#about everything and I know we’ve said that to eachother a million times

[warpspeedgirl]

Found the old receipt from Messhall Kitchen… made me sad but I still enjoy all the good memories. I don’t want to villainize her because I was so freaking hurt by her. We had 14+ years of great memories and support of eachother. We’re just on separate paths now and that’s fine I just wish it didn’t have to end the tragic and hurtful way that it did but there’s nothing I couldve really done to prevent it. It just sucks because I needed to process that whole thing at such a delicate time in my life where I needed to make really important decisions and also process the deep deep hurt from her at the same time AGAIN over something that should’ve just been a nonissue. I expressed I was going to need a few weeks to a few months and in that time I realized I just don’t want to be hurt anymore and were never going to see eye to eye on certain things because I just find it extremely rude and selfish, and seeing how far she went with everything and what her last words to me, I doubt talking about it would help like how I tried to before. I rightfully needed space/a break. Even when she was explaining what happened in September… like really? Her perspective on what happened was really… She apologized for hurting me but I think she doesn’t really understand why that behavior and her words were hurtful and I think if I never brought it up she never would’ve and that’s not okay with me. Never in a million years would I have thought she’d speak to me the way she did between August-November but I think it’s something she doesn’t really think about. I think it became clear over the years that some things she does or is comfortable doing I find really rude and it’s something she doesn’t think twice about, either because we grew up differently/have different life experiences or because our personalities are really different. Like I thought it was really not cool to ask your guests coming from far away for money for your party at the last minute when we were all bringing gifts and food already regardless of how much it was and that’s something I’d never do. Of course we all sent it because we love you and we’re already on our way and want you to have a good time but I think that was a great example of how different we are. We’ve had conversations where she’s admitted to speaking erratically without thinking and talking over me and zoning out when I’m speaking. Sometimes when she’d actually remember things I’d tell her and bring it up later I’d be SHOCKed. I just couldn’t see a way to resolve things with her after EVERYthing I’d seen of her being rude and inconsiderate, not respecting boundaries, and getting defensive and turning things back on me when I would try to talk things out with her. “You can say the same thing to me” “I’m not gonna say nothing like you want” “nothing I say is personal” “if you’re not going to genuinely try to understand then I’m not explaining further” that one really made no freaking sense and was so hurtful since there shouldn’t have been anything to explain she just couldn’t respect a very reasonable boundary and if she really thinks I wouldn’t genuinely try with her after all these years, it ends any room for conversation or resolution. Giving ultimatums like “I’m just not going to ask for anything about the apartment anymore” because I said no I’m too busy. Almost barging into my room without asking to do the wifi because of her impatience, wanting to move in slowly because it worked for HER after she changed the date without telling me first, telling me it’s okay for me to wait for her when she was running late on our move in day instead of just letting me know hey she’s running late don’t leave yet. She has a patterns of getting defensive and turns things back on me when confronted with her behavior. In September, November. She said herself the thought of hurting me in September scared her so that’s partly why she reacted the way she did and can’t acknowledge or accept responsibility for her words but that’s unacceptable to me. It’s hurtful and I don’t deserve it. Her reaction is HER reaction to things.

Like of course I would’ve loved to work everything out and have things go back to normal but you couldn’t even understand me saying no and said a whollle lot of of really unacceptable shit to me in the process. This wasn’t the first time that it just felt pointless talking to you because you can’t or won’t see your part in how things got to be the way they are and realize where an apology is appropriate. I don’t want to be friends with someone who treats me and speaks to me the way she has the capacity to. It’s too much and I started to just feel chaotic and exhausted around her probably because we’re incompatible in some ways. Some friends are just for certain things like lunches and workouts, not everyone is an “everything” friend. And that’s fine I wish her well, but well away from me. An apology would’ve gone a long way and I know it took me a while to be able to come back and talk about it but it was a LOT, a lot and extremely painful and I had a lot of other stuff going on the same way you did. I reached my limit honestly especially since it really seemed like you weren’t sorry and felt the way you felt, and I felt the way I felt and that you went too freaking far, again. I didn’t want to be friends anymore, I’d seen enough. Being cordial would be nice but I’d need an apology or some sort of acknowledgement about how jacked up that whole thing was to really do that because it hurt so bad and I ultimately really do think we needed to move on individually. I needed to become more confident and trust my own opinions and learn how to focus on my own perspective and trust my opinions and not other people’s, especially you who literally had told me in the past that my opinion was irrelevant and there was no point bringing it up. I think that was a sore spot and a really painful but significant thing to hear from you (in addition to the other hurtful things you said ) someone who was supposed to be my bestfriend. We have really different lives and paths we’re taking. It was slowly happening for a while. I still think she’s really bold and beautiful and hilarious. I think it’s so sweet that Derek says he still has your back if you ever need anything, that he used to always go to you for romance advice and how much it meant to him. It does hurt/feel weird that she hasn’t met my baby when she’s part of the reason he even exists and would’ve been an auntie to him. We used to talk every single day for years and I have to process the loss. And that’s why her response to me reaching out in March was weird to me. Like we have to address what went down in SOME way I don’t want to “see where things go and take it slow” there’s nothing to take slow, we’re not friends anymore.I’d love to be cordial and find some sort of resolution to how shitty and painful that last encounter was, but I can’t move forward without addressing that and then her being like “well maybe we can move forward” like it was a mutual problem. It wasn’t. I didn’t disrespect or hurt her. I maybe hurt her with my distance but I didn’t cause that. And when I finally had a reaction to her antics she shut down and says “I’m just not going to worry about this” I’m done texting” when she started and continued all of it. It was all so avoidable and unnecessary. I don’t talk to her the way she talks to me, never will. It’s not okay or something we could move forward with without addressing it. I didn’t think she can handle seeing her actions reflected back to her, with good evidential reason. At least I walk away knowing I did everything I could to be a good friend and didn’t behave to her the way she behaved towards me. I’m not perfect and of course I’m sure I’ve hurt her but not like this. She could’ve brought it up to me when I’ve hurt her like we said we would always do in 2019 like I did, instead of being defensive and throwing it in my face that I “be hurting her too” when I bring up that she hurt me that day. Like okay? Let’s talk about it then (maturity on my part) but she doesn’t want to. K girl.

I unfortunately had to start over with a new therapist after my old one left to a new job but she said such similar things to the old ones when this topic would come up: “a lot of people would’ve done after all of that”. And I keep it pretty unbiased. I was very used to taking on the blame for things when I shouldn’t. It was an anxiety response. Like me thinking “wow the therapist also thinks I’m not doing enough” when it was very really low in even bringing up her therapist at ALL. I should’ve said “okay tell your therapist I said no then” instead of panicking. Why would I give a fuck what your therapist thinks especially when they only know YOUR side and my response to you was reasonable and beyond. It’s so freaking ridiculous. I show how I reacted emotionally to her provoking me, I say that she could’ve been frustrated moving in with me and could probably tell I didn’t want to be there, that she could feel my distance after that horrible instance in September, that she might’ve felt like I abandoned her when I got pregnant. But the way she talks to me is.not.Okay. The great thing about that last incident is that it’s all over text because she decided to communicate via messaging so there are receipts of the craziness. Her saying that my reactions to her harassing and not respecting my boundary are “besides the point” and not “about the issue at hand” are so gaslighty and ignorant. You continuing to bring up why she couldn’t understand why I couldn’t do it, all of her excuses, her bringing up her freaking case manager is all besides the point!! The bottom like and issue at hand is that I said no and she lost her mind with me about it in a very big way. Thats kind of when I knew there would be no resolution because she can’t always self reflect and I’ve kind of seen it with her with others over the years. I was shocked she even admitted that she should’ve stopped when I said no and that it was her thing to handle, and that her initial texts to me were excessive and overwhelming and quite frankly ridiculous. But she always texts me like that it’ll be 20-30 messages in my inbox from her and it’s overwhelming.

But most of all, it just hurt that she could think those things of me. That she could actually say those things to me. It especially, devastatingly hurt the most that she could really think that I wasn’t genuinely trying to understand her.

It’s untrue, and I didn’t deserve it. It’s probably one of those comments that she just impulsively said and never thought twice about. But it stuck with me. I thought about it everyday for a loooong long long time. She broke my heart. More like shattered. But nothing is irreparable. And I still love her.

She’s just not sorry and she went too far for me to continue a relationship with her. An apology or acknowledgement would’ve went a long way but that’s never going to happen and I have to stop wishing it will. Whats done is done and I’m kind of at peace with it. Everything feels better now.

[bookofmirth]

Hi

I'm not up to date with all the drama in this fandom bc i tend to scroll past it. But being a reader of the books before I landed in these fandoms, I'm utterly shocked about how people treat eachother.

I'm very neutral on this stupid ship war going on. I tend to fall more for Elriel. But I understand everyone's opinion. I used to read all the book analysis, but now it just seems so exhausting. I get that people love books and ship different people. That's normal, everyone has different taste etc i'm just here trying to understand why we need to bring other human beings down in order to push our own narrative.

Since when is it okay to do that???? Can't we have a normal conversation without sending death treats?

I normally don't really respond to anything that involves drama. But these last couples of months have gotten me to dislike the books more and more solely because of these, may I call them blandly, horrible people.

And i'm very sad to have to admit that i'm also getting sick of the art of the multiple ships. Which that's horrible because I love what all these amazing artists create. But the hate they receive and the comments just make me hate it all more,this whole fandom with all these toxic people ruining it for me personally.

Can't we all just agree that we like these books, and respect eachother as human beings, no matter what everyone else thinks? And maybe wait and see what the author writes? In the end it are still her books and she will have the final say in everything.

I wish SJM would release the next book sooner so all this hate would stop, then again i don't know if it will stop. They will likely continue and probably bother SJM too...

Thank you for listening to me ranting, you always seem very nice to people with different opinions, so I thought i might as well rant a bit too.

Have a lovely day!!

Hello! Thank you for this message! I think it's really helpful for people to see because they can see the impact of the things they are doing and saying in the fandom. There are a lot of people who feel comfortable being vocal in the fandom, but I gotta say, if I were just joining now, I'm not sure that would be me. I wonder how many people walk in, take a look around, and walk the fuck back out. I probably would.

I got on my soap box a little bit because I was thinking about some of the things you've said!

I was just talking with some friends, some of whom I've been in the fandom with since 2017, some who are newer. And we all 1000% agree with you. It's so, so frustrating that the fandom has gotten so nasty to the point where we've become so separated from each other that we can't have a single civil conversation. Where people of color don't feel safe, and where a lot of the fandom doesn't even seem to care about that.

When I first joined the fandom, there were definitely people who shipped one way and people who shipped another, but we were still able to have conversations with each other. There would be these really, really long posts that were chains of people commenting on posts and reblogging, then someone adding on their thoughts, then op would respond, etc. Yeah, the posts were super long to scroll through, but there was so much engagement, ya know? And it was genuine, too. We could disagree or say "hey OP I like this point, but have you thought of X?" And it was great! (I even have a tag for it, #long post tag, because I once got an anon who was annoyed at how long my conversations with people would be 💀so I made that tag for people who wanted to block those posts.)

I'm not going to pretend it was perfect - there were definitely people I didn't get along with. But that wasn't a fandom thing, that was just a personality thing. And I never in a million years expected those people to fly off the handle and start attacking me anon, or to ss my posts to make fun of elsewhere. Now, that's a constant fear hanging over everyone's heads.

It has created an extreme echo chamber. I would genuinely like having those old fandom discussions where people would comment - in the open, on reblogs - and then we could all engage in that discussion in public. Now, all of that discussion happens in private, in groupchats and Discord. And don't get me wrong, Discord is super fun. But it also means that 1) people who aren't in those groups have no idea wtf is going on when we vague, although I try not to do that anyway, and 2) when people are in those groups they egg each other on to be worse and worse. Worse than they would have been if they were on their own and didn't feel like they had a group of people there to support their asshole behavior. tbh, I have to check myself sometimes and think, "would I do this if I hadn't just gotten into a rant conversation with friends on Discord?"

And what you said about fan art, it's so frustrating!!! Since when did fan art become a battle ground??? Since when did the appearance of fan art = a win for one ship or the other?? Why can't the comments of those arts ever just be nice and appreciative of the work someone has put into it? Honestly, it makes me paranoid to write fanfic, too! I mean, is that next???

I totally agree with you that we should be able to respect each other as people. We used to be able to do that. I hate to admit it, but I have so many people blocked now because I just don't trust them. I don't trust them to be civil, I don't trust them to be able to see my posts, I don't trust them to even read what I've written without misconstruing everything I've said.

I'm not sure if people realize that there is a big difference between this:

I don't like X ship

And this:

People who like X ship are delusional

The first one is okay! It's normal! Like you said, we all have feelings and interpretations and stuff we would prefer to see or not see!

The second one, not okay! Stop insulting people, people!!!!

The idea of engaging in a normal, healthy debate with a huge portion of the fandom is such a foreign concept to me at this point, and it never used to be. There could be a lot of reasons for this. And I always try to avoid pointing fingers because I know that not everyone is like that, though I'm sure I have slipped into that from time to time.

I think it would help if we stop seeing each other as a gwynriel or an elucien or an elriel, and start seeing each other as individuals. When acosf first came out, I started noticing a trend where people would send me asks and write them as if they were writing to every single person who ships elucien, or as if they were writing to every single person who holds a certain opinion about Azriel. It was really confusing at first, and I'm gonna request that the fandom stop doing that altogether, to everyone. If you want to engage with someone, engage with that person, not your idea of who they are and what they think.

I'm down for conversations where we talk about the series and what might come next as possibilities, because that's all this is, so far. Anyone who says that "X thing will never happen" is making some bold claims, and it's really off-putting to people who know that that's not why we are here. It's not a contest where we "win" canon. It's fandom, where we talk about what we like and what we don't like and what we want and cross our fingers and hope.

EDIT I wanted to add on one thing - a lot of this behavior is incredibly shocking and disgusting and I think that we, as a fandom, need to be better at 1) calling it out, and 2) not assuming that whoever did X horrible thing represents all people from that corner of the fandom.

I hope that you have a lovely day as well! And that the fandom doesn't get you too down. @heleencollier

[mrs-dynamight]

Be Nice To Me 4

Part 3

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Pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x fem!Reader, Denki Kaminari x fem!Reader

Warnings: Eventual mature content, angst, hurt/comfort, love triangle, the reader is lowkey toxic, everything will be adressed in every episode (:

Chapter warning: Just a single curse word.

Chapter: 4/? I'm sorry, this is going to be long :c but I just loooove writing it

Synopsis: You're in love with your best friend Bakugou, and you're cofessing to him but things get a lot more complicated when Denki starts to treat you different *wink wink*

Word count: 1.6k

Author's note: This is a little bit shorter, but it's pure fluff, and the next one is going to be so long they will compensate eachother, hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 4 Bloom- The Paper Kites

I was floating in cloud nine, everything I have ever dreamt of suddenly became true, there he was, the boy of my dreams liking me back, what else could’ve I asked for? Maybe a little more time together before he’s gone.

The doubts in my heart were getting more difficult to ignore with every passing minute, we came back to the dorms like two hours ago but I was incapable of going to bed, let alone trying to sleep, there was so much to think about, were we a couple? I’ve never had a boyfriend, I don’t know how these things are supposed to work, we like each other, that’s all that it takes right? A long-distance relationship? I’ve heard that those never work, or should we wait for him to come back to make it official? Aren’t we already official? We’ve kissed, like a lot, there was even some tongue; ugh those thoughts made me feel so embarrassed.

The light of my home screen lightly illuminated the room, and with my blushed cheeks I went to check who was messaging me, it was Kaminari, I opened the text that reads “R u awake? I had a nightmare and I really could use a hug from my bestie rn” followed by five crying emojis; “See you in the place” said my reply, the place was this empty service room in the rooftop of the dorms, nobody ever used it for anything so it is completely empty, we made a copy of the key one day that we had to clean the entire dorms because a certain yellow-haired guy decide to play “potions” in chemistry class, and since then it’s been our hiding place, it had everything that we needed, a lot of junk food, fairy lights, a portable speaker, blankets and an Opossum holding a cigarette poster in one wall; whenever one of us needed a break from the outside world we came here, this is our safe space.

I opened the door to the place and saw Denki standing there, he looked so tiny and vulnerable, I hugged him instantly, the dim fairy lights in the opossum wall made his facial features even prettier, it was obvious he had been crying, I didn’t asked any question and he didn’t said anything, we just hugged for what it seemed like hours, with a heavy sight he pulled apart and give me smile

-Thanks Y/N I really needed that- Said Denki with his hand in my cheek and his eyes fixed in some point between us

-They’re back, aren’t they? - I asked with concern

He nodded and lied in one of our blankets in the floor, I did the same, we both were looking at the glow in the dark stars glued to the celling not saying a single word, he held my hand and started to cry

-Why do they keep coming back? I don’t wanna be afraid anymore- I knew exactly what he meant, he had a recurrent nightmare, a big fight against villains, every one of us dying in awful ways, he is always the last one to die, and before that there is always someone telling him that he is the weakest of us, that this was all his fault for not being enough.

-Your mind is playing tricks on you, you are not weak, I know I’ve told you that a gazillion times, but I’m willing to do it a million more, all the times you need it, I’m here, we are all safe and sound, you have nothing to worry about- Anytime the nightmares come back I make sure Denki knows he’s just as strong as any of our other classmates, that he’s smart and capable of being a great hero.

-I want to be able to protect you, I don’t want you to die- Said Denki facing me and locking his eyes with my own.

-I promise you, I’m not going to die in the hands of a villain, I’m going to die being the coolest grandma in the neighbourhood, doing a sick backflip and daring Satan himself to come for my soul- I said to make Denki laugh, and apparently it worked

-You’re my best friend Y/N, I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t here, please never stop being like that-

-Being how? -

-I don’t know, funny, smart, a real pain in the ass to the villains and the teachers, a stubborn whiney stuff-

-Are you sure you aren’t describing yourself? –

-Nah, I didn’t said the most handsome man who ever walked the earth, but you’re not bad looking-

We both laughed, I really enjoyed being around Denki, his presence always felt comforting, like coming back home after a long trip, or eating your favourite homemade dish after a rough day, like a cool late summer breeze, he makes my heart warm and my troubles go away, I never feel more like myself than when I’m around him. That’s what friendship feels like, right?

-Could you do me one last favour Y/N? – Denkis voice took me out of my own mind -I don’t want to go back to my room and have another nightmare, I don’t wanna make you unconformable or anything, but could I sleep with you? -

It definitely took me by surprise, we had a lot of sleepovers over the years, but never just the two of us

-I understand if you say no, but I promise I just want to sleep, and having you around makes me feel safe-

-I have an idea, let’s have a sleepover here in the place, I’ll put one of those white noise videos that last hours, so you don’t have to think about anything-

-I’ll set the alarm to get up early and go to our dorms before anyone sees us, thank you so much Y/N, I’ll make it up to you, I promise-

-You don’t have to; I know you’ll do the same for me-

-You’re an angel but with no wings-

-So, like a person? –

-Shut up Aubrey Plaza-

We were both lying in the blankets on the floor, our heads at the same level (look at the reference above) and I was slowly falling asleep, all I could hear was the white noise and Denkis soft breathing, I closed my eyes and just before I completely lost my consciousness and succumb to the tiredness of my body I heard it, Denkis soft voice, “I love you Y/N”. I turned my head to look at him with my heart racing miles, but he was deeply asleep. Maybe I just imagined the whole thing, it probably was my tired mind, I took one last look to the boy next to me, sleeping so peacefully and with a little smile in his lips feeling the same familiar warmth in my soul, is this really what friendship feels like?

The alarm went off exactly at 5 am, I woke up and it took me a moment to realize that I wasn’t in my dorm room, then I remembered Denkis nightmare, our sleepover, and that thing I thought I heard. I had to wake Denki up so we could go to our respective rooms without Aizawa founding out we were out of our rooms at night, or even worse that we had the keys of the place. I sat there and moved Denki to wake him up. He opened one eye and whined

-But moooooom, it’s Saturday, I don’t have to go to school-

-Come on Denki we have to go to our rooms-

-Five more minutes- He said and hugged my leg

-Do you want Iida to found out we didn’t sleep in our rooms and telling Aizawa? -

And just like that he got up and started heading to the door

-Shit, you’re right, come on, you know that guy wakes up hella early-

We were in the stairs heading to our rooms, and although we were on Denkis floor, he kept climbing down the stairs with me.

-You don’t have to escort me to my room Denki-

-Oh but I want to- Replied the yellow haired guy

When we were in front of my door he leaned down and planted a chaste kiss in my forehead.

-Thank you for being there for me, I will remember this night for the rest of my life- And he turned around without waiting for a response disappeared heading towards the stairs.

I stepped into my room with a heavy cloud around my mind, there was so many feelings inside me that I couldn’t even tell them apart, where do I draw the line between friendship and love? Between admiration and affection? Between what I feel for Bakugo and what I feel for Denki?

I closed my eyes and remembered everything that happened yesterday, Bakugos confession, our shared kisses, the promise we made, six months apart now sounded a lot more crucial, after all the things that could happen in the matter of a few hours. Did I just said that because the heat of the moment? The words Bakugo said to me sounded so mature and logical, not like my own thoughts right now, am I just a slave of my own feelings? How would he react if he were me? What about Denki? Was he aware of all those years after his friend? And what if he knew and that is the reason why he hasn’t told me anything yet? Maybe I was just overthinking the situation, nothing was written in stone, neither my relationship with Katsuki nor Denkis feelings for me. I was getting tired of my own thoughts running in circles and not coming to an end, so I wrapped myself in the sheets of my bed and prayed for my mind to shut down so I could get some rest.

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Part 5

Heeeey I just wanted to thank all of you who read my work, LY, the next few chapters will be like an episode of skins UK, soo be warned, also there is going to be some thirst but nothing too explicit because I'm a shy motherfucker. Enjoy the last chapter free from Mrs-Dynamight Drama™

Taglist: @mikasalt

[newbornwhumperfly]

all i know is you’re the nicest thing

CW: references to past non-con, dissociation, panic attack, references to victim-blaming.    

a spinoff gift fic of @haro-whumps brilliant, heart-wrenching group whump series. this is based on some headcanons we’ve exchanged. i hope you like it, haro!!!                                                 

Snow is thick on the ground and Galo is going stir-crazy.

He hasn’t been able to run around the mansion for a week now. While it was kind of a fun challenge to wrestle through the drifts when they were ankle-high, it’s now impossible while keeping good form. Per usual, he’s been visiting the gym regularly but that’s come to a stop with the week before Christmas, depriving Galo of even this pressure-release. He still lifts weights, pushes and pullups until his arms tremble but he’s pushed himself as far as he can without burning out. Video games always exist, obviously.

What’s really funny, Galo thinks sourly, plucking a thread loose in his coverlet, is how a little cold weather makes you realize how isolated you are. Sure, he’d never really cared for Christmas. Correction: he kinda hated it. Aside from the fact that he’s decidedly not religious, the holiday was always bound up with baggage. Being made to wear festive, uncomfortable dresses to seemingly infinite parties full of infinitely shallow, shitty guests tripping over themselves and one another to flaunt how well they were doing. 

Ever since he’s gotten his own place, Galo never bothered with his own celebrations. No SO, no super close buddies to chill with, no way in hell he’s gonna make plans with anyone in his family. Outside of the occasional Christmas party at work and its flimsy temptation of free dessert and sparkly booze, he hasn’t bothered.

Now though…

Galo worries his lower lip as he sips the smoothie Sasha made for him. There’s a sprig of holly on the rim and it makes him grin. The timid woman has blended his breakfast for the past seven months and he’s come to lean on the reliability of it, the way that Sasha assembles the ingredients just so, drawing out a fresh deliciousness he’s never managed to coax from the mixture. She’s really damn good with food and he remembers to tell her so whenever the opportunity arises. It never fails to soften her.

Now he has people to take care of. Well, ok, they’re not children. But sometimes Galo feels that way, as guilty as it makes him. They’ve learned helplessness well, as they were trained to. As it was beaten into them over years and years, until they were broken, stitched back together with brutal routine. He grips his cup, fingers flexing in rage. Aunt Bethany may be cold in her grave but Galo’s anger refuses to cool, needing only a flinch or stammer or any unbidden reminder of the abuse to stoke that fury. The many weeks Galo has lived with these traumatized slaves has only peeled back fresh layers to the nightmare, all of it fuel to the simmering heat that lurks below his skin. He said he wasn’t religious but he really hopes hell is real.

Galo threads his fingers through his tuft of hair, yanking firmly to shake that train of thought off its runaway track. Now he can’t even work out until the burn of adrenaline smothers the hateful heat in his veins, he needs a new distraction other than his guild or fucking video games he’s played a hundred times before. The charity places he fills his spare hours with are all closed too, the heavy snowfall blocking most of the volunteers from service. He really is gonna go crazy, stuck for long, quiet hours in this sprawling estate with only his slaves for company. Who can’t leave and will all probably feed off his tension until they’re all an accidental frown away from a breakdown.

Fuck.

Bethany is gone but her horrors haunt this house, the ghosts waiting to strike in every corner.

Galo wonders if these guys celebrate the holidays at all. None of them can buy eachother anything, duh, but they’d probably made do? He doesn’t really have any clue what slaves would do on holidays but it’s probably none of his goddamn business. If he had to venture a guess, they probably did something special together after Bethany fell asleep. Or who knows? Maybe Christmas had shittier associations for them than even he had. That assumption was probably depressingly accurate. They were clearly devoted to this little unit of theirs and had probably found some way to make the day nice for one another.

And Galo had the nerveto feel stymied. He groaned as he threw an arm over sore eyes, blocking out the gaming livestream he was listlessly tracking on his laptop. He sure as hell wasn’t throwing a party in this gothic funhouse, most likely the first time in the group’s memory that they didn’t have to arrange an event. He was sitting pretty on millions of dollars, bemoaning his loneliness on a holiday he didn’t even celebrate in the first place.

He’s sure that the poor bunch downstairs could only dream of getting good things like he could get for himself anytime he wanted.

Oh.

Galo sprung up from his lazy sprawl against the headboard, an idea flaring up, getting brighter and warmer the more he thought on it.

This…this could be a good idea.

Could be being the operative word here, Galo determines, clicking away from the livestream to open a new search page as he reaches for his notebook and begins to flip through the pages of observations. He pauses, massaging his eyes as he considers his options. He’d have to be verycareful with this one; if he’s gonna do this, he needs to do it right or not at all. It might be a big fucking mistake, with the potential for backsliding practically a minefield under Galo’s still-balancing feet.

But it has been months. Dozens of days had crawled by without incident and he’s got wiggle room when it comes to potential fuck-ups – the last triggering incident was over two months ago and it had nothing to do with Galo’s actions. He figures he is safe for now. But, then again, he might never be safe when it comes these people – or rather, they might never feel safe with him, he acknowledges, heart panging sharply at the thought. Is it worth the risk, disturbing the fragile balance he’d so painstakingly built over the stretch of time?

Galo sighs, trying to release his tension the breath as he rubs his temple, ruffling the buzz of hair distractedly. It might be selfish, but he wants – desperately – to make them happy. To do something for them all other than just stay out of their way. There’s always the risk, in anything he says or does or doesn’t say or doesn’t do, that he will hurt them without even knowing it and it hurts. One thing he knows for sure is that he’s never been that person to resign themselves to doing nothing. Nothing is written in stone – if he has the heart and the care, he can do what he puts his mind to.

Sucking air into his lungs in one big, fortifying whoosh, Galo squares his stiff shoulders and starts typing suggestions into his search bar. He’ll start with Greyson, since his choices are easier, and then work his way down the list. He’s got less than a week and if he can do this right, and he needs – he reallyneeds – to get this one right, then they’ll be happier. And that’s all that really matters in the end. These people have never expected kindness outside of one another for their entire lives and Bethany had built the world in their minds in her image, a world of casual cruelty.

Well, it’s about the time to change that, and if Christmas is supposed to be a time of rebirth or whatever, Galo will exorcise his aunt’s presence with the ass-whooping spirit of the motherfucking season.

                                                        ~          ~                              

Master Galo has been…animated.

Galo is almost always cheerful, at least in their presence, but the past week has thrown the man into a state of nervous energy. It isn’t…bad, as far as Greyson can pinpoint. There is an excitement which hovers around him but there is tension too. He’s been muttering under his breath a great deal, mumbling to himself in a distracted, half-aware manner as he has tended to do when he has a lot on his plate. He has been glued to his laptop a great deal as well, tending to pace with it as he wanders on socked feet between his usual haunts. Most hours, he drifts from one room to another, sometimes shutting himself into a room to make a call, sometimes contemplating something on the screen in long pauses, biting his lip, brow scrunched in focus.

Greyson has warned the rest to take care and not distract Master Galo, as he is prone to bumping into doorframes or nearly tripping as he turns about to set the device down and scribble swiftly in that bulky notebook that he carries in his pants pocket everywhere he goes. Whatever Master Galo’s true mood, Greyson knows it would not do to disturb his patterns of distraction. It has already been tense downstairs, what with Master trapped inside due to the harsh weather and lack of exercise routine. A bored Master is dangerous. His full attention could be easily caught by anything (or anyone) who got in his way right now.

And he cannot help but notice, even though he should not notice, as it is none of his business, that Master Galo keeps the screen darker than usual when he carries it around and he always closes it when Greyson or one of the others approaches. He does the same with the notebook but there is almost a caution to the movement when Galo notices he is being observed or approached, snapping the device shut and looking for a moment almost like a guilty child caught sneaking a treat. Greyson does notwant to think about what that means. He will find out soon enough, he suspects.  

So for almost a week, as Christmas Eve crept closer through the soft, white hours, passing too slowly and yet too fast, Greyson watched and waited for something to happen.

                                                           ~          ~                           

Nyla has brought several packages up to Master Galo’s room in the past week.

In the past, she wouldn’t take too much note of this. Mistress had had everything delivered to her once her knees got too bad to go out shopping anymore and she had always given Nyla’s own knees a good whack with her cane when Nyla brought her the latest purchase.

Now, however, it is unusual now and unusual is always bad. Master Galo doesn’t tend to buy things for himself, besides the occasional video game or set of clothes that he often chooses to drive out and pick up in person. Now, he has eagerly grabbed each new package from her, a pleased, giddy grin on his face every time. She doesn’t know what it means but she has noticed Master’s hyperactivity and knows that Greyson is concerned. When she allows herself to dwell on it, it concerns her too.

Master’s behavior might not be bad (yet) but Nyla certainly isn’t going to call it good. Master Galo insisted he wants Christmas to be uneventful and while Nyla would typically be beyond grateful for such a reprieve, her anxiety worsens with the lack of planning to busy her worried mind. Nevertheless, she pours the fretful energy into perfecting what she can. She can always be perfect. Nyla assures herself of this constant as she polishes and re-polishes, scrubs and sharpens and floats like a dust mote through the halls, quivering at the ready for Master’s beck and call.

Her headaches are beginning again. The season ushers them in without fail, sharp heat coiling down her neck, her jaw, up through her temples and between the eyes, at times so stabbing that she nearly staggers from the anguish. She doesn’t though, despite being uncommonly tempted to grimace against the cruel pale glare of winter sun through every window. Putting it out of her mind, she glides quietly in rooms near Master Galo. 

Adjusting this, that was already straight. 

Wiping this, that was already spotless. 

She scrubs at a wood-stain on the balcony for the sake of scrubbing, letting the tingling cramps in her overworked wrists and sore knees distract her from the pain in her head. How much her jaw felt like it was trying to escape from her face, how much her neck seemed trying to twist off from the rest of the spine, and the constantpressure, the throbbing patch of nose, eyes, brow clamped with a spiked vice.

Mercifully, dusk was coming swiftly at the heels of the noon, the quickly dimming sky beckoning in Christmas Eve. Nyla has told Greyson to be ready with the car in case Master should want to go somewhere at the last minute. Lilah has kept the driveway shoveled with Evan’s help, bless them both, and salted. Sasha putters about the kitchen, busy with nothing as she travels in slow circles like a crumb circling the drain. They all feel it. They are all waiting. Master has been locked in his bedroom all day and most of yesterday, doing…something. Other than an occasional soft curse, Nyla has heard little when she passes (pauses, lingers, eavesdrops) by his door. She doesn’t think about what might be coming, what could be about to descend upon them swifter than the evening, better to lose herself in little meaningless labors.

Her focus thankfully helps her avoid a start when Master Galo flings his bedroom door open and pokes his head out, glancing about until his eyes catch Nyla, already risen from her futile polishing to a poised, submissive, smiling stance.

Perfect. She is perfect.

“Oh! Hey, Nyla, good – you’re exactly who I wanted. Um, is everyone…busy right now?”

Nyla parses the question. Everyone should be busy. That seems to be the right answer.

“Yes, Master Galo. Is there anything you require?”

Master didn’t seem outwardly displeased by her answer so she let herself breathe into his reply.

“Awesome. Yeah, actually. Why don’t you tell everyone to finish up whatever they’re doing? If it’s not finished, it can wait till later. After that, can you tell everyone that I wanna see them, and you too, in the living room? I’ve got some…gif-, uh, good surprises for everyone.”

Nyla can’t breathe in. She has breathed out already and can’t breathe back in. She needs to breathe in. Needs to speak.

Surprises.

For everyone.

Oh god. 

Oh please.

Breathe.

She’s missed his words, muffled, underwater, swimming through too-thick air, no sound.

You need to breathe.

You need to listen.

Listen!

Air thins around the words and they make it to Nyla’s ears.

“-holiday spirit and, uh, yeah. It’s my festive mood coming out I guess. Don’t wanna give it away, you’ll all see the surprises in a moment anyway! But, yep, a few minutes? That good?”

Breathe.

She’s still smiling. She can feel it. She can feel her face, her mouth, her hands clasped in front of her. She can’t feel her lungs for some reason.

She blinks.

Nods.

She’s answered Master, right? God, please, has she answered Master’s question?

She must have. She must have. She must have answered correctly because he is grinning and nodding and thank holy god he isn’t really looking straight at her, rubbing his neck in that strange way he does sometimes. She must have answered him because he hasn’t gotten angry and he’s closing the door and she couldn’t have made it worse and she can’t make it worse and she’s perfect and she-

Perfect.

The word is like a splash of cold water and Nyla remembers how to inhale, knees buckling briefly with the dizziness of no air, catching herself on the balcony as the head-neck-spine-wrist-knee pain floods through her awareness, riding in on the icy wave of fear.

Surprises.

For everyone.

Perfect.

Enough. Nyla flicks her tender wrist with sharp, punishing taps until her limbs unfreeze. The moment she trusts her legs to carry her, she scoops up her cleaning supplies and lets her body take over. Drift gently down the stairs to inform the others. Obey. Guide the others.

Be perfect.

                                                           ~          ~                           

It’s about fucking time.

Evan allows himself to savor this small prick of resentment on his swift walk to the living room, following only a minute behind Greyson, who’d tersely passed along the command.

Huffing harshly through his nose, he lets the tic in his jaw relax into his required, submissive blank while he tucks the flyaway hairs at his neck and forehead back into his ponytail. He doesn’t give a damn, of course, how pretty he looks. It’s not like his Master is gonna fuck him…probably. Gifts are not good; Evan should know that by now. Should know better than anyone. His gut lurches oddly at the memory of clammy, clawed hands pawing and pulling and scraping and taking what they want. He hasn’t been eighteen in a while but the space of years makes no difference and he can still smell the stench of smoky, heaving gasps. He can still feel the confusion like a sticky sweat crawl through his limbs morphing into terror-rage-shame.

It’s just the scent-memory which summons nausea, nothing more. He just…hates the smell of ash on breath. Hates that it’s been months since he’s had hands on him, years since that was new, hates that the hands fill his dreams and make him wish he had no skin to touch at all. He scratches the ghostly caresses off in the shower and tries to be grateful, bitterly, that no new hands have replaced the phantoms. Master isn’t gonna fuck him, at least, not soon. He shouldn’t have any reason to care about “looking proper”.

But Nyla would care, Evan thinks, the months-old regret clenching like an invisible vice around his heart. He owes it her to still be good, to at least try to live up to her poise.

It’s this duty which lulls him as he glides, smooth and graceful as he can, into place behind Nyla in the living room. He notices how she and Greyson have put themselves at the front, forming a fragile wall in front of Lilah, who is quivering in place and hunching to make herself shorter. Sasha has placed herself at Lilah’s left, shoulder almost brushing her bowed head as she curls ever-so-slightly inward towards the teen. Evan has been left Lilah’s right to stand at, his tall form shielding her from the room’s entrance. All of this was Nyla’s doing, of course it was. She has ensured that Lilah will, at least, not be the first to endure what is to come, has given her time to brace herself.

Evan’s love and respect for Nyla soars and nearly overwhelms him for a moment as he tries mirroring her back-straight neck-long eyes-low hands-clasped-lightly posture. She had forgiven him a while ago though softening took far longer and he is grateful for the generosity of time when he hears her hum, barely audible, in approval.

It is the only sound other than crackle-rumble of the enormous wood-fire blazing high and hot and he glances to the side to see the orange shadows dance over Lilah’s face. The dull roar has drowned out her breathing, too loud, too uneven. She hasn’t gone Quiet yet and he wishes she could when the flames reflect tears threatening to spill from her eyes already. She’s trying very hard, he can tell. His sweet baby Lilah. His sweet baby girl. He wishes so badly he could hug her right now. He wishes Master wasn’t about to hurt her for no fucking reason.  

Stop it.

Those thoughts are dangerous territory and Evan will notlet himself ruin anything for everyone else. This isn’t about him. He needs to be perfect right now, for Nyla, for Lilah, for all of them. He owes them that much at the very least. It gets harder to keep his face flat, however, when Master practically strutsaround the corner.

In all the months he’s been here, Master has never looked so energized. He’s switched out his usual t-shirt and shorts for a casual suit, hair slicked, and when he strides to a halt in front of the Christmas tree, he’s almost bouncing on his heels. His hands keep clenching, unclenching, clenching with whatever jumpy giddiness that’s put that wide grin on his face. Whatever restraint has kept him tethered is loose now and it trembles through every line in his broad body.

Evan drops his gaze to the rug so he doesn’t have to look anymore, tracing the red-white-green stitching of embroidered wreaths below his shoes. He knew, he knewbetter than to trust Master Galo’s mood, so peppy, so eager, so cagey. Master’s gonna drop the act like a heavy fist down on their heads and Evan might almost be sickly satisfied if not for how a traitorous nausea is curling in his gut to swallow the rage, if not for how his whole family is trembling around him, if not for how he’d almost – almost – begun to wonder if Master was…different.

At least this stupid, stupid, stupidpunchline is about to be called. Cold comfort now with how chipper Master is, how he can barely contain himself with the sweet satisfaction of it all, to watch his slaves quiver on the cusp of long-awaited suffering. Evan just hopes its everything Master’s fucking dreamed of.

                                                     ~          ~                                      

Lilah is so confused that she wants to cry.

Usually, the tension would strain every muscle tight, fighting her mind that kept trying to Go Away, ‘cause it wasn’t time yet. She is about to cry, a little wetness escaping, wiped away quickly. She can’t cry yet, she can’t even cry yet ‘cause nothing even happenedyet and that’s bad. She can cry later. There’ll be plenty of time to cry, soon. Soon, will go Quiet and she won’t be worried about anything.  

She doesn’t understand.

It’s so stupid to be confused. This just…used to be so simple and it hasn’t been the same recently and…she doesn’t get it. Evan was right, of course Evan was right, he’s always been right about Mistress things. She should’ve trusted him more about Master. But…but he…

He seemed different.

She’s never been good at the games, not like everyone else. She’s stupid about the rules anyway, and there’s so much that the rest of them all understand so easily, that they’ve learned from so many years of being good. She should know that there will always be a game. There will always be a rule. A test.

But still. He really did seem like he might be different than Mistress. His games were so very different that Lilah would wonder if he had a game at all. That’s stupid. But she had a good reason to be! Master had always been kind to her. He’d always smiled at her, real big, and he said such nice things about her work! He gave her lots of rewards too. Lots of rest and new kinds of food and special tools to make her yard-work easier, even though Lilah had always done a good job without those things.

“It’ll help you as a thanks for being so good at everything”, Master had told, all his teeth showing.

She should’ve known that was a lie. It had to be. But she’d wantedso badly to believe it.

Master never got mad when she went Quiet – kind of sad, or what looked like sad, and watchful and worried. But never mad. He’d never get mad at Lilah, even though he’s been mad at the others, been mad at Evan, even though they’re all better at this. Good enough for years. Good enough, at least, to not be punished all the time, day and night, beaten into place ‘cause she always had to be reminded of how not-good she is.

Bad girl.

Why? She just wants to know why and wanting hurts. Her heart hurts. It’s not a scared-hurt. It’s a sad-hurt, heart sore and throbbing wildly. She feels sadder than scared and that’s new and stupid but…she really did think Master woulddo something bad when nobody has been really bad and now he isgoing to and…she just doesn’t know why. But he is. And he’s happyabout it. Evan would say it’s ‘cause Master enjoys it, that he enjoys playing with them the way he does. She should listen to Evan. Why doesn’t she listen? Why can’t she ever keep up?

‘Cause you’re a bad girl.

Master’s voice rings suddenly through the room, the noisewhere there was no noise pulling Lilah’s breath in a little too quickly and Sasha barely twitches at her side. Lilah swallows a whimper before it escapes her dry throat and just…listens to Master.

 Please, let him get it over with quickly,she begs to someone, anyone.

 Please let it be quick.

And, horribly, selfishly.

Please.

Let him choose someone else first.

                                                       ~          ~                                        

“Ok! First off, Merry Christmas Eve to everyone.”

A silence hovers briefly and Sasha stumbles to say “Merry Christmas, Master Galo” in sync with the rest of the group. Their chorus, fortunately, hides her stammer. Master has not seemed to mind her stumbling speech but right now? There’s no doubt it that every broken phrase would tally up in whatever pain is to be doled out now.  

“Thanks! So, you’re all probably a little confused by the lack of celebrations. I know my aunt had tons of parties but…that’s just not me. I don’t love parties at the best of times and I really don’t love Christmas. But I figured, hey, I can do the holiday my way and you’ve all been a big part of changing how I feel about it. Everyone’s been awesome about decorating the house beautifully and making things feel cheerful, so, thanks so much for that. I really appreciate it.”

There is another beat of silence before Nyla, sweet, sacrificing, perfect Nyla, glides forward a couple of steps, Greyson carefully sidestepping to fill the space in front of Lilah, and kneels at Master Galo’s feet before taking up his hand to kiss it.

“Thank you, Master, for your kindness. We are all honored to serve you in whatever manner you desire.”

Sasha thinks, for the first time in a while, of how starkly largehis hand is next to Nyla’s head. Cold sweat beads on her brow as she measures those palms as though examining them for the first time, how when Nyla’s lips touch the backs of Master’s fingers, the span of his knuckles bridges her brow from temple to temple. He could crushNyla’s face with a firm squeeze, shatter her delicate little nose with one heavy slap, how could Sasha everhave forgotten that, even for a moment?

And now, the little blonde woman is deliberately putting herself at those heavy feet, pulling that meaty hand towards her lovely face, flattering and appeasing, indicating that she has chosen to go first for whatever this is. She’s so brave. She’s so good. Sasha loves her so much and she wants to save her so badly. Sasha wants to curl around Nyla’s kneeling form until Nyla is hidden away by Sasha’s arms and back and she’s safe from the pain which frightens Sasha so much and which Nyla so plainly does not deserve. But she is petrified and spineless and would only make it worse.

Oh, Nyla.

Greyson.

Lilah.

Evan.

Me.

Don’t react poorly!

Sasha blinks furiously until her tears settle behind her lids, pulsing with restrained grief.  

Don’t make this worse than it’s already going to be.

                                                       ~          ~                                    

Greyson should’ve been the one to approach Master Galo first.

He has a…dialogue with Master and either way, he is older, more practiced, should be quicker to know what to do. But Nyla has caught onto being what she should be in half the time it took him and has thrown herself into the line of fire with her typical grace. It sickens Greyson that he was too slow and let her take the burden.

Currently, Master’s glee seems to have abated at Nyla’s gesture and, seemingly, was not replaced with rage. Yet. He blinks down at Nyla’s upturned, sweetly submissive, face and smiles softly at her. No smirk. No secretive glint in his eye. Nyla must have done the right thing, yet again. Master has yet to…use Nyla in that way but he clearly acknowledges the faultless state of her service and it softens him towards her.

“That’s…wonderful, Nyla. Very good! Hey, while you’re down there, can you help me pull these boxes out?”

Before Nyla has even crawled over to the bottom of the towering Christmas tree, Master has crouched beside her, scooping out brightly wrapped packages from below the swoop of the low-dangling branches and jangling the glittering ornaments. Brushing pine needles off his pants, Master piles them, gesturing Nyla to copy him, onto an armchair before swinging back towards them all to clap his hands decisively and grin once more.

“Alrighty, then. So! Nyla?”

“Yes, Master Galo?”

Soft, immediate, lilting.

“I guess since you’re, uh, right here, I’ll give you your gift first. Uh, can you hold your arms out, Nyla? This one’s a bit big.”

Greyson has barely time to blink before Master has practically dropped one of the largest packages, a box of wide, flat golden cardboard topped with plaid bows, into Nyla’s quickly outstretched arms.

What?

“Sorry! Sort of threw it at you, didn’t I? You can go back to the rest, Nyla. Greyson, you’re up, my man.”

What?

Greyson’s feet carry him forward, arms already extending, body reliably obedient even while his brain is lagging.

 “Here y–, oh, no need for both arms. Heh, sorry, dude, your gift’s not Nyla-big.”

What does that mean?

He doesn’t understand. He doesn’t need to understand, Greyson reminds himself harshly, he only needs to obey. So he remains blank, cups his palms as Master Galo places a little sleek black box, neatly bound in white ribbon, into Greyson’s palm. It is not professionally wrapped, Greyson absently notes, the tape was raggedly snapped off the dispenser and the bow is a bit crooked. He glides into place back at Nyla’s side, poised like emotionless pillars with their…gifts held stiffly in front of them as each person is called forth. Lilah, then Sasha, and, finally, Evan; all are handed a package, unique in size and decoration and received quietly and quickly before they are re-assembled as they were before, only now clinging to…

Most likely, the instruments of their imminent torture.

Or, as Master Galo is saying…

“Awesome. Alrighty, so, you’ve all got your gifts now. That’s good. You’ve probably noticed that they’re kind of sloppy. I wrapped them myself and…let’s just say, I wasn’t born to be a decorator. You’re just gonna have to live with it, heh. So…if you guys wanna sit down, like, on the couches or on the floor or, like, wherever you feel most comfortable opening your gifts? Just, uh, yeah. Everyone just go ahead and enjoy!”

All are silent and it is Nyla who folds elegantly to the floor and first begins to peel the wrapping back, small hands fluttering like butterflies as she unwinds the ribbon. Greyson folds alongside her, hesitating a brief moment as he catches Master’s eyes on his knees and then, slowly, sits on the ground and folds his ankles neatly in front of him. Master looks pleased when he sits this way rather than kneeling and Greyson’s jaw slightly slackens as he settles in beside Nyla. Her quick grace disguises her shaking to all but Greyson, whose arm touches her shoulder and absorbs her tremors. He leans, barely, against her, steadying her (and, honestly, himself as well) while he neatly disassembles his own package.

His box is the smallest, Greyson has noted, so he is the first to lift the lid and find…

A pair of glasses.

They are frameless at the bottom, rimmed in delicate wire that is stained redder than a ripe apple. It matches the hue of Greyson’s favored necktie. Spongy black nose pads and grips at the tips of the temples show how the eyewear would grip the face comfortably. Coiled beneath the neatly folded pair, clipped to the ends of each temple, is a fine chain, dozens of miniscule links glittering silver beneath the clear lenses.

They are…beautiful.

Greyson cannot do much more than blink. He can tell that everyone else is unwrapping slowly, glancing from the corners of their lowered eyes at his reaction and he shouldreact in some way. But he…he can’t…

What?

He finds that he is trembling as he plucks the frames from their nest of silk cleaning cloths, cradling them like they will shatter if he breaths wrong. His eyes raise almost without intent, catching Master Galo openly watching him, a soft hesitance weighing his gaze. Greyson nearly starts but Master gets ahead of a potential apology by gesturing vaguely at Greyson’s gift.

“I, uh, I peeked through B –…through your records and found your prescription. It said five years ago and I don’t know if your eyes changed since then and, well, if I’d gotten an appointment for you, this wouldn’t have been a surprise. Someone recommended I make them a tad sharper and so I did but, if you wanna adjust them or if they’re too strong just tell me… Anyways, I, uh, I really hope they see as nice as they look, heh…oh, yeah, and the chain is to keep them around your neck and the cloths are yours. Like, in case that wasn’t clear, all the stuff in the box – hell, the boxif you want it – is all yours. But, I hope you enjoy them, Greyson.”

Greyson cannot speak. He opens his mouth, moves his lips, and nothing emerges. Trembling more pronounced now, his hands pull off and fold his glasses and tuck them into his breast pocket, he does not choose to do this. He does not decide to lift the new frames to his face, unfold them, slide them into place and loop the chain behind his neck. He blinks as his body reconnects with awareness again, the missed moments of automation causing him to startle bodily with the clean, unscratched, clarity of the room before him.

There is…something inside Greyson’s chest. It is like a living thing, pressing, stretching the wall of his sternum. It takes his heart and his lungs and squeezes, mercilessly.

It hurts. 

The animal is resurrected, awakened from a peaceful sleep to roar in his blood, unfamiliar with the way his insides are warm and loose and tingle like his legs after rising from hours on his knees, all the blood rushing back to the numb area. He feels and it aches and his throat is tightened by the same animal grip on his innards.

The tight, the hot, the blood-rush, the suddenness of the old tenderness is tearing at Greyson and, suddenly, all he wants to do is weep. No hollow, scraped-out loss prompting the swollen heat pounding like a pulse behind his lids. A press, inexorable as it is tender, against his sternum is cracking him from the inside and there’s nothing he can do to stop it. He abandons his typical protocol of vacancy to bite his inner cheek savagely, allowing the throb to distract and dull the other strange unfamiliar anguish below his ribs.

It hurts but Greyson can take hurt. This anguish which is not anguish will be smothered too and once he allows the ache in his gnawed mouth to ebb, he is clearer again.

                                                        ~          ~                                        

Evan is pissed.

At least, he’s really trying to be. What he really feels, right now, is confused as hell. Which angers him more, ‘cause he can take his own pain and humiliation and the games that never ever end but this is, admittedly, pretty fucking weird.

He will, in his own mind, confess to being tense, if not really surprised, about his box being the biggest. But as he lifts his…gift out of its mountain of tissue paper, he can’t feel much of anything. It’s like his head is disconnected from his shoulders and his hands move on their own to unfurl a frankly enormous blanket, at least six feet in all directions, fluffy and hedgerow-green and thick and light all at the same time.

The first thing he registers is how soft it is.

He almost starts when he feels the texture of the blanket, fingers sinking into the tufts of…what is it? Evan doesn’t know, he’s never touched something this soft. He almost expects it to melt like soap-foam between his palms but it settles, barely a weight against his folded legs. It feels nice.

Evan snaps back to clarity, lowly roving a glance around to the others. They’ve all opened their own gifts and they’re all as confusing as Evan’s. They all look like gifts, but real gifts. The sort which Mistress’ “friends” would exchange during those god-awful parties. Sasha is cradling something bright and delicate in her hands, Nyla’s got something to wear perhaps, and Lilah’s unwrapping something fluffy. He can’t clearly see what Greyson got in that little box but he’s oddly silent.

Evan tries to stay sharp. He needs to be sharp, to be aware, nothing is more dangerous than getting distracted right now. Nothing is…good about getting a present. But he’s drawn like a throat to thirst by the softness in his lap and sets his jaw before cautiously lifting the blanket like a cape over his shoulders. Tufts tickle the nape of his neck, gentle bulk shielding his torso from the open air, and Evan feels more than allows his spine to relax just a fraction.

It feels so good. He likes it so much and he hates that he likes it as much as he does. Yet even as he straightens his spine and keeps his eyes down, he cannot help but turn his cheek just barely so that the tufts brush, feather-like, against the skin.

Liking this is fucking dangerous, of course it is, of course it is, it must be fucked up somehow. But Evan is tired of caring right no. And so leans further into the softness. Maybe he’ll pay later but if he really got this as a…giftthen he’s gonna damn well enjoy it like one.

                                                     ~          ~                                       

Nyla is stalling.

Yes, she’s offered herself first. Yes, she made a show of opening her package. But…she hesitates and keeps twitching away when she tries to peel back the mountain of red tissue. She smooths is back in layers, slippery as onionskin, crackling at even the littlest movement. She’s afraid of what she’s going to find and she has no excuse for her delay but that fear which keeps her fussing with the final sheet of tissue.

It is only once Greyson has lifted his gift out its box that she finally, unforgivably late, folds back the final barrier. It is in the same moment that Greyson’s gift becomes clear in her periphery, unmistakably a new pair of eyeglasses, when she comprehends what lies before her in the box.

A dress.

A dress?

It is a dress and it’s a pretty dress and it looks expensive and it’s a real gift and Nyla almost doubles over, spasming fingers gripping the edge of the box in an effort to remain grounded. She hides her tremble with busy movements, not really thinking but allowing her body to take over and carefully pull the dress from its crinkly nest.

Nyla knows little about clothing except from what Mistress Bethany and her guests wore but she knows what quality cloth feels like and this dress is certainly a cut of the finest. It has a supple, satiny feel but it isn’t silk, more like good linen in a soft blue imprinted with a pattern like white and grey stitching. It is crisp and flat and smells a little like vanilla when she moves it. Pleated skirt which could hit just below the knee, elbow-length sleeves, slimming waist. It has a wide neckline which doesn’t plunge to her breasts but instead would barely sit above the collarbones and sit halfway down the shoulder to show off their delicate swoop. It would show off the arc of her neck perfectly.

She would look so elegant in this dress, appearing so proper and almost fancy in a modest way. It is how she has dreamed of looking, sometimes, when she neatens her apron and flicks lint off her drab, black, uncomfortable uniform. In this dress, she would look as perfect as she behaves.

Absently, she strokes the along the mysterious fabric, wondering what it would feel like against all of her flesh. She nearly shivers with pleasure at the very thought of sliding that material over her head, zipping it up nice and neat. She suppresses a second, cold, shiver when a gratitude rises, unbidden, at her presence amongst the rest of the group. Mistress Bethany had never forced any of them to strip more than a shirt in front of one another but…who knew what Master Galo might command? If they had been alone when Master Galo gave her this, she would certainly assume she was meant to unclothe and slip into her giftstraight away. Display it for him. Looking pretty in it for him.

Master has paid close attention to them all, that much is abundantly clear. Nyla glances to the side and sees how Sasha is mesmerized by her gift. It is some sort of hair ornament, a flat clip to bridge the top of the head, a glorious, darkly polished wood that had been carved with an inlay of golden roses. It won’t just hold back the cascade of ebony hair, it will brighten the wavy length which Sasha combs between her fingertips, which soothes her so. Which one would notice if one watched her for long enough. Sasha’s fingers fly between hair and the ornament, sunk fully back upon her heels as she turns the clip over in her fingers like it is glass, watching the firelight catch all the petals and vines of gold.

Sasha loves her hair. She loves her gift.

It is all gift, Nyla realizes. All of her clothes are a gift. Seeing properly enough to do tasks obediently, having glasses at all, is a gift. Everything they are allowed to have is already a gift, graciously given on strict conditions. Nyla can go without her gift – her clothes – at any time Master Galo desires.  

Nyla soothes her fluttering pulse with a low breath, stilling her hands so they won’t seize the fabric and scrunch that ironed hem. She is here, right now, with her family. She traces the pattern with her eyes, counting the facsimile of stitches on the bodice as she allows that thought to ease the edge of sudden anxiety. There is absolutelyno sense in torturing herself with scenarios like that, no sense at all. There was no need. Even…ifsuch an idea did come to Master Galo, Nyla would give him no reason to play it out. She was perfect, she had always been perfect, and she will continue to be perfect; it is the only thing she can control. Nobody will have any reason to hurt her. Oh, Master can hurt her, of course he can, but he won’t have a reason to do it.

She won’t evergive anyone a reason.

                                                        ~          ~                                   

Galo hears a giggle and the surprise causes him to glance up from the game he’s been pretending to play on his phone, sprawled on the armchair several feet away from the group.

Lilah has opened her gift. A little red winter hat, ear-flaps and all, topped with a cotton puff which Lilah is poking at. She has pressed a hand to her mouth but is still grinning through her fingers as she pokes and ruffles the little poofy ball on the hat, on the matching gloves, on the tassels of the matching scarf. Lilah has lost herself in an almost open delight, youth bubbling through her nerves as she bats at her gift. Her bruises have long faded, all the cuts pinked and flat with age, so her freckles are stark. The absence of wounds makes her look so much younger than her eighteen years and her glowing grin gives her a childish glow.

Tears well in his eyes and he has to press his knuckles against his lids as he tries to swallow back the ache in his throat.

“Thank you so much, Master Galo! Thank you!”

Galo hopes his eyes are clear as he glances up again and sees that Lilah is the one who spoke. The others are clearly carefully looking anywhere but at either Lilah or Galo and, to be honest, he’s a little shocked at what amounts to an outburst from Lilah. She is trembling violently but is also clutching her gift tightly to her chest, gazing at Galo with…gratitude, heavy as worship, in her eyes.

Her grins widely at her, his gesture seeming to brighten that gratitude to a feverish glow. It’s all too much for Galo all of a sudden and he has to look away again so the tears won’t betray him and leak down his face, hoping to God that his reply doesn’t sound too choked.

“You’re welcome, kiddo. I’m…really glad you like it.”

                           i’m gonna throw myself into a pit now! hope ya’ll liked it!

[multifandom-girlie]

𝟏𝟐𝐚𝐦

Imagine: It’s your birthday and you have a guest that does something to surprise you.

Pairings: Kai x Witch!Reader

Warnings: Fluff

Today it’s my birthday and like every year I wake up with a million messages from my mom saying happy birthday and telling me how much I mean to her. She never fails to make me feel loved and cared for.

My friends however, nada like the last couple of years. I love them and I know we all have a lot going on but whenever it’s one of our birthdays, we always make time. Ever since we found out about the supernatural it’s not been the same and it’s upsetting.

It was 11:50pm and I was chilling on my sofa watching comedy films. In particular, This is the end. I always watch that film when I’m feeling down or How I Met Your Mother.

I was near the end of the film, where James Franco gets eaten by Danny and his group of cannibals. The rapture was taking Jay when I heard someone slamming my front door. So I paused the film and got up to see who it was, I wasn’t too worried. I always had people to protect me, especially Klaus. Yes, I did say Klaus. Even if we had broken up a little over a month ago he was always going to be by my side despite our rough breakup.

I threw the blanket of my short legs and jumped off the sofa with a pillow at arms length as I wearily walked towards to door. I walked through the rounded arch to the entrance way of my apartment. I can to a stop looked around. The kitchen ? empty. The hallway ? empty. I had no clue if I was tripping on something or not but I swore I heard a noise, I was going to head back to the comfort of my couch until I backed up and fell into something and heard a whisper in my ear.

“Boo !”

I screamed and let my hands fly to cover my mouth. I turned and saw Kai stood there with a grin on his face. I hit him repeatedly with the pillow in my hands.

“Ugh god ! I hate you so much !”

He laughed and kept defending his face from the flying of the pillow. I just ended up giving up with trying to hurt him knowing I was doing nothing, except making him chuckle more.

“Why would you do that you ass ?!”

He kept chuckling and opened his arms and pulled me into his chest and tightly hugs me. I eventually gave into my cover emotion of annoyance and showed my true emotion of humour. We laughed together.

“I thought i’d surprise you.”

I pulled away from him and held his clothes biceps.

“Why ?”

He shrugged.

“Figured you were upset.”

I scoffed and pulled away walking to the kitchen.

“You want some wine or bourbon ?”

He chuckled slightly and walked over to me.

“Avoiding the question, got it. Bourbon please, you know me.”

I finished pouring his drink and finished pouring my glass of wine. I put the bottle down and closed my eyes with a huff of air.

“I saw him with someone.”

A wave of confusion swept across his face. I decided to elaborate.

“Klaus.”

He walked round the island to me. I moved my wine glass over a little and jumped up onto the island.

“Well why should it matter ? You said your over him didn’t you ?”

I huffed again and took my wine down in one.

“I am but it still hurts. It’s hard to see, the breakup still feels so fresh. I know he still cares about me and I care too but I don’t understand why I deserve this of all people.”

He chuckled and poured us both another drink. He handed me my wine.

“Pace yourself with this glass okay also you can’t help not being completely over him.”

“No I am over him honestly but i’m worried that one day he might stop caring, even before we dated we were bestfriends and I don’t want to loose that now that we’ve broke up.”

“I get that your hurting, I know you didn’t want to break up with him. He broke up with you but he did it with a good reason and a good way.”

I chugged the glass in my hand too. I giggled.

“I couldn’t help but chug it again, please don’t judge.”

He held his hands up in surrender and stood closer to me.

“Hey, no judging just love.”

I poured myself another glass and chugged that one too, giggling again after his last words.

“God I love you.”

I smiled gazing into his dark blue eyes. He took a step closer, landing him being stood in between my legs. My smiled stayed put and my breath hitched, my hands clutched the edges of the counter either side of me. His hand raised and cupped my cheek.

“I love you too.”

We both grinned widely and just as suddenly leaned in. My lips parted and my tounge creeped out and drew a line of damp across my bottom lip. Our lips collided in a intense mix of hunger and passion. Lasting for at slightest 3 minutes.

We parted from eachother and smiled.

“Thankyou Kai for everything.”

He grinned and kissed my more sensually this time.

MASTERLIST

[sincerlypadfoot]

Curiosity Killed The Kat (3)

~After getting ready for Slughorn’s usual get together you wait and wait to be asked but go with Lily and Alice who are more than happy to bring you, after seeing Sirius dance with another girl does something to your heart

Word Count-1294

Send Requests Here

“What the hell!” I shouted looking at Sirius who just had a smile on his face. “I know magics real and all but what the hell was that?” I asked making Sirius smile more.

“Get in here and trust me,” Sirius said putting his hand out. “Come on, I wanna show you were it brings you,” He said, I shook my head and crawling in. “Watch this,” he said shutting the cabinet door.

“What is going on Sirius?” I asked looking at him. “I’m opening these up,” I said, Sirius didn’t stop me, when I opened the cabinet we were not in the room we were once in, we were placed in another part of Hogwarts, in a lower part by the sounds and looks of the water that hit the window.

“I knew that there was such thing as a vanishing cabinet, and I found it, it brings you wherever the other one lays, this is so cool right,” Sirius said getting out of the cabinet.

“Cool?” I asked hoping out with him. “This is amazing,” I giggling looking around. “We’re in a ballroom,”  I chuckled looking around. “A pretty old one, it’s freezing in here,” I said looking around, the water splashed against the windows making me jump.

“Yeah a ballroom, come on let’s go look around,” Sirius said grabbing my hand, I followed him not making it so far from the cabinet. “Echo!” He shouted making me laugh, his voice echoed across the whole room.

“Why would this room ever be hidden, it’s covered in dusk,” I said looking around, everything in the room was covered and rumbled together. “This is such a beautiful room,” I suggested taking out my wand and pointing to the lightswitch across the room, lights flashed the room.

“Oh Merlin,” Sirius said looking more around. “Your right, I wonder why this would hide this all away, we have to come back, this is to good to not come back,”

“Whos in here!” A voice said causing Sirius and I to jump. “Who are you, students out of bed!” Flitch yelled.

“Come on, hurry,” Sirius said dragging me back to the cabinet. “In in in, he’s coming,” Sirius said jumping in, the doors closed and we paused for a moment.

“Should we open it?” I asked looking at Sirius unsure of what to do. “What if he’s just waiting for us,” I nervously said.

“I’m opening it,” Sirius said pushing the doors open. We were back in the junk room. Sirius and I looked at each other and let out a breath. “Come on, we should get back before we cause anymore trouble for each other,” Sirius chuckled jumping out of the cabinet.

“Yeah your right,” I smiled grabbing Sirius’ hand and jumping out. “It was fun thought, nearly gave me a bloody heart attack twice,” I chuckled walking down the stairs towards the common room.

“Yeah,” Sirius said smiling at himself. “Accio,” Sirius whispered, the door opened and we walked in together. “Goodnight Kat,” Sirius said facing me. “I’ll see you tomorrow, for class,” He said.

“Goodnight Sirius, don’t have to much fun without me,” I chuckled leaning in and kissing Sirius cheek. I walked away up to my room with a smile feeling my heart beat a million miles per hour.

“How was your date,” Marlene bombarded me as I walked in. “We were listening, it was Alice's idea,” She said pointing her finger towards Alice who tossed her hands up in the air.

“It was good for your guys’ information, now I think i’m gonna go to bed, I had a long day,” I joked taking my sweater off and tossing it beside my bed. “Good night guys,” I whispered crawling into my bed and tossing my blanket over me.

“Great, we’ve got Lily gushing over James, now we got you gushing over Sirius,” Marlene chuckled shutting the light off in the room, everything went quiet, the silent sounds of everything breathing and shifting around

“So no one's gonna talk about Marlene's misterly guy last night?” I asked crossing my arms and looking over at Marlene whos cheeks went red. “Yeah woman you know what i’m talking about,”

All our eyes fell on Lily who got up from her bed and grabbed a gryffindor scarf and wrapping it around her neck, she walked over towards me and grabbed my reading glasses from my desk.

“I’m James Potter, I spend all my time doing my hair in the bathroom,” Lily mocked in a deep voice, making everyone laugh. 

I got up and tossed my robe on and let my hair down loose. “Ohhh i’m Sirius Black, i’m so hotttt,” I mocked in his voice jumping up on my bed, starting a chain reaction. The four of us dressed up like the people we were seeing, jumping from bed to bed, screaming and laughing.

“Ohhhh i’m James Potter,” Lily yelled out jumping on the ground with her head down, we were about to join her but noticed four figures standing at the door, the three of us looked at eachother then at Lily who was facing us and not the door. “I’m in love with Lily Evans, soooo much,” Lily continued yelling out.

“How did you know?” James said causing Lily to stand up faster than the speed of light and wipe around. “Having fun ladies, I think you’ve forgotten to silence your room,”

“Hey Kat,” Sirius popped up walking into the room and towards me. “Nice outfit,” He smirked looking at me up and down.

“I ugh wasn’t acting like you and all,” I nervously said tossing my robe off and fixing up my hair. “Maybe a little bit,” 

“This is cute,” James chuckled looking around the room. “Next time my Lily flower, silence the room before you want me to confess my love to you,” Lily's cheeks went a rose red and she fell onto her bed.

“I’ll see you in the morning for class, we have flying,” Sirius said winking at me and then walking away tossing his arm over James, dragging him out, followed by Remus and Peter who were talking among themselves before leaving.

“Oh my merlin!” Lily shouted tossing her hands over her face and bursting out laugh and grabbing her pillow. “That was so embarrassing!” She muffled into her pillow.

“I am actually going to bed now,” Marlene chuckled shaking her head and crawling into her bed. “We never talk about this again,” She mumbled into her pillow.

I chuckled crawling into my bed and smiled at the thought of Sirius and I in that ballroom, thinking of all the things that could go on in there, and the image of people dancing to music, dressed in fancy dresses and laughing and singing with their friends.

~

“I am not ready for this,” Marlene mumbled still laying in bed. “I hate flying, hate it with a pasion,”

“Come on Marlene, I think your live, plus I hate going to class without you, it’s like death dealing with everyone when I don’t have someone to gossip with,” I huffed crawling out of my bed and landing in Marlene's, crawling into the warm blanket.

“I knowwww,” She whispered laying her head up just a bit. “Fine, fine, fine but you tell me everything that you and Sirius did, I need all the details,” Marlene said wrapping her arms around me bringing me into a hug.

“After class, now get up, we’re gonna be late,” I squealed as Marlene started to hug me tighter. “Marlenee!” 

“Okay okay okay,” Marlene laughed letting me go. “You're gonna make me late for class, what are you doing?” She laughed crawling out of her bed and tossing her uniform on quickly.

“Yeah well we’re gonna be late anyways, because of your slacking ass,” I laughed jumping out of the bed and tossing my hair up into a messy bun. “Let’s go before we get into more trouble then we want,”

[honeyxmonkey]

So... Aliens, huh?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23812786

^last chapter, or you can read it here

Of all things, Hugo wasn’t expecting to be abducted by an alien. Now, the alien was cute, don’t get him wrong. As a matter of fact it looked almost human, but there were just the subtlest of differences that you wouldn’t notice unless you were paying very close attention.

There was the slightest, bright, luminous, almost ethereal sheen to the alien’s skin, giving it a heavenly glow. It’s pitch black hair only had a shock of bright blue going through it. The freckles dusting it’s cheeks were arranged in a way that looked almost like constellations. And it’s eyes… Hugo had never seen a color more beautiful. The beautiful moon blues were almost unearthly, the way they sparkled and shone under the bar lights. They were even more breathtaking outside, underneath the glow of the moon.

Hugo had met who he assumed to be a normal person at a bar that night. They’d talked and laughed and seemed to be warming up to eachother. The blond had been delighted when halfway through the night the boy had grabbed his hand and pulled him outside, behind the bar. The teen seemed no older than him, maybe nineteen at the oldest. Hugo himself was twenty and had no problems with making out with a beautiful stranger in the alley behind a bar well past midnight. And as the boy drew closer to him, a beautiful yet intriguing smile on his face, hands on his hips as he pushed Hugo against the wall, he leaned close and tenderly kissed him. Hugo was immediately addicted to this feeling. Sure he’d kissed plenty of people before but this was somehow different, it felt genuine, passionate even in its softness. 

But he pulled away all too soon and Hugo felt a wooziness come over him. Confusion settled in as the boy in front of him dropped his happy facade and a more pained, even scared expression took the place of his smile. He cupped Hugo’s cheeks as the world blurred away.

“I need your help.” He whispered and his shining blue eyes were the last things Hugo saw before he blacked out.

_______

When he woke the first thing he noticed was the blinding white walls of an over-sterile medbay. Groggy and dazed, he sat up, looking around in confusion. What happened to him? The last thing he remembered was… that cute boy kissing him, then he passed out. Where was he? Did the other teen bring him to the hospital?

A door sliding open to his right caught his attention and the boy walked in, dressed very differently from earlier. He’d traded his vest and black jeans for a simple white t-shirt and sweatpants that pooled around his bare feet. Hugo would’ve been pissed at the boy for apparently kidnapping him if he didn’t look so cute like that.

Hugo noticed that he was also wearing something very similar and his cheeks flushed at the thought that this very cute stranger had supposedly changed his clothes for him.

Cutie smiled softly at him and now under the bright fluorescent lights, his eyes definitely seemed to be glowing.

“Are you okay?” He asked walking closer to the hospital bed Hugo was seated on. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Hugo stared at him for a few seconds in absolute and utter confusion. “Uh… n-no. No, I’m fine.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and his smile grew a bit more. “That’s good.” He laughed nervously. “I was scared I had. I-I can’t control it that well.”

“Control… control what?” Hugo was intrigued now. 

Cutie blushed and cleared his throat. “N-never mind.” He ran a hand through his hair and Hugo watched, completely mesmerized by the action. “Let’s get you some food.”

______

They walked down the halls, the cute stranger leading the way. Their bare feet padded across the metal halls and Hugo had a sneaking suspicion of where exactly they were.

One glance out the windows told him he was right.

Hugo stopped in shock, gaping at the millions of stars scattered throughout the sky, twinkling back at him. “We’re… we’re in space.”

Cutie turned around and seemed almost apologetic. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know how else to get you on board.”

Hugo tore his eyes away from the beauty outside the window to look at the beauty inside the ship. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I couldn't exactly go up to you and say, ‘hey I’m an alien and I need your help to save my planet’, now could I?” 

Hugo stared at him some more, trying to wrap his head around the idea that he was in a spaceship, in space, and he’d been abducted by a very cute and very sassy alien. “No… I-I guess you couldn’t have.”

He gave the blond an adorable smile and kept walking. “By the way I never got your name.”

Hugo jogged for a moment to catch up. “Well you never asked and usually I prefer to be on a first name basis before I get abducted by a cute alien.”

He laughed and oh lord was it the most beautiful laugh Hugo had ever heard in all his life.

“So?” He prodded once more, giving Hugo a glance over his shoulder.

“Hugo. My name is Hugo.”

Another smile and Hugo felt like he would melt soon from that soft and warm expression in his blue eyes. 

“Mine’s Varian.”

_______________________________________________

After getting some food, Varian led him to the cock-pit and Hugo was rather impressed with the engineering.

Varian took a seat in the captain’s chair and Hugo watched him with fascination. Anybody else would’ve said he looked lovestruck but Hugo would deny that.

He watched Varian cruise the ship with skill and practiced precision. A few minutes went by of this silence and Varian never took his eyes off the stars.

“What did you say you couldn’t control?” Hugo blurted out suddenly.

Varian went rigid. “Uh- I… I-” he sighed. “My… species can do things to people when we kiss them.” He chewed his lip anxiously. “We can give them false emotions, bend them to our will… make them pass out.”

“Oh.”

Varian looked up at him. “I won’t do any of that to you.”

Hugo smiled cheekily. “Except for the alley?”

Varian giggled. “Right, except for the alley.”

Hugo let the silence grow for a moment before he spoke again. “Why do you need my help?”

Varian sighed again. “My planet is dying. We’ve been… monitoring earth for a while, looking for someone to help.”

“So why me?”

Varian tightened his grip on the steering for a split second before he relaxed again. “Because you’re different. You’re special.” He looked up at him. “I know you can help us.”

“What if I can’t?”

Varian looked back at the stars. “Then I don’t know.” He whispered.

Hugo wanted so desperately to wipe his tears away, comfort him, distract him, anything.

“Why don’t you teach me to steer?” He asked, smiling.

Varian looked at him with shock before smiling too. “Okay.”

He got up and let Hugo in his place. Gently he guided Hugo’s hands to the steering and Hugo felt warmth spread up his chest and butterflies in his stomach.

“It’s a little bit testy, so don’t go too far to the left or right.” Varian’s voice was low and right next to his ear. His hands were still over Hugo’s. “That’s perfect.”

Hugo could tell he was blushing but he ignored it. “It feels nice.” He heard Varian’s breath hitch and he quickly corrected himself. “The ship! I mean the ship!”

Varian laughed, sliding his hands up Hugo’s arms and resting them on his chest. Stars, why did this feel so natural, so right?

“Don’t get flustered over me.” Varian teased. “I saw you shamelessly flirting with everything in that bar that moved.”

“That was different.” Hugo said, finally getting a feel for how the ship moved. “I don’t usually plan on getting to know the people I flirt with, and usually nothing goes further than-” he stopped himself, unsure if Varian knew about most human customs, like one-night stands.

“Further than a one-night stand?” Varian asked. “Yeah, I know.” His fingers dug a bit into Hugo’s shirt. “Then what makes me so different?”

Hugo snorted. “What doesn’t? You fascinate me, Varian. You’re smart, and gorgeous, and so… new. I like new.” 

“So… not many smart and gorgeous humans on earth, I take it?”

Hugo shrugged. “That’s not what I meant. I felt drawn to you. And when you kissed me? It felt so different. It was… it felt right.”

Varian slowly uncurled his fingers. “Don’t say that. What you felt? That wasn’t some sort of ‘love at first sight’, that was me. I told you I can’t control it.”

“And what if you’re wrong?” Hugo looked at him. “I still want to kiss you, Varian.”

Varian’s cheeks flushed. “No you don’t.”

Hugo stood, gently cupping Varian’s cheek. “Kiss me now, then. Don’t use your power, just kiss me.”

Varian still looked unsure. “And what if you’re wrong?”

Hugo leaned forward. “I’m not.” His lips brushed against Varian’s. “What do you say, Baby Blue?”

Varian leaned up, his breath mixing with Hugo’s. “I want you to kiss me too.”

Without another word, their lips met in a much deeper kiss than the first time. Immediately Hugo felt it again. That genuine passion that made him want to deepen it, so he did. He held Varian closer against him, taking in how it felt, why Varian’s lips against his felt so different than any other time he’d kissed someone. Whatever this was, Hugo didn’t want it to stop.

[ahumansvoid]

Construction

Go read The Plan to fully understand this (and the Interviews AU to understand that.)

It’s really just a little ficlet following Obi-wan’s brother Owen and Ronan and the start of the construction on the Clone Village on Stewjon.

Also, I think I’m incapable of writing romance.

Characters:  Owen - OC, Ronan -OC, unnamed OCs

Words:  2360~

Warnings: None I can think of.

Notes: I mentioned in the Plan that the Stewjon Royal family has ruling names (which the twins share). You can probably get them from context, but just to be clear, list!

Ivy & Illia -> Amara

Ronan & Ryszard -> Audric

Owen -> Alai

Story under the cut

Ronan and Owen had figured out a good place for a village of 3 million, and had set out with the royal construction crew to start building.

While there, Ronan and Owen couldn’t do more than stand around and occasionally give orders. Royal Attire was not suited for construction. And neither prince could stip out of any of the layers. That’d be improper. And they’d be indecent. According to Kierce at least.

Also, according to Kierce, if Kierce has to suffer through wearing 100 pounds of clothing, every other royal has to too.

‘He’s such an asshole.’ Owen thought privately. He’d never say it. Not in front of other people at least. Definitely to Kierce’s face in private.

“I’m… going to go see if the Deldri will kidnap me.” Ronan says, walking off towards the forest. Owen, doesn’t really care. He’s pretty sure the two of them were sent off purely so Kierce didn’t have to deal with them. So if Owen doesn’t have to deal with Ronan, well, he’s not about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“What’re you constructing over here?” Owen turns to face the newcomer, a physically dominating man, who gave off a vibe indicating he wouldn’t hurt a bunny. 

“A new village.” Owen states with the bored monotone any Royal in makeup was supposed to use. He gets not showing emotion. He also thinks it’s stupid. And has said so many times.

“Oh? Why?”

Well, Kierce didn’t say he couldn’t tell anyone. “New immigrants. Three million of them.”

The newcomer whistles, “They all passed the immigrant test?” Owen fought a smile. Immigration to Stewjon was easy, on paper. The test was easy, the qualifications were easy, the only hard part was the physical test people were put through. To see if they’d be on level with Stewjoni people. About 1% passed. If that.

“They’re Mandalorians.” Technically, at least.

“Oh? There are three million Mandalorians out there?” Owen is really glad he’s been trained to not react to the most ridiculous of situations, because he really wants to laugh. It’s not funny, but it is. 

“They’re all identical.”  Now, Owen could get into trouble for telling citizens about taking in the clones. But, Kierce would tell them anyways.

“Really?” The man draws, before walking away.

Owen should probably tell Kierce word would spread about the Clones. Owen hears a low rumble and looks up. Rain. ’A storm’ he realizes. Great.

“A storm is rolling in!” Owen calls to the workers, who all stop and look up to verify his words. Or just on instinct. “You do not have to keep working if you do not wish to.” The workers look to eachother before continuing with their work. The message clear, they were not going to stop working because of a little rain and EM. Fair enough. Owen heads to their transport and grabs an umbrella, opening it up and holding it overhead before returning to his previous position. The makeup wasn’t water-soluble, but most people don’t know that and he’d prefer to not be soaking wet when wearing a hundred pounds of clothing. That’s just impractical. Well. Everything about them was impractical. But getting them wet was doubly so.

The rain was just getting started, a low drizzle, when the man returns. Owen doesn’t greet him, if he wishes to speak he will.

“Your workers need any help?”

“They shouldn’t. But you are welcome to ask them. However, if you assist it will be volunteer work. You will not be paid.” They weren’t given a timeline on how soon the houses would need to be finished, but the Royal Construction Crew should be able to get it done by themselves within eight months, barring any extenuating circumstances that’d make their jobs harder.

The man laughs and slaps Owen on the back, causing him to lurch forward minutely as he hadn’t been expecting it. “Buy me a drink and you can call me Toots.” The man says and moves to talk to the Foreman of the Construction Crew. Leaving Owen very confused.

What. The. Fuck?

The only part of his confusion visible would be his blinking, as he was keeping his face as neutral as possible. Because that. That made no sense.

How does someone get that from Owen telling them to talk to the construction crew and he wouldn’t be paid? 

To reiterate. What the fuck?

Owen was so confused, he didn’t notice Ronan had returned, until he was standing right next to Owen, a Deldri umbrella held above his head.

“How’s construction going?” Ronan asks, sounding bored and monotone. As he should.

“Fine.” Owen might not have been as bored and monotone as he should have been. He was really confused.

Ronan looks over, and down because he just had to be taller than Owen, “Are you okay?” 

Owen didn’t answer until the man left the area, heading back into the nearby village. “No. That man confuses me.”

“He offered to help?” 

“No. Well, he did but that’s not confusing,” that was just typical of Stewjoni people really, “He said ‘Buy me a drink and you can call me Toots,’ after I told him that if he helped he’d be a volunteer and not paid.” Now, having been raised to not react to things, Owen could identify when his family was holding back a reaction. The reaction Ronan was holding back right now? Laughter. The fucker. He wasn’t even doing a good job! His shoulders were shaking and his mouth kept twitching up into a smile. “Cover your mouth if you’re going to fail at keeping your face neutral.” Owen scolds, and Ronan does as he says, covering his mouth.

By the time Ronan has his face under control, the man and a few dozen other people have returned, all going to help the construction crew. “Alai, I believe what you encountered, is flirting.” Ronan put the barest of inflection on ‘flirting’ but he did.

The arsehole. “No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Y- Aren’t you supposed to be the mature one?” Owen really wanted to laugh, Ronan barely managed to make that sound monotone.

“Says who.”

“You’re five years older.”

“Age means nothing.” It really doesn’t. Ace was by far the least mature of them all and he was the second eldest.

“Mm, Amara.” Which was also a good point. Illia was wonderful. Ivy would drop kick someone off the roof without any prompting.

“Yes. Age truly means nothing. And that was not flirting.”

“It was.”

“Flirting is refined.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Audric.”

Ronan gets the message through the Monotone and says something other than ‘no’.“Normal people flirting is not refined. It’s offering someone a drink and calling them toots.”

“If anything, that was a sex invitation.” For some reason, Ronan was trying not to laugh again. He was succeeding far better now, but his shoulders were still shaking slightly.

“Probably. But a,” Ronan clears his throat, “sex invitation is still flirting.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Do you really want to start that again?”

“No.”

“It was flirting. Now you can either go buy him a drink or say no.”

“You cannot honestly think I’d buy him a drink. It goes against everything we’ve been taught. Every protocol.” Owen was keeping his voice as monotone and bored as possible, putting the barest of inflection on certain words. No matter how much he wanted to go for a drink, it was not the way.

Ronan scoffs, barely, before speaking, “Like you’ve never fucked someone in Royal robes.” Owen looked to his brother, looked him up and down, and took a step away.

“You had those dry cleaned after, right?”

Ronan rolls his eyes, and ‘Wow, isn’t he breaking rules today?’Owen thinks blithely. “I did not have sex in the robes. I flirted in them and had sex out of them. There’s no harm in it.”

“There’s a lot of harm in it. And I’m telling Atlas when we get back so he can lecture you on it. Just because dad’s dead doesn’t mean you can escape lectures on propriety.” 

“You’re a terrible brother.”

“Yes.”

The delve into silence for a while, watching their people work as rain poured. Owen turned his attention to the EM rods that kept them safe. They did nothing for their electronics, they didn’t even stop the EM from reaching the people, but they kept the Gravopir from attacking the people in the settlements. And during a storm they looked so pretty. Electricity dancing from one pole to the other. Kierce had tried to explain how they worked to him once, Owen couldn’t really bring himself to care. 

“You could ask him to a drink out of the royal robes.” Ronan suggests, breaking their nice silence.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you’re still thinking about him.”

“And how would you know that?” Owen wasn’t. He was looking at the EM rods. Which were not anywhere near that man. He was on the ground shirtless working on the bones of a house. Looking stupidly hot and wet and-

Oh.

“Because you are looking as far from him as possible. Despite the EM rods by him giving a far prettier show than the ones you’re looking at.” 

Which. Wasn’t incorrect. The ones by the man were prettier. 

“I don’t even know him.” He doesn’t! He is enamoured purely based on the man’s physique. It’s a wonderful physique but still. That’s not right.

“That’s what the drink is for.”

“I wouldn’t know where he would be for a drink.”

“Velvet Grass on Mirkrow. That’s where almost everyone here hangs out.” That. That gives Owen pause. He slowly turns to look at Ronan.

“How do you know that?”

“... Look I hang out in some places. And I’m not saying anymore until I can run away.”

“Okay.” Owen wouldn’t push. Not now.

���Do we really need to oversee construction? This seems pointless.” Owen agreed. They weren’t really doing anything.

But, “It’s about propriety. Or something. Atlas wants us overseeing.” Owen almost sighed. But he didn’t. Them being here really was pointless. Neither made anymore comments as the Foreman came over.

“I don’t want to disagree with the King, but you two don’t have to stay out here. You’re more likely to get a cold than us, given your clothing.” 

Which, was not how colds work. But it was a nice offer. And before Owen could decline as they were to, Ronan accepted it, “Thank you, Foreman Jenning. We’ll return to the Palace.” 

Fucker. Owen didn’t let his displeasure be known until the Foreman had left and Ronan was half dragging him to their horses. “Atlas-”

“It is wet. We are wearing a ridiculous amount of clothing. I want to get dry and warm.” Which were all fair points, and Ronan was already on his horse. Owen sighs and mounts his own. 

“You’re explaining everything to Atlas.”

“Fine.”

----

Atlas had been moderately unhappy. He was more unhappy they had ridden home in a storm than leaving the construction early.  Then he became annoyed and royally pissed when Owen told him about Ronan flirting and having sex as a public prince. And then Ronan told on Ryszard having sex in the robes which had led to those two being dragged off for a propriety lecture.And Bard calling Ronan a traitor. And Ronan calling Bard an oversharer.

After that, Owen had returned to his own room and pulled off his many layers and gotten half dressed in sleep wear when someone knocked on his door. He glanced through the peephole to see it was Ace, and let him and surprisingly Illia and Ivy into his room.

“Can I help you?”

“Ronan said you were going on a date.” Ivy states, sitting down on his bed.

“I’m not.” And even if he was it didn’t explain the girls being in his room. Ace? Sure, he gets way too involved in everyone’s love lives. Ivy? She doesn’t have a romantic bone in her body. Illia? Romantic, but honestly doesn’t care about their love lives.

“Ronan said a guy asked you out to drinks.” Ace states, going through Owen’s closet. Which was not good.

“He said ‘Buy me a drink and you can call me toots.’” Owen informs, sighing as Illia starts removing his makeup. “Why are you involved in this?”

“Ace asked nicely. And Ivy is going with you.” Which meant Illia got some peace and Owen would be responsible for making sure she didn’t kill anyone. Valid reason for Illia to be helping out.

“Of course.” Owen mutters as Illia finishes up removing the heavy make up. 

“Put these on.” Ace says, thrusting a couple articles of clothing into Owens arms.

“This isn’t a date.” Owen protests, but starts getting dressed. Everyone here had seen him naked, and they invaded his room. If they don’t like it, they could leave. They didn’t.

“It’s drinks. At the very least, you can relax.” Ace states, before shaking his head and going back into Owen’s closet.  He pulls out a new shirt and hands it over, “Switch.” Owen does and hands the old shirt back to Ace who nods. 

Owen looks at himself in the mirror and sighs. He looks so… not himself. He didn’t even know he owned these clothes. Everything he wore was normally so layered. To have something so thin and fitted was, weird. Illia comes up behind him and starts to comb through his hair, slowly turning it brown with every run through. Eventually, his ginger hair was brown, with a reddish tint in some places.

Ivy gets off his bed and stretches, “Alright! To the Velvet Grass Pub on Mirkrow!”

Owen pulls on a pair of boots Ace hands him. Not his royal ones. And follows Ivy out a servant’s entrance that wasn’t actually a servant’s entrance as the servants didn’t have access to it. Owen sighs, this was a bad idea. But he really can’t argue with his older siblings. He’s tried. It fails 100% of the time.

So, awkwardly getting drunk and keeping Ivy from getting into fights it is.

What a fun way to spend the night.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S4 Ep 23: Roland Freaks Out for 25 Straight Minutes

Oh man, took a break from the blog for a bit there because I gave myself a project to do that is 160ish color panels to draw by June 30th and um...it takes a while to do that, it turns out. Every time I’m like “wow I actually have enough time to make a buffer for the blog” I get so distracted.

But anyways, I started having some issues with my wacom tablet, my mouse is a nightmare, and so...I’m just gonna look the other way and write a recap and unplug all of the wacom stuff and just stay the hell away from whatever happened to that...tablet.

maybe It’ll be fine tomorrow?

*sweats nervously*

Thank God I didn’t buy a cintique, that’s all I’ll say. 

Anyway, lets go back to Yugioh. Where were we?

That’s right. Mokuba is checking in with my favorite Kaiba, Roland, who is currently just trying to keep the company running while the official Kaibas are flying to California.

And I’ll be honest, as I was typing this I thought “and why are they going to California again?” and it took me like...10 minutes to remember that Seto dropped absolutely everything and jumped on this massive plane in order to beat Rafael at cards to win the title “King of Games” which...Yugi had already lost to Rebecca about 2 years ago prior, but don’t tell that to Seto. Or Rebecca.

Also don’t tell Seto that the “King of Games” title originally comes from being possessed by a very emo ghost that has a tendency to set people on fire with Russian whiskey and has nothing to do with whatever shenanigans went down with Pegasus.

Honestly, I like to think that in the modern version of this show, Pegasus threw the “King of Games” line out there as like a corny joke, and when the teenagers started latching onto it like it was real, he was like “Oh what?” and left it alone because he just got his left eye ripped out of his face and was very distracted by the large amount of cultists in his basement that he suddenly needed to let go.

But youknow it’s the end of the world, Kaiba’s company is being bought out by a competitor, one of Dartz’ assassins are trying to kill both him and his brother, but he has to go to California immediately to play Rafael while he has the chance. Not sure how Alister got the tip-off that Kaiba would be flying back to California so quickly, but knowing the Kaibas, they probably jump on a plane several times a week.

I’m just still baffled that Mokuba’s doing this over a cell phone. That he was like “I better call someone.” and instead of calling the Airline or the Coastguard he’s like “I’ll call Roland💗”

I’m pretty sure Roland saw that phone ringing with Mokuba in the callerID and was like “NO NO NO NO NO”

(read more under the cut)

Luckily for Roland, everyone at Kaiba corp has to learn how to fly planes in order to pass the entry exam.

For reals though, that plane just casually bumped off a mountain like it’s in Diddy Kong Racing.

There’s a lot of levels of brother’s saving brothers in this episode. You have Seto who thinks he’s saving Mokuba, but in fact it is Mokuba saving Seto by keeping this plane afloat. And then in reality, you can take another brother step backward and say it was Roland who was saving Mokuba who was saving Seto by giving the phone to that rando, and take even another step backward and say it was this Random Guy who was saving Roland who was saving Mokuba who was saving Seto.

So in reality, no brothers were really able to save eachother, it was actually that one secretary at the desk who screamed “JUST PULL THE LEVER HARDER, I DUNNO” until it worked.

But just remember that the theme of this episode is brothers saving brothers, although Mokuba is too small to really fly this plane, and Seto is too crazy to stop this duel and Roland is not really the secret inept heir of the Kaiba bloodline, and only in my little headcanon.

And also, I just have no idea who that random secretary is.

Anyways, Alister made this thing happen on the field.

Hey guys?

How many guns do you need on a tank?

Like I...

That is a hilarious amount of guns on this tank.

Like every character designer part of me is dying right now. It’s when you’re learning Maya, and you finally figure out the duplicate tool, and you just--you just strap a billion guns on a spaceship. We’ve all done this.

But like...this gunship has a face, and that face has it’s own tiny Oricalchos.

All I’m saying is that Alister is having a hell of a time in his Maya 101 class he takes at the local community college when he’s not busy working for Kaiba Corp Airlines or busy killing people for Dartz. I want to know what grade he got on this project, because in my Maya classes the only people who were this dedicated were building weird ass warships for their games or building intense 3D My Little Pony fanfic.

Here’s a list I can think of from the top of my head of challenges Seto Kaiba either quit or completely failed outright (basically the times Seto has NOPEd out or been forcibly kicked out):

-Joey Wheeler’s many challenges and also Spanish Class (as mentioned above)

-Beating Yugi in a card game

-Not joining Pegasus’ tourney initially so he could go on a vacation.

-We’ll just assume he’s only taken like a bunch of random college classes but only got an honorary degree

-Chess (like he was a Grand Master at one point but wtv, cards exist now)

-Didn’t arrest the Big Five or remove them from his mmo so they freakin died in there.

-Being the actual owner of the Millennium Rod

-Every time Yami tells him that they should be friends

-That whole story line where he was dating a dragon in a past life

-fulfilling that prophecy of killing Yami in the present timeline to end the world

-attempting to blow up his own battle city tournament before it was over because he didn’t win

-Getting all 3 Godcards

-When a possessed Tristan appeared over a mountain top to duel everyone and Seto just went “I’m out” and simply walked away

-Flying a blimp from point A to point B without it setting on fire

-Getting his Dad to build an amusement park

-Just anything to do with Noah

-the existence of magic in general

-every attempt he’s had to rebrand Kaiba Corp as “funtime games inc I swear we don't make tanks anymore, stop looking at all the tanks”

-Seto Kaiba’s entire Destiny storyline this season that he has gone way out of his way to get away from.

And like I’m sure there’s more, but I feel like half of Kaiba’s MO is that he is either Too Good To Bother With This or he has Lost Everything Very Dramatically. Mokuba at least has the right idea, by being one of the few people who has beaten Yugi Muto by peacing out halfway through the duel and stealing all Yugi’s stuff off of Yugi’s side of the table.

Anyway, despite it being like...5 seconds since we saw Roland in a weird cyber room in what I assume was Japan, we now see him with his head pressed against the glass of this helicopter being like “BOYS NO NOT AGAIN WHY”

And youknow, Roland was just trying to do the right thing, but he accidentally made things a million times worse by just showing up.

And so Alister was like “well I better crash the plane now with this gust of green energy that destroys all mechanical equipment.”

Really not sure how Alister was planning to leave this plane after this duel was over. I don’t know if he thinks that far ahead.

this isn’t even a joke I made up, Roland really did run up to the pilot and was like “Just throw down some ladders! That should work!” and it’s like...Do you not see the giant ship covered in a thousand guns right now, Roland?

And then Alister and Seto decide to have a fight about ethics where they’re both pretty wrong.

I mean it’s not the exact line but yes this is basically what Seto said, point blank, and I was like “well...at least he owns it.”

So cards happen, dragons get played (so MANY dragons) and because we had to end this arc, Alister loses the duel as we kind of knew he would.

And then Mokuba, because he knows no other life, sees an asshole older brother in pain and just wants to adopt him.

Enjoy that trauma tossed onto your already megalith sized trauma pile, Mokuba.

Elsewhere, the legendary dragons have started syncing again, which is a weird thing that they can do that none of these guys have any control of.

Mostly it just irritates whoever is holding these cards at the time.

But behold! the glory!

The glory of three tubby dragons wielding a plane!

It’s what Kaiba always wanted but he had absolutely no idea he was doing it. Will anyone tell him that he managed to summon three dragons to fly him around the sky like a mamma bird? No. No one bothers to tell him that his wildest dreams just came true.

FYI There were other stills of more of the dragons and the plane, but I kept pausing on instances where it kinda looked like they were humping the plane so I gave up.

But, at least we all get to meet up, around the smoke coming out the back of this giant plane that now...will just sit here...until someone sues KaibaCorp over it, I guess.

Like a soccermom, now Roland gets to give the whole frenemy crew a ride with...copters or whatever.

I dont’ know how Roland got here, y’all.

This happens a lot with animated shows, youknow, there’s a lot of plot threads, a lot of scenes and episodes that get freelanced out and outsourced, and people who make these shows aren’t working on the whole thing at once, they’re just going off of director notes--so there’s a good chance they had no idea that Roland...just shouldn’t be here.

But it’s OK, I enjoy whenever Roland is panicking in the background. He’s good set dressing.

Seto does not give any more explanation of this corpse.

And then, sprinting as fast as he could out of his copter comes Roland, who does what Roland does best. It’s this moment where you would usually see a parental figure reveal how much they care and adore their little children. But because it’s Roland, and these are the Kaibas, he instead takes this moment to reveal exactly how inept he is at the very last second.

Never change, Roland. I love this massive green haired disappointment.

Anyway, I’m not sure when I’ll get the next update out, since I’ll be knee deep in drawing art I don’t need to draw, but just know I’m not dead. Usually I post fanart or whatever, but all I have is this Dartz I started drawing but he just has so much hair that I don’t think that one will ever get even remotely finished.

But anyway, if you just got here, this is a link to read these from the start.

[kylo-im-ren]

The Rise of the Fallen One & Reylo (excerpt)

Rey is not alone in the Dark!Rey scene.

This was first pointed out to me through this tweet from brehaorganas. Then @sillyrabbit36 did a lovely job of recoloring the footage to show it in greater detail in this post.

I went ahead and made some GIFs for visual aid.

In this shot (BOW DOWN TO YOUR QUEEN) it looks like there could be movement, or a figure before the screen pans over to Dark!Rey. That could also very well just be the way that the light and shadows move in the view of the camera.  The real evidence is in the following shot. The money shot.

(My ability to breathe? I don’t know her.)

I zoomed in for a better look, and I tried my best to brighten it without ruining the quality too much (fuzzy image below= proof I’m not a professional lol).

I’ve labled what I think it is that we are seeing. To me, in the bottom right it looks like dark/black clothing, maybe a cloak, or cape. Or maybe just dark pants. In the top right it looks like either a hand in dark, long sleeves, or a chin in a high turtleneck.  I’m leaning more towards it being a hand.

Now, let’s look at the movement of this mystery figure. It appears that whomever (or whatever) is there is backing away from Rey. And if we go with the hand theory, it looks like they are backing away with their hands up defensively. Below I’ve created an extremeley detailed and intricate artist rendition of what I believe happens here. I warn you, the artistic talent I posess has brought some to tears.

(As I was writing the final draft of this bit i came across this post by the amazing, ever talented @gwendy85 . The position of Ben and Rey in her art is so close to what I’m picturing! And a million times better than my stick people lol. Just wanted to give some quick promo to her. If you haven’t already, you guys should really check out her art and meta posts, you won’t be disappointed😊💜.)

So, who is this? Well, there are a few options. Let’s play one of my favorite games: The Process of Elimination.

Option 1: Palpatine Just the simple fact that the figure seems to be backing away from her tells me that it isn’t the Sheev man. If Rey does go dark, and this is real, and not a vision, I’m 99.9% sure that Palps will have something to do with it. So why would he be backing away from her? If anything, he’d be the one encouraging her. 

Option 2: Finn (my sweet boy) This is a more logical option, however, John is reported saying that he wasn’t there when Daisy wore her Dark!Rey fit. He said he was supposed to be there, but that was just for a visit, meaning his character was not invoved in the shooting of those scenes (I looked for the link for like 20 minutes and decided I’d rather get this out and edit the post later when I eventually find it.) Plus, the hand (or chin) doesn’t look like it’s been blessed with that melanin (teehee), so I’m thinking it’s pretty safe to assume not Finn. And without Finn being there, I don’t think any other resistance squad memeber would make sense. So I’m striking out Poe, Rose, or Jannah as options.

Option 3: Rey  Let me explain.This would fall in line with the theory that Dark!Rey is a vision that Rey has. (I go into further details about how this could go, and the pontential parallel between it and Lukes vision quest on Dagobah in the full meta.) This could be the moment where she is forced to literally face her inner demons. If this were the case though, the costume choice that makes the most sense, canonically and visually, would be for normal Rey to be in her normal clothes. Her pure white, flowing robes are a stark contrast to the dark figure we see backing away. 

“Maybe that’s just the shadows, it’s a dark room.”

That’s true. But if we go with the turtleneck or long sleeve idea, those are complete opposites to Rey’s v-neck and short sleeves. This makes me think that the mystery person is not Rey.

Option 4: An innocent It could be an innocent that she kills in her dark rage/possesion. Making this a scene to show how far gone she is. I highly HIGHLY doubt this option though.

Taking all of those out leaves me to believe that it can only be one person. One particular dark froce weilding, sad-boi, love-struck prince.

Option 5: Ben The clothes, if i’m picturing them correctly, match up perfectly with Ben’s attire at all times. Dark cloak/cape, maybe a black turtleneck (like we’ve seen in TFA), long dark sleeves. And, if this is Benny boy, what really intrigues me is that he is gloveless. The implications of that alone...

Sorry, I spaced out. I was fangirling.

ANnNywAy, let’s assume it is him. Now the question is:

Vision or Reality?

(I dive deeper into all of these theories in the full meta. I still can’t choose a side!)

While I still haven’t chosen a side (lol) at this point in time, I think I’ve narrowed my choices down to the Dark!Rey is real train or the Ben Vision Train.

If Dark!Rey is real, I feel that this could definitely be the moment where Ben goes to save her from Palpatine, and from herself. There have been several posts describing how this event could unfold.  If Dark!Rey is real, this could serve as a major catalyst for Bendemption. This tweet points out an amazing comparrison to this moment of Vader having a vision of Dark!Padme.

The most terrifying thing is seeing someone you love fall down the same dark path that you did, and having to watch them be consumed by it.

I think this feeling and reaction would be representitive of both real and vision Ben. If it’s real though, it could lead to a fight. The fight, however, would be completely onesided. He would refuse to strike her, talking to her the whole time, reasuring her of the people in her life that care for her, and that he cares for her. Telling her that she’s not alone anymore. She doesn’t have to do this, He knows this isn’t her. Pleading with her to come back to the light. To herself. To him.  He’d say he knows that there is still good in her, and that he believes in her. He tells her to use their bond to escape Palpatine’s control, or the firm hold of the Dark.

All of this sounding familiar? 

(I was so happy to see my fellow TFA Reylos were thinking the exact same thing I was with this.I love y’all. We all deserve a stiff drink and a foot rub 😭😂)

Now, if it’s a vision, I feel that the scene will be much shorter. I also believe that, again, if it is just a vision, It will be a reflection of what is already happening inside of Rey. She could actually go dark for awhile after this, just maybe not to the extent that we see in this scene. I don’t think that it is the same vision he saw in TLJ (although I definitely think that he saw something like this), I think this would be a new vision.

Something that caught my eye about the initial cut to Rey was the motion of the camera. 

The way that it swoops over to focus on her resembles someone whipping their head around in surprise.

You know what that reminds me of?

Rey even stumbles back after this. 

If vision is the way, I have a feeling it will be like the one Rey had in Maz’s castle in TFA when she touched the legacy saber. I actually think that this would be such a cool call back, and would be another amazing example of how these two characters mirror eachother. This vision could be brought on when he touches an object as well, or it could be in the form of a dream. Or it could be a vision brought on by Palpatine to tempt Ben. Or to scare him. Or-

Summary, there are so many ways that this can go. We have truly entered my favorite time over these past 4 years, The Hour of Speculation. And it’s the final hour! Everything wraps up after this...

 As much as that breaks my heart, I am so excited for the next few months. I can’t wait to ride this out with all of you, and to hear what amazing theories you freakin oracles come up with during the wait. Old and new Reylos, I LOVE YOU!

And may the force be with you always.💙❤️💜

And please share your own thoughts, I’d love to hear what you guys think!

@sushigirlali @jedisassafras @southsidestory @sanctuarytrin It’s not my full thoughts (not even close🤦🏽‍♀️😂), or a ficlet, but I promise all of those are coming soon! Hope you like my quick ramble, much love💙☺️

[zanesgirlfriend]

Over and Over | Natalie Mariduena

Requested by anonymous: Can I request a natalie imagine where you and her are just on the couch and your playing with her hair when David comes in and just exposes the shit outta yall?

A/N: I've done the whole exposing thing a million times so I made this a lil different so this is more when David finds out about yall! I hope you dont mind :)

_____

"I hate that we have to hide." You confessed to Natalie. She was laying in your lap as you braided her hair over and over. David was out somewhere and it was just the two of you on the couch.

"Me too, but I'm not ready to tell him yet. You have to understand that he's been my best friend forever and it's like the biggest secret of my life and it's just hard." She leaned her head against your chest and peered up at you. You smiled a bit as you looked at her beautiful brown eyes, those long lashes, the little crook in her nose.

"What if we just don't tell him?" You said, but it didn't come out the way you meant it.

"Isn't that what we've been doing?" She looked back down as you ran your fingers through her hair, undoing the braid you've made twenty times.

She'd never been a touchy person, but sometimes she would get in a mood where she just wanted you to hold her hand or rub her back or play with her hair, and this was one of those days.

"No, like we don't hide, but we don't have this big 'hey, we're gay' kinda thing. Like it just is what it is and he gets so used to seeing us like this that it's not even surprising when we kiss." You explained, but it sounded a bit more stupid when you said it out loud.

"I don't know." Natalie sighed. "We'll figure it out." The more you braided her hair the more you became entranced by it. You couldn't decide if the pieces were fighting over who wanted to be in the middle, or if they were chasing eachother endlessly as they went over and over one another.

Natalie fell asleep and you just continued to play with her hair. Your freshly painted nails ever so slightly scratching her scalp. Her head was tilted a bit towards the left, but you didn't mind. You made little swirls in her chocolate hair, twirling and braiding and then undoing everything. Over and over, because it made her happy.

You became so focused on the head massage that you zoned out, eventually falling asleep too. Your arms fell, hugging her torso as the two of you slept. Her head was on your shoulder as you slouched lower, resting your cheek on the top of her head. You didn't even hear the door open.

David was quiet when he came in, slipping his shoes off and messing with the lighting setting on his camera. He stopped in the living room, looking up and seeing the two of you passed out.

He tilted his head in the direction yours were going, confused but also in aw of you. His disposable camera came out of his pocket and he snapped a quick picture, the word "Cute." escaping his mouth and waking Natalie up.

When she noticed him she sat up quickly, rubbing her eyes and moving away from you. Her warmth was quickly leaving your body, causing you to wake up as well.

The two of you stared at him, and he stared back, nobody knowing what to say. You were nervous, as was Natalie, but he didn't seem to care. He smiled and kept walking towards his bedroom.

"Maybe your dumb plan will work." She smiled as she turned back to look at you, the sleepiness in her voice slightly noticeable.

"Maybe it's not as dumb as we thought." You smirked and stood up, aching for a bottle of water.

David didn't say anything for a few days, utterly forgetting about it until it happened again. You had fallen asleep in Natalie's lap, and she let you be, even when David entered the room. He was puzzled by all the touching between you recently, especially since he knew Natalie wasn't a 'cuddle with my girl friends' type of person, but he let it go again.

This happened over and over. Seeing you two cuddle, even holding hands once or twice, made him think, but he never questioned it. It happened just like you said, he got so used to seeing you two act like a couple, and he didn't even realize you were one.

Back in the living room once again David was sitting on the couch, editing a vlog, Natalie was on the phone with someone as you stood up to leave. You waved goodbye to him and he kept his eyes on you as you kissed Natalie's cheek before leaving.

"What's been going on with you two recently?" He asked Natalie when she was finally off the phone.

"We're dating." She said nonchalantly before taking another business call.

"Oh." He muttered. "You like girls?" He continued the conversation as she ended the other call.

"Yeah." She said, a small shrug coming from her shoulders.

"Cool." David nodded and turned back to his laptop, pulling up the picture of you two he took on the disposable camera a few weeks prior. He put it in an email and sent it to Natalie.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she noticed his email, smiling when she saw what it was. "Cute." She said, forwarding it to you.

"Yeah, cute."

[starks-parker]

Last Summer - part one “road trip”

a/n: new series! probably like three parts. my last work did like weirdly well so I really hope you guys like this one! 

warnings: hella fluff

summary: the gang beings their summer road trip! y/n and peter are totally in love with each other but can’t seem to tell each other, mj has too much caffeine and we get a cute flashback. --

“Who’s excited for Flash’s Summer 19 roadtrip across America baby hell yea!” Flash screamed at you and your friends in the hallway. 

Flash had planned an entire road trip for your friend group to go on this summer. He kept calling it  “Flash’s Summer 19 Roadtrip Across America” which made you regret agreeing to go on it. 

“Us.” You all weakly replied. You all were excited but ever since he started to plan this thing he couldn’t stop talking about it. 

“I’ll see y'all at my house tonight with your bags packed and ready to go!” He screamed running down the hall. 

Peter looked at you and sighed. “Guess we’re really doing this.” 

“Oh my god Pete shut up! You’re excited! A whole week going to new places with your best friends,” you held out your pointing to all your friends standing around. MJ, Brad, Ned and Betty looked at Peter. “We’re going to have the best time!” You beamed up at him. Peter couldn’t help but smile when you did. 

“See there we go! I gotta finish packing up but I’ll see you at my place later right?” 

“See you then!” Peter responded as you gave him a peck on the cheek.

“Dude this is so going to be the summer where y/n falls in love with you.” Ned exclaimed. Peter would never admit it to Ned but he was so in love with you. Peter didn’t need to tell him though. Ned could tell by all the shared glances you two gave each other. He could see how Peter would linger looking at you just admiring how you existed.

“You think? I - I mean why would I even want that we’re just friends.” Peter stammered. “Y/n is my best friend, that’s it.” He sighed as he watched you walk down the hallway, your hair bounced from side to side as you smiled and said goodbye to people. He loved how you were friends with everyone, how you walked with confidence and how your smile made him and everyone else smile. He could never admit that he loved you, because if he did then it would mean that there’s a chance you didn’t love him back. So Peter kept his feelings hidden away. 

 --

Peter: Hey I’m here. 

Y/n: Okay come up for a second will you? I need help with my bags. 

Peter: Yea coming up.

Peter walked into the living room where he found you sitting on the couch watching Netflix and eating a banana. 

“Oh hey what’s up Pete.” You said not looking away from the tv.

“I thought you said you needed me to help move your bags down?”

“Oh yeah, about that. I meant I need help packing them.” You said taking a bite of banana and still not looking away from the screen.

“Y/n. We have to be at Flash’s in like 20 minutes, you’ve had a whole month to pack your bags and WHY ARE YOU STILL WATCHING THE OFFICE AND EATING A BANANA?” Peter was basically yelling. 

“Calm down Spider boy, I’m fucking with you. My bags are already downstairs at the front desk with Happy.” You handed your half eaten banana to Peter. 

“I hate you so much,” he rolled his eyes. 

“You love me Peter Parker,” you teased smiling. Peter paused and didn’t really know what to say. 

“Let’s go grab your bags,” Peter hesitantly walked out of the room. 

 --

“Are the hints I’m dropping not obvious enough?” You asked MJ in Flash’s room. He let the girls change in there while the guys took turns changing in his bathroom. “Honestly, like I keep flirting with him and whenever I do he just gets all weird and ignores it.” You huffed sitting down on Flash’s bed. 

“Well maybe it’s hard for him to tell? You guys have been best friends for a while, maybe he can’t tell the difference between friends and more than that.” Betty explained. 

“Yeah plus you guys have always been affectionate. I don’t know any best friends who fall asleep in eachothers arms because you can’t sleep without each other. Maybe Peter needs more than flirting.” MJ offered. 

“What, like sex? That’s off the table MJ-”

“God no, just be up front. He’s my best friend but the dude is clueless. Tell him how you feel, put it all out there.” MJ said bluntly. You admired how upfront she was. She was never afraid to tell things the way they are. You on the other hand were quite the opposite. 

“I guess. When do I know when the right time is though?” 

“Girl, we’re going on a week road trip alone with our friends seeing some of the most beautiful places in America. You’re going to have like a million moments alone with Peter.” MJ said finishing changing. “I’m going to put my stuff in the car, but think about it okay?” 

“Yeah, okay.” you nodded back. You decided that this would be the summer where you told Peter your feelings. Normally when you made up your mind there wasn’t much that could stop you. But your crippling fear of rejection and fear of losing Peter as a friend was starting to outweigh your stubbornness. 

-- 

“Woah look at this thing. It’s huge!” Brad said climbing onto the huge RV like bus that Tony got for your trip. 

“Yeah well, the only way my dad was going to let me go was if it was his own design, and if FRIDAY was here to watch me.” 

“Hello Y/n.” FRIDAY said, activating at her name. 

“Hey Friday,” You flatly said. “Sorry guys I know this was supposed to be a normal road trip with friends and I begged my dad to let us use Flash’s RV but-” 

“Y/n this is awesome! What are you even talking about!” Flash beamed. 

“Alright! I’m driving first. Next stop CHICAGO!” MJ said almost too excitedly for someone who’s about to drive for 6 hours. 

“How many Red Bulls have you had?” Peter asked pointing to the one in her hand. 

“Enough for me to not need sleep but not too much that my heart explodes.” MJ nodded. 

“That’s the sweet spot.” You nodded while everyone else laughed. 

You all picked out your beds and explored the bus. Brad and Flash sat down in front of the TV and watched some prank show. Betty and Ned were in the kitchen area laughing and making sandwiches. MJ was driving and Peter was sitting on his bottom bunk unpacking his things. 

“Hey Pete.” you said sitting on his bed.

“Oh hey y/n.” he sweetly smiled at you.

“This is it.” You thought to yourself. “Just tell him how you feel.” 

“Peter I-” you stammered.

“Tomorrow in Chicago,” Peter said interrupting you, probably not even realizing you were about to say something. “Maybe we could sneak off from everyone else and go get dinner just me and you?” He asked shyly. 

You smiled with realization. Telling Peter you loved him on a bus in the middle of somewhere in New York was not the place it should happen. “Yeah Pete that sounds really nice.” 

--

You had been on the road for about 3 hours, and everyone had gone to sleep. You couldn’t sleep however. The bed was cold, and you couldn’t stop thinking about the curly haired boy in the bed across from you. About how easy it would be to fall asleep in his strong arms. You and Peter would fall asleep together often ever since you accidentally napped together in 9th grade and you started to miss his presence.

--

“I’m so frickin tired of studying Peter. We’ve been at this for 2 hours.” You complained

“I know me too, but we have to finish this book report. We waited until the last minute, this is what we get.”

“You know I hate it when your right. Can we at least sit on the bed so my back doesn’t kill me from sitting on the floor?” 

“Whatever you say your highness,” Peter grabbed all the papers and books that were strewn across the floor and placed them on the bed. You two situated yourselves so you were sitting close to each other. You leaned back into your pillows and started to read a passage as you felt your eyes getting heavy. 

“Peter.” you lazily said. 

“Yea?” he said still focused on the book. 

You grabbed his arm and put it around you. “Let’s take a nap, I’m getting.. sleepy.”

Peter’s arm was now around you as you dozed off, he didn’t want to move it off of you, he kinda liked the feeling of holding you. “Uh- okay. But only for half an hour, then back to studying.” 

“Mmhm.” you said half asleep. 

Peter pulled the blankets over you two with one hand, careful to not move the other that was wrapped around you. He slid the other one under you and pulled you in close to his chest. His entire being was revolving around you. He was surrounded by your smell, by your touch and by your warmth. Peter was entranced by you. He never wanted to let go of you, something felt so comforting to him because you were safe in his arms. 

--

“Y/n” Peter whispered. 

You were just about to fall asleep thinking about the first time you slept in his arms when he called out to you. “Yea Pete?” 

“Can you- um can you come sleep in my bed? I can’t sleep.” He admitted. 

You nodded and got out of your bed and walked over to his. You lifted up his blankets and climbed in. He grabbed your waist and wrapped his arms around you. One of his hands accidently slipped under your shirt so his hand was on your stomach, but you liked the way it felt. He must have been too tired to notice. He nuzzled his head into your neck and you could feel his breath. It took everything in you to not turn around and kiss his lips. You both drifted off snuggling into each other, both of you thinking of each other as you slipped into sleep. 

You woke up in Peter’s arms. You slipped out of them careful to not wake him up. You stood up and looked around, everyone was still asleep. You were thankful, honestly. Flash would never shut up about how you and Peter slept together if he found out. You walked to the front of the bus to see MJ driving. The sunrise was orange and pink, the colors filling up the large Windshield and illuminating the girls face. She was listening to Frank Ocean and singing along. You sat in the passenger's seat and put your feet up on the dash. You couldn’t help but pull out your phone and take a picture of the scene and put it on your story. 

“Goodmorning,” She said calmly. 

“Wow, your surprisingly chill after how I saw you last. How was your night?” 

“You know, I don’t really remember. But hey, we’re all still alive so I must have been fine.” she shrugged.

“Okay, how about I drive until we get there. I don’t want you to be tired while we’re walking around anyways.” You offered. 

“Really? Thanks Y/n. I’ll pull over up here and we can switch.” She smiled. 

“No that’s okay,” You paused and looked up. “Friday, can you please turn on auto pilot?” 

“Auto pilot on.” Friday said. 

MJ stared at you in disbelief. “This thing has had autopilot this entire time? And you just let me chug 15 red bulls and drive for 6 hours?” 

“I thought you wanted to drive!” You laughed. 

“I- Jesus I’m too tired for this.” MJ said walking off to her bed.

You sat behind the wheel and took the bus off autopilot, you liked driving, especially when it was this beautiful. After about 30 minutes of driving, Peter came up and sat in the seat next to you. The orange and pink light lit up his tired face and his messy curls.

“What are you doing up?” You asked him. 

“Couldn’t sleep without you,” he said staring at the sunrise. 

You nodded at his nonchalant confession. You wondered if people who were only friends say those kinds of things to each other. Before you could over think it more Peter reached out to the hand that you weren’t using to drive and interlocked his fingers with yours. You and Peter were always affectionate with each other, but this was really intimate. You looked at him and he was smiling at you, so you smiled back. He started to close his eyes and nodded off. You looked back at the road and smiled knowing Peter needed you just as much as you needed him. 

[bellysurfer]

walls could talk (hermitcraft abandoned shadows au fanfic uwu)

Joyful collapsed to his knees. He felt their entire body tremble as the sky erupted, exploding with shards of blinding light. The shadow clasped his arms around his skinny frame, shutting his eyes tight as tears stung his cheeks. A horrific boom shook the very atmosphere, power vibrating through its waves.

The ground of the plains where he had sat, a distance from the portal, felt cold and unwelcoming. It was hard, barren in a way that he hadn’t noticed before.

The quill he pressed desperately to his chest vanished in a wisp of air. His head hurt. *Bad*. Confusion and terror blinded him, stealing reality from Joy and forcing him into his own thoughts.

Lost in himself, he didn’t hear the tears, the booming voice declaring the new shadow, or even the footsteps slamming against the ground toward him. He was tired. He was scared. He didn’t care.

Puzzler was gone.

Everything that he had feared, was gone. All those days of regret, of anger, frustration. Hating his manipulator, Killjoy, the other shadows, his summoner... *himself*. It was all gone. Kicked into the dust. Broken into a million pieces like the sky. None of it mattered. He was free. But so, so, terrified.

Joyful felt a hand grab at his shoulder, shoving him back into reality. His hands left his heaving sides and flailed about, looking for something, anything to steady him. He recognized the shape, the body. He felt his head, his hair. It was all too familiar.

“Joe?” He whispered in disbelief. He choked, his throat stinging as a flood poured out from his eyes. “Joe, is... is that you?”

Something shifted away from his hand as he lifted it to touch its face. It sighed. A deep, painful sigh, one of gentle understanding with stifled frustration. Joy could tell the Joe-like thing that held him in the present had been waiting a long time to see him in a bundle on the floor, pained, powerless, afraid, fallen, and completely *helpless*.

It sneered at him. “Almost...” Killjoy hummed softly. Joy didn’t like the sound of his voice, it felt like the sound of a knife grinding a countertop, like nails screeching on a chalkboard, and yet it was so low and menacing, like dusk over a long-dead forest.

“No,” Joy moaned, horrified, as Killjoy weighed his hand more heavily on his shoulder, digging his nails past his shirt into his shadowy flesh.

“What I’ll never understand is why you did it. What did he promise you? Greatness? Power? The rush of energy crackling in the air as you dug your sword into your victims?” The other shadow hissed.

“No!” Joyful shouted, his anger lashing out like snakes at the idea. He shook his head, the sensation of overwhelming frustration with his right to defend himself leaving instantly. Did he deserve his own justification? Did it matter if it was for love? It was still so selfish...

“Then what.” Killjoy lashed back, challenging, then lowered his tone slightly when he saw that Joy had broken down into tears again, lost in his own thoughts of doubt. “Why did you help him? Why did you obey?”

“He made me.”

“Liar!”

Killjoy’s words stung the broken shadow like a vicious swarm of wasps. He knew he was right. He was lying. He kept running from the truth, scared it would claw him to shreds if he turned to accept it. But now, it was time. Time to stop running. If he couldn’t accept himself, then what was he?

“Fine.” Joy spat. He was aware of Killjoy’s curious gaze on him, willing him to elaborate.

“He said... it would make me better than you. That if I could write the future, I could stop you. He said...” The burning sensation in his throat came back in full force, to the point where he struggled to breathe, words coming out in wheezes of something resembling words. But Killjoy understood. All too well.

“He said... he said that...”

“He said that Joe would love you. More than me.” Joy looked up to see the original shadow gazing into his soul, shaking his head slightly. He was more than surprised when he moved to wipe the tears from his eyes, then took his hand back as if thinking better of it, then settling on laying it on his other shoulder.

Joyful broke. He fell into Killjoy’s arms, much to both of their surprise, but he didn’t care. No words came out, just heaves of breath as he let it all out. Frustrated bumbling was reduced to desperate cries as Joy let himself go.

In that moment, with his burning mouth, his numb muscles, jelly bones, sticky, stained cheeks, he was more honest than he had ever been.

It felt good to be honest.

Killjoy looked down at the small, curled up mess that clung to his collar and stained his shirt with tears. He growled, thinking of how he had just had it washed, but only for a moment. Kill awkwardly held the other shadow, lifting him up a bit so that his head leaned against his chest. He closed his eyes, muttering nothing in particular, amazing himself with his own sympathy.

He remembered when he had felt like that. Lost in his own mind. Struggling to find the difference between his logical thoughts and irrational feelings. He had felt dishonest before, too.

Maybe there was a part of him that still did.

They sat like that for a while. Just holding eachother, comforting both of them with the warmth between them.

No one bothered them during that time. If they heard them, or saw them in that little closed-off field, they left them alone. And such that Killjoy was only mildly aware of the pitter-patter of feet against the ground coming closer. He lifted his head suddenly, startled out of what had seemed like some distant dream, that was until he looked down and saw Joyful still clutching his collar, now asleep against his chest, cheeks red with grief.

Kill made out Joe through his fogged glasses, and sighed, out of relief or embarrassment he didn’t himself know. The man’s hair flipped wildly in the wind, covering his face before throwing itself behind his head, almost pulling him with it, as he approached in the now very windy valley.

The shadow slowly got to his feet, feeling his own hair flutter against his cheeks, as if it was angry at him for the weather itself. Killjoy steadied himself, hauling Joy up with him, knowing that whatever state he was in, Joyful was worse.

Joe ran to greet them, holding his shadows, suddenly shooting Kill into a reality he had only been vaguely aware of. “Howdy...” he mumbled, blinking himself awake.

“Is... is he, okay?

“What? Oh, Joyful. Yes. He um...” his gaze turned to the small figure stumbling to get his own weight of the ground with Killjoy’s steadying grip. “He’ll be okay. He’s not taking it too well.”

“Taking what well? Puzzler is gone, we should be happy...” Joe muttered, half to himself, voice soft with concern.

“Y’know, I think I’ll let him talk to you about that.” The man nodded, seeming to understand. “Right now, he just needs some rest.”

Killjoy looked back down at Joyful. The other shadow shook himself, suddenly aware. He seemed to know what they had been talking about, and nodded, giving a small smile to his summoner. He began to stumble off, and Killjoy held his arm back with concern he didn’t know he had. But Joyful shook his head.

“I need to go lie down.” Joy choked out, and Joe nodded in agreement.

Now alone with his summoner, Killjoy watched as Joyful shakily made his way out of the field. He met his eye, and watched as Joe turned to go back to the clamor of people around the new shadow.

“Wait.” Killjoy watched as he turned back towards him, eyebrows peaked in expectation.

“I-I don’t know how to say this.” He started, surprising himself that he was doing this.

Joe tilted his head, eyes warm behind his lens, nodding him on in encouragement, clearly interested in what his shadow had to say.

“I’m sorry.” When Joe didn’t respond, he continued. “I’m sorry, for what I did. I know we’ve come a long way, but... I couldn’t move on. Without, saying sorry. I know it’s dumb...”

“It is not dumb!” Joe replied, raising his voice more than Killjoy had ever heard it before, as if he was scolding him. As if he was angry for thinking that his emotions weren’t valid. Kill chuckled a little. He still felt he didn’t deserve Joe, but maybe it wasn’t about that. Maybe he needed Joe.

“I forgave you before you were sorry, Killjoy. The moment that you did something, I had found a way to love you. I never gave up on you.” He knew that each word was true. He felt relieved. Like a weight was off his shoulders.

“Thank you, Joe.” Killjoy sighed, meeting his gaze, feeling more calm than he had in months.

“Come on. I gotta introduce you to the new guy.” Joe strode off, talking avidly about Grian’s new buddy. He follow along, exciting himself with the sensation of feeling, of emotion. He carried on, close behind, always like a shadow. And maybe, it was time to accept it.

[elejahfanfic]

Start Over/6

Fanfiction

Part 6

Nick Amaro x Elena Gilbert

A TheVampireDiaries/Law&Order svu crossover. Well, just borrowing Nick Amaro.👮‍♂️💕

Totally AU - a little love story.

♤♡◇♧

Premise: Nick Amaro left NYC and went to live in Mystic Falls, to be closer to his daughter, as his wife decided to go back to her home town.

He rents a house next door to Elena Gilbert Salvatore, who is a widow now...they become friends and fall for eachother.

Also, Nick has to deal with a lot of supernatural things going on...

○♡

_it's fluffy and smutty,too. Also there is a bit of vampire violence

18+

♡□

tags @miguelsbrat

◇□■○

The next morning

Elena poured herself coffee. Cutting a cupcake in half, she walked to the living room. She sat down on the armchair. Her soft chocolate eyes landing on the detective, who was soundly asleep. Her thoughts flowed back to the night before.

"Elena, wait" Nick called out, stepping out of the house.

Turning around, Elena rubbed her wet palms at her jeans.

"I'm sorry for being - but this - all this is a new territory for me. Maria - had so many secrets - I thought I knew her- and now my daughter- is a witch - I just"

"Can't processes it?!"

"Yeah" Nick muttered.

"Come on -" Elena took him by the hands. "Ask me anything."

"It will take all night."

Elena sighed a little. She was exhausted, but could not sleep. She now twirled her phone in her hands. Opening the message inbox, she wrote a message to Caroline.

Elena: Any news?

Caroline: No.But Bonnie and Sidney are on it, with Valerie and Eric. How is Nick?

Elena: Ok, I guess. Asleep.

☕🌸🧁

Elsewhere_Mystic Falls caves

"You either do what I say or - you are all dead. Your choice" Kai Parker pointed the crossbow at the witch.

"The same goes for you." Sidney now channelled all his ancestry line, gripping the Gemini witch-vampire by the throat with his magic.

"This time we are sending you to the deepest, darkest abyss of Hell. Never to return" Sidney murmured the words, opening a portal, "sigillum usque in sempiternum."

Kai chocked trying hard to get out of the grip. Kicking and screaming the blaze surging from the portal enveloped him. With a last push of strenght, Bonnie joined all of her ancestral magic with Sidney's, throwing Kai through the portal that swallowed him, sealing for all eternity.

"My dearest," Sidney shot to his fiance, "are you all right?"

"Yes" Bonnie pulled the arrow out, watching the wound seal. "The protective magic shield Hope did worked."

"Oh, thank to the Gods." Sidney embraced the witch, listening to the baby's heartbeat. "She is fine"

"She is. And - she helped, too." Bonnie said. "I could feel it."

"She is going to be feisty like her mama" Sidney smiled lovingly.

"She is" the witch said now rubbing the rounded belly.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Sidney said taking Bonnie's hand.

"Yeah- I'm so craving a large chocolate milkshake."

"All right. You'll get an extra large one."

"With extra cream" Bonnie said as they walked out of the caves.

"Whatever you want"

"And a long bubble bath" Bonnie added.

"Done." Sidney said, stopping for a moment, pulling the witch into a loving kiss.

🎁🌼👮‍♂️

A couple of weeks later

Nick knocked at the back door of Elena's house.

"Hey, you" Elena smiled at the detective.

"Here is some left over apple pie. My mom made tones for the Salvatore school charity thing." Nick smiled nervously.

"Thanks. Come in." Elena took the pie. "I was about to make some coffee."

"How was New Orleans ?"

"Crazy good." Elena replied."It was a great idea to getaway for the weekend and have the bachelorette party there." Elena replied taking a plate out of the cupboard. "Want some?"

"No. I'm good. But coffee, yes. Please."

"Elena -" Nick started, gulping.

"What?"

"Can we start over? I mean - I'm in love with you. And I- I don't know why I've -"

"Shut up" Elena swooped over to the detective, placing a finger on his lips. "Just kiss me."

His lips were firm against hers, both moving in perfect sync, gently, lovingly. His entire body had been taken over by the overwhelming feeling of relief, moving her hand to the back of her head, fingers tangling in her long, dark chocolate hair, lightly pulling her into him, adding more pressure to her lips, deepening the kiss.

Tearing away from the kiss, Elena now took his hand, giving him a sultry, lustful look.

"Elena" Nick stopped for a second.”We’ve kind of just - got back together”

"No talking" Elena said placing a small kiss on his lips, "I missed you, so much. We wasted too much time"

“Yeah - and now I will make it up to you.”

Elena tilted her head cutely. “Good”

She cupped his face in both of her hands and kissed his lips. Her hands slowly travelled down his neck, sliding underneath his shirt, her light hands gliding up aroung his back.

His eyes glistened with desire, licking his lips, he swallowed thickly, losing himself in her beauty. Just one look from her and everything in him shook and stirred.

“Don’t get me wrong - I want you and I missed you so much. But - I want to - I booked that table again in Mystic Bell.” Nick glided his hand over Elena’s cheek. "You are so breathtakingly beautiful" Nick now slipped as he cupped her face. Elena smiled knowing all too well how she affected him.

"You are not bad yourself" she beamed up at him with her eyes sheeted with desire.Their lips now met again, his softly tugging hers. His tongue darted in her mouth, entwining with hers, letting out a muffled groan as she pressed her body against his.

"You drive me crazy" he gasped.

"I've just begun" Elena said. “And we are definitely going to that dinner. Nothing is going to stop us. But now I want to take care of you.”

And as found themselves in her bedroom, she now pushed him on it. He freed himself of the shirt and she climbed on him, lowering her lips onto his, kissing him now teasingly slow, as he mashed his hands into her long hair. Moving her lips now to his jaw, she peppered small kisses slowly down his neck.

Nick felt his breath stop, as she continued to trail small butterfly kisses down his chest to his abs, stopping just below his belly button, looking up at him now, meeting his dark eyes fully lost in the fire she had set alight.

"Don't stop" he breathed hoarsely.

"Don't plan to" Elena said. She now pulled down his pants along with his boxers, exposing his hardness. Her hands slipped around him, adoring him with her touch for a moment. Lowering her lips now on him, his heart went wild. She ran her tongue over the spongy tip. She used her tongue to wet him.

Oh, my God," he grunted and as she took him in her mouth.

His blood roared through his veins like wildfire, burning and stinging. It felt like she was devouring him whole. She moaned softly, and he clenched his eyes as delicious jolts of pleasure shot up his spine.

She stroked and sucked him, coaxing long, low moans from him.

Wet, sucking sounds intermingled with his grunts of pure pleasure. He was not going to take long and the next moment he shattered into million pieces, coming hard.

He pulled her into his arms, holding her against his chest as his breathing returned to normal. His hands stroked her head. “You are amazing. I don’t know if I deserve you”

“Don’t sell yourself short.” Elena said beaming up at him. Kissing her he now pulled her up.

With gentle hands he stripped her, sliding her checkered shirt over her head, unclasping her bra. Pressing a sweet kiss on her shoulder, he unbuttoned her jeans. Elena laid back, now letting him shimmy them down, together with her panties.

She moaned low in her throat, as he now trailed small kisses from her toes upward, slowly, his hands on her legs, always just a little higher than the kisses. Elena arched her back in anticipation, knowing where his fingers will soon reach. Her head rocked back against the pillow, a gasping moan escaping her lips as his fingers slid over her most senstive spot...

[faintblueivy]

Seasons we’ve seen together - yukimachi fanfiction

A/N: So after slaving over a week for this I've finally completed it! I'm so glad!

Before we start, let me scream - SPOILERS!

Summary - Finding eachother and falling in love was not something they thought was possible for them. But as the seasons passed by, it became easier. Yuki and Machi - and few moments of them being together. 

Ao3 link

Didn't think that I'll fall for another OTP, but guess what? I'm here with something new for these two idiots in love. This is my first time writing for Fruits Basket fandom and I desperately hope that I've done them justice. Hope you all enjoy it!

Word Count - 4k

Genre - Fluff, nothing else ;)

Seasons we've seen together

 Spring

The first time she meets him, spring is in full bloom.

It was her second day of high school and the beautiful and pink cherry blossoms were raining down. The gentle wift of sweetness lingering in the air was a reminder of the new season. And also for new beginnings like everyone said.

Walking down the unfamiliar hallways with a sheaf of papers in her arms, Machi feels oddly aware of every eye that follows her movement. The halls are bustling with seniors and she wonders why was it a good idea for the staff room to be built on the second year's floor. She didn't want to admit it but a part of her was wishing to catch a glimpse of her idiotic older brother. In a sea of nothing but strangers, Machi longs to find comfort of seeing someone familiar. She sighs inwardly. She had never imagined to see a day where she would want to see Kakeru voluntarily.

"Excuse me?"

 Name of the devil- wait, the voice was softer than her brother's upbeat screech.

She whirls around and comes face to face with 'the prince'. The rumoured senior who had been proclaimed as the most beautiful boy of the school. She had seen him first through the windows, surrounded by people smiling gently, as the girls around her talked about how perfect and charming he looked.

The prince with a lonely smile.

But now close up from here, she could see how mussed his hair was and the tie he wore looked crooked. Prince? Was she sure he was one?

"Yes?"

"Ah, I think you dropped this."

He extends a few papers in her direction which might have spiralled down to the floor when she was busy grappling with her thoughts.

She is able to mumble out a 'thank you' as he places the papers on the top. She waits for him to leave but he doesn't. Instead, he gives her that carefully calculated smile that she had seen a day ago directed at someone else and asks, "Do you need some help?"

"Could you please let me know the way to staff room?"

She replies him with another question of her own, her observant eyes noticing how he eyed the large bundle of papers in her arms.

"Sure. Just take right turn the next aisle you see. You'll see the plaque hanging right in front."

"Thank you."

She gives him a small bow, mindful of the stuff she was carrying. He gives her a nod and a genuine smile and weirdly enough, a part of her is relieved to see that he could smile like that. Before they could part appropriately, he is approached by a group of giggling and squealing girls who were gushing about how they were absolutely sure that he would ace the tests. Machi didn't know him that good but even still she could see how uncomfortably overwhelmed he looked at the moment. Giving him one last glance Machi went on her way, sure that he'd forget her in an hour or two. After all, why would the prince surrounded by people remember someone like her.

But she couldn't have been more wrong.

Summer

If he was honest, then Yuki didn't think he was enjoying being the student council president. Apart from the stress that the curse caused, he couldn't hold the energy that the student council exudated together. From Kakeru's unbound enthusiasm to Nao's complaining and Kimi's shallowness - everything would tire him out to the bones at the end of everyday. These people drove him mad with their eccentricness and unrestrained behaviour. Not that he should complain...but still.

Except for the newly appointed school treasurer who, at the moment, has been quietly following him around.

Kuragi Machi.

He tilts his head back slightly to steal a glance at the girl who had never once lifted her head from the papers she was invested in. Even accompanying him on the patrol today was Kimi's job. Not hers. But somehow Kimi had pushed the chore to the younger girl.

"Kuragi-san? Where do we go next?"

He questions, a pathetic attempt to start a conversation once again after countless failures.

"The sports club."

She replies monotonously, eyes never once leaving the list. He nods in acknowledgement, inwardly grimacing at another defeat.

It didn't matter, he had the entire list memorized but he couldn't help but notice how different this girl behaved. She had perfect grades, good records, perfect attendance and was highly efficient in her work. But despite how much rowdy the student council office got, she would still finish her work on time and even have enough energy to make up for the slack of others. Yuki cannot explain it in words but her behaviour unnerved him for some reason. The scene of their first meeting is still fresh in his mind. He still didn't know what had caused her to be on her knees back then, with files, papers and the entire room torn all around her. What was that Kakeru knew but he didn't.

And if he has to admit, he wants to know her better. Something about her empty eyes spoke volumes to him. He wonders why nobody else could see what he did in her. It causes a sense of discomfort in him knowing that this person was hiding her true self behind that perfect doll like persona.

"President, we're here." Her voice stops his train of thoughts, startling him for a second.

"Ah, yes. Of course."

He gives her an apologetic smile realising that he had been so occupied with his thoughts that he might have missed the gate to the outside had she not pointed it out.

The sports club building was situated near the playgrounds and fields, at a distance from the main campus. They had to walk around the football field to reach on the other side.

Yuki inhales a breath of fresh air, the sun shining strongly above their heads. It decides that it feels good. He gives a smile to his companion but she returns the look with a blank face and Yuki inwardly laughs.

It was no surprise that class 1 C was having their sports period at the moment. He had the entire time table in his head. He knew that. What shocked him was the way he was hounded on by the junior girls the second he stepped on the field.

"Yuki Senpai!"

"Senpai!"

"Sohma senpai!"

He jumps away from the girls, careful at dodging any physical affection they fling on him. His anxiousness rises as they push their way through each other, fighting, arguing and calling each other's names.

"Watch out!"

Somebody yells and Yuki feels his senses go on high alert. The first thing he notices is a football hurtling straight at them. Without thinking much, he immediately steps forward, swinging his leg out with enough force to deflect the ball on the other side. Thankfully, everyone is safe and unharmed.

"Yuki Senpai! You're a hero!"

The girls start screaming even before he is sure he had saved them all. The second he puts his foot down, he realises he had sprained it. Badly. He instantly bites his lip to not wince in pain.

"Yuki Senpai, you're really such a good hearted prince!" Someone sings from the crowd, and those words make something twist in his gut.

"I'm not..." Yuki blurts out, softly enough that the girls do not hear.

He watches the chaos for a few more minutes, trying to pacify them but with no luck. The pain in his foot growing much worse with the ticking of the clock.

"Excuse me, President. We must leave. Sports club council is waiting for us."

A familiar voice from his side delivers and he thanks Kuragi-san a million times for saving him inside his head. Apologising and leaving as soon as he could, he feels as if he could finally take a breath again after escaping the gaggle of girls. He is careful to hide his limp, deciding to deal with it only after he had reached home.

They were seated in the sports club council room to talk about the investments and renovation that the club required. But even before they could begin the meeting with the sport council's president, someone rushed in a flurry to report something immediate to the guy.

"Ah, apologies! President! Looks like I'll have to deal with the mess these idiots have made again! Will it be okay if I return back in five minutes?" He asks with a grimacing smile.

"Absolutely. Don't worry about it Nakamura-san. Please go ahead." Yuki returns it with an sympathizing one and giving a nod.

The boy is about to walk out of the room when she, who rarely ever speaks, calls out loudly.

"Nakamura-san. If you don't mind, may I use the first aid kit here?" She gestures to the kit that was kept above one of the cabinets.

"Definitely. Feel free to use it." He nods in agreement before running out of the room. The boy is barely out of the room when she speaks again, this time directed at him.

"President. Please remove your shoes."

Yuki sits their gobsmacked as she is busy rummaging through to kit, pulling out pain relieving spray and creams.

He was so sure that he had hidden his pain well. Nobody else had noticed. Then how did she? Was he that easy to read? But then again, people see him as a perfect prince. Should a perfect prince be injured and feel pain? He was sure that the answer would definitely be a 'No'. He is startled again when she kneels in front of him with the medical supplies.

What she told him next was something nobody had ever said. Something he had desperately needed to told. But he never thought that it would be from her. The person he wanted to help and to save. But nonetheless, it made him feel warm inside. And it was something he could never forget.

"You are not a Prince. You are in pain and you could have said something sooner. President, please remember that."

 Rains

The stack of papers seems never ending. His pen glides over the paper fluently, extra care being taken to make sure that no mistakes occur. The door to the room is open, wind wafting in softly, carrying the scent of petrichor with it.

The sound of rain hitting the window panes was overpowering the silence of the room. Yuki is not worried, because most of the noise causing elements of the student council were currently absent.

Kimi was out on a date with one of her new boyfriends. Nao had left earlier to prepare for an upcoming test. And Kakeru, worried about the incoming weather and torrential rains had left to pick up his girlfriend from her school, obviously entrusting his precious sister's well being in Yun-Yun's hands. Though he did not forget to warn Yuki to not do anything perverted to his sister which had unsurprisingly earned him a harsh bonk on the head.

His gaze darts toward the only other occupant of the room. Machi is busy scribbling on a notepad, working with numbers, her diligence for her work being reflected by her immense concentration. Yuki feels a little guilty though. She might have left earlier had he not asked her to calculate and summarise the expenses of the sports club for the last three months. But she never complained. The thing is she never did.

Unable to tear his gaze away from her, he admits how much he adores the way she subtly bites her lip when something doesn't add up. He likes how her brows shoot up when she finds the error in her calculations. He has no idea how long he's been sitting there simply taking her features in. And if he was honest, he is thankful to Kakeru for arranging their seats in a way that allowed him to stare at her without much suspicion.

A part of him feels wrong... watching her like this, when his heart thrums the way it does. She's...so unaware of him and his growing fondness for her but so incredibly conscious of the mess he is and his demons. He had always wondered if there was someone who could see past his lonely smile. And now, the person of his dreams was sitting right in front of him, barely a few feet away.

The sound of the rain becomes louder as the lights flicker off, startling her. The room falls into a colour of grey and darkness as she looks around with slightly visible panic on her face, only for her dark brown eyes to meet his grey ones. He is definitely amused when, even in the dim light, he can see a hint of redness of her cheeks. And she might have noticed it too, he knows when she turns her head to a side, willing her long bangs to hide it. Even though her cuteness is too much for him, her stubborn behaviour is something he has surpassed. So, in the premise of opening the window of the room, on her right, he stalks near her desk, loving how the red of her cheeks grows even brighter. His hands mechanically open the latch of the window, his attention is still directed at her. Of course, that is his fault when a violent spray of water rushes in and makes him sputter like an idiot.

"President?"

He notes how she sounds alarmed and his form tenses when she appears beside him, closer than they normally are. But Machi has never been the one to invade people's personal space and she probably had none of Tohru's natural clumsiness. He swipes the water on his lashes by the sleeve of his shirt when a white handkerchief enters his field of vision.

Machi extends the small article in his direction with wide worried eyes.

"Are you all right?"

He takes the offered cloth with a thankful smile and wipes his face. He's unexpectedly thrown off guard when her scent hits his senses. It was soft, so unlike Kimi's perfume which was strong enough to make them all cringe at it's fruity flavour. He could not put a finger at what this smell feels like though. And he was sure that trying to inhale it with a breath would definitely...freak Machi out. And he wants to believe that he is not a pervert.

"Thank you, Machi." 

He expresses his gratitude, eyes brimming with something he can hardly hold. She nods and comes to stand beside him on the window, not minding the stray water droplets that hit her. Yuki notices how her eyes soften.

"Does Machi like rain?" 

He questions, his gaze travelling to the cloudy sky above, watching the descent of the drizzle.

She hums in agreement and whispers, "Rain - messes up everything. Causes disorder and troubles in our mundane routine. But yet, it breathes life into everything around us. We can't survive without it, can we? And I think it's beautiful."

The faint smile that graces her lips is something that Yuki might have missed had he not been paying as much attention to her as he did. Machi is the only girl beside Tohru, whose simple upward quirk of lips could make his heart swell with immense affection. Maybe it was how rare this smile seemed that Yuki desperately wished to etch this moment in the back of his mind, to preserve and hold it close forever like a precious gem.

He had known that she was special for a while now, but now, he accepted that he yearned to see that smile for as long as possible.

 Autumn

The red leaves dance around her as she trudges through the roads to her apartment. The sun is about to set, the sky painted in hues of red, gold and pink. She jumps when a wildly whirling leaf smacks her right in the face, her fingers immediately latching on it.

The leaf looked...pretty. Red, with more yellow splotches on the left side than the right and a few brown spots of decay. It reminds her of the leaf she still had in her bag, tucked safely in one of her notebooks. Suddenly, a strong wind blows and the leaf escapes her fingers in the direction of the path she had just walked away from. And probably due to her stupid fascination with red coloured maple leaves, she instinctively runs to follow it when a hand snatches it out of air in one swift motion.

She is left dumbfounded. The president of her school is standing right in front of her, her leaf pinched carefully between his long fingers.

"Were you looking for this?"

He steps closer to her, offering the leaf as if he was offering a rose, smiling softly. She grasps the stalk of the leaf and holds it close to her chest.

"What are you doing here?"

"Why? Is there a rule that I am not allowed in this part of the city?" He teases her, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

Before she can retort, he smiles and says, "Please come with me."

Moving past her he heads for a certain destination and a part of her feels indignant that he's sure she'll follow him. Funnily enough, another part of her conscience chides her, reminding that he wouldn't come all the way just to annoy her. He is not like that. Then again, she shouldn't underestimate him.

He leads them to a nearby park and gestures for her to sit down on a bench, beside him. Machi flushes slightly but settles beside him anyway.

"Actually," he speaks rummaging through his backpack, "I came here to return this back to you." Pulling out a file, he hands it over to her. And she immediately notes it to be her assignment file.

"I thought I dropped it in my bag." She mumbles, quite astonished that she had carelessly left it behind.

Yuki's chuckle pulls her out of her thoughts.

"It wasn't you!" He laughs. "It was Kakeru! That idiot pulled your bag apart when you were out with Kimi for a pencil he couldn't find. And then forgot to rearrange it and put this file back. And I noticed it only after you had left."

"That idiot…" Machi hisses, but then looks at Yuki. "President, why did you-"

"Don't worry about it! I'm glad that I caught up to you."

He gives her such a smile that it knocks the breath out of her lungs. He looks almost a figment of her imagination, smiling like that, with red leaves falling over them. So beautiful. So impossible. But yet, here he was, sitting beside her as if she was someone who should be cherished.

"Has Machi eaten the dango of that shop here?"

His words startle her, she jerks her gaze away from him to the shop across the street he was pointing at.

"No." She answers timidly.

"Come on then! Let's have some!" He stands up, excited, offering her his hand and Machi feels her heart thudding in her ears. The red creeps on her face and she scolds herself for letting him overwhelm her with his exuberance every single time.

A few minutes later, they are on the bench again, biting onto the soft and delicious dango and Machi has to admit that it tastes good. She steals a glance at her companion who is already chewing on his third stick, eyes focused on the scenery around them.

"President?"

"Hmm?"

"You didn't have to come all the way here to deliver that assignment."

He looks at her, a questioning expression on his face as he chews on the last bite.

"Actually, that assignment was already graded."

What continues her statement is a long stretch of silence as Yuki sits there with his mouth hung open.

"You mean-"

"Yes, the assignment was already graded. You...wasted your time by coming here." She says, softly, averting her gaze.

"Machi." He calls out, chiding her gently.

She stares at her shoes unable to meet his eyes because she did occupy his time unnecessarily. She wonders if he was minding it now. She wants to run away and hide in some hole when he leans closer to her, his lips a few inches away from her ear.

"Machi, I did not waste my time. I was here because I wanted to be. In Fact, I'm glad I got to share and eat dango with you."

His genuine but firm words, his fond smile and the transparent look in his eyes was too staggering for her. It was so incredibly hard to accept that he was here out of his own free will. Not because he was forced to. Not because he felt obligated too. But because he wanted to be here. Because he didn't mind spending time with her. A strange warmth pooled inside her chest, spreading through her bones, making her tingle all over.

He simply chuckles and bids her farewell, loving how her face was the brightest red he had ever seen.

Winter

When the morning sun rays penetrate the minute gap between the curtains of his room, Yuki wakes up. He blinks, eyes full of golden light and dark brown hair over his nose and lips. Even his sleep deprived senses are honed enough to detect her presence beside him and it leaves him with a comforting warmth.

He gently swipes her hair off his face, grey eyes coming to rest on soft sleeping face. Her head is resting in the crook of his arm and her arm was draped over his torso. Her leg is over his, bare and soft. She is dressed in a pair of small pajamas and his red shirt. He knows he was leaner in comparison to a lot of other men, but still his clothes were too big for her. Though he loves seeing her in them. The shirt is quite large for her small frame, sliding off on from one shoulder, exposing her soft and pale skin to him.

A sudden cold sensation of chill makes him shiver and he immediately drags the blankets up to cover both of them. His arms slide over her waist, pulling her close to him and nuzzling her neck and side of cheek. Sometimes, having her beside him feels like a dream that he's terrified of waking up from. Both of them have had struggled against their own demons, found love and support in each other and the few kind people around them. As time passes by, things change and people do too.

Like how he loves mornings now.

For as long as he can remember, he has never been a morning person. But having Machi nestled against him, watching the sun rays fall on her eyelashes, illuminating her in a golden ethereal glow filled him with a sense of contentment that nothing else did. That moment of satisfaction, that feeling of his heart beating in his chest in synchrony to hers was something he craved so deeply that any morning he got to witness it made him feel blessed.

But he knows he's not the only one to have started loving something he never had before because of Machi. She had confessed to him as well, how winters - which she dreaded before became something she held close to her heart thanks to the promise he had made years back.

Yuki leans over and gently brushes his lips on her forehead and a small moan escapes her mouth.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

He calls her affectionately, knowing that he was going to receive a smack for that later. She blinks, frowning at him and then burying her face into his chest again.

"Machi. Wake up." He pokes his nose on her cheek and she immediately swatts him away. He chuckles and slowly slides away from her, out of the bed. The air is so cold and crisp that he resists the urge to crawl back into the blankets and into Machi's arms again with everything he had. Sauntering over to the window, he pulls the curtains apart and gasps dramatically.

"It's snowing! Machi, wake up!"

He runs to the bed, disheveling the blankets and adoring the angry noises his wife was making. Finally pulling the last blanket off her, he makes a few more attempts to get her out of the bed with no success. He sighs and takes a moment to appreciate her small form and his eyes coming to rest on the milky stretch of white skin of her exposed shoulder, and a devilish idea lights up his brain. He quickly leans over and playfully nips her bare shoulder.

"Yuki!"

Machi squeals, thrashing her arm out to strike him but he's agile enough to dodge it efficiently.

"Try harder Machi. You won't have me like that." He smirks, making sure that she notices the way he's all over her.

 Okay, fine. He is a pervert. But only when it comes to her.

The next few minutes are nothing but a scarlet faced Machi chasing him around the house in nothing but pajamas in freezing winters.

Yuki knows, if someone ever asks him to define love, all he would ever say that it's the feeling you get when you witness all the seasons passing, but falling in love and finding something precious to appreciate in each of them because you have that person - the love of your life - by your side.

That is what love is.

A/N: Yuki and Machi through the different seasons. I really wanted to write something special for them. And I'm glad I did!  Gooooshhhh I can't wait to see Machi and Kakeru in the new anime! We're slowly edging towards their appearance! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Btw, please do tell me your thoughts for this story! Thank you for reading!

[awkward-cocopuff]

Still Into You: Bakugou x Reader

"Can't count the years on one hand that we've been together.

I need the other one to hold you"

You and Bakugou had been dating since you two were 2nd years high school students. You happily hummed to yourself as the both of you walked hand in hand down the busy sidewalk. "Heyy~ Bakugou our anniversary is coming up in 2 months~~", you singsonged to him. "Yeah, yeah", rolling his eyes with a half smile. "Its kind of early to be worried about that weirdo. Anyway, how long have I been putting up with you again Y/N?", he grinned down at you. There went those damn butterflies in your stomach. You would think those would go away after a few months of dating but they still came back every so often. Especially when he smiled or showed his softer side. You tapped your chin and held up you freehand wiggly all 5 fingers, "This many". Bakugou stopped mid stride and glared at you. Now he found alot of things not worth wasting his brain cells on but knowing how many years you two had been dating was not a waste of him knowing. "I think you're forgetting a year Y/N". You giggled and said, "Nope! But my other hand is busy holding yours". You tapped your pinky finger on his knuckle, "There, six!".

"But when our fingers interlock, can't deny, can't deny, you're the worth it

'Cause after all this time

I should be over all the butterflies but I'm into you, I'm into you

You two had your share of fights in the past. The boy was a walking grenade. And you didn't take any shit. Usually they were drawn out by your stubbornness or his pride. But everytime one of you would come to you senses and try to rectify the situation. After one fight Bakugou slinked into bed next to you and grabbed your hand. He interlaced his fingers with your and pressed your hand to his forehead. "Y/N....I'm sorry...I shouldn't have blown up on you like that....you're my everything." And there they were again making your stomach light.

I'm still into you"

"And even baby our worst nights

I'm into you, I'm into you"

It was night before you and Bakugou's anniversary and he had just dropped the bomb that his agency was making him work the next night. "WHAT? I THOUGHT YOU REQUESTED TOMORROW OFF?!", you questioned him. Bakugou only winced at your raised voice and averted his eyes. "I'm sorry Y/N I can't just work though". You groaned, "Yaknow we haven't actually properly celebrated our anniversary for 3 years". It was true, you and Bakugou hadn't actually gone out to celebrate your relationship since he started at his agency and not to mention you barely saw him the past 3 weeks expect for at 2 a.m. through sleepy eyes when he flopped into bed after overtime. You were starting to feel neglected. It even crossed your mind that he just wasn't as interested in you as he use to be at one point. "I just want you home", you muttered. "Look y/n I sorry but I can't do anything about it", he said rubbing his temple. "You never do anything about it...". Bakugou knitted his brows together, "What?" "You never fight it! The only time is see you nowadays is when I wake up early in the morning for work! You're not even awake! We've barely talked to eachother lately because of all your damned over time!!" "FUCKING DAMN IT Y/N! I'VE BEEN WORKING MY ASS OFF FOR A FUCKING REASON!" You clenched your fist and fought back tears as he roared at you. You turned on your heel and B-lined toward the bedroom. You didnt feel like crying in front of him. "Whatever Katsuki", you hissed and slammed the door. Bakugou's heart ached at how bitterly you used his name. "Fuck...". He trudged over to his coat, pulled out his cellphone and dialed his long time friend Kirishima. After telling Kiri what had just transpired l, all his friend left him with was, "Well it sounds like now or never man...you better do everything to keep her. Took you too long to get her!". Yeah, it took Katsuki a while before he would admit to liking you much less getting to asking you out. You didn't go to U.A. and weren't planning on becoming a hero but, you still caught his eye. Everytime he saw you at the cafe or in the arcade he had butterflies in the pit of his stomach and even now when he heard you laugh, hum or just catch the sunlight the right way they would come back full force. Bakugou reached down and shifted things around until his hand brushed up against a small velvet box. Pulling it out he whispered, "It's now or never".

"Let 'em wonder how we got this far,

'Cause I don't really need to wonder at all

Yeah, after all this time

I'm still into you"

The next day, you sat with Uraraka and Asui at a cafe to play catch up. You two may how not gone to the same school together but you three had made fast friends as you frequented the same bookstore quite often. "What's wrong y/n? you look pretty down today, ribbit". "Yeah" Uraraka interjected but paused, "What did Bakugou do...". You flinched and looked up at the sheepishly from your latte. Your eyes were still a bit puffy from crying the night before. You sighed, "We....we had a fight last night. I was just made that he wasn't home alot recently. But I didnt want it to escalate the way it did". Asui tapped her chin, "Maybe he had a good reason as to why? I can't imagine him not having one. He's been hellbent on you ever since high school". "A good rea-", you were caught off by your phone vibrating and lighting up with a txt notification from Bakugou. "Y/N, I know you are still upset with me but please let me make it up to you. Be ready to go out by 6❤". You blinked hard at your phone, you weren't sure what was more confusing a text this early from Bakugou or the fact he used a heart emoji. Uraraka leaned in to peak at your phone and beamed, "WELL LOOKS LIKE YOU GOT YOUR WISH!"

You heard the front door open at 5:50 PM as you finished getting ready. There was a knock on the bedroom door and Bakugou appeared in the frame. He was wearing black slacks and loafers with a white dress shirt and a red tween blazer. His heart caught in his throat looking you over. Butterflies. Your dl/dc dress fight you perfectly. And your e/c orbs glowed. "I thought you couldn't get the day off!", you exclaimed wrapping his arms around his neck. He kissed your forehead, "I had to pull a few strings. Now let's go I made dinner reservations." After dinner Bakugou pulled you along to the park. The cherry blossoms were and full bloom and the sun was setting giving everything a beautiful glow. You two arrived at the base of a rather large cherry tree and stopped. You could recognize the carved lettering of the two of your initials in a heart in the bark. You brushed your fingers and against it and smiled. Remembering this is where Bakugou confessed to you. Bakugou stepped close to you and whispered your name. "Y/n...I know the past couple of weeks have been difficult. I know that you felt lonely", he bit his lip and reached in his pocket. "But I for sure know that every moment I've spent with you has counted towards the greatest moments of my life", he said getting down on one knee taking your hand. Your stomach started flapping and a blush enveloped your cheeks as your eyes grew wide, small tears forming in the corners. "I'm just as much in love with you now as I was years ago, if not even more. I can't even stomach the thought of you not being by my side. So y/n l/n", he flicked the box open releasing a dazzling ring with rubies as intense red as his eyes around the band, "Will you marry me?". You dropped to your knees and wrapped your arms tightly around him and sobbed, "Yes, Katsuki! A millions times yes!!". He slipped the ring over you finger and pulled you into a deep kiss.

"I'm still into you"

Author's note: I've been listening to this song on repeat for several days. And soft Bakugou is one of my favorite Bakugous. I hope I did them both a bit of justice 💜💜. Ignore the typos if any.