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baby-grayson · 4 years

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okay cat, ignore this if it's not your vibe (for real, I mean it haha) but I CANNOT stop thinking about a little gray and ness moment where someone on the other team sees her with gray's number on and starts talking smack on the field

Who doesn’t love a territorial Grayson? One of Vanessa’s favorite sweatshirts to bundle up in on those cold Friday nights is an extra-large hoodie with the team mascot on the front and “DOLAN” printed across the back on top of the number eleven. The sweatshirt was originally Grayson’s but after she borrowed it more than a few times, it found a new permanent home in Vanessa’s closet next to a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that were also originally Grayson’s. She held her hands tightly inside of the pouch of that sweatshirt, feeling dumb for forgetting her gloves in the car and being too stubborn to leave the bleachers to go get them. On her bottom half, she wore a pair of fleece black leggings that were covered by two blankets wrapped around her. Underneath her boots, she wore her favorite part of fuzzy blue socks with white stripes to keep her toes warm. She was a cozy little bundle topped with a bright blue knitted hat with a pompom on top.

From her seat in the stands, just to side of the second overhead light on the left, she pulled her hands out of her sweatshirt pocket to cup them and cheer before quickly shoving them back into the pocket and knitting them together to save her skin from the cold air’s bite. Her eyes were locked on Grayson as the players exited the field and joined tight huddles with their respective teams.

The other team had come from out of state, with no fans in the bleachers to cheer them on. And that particular Friday night was not a homecoming game, or a playoff game, or even a particularly highly anticipated game. The bleachers were sparsely decorated with fans: a few stray students looking for something to do on a Friday night, parents in their own huddle of gossip and discussion, and the team’s girlfriends sprinkled throughout the seats. Vanessa was easily the loudest voice in the crowd.

She cheered loud enough to get the attention of the attention bitter linebacker on the opposing team: Tommy Marvolo. Tommy had always been bigger and dumber than the other kids his age: a perfect candidate for a college football career. Being an agile oaf with cleats, his sense of self-worth was being severely assaulted by the numbers displayed on the scoreboard. His team was losing: 14-37.

He snapped of his helmet and shoved it under his arm when he looked up at the sound of a sweet voice whooping from the stands. Tommy couldn’t deny that she was pretty: even bundled to the point where only her primary facial features were showing. Grayson ducked his head into his own huddle, listening intently to instructions from his coach while Ethan slapped his ass and the smell of grass and sweat filled the air inside of his helmet. As Grayson grunted in confirmation, Tommy looked up from the field to notice the number on the arm of Vanessa’s sweatshirt.

Tommy was barely smart enough to put the dots together when he saw the number eleven printed on the back of Grayson’s jersey.

With a few whistle blows and chants, the players made their way back onto the field. Grayson and Tommy crouched down. Grayson focused on pushing his feet into the ground, trying to spread his weight through his knees: making him more nimble to push off and run into the other team’s line after the ball was thrown. Grayson perked his head up when Vanessa called out from the stands. He smiled brightly in her direction: she swore she could see his face light up when he looked at her.

“She’s yours?” Tommy gruffed while the other players got into position.

Grayson cleared his throat, not immediately realizing that he was being spoken, “Uh- yeah,” he wasn’t totally comfortable with claiming Vanessa as ‘his’, as if she was an object, but he agreed in hopes of shutting Tommy up.

It didn’t work.

“Cute,” he sniffled and watched his quarterback start to bend over, “She’s a looker.”

Grayson gritted his teeth, feeling his mouthguard push against the edges of his cheeks, “Ha” he let out a cynical sound.

“Too bad you can’t handle her…”

Grayson reached his bottom jaw upward to clamp down on his upper lip, trying his hardest to focus on the game that was about to start around him.

“You’re too busy playing with big balls..”

Grayson felt a vein on the side of his temple throb against his face.

“She’ll look good under me thou-“

Grayson smashed into him as hard as he could, the same instant the referee blew the whistle to start the play. Before the ball had left the quarterback’s hand, Tommy was on the ground and watching pretty birds and stars circle around his head from where he looked up at Grayson.

The referee blew the whistle again, “EVELEN”

Grayson snapped his head in the direction of the referee just in time to hear him call out, “Chopping!” and throw a yellow flag near Tommy’s head on the ground.

Grayson sneered and walked away, not bothering to offer a Tommy a hand to stand up.

In a dark way, Grayson felt proud when he went back to the bench to learn he had knocked Tommy with enough force to take him off the field for the entire game. The sound of his pride drowned out the sound of his coach chewing him out for giving the team a ten-yard penalty.

Grayson’s team went on the further their lead and win the game 52-20.

He grinned when he left the locker room to find Vanessa waiting on the other side. He made quick work of picking her up, so her feet dangled above the ground and planting a big, sweet kiss on her lips while he cradled her before settling her back down. She giggled and smiled up at him, “You’re so silly.”

He smiled and shrugged, reaching down to hold her hand in his and noticing how the warmth of his hand immediately started penetrating the layer of cold on her skin, “It’s a good night.”

He squeezed her hand and started walking toward the car with her, throwing his duffel bag behind one of his shoulders. From the other side of the parking lot, Tommy trailed behind the rest of his team to get on their bus. Grayson matched Tommy’s flat look with a signature Dolan side eye.

“What happened to him?” Vanessa nodded in Tommy’s direction while getting in the passenger side of Grayson’s Jeep.

Grayson settled himself in the driver’s seat and threw his duffel bag into the back, “Him? Ah he just said something he shouldn’t have.”

Vanessa knitted her brow together, “What do you mean?” She nestled her tote bag with her blankets by her feet as Grayson turned on the heat in the car.

Grayson shrugged, “Don’t worry bout it- s’nothing” He pulled out of the parking lot and started down the street, towards his apartment.

Vanessa gave him a sideways glance, unconvinced by his response, “I’ve only ever seen you get three penalties,” she started, “and one of them was tonight.”

Grayson sighed, realizing that he was not going to be able to dodge her questions. He moved his hands against the wheel in a resigned gesture, “He was saying stuff, I got mad- that’s all really,” his voice sounded honest and surrendered.

“About what”? Vanessa leaned forward and rubbed her hands together in front of the heating vent.

Grayson smacked his lips together a few times and weighed his head from side to side, trying to find words. He piqued Vanessa’s interest while saying, “About you,” he admitted, “He was saying stuff about you and I –” he sighed again and shook his head, “It didn’t belong in the game.”

Vanessa felt herself taken aback by the idea. “Was he trying to like… psyche you out?”

Grayson sighed again, “Uhh…maybe,” he decided. “I don’t know but it didn’t belong in the game.”

“Don’t you guys talk smack all the time?”

“Yeah but it’s different,” Grayson persisted, using his blinker to turn through an intersection. He drove into the new lane before saying, “Smack talk is smack talk but you don’t belong being a part of that.” He quickly glanced in her direction before turning his eyes back on the road, noticing her pensive look as she dissected each of his words, “That out there, football, football’s a game. That’s all it is, a stupid game with a bunch of stupid guys crashing into each out. You? You’re more than a game. You’re above the game and I don’t ever want to hear another guy brining you into the game like that again. You’re worth more than that Ness.”

Vanessa responded by silently laying a delicate hand on top of Grayson’s on the gear shift.

((i hope you like it lynds 🥺))

#grayson dolan #dolan twins #ethan dolan #fanfic #youtuber #ethan #grayson #fluff #romance #grayson x oc #football!grayson #college!grayson #blurb #concept

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gyllenhaalstories · 4 years

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Hi can you write a fic about dad!jake because there’s not a lot of them on here (if u want) and plus your writing is amazing hands down one of the best jake blogs on here ♥️

i do agree, there is a cruel lack of dad!jake. it’s so unfortunate! i mean, he looks like uncle goals and he would make the best dad in the entire world! thank you so so so so so much anon! you have no idea how happy your kind words make me! you didn’t give any specific setting so i went for the ultimate softness! just because i love naming characters, let me introduce you to toddler (ish) rose gyllenhaal! EXTRAS: i suggest you listen to the cinematic orchestra’s to build a home to get in the same mindset as i was while writing this. i found the gif on google image and couldn’t find the original creator, i’m sorry! WARNINGS: none except i don’t know how kids act and like what they are except very strange creatures so i’m so sorry if my awkwardness is showing through this fic! i hope you, and everyone reading this, will enjoy it! ( 1500 words)

BUILD A BEAR

“Teddy Bear!” Your daughter pointed, her head and arm peeking from the pillow fort you helped her build in your living room. “Big Teddy Bear!” She pointed at her father.

You chuckled, realizing that Jake has returned from running errands.

“You learned new words? I’m very proud of you, sweetheart!” Jake frowned, confused, as he planted a kiss on your forehead, then your daughter’s. Proud was an understatement. He would brag about how smart your daughter was at the simplest thing. Whether she fed herself without making a mess, drew an absolute chaotic art piece with her crayons or found her way to snuggle up in her parents’ bed despite being told not to, he was so proud. She amazed him.

It amazed him how she looked exactly like the two of you combined. She had his piercing blue eyes, but they had your shape, soft and cheerful. She had a bright smile like him. She had your button nose. She had that little curl in her hair that resembled yours. A bad encounter with the coffee table during a tickling session left her with a tiny scar on her chin, which looked exactly like one of Jake’s shaving accidents when he was young and innocent.

It amazed him how fast time flew by. Not even yesterday, the two of you were hearing her first cry and hugging her for the first time. It amazed him how much love he had to give this bundle of joy, while he believed he could never love someone or something as much as he loved you.

Rose repeated the nickname again and again. Maybe it was her new obsession. Last week, she tasted her very first lemon and kept screaming lemon all the time. Quite the learning experience, she had her father’s vocal chords that was for sure.

Jake shrugged it off and brought the mail to the kitchen table. He did not bother taking off his jacket, he kneeled with the two of you. He opened his legs and arms, hoping Rose would crawl and sit with him, but she just laughed and pointed at his face again. “Bear, Daddy is a bear!”

It finally hit you and you brust into laughter, leaving Jake in his confusion.

Rose pretended that her fingers were scissors and she mimicked the snip snip sound as she ran her little hand around Jake’s beard.

“She thinks you look like a bear.” You, too, brought your hand to Jake’s face and you stroked it lovingly. Rose agreed by nodding her head frantically. “You know, with the beard.”

“That’s not nice! I’m not a bear!” Jake pouted and pretended to be sad, which resulted in your daughter covering his face with kisses.

“No sad Daddy, I love my teddy bear!” She hugged him tight and Jake widened his eyes. He mouthed that she didn’t have a teddy bear and suddenly this looked like the biggest emergency in the world.

He scooped her up like she was as light as a feather, pulling out the cutest giggles out of her tiny body. “Get in, sweetheart, we’re going shopping!”

You told Jake you preferred to stay at home and clean around the house. He insisted he would prefer to have his princesses with him, but you gave him a wink. He was quicker to understand it meant you were clearing their evening schedule for something more entertaining than laundry, baby food making and bento box lunches binge watching.

So Jake got the little toddler ready. He let her pick her hat, her scarf and her mittens while he put on her boots. She usually hated that part, but he had this magic trick of singing a silly tune as he did so. It made her want to sing too, and forget about the heartbreaking moment her feet leave her favourite slippers. She opted for teal mittens, an orange hat with a pink pompom and a purple scarf with stripes. “She’s New York Fashion Week ready!”

You laughed, kissing them good bye.

*~*~*

Jake drove to the nearest mall and carried Rose over his shoulder until they reached the door of the shopping center.

“Where are we going?” She kept asking, from the moment she was in the car to now, when Jake was all scrunched over to hold her tiny hand.

“It’s a surprise, Rosie!”

“I love surprises!”

He made the walk to the Build a Bear store fun. He went to grab a muffin from a food stand and shared it with her, washing her hands so she would not stick them every where. He even stopped by a clothing store, taking notes of the pieces she liked from the front windows so he could get her new outfits. And when they finally made it to the store... She was running and dragging Jake along. He was surprised by her strength, but he really should not be. Ever since she was a baby she was strong like the Hulk, or like her mother. He liked to think she got it from you, his super woman with super strength and super everything.

“You can pick one, okay? And we’ll bring it to life together! Poof!” He added sounds to his explanations, catching her attention.

Rosie was impossible to control. She ran from one corner to the other, apologizing adorably when she bumped into a friendly employee. She would pick up a giraffe, no a cat, no, a dog, no, a dragon... Honestly Jake wanted to buy them all. He was aware the mall was closing soon, and he knew better than to torture these poor employees with an excited child who skipped her nap and would crash at any moment (or well, she would when he would stop giving her M&Ms to buy her concentration).

She finally made up her mind on a light golden bear. It came with a flower on its ear and pink paws. “It’s perfect, just like you!” Jake exclaimed and booped her nose. He let the employees teach Rose how to fill the plushie with stuffing until it was the best cuddle buddy in the world.

“How should we name her?”

“Jake!”

He shook his head, trying not to be insulted by the fact she still associated bears with him.

“No!” She listed possibly fifteen names that made less and less sense and gave the employees a headache.

Rose pulled on Jake’s pants, asking him to come down to her level, which he did. “What is Mommy’s favourite flower?” She asked and he answered.

“Daisy!” They both said in sync. It was a perfect name, because the bear had a daisy on it and Jake and you really had this flower theme going on. You, in fact, hesitated between so many flower names for your kid.

“Let’s show Mom your new friend!”

*~*~*

Jake managed to spend the entire car ride without a cry, a scream or a word of complaint until he accidentally woke Rose up from her nap by picking her up. She was tired and fussy. It was dinner time, but you and Jake decided it was better if she slept a bit more before. Your plans for the evening got bumped to tomorrow, but you could not care any less. Rose and Daisy were the new partners in crime and they were too adorable to resist.

“I have another idea!” Jake announced and set Rose down on the couch, inviting you to do the same. He disappeared in the laundry room, where he threw a soft blanket in the dryer with a dryer sheet. He then ran to the kitchen and prepared a platter of hot chocolate. He made sure that Rose’s was just warm enough and he placed a big marshmallow on it. He set the platter down and left again, only to come back with a warm blanket.

He turned on the television to play Frozen and sat on the couch with Rose in between the two of you. Your bodies were wrapped in a coccoon of warmth. And your heart felt the same. Rose quickly fell asleep, she did not even make it to the pat where Olaf appeared, and it was her favourite moment. She snored lightly, clutching on Daisy.

Your head was resting on Jake’s shoulder and you looked up to him.

If somebody told you a couple of years ago that you would live a life like this, you would have never believed it.

You have a beautiful house to live in. A job you love that allowed you as much family time as you wanted. A significant other that was nothing less than your soulmate. And you had this precious soul sleeping soundly with her mouth covered with hot cocoa.

You took a deep breath and Jake stared back into your eyes. The silence said it all.

You wanted nothing more in life than this: the taste of hot chocolate, your child being so peaceful and happy, Jake’s content face lighting up the evening sky and this never ending smell of fresh laundry. Your family was like a basket of clean laundry. So warm, so satisfying, so comforting.

Jake built Rose a bear.

And Jake, Rose and you built a home.

#jake gyllenhaal fluff #jake gyllenhaal imagine #jake gyllenhaal x reader #requests: jake gyllenhaal #one shot: build a bear

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arcticfox007 · 4 years

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Hope and Feathers

Destiel December Challenge 2020

Day 8: Blizzard

This is a continuation of days 2-7, the master list is pinned to my profile.

Check it out on AO3 as well!

***

Charlie was really enjoying herself. The night may have started off as a way of helping her brothers out, but this Christmas event was actually super amazing. She had managed to snag a hand-knit elf hat while Sam asked about custom made dolls of all things. Charlie got Sam a headband with reindeer antlers and insisted that he wear them. She even convinced him to take a selfie with her, although he voiced his concerns about her using the picture for blackmail purposes.

“Why are you looking for dolls, Sam? What does that have to do with talking to Dean?” Sam smiled mysteriously and wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“You’ll have to wait and see. You’re so impatient. What’s with the picture taking by the way?”

“I just thought it’d be nice. I got some sneaky ones of Dean being all adorable with Cas.” Sam laughed.

“So, you are trying for blackmail, clever.” Charlie rolled her eyes. “Actually, can I see the pictures?”

“Sure.” Charlie handed her phone over to Sam. He took a few moments to look through them with a grin growing across his face.

“Do you mind if I send some of these to myself?”

“Go ahead.” Sam thanked her and spent a few moments emailing himself some of the photos.

“If you get anymore tonight, can you send them as well? Dean’s working on a gift for Cas, and I think I can add on to it a bit.” Charlie nodded her agreement.

“No prob. What are you up to, a photo album or something?” Sam shrugged.

“Not really, I’m going to frame some of them. I’m not sure I have enough for an album, we don’t stop and take pictures all that often,” Sam gave Charlie half of a smile and then spotted something in the distance. “Hey, I think that’s the booth I’m looking for.”

Charlie wandered around the custom doll booth for a bit while Sam got into a deep discussion with the artist running the place. It took long enough that she’d started playing on her phone by the time Sam walked back over.

“Well, that cost way more than I was originally intending to spend on Dean, and she won’t have it ready until tomorrow night, but I think it’ll be worth it.” Sam honestly looks excited just for himself, so Charlie just punches his arm and grins.

“You better find somewhere for everyone to spend the night then. Check out the forecast.” Sam’s eyes widen in mild surprise as he sees the weather app on Charlie’s screen.

“Wow, yeah, I don’t think we want to be driving in that. Especially since the Impala isn’t exactly the best car for snow. An actual blizzard, huh?”

“Yeah, it may still miss this area but we might as well see where we can snag a few rooms. There’s some sort of 1800s B&B within walking distance. After that we can go meet Santa Claus!” Charlie clapped her hands with glee and started bounding off to wherever this inn was supposed to be as Sam followed her with a bemused expression.

***

“Dean. There is one over here.” Dean walked over to Cas while dodging some of the crystals hanging from the ceiling in the New Age-y shop one of the kids they’d passed had tipped them off about. Cas had stopped trying to restrain his smile, he was enjoying how much fun Dean seemed to be having playing this silly game.

“Awesome! You’re pretty good at this angel spotting thing.” Dean smirked and winked at the actual angel in the store.

“Yes,” Cas said dryly. “It does seem to be some sort of innate skill on my part.” Dean chuckled and makes sure Castiel records the newest scavenger hunt angel on his list.

“We only have one more on the list. Where haven’t we gone yet?” Castiel lifts an eyebrow as Dean pours over the small map of the historic city he’d found in the event booklet.

“We haven’t gone to get coffee yet. I believe someone mentioned coffee to me before starting this endeavor but we’ve been walking around for an hour, and I still have yet to see any.” Dean rolled his eyes.

“Wow, Cas. I will say the one human trait that’s given you very little problems is sarcasm.” Cas just continued to look at Dean expectantly. “Alright, alright, lets go get you coffee, angel.”

Dean grabbed Cas’ hand to lead him out of the store through the maze of shimmering crystals, painted tarot cards, and velvet draped tables. Cas’ chest felt tight with hope as he allowed himself to be pulled up the stairs towards the door. While, yes, Cas was an angel, that’s not what the word had sounded like when Dean had just said it. Cas felt another wave of grace pulse through his still fragile wings. He kept his grip on Dean’s hand as if it were the only thing keeping him from drowning.

Once they got outside Dean started walking uphill towards the coffee shop he’d seen on the map. Castiel stayed quiet while following, as he didn’t want to draw Dean’s attention to the way that they were still holding hands.

Eventually though, they reached their destination and Dean dropped Castiel’s hand to hold open the door to the small shop with local artwork decorating the walls. Cas immediately missed the feeling of Dean’s hand but pretended to be absorbed in reading the menu board to compose himself before looking back over at his best friend.

“Do you see anything you want, Cas?” For one insane moment Cas almost said - yes, you. Clearing his throat to cover up his near miss Cas stumbled over his words.

“Uh, just something warm? Would you pick? There are too many choices.” Dean’s eyes ran across the menu board for a few minutes.

“You said you could kind of taste the peppermint bark we made, right? The have peppermint flavor on the specials board, if you want.” Cas nodded and let Dean order coffee for Castiel and hot chocolate for himself. While Dean was ordering Cas looked around at some of the artwork hanging on the walls, keeping an eye out for their last scavenger hunt angel. He was contemplating a painting that seemed to be an abstract version of a human eye when Dean came up behind him holding two mismatched mugs.

“Let’s go upstairs, Cas. It’s kinda crowded down here and the barista told me they have an outdoor area up there.” Cas followed Dean up the stairs of the historic building. The upstairs did seem to be more peaceful. Dean walked over to doors leading outside and Cas reached in front of Dean to grab the door since he was still carrying their drinks.

“This is beautiful,” stated Cas. The angel stood still for a moment, taking in the narrow wooden balcony that wrapped into a steep drop off of stone that served as a wall to the store but hadn’t been altered from the outside. Dean noticed what Castiel was looking at and led them back to a table right by the natural rock wall. They had an excellent view of the main street and all of the lights from their vantage point.

“I have to admit, this is a pretty cool place.” Cas agreed with Dean and pulled his drink towards him, only then noticing that the notably handmade mug was covered in bumps that were painted to look like bees. He glanced up at Dean only to find him watching Cas in anticipation. A smile slowly spread across the angel’s face.

“Bees? You asked them for this mug, didn’t you?” Dean chuckled.

“Yeah. If I recall you were very enthusiastic about bees a few years ago.” If Castiel could get any redder out in the biting cold he would have.

“I do like bees, yes.” Castiel attempted to maintain a solemn expression but this was ruined when he looked down at the mug again, feeling new feathers forming as his grace pulsed behind him once again. Dean reached across and touched Cas’ arm for just a moment.

“Hey Cas, are you okay?” When Cas looked back up into Dean’s face, he knew his eyes had teared up a bit, but he smiled fondly at Dean nonetheless.

“I’m wonderful Dean. I just – it was very kind of you. To think of me like that, I mean.” Castiel crinkled his nose to try and prevent himself from actually crying. Dean’s face was hard to read just then, some sort of mixture of guilt and perhaps understanding.

“I, um, I just thought it’d make you smile man.” Dean rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and Cas decided it was time to change the subject.

They began a heated discussion of where they should look next for the last angel. While they were debating the merits of looking in the small train museum it started to snow and Cas took a few seconds to enjoy the sight of the flakes falling on the beautiful street below. They made there way back inside thinking that they may just have to skip to meeting Charlie and Sam as the restaurant was at the opposite end of the main road and the snow was picking up fast. Dean grabbed Castiel’s mug to return them to the front and the angel pulled the blue and white knit hat he’d picked up over his head. He’d made Dean get one as well, in green and red, something he’d probably be less resistant too now that it was snowing. Castiel smiled at the memory of Dean’s protests over the pompom on top of the hat.

“The guy up front said this snow may turn into a blizzard late tonight, so we should definitely regroup with the others.” Castiel silently held the knit hat up to Dean and rolling his eyes he tilted his head forward a bit so Cas could easily pull it on. Cas opened the door and was quietly happy as Dean took his hand again to lead him through the small crowd of shoppers.

***

@galaxycastiel, @jellydeans, @my-favourite-hellatus, @nguyenxtrang

#destiel #destiel december 2020 #destiel december #destiel fic #castiel #dean winchester #deancas #casdean #sam winchester #sam ships it #charlie supernatural #supernatural #supernatural fic #spn family #arcticfox007writes

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amrynth · 4 years

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New Years Waterworks

(For @docholligay‘s January Same Prompt Party. The prompt is Usagi and New Year’s Fireworks. Enjoy! Ao3 here)

It was the day of the New Year’s fireworks show and the snow was not supposed to stop until Monday. She knew that it was silly, knew that there were bigger problems in the world that she and her friends ought to be solving (such as who had the crystal star goblet on the back of their daydream tablet). But Usagi was inconsolable because she had been looking forward to seeing the fireworks ever since the location had been announced. She had even talked her dad into getting them special press passes so they could be closer. And now it wasn’t going to stop snowing and there was no point.

A freshet of tears welled in Usagi’s eyes and she hiccuped in a half-hearted effort to keep them from overflowing.

“Really, is that any way for a highschool student to behave?” Luna asked, curled on the bed with her back against Usagi’s pillow.

“Luna, lighten up,” Makoto said, dropping to sit on the bed. She’d only just returned from downstairs. “I mean, it’s New Year’s. Usagi’s been looking forward to this.”

The final reminder was what pushed her over the edge; a squeak and then a wail and then all the waterworks from Usagi. “What’s the point of being the cha-champion of justice if I can’t even watch fireworks?”

“Don’t cry Usagi, look. I’ve nearly finished the prototype.” Ami didn’t completely ignore that Usagi was in tears, but she tried not to look directly at Usagi so she didn’t get sucked into the depths of her despair.

As though on cue, Usagi’s tears dried immediately and Ami had her full attention. “Can we see it?”

“Yes. In just a few… now. Minako, would you get the lights?” Ami asked.

“Ban-banbanban!” Minako made a show of it, and the lights in Usagi’s room went out around all of them.

Luna, Makoto, Minako and Usagi all looked up expectantly while Ami fiddled with her phone before setting it in the center of the table she and Usagi were sitting at. For one moment it seemed like nothing would happen and Usagi was, once again, on the verge of tears. But a flash of light stopped the tears from coming and then the hologram kicked in and all five of them were watching small, slightly grainy fireworks silently explode in the middle of her bedroom.

“Ohh look at that one!” Usagi was enchanted, tears forgotten and her attention almost completely on the light show. It wasn’t a real firework show, but it was close enough to the real thing to let her briefly forget about the show they hadn’t been able to see.

Makoto’s phone abruptly started to beep and interrupted the magic. “Sorry. That’s the cookies, are you ready to pause this and do some decorating?”

The table was nearly knocked over in Usagi’s haste to get to her feet. To be fair, anyone would flip a table for Makoto’s cookies fresh from the oven. “Luna, watch my phone okay? And answer if Rei calls, my hands are going to be busy and you don’t even eat cookies.”

Behind her, Ami, Minako and Makoto exchanged looks as Usagi went downstairs and went on, at length, about why she didn’t understand how Rei could be so bossy about everyone else being punctual but not even make it to their fireworks cancellation party on time.

“Punctual is a good word, Usagi,” Ami complimented her, trying to interrupt her rant before she got a full head of steam going.

“It was on your vocabulary quiz last week,” she admitted.

Makoto pulled the tray of cookies from the oven and, satisfied that they were golden brown, set them aside to start cooling. The cookies themselves looked more like flowers than they did fireworks, but once they were decorated at least some of them ought to look right.

“Rei is going to be so jealous she didn’t get to eat hot cookies,” Usagi said, snagging a cookie as Makoto put it on a rack to cool.

“You’re going to burn yourself,” Minako said, a cookie already halfway to her mouth.

“Hot. Hot! Ah Hot!” Usagi juggled her cookie from hand to hand and barely saved it in time to shove it into her mouth.

It was still hot.

“Why didn’t Minako burn her hands?” Usagi wailed, cradling a cup of cold water Ami had given her.

“Volleyball calluses,” Minako declared, swallowing her perfect temperature cookie and showing off her hands.

Usagi hiccuped. “Can I learn volleyball?”

Minako shrugged. Usagi had proven to be bad at most sports where balls were involved and she didn’t want to get her hopes up.

“Here. Decorate some cookies,” Makoto said, setting a plate of fireworks cookies at places around the table, the icing all ready to go.

For the second time that night, Usagi quickly forgot about all her troubles, laughing with her friends as they each decorated their cookies with varying degrees of success. Usagi’s were fast and messy but she used a lot of colored sugar to make up for it because she liked that it looked like sparkles. Ami’s decorations were precise and small for the proportion of her cookies and she was only halfway done by the time everyone else had finished their plates. Minako picked colors she thought would make Usagi laugh and it worked, but it made for some cookies that were a little odd in the end. Makoto’s came out beautifully, she used a toothpick to blend her frosting colors and emulate shading, with perfectly manipulated sugar to create fireworks.

“Let’s go check with Luna and see if Rei is on her way,” Usagi said, glancing over toward the fifth plate with undecorated cookies.

They all trooped back up to Usagi’s room, where Luna hastily jumped back onto the bed in order to pretend she hadn’t just been watching Ami’s holograph fireworks show while the others were gone.

“Did Rei call?” Usagi asked, picking up her phone from where it lay on the bed. One missed call and a text from Rei letting her know she was on her way and would be there soon. Oh she was going to give Rei such a bad time when she got there. “But what’ll we do until she gets here?”

“Are you ready?” Minako asked.

Usagi’s interest was immediately piqued and she pulled her feet up on the bed with her. “Ready for what?”

It was precisely the question Minako had been waiting for. She lowered the lights and her phone was already set up so the flash was on as a spotlight. “For the Minako Fireworks Special Extravaganzathon!”

“Extravaganzathon isn’t actually a word,” Ami quietly corrected while settling on the bed beside Usagi.

“Well not with that attitude it’s not,” Makoto collapsed to sit on the floor with her back against the bed.

The Minako Fireworks Special Extravaganzathon was, in fact, a re-enactment of the New Year’s fireworks complete with pompoms and spangled handbags for effect. Minako had just finished the first musical number when three out of four phones lit up with a text message.

Usagi wasn’t fast enough to see who had texted Ami, Minako, and Makoto when they stopped to look at it. But Minako turned the lights back up. “Stay tuned for part two another night. There’s a big group dance at the end, it’s an interactive Extravaganzathon!”

“Sorry Usagi, but I’ve just remembered a project we need to work on,” Ami said, face turning red in a way that Usagi immediately knew meant she wasn’t being completely truthful.

“You’re leaving? But Rei isn’t even here yet,” Usagi said, her voice wavering in a way that threatened tears.

“Sorry Usagi,” Makoto said, smiling ruefully. “I’ll leave the cookies and supplies so you can decorate some more if you want.

“I’ll see you off,” Luna said, aware of the impending tears and not wanting to be in the room anymore.

Usagi watched them go and heroically kept her tears to little hiccups and sniffles until she heard the front door close as they all left. As soon as they were gone though it was a no-holds-barred wail that would have sent the fiercest youma fleeing if they had been fighting the enemy. She missed when her phone buzzed and only looked up from her tear-soaked pillow when a snowball hit her window with a soft thump. She sniffed and realized there was a text on her phone from Rei.

/Crybaby Usagi, come outside./

She got up on her knees and peered out the window but couldn’t see anything around the condensation. The solid circle of snowball that had stuck was a reddish blob. Usagi wiped her nose and thought about refusing to go out for about five seconds. But seeing what had kept Rei for so long was at least more interesting than crying herself to sleep. Usagi pulled her coat on and ran downstairs to pull her boots on at the door and stepped out completely prepared to get hit with a snowball.

Instead the sight that met her was Rei with a wide, red umbrella in the middle of a part of the driveway that had been very recently cleared of the still-falling snow. Usagi jogged the short distance over to her and the shelter of the umbrella from the snow.

“Been crying?” Rei asked, taking in Usagi and her puffy eyes.

“Well someone didn’t even bother to show up until everyone else got bored and left,” Usagi said, sort of wishing she’d rinsed her face at least. Rei looked beautiful with a flush of cold on her cheeks and the sparkle of something in her eyes.

“Well I had errands to run,” Rei said, her temper getting the better of her for a moment. She lifted a paper bag Usagi hadn’t seen in her hand until now, offering it to her.

Usagi took the bag before it could hit her in the chest and peeked inside. There was a pretty pathetic collection of children’s fireworks inside; sparklers and poppers and those little expanding snakes that it was far too wet with the snow to even set off. Warmth bloomed in Usagi’s chest; Rei must have been running around the whole city to even find this much in the way of fireworks they could set off in the driveway. No wonder she had been so late to make it to Usagi’s house.

Careful of the bag and its contents, Usagi threw her arms around Rei and hugged her, close to tears again but for a completely different reason than before. They had to huddle together under the umbrella and balance it along with a lighter to get the fireworks lit, but soon enough Usagi was setting off small, noisy firecrackers by throwing them into the cleared space of the driveway. When she ran out of noisy firecrackers, Usagi found sparklers in the bag and focussed all her attention on not letting the colorful light fall from her string.

The spark fell from her string and Usagi bit off a short, soft noise of objection as they both watched it fall into the snow and sputter out. After the frustrations of the night, Usagi felt new tears welling in her eyes. Before she could cry properly, one of Rei’s hands turned her chin up and the sparkler was completely forgotten as they kissed.

“Reeeiii,” Usagi said, turning pink and dragging her name out into at least four syllables. “Anyone can see us.”

Rei laughed, but she was just as flushed in the face. “Dummy Usagi, I just wanted to make sure your New Year’s was memorable. Besides, no one is going to see us.”

“But your hands are so cold!” Without further ado, Usagi took Rei by the hand and dragged her, umbrella and all, into the house.

“That’s how you do it,” Minako murmured with stars in her eyes and snow in her hair. The three of them were crouched in the bushes, not willing to go home until they too got to see the fireworks display they had helped coordinate with Rei.

“I can’t believe we’re still here,” said Ami. She had her hands over her eyes and her back to the driveway, but had been unable to resist peeking when the couple had kissed. “This is completely inappropriate.”

Makoto sighed dramatically, gazing at the lit window of Usagi’s room. “I never realized just how much Rei reminds me of my Senpai.”

#sailor moon #usagi #rei/usagi #same prompt party #fanfic #fireworks #I basically wrote this for a senpai joke #close my eyes and hope the keep reading cut works

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legendofzeldaalinktothepast · 4 years

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Adora has always been Shadow Weaver's favorite student, but after making one mistake, she's left to spend recess alone with the baddest kid in fourth grade -- Catra. But Adora finds herself with some strange, warm-fuzzy feelings inside her chest, and she wonders if Catra truly is as bad as everyone says she is.

(Human AU where they’re all kids; Shadow Weaver is their fourth grade teacher. Takes place in early 2000s around Christmas.)

Fandom - She-Ra (2018)

Pairing - Catra x Adora

Rating - G

Words - 5134

Adora wiped her finger-paint stained hands on her overalls as she admired the work of art sitting before her. Her Christmas card was coming along perfectly! With the perfect amount of cotton pompoms as ornaments and glitter sprinkled all over, she’d created the most beautiful Christmas tree she’d ever laid eyes on. The only thing left was the star on top; she tapped her chin in thought, getting glitter on her face. 'What should I use for the star?' she thought, pawing through the various art supplies sitting in front of her.

As she leaned across the table, Adora caught a glimpse of Bow's Christmas card; he'd topped his tree with a little piece of silver pipe cleaner bent into the shape of a star. "Whoa, you're a genius!" she exclaimed, cupping her cheeks. "Where'd you get those fuzzy sticks at? I wanna put one on my tree, too!"

"Right over there!" Bow said, gesturing to a little plastic basket sitting in the middle of the table. Only then, however, did he realize that the basket was empty. "Oh... I guess someone must have used the last of them. Sorry..."

Adora glanced over to Perfuma, who was sitting on the other side of Bow; she had constructed a 3D tree with pipe cleaners. 'So that's where they all went.' she thought with a grumble, flopping back down onto her chair. How else could she top her Christmas tree? She refused to draw her star with a crayon; no, Grandma Razz deserved a card better than that! Standing up from her chair, Adora approached the teacher's desk. "Miss Weaver...?" she asked shyly.

Shadow Weaver looked up from the test on her desk she'd been grading; Adora couldn't help but notice all of the red marks on it, and a chill went down her spine. 'I hope that's not mine...' she thought.

"What is it?" Shadow Weaver asked.

"Um, we ran out of the fuzzy sticks at my table." Adora said. "Can we have some more?"

"There's no more left in the art closet, unfortunately," Shadow Weaver said, but gestured across the room with her pen. "But if you're lucky, there might be some left at the other kids' table. Go and ask them, I'm sure they'd be willing to share."

"Okay!" Adora beamed. As she made her way across the room, she passed Catra who, as always, was sitting alone in the corner at her own smaller table. Adora peered over her shoulder as she passed to see if she had any of those fuzzy sticks; but she had nothing. No finger paint, no glue, no glitter, not even a single pompom. All that sat in front of the freckled girl was a piece of paper and a box of crayons. 'That's not fair...' Adora thought, her smile fading. 'Why didn't Miss Weaver give her any fun art stuff?' Catra noticed her staring and glared up at her. "What?" she hissed. Adora immediately turned away. She reminded herself to worry about her own business and not be so nosy, and continued towards the table on the other side of the room.

"Could I borrow some of the fuzzy sticks, please?" Adora asked, folding her hands politely. "Perfuma used all of ours, and I need just a tiny piece for my tree."

"Alright, but only if you give us some more glitter!" Lonnie said, handing Adora a handful of pipe cleaners.

"Thanks!" Adora said, snatching up the pipe cleaners. "I'll get you some glitter in just a jiffy!" she added, skipping back towards her own table.

"No skipping, Adora. Walk when you’re indoors." Miss Weaver said, not even looking up from the papers on her desk. Adora wondered how she'd managed to even see her skipping; but she obeyed, and carefully walked the rest of the way to her table.

"Can you hand me the glitter?" Adora said, dropping the pipe cleaners into the empty basket in front of Perfuma. "Lonnie's table needs some more."

"Alright, but tell her not to use all of it!" Glimmer said as she handed Adora the jar. "I might need some more for my tree!"

Adora look one glance at Glimmer's tree, seeing that every square inch of it was covered in a thick layer of glitter. "I doubt it, but okay!" Adora snorted, turning to head back over to the other table.

But as she made her way across the room, she tripped on her untied shoelace and stumbled to her knees, spilling the glitter all over the floor. "Ouch!" Adora whined, rubbing the knee that had banged against the floor.

"Adora, what did I just tell you?" Miss Weaver scolded, rising from her desk.

"B-but I didn't run or skip this time..." Adora whimpered.

"Then you should learn to be more careful." Miss Weaver said, gesturing to the huge pile of glitter sitting on the floor. "Look at the mess you've made! Are you going to clean it? Because I'm certainly not."

Adora's cheeks burned with shame; everyone in the room was staring at her right now. "Y-yes, I'll clean it..."

"Good." Miss Weaver said, finally turning her gaze away from Adora. "Everyone, clean up your messes and line up for recess."

And just like that, Adora was no longer the center of attention; all of the kids scrambled to place their artwork on the drying rack and grabbed their winter coats and hats from their hooks. Adora, on the other hand, pulled herself to her feet and dragged herself over to the closet in shame, searching for the broom and dustpan. Catra started to get up from her seat, but Shadow Weaver cast her a glare and she immediately sat right back down. "You know the routine, Catra." she scolded.

Once all of the kids were lined up, Shadow Weaver led them out into the hallway, and Kyle (who was at the very back of the line, as always) gave Adora a sympathetic look before closing the door behind him.

Tears were streaming down Adora's face as she struggled to sweep up her mess; she'd never missed recess before! She was always Shadow Weaver's favorite student; but all of that seemed to have changed over a silly little accident. The more she tried to sweep up the mess, the more glitter got all over the broom and her clothes. With a whine of frustration, Adora dropped the broom onto the ground and burst into tears, sitting down on the floor, defeated.

"Geez, calm down already." Catra groaned, leaning back in her chair. "I know you're a goody two shoes and all that, but it's not like the world's ending."

"You wouldn't understand!" Adora snapped, clenching her fists at her sides. "You're used to being in trouble! I never do bad things!"

"Well, you'll get used to it too." Catra snorted. "Today you spilled glitter; tomorrow, you'll probably get an F on your test. By the end of the week you'll probably get your first detention, haha!"

Adora gasped; what if that paper with all the red marks was hers? But Catra had no way of knowing that... With a huff, Adora crossed her arms. "Never! I'll never get in trouble as much as you! You're the baddest kid in fourth grade!"

"Yep, and proud of it!" Catra giggled. "I'm just sayin', Miss Weaver could find a new teacher's pet any day now. She's starting to like Glimmer a lot lately, you know."

"No! Shut your mouth!" Adora protested. Remembering the mess she still had to clean up, she began scooping up glitter into her hands and throwing it into the trash can, deciding the broom wasn't much help. "I'm a good student... I just made a little mistake. Doesn't make me bad."

"Alriiight..." Catra said, her tone basically saying "I don't believe you." Adora rolled her eyes, turning her focus back to the glitter on the floor.

"So, why do you always wear overalls?" Catra asked. "Do you live on a farm?"

"Yeah..." Adora said, unsure why Catra was suddenly trying to make conversation. "I help my grandma take care of the ponies."

"Ew, I was joking." Catra snorted. "Didn't think you actually did."

"It's not ew! Horses are beautiful!" Adora huffed.

"They smell like butts." Catra said.

"No they don't!"

"Yeah, they do!"

"Their stables are kinda smelly; but the horses aren't!" Adora insisted. "They're beautiful, majestic creatures!"

"They're ugly and smelly and stupid." Catra giggled, clearly amused by the reaction she was getting out of Adora.

"Are not!" Adora almost shouted.

"Are too!" Catra responded. "Besides, they're lame. You know what's even cooler than horses?"

"What?" Adora crossed her arms. She didn't believe there was anything cooler than horses, but was willing to hear Catra out.

"Cats." Catra held up the piece of paper that'd been sitting in front of her, showing Adora the drawing she'd done of two orange cats.

"Whoa..." Adora gasped, putting her anger aside to admire just how good Catra was at drawing. They certainly weren't better than horses, that she knew for sure; but her drawings were almost as good as a sixth grader's! "Did you draw that?"

"Yep. All by myself." Catra said, beaming with pride. "This is Firestar, and this is his mate, Sandstorm."

"Why do they have such weird names?" Adora asked.

"Because they're warrior cats, duh!" Catra rolled her eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What's a warrior cat?" Adora asked. She scooped up the last of the glitter with her hands, dumping it into the trash can. Remains of it stuck to her hands, which she brushed off on her overalls.

"They're clans of cats that live in the forest and fight for territory and prey!" Catra explained with a toothy grin. "And they have special names that change as they go up in ranks. I've even started my own clan! I'm Bloodstar, leader of NightClan!"

"Ohh..." Adora said, not fully understanding but still intrigued all the same. She pushed the trash can back to the corner of the room where it belonged, glancing up at the clock. 'Ugh, I hate the clocks with hands...' she thought, wishing she could figure out how much time she had before recess was over. "But wait, you said they're clans of cats, so how do you have a Clan?"

"Because..." Catra paused, glancing around the room to make sure nobody else could hear. She stepped closer to Adora, grabbing her hand. "Can you pinkie promise to keep a secret?"

Adora hesitated, but wrapped her pinkie around Catra's. "Yeah, I think so."

"Alright." Catra leaned closer and whispered into Adora's ear. "I'm actually a warrior cat in a human girl's body."

"What?" Adora gasped. "No way!"

"I'm serious! I mean -- it makes so much sense!" Catra said, holding a hand up to Adora's face. "Look at my nails! They're so sharp! And I have fangs, too!" Catra gestured to the pointed canines in her mouth. "And one time I meowed at my cat and she meowed back at me. I think she understood me! Also, I can see in the dark -- well, sometimes."

"Whoa..." Adora said, looking Catra up and down. She wasn't fully sure she believed it, but with the proof right in front of her, it was hard to deny... "That's awesome!" she finally exclaimed.

"Right!" Catra giggled. "But you gotta promise not to tell anyone. They'll think I'm crazy -- crazier than they already think I am, anyway..."

Adora reached for Catra's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Well, I don't think you're crazy! I think it's awesome that you're a cat! I promise, your secret is safe with me!" Adora pretended to zip her mouth closed with her hand, and gave Catra a reassuring nod.

"Thanks, horse girl." Catra said, blushing a little. She turned and looked out the window to the playground, sighing as she saw their classmates having fun in the snow. "I just hate being cooped up inside all day... A warrior should be outside, breathing in the fresh air. Miss Weaver hasn't let me go out for recess in over a month, now."

"Oh yeah, I've noticed that." Adora said. "Why is that?"

"Because I don't do my homework." Catra huffed. "I keep telling her none of it makes sense, but she just tells me I'm not trying. And she told me I can't go out for recess anymore until my homework is done." Catra turned to her isolated table on the other side of the room. "That's why I'm always sitting all by myself, too. She thinks I'm a 'distraction' to the other kids. How am I supposed to form my clan if I can't even talk to anyone?"

"Aw..." Adora sighed. It didn't seem like Shadow Weaver was being very fair... Even if Catra goofed off in class, she didn't deserve to be alone all the time! "I'm sorry, that sounds awful..." Adora said. "But... you know what?"

"What?" Catra said.

"I may not be a cat, but I still wanna join your clan!" Adora exclaimed.

Catra's eyes widened. "For real?"

"Yeah, for real!"

"That's awesome!" Catra bounced up and down on her feet, grabbing Adora's hands and spinning her around. "And since you're the first one to join my clan, you can be my deputy!"

"Awesome!" Adora said, though she wasn't fully sure what that meant. "And I want my warrior cat name to be..." She hummed in thought, trying to remember how the names worked. From what she remembered, they all seemed to be two words mashed together... "Ponytail!" she exclaimed.

"Ponytail?" Catra raised an eyebrow. "That's a weird name for a cat, but it technically works so... Welcome to NightClan, Ponytail!"

"Yay!" Adora clapped her hands. "Is that all it takes? Am I official?"

"Well, almost." Catra said, reaching into her hoodie pocket. She pulled out a black Crayola marker and tugged the lid off with a pop. "There's one last thing I need to do before you're a true NightClan member!"

"Oh?" Adora said as Catra reached for her hand. She drew a crescent moon shape in the middle of her palm. "There. Now everyone can know what clan you're in!" Catra said, opening her hand and showing the matching moon shape to Adora.

"Ohh, awesome!" Adora said.

"You might have to re-draw it after you wash your hands, though, since it's not a permanent marker, but still!" Catra got down on all fours. "Now that you're part of the clan, let's go hunting!"

"Got it!" Adora said, getting down onto the floor as well. "What are we hunting for?"

"Mice, birds, rabbits -- anything you can sink your claws into." Catra said, crawling under the table and pretending to sniff around.

"Oh, right!" Adora said, following Catra's lead; she crawled around the room, admittedly feeling a little bit uncomfortable with how hard the floor felt on her knees and bare palms, but she tried her best to ignore it. A warrior cat had to be tough!

"Over there!" Catra exclaimed, pointing to a black winter glove lying on the floor. Adora recognized it as Mermista's; she must have dropped it on her way out to the playground. "A crow!" Catra pounced on it, sinking her "fangs" into the "crow" and shaking it around like a dog that had just gotten a new toy.

"Nice catch!" Adora giggled.

"I try." Catra said once she decided her prey was dead enough, dropping it onto the floor. "Now let's eat!"

Adora scooted over to where Catra was sitting and pretended to eat the "crow" she'd hunted. "Yummy -- tastes like turkey!"

"Uh huh!" Catra said.

"Y'know, you're really fun to play with." Adora said. "I'm sorry I said you were the baddest kid in fourth grade."

"I'm sorry I said horses were smelly." Catra said, staring down at her hands. "Well, they kinda are -- but I'm sure your horses are still cool."

"They are! Maybe one day I could show them to you." Adora suggested.

"Maybe one day." Catra sighed.

Adora heard the sound of a whistle outside; recess was finally over, and the class would be coming back inside any minute, now.

"Well, I guess we better get back to our seats before Miss Beaver yells at us." Catra said.

Adora burst into laughter. "Miss Beaver?"

"Don't tell her I called her that!" Catra snickered.

"I promise, I won't." Adora said, pulling herself to her feet. "Can we play together at recess tomorrow, too?"

"I don't get recess anymore, remember?" Catra said.

"Oh, right..." Adora frowned. "Maybe -- maybe I can help you finish your homework so you can go outside again!"

"That'll take a million years." Catra sighed. "It's fine, though. We'll find some way to keep NightClan going, even if we don't get to play together at recess anymore..."

Adora's heart sank; she wanted to say something to comfort Catra, but couldn't think of anything, and as she heard the sound of footsteps in the hallway she hurried back to her seat and folded her hands, not wanting Shadow Weaver to see that she'd been playing with Catra. The latter slowly dragged herself back towards her own isolated table and sat down as well. Adora let out a sigh; why did someone as fun as Catra not get to play like everyone else? It just wasn't fair...

Adora rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she made her way into the classroom the next morning, hanging her book bag and coat up on the rack. She changed out of her winter boots and into her sneakers, spotting Catra out of the corner of her eye. She was standing by Adora's mail box, as if she'd just put something in it. Once they made eye contact, Catra blushed and quickly ran back to her seat. 'What's she up to...?' Adora thought.

Adora went over to her mailbox and reached into it; she pulled out her daily worksheet and a few graded papers (all As and Bs, thankfully), but in addition to that, there was a folded up piece of notebook paper. "To Adora", it read. As Adora walked over to her assigned seat, she unfolded the piece of paper and her eyes immediately lit up.

It was a drawing of two vicious looking cats; one was black with blood-red stripes, and the other was solid yellow with bright blue eyes. The former was labelled "Bloodstar", while the latter was "Ponytale", and at the very top of the paper, in black crayon, Catra had written "NiteClan 4ever!" Adora hugged the paper to her chest and sighed happily, turning to smile at Catra; but she was facing the other way and didn't see her.

"What's that?" Glimmer asked, leaning across the table.

"Nothing!" Adora responded defensively, shoving the picture into her folder.

"Ooh, did you get a love letter?" Perfuma giggled.

"No, gross!" Adora said, sticking out her tongue. "It's just a picture that my friend drew for me..."

"A friend that ~mysteriously~ doesn't have a name?" Mermista teased.

"Come onnn, tell us more! We know you've got a secret admirer!" Glimmer bounced eagerly in her seat.

"Guys, leave her alone." Bow said. "If she doesn't want to tell you about it, you can't force her!"

"Okay, fine..." Glimmer pouted.

"Thanks, Bow." Adora said, still blushing. In all honesty, she wasn't sure why she was being so secretive about it... Maybe because she was always treated as the "good" kid, and if they found out she'd been playing with Catra, they might try to tell her to stop. 'But if they knew how much fun she was, they wouldn't think of her as a bad kid anymore...' Adora thought, glancing over towards Catra again. She'd finally turned around to look at Adora, apparently having overheard the conversation going on at her table; Adora smiled at her and held up her palm so she could see the moon symbol, which she'd freshened up with a marker earlier that morning. Catra's expression immediately brightened, and she lifted her hand up to do the same.

A warm-fuzzy feeling rose up in Adora's chest. 'Nothing will tear NightClan apart...' she thought, clenching her fists. 'I gotta find some way to play with Catra today... But how?' She remembered what had led to her missing out on recess yesterday... But wouldn't dare get herself in trouble again.

She slid down from her chair and tiptoed over to Shadow Weaver's desk. "Miss Weaver...?" she asked in a shy voice, folding her hands politely.

Shadow Weaver had just finished re-organizing her desk, and looked as if she was ready to start class any minute. "Hm?" she said.

"Um, I have a little bit of a cold today." Adora said, faking a cough. "And I don't wanna play outside in the snow when I have a cold, because my Grandma Razz told me I could get ammonia that way. Could I stay inside the classroom at recess today and draw?"

"Hmm, alright." Shadow Weaver said reluctantly. "I don't think that'd be a problem. Now go back to your seat, it's almost time for math."

"Thank you!" Adora smiled, grinning as she hurried back over to her desk and sat down. 'Perfect!' she thought, just barely resisting her urge to bounce with excitement. 'I can't wait to play with Catra again!'

The first half of the day went by at the pace of a snail; Adora struggled to focus on her school work, her mind always going back to how excited she was for recess. Her heart fluttered whenever she thought about Catra, and every now and then, she'd take a peek into the folder to get another look at her drawing. The feeling in her chest confused her; she'd had many friends before, friends who she loved a lot and always got excited to play with, but Glimmer or Bow never gave her these kinds of butterflies in her chest. There was something about her... The freckles that dotted her pretty face, her hair that never seemed like it was properly brushed, her eyes that were two different colors... 'I wonder... Could this be a--'

"Adora!" Glimmer said, waving a hand in front of Adora's face and snapping her out of her little daydream. She jumped to her feet, her cheeks bright red. "W-what?"

"We're lining up for recess! Come on, sleepy head!" Glimmer giggled, reaching for Adora's hand.

"Oh! Um..." Adora blushed, slowly pulling her hand away. "I'm not going outside today! I-I told Miss Weaver this morning, I have a cold and don't wanna make it worse, heh..."

"Oh... okay." Glimmer said, looking rather disappointed. "Well, feel better soon! See you at lunch!"

"See ya at lunch!" Adora said, faking another cough just to keep Glimmer from being suspicious.

Adora watched as all of the kids filed out of the class, and as soon as she heard the door click shut, she jumped to her feet and skipped over to Catra's table. "Hiya!"

"Hey!" Catra beamed. "Are you okay? Don't get too close to me if you're sick."

"I'm not sick, silly!" Adora giggled. "I just said that so I could stay inside with you!"

"Really...?" Catra blushed, turning her gaze down to the table. "Don't... don't do that."

Adora's expression fell. "What...? But... I thought you wanted to play with me!"

"Yeah, but still! You didn't have to lie to get out of recess for me! That's so stupid!" Catra snapped. "You're supposed to be the goody two shoes, and now you're gonna get in trouble because of me, and ugh!" Catra buried her face in her hands. "I really am a bad kid... And I'm turning you into one!"

"Catra..." Adora rested a hand on her shoulder. "I promise, it's not like that! I just... really wanted to play with you again. You're a lot of fun, and you're not bad, not at all..." Tears welled up in Adora's eyes, and she brushed them away with her sweater sleeve. "I wish everyone else could see that..."

"If I'm not a bad kid, then why do I always have to sit in the corner?" Catra said. "Why can't I play outside at recess? Why do I always get bad grades on my homework?"

"That doesn't make you a bad kid!" Adora said. "Just because you break rules sometimes, or because you get bad grades -- that doesn't make you bad!" Adora continued. "And I'm not bad either, even though I did a bad thing..." Adora wiped another tear from her cheek, turning back towards her table. "But... if you don't wanna play with me, that's fine. We don't have to play NightClan anymore..."

An awkward silence filled the room as Adora seated herself back at her table; she buried her face into her arms, letting out a sigh. Catra leaned back in her chair and stared up at the ceiling, sighing dramatically. "If I'm gonna be honest... I don't really like being the bad kid all that much. I just... really don't understand any of the homework she gives us. And I didn't understand anything in third grade, or second grade, or first grade... But at least my other teachers helped me! Miss Weaver thinks I'm just not trying... And since I don't understand the homework, I don't understand the tests... and since I can't play at recess, the only way I can really have any fun around here is by goofing off in class. So that's how I got stuck here in this corner."

"That's awful..." Adora said, slowly sitting upright. "I wish I could make Miss Weaver see that you're not a bad kid, and that you just need some help..."

"I don't think that's gonna happen." Catra pouted. "But... it still feels nice that you care about me. Especially enough to risk getting in trouble..."

"I'm not gonna get in trouble." Adora said. "And if I do, that doesn't mean you made me a bad kid! Everyone gets in trouble sometimes, even Bow!"

"Pfft, no way! He's even more of a goody two shoes than you!" Catra cackled.

"I know, right? But I've seen it happen with my own eyes!" Adora insisted. "One time when I was at his house, one of his dads got mad at him for putting his shoes on the couch."

"Wow, what a rebel." Catra rolled her eyes.

"But anyway... That doesn't matter right now." Adora said, fidgeting with her sweater sleeves. "Maybe it wasn't right for me to lie to Miss Weaver, but... since I'm already here, and the damage is done..." She hesitated for a moment, turning towards Catra and meeting her eyes. "You wanna play NightClan?"

A soft smile spread across Catra's face. "Well... Okay! I guess, since you're already here... Let's go hunting!"

Giggling with excitement, the two girls got down from their chairs and onto the wooden floor.

"Follow my lead, and keep your ears pricked for any invaders!" Catra said, and Adora nodded. "Got it!"

And like magic, they were no longer two fourth graders goofing off in a classroom; no, they were Bloodstar and Ponytail of NightClan, and they had a territory to defend! The two girls began crawling around and scouting the classroom for prey, making little meows and purring sounds here and there. At one point, Adora caught a "mouse" (which was really just a crumbled up ball of paper that had missed the trash can earlier), and they fought off a bloodthirsty badger (aka Shadow Weaver's rolling desk chair).

"Hey Catra -- I mean, Bloodstar." Adora said as they settled down after their night of hunting, making their "den" underneath Adora's table.

"Huh?"

"I've been thinking about it, and... I'm not gonna skip recess anymore." Adora said. "Because I've got a better idea for how we can keep NightClan going -- and maybe even expand it!"

"How's that?" Catra asked, pretending to lick her paw.

"Maybe tomorrow, you can come over to my house!" Adora said. "I can give you my phone number so you can call me, and I'll ask my grandma, but she usually lets me have friends over on the weekends! And maybe I could help you with your homework... Maybe we won't get all of it done, but I still wanna help! And after that, we could play NightClan! We'll have all the time in the world to go hunting -- oh, and I'll also invite Bow and Glimmer over so they can join the clan!"

"Oh..." Catra smiled sadly. "I dunno if that's a good idea. Bow and Glimmer will probably find this whole clan thing kinda weird, and my parents probably won't wanna take me over to your house..."

"That's okay, my grandma can pick you up!" Adora said. "And I'm sure Bow and Glimmer will love NightClan!"

"Well, if you're sure... And you really think they can keep my secret?" Catra said. "Because if not, I'll claw their faces off!"

"Yeah, yeah, I promise!" Adora reassured. "I promise, they won't tell a soul. They're good friends, I've known them forever!"

"Okay... Then in that case, yes!" Catra beamed. "Give me your phone number! And I'll give you mine, just in case you wanna call me, too."

"Got it!" Adora said, grabbing the notebook and pencils from underneath Catra's chair and tearing out a sheet of paper. She ripped the paper in half and wrote down her phone number on one piece, and Catra did the same. Then, they both exchanged papers and shoved them into their pockets. Excitement bubbled up in Adora's chest, and she could feel that strange warm-fuzziness from earlier returning as well. 'Could this be... what I think it is?' she thought, but shook off that thought right away. 'No, don't be silly! She's just a friend... And she probably doesn't like you that way, either.'

Adora heard the sound of the recess whistle blow outside. "Well, guess it's time to go back to our seats." she said, beginning scoot herself out from underneath the table.

"Wait!" Catra said, grabbing Adora's hand. "Before everyone gets in here, um..." She blushed, turning her gaze down to the floor.

"What is it?" Adora said, her cheeks flushing bright pink.

"I, um..." Catra shyly played with her hair. "Thank you for being so nice to me. Even when I was a jerk to you earlier... I like you a lot, Adora."

At first, Adora assumed that she only meant it as a friend; but once she saw the look in Catra's eyes and the blush spreading across her freckled cheeks, she was fairly confident that Catra had that same warm-fuzzy feeling in her chest. Adora smiled softly, squeezing Catra's hand. "I like you too, Catra."

And with that, she finally let go of her hand, and the two girls went back to their seats.

#fanfiction #catradora #spop #catra x adora #she ra #human au #child au #Christmas #catra is a warrior cats fangirl #adora is a weird horse girl #fluff

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vwildmonk · 4 years

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2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 13 and 14?

B for you also!!

Also: If she were in smash/mario kart, what powers do you think she'd have and what would her vehicle look like???

What's your favorite thing about playing her?

Random thought you have about her that just won't leave your brain?

Putting under a read more as these got long again, but thanks for sending in the ask! Happy to take many more as these are always fun! Also looking forward after a game soon seeing how Lin centric answers change, she’s going to be going through some fun (and happy) things in her near future!

Also excellent extra Qs Frosty, love to see ‘em!

2. How easy is it for your character to laugh? Laughter… oh tough one cos Lin, she does laugh quite frequently. But some of that is a forced laugh at the end of one of her own ‘look at the peckin’ idiot jokes’ or to misdirect things (both so others dont see and so she doesn’t always have to think too deeply about her words). But she also does laugh genuinely quite a bit as well; family shenanigans, silly stories over warm meals or steaming drinks, watching toon chaos go down that is safe and silly. It’s easy when you know her to get honest laughs- she’s open with those she loves and as they bring her joy the actual warm laughter comes easy. Something that is going to get even easier given time. It’s loud and bright and full of warmth and it’s going to be softer.

3. How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?) At the moment? A sharp drink of a sleeping potion and trying very hard to think happy thoughts as she blacks out- nightmares still come but she does try. Waking half-shifted too few hours later and fighting a shift isn't great... but she slept enough right?

But In the future? It’s going to be better. Reading sometimes, but also a good cup of Stagehand’s special hot chocolate and a final chat with her boy are going to be important and soft. Making sure he’s asleep, sometimes staying with him to make sure he gets good dreams and nodding off herself. Other nights it’s getting herself in the comfiest pyjamas she can find, snagging a lullapop to put on the bedside table and doing some breathing exercises with Network humming songs to her. Nightmares might still happen, but with a major dangerous card off the table, she’s going to feel easier about getting support. Her dreams are going to get sweeter… and maybe one or two cuddle piles will be helpful. She always sleeps best when she knows family are near and safe, in either of the two places she calls home. The last thought she has when drifting off is the phantom of comforting hands she’s felt in the past full of love and reassurance, slipping into sweet dreams and true sleep knowing everything is alright.

4. How easy is it to earn their trust? It can be quite easy and also quite hard! She’s guarded and needs a reason to trust people. But there are ways, if you seem kind and caring and open- if she sees good and soft present? You show her through your acts that you are someone potentially safe to trust? She’s got a bleeding heart and a wish to help. Having people care for her back and trust in her confirms that bond, She will do her best to prove that the care is well placed. Other ways are steps: You help out children and she sees that? Congratulations you have a little bit of her trust. If she gives you her business card, you’re definitely working your way up as network, and if she invites you around or turns up to a place that you’ve invited her to more than once? Yeah you’ve definitely got her trust then- you might even be family.

5. How easy is it to earn their mistrust? Lin likes to think herself as a wary person, and she is- once bitten twice shy sort of thing- she can get quite railroading on her views. In this world if someone can harm you and gain something from it, they likely will- she’s seen that quite a bit from her cases. So if something sits wrong with her, or she finds things out that taint views, or someone just keeps pushing the wrong buttons it can break that trust or prevent it from ever forming. However, given time and proof Lin can learn to trust people even if she didn’t originally.

Breaking her trust? Withholding dangerous info from her or doing something that takes what little control she has out of her hand. Once you’ve broken or splintered the bond it is going to be incredibly hard to earn it back.

She’ll beat herself up for months that she didn’t see it coming, or worse question where she went wrong that led to the moment happening. It’s a surefire way to get her walls up and once you’re on a mistrust list it’s tricky to find ways to get off them.

6. Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable? Oh another tough one! Lin sees laws as both. They can be flexible, you can find the loopholes and the strings and manipulate them so the system is the best it can be- work within it to keep people safe and as shielded as possible- with the Law backing you it makes it harder for things to go wrong. At the same time she sees the corruption in places and knows that if things go wrong that immovable authority and strong laws will be worse than hitting a brick wall. Just because laws can do good, doesn’t mean the people behind them always are. It’s one of the reasons she is so worried for Lil Boomer. If that kid gets into trouble enough to actually get caught by the authorities, she’s genuinely unsure how she could get the flexibility to make sure that little reelkind didn’t get hurt.

8. What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child Oh Lin had a lot of people giving her advice as a kid, many different stagehands helping her learn things and also beyond that. She’s got a few snippets she recalls best: “Start/keep exploring, there’s a world full of people Pompom, never stop seeing that.”, “”lil Lin, pompom, kiddo, please for the love of peckin’ gods stop leaping from the rafters to scare folks, do it like this!”, “Never be afraid to come in for a hug pompom dear, always ask permission first mind for most folks, but remember to keep being open- you’re a good kid, keep being soft eh?” … “Pompom… Lin please, whatever the peck is going on stop and talk to us Stop shoving us away! What’s happening to You?! What is wrong with your design? What is wrong with your face, this isn’t normal would you just- Lin Lil Lin Stagehand talk to us! -Kiddo!”

11. How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)? If it’s for a case or for something related to someone she cares about, she seeks info out. Either clarifying with folks or doing some sleuthing and finding as many reports or related information snippets as she can. She might even straight up bluntly ask someone if something makes no peckin sense about them. Although she tries to have habit of tact for her inner circle when she asks questions, or with children. She tries to be soft as needed. Her track record of near perfect cases definitely proves that she has done her best over the years to limit confusion at all costs.

If it’s something related to herself though, perhaps about the cure? She will dig up as much as she can but also likely spiral if she can’t find the source or the answer to the thing confusing her most. She’ll pretend everything is fine while internally going into panic spiral at ‘peckin detective can’t even help themself’. Nothing is ever simple or calm and so she can’t believe it if something is too easy, and she’ll drive herself into confusion if she listens to much to her paranoia.

13. What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color? Lin… doesn’t really know what colour she looks best in? She’s had the same outfit for as long as she can remember with the odd costume for a case or seasonal event. Navy and Red are her go to colours and she does suit them quite well when she is her natural true colour. In fact she does think she looks good in them, especially with her niece-jumper in gold-red-navy. So that’s her ‘best look’!

When her fur has become the distressed russet the red kind of clashes a bit but that won’t be an issue forever. She’ll have to try out other colours someday, when she gets the time and energy to go clothes shopping, maybe try out autumnal or halloween themed colours, she’ll see how things go.

What animal do they fear most? Herself Wolves. She knows other wolves aren’t like the Thing that bit her, and the Thing in and of itself wasn’t fully wolf… whatever the peck it was is something else… but yeah, from her own shifting and knowledge of what she can do, and that memory of something lupine and huge hurtling at her from the dark… its definitely an animal that sparks her fear response and has her reaching for her broach and crossbow at the sound of a howl or a too big shadow.

She will meet lycans in the future that help ease that, and seeing druids like her son be able to change to wolf form is cool… but if she doesn’t see it coming or one come at her from behind she will flinch and shield whoever’s closest to her and mentally be somewhere else for a second.

An old fear that’s going to take a long while for her to be able to ease away. Wolves are wonderful creatures, she just has to break the association.

B) What inspired you to create them? Honestly? Toonkind in general. I saw my first session of it on YouTube when I was alone and wandering what to do with myself as my DnD adventure died with lockdown. But this whole new world of insane and amazing characters and stupendous people- it sparked such joy and life in me. Lin was formed from that joy, and then from there she has grown. I am so delighted by the stories I can tell with her and the people I have met through her. That creation inspiration has bloomed since then... in fact: Lin thinks in network connections, and in this instance, the Drafthouse server to me? Is a RAINBOW of inspiration.

Mario karts:

Vehicle wise: She’d have something small, a very speedy little car in her signature colours and a very happy tooting little horn, does it have racing flames on the side? Absolutely bc she delights in the silly things even as she projects sensible detective as well.

Special power move? You ever heard this little monkey swear? An explosion of tangible grawlix symbols in a rainbow of colours bursting from the car to knock people out of the way (followed by a very quiet version of her signature laugh).

Favourite thing about playing her? Interactions with others. Lin has built an amazing web of family that is full of love and warmth and softness. Getting to see her grow into that and reach back is something so soft that I am delighted to enable. Her CornMaze family, spooky grandparents, her son? her many adopted children and newfound friendly pecknecks? It’s the people that make it fun to play her and give her such life. She changes and grows and shifts even beyond what I think of her and so that makes it so exciting to play as I have no idea what the future will have in store.

…also not going to lie hearing people scream “Lin for peck sake NO” adds years to my lifespan as I cackle, she’s a beloved but so very dumb little monkey who makes poor life choices and audience reactions give me life.

#Detective Lil Lin Stagehand #Toonkind #toonkind dnd #dozydin-keyfree #Love doing these- feel free to send Qs anytime about Lin my dudes!

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ask-claude-von-riegan · 4 years

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(Claude or Yuri/Annette if you want) Annette + dancing + raining at midnight + carefree please? Congrats on 70 followers!!

The night sky was dark with clouds, all the stars obscured by the foreboding cumulonimbi. To top it all off, rain poured from the sky, slamming into Gareg Mach monastery with an unholy fury. It was as if a great beast had sliced the sky in twain with a mighty sword, freeing all the water trapped within. Still, rain is just rain. It was nothing to be worried about.

At least, that’s what Annette was telling herself as she hummed a cheery tune, watering the plants in the greenhouse. She had been unable to fall asleep, memories of the previous battle haunting her like ghosts. Thinking of sleep as nothing more than a fruitless venture at this point, she had made her way to the greenhouse, hoping that the plants could offer some soothing company.

Just as she was about to turn her attention to one of the hyacinths, thunder cracked through the skies, mighty enough to shatter the heavens. The sudden noise took Annette by surprise and she squealed, jumping back. She didn’t expect to make contact with something solid and wet.

Turning on her heel, she closed her eyes and flailed her arms. “Eep. S-Stay back! If you don’t, I’ll pummel into oblivion.” There was no response other than a warm chuckle that emanated throughout the greenhouse. Tentatively, Annette opened her eyes, azure blue meeting verdant green. Before her, with his trademark grin plastered onto his face, stood Claude von Riegan.

He was utterly drenched, soaked head to toe. His clothes stuck to him like glue, leaving very little to the imagination, and water was dripping from the pompoms hanging from his sash. His normally unkempt hair had been completely flattened, it too dripping water.

“Claude?” Annette’s faced reddened. Had he heard her squeal at mere thunder? How humiliating. “What are you doing here? In the dead of night no less?”

He smiled at her, causing the butterflies in her stomach to flutter furiously. “I could ask you the same thing. Not many people would water flowers at this hour, and absolutely no one would come to a greenhouse in weather like this.”

Annette pouted. He thought he had all the answers, didn’t he? “Well, you’re here aren’t you?”

Another warm chuckle. “You’ve got me there. Seriously though, why are you here, Annette?” A coy smile spread across his face. “Were you waiting for a midnight date perhaps?”

Annette’s face exploded into a brilliant shade of red, and she sputtered. “As if Riegan! I’m here because, well...” She teetered off, her volume decreasing drastically. “I’m here because I couldn’t sleep.” She had muttered, her being barely comprehensible.

“Mmm, what was that?” Claude was still grinning as if he couldn’t make any other face. “I couldn’t hear you over the sound of the storm.” As if on cue, another thunderclap ripped through the night, shaking the windows of the greenhouse.

Annette averted her eyes, avoiding his piercing gaze. It was as if he could see into her soul and, at the moment, that part of her was an utter mess. “I couldn’t sleep alright? I know it’s silly, but ever since Gronder, I just...I just can’t.” Silence. “I know we won, but we fought - no - we killed people who used to be our friends. And, Dimitri. Dimitri just...he just-” Up until this point, she had been doing her best not to cry, but she could hold back no longer. The words died in her throat as she choked up, the tears flowing down her face almost as swiftly as the rain.

All was silent save for the rain cascading against the roof of the greenhouse and Annette’s light sobs. Unsure of what to do, Claude just stood there, no longer smiling. He knew all too well what Annette was going through, but he had no idea how to help. Then, an idea struck him like lightning.

Annette felt stupid. Here she was, crying like a baby in front of Claude, the man she- no. That kind of wishful thinking would just upset her more. She knew she should just move forward. After all, that was how Claude had described her before, someone who kept striving forward, no matter how badly she messed up. So why was this any different? Why couldn't she just move on? Maybe she really was just worthle-

“Creepity Creep...”

What?

“Living in a land that’s dark and blinded by the frigid cold...”

Annette didn’t say anything, but she did stop crying. As she wiped her eyes, the singing continued.

“Creeping through the loneliness for ages untold...”

It was softer than her original version, warmer even. Claude’s voice washed over her, soothing her worries, her fears. She found herself smiling ever so slightly. Turning around to face him, her cheeks still wet with tears, she responded in kind.

“In you’re heart you’re desperate for the sweet embrace of light…”

Claude’s smile widened to impossible proportions and, in an instant, he gracefully closed the distance between them. He reached his hand out, an action that puzzled Annette. Braking the duette for a moment, she questioned him.

“What are you doing, Claude?” The grip of sadness was still present in her tone.

“Dance with me, Annette. The night, this night, belongs to us. Just for a moment, there are no worries, no fears, no ghosts. Just you, me, and the creepity creeps.”

A giggle burst from Annette’s chest. Neither of them had been expecting it, but it certainly wasn’t an unwelcome sound. After all, laughter was hard to come by in the middle of a war. Slowly reaching out, Annette took his hand. Claude, sly as ever, pulled her into him, eliciting a squeal from the girl before she burst into another fit of giggles.

“Oh Claude, you’re ridiculous. This reminds me of the time you thought my song was about lost souls clawing their way through the underworld.”

It was his turn to laugh as the pair slowly rocked themselves back and forth. “Can you really blame me? An overactive imagination is kind of my thing. And, in my defense, your lyrics are rather deep. For example…”

“Pushing through and crawling with all your might...here.”

It was soft, lacking all the vigor of the original, but retaining all the warmth. Claude twirled Annette, the girl smiling widely as all her worries melted away. Claude was right. This moment belonged to them. Curses of memories and broken words could wait until morning. She continued the song.

“Creepy creepy creepity creep...now.”

She pulled him close, using her surprising strength to take the lead. Despite her shorter stature, she dipped Claude, pulling him back up, and, most of this was Claude’s dramatic flair, spun him around her. Together, they finished the song.

“Creepy creepy creepity creep.”

They pulled one another close, Annette’s clothes dampening as she held herself against Claude’s chest. After a moment, the situation seemed to click with her, and she recoiled out of sheer embarrassment, her face a lovely shade of red.

“Ah. I-I’m sorry, I just-”

She was cut off as Claude drew her back to him, embracing her fully and resting his chin in the crook of her neck.

“Thank you for the dance, Annette.”

She was at a loss for words, at least, for a moment anyway. “Y-Yeah, well you better be grateful. I don’t dance for just anyone you know.”

Claude chuckled again, and Annette could feel the vibrations in his chest. “Well then, I’m honored to be the exception.”

//I hope you like it. As for everyone else who is participating, including the first anon, I am getting to you, I promise. Thanks for your patience and please, enjoy the story(s)//

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vixxscifiwritings · 4 years

Text

coffee and cream

Length - 3460 words

Characters - Taekwoon x Original Female Character, VIXX Ensemble, Original Characters

Rating - General Audience

Summary - Minah doesn't know why Taekwoon shows up to her games when he doesn't know anyone on the team. Or rather, she knows why but finds it quite incredulous.

Tag List - @tomatoholmes @merlionmen @seraphistols @k-craze-97 @blossomtearsleo

“Taekwoon is here again” Miya points out as she laces up her shoes tighter.

Minah doesn’t dignify her statement with a response as she ties up her long braided hair into a bun because she knows what will come next.

“I think he likes you” Miya whispers conspiratorially. She wiggles her eyebrows and Minah shoots her a deadpan look.

“I don’t know what gave you the impression,” Minah says, pushing the freshman kid physically onto the field so she can focus on the game and not the audience. Although it’s not hard to wonder why the captain of the basketball team is at the football match in a rival school. As far as Minah knows, Taekwoon is not friends with anyone on the team. But the boy in question is here with his best friend Jaehwan and watching the game.

Minah wonders if the measly support they do have is of any use because the girls are huddled up and giggling about their audience today instead of brainstorming strategy.

“Get your head in the game girls” Ara calls out when she notices Minah scowling. She offers her an understanding look before jostling everyone into a huddle to get them to focus. Their team is one goal behind their rivals and at a risk of losing if they don’t get their act together.

Minah makes the mistake of looking at the audience and Jaehwan catches her eye to cheer her on. She watches as Taekwoon tries to hide his face out of embarrassment and almost chuckles if not for the indignation over the entire affair. She feels his eyes on her as she joins the huddle and they cheer before breaking off and returning to the field for the second half. She shakes it off because she has a game that she wants to win and that requires her entire focus. Not silly boys who are in random places for reasons she can’t fathom.

Their coach cheers loudly when they score a goal and tie with the other team. There is fifteen minutes still on hand. If Heeyeon can push through the defense line on the other side, she can easily score with Miya’s help. Minah focuses on going on the offensive. They have thirteen minutes and nothing to lose if they don’t score. Her team is good at penalty shoot outs if it comes down to that.

The regular time ends in a draw but Heeyeon and Miya pull through in the over time and score, leading their team to victory. Minah gets thrown into the air as a long running victory tradition of the team and lands on her butt and is surrounded by a rush of girls apologising and pulling her to her feet and a frantic coach yelling about injuries mid season when they should all be in top form.

“I hope you’re not actually injured,” Taekwoon says and Minah is surprised to see him here by the benches instead of by the bleachers. Jaehwan is off talking to Ara and Minah is surprised because she didn’t know they were on talking terms. There is clearly a lot she needs to catch up on with her best friend and team assistant.

“Nothing that I’m not used to” Minah shrugs. Injuries and roughhousing are a part and parcel of being an athlete. Taekwoon sports his own knee brace and is no stranger to this knowledge.

“And here I thought only the boys team got this rough,” Taekwoon says, sitting down next to her. He hands her a water bottle and she accepts it with as much grace as skepticism affords. Why is he here again and why is he offering her a water bottle?

Miya’s words echo through her mind but she brushes them off. The rough landing has affected her brain more than it has affected her body clearly if her mind is willing to entertain such ridiculous thoughts.

“I need to go,” Minah says, standing up when Ara calls everyone to round them up for the bus trip back to school.

“Right,” Taekwoon says, standing up as well. He pushes his hands into this pocket and awkwardly shuffles his weight from one leg to another as Minah gathers her things.

“That was a good game. You… play good” he calls as Minah walks away and she freezes. A nod is all she can manage as her cheeks flush warm on the words. He likes how she plays. That’s… something, she supposes as her brain goes haywire trying to figure out what in the ever loving fuck she must do with this knowledge.

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees him hit his head and sigh in embarrassment that mirrors her own and feels marginally better. She boards the bus and tries to avoid how Miya and Ara both shoot her knowing looks.

“I don’t know why cheerleaders can’t attend away games” Qiuyue huffs as she leans over the sink and fixes her lipstick. The maroon shade suits her lace blouse and Minah thinks that it's incredibly high maintenance for a normal school day compared to her own sweater and jeans combo.

“It’s common sense that you would need cheering the most at an away game. You already have a large audience that supports you when you play at school” she adds, frowning at Minah.

“You can apparently attend away games so I don’t know what is stopping you from just accidentally showing up in your cheering uniform with pompoms to boot” Minah throws a suggestion out to the wind.

“I’d need someone to drive me there” Qiuyue huffs. Knowing Qiuyue, the cheerleader is not going to give up till she convinces the coach and Minah thinks she can pull it off if she begs enough. Or if she shows up with the sweet apple tarts from the local cafe that their coach likes so much.

“Speaking of people attending games, I heard from Hyojin who heard from Ara that Taekwoon showed up at your game again,” Qiuyue says, lowering her voice to a whisper.

“He did and before you ask me, no I don’t know why” Minah replies with a roll of her eyes. Jung Taekwoon is popular and hot news wherever he goes but Minah doesn’t fancy ending up on the gossip network that the entire sophomore year runs on.

“That’s easy, silly. He likes you and so he comes to watch your games” Qiuyue reasons as if it is the most perfectly normal thing in the world. And maybe it is for boys who like girls but Taekwoon doesn’t like Minah because that is not the sane course of action for anyone involved.

“Yes well not everyone is as obvious as Hongbin when it comes to wooing you” Minah retorts and Qiuyue chokes on the water she is drinking.

“Hongbin is not ‘wooing’ me. He shows up to the games because he likes sports. He even tried out for Taekwoon’s team, remember? And by that logic, you are admitting to Taekwoon showing up to your games to woo you” she points out.

“No one is wooing anyone in my case” Minah retorts with a half snort.

“Well no one is wooing me either and I think we’ve said wooing too many times because the syllables sound weird now” Qiuyue says, repeating the word to herself with a grimace that makes it look like it left a sour taste in her mouth. Minah thinks it is more denial than sourness but doesn’t push the other girl further.

“We have a free period next. Do you think I can copy your math homework before submission time?” Minah asks, changing topics.

“You’re still not done?!” Qiuyue exclaims in shock. “That assignment is the longest we’ve had!! You better be good at power writing or just be plain simple fast.”

Qiuyue pulls Minah out of the bathroom and off to the library and Minah thanks her lucky stars that Qiuyue has never stopped Minah from copying her homework.

Minah thinks that the only thing that makes school on Saturdays bearable is the fact that they can arrive an hour later and leave two hours earlier. It gives her time to avoid the weekday rush and pick up coffee and that does wonders for her morning mood.

She finds Miya and Jungkook sitting at the stairs and listening to music on a shared ipod. The two of them are lost to the world and very likely to miss the first bell in ten minutes but she doesn't want to be the one to disturb the bubble they are in.

She finds Taekwoon by her locker and is surprised. He's waiting for Kyungsoo to pick up his books. Kyungsoo who has a locker right next to hers (a fact that greatly helps Ara when she wishes to stop by and drop letters to the one she admires while drawing no attention to herself).

"I didn't know you liked coffee," Taekwoon says, looking at the cup in her hands. It's long cold and empty but has the drawing of a teddy bear face that the barista who works on Saturday mornings likes to draw for everyone.

"Isn't caffeine the lifeblood of every rational human?" Minah asks and Taekwoon laughs a bit. It's a pleasant laugh that sounds like wind chimes on a windy summer day and is infinitely more pleasant than the warning bell that rings a moment later.

Minah grabs her textbooks and slams the locker shut because the lock is faulty and does not actually lock without the use of force. Taekwoon helps by re-slamming the door when it swings open and jamming it in place. Minah gives him an awkward smile because the locker is embarrassing her now and hopes he hasn't seen the insides which she meant to clean up lastonth but never got around to.

"There's this really nice cafe near the public library" Taekwoon starts before Kyungsoo yells and exclaims he will be late and interrupts their non existent conversation. Taekwoon sighs and yells at him to go along first and turns to Minah who is already balancing the coffee cup on top of the books she needs to carry.

"I can help you with that," Taekwoon offers, gesturing to the growing pile of books and notebooks in her hands.

"I'll be fine" Minah waved him off. He watches her with concern as she walks to her classroom and narrowly avoids bumping into Sanghyuk and Wonshik by the door.

"I see why you insisted on accompanying me" Kyungsoo comments with a smirk.

"Shut up" Taekwoon replies eloquently before turning around and walking to his own classroom, leaving Kyungsoo to carry the huge pile of assignments on his own. He deserves it for the interruption.

"How did you know that you liked Kyungsoo?" Minah asks Ara as she paints her nails. Light purple is a lovely colour on her and Minah has half a mind to borrow it for herself.

"I just woke up with a deep bottomless pit in my stomach and a feeling of dread and knew" Ara replies. It matches how Minah feels every time she sees Taekwoon in the hallways so it must be right. It still unnerves her.

"But how do you know it isn't just a stupid crush that will go away?" Minah asks. Taekwoon is the first boy to show interest in her in a very long time. The first boy ever actually.

"That's the beauty of it. You don't. You could wake up the next day and not like the same person you were obsessing over the day before. You take every day as it comes" Ara explains.

"You've liked Kyungsoo for a while," Minah remarks. Ever since freshman year if her deduction skills have any merit.

"What does it mean if you like someone for a very long time? Even if it is just a simple crush or just being interested in them?"

"You should ask Qiuyue that. She's liked one person for the longest time I've ever known. Even if she says she doesn't" Ara replies.

"Qiuyue thinks Taekwoon likes me" Minah confesses, coming to the topic that's actually on her mind.

"Do you think so? Do you like him too?" Ara asks in return.

"He talked about this really nice cafe he knew and I… kind of liked the thought of spending time with him," Minah admits.

"Was he trying to ask you out on a date?" Ara gasps.

"Stupid, I know. And he never really asked because Kyungsoo interrupted us but I thought he would" Minah says, flopping onto Ara's lap with a sigh.

"On the contrary, I thought he would ask you to come see one of his games before asking you out on a cliche cafe date. And rest assured that no one will find Kyungsoo's body after this grave crime" Ara tells her, frowning heavily at the offense.

"I guess it's because he saw me with my Saturday morning coffee" Minah says as Ara fixes her hair and applies some lipstick on her. It's a shade of brown that's lighter than she usually wears but it doesn't look half bad.

"He has the right spirit, I'll give him that" Ara says, checking her work. She adds eyeliner and glitter blush and Minah lets her experiment because she's lost in thought.

"You look super cute!" Qiuyue exclaims when she sees Minah. It's a Saturday evening and she would rather be sleeping at home but Ara insists that Minah accompany her and Miya to the basketball game so they can support Qiuyue who's cheering for the home team.

"Besides, it's only fair that you go to one of Taekwoon's games since he attends yours," Miya says as she pushes Minah to wear a skirt instead of jeans. It's a decision she regrets because it makes her legs freeze. At least she looks cute, she thinks.

"We'll go grab some seats and you can get snacks?" Ara asks.

"Please get candy that I can steal" Qiuyue adds on, strapping her pom poms on her wrist bands so that they don't fall off during the routine. She takes off before Minah can respond and Minah sighs, knowing her motherly instinct will make her feed Qiuyue anyways.

She grabs popcorn and a bar of rice crispies and chocolates that Qiuyue likes and treks over to the bench before heading over to the seats Ara found. She finds Hongbin kneeling down and helping Qiuyue with her shoelaces and the girl in question coloured the deepest shade of red she has ever seen her.

Minah approaches her with a smirk and Qiuyue shoots her a warning look before thanking Hongbin and practically running from him to Minah. "Careful or you'll fall and then Prince Charming will have to carry you" Minah teases and Qiuyue punches her shoulder.

"Don't worry I've got her" Hongbin says, slinging an arm around her waist and Qiuyue starts.

"Lover boy, you can flirt after the game" Taekwoon yells and the entire cheerleading team breaks into giggles at the expense of the two. Qiuyue scoffs and leaves to hide behind any kind samaritan since her own friends are of no help.

"I was going to give this to her but maybe you can for me" Minah says, handing over the chocolate to Hongbin who takes the excuse to follow Qiuyue.

"You're ruining my teammate" Taekwoon complains when he walks over to greet her.

"I'm helping the cause of love" Minah replies with a bright smile.

"Cupid is grateful I'm sure" Taekwoon says sourly with a frown. Minah laughs and watches the cheerleading team get into formation and Hongbin wistfully push the chocolate into his pocket and save it for later.

"I think that's your cue" Minah points out.

"Will you stay till the end?" Taekwoon asks before leaving.

"Hard to say. I was supposed to be Qiuyue's ride home but I don't think she'll be leaving with me and I am sure you guys would be busy celebrating the end of the season" Minah reminds him.

"I'm still glad you came" Taekwoon says.

"Me too" Minah agrees even though it hasn't even been thirty minutes since she arrived.

"Taekwoon asked me for your number" Qiuyue texts Minah after the game. "I guessed you both looked friendly enough so I thought it was okay to give it to him."

"He hasn't texted me so I guess he didn't really need it for anything" Minah responds because what else can she say.

She wishes she hadn't told her because now she checks her phone every five minutes. Much to her disappointment, her volume is up and she just has no notifications.

Her phone chimes two hours later with a simple text saying " hey, did you get home safe after the game ?" and she almost screams in the middle of putting a facemask on.

" I was not the one at a wild party after the game " she replies.

" Touché "

" Mango ice cream or strawberry?"

" Mango "

" You have terrible taste "

" Says the man who chose milk chocolate over dark "

" I am offended "

" Guess what I felt when you chose lattés over black coffee "

" Not everyone has an edgy bitter dark soul "

" No, some people have souls full of cream from the designer coffee they consume "

" Ha ha ha "

In hindsight letting Qiuyue dress her up for her date is a very bad idea because Minah finds herself in a floral dress ("It has pockets!") and a white jacket that Minah is worried will stain very easily. Qiuyue does let her wear her flat sandals in place of heels and agrees that they will be easy to run in if she gets cold feet and Minah gives her extra friendship points for that.

"You look… really pretty" Taekwoon says when he comes over to pick her up. Minah meets him downstairs on the street instead of the apartment so that her sister won't see that she's going on a date and hopes Taekwoon doesn't mind.

"Thanks. I don't usually dress this fancy" Minah says because she has a habit of putting her foot in her mouth.

"I think it looks nice on you" Taekwoon says, blushing because he feels honoured and happy that she put in the effort for him. He might even giggle into his phone if he wasn't serious about impressing her on their first date.

"We should get going. We'll be late for the movie" he tells her. They're going to watch the new indie romance movie. Though if Minah is honest, she's just going to watch Taekwoon who looks stunning in plaid shirt and jeans. He is wearing the long earring he considers lucky and it's Minah's turn to blush now. He doesn't need luck for a date with her. She already knows they will get along well from all the late night conversations they've had till now.

Movie is followed by a late lunch in a McDonald's that both of them feel overdressed for. The lunch also coincides with a child's birthday party and they forsake conversation because talking over sugar induced screaming is a futile exercise.

They do end up talking about whether it is possible to kidnap the baby toy poodle that is left unattended for a minute by its owner. Minah thinks Taekwoon just might follow through with the plan if the owner doesn't return soon. She laughs when the owner does return and Taekwoon's face falls.

It's a pleasant afternoon so the two of them end up in the cafe by the public library. The small cafe is covered in wall decals of cat figures and there are cartoon stickers on their cups and Minah laughs at how childish but pleasing all of it is. It's not a side of Taekwoon that she expected but is happy to get to know.

The conversation flows smoothly despite Minah rolling her eyes at the amount of cream in Taekwoon's coffee and his wariness over the strength of her coffee.

"Sleep is for the weak" Minah whispers and he sighs.

"Never considered you weak" Taekwoon replies but occasionally looks at her coffee like it would sprout two extra heads at any moment.

"Just pretty" she teases, mixing the sugar in.

"Beautiful" he corrects her and smile triumphantly when she blushes. He's smooth and she marks him down as a player and bad for her health in her book. Her heart is not going to survive if it is going to flip-flop at this inhuman rate every time Taekwoon compliments her.

She still doesn't know why he's here in a cafe with her, looking at cat stickers and drinking bad coffee and fighting over ice cream flavours but she quite likes it. Even if he's going to be clearly bad for her.

#vixx fanfiction #vixx leo #high school au #romance

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unfortunatelysirius · 5 years

Text

╰☆☆ I Think I Like You ☆☆╮ // Steve Harrington

╰❂╮ prompt ╰❂╮ Five times Steve Harrington was a terrible flirt, and one time he wasn’t. ╰❂╮ author’s note ╰❂╮ THIS IS ACTUAL TRASH, I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE ╰❂╮ word count ╰❂╮ 3479

Steve Harrington hated his job. And he didn’t hate it for his coworkers. He didn’t hate it for its usual aroma of butter-pecan and cookie-dough ice cream, their most popular flavors. He didn’t hate it for his salary. He didn’t even hate it for his boss!

He hated it because of its stupid, ugly, so-not-cool uniform.

“Screw protocol,” he said to Robin one day, after a girl had teased him for his hat. He took it off for emphasis, looking at it like he wished it would combust under his not-so-heat-powered vision. “I’m about to fling this stupid thing into space.”

Robin rolled her eyes at him before it suddenly hit—why he was frustrated. She smirked. “Aw, did another girl reject you, Harrington?”

Steve scowled. “No, I—ugh, yes!” Under Robin’s unimpressed glare, he broke. “It was Y/N L/N.”

“Y/N L/N?” Robin looked surprised for only a moment, before she barked out a laugh. She’d heard stories about the girl, almost to the point she knew her as a sister, rather than just a face in the crowd. Steve, quite frankly, never shut up about her. It drove Robin absolutely, out-of-her-hair crazy. “That girl you like?”

“Yes, Robin, God,” said Steve. He looked away, as a futile attempt to hide his blush. Unfortunately for him, the embarrassment was evident in his voice, and Robin cooed at him. “Shut up!”

“Your flirting game needs upped, Harrington,” Robin told him. She pretended to think for a moment, before the idea hit her, and she raised up a finger. “Or maybe, just maybe, you shouldn’t flirt at all. There’s this thing called ‘respecting boundaries.’ And, I mean, what if she doesn’t even like you back, Steve?”

Steve’s mouth was agape, at her audacity to both question and insult him, before the gravity of her words weighed on him. The thought that Y/N didn’t return his affections wounded him deeply. Robin’s own shoulders weighed down with guilt, because the sure hurt of this realization showed on Steve’s puppy-dog face.

“Okay, alright, Harrington, cut the face,” said Robin, cursing herself for being so susceptible to puppy eyes. “Let’s get your girl.”

This could go so terribly wrong, but what the hell, right?

Terrible Flirting 101 [1/5]: Scoops Ahoy! Standard Pick-Up Lines

Steve had put Robin on clean-up duty, and was sitting by the register, scoping the parlor for his favorite customer. Y/N was a regular at Scoops Ahoy, having been there every day since it first opened at Starcourt Mall, and it was common for her to come down most afternoons, after her shift up at the Family Video store ended. Y/N’s order was as simple as it was predictable—a scoop of (Favorite Ice Cream Flavor) on a waffle cone. She always paid with a smile, and her reaction to Steve Harrington’s shameless, unending flirtations was a smile accompanied by a giggle.

Today, with Steve and Robin’s plan—Operation: Get the Girl—underway, it was a no-brainer for Y/N L/N to switch up her response to Steve’s affections—for scientific research, of course.

Steve was leaned against the counter. Sexy pose: check, Scoops Ahoy hat gone: check, Farah-Fawcett-infused hair styled perfect: check, and silly uniform ironed and clean: check. As the clock ticked and closing time neared, Steve’s eyes flickered towards Robin, who was wiping down a table.

“No luck?” she called across the parlor.

Only after she spoke did Steve see her; Y/N L/N walked into the ice cream parlor, dressed in a cute little daisies blouse and a knee-length skirt. Her Y/H/C hair was pulled into a ponytail, swept to the side. She waltzed up to Steve uncertainly, like she hadn’t expected him to be there—and Steve felt his heart pound in his chest. What if the uncertainty was due to disappointment?

“Welcome to Scoops Ahoy, madame—might I take you along for the journey?” Steve’s words came to a bleak, abrupt end, as he realized—he’d skipped over many, many parts. He’d rehearsed this a thousand times, yet came up short at the end, like he’d done every time before. If he weren’t in front of the girl of his dreams, he might have smacked himself silly. “Uh… what can I get for you?”

Y/N L/N smiled and laughed, as she so often did with Steve’s idiotic antics. The only change had been yesterday, when she’d teased him for his hat. Again, though, she was full of surprises. Her smile stayed sealed on her mouth as she said, “Where’s your hat?”

“Uh, what?” Steve blinked at her.

Y/N wordlessly pointed at her head, then back at his.

“Oh, my hat.” He smiled, nervous. He was so, so nervous. And when Steve was nervous, he liked to embarrass himself. He leaned on the counter, and his smile became a smirk. “I, uh… who needs work protocol?”

Y/N eyed his hair before turning her gaze back to his face. “You should wear the hat,” she said, a lilt to her mouth that told him she was teasing. “It suits you.”

After she ordered her signature one-scoop of (Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor) in a waffle cone and left the parlor, Steve took his break. While he sat in the empty parlor with only his coworker as company and a bowl of cookie-dough ice cream in front of him, Robin took pity. She slid down across from him, and stared until he looked up from his ice cream.

“My hair,” he moaned. “She doesn’t like my hair.”

Robin rolled her eyes. “I sincerely doubt she hates your hair,” she said, before remarking—albeit sarcastically—“Who could hate Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington?”

Steve let out a loud groan in reply.

Terrible Flirting 101 [2/5]: Compliment Her Hair

Y/N L/N came again the next day, this time a tad-bit earlier—arriving at 1 in the afternoon. Steve had just taken his lunchbreak, and he was cursing his luck when she walked in, a sucker in her mouth and hair hanging long. Robin was at the register, bored out of her friggin’ mind. She turned stiff as a board when Y/N walked in, eyes going straight to Steve, who was at a booth in the back.

“Mayday, mayday,” she mouthed to Steve, who nodded. Mayday in-freaking-deed! How was he meant to put the moves on Y/N L/N, if he never even had the chance to speak to her?

Y/N walked up to the counter, eyes glancing from the glass that housed the different ice cream flavors to Robin’s pale, smiley face. She said something to Robin that Steve could not hear, but whatever it was couldn’t have been her usual order. Robin’s face went from nervous to super-freakin’-surprised. She got a waffle cone and supplied it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, as well as some sprinkles—much to Steve’s total and complete amazement. He watched with a gaping mouth as she paid for the cone, then set off to venture into Starcourt’s center. Steve could have sworn she looked at him.

Before she could make it out of the parlor completely, he screamed out, “Y/N!”

Y/N L/N looked at him. Hell, the entire fucking parlor looked at him. They were all silent and perplexed, waiting to see what he’d say or do.

“Keep doing what you’re doing with your hair,” said Steve. He gestured up at his own head of hair, where he’d decidedly put back his hat, per Y/N’s request. “It’s… pretty long.”

Y/N flashed him a sarcastic smile, before she picked up the pace and left.

Robin smacked him in the head and called him a doofus when he came back in from his break.

Terrible Flirting 101 [3/5]: Be Stupid Cool. You’re Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington!

“Be stupid cool. You’re Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington,” said Steve, into the mirror in the breakroom. He’d just clocked in, and he was going to own the day, dammit. It was Thursday, and Y/N L/N was sure to come in, if her usual schedule was to be trusted. He’d decided that to be a good flirt, he needed to have confidence. He’d enlisted Robin as a helper, to achieve this boost.

“Yeah, Harrington,” droned Robin, in a dull monotone. “You’re Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington. Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington is stupid cool. Woohoo.” She pretended to swirl around an imaginary pompom.

“You’re no help,” Steve said, pouting. He turned his attention back to the mirror. He whispered, “You’ve got this, Harrington. You’ve got this.”

“Steve’s got this, everybody,” said Robin. She clapped. “He’s got this.”

“You are the actual worst, Robin,” said Steve, as he left for the front. “You should be proud of yourself.”

As Steve disappeared from her sight, she called after him, “Believe me, Harrington, I am!”

Steve sat and took orders and scooped ice cream for hours. He refused to take his break, terrified he’d be stripped of his chances as he was on Tuesday, where he’d panicked and said something about her hair. Her hair! Steve was an idiot, a fact he knew well and a fact Robin loved to remind him of, but that bit of idiocy took the cake as one of the dumbest things he’d ever done. And he’d done a lot of stupid things.

Y/N showed up around 2, when Steve was beginning to regret his decision to go break-less. He was exhausted from standing, and his arms hurt from the number of scoops he’d had to dig from ice cream buckets. When Y/N walked in, her hair the same as it was on Tuesday, Steve nearly fainted. She’s so pretty, he thought stupidly. When she appeared before him, it took her little harrumph to regain his attention.

“Oh—uh.” Steve blinked. Be stupid cool. You’re Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington. “Ahoy, Y/N! And on his journey, what might a fine lady like yourself want as a refreshment?” A fucking idiot—that’s what Steve was. But he retained his smile, and didn’t let it show on his face just how much he regretted his choice of words.

Y/N wrinkled her nose, but didn’t giggle at him. She eyed his hat, then his frumpy uniform, then his nervous face, and smiled. “A scoop of (Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor) on a waffle cone, please,” she told him.

“One scoop of (Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor) on a waffle cone, coming up, m’lady,” said Steve, in a voice too shaky to be considered suave. He ducked his head down and began scooping out her order to hide his embarrassment.

Y/N put the sleeve of her blouse overtop her mouth, to hide the giggle that threatened its escape. Steve was oblivious to it, but Robin—who peaked from the staff window—noticed it. After gaining back her composure, Y/N said, almost offhandedly, “You must get sick of seeing me in here every day.”

Steve’s head snapped up so fast that he hit it on the corner of the showcase’s window. He groped for the afflicted area with his free palm, nearly dropping Y/N’s cone. “Ow—shit—no. No, no, no. You don’t bother me at all. I like seeing you in here every day.” He checked to make sure the cone was intact, before he slowly handed it to Y/N.

Y/N L/N paid for her cone, gave Steve one last smile, and took her leave.

“You’re a joke, Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington,” Robin said to him, when he sulked back into the breakroom to clock out for his break.

She wasn’t wrong.

Terrible Flirting 101 [4/5]: You’re Cute, I’m Cute. Wanna Make Out?

Steve Harrington was sick of himself, and running out of ideas. When Y/N L/N came in on Saturday for her regular one scoop of what-the-heck-ever in a waffle cone, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“You’re cute. I’m cute. Wanna make out?”

Y/N L/N blinked, and the grip she had on her coin purse slackened. “Er… what?” Her face flushed bright pink.

Steve gaped. He couldn’t believe he’d just said that. But he couldn’t lose his cool—not when he’d made it this far without being punched in the face. “We should make out,” he told her.

Y/N’s face was still pink, yet had also turned steely and unreadable. “Where at?”

“Wait, what?” Steve blanched.

“Where would we make out, Steve?”

Steve caught the mocking tone of voice, and he felt terrible. He shook his head frantically. “I was just joking, Y/N—I’m sorry—”

“Yeah, okay, Steve,” said Y/N, spitting his name out like it was acid. Her coin purse was snapped shut, the sound so loud and angry that it made Steve flinch. She turned on her heel and left, without even taking her cone.

I’m an idiot, thought Steve bitterly.

When Steve slowly turned, to look around for Robin (who was sure to make a mockery of his failure), it was to see her blasé figure holding up a sign. There were two sides—a “You Rule!” side and a “You Suck!” side. The “You Suck!” side had three tallies, a fourth being scrawled out by Robin as he turned, while the “You Rule!” side was a sad, sorry shade of blank.

“You’re oh-for-four, Popeye,” she said, pouting at him.

Steve just stared at her. “Yeah, I can count.”

Robin looked back at the sign. “You know, that means you suck.”

“Yeah, I can read, too,” said Steve, arms crossed like a petulant child. He surely felt like one, too.

Robin smirked. “Since when?”

Steve despised her. Oh, how he despised her—especially when she was right to ridicule him. He (read: DISCREETLY) flipped her the finger and returned to manning the register.

You’re oh-for-four, Popeye.

Maybe she really didn’t like him.

Terrible Flirting 101 [5/5]: Just Say Sorry

Y/N L/N didn’t come back.

Steve knew it was because of what he’d said to her. He was a terrible flirt, and an even worse person—worse than he’d been at Hawkins High, during his “King Steve” days. This was embarrassing. He knew Robin was right. He was supposed to “respect boundaries” and honor his code as a worker bee—where he wouldn’t harass his customers.

That plan went to shit. Now here he was, reaping the repercussions.

“She still a no-show?” asked Robin. They’d just opened for business, and there was already a group of adolescent girls entering shop. Robin was manning the counter, while Steve sat beside her, reeking of negativity.

“Yeah,” Steve said in response to her question, voice no higher than a sigh. “I feel awful for what I said to her.”

Robin rolled her eyes. “Apologies exist, Steve,” she said scathingly. “Now get your head out of your ass, and go get her.”

“But—we just opened?” Steve eyed her confusedly.

The group of girls had come upon the counter, and were waiting impatiently for the two to finish their conversation. “Hey lady, I ain’t got all day,” said the tallest girl, the supposed ringleader, who had a sneer on her mouth from having to wait any longer for her daily dose of extreme dairy.

“Yeah, okay, hold on a minute,” said Robin, a snap in her voice, before she turned her glare towards Steve. She poked him in the shoulder. “She works at Family Video, right? Morning and afternoon shifts? So go get her.”

“But—I’m working,” said Steve.

“So clock out. I’ll be okay until you get back.”

Steve stared at her. He quickly realized she wasn’t going to back down.

After dressing out of that horrid, girly uniform into a more-suitable get-up—fit without that stupid hat—and clocking out, Steve was on his way to Family Video.

When he got there, it wasn’t to the sight of Y/N but of Keith, a guy he knew used to work at the Palace Arcade. He was munching on a bag of Cheetos and leaning heavily on the counter. His eyes were bored as they turned to Steve.

“Can I help you?” said Keith.

“Uh, yeah,” said Steve, his palms sweating. “Is Y/N L/N working?”

“Y/N? Yeah, she’s in the stockroom,” said Keith. He looked bemused. “Why? Do you need her for something?”

“Can you get her for me? But, uh, don’t tell her my name.” Steve raised his hands up defensively, looking and acting the part of extremely suspicious.

Keith narrowed his eyes. “Okay, weirdo.” He munched on a Cheeto as he headed back toward the stockroom. Well, hopefully the stockroom. Steve hoped Keith wasn’t about to leave him here in anxious wait for another thirty minutes, before coming back to admit Y/N L/N hadn’t been here at all.

He came back with Y/N, with her hair pulled into a messy bun on the top of her head and face scrunched into a cute little frown. She looked nervous. That nervous demeanor only intensified when she saw Steve.

“Hi,” said Y/N, biting her lip. She rolled it around in her mouth as she stared at Steve.

Steve felt speechless. But he couldn’t be speechless—not now, when he had a chance. “Uh. Hi,” he said.

The silence between them was awkward and tense, only broken by Keith’s obnoxious chewing. He was watching the two of them like they were the next best thing since Days of our Lives.

“I came by, just to—er—apologize,” said Steve. He raised his arm to scratch at the nape of his neck, nerves flitting about in his stomach. “I’ve been harassing you, and I’m sorry. I’ll just, uh, stay away from you from now on. Yeah.”

Y/N pursed her lips. And of all things to be, she looked angry. Why was she angry? She shouldn’t have been angry. That wasn’t part of the plan. Actually, none of this was part of the plan. “God, am I that much of a joke to you, Harrington?” she hissed at him.

“Wait, what?” Steve stepped back a bit, not expecting this—no, not at all. “Why are you angry?”

“Because!” She pulled at her hair, frustrated. “I’ve been coming to the parlor for you, Steve.”

Steve opened and closed his mouth wordlessly. He didn’t have a single thing he could say to articulate the warring thoughts in his head.

Initiating… Good Flirting 101 [1/1]: Don’t Be a Dunce

Y/N looked away from him. “I… I thought you were just making fun of me. Poking at my crush on you,” she admitted. “You were, won’t you?”

This was when Steve realized how much of a joke he was. So much of a joke that his terrible flirting appeared as over-the-top and an attempt at being funny, rather than a subset of his own failure to play it cool. Was that what everyone aside from Robin thought? That he was trying to funny? That he wasn’t just an awkward, sorry excuse for a human being?

“Oh God, Y/N, I wasn’t—I’ve been flirting with you this whole time. I guess I’m just an idiot who doesn’t know how to flirt.” Steve didn’t know what to do with himself—whether to smack his own face, whether to sulk his way back to Starcourt Mall and have Robin smack him in the face, or to just man up and ask that Y/N do it. Whatever the case, someone needed to hit him. He needed sense smacked back into him.

Instead, what he got was a hopeful glance from Y/N L/N.

“So, you weren’t joking? You meant it?” said Y/N, and dammit, it was like she’d forgotten all about his stupidity—the way he’d foolishly asked if she wanted to make out, how he’d told her to leave her hair down, how his stupid little Scoops Ahoy! pick-up lines were a crock of shit. His apology was all it took for this whole situation to turn on its head.

Steve was in utter disbelief. “Of course I meant it,” he said with a snort. “Have you looked at yourself? You’re, like, a literal goddess.”

Y/N smiled and laughed, as she always did in his presence. The difference, though, was the context in which Steve took it. He felt like he could listen to her laugh for the rest of his life, if it made him feel this good inside.

Note to self: don’t be a dunce. Steve knew that had been his problem all along. If he’d been himself from the very beginning instead of telling God-awful pick-up lines and saying things no one, not even the flirtiest person on the planet, would appreciate, maybe this wouldn’t have worked out so strangely.

Keith, being Keith, decided it was the right time to munch on a Cheeto. He chewed and chewed, until the two of them were staring at him and he’d finally swallowed the mushy remains. “You guys gonna make out or what?” he asked.

Leave it to Keith to ruin the goddamn moment.

Part 2?

[Yes] [No]

#stranger things #stranger things 3 #steve harrington #steve harrington x reader #steve harrington fanfiction #steve harrington imagine #steveharrington #robin buckley #brotp #steve harrington oneshot #x reader #unfortunatelysirius #joe keery #maya hawke #st3 #actual fucking trash and i want to die

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crazy-little-cool-cat · 5 years

Text

Gold Digger - Chapter 6 | Gwilym Lee x OFC

A/N: I did not forget to put one this time! Ha! If anyone isn’t familiar with Merrida from Brave, please do so now so you could understand the joke that’s coming ahead in the story. Thanks!

Warnings: The usual.

Word Count: exactly 1.5K

The Playlist (Updates Regularly)

Chapter List: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

Lizzie felt Gwilym's fingertips on her skin, almost as if they were searing her skin and burning it. She gulped and blinked in shock. Her eyes darted from his hand to his electric blue eyes, confusion plastered all over her face. She let Gwilym pull her to him again, gentler this time. Her curls bounced slightly as she stumbled over her own feet and braced herself from falling against his chest.

"Gwil, I have a date tonight."

She heard Gwilym's breath catch for a split second. She looked up and made eye contact and felt like she's free-falling. A flurry of butterflies unleashed in her stomach as he looked down into her eyes.

"That's unfortunate," Gwil replied, his voice low and husky. "I was hoping I could take you out."

"I... Well..." Lizzie struggled to find words.

With a chuckle, Gwilym closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers, slower than he previously had. This time, his kiss was soft and warm and overwhelming. Lizzie's hand rested on his bearded cheek as they deepened the kiss.

"Tomorrow night." Gwilym murmured against her lips. "Tomorrow night, you're going on a date with me."

"You don't care that I'm going on one tonight?" Lizzie leaned back slightly. "Really?"

"Oh, I care plenty." Gwilym wrapped his arms around her slim waist, intertwining his fingers on the small of her back. "Will you call it off if I asked you to?"

"Well, no..." Lizzie looked down. "That would be very rude to the poor bloke."

"So, I'll suck it up and take you out tomorrow night." Gwilym shrugged. "All the more time to prepare the most amazing evening you'll ever experience. You'll forget all about tonight's chap."

"You realize there's no turning back from this?" Lizzie raised an eyebrow. "If we try this and it doesn't work out... I'm not Clara. I won't try to stay friends if this goes awry."

"Fair enough." Gwilym nodded. "Only means I'll have to work extra hard to make you see that it would be improbable."

"What?"

"Us going awry," Gwilym said. "I doubt it will happen."

"Huh." Lizzie hummed and jumped slightly when Gwilym's phone started ringing.

"Come on, I'll drive you home. You have a date to go on." _______________________________ "You're joking." Shelly followed Lizzie around the apartment like a lost puppy. "You're pulling my leg!"

"Nope," Lizzie said coolly. "He kissed me. In my classroom."

"Lizzie, that's -"

"Disgustingly romantic?"

"Yeah!" Shelly nodded excitedly. "But also, so sweet! God, he really is prince charming!"

"Yes," Lizzie said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a date to get ready for."

"I thought you said he's taking you out tomorrow night." Shelly looked confused.

"Yes," Lizzie confirmed. "Tonight's date isn't with Gwilym."

"Joe's going to have a field day over this," Shelly smirked.

"Oh, as if you're not." Lizzie rolled her eyes and walked past her best friend towards her bedroom. _______________________________ "Come to New York."

Shelly groaned and rolled her eyes, taking the phone off the speaker.

"I can't just come to New York out of the blue. It costs money!" She countered.

"I'll pay for the ticket. You pay for anything else." Joe offered.

"And where will I be staying?" Shelly asked tauntingly. "Yours, I assume?"

"If that's what you want." She could practically hear him shrug. "If not, you figure it out on your own, baby."

"I'm not your baby." Shelly giggled. "When?"

"When are you free to travel?" Joe asked.

Shelly sighed as she thought about her work schedule. She still hasn't turned in her shift requests for the next week, and she could take a few days off if she really wanted to. God knows, she needed it.

"Next week?"

Joe sputtered his coke and coughed violently on the other end of the line.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes."

"Shelly, that's 7 days from today."

"I know what next week means, yes." She assured. "Or are you too scared to have me over? I can be quite -"

"Scared?" Joe sneered. "Girl, you're the one who should be scared."

She heard furious clicking and tapping in the background.

"Joe, tell me you're not ordering my ticket as we speak."

"I'm not ordering your ticket as we speak." He said robotically. "But I totally am." ________________________________ Lizzie almost trotted towards the door when she heard the doorbell ring. Her burgundy taffeta dress rustled as she double-stepped down the hall, trying not to fall over and face-plant because she was running on wobbly heels. Her curls still bounced as she opened the door and gasped when she saw Gwilym wearing a blazer and a burgundy sweater underneath.

"Great minds." He smiled and pointed from his chest to her body. "Hello."

"Crazy." She breathed and squealed when she noticed the bouquet of red tulips Gwilym held in his hand. "Are those for me?"

"You said these are your favourite?" he passed them over to her and pressed a kiss to her cheek, ever the gentleman. "If I remember correctly."

"Yes!" She beamed and stepped back to let him in while she put the flowers in some water. When he went to the sofa to have a seat, she raised an eyebrow. "What are you doing?"

"Might as well make myself comfortable while you finish getting ready..." he froze.

"I am ready," Lizzie chuckled. "Just need my coat and we're good to go."

"My God, you're perfect, aren't you?" Gwilym grinned and stretched out his hand for her to take. "Shall we?"

"After you." Lizzie smiled sweetly and placed her hand in his. ______________________________________________________ Lizzie felt giddy. Almost euphoric. Gwilym opened every door, pulled out every chair, let her be first in anything. He complimented her on her makeup, on her outfit, on her laughter. He told her all about his acting career, family, and friends, and listened intently when she spoke. He even stepped in a puddle of rain so she won't have to. When her feet got tired from walking around London town, he picked her up bridal style and carried her down the street while she laughed heartily.

He bought her whatever she looked at - chocolates, stuffies, a knitted hat with a pompom on top. He took her to the fanciest restaurant and on a ride on the London Eye. As the colossal Ferris wheel turned slowly, she and Gwilym stood at their personal pod, sipping on mulled wine and listening to the soft Bosa-Nova tunes Gwil had arranged for the ride. They chatted animatedly, their eyes sparkling and laughter rolling. At one point, they laughed so hard, Lizzie had to physically hold on to Gwilym for dear life.

That's why she never would have imagined in a million years that when they disembark from their pod, they'll collide headlong with Gwilym's ex and her new boyfriend. Lizzie felt Gwilym's fingers twitch and squeeze her hand for a split second. She looked up at him and saw him smiling calmly as he pulled her one step closer to him.

"Who's the lass?" Jamie asked Gwilym.

Lizzie felt as if she's emerging from underwater, and realized she hadn't been listening to a word that was said for the past couple of minutes. Shaking her head slightly, she turned her head to face Clara and Jamie and was met with Jamie's flirtatious wink.

"Jamie, silly," Clara lilted, "that's Merrida."

"Merrida?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah," Clara locked eyes with Lizzie and sneered. "You know, the unruliest Disney princess of them all."

"It's Lizzie, actually." Lizzie rolled her eyes at yet another Brave reference. "Hi."

"Heard Gwil knocked you on your bum," Clara bounced from her heels to her toes as she spoke, her voice sweet and smooth like honey.

"Anyways!" Gwilym looked down at Lizzie and smiled reassuringly, "we're just heading off, enjoy the rest of your night, mates!"

"Nice meeting you, Merrida!" Clara called after them.

When the night was over, he walked her to her door. Lizzie was starry-eyed and awestruck through the entire evening. Gwilym clearly went out of his way for her, but it still felt so natural. She didn't mind the looks and stares and camera flashes in the slightest. It was as if no one else existed, but themselves. She didn't want the date to end.

"Tonight was lovely," Gwil said as they reached her door and intertwined his fingers with Lizzie's. "I had a great time."

"Likewise," Lizzie's cheeks turned rosier and rosier under Gwilym's electric gaze. "It's been a great night."

"Is it alright if I kiss you again?" Gwilym asked.

"Pardon?" Lizzie chuckled.

"You shoved me off you last time we kissed..."

"I was caught off guard!" Lizzie countered.

"Well, then, are you on guard?" His voice made currents run from her ears to her fingertips.

"Mhm." Lizzie squeaked out and shifted her weight to the tips of her toes, placing her hands on Gwilym's shoulders. "You have my permission."

"Oh, thank God," Gwilym heaved dramatically and placed a sweet, lingering kiss to Lizzie's lips.

_____________________________________

TAGLIST: @filmslutt @lose-you-to-find-me @sonic-volcano @nosferatyou @rogertaylorin1976 @mrhoemazzello

#Gold Digger #gwilym lee #gwilym lee fanfiction #gwilym lee fanfic #gwilym lee imagine #gwilym lee x ofc #gwilym lee blurb

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rike-with-love · 5 years

Text

Melody of our Hearts (chapter 3)

Pairings: Okikagu, Gintsu (minor), Takaban (minor)

Rating: M for mature content, bad language, fluff, light angst, enemies to friends to lovers

Disclaimer: I don’t own Gintama or it’s characters, Sorachi Hideaki does. I only own this story.

Chapter 3

<- Previous chapter ~~ Next Chapter ->

The grand outdoor concert was just two days away and Kagura had trained for her performance like a madwoman.

Otsu had planned a very simple choreography for Kagura and she would be forever grateful to her fellow idol for doing so.

After another practice session Kagura felt better about her performance. But still, she had her doubts. It was like Kagura wasn't at the level she should already be.

Dancing is fun so why can't I get it right, Kagura cursed to herself as she went through the steps in her head.

”Hey Otsu,” Kagura called as they were changing out of their training clothes.

”Yeah?”

Kagura slipped her pastel pink overall skirt over her white t-shirt. ”Thanks for being so patient with me,” she said.

It was true that Kagura knew the steps, but somehow she had difficulties with making the choreo look graceful. And it pained her. She wanted nothing more than to execute Otsu's vision perfectly.

”Oh come on, don't be silly,” Otsu said waved her hand at Kagura. ”You're doing a great job for someone who hasn't danced a lot of choreos.”

”Heh...thanks”, Kagura said and smiled a bit.

”I mean, you have the steps down already. All you have to do now is to get out of your head,” Otsu said and walked closer to the dance studio's mirror.

Kagura followed the girl, she felt puzzled by her words. ”What do you mean by that?”

Otsu tightened her bright purple side ponytail and glanced at Kagura. ”You think about the steps too much.”

”Oh,” Kagura said and scratched her right temple.

”Dancing is about feeling the steps, otherwise you'll just look like a robot”, Otsu explained. ”Do you know what I mean?”

Kagura understood exactly what she was saying. It just wasn't so easy to do that. ”Yeah...I just need to practice some more.”

”Sure, I come and help you when I have the time,” Otsu said and picked up her favourite piece of clothing from the floor. A canary yellow leather jacket. She wore it with everything, no matter the weather or the occasion, Otsu rocked that jacket.

Kagura had always admired the fellow idol for her bold and edgy look. A canary yellow wasn't a color for everyone. Usually Otsu wore a lot of black clothes, with a sprinkle of purple or yellow here and there. Nets and leather seemed to be her favourite materials.

As punk as Otsu's look was, her personality was the opposite. She was sweet as a pie, silly and very talented to top it all off. Otsu was always there to help everyone in need and that was actually the biggest reason Kagura liked her so much.

Today Otsu had chosen black skinny jeans and a black loose t-shirt with a text: black is my happy color. A classic look from Otsu.

Kagura also tightened her ponytails in front of the mirror. She had her vermillion hair pulled into two pigtails on the back of her head.

Kagura was more into cutesy things rather than chains and studs. Her pink overall skirt's hem reached just above her knees so it worked perfectly as a dress. Kagura had attached matching pink fluffy pompoms to her pigtails just for fun. She was truly a sucker for everything cute.

Kagura huffed quietly in front of the mirror.

”What is it?” Otsu asked and turned to look at Kagura.

”Well...I just realized that I'm running out of time with my practicing.”

”Ah...yeah. Two days to go.”

Kagura exhaled deeply, pushing the air forcefully through her mouth. She looked like a wide eyed puffer fish with her puckered lips. Otsu couldn't help but to giggle a bit.

”I'm sure you'll pull it off,” Otsu said.

”Heh...maybe,” Kagura hummed. ”I'm just glad I'm performing first...so I don't have to go right after the great dancing squad.”

Otsu giggled again. ”For me it's quite the opposite.”

”Huh?”

”Gura...you're hands down the best singer in here. The rest of us have to push really hard to reach even half of your level.”

”Pppffffff!”

”You don't have to be so modest”, Otsu chuckled.

Kagura loved singing, she really did. Otsu wasn't the first one to tell her she was a great singer. Gintoki was the very first person to point it out to her and his words impacted her deeply. From a young age, she began to hone her natural talent.

”Eh, we should get going already, yes”, Kagura said to change the subject.

She knew she was a wonderful singer and a very confident one too, but at this very moment Otsu's sweet words unfortunately fell to deaf ears. Kagura was a perfectionist, and her lacking dance skills bothered her.

Kagura knew that she had a lot of growing up to do. Mostly with being able to cut some slack to herself. Then again, she was an artist. Is there even such a thing as a mellow, always self-forgiving artist? I think not.

For Kagura, aiming for perfection was her fuel and bringing joy to people was he rgoal.

”Right, Shinpachi told us to come to the break room”, Otsu recalled. ”I'm ready if you are.”

”Yup, let's go,” Kagura chirped.

* *

Before Kagura and Otsu entered the break-room, both could hear some voices coming from inside. It sounded like a flock of hens assembled into a tiny space, which obviously meant that the four remaining members of Sugar Addicts were already there.

Sugar Addicts consisted of five members: Otsu, Yunah, Minty, Ruby and Soyeon.

Yunah was the oldest, she had long black hair with slightly overgrown bangs. She was serious a person with a calm voice. Similar to Otsu, she showed a more passionate side when she was performing, especially during dancing.

Minty and Ruby were identical twins. They both shared a great passion for music from a young age and aiming to be idols together felt like the most natural thing to do. Minty had long black hair with turquoise tips and Ruby had the same cut but with red tips.

Soyeon was the youngest of the group. She had dark brown shoulder length hair. She appeared to be innocent and quiet girl, but behind closed doors she had an opinion about everything. A quality that could help her or hurt her.

As the girls entered the room, a cheerful greeting was the first thing they heard. ”Otsu-ya! Gura-ya!*” Minty said with a smile and waved her hand.

”Hi guys!” Kagura said and lifted her hand at the girls.

All four of them were sitting on a big green couch which Gintoki had provided for the break-room. It was actually his old couch, but Kagura wasn't going to tell anyone that secret piece of information.

Kagura and Otsu sat on the floor next to the couch. ”You had vocal lessons today, right?” Otsu asked her band mates.

”Yeah, we practiced a lot with Kawakami-nim”, Minty said.

”He was worried for you Otsu”, Yunah said, voice as soft as silk.

”Really? Why?” Otsu asked.

”He said you should focus more on yourself rather than helping others all the time,” Soyeon said nonchalantly. She threw a look at Kagura during her words, arousing a lift of an eyebrow from the surprised girl.

Intentiously or not, it felt like she threw some serious shade on Kagura's way. Luckily for Soyeon, Kagura was too tired to stir up anything from a small thing like that. She just stared Soyeon deep into her brown eyes to show her that she heard the comment loud and clear.

Otsu tried to avoid confrontation at all costs, so she laughed nervously to defuse the slight tension surrounding the small space. ”Ah, stop worrying girls. I'm seeing Kawakami-nim later today.”

Yunah crossed her arms loosely. ”Good.”

”Ah, did Shinpachi-shi* tell you to come here too?” Ruby asked.

”Yes, he wanted to talk about the concert”, Otsu said.

”Well then...I guess we have time to kill before he gets here,” Soyeon said and sighed a little.

”Hmm...Patsuan is usually on time... I hope everything is okay,” Kagura worried and scratched her neck.

Otsu giggled. ”You call him Patsuan?”

”Is he your boyfriend or something?” Soyeon teased.

Kagura frowned her brows and huffed dramatically. ”NO! I've just known him for many years, yes.”

”Ne, I think Soyeon was only joking, right?” Ruby said.

”Maybe, maybe not,” Soyeon snarled. Her annoyingly vague answer raised some frustration in Kagura, but it appeared to amuse the rest of the girls.

”Whatever, I don't care,” Kagura muttered. ”Shinpachi is like a brother to me and that's that.”

Otsu stroked Kagura's arm gently, she felt bad that her friend felt attacked. She firmly believed it was the pressure of the concert pressing on everyone's shoulders that caused some rudeness from some of her band mates.

”Why don't we watch some tv to pass the time,” Otsu suggested.

Minty snatched the remote control from a small round coffee table. ”Great idea Otsu unnie*.”

All six girls turned their attention to the small screen. Kagura hoped that there would be some re-runs of her favorite dramas or something light-hearted like that.

Minty switched channels like she was looking for the holy grail of tv shows. Ruby grew tired of her sisters channel surfing and tried to take the remote to away from her. It naturally resulted in some feisty sibling banter.

Kagura lost all hope on ever getting to watch any show. She shifted her focus on the white walls of the room.

She thought it would be amazing to decorate the walls of the break room with photos from everyone. Pictures of upcoming concerts, tours, music video shoots and red carpet events. That way the room would work as a diary of sorts for the Yorozuya Entertainment.

A simple place to remember where everyone began their journey to stardom.

A sudden gasp snapped Kagura out of her thoughts. She searched for the source of such a loud noise. Her eyes darted at Minty and Ruby. Both girls were frozen still, eyes sparkling and tightly glued to the tv screen.

”Oh! Stop changing the channel,” Soyeon said and leaned closer to the tv.

”It would be plain illegal to change the channel now,” Ruby said.

”Agreed sis,” Minty affirmed.

Otsu took a better look at the tv screen. Even Kagura got extremely curious. What an earth was so intriguing to everyone, she thought.

It was a music video. After the first beats of the song, Otsu started bobbing her head a little. ”Oh! It's Ω mega,” she said.

”Yeah! I haven't heard this song in ages,” Soyeon said and began to move with the music.

Kagura looked at the screen. Ω mega was an extremely succesful boy band who had dominated the charts for the past five years. Kagura had heard about them, but she didn't have a specific interest on the group.

”I love them!” Minty said.

”Me too!” Ruby agreed.

Even the ever cool Yunah had an opinion about Ω mega. ”I've always admired their dancing skills”, she commented

”Me too,” Otsu said.

Kagura turned to look at Otsu, she wasn't expecting her to fangirl over the mighty Ω mega. In Kagura's eyes, they were a somewhat overhyped group with their millions and millions of adoring fans and hefty amount of awards.

”Oh, this is my favourite part!” Minty gloated and pointed her finger at the screen. Her enthusiasm drawed Kagura's eyes back to the screen.

A man with light brown hair took the center spot in a very complex dance sequence. His moves were smooth and effortless, even Kagura acknowledged his dancing abilities.

The video jumped between the dance scene and close-ups of the man. He had icy blue contacts like many idols these days had, luring pretty much any viewer to look solely at him.

”He is so hot,” Soyeon marvelled

”He is seriously unreal,” Ruby said and fanned her face with her hands.

Kagura scratched her head. ”Who is that?”

Every single member of the Sugar Addicts turned to look at Kagura. They looked at her like she had asked if the water was wet.

”What do you mean who is that??” Minty asked with mouth gaped open.

”You can't be serious,” Ruby added.

Kagura felt annoyed. Why the hell was this one so-called hot boy so important, she thought.

”That's S, the main-dancer and vocalist of Ω mega,” Otsu explained. ”And to be honest, the most popular member of the whole group.”

”Uh...okay,” Kagura simply said. She wasn't sure what kind of reaction the other girls were expecting from her. Was she supposed to throw twelve cartwheels for his honor and throw her panties up in the air.

Well...that wasn't going to happen. ”I haven't heard of him”, Kagura said and shrugged her shoulders.

”Oh Gura...you're in for a treat,” Minty said.

”We'll tell you everything you need to know,” Ruby continued.

Before Kagura could turn down the wonderful offer, she was showered with a bucket load of info on the idol.

”His stage name is S, he is 22-year-old Japanese-Korean superstar working under Cosmos Recors”, Minty began.

”He debuted in Ω mega, the greatest boy group ever in my opinion. But he went solo just a few months ago,” Ruby said.

”He is an extremely talented dancer, even said to be one of the best in the industry,” Yunah said to Kagura's surprise. He must be very influential as he even got the attention of Yunah, Kagura thought.

”I really loved his solo debut song Skin,” Otsu said.

”Oh yes! I loved it too!” Soyeon said.

”It was a really dirty song in my opinion,” Yunah pointed out, making all the members of Sugar Addicts giggle.

”But that was the best part Yunah unnie!” Soyeon said tongue in cheek.

Kagura felt a little uncomfortable. All five girls around her were gushing over this mysterious S, so she naturally felt left-out. Maybe if she showed some interest on him it would ease the situation, Kagura thought.

”So...what does the S stand for?” Kagura asked.

”Well...it's never actually been confirmed by Cosmos Records, but fans have many theories,” Ruby said.

”Most of us think it's the first initial of his real name, which we still don't know,” Minty said and playfully shook her clenched fists.

”Or it could be, superstar, Seoul, swag...” Soyeon listed.

”Swag?!” Otsu laughed.

”No-one is stupid enough to call themselves swag...” Kagura said and raised her eyebrow. ”Hey! Maybe the S stands for stupid?”

Kagura's fantastic suggestion wasn't well received among the girls. Who could have guessed that..?

”It could be his hometown's initial or an animal,” Yunah continued.

”That's the part of his charm. The mystery of S,” Soyeon pointed out.

”I think so too,” Minty said and nodded her head a couple of times.

”Also, he is known to interact with fans a lot,” Otsu said.

”Yes, there are hundred of videos online of S appearing in random places to surprise any fan who spots him,” Minty explained.

”Okay...” Kagura said, still feeling a little unimpressed. He wasn't the first idol to interact with fans, althought he seemed to be a bit more active with it than others.

”A-anyway,” Otsu said and turned to Kagura. ”After all the new information we gave you, what do you think about him?”

Kagura felt five pairs of eyes staring right in to her soul. They were clearly expecting some sort of smitten reaction from her. So Kagura glanced at the tv screen to help her form a fair and well thought-out opinion of the handsome man called S.

The music video was on its last frames. S was sitting on a rustic looking chair in a dimly lighted space. The camera's angle was a side-profile of him and the chair. S slumped his back against the chair with a small slow-motion effect.

He ran his hand on his hair and looked away from the camera. A light hit his face just enough to highlight his sharp jaw line. Then the frame faded away with the last note of the song.

Kagura thought the song and video were okay, but when it came down to the beloved S, she had only one word for him.

”Meh.”

”MEH?!” Ruby and Minty shouted in unison.

Soyeon shook her head in disapproval, but Kagura couldn't care less. Otsu and Yunah weren't as baffled as the rest of the girls, but a little surprised. Meh was quite diminishing after all.

Shinpachi walked in to the break-room just in time before the passionate S stans* attacked Kagura's opinion. ”Hi everyone!” Shinpachi said and drawed the attention of all six girls.

”Oh, hello Shinpachi-shi,” Yunah said. ”We've been waiting for you a while now.”

Shinpachi scratched the back of his head. ”Ah, sorry. Sakata-nim had some urgent matters I had to take care of.”

”It's okay,” Soyeon chirped like the two-faced creature she was.

”We need to leave to the park, they finally got the electricity working on the stage,” Shinpachi informed.

Without further words, all the aspiring idols stood up, smiling and ready to go. Kagura snatched the remote control from the couch to turn off the tv, which was apparently running another music video from Ω mega. She sighed and pressed the power button.

As the group of people followed Shinpachi out of the building, Otsu pulled Kagura to slow down her pace. ”Hey,” she whispered.

”Hey,” Kagura whispered back and grinned sweetly.

Otsu looked like she had something on her mind, but for some reason she held her words back. ”What is it Otsu?” Kagura asked.

”Oh...you noticed...,” Otsu said quietly.

”I did. Tell me what's on your mind.”

Otsu shook of the unnecessary nervousness she was feeling and spoke up. ”Uh, it's just that...why you disliked S so much?”

”We're still taking about that guy?” Kagura asked. She was surprised about Otsu's question, maybe S was more important idol to her than Kagura had thought.

”Hey...I'm serious.”

”Okay okay...well, I didn't say I disliked him,” Kagura explained. ”It's just that I don't understand what you all see in him.”

Otsu nodded her head a couple of times, she was happy that Kagura wasn't afraid to speak her mind around her. ”Right...but he is a wonderful dancer. You can't deny that Gura,” Otsu giggled.

”Sure, maybe he is,” Kagura said and flicked her long ponytails. ”I just think that most of you adore him because of his looks rather than the dancing, yes.”

”Yeah, maybe some fans do, but I don't really mind.”

”I mean obviously you don't. You're all gushing about him and it's just a little off-putting to me.”

Otsu glanced at Kagura with a neutral look on her face. ”So you don't like him because we all admire him so much?”

”Uh...I-I don't know”, Kagura mumbled. She had difficulties with finding the right words. ”I just think it's shallow to like an idol just because of their looks.”

Otsu fell speechless, she wasn't sure how to feel about Kagura's statement.

”What?” Kagura asked.

”But I'm not a fan because of his looks,” Otsu said. ”As I said, I admire his dancing abilities.”

”Yes you did. I heard that,” Kagura said to reassure her friend. ”I just feel like everyone are so insanely crazy about him and I don't want to become a fan of someone just because everyone else so passionately are.”

Otsu stopped walking. ”So...if I understood correctly, the only reason you don't like him, is because he is so darn popular”, Otsu said.

Kagura halted her movement at Otsu's words. Her tone was serious.

”Don't you think you're being the shallow one right now?” Otsu simply asked.

Kagura was caught off guard by Otsu's question. She hadn't even thought about her own words from another point of view. And they were hella rude to say the least. Kagura pretty much unintentionally bashed Otsu for stanning a popular idol she liked.

Before Kagura could apologize or say anything at all, Otsu continued walking forward. Kagura watched silently as the purple haired girl caught up with her group and easily joined their conversation.

”Oi Gura! What are you standing there?” Shinpachi called from a distance. ”We have to go!”

”Y-yeah! I'm coming”, Kagura said and skipped after everyone. Her thoughts were all over place after her friends comment. The only thing she was certain about was that she needed to apologize to Otsu for being so inconsiderate to her.

And the other thing she needed to think about, was her own shallowness. Was his massive popularity really the reason she didn't get his charm? Or was there something else?

A/N: *ya: used as a ”hello” when attached into one's name in the Korean language, (Kagura-ya! = Hey Kagura!) *shi: Korean honorific, meaning mr. or mrs. *unnie: a female calls an older female as unnie in the Korean language *stan: a portmanteau of the words ”stalker” and ”fan”, refers to someone who is overly obsessed with a celebrity (urban dictionary), I personally feel like ”stanning” a group/celebrity isn't necessarily overly obsessing, more like a hardcore fan thing (correct me if I'm wrong)

#okikagu #gintama #kagura #okita sougo #okita x kagura #kagura x okita #au #fanfiction #k-pop au #alternate universe #fluff #drama #romance #light angst #slow burn #i repeat slow burn

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baby-grayson · 4 years

Note

you talked about gray being protective but imagine ness 👀 like maybe if a cheerleader is getting a little tooo close during the game

Nessa is incredibly aware of the fact that Grayson is strong, tall, handsome and can charm even the most miserable people with a flash of his mega watt smile. Normally, she doesn’t say anything when the waitress at their favorite diner bends forward to flash her cleavage at him while putting down a plate or when the person in front of them in the coffee line starts an ingratiating conversation with him. She holds in her smirk and takes it as a compliment. She trusts Grayson entirely, knowing that his devotion to her is honest and true.

And he is, truly, completely devoted and committed to Vanessa. Seeing her smile keeps him going in his darkest times.

However, he is also one of the most oblivious men on the face of the planet. So oblivious that when a freshman cheerleader starts to shake her pompoms in front of him during half time, literally and figuratively, he thinks nothing of it. She makes eyes at him and yearns to listen to his conversations on the bench despite not being within earshot. When her pompom ‘accidentally’ flew out of her hand and landed in Grayson’s lap, he didn’t notice her pout her lips and bat her eyelashes when he handed it back to her with a kind, “Here you go.”

Vanessa notices everything pathetic move, rolling her eyes and leaning back to rest her head on the cold, hard metal of the seat above her. At this point, they had been dating nearly a year. She was already very accustomed to being the girlfriend of a very good looking young man. She found humor in it, constantly teasing Grayson about being the campus heartthrob. But that, she saw no humor in watching a skinny little thing bend over to tie her shoe in hopes he would look up her skirt. Grayson didn’t notice of course, he was too busy readjusting Derek’s shoulder pads and telling Ethan that he thought the running back on the opposing team had a weak knee. He was completely oblivious to the young girl getting completely starstruck in his aura.

He played the entire game like that, going blind to the girl’s no so subtle attempts to get his attention. Vanessa tried to focus on the game, telling herself that it was nothing to worry about and not worth thinking about. She guzzled down her thermos of hot chocolate, needing something to activate her senses and distract her brain. At one point, she carefully read the nutritional information on the back of her packet of fruit snacks to entertain herself.

Vanessa never said anything to the girl. Bold faced conflict was not her style. Instead, she gave a pointed look to the cheer captain from her seat in the stands. Vanessa knew the captain fairly well, both of them being fixtures around the team. When the captain gave Vanessa a subtle nod and a flat look, she knew her problem would be taken care of and not happen again. That knowledge did not stop the sour taste in her mouth for the rest of the night.

She met Grayson in front of the locker room as usual, smiling and reaching on her tiptoes to kiss him quickly saying “Great job tonight babe.”

Grayson wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close, smelling her perfume, “Thanks Nessie.” Holding her after a hard game on a cold night gave him the same sensation as waking up wrapped in a bundle of blankets on Christmas morning. He tucked his helmet under one arm and kept the other wrapped around her waist as they walked to his car, “You hungry?” he asked, “I could go for a burger.”

Grayson could tell her energy was off on the ride the diner. She didn’t laugh at his jokes with as much vigor. She didn’t remember the events of the game like she usually did. She didn’t even try to bargain with him for who got control of the radio. At first, he wondered if she was on her period. But he doubted that was the case, he knew she was usually due at the end of the month and it was only the 12th.

He waited until they were seated in a booth at the diner to ask, thinking that whatever was bothering her would be overshadowed by her chocolate milkshake. He took a sip from his can of diet root beer before asking, “You feeling alright tonight?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” She raised an eyebrow and leaned down to take a sip of what was practically ice cream from her paper straw.

Grayson shrugged, “Dunno, you’re usually more—” he circled his hands in the air, as if he was trying to catch the word from out of the veil and put it in his mind, “I don’t know you’re not acting like yourself I guess.”

Vanessa peeled her lips from the straw and sat back against the booth. She looked at him with a resigned expression before signing and touching her elbows to the table and holding her head in her hands, “It’s just,” her voice came out tense, “That girl- the new girl- what was her name? April? Or Abigail?”

Grayson looked from side to side, confused and slightly alarmed by her tone.

“Whatever it is,” Ness started again, “Or whoever she is.” She leaned back against the booth again, tucking her hands underneath her thighs, “I just didn’t like to see her,” she bounced her head from one side to the other, “See her all over you like that?”

“All over me?” Grayson bit the inside of his cheek to stop the amused smirk from passing onto his lips. He would never tell her, but something about seeing Ness just a little jealous lit a fire inside of him. “Did she ever touch me?” He asked honestly, not remembering.

Ness shook her head, “No.” She sighed again and released her hands from under her legs, “But she was all, I don’t know, point is-“ she spoke with her hands, “she was clearly trying to flirt with you.”

“Hmm,” Grayson hummed, “Didn’t notice it.” He thought the conversation was over, so he grabbed his can of diet root beer and started drinking.

Vanessa rolled her eyes softly and pointed a finger at Grayson, “For the record, I was watching her cheer,” she pulled her finger back and wore a smug expression, “I have more heart in my left ass cheek than that girl has in her entire body.”

Grayson laughed, nearly spitting a few drops of root beer onto the table.

“Really?” Vanessa asked inquisitively before Grayson could finish laughing, “You didn’t notice her at all? Like at all? I can’t believe you didn’t see that”

Grayson shook his head plainly, “No I guess—I guess you’re the only girl I see.” He sat back, proud of himself for that one.

Vanessa blushed and immediately felt silly for giving the episode so much emphasis. Her tension faded into contentment and she leaned forward to take more sips from her chocolate shake.

“Speaking of that left ass cheek,” Grayson broke out in a mischievous grin, “What’s it doing tonight?”

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gt-adventures · 6 years

Text

An Enchanted Adventure Part 2: In Which Something Precious is Stolen [sfw, all ages, fantasy comedy]

[Giants and Dragons and Wizards oh my! A fun for all ages fantasy adventure set in the world of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles. You DO NOT need to know what The Enchanted Forest Chronicles is to read this. Just know it is a kinda fun fairytale trope filled world! No content warnings that I can think of.]

Part 1 is HERE (or on deviantart HERE!) Part 3 is HERE

----

Just her luck! Her first night as a giant’s captive and a thief shows up. Slowly, not breaking eye contact with the thief, she slid out of bed and into some slippers. But, she had to look down, just for the briefest of seconds, to align her feet to the shoes. When she looked back, the figure was gone. She stepped forward a few paces.

A hand went across her mouth and she instinctively shoved and elbow back. With satisfaction she heard a hard OUF and the person stagger back. She wheeled around to see a hooded, leather clad person clutching their stomach with one hand.

“You must be one of those Jack fellows, a petty thief” Kendria exclaimed, “How DARE you lay a hand on me, I’ll see that Dobbilan eats you!”

The thief hissed a laugh, “I am not” they coughed, “a petty thief, you sniveling princess! And please lower your damn voice”

They recovered fast and, ignoring Kendria, started to rummage through one of the treasure piles.

“Oh really,” said Kendria, shocked by the rudeness, but obeying “what is your name then?”

The thief paused and through gritted teeth, reluctantly answered “Jack.”

Kendria snorted.

“But that’s pure coincidence! Those pathetic Englishmen don’t know the first thing about the art of thievery. They come here and win the sympathy of the giantess and then run off in the night. Where is the challenge or glory in that!?”

Kendria crossed her arms, even though the Jack wasn’t looking at her, “Glory? You snuck in here at night, avoiding the giants entirely. That’s cowardly, you’re no better than any other Jack.”

Jack spun around and waved a dagger in her direction. That had touched a nerve.

“I am MUCH better than them. I am the youngest master thief in the land! No one should even know I was here until I am long gone,”

“I know you’re here,”

“A miscalculation. This giant isn’t supposed to have a princess.” they said, going back to their search.

“Why would a master thief be bothered with stealing from giants?” Kendria asked.

“This giant is currently in possession of an item that the guild wants,” Jack answered, “and I was assigned to fetch it”

Kendria was about to say something but Jack anticipated it

“I bet they are having a good laugh about it back at headquarters, sending young Jack to the giant’s castle. Maybe they are aware of the irony of sending me, maybe not. Maybe they figured someone with the name Jack had the highest chance of survival, either way, here I am.”

Something still didn’t sit right with Kendria.

“How did you get in here? This place is enchanted to the foundations! An alarm should have gone off. There is a reason the other Jacks use the front door.”

Jack had come back over to the bed and was searching underneath it.

“Thief magic is very special, princess, we have very few spells up our sleeves, but we know how to manipulate the spells of others. Give a little shove, a pull, just enough to make room for us.”

“Fascinating,” said Kendria, as her plan to play for time payed off when a loud thunderous THUD reached their ears. Then another, and another.

“Foolish princess! You woke it” Jack cursed.

Kendria huffed, “Well now you will get what’s coming for- HEY- ULK”

A hand on her mouth, a dagger to her to her throat.

“You make a sound and you die! Got it?” whispered Jack, “I am not going to let myself be giant food.”

She managed the slightest of nods against the cold blade, and tears came to her eyes. The hand was removed from her mouth as she was pulled out of the room. It was almost pitch black in the hallway, but Jack moved confidently from room to room. It was slow going, and they could hear Dobbilan searching for them, but Jack was a very good thief, even hindered by Kendria. They stuck to the shadows, running across the open floor only a few times when needed. Kendria's slippered feet made soft pat pat pat sounds but Jack's steps were completely silent. Kendria thought it might be the end of her when Jack maneuvered them under a door, but managed not to cut her.

“Please, let me go, I give you my word that I won’t scream,” she was having trouble breathing, scared to move her throat lest it be sliced open.

“Fine, but if you scream or run you will find this dagger in your back, I give you my word” they said, “And I’m taking these.” her crown was lifted off her head and with a few deft hand movements, so were her earrings and necklace. Then Jack released Kendria who fell to the ground sobbing and gasping for breath.

She finally had the chance to look around, and found they were in the kitchen, behind the cauldron of plenty. Jack was staring at it with disgust and horror.

“What in the gods names is this?” he said, mostly to himself.

“It’s just a magic cauldron,” said Kendria.

“A magic cauldron that could explode the next time someone uses it! It might even go off regardless!”

“No, I just fixed it!”

“Fixed it! The infinity matrix is badly inverted and now it’s overloaded” they said.

“What does that mean?”

Jack sighed, “the infinite magical flow got, jammed, and someone, I’m guessing you, boosted the flow rate.” Kendria just stared. “Like, it’s like water building up behind a beaver dam. It was probably trickling through before you added enough water to flow over it, and but it’s a lot of pressure and it’s gonna break down, spectacularly unless someone does something about it.”

That was bad, “can you do something? Master Thief, Expert at Manipulating Magic”

Jack looked insulted “why should I?”

That wasn’t a no.

“Because If you don’t I will alert Dobbilan to our location,” she said.

“You wouldn’t dare! You promised.”

“Try me”

“Ughhhhh, fine, but no running off” said Jack as they placed their bag down and took out several tools and jars and things wrapped in cloth.

A few circles drawn in charcoal on one side of the cauldron, a dab of honey on the other, where all the steps that Kendria could accurately devise as Jack worked quickly. They placed their hand on the honey and said a few quiet words. The black cauldron glowed red under their palm for just a moment.

A huge weight seemed to lift off Kendria’s shoulders. The magic tension released. Holy crap, that was a lot of build up.

Jack was in her face, they were taller than her and their dark eyes glared into hers.

“You owe me some rare magical ingredients, princess” they spat.

“If you survive this I shall see they are replaced.” she said as they moved on to the next room.

It was a storage room and filled to the brim with all sorts of treasure and all sorts of junk. And licorice allsorts if one searched hard enough. Common and uncommon items abound, every corner was filled, every shelf was in danger of spilling over with the piled up objects. Reinforced with magic most likely.

Jack investigated a pile in the far corner but quickly returned to one near the door and scrambled upon to the shelf. They didn't seem to have a system, but at the same time was confident in the search.

“Hey!” Kendria called up, “what are you looking for!?”

They ignored her, and she pulled up her nightgown and climbed up after them.

She watched as Jack ignored gold, jewels, magic swords, magic amulets, and her. Why did they take her jewelry if they were ignoring the much easier to swipe piles here? A power move? Whatever.

Dobbilan had certainly been telling the truth, his castle was overflowing with treasure. And this thief was looking for just one thing in all this mess. It might not even be here! The castle had several storage rooms. Kendria examined a a very beautiful necklace, and forgoing caution, put it on. Jack had taken hers and she might as well pretty herself if she wasn't going back to bed. Dobbilan wouldnt mind, surely.

The door handle rattled

Jack rounded on Kendria, “what did you do!?” and they kicked her in the chest sending her flying off the shelf. Kendria swore as she fell that she saw Jack slip something into their pocket.

She landed in the hands of Dobbilan who set her back on the shelf. Even in a pompom night cap he looked menacing as he breathed in a celebratory fashion.

“FEE FI FO FUM, I SMELL THE BLOOD OF AN ENGLISHMAN, BE HE ALIVE OR BE HE DEAD, I’LL GRIND HIS BONES TO MAKE MY BREAD” Bellowed the giant, his voice an octave lower than Kendria recalled, and she nearly cried with terror. The giant held up a lantern and causing the lights to dance across the room and his face like ghosts. Jack backed up, as did Kendria, but Jack’s voice gave no hint of fear.

“Shows what you know! I’m not English, and I’m not a man!” they shouted.

Dobbilan raised an eyebrow “Then what” he growled, “is your purpose here, human? I doubt you are here for my princess. Though it concerns me that she is with you.”

Jack backed up against bunch of treasure. Kendria saw their hands move so fast with movements were nearly undetectable.

“I am not here for your stupid girl! My business is my own!”

“This is my house, so it is also my business” said Dobbilan, “and careful calling anything that is mine, dumb”

That was the last straw, she was done being treated like a silly little girl by this thief. All fear forgotten, she glared at Jack and then to Dobbilan.

“What should we do with them?” Dobbilan asked.

“Well,” Kendria considered, “they are not English so it would be improper to grind their bones. I could banish them. They might die anyways, I’m not the best at magic”

“That sounds like a wonderful idea,” said Dobbilan.

Kendria approached Jack and raised her hands, muttering the spell that would send them away. They backed away, or tried but couldn’t go any further into the treasure pile. As she was about to finished the spell they grabbed her wrists tightly and muttered words back. Her spell swiveled, almost knocking her off balance. Jack grinned.

“You aren’t getting rid of me that easily,” they sneered.

And the pair disappeared in a puff of smoke.

---

Wherever they landed it was nearly pitch black. And warm. Weirdly warm, for the ground was hard stone. And all around them was stone. Some of those stones glowed softly, ones that were clustered and round. Where were they?

She stood up and was about to examine one of the glowing rocks whena hand grabbed her wrist and jack whispered into her ear, “Princess, we have to get out of here, now”

“Where are we?” Kendria said, not whispering.

“SHHHH!” was all they said as they dragged her down the cave, away from the glowing rocks. Something moved behind them, scraping against the rocks. Sophia looked over her shoulder and saw a young dragon on an outcrop, eyes glinting at them hungrily.

This was a dragon cave! A dragon nest! The dragon smiled, showing off it’s rows of sharp fangs.

“Why did you take us here!?” demanded Kendria.

“I didn’t! You cast the damn spell! I just made it take you with me,” said Jack.

“Idiot! It wasn’t meant for two people, we could have ended up in the wall!”

“THIEEEEVES!” hissed the dragon as it leapt down. It’s tail dragged across the floor in anticipation.

Kendria stopped and turned around “Apologies dragon, we were in a teleportation accident, we are not here to steal”

Dragons like politeness And formality, hopefully Kendria would win it over.

“SUCH BOLD FACED LIES,” it cried and rushed at them.

The humans ran as fast as they could. Jack lead the way making sure to avoid cracks and rocks that they would trip over. Kendria still scraped her elbows and calves a few times, the stones ripping into her nightgown. She could barely see but the way they moved, Jack could. Just like in the castle. Somehow, probably by sheer dumb luck, they made it outside. It was dawn, and they scrambled down the mountainside.

“You need to teleport us again,” ordered Jack, as the dragon roared above them, and more roars responded. More dragons.

“Yeah, ok,” she said, and dived behind a large boulder to quickly prep the spell, keeping in mind that it would be taking two people this time.

She wrapped her arms around Jack, and they were gone.

---

This time they landed on soft grass. Kendria didn’t get up. She couldn't get up. After two teleportations in the space of a few minutes and running from dragons her entire body felt filled with burning lead. She just lay there, taking comfort in the cool fresh air and lack of dragons. Jack looked with wonder around them. They were in the middle of a forest. A wild one, the grass was tall, the trees were vibrant, and there was no space that was not claimed by plant matter. The morning sun shone through the leaves against the dew, glimmering the trails of fairies. The trees provided good cover, and there wasnt a soul in sight. They sat against a tree and took the opportunity to look through their bag, take stock of their supplies and maybe figure out the next step. Kendria groaned and looked up as Jack took something out of their bag. Something like a big, round, rock. “YOU STOLE A DRAGON EGG!” she cried, pushing herself into a sitting position.

Jack looked sheepishly away. “What were you THINKING!?” Gingerly she stood up to stand over Jack who dropped the object back into the bag. It disappeared inside. “I was thinking," said Jack, standing up to stare down Kendria, “that I didn’t get what I needed from the giant, so I had to improvise. A dragon egg will certainly please the committee and assure that I become a master thief.” “I thought you said you were one!” “Well I’m going to be, when my masters see this,” Jack pulled up their hood. “See you never, princess, I have to get this back to headquarters” and they started to walk away. “Oh no you don’t! It’s your fault we’re in this mess, you’re getting me home!” she demanded and then checked herself. If she returned home with a thief as her rescuer she would have to marry them or be in disgrace forever after. “Actually, you’re going to take me back to Dobbilan’s” “What?” “The giant’s castle! I need to get back!” “Go back? That’s stupid, you’ve escaped! Why on the gods’s green earth would you go back to your prison?” “My father used a hard earned favor to get me in there; I was waiting to be rescued by my true love!” /Pfft/ Jack sneered, “True love? I’m not risking my life so you can find ‘true love’ and have your fairytale ending, deal with it.” “You can’t just leave me here!” “Oh yes I can!” They turned away but paused to take something from their bag, and flung it at Kendria. A dagger stuck in the ground at her feet “There, Now you have a weapon.You’re welcome” And they walked away, Kendria powerless to stop them. She was left on her own. Helpless. The little magic she knew wouldn’t be much help, and she didn’t have the energy to teleport again. All she could do was stand like a statue, until she couldn’t hold it in any longer and fell to her knees sobbing. “Hello?” came a small voice. Kendria looked around, but the world was blurry through her tears. “Who- who is there?” A chipmunk ran out of a nearby bush and up onto her knee. “Dearie me, dearie me, a girl, lost in the forest! Lost, and waiting. Waiting for a rescuerI expect?” it squeaked. Kendria nodded and sobbed harder. “Good thing I came by! Good thing! You cannot stay here, no not here, must keep moving,” it said, very fast. “But, I have no idea where to go!” cried Kendria. “Oh dear oh dear, then we must find a rescuer fast. Can do it! I can! Done it before, yes yes!” it scratched at her dress which was falling apart, and leapt off, disappearing into the grass.

Kendria returned to her private sobbing, until the chipmunk scrambled back onto her shoulder, “found a prince! Told you I am quick!” Kendria looked up to see Jack who was not pleased to be there. She stood up, taking the dagger with her, adrenaline replacing her exhaustion. Fiercely she wiped the tears from her eyes and pointed the dagger at Jack. “That is no prince! That is a thief! They stole me from a giant and then stole a dragon egg!” she shook as she clenched her fist. “A thief with a heart it seems,” said Jack, rolling their eyes, “You aren’t gonna sit there until some monster finds you are you?” “Stole a dragon egg! No NO, BAD BAD” squealed the chipmunk “They will find you! He will help them! He will! You are not safe here, not safe!” Jack looked incredulously at the chipmunk, “who will help who?” The chipmunk climbed onto Kendria’s head and struck a regal pose. “The king! The king! He will help the dragons!” “The King of the Enchanted Forest”

[thanks for reading! please reblog!]

#giant/tiny #gianttiny #size difference #macro micro #giant tiny

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swagyano · 7 years

Text

Basketball player/Cheerleader AU

Pairing: KanaRiko

Words: 1,835

AO3 Link

I told myself I wouldn’t go too deep for this AU but here I am because I can’t stop thinking about it so I had to write something and it ended up longer than planned, again. I tried my best using all correct basketball terms rip sorry I don’t speak English actually anyways hope u enjoy,

Loud cheers and roars echoed through the entire court as the game slowly inched towards the end. With each passing second, the pressure was growing stronger and it felt like the board loomed over their head, taunting them with the tied score. However, the well known Coelacanths didn't let it discourage them. Coach called for the last time-out meeting, which meant now or never.

Kanan breathed heavily as she wiped the sweat off of her forehead, trying to focus on whatever the coach was instructing one of her younger teammates, but the blood and adrenaline was pounding too hard in her head. They were lucky enough to play in their own court so as always, the support from their fans was overwhelmingly helpful and she wasn't going to let them down just yet. She looked around for support, dozens of people shouting all sorts of chants and suppressed to urge join in for her own mentalities’ sake. And then her attention was caught by their cheerleading team - easily the loudest crowd in here which is what they're here for. Lately they've been catching Kanan’s attention more than usual… one individual to be more specific.

In the middle of their routine she spotted the girl with pretty long red hair sitting on shoulders of a blond cheerleader, with pompoms high in the air. Maybe it’s just due to Kanan’s focus, but at that moment her voice overpowered everything else - the crowd, the coach - as she let out a loud “Go Coelacanths!”.

She might've imagined it but it was like their eyes met across the court, and Kanan’s worries were put on ease at the sight of such an encouraging smile. Her tightly clenched hands uncurled and stop shaking.

It was the coach who snapped her out of the trance by having to scream her name at her in a scolding manner, and by sheepishly apologizing, she turned her attention back to her teammates.

“Let's go!” With determination stronger than ever, Kanan and the team ran back onto the field. Her eyes were no longer looking at the remaining time and were only set on one thing and that was winning.

Everything was hectic for those last couple of minutes. Both teams had successful defenses, Things momentarily got into a critical situation after they suffered from a foul caused by their panicked defense and fell behind by a point due to a free throw. They didn’t let the small bump distract them, and Kanan simply cussed it under her breath and reassured her teammates it’s not over yet. And then it happened.

Their point guard, Watanabe You, with a smug grin and swift movements created a perfect opportunity and passed the ball over to Kanan within the perimeter. Fueled by adrenaline and no time to lose, You’s done a fantastic job and now it was all on her shoulders, and watched intensely. Kanan leaped and took a shoot just barely behind the three-pointer line. She froze in spot as she watched the ball flawlessly enter the hoop. Then everything was a blur as the entire crowd once again erupted into loud cheers. And mere moments later it was over. They’ve won with barely two points ahead.

Still in disbelief, Kanan nearly fell over when the smaller You practically threw herself at her teammate, screaming inaudible things about great job or something of such sort. Then the rest of the team showed up and as if she’s the only winner, they all picked her up in the air. Things finally started to register in her head and she joined the crowd of cheers to celebrate yet another picked up win.

For a moment, her attention was once again distracted by the team of cheerleaders who joined in on the celebration with everyone else. One more time her eyes met with the girl earlier, and as if acknowledging it, the cheerleader offered her a smile.

“No worries, I’m just catching a quick breather!”

Kanan stepped outside with a heavy sigh, ball in hand like usual. The after party has barely started and everyone’s going crazy already, everyone looking for her attention due to being the savior of the game. Unfortunately Kanan wasn’t focused enough and kept looking around for the girl she’s seen in the crowd back then. Through some collection she’s learned that said girl wasn’t planning to stick around for the party much to Kanan’s dismay. That’s why she figured she’d give it a shot looking for her outside.

And as if fate wanted it, there she was and Kanan didn’t look for too long. She stopped in her tracks and words failed to come out of her mouth as she watched the girl walk out with a bag over her shoulder and phone in her hand, two more girls following in chatter. If her assumptions were correct they’ve only just changed.

It took her a moment to realize the girl didn’t notice her at all. She finally snapped out of it and followed after awkwardly.

“Uhm-!”

Startled, the cheerleader turned only to relax when their eyes met. They both went silent until Kanan realized she’s waiting for whatever reason she was stopped. The other two also froze and in awe kept glancing between the two.

“... Hi.”

Kanan felt her ears turn red in embarrassment. Luckily for her nobody from her team was around or else her reputation as being really charismatic would’ve been destroyed now. To be fair it’s a reputation others slapped onto her. Insecurely, the redhead looked at her two friends as they whispered something.

“Hello. Matsuura?”

“Y-You know my name?”

All three girls started snickering once again as Kanan prayed for the ground to open up and swallow her. At least it was worth it seeing the cute redhead smile. To some extent.

“It’s not hard to memorize a name all of the school’s been chanting all evening.”

“Right!” Now she felt silly, sheepishly rubbing the back of her neck. “Sorry, it’s been quite an evening. Still trying to process it all… I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ve caught your name yet.”

By now the two girls who were with her whispered something to her and waved Kanan goodbye before leaving in the direction where the party was held. While Kanan felt relieved there was no audience to her embarrassing attempts of speaking to a cute girl, her person of interest watched the two leave with a sort of nervous and pleading look in her eyes. At least they’re both awkward. Once they were gone, she faced Kanan again with a smile of reassurance - probably to encourage her own self.

“Sakurauchi Riko. It’s nice to meet you.”

‘Riko…’

It was a pretty name, fitting to a pretty girl. Kanan nodded and felt a blush creep up on her face. “You too! I’ve seen you out there during the game today. Thanks for cheering us on, we wouldn’t have made it without you guys.”

This prompted a chuckle out of Riko, and Kanan got distracted by the way she moved strands of red hair behind her ear.

“It’s the least we can do, anything for our beloved Coelacanths.”

“Seriously, some of stuff you do is impressive!” Though truthfully Kanan has never put that much thought into all the stuff cheerleaders do up until today. A part of her felt ashamed for not appreciating all of it sooner.

Regardless, Riko simply shrugged. “Oh, it’s really nothing special. That final shot, though? Now that was impressive, Dolphin.”

“It wasn’t just me, though. It’s everyone’s efforts…” There it was, her modesty and respect for friends and teammates at finest.

A new sense of embarrassment washed over the blue haired girl at the mention of her nickname. One she’s earned thanks to all the jump shots she’s been performing. You was the one to explain to her that people says she resembles a dolphin with how high she sometimes goes. It was still something she was trying to get used to. So she tried to shake it off with a mumbled thanks and changing the topic.

“You’re not staying around for the party?”

Riko hesitated, before apologetically shrugged. “I would love to, but I’m kinda tired after tonight. Sorry.”

“Don’t be, I understand!”

It was a mutual feeling. If only she could Kanan would head home and sleep for two days, but it would be disappointing for everyone if the star of the night didn’t show up. “Maybe some other time, then?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Before she could ask anything else, Riko’s phone rung and the redhead looked at the screen, presumably reading a text message, then quickly typed up a reply. Kanan patiently waited until she was done.

“Sorry- it’s my friend, she’s disappointed I’m not staying either.”

“Don’t worry,” Kanan chuckled, “If she’s one of the cheerleaders I’m sure I’ll run into her. I’ll stick around to make sure she’s not bored.”

Once the words came out of her mouth did she realize how stupid that must’ve sounded, and the way Riko’s brow twitched didn’t help the need to bury her face somewhere in embarrassment. The ringing phone broke the awkward moment again.

“Ah, it’s my mother. Sorry, I have to get going now, but it was nice meeting you, Dolphin.”

The situation was slipping out of her hands as fast a ball. Kanan internally panicked.

“Wait!” Almost forcefully she shoved her basketball into Riko’s hands, who looked at it with a puzzled expression, and then back at Kanan with a questioning look. One more fail at talking to this girl and she’s out, done for.

“A gift,” She blurted out. “For cheering me -- us! -- on today.”

The phone was now in her pocket so Riko took her time to examine the ball in her hands by detail. What caught her attention was the scribbled ‘Kanan’ on in. She completely forgot that she signed it as a joke. But luckily Riko found it charming and giggled, smiling and successfully making Kanan’s heart race.

“Thank you, it’s nice. Very uhm… firm ball.”

Kanan hid her goofy smile by looking away. “I’ll see you around, then?”

“Well, I do go here, so…”

“Fair point.”

They bought fell into laughter. Riko tucked the ball under one of her arms and waved goodbye. “Have fun at the party.”

Kanan nodded and said nothing else. She remained stationed and watched the girl leave in hurry presumably to make it home in time. It must’ve been quite some time she spent standing around in awe, because You ended up sneaking up on her and startled her when she clung to her back.

“There you are! Come on, the coach is calling for you, full speed ahead now!”

Kanan complied and the two made their way back towards the party. One last time she looked back in a direction Riko disappeared off of, a smile forming on her face.

The next day, Kanan found a pink sticky note on her locker. In neat cursive handwriting, it said ‘Good luck with your training today Dolphin!’

#kanariko #love live sunshine #kananriko #kanan matsuura #riko sakurauchi #hi i still cant write kanan properly im sorry about that!#my mind is telling me dont get invested and #write more chapters when #im working on othjer things but here i am #bc i have more ideas for this anyways tjanks i hate it!#which means i love it #anyways people seemed fond of the idea on twotter too soo #ty all for sticking around ily all #my writing stuff

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