#I'm (somewhat) fine with them being friends and all but she said herself they're not compatible as romantic partners THEN WHY GET BACK

[scentofpines]

my sister broke up with her boyfriend for the second time 3 months ago and moved back in with us and now he's already visiting her again every weekend?? And she talks about him very adoringly ughhh this guy openly admitted to her that he doesn't like it when she is happy if he is not the cause for her happiness. He was mad at her for going out to work (besides her fulltime studying at uni) on weekends bc she didnt have "enough time" for him anymore but in the same breath complained that she didn't pay enough rent for her part of the house THAT HE DIDNT PAY A PENNY FOR bc he inherited it. Then he indirectly accused her of cheating on him bc she had a male friend help her move out of his house 3 months ago. And now it looks like they might get back together I'M GONNA LOSE MY FUCKING MIND

[limeade-l3sbian]

Hello! I'm technically a closeted lesbian, and I only say technically because the main reason people don't know is because I don't think it's anyone's business and if straight people don't have to start a conversation with, hi I'm straight, then why should I?

Anyway, this is somewhat related to the above, because something happened recently that has really agitated me and I feel like I'm just annoyed for no reason and need to vent just to let it go?

So I joined a club with a friend (who knows I'm a lesbian). Two of the guys in the club are in a relationship (this is relevant, bare with me). Around pride the topic came up, and one of the other guys in the group was showing off the non binary pin they got from pride while another girl (who has a bf) started tripping over herself to make sure everyone knew she was gay (her words). It's fine, she could be bi, but what got to me was that she was really aggressive about it, like really aggressive, 'I AM gay, too! I'm gay! I can join in because I'm gay. I'm gay!' and I'm like, okay good for you??? But I don't say anything, because, once again, I personally don't feel the need to advertise I'm a lesbian (and that's not to say I think everyone else should be like me, I'm just a very private person). So I let it go.

But then a few weeks later, the non-binary guy invited their partner to join who also identifies as non-binary and is female. The girl also invited a couple of her friends, who also identify as non-binary (male and female) and are a couple. So now we have 5 people in the group, all in straight relationships, constantly tripping over themselves to make sure everyone knows they're gay, and to me they're like, oh it's so annoying when ppl assume you're straight. At me. Assuming I'm straight. So lol at that!

The people who aren't constantly saying how gay they are? The lesbian (me) and the two gay guys. I don't know, I hold my tongue, they could be bi, and that's valid, but I also have bi friends in straight relationships who don't go out of their way to make sure everyone knows they're also ssa. Is this a common thing? I just feel like if you're ssa, you don't have to constantly make sure everyone knows it, like being straight is the worst thing you can be? I just hate that they make being ssa attracted into this huge thing, you know? Idk, am I just getting annoyed for no reason?

Nah, you said it around the end. Some of these people really do think that being straight is the worst thing in the world, because they treat it as the worst thing in the world. (To them) If you're straight, you don't get to have an opinion on anything because you are privileged and probably "cis." These are all "boring" and "bad" or whatever. So they need to get in with the "queer" crowd - the "weird, interesting" people.

There's also a matter of oppression olympics with these people but honestly, when it comes to the people in your group, I think it's mainly the first part.

[dragonsdomain]

Blob Ghost Supreme chapter 4

AO3

Chapter 3

The colosseum was packed when it came time for the final battle. Eager ghosts were pressing in from all sides, forming a writhing dome of ghosts all trying to press towards the front. Walker's police ghosts had to be working overtime to maintain a shield around the arena to keep any ghosts from pressing too close.

Sam and Tucker probably would have had a very hard time seeing the fight if they hadn't been inexplicably invited into the fancy leader booth.

Tucker looked over at Sam with his eyebrows up high. What did she think about this? He was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Sam shrugged. So she wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Tucker sneered at her for being a hoity-toity rich girl.

Sam sneered back at him for insinuating that this had anything to do with that, and really, shouldn't he just be being more grateful? Be polite, Tucker.

Tucker rolled his eyes. Fine.

Tucker turned to the tall clock man beside him. He was apparently the Observants' boss who he'd heard about. "So. Who're you rooting for?"

Sam snorted, covering her face, and Tucker raised an eyebrow at her. If she was going to be judging him for committing high society faux pas, the least she could do was telepathically tell him what he was doing wrong.

Clock man, ahem, Clockwork, laughed. "It would arouse a great deal of trouble if I were to claim anything other than impartiality. Though I can guess who you are rooting for."

Sam looked up again. "If I may, how did you know Tucker and I knew Phantom? We didn't even know back then."

Clockwork's eyes twinkled knowingly. "Time is irrelevant for me. I have forgotten more things than either of you have ever known."

Tucker grinned. "Is that really something to brag about, Grandpa?"

Sam choked down a laugh, which somewhat stifled the effects of her pointedly elbowing him. "Sorry about my friend. He doesn't mean any disrespect."

Clockwork shapeshifted into a young man. "No worries. It's refreshing."

Sam coughed awkwardly. "Do you know much about the other finalist? I'm afraid I haven't heard much about them." Sam neglected to mention that she and Tucker hadn't watched any matches which didn't have Danny in them.

"He's rather mysterious," Clockwork said, but there was a knowing twinkle in his eye. "He showed up through a portal the day before the tournament, and quickly established himself as one of the most brutal and promising competitors. His skills are quite impressive. I know many ghosts in the audience are rooting for him."

Sam rolled her eyes, muttering to herself. "Power this, skills that. Isn't trial by combat archaic?"

Clockwork laughed, and Sam blushed. Tucker smirked at her. "Many ghosts believe power is related to the depth of one's connection to the ghost zone," Clockwork explained. "Therefore, the ghosts with the most power will be the ones with the strongest connection to it. Usually, blob ghosts are known to take on a weak appearance because they're close to passing on. Those types of souls have little reason to develop any power or reputation. A lack of resolve."

Sam glanced out at the throngs of ghosts in the audience. "I guess that'd explain why people don't really want a blob ghost on the throne, because they'd expect him to leave them before long."

Clockwork nodded. "Yes, likely. Though there are also reasons they're sensitive about the matter. Ghosts care greatly about appearance and change theirs to match how they wish to present themselves."

Tucker frowned. "But we haven't seen any ghosts doing that." He glanced up. "No, wait! Skulker!"

Clockwork chuckled. "Usually it's accomplished through magic, not technology, so it'd be less noticeable. But yes."

Sam started out across the audience, eyebrows furrowed. "Wait, so... if what Skulker did was common... how many of the ghosts out there..." She whipped back towards Clockwork. "Is this common knowledge? Are you supposed to be telling us this?"

Clockwork waved her off. "I can tell anyone whatever I please. Now take a seat. The final round is about to begin."

Sam pulled back and plopped down into her seat.

Tucker leaned over to her and whispered. "What did you mean? I'm confused."

Sam shook her head. "I don't know. It's a long-shot. I'm probably wrong."

Tucker's eyes narrowed. "Isn't that what we thought about Phantom having something to do with Danny?"

Sam shushed him. "Not so loud! I don't know." She sighed. "I'm just wondering, I guess, how many of these ghosts are hiding something?"

"Something like..." Tucker prompted.

Sam frowned, then whispered in Tucker's ear.

He pulled away from her, wearing a baffled grin. "That is crazy. It'd be hilarious if you were right."

Sam shrugged. "Well I'm probably not. Now let's watch this battle. Let's hope Danny wins instead of this nasty-sounding other guy."

...

Danny clenched his jaw as the gate opened into the arena, and he and his opponent both floated out.

His opponent was large, but in a way that was far more solid than the tornado from the qualifying round. He was shaped like a muscular human, but his skin was blue like a corpse, and blue fire consumed his head in place of hair. His gaze rose from the ground, and locked with Danny's. It stabbed into him, the sharp, uncanny smile, the red eyes that looked so sickeningly familiar. Danny had some sense that he'd met this ghost before, that he hated him, that he was afraid of him.

"Welcome, denizens of the ghost zone, to the final battle of the Ghost King Tournament! Blob Ghost Phantom versus Dark Dan!"

Dan lunged. He was where Danny was in an instant, and his clawed hands whipped the air inches from his face.

Danny pulled back, zipping towards the opposite side of the arena again to get a little space to think, but after only another instant Dan was on him again, grabbing at the air he barely halted before. Danny put up a ghost shield to block Dan's claws and ecto-blasts, but Dan grabbed his shield with him in it and pounded it against the wall only three times before it shattered, leaving Danny breathless.

Danny slipped out of the way again just before Dan could grab him. He started darting erratically through the air to try to keep away from Dan, and it worked for a couple of seconds until an ectoblast hit him. It flung Danny against the wall, but he bounced off of it harmlessly.

Dan frowned when he saw that Danny was fine, and Danny rushed out of the way again. He finally managed to pivot and get a few shots in as he flew away, but Dan dodged two of them harmlessly and blocked the third with what looked like his bare hand. Danny gulped and continued trying to avoid Dan's shots. He needed a second to think.

Dan's fist hit him from the side, launching Danny into the wall. Danny bounced off of it and onto the floor, and he pulled up spitting sand out of his mouth.

"So that meager form did have one advantage after all, does it?" Dan said, cracking his knuckles. "Interesting."

What did he mean did? Danny was right here! Maybe Dan wasn't talking about him at all.

Danny fired off some shots of frost, but Dan broke through each one with relative ease. Danny continued his game of keep-away while he tried to charge up an especially powerful blast of ice, though when he managed to fire it off, Dan dodged out of its way. Danny gritted his teeth. How was he supposed to beat this ghost? This was so frustrating!

Danny started curling power around his space core, channeling its destructive force and creating another black hole.

Dan flew right up to the hole easily and extinguished it between his fingers with a condescending smirk. He blew away the smoke on them.

Danny froze. "What?!"

Dan smirked. "Oh, my pathetic, inferior self. Let me show you how it's done."

Dan brought his hands together and pulled them apart to create a black hole of his own. Danny's eyes widened as the circumference of the hole in turn grew larger and larger.

"What are you doing?" Danny screamed as he pushed himself against the wall as far from the ball as possible. "You'll destroy the arena!"

"If that's what it takes," Dan said casually.

Danny set his jaw in determination, then surged toward Dan's black hole like the other ghost had just a second ago. He opened his mouth wider than he ever thought was possible and swallowed the black thing whole.

Dan stared at him dubiously. Danny stared back, hoping his chest wasn't about to implode.

After a few seconds of them staring at each other and the audience staring at them, nothing had happened, and the ghosts in the stands let out a collective sigh of relief.

Danny opened his mouth to yell at Dan again, but the force of the black hole suddenly blasted forth out of it as a void-colored laser, directly in Dan's face. Danny tried to force his jaw shut; he wasn't trying to kill anyone, whatever this was, but it took several seconds before he was able to.

When the power finally depleted, Danny could see that the arena had finally met its match. A hole had been burned clean through it and the hall behind it, with the pale green of the ghost zone sky visible at the other end. Danny gulped. "Dan?"

There was silence for a second. Then a small, round shape pushed out of the wreckage at the end of the tunnel, steaming. Danny squinted. It looked like a large green water balloon. It looked like him.

Dan the blob ghost floated dazedly out of the tunnel, then flopped to the ground on the edge of the arena.

Danny blinked, looking around at the audience. That wasn't real, right?

Up in the fancy booth, the two familiar figures of Sam and Tucker stood up and started to applaud. No one else followed, the entire audience held in stunned silence.

The announcer Observant was frantically whispering to the other Observants beside him. Finally he spoke. "So, um. Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. Dark Dan was a blob ghost this entire time. How cowardly of him to hide it! Surely no one else would be able to relate to something so foolish—"

Clockwork took the microphone from the Observant's hand. "On the contrary, I think we can all learn from this. While some ghosts like Dan and Skulker may disguise their true self, it is the one who showed the truth despite its humility who ultimately won this tournament."

Clockwork swept his arms wide towards the audience. "For too long we've assumed that a ghost's appearance defines them. We have passed off blob ghosts as weak, to be ignored and forgotten. But as we've seen today, that belief does not hold water. It is an impression of a more ignorant time. In fact, perhaps a small appearance, rather than demonstrating any kind of weakness, shows confidence, and a strength more than any other."

Hushed murmuring trickled through the audience, ghosts looking at each other in doubt. Sam and Tucker had stopped clapping when Clockwork spoke, and now Sam was glancing around anxiously as Tucker attempted to give Danny an encouraging smile.

Johnny 13 jumped up onto the wall and pumped a fist in the air. "Hail King Phantom!" he screamed, then, with a pop, turned into a small, dark green blob ghost.

Several members of the crowd gasped.

Ember McLain hovered above the crowd and thrust her guitar into the air. "Hail King Phantom!" and she shapeshifted into a squishy blue fireball.

Danny's jaw dropped. Her too? How many of them were secretly blob ghosts?

One by one, each of Ember's bandmates also floated up and turned into blob ghosts of varying colors. Danny could only stare. The murmurings of the audience members had taken on a different tone, them turning to each other with looks on their faces not of shame or anger, but of awe.

A couple of ghosts started to filter away. What, were they blob ghosts too and didn't want to show it?

Those who remained, though, gradually started to also turn into blob ghosts. Danny recognized several he knew. The vine ghost from the first round shapeshifted into a roundish bramble. The tornado ghost turned into a more peaceful-looking sphere of wind. Technus abandoned an avatar he'd been hanging out in to reveal his own sparking blob ghost form.

Danny gaped as the silhouettes of the audience melded into the pleasant appearance of a ball park. Every one of them. "What?" he asked again, dumbly.

A blue blob ghost with a clock pinning a cloak around its neck floated down to him. "Clockwork?" Danny asked, extremely confused.

Clockwork nodded. "We're all blob ghosts. The archaic belief that that appearance was weak has been holding us back for centuries. By winning this tournament, you showed everyone here that they don't need to be ashamed of what they really look like."

"Wait, they all have shapeshifting magic? Does that mean I have shapeshifting magic too?! Teach me how to--"

Tucker crashed into Danny from behind, and Sam was quick to follow, the two pinning him in a hug.

"That was so awesome!" Sam shouted. "I was kind of worried you were about to lose, 'cause apparently he's your evil future self and everything, but you totally kicked his bu—!"

"Evil future self???" Danny spluttered.

"Oh, yeah. Clockwork told us." Tucker said.

Danny stared at him, then said hopefully, "I grow up to look that cool?"

Tucker shrugged. "I mean, I guess? Anyway, you're the ghost king! This is awesome! You're an inspiration!"

Danny looked up at the crowds of blob ghosts floating around each other joyfully. So everything they'd been saying about him had been because they were just ashamed themselves. And now they finally felt proud enough to take their true forms. They looked so comfortable, so happy.

Danny looked back at Clockwork. "Okay, but seriously. Show me how to shapeshift into something cooler!"

[zero-ek]

I really love Ando Tazusa, so here's some thoughts i've been having about her.

So it has been around a year since i've gotten into Assault Lily (if my post history here is to be believed), and while I still haven't gotten around to watching everything, I'm caught up enough that i feel a little confident yapping about it now.

Also, I'd like to preface, this isn't a character analysis, I'm not good at those, it's mainly me just rambling about not that deep stuff, so yeah...

So a good while ago, I was having this conversation with my friends about characters who have regeneration abilities, and one of them said something that really stuck with me:

"Isn't it crazy how most of these guys know what their own guts look like?"

While yeah, it's a pretty obvious conclusion to arrive at if the media you have in mind really capitalizes on it, it makes for a much more unsettling realization when applied to something like Assault Lily. Now don't get me wrong, this series can get dark when it wants to (see: the Hervör experiment, which i also want to yap about eventually because oh my gosh i unironically believe it's peak magical girl), but overall, at least from the material i consumed, like Last Bullet and League of Gardens and Wunder and all, it's not a universe that you expect to make your stomach turn on the regular, at least not in this sense.

There are a number of Boosted Lilies in Assault Lily, like a whole lot more than i originally thought actually (like goddamn GEHENA you really don't care for laying low), but amongst them all, Tazusa was the very first one that came to my mind when i heard that. Because while yeah, as one of the most prominent characters in the franchise, she's sort of the poster child of Boosted Lilies, i feel like out of all of them that i got to see so far, there aren't many that hurt themselves like Tazusa does, or better put, there aren't many that go out of their way to hurt themselves like Tazusa does.

As a Boosted Lily, Tazusa has other abilities beyond her Rare Skill, one of them is "Regenerator", very self explanatory, but there are a couple peculiarities that bear mentioning: while i don't recall it being stated outright if there being a limit to her healing capabilities, at the climax of Last Bullet's "Boosted Friend", her healing seems to slow down the more she runs out of Magie. On the other hand, in Main Story Chapter 2-10, this noteworthy exchange happens:

Riri: 'Tazusa-san, those wounds...' Miliam: 'Y-Yo.... those are way too much....' Civilian: 'how in the world is she still alive...?' Fumi: 'I-I'll get you first aid right a...' Tazusa: 'It's fine' Tazusa: 'See, they're healed already' Civilian: 'You healed? Those wounds healed!? No, no matter how you look at it, something on that level can't just... are Lilies really not humans...?'

Then, later on, Mai says this:

"Regenerator... a hyperhealing ability that renders you essentially invulnerable, one of many powers that Boosted Lilies have..."

(It also bears mentioning that the word Mai uses, 不死身, is often translated as 'immortality', though it refers specifically to the body's inability to be lethally wounded).

And, not all that time after, she then took the brunt of a Neunwelt Magisphere, which mind you, is pretty much the single thing that can kill Giant types, and it was imbued with Negative Magie, which is said to be extra toxic to Lilies (i'm not gonna lie it's actually pretty crazy that she survived that.)

Now i bring all of this up because after what my friend had said, it made me look at this scene, and all the instances of Tazusa throwing herself in harm's way through a much different and raw lens. You see, the single most important point about Regenerator is that, while the wounds do completely heal, the pain remains.

So, if we forget Assault Lily's low age rating for a second, and just look at it as a real universe, with real humans whose bodies behave at least somewhat like humans over here do, Ando Tazusa knows what her guts look like, she knows all too well the feeling of her flesh tearing itself apart, of her innards being outside of her body, where they should not be, even long after her wounds have long healed.

But i think what gets to me the most about it is not only that she knows it, but Team Hitotsuyanagi also does. Riri, the inexperienced and naive first year, Mai, who is now her Schutzengel, the reserved and battle averse Fumi and Yuujia, etc, etc. They all sleep at night with the image of Tazusa's bloody, and more likely than not, mangled visage, stored in their memories.

The Magical Girl veil, and, in LB's case, overall lighthearted tone often makes you forget this, but Lilies are soldiers in a battlefield, and above all, they're children, children who, for as effective as they are in avoiding casualties (like the way they talk about the Odaiba Counteroffensive you would not believe that nobody died in that battle) are still being sent to the front lines, to experience things that even adults are demonstrably unable to process.

Ando Tazusa is fifteen years old, and she knows what her guts look like.

Hitotsuyanagi Riri is fifteen years old, and she knows what her dear friend's guts look like,

Yoshimura Thi Mai is sixteen years old, and she knows what her beloved Schild's guts look like.

I genuinely cannot put into words how much this makes my blood run cold.

Now like i said before, even though there are other Regenerator Boosted Lilies in the series, like Makina, for example, Tazusa seems to injure herself the most often, making it painfully clear that she's going out of her way to be wounded. We learn pretty quick, in Boosted Friend and in League of Gardens, that she desperately wants to die.

Now, even superficially, it really doesn't come as a surprise. At this point in the story, she was still under GEHENA's thumb, being forced to participate in their experiments. And, being both a human experiment and the daughter of a so-called "war criminal", the people around her would treat her like a subhuman. Up until that point, she didn't believe that Team Hitotsuyanagi or Yurigaoka could do anything for her, despite all their best efforts to reach out to her, and she had no hope that her life could one day be worth living.

So, she resigned herself to being GEHENA's lap dog, not out of loyalty, but simply because she saw no merit in going against them. All she could hope for was that one day, their mad experiments would become mad enough to finally rid her of her own miserable existence.

Again, that's not really the interesting part of this, i'd even say it's understandable, in a sense, really. What is interesting, however, is that she never stopped, even after Yurigaoka covered for her, even after she finally settled proper with Team Hitotsuyanagi, she kept on throwing herself in harm's way, letting her body be torn apart, she kept on enduring that pain.

The other interesting thing to note here is the manner how Tazusa continued her self harm tendencies. In Main Story 1-9 (which i assume happens after Boosted Friend given her more firm stance against GEHENA, particularly after meeting Ran), after she takes a heavy hit for Chikaru, she says this:

"I didn't do what i did because I wanted you to feel sorry. Honestly, I wasn't even thinking of anything, my body just moved by itself, and hurt itself on its own accord... that's all there is to it."

Also, even in the "just fluff" -Secret Memoria- manga, there was this:

Then, throughout the entirety of the Team Hitotsuyanagi's half of Chapter 2, Tazusa was extremely nonchalant in the multiple times she wounded herself, each of those times her wounds being described as severe, and to reiterate, Regenerator heals the injuries, but the pain remains.

It actually sort of made me mad how dismissive everyone else was of Tazusa's side of this whole ordeal throughout Chapter 2, like on one hand i get it, they're on a mission against the clock against a Special Giant-type, and yeah as soldiers they should trust their teammates' judgment. But at the same time it just doesn't enter my head how they saw Tazusa freaking tearing herself apart like every other day, jumping in front of attack after attack, and just went on like it was normal.

Yes, as the leader, it was important for Riri to learn how to press on when suffering a casualty, but i do feel her grief during the chapter was 100% justified considering that Tazusa wasn't just taking reasonably expected battle wounds, she was straight up destroying herself over and over like a sacrificial lamb to protect Riri and everyone else, and to me that was absolutely worthy of being addressed.

Now back to Tazusa herself, this was something that was made exceedingly clear later on, but that I had picked up since her exchange with Chikaru back in Chapter 1: Tazusa's defeatist outlook didn't really ever go away, but rather, it took on a mask of utilitarianism.

For Tazusa, being alive was a curse, GEHENA robbed her of any sense of normalcy and comfort in her own skin when they cut her open and pumped into her veins the blood of the very monstrosities mankind was fighting against. Then, they forced her to do their bidding, treating her like nothing more than a hound, a lab rat, a number on a screen. She then had to contend with carrying the legacy of her father's besmirched name, she was the "disgraced" daughter of a "war criminal", with little she could do about it.

And to top it all off, she was denied that which she thought was her only way out of all of this: death. She couldn't die, no matter how hard she tried, so not only her life was made completely miserable, but whatever way there was for her to break free of that misery was taken away from her. She would live through that pain, physical and mental, whether she wanted it or not.

(On a side note, we see in Boosted Friend that even before all the chapter 3 developments, Tazusa already saw herself as a "monster", a "thing", so i imagine it must sting for her really hard whenever cats get scared of her.)

Then, all of a sudden, she had a home, an institution who cared for her, she had a team that accepted her for who she was, and a certain someone who would go out of her way to talk to her and listen to whatever she had to say even when she tried to push her away...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

So Tazusa is now caught between years of internalized self loathing, of genuinely having no hope that she could ever find joy in living, and now being surrounded by people who would go above and beyond for her safety and well-being.

Now put those same people in a situation where they could be greatly injured, crippled, or even die, something Tazusa knows from experience she can endure...

See, i mentioned how strange it was that everyone was sort of unbothered by what Tazusa was doing during Chapter 2, but interestingly, that included Tazusa herself. While she was concerned about how all of that affected Riri, it didn't seem like she saw her self sacrifice as too big of a deal when it very much was. I wanna say this again but i do feel there is a big difference between expected battle wounds and just straight up being a meat shield, that is absolutely not something you just shrug it off.

That, I believe, is Tazusa's self loathing manifesting itself in a different manner, in a way that isn't clear even to herself. While she's no longer outright miserable or suicidal, Tazusa still seems to view herself as inferior to the rest of Team Hitotsuyanagi, she seems to greatly treasure the lives of those around her, while simultaneously viewing her own self injury and pain as undeserving of mention.

Now, from a purely logical standpoint, there is an argument to be made about how her ability to regenerate justifies her acting like a sacrificial lamb, and in fact i really feel like that's what Tazusa believes herself on the surface, seeing that she really did seem intent on living and being with Team Hitotsuyanagi:

"... In the past, I always fought my battles alone, i came close to death countless times, and countless times i wished to die." "But, thanks to Riri, I began wanting to live, with everyone from Team Hitotsuyanagi by my side, and fight to protect this world, and our future."

However, it is important to consider how this mindset highlights a disparity between how Tazusa sees her standing among the rest of Hitotsuyanagi, because if on one hand, she cares so deeply about Riri and everyone else to the point that she'd rather tear herself apart than see them get hurt or killed, but simultaneously doesn't see her injuring herself so greatly as any cause for their concern, it shows that she doesn't hold herself to the same regard as she does her friends.

Utilitarianism proposes that an action should aim to increase the overall of human happiness, and historically, that includes things carried out at the expense of others or of the self. I believe Tazusa, even if unconsciously, sees herself as someone who should suffer in the stead of others, because that is the action that will provide the "objectively" better outcome, because her suffering does not matter as much as somebody else suffering does.

Now that is palpable enough throughout Chapter 2, but it's made exceedingly clear in 双星のコントラスト Part 3, when her mind starts to seemingly deteriorate:

"Very soon, I won't even remember who I was..." "When that happens, what will I turn into...?" "Will I just go mad, like a Huge...?" "Or will I become something else entirely...?" "No, that doesn't matter" "Whenever that happens, everyone will...! I don't want to hurt them... anything but that...!" "And also... I don't want them to see me losing myself either...!" "Since they're all so kind...!" "I'm sure it'll hurt them, having to go against me..."

The very moment she begins to lose grasp on her sense of worth as a human being, that she begins to feel like she doesn't belong in Yurigaoka and Hitotsuyanagi's care again, the first thing she does is run away. Now granted, her memories were slipping away, and she could no longer remember her decision to stay with them, but later on in 誓いのリコネクト, even after she gets Evil Eye under control, even after she says that her memories came back, she still says this:

Mai: "So, since you remember me, I'm guessing your memories are back where they should be?" Tazusa: "It's still a little muddy everywhere, but... i think so" Tazusa: "What you said to me, what Riri... and everyone said to me... it's all here... deep inside my heart..." Mai: "That's fine and dandy then!" Mai: "Now c'mon, let's go back, Riri 'n everyone else are waiting for you." Tazusa: ".... I can't do that." Mai: "Why not?" Tazusa: "Because I... I hurt everyone so much already..." Tazusa: "Not just on the surface, but inside too..." Tazusa: "Someone who does that doesn't belong anywhere..."

It didn't matter that she was under GEHENA's control, it didn't matter that deep inside she did want to go back and be together with everyone (as she proceeds to say just after this), it didn't matter that everyone still came for her after everything. In Tazusa's mind, whatever pain she was suffering through wasn't anything, not when compared to the pain she inflicted on everyone else, so she doesn't deserve to be together with them, she's not worthy of their kindness.

"That's enough, Tazusa... It's alright..." "Even if you don't remember me anymore..." "I still... love you all the same..."

(This little exchange freaking wrecked me I'm not even joking...)

I mentioned earlier how it bothered me the way Tazusa's self sacrificing wasn't given the attention i think it should have in Chapter 2, and I feel so vindicated that this tail end of Chapter 3 did address it, not only in that Mai outrights says how much she regrets not having done anything back then, but also because of how, in 極天に集いし花々, it goes on to show that Tazusa, having seemingly made progress with her struggles with self worth, seems to have a more reasonable stance on taking risks:

Tazusa: "Riri, I can use my 'Evil Eye' to stop the Ultra class' movements. If it goes well, I might even be able to take its reflector off." Riri: "But isn't that dangerous...?" Tazusa: "I'll be fine, after all, i'm sure Mai-sama will protect me" Mai: "Ugh.... i was gonna stop you too, saying that is not fair!" Tazusa: "Oh really, but you will protect me, won't you?" Mai: "You don't even have to ask!"

Although she does end up pushing herself, she no longer reads to me as intent on breaking her own bones for the sake of others, i mean she even asks Mai out on a date to give her the will to pull through, and when Yuni shows up to take her place, she stops with little resistance.

Also, while not as relevant to this point, i just need to share this exchange that happens at the start of the chapter:

Shiera: "To be frank, I shouldn't have let you take part in this mission." Tazusa: "I'm a member of Team Hitotsuyanagi, I can't just sit around doing nothing. And besides, I won't let GEHENA take control of me again! Shiera: "I must concur, greatly unfortunate it will be, should you succumb to their spell again." Shiera: "Yet, you mustn't carry your burdens alone. Rely on those around you, as unity is the way of the Lilies." Tazusa: "I'm relying on them plenty already." Shiera: "And still strained you appear. You must allow yourself to be coddled some more." Tazusa: "Coddled..." Shiera: "You have a partner now, have you not?"

(Freakin' tell her, Ms. Chairwoman, Tazusa deserves to be the happiest wife Schild in the whole universe)

(I don't want to see them apart ever again)

I've always had a soft spot for the "experiment" Magical Girl (they do seem to show up quite a bit), Fate from Nanoha, Chris from Symphogear, Kazumi and even Suzune from the PMMM universe, there's something particularly inspiring for me about being able to reclaim your humanity from the ground up, even in the face of great despair. But if memory serves me right, i feel like Tazusa was the first time i saw myself in said struggle. I don't imagine it's that foreign of a sentiment for anyone to not feel like you're worth the life you have, that your struggle is not important compared to everyone else's, or that the pain you endure is only necessary for everyone to be happy, I used to think like that for a great deal of my life actually, from minor things like the most uncomfortable seat in the classroom, to things that genuinely caused me real harm, i'm all too familiar with the thought of "if someone has to take it, then it's better if it's me".

It's not really something that ever goes away on its own I think, i mean, i'm very conscious of it now, but every now and then i still find myself taking the fall for somebody else when i don't need to, even if it's just some minor inconvenience. Which is why i think Tazusa stood out to me, because among the other "experiment" girls in Assault Lily, i feel like she shows the best how the path to coming to terms with your own condition, to loving yourself, never really ends, and there will be sidetracks every step of the way. Even when you yourself feel like you've made it through, and that the worst has passed, you're never really free from the possibility of falling into a path of self destruction again, that is also something that i unfortunately know from experience.

I became extremely attached to Tazusa as i was going through the story, like seriously, she's hands down my favourite Lily from the Yurigaoka side of the game. It hit me hard every time she'd throw herself in front of danger, with no regard to her own well being, and look, while i can't lie that Alchemist is a sick as heck ability, it seriously pained me every time i'd see her get hurt. And it was because i'd react so strongly to how little she seemed to love herself that i started to once again pay attention to my own utilitarian habits.

Of course, i'm not out here taking flesh-tearing energy blasts or anything, but it was precisely seeing it taken to this extreme that made me realize that maybe the actual optimal alternative, that would actually make everyone around me happy, would be the one where I spare a little more love and respect to myself.

August the 8th, happy birthday, me!

[mirchloe]

it's the last day of lesbian visibility week, so here's a few lesbian headcanons!

franke realized she liked girls when she was real, real little. she just didn't have any interest in boys. she always wanted to be around girls and be liked by them. kitty is her first girlfriend, and she feels really special when they're together. she feels like kitty picked her out of every other girl in camp. i do think this earns lili's frustration because she used to be close with kitty, so there's a bit of jealousy at play, and franke has picked up on it a little.

frazie and norma lesbian realness. personally, i like aro lizzie who doesn't care much for gender or using labels, but she does have preference for girls. back to the teen lesbian duo, though, i love that they're somewhat classic opposites attract because frazie still has so much baggage to unpack about her own internalized psy-phobia. i don't think they'd be close during that first summer, especially since frazie is more of a wild card, and norma, now a junior agent, is aspiring to become a full-fledged "drop the junior" agent. they're stubborn! they're snide! norma's hitting her with a smile that oozes smugness, and frazie knows she can just fling her like a rubber band, but fine, she wants smug? she wants cocky? frazie has that in spades. (also, she isn't that miffed about the hazing deal as i think people headcanon her to be - she practically rolls her eyes when raz says she can defend him or whatever during her dialogue tree. she'd be a little annoyed, yeah, but nothing like, 'ohh, you guys are the worst, and i'm gonna pelt you all with acorns the size of your heads, if you don't say sorry.' raz would be embarrassed because those are his friends, and he doesn't need a sorry because they've taken him under their wing! they like him! he's a cool li'l dude!) but what makes frazie and norma so interesting to me is that they can bring out different sides of each other. norma is proud to be psychic, proud to be an agent, and she can show frazie that there is joy in being a psychic. frazie can help norma leave her carefully cultivated shell, get messy, be a little rebellious (reasonably! because norma is not risking her job). also, raz would make the most disgusted faces at them. it's his personal hell. goodbye, razputin.

cassie and gloria are old women yuri. i think cassie's affection for lucy is unrequited. she simply doesn't feel the same, and cassie internalized that, especially since she went decades without having her answers. lucy loves her, but it's not the same as what cassie desired. it's a bygone love, and cassie has learned to move on - and so has gloria! she dealt with so much comphet throughout her life and her personal tragedies. she had affairs with men and women, and realizing she's a lesbian later in life was freeing. i think they'd have a sweet romance, something comforting and filling of their gaps.

and speaking of comphet, the camper queen of it - elka. what can be said about her? she's beholden to her foresight. she believe whatever horrors the future shows her. it will come true. it's happened for all the dooms. so, seeing herself with nils is like a sentence. she will be with him, and since she's become that entwined with fate, she's determined to at least make herself happy in their relationship, even when she's forcing it on him, and nils is clearly wanting out (though, nils isn't exactly innocent, either). she moves to the flow of the waves, so her big moment is saying no to the future, realizing that she needs to grab her own happiness instead of nodding along to the insistence of her visions. i think she'd realize she prefers girls when she's older (twenty-something? maybe mid to late twenties) since her childhood and teenage years are spent being "boy crazy" and "spiraling in depression," as written by her therapist. (at least dogen is good soundboard when she needs to vent! he thinks she's being dramatic, but gets that she's going through a lot and tries to help, though his advice often goes through elka's ear and out the other.)

[minevn]

Could I request some Yani angst?

WHOA BOY!! I have no clue if you want head canons or a drabble so i'll do both!

HUGE TW FOR MENTIONED ABUSE, SELF HARM, AND POTENTIAL EATING DISORDER

Head canons:

Known knowledge that Yani would change or add anything you liked or wanted onto her personality.

Nobody has EVER wanted Yani, not even its parents

Mc is the first person that has ever been somewhat nice with Yani, and if you get with Yani, you're the only person that has ever accepted Yani

Yani has a chest full of rejected love letters(Letters she got back because no one liked her)

Yani has always been strange and therefore outcasted.

Yani has an older brother, one who doesn't support him. Additionally Yani's parents have ALWAYS chosen Yani's older brother.

They're jealous of Jun having a supportive older sibling

Does multiple things to harm themselves, such as cutting, biting, hitting, starving(there's way more to this one), pierced themselves(Which normally is fine but they did it with the intention of feeling the pain), strangles themselves, and more!

Drabble:

Christmas time, a time of year Yani dreaded. Everyone else had family and friends to spend their Christmas with. Yani focuses on the sound of snow crunching beneath her shoe. She wanted to spend Christmas with you... You're spending it with Jun though. Jun, of all people. Jun has a supportive sister she can spend Christmas with, she doesn't NEED you like how Yani does.

Before heading home, Yani stops by a cake shop to get a tiny cake for herself.

"Yani?" Yani looked up towards the sound of the familiar voice.

"Minato?" Yani's eyes widened slightly. "You alone too?"

"...No, I'm celebrating with my grandparents." As soon as Minato said no Yani stopped listening. What's the point, no body will understand Yani anyways. "Do you want to-"

"No." Yani takes his cake, pays for for it, and leaves. Yani kicks the snow underneath her foot as she speed walks to her house, her lonely, cold, broken down, messy house that was decorated for no reason.

Seeing her house in the distance, she walks faster, wanting to eat cake and be done with the day, however, she slips on some ice. The cake, the only thing she was looking forward to tonight, goes flying, while Yani hits its head on the hard ice. Yani lays there, thinking about the day, then thinking about the week, the month, the year, every year Yani has had the misfortune of being alive. Tears well in Yani's eyes and before she can even try to stop them, they fall. "Damn it...damn it all!" Yani puts her arm over her eyes, sobbing. She doesn't want to get up, she doesn't care if she freezes, she HOPES she freezes. "Merry Christmas, Yani..."

[deathdxnces]

👫 can i ,,, 👉👈

» — SEND 👫AND I'LL WRITE FOUR HEADCANONS ABOUT OUR MUSE'S RELATIONSHIP

— @vulpesse

!!!!

of course you can i've had them for 5 minutes and i'd die for them being friends tbh

they're both very lonely, but also very closed-off and find it difficult to open up to others; ahri has been alone for a long time, irelia seldom managed to allow herself to grow close to people after all the losses she suffered. we haven't talked about how they met, but i imagine it would've been under circumstances that demanded some degree of truthfulness from both sides. irelia would certainly be familiar with some of the many tales about the nine-tailed fox, and that, as well as her connection to the spirit of ionia and nature itself, would definitely lead her to act respectfully toward her. ahri, being capable of reading emotions to some extent, would certainly be able to pick up on the grief and anger that have long since made a home in irelia's heart, which i imagine would impact how she'd view irelia at first, for better or worse. but i also think deep down, even beyond their loneliness and the difficulty to let others close, they share the same core of longing for companionship, for people who see them for what they are and accept and love them as such, without the burden of idealized awe or the judgment toward sharp ferocity. and i think once that became apparent to irelia, she'd find it very easy to open up to ahri.

irelia makes it a habit of visiting ahri whenever she has time for it; she doesn't have many friends, but she deeply treasures the ones she has. a big fan of trying out ahri's tea blends. i imagine to some extent the groves' other inhabitants would grow somewhat accustomed to irelia being around.

i'm sure a being born from nature itself who has lived and will live far longer than irelia's entire life has no real need of being looked after, but that will not stop this blade dancer from worrying over her and wanting to make sure she's okay — and well, that goes beyond the physical too. mentally, emotionally, all of it; if something seems off or if ahri seeks out support, irelia will be there for her either way. but even physically, if something or someone threatens ahri or her forest or the things that are important to her, irelia will fight whoever is responsible. she's always ride or die tbh. whatever ahri needs, she'd be there for her.

sure, ahri eats people sometimes, but hey, it isn't like irelia doesn't kill a bunch of them. i touched on that in that ask reply the other day, but i don't think irelia would be afraid (or judgmental) about even the most feral side of ahri. in many ways, she does see ahri as a force of nature, capable of helping or harming; but i think it's also that part of her, the part that reveled in her revenge and continues to enjoy cutting noxians open, the part that is violent and remorseless about it, also finds a sense of kinship with her on that. as you said the other day, the break made both of them sharper; irelia doesn't fear or judge ahri for it when in her on way she experiences something that is to some extent similar.

but also bonus hc because i remember reading one of your hc posts that discussed how loneliness makes ahri possessive when she does have someone around, and it made me think with them being friends, she'd likely grow a bit protective of irelia too. perhaps judgmental of anyone who gets close. likely aggressive if she feels there's reason for it. possibly would lead to irelia often being like no it's okay i promise it's fine akjdfnakn

[helloalycia]

the weird archer [two] // kate bishop

summary: now that you and Kate are getting along, you find yourself spending more time with her and begin to notice the effect you have on her.

warning/s: none.

author's note: so glad you’re enjoying this so far! there’s one more part after this so hope you like it ♥️

one / three / masterlist / wattpad

YOUR POV

Part of being a university student meant doing things outside of your degree to look good. And though it was probably terrible of me to say I signed up as a volunteer at a care home solely for that reason, it was the truth.

Yelena needed something extra to put on her resumé, too, so she planned to join me with hopes that by volunteering together, it could be more fun. Only, when I got there and waited around for the blonde, she showed up with Kate Bishop by her side.

I raised my brows with surprise when I saw her, but cleared my throat as to not appear rude. "Hey, guys. Kate. I didn't know you were coming, too. Not that it's a problem, but yeah. Nice to see you."

Kate seemed embarrassed as she glanced at Yelena. "Yelena said she told you..."

I shook my head slightly, making her slap her friend on the shoulder.

"Yelena, you idiot, you told me she was okay with it!" she muttered over her shoulder, as if I wasn't standing right in front of her. Before Yelena could defend herself, Kate looked back to me with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to add myself to this whole thing. I can totally leave–"

I chuckled, cutting her off. "Kate, chill. It's fine, honestly. The more, the merrier. We're all helping out after all, right?"

She breathed out slowly, still embarrassed but nodding in agreement.

"C'mon, they're expecting us any minute," I said with a reassuring smile, before leading the way to the reception to sign in.

After greeting the manager and getting a tour of the place, we were started off with an easy enough task – serving drinks to the residents.

"I'm gonna go and see if there's any more mugs and glasses in the kitchen," Yelena said when we attempted to pour some drinks out and realised there wasn't many cups out.

Kate and I nodded as she left, and I grabbed some cups of juice and handed them out to the residents who asked for them, before getting a few more 'orders' and returning to Kate.

"Two coffees with milk and no sugar, please," I told her with a friendly smile, and she nodded, getting to work. Jokingly, I added, "Don't spill it on me."

Realising what I was referring to, a nervous chuckle escaped her lips. "Are you seriously gonna keep bringing that up?"

I tried not to laugh. "Duh. It's hilarious."

Giving me a knowing look and somewhat confident smile, she said, "I've got it under control."

And just on cue, when she put the coffee jug down, she knocked over an empty mug on the tray in the process, making me laugh.

"Smooth, Kate, really," I teased, replacing the mug.

She exhaled, flustered, and handed me both mugs without looking up. I grinned, starting to appreciate how awkward she got at times like this. I was already looking forward to working with her now, and accepted the mugs before going to serve them.

The rest of our two hour shift went by in a breeze since we had each other to make it more interesting, and then Yelena offered to give me a ride back in her car so that made it easy enough to get home. I was sat in the backseat chilling whilst Yelena drove and Kate had dibs on controlling the music.

Again, I had never really spent as much time with her these past few years because of the misunderstanding that she hated me, so I didn't know too much about her. But as she put some music on, something we could all vibe to, I realised her taste in music was similar to mine.

On the way back to campus, Yelena had to make a pit stop to get some petrol, so Kate and I used that as our chance to buy a snack whilst we waited.

"Okay, I'm gonna get this jumbo chocolate bar," Kate said when we were in the store, rejoining my side after wandering off to find something good. "Don't judge me, I'm hungry."

A smile tugged at my lips when I saw the size of the bar, but I said nothing.

"You picked yet?" she asked, looking forward to see what I was looking at.

"I think I'm gonna get the gummy bears," I decided, picking them up off the shelf. "But I'm not sure because I'm not a fan of the green ones and I don't wanna waste them."

She grabbed the bag from my hands, turning around to read the flavours, before shrugging and handing it back to me. "I'll eat them for you. No waste then."

I snickered. "Problem solved. Thanks."

She flashed me a smile, for once not faltering under my stare, and led the way to the till to pay. After that, we met Yelena back in the car and split our snacks. Kate did as she promised, eating my green gummy bears, and I appreciated it very much.

————————

The main part of my degree was building a portfolio of work to show news organisations when I applied for jobs afterwards, so I tried to take on as many opportunities as I could at university. That included covering events, competitions, tournaments and so much more.

My latest job was covering the archery competition taking place on campus for the news site, involving our archery team that Y/BF/N and Kate were on, competing against a rival school. It was an exciting affair, with lots of supporters, families and friends in the stands and milling about before the competition actually began.

I was racing around with my camera a lot, trying to cover every aspect of the competition – the fans, the participants, practice, the judges – for the article that would be accompany the photos, as well as my portfolio. The archers were still practicing beforehand, warming up before the competition began, so I was getting some shots of that and trying to stay out of the way.

Y/BF/N was used to me with my camera, so continued as normal as I got some photographs of her. But Kate wasn't, and I found her next, wanting to get a photograph of her as she lined up her arrow in her bow with the targets ahead. Probably seeing me in her peripheral, her look of concentration faltered and she glanced in my direction, eyes widening slightly. I lowered my camera, giving her a little wave and smile, and she suddenly let go of her arrow without looking.

The arrow whizzed straight past the target and almost hit her coach, who spun around, startled, and looked to Kate. I held in my laughter as she raised her hand in the air with an apologetic frown on her lips.

"Sorry!" she called out to him, and I shook my head with amusement before moving onto something else to photograph. For an athlete, she was pretty clumsy.

Soon enough, the competition began and I made sure to get the best shots I could whilst also rooting for our team. Obviously Y/BF/N was an amazing archer, I already knew that, but I'd never really seen Kate in action before until now, and she was seriously good. It was an odd sight, seeing her so calm and collected and unlikely to trip over her own two feet, but I guess that was expected when she was doing something she loved.

I wasn't ashamed to admit that she looked quite cute in her archery uniform. Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, her fringe initially fastened back, too but slipping out every time she moved around, framing her face. She had this little concentration face she did whenever she took aim – lips pursed, eyes focused ahead and slightly squinted, jaw clenched... and she never, not even once, missed the centre of her target. The audience would erupt into cheers and applause when she made the shot, and as if in a trance, she'd snap out of it and grin widely, looking over at them before sharing the excitement with her team. It was adorable.

After the competition ended and we won (I didn't ever doubt that to be honest), it was quite chaotic with our team celebrating, families coming out from the stands to support their children, judges handing out medals. I snapped several photos of it all, the joy contagious and making me smile as I witnessed it all in action. Then when I was certain I had enough, I went to take a breather by the stands and have a look at the shots I'd got.

"Should you really be all by yourself when we just took victory?"

I looked up, smiling when I saw Jamal approaching me with an amused smile.

"I'm reviewing my work," I told him knowingly. "Gotta get these shots to editorial tonight."

He raised a brow. "Oh, you're covering the event? They had me covering the career's fair depressingly enough."

I chuckled, glad I hadn't been given the boring stuff.

"Can I see?" he asked, motioning to my camera. "I'm sure it's all great to be honest. You're really talented."

I waved a hand dismissively. "Pfft. Don't flatter me or I'll actually believe it."

He laughed as I stood beside him, holding my camera between us to show him the photos I got. It was nice to get a second opinion from a fellow classmate, especially from a photography perspective and not just Y/BF/N telling me everything looked good.

Suddenly, an arrow whizzed past Jamal's ear, startling the both of us, and we looked up to see it hitting the stands in a clatter.

"What the hell was that...?" he mumbled with confusion, turning around.

I turned around, too, eyebrows furrowed, and saw nobody there aside from the dozens of people celebrating. Though, I noticed two archers stood in the direction it came from. One was Kate, and she was busy talking to her teammate, not even looking our way. Hmm.

"I should get going anyway," Jamal said, looking back to me. "The shots are all great, Y/N. Can't wait to see which ones you choose for the site!"

I returned his smile. "Thanks, Jamal. Catch you later, yeah?"

He nodded, waving goodbye as he walked away. Biting my lip with curiosity, I went to the stands to grab the arrow that almost took Jamal's head off. It wasn't hard to pick up as it had slipped onto the grass, and when I did, I immediately recognised the purple colour on the fletching – only one person on the archery team had purple on her arrows.

Why had Kate shot that at Jamal?

Arrow in hand, I approached the weird archer (getting weirder every day, might I add) and watched as her conversation with her teammate ended when she noticed my presence.

"I think you dropped this," I said sarcastically, holding the arrow out towards her.

She tilted her head, feigning confusion. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Refraining from smiling, I quirked a brow and turned the arrow between my fingers, pointing to the purple fletching. "That's your colour, right?"

She didn't say anything, but I could tell she wasn't expecting me to notice. With amusement, I replaced the arrow in her case on her back and changed the subject.

"Congratulations on winning," I said, smile widening. "You did amazing out there."

She smiled bashfully, looking down. "Thank you, Y/N."

Grinning now, I added, "Sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to distract you and make you almost kill your coach."

She scrunched her nose together. "Pfft, you didn't distract me. I just... happened to make a mistake whilst you were present, that's all."

"Mhm," I agreed, stifling my laughter and nodding, "whatever you say, Kate."

She rolled her eyes to distract from the pink dusting her cheeks, before asking, "So... you were talking to that guy in your class. Is he, like, a good friend of yours or something?"

I squinted, studying her nonchalant expression as she awaited a response. If I wasn't mistaken, I'd almost think she was jealous of Jamal, but no, that couldn't be right... could it?

"He's in my class," I answered, attempting to gauge her reaction. "We help each other out with our photography. It's nice to get a second opinion, y'know?"

Her blue eyes, bright under the sun, flickered to mine with a softened expression. "Can't you ask Y/BF/N for a second opinion? Or Yelena? Or– or me?"

How was this the same cool, calm and collected athlete that won this competition with the highest scores on the team? Right now, she was a stuttering, nervous mess and though it was endearing, I didn't understand why.

"He just happens to be around," I said with amusement, shrugging.

She pressed her lips together, exhaling slowly, and nodding. Changing the subject, she asked, "Well, anyway, the team and I are all going out for celebratory pizza. D'you wanna come with?"

Teasingly, I shrugged. "I don't know... Jamal asked me to go out for dinner, too, so..."

She frowned, looking away and rubbing her neck. "Right, yeah, of course," she said quickly. "Have fun."

Unable to hide my laughter any longer, I squeezed her arm gently, chuckling at her confused expression. "Kate, I'm joking. I'd love to go with you guys."

Her frown faded away and was replaced with a smile, eyes glistening with excitement. "Yeah, right, duh. Terrible joke, by the way, but yeah. Okay."

I chuckled, rolling my eyes playfully. She was cute, I wasn't afraid to admit it. And I kind of liked that she was momentarily jealous, if that was what just happened then. It was cute.

————————

I wasn't a morning person, never had been, never would be. Apart from the one lecture I had with Yelena that started at 9am, I made sure to choose classes that started from 12pm onwards. It was better for everyone.

So, when I woke up to Y/BF/N talking annoyingly loud on her phone across our shared dorm, I refrained from strangling her. Hoping she'd realise what she was doing and lower her voice, I stayed quiet and attempted to drift back into my dreams. But she didn't quieten down, and I was getting frustrated.

"Will you please shut up?!" I snapped, not opening my eyes but raising my arm in the air to get her attention.

She fell quiet, pausing, before sheepishly saying, "Sorry."

I groaned, covering my face with my pillow because once I spoke, there was no way I would be able to fall back asleep.

"Do you wanna join me on a morning run?" Y/BF/N asked, and I felt the side of my bed dip in as she took a seat.

"Why the hell would I want that?" I grumbled into my pillow, feeling irritable at the thought of having to exercise so early.

"Yelena is gonna come, too," she explained, ripping the pillow from my hands and looking at me disapprovingly. "She's gonna walk Lucky whilst Kate and I go for a run."

I narrowed my eyes at her hopeful expression, wondering how she had the will to live at this time. But there was no way I was going back to bed, and Lucky was always easy at convincing me to do stuff...

"Well, since somebody decided to take the loudest phone call known to man, I'm already up," I said bitterly, sitting upright and rubbing my face tiredly.

She chuckled. "Great. I'll text the others and let them know. We leave in twenty minutes."

As promised, we did indeed leave in twenty minutes, and after having a coffee, I felt a little more alert and less likely to bite Y/BF/N's head off. Plus, I was gonna walk Lucky with Yelena and dogs made everything better.

When Y/BF/N reached the park, we spotted Yelena and Kate waiting by a bench talking amongst themselves. Kate noticed us approaching first and I waved to her with a smile, but unfortunately for her, Lucky got excited by something in the distance and attempted to run forwards. Still holding onto his leash, Kate was yanked forwards, too, immediately face planting the lamppost next to them and smacking her head on it.

I snorted as I tried to hide my laughter, watching as Yelena and Y/BF/N immediately went after Lucky to go and catch him before he caused mischief elsewhere. I stopped by Kate's side as she stepped back, face scrunched in discomfort.

"Oh my God, Kate, are you okay?" I asked with a mixture of concern and amusement.

Lifting my hand, my fingers wavered over her forehead which was where she'd injured herself, and I studied it, noticing the purple mark already starting to form. She didn't reply, only watched me like a deer caught in headlights, her body frozen before me.

"That's gonna bruise," I warned her, whist smiling at how cute she was acting right now. "Is there ever a time when you're not falling over, hurting somebody else or yourself?"

She cleared her throat when I lowered my hand. "This wasn't my fault to be fair."

I suppressed a laugh, eyes roaming over her face as she smiled nervously.

"Okay, that was hilarious, but are you okay?" Yelena asked breathlessly, returning to our side with Lucky and Y/BF/N with her.

"I'm fine," Kate mumbled, clearly embarrassed by the mishap.

"Right, well in that case, are you ready for a run?" Y/BF/N asked her with a raised brow.

As if glad to be away from the whole thing, Kate nodded. "Yup, let's go."

"Just call us when you're done," Yelena said to them both, before nudging me in the side slightly. "C'mon. Lucky is clearly in the walking mood after that."

I bit my lip to contain my laughter as Kate flushed with embarrassment. Waving goodbye, her and Y/BF/N took off into a run in the opposite direction, leaving Yelena and I to enjoy a nice stroll with Lucky in hand.

We walked Lucky for about an hour, catching up with one another in the process and talking about how our work was coming along for the class we shared. Then we decided to stop by a vendor in the park for a snack, myself getting my favourite pack of gummy bears and Yelena getting a doughnut.

Kate and Y/BF/N joined us soon after that, when Yelena and I were sat on a bench relaxing.

"Gross, you're all sweaty," I joked as Kate sat beside me, catching her breath.

"It's called exercise," she played along, cracking a smile with her red face. "You should try it sometime."

I feigned surprise. "Did you just call me fat, Kate?"

Her eyes widened, any hint of humour lost, and I could practically see the gears in her brain working on overdrive to find a way to backtrack. I laughed at her expression, nudging her in the arm.

"Chill out, I'm kidding," I assured her, before holding out the pack of gummy bears I'd almost finished. "Here. Have a pick me up. It's the green ones."

She breathed out with relief before smiling gratefully and accepting the packet, eating them with no complaint. It was a silly thing we did now, her eating the green gummy bears I left behind. And she didn't have to, but I was grateful, and it was kind of nice to be able share something with her, even if it was just food.

————————

"They're asking if we wanna go there or they come over here," Y/BF/N said, holding her phone away from her ear as she glanced over at me.

I pulled a face like it was obvious. "They've got a bigger place and Lucky. Theirs, duh."

Y/BF/N rolled her eyes and spoke back into her phone. "Yeah, we'll come over there... no, no need, we can pick up the stuff on the way over... yeah, it'll be great. Okay, Yelena, see you both soon. Bye!"

Because things were no longer tense between Kate and I, and hadn't been for a long time, Yelena and Y/BF/N were able to make plans much more easily with all of us included. Though we'd all hung out at different times, such as with Yelena, Kate and I at the care home, or me attending their archery practice, or the dog walk, we'd never actually hung out at either of our places. So, we decided to do a taco night and spend the evening in together.

So, Y/BF/N and I bought all the stuff we needed before arriving at their flat. Yelena opened the door with Kate stood behind her, the two of them flashing us friendly smiles as we walked into the hallway.

"We got everything you need for the tacos," Y/BF/N dove right in, looking in the bags in her hand. "Plus, we got some stuff to make hot chocolates because Y/N makes a mean hot chocolate."

I grinned. "Hell yeah, I do."

Yelena chuckled, taking the bags off Y/BF/N. "Awesome. Thanks, guys."

"So, who's cooking?" Y/BF/N asked curiously, looking between them both.

"Hopefully not Kate," I joked before anybody could respond. "She might set the place on fire."

"Hey!" Kate defended, crossing her arms petulantly. "I can cook!"

I quirked a brow at her. "You're literally the clumsiest person I've ever met."

As Kate opened her mouth to retort, Yelena cut in instead. "Kate isn't clumsy."

I looked to her with surprise, realising she was being serious. "Seriously?"

"Yelena's right," Y/BF/N agreed with a shrug, making me look to her. "Kate isn't clumsy. She's literally a star athlete."

I blinked, taken aback. "Are you guys kidding me? C'mon! She's literally always making a mess or doing something wrong. How are you not seeing this? That's literally her main personality trait!"

"I'm standing right here y'know," Kate said with a knowing look.

Yelena began to laugh at my utter confusion. "She's not, Y/N. Maybe she's only clumsy when she's with you."

I shook my head. "That's not true..."

But then I began to think about it. Are you seriously telling me that Kate was never clumsy when she was with other people? Ever?

"She's only clumsy when she's nervous," Yelena added as an afterthought.

How could that be though? Why would she be nervous around me and nobody else? Did I intimidate her? Was I an intimidating person? I didn't think I was. But now I was second guessing it...

"Right, okay, time to cook!" Kate blurted, grabbing the bags from Yelena's hands. She seemed flustered as she added, "Don't want the food to get bad!"

Yelena scrunched her brows together with confusion. "But they just bought it–"

Kate ignored her as she made a beeline for the kitchen, making Y/BF/N laugh. I shrugged when Yelena looked to me questioningly, before following her into the open plan kitchen and living room.

We all hung out for the next hour as Kate cooked everything up, catching up and talking about God knows what. Before we knew it, she was dishing everyone's food up and calling us to the dining table.

"Wow, this actually smells really nice," Y/BF/N joked, reading my mind. "But geez, you made a lot of mess, didn't you?"

As she laughed, Yelena and I looked up to see what she referring to. We soon joined in with her laughter when we saw the bits of taco seasoning dusting her shirt and hair like she'd wrestled with it and it won.

"It's not that funny," she mumbled with a flustered smile, before shaking her head. "Never mind that. Enjoy! I put a lot of effort into this."

We took our seats at the table and dug in. I filled my taco with salad and sour cream before biting into it, pleasantly surprised at how delicious it tasted.

"This is amazing," Y/BF/N said with partial disbelief. "Props to you, Bishop."

"Thank you," she said with bow of her head, pleased with herself.

"I second that," I complimented. "I honestly didn't think you could cook, but this is awesome."

She tilted her head sarcastically. "Gee, thanks."

I tried not to laugh. "No, not like that. I just meant– I thought you had like butlers and stuff doing this stuff for you."

Her brows furrowed together with a disbelieving smile. "Who do you think I am?"

I met her stare with a quirked brow. "Rich?"

Y/BF/N snorted with amusement as Yelena chuckled.

"I make my own dinners," Kate assured me with a wave of her hand, before pausing, shrugging. "Most of the time."

I hummed, smirking.

"I'm not a huge cook, but this is one thing I'm good at," she explained, before taking another bite.

"Well, it's delicious," Yelena spoke for all of us. "Thanks, Kate."

Kate nodded, eyes squinting as she attempted to smile with food in her mouth. I refrained from laughing as I returned my attention to my food.

It was a nice dinner, the conversation never ceasing, and I was beginning to understand just what I'd been missing these past few years by assuming Kate disliked me.

Shortly after finishing eating, Yelena offered to wash the dishes and pans as I made us all my specialty hot chocolates with syrups, whipped cream and marshmallows. I handed Y/BF/N and Kate's to them first, the two of them sat on the couch comfortably, before leaving Yelena's on the coffee table and bringing mine to the couch. Spotting a gap between Kate and Y/BF/N, I grinned and jumped in the middle, carefully so to not drop my drink.

They both groaned, raising their mugs in the air in an attempt to prevent themselves spilling. I laughed, looking between them both.

"Shit, did you guys drop anything?" I asked, grin never fading.

"You're such an idiot," Y/BF/N said, nudging me harshly in the side as Kate shook her head.

I laughed all over again before pulling my legs up, getting comfortable between them. After waiting a little longer for Yelena to finish cleaning up, we assumed she was ready to join us so we could start a film. But then she announced she needed to pee, making us all groan with impatience.

"I'll be two seconds, chill!" she said with an eye roll before going to the toilet.

Y/BF/N sighed and pulled her phone out, busying herself whilst she waited for Yelena. I clutched my mug, appreciating the warmth as I glanced over at Kate who was flicking through Netflix. I began to snicker as I spotted some taco seasoning still in her hair, and she looked my way with confusion.

"What?" she asked self consciously, eyes darting between mine worriedly.

Reaching out to pull the seasoning from her fringe, I answered, "You've still got it in your hair, idiot." She tensed up next to me, eyes glued to my hand as I pulled it out and flicked it to the side. "There, much better."

She didn't say anything, but her eyes flickered to mine, slightly widened. It was then, as I sat extremely close to her, that I realised just how pretty her eyes were. Bluer than anything I'd ever seen.

"Woah, your eyes are so blue," I said what I was thinking, smiling slightly as I looked between them with intrigue.

She swallowed hard. "What?"

Realising I probably freaked her out, I shook my head. "Sorry. I just never noticed before. They're pretty. But I'm sure you've heard that a million times. I'm just slow sometimes."

I looked back to my hot chocolate, taking a sip, as she hummed in response, exhaling slowly. I didn't really think much of it, and then Yelena returned and it wasn't a thought anymore.

It was getting dark out when the film finally started, and we dimmed the lights to make it feel as much like a cinema as possible. Unfortunately, it also made me sink into the couch a little more, getting cosy and warm, especially after I finished my hot chocolate.

Halfway through the film, I let my head fall onto Y/BF/N's shoulder, hoping find the perfect position, but she instantly shoved me off, making me frown. I loved Y/BF/N, I really did. She was like a sister to me. But that was exactly it. She was like a sister to me.

Groaning quietly, I sighed and sat upright, attempting to get comfortable how I was. But my head felt heavy on my shoulders and I just wanted to lay down, so I glanced over at Kate who was engrossed in the film, oblivious to my staring.

"Psst."

She didn't hear me, so I leaned a little closer.

"Psst, Kate!"

She looked to me with confusion. Also whispering, she said, "What's up?"

"Can I lay on your shoulder?" I asked with a sheepish smile.

She raised her brows. "I– er– sure, I guess..."

I leaned on her shoulder, breathing out comfortingly. It didn't dawn on me straight away, but I soon realised that she didn't move a muscle for the rest of the film and it was cute.

Once the film ended, Y/BF/N had to call it a night since it was getting late and gathered our things.

"You sure you don't want a lift to your dorm?" Yelena asked for the millionth time.

"Uber will be here in a few minutes, but thank you," Y/BF/N said with a tired smile, before hugging her and then Kate. "Thanks both of you. Tonight was fun."

As I hugged the two of them, too, I added, "Yeah, we should do it again sometime. Don't think I can go too long without another one of those tacos."

Kate chuckled, cheeks turning pink. "You're both welcome anytime, you know that. Lucky would love it, too, I'm sure."

"Until next time then," I promised, smiling up at her.

She nodded, avoiding my eyes, and Yelena chuckled to herself before opening the front door for us.

"Text when you're home," she said as we walked out. "Gotta make sure you made it alive."

"Don't care too much," I said sarcastically, and she grinned.

"See you tomorrow, nerds!"

————————

As we got further into the year and closer to the summer, the more time I was spending on my portfolio. I didn't mind as much, despite the pressure to make sure everything would be perfect, because I quite enjoyed picking out my favourite photos and editing them to stand out.

In particular, I found myself going through the photos from the archery competition, searching for a few that could showcase my ability to capture sports on camera. That's when I came across a really great shot of the team when their win was announced. It was one of the many I'd taken at that moment, but this one specifically was of Kate.

It was a candid shot, with her grinning and looking off camera. I probably shouldn't have spent a little longer admiring this shot, knowing it wasn't exactly the picture that I was staring at, but I did it anyway. She was beautiful, I knew that – anyone with eyes knew that – but I hadn't really acknowledged it until this very moment. Eyes bluer than the sea, glistening with pride, and a matching excited smile that was as contagious as it was stunning.

She was such a strange girl, I'd always thought it. Now that I'd established she was only ever clumsy around me, it got me thinking more and more about her without realising. I quite liked having that effect on her. I appreciated the pinkness that would spread across her face when I made her nervous. I enjoyed the way her eyes would look away from mine when I stared for too long. I admired the moments when she'd lose her nervousness upon doing something she loved, like archery.

I was thinking about her more than I should have, and it was inappropriate, wasn't it? So, I flicked through my other pictures to find a different one to include in my portfolio. But her smile didn't leave my mind, and I wasn't sure it ever would.

[stranger-marauders]

shattered

seventeen: the dive

chapter summary: When the group encounters Lover's Lake, Steve takes one for the team to investigate beneath the surface.

chapter warnings: language, canon-typical violence, grief if you squint, scar mentions

word count: 3.0k

series masterlist | masterlist

AS NIGHT FELL on Hawkins, the group of eight picked up their pace to try to find the gate in question.

Kate didn't know how to feel about their hunt to find it. She had no desire to go through a gate, particularly whenever she'd left her gun in her car (per Steve's request, of course). None of them had anything to defend themselves, and she didn't like the idea of them going in there empty-handed. She felt like she was going insane. Was she the only person that remembered what the creatures from the Upside Down had done to people? Done to her? The closer they got, the more anxious she became. She definitely did not want to go to another dimension. Not today.

"Hey, you okay?" Steve asked, touching her shoulder.

At the sensation of his fingers, she jumped, immediately relaxing whenever she saw his worried stature. "Y–Yeah, I'm fine."

He frowned slightly. "Kathy, if you wanna call this off, just say the word and it's over, okay? You and I, we... we can go back, find some other way to help out."

"What? No, that's not—" She cut herself off, lowering her voice. "I just... I can't be the only one that thinks this is a bad idea."

"I'm pretty sure I said it was a bad idea about a hundred times, but Henderson ignored me." He sighed. "He doesn't listen to me anymore."

"Oh yeah?" Kate asked. "You were right about him having a new friend."

"Yeah, it's annoying," Steve said, rolling his eyes.

"I mean, he's not so bad. I just wish he didn't call me Hopper."

Steve gave her a confused look. "What?"

She shrugged, giving him an odd expression. "I don't know, it just... sounds weird. Everyone called my dad that, you know, so it's just... I don't know. It's stupid. I don't feel like I've earned it, you know?"

"Hey, it's not stupid. I get it." He paused. "Just so you know, you've definitely earned it. You're... You're a real badass, okay? And don't let that go to your head."

"Thanks." She pressed her lips together, trying to lose the smile that dusted her lips. "About Eddie, though, he's cool. I mean, he's not cool, but that's what makes him cool. He's proud of it."

"I don't get why you like him so much," Steve said, somewhat bitterly. "He feeds into Henderson's shit, just like he is right now. He doesn't get it, what we've gone through, okay? What you've gone through—"

"Steve, it's okay," she said softly. "Seriously. I've moved past a lot of that."

"But it's not okay, all right? Stop acting like... like this is the way things are supposed to be, because they're not." He paused, trying to collect himself. "Okay?"

Her eyebrows furrowed together confusedly. "How are things supposed to be, then?"

He didn't know to respond to that. Realistically, he didn't know if the way things were supposed to be and the way he wanted things to be were different, but in his mind, they were the same thing. In his eyes, things being right was Jim Hopper, the only father he'd ever truly had, still being alive. Things being right was still being Kate's boyfriend, even if he hadn't done anything to deserve her. Things being right was not having to deal with the world ending again before a year had passed since the last time they'd saved the world, but he couldn't have those things. God, he wished he could have those things. He wanted more than anything to have those things, but he couldn't.

"How are things supposed to be, Steve?"

He sighed. Here goes nothing. "Listen, I still lo—"

"Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin!" Eddie called from ahead of them.

Kate and Steve exchanged glances, running ahead as Steve shined a flashlight into some bushes. By the time they caught up with them, Max and Lucas in front of them and Robin and Nancy behind, Dustin and Eddie had made it to the shoreline of a lake.

"Watch your step, big guy," Eddie said, pulling Dustin back from falling into the water.

"Oh man," Steve said, almost out of breath. "You gotta be shitting me."

"Yeah. I thought these woods were familiar."

"Lover's Lake," Robin said.

"This is... confounding," Dustin said, almost in awe.

"There's a gate in Lover's Lake?" Max asked.

"Hey, Nance?" Kate asked, looking toward her with a questioning look on her face. "Didn't the, uh... Don't you remember when we went hunting with Jonathan? That night, you know, whenever you disappeared for a sec?"

"When I went through that hole in the tree?" Nancy asked, not following.

"Yeah," Kate started, nodding slightly. "Yeah, that. The Demogorgon, it killed that deer and left a snack-sized gate there, too. I mean, every time it attacked, it always left an opening." She paused, only watching the lake in front of her. "Maybe Vecna's the same way, too."

"Yeah, only one way to find out," Steve replied.

Eddie took them over to the boat he'd taken to the shoreline, and he and Steve worked on getting it into the water.

"Easy. I... I said easy, man," Steve said after Eddie slammed it down into the edge of the lake, splashing water onto him.

"Sorry, dude."

"Here you go," Steve said, holding his hand out to Robin as she got in.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna do that," Robin said, entering the boat by holding both Steve's and Eddie's heads to enter. "Thank you."

"Yeah, that works too."

Eddie stepped into the boat after her, taking his seat next to her. Nancy then followed, taking Eddie's hand. "Wheeler."

Kate started to step into the boat, but hesitated and looked down at her dad's jacket that she was wearing. She wasn't going to let it get ruined. Without a second thought, she turned around to Max, taking off her jacket and holding it out to her. "Here, I'm not taking this."

Max took it in her hands awkwardly, folding it and hanging it under her arm as she moved to step in the boat again. When Steve tried to help her in, Eddie stuck his hand out to her. "Good, you got her."

"Hopper."

She nodded once, standing next to where Nancy stood and Robin sat.

When Dustin tried to step into the boat, Eddie blocked him from even attempting. "Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds four people tops, okay?"

"It's better this way, okay?" Nancy said to Dustin after she saw the hurt look on his face. "You guys stay here with Max. Keep an eye out for trouble."

"You keep an eye out," Dustin said to her, earning a pointed look from everyone in the boat. "It's my goddamn theory."

"You heard Nance," Robin said.

"Who put her in charge?"

"I did," Robin replied without a second thought.

"I second that motion," Kate said, sticking her hand out to Dustin. "Compass. Now."

Dustin pouted as he pulled the compass from her pocket, bitterly handing it to her.

Steve quickly stood up, throwing the backpack that he'd been holding to Dustin. "Hey, there you go."

After Dustin bitterly said "ow," Steve pushed the boat off of the shoreline, stepping in and taking his seat next to Kate.

"You said four!" Dustin shouted at the older kids in the boat.

Steve turned back to him sheepishly, whispering whenever he spoke. "Sorry."

"Bedtime at nine, kiddos!" Robin shouted. When Dustin shot them the bird, Kate shook her head and laughed as Robin stood up in the boat. "Miss you already!"

It was quiet as they started to row out to the middle of the lake. Kate kept a careful eye on the compass, almost like it was the only thing that mattered.

Steve, however, tried not to focus on her. He was so out of place right now. He'd almost instinctively told Kate he was still in love with her. Now he was sitting next to her on Lover's Lake, their thighs pressed together. He tried looking into the water to distract himself, flashing the flashlight, as he leaned over the boat, but it didn't matter. He'd picked such a bad time to try to tell her.

"Woah. Woah, woah, woah, slow down. Slow down, guys," Kate said, trying to quickly grab everyone's attention in the boat. Steve held his flashlight over her shoulder, trying to illuminate the compass as it quickly span around. She moved to where Nancy, Robin, and Eddie could also see it.

"Woah."

"Guys, what's going on?" Dustin asked over the walkie. "Come on, guys, talk to me. What's going on?"

Robin picked up the walkie in the boat. "Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital 'aah!'"

When one of Steve's shoes dropped into the bottom of the boat, Kate turned to look at him as he took one of his socks off. "Steve, what are you doing?"

"Somebody's gotta go down there and check this thing out," he said, starting to take his other shoe off. "Unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then..." He sighed once he'd gotten his other sock off, looking up to Kate. "It's gotta be me. No complaints, all right?"

When he stood up, everyone watched him as he stood toward the edge of the boat.

"Hey, I'm not complaining. I do not wanna go down there." Eddie took one of the plastic bags from his groceries out of his pocket.

Kate opened her mouth to say something, but immediately stopped herself whenever she saw him take off his sweatshirt, looking at his bare back. She knew she had to stop looking, but she couldn't tear her eyes away. He surprisingly still looked good, even though he had the excuse to stop working out now that he wasn't playing any sports.

Robin, of course, only smiled as she watched Kate. Called it.

Eddie wrapped the flashlight they had in the grocery bag, taking the box of cigarettes out of it and handing the grocery bag light to Steve. "Hey, good luck."

"Thanks."

Eddie put a cigarette in his mouth when Steve turned around to Kate, throwing her his sweatshirt. "Hold onto this for me?"

She nodded once, trying to avoid looking at his bare chest. Somehow he'd gotten even hairier since last summer, meaning that now she was extremely distracted: she didn't know if she was disgusted or if she was interested. Right now, though, was not the time to be objectifying her ex-boyfriend. "Yep. Got it."

Eddie tried to light a cigarette only for Robin to flick it out of his mouth. "Gross!"

As Steve breathed heavily, almost like he was trying to work himself into actually jumping in the water, Kate spoke again. "Steve?" He turned around to face her, turning down to look at her giving him a tight-lipped smile. "Be careful."

He nodded once at her before diving into the water.

Kate held the sweatshirt he'd previously been wearing in her hands, gripping it tightly. It was cold now that she didn't have her jacket on, the white tank top and the jeans she currently wore not being of any help. She thought about putting on his sweatshirt, but she didn't want to boost Robin and Nancy's antics from earlier by wearing his clothes.

"Woah, Hopper, when'd you get that?" Eddie asked, looking at her collarbone. "That is the, uh... coolest looking thing I've ever seen, man."

Nancy and Robin both sent him alarmed looks, almost like they were trying to warn him away from asking her such a question.

Her eyebrows furrowed together, and she looked down to should instinctively. She'd almost completely forgotten about the scar on her collarbone. "Oh, shit, I forgot about that."

Robin and Nancy exchanged glances: forgot?

Eddie, however, became even more interested. "What is that?"

She sighed, looking back toward the water. "Second go-round from this shit, about a year and a half ago." She paused. "Remember when I missed, like, a lot of school? Everyone talked about it because we said Steve and I got into a car accident?" Eddie nodded, seeming to recall the situation. "Yeah, it was actually from a, uh... Demodog, as Dustin loving calls them. A couple of them. I have a few that are way less cooling looking, promise."

Nancy and Robin exchanged glances—she didn't even seem phased talking about them anymore. Eddie didn't reply, and Kate didn't add to the conversation. All four of them now watched the water, waiting for Steve to reemerge at any given second.

"Where're we at, Wheeler?" Robin asked anxiously.

"Closing in on a minute," Nancy replied, looking at Kate.

"Okay."

Kate hadn't taken her eyes off the water since she'd looked at her shoulder. She couldn't. If he drowned down there, she wouldn't know what to do with herself. It wasn't like she thought he was going to drown—she knew from the multiple times that they had gone swimming when they were younger that Steve could hold his breath for an insanely long amount of time (she'd lost count of how many times he'd faked his death, specifically when they were about thirteen or fourteen). Whenever he sprang out of the lake, though, sending water everywhere, everyone in the boat jumped.

"Oh Christ!" Eddie shouted, his voice going up about two octaves.

"I found it," Steve said, breathing heavily as he trod water.

"You found it?" Nancy asked, almost excited.

"I found it." He held his hands on the side of the boat, holding himself up a bit more so he didn't get any more lake water in his mouth. He was still completely out of breath. "Yeah. I found it."

"Dustin you are a goddamn Einstein," Robin said into the walkie. "Steve found the gate."

"You okay?" Kate asked him, putting her hand over his.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay."

Whenever the kids didn't return Robin's message, she set the walkie down.

"It's pretty wild," Steve said, still panting. "It's more a snack-size gate than the mama gate, but still, it's pretty damn big."

"Okay, we can talk about it more in a sec, let's get you back in the—"

Before Kate could finish her sentence, Steve got pulled back into the water, only to pull himself back up moments later after she grabbed at his arms. He looked to Kate for a second, horror striking his face before he got dragged back under, this time losing his grip on the boat.

"Steve!" Kate shouted, throwing the sweatshirt off of her. They all called for him as he got dragged back down into the water.

"What the hell was that, man?" Eddie shouted.

"What happened!" Nancy asked.

"Kate, really, what happened!" Robin shouted.

Kate shook her head, beginning to breathe heavily as he got pulled down deeper and deeper into the water. She didn't have time to think, only do. She wasn't going to lose him, too. That was why, without a single thought, Kate dove into the water after him.

"Kate, no!"

Steve had been pulled through the gate by a vine, getting dragged across the bottom of the lake. Now as he yelled out, his screams weren't being drowned out by the water—in fact, there was no water anywhere. Once he'd been slammed into a boat covered by a large patch of vines, he took in his surroundings.

His back burned almost like it was on fire. He looked down at the ground as he panted, taking in the vines and rough ground that he'd just been dragged across. He looked at the dark sky, everything dead around him. What made it worse was the inhuman shrieking in the distance.

He'd been pulled into the Upside Down.

As a flash of red lightning went up in the sky, he stood himself back up. He didn't have any time to figure out an escape plan before he heard a call from behind him, a shriek that must've belonged to one of the creatures. He squinted to try and look at it better, his heart started to pound faster and faster as the flying creatures started to surround him.

Steve ran for the boat again, grabbing an oar out of it to try to defend himself with. He tried beating one of them with it, but instead, its tail wrapped around his neck, slamming him to the ground as it choked him. He squirmed as he tried to loosen its grip around his neck, using one arm to try and grab it and the other to pull at its tail. Another one of the creatures latched onto his stomach, beginning to bite at him, then another.

He tried fighting them as hard as he could. The two on his stomach he could only keep away for so long before they came back down to feast on his skin. He knew he didn't have much time before the other one choked him out, cutting off his air supply.

 As he screamed out for someone, anyone, all he could think about was that he was going to die alone in the Upside Down, and there would be no one to save him.

next chapter

taglist:

@thatsonezesty13 @cece5298 @thepowerstoner @alovelytardis @coolchick333 @stand-tall-pineapple @littlet-holmes @guichu @cinderellacauseshebroke @blackbirddaredevil23 @mads-weasley @ilovemarauders @pearlstiare @liableperfections @khaylin27 @girlwiththerubyslippers @cyarikaaa

[aki-mochi]

Levi x Reader: Drunk Love

WARNING: NSFW!! Levi stood there, completely nude, in front of Erwin and Hanji as he covered his stuff while avoiding their gazes. His cheeks turning pink with his hair messy with fly-aways in every direction and his body covered in bites and hickeys. Erwin stood in Levi's living room, not amused, while Hanji was laughing until she was in tears.

"Sooo...you wanna tell me why you are...?" Erwin trailed off.

"I dunno....I-I...just woke up like this...."

"You were drinking last night, huh?" Erwin asked, more like stated.

"A little...." he mumbled, then clicked his tongue.

"Woooow Levi~!" Hanji laughed more.

"Shut up" Levi slightly growled as he tried to remember his actions last night.

~flashback~

Levi sat at a table in a bar with a few of his friends and co-workers, passing time and attempting to get away from the stress of work. Eren, who happened to be one of his best workers, offered him some food while drinking his drink. No sooner did another song start to play, a familiar woman entered the bar with Mikasa.

"I've never been in a bar.” Mikasa stated.

"We can't buy alcoholic beverages so we can just have water and some food. Give us some free time from all the work we've been asked to do." Y/n replied.

She nodded in agreement, looking around at her surroundings only to see the men at Levi's table looking towards them. Truth be told, Y/n and Mikasa worked in the same building as Levi, just on different floors. The two had met on a few occasions and even had small talk in the elevator whenever they were going to the same floor for meetings, but never actually got close to one another.

Levi glanced at the two as they came in and made a bit of a face. "I guess they're getting the same thing you are, Eren." He smirked behind his glass as he looked at Eren's drink suited for him being underaged. Eren pouted and gave somewhat of a glare towards his boss. "If you weren't my boss, and I wanted to not get fired, I'd slap you like I do Horse-face." He mumbled in his glass of apple juice.

"You sound like you're plenty drunk on apples," Levi stated as he set his glass down. "Now you finally have a chance to talk to that girl. I've seen you eyeing her at work." Hearing his comment, Eren did a spit-take with his drink; coughing and pounding his chest a bit. Once he got his breath back, he looked at Levi like he grew two heads.

"Are you insane or drunk?!" He slightly yelled in a whispered tone.

"I'm neither. You shout about being better at your job than The Titan Company down the road but you can't even talk to a girl."

"Yeah?! W-well what about the girl you stare at?! You seem like you stalk her!"

"The only time I even see her is on the elevator. Are you sure you aren't drinking beer?" Levi retorted.

"I'm underage to be drinking unless someone spiked it when I wasn't looking." Eren calmly stated as he took another drink.

"If no one did, they might need to so you can actually grow some balls for at least an hour and act like a man instead of a loud little kid."

Eren glared. "Shut the hell up....I do act mature. Just on some levels." He, then, turned away to stare at the ebony female with a slight blush on his slightly dark skin.

”Can you prove that?" Levi smirked at Eren's attitude.

"What did you say?" Eren growled, thinking his boss is picking a fight when he doesn't feel like throwing a punch while Mikasa is here.

"I said to prove that you aren't a child and go talk to her," Levi told him.

"Fine. I will." He suddenly stood up and walked towards the two sisters, feeling confident in his moves. Levi smirked as he watched, wanting to see how much of a train wreck it would turn into. But the minute Eren was only five steps away, he froze. His face turned a sheer scarlet red and felt his palms get sweaty. But what he didn't expect to happen, was that Mikasa noticed him and gave a small wave to him, making him lose his cool and speed-walking back to his seat before face planting the table. Mikasa flushed a faint pink but couldn't help to give a minuscule smirk from his failure to walk over.

"You’re a wuss" Levi muttered.

"Fuck you....." Eren mumbled against the table.

Levi smirked and took a sip of his whiskey before standing. "Let me show you how it's done," he stated as Eren groaned and watched him as he made his way towards the girls.

Levi walked over to the older of the two with a confident stride, the alcohol taking the edge off of his normal attitude. Y/n was too busy talking to Mikasa to notice him. Taking a french fry off her plate, she ate it and smiled as she was talking about her latest masterpiece for the company due to being in the advertising department. Mikasa mentioned a work project that’s due next week before looking over Y/n's shoulder to see the male.

"This seat taken?" Levi asked.

Y/n turned towards the voice of the male and her eyes widened. "M-Mr. Ackerman....! It's nice to see you again." She smiled softly at him.

"The same to you" he stated. "We don't see each other often. I thought we could talk."

"Of course! Come sit with me!" She smiled and patted the seat on the other side of her. He gladly sat, looking towards Eren and winking in success mainly to show off before talking to the two women. Eren growled and slammed his hands on the table and walked over once more before offering a hand at the grey-eyed female.

"May I sit with the beauty who I'm looking at~?" He asked with a smile.

Mikasa looked and blushed brightly at his words but nodded. “Sure."

With a small hum, Eren sat beside her before gently holding her waist to bring her closer to him. Her blush darkened, looking at her plate of food like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

Y/n eyed the boy, a little surprised at his actions before drinking her iced water, smirking behind her glass as she knew Mikasa has a crush on him. Levi rolled his eyes, ignoring Eren as he talked to Y/n, keeping up a conversation about her interests. About an hour later, Levi was not feeling like his usual self. His cheeks were flushed while his eyes were dilated, black pupils taking up more of his steel-blue corneas. Y/n had offered to take him home while Mikasa stayed with Eren since he's completely sober. After that, Mikasa waved as she left with the green-eyed boy.

He tried to refuse, saying he was fine but she insisted, eventually giving up as he slumped over the table. Y/n slung one of Levi's arms around her neck; the other around his waist while leading him outside. Digging in his back pocket for his wallet and keys, she pressed a button to activate its panic alarm. Upon hearing a frantic horn, she turned to her left to see the flashing lights of a sleek black Ford Mustang. After calming the automobile, she gently helped a drunk Levi into the passenger side before slipping herself behind the wheel. Y/n opened up his wallet and found a small piece of paper with his name and address written in beautiful cursive. Pulling up the GPS on her phone, she punched in his home address to help her navigate before revving up the engine and beginning to drive to him home.

Levi did his best to keep the alcohol's side effects from taking over, grinning as he remembered the feeling of her hand in his pocket but stayed quiet until they got to his house. Once Y/n had gotten him out of his car and into his house, after she had unlocked the door with his keys, she walked him to his room and placed him in bed. She gave a small huff from how heavy he is for a short man. As she tried to leave the room, Levi had grabbed her wrist to keep her in place.

"(Y/n)," he muttered.

"Levi. You're drunk. You need to rest." She said softly so as not to hurt his pounding head.

"Only if you rest with me." He said, not because of how many shots he’s had, but because he’s wanted her since the first day he saw her and this was the only way he could get himself to say it. Y/n smiled and pried his hand off her arm so she could help him get comfortable by stripping him of his clothes. Y/n flushed a scarlet red when he was now only in his briefs which held a proud tent.

He smirked a bit as he watched her. "You can look if you want"

"I-I rather not, thank you...." she stuttered before going to find him some bed clothes he could wear; giving him time to look over her body that was shown by the jeans and shirt she's wearing. Her hair pulled up into a ponytail and her feet dressed in regular tennis shoes. He blushed from more than the booze in his system as he looked over her, letting her help him dress before laying in the bed with him. Y/n covered him up along with herself and sighed softly as she turned her back to him so she can sleep since it's after midnight.

But with Levi still drunk, he couldn't go to sleep. No. He didn’t want to go to sleep. He had a beautiful woman in his bed and he wanted her to be his woman. No one else’s. Levi took advantage of his drunk state and suddenly rolled Y/n onto her back, pinning her to the bed. She blinked, shocked from his sudden actions.

"L-Levi....?" she stuttered.

"Y/n.....~” he purred in her ear while sliding his hands up her shirt, making her shiver at his cold slender hands on her heated skin. "Let me love you," he whispered before colliding her lips with his own, making her body stiffen. She soon felt intoxicated by his touch and kissed him back, craving for more as she entangled her fingers into his soft black hair as she moaned.

Levi kissed her deeply as his hands made their way to her breasts, feeling the soft flesh against his skin. Arching her back at the feeling, she pulled away from his lips for air but gasping the minute he latches his own to her sensitive neck. She moaned his name when he bit her neck then pulled back with a smirk. Y/n looked down to see that Levi had, somehow, stripped her bare naked without her noticing. Trailing kisses down her body, she moaned and ran her fingers through his hair again as she closed her legs when he got between them. He rubbed her thighs soothingly before kissing them to help her relax. Once he thought she was ready, Levi opened her legs and placed his head between them. His tongue slid along her folds before flicking at her clit. Her hips jolted upwards while her fingers tugged at his hair, giving loud lewd moans.

Levi smirked and started to go faster, making her squirm and squeal in complete ecstasy as he tasted every inch of her. He then sucked her bundle of nerves into his mouth as his tongue did wonders. Y/n panted as she arched her back off the bed while her head flew back into the pillows, desperately wanting to move away but his hands held her down in place as he ravished her more. His teeth gently grazed her clit, making her lose control of the volume of her moans as they got even louder before she finally released with a squeak. But Levi kept going, making her beg as he continued to drain her of every drop before pulling off with a small pop. A trembling Y/n laid there panting heavily as Levi licked her clean, sitting up to look down at the beautiful sight under him. Levi chuckled and laid beside her with his arm draped over her waist.

Y/n calmed down from her overstimulated high before she made the bold move to pin him to the bed instead. Levi looked up at her in slight shock from the sudden move before his breath started to hitch when she started to rub the bulge in his pants. She hummed and stripped him bare of any clothes before suddenly going down to suck his cock. Levi's hips bucked at the sudden pleasure of her hot mouth on him, panting as he felt her tongue do circles around the tip.

"(Y-Y/n)~" Levi moaned as he gripped the sheets. "Ngh...! I-I'm gonna....! Ah!" he gave a loud moan as he came in her mouth. Y/n swallowed it all, a little disappointed that he came that quick, and sat up before marking him in hickeys and love bites, loving the sounds that were coming from his mouth. After she was satisfied with her work, she straddled his hips before pushing herself onto him, making her gasp and him moan. When she felt comfortable, she bounced on him as her hands rested on his chest. Loud slapping noises of skin colliding and loud moans filled the room. Y/n decided to bounce faster and go all the way down, earning her a loud moan from Levi as he gripped her hips to help her keep steady.

Pretty soon they both hit their high and came together. Y/n collapsed onto Levi's chest, panting heavily as he held her close to him. Having to pull out, he laid both their bodies on the bed and pulled her to his chest after covering them both with the blanket and going to sleep.

~back to the present~

Y/n walked out of the bathroom only to see a naked Levi standing there, in front of his boss and co-worker as he tried to suppress his blush. Smirking, the said female walked over and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind and satisfied hum.

"Don't worry, Mr. Smith~. Levi was a good boy last night with all the moans I made him do~."

At that, Hanji ran out with Erwin on her tail, trying to suppress their nose bleeds while Levi was a blushing mess at the moment from her comment. Y/n laughed at his reaction and kissed him briefly before giving him a warm smile and going to make breakfast. Levi sighed as he went back to his room to get dressed.

'Maybe getting drunk wasn't so bad after all......'

[cutegirlmayra]

The world is ending (not exactly but things are bad). Before everything goes down, Amy wants Sonic to take here somewhere nice. He does. When sonic puts her down, she’s crying. She asks if she’s ever said that she loves him. He had always loved her but it hit him that this might be the last time she’ll be with him. They embrace as they slowly fall asleep.

Imma go ahead and combined this with another idea I had? Still what you want, but the 'ending of the world' has passed but they were fighting before (A bit in the future? So they're older) and if they don't make up soon,... it may be the last time they'll see each other! D: Oh no! lol

PROMPTS ARE ON SHUTDOWN, I literally looked through all my prompts to find a prompt that would match the idea I wanted to write, and yours hit the bill, my friend!

S(This is not my work, please support the Artist! @mangaanonymous)

Prompt:

it's a pretty bad situation...

Not only is Sonic undermining the danger, he's keeping it to himself, not wanting to worry his friends.

This was all happening during a few years after their famous adventures as kids, now being a little older, and the threats a little more... harder... to bear.

Showing his own worry for his friend's well-beings, Sonic refuses to confide in anyone besides Tails the true dangers that are headed their way, but Amy notices this clear avoidance and while Sonic is cheering on Knuckles and Tails in their part of the plan, she confronts him.

"Sonic... It may be easier for all of us if we just knew what we were up against..." She gestures to Tails and Knuckles, then turns pleadingly to Sonic, her fists close by herself as she shakes them in earnest to get Sonic's attention. "I know you just want to protect our faith in you... and we all believe in you! We really do! But... It's starting to seem like you're keeping things from us... What really is out there, Sonic?" She opens her hand out to him, passing the metaphorical 'talking stick' as it were, but Sonic just looks down at her hand...

His face is full of deep thought, before his eyebrows arch in return to her want of understanding, "Don't you trust me?" He asked, which seemed somewhat hard for him to state in that way... "I've never let you guys down before. If we all band together, I'm sure it won't matter what we're up against!" he gestured to Tails and Knuckles, then to Amy.

Amy's face scrunched up a moment, hurt by his clear rejection of her plea.

"...Uhh... I just think it's best... for morale's sake... that we just take it on as we always have." Sonic backed up a moment, noticing her expression, but formed his own fist and held it strongly up, as though to encourage her. His eyes searched her for the usual agreeance she had always shown in her youth... but... not this time.

His expression turned a bit saddened, a bit... confused.

Why wasn't she just trusting his word, like usual?

Amy lowered her head, "So... you won't tell any of us what's out there?"

Her hands dropped to her sides as Sonic looked to Tails, who shook his hands out like he wanted to stay out of this.

"...I told Tails... But-" he looked down when Amy's head shot up with anger clear across her face, making him flinch back and turn his back to her.

"You told Tails!?"

Knuckles looked to Tails, who shrugged, innocently showing his nerves at Sonic throwing the 'baton' to him in the conversation.

Sonic squinted his eyes shut, forming a tight line on his face before turning back around to Amy and gesturing his arms out again, "What!? What, Amy!? I can't tell my best friend that things are gonna be alright? Shadow and Silver already have their teams lined up and prepared," He angled his eyes and then pointed behind him as he spoke about the others readying their positions for the on-coming dangers. "I don't understand... why are you questioning me?" he shook his head in minor movements, leaning towards her in hopes she'd explain herself.

She just huffed, defeatedly, and turned to Tails, walking towards him. "Fine. If you won't tell us, then I'll just ask Tails myself."

"Keep him out of it!" Sonic reached to her and she stopped before his arm could intercede. He walked to the side of her, seeing that she's halted, and not pulling her back but just keeping his arm out to stop any further movement. "Amy, what's wrong with taking my word for it that we're all gonna make it out of here? You said you had faith in me, right? Would I really let anything happen to you? To them?" He gestured a bit aggressively to Tails and Knuckles, but that was only because he was trying to make a point.

"But then why aren't you saying anything?" Amy's voice turned desperate, turning her attention from Tails back to him, "If this is a losing cause... you wouldn't say it is, would you?" she worriedly confessed her fears as Sonic's quills jumped on end... slowly descending as he stepped back, clearly hurt from her abrupt words.

"S-...Sonic... I just... I want to know..." Amy, seeing how much that seemed to stab his heart, tried to step forward and reach for him, but he turned away from her and held a very 'closed-off' look to his face. His eyes were a bit intense to the ground, his mouth a masked frown as though he was returning to a neutrality.

"I'm heading off to check on the others. Be ready and prepare well... Tails, Knuckles... Take care of Amy." He took off, back towards Amy again, blocking out her emotional responses.

She made a few quickened steps after him before stopping... lingering one foot to the side and then the other... watching his blue blur disappear over the horizon...

Tails sighed, "He barely said much to me, too... But I know he's only doing it to keep us from being afraid." He stated aloud, then turned to Knuckles, "They're both kinda stubborn, though... huh?"

"Heh, hedgehogs." Knuckles shook his head, folding his arms, "That's the first time I ever saw Amy lose a fight to entreat Sonic... he's usually so... appeasing to her." Knuckles's mouth turned to one side, as though not sure how to take this. "Is this... their first real fight?"

Tails nervously laughed under his breath, "I-I... I don't know." He admitted, "But it is pretty rare for those two to not really get along... I mean, normally, their conversations end in Sonic being awkwardly embarrassed and Amy giggling at it. This... this is definitely new." He looked to see Amy slowly lowering her shoulders, her head coming down, and her hands coming up to embrace herself in a self-soothing gesture.

The two men stared...

"Who's in the wrong,... then?" Knuckles wondered, asking for Tails's opinion.

Tails shook his head, "Neither/or. They're both a bit at fault, but for different reasons... I think Sonic should have just had faith in us... instead of asking for more faith in himself and in our past victories... and Amy... I think Amy should have let it go like she usually does... she's so submissive but forceful when she wants something... I'm surprised she pushed this topic for so long after seeing Sonic... so rattled up like that." Tails explained his thoughts, as Knuckles patted his back, taking in a deep breath of air to then let it out.

"Sonic's naturally a hot-head, and we should only focus on things we can control... We can control this outcome to some extent... It would be easier if Sonic wasn't so tight-lipped about it, holding onto a strong face for us all... It's not exactly needed, is it?" Knuckles clearly was siding with the side of getting more information. "Aren't you curious why it takes so many of us to even make a shot at this thing?"

Tails looked down,... clearly, in silent agreement.

"I... I have to trust Sonic's instinct on this one..." He stated... a bit as though he was trying to stay out of an argument. He looked meekly up to Knuckles, "Don't you... Don't you think that's best, too? We know enough to have a crack at it... but not enough to lose hope." he held up a hand and then lightly formed it into a fist, trying to demonstrate his resolve, but Knuckles just shook his head and started to wander over to Amy.

"Gah... Amy..." He patted her back, as Tails sighed and flew over to, also placing his two hands on her other shoulder in the air, showing they were there for her.

"He's..." she took a few quick breaths in, quivering in her words, as though hyperventilating a bit in her withheld tears. "He's n-ne-nev-never been so-so-so upset with m-me before..." She struggled to get that sentence out... it was clear she was worried. "W-wha-what have I-I-I done." she softly put her hands to her face, "I-I can't... l-let him s-see-see me c-cry."

The two men looked to one another, then Tails came down as Knuckles embraced Amy from the side, and Tails the same.

"It's unfair. We agree with you." Knuckles stated, even though he knew Tails was more on Sonic's side. "But the fact remains... Sonic is being stubborn about telling us the whole of the situation. In a few minutes, we're about to confront it for the first time, with our own eyes..." He moved out of the embrace to look down to her, "We'll be okay." He comforted her, and rubbed the top of her head as Tails also tried to cheer her--and himself--up by jumping enthusiastically.

"Whatever it is, it hasn't faced us, yet!" he piped up, kicking up his legs, "Let's teach it that it never should have crossed our paths! Or our planet's!"

Knuckles returned his efforts for a smile with one of his own, then looked to Amy who peeked over her bent fingers and nodded, still looking quite in grief over the confrontation she had had with Sonic.

At the end of the fight, they were victorious, even if the chances were slim... Sonic was right. They defeated it, no matter the odds.

Still... if the odds were told, hearts could have been spared.

Amy watched as Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles celebrated their victory up on a hill... she held a fist close to her heart... hearing it pound inside her ears and feeling its rapid thumps of fear at seeing Sonic again after... after he must have felt betrayed from her lack of faith in his decisions...

She didn't want to say she was wrong, she didn't believe she was. She never lost her trust nor faith in Sonic... but she wanted to know, she was more than just curious, she felt that knowing may help quiet the fears instead of the unknown making them worse.

Was that selfish of her? No. She wouldn't say such a thing.

Still... the battle was won and over with... but...

She backed up, her breathing growing uncomfortable as her hands reached for her cheeks... they were flushed and discolored, and she... she opted to run away.

She wouldn't let Sonic see her tears... she couldn't!

Strangely enough, with her head down and charging through the trees, her vision blurred by the raining moisture in her eyes, she thought she saw Sonic sped up in front of her, arms folded, and halted as his head turned to her.

She covered her face and breathed through her mouth, shocked he would follow her. "S-So-Sonic? Why are you h-he-here?"

"...What's with all the blabbering?" the voice was deep and husky.

"Sh-Shadow?" She parted her hands as she squinted through her tears. Indeed, through the distorted vision of her blobby tears, was Shadow.

He looked her face over, then his eyelids lowered as though he was holding back some empathy for her. "Why aren't you celebrating with the others?" he plainly spoke out.

"... I... I don't know... if I belong there right now... or not." She rubbed her arm, turning away from him, trying to stop her hiccuping-like breathing that rapidly ascended like a ladder from her throat in spurts.

"...You're clearly upset."

"Y-y-yes." she wiped her tears, looking to him and then ducking her head again.

"...I suppose most people would ask why." He unparted his arms, walking up to her, "But... Sonic mentioned something... I think it has to do with what ever transpired between you two." He stopped in front of her as she looked up to him, hearing his story...

Sonic paced by Shadow, as Shadow--unwillingly--listened to his small rant.

"We're ready. We're gonna win over this thing, I just know it! Why can't they all see that..? Knuckles didn't complain, Tails understood, and Amy... She..." He suddenly paused to form a shaking fist to the side of him, which finally caught Shadow's bored attention, his eyes widened at the sudden release of unwanted, leaking emotion from Sonic and was suddenly... very intrigued.

He shook out his hand in a sweeping motion and then jerked it out, "It doesn't matter. She'll see when we win. We're all gonna do this together, Shadow! So you can't act half-fazed now!" he walked by Shadow abruptly, swiftly... as Shadow looked down from the corner of his eye... not wanting Sonic to realize what he had seen...

"I don't believe I've ever seen Sonic so visibly shaken up before... he only showed such signs of being emotional and disturbed when mentioning you." Shadow looked back to Amy, "And now, seeing how you're reacting to it..." He carefully observed Amy's hands as she had put them together, they were shaking fiercely in front of her too. "...Something tells me you both lack faith in making peace with the other." He turned his attentions back to her eyes, searching as they were, trying to find meaning to Shadow's story she couldn't quite place.

"...Has this happened before?" He suddenly asked.

"No." Amy's voice was somewhat mousey, her nerves taking over.

"...Haven't you both had disputes in the past?" Shadow seemed incredulous at her facts.

"I always just... let him do what he pleased. I don't want to be the one to always-..." she stopped, shaking her head. "N-no, that's not true. I do believe Sonic would want me to make amends... Thank you, Shadow."

"...I owe you a debt." Shadow took things seriously, walking up to her side to show some minimal action of support in her favor. "If it weren't for you... there wouldn't be a planet left to save." He admitted, smirking a moment to look forward again, chuckling lightly in a low tone. "I highly doubt that our victory would be complete unless you two made up." He looked back to Amy, "In service to you, and your words... I have to ask you something... personal." He gestured a hand to her, stepping back as she looked curiously up to him, wondering what it could possibly be.

Personal?

"You said to me... once, a very long time ago... that the people upon this planet's dreams were worth saving... what about your own? You're sacrificed so much on his behalf... so it appears to be." He was guessing, but he wasn't far off. He lowered the hand and looked behind her, just making sure they were alone... he wouldn't want to conjure the wrath of Sonic... especially if he teased him that he was butting too heavily into his 'love affairs'.

Shadow hating Sonic's teasing more than anyone... but irritability aside, this once 'little girl' still reminded him of another fond child... and he refused to go about his life not having repaid a debt. "I'm perplexed... why are you, through your actions, proving that some dreams are placed higher than others?"

His words cracked at her core, but she remained strong in her stance... just weak in her face.

"Shadow..." Her eyebrows arched back, her mouth pulling back into a frown.

"...It's not right... to place one dream above the other." flicked his hand out, walking by her. "Explain it to him... You shouldn't be the only one left in tears... at the end of every adventure..." He looked over his shoulder as he departed, "Or are hiding your tears really that worthwhile?"

His words may have been direct, but underlining them, was a real concern for her future...

She nodded in agreement, clapping her hands to her cheeks to try and snap her out of her dark spell.

"R-right! I got to make up with him! State myself... and my dreams... clearly." She nodded in resolve, about to come back to the hill and rush past Shadow when-

"Amy!" A portal opened and Silver floated out of it, looking to be in great alarm, "Have you spoken to Sonic yet? Are you two alright again?" The urgency in his voice made her falter, stepping back, her arm coming up to block his floating body from advancing any further as she leaned up to see him.

"W-wha-what?" She was confused by his sudden appearance. "Silver..? What's wrong? Isn't the future safe?" She asked then, as Silver lowered his flying form down and looked a bit unsure on how to answer that.

"Y-yes... but... not all futures." he looked... concerned. His eyes avoided her own, questioning ones. "I... Don't know how much I should say..."

"Say it." Amy's sorrowful crack in her voice made him look to her at once, unable to avoid the sadness from the situation anymore. "What happens to me and Sonic if I don't go back?"

"... I don't... know all the details, b-but..." He clearly didn't know why this was happening, but Amy wasn't going to fill in the details just yet. It might cause him to stop talking... and at least... he was talking.

He put his fingers' tips up by each other... nervously explaining... "If whatever happened to you two doesn't get resolved... then the future you two had coming will be... disrupted." He looked away, "It doesn't affect the whole of the future... you're right. But you've always been so kind to me... I feel almost like... I owe it to you... to try and bring back what was to come... because..." He lowered down to his feet, sighing as his fur on his chest seemed to rise and fall with his heavy breath. He turned his sights away from her, but narrowed his eyes in all seriousness, "I have to tell you... at least what I can. You two won't speak to each other again for many years to come... and... when you finally do... you've already missed... so much bliss you two could have had." He closed his eyes, harshly, as though finding that truly a tragedy.

"I came back because I care about individual futures just as much as the overall futures of people's lives... you helped me see that truth, Amy." he gestured out his hands towards her, facing her again as she seemed visibly processing that future... "You two seemed... hurt... by the past. I came here to try and help you two make amends."

She looked angrily up to him, "Amends? As in... I have to make the amends?!" she gestured to herself and then threw her arms down, "How does that make this right!?" she blurted out, turning away, "He can't just come to me? I have to go to him!?" She gestured behind her, then flattened her hand to her chest as her emotions were literally starting to suffocate her. "How... How selfish can he be!?" she ran off, as Shadow darted in and watched her go, skidding to a halt.

"Amy!" he called, then angrily stomped up to Silver, "What did you say to her!?"

"I-I-I was only trying to get her to make peace with Sonic!" he shook his arms out as Shadow gripped his fur and pulled him up.

"You have some nerve... She was about to do that very thing!" he grumbled out, then dropped Silver down as he started to walk towards Sonic. "Now it's up to be to use the forceful approach... If Amy won't come to Sonic... I'll have to ruffle him up into doing so..."

Silver rubbed his head, flying up after Shadow, "I didn't... realize that she'd be so upset... with it." He wondered then, "Was it me?"

"Why are you trying to help her? And clearly, you've only made her more emotionally avoidant." Shadow gestured a hand back to Silver. "We can't reason with her now... it's up to Sonic whether I can help preserve Amy's dream or not..."

"Amy's... dream?" Silver seemed confused, "Why are you helping her, Shadow?" He asked, before looking ahead to Sonic waving off Tails and Knuckles and dashing off. "I just... wanted their old future to come back." He admitted quietly, guilt now swarming in waves upon his face.

"Because a very long time ago... she fought for yours, and his, and everyone's dreams... but fails to secure her own." Shadow then clicked the toe of his foot to the ground as a flare from his spinning rollers on his feet whirled and he skated off, "It's high time Sonic paid for the dreams he's failed to save, as well... We may have won the battle, but-"

Silver flew up next to him, keeping the pace, "But hearts are sometimes more important then just saving lives." he looked to Shadow who nodded with a light 'hmph' and smile before it faded into a serious tone again.

The two looked forward and shot on after Sonic.

"W-wait-wait, hold on a Sonic-second." Sonic turned around after they had clearly caught up to him and explained things a bit to have him hold up his hands and now face them. "You two clearly don't know how things work between me and Amy." He seemed so confident... but Shadow could see through him right away.

"You're feigning your fears by acting cocky about it. Go on, tell us why you think Silver's future for you two won't have dire consequences for you and your friends, Sonic." he bit down on the last word, annoyed as he gestured back to Tails and Knuckles who had already left and then looked harshly back to Sonic,... as though ready to fight.

"Listen, it goes a little like this..." He looked around, then curved his speedy-self to bend down and pick up a flower before presenting it to them, "Observe. I present a flower, I give her the ol'Sonic charm," He winked with an infamous smirk as Silver tilted his head, confused, and looked to Shadow for answers who just remained frozen in rising fury at his nonchalant attitude. "and she's running back into my arms. Happens every time." Sonic flicked the flower to the side of his face and then turned to casually sniff it.

"Then why did Amy say this was the first time you two have ever left things unspoken?"

Sonic held in a snort of shock but it ended up coming out of his nose and as his eyes widened at seeing the flower burst into petals and now... look just pathetically sad in his hands.

He threw his arms down and gave a teethy-frown and grown to Shadow. He stomped his foot for added, 'extra' effect. "You spoke to Amy already!? What gives any of you the right to intervene in my affairs?"

"Somehow... I knew you were going to say that." Shadow rolled his eyes, as Silver stepped forward.

"We know she means a lot to you, Sonic. We also know you're scared to confront her because you felt she didn't see you the way she used to anymore."

At being so exposed, Sonic's eyes kept darting to the side of his vision as though unable to keep steady eye-contact, nervous at their clear resolve to help him. "W-why do you suddenly care about me and my well-being so much? Or rather..." He raised an eyebrow, suddenly growing in confidence as he walked up to them, "My friends... for that matter." he pointed to them as Shadow and Silver looked visibly offended and startled by his accusation.

"It's not like that." Silver narrowed his eyebrows, "She wants to be with you, we're just worried about your future, Sonic!" Silver stood up for himself, making Shadow look over to him, impressed for a soft moment that he wouldn't try and excuse his actions towards him.

"Heh, the future is never set in stone." Sonic shrugged out, smiling as he tilted his head back, remaining as best he could to appear composed. "Amy's usually... pretty... decent at speaking her mind. I don't doubt she'll be looking for me to make up with her soon." He turned around and started to walk back, "Besides, I don't worry, I just-..." He looked up towards the sky... his voice suddenly shifting... "Run."

The breeze took his spirit far from this conversation... placing it at a crying friend's side...

"I've had enough of this." Shadow swung his arm and pushed Silver enough back to get out of his way, making him wobble a bit back but reach out as though to stop Shadow. "You're a coward... You're so afraid of getting hurt by her again... that you refuse to admit how sorry you really are to her."

Sonic frowned and looked over his shoulder, starting to get upset... visibly growing more frustrated at Shadow's persistence.

"Enough, Shadow." He spoke out, full of authority that Shadow wasn't used to hearing, which did make him pause but smirk as he noticed he had struck a nerve.

"Is that right? When is it enough, Hedgehog? You're afraid of self-sabotaging a relationship you failed to even build. If it weren't for Amy's continual sacrifices to be with you... would you even be able to keep her?"

"Amy's not someone's to keep!" Sonic seemed to explode, stepping forward with a swing of his arm, his knees bent, he was preparing to lash out...

Exactly what Shadow wanted... as he matched his stance... ready to duke it out.

Silver looked worriedly between the two, but stayed out of it. He hadn't realized... how much Shadow knew about the two.

Was he just... super observant?

Or had he been watching for years... Sonic's relationship with his friends?

"Amy chooses to stand by my side... I've never done anything to stop her." Sonic stood tall, showing a more profoundly mature side, shaking his head. "This doesn't concern you... either of you." He eyed Silver a moment, then turned back to Shadow, losing all of his cool-guy-swagger to reveal his actual, deeply upset but stubborn persona underneath it all. "Amy can do as she sees fit... I never encourage otherwise!" he swung out another arm, threw and fed-up with this extremely personal--to him--discussion. "And that's enough on that."

"Is it?" Shadow probed, as though having a spear to spoke at Sonic's raging emotions swirling in his heart. He stepped forward, unafraid, "You've never done anything in general besides, possibly, saving her life... if she's no one's to keep, then why so defensive about us?" He gestured to himself, then Silver. "For someone who holds his friend's trust in him so highly, why are you so stirred over the fact that one wouldn't follow you blindly like she used to?"

Sonic remained silent, but it was obvious Shadow had crawled his spiked hooks underneath his skin...

"If you really are so confident she'll concede and come running back to you again... then why are you so afraid to face her now?"

He then dipped his head forward, "Why are you running... from your own faith in your friends?"

Sonic bolted forward to swing a fist but Shadow jumped back, anticipating it.

Silver worriedly watched as they sped through the air, exchanging blow after blow.

'W-why is Shadow egging him on like this?' Silver wondered, ducking in and out from being in the middle of the speedy, black and blue bullets coming at him. 'It doesn't make sense... why enrage him further instead of calmly getting him to see Amy?' he backed away, 'Maybe it was wrong to try and interfere with their fates... If this is how it should go... then...' he couldn't help but think about the old future they had, side by side, remaining in that close friendship instead of Sonic being off doing daring-dos and Amy never bothering to chase him again...

When they did reconnect, it was based on duel-loneliness... they had pined for each other and couldn't resist the urge to reunite again...

Wait... that's it!

"S-Sonic!" Silver quickly jumped back in and floated above the spinning blurs that kept rocking into each other. 'Shadow's not just blindly fighting him! He's helping Sonic face his pent-up sorrow over what happened! He's wearing his stubbornness down to step aside and compromise for Amy!' He threw up his hands, "I'm going to bring Amy to the hill at sunset! You better be there!" he flew off, determined to succeed.

'I have faith in you, now,... Shadow.' he hurried to find her, seeing she was curled up with her knees tucked in by a cliffside.

He slowly approached, breaking from his speedy search for her and coming down to step towards her.

He could barely even speak when she spoke first.

"He's really not coming... is he?" Her voice was broken... her heart torn in two. She ducked her head between her two raised knees she was hugging. "I never thought... that after all these years... he wouldn't even try to-... he always tried to-... Silver." she turned towards him as he sat down and although his hands were up at first... he lightly lowered them to gently rub her back.

"When he was gone for so long before... He always made it a point... to pick a flower and bring it to me... He was always so nervous that I was mad at him, and always... every time... so glad when I was overjoyed to see him again... I would rush into his arms... and he'd just let me stay there... for however long I liked... Even when he tried to pull me away to show the flower, I would just dart back into his arms again..."

Silver looked up to the sky, seeing the sun beginning to set. 'Come on, Shadow... Let him be waiting for us.' he told himself, nervous if this would even reset their futures back or not...

"When you told me... that we never spoke again in the future... I could hardly believe you... in fact, I didn't believe you." She rubbed her nose across her glove. "Because... Because no matter how long we're apart... Sonic or I would always find each other again... Always..."

Silver's heart was tenderly chipping at each crack of her voice and every heartfelt word she uttered.

It was painful... hearing how much she had faith in Sonic... and seeing how Sonic tried to mask his own aching in front of him and Shadow...

"He... He's bad a communicating... isn't he?" Silver looked down to her, as she nodded her head with a smile on her face, sniffling.

"He opens his heart... but the words don't come out. Only... small actions... but that... that prove his love for us. His friends, I mean... and the world, even." She looked away as Silver got up, trying to offer his hands to her.

"Amy... I know this seems like I'm trying to get you to go to him... but I'm not." He sternly stated, "Instead, I'm asking you to--for once--let him meet you halfway..."

She looked so touched by that, her eyes shining in the setting sun...

The two waited on the hill, as Silver got nervous about every second ticking by, before Shadow walked up to the hill and looked behind him, Sonic following suit with his eyes to the ground... then looking up to Amy.

Amy turned around and shot herself up to her feet instantly, her natural instinct was to run to him but she stopped her kicking leg from advancing any further.

Her fist thrust itself to her heart, as though to hold herself back, as she looked to Silver for reassurance.

He nodded, smiling, so relieved...

And together... the two walked to the center... meeting halfway... and sat down as Shadow and Silver departed... not being seen for several years as Silver returned to the future, and Shadow... to himself.

The two awkwardly sat in front of each other... before Sonic finally looked up at the sunset, "...It's beautiful,... don't'cha think?" He gazed with an honest sense of wanting to make things right towards it.

That subtle gesture Amy had talked about...

His knee was raised up with an arm draped over it, and the other arm holding himself up.

He kept staring at that sunset... his hand... that was once holding himself up,... slowly relocating to her side.

She smiled, letting out some held-in air that brought so much tension through her body.

"It is." she softly stated, placing her own hand next to his... "It really, truly is."

She looked up to him, but noticed he was blocking his emotions again, just staring at the sunset as she, too, then looked over to it.

The sun setted as she waited for him to say something... he had started, which was the hardest part, to make conversation...

After forever of silence, and the sun coming down, his head dropped to and Amy embraced him, hearing a sorrowful sound escape him as she held his head.

"I won't let you see me cry," she stated, as Sonic's hand came up to loop around her back up to her shoulder, gripping her in a strength she knew meant he was scared to lose her.

Silver's words had affected him. Shadow's fight had made him realize how much he really did care about that future coming to pass and him just... letting it happen.

This was the ultimate fight.

This was the end of his world...

If he couldn't even speak up... to make amends with his friends.

He lifted his head, sniffing back the held-in remorse of the emotionally strenuous moment on himself, as he finally spoke out.

"Future's left unseen." he stated, and Amy nodded, sitting back down beside him and letting him go.

"Y-yeah." she rubbed her eyes but Sonic's hand that loosened around her swung back around to lightly use his pointer finger to hold her chin in place, and lightly rubbed his thumb across the soft dip of her lowereyes.

"...I never meant to hurt you." His voice was faint, but she knew it was because this was hard for him to do.

"Neither did I." Amy responded, her eyes closed as she continued to let out small sobs.

"... I want... you to continue believing in me." His voice was trailing off, as though he was losing some strength in remaining this openly emotional.

"I know." she once again answered simply for him, wanting so desperately to hear him speak more. "I'm still mad at you." she took his hand and placed her mouth in it, holding it there as she kept her eyes closed... not sure if he wanted her to see his face or not, and definitely certain he might be freaked out a bit at her action, not wanting to see anything that would upset her on his countenance.

"I'm mad, too... but not at you. Not like that." he admitted, returning somewhat to his usual tone of voice. "I just didn't want you thinking... I could fail you."

"...You can't do that... did you really think you could?" She smiled and he could feel her lips turn up... even underneath his glove.

"...Did I... disappoint you?" she asked, burying trembling eyelids into his hand now... terrified of what he may say.

"... I failed you, Amy." He moved his hand and placed it on her head as she released it and lowered her own to her lap.

"I thought that by keeping the odds away from you... you wouldn't worry about us. About anyone succeeding... but we ended up hurting each other instead." he removed his hand and went back to the now darkened space where the sun once was over the horizon. The wind blew against his quills... and softly, he sighed out... ready to say his last bit of peace.

"... I can't keep you beside me... that's always been your choice... Amy." He looked away, as though afraid to see her expression this time. "But... It's my choice... whether to ask you... to."

Amy's heart practically leaped up in joy.

"Amy... I..." Sonic's ears dipped down as he turned his head slowly back to her, his eyes showing more vulnerability than she had ever seen from him in his life, almost mimicking that of when he thought Dark Gaia might end the world along with his new friend, Chip, before she suddenly giggled into her hands and spread them out to tackle him to the ground, embracing him with a hearty laugh.

"Of course I'll stay by your side, Sonic!" she cheered, her tears now flowing in joy. "I've waited so long... so long for you to say that, Sonic... WHAHAHA!!!" she burst into uncontrollable tears as Sonic awkwardly squirmed under her, but soon just smiled and gave up, holding her as he closed his eyes... enjoying the moment.

"Never fight with me again, Sonic The Hedgehog!"

"...I make no promises..."

"W-what was that?" She peeked open an eye, wondering why he would say something so heartbreaking after all they've been trying to do.

He just kept his kind smile, and then looked up to her with as much quiet joy in the arch of his eyes as he could allow through.

"Because... I want to learn how to communicate with you... and I... don't want to keep anything from you... not ever again."

Silver sat in the futuristic hill with his hands up to hold his head right, admiring the view of two older, elder hedgehogs... a faded pink and a faint blue... holding one another in their arms... watching the sunset...

                                                together.

(Not exactly according to prompt... but I hope it’s still in the spirit of what you were looking for :) I feel this is just much more canon-themed though, XD Even though that ending WAS COMPLETELY FANFICTION I still wanted to try for a future/older Modern Sonamy vibe XD)

[boxofbadaddiction]

Nothing's More Important Than Quidditch

Fred Weasley x Reader

Warnings: Some Swearing. Highly Suggestive. Someone gets hurt.

This story is inspired from a request of my F.R.I.E.N.D.S Themed Prompt List.

Using Prompts two and three: "OH...MY...GOOOOD!"/"MY EYES! MY EEYEES!"

Fred and George Weasley were men of simple tastes. They liked pranks, food and Quidditch. Though if you were to ask Fred he would argue that there were nothing more important than Quidditch.

He'd never missed a game. Never missed a practice, and had been able to afford it he'd never miss a Cup. So that being said, you can imagine how shocked his team were when he told them he wasn't feeling well enough to train tonight.

"You're dying aren't you?"

"What? No, Lee. I'm not dying!"

"Then I'm sorry I mustn't have heard right when, the Fredrick Gideon Weasley, just said he wasn't well enough to play Quidditch?"

"Piss off."

It was Sunday lunch in the Great Hall and Angelina had the whole Gryffindor team huddled together. She was discussing her newest game strategies when Fred spoke abruptly, all eyes bulging at his words. Expressions a mixture of confusion and concern. Fred never. Missed. A. Game.

"Hey!" [Y/N] had arrived and happily sat her self amongst her close group of friends. "What's with the faces?" Her brows furrowed as she filled a Goblet with her favourite drink.

"Fred says he's not training Tonight." Angelina answered, still gawking at the Redhead in question.

[Y/N] choked on her drink. "He's what!?" She coughed, hand on her chest in shock.

"It's not a big deal!" Fred groaned. "I've just got one cracker of a headache. Need to sleep it off and I'll be right as rain." He forced a smile, though to the group it appeared more as a painful grimace.

"Well, I do hope you feel better." [Y/N] leant over the table, placing her hand atop of his to offer some comfort with a reassuring smile. "What about the rest of you?" She straightened herself, taking a pastry from the bowl infront of them as she did so.

"We're still training" George replied, "Not all of us roll over because of a wittle headache" he pouted at his brother, trying to stir him up. Fred retaliated, through the light laughter of his friends, by throwing a bread roll at his brother.

"Coming to watch, [Y/N]?" George spoke, still laughing as he brushed crumbs from his clothes.

"Afraid I can't, tonight."

"What!?" Lee groaned, "come on! I'm going!"

"Yes, well as tempting as it may be to spend more time by your side Lee", she leant into him with doey eyes batting her eyelashes flirtatiously, hands cupping his bicep. Returning to her previous position she continued, "I have so much Homework to do it's not funny. I'll find myself joining the next Headless Hunt if I don't hand Snape his Most Potent Poisons Assessment tomorrow."

"Barrell of fun you two are, today" George rolled his eyes.

"Right, well the rest of you. We've got training to do!" Angelina stood, gesturing for the Quidditch team to follow. Somewhat begrudgingly, with various disapproving moans escaping their lips, they made for the Pitch.

"Positive you'll be okay, Freddie?" George lagged behind in a final ditch effort to convince his brother to join them. "You could always just watch from the stands."

"I'm positive, Georgie. I'm just not right at the moment."

"Do you want me to stay? I will if that's what you'd prefer..."

"Who are you? Mum now?" Fred joked "Get out of here you sap!" He waved his arm as if trying to shoo him from the hall.

"Don't worry, George. I'll look after him" [Y/N] assured.

"Such a faithful little bestie you are." He said while ruffling her hair. "Alright then, see you two in a couple hours" he waved to them as he ran to catch up with his team.

"Come on you. Let's get you to bed." [Y/N] spoke to Fred and they made their way to the common room.

---

So much for a couple hours. Mere forty minutes later saw the same team arriving back through the Fat Lady.

"How was I supposed to know she was right behind me!?" George complained loudly, followed closely into the room by the light giggles of Lee and Harry. No such laughter, however, could be heard from the mouth of the Gryffindor Captain.

"A concussion George! You gave Katie a concussion!" She was near shouting at the boy.

"I SAID I WAS SORRY! I didn't see her!" He threw his arms up in defence. "Pomfrey says she'll be right in a few days, what's the fuss?"

"The fuss, George, is that we just lost a whole night's training! You're just lucky our next game isn't for another fortnight, Weasley. I have to take Katie some things for her stay in the Hospital Wing, YOU! had better think fast about how to make this up to her." With a final menacing point of her finger Angelina stormed off towards the dormitory she shared with Katie.

"Should we check on Fred?" Lee spoke to break the guilty silence.

"Yeah, hey - don't forget to tell him how his Golden Boy brother sent our best chaser to the infirmary!" Harry goaded making his way over to Hermione and Ron by the fire.

"Little prat" George grumbled as he and Lee made their way to the dormitory. Lee was laughing hard at his friends remark."He doesn't watch it he won't be 'The Boy who lived' for much longer. Might pick up where You-Know-Who left off." George went on as he leant his back against the door, pushing it open as his hand twisted the door knob. Lee's laughter only increased.

"I'd like to see you- OH...MY...GOOOOD!!" laughter and smiles faded instantly as his eyes fell on the tangled mess of sheets and the bodies of his two close friends in place of where Fred should have been resting.

The sudden exclamations catching the attention of [Y/N] and Fred, their eyes shooting directly across the, should have been empty, bedroom.

"SHIT!" Fred yelled as he pulled off of [Y/N] and covered her with his blanket. "YOU WEREN'T MEANT TO BE BACK FOR A COUPLE HOURS!"

"MY EYES! MY EEYYEES!!" George screamed dramatically. Turning away from the scene he covered his face by his hands, desperately trying to lose the imagine of his brothers and best friends mostly naked bodies.

"It's not what you think!" [Y/N] began, throwing Fred's jumper on over her head which could very well have been a dress on her. She stood, tugging at the material willing it to stay in place before fixing her hair.

"It doesn't look like you were napping!" Lee snapped sarcastically, "nor does it look much like a POTIONS ASSIGNMENT!"

"[Y/N]" George began, not turning to face the two - rather speaking to the ceiling as his back faced them. "I know you said you'd look after my brother but MERLIN I should have laid out some guidelines, that is not how you handle a headache."

Fred had put on a pair of trousers and a singlet and quickly made his way to stand infront of the two boys, arms out pleadingly, "I know you're both a little shocked right now and this is going to take some time to process but for the love of GODRICK!" He clenched his teeth and spoke in a low growl, "would you keep your voices down before the entire bloody common room hears yo-"

"WHAT'S GOING ON!?" Ron had burst through the door. "Oh God" Fred groaned throwing his head back walking away from the door.

"We heard shouting, is everything okay?" Hermione asked frantic, as Harry followed her in.

"Yes, Hermione everything's fine -" [Y/N] went to explain.

"NO!" Lee interrupted "NO! THEY'RE DOING IT!" He screamed pointing his finger accusingly at the two red-faced teens. Harrys eyes were wide with shock.

"It's not what you all think! Please just listen to me..." Fred begged as [Y/N] stood beside him. Looking to one another defeatedly.

Everyone, aside from George, turned to face them. Awaiting the explanation as to why these two had been...doing what they were.

"Uhmmm..." seeing the group stare before him suddenly ran Freds mind blank. "This isn't the first time this has happened. Actually it happens a lot." Not the best opener. The group grimaced, looking very uncomfortable at their friends confession. [Y/N] dropped her head into her hand. "What I mean is" he tried to recover, "this isn't a one time deal. We're not just fooling around, we're..." the words caught in his throat.

What were they? A couple? Was he wrong and they were just friends with benefits? What was this?

They looked at one another, Fred's eyes searching [Y/N]'s face for the answer. She smiled, grabbing his hand gently.

"We're together" she spoke. Eyes not leaving Fred.

"That's great and all. But this is still traumatising." Lee deadpanned as he gestured between the couple and Fred's bed.

George cleared his throat, "umm, yeah. I'm really happy for you two."

"That'd be more convincing, had you actually said it to us rather than the wall." [Y/N] laughed. Fred threw his arm over her shoulders, pulling her into his chest. Georges head turned slightly, eyeing the two in his peripheral before shutting his eyes tightly. Trying to muster the courage. "Yeah, sorry bout that just...it may be difficult to look at you the same for a while. I saw a lot more than I'd had like to." Everyone laughed at the comment. The light atmosphere helping him to relax a bit he turned to face them. Even if his eyes fixed to anything but them.

"Wait a minute." Harrys laughter had stopped completely. "Did you two plan this whole thing?"

"I guarantee we never planned on getting caught" Fred replied.

Rolling his eyes Harry continued "ditching practice I mean."

Lee and George both looked at each other before slowly turning to glare at the couple.

"Well. Yeah" [Y/N] answered.

A slow clap started to sound throughout the room as Lee and George mockingly applauded the two. "Well done. Truly you two that was quite the convincing performance." George smirked. "Honestly, [Y/N], that spit take really sold the whole thing. Couldn't have done better myself." Lee nodded as she playfully curtsied with her hand on the seam of Fred's jumper.

"WELL!" Lee clapped once loudly, rubbing his hands together. "This calls for a celebration. Shall we?" He bowed to the door, ushering everyone from the room.

"Ummm Lee. Mind if I put some pants on first?"

"If you-OH! right. Yeah. Meet you two down there!" He was the last to leave, closing the door with a quick wink.

Fred and [Y/N] looked shyly back to one another before breaking into fits of side splitting laughter. Fred wrapping his arms around her waist as they calmed down.

"So...we're together, huh?" He grinned resting their foreheads against one another.

"Only if that's what you want." [Y/N] placed her hands on his chest, eyes nervously searching his.

"That's all I've ever wanted" he moved a hand to the back of her neck, pulling her lips into his. Kissing her like he never had before.

Fred and George Weasley were simple men. They liked pranks, food and Quidditch. Though if you were to ask Fred, he would argue there were nothing more important than Quidditch. Well...maybe one thing.

[devoidwrites]

Summary - Your friend decided to drag you to a party a friend of hers was throwing. There you met Jun, who wasn't too much of a party person either. The two of you decide to skip out and it turns out to be a fun night.

Words: 2.2K

Warnings: none

"Do you wanna get out of here?"

-

"I'm not going Yerin!" You tried to pull away from your best friend, but there was no way she was letting you out of this one alive.

"You've been cooped up in your dorm for the passed two weeks y/n! You have to get out an associate with people!" She argued her case as she continued to pull you alongside the sidewalk. She had taken it upon herself to put you in clothing far too tight and drag you from your shared dorm room on a chilly Friday afternoon, barely getting out the words 'party' and 'cute guys' before pulling you out the door.

"I do associate with people!" You countered, huffing as you were finally able to pull yourself away from her grip. Yerin stopped walking, turning to make sure you weren't going to make a run for it. You knew better. If you did that you would never hear the end of it, so you decided to brave through this, for her sake that is.

Yerin rolled her eyes before turning to walk once more, making sure you were following after her. "Being paired up with random people in your introduction to psychology class does not count."

"I talk to you!"

"Barely, and we're roommates!" She reminded you with a scoff. "Do I need to remind you that I'm the one that started this friendship. If it weren't for me you'd be stuck back in the dorm with your nose in a book."

"So I'm guessing it's too late to back out of the best friend deal then?" You questioned, obviously joking. Yerin laughed sarcastically before squealing excitedly and pointing towards the building in front of you. You two had arrived at the party, which was in full swing.

You sighed before following your friend into the house filled with sweaty college kids. Something about being surrounded by drunk people doing drugs and acting like fools just never felt right to you. You would much rather be home watching tv or reading a book. You would rather do anything else over having to push through hormonal young adults grinding on one another just to get to an area where you could breathe.

Yerin handed you a drink as soon as you made it to the kitchen. "What is this?"

"I don't know, but it's free alcohol, so drink up!"

You couldn't believe you were friends with someone so outgoing and trusting. You knew it was a rule for a young woman to never leave a drink unattended, but here was your best friend, drinking the first thing she was handed. It just didn't make any sense.

"Do you wanna dance?"

"No thanks, I'm gonna go sit by the pool." You told her. Once she made sure you would be fine by yourself, she made her way onto the dance floor, instantly finding someone to dance with. It was a perk of hers, she never met a stranger. Then again, that wouldn't always be a good thing.

You tore your eyes away from your friend and made you way to the backyard, where the pool was. It wasn't an ideal situation, sitting around and watching people hump on each other in the pool, but hey, at least you could breathe out here.

It's what you always did when you were dragged to a party. You found a nice spot to sit until Yerin was ready to leave. Of course you could always leave her, but what if something happened after you left? You would never forgive yourself. It's the only reason you ever stayed at these damned parties.

"Not a party goer?" A voice spoke up from beside you, making you jump slightly. You turned your eyes away from your phone to look up, catching the stare of the boy beside you.

You could say he was handsome, but that would be an understatement. The way his straight brown hair cascaded down his face made his jawline pop, and his bright eyes shone in the twinkling lights above you. He gave you a sweet smile before clearing his throat.

You blinked, quickly turning away to hide your tinted cheeks. You were staring at him like a shocked little girl! "Oh yeah, being surrounded by a bunch of drunk hormonal college students is always a thrill!"

"Ah, sarcasm. I like it." He sat back in his seat. "I'm Jun."

"Y/n." You introduced yourself, gripping your phone a little tighter in your hands. "Are you not a fan of parties either?"

"They're alright, but I'd rather spend my time elsewhere." He told you before taking a sip of his drink.

"Then why are you here?" You couldn't help but ask. You had surprised yourself really. Normally, you wouldn't strike up a conversation with someone so naturally, but something about him made it easy. He had a nice vibe to him, and yours seemed to match easily.

"My friends dragged me here." He pointed over to a group of boys towards the pool. One of them did a back flip off the diving board, interrupting the couples make out session making the others laugh. "I figured I'd come just to make sure they didn't set the place on fire or something. What about you? Why are you here if you don't enjoy this type of scene?"

"Well, my roommate decided I needed to associate more with people, so she dragged me here and left to go dance with a stranger." Now that you said it out loud, it sounded somewhat depressing. She had just left you when she was the one to drag you here in the first place. You couldn't blame her though. She was trying to get you to open up, but it obviously wasn't easy.

"Sounds fun." He sat up straighter in his seat, his face more serious now. He glanced around, his eyes glancing everywhere before they finally landed on you. "Do you wanna get out of here?"

You blinked again, taken back by the question. This guy was brazen to ask you to just up and leave with him when you didn't even know his family name yet. "What?"

"Do you wanna get out of here?" He questioned once more, only this time he turned to look at you fully, his gaze capturing your own. "Let's escape the party and find something more fun for the both of us?"

"We literally just met." You reminded him, pointing a finger in his direction. "How do I know you're not some creep who's gonna kidnap me?"

It was a good thing to be cautious, but then again if you did something as crazy as go off with a random guy you met at a party Yerin would leave you alone for at least a week.

Your words made the boy chuckle. Jun slid a hand through his hair. "Do I seem like the type to want to kidnap you?"

"Nobody thought Ted Bundy looked like a killer." You informed him matter-of-factly, but your words only made a small smirk grow on his lips. "But he got his victims because he was attractive."

"Are you saying I'm attractive?"

"I-" You sighed, knowing you were caught in your own words. You then caught sight of your friend grinding on another random boy, which brought you back to reality. You couldn't believe you were even thinking about leaving with a random boy you had just met. "I'm sorry, but I can't leave my friend alone."

"Y/n!" A voice called out happily. You turned your eyes to meet Yerin, who had obviously had more to drink since you departed from her. "This is Wonwoo. I'm going to his place!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" You questioned, standing up to give your friend a questioning glance. You felt Jun stand up as well. He leaned over to whisper in your ear.

"You have nothing to worry about, Wonwoo wouldn't hurt a fly."

You turned around to look at him with an arched eyebrow. "You know him?"

"He's my roommate." His face morphed into a look a disgust as he realized what this meant. "Which means I have to find a place to go tonight."

"Who's this?" Yerin asked, giving you a drunken smile.

"Uh- this is Jun. You told me to associate more right?"

Yerin nodded as she leaned closer to your ear. "He's cute."

Rolling your eyes, you pushed her off of you. After fixing your shirt, you turned back around to talk to Yerin, but she and Wonwoo were already making their way through the mass of people still partying. You sighed, turning back to the brunet boy, who was smiling hopefully at you.

Now you had no reason to deny his offer of a spontaneous adventure with him, not unless you just didn't want to that is. You sighed, unbelief settling in that you were about to do something so crazy.

"Okay, let's get out of here."

-

"You suck at this!"

"It's not my fault my hand slipped!" You groaned as you walked back over to the seats the two of you occupied. Jun had brought you to one of the only fun places open this late, which was a bowling alley just down the road.

You had never seen an all night bowling alley before, but the owner informed you that he only stayed open late whenever it's was the weekend. It attracted the drunks and he got money off their drunken antics and it gave the teens something to do on their nights off from school. It was a smart move, actually.

"Let me show you how it's done." Jun was confident, something you weren't, unless it was about your studies. You knew you were smart, and you weren't afraid to announce it to whoever.

He waltzed over to the ball rack and picked up the yellow bowling ball he had been using the past hour you two had been here. He stepped up to the line and reeled his arm back before swinging it forward, letting the ball speed down the middle of the alley, hitting the middle pin and giving him a strike.

You clapped, laughing as he did a dance. "I admit, you're better than me."

"Why thank you!" He bowed over dramatically, making you laugh once more. You were actually having fun with him. It was something about Jun that made it feel like you've known each other for months instead of hours. He was just so lively and outgoing.

You had learned that he wasn't in college anymore, but he lived close by and stayed in contact with his friends he made in college. He always followed them to parties to make sure his friends were okay, and he was usually the designated driver so they wouldn't have to stumble all the way home. He wasn't too much older than you.

He worked at the local cafe, spending his days serving coffee to tired adults and treats to hyperactive children. He was extremely kind, always making sure you were alright at every chance he had. You always made sure to reassure him that you were fine, giving him a sweet smile to sell it.

"Sorry to interrupt your game, but I have to close it down whenever you two are done." The manager informed the two of you, making the smile drop from your lips. Checking the time on your phone, you gasped when you realized in was almost two in the morning.

"We'll try to hurry." Jun told the older man with a smile and a bow. The two of you did as promised and hurried up with your game, finishing just in time.

"I told you I'd win!" Jun boasted as the two of you walked down the sidewalk and towards the college campus. He offered to walk you home, and with it being late you happily accepted.

You chuckled at his happiness for winning a silly game. "I haven't bowled in years."

"Maybe we could do it again some time." He suggested, brining a smile to your lips. It was strange, but you were having a great time. Once you got passed the fact that you barely knew the boy beside you, you were able to have a good time. Perhaps it was the same for Yerin, but different aspects.

The two of you stepped up to the entrance of the girls dorms, meaning your night of innocent fun would be coming to an end. "Surprisingly, I've had a lot of fun tonight."

"Next time time you feel like you want to go on another adventure, call me."

"Is that your way of asking me for a date?" You questioned, cocking an eyebrow at the boy in front of you. He let out a breath before biting his lip and looking down quickly.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Absolutely not." You told him. You leaned forward, taking a daring move to press a soft kiss to his cheek before turning around to walk into the building. "Goodnight Jun."

As you walked towards your dorm, you couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of happiness. Perhaps Yerin was right after all. It's good to talk to new people every once in a while.

[slyther-bi]

Wings to follow

Chapter 1

This is on Wattpad it's also on ao3

Soulmate au

Main Pairing: Evan Rosier/Severus Snape

Other pairings soon to come: Lily Evans/Regulus Black🔹Mulciber/Mary MacDonald🔹Petunia Evans/??? (I haven't decided with who yet)🔹Lucius Malfoy/Barty Crouch Jr.🔹and others

Summary: Everyone is born with a specific mark that pertains to their soulmate. The mark itself takes form into whatever creature is to be their soulmates favorite and it is to turn into their favorite color once you both touch. It was because of this that led to Severus's fascination with caterpillars, why? Because his soulmate seemed to have fallen in love with butterflies.

🔹

Severus thought it was odd to be born with a soulmate and even offer to already have a mark that unites the two upon being born. Tho he doesn't to mind it, he rather enjoyed his mark.

On his right arm was a group of butterflies flying around it. It went from his wrist and went around up to his index finger. He thought it looked rather lovely and looking at it made him smile.

With every passing day since he was born, he'd go out to the park and collect caterpillars. He wondered exactly what color his mark turn to once he found his soulmate, so he collected caterpillars inorder to watch them grow.

During one trip to the park to release a couple butterflies Severus came across a young girl. She had introduced herself as Lily, Miss Lily Evans. Her next words had caused his heart to flutter and nearly made him drop the jar he was holding.

"Are those butterflies? I love butterflies!! Can I see them?" She spoke with pure excitement. Severus couldn't help but blush or think that this girl with lively red hair and bright green eyes was perhaps his soulmate.

Severus simply nodded and handed her the jar he was holding. As Lily reached and took hold of the jar both their hands touched. Severus looked at his right hand but found that it was still a dull grayish color.

'So she isn't my soulmate' He thought and for some reason he felt happy about it. After that day he and Lily became friends. Together the pair would collect all sorts of caterpillars and watch them grow.

Soon enough Severus learned that Lily's favorite creature were rabbits. All because she had seen a movie called "Alice in wonderland" and because of it she followed any rabbit she find to wherever it went hoping to find wonderland.

"Lily were going to get lost, it's getting dark out!"

"Oh c'mon Sev, it'll be fine. I know how to get us home"

Severus let out a sight and continued to follow Lily through the trees. She had caught sight of a small rabbit and quickly went to follow it despite him telling her not to. After sometime the pair had come across an isolated area that looked like something from fairytale.

There was a giant willow tree that looked like something from a dream and a lake that was clear as day. There was several patches of flowers and mushrooms and it all felt like a dream. Especially with the moonlight shining over it all.

Lily quickly latched onto Severus's arm and jumped up and down excitedly "Can you believe it Sev!! We finally found wonderland!!!" She shouted out. Severus was shocked, he simply couldn't believe his eyes. He turned to Lily and smiled "No.." He said softly "You found wonderland" he spoke and Lily simply smiled before hugging him tightly.

"We should head back home" He muttered. Lily nodded and the pair made their way back home. He was thankful that they hadn't gotten lost. Time came and went with Lily and Severus spending time in wonderland collecting and raising caterpillars and learning about Hogwarts.

A school made of magic, the very school his mother had gone too. When his mother first mentioned it to him, he quickly went and told Lily about it. Lily was absolutely enthralled by it, even more so when Severus made a flower bloom from his hand, and then she exploded with pure bliss when she managed to do it as well. When they both turned 11 they had both received a letter to Hogwarts.

"Do you think we'll find out soulmates there?" Lily asked as her and Severus laid down in the soft gross within their wonderland. Severus grabbed hold of her hand and squeezed it gently "I'm sure of it, besides you found wonderland you'll for sure find your soulmate" He spoke while staring up the sky.

Lily smiled at his words and giggled softly "Thanks Sev" She said between giggles. The rest of the day was spent with them talking about how their soulmate may be like. Severus hoped that whoever it was that they were as kind and carefree as Lily.

Inturn Lily hoped that her soulmate was like Severus or as Prince charmin from the princess movies. Severus had called her crazy and Lily responded by throwing mud at him which resulted in a mud war. It also resulted in them both being grounded but neither of them cared.

Severus spent the rest of that day asking his mother about her mark. Her mark was on her shoulder, it was a an octopus colored in orange. His mother told him how she found her soulmate, his father, when she and two of her close friends went off to explore all the things muggles had created.

She had accidentally bumped into Tobias at the age of 17 in a small record store. If she hadn't worn a spaghetti strap dress that day neither of them had known they were eachothers soulmates. Why? Because his mark was on the bottom left of his back, it was a hippogriff and it had turned purple.

His father was confused upon seeing his mark but he figured it meant that his soulmate was special. He was absolutely correct because after the two dates and wedded, his mother soon got pregnant with him. She then revealed to Tobias that she herself was a witch, and the first thing he did when she told him that was ask her what the bloody creature was on his back.

His mother couldn't contain her laughter as he ranted about the damn thing. How he spent most of his time in the library trying to figure out what the hell is was. She quickly answered his questions and he finally let out a sigh of relief and then said "So you said something about you being pregnant?" this caused her to laugh again.

Finally at the age of 11 both Severus and Lily had received their Hogwarts letter. Petunia hasn't received one but they had promised her they'd take loads of picture and to bring back many things for her to try. They had even promised to look for someone with a jellyfish as their soulmark. At the train station Lily and Severus said goodbye to their families both stepping onto the train.

They quickly entered an empty compartment and Lily couldn't help squeal as she threw herself onto the seat "Oh sev can you believe it!!! We're finally going to Hogwarts!!! Oh I really hoped that Petunia could have come with us, this seems unfair!! We gotta write to her everyday ok? And take loads of pictures and buy all sorts of stuff to send back to her!" Lily ranted with excitement. Severus had stopped listening to her halfway and simply smiled.

He was finally going to Hogwarts, he wondered how it would be like. Maybe he'll find his soulmate their, hopefully they won't mind his appearance especially his nose. Severus was snapped out of thoughts when Lily waved her hand in front of his face.

"Sev are you listening to me?" She asked and crossed her arms. "Both yes and no, you lost me when you said Hogwarts" He spoke which caused Lily to let out a groan before she erupted with laughter which inturn caused Severus to laugh too. The pair spent the rest of the train ride talking about what house they would be and wondered what house they're soulmate was in too.

Their conversation had attracted the attention of two boys. One had messy brown hair, brown eyes and wore glasses. While the other had black somewhat wavy hair that almost reached his shoulders and sorta black grayish eyes. Lily and Severus learned that their names were James Fleamont Potter and Sirius Black.

James had quickly sat next to Lily while Sirius took the seat next to Severus. The four of them talked about what house they may get placed in and what house they suspected their soulmate's to be in as well. James was quick to ask her for her hand after the conversation. Lily looked like she wanted to slap him instead but simply said no.

It was clear that Lily didn't take a liking to James, he figured that out when he kept talking about how great Gryffindor was and how surely she would be one and that Severus probably won't fit in but hey he'll make a good Hufflepuff or something. Lily had glared daggers at him and Severus felt that she was gonna attempt to kill him.

Sirius seemed to think the same thing what with the way he was trying to get his friend to shut up and apologize. Tho James seemed to ignore him and went about trying to get Lily to shake his hand or make some form of contact. Well James got what he wanted cause after several minutes of asking Lily grabbed his hand brought it up to her mouth and bit him as hard as she could.

This caused James to yell and well...it also caused him to pass out. Luckily they had arrived to Hogwarts. "Yeah, he'll make a great Gryffindor" Severus spoke which caused both Lily and Sirius to laugh. "I'm gonna go find an adult" Sirius said as he composed himself and quickly left. Severus and Lily nodded before turning to eachother "Do we leave him here?" He asked in confusion "Yes" was all Lily said as she dragged Severus out of the compartment and out of the train.

They pair stopped in their tracks as they came face to face with Hogwarts. "My lord Severus it looks beautiful" Lily breathed out as she stared at the school with wide eyes "Yes it is" He muttered with awe. The pair were quickly led onto a boat and were quickly joined by James and Sirius. They all stared at Hogwarts with excitement and neither of them could wait to step inside.

[tundrainafrica]

Hello, I hope you are doing great! Especially with the final chapter which was somewhat questionable.... But I have a theory that hopefully will found you agree with!

In light of the recent chapters and the manga final, I think it became apparent that Isayama essentially confirmed both eruri and levihan. There's no het explanation for the way he reacted to Erwin's death and for a lot of the interactions. And that's good bc yams literally said humanity's strongest is a 5'3" definitely not straight guy, that's fantastic!

But then 126 and 132 came along which heavily imply there's more than friendship between levi and hanji. And that's also freaking good! Bc it makes so much sense! they've been best friends, partners, together through thick and thin and they are the only ones in the world that can understand each other in the deepest level.

To me, 126 set up that hanji was in love with him. Then 132 confirmed that he loves her back. Then 136 when he monologues, I got the vibe he was letting go of Erwin in a way. The shared panel of Erwin and Hanji in his memories signifies that both were the most important for him. And for all the comotion that was done over fullfilling the promise when he actually does it it's not as a grandiose moment as you'd expect. His face had a confusing expression. I feel Zeke's death should have been highlighted more if eruri was endgame.

And 139 is what does it. Of all the people in the mist Hanji was at the front and clearer than the others. When Levi speaks to them, again if eruri was endgame shouldn't he have spared a few words to Erwin? Be elated to see him? And shouldn't Erwin have a less plain expression?

Instead the focus ís drawn on Hanji and granded, he doesn't say anything to her either, but the way their expressions mirror? Like they're interacting sorta. And the plane.... Why would he gaze at it? Why onyankopon give him a look like that?

Hanji was Levi's new dream in the famous words of Flynn Rider. She was his second chance. And letting her sacrifice herself I believe was his one regret and the catalyst that made executing the promise not as fullfilling as it would be.

And that's why I believe yams intended both of the ships to be canon and both be equal on the affect they had on Levi as a character. Yes, levihan is subtler in it's development but really it takes a while to admit you've fallen for your bestie. And when the feeling is reciprocated then the relationship that ensues doesn't really change except that there's added benefits such as kissing and lovey dovey stuff and the relationship now exists under a new label.

So there you go, Levi was in love with both Erwin and Hanji. And levihan isn't rushed, the shippers aren't reaching and if you think it's there to diminish eruri and cater to the hets then I'm sorry, y'all are just biphobic.

I personally think that Eruri and Levihan are both really interesting ships to explore. I have read my fair share of eruri dojins and fanfics tbh. I just prefer exploring Levihan haha. They could have both been canon or eruris and levihans are both reaching.

As someone who got into Levihan slowly though, I have to admit that Levihan really had the advantage of time and circumstance. Levi and Hange were the only ones left among the survey corps veterans and I like to compare the development here let's say to...

You know that thing where you have a group of friends, and two people in that group of friends take the same course in college or end up being the only two going to a certain university so they're like "Fine, since we've known each other for a long time, let's stick together," and that's why Levihan seems more 'out there' to me, if you know what I mean. I actually wrote "All We Are" to explore it, in case you wanna read that.

Anyway, thank you for this anon! Apologies for the late reply.

[starshiningsirius]

As fragile as a flower (Yandere Lilia x reader)

Thank you to @megan-is-mia for the scenario idea!

It stung so, so badly. The scream released expressed the pain from the person who had been hurt. The pain subsided somewhat, unlike the smell of burning flesh that never went away.

The fae chuckled in amusement at the girl's pain. Having warned her subtly, but not entirely of the effects the collar he placed on her would cause, every time she would try to escape.

"Dearest do be a good little one and stop trying, though I won't stop you it only hurts me far worse when you get hurt."

"You liar! if that was the truth then you wouldn't have placed this crap on me!" She yelled but it was shortly accompanied by coughs a great many like she was getting sicker and more frail by the moment.

Lilia walked over to her worry brought with his approach trying to use a spell that would temporarily heal her of her ailment. Since she didn't trust him with a potion or the medicine. As soon as he lifted his hand though she smacked it away.

"I'd rather die than be stuck here with an obsessive sadist." Was her response to the action she took causing the fae to sigh.

"Remind me again who was it that got herself here in the first place, you were so ignorant and without my help you wouldn't be here. It's not my fault your so delicate my dear. I only wish for your well being and in turn you could at least show a bit of gratitude." He said with a frown or maybe a pout. It actually made him look innocent as an angel.

What a goddamn lie.

* * *

Where had it all began?

Let's see all the way back at NRC it was just another normal day. Silver and Lilia were having tea with one another while discussing the day that had passed.

Silver happened to mention a girl he had saw in the infirmary. She was coughing very much like she was dying for air. He was about to get the school nurse but she stopped him.

"Wait, I'm fine they know already!" Was something along the lines of what she said.

Lilia was always curious and someone so weak and frail at this school just threw him for a loop. He wanted to go see the sickly one for himself.

He did find her back in the infirmary at lunchtime coughing yet again. He had scared the living daylights out of her when he teleported close.

"Sorry to startle you young one I can't help but wonder how someone like you could survive in a school like this?"

The question unnerved her to say the least as he pushed some of her hair behind her ear. The fae whipped out a charming smile as he had recalled to introduce himself.

"Ah, where are my manners? Lilia, Lilia Vanrouge. Pleasure to meet you my dear."

Though there first encounter was a bit unnerving they managed to get along for the most part. He'd scare her with his sudden appearances of course he found fun in seeing her scared. He'd also guide her to the infirmary during lunch to keep her on track to get some medcine.

They were good friends for the most part. Except for the fact that overtime Lilia just hadn't realized how much protection his friend had needed. How fragile she truly was until an incident had opened his eyes to what he had been missing.

That was when things really went south. She didn't arrive to their tea party after waiting 10 minutes. He knew for a fact her medicinal doses were at noon every day. This tea party was after class and she'd text him if she was going to be late. She didn't have any club activities either since Silver and Sebek both in the Equestrian club with her were with Malleus today. He already knows how Riddle gets when missing a member.

So where could she be?

It was nothing for him to teleport in the school and move about at visible incomprehensible speeds to find her. Of course he stopped when he heard laughter. The type of laughter of someone who had gotten away with a scheme. Peaking around the corner of the empty corridor he found the source of the laughter.

Savanaclaw students.

Someone was lying on the floor as well. He only just noticed them. When he finally realized who it was, it was like his soul left his body and consciousness slipped away.

He hated it, more than anything. He just had to take the anger he felt out on something. They were the cause of this and they would pay the price. Before he realized it they were dead, all of them. He had left their bodies there for someone else to find. It's not like the paintings saw him and there weren't any cameras in that hall anyway.

The thing no, person in his arms was who he was most worried about right now was far more important. Lilia couldn't even comprehend what he was feeling at the time. The sheer amount of worry and the increasing of his heartbeat, he didn't have time to think about it all.

He brought her back to the Diasomnia Lounge with a snap of his fingers leaving the violent, bloody, backdrop of the hallway behind. He placed her on the couch gently. Finally using his magic to the best of his ability to heal her.

He finally took a chance to breath after making sure her heart was still beating. She was still unconscious though. His heart was still pounding and he took a moment to reflect.

This wasn't like him at all. A lowly human protected by a powerful fae. As much anger as he showed but actually couldn't remember very well. He had lost it just after seeing her like that.

How ironic that someone as old and powerful as himself felt love toward someone so youthful and fragile as a flower. Her entire being in a school like this wasn't meant to be. He had come to wonder how she even got here.

Why someone as delicate and fragile as her would be placed in a school full of villainy?

* * *

That same event had flashed through his eyes at that moment in time. The bruised state she was in.

He couldn't help his sudden desire. To protect one of the few things he holds precious. This is different than Malleus, Silver, or Sebek. They're fully capable of protecting themselves. But her if he hadn't been there she would have probably died. It's only better if she stays in the castle where he can keep an eye on her.

He had a smirk on his face as he caressed the cheek of the girl he had fallen for. Eagerly casting the spell that would heal her momentarily.

He knew a spell that could heal her ailment completely but that would ruin the fragile image he had made of her in his head. After admiring the adorable glare she sent him for a second he finally opened his mouth to speak.

"Oh love as fragile as a flower you are. Certainly you don't belong at a school like that. I'll protect you from all the harm this world offers including yourself."

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