#I have no recollection of writing it or what it was for

[thepenultimateword]

Short Prompt #139

“Why would you help me?”

“I have a weakness for little cute things.”

[bilbao-song]

hmmmmm are we collectively familiar w this one

[cordeliawhohung]

sorry i've been MIA i've literally been fighting for my life with this infection and work is not helping <3

[astrobei]

I've just been reading I've come home, I'm so cold and honestly "we should probably follow him before he gets attacked by a rogue butternut squash" line is the funniest thing I've read in a long time

HELP you know i don’t think about this fic very often just bc i wrote it soooo long ago and my writing has changed a lot since then and there are a lot of things i would do differently w this story now but thank you for reminding me that i am actually accidentally funny sometimes bc this just made me giggle <3

[hell-heron]

Sometimes the fact that GRRM has, amid all his efforts to have nuance and a wide spectrum in his female characters and to deconstruct certain tropes, played the daddy's girl tomboy in contrast to the hostility or complete elimination of the female figures in her life trope completely straight over and over again, with basically every female warrior he wrote, from his female lead to two whole secondary POVs to one note extras (with the exception of the Mormont ladies yeah at least, maybe when we get more Alysane content I will be less grumpy about this), leaves me kind of bitterly shocked tbh

[theloveinc]

Sad thinking about the fact that Dabi’s daughter only has one single photo of her and her father together, a moment from before she’s even able to remember:

Her as chubby, red haired baby, sat on the knee of a man in rough black jeans, leaned back against his stained and ragged white shirt. She’s in a yellow onesie, a rubber ducky on the chest, and his arm, scarred with purple flesh, is underneath, wrapped tight around her belly to, presumably, keep her safe.

Everything above his shoulders is cut off. That is where the picture ends. There is no neck, no chin, no expression for her to gauge… much less anything other than the cracked stairs of her childhood apartment as the background. It’s just her on the lap of this stranger she’s never been able to call dad.

[capybaraonabicycle]

For one single cup of coffee (Jase/Natalie)

Written for @none-ofthisnonsense for the prompt 12: a kiss to distract the other from the first kiss prompts by @sasslett.

(I have decided to tag you, @none-ofthisnonsense, I hope that is alright. This scene is happening about 2 years prior to the plot of the musical, in case you are interested in reading it. So it should be spoiler-free except for maybe the first 10 minutes of the musical and later minor points. You can find the musical here for context if you like.)

Rating: Teen

Genre: Angst with a little fluff

Warnings: Dubiously consensual kissing in the way that Judith is using a false identity and they are both drunk, plus some swearing

Summary: At the end of their first date, Jase walks Judith Natalie to the door. Neither really want the evening to end but it's 4 am and they are trying to be reasonable. And then Jase finds a concerning message on Natalie's phone…

Words: ~2000

ao3

[ID: An unlocked phone lying on top a wooden table. end ID]

Jase was a gentleman. Of course he was, Judith knew him well enough after just one evening not to be surprised. No, not Judith, Natalie. She had almost messed up twice already - the first time not responding to him using 'her' name, the second stumbling over it when recounting a slightly tweaked story from childhood - she was better off reminding herself and using the name she had introduced herself with. Especially since he was just too sweet. He offered her his couch and when she refused - too many difficult thoughts and emotions in her head she had to work through before managing to smile at him across a breakfast table - he called her a cab and walked her to the door.

It was nice, not having to put her foot down to go home after the first date, not having to deal with expectations of any kind. But honestly, that was the tiniest tip of the iceberg of things that were nice and beautiful and scaringly perfect about everything that had happened this evening. Never in her life had she felt this close to a person she had just met - maybe she had never felt this close to anyone. Damn, those scientists really knew what they were doing, didn't they? But then there was obviously the question of what lay beneath the water surface, what was hiding behind this amazing evening, the net of lies she had spun more and more tightly around herself the longer the evening went on. The reason she had to go home now, much as she wanted to stay in this glimmering illusion, stay sitting on his carpet, stay in his life, stay Natalie Cook forever.

She stumbled a little when reaching for her shoes and his hand steadied her on the elbow, tender and kind and rather inefficiently as he was swaying as well. The two bottles of wine had not gone unnoticed.

"Whoops" she said and they giggled like preschoolers. He looked so beautiful when he laughed. Happy and soft and innocent. He didn't know the world like she did - she had learnt that tonight.

"You sure you'll make it home okay?" He asked, slightly slurring. "Should I come with?"

'No!' her mind screamed instinctively but she managed to laugh it off.

"I think that would rather defeat the purpose of sending me home, Jase" she said.

His eyes widened in shock immediately. "Oh, god, no! I didn't mean it like that! I would take the cab back after, of course."

"Don't be ridiculous" she chided him gently while trying to force her feet into the overly fancy date shoes. "That would only cost an unnecessary fortune."

"Not unnecessary" he murmured. When she stopped and looked at him questioningly, he elaborared: "We always laugh it off as long as nothing happens but once in danger we would easily spend a fortune to save another human's life, wouldn't we?"

He picked at his sleeves awkwardly while she stared at him. 

'He's too good' she thought. 'How did I end up on a date with someone like him?'

Well, she didn't, Natalie did. Natalie was the kind of girl who dated boys like Jase.

She cleared her throat. "Yeah, but if you come with me, you might be the one in danger on the way back. So, don't worry, I will be fine. The cab's gonna bring me right to my doorstep, nothing's gonna happen."

"I'll tell the driver to wait in front of the house until you're safe inside" Jase nodded resolutely, before instantly backtracking, "unless you think that's overstepping a line? Am I patronising you?"

She closed the strap on her shoe and put a hand on his arm reassuringly.

"Relax" she told him. "I think it's sweet."

"Good" he breathed out audibly.

A heavy silence settled over them and not for the first time this night she felt the urge to kiss him. Judging by the way his gaze flitted over her face, she wasn't the only one. Yes, this was a first date following a chance meeting. And yes, they were quite drunk. And yes, climbing into his bed was out of question, very probably for both of them. But a kiss? She would really, really like to kiss him.

She reached down and fixed her other shoe. Jase cleared his throat, taking a tiny step backwards.

"You got all your things?"

"What, are you asking whether I 'accidentally' planted a jacket I will have to retrieve to see you again?" she joked and he laughed.

"Now you make me regret asking."

"I could still lie and deny any jacket." It was meant as another joke but it closed up her throat when she was reminded of all the lies she had been telling tonight.

He still laughed. "Sorry to disappoint you, Natalie, but you are wearing your jacket. Unless you brought an extra one just for leaving here and quite honestly, that would be a little creepy."

"No creepy jackets, I promise." She raised her hands defensively, then patted her pockets to locate her keys and wallets. "Shit, my phone!"

"I'll go get it!" Jase retreated back into the flat before she could stop him.

"I think I left it on the carpet!" she called after him. "Might have disappeared under the couch, too!"

She heard him rummage around a little, then he shouted back. "Got it!"

A small pause, then: "God, it is late."

Then he fell quiet alltogether, even the rumbling of his moving around subsided. Her heart dropped. He had seen something. Gosh, she was so stupid! Why did she let him get her phone? Phones were the most treaterous objects you could posses. Worse than ID's, for sure. What to do? Well, there was only one thing: Play it cool and hope for the best.

When Jase returned with her phone he was looking sheepish, confirming her suspicion. She tried to keep it together, calm her breathing while he stepped closer. He didn't hand her the phone immediately, tapping it's rim in thought.

She reached out her hand. "Jase?"

"Oh, sorry" quickly, he handed her the phone, then he shook his head. "Sorry, I know, I shouldn't have snooped, just..."

"Yeah?" Her heart was hammering so loudly she was sure he had to hear it. He would know. He would find it all out now. That the woman who had bewitched him tonight did not exist. That she was nothing but a lie.

"You got a message" he said. "And it mentioned someone having met your mum."

"What?" it was simple to feign surprise because she didn't have to feign it. Who the hell had spoken to her mum and felt like telling her about it? "My mum? Are you sure?"

She switched on the screen, scanning the message. Oh, so some idiot she had been friends in school with. Whatever the hell did they think contacting her? She tried to funnel her anger into more confusion. "This can't be meant for me. Oh, yeah, Dana! I went to school with her. Probably mistook me for someone else or I don't know."

Jase seemed torn between looking at the screen himself or giving her privacy. Still, he couldn't help but point out: "I think she must have. Look, she's calling you 'J'. That's not your nickname, is it? At least you didn't tell me about it."

"Nah, they called me 'Nat' in school" she lied effortlessly, pocketing the phone so he'd stop staring at it. "Sometimes 'Cook'. Didn't like that one."

Lying had always come easy to her but now her heart was going like crazy. Because the doubts were coming in. Hadn't this been the moment? The hint from the universe to stop the charade, come clean, see how he reacted? This was obviously so much more than 'just one single cup of coffee' to escape reality for. But she couldn't, she couldn't see the disappointment in his face now, she couldn't let him go just yet. This was too good, she wanted, she needed more of it.

"I'm sorry, Natalie" Jase said and her heart skipped a beat. But then he continued: "I know your classmate didn't mean to hurt you but she really should have checked before. She... she does know about your mother, right?"

"I think so..." she trailed off like she was trying to remember. "It happened senior year. I kinda drew away from most classmates for a while."

His hand landed on her shoulder, light as a feather.

"I am so sorry" he repeated. "I can't imagine how horrible she must feel when she finds out the message reached you on accident. Not to excuse her, of course. Are you okay? You can still stay over, you know, I mean, in case you don't want to be alone tonight? I mean, I have a perfectly good couch."

And again she was reminded how kind he was, how caring. But she'd rather he didn't fixate on her presumably dead mum that much. Not at all if possible. Lest he started asking himself questions that would make him doubt the whole story. Unfortunately, he wasn't done obsessing over it yet. 

"She really should have payed more attention" he continued his rant. "How the hell do you mess up this badly? Isn't there someone she could have asked if she lost her contact details from school? She must be at least a little close to this 'J' person if she is calling them by a nickname, how did she mistake you for them? Do you have any idea who that is, by the way? Someone from your class?"

It was probably not exclusively rightful anger that drove him to focus on the message. There was definitely a part of him that was simply stalling, like they had both been doing tonight, not wanting to let her go just yet. She did not know what reason for his rambling excited her more, just that her excitement was mixed with the desperate wish to make him stop, make him forget all about the text, distract him. And really, in the end, it was to equal parts the excitement about him caring, the fear of him finding out and the fact that she had been thinking about this all night that made her reach for his shirt, pull him in and press their lips together. 

He was startled at first and it took him a second to catch on, but then he was kissing her back, his hands grabbing her upper arms like he needed something to ground him. His lips were as soft as they had looked, a little clumsy but very eager and it took her breath away. 

She forgot all about distracting him, forgot about Natalie completely, too. All that mattered was that Jase was here, kissing her and holding her like he never wanted to let go. 

When they drew back, they were both breathing heavily, his hands finally wandering down her arms to grasp her fingers. 

"Was that okay?" she whispered and he laughed. 

"I think I made that quite clear" he argued, then he kissed her again, short and sweet. "Very okay. I've been thinking about doing this all night if I'm being honest."

"Me too."

They kissed again and this time his hands tangled in her hair, pulling gently. She moaned into his mouth, pressing closer against his body. 

"You know" he drew back, panting, "it's not too late to send the cab away if that's what you want. I wanted to take things slow but honestly right now I can't remember why."

She laughed, patting his chest and stepping back. Much as she agreed with his reasoning, one of them had to be the responsible one. Plus, there was still the question of guilt to work through on her side. 

"We're both drunk, Jase" she said. "I can come back to stay over tomorrow."

She realised belatedly what she had said. "Oh, gosh, tomorrow's way too quick, isn't it?" 

He grabbed her hand again, shaking his head. 

"It's alright" he promised. "I am free after 2, if you like?"

"Starting at 2pm?" she teased. "That's quite a night you have planned."

It was adorable how his face wrinkled in embarrassment.

"Maybe we can finally go have a coffee?" he offered. "Hang out in the park? Keep the option available to come back here eventually?" 

She pressed his hand. "Sounds like the perfect day to me."

His smile deepened in understanding, when there was a faint sound of a car horn to be heard from the street. 

"I think my cab's getting impatient" she remarked. 

"You should better leave before they wake up the entire building" he agreed, but they didn't let go off each other's hand. 

"One more kiss for the road?" she offered. 

"You got it." He leaned in, his breath ghosting over her mouth. "See you tomorrow, Natalie."

Thanks for reading!

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

megumi 🤝🏽 yuuji

dying even if it’s only for a good minute only to be brought back to life bc fate realizes if they died for real then they would need to find someone else to fuck over. those two are like fates favorite barbie dolls.

apologies if this post is going to seem all over the place, just bear with me. i don’t even know if you’re going to see this BUT it’s okay bc i need to get this out my system 😭.

starting off — god, imagine the chaos that will ensue when megumi tells nobara & yuuji about his very tragic history with the zenins. but like he wouldn’t even tell them straight up, he’ll just make a little deadpan joke (my sarcastic, sassy son) & the others would look at him like : ??? wtf do you mean by that sea urchin head???

like imagine itafushikugi going shopping for like traditional japanese clothes for a little festival or some shit (megumi was dragged by his spikes to come along) & nobara is having the time of her life finding outfits for her & the boys. like it got to the point where she’s dressing them herself & she shows megumi an outfit that looked similar to the robe he was forced to wear bc of the zenin (it’s obviously not the same) & megumi just refuses to wear a robe with similar color patterns to the zenin robe.

megumi: that looks like the outfit the zenin forced me to wear. i wonder what happened to it, cause the last thing i know, i got blood all over it. so as the second member of the zenin hate club, im not wearing that….

megumi: wait that blue one looks decent. i’m going to try it on.

nobara:

yuuji:

nobara: …did he really leave without giving us the “ getting blood on a zenin’s robe” story?

imagine maki complaining about naoya in front of the first years, & maki just brings up naoya’s onesided beef with megumi & her stories of how naoya was so petty back in his childhood made him remember who tf naoya is (megs have selective memory, it’s okay)

megumi: ugh, he was so annoying. i remember when he came to my middle school back when gojo was busy dealing with the aftermath of his evil ex boyfriend evil plan & he basically kidnapped me. i was stuck in a car with that man for 40 minutes..you would hate him nobara.

maki: yeah you would hate him nobara.

yuuji: i’m sorry he kidnapped you??? why did you say that so casually?

nobara: fuck that. megumi is a disney princess, we know this already. BUT we’re just gonna gloss over gojo had an evil boyfriend?

& imagine when megumi finally tells his friends about the zenin clan was when yuuji just came back from the dead & they were asking how tf that’s possible. & somewhere in that conversation megumi just let it slip that his heart stopped beating once & itakugi looks at him in silence:

megumi: yeah the zenin clan basically forced me to exorcise some curses & complete a ritual to get a snake — that snake fucking bit me. it was my least favorite. but yeah i basically died. then yuuta brought me back. then i was blind for a good minute.

nobara, yuuji, & even sukuna:

megumi: it was a terrible time for me. gojo was even more clingier & protective. it got to a point where he started treating me like i was 6 again… reading me bedtime stories, singing me lullabies & describing the pictures in the stories since i was…yknow blind.

cue itakugi & even sukuna wanting to burn down the zenin but ofc they can’t do that…so they settle for pulling pranks on the members & traumatizing them ofc.

IM ALSO imagining how funny it would be for yuuji to be jealous of yuuta. like bro is basically living yuuji’s fantasy world. i’m giggling at the idea of yuuji fighting for his life to be either megumi favorite or nanami’s favorite.

you also opened my eye to the potential of maki & tsumiki… like i also like to imagine that in a happier world, they would understand each other on such a deep level. but they would also find parts of the other that they wished they had. but on a happier note i like to imagine that megumi would suffer whenever it was brought up that his aunt is basically dating his step sister. like maki would be a menace to megumi. every little thing he do? maki is texting tsumiki in a corner.

maki watching itafushi cook together in the kitchen: i can’t believe megumi has a boyfriend. it’s so cute that he thinks that he can hide this from me. lemme go snitch to tsumiki.

maki listening to megumi describe his fight with sukuna, a cursed spirit who apparently has a stripping problem: oh my god. megumi is truly yuuta’s boy. they both got cursed spirits obsessed with them…i need to tell tsumiki.

maki to megumi after witnessing his suicidal tendencies: don’t make me tell tsumiki.

i honestly love your story. the way you added so much more to megumi childhood is beautiful. it just make soooo much sense. but also your characterization of gojo is so precious to me. i’m waiting for gojo to go apeshit on the zenin. i’m also giggling in anticipation at gojo finding out about yuuta attachment to megumi. i like to imagine him to be kind of worried about it actually, bc that’s not fucking healthy. but i imagine him getting used to it since megumi will have a protector in the form of yuuta & his power of love.

i’m also curious to see mai’s role in this story since.

*sighs in disappointment at gege writing choices*

since she had a crush on megumi…yeah. but imma just interpret that as she wants to be his family. it keeps me sane

i also wanted to ask if there’s a chance that you would write a megumi POV of what happened in the zenin clan? ofc i would understand if you wouldn’t since it leaves a much more ominous feeling to the events. plus yuuta running commentary is a good mix of angst & humor so ofc i understand.

Yuuji: man fushiguro almost checks the boxes for a Disney princess. except he was never kidnapped or enslaved

Megumi, sold to the Zenin clan, who later kidnapped him: *sweating*

Nobara and Yuuji would be the co-vice presidents of the "fuck the Zenin clan" club if they knew what happened. They would be the presidents but yuuta and maki are already in a death match for the position and they're trying to avoid the bloodshed. they are not allowed to be treasurer because neither of them know how money works.

megumi is unaware that a formal club has been formed.

Megumi is suffering SO HARD in any world where maki and tsumiki are together. they won't stop ganging up on him when it comes to his love life and general wellbeing and holding hands where he has to see it. maki lectures him about his suicidal tendencies in the field, holds up one finger, calls tsumiki, and lets her pick up where she left off. maki tries to talk to him about relationships one (1) time and he tries to drown himself.

see i'm pretty open to writing a megumi POV but it, like most of my stories, falls in this nebulous category of "if i have the time." like, i've thought about writing megumi's pov before, there's a lot of stuff that happened that exists as like, background knowledge for me that will never make it through yuuta's pov because it doesn't make sense for yuuta to find out about it. It would be very tonally different, but if i did write it, it would be a different work entirely and i'd be making sea glass gardens into a series.

i'm eternally tempted by the siren call of making my works into a series. If i did it with sea glass gardens, i would want to add a one shot of Megumi's pov during the time leading up to sea glass gardens and a short multi-chapter of the gojo, nanami, shoko teen parenting trio. If I have the time, it will exist; if i don't, it won't.

[pergaias]

i’m nothing if not a gay girlfailure

[deiscension]

﹄ ◇ ; @aaternum left the prayer:

“   Well, what do you feel?   ” Curious eyes follow her apparition, knuckles pressed into her own hips as she leans forward. Making company with the dead was hardly the way she imagined spending her nights, but it was as fascinating as it was eerie. And she’s still searching for the words to describe the chance encounter. Uncanny? Surreal? To be determined, she decides minutely. Hand outstretched, digits flexed and palm presented before her phantasmal friend, a smile tugs at her lips. “   Touch? Emotions? I really wanna know.  ” There’s a thoughtful beat, “   Oh jeez, is that rude? I hope that’s not rude!   ” (from Ryu's fantasy verse! <;3)

       ⌜◈⌟    ▌ ── "𝐎𝐡, 𝐈 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. I'm quite the exceptional ghost," she answers with a puffed out chest.

       𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐞. Proud as she might be of her ability to take on whatever pretty forms she pleases, by most undead standards she's still barely there at all. A novice exorcist could banish her without breaking a sweat. But she's no inconsequential apparition either. It had taken a great deal of time (How long has it been? Twenty years? Thirty? Three hundred?) and even greater deal of effort, but she had broken through the threshold separating her from the corporeal world. And so, the first half of her statement isn't a lie. Now she truly can feel most things. Sunlight filtering through treetops; the drumming of nighttime rains; the ebb and flow of spiritual energies both familiar and unfamiliar to her; the wards carried by travelers who know better than to stop and talk with individuals draped in robes of bygone times.

     𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐲. "Asking a young lady about the affairs of her heart is utterly shameless, you know!" The crystalline laughter that follows erases all pretense that she might actually believe the other held any prying intentions. If anything, she seems delighted by it. She mirrors her company's mannerisms, waves of hair cascading over slightly hunched shoulders as her own hand raises. Warm fingertips press against those not quite there; flesh into phantasm, paths converging in a windswept forest--

       --𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙤𝙘𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙘𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠, the undertow tangling in hair and baring her neck to lifeless hands. but she's not there, and she's not here either. she's inside a mirror trying to comprehend what lies beyond it, because this isn't hers--

      𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐩 𝐠𝐚𝐬𝐩 that spirals away into the nothingness where lungs used to be. Her head hurts. It's not supposed to do that when she's... dead. 

       𝐇𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬, 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐬. Opens again. The urge to take this stranger's hand and run washes over her with the same ferocity as those black tides once had. Instead, she blurts, "Are you lost?"

[thestarsarecool]

This passage directly follows the bit where Schneider recalls George telling him that Paul wouldn’t take his hand while having a bad trip:

“You know the rumor that John and Paul had a fight, punching each other? It wasn’t John. It was me. Paul was having a tough time finishing a song. For days he had been trying to come up with a lyric to continue a line in what would become one of his most successful songs. I came up with the two lines that he was able to use to finish the song, and I wanted a writer’s credit on the song. Without those lines the song wouldn’t have been the same, but Paul refused. We got into a fight and I punched him.”

— George Harrison, 1969, according to Ronnie Schneider in his 2017 book Out of Our Heads: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Me

[i-will-cry-you-a-river]

JGY kills NHS to make himself to be the most important person to NMJ

NHS is alive >:3 and he wants revenge

[sorenlionheart]

i have to admit its kinda crazy being involved in fandoms again since the last time ive really been involved in a fandom was during my steven universe days

[kulemii]

you know.. one day, when i get over my fear of writing, i may someday become an unstoppable force. a freak of nature.

[itsza]

so...

there might be a thing happening

tagging @yeetlegay cuz their kp wlw has literally rewired my brain

[workofthediesel]

i've received positive feedback so go ahead and check this shit out

i had to post it as a link because it has to be opened as a pdf because that's the only way i could get it to show the formatting correctly and the formatting is like 80% of the story. also i assure you that despite the name, this is 100% a comedic fictional short story

anyway i wrote this for one of my college creative writing classes and my professor was a little bit pissed with me about it after and personally i think that makes it better