#Okay I admit it I am no longer normal about them :/ Darn

[sysig]

Colour picking, palette teasing (Patreon)

[perpetuallyconfuzzled]

Yo’ can I nag and theorize about Beauty & the Beast (1991+2017) for a second???

You’re still here??? OKAY COOL CAUSE I AM NOT HOLDING BACK ANY LONGER, HOLD ON CAUSE ITS A LONG ONE SO while I can admit I did like a few things from the Live-Action remake version of Beauty & the Beast, mostly how stunning the cinematography and animation was as well as the music (I AM A SLUT FOR EVERMORE) the thing that was breaking my head was how obvious the movie was trying to justify the plot holes of the first movie like a ‘wink wink nudge nudge’ while accidentally making it seem worse???   and even more when I don’t think it was necessary cause kids either never realized or came up with their own little HCs on how that happened (And yes I will mention what my childhood interpretation was cause darn it I am actually proud of this many-year-in-the-making-theory that I keep adding on to and I refuse to be embarrassed about it any longer, heck maybe others thought the exact same thing too so I shall bite the bullet and be cringe as hell!) btw I divided this shit in case you just wanted to know why I thing the new enchantress was an asshat with her curse (The Nagging) or read the interpretation/theorizing I’ve been doing since I was a child (The Theory)

The Nagging half-

okay so first things first the new movie says that the beast would become a monster and the rest of staff living in the castle would also suffer the spell’s magic until the beast learned how to love and be loved by another, all before the last petal fell if not they would be stuck like this forever (except the staff, they’d become actual furniture and leave a mad beast all alone) mind you, ALL OF THIS was also taking into account that NO ONE would ever remember anyone that was inside this castle, including family members like spouses or siblings (heck even children or parents would forget)

Meanwhile the OG Disney movie said that the beast and those in the castle would fall for her spell until the beast learned how to love and be loved by another (same as always) BUT the last petal would fall on his 21st birthday, if he didn’t get his shit together by 21 he a monster forever.... and that was about it

Now that that’s out of the way, how is the 2017 movie’s enchantress nOT CONSIDERED A BIGGER ASSHOLE THAN THE OTHER ONE?! 

“Ah, yes! I will make you learn your lesson of compassion by making everyone that’s ever known of you forget y’all ever even existed even tho most of those villagers are your loved ones. I shall give you this magic rose whose petals will sporadically fall and you will NEVER KNOW which year will be your last of sentience. I will make you also stop aging while those outside (again, most are family members and friends) may age and die!”

and they DO outright state that MANY years passed with them waiting yet never aging, and judging by the villagers all living their life normally and having memories of time passing by I am guessing they didn’t get affected by that same magic (unless they are all trapped in a loop which is horrifying) 

“But wait!”

you may say

“Maybe that much time didn’t actually pass! all their family is there after all!”

My friend that means either the Enchantress gave the poor guy like 2 years to stop being an asshole and get himself a girlfriend somehow OR that those inside the castle felt time pass much much faster and both does scenarios sound hellish, actual faerie shit. 

How was this man suppose to do this??? Also the lady just sat there in the village waiting just for fun? to see if something did happen? Woman legit let a riot of scared villagers storm the castle of the guy she enchanted and let possibly kill/destroy a family member or friends THAT THEY DIDN’T EVEN KNOW EXISTED and did nothing until belle finally confessed her love for beast so she could walk in all casual and lift the spell. What if it was too late huh? just take the dead rose, tip your hat to the mourning woman and dead monster you cursed and walk away never letting go of the amnesia spell? MR POTTS COULD HAVE HIS GOD DAMN CHILD AND WIFE TURN INTO EXTREMELY BREAKABLE AND INANIMATE OBJECTS AND HE’D NEVER FUCKING KNOW

HOW IS THAT NOT EXTREMELY FUCKING MESSED UP?! FAE SHIT MAN I TELL YOU!!

She is somehow making the OG enchantress seem reasonable and that one turned a poor 11 year old who called her ugly once into a monster!

The Theory half- 

“okay smartypants, do YOU have a better idea?”

I DON’T KNOW BUT I CAN TRY!! I’ve had this cooking in my head since I was a kid so let me tell you what OG enchantress was doing and what was going on!

First point, yes I am a firm believer that the “Ten years we’ve been rusting” was not an exaggeration cause, at least in my kiddy mind, it made absolute sense cause it would explain why the beast was so nasty with Belle and acting like an animal, he’s lived like a beast since he was a kid! His table manners are absolutely the result of 10 years without needing hold a spoon to eat. The other thing that made me think he was actually a kid when he got cursed was the fact that he couldn’t read that well, he even admits that he knew little and that it was a long time ago since he had done so! Imagine being 11 and turning into a monster with your only guardians all becoming talking objects, don’t think anyone could really sit him down to help him read!  That and I remember watching a Beauty and the Beast Christmas movie years ago and believe me that prince does NOT look or behave a day older than 13 year old but that's mostly extra It could also explain why no one pay any mind to that weird castle on the hills. Admittedly I also thought as a child that the only logical conclusion was that the spell made everyone forget there was a castle with a prince nearby but after more thought (and falling out of love for the idea after considering the implications and how little that would actually help towards the beast since the curse was so he’d learn a lesson) it really doesn’t need such a specific or convoluted explanation like, if you see a big big castle that has no one going in and out for years you would assume it was abandoned and/or haunted right? most people would have stirred away from the clearly abandoned and creepy place! They were a tiny peasant village at the other side of the woods that was a day or so away from a cross road that either led to a main road towards more villages and the capitol or more woods and the lonely palace (judging by Belle’s dad’s navigating scene), and its also royal property so its not far fetched that most villagers wouldn’t be going anywhere near their so it makes sense the weren’t really up to date with the prince, do you know what your president, their brother or youngest son is doing right now and where they are living without using your phone, TV or newspaper? “okay but then the Enchantress was just legit evil, she saw some rude kid and cursed him! That was a kid!” Oh I am with you on that one but I can kind of think of her (fairy?) logic as to why she’d decide to curse such a young child. An old lady knocks at your door, it is a cold dark night, wolves are known to roam nearby, you know its about a day’s travel to the nearest village by horse how well would an old frail lady fair on such journey by foot? It’s a miracle she’s made it here and all she asks of you is a place to sleep for the night and in exchange she will give you her only possession: 1 single rose. Now imagine how self-centered and cruel the person must be to take a look at that person, scoff in disgust at how ‘ugly and old’ they are “how dare you ruin my evening!” and slam the door to her face. And somehow a child did that. Cared so little that they didn’t even let her sleep in the stables, didn’t even offer a scrap of food or a blanket, not even a “sorry but I cannot”, he scoffed, mocked her and closed the door, dooming the old lady to die in the cold or be eaten by wolves. How can a child this young already be this rotten? If this is his behavior as a child, what would happen once he’s an adult? No, he still has time to change and so she sets the curse, a curse that can only be broken once someone who’s never known love or been unconditionally loved must learn now before its to late, he’d have plenty of time to learn and reflect but if by the time he’s an adult he’s still the same cruel boy, then so be it. “okay but the staff! They also had nothing to do with this and she still turned them into objects, curse them by no fault of their own!” Yet they let the child grow ever more vain and cruel, fear his step and bend to his demands, he was a prince after all and a bratty one at that, obviously he doesn’t need adult supervision or help or love or guidance or sOMETHING. In the 2017 remake I felt bad for those in the castle who ended up turned into objects, their only sin was being at the wrong place at the wrong time while in the 1991 (and this realization started coming to me in middle school) they were put to serve and look after this young prince and somehow they let him become so badly behave that a literal magical being had to step up to stop this brat from becoming a monster, they were merely acting as tools, furniture, accessories to the prince’s palace. They were so afraid of a child they dare not anger him and let his temper go as wild as he pleased, so the kid less as an 11year old and more as just some prince that payed for their wage. The kid viewed them as nothing more than objects for HIS domain since that’s all they were good for in his eyes. And what if that was just the spell? To look exactly as how prince/the palace perceives you? The prince saw nothing but objects that’d always serve him so they became ageless objects while the palace saw nothing but a future monster so he became a beast (honestly the idea that everyone just saw this kid as a monster is pretty fucking sad) And it would make sense right? It makes sense the enchantress not only saw the child as a problem but also the servants, so she would cast a spell to show them all, now their lives are at the princes’ heart’s mercy, now they really had to step up and discipline the child if they wished to be saved from an eternal life as tools under the eyes of a monster

[oppatxtme]

Christian Yu: The Eve

x Christian Yu x

Note: Read at Your Own Risk ~~ (ง⌐□ل͜□)ง Type: One Shot [ masterlist ]

A/N: This is a request from an Annon. I know it took a while but hope y’all like it. BTW. Happy New Year friends! ♥

-----

'Is she not coming to work?'

"Hey, Scott!" Christian called his friend when he saw him walked past his door from the hall.

Scott walked and stop to peek at Christian's studio.

"What's up?" he asked while still looking at his phone.

"How's the photoshoot yesterday?" Christian asked about the shoot scheduled for Live and you are one of the editors.

"It went according to our theme. But it lasted longer than expected because it suddenly snowed a little during the shoot." Scott explained. "Why?" he managed to look away from his phone screen and look at Christian.

"Oh, so, what time did you guys finish?" Christian asked not answering Scott's question.

"Maybe around 3 am," Scott answered. He decided to sit on the sofa inside Christian's studio - thinking that this might take a while. He knew Christian and asking questions without answering his - only means that somethings going on.

"I see. So I guess most of the crew will not be coming today since you guys finished late." Christian said while taking a spin at his chair.

"Not really. I think they'll be here doing the edit and all." Scott said still looking at Christian.

Christian tried to avoid Scott's gaze.

"Really? So maybe I can take a look at the scene later with Y/N." Christian said and turn his back from Scott to face his monitor.

'Smooth.' Scott thought and can't help but smirked at his friend's childish game. He's avoiding directly asking about Y/N because of the drunk accident happening before.

*** 3 weeks ago, the crew decided to go out for a dinner then drink after to celebrate Christian's debut. But just as everyone getting ready to go home. You're so wasted that you confessed to Christian without minding the few people remaining outside the pub.

All were shocked because they didn't expect you to confess at all. All of them have an idea that you have feelings for Christian for years - but Christian's so dense and treat you as a little sister at that time. He did not expect it and he was so dumbfounded that he laughed it out and saying that he only sees you as his lil'sister.

"Thank you, Y/N - but you're my little sister that I never had. I'm sorry." Christian said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Yes, you were drunk at that time. And you wished you forgot everything that had happened to that point. But it was impossible. Now you know that it was all a lie when people said they forget everything that happened to them when they're wasted. LIES!

But even if you remembered everything - you acted that you forgot about it. It was not like you, but being rejected face to face - it fvcking hurts!

You can't afford to lose your dream job just because of your drunken mistake.

You acted that everything is good between you and Christian - but it is noticeable that you're putting a distance between the two of you.

****

"I think you can check the raw ones with her assistant later." Scott get up from the sofa and was about to leave.

"Huh? Why her assistant? Where's Y/N?"

"She's taking a rest for the day. I think she catches a cold during the shoot. I'm planning to check on her later. We know how she can be when it snows. You're welcome to join me if you want." Scott dropped a teasing tone towards Christian.

"Ah. Okay. Just call me when you're going." Christian said not noticing Scott's teasing.

----

Christian can't focus on his work. He keeps ending up thinking about you.

He looked at his phone - checking if Scott text him about going to your place but he sighed when he sees nothing.

He can already admit that this is not like him at all. He told you that he only sees you as a friend - he even regards you as his little sister. But something inside him disagree.

'Do I like-love her?' Christian questioned himself. But it was cut-off when his phone rang.

It was from Scott.

"Hey. Wait a sec - I'll just save my files." Christian said right after answering.

"About that, I can't go to Y/N right now. Mr. Ahn called and requesting a meeting with Dabin." Scott said.

"Did you call Y/N?" Christian asked.

"Not yet. I tried calling to see if she's alright but she's not answering. Maybe she's just sleeping. We can visit her later - after work."

"No. I can check her now since I already shut down my PC." Christian said as he walked out from his studio.

Scott smirked because he knew well that Christian never shutdown his PC at his studio.

"Okay. Call me when you get there." Scott ended the call.

---

You were dreaming about someone was knocking at your door and keep pressing the doorbell. The doorbell gets louder every time that it woke you up.

Then you realized that it was not a dream but someone really is knocking at your door.

'Maybe it's Scott. He did mention that he will drop by'. You thought as you tried your best to get up.

You opened the door.

"Are you planning on breaking my door Sco-C-Christian! How..?" you can feel your face burning up.

"I came instead of Scott," he said avoiding your eyes.

"I see," you said. Both of you just standing there between the door. 'Okay, this is awkward'.

"Are you okay...?" Christian asked and managed to meet your eyes.

It's hard for you to stop the cough because your throat is just itching.

"I'm okay now, so you don't have to..." you looked down. Not really wanting for Christian to see you at this state. But suddenly your vision got dizzy and that made you lean forward.

Christian caught you.

"You're not okay at all." He said.

You can't tell if he's mad or worried. He guided you to your bed. And you keep coughing all the time. You want to stop so he can't see but it's really not that easy.

'I'm here now, but I don't know what to do for her. I can feel that Y/N doesn't like me here, I'm sure this situation is stressful for her'. Christian thought. 'I guess I need to try and help her feel better...'

"Did you already eat something?" Christian asked you while you're fixing the pillow at your back to sit properly.

"No," you said.

"Good thing I brought rice porridge. Eat this, then take the medicine." He said while taking out the porridge from the paper bag he had.

"I'm fine." you insisted. You just want him to leave and you can sleep. But for some god's play - your tummy decided to protest.

"Just eat." Christian tried his best to not laugh. He handed you the container for the porridge.

"Okay..." you said helplessly.

---

"Thank you for the porridge..." you said as Christian took the container from your hand.

"Now take the medicine, and go to the hospital tomorrow for an IV drip." He said as he hands you a glass of water.

"A-*cough* cold like this will be over once I slept on it. I don't have to go." you took meds and the glass of water.

"You're not going to go? When you're this sick?" Now he really sounded worried.

"I'm really all right, Christian... You can go now..." you insist as you tried to put the glass on your side table but he stops you and leans forward to get the glass from your hand. And put his hand at your forehead. You automatically closed your eyes when you felt the warmth from his hand.

"No way. At your condition right now..." Christian said. "You're burning up..." he was shocked because he was not expecting you to be this sick.

"I'm fine..." you opened your eyes. Then there you realize how you and Christian's face is so close. You can't help but blush.

Christian realizes the situation and immediately put away his hand from your forehead. "J-just go to the hospital. Darn it!"

You can't help but smile a little. You find him cute.

Christian stands up. "Try to lie back down. I'll go get a wet towel for you."

"Okay..." you said. You guess that it's no use arguing with him. As you lie down. You can't help close your eyes as you tremble. "Ugh... it's cold..."

"You're cold?" Christian saw you.

You opened your eyes and he was standing at the end of your bed. You got up.

"Just a little... I just need to put more clothes on." You said as you tried to get off the bed and walk to your closet.

"No." Christian stopped you from getting up. "You have to bring your fever down. All you need is to change into a T-shirt and shorts instead. Wait. I'll get that for you."

"Huh? W-what?"

Christian walked towards your closet and as if he owns it, he easily finds your clothes and throws it at you.

"I'm turning the light out." and he did turn off the lights.

You have no choice but change. You felt that your clothes already wet from your sweat. When you finished changing, Christian sit beside your bed and gently put the wet towel on your forehead.

"Ian, you should really go now..." you said in between your coughs.

'How can I go when you're like this?' Christian thought as he looked at you.

You felt him get up. You closed your eyes. 'Finally, he's leaving.' you thought.

Christian sighed.

"Move over a bit." you heard him.

You opened your eyes not really understood what he said. But the next thing you know that Christian slip his body beside you - in the bed. Your body automatically moved from the side to give him space.

Now Christian is hugging you from the back. If the two of you are dating - then this might be normal - cuddling you as you're feeling cold. But the two of you are way far from dating!

'Shit! What is he doing! What is he thinking?! I don't know if this will help me or it will make it worse.' You can't help but worry. You need to calm down because you're not sure if Christian can feel how your heartbeat is running wild.

"You'll be less cold like this," Christian said. Every word he said, you can feel the warmth of his breath from the side of your ear.

"C-Chris-tian... you don't really have to-"

"Just stay still. I'll leave once you fall asleep." Christian said firmly. "You'll be asleep soon since you took the medicine."

'How in God's way can I be still in this situation?! God-someone please save me!'

"Y/N. Close your eyes and go to sleep," Christian said.

You closed your eyes. But really not know how you can fall asleep with the fact that you can feel his body heat.

You don't know if it's the fever or because of him, but you feel dizzy and your mind is a mess.

But one thing is clear.

Your heart is beating so fast and the warmth from Christian's arms that you don't feel cold anymore.

You tried to close off your heart - as best as you could. But Christian's warmth is slowly melting down the walls you barely created.

"Christian Yu... why are you doing all this for me? It's like... as if you love me... How can I push you away if you're going to be like this?" you froze when you realized that you voice out your thoughts.

Christian's arms around your waist tighten.

"You're right," Christian said as he leans closer that you can feel his breath from your right ear. "I do love you and I was a fool when I denied that fact - something that obvious. I know for a long time that I treated you differently from anyone else. I'm sorry if I pretend and fight what I was feeling just because I don't want to admit that what I said before was wrong."

You tried to move to face him but Christian stopped you and buried his head between your neck. He also holds your hand and tightens his embrace.

"Please. Let me hold you like this as you fall asleep. I promise I will leave as soon as your temperature goes down."

You said nothing and just pulled him closer to you.

'I think this is a good reason to love the snow season.' You slept smiling while at Christian's embrace.

---

[ masterlist ]

[ericssmile]

let me adore you || eric.n

warning(s): reader being an absolute clutz; swearing; really not that much tbh; oh yeah, and even more shit writing

pairing: eric nam x reader

genre: friends-to-lovers; fluff; maybe some angst if you look close enough; a little bit of crack

author: @ericssmile

summary: to put it simple, you and Eric are best friends who, of course, both have feelings for one another, but are just too darn scared to say anything about it (or just won’t admit to it)

word count: 4.2k

Part One of ??

a/n: I am so sorry... this is probably shite but oh well 😅

||𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚂𝚝𝚢𝚕𝚎𝚜' 𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝙰𝚍𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚈𝚘𝚞 (𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚒 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚘)||

Shit. Shit! SHIT!

How, and I mean how could this happen to all people?? One minute you were in San Francisco with your handbag that literally had EVERY essential and necessity of yours, like for one, your phone and wallet! Two things that you need to oh, I don’t know, survive?! And then the next thing, you were in Sydney Australia without it.

You left your shit in another country. That’s all the way on the other side of the fricken planet.

Great. Fucking fantastic.

Now some bastard probably found it and is spending all your god damn money and doing only god knows what with your phone. Not like they could do much with it, cause after all, there is a password on it.

Oh fuck! Shit. Fuck. Crap! Without your phone you can’t cancel your damn bank accounts. Well.. there goes all of your savings.

Just think to yourself right now; was it really worth going on tour with your best friend who happens to be Eric Nam? In a way, yes it’s worth it cause um, hello, travelling for free? Who could say no to that?

A mad person that’s who.

Eric and you had become instant friends when you first went over to Korea to study abroad. You were extremely nervous and a little scared, as you had moved to a completely different country, where you would have to learn a new language to be able to understand some things and be by yourself. No family. No friends. Just you.

                                             2nd June, 2011

The streets were quiet. The breeze oh so nice, and so very calming. Felt like a new beginning. Well, it pretty much was. You did move to a whole new country after all. A country where you barely spoke the language and only knew bits and pieces of the culture, but you’d learn the longer you lived in Korea.

You were walking along the streets of Seoul, taking everything in. The way that the streets looked at night; you stopped every now and then to take it all in, even to window shop (even though the shops were shut, but window shopping never hurt anyone).

When you finished unpacking all your items from their required boxes, you were feeling quite peckish and had remembered seeing a little convenience store on the way to your apartment. Luckily it wasn’t that far from your place, so you had loaded up your ‘Google Maps’ app on your phone, letting it be your guide to what will be your new local store. And that leads to now. On a slow stroll to find something to eat.

Letting out a deep, yet tired sigh, you kept on walking, looking down at your phone every now and then to see how close you were to the store. And soon enough, the bright green and blue lights came into your line of vision which was soon followed by a rather loud rumble from your tummy.

As you walked closer to the store, you locked your phone and placed it in your jacket pocket and your hands placed in the back pocket of your jean shorts. You watched your feet lead the way, the lights getting brighter and brighter with every step. Every now and then, you avoid the cracks, cause ya know, ‘step on a crack and you break your mama’s back’. Although you never believed it, you just simply did it out of pure boredom.

And even though you had been watching your feet, you still managed to trip over something and lose your footing completely. It was like slow motion. Like how you’d see it in the movies and cruddy, predictable as fuck tv shows.

As you were falling, you took notice of a slightly tall figure in front of you, dashing his way towards you to prevent you from falling flat on your face.

But, he too eventually tripped over his own footing and somehow managed to land on the pavement just before you. Unfortunately for him though, you had fallen directly on him.

What a way to start your new life in Korea!

As you landed on top of the man, he let out a loud groan of pain. That alone was enough to send you into a slight panic; the thought of you actually hurting someone? Yeah, that just doesn’t sit right with you. You could barely hurt a fly! Now, spiders on the other hand… they’re a different story.

You let out a small squeak of shock, trying your hardest to push yourself off of the stranger without hurting him even more than you already have.

“Oh my gosh! I am so, so sorry!” You say frantically, finally getting back onto your feet. You held your hands out to the stranger , offering to help him back up. “Shit!” you cursed under your breath, slightly freaking out and wondering if this man even understood you or not.

But really, you had nothing to worry about. Though you were too much in a frantic headspace today even comprehend the soft smile and quiet giggle the stranger let out as he got back to his feet. With your assistance of course.

And there you were. Face to face with the stranger you literally saved you from ruining your face. Not gonna lie, he was pretty cute. Quite tall too. Well, really, for you any guy who’s over 5’0 is taller than you.

“I am so, sorry.” The words came out slow, in hopes that the stranger could speak and understand even the tiniest bit of English; your eyes as wide as a doe, still in a panic that somehow you could’ve severely injured the cute stranger.

To your surprise, the man chuckled and smiled wide. Gosh, even his smile was to freaking die for. Like seriously, it’s so perfect? How? But seeing this has calmed down your nerves a little bit. You watched as he ran his fingers through his dark brown hair, his smile never fading away. “It’s okay, honestly.” As he spoke, he made direct eye contact with you and shrugged his shoulders slightly. But God, even his freaking voice was literal heaven. “I kinda brought it on myself really.”

Are you sure you’re not dead? Cause this man is like a living angel.

You laughed softly and smiled, watching as he rubbed the back of his neck out of embarrassment. At least you assume it’s because of that. Moving towards him, you nudge your shoulder against his, smiling even more. “How about we just say that it’s both our faults and admit that we’re both a clutz.” You compromised, raising your eyebrows as you watch the strangers reaction.

You watched as he pondered over his answer for a few seconds, his hand resting under his chin and his pointer finger tapping above his upper lip, like as if he was actually thinking long and hard over his answer. And not a second later, his wide and contagious smile was back, and this time, his hand held out towards you. “Deal.” He says, his eyes watching you. He noticed your eyes light up and how you brought your right hand up to meet his hand, your small, delicate fingers wrapping around his surprisingly soft hand.

As you shook the man's hand, you decided in your head that now was probably a good time to introduce yourself, otherwise this could probably get slightly awkward. “I’m Y/N, by the way.” You smiled, continuing to shake his hand.

You felt him squeezing your hand gently, bringing his other hand on top of yours so then he’s holding your hand with both of his. The action almost made your heart combust. Can this man get any cuter? He smiled once again, making eye contact with you and this time, you could literally see the stars from the night sky shine in them.

“I’m Eric.” He spoke so softly, as if he was lost in a trance of some kind. All you wanted to do in that moment was just take it all in. Remember his smile; remember his sparkling eyes; and most importantly, remember his voice. Cause who knows when you’ll be able to see this man- Eric, again.

You reluctantly let go of Eric’s hand, forever wanting to stay in this moment. All though you just met this man, it almost felt as if it was… destiny. Like as if a Guardian Angel has sent him your way. You could still feel his touch on your skin. Jesus Christ. The fuck is this man doing to your sanity?

“Well, in that case, it was an honour falling for you Eric.” You remarked, a playful tint to your voice and your eyes full of mischief.

Eric cackled loud. So loud that the whole neighbourhood could probably hear him. But you didn’t mind. It was a sound that you most definitely could get used to. It was a contagious kind of laughter, so of course you had to join in.

The laughter lasted for about a minute or two; you doubled over and almost tripped over again because of how hard you were laughing. The comment wasn’t even that funny but Eric’s laugh just made it all the more funny.

Once the both of you calmed down a bit, you smiled wide; Eric doing the same. He chuckled softly to himself, moving his hands to his back pockets and says: “Well Y/N, I could say the same about you.” And for some reason, that comment alone had a whole heard of butterflies fly wild in the pit of your stomach.

You watched as Eric stood closer to you; a whole bunch of scenarios running through your head. Is he going to rob you? Was he faking being all nice just to take advantage of you? As if he would do that… the dude barely looks like he could hurt a fly.

But all the bad scenarios went forgotten once you felt his arm wrap around your shoulders, ultimately making you freeze on the spot and your eyes to widen. But oddly enough, you didn’t feel uncomfortable. Normally if any other person did that to you -if you got a real bad vibe from them- you would instantly snatch the persons arm off of you. One time you pulled someone’s arm so hard you heard it crack.

You don’t know what it is but there’s just something so different about Eric. Maybe it’s just him, but it just felt like you’ve known him for years even though it’s only been 10 minutes. But there’s just something… special about Eric; like as if he was sent to you. It’s probably just crazy talk. But you have a good feeling that something great will come out of this interaction.

“Say Y/N,” Eric spoke softly, his gentle voice bringing you back to reality. You smile softly, feeling his left hand squeeze your left shoulder out of comfort and turn your full attention onto him. “Are you by any chance Australian?”

                                                  Present Day

“Y/N, it’s not that bad.“ Eric reassures unconvincingly, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and bringing you closer to him as you both walk off the plane together. “I mean, sure, it was a dumb move to forget your bag in another country-“ You slap his chest, glaring up at him. He winces, using his free hand to rub over the area you just hit. With the hand that was around your shoulder, he playfully pinched your skin, causing you to flinch slightly, and removed it with a pout forming on his lips.“That was rude. I didn’t even get to finish my sentence.”

“Go on then.” Rolling your eyes, you rub the spot that stung from Eric’s pinch, forming a pout of your own as you tried to match your pace with Eric’s feet.

Eric smiles softly to himself as he watches you. “But, because of that little incident, why don’t I buy you a new phone?” Your sudden halt in movement concerned the poor boy. As you slowly turned around to face him, you could see slight fear in his eyes. Good. You thought to yourself. He should be scared.

What Eric wasn’t expecting was for you to smack him in the back of the head like as if he was back in high school and his parents found out he did something wrong. All he did was offer you a new phone! The one thing he knew you couldn’t live without!

“You will do no such thing Eric Nam.” Your voice was low and stern, trying to make sure that you got your point across to him. You crossed your arms across your chest, jaw clenched. Although you thought you looked tough, to Eric, you just looked really freaking constipated. Of course you were going to be stubborn about it. Be your own Independent Woman or some crap you always say when you lose something of yours.

Taking cautious steps towards you, his gentle hands reaching for your face, squishing your cheeks together. He cooed and laughed to himself and looked into your eyes. “Y/N,” he sighs, a victorious smile on his lips. “No matter what you say, I’m getting you a phone. Whether you like it or not sweet cheeks.” Eric pats your cheek, blows you a kiss and speeds walk ahead of you like his life depended on it.

All you could do was stand there, shake your head and mumble incoherent words that not even you could understand.

“Eric! Stop! Don’t you dare even think of buying me a phone you shit!” You were not gonna let him buy you a phone. No matter the circumstances.

“Thank you Eric! You’re my life saviour Eric! You’re the bestest friend ever Eric!”

“Shut up shithead.”

Eric was right though. He really was your saviour. He knows how much you loved your phone. You’re practically glued to it 24/7. Most of the time he gets concerned, but it keeps you occupied so he’d leave you be. You won’t tell him he was right though. You still have some sort of ego to keep.

“Besides, I don’t even sound like that.” You roll your eyes, trying to drown out the sound of Eric’s high pitched voice that was supposed to be the way your voice sounded. If anything, it was just offensive in your opinion. You don’t sound like a barbie wannabe.

Eric just laughs, a proud smile on his face. At this point he’s surprised that his mouth hasn’t fallen off with the amount that he’s laughed and smiled today. Must be some kind of record for him. He sighs and notices the car that his manager was driving parked in front of the phone store. His eyes widened as he grabbed your hand, the movement almost causing you to drop your brand new phone as he basically dragged you to the black sedan.

You both hopped into the back, you sitting near one window and him on the other. You rest your head on the back of the seat, smiling to yourself and turn your focus over onto your best friend. The fact that you get to be in your home country with him, just makes this all the more special.

“Welcome home Y/N” You giggle softly, the reality of this all hitting you. You were home. You were back home. Sure you had come to Australia for Christmas (and let’s just say, going from -3 to 35 Celsius is just a lot to get used to) and to see your mum on Mother’s Day to surprise her, but those were all short visits that only lasted at least 3 days. This time, it’ll be a week. A whole week that you get to see your mum, sister, brother and nieces and nephews who you adored so much.

Welcome home indeed.

a/n: here is part one of my Eric Nam story! I thought it’d be best if I split it into parts so then it doesn’t draw on and on with nonsense. But I hope you guys like it and look forward to the next part! I promise it will be more interesting. This is just a start to introduce the characters and how they met and all that jazz.

©ericssmile, 2020; please don’t copy my work without permission or at all

[writer-and-artist27]

A Count’s Favor

Note: Study break called for more writing. So another short story in the AU of Vy and Ayako coexisting in the same Chaldea. I’d like to think this takes place immediately after the first short story, so @panyum, this is for you.

An accompanying song as usual, with an extra since it helped me write this, and now onto the action. Warning as it is mostly unedited from my writing late at night after working on homework.

Here we go.

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

The first sign that something was going on was the soft touch of what felt like a hand on Vy’s head. Now, she wasn’t a stranger to the sensation of “head-pats” — after all, Ushiwakamaru still adored them and begged for the occasional pat when she passed by. Not to mention Vy’s own short stature from her Vietnamese blood apparently making her the “perfect” patting height. Or, at least, that was what Caster Cu had said with a sharp-toothed smirk. Most of the male Servants seemed to agree if the usual pat after a quest was any indication, but this specific pat was different. 

Light, far too brief to really register anything aside from long fingers (were they bony?), and almost wispy. 

Vy had turned her head once the sensation had registered in her brain, glancing around for a few moments before anxiously tugging at one of the hems of her jacket in the Mage’s Association Uniform. The shorts and stockings were comfy, but the orange was still something to get used to when the last time Vy saw this outfit, it was with—

I don’t want to die!

Vy shook her head, squashing the urge to cry. Olga-Marie was still gone. All that was around her, all that was left, were the white halls of Chaldea. 

“Am I overthinking things…?” left her in a soft mumble. 

Of course, no one answered. There was no one around to answer. Supposedly.

Vy glanced at the area she had just left, her eyes lingering on the door leading to Ayako’s studio in the distant horizon, before walking a bit faster to get to the others.

“Gotta hurry to get back and cook…!”

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

The next instance of that wispy headpat came after the most recent Ember Farming Daily Quest. Arturia, as the former King Arthur looked less than phased at the damage she took once the battle was over, absently telling the Saber version of Diarmuid how they were no more than “mere scratches,” but Vy’s head wasn’t entirely present in the situation. Mana drain was still mana drain, as much as Vy hated to admit it. 

Aya-san’s still resting, so why can’t I make it up to her a little more…? Gotta— 

Vy still found herself slumping down to sit against a tree. Darn it… 

But once Vy had ducked her head and closed her eyes to take the rare chance to rest for a small moment before the inevitable Rayshift back, the pat occurred. It was a few seconds longer than the first time, letting Vy take in what felt like a calloused touch as the pat rustled the hair she had set in her usual work ponytail, but once Vy raised her head to look towards the direction it came from, the touch disappeared. 

“Vy?” 

Arturia’s voice slowly echoed in her ears, almost soothing as Vy turned to look up at the Level 100 Saber with her best attempt at a comforting smile. “I-I’m okay, Arturia-san, I’m okay.”

Still, Arturia looked less than convinced as she dispelled one metal gauntlet with a shrug of her shoulder to rest a warm hand against Vy’s forehead, undeterred by hair. With a soft inhale, Arturia then said, “You don’t have a fever, Princess. Are you merely tired?”

“Kinda,” Vy said truthfully, trying not to shrink into herself once Diarmuid, D’eon, and Saber Alter all turned to look at what was going on. “I dunno.”

“What do you know, Princess?” Arturia entertained in a softer voice, kneeling to Vy’s sitting height as she dispelled her other armored gauntlet to take one of Vy’s hands in hers. 

Vy felt a frown form on her face, both from guilt and embarrassment at being confronted, before meeting Arturia’s earnest green eyes with a tiny, “I think someone’s been patting my head.”

Arturia blinked, a wind passing between them enough to jostle the gold crown sitting on her head. “Pardon?” she said after a moment, her grip on Vy’s fingers slackening with the question. “Could you repeat that, Vy?”

“I-I really don’t get it either, Art-san!” Vy knew she was blushing by now, but she still went on with a squeakier, “Whenever I seem to be looking elsewhere, I feel like someone’s been patting my head, but I just. Can’t. Find them!”

A somewhat troubled expression dawned on Arturia’s face as she squeezed Vy’s hand in hers. “Perhaps it is a Servant?” she offered, her thumb gently rubbing the back of Vy’s hand in a comforting gesture. Vy couldn’t miss how Arturia’s touch lingered on her flower-shaped Command Spells. “The staff already pet your head enough for you to recognize them by now, can’t you, Princess?”

“Aye, it’s just this one hand…” Vy gestured to the top of her now rustled ponytail with her free hand, trying not to squeeze her eyes shut from some bubbling frustration. “I feel like I know it somehow, but I also don’t! It started just after I visited Aya-san to drop off her breakfast smoothie, too!” 

Arturia stared at Vy for a moment longer before pulling on Vy’s hand, making Vy fall into a warm hug as a chin gently bumped the top of her hair. “I see,” she said mildly, an arm winding past Vy’s jacket to rub her back, “but as long as this hand isn’t hurting you, Princess, I don’t think you should worry. Knowing your heart, you’ll find them soon enough.”

“You sure…?”

“I am absolutely sure of it.”

Even with her nose stuck in the crook between Arturia’s neck and shoulder via hug, Vy couldn’t miss how Saber Alter in the background turned her nose the other way, a scoff clearly audible even from her distance. 

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

By the time everyone got back to Chaldea, Vy couldn’t help herself. Even if she was cooking, the curiosity was tugging too hard. “Big Robin?”

Robin Hood didn’t even pause in his action of cutting carrots, tossing his head in Vy’s direction as a carefree glint shined in his visible green eye. “What’s up, little sparrow?”

Vy tried not to sweat at the attention, admitting slowly past an anxious tug of one of her stray hairs out of her ponytail, “You don’t happen to know any Servants in Chaldea that uses a Noble Phantasm like your No Face May King, do you…?”

The question was something that certainly got Archer’s attention at this point, since he had stopped his vegetable cutting to throw Vy an incredulous look. It was hard to miss how his green apron was already close to flickering out of view in favor of his usual cloak and crossbow. “Who do I have to poison, little sparrow?”

ACK. “Th-There’s no one to poison except the Demon God Pillars, Robin!” Vy blurted out for damage control, because sheesh, Robin’s sentence almost made it sound like he was being serious. And knowing him — the seafood porridge Vy was still stirring would probably be neglected in favor of creating the means for some kind of comeback against whatever enemy he saw in his head.  “A-And that’s not what I meant!” 

“Then what did you mean, little sparrow?” Robin continued, his voice lowering to a deeper pitch as he put the kitchen knife down, raising a hand to gently rest his palm on top of Vy’s head. The apron on his person solidified again, leaving his weapons intangible to the touch. “Because if someone’s messing with you, I know where the traps are.”

Vy did her best not to pout, she really did, but by the time she was looking up into Robin’s eyes, it was obvious he was still not backing down from his previous declaration as his fingers scratched the top of her scalp mid-ruffle of her hair. “I-I wanted to ask since I’ve been feeling someone new pat my head lately, that’s all.” Even if she didn’t really know how to feel about it, she still leaned into Robin’s hand anyway, finishing with, “Really, big Robin, I’m okay. I just wanna know who it is.”

The statement was enough to make Robin momentarily freeze, his green eye widening for a moment. 

The last thing Vy expected was for him to close his visible eye, exhale what sounded like a tired and exasperated sigh, and then suddenly retract his hand and thrust it past her neck. Any closer and something would’ve been cut. Instead, Vy felt the saliva dry up in her throat as Robin Hood said with an eerily cheerful smile in her direction, “Why don’t you ask the person who’s right behind you, Master?”

There was definitely a muffled curse at this point in time, nearly making Vy squeak herself as Robin pulled, and Vy only had a few seconds to glance behind her before getting a glimpse of shadowy wisps fading into the air, fluffy white hair, and long bony fingers. 

Huh? 

“A-Avenger?” Vy said slowly, blinking at the clearly ruffled Edmond Dantes coming into view as Robin Hood pulled him (via a tight grip on the wrist, too) out of whatever portal he had conjured to show up in the kitchen, both Servants muffling curses at each other. The curses were something along the lines of “Let go, Archer,” and “No way in hell, jerk, you nearly scared my little sparrow.” Well, it at least sounded like those phrases, unless Vy was hearing things again. “I thought you were with Aya-san…”

“Normally, yes,” the Avenger bit out past a retort to Archer as Robin Hood let go with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. “But there’s only so much observing I can take when my Accomplice refuses to leave her studio.”

Robin Hood huffed out a tiny, “Typical,” as Vy felt a nervous laugh bubble up in her throat from the sympathy. So Aya-san was still in her painting muse. Okay then. It was better than not talking to anyone at all, at least.

“So then, er, Avenger?”

The Count of Monte Cristo closed his eyes at the title, a deep frown set on his face. It was clear that he didn’t like it, even with the shade the brim of his hat gave him.

Vy tried again with an (unintentionally) higher-pitched, “Count?”

Dantes nodded. 

Vy did her best to sound as patient and open as possible as she went on, with his permission, with, “Why did you come here?”

In that very moment, Vy could’ve sworn Dantes’ look towards her softened as he opened his eyes, almost like the times she found him staring after Aya-san. Then he opened his mouth with an equally soft, “You are a curious one, little flower.”

Eh? 

“Flower?” Vy echoed in confusion. “Me?”

“Flower? My little sparrow?” Robin Hood interrupted with an exaggerated puff of his chest. “You gotta be joking.”

“I am not, Archer,” Dantes shot to Robin Hood, crossing his arms in return. “I heard from my Accomplice how this little one’s name in Vietnamese stands for some kind of yellow flower. I could not help but look out since.”

“Aaaand, um,” Vy got between the two Servants with hands raised, acutely becoming aware of sparks flying above her head, “what did you find, Count?” 

The last thing she was expecting (again today, funny enough) was for Dantes to give her a small yet heartfelt smile. “Kuku,” was the chuckle under his breath. Then, he said, “You may be the key.”

Vy slowly blinked at him, taking in the words in what felt like an eternity’s wait when it was really only a few seconds. Barely registering Robin Hood’s fake gagging behind her, she said to the Count, “What key?”

“…It is nothing, little flower,” he said in the same voice, and he raised a hand to once again pat her head. Even if the touch was still wispy and far too faint to really take in the sensation, it was obvious he was identifying himself as the “mysterious headpat” to Vy now, and Vy felt her heart swell a few centimeters outwards. “Just allow me to thank you. My Accomplice wouldn’t be where she is without you.” Something shined in his eyes at that moment, something along the lines of what looked like love and concern before it was squashed by the darkness that was what laid behind his yellow eyes. “Do not leave her.”

Even when Robin Hood was impatiently tapping his foot behind them, Vy knew her answer.

“Aya-san’s my friend, Count. There’s no way I could.” 

It seemed to be enough when the Count retracted his hand and brought it to his hat to hide his face. 

Vy couldn’t help herself. She proceeded to reach over and gently pat Dantes’ head through his hat. An eye for an eye, or so they said. Sure, it took standing up on her tiptoes to do so, but once Dantes was looking at her again, she said with a warmer smile, “With that established, do you want to eat porridge together? We can get Aya-san to eat with us.”

“You… You would mingle with me?”

“No,” Robin Hood said.

“Yes,” Vy said. She could faintly hear Archer put a palm to his face soon afterwards (even muttering something like, “Goddammit, Vy,”), but in the light of the moment, she couldn’t care.

Even if Edmond Dantes wasn’t her Servant, he was still a comrade, and considering how he looked after Aya-san more than Vy ever could, he was worth spending time with.

“Let’s go get Aya-san together, Count! With you around, I’m sure we’ll get her to eat something!”

“How… bright of you.”

They had a few steps to go, but it was progress!

[ultraglittercat]

Drabble 122

Vampire Bats 1 (AU)

At 14, Varian was a very logical person. He didn't believe in ghosts, or werewolves, or witches, or magic hair (despite all the rumors surrounding the newly-returned Princess of Corona.) He believed in science and the things he could study and discern their physical and alchemical components. Which was why he had no qualms abut going into the orchard late one foggy evening to retrieve firewood while his ailing father slept.

It was chilly as Varian walked, looking for dead wood they could burn so they wouldn't have to resort to chopping down any tree. A less scientifically minded teenager might have been scared, but Varian knew that the cool temperature was the reason for his goosebumps- not fright. And his breath certainly didn't catch in his throat when he heard a rustling sound behind him.

“D-dad? I thought you were still in bed. I-I'm big enough to do this chore on my own. You need to rest and recover.” Varian stammered. But it wasn't Quirin behind him. There was nobody there but Varian and the shadows surrounding him. Okay, maybe it was a little creepy, but Varian could handle this. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a small vial, glowing with a green liquid Varian had synthesized. The shadows retreated somewhat and Varian caught a glimpse of a bat swooping in his direction. A bat? He almost laughed out loud at his foolishness, but then the bat swerved and dived straight towards his head. Varian ducked, but too slowly, and the bat nipped at his neck.

“Ow!” Varian yelped. He rubbed his hand against his neck, wincing in pain. He hoped it was a small wound, and not one that would bleed a lot, because Varian tended to faint at the sight of blood. At least, if he was bleeding now, Varian hadn't seen it. Thank heavens for small miracles.

Varian bent down, grabbing the nearest pieces of firewood. Once he had a good-sized bundle, he turned around and headed home, no longer thinking of the bat bite and the fear he'd briefly felt.

“I'm back, Dad.” Varian announced. He could hear snores from his father's room, and he relaxed. Quirin would sleep off his illness and the household could go back to it's normal state. Varian knew he should sleep too, but for some reason his head was buzzing, and he couldn't get comfortable in bed, try as he might. Perhaps he was getting sick, too...

Morning came, far too early for Varian's liking. He'd finally managed some sleep, by lying upside down and letting his head dangle over the edge of the bed. It was weird, but it had worked, so Varian wasn't complaining.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” Quirin greeted him, passing a plate of eggs and toast to Varian. Quirin seemed to have fully recovered and had quite the appetite. But Varian's stomach turned at the sight of food, which was strange, as he usually loved his Dad's cooking.

“I'm not hungry.” Varian mumbled.

“Oh? You're not catching my cold, are you?” Quirin worried. He placed a palm on Varian's forehead. “You don't feel warm, quite the opposite. But you are looking pale. I think you might want to lie down.”

Back in bed where he had hardly slept? That didn't appeal to Varian at all. “I'm fine. I got the firewood last night, and I guess I was up later than I realized.” Varian made an excuse.

“Thank you, son. We're probably going to need it, it looks like we'll be in for an early winter this year. There's already frost on the grass and on the windows.” Quirin pointed out. Varian looked outside but all he really noticed was how bright the sun was shining, and how it gave him a headache.

“...You sure you're fine?” Quirin pressed. Varian nodded. “Then we'd better get started on picking those apples. A little frost won't hurt them, but we need to get the harvest in soon.” Quirin said.

Varian pushed aside his uneaten breakfast and went to get the wheelbarrow for carrying the apples. Quirin tidied up the plates and hummed out of tune. Soon father and son were ready to go the orchard, both bundled up in jackets and scarves.

But Varian soon came to regret wearing a jacket, because despite the signs of frost, Varian felt as if he were getting sunburned with every step and the extra layers only added to his discomfort. Quirin didn't seem to notice, he was too involved in his work, which was good because if he had looked closely at Varian, he would have surely sent his boy back inside.

Varian climbed up and down the ladder numerous times, picking the red fruit. He'd never noticed before, but the color red was very appealing. Unconsciously he ran his tongue over his teeth, and noticed the canines seemed sharper than usual, almost nicking his tongue. And then there would have been blood, and that would have been... not as awful as he used to think. Varian wondered what had brought about that change, but if it meant he'd finally gotten over one of his fears, he wasn't going to question it. So he kept on picking apples with Dad, stopping every so often to wipe the sweat off his face. Why did the sun have to be so darned hot, anyway?!

“Ready for a break, Varian?” Quirin asked.

“Okay, Dad.” Varian agreed. Anything to beat this awful heat!

“We got a nice harvest today. Good job, Varian.” Quirin praised. Varian didn’t respond, just stared at the apples in the wheelbarrow. He wasn't hungry for eggs, but he might take a bite out of those juicy, red apples. Varian grabbed one and popped it in his mouth. It looked good, but unfortunately it had very little taste. Perhaps it wasn't as ripe as it seemed.

“Help me put these apples in the barn. We can feed the animals while we're at it.” Quirin said. Varian followed, not feeling his usual enthusiasm for the task. At least not until he saw the pigs and cows. Varian licked his lips as a particularly fat pig wandered over. Varian liked the taste of ham and bacon, but he'd never felt the urge to eat any of the farm animals before their time. Today though, he found himself not caring if the meat was raw. He moved his tongue from side to side again, this time cutting his tongue. He tasted the coppery sensation of blood and found he liked it, which was by far the weirdest thing about a very weird day.

“Varian? What's the matter?” Quirin asked.

“I-I don't know.” Varian admitted. “...maybe I am sick after all?”

Quirin nodded. “You definitely look it. Go lie down, I'll finish up in the barn.” Quirin said.

Slowly, Varian walked back to the house. Once inside, he tore off the jacket and scarf, briefly touching the puncture wound on his neck. It was inflamed, probably an infection on top of a cold. No wonder he felt awful.

So Varian headed to his room, satisfied that he had finally put together what was making him feel so bad. He almost flopped straight onto the bed, but he decided instead to look in the mirror first, see if he really looked as bad as he felt.

Varian stared at the mirror, and let out a cry. He no longer had a reflection! But if he could have seen his face he would have known that the blue stripe in his hair was now a dark red.

The End

I don't know if I'll ever continue this (I'll just leave it as a one shot for now) but it was kinda fun exploring the Vamparian AU.

[anotherdayinchuckletown]

Ya Like Jazz? (Space Candy)

(A/N: I’m back, Wonka Gang!!! I thought these two storms knocked me down permanently, but here I am, stronger than ever! This is the first thing I’ve written in months, and I actually teared up a little writing it, not because it’s particularly feelsy, just because I’ve missed this so much.

This wasn’t a specific request or anything, just an ask @winterfaewonderland sent me a while back that I really got carried away thinking about. It doesn’t follow the prompt exactly, but hopefully Fae will forgive me lmaooo.

Without any further ado, here we go!!!

- Katherine ❤)

Soothing saxophone accompanied by twinkling piano meanders through the walls of Wonka’s private suite above the factory. The curtains are drawn, moonlight creeping inside and signifying the end of another busy, yet fruitful, day.

Wonka is now fully committed to the arduous task of tiring himself out in the hopes of getting to sleep at a decent hour. Hat, cane, and overcoat discarded, he sways to the gentle music filtering through the room. Not a care in the world, save for not spilling the glass of chardonnay in his hand.

Yes, he is on his way to a good night’s sleep. Well, he would be, were his faithful-to-a-fault assistant not actively impeding him this time.

“Eliza!” Wonka sing-songs, all but sashaying over to where she is seated on his sofa, intense and unwavering gaze focused on her laptop screen. So determinedly does she pound away at the keys that he feels the need to check her ears for steam trickling out of them. Even the most advanced and complex machine can overheat—although, he now knows how she hates being compared to a machine.

“Yes?” she responds without looking up.

He notices that she has barely touched her own wine glass as he dances his way behind the sofa and peeks over. He bends down until his chin is nearly resting on her right shoulder and asks, “What on earth are you working on over here?”

“I am allocating funds to the appropriate accounts for this week’s shipment of ingredients,” she answers somewhat curtly, completely unfazed by the sound of his voice so close to her.

Wonka tilts his head. “Hm? We normally do that on Fridays, and today is Thursday. Certainly we didn’t overproduce this week, did we?”

“No, we did not. I am simply getting a head start on tomorrow’s agenda."

The chocolatier frowns. The entire time, Eliza never ceases her typing, a harsh and incessant tapping as her manicured nails make contact with the keys. It clashes hideously with the lilting tone of the saxophone in the background. He thinks he will never get to sleep at this rate.

Straightening his back and crossing over so that he’s standing in front of her, he takes a prolonged sip of his drink. "Oh, Lizzie, you silly girl!” he playfully chides her. “Starting tomorrow’s work when we haven’t even finished today’s!” He chuckles lightly.

His assistant is not as amused as he is. The color drains from her already pale face. Finally looking up from her laptop, she stammers out, “H-have I missed something?”

“Oh, yes, something very important…” He nods grimly. Gesturing around the spacious living area, he adds, “And you’ve left me to do it all on my own!”

Eliza blinks. “Willy, you’re dancing to Kenny G and drinking your second glass of chardonnay…”

“Precisely! And you’re melting those pretty little eyeballs right out of your head by staring at that gosh darn screen all night!” Wonka quips. Downing the rest of his drink, he sets his empty glass on the coffee table before extending a gloved hand to her. Mildly, he says, “Thursday isn’t over yet, my dear lady. Leave Friday’s work for Friday, okay?”

She is staring at his hand sheepishly, but she does at least close the laptop and set it beside her on the sofa cushion. “I am…not a very skilled dancer.”

Rolling his eyes, he sighs. “That doesn’t matter a bit. I’ll be leading, of course.”

She hesitates a moment longer before letting out a low breath. “…I will try.” Gingerly placing her hand in his, she stands.

Before he even realizes what he’s doing, he gives her a delicate squeeze, noting how warm she is, even through the leather material of his gloves. Glancing down to where their hands are joined, he notices just how small her hands are—they’re so tiny! How does she get so much work done with such ridiculously tiny hands?

They look soft as well. How would it feel if he weren’t wearing his gloves at all? So soft, so smooth…

Oh, for goodness sake, what are you doing? he chastises himself inwardly.

“Willy?” Eliza asks, snapping him out of his trance. Her voice is uncertain, her eyebrows drawn with genuine concern. “Are you all right? You haven’t had too much to drink, have you?”

That’s what I’m wondering myself, he thinks. Aloud, he says, “Fit as a fiddle!” He laughs, and it sounds strained even to his own ears. Hastily, he changes the subject. “I was just thinking…that you recognized Kenny G is playing right now. I thought jazz was too chaotic for you?”

Eliza’s eyes widen and she flushes, reacting as though she has been caught in an insidious lie. “I…have since given it a second chance,” she admits, shuffling in place uncomfortably. “It is…more agreeable than I previously gave it credit for.”

“Well, wouldn’t you know it!” Wonka teases, shaking his head in exaggerated wonder. “We’ll make a free spirit of you yet.”

Hands still connected, he leads her to the center of the floor. There, they spend the next several minutes swaying and twirling together in tandem with the graceful notes fluttering around them.

Eliza is stiff at first, but relaxes gradually. The whole experience is something surreal—seeing her uninhibited, smiling freely, unguarded. And even more surreal that he feels the same way.

Wonka goes to bed exhausted that night, yet he does not sleep a wink. With his eyes wide open, he dreams of small, soft hands and gentle smiles.

[nekoabiwrites]

Battle Bonds

Ahhh! It feels so good to be back and writing again! Panto was great fun and I’m kinda missing it but also, I’m so happy to not have to watch the same show 60 times anymore...

Anyway, this fic was inspired by a freaking adorable piece of art by @artistictaurean with Roman and a lil cute Swablu: https://artistictaurean.tumblr.com/post/190329454010/holy-crap-i-actually-finished-something-just-a  Mega thanks to them for not only being super talented at making such darn cute art, but also for being chill with me writing this (even tho I was on anon asking but mehhhhhh details)

AU: None Pairing: None Words: 2644 Warnings: Remus and Deceit are in here. Anything else, please let me know!

Summary: Thomas has been on a bit of a pokemon kick recently and it has affected his imagination more than he would ever think of...

---

Due to the recent release and information about new titles in the Pokemon franchise, Thomas had been thinking about and playing a lot of the series – much to Logan’s dismay. It had just been something he was doing, not once did Thomas even give a thought to how his gaming habit would affect his sides.

Roman lightly chewed on the end of his pencil as he tried to work out the perspective of the next detail to his sketch. It was rare to have all of the sides in the imagination with him after all, even more so that it was for social reasons rather than important ones. He dropped his head and added detail to the figure of Logan in his artwork, doing everything to capture the bewildered expression that was currently resting on the logical side’s features and the open book in his hands.

The prince couldn’t fault Logan for this, as he could hear the excited squeals of Patton off to his left as he discovered yet another new species that he didn’t realise existed.

“IT’S A PUPPY!” The paternal side yelled, holding Rockruff high above his head in order to show it off to the others. An amused snort and swishing of grass told Roman that Virgil was heading towards Patton to get a closer look at the small animal.

Time passed leisurely as the cycle of Patton finding new species, calling out that he found a new one and then being told which pokemon it was continued to repeat itself, all while Roman continued sketching. Eventually, Patton and Virgil settled down in view of Roman, allowing him to finally add them to his piece. Then there was an odd breeze that ruffled his hair and a weight was added to the top of his head.

Roman dropped his sketchpad and held his arms up, yelping loudly in surprise. He knew deep down it was fruitless to try, but his instinct was to attempt to look up and see what was perched upon his head.

Another Patton squeal had Roman freezing in place. The moral side jogged on up to Roman and coo’d at the creature on his head, “It’s so fluffy and – Oh! – It’s just like a cloud, and its so soft! Virgil, Logan! What’s this one?!”

“If memory serves, it is a swablu, Patton.” Logan approached, flipping the pages. It took seconds for him to find what he was looking for and he began to read aloud, “It is a primary normal type with a secondary flying type that was introduced in the third generation. Its category is the cotton bird pokemon. According to several entries in the pokedex of various games, swablus are very concerned with cleanliness and enjoy perching upon the heads of people.”

“I thought you didn’t care about this stuff?” Virgil asked slyly, gently brushing a finger along the tops of the swablu’s fluffy wings.

Logan flushed slightly and cleared his throat, “I do not recall saying that I didn’t care about it. I was simply attempting to get Thomas to understand that playing such a game for long periods of time is unproductive and-”

“I was just messing with ya, Logan. It’s okay.” Virgil snorted and rolled his eyes good-naturedly.

Roman was remaining fairly motionless as the others fawned over the pokemon perched upon his head. After getting confirmation on what pokemon it was, he’d regained his composure, sure that there was little to no threat. The prince reached up to pet the extremely friendly pokemon, feeling the cloud-like wings for the first time while also bringing the attention back down to himself with an exaggerated clearing of his throat. “Not that I mind being surrounded by attention, but my art was almost completed and now you have all moved from your positions. I place the blame upon you all if this turns out absolutely horrendous.” He gestured to the forgotten sketchbook resting in the grass.

Shortly after Roman had begun yet another round of bantering back and forth with Virgil and Logan, Patton saw a new pokemon that excited him, and he ran off. Virgil trailed behind, watching with amusement. Logan eventually moved in the same direction once Patton called for him yet again. Roman was now alone with the creature atop his head.

He summoned a floating mirror before himself and saw the blue bird for the first time. It looked to be starting to dose off, clearly comfortable in its position. The royal reached up again and gently stroked the bird, who seemed pleased with the gentle attention as it chirped in response. “How do you like the name Alto?” Roman asked rhetorically. The swablu perked up and flew in a small circle, just above Roman’s head, before seating itself again and almost nuzzling into the creative side’s hair. “I’ll have to take that as a yes.”

It wasn’t long until the hype died down and Thomas went back to his usual level of enjoyment of the series. This meant that if the sides wanted to keep all the random pokemon, Roman would have had to start working extremely hard to keep them all around. Thankfully, Patton wasn’t going to push his fellow side like that, and they all compromised on only keeping certain pokemon that they’d all become attached to – mostly due to the fact that their attachments would take some of the strain off of the creative side.

Out in the dirt courtyard of the castle located near the entrance to the imagination, Roman had placed a battling area for the pokemon, giving all of them a place to battle in a regulated, enclosed space.

“Servine is unable to battle.” Patton called out, “All three of Deceit’s pokemon have fainted! Roman wins! Yay Roman!” The moral side applauded, causing the Lillipup currently resting in his lap to yap alongside.

Roman laughed heartily, “Of course I won. What were you thinking, putting your grass type out against my superior flying type?” Alto soared over to rest upon Roman’s head, allowing her trainer to give her well earned scritches.

Deceit rolled his eyes, “It was because I have no knowledge of typing and most definitely had nothing to do with the fact I only had one pokemon left and therefore had no other options.” As he spoke, he returned the pokemon to its pokeball

“Now Deceit, be nice…” Patton chastised.

“Apologies.” Deceit sarcastically responded before stalking off to who knew where.

Patton went to say something to Roman, but was cut off by the creative side, “It’s quite alright, Patton. Not even the attitude from a slippery snake can dampen my mood!”

“Well, good! Let’s heal everyone up before the final match!” Patton hopped up from his cross-legged position on the ground and took Roman off to the side. Instead of battling on his own, Patton had taken the role of judge and healer. He found it was far more rewarding to help the fainted and injured pokemon than be the reason why they were hurt in the first place. Due to the fairly decisive victory, Roman’s pokemon took very little time to heal.

“There you go! All better now!” Patton handed the pokeballs back over to Roman, who replaced them back into their places on his belt. The moral side then looked around and bit his lip a little in worry, “I’m sorry, kiddo… but I need to go and find out where Dee went. Are you alright to wait just a little longer?”

“Of course he is!” came a third excited voice, who made both sides jump with his sudden presence and arms over their shoulders.

Roman’s smile fell and he sighed heavily, “I hate to admit this… but, for once, my brother is right… It’s more than fine for you to attend to business, Patton.”

“If you require a moderator, I am free to fulfil that role in Patton’s absence.” Logan cut in.

“Ooo! Yes! Let’s murder both of these birds with the stone!” Remus gleefully clapped his hands and hopped in place, whilst the other sides simply agreed to Logan’s proposition.

The two sides of creativity took a spot at each end of the field, staring each other down; Roman with a hardened glare that aimed to strike fear in his brother, Remus with his signature unhinged grin and twitching fingers hovering just over the balls resting against his side.

“The usual format and rules apply. Three pokemon per user, first to have all three faint is the loser. Are we agreed on this?” Logan called out. Both of the participants nodded. “Let the battle commence!”

Roman tossed out his first ball, summoning his precious swablu onto the field. Both looked as determined as the other. Remus, on the opposite side, released his first pokemon and everyone in attendance immediately grimaced.

“What in the heck is that thing?!” Roman yelled.

“It’s an Arctozolt! Isn’t he just a precious little monster?” Remus coo’d, making kissy faces at the abomination before him.

Logan’s eyes darted between the two for a moment, clearly having knowledge that Roman did not. The prince was going to ask what had the logical side looking as though he was nervous for him but decided against it. Instead, he steeled his resolve.

“Alto, Cotton Guard!”

Using her wings, Alto managed to surround her entire body in layers of almost invisible cotton, using it almost as a shield against anything that would attack her. She then seemed to brace herself, watching the pokemon before her carefully.

“Thundershock!”

Time seemed to stop for a second as Roman heard the command. He hadn’t even considered the fact that Arctozolt had the type advantage, especially since he’d never seen it before. Now that he was helpless to do much other than stare, Roman managed to notice the thunderbolt-like growths on the pokemon’s top half and that it was shivering, which may indicate that it was also partially ice type. His thoughts were cut short as Alto screeched in pain as the electric attack hit her square on.

“Alto!” Roman cried out. He watched as the swablu dropped in the air slightly but managed to catch herself before hitting the floor. He let out a soft sigh of relief, “Shake it off and use Round!”

Alto did just that, physically shaking her body to clear herself of the shock before soaring in circles for a few seconds, ending up heading directly for Arctozolt, hitting it square in the chest. The odd pokemon recoiled slightly after the hit, but still seemed to be feeling alright. The same could not be said for Roman as he saw the smile on his brother’s face grow even larger.

“Arctie, use Avalanche!”

Once again, Roman cursed himself internally. “Alto, avoid as much as you can!” He called out, trying his best to get his beloved swablu to not take as much damage as humanly possible.

It was effective somewhat as Alto did avoid several hits, but it always put her in the path of another part of the attack. Overall, it was a severe hit and Alto’s energy seemed to be waning as she was taking far more effort in order to keep herself in the air. Thankfully, the cotton that surrounded her body did help in staving off some of the damage.

Racking his brain, Roman tried to think of the best way to win the battle that seemed almost completely impossible.

“What’s wrong, brother?” Remus jeered from the opposite side of the field, “Having problems?”

Roman glared harshly at Remus before issuing another command, “Alto, sing!”

Alto responded immediately. She swooped in to hang in the air just a short distance from Arctozolt and began to sing a soft melody, attempting to put the creature to sleep. However, before it could really take effect, Remus called out for Arctozolt to use another move.

“Use Echoed Voice!”

The abomination began to screech loudly, the sound causing most everyone in the surrounding area to cover their ears. Alto drifted backwards, clearly in pain from the hit to her senses, her song being cut short. She began to float downwards towards the ground, looking as though she were about to admit defeat. She turned slightly and was able to notice Roman staring at her, worry coursing through him. Her eyes started to shut as she fell closer and closer to the ground.

“Alto, no!”

Her body touched the ground for a brief second before erupting in a flash of light. Yet again, everyone in attendance flinched and avoided using one of their senses until the light died down.

Remus’ grin dropped completely off of his face as his mouth fell open once he’d caught sight of where Alto had once been.

In place of the small round fluffy-winged bird was a far larger version. Its neck extended upwards, causing her to look far more intimidating as she could look down upon him and its cloud like wings curled around its lower body, looking as though the wings were what made up the creature instead. Just behind, his brother was also as shocked.

“Uh Logan. Information please!”

“Alto evolved into her final stage, that being an Altaria. Her typing has now changed, becoming a primary dragon type with the same secondary flying type as its pre-evolved state.” Logan offered.

“That has to be cheating! That’s his second pokemon now, right?!” Remus pouted, stamping his foot like an angry child.

“Not at all. Evolution is a natural process of the pokemon species as a whole and it cannot be timed, at least in the case of the majority of evolutions. In terms of our ruleset, it is the amount of fainted pokemon that provide us with the final result. As Alto has only evolved and is, in fact, still very much present and aware, it still counts as Roman’s first pokemon.” Logan side-eyed the moustached side as he explained.

Roman was still a little surprised but was more than ready to fight back with his now larger cloud bird. Something in him just knew that Alto had learned something new, so he acted without much thought, “Alto! Dragon Breath!”

Alto reared back as she took in a large breath, physically puffing herself up in preparation. She stared straight ahead at the Arctozolt before letting the blue flames pour from her beak, engulfing the odd creature entirely. Remus also yelped and attempted to shield himself as the edges of the attack came close to reaching his position. The flames dissipated after a moment and Arctozolt seemed to be wobbling back and forth slightly before it fell over and was removed from the competition.

After two more quick battles, Roman was declared the victor of the small tournament and Remus went off to lick his wounds – everyone was sure that wasn’t just a turn of phrase when it came to the intrusive side. Patton returned shortly after the match and was more than a little enamoured with the giant cloud bird. Shortly after, the sides returned to their jobs and things went back to normal.

Later in the evening, Patton headed back into the imagination to call Roman for dinner, since he was nowhere to be found in the regular mindscape.

“Roman? Where are you? Dinner’s ready!” Patton called out into the distance as he wandered around the edge of the castle. He rounded a corner and had to clamp a hand over his mouth in order to muffle a happy squeal.

Alto was sleeping soundly, resting at the base of a tree on the edges of the forest. Curled up in her cloud-like wings was the figure of Roman. Evidently, he’d tired himself out and Alto had offered her soft wings as a base for him to nap. Patton quietly headed back, making a mental note to put Roman’s plate in the fridge for when he woke up.

---

My other stuff: http://nekoabi.tumblr.com/myworks Mobile Accessible Masterlist: http://nekoabi.tumblr.com/post/181954641376/fic-masterlist

General Tag List: @not-so-innocent-bi-sander @didsomeonesayprince @llamaly @justanotherpurplebutterfly  @iaminmultiplefandoms @ultimate-queen-of-fandoms2 @lowkeyvirgilobsessed @louisthewarlock @fangsandrainbows @xxladystarlightxx @sleepyssnail @ao-koshka @notalwaysthevillian @pumpkinminette @doces-e--tuga @coloursintheblur @safesandersides @hogwarts-my-love

[dakotacrisis]

Transferred (14)

The Class used: Remorse

It is super effective!

---

The next couple of days after Lila’s downfall were strangely normal. Outside of Marinette’s old classmates liking her social media posts again they weren’t interacting with her directly. According to Adrien and Alya, Lila had vanished from the school altogether after what went down. No one had heard from her and no one was looking to reach out to her. Served her right for everything she had done. If Marinette never saw Lila again it would be too soon.

“Thanks again for coming over to help with this,” Marinette told her friends.

Alya, Aurore, and Wayhem were all in Marinette’s room as she pieced together Kagami’s fundraiser dress. Kagami couldn’t make it over so Aurore was being used as a live model to see how it looked walking and sitting. Wayhem actually knew how to sew too so he was helping with a couple alterations and handing over a convenient pin or needle when needed. Then Alya was sitting on the chaise keeping the rest of them entertained with music, gossip, and memes.

“It was nothing.” Aurore said, “You’re sure it’s okay for me to wear this though? Isn’t it supposed to be tailored to Kagami?”

“It is but I need to see how it moves and hangs on a real person and you two have the same measurements. If she wasn’t at fencing practice I’d have her here but it is what it is.” Marinette shrugged.

“For the short notice it turned out pretty spectacular.” Wayhem praised, “Aurore, I want to make sure the hem is even. Can you do a slow turn?”

“Sure,”

“Ha, someone made the lady yelling at the cat meme with Ladybug and Chat Noir.” Alya said.

“Who’s the cat?” Aurore asked.

“Chat Noir. Why would the cat themed hero not be the cat in the format?”

“Diversity? Ladybug could be a cat if she wanted to be.” Aurore shrugged.

Marinette had to stifle a mad laugh. She had played Lady Noir once. That was plenty. Although she will admit the few photos of herself with Chat’s miraculous looked good. She really should wear black more often.

“I think we are done.” Wayhem stepped back. “Hem is even. Anything you notice that needs fixing, Marinette?”

“Let me see.” She paced around the dress tugging it here and there and making sure all the seams were neat. “Looks good. How does it feel? Too tight? Too loose?”

“It is perfect.” Aurore stepped off her tiny pedestal.

“Walk in it. I wanna see how it moves.” Marinette instructed. “Okay. Moves well. Looks good. I think we are done. You can go behind the divider and change. I need to grab the garment bag from the downstairs closet.”

Marinette had pulled the garment bag out of the closet when there was a knock on the front door. She set the bag down and went to see who it was. Maybe Kagami had managed to get off early and wanted to try on the dress.

The dozen of faces waiting outside her door were definitely not Kagami. It looked like all her old classmates had decided to pay a visit. She hadn’t directly talked to any of them since she transferred and they had only barely begun to try reaching out to her now. Suffice to say it felt very strange seeing them here at her house.

“Hi,” Marinette gripped the door handle tighter. “What uh...what are you guys doing here?”

“We--well we wanted to um--” Nino wrung his hat around in his hands.

“We came to apologize.” Alix blurted out.

“Oh” Marinette had thought this might happen. She wasn’t expecting everyone at once though.

“Yeah. We were pretty harsh when everything with Lila happened. It wasn’t right.” Mylene said.

“You were also pretty scary too.” Kim was silenced by Ivan subtly elbowing him in the ribs.

“To be perfectly honest our failure to recognize Lila’s deceit was nothing short of imbecilic. I should have known she was lying when she said you cheated during the gaming tournament. Your skills are far too refined to ever have to resort to cheat codes.” Max said.

“We were so mean and we’re really sorry about all of this.” Rose looked like she was close to breaking down in tears. “I didn’t--I didn’t think that--”

Juleka hugged Rose as she started to blubber.

“Marinette?” Alya came downstairs followed by Wayhem and Aurore. “Nino? Guys? What’s going on?”

“They’re here to apologize.” Marinette was trying not to have another breakdown.

The all at once relief of stress and anxiety had left Marinette rather sensitive. At random points it would just hit her all at once and she’d start crying or laughing or both. Yesterday Adrien gave her a hug and she broke down. So having all her old peers outside her door apologizing and asking forgiveness was definitely wearing on her sanity control.

“Uncool guys. You just can’t ambush someone like this! Even if it is well meaning.” Alya stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind her. There was some muffled conversation before she opened the door again. “Now, what do we have to say to Marinette?”

“Sorry for coming over uninvited and without any notice.” Nino said. “We weren’t sure you would see us if we asked.”

“I won’t act like everything that happened didn’t hurt me. I thought we were all friends but when the time came you all took Lila’s side. Someone you barely knew. It was infuriating but even more disappointing that my word seemed to carry such little weight with all of you.”

“Marinette--”

“Let her finish.” Aurore glared at the others.

“I know the real culprit here is Lila. She’s the one that lied and sabotaged and drove me out of the school by turning everyone against me. I’ll never forgive her.” Marinette took a deep breath, “But I think I am ready to start forgiving you.”

The class perked up at that.

“That is great to here. There is one other thing we came to ask though.” Nathaneal said.

“Which is?”

“We would love it if you transferred back to Dupont. We miss you and want our sweet classmate back.” Rose said.

“What did I just tell you guys about putting pressure on an unassuming person?” Alya groaned. She turned to Marinette, “I am so sorry about them. You don’t have to answer.”

“I think it is a fair question.” Wayhem shrugged. “Now that Lila’s been exposed, would you transfer back?”

“I know we weren’t in the same class but it would be nice seeing you around school again.” Aurore smiled.

“Everyone, please,” Marinette backed up, “I appreciate you coming over to apologize and asking me to come back. But the fact of the matter is that I am not coming back to Dupont. It isn’t anything against all of you but I love where I am right now. I’ve made new friends and have finally caught up with the rest of the class at my new school.”

“Also,” Marinette sighed, “Even though all of you know the truth about Lila I can’t be around her. I not only want to keep as far from her as I can but I feel like I need to stay way from her. Especially now that she’s been outed as the liar she is I can only see her getting more hostile.”

“No one has heard from her in days though. She might have transferred schools or been expelled.” Alix insisted. “If she did try anything we’d be there for you this time. You wouldn’t need to worry.”

“I still can’t take that chance. I left because it was the best thing for me at the time. Now I’m not returning because this is still the case. I hope you can accept that.”

Everyone looked disappointed but nodded.

“Thanks for hearing us out.” Mylene said.

“Alright, off with the lot of you.” Alya shooed them out. “Nino, you’re coming with me. Marinette, I’ll text you later. Bye!”

“Bye!” Marinette watched them file back down the steps. When she heard the downstairs door close she dropped to new knees. She had felt like keeling over the second she opened the door and saw all them waiting for her.

“Whoa, are you okay?” Wayhem helped her up.

“I need a moment.” Marinette trudged over to the couch. “My head hurts.”

“For what it’s worth, I think you handled that very well.”

“Thanks.” Marinette took a few more calming breaths. “Oh wait, the dress,”

“I got it.” Wayhem grabbed the garment bag. “You chill for a minute.”

“Thank you, Wayhem.” Marinette leaned against Aurore, “Why does life have to be so darn complicated?”

“If it were simple it would be boring.” Aurore patted her back. “The worst is over now.”

I doubt that. Marinette thought. More hard times and horrible people would come but for right now she could breathe and know everything was okay. If only for a little bit.

 Wayhem and Aurore hung out for a bit longer before they had to go. Marinette checked on Kagami’s dress a final time before texting her that it was all done. Unfortunately Kagami’s schedule didn’t mean they’d get a chance to do a final fitting before the fundraiser but Marinette was going to come over extra early the evening of to help her get ready. Hopefully if anything needed altered she’d have enough time to do it.

The days flew by and soon it was the night of the fundraiser. Marinette took the dress and made her way to Kagami’s house. Kagami answered the door and pulled her inside.

“Someone is excited,” Marinette laughed, “here is your dress,” She handed over the garment bag.

“What isn’t there to be excited about?” Kagami was bouncing as she took the dress. It was cute seeing her getting all giddy about it. “I’ve been looking forward to tonight all week.”

“And I can’t wait to see the outfit all put together. Go try it on!” Marinette ushered her into the bedroom. She waited nervously as Kagami put on the dress.

“MARINETTE!” Kagami shrieked. She’s seen the alteration.

Kagami stepped back out of the room in the dress. It looked fantastic. A fitted royal blue dress with an off the shoulder neckline. “What is this?” she pointed at the small slit Marinette had put in the dress. Nothing too much but it gave a cheeky peek of thigh when she walked.

“I know that you didn’t want anything short but you deserve to show off your legs a little. This is a great compromise.”

“I don’t know…” she tugged at the slit.

“If it bothers you that much I did bring my supplies to close it but you look amazing. You look hot.”

“Really?”

“Yes! Go put on the rest of the outfit. We’re on a deadline!” Marinette helped her tie on her strappy black heels while Kagami put her earrings in. Marinette carefully did her makeup so it wasn’t over the top but highlighted her big brown eyes and made her lips very kissable. (Side note to review sexuality later.)

“Alright,” Marinette put her in front of the mirror, “What do you think?”

“Wow,” Kagami couldn’t stop smiling, “I look--I don’t even know!”

“You look spectacular. You are going to turn heads this evening, my dear Kagami.” Marinette stood behind her smoothing out her hair and picking tiny bits off lint off her dress.

“Thank you, Marinette.” Kagami smiled at her. “It means so much. Not just the dress but being encouraging about Adrien. But more importantly this friendship between you and me. You are a great girl and I’m glad that I’ve gotten to know you better.”

“Me too,” She rested her head against Kagami’s shoulder, “I don’t think I ever thought I would be hyping up my romantic rival for a date with my crush. But, it’s you and I kinda love you. You’re great and no matter who Adrien ends up with, whether it be you, me, or someone else, I’m glad we have this friendship.”

“Dang it, Marinette,” Kagami fanned her face, “Is this mascara waterproof?”

“Don’t cry!” Marinette grabbed her a tissue, “No tears!”

“Stop being so sweet then!” Kagami dabbed at the corner of her eyes.

After they had both calmed down Marinette checked the time. They had to get going if Kagami was gonna be on time. They walked out to the limo. “Hope you have fun,”

“Okay, so I have a small confession,” Kagami was fidgeting. Fidgeting!

“What?” Marinette eyed her suspiciously.

“You’re coming to this fundraiser too.”

“Say what?”

“Come on, we don’t have a whole lot of time.”

---

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11) (12) (13) (15)

---

@northernbluetongue @ladylb @immatureidiot101 @lady-flora-of-slytherin @zazzlejazzle @shamefullove @heredemaquam @kristycocopops @schrodingers25 @sublimemagazinestarlight @crazylittlemunchkin @daydream-wannabewriter @trainflavor @never-neverland

[autisticpeterparkerheadcanons]

They say if you can’t find content for something, then make it yourself, so here’s autistic!Peter Parker headcanons that literally no one asked for. I’ve seen some, but they all seem to be very similar, and I need MORE and also I have a different take on it, SO. (My brain that needs Categories for Things doesn’t know what to do with this exactly because it seems that a lot of people think the common labels are too ableist and I don’t disagree, so I’m calling this stealth!autism because it’s Not Obvious And Undiagnosed But Still Relevant, AKA me, lol.)

Under a cut because this monster weighs in at just over 2k words. Oops.

Also, ya know, a little bit AU because I hate that Tony sold the Tower. :P

Tony was the first to realize anything was different about the kid, after he started spending more time actively mentoring him after the Vulture fiasco.

It was small things at first. He didn’t think much about it. The first couple of months, most sarcasm went completely over the kid’s head (which, okay, Tony’s brand of humor isn’t really mainstream anymore, he thinks -- he doesn’t speak meme -- and maybe that was the problem because the kid does slowly catch on to it, and fewer and fewer awkward moments ensue as time passes). He stuttered and didn’t often make eye contact, but he wrote that off as more nerves than anything. He rambled about one topic non-stop sometimes, but he wrote it off as anxiety -- a need to fill the silence. His hands were always busy, if not with anything productive, then a constant fidgeting. Once again, probably just nerves.

But as time passed and Peter became decidedly more comfortable around him, none of those things disappeared. Maybe he stutters a little less, but nothing about his mannerisms changed. And the longer he knows Peter, the more little things come to his attention.

Peter has a hard time taking verbal instructions. It’s not that he’s not listening or focusing. It’s more like he just doesn’t...comprehend? process? It just doesn’t always stick. And that’s okay. Tony can work with that. He makes Peter repeat instructions to make sure he’s got it, or he writes it down if he can’t just show the kid himself. Everybody learns differently, after all. (Tony would know.)

Peter often stayed for dinner when he came to the Tower, and Tony noticed the things he liked to eat and the things he wouldn’t. “You don’t like mushrooms? Uncultured!” -- A shrug. “I don’t mind the taste, but I can’t stand the texture. Same goes for shrimp.”

(He files that information away for safe keeping. Do Not Make Shrimp.)

And, really that was just the start. The seemingly ‘little things’ piled up.

One night, after Peter had left, Tony was puzzling everything over. Trying to figure this oddly eccentric kid out. Pepper offered a listening ear.

“It sounds like he could be on the spectrum? It’s a lot of little things, but they add up. It fits.”

And, oh. That made sense actually. But... “Why would he not tell me that?”

“You’re still his hero. He probably doesn’t want you to think any differently of him.”

So Tony doesn’t say anything. There’s no tactful way to ask something like that, after all. Peter will tell him when he’s ready to -- if he ever is -- Tony figures. But until then, he’ll just keep adjusting. Life is probably hard enough to navigate, no need to make the workshop that way, too.

Peter doesn’t know. He’s always been aware that he’s different, sure, but he has Ned and -- more recently -- MJ as friends and (most of) the Decathlon team, so it’s okay. He doesn’t mind, not really.

(He didn’t present in the ‘normal’ ways when he was little, so, just like Tony, all the adults in his life wrote off the ‘little things’ as something else.)

And then everything happens and suddenly he’s spending a lot of time with the Tony Stark and getting to work in his lab with him, and if the Tony Stark does’t mind that he’s kind of weird and awkward, then he must not be that weird or awkward. Tony doesn’t interrupt his rambles or look annoyed by them. He doesn’t comment on the fidgeting or stuttering. Peter doesn’t know when the hero worship ended, but he thinks it probably had something to do with the sheer amount of patience the man has for him and his oddities.

(And, don’t get him wrong, Tony is still his hero, but it’s different now.)

Besides his aunt and Ned, he thinks Tony might just be the most comfortable person to be around.

Second semester starts, and he finds out he needs to take an elective instead of a free period in order to stay on track to graduate. Unfortunately there’s only one class that’ll fit in his schedule as is and he doesn’t really want to mess around with the placements of his other classes, so he ends up taking some sort of health class, but not the fun home-ec ones where you get to cook and eat the stuff you make. He’s not exactly dreading it, but he’s not looking forward to it either.

Instead of having an exam for midterms, they have a project, the topics assigned at random, things like depression and anxiety and ADHD. Peter’s topic is Autism Spectrum Disorder. Like most people his age, he has a vague idea of what that is, but he thinks it’ll be interesting to learn more about, so he’s at least not dreading doing research.

He starts with the basics, what it is and how it works and the ‘markers’ of how you can tell if someone is. Which leaves him vaguely confused. Because some of these things sound like him? But he’s not, so.

He ends up in forums, because he knows that the strictly medical side of things often doesn’t actually do it justice with how it is to actually live with something. On every forum he slogs though there’s always at least one thread about not being formally diagnosed at all or not until adulthood. And he always reads those because how could something like that get missed? But he quickly finds out it’s really pretty common (or, at least, more common than he thinks it should be).

He goes to blogs, too. Between the two, he finds a million and one things that people on the spectrum deal with that ‘official’ sites don’t tell you. Actual people relate what it’s actually like, and suddenly there’s this seed planted in his mind because holy crap does he identify with this and suddenly a lot of things make more sense.

He’s not sure how he gets there, but he ends up on an online AQ test and he takes it. He doesn’t technically score high enough, but he’s borderline (and the higher end of that, even, barely missing the lowest number, and if he’s honest, a couple questions he wasn’t entirely sure how to answer and that may have made a difference), and the site itself says, “89% of those who fall in the borderline category are diagnosed” and...

He doesn’t really know what to do with this information. He’s almost 16 and he’s old enough to understand this kind of stuff so surely if May knew she would have told him. But how the heck do you even ask about something like this? “Hey, May, am I autistic?” just wasn’t going to cut it. And if she didn’t know, that would be even more awkward. So he doesn’t. He buries the thought and ignores it the best he can.

But Tony notices because of course he does. He asks if Peter is alright and spends an awful lot of time staring at him with that expression no matter how many times he says he’s fine. Eventually, Tony does drop it with a quick “I’m always here to listen if you need to talk -- no judgment” and Peter appreciates that more than he’d like to admit, but just like with May, how the heck do you start a conversation like this one? So he still doesn’t.

For a while after, everything is fine. He turns in his project, gets an A on it, and he puts it out of his mind.

Finals pass, and summer vacation starts, which means he has more time to swing around Queens and more time to spend with Tony in the lab. This is going to be the best summer ever he’s pretty darn sure.

It’s late June, and Peter is staying the weekend because May is out of town and any excuse is a good one. AC/DC is playing over the lab’s speakers, just like normal, and he’s rambling about something when he suddenly becomes very aware that that’s what he’s doing, that he’s actually info-dumping, and -- he cuts off mid-sentence. Because he hasn’t thought about this in months, but it’s back again. What if...?

He zones out, he’s not sure for how long, but the music clicks off and suddenly Tony is sitting directly in front him, obviously concerned. Very concerned, because he’s not even trying to hide it. “Peter? What’s wrong?” No nickname? Tony is definitely on to him, and he’s not going to get away with saying ‘nothing’ this time. He stares down at his hands, and he can’t help but rub his fingers together (he doesn’t really have anything else to fidget with at the current moment so).

He’s very aware of the silence and that Tony is still waiting for an answer. But he doesn’t know what to say, so he doesn’t say anything.

(To Tony’s credit, he doesn’t so much as shift or sigh. He just...sits and waits. He’s not usually such a patient man, but Peter is different. He can be endlessly patient with Peter. Pepper says it’s because Peter is practically his kid, and he’s not so sure about that, but whatever.)

The silence is uncomfortable and he can feel himself starting to panic, but he forces himself to breathe and try to unscramble his thoughts. Because whatever he says, he’s determined to not say it bluntly. There has to be a subtle way of asking...maybe...right? He’s determined to try, anyway.

In the end, he settles on a mumbled, “Mr Stark? Do you think I’m... different?”

(And Tony has to steel himself because he’s known for more than six months at this point and he’s just been waiting for this conversation so you’d better not mess this up, Stark.) “Maybe. But that’s not a bad thing. Normal people don’t accomplish things worth remembering.”

“You don’t think I’m...weird? or awkward?”

“You’re a teenager. ‘Weird’ and ‘awkward’ are kinda part of the job description.”

Peter almost smiles. He knows Tony is joking with him, but... “No, I mean....” He cuts off. He doesn’t know what he means, really, and trying to figure it out is exhausting. “I don’t know. Never mind. It’s not important.”

“If something is bothering you, that makes it important to me.”

Peter isn’t sure what to think of that, and silence drags on again.

For a hot minute, Tony thinks he blew it. But then Peter speaks up again, and when he finally starts, he rambles it all out and doesn’t even try to sort it out. He just...wants it out. “I just... I don’t fit in, Mr Stark, and I’ve always known that and I’ve been okay with that because I’m just me, ya know? And if other people don’t like me, that’s on them not me, or at least that’s what I’ve always been taught and everything, it’s just I’m weird and I know it, and I’m just...” There’s a pause, and he’s not sure Tony even hears what he ends with, “I think there’s something wrong with me.”

(At this point, Tony realizes that Peter probably didn’t have any idea until a couple of months ago. Oh. Well.)

When Tony replies, it’s not how Peter thinks he will. “Does this have something to do with that mid-term project you had to do?” He finally meets Tony’s gaze again, and Tony adds with a smile, “You were acting kinda like this then, too, kid.”

He looks back down at his hands and mumbles. “Autism. That’s what my project was on.”

“And you think you are?”

Peter can’t even find it in him to nod. He just...keeps staring at his hands and waits for the other shoe to drop because surely this is it, this’ll be the thing that’s too much on top of everything else, and Tony will boot him out because he doesn’t want to deal with it.

It’s only quiet for a moment before Tony says casually, “You wanna know who else is on the spectrum? Einstein. Or, I guess I should say was, but that’s irrelevant.”

Peter is looking at him again, because What???

Tony smiles at the look on Peter’s face. “I’m serious. People who know far more about it than I do say he probably was.” He shrugs. “So your brain works a little differently. So what? It just means that you’ll see answers no one else will. So the way I see it, that just means you’re gonna change the world, kid.”

Peter decides maybe he can live with this after all.

(They go back to work, the music clicks back on, and it’s a solid ten minutes before it dawns on Peter. His head snaps up and over to where Tony is working a few feet away, and says, “You already knew, didn’t you?”

Tony just laughs and says, “Pep guessed before I did really, but I guess you could say that. I’ve had a hunch since around Christmastime.”

And that puts him more at ease than anything yet. Tony knew and still treated him exactly the same as before. He decides maybe this is okay.)

(Not a week later, when Peter shows up at the Tower to work on stuff, he finds a box on his workbench. Inside are various fidget toys. All he can do is stare as Tony comes up beside him.

“Try ‘em out. Let me know what you like. That way I can have a stash because God knows you lose things like no one I’ve ever known.” It’s all said with a fond smile, and Peter knows it’s true -- he does lose things like crazy.

Peter decides he likes the cubes, and Tony is true to his word. “This one stays here, on your table. Here’s another one that stays on your desk at home. This one is a spare for your backpack, and this one is to carry around wherever. I also have three more in the drawer over there for when you inevitably lose one.”

They’re all superhero-themed, and he’s pretty sure Tony commissioned the designs especially for him, though he can’t prove it.

At some point a weighted blanket appears in his room in the Tower after a movie night where Tony pulls out his and Peter comments how AMAZING it is. He gets another one for home for his birthday. Both are also custom-made superhero-themed colors.)

[lovetnaomi]

Secrets of the Dusk Chapter 21

Chapter 21

                 “I’m fine, mom, don’t worry about it….no…. he’s in the other room. He said he’d be willing to meet you.”

               “But you don’t want us to see him.” Her parents were quiet as they pondered the thought over, “we embarrassed you; and we deserve it.”

               Uraraka took a breath, they had always done what they could to protect her from the world which had more to offer than they would ever realize, and putting herself in their shoes right now wasn’t easy. Especially, when she knew Katsuki and Todoroki so well. But if her daughter came home one day with a demon hooked on her arm and someone in her ear whispering about how her daughter was in danger how would she react? Would she wait to figure out if that was her daughter’s decision or if she was possessed? Would she worry if the actions she was taking were too late? Would she attempt to get to know them before taking such a rash decision? Uraraka’s hand tightened on the phone, “Mom, you’re just doing your best. It’s all we can do.”

               Her mom was quiet, but she knew it was her mother attempting to muffle the tears, and the sound of embarrassment mixing with relief as though those were the words that she was never expecting. Likely, they were preparing to play the villains before she had even called them.  

               “Mom, what do you know about magic?”

               Her mom was quiet, “Not much….” There was a quiet shuffling, “I think whatever’s happening comes from your grandmother, we thought she was eccentric, but you probably got a stronger version of what she had. Your grandmother, was highly intelligent, but she was always talking to things that weren’t there,” another soft shuffle, “But we haven’t seen her in years, she just disappeared. We put in a report to the police, but…”

               Uraraka suppressed a sigh of disappointment. She was someone she had never known, she would be glad to meet her grandmother, but there was no way that could compare the loss her mother felt about not being able to find her own. Or the reason that she disappeared. Uraraka glanced towards the walls of the house she was currently residing in, plain with no pictures, maybe she would try to fill them later. If not for herself, then for the two who she would leave remaining behind in this house. They would need a better atmosphere. Especially-especially, if she wouldn’t live as long as they would. Her hand tightened on the phone. She was young, there wasn’t any time to worry about such things. She needed to focus on saving Katsuki from his solitude first. Her eyes lingered towards Todoroki, barely peering at him through the ajar office door, hair hanging in his face, a leg crossed over the other and a book in his lap as he stared down at it, as though if his eyes were to burn into the book it would eventually croak and give him the answers he desired. He had yet to open it, the scene almost made her laugh.

               “Uraraka, I made dinner-breakfast; whatever, I have food.”

               “I’ll be right there.”

               “Who’s that? It doesn’t sound like Todoroki.”

               “Don’t worry about it, mom, I’ll introduce you sometime, it’s another of my housemates, he’s been a little busy lately. I’ll to you later.” Uraraka slipped the phone back onto the hook, taking a breath before she turned to Katsuki already leaning on the doorway, seeming as if he was an annoyed mother calling repeatedly across the house.  

It all seemed so mundane. Normal. As if she wasn’t a psychic living in a house with a vampire and a half-demon. But after all she guessed this was normal, she just didn’t know about it yet. It wasn’t as if they didn’t exist in the world before she knew the existed, they had been there the whole time. A soft smile glowed on her face, “I’ll be right there.”

This kind of normal was okay, if she was honest it was as though everything wasn’t normal until she had found them. The night she beat on Todoroki’s door, the minute she saw him, as unreasonable as she knew that feeling beating in her head was she felt safe. Not only safe. There was an overwhelming amount of relief that rushed through her being, vibrating through her arms. It was as if she was looking for more than someone to save her from the being that was chasing her, but something-or someone-who hadn’t been there previously. It was as if she had known him her whole life and that something inside of her had been desperately searching for something, but it turned out that what she was desperately searching for had been him all along. She had everything she ever thought she needed, a loving family, a safe place to live, desperately trying to achieve her dreams. And yet the minute she saw him, she realized that it felt empty, as though something was desperately missing. Something that she had been missing. Maybe she did realize. Maybe she had realized all along and just didn’t want to admit to herself that something was missing, but at least now she could say whatever was missing was there now. Maybe that was the feeling that her grandmother was desperately searching for. Something told Uraraka that her grandmother hadn’t simply gone missing. Her grandmother knew exactly where she was, but was desperately searching for answers of her own and she would come home when she was ready.

Uraraka glanced up to Katsuki physically dragging Todoroki out of his chair, “I took this time cooking this food all morning, night whatever you want to call it and you’re going to eat it!”

“In a moment,”

“Yeah, yeah, we can save the world later. Right now, we can have breakfast.” Katsuki rolled his eyes.

“I’m not trying to-“ He shouted, voice beginning to mellow at as he looked towards her then back to Katsuki, mumbling words she was positive that she wasn’t supposed to hear, “I am. I’m trying to save our world.”

Katsuki grumbled, snatching the book out of his hands, “Do that later.” Katsuki glanced towards her, “You too.” Clearly disgruntled Katsuki stormed into the kitchen checking to see if the food he had desperately worked on was cold.

Uraraka slid into her seat at the table, breakfast dishes already lined up around them. Todoroki quietly beginning to eat and Katsuki already yelling, there was something mundane about it, the noise that echoed around the table from the yelling to the laughter, this, right here, was what she wanted to consider normal for the rest of her life. Uraraka blinked. Thoughts occurring in her mind. They were letting her live here because she couldn’t afford a place to stay while in college. Was she impeding? Sure, they had been distracted for a while, but what about rent? And even if they were okay with that, what about after she graduated college? Wouldn’t it make sense for her to go back home? Uraraka glanced between Todoroki and Katsuki, her hands tightening on her utensils. It wasn’t like she would never see them again. But she wouldn’t have a specific reason to see them again. Would it be discouraged? They had technically come from different worlds; would they even want to see her?

“Uraraka?” She glanced up towards Todoroki’s voice soft and full of concern, she must’ve been distracted as the two of them seemed like they had started fighting and were tangled around each other, only to pause when they realized something was wrong, “Are you alright?”

Darn it. Living with two people who could hear your heartrate the same way someone could hear a quarter hit the floor wasn’t ideal in most situations. “It’s okay, I was-I just got off the phone with my mom, I was just thinking about some things. It’s alright.”

They nodded, untangling from each other, and quietly beginning to eat their meals while shooting each other glances. Katsuki got up shuffling at the kitchen counter, before throwing a cup in the sink. Clearly trying to be courteous of her as to not be drinking blood in front of her, especially while she was eating her breakfast. Uraraka sighed wishing they hadn’t heard her heartrate rising, wishing she could keep her own concerns to herself even if she tried to hide it, they would certainly hear her heartrate rising and they would be considering that there was a problem, if not mental, physical. Either way they would both be concerned.

“My mom told me my grandmother might be around, and she might have some answers to…this.” Uraraka gestured, hoping that somehow either of them would be able to provide her further answers or a further explanation on what was beginning to happen to her. They had been involved with other supernaturals for much longer than she had, they would have to be her main source of information to start with.

Katsuki shuffled, “I think you should finish your investigation on….my death, that’s time orientated, before you search for your grandmother. It’s going to take a lot longer if her missing reports been out for most your life.”

Uraraka nodded, that made sense, she shuffled towards the folder, would it be unfair to ask Katuski about the details? There would be no way to cite the words of a dead man. It would be too cruel to ask him for more than she already had. Katsuki held out his hand. “I couldn’t-“

“I’ll just proof it, and read if anything sounds weird. Supernatural entities and explanations that you may have accidentally added in that don’t make sense to human minds. You won’t pick it up because it makes sense.”

“What do you mean? Of course, I will.”

Todoroki shuffled his plate, “He’s worried you might’ve psychically slipped something in about his death that you won’t be able to explain. Plus he didn’t write it, it’s not like he’s read it ten times already.”

Uraraka nodded, her hands moving back to her lap, “I appreciate it.” There was so much she appreciated. She wondered if they would ever be able to understand her full extend of how much she appreciated them. Her eyes slid towards Todoroki’s desk, barely peaking out from the door, the book he had been staring at sat on top of the desk.

“Todoroki?”

“Yes?”

“What’s in that books?” Her voice was quiet, beginning to crack and shiver, she hadn’t felt like that before she asked the question. But now that the words rested in the air, she wanted to know-she needed to know- her hands buzzed. Begging her to open it.

A strange look of nostalgia and regret ran through Todoroki’s eyes as they lingered towards the book sitting on the desk. It was as though that book sitting on his desk had been filled with contradictions. The contradictions that caused him to spend all morning deciding if he would or wouldn’t open that book. The fact that, that book still sat, shut on the desk. Todoroki lowered the dishes into the sink, before turning back towards them and settling at the table, Katsuki set his pen down, glancing towards Todoroki as though he didn’t know the answer either.

“Come on man, I’ve learned very quickly how to feel if an entity is inside that book. I’ve known the whole time not to open that. Even before I learned that you kept prison worlds in a library. It’s better if we just know.”

Todoroki nodded, his breath escaping as a soft frost, moving onto the table as it evaporated into the air, a thousand icicles dancing back into the sky, “Inside that book is my older brother.” He glanced between the two of them, waiting for an outburst that he couldn’t treat his family that way, or a demand for an explanation. Yet the two of them sat there, patiently waiting for the rest of what he had to say. He took this as an opportunity to continue, “my older brother…the eldest of us. And the most deadly,” Todoroki paused, likely trying to figure out the proper words to say, “He has learned what keeps him alive. And what does not. His answer is no one can try to kill you if they’re already dead. He’s wanted by several human governments, if those who saw him made it out alive. They actually don’t have a good description of him because most of those who made their reports were on their deathbeds. And the supernatural governments…..have a warning out to run if they see him. He shows no mercy to those of either side.”

“But isn’t he both?”

Todoroki glanced at his hands, “Isn’t being both demon and human, the same as being neither? In his eyes that meant if neither government could protect him, then neither should control him.”

He glanced towards Uraraka wondering what she had been thinking of this situation. His brother clearly sounded like a villain, yet the reasoning….it made too much sense to him. He had to do his best to control the impulse, the need, to run after the same reasoning. The ability to burn the world at his fingertips. And yet the ability to keep it all reeled in and controlled at the same time.

She glanced towards him-his older brother, trapped in a prison world shaped like a book-an understanding in her eyes, and a sadness, “This world must’ve been cruel to him.”

Todoroki glanced down, “It was. But there was nothing more I could do….I couldn’t….”

Katsuki sat back, glaring at the roof, “You couldn’t just let a serial killer with the ability to turn the world to ash and dance in it run lose. Even if he is your brother.”

Uraraka nodded.

“But that’s the problem about having so much control. I am basically the monarch of supernaturals around here. When do I let them out? When do I let them roam free?” He shook his head, glancing towards the time, before scuffling to his feet and rushing to grab his keys, “Uraraka I’ll drive you I didn’t realize the time.”

Uraraka glanced towards him, shuffling the paperwork away, and offering Katsuki a quick thank you and ushering towards the car.

“Jackets you two!” Katsuki yelled, throwing jackets towards them as he grumbled over their foolishness, heading further into the house to explore as they left once again.

Todoroki keyed the engine revving the car to life as Uraraka slipped into the passenger seat, sliding her bag into the back and her seatbelt on. He glanced towards the speed limit, driving them down the mountain, it would be fine, hopefully she would be unlikely to notice as she paged through the notes. Plus, humans wouldn’t really notice. He was allowed to break some of the laws humans believed to be how the world worked. He was a half-demon after all. It was just the elements were his main strengths. He shook his head, his braid trailing down his shoulder, realizing that he hadn’t asked the most basic of questions to fulfill the role of a landlord.

“Uraraka?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you like it here?”

“The town’s nice, it’s got a lot going on,” Uraraka added a little chuckle as though she had just told some form of joke, “But I like it, my college is good, my professors are kind, don’t get me started on the nightlife here it is booming, and my roommates are great.”

A small scoff escaped him. The nightlife here really was booming. Although, it really wasn’t “life”. He skidded the car to a stop, they had arrived ten minutes early, just enough for her to slide into class unnoticed. “Did you want me to come pick you up after?”

Uraraka paused, then nodded, “Yeah. I would appreciate that.”  

“We probably won’t be walking for a while.”

“That’s fine, it’s getting cold soon anyway.” She paused, beginning to walk away, before turning back, “Actually,” Her hands tightened on the bag, “I don’t want to suspect her….but Seraphina was the only other person in the house….that…on that night when we went to Katsuki’s parents. The book with that supernatural creature winding up in my bag. I don’t want to suspect her.”

“It’ll be okay. We’ll figure it all out.”

Uraraka nodded, glancing at the time, before ushering a good-bye and darting towards the building that encompassed many knowledges. But not the one’s he needed. The place he was going to get his knowledge was much darker ones.  

Todoroki nodded, letting her go inside, watching as she shut the door behind her, before turning the car. He had some research to do. He wouldn’t turn to his older brother. He wouldn’t let him out of that prison world no matter what he did. No matter how much he wanted to meet him. He couldn’t let someone who would likely kill them all and then make matters worse than the person running around out of that book. Even if he likely had the most answers. He shook his head. That man had been trapped in that book for years, there was no way his information network was as powerful as it was when he was free outside the book and in a supernatural gang that started a turf war. He glanced towards the clock, his older brother’s gang was still roaming free. Would it be worth his while to visit any of them? Would they have any answers about vampires that aren’t quite vampires? Or what was happening to Katsuki? Or would they know the man running around rampaging in his streets? His hand tightened on the wheel, they would understand about someone crossing his territory uninvited. But they wouldn’t. They likely would think he was losing and would wait at the edges waiting until he was weak to see if they could make a play at him for his territory. Todoroki sighed. Governing was exhausting. He just wanted to live. Be left alone. But he knew that wouldn’t work. He had to rise to the hierarchy, destroy it, and create his own, if he wanted to live in peace. Todoroki glanced towards the college shrinking in the review mirror. And he would find his peace.

He swung into the parking lot of the convenience store, glancing towards the shop, trying not to grimace. And elderly lady sat in her rocker in the front of the store, glaring at him through her busy work. Her glare almost made him want to raise his hand and insist he came in peace. Almost. The other half of him wanted to pick a fight with her, he could still see the spark in her eyes, the one that dared him to set foot on her territory. It almost excited him to try. He pushed pressure on the car, pushing that feeling out. Yelling “fight me” at a lady nearing her nineties wasn’t the best way to get along with the humans in the area. There was just so much spark of life in her, he hadn’t seen in a long time, even most of the younger one’s didn’t have it anymore, and yet he felt as though he could somehow leech that feeling from her. “Breathe, control it.” He wasn’t his demon half. But he wasn’t his human half either. He was both. And he was in control of both, no matter how impulsive both were being.

Todoroki let go of the car window, locking the door, and controlling his speed as he walked towards the door. The woman sat her busywork into her lap, “I told you not to come back here.”

“Just passing through, have to be a good host to my visitor.”

“Leave child. This can’t be your territory; a fearsome creature already lives on that mountain. You’ll get devoured.”  

Her warning almost seemed caring. Almost. It made him laugh none the less. He was that monster. Or maybe she meant Katsuki? Maybe someone had seen him siphoning blood from other supernaturals, it wasn’t exactly a pretty sight. He remembered how much he gagged the first time he had to do it. Almost puking, but had to remember he was now in charge of keeping Katsuki alive. He was in charge of keeping two people alive when his whole life he had been in charge of killing. He had been in charge of defending territory. And now he’s in charge of defending people. Two who rely on him.

“We don’t serve demons child. Leave. We have nothing for you here.”

“My mother’s human.”

The elder woman shook her head, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’ve given you three now. Now hurry up and make your purchase before my late husband’s soul hunts you for sport.”

“I’ll tell him you said hi if I do manage to catch a glimpse.”

The elderly woman laughed, “Tell him dinners gone long cold, he’s going to have to reheat it himself this time.”

“If I ever see him. Will I know it’s him?”

“Loudest ghost you’ll ever see.”

“I understand.” Todoroki hurried inside, buying his purchases, before heading out, glancing down towards the elder woman-gone.

“Sir, may I ask what you’re looking at?”

“I was just wondering how she got out of here so quietly.”

The cashier blinked towards him, “Old grannie?”

“Yeah, she was.”

“Nah, everyone had called her grannie around here.”

“Had?”

“She passed a couple years ago.”  

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it was talk of the town everyone knew her.”

Todoroki nodded. It was so odd; most ghosts typically weren’t so full of life. Honestly, he wasn’t sure he had met other ghosts, but that wasn’t what he had been expecting on meeting a ghost. He swallowed. She seemed so lively, so peaceful, so full of spunk. He hoped she was indeed a ghost and not another zombie creature send to spy on them from whoever had decided to be his enemy. Todoroki shifted his bags to one arm, digging in his pockets for his phone, dialing Uraraka’s number first, the phone continued to ring. He tried again.

“Todoroki, I’m in the middle of class.”

“Sorry, I was just checking-“

“are you alright?”

“I am. There was just something that concerned me. It’s alright now. I’ll see you after.” Todoroki hung up. It was unlike him to panic. Sliding groceries into the back seat of his car, he dialed the house’s phone number. He dialed again, he understood Uraraka not picking up on the first ring, but Katsuki had supernatural speed and hearing; and nothing better to do.  

“Alright, alright, stop calling, what’s the emergency?” He could almost picture Katsuki leaning on the phone a half-annoyed look on his face as though he really did have something better to do or a place he could be.

“It’s nothing, I’ll be back soon.”

“Can’t be nothing if it freaked you out. Feeling skittish lately?” He could almost hear the soft teasing laughter behind the rough voice he was attempting to disguise it with.

Todoroki glanced over his shoulder, shutting the trunk and sliding into the driver’s seat, “Can I feel territorial over a ghost being in my territory?”

Katsuki laughed, “Honestly, there’s so many supernaturals in your area that I wouldn’t see you as territorial, sure there’s a borderer they don’t pass, but they’re about. They follow your laws, but their not part of your pack so I don’t think I’ve seen you really territorial.” Katsuki laughed, a burst of laughter finally escaping him, “Wait, wait, I want to see you try to throw hands with a ghost for being in your territory, I’m going to record it.”

Todoroki shook his head, “I’m not going to throw hands with a ghost,” His eyes lingering in the review mirror. Maybe that buzzing feeling would go away if he tried. No. No, he wasn’t going to spin the car to go back to fight something he couldn’t even touch. He pushed the peddle down, as if making the car go faster towards his home would make it harder to spin the car around. He wasn’t going to be the crazy talk of the town after he had done so well trying to blend with the local humans. Todoroki leaned his head back, his conscious whispering about how it was just a small convenience store. It wouldn’t last that long and most passersby wouldn’t recognize him again. No. He wasn’t going to try to fight a ghost. Todoroki slid himself out of the car, bringing the groceries in, and sliding them into their cabinets. He stood there, hands on the products barely on the shelf. Fuck it. He was going to fight the ghost. Todoroki grabbed the keys off of the counter, darting towards the front door.

               Katsuki’s laughter bounced off the living room’s walls, “You’re really going to fight the ghost?”

               “I don’t know. I just need to do something.”

               “Out of all the enemies, the one you want to fight is the one you can’t get your hands on?”

               “I want to fight all of them.”

               Katsuki shook his head, “We’ll get there. It’s not like we’re going to get an opportunity to fight them all at once.”

               “Unless I make one.”

               Katsuki rolled his eyes, “That’s just stupid. You want to fight whatever made me into this, in a convenience store so you might have an opportunity to get the ghost in your territory?”

               “A man can dream.”

               “you’re crazed.”

               “I know you’d fight them too if I can get them in the territory.”

               “Go take a nap you’re not sounding like yourself.”

               Todoroki ran a hand through his hair, he was right, maybe he needed a hobby to help. He hadn’t been able to get his hands on the incoming danger and his mind was constantly buzzing that there was some form of danger around the corner. In fact, he hadn’t had a dragged-out fight with a bunch of supernaturals invading in his territory since Uraraka moved in. His hands were buzzing from the age-old habit since he had moved in, like a ritual, going outside to fight with the other supernaturals like it was his rite of passage. They fought like it was a ritual. The wood roamers, the one’s that didn’t blend with human society that well, each night. And not a single one had been brave, or stupid enough, to cross his path since the last bloodbath he created outside. And now he had a threat that he wasn’t sure he could fight. And people he wasn’t sure he could protect. Todoroki clenched and unclenched his hands. He had been shown a future, let to imagine a future that didn’t taste like blood. Todoroki lowered himself to the floor next to the couch, staring towards the ceiling.

               Katsuki shuffled the decorations on the shelf, likely thinking about rearranging the living room once again. They had an odd way of finding each other in a house covered in magic to be a mansion, and yet they each used only three or four rooms. They had an odd way of finding each other. Maybe that was what a family was. Todoroki clenched his hand. The word was bitter. It was a word for his sister. But the word family didn’t sit right with him. Family had a negative connotation in his mind. Yet, these two were given a positive definition to the word. And if they would want Uraraka to live, they would have to let her go.

               “Have you considered she hadn’t saved us from a world of blood, but we’ve doomed her to it?”

               Katsuki scoffed, “Stop thinking too much, this world was already a tragic place. Even if she wasn’t full of the psychic energy running off of her, a force of our world would’ve chased after her anyway. She’s too powerful for them to not glance at her, and not just her psychic energy.”

               “I know,” Todoroki was silent as Katsuki slid the cabinet back and forth, before ultimately deciding it stayed in the same position.

Katsuki was quiet as he stared at it, “It’s a cruel fate. To know that the only way out is to be murdered. I just….I hope she’s moved on, before that happens.” Katsuki’s glowing red eyes stared into the cabinet, likely not realizing that Todoroki could tell his expression from the reflection of the light they illuminated. Katsuki’s mouth opened and then shut.

“If you ask me if worse comes to it to grant you your final mercy, I’ll throw you out. There’s only so much you can ask of your generous landlord. You don’t pay rent.”

“And you don’t pay a bodyguard fee for your house,” Katsuki pushed the cabinet again, sliding it over and grumbling as he rearranged, eyeballing the couch for his next victim, “Pretty sure you just don’t want to clean up when the house eats them.”

Todoroki shrugged, “Might have to talk to the witch of the forest, she might’ve cursed the house before she gave it to me.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes, “Self-preservation skills zero, who accepts a whole house they think is cursed?”

Todoroki shrugged, “Who breaks into a demon’s cursed house?”

Katsuki scoffed, “Half-demon.”

A soft chuckle escaped Todoroki as he stood back up, “I’m going to get Uraraka, you want anything?”

“As if they have what I need at the local convenience store.”

Todoroki shrugged, reaching for his car keys.

“A canister of paint.”

“You are not repainting the house while I am gone.”

“Red.”

“You’re not getting paint. I’m just going to get Uraraka.”

“This living room could use some color.”

“Are you sure you want to paint the living room red when you just instituted the house is cursed?”

Katsuki glanced towards the walls, likely trying to decipher whatever curse the house was under that would cause it to play tricks on him. Likely followed by the thoughts of the red paint running off of the walls in the middle of the night, “Just get me something to do while you’re out.”

Todoroki nodded, in the next moment he was sliding into the car, driving towards the college. Moments later he parked the car, ten minutes early. Hopefully that was enough, not too much to be an inconvenience if she was still busy, but enough that it was still considerate. The campus grounds looked relatively empty, maybe the classes had let out early? Actually, wait, if everyone was in class it made sense for the campus was empty. Todoroki slid out his phone, beginning to search his contacts for Uraraka’s number. He dropped it into the cupholder. No, he would wait until after her classes were over to send a message that he was there, he wanted her to know he was there, but he didn’t want her to feel rushed.  

He let a breath escape as Uraraka slid into the passenger seat, “How’d it go?”

Uraraka smiled, nodding at him, “Did our presentation today, I think it went over well, well at least what we could say about the human half of the information. Somehow, we made it make sense, well enough for the actually interested portion of the class.”

Todoroki nodded, wondering what it would’ve been like to sit in the middle of the presentation, listening to Uraraka’s presentation, completely unaware how close to the truth she was telling them. That she not only had found the body as she had been asked to, but the serial killer, and was closer than any of the human investigation teams had gotten so far…all with her own effort. No large corporation to back her up. She was a marvel. Uraraka scanned the paperwork over.

“You’re done with the project?”

“For the college assignment I’m done.”

Todoroki’s eyes slid from the road towards her, her powerful eyes and powerful presence as she dug through the paperwork, like a cop from the movies their righteousness overpowering their being. And they usually wound up dead in the end. “You’re not thinking of going after them?”

“I am. I’m going to get Katsuki’s killer. We’re going to figure out what happened to him, at the very least so we can help him.”

“And what are you going to do when you find them? They’re not exactly the most credible source of information.”

Uraraka nodded, “I know,” she paged through another piece of information she had collected, flipping from folder to folder, likely organized on what she could tell the non-supernatural population of the town and what was the supernatural information, “but there’s got to be something I can do, some pattern I can find.”  

Todoroki threw his car in park, following Uraraka into the house as she poured through her paperwork, her eyes glancing up towards the rustling in the house. Todoroki moved forwards beginning to move in front of her, whatever was rustling around making a mess of the house moving towards his office. “Katsuki, don’t rearrange that room.” Todoroki shouted; it was too dangerous for the room with the prison-worlds to be shuffled about. They were too fragile. Whoever decided that prison world spells should be equipped to books had a sense of humor, but didn’t think it entirely through considering how easy books were to open.

Uraraka pushed the door open, following him into the office where they found Katsuki wrestling a man with short dark blue hair, even as it looked as though the man were losing there was something gloating, mocking about his atmosphere as he let Katsuki think he was starting to win. The man who had saved them previously when Uraraka’s parents had tried to exorcise him.

Uraraka scoffed, “What brings you back here? Need to be protected by a human again?”

The man scoffed, his blue hair moving with each laugh that clearly vibrated through his chest, “I was curious,” the man’s eyes slid towards Todoroki, “You have a library that defeats libraries of several countries combined, I’ve seen behind that desk, but who determined you’re allowed to play god? Who determined you’re allowed to keep us all trapped forever? Never letting our sentence end?”

Todoroki swallowed, “Are you suggesting I let the serial killers in these books out?”

“It’s not like any of them affect you, you think someone would change their mind after several hundred years of being confound in one of these books.”

“I’m only in my twenties.”

“Please, you know some of these prison worlds were given to you for your reputation of safe keeping. Have you questioned which ones are kept there unfairly? Which one’s the witches decided we wronged them, but they were wrong all along? The one’s who were wronged as we were jammed in a prison world we didn’t belong in?”

“Have you considered how many serial killers are in these books?”

The man with the blue hair’s laughter bellowed throughout the room, his eyes sliding towards Uraraka, “And yet you still let me out. And yet you still thought I would even try to save you two when you needed me.”

A light laugh escaped her, “And yet, you did.”

The creature laughed, “Chances, chances,” they let go of Katsuki, moving around the room, touching the spines on the books as though they were examining which book to pick out first, “You’d think some of these books would have summaries on who were in each book and what they did.”

Uraraka slid towards the desk, wondering which half was the spells and which half of the books were the prison worlds. It was only recently that Todoroki mentioned that Katsuki was likely to have a better reign on which was what in here. Even with the room being Todoroki’s office. Uraraka’s eyes slid towards him, “You don’t have the serial killer vibe, how’d you get trapped in one of those worlds?”

“Not every crime is a serial killing offence, mighty terrible if this room was filled with serial killers.” The man glanced between Katsuki and Todoroki, “And not just of humans.” His eyes slid down towards the grey book covered in blue decorum laying on Todoroki’s desk, reaching for it.

Uraraka didn’t know what she was doing, but she knew, something vibrated off of that book. Telling her that she should never open it. That this book was one of the most dangerous books in the whole room, “Not that one,” It was too late, it was already up in his hands as he flipped it back and forth.

“Oh, okay.” It slipped from his hands, as Uraraka scrambled to get the book, Todoroki already reaching for the book, panic written across his face.

The book landed. Face-down. And open. For a moment, the world was quiet. They each stared at the book, waiting for something to happen. Todoroki let out a breath, leaning against the bookshelf nearest to the door. Anger flaring in his eyes, “I didn’t hunt you down to put you back in that book because of I looked up why you were in that prison world, I’m sorting the information right now. We both know you don’t actually want to let serial killers out.”

The man shrugged, “Guess that one was empty. Please, you don’t know me. If you did you would’ve realized that whatever report you found was extremely wrong. Sure, I killed a lot of people, but they earned it. Only a serial killer because I killed other serial killers. Wouldn’t that mean that you two both belong in prison worlds yourselves?”

The prison world lit up, the glowing blue beginning to illuminate the room.

“Uraraka! Katsuki! Get back!” Todoroki shouted as Katsuki slid next to her watching as the book’s illumination grew bright enough to pay for the electricity bill for three months. Smoke vented throughout the room, stronger than a fog machine in a haunted house when the ventilation wasn’t working, the book beginning to spin, a silhouette rising out of the prison world.

Uraraka stood there, steadying her breaths, she needed to focus. She had just let out someone she had been told was a worse problem than they were already facing. Someone who would burn the world to ash if they let him. And now he was standing in front of her, examining her, as though she was some sort of specimen, some sort of odd creature that he had never-no that look in his eyes. He had seen someone like her before. He knew what she was. And it created a wild look in her eyes. A look she wasn’t sure she liked. She had seen it from Todoroki before. Only when he was angry. Only when he was jumping to protect her. It was the chaos in blooming in his heart. Except in this person’s eyes that chaos, that idea of destruction, somewhere in his heart, it excited him. His heart would pound to watch the world burn. And in his eyes, the world deserved to burn. He looked her over with curiosity, his eyes swinging to Todoroki,

 “Little brother? Where’d you find yourself a goddess?”

[insideoutstory]

Inside Out → Chapter One

summary: Whenever her father goes away for work, Christine has a sleepover with her friends Barb and Nancy. word count: 2.7k a/n: Hey guys! I don’t know if I’m going to post all the chapters on this blog, since some of them will be pretty long, but I figured I’d give it a shot. Let me know what you’d prefer! [ masterlist ]   [ FF.net ]

November 4, 1983 

By 8:00 PM, most of Hawkins, Indiana was getting ready to turn in for the night. Orange streetlamps buzzed faintly against the dark blue sky, kitchen lights turning off after dishes were washed, and the faint blue light of the television catching the curtains of some families’ front windows. Cars were carefully stowed away for the evening, and children argued with their parents that they could stay up just a little bit longer. 

But one house, at least, was still wide awake. 

“Are you sure you’ve got everything?” a teenage girl asked, eyeing her father’s suitcases. 

“Pretty darned,” he replied. He rounded the corner to the front room, dropping another bag into the pile so he could pull on his coat. “Suits are already in the car. Got my files, got my toothbrush…” 

“Are you sure, Dad?” 

“Christine, I’m a forty-year-old man. I know how to pack for a business trip.” 

“Right,” she said with a curt nod, “and last time you just forgot your briefcase, so I had to hitch a ride to the airport to drop it off for you.” 

“Well, at least I won’t make that mistake again, will I?” 

He grinned at her until she broke. When her pout turned into a grudging smile, he tugged her forward to place a kiss into her blonde hair. 

“Give me some credit. Kitchen is stoked, hotel number is on the fridge, Claudia is next door if you need anything, emergency funds are in the bread box, and the key to the liquor cabinet is in my ‘I Heart New York’ mug.” 

“Dad, I don’t…” 

“Ah, ah, ah!” He waved his hands vehemently, squeezing his eyes shut. “I don’t want you to lie to me. Just promise me you’ll drink responsibly.” 

“I’m serious, Dad. I don’t…” 

“Say it to make me feel better, come on. Please.” 

“Fine,” she laughed. “Yes, I promise we’ll drink loads, and we’ll do it responsibly.” 

“That’s my girl.” He kissed her swiftly on the cheek and picked up his bags. “I’ll be back next Monday. Call me if you need anything.” 

“I will. Love you, Dad.” 

“Love you too, bumblebee.” He winked, and stuck his head around the corner to the living room. “Goodnight, girls! Give your parents my best!” 

“Night, Mr. Walcott!” 

“Have a safe flight!” 

With one last pat on his daughter’s head, he ducked out of the house and closed the door behind him. 

Christine peered through the window, one hand ready on the doorknob in case he came running back to grab something. But her father climbed into the car and backed out without incident. She waved as he pulled onto the road, and then headed back into the living room to rejoin her friends. 

“I love your dad,” said Nancy from her seat on the floor. “He’s just so…” 

“Cool,” Christine finished, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, we get it, Nance. You love my dad. You adore my dad. You are weirdly obsessed with my dad.” 

“Shut up! I didn’t mean it like that.” Barb snorted next to her, and Nancy’s jaw dropped further. “I am not obsessed with her dad!” 

“Sure,” Barb said with a shrug. She picked another potato chip from the bowl and inspected it closely to avoid Nancy’s death glare. “But you do bring him up literally every time we come over here.” 

“Why, thank you, Barb,” said Christine smugly. 

They cackled, watching Nancy blush furiously. Eventually, even she had to chuckle. 

“I just think you’re lucky to have a dad that’s so understanding,” she explained. “If I brought up drinking to my dad, I think he’d go into cardiac arrest.” 

“Uh, no,” Barb corrected, “your mom would go into cardiac arrest.” 

“And then your dad would complain about the inconvenience on the way to the hospital,” finished Christine. 

“Exactly! They’d get crazy upset, and still somehow manage to make it all about them. It’s ridiculous!” 

“She’s got a point,” said Barb. “Your dad is pretty chill.” 

Christine waved a hand in defeat. “Ugh, fine, whatever. My dad’s the bomb. Are we getting pizza or what?” 

Nancy and Barb both raised their hands, and Christine retreated to the kitchen. As she plugged the number into the wall phone, she noticed a dark square sitting on the kitchen counter. She picked it up, flipping it open to review her father’s driver’s license, bank card, library card, assorted cash… 

“Yeah, nice going, Dad,” she mumbled, pinning the phone to her shoulder. “Sorry, hi! I was looking to place an order for delivery?” 

She ordered their normal pies—one extra cheese, one pepperoni—and weighed the wallet in her hand. The easiest thing would probably be to ask Barb to drive her to the airport. If they were lucky, the might even catch up to her dad on the road. She’d have to pay for the gas money, of course, but she could always take a few bills from the wallet… 

Thankfully, it didn’t come to that. She was just rattling off her address when a set of headlights pulled into the driveway. The car door slammed, pounding feet jogged up to the house, and her father tumbled through the front door. 

“Sweetheart? Have you seen my…?” 

Christine whistled, leaning around the corner to toss him the wallet. He grinned, gave her a small salute, and ducked out of the house once more. 

This was standard routine at the Walcott house. Not that her father was particularly forgetful, or that Christine was especially organized. They just kept each other in check. The two of them had a system, and it had been that way for years. It was part of the reason she hated it so much when he had to go away. 

She was getting better though. Every business trip was offset by a sleepover with her two closest friends. They gossiped, ate junk food, stayed up far too late, and watched movies they had no business watching before bed. 

“I can’t believe you made me bring this again,” Barb complained, once they were settled in the living room with their pizza and sodas. She pulled a videotape out of her bag, and pushed herself up on her knees to insert it into the machine. “Can’t we watch something new?” 

“Hey, my house, my rules.” Christine stretched out a leg to kick Barb in the butt, and Nancy giggled. “We watch comedies at your house, chick flicks at Nancy’s. My house is the horror house.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Barb sighed. She pressed a button, and the previews began to fly by on the screen. “I just don’t get why you guys like horror movies. They’re all skinny girls who don’t know how to run and skeevy guys trying to get in their pants.” 

“They’re not all like that,” said Nancy. “I really liked Jaws.” 

“Right. The one with the skinny girls who can’t swim, and the skeevy guys trying to get in their bathing suits.” 

Christine threw a handful of popcorn at her, laughing when a piece got wedged underneath her glasses. 

“Come on, Barb. That’s the whole point!” 

“What? That guys are dumb and girls are dumber?” 

“No, that stupidity gets punished.” Christine leaned against the seat of the couch, setting the popcorn bowl aside. “That’s the whole thing that gets overlooked in horror movies. There’s a structure to them. Skeevy guys, girls that sleep around, bullies, assholes—they’re all first on the chopping block. If you don’t do stupid shit, then you don’t get killed.” 

“Oh, right,” Nancy said with an exaggerated nod. “So you like horror movies because they make you feel better about being a virgin?” 

“Um, yeah. Obviously. What about you, Nance?” 

“Me? Definitely the blood. I just—I love watching massive amounts of gore. Totally.” 

“Funny,” Barb snorted. “I thought you guys just liked this movie cause that one guy looks like Steve Harrington.” 

Nancy and Christine both squealed in protest. 

“Oh my God, he does not!” 

“Woah, hey, Jack looks nothing like Steve!” 

“Right? You’re so right!” 

“Nothing! Absolutely.” 

They nodded at each other firmly in the silence, lips pursed in determination. Barb raised an eyebrow to meet her red curls. Nancy hesitantly pressed a hand over her mouth, trying to hold in her laughter, but the damage had already been done. 

“Alright, except for the hair,” she admitted, kicking Christine’s leg. 

“And the running shorts,” Christine added with a wink. 

Both girls dissolved into giggles, unhindered by their friend’s unimpressed gaze. But the laughter was contagious, and after a few seconds even Barb was wiping her eyes and clutching her sides. 

“Okay, okay,” she wheezed, struggling to maintain her mature composure. “Let’s just watch your dumb camp slasher.” 

“It’s called Friday the Thirteenth, and it’s incredible, thank you very much.” 

“Whatever, Chris.” 

Things settled down as they got into the movie. Christine had already seen it at least eight times since it had come out, but it was still thoroughly entertaining. She liked the anticipation in horror movies—not knowing who’d be next, when the killer would get them or how they were gonna go. But as the crowd of characters thinned out on screen, her interest began to drift. Nancy had tuned out the moment the boy named Jack had been stabbed in the throat, and Barb had been more interested in her pizza than the film since the title card. Which brought the trio to the inevitable second phase of their sleepover. 

“Nancy, truth or dare?” asked Barb. 

Nancy swirled the remnants of her Coke around the bottle, deliberating before deciding, “Dare.” 

Barb smirked victoriously. “Alright. I dare you to tell Christine who your real first crush was.” 

“Excuse me?” Christine gaped, as Nancy’s jaw dropped. 

“No! No, no, no! You can’t use dares to force truths! That’s against the rules!” 

“Wait, your real first crush?” Christine repeated. “I thought it was Ethan Hart? That guy in my English class?” 

“It was,” Nancy insisted, as Barb shook her head. 

“No, it was not.” 

“Who was it?” Christine demanded. “Nancy Wheeler, who was it?” 

“I’m not doing this,” Nancy laughed, shaking her head. “Nope, nope, nope!” 

“Nancy, if you don’t tell her I’m going to.” 

“Barb!” 

“Who was it, who was it, who was it, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me…” 

“Shut up! Fine! It was Peter Jorgins!” 

Nancy immediately buried her face in her hands as Barb and Christine erupted into laughter. 

“Oh my God, Peter Jorgins?” Christine asked. “Isn’t he the one who kept that Princess Leia picture in his wallet?” 

“Yup,” said Barb, nodding sagely. “Metal bikini and all.” 

“Ugh, I know,” Nancy whined, peeking out between her fingers. “He wasn’t always such a perv. This was back in like, first grade. Way before you moved here.” 

“Still, I’m hurt,” said Christine, laying a hand over her chest. “It’s like five years of friendship means nothing to you.” 

“Very funny. Truth or dare, Chrissy?” 

“Fine. Truth.” 

Nancy narrowed her eyes, visibly mulling over a few ideas before breaking out into a smile. “Alright. So you said horror movies have rules, right? Like if you hook up with someone then you have to die?” 

“Yeah, and?” 

“If you were in a horror movie, would you rather be a loner and survive the film, or make out with Steve Harrington?” 

“Oof, brutal,” said Barb, pointing at the girl across from her. “Good one.” 

Christine chewed on her lip, sagging back against the couch as she began her internal debate. It was difficult to push aside her daydreams of what it would actually be like to make out with King Steve Harrington—the most popular boy at Hawkins High School. She could easily spend all night thinking about it and never answer the question. 

It was a stupid question, she knew—make out with one boy or not die? But still. Not every boy was Steve Harrington. 

“Chrissy, you can’t be serious,” Barb said, after nearly a full minute of silence. “No guy is worth dying for. Not even King Steve.” 

“Well it’s just making out, right?” Christine said meekly. “I mean, they couldn’t kill me for making out with him. It’s not sex.” 

“No way,” said Barb. “You’d rather get chased by a crazy psycho with a knife than miss the chance to kiss Steve Harrington?” 

“I can run pretty fast…” 

Christine shrugged, and Nancy cackled next to her. She shook her long brown hair out of her face, fighting for breath as she held up a finger. 

“Okay, wait, but what if you did sleep with him? Survive the crazy psycho monster, or sex with Steve?” 

“Are you kidding me?” Christine laughed. “Have you heard the way Becky Dern talks about him? And they only dated like, a month. I’m pretty sure it would be worth it.” 

“So worth it,” Nancy agreed. 

They turned to Barb, who was watching them both skeptically. She rolled her eyes—her signature move—and grinned. 

“Well, I guess there are worse ways to go.” 

There was another round of giggles, and everyone helped themselves to second helpings of pizza. 

“Anyway,” Barb continued, “you’re one step closer than the rest of us to finding out, Miss Advanced Placement.” 

“God, you’re so lucky,” Nancy sighed, downing the rest of her Coke. “I’m literally so jealous.” 

“There’s nothing to be jealous of,” Christine insisted, though she could feel her cheeks heating up. “I see Steve one period a day, two tops.” 

“But you’re his lab partner! That’s like, infinite opportunities to hang out. Lab questions, last minute reports, study dates…” 

“I don’t think it sounds that glamorous,” said Barb. “Especially since he keeps slacking off.” 

Her disapproving face was back in place, making Christine defensive. 

“He’s been busy. I mean, between school and basketball practice…” 

“Yeah? Well you’ve got a job.” 

“It’s only been two reports,” Christine reasoned. “And he really tries in class, so it’s just the write up that I’m doing. Besides, I don’t mind. I really like physics.” 

“Right. Physics.” 

Christine did her best not to let that sting. She knew Barb was just looking out for her. She was a classic realist, probably the most sensible, grounded person in their group. Still, her protective streak could be a real downer. 

“Hey,” Nancy said gently. “Maybe it’s not Steve’s fault, you know? Maybe Chrissy’s just hogging all the work for herself. She’s a science hog.” 

“Excuse me?” Christine asked with a playful glare. Nancy shrugged. “A science hog. That’s why you’re in upper placement, right? You just love science so much, and you want to do everything yourself. You are a big nerd.” 

“Right. This coming from the straight-A student.” 

“Hate all you want, but straight-A isn’t upper placement.” 

“Of course not,” Barb scoffed. “Just top of your class in English, and trigonometry, and chemistry…” 

“Oh crap,” Nancy sighed, all jokes forgotten. “We’ve got a chem test next week. I completely forgot.” 

“It’s next week,” said Christine, waving a hand. “You’ll be fine.” 

“No, no—Mr. Kaminsky is like crazy hard. I swear half of the last test wasn’t even on the review sheet.” 

“God, don’t remind me,” Barb groaned, and her head fell back toward the ceiling. “I actually had nightmares about the periodic table.” 

“Exactly. And I might have passed the last one, but I have got to seriously ace this test if I want to be on track this semester. My mom tried to have this whole heart-to-heart because it’s not like me to just pass, or whatever, and…” 

“Alright, okay, I get it,” Christine laughed. She leaned over, patting Nancy’s ankle. “But you’re gonna do great, Nance. You always do. If you want, I’ll help you study tomorrow, after I get off work. Promise. Just try not to worry about it for now, alright?” 

Nancy bit her lip, glancing torn at the screen where the movie credits were still playing. She brandished a finger at Christine. 

“Fine. But I’m serious, Chrissy, I need at least half an hour of flashcards.” 

“Deal. Until then—Barb, truth or dare?” 

“Truth.” 

“Who was your real first crush?” 

The living room filled with laughter once more, and they settled back into their lighthearted game. Worrying could wait for another day. For now, all they had to worry about was being teenagers—watching movies, eating junk food, and talking about love and music and movies until they fell asleep on the floor.

[writer-and-artist27]

After Snow Comes Spring

Theme is here. Or here’s a piano alternative. The song’s what gave this oneshot thingie its name, really. 

This was originally written as a way to help better utilize my social anxiety in a productive manner, and now that it’s here, I’m going with it. Studying can suck, but it’s necessary and to be honest, I’d rather not sulk all day. So, writing. Here you go. Briefly inspired by Shell Game Chapter 25 from Lang and Silent Feathers Chapter 18 from Os.  

Very distant sequel to this thingie, I suppose. Everyone’s 18. It makes the post-writing embarrassment more bearable.

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

Crane would sometimes stop by the Nagareboshi Café and find himself peering past the veranda a bit longer than he should. Even if Crane couldn’t be his Uchiha self right now, he still kept that part of him around, as miniscule as it was when the mask was on, just for one person.

Someone would probably call this activity “stalking,” but to be honest, Crane couldn’t care less.

Especially when it came to her. 

The rain was cold and unbearable, but Hoshino Tomoko was still standing underneath the patio of Nagareboshi Café to stare up at the cloudy sky with darkened eyes. Even after half an hour of being alone, away from all the hubbub of her home, she hadn’t twitched aside from the usual heaves of her chest telling of breathing. Even when her café had already announced its closing time, she still stood there, watching the rain and barely moving from her spot near one of the windows.

In fact, even from his vantage point, Crane could see how her blue eyes were uncharacteristically dim to match the silence. The red hoodie on her black kimono dress helped with the cold, not to mention the veranda, but it still seemed like she was close to crying.

Something was screaming inside him as he continued to watch.

Tomoko continued to stay silent the entire time he sat there on his electric pole watching. Her eyebrows then furrowed as she gently brought her hands to her mouth, breathing warm air onto her whitened fingers. “Another day,” she exhaled softly, shaking her head. Her gaze was sad as she glanced back towards the dark clouds. “It’s been years.”

Years since what? 

“…What would you think of me now, Ty? Have I become ‘worthy’ in your eyes? Or am I still pathetic to you?” 

Crane froze.

A chilling, sad, and broken laugh reached his ears even through the rain. It was hard to believe that it was Tomoko’s voice. “Who am I to know? You’re gone. Yet why do I miss you?” She shook her head again, bitterly. “There’s no way to get an answer now. Not after so long.” Then there was a sniffle. Tomoko wiped at one of her eyes with her kimono sleeve, the black cloth coming back wet. “I’m horrible, huh, Ty?”

Crane’s fingers twitched through his armor.

“Crane,” the voice echoed forebodingly into his ear from his neckpiece. 

Crane paused, barely noticing his voice having deepened from the lack of breathing and the sudden surge of anger flowing through his veins until he spoke. “Yeah?”

“We have to go soon.”

Crane sighed, adjusting the volume of his voice with a turn of the dial around his choker. The mission. Right. “I know, Turtle, give me a minute.” His heart was pounding again, like his Uchiha self. The self that was yearning to be at Tomoko’s side, to hold her hand and hug her and tell her she wasn’t alone. “…She’s out in the cold again.”

“She’s what?” A pause. Turtle inhaled. “Again, huh?” A sigh then rang through his eardrums. “Star’s sads are horrible.” 

“K—Turtle. Can’t we do anything?” 

“Crane—”

“Listen to yourself, Crane.” Wolf’s voice this time crackled through his other ear. Jackass professional. “You know we don’t have time. As much as you want to, Hokage-sama’s orders are absolute. Dry up and get going.” 

“Do you even hear yourself?” Crane snapped, trying to hold back an exasperated huff to not alert anyone nearby of his presence. “It’s Star. She doesn’t stand out in the cold as fuck rain unless something’s wrong. And Moon’s on hospital shift today. For all that we know, Star’s alone.”

A pause followed again.

“She was talking about that guy again, Turtle,” Crane pleaded. “We have to do something.”

“…Wolf,” Turtle said finally, a tiny hitch in her voice, “I think we can spare a few minutes.”

There was a clicking of a tongue. “Five minutes,” Wolf acquiesced quietly, rustling over the line. “No more than that, Crane.”

“Thank you,” Crane huffed irritably, and his hands twitched while fumbling with his mask. Darn the rain for making everything slippery. “At least you’re not a total jackass.”

“I have my priorities straight,” Wolf interjected dryly, more rustling to signal a shake of his head. He paused, exhaling before admitting, “but you’re right. When the mission is done, we can all comfort Star if she needs it.”

“Good,” Turtle finished, a bit of pride leaking into her voice, “Crane, do your thing.”

The single crackle over his headset signaled the end of that conversation and Crane was left by himself on top of the electric pole again.

Tomoko sighed softly, closing her eyes and he took his chance. 

A single leap was all it took to stand in front of her, shielded from the rain by the awning, and years of chakra control training softened his step enough for her to not notice him. Instead, Tomoko kept her eyes closed as she pressed her hands together in front of her chest. 

“Mirror,” she sang quietly to herself, “tell me something. Tell me who’s the loneliest of them all.” 

The last bit of Crane’s reasoning finally snapped. 

He nearly threw off his mask when stepping forward, but he clasped onto whatever common sense was left inside to speak. “You’re not the loneliest of all.”

Tomoko’s eyes flew open and those soft pink lips opened to gape. Her big blue eyes were wide enough to reflect his image in the irises. “E-Eh?!” her voice shook, echoing in the quiet with that familiar high pitch of hers that spoke of her turbulent emotions. And indeed, there was no mistaking the hint of fear lacing her words. Of course. She hadn’t recognized him. “A-ANBU-san? When did you—” 

Crane shook his head, cutting her off while loosening the straps of his mask. “I’ve been here the entire time. And normally, I’d be Operative Crane, a ninja who can’t even talk with civilians. But I would’ve thought you’d know who it is behind the facade, considering you’re not running away.” 

Once the straps were off, he let the darn thing fall to the ground and Tomoko’s cheeks flushed pink from surprise. 

With Crane gone, Uchiha Obito grinned wryly in his place. “You make it really hard to go without worrying about you, Tomo-chan.”

“O-Obi?!” 

Obito couldn’t help himself. He only had five minutes after all. 

A single squeak was the last thing left between them as Obito lurched forward and captured Tomoko’s lips in a searing kiss. He didn’t even care that his armor was soaked through, that the wind was cold and that people could be staring. All that mattered was pushing that scum’s name out of his girlfriend’s mind, to erase whatever scars Tai left, even if it meant compromising his security. 

Obito had a promise to keep and he couldn’t do it as Crane. 

A moment passed and once the oxygen was running low, Obito gently nipped at Tomo-chan’s bottom lip in a quiet reprimand. It was enough to startle another, smaller squeak from her mouth as he pulled back. 

“O…Obito?” Tomo-chan inhaled shakily, cheeks flushed and lips now somewhat swollen from the kiss. Her red hoodie had long since fallen back to rest against her neck, probably from the force Obito used to push her back. Oops. He got too into it. “Don’t you have to go on a mission?” 

Awwww. Wait, no. 

She yelped once he leaned back in for a quick peck, her resolve wavering as fast as it came. “H-Hey!” 

Obito could faintly hear his headset crackle from microphone static in the back of his mind. Probably Turtle or Wolf. But that was Crane’s responsibility. Right now… 

“I do have to go, probably in the next minute or so,” he mumbled, a smile barely hanging onto his face. But Tomo-chan was still in his line of sight, looking up at him with those cute big blue eyes of hers, so Obito couldn’t help himself. He pressed a hand against the window to lean in, pressing a softer kiss to her forehead. “But don’t think you’re ever unworthy and horrible, Tomo-chan. You’re cute and I love you, so at least remember me before Tai.”

“Oh.” Tomoko’s eyes narrowed weakly at him in spite of the dark red staining her cheeks, her breath coming out in shaky puffs. “Y-You’re not going to bother remembering his name, are you?”

Obito grinned. “Nope!” He pressed one last lingering kiss to her lips. “I love you, Tomo-chan. Not him. He doesn’t deserve anything. And if you believe otherwise, I’ll come back and make sure you remember that.”

Tomoko could have easily resembled a tomato with how red she had turned in the span of a moment. She opened her mouth, letting out a funny noise akin to a small horse before nodding to herself and taking a breath. “G-Got it. Okay.” 

“Crane.” Wolf’s voice interrupted him through the intercom. “It’s time to go.”

Of course. Goddammit.

The moment Tomoko took to reorient herself was enough to give Obito time to take a step back to pick up his mask, snapping the straps back onto his head. Once he did, Tomoko raised her hand to gently wave at him. “I-I love you too, Mr. Crane.” Her smile was definitely exasperated but still all the more real. “Be safe.”

“The same to you, Ms. Star,” Crane said in Obito’s place, hiding his matching smile behind the white mask as he stepped out and back into the cold downpour. “Expect a visitor in the near future.”

A single leap and the pole was back underneath the soles of his sandals. Crane inhaled.

Obito could still feel his lips tingle from the moment.

“Mr. Crane?”

Crane paused. He swiveled his head back, and Tomoko was still smiling. “Do you and your guest like the piano?”

Crane tilted his head at her. “What do you think, Ms. Star?”

With that line said, he leapt away and the moment was over. It was time to get to work again.

By the time he reached the village gates where Wolf and Turtle were, Crane could’ve sworn he saw a twinkle in the sky. 

[distractedhistotech]

Before MSA + 1: Halloween

Arthur had managed to put together something that acted like a diaper but which fitted into his pocket instead of around the hamster.  “It takes a little bit to put them together though…”

Cadence seemed happy with the pocket diaper considering how much time she was spending in Arthur’s shirt and coat pockets.

“I wonder if you could incorporate it into your Halloween costume,” mused Vivi.

“Uh…What’s Halloween?” asked Arthur.

Sydney and Lewis gave Arthur startled looks.  “You don’t know what Halloween is?!”

Arthur panicked a bit as he realized this was something everyone was supposed to know about. “My parents were super religious,” he said quickly.  Sydney and Lewis seemed to accept it.

“Halloween evolved from the Celtic celebration of Samhain,” explained Vivi.  “It was the ending of the year at sun down, but the new year didn’t start until the sun rose.  Being outside of time as it were meant that ghosts and the like had an easier time manifesting. It probably makes magic easier and stronger too.  At some point, people started wearing scary outfits to try and blend in or scare away the spirits.  That ritual eventually became putting on costumes for fun and, in the case of kids, going around to houses and asking for treats.”

The other kids were staring at her in surprise at the info dump, while Arthur was wondering if this meant Halloween was technically a pagan holiday.

“Actually, the Catholic church took a lot of pagan holidays and incorporated them into their religion.  Christmas takes place in December because that’s when a big festival called Saturnalia took place in the Roman empire.  Evidence suggests that Jesus was actually born in Spring,” continued Vivi as if she’d predicted Arthur’s thoughts.

The more Arthur learned the more he wondered if the adults in his early life knew what they were doing.

“Anyway…My dad makes cosplay as a side job so if you want he can make you guys costumes too,” said Sydney.

Lewis nodded. “He always makes costumes for us.”

Vivi perked up.  “Really?”

Sydney nodded. “But nothing super complicated, okay? He’s gotta budget.”

“What’s cosplay?” asked Arthur.

“Costume play,” explained Lewis.  “People dress up like characters from anime or videogames that they love.  Some of the outfits are really complicated or accurate.”

“We usually do a theme for Halloween,” continued Sydney.

“We did Sailor Moon for a couple of years,” said Lewis.

“Another time we were Ed and Al Elric,” said Sydney.  “I’m not sure what we could do with four people.”

“Power Rangers?” suggested Vivi.

“There’s usually five of ‘em though,” said Sydney.

“Is that a big deal?” asked Arthur.

“Not really,” said Lewis.  “It would just seem a little weird to be short a ranger.”

“So, we need a group of four people,” muttered Sydney.  “All I can think of are Transformers, but that might be too complicated.”

“All I can think of is the Scooby Doo gang,” said Vivi.

Silence.  The kids turned to stare at Ben.  “Would Ben let us dye his fur?” asked Lewis.

“I have no idea,” admitted Vivi.  “Would the dye be safe?”

“I have no idea,” repeated Sydney.  “Dad knows a bit about hair dye…”

“I think you could get away with leaving him white and black,” said Arthur.

“So, who would be who?” asked Lewis.

Vivi and Sydney promptly pointed at Lewis.  “Fred.” Then they pointed towards Arthur. “Shaggy.”

“You do have the muscle tone going on,” agreed Arthur.

And Lewis blushed because he was somehow the biggest one there despite (probably) being the youngest.  “W-well, who’s gonna be Velma and Daphne?”

Sydney and Vivi exchanged looks.  That was…less obvious.  Both wore glasses, had relatively short statures, and were fairly tomboyish.

“You’re shorter,” said Vivi.

Sydney pouted. “Yeah, I am.  Guess that makes me Velma…What kind of name is Velma?”

“I dunno.”

“Will we need a van?”

“None of us can drive,” pointed out Arthur.

“Maybe a toy or something,” suggested Lewis.

“Oh, yeah, that makes more sense,” admitted Arthur.

The four kids (and dog and hamster) just lay there for several minutes.  It hadn’t been a particularly odd conversation, but something in the air seemed heavy, as if something life changing had just happened.

Then Ben started licking Arthur’s face, ending the moment.  Arthur let out a laugh.  “H-hey! Stop!  Stop!”

Vivi grinned. “You’re saying ‘stop’, but you’re laughing.”  Ben decided to switch targets and started licking Vivi instead.  She giggled.  “Ben!”

“We should teach him how to talk!”  Ben turned his attention to Sydney.  “Hey! Ew!  Your breath smells like fish!  Why does it smell like fish?  You’re not a cat!”

“Ben’ll eat anything if you give him the chance,” said Vivi.

Lewis pulled a bag of chips out from somewhere and grinned.  “Like this?”  He popped the bag open.  He was immediately tackled by the dog.  “Ack!” Ben quickly stuck his head in the bag and quickly snapped up the contents before transferring his ministrations to Lewis.  “Oh yuck! Your breath really does smell like fish!”

“Hold him for me,” said Vivi.  “I’ll brush his teeth!”

The whole thing devolved into a wrestling match.  No teeth were cleaned.  Everyone needed a bath afterwards.

 Sydney had been right about the Scooby Doo costumes being fairly simple to make.  She hadn’t stopped to think about make-up and hairstyling though.

“Are you almost done?” asked Sydney Jr.

“Almost…Just one more pin…and done!”  Sydney Sr stepped back to admire how Sydney looked with the brown bob wig in addition to the rest of her costume.  “The shape of the glasses aren’t the same, but I don’t think anyone will care.”

Sydney Jr. twirled and did a hop-skip over to Vivi, who was messing with her noticeably longer orange wig.  “How ‘bout you?”

“I prefer shorter hair.  Hair this long just…gets in the way,” said Vivi as she glared distastefully at a lock of orange hair.

Sydney nodded. “I hear ya.  I just want it long enough to ponytail it.”  She glanced at the boys.  “How ‘bout you two?”

Unlike the girls, the boys weren’t wearing wigs.  They’d just had their hair styled into a close approximation of their chosen characters. Sydney Sr claimed this was because the wigs would look too bulky unless the boys were willing to shave their hair. They weren’t.

Arthur fingered his hair.  “This doesn’t feel too different from usual besides the colors.”  He was wearing green and red.  He was coming to prefer bright colors like orange and yellow.

Lewis was happily studying his reflection.  “I kind of like this hairstyle.”  He turned to Sydney Sr.  “Will you teach me how to do this?”

Sydney Sr gave him a grin.  “Sure! I’ll get you some decent hair mousse. Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m gonna go change into my costume.”  On his way out, he ran into Hiro.  “So, how’d Ben like the vegetable dye?”

“He tolerated it.” That was a lie.  Ben had taken one look at the dye, snorted, and changed his fur color to the proper brown color.

“I’m leaving you alone with Noelle and the kids for a bit.  Behave now.”  And Sydney Sr hurried down the hallway.

Hiro raised an eyebrow.  The Sydneys were pretty darn odd.  Still, they got along with the rest of the family and friends, and Hiro did like them…in reasonable amounts.

He walked Ben over to the kids, who all started petting him.  “Wow, this dye is really realistic,” said Lewis.

Sydney nodded. “My dad knows what he’s doing.”

“How you holding up boy?” asked Vivi.  Ben licked her in response.  “Good to know.”

“Oh, you kids look so cute like that,” said Noelle.  “Let me get my camera!”

Hiro let the kids pose for the camera for several moments before clearing his throat. “Now, I don’t know how much you know about the holiday, but it is easier to come into contact with the supernatural starting tonight and lasting until November 2.  It’s most intense on Halloween though.  So, Mr. Scoville and I will be escorting you tonight.  I have tools prepared to chase off anything that may take an untoward interest in your group, and you will all be spending the night here.  Mr. Scoville also has some sort of repelling ability, so I’d imagine this is one of the safest places in the county.”

Arthur let out a sigh of relief.  “That’s a relief.”

“Had some bad experiences?” asked Vivi.

Arthur nodded. “I just knew they were at the end of October.  I didn’t know about the Halloween thing.  Why does it get so much worse anyway?”

“That’s not something with a simple answer,” said Hiro.  “Something makes…magic for lack of a better word more potent during these days, which makes it easier for people to see ghosts and for ghosts, along with other normally invisible entities, to become visible to people.  It’s a good time for them to be heard if there’s something they want to get across to the mundane, living population.”  Hiro glowered.  “Although I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a tradition among the supernatural to have fun and try to scare humans.  It’s what people are expecting to happen after all.”

Ben gave a barely noticeable shrug.  Hiro wasn’t wrong, but it was more of a ‘teenagers messing around and doing things their parents won’t necessarily approve of’ sort of thing.

Arthur crossed his arms.  “Well, I don’t like it, whatever it is…”

Vivi turned to Sydney and Lewis.  “Have you guys ever noticed anything weird around this time of year?”

“I haven’t ever noticed anything,” said Sydney.  “Lewis says there are ghosts all over the place though.”

Lewis nodded. “Yeah, some are pretty scary. It’s a lot more active in the cemetery and house.  Sydney always spends the night since some of them look pretty scary.”  Lewis made a face as something suddenly occurred to him. “Uh, this is the first Halloween we haven’t slept over at my house.  Do you think Mom and Dad and Belle will be okay?”

“I put some ofudas up at your house that should keep away most dangerous entities,” reassured Hiro. “Honestly, you probably attract half of the activity so just spending time away from them will put a stop to a portion of the paranormal activity.”

“Huh, really?  I had no idea,” said Lewis.

“Oh, yes, once ghosts figure out someone can see them word spreads very quickly.”

“Wait.  I can’t see ghosts, so why do they keep following me around?” asked Arthur.

Hiro shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure why, but you…leak energy.  Being around you is like it being Halloween all the time,” said Hiro.  “You also have an aura that the supernatural find pleasing, like how kids will gravitate to a kitchen where cookies have just been cooked.”

“I could go for some cookies,” said Vivi.

“You’re going to be getting plenty of candy tonight,” said Noelle.  “You can see about having cookies after you finish off the candy.”

Vivi grinned. “Challenge accepted.”

“No,” said Hiro.

“Aw…but-”

“No, you remember what happened last time,” said Hiro.

“Ooh, what happened last time?” asked Sydney.

“When she was five she ate all of her Halloween candy at once and didn’t sleep for three days,” explained Hiro.  “She tried to feed Ben chocolate.  Dogs can’t eat chocolate.”

Ben huffed because he could eat chocolate, thank you very much.  Stupid need to hold up the illusion all the time.  He couldn’t wait until Vivi was mature enough to know what he really was so he could relax at home.  Not to mention it would be easier to snatch some of whatever that was Noelle was cooking.

Lewis must have noticed how Ben was staring longingly towards the kitchen because he grabbed a treat out of his pocket.  “Would you like a Scooby Snack?”

Eh, it’ll do. Ben snapped it up and gave Lewis a lick of thanks.

“What’s taking your dad so long?” asked Vivi.  “He said he was going to be a zombie.  It can’t take that long to put on some torn clothing and fake blood.”

Sydney grinned. “Dad put in way more effort than that. There’s latex and make-up and contact lenses…”

“Mr. Scoville’s costumes are really complicated,” agreed Lewis.

Any further conversation was interrupted by a groaning sound.  Everyone turned to see…a zombie.  It was covered in bite marks, half rotten, had clouded over eyes, and dirty, torn clothing.  It was completely unrecognizable as Sydney Sr.

“…Okay, that is a convincing zombie costume,” admitted Vivi.

“Thank you,” said Sydney Sr, briefly breaking character before going back to groaning.

“You look like a dead body!” said Arthur.  “Which I guess is the point, but it’s creepy.”

Sydney Scoville groaned again.  He sure was taking the zombie thing seriously.

“So…”  Sydney Jr held up her treat bag.  “Can we go trick-or-treating now?”

“Unnngh!”

“Taking that as a yes!”

Thankfully, the other adults decided to agree with the translation so the kids were able to head out. “There are a lot of costumes,” commented Arthur.

Vivi nodded. “Yep, it’s a popular holiday.”

“What a cute baby!” cooed Lewis at a young couple and their baby, all of them dressed like dinosaurs.

“Thank you!”

“But most of them seem to be younger than us,” continued Arthur.

“That guy’s older than us,” pointing at a guy dressed like a robot.

“People just prefer to go to parties once they get older.  I don’t know why.  They’re sooo boring,” complained Vivi.  “Where’s the darkness?  Where’s the creepy shadows?  Where’s the questioning of if there’s a ghost around the corner or if that’s a really good werewolf costume or some werewolf decided to go to the store to pick up milk?”

“There are some ghosts following us,” commented Lewis.

Arthur tensed up. “Why?”

Lewis glanced towards the ghosts.  “Are you sure he’s not a zombie?  He looks pretty dead.”

“It’s Halloween. It’s obviously a very good costume.”

“He smells like a zombie though.”

“We’re ghosts! We can’t smell!”

“Oh yeah.”

“Besides, wasn’t there a Scooby-Doo movie with zombies?”

“Since when are there Scooby-Doo movies?”

“Mr. Scoville’s costume is really convincing,” said Lewis.

“Unngh!”

“Are zombies real?” asked Sydney.

“Yes,” said Hiro. “Under very specific circumstances. It takes one of a few specific rituals. It’s very dangerous and is not something that should ever be done unless you have prior permission from the subject of interest.  Even then, it’s not recommended because of the possible side effects.”  He paused.  “Actually, this is a very complicated subject.  Let’s talk about it when we have more time.”

“I don’t wanna talk about it at all,” muttered Arthur as they walked up to a house.

They took a moment to ring the doorbell, ask for treats, and thank the woman handing out the treats. Ben tried to beg for treats.  This wasn’t allowed, and the group went on their way.

“Do ghost hunters have a lot of work on Halloween?” asked Sydney.

“Paranormal investigators,” corrected Hiro.  “While we do look for ghosts, calling us ‘hunters’ suggests we intend to hurt ghosts in some way.  That’s a last resort in cases where the ghosts in question seek to harm the living and cannot be convinced otherwise.  And whether an investigator works on Halloween or not varies.  Most will take the time off because they might get false positives.  Some like working on Halloween though since they might get results they wouldn’t usually come by.”

“That doesn’t sound very professional,” muttered Arthur.

“I agree,” said Hiro. “Personally, I feel that circumstances that modify magical strengths can be dangerous, even if it’s something to your advantage.”

“Wouldn’t that make things easier?” asked Sydney.

“Yes, which might be good in an emergency, but it can make you under or overestimate a situation.”

“How is overestimating bad?” questioned Arthur.

Hiro took a minute to think about how to describe what he was thinking.  “It’s like using a hand grenade to make a hole when a drill will suffice.”

Vivi, Lewis, both Sydneys, and even Arthur laughed.  Hiro had to admit it wasn’t the best analogy, but it’s what he came up with on short notice.

“It’s like you thought the corn was sweet so you put in the wrong amount of salt,” said Lewis.

“That’s a better analogy,” admitted Hiro.  “Anyway, once you outgrow trick-or-treating, you should find some way to spend Halloween that doesn’t involve the supernatural.  Maybe go to a party or stay home and watch movies.”

“Watching movies would be nice,” said Arthur.

“Ooh!  We could watch the Nightmare Before Christmas again!” said Vivi.

“You will not. It’s a school night,” said Hiro.  “As it is the only reason you’re spending the night together is for safety’s sake.”  He looked to Sydney Sr.  “I’m trusting you and Mrs. Scoville to get the children to sleep and awake on time.”

“Nggggh!”

“That means yes,” said Sydney Jr.

“I still wish we could spend the night at Lewis’ house,” said Vivi.  “There’s a lot more space, and it seems more fitting to spend Halloween in a haunted house.”

“Belle sometimes cries at night.  She might wake you up,” said Lewis.

“Or we might wake her up,” countered Arthur.

“I don’t wanna wake Baby Belle up!” agreed Sydney Jr.  “She’s cute when she’s sleeping.”

The subject of conversation rapidly changed to siblings and sleepovers.  Hiro watched them absentmindedly before feeling something brush against his side.

It was just Ben, who gave him a smile unseen by anyone else.  Hiro found himself smiling back.  It was nice…seeing the children all so happy like this.

It would be nice if it would last forever.

[one-shoulder]

(WARNING : YOU WILL BE READING THE WORD “BIODEGRADE” SO MUCH, EVEN I AM JUST NAUSEOUS TYPING IT. JUST READ ON, THANK YOU)

I guess we are due for a check-in since it is now half the year in. Earlier in January, I have stated (in IG stories) a few year-goals I’d like to achieve.

23rd JANUARY 2019

I cannot say that I have been true to what I’d like to accomplish. However, I do believe that I have done the very best and to me, this is very important. I say this because besides putting unrealistic goals for ourselves, we are too hard on ourselves when we don’t achieve it. Resulting in just throwing out the goal out the window. Worst, way too early in the year.

So here, is my half year check in.

My first waste-less swap was : BABY DIAPERS

You would think, how?? Cloth diapers, people. Cloth diapers. As you know, most named brand diapers are NOT biodegradable. As google said it, 500 years to biodegrade in its restricted conditions. Yea so we will never ever get to see any of our generations’ worth of babies’ diapers fully biodegrade. Basically, an average baby uses 10 diapers a day, I know it gets lesser as they get older. Just calculate it. How disgusting the numbers are going to be (cough*7000*cough). So I took a step to change that. Yes, “a step”, not “a leap”. We made our transition from normal diapers to cloth diapers with our son and that was the best decision ever. Not only was it cost efficient, I felt so darn good after a few months into it. Another blog post as to how we are fairing with it. All I can say is, right now, we are alternating cloth diapers with disposable diapers that are ECO-FRIENDLY.

That’s right friends. So if you feel like you cannot commit to cloth diapers fully, do not ever feel guilty to still continue using disposable diapers. Alternating by using cloth diapers sometimes and disposables sometimes will in fact, still reduce waste. Even 2 cloth diapers a day, still reduced 2 disposables out of the equation. Here is another good news, as times are changing, there are indeed a higher demand and availability of disposable diapers that are more gentle to the earth.

Although those greener diapers are still only 25-75% of it able to biodegrade, a little guide to a better choice to choosing your diaper, to name a few would be;

-Chlorine-free

-Fragrance/Perfume free

-Dye-free

-Latex-free

-made out of sustainable materials

I admit, you will be spending more, but trust me, 7000 diapers per baby that are not decomposing well on earth? ugh! So all in all, tough transition but DOABLE and ACHIEVABLE. Better yet, be fully accustomed to cloth diapers! If you wanna know what was my motivation besides the eco factor? THE CUTE PRINTS! Here are some that I own

My second waste-less swap is : PLASTIC BAGS

All my friends would know it is one of my most outstanding habits that I will have shopping bag on me at all times. I sometimes even carry 2 just in case my friends don’t have one while we are out shopping. And yes, I will give a stare down (at my own friends) when they accept a plastic bag when they have a handbag large enough to contain the purchase or they already have another shopping bag that can hold the new purchase. SERIOUSLY, you know who you are. I think I started this way back in 2007 when Fairprice will discount 10cents off your bill if you brought your own bag. It just stuck to me since then! I take pride with my LOQI bags. I will ask for it back like its money. Lose it and I might unfriend you. Don’t try me. I had to give up a few bags and I remember them even it was $2 bags. My husband knows that I will always ask him if he has a shopping bag before he leaves for work. He too, has a few of his own and I’m so proud of him.

So just refuse plastic bags and use your own bags! I don’t care if they have packed it, I will remove it and return to the cashier. I have had a salesperson told me, “its okay! its just a bag, take it”. My face just blanked out on her. After she realized I’m really not joking about not wanting the bag, she nonchalantly said to me, “oh you want to save the earth is it?? okay..”. Guess who is not patronizing her little shop anymore? Yes one little bag COUNTS. ok guys? if you walk pass me, yes prod your reusable shopping bag into my face and I would go YEAAAAHHH!!!!! (just kidding, please don’t attack me like that)

My third waste-less swap : PAPER PRODUCTS

I would like to add that I am in transitioning to be waste-less in a few other areas. Including feminine products, (some options you can try are menstrual cups, reusable menstrual pads and eco-friendly pads. Something I do not have good knowledge of yet due to low frequency in period)

facial cotton pads, (These are all homemade by us at ONEshoulder. You may purchase them in 6s at www.oneshoulder.store)

bath products, (try opting for bar soaps. Since we own a bath product company, I haven’t purchased shampoos and bath soaps in about 2 years now. If we are not using our own products, why do we sell them right? duh)

side note : ONEshoulder.sg is working towards a no-plastic movement soon. We are phasing out all plastic and its one of the toughest decisions we made. Mainly due to how well it ships and quality. We are in the works for a very long and what you shop now are no longer new plastics we bought. Instead, they are all re-used from what we receive from our supplier or already have. eg: bubble wrap, plastic mailing bags, plastic bottles. We also try to recycle used paper to have our notes and messages for customers printed at the back. I hope all our customers are patient with our change and appreciate this step we are making in order to have a more greener Earth!

and like I said, basically everything in general. I made myself washable kitchen towels too, swapped my normal tissues to bamboo tissues from Cloversoft(for guests) and when I’m out, my tissue choice is a cotton handkerchief. Wow so old school right? Something that I have a habit of for more than a few years now. Yes, besides the grocery shopping bags.

    My guilty plastic-use that I hope to improve include:

BUBBLE TEA– guilty guilty guilty. Plus the straws, although I do have a thick stainless steel straw, it tastes funny. Am I the only one who feels this way?

BOTTLED MINERAL WATER – Although most times I have my own water bottle, I just couldn’t find a water dispenser when I need water immediately. Or sometimes meals comes with drinks and they do not have a non-plastic option. When I shop now, I try to buy glass bottled drinks or tin cans.

So that concludes what I wish to let you know. A check-in with our progress. If you have any suggestions on other clever hacks I should try, do sound off at the comment box! I really wish to hear from you guys. Will you try something new to help reduce plastic waste? Let me know!!

  Love,

Mama M.

CHECK-IN. What change did we make? (WARNING : YOU WILL BE READING THE WORD "BIODEGRADE" SO MUCH, EVEN I AM JUST NAUSEOUS TYPING IT.

[bitterbeanren]

If this is love, I want to know (Nate x f!Detective)

So I started the Wayhaven second book demo and found this old fanfic I wrote awhile ago and felt like (even though I hate the ending I wrote) maybe it was worthy of sharing. Bi detective! Friends with Farah!

Might be a tad OOC and is relatively self indulgent but... enjoy!

______________

Closing the tab on my web browser, I let out a sigh. Farah sat on my bed next to me, scrolling on her phone and occasionally giving me a knowing look. Pulling my tablet to my chest, I flopped backwards onto my bed, the back of my head hitting the pillow. “I hate everything.”

Mostly the kind smile and warm brown eyes that flooded my mind far too often to be normal.

“You okay D?” Farah inquired, snickering as she noticed me roll my eyes at the nickname.

“Seriously? All you guys ever do is call me Detective or D. I have a name, you know.”

“I do know,” the young(?) vampire snickered, laying properly next to me. “So, thinking about Nate again?”

“What? I mean, no! No!” I spluttered. My reaction simply caused Farah to laugh even louder, and thankfully tonight she was the only one staying in my little apartment. Otherwise I knew for certain that Nate would have heard us. Ug. Damned vampires and their super hearing and super good looks and… and…

Nate’s face popped into my head, smiling down at me gently, and I placed my tablet on the bedside table before flopping onto my front and groaning into my pillow. Farah let out a light laugh, rubbing my back. “You’ve got it bad.”

“Why did it have to be Nate, Farah?!” I whined, words muffled by my pillow. Beautiful, sweet Nate.

“Think about it this way: At least you didn’t fall for grumpy Adam.” A beat. “Or Morgan.”

I turned my head to the side to glare at my friend. “You’re not helping.”

Farah licked her lips and I did my best to ignore the flirty look she sent me. “I could help with other things, though” Her words caused a blush to rise to my cheeks, but I shook my head, blush fading. As attractive as she was, and as fun and cool… I loved being her friend. And… it just didn’t feel right to be like that with her.

Nate though?

Heat rose to my cheeks quickly and I buried my face into my pillow. Sure, I was relatively young, but I was acting like a highschooler again. Being around all the attractive vampires was difficult enough for my inner geek, but Nate was an entirely different level of difficult to be around. He was always so kind, and caring, and he always did cute things like help me reach things that were always too high for me to reach. Or sneak me the tasty blue flavored candies that I just couldn’t let Douglas see me smuggle into the station. (The Mayor’s son already barely respected me, there was NO. WAY. I would let him know about my childish habits). Or how sweet I liked my coffee. (Flavored milk, is what Tina liked to call it). Plus, during the whole Dr. Murphy thing, Nate was the only one that always, always seemed to care about what I had to say. Sure, now I got along better with everyone, and even considered Nate and Farah to be two of my closest friends…

Which made the realization that I was more than just attracted to Nate the LITERAL WORST.

“What am I going to do?” I groaned, knowing there was no point to hiding the truth that Farah clearly already knew. At least I could try and get some advice. Whether or not the advice would be helpful was a completely different story.

“Well, what do you want to do?” Ferah inquired, sounding more serious than I expected.

Forcing myself up, I stared at my friend sadly. “I want to throw my feelings into a pit and bury them forever.”

Amusement sparkled in my friend’s eyes as she sat up as well, drawing closer to me and placing a hand on mine. “Want to tell me why?”

“I don’t want to ruin things with any of you. We’re a team,” I responded, anxiety tightening in my stomach. “What if Nate doesn’t like me that way? He doesn’t… he’s always been kind and caring towards me. And sure, we flirt and we had a few moments during the Dr. Murphy thing but since then… nothing.” There was a part of me that wasn’t even quite sure if the moments I thought we had together had even meant anything. After all, it had been a very hectic month. And of course I looked into Survival-Mode Emotional States. Likely way too much. But no, my constant thinking about his smile and everything now… I couldn’t deny how much I liked him any longer.

But it was so… intimidating thinking about going into a new relationship, assuming Nate felt the same. Especially considering my last relationship with Bobby.

Shaking myself out of my thoughts, my eyes met Farah's to see her watching me patiently. “I really like Nate, Farah,” I whispered, knowing she could still hear me clearly. “And I’m acting like a complete child about it, aren’t I?”

“I’m not too surprised, honestly,” Farah shrugged her shoulders. “Tina told me that the last guy you dated was some asshole back in college awhile ago. You, my friend, are out of practice. Emotionally and” she wiggled her eyebrows. “Sexually.”

I turned beet red. “Hey! I don’t… I...! Um…”

“It’s okay that you’re inexperienced,” Ferah soothed. “And after your asshole ex, you had a good reason to stay away from the dating scene. But Nate isn’t a bad guy, and he adores you. He’s just as shit at hiding it as you are at hiding your candy stash.”

A comfortable silence hung in the air around us before I finally responded. “I hide it pretty well.”

“It’s adorable that you think that way,” She licked her lips. “Now, just talk to Nate about it tomorrow. He’s the one that’s supposed to babysit you until work on Monday.”

“I wish you guys would stop calling it babysitting, I grumbled, standing up from my bed and moving towards the door to move my candy stash around. “It makes it sound like I can’t be left alone.”

“Not with Nate, at least,” the beautiful vampire smiled. I flipped her off before shutting the door behind me, carrying my candy stash from the microwave (I never used the darn thing, not usually making enough food to warrant leftovers) to behind some of my books in the living space. I let out a loud sigh, running my hands over my face before returning to my room. It was late, and I knew I should get to sleep. Farah stood up from my bed, handing me my cell phone with a sly smirk before heading to the living room. “Goodnight, D. Don’t forget to charge your phone.”

“Not my name,” I called after her, closing my door and looking over my phone with a hint of suspicion. Did she do anything? As far as I knew, she didn’t know my passcode. I quickly tapped in my code and checked my text messages, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Breathing out a sigh of relief, I mentally scolded myself, of course Farah wouldn’t have done anything. Feeling better, I turned off my light then snuggled under my covers. Tomorrow I’d talk to Nate. Assuming I’d have the courage to bring up how I felt.

I spent many hours worrying about what I’d say to him once he arrived to trade shifts with Farah, and in the end only got a few measly hours of sleep. Farah was already gone when I came to, and I stepped into the kitchen with bleary eyes and a dry throat.

“Good morning,” Nate greeted, sitting at my kitchen table with a cup of tea (that I would never admit to stocking because of his admitted preference towards it). “Are you alright, Detective?” He inquired, worry crinkling at the corners of his eyes while I rubbed my tired ones. He was so sweet.

“Need coffee,” I explained. “Didn’t sleep well.” I stared at the top shelf of my cupboard with irritation, as my impressive height of 5’2” made it impossible to reach the coffee beans that I just knew had to have been moved by Farah while I was sleeping. It was not that high up when I used it the previous morning. “Aw man…”

A chuckle came from behind me, and I felt my heart hammer in my chest as I turned slightly to see Nate hovering behind me, reaching above to grab the coffee I would have needed to stand on a stool to reach (because there was no way I would climb onto the counter in front of anyone). “Why do you always keep these things where you can’t reach?”

“It’s probably just Farah wanting to mess with me,” I replied, smiling gratefully as he placed the soon-to-be flavored milk in my hands. “Come to me, beans of coffee,” I spoke dramatically, heading over to my coffee machine while Nate returned to his seat. Humming a tune to myself, I prepared my morning dose of caffeine. “So Nate, how’ve you been?”

Ug. So awkward. We literally saw each other on Friday, and now he was here on a Sunday morning. It had been a single day, and I was asking how he was.

“I’m doing well, Detective,” Nate responded with a patient look. “And you?”

Internally screaming about how I need to stop being such an awkward mess around you.

“Still just… tired,” I lamely answered. Once my coffee was ready, I retreated into my room. My weekends for the last month tended to go like this, unless I was spending time with Tina. A member of the team spending the day at my apartment with me, me locking myself in my room and catching up on my shows and relaxing. So I relaxed for a few hours by myself before hearing a hesitant knock on my door.

“... Detective? Could I come in?” Nate asked.

“Yeah, sure!” I said through the door, Nate opening it and giving me a puzzled look. “What’s up?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t open my texts till a few minutes ago and you texted me last night saying that you wanted me?”

My eyes practically bugged out of my head. “What?”

The tall, handsome vampire gave me an understanding look. “Farah?” Throat dry and jaw clenched, I managed to force myself to nod. Because it had to have been Farah, and now I knew to change my passcode. Nate let out a light chuckle before putting his phone away. “Do you want to go out for lunch today?”

My heart skipped a beat and I scolded myself internally. It wasn’t like Nate was asking me out. He was just… being friendly. “Sure, I’ve been craving restaurant food.”

“Great! Just let me know when you’re ready to leave,” Nate beams, and I awkwardly brush my bangs back.

“You’re driving though. I’m tired,” I added on. He let out a noise of agreement, shutting my door when he left so I could change into something more suited for being outside. T-shirt, hoodie, jeans. Converse sneakers. Just simple, everyday clothes. Nothing special.

Because this probably didn’t mean anything.