#all these difficult weird shapes.. intriguing. exciting.

[datuma]

[salemwritesxx]

ocean paradise

↳ bottom shinso (human) x top reader (merman: blacktip shark)

summary: Just… some merman porn

w.count: 2094

content warning: smut, porn without plot, monster sex, merman x human, double dicks, double penetration, watersports / omorashi / pee, lots of cum, riding

“A SHARK!”

“THERE’S A SHARK!”

“GET OUT OF THE WATER!”

Shinso stood in the middle of the crowd, holding on to his father’s hand tightly, not really knowing what was going on, only for the 5-year old to get picked up by his mother.

“Let’s go Honey, it’s not safe here anymore!”, she said, following the crowd that had seen a shark’s fin in the ocean, thus scurrying back onto the mainland.

As Hitoshi looked over her shoulder though, he could see the shark fin disappeared, and instead, a head broke through the surface – e/c eyes met his lavender ones.

And that’s when he first saw you for a split-second, before you dove back into the depth of the ocean.  

-

Chuckling, he opened his eyes and looked into the starry night sky, before a “Why are you laughing, Toshi?” made him turn his head – he had been floating on the surface of the ocean.

“Just thinking back to the moment I first met you.”

“Ohh, you mean the shark incident?”, now you chuckled as well, your arms tightening around his waist as you pulled him closer against your chest.

“Hmh…”, then he turned around, looking straight into your e/c eyes as he wrapped his arms around your shoulders, carful to not touch your gills at the side of your neck though.

“When I told them I saw a mermaid, they all thought I just wanted them to talk to me so I could use my quirk on them… No one believed me…”, tilting his head slightly, he then smiled as you looked a little confused, “But I think in the end, it’s best that only I know you exist, you know?”

“Hmmm, I think so too!”, you then nodded and smiled brightly as well, before leaning in and kissing all over his face.

“Your just mine. My mate. Hehehe!”, the cute, little laugh almost melted Shinso’s heart as he bit his lip for a moment, trying not to get too overwhelmed, only to cup your face, his thumbs brushing over the rather rough skin, and then pulling you in for a real kiss.

Instantly, you held him tighter and leaned in deeper, yet careful that your teeth weren’t hurting him when you brushed against his lips and, in the end, push your tongue inside to play with his, Hitoshi softly moaning into the kiss as your hands slowly wandered down to his hips and then one sneakily slipped onto his ass to softly squeeze.

“Do you have to go already…?”, your purr was so strong it resonated within his own chest, wondering once more if you could actually brainwash him with your singing and drown him.

“Yeah… But… One last time, yeah?”, Hitoshi mumbled against your lips, feeling the grin form on your own, before you pulled back a bit to look at him.

“Hmmm, I like that! I wish I could just take you with me though.”, a sad sigh escaped your lips as you finally let your finger push between his cheeks and against his little hole, earning his blissful gasp as he willingly snuggled closer, whimpering a mere “Me too…” because the thought of living as a merman was kind of intriguing…

Yet, for now, he just lived as a human by your side, visiting you as much as he could and making love underneath the starry sky.

“Hitoshi…”, the little growl that escaped your throat when his nails softly scratched over your chest made him smirk a bit, only to repeat the gesture once more to rile you up as well; all while your finger suddenly pushed inside, his insides fluttering in excitement as he pushed back into your touches.

“Don’t… waste too much time, yeah?”, he whined against your lips.

“But… They’re big…”

“I can take it! You know that…”, was his only answer as he pushed his hips against your tail, immediately knowing that your sheath has also opened as two weirdly shaped cockheads poked out.

“But Toshi-“

Though, he interrupted you as he smashed his lips against your own, both of you moaning almost in synch when he wrapped his legs around your shark tail to rub his cock against yours, spurring you on more and more and feeling your dicks grow underneath the grinding.

All while you had added another finger to thrust into his ass, trying your best to “prepare” him, though, to be honest, Shinso was used to taking your cocks and with how impatient he was, it was hard for you to hold back as well.

One hand grabbed your dorsal fin, the other finally slipped down to grab both of your cocks, your high-pitched moans sounded like you were singing, truly beautiful and enough to make him rock-hard and wanting more.

“Y/n… do it…Please.”

“If… you want, then, I won’t hold back, Toshi!”, then you grabbed him, earning his surprised gasp, before he blinked a little in surprise when you swam towards the beach with him.

“Y/n?”

“Hitoshi…? Can you do the thing we did last time?”

Your e/c eyes were almost reflecting the ocean as you looked into his lavender ones, and then, he understood, a big smirk playing around his lips.

“Oho? Do you want to watch me so badly, Y/n?”

“Yes… please.”, pecking his lips over and over again, Hitoshi couldn’t help but giggle – you were more like a puppy then a ferocious shark, really.

“Fine. Only because it’s you, Y/n.”, his deep chuckle made you shiver in anticipation, before you finally reached the shore where you turned around, half-sitting and propped up on your elbows, your shark tail still engulfed by water so you wouldn’t dehydrate too quickly.

Crawling on top of you, his hands were back to rubbing your dicks, one curved, long and rather thin, the other thick with little nubs and bit shorter. Shinso has shown you last time what it meant when he said he would ride you, so it was not even surprising him that much that you wanted to do it again, knowing how much you loved watching him last time.

“You’re really spoiled, Y/n, you know?”, he then laughed when he moved closer, lifting his hips and reaching back to adjust your cocks.

“I just… love you, Toshi. I want to watc-“, though you couldn’t speak much longer when his hot, tight insides suddenly engulfed you, Hitoshi also throwing his head back with a loud, blissful moan as your thick, weirdly shaped cock finally spread him open, the precum you leaked being so much and gooey, making it easy for him to slip your dicks in.

Digging his fingers into your chest, he was gasping your name when he pushed down until, an inch or so down, he reached your second dick, your thick head that had almost spikes around it, though much rounder at the end, spreading him even wider, the long spike-like protrusions almost making him cum on the spot just from entering your cocks and feeling them ‘scratch’ along his sensitive insides..

“Oh God-“, he could only moan out loudly when the little nubs and spikes gave his insides just the right amount of feeling that his cock was bouncing so pathetically without even being touched, almost releasing just from that as he swallowed both of your dicks at last, ramming his hips down onto your tail.

“FUCK!”, arching his back, you simply watched, completely smitten once more as you loved to see him losing himself so much, that’s why you wanted to do it again like last time.

“Hitoshi… You’re so… beautiful.”, you barely managed to choke out as well, his ass was so tight around your cocks, it was almost too much for you too.

“Y/n…”

Shinso vividly felt your cocks leaking so much thick, gooey precum and in the end, he held on with both hands against your chest as he started grinding his hips, first, rather slow, only to lean back, hands pushed into the sand besides your shark tail, and then rolling his hips, showing off everything, just like you wanted him to.

“AAAHnh Look at me- Y/n! AH! MHN! Y/n!”, moaning out your name without restraint, hoping that no one was around at night, though he also didn’t really care that much, as he cried into the starry night, hips slamming against your tail, swallowing your cocks so effortlessly – his own bouncing from all the vigorous movements.

You wanted to grab and hold him, but, with your dorsal fin in the way, you had to keep upright on your shaky arms as you watched him attentively.  

Thrusting his hips down, he stopped for a moment, trying to catch his breath as he grinded your cockhead against his deepest spot, making it difficult for him to even stay in this position. Shinso’s arms felt like jelly, he was shaking and shivering, muscles tensing – but he didn’t want to stop, even if he could feel the hot waves of pleasure in his lower abdomen almost overwhelming him.

Once more, he cried out your name in delight when he raised his hips, just to slam them down again, your cocks rearranging his insides, the weird shape and little nubs and spikes making it hard to hold himself together.

“Y/n! I- I- AhNH! Can’t hold-!”, he moaned out, pushing his body back up so his face was close to yours as he started ramming your dicks into him once more, hips shaking vigorously.

You took the chance to lean your forehead against his, breathing a mere “D-Don’t hold… back… Toshi!”, your tail thrashing in the water as your own orgasm was so close.

One last time, Shinso used all his strength, gasping for breath so desperately as he moved his hips against your tail, your cocks stirring up his insides, your thick, gooey precum making everything so messy and wet – it was overwhelmingly amazing, truly.

“Y/n! Y/n!”, he moaned out your name so lustfully, his thighs quivering and a hot, warm feeling seething in his lower abdomen, though before he could realize what was going on, he couldn’t stop.

Desperately crying out loud and throwing his head back, his cock was overflowing with warm liquid that pooled at your own belly, your gasped “Toshi!” only making him sob as he couldn’t stop wetting himself, being impaled by two cocks just felt too good.

And in the end, the mere view of him loosing himself was enough for a violent wave of sheer lust to sweep through your body as well, your cocks moving and throbbing on their own inside of him only intensifying the lustful bliss as he didn’t stop peeing himself.

That’s when you released as well, a siren-like sound escaping your throat, it was high-pitched and yet, it wasn’t unpleasant, more the opposite, only for Shinso to arch his back, his warm liquid hitting your chest as you stuffed him full with your seed – thick, gooey cum filling up his ass as he slowly regained control over his body again.

Heavily gasping, a few spurts of pee were the last thing his pathetically throbbing cock managed to produce; Shinso’s head was spinning, especially as you just didn’t stop squirting your cum into him, his hole already overflowing and covering your tail in the sticky fluids mixing with his own he released.

And then, you stopped and your cocks that were wiggling inside of him came to a halt as well. That’s when he almost collapsed on top of you, thus you quickly managed to grab him and somehow slither and shuffle back into the cold ocean, though with how hot Hitoshi felt, it was just right to cool him off as he barely hung onto you.

Your cum that was still seeping out of his ass, even though he was already stuffed with your cocks, was drifting away in the water as you held him tightly.

In the end, he barely managed to press out a “Fuck… That was… fuck…” as he rested his head on your chest when you laid on your back so he was basically resting on top of you on your chest as you drifted through the ocean, not wanting to part as you kissed his head and face all over.

“You were… amazing, Toshi.”, a dreamy sigh escaped your lips, before you started to purr again while you held him tightly and kissed him all over.

Hitoshi didn’t want to move even one inch, staying with your dicks inside for as long as he could and still relishing your moments together. He didn’t need to rush home anyways.

@salemwritesxx || do not repost, edit, modify or translate my works

writer’s note: day one of mermay already begins with THIS, so… it shows in which direction we’re going hurrhurr though I have a few more kinky shit planned, but for now, hope it was enjoyable! also, was craving some change sooo… new blue banners hehe

[obeymefictionwriting]

Could you do hc's for the brothers where Mc is on a call and they overhear the convo that's like

Mc: Him and I-

Friend: Are getting married?

Mc: What? No, that-

Friend: Shhh, no I have this entire thing planned out

Then the friend just starts going off about different themes and color schemes while Mc is like ????

Loved the idea! Hope you enjoy my hc!

“Go and get MC right now, it’s not acceptable to be late for dinner like that”, Lucifer frowned at Mammon and the second-born quickly jumped on his feet.

“What am I, a delivery boy?” He murmured but deep in his heart, he was happy Lucifer asked him to do so. After all, he is MC’s FIRST, so this is his and only his responsibility to…

He stopped because he heard something… something like laughter? Giggles? Intrigued, he pressed his ear to the door.

“So, what I wanted to say…” He recognized MC’s tender and lovely voice and he also recognized that the voice was a bit nervous. Huh? Why would that be?

“JUST SAY IT!” The second voice was far more demanding and impatient. Wasn’t it MC’s best friend that they mentioned all the time? Ah, right. It’s evening in the human world too, and usually, around this time humans tend to call each other and talk…

“So um… Him and I…”

“Are getting married?!?!” The second voice burst happily.

Mammon could not believe his ears. Did… did MC really just say that? Did they probably… Wanted The Great Mammon as their husband?

“Hey scumbag, what takes you…”

“Shhhh you IDIOT!” Mammon whispered, grabbing Levi by his hoodie and pulling him close. “Listen to this!”

“What? No, I…” MC sounded frustrated.

“Ohhh let me guess! It is the hot tanned boy? The one with white hair? He looks so cool on the photos!”

Mammon melted inside. So he is cool huh? Take that, Lucifer!

In his arms, Levi chuckled silently. “LMAO, what a piece of crap” he whispered and suddenly gasped. “Satan? What the hell are you doing here?”

“Lucifer sent me to check you two. What are…”

“Shhh!!”

Meanwhile, the second voice was going on and on. “If it’s him, then it would be gold and black! Royal colors, you know! What is he like? What does he like? You know he looks a bit crazy so I think we can include some activities at the wedding, right? Like a gambling area! What do you say?”

MC paused for a moment and said “Oh, Mammon would love that. But… but I wasn’t talking about him…”

“How unfortunate” Satan grinned in the darkness of the corridor. “Ouch, Asmo, stop grabbing me from behind like that! What are you even doing here?”

“And what are you all hiding from me? Secrets? Exciting!” Asmo got really delighted and pressed his ear to the door too. “Hmhm, so what is our lovely MC talking about? Me, of course, but I had to ask out of politeness!”

The second voice said “Oh, it’s not him? So did you mean the blond guy? The one who loves cats and books? To be honest, I always believed you fell for him. Like, who wouldn’t? Still water runs deep! Ohhh, wedding in emerald colors! Emerald but make it kawaii! Maybe deserts shaped like cat paws? And omg we can gift everyone with books as a souvenir from you too!”

In Satan’s head, a puzzle clicked and got completed. His favorite human, his favorite color, and his favorite animal - everything was just perfect. And did… did they say MC always loved him? For real?

“Hey don’t get too carried away!” Mammon pushed him but gasped upon finding Belphie standing on his foot. “Da hell?!”

“What’s going on…” Lucifer was about to scold them but several hands from different directions sealed his mouth shut. Lucifer was in shock and was about to turn them all into ash when he heard…

‘Uhhh don’t make me guess! Maybe it’s the nerd guy? The one who made you that lovely yukata? Do you know how popular geek weddings are? Like, you can put the rings in a styled wooden box, and you can put gaming figurines on top of the cake, and you can also make so many quests for the guests!”

“No no, I didn’t mean”... MC sounded helpless but her friend was not ready to give up just yet.

“Oh I know! The angelic-looking one? Who dresses better than both of us together? Uhh that would be tough! I’m not sure he’d approve of my ideas because I bet his sense of style is much better… Oh, it’s not him? MC, I hate you! Okay, whom do we have left? Noooooo!”

The second voice sounded so excited that all brothers froze.

“This huge and incredibly hot redhead? Oh man I totally get you - like, look at that body, right?”

Beel got red when hearing that. At the same time, he had this weird tingling sensation deep in his chest - did MC also consider him hot? Did they really like the way he looks so much?

“Beel is not only muscles - he is amazing!” MC jumped to Beel’s defense, offended that her friend noticed his body first. Beel melted again while Mammon whined, “Ah man, unfair!” to Belphie. Belphie yawned.

“So no wonder you chose… wait, not him? Huh? His twin brother? The one with messy hair and a mischievous look in his eyes? He is a hottie too, though he also looks like a troublemaker… Though his palette is pretty obvious so it won’t be too difficult. Just leave enough pillows here and there for the guests.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not…” MC tried to say something but her friend just wouldn’t have it.

“I KNEW IT” the second voice sounded so content and loud that everyone, including Lucifer, stood in surprise and shock. “You took the number one prize, MC, you chose the eldest brother!”

Lucifer felt blood rushing to his cheeks. His brothers were piercing him with their eyes and Asmo said in a sweet voice “Lucifer, my dear brother, would you mind explaining a few things to us?”

But before Lucifer could open his mouth, they heard the second voice again: excited and happy:

“An incredibly stylish, black wedding! Gothic, mysterious, unique! Red wine for the guests, classic music, probably happening in a castle or something. Oh my, I am getting goosebumps just thinking of it!”

“Odette!” MC finally managed to interrupt. “What I wanted to say is…”

Everyone held their breath. Satan was holding a hand on Mammon’s mouth, just to make sure. Asmo grabbed Beel’s arm tightly as if grabbing a safety belt. Lucifer did not frown but all his face expressed anticipation.

“What I wanted to say is that he and I are very good friends! Luke and I are friends! Luke is a boy from my class but he lives in a different dorm. He is a bit younger but is just adorable”.

“Oh”, Odette sounded disappointed. “But what about the brothers?”

“About the brothers?” MC”s eyes lit with a scary light. “Why don’t you ask them?”

Before anyone could move, MC leaped to the door and swiftly opened it. Mammon could not hold his balance and fell right on the floor, dragging Levi behind. Satan tripped over Levi and accidentally knocked down Asmo. Lucifer sighed.

“NOW I see why you can’t make your mind”, MC’s friend sounded both excited and amazed. “Well, I’ll leave you for now. But remember - everything is planned! Just let me know which palette you wanna go with”.

And with a chuckle, the screen went black.

[loooreleii]

This is so Office AU where they are caught making out in the emergency staircase. Also if intern!Tian is not secretly the son of Phupha's boss then what's the point?!

Ahdldfghhjjkl Ok listen i might reconsider! This could turn a bit sexier than i originally thought... 🤔🤔🤔

Also yes Teerayut is absolutely the CEO of this company but Phupha doesn't know the guy and also doesn't care all that much bc he hates this job anyway and couldn't care less about that rich bastard so he has no idea who Tian is when he's introduced to him as his new intern and his responsibility and "make sure he has a good time or you'll be in trouble". But Phupha being Phupha he has no intention of making this easy for him bc frankly Tian is arrogant af and getting on Phupha’s nerves. So he basically sets him up for failure, teasing and challenging Tian at every corner but he kind of shot himself in the foot here bc Tian is resilient and resourceful and rises to every challenge Phupha throws his way and he's intrigued ok. Maybe he's a bit turned on by the arrogant glint in his eyes. Also Tian has a habit of wearing really sharp, form fitting suits and it's terribly distracting.

But the worst thing is that Tian is actually... sweet. Funny. Charming. He helps Phupha out by staying overtime with him to get several of the bigger projects done and his ideas are innovative and exciting and maybe that's the first time Phupha actually enjoyed his work bc him and Tian just click and work so well together and inspire each other so much they basically bring out the best in each other. And you can't really help but start talking when you spend the entire night crammed together in an office cube and over time Phupha finds out that Tian actually doesn't want to be here either and dreamed of being a teacher or at least actually do sth impactful with his engineering degree that was forced on him and Phupha opens up about how he wants nothing more than to quit this job and move back to the countryside and that's impossible, but maybe he can bring Tian to PPD one day and maybe he'd like it there.

And when one of these presentations they prepared all night leads to a huge deal for the company Tian throws himself into Phupha's arms and... oh fuck. This feels way too nice and makes his heart race way too fast and when Tian looks up at him with this huge gorgeous smile Phupha wants to kiss him so bad it hurts. But he's too young and Phupha is his superior and also he'll go back to university to finish his degree soon, so he tries to push him away, put some professional distance between them and it's only one more month until the internship ends so it's ok, he can manage four weeks of yearning for Tian to be closer, for his laugh and their quiet late night talks, he can deal, and then he'll be gone and Phupha can stop falling in love with a guy ten years his junior. But of course Tian won't have that and of course he keeps pushing and he keeps coming closer and he keeps looking at Phupha like that and how is he supposed to fight this? So he does the one thing he can think of and tells Tian that he can't wait 'til he's gone and he's got his hands free of him and the hurt look on his face breaks him but it's for the best. He only lays awake at night cursing himself for hurting him for about a week.

And then Tian is gone and Phupha's workdays go back to being dull and grey and how can you miss someone that much?

He gets a promotion a few weeks later for his dedication and that big contract he managed to secure with Tian and he has his own office now (which is at least a bit of an improvement) and his paycheck looks a lot better, too (which is a great improvement), so it's good but he can't help but wish he could tell Tian and thank him. And maybe celebrate with him and hold him in his arms again and maybe be brave enough to kiss him. But he hasn't heard of Tian in months and he can't just go to HR and ask for his contact details. So he'll never know and Phupha will keep missing him.

Until one day half a year later he hears that the boss' son is going to start working in their division and he'll immediately be fast-tracked into a team leader position and Phupha will have to coordinate his work with this guy and he hates him already. Until he arrives and it's Tian and Phupha is... a bit confused, really. And all his coworkers are like "wait you didn't realise your intern is the CEO's son for MONHTS?" and he feels really stupid bc he should've recognised the surname but like... eat the rich, he couldn't care less about the big wigs who hired him.

And for a while it's weird between them. Their dynamic is off, Tian now his colleague and now that he knows he's the boss' son he doesn't dare tease him anymore and they butt heads a few times but there's that tension again and he can't help but think about the fact that this whole issue of him being Phupha's intern is out of the world now and he could actually ask him out if he dared.

He doesn't, because it's still kind of awkward between them but at least they're slowly getting back into their old back and forth and they're working together again and it's good. Phupha likes this version of Tian, too. Less arrogant but self-assured instead, confident, he's grown since they last saw each other but he didn't lose any of his sweetness or the impish glimmer in his eyes and one night he sits down in front of Phupha and joins him in pulling yet another all-nighter and they're ok, he thinks. He still wants to kiss him and thinks about pulling him into an empty conference room several times a day but he can handle it. Mostly.

They get another project and it has sth to do with environmentalism and sustainability and they both get really into it bc they're both passionate about these issues, feel like their work can actually be useful for once, but it's difficult bc it needs a lot of funding and investors don't like to spend money on sth that doesn't offer the biggest profit. They work on this for weeks, even meeting in their free time to brainstorm and research (and Phupha wasn't prepared for Tian with his hair unstyled, wearing a soft sweater and jeans and looking ridiculously cute eating sticky rice from a cheap take-away stand down the road) and it eats up all his time but it's also the most fulfilling thing he ever did on this job and he gets to do it with Tian.

When they manage to convince the investor to fund their idea, Phupha feels more accomplished than he ever has in his entire life. He's proud of himself, proud of Tian, of what they managed to do together. He knows he could've never done it without him, knows there will never be anyone who can bring out the best in him like Tian can. So once everyone else is gone from the room, Phupha walks over to Tian, sure of himself now, takes him in his arms and kisses him. And when Tian wraps his arms around his neck and kisses back he thinks that this is really shaping up to be the best day of his life so far.

Later, after they celebrated with the others from their division, Tian pulls him into his office, tears his clothes off and kisses him stupid. It becomes a habit. He's really glad his door has blinds and can be locked from the inside.

[kaaytea]

S/O does their makeup

⤷Includes: Akaashi, Kuroo, Bokuto, Sugawara

A/N: wow look I did self insert stuff for once, absolutely wild. I had a blast writing this so enjoy :))

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

Akaashi

The both of you were lying on the couch in the living room, he was lying on top of you while you scrolled through Instagram

You landed on a post with a very pretty, shimmery smoky eye

Inspiration has struck ✨

"Kaashi?"

"hmm?"

"can I do your makeup?"

"..."

"ok"

Tired Akaashi = he really doesn't care as long as he can relax

He gets up off of you and waits for you to return with yo makeup bag

He mayhaps have dozed off for a bit while you were doing his eyebrows

You were just being very gentle with him and he was so relaxed he just-🥺🥺 sleepy boy

You had to wake him up to do his eyeshadow tho and you felt so bad bc he looked so peaceful

He hated the eyeliner

It felt weird and you poked his eye a few times bc he kept moving

3/10 he doesn't recommend not a fun experience

You on the other hand were loving the look rn tho

He had a shimmery black smoky eye w/ some sliver glitter on the lid, and winged liner

Originally you wanted to do lashes too but decided not to for his safety and comfort

"Akaashi I need you to open your mouth slightly"

".....huh?"

"I'm putting your lipstick on"

"ok"

He's so compliant, he knows how happy this is making you so he just rolls with it

When you finish he opens his eyes and looks at you and you just 😳😳

If you thought he was beautiful before he is absolutely gorgeous now

"can I see?"

" OH... uh yeah sure"

You give him a hand held mirror and....he actually really likes how he looks? Never really thought makeup was for him but.... apparently it is bc wOw his brows look good

Has a big smile when he looks back at you

" I really like it"

" I- you don't hate it? Really?"

" of course not, my eyebrows look cool :))"

Only Akaashi Keiji would describe his perfect eyebrows as "cool"

Kuroo

Ha ha a curious kitty

You had just finished organizing your makeup, you had been putting off going through all of it and getting rid of expired/things you didn't use but you finally did it and now everything is v v clean and organized

Little did you know this curious cat had been watching you the whole time from your bed

Literally didn't even know he was there till he spoke to you

"Could you do my makeup?"

"what? You really want me to put makeup on you?"

"yeah, I'm intrigued by it. I wanna know how it feels"

You just kinda shrug, grab a few products and go to sit in front of him on the bed

Doesn't fidget at all, he stays completely still throughout the entire process

Asks alot of questions tho

"what's this do?"

" That's an eyelash curler"

" It looks like a torture device"

At first you were just gonna put some eyeliner on him and give him a fun lip color, but then you added a bit of pink eyeshadow and some gold graphic liner...and some red liner on his lower lash line

Yeah you kinda went wild

He was snooping around in the lil bag you had your single shadows in when you heard him gasp

" is this heart shaped glitter??!!"

"uuh yeah"

"PUT IT ON ME!!"

He's very excited about the glitter 😌😌

You put it high up on his cheek bones/ under his eyes

By some miracle you were able to get lashes on him

He was very happy with how it turned out

" damn I look really hot"

"wait this isn't fair, how come you're like 10x more sexy now :("

"Some people are just born with it babe"

Deff sends a photo to Bokuto and acts like he's trying to slide into his dms

"Hey there big boy, heard you're good at spiking balls, maybe you could hit some other things for me ;))"

"HDJDBSKSJ!!!"

"WAIT WHY DO YOU ACTUALLY LOOK GOOD?? I DONT LIKE THIS!!!"

";))"

Bokuto

He's the one who asked you

He was really bored and just kinda flopped on your bed, it was one of those stormy days where you couldn't go out

He spotted your makeup bag on top of the dresser

Came up to you in the kitchen holding it like 🥺👉👈

"Can you make me pretty like you?"

"you're already pretty Bo"

"But I want to be as pretty as you.."

"....ok sit down"

"🥰🥰"

Will nOt stop moving, he is vErY fidgety

Opens almost every product you have and smells it

Was very excited to find out liquid lipstick smelt like cupcakes

You let him choose what colors he wanted bc of how excited he seemed

Was that a mistake?....maybe but the way his face lit up looking at all the colors was worth it

"YEs!"

"so you want blue eyeshadow with lime green eyeliner and purple lipstick?"

He's just a big puppy let him be 🥺🥺

You had to redo his eyeliner like 3 times bc he kept fidgeting

Liked looking at all the different brushes you had, he also ranked them by their softness level

Picked up one of your blending brushes and booped you on the nose with it

Explaining fake lashes to him is so difficult, he looks at you like you're explaining rocket science

"you just add a bit of glue on here, and then put the lash on your eye. They just make your lashes look really long and full"

"......eye wigs"

"I- no"

He was very excited when you finished

Immediately took on the persona of a rich lady

Was using one of the tote bags you use to carry your groceries as a "purse" and grabbed the small bitchy sunglasses you own

He looked really good

"ok ok, Bo thats enough"

"Sorry what? I don't speak poor person"

Sugawara

Sunday afternoon cuddles with Suga are the best

You guys were both lounging curled up together doing your own things

He was reading a book Ennoshita recommend and you were messing around on your phone

You ended up getting bored so you put your phone down to snuggle closer to him

You just kinda watched him read for a bit, admiring his features

He let out a small sigh and put his book down

"What are you thinking about?"

"Just how pretty you are"

"Well I think you're gorgeous"

He's such a sweetheart 🥺

You guys just kinda enjoy the silence for a bit as he pressed light kisses down your jaw

"Would you let me do your makeup?"

"mmm I don't know..."

"....I'll give you kisses"

"...."

"deal 👀"

Tells you not to do anything too crazy, which is fine with you

You opt for the classic cat eye and red lip 😌

He stays still for the most part but makes you take breaks when doing the eyeliner bc it feels funky

He has a habit of humming so he hums lil songs for you while you work 🥺

Had a blAst playing with your beauty blender, it was like a lil stress ball

He looks v v good with highlighter on, he's just got really nice cheek bones

Sorry babe but fake lashes aren't happening, he will physically resist if you attempt to put them on him

He liked the lipstick tho, it felt nice

You took a picture of him before handing him a mirror new phone background

Was kinda meh about wearing makeup but complimented your skills

He loves encouraging you and praising your skills bro

"you're really good at doing makeup y/n"

"well I'd hope so, I've been doing it for a long time"

"....."

"Can I get my kisses now"

"Of course you can baby"

The kisses were worth the wait :))

[artsy-moonwalker]

Would you go into more details about your OC’s backstories?? They all look so cool 😆

I would love to! Thank you so much for this question :)

I'm going to focus distinctly on their childhood for these descriptions.

(mentions of drug addiciton, war, and violence)

Before I get into their backstories, it is important to address their environmental situation for context.

In their childhood, there was a civil war going on within America. This is a fictional war, of course, taking place in the early 2000s. Lenis, Everest, Flint, and Darryon all have their parts to play, and the war affects the four in different ways. While Lenis, Everest, and Flint are trying to escape war from their hometown and cross the country, Darryon and his siblings are attending shelters and risk their lives trying to help in any way they can.

So now that we have some context of their biggest childhood dilemma, let's get into the four individually. I won't go into complete detail to avoid any spoilers I'd like to share later on, but I will dive into their personalities and importance. I don't know how long this post will be, but I'll try to keep it as short as I can.

Lenis, 13 years old - tall, blond, a bit tan, a distinct scar on his left jaw, brown eyes

Lenis lives in a small town in Ohio. It's a bit run down, and his house is in bad shape. Considering his family is lower class, he doesn't have much money to spend, and he gets by with what he has. He lives with his two strict parents, him being an only child. But he takes care of a stray cat that lives in a forest behind his home that he calls "Otter." Whenever he tries to get the cat to stay in the house, his parents don't allow it. They can't exactly afford to take care of an animal, especially when they have to pay for his monthly medication and doctor visits.

He has a bone condition where his bones are incredibly fragile. He can't walk for very long, and running is even worse on him. It doesn't take a lot of force to break a bone either, and he's had to visit the doctor numerous times for fractures and snaps. So he has a medication that helps him not feel the aching as much, and allows him to walk or run for a time. He is in no way a strong person. His physical strength is constantly challenged and he feels like a burden to those he loves whenever they have to make sacrifices to just to help him. Especially when it comes to his best friend, Everest.

He is always being protected by Everest. He's taken multiple punches for him, he has to carry him sometimes, he can't do a lot of outdoor activities with him due to how easy it is to get injured. Lenis hates this. He hates being held back and he hates that his best friend has to be held back too because of it. He often tells Everest that he can do things himself, but that ends with him getting hurt more than not.

Lenis really is a grateful and humble soul. He tries to find the good in every situation no matter how painful it can be. This is especially apparent for his friends. If anything is troubling them, he will do what he can to get them through it. His optimism was a lot more prominent when he was a child, though. After escaping war, he finds it difficult to find the good in bad situations. But that doesn't mean he won't try to. It's safe to say the light in his eyes are faded as he grew older.

Everest, 13 years old - short, red head, blue eyes

This is Lenis' best friend, that's how everyone at his school titles him. Because he is constantly by his side more than he is alone. He knew Lenis since he was a toddler due to their mothers being friends, and ever since then, Lenis would nickname him "Evvy." Everest was always like a brother to him. He was incredibly protective and would often put Lenis before him.

Emotions and Everest don't exactly work well together. He tends to be reserved. Cold and bitter, even. If he's showing any extreme emotion, it tends to be anger or frustration. But he has a soft spot for Lenis. He's really one of the only people around him that can make him smile. Other than his mom, of course, who he lives with down the street from Lenis. His mother was pregnant before he left home; his father having left after a short and abrupt divorce. Little information was given to him about why that occurred. But his mom was happier, and that's what he wanted. He was never close with his father anyway.

Everest knows that his protectiveness over his friends, especially Lenis, can be a fault at times. He's gotten hurt many times due to it, both mentally and physically. And it isn't even because his friends are defenseless. He knows they can protect themselves if they need to, but he cannot help himself. He can't let them get hurt if he can stop it. He speaks bluntly, and his words may go over a few lines, or he may be prone to starting arguments, but he is incredibly selfless. He means well in every action he takes despite all of that.

Flint, 12 years old - short, black buzz cut, large dark eyes

Flint is a troubled child to say the least. He's callous towards others, he seems to only care about himself, and he isn't afraid to use force and threaten violence. He was Lenis' biggest bully after ending his friendship with him in a desperate fit to steal his pain medicine. Yes, Lenis and him were friends before that. And Flint truly wanted to continue the friendship, but he needed those pills. Lenis wasn't going to just give them to him. So he had to resort to violence, thus harming Lenis, and regretting it later.

It's easy to think that maybe Flint had a drug addiction, and stole Lenis' pills because of that. But that isn't the case at all. It wasn't because of an addiction, it was for a much deeper reason.

His younger sister, Penny, was facing a horrible sickness that was going to kill her if she didn't get the right treatments. His mother, being constantly intoxicated with alcohol, spent all of her money on things she didn't need. So she couldn't afford Penny to have any treatment at all. Flint, who has been basically raising his little sister, decided to take matters into his own hands, and find any possible way to make her feel better. Even if it meant harming Lenis for some pills.

Flint loves his sister more than anyone. Or loved, at least. She unfortunately didn't make it long after the pain medicine incident.

He wants to be good, he really does. But Flint is difficult to get along with. Especially with Everest. Much like the red head, Flint has a short temper, and they always fight with each other. But also like Everest, he has a soft spot for Lenis (he is sort of like the peacemaker of the group). Flint is incredibly emotional, and he always says what's on his mind, even if they're not so nice things. He feels regretful for a lot of things, though. He's trying to be a better person, and befriending Lenis again is something he is determined to do.

Darryon, 12 years old - Average height, black curly hair, dark eyes, has an intense burn scar along his face

Darryon lives in California with his siblings, and only his siblings. His parents died in a car crash while they were on their way home from a relative's house. The war was breaking out, and they were caught up in it at the worst possible time. Darryon's oldest brother was a soldier in the war, and his oldest sister was her younger siblings' guardian while he was gone. He has five siblings, not counting himself. Three girls and two boys. And he is very close with each of them, especially his oldest sister, Carlitha. She followed shelters, and he did the same. For a long time, she was concerned for his wellbeing considering just how dangerous a job like this was. They were always venturing in war zones and had to face many hardships. But even at a young age, Darryon wanted to be part of something bigger than himself. His parents' death were a big motivator in his efforts, and he found that helping others get through the war was an effective coping mechanism.

He didn't go through these hardships without consequences, though. On one occasion, a shelter he was attending got bombed, and he was caught in the flames, leaving the brutal burn marks you see on him now. These marks filled the mouths of the other kids at his school when he tried going back. But how can anyone go back to a normal life after that? Luckily he had a good group of friends to back him up during his good and hard nights.

He has a very distinct sense of humor, and finds it easy to entertain himself when no one is around. Some of the kids at his school think he's weird because of his behavior at times. He talks to himself out loud, he has a funny laugh, he has a few imaginary friends (one stays with him even in his adulthood), etc. But he embraces those things more than anything, and his friends don't care, so why should he?

When he isn't helping at a shelter, he finds time for himself or his family. For example, he's very fascinated with nature, and enjoys drawing what he sees around him in a sketchbook. He's pretty good at it too. What started as drawings of birds or gardens soon turned into drawings of burnt landscapes and debris of towns. He liked to draw the people he would meet in shelters as well, and he kept every drawing, not knowing if that person survived after they parted ways or not.

Darryon's story does collide with the others at some point. He and his sister go to great lengths around the country, of course they're going to befriend Lenis, Everest, and Flint at some point, and it will certainly stay that way.

If you read this far, thank you! I really hope this little introduction to them has intrigued you, and if not, that's okay too :) I want to share more about them later on, and I plan to write out chapters to get the full story soon as well. I've been working on this story for more than a year now in private, and I'm really having fun, so I'm excited to share it with you. Thank you again!

[rotomgender-moved]

Under the cut is the first part/chapter of it

Title: Runs in our Family

Word Count: roughly 1.5-2k I'd say

TWs: Near panic attacks, mild dehumanization of self, general ask to tag

Part One

The constant click of timers and bubbling of boiling water is what grounded them, eyes flickering about the room to watch over everything he had to. The rhythmic sound of a knife cutting through vegetables was like music to his ears, a hum rumbling through their chest added to the harmony of the kitchen. It made him feel in control, because he was. Guided merely by his memory of the recipe. Even then, he can tweek and test and try new things. It allowed them to have control over its life. It allowed it  to feel safe, even when working with fire and knives and pots and pans searing red with heat.

"N, my golden friend," His Zoroark companion began from their resting position. "The noodles, you need to put them in the water." N froze for a moment, startled by the sudden reminder.

"Ah! Yes, you're right. What could I do without you, Illusion." It chuckled as its own forgetfulness, scooping the fresh noodles in careful hands and putting them into the water carefully. Setting the egg timer for a minute and a half before continuing the final preparations on the vegetables. Picking them in his hands and putting them into the sauce in a few scoops. 

"You are becoming a good chef, my golden friend, but you mustn't lose yourself in your head while working with fire."

"Yes, Illusion, I am very aware. I'm working on it, I promise."

"I pray to Arceus you learn before you lose a paw."

"Hand, before I lose a hand."

"You get the picture."

Truly, N thought as he nodded to Zoroark. What could I do without you.

N let out a breath of air, turning off the fire in the stone as the timer goes off. Waiting quietly for the sauce to finish cooking. Reminding himself to take a few tablespoons of sugar and sprinkle it into the sauce, making it just that much sweeter. Waiting just for a few more moments, they have to. Reward cannot be reaped without patience, he thought, he must have patience.

To fill his time, he spread his hands up in the air in a Y shape, spinning around and humming. Fully content before he felt a sharp pain in his hand, followed by the loud BANG of the hanging pans hitting each other. N flinched, covering his ears and letting out a whine. A shiver rocked his body, but just before they could feel any tears begin to brim. A hand was placed onto his back, or a paw, moreso.

"It is alright," The voice of his pokemon cooed. "It is only cooking utensils, nothing more. Now, why don't you plate your dinner and watch some of your shows?" 

They continued to nod a little, thanking the illusionist with a scratch on the chin. Which, from the aura of joy it received from Zoroark, was greatly appreciated. N turned on their heel and scooped the noodles onto a plate he already had set aside before pouring a ladle or two of sauce onto it. N had promised Mallow a few days before that he would save some extra sauce for her to use in one of her dishes. Whatever concoction she may come up with, and however much it made the trio of chefs-turned-gym-leaders angry, he was excited to see it. 

As he settled down at his little table in his little kitchen, he smiled a tad. It had taken well a while for him to grow accustomed, or even willing, to live in a home. His first actions at coming to this strange new region had been to find an escape in the woods with his pokemon companions and live off nature for a month and a half. Which apparently, from what they deciphered from the angry ranting of a disgruntled Hugh and the chaotic explanation of a worried Alder. Had left his fellow Unovans with a wild goose chase to find him, having only been discovered by an odd group of children with accents he didn't quite recognize mistaking him for a new wild pokemon, thusly getting hit with a thunder wave that left him in the Pokemon Centers human unit for a little longer then N would prefer to admit.

Once they had been captured and as Nate and Rosa dubbed it, "Secured, Contained and Protected", they were subjected to an explanation that pulling an out-of-pocket disappearing act after the multiple both he, Hilbert and Hilda pulled off, wasn't the best idea. Which he understood! But it wasn't out-of-pocket. They should have expected it to run off into the woods and allowed it to. Or at least explained to those paralysis-happy children to watch out for an uncanny woodland dweller with a Zororak.

Even then, once they were captured, it was surely difficult for them to adjust. They were a pokemon, weren't they? A beast, that's what he'd always been told. No human would be able to speak with creatures that aren't fellow humans. But isn't it the same with Pokemon? So are these pokemon more human than beast, or is he more beast than human? Was it the years of isolation that made it hard to settle in an actual home all by itself, or was it the longing to run free with beasts like him?

N didn't like sitting in that question, so as it always did, it shoved it back into a deep corner of their mind and locked it in a little box with all those other heavy questions. All of the concerns and the old ideologies he forcibly shoves away and represses. It was all he could do, if he wasn't a beast or human. Then who could he be helped by?

Well, it didn't matter. It hadn't even noticed it had finished its plate of early dinner during his lamenting. Having been lazily twirling the fork in nothing for a good few moments to minutes. 

"N, my golden child," Zororak began. "Why don't you tuck me away and go speak to other people. You haven't left this little ranch-house in a few days; it will do you some good." They commented, nudging N's back. The soft clacks of things such as potions, a tube for those "PokeBlocks" that a pair of twins had been gifting to everyone on the island, and pokeballs.

"That… Does sound like a good idea." N agreed quietly, fully coming out of their thoughts. "Yeah." They got up off their seat and washed the plate and other utensils he had used swiftly, before shrugging their jacket back on and stringing their hair into a ponytatail once more. If Zororak thought it was a good idea, then N might as well be convinced. This pokemon had single-paw-dedly helped raise him from infancy to now. Always having found its way back to him. N thought of it as a mother and as they say. Mother knows best.

As he exited his home and was met by warm sunshine, he suddenly remembered why they had been so intrigued by the woods and all its inhabitants for oh-so-long. Or well, the week they had been there before they were hospitalized by four sneaky, pokemon hunting children. They couldn't be mad, though. They were apparently uncanny looking, Hilbert having described him as "a bit to long and a little too fluffy, with speech so fast he might as well just be making noises."  

But N didn't mind, it simply thought itself as far more built for the wild than the others. But… Thinking about it, that could be the reason why everyone though that of him. As N walked, staring down at the grass in thought. He felt his shoulder bump someone running by.

"Watch it, tall-ass!" A quite foulmouthed voice sounded, making N's eyes flicker to the redhead who was already making a getaway.

"Language!" They simply called back, rolling their eyes, hearing a distant "shut up!" as they made distance with the redhead. "Rude child." He decided, looking up to glance around the circle of homes that they had all settled in during this odd meet up. In a region that nobody seemed to have heard of, at that. It felt weird, it was weird. Why did any of them trust it?

Well, it should speak for itself. It went along, even if dragged on by his group of siblings-by-spirit. Chattering away that if they were all going, he was coming along. That they had already packed everything for him, and that if he refused they'd just sleep powder him and take him along anyway-

Why did I not run off? They thought, realizing the slight horror of that situation. Those kids were needlessly pushy in trying to get N to talk to new people. Dragging him about the cruiser they were in with all the other guests. Introducing him to some of the other kids that Nate and Hugh had already dragged into their mischief.

What were those kids names? Barry and Sapphire, he believes. Sapphire was that young lady who's brother had given him the tube of pokemon candies, if he remembers. Barry was a talkative young boy who seemed to immediately jump ship to play along with Nate and Hugh's pranks. He also remembers a handful of other faces, a married couple he vaugly remembers seeing on a few news casts back in Unova, Red and Green were their names. Along with another lady he didn't recognize, who took quickly to chatting along with Hilbert and Hilda. Rosa had been coaxing a green haired boy out of his shell with who he thinks was Sapphire's brother. 

He remembers a few other faces. A circle of kids all taking part in pokemon trading under Lance's watch. Bianca and Cheren, listening to a young boy, chitter away about his brother. Two boys nearly tearing at eachother, and not in a pokemon battle, while their supposed companions either encouraged it or tried to seperate them. One of them was that redhead who had swore at them, he thinks. 

But most importantly, he met Mallow and Guzma on that ship. The only two he confidently remembers the names and faces of. Mallow was a sweet woman, a trial captain. She had seen his shivery, nervous nature and pulled him aside from the crowd. He had listened to her talk about cooking and asked a few questions himself. Which is where that interest began. Guzma was… well he can only say he was Guzma. Rough around the edges yet smooth in the soul type, who had introduced him to N's first new species of pokemon in a while. A very, very polite and well mannered Gollisapod. He could sense even before listening to the pokemon that it was well cared for. 

It further made their heart pull, obviously the pokemon was battle-scarred. One or two chips on its shell that were healing overtime. But still so… Happy. Pokemon Battles weren't that bad, he knew that. But the confirmation that it was all okay was still nice.

"Hey, you!" A voice snapped him from his thoughts, making him turn. "Yeah, you! Take a few steps back. You almost walked yourself off a cliff." 

"Oh- why thank you! I didn't even notice."

"Obviously you didn't," He snorted a little. "You're that N guy that Rosa was telling me about! I'm Ruby, I was out trying to see some new pokemon. But all I caught was you almost about to take a trip off a cliff." Ruby rolled his eyes.

"Well, I was lost in thought. Thank you again for catching me, Ruby. Though I'm sure I would've survived a fall into some sand." N shrugged, examining Ruby as the boy nodded over his shoulder.

"Well… Maybe as a thank you, you could come to the community house where all of us trainers are. Rosa said you had some pretty cool Pokemon that you never let anyone touch the PokeBalls of. It's gotten the group talking." Ruby smiled, eyes crinkling. N paused in thought, feeling the pokeball in his hand he recognized as Zororaks. It wanted them to talk to other people… So they might as well. Even if the idea of presenting their pokemon to people they didn't know made their stomach twist. 

"... Okay, alright. I will. Lead the way, Ruby."

[a5tr0n0m1cal]

S/O who likes celebrating Dia Del Los Muertos/ Day Of The Dead, but is worried that Skel might find it weird because of all the skeleton decorations.

Whew. Ok. *cracks knuckles* This is a bit difficult for me since I don’t celebrate it myself but....I’ll try my best 😤✨

The Guys w/ a S/O Who Celebrates Dia Del Los Muertos:

Sans: Oh, hey. No worries, S/O. He thinks it’s kinda shocking at first but he’s intrigued by the culture and meaning behind it. Say.....Can you decorate his skull like the sugar ones? He wants to see Papyrus’ reaction.

Papyrus: You don’t even get to feel nervous about it because once he finds out about the holiday he’s bombarding you with questions. He wants to learn every single fact about it he can. He’s so enthusiastic and he’s more than down to celebrate with you. If you’ll allow him. He also wants his skull decorated, please-

Red: What? Why would that bother him? You’re fine S/O. He might ask for a small description of the holiday. He takes a minute to process the information you give him before he smiles big. “Sounds like a celebration. I’m in.” Despite his gruff attitude and usual jokes, he’s very respectful.

Boss: He’s only slightly shocked at all the skeletal decorations. He takes this holiday very seriously because it seems important to you. He assures you that it’s no issue with him. In fact, he’s asking you to tell him all you can about it. He’ll offer to help prepare some food with you if you’d like.

Blue: Much like Papyrus, he’s very enthusiastic. He doesn’t mind your celebrations at all! Celebrate away! He definitely wants to know the meaning behind a lot of things that you do and he’s very excited to experience this human holiday with you. He wouldn’t ask you to decorate his skull, but if you offer he’ll eagerly accept your offer.

Stretch: Oh. Yeah, it’s cool S/O. Don’t worry about it. He doesn’t ask a lot of questions, but he’s very attentive if you explain stuff to him. He’ll go along with whatever you want him to. It’s your holiday, human. Go nuts.

Bear: He actually would ask you about it before you even start to get nervous. A lot of monsters from his world would...be very interested in this holiday. A day where you stop and celebrate those who have passed on? He’d be very on board with whatever you want to do. If you ask to decorate his skull he stops for a moment. If you're his S/O he’ll trust you. After you’re done and show him what the end result looks like with a mirror he might tear up. You made his worst insecurity look beautiful.

Brace: He’s very excited. He read about it previously and practically begs for your permission to celebrate with you. He’s following you around everywhere asking you if you need help with anything. Decorations? Food prep? Please, let him help! 

Raz: Much like Boss he’s a bit taken aback, but he’s not offended. Goodness no. Monsters have their own holidays that might seem strange to humans so why would he get bent out of shape over this? The whole premise of the holiday is interesting and he’d be willing to listen to anything you want to tell him about it.

Rus: Much like Stretch, he’s very chill about the whole thing. He’s not offended in the slightest, S/O. This is your holiday. He’s learned a bit about the importance of it. By all means. Celebrate away! 

Plum: You’re fine. Go on ahead...Actually, do you mind if he asks you a few questions about the holiday? He’s a bit interested in the whole cultural aspect of it all. Plus it’s important to you.

Cash: He was actually begging you to decorate his skull for him as soon as he heard about it. He wants to see if he can blend into the decorations. He’s not bothered by this in the slightest. 

[freddie-weaselbee]

Paradise//F.W.

Series Summary: I’m thinking of making this in a short series called To The Dreamers (yes I know I already have 10 wips but I don’t care), so let me know if you want a part 2!

Pairing(s): Fred Weasley x Fem!Reader, Georgelina

Warnings: Mentions of sex, very brief description of sex scene (nothing graphic), slight language (like one word)

Summary: The Mirror of Erised wasn’t supposed to work like this. Was it?

Word Count: 3.2k

Song: Paradise by Coldplay

A/N: This might get confusing so bolded italics is song lyrics, only italics is what is seen in the mirror, and normal text is what’s actually happening at Hogwarts. It’ll make sense as it goes hopefully. 

“You don’t find love, it finds you. It’s got a little bit to do with destiny, fate, and what’s written in the stars.     -Anaïs Nin

If there was one thing that Fred Weasley was, it was a dreamer. His imagination controlled him, running rampant in everything he did. He didn’t think before he acted. Instead, he would have an idea, which spiraled into an intricate, albeit not well thought out, plan, which quickly became an action that usually had unintended consequences. But no matter how many times Fred would get in trouble, how many detentions he would have to face or lectures from his mother he would have to endure, he would always be a dreamer. 

“Fred, hurry up!” His twin brother was calling him from down the corridor, snapping Fred out of his current daydream. At the moment he was wondering if a person would be able to fly if they were surgically implanted with wood from a broom, and he was considering people he could test it out on. Fred rushed to catch up with George, who was standing outside of a passageway they had explored multiple times. 

The twins knew Hogwarts like the back of their identical hands, having used the Marauders Map for a majority of their time at the school. They had explored every nook and cranny dozens of times, memorizing the twists and turns that the passageways took.

 Having seen everything multiple times already it didn’t make sense why they would be sneaking around just to walk the familiar passages. But with Umbridge reigning supreme in her dictatorship, sometimes it was nice to feel like they had some sort of control and upper hand. 

Fred didn’t know what drew him and his brother to this certain passage. They had both decided to sneak out and figure out where to go from there, but as soon as they left Gryffindor Tower they had an odd sense telling them to follow their gut. It eventually led them to a small room they had seen countless times. It was an abandoned classroom, nothing special. A few old books and broken chairs, dust covering every inch of the place. And yet, it was as if something was calling from inside the room. Something bigger than themselves. 

George pushed the door open and stepped into the familiar darkness, casting lumos from his wand with Fred following suit. They squinted as they peered around the room, looking for whatever would satisfy this desire inside of them. Simultaneously, their  eyes rested on a dim glow in the corner. 

“What do you think that is?” Fred asked his brother, who had begun moving toward the light. It was a tall, rectangular object with a light tarp draped over it, the only thing separating the light from overtaking the room. George reached his hand up to grab the cloth. 

“Only one way to find out.”

The large covering came fluttering down and the boys had to shield their eyes from the intense glow that overtook them. After a few seconds of letting their eyes adjust, the Weasley brothers were staring at a large mirror with letters engraved, spelling out nonsense. The one word that did stand out was one that they had heard before, a legend at Hogwarts that was known to be true from countless stories. 

Erised. 

“Oi look at this!” cried the younger twin. He hesitantly took a few steps toward the corner, eyes gleaming with excitement. 

“Is that what I think it is?” Fred had heard countless stories about the Mirror of Erised, some from his younger brother and others from Harry Potter himself who had multiple encounters with it his first year. But Fred had never actually seen the mirror, no matter how hard he and George searched for it. And then suddenly, it was here. 

“It shows your deepest desires, right?” George was standing off to the right of the mirror, about to step in front and stare at his reflection. 

“Yeah,” Fred said, “I bet yours will be you shagging Angelina won’t it?” His cheeky grin was plastered on his face as his twin gave him an annoyed shove. 

“You’re just jealous that I actually have someone and you’re all alone,” George shot back. Fred rolled his eyes playfully, but the quip still stung. It was difficult seeing all his friends get into serious relationships in their last year of Hogwarts while he stayed the ever-single flirt he was known to be. It was just another reminder that they were growing up too fast, and soon they’d be adults, getting married and starting families. It was all happening too soon. 

George had stepped into the line of sight of the mirror, and his face lit up as he looked at himself. 

“What is it?” Fred asked. 

“Well, you were right about the Angelina part, but we’re not shagging. No, she’s holding my hand and we’re standing outside--our joke shop! Freddie it’s the joke shop, it looks exactly like the designs you’ve drawn. You’re there too, and we look good! Successful. Important.”

George continued to look into what he hoped to one day be his future, until Fred cleared his throat and signaled for his turn. “So, you really see Angelina there, huh?” Fred and Angelina had been friends since they were 11, having most of their classes together and being on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Fred had even asked her to the Yule Ball the year before as friends, only to have her talk to him about George the whole night. 

He was ecstatic when George had finally asked her out, not having to hear them complain about the other one being so oblivious all the time. But thinking about George seeing himself with someone long term made Fred jealous. His brother had his whole life planned out, all of his dreams set to come true. And Fred still had never had a serious relationship. How was he ever supposed to grow up when he was so behind everyone else?

Fred hadn’t even heard George’s answer or noticed the weird looks he was giving him, because music began to play. “Do you hear that George?” he said, interrupting the other redhead’s words. 

George continued to furrow his brow at his twin. “Hear what?”

“The music…” It sounded like violins playing, a chorus of beautiful noises that just made him want to close his eyes and float away on a dream, ignoring the harsh truths of reality. 

“Umm Fred,” George said, looking very concerned, “there’s no music.”

Fred looked around the room, trying to pinpoint the source. He soon realized it was coming from the mirror itself, and he took that as a sign to step in front. He let his eyes adjust to the shining light as he watched the reflection change. The music was slowly getting louder as shapes formed. The violins played a tune that sounded so familiar, and yet so distant. 

The buildup of the sounds continued, spiraling around him and drowning out every other noise. Fred could feel the music coursing through him, shaking him to his core. The song slowed, calming down ever so slightly and building up to a big drop.

And then the music exploded.

Fred was nearly thrown back by the chorus of noises streaming through his years, sounds which his brother didn’t seem to notice at all, but Fred was far too invested in what was in front of him to care.

It was almost too much to take in. In front of him in the mirror, instead of where his reflection should be, flashed scene after scene, sending him into sensory overload. But the scenes weren’t of his life or his future. In fact he wasn’t in any of them. Instead, it was a girl.

She was driving a car, singing her heart out to music on the radio.

Flash.

She was swinging on a park swing, skirt flying up slightly as she jumped off and soared through the air.

Flash.

She was wiping down tables at a restaurant, talking with customers.

Flash.

She was dancing as rain poured down and soaked her, but she didn’t care.

Flash.

The pictures came and went, faster and faster in time with the music. 

She gazed at a painting in a museum, an intrigued look in her eyes.

Flash.

The shadow of her naked body appeared as she jumped into a lake with a few other girls.

Flash.

She was surrounded by people who were laughing as she flipped off the crowd, not letting her annoyed smile leave her face.

Flash.

She threw her arms around two boys on either side of her, sending one of them a wink as they skipped off down the road.

Fred felt a pang of jealousy after seeing the last image, for reasons completely unknown to him. He didn’t recognize this girl, and he knew he would’ve remembered seeing her. Her cheeky smile and boisterous laugh would have been ingrained in his mind if he had ever seen this girl in person. But he didn’t have time to ponder this, because that was when he heard the lyrics.

When she was just a girl, she expected the world

Her body flashed to that of a girl much younger, one with endless excitement and curiosity on her eyes. She sat gazing out of a car window, staring at the scenery that passed by her.

But it flew away from her reach, so she ran away in her sleep 

She was older again, a teenager of about 17 if Fred had to guess. She had the same gleam in her eyes as when she was younger as she laid down, arms and legs spread out, plugging in Muggle headphones and closing her eyes. 

And dreamed of para-para-paradise

She was standing outside of Hogwarts.

Para-para-paradise

She gazed down at her robes, tugging them as if they were the most amazing things she could be wearing.

Para-para-paradise

She reached toward the castle and moved to take a step in.

Every time she closed her eyes

She was back in her bed looking tired and annoyed. The hope her face had adorned seconds ago was slowly draining.

“Freddie, what’s happening?” George spoke up and Fred jumped, extremely startled. He was so invested in this girl, the one he knew nothing about, the one who seemed to be just outside of Hogwarts, or at least trying to get there.

“Shut up George.” He turned back to the mirror and ignored any protests from his brother's mouth.

When she was just a girl she expected the world

She was back in her bed, staring up at the ceiling fan spinning in circles.

But it flew away from her reach and bullets catch in her teeth

She was now staring directly at him, and it made Fred’s heart flutter. Her eyes were longing, as if all she wanted was to be with him. 

Life goes on it gets so heavy

She reached out a hand, placing it on the other side of the mirror.

The wheel breaks the butterfly

Fred moved to copy her position, the palms of their hands separated by only the layer of glass keeping them apart.

Every tear a waterfall 

She sighed and turned, walking away from him.

Fred almost called out, crying for her to come back, to look at him again. 

In the night the stormy night she’d close her eyes

She climbed out of a window leading to a flat part of the roof. She wrapped herself up in a blanket and stared up at the sky.

In the night the stormy night away she’d fly

She leaned back and closed her eyes, letting her hair frame her face and her arms wrap around herself.

And dream of—

and the music exploded once again

—para-para-paradise

Fred’s eyes went wide as he saw what flashed before him, similar to the first series of moments. Except this time, he was there too.

Fred was in the passenger seat of the car, singing along and stealing glances at the girl.

Para-para-paradise

They jumped off the swings together and she landed on top of him, both of them giggling and tickling each other.

Para-para-paradise

He was at a booth in a restaurant, this time with her sitting across from him instead of wiping the table down.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Fred spun her as they danced in the rain. She laughed when he dipped her and brought her back up. They were inches away from each other, lips getting closer by the second.

She’d dream of para-para-paradise

His arm was around her as she pointed at a piece of artwork and said something that was muffled by the music.

Para-para-paradise

Fred held her hand as their naked bodies splashed into the water before them. They resurfaced and Fred dunked her head under, causing a play fight to arise between them.

Para-para-paradise

She playfully smacked the back of his head and held up her middle finger, before she was engulfed in a hug from him.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

It was now Fred rather than the two other guys who she had her arm around, throwing him a flirtatious wink similar to his signature one. She gazed at him as if he was the only person in the world.

Fred had to remind himself to breathe. It was too much happening all at once, and yet he didn’t want it to stop. He didn’t even realize that his brother was calling for him and beginning to look worried about the sanity of his older twin. 

The music changed once again. It seemed to spiral around him as one long scene unfolded in the mirror of your deepest desire. 

La-la-la-la-la-la-la

She was dragging him up a hill, the glow of the moon and stars illuminating her face.

 Fred had never seen himself look so happy before, at least not happy in the way he looked then. 

La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la

She pulled him down to the ground, both laying on their backs. He pressed a small kiss to her neck and she squirmed, before turning his head to face the sky. 

And so lying underneath those stormy skies

The sky was alight with shooting stars. His hand slipped into hers. It was so natural, like they were meant to be there. To be together.

She'd say, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, I know the sun must set to rise"

And as the male voice sang those lyrics, the girl turned and said them to Fred, playing with his ginger locks as she spoke. He leaned toward her, cupping her cheek. She leaned in too, and the room once again returned to its booming chorus as soon as their lips touched. 

This could be para-para-paradise

They were now inside, her legs wrapped around his waist as he held her up, lips attached in a heated but love-filled make out session. 

Para-para-paradise

They were in a bedroom, their bodies pressed together as they showed their love physically. 

Fred averted his gaze at this scene. While nothing was too graphic, he felt weird staring at himself have sex with a girl he didn’t even know. But from what he did see, the passion and love behind the actions, he yearned for it even more. 

This could be para-para-paradise

Fred looked back as he noticed the scene change. 

She was asleep in his arms, still naked but covered up with a blanket. Their arms and legs were interlocked in any way possible, trying to become as close to each other as they could.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

Fred and the girl were standing inside what Fred had pictured for his future joke shop. They gazed around the bustling store, hands interlocked. 

This could be para-para-paradise

The entire Weasley family was sitting in the Burrow for dinner, as Fred introduced the girl to everyone. She took turns hugging them, before sitting down next to Fred. 

Para-para-paradise

Fred was on one knee, a beautiful ring in his hand. Her hands were covering her mouth as she nodded, jumping into Fred’s arms. 

This could be para-para-paradise

She walked down the aisle, looking angelic in her white dress. She reached the altar and took Fred’s hands, a tear streaking down his cheek. 

Oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh, oh

They both arrived home at the same time, donned in their respective work clothes. They greeted each other with a passionate kiss as they entered a small house. Their small house. 

This could be para-para-paradise

She held a stick in her hand, one with two blue lines appearing on the screen. Fred wrapped her in his arms, taking care to be gentle and not squeeze her stomach too hard. 

Para-para-paradise

Fred held a young boy in his arms, rocking him gently as he drifted to sleep. She sat next to him, a slightly older toddler on her lap. 

This could be para-para-paradise

The only thing that could be seen was their faces. They each held the others cheek in one of their hands and their lips mouthed the same words in sync. “I love you.” 

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh

And once again, she was alone. She stared at Fred, the real Fred, her hand on the glass and tears streaming down her face. 

Fred felt his eyes begin to water. As the song ended, the image of the girl faded away, and Fred was left with an empty mirror, showing nothing except darkness.

“What the hell Fred?” The ginger standing in front of the mirror was knocked out of his trance, literally, as George smacked his head. Hard. 

“You’ve been staring at that bloody mirror for 5 minutes, ignoring everything I said! What did you even see in that thing anyway?”

Fred turned to look at his brother, and George stepped back at the sight. Fred was looking at George, and yet it was as if he wasn’t really there. His mind and his heart were somewhere else, distracted by whatever that mirror had done to him. A single tear fell from Fred’s eyes and he tried to wipe it away, but he wasn’t quick enough. 

“Freddie…” George reached out to hold his brother. He had never seen Fred like this before. So vulnerable, so confused. Whatever he had seen in that mirror had changed him, but whether it was good change or bad George didn’t know. 

Before George could touch him Fred turned away. “I have to go.” And with that he dashed out of the room, not even bothering to look back. 

As Fred walked through the abandoned corridors of the Hogwarts castle, he couldn’t seem to stop himself from thinking. What in the world was that? That’s not how Ron and Harry had described their experiences at all, and why was there music involved? But most importantly, who was the girl?

How was his greatest desire for a life with someone he didn’t even know? That’s not how the mirror worked. Was it?

He didn’t know. All he did know was that whoever this girl was, whatever the scenes that played out represented, he needed to find out. 

Fred was a dreamer. He longed to live an exciting life, filled with adventure, excitement, and love. The Mirror of Erised had shown him his dream. It was right there. All he had to do was obtain it.

[chubbyreaderwriter]

Matchmaker

Mycroft Holmes x Chubby/Plus Size Reader

Prompt:  Could you write a one-shot where the reader is a dectective in Scotland yard, who met sherlock for the first time recently and sherlock still knowing that his brother is lonely decides that she would be a perfect fit for him and tries to set her and mycroft up... Basically I'm looking for a sherlock plays matchmaker.

Word Count: 2.6k

Warnings: none? 

Masterlist 

“So dead man on the floor, house ransacked, what do you think?...Sherlock? Sherlock!” Said man jumped out of his trance and turned to face Lestrade who was looking at him with frustration, “Well?” Sherlock rolled his eyes, “Come on Garret, this is easy even for you, wedding ring missing from the finger, seemingly half the possessions gone, absence of any pictures. It was the wife if you couldn’t see that already. Now enough about that, who’s she?” Greg sighed and rubbed his face with his hand before looking over to where Sherlock was facing, “Detective (L/N)? What about her?” 

Sherlock said nothing, just observed you and Greg looked at John next to him. The former soldier just shrugged, “I don’t question it anymore Greg, I’m sorry.” Greg looked at Sherlock, then you, then back to Sherlock, “You like her or summit?” Sherlock hummed in approval, “Not for me.” John chuckled from how confusing his friend was being but like he said, he didn’t question it. 

Without a word of warning, Sherlock made his way over to you, “Hi, I have a proposition for you which I have no doubt you’d be interested in. I would like to have you accompany a friend of mine to an evening meal. Judging by the past few failed relationships, you don’t like being lonely, even if you know you’re not compatible. But you’ve been making more of an effort in your appearance lately which can only mean you’re looking for another relationship.” You chuckled to yourself, “And you must be Sherlock. Given what people say about you, the last thing I expected you to be doing was setting me up on a date.” 

Sherlock huffed impatiently, “Yes yes, now will you go on the date or not?” He clasped his hands together, a silent plead for you to accept. You thought it over for a few moments, could it really hurt to try it out? And you doubted someone who called themselves a detective would actively put you in danger so what was the harm? Nodding your head, “Okay fine, but you owe me.” Sherlock scoffed but shook your hand, “Deal, here’s your phone back, I’ll text you with the details.” You were shocked but mostly confused when Sherlock gave you your phone back, when did he take it from you? You weren’t really mad at him though, he had given you something to be excited about. 

It had been a while since you had any excuse to dress up for an occasion and Sherlock had just presented it to you on a silver platter. Normally, you wouldn’t agree to this kind of thing but it had been difficult to date because of your new job now, being a detective was a turn off for most men, it seemed like. 

. . .

“A what?” Sherlock rolled his eyes at his older brother, “A date, I know it’s been a while but you must remember what a date is.” Mycroft let out a sigh of frustration, “And what makes you think you can meddle with my love life like this?” Sherlock looked at Mycroft, “Oh get over yourself, you’re lonely and you know it, I’m just trying to help. Maybe then you won’t be so...you.” Mycroft glared at Sherlock, “Listen brother mine, how many times do I have to tell you that I am not lonely. I do not need you to be playing matchmaker for me, if I wanted to be in a relationship, I could easily go out and find myself one.” 

Sherlock accidentally snorted from holding back a laugh, “You really think so?” At the sight of his brother’s anger, Sherlock calmed down, “Just go on the date, you’ll thank me later, she’s lovely.” Mycroft gritted his teeth, “Who is ‘she’?” Sherlock texted his brother a picture of you that he had taken from your Facebook profile, “Her name is (Y/N) (L/N) and she works with Graham.” Mycroft frowned, “Who is Graham?” Sherlock looked down at his phone as he started flicking through twitter, “Oh you know Graham, Scotland Yard, grey hair, could stand to lose a few pounds.” Mycroft leaned back in his chair, “You mean Greg Lestrade.” Sherlock nodded, “That’s what I said.” 

Sherlock turned and left his brother’s office, but Mycroft shouted after him, “Where am I supposed to be going?!” He didn’t hear a response but his phone vibrated to show a text from Sherlock with the time and address. He sighed as he rubbed his face with his hand, why did he have a feeling he was going to regret this? Mycroft was tempted to just refuse to go on the date to annoy his brother but as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he was lonely and a little companionship might be nice for once. Spending each night alone in his large, empty house was getting rather tiring over time. 

. . . 

You had been told to dress ‘fancy’ so you had worn your best dress in your closet, a long sleeved, off the shoulder light pink knee length dress that flattered your body by making your waist seem smaller to give you more of an hourglass shape. You had your hair styled just how you liked it and you had decided to wear heels for this date because you didn’t want to risk seeming under-dressed and you didn’t have any flats that would match the dress. You had a small clutch that had your purse, some makeup and perfume in, as well as your keys. 

You had taken a taxi to the address Sherlock had given and you were not surprised to see a very fancy restaurant, one that looked more intimidating than anything else. You weren’t sure what to do but luckily as you were stood staring at the building, you heard someone clear their throat next to you. You turned to see a man dressed in a suit and had an umbrella with them? It hadn’t been raining but you decided not to question it. You smiled at them, “Hello,” 

Mycroft had been a little taken aback when he saw you, you almost seemed too good to be true. He was never someone who had much preference for looks, but you were just so beautiful. He could tell by the look on your face that you had never been here before and were nervous, symptoms of a blind date he presumed. He walked over to you and cleared his throat to get your attention and when you smiled at him, he almost forgot what to say, you had such a captivating smile. When you started to look weary of him, he realised he actually had to say something to you, “My apologies, I don’t suppose you’re here because of Sherlock?” Your shoulders dropped slightly in relief, “Yes I am, are you my date for this evening?” 

Mycroft nodded in agreement and held out his arm for you to take. While the date wasn’t his idea, he was still going to be a gentleman. Your nerves started again when you walked inside the building, it was all so elegant and posh and you felt really out of place in here. You bit your bottom lip as you looked around, half listening to your date talk to the hostess. It was then that you realised you didn’t know his name yet. When the two of you were taken to a table, you cleared your throat, “I’m (Y/N) by the way, it’s nice to meet you,” Mycroft hummed, “Likewise, I’m Mycroft.” Your eyes widened a little, “Mycroft? That’s an unusual name isn’t it? I like it though.” 

Mycroft studied over you, trying to pick up on all the deductions he could about you but he seemed to have a little trouble concentrating and everything was a bit of a blur. You leaned forward a little, “So how do you know Sherlock?” Mycroft straightened in his seat, “He’s my little brother?” Mycroft could see the amusement in your face, “Really? What’s it like having a genius for a brother?” Mycroft scoffed, “I wouldn’t say he’s a genius, I’ve always considered myself the smartest between us.” You could help but chuckle a little to yourself and when you saw Mycroft’s confused and partially offended expression, you explained yourself, “If you were really that smart, you would’ve noticed that I’d rather have this date anywhere but here. I’m not made for fine dining.” 

Normally, this would have annoyed Mycroft, not being able to see something as obvious as this. But you intrigued him so he was more focused on learning more about you. He waited until there was the least amount of people watching and then grabbed your hand, leading you outside of the restaurant, “Where do you propose we go now?” You turned to him and looked at him with a curious expression, “You want to go watch a movie together?” Mycroft hummed, “It depends on the types of movies you prefer.” You smiled, “I like old movies.” “Hm, then I believe I have something to show you.” And that was how you found yourself being driven to Mycroft’s house.

It was weird that you didn’t feel uncomfortable around him, you didn’t feel scared of him or felt any bad vibes from him. He was surprised to feel oddly at ease with you as well, he felt like he could tell you anything despite having known each other for a very limited time. When you arrived at Mycroft’s house, you were taken back by the size of it, “My god, are you some kind of secret billionaire? Where do you work?” You giggled to yourself as you looked around the walls and ceilings, taking it all in. Mycroft had disappeared into the kitchen for a small while but could hear you talking as he came back with wine and two glasses, “I work for the British government.” 

You stopped in your awe, “Are you serious? That’s pretty cool.” Mycroft felt a sudden burst of pride at how easily you were impressed with him. He smirked to himself, “I suppose so, may I ask you a question?” You gladly took the glass of wine from his hand and took a drink, “Go ahead,” “What were your first impressions of me?” You walked closer to Mycroft, “Well, I thought you looked a little fancy and uptight and I still do, but you looked like a man who was lonely in my opinion. Very cute though.” You winked at him over the rim of your glass as you took another drink and Mycroft for once, didn’t have anything to say. 

You smiled at him, “Go on then, what did you think of me?” Mycroft cleared his throat and looked down at his own glass of wine, “I thought you looked beautiful, a little intimidated but someone who wasn’t afraid.” You blushed from his words and the two of you were lost in a moment between the two of you just looking into each other’s eyes. You hadn’t realised the two of you started to get closer until he was almost touching you. You cleared your throat, “So what was it you wanted to show me?” 

It was like the two of you were pulled out of a trance as Mycroft blinked and moved back one step to create some distance between the two of you. He walked down the corridor to lead you into his ‘theater room’ which looked like a small cinema in your opinion. You were in total awe of this man and his house, it was so big and fancy you were almost scared. Mycroft had you sit in a seat next to him when your eyes caught the projector, “I haven’t seen one of those in absolutely ages, my parents used to have one when I was a kid.” Mycroft smiled briefly at you as he set it up, your attention being directed in front of you when the light flashed on, illuminating the dark room. 

You had been excited to watch the movie and you had to stop yourself from laughing when you saw Mycroft mouthing the words along with the actors out of the corner of your eye. You were having such a good time, you almost didn’t want it to end. It was halfway through the movie that ,Mycroft put his hand up on the chair arm and didn’t realise your hand was already there until he felt it underneath his own. He was a little embarrassed about it and wasn’t sure what to do, should he keep it there? Should he take it away? Just as he was about to pull his hand away, he felt your fingers slowly wrap around his own, holding his hand. Mycroft felt his heart beat rising as he in turn held your hand and you smiled to yourself, only half focusing on the movie now. 

It was disappointing when the projector stopped as the movie was over, that meant you had to let go of Mycroft’s hand while he got up to turn off the device. You stood up and stretched, the chair had been comfy but it was awkward to sit in the same position for a long time. You smiled at Mycroft after you checked your phone to see the time, “It’s getting late, I suppose I should head home.” Mycroft was unable to hide his disappointment in your words, but it was going to happen sooner or later. He was surprised to see how close he felt with you after knowing you for so little time. 

Mycroft called his driver to take you home, wanting to ensure that you got home safely. “Are you sure? I can just get a cab, it’s not too much trouble.” “Please, I insist on it,” You had begrudgingly accepted his offer and the two of you waited at his front door until the car pulled up. You turned to face Mycroft, “I had a wonderful time you know.” Mycroft nodded, “As did I,” You opened your mouth to say something the same time as Mycroft and you lightly chuckled, “Oh sorry, you first,” “No, please, I’d hate to interrupt.” You bit your lip before you asked, “Would you perhaps like to do this again sometime?” Mycroft had been hoping that’s what you were going to say, “It would be my pleasure.” 

You blushed a little and looked at him for a moment before standing up on the tips of your toes to kiss him on the cheek, he was a lot taller than you. Quickly, you turned around and walked over to get into the car, not looking at him until you were inside so he couldn’t see you through the tinted windows. You relaxed against the leather seats, letting out a deep breath. Your head had just touched the back of the seat when your phone buzzed. Curious to see who was texting you, you pulled it out of your clutch and read the notification on the lock screen. It simply read, “Had a nice date? - SH” You shook your head but grinned at the message before turning your phone off again, putting it back in your bag. What a weird day. 

[inthedayswhenlandswerefew]

Eccentricity [Chapter 5: I’ve Lived The Life And Paid For Every Crime]

Series Summary: Joe Mazzello is a nice guy with a weird family. A VERY weird family. They have a secret, and you have a choice to make. Potentially a better love story than Twilight.

Chapter Title Is A Lyric From: Some Kind Of Disaster by All Time Low.

Chapter Warnings: Language, references to drugs and violence.

Other Chapters (And All My Writing) Available: HERE

Tagging: @queen-turtle-boiii​​​​ @bramblesforbreakfast​​​​​ @writerxinthedark​ @maggieroseevans​​​​​ @culturefiendtrashqueen​​​​​ @imnotvibingveryguccimrstark​​​​​ @escabell​​​​​ @im-an-adult-ish​​​​​ @someforeigntragedy​​​​​ @imtheinvisiblequeen​​​​​​​​​ @deacyblues​​​​​ ​ @tensecondvacation​​​​​​ @brianssixpence​​​​​ @seven-seas-of-ham-on-rhye​ @some-major-ishues​ @haileymorelikestupid​ @loveandbeloved29​

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Easy Questions, Evasive Answers

“So it was nothing,” Archer said, glancing up from where he was tinkering around beneath the hood of my 1999 Honda Accord, checking hoses and belts and dipsticks. “This is pathetic, by the way. That you can’t change your own windshield wiper fluid. Dishonor on you. Dishonor on your cow.”

“I never had my own car in Phoenix!” I objected around a mouthful of a Starbucks pumpkin muffin, my first of the season. And that was true: Renee and I couldn’t afford one. “I didn’t have to learn about car things!”

“No, it’s great, I love it, I have a customer for life.”

“It was totally nothing,” I told him. Meaning the photograph in the newspaper article from 1979. Meaning my paranoia surrounding beautiful, brooding, certifiably lethal Benjamin Lee.

Not Lee, I reminded myself. Benjamin August Hardy, born November 3rd 1893.

“Was it really?” Archer asked, skeptical.

“Uhhh, you were the one who was making fun of me for thinking he might be a time traveler. Or a bigfoot.” Or a vampire.

“Yeah, okay, true...” He let the hood of the Honda fall shut with a bang, then wiped the muddy streaks of motor oil from his hands with a stained rag. “But you were freaked out. Like super freaked out.”

“I was, yeah. But it wasn’t him in the photo. I took another look, there were freckles and, uh, like, uh, some other things that didn’t match up.”

“Huh.” Archer watched me with an expression I couldn’t read. “I didn’t notice that.”

“Ben laughed about it. Probably thinks I’m an idiot. A stalker and an idiot.”

Archer smirked slyly. “He must not have held it against you too much. I’ve never seen that guy laugh in my life.”

I took a moody bite of my muffin, rolled my eyes, feigned shallow schoolgirl angst. “Trust me, he’s not my biggest fan.”

“Ohhhh, and this bothers you?” Archer sauntered over and stole a crumbling hunk out of the pumpkin muffin. “Does someone have a little crush on the gorgeous, grouchiest Lee?”

“Definitely not.” I sipped my chai latte, contemplative, debating telling him more.

“Uh oh. There’s something else, I can see it. Spill the tea, you walking college-chick-who’s-obsessed-with-fall stereotype.”

“I’m so excited! I’m going to get to see changing leaves this year!” Cacti are majestic, ancient, intrepid, and they remind me of home; but they never change. They’re like desert earth that way, like the ocean. Like vampires, actually.

“We’ll have to do all the Instagram-worthy stuff. Pumpkin patches. Hay mazes. Apple picking...you can even bring that Ben guy if you want to. If he promises not to murder me with his mysterious time-travelling demon powers.”

Oh, kid, you have no idea. “So...I am kind of into a Lee guy. But it’s not Ben.”

Archer gasped, inhaled pumpkin muffin morsels, bent over as he hacked them out of his lungs. “Who?!” he rasped, scandalized, and then coughed again.

I couldn’t help but smile as his name spilled out: “Joe.”

“Which one is that? The Middle Eastern Men’s Vogue model one?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “No, not Rami. He has a girlfriend, by the way.” And has for the past half a century.

Archer wiggled his eyebrows. “Just because there’s a goalie doesn’t mean you can’t score.”

“Oh my god, please never say that phrase again.”

“Joe is the...” He closed his eyes as he drummed his fingers against the metal workbench, trying to remember.

“The Italian one,” I finished for him.

“Ahhh. The annoying one.”

“He is not annoying! Why do people keep saying he’s annoying?! He’s hilarious, and sweet, and lowkey wicked smart, and, and, and...”

Archer whistled, grinning, his dark eyes sparkling. “Damn, girl. You do like him. You really like him.”

I sighed in defeat. “Okay. I really, really like him.”

“Like him as in would swipe right on Tinder, or like him as in you want to get married and honeymoon in Hawaii and have twelve pasty, angular babies?”

“Oh wow.” And for the first time, I was confronted with the singular enigma that was a future with Joe. Vampires had relationships with other vampires, obviously, even marriages; but that didn’t mean the same rules applied to humans. Did he like me? Could he like me? What would that even look like? How would it end? And it would have to end, of course, eventually. Unless somehow I stopped aging too. “More than just a right swipe. We’ll see about the twelve kids.”

“Just make sure he wraps it before he taps it. I’m too young to be an uncle.”

“Stop,” I pleaded, gulping down my latte, averting my gaze across Archer’s small garage filled with customers’ vehicles, pretending not to be intrigued and yearning and petrified. I couldn’t imagine hooking up with someone as faultless and—presumably—experienced as Joe and being anything but a disappointment. I’ve never hooked up with anyone. At all. Ever.

“What?” he asked, concerned, thieving another piece of my pumpkin muffin. Powdered sugar dusted his fingers like the snow I’ve only seen two or three times in my life.

“Nothing. I just really wish you went to Calawah too.”

“And give up all this easy money from clueless suburbs people like you?” Archer beamed, wily and proud and affectionate. “Not a fucking chance.”

No More Sad Spaghetti

Joe gawked in horror, chomping noisily on his Big League Chew bubblegum, as I unwrapped the peanut butter sandwich I’d packed for lunch. It was mostly cloudy in the early September sky overhead, but he was still wearing sunglasses. He had traded in his ubiquitous U Chicago apparel for a Cubs t-shirt. Squirrels scurried through the bigleaf maple trees that dotted the campus, snatching up acorns with tiny clawed paws, wriggling whiskered noses in our direction.

“What’s your problem?” I asked, taking a bite. “It’s not sad spaghetti.”

He blew a small pink bubble, then popped it with his teeth. “Yeah, but it’s...like...mangled.”

“It got trapped between my textbooks!” I protested. Admittedly, the accordion-shaped peanut butter sandwich—my vegetarian alternative to fishstick Thursday—kind of sucked.

“You can’t eat that. Oh my god. It’s making me so sad. Give it to the squirrels.” Joe pulled out his iPhone. “What’s your preferred pizza topping?”

“I can’t tell you,” I replied, tossing my sandwich towards the nearest tree. A hoard of squirrels immediately descended upon it and proceeded to battle for dominance, emitting shrill, peanut-butter-crazed shrieks.

His brow furrowed. “Why can’t you tell me?”

“Because you might not like me anymore.”

“Why would I not like you because of pizza...?” And then he knew. “Oh no, oh god, please don’t say pineapple.”

“I’m a pineapple pizza person.”

“Baby Swan,” Joe said, deadly serious, pressing his palms together. “That is straight up sacrilegious. You can’t put tropical fruit on a pizza. You realize I’m Italian, like an actual Italian. I’m so Italian I’ve killed other Italians for being the wrong kind of Italian. That’s how Italian I am.”

“I feel like maybe I shouldn’t socialize with literal mobsters. It’s unsavory.”

“Settle down, I’m ordering the half-pineapple pizza, you freaking barbarian.”

I watched Joe as he tapped his thumbs against the screen, humming to himself, amused, perpetually buoyant. And I couldn’t picture him as a monster, as a killer: pulling triggers, slitting throats, digging blades into soft vulnerable love handles, feeling for the mortal puncture of a lung or kidney. I asked him, my voice quiet, hesitant, almost lost in the autumn wind: “Did you actually hurt people?”

“Nah. I didn’t have the stomach for it, even back then. I was on the deal-making side of things. The business side. I was a people person, a smooth talker, astronomically charming.”

I smiled, mischievous. “That’s difficult to imagine.”

“Okay, so no cheesy breadsticks for you.”

“I’m sorry, mob guy. Please order the breadsticks. You’re so charming I can’t stand it. My jeans are unzipping all by themselves.”

He raised an eyebrow and grinned. “So you’ll sacrifice your dignity for breadsticks. Good to know.” He finished typing and laid his iPhone on the grass. “Alright, next question.”

“Does your hair grow?” Joe’s hair—I couldn’t help but notice—seemed longer than it was the day I met him a week and a half ago, disorderly and auburn-tinted, ruffling in the breeze.

“It does, yeah. Hair and nails still grow. So you have to shave, but you can’t get razor burn. And any nicks close right up.”

“Very cool. How often do you need to eat? You know...actually eat.”

“It varies, but generally twice a week.”

“And what kind of animal has the tastiest blood? Besides...well...” I gestured towards myself. “The upright two-legged kind with opposable thumbs and a partiality for pineapple pizza.”

He blew another bubble, then leaned in towards me. And I realized, for the first time, that he had his own inherent, exclusive, totally Bath-And-Body-Works-worthy scent as well; Dr. Gwilym Lee was sandalwood and campfires and log cabins, Mercy was roses and vanilla...and Joe was pine trees, peppermint, cold night air, like all of that eternally youthful magic of Christmas Eve sieved into a bottle. I popped the sheer pink bubble with the cap of my blue pen. Joe asked: “Do humans like chocolate or vanilla ice cream? Coffee or tea? Baseball or something hella lame?”

“Depends on the human.”

“Exactly. Same deal for vampires. I prefer bears, especially grizzlies. Lucy and Mercy like deer, elk, moose, animals like that. Ones with hooves. Weirdly, Rami’s favorite is crocodile, I think because it was the first thing he ever tried in Egypt. He doesn’t get it very often, but has been known to buy them on the black market on occasion. Scarlett likes mountain lions. Also domestic cats, but you didn’t hear that from me. Gwil is a wolf guy, but he won’t kill the endangered kinds. Such a gentleman.”

“How about Ben?”

“Ben’s still coming around to the whole eating animals thing. I don’t think he has a favorite yet.”

Joe isn’t a killer, and he never was; I could believe that. But Ben... “Why is he so different than the rest of you?”

“That’s...kind of a long story,” Joe replied carefully.

“It wouldn’t be such a long story if people stopped talking about how it’s a long story and actually told it to me.”

He flashed a grin, revealing white canine teeth filed into points; they were subtle, yes, but they were there. Fangs. I envisioned pressing a fingerprint against them and feeling the flesh split in two, the blood dripping down onto his tongue like Washington rain. And unlike Joe’s skin, mine wouldn’t knit back together on its own. “But then I wouldn’t have the pleasure of tormenting you with the prospect of incredibly juicy yet confidential information!”

I rolled my eyes, sipped my can of Diet Coke, returned my attention to our lunch plans. “So garlic doesn’t repel you. That part of the lore is completely made up.”

“Yup. Thank god. Eternal life would be worthless without pizza.”

“Can you do drugs? Get drunk?”

“We can’t overdose, but we can get the effects of anything we consume. It’s not a good habit to get into though. If you’re nodding on heroin for like four days at a time, it’s pretty easy for some other vampire to find and murder you.”

“So a vampire can be killed by another vampire.”

“Absolutely. Next question.”

I consulted my mental list. “Do you sleep?”

“Yeah. Well, kind of. We nap for a few hours a day.”

“What happens if you don’t?”

“We get bitchy. Really bitchy. We essentially turn into Ben.”

I laughed, chewing absentmindedly on the end of my pen. “So that’s his problem. He hasn’t napped in a century. Now it all makes sense.”

“Something like that,” Joe said. “You gonna come over tonight?”

“I don’t know. I’m supposed to present The Walruses And Me tomorrow and I still haven’t started the book.”

“What do you know, I can tell you all about The Walruses And Me!”

“Seriously? You’ve read it?”

“No, but I can enthusiastically narrate the Wikipedia article to you while you pet Mercy’s alpacas.”

“That sounds like a terrible idea.”

“Terrible for your grade in Marine Mammals. Good for your development as an interesting and happy human.”

“Nice try, but I’m already both of those things.”

Joe reached out suddenly, jarringly, and ran the back of his hand across my cheek. My favorite Lee, I thought, thoroughly transfixed but trying to hide it. Oh no. “Interesting, definitely. But I have this gnawing, distressing suspicion that you’re still working on the happy part.”

“I miss the desert,” I confessed. That wasn’t quite all of the problem, but it was accurate: I missed the heat, the sun, the parched prehistoric air I had always called home. Although I was beginning to find reasons to like Forks, Charlie and Archer and the promise of a Pacific Northwestern autumn; and then one big reason in particular. A very old, pale, chatty, Italian reason.

“A bit of a quandary for a future marine biologist,” he replied gently, perhaps apprehensively.

“I always figured I’d live somewhere like San Diego or Los Angeles or Galveston. Someplace on the ocean, but also sunny and hot and with palm trees. The best of both worlds. But you couldn’t go there with me, could you?”

Oh no.

Oh NO.

Oh fuck, this is definitely a crushing-on-Lee-boys zone.

Joe stared at me through his sunglasses, chomping on his Big League Chew, the corners of his mouth turned up and etching lines like parentheses into his face, pleased and nodding slowly and triumphant somehow. Then he struck out his hand again, this time with his pinky raised like a flagpole. “No more pathetic depressing lunches.”

“You got it. No more sad spaghetti. No more sad peanut butter sandwiches. You have my solemn, human vow.”

He smiled as his pinky entwined with mine. “No more sad anything.”

“So this vampire thing sounds like a pretty sweet gig. No dying, no consequences for a hellacious diet or wild condomless orgies, literal superpowers, perfect hair...why doesn’t everyone get to live that way?”

He shrugged; and there was an unfamiliar, meditative tension in his face. Almost sorrow. “It’s not all pizza and orgies and heroin. We have weaknesses too.”

“Like what?”

“Hey, look!” Joe piped cheerfully, twisting around towards the parking lot. “I think our GrubHub guy is here.”

Bad Blood

I was definitely regretting that fourth slice of pineapple pizza as I waddled into Chemistry, navigating sluggishly around the hulking frat boys and giggling sorority girls and mousy bookish types who lugged around colossal backpacks that were always threatening to knock an unsuspecting passerby off their feet at each unthinking turn. But while I was arriving in the classroom—physically, anyway; emotionally I was standing in an empty field somewhere screaming I cannot be falling in love with a hundred-year-old mobster vampire!! into the void—Ben was a countercurrent darting through the crowds and towards the hallway door.

“Where are you rushing off to, old guy?” I asked him. “Bingo? To renew your AARP membership? To walk vigorously around the inside of a mall?”

Ben responded in that deep, low, humorless voice. “They’re doing some kind of blood typing experiment today. I probably shouldn’t be around for that.”

“Oh.” I glanced over at Professor Belvin, who was indeed hunched over the table at the front of the classroom and laying out rows of Q-tips and rectangular paper cards and alcohol swabs and bottles of clear liquid, whistling what sounded like Time Of The Season.

Ben sighed irritably, rubbing his crinkled forehead. “I already used up all my absences. I’m gonna have to make up a compelling last-minute tragedy. Tell Professor Belvin my grandma died or something.”

“I mean, technically, she did at some point.”

“Ugh,” Ben replied, not consoled at all.

“Wait, I got this.”

I gripped my belly, sank into the nearest chair, and groaned dramatically. It really didn’t require all that much acting. Ben watched with huge green eyes, confounded.

“Miss Swan!” Professor Belvin cried, rushing over. He was wearing khaki pants, a white shirt, and suspenders and a matching bowtie patterned with bubbling multicolored test tubes. Belvin had been Charlie’s classmate from kindergarten through high school, and still palled around with him over Bud Lights and low-quality nachos on bowling league nights. Bowling was, evidently, the sport of choice for middle-aged Forks dads. Also for Welsh vampire pseudo-dads born in the 1400s.

I whimpered in reply.

“Are you alright, Miss Swan?” Professor Belvin asked worriedly. A few students had begun to congregate around the scene. I felt a pang of genuine nausea as perspiration beaded at my temples. You better appreciate this, Mr. Hardy.

“I’m okay,” I said, in my most pained and martyrish voice. “I don’t want to miss...today’s lesson...it looks so fascinating...but I didn’t wash my kale thoroughly last night and then I had a salad for dinner and now I might have food poisoning.”

“You poor thing!” Belvin exclaimed, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about class. You can just answer some textbook questions or something, no problem. Please go get checked out to make sure you’re alright.”

“Could someone...maybe...help me get to the campus clinic...?” My eyes listed towards Ben. “Maybe...my lab partner?”

“That’s a good idea.” Professor Belvin turned to Ben. “Mr. Lee, would you be willing to escort Miss Swan to the clinic? You can do an alternative assignment as well. If you don’t mind missing the blood typing lab.”

“I’d be delighted to help,” Ben responded, still puzzled. I offered him my hand, and Ben took it, grimacing as he led me out into the hallway. As soon as we were alone, he dropped my hand and opened up several feet of space between us.

“Thanks so much, Miss Swan, you are a lifesaver,” I said, imitating his morose, rumbling British accent. “Oh, you’re very welcome, Ben. You can repay me in basic courteous conversation and Starbucks gift cards and by maybe not killing me.”

“So you’re totally fine?” Ben asked flatly.                

“Of course. Nobody with taste eats raw kale.”

Frowning, frustrated, he started puffing on his vape pen. “You need to stop doing nice things for me. It’s extremely disorienting.”

“This may be difficult for you to come to terms with, but you, Ben Hardy, are worth being the recipient of nice things.”                          

“No, you still don’t get it,” he snapped, grabbing my wrist, spinning me around to face him in the empty hallway. “That’s all I’ve ever done. Kill people like you.”

The Fire

“Who is the cutest little alpaca I’ve ever seen?!” I cooed in a squeaky falsetto, scratching her wooly brown chin. “Who’s going to come home and live with me and Charlie forever?!”

“That’s illegal, ma’am.” Joe was watching me, arms crossed over his Chicago Cubs t-shirt, smiling wistfully.

“It is not!”

“It actually is,” Rami added. He was lying on the grass and gazing up into the roiling, grey, late-afternoon clouds with his fingers laced behind his black hair. None of the Lees were wearing sunglasses now. “A house has to be zoned as farmland to have alpacas, which ours is. Yours, tragically, is not.”

“What are you, a lawyer?” I shot back.

Rami grinned. “I was once. And I will be again, in approximately...let me count...five years.”

“That’s what you want to do with your boundless time and energy? Be a corporate shill?”

Joe cackled. “He tried that already. It lasted about five minutes.”

“Manhattan in the 1980s,” Rami reminisced dreamily. “Hundred-hour workweeks. Cocaine everywhere. What a time to be alive. And I hardly ever left the office, so the sunlight thing wasn’t a problem.”

“Okay, so you’re not in it for the Maseratis or the drugs...”

“I’m going to be an immigration attorney,” Rami told me. “Help refugees apply for asylum to come to the United States. Arabic-speaking refugees, in particular.”

“Wow. I stand corrected. That’s wonderful, Rami. I now feel like a total tool for only aspiring to save sea turtles.” But it made sense, of course. What would any good person spend eternity doing? Making the world just a tiny bit better. I glanced at Joe, teasing him. “And you just study how to get rich, huh?”

“I’m a venture capitalist,” he said brightly. “I invest in small businesses, counsel them, encourage them, connect them with other people in the industry, help them grow. And I don’t need the money, so I take a practically microscopic equity stake. I’m basically a professional charitable donor.”

“And you get to put all of those charming mob-guy skills to use.”

Joe winked. “Exactly.”

“Doesn’t it get old?” I asked both of them. “Being college students?”

Rami shrugged. “No really. The world changes, schools of thought evolve, our own interests fluctuate. Every few decades we circle back and go for another round, fresh degrees, maybe new professions entirely. You learn something new every time.”  

“And I’ve been waiting for all my old professors to die so I could go back to U Chicago for fifty years!” Joe shouted. “I’m fucking pumped!”

“But...don’t you already know everything...?”

Joe chuckled. “We’re vampires, Baby Swan, we’re not prodigies. We’re sharper than the average person, sure. But it still takes effort to learn. And we all have things we suck at.”

“Like not being obnoxious,” Rami said, nodding to Joe.

“Like not minding our own fucking business,” Joe hurled back.

“I cannot control the fact that I’m a literal mind reader—”

“You boys behave yourselves,” Mercy called in her relaxed, drawling Southern accent, swinging a basket of carrots and zucchinis and cabbages that she’d dug out of her garden, wearing a long flowing yellow dress and her hair tied up in a scarf. She plodded over in her bare feet, handed me a few carrots, then pointed to the chocolate-colored alpaca I was petting. “That lady there is Athens. And the black and white one by Joe is Augusta. Then there’s Norcross, and Alpharetta, and Savannah...and that real chubby grey one heading into the barn is Marietta.”

“I adore them,” I replied, beaming. Mercy had sheep and pigs and a couple of cows too, all ambling contently around the emerald green field as the first threads of fiery, rust-hued sunset were lighting up the horizon.

“We used to have ducks, too,” Mercy mused. “But they disappeared recently...”

Rami passed Joe a knowing smirk. Joe mouthed back menacingly: Do not.

“Hey mom,” Rami piped.

Joe jabbed an index finger at him. “No, don’t you dare, don’t you fucking dare—”

“Joe ate the ducks.”

“You bitch!” Joe cried.

“Oh, Joseph,” Mercy sighed mournfully, lifting a brush out of her basket and dragging it down Athens’ fuzzy back.

“I’m sorry! It was one time! I was weak!”

“I’m not angry, sweetheart,” Mercy said. “I’m just disappointed.”

“Mom, that’s worse!”

Rami climbed to his feet and swatted grass and leaves off his cardigan sweater. “Alright folks. My work here is done. Peace out.”

“Oh no, you don’t get to do a hit and run like that, hey, Rami, hey, hey, come back here!”

Joe trotted after him, shouting a litany of insults, as Rami laughed hysterically and careened into the house. Lucy and Gwil were in the kitchen baking chocolate chip cookies; Scarlett was in the garage changing the brakes on Ben’s Vantage; Ben was noticeably absent from the Lee household and presumably out hunting. It was remarkably easy to picture his fingers closing around bloodied flesh, a wolf’s or a bear’s or an elk’s, lowering his fangs to a pulsing jugular.

“So you’re really into this whole farming thing,” I said to Mercy, looking out over the field rimmed by towering western hemlock trees. I didn’t know exactly how many acres of land the Lees owned, but it was a lot. Mercy adopted rescue animals, donated vegetables from the garden to local food pantries, and occasionally rented out the barn as a wedding venue.

“I’ve always loved it. I had a farm, you know. Before I met Gwil.”

Before she died.

“I didn’t know that,” I murmured, wanting to learn more, afraid to ask, never meaning to pry or offend. “I remember you mentioned the Civil War, and a barn...being...well...being trapped in it. When it burned down.”

Mercy nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, that’s the polite version of the story, isn’t it?” She set down her basket in the tall grass, tugged distractedly at a dark strand of hair that had escaped her scarf, stared glassily out into the sunset muted with cloud cover as Athens moseyed away. “Do you want to know what happened? I’ll tell you if you do. But I don’t want to upset you, dear.”

My voice was barely a whisper. “I’d like to know.”

“We had a little farm out in the middle of nowhere,” Mercy explained. “My husband Arthur and I.”

And it felt so outlandish to hear her say those words. Husband. She had a husband before Gwil. She had a whole life before this one.

“He had a bullet in one leg and a limp from a hunting accident when he was a boy, so he was never called up to enlist. It was a rich man’s war, but it was the poor men they sent to die in it. That’s how it always goes, I expect. And how it always will. We had two daughters, twelve and fifteen. I won’t tell you their names. Don’t take that personally, dear. I haven’t spoken their names in a hundred and fifty years.”

She turned her murky eyes—like homemade bread crust or coffee or the wood walls of a log cabin—to me.

“When the Union Army came through, they were beasts. Men like that...men who have been killing and looting and burning their way across hundreds of miles...all they want to do is get blood on their hands. That’s all they remember how to do. So that’s exactly what they did. They slaughtered our cattle for meat. They burned the house down. And then they took me and my girls, and they...they...well, you know what they did. What men do when they’re monsters. And when Arthur tried to stop them, they shot him in the chest and spit mouthfuls of chewing tobacco on him as he bled out in the dirt. Called him a coward and a deserter. Told him everything they were planning to do to me and my girls. And when they were done doing all of those things, they locked the three of us in the barn and set it ablaze. I was the only one still alive when Gwilym got there. And believe me, I didn’t want to be.”

“I’m so sorry,” I breathed, my throat burning for Mercy, for her family, for this divinely kind and benign and tender woman.

She patted my cheek fondly. “It’s alright, sweetheart. It’s not your fault. I got a second chance. Gwilym gave me a second chance. That’s what he does, you know. He finds broken people, fixes them, loves them fiercely. He gave me forever. Two more daughters. And three sons.”

Three sons, I thought. Rami and Joe and Ben. She counted Ben.

“Does someone have to be dying?” I asked her softly. “You know. To become like you.”

“No, honey. That’s just how Gwil does things.”

“But...why? What’s the possible downside? Why not change anyone who wants it?” Why not change someone like me?

And Mercy peered over at me, contemplative, curious, like tiptoeing gingerly over rotted floorboards, like weaving through a minefield. Like she was trying to figure out what I’d already been told.

“Hey Baby Swan,” Joe said, startling me. I whirled to see him waiting with a patient smile and his hands buried in his pockets. “Come on. I want to show you something.”

He led me upstairs to Gwil’s 1960s-style office, where Dr. Lee had cleaned and stitched the tiny gash in my forehead after my misadventure with Ben in the woods outside Calawah University, where the wall above the sturdy oak desk was adorned with a massive painting filled with gorgeous, unfamiliar, inhuman faces. Joe took a deep breath, and then he began.

“This,” he announced, introducing the painting, “is the vampire version of the mob. They can trace their existence back to before the Roman Empire. They find people who they think have potential, have talents. They turn them. And then they offer them a hundred-year contract. You sign it, or they murder you. When your term is up, you get to decide whether to renew or leave. But almost no one ever leaves. After a century of taking orders and guarding and killing, what else do you know how to do?” He pointed to the terrifying woman with long white hair and red eyes. “That’s Liesl. She’s literally Satan, only blonder. The chick with the tattoos is Akari. She can meet a human and tell what powers they’ll have once they’re changed. Very useful, obviously. The dude who looks like Idris Elba is Cato, and he’s actually an okay guy, he’s the one currently assigned to keep tabs on Gwil’s coven...”

I soaked the names in like rain into dark, lush Washington earth as Joe relayed them to me, strange and beautiful names: Aruna, Phelan, Morana, Adair, Zora, Araminta, Honora, Victorien, Rigel, Sahel.

“Who’s that?” I asked, gesturing to the young man standing at the center of the painting, the one with black hair and eyes so light and luminous a brown they were almost gold and a sinister, unmistakable magnetism.

“Very good question,” Joe complimented. “That’s their Al Capone. That’s Larkin.”

“And what’s his vampire superpower?” He has to have one. I know he does.

“How do I even put that into words? It’s more than charisma. It’s slightly less than mind reading. He can see through people, what they want most, what they fear. And he can make them do things.”

I gazed into those omniscient glowing eyes, feeling myself getting caught there, feeling some primal dread swelling in the capillary beds of my heart and lungs and bone marrow. “Joe, I’m thoroughly enjoying this captivating backstory, really, but...why are you telling me all of this now?”

“Because you asked why Ben is so different than the rest of us. This is why.” Joe waved broadly at the painting, at the closest thing his world had to a mafia, to unrepentant killers, to actual demons. “This is where he came from.”

[snowdice]

Big Bang (Sort of) Editing Story [Day 30]

I started writing this fic while editing my Big Bang story, but am going to continue doing it for other things now that Kill Dear is out. I will write and publish 100 words of the story every time I finish doing whatever task I’m doing. If you’d like to block these proceedings, please feel free to block the tag proofread stories. I will reblog this post with the parts of the story I do today. Edited chapters are linked; everything else I’ve done so far is under the cut.

My Master Post Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10

Let’s do a bit of this. We are only a couple of chapters away from the end of arc I! I’m excited!

Chapter 11

Over the course of the next three days of Virgil’s captivity, Virgil would come to the conclusion that his captors were idiots.

This thought flickered to life once again as Logan leaned into the closet to point out another constellation on the ceiling, tottering unstably on his knees as his weight shifted forward and distracted by his enthusiasm.

They were alone in the prince’s room. Patton had left only a few minutes before to help his mother in the kitchen (less because she needed help and more to not make her suspicious about why he’d spent so much time away in the last few days).

 He wouldn’t be back for a while and Virgil had full mobility in the closet. With Logan leaning over the threshold like that, it would be easy to kill him or even just incapacitate him. One rough yank on his arm would have him completely in the closet. Virgil had no question that he could pin him down so he couldn’t activate the restraints, and even if he managed to do so, he’d have been drawn close enough that Virgil could use his legs. He could either force him to take off the cuffs or, since they automatically went to the second setting when he left the closet, just deal with it until he managed to get away.

 It would just be so easy. Yet, he did not. He just watched Logan as he leaned stupidly over an assassin while info dumping about stars.

This was the first day that he hadn’t felt at all tired when he’d drank the provided nutrition and healing potion, though it had never affected him quite as much as it had the first day. Logan said that meant that his injuries must be healed. It was a weird feeling. He didn’t remember when the last time was that he wasn’t damaged in some way. Even before his grueling training, there’d always been bullies at the orphanage and he’d been the youngest and smallest in his age group.

 He was also more well rested and fed than he had been in as long as he could remember. He felt better then he knew was possible today, and he suspected that he would only feel better after a bit more time under their care.

He told himself that is why he didn’t lash out now. He was waiting until he was as strong as possible to make sure his escape went as well as it could, even if it was a risk. They’d mentioned that the king would be gone for three weeks. After he returned, Virgil would surely be turned over to people much more capable of actually keeping him well trapped and less likely to feed him well, give him a nice place to sleep, and leave him without injury. It was a gamble to stay, because it was possible that he wouldn’t find another opportunity in time and would get handed over to his fate. Really, if he was being reasonable, he should get out now while he felt good and had a secured opportunity.

 Still, he did not. He had not any of the times they’d given him the opportunity in the last few days. Logan finished his sentence and leaned back out of the closet to safety. He still was speaking though in that soft happy tone. Logan liked the stars. He liked to talk about the stars, and Virgil found he liked to listen to him. They tended to end up in this position whenever Patton was away, just talking as Virgil laid in his closet.

Eventually, Logan’s latest story tapered out. There was silence then for a few moments. Virgil stared up at the fake stars on the ceiling. The stars that Logan had made for him when he really did not have to. Virgil had not been expecting lights in the closet, let alone ones so beautiful and thoughtful. Not ones with stories behind them. Just days ago, if someone had told Virgil the prince would be keeping him in his closet for the next few weeks, Virgil wouldn’t have expected a blanket let alone all of this.

 He turned his head to look at Logan. “What?” Logan asked.

“Your magic’s very beautiful,” Virgil said.

Logan seemed pleased by the complement, lighting up almost as much as the stars he made. “Well, it’s just a basic light spell,” he said, “though I did make some adjustments to them and the dimmer was a bit more difficult. Anyone could do it with practice.”

Virgil shook his head. “They’re special, I think,” he said. “Your magic’s different than most people.”

“How so?” Logan asked curiously.

“It’s gentle,” he said. “Gentle and warm, like eating the warm soup you fed me a couple of days ago.”

 “And other people’s magic feels different?” he asked.

Virgil nodded. “I’ve met a lot of magic users, but it always felt bad. Usually it hurts or makes you feel sick or just makes you uncomfortable. Even healing magic always felt like bugs nibbling at my skin, but the potion you’ve been having me drink in the morning feels… safe. It doesn’t hurt or make me want to cry. It’s just good.”

“Magic often has much to do with the caster’s intentions,” Logan said.

“I think you could poison me gently.”

Logan made an odd expression. “That…” he said, nose scrunched. “That is a strange thing to say.”

Virgil cocked his head. “Is it?”

 “Yes!” Logan said, shaking his head. “You are far too comfortable with the concept of death for your age.”

“I’m fourteen,” Virgil argued. “That’s old enough to be sent on missions without a blood compulsion!”

“…A what?” Logan asked.

“A blood compulsion,” Virgil said. “You know, with a multrum.” Logan was frowning at him. “One works in your gardens and you’re a prince. You had to at least have seen one or two. They take a bit of blood and multrums process it into a little bead. Then you’ve got to do what your told or it hurts a lot.”

 “I know what a blood compulsion is,” Logan said. “I am simply wondering who would put one on a fourteen-year-old.”

“They don’t,” Virgil said. “They stop putting them on people when they turn fourteen.”

“And exactly what is the age range for it?” Logan asked. Virgil was almost startled by the way his tone was quickly hardening. He’d never heard him be that harsh even when he’d first woken up in his custody. It made Virgil tense up.

“They take kids usually when they’re about 8 and it’s a year of training before your sent on a mission so 9-13,” he said.

 “That’s horrible,” Logan spat so violently that Virgil flinched. Logan didn’t seem to notice. “They force children to kill under a blood compulsion?”

“Well, no one really wants to do it without one when they’re that little. They get scared, and usually try to chicken out so…”

“So, they torture them unless they kill someone.”

“I mean… it’s not. They have to agree to the deal.”

“And if they don’t agree to it?” Logan asked.

Virgil thought back to the second time they’d made him get a blood compulsion. It had been with the multrum before Janus, a girl by the name of Alina. He’d made the mistake of hesitating on his first kill and faced the consequences before finally giving in and doing the job. When the second mission had come around, Virgil hadn’t wanted to accept the blood compulsion.

 That had been the first time they’d made him drink a binding potion. Logan seemed to be able to get an idea about it by the look on his face.

“So, your options were to be tortured, be tortured in a different way, or murder someone.” Logan looked at him. “You said your fourteen. Have you ever even killed of your own volition?”

“I… no,” he admitted, but quickly added, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t. I know what I’m doing.”

“That explains a lot about your personality and reactions so far.”

Virgil rankled at that for some reason. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

 Logan just stared at him for a long moment. “What they did, what they are doing isn’t right you know?” he said.

Virgil blinked at him but said nothing. He became more and more uncomfortable in the silence that ensued.

“Would you like to learn more about magic?” he asked. “There are many uses other then to hurt. I can teach you a few basics if you like.”

Virgil was confused about the topic change but was relieved about it. “Uh,” he thought. “Sure. That would be… interesting.”

Logan smiled at him. “I’ll set up something and we can work with it in the next few days. What would you like to learn?”

“Um, I have no idea. What is there?”

Logan considered it for a moment. “We could do a hair color changing potion. Or perhaps a small protection charm or I can teach you to make fire shapes.”

 “Protection charm,” Virgil said without hesitation.

Logan gave him a sad smile. “Of course. I’ll start showing you how to make them tomorrow and we can actually make some the next day.”

“Okay,” Virgil agreed.

“Would you like to hear more about the stars?” he asked. Virgil nodded. He once again leaned into the closet to point and Virgil once again did not move to attack. Nor did he attack when that afternoon Patton turned his back on Virgil for far too long when they were alone. Nor did he when they settled him to bed once again in the closet. He told himself it was strategic, but he knew it wasn’t.

  Chapter 12

Logan had needed to spend some time performing royal duties today which left Patton and Virgil alone after breakfast. Patton had started out trying to teach Virgil different board games. He’d seemed intrigued at first, but after a few games of checkers seemed to grow bored. Patton had gotten a blank stare when he’d asked if Virgil had any ideas about what to do for fun, so now he was trying to figure out something else they could do. He cast his eyes around at what Logan had in his bedroom.

“How about I read you a book?” he suggested.

 Virgil seemed very intrigued by that idea. “Sure,” he said.

“Okay!” Patton said cheerfully. “He popped to his feet and glanced through the small shelf of fiction books Logan kept in his room. He decided to choose one of the lighter ones that Logan and he had liked to read when they were younger. “This one is called The Never-ending Garden,” Patton said. “It’s about a group of four children and their adventures in a garden. It’s full of magic and adventure and friendship! Is that alright with you?”

“It sounds good,” Virgil answered.

Patton happily walked back over to sit next to him. “It is!” he said.

 First, he showed Virgil the picture on the cover of a wild looking garden with four kids roaming through it. One of the children was in a little red wagon being pulled by another one wearing a fancy hat. One of the others was walking, looking at a map while the last had a wooden sword. After giving Virgil a couple of moments too look at the picture, Patton cracked it open.

“We start with Lydia’s perspective,” Patton said. “She’s one of my favorites!” He pointed to a picture of a girl in a raincoat at the beginning of the chapter and Virgil leaned slightly closer to see. Then, Patton cleared his voice.

 “It had been raining that day,” Patton began, “but Lydia had been so bored that she still begged her father to go out and play when the storm lightened into a sprinkle. He made her change from the yellow dress she had been wearing into the one she often used to help him garden because he knew she was certain to get herself muddy. Her younger brother Marcus asked if he could come too and though part of her wanted to say no because she wanted to explore on her own without her baby brother slowing her down, her father had taught her to be a good big sister, so she agreed to let him come.”

 Patton watched Virgil out of the corner of his eye as he read about Lydia meeting up with the neighbor boy, Al, and the three children started to explore the garden in Lydia’s backyard. Virgil leaned in slightly to look at the pictures and listen to the story intently as the three children traveled deeper and deeper into the garden, but never made it to the back fence. They’d just made it to the part where they heard rustling behind the blackberry bush which Patton knew was the last main character, Melly, when Patton felt the need to adjust his posture a bit. Virgil moved in kind and ended up leaning further into Patton.

 Without even really thinking about it, Patton brought his arm around to touch the top of his head. Virgil flinched the second Patton made content and Patton drew the hand away immediately. “Sorry,” he said with a wince. Patton was a naturally touching person and he’d been having trouble battling his instincts to cuddle everyone and everything while around Virgil, but he knew most touch was not welcome. The poor thing startled every time Patton went to touch him unannounced and even sometimes when he’d said something before doing it.

“I-it’s okay,” Virgil said.

Patton gave him a tight lipped smiled and turned back to the book.

 He stilled a second later when Virgil leaned back in and their shoulders brushed. He blinked over at him. “Oh,” he said softly. “Do… do you want me to touch your hair?”

Virgil curled up into himself a little bit but then nodded.

“Okay,” Patton said. “I’m going to put my arm around you and do that then, okay?” He drew upon his years and years of convincing easily startled cats to allow him to give them pats as he slowly moved his arm back to where it had been before and gently touched the side of his head. He tensed, but didn’t startle this time, and so Patton gently ran his fingers through the hair a couple of times. Eventually, the tension bled out of him and he sort of slumped against Patton’s shoulder. Patton just barely restrained a coo before going back to reading. He continued to stroke the side of Virgil’s hair as he described the gang meeting up with Melly and them being told she was a fairy that lived in the garden.

 He'd only gotten to the part about them finding the wagon when Virgil started to shift a bit uncomfortably, his neck craned in an awkward angle. Patton kept reading as he brought the hand in his hair down to his shoulder and pushed lightly. There was the slightest bit of resistance as Virgil didn’t know what he was trying to do, but then he allowed Patton to move him. Patton leaned back a bit and picked the book up off his lap before continuing to push him down. Virgil did not help at all, seeming confused about what was going on.

 Patton had to poke him around until he was on his back laying across Patton’s lap. He grinned down at the boy who was looking at him in blatant bewilderment and propped the book up on his chest. He held it there with one of his hands and stretched the other out to resume messing with his hair. Virgil relaxed into the new position after a few minutes of reading, eyes shutting as he enjoyed the attention. His eyes would flicker open every time Patton moved to show him a picture, but other than that, he seemed content to not move.

 Eventually, he stopped responding when Patton moved to show him the pictures.

“Are you asleep?” he asked quietly. When he didn’t get a response, he bookmarked the last picture Virgil had responded to, and then continued reading to himself.

Eventually, there was a knock at the door. It was the one he and Logan had decided on to tell the other one that it was just them and not to panic when the door opened. The door opened to Logan a moment later.

He paused, taking in the sight of the assassin sprawled across Patton’s lap like a sleepy kitten. He shook his head fondly and walked over to them on silent feet. He bent and pressed a hand to the top of Virgil’s hand. Virgil stirred just barely, but didn’t open his eyes, pressing into the touch a bit.

Logan smiled. “He wanted to learn how to make protection charms today. I assume you’d like to join us?” Patton perked up and nodded happily, making Logan chuckle softly. “I will go set it up then. Would you like another book for the time being?”

“Just the one I was reading last night would be nice,” Patton said.

“Of course.” Logan stepped away to grab it and handed it to him. Then, he disappeared into his potion’s lab. Patton smiled down at Virgil’s sleeping face and settled the new book onto his chest to replace the children’s book. He didn’t even stir.

  Chapter 13

Logan was able to quickly set up the station for making protection charms. Patton had always liked making them, though he often used his more as fun accessories than for protection. The one he was going to show Virgil how to make was a very simple low level one used for little more than to keep bugs off of yourself and, in the event of a well made one, alert one to imminent danger by changing temperature. It was a nice thing to hold in the middle of the night if one was frightened by real or imagined threats. It would be warm to the touch when your environment was safe; he thought Virgil might appreciate it.

 He and Patton decided to wait until Virgil woke up naturally which only took about 30 minutes. Then, Logan brought him to his set up supplies. He explained briefly the process for making a protection charm. “I will be the one performing the enchantment for today,” he told Virgil. “I will show you how to make your own later, but I thought seeing how to make them would help with the learning process.”

“Plus, it’s fun!” Patton said.

Logan flashed a smile at him. “And that as well. I’ve prepared a small number of possible pendants for you to choose from. You can choose the shape and color, then we will put on a custom engraving, as well as decorations.”

 “Glitter! Glitter! Glitter! Glitter!”

“Yes, Patton, everyone knows you’re going to choose glitter,” Logan said, amused, “but why don’t we let Virgil decide for his own pendant?”

“Fine,” Patton said, “but mine will be glitter.”

Logan grabbed the box of blank pendants and offered it to Virgil. “Choose whichever one feels right,” he suggested. Virgil moved forward and looked over the box. “You can touch them,” Logan said. “In fact, I would suggest it as it is meant to be held when it’s done and you may as well get a feel for it.”

At his prompting, Virgil did. He reached into the box and shifted a few to the side. Eventually, he started picking a few up. “I like the crescent shape for holding the most he said,” holding a blue one up, but I don’t know.”

“What’s your favorite color?” Patton asked.

“Oh, um,” he mumbled. “I dunno.”

“Well here,” Patton said, reaching for the box. He dug through it and pulled out every single crescent moon shaped pendant and lined them up. “What do you fancy?”

Virgil considered them all for a long moment and then tentatively pointed the purple one out.

“Great!” Patton said. “Then, we’ll use that one.”

Virgil nodded and Patton picked up the pendant to drop it into his hands. His fingers curled over the shape and he seemed satisfied by the choice, so Logan turned to Patton. “Your turn,” he said.

Patton happily grabbed out a heart shaped blue one, but then paused and exchanged it for a purple one. “We match!” he said.

Virgil smiled slightly at his enthusiasm, and Logan dug out a blue crescent moon shape for himself. “Now that you have your base, you get to choose the engraving.” He opened up the instruction book to the correct page and showed it to him.

Virgil looked over the two pages of designs with carful focus. He wavered between the spiral sun and the flames for a moment, but eventually settled on the flames. Patton chose the interlocking hearts design as anticipated; it was his favorite, and Logan chose the spiral sun design for himself.

“Now, I’m going to engrave this design onto yours,” Logan said getting out the thin pen like instrument and dipping it into the slightly glowing bottle of potion he’d set out. “In the meantime, Patton will show you what we have for decorations.”

He was careful to get the symbol as perfect as he could and then started on Patton’s. Patton apparently managed to corrupt the boy because both of them came back with brushes and glitter to add as decoration.

Logan shook his head and handed them their freshly engraved pendants. “Apply the glitter how you like,” Logan said, moving on to his own engraving. Once he was finished, he selected some glow in the dark paint to decorate his own.

 Once he’d finished decorating his own pendant, Logan looked up. “Are you finished?” he asked.

“Yep!” Patton said, shoving his pendant at Logan while Virgil nodded. Virgil had been far less enthusiastic than Patton, having carefully brushed glitter into the flame design only whereas Patton had haphazardly covered his own all over with glitter. Logan took both pendants.

“This,” Logan said, bringing over a different potion, “is used to make sure the decorations never fall off. It basically allows the other substances to become a part of the stone. “It isn’t too dangerous, but I’d suggest you stand back for the moment.”

 Virgil stepped back farther back than was strictly necessary and gave the potion bottle a wary look. Logan moved all three pendants to the prepared surface (else they ran the risk of also getting stuck to the table) and put on gloves, having learned that magically gluing rocks to ones hands was not fun years ago. Then, he carefully drizzled a bit of the potion onto each rock. The rocks fizzled loudly, and Virgil gave off a startled yelp before toppling over flat on his face with his wrist glued to his sides.

“Oh no, honey,” Patton said immediately crouching next to him. “I’m sorry. We should have warned you about the noise.”

Logan wasn’t sure what type of action he’d tried to take when the sound started up, but whatever it was, it had caused him to move his arms fast enough that he’d activated the binding potion and it snapped his wrists to his side, overbalancing him.

 Patton’s hands hovered over the startled boy, but he didn’t touch. After a few moments, it was clear that the magic keeping Virgil’s hands at his side released because his hands slowly crept forward to push himself up, so his face wasn’t planted against the ground. His eyes still looked incredibly startled.

“Are you alright?” Patton asked.

Virgil blinked. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he said.

Logan took his words as permission to move without risking startling him more. Virgil’s eyes bopped back and forth between him and Patton a few times as he crossed to his wall of potions and grabbed one.

 He also selected a clean cloth from a basket on his way over to them. “A light healing potion,” Logan explained as he knelt in front of Virgil. He uncorked it. “May I?”

“I’m fine,” Virgil said with a frown. “I’m not even bleeding. It’s barely anything.”

“Which is why it’s a light healing potion,” Logan said. “You are sure to bruise with the way you hit. This will prevent it and make it stop hurting.”

“Okay,” Virgil agreed after a moment. Logan dribbled a bit out onto the rag. After a moment of thought, he touched the damp part of the cloth with his own finger, just to quash any fears that it would harm him.

 “It will tingle slightly,” Logan warned. Virgil tilted his face to let him dab it onto his nose and the light scrape on his face. His nose scrunched up and he moved to rub the sensation away quickly only to have his arms slam back to his sides.

Patton caught him so the sudden involuntary movement didn’t cause him to fall back, and then giggled when Virgil titled his head to what could only be described as pout back at him.

“Aw, poor thing,” Patton cooed, reaching forward to rub a hand across the top of his nose and then his forehead where the potion had been applied for him.

 “Better?” Patton asked.

“You’re really bad at this being captors thing,” Virgil commenting, willingly leaning back into Patton. Patton just smiled happily.

Logan took the bottle and got to his feet, before returning it, and then glanced at the pendants as Patton helped Virgil to his feet. The pendants had stopped fizzing, so Logan felt okay reaching in and grabbing them all.

He handed both Patton and Virgil their pendants when they walked closer to the table.

“And now for the actual enchantment,” Logan said. “For today, I already prepared the potion up to the last step as it has to sit for a few hours, but I will show you the last step and eventually teach you everything if you are still interested.”

 Virgil nodded, but said. “No more noises?”

Logan smiled. “No more noises,” he confirmed. Then he pushed forward all of the ingredients he was about to put in the pot for Virgil to study one by one before putting them each in it in the correct order. Then he demonstrated how to stir it correctly and told him how many times, though he doubted he’d be able to retain all of the information from this one demonstration. “There,” he said, setting down his spoon. “Now we just all put our pendants into the pot, and they should be ready in 25 minutes.”

 Logan showed Virgil around his potion’s lab while they waited, explaining what certain pieces of equipment did and a bit about his organization system. Virgil followed him around, looking at the things he pointed out curiously. He, however, got very distracted when Logan showed him one of the experiments he’d concocted. It was a thick liquid that was super attracted to itself and would form a small ball that could be disturbed by touching it. He seemed to like the sensation of squishing it down onto a table… over and over and over again.

“We should get him a ball of yarn,” Patton said out of the corner of his mouth. He may have been enjoying watching Virgil play with the substance more than Virgil was enjoying playing with it himself. And that was saying something.

21984

Eventually, however, the pendants were finished, and he dragged Virgil away from his new toy to show him the finished product.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“Is it supposed to be warm?” Virgil inquired.

“Yes,” Logan replied. “It’s temperature changes based on if the magic on it senses a threat or not. Warmer temperatures mean you are safe.

“Oh,” Virgil said softly, hand squeezing around it. “I like it.”

Logan found himself smiling. “I’m glad. It’s yours.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“If you would like, I’m sure Patton has some suggestions if you’d desire a way to keep it attached to your person. He in particular likes to make them into necklaces or clip them to his clothing.”

Virgil looked over at Patton and nodded shyly. Patton immediately perked up. “I’ll go get some supplies!” he said.

  Chapter 14

“So then,” Patton was saying. “We ran to the stables.”

“We went to gazebo first,” Logan cut in.

“Right, we tried to go to the gazebo first,” Patton corrected, “but Mr. Deknis was over there tending to the tomatoes, and we knew he’d tell Mama the second he saw us. So, then we turned around and went to the stables.”

Virgil tilted his head, listening to the story Patton was telling. Patton was not the best storyteller. He tended to get lost in the middle and embellish, though Logan always corrected him. It was still very entertaining to watch though because he got incredibly animated. He’d even toppled himself over in excitement a couple of times.

 Virgil squeezed the small pillow he had in his lap. He… wasn’t 100% sure what was going on. Logan and Patton had settled him on the blanket covered ground near Logan’s bed and proceeded to feed him snacks and talk about a lot of different things. It had started with them talking about what they’d done that day, and when Patton had made reference to something Virgil hadn’t understood, the two of them ended up talking about things from their childhood.

Virgil found himself entranced by their stories about playing in and running around the castle. It was all so different from what Virgil had experienced.

 “…but, right as we were about to get to the ladder to climb up into the hay loft, Logan tripped!” Patton said, arms whipping around him. “He fell into a container of grain for the horses and it spilled all over the place. He tried to get up but grabbed the edge of the water trough and apparently it wasn’t very secure because it fell over and soaked him. So, then he was wet and covered in grain. He looked hilarious.”

“I did not!” Logan protested, but it did not sound like all of the other times he’d corrected Patton’s stories that night.

 Patton looked over at him. “You did! You woke up the cute stable hand and he laughed himself silly at you, and by the time we got you even partially cleaned up, your dad had already found us. That’s how we got caught.”

“I have no recollection of these events,” Logan clearly lied, his cheeks a bit flushed.

“Liar,” Patton claimed. “You complained about picking grain out of your sheets for weeks.”

“No,” Logan growled.

“Yes! It’s okay. It was a good laugh.”

Logan’s eyes narrowed on him, and he looked pissed, but a second later, his expression lightened up. “You know what else was a ‘good laugh’?” he asked.

 There was a second of silence before…

“Don’t you dare Logan.”

Logan looked him directly in the eye. “Patton was thirteen,” Logan started, but was interrupted the next moment when Patton lobbed a pillow at his head. Logan grabbed the pillow and leaned forward to smack Patton back with it. “He was thirteen and had just ‘discovered boys’ as his mother and my father called it when they attempted to explain his behavior to me. The focus of said ‘discovering’ at the time was the son of an ambassador from Lamir” who was staying for the summer, a seventeen-year-old boy by the name Bernardo.”

 Virgil flinched back as Patton suddenly threw himself across the semicircle they’d made with their bodies to tackle Logan to the ground. He watched as they ineffectually wrestled on the ground for a few seconds before Logan, voice strained continued to speak, while battling Patton’s hands away from his mouth.

“Patton’s only knowledge about flirting… ow… at that point was laughing at everything someone said and touching their arms and shoulders.” Logan managed to flip himself onto his stomach which was a horrible move as far as Virgil was concerned. It put him at a disadvantage to get out of the pin. However, Patton just kept reaching for his mouth and didn’t bare down on his neck to try to cut off his oxygen like Virgil expected. So, perhaps it was a rational move. “Our parents were speaking leaving Patton, Bernardo, and I in the garden,” Logan mumbled into the ground. “Bernardo said something ‘funny’ and Patton went to slap his shoulder while laughing, but shoved too hard… Patton did you just lick my face?!”

 “And I’ll do it again if you don’t shut up!” Patton threatened. That was a… weird fighting strategy.

Logan paused to consider his options. “He shoved Bernardo into the fountain and when Bernardo asked him why he did that, he ran away and wouldn’t talk to him the rest of the summer!” Logan rushed out.

Patton reached over and grabbed the nearest pillow, proceeding to whack him viciously in the back of the head. Logan was lucky the nearest object was a pillow and not something any sturdier. “It’s not funny!” Patton yelled, smacking him even more, which was when Virgil realized Logan was laughing despite the pinning and pillow pummeling. “It’s not!” Patton said. “I really liked him!!”

 “He was seventeen!” Logan said. “It was never going to happen!”

Patton groaned and rolled off of Logan to lay on his back and stare at the ceiling. “But he had so many muscles,” Patton said. “He probably could have thrown me 10 yards.”

“And that is… a benefit?” Logan asked, rolling over onto his side to face him.

“You don’t. Get me.” Patton tilted his head to look at Virgil. “Anyway,” he said. “That is the story of how I died at 13.”

Virgil stared at him, and Patton’s forehead crinkled looking at him.

“Is something wrong, honey?” he asked.

 “What was that?” Virgil asked.

“What was what?”

Virgil just blinked at him. Patton seemed to think for a moment.

“Oh, did you think we were fighting?” Patton asked. “Like, really fighting?”

“You weren’t fighting?” Virgil asked.

“No, sweetie,” Patton said. “We were just playing.” He popped up into a sitting position. “Well, play fighting, but emphasis on play!”

Virgil looked over at Logan for confirmation. “No one is harmed nor was there any intention to harm each other,” he assured.

Patton grabbed the pillow he’d been smacking Logan with. “Like this!” he said. “Bap.” Unlike how he’d smacked Logan ruthlessly, he basically just touched Virgil’s shoulder with it.

 Virgil squinted at him.

“Bap!” Patton said again, smacking him again, this time with a little bit more force and on the cheek. Virgil’s nose scrunched up. “Pillow fight!”

“Pillow fight?”

“You try,” he said, pointing to the pillow in Virgil’s lap.

Virgil glanced down at the bands around his wrist. “Um…” he said. “I don’t think I can?”

“Oh, right,” Patton said with a frown. He bit his lip and glanced over at Logan. “Maybe…”

“Ill-advisable,” Logan said.

“But…” Patton said. “Pillow fight.”

“We would have to be very cautious and make sure there were no weapons in the area.”

“No weapons but pillows!”

 “Fine,” Logan relented to whatever was going on. “Let’s clear the area.” Virgil watched them with mounting confusion as they removed everything within a few meters radius of him except for pillows and blankets.

“There!” Patton said after a minute. “All done!”

“What are you doing?” Virgil said.

“We’re going to have a pillow fight,” Patton said.

“But I…”

“We’ll temporarily allow your restraints to be in the third setting like when you’re in the closet.”

Were they serious? Were they stupid? Virgil could have killed them dozens of times with the second setting and now they were giving him even more range of motion?

 “You have to promise not to try to hurt anyone though,” Patton said. Virgil stared at him dumbly, as Patton held out his pinky finger. “Pinky promise.”

“Pinky promise?”

Patton nodded solemnly. “We lock pinky fingers and make a promise. It’s the most binding promise in the universe.”

Virgil looked at his finger, confused. He’d never heard of that type of deal. “What kind of magic is it?”

“No magic,” Patton said. “Just friendship.” Virgil tilted his head but brought his hand up so Patton could twine their fingers together. “Now, promise you won’t hurt anyone.”

“I promise I won’t hurt anyone,” he said.

“It’s a deal!” said Patton, squeezing Virgil’s finger with his own briefly before drawing away. “I trust you.” Virgil felt a rush of something that was no type of magic he’d ever come into contact before but was definitely far more powerful.

 Logan came over to them and waved his hand over the restraints on Virgil. They buzzed slightly and Virgil looked between them. “So, I just hit you with pillows?”

“Try not to hit too hard near the face, and Lo and I should probably take off our glasses before we start, but yeah,” Patton said, taking his glasses off as he said it. It was yet another foolish move on his part. “It’s fun, and it doesn’t hurt.”

“Okay…” Virgil said.

“I will demonstrate,” Logan said as he took a pillow and smacked Patton in the stomach.

“Hey! No fair!” Patton giggled. “We haven’t started yet!” This did not deter Logan however, as he continued to smack Patton with a pillow.

“On the contrary,” he said. “It has started, and we’re getting you first.”

 “No,” Patton whined, but the way he crumpled to the ground under the onslaught seemed far too staged to make Virgil worry. He didn’t even try to curl up into a ball or to protect his head, just taking the hits and giggling.

Logan looked up at Virgil and motioned with his head. Virgil inched over and looked down at Patton. Logan slowed for a few moments. “Go on,” he urged.

Virgil bit his lip and reached forward to smack Patton lightly with his pillow which seemed to do nothing to him but renew his peels of giggles. From there, it was easy to continue. Logan picked up the pace of his strikes and he and Virgil proceeded to ‘fight’ Patton until he couldn’t breath through his laughter and pushed the pillows away, curling up on his side to recover.

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“No what?” Virgil asked when Patton sat up.

“Now I get vengeance!” Patton said, popping to his feet and smacking Logan in the face. “Help me Virgil!” So, Virgil turned on Logan and he and Patton gave the prince the same treatment. Then, because it was only fair, it was Virgil’s turn, though they were a lot more careful with him then they’d been with each other, and really Patton spent more of the time checking in on Virgil then actually hitting him with the pillow. It was nice. Fun. And when Virgil pushed them away, they pulled back. Then, it was Patton’s turn again and they went around teaming up on each other and sometimes just smacking at each other at random.

  Eventually, they slowed, and all ended up laying near each other on the floor.

“Well, that made me hungry,” Patton said, sitting up and stretching. “I asked Mama to make us a bunch of mini sandwiches with different flavors. I’ll go get them.”

He hopped to his feet to walk over to where they’d stored the food earlier in those little glowing magical balls Logan had for food preservation.

Logan and Virgil sat up too, and Virgil offered him his wrists.

“Right,” Logan said with a blink. He made a motion and Virgil could feel the magic weighing down his hands once again. He’d almost forgotten, Virgil thought with an internal sigh. They’d given an assassin free range of motion, had a pillow fight with him, and almost forgotten to restrain him again. What was Virgil going to do with these idiots?

  Chapter 15

Patton strolled up to the doors to the royal wing, his arms crossed casually around his middle.

Kalani raised an eyebrow as he approached and gave her the most innocent expression he could. “Whatcha got there, Pat?” she asked.

“Hmm?” he asked, as his sweater squirmed. “What do you mean?”

She considered him for a moment. “Well, I see nothing suspicious here,” she said. “Do you Owen?”

“Nothing,” he replied without hesitation.

Patton grinned at them both.

Kalani leaned in like she was going to tell him a secret. “Who is it?”

Patton made a show of glanced around like he was hiding it from anyone passing by. Then he shifted around to pull up just the bottom of his sweater.

 A small black paw reached out from the depths of his sweater and swatted at the air.

“Ah, I see,” Kalani said, reaching out to touch the little paw. “Hello, Mittens.”

Patton giggled as Owen poked the cat’s stomach gently through the sweater, making her wiggle a bit and try to bite him.

“Well,” Patton said. “I better be off with my totally normal sweater.”

Kalani nodded and stepped to the side, and Patton was free to head down the hallway to Logan’s room. Patton knocked on the door with their new extra secret knock and Logan all but ripped open the door. “I’m late. I have to go,” he said, darting past Patton.

 Patton smiled, happy that his plan to be running a little late to come watch Virgil had worked so well, even though he felt a little bit guilty about it. He hoped Logan wasn’t late to his meeting, but he also knew that if Logan had noticed Mittens, he wouldn’t have let her into the room.

Virgil was already out of the closet, sitting on one of the chairs. Patton came in and smiled at him. Unlike Logan, Virgil’s attention was immediately drawn to the oddly shaped lump in Patton’s sweater.

“You’re not very good at hiding things,” Virgil said.

 “It worked on Logan,” Patton defended himself.

“Logan was about to rocket into space if you didn’t show up in 5 seconds,” Virgil pointed out. Patton just shrugged, and Virgil tilted his head. “What do you have?”

Patton grinned wide and carefully pulled Mittens out of his sweater. She did not resist this maneuver at all, simply purring. He held her up for Virgil to see. “Ta da!”

“A cat?” Virgil said.

“This is Mittens,” Patton said. He then turned to Mittens. “Mittens, this is Virgil. I thought I’d introduce the two of you!”

Virgil blinked at the cat. Mittens blinked back. Patton thought maybe he should have let them sniff each other from under a door before doing this.

 He didn’t need to worry though, as Mittens started purring after a moment. “You can pet her,” Patton offered. Virgil looked up at him. “Just…” he said.

“She likes chin scratchies!” Patton prompted.

Virgil reached out a hand to scratch under her chin and that was the end of it. Mittens stretched out her chin happy to get the attention and Virgil’s eyes widened at how soft her fur was. It was a work of minutes before Virgil was sitting down on the floor and Mittens was happily kneading his thighs and spinning around in circles to make sure he pet every inch of her.

“I did not understand why people like cats,” Virgil commented. “All I’ve seen of cats is people coming back with bloody scratches from trying to pet them, so I never even tried.”

“Well,” Patton said. “Cats are just like people. If you’re nice to them, they’re more likely to be nice to you.”

 Virgil’s hand paused briefly on the cat’s head, but then continued with the petting a moment later. Patton wondered what he was thinking about, but didn’t press.

“She seems to like you,” Patton said.

“Don’t know why.”

“Hey, don’t be mean.” Patton scolded.

Virgil hands jerked away from the cat he’d been petting and then were forced abruptly to his side in reaction. Mittens meowed, seemed very unhappy with the jostling as well as the sudden lack of petting.

“Sorry,” Virgil said, eyes wide. “What did I do wrong. I didn’t mean to be mean to her.”

It took Patton a moment to sus out what he was talking about and felt a pang in his chest when he did. “Oh, no honey. You didn’t do anything wrong. I meant don’t be mean to yourself.”

 Virgil gave him a confused look. Mittens bumped her head against his chin and with a blink, he cautiously went back to petting her.

“Of course, she likes you sweetie, you’re a good boy.”

“I came here to kill the king. I’ve killed before.”

Patton smiled sadly. “I don’t think you ever wanted to,” he said. Virgil seemed to grow very interested in mitten’s ears. Patton scooted over so he was sitting beside him and carefully brought a hand up to touch the top of his head. Virgil sort of curled into him, pressing his face against Patton’s shoulder, but continuing to pet the cat.

 “It’s fine. You’re going to be okay now,” Patton said softly.

Virgil shook his head against Patton’s shoulder.

“Yes,” Patton insisted. “You’ll be okay. You won’t have to go back.”

Virgil didn’t respond for a long moment. “You can’t keep me in Logan’s closet forever,” he said softly. “When his dad comes back, you’re going to have to turn me in.”

Well, that was true, but… “It’ll be okay. No one will hurt you.”

“The kings would be assassin?” Virgil asked skeptically.

“Thomas is nice. He’ll understand.”

“He’s nice to you. He’s nice to Logan. Maybe he’s even nice to the people he rules over, but what am I? An enemy assassin who would have slit his throat if I hadn’t gotten the wrong room.”

 It…it did sound bad when he put it like that, but, but… “Thomas will understand,” he promised, hugging him tight. “He will, and we’ll keep you safe and I’ll introduce you to every single cat in the castle. In fact, we’ll get you a cat to keep as a pet if you want and he or she can snuggle you as much as you want. I’ll show you all around the gardens and introduce you to Mama and help you figure out what your favorite type of cookie is. You’ll never have to hurt anyone again and no one will ever hurt you again.”

 Virgil drew away a bit and shot him a half smile. He clearly didn’t believe him, and it made Patton’s stomach twist a bit. Patton knew. He knew Thomas would be nice. There was no way he’d hurt Virgil. Virgil was just a kid and with Logan and Patton on his side, there was no way anything bad would happen to him. He could see it from Virgil’s perspective though.

“I like her feet,” Virgil said, touching Mittens’ little black paw that contrasted her otherwise white coat. Mittens purred and began kneading his legs again with those paws. “I’m guessing that’s why she’s named Mittens?”

“Yeah,” said Patton softly. “‘Cause she looks like she’s wearing mittens.” Virgil leaned forward to kiss her little head and that little action made Patton’s heart ache for him. He deserved so many kitten kisses. So many.

Patton was determined to make sure he got them.

  Chapter 16

“Well done,” Logan complimented when Virgil looked up at him for approval. It was the first time Virgil was trying to make the protection charms without Logan’s instructions. Logan was of course still in the room in case he had questions and the boy had a written set of instructions next to him, but for the most part Virgil was doing it on his own.

“Now,” Virgil said squinting down at the paper next to him, “we wait for 35 minutes.”

“Fifty actually,” Logan corrected offhand, focused on his own potion.

“Oh, yeah, right,” Virgil said. He grabbed the timer and set it for the appropriate time.

 Then, he stepped away from Logan’s nontoxic potion station. Logan saw him edge a bit closer to peak at what Logan was working on, though he was careful to maintain a distance. Logan wasn’t sure if this was because he’d been warned of the possible harmful substances Logan sometimes used at his experiment table or because he was worried Logan might not want him to approach.

Logan looked up at him. “You can come closer. Nothing here is very dangerous.”

Virgil nodded and walked over to peer at the boiling pot. “What are you making?” he asked.

“I am once again attempting to invent a potion that will reliably remove cat hair from surfaces,” Logan said, glancing over at Patton.

 Patton looked up from the bracelet he was making and stuck his tongue out at Logan.

“I can never seem to find an adequate solution,” Logan said.

“The solution is to accept all parts of kitty love!” Patton insisted.

“Or maybe the solution is to exile you from my room for the rest of time,” Logan muttered. Patton chose to ignore him and go back to working on the bracelet.

“Do you want any help?” Virgil offered Logan.

Logan smiled at him. “I’m actually almost finished with this step and there isn’t much left to do but thank you.”

Virgil nodded. “Oh, okay,” he said. He shifted back and forth a few times.

 “You’re well on your way to mastering this potion,” Logan said. “I was thinking that next I could teach you how to make a tracking charm. I marked a passage about it in the book on that shelf.” He gestured to one near the station Virgil had been working at. “Why don’t you go ahead and read that while you wait?”

“The…” Virgil said. “The green book?”

“Yes,” Logan said. “I left a bookmark in the correct page.”

“Um… yeah, sure. I’ll go… read that.”

Logan nodded and turned back to put the finishing touches on his own potion as Virgil walked away.

 Logan finished up his potion up after a few minutes and covered it to let it simmer. He looked over to see that Patton had flopped onto his back, still working on the bracelet and Virgil had sat near to him with the book on his lap open. Logan walked over to them.

“What do you think?” Logan asked.

Virgil glanced up at him. “Erm,” he said. “Looks good.”

“Which option do you like better?”

“…The second one.”

“Really?” Logan asked, surprised.

“Uh… yes?”

“I’m surprised,” Logan commented. “I figured you would shy away from the ones that required a blood sacrifice.”

Virgil’s eyes widened. “Oh,” he said. “I… didn’t notice that. I would like to not do that one, please.”

“You didn’t notice?” Logan asked. “Half of the entire first page is dedicated to a discussion of it.”

There was a beat of awkward silence.

“Virgil,” Logan said. “Can you read the first paragraph on that page?”

[sunlightwoo]

tag games ✰

here’s just a long post of me continuing on tag games that i’ve been tagged in but haven’t had the time to answer hehe

however if you see this, you’re tagged by me if you haven’t done it already :) and thank you @hyunjaethereal​, @timextoxhajima​​ , @sankyeom​​ , @viastro​​ , @bbangsoonie​​​, @wavesmp3​​​ and @shionwrites​​​ for tagging me ily guys <3

✰ element writer tag ✍️

what element writer are you?

magma writer

Molten rock that still has to surface. You're the perfect mix of fire and earth, and your story shows it, having the best of both worlds. You're the writer that holds fire on their fingertips and kisses their lovers goodbye in the most painful way. You're able to build long stories that burn on the inside. You break the human soul, touching with infinite grace the right cords. You are an artist of the elaborate pain and heavy angst only a constructed and long story can give. If i could see in your eyes, i would be looking at your soul dancing on an unstable floor, flames all around it, to protect it and to forge it. Your love burns hot and infinite inside of you, and sometimes, when it slips out, you're afraid that it could burn too much. But the right people will know how to love you, and every bright tongue of fire your soul is made of. Your stories are the ones that make the world change.

damn no need to hurt me like that

✰ what is your unorthodox love language?

for this one i took it with my friends and it was sharing foods with your loved ones!!

and this really hit home <//3

✰ playlist tag

rules: we’re snooping on your playlist. put your entire music library on shuffle and list the first ten songs and then choose 10 victims.

flag by tbz

sit down by nct 127

after school by weeekly

come back home by 2ne1

good to me by svt

from by ateez

secret story of the swan by iz*one

she’s in the rain by the rose

shoot by itzy

asap by stayc

✰ writer positivity tag 🪴

rules: bold the things that apply to you

I am a talented writer | I have a way with words | I can plan my stories really well | I can improvise my stories really well | I am great at writing realistic dialogue | I can really paint a picture with my words | My writing is very atmospheric | I am great at descriptions | I am great at action | I am great at touching people with my stories | the backstories of my characters are all diverse and I feel like I truly know them | I am great at making a realistic and complex personalities | I really enjoy the character dynamics and relationships in my wips | my main characters aren't always the same | I am great at coming up with gripping beginnings | I am great at coming up with gripping endings | I am great at coming up with titles  | I am in love with my characters and would die for them if they were real | I love how I write animals and mystic creatures | I am great at world-building | I have intriguing and gripping plots | I write amazing character-driven stories | I am great at capturing and keeping the audience's attention | I am persistent even when I want to give up | I'm very organized with my writing notes | I am constantly learning from every story I encounter | I devour books

✰ this or that intimate moments (bold what applys)

love at first sight or slowly growing fond of someone | love letters or mixtapes | hand kisses or kisses on the cheeks | understanding each other without words or finishing each others sentences | gazing into each other’s eyes or looking away blushing | longing to be with someone again or spending every second together | laughing together or crying together | someone run their fingers through your hair or gently playing with your hand | surprise kisses or long tight hugs

✰ aesthetic tag

➼ 𝐒𝐎𝐅𝐓 13/20 (had a hunch)

baby pink | iridescent | glitter is always a good option | no bra | minimalistic tattoos | cherry patterns | sweet scented perfumes | wearing generous amounts of blush | doodling hearts | getting excited to pet an animal | fun nails | re-watching old barbie movies | hair sticking to glossed lips | heart shaped sunglasses | taking pictures of the sunset or sunrise | stuffed animals | protecting nature | stickers everywhere | teen movies | the light rain that falls from a clear sky at the beginning of the night |

➼ 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐀𝐂𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐌𝐈𝐀 7/20 

neutral tones | masculine outfits | studying languages | worn down copy of books | grey skies | turtleneck sweaters | loose fitting pants | hair tied with a silk ribbon | trying to remember a cool difficult word you read somewhere to use in a convo | thick belts | minimal makeup | windows fogged by rain | vintage jewelry | blouses with cuffed sleeves | reading a murder mystery and trying to solve it | oxford style shoes | sweater vests | subtitled old movies in a language you don’t speak | leaves crackling as you walk | annotating books to express your emotions about the story |

|➼ 𝐄𝐃𝐆𝐘 4/20

closet full of dark clothes | fishnet tights | makeup sweating off | neon signs | searching for unknown songs | chokers | band tees | doodling on old converses | finding smoking aesthetically pleasing but not doing it | weird humor | accidentally very dramatic | dim lights | layered outfits | chain belts | chipped nail polish | messy hair | low quality pics | piercings | combat boots | scribbling on desks |

➼ 𝟕𝟎’𝐒 5/20

colorful wardrobe | doodling flowers | wearing short shorts | using a bikini top or bra as a normal top | listening to ABBA | flowers in your hair | DIYing everything | jamming to songs alone in your room | drunkenly telling your friends you love them | patterned bandanas | mid heeled shoes | messy braids | flared sleeves | walking barefoot on grass or sand | bold sunglasses | the good kind of tired you get after doing something you enjoy for hours | feeding stray animals | fun patterned socks | room decorated with succulents and other plants | likes to go roller skating or skateboarding |

➼ 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐏𝐘 𝐂𝐀��𝐔𝐀𝐋 4/20

collared clothes | drinking juice out of a champagne glass | getting excited to see the met gala looks | thick headbands | small pastel cardigans | making your friends take your ootd pics | plaid mini skirts | tweed two pieces | watching reality tv to pass time | frilly tops | watching old hollywood movies | academically driven | long manicured nails | new year’s eve fireworks | colourful tights | layered golden jewelry | yearns for luxury brand items | decorating your room with fairylights | cursive and neat handwriting | lace details |

✰ zodiac this or that (i’ll do my big three)

Pisces sun: Aquamarine or Amethyst. Sea Green or Ocean Blue. Tulips or Carnations. Turmeric or Willow Herb. Surfing or Water Skiing. Ocean or River. Poetry or Painting. Dolphins or Whales. Pineapple or Watermelon. Telekinesis or Reality Warping/Illusion powers. Zinfandel or Spiked punches/lemonades. Starfish or Seashells. Healing Crystals or Dreamcatchers. Psychic powers or Water bending/manipulation. Coneflower or Iris. Lighthouse or Watermill. Baby’s breath or Waterlily. Taurus or Capricorn.

Taurus moon: Green or Pink. Malachite or Emerald. Roses or Violets. Thyme or Brasil. Vanilla or Chocolate. Candles or Bath bombs. Painting or Jewelry making. Seduction powers or Enchanted jewerly, treasure, or gemstones. Foxglove or Larkspur. Chocker or Medallion necklaces. Apples or Grapes. Singing or Humming. Elephants or Turtles. Gardening or Shopping. Having a homebody day or Taking a walk in nature. Pinot Noir or Bourbon. Precognition or Manipulating life force. Violin or Lute. Cancer or Pisces.

Virgo rising: Navy Blue or Olive Green. Peridot or Sardonyx. Peony or Sweet Pea. Hops or Rosemary. Chess or Checkers. Carrot Cake or Fig Bar/Cakes/Cookies. Knitting or Crocheting. Grammar Checking/Quality Assurance or Critiquing a piece of work. Golf or Tennis. Buttercups or Morning Glory. Herbs magic or Earth and plant bending. Mice or Bees. Cabernet Frank or Micro-brews. Enchanted Garden or Magic that can perfect skills. Bunnies or Deer. Cancer or Scorpio.

[dearosamu]

DESPERADO - OMORFIA

SYPNOSIS: she, a dancer with personified problems all the while more that intrigues osamu dazai who came into her life amidst the chaos that is [name] [last name].

WARNING/S: none

eight - nine

dazai felt his phone vibrate in the back of his pockets, swiftly picking up his cell without even bothering to look at the caller id.

"dazai, are you gonna turn up here or what? am i gonna have to file an absent report - again?"

dazai groans with a free arm flailing beside him, almost hard enough to knock off his glass of wine on the kitchen counter.

"i'm just not feeling it today, odasaku. i think i might've made [name] angry."

"oh, really? what a shocker." the apparent semi-oblivious tone that oda replied with didn't help one bit.

"care to tell me what happened?"

"well," dazai pauses, taking a sip of wine. "she dropped by here yesterday - which reminds me that i forgot to ask her how she even got my address," he mutters mostly to himself.

"anyway! off topic, but she brought her kid and left him with me, asking me to take care of him for the night. they ended up sleeping over and after breakfast we kinda kissed."

"and?"

"and what?"

"there must be something you aren't telling me. the info you've given me seems to be missing a few important details."

the brunette mentally curses at his partner's close attention to specific details. even through the phone, he can probably sense his bullshit.

"well, i may or may not have hinted at her that i .. wanted to be something more. to help her ease her burdens, you know?"

oda was silent during his explanation, only humming in acknowledgement once he assessed the situation.

"are you in love with her?"

dazai purses his lips at the question. his feelings regarding this was all over the place.

"that's the thing. i don't know if it's love - i don't understand it."

"it would help if you'd describe how you really felt."

oda hears dazai take a deep breath over their call. he must feel a little overwhelmed about it all. he's known dazai for many years, understanding that he can't handle intense emotions very well. love, was definitely one of those.

"i feel this- this weird ache in my chest when she does one good thing, but it's followed by something else entirely. it's like she wants it to but at the same time, she's holding herself back," he stammers.

"i'm trying to work out what she said before she left. she was just so vague."

"you don't think she's giving you mixed signals?"

dazai had gone silent, possibly thinking it over on his side. what if he got it all wrong? what if he was just assuming things just because her actions differ from her words?

"dazai, if you recall back then, it's to never fall for-"

"strippers or anyone involved in bad business, i know," dazai completes it for him.

"didn't you fell for jin? george,  - or whatever his name was - at some point?"

"gide," oda sighs. "that was back then - now don't change the subject to me. this is about you coming to terms with your emotions."

dazai downs the last drop of his wine, proceeding to lay on his couch to vent about his weird feelings to oda. it's a wonder that his friend even put up with his constant complaints at all.

"you know, if you're nagging about something like this that much, why don't you ask her out?"

"ask her out where?"

"on a date, genius." he deadpans. dazai lips shape into a small 'o', mind going off on a questionable daze before quickly coming back to reality.

"do you think that's a good idea?"

"i don't see why not," oda shrugs even though dazai couldn't see him.

"odasaku,"

"what is it?"

"i haven't been on a real date in a long time."

this was going to be much more difficult than he thought.

--

somehow, oda managed to convince dazai to pull through the idea of going on a date. with [name].

which explains why he's back at the club, but instead of hoping to piss her off with a request to dance, he had brought along with some flowers as a peace offering. he even got his semi-formal attire neatly pressed for this.

upon coming to the club and heading immediately backstage, he was - unfortunately - greeted with the sight of chuuya. the ginger doesn't even hold back on a snicker when he does a once over at the taller male.

"pfft - what in the fuck are you doing?"

"could you have [name] off work today?"

"why?"

"i'm taking her out," he holds up the flowers in his hands.

as soon as chuuya opened his mouth, the two just ended up having small banter and disagreements, with the former obviously disapproving of the brunette in question. it was interrupted once a certain [h.c]-haired woman passed the door in between the males.

"uh, excuse me? you two are blocking the way-" she does a double take once her gaze lands on dazai, grumbling under her breath as she tries to ignore him, focusing her stare on chuuya.

chuuya clicks his tongue, moving aside to make way. dazai takes this opportunity to ask [name] out.

"please go out with me." chuuya snorts, deciding to leave the two on their own. he'd probably tease the female later on about it.

"what the fuck?" she gazes up at him with disbelief.

dazai clears his throat, feeling a bit of tension and awkwardness in the situation. "odasaku suggested that i do something .. different. that i should try being romantic.. ?" it came off more of a question rather than an answer.

"please tell me you're joking," despite the hint of mockery in her tone, her eyes said otherwise.

"did you inhale something?"

"i'm serious. i'm trying to ask you out so," he gives her the flowers with the corner of his lips curling up.

"go out with me?"

the female was quite shocked. this was new. she didn't really expect this from dazai.

"you're smiling." she says absentmindedly.

"is that a bad thing?"

"no, no. in fact it's .. a good change," she returns with a small grin of her own, staring at the arrangement of tulips and daises she had in her hands. how sweet.

"look, i'm trying," dazai mumbles. "i want to give whatever we have a shot. it's been a long time since i've done this, so just spare me the time and tell me if you want to do this or not."

he hears a small snicker before the female in front of him bursts in a small fit of giggles. "okay, okay. i'll go on a date with you."

"really?" dazai asks, eyes wandering her own for any ill intentions. there was none. he felt flabbergasted.

"just let me have the courtesy of getting changed first," she gives a gentle smile.

"would you want me to go out wearing something like this?"

"n-no! go get changed, please-" dazai stammers out, face flushed. this was weird. he felt odd. oddly giddy and a bit of excitement. was this normal?

"alright. wait for me then."

he couldn't wait for what was about to come.

--

"you seem so inexperienced. it's stupidly cute in some way," [name] comments as they walk down a street, minutes away from their destination.

"i told you, it's been a long time since i've been on a real date."

"define a 'long time'."

"like, twelve years, give or take-" he was cut of by the abrupt laughter that emitted from his date. he playfully rolls his eyes at the sight.

"oh yeah, sure okay. that's funny for you," he mutters. despite his jarring tone, his arm didn't fail to lose contact with the female.

"i-it's just too funny! you haven't been on a date since you were like, sixteen. oh my god," she loses herself again in a fit of giggles. even with the annoyed look on his face, he finds her laughter endearing to his ears. he's used to her seemingly hostile personality that seeing her be so playful was a bit weird. he doesn't mind it though.

"that's just precious."

"oh, look. it seems we've gotten to the restaurant i was telling you about." he ignored her shouts of protest as he hurriedly speed walks to the place. he greets the staff at the entrance, mentioned his reservation before they were lead to an empty booth and situates himself there with [name].

she sets her bag down on a chair beside her, sitting down on a chair the opposite of dazai. "now, is that a way to treat your date?"

"you were being puerile," he answers, leaning onto both hands propped against the table.

"don't use stupid fancy words on me." the female grumbles as they waited for a waiter. dazai sticks out his tongue as they went on about casual conversation.

"ever tried thai food?"

"not really."

"how come?"

"my household used to stick to a sole strict way of handling things. anything remotely foreign was forbidden for us." she explains.

"they hated trying new things for some reason."

"well, i'm here to treat you to your heart's content," he grins. [name] returns a small one of her own, gazing upon the interior design of the restaurant. she hadn't took it all in since she was dragged quite briskly inside. it was pretty fancy. expensive looking, too. the wages that their staff must earn may be more than what she has on the daily. lucky.

minutes later, a waiter had come by to take their orders.

"and what would your drinks be?"

"i'll have a sake," dazai answers.

"what about you, ma'am?"

"i'll have a [f.d] instead." the waiter nods, taking the menus before leaving. [name] plays with the ends of her hair before locking eyes with dazai.

"how's your business running along?"

"things are coming along smoothly. we've gotten rid of those who tried to auction off some of our products for fakes. profits are coming in at a steady pace. i managed to go on a date with you, so nothing seems wrong."

"are you happy though?"

"why wouldn't i be? i have attained so much in little time." the female rolls her eyes at this.

"yeah, but achieving a lot of things don't always mean you're actually happy with what you have right now."

dazai ponders over her words. "i don't get what you mean."

"like, you need to find something that makes you genuinely happy. something you find comfort in or calmness. something that makes you smile and make you think that 'i wouldn't exchange this for anything else.'"

"i still don't get it."

"you're that bad with emotions?" dazai nods hesitantly, feeling that this was somehow a bad thing.

"isn't that unhealthy?"

"how so?"

"well, i was taught to feel all of my emotions. to really connect with them, so that i don't seem unhinged."

dazai doesn't give a reply, soon after the waiter returned with their drinks in hand. the two gives their thanks.

"you need to be in tune with your feelings more, you know." [name] takes a sip from her cold beverage.

"i think i feel strongly for you," he pauses. "i can't describe it."

"that's.. understandable, i guess. you still need some work." [name] sighs.

"it's not that i can't - more like i don't know how?"

the [h.c]-haired female thinks his words over before stating her own opinion. dazai continued before she could get the words out.

"it's just strange. which is kinda why i had asked odasaku first before you .. and now you're here. i want to control these emotions." he just seemed so confused. she smiles at this.

"that's cute."

"huh?" dazai was so lost.

"you just really seem like you're trying really hard. it's flattering. shows that you're putting effort on me. i appreciate that."

oh.

oh. was all dazai could think.

his felt his heartbeat twice during dinner.

[naturaldisasterfanfiction]

7.

Frowning at Mel “stop messing around, if you’re going to plan on being an active auntie in my baby’ life I don’t want games” Mel likes to massage coco butter on my stomach, which I don’t mid because then it saves me from doing it and I can just relax but she is taking forever and is playing around by drawing things on my stomach, stifling out a yawn as I rested my head back on the pillow “I swear to god Melissa!” I shouted “you got me shouting now, stop it” Mel just laughed at me, she is laughing, and I am annoyed “I can’t believe how amazing the scan pictures came out now, it’s creepy but cute. I cried when she said the baby finger is in its mouth, like” reaching to my side table “look at it, literally has my forehead” looking at my scan picture “chile, forehead for days. Chris has a receding fucking hairline and your hairline is no different, the baby has no choice but to have a big forehead and hairline starting from the back” my mouth fell open “oopss, sorry” she isn’t wrong but still “I hate you, I would kick you but you are being helpful” smiling at my scan picture, this just makes me so happy. Like this is my baby right now in my stomach just relaxing, I am fucking mind blown by how I am bringing life to the world. We spoke on so much, the difficulties that could happen but I am going all natural, I don’t want nobody cutting into me unless it is at a point where I could die but I am all for the natural thing “yeah, I heard your mom saying that you are going natural? I mean I am not the person to say anything but isn’t it better just cutting and then out it comes?” placing the scan picture on my chest “I think not, unless I could die or my baby could die then I will back down but I want to go through it normally, I don’t want to be lazy and just lay there. I am like every other woman; I don’t care what anyone says. I said it to Doctor Wen, she explained the reason why they would cut me open if they needed but she is happy for me to do natural and I agreed on the reasons why, but I think a lot of famous women just do the easier option to not change anything and to make it as perfect as possible, I am not for that. If that baby is stretching my pussy then so be it. My only baby anyways” Mel pulled a face as she shuffled away and sat on the bed “I would rather be cut open, I am lazy like that” shaking my head at Mel “get pregnant, we can have baby play dates” poking my bottom lip out “no way sis, your baby is my baby too. Just you go through the pain” Mel cackled; she is not shit.

I have the biggest clothes I can wear right now; I am leaving the home after all these weeks and I am feeling nervous about it all “are we all ready?” walking out of my room, popping my scan picture in my bag “we are, so we are going straight to the hanger. I have arranged it, I know they like doing spot checks but not today, I mean we can’t have you getting searched with the baby bump. No spot check, I have arranged it that we are arriving” Jen pointed at me as she walked over to me “good, I am glad. I think I would be devastated if that were to happen, I do not need that right now. So, we have J. Cole and Kendrick performing at the ball, exciting right? All I had to do was text them, they both said yes. I am just so nervous; I feel sick now all over again but let’s go” Rich is staring at me “what?” I said to him “just weird to see you like this, I have been working with you for years” pulling a face at him “do I look pregnant? Am I fat to you?” Rich’ face dropped “no uh, I am not saying that just that you look well” side eyeing him “your cheeks are fuller sis” hitting Ja’ shoulder as I walked out of the house.

I am so excited to see what Dennis has done, he has been working hard on this. He wants me to be happy about it but I am, I am just feeling hormonal about things. I had to make the pilot and flight attendant sign a NDA because I want to be free on my jet and not hiding, also I needed the bed to be made and laying down will expose what I am hiding behind this huge thing “if you complain about this now I will just quit” Dennis placed his MacBook in front of me “I didn’t complain, I just stated that my voice didn’t sound right” Dennis rolled his eyes “just please, watch it. Pretend you’re a fan, you get the notification, no caption and this came up” looking at Jen before pressing play, I hate my face “Ja is right” my face looks fuller “no he is not, you look so good Robyn. You look so happy, I love it, you can tell you got that pregnancy skin” watching the video play on, just images of me smiling “oh god, it sounds like I am adding to my skin care. The fans are going to hate me, they really are”  the video cuts to me walking towards the bathroom “it’s now time to enter a new journey for me, and for the new life that was created” I mimicked the words I said as the video played on and the time lapse of the images I took “oh god, as a fan I would be shook. Like my heart is beating hard against my chest, they are going to be shocked. It’s calming though. The way I announce it is very calming, but it honestly looks like I am announcing a new skin product, oh god. I am happy with it Dennis, yes” sitting back smiling “I am” I said again “I was thinking about my extended family members and not telling them, they will find out like this also but it needs to be so tight. I mean it will be the same with the Chris thing, I can’t risk telling too much to so many people. The circle needs to be closed” watching Dennis take his laptop “what if Chris wants to tell?” Jen asked “he needs to not, that is something I will obviously take that up with him or if he says don’t care and I rather not get involved” Jen laughed “you wish, he will be like an excited puppy but that is interesting to hear, I think you both need to have this deep conversation and you won’t be drunk or high” I wish I could get drunk or high “I miss that” I mumbled saying.

Mel laid next to me on the bed that was made on the jet, I feel a little sore and tired so I knew that I would need the bed made “do you all take turns in cuddling me? Am I that big?” Mel laughed out, she is laughing but I think it is true “it’s not that, I promise so I was thinking if we invite Chris to the ball since you know, he is you know” Mel looked at my stomach and then at me, she proceeded to wink at me “erm, I am not sure about that. I am not being funny but it’s already a mess and I am adding to it, I can’t just invite him and then have him alone, he will then bring his friends. Just keep it away, not there. Not when this will be happening, everyone is going to be at me about it already, the same tired old conversation. I disagree, he has too much on anyways” Mel rolled her eyes at me “you do know you are going to have to face him” looking away from Mel “wish I didn’t need too” I said to myself “then don’t, he will be none the wiser. Pray to the gods it doesn’t look like him, I mean you don’t need too” shaking my head “I am not like that, it’s just difficult ok. He is a mess; I keep stalking him!” I shouted so loudly “ok, calm down. Well whatever you want then I am here” she needs to just support me in this plan, it may be a little crazy but I just need to do it my way and not what people around me want because it will not work like they want “I am intrigued to know what his reaction will be, will it be happy, sad, hateful. I mean it’s not the perfect scenario” she is telling me like I don’t know that.

Sitting on the bed Indian style with my hand naturally on my stomach, I am just forever doing this now, I am used to it “I hate this, I hate that Jen and Mel both know a secret that I want to know. Like you both know the sex of my child, I really don’t want a gender reveal just tell me!” I half shouted “she’s going to be cute like you, I know already” Ja is acting like anyone will tell him shit “I know my girls, they wouldn’t tell you because I would bully you into telling me so good try baldie. Is it what I want? Like I have been always saying a girl?” Mel and Jen are not giving me much “this will be my only baby, and I pray for a healthy baby but a girl, just let it be? I mean I won’t be upset but still, just a mini me, you know” I want them to give me something, they ain’t giving me shit “soon, Mexico and the family. We going to reveal it, have a little get together. It will be cute, stop being annoying. Then we can have a baby shower in London, or shall we go Spain? I don’t know but we going to party, every day with you” Jen said, but I don’t want that I just would like to know what it is “mom! You said you have a feeling, what is the feeling!” getting off of the bed “look at my stomach shape and tell me?” turning to the side “baby, can’t you just wait. I don’t know what it is” rolling my eyes “just a guess, come on? You always do this, you say oh the stomach is this shape so it’s whatever” my mom is annoying when she does it to every one else “ok, ok. I think” she squinted her eyes “a boy” my mom pointed “ok, her opinion is irrelevant now” I joked “any more takers, what are we saying?” I got everyone looking at me now, hearing a mixture of girl and boy “so girl then, thank you” I laughed to myself “but if it’s a boy then there is always adoption, I am joking. I just want my baby healthy so don’t mind me” sitting back down on the edge of the bed.

I caught myself falling asleep but for the lighter in my hand, it was too late. It already slipped out of my hand and onto the ground floor. Moving back from the balcony, I didn’t realise I was falling asleep but another day at the Brown house. I need to finish off my art downstairs now, walking back into my bedroom. Placing my feet in my slides as I closed my bedroom door, I was supposed to go to Gunna’ party tonight but I declined, I wasn’t in the mood but I think “here they are” I stopped to say to myself, the niggas are back home, I mean my home “good party?” jumping down the last of the stairs nearly falling down but I caught myself “it was, got some girls back. They wanted to come” nodding my head “step right up, mobiles that side, papers on the other side. Then we can all have fun is that you? Krista? Oh wow, you still riding in the back of niggas cars now” Krista walked over to me “shut up” hugging her “you still the same old Chris, sign the papers” I laughed stepping back from the hug “well I got to be, but you still need to sign the papers. Keep your mobile though” winking at her “oh privileges then? I see how it is” she walked off, watching her walk off with the other girls, about seven others. Hoody hit my arm “she asked to come here” he said in a whisper “she missed the D, they all do” I laughed walking off.

Blunt for breakfast and it hasn’t even hit nine yet “your home is amazing, like with all the new graffiti. You haven’t just done random things like always” moving the blunt back, placing the spray can on the ground “I try” blowing the smoke out from my lips “you not going in the pool like the rest? Showcasing booties for the niggas to want?” I pointed laughing “why do I need to do that when you already seen it” she got a point “they doing that for you Chris, you know that” I shrugged “better off going with someone I remember, vaguely. It wasn’t memorable” Krista side eyed me “just like Amikka, you remember that too” I blew out air all wide eyed “to be fair I don’t actually remember many pussies I’ve had. Select few” Krista laughed “nothing has changed with you Chris, wow. I actually just came to see you, I am not jumping in no pool and showing my ass” nodding my head “then it was pointless you coming” looking over at the girls in the pool “they all sucking and licking on each other too, damn. But, let me mind my business, it was good you come out though. You can relax here or whatever” let me go back to my spray painting.

I was shocked to see Krista still here, I guess it is because Amikka gone “still here?” sitting down on the couch across from her “problem?” shaking my head “nope, why though? You dogged me out?” I mean she did “rich coming from you, you were having several women on the go, I was done. I thought you were with Amikka, so yeah” shaking my head “I have always been single, I show love. People don’t get that” my phone vibrated in my pocket “oh is that what it is, but she said you was with her” getting my phone out from my pocket “nope” seeing a Instagram message from Mel, this is not like her. Tapping on the message and unlocking my phone “least she is back where she belongs, Germany” I just laughed reading the message from Mel, squinting my eyes ‘Come to the Diamond Ball, plus one (Mijo) of course but you’re invited if you would like to come. You’re with me, let me know’ I am confused, Melissa is inviting me to an event where niggas are stuck up their own ass, I don’t fuck with any of those people and on top of that Robyn is foul so no, let me message back nicely, I don’t want to see her face after that night ‘I love you Mel, you my sister FOREVER but Robyn is foul. She KNOW what she did, if she wants her drunken talks with sex tell her go elsewhere, not blaming you! Trust me, I have other plans either way’ pressing send on the message “you seem angry?” Krista asked “women are not nice, that is all” locking my phone and placing it to the side of me, I won’t be seeing that, full of fake industry people that don’t like me but smile in my face, this is why I don’t go to award shows, fuck that. Robyn loves that shit and is too far up their asses to even see real, I’m not that.

[worryinglyinnocent]

Fic: What’s Past is Future

AU-gust Day Sixteen: Treasure Hunters AU Fandom: Stargate Universe Pairing: Nicholas Rush x Chloe Armstrong

Rated: G

Summary: Having been strong-armed into being part of an archaeological expedition in the jungle, Rush is going to have to make the best of it, a process made slightly easier when bright young archaeologist Chloe takes it upon herself to befriend him, whether he wants it or not. 

What’s Past is Future

Nicholas Rush could categorically state that he hated absolutely everything about this trip that he had found himself on. He wasn’t even entirely sure how he had found himself on it. All he knew was that he had tried his utmost to get out of it, to no avail. Several people higher up than he was in the university had told him in no uncertain terms that he was going, and thus, here he was. 

Wherever here was. It was very hot, it was very wet, and his glasses kept misting up. He was in the middle of a jungle somewhere, but he had not paid attention to precisely where he was or indeed why he was here. He neither knew nor cared. What he did know and care about was that if he managed to get to the end of this expedition both alive and without having killed the rest of the team, he would consider that an achievement. 

Why did an archaeological dig need an astrophysicist to come along with them anyway? What were he and his field of expertise possibly going to get out of watching a group of people very enthusiastic about hunting for buried treasure digging holes in the ground all day?

His superiors had been rather cagey about that part of it. No doubt if he’d spent a little more time reading the briefing material that one of the archaeologists had presented him with before they set off, he would have a better idea of what they were doing, but he was resisting on principle. He wasn’t intentionally making life difficult for the rest of the party, but they were certainly going to know that he was not here by choice.

It felt like they had been walking through this interminable jungle for days, although rationally Rush knew that it could only have been a couple of hours. He wondered if they were anywhere near their destination. What were they looking for in the middle of South America anyway? El Dorado? And why, oh God WHY, did they need him?

With these sour thoughts running through his head on a loop, Rush didn’t notice that one of the archaeologists had hung back and fallen into step beside him at the tail of the group trudging through the steaming undergrowth, and he was startled out of his self-pity when she spoke. 

“Hi. You must be the very grumpy astrophysicist who’s only here under sufferance. We were warned about you.”

Rush looked over at her. There was an amused smile on her face as she held out a hand. He looked at it for a few moments, as if she had offered him a poisonous snake, before he shook it tentatively. 

“I’m Chloe. Chloe Armstrong,” she said. He recognised her as the one who had given him the reading material on the plane out. 

“Nick Rush.”

“Pleased to meet you. So, I take it that you still don’t know why you’re here yet?”

Rush gave her a sideways glance. Was she checking up on whether he’d done his homework?

“What’s it to you?”

Chloe just laughed. “Oh, I know you don’t know. There’s no way that you would be looking so miserable and mumbling about all archaeologists being a bunch of crackpot dirt enthusiasts if you knew what we were actually looking for and why we need an astrophysicist to help us out.”

“You weren’t meant to have heard that,” Rush muttered. 

“I know.”

They continued to walk on in silence for a while, but Rush would admit that Chloe’s words had intrigued him. 

“So, what are you looking for and why do you need an astrophysicist to help you out? Because I have to say it, your idea of something interesting and exciting probably doesn’t correlate to mine.”

“Dr Rush, I’ve only known you for about a day but I’m pretty sure that your idea of something interesting and exciting is getting a brand-new chalkboard to scribble on.” Chloe prodded his backpack where all the paperwork was stored. “Read. There’s a reason I gave you that information pack, you know.”

Rush gestured around their current surroundings, then took off his glasses to wipe the mist off them for what felt like the millionth time. “Read here?”

“Well, you need to know what we’re looking for before we get to where we’re going to be looking for it, which shouldn’t be too far now. Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out and let you know if you’re going to trip over anything. Or I won’t, and it can be revenge for the crackpot dirt enthusiast comment.”

He wasn’t going to be able to live that one down, and since Chloe had already proved remarkably astute at reading him, Rush decided to give in to curiosity, and he got the papers she had given him earlier out of his bag, skimming over them as they walked along. 

He was halfway down the second page when he stopped short, Chloe pulling up beside him. 

“You think there’s an Ancient spaceship somewhere in this jungle?”

“I told you that you wouldn’t be so miserable, didn’t I?”

Well, the discovery of a potentially alien artefact that had apparently been in the jungle since pre-history certainly explained the need for an astrophysicist with a working knowledge of the Ancient language, and Rush certainly couldn’t deny that he was one of those. In fact, of all the faculty who had any dealings with the whole Ancient phenomenon, he didn’t think that he was tooting his own horn too much to say that he probably had the best working knowledge of the entire department.

He stowed Chloe’s paperwork back in his pack and looked up to see her watching him with a very amused expression. Rush gave an awkward cough and set off again at a much quicker pace than his previous trekking through inhospitable jungle had been. Chloe kept up to him easily, but as the next few minutes passed by in anxious anticipation of what they might find when they reached their destination, Rush found that he didn’t mind her presence. 

She certainly didn’t conform to the stereotypical image of an archaeologist that Rush had always had in his head. To him, they usually fell into one of two categories: the daredevil Indiana Jones type going on ridiculous escapades to find mythical, magical treasure, and the far more common old guy with a long beard and socks with sandals, poking about in holes in the ground and enthusing over bits of rock. 

Chloe was neither of those things. Well, in age she was closer to the Indiana Jones archetype than the bearded professor, but she didn’t seem to be the classic treasure seeker. He glanced sideways at her as they continued to hike. 

“What’s your stake in this expedition?” he asked eventually. “What are you getting out of it?”

Chloe shrugged. “Maybe I’m just really enthusiastic about dirt.” She laughed as Rush rolled his eyes. “Ok, I’ll stop teasing. But you really are the epitome of the grumpy, misanthropic scientist who thinks the worst of everyone, aren’t you?”

“In my experience it always helps to set your expectations low. That way, you’re never disappointed when people fail to live up to them. Which happens remarkably frequently. And still, even when you set the bar low, some people can’t even step over it.”

Chloe laughed again. “I’m glad I didn’t study physics and risk having you as a professor. But I’ll play along and answer your question. I’m here because I want to understand how the past and future can exist simultaneously. You’re an astrophysicist,” she added on seeing Rush’s evidently surprised expression. “You should know all about weird concepts of spacetime.”

“I do. I’m just trying to work out how they fit into archaeology.”

“The past informs the present. The more we know about our past, the more we can learn from it and prevent it recurring. And in this case, the more we can learn from it to shape our own future. I mean, I don’t know much about the whole Ancient phenomenon, but this thing that we’re going to see, it’s a part of our past, and yet it comes from a place and a people that’s so incredibly advanced. It’s a snapshot of our future. And if we look at this artefact and we judge how old it is in our terms, we can think about what technology they might have now, thousands of years later. The past is the roadmap to our future. That’s what I find the most fascinating about history in general. That’s why I’m here.” 

She paused, a sly grin working its way over her face. “You weren’t expecting that, were you?”

“No,” Rush admitted.

“Ah, we’re not all Indiana Jones. Don’t worry. I’ll protect you from the more enthusiastic of the dirt enthusiasts.”

Rush had to snort at the apt summation of his own thoughts, and they continued to walk onwards together. Chloe Armstrong was definitely not at all what he had expected when she had first handed him those papers on the plane, and he was glad of that. Although he was used to working alone, it was going to be nice to have an ally of sorts in these strange and certainly testing circumstances. 

He glanced over at her to find her watching him, and they both looked away awkwardly before looking back. Chloe laughed. He liked how readily she laughed and accepted things. It had wrong-footed him at first, because he was so used to any interaction with anyone he didn’t know turning into an argument. 

He liked the thought that perhaps they could become friends, and he hoped that Chloe did too.