her, palm facing up. “Shall we?”

She accepts it happily and allows his fingers to slip between hers. They walk down the short path to the pink Cadillac waiting for them, glistening under the last bit of sunset. Harry opens her door first, then makes his way to the driver’s side before peeling out of the driveway. As they head to their mysterious dinner location, Harry’s hand wanders from the gear shift to Alani’s palm resting on her thigh. She interlocks their fingers and runs the pad of her thumb over the silver rose around his index finger, wondering all the while about its origin. 

“Hey, what’s with the ring?” she decides to ask, lifting their joint hands to support her question. 

“It was a gift from my mum,” Harry explains. “When I first went away on tour, she was bummed that she couldn’t be at every show to throw a rose on stage. So she gave it to me as a reminder that she’d always be cheering me on, no matter how far apart we were,”

Alani’s chest stirs at the sweet gesture, wishing suddenly that she had a face to put to the lovely woman in her mind. 

“I really like that,” she comments, studying the petals and intricate details. 

Harry glances over at the girl sitting in his passenger seat and thinks that he’d very much like for his mom to meet her someday, though under the right circumstances. He lifts their joined hands up to his lips and presses a soft kiss to her knuckles. 

********

As they pull into the studio, Alani immediately takes note of a giant white tarp hanging from the roof on one side of the building. 

“What’s that for?” she asks curiously, stepping out of the car. 

Harry offers his hand and motions for her to follow him inside. “It’s for the movie,”

“We’re watching a movie?”

“Yeah,” he smiles sheepishly. “Hope that’s okay,”

“It’s perfect,” Alani reassures him with a squeeze of his forearm. 

“I had the food delivered, too. Figured we could eat while we watch,”

When Harry unlocks the door, the unmistakable scent of Alani’s favorite Italian restaurant lingers around the room. She gasps at the sight of two take-out bags from Angelo's perched on the coffee table.

“How did you…?” she trails off with her mouth hanging agape. “That’s my favorite place,”

“Ravioli with extra sauce,” Harry smirks victoriously, taking both bags and retreating back to the door. He sends a telepathic “thank you” message to Pua for the suggestion. 

“Who told you?”

“A good journalist never reveals his source, you should know that,”

“Oh, I wasn’t aware that we were switching professions,” Alani follows with her eyes narrowed warily.

“But don’t expect me to serenade you or anything,”

Harry chuckles and places their meals in the back seat before opening Alani’s door for her. “Not even a little tune?”

“Maybe the alphabet song if you’re lucky,”

“I’ll take it,”

“Actually,” she snaps, settling into the passenger seat as she recalls one of his songs that Pua’s friends had introduced her to. “Maybe I do have a little something for you,”

Harry’s brows shoot up eagerly. “Well let’s hear it,”

Alani clears her throat and tries to wipe the mischievous grin from her lips, but the enthusiasm behind her date’s eyes makes it difficult to execute the joke. 

“Close your eyes, please,” 

“Why?” Harry laughs softly, a mixture of tenderness and amusement settling on his features. 

“I can’t do it with you looking at me,” Alani whines. “Just close ‘em!”

“Okay, okay, they’re closed,”

“No peeking,”

“Yeah, yeah,”

Alani takes a deep breath and tries to remember the tune that had been stuck in her head all afternoon.

“So tell me girl if every time we tou-ou-ouch, you get this kind of ru-u-ush,”

Harry’s eyes fly open and she can hardly contain her laughter, but she continues despite his interjections. 

“What’re you—?”

“If you don’t wanna take it slow and you just wanna take me home—”

“Is that—?”

“Baby say ‘yeah, yeah, yeah,’ yeah, yeah, and let me kiss you—”

“Where did you—?”

“You’re not even listening!” Alani teases through a fit of laughter. “I’m trying to dazzle you with my angelic singing, here,”

“I’m sorry,” Harry apologizes, his voice lowered as he leans in closer. “Please, continue,”

Alani drapes her arms around his neck and sighs. “That’s all I’ve got, sorry,”

“So much for ‘not a fan,’ huh?”

“It was my sister’s friends—”

“—Sure—”

“—It’s true!” Alani sustains with a playful shove. “You should’ve seen how swoony they got over you, it was kinda cute actually,”

Harry brushes a stray eyelash from her cheek and his mouth turns up softly at the edges. “I see,”

“They were wondering if you’re a good kisser, you know, because of the song and everything,”

“And…”

“And?”

“Well what’s the verdict?”

“I don’t know,” Alani ponders shyly, feigning indecisiveness. “I think I need to refresh my memory.”

Harry head shakes gently with his lower lip caught between his wide grin. He takes a minute to lightly graze the curve of her jaw with his thumb in an effort to convince himself that he isn’t, in fact, dreaming before he connects their mouths. Alani weaves one hand into the curls at the nape of Harry’s neck while the other keeps his palm anchored securely to the side of her face. She had never known a touch so warm or soft; so intoxicating, so safe. It was like an extension of her own body—a familiarity that she had unknowingly craved all along. And with a single kiss, every remaining brick in their emotional fortresses comes crumbling down, trampled under foot like sand. If the eyes were the window to the soul, then their lips were the door: inviting, welcoming, begging the other person to stay forever and evermore. 

Their foreheads meet as they reluctantly pull apart for air; the only sound is their synchronized breathing. The sun had sunken into the sea, but twinkling lights strung across a row of palm trees leaves them in a canopy of golden light. 

“So I think it’s safe to say,” Alani begins softly. “Ten out of ten would kiss again,”

Harry’s head bobs, interlocking their fingers. “I have to agree,”

The whirring of the movie projector disrupts their thoughts and turns their attention towards the screen. Alani’s eyes widen, curious to see what film Harry has chosen for the night. 

“Forgot that I put it on a timer,” he confesses. 

“Be My Baby” by The Ronettes starts over the speakers propped next to their car and Alani immediately recognizes the intro to her all-time favorite movie. 

“Dirty Dancing?” she cries, turning to him with an elated tug on his arm. “No way!”

Harry reaches for the food behind them, but keeps an eye on her to relish in the excitement. “Yes way, had to see what all the fuss was about.”

“You won’t regret it, promise.”

Alani slips her shoes off and hugs her knees to her chest, eyes falling from the screen ahead to Harry beside her. He was constantly finding new ways to exceed her expectations, and just when she thought it couldn’t get any better, he raised the bar to unimaginable heights. She wonders what life would be like if he hadn’t stumbled into the café and imagines all the other ways that their paths would have unintentionally crossed, unaware of the bliss that could exist between them. Luckily, Alani will never have to live in a world of such ignorance, a world where Harry’s name doesn’t fall from her tongue as naturally as her own. 

********

“I would have carried that watermelon for you,”

“How romantic,” 

“And I bet we could do that lift,”

“Not a chance,” Alani giggles lightly. “Don’t get any ideas,”

Harry exhales a defeated breath, running the back of his knuckles over Alani’s legs draped across his lap.

“Why not?”

“They probably practiced that for months and had Jennifer Grey rigged up to a wire or something,”

“Nah,” Harry contests. “That’s just what they want you to think so that you don’t try and upstage the actors. Happens all the time in Hollywood,”

Alani’s head turns. “Oh really? And you would know that because…?”

“Music industry, movies, it’s all the same,”

“Sure. So what did you think of the movie? It’s okay if you didn’t love it as much as The Notebook,”

Harry’s head leans against his fist as he studies Alani’s expectant eyes, deep umber and shining in the dim light overhead. They’re the same pigment as the soil after rain and full of just as much vitality. He’d never really had a favorite color, but he suddenly wanted to own every item in exactly the same shade of brown. 

“No, you were right,” he yields. “It’s way better,”

Alani curls into Harry’s side and her cheek rests against his shoulder. “Knew you’d like it,”

“You know me well,”

“I have a question for you,” she poses lightly. 

Harry presses a kiss to her hairline before his chin settles on the crown of her head. “Shoot,”

“How did you do all of this on such short notice?”

The task hadn’t been easy; it involved multiple bribes to each of his friends, though they would have done it for free, and a top secret phone call with Pua. The projector in the studio’s shed that exclusively played DVDs nearly threw a wrench in his entire plan, but Jeff volunteered to search every store on the island for a copy of Dirty Dancing until he emerged from the fourth shop triumphantly. Harry had even hunted down the Angelo from Alani’s favorite restaurant and convinced him to make her raviolis from scratch. He wanted everything to be perfect down to the most minute detail; after all, the girl that he had planned it all for would be. 

“With a little help from my friends,” he hums in the key of The Beatles. 

“Well,” Alani sighs with a feathery kiss to his cheek. “Best first date in the history of first dates,”

“Couldn’t agree more,”

“What was your worst first date?” she pries with a curious wiggle of her brows. 

Harry lifts his head to the glittery night sky above and thinks for a moment before an unpleasant memory resurfaces and makes his nose scrunch. 

“Year ten. There was this girl I really fancied and I practically begged her all term to go out with me,” he laughs lightly. “So she agreed on the very last day of school. A friend of hers was having this party that night and she invited me to tag along. I was so nervous, but you know, things were alright. Well, she disappeared randomly in the middle of the party to go get a drink or something, and when I went to look for her, I caught her making out with some other guy,”

Alani frowns. “I’m so sorry, that’s awful,”

“It’s alright,” Harry chuckles, unaffected. “Wasn’t meant to be. What about you?”

“Probably my freshman year of college,” Alani contemplates. “I was supposed to meet up with this guy that a friend had set me up with. But he was, like, an hour late to the restaurant and didn’t even seem to notice. Then we saw some boring action movie with exploding cars and he was texting on his phone the whole time. I left the theater to ‘go to the bathroom’ and never went back,”

Harry smirks. “Good for you! Sounds like a prick,”

“I honestly don’t know how he didn’t see it coming, I took the bag of popcorn with me,”

“Well it all worked out in my favor, so maybe I should say cheers to the poor sucker,”

Alani raises her bottle of cherry coke to the night sky. “Cheers to terrible first dates!”

“Maybe don’t say that so loud,” Harry suggests with a small laugh. “People might get the wrong idea,”

“Cheers to terrible first dates and this most excellent one!” she corrects. 

“Cheers!”

“I feel like there should be some big musical number and end credits now,”

Harry glances over with a peculiar look in the corner of his eye. “I have an idea,”

“What is it?” Alani questions skeptically. 

“Two words: the lift,”

“No!”

“Come on! Please?”

“You’re gonna hurt yourself. Or me,”

“I won’t,” Harry promises with puppy dog eyes. “Pretty please?”

Alani mulls it over, unable to ignore the kiss that he peppers to her shoulder. “Fine.”

********

“Just bend your needs and jump. I’ll catch you!”

Alani’s toes dig into the sand and her fists clench. Eight feet away at the opposite end of the beach, Harry stands with his arms open and back tall. 

“I’m scared,”

“Don’t be, I’ve got you,”

She takes a deep breath through her nose and exhales out her mouth. Her feet pick up into a jog, then a sprint, and her arms fly out on Harry’s command. Alani leaps and her hands find his shoulders, but she doesn’t get enough air for him to execute the lift. His arms brace her backside as her legs tangle around his waist, but he maintains his balance.  

“See! Gotcha,”

“Did I do it?”

“No,” Harry laughs, highly amused. “But almost! Try again,”

“Harry, I don’t think this is gonna work,”

“Yes it will, love, I believe in you,”

He kisses her nose and sets her back down, running an additional eight feet back. Alani huffs, but she jogs lightly again and springs into the air. Her abdominal muscles tighten in an attempt to strengthen her balance, but she wobbles and clings to Harry with a shriek. He stumbles a few inches and lets out a belly laugh. 

“See, that was better!”

“It was not!”

“At least your legs made it in the air that time,”

“Okay,” Alani pants lightly. “You had your fun,”

“One more try,”

“Harry—”

“Just one!” he pleads. “This is gonna be the one, I can feel it,”

Alani’s eyes pinch shut, but she remembers all of the hard work and sweet gestures that Harry had poured into this date. So much thought had been given to every miniscule detail in the hopes of making it a night that she would never forget. The least she could do was humor him. 

“Okay. Let’s go,” 

“You’ve got it!” 

Her heart pounds with determination as Harry beckons her to join him at the other end. She counts down under her breath before taking off at full speed, feeling the exertion of every muscle in her body. Alani plants her feet directly under her knees and hips, shooting straight up with her arms rooted firmly on Harry’s shoulders. Her heels lift higher and higher off the ground as if they were attached to a string and anchored to the moon. In her mind, she is as graceful as Baby Houseman herself, but the reality is far less picturesque. Harry’s hand slips and he staggers backward; his arms instinctively tighten around Alani’s waist and he brings her body flush with his to break her fall. A grunt escapes his lips as his back meets the sand with a thud, but he manages to crack a smile through his pained expression. 

“Oh my God!” Alani cries, immediately sitting up. “Are you okay?” 

Harry releases a slow, shaky breath. “‘M fine,” 

“Are you hurt?”

“Just a bruised ego,” 

She brushes the curls out of his face and holds back a giggle to no avail. “I’m sorry, it’s not funny,”

“Actually,” Harry coughs, slowly regaining his composure. “It kind of is,”

“We really almost had it that time.”

“S’not as easy as it looks.”

Alani’s head meets the sand parallel to Harry’s and her hand settles on his chest. She watches the rise and fall of his breathing for a moment before her eyes trail up to his. As if the entire night hadn’t already convinced her, this very moment dispels any lingering, microscopic doubt that choosing Harry had been the right decision. It was hard to believe that less than twenty-four hours ago, Alani had no idea how he felt about her or where they stood. But now, under the full moon and shining stars, Harry looks at her as if she is the only view worth admiring and it tells her more than any word ever could.

[dc41896]

Penny for Your Thoughts (2)

Pairing: QB!Chris EvansxBlack Reader

Summary🪄: You definitely didn’t expect your first date to be so hectic, yet so perfect

⚠️: None just fluff💕

The weekend of a home game always seemed to have the city in more of a buzz than normal. Everyone rushing from store to store trying to get everything they’d need for watch parties and tailgating. Streets holding more cars from those who followed the visiting team to physically show their support.

And if said game resulted in a win, the energy only intensified as those invested seemed to sport brighter smiles. It even made complete strangers high-five after raving how no team could do it better. That was the current state surrounding you now after Boston College’s 24-12 comeback victory.

Since entering the dimly lit restaurant, all eyes were stuck to the two of you. Well mostly Chris, but you also received glances from those nosy enough to wonder who you were to him, and the occasional eye roll from the girls wishing they were the ones being led by his large hand to the table. He warned you ahead of time that this would probably happen and apologized in advance, but you understood it just came with the territory.

His eyes lift from scanning his menu to watch you studying yours as you toyed with the gold banded ring on your index finger. You already made his chest warm just from the slightest glimpse of you, but your face illuminated by the small lamp on the table had a soft smile spreading across his lips feeling as if you were the only two in the room.

“See anything you like?,” he asked, solid body leaning forward as his hands nervously rubbed together under the table and it’s pristine, white table cloth.

“Everything sounds so good, but I think I’ll just stick with a salad or something.”

“You sure? Get anything you want, it’s my treat. Plus I still owe you a celebration for acing your exam.”

Your face brightens at the reference to the conversation you had last month. That’s when your date was supposed to happen originally, but with you being so stressed about passing, you both agreed that it’d probably be best to try again later.

“We’ll go the next time we’re both free. That way we can celebrate.”

“Celebrate what exactly?,” you giggled, phone pressed against your ear as you scribbled more notes at your desk.

“You passing, duh.”

“Thanks for the confidence, but let’s not call it so early.”

Sure enough, he predicted right.

“You remembered,” you smiled.

“Of course I did, why would I forget?,” he asks. Fingertips finding your knee to graze against your soft skin making your cheeks warm.

“Well in that case, I’ll have the lobster, steak, and I’ll go ahead and put in my dessert order,” you joke flashing your most innocent smile.

“It’s up to you cutie.” You both laugh, but yours is a bit shorter lived at the reveal of his apparent nickname for you. From the way he carried on as if nothing happened, briefly checking his vibrating phone, you didn’t know if it was an accidental slip of the tongue or him being comfortable enough to say it in front of you.

Either way, your heart fluttered at the sentiment and how it sounded off his tongue.

“Excuse me,” a thick, Boston accent interrupts slightly startling both of you. “I hate to cut in, but I just wanted to say that game was incredible!”

“Oh um thanks man,” he politely smiles.

“I’ve been watching since I was a boy, and I can truly say you got something special kid. Like with that trick play to put us in the lead?! Phenomenal! No way you’re not going in the first round. Speaking of, you got any teams in mind? I know you gotta be eyeing the Pats!”

“I uh really appreciate the kind words, but I’m kinda in the middle of something,” Chris replies motioning between the both of you with his finger. From the look in his eyes, hoping that the middle aged man would get the hint.

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” he replies holding up his hands as he takes a step back. “You kids have a good time, and you keep throwing those touchdowns.” With a final wave and pat of his shoulder, Chris waits until the fan is definitely gone before apologizing to you with sympathetic eyes.

“You don’t have to apologize, it’s okay. They’re excited to see you.”

“This is our time though, and I want all my focus going to you.”

“Aww, that’s very-,”

“Hi! Sorry, but you’re the quarterback for BC right?!,” the excited lady asks holding the hand of her small son probably around eight or nine. Before answering, he looks to you seemingly asking you for permission, and although you knew he’d respectfully turn them away explaining how he’d be sure to find them later if you gave the right signal, you didn’t want to be the one getting in the way of him and his fans. Especially when they were little kids.

Gently nodding your head with a small smile, he quickly mouths “sorry” before turning his attention back to the mom and son, giving the awestruck boy a high five at his mentioning of how he has Chris’ jersey at home. At the mother’s asking, you took pictures of the three of them before she was heading back to the table with the little boy still smiling like the Cheshire Cat looking down at his favorite college quarterback’s autograph and small personalized message on the napkin in his hands.

“Now, where were we?,” he asks settling back in his seat, taking a drink from his glass of water. You don’t get the chance to answer, hearing a pair of heels clacking against the tile floor coming closer to your table. The head of red hair with perfect beach waves cascading down to her shoulders has a satisfied smirk on her pink, glossed lips as she finally reaches the two of you, more so focused on Chris.

“Well isn’t this a sight for sore eyes. Then again I probably shouldn’t be surprised seeing you here at our place.”

Actually, it wasn’t. They only came there once and she was solely preoccupied with making sure all her followers knew she was being spoiled at a fancy restaurant while they weren’t. Chris didn’t even remember getting a word in that night, having to listen to her boast about all the people who would be jealous of her if they already weren’t.

Finally setting her crystalline, blue eyes on you, you see right through the sweet facade as she sticks out her hand. Almond shaped nails freshly manicured a sparkly light blue color. “Where are my manners, I’m Kelly. I’m sure you’ve heard about me before.”

“Not really, no,” you answer shaking her hand and making her smirk falter. “That’s a pretty dress though.”

“Thanks,” she dryly replies pulling her hand back to her side.

“Babe, our table’s ready.”

A man built similar to Chris and around your age with black hair and hazel eyes lightly grazes her arm to get her attention, clearly not wanting to completely be shown to the table as he stayed behind her. You didn’t have to be a genius to figure out he was the guy she cheated with and was too guilty to face his teammate.

Well, soon to be former from the rumblings at the game of those who were in the know with the dealings of the players.

“You two enjoy your dinner,” Chris speaks finding your hand across the table and enclosing it with his warm one. This simple movement nearly had Kelly combust seeing him moved on with someone else, while you began to wonder even more about his true intentions.

“Yea, y-you too,” the unnamed man quickly replies pulling his speechless date with him, who had yet to look away from you until he physically turned her around.

“Hey why don’t we get out of here? It’s hard to have you to myself with everyone interrupting,” Chris suggests with a gentle smile.

“Um yea, sure. Lead the way.”

———

15 or 20 minutes of driving around the city, and you ended up on campus in the more secluded part of the grounds. Then again, with it being Saturday night every part was pretty much secluded now.

The gazebo brightly adorned with bulb fairy lights hanging from the ceiling and around the pillars was a popular spot for graduation and wedding photos, as well as other couples looking for a calmer space without having to go too far. And although a beautiful and romantic scene, Chris desperately wished he could’ve found someplace better to take you.

“You okay?,” he nervously asks settling on the blanket he placed on the wooden floorboards so your clothes wouldn’t pick up any dirt or dust. “If you want to go somewhere else, I can-,”

“No no, this is perfect,” you smile, but not fully convincing Chris from how minimal you talked on the ride over.

“You’re not just sparing my feelings are you?” His suspicious expression and tilted head has you giggling as you take a sip of your water, feeling a bit more relaxed.

“No I just…after seeing your ex I guess I started wondering….”

“About what?”

“…your intentions,” you reveal, more focused on bending your straw back and forth rather than meeting his eyes that were probably peering at you like you were crazy bringing up the ‘what are we?’ conversation so early. “And where you wanted this to go?”

“Well this definitely isn’t a rebound if that’s what you’re thinking,” he answers sipping from his lemonade. Yes, you were thinking that. Had been since you guys started talking in fact. Then with him grabbing your hand at the table in front of Kelly, you didn’t know if the action was sincere or you just being a pawn in the midst of their game of who could make the other more jealous.

“So you think you’re completely moved on from her? And ready to date again?”

“I’ll be honest, when we first met I was still hurt and sulking as you could tell,” he briefly chuckles, “but the more we talked and hung out, I got over it and wanted to move on with someone who made me happy. Someone like you.”

Feeling him slide closer placing his hand on top of yours, your entire body heats up as his stubbled face feels like it’s mere inches from yours.

“So to answer your question, yes I’m ready and if it’s okay with you, I want to see how far this goes.”

Your soft smile as you close the remaining gap connecting your peach flavored lips with his makes him grin against your mouth happily accepting your answer. “I’ll take that as a yes, but if it’s not this is the greatest rejection I’ve ever gotten,” he speaks between pecks and occasional lip bites.

“You’re such a dork.”

His palm cradles the side of your face, thumb carefully gliding against your cheek and noses gently bumping each other not caring if he had to breathe. He just wanted to stay pressed to you.

A bright light shining in his eye, though, momentarily interrupts your intimate moment nearly making him groan out in annoyance how tonight just wasn’t the night for privacy.

“Alright guys I know you’re probably just enjoying your date, but if you’re gonna do that you gotta go back to your roo- oh, hey champ!,” the bulky security guard greets finally turning off his handheld light. “Insane game tonight.”

“Thanks,” Chris sighs partially shielding you as he tried to discreetly wipe around his mouth for any traces of your lip balm.

“Well you two have a nice night, but remember no extra curriculars out in the open if you catch my drift.”

“Got it. Goodnight sir.” He sends the guard off with a small wave before you’re both laughing at the night you’ve had and your forehead falls to his shoulder.

“Next date, I’m taking you out the country.”

Taglist: @fumbling-fanfics @honeydulcewrites @honeychicana @lady-olive-oil @themyscxiras @melinda-january @lovelymari4 @ladydmalfoy @maxcullen @literaturefeen @damnitaa @curlyhairclub @plokyu23 @fullofmelaninsarcasmandepression @nunubug99 @felicity-x0 @ellixthea @jojolu @jnk-812 @brwn-sgr @captainsamwlsn @wildfirecracker @nina-sj @iammyownlover @chaneajoyyy @scoop93535 @secretmysteriousperson

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[bangtansmau]

midnight memories

pairing: kim taehyung x you

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

summary: you moved in to a new apartment because you couldn't live another day with a noisy neighbor. to your luck, your balcony faced another apartment's balcony from the building next door and he also is infamous for making sounds. however, you can't seem to care when the noise is actually from a nice violin and the player himself is also nice-looking.

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

track 2: story of my life + written part

to make your friends believe you were, indeed, sleeping, you shut off your phone and placed it down because they somehow always knew when you would be online. your eyes wandered around your tiny bedroom before deciding to make some breakfast and something to drink so you could energize to finish your paper. the trek from your room to the kitchen was short as it was just right across the hall since the 1-bedroom apartment was compacted to the smallest size possible.

it would make sense why rent was so cheap.

during your walk, you noticed out of your balcony’s french door’s windows that your neighbor- er, was it tae? taehyung? taeyong? -was leaning against the railing but this time, no violin. his eyebrows were scrunched together as if deeply in-thought and there was a frown resting on his lips that usually held an adorable grin. something must be happening. at first you wanted to just go over there and talk to him but you decided to just make your food and tea then go over to talk over breakfast.

taehyung noticed you walking towards your doors with a plate of cookies and a teacup in-hand. his eyes naturally followed you and his mood brightened up slightly, seeing his new friend make her way for him to talk to her and be distracted from the stress of his life. you were juggling a newspaper under your arm while your two hands carried your breakfast but you somehow made it, even being able to twist the doorknob to open towards the balcony.

tae’s smile made you instantly look at him and you quickly put down your things to walk to the railing so you could talk to him.

“hey”

he greeted and you tilted your head with a smile.

“hey, yourself”

you both shared a split-second of silence but it was comfortable enough to break into chuckles after. you settled on one of the chairs of your little table and once you were comfortable enough, you finally asked the question.

“what’s wrong, tae?”

you asked and he flinched, recalling showing you any face of stress in the 3 seconds you were out.

“huh?”

“i noticed from inside that you looked stressed. is it school?”

your question was answered with no words but with how he sighed and closed his eyes.

“setting aside how you guessed right, yea, school’s just kicking my ass right now”

you nodded in understanding.

“is there,, anything i can help you with? you mentioned being in photography but i’m not exactly great at,,, well,,,, taking photos”

sheepishly smiling, you ducked your head but tae felt warm that you even wanted to help him.

“it’s a project my professor assigned. i guess you could say it’s our end of the semester project. i have the equipment but,,, i just don’t have a theme”

a theme?

well, you couldn’t exactly come up with anything either without sounding too cheesy or corny.

“i would’ve said something about nature but that’s too basic, right?”

tae’s eyes lit up and he gasped out loud.

“exactly! my friends thought i was crazy for not wanting to do that! they just don’t get it”

he huffed and you laughed.

“as students of the arts, we have to make ourselves known somehow”

god, tae wanted to just drag you off and meet jungkook because he felt like his argument was finally valid.

“what if you make your project,, based on memories? taking pictures of everyday life and see the lens out of someone else’s eye”

your suggestion wasn’t the most original one but tae thought hard.

“hmm, that sounds good. maybe the life of a college student? or,,, something joyous to contrast the dark and stress of our lives? i don’t know, i’m not good at suggestions”

at this point, he was kind of desperate for any suggestions that sounded better than basic so he nodded slowly then began thinking about who and what would be in the pictures.

“i thought of using my dog as my model but he’s at my parents’ house and he’s not very cooperative. maybe my friends but they would charge me somehow”

you felt bad for him because you’ve been at a place where you’ve had a blockage in your project. to think this was the most important and highest graded one of his course was definitely more nerve-wracking than your simple ‘What are the symbolisms in Gatsby?’ back in middle school.

then you thought of an idea.

“well,,, i may not be an experienced model but i can be a stand-in? my friend uses me in his cooking videos a lot so i’m not too shy of a camera”

tae stared at you.

“are you sure? you would do that?”

you shrugged and sipped your tea.

“i mean, why not? it’s not too hard, right?”

his grin spread across his face and he excitedly leaned over the railing.

“seriously?! what can i do in return?”

“i don’t have anything right now but i’ll tell you when we’re done, okay?”

he couldn’t believe you were willing to help a stranger like him but his fondness of you even grew.

“wow, what luck! you’re really the best, y/n!”

you nodded smugly.

“i know”

tae scrambled to find his camera which he spotted inside so he rushed to get it while you watched, amused. the padding of his socks announced his arrival and his camera was held delicately in his hands.

“can i,, take one right now?”

you blanched.

“right now?”

he quickly noticed your surprise so he hurriedly waved his hands.

“it’s fine if you don’t want to!”

the excitement in his eyes was too adorable for you to pass up so you chuckled before picking up the newspaper to open it and partially hide your face.

“here. i don’t have any makeup on so try not to get my face but everything else is fine”

tae nodded. a smirk made its way up to your lips and you leaned.

“how do you want me, director?”

the tips of his ears began to burn at the way you looked up at him but he coughed before he shrugged.

“i-uh,, well, however you’re comfortable”

you noticed his nervousness and nodded. you angled yourself in a way that it looked like you were reading the newspaper with one hand which was folded and raised high enough that the only thing peaking from your face was your large spectacles and eyes. the other hand held the tea high and the way you posed looked natural enough for him to take that snapshot.

you continued reading and stopped when he pulled the camera away from his face to review the way the picture came out. of course, you were curious as to how it turned out so you placed your things down and called out to him.

“hm?”

his eyes were wide and you laughed.

“did it turn out good?”

you asked and taehyung eagerly agreed.

“i mean, i need to pull it up in my laptop but this is perfect. when i finish, you want me to send it to you?”

tae was hoping that his excuse sounded convincing enough to get your number but you quickly caught it before nodding and getting up to get a pen.

he watched you return and give him a notepad that held your digits and a small smiley face that he couldn’t help but mirror.

today was a good day.

not only did he finally figure out his project, he also got the cute girl’s number too.

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

fun fact:

- jin has a cooking/eating channel called ‘EATJIN’ where he mainly makes cooking videos and eating but sometimes he has daily vlogs where you and the boys show up all the time

- tae’s previous muse was someone from his hometown but something happened o.o

- jungkook is looking for an apartment but he doesn’t want to live with jimin since his cat loves to take socks and underwear and he doesn’t want to repeat the same experience from back then where he accidentally wore jimin’s briefs

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

//masterlist//

← track 1 // track 3 →

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

The gang on their wedding days

[Been meaning to post this one for a while — since I’m applying to get married today, now seems like the time.]

Jake steps into the room like a child wandering into his parents’ dinner party.  His bow tie is askew, seams of his jacket misaligned for all that it’s a custom-tailored tuxedo.  If the buttons of his shirt aren’t one hole off from their intended placement, they still manage to convey that impression from across the room.

Rachel feels a rush of affection for him, her first best friend.  The boy who’d run and fought and splashed through mud with her, back before adults started telling her to be careful of her dress and him to be careful of her.  Only he could show up to his own wedding looking like he’s ready to be expelled at any moment.  Only Jake.

And yes, she gets mushy at weddings.  Sue her.

Tom steps up next to Jake, far more elegant in an off-the-rack suit.  Some people actually got the fashionable genes in this family.

Rachel surges across the room.  Tom gets a quick hug, and then she turns all her attention on Jake.

“You only have to look nice for the next three hours,” she tells him briskly.

“Three.  Hours,” Jake repeats.

With expert motions she realigns his… everything, until at the very least the clothes are sitting the way the tailor intended.  She tries to finger-comb his hair, thankful for the heels that put her at an inch above his height, but it’s obvious that he has also been running his hands through it and the style is hopelessly deformed.

“You can survive anything for three hours,” Rachel says as she does all this.  “I’ve seen you do it.”

“But if I mess it up—”

“Then stop, go back, and do whatever it is over.  We’re not exactly on a time pressure, here.  Nobody’s gonna die if you trip at the altar or forget your lines.”

“Okay.”  He stuffs his hands in his pockets, deforming his jacket again.  “Okay.”

She can see him starting to relax as he glances around, shoulders coming down.  Cassie’s place isn’t quite like they remember — it’s been repaired since the war, the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic expanded to nearly five times its original size — but it still feels as close to home as any place does.

“Have a glass of water,” Rachel says.

“But what if I have to pee during the ceremony?”

She rolls her eyes.  “Babysit him,” she mouths at Tom.

Tom gives her a gesture in response that approximates What do you think I’ve BEEN doing?  Whether he means the last four hours or the last twenty-six years is, really, a moot point.

Rachel leaves him to it, and charges off to go check on the others.

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

Marco leans against a tent pole, trying to roll one of the rings across his fingers the way Vegas poker players do with chips.  So far it’s not going well.

“Canapé,” Ax is saying carefully.  He attempts to lean next to Marco, nearly going all the way over.  “Can-nap-peee?”

“Uh, no.”  Marco catches the ring as it makes its third or fourth bid for freedom, stuffing it back into his pocket.  “That…”  He tilts his champagne flute to point.  “…is a canopy.  Or a chuppah, I guess.  Canopee.  Canapay is the little pastry thing you’ve already filched in bulk, don’t think I didn’t notice.”

“Ah,” Ax says.  And then, “This temperature and rate of precipitation is within optimal survival parameters for humans, is it not?”

“Nuh-uh, Ax-Man, I will not be pulled in by your smooth small-talk skills.”

“Did you not wish to make conversation?”  Ax frowns.  And then he stuffs another canapé in his mouth.  “This is making conversation,” he adds through the mouthful.

Marco squints.  “Is it, though?”

“It is indeed.  Did you know that the rotating-wheel can opener was patented in 1870?”

Marco’s response to that one gets cut off when Rachel comes charging across the open tent space like a small freight train.  Tobias is balanced on her shoulder, flaring slightly as she runs.  She yanks the champagne flute out of his hand.  Marco makes a squeak of protest, but Rachel just sets it firmly on a bussing tray and turns back to glare at him.

“What did we agree?” she asks sternly.

Marco rolls his eyes.  “That I’d stay sober-ish for the toast, and not do anything too embarrassing.”

“You’re the best man.  You have one job, Marco.”

“Excuse you, the best man’s one job was that banger of a bachelor-slash-ette party we did Wednesday night.  Did you like the part where we all dived out of a helicopter and flew clear through the lower atmosphere to that rooftop bar?  Because—”

“So you got the drinking out of your system.  You promised.”

“Sober-ish, come on, it’s just one wine-spritzer-thing!”

Rachel turns away from him, looking Ax over.  “You realize you’re going to have to demorph and remorph at some point before the ceremony, right?” she asks.  “And that when you do, someone’s going to have to go through the whole kit and caboodle of getting you into that tux all over again?”

“Yes,” Ax says.  “Yes, I do.”

She stares at him.  He stares back, looking as innocent as it is possible to look while also chewing three jalapeño pastries at the same time.

«You should probably just listen to her,» Tobias suggests.  «By the way, where’s your date?  Not that I quake in fear for the wedding cake or anything, but, uh…»

“Menderash has been instructed not to eat anything on a human plate without seeking my opinion first,” Ax says, somewhat stiffly.

“Yeah,” Marco says.  “So far he’s only eaten two earthworms, a candle, some decorative sand, and part of Collette’s bouquet.  You two have nothing to worry about.”

“Part of Collette’s bouquet?” Rachel demands.  “We can’t send a bridesmaid up the aisle without—”

“Already replaced it, I am on top of this.”  Marco flips his hair back from his face.  “I am a flower master.”

«So where is Menderash now?» Tobias asks.

“Helping Cassie’s mom,” Marco explains.

«And Cassie’s mom is…?»

“Delivering a baby cow.”

Rachel makes a noise like she’s choking on air.  “Doesn’t Michelle have vet techs for that kind of thing?  She’s supposed to be getting ready, not, not…”

“It’s cool,” Marco says.  “She’s got her makeup on, her hair is done perfectly, she’s got an apron-thing to keep her dress nice and gloves over her nails, it was a breech birth so they needed a real doctor and Walter was busy supervising the caterers, she’s got Menderash and Steve helping her out—”

“She kidnapped Jake’s dad?” Rachel demands overtop the continuing babble.

“He said he had never delivered an offspring outside of his own species before, and expressed deep curiosity on the subject,” Ax offers.  “Menderash is a certified medic with andalite training, so they should be well-equipped to assist.”

Marco makes jazz hands in the air.  “It’s a free pre-dinner show!  Cow birth.  Better than icebreakers.”

There’s a very long pause.  Rather than dignify that with a response, Rachel turns and stalks away.

Marco watches her go, halfway awed at her ability to navigate an open yard so well while not only wearing six-inch heels and a multi-layer floor-length dress, but also balancing an enormous updo on top of her head and a red-tailed hawk on her left shoulder.

“Is it just me, or did Jake and Cassie make a monster when they asked her to be maid of honor?” Marco says.

«You wanna take over her responsibilities, then?»

Of course Tobias heard that.  Stupid hawk hearing.

“No thank you!” Marco yells after them.

Cassie, meanwhile, is currently picking her way across the open space under the tent, bunches of dress hiked up to above her knees.  This last is, of course, the source of Rachel’s consternation.

“Here.”  Rachel attempts to pull the wads of skirt out of Cassie’s hands and drop them back to the ground.  “You’re going to wrinkle it.”

Cassie stubbornly refuses to let go.  “You told me not to let it drag on the ground.  If I let it down, it’ll drag.”

“Cassie, Cassie.  That is a hand-tailored Christian Dior gown that I commissioned to be custom-fitted to your measurements.  There is no way that it is too long if you let it…”

Cassie drops the bunches of tulle.  The end of the skirt falls all the way down, where the bottom two inches rest, unmistakably, on the muddy ground.

Rachel somehow manages to wince with her entire body while also not moving at all.

«It’s a look,» Tobias suggests, by way of consolation.  «Kind of.»

“How…?”  Rachel peers closer at Cassie.  “Wait, where are your shoes?”

Cassie shrugs, embarrassed.  “Uh, inside somewhere.  I was having trouble balancing in them.”

“Well that’s why!”  Rachel’s emphatic gesture almost dislodges Tobias.  With years’ experience, he dodges her waving arm and retains his perch.  “The dress was tailored to fit you with shoes on.”

“They were getting stuck in the grass—”

“They’re kitten heels!”

��Yeah, and they’re still heels.”  Cassie looks stuck somewhere between amusement and embarrassment.  “I don’t really do heels.  Sorry.”

“Hey Tobias?” Rachel says, as if to thin air.

«Nuh-uh, leave me out, I want no part in—»

“Remember me telling Cassie that we should really try the whole outfit on before the wedding?”

«Uh.  Yes?»

“Do you also remember Cassie agreeing to it, and then the day of, haring off to go try and save a bunch of vultures instead?  Remember how we tried to reschedule, and there was that ALF mission on the same day so she never showed?  Remember that?”

Cassie clears her throat loudly.  “I think it’s a very nice dress.  It’s fluffy and also comfortable, and look!”  She tucks her hands away.  “It has pockets.”

«Vultures are actually fundamental for waste disposal in ecosystems all over the world, and the poisons used on livestock—»

“Do you think you could at least wear the shoes long enough to go up the aisle?” Rachel asks.  “And maybe even for a few photos as well?”

 “Uh.  I’ll try.”  Cassie hikes her skirt back up (Rachel full-body winces again) and starts picking her way across the lawn back toward the house.

“There’s no way I’m going to be able to un-wrinkle it in time,” Rachel mutters.

«Yep.  So you’re just going to have to live with it.»

“I hate living with it.”

«Wanna go check on whatever monstrosity of a replacement bouquet Marco probably inflicted on Collette?»

“Fine, fine.”

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

Cassie walks up the aisle in a custom-tailored gown, an edelweiss and valerian flower crown, and slightly muddy Timberland work boots.  The sole on the boots is apparently tall enough that the skirt does, not, in fact, drag on the ground or get tangled in her feet.

«Somewhere out there,» Tobias comments, «Christian Dior is crying into an overpriced silk handkerchief and doesn’t even know why.»

Marco has never more deeply felt the utter unfairness of Tobias being able to use thought-speak while human, because they’re currently standing at the front of the aisle and he can’t even respond.

But Rachel should still count this one as a win.  The gown looks stunning on Cassie, lacy and princess-ruffled while also having the kind of practical cut that allows her freedom of movement.  And, Marco notes with a smirk, freedom to wear her morphing leotard underneath; the purple spandex is just visible peeking out from underneath the white silk neckline.  He’s got morphing clothes under his own tux — never leaves home without ‘em — so really, he can’t judge.

Plus, Michelle’s got her dress and just her dress on by now, and her locs are still tucked into their silver-beaded updo.  Really, the cow birth was just a momentary inconvenience.

“Hi,” Jake whispers, when Cassie reaches him.

She grabs his hand.  Then she stuffs her bouquet into one of his jacket pockets, and grabs his other hand.  “Hi,” she whispers back.

“This is pretty exciting, huh?”

“Yep.”

Ax clears his throat delicately, and they stop talking.

“There is an Earth tradition,” Ax says to the entire assembly, “that the captain of any ship may perform a wedding ceremony at will.”

In the front row of seats, Michelle laces her fingers through Walter’s.

“Although there is no legal precedent for this custom,” Ax continues, “it is nevertheless possible to become ordained as a wedding officiant if one just completes the proper applications.”

One of Jake’s great-aunts mutters something loudly about the lack of rabbi.  Sarah leans over and kicks her in the ankle.  Rachel beams her approval.

“Therefore, I am here to make official through human custom that which has already been forged through affection and respect.”  Ax looks from Jake to Cassie and back.  “The bond between warriors who have fought and faced death together can be neither lessened nor improved upon by mere ceremony.  The honor shared between two such beings who have chosen to risk loving each other in spite of knowing the reality of loss is one that we recognize today.  We can recognize it, but not sanctify it beyond the sanctity of what these two humans have already shared.”

Rachel lets out an audible sniffle.  Marco does his best not to smirk at her.  It’s not that sappy a speech.

“I have been assured that the bond between two humans who like each other far exceeds the bond between those who merely enjoy each other’s company,” Ax says.

And now Marco has to fight the urge to bang his head against the nearest support pole.

“I have witnessed this myself.”  Ax stares around the room.  “I have witnessed compromise and forgiveness, compassion and challenge between these two.  I therefore believe it is correct and proper that this bond be formally recognized by the State of California.  Is there anything you would wish to add?” he says to Jake and Cassie.

Cassie leans up on tip-toe.  Jake bends to meet her.

She whispers her vows into his ear, not bothering to share with the rest of the gathering.  After a moment, tears on his face, he leans in and whispers back.

Recognizing his cue, Marco grabs the rings and passes them over.  They’re boring-looking, in his opinion, plain silicon bands without anything shiny.  But they’re also easy to morph, easy to shovel manure while wearing, easy to wear without catching on anything.  Very Cassie.  Very Jake.

Speaking of which, the Timberlands prove to be a good call.  When the time comes, Cassie stomps the shit out of that ceremonial glass.

**********

In a slight break with tradition, Rachel and Tobias are actually the first ones to go back down the aisle.  Then Marco wheels Collette out, followed by Tom and Melissa, then Jake and Cassie go.  That way, Rachel’s got time to sprint back over to the main tent and check on the banquet.

Most of the tables are arranged correctly, the centerpieces in place and the cards arrayed.  Rachel does a mad sprint of the room, straightening decorations and confirming with the caterers that they got all the instructions about who needs what in their diet.  Between the number of kosher eaters on Jake’s side and the number of vegetarians on Cassie’s, Rachel made the call to go all the way to a fully vegan buffet.  That’s probably going to get some of the relatives complaining about kids these days and rabbit food, but there’s no pleasing everyone.

Rachel deftly switches a few of the placecards, thereby putting Jordan on point to deal with their great-aunt and grandmother who have both already overindulged at the open bar, muttering an apology as she does.  She puts Tobias to work making sure the bows on the backs of chairs are straight, and rushes up to the long table at the front to confirm that the armless chair meant to accommodate Cassie’s bulky skirt is in the correct place.

D.J. is here, playlist at the ready.  Dance floor is clear of grass.  Weather’s holding, but tent covers are on standby.

Slightly sweaty, she rushes back out with a chair under each arm just in time to catch the guests coming across the lawn.

“Everyone except the parents, head off to the cocktail hour!” she calls.  “Jake, Cassie, moms and dads, with me.”

While Marco’s date (a photographer named Dakota) sets up the camera, Rachel goes into a flurry of motion straightening bowties, adjusting hairdos, and touching up makeup.  Steve’s got a spot of cow blood on his forehead, she discovers to her horror, and by the time she’s done scrubbing that off Jake’s managed to get his tuxedo jacket misaligned again.  Finally she steps back, breathing hard, and nods to Dakota.

Everyone smiles.  The camera goes off.

“Okay.”  Rachel claps her hands loudly, because Jake and Cassie are looking ready to stand up and go join the reception.  “That’s one down, just twenty-three to go.”

********

Rather than tossing her whole bouquet all at once, Cassie picks it apart and gives a single flower to every single guest she can find.  When the bouquet itself runs out, she disassembles her flower crown and hands that out piece by piece until everyone’s got at least one blossom.  It just seems fairer that way, she says when Rachel asks.

Several of the traditions, Rachel reflects, seem to be lost on Jake and Cassie.  They cut the first piece of cake… and immediately hand it to Ax.  And then they cut the second piece, and the third piece, and keep right on cutting slices of cake and handing them out to people until Rachel has to step in and wrest the knife away.  She’s grateful that they refrain from any of the food-fighting nonsense, since both their wedding outfits are headed to a charity auction first thing tomorrow morning, but honestly.  They’re supposed to eat the first two slices, not drop half a tier of cake into the black hole of hungry andalite.

Cake served, Marco clinks a fork against a glass.  “Ladies, gentlemen, and proletariats!”

There’s a general murmur as people look around, trying to spot who’s speaking.

With a hand from Jake, Marco climbs bodily onto the banquet table.  “Everyone!” he shouts, and now they’re all looking at him.  At him, and at the champagne flute in his hand.  “Jake and Cassie!”

It gets a polite round of applause.

“Gotta start at the beginning, right?”  Marco looks around the room, grinning.  “So there I am, some snot-nosed three-year-old, minding my own business.  And this chubby, dorky-looking little white kid comes running up to me and is like…”  He leans in.  “‘You wanna be my best friend?’”

He grins at Jake, who is flushing bright red.

“I shit you not, that was his opening line.  ‘You wanna be my best friend?’  So I’m like…”  Marco pantomimes reeling back in shock.  “I dunno man, seems like a lot of commitment to make to a total stranger.  You want explore our options first, maybe get a prenup, see if we’re compatible?  I mean, for all I know five years from now you’re gonna find some younger, hotter best friend and then there I’ll be out on my ear with nothing to show for it.”

There’s a smattering of laughter throughout the room.  Marco visibly draws strength from it.

“But you know what?”  Marco leans down to look around, smiling like he’s got a secret.  “Little dork kept right on showing up to my house and letting me use his television and getting his mom to give me fluffer nutters, and next thing I know it turns out he really is my best friend.  I think he was onto something.

“Anyway, you think that one was bad…”  He raises his eyebrows.  “Couple years later, there we are in first grade, and this girl in teeny-tiny first-grader overalls comes into the room like…”  

Marco claps one hand over the top of his champagne flute and clamps the other under the base, and actually walks a few steps down the table with the determined air of a very small and klutzy version of Cassie.

“And her opening line is…”  Marco raises the flute to his mouth like it’s a microphone, dropping his voice.  “‘You wanna see my moth?’”

Again, there’s a smattering of laughter.  Cassie has a hand over her mouth, halfway doubled over in giggles at the memory.

“Now, us being minuscule and all, I’m like ninety-nine percent sure that there was no double entendre going on here,” Marco says.  “And I have to admit, no one has used that line on me since.  So I say ‘sure,’ because I’m like six years old and this seems like a reasonable question.  She lifts her hand up…”

Marco accompanies this with a pantomime of peering through his own fingers into his champagne.

He looks up.  “And it’s not even a freaking moth!” he cries out.  “Turns out, it’s just some little worm thing.  So I tell her.”  He puts on a snotty voice, mocking his younger self.  “‘That’s not a moth, that’s just some little worm thing.’”

There’s a pause.  Marco glances around the room.  “See if you can tell where this story’s going.”

Marco and Cassie glance at each other.  Cassie’s grinning smugly.

“She puts it in the classroom’s terrarium,” Marco drawls.  “It turns into a rock.  Two weeks later, rock cracks open and out pops a moth.”

The room cracks up again.

“So fast forward another few years, and she’s standing there holding this eight-eyed, venom-fanged thing.  And she’s all like ‘just touch the spider, Marco.  Don’t you want to be a spider, Marco?  Isn’t it cute and fuzzy?’  As if she is completely unaware that she’s holding a giant-ass eight-legged freak.”  Marco takes a sip for strength.  “And right then, I look at Jake.  And I’m thinking Jake, don’t ever let this girl go.  Because if she doesn’t even think wolf spiders are ugly, then she’s got no idea about you.  So here’s to Jake and Cassie.  Made for each other, because no one else will have ‘em.”

Jake pokes Marco in the ankle, but he’s laughing as he does it.

“All right,” Marco says, “brace yourselves, and someone get some more tissues for my second mama, because I’m about to get sappy.  I love you, Jean!” he calls.  “I know we all gotta cry it out sometimes.”

She laughs and flaps a dismissive hand at him, but she’s also misty-eyed already.

“Dudes, I gotta be honest.”  Marco is looking at Jake and Cassie.  “I didn’t think we’d get here.  I honestly did not believe, for a good long while there, that there were gonna be any weddings or graduations or driver’s licenses in any of our futures.  Just seemed like a good idea not to bet on any of us having any futures, you know?  Seemed like it might be the surest option.”

Cassie laces her fingers through Jake’s.  Silently, her mouth pressed into a line, she nods.

“So, uh.”  Marco sniffs, spinning back around and thrusting his champagne flute into the air.  “Here’s to me being wrong, yeah?”

“To Marco being wrong!” Jake echoes, and tosses back his glass.

“To Marco being wrong!” the entire room calls back.

Marco jumps back down, Cassie and Jake catching him as he lands.

**********

After everyone but Menderash and Ax has finished eating, it’s Tom who becomes the next one to tink a fork against a glass for attention.

“In the spirit of full disclosure,” he tells the room, strolling slowly toward the head table.  “I promised my brother there wouldn’t be a horah.”  Tom stops, directly next to Cassie.  “But what he didn’t know is that I’d already made a promise to my new sister-in-law that there would be.  So what’s a guy to do?”

He snaps his fingers.

At this cue, several things happen at once.  The DJ switches to “Hava Nagila.”  Several people mob Jake at once.  Tom grabs Cassie and lifts her bodily over his head, carrying her chair and all to the middle of the dance floor.

With a squeak of laughter, Cassie grabs the top of Tom’s head for balance.  Jake is being hauled out next to her on a chair of his own, supported by Tobias and Menderash and Rachel and James.  Marco and Ax are herding the rest of the gathering, shoving people into a circle and linking arms together as they go.

“I hate you!” Jake calls over the sound of the music and his own fit of giggles.

“Gotta keep the in-laws happy!” Tom yells back, unrepentant.

*********

“You sure you’ve got everything you need?” Rachel asks.

Cheyenne, the head caterer, gives her a double thumbs-up.  The staff are tipped and most are ready to go, having divvied up the several extra schaeffers’ worth of falafel and butternut squash puree and other entrees that Rachel’d set aside for them.  Melissa is set to take over tending bar from here, as planned, and she’s going to keep the groomsmen after for a few minutes for cleanup duty.

“Okay.”  Rachel glances around at where the last of the countertops are getting a quick once-over with disinfectant.  “Okay.  If anything comes up…”

“I have your number.”  Cheyenne smiles and nods.

Pushing back out of the room, Rachel heads for the gift table.  Everything looks like it’s in good order, but she wants to make sure it all gets packed up properly and that none of the cards get lost in the kerfuffle.  It’s mostly donation receipts, at Jake and Cassie’s request, but some of the traditionalists on both sides came with soup tureens or the like —

“Hey.”  Jake catches her by the arm.

Rachel turns to look at him.  “What’s wrong?  Is it the great-aunts?”

“Nothing’s wrong.  It’s all perfect.”  He’s smiling shyly.  “Thanks.”

“I need to check on the gifts,” Rachel says, because she’s a coward who doesn’t know how to do mushy conversations, especially not with Jake.

“The gifts are fine,” he says.  “It’s all fine.  Because you made it that way.  So… thanks.”

When he pulls her into a hug, Rachel can’t resist straightening his hair one last time even as she returns the embrace.  “You realize I do this for fun, right?” she asks, holding him at arm’s length and looking him in the eye.  “Like, I could’ve hired a wedding planner, but honestly why bother?”

He shrugs.  “Doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate everything.  All of it.  Without you, Cassie and I wouldn’t even…”

Then, because this is all getting too honest, Rachel links her arm through his and drags him onto the dance floor for, he’s about to realize, their middle school gym class’s favorite godawful square dance.

*********

When she has do-si-doed Jake within an inch of his life, Rachel tosses him at Cassie.  She pivots around and gives Tobias a flourishing courtesy; he returns it with an equally ridiculous bow.

“It is marvelous, how well they have adapted their balance to compensate for their lack of legs,” Menderash comments to Ax.

“Very true.”  Ax leans next to him against the bar.  They are currently sharing a delicious beverage Melissa has made for them, simply by unscrewing the lid from a nearly-empty jar of olives and handing over the remaining liquid.

It is true, some of the dancers are more talented than others.  Michelle and Walter are synchronized with each other and the beat of the music, even if their choice of moves is not nearly as audacious as the spinning thing Marco and Dakota are doing.  The bride and groom, meanwhile, are looking at their own feet and keep bumping into each other as they move.  Between their relative unconcern with anyone but each other and the broad hem of Cassie’s dress, the other couples are giving them a wide berth.

“Do you wish to attempt such feats?” Ax asks, glancing at Menderash.

Menderash gives a full-body shudder.  He flaps one hand in an andalite gesture that, if translated to English, would approximate fuck that.

Ax grins, drinking more olive juice.

“Have you done such a thing?” Menderash asks.

“Never for very long,” Ax says.

Jake and Cassie have given up on dancing entirely, descending into a giggle fit in the middle of the dance floor as they both attempt to disentangle Jake’s cuff link from the lace of Cassie’s hem.  Rachel swirls by, briefly blocking their view.  She’s switched partners.  Dakota is doing their best to teach Tobias how to waltz while Marco and Rachel are now swing-dancing their way across the dance floor.

As both andalites watch in awe, Rachel spins Marco in a circle, swinging him out and then drawing him back close to her body.  Marco pirouettes, throwing his head back so that his hair flares around his face, and then throws himself backwards.  Rachel catches him neatly around the waist, dipping him nearly to the floor.  Marco braces on her shoulders and she flings him upward with her whole body so that she actually lifts him off the floor for a second before gracefully sweeping him back down.  They separate until just the tips of their fingers are touching, and then spin back together until Marco suddenly swoops under Rachel’s arm, coming up on the far side as she pivots around in time fro him to fall back against her.

Ax is reminded of the way they fight.  There’s something almost joyful in their ferocity on the battlefield.  There’s something almost frightening in their enthusiasm on the dancefloor.  Neither of them seems to know how to do anything by half measure.

One by one the other clusters of dancers have stopped to watch as well.  Jake and Cassie, now sitting hopelessly tangled up in each other, seem quite happy to have the spotlight stolen.

Rachel swoops an arm around Marco’s waist and slides into a back-and-forth tango step.  Within two beats he’s caught on, falling into the same rhythm as her.  When the tempo of the song changes he grabs her shoulder and nudges her into a circular waltz.  They’re unrehearsed, and inexpert, but moving with such force and communicating so rapidly that it doesn’t really matter.

“Yes,” Menderash says softly, “I very much do not wish to attempt to dance.”

Ax smiles at him over the rim of the olive jar.  It’s empty, and in the time it takes him to set it back on the bar and catch her eye, Melissa has replaced it with maraschino cherry liquid.

The song crescendos; Marco leans his full weight back as Rachel flings him into a long spiraling turn that ends with him sliding on his knees clear between her legs, popping up behind her just in time to brace as she tips backward into him.  She spins once, twice, four times, then swings him into a dip so low that his hair brushes the floor.

As the song ends they freeze like that, chests heaving, hair damp with sweat.

They both seem to become aware at once that the whole room’s watching them.  Marco opens his mouth to say something, when Rachel’s smile turns wicked.  That’s the only warning he gets before she opens her arms and lets him drop.  Marco squawks indignantly, throwing out both elbows to catch himself.  He gets ahold of Rachel’s arm and tries to yank her down as well, but ends up pulling himself to his feet as well.

The whole room breaks out into clapping.  Marco sweeps into a low bow.  Rachel visibly considers pushing him over again before deciding against it.  Instead she runs to try and rescue Cassie’s hand-sewn lace hem and Jake’s antique silver cufflinks from their respective owners’ incompetence.

*********

“Hey Tobias?” Rachel says around a yawn.

«Uh-huh?»

Idly they watch as Tom waltzes Cassie’s grandmother around the dance floor.  She’s 4’11” to his 6’4”, so it’s pretty hilarious to witness.  But at least they’re not totally mismatched: each has a single sprig of valerian from Cassie’s bouquet tucked behind one ear.

She and Tobias are sitting on the ground at one corner of the dance floor.  Rachel’s got her shoes off to massage her aching ankles, and Tobias is perched back on her shoulder.  With clever motions of his beak he’s fishing the pins out of her hair one by one, dropping them into her hand as he slowly disassembles her updo.

“How do you feel about never, ever getting married?” Rachel asks.

Tobias drops another bobby pin into her hand.  «Best idea you’ve had all year.»

[purrincess-chat]

Rejected Heroes Club CH2 (Adrinette Zine)

I got kinda busy yesterday, and I was out of town, so here is chapter 2 of my @adrienettezine fic. If you’re impatient, you can read the entire work right now in the full zine as well as a ton of other really awesome fics ;) Chapter 3 will be posted this Wednesday. 

Read on AO3

Chapter 2

A breath passed Marinette’s lips as the last picture from her wall landed in a bright pink box. She trailed her fingers along the rim, staring down at the pile of photos smiling back at her. Adrien was coming over to be measured for his hero costume, and even though he knew she kept them up, something about having him around all of them made her nervous. 

She closed the lid on the box and moved it to the chest beside her chaise-lounge, stacking it neatly atop several others just like it, and found herself reaching for the Miracle Box. It felt different. Foreign. Wrong. Wayzz and Tikki assured her that Master Fu had always intended to make her the next guardian, but she never imagined the price that came with it. 

“Marinette! You have a visitor,” her mom called up the stairs, and Marinette tucked the box back into its hiding place and shut the lid. 

Her allies might have been taken from her, but she could still be a guardian to them through this club. She could still give them hope. After everything that happened, she was in need of some herself.

Grabbing her sketchbook and a tape measure, she braced herself as the wooden stairs creaked until blond hair popped through her trapdoor. His face lit up when he saw her, and she willed her heart into slowing its pace to no avail. 

“Doesn’t your dad have your measurements already? Couldn’t you have just sent them to me?” She asked, and Adrien averted his gaze with a smirk.

“Well, yeah, but this gives me an excuse to get out of the house for a bit,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Besides, I wanted to hang with my new partner for a while.”

She didn’t even try to stop the butterflies in her stomach that time. Why did he have to be so perfect? 

“I guess I can show you what I designed for you,” she said. “I’ve never seen your costume before, so I drew up a few designs. If you don’t like any of them, we could try to work up one that’s close to what your actual costume looked like.”

Adrien looked over her shoulder, standing closer than necessary as she flipped through the pages. His arm brushed hers as he moved to get a better look, green eyes devouring every pencil stroke. Marinette did her best to keep her breaths even, resisting the urge to reach out and trail her fingers through his silky hair.

“These look awesome! They’re way cooler than what I had. Now I kinda feel lame,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. 

“No, no! I’m sure your costume was cute. I mean- I’m sure it was fine,” she said, and he trained those gorgeous eyes on her.

“Thanks,” he said. He sat on her chaise, his countenance deflating. “My costume was probably the only good thing about my time as a hero. I wasn’t exactly successful, so Ladybug ended up picking Luka instead. I feel like I really let her down.”

“I’m sure Ladybug appreciated your help. She wouldn’t have picked you if she didn’t believe in you.” Marinette sat beside him. 

“I guess. I feel like such a failure,” he sighed. “I don’t even deserve to be in this club.”

“No, no!” She waved her hands frantically. “I-I think you do. Maybe this can be your second chance to show the world that you can be a hero too.”

His face softened at that, “Thanks, Marinette. I guess I just really want to do a good job.”

“That already makes you a hero, Adrien.” She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Having superpowers and a mask aren’t what makes someone a hero. Doing the right thing and trying your hardest to help are, and I’m sure Ladybug understands that.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, shifting his gaze to his feet. “I know you’d probably rather have Luka as your partner, but I hope you’ll settle for me.”

“No! I’m happy that you and I were paired up. Now we can spend more time together,” Marinette said then quickly added, “-helping others! I mean. We can spend time together helping others.”

“Thanks, Marinette,” he said, pulling her in for a hug. “I’m glad we’re friends, and I think Alya was right to pair us up. I really needed to hear that.”

“No biggie,” Marinette said, cheeks hot. “Now, about those measurements.”

***

“The costumes you made turned out really awesome, Marinette,” Adrien said, examining the detail work on his new suit a few days later as his bodyguard drove them home. “Those kids at the library really thought we were superheroes.”

As cute as Aspik’s original suit was, Marinette wasn’t technically supposed to know what it looked like, and once she started designing new versions, she couldn’t stop. Adrien was just too handsome for words, and her brain was running wild with possibilities. Should she use this time to try to get closer to him? What if he didn’t like her? Why did he look so gorgeous in a green mask?

“I’m glad you like it. I was nervous when I designed them because I’ve never seen your suit, but I think it turned out okay,” she said, trailing her fingers along the stitching in the shoulders as an excuse to touch him. 

“You’re really talented, Marinette, or should I say, Multimouse?” He said with a wink. “By the way, you look really cute with your hair up. You should wear it like that more often.”

“Y-You think?” 

“Of course. I think it’s pretty.”

“Not as pretty as you,” she said with a dreamy sigh before snapping herself back down to earth. “I mean, uh, you’re so handsome- I’m just me, and you’re you, and-”

Adrien chuckled at her blundering, seemingly unbothered by the sentiment. The fact that he’d gotten used to her stammering should have been incredibly embarrassing, but somehow it gave her comfort.

“This club was a really good idea. Having heroes to look up to meant a lot to those kids we read to today,” Adrien said. “And I think it means a lot to Alya and the others too.”

“Well, after their identities were exposed, they all seemed so sad, and I was hoping that they’d realize that just because they’ll never get their Miraculouses back, that doesn’t mean they aren’t still heroes,” Marinette said. 

“You did all this just so your friends wouldn’t be sad?” Adrien asked, tilting his head to the side then shaking it. “You really care about everyone. If any of us deserves to be a hero, it’s you.”

“I-I dunno, I just want to help my friends, that’s all. I’m no Ladybug,” she said, waving it away.

“I think you could be Ladybug,” he said, and Marinette held her breath. “I mean Ladybug is smart and kind and always thinking of others. You two are a lot alike—always trying to solve everyone’s problems. I know I’ve said it before, but you really are our everyday Ladybug.”

Marinette relaxed, a smile curling on her lips. “I just always lookout for my friends and the people important to me, and if I can do anything for them, I try my best,” she said with a shrug. “If I can be a hero for them then…that’s enough for me.”

Adrien’s bodyguard slowed to a stop in front of the bakery, and Marinette reached for the door.

“Today was really fun. I think Aspik and Multimouse make a pretty good team,” she said, holding out her fist. 

“Definitely,” Adrien agreed, touching his fist to hers. 

“See you tomorrow at school,” she said, and Adrien nodded.

“Yeah, see you tomorrow…”

[saedii-gilwraeth-simp]

Family - TDC Post-Canon series 1

Ok so this originally was a post canon one-shot but then I really liked the idea so I’m going to do more of these focussing on Arsinoe from TDC to old age likely and all of the things that entails. 

Also, I couldn’t let go of the idea that Billy has more siblings, so I made them! Enjoy!

And then he leans close and kisses her tenderly, as the rooster clucks happily between them (fdf).

Arsinoe feels warmth flood through her, from the roots of her hair to the tips of her toes as Billy’s gentle but firm hands hold her close at the waist. She missed him, missed him like he was a part of her that she lost. In a way, she guesses, he is. Finally they hear a throat clear behind them and she wants to scowl at Jules. She pulls away to glare at her friend only to realise it was actually a passing lady in a ghastly dress who obviously didn’t approve of her and the man she loves kissing on the street. She sticks her tongue out and the woman looks even more scandalised. Billy chuckles and buries his smiling face in the hair sitting against her collar, his hand fisting in her vest.

“We should probably go inside before those pants give someone a heart attack,” Billy says and takes her hand, leading her up the path. Right before they get to the door, he pauses and finally seems to remember that she still has a chicken in her vest. He gestures with his hand and she passes him the chicken. He darts around the side of the house and after a minute, he’s back empty-handed. She tilts her head slightly and he shrugs.

“There may be a semi-chicken coop in the backyard,” Arsinoe smiles and ignores the way Jules mouths ‘semi?’ to no one in particular as they finally make it in the door, where the sounds of ladies conversation drifts from the main room. But Arsinoe doesn’t tense up like she used to. She’d been to war now, which means the thought of society ladies was only slightly less daunting. Only by a little bit. Billy looks horrified though and pauses just inside the door.

“I just remembered that my mother has been ambushing me with ladies with the hopes of marrying me off,” he pressed a kiss to her hair. “Thank God you’re here again to save me,” Arsinoe squeezed his hand before holding an arm out, gesturing for him to lead them into the room. 

Ruth Chatworth looks exactly like Arsinoe remembered, obviously not a fan of change, but Arsinoe had to admit she now understood why the woman never wore black. It definitely did not suit her pale complexion. However, her calm smile and light shoulders gave away no mourning, like she actually only wore black and closed the windows for show. Arsinoe likes her a hell of a lot more for it.

Christine Hollen sits on the loveseat facing away from the doorway but turns when Ruth sees Arsinoe and stops speaking mid sentence. Christine seems just as surprised as Ruth does.

“Hello Arsinoe,” Ruth says, standing and approaching her, obviously appraising her pants, vest and longer hair. She then seems to spot Jules behind Arsinoe and seems affronted at the clothes and the cougar at her side. “Who is your friend and why is there a large animal in my house?” Arsinoe almost wants to laugh.

“Hi Ruth. This is my best friend and the Queen Crowned of Fennbirn, Jules Milone. The big cat is Camden, her familiar,” Ruth pursed her lips at Camden but seemed unwilling to enter into a debate about it. Arsinoe sidled past her and sat down next to Christine with a smile. The Governor’s daughter looked lovely (as usual) in a sky blue dress, her blonde curls tied back in an elegant chignon. “How are you, Christine?” She looks affronted but quickly catches herself.

“I’m well, Arsinoe. Are you going to be sticking around this time?” She says, sipping her tea demurely. Arsinoe smiles gently and leans over to make her own tea. 

“I will actually Christine. My business on Fennbirn is over and I have no interest to go back,” she said, picking up a sugar cube. Christine hummed.

“And your sister?” Arsinoe’s hand froze halfway to her cup before pursing her lips and considering. She didn’t have to be a member of polite society to know that telling Christine how Mirabella died was too heavy for afternoon tea. It was too heavy for any time of day really, but sunny afternoon tea especially.

“She died in the war,” Arsinoe settled on, finally dropping the sugar cube into her teacup. Christine went quiet for a beat.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Arsinoe. I know you and her loved each other immensely” the socialite says gently and Arsinoe nods in recognition, taking a sip of her tea.

“Thank you, Christine,” the conversation was interrupted by Billy, Jules, Jane and Ruth coming to sit with them. Billy sat right next to her and put a hand on her knee, a movement not missed by Christine, but she didn’t comment

“So, Arsinoe, what business bought you back to New Estra?” Ruth said and Arsinoe knew exactly what she meant by that. 

Arsinoe sipped her tea and sighed. 

“Well, Ruth…”

~ 6 Months ~

Arsinoe didn’t have a whole lot of experience with children. She liked children and was pretty sure that they didn’t outright hate her back, but she had never really spent extended periods of time around them, Finn excluded. Which is why she was viscerally surprised to wake up to one crawling over her.

“Uncle Billy, don’t you know girls have cooties?” The child said and Arsinoe turned, slightly offended and ready to assert, rather childishly she must admit, that she did not, in fact, have “cooties.” The red-headed child (that she only recognised from photos on the mantle in Ruth’s drawing room) wasn’t paying attention to her though, instead waiting for an answer from Billy, who was groaning.

“John, she doesn’t have cooties. What are doing in here?” Billy says, sitting up so that he was at eye-level with the child.

“Mumma told me to come get you up. She wants to meet Ar-“ he seems to stumble over her name and instead points to her.

“Arsinoe,” Billy and Arsinoe say at the same time and John nods before climbing over Arsinoe, his knee going straight in her gut, and jumping down. 

“Sorry,” John says.

“All good, kid,” she says, waving him off and he runs back out again. Arsinoe turns to Billy, confused. “Who exactly was that?” Billy kisses her cheek to say good morning before leaning his forehead against her shoulder.

“My nephew,” he says and she raises an eyebrow, “my oldest sister’s kid. She lives in Bevellet and John wasn’t a great traveller when he was younger so I don’t get to see her very often. But if Viv’s here then so is Henri and her husband so be prepared,” Arsinoe clicks her tongue in acknowledgement and rolls out of bed. From her side of the wardrobe she pulls a pretty forest green jumpsuit (something she had designed and sewed herself, much to Ruth’s shock and vague horror) and the ribbon that went with it to go in her hair before going into the ensuite to change.

When she comes out, Billy is buttoning his shirt up and Arsinoe grabs a necktie. She wraps it around his collar and uses it to pull him in for a quick kiss. 

“Compared to your mother, how scared should I be of your sisters?” Billy smiles.

“You’ll be fine,” he says, taking the tie from her hands and tying it before offering his hand and leading her out the door.

The kitchen was loud when they got downstairs and the sound only escalates when the people in the room notice the pair. Billy lets go of his hand to go hug two women who she gathers must be his older sisters and two men approach her, smiling.

“And you must be the newest addition to the family,” one of them says. He’s just taller than her (though that was saying a lot) and broad in the shoulders, with red hair and a truly impressive moustache. He’d be intimidating if he didn’t have such clear laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. “I’m John Moore Sr, Viv’s husband, and this is Edward Allen, Henrietta’s husband,” Edward was shorter than both of the two and lanky, with clear blue eyes and brown-gold hair. He seemed quieter than his brother-in-law but his presence wasn’t uncomfortable by any means. She stuck out her hand to them and shook with a smile.

“Arsinoe Queen, it’s a pleasure to meet you gentleman. I believe I met your son already John. He’s lovely, even if he may have bruised my ribs,” she says with a smile and John tilts his head.

“I’ll make sure he apologises for that, miss Queen, we wouldn’t want to scare off the only woman willing to keep Chatworth, after all,” Arsinoe’s eyebrows raised in surprise before she chuckled.

“Eh, he’s not so bad,” she says, making John laugh and turn to the rest of the group. 

“Chatworth, look after this one, she’s a gem,” he calls and Billy smiles and winks at Arsinoe before both have their attentions drawn by a kind feminine voice sitting at the table.

“Well, don’t keep her sequestered, let us meet her,” John nodded and gestured for Arsinoe to move past the two men, where she finally got a glimpse at the two people she hadn’t yet met. Both were women in their twenties who shared Billy’s warm features and she smiled at them, sitting on the chair Jane had vacated.

“Hi Arsinoe,” one of them said, taking her hand to shake. “I’m Henrietta, but most people just call me Henri or Hen,” she smiled with a grin she recognised on Billy’s face and she can’t help but smile back, matching her energy. 

“Hen, don’t try anything until she’s met all of us,” the woman sitting next to them says and Arsinoe turns to meet her. She leans forward to shake but is hindered but a very pregnant stomach. Arsinoe leans forward to meet her in the middle. “ I’m Viviana, Viv if you will. I think you met my son in the last half hour. Ignore any schemes himself or my sister try to drag you into,” Arsinoe laughs slightly.

“I only involve myself in schemes when I can’t be caught, don’t worry,” she hears Billy snort from behind her, “Billy may attest differently but ignore that,” Viviana smiles and pats her hands, letting them go in favour of continuing to eat her breakfast.

~ 3 years ~

“Welcome to this month’s meeting of The Chatworth Spouse Club,” John says, smiling as they clink their beer glasses together. Edward smiles.

“This month we finally can officially add a new member to the Club,” he says, turning to Arsinoe, who was tapping her new wedding band on her glass. “Welcome Arisnoe, to the best kept secret in the family,” he said, loud pride in his usually subdued voice.

“Thanks gents. Is this Club only for official spouses or will we be inviting Penworth into the fold soon,” she smiled with joy as they scoffed in unison.

“He wouldn’t be invited even if Jane was unfortunate enough to marry that wet sock,” John said, making his companions cough but not disagree. “Let’s just admit now that Penworth would spoil our nights away from spouses and children by being his usual self,” Arsinoe tilts her head in agreement. 

“I’m surprised how happy you are at the thought of being away from home, John,” Arsinoe says, sipping her drink.

“Oh no home is great,” Joh says with his usual wide smile, “It’s just with the new baby on the way and three already… well, here, it’s nice to talk to adults every now and then. Edward would agree, right, Ed?” John says and Edward nods.

“Yeah, Henri and the twins are handfuls all the time so breaks are important. But also I can’t wait to be home with them whenever I leave. Why didn’t either of you warn me how much you miss your kids when you’re away,” he sighs lovingly and Arsinoe raises her hands. 

“Don’t look at me, I don’t have children to speak on. Blame John,” Edward smiles at her before turning his smart eyes on John.

“When are you gonna get to doing that by the way, missy?” John deflects back to her and she shrugs with a smile.

“It’ll happen when it happens and besides, I’m never gonna complain that I don’t enjoy just Billy and me. Not that we haven’t had fun trying,” she admits with a small blush and John whistles with a laugh.

“Well, drink up folks so I can kick your asses at darts,” he says and Arsinoe drinks her beer, trying not to laugh. Neither of them had ever beaten Edward at darts. They probably never would if they were being honest with themselves, but she still had a blast trying.

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT TO SEE MORE OF THESE/SEE SOMETHING SPECIFIC/BE TAGGED TAG LIST: @poisonerrose @alwaysbored005

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating: T

Summary: The beret smelled like Ladybug. It was only natural that Adrien would wear it to school.  He didn't know why Marinette would look so terrified to see it.(Post-Chat Blanc identity reveal)

Word Count: 5053

Notes:  Requested by my good pal @mozzys-studio​!  (I”m no longer taking requests but this is for the episode-divergent reveal fic asks)

XXX

“Did you know I have a fan club in Brazil, Plagg?”  Adrien asked as he examined the beret Ladybug had dropped off.

“Like I keep track of all the girls who want to gobble you up like a piece of cheese.”  Plagg snorted and lounged on the now-empty windowsill.  It was tempting to run to the window, try to follow his partner’s path home with his eyes.  But he knew better than to breach her trust like that.

“It’s not like that, Plagg.  I’m sure they’re just into fashion, like Marinette.”

Though… the hearts embroidered on it were a little much.  It was too bad the gift wasn’t actually from Ladybug, like he’d first guessed when he’d caught her in his room. 

“I wonder how they got it to her and not me,” he thought out loud.  “Some fans in Brazil wouldn’t know her identity, would they?  That’s on the whole other side of the world.”

“Of course they wouldn’t.  You’re her partner, you know she’s not that careless.”

Adrien didn’t like Plagg’s tone.  Ladybug wasn’t careless at all.  Of course no one knew her identity, or she’d have to give up her miraculous.

Though Master Fu would have to go through him before he ever let that happen.

“You’re right.”  Adrien sighed and flopped back on the bed, still running his fingers over the beret.  The fabric was silky soft, obviously high quality.  “I still wonder how they got this to her.  Even I don’t know how to contact Ladybug unless I’m transformed.”

Plagg shrugged.  “Maybe they sent it to the mayor or the Eiffel Tower or something.  Who cares?  It’s a dumb looking hat anyway.”

“It’s not dumb.”  He held it closer to his chest and caught a whiff of Ladybug’s scent.  Sugar and cinnamon mixed with some kind of flowery perfume.  He’d wear it for weeks just to cling to that scrap of her.

Of course, the smell of camembert would probably overpower it before too long.  Why hadn’t the same company that made “Adrien the Fragrance” bottled Ladybug’s heavenly aroma yet?

He was lost in daydreams of Ladybug modelling for a perfume ad for a few minutes before the itching mystery of the Brazillian fan club intruded again.  Maybe if he looked them up online, he could ask someone how they’d gotten ahold of her in the first place.

Or I could just ask her, the more rational part of his mind said.  But Adrien didn’t have any reason to get close to her, and Chat wouldn’t have any reason to know about her delivery.

Which begged the question… why did Ladybug agree to deliver the present in the first place?  She said there was a postal strike in Brazil, but unless she’d used the horse miraculous, the package had at least gotten to Paris.

“None of this makes any sense.”  His brow furrowed as he picked up the blank card that had come along with the package.  The Brazillians hadn’t even left him a note.

He squinted.  Or maybe they had—it looked like something had been erased from the bottom left corner.

“Hey Plagg, can you make this out?”  He asked.  

The kwami had been oddly quiet. Normally he liked to flip through a magazine or play foosball after a day of being squashed inside Adrien’s fencing gear.

“Huh?  What?  That little smudged spot?”  Plagg waved a paw dismissively. “Nah.  Probably just a stamp that ripped off, or something.  Who cares?  They should’ve sent you cheese instead, anyway.”

“It’s definitely not a stamp.  There’s eraser marks, see?”  Adrien sat up, crossing his legs on the bed.  As he held the paper up to the light, he could almost make out the left over indentations of the word that had been erased.

“I wouldn’t look at that too closely if I were you.  If she got rid of what she wrote, it’s for a good reason, right?”

Adrien’s head snapped up.  “Wait—she?”

Plagg froze, looking guiltier than the time Adrien had caught him sneaking an extra wheel of camembert after dinner.  

“Uh, did I say she?  I mean they!  The fan club, remember?  I bet it’s a lot of shes though.  Or guys maybe, it doesn’t matter to me.”

“No, you said she!”  Adrien scrambled on his knees, rumpling the carefully made comforter.  The beret reamined clutched in his right hand as he came face to face with where Plagg was laying.  “Plagg—did Ladybug actually get this for me?”

“No!  Of course not!  Why would she do that?”  Plagg laughed.  “Come on, kid, you’re just saying that because you wish she would give you a present.”

Adrien’s face fell.  Was he reading too much into it?  After all, Ladybug herself had said the beret was from Brazil.  Why would she lie to him?

“...Maybe you’re right.”  

But he still took another deep whiff from the beret.  She must have held onto it for a while at least.  Would it be so bad to imagine it was hers?  The stitching even looked like it was from a home sewing machine, not a factory.  A few little threads hung off from the underside, just imperfect enough to feel handmade.  And the pattern matched his favorite shirt, the one he was only allowed to wear to school or for stock photo shoots.  His fans wouldn’t have known that if they were focused on his father’s fashion, right?

Getting your hopes up again, he thought with another wistful sigh.

Oh well.  Regardless of the beret’s origin, Ladybug had come to see him.  That was more than enough to cheer him up from the disappointment of Father missing his fencing tournament.

He smiled up at the ceiling.  

“She really is simply the best.”

XXX

At school the next day, he guessed someone might comment on his beret.  Maybe Nino would appreciate having a hat buddy. Maybe Chloe would say that he’d finally learned how to accessorize.  Maybe Marinette would have something to compliment about the design.

What he did not expect was for all of the girls chatting on the steps to look at him like they’d seen a ghost.  And then for each and every single one of them to hone in on Marinette.

“Girl!  I thought you said you didn’t give it to him!” Alya whispered.

“W-well…” Marinette tapped her index fingers together.  What she said after that was too quiet for him to make out, but it had all of the girls looking at each other in confusion.  Rose squealed in excitement.  Alix groaned before shoving a stuffed unicorn at her.

“What’s going on?” He asked Marinette as he approached the group. 

She jumped higher than the time he’d accidentally startled her in the locker room

“Nothing!”  She waved her hands frantically.

Alya’s jaw dropped.  “Girl!  Tell me this isn’t a repeat of the scarf incident!”

Marinette’s panicked eyes flickered between the girls’ gazes, and Adrien wondered if he’d walked in on something secret.  But he was too curious to leave.  And besides, if Marinette was having any trouble, he hoped he could help.

“What scarf?”  His head tilted.  

“Also nothing,” she said with a glare at Alya before forcing a too-wide smile.  “I-I mean, it’s ages ago, it doesn’t matter now!”

“Oh… okay.”  

Concerned though he was, he didn’t want to push her boundaries.  He was about to say that he’d see her in class and that she could always talk to him if she wanted to, but before he could, Juleka spoke up.

“So you like the hat?”  Her bangs swung in front of her eye as she nodded towards his beret.

“Huh?  You know about it?”  Had she possibly seen Ladybug on her way to deliver it?  No, it had been wrapped at the time.

“Of course we do!” Alya grinned as Marinette made slicing motions in front of her throat.  

“Alya,” she hissed under her breath.

“Come on girl, you’re so close!  He obviously likes it!”  Alya whispered back.

Adrien’s brow furrowed.  He was mostly wearing the hat because it still smelled like Ladybug, but they didn’t need to know that.

Alix sighed wearily.  “She didn’t tell you, did she?”

“It was Marinette who made—” Rose began before she cut her off.

“Don’t you dare!” 

If her words were directed at Rose, why was Marinette looking at him with such wide eyed terror?  Did he do something wrong again without realizing, like he had at the wax museum?  Or was his new beret really that ugly?

“I’m sorry.”  He reached towards her vaguely before letting his arm fall back at his side.  If only he knew what he was doing wrong!  He would do anything to make Marinette feel comfortable again.

“We’re just trying to help,” Mylene said softly.

“W-well you’re not!”  She spun and shouted back.  The girls jumped—understandably; Adrien had never heard her snap like that at anyone but Lila, who wasn’t even here right now.  “Just—leave me alone!”

“What?  Marinette!”  Alya called after her, but she was already running away from the school, down the street.

Adrien would’ve preferred to get context from the girls first, but there wasn’t time.  His feet pounded against the pavement as he chased after his friend.

“This is a bad idea,” Plagg hissed from his shirt pocket.  “You just made things worse last time, remember?”

Like he could forget the time she almost kissed him while he was pretending to be a statue.  It still didn’t all make sense to him, but he supposed he deserved it after tricking her like that.

“I have to try.  She could be akumatized if we leave her now.”

Marinette had never been akumatized before, and he wanted to keep it that way.  He wasn’t sure he’d be much help to Ladybug if he was forced to fight her.

Don’t think about that.  She’s going to be fine, he told himself as he rounded a corner and found her pacing frantically at the end of an alley—

And a violet butterfly fluttering straight towards her.

“Marinette!”

He sprinted with all the strength his superpowerless legs could give him.  His transformation phrase caught in his throat, torn between protect Marinette and your identity must remain secret.  He doubted he could regret calling a Cataclysm to turn the insect to dust.  Because even if it meant revealing himself, this was Marinette and he couldn’t let Hawkmoth steal the light behind her blue eyes, watch her become a puppet to his demands and her own twisted emotions— 

But he didn’t decide quickly enough.  When he was three steps from her, the butterfly dissolved into one of her red hair ties.  A translucent purple mask flashed over her wet eyes.

“No,” he breathed.  

This couldn’t be happening.  The moment felt surreal, despite the number of his classmates who had already been akumatized.  And Marinette had always been different from his other friends, even if he couldn’t admit it until he was watching her like this, pulling at her hair, at her ears—

Wait, her ears?

“Adrien,” she gasped, her voice cracking under the pressure of resisting Hawkmoth.  

The bubbling darkness hadn’t washed over her yet.  She might still have a chance.  He wasn’t sure if anyone had ever fought off the supervillain’s influence before, but if anyone could, it was her.

“Marinette, look at me.”  He took her hands, guiding them away from where they clawed at her earlobes.  “It’s going to be okay. Whatever you’re afraid of, whatever Hawkmoth’s telling you he can fix—I promise you, we can do it together.  Without him.”

Her eyes glazed over.  He might not have much time.

But at least he had one advantage.

One hand squeezed both of hers while his other reached up to carefully unwind the tainted hair tie from around her pigtail.  It crumpled beneath his fingers, releasing half of her hair to cascade down her neck—and releasing the dark butterfly back into the air.  

“Oh no you don’t,” he growled and scooped it into his satchel, careful to tug the zipper completely shut.

“Adrien, no!  You’ll be—”

He smiled at her once his prize was caught fluttering helplessly alongside his notebooks. 

“—akumatized,” she finished, eyes wide.

A blush stained his face as he flung his satchel away.  She was right.  He’d been touching the bag.  If his own negative emotions had been strong enough, he might have become an akuma himself.  He couldn’t imagine how awful that would be—for Ladybug as much as himself.

“Sorry.  I didn’t mean to be careless.  I just saw you about to be akumatized, and I…”

I didn’t know if I could bring myself to fight you.  But he couldn’t tell her that.  He scratched the back of his neck.

“You saved me.”  She wiped away tears with the back of her hand.  “Oh my gosh, I was almost…”

She shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself.  Adrien wished those were his arms enveloping her instead, but didn’t know if that would make things worse.  She had asked to be left alone, and he still had no idea what had prompted her panic in the first place.

“Do you want to talk about it?”  He asked gently.  “I know you wouldn’t be this upset if it wasn’t important.”

She bit her lip, eyes flickering to his hat, then to the satchel that still bulged occasionally as the butterfly tried to escape.  Now more than ever he wished he knew how to call Ladybug. Maybe he should’ve done some research on his Brazillian fan club after all.

Though, now that he considered Marinette and the girls’ reactions this morning, as well as Plagg’s slip yesterday afternoon, he was less sure that a potentially-hypothetical fan club could help.

“I can’t.”  She shook her head, and she seemed to wilt.

“It wasn’t… something I did, was it?  Because you can talk to Alya, or anyone else, it doesn’t have to be me.  I just want you to be okay.”  He stepped closer, reaching out to wipe a stream of tears from the soft curve of her cheek.  

She stiffened at the contact.  Right. They weren’t close enough for that either, no matter how much he wanted to be.

(Or how much they might secretly be, if his too-hopeful theory was true.)

“N-no, Adrien, it’s not you at all.  I messed up.”  She squeezed her eyes shut.  “I messed up so, so bad, and now my best friend is going to pay the price for it.”

“Alya?”  He frowned.  

“No.”  She almost-laughed and looked up towards the rooftops.  “I really thought you’d figured it out.  Maybe I’m not too late after all.”

She seemed to be talking to herself more than him.  But by now, he was fairly confident he knew at least part of what she meant.

“You made this beret,” he realized, slipping it off his head and holding it close.  “Was that what you were worried about me finding out?”

The color drained from her face.  

“Would you believe I was commissioned by your fan club in Brazil?”

Ladybug was the only one who knew it was the Brazilian fans who sent it to him.  And she’d mentioned a postal strike there, which meant Marinette couldn’t have made it, unless— 

Visions of his partner and his friend blurred together in his memories.  Marinette dressed as Ladybug for Clara Nightingale’s music video.  Ladybug asking him to team up with Marinette against the Evillustrator.  She may have been able to fool him as Multimouse, but his gut feeling made too much sense to ignore again.

“You’re Ladybug,” he blurted before any better judgement (or the pain of Plagg smacking him under his shirt) could kick in.

“Shhhh!  No one can know!”  

She practically tackled him against the alley wall as her hands slammed over his mouth.  He almost dropped his hat, which didn’t seem as important now that her cinnamon-sugar scent was surrounding him anyway.  He just wished it was because she was hugging him, and not because she was terrified of him knowing her identity.  

The butterfly beat even more forcefully against the cage of his satchel, a reminder of just how important it was that her secret stay secret.  If Hawkmoth found out… he didn’t even want to imagine what could happen.

But she hadn’t tried to lie to him this time.  She was Ladybug—Marinette was Ladybug!  And she’d given him the beret—no, she’d made him the beret, which meant his wishful thinking was actually right, which meant—

The embroidered hearts on his beret suddenly didn’t seem too much anymore.

“Do you—do you like me?”

Even muffled by her hands against his mouth, his voice betrayed too much of his swelling hope.  She’d chosen Adrien to work with against Desperada.  Even if he’d been the wrong pick in the end, that counted for something, right?

“W-what? I—what makes you think I—?”  She stammered before finally hanging her head and releasing him.  “Yeah.  I wanted to give you that beret to finally confess to you, but then Nathalie wouldn’t let me in your house, and so I snuck in as Ladybug even though Tikki warned me not to, and then you found out and I got Chat Noir akumatized and I thought I fixed it when I erased my name but apparently I didn’t and now I have to give up my miraculous or else everyone will find out I’m Ladybug—”

“Maybe you shouldn’t shout I’m Ladybug,” a higher-pitched voice from her bag suggested, and she froze.

“Right. Right.”  She leaned against the wall and took a few deep breaths.  

Adrien began rubbing soothing circles on her back—something he’d occasionally do as Chat when Ladybug was stressed.  She relaxed into his touch instead of stiffening this time, probably an instinctive reaction.

Because she was Ladybug.  Marinette was Ladybug. And she’d tried to confess her feelings to him.

He should probably tell her he liked her back, right?  Or would she only feel more stressed by that?  She didn’t seem happy that he’d found out— though that probably had something to do with Chat Noir getting akumatized.

“I can’t let Hawkmoth sense my emotions again,” she said while he was still trying to process everything. “I’m lucky that he didn’t seem to understand most of them.  He knew I was upset because I’d caused a friend to get akumatized, but since almost our whole class has been, that didn’t give him any clues to my identity.  Not that it matters, because I… I can’t be Ladybug anymore anyway.”

Her breath came in short hiccups as tears once again leaked down her face.  

“My la… Marinette,” he corrected himself as he gently turned her to face him.  “You’re an amazing Ladybug.  No one else could do what you do.  Believe me, I’ve—” I’ve tried, he stopped himself from saying.  He caught Tikki’s knowing grin from her spot in Marinette’s purse.  “Anyway.  I won’t let anyone take your miraculous, and I won’t tell anyone your identity, I swear.”

He’d guarded his own secret for this long; he was sure he could do the same for Marinette.  

“And I—and Chat Noir’s never been akumatized.”  Unless he’d forgotten, like during Oblivio or Dark Cupid… but he couldn’t completely forget the fact that he’d been akumatized, right?  He would have at least seen it on the Ladyblog.

“Not yet.” She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “It’s complicated.  Bunnyx—she’s the hero with the miraculous of time—took me to the future, only everything was wrong, and—it’s complicated,” she repeated with a sigh.

Everything about today was complicated.  All because he’d decided to wear the hat that smelled like her.

“If it’s really a big deal, can’t she fix it again?  Or couldn’t she just… I don’t know, have stopped you from giving me this beret in the first place?”  

He clutched the gift tighter.  He didn’t want the proof of her feelings ripped from him, but what else could he do?  She didn’t want him to know.  He’d always meant to respect her privacy.  If he’d been thinking straighter, maybe he would’ve played dumb.  Then she wouldn’t have to panic, and they could be together, and she could come to his photoshoots and he could model her designs and they could adopt a hamster— 

But if what she was saying was true, then the problem was that he knew, not anyone else.

“I guess…” she mumbled, frowning at the beret in his hand.  “But what if she can’t fix it?  If you know, and it gets out, and my partner gets akumatized… I could never forgive myself.  I may be in love with you, but he means the world to me.  I was selfish to still give you that hat when I knew what could happen.”

His heart could’ve stopped right then. She was in love with him! He wanted to spin her in his arms, but he settled for squeezing her shoulder and giving his most comforting smile.

“You didn’t know I’d find out.  And really, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”  He laughed.  “How could Chat Noir ever be akumatized after learning that you’re in love with him?”

She looked up, brows furrowed in confusion.  “But I already told you I’m not—”

Her mouth made a tiny o as recognition flashed across her face.

“Y-you’re him.  You’re Chat Noir.” 

He gave a quick wink.  “The one and only, my Lady.”

Her forehead thumped against his chest, nearly startling him into tripping backwards.

“It’s you.  This whole time I’ve been so worried and it was you!  And I love you so much and—and this is terrible!”  

The butterfly started fitfully fluttering again at her wail.  It was a good thing Hawkmoth could only evilize one at once, or Adrien would worry about him sending another one after her.  He kept his eyes peeled just in case.

“What’s terrible?”  He asked while resuming rubbing her back.

“You—when you were akumatized—you said it was…” she choked back another sob.  “It was our love that did that.  I didn’t think it was possible, since I wasn’t in love with Chat, but… it all makes sense now.  Of course I loved you when we got hit by Oblivio, and in the alternate timeline.  It was always you.”

If Marinette kept saying she was in love with him, he was probably going to combust on the spot.  Which made it very hard to think clearly and come up with a solution that didn’t leave them as star-crossed lovers until Hawkmoth was defeated.

“And it was always you.”  He wrapped his arms around her, letting her cry into his shirt while he ran his fingers through the loose half of her hair.  “If akumatized-me said our love was what ruined everything, then it must have been the butterfly talking.  I would never let Hawkmoth use my love against you, Marinette.  I swear, I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.”

She pulled back just enough for him to see a smile beginning to form on her face.

“You already did, didn’t you?” She nodded at his satchel. “Speaking of which, I should probably finish taking care of that.  Tikki, spots on!”

It was one thing to know she was Ladybug, but another entirely to feel the pink crackle of her transformation tickle his skin, to see her mask sweep the tears from beneath her eyes.  It unfortunately reset her pigtails, keeping her soft hair from his reach.  

“Adrien, you have to let go of me for a second, at least,” she giggled when he stared at her dumbly.

“Oh.  Right.”  He snapped his arms to his sides, like a kid that had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar.  

Plagg snickered and flew out from the pocket of his shirt.  “Finally.  You were really squishing me there, Pigtails.”

“Good to see you too, Plagg.”  She chuckled as she unzipped the bag and quickly purified the akuma.  “Bye bye, little butterfly.”

“And good riddance.”  His kwami snorted. “Sorry about my kitten, by the way.  I tried to throw him off your tail before, but he’s too stubborn.  I think he was looking for any excuse for you to be Ladybug.”

“Why wouldn’t I?  Marinette is amazing.”  He hugged the beret over his heart.  “Besides, I was right!”

Her grin lit up the whole alleyway.  “You’re amazing too, Adrien.  Even more amazing than I realized.”

“You—you really think so?”  He was about two seconds away from actually swooning into her arms.

“Of course I do.”  Her eyes softened. “You’re the best partner anyone could ask for, Kitty.  I—I don’t know how I could ever give you up, knowing that you’re not just one but two of the most important people in my life.”

“Me either, Bugaboo.”  

He put his beret back on so both his hands were free to cup her face.  

“Spots off,” she whispered, and his thumbs brushed her cheeks without resistance.  She cupped one hand over his, tracing the circle of his ring in a soothing pattern.  

He could’ve stood there forever, just staring into her eyes, but he knew the conversation about their future couldn’t be put off for long.

“I don’t think Bunnyx is coming to stop us,” she said softly.

“Do you think…” He swallowed.  “Do you think that means we’re going to be okay?”

Her eyes flickered to where Tikki hovered, looking torn.

“I don’t know,” the kwami said.  “I do want you both to be careful, but Adrien is right.  You can’t stop being Ladybug, and he can’t stop being Chat Noir.  Your fight against Feast proved that.”

“And what about us being together?”  Adrien asked a little too eagerly.  Knowing that she loved him back was a dream come true, but it would easily turn to a nightmare if she expected him to act like nothing had changed.  Not that he ever hid his feelings for her, but he’d respected that she didn’t return them.

Except she did.  He was the boy she’d been in love with!

“Didn’t you hear her?  She said you said that your love destroyed the world!”  Plagg exclaimed.

“He wasn’t exactly himself!”  Tikki countered. “It’s impossible to tell what really happened in the future without Bunnyx coming back.  Which is why we need to be careful, but it’s not fair to ask them to just give up their feelings.”

Adrien didn’t particularly care what the kwamis thought.  As far as he was concerned, this was Marinette’s decision.  She was the one who had seen the future, or at least a version of it.

She was the one he loved.  Who he would do anything to protect… but what if that meant letting her go?  Was he selfless enough to do that?

He wasn’t sure.  But he owed it to her to try to be.  

His hands slipped from her face.  

“I’m sorry.  I’m not being fair to you.  You were almost akumatized because of this, and here I am just worried about if you’ll go out with me.”   

He’d said he’d always be there for her, that he’d never let Hawkmoth use him, but how could he promise that when she’d already watched it happen?

“Adrien, no.”  She squeezed his hand.  “It was my fear of the future that almost got me akumatized.  If we have to live like that… always afraid of our feelings for each other—we’re just asking Hawkmoth to come for us.”

“Then… you don’t think it’s too dangerous?”  

Fragile hope danced on the edge of his voice.  Maybe it wasn’t smart.  But the future wasn’t set in stone—the fact that Bunnyx had visited at all proved that.

“I think right now, it’s more dangerous for us not to rely on each other.”  She smiled, and his stomach fluttered with the good kind of butterflies, the ones that wouldn’t try to twist his emotions into weapons.

“It’s too late to put the cat back in the bag anyway,” Plagg sighed.

“It would’ve happened eventually.”  Tikki nodded.  “I wish it weren’t so soon, but we can still make this work if you both are extra careful.”

“We will be,” Adrien promised.  “I want to show you off to the whole world, but we could keep our love a secret instead, if it’s safer that way.”

“You think you’d show me off?  You know you’d be the trophy boyfriend in this relationship, Kitty.”  She giggled and flicked his nose, and heat spread through him.

“I can be your boyfriend?”

“My secret boyfriend.”  Her cheeks were pink too.  “I mean—I wish we didn’t have to, but you’re right.  It’s probably safer this way, so Hawkmoth doesn’t find out.”

“Secret boyfriend still has boyfriend in it.”  He grinned.  “So what are my rights as your secret boyfriend?  What kind of secret things do we get to do?”

He wiggled his eyebrows, making Marinette cough and sputter.

“A-Adrien!”

“I’m thinking secret cuddling, secret movie night, secretly adopting a hamster—okay, that one might be a little harder to pull off—”

Her laughter cut him off.  “Oh my gosh, you’re such a dork.”

“What?  Your dad said you wanted a hamster.  Is that too soon?  Should I have waited until the second secret date to suggest that?”

Her laughter turned to cackling, and he found himself laughing along with her.  They were partners; they were best friends.  She wasn’t going to secret-dump him just because he got a little overexcited about secret-dating her.

“Hmm…”  She tapped a finger to her lips.  “I think it should at least wait until after our first secret kiss.”

His brain officially fizzled out at the word kiss combined with the fact that he was already staring at her lips.  He licked his own, suddenly wishing he’d worn chapstick.

“Um.  So.  That secret kiss—can that be now, or—”

Marinette answered his question by crashing her mouth into his, by tangling her hands in his hair, knocking his beret to the ground.  Which was perfectly okay.  He didn’t need a hat to remind him of her when she was here in his arms and in his lungs.  

No matter how many secrets he had to keep, it would be worth it to be safe and sound with his Lady.

[skinks]

I see your “fake/pretend dating” scenarios and I ask instead of you: “we’re secretly together and desperately trying to hide it” scenarios

Richie and Eddie finally get their shit together a week before Bev and Ben’s wedding, and after a whole lot of arguing and contingency plans and naked, sweaty discussion, they decide that if they don’t wanna steal that hetero thunder, they have to try their hardest to act like they’re not a Thing

and it’s a mess. They spend the whole week of bachelor parties (Losers plus Patty sans Bev get sad drunk and wish Bev was there) and bachelorette parties (Losers plus Patty sans Ben wear feather boas and get sorority drunk with Bev’s fashion friends, gossip about Ben and sing karaoke) pretending they’re not sneaking off to bone in every unoccupied room they possibly can

It’s a MESS. Richie figures the years of practice at pathetic, secret longing mean they should be better at this than they are. Like yeah, they’re still hovering in this awkward limbo stage where it’s both terribly exciting and horribly embarrassing to be crossing meat swords with your long lost best bro, while knowing you’re both totally into it, but they already acted so couple-y beforehand that it’s probably WEIRDER if Eddie stops smiling all fond and fixing Richie’s hair, or if Richie stops slinging his arm around Eddie at every opportunity. But that’s letting their guard down, and they keep freezing and jumping apart in the middle of casual conversation. They’re standing with Bill and Audra and Patty and Mike in some hotel function room, discussing whether or not stealing Ben’s yacht is feasible when Richie oh-so-gently says “hey—c’mere,” and wipes a smudge of chocolate fondue (contains nuts!!) from Eddie’s mouth with his thumb. Everyone stops talking. Everyone stares. Eddie stares. And Richie needs to duck and cover so he sort of - slaps him? Not even hard enough to make a noise, it’s more of a tap-then-push. He pushes Eddie’s face. “Is that Staniel I hear,” Richie says, after a moment.

“I don’t hear anything,” Patty says.

“No no, that’s definitely Stan,” Richie says, backing swiftly to the door. Eddie’s eyes are on him accusing and hot, dark brown like the chocolate smeared on Richie’s thumb. Later, Eddie will suck the taste off where it’s stuffed in his mouth to keep quiet as they fuck below deck in Ben’s stolen yacht, Mike and Bill fighting overhead about who gets to wear the blue and white captain’s hat. Eddie’s pants are barely even pulled down. Richie does his Quint From Jaws Voice and goes duh-dun, duh-dun as Eddie pushes inside so Eddie will bite his thumb and fuck him harder. It’s all very undignified, and illicit, and stupid. Eddie loves it. “I have great ears, Pattycake, and Stanley makes this sort of, uh, echolocation type noise when he’s having issues with hotel staff. I should know, I went on vacation once with his family, to the Catskills? Stan spilled soup on a waiter and every bat in the fuckin’ place came right outta the forest and flew into the buffet. Don’t ask him about it though, one man’s vigilante origin story is another man’s traumatic childhood. Okay bye.” Richie definitely doesn’t run, but running away is more about aura than gait.

Audra frowns. “Did he just imply Batman didn’t have a traumatic childhood?”

“Haha,” Eddie deflects, stuffing his hand in his pocket, and missing. “He must’ve had the shrimp. Fucked up that he’s the one with the actual shellfish allergy, right? Isn’t that irony, or something?”

“That would be ironic, if you didn’t know everything we’re all allergic to by heart and would never let Richie eat shrimp,” Bill says, still staring.

“I would,” Eddie says immediately. He can’t find his fucking pocket. “I would totally let Richie eat shrimp.”

“You slapped his slice of pizza out of his hand last week because there was oyster sauce in the marinara,” Mike says, but Eddie is already actually running away. Wow, he’s fast.

Even with the Losers, Richie’s only out by implication, but it’d still be weird if he, for some reason, brought a woman as his date. He thinks about bringing Sven the Sound Guy because he’s as opposite to Eddie as it’s possible to find on short notice since Guy Fieri was unavailable, but he can’t decide whether this is genius cover or so on the nose as to be damning. He goes stag in the end, which is perhaps most damning of all. Eddie is in Schrodinger’s closet, because he doesn’t have to answer either way if nobody fucking asks him, and nobody does, because Eddie always starts doing whatever he’s currently doing to an incredibly intense level whenever the conversation turns to dating. One time at dinner when they were all in the same city for one of Richie’s tentative, low-key comeback shows, someone mentioned post-divorce dating apps, and then someone simply said the word Grindr not even in Eddie’s direction and Eddie cut his steak so hard he scratched the plate. This was an achievement in and of itself seeing as the clown took Eddie’s fork-arm, but Richie was spearing his steak for him while he cut it. He’s an enabler. An enabler to steak, and freakouts.

Anyway, even with all of this, it’s still weird that Eddie brings a woman. She’s Paula. From work. Stan sees her checking her phone so often that he figures out she’s one of the women in the matching white wedding dresses on her lock screen. Stan nudges Patty, who becomes very insistent that they should tell Eddie before he gets his heart broken, but Eddie is probably too busy periodically kicking out the backs of Richie’s knees to make him wobble and buckle against the bar to notice, or care.

Bev has great fucking aim, is the thing. There’s a lost catapult and a space-alien dead as a dodo can attest to it, but she’s still facing the opposite direction and could never predict that her bouquet toss would bounce off two different bridesmaids’ heads, straight into Richie’s hands. They’re so beautiful. White and orange and a rich, nautical blue that matches Eddie’s suit, tidily pinned up at the right shoulder and pressed hard into Richie’s side. Bev is laughing delightedly and Ben is taking a photo, and Eddie has been getting steadily drunker ever since he got back half an hour ago from gratefully sending Paula home to her wife in an Uber with some cake. He’s all pink across the bridge of his nose and he looks so fucking adorable with Ben’s blue and white yacht captain hat tilted on his head at a rakish angle, and the others are all catcalling so hard that Richie figures they might as well give up the pretense. He kicks out the back of Eddie’s knees so he’ll buckle into Richie’s flowery arms and fucking DIPS him like that old wartime photo even though Eddie’s the one with the sailor hat getting knocked off his head because they’re kissing so enthusiastically, clinging to the back of Richie’s neck and snortlaughing into his mouth, but suddenly everyone’s shouting, and they all sound - not pissed, exactly, but certainly indignant

“Are you guys serious,” Bill says, “you’re stealing their thunder right now? One major childhood romance realized isn’t enough, you’re gonna crash theirs?”

“Wait,” Richie says

Bev throws up her hands. Richie can’t see, because of her dress, but he’s pretty sure her foot is actually tapping. “Why didn’t you tell us!”

Eddie is still dangling off him like a monkey, all stunned-drunk limp with the bouquet shoved in his face. Richie hears what uh oh sounds like muffled by flowers, and Ben silently takes another photo, like he’s cataloguing a crime scene.

“You guys... didn’t know? We actually kept it a secret?”

“Until now, you jackasses!”

“What secret,” Audra asks, appearing with like eight plates of cake. “What’s happening? Oh wait, I’m caught up.”

“But—but—the fondue,” Eddie says, and seriously, it’s not like the clown ripped his legs off, he could try standing and facing this with Richie like a true bro, but Richie’s kind of enjoying the weight of him. Plus he’s pretty sure Bev won’t dare to go through Eddie to kill him, so. Human shield it is.

“What about the fondue?” Mike looks like he did after the end of The Usual Suspects. Like he’s re-evaluating every time Richie and Eddie left a room together, and wishes he wasn’t. “You guys are like that all the time.”

“Then why were you all staring!”

“Nobody was staring! It was a natural lull in conversation, we were weirded out that you were being weird about it! Have you always been this self-centered?”

“I guess so,” Richie shrugs. He looks down at Eddie, covered in pollen and thoroughly confused. He’s so drunk he’s looking kinda cross-eyed. “You hear that, dude? We were killing it, until we fucked it all up!”

Eddie grins up at him. “Good enough!” he slurs, and then lets go of Richie’s neck for a high five. Everyone’s gone back to ignoring them in favour of dancing to Journey, so at least nobody notices Richie’s so eager to return it that he drops Eddie on the floor instead