#Moving Day for Zaya

[saexy]

THE HEADER I saw that on a tiktok video and got spoiled while I was still in chapter 3 ish

I PLAYEDD IT TWO FAYS AGO AND IM STILLLLL UNWELLL!! ZAYAAAA YOU HAVE TO PLAYYYYY ITT!! its insaneee !!

[watchmegetobsessed]

DECODE

A/N: okay wow, it's actually here, but let me say a ew things first: i am no it proessional so there are some made up stuff so don't come after me if there are untrue things in the story lmao. also, the ending... im not entirely in peace with it, but i've been sitting on this story for way too long so i just bit my tongue and finised it. don't come after me if you don't like it... but anyway! hope it didn't turn out as bad and you'll enjoy the story!

WORD COUNT: 13.7k

SUMMARY: You're up for the promotion you've always dreamt about, but right when you need to prove everything goes downhill. Lucky for you the cute, quiet IT guy, Harry, is there to help you out.

MASTERLIST | SUPPORT ME!

There’s that feeling when you wake all by yourself, a moment of peace takes over you for not starting the day off with your one true enemy, the alarm, but then panic instantly stabs you in the chest when you realize it’s a weekday and there’s absolutely no way you just woke up before your alarm, feeling this rested. 

Your eyes pop open and you sit up in a frenzy looking around in the room, figuring out what happened and what should be done now. First you check the time on your phone and when you see that it reads 8:32 you almost start crying, but there’s no time for that, so you jump out of bed and sprint into the bathroom, stopping on the way when you spot Eric in the hallway, fully dressed, ready to leave.

“Eric?! Why didn’t you wake me up?!” you snap at him. He turns to you with innocence all over his face.

“I thought you were off today,” he simply says.

“Off?! We have the board meeting today, how could I be off!” you practically scream as you rush into the bathroom to get ready in less than two minutes hopefully.

“I’m sorry!” he calls out from outside. “I’ll see you in the office!”

And the next thing you hear is the front door opening and closing.

“Motherfu…” you mumble as you start washing your face like a crazy woman.

You leave in ten minutes, but you’re fifteen minutes late already, no matter how magically fast you got ready. You don’t have time to get a bagel for breakfast and you’re already halfway into the office when you realize you left your lunch at home too. You somehow shorten the route and win a few minutes on your way in, but you still arrive ten minutes late, looking like a hot mess, completely out of control as you make your way to the twentieth floor to your desk, pretending you haven’t just had the absolute worst morning of your life. 

The elevator almost closes right in front of you, but before you could smash against the sliding doors a hand sticks out and stops it, letting you slip in last minute.

“Ah, thank you,” you breathe out, your purse sliding off your shoulder and your folder almost falls from your hands.

“N-No problem,” a sweet and smooth voice answers, but your hair is such a mess, it covers your vision and you don’t see the kind man that saved you a few minutes with his move. The moment the elevator arrives to your floor you jump out and rush towards your desk.

“You alright, boss?” Zaya, your intern asks, who is more like a personal assistant at this point. She eyes you curiously from her desk as you gasp for air and try to soothe out the wrinkles on your blouse, though there’s absolutely no use in it. 

“Everything is perfectly fine,” you force a smile on your face as you start your computer, emails flowing in like crazy the moment you open your inbox. “Just had a rough morning.”

With Zaya’s help you go through everything at light speed, it’s one of your biggest strengths, being fast and productive, so in just about twenty minutes you reduce the thirty-seven unread emails to just two. 

You’ve cleared your schedule beforehand so you can have a practice run for your big presentation. Today’s board meeting is gonna be an important one. There’s a promotion at risk, one you’ve been working your ass off to get and now it’s so close, you can almost feel it between your fingertips. This presentation and what stands behind it all is what you’ve worked for night and day for the past month and you have never been more confident in yourself, though you can’t shake the general nervousness off.

You make your test run to Zaya who says her mind is blown and there’s no chance you won’t get the promotion. 

“You got it, boss,” she fist bumps you, something you’ve grown to like, it’s her form of appreciation. 

“I hope so,” you sigh. “Alright, I’ll grab a coffee quickly before the meeting.”

You head a few levels down to the main kitchen area that has the best coffee machine in the building. It’s already past the morning rush, so you’re delighted to see that there are just a few people lingering around. Including Eric.

“Hey!” you huff out a smile as you stand next to him at the coffee machine. He peeks at you, just a tiny smile on his lips, but it doesn’t reach his eyes like usual.

“Hey.”

“If you’re curious, I was only just a bit late this morning,” you chuckle to yourself, grabbing a cup while Eric waits for his own coffee to get ready. 

“Mm, great. Sorry about… the morning.”

“It’s okay, are you nervous? About the presentation?”

Funny enough you’re running for the promotion against Eric, the guy you’ve been hooking up for the past few months. It’s nothing serious, no strings attached, mostly just sex, though you believe that if you spend at least three nights together every week and spend time outside of bed as well, that has to mean more than just a regular hook up.

Right?

“Not really,” he shrugs, but it doesn’t sound genuine.

“It’s okay, you’ll do good,” you smile at him warmly as you place your hand on his arm and give it a squeeze, but you’re surprised when he moves out of your touch, shooting you a look.

“Not… in the office, Y/N,” he grits through his teeth, looking around to check if anyone saw the tiny gesture while you’re just blinking at him dumbly.

Yes, you usually keep your… whatever it is out of the office, but he hasn’t been this distant to you before. Before you could ask his phone starts ringing and he mumbles an apology before running off.

You write it off as nerves, you know Eric to be highly competitive, it must be a new field for him as well, running against someone he is involved with. 

Your heart is racing when you enter the boardroom, welcoming the people that will decide your future at the company, the CEO, the CFO, the head of marketing and a few others you’re not that familiar with, but you know they have power.

For the promotion you had to come up with a plan to boost the numbers on the website that hasn’t been doing much lately. You worked up a plan for a marketing strategy that would reach the target audience in a better way, it’s pretty awesome, you’re quite proud of it and you’re convinced you’ll kick ass with your presentation.

There are a few more minutes left until the meeting, you pour yourself some water and go ahead to open your slides on your computer so you have it all ready when it’s your turn.

“What… Oh no,” you whisper, when your computer starts lagging and the cursor freezes. “No, no, no!”

“Everything alright, Miss?” the CFO notices your panic.

“Yes!” you force a smile on your face. “Everything is… perfect.”

He nods and turns back to his previous conversation while your panic intensifies. You keep pushing buttons and trying to move the cursor, but it looks pretty dead, so you decide to shut it down and try to restart it, hopefully it will come back from the dead. 

Eric strides into the room, but as he takes his seat he doesn’t even look at you, just sets out his own laptop and paper notes and stares ahead of him. No matter how you try to catch his attention, he ignores you fully and it’s just another punch in your stomach.

What the hell is happening?

“Alright, everyone ready?” Daniel, the CEO claps his hands together. “Eric, you’re up first,” he gestures at him and while you’re still desperately trying to revive your computer. 

Eric sets up and when his presentation appears behind him your stomach drops instantly. 

The title, the topic, the colors… everything. You know all of it, because… because you made it. It’s yours.

You forget about your computer as Eric starts talking and he presents your idea, everything you came up with and worked hard on, he hasn’t changed a bit about it and now he is making it look like it’s his own. If you were panicking before now you’re about to set on fire.

That would be probably nice, because you wouldn’t have to go up there and most likely embarrass yourself. 

How did he get your presentation? Why did he steal it? You can’t blame him just out of the blue, you need proof and right now the only device that could have it is dead in front of you. 

You are so screwed. 

“ Holy fucking shit, oh my God!” you keep mumbling under your breath as you approach your desk, holding your dead computer to your chest, eyes wide from what you just went through.

“Boss? You alright?” Zaya’s eyes widen when she sees you all shocked and traumatized.

“No! I’m anything but alright!”

Luckily, the small meeting room near your desk is vacant so you’re quick to take it, Zaya following you right after, shutting the door closed so you can unleash fully.

“Oh my God I can’t fucking believe him! The asshole! How did he fucking do it?!” you snap, throwing everything to the table so you can anxiously start pacing the floor with your hands on your hips. “I cannot believe this, what the hell!”

“Y/N, what happened? You’re starting to scare me,” Zaya eyes you and she actually looks scared which is a new thing, the girl is fearless.

“Eric! He stole my… my whole fucking presentation!” you whisper-yell, throwing your hands up into the air. “Every slide! Every detail! It was all mine! And he sold it as his own!”

“W-what? But… how? And what did you present then?”

“I have no idea! He was up first, as we all knew ahead of time, he went up there, opened his presentation and it was mine! I thought I was about to fall off my seat, fucking hell,” you groan, rubbing your face with your hands. Thanks to your rushed morning you’re not wearing any makeup today so at least you can’t turn yourself into a panda bear. “My laptop died right before the meeting started so I could use it as an excuse and… fuck, I made up a whole other plan on the spot!” You’re about to start hyperventilating, maybe even crying which you’ve never ever done at work before.

“But… that’s good, right? That you came up with something new?” Zaya tries to see the bright side of it, but you shake your head violently.

“You know what I came up with? I said I’m planning to rebuild the whole fucking website! All of it!”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes! I basically set myself up for failure!”

Everyone knows a full makeover could easily be a death sentence, especially with such a short notice. You have no structure to it, no plan and most importantly no IT support to do the actual work. Because you can dream up any idea, but you cannot actually write the code for it. 

Zaya tries to cheer you up but you both know you’re not only knee high, but probably neck high in deep shit. She promises to take up extra hours to help you figure out what to do and though it’s nice, the situation still feels pretty much lost.

You’re on the verge of tears when you make your way to the IT department to have your computer checked out, which is still pretty much dead. You’re already dreading the interaction, Steven, the head of the IT department is a real pain in the ass, he never wants to actually help with anything so it’s always a fight to get things done with him. 

When you walk into their office he is the first one you see and you almost groan out loud, but manage to keep quiet as you approach him.

“Hi Steven, do you happen to have a moment?” you ask, as politely and nicely as you can in the light of what just happened, but apparently it’s not enough for him, because the look he gives you makes you want to turn around and run away.

“What’s the matter?” he grimaces, fixing his glasses as he leans back in his seat.

“My laptop just died,” you hold up the device. 

He stares at you, then at your laptop and then his eyes flicker back to you and he stays silent for what feels like forever before he speaks up.

“I have no time for this now,” he says, returning to his own computer and your shoulders fall forward in defeat, but then he speaks up again. “Go to the back and ask for Styles.”

“Thank you,” you breathe out and are already on your way away from his desk.

Maneuvering between the desks you’re trying to find out who’s Styles or who to even ask to tell you where to find him and you’re just about to stop at one of the desks when you see a big screen, a sticker on the back of it that says H. Styles, so you make your way over there.

As you’re approaching the desk a head full of chocolate curls appear and soon you spot the guy sitting behind the screen, peering up at you with curious, green eyes from behind his glasses.

“Are you… Styles?” you ask, feeling weird that you only know his family name. He stares at you for a second with wide eyes and you start to think you’ve got the wrong guy, but then he nods, the curls bouncing along with the movement.

“Y-yeah. I’m Harry Styles.”

“Great! Steven said you might be able to have a look at my computer, it’s completely dead.”

“Sure,” he clears his throat as he pushes back from the desk while you round it to give the laptop to him. “W-what happened?” he asks as he opens it up and tries to turn it on, but the screen remains black.

“Um, basically it froze right before the most important presentation of my life and then it died and hasn't turned on since then,” you summarize with a sad smile as you watch him grab some kind of cable to connect your laptop with his computer.

Harry hums as he opens some kind of program that has a long, complicated looking code running in front of him and he clicks and searches in it so easily as if he was reading a children’s book. 

“Is it fully dead?” you ask after a couple of minutes. 

“No, but you got a virus, it might take some time to restore everything and some files might not make it, I’m sorry.”

You let out a shaky breath, feeling like crying again, but you manage to swallow them back as you lean against the edge of Harry’s desk. He looks up at you like a frightened kid.

“I-I can try to get everything back, I promise, it’s just that–”

“No, I know it’s not up to you. Thank you though. I’m just on the verge of… would it be weird if I started screaming right now?” you ask rhetorically as you pinch the bridge of your nose. 

“I can set up another one for you to use with all the access cloned from yours, but you won’t have the files in the meantime.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you.”

“Is there any file in particular you want me to try to recover?”

“There’s this folder that would be nice if I had it, here, this is the name,” you say as you grab a post-it and a pen and scribble the name down with all the files in it. 

“Okay, I will try to restore it. Give me a few minutes to set your replacement computer up.”

Nodding sadly you wait by Harry’s desk, watching him work on his computer like it’s an instrument and he is pretty much a professional. You know nothing about programming, but Harry seems like a wizard, you have no idea why Steven makes him deal with all the tiny things when he could pretty much redeem the world. 

“Here, this is the password, everything is set up,” he hands you the new computer.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll give you an email when I have something about your old one.”

“Okay, my address is–”

“I know, I just… I literally just logged you into your account,” he reminds me with a shy smile and you realize he’s right.

“Oh. I forgot. Well, thank you so much, Harry. And I’m sorry you have to deal with it now.”

“It’s fine, I’m the newest on the team, this is how it goes. Rookies get to deal with all the device issues,” he chuckles shortly.

You nod with a sympathetic smile and pay one last look to your savior. He looks young, around your age, but he’s sporting a slight stubble that adds some harshness to his otherwise boyish face. He’s got kind eyes behind his glasses, the prettiest pink lips you’ve ever seen on a man and his curls are screaming to be touched, though you’re not sure HR would take it well if you were just walking around the office, touching people’s hair. Oddly, it wouldn’t be the first time they would have to deal with a situation like this. Bobby DeMarco was a weird dude who worked in sales and he had an even weirder obsession with playing with women’s hair randomly. He didn’t last too long at the company, luckily.

When you return to your desk it takes everything in you to focus on working and A, not find Eric to claw his eyes out and B, not anxiously wait to hear anything from the board about today’s meeting. They are supposed to give feedback today and approve if you can continue working on your project and they can easily just kick you out of the whole thing as well. If that happened Eric would still have to prove himself to be a good fit for the role, but you’d have no chance to ever step up at the company.

You’re a mess, to say the least. You’re panicking over having to do a full website makeover in just a month, you have no idea where you stand with Eric and honestly, you’re torn between never wanting to talk to him and also screaming at him until your lungs give up.

God, your sister will be so mad, she was right! Jeanie warned you. She said it right at the beginning when you started hooking up with Eric that it’s not gonna end well, but you thought she was talking about being dumped eventually, not getting your promotion stolen from you!

When Zaya comes up to you with a question later in the day you’re still so shaken up you can barely make out an answer for her.

“I think you should report it,” she suggests, holding her notebook to her chest.

“And what do I have as proof? My computer is totally dead with all the evidence I made the presentation,” you groan, leaning back in your seat.

“Let’s hope the hot IT guy can restore everything.”

“Hot?” you chuckle. “How do you know he’s hot?”

“You said it’s Harry doing it, right? Curly hair, glasses?” You nod. “I know him, he is definitely hot,” she shrugs smirking, shifting her weight to one leg. “You know what would be nice? Hooking up with him to get revenge on Eric!”

“H-Hooking up? Why would Eric care about who I hook up with?” you clear your throat, pretending like you haven’t had a thing going on with Eric these past months. Zaya gives you a look that clearly says you shouldn’t think she’s stupid and blind.

“Please, Y/N.”

Sighing you roll your eyes as you give up the act.

“Judging from the betrayal Eric gives absolutely no shit about me.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” she shrugs just when your computer pings, signaling two new emails in your inbox.

One from the board and one from Harry.

“Oh shit,” you gasp as you lean forward so fast you almost fall off your seat and Zaya runs behind your desk to see what’s happening as you open the email from the board.

Your eyes skim over the lines several times before you finally process what was written in it.

They approved your plan. You’re still up for the promotion.

“Congrats! You made it!” Zaya cheers.

“Fuck,” you whisper under your breath.

“What’s wrong? I thought this was what you wanted.”

“The chance and the promotion? Yes. But now I have to do a full website makeover in a month which is practically impossible.”

You’re still moping and silently panicking when you’re approaching Harry’s desk for the second time today. When he sees you he jumps to his feet and you almost break a smile because he looks like a puppy for a second, but then you see that he has taken his sweatshirt off, wearing only a simple black t-shirt that puts his tattoo littered arms on display.

Fuck, Zaya was right. He really is kinda hot.

“Hey,” he waves at you when you finally reach his desk.

“Hi, how did it go?” you ask with a deep breath.

“Actually kinda good, I could save most of your stuff,” he says as he sits back and you walk behind his desk, seeing your laptop still wired to his computer. “I saved the files onto a harddrive, but I don’t recommend you to keep using the laptop, it’s… it’s pretty fried,” he chuckles, pushing the glasses further up on the bridge of his nose and for a moment you just stare at his side profile instead of focusing on what he’s showing you on his screen.

“Uh, that’s okay, I’ll be fine with the files,” you clear your throat.

“So um… I don’t know if it matters or not, but I-I thought you might want to know that you didn’t just get the virus because you clicked on something, it was… well, someone put it on your computer and it started attacking the firmware.”

You blink a few times as you process his words and then it all starts to make sense.

“What do you mean someone put it on my computer?”

“Well, there was a malware hidden on your computer that basically attacked the firmware which made it impossible for you to use the laptop and it also attacked the files saved, I found an implanted code that was giving access to–”

“Harry, I don’t really understand what you’re saying,” you remind him, his words sounding absolutely foreign to you.

“Sorry,” he breathes out with a nod. “So basically, the virus stopped your computer from working and it also gave access to a third party to reach your files.”

“So someone could use my files?”

“Yeah, exactly.”

You feel like fainting again, because now it all makes sense. And you’re starting to see red.

“Can you see what files they messed with?”

“Actually, I’m glad you asked,” he smiles proudly. “I was able to find everything they duplicated and there’s a folder they tried to get rid of, but I restored it.”

“Is it by any chance the folder I gave the name to you?”

“It is,” he nods, his fingers starting to type on his keyboard at lightspeed. “Here. See these lines?” he asks, pointing at a code you understand nothing of, but you nod. “It’s basically something they should have paid attention to if they wanted to leave no trace, but I found it so now we know what they were trying to put their hands on. I even have time stamps too. The virus was on your computer for a while and then it was activated to attack the firmware today.”

This is all like a movie, it feels like you’re in Mission Impossible or James Bond, except it’s not a great villain who is working against you but the guy you trusted to let into your bed. The guy you considered your friend and even something more than just that lately.

You made a mistake, you see it now and you want to dwell on it but you know you have no time for that, you have to keep moving forward.

“Do you know who did it?”

“Unfortunately, no. I could only get proof if I had access to the other person’s computer who was hacking yours. I’m sorry.”

Harry seems genuinely sad, as if he failed, but he did so much for you already.

“It’s okay. Thank you so much, can you… like, make a record of all these? So we have all this as proof at least.”

“Already done,” he nods. “Do you want me to file a report?”

“No. No need for that,” you shake your head. “But… I want to ask a favor from you. I know we barely know each other and you probably have a lot of work, so feel free to say no.”

“What is it?”

“Do you want to help me redesign our whole website?”

You’re anxiously chewing on your bottom lip as you wait for the Skype call to be answered, your sister’s name flashing on the screen until her pixelated face replaces it.

And she looks mad, just as you expected.

“Y/N, I told you so! I literally told you so!” she starts off, the voice cracks a bit as the call stabilizes.

“Can we skip the part where you tell me off like a child for hooking up with a coworker who ended up fucking me over?” you flash a smile, but she rolls her eyes at you, leaning back on her couch, her right side getting more illuminated by the lamp beside her couch. It’s past seven in the evening in Tokyo while it’s just six am for you. For the past six months this has been your usual, trying to call each other at a time that’s reasonable for the both of you with the insane thirteen hours of time difference. It’s definitely a hard task and sometimes you have to plan a call days, even weeks ahead.

“No, because I’m so mad!” she groans. “Mostly at the fucker, but you as well!”

“I really don’t need to hear how much I fucked up,” you mumble, looking down at your lap.

“Sorry,” she sighs, realizing she is making you feel even guiltier. “I’m just… you worked so hard for this and now he is ruining it.”

“I’m still up for the promotion,” you shrug.

“Yeah, but you said it’s almost impossible to do what you presented.”

“Well, things are looking a bit better now.”

She listens intently as you tell her about what Harry found on your computer and how you ended up asking him to help you out. You truly didn’t think he would say yes, but he didn’t even think about it before agreeing. So now you have the IT part covered by him, you just have to come up with all the rest.

“This Harry guy…” Sammy starts and you hold up your hand.

“Don’t give me the speech again, I learned my lesson.”

“No, actually I wanted to say that I like him.”

“For real?” you ask, raising your eyebrows. 

“I mean, he is willing to work an immense amount of extra time on your project and he basically has no benefit from it. I hope you do realize how big of a sacrifice he is making for your promotion.”

You knew how big of a deal it has been from Harry to help you out but now that Sammy said it out loud, realization hits. It’s not right he gets nothing out of it, so you note to yourself to go over it with him when you meet him in the morning for your first planning session.

“I’ll talk to him about it. Now let’s talk about something else.”

Harry was afraid he wouldn’t be able to wake up so early in the morning and make it into the office for the meeting with you, but it turns out his excitement to be working with you is kicking him out of bed even before his alarm goes off. 

He does his usual morning routine, shower, get dressed, breakfast and checking he has everything he needs in his backpack for the day and then he’s on his way. When he walks into the café that’s two blocks away from his apartment the bell gently chimes above his head, catching the attention of the owner, Frida. 

“Harry! You’re up early today!” she greets him with a beaming smile, her grey hair is in her signature low bun, her blue eyes twinkling at the sight of him.

“I have an early meeting,” he mumbles with a shy smile, the tip of his ears turning red and she doesn’t miss it, but she knows how closed off he is so she doesn’t even try to tease her about it. 

“The usual?”

“Um, yeah, but can you make it two?”

“Of course,” she nods with a knowing smile, her suspicion is getting proven that this early meeting is with someone special. 

The two chat lightly while Friday makes the coffees to go, handing the paper cups to Harry once they’re done.

“Have a lovely day, Harry,” she waves after him and he nods back, pushing the door open with his hips, a cup in each of his hands.

He can’t deny there’s a pep in his step as he enters the building that’s eerily empty so early in the morning. He did not expect his day to take such an unexpected turn yesterday. He’s seen you around the office a few times before but he knew nothing about you, just that your laughter is ridiculously contagious. Then you jumped into the elevator with him in the morning, looking a bit messy but very pretty nevertheless. He could only blink as the elevator sped up and moments later you were out of sight.

But then you strolled into the IT department with your ruined computer and he finally learned your name. While he wanted to help with your laptop as much and fast as possible, he was also dreading the moment you’d pick the harddrive up with all your files and then never talk to him again. He felt silly, crushing on a woman he only officially met just a few hours before, but he couldn’t help it. Even when you were visibly stressed and worried he thought you were enchanting. 

He was not expecting you to ask for his help, but luckily his brain clicked instantly and agreed without hesitation. For one, he’s been dealing with boring projects as the rookie on the team and this seems like a great challenge for him. 

On the other hand, he would have said yes to anything you asked him, literally. 

So now as he walks into the meeting room where you’re supposed to meet his excitement is mixed with some anxiety, because as much as he is curious about this project he is nervous to spend so much time with you all of a sudden. He can only hope he won’t seem like a freak to you.

Thanks to the early Skype session with Sammy you’re on time too, arriving to the office building just minutes after Harry. He’s setting his laptop up when you arrive, his head snapping up when you approach the desk and take the seat next to him.

“Morning,” you smile at him warmly.

“Good morning,” he smiles back, fixing his glasses to sit straight before reaching for the extra cup of coffee. “Um, I brought you this. Actually, I realized too late that I don’t know how you like your coffee, so y-you don’t have to drink it…”

“Oh! That’s very kind, thank you! I drink coffee however I can,” you chuckle. “I just need the caffeine.”

You see a small smile flash across his face before he returns to his computer while you settle next to him. 

“Before we start, I wanted to go over something with you.” Harry turns to you curiously as you try to figure out what to even say. “This is a huge thing and I know it needs a lot of time and work. I don’t feel comfortable letting you do it without getting anything for the work you do.”

“Oh, I-I don’t need anything, I’m glad to help.”

“That’s very kind, but it still doesn’t feel fair. If there is anything I can do for you, literally anything, just feel free to ask. I would feel better if I knew you’re getting your reward for your work.”

Harry thinks about it for a few seconds before nodding to himself.

“Do I have to come up with something now?”

“No,” you chuckle. “Just promise me you’ll think of some way I can pay you back.”

“Okay.”

In the next hour you learn two things. One, working with Harry is incredibly easy. He is efficient, communicates well and simply a great at teamwork, it’s like a breath of fresh air after some of the people you’ve previously worked with.

The other thing you learn is that he is incredibly smart and it makes him very… sexy.

God, you shouldn’t be having these thoughts after what happened with Eric, but you’re not immune to a good-looking man with so much knowledge, especially when it’s in IT. You know nothing about coding and when he pulls up his miles long codes, types quietly for a few minutes and then shows you what he did, explaining to you the science behind it… it’s making you feel things you shouldn’t be. It’s so attractive when someone knows so much about something and they’re passionate and devoted to the field. It’s clear that Harry’s field is programming and he is ridiculously good at it. 

You were afraid the task would turn out to be impossible and every time he spends just a little more time silently staring at his code you’re expecting him to give up and tell you he can’t do it.

But he comes up with something every time and by the time the meeting ends you feel oddly enthusiastic and optimistic about the whole makeover that was scaring you to death just yesterday.

“Harry, you are… truly a life saver,” you sigh contently as you lean back in your seat, a long list of tasks on your screen, but you can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel now. 

“I’m happy to help,” he smiles shyly, nodding to himself. 

“Do not forget about the payment, I really want to pay it all back to you.”

“I won’t, I promise,” he chuckles softly.

“Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow, right?”

“Tomorrow,” he confirms before packing up his stuff and leaving.

You stay in your seat for a little longer, just having a break before starting your actual work day. Opening up your calendar you check what meetings you have today and that’s when you face what you’ve been religiously ignoring since yesterday’s ordeal.

The weekly marketing sync where most of the time it’s just you and Eric, because Dominik, the third person who should be present likes to cancel last minute. 

It’s ridiculous that you still haven’t gotten into contact with him. Part of you was expecting him to come to you, to give you any kind of explanation though there is nothing he could have said that would have explained why he did all of that.

It’s been radio silence on his part and now you have to face him and talk to him.

You’d rather throw up in the middle of the office than do it, but you have to suck it up and deal with him.

He is there in the meeting room when you walk in, typing away on his computer like nothing happened, like he didn’t just try to ruin your career.

“Eric?” you call out, your voice sounds a lot more confident than you were expecting luckily.

He looks up, his face remains completely blank and it just angers you even more.

“Hey,” he nods without batting an eye.

“Hey?” you chuckle, as you close the door behind you, shutting you away from the rest of the people outside. “Don’t you have something to say to me?”

“Y/N, do you really want to do this?” he sighs, as if it was tiring to even think about the situation.

“Eric, you stole my whole presentation and sold it as yours!”

“Are you sure about that?”

You’re seeing red. And you’ve never been this close to actually punching someone in the face. 

“Of course I’m sure about it! That was my presentation! Are you fucking kidding me?!”

Eric stands from his seat, taking his sweet time as he walks closer, trying to intimidate you with the height difference, which used to work, you even found it hot when he towered over you, but now it’s like his existence is giving you the ick.

“You have no proof, Y/N. And you didn’t say a word at the meeting. That ship has sailed, now it’s time to move on.”

“It was all just a joke to you?”

“I told you at the beginning I didn’t want anything serious, that wasn’t a lie.”

“But did you do it just to fuck my presentation up? We literally started hooking up when the open position was announced.”

“Does it matter?”

“It does!” you laugh in disbelief, tears stinging your eyes, but you refuse to give him the satisfaction of seeing you cry because of him.

“Okay,” he sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I just wanted to get to know you and see what you’d come up with for the presentation, but then one thing followed the other and… I went with it.” He shrugs and then goes back to his computer like you just discussed the weather and not how he used you and then threw you away.

You can’t hold yourself together any longer, so you turn around and get as far from him as possible as you try not to start sobbing in the middle of the office. Fuck, this shouldn’t hurt this much, but you really trusted him, you thought you could have something serious, you were hoping Sammy wouldn’t be right about him, but she was. Unfortunately.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you mumble under your breath as you approach your desk Zaya is not in today, so it’s pretty calm around your desk, but then you spot someone lingering there.

“Y/N?” Harry sees how shaken you look as you finally reach him at your desk. “A-Are you alright?”

“Hi Harry,” you force a smile out, but you can’t fool anyone with it. “Did we… Do we have a meeting or something?”

“No, I just wanted to show something… Y/N, are you about to cry?””

“N-No,” you shake your head, but your lips are already wobbling and you fail to prove your words right.

“Uh, come on, let’s have a break. Want to come up to the roof?” He gently circles an arm around your shoulders and you let him lead you back to the elevators.

“Roof? We can go out to the roof?” you ask, wiping your tears away.

He doesn’t reply, just makes sure to shield you from the curious eyes as you make your way up to the top of the building. You genuinely didn’t know the roof could be used and when you see Harry push the heavy door open that leads outside you’re guessing it’s not exactly a public spot, but you don’t question it.

It looks just like how a rooftop should look, it’s definitely not open for public use but when Harry leads you over the corner and you see a little bench there, facing the panoramic view, you know you have just found a secret spot.

“Is this where you hide from Steven?” you attempt to joke as you sit down with him. 

“Sometimes, yes,” he chuckles. “Not my spot though, I think the janitor comes up here to smoke, but I haven’t run into him yet.”

You sit in silence, Harry gives you time and space to pull yourself together, not rushing you to talk at all and you’re grateful for his patience. Staring ahead at the view you take a few deep breaths, telling yourself not to let Eric’s bullshit get to your head. 

“I’m sorry you had to… deal with my tantrum,” you chuckle sadly at last. 

“That wasn’t a tantrum,” he smiles softly. “And don’t be sorry, everyone could have a bad day. Want to talk about what happened?”

“I trusted the wrong person,” you purse your lips. “Um, the virus you found on my computer. Someone from the company put it there to fuck up my chances for a promotion I’ve been dreaming of for a long time.”

“What? Are you… are you serious?”

“Yeah and the worst part is that… god, don’t tell anyone, but I’ve been kind of… hooking up with him and he said it was all just to get closer to me.”

Harry opens his mouth to say something, but then ends up closing it, processing what you just told him. You don’t blame him for being lost and confused, it’s a shitshow, to say the least. 

“That’s… That’s awful, I’m sorry,” he clears his throat, gently shaking his head. 

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” you chuckle. “I trusted the wrong person. Learned my lesson,” you shrug, and you wish you could actually end it all in your head with that, but you know it will bother you for a while at least. 

“Can I ask who this person is?”

“Eric Sonders.”

“I think… I know him. Didn’t think he could be this… vile.”

“Me neither!” you laugh. 

“So… he stole your idea and presentation, so now you have to do something else? And that’s the makeover?”

Nodding you briefly tell him what happened at the meeting, he listens intently and then shakes his head in disapproval, probably just as upset and lost about Eric’s behavior as you are. 

“You should report him, this is incredibly unethical and unacceptable.”

“I have no proof. We can’t prove that he did it all to my computer, you said it yourself.”

“Shit, you’re right.”

While Harry is deep in his thoughts you just stare ahead of yourself, doing a short assessment of your current situation. This should have been an exciting, professionally challenging time in your life, working on something that would earn you your promotion, but now, you feel like it’s more out of your reach than ever.

“We’ll make it work,” Harry speaks up, as if he could read your mind. “We can do it.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah. It’s gonna be a tight stretch, but… It’s not impossible.”

“You are truly a life saver for agreeing to do it, Harry. I have no idea what I would do without you.”

He turns to you with a sheepish smile and you notice the slight pink shade on his cheeks as he nods.

“I’m happy to help.”

Part of you knew this would be deadly, but even after expecting the worst, it hits you like a train.

In the next two weeks you feel like you spend every waking moment working on the project with Harry. Sometimes you do it together, sharing ideas, discussing them, sometimes you’re together but work in silence and sometimes you do it apart. Whichever it is, you eat, drink and dream with the new website.

While Harry is taking care of the coding, you do everything else, that means content writing, planning, organizing and also designing. It’s been ages since the last time you designed anything, once upon a time you thought you’d end up in that field, but then somehow marketing came into the picture and now you have to combine your two passions. 

It’s destroying you absolutely, but slowly it’s starting to add up and you can see the progress. 

On a Friday evening you’re still in the office after seven, practically everyone has left by now, but you’re deep in work with Harry beside you. It's one of those quiet sessions, when you’re working together, but only speak when there’s an issue. Neither of you said anything for about an hour when the silence is interrupted by Harry’s ringing phone.

“Ah, sorry,” he mumbles, jumping in his seat at the sudden noise as he reaches for the phone, checking the caller ID before his eyes go wide. “Oh shit,” he mumbles and you look up at him as he answers the call. “Hey Mitch!”

You hear a voice from the phone, but it’s too muffled for you to make out what they are saying.

“Um, I’m kind of still at the office… No, I didn’t forget!” he protests, but the look on his face clearly tells you he did forget something. “I-I don’t know… Yeah, I’ve been just working with Y/N… No, I won’t– Mitch… No!... Uh, okay…”

He holds the phone away from his ear, covering the mic with a hand as he looks at you with anxious eyes, he looks like a reindeer caught in headlights. 

“Um, I forgot I was supposed to meet two of my friends for a few drinks. Is it okay if I leave now?”

“Oh God, of course! Harry, it’s so late, I shouldn’t have kept you here so long.”

“You didn’t keep me,” he chuckles, before the worried look returns to his face. “Actually, would you… I mean only if you want to–So do you maybe… want to come?”

It’s adorable how he stumbles over his own words and you see the familiar pink shade tinting his face again, it’s a color you’ve seen a lot lately and you’ve grown to quite like it. 

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to intrude on your time with your friends.”

“You wouldn’t intrude, I mean, I’m asking because I want you to join, obviously.”

“I-I’ll just go home and work some more, it’s fine–”

“Y/N, we’ve been working all day,” he chuckles. “You deserve some free time as well.”

You think of his words, these two weeks has been so busy you didn’t even do anything else than working and sleeping practically. Some off time would be actually amazing for your fried brain.

“Only if you truly don’t mind,” you say at last.

“Let’s pack then,” he beams with a smile as he shuts his computer down.

Twenty minutes later you’re walking into a bar you’ve never been to, joining Harry’s friends for drinks and though you can’t put your finger on it, but for some reason you feel a bit anxious. 

“Hey guys,” Harry waves at a couple sitting in a dimly lit booth. The woman is the first one to look at you with a beaming, bright smile as she slides out and holds her hand out for you.

“Hi! You must be Y/N! I’m Sarah and this is my husband, Mitch,”

“It’s nice to meet you,” you breathe out as you shake hands with Mitch as well.

You’re instantly bombarded with questions from Sarah as you slip into the booth and don’t even notice that Harry leaves and then returns with two drinks.

“Oh, thank you,” you smile at him as he sits beside you.

“So how is the project going?” Mitch speaks up, lazily draping an arm to the back of the seat behind Sarah.

“It’s going good,” Harry hums with a small nod, very humble about how much he has gotten done in just the first week.

“Mostly because of Harry’s hard work,” you add, praising him the way he deserves and it brings back that pink shade to his cheeks.

Sarah and Mitch are very easy to talk to, they seem curious about the projects the two of you are working on and just you in general. You’re having a great time hanging out with them and you feel like you’ve known them for a long time even though you literally just met.

You don’t even notice how time flies by, only when Sarah checks the time and lets Mitch know that they need to be heading home so the babysitter can leave.

“It was really nice meeting you, Y/N. I hope we can do this some other time,” Sarah hugs you.

“If Harry doesn’t mind me interrupting his time with his friends, then I’m in,” you chuckle, looking at the man in question who just shakes his head with a shy smile, letting you know he definitely does not mind.

“Alright, then it’s settled!”

They say their goodbye to Harry as well and suddenly it’s just the two of you in the booth and Harry is noticeably more nervous than before.

“Um, w-we don’t have to stay, if you want to go home, you co–”

“I’m happy to stay, Harry,” you smile at him without hesitation. He seems surprised, but excited at your answer.

You order another round of drinks and with the previous ones already consumed, it seems like Harry is slowly opening up, leaving his shyness behind and you get to have a peek behind his walls. The more you find out about him the more sure you get that he is truly an amazing, brilliant person and you wish you had met him earlier.

Maybe then you wouldn’t have fallen for Eric’s bullshit. Maybe then you would have fallen for him.

The drinks you’ve had don’t actually let it register, but you’re already developing a crush on him. How could you not? He is sweet, caring, smart, very thoughtful, basically the polar opposite of Eric. It’s making you question what you even saw in that asshole, you really put the bar too low.

“Oh shit, it’s already three in the morning,” you chuckle, when you finally check the time. “I should head home, I can’t sleep all day tomorrow,” you sigh, rubbing your face with your hands, realizing just how tired you feel. 

“I’ll call an Uber, is it okay if we share one?”

“It’s more than okay,” you smile at him lazily.

Minutes later you’re out in front of the bar, waiting for the ride to arrive. It has gotten significantly chillier, you did not dress for a night out so you’re holding your blazer jacket tight on yourself. When Harry notices he shrugs off his jean jacket without a word and drapes it over your shoulders.

“No, you’ll be cold!” you try to protest, but he shakes his head.

“I have a hoodie in my backpack,” he shrugs and pulls out a black hoodie, putting it on right when a car pulls up in front of you.

“Thank you for inviting me out tonight,” you quietly speak up on the backseat of the Uber, staring at Harry’s dimly lit handsome face. His glasses slid down on the bridge of his nose and you had enough drinks to have the courage to reach out and push them back gently. The gesture seemingly surprised him, but he doesn’t protest, just keeps his eyes focused on you.

“It was nice hanging out with you outside of the office.”

“Now we know we have things to talk about outside of the project,” you chuckle, making him grin as well. “We’re a great duo, Harry.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t sure about it at first, I have never had to work this closely together with an IT guy and I was afraid I might be too intense for you. But it all turned out so good, I like spending time with you.”

“Really?”

“Is it that surprising?” you chuckle, letting your head fall back and rest on the back of the seat. “You’re a cool guy, Harry Styles. And very handsome.”

The last comment rolls off your tongue before you could bite it back and though it’s too dark to see it, you just know he is all blushed. Before any of you could speak up, the car comes to a stop, you’ve arrived at your building. Harry gets out of the car with you and walks you up to the door. 

“See you on monday?” he shyly kicks the dust, hands in his pockets. 

“Yeah. Thanks for tonight,” you repeat yourself and there’s a heartbeat of silence where you feel that moment.

You probably should not be feeling this way, not after getting yourself burnt so bad, but you can’t help it. You want to kiss Harry and for a split second you believe he wants to do the same. His eyes flicker down to your lips and you move just a tiny bit closer to him, time stands still and just when you think he’ll do it, he clears his throat and steps back.

“Good night, Y/N,” he mumbles nodding before he walks back to the car. 

You stand there, feeling stupid as you blink after him before snapping out of your trance, forcing yourself to walk inside. As you take a quick shower and get ready to bed you get into a spiral. 

First of all you’re such a needy idiot for jumping from one man to the other. You should not be looking at men at all after Eric and yet here you are, crushing on yet another coworker of yours, what is wrong with you?! 

And second, why were you expecting him to kiss you? You’ve barely known each other for a few weeks and Harry is a reasonable man, he is probably not at all like you, he probably doesn’t want to get involved with a coworker especially not you. Some signs were giving you a feeling that he might have liked you more than just a friend, but you must have totally misread him. 

You have to control yourself and not scare him away, especially since he is doing you a huge favor, the last thing you want to do is to make him uncomfortable.

Harry hasn’t stopped thinking about you all weekend. Specifically about that moment in front of your apartment building where he would have sworn he felt you were expecting him to kiss you, but he couldn’t do it. Not when you were clearly intoxicated.

He didn’t want you to think he would ever take advantage of you like that.

The next week starts oddly. He gets some extra tasks and you get involved in another project as well, so you can’t work together like last week. Monday and then Tuesday rushes by without the two of you meeting. By Wednesday Harry is craving to see you again and it seems like it’s finally happening, because you don’t cancel your morning meeting. He arrives in a good mood with coffee for you and him, excited to show you everything he finished in the past days.

But then he can feel the change in you when you walk in.

You seem off, but at first he can’t tell why. You’re not your bubbly self, you seem very closed off and oddly professional compared to the times the two of you met earlier. Harry tries to tell himself it’s nothing serious, but the more time you spend together the more obvious it’s getting and he can’t take it anymore.

“Y/N?” he quietly asks at the end of the meeting. “Is everything alright?”

“Sure,” you nod, but it’s like as if you didn’t even believe it yourself.

“Did… Did I do something that upset you?”

“Nope, I just…” You sigh, giving up the facade you’ve been trying hard to keep up. “Listen, about Friday, I’m very sorry, Harry.”

“Sorry? For what?”

“I feel like I overstepped a line and made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry about that. If I made you uncomfortable. I want us to work well together and my unfiltered mouth was not at all professional that night, so I’m really sorry about that.”

Harry is blinking at you, confused and lost about what you truly meant by all that. He did not see this coming and now he has no idea how to react other than just looking at you with a startled expression.

“Can we just go back to where we were before that?”

“Where… I don’t-I mean, um…”

“Let’s just forget about when we parted ways, please?”

“So… Uh, yeah,” he at last nods, trying his best to mask his disappointment. He thought there might be something more between the two of you, but this conversation is proof that you just had too many drinks and you didn’t mean any of it. 

“Thank you so much,” you breathe out in relief. “I wouldn’t want to ruin our work together.”

Harry nods silently and doesn’t ask more about it. 

He is trying hard to hide his disappointment and part of home wants to know if you felt even the slightest spark on Friday or it was all just the alcohol, but he is not one to dig into things that might end him up in an awkward situation. He just swallows it all down and pulls his walls up again.

You can feel a bitter taste in your mouth as well after your talk with Harry. Something felt off, but you can’t put your finger on it and soon you have something else to worry about. 

You’re surprised to see Eric chatting with Zaya when you return to your desk. Your intern, bless her heart, is trying to keep a straight and professional face but you can tell she wants to scream at the man who definitely thinks he is charming the young girl with his small talk. 

“Eric? What are you doing here?” you ask, biting your tongue so you don’t tell him to leave and fuck himself.

“Hey, can we talk? Privately?” 

You look at Zaya and her eyes tell you what she thinks: it’s the literal worst idea ever. And you want to say no to him, but judging from his antics lately he would somehow use it against you so you don’t have much of a choice.

“Sure,” you mumble and the two of you take an empty meeting room. “So?” 

“Look, I want to apologize.”

What? Is he for real? That was unexpected.

“My behavior was uncalled for and very unprofessional.”

“Do you mean the way you stole my idea and presentation or the way you talked to me when I confronted you about it?”

“Can you not attack me, please?” he gives you a look that would have put you in place before, but now it just annoys you. He is trying to make you be the one in the wrong and you want to snap at him for still being such an ass, but you want to be the bigger person and stay professional. No matter how much you hate him, you’re still colleagues. 

“Go on,” you sigh, folding your arms over your chest.

“I know I can’t change the past but I think it's best if we deal with it in a decent way.”

How noble of him, pulling the rug from underneath you and then acting like he is this decent, peaceful man who just wants to work together. You want to throw up, but you swallow it back and force a smile onto your face.

“Sure, of course,” you tell him.

Seemingly Eric is satisfied with the work he did, but he is so tone deaf it hurts. He smiles nodding and heads out of the room with you behind him.

“Great talk!” he enthuses before walking away.

Zaya turns to you with wide eyes and you just shake your head.

“He wanted to apologize, though he didn’t really succeed, but I feel like it doesn’t matter to him,” you shrug as you sit behind your desk.

“You’re not forgiving him, right?”

“Of course not,” you scoff. “But we’re still colleagues, I can’t keep up the beef, it’s too tiring. I’ll just ignore his existence.”

You don’t think much of Eric’s ridiculous attempt to make peace, you keep your focus on your own project. 

There’s a bit of awkwardness between you and Harry after your little talk, but you feel like with time it eases and you write it off as just him not fond of situations like the one you put him into on Friday. 

Thursday afternoon the two of you are having another session together, working on some details he’s been trying to figure out himself, but he needs your input to finish them as well. It turns into brainstorming which results in a bunch of new things you want to include, but it will also add more work to your plate.

“I’m really sorry I always just keep adding new stuff to your load,” you sigh, truly feeling like you’re constantly overstepping boundaries, but Harry just shakes his head.

“I’m excited about these all. These are great functions and I’m looking forward to writing the code.”

“That sounded so nerdy,” you chuckle, but notice that Harry’s smile has disappeared.

“Sorry.”

“Oh no, I didn’t mean it like that! It’s great, I love it when someone is so passionate about something. I love it when you get deep into the tech talk. I think it’s amazing how much you know about these stuff.”

“But you can always just tell me to shut up, I know a lot of people don’t like it when I talk like that,” he mumbles, noticeably avoiding looking you in the eyes.

“Has… someone told you not to talk about programming?”

“Um…” He shifts uncomfortably and you’re about to tell him he doesn’t need to answer, but then he speaks up. “My ex girlfriend hated it when I talked about IT stuff,” he shrugs, but you can tell it’s something he struggled with. 

You can’t imagine ever telling him to stop talking about something that brings him this much joy. It’s clear this is his element and any woman that would try to restrain it is an idiot and can’t appreciate how wonderful this man is. 

You watch him quietly finish up on his computer before he starts to shut it down and you know you have to say something.

“She did not deserve you.”

He blinks at you surprised so you continue.

“Anyone who wants you to stop talking about something that makes you happy is not a person you want in your life, Harry, I hope you know that.”

“Uh… thank you,” he mumbles, that lovely pink shade taking over his face once again.

“You can always talk tech with me. I like listening to it.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. It amazes me, because I know nothing about it.” And it’s really hot, you want to add, but then bite your tongue. 

There’s a tiny smile on his pink lips and you can tell this moment matters to him more than you could imagine and you’re glad you could make him happy like that.

“D-Do you want to grab something to eat?” he suggests as the two of you head out of the meeting room.

“That sounds great! I’m starving!” you groan. “Let me just grab my bag from my desk.

Harry nods and follows you, he already has his backpack with him. You’re musing about what you should have and Harry is telling you about this amazing bagel place he loves when you spot the familiar figure near your desk. 

“Eric, what are you doing here?” you ask, but you’re tempted to phrase your words differently, because it’s quite obvious he was snooping around your desk, not expecting you to show up after office hours.

“Y/N, hi! I was just… I thought I left some papers here the other day,” he clears his throat, stepping away from your desk. 

“You had no papers with you,” you simply say, knowing well something is off with him.

“Maybe I remembered wrong,” he chuckles. “Alright, see you later,” he waves and then leaves quickly before you could ask any more questions. 

“What was that about?” Harry asks as you launch at your desk, checking what might have changed.

“He was looking for something. He is trying to play me again,” you hiss through your teeth, frantically examining what he could have put his hands on, but you see nothing out of place. But then you realize that he must have thought you left your laptop, that’s what he was looking for. “Oh my God,” you gasp, quickly starting your laptop to see if there is anything wrong with it. 

“What? What’s going on?”

“Harry, can you, uhh—Can you check if there is anything wrong with my laptop?” you plead as he rounds your desk and sits nodding, though he is a tad bit lost about what’s happening.

“Like, check if there’s another virus, or something?”

“Yes. I think he was trying to tamper with it again, I can’t know for sure if he hasn’t touched it earlier.”

You knew his half-assed apology was tactic, but you didn’t think he would do it all over again. Eric really isn’t the person you thought him to be.

You watch Harry type away on your computer, anxiously waiting for him to say anything and in the meanwhile you’re planning how you’ll get rid of Eric the moment you finally get your well-deserved promotion. There’s no way you’re letting a snake like him work at the company. 

“I don’t see anything,” Harry finally leans back and you exhale in relief.

“I can’t let it out of my sight from now on,” you grumble, shaking your head. 

In this moment you feel like you’re running out of energy, all because you trusted the wrong person. Feeling defeated you collapse into Zaya’s chair, pinching the bridge of your nose.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Harry softly says, as if he could read your mind.

“I’m in this situation because I made all the worst choices. I can’t blame anyone else but myself.”

“You couldn’t have known this is how it would turn out to be.”

“I know, but…”

“No but. Just… You know what? I’ll install an extra security program on your laptop so only you can access it, alright?”

“Really?” you sit up straight.

“Yeah, just give me a few moments.”

He gets down to work, works his magic and a minute later he is explaining to you what he got set up on your laptop to secure it.

“Harry, I owe you so much at this point,” you sigh in relief when it sinks in that Eric will not get his hands on your things again. “I have no idea how I will be able to pay you back.”

You notice a slight shift in him as he clears his throat, looking at you nervously.

“About that… I-I think I know h-how–I mean I thought about what… you could…”

“You know what you want in return?” you perk up, happy to do something for Harry after everything he did for you. 

“Y-you can say no, it’s okay, I just–Um…”

“Harry, whatever it is, my answer is gonna be yes,” you chuckle, placing a gentle hand on his arm. He looks at your hand and then up to your eyes before finally speaking up.

“Go on a date… with me?”

Harry has been working up the courage to ask you all day, but he didn’t think he would have the balls to say it out loud. Sarah and Mitch urged him to shoot his shot, even after the kind of awkward conversation you had earlier. His friends were convinced you were into him regardless, but he’s been struggling to believe it himself.

It was kind of random he blurted it out, but now it’s been said and he is about to faint, waiting for your response. You’re staring back at him, eyebrows slightly raised, lips parted, but no words have left your mouth since his question.

“Y-You don’t have to, I-I understand–I mean, it’s–”

“Harry,” you cut him off. “I would love to go on a date with you,” you finally tell him and it feels like a stone has been lifted off his shoulders, his heart is about to jump out of his chest any moment.

“But I won’t take it as your payment,” you add and now it’s his turn to be surprised. 

“What?” he breathes out, not sure what to make of your words.

“I would never take it as a payment, because I would go on a date with you regardless, Harry. Think of something else and we will have the date as well.”

“Really?” 

“Of course,” you chuckle. 

“Okay, alright, um… then… it’s a date!”

Harry is late.

He promised to be there at the meeting room on time to support you and answer any tech related questions that might come up in connection with your presentation. Eric is now presenting his (your) idea, he has added some features to it since he stole the whole thing, but it’s still mainly yours. 

“Thank you very much for your attention,” he nods as he finishes his talk and the board claps shortly before it’s your turn to stand in front of them. 

You’re plugging your laptop together with the projector when the door of the meeting room opens and Harry’s head pops inside. Relief washes over you as you watch him apologize for his late arrival and take a seat. Your gaze meets his and he smiles at you sweetly, holding his thumb up for you as you load the presentation. Now you feel braver, knowing he is here to support you.

You desperately wish you could read minds as you go on with your presentation. You’re met with mostly blank faces, but they were the same during Eric’s presentation as well, so you can’t tell what they are thinking about. It’s going smoothly, you rehearsed it a million times instead of sleeping in the past few days and when it’s time for questions you ace all of them, even the few tech ones. You’ve spent so much time with Harry that you can easily give an answer to everything at this point.

“Thank you for your attention,” you nod smiling at the end and disconnect your laptop from the projector, walking back to Harry.

“You did amazing,” he smiles at you proudly and his approval means the most to you. 

“Thanks.”

“I’m sorry I was late, I had to take care of something.”

“It’s okay. I’m just happy you’re here.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t have missed it.” The CEO stands up and all heads turn in his direction.

“Thank you for the presentations, I would like to ask the candidates to leave the room so we can vote.”

You gather all your stuff and head out with Harry by your side. Eric ignores your existence, as if he didn’t lie and cheat his way to this moment, but you’re not stressing yourself anymore about it. 

You definitely believe in karma.

“You’ve got this,” Harry smiles at you softly and your heart melts at his expression. 

You’re planning to have your date tonight. It’s gonna be either a ‘you’ve got the promotion, now let’s celebrate with our date’ occasion or ‘you didn’t get the promotion so let’s cheer you up with a date’, you’re fine with both, truly. You know you put everything you had into this promotion and if they still decide not to choose you, that’s their loss and your sign to move on. 

You’re beyond excited about your date. There’s been an obvious change in your dynamic since Harry has asked you out, there are more glances, little touches, compliments and some very apparent sexual tension that’s still within the lines of comfort, it’s not too hard to control yourself, but you keep noticing more and more things about him that are pulling you towards him.

“I will miss our little work session,” you smile back at him shyly.

“Little? They usually lasted hours,” he chuckles, making you laugh too.

“Loved them all,” you shrug and the look on his face tells you he did too. 

The board takes some time to make their decision and when the door opens fifteen minutes later your heart skips a beat. The CEO asks you all to return to the room and you take your previous seat, Harry sitting next to you. His hand brushes against your knee shortly and you look at him, your gaze meeting his as he gives you an encouraging smile.

“Thank you all for these amazing presentations, we were very pleased with the plans and projects,” the CEO starts as he stands at the head of the table. “We had no doubt you two are the best applicants for the position and it’s been hard to decide who to choose, but at last we made a decision.”

Oh God, you’re about to throw up. Is it you? Is it Eric? You hope you won’t cry. That could happen in either case, but you really don’t want to cry in front of all these people. 

“The person we chose to fulfill the position is…” His eyes scan over the both of you as you hold your breath and then it finally lands on you. “Y/N Y/L/N. Congratulations.”

And just like that, your lungs fill with air again and it feels like a rock has been lifted off your shoulders. 

“I told you,” you hear Harry beside you and when you look at him you see pride all over his face and you can’t stop yourself from throwing your arms around his neck to hug him.

“Thank you, it wouldn’t have happened without you,” you mumble as you squeeze him tight before letting go of him, going up to the board to shake hands. 

At first you don’t even process it, but then Eric’s voice hits your ear and you realize he is turning red across the table, complaining nonstop about the outcome.

“...The whole thing was so fucking out of the blue! Redesigning the whole website? That’s like suicide!...”

You don’t even have the chance to react to his comments, the CEO speaks up for everyone.

“Y/N’s idea is daring, innovative and brave, just what we need. We don’t want to play it safe and your idea was definitely in the safe zone.”

“His idea,” you scoff under your breath.

“Actually, there is something I would like to show you, if you have a few more minutes,” Harry speaks up as he starts his laptop and moves over to where the board is. You’re watching him completely puzzled.

“There’s been an unfortunate incident about the presentations. Y/N’s original idea was stolen, a virus has been planted on her computer to cover up the deed, but I could not recover enough information about the perpetrator to make accusations, that was until a few days ago.”

What?!

You see Eric’s red face turn completely white as Harry types away on his computer and then shows something to the board. They curiously eye the alleged proof as Harry continues.

“Proof could be only found on the perpetrator’s device and a few days ago I had access to Eric’s computer when he brought it in for a check up, since it’s been working too slow. As expected and told, I make a full check on every device in these cases and found unquestionable proof that Eric stole Y/N’s presentation through the virus.”

Oh lord. 

You watch as everyone on the board processes what they see on Harry’s computer and you can feel the switch in them towards Eric.

“Eric, let’s have a chat in my office. Now,” the CEO says and it’s definitely an order and Eric doesn’t try to go against it, just nods and follows him out of the room.

“Harry, why didn’t you tell me you were planning to do this?!” you ask as you rush up to him. The board members are leaving the meeting room, leaving the two of you alone. 

“I uh– I wanted it to be a surprise. Eric showed up at the IT department the other day and I got his case without him knowing so I could snoop around. Found the evidence right away so I thought the board should know what he did.”

“Why did you wait until they announced who got the promotion? This could have kicked him out of the contest right away.”

“I knew you’d get it,” he smiles shyly. “I had no doubt they would choose you, I wanted you to experience defeating him after what he did to you.”

To say you’re touched is an understatement. He didn’t just help you immensely to get this promotion, but also went out of his way to serve you justice. He has done more for you than anyone ever. 

You just know you can’t let the moment pass and ignoring the fact that you’re still at work, though no one is around to see, you close the distance between the two of you and press your lips against his.

This kiss has been hanging there for a while and you’d be lying if you said you have never fantasized about what it would be like to kiss Harry, but reality is a thousand times more magical. His lips are soft and warm, go so well with yours and once his first wave of shock passes he finally returns it and you melt in his arms. 

You had a feeling Harry was a great kisser, but the way he claims your lips just blows your mind. He is sweet and gentle but also demanding at the same time and if only you weren’t in the office you’d pretty much jump into his arms and let him do whatever he wants to you. 

Somewhere in the distance a phone rings and it breaks the spell, making you realize that you shouldn’t get carried away. 

“Sorry,” you smile, your lips barely just an inch away from his still. “I got… I just–Thank you. For everything you did for me.”

“Don’t be sorry,” he returns your smile and pecks your lips shortly one more time. “And I will always be here to support you.”

You might look like a lunatic as you watch the guy on the other side of the glass door of your office finish up the sign on the door.

Y/N Y/L/N, Head Of Digital Marketing.

God, you still can’t have enough of the sound of it even though you got the promotion two months ago. Okay, the first month you spent in your old job, teaching the ropes for your successor before you could start your transition into your new position.

Now it’s official and you couldn’t be happier about it.

Checking the time you sit back to your computer to finish up work for the day. It’s been one hell of a week, you’ve worked overtime three times so it’s great that today is finally Friday. You answer some more emails and check your calendar for the next week, making sure everything is settled.

There’s a soft knock on the door and when you look up your heart skips a beat, seeing Harry walk in, his backpack on one shoulder.

“Hey. Are you done?”

“Just one moment,” you smile and he nods, walking over to the window, patiently waiting for you to finish everything up. 

When you turn the computer off and look up at him, you notice that he is staring at you already.

“What?” you ask, packing up.

“Nothing, just… you look so pretty.”

You still haven’t gotten used to his compliments, though they always just keep on coming and coming. You love them.

And you love him.

Walking over to him you wrap your arms around his waist as you steal a kiss. Usually you try to keep the PDA out of the office, but sometimes he is just too hard to resist. Like now.

You’ve been officially a couple for two months, your first date after your big presentation was like a dream, Harry took you to all of his favorite spots in the city and then you just spent hours stargazing on the roof of his apartment’s building, he had a whole setup with a mattress, blankets and pillows, it was the sweetest thing ever, the best way to celebrate your win. Since then, it’s been endless dates, movie nights, trips on the weekend, you’ve been kind of inseparable. Well, outside of the office, because you try your best to stay professional at work. 

“What was that for?” he chuckles softly, his cheeks have that soft pink shade on them that you just want to kiss all over. 

“I’m just happy. That’s it.” Reaching up you fix his glasses before taking a step back and heading out.

Usually you just walk side by side to the elevator, but today you feel extra upbeat, so when you step into the elevator you gently take his hand and lace it together with yours and you can’t help but smile every time you’re in here with Harry.

Because he told you this is where he saw you for the very first time that day you overslept before your disastrous presentation. He was the one who held the elevator’s door for you. You were so disoriented that you didn’t notice him then and he likes to tease you about it, saying that he knew that moment he was into you, all while you didn’t even look at him. In return, you always bring up how you were the one kissing him for the first time. 

It’s crazy to think how much has happened between those two things or even between that morning and today. He was the quiet IT genius who you dragged into your madness. He is still a genius, but you’ve gotten to know the sides of him others can’t see and you love all of them, it just took you some time to open him up. To decode him.

Thank you for reading, please like and reblog if you enjoyed and buy me a coffee if you want to support me!

[writing-whump]

Okay okay hear me out: matthew getting hurt but he's essentially feeling super isolated and worthless and he doesn't want to bother zaya or seline, doesn't think he should bother anyone tbh. He's also not stupid and while he doesn't know Isaiah/seline are together, he can see something shifted there. Hidden injury escalates to infection and then u know the drill, he ends up feverishly arguing with one of the two or both and then collapsing mid argument, cue much panic and guilt. Wdyt??? 👀👀😅

Ohhh Soup, that is one amazing idea 👀 let's see, let's see! A very delicious prompt, thank you! Had to write it right away.

Hidden injury

The injury wasn't healing.

Matthew didn't know why exactly it wasn't. Most of the time he spend his days tired, and he was very tired that evening from sparring at the gym. And he so happened upon a bunch of wolves.

Kids really. Overconfident and provocative, thinking they could take an older wolf like him.

It was so satisfying to put someone's teeth in the dirt when they deserved it. The adrenaline and then the win overflooded him with sparks of temporary joy and triumph as he dusted himself off, his shadow was eager and happy.

Unfortunately, there were problems that couldn't be solved that easily. Whatever the thing it was at home - this punishment of sorts Seline made - it was way worse. And he couldn't fight his way out of it.

He made preventative measures. He worked on his temper much much more. Isaiah said he saw the improvement. What else did she want?

It was his fault, though. Fear he enjoyed, when it came from annoying people, other wolves or his enemies. A natural thing, really. But he didn't want to feel it from her. Complete and utter betrayal, that's what it was. How could she believe he would hurt her? He wouldn't hurt her even if she did try to fight him. His shadow just jumped up with the emotion and the instinct and...

Yep, it reacted even now, swelling angrily at the memory. But it wasn't her he was fighting, for hell's sake.

Matthew kind of relied Isaiah would talk some sense into her, make it easier. Persuade her to give him a chance to make it up and move on from this.

And something did happen. He felt it did, because from one night to the next, Isaiah was allowed up to the second floor and came down with her smell all over him from then on. They didn't do anything when he was there, and he didn't dare to ask, but something major did occur under that roof.

And not only was he not allowed to know, he couldn't even tease his best friend about making a move or laugh at his only girl friend for finally getting the guy.

This was stupid. It shouldn't be upsetting him so much, but it did and he wondered why the hell he even bothered with people in the first place. Easier to just be alone.

You had no one to disappoint that way.

Matthew headed home, his legs dragging behind feeling like lead.

His side burned. He got clawed there pretty well with one of the shadow claws of the busier kids. It was a small thing, the injury, but bleeding horribly when he put his torn up shirt up and it hurt.

The first sweeping of his shadow took the blood away, though the injury was still visible, open, red and puckered. It didn't heal all the way. Weird.

His shadow was tired, but he figured if he just waited for a few hours he would have enough energy to try again. It wasn't bleeding, it wasn't smelling, it was fine. He threw the torn up shirt away, glad he shook off his pullover down for the fight and saved it from the blood stains.

Maybe he should ask Isaiah if it was normal. Shadows wouldn't heal things, when they were tired, or when it was a serious several weeks to heal thing, or when it wasn't acute but more long-term running or chronic...was there something he was missing?

Isaiah would know. Matthew also didn't feel like asking.

If Isaiah stopped pretending like he was neutral in this tug war of wills, it would be much better. If he wanted to side with Seline and leave him alone to it, who was he to complain?

They were doing him a big favour by giving him a chance in the first place.

He didn't want them to regret anything else they had given him.

Matthew was very happy for the elevator in the building. Usually he could take the stairs, since running them up was great exercise for free, but today he felt dead on his feet.

He found the way to their door almost blindly, opening the door with his shoulder. Grunting a hi was about all the manners they showed each other these days. Why did they even bother?

Was there even a way to escape their rejection? The whole apartment radiated it. From the shut off light in the kitchen, the empty couches in front of the TV, the quiet nonchalant movement behind Seline's closed doors on the upper floor...

Matthew threw his back by the door at their shared room, finding Isaiah on his bed with a laptop in his lap.

"Hey, Matt. You are late," Isaiah said in a friendly voice, observing him.

Matthew rolled his eyes. As if he cared when he was coming home. That time was long over.

He shut the door behind him loudly and the shuffled over to his own bed.

He didn't feel like changing. He didn't feel like saying anything. His side burned, his insides burned, his head was heavy and about to fall from his shoulders and his muscles were screaming with the strain of the day's exercise. Sleep was the only escape that didn't involve anyone dying.

He vaguely registered Isaiah asking him how his day went. Matthew ignored him, threw himself on the bed, wincing inwardly at the pain that flared at the sudden movement and curled up on his side.

Maybe he should have taken some painkillers. Then again, he didn't have any. All painkillers and first aid kits in this house belonged to Seline or Isaiah. They pooled their resources and fields of expertise to the apartment, willing to share, forgetting how to divide things when the sharing wasn't an option anymore.

He didn't want to think about how this was the first time after some time that he actually had people to ask for help and simply couldn't make himself.

Things were so much easier when he was alone.

The oblivion of sleep took him quickly though, saving him from anymore painful thoughts.

***

Matthew woke up to the darkness of the empty room. He could hear muffled voices coming from the living room.

They they actually have a movie night without him now? There was a faint sound of Isaiah saying something and Seline laughing in response.

Oh. Good for them.

Matthew didn't think it was possible, but he actually felt worse than before. While the groginess helped him forget, his side was on fucking hellfire, eating him from the inside.

He pushed himself up on his arms, turning the nightstand lamp on. Forcing himself up into a sitting position was torture. His muscles contracted painfully around his side and his arms were shaking as he attempted to throw his legs over the edge of the bed. One. Two. Slow and painful.

The effort left him light-headed and clenching his teeth to not scream. What the hell was wrong with him?

He grunted, bowing his head against the onslaught of light. His pullover was sticking to him with sweat and he was uncomfortably warm. Was it the rest of the exercise? Should he go shower?

Even tensing up to consider standing felt like a fight not worth the effort.

Matthew slumped back against the bed, giving up. His shadow wasn't even stirring, so he must have still been tired. Best thing to just go back to sleep.

***

"'-thew? Matthew? Hey man, wake up."

Isaiah was shaking his shoulder, jostling him. Matthew grunted in discomfort, turning away from him.

"Come on, man. You slept in, I think. It's already past 9."

Was it? Why was that even relevant? His side burned, his head was stuffed with wool. He just wanted to sleep.

"Don't you have classes today?"

Matthew swatted Isaiah's hand away. He didn't care about classes, he wanted sleep.

"Okay. I think it's good to take a break once in a while. You have been pushing yourself like crazy."

Matthew didn't like that patronizing tone. Isaiah, fucking Wolfson, always sounding so superior to everyone. Always doing everything perfectly, always in control.

"Come at least have breakfast with us. We never get to do that when you leave so early."

Matthew just pulled the blanket over his head in response.

Isaiah sighed, patted his shoulder and left. The door closed softly behind him.

***

His bladder was about to explode. Matthew was irritated his body wouldn't stop annoying him with such annoying mundane concerns when he was in pain and wanted to sleep.

He shuffled out of the bedroom slowly, feeling dazed and out of it. Everything hurt, but that seemed like a normal state at this point, constant discomfort, the feeling og boiling in his own skin, the pulsating pain in his side...

He had to hold on to the wall several times to not fall down. His limbs weighed a ton, each step a struggle against gravity.

Finishing in the bathroom and half-heartedly washing his hands, he tried to wash his face too only to get dizzy over the sink. He caught himself just barely, only to spend the next few minutes dry heaving over it. Why was it so hot here?

What time was it? What day? Everything was so confusing.

Leaning heavily against the door, he started the slow torturous walk back to his bed.

"Matthew? Seriously, why are you sleeping so much?" Seline's voice was like an arrow, sharp and painful against the fog in his head.

"You know, I can't make you come to eat with us or watch a movie. If you want to be hauled in your room, be my guest. But you could at least get your shoes into the cupboard. How many times do I have to ask?"

He blinked, trying to locate the source of her voice. Ah, there she was, hands on her hips, staning in the entry hall.

"How am I supposed to vacuum this place with your sneakers always in the way? You forgot to do the grocery shopping yesterday, you know? Isaiah made food, I'm cleaning and you not only don't hold your part of the deal, you have to make my part harder." She talked in a calm tone, but the critic was obvious.

He focused his eyes on her, slumping against the wall next to the bathroom. "That's just great," he grumbled.

"What did you say? I didn't hear you."

"It's just great," he cleared his throat, "that the first thing you decide to talk to me about in weeks is this. Just fucking awesome."

Seline's eyebrows shot up. "Oh? I'm the one who isn't talking? Not like you bother to ask me anything. You refuse to give any effort. Why do I always have to do everything here? If only one person is trying-"

That angered him enough to straighten up. "I am not trying? I'm doing my best here; it's you who isn't trying." He coughed against his hand, feeling light-headed again. "I trained. I asked Isaiah to test me. I doubled my sparring rounds. I have done everything I could think of. You gave up."

Seline frowned, taking a breath to speak. Matthew couldn't register what she said next. Her mouth was moving, but there were two Selines speaking now and his vision was blurry at the edges.

Matthew's head was pounding. The little energy the anger got him flew out of him just as quickly. His side burned again, stretched by the motion of simply standing. He groaned, doubling over, hands shooting up to cradle the skin around the pain.

"Matthew?"

He coughed. His throat felt tight and he felt his stomach sloshing and turning. The skin around his abdomen was tender and swollen, warm to the touch. He tried reaching for his shadow, but it stirred in protest, slipping out of his hands.

He was so tired. Why couldn't he just go back to bed?

Something warm rushed up his throat with the next cough, spraying between his feet. He blinked at the pool of watery vomit in confusion.

Then his legs gave out.

His pants immediately soaked up the mess, but he had no time to worry about it as another wave of puke found its way out of him. The movement was completely involuntary. He didn't see it coming. He didn't understand. Everything was so confusing.

Maybe that was good he didn't heave. He didn't have the energy for it, just coughing up small mouthfuls of bile and water and foul-smelling liquid.

Seline was closer now. She was kneeling beside him, talking quickly into her phone. Then she reached for him, cupping his cheeks in cold hands. He winced at the contact.

Her hands went over him frantically, pulling against the pullover on his side. Matthew tried to stop her, but she squeezed his hands and then continued. He let her.

When she brushed her cold fingers against his side, he moaned in pain, trashing around. Cold lips touched his forehead and pressed against it for a long time, grounding him. Everything was too hot, too painful and he was shivering. Something smelled really awful.

His vision came and went for a while in a hurrying mess and chaos. His head somehow ended in Seline's lap. He wanted to ask her if she forgave him now that she was touching him again. She didn't seem to register him and he had no energy to formulate the words.

Then Isaiah was there, fingers on his nape, gripping his shoulder tightly. He was repeating his name, over and over. Matthew blinked at him. Yeah, I know that's my name, what do you want? Just let me sleep.

***

The next time he woke up, he was in bed. A clean shirt, a damp cloth on his forehead.

The first thing he truly registered was the absence of pain. He was still tired, still confused, but the sheer relief that the pain from his side was gone left him breathing deeply for a few minutes. This is how beautiful it felt, not to be in pain? He should relish it more.

Matthew reached with his hand towards his side. Under his shirt, he could feel bandages.

"No, don't touch it," a voice near his head said.

Matthew let his hands go limp, turning his face towards the voice. Isaiah sat on a chair next to him, elbows braced on the bed. His green eyes looked strained and shadowed, like someone painted bruises under them, but there was something relieved in his face.

"Your wound was infected. Your shadow was hurt and didn't heal it all the way. It was deep and open and you didn't clean it when you came home. That's how it got so serious."

Matthew watched him silently, expecting a lecture.

Isaiah's face contorted in anguish. "Why didn't you say anything? You must have been in so much pain."

That was actually worse than a lecture. He tried to speak, but his throat was dry and he coughed instead.

Isaiah sat up, taking a glass of water from the nightstand with a straw and holding it to his lips. "Drink this. Slowly."

Matthew obeyed, eager at the sight. The water was moderate temperature and it was the most heavenly taste he ever experienced.

Isaiah watched him intensely, bringing the glass away when he drank about half of it. He took the damp cloth that Matthew shook off with the movement and mopped his forehead and neck with it.

Matthew wanted to protest the treatment - he wasn't a child - but tensing up made him flinch in pain. It was only an echo of what it was before, but still.

"You will be okay. Just take it easy for now. We cleaned out the wound, applied antiseptics and got you some antibiotics from the pharmacy. It already looks a lot better, but you had a really high fever and you threw up a lot. We almost took you to the hospital, but your shadow was so out of it I was worried it was something else. But when we cleaned the wound, you got better rapidly, so we figured it was alright..."

"We?" Matthew rasped.

Isaiah nodded towards the end of the bed. Matthew tilted his head just enough to see what he was pointing at.

Seline was curled up on the bed beside him, a hand thrown over his leg, face almost pressed into it, breathing steadily.

"You think...she will forgive me now?"

Isaiah's eyes widened, lips quivering. The black-haired wolf leaned over, burying his face into the place between Matthew's shoulder and collarbone, hand going over his chest as if he was afraid Matthew would disappear if he didn't hold him down.

"Don't you ever do that again," Isaiah whispered against his shirt. "If you ever hide an injury like that, I'll kill you myself." It sounded like he was a hair away from sobbing.

Matthew tilted his head towards the black tousled hair, cheek against Isaiah's forehead. "Okay."

[catcucumber-salad]

First one who moves has to cook dinner challenge

Ger: first person to move has to make dinner... Suma: ... Ger: ... Ger: I can do this all day honey. Suma: *barely even breathing* Ger: All day... Ger: I really wish that I win because I cook all the time... Suma: I don't think you really want me to cook dinner. Ger: what why Suma: Because you know it won't be good... Ger: Why, what would you cook? Suma: ... Suma: Pizza. Ger: ... wait what, like from scratch? Suma: No Ger: so like a frozen pizza? Suma: yea Ger: ... Ger: oh you're right, that doesn't sound good... Ger: *stays stationary anyway*

3 minutes later....

Suma: Oh my god look and Elephant

Ger: what

Suma: *snickers* Ger: what the hell, how was that gonna work Suma: I don't know... Ger: Oh my god LOOK AN ELEPHANT Ger: how is that supposed to make me move honey? Suma: idk... Ger: Like, why am I gonna believe there's an elephant in the room- Ger: ... Suma: *giggling* Ger: oh my frickin- *facepalms* Suma: WOOOOOOOO Ger: You win... this time... Suma: What are cooking tonight? BITC-

Source:

@locitapurplepink @aesira-of-orion @zaya-mo @emerie-karr @morphofan @clownery-and-fuckery @jgvfhl

[here0ranywhere]

[ jordan gonzalez, transmasc, he/him] — whoa! ELIO ZAYAS just stole my cab! not cool, but maybe they needed it more. they have lived in the city for SIX MONTHS, working as a BOOKSELLER. that can’t be easy, especially at only 28 YEARS OLD. some people say they can be a little bit NAIVE and IMPULSIVE , but i know them to be FRIENDLY and OPTIMISTIC. whatever. i guess i’ll catch the next cab. hope they like the ride back to BROOKLYN! 

Full Name: Elio Luis Zayas Date of Birth: May 20, 1996 Gender: Trans Male Sexuality and Romantic Preference: Panromantic Pansexual Song: Hymn - Kesha

Biography: (Content Warning: Religious Trauma, Mental Health Struggle, Parental Death, Internalized Transphobia)

Elio was brought up in the most loving household he could have ever imagined for himself, he's still trying to figure out where it all went wrong.

Elio was born straight in the middle of a very large Catholic family in Southern Louisiana. Being assigned female at birth, he was very forced into that gender role. The idea was always instilled in him that he would also one day have a large Catholic family.

Elio's family did not have a lot of money, and were often dependent on charity from their church, something Elio really appreciated and admired. He was never ashamed that they had to ask for help from the church, but rather proud that the church had helped them.

When Elio was still very young he began to feel very out of place in his own body. He never could seem to feel right about himself no matter how hard he tried. He hated when anyone would compliment him and became very self conscious. When he started to think of himself as a guy, he knew it did not fit any of the things he had been taught, so he began to ignore it.

When Elio was fourteen his mother passed away very suddenly. It completely shook him to his core. After her death Elio became incredibly depressed and threw himself even further into the church to cope.

As Elio continued to question his gender identity he decided the best way to be true to his religious beliefs would be to become a nun. After graduating from school he found an order and began to study under them.

As time went on this became more troublesome for Elio as a part of him knew this was not where he belonged. He only became more depressed and often anxious.

Finally Elio admitted that he would be unable to take the vows. He left the order, and never returned home. He began transitioning and gained a sense of confidence he had previously thought would be impossible for himself.

Elio gained back a confidence he never knew that he was missing. He discovered that he was happy, so he called himself Elio after the sun.

Elio has moved to New York with hopes of living his best queer life in the city. He runs a bookstore as reading has always been a passion and an escape for him and he hopes to share it with others.

Connections:

Relatives: Elio comes from a big southern family. He grew up close with not just his parents and siblings, but his aunts, his uncles, his cousins, his second cousins. He lost contact with most of them but it would be so important to him to gain it back.

Bad Influence: Elio is so wholesome, too wholesome, and he knows it too. He has so few experiences in the world and wants to experience them all, and I would love to see some people drag him into some naughtier activities.

Store Regulars: Elio loves to talk to other people about books. He loves to be recommended books and he loves to recommend books. He just wants to talk to people about books.

Roommates: Elio can't afford a place of his own in the city. He and his cat really need a place to live.

[lyutenw]

ACOD| Chapter I

"How much longer do I have to wait? Are we there yet?" Aria had spent the last 6 days trapped in a moving prison. The ship had departed the Kingdom of Celenial just before dawn 6 days ago, moving through the abyss of the sea to Oceana, the land of promises.

"We are almost at the port, princess," a young maid muttered, her brown eyes shining while watching the beautiful land of Oceana grow closer. Oceana had been a dream for everyone in Celenial. Who wouldn't dream of a kingdom where you don't have to starve to live another day, if the famines were so much as kind to you. In Celenial only the royal family and the aristocrat families were protected from the angry gods that ruled it.

Aria yawned and looked around her small room; there were dresses and jewelry everywhere, all sprawled out waiting for her decision on which to wear to meet her future husband. Her two maids had practically become one with the window and had given up on helping her get dressed.

She got up from the bed, her whole body aching from sleeping 5 nights to a hard mattress. Her long tule nightgown hanged from her body, she had lost so much weight in the last month. She didn't want to marry him. Not as a sacrifice to a man he didn't know. Her whole life she had longed for freedom, but now she would be the exact opposite; a married princess, a mere instrument to stop the war between the two countries, a mere vessel to bear a child.

"Let us undress you, princess," the two maidens bowed and inched closer to Aria. Aria lifted her hand in the air, stopping them from doing anything and signaling them to get back.

"It's okay, I will do it myself, give me some privacy." The maids looked at each other and slowly inched towards the door, exchanging puzzled glances; the princess had never been one to do things herself.

Once the maids closed the wooden door behind her with a creak, Aria could finally breathe freely again. She let her nightgown slip from her slender body and down to her cold feet. There was a broken mirror at the corner of the dimply lit room, and she caught a glimpse of herself from the back. Her muscles were flexed, her whole body on some imaginary alarm, filled with tension. She tried to relax, took some deep breaths, and let her body grow soft. She could make out thin pale pink lines all over her body, the aftermath of her father, the price a bastard child had to pay.

Aria inched closer to the mirror and softly touched her reflection; sunken eyes in a turmoiled brown looked back at her. Her hair though washed only yesterday was matted, its vivid red color a thing of the past. She held back tears and turned to her dresses.

"Who am I kidding," she muttered again and again as she went through the many dresses. Aria had already pictured the prince's wide eyes as soon as he would see her. Red hair, meaning the bastard princess. She would be rather lucky would she walk out the palace unscathed and with her head intact between her shoulders.

She shook her head and picked up a black velvet dress. She mourned the day of her wedding, as it would probably be the day she dies.

❋

The first thing Ellian noticed when Aria walked in palace was the way her curls bounced as she dragged herself to where he was standing. Fiery red, the same way her eyes burned. Her body was a different story; she walked slowly and painstakingly; her shoulders were hunched over as if she was carrying the weight of the world. Ellian burrowed his brows, correcting his thoughts as he realized she probably was, Celenial was her world.

His father, the King, scoffed as soon as he laid eyes on her. Everyone in Oceana knew that the red haired one was the daughter of a servant.

"Where is Zaya," the king, Pallius, asked Aria, before she even got to introduce herself, stopping her dead in its tracks. Zaya is Aria's sister, the 'real' royal. With the brown hair and eyes of the queen; her spitting image. Instead, Aria had the fierce blood red hair of a servant, but the golden eyes of the king. The king looked at Aria from head to toe, before he settled his eyes on hers, staring deeply. His mouth was a line, Ellian could see his tight jaw from the side. He was furious.

Aria bowed and without an ounce of fear retorted back in a somehow even colder voice than the king.

"She is sick, so the king sent me in her stead. I am my father's daughter as well."

"Bullshit," the king raised his voice.

"He just didn't want to give up the heir to his throne and sent me the bastard one." Pallius inched closer to Aria, she could smell his breath; bitter and sour.

"How am I supposed to wed my son, the future king, to a red-haired impure child?" If even a rose petal dared to fall on the floor, everyone would hear it loud and clear. Aria didn't break eye contact once, but she could feel herself starting to shiver underneath her black gown. The lace and tule dress had been enough to keep her warm before, but now the room was freezing. It took everything strength she had inside her for her teeth not to chatter and her shivers not to be apparent.

"Father," Ellian softly touched his arm and looked at Aria.

"It is a 6-day trip from Celenial, she must be tired. Let's talk about it when dinner comes in a few hours." Despite the softness of his touch, Ellian's voice was hard as steel and cold as ice.

"Well then. Show her to her room," the king signaled to Ellian.

"Dinner is in 3 hours," he declared, his boots echoed as he disappeared behind a colossal golden door. Aria could only guess that was the main ball room from the glimpse she managed once the king opened the door.

The prince's soft façade fell, and he looked at Aria coldly, his forest green eyes scanning her and her expressions.

"You, alone, come with me," he said and turned his back to Aria. He called a few servants, who disappeared from Aria's sight along with her two maids and the general commander that had ensured her safe arrival.

It was only the two of them now.

Aria followed him, having to quicken her pace as Ellian was extremely tall and his pace fast. It was all she could do not to step in her long dress as she almost ran behind him. Finally, after what seemed like 10 minutes, they reached a long corridor of closed doors. Ellian approached the second one on the left and motioned her to step inside.

Aria found herself in a huge bedroom, blindingly beautiful. Everywhere she looked were pastel pink accents and golden jewelry, presumably gifts for her arrival. The bed was huge and in the middle of the room. There was a long white lace dress sprawled across it, which she realized was her wedding dress. Her room back home was not even half the size; she could easily get lost in this room.

Ellian closed the door behind them and before Aria could realize what he was doing, he grabbed her by her neck and pinned her to the wall. She couldn't breathe, couldn't see and her head hurt from the impact. She tried to grab his hand that was on her neck, hit him until he lessens his grip, but he wouldn't budge. The strength with which he choked her was getting greater with every second that passed, and she was starting to see black from the corners of her eyes. It wouldn't be long before she would faint, and she dreaded to think of what he would do to her once she was unable to defend herself.

"Why you?" Ellian asked, his voice low and ringing menacingly in Aria's ears.

"I-I can't-" Aria choked out, her veins pulsating through her head and ears. She had a minute before blacking out at most. She continued to hit his hand with hers, only she was getting weaker and now could barely lift them.

"Don't think for even a second that I am going to respect you," he spat and lessened his grip enough for her to take a sharp breath.

"If we get married, you are my little toy. A princess and a queen is far from what you will become." Ellian let her go and Aria dropped to her knees, gasping for air, her eyes bloodshot. She brought a shaky hand to her neck where a purple bruise was starting to form. Her skin was tender to the touch; it made her wince. Silent tears fell as she tried to think rationally.

It was either she became a slave to the prince or shipped back a corpse.

"I had no choice," Aria heaved and raised her head to look at him. Ellian fell to one knee and gently placed his finger under her chin, raising her head softly to look him in the eyes. This gentle touch was the complete opposite to him almost strangling her.

"Such beautiful eyes, they remind me of the sun." He let her head fall abruptly. He got up, leaving Aria curled up in a ball on the floor.

"Look forward to tonight, my little doe." Ellian chuckled and left Aria's room. Aria struggled to raise herself from the cold marble floor, the nickname he gave her echoing in her ears along with his eyes burning her skin. She raised her arms slowly and covered her chest, her cold finger circling around her skin.

She dragged herself to the humongous bed that now seemed able to swallow her and rubbed her palms on her dress. The fabric burned her cold palms, but it was the only way to stop them from shaking, and the only way to keep herself from bursting to tears.

She looked towards the door and realized she had just entered a more luxurious prison. There was nowhere on this land that she was safe, even more so in this palace. Before any thoughts of escaping could enter her mind, a maid with grey hair and a wrinkled smile let her know that she should take a bath and get ready for dinner.

The maid didn't seem to notice Aria shaking and crying, and if she did, she was good at masking it. She left as quietly as she came, leaving Aria in a deafening silence.

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

Tag List: @angie-j-kay @mysticstarlightduck @boundedsea

[locitapurplepink]

I gotta say what's on my mind

Something about us, doesn't seem right, these days

Life keeps getting in the way

Whenever we try

Somehow the plan, is always rearanged

It's so hard to say but I gotta do what's best for me

You'll be okay

I've got to move on and be who I am

I just don't belong here, I hope you understand

We might find a place in this galaxy someday

But at least for now, I gotta go my own way

Don't wanna leave it all behind

But I give my hopes up and I watched them fall everytime

Another colour turns to grey

And it's just to hard to watch it all, slowly fade away

Taglist : @trapezequeen , @cassie-fanfics , @zaya-mo , @fulltimecatwitch , @kanerallels , @commander-tech , @thebadbatch2022 , @catcucumber-salad

[windupnamazu]

—no matter what fate awaits us, i'll take your hand in mine and never let go next to you (next to you), here by your side, our souls cry out that this is where we belong!

01. ENVOY: could be the distance made this love visible Lunya & Hancock | Post-Shadowbringers | 969wc Lunya Lanya, Hancock Fitzgerald, and the art of lacking subtlety.

02. BARK: don't be so awoof! Lunya & Zaya | Post-Endwalker | 371wc Argos wants a little snack, as a treat. Sorry, Zaya.

03. UNION (free day): something about making cantaloupes into can-elopes Lunya & Kotone/H'lios | Post-Endwalker | 486wc Kotone and H'lios have a surprise for Lunya. Maybe even two surprises, if she's unlucky.

04. OFF THE HOOK: twelve forbid girls do anything! Pancake & Linnet | Post-Stormblood | 1423wc Just girls being girls.

05. BARBAROUS: like swords to the pit of my belly Lunya & Themis | Pirate AU | 909wc More than friends but less than lovers to enemies.

06. RING: like the hands on the clock, they'll go in circles back to their places Lunya/G'raha | Endwalker finale | 1143wc Fourteen years ago, a little girl learned something from the man who would give his life for hers.

07. NOISOME: smells like sardine spirit! Lunya, Babycorn, Cherrypit, & Himbo | ARR, flowrverse | 1155wc A little deodorant would go a long way, but I'm not sure you'd remember what that is either.

08. SHED: the gentleness hidden in the night Lunya/G'raha | Howl's Moving Castle AU | 244wc You found me in the future, and now it's my turn to find you.

09. FAIR: if we listen to each other's heart! Butter/Babycorn & uninvited guests | Post-Endwalker | 1202wc The tornado potato popoto chronicles.

10. DIVINE (free day): you, the destroyer (you, the destroyed) Lunya/G'raha | Crystal Tower quests | 763wc G'raha Tia and an uncomfortably close encounter with the deific kind.

11. ONCE BITTEN, TWICE SHY: you're the only one i wish would understand Rhea & Honoka | Post-Endwalker | 1240wc My heart is always filled with unrequited feelings for you.

12. DOWDY: dressed to impress (and distress?) Lunya & Babycorn | Castle in the Sky AU | 694wc Walk, walk, fashion baby(corn).

13. CHECK: i don't get intimidated (girl, i celebrate it) Tsuna/Hancock | Post-Stormblood | 993wc Checklist, 1 2 3 / you can tell me what you need ♫ (can it be me?)

14. CLEAR: got a secret (i can't keep it!) Coco & Reese | Endwalker | 1087wc There are better places to give your friend a crisis than the ground, you know.

15. PORTENTOUS: i can't sit idly (no, i can't move at all) Lunya/G'raha | Pastoral AU | 582wc Some people hear a scream in the middle of the night and close their curtains. G'raha runs toward it.

16. JERK: loot it or lose it! Lunya & Vertical | MMO Gamer AU | 272wc EVEYBODY SO MEAN 2 ME

17. TEASE (free day): i bet you play soccer 'cause you're a keeper! Lunya/G'raha & Zaya/Thancred | Misc high school AU | 782wc Two sets of teenagers, both alike in teenage cringefaility, On fair soccer field, where we lay our scene,

18. FISH OUT OF WATER: walking around on those—what do you call 'em? Lunya/G'raha & Cherrypit & Babycorn | Aquarium AU | 993wc Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they're just trying to leave their workplace so they can go on a date but you're like six and too cute to ignore—

19. WEAL: three of swords Felis | Pre-Calamity | 517wc They say bad luck comes in threes, so it makes sense that all three of them ended up in a shitty place by shitty circumstances.

20. HAMPER: cubone applin sinistea! Lunya & G'raha & Babycorn & Butter | Pokemon AU | 523wc Just because you can eat it doesn't mean you should.

21. GRAVE: the weight of living Lunya & G'raha | Pacific Rim AU | 393wc There's an albatross around your neck.

22. FULSOME: absolutely smitten Tsuna/Hancock & Lunya | Post-Endwalker | 586wc Live Lunya Lanya reaction.

[locitawritingsblog]

Kaz and Yeager Moments part 2

This might be spoilers for anyone else who hasn't watch this series yet. I have been re-read my old notebooks, there are some my favorite moments with these two so I decided to write these here.

Yeager checks on Kaz trying to send a message to the resistance. As Kaz thinks he could send a message through the transmitter, it turns out Poe is already standing behind them, surprising them.

When Poe is going to take Kaz for investigate, Kaz is excited but asks how they will get out the colossus without the first order noticing, Poe tells Kaz his plan is crazy but it might work. Yeager immediately knows Poe's plan.

"Oh no, you're not thinking of pulling a widow maker, are you ?"

"Widow maker ? I'm not even married."

Yeager playfully slaps Kaz behind his head as Poe warning "Given how dangerous this will be, that's probably a good thing."

Kaz rushes back to Yeager's repairs with Torra and CB-23, he askes Neeku where is Yeager. Neeku says he's in his office but he immediately knockes on the door when Neeku saying he doesn't want to be disturbed. Yeager tells him to go away but Kaz needs to talk with him about the first order making Hype and Aunt Z disappeared. Yeager lets Kaz, Torra, and CB-23 enter his office. It turns out, Captain Doza, Torra's father is with Yeager.

Yeager tells that he and Doza want to find a way to take down the communications blanket so they can coordinate with the resistance and kick the first order out. Kaz says they don't have time for that

"If we don't act now, we will never see our friends again !"

Yeager thinks about it as calling Kaz. Kaz responds "What ?" "You're right, good luck." Which Kaz is surprised then saying "Thanks Yeager." Before he left Yeager's office with Torra and CB-23.

After Commander Pyre and the stormtroopers caught team fireball for conspiring against the first order, he is gonna impound the fireball ship. Tam is shocked.

"You can't impound the fireball..." She then stared at Kaz and Yeager "..tell them this is all a mistake." Kaz and Yeager start to feel guilty to put Tam and Neeku in danger.

When Commander Pyre shoots Bucket off of the platform, Yeager is shocked as Kaz pulling him back as telling they have to keep moving. Fortunately, Bucket turns out to be fine thanks to chelidae.

Kaz, Yeager, Neeku, and CB-23 make it to enter Yeager's office, Kaz noticed Tam is gonna be captured but Yeager tells Kaz to get inside now as closing the door.

Kaz is panicked as asking why didn't she come and Yeager says that she is confused as escaping through the vents.

During sneaking through the vent, Neeku is confused why the first order chasing them. Kaz feels it's about time to tell him the truth. As he telling that he is a resistance spy, Yeager is shocked hearing as stare them.

After they found the hiding place, they are planning to send the message to the resistance. Kaz has a crazy idea "What if we take on water and drop the Colossus under the ocean ?" Which everyone is so shocked. Yeager says this will destroy the station but Kaz tells him to hear him out.

Yeager listens Kaz's crazy plan that Kaz thinks it will work, he has a doubt about this plan but it is the only way to send the message to the resistance. He follows Kaz and CB-23 swimming to the top of the tower.

Yeager tells Kaz "I know you're not the most experienced spy but I'd fight alongside you any day."

Right after CB-23 sent the message to the message, Kaz is shot which Yeager is shocked seeing him get hurt. Yeager sacrifices himself after he saying good job to Kaz. Kaz is shocked as Yeager pushing him into the sea to escape from the first order. Next, Yeager orders CB-23 to help him and letting himself captured by Commander Pyre and stormtroopers.

There are more to come...

Taglist : @aintinacage , @trapezequeen , @cassie-fanfics , @zaya-mo , @fulltimecatwitch , @kanerallels , @commander-tech , @thebadbatch2022 , @catcucumber-salad

[starlitdrearns]

( corteon moore, twenty-six, cis man, he/him ) ☼ i know it’s a small town, but i run into ISAIAH PALMER every time i go to THE MINES. it’s like they practically live there and not THE MOUNTAIN for TWENTY-SIX YEARS. it must be because they’re KINDHEARTED and FOOLHARDY. come to think of it, that’s probably why they’re an MONSTER SLAYER too. but i did hear they want to KEEP THE VALLEY SAFE, and sometimes they like to SCRAPBOOKING. rumor has it they also like STARFRUIT, but dislike TROUT SOUP. what do you think?

QUICK STATS

full name: isaiah palmer

nickname: zay, zaya (no preference on what he's called, he'll pretty much respond to whatever people call him)

age: 26

date of birth: june 13th

gender: cis man

pronouns: he/him

sexuality: bisexual

relationship status: single

place of birth: stardew valley

occupation: monster slayer

positive traits: kindhearted, curious, confident, loyal, honest

negative traits: foolhardy, idealistic, headstrong, self-sacrificing, wistful

alignment: neutral good

aesthetic: rips in your jeans, the scent of mud, an old photo tucked away in your pocket, bright beams of sunlight peeking through the curtains, the tenderness of a newly acquired bruise, the sound of laughter rising above crickets chirping, ignoring the pounding in your chest and ache from the self-imposed weight resting on your shoulders, dust collecting on small trinkets you can't bare to part with

top 5 most played songs: sos - timothy fleet & wayne murray, good old fashioned lover boy - queen, vienna - billy joel, hellmouth - choir boy, my love mine all mine - mitski

top 4 movies on letterboxd (no way does he actually have a letterboxd bc he does not have the patience to fight the valley internet just to upload a film review but anyway !): fantastic mr. fox, chungking express, paddington, the princess bride

BIO

the eldest of two born to a miner and artisan in the valley, isaiah's never known life outside of the small town. though as a rambunctious youngest he had big plans to see what the rest of the world had to offer, he could never untangle his heart enough from his hometown to leave it in the dust.

death tw. that, and any plans for leaving were quickly dashed out around his twelfth birthday when his father didn't return from the mines. overwhelmed by monsters they said, the details were hard for a young boy whose life had drastically changed in an instant to grasp onto. soon after, his mother, younger brother, and him were moved into his grandparents' home where the grieving family could get a little more support.

unbeknownst to the others in the home, isaiah began sneaking out through the window of his shared bedroom most nights to spend his time swinging large sticks at imaginary monsters. too young to maybe fully grasp how ill prepared he would be to venture in the mines alone and unsure how else to cope, he was determined to avenge his father in some way.

unsurprisingly a twelve year old armed with nothing but a wooden toy sword blindly running around the mines was a recipe for disaster. thankfully, large glassy eyes happened upon an actual monster slayer who was able to assist the boy before he received anything more than a few scrapes and bruises. one stern talking to later and isaiah was hauled out of the mines and returned to his family.

the experience hadn't been great, in fact it was downright terrifying until he was saved, but from that moment forward his mind was made up to become just like his hero. many a day he could be found trailing behind said hero, asking a million questions, imitating the way they carried themself, and folding his arms in a defiant pout whenever he had to be stopped from following in somewhere too dangerous for him.

whether it was because they actually saw promise in isaiah or realized there was no getting rid of the determined youngster, they decided to mentor him, much to his delight. if his seriousness in regards to this endeavor wasn't evident before, it certainly was with all the hard work and effort he put into training and learning all there was to learn about the valley's monsters.

he's been a monster slayer ever since he graduated from high school with a focus on keeping whoever goes into the mines, and the valley as a whole, safe from the local monster population.

MISC.

extremely nostalgic and sentimental. whenever he's not overworking himself, you can usually find him documenting precious memories in stacks of scrapbooks, quietly preoccupied with the fear that life will change in an instant again despite his best efforts and he won't have too many things to remember the people he cares about by.

as mentioned above, definitely overworks himself and is usually sporting some sort of minor injury (bruises, scrapes), but will be quick to brush it off or change the subject entirely. honestly hasn't been a huge fan of anyone fussing over him ever since he lost his dad.

a little worried that his confidence makes him come across as showoff-y when it comes to the whole monster slayer thing when he's like "oh no it's definitely not like that :/"

strives to keep his workload and social life balanced, but his social life ultimately gets neglected more often than not. he keeps telling himself he'll change that, especially since he's an extravert and loves having some sort of company, but he has yet to make any real progress on that goal.

an oversimplified summary of him is probably something like "means well, doesn't often go as planned"

not a drinker, but he'll try to swing by the stardrop saloon on fridays before they close (there's a 75% chance he'll lose track of time and won't make it) to try to catch up with people.

not keen on standing still. he's almost always doing something with his hands or bouncing on his feet.

he's super close to his younger brother, but has a somewhat strained relationship with his mom. suffice to say monster slayer wasn't the job she dreamed up for her son, especially after what happened to his dad.

has a hefty collection of records that used to belong to his dad.

CONNECTIONS/PLOTS

older monster slayer/mentor: (i'll probably send in a wc to the main) the person mentioned in his bio ! he'd still look up to them as a mentor and honestly at this point consider them family for some found family vibes.

childhood friends: others around his age that grew up in the valley ! open to any kind of vibes there !

miners: i imagine he's constantly offering to clear out some monsters for them or even offering to stick close to them while they mine so that's all they have to worry about.

fellow monster slayers or adventurers: maybe they can bond over their mutual interests or something ! or maybe there's a rivalry of sorts (would probably be one-sided bc isaiah would be like we're competing ?? hdajskgfs)

honestly anything !! there's a very good chance i'd be down for whatever ideas you might have for our characters <3

[jlilycorbie]

Hi Jasmine! Happy STS! How do you approach physical descriptions in your writing? Do you try to include it all when they're introduced, lace it through their appearances, or a secret third option? Do you have some snippets of OCs being described that you can share? -- @tisiphonewolfe

Hi Tizzy! Happy STS, and thanks for the ask!

I try to paint a picture of my characters fairly broadly, with details sprinkled through. I try to get basics across: distinguishing features, hair color and maybe length and/or style, eye color, skin tone, loose height, maybe loose weight. Odds are I'll leave out some of that right at the beginning and bring it up later.

From the opening paragraphs of Bad Fences, there's this:

I knew the new neighbors were trouble as soon as the police arrived to collect human bones from their yard. It was move-in day, the street rudely lined with trucks and vans and other cars. They were all loud, like a flock of low-class parrots. The little girl with the big bruise on her face dug around in the raw garden bed, getting her purple princess dress filthy. She solemnly presented her find to the fat one with the Mardi Gras hair, and out came the phone and in came the police. Most of them cleared off before the first patrol car arrived.

And here's Aleksani's introduction in the untitled fantasy WIP:

"Aleksani?" Oyuungah called. "I brought help." A long-nailed hand drew aside a wall, revealing a tall woman with hair like sunset over a forest fire. She swept Zaya with an amber gaze. "You have treated kopaulinok venom?" "Don't think it needs treating," Zaya said. "Just waiting, yeah? It's blood loss and waiting infection for a worry now." The air around Aleksani snapped with power, like the moment before a lightning strike on the mountains. "He screamed until I put him out."

[lillloki]

Echos of forgotten memories

Chapter 2: The dream

Overview: Zaya unlocks her worst memory. At first it was a feeling triggered by a word. But that feeling doesn’t leave her. It haunts her even while she sleeps. More is uncovered in her dream. This new information just gives her even more questions.

Warning: Blood, fighting, emotional trauma

~~~~~~~~~~~

“I did...” My tone was cold. Blades clashing against each other, people yelling out, thunder howling. My mind was too loud.

“Whoa. What?!” Shock and confusion were clearly plastered across his face.

“What?” I was shocked by my own words. I knew it to be true, but I didn’t want to believe it.

“Are you alright? Maybe you should go to bed. It seems like you had a long day.” Ender stood up not saying anything else. The tavern was once again silent.

There was nothing left to do now. The sun had set and the moon rose. It was just the night and I. It felt safe.

I loved the sun, how it felt on my skin. But the night sky. It was like a safety blanket. Everything was silent except for the soft breeze blowing through the trees.

After finishing up my duties, I headed upstairs to my room. Ender was right. I needed to sleep, it had been a long day.

I toss my day clothes to the side and changed into something more comfortable. I laid in bed letting the darkness of sleep come over me.

Dreams of the night wandered into my mind.

I found myself standing in an endless white void. The ground beneath me was covered in a thin layer of water. The vast emptiness around me felt both serene and unsettling. In the distance, I noticed a door, its presence stark and out of place in the boundless emptiness. The door seemed to call to me. I felt a pull towards the door. With each step a splash of light came beneath my feet.

I felt a growing sense of hesitation. The door, though ordinary in appearance, seemed to hold an air of mystery and uncertainty. I paused in front of it, my hand hovering just inches from the handle. Doubts swirled in my mind, but an inexplicable curiosity urged me to find out what lay beyond.

With a deep breath, I grasped the handle. I hesitated for just a moment longer, then slowly pushed it open. As the door creaked on its hinges, a bright light spilled out blinding me for a moment.

Next thing I know I’m no longer at the door.

Grey stone floor formed beneath my feet as tall stone walls rose up from the ground with a domed ceiling. Beautiful murals came into view on the ceiling. Two caught my eye over the others. One depicted a man in gold stand tall with an army behind him. He and the army appeared to have red glowing eyes. The other mural had a man in black standing above a wounded warrior. He looked to be the same man as the one in gold. The only difference was that this one seemed fresher. Almost as is it was done recently.

My thoughts wander to the many possibles.

A cold air fills the room. The thoughts that where once in my head are quickly replaced by shouts. “Look out!! behind you!!” A male voice. But I was alone.

My sense spiked behind me. Swiftly I turn around clashing swords with the attacker. A man with long raven hair dressed in black. His eyes glinted with a dangerous intensity as he pressed forward, his strength nearly overwhelming. I barely managed to hold my ground, the clash of metal echoing through the room.

I knew I had to act fast. Summoning all my strength, I parried his next blow and launched a counterattack, hoping to gain the upper hand.

He raised his sword up for another blow. I moved out of the way causing him to hit the ground. His face twisted with anger as his eyes glowed bright.

I smiled with satisfaction. This was just what I wanted. His swings would become more frantic with every stroke. He’d loose control of his emotions and give me the upper hand.

Something was off.

I positioned my sword ready for his next attack. Within the blink of the eye he was gone. My sword still up at the ready I carefully placed around the room. If I stayed near the wall I’d have an advantage. No sneak attacks now.

A soft click sounded from under me followed by a loud roar of an engine.

“Shit.” I looked down realizing I had stepped onto a hidden pressure plate.

One by one torches started going out till there was no light at all.

I was engulfed in complete darkness, my heartbeat echoing in my ears. The silence was deafening, broken only by the faint hum of an engine somewhere below.

“What now?” I whispered to myself. There was no way I was moving an inch fro

where I was. No dark vision, traps everywhere. Moving even a little would be asking for a death wish.

Then engine stop. I sighed with relief. Only if I could see.

Fire erupted from the small crevices on the floor.

I should’ve thought that. Now I could see but at the extent of almost being caught on fire.

The room glowed in orange as a ring of fire grew closing off any and all exits.

“No one will come to save you.” A sadistic voice racing through my head. “You have no where to go. Just give up.”

“I will never give up!! Not until you are dead at least.” I turned around swinging my sword at nothing. Gone, again. So powerful but still a coward.

My body ached. If I could just lay down for a second. To have a little rest. No, I must stay strong. I was tired, but he wasn’t giving up so nor would I.

“I came all this way for a fight and this is how you treat me?” I growled.

The ring of fire had begun to shrink forcing me back to the center. I stood ready to fight as he sauntered outside the ring.

“COWARD!!! Come and fight me!!”

He chuckled, turning to glare at me. “Your confidence will be your downfall. Much like your friends.” He moved around stalking me like his prey.

“They all fought valiantly until the end.” His voice dripped with bitterness behind me.

“You lie!!!” I spun around quickly bringing up my sword to protect myself. His blade hit mine.

Out blades clashed together making a song of night. A dance of life and death. Each step, each swing, all part of a routine in which only one would survive. Our blades in perfect harmony. Never a beat off.

I swung at his arm but missed. The dance was over.

Pain ripped through my body as he grabbed my shoulder pushing me to my knees. My back now to him. “There is something you should know before you die. The man you loved, he told me something.”

I struggled to free myself from his grasp.

He moved his hand that was once on my shoulder to my face holding it tightly. I was completely helpless.

“Do you know what he told me, Zaya? He told me to kill him. No, he begged me to kill him.” His words dripped off his lips like poison.

I wanted him dead! My sword still in my hand, but useless against him. “He would never beg for death, let alone from you! And I won’t either!”

“Zaya!!”

A sinister smile spread across his pale face.

“He’s alive!”

His hold loosened allowing me to stand up. I swung my sword at his chest. He pushed it away, and my legs gave way. I fell hard to the ground.

A deep menacing laugh escaped his lips. “You think you can kill me? You're nothing but a fool."

I tried to get up but my body was too weak. I was too weak.

The footsteps came closer. A shadow loomed over me. With only one had he grabs the back of my neck forcing me to stand upright on my toes.

The strength he had. Lifting me up with only one hand. He never showed his full power. I should have known that. I never should have come here alone in the first place. I should have stayed back with the others and help them. But I didn’t want to loose the chance to kill him.

“You fear death.” I struggle to get out as I claw at his arm with my free hand.

"And you are afraid to live," His eyes, cold and merciless, bore into mine.

My sword slips from my hand, crashing to the floor with a resonant clang that echoes through the chamber.

I feel the cold, unyielding steel of his blade pierce my flesh, a sudden, sharp intrusion that steals the breath from my lungs. The pain is excruciating. Time seems to slow, each heartbeat a thunderous drum in my ears.

Blood, warm and thick, begins to seep from the wound, staining my clothes. My vision blurs, but I force myself to look into his eyes, refusing to let him see my fear. The blade twists, and a strangled cry escapes my lips.

My strength faded away, my body growing weaker with each passing second. I could feel the warmth of my blood spreading, the life slowly draining out of me.

He released his grip, and I fell to the ground, gasping for air. My hand holds the blade that pierced me, slick with my own blood. It felt like a burning brand, searing through my skin. The pain is unbearable, but I fight to stay conscious.

Each breath is a battle, my chest heaving as I try to draw in enough air.

“Oh…” My voice trembled as I lay there looking up at the ceiling murals. “I see it now…” I struggled to get words out. My eyes focused on the warrior. Now as I bleed out, I come to realize that it was me all along.

“ZAYA!!”

I felt his presence leave as another entered the room.

It slowly became silent, peaceful even. The shouts turn to soft mumbling. I drift off into a sleep I didn’t want to wake up from. A nice little nap. I was so tired.

My vision became blurry preventing me from fully seeing the figures run towards me.

Carefully someone lifted me up. My head leaned against a chest as they held me in their arms. Tears began streaming down my cheeks as he held me tighter.

I could only see the outline of him, but even then, I knew who it was.

With the little energy I had left, I reached my hand up to his face. He moved his face into my hand.

I whisper something to him softly before my arm falls to my side.

My eyes shoot open. The pain was gone. Everything was gone. I was alone in my room

I clutch my chest as I tried to control my breathing. Inhaling sharply, and exhaling slowly. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

Slowly, the scenes from the dream came rushing back. The blade, the blood, the excruciating pain—it all felt so real. My heart pounded in my chest as I tried to shake off the lingering terror.

With trembling hands, I lifted my shirt, half expecting to see nothing but smooth skin. Instead, my breath caught in my throat as I saw it— a jagged scar, stark against my skin.

I stared at it, my mind racing. How could this be? It was just a dream… wasn't it? I traced the scar with my fingertips, feeling the raised edges, the reality of it sending shivers down my spine.

I stumbled out of bed. The sun had begun to rise. Its light spilling through the curtains making everything glow a warm yellow color.

It was all just a dream… But it wasn’t? I needed answers.

[unboundtravels]

 𝐓 𝐎 𝐗 𝐈 𝐂 𝐈 𝐓 𝐀 / Accepting

Zaya has got to be the oddest companion she's ever traveled with. That said, she's also decided to be odd this go around. It works out, personality-wise, anyway. They're a chaotic clash, these two. Though she likes the chaos. That being said... she did wish he was a tend more explorative with her. Their "adventures" are rather tame, and they seldom last longer than a day before she has to drop him off and skip ahead a few weeks. That being said, when they do hang out— she takes them somewhere exotic. It's the advantage of being friends with an alien from space who can go anywhere she wants and be back whenever she needs to be. 

For example— a resort planet thousands of miles away from that little blue planet. It took a lot of convincing to even get Zaya off of Earth, but once she showed him Solis... she assumed he'd be enjoying himself in no time. Thanks to the psychic paper, they were getting bottomless Mai tais, a penthouse suite in the resort, and access to the VIP areas of the resort. Truly, it was like being in Miami... if Miami was fifty trillion years more advanced. She'd wondered if he'd spotted the mermaids, yet. Even if he wasn't enjoying himself, she certainly was.

She was on a towel near the beach. She had a speaker situated in the sand and it was playing beats from a playlist she thinks he made. She can't remember where it came from, she's just playing it on her phone, humming along with the lyrics. She's been lying there tanning for the last couple of minutes. She can't recall where she left Zaya, but she's admittedly been growing a bit bored without him. Resorts were one thing, but she was almost hoping they'd have gotten into a misadventure by now. Oh well, we can't all get what we want, can we?

Periwinkle-toned hair was tied up in a bun, whilst an hourglass figure lay chest-first against the beach towel. Her forearms remain crossed under her chin as she taps her fingers against the towel in tune with the tempo of the music. Her fingernails are a glossy black and her eyes are a bright and striking vermillion. Her bathing suit is untied in the back, as to avoid an uneven tan. She hums quietly before her eyes open when she hears someone approaching from the rear. 

❝ Feel like doing something ridiculous? ❞ @metrictita

Her head perks up at the question, eyebrow cocking as she rests her head in her hands, elbows propping it up. She gives her male companion a quick check with her eyes, moving from head to toe before turning her head away, nose pointed up as her feet swing lightly in the air. She then leans down so that she can tie her bathing suit's top back up. 

"Oh~? Here I was starting to think you'd forgotten about me, Mr. Yoon~" She spoke in a tone meant to tease him, lacing it with a particular more brattier-than-usual inflection. She then propped herself up by her elbows, crossing her leg and resting it against her knee. She raised a finger to push her ruby-red sunglasses further up the bridge of her nose, a cocky little grin making its way known on her features.

"What did you have in mind, Zaya?" She cooed softly, "Ooh! I know, we can overthrow a monarchy on the next moon over, or maybe bully stock market executives into quitting their jobs." She hummed quietly. She then laid on her back, legs uncrossing. Her tone dropped to something more bored and monotone.

"Or did you just mean hit the bar, again... because if all we're doing is drinking... I know way better spots than this."

[lyutenw]

ACOD| Chapter XVI

The night was unforgiven to Aria and her dreams were getting more and more twisted as the hours passed. Raven wouldn't leave her alone and was present in every single fragment of the dreams, haunting her. She would wake up almost every hour drenched in sweat and mistake the shadows of the furniture in front of her for Raven's back walking away from her.

After a feverish night, the morning sun came to salvage Aria, waking her up immediately. The room felt delightfully empty, and Aria calmed down when she realized Ellian was not sleeping by her side and wouldn't be for 6 more days. Yet, she couldn't help but wonder how waking up to Raven by her side would feel like; would it be serene, passionate, happy?

"Not that I have any chance to find out..." Aria murmured and rubbed the sleep off her eyes. She was drenched in sweat and eager to have a bath, but more than that was eager to see Raven's eyes and face.

As Aria got up from her bed and ragged herself to the bath, her thoughts raced. She wondered how she could be thinking of a man she barely knew. Was it because he had helped her so readily?

She shook her head trying to make the thoughts disappear. The corridors were surprisingly full of people and the maids and servants were running up and down in a frenzy. She noticed Marina and quickly cornered her.

"What's going on?" Aria asked, physically blocking Marina from moving on ahead with her arm extended to the wall.

"Good morning my queen!" Marina smiled happily and shifted the basket she was holding from her right to her left side. Whatever the basket contained, it smelled of roses.

"Princess Zaya will be returning to Celenial tomorrow, so per request of the king we are loading the ship with gifts for the royal family." Marina continued, this time with less enthusiasm as with every word she could notice Aria's scowl deepen.

"I see..." Aria trailed off, thinking of how her sister hadn't let her know of anything, especially her departure.

"Do you require my assistance, my queen?" Marina noticed that Aria was heading to the bath and visibly blushed; she had been so preoccupied with everything she had forgotten to assist her master.

"No, it's okay Marina." Aria murmured and let her arm fall to her side, freeing up the way for her maid.

"Go on ahead." She smiled at the girl and took a heavy step forward.

"Princess Zaya is also in the bath, my queen." Marina said quickly before Aria had a chance to walk away.

"It's okay." Aria answered and quickened her pace.

Zaya was completely under the surface of the water once Aria found her. She had been doing it since they were little kids; she would always say that under the water everything would become quieter, and she would feel smaller and way more insignificant that their father made her out to be.

Aria let her nightgown fall to the marble floor and slowly went into the bath, careful not to disturb her sister. But Zaya felt the change in the water and opened her eyes, then resurfaced. She quickly brushed her hair back with her hands and looked at Aria who was washing her own hair with the herbal water.

"How did you know I was here?" Zaya asked, her voice trembling in the slightest.

"I didn't, I just wanted to have a bath." Aria answered, not meeting the eyes of her sister, and continuing to slowly wash her hair.

"Oh... Do you know?" Zaya bit her lip and lowered her gaze to her watery reflection; a distorted and unknown woman looking back.

"Yes." Aria said and floated on her back, her eyes closed and ears deep into the water. Zaya had been right all these years; the water did muffle the world. Her not saying anything more was a sign she didn't want to learn anything about it, not even hear it for fear it was made true, but Zaya didn't pick up on it; she thought her sister was mad that she was leaving.

"I'm so sorry Aria, Ellian told me that I should get back and how our father had written him a letter when I came here that I should not stay any longer, I'm so sorry, you know I don't want to go back." Zaya said in one breath, her voice now trembling along with her entire body. Aria realized that her sister had it just as bad and went near her. She threw her hands around her shoulders and hugged her.

"I know, it's okay." Aria said and caressed her sister's hair, Zaya hugging her back tightly. Aria knew the future of her sister, even though she didn't have the same power as Raven. She knew that she was to marry the man that their father had picked out for her, she would have no choice, just as she hadn't had one.

The two sisters remained in a tight embrace for a long while, until the warm water had turned cold, and they were forced to exit the bath and wrap their bodies in their towels. They didn't say anything else to each other, Zaya because she didn't know what to say other than 'sorry' and Aria because she had nothing to say. Deep down she knew that the day she would be forced to be alone again would come, she just hadn't expected it to be so soon.

Aria walked back to her room quickly, thinking of what to do next. Zaya was to depart the next day before noon, so there was no chance to help her escape her wedding unless she was to come back soon. But the trip to Celenial was almost a week long, so it would be at least a month away before she would be able to come back, if she ever did.

"One more broken promise..." Aria murmured as her heart shattered into a million pieces. She had no chance to help Zaya escape with her lover. As much as it saddened her, Zaya was a lost cause; she would have to marry the man their father had picked out for her or face the consequences. And the consequences would usually be dire.

Her mind raced; whether she liked it or not she would have to focus on her escape. She didn't know when she would see Raven again, but at least she knew she had her papers ready. The only thing left was the money to buy the ticket for the ship and that would be easily acquired in a few days. She looked at herself in the mirror focusing on the necklace adorning her neck. Ellian's gift. She lifted her hand and tugged at it, thinking on whether she wanted to pawn it or not, but as much as she looked at it, the more she couldn't let it go. It wasn't burning her skin like something that didn't belong there, it was stuck, like it had found its missing place like a puzzle piece.

Aria sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. She looked around defeated and let her body fall back. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Finding some minutes to relax made everything hit her at once; all these months she had been cruising through life like a bystander, not the one that everything was happening to. Before she could register it, her tears had escaped her eyes and were streaming down, more with every second that passed. She placed her hands on top of her ears, pressing them so she could hear nothing but her own heartbeat.

Vivid images of Ellian's dark eyes looking at her flooded her mind and she gasped, jerking up from the bed. She was heaving, the air around her not enough for her lungs. The imaginary Ellian was not gone, he was still there, fucking her in that bed despite her screams and cries. Aria curled into a ball and sunk down on the floor. She wanted to become as small as possible, non-existent, so that Ellian couldn't find her again.

❋

When she was done crying, the sun had gone down, and the room was deadly still and silent. She didn't know how long she had been crying, but after a while there were no more tears left and she was just gasping for air. The ghost of Ellian was still lingering, but now it was just his scent and not him.

Aria slowly got up from the floor, her limbs were numb, and she felt exhausted. Her hair had dried completely and was a mess of knots and curls. A knock on the door snapped her out of her trance and she tried to fix her hair before the one on the other side entered.

"Hey." The soft voice of Zaya echoed around the room as she entered and closed the door behind her. She was dressed in her nightgown while Aria was still in her cold towel messily wrapped around her body.

"Hey." Aria answered her voice not coming out right, it sounded chocked, raspy, and anxious. Zaya noticed her sister being in distress and inched closer, grabbed her freshly washed nightgown that had been laid down on the bed by her maids and quietly helped her into it.

Aria was a ghost. Her otherwise plump body, with her soft curves and full hips had grown into a skeletal remain. Zaya didn't comment on anything, she knew that with everything her sister must have been going through, eating had been the last thing on her mind. For the first time, Zaya also noticed her scars, healed and going way back. She didn't know what had caused them, and she didn't have the guts to ask.

Her mind went back to all the times she had seen Aria tiptoe around at nights, leaving her room and going to the unknown for years as they grew up. She had noticed her grow up with deepened black circles under her eyes and had noticed their father developing them as well. She shook her thoughts away; Aria hadn't told her, so she didn't need to know.

"Thank you." Aria croaked out and despite trying not to, she started crying again. She knew she had to be the older and stoic sister, but her emotions were too much. She was losing her one person to hold on to before she drowned.

Zaya didn't know what to do' she could count the times she had seen Aria cry on the fingers of one hand. She internally panicked, but she managed to make Aria lie down on the bed and hugged her.

They stayed there, hugging, until Zaya fell asleep, but Aria was still awake.

"I'm so sorry Zaya, I'm so sorry." Aria cried out, knowing that Zaya couldn't hear her as she was fast asleep. Aria felt so selfish not being able to help her sister escape and live her life. Her heart was heavy thinking that Zaya would go back to Celenial, and she would marry a man she didn't love. She had to save herself and despite knowing that most of her tears fell for her poor little sister that had been birthed a few minutes later.

When she was younger, Aria would keep thinking that everything that was happening to her was because she was the first born. Growing up she had realized that it was because she had been the daughter of the servant. Her life had been decided as she had exited her mother's womb; she would be the sacrificial bride that would unite the two kingdoms that had been at war for 100 years. It hadn't mattered that Zaya had been the one the king of Oceana had wanted as a bride; it had always been her fate to wed Ellian, whether she ended up dead or not.

There had been a rumor circulating the palace of Celenial for years after the birth of Zaya. It was said that the queen had induced her labor by punching and hitting her stomach after she had learnt that Aria's mother had gone into labor. Aria had always wondered how bad one must want power to risk harming their own child, but now she understood.

She would do anything to kill Ellian and be the queen, but would she do it, she would be dead. Her only chance was escaping. Her only fighting chance was Raven.

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

Tag List: @angie-j-kay @mysticstarlightduck @boundedsea @pheonix-thefirebird @quillinhand @lottierae1 @puckpuckett @aalinaaaaaa

[duskowithapen]

After Ifrit

January's Rambles Day 6

Word Count: 1067

After Ifrit

Ifrit was extinguished, but the flames around her weren’t. Zaya shuddered, skin crawling along the edges of new burns, and she breathed in

Ifrit was extinguished, but the flames around her weren’t.

Zaya flopped onto her back. She ignored the way her skin crawled along the edges of new burns, how warm her chainmail felt above the protective padding, the odd angle her tail was caught in beneath her. She just wanted to revel on the feeling of being alive. A victory song warbled out of cracked lips, and she licked them to sooth the sting.

A mistake.

Zaya coughed and gagged as ash and blood coated her tongue. She rolled onto her side, curling into a shaking, shuddering ball despite how much her body did not want her moving right now. Pressing her scarf to her nose, Zaya tried to focus on the faint scent of Tataru’s preferred soap rather than smoke. Her breathing slowly evened out, but it only made the ache in her throat – her hands – her chest – her aether – so much worse. Aether that flared in animal terror as the sound of footsteps reached her horns. Pain was pushed aside as Zaya rolled to find her katana.

The footsteps grew faster, closer.

No, no more – not again!

A whine escaped a tight throat. Her katana appeared under a scrabbling hand, still smouldering from Ifrit’s last strike, and Zaya forced herself to her feet. She darted towards the cavern entrance – towards those footsteps – and at this speed, it didn’t matter that her arms were shaking. Her sword still struck true.

Or at least, it would have. If her target was anyone but Thancred.

The pale-haired man yelped, eyes wide, and caught the blow with his own sword. “Zaya – Zaya, it’s me! It’s Thancred!”

Her mind knew this. It recognised the strange mask on his shoulder, the curling red markings on his neck, the steady sand-over-bedrock of his aetheric signature. But her body didn’t. Her body was still primed for battle. Like this, Thancred wasn’t a safe haven – he was another enemy to defend against, to defeat before he could tear and burn and hurt her. She delivered another crushing blow, sending the man sliding to the side.

“It’s me, Zaya, calm down!”

It’s Thancred, it’s Thancred, her mind hummed, safe-steady-warm.

It’s an enemy, it’s an enemy, her mind yelled, hurt-pain-no-more!

Zaya flipped backwards out of reach, scrabbling at the drained well of her aether reserves. If she could just conjure a shield – heal the wound dripping blood into her boot – catch him in Higanbana –

“Zaya!” Thancred seemed to appear out of nowhere. Air that was once empty was no longer so. Her katana was flicked from her hand. A strong arm wrapped around her waist, lifting her over a hip and slamming her to the ground. Zaya snarled, tail whipping out and around to slam against a restraining leg. Above her came a muffled curse, but she was too busy trying to fight against the forearm stretched across her collarbone, hands clawing at wrist and elbow. Another hand grasped her chin.

“Look at me, Zaya – look at me!”

It was the smell that cut through the panic. Fresh cut wood, Thanalan dust, perfume. “Th-thancred?” The fight went out of her. Limbs went limp. Eyelids began to flutter. Every injury seemed to catch up with her at once, pulsing through her body. A whimper rang through her teeth as her body tensed again. Thancred put more pressure on her chest, legs shifting to better pin hers, hand moving to restrain the end of her tail.

“I – I’m okay, daijoubu,” Zaya relaxed her grip on Thancred and tilted her head forward, breathing in the pine and sand and flower scent, only to flinch from the blood that smeared across her jaw – blood that wasn’t hers. “Daijoubu desu ka, ah, are you – are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

“It’s alright, just a scratch,” Thancred soothed, slowly releasing her from the pin to kneel at her side. “Are you back with me now?”

Zaya nodded, leaning back into his supporting hands as he pulled her upright. Head heavy, she couldn’t help but slump forward into Thancred, pressing her face into that space between his neck and shoulder. Mmmm, so warm… The thump-thump of his heartbeat was just wonderful against her horn, and she couldn’t help but tilt her head into it, rubbing scar and scale into the softness of his shirt. Her own racing heart began to slow.

“Whoa there!” Thancred seemed startled by her actions, but not annoyed, given the way he curled an arm around her back. “Don’t go passing out on me now,” he said, “We should get you back to Camp Drybone.”

A grumble vibrated in her chest. Don’t wanna move… Her hand left red and black streaks where she clutched his shirt, and she hummed an apology. Still didn’t want to get up though.

Thancred’s grip changed to resting against her back to being tucked under her arms, and Zaya growled as the man stood, dragging her along. She let her body go limp. Showing off a strength hidden by his loose clothes and charming smiles, Thancred held Zaya straight out from his body like a disgruntled cat. Her feet dangled a good foot from the ground, and she kicked them half-heartedly. Her tail drew little squiggles in the sand. Thancred had a look on his face like he was trying very, very hard not to smile.

“Are you going to keep being difficult?” He asked.

Zaya frowned. “Y’don’t have to help me,” she rumbled, “I can get back to camp.” In a little bit… after I’ve had a nap.

“Uh huh.” Thancred did not seem convinced. He sighed. “Alright, c’mon.”

Zaya didn’t protest as the man drew her in closer, gladly curling arms, legs and tail in against the warmth, but grumbled loudly when he tried to move her elsewhere.

“I’m trying to help you, you silly lizard,” Thancred said, pulling and pushing her limbs until she was curled up against his back, rather than his front. Blood spread across his white shirt, and Zaya pawed at it.

“Sorry ‘bout y’shirt,” she slurred into his collar, “Clean it f’you later, p’omise.”

“Just don’t go falling asleep back there,” Thancred said, deliberately shuffling the grip he hand on her thighs, “And try not to let your tail trip me up, will you?”

To be continued... when I don't have to go to work

[newstfionline]

Sunday, October 8, 2023

How Do Americans Feel About Politics? ‘Disgust Isn’t a Strong Enough Word’ (NYT) Whitney Smith’s phone buzzed with a text from her mother, alerting her to the latest can-you-believe-it mess in Washington: “Far right ousted the House speaker. Total chaos now.” Ms. Smith, 35, a bookkeeper and registered independent in suburban Phoenix, wanted no part of it. She tries to stay engaged in civic life by voting, volunteering in local campaigns and going to city meetings. But over the past week, the pandemonium of a narrowly averted government shutdown and leadership coup in the Republican-controlled House confirmed many Americans’ most cynical feelings about the federal government. “It was just like, Oh God, what now?” she said. Griping about politics is a time-honored American pastime but lately the country’s political mood has plunged to some of the worst levels on record. In dozens of recent interviews across the country, voters young and old expressed a broad pessimism about the next presidential election that transcends party lines, and a teetering faith in political institutions. “Disgust isn’t a strong enough word,” said Bianca Vara, a Democrat and grandmother of five in the Atlanta area.

Venezuelan Migrant Surge Overwhelms Chicago (NYT) The buses packed with Venezuelan migrants are now arriving in downtown Chicago day and night, doubling in number in recent weeks. City officials are struggling to open more shelters, while more than 2,300 migrants are sleeping at police stations, in lobbies and just outside in makeshift camps. At the city’s airports, migrants who have just landed sleep on the floor, many with babies and toddlers, as local officials plead for more help from the federal government. “We don’t have any place for them to go,” said Cristina Pacione-Zayas, deputy chief of staff for Mayor Brandon Johnson. “We are scrambling.” Like New York and a number of other cities in the country, Chicago is straining to provide for the growing numbers of migrants who have arrived over the last year on buses from the U.S.-Mexico border. But with Chicago’s infamously cold winter fast approaching, volunteers and leaders are worried that things will only get worse. “It’s a logistical nightmare,” said Andre Vasquez, the chairman of the city’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “You’re going to see more people on the street figuring out a way to survive.”

Guatemala’s top court upholds suspension of president-elect’s party. His supporters block roads (AP) Activists blocked roads Friday in surging demonstrations to support President-elect Bernardo Arévalo after Guatemala’s highest court upheld a move by prosecutors to suspend his political party over alleged voter registration fraud. Arévalo has denounced the suspension as a “coup” aimed neutralizing him before he takes office in January, and his supporters are demanding the resignation of the prosecutors responsible. Street blockades that started this week grew from 14 on Monday to 58 road and highway blockages Friday. Without his party, Arévalo may be hamstrung after he takes office Jan. 14. Arévalo says politically motivated prosecutors are trying to overturn his victory in August elections. Prosecutors say some of the signatures used to register Arévalo’s party may have been false. The Organization of American States observation mission said prosecutors’ actions appeared to be aimed at keeping Arévalo from taking office.

Ukraine battles to shape the narrative on its grueling counteroffensive (Washington Post) As Ukrainian forces press ahead with their closely-watched counteroffensive, another battle is underway: the fight to control the story and influence how the world sees the war. After much hand-wringing about slow progress and grim assessments of Ukraine’s prospects through the summer, Ukrainian and Western officials in recent weeks have focused on reshaping the narrative to manage expectations and shore up support through the winter. Four months of brutal fighting and steep losses have not yielded the results that Kyiv and its Western backers hoped for. Despite some Ukrainian progress in breaking through dense Russian defenses, fears of a frozen conflict—and crumbling international support—loom. There is also anxiety that after dominating the public relations war, largely thanks to the formidable skills of President Volodymyr Zelensky, a former actor, Ukraine is losing its edge, while Russian President Vladimir Putin are gaining traction in their insistence that Moscow’s forces are winning. Controlling the narrative is crucial to maintaining public support for Ukraine’s fight, which has begun to waver in some Western countries including the U.S. Debate over the high spending on Ukraine already has factored into national election campaigns in Poland and in Slovakia.

Geologist fears for Istanbul (NYT) The news that a powerful earthquake had struck southern Turkey first reached the eminent geologist in a pre-dawn video call from a phone number he did not recognize. “Professor, please save us,” he recalled the woman saying. But the call cut out and he lost the number in the flood of calls he received that day. He never learned who the woman was or what had happened to her. “I cried for two hours,” said the geologist, Naci Gorur, a retired professor who has made it his life’s work to warn Turks about the tremendous threat that earthquakes pose to their country and to implore them to prepare. The woman had called after the first of the two powerful quakes that hit southern Turkey on Feb. 6 of this year, together killing more than 50,000 people in Turkey and 6,000 in neighboring Syria. In a land with multiple active faults and a history of catastrophic quakes, Dr. Gorur has become the most prominent voice sounding the alarm about seismic threats and suggesting how society can mitigate them. He is particularly worried about Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city and economic engine, whose 16 million inhabitants he fears could face a debilitating quake sometime in the near future. “Istanbul is not ready at all,” he said, predicting that collapsed buildings would leave tens of thousands of people buried under rubble and clog the city’s narrow roads, hampering rescue work and aid delivery.

Afghanistan earthquake: At least 120 killed and 1,000 injured in 6.3 quake (BBC) Hundreds of people are feared dead and at least 1,000 are injured after a powerful earthquake hit western Afghanistan, near the Iranian border. The 6.3 magnitude quake struck about 40km from the western city of Herat at around 11:00 local time (06:30 GMT). Many buildings were damaged, trapping people under rubble and there were at least three powerful aftershocks. Survivors described their terror as office buildings first shook, and then collapsed around them.

Flooding in Indian Himalayas kills 50 (Washington Post) About 50 bodies were recovered and significant infrastructure was destroyed during flooding in India’s northeast this week, with dozens missing and over a thousand tourists stranded in the Himalayan state of Sikkim, according to authorities. A glacial lake overflowed and flooded the Teesta River in Sikkim, a mountainous region between Bhutan and Nepal, on Wednesday, after a cloudburst of sudden, extreme rainfall, authorities said. There were 27 confirmed deaths in Sikkim, according to state government figures released Saturday, and at least 23 bodies were recovered downstream in neighboring West Bengal state, the Sikkim government said. The flooding washed away the Sikkim Urja hydroelectric dam at Chungthang, more than a dozen bridges, a sewerage treatment plant, and a highway and other roads. Ongoing rescue operations have moved almost 2,500 people to safety, while thousands are in relief camps, the state government said.

Chinese holiday travel (AP) Chinese tourists jammed popular sites as travel bounced back to pre-pandemic levels during a recent eight-day national holiday, giving a temporary boost to China’s flagging economy. The government said that tourism revenues reached about 753 billion yuan ($103 billion) during the combined Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day holiday period that ended Friday, a rise of 1.5% over 2019 and 130% compared to last year when pandemic restrictions were still in place. China maintained locked-downs and other restrictions much longer than most other countries, enforcing a “zero-COVID” policy until last December. But a hoped-for consumer spending boom after the lifting of restrictions hasn’t materialized, as many Chinese remain cautious with an unfolding real estate crisis weighing on the economy and youth unemployment topping 20%.

China Is Becoming a No-Go Zone for Foreign Executives (WSJ) Foreign executives are scared to go to China. Their main concern: They might not be allowed to leave. Beijing’s tough treatment of foreign companies this year, and its use of exit bans targeting bankers and executives, has intensified concerns about business travel to mainland China. Some companies are canceling or postponing trips. Others are maintaining travel plans but adding new safeguards. The reluctance among foreign executives to travel to mainland China could put more strain on the relationship between Beijing and the U.S., which has been damaged by tensions over Taiwan, competition for supremacy in the race for AI chips and a prolonged trade war.

Hamas surprise attack out of Gaza stuns Israel and leaves hundreds dead in fighting, retaliation (AP) Backed by a barrage of rockets, dozens of Hamas militants broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip and into nearby Israeli towns, killing dozens and abducting others in an unprecedented surprise early morning attack during a major Jewish holiday Saturday. A stunned Israel said it is now at war with Hamas and launched airstrikes in Gaza, vowing to inflict an “unprecedented price.” In an assault of startling breadth, Hamas gunmen rolled into as many as 22 locations outside the Gaza Strip, including towns and other communities as far as 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Gaza border. In some places, they roamed for hours, gunning down civilians and soldiers as Israel’s military scrambled to muster a response. Gunbattles continued well after nightfall, and militants held hostages in standoffs in two towns. Israel’s national rescue service said at least 200 people were killed and 1,100 wounded, making it the deadliest attack in Israel in decades. At least 198 people in the Gaza Strip have been killed and at least 1,610 wounded in Israeli strikes, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. Hamas fighters took an unknown number of civilians and soldiers captive into Gaza, a deeply sensitive issue for Israel. After nightfall, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza intensified, flattening several residential buildings in giant explosions.