#all your nice comments on my remnant stuff means the world :))

[midnightdemonhunter]

GOD THAT WAS GREAT !!! I'M ACHING !!!!! fuckin UHHHHH could we hear some about mikan & junko too then? junko & sonia? junkoooooo & akane & nekomaru? the last two in particular i always struggle with thinking of as despairs, & i'd love to hear your takes on them & literally any fleck of the remnants you want to discuss <3

THANK YOU!!!! I spend my days constantly thinking about Junko with class 77 and the remnants, so I'm absolutely delighted to get the chance to talk about them!! (put under Read More cause i have a LOT to say)

The big pain about Mikan and Junko to me is the idea that Junko is just NICE to her. Like she bumps into Mikan on her first day of school and laughs off Mikan's apologies. She says good morning to her every time they meet. She doesn't blink at Mikan's ramblings. Like she's giving Mikan a normal amount of attention and because Mikan is so starved for attention Junko becomes the love of her life. And it's like MAN she would have felt this way about whoever treated her like this and Junko just happened to be the first.

I think Junko's big thing pre-tragedy is to ask fucked up hypotheticals to everyone she knows, and she has a blast doing it with Mikan-- who's always happy to answer insane medical questions. And then after the tragedy...well Junko has always forgiven and embraced Mikan's worse traits-- surely Mikan owes her Beloved the same!

In terms of remnant Mikan...I feel like my ideas are the least revolutionary? She's one of the few remnants who 1. Has a reasonable amount of fics/art 2. Has a reasonable amount of GOOD fics/art So i don't have a lot of unique concepts with her?? I do absolutely love the idea that she is one of the less crazy remnants-- since for all we know, she's a mild one!

I really think Sonia would love Junko. Junko is a blunt, morbid person who would delight in Sonia's serial killer obsession, and they would have a great time binging horror movies and discussing Hypothetical Fights to the Death. Sonia is one of the many people Junko dates in the lost years, and they're sparkling blondes on the surface-- very violent cheerful conversations below it.

In the end...Sonia proposes to Junko, and offers her a spot on the throne. Junko happily accepts! Junko then precedes to happily kill herself in a very non hypothetical killing game, breaking Sonia's heart. Now Sonia is a bride abandoned at the alter, who wears her wedding dress permanently in honor of her departed love. She has BIG Mrs Havisham vibes.

I very much respect all Girlboss remnant Sonia concepts but unfortunately I have doomed her to be a sad girlfail girlcry. She finds the idea of anyone finding her attractive after Junko horrifying, and mutilates herself as a way of preventing this. She has chosen Junko over her kingdom, and she is very aware of this choice.

ARGH AKANE AND NEKOMARU. Honestly I agree with you, these two are really hard to nail down as remnants. Nekomaru especially, since he is both gay and seemingly very emotionally healthy, so it's harder to imagine him going to any of the lengths the remnants go to for Junko. However I try my best to justify and imagine it!!

In school, both Nekomaru and Akane were Junko's sparring partners. (separately). Nekomaru is very concerned about Junko but is also under the impression that he can fix her. HE CAN NOT. Junko wants to see how far she can push him in their fights, and how violent he can get with her. She'll leave their sparring sessions bruised and bleeding and beaming. Akane's sparring sessions are much less bloody, but much more homoerotic. Junko always loses the fights but wins the arguments.

Neither of them realise how much Junko means to them UNTIL she dies on live television. Nekomaru feels like he failed one of his athletes, and Akane only realises she was in love now that Junko's gone. Akane becomes determined to never get attached or become weak again, and stops eating. She avoids Nekomaru out of repressed guilt on how badly she's treating her body. She also kills a lot of people she used to care about as a way of cutting ties Whoops.

Nekomaru....is the most emotionally healthy remnant who moves in with Souda and is still happy but...he also cuts off his legs to replace them with prosthetics which contain Junko's bones so uh. There's that. He also really enjoys violence now! Thanks Junko!

Basically, I have pretty clear images on where Nekomaru and Akane are at Hopes Peak and as Remnants, it's just the inbetween I find hard.

Getting back to more general here, but I really do have a LOT of remnant thoughts, as you can see from my ask blog (which I'm very slow with but still remember) and all the fics I've written. Speaking of remnant fics, I'm gonna plug Those Who Carried On here because it's where I've started putting all my other standalone remnant concepts that exist basically to expand the possibilities of the remnants. That fic is a delight to work on and I very much want everyone to see it!

If you're interested in more of my remnant or class 77 Junko dynamic thoughts, please feel free to send more asks like this one! This is really only the tip of the iceburg, and I'd love to discuss my personal remnant ideas, the interpretations i love in the fandom and the ones I don't, as well as any other remnant/lost years concepts! (as well as my seething hatred of dr3) If you personally want to talk about this stuff more in-depth with me, hit up my tumblr dms and I can keep talking. I'd love to hear your thoughts as well! Once again, thanks for the ask and the excuse to ramble!

[mammor0n]

human | solomon x reader

based on lesson 46-12, so spoilers if you’re not up to it. if you know u know 😉 MC is gender neutral ✌

Word Count: 1.4k

Warnings: softcore smut, not rly explicit and it doesn’t rly start till abt 1k words in but it’s still there. also like one swear word. plus it’s nearly 2am so if there are typos etc. pls forgive me, i’ll give it a read through when i wake up to fix ‘em (probably)

____________________

You awake to a shuffling sound in the corner, and a year of living with seven demons has left you with more sense than to just ignore it. Still half asleep, you squint into the darkness and sigh an incoherent mumble.

“...oh, sorry. Did I wake you?” Solomon asks, voice barely above a whisper.

It takes you a moment to remember where you are; in a cramped motel room in a world that doesn’t really exist, undertaking a trial for your goddamn magic license, which somehow did exist, and the master to your apprenticeship waking you up as though this circumstance wasn’t the stuff of a fever dream already, or some twisted fairytale that slipped the works of Hans Christian Anderson.

“Mm… it’s fine. What’s up? Can’t sleep?” you sleepily slur.

“No… it’s weird, you know? After all that walking we did today, I should be really tired.” Although his voice is even, Solomon’s face echoes a vestige of sadness; loneliness only exacerbated as he continues. “As I watched the twins earlier, I couldn’t help thinking… they’ve always had each other. It’s just natural for them. And even though they don’t say it outright, you can tell how much they trust and rely on each other… it must be nice, you know? To have someone like that in your life. I guess even if you live for centuries on end, there are some things that can always elude you.”

Blinking away remnants of sleep, you push onto your knees and crawl a little closer to him. He sits on the edge of the bed, and you hear it creak as it dips beneath him, the motion pulling you towards him like gravity itself.

“Hey… you have me. You always will, okay? You’re not alone… you have people who care about you,” you protest, and Solomon chuckles.

“Thanks, MC… you really are nice. I’d like to have people I care about, and who care about me… especially if one of those people is you.”

You exchange a smile lit only by the dim streetlight spilling through the weathered, yellowing windows. Solomon’s eyes don’t leave you, and there’s a softness there you’re not accustomed to.

“Hmm… you know, going to sleep in an inn room and then suddenly waking up in the middle of the night is another staple RPG scenario, isn’t it? And usually at times like these, you can expect some sort of really important story event to take place. So what do you think, MC? Is that what’s about to happen here..?”

His eyes find yours, capturing you in a warm a gaze you wouldn’t dare to break; you become all too aware of the sound of your shallow breathing, and rise and fall of your chest, the lump of your thrumming heart in your throat. The air smells like dust and ash, with remnants of smoke from the fireplace curling around the ceiling as the tendrils creep into the cracks between the wood. Your eyelids are heavy, yet sleep has surely relinquished its hold on you. 

Solomon is quiet as he looks at you questioningly; murky blue eyes seem to bore into your soul, and in this light, with his hair messy and wearing a loose shirt and cotton pants, you’re jarred by the reminder of his humanity. Now that the magic and jewellery and smirk has been stripped away, you’re left with warmth, sincerity, and something so purely human that you’d never seen in him before. It was something about his eyes, or maybe the bob of his Adam’s apple, the hints of five o’clock shadow carving his jaw, the slight flush blotching his cheeks. At this moment, he isn’t a powerful sorcerer to whom Asmodeus himself is beholden; he’s a person. A human. Two humans sitting together in an inn room with lights off, tangled in scratchy bedsheets as breeze rattles the windowsill overlooking the flame-lit cobbled streets outside. Like something out of a fairy tale.

You’re so lost in his eyes that you forget to speak, and a teasing smile slopes his lips, although the corners of his eyes are just a little too tight, his breath just a little uneven. He swallows, licks his lips…

“Does that look in your eyes mean I can kiss you?”

You reply by crossing the small distance left between you and kissing him. After a stuttered breath, Solomon kisses you back, leaning into you and deepening the kiss as his arms slide around your waist. Once he’s started kissing you, it seems he can’t stop; he presses kiss after kiss to your mouth, his tongue seeking yours, his hands squeezing and tugging you ever closer as you lose yourself in his warmth, the lavender and patchouli fragrance that always seems to follow him, in the eager grasping of his hands on your skin and of your fingers in his hair and of the taste of sleep and evening and to draw it all together, the smoky spark of magic in every touch of his body against yours.

“...I’ve wanted to do this for so long,” Solomon confesses breathlessly between kisses. “But you know, wherever you are, Lucifer and his brothers are sure to be nearby. I thought maybe there was no hope. That I’d never get an opportunity.” 

In his pause, you press a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Well it’s just you and I tonight, right? Just us.” Your breath rustles the silken hair that isn’t snagged between your fingers, and Solomon smiles.

“Then… I take it this means I have a chance, right? A chance to… deepen our connection.” He supplements the words with a lingering kiss to your throat. “Why don’t you come just a little closer, MC..?”

You sigh, lips seeking his again as you crawl until you’re chest to chest. Slinging a leg over his waist, you climb into his lap and Solomon wastes no time in stealing your breath. His lips are hot, fast, sloppy yet calculated, and he holds you until your head is spinning and you can’t remember your own name.

“Solomon…” is the only utterance you can fathom, and then he smiles against your mouth, and you lose even that.

Wandering hands trail along your waist, beneath your shirt, and shivers ripple down your spine as Solomon suckles at your throat and twists his hands in heavenly ways that curl your toes and pry any thought from your head that doesn’t centre around Solomon, and you, and Solomon and you, two humans alone in an inn room and suddenly your clothes are gone and he’s on top of you and-

Solomon groans as he sinks into you, kissing along the column of your neck, suckling on your jaw, your chest, hands caressing every inch of soft flesh as he whispers curses in languages you’ve never heard into your skin. 

You can feel the magic radiating off him as he thrusts, feel your power imbued with his, the fusing of your auras as his lips meld to your skin, over and over, hot and wet and electric and then-

“Fuck, Solomon,” you hiss, head thrown back against the feather-stuffed pillows as his moans are lost in the temple of your body while his hips bruise against yours.

“Mm… you feel so good, my perfect apprentice… my… my beautiful MC…” His words come in sharp gasps out of time with his urgent motions, and you feel him collapse against you as his hips stutter and his seed starts to drip from between your legs, hot and slick as it spills onto the bedsheets. The intrusion has the tightening in your abdomen finally erupting into the shaking of your legs, into shivers of pleasure that race up your skin and draw sharp gasps from lips that Solomon stifles with a hard kiss.

“Solomon…” you manage to breathe as he removes himself from you, lays beside you with a heaving chest and sparkling eyes mirrored in your own.

“Sleep, MC… you did so well… more work tomorrow…” he manages to sigh, his arms closing around your back and dragging you into his chest as he kisses you again, and presses a final kiss to your forehead.

Relaxing into his chest, you nod, humming as forgotten tendrils of sleep begin to slink between your thoughts and numb your tongue.

“‘Kay… night, Solomon…”

You feel him smile against your forehead, and if this is a fairytale, you hope you never reach the last page.

___________________

heyo, thanks for reading! if u enjoyed and u have a spare moment pls comment and reblog, it really makes my day!!! love u hope u have a good day/night 🥺👉👈

[cloud9in]

Promises (Poppy x MC) Part (2/?)

Read Part ONE (summary for fic is there)

ITS BEEN A MINUTE. @iamsimpforpoppy I hope you’re still around to read :P I love this story lol. Hope you guys do too!!!

Word Count (2.8k)

Bea and Poppy’s relationship became official a month after their initial meeting. One would say they moved quickly, too quickly. But every love story is different. This one in particular seemed to have little to none flaws, if you ignored the fact that Bea was promoted to Carter’s right hand woman in the Southside Spades.

 They did end up having that conversation after all.

 “…Are you sure Carter? I mean this is a huge deal and a special role-“

 “If I didn’t think you were capable you wouldn’t be here right now Goldilocks.”

 Carter winked and clinked his half empty beer bottle against Bea’s, who surprisingly had a nearly full bottle. He took note of the abnormality. 

 The blonde instinctively rolled her eyes at the nickname, “Okay but that name has to go. We need codenames……ooooh how about bimbo and himbo.” 

 “I’m guessing…..no, hoping I’m the himbo?!” Carter comments as he promptly tries to stop the laugh escaping from his lips.

 “Mmmmmmm, I’ll get back to you on that.”

 They share a laugh and Bea feels Carter’s gaze latch onto her in her peripherals. She could sense the shift of energy in the space between them, it almost felt uncomfortable, and that was something she never felt with Carter. “I never asked you if you were okay with such a role. If you aren't, I understand completely, I just want the best for you.”

 The blonde eyes soften at his comment and she looks at him, “never doubted that, where is this going though because you never express your feelings like a normal human being.”

 He pulls on the strings of her hoodie until it completely caves around her face, burying her whole.

 “Hey asshole!” 

 “That’s for talking too much.”

 Bea yanks her hoodie open and sticks her tongue out in a mock expression. “Oh boohoo. Poppy literally says the same thing, I don’t get it. I talk, it’s a problem. I don’t talk, it’s an even BIGGER problem. Damn a girl can’t ever exist in peace.”

 Carter places his bottle flat on the table and studies the blonde’s face. 

 She kept rambling on about her new girlfriend and the gang leader didn’t know it was possible to feel happy yet anxious at the same time. He was aware of when they entered the talking stage, went on their first date, and finally became official, because Bea told him everything. As much as the experience of being in a real relationship was new to her, Bea looked up to him and somehow she knew Carter would give her the best guidance possible. 

 It didn’t stop him from worrying. Like an older brother would. He feared the two would mix, and everyone knows that love and crime will eventually combust. He is no stranger to it.  

 “Bea.”

 “Did you know she stole one of my hoodies and actually won’t give it back?? What am I supposed to do, just take it? No she’d murder me.”

 “Jackson.”

 Her voice slowly dies down after sensing the seriousness in his tone. She takes a sip of her beer to ease the silence that sat in the air, and Carter responds shortly after.

 “You know I trust you with my life right? You’re very important to me, kid.” 

 “I know.”

 Guilt was a feeling he chose to lock away in an unbreakable box and bury six feet deep. There couldn’t be guilt in a lifestyle like this. But Bea was his only exception. And she was slowly bringing that box back up to the surface. 

 “I need you to promise me that you won’t let these two worlds collide.”

 “Carter….”

 “One of you will get hurt. And I won’t forgive myself if it’s you.”

 He leaves Bea at the table, the remnants of his comment still replaying in her head. She pulls out her phone and sees a text from Poppy on her lockscreen. 

 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- Can’t wait to see you tomorrow 😘 

 The blonde smiles unconsciously and opens the message to respond.

 I’m missing you like crazy. I have a special surprise for you.

 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- You know I highly dislike surprises, just tell me. 

 And ruin the surprise? You must be crazier than I thought. 

 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- Jackson.

 Patience babe…tomorrow it is. 

 Bea clicks her phone shut and slips it back into her pocket before downing the rest of the beer. 

***

“You know your hand on my ass only makes them stare even more Jackson?”

 Bea bites her lips and gropes the blonde’s plump backside shamelessly while slowly whispering into her ear.

 “That’s the point, princess.”

 Poppy shivers almost instantly at the boldness. “Is this the surprise you were talking about?” Bea doesn’t answer, instead trailing her hand up Poppy’s skirt. This was definitely not the time and place for such behavior but she was clearly still learning everything about her girlfriend. 

 And it definitely felt good to call her that.

 “Since when did you get so brazen? You know you’re exactly the type of person my daddy told me to stay away from.”

 Bea laughs at that statement and wraps her arm around the blonde’s waist, “yeah? And why’s that?”

 “Well I can’t ask him now, he might rough you up and that’s my job.” 

 Poppy could feel the stares of everyone burning into them, but she could only focus on the blonde cuddled up against her. The shorter girl wouldn’t call herself an attention whore, but she sure loved the PDA that Bea projected without a care. It felt nice to be genuinely admired in public rather than putting on a mask everyday. 

 But it’s safe to say that Poppy preferred all the handsy stuff to happen in private. 

 “Do you want to grab dinner with me tonight Pops?”

 “Am I picking the place?”

 “…Yes.”

 “Then yes.”

 Bea rolls her eyes at the blonde’s downright shady self but smiles nevertheless. 

 “Now don’t cancel on me out of the blue. I will not be thrilled about it.”

 “Shouldn’t I be telling you this? Your dad always has something going on in his business that somehow has to involve you too.”

 Poppy sighs and glances over at Bea, “well you know I’ll have to take over eventually. Especially since I’m legally allowed to handle deals now.”

 “I hate that word. Legal. Ugh.” 

 The shorter girl scoffs and plants her hands on her hips, “yeah I bet you do.”

***

Bea dragged open her closet in search of clothes for dinner tonight but the dinging noise of a text distracts her. 

 C-Dog🖤- Need you tonight. Something came up, meet us at the garage.

Bea wanted to thank the gods up above that she didn’t promise Poppy that she’d show up for dinner. But that wasn’t going to save her from the fury of the blonde. Good thing it can’t get worse than that, right….?

Only it was. And Poppy will probably beat her up herself, if she wasn’t dead by the next day. 

Bea’s mind and heart races as she digs her brain for a proper excuse to tell her girlfriend, but is very unsuccessful. She’s good at drug dealing though. 

 Going with the good ole truth never really hurt right?

 Baby I’m so sorry I won’t be able to make it tonight. Got held up with the gang. I know I’m an asshole, I’ll keep in touch I swear. 

 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- What else could I expect from my gang banger girlfriend 🙄 please stay safe..

 You know I always do.

 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- Do I? We need to talk about this tomorrow.

 Of course Pops.

 Other Half 💗❤️‍🔥- Call me every chance you get or I swear I’ll track you and trust me you do not want me to do that.

 Yeah she definitely doesn’t. Especially since Carter sounded frantic over the phone. The last thing Bea needed was a paranoid girlfriend, so she played it cool like always. 

 Just simple stuff baby girl, talk soon.

 ***

“…What do you mean it’s gone?! So where is it? Do you know what this means Carter??”

 The gang leader sighs frustratingly, rubbing his eyes in efforts to gain some stability. “The product was here, and now it is not. Which can only mean it was stolen. And when I find out which son of a bitch did it, they’re dead.”

 “In the meantime, we are dead”, Bea emphasizes wildly. “This is the Red Raven gang we’re talking about. If they get any inclination that we lost their drugs, they’ll kill and replace us. No mercy. None.”

The blonde paces back and forth trying not to think about buying a plane ticket to Timbuktu. 

Carter approaches Bea and plants his hands on her shoulder, “breathe Jackson. You are my partner. The leader of this gang. So get it out of your system and start being rational.”

 The blonde lets her shoulders sag as she inhales and exhales in place for a while. The minute she’s grounded she catches Carter’s gaze and her eyes light up. “List. I need a list of whoever went in the room with all of the product. We need to narrow it down.”

***

“Jackson you’re a fucking genius.”

 “It’s called having common sense but I’ll take the praise. It’s the only one I’m getting from you anyways.”

 Carter resisted the urge to pick a fight with the younger girl, because finding stolen drugs and not getting killed seemed like a much better idea. 

 Bea figured out that Henry, one of the newly recruited members of SS was a thief, or maybe just a crackhead. Same thing. He was the last to be in that room so all eyes were on him, and guns.

 “Heyyy buddy. Henry right?”

 The shorter man trembled at the sight of a gun lodged right into his mouth. “Mmmm!”

 “Oh I’m sorry, did you want to say something? Here let me just”, Bea clicks the gun which only causes the thief to panic even more. It was almost pitiful. 

 “Alright lay off the poor sucker.” 

 Bea pulls the gun out of his mouth and sits down on a stool in front of Henry with a grin. “So…where is the stash darling?” 

 He points almost immediately to a built in storage locker with a shaky finger. 

 “Ohhh well that was so easy Henry! Glad you could comply. You should tell your friends to be more like you. But…between me and you, they might already be dead”, Bea whispers that last part slowly, smirking when Henry’s lip quivers violently. 

 “Please just do it already! Why are you guys waiting?”

 Bea raised an eyebrow in surprise and glanced over at Carter who scanned the man’s face intensely. “I guess he wants to die? Talk about kinks I mean come on”

 “No.”

 Carter reaches his arm out towards Bea but never takes his eyes off Henry. The blonde watches in confusion until she realizes the thief is looking behind her, and so is Carter.

 “It’s a setup Bea, duck!”

 She dived for the ground quicker than lightning as a bullet flies through the air, leaving a trail of dust behind. Carter ducks for cover as well and starts firing rounds towards the men who snuck up on them. He managed to hit three of them but one grabs Bea by the leg and drags her against the rough concrete. 

 “Son of a- get your dirty hands off of my Dr. Martens. My girlfriend bought me these!”

 A swift kick to the face shut the blonde up real quick but she manages to recoil and send the man sprawling backwards into a row of barrels. 

 Carter guns him down and Bea finds her footing, pistol in hand and a thirst for revenge. But they never stopped coming. 

 Her and Carter were left battered and bruised, but alive. Their product was gone again though. But atleast they were alive. Carter told her that it was a theft mission primarily and neither of them were meant to die. But it only made Bea wonder who those people were.

 And why were they kept alive?

***

“Beatriz Naomi Jackson what the actual fuck?!”

 “Oh not the middle name…”

 Bea tries to avoid Poppy’s killer gaze as she surveys the damage that had been done to her girlfriend’s torso, legs, and face. 

 The strawberry blonde could barely mutter a word. Her mouth opened and closed in brief shock before collapsing next to the injured girl. 

 Bea could see the tears flowing down her rosy cheeks, which contrasted her porcelain skin. “Poppy…are you crying? I..please don’t..”

 “What do you expect me to do Bea? It kills me to see you hurt like this. Who did it? Tell me!” The blonde chokes on her own words as her hands hovers cautiously over Bea’s wounds, afraid to make her feel pain.

 “No I can’t tell you. I mean…I didn’t expect this to happen. It was a setup and we were outnumbered-“

 “We need to get you to a hospital Bea oh my god.”

 The blonde knew that she couldn’t go there. Not with the cops on the scene of the shootout, and actively looking for the people involved. Aka her and Carter. He told her to lay low and heal up, but she didn’t expect Poppy to be sitting on her bed waiting for her when she got home. The initial look on her face made Bea regret ever choosing this life. 

 She regrets it ever since being with Poppy. But it’s like a drug, once you start it’s hard to stop. 

 “I’ll call my father, he has the best doctors available and we’re gonna get your the right treatment and-“ 

 Poppy immediately cuts off, her eyebrows scrunching up until she realizes something. “Wait…what do you mean you were outnumbered Bea?” 

 Bea swallows heavily, praying that this conversation couldn’t escalate further, but that isn’t the case. 

 “Bea, answer me”

 “It..it was just me and Carter. We didn’t think there would be an ambush. We had just gone there to get goods we lost.”

 “And where is Carter? Does he know you’re like this right now? Did he leave you, I swear to god Bea if he left you…” Poppy’s voice cracks as her whole body shivers in violent waves. 

 Bea pulls her girlfriend in for a hug even though it causes every inch of her body to sting harshly. It was the comfort that she needed though. Watching Poppy breakdown over the sight of her was too much, and she began to contemplate everything. 

 “Pops listen to me, I cannot go to the hospital right now. There are cops looking for us.” The strawberry blonde stares at her until she understands the velocity of Bea’s words. 

 “Fine. But there will be a doctor that will come to treat you at my house. And you’re coming, I don’t want to hear it.” 

 Bea knew not to protest that. It was quite obvious this whole incident has left both parties distraught and she didn’t want to try and tell Poppy how to feel. 

 “Just tell me something. Are you in immediate danger? Is someone trying to harm you right now.”

 The blonde chose her words carefully. Because even after coming home beaten to a pulp, she still couldn’t tell the love of her life the full truth. 

 “No Poppy, they just wanted the drugs. They got what they wanted. I’m not in danger.”

 For now.

 “I will be okay.”

 I hope.

 “Don’t lie to me Jackson. I can’t do this if you lie. You promised me you wouldn’t get to the point where you’d have to choose between me and the gang.”

 “I know Poppy…I-“

 “You promised.”

 “And I’m going to keep that promise-“

 “Yeah the hell you are. And you’re going to promise me that you won’t ever come home like this again. You’re going to get yourself killed before we even start our life together. Our future.”

 Bea sucks in a breath which punctures her chest. She couldn’t tell if the injuries or Poppy’s words had caused that terrible ache. “Our…Wait I..”

 “I love you Jackson. I…don’t care if you think it’s too early to say that. I don’t care if I sound too cheesy for a mean girl. I love kissing you and feeling the laughter run through your body when we hug. I love being the reason you smile. I love you. And you don’t have to say it back. I just..I needed you to know-“

 “I love you too. Probably maybe from the moment I met you.”

 Poppy’s eyes seemed to glisten once again and this time there was no sadness etched into the shape. She smiled a pure smile and wrapped her arms around Bea in a tight hug. 

 She captures her lips in a searing kiss that leads to a trail of kisses down the strawberry blonde’s neck, dip of her collarbone, and chest. Bea kisses her until her chest gives out from exhaustion and pain.

 “Then you have to promise that this won’t happen again.” 

 “I promise.”

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

NOTES: They’re gonna be fineeeee, right guys??? Graduation next chapter woooo.

Tags: @samanthadalton @somewillwin @clowneryme  @baexpoppy @poppysmc @doey-eyes8 @veenast @straightlikewetspaghetti @phoennixxsblog

[moons-and-stars-and-shit]

Oh I've been waiting for this moment hihihi. so may a request a 🍰

Appearance:

Not really too much to brag about but... i’m 5’2, toned skin, medium brown hair( still have some green remnants)slim body thin waist + pretty marked hip (one of the parts of my body that i really like ) but oddly thick thighs. Dark brown eyes and small but still full lips.

Style / Aesthetic :Don't know exactly how to describe this, but most of the time I work with grunge,dark academia and vintage, but often you can see me in cotagecore and glam chic outfits. or a big mix of this

Personality:

I’m a taurus, Libra rising and Sag moon , ESFP,Love to make new friends and i can be pretty talkative...principally if we talking about art, music , cooking , animes or sports .I’m a ravenclaw ,I can be really stubborn but I'm trying to work on this, people also say i have short temper, but i can't believe this.Teasing sarcastic and flirty are some adjectives I can add to my personality description, it is actually so natural that i probably do without notice. I can be a really crackhead sometimes, especially when I'm with my friends, but mostly I try to use the reason . I can be pretty clingy to my close friends and family. Also I can be pretty random, being my friend means that you will receive some messages/ videos at 3 AM or even get a new playlist in full Tuesday :)

Hobbies and random stuff :

I love cooking / baking i actually have a “brand ” of homemade biscuits (family’s recipe), I can play volleyball and badminton and i normally do this with my friends(in the end of High school i played almost everyday ) and now i’m planing play for my university’s team. I really like to listen to music , and I'm doing this 24/7( I kind of have a server on discord just for the music bot ). I actually can speak 3 languages and I'm working on the 4th one but i’m never trust my skills before sending a text in another language !!. I can actually be both or too energetic or a totally lazy bitch. but i’m probably always up to talking/ listening. I really like flowers ( I love learning about their meaning), and poetry , also writing and reading even though I've not been doing this lately.

Fun fact my favorite color is white but 85% of my wardrobe is black .

I really like make up and i love do it , but i have so me block with eyeliners i just can't do it right

About Relationships :

My love language is Quality time, so just being able to relax next each other (friends / s/o) with no words being necessary for meIt's already enough, oh i can get a little too touchy sometimes since I really like to cuddle. I love adventures, visiting new places, shopping, nature dates, stargazing, board games/ cards nights. I really like to innovate, as long as i have a good company I think I can do almost everything.

Ahhhh Lecxi, yours matchups are the best, i just love the way you write so much ,it's a muah *chef kiss*

@lilshortcakess

A/N- This took SO long and I am SO sorry 🥲 but I hope you still enjoy it my dear!

Romantic Matchup

𝐎𝐢𝐤𝐚𝐰𝐚 𝐓𝐨𝐨𝐫𝐮

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐘𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐌𝐞𝐭

So you were on Seijous girls volleyball team

And you met Oikawa because well...

Ya’ll kept practicing overtime 😅

Now we’ll just say that you wanted to practice your spikes

and for that, you would need a setter

And Oikawa wanted to practice his sets

For him to do that he would need a spiker

So ya’ll were just like “hey let's just practice together

Now every time there was practice

When everyone left

You would meet up with Oikawa so that you two could practice

This went on for a while before Oikawa decided on getting to know you on a more personal level

I mean if he was going to be practicing with you he might as well get to know you right?

So he started taking you out to eat after you two finished practicing

Sometimes he would take you to a diner

Sometimes it would just be a gas station

But either way, you two would end up just sitting and talking to each other

This is how Oikawa found out how much he actually liked you

We’ll get into why later 👀

Anyways after falling into this little routine he started to hang out with you during school hours

Damn, he was really just weaseling his way into your life, isn't he?

He would only realize he had a crush on you when Iwa pointed it out

So at this point, he was just like fuck it

YOLO am I right?

So he just casually asked you out when he took you to a gas station after practice

Romantic I know

But he was over the moon when you said yes!

And ya’ll have been dating ever since

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮

He loves that you just listen to him

Like you GENUINELY listen to him

He's found that not a lot of people care what he's saying outside of volleyball

But you listen to anything and everything he talks about

And you show interest too!

This was the thing that made him realize that he liked you

Ok he REALLY loves your flirty nature

Just the fact that instead of getting flustered at his flirty comments

You just pop off with your own comment

He loves someone who can match his energy

He really likes that your clingy 👀

Whenever you hold him or ask him for cuddles

it just makes him feel wanted and loved

𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐓𝐨 𝐃𝐨 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫

Ok so just addressing the elephant in the room

He loves to play volleyball with you

He calls it a good “bonding” activity

Now that THAT'S out of the way

He likes to bake with you

He has even made recipes personalized to him

For example

“Oikawa's Milk Bread Biscuits”

Yup

He took your biscuit recipe

And turned it into a milk bread

He likes to listen to music with you

I feel like he hates awkward or uncomfortable silence

So he always has SOME kind of music playing 

And finally

He loves to talk to you

Granted it's a lot of him talking and you listening

But if you're feeling down and need someone to talk to 

He's all ears

𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐇𝐜

One time you and Oikawa were practicing overtime

And Iwa came into the gym and yelled at you both for “overworking yourselves”

You and Oikawa actually sell his milk bread biscuits at school

Get that coin sis 🤑

You and Oikawa just throw random pick up lines at each other

and i cant get the image of him doing finger guns at you every single time 444

He gets really mad when you start speaking a different language

Cause he cant understand you!

So sometimes you just switch languages to piss him off :)

Causing him to learn the basic phrases of the languages you can speak

𝐀𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲

When Taurus and Cancer come together in a love affair, it’s usually a very good combination.

They are two positions apart within the Zodiac, and such Signs tend to share karmic ties and a deep mutual understanding.

These particular two Signs have much in common

Both prize security in a love relationship above almost all else

both tend to be nurturers

Cancer is emotionally nurturing

while Taurus loves to spoil their lover with sensual delights, gifts and good, rich meals

They’re both quite domestic and love a quiet night spent at home with their sweetie.

The Taurus-Cancer partnership tends to be a happy one due to this mutual enjoyment of the security and comfort of home.

They love a solid home base

a strong relationship

nice possessions

good food

all the comforts of domestic life.

Theirs is often the ideal family that people of other Signs strive for, with strong ties between them and a relationship that is family-oriented rather than toward the outside world.

Their only major problems arise when Taurus insists on having its own way and Cancer responds by sulking.

Taurus must understand Cancer’s emotional sensitivity, and Cancer needs rely on open, honest communication than on emotional blackmail.

The steady, reliable team they make.

Both Signs are dependable and nurturing, strongly oriented toward domestic life together.

A mutual love of home and security makes theirs an ideal long-term, family relationship.

𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐀𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜

𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 💋

[rachetmath]

What would it be like if rwbyjnor met the dutch, revy and rock

I don't understand the specifics of this request so I'll do this in the best way I can. This going to be long so be ready.

Rwby x Black lagoon

Black Lagoon crosses to Remnant:

Revy and Dutch along with team RWBY, Ren and Nora are fight a bunch of Beowolves while Jaune and Rock are fighting side by side with mostly Jaune doing most of the work while Rock provides a view tips and assisting mostly with what he can find.

Revy: So, let me get this straight you fight shit heads freaks of nature like these like every single day?

Ruby: Yep.

Dutch: And all of you have a very specific weapon that you customize yourselves to be it a blade and firearm?

Ren: Precisely.

Benny: And you have unnatural and natural resources like dust and with highly advanced technology?

Weiss: Yes.

Dutch: And you can use all that as well as this thing called aura along with a semblance?

Nora: Yeah, semblances are like a superpower.

Revy: How super?

Yang: Universal.

Revy: Well-

Revy looks to see Ruby turn her weapon from a sniper rifle to a scythe.

Revy: Dutch, can we stay here?

Dutch: HELL NO!!! Look, I hate to say this, but I much prefer seeing crazy psychos, and bullets fly than this horror fest. Plus, I may not be father but ya'll parents let you do this every day, they are very stupid and irresponsible.

Yang: Hey we're trained for this. Well except one.

Revy: Yeah that guy with Rock over there. He is doing fine but I can tell he's not all your levels. How did even survive let only get into your school?

Ruby: That we don't know or bother asking as long he works.

Revy: Well I can say that it's stupid but I still I wonder how he got in.

*Jaune and Rock side*

Rock: So, let’s get this straight. Your father never bothered to train you and no combat school was willing to accept you, so your best method was to cheat?

Jaune: Yeah, I know, I'm a complete fool.

Rock: I mean if you were willing to work hard to get there despite the risk, I say, you sir have my respect.

Jaune: But I am an idiot, I mean, I lost the only girl you who believed in me.

Rock: Jaune, let me give you a piece of advice. Get over yourself! If you still have even just one friend in this crazy messed up world then you're okay. Trust me, I know a little on how you feel. I mean look me compared to the others, do I look like I'm a mercenary?

Jaune: Why do hang out with them anyways?

Rock: Like you with your friends, mines, I guess appreciate my abilities. Look let's talk about this another time and try to survive this freak show.

Jaune: Deal.

RWBY and JNRO crosses to Black Lagoons:

Team RWBY and JNPR are fighting a mafia group along with Revy and Dutch. Ruby armed with a handgun, an old scythe and sniper with a bayonet, Weiss with a rapier and little knifes, Blake with a handgun and a katana, Yang with a shotgun and iron brazed knuckles, Jaune with an military armed shield, sword and rifle(Dutch taught him how to use it. Surprised it took him a week.) Nora with a grenade launcher, Ren dual wielding pistols and knives and Oscar with a pipe.

Revy: Holy crap, you brats are good even without your powers or usual weapons.

Ruby: We adapt.

Nora: Seriously, you guys do stuff like this every day?

Dutch: For the right price, yes. But yeah, you kids on a natural.

Yang: By the way, thanks for teaching Jaune how to use a gun.

Dutch: Thank Rock for making him listen, he said he wouldn't last long if he didn't. But in all seriously the guy learns quick, I mean, it took him a week to learn how you use that rifle.

Ren: A week! We need to start teaching him and make sure he brings one more often.

Nora: Might makes things easier from here on.

Jaune: Can all of stop talking and focus! We'll talk when we're done. Oscar, hurry up.

Oscar: Oh, I'm sorry but fighting with a pipe is hard!

Jaune: Why didn't you bring a sword!

Oscar: I will not kill!

After a crazy battle, the group along with Rock and Benny celebrated their victory at the bar. While the girls, as well as Ren and Oscar was living it up with Revy, Benny and Dutch, at the front bar Jaune and Rock were talking after Rock told him a stories about how his employers sold him out, the hell he endured in his stay Roanaper, Yukio, and his old client Garcia.

{Rock's side}

Jaune: Damn.

Rock: Yeah.

Jaune: Well, you did what you had to.

Rock: But I didn't have to. I should've walk away and not attached. I'm supposed to be the good guy, Jaune. But this city, I feel like it's eating me alive. All these mafia bosses, war criminals and shit... it's all just getting to me. You know.

Jaune: Yeah, I understand, but what are going to do about it? you made the choice to stay and you got live with it. I mean, hearing all the crap you've done, I somewhat envy you.

Rock: What do you mean?

Jaune: When Chang said pull out, you went in. Every time something bad happens you try to be the good guy and make things better. True it fails at times and from the look of this city, you'll have no choice but to throw righteousness away to survive.  But in my opinion, you still at least stand as the hero of the story.

Rock: *laugh* How so!? Come on tell me, how can I, a piece of under burying shit can possible still be a hero to you. The worthless knight, who can barely fight and couldn't save his partner!?

Jaune: Exactly. Most people survive based on luck.  You on the other hand survived not just on what you know but what learn in return. The world's a crazy place, and most of time you don't know where you'll end up. However, you still have control of what you do next. Your still able to keep people alive. You still do your job. You still try to be nice and maintain some level of morality even if it may never be enough or get you killed. So, trust me when I say this, you have done all what you could. Hell, I barely can do anything.

Rock: Shut up. When it comes down to it your friends are as crazy and trigger happy as Revy. They need somebody like you who can keep them alive. Just keep trying to do right by them and for yourself. Trust me, you can talk down to yourself all you want. But it doesn't change the fact that your alive, you made mistakes and you change. Promise you won't go down how I did, because believe me once you go too far in the darkness you may never come back from it. Or at least not be the same person you were before.  

Jaune: Yeah. Plus, that Revy woman, I think you can trust her to help you back up or shoot you down when you have gone too far.

Rock: Really? How come?

Jaune: She talks about you all the time when she's drunk. She saves you even when you deserve to die for being stupid. And finally, she hasn't killed you yet despite the many times you've pissed her off.

Rock: Speaking of women, which one of those lovely ladies is your girlfriend?

Jaune: Funny I was about ask you the same between Revy and the blonde, named, Eda.

Rock: *laughing* To the C.M.F.?

Jaune:  To the C.M.F *Shared a toast with Rock and started drinking*

{Revy Side}

Ruby: So, Revy?

Revy: What is it little red?

Ruby: Are you and Rock dating?

Revy: *cracks glass cup while blushing* W-w-WHAT!? NO!! Of course not. Why the hell would you ask that?

Nora: You look at him a lot.

Blake: You talk to him the most.

Yang: An unlike most, you call him your partner.

Revy: Well yeah cause he's useful. That’s all. Nothing special.

Weiss: Really, cause when you got drunk last time, we asked you about him, you got an attitude and started talking crazy.

Revy: Oh.

Yang: So how-

Revy: We started off at the wrong foot and we're just making up as we go.

Yang: Well that's great and-

Revy: Can't say the same thing for you guys and your friend Jaune, though.

Nora: Pardon?

Revy: I'm just saying, don't think you know everything about your friend, hell I don't think he cares about any of you.

Blake: *angry glare* What makes you say that?

Revy: Well let’s be clear here. Jaune was loser with dreams, he was willing to make those dreams a reality, no matter the price he didn't know he'll have to pay. And guess what, the debt was do and it caused Pyrrha her life.

Yang: Maybe so but-

Revy: And before you all start giving him praise for what he accomplished, let me ask you something. How did he feel afterwards? I mean, losing the only person to ever provide with some sort of love and respect, a family that never believed in once in his life, I say the kid must been a loser for a long time. And if him and his Sapphron were the only two to ever bother to leave the nest, then that proves that the rest of his siblings are just good for nothing nobodies who scared of the world, or just found more meaning in their lives without having to leave the comfort of their home. Face it, like Rock, your friend got something to prove and he's willing to do whatever it takes to prove himself to everyone. Even if it causes him his life and his humanity.

Ruby: No. No, we won't-

Revy: And what are you people going to do? Hold his hand? Give him those morally great speeches of yours? Pathetic. Just like your friend Pyrrha who died a meaningless death for worthless, foolish old man, who could barely do the job he's was given by god himself.

RWBYN: *angry at Revy comment but grows to accept it*

Ren was about to start threatening however Dutch stops him by reestablishing that one shot can turn the bar into a war zone and showing Ren that Revy always has her trigger finger ready. So, Ren does nothing.

Revy: Face it, you guys aren't capable of saving him. But what do I know, I'm no hero nor do I want to be? The only guy I seem to care about is changing and I don't know how he's going to turn out. To think that I might have to shoot him down someday. But fuck it, that’s just of missed up every world is.

Dutch: Wow Revy you changed.

Revy: What?

Benny: You act less bitchy than you were before and now you’re a little more open with others. Rock must have touched your heart.

Revy: Shut up, Benny. *looking red all over her face*

Everyone laughs at her embarrassment.

Revy: Oh, shut the fuck up you cunts! Hm. Anyways which one you are dating that knight in shining armor anyways since you're all worried about him?

Nora: I already got a boyfriend.

Revy: You mean twinkle toes right there. Mr. Emmo.

Nora: You must want to fight.

Revy: Anyone?

RWBY: Nope.

Revy: *makes a call*

Eda: Hey bitch, what do want?

Revy: Hey Eda do you like blondes? Because I got an average looking-

Eda barges in with her short green skirt and pink top shirt on. She looks at Revy, knowing what she wants, Revy points to Jaune with Rock and Eda makes her. She walks with hips swaying from side to side and sit between Rock and Jaune.

Rock: *surprised* Eda, what are doing here? When you did you get here?

Eda: Oh, Rock honey, I’m just taking advantage of my opportunities. *Sees Jaune staring in amazement. She smiles* Say, I heard rumors about you and your blonde friend right here and was wondering if you two would have some-

Revy and Weiss both break their glasses and make their way over.

Revy and Weiss: STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM HIM YOU CUNT!!!

Revy surprised how Weiss and she were in complete sink and while she smug, Weiss was embarrassed.

Revy: Oh, so you like him like that.

Weiss: *grabs Jaune by the arm and pulls him away* EVERYONE! WE ARE LEAVING!

Jaune: But Weiss I finally found someone I can talk!

Weiss: YOU’LL PLENTY OF PEOPLE TO TALK TO ONCE WE GET HOME!!

Jaune: But Weiss- damn it, later Rock. See you someday.

Rock: God speed brother and remember everything I told you.

Jaune: You as well and good luck.

A bright light was opened and just like that the kids disappeared. Back to their universe. Revy and Rock were smiling but Rock, remembering what Jaune said about trust, ask Revy

Rock: Revy?

Revy: What up, partner?

Rock: Let’s say, I things took too far and made an enemy of someone who would want me killed. Will you be there to kill me instead? Even if you were paid to do so, will be there to stop me?

Revy: *smiles but then covers Rocks eyes so he never sees it* Of course. I got you into this, so you’re my responsibility. Partner.

Rock: *smiles* Thanks.

[omg-imagine]

⊱ Forget Me Not (5/15) ⊰

Pairing: Keanu Reeves x Reader

Summary: After you wake up from a coma and realize that your memories from the last five years have been erased, Keanu works to bring back what you have lost.

Words: 3.1k

Warning: none (i’m giving you guys a break here lol)

A/N: Loved reading everyone’s responses to the previous part, but it will be awhile until you find out the truth 😈 Sorry that this was up later than usual, I’m currently drowning in finals which is thankfully ending this week. I hope you enjoy this one!

Part 4

The sound of birds chirping a sweet, melodious tune stirred you awake, and you rubbed the remnants of sleep from your eyes once they fluttered open. For a moment, you snuggled deeper under the duvet, pressing your cheek to the cool, silk-cased pillow. The soft fabric felt smooth against your skin as you laid there breathing in the scent of it—fresh cotton, with a hint of Keanu, or at least, that’s what you believed he smelled like.

This must be his usual side of the mattress, you thought. The other being yours.

After you had fallen asleep on the car ride home yesterday, you didn’t rouse until Keanu parked his car in the driveway and turned off the engine. Still drowsy from taking your medication, he guided you to the front door and then up the stairs to the master bedroom. He showed you the bathroom and the closet, pointing out where you usually kept the clothes you wore to sleep. When you assured him enough that you would be alright for the rest of the evening, he wished you good night before retiring to the guest bedroom across the hall.

It felt strange being alone in an unfamiliar room, much more sleeping in a bed that didn’t feel like yours. Despite this, you had woken up from the best sleep you’ve had in a long time. It could be because of the soft and comfortable king-size bed you had slept on or the calming lavender diffuser on the nightstand. Perhaps it was the fact that your life seemed to be better now than it was before, even though you had still had a lot to learn. Whichever it was, it didn’t matter at that very second.

Because for now, you would much rather bask in the peacefulness of the world around you.

It wasn’t until when your stomach growled did the tranquil silence fall apart, hunger forcing you to throw back the covers and leave the warm solace of the bed. Slipping on the silk robe that you had found hanging behind the bathroom door, you then stepped out of the room and into the narrow hallway. Immediately, you were greeted by the delicious aroma of eggs and sausages lingering in the air.

Carefully, you descended the stairs, pausing for a few moments to glance at the framed photographs of you and Keanu on the wall, providing glimpses of your happy relationship. There were four in total, all of which were taken similarly, the two of you smiling brightly with radiant eyes. The settings in each one were different; the first had you posing by a lakefront, the second was at a movie premiere, the next at a fancy restaurant, and the last at a garden.

Once you reached the last step, however, you realized that there was a vacant space for a sixth picture.

Turning your head, you caught sight of the photo that could have been displayed there resting on a console by the front entrance. Curiously, you walked towards it and picked it up with your hands, quickly noticing the large crack on the glass. 

The picture was a selfie taken at a scenic overlook in what appeared to be Los Angeles. You had one arm draped behind Keanu’s neck, pulling him close as you kissed his stubbled cheek while he grinned at the camera. It was such a sweet captured moment, and it must have fallen off the wall recently.

“Morning,” Keanu’s voice startled you as he came up from behind, nearly dropping the picture in your grasp. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

You giggled slightly as you turned around, unable to stop the breath hitching in your throat when you saw him. He was dressed in gray sweats and a simple white tee that was just a smidge too tight around his arms. His dark locks framed his face nicely as he gazed at you with his chocolate-hued eyes.

Keanu was surely a sight to see first thing in the morning.

“It’s okay,” you finally replied. “I was too busy looking at this and didn’t hear you coming.”

“I forgot to put it back up,” he noted after seeing what you were holding. “Can’t believe I missed that while I was cleaning the house. I’d have to go out and buy a new frame for that.”

“No rush,” you added, your attention returning to the picture. “When was this taken?”

“Around three years ago,” Keanu answered as he neared you, looking over your shoulder. “That spot is actually special to us. It’s where we shared our first kiss, and since then, we’d always revisit that place.”

You smiled softly. “Really?”

“Yeah. Usually, you and I would take the bike up there to watch the sun go down and wait until the stars appear in the sky. It’s nothing like what you would see if you’re just standing out in the backyard.”

“Wait, a bike? Like a motorcycle? I rode a motorcycle up to the hills?” You spoke incredulously.

Keanu nodded, giving you a small smile. “Yes, you did. I know you’ve never been on a bike before you met me.”

“Don’t get me wrong, those things are cool, but I can’t imagine myself being on one.”

“Well, you grew to love it—the thrill, the excitement, the freedom. I even taught you how to ride by yourself,” Keanu revealed, much to your surprise.

“I must have been the worst,” you chuckled, setting the picture back on top of the console before wrapping your arms around your chest. “It took me years to learn how to get on a bicycle.”

Keanu laughed, brushing his hair back, and you suddenly felt the butterflies in your stomach. Something about his laughter as it reverberated in his chest brought you absolute joy. It also made your heart race, knowing that you were the reason for it.

“No, you weren’t that bad,” he said with a shake of his head. “Honestly, you’re pretty decent, but I promised that we would continue working on it.”

“You don’t have to lie to me, Ke,” you responded jokingly, the nickname rolling out of your tongue so effortlessly at the end.

For a beat, you saw the smile on Keanu’s face fell, but before you could ask him what was wrong, it returned, albeit a bit forced. You didn’t want to think too much of it, however.

“Um, I made breakfast by the way,” he stated in an attempt to change the subject. “I’m not the best cook, but I did my very best. I didn’t burn the sausages, unlike last time.”

“It does smell delicious in here,” you commented, feeling your stomach rumbling once more. “I can’t wait to try your cooking.”

“Good, and maybe afterwards, if you’re up for it, I can show you around, give you an official tour of the house.”

“I’d like that very much,” you smiled, nodding at Keanu before he began leading the way, and you followed.

---

After breakfast, you tried to help Keanu with the dirty dishes, but he insisted that he took care of them, wanting you to relax and take it easy. As he cleaned up the kitchen, you decided to brush your teeth and take a quick shower in your bathroom upstairs.

Peeling off your robe and clothes, you stood in front of the mirror, staring at the scars on your body. Although you knew that they would fade away in time, they would serve as a reminder of that fateful night—a night that remained mostly unknown to you.

Stepping into the shower, you turned on the water, adjusting the settings using the dial on the wall. The water cascaded your back with the perfect amount of pressure and temperature as the warm steam floated around you. Your mind eased as you stood underneath the gentle downpour, letting the mixture of water and soap careen down your body to the drain below.

You closed your eyes briefly, thinking back to earlier when you and Keanu were eating the food he had prepared that morning. He used that time to tell you more about himself. He started off with basic facts such as his family, his childhood, and his favorite hobbies. Then he got a bit deeper, sharing things that most people didn’t know about him. Slowly, you were getting to know the real Keanu, and from what you’ve learned so far, he was a great guy. Sure, he wasn’t perfect, but he was sweet and kind, and that’s what mattered, right?

Once you finished showering, you headed to the walk-in closet in your room with a towel wrapped around your body. Keanu had moved most of his stuff to the guest room, making the closet seem a lot bigger. For a good minute or two, you felt overwhelmed standing there, seeing all of the clothes that you apparently wore but wouldn’t have five years ago. Some pieces appeared to be too expensive for you to even afford, and you couldn’t believe that you owned so many pairs of shoes and purses.

Deciding to put on a black shirt with the word “Arch” emblazoned on it and a pair of jean shorts, you then heard a knock on your door, and you sauntered over to answer it.

“Hey, are you ready?” Keanu asked, smiling. “Nice shirt, by the way.”

“Oh, thanks. I found it in the closet,” you replied as you joined him out in the hall. “Show me around?”

Truth be told, the house wasn’t as large as what you expected Keanu to have. It was smaller than the houses nearby, but more modest compared to those extravagant ones other celebrities lived in. It had three bedrooms and three bathrooms, and a spacious front yard with flowers that you’ve planted yourself. The furniture and decor inside were tasteful, reflecting both of your personalities in each room.

The garage was big enough to fit four cars but instead were filled with Keanu’s most valuable possessions— his motorcycles. You listened intently as he talked endearingly about his bikes, almost the same way a child would gush about a new toy. It even made him excited when you showed genuine interest, especially after mentioning having his own motorcycle company, Arch, which explained your shirt.

Keanu then brought you out to the backyard, which quickly became your favorite part of the entire house. Not only was there a sparkling swimming pool and a patio area for barbeques, but it also had a breathtaking view of the rolling hills and the city skyline in the distance. You had to pause for a moment to take in the view. It was unlike anything you’ve seen before, and you had to remind yourself that this was your home now.

“There’s one more thing I want to show you,” Keanu said after a while, and the two of you went back inside, heading to the living room.

He gestured for you to sit down on the sofa as he walked to the bookcase by the television, pulling out what seemed to be a thick photo album. He carried it over to where you sat, placing it down gently on the coffee table in front of you before flipping it open to the first page.

“Our story,” you read the words written on the paper out loud, and you recognized your own handwriting.

“You love taking pictures,” Keanu began as he turned to the next page. “On our first anniversary, you surprised me with this album. You filled it with all of the photos we took together, showing the many adventures we went on. As time went on, we only added more to it.”

“I always say photographs immortalize precious memories,” you said, looking at each picture with fondness in your eyes. “Mom mentioned that I’m currently working as photographer.”

Keanu nodded. “You quit your office job to pursue your passion. You dream of opening up your own studio one day, but you wanted to gain experience first.”

You hummed in response as you lightly traced a finger over the edge of the page, softly smiling at the pure love radiating out of the images. Behind each of them was a story which Keanu recounted, hoping that it would jog some of your memory back. Although nothing came, you loved the sweetness in his voice as he spoke. He was a fantastic story-teller, bringing up every detail of the moment the picture was taken and making you feel as though you were currently there.

And that’s how the rest of the day mostly went for you and Keanu, only stopping to make sandwiches for lunch before going back to the couch. You were so engrossed in each tale that you didn’t realize the sky outside growing darker until Keanu turned on the lamp resting on the end table, illuminating the space around you.

As you ate dinner together, you couldn’t help but smile at all of the adventures you went on with Keanu. It was more proof that you were at your happiest when the relationship started. You now felt grateful to have met him years ago because you couldn’t even begin to imagine what life would be like if you hadn’t.

Before going to sleep later that night, you read the get-well cards that your loved ones had sent you while you were at the hospital. Most of the names that you recognized were of your family and friends from back home, and until today, the rest had been unfamiliar. Now you know that Betty was the owner of the book shop you and Keanu frequented, Lillian was your old neighbor from the apartment you used to live in, and Harry was someone from work.

It was already past midnight, and you still weren’t tired, even after taking your medicine. Instead of tossing and turning in bed, you decided to pass the time by going through the photo album again. You recalled the vivid way Keanu described the memory, and your head played each moment like it was a scene from a movie. Sighing, you shut your eyes and silently held onto that feeling of bliss the picture gave for as long as you could.

Suddenly, you heard a loud crash from downstairs, followed by a curse. Swiftly, you rushed out of the bedroom and headed to the living room, finding Keanu kneeling down and picking up winter boots from the floor. You assumed he was trying to reach for a box inside a nearby closet but had dropped it.

“Sorry for waking you up, I was searching for something,” he mumbled as he sat on his heels and ran a hand over his weary face.

“Don’t worry, I was still awake,” you reassured Keanu, helping him back up on his feet. “What were you looking for?”

“A camcorder,” he answered before storing the box back on the shelf in the closet. “We brought it with us on our trip to Italy and recorded a few things on it. I wanted to find it and show you the videos, but I think we might have left it at your parent’s house last Christmas.”

Keanu sighed heavily as he padded over to the couch and sank down in one corner. Meanwhile, you trailed behind him, sitting down in the middle as he glanced off in the distance. You could tell that he was exhausted, and you wondered what was keeping him up so late at night.

“What’s wrong, Ke?” You questioned, facing your body towards him as he rubbed his eyes.

“Nothing,” he uttered although he wasn’t very persuasive.

“Then, why are you still up?”

Keanu sat up, clasping his hands together on his lap, leaning forward. His hair shielded his eyes from you, and you carefully reached out to tuck it behind his ear. You didn’t let your hand drop right after, however. Instead, you placed it on the side of his face, softly caressing it with the tips of your fingers as you urged him to look at you.

“Keanu,” you whispered his name as he covered the back of your hand with his own. “You know you can tell me anything.”

He released a breath as you felt him lean into your touch, his eyes fluttering close. When they opened again, his lips finally parted to speak.

“It’s the nightmares. They came back last night, and I wasn’t able to sleep. I tried going to bed an hour ago but just couldn’t do it.”

“What kind of nightmares are they?” You inquired, still holding him.

Keanu averted his gaze as you stroked his cheek with the pad of your thumb. “It’s about your accident. I keep dreaming that you didn’t make it, and all that’s left for me to do is just blame myself for letting it happen in the first place.”

“Why would you blame yourself? I was the one driving in the middle of a storm. You had nothing to do with this.”

You noticed him instantly tense up at your words, and when he tried to move away, you kept him from doing so. “Ke, why would you say that?”

Keanu’s glossy eyes returned to yours as he shook his head. “I-I don’t know.”

You smiled sadly at him, choosing not to push any further for both yours and his sake. You could see that he was having an internal battle with himself, and although it was worrying you, you didn’t want to complicate things even more. “Okay, you don’t have to tell me now. Not until when you’re ready.”

“I want to tell you, but…” he trailed off, and you nodded.

“It’s okay. Whatever you did, I’ll understand. I just want you to get some rest tonight,” you replied as an idea came to your mind. “You probably know this already, but I like falling asleep with a movie quietly playing in the background. Maybe we could try that?”

“You don’t have to stay up for me,” Keanu declined, but you were already reaching for the remote on the table. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about it.”

You gave him a shake of your head as you turned the television on and quickly found a channel where a film was showing. “Nope, you took care of me yesterday at the restaurant. This is the least I can do.”

Keanu sighed in defeat as he sat back on the couch and calmed down. At first, there was a bit of distance between the two of you. Then, gradually, you began leaning into him, feeling your own exhaustion settling in. You didn’t notice the arm wrapped around your shoulder until half-way through the movie, and you couldn’t help but snuggle deeper into Keanu’s warm side.

Eventually, your eyes began to drift close as the sounds of his light snores filled the room. Not wanting to disturb the peace, you decided to stay there in the comfort of his arms for the night, and something about it simply felt right.

Part 6

Tags: @penwieldingdreamer @fanficsrusz @toomanystoriessolittletime @awessomness @meetmeinthematinee @ringa-starr @ficsnroses​ @iworshipkeanureeves​

[rokutouxei]

the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

ikemen vampire: temptation through the dark theo van gogh / mc | T | [ ao3 link in bio ]

The challenge seemed pretty simple: to try to befriend the university bookshop’s most sour employee, Theo van Gogh. As a literature major with a boatload of book recommendations on her back, it ought to be a simple task indeed. But as she uncovers what lies between Theo’s pages, the more she finds it harder to become closer to him without having to put the feeling directly into words. What can she learn from Theo about what it means to stay—and how can she teach Theo about what it means to let go? | written for ikevamp big bang 2020!

[ masterpost for all chapters ]

CHAPTER 9 OF 22

You will let my tender hook Catch the folded darkness inside you, let me occupy The dented place at the base of your throat. - "One Life", Carlomar Arcangel Daoana

--

She wakes up late.

Comically late.

No hangover, thank god—but it’s 11am and she’s dressed in lent pajamas in a bed that isn’t her own. She shoots up to sitting position in a second, and standing in a minute, trudging out the room to the bathroom at the end of the hall.

By the time she’s up and out of the room, a little more awake, Dazai and Arthur have already long gone, the only remnants of their presence the bit of glitter that they had wiped onto the sofa they nestled in.

And text messages.

She squints when she reads it, not because she had a hard time reading what it said, but—because she couldn’t believe what it said.

A series of text messages from Dazai:

[ 7:23 | Dazai ] ur still asleep but ur friend kinda hot

[ 7:24 | Dazai ] ofc I woke up first but his eyelashes tho???

[ 8:32 | Dazai ] pls tell me he’s not a douche bc im rly gonna jump him

[ 9:03 | Dazai ] mgonna jump him

[ 10:19 | Dazai ] abt to find out if he’s got the magnum sized dong u promised

Oh, god, what has she done.

With a groan, she heads down the hallway, phone securely in the pocket of the sweatpants, to see Vincent and Theo preparing a meal in the kitchen; Theo preparing some sort of fillet (fish? Chicken?) and Vincent frying some onions and garlic on the stove, filling the kitchen with a nice aroma.

“Good morning,” she says softly, as she shuffles onto one of the dining table chairs.

“Thought you died,” Theo says with a snort; but once he turns around to face her, all derision goes away in his face and is replaced by a quiet surprise.

Vincent beams as he turns to get the fillets from Theo. (It’s chicken.) “Good morning. Did you sleep well? No headache?”

She shakes her head. “Nope, I’m good. Thanks for letting me sleep here last night and for the clothes.”

“Of course, no problem at all,” Vincent answers, turning back to the pan. The chicken makes a sizzle as it meets the oil.

Theo is still staring at her with an odd look on his face.

“Earth to Theo?” she calls out, waving her hand in front of her. “Something wrong?”

“Broer. Why did you lend her my clothes.”

Oh.

“You know how most my shirts are, paint-stained in all the weird places.”

She feels the cling of the cotton around her skin so differently, so suddenly. Oh.

“She wouldn’t have minded, she was drunk.”

That’s correct, but—

Vincent smiles at Theo, the kind of smile one makes when they can see through someone; she’s filled with a kind of relief at knowing that Vincent can do that to Theo. Maybe the man isn’t an impenetrable a character after all. “No need to be shy, Theo.”

“I am not,” he insists, finally tearing his gaze away from her and heading to the sink to wash the used chopping board and the knife. “I just don’t want her wearing my stuff.”

She smirks. He is shy. True, she didn’t get the opportunity to think about what she was putting on last night because she was so tired and knocked out by the alcohol, but…if that was the price she had to pay to see this side of Theo she doesn’t have the opportunity to witness often, then it was worth it. Oh, the ever put-together Theo, brought to his knees by only one person in the world, the one he trusts the most: his brother.  “Is it because your personality is contagious?” she teases, “wouldn’t want to catch that.”

He answers her with a glare. “Reverse. It’s your stupidity that’s contagious.”

“Oh, we’re pretty much equally as stupid, Theo. No need to worry.”

“We are not,” he says, and then Vincent elbows him carefully.

“You really should be a little gentler to your friends,” Vincent comments, as he turns the fillet onto its other side.

Theo grumbles something unintelligible and it makes her laugh. Sitting in the kitchen, watching the two brothers side by side with their back to her as they prepare—she checks the clock—lunch for the three of them, she hums, content. She’s lived alone for all her life here in the campus, and it was one she looked forward to after living in a house crammed with people for most of her life. But sitting here, watching them share the chores and maybe have a little banter with each other—makes her reconsider that maybe, maybe settling down in even the worst of places isn’t that horrible when you’re in good company.

Theo opens the plate cupboard and hands her a set of it with some cutlery. “Set the table at least, freeloader?” He says, though his voice lacks all the venom his words otherwise had.

Okay, she’ll have to reconsider if Theo counts as “good company.”

--

Theo barely survives lunch with her and his brother because of how much he gets teased by the two. He might argue that this is worse than being stuck with her and Arthur because since it is Vincent, he does not get the leeway to have a comeback, only able to grumble in displeasure at being see-through. They stuff their bellies not only with Vincent’s famed chicken with herbs but also with a hefty amount of laughter.

She slides back (slightly disgusted) into her costume to walk back home in, confident that many other students will be trudging along the streets suffering the same fate. (“Not everyone wakes up as late as you.” “There’s bound to be at least one, right?”) When she comes out of the bathroom, there’s a book on top of his neatly-folded clothes.

They speak at the same time.

“I could wash these first before giving it back if you—” “You had that with you all this time?”

Silence.

She breaks it with a laugh. “Yeah, it was a Saturday. I didn’t want to break the schedule.”

“You get so thorough about the weirdest things,” he comments, but he takes the bundle in her arms anyway. “It’s alright, I’ll have them. Let me get you a book, too.”

She follows Theo into the studio, where he crouches in front of some bookshelves. Vincent peeps from behind his easel. “You should walk her home,” he offers, as Theo pulls a few books out of the shelf.

“No, it’s alright, I’ll be fine! I’m not drunk or dizzy. The walk will help clear my head.”

“It’s twenty minutes out,” Theo points out, getting up.

“Just promise that if you find me asleep on the street you’ll pick me up?”

Handing Murakami’s Dance, Dance, Dance to her, Theo grins. “I can’t promise that.”

“Oh, Theo, you know you will.”

Even when she is long out of his sight, the smile on his face does not go away. Even as the day shifts into mundanity. Even as he’s carting a bagful of clothes to the launderette. Even as he picks up some groceries on the way home. Even as he prepares dinner for Vincent, who is a few hours deep into painting.

Maybe for a moment, it goes away, but—

He thinks of her and the smile comes back full force.

--

She spends the rest of Sunday recovering and hiding away in her room after the very socially draining party, but by Monday she’s hopped onto her bike and headed for the literature club’s little gazebo. She’s left a message for Dazai, asking for company. Sure, they spent quite a lot of time together in the past week, after having jumped through thrift stores and boutiques for the perfect Night Circus costume (and yes, she made him read the book beforehand too, for good measure) but Saturday was quite a day. She’s brought a couple of cookies for sharing with him, sitting at their usual spot, looking out at the quadrangle next to it.

“Toshiko-san! Sorry we kept you waiting!”

The plural takes her off guard, and she turns to find that Dazai has brought a rather distracted-looking Isaac along, his hands in the pockets of his slacks. Isaac is always dressed so well—she supposes it’s part of the uniform or something of being seen as a respectable professor—but she sure does want to see him dress down once. T-shirt, shorts, that kind—Isaac seems to take everything too seriously.

The pleasant feeling of seeing a friend she hasn’t met up with in a long time is quickly replaced by confusion, as the science complex is nowhere near the Arts building. “Nice to see you here, Isaac,” she says, but also with the lilt of a question.

Dazai answers said question. “He’s here because he has nothing better to do, so I asked him to come.”

Isaac makes a face that’s both resignation and panic. “He passed by my office.” –and dragged me out because he wouldn’t take no for an answer, she finishes in her head.

“I see,” she answers, even though that’s not really an explanation in itself.

She knows Isaac through Dazai, and Dazai knows Isaac through a very peculiar class: Occultism 101.

A class team-taught by three major colleges in the university—the College of Arts, the College of Science, and the College of Social Sciences—Occultism 101 is one of the more controversial classes on campus because of its nature. It goes through a long history of the evolution and persistence of supernatural beliefs and practices among nations in the world, in that nice gray area between religion and science. There are only two kinds of students in Occultism 101: those who believe and who are genuinely interested, and those who do not believe and would like to spend an entire semester saying “bah! That’s not true!” to themselves all the time.

Occultism 101 is typically taught by professors from the College of Social Sciences and College of Arts with backgrounds in religious practices and other mystical behavior (whether in history or art), and then occasionally, in the middle of the semester, guest lecturers from the College of Science come in to give lectures on how these “supernatural events” may be explainable through scientific means. Say, how the piping system in a building can cause haunted “cold spots”, or how floating dust particles can come up in a photograph as “orbs”, or the likes.

And she doesn’t want to be very stereotypical about it, but a lot of people in the College of Science are pretty… well, square, and so no one really wants to teach Occultism 101, even if it’s only a few meetings in a semester. This is how this job ends up to unwilling, no-choice Ph.D. students such as Isaac.

It was just his luck that Dazai was in the section he taught.

“So, Osamu, care to tell us about your little date last Sunday?” she asks, as the other two have taken their seats across her. Dazai swoons a little at the mention of Sunday. Isaac looks at him with unsureness.

(Isaac has had the miserable experience of being the victim of Dazai’s flirtation at some point in time. One can see how that has instead simmer into a rather tentative friendship. All is well.)

Dazai rests his elbows on the table and places his chin on the palms of his hands. “He’s so dreamy.”

“No he isn’t,” she swiftly replies, without thought.

But Dazai pretends not to have heard it. “He’s not looking for a serious relationship though,” he adds. “Not that I am, either.”

“You aren’t?”

“No, sweetie,” Dazai explains. “But he’s my type and I’m his type and we couldn’t just leave it at that so I have his number now, and a little… arrangement.”

The word hangs in between them, swaying.

Oh no, that’s not any good. “What arrangement.”

“You don’t need to sound so concerned.”

“This is Arthur we’re talking about,” she insists, and the name makes Isaac flinch a little.

“Doyle, the med student?” Isaac asks, and she turns to him, blinking.

“You know him?” Remembering Arthur during the party, her mouth falls into a small o. “He knows you too, doesn’t he?”

Isaac scoffs. “Who in this university doesn’t?” Arthur’s pretty well-known to be a flirt. Something like having a checklist of bedding at least one person in every department—a rumor that would have been a little more shameful if the rumors also didn’t say how he was so good at it.

She nods. “Well, fair enough.”

“No, no, he’s an absolute sweetheart to me, so it’s definitely a you problem,” Dazai insists. “It’s just a friendship with benefits, yanno?” He emphasizes every of the following syllables with his tone and his hands: “Nice, big, hefty benefits.”

And even Isaac, who usually refrains from commenting no matter how much he has to say, has to quip with “Terrible choice, really.”

And she has to agree. “I respect you, but not your taste, Osamu.”

Dazai grins. “Understandable.” He picks up one of the sandwiches she’s prepared. “You make it sound like I’m the only one making bad decisions though.”

“Excuse me?”

He turns to Isaac. “You should have gone to the Halloween party. She brought her little boy toy.”

She scoffs. “He is not my boy toy.”

“You sure do have him around your finger though, getting in matching costumes and all that,” Dazai says. “Spends Saturdates with him all the time.”

The only strategy that will work in times like these is straight-up ignoring him. “Anyway—” she begins, about to steer the conversation away when Isaac speaks up.

“It’s nice to hear you’re getting close to other people,” he says softly. Isaac has a way of speaking that makes it always seem like he’s spent so much time thinking about what he said before he actually said it; so sometimes it’s hard to gauge if he’s saying it casually or entirely seriously.

So she blinks. “You make it seem like I have no friends, Isaac.”

“I-It’s not that!” he suddenly blurts. Ah, there. There’s the usual Isaac. “You’ve spent so much time focusing on your work lately, it’s nice to know you’re relaxing with other people sometimes.”

And he doesn’t say it, but she sure does hear it: the you haven’t been to the astronomy club in a while and it’s made me worried about you.

She doesn’t go religiously, but she used to attend fairly often to hang out with the other members and just look up at the stars. Isaac tries to organize at least two sessions in a month, one to look at the moon, and another to point at the stars. She hasn’t been able to catch them in a bit.

But then, slowly, as the image of the view outside the astronomy club’s hangout is refreshed in her mind, the way the physics building rooftop is just high enough to provide a good view of the rest of the campus below, the city downtown, just at the right place on campus that at night, the rest of the sprawling town’s streetlights trickle out like golden LED veins through the threes—an idea begins to implant itself into her head.

Taking root immediately.

She likes to go up here to think. She really shouldn’t have had permission to go up there on her own, in her free time, since they have rules about club hours and the likes, but Isaac is a close friend and gave her a spare key, so she can come and go as she pleases. And sure, the Grove is a nice, quiet place for book clubs and maybe doing homework if one doesn’t need an electric socket, but up here in the astronomy club’s “the Rooftop”, she feels like she can float away into the vast ocean of her thoughts and get lost in them for a moment.

She feels small up there. And that’s a good feeling.

She won’t tell it to Isaac’s face but it’s one of the primary reasons why she applied for the astronomy club in the first place. The stars are great no matter how dumb she is at physics, but the view—it’s really something else.

What does the world look like from the point of view of a star? How tiny are human lives in the vast expanse of the universe? How long have these stars been out there, how long will they stay out there, how much longer will they stay in this universe more than we will?

…This is why Theo teases her for being a literature major: all these goddamn metaphors.

And for a split second, she thinks…

Maybe it isn’t that bad to share that same quiet space with him?

…You know, to talk books.

“About that…”

Isaac and Dazai turn to her.

“Mind if I sneak in an outsider to the Roof?” she asks, facing Isaac with genuine hope in her voice.

Isaac only shrugs. “Do as you please,” he says casually, taking a cookie from her little box on the table.

And she grins like he’d just given her the light of the world. “Thank you, Isaac.”

Dazai shakes his head, because he knows she’s got no denying herself out of this one the next time.

[rivalsforlife]

i'm holding myself back from asking commentary on almost every scene from the catch up game bc i love so much how you wrote phoenix in that fic!! that said, could u do commentary on the last 2 scenes from the first chapter (party + gumshoe), if that's not too long or on parts of it if it's too much?

Sure thing!! The scenes on their own are already over 2000 words so I’ll put them under a keep reading for everyone’s peace of mind.

Alright let’s start then...

The bachelor party was beyond Phoenix’s expectations. He’d been expecting Edgeworth to be much stingier with the spending, considering his general attitude towards Gumshoe’s salary. But he’d agreed to rent the bar out and pay for one drink for everyone, plus transportation home for those who couldn’t do it themselves. Phoenix… was surprised, actually. He’d known for a long time now that Edgeworth appreciated Gumshoe much more than he let anyone know about, but it was still surprising to see in action.

this paragraph brought to you by My AAI2 Feelings, particularly the parts where Gumshoe really does come through in the investigations, so much that Miles actually gives him a salary raise at the end... it did a great job developing their friendship, I loved it a lot.

(Also I headcanon that after aai2 but possibly before that... every “I’m going to cut your salary!!” that Miles says does not actually result in a salary cut. poor gumshoe can barely feed himself as it is. but Miles can’t be, like... Nice about it so he’s just going to pretend. Gumshoe understands. it’s like an inside joke now.)

And honestly figuring out this whole party scene was such a pain. I still feel like it could be better but I’m not sure how? I just had the goal of “get someone to let it slip that Miles is in love with Phoenix” but then there was the issue of a) who knew Miles well enough to know this, and b) who knew Phoenix well enough to talk about it, and c) what circumstances would let them slip up and say it. The answer was Gumshoe because he can’t resist leaking information to the defense... even when it’s information about his boss’s personal life. oops.

Athena dropped by for a movie night, since Pearls was too young to attend. Phoenix wasn’t worried about them; he was sure they wouldn’t get into any more trouble than he and Maya could at the party.

OOF AWKWARD PARAGRAPH this is a remnant from when I shifted a lot of scenes around in this chapter. I thought it would be cute if Athena and Pearl were friends. And I think there was more to this but then it was distracting from the overall topic so I cut it out... resulting in this.

“Pals!” a familiar voice boomed at the entrance to the bar, and Phoenix soon found himself and Maya swept up in a bone-crushing hug. “I’m so glad you both could make it!”

“Gumshoe!” Maya returned the hug enthusiastically. “It’s been forever, man!”

“Sure has!” Gumshoe released them, allowing Phoenix the opportunity to wheeze and clutch at his ribs, while Gumshoe ruffled Maya’s hair. “Been keeping yourself out of trouble?”

“You know it!”

“Uh, I had several sleepless nights last year suggesting otherwise,” said Phoenix.

“Shut it, Nick.” Maya elbowed him, not helping with the situation with his ribs, and beamed.

a little bit of banter that really just serves as a transition thing. most of the party is actually both “transition scene to indicate that the party did, in fact, happen before I get to the important stuff” and “introduce some important character stuff while I have time to fill”. 

and of course these sleepless nights are in reference to pretty much the whole plot of SOJ... 

One last note that I think Gumshoe probably gives great hugs, if you can survive your ribs potentially being crushed in the process. he doesn’t mean anything by it. he’s big and strong and likes hugs so much he forgets how big and strong he is.

... ps I love Gumshoe

“But congrats, Gumshoe! Seems like just last decade Nick and I were wandering around trying to pass your lunches over to Maggey.”

“God, it’s been that long, hasn’t it?” Phoenix reminisced. It was odd, thinking back on cases he took before he was disbarred, before he became a father to a daughter who wasn’t even with him today.

Gumshoe chuckled. “Guess so, pals. You two’ve really been there since the beginning, huh? Maggey and I wouldn’t be here today without you.”

Phoenix smiled. “Aww, Gumshoe…”

“And that’s why I get to be maid of honor, huh?” asked Maya with a sly grin.

“Maid of honor?!” Phoenix looked to Gumshoe, who didn’t object, before rounding back on his best friend. “You didn’t tell me that!”

“You didn’t ask!” Maya sighed. “If it weren’t for me eating Gumshoe’s beloved bento box in front of Maggey, who knows if we’d be here today?”

“I don’t think that was a deciding factor at any point…”

Gumshoe clapped Phoenix on the shoulder. “Sorry, pal. Would’ve made you the best man, but, y’know… Mr. Edgeworth.”

“Yeah, of course, no hard feelings, pal.”

“What’d I tell you about stealing my trademark, huh, pal?” Gumshoe laughed before stepping back into the bar. “C’mon in, you two.”

REALLY just more awkward transition scenes haha. Maya is the maid of honor in this fic mostly because I went to Maggey’s profile page and she was the only woman listed under the “friends” list... and we don’t know much about Maggey’s personal life. plus more “Miles and Gumshoe friendship” agenda pushing in here!

There were more people there than Phoenix was expecting, and many of them he hadn’t met. Edgeworth had mentioned that he would let Gumshoe select the guest list, but he’d kind of expected this to be people the two of them knew. Or, at least, that Phoenix knew — Edgeworth seemed to recognize more, which was rare, and was currently speaking with someone Phoenix vaguely recognized as an Interpol agent he’d worked with on a few cases back when Phoenix would help him out in Europe.

Ema ran up to them and made small talk before she and Maya got caught up in discussion about some show Phoenix had never heard of, so he wandered off to find someone else to talk with.

And there was… no one, really. Gumshoe and Edgeworth were talking with strangers, and Phoenix didn’t want to butt in on that conversation — he thought he saw Larry lurking about but couldn’t find him right now — and anyone else Phoenix recognized he either hadn’t talked to in years or was sure didn’t recognize him.

Phoenix hadn’t realized just how much his disbarment affected him, in these little ways. He looked out over the crowd of people Gumshoe or Edgeworth spoke to and had no idea who they were. It had been eight years out of touch with the rest of the legal world — eight years to fall behind.

It was… oddly lonely. Eventually it was just Phoenix standing there at the bar with a glass of grape juice in his hand. He was beginning to wish he’d ordered some more euphemistic “grape juice” instead.

You know that feeling when you go to a party and your one (1) friend leaves you and then you have no one to talk to and don’t know what to do -- maybe? That’s kind of the thing. slight Lang cameo in there.

ORIGINALLY Ema and Maya were going to talk about Lana and Mia and kind of hint at some Lanamia stuff in there, but then I thought about it and really why would Phoenix pass up an opportunity to gossip about his boss’s past relationships. 

And this also tries to kind of go for one of the general... “themes” of the fic? More of an exploration into Phoenix’s loneliness/how he copes with not having people around him. RFTA and JFA in particular kind of really entrenched that he Does Not Do Well without people to take care of -- which comes up a lot during this fic. And part of getting to explore those issues is essentially me trying to make Phoenix as alone as possible. ... sorry Phoenix! 

Also in here is a lot of “disbarment should have messed up Phoenix more than DD and SOJ would lead you to believe” -- he essentially spent seven years completely disgraced, it’s unlikely he made a lot of notable legal connections, aside from maybe Miles and Miles’ social circle. He probably missed out on a lot.

The last paragraph there is just referencing the “grape juice” thing - I do believe it is literal grape juice and not an alcohol euphemism, and I believe it was also literal grape juice in the original, so that’s what it ends up being.

“Hey, Niiiick…”

… But Phoenix supposed that just when you’re feeling down, the Butz arrives to drag you down further. “Hey there, Larry.”

Larry slumped against the bar beside him with a sigh, a glass of what definitely wasn’t grape juice in his hand. “Y’know Franzy didn’t even show up to this?”

“I’m not surprised. Being whipped half to death during your own bachelor party isn’t anyone’s idea of a good time, y’know?” In truth, he knew Franziska couldn’t make it down until just a few days before the wedding because of work — or so Edgeworth had told him — though he couldn’t help but wonder if Gumshoe was grateful for it.

Larry muttered something under his breath that sounded like it might’ve been contradicting Phoenix’s last statement, which Phoenix decided he was certainly not going to press further on, before Larry cleared his throat and continued. “But why’re you out here by yourself, Nick? Maya ditched you?”

“No, not at all,” Phoenix lied. “Just… taking in the scenery.”

“... Huh. Never took you for the wallflower type.” Larry frowned. “I mean, we did use to spend school dances in the corner by ourselves… guess some things never change.”

“Please don’t remind me of middle school ever again.”

“I’ll drink to that,” said Larry, who then did. “But I get it, dude. I was kinda hoping for some more excitement here… more ladies…”

“Don’t worry Larry, I’m sure you’ll find someone else to pester tonight,” Phoenix commented dryly.

... enter Larry Butz.

I really did try to explore the relationships of all the important people in Phoenix’s life... Larry though is so insufferable in canon I didn’t really have the heart to fit him in, so he falls out. (Apollo also doesn’t show up much, aside from the bit in chapter 5, that’s because he’s in a different country and I couldn’t come up with much of a role for him.)

And I also do believe that Larry and Phoenix were super unpopular in school. Larry was... Larry, and Phoenix was probably very sensitive up until the Dahlia Incident, and together they had enough unlikable traits that anyone who could spend time with one wouldn’t want to hang out with the other, but the two of them were loyal to each other. It’s my headcanon that Phoenix’s only real close friends throughout his childhood were Larry and Miles, which is part of why he got so attached to Miles to change his career for him.

“Yeah.” Larry’s eyes scanned the crowd before landing on a woman with dark hair in a high ponytail, and his face brightened. Phoenix cringed preemptively.

“Little miss Kay!” Larry called out, as the woman looked their way. “Looking as cute as ever! And more grown up, too…”

Phoenix tensed, suddenly feeling the wrath of hell creeping up behind them.

“Larry Butz,” a deadly voice boomed, “if you go anywhere near her, I will sue you for everything you are worth, little though it may be.”

Larry jumped and spilled half his drink over his jacket. “Geez, Edgey,” he grumbled, scuttling off to find a napkin. Phoenix, hoping it was safe now with the target gone, turned back around to meet the glare of his other childhood friend. “Hey, Edgeworth.”

Larry being gross but more importantly: me pushing the Dadworth agenda! 

“You didn’t have to do that, Mr. Edgeworth,” said the woman with a laugh. “I’m an adult. I know how to effectively break someone’s kneecaps if they bug me.”

Edgeworth raised an eyebrow. “Though I don’t necessarily disapprove, do we need to talk about avoiding criminal records again, young lady?”

“Sheesh, you’re still treating me like a kid,” she huffed, before noticing Phoenix and extending a hand. “Sorry about that! Kay Faraday. I’m Mr. Edgeworth’s assistant.”

Edgeworth gave an exasperated sigh, though Phoenix could detect a note of fondness to it. “You haven’t been my assistant for over ten years, Kay.”

“So you finally admit I was your assistant at some point!”

“Ngrk…”

Phoenix laughed and took her hand. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Phoenix Wright, attorney at law.”

Kay grinned. “Oh, I know! Gummy debriefed me on you, Mr. That Man.”

“Kay,” Edgeworth warned.

“Plus I kept up with the news,” Kay continued, before Phoenix could say anything. “I’m a big fan of your work! Anyone who can take Mr. High-and-Mighty over there down a notch or two is a hero in my book.”

“Ha, I appreciate that.” Usually the first thing people said to Phoenix after saying they saw him on the news was much more negative.

I really still can’t believe Kay would be 27 here. that’s just so weird. she’s permanently seventeen in my mind. --- said by miles, probably

Even though this was supposed to be a fic about Phoenix’s important canon relationships Kay just wormed her way in here. I love her so I didn’t make any particular effort to take her out of this. Plus it gives me the opportunity to write my favourite things: Dadworth, and also Kay bullying Miles.

And yeah the part about people seeing Phoenix on the news is a reference to disbarment... can’t imagine anyone would have had anything particularly nice to say to him, especially those first few years.

“Kay has been assisting some of the prosecutors and myself through some tricky crime scenes lately,” Edgeworth informed him.

“Technically I’m a P.I., but Mr. Edgeworth said they’re really short-staffed these days, so I thought I’d lend him a hand,” Kay elaborated.

“Oh, so I might be running into you at the crime scene someday.”

“Probably!” She grinned. “Though I’m not gonna go easy on you just ‘cause Mr. Edgeworth likes you.”

“Kay.”

“Oh is that Ema over there?” Kay said loudly. “I’ve gotta run, see you around!”

She dashed off. Edgeworth sighed.

At first I made Kay just a straightforward detective, but I changed it pretty last minute. I feel like she’d want to do her own thing, plus this way she can assist from the outside when dealing with Dark Age of the Law Corruption-type stuff. Miles hires her because canon says he was left pretty short-staffed in SOJ. I’m not... totally sure what the laws are regarding private investigators working with police, but this is a fictional universe with fictional laws so I will do what I want.

Aside from that... more Kay making fun of Miles.

“She seems energetic,” Phoenix commented.

“Indeed she is.”

“... Why did she call me ‘Mr. That Man’?”

Edgeworth coughed. “I’ve not the slightest idea,” he said, turning his head to the side. “That aside, this whole affair is going much smoother than I expected, aside from that slight mishap.”

“Yeah, murder’s not really the best way to kick off a bachelor party, huh? Even if it is Larry. But I think we did alright.”

“Indeed.”

As if on cue, a loud cheer rose up from the crowd at the far corner of the bar.

“... Do you smell something?” Phoenix asked, and true to form, the swaying form of Larry crawled on top of a table.

People making fun of That Man is one of my favourite tropes regarding the AAI characters.

I don’t actually know how bachelor parties work, but if anyone can make them into an overly dramatized super wild party... it’s Larry.

Edgeworth groaned and began to storm off, but Phoenix grabbed him by the hand to hold him back. “Edgeworth, it’s a party, let them have their fun.”

“I… suppose so,” Edgeworth relented, but his hand was still tense in Phoenix’s.

Phoenix released him. “C’mon, we can chaperone from a safe distance.”

Edgeworth nodded wordlessly, but Phoenix could sense that same feeling of unease from him again. He opened his mouth to ask about it but a loud shout took up his attention — this was something that could be dealt with later, he thought, as he and Edgeworth rushed over to the scene.

Miles internal monologue: Wright is holding my hand. Wright is holding my hand. Wright is holding my hand writgh is holding my hand wright is holdin g my ha--

Phoenix: uh. edgeworth?

So in this fic... Miles is gradually working up the courage to confess to Phoenix. He finally worked out his own feelings at some point prior to this fic starting but can’t quite admit them yet, so every time Phoenix does anything that can be remotely construed as romantic he just goes “!!!” and it’s probably all he can think about for a week. Poor guy! I’m sure that when he finally confesses all will be well.

Hours later, as the party wound down and various taxis came to take people home, Phoenix found himself crowded in a booth with a tipsy Maya and a drunk, gushing Gumshoe.

“... and I know she’s gonna just be so beautiful, pals, and what if it’s too much?” Gumshoe asked, lying sideways against the table. “What if they don’t let me see her and then the day of the wedding I look’t her and… I die?”

“People have gotten married without dying, Gumshoe,” Phoenix consoled him.

“But they don’t marry Maggey, pal…”

Maya snorted. “With her luck, I wouldn’t be surprised if something like that happened.”

“Hey, don’t tell him that!” Phoenix hissed.

really this wedding should have had way more disaster than I wrote about... probably at least one murder.

“No, no, don’t mention her luck, she’s already so worried,” said Gumshoe. “We’ve checked off every good-luck wedding charm in th’ book… but she still thinks somethin’s gonna go wrong. I love her, I really, really love her, pals…” A far off look crossed his face, and Phoenix wondered if anyone would ever speak of him like that, “... but she worries so much…”

“What’s she worried about?” Maya asked, slumping over against Phoenix’s shoulder.

“Ceremony, reception, if people’re gonna show up, if we’re gonna lose somethin’ important… even ‘s far as the bouquet toss. I told her, if you’re not sure, just toss it in th’ direction of you,” he pointed at Phoenix, “or at Mr. Edgeworth, and maybe it’ll work.”

Phoenix frowned. “Why me?”

Gumshoe let out a burst of hearty laughter. “I’m thinkin’ if you or Mr. Edgeworth catches it, it’ll give ‘im the courage to finally ask you out, pal.”

Maya shot straight up. Phoenix froze. “... What?”

probably not the smoothest way to get to the entire reason why this bachelor party exists, BUT. 

Also it’s implied that Miles DID actually talk to Gumshoe about this at some point. probably Gumshoe caught him pining at a bad time haha.

“Y’know the old tradition, whoever catches it is the next to get married and all…” Gumshoe stared at them for a moment, before his eyes widened and a look of absolute horror crossed his face. “O-Oh! Crap! Pal!”

“Edgeworth wants to ask Nick out?!” Maya shrieked.

“FINALLY! IT’S ABOUT FREAKING TIME!”

originally Gumshoe used a much stronger word than “crap” but idk Gummy doesn’t seem like the type to curse much...? Maybe it’s a stretch haha. also “pal” as an exclamation is my favourite little Gumshoe speech tic

“Shh, shh!” Gumshoe reached over to clamp a hand over her mouth but fell, collapsing on the table. “You heard nothin’ from me, pals, got it? Mr. Edgeworth’s gonna kill me if he finds out… worse, stop funding the wedding…”

Death is one thing but the WEDDING...

And I can’t remember if I mentioned at any point that Miles was also funding the wedding haha but it’s probably also something he wouldn’t want to tell anyone. Gumshoe with his perpetually terrible salary (which is also Miles’ fault) plus Maggey with her inability to hold down a job before being fired in a murder-related incident probably means they don’t have a lot for a nice wedding so Miles offered. secretly and evasively. because he’s a nice person but also doesn’t want anyone to know that.

Maya stared at Phoenix, her mouth agape, as Gumshoe continued mumbling to himself under his breath about the various consequences of Edgeworth’s hypothetical wrath. Phoenix, meanwhile, felt like his brain had short-circuited.

That wasn’t possible. He must have heard Gumshoe wrong. Edgeworth didn’t think of him that way. Edgeworth didn’t think about anyone that way, Phoenix had thought, for the longest time.

Little do you know, Phoenix! 

Touching on the aroace Miles headcanon here because it’s a very valid interpretation of his actions even if it’s not my own...

… Even if Edgeworth had been acting strange lately, even if something in his expression softened when he looked at Phoenix, even if…

No. Phoenix quickly shoved that thought to the back of his mind. There were many things he knew about Edgeworth, and one of those was that Edgeworth saw him as a part-time friend and part-time annoyance, but never a romantic interest of any kind. The thought of it was just… just unbelievable.

Phoenix craned his head around, catching sight of a familiar pink jacket across the room and watched Edgeworth in the middle of some phone call. He would know if Edgeworth was interested in him that way… wouldn’t he?

At first “the back of his mind” was “the overflowing mental trunk of repression” but that seemed a little too on the nose. Just know that’s essentially what he’s doing.

Another thing I wanted to establish throughout the fic was how close Phoenix and Miles are now -- they essentially know each other really well. And thinking about that part in Turnabout Goodbyes where Phoenix declares that “I’m the only one who knows the real Edgeworth”, I kind of interpreted that Phoenix Knowing Things About Edgeworth is an important part of their relationship to him. And the occasions where Miles did surprise him (with some aspect of his personality) weren’t always very good things... realizing he’d turned into a “demon prosecutor”, then the “choosing death” part... it’s a lot of my headcanons running away from me haha. Basically in this fic, Phoenix thinks he knows Edgeworth so well because he’s so close with him so an indication that there’s something about Edgeworth he doesn’t know or has completely wrong kind of... connects to him /not/ being as close to Edgeworth as he thinks he is? Maybe? And being close to him is something very important to Phoenix.

(This is not my personal opinion though haha, people can and will surprise you no matter how well you know them... but this fic is Phoenix’s Relationship Issues: The Fic, so.)

And no one else has mentioned the scenes where it comes up yet so I’ll talk about it here -- a lot of my editing process involved going through the fic and cutting out every instance of Phoenix either talking about him hypothetically being in love with Miles, or of Miles being in love with him. I just ctrl+f “love” and cut out whatever fit the criteria. Phoenix’s interpretation of Miles’ actions up until the end of chapter 5 isn’t exactly that Miles is Capital-L In Love with him, more that it’s like... a little crush? Mayyybe some physical attraction. Misconstrued admiration. Not anything so severe that Miles would willingly initiate a conversation about Feelings. so “He would know if Edgeworth was in love with him” changed to “He would know if Edgeworth was interested in him that way” because part of Phoenix’s issue here is that he can’t actually directly acknowledge the possibility that he’s in love with Miles or that Miles is in love with him. It’s a whole complicated thing I’ll probably talk about in the next commentary I do?

This got long but there’s the end of the chapter! I’ll answer more later...? These take up a lot of time haha.

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

2020 SU Fic Sampler - WIP Showcase

So in my continued attempts at distraction, I trawled through my SU fanfic folders, looked at the ol’ endless WIP pile. Figured I’d do a little roundup of some that are in something resembling a decent state. Maybe even see where interest lies and all that, get some attention and validation, you know, all that good stuff one craves. Of course, there’s loads more than this, and I might one day post some things I wrote but never quite managed to finish up, or that got super jossed in ways I couldn’t get myself to work around.

Now, in no particular order, here’s 8 draft snippets totaling almost 6000 words - not very polished, obviously, some quite rough around the edges, some long, some short, some that work better without context than others. But here they are anyway, with an utterly predictable array of focal characters. Any missing segments or my asides/notes in the text are [written like this], because I usually write very non-linearly. Hope you all like mood whiplash! 

P.S. I live for comments.

Like Talking To A Wall, aka Bismuth making friends with the wall, statue, and floor Gems. Early precursors to radicalisation and “I would have liberated everyone”, perhaps. Started as one of my first reactions to the Diamond Days episodes.

“Hey, thanks for listening.”

“Anytime. You’re lucky I’m so supportive,” Mica piped up from up on her arch.

Bismuth laughed. Bittersweet. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am.”

Then, with a surprisingly gentle hand pressed to the carvings she’d been so careful about, she added a soft: “I’ll miss you.”

“Chin up! It’s gonna be a lovely off-planet adventure for you,” Granite rumbled from just above her head. “A brand new colony! Think of the sights!”

“You can tell us all about it when we see you again.”

Bismuth leaned back, pressing her whole back against the wall, reluctant to leave, even if a snooty shift supervisor was bound to come around and chase her off soon. “Yeah, I’ll make sure to do that.”

They all knew very well that, as always, when the building was done, it was goodbye. The chances of there being a need for repairs or remodelling - and the exact same bismuths being brought in to do them - were incredibly slim.

But pretending was nice, sometimes.

-

Hey, Steven, think I could get a moment before we leave? I won’t be long.

-

They were right where she’d left them, and the years had done very little to change them. A bit of a patina there, some dust, the tiniest bit of wear on sharper corners.

“Bismuth?” Several familiar voices cried out to her in shocked recognition.

She knew she must look a sight - battle-ready and battle-worn, but armour still gleaming, and with a bearing of one who had been through much and was always ready for more. She felt her back had never been so proud and straight, her shoulders so resolutely set.

“I think,” Bismuth grinned, “you’re gonna start seeing changes around these parts.”

---

One for that favourite Pearletariat/Pearl Solidarity fic sub-genre of mine: Clever Pearls Cleverly Getting Around Badly Worded Orders. A bit of an origin for an as-of-yet unnamed pearl OC, because I sure don’t have enough of those!

In the untold thousands of years of Homeworld and Gemkind, and the hundreds of thousands of commands given to hundreds of thousands of pearls, nobody ever thought to Order a pearl not to think. That would imply a they mattered at all, and who would ever put stock in a pearl’s thoughts? Most Gems weren’t sure pearls could think, anyway. I mean, if they could, all that standing around would be intolerable, wouldn’t it? And imagine not being able to say no to anything, even crushing your own gem - shards, at least I’m not a pearl!

They were, occasionally, when dealing with an owner’s important, private, confidential business, Ordered to forget, or, a bit less esoterically, Ordered never to tell.

And [OWNER] has always been all too eager with the Orders. As if she went to bizarre lengths in her thinking that pearl couldn’t - or wouldn’t? - do anything upon merely being told, let alone by herself. Every little thing, from sweeping up the shards of a broken decorative plate to taking down the minutes of an important meeting [OWNER] was presiding over - (im)pressed upon pearl with the crushing weight of an Order.

But she could still think.

Even when Ordered to wait by the door, freezing her limbs and anchoring her legs to the ground with all the force of a starship mooring mechanism. Even when Ordered into silence for days and planetary rotations on end because [OWNER] had wanted to read an important document without being disturbed and it simply didn’t occur to her to lift it when she was done.

In the wake of the Rebellion and the Renegade Pearl, it only gets worse, and soon enough pearl can barely remember the last time a single movement she made was voluntary.

---

SU Future-era Bismuth and Steven convo I scribbled down in between some of these recent eps - after Growing Pains in particular I think - because Bismuth is the absolute pep talk queen.

“You already said you were sorry for trying to kill me in the Forge, and really, it’s okay, it was all a misunderstanding. Besides, it’s more than a lot of people have done!”

Bismuth blinked at the pinkish sheen around Steven’s cheeks, around the downturned brows - strange trick of the light, that. “Steven, come on. Just listen to me for a minute.”

“Okay,” Steven sighed, and leaned against the railing Bismuth had fixed just that morning.

“Point is, for me, the war had never ended. It wasn’t only yesterday, it was today. It was over for everyone, it seemed, except for me. And getting over that, getting used to that, really seeing that as the truth, not living every day buzzed up with that anticipation of the next battle, just waiting for Homeworld to come down hard on us with whatever new horror they’d come up with… that took a while. And it took help.”

[sudden apparent non-sequitur but It’s An Allegory, Steven.]

“When you make a sword, you can’t make it rigid and unyielding. You can’t just temper it into toughness and hardness and make it unbreakable. It needs to have some give in order to be durable, it needs to be able to bend so as not to shatter on impact. And sure, maybe the first parry or strike wouldn’t be the one to do it, but the tenth, the hundreth, the thousandth? Any time you might just find yourself holding on to a hilt with the jagged remnants of everything, and shards scattered on the ground. And if you’re very lucky, that’ll happen during friendly sparring, not in the heat of battle.”

Steven shrugged without response, and seemed to be shrugging off all the words as well. Back to the direct approach it was, then.

“Now you, Steven,” that at least got a bit more attention, “Sure, you can brawl with the best of ‘em, and you put that gem to damn good use. You’ve got great technique drilled in, too - I’d expect nothing less from one of Pearl’s students. But that’s not how you won, in the end, is it? You never won because you were tough, or strong. You have a diamond in you but you’re not hard at all. Well, except on yourself.”

“In the end all of this was possible because you were soft. Just malleable and pliable enough when it was needed. And that takes guts.”

“Hey, I’m just saying,” Bismuth put a hand on his shoulder, and even with all the very human growing he’d done, he still seemed to almost disappear in it. “You put yourself out there for others… maybe it’s about time you let them help you.”

---

The next chapter of the His Dark Materials/Daemons AU which I am sooooo painfully late with it’s not even funny anymore. Already posted some excerpts [here] and [here].

“She’s been... away on business, but we’ve sent a zeppelin for her and she’s well on her way back. Hopefully.”

“You have a zeppelin?” Rose was rapidly failing in all her efforts to keep her voice down. 

“Of a sort. We, er, we... stole it.”

“Stole-!”

“Yes, well, stole might be a strong word,” Pearl tapped a finger against her chin. “You see, there was a small decommissioned postal craft left below the southern mail station aërodock that nobody would ever miss, all I had to do was fix it up a bit and-”

Rose blinked. “You fixed a decommissioned zeppelin.”

Pearl waved a hand almost casually. “I had some help, but yes. Svalbard, understandably, is hard to reach with other means of transport, and Bismuth needed to be able to go back and forth.”

“You,” Rose began, awed, “are utterly wasted on bringing me my slippers, I’ll tell you that.”

“Well then, maybe,” Pearl blushed, but there was nothing hesitant about her smirk and the strikingly proud tilt of her head, “maybe you could take them off with a bit more care than kicking them halfway across the room and sending them off under the cabinets and- and then I wouldn’t need to do that at all. And I could fix all the zeppelins in the world.”

-

[more from the super secret backroom rebellion meeting]

“They’re with the Consistorial Court of Discipline, no doubt. Always on the lookout for,” Bismuth grimaced, “heretics. A lot falls under that. A lot of good excuses to snatch someone off the street and do who knows what to them. And they’ve been funneling people there, people vanished by the CCD. Not lacking in test subjects lately.”

“How did you get this? Where?” It was Sapphire, this time. Ruby seemed overwhelmed, and sat clutching her hand desperately as the tiny frog and hare both whispered something to her.

“We traced the funding for all this. It was difficult and deliberately obfuscated, but we managed. A facility like this, an entire operation, cost a pretty amount, you’d assume - and you’d be right. It had to come from somewhere. And whoever was paying for it was likely to want to know what was being done with their investment.”

“So we followed the trail. And it turned out I was… ideally positioned to… to, erm, procure what evidence there was to be found. Because, well...” Pearl trailed off, and lifted one of the stolen report sheets for all to see.

It was as clear as day, the family crest right above the astronomical amount being granted. Four diamonds, neatly arranged.

Neshu’s ears were flat against his mane, and Rose found herself wishing the ground would simply open up and swallow both her and him and the chair that she sat on and he’d tried to duck under.

Bismuth spoke up, grim, every drop of earlier exuberance gone from her. “When the Diamonds look out from the windows of their mansion, they don’t see people. They see tools, toys, and weapons. Nothing else.” She sounded more tired than angry. “It’s just what they’ve always been doing, but writ large.”

---

And then, of course, the Longass PearlRose Fixit because I hate the gag order but at the same time want it gone… slowly and organically. Alternating Rose and Pearl POVs spanning throughout the rebellion era, all sorts of flashbacks and Imagining Things included. At one point they end up attempting to essentially jailbreak Pearl, because Pearl is, as we all know, absolutely the most hardcore. Also thank you SU Movie for confirming all the awful Alexa-flavour fanon/headcanons and giving me an excuse to dive into a bunch of Gems-as-AI tropey stuff, on top of everything. [another previously posted fragment here]

“I don’t want to. I never want to do that to you again.” She stops, takes a breath, reconsiders. “And I know it’s a lot to ask of you, the trust I just… trampled over. So I want to make sure that it’s not just that, you trusting me not to make the same mistake again, with no reassurance anywhere. I—I want to not be able to. Nobody should be able to do that to you.”

“Nobody should be able to do that to anyone,” Pearl corrects readily.

“You’re right,” Rose smiles, only a bit wry, “as always. My brilliant, brilliant Pearl. What would I do without you?”

“Never get back to the point you were trying to make, I imagine,” Pearl quips with something resembling sauciness, and Rose feels at least some of the weight starting to lift off her.

“Right,” Rose agrees, chastised, and tries to focus. “I just… I’m not sure how, or what I need to do at all. It’s not like there’s much precedent – ownerless pearls are unheard of. Even when their owners get shattered, it’s only ever temporary, and, with such high demand, very brief.”

Pearl nods in agreement, and hums. “Luckily, we’ve seen plenty of unheard of and unspeakable things here.”

[echoes of Scabbard convo]

“I want to know, I want to be certain, that you’re here because you want to be.” 

“So do I.” Pearl responds quietly, letting their fingers entwine.

  [Giving an order not to follow orders doesn’t work, failsafes exist. Then they try a sort of ownership transfer thing, and try to make the new owner Pearl. It doesn’t register, “invalid transfer target”, even when Pearl tries to hack it - some odd gem tool that scans and pokes at her gem - she gets all bummed out because she can’t even reprogram a very basic and modifiable handheld tool/device to recognise a pearl as an actual gem and person. What chance does she have against hearts and minds and an entire ingrained culture of an entire sprawling empire?

“You changed my mind,” says Rose all softly and earnestly.

Have I really? Pearl asks herself but doesn’t let it escape out loud. Still. Step by small step, she admits to herself. Incremental, slow, but persistent work. She can do that. Even as down on herself as she is, she can do that.]

“The… the override.” Pearl breathes out suddenly.

“What?”

“The administrative override - you, or, well... Pink Diamond should be able to trigger it, even without a Rejuvenator. We shouldn’t…” Pearl looks strangely scared now, swallowing small gulps before pushing onwards, hands trembling and fingers knotting together, “w-we shouldn’t need a full reset, really, but. But we can try modifying the owner identification...”

Having to… turn into Pink again (turn back into yourself, you mean, a small voice whispers, who are you trying to fool) doesn’t sit well with her, of course, but. Get a hold of yourself, Pearl certainly has it so much worse in this scenario.

[more here about how they both need to kind of “revert” a bit to try this and it sucks, because no! unpleasant poking of holes in the elaborate fantasy! For the greater good, but still.]

And oh, Pearl looks just about ready to either cry with some strange terror Rose has never seen her display, or dissipate her form on the spot - the small dam of coldly throwing around terms like administrative override activation and owner identification variable providing just enough distance for her to carry on.

“It shouldn’t be too risky if we’re… if you’re careful.”

[Pearl trusts her with everything, her literal entire self - with this thing that is such a blatant violation of her being and her person, that she now wants to turn against itself, using one of the most humiliatingly clearly objectifying aspects of her status as an instrument of her liberation. It is all A Lot.]

Rose remembers, also, with a sting, the way she grumbled and sulked over the gaping pit of guilt in her stomach and refused to even look at the glowing, floating shell Blue was so insistently pushing her towards. She wanted her Pearl back, not whatever White and the others had decided to foist upon her now. Not a pale replacement, nothing they deemed suitable.

-

“Please state preferred customisation options.”

“Come on, Pink,” Blue urges, softly but mercilessly as ever, large hands enveloping Pink almost whole from where they’re planted on her shoulders, “White had her specially made, just for you! And we helped as well - only the best for our Pink. Now it’s up to you to put your finishing touches, as is proper-”

“What for? You’ll just take her away when you feel like it anyway,” she grumbles into her arms, curling up on the floor and resolutely refusing to look even as the glow spreads from the corner of her eye, insistent.

Just as insistent as the awfully familiar little voice. “Please state preferred customisation options.”

“I. Don’t. Care!” But now with a newly noticeable, if strained restraint - not, like her usual, punctuated with a slam of her fist on the floor tiles, perfectly shiny and pink. No, she couldn’t- do something like that again-

“Default setting selected. Please stand by.”

Yellow scoffs and moves to leave. “Come on, Blue. No point to us wasting our time being here if she’s just going to throw one of her tantrums.”

But Blue refuses to leave it at that, and makes sure to cut with parting words, before slinking through the large pink doorway. “I am very disappointed in you, Pink. To act like that, and with White personally making sure you got such a lovely gift even after everything...”

“Waste of good nacre, if you ask me,” Yellow muses from somewhere up above. “At least try not to break this one.” 

The glow intensifies with a hum, and Pink screws her eyes shut and pretends not to see or hear anything. 

By the time she opens them again, the others are gone.

But then there is another presence at her side, hovering just behind, as is proper court protocol. The shuffling of tiny, soft slippers on the polished stone - weren’t pearls supposed to be endlessly, effortlessly quiet?

“Leave me alone,” she preempts quietly. The shuffling moves away.

-

“Please identify yourself.”

Calmly, now, calmly but firmly, just like we planned it. Don’t mess this up now. She’s counting on you. She trusts you. “Pearl.”

“Please state preferred customisation options.”

They’ve discussed this too, of course - extensive (over)preparation and planning down to minutiae is Pearl’s go-to at the best of times, and something she clutches at for comfort at the worst of times. And she’s always, to a sometimes comical extent, despised that ridiculous dress. To a wonderful extent, too, all things considered.

“Revert to last implemented appearance.”

“Settings selected. Please stand by.”

[Of course this doesn’t work because all it does is change the $username$ variable, not the actual identity of the person imprinted: it’s still Rose/Pink, she’s just nicknamed “Pearl” now, but she can still give orders and everything.]

[evolves into Pearl literally hacking herself… the most hardcore of modders]

---

Pearl Playing the Field aka “why not hyper-analyze that one brief shot of the notes and phone numbers in Pearl’s gem and write 9 meet-cutes”. Pearl goes out to “find herself”. Whatever that is supposed to mean. Supposed to be set pre-ASPR, but also extends past it. Ended up with some Bispearl in it too because I am predictable and can absolutely not help myself.

“Your hair is wonderful!” She feels like she almost has to shout to be heard over the din of the bar’s ill-chosen soundtrack, and she doesn’t appreciate it. Definitely not one of her favourite places she’s decided to visit recently. And the ventilation is atrocious.

But still, she’s come all this way, so she may as well make the best of it. And while the preoccupation with hairstyles during first meetings seems like a bit of an odd running theme (can it really be termed a running theme, though, if it’s happened all of two times?), it’s certainly worked in the past (recent, very recent, and hardly bursting with relevant instances, Pearl!). Oh, and this particular one is just too fascinating. Approaching a work of art, Pearl would dare say. Especially, well. Especially when paired with the lovely eyes and striking jawline and strong neck it seems to deliberately be drawing attention to.

Pearl leans on the bar, in the bit of space the woman happily makes for her, and tries to look confident and well-informed, but not smug, no, never smug. “I know... about the, uh, goop, of course. I know how one accomplishes this.”

The woman gives a bemused smile. “Thanks! Not too shabby yourself.” She leans in closer. “I'm actually in school for it.”

“School?” Pearl casts desperately back to what she's heard from Steven and Greg's often hasty instruction. That was for educating human children, wasn't it? She'd put one together for Steven that one time, with desks and a blackboard… and Connie attended one regularly...

“Yeah, kind of a late game career change.” Pearl nods along as she realises - or, rather, remembers - she is absolutely terrible at gauging human ages. “But I thought... after almost 30 years in accounting and not going anywhere I wanted to be going... it’s not like we have all the time in the world, right? So I figured, why not? Go for something I'm actually invested in and that I've always wanted to do, y'know?”

“Oh. Oh yes, yes I do.” And for once, she really does. Well, not the time-related bit, perhaps, but the very particular delight of getting to pursue one’s genuine interests after a long while of being denied? Absolutely. “I’ve done something of the sort myself, actually. Go for it! As they, uh, say.”

The dramatic gesture of almost punching the air with a closed triumphant/defiant fist might have been a tad over the top, but it wins her a smile that doesn’t seem unkind. The woman winks and tips her glass at Pearl, then finishes her drink - something sweet-smelling and almost as colourful as her hair.

“I had a classmate do this one for me, and I did hers after.” Pearl is nodding along again, leaning in to hear better as the woman’s voice dips lower. “I kind of like to experiment, push the limits, go wild with it. Hey. You interested? Promise I won’t go too wild on you.”

Pearl's mind goes blank there for a moment. The woman is… very close, and there are unignorable implications unrelated to hair styling so obvious here even she is picking up on them without issue, and the music hasn’t gotten any quieter. Interested in what, exactly, she wants to ask, but she came here for wild new experiences and exciting novelty, didn’t she, so instead comes out with a rather strangled-sounding: “Eughhhhh...uhhh.... Ye...s?”

The woman’s expression goes serious. “Hey, come on, we don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

---

Forge Showdown AU - aka in a twist of fate Bismuth poofs Rose during their confrontation and revelations happen that change the course of… well, pretty much everything - one of a bunch of AUs where the PD reveal happens earlier and under different circumstances (I had an idea of doing a 5+1 of those at one point).

The glow of the lava coloured the quickly dissipating smoke more orange-red than pale pink, and Bismuth stared numbly at where their revered leader, Rose Quartz herself, had been standing mere moments ago. She’d lashed out, true, but she hadn’t really been expecting the clumsy blow - more of a warning, or underlining a point in their continued argument-turned-fight - to land. In all their many sparring sessions, Rose had never succumbed to something like that, would have never so much as let it brush against her. But she’d been- frozen, distracted… by what? 

There, scraping softly against the ground as it rolled with leftover momentum...

That was not a rose quartz gem.

Bismuth raked her mind feverishly, thought back through the last few, oddly blurred seconds.

“We’re not using this, Bismuth! It’d make us just as bad as them!”

“No! You’re the one who’s as bad as them- look at you, lording over all of us, thinking it’s your right to command me, order me around, like you’re, what, my diamond?”

It… it had to be some kind of imposter, or spy. Right? Some kind of… awful Homeworld plan, trying to tear the Rebellion apart from the inside. Where was Rose, then? The real one? Captured? Being interrogated somewhere, her whereabouts kept strictly secret to minimise the chance of rescue? Shattered? Impossible, they’d never hear the end of the victorious crowing.

When could it have happened? The last few battles and meetings had been nothing out of the ordinary, and Bismuth couldn’t think of anything odd or off about Rose recently at all. Not a single hint or sign that anything was amiss. Not a single misstep. Homeworld would have trained and conditioned its agents well, but Rose- Rose was singular, and utterly one-of-a-kind, and how could they possibly capture all of it so perfectly-

Bismuth startled out of her thoughts as the beginnings of light seemed to gather in the core of the gem, and all but threw herself onto it, encasing it in a bubble.

Rose was rather special, wasn’t she? And not just in what she said or what she did or how she behaved or what she led and encouraged them to do, but… 

Her endless array of wondrous powers. Her sheer strength, overpowering ruby fusions and quartz battalions alike almost single-handedly. The healing which Bismuth herself had been on the receiving, lifesaving end of countless times. The way she called upon the organic creatures of the planet to fight for her, fighting in their name. And then, her regular absences. The way she seemed to know exactly what the Homeworld troops were up to - that wasn’t just some kind of tactical brilliance.

She dared to look at the gem again. Its hue was changed some by the bubble, but that was still in no way a rose quartz gem. No, it was an altogether different shape, but a terrifyingly familiar one.

But it made no sense!

Bismuth ran a slightly trembling hand down her face.

Pearl. Of course, Pearl would have to know, if anyone. About… whatever this was.

But if this, if she was… her, then Pearl-

Bismuth’s insides twisted in horrible ways as the implications began to flitter through her mind, each one worse than the one before it. There was the old call-and-response ringing in her ears, making her feel disoriented and sick with what had to be the beginnings of anger, could grow into a great fury, leaving her unnecessary breaths ragged: Who do you belong to? Nobody!

But-

Not Pearl, then. At least, not at first. Garnet. Garnet would know, and Garnet could See. They’d get to the bottom of this.

---

A metric ton of rebellion era ficlets, vignettes from my eeeEEeeEEeeEEE Bismuth collection mostly, which I’ve been accumulating since 2016 and have only posted some - Pearl, Rose, Garnet, Bismuth centric, occasionally with my takes on namedropped characters, some of which would now need an update to match actual canon.

Snowflake was there, held in Garnet’s arms. The familiar pattern of white speckles on black skin, the tight silver coils of hair sticking out every which way.

“We got her back. She wanted to see you.”

“Me? And you just listened to her? Are you out of your mind? How can I help? Have you taken her to Rose? If her gem- if she-”

“I’m right here!” Snowflake struggled out of Garnet’s hold, and stood up - wobbly, barely upright, but determined, on those legs that ran circles around Homeworld, and ran interference and messages faster than any Wailing Stone, in a pinch. “And I’m fine!”

“You don’t look fine, Snowy- listen, please just-”

Snowflake walked up to her, not stumbling a single time, and, gritting her teeth, looked right at her. The hairline fractures in her gem were visible from here, and Bismuth couldn’t help a wince. “Snowflake, come on-”

“I didn’t tell them anything.”

Bismuth wanted to clutch her to her chest and scream a thousand things at her, but You don’t have to prove anything to me and I’m proud of you and I’m going to make them pay for ever laying a finger on you all waged a war in her throat.

In the end she just settled on holding her close, very gently, until Garnet left, unheard, and came back with Rose, tears already in abundance.

[Later:] “I never properly thanked you, Garnet. For bringing Snowflake back.”

Garnet shrugged. “It was a group effort.”

-

A familiar voice sounded at the entrance to the Forge. “Now come along, it’s just here. Bismuth? Do you have a moment?”

“You know I always have time for you, Pearl,” she called back, putting her current project away. “What did you nee- oh.”

Bismuth blinked.

“Uh... wow,” was the only thing she could manage as pearl after pearl filed into her Forge, soon taking up most of the space around the anvil in impressively neat rows. “New recruits? A whole bunch of you, too.”

“Yes, well,” Pearl made her way to the front of the group, carefully avoiding brushing against the others on her way. She was fidgeting again, long fingers tangling and untangling rapidly, and that was one sure sign of mounting distress. “Garnet and I had planned out an attack on one of Blue Diamond’s supply lines. There was supposed to be a shipment of weapons coming in today, but it turns out it was… pearls.” 

There was something rather off about Pearl’s tone, too. Bismuth made a note to ask later, and do her best to catch her alone.

“Well, all the better for us. Nice to have you all on board.” Her jovial tone was only slightly forced - the pearls all looked like they clearly needed something resembling friendliness, but their skittishness was palpable. She turned towards a pale green pearl right at the front of the group. “Now, what do I call you?”

There was nothing but mild confusion, vague fear, and general quiet shuffling. “No ideas yet? Don’t worry about it! There’s plenty of time to decide and find something that fits.”

[she does indeed manage to talk to Pearl alone, later]

“What’s the real problem, Pearl? You can’t fool me. I can tell something’s wrong.” 

The rather flimsy front finally crumbled at that.

“I just… we- we took out the citrines they’d sent with the shuttle, and Garnet boosted me up so I could force the hatch open and I did, but then...” Pearl let out a distressed little half-sigh half-sob, one hand gesturing weakly. “They were all looking at me so wide-eyed and...”

She took a moment to at least attempt to collect herself.

“I don’t mind having them here, it’s not that at all. It’s just that… we were standing there, with all these newly-made pearls and… obviously I couldn’t just leave them there, in the middle of nowhere! And after what we did, whoever found them, they’d just have them shattered. Because of me. They were compromised. You’ve heard what they do now, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, I’ve heard. They’re the monsters, Pearl, and it’s not on you. It’s not you doing that to pearls, it’s them.”

“But it is on me! It quite literally is because of me, because of what I did, and continue to do. I made myself visible and played at being important and look what it got us,” Pearl was near tears, a frustrated blue colouring her face, “a handful of runaways and the rest being treated worse than ever.” 

The tears were out in full force after that, and Bismuth put an arm around Pearl’s shaking shoulders. “Hey, hey, none of that.”

“We ended up taking them with us, but it feels like… it feels like I forced them to come here. Is it really any better than what Homeworld does? All I did was say you’re going to be rebels instead of you’re going to serve and they never got a say in anything.”

“Have you asked them?”

“They don’t know what-”

“Hey. Just ask them, okay? Ask them what they want. We can help them either way. Of course I’d love them to stay. But it’s not up to me, and if they want to go to wherever it was they were supposed to go- we can do that, too.”

-

[Rose discovers her healing tears in a dramatic fashion - they come up with the idea to make the fountain - and thanks to Save the Light we have a pretty good idea of who lovingly made all those statues]

She gently wiped away some of the chiselling dust with the flat of her thumb, just like a tear. A magnificent, healing, life-giving tear.

This was familiar work. But with none of the endless chafing, none of the hated reminders of her former station - Bismuth couldn’t find anything in herself but reverence. And… inspiration. She was a Gem, stars knew she didn’t need rest, breaks, anything of the sort, but still - this pace wasn’t something she’d felt driven to in a long, long while. All day under the burning summer sun, and every night under the light of her own gem. All alone, as the sanctuary took form under her hands.

To get the curls just right, tiny detail by tiny detail, somehow communicate the softness of those cheeks in stone… it took drawing upon the very depths of her well of skill, because how else could she ever hope to capture the likeness of someone as extraordinary as Rose Quartz?

With small, careful movements, she formed the roundness of the lips that could spit fiery words of rebellion, inspire like no other, scowl fiercely in the heat of battle, smile contagiously, bellow out an outrageous fireside guffaw, murmur comforts so softly, kiss…

And then she did it again, and again, and again.

[in the end, Rose is presented with a veritable shrine to herself]

“Rose? Is something wrong? You… don’t like it?”

“No, no, Bismuth, it’s… it’s incredible.” The smile Rose turned on her was as beautiful as anything, but it wasn’t hard to notice it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

[nanamicide]

You are there, beyond despair - chapter 5

Read on AO3

Kanon woke up feeling like she wasn’t in the Hagakures’ apartment anymore. The balloons and other party decorations that had been stuck all over the place while she was asleep gave the impression that whoever lived there was throwing a party for their firstborn’s first birthday. And yet, the mould that was growing on some of the wall was still there – a good reminder that she hadn’t randomly been abducted during the night and woken up in a different universe.

Wait? Happy birthday Kanon-cchi? She blinked, staring at the homemade poster that had been hung behind the couch. Is this all for me? Did Yasu and Hiroko do this for me? But I don’t even know when their birthdays are and—Fuck, I can’t believe I was assuming they wanted to kick me out of here when they were doing something so nice for me.

Trying to not let herself get overwhelmed with guilt or any other negative feeling so she could enjoy all the effort that had been put into this, the brunette headed towards the kitchen, hoping either Yasu or Hiroko would be there so she could thank them for what they’d done.

“Good morning, Kanon-cchi!” The fortune teller greeted her. “I didn’t get to ask you what your favourite breakfast food is or anything, so I went with pancakes because it’s kinda easy and everyone likes them.”

“You really didn’t have to do all these things for me, Yasu.”

He turned to her, and that was enough for her to start crying again – except this time it wasn’t because she was sad or because he’d hurt her. She was grateful for the fact he was there and done all of this. She knew she hadn’t always been easy with him, so seeing him try this hard for her made her feel more appreciated than she ever had.

“Please no crying today! I went through the trouble of trying to come up with something cool for you, so you better not get all sad over it,” he said, ruffling her hair.

“I’m not sad, I swear! It’s just—you did all of this for me and like, it’s actually kinda cool.”

“For all we know it might taste horrible so I wouldn’t make any comments on how cool it is,” he laughed as she sat down.

It’s just cool that you did this without me asking for anything, she mentally protested. It’s even cooler seeing you so happy doing this, but you don’t need to know that. It’s my day, anyway.

Yasu set a plate of pancakes in front of her, snapping her out of her thoughts. She thanked him and took a glance at the food, rolling her eyes in an amused way as she realized that he had – although she couldn’t explain how this could have happened – burnt the pancakes.

What was even funnier about this was the fact that Yasu didn’t seem to mind it one bit. She stared at him as he swallowed mouthful after mouthful of food and burst out laughing, making him look up at her with a confused look on his face.

“Huh? What’s so funny?”

“You burnt the pancakes, idiot. How can you even eat them like this?” Kanon asked, pointing all the crisp black spots on her plate. “And like, how did you manage to burn pancakes?”

“Hey, they’re still good! Don’t knock it until you try it, or whatever,” he pouted, making her laugh even harder.

“Well, you’ve been feeding me questionable things for a while now, so I guess eating burnt pancakes won’t kill me,” she sighed, taking a small bite.

As she’d expected – and as anyone with functioning tastebuds would have –, the burnt patches on the pancakes made them taste horrible. Still, she was grateful for all the effort Yasu had put into them, and she forced herself to eat them. It was the first time anyone had ever done this much for her birthday. Even though her family had always been wealthy, they’d never really had time for celebrations or to share this type of breakfast together, not even on special occasions. Of course, her father would always come home from work with an expensive gift – which she was happy about – but this felt entirely different. This was so different that she didn’t care if Yasu had messed up.

“So? What would you rate them?”

“They’re like a two out of ten,” Kanon giggled, loudly swallowing her food. “And I’m being nice because this probably took you hours—yeah, you get a two for effort.”

“Well, you’re still eatin’ them, so I doubt they’re that bad!”

“No, no, Yasu, they really are that bad. Only your mother would be nice enough to tell you that this is anywhere near being good. Don’t take this the wrong way, though. I… I’m glad you did all of this for me, really,” she blushed, pausing for a few seconds. “It… It means a lot to me.”

“I’m glad,” he grinned.

“But why did you do this? I—”

“Don’t you remember? I’m just after your money, Kanon-cchi!” He winked, leaning back against the chair.

“I’m serious! You really didn’t ne—”

“I wanted you to understand that you’re important to me and that I’m glad you’re staying with me and my mom. I know you’ve been through a lot and all, and it’s probably not easy for you to be living with us sometimes because things are so different from what they would be if you were with your family and I… I mean, I suck at talking about stuff like feelings and all that, so I thought I’d do something’ instead.”

The young woman stood up. She wasn’t sure if what she was about to do was a good idea – maybe she’d be crossing some sort of unspoken boundary between them – but she still walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hugging him. She knew for a fact that merely verbally thanking him again would not be enough to convey just how happy and grateful she was. She buried her face in her hair, sighing happily.

“You… You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” she blurted out, hardly loudly enough for Yasu to be able to hear it, her heart racing in her chest.

The two of them remained silent for a while, and Kanon wondered if Yasu was blushing. In fact, she wondered how she was making him feel at that moment, hoping this would give her the clues she needed to understand what was happening to her. There was this warm, fuzzy feeling in her lower stomach and this weird, foreign need to keep him close to her at all costs, as though she needed him. This sounded similar to the descriptions of love she’d been exposed to in fictional stories, but part of her thought there was just no way she could love someone as messy and clumsy as Yasu.  

“You don’t have to lie,” he suddenly spoke, chuckling softly.

“Yeah, you’re right,” she answered, letting go of him. “Just saying thank you would’ve been enough. But you see, you’ve done so much that I just felt like I had to say something so big it’d be on the same level as the effort you’ve put into burning my breakfast.”

They smiled at each other, but this wasn’t the type of smile they usually shared. It was something a little more shy and less confident, as if more intimate than anything they’d experienced together – something precious, despite how confusing it was.

“So, what else are we gonna do today?” Kanon excitedly asked, trying to push all her thoughts and questions aside.

“Well, the plan is to keep you busy until my mom gets home so we can have lunch and some cake. So, I guess we can watch a movie or something, since you wanted to do that yesterday.”

“Sounds good,” she beamed.

There was absolutely no way this day could go wrong. Kanon was convinced of it. Even if lunch was a failure; even if the cake looked and tasted horrible, there was nothing that could ruin her current good mood. She felt accepted and appreciated for the first time in what felt like forever – and she was going to enjoy it. She didn’t have to dwell on what her inner reactions to Yasu meant. All she had to do was to enjoy what he’d done for her. That was easy enough.

-

Yasuhiro’s cell phone rang in his pocket, making him jump. He’d gotten so caught up in making sure to not ruin the cake by putting candles on it that he’d forgotten about the world around him. He got the small device out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. It was Asahinacchi calling, which meant that it was probably important.

Although he hadn’t spent a lot of time keeping up with his classmates from Hope’s Peak, he still texted and emailed them from time to time. All six of them seemed to be trying to get on with their new lives despite what they’d been going through. From what he knew everyone was doing fairly well, and there was no reason for them to be constantly talking about what Enoshima had done to them. It had changed them, but there was no point in constantly reminiscing about it. As Naegicchi had reminded them countless times, they had to move on and have hope in their futures for the ones who had died.

It was because of these things that the fact Asahinacchi was calling instead of simply texting implied something different. He didn’t have any vision about it, but that wasn’t necessary for him to guess that something must have happened to one of his classmates. He cursed fate for letting that happen on Kanon-cchi’s special day as he picked up.

“Yo, Asahinacchi,” he said in a laidback tone. “What’s up?”

“Well, um, listen, there isn’t any good way to say this but like, you do know Naegi-kun and Kirigiri-san caught the Remnants of Despair, right?”

“Yeah, I remember Togamicchi tellin’ me about something like that. Naegicchi and Kirigiricchi truly make a good team, don’t they?”

On the other end of the line, the swimmer was silent for a while. Yasuhiro nervously adjusted his glasses and sat on the edge of the kitchen counter, wishing his classmate would just get to the point already.

“Well, you know Naegi-kun,” Asahinacchi finally continued. “He’s always so optimistic about everything and like, he managed to convince Togami-kun and Kirigiri-san to hide the Remnants from Munakata-san and other higher-ups at HQ…”

“Is he in trouble?”

“According to Togami-kun, there will be a pretty big Future Foundation meeting about it tomorrow. I just thought that, you know, since we’re all pretty much alive thanks to Naegi-kun and what he did for us we could go there and support him somehow. Maybe if we tried, we could even convince Mun—”

“We could convince the higher-ups that Naegicchi didn’t do anything wrong!” Yasuhiro replied enthusiastically, relieved that his friend was safe.

Despite that, glancing at the cake that was right next to him made his heart sank. He knew he couldn’t abandon Naegicchi and the rest of his classmates, but he also had no idea how he’d be able to tell Kanon-cchi that he had to leave for a few days because of Future Foundation without somehow ruining all the progress she’d made in the past month or so.

“Hiro, are you still there?” His friend asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah, I am. I just need to take care of something here and I’ll be on my way. Thanks for calling me, Asahinacchi. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye bye.”

As he hung up his phone, Yasuhiro knew he would be ruining Kanon-cchi’s day – and it hurt. He’d spent so long trying to come up with something that would make her happy for her birthday, and even though he hadn’t ended up doing huge things, the fact that it would all be thrown out the window as soon as he’d walk back to the living room with the news was just painful.

He did not need to use his talent to know exactly how hurt and angry Kanon-cchi would look. The bright smile that had been on her face all day would suddenly disappear, and maybe she’d cry again, and it would break his heart. He still didn’t quite understand why he had such intense reactions to her being upset, but since he’d been dealing with that fact since he’d met her, he’d gotten used to it.

Despite all of this, Yasuhiro hoped that he would be able to explain things to her and that she’d understand. After all, it wasn’t too crazy for him to want to be there to support the person who was probably responsible for the fact he’d made it out of Hope’s Peak Academy alive. It wasn’t like he was putting himself in danger for this – he was only going to remind some of the higher-ups that Naegicchi had merely done what they would have all done if they only believed in all the stuff they talk about on TV. He’d probably be back to spend time with her and make it up to her before she could even miss him.

Yeah, she’ll be upset at first but once I explain all these things to her, it’ll definitely be okay. She’s smart – smarter than me – and there’s no way that after everything she’s experienced because of Kuwatacchi’s death she won’t understand why I’m going to Tokyo. I just need to go through whatever storm this creates, and it’ll all be okay.

Besides, if what happened this morning means anything, we’ll—Well, now’s not the time to think about things like this, but I… I guess there are many things that we still haven’t told each other. We can hold onto all of this while I’m gone, even if the timing is just awful.

-

“What’s taking him so long?” Kanon asked, making Hiroko laugh.

“Knowing’ him, he’s probably messed something up and is tryin’ to cover it up in a way that won’t be such a disappointment to you.”

“With all the effort he’s put into this without even me mentioning anything about my birthday I don’t think I could be disappointed,” she admitted, her cheeks taking on a light pink tint as she thought about how stupid she had been for thinking the Hagakures had been planning to kick her out of their house.

“He was happy to do it. He cares about you.”

Kanon’s face began to feel warmer as her brain took in what Hiroko had just said. Somehow, even though it should have been obvious after all the things they’d done for each other, hearing someone said that Yasu did care about her made it feel more real – as though there was no way she could deny it now.

The situation she was now in, with both he and his mom by her side and taking care of her like this, was something she would have never imagined would happen to her. Then again, she would have never expected something like the Tragedy would take place in her lifetime. Yet here she was in a small, dirty, and ridiculously old apartment, having the time of her life with people who genuinely cared about her despite the fact they hadn’t known each other for that long.

This wasn’t to say that her parents hadn’t been good to her growing up. No, she’d always had anything she wanted and had most definitely been coddled by her father who would give in to her every wish – perks of being the only child of a pretty wealthy family. Still, the type of care she was receiving from Yasu and Hiroko was different. It didn’t mean that everything her family had told her was a lie. This was just something new – something the three of them had chosen instead of something that was expected from them because they were blood-related.

This was all without mentioning those things which resembled butterflies in her stomach that she experienced every time she thought about Yasu and how good he’d been to her. At first, she hadn’t thought much of it and had put it all on her conflating Yasu with Leon. Now, she knew for a fact that it was different.

“I… I care about him too,” she mumbled.

“It’s obvious that you both do.”

Yasu eventually came back, holding the cake – it didn’t look good, but Kanon was far too happy to care about such things. The look on his face was completely different from the happy, cheery expression he’d been sporting all day, though, which made her feel slightly uneasy and concerned that something might have happened. This would have been a good explanation for the fact he’d taken so long to even come back with the cake in his hands.  

“Happy birthday, Kanon-cchi,” he smiled, setting the cake on the table. And that’s when Kanon knew that she wasn’t imagining it.

There was something wrong with Yasu – something had happened while he was getting the cake. His smile wasn’t as warm as it usually was, and the usual light in his eyes was gone. Kanon took a quick glance at Hiroko only to realize that they’d both noticed that something was awry with Yasu.

“Huh? Why are you both starin’ at me like this?” Yasu asked, lighting a match. “Did you have a fight while I was gone or something?”

“What took you so long?” Kanon anxiously asked as he lit the candles.

“No point in beating around the bush, is there?” Yasu asked, looking at her. “I have to… To go to Future Foundation’s headquarters to take care of something.”

“You’re joking, right?” She questioned, feeling a wave of anxiety hit her. “They haven’t contacted you in months and—”

“They didn’t directly contact me,” he nervously explained. “Naegicchi is in trouble and the rest of the survivors of the killing school life are gonna try to hel—”

Kanon couldn’t take it anymore. He hadn’t said much about what would be happening, but this was enough for her to feel so incredibly angry at him. It didn’t matter what he’d done for her today – none of it did. If he was ready to leave her and run to Future Foundation as soon as anyone required his help – without even asking her how she felt about it before making his decision – it meant that he didn’t care about her; that he didn’t understand just how much she hated Future Foundation and everything they stood for.

Yasu having to leave was just like Leon leaving for Hope’s Peak Academy a few years ago. It was terrifying – even more so this time because Leon hadn’t been able to come back. He’d died there because of the people Yasu was running to.

“I can’t believe you’d do this to me,” she sobbed, getting up to lock herself in the bathroom.

[littlemisssquiggles]

RWBY Fables by Squiggles: ”The Most Beautiful Rose”

Squiggly Disclaimer: 

...Ooookay. You guys remember this, right? This was originally an incomplete RWBY Squiggle Script that I polished up back in June  in the hopes of turning it into my own little project to contribute to the Rose-gardening Rosebuds community. 

...Unfortunately; due to school and other responsibilities that came up, I wasn’t exactly able to really do what I wanted to with this story, sadly to say:/. But since Rosegarden Week II is in season alongwith today being the canonical birthday of a certain lovely rose, this squiggle meister decided to just simply post what I had managed to pull together for this short story.

It’s not exactly what I’d call a finished but...it sells what I wanted to convey with it. Apologies to those who were looking forward to seeing this become something.  I still really, really, REALLY wanted to share this short story especially with my fellow Rosegardeners because it’s based on one of my favourite Rosegarden fan theories---well several of them actually.

So…in the end, I just decided to post this story anyways, as is.  I hope my fellow Rosegardeners will like it maybe if they happen to read the whole thing. 

Happy Rosegarden Week 2.0 and a happy birthday to the most beautiful rose who inspired this short tale of mine. Enjoy! 

“…It is only with the heart that one can see rightfully. What is essential is invisible to the eye”

- The Little Prince

I was once just a boy. Another simple farm boy from Mistral in a continent full of them. Nothing special and I used to believe that that was all I was destined to be for the rest of my life. Then my life changed. Suddenly I went from being another farm boy from Mistral to one in a culmination of valiant men who gave their lives to protect humanity from the forces of evil time and time again. You would think that then this would grant me some semblance of individuality. But no. Once again I was made just another in a different category. Nothing special and for a second time, I convinced myself that this was all I was meant to be for the remainder of whatever life I have left. But then I got to know you.

Since we met, you’ve always treated me differently. You’ve always treated me like I was my own person. Like I’m still me. Because that’s who you see when you look at me, right? You don't see him. You don't see them. You see me. To you, I'm not just another life in a lifetime of other lives. To you, I'm unique and I've always appreciated that about you. You always saw me for who I was rather than who I was meant to become. You see me. This is why I want you to know that I see you too.

It's kind of hard not to. Hair red like roses. Silver eyes as radiant as the moon. Endearing. Enchanting. Unforgettable. Beautiful. But that's not all I see when I look at you. I see your honest soul. Your courageous heart. Your indomitable will. Your warmth and genuine kindness to those you believe need help. Your dedication to the people you love. Your unquantifiable spark that drives you. That drives all of us. You are such an extraordinary person destined for greatness. You are the one I look to the most.

So don't think for one second that I would never notice if you were hurting. That I wouldn't be quick to help if someone hurt you. That I wouldn't give anything; do everything in my power to protect that spark of yours and keep that flame burning bright from those who dare try snuffing it out. I may not be the strongest. Or the bravest. I am not that special. But you make me feel that way to you. You have given me the strength to believe in myself. In a legacy of lives, you make me feel unique. So please understand just how much I want you to know how unique you are to me too.

“Whitley Schnee may be rich and smart but...he's not the only rich or smart person in this world. He's not even the only guy in this world,” Oscar said slowly, “I guess what I’m trying to say is…Remnant is a pretty big world as Jinn showed us. But it doesn’t matter if you are one person in a world of a hundred thousand billion more people. Find that special someone who only has eyes for you. The person who thinks that you’re the most unique to them in all the world.”

Oscar flashed Ruby his most reassuring smile. His hand was resting comfortingly on top hers and at the sight of her disgruntled expression; Oscar gave it a light squeeze in hopes that it would increase his chances of ridding the silver-eyed girl of her melancholy. However much to the former farm boy’s disappointment, Ruby only frowned further in her seat across from him as she gazed idly at the running water of the statuesque fountain before them. Oscar felt his heart sink at the anguish written on Ruby’s face; cheeks red and tear-stained from her previous cry. When she finally spoke, her voice was a whisper.

“Do you really mean what you said?” Ruby said solemnly, “do you think there is someone like that out there… even for me?

The insecurity emphasized in her words was enough to make Oscar grimace. He was so used to seeing Ruby be a beacon of unbridled confidence that it was heartbreakingly difficult seeing her this torn up over herself. So Oscar wasted no time in taking Ruby’s hand again; positioning himself closer to her so that his other hand was now rubbing her opposite shoulder.

“Of course!” Oscar answered confidently, “You have your people who love you, remember? I don't have to tell you that.”

“I know but...that's not what I meant,” Ruby uttered sheepishly, “I meant like...”

She trailed off abruptly. At first Oscar was confused by this, but eventually his eyes widened in realization of what she was trying to imply and he blushed despite himself.

“...Oh! Y---You mean...like a boyfriend?” Oscar said.

His question was only answered by the deepened frown on Ruby’s face. Suddenly her own cheeks turned an embarrassed shade of pink and she avoided Oscar’s inquisitive gaze in embarrassment. “You know what forget I said anything!” Ruby griped stubbornly.  

“No! No! It's okay I get it.” Oscar blurted awkwardly. He then cleared his throat regaining his calm demeanour as he pressed on with his earlier comment. “And yes; of course there's a guy waiting for you,” Oscar assured, “look, I know you were probably hoping for Whitley to be that guy and…it's terrible what he said to you. But...it doesn't mean he'll be the only guy.”

“You sure about that?” Ruby said.

“Of course,” Oscar countered honestly, “You're Ruby Rose. You're amazing.” .

This earned Oscar a smile from Ruby. A small one but genuine at best. Lovely as the twinkle of a star in the night’s sky. But it was unceremoniously short-lived; extinguished yet again as the melancholy returned.

“Oh Oscar, you are so sweet. You’re a sweet guy and it's pretty clear why girls would fall for you,” Ruby said humbly, “and right now I couldn't have asked for a better friend to say such nice things to me. But… I also know you're just saying that as my friend and not a guy who...”

For a second time, Ruby trailed off, suddenly withdrawing herself to hug her arms miserably. As if fighting back tears. Oscar did his best to reach out to her again but Ruby only brushed him off, turning away to hide her face.

“I know…it's dumb of me to get upset over something silly like this,” Ruby said softly, “and normally I wouldn't. I've always prided myself on being the type of girl who didn't care about this kind of stuff.”

“Stuff like what?” Oscar asked.

“My looks. The attention of boys. I mean who cares, right?”  Ruby scoffed dryly, “I never had to care. I'm a huntress. I fight villains and monsters ten…no, hundred times my size everyday not for the fame and glory of the title but because it’s the right thing to do. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve always wanted to be like the heroes in the stories Yang and my mom would read to me. I wanted to be the kind of person that gives people hope because when the chips are down, even the tiniest bit of hope can be enough to bind us. I thought that way of thinking was honourable. Admirable even.”

“It is…” Oscar tried to say but Ruby cut him off.

“So then why should I care if some handsome rich boy tells me that my way of thinking is naïve and pointless,” Ruby said, voice rising angrily, “that my goals and ambitions are ridiculous because a single huntress like me is worthless when an army can do my job and more.”

“ …Ruby…”

“WHY SHOULD I CARE IF SOME GUY I LIKED TELLS ME THAT I’M NOTHING SPECIAL!” Ruby cried.

At this point, the tears had returned to her face and Oscar’s heart sank.

“…That….that the only reason he even considered pursuing me was because of my silver eyes?” Ruby sobbed, “that if it wasn’t for that, he’d probably ask one of the many other girls who are far superior than me. That’s the word he used. As if to make fun of my intelligence too. Because…what? It’s not like I have anything else going for me. According to Whitley, I’m no special flower. Why consider myself the prettiest most unique rose when there are plenty others far prettier than I’ll ever be. I mean I didn’t really need him to tell me that. I’ve known that all along…”

“ …Weiss, Blake, Yang, Nora, Neon--- Of course guys would find them desirable. They’re all so very beautiful.

But me…I…”

An aching sob.

“…I’m…”

Tears stained her face, her trembling, tasting her bitterness of her own emotions.

“…I’m not...”

It was evident what she was about to say and at this point, Oscar had had enough.

She was breaking. Literally falling apart before his eyes.

Slowly but surely, Oscar touched Ruby’s cheek. She needed her to hear him. He willed her to listen to him as he ran his thumb gently across her skin, wiping away any stray tears that fell.

“Ruby, look at me.” Oscar said softly.

She ignored him. “Look at me, please.” Oscar implored.

With another whimper, Ruby met the farm boy’s gaze.

“Okay. This is the part where you stop and you listen to me very carefully, okay?” Oscar said determinedly.

Ruby said nothing. So Oscar continued.

“ Y’know when we first met Whitley, I thought he was a pretty smart guy,” Oscar admitted,  “It’s…one of the reasons why I thought you liked him so much. But I’ve misjudged him just as much as he’s misjudged you. I can withhold my tongue about a lot of things but I will not stand here and watch you cry in front of me while saying you’re not beautiful. That is ridiculous and don’t you dare think otherwise.”

Gently, Oscar wiped away the tears that streaked down Ruby’s cheek, his tender gaze never leaving her. He was rewarded for a second time with a small smile from Ruby who couldn’t resist the light-hearted laugh that escaped her lips. “How do you do that?” she managed to blubber out, “Know exactly what to say to help me feel better?”

“Well, you always know what to say to inspire others. Let’s just say I learned from the best.” Oscar replied warmly.

“You’re just saying that.” Ruby said coyly.

“ I mean it, though,” Oscar said honestly, “you're an extraordinary girl  Ruby Rose. So Whitley Schnee wasn’t the perfect date. That’s fine. Clearly he didn’t deserve you to begin with if he’s willing to look pass even the minor details of what makes you so great. Besides there’ll be other guys.”

Ruby’s face fell and at this; Oscar lifted her chin so she was looking directly at him as he emphasized his next words.

“There will be other guys,” Oscar said firmly, “any guy who gets to fall in love with you or just be with you … is...the luckiest guy in the world.” 

“You really think there’s a guy like that out there for me?” Ruby asked.

“Of course!” Oscar answered, “Out there...” He then cupped Ruby’s face, touching his forehead to hers. “…R---Right here. Right...in front to you.” Oscar added softly; voice practically a whisper.

“…What?” Ruby asked.                                                            

Oscar’s cheeked turned pink at Ruby’s reaction but still he kept his gaze determined. “I'm saying...I'm that guy,” Oscar said, gentle yet confident, “I mean...I want to be that guy. I want to be the guy who gets to stand by your side. I want to be the guy who does everything he can to make you happy. I want to be the guy who feels like the luckiest person in the world because he gets to be with you. I’m saying…I love you , Ruby…”

Ruby’s eyes widened. Her heartbeat quickened. She couldn’t believe her ears.

Oscar loves her.

He loves her.

Did she hear him correctly?

The heat rose in Ruby’s face extending to her ears which were practically ringing at that point.

Oscar loves her. The thought alone dissolved Ruby’s inner mind into a tidal wave of emotions.

Surprise. Disbelief. Confusion. Nervousness. More confusion. All mixed in with a strange feeling that Ruby never realized was there before. It was…a lighter kind of sensation that the silver-eyed huntress couldn’t quite pinpoint yet she found herself grasping and holding onto it as desperately as she could while riding the high of the sensation.

But before Ruby could be consumed further by her own spiralling thoughts, Oscar brought her a welcomed distraction. To Ruby’s surprise, the boy’s previously confident demeanour broke. No more was he the charming prince who boldly professed his love for her.  He became an awkward teenage farm boy again. An awkward country pumpkin as Oscar let go of Ruby’s face; looking away to cover his own freckled face which was now redder than Ruby had ever seen it. “I---I'm sorry.” Oscar practically squeaked.

Ruby only waved her hands wildly; equally flustered. “No, no it's fine! It’s totally fine!” she managed to say, “I…I…I just…I just never… thought that you were---”

“ … Interested?” Oscar interrupted; peeping through his fingers curiously.

“Interested in... me?” Ruby corrected embarrassedly, “Y’know, like that.  I mean…why would you---”

“Are you kidding me? Why wouldn't I?” Oscar interjected; now uncovering his face with a look of disbelief.

The two then stared at each other for a beat before eventually; looking away; both blushing like crazy. An awkward silence fell between them with nothing but the rush of the fountain providing the perfect disruption. Until finally; after a while, Oscar cleared his throat to speak again. His tone resolute.

“Let me put it another way,” Oscar said, “to give credit where it’s due, Whitley was right about one thing. There are…other beautiful flowers. The world is full of them. My Aunt Em used to say that flowers are a part of what gives the world its beauty. It’s part of their purpose and people are no different. It’s like what I said earlier. If someone is truly important to you and means the world to you, then it wouldn't matter if there are others because that one person will always be the most special to you.

That's how I see you. When you're with your team or…even if there is a room full of other pretty girls, I'm not looking at them. I'm looking at you. You're the one I look to the most. All the time. I look to you when I'm happiest because most of the time, you’re the reason. I look to you when I feel…overwhelmed because your courage gives me strength when I need it most. I look to you for guidance because your leadership keeps us moving forward. Keeps me moving forward.

Oz once described you as someone with an unquantifiable spark that can inspire anyone even in the darkest of times and I’m grateful I’ve been blessed enough to see the truth in that. I meant what I said when I said you are an extraordinary huntress and you’re an even more amazing person.”

“You…really think that way about me?” Ruby asked.

“I’ve thought this way about you since day one,” Oscar confessed, “the day I first looked at you and since then I’ve always looked to you for many things. And the more times I did, the more I saw your beauty shine through. Please don’t sell yourself short just because one ignorant person told you differently.”

Oscar then stared off at something behind Ruby. Following his gaze, Ruby realized he was looking at a small rose bush not too far from where the two sat by the fountain. Smiling Oscar got up and walked over to the bush. Ruby watched quietly as the former farm boy plucked one of the roses off its stem. As Oscar returned, Ruby got a closer look at the small flower in his hand. At first glance, it appeared to be a yellow rose, its petals a shimmering gold in the evening light. But upon further inspection, Ruby noticed the reddened tips. It was a circus rose. At least that was the name Ruby recalled Oscar expertly telling her during one of their past conversations. Oscar twirled the rose between his fingers, caressing its flushed yellow petals.

“Yes, this world is full of many beautiful flowers. Even other lovely roses,” Oscar continued thoughtfully, “but that doesn’t matter to me because in my eyes, you’re the most beautiful one, Ruby.”

The smile on Oscar’s face widened into a grin; bright and handsome, as he held the rose out to Ruby. At first Ruby just stared blankly at the flower, unsure what to do. But when she noticed the soft look on Oscar’s face and the way the sunset just happened to make his hazel eyes shine, she felt a sudden pang in his chest.

She didn’t know how to describe this sudden feeling. It felt strange. Entirely new to her. All Ruby knew was that it was making Oscar appear differently in her eyes. Ruby couldn’t tell if it was the setting or just her active imagination the way Oscar practically glowed before her eyes. The wind kissing his face. His eyes forever locked with hers. His lips etched in a smile that sung affection. It was a sight that made Ruby’s heart thunder and her face warmer than a summer breeze.

‘What is this feeling all of sudden?’ Ruby thought as she slowly accepted the rose from Oscar; her face a perfect pretty canvas of pink.

“…W—W--Wow I...I… don’t know what to say,” Ruby said blushingly, “I mean… I should say…thank you ? No wait, I shouldn’t say thank you. I mean thank you for the rose. Just not…y’know…thank you for the other thing…you said before. I---I don't think that's what you'd want to hear, right? It's not something you say right after a guy tells you he loves----It’s definitely not something you should say.”

Oscar tilted his head in an expression that unintentionally made Ruby’s heart sing its second chorus.

“Why shouldn’t it be?” Oscar said inquisitively, “If your gratitude is you being honest then nothing bad about that.”

“Yeah but… it's not what I'm supposed to say,” Ruby groaned awkwardly, “I'm supposed to say it back. I’m supposed to tell you how I feel about you.”

“Well how do you feel about me?” Oscar asked calmly.

“I… don’t know...” Ruby said unsurely. A playful grin then toyed at her lips as a mischievous thought came to mind. “I mean… if we’re being completely honest here, you are a little young for me,” Ruby commented sarcastically with an innocent shrug, “you’re also way too old for me. Then there’s the whole bit about you sharing a body with my old headmaster. A little weird but… there was that other Ozpin who had a family when Ozma was around. So I guess we wouldn’t have to worry about Ozpin interrupting us if we went on a date or something. So not entirely a deal breaker for me.”

“Ruby…”

“Hey I’m confessing here,” Ruby grumbled, sticking out her tongue childishly. She had only meant for it to be a casual joke; as a means of lightening the air between them. But instead, Oscar said this:

“I know and I’m asking you to be serious,” the farm boy remarked sincerely, “I’m not asking you how you feel about Ozpin or…Ozma. How do you feel about me?”

This took Ruby off guard and it must’ve shown on her face for Oscar’s expression softened; reflecting almost a silent need for Ruby for confirm something that he almost needed her to say. Something that seemed to almost transcend a requited love confession. Upon realizing this, Ruby felt bad for her previous conduct.

“I know I really like you,” Ruby finally admitted with a smile, “A lot actually. Sometimes a bit too much but that’s only because I care very, very much.”

“Of course, mother hen.” Oscar teased knowingly. Ruby shot him a quick unamused pout; making Oscar chuckled, but otherwise she continued her speech.

“You see that right there. You don’t get annoyed when I say crazy stuff. You’re patient. Brave. Kind. Smart. You could be a bit stubborn sometimes but that’s fine cause I’m stubborn too,” Ruby said, “you’re one of my closest friends. Sure we’ve only known each other a few months but…I feel like I’ve known you longer and I want to know you longer. I don’t want what we have to stop.”

“Ruby Rose is a companion to Oscar Pine for all of his lifetimes. That’s what you promised me, right?” Oscar said.

“I did,” Ruby reassured with a gentle smile, “and I still plan on keeping that promise no matter what because I really do like you a lot Oscar.”

“…But, you don’t love me?” Oscar interjected, expectantly.

However Ruby shook her head. “That’s the weird part. I don’t know,” she admitted, “all I know is that I really like you. But the way I like you is different. It’s not the same as how I like Weiss or Jaune or Blake or Ren or Nora or anyone else. It’s not even how I liked Whitley. I’ve never felt this way about anyone before but yet I can’t say what it is.

I’m mostly just confused . I’m not really saying yes because I don’t want to lie to you and… I’m definitely not saying thank you because even that doesn’t feel right. But…I’m not saying no either…”

“I…don’t really have an answer,” Ruby finally finished, “I'm sorry.”

To Ruby’s surprise, Oscar only offered her another kind smile; as he took her free hand in his. Even through the pair of red gloves he wore, Ruby’s skin felt like hot iron from their contact.

“Ruby, it's okay,” Oscar said understandingly, “You don’t have to give me an answer. I'm not really asking you to.”

Ruby blinked in surprise. “You're...not?”

Oscar smiled. “No,” he said sincerely, “I wanted to know how you feel about me but… that doesn’t mean I wanted to force you to answer my confession. My feelings are my own that I just wanted to share with you. Not because I expect you to return them but mostly just cause I wanted you to know how I feel about you. How I really feel about you,”

‘…While I still have a chance to say it to your face,’ Oscar added as a thought. And though his heart went blue for a brief moment, he still smiled brightly against his inner sadness. He couldn’t afford to stop smiling. Not when he was sitting in the presence of the girl her loved. For her, he would brave anything. Even his own strife.

“But…more than that,” Oscar pressed on, “I just wanted to see you smile again. Whitley’s true feelings made you cry. I was hoping mine would make you smile. I love you most when you're smiling. Your smile is one of the most beautiful things about you. I guess the only real answer I want to know is if I cheered you up.”

Now it was Ruby’s turn to smile. Despite herself, a few tears trickled down her cheek but they weren’t tears of sadness. They were from the sheer amount of happiness that swelled in Ruby’s chest for the young boy seated before her. The boys whose radiance and kind words quelled the heartache she’d once felt. Ruby felt beyond touched. “You did,” she managed to say through her soft sobbing, “You most definitely did.”

Ruby then closed the gap between her and Oscar, nudging close enough to rest her head on his shoulder. “Thank you, Oscar.” She whispered gratefully. With a sigh of contentment, her mind and her heart were finally at ease.

Seeing the silver-eyed huntress so calm made Oscar’s own smile grow into a proud grin. Draping his arm around Ruby’s shoulder, he pulled her closer to him to allow his head to against hers. “For you. Always.” The former farm boy whispered warmly. Though his voice was soft Ruby heard his words. She felt her heart crescendo and she was appreciative that Oscar couldn’t see her face in that moment as the prominent blush that was practically burned into her face from before deepened.

“Okay...now I see it.” Ruby giggled bashfully.

“See what?” Oscar asked.

“Why everyone keeps calling you little prince,” Ruby answered, “you’re kinda like the ones from my favourite old fairy-tales.”

“The ones who save the princess?” Oscar asked.

“The ones who they fall in love with,” Ruby said, looking up at Oscar’s face as she said it. His eyes widened in surprise making Ruby looking away coyly. Seriously, if her face got any redder, she’d give her own signature cape steady competition.

“But y’know…they’re just stories.” Ruby added quickly with an awkward laugh that was louder than she intended.

Fortunately her awkwardness only appeared to amuse Oscar. “You planning on living happily ever after with me now, Ms Rose?” Oscar teased with a wink. This earned him a playful shove courtesy of Ruby. ‘Okay, when did he get this cheeky and why is it so cute?’ She thought, ‘…wait cute?’  

“I’m just saying you can be charming when you need to be, Mr. Pine,” Ruby retorted wryly.

Oscar only nudged Ruby’s shoulder; laughing.

“Y’know I should probably start calling you something like that too. I never really liked the little prince nickname. Maybe sweet prince suits you better,” Ruby remarked lightly. She had meant it as a small joke but upon seeing Oscar’s smirk; eyebrows quirked, Ruby regretted everything. Now her face and cape were a perfectly set.

“I---I---I mean…” Ruby tried to correct herself but her words failed her and instead she settled on her humiliation. “I didn't...say that out loud, did I?” she stuttered.

“Yep you did,” Oscar said chuckling lightly, “but it's alright. If it's you, I don't mind.” “And I don’t mind the new nickname either so long as I get to be just your sweet prince.” He then added boldly.

“You’re not going to let me forget that one, aren’t you?” Ruby groaned.

“Never.” Oscar chuckled.

The two friends then shared a laugh.

For a moment, Oscar met Ruby’s gaze, beaming charmingly.  Ruby returned the smile, the warmth in her cheeks returning as the two sat smiling at each other.

“So, what do we do now?” Oscar asked after some time.

“Whatever we like, I suppose,” Ruby replied casually.

“Ready to head back inside?” Oscar asked.

“ …I dunno.” Ruby said with a frown.

“What Whitley said still bugging you?” Oscar asked glumly.

Ruby nodded miserably. “A little bit.” She said.

Oscar then poked Ruby’s cheek lightly, prompting her to look at him.

“Hey. Beautiful flowers are meant to be admired by everyone, not kept in the dark,” Oscar assured, “besides what would a rich boy know about caring for flowers?”

“What do you mean?” Ruby asked.

“Well it's like something my Aunt Em used to say about gardening,” Oscar said wisely, “rich folk may have all the money in the world but they don’t know a darn thing about gardening. They're so used to buying that the only green they every learnt to care for is their giant bags of money. Therefore, rich folks don’t make good gardeners. That's why the Gods made farmers because farmers know how to care better for crops and flowers of all kinds.”

“Okay but… what's that have to do with me?” Ruby asked.

Oscar smirked. “Well my lovely rose, sounds like you could use a farm boy. Not a rich boy.” He said with a wink.

Ruby couldn’t resist the laugh that escaped her lips. “Seriously? You did not just say that.” She giggled.

“I made you laugh, didn’t I? That counts,” Oscar quipped with a light chuckle, “I mean we can stay out here all night if that’s what you really want or…you can let this farm boy show Whitley Schnee and all of Atlas how truly beautiful you are. What do you say to that?”

Oscar offered Ruby his hand.

“I say…”

Ruby’s gaze fell to her circus rose; still in her hand from when Oscar had given it to her earlier. With a bright grin, Ruby tucked the rose in her hair as she accepted Oscar’s hand.

She then leaned in and kissed Oscar on the cheek---a gesture which pleasantly surprised him.

“Lead the way, my sweet prince.” Ruby said.

Oscar only beamed; leading Ruby back inside as the two rosebuds re-entered the festivities together.

Squiggly Commentary:

 You can almost say that this story is a continuation; drawing reference to other scripts I’ve done before such as ‘A-Dork-You!’, ‘A Sister’s Blessing’ and ‘As You Go’. I made this story under the impression and headcanon that as their friendship grows, so does Ruby and Oscar’s overall trust in each other to the point that they are perfectly comfortable initiating physical contact with one another especially if it was meant to console the other. 

Usually Ruby is the one to always initiate contact between her and Oscar, according to the canon. My hunch is that at some point, Oscar will start reciprocating the same gentle touches Ruby would at times give him to the point that the two Rosebuds are completely at ease with committing to gestures such as cupping the other’s face, holding hands, resting their head against the other’s shoulder and breathing in the consolation that comes with their company. Y’know that sort of jazz. So that’s what I used in this story.

Sorry if this also wasn’t the kind of love confession story where feelings are reciprocated in the moment and the two lovers kiss. I wanted this short story to mostly emphasize on Oscar finally being open to Ruby about his feelings for her. Once it was brought up, Oscar had no choice but to bit the bullet and he made that choice.

For me, this is the most realistic I can envision the RoseGarden confession. At least the side where Oscar confesses first and Ruby moves forward knowing how Oscar feels about her.

Whitley is a little shit in this. Sorry to my fellow Whits. Although my feelings toward Whitley as a character have lightened a lot since V5, I based this script purely on my original RWBY Musing #24 where Whitley showcased just how much his father had influenced his behaviour particularly his treatment of women.

I even took it a step further with this concept by having Ruby being enamoured with Whit after their first encounter, believing him to be a pleasant gentlemen and love interest despite Weiss’ warnings about her brother’s true colours.

Ruby expressing genuine interest in a person she considers a crush is a side of her we have yet to explore in the main series. So for this script, I wanted to toy with the notion of what if…Ruby genuinely had feelings for Whitley and thought he felt the same way about her only to be greatly disappointed when it is later revealed that Whitley saw Ruby no different than how Jacques saw his own wife.

I’ve mentioned Whitley asking Ruby to be his date to the Atlas Ball many times over and it’s a headcanon I’m still holding onto; albeit I’ve shared different versions of this hunch. I’ve mostly talked about Ruby only agreeing to be Whitley’s date as a favour to Weiss to help with her investigation into her family affairs.

This is the first instance where I’ve actually entertained the thought of Ruby going to the dance with Whitley because she actually liked him. As you could probably tell by some of my past musings and headcanons, seeing Ruby behave like an average teenaged girl, gushing over boys especially one she might have a crush on is something I think would be cute to see.

I’m probably the cheese that stands alone with this thought but if I may further entertain this theory, imagine Ruby being the type of romantic who falls hard whenever she develops an interest in someone. She already does so much for her family and friends. Can you imagine a hopelessly in love Ruby Rose? I can picture that just as vividly as I can depict a close Rosegardening rosebud friendship and potential romance.

I can definitely see Ruby being the type of girl to gush over someone she likes to her friends. So imagine how it would be for Oscar, being the guy who secretly likes Ruby, to also be the close friend she feels comfortable enough talking about her crush to. I figured Ruby would talk to Oscar about this kind of stuff because unlike her sister and teammates, she wouldn’t be judged or teased about it especially if her crush was Whitley (which Weiss greatly disapproves of for obvious reasons).

This script is a culmination of theories that I wanted to touch base on and it basically spawned into a story that I’m proud of. I know I say that almost most of my writing but it’s hard to not feel giddy when you put a theory to paper and turn it into a story. If I had to picture how Oscar would first confess his feelings for Ruby and her reaction to hearing it, this would be it.

It’s not the typical confession moment nor is it the traditional unrequited love moment idea. I genuinely think if Oscar were to confess to Ruby, he would outwardly admit he loves her. Just tell that he wants to be the guy that gets to fall in love with her. Just as much as I wouldn’t expect Ruby to refuse Oscar’s feelings. In a way she would accept them. Just not have an answer for him. But she wouldn’t keep him waiting either. Just as how Oscar wouldn’t hold it to her to give him an answer because that’s not what’s most important.

This plays into another ancient RoseGarden headcanon I have where Oscar would confess and the two will move forward knowing how Oscar truly feels about Ruby but it wouldn’t affect their friendship as awkwardly. But it would provide an opening for Ruby to ponder on how she feels for Oscar. She understands he’s not holding her to return his love. However at the same time, there is that curious side of Ruby that wonders what it would be like if she were to fall in love with Oscar. Could she see herself doing that? And if she did, how would it affect her? How it would affect their entire relationship? Their friendship. Would she even wish to return those feelings knowing the truth of the Merge and the lingering mystery of the fate that spells for Oscar?

This is why I like this concept a lot. It lays everything out on the table while leaving room for more growth and opportunities to explore bonds and the meanings behind them. I’m not saying this is how I perfectly envision the Rosegarden romance taking root in the canon. I’m just saying it’s an idea.

All in all, I hope you guys have enjoyed this short story of mine and if you can, please let me know if you did enjoy it. I’d mighty appreciate it if you do.

Not sure if this counts as a worthy contribution to @rwbyrosegardenweek​ but I hope it does :D 

~LittleMissSquiggles (2019)

[thedeviljudges]

lucky number seven

Steve switches on the television, watches as the black fades from sparks of gray and multi-colored lights into a crystal clear image of Wheel of Fortune. There’s a ding and some shouting, and as he steps away from the medium, someone clears their throat and mumbles, “Can you turn that up, dear?”

He obliges, gives Rosie a smile and replies, “If we turn it up any louder, people will think we’re in a rave.”

She laughs softly, a little roughly from the scratch in her throat. “Wouldn’t that be something.”

“Is this good?” Steve asks after clicking the button, the rising number on the screen set to a level he knows he personally wouldn’t be comfortable with. It’s not about him here, though. He takes care of them the best he knows how, and sometimes that means exhaustion and over stimulation from the differences in how he functions in his life versus the people he takes care of.

“Better,” comes the reply, and with that, Steve leaves, knows Rosie won’t go anywhere any time soon. There’s a lineup on the television. It’s always on at the same time every day, and it’s the reprieve he needs to catch up on all his other rounds.

Heading straight for the reception desk, Steve rounds the corner, tapping his fingers against the surface of the wood. The folders he needs are tucked away under the desk, alphabetized and ready to find. There’s usually a chart on the computer, the one the receptionist is using, and Steve would normally bug her for information about who’s next on his list, but he knows this one. Like the back of his hand, Steve unfortunately pulls the file of his least favorite resident.

“If you frown any harder, your face is gonna get stuck like that.”

Steve blinks, turns toward the voice and finds Robin at the end of it. Her fingernail clacks against the mouse her hand is resting over, eyebrows raised like her point is important.

“I’m not frowning.”

She huffs a laugh and shrugs, turning back to what Steve guesses is college homework. Relief, in some sense, finds his way throughout his muscles. Then again, Steve hardly made it through his first round, and the thought of Robin going further in education is both daunting and excessive if not admirable. “Lies, Harrington.”

In return, Steve tsks but doesn’t argue. So maybe he’d been frowning, but it’s only because he’s on his next rounds. An unlikely presence in a home like this, where visitors come and go freely, where most of the residents are happy as they can be in a world that moves too fast for them now.

He doesn’t want to go, would rather avoid the next room altogether, but with a sigh, he closes the folder, places it back where it belongs and heads toward the bay. The medicine sits stacked in rows, locked behind a thick door in case anyone tries anything funny. He measures what he needs, pops the top off of a few bottles and grabs two cups for his journey.

The walls of the nursing home are pale yellow. Steve’s visited a few in his lifetime before working here, and he thinks they always choose the most mundane colors. They’re always dated, and he can’t tell if it’s a sign of the times or purposefully done to accommodate a sense of familiarity within the residents. Steve thinks that routine is much more conducive, but he’s not a painter, and his decision comes last in these matters.

Instead, he gets to decide whether he wants to enter room 104. It’s cracked halfway open, the television glaringly loud. It’s not that he hates the mister inside, but he gives Steve a run for his money when he’s having a bad day.

Most days are bad days.

Squaring his shoulders, Steve gently raps his knuckles against the wood frame of the door, pushing it open to find his patient sitting up in bed. The clothes he wears are from the night and not usually what Steve expects from him at this time of day. It’s nearing nine, knows there’s something to be said about starting the day off early, that previous sentiment racketing his brain from a redundant lecture.

“Good morning, Mr. Hargrove,” Steve says.

The man grunts in reply, but that’s all he gives Steve to work with. Eyes stare far away from the door to the blue light emanating from the tiny screen hanging from the wall. Voices echo in the space they have, somewhat small and refined because most of the folks living here have very little possessions, and if they had more, they weren’t always allowed to bring them in. Glass trinkets are dangerous and useless stuff after they pass is thrown into the trash. Most bring in books and pictures encapsulated in plastic frames, a reminder that they belong somewhere than just a home for the old.

But this room is bare to its core. The man inside no exception.

“I’ve your medicine for you,” he says gently, feet shuffling across the tile. Slippers sit next to the bed, ready for use, that Steve carefully maneuvers around. There’s not a lot of places to walk around like the shoes imply, and Steve often feels guilty they don’t have a better outdoor situation. The halls are only so long, and supervision is often required for other patients, but the sun would be nice sometimes.

Sometimes.

Steve sets the cups down on the nightstand and waits. If there’s one thing he’s learned, it’s that patience goes a long way with Mr. Hargrove, unfortunately. The inconvenience trifles with the limited time on his hands, always cutting it close with the next visit on his list.

“Don’t want none of that.”

Dwelling within his lungs is the urge to release all the air, let them deflate while oxygen runs across his teeth. The day doesn’t have to be difficult, but there’s always a caveat.

“I know Mr. Hargrove,” Steve says alongside sympathy. “But you know you have to. They’ll help you feel better.”

It’s a wry look he receives, dark pupils staring at him from the corner of older eyes. The crow’s feet are jagged lines that run from the corners of the eyelid back toward the thinning line of hair, what little is left.

The silence balloons between them, only the television playing against the stillness. Steve hears the remnants of Rosie’s show ringing in his ears, played on repeat from all the times he’s turned the television on just in time for a contestant to spit an answer.

He’s sure neither of them know how long they stand there, Steve not forcing his hand quite yet. There’s protocols and the like for individuals who make a rough go of it, but Steve often feels a little too nice to take those measures if he can do his best to coax everyone to follow directions.

After enough time has passed, and just when Steve is about to throw in the rag and try other bargaining tools, Mr. Hargrove’s fingers twitch, shoulders slumping as he angles himself properly. “Hand me the damn cups.”

Steve obliges, not saying a word least that propel the man’s decision to cooperate in another direction. With a watchful gaze, Steve makes sure that Mr. Hargrove swallows his pills, hands him the water when he’s got them in his mouth and breathes as evenly as he can in order to avoid further suspicion of his relief.

When he’s done with them both, he hands the cups back to Steve with another grunt, an aborted noise of dissatisfaction escaping past his lips.

“I’ll be back later for lunch,” Steve says gently against the noise of cheering. Blinking away from a stony face, it’s the first time he sees the television for what it is. A bunch of cars on a track racing in circles and counting down laps. “Call if you need anything.”

The cups give way in his hands, crumbling under the pressure of a curled fist. Steve doesn’t wait for a reply, and truth be told, he knows better than to. His shoes squeak as he walks across the tile and through the door, discarding the cups in the trash near the front desk. The file cabinet is already halfway open by the time he makes his way around the counter, Robin rolling back to position and paying him no mind.

Deep down, Steve’s okay. The draft from a room filled with contempt is stifling, but at least it’s another day for the books. At the very least, he can take that and run with it.

++

“Some motherfucker always has the nerve to take my damn parking spot.”

Robin’s ponytail swings in a fluttery mess of golden-brown, and Steve finds the map of freckles highlighted across her face from the hues of light cascading through the open blinds as she tilts her head.

“If you’d learn to be on time, dingus, then maybe you wouldn’t have a problem.”

“I’d argue that you’re doing it on purpose, but I know that’s not it. It’s not your car.” Steve removes the jacket from his shoulders, shaking the left sleeve until it slowly crawls down his arm. It’s an annoying thing he finds with the uniforms they have to wear; they cling to everything, and he finds that he gets stuck in clothes more often than he’s able to take them all off.

The jacket goes on the coat rack, Steve dropping into the second chair behind the desk. It’s early in the morning, and the crew on the overnight shift hasn’t yet left. Steve hears them shuffling about, gathering things that need to be cleaned and dumping the overnight trash into the bins.

“Hey, did you ever find out-”

“Fuck you, old man.”

Robin’s eyes meet Steve’s, going wide as her mouth slowly closes, silencing the question on her tongue. There’s more muffled comments that Steve can’t quite make out, but it drifts down the hall. It’s an argument if he’s ever heard one, and the hairs on his arm raise from the exaggerated scenarios running through his head.

They have protocol for unruly patients, but the most they’ve ever been instructed to do with possible visitors is call the police. Steve scans the reception area and finds no phone readily available. “Rock, paper, scissors?” he asks with a shoulder shrug.

Robin gives him a look, sighing. Her body isn’t rigid likes Steve, and he guesses that maybe she’s not been on the other end of a yelling match. That isn’t to say Steve enjoys them much, but his father has a way with words.

As he’s thinking, Robin brushes past him, startling him. Reaching out, he gentle grasps her wrist. “Let me handle it.”

Pointedly, she takes a look at his temple, the little scar left over from when he got into it with Tommy in senior year. Robin had been witness to it, played nurse and made him sit through the pain of the alcohol she’d used to wipe up the blood and clean the cut.

To avoid further conflict, and because there’s still deep voices resonated from down the hall, Steve pulls the puppy eyes that practically gets him anything he wants. Robin, normally immune, hesitates as she looks back. It’s cute, he thinks, that someone is actually worried for his safety. That’s still a thing he’s not use to, but he tugs at her wrist as he stands up, positions himself in front of her and smiles. “I’ve got it. Don’t worry.”

He feels like those are famous last words. Not that he actually believes in harms way, but Steve has seen patients act out or have episodes that leave people with scratches and pretty bruises. It’s not their fault, he knows; old age is nothing that he can outrun, but a body in distress isn’t always the easiest to handle.

He leaves Robin there, notices her sit back down out of the corner of his eye, and he’s relieved for that. Usually she’s the type to follow, always has Steve’s back in whatever dumb shit he’s trying to do, but truth be told, he’s been hurt far more than she has, and well, Steve has always been a bit of a mother hen.

As he walks down the hall, the voices become clearer until there’s nothing left. Steve, as he’d been listening this morning to the scrape of employee shoes on the floor, finds that there’s a much deeper set of footsteps amidst the others. When he pauses, peering into every room as he walks in case something is off, a door at the end of the hall opens. It catches his attention immediately with the force of the swing.

Dread immediately fills his body.

There’s a pair of boots on the floor, accompanied by legs in jeans. Steve trails his gaze up, following the shape of a human body leaving Neil Hargrove’s room.

Neil never has guests.

He’s blond. That’s the first thing Steve takes notice of. Untamed curly hair. Thick brows. Pink lips. The list goes on really, and Steve bits the inside of his cheek to bring himself back into focus. Into the real meaning of why he’s standing in the middle of the hall like an idiot while he tries to figure out who the fuck this man is, and how he knows Neil of all people.

When Steve focuses again, the man with no name is leaning against the wall just outside the door, runs his hands through those curls. There’s a tick in his jaw, unreleased tension building in the way he holds himself—in the slope of his shoulders, in the way his fingers tap against his jeans like he’s itching for something to do.

A good amount of time passes, lost in thought, lost in a hallway with no indication of time sifting through the ether. Steve stands there, and the man stays there until they both gain composure, Steve only moving when his companion pushes himself away from the wall.

As soon as he turns, he spots Steve. It’s kinda hard to miss him when he’s in turquoise scrubs against a yellow backdrop of nursing home walls. There’s the initial pause that comes, the startling thought of being caught so intimately, and then the inevitable change of facial features into one of pure anger.

Steve might’ve fucked up on this one.

His throat works, thick with saliva and unable to churn out the words he needs to bring help to a situation that had deescalated but might shift in reverse any second. The furrow in the other man’s brow creases, eyes glassy but hard, akin to a stone caricature. It’s like a gunslinger’s battle just without the weapons, and Steve feels his pulse escalating until it drops, suddenly.

Like a balloon bursting, the man licks the front of his teeth, smiles in the most dangerous way and continues down the hall like nothing happened at all.

Steve catches a glimpse of him as he passes. Pretty blue eyes and a chain around his neck. The denim jacket smells like subtle cologne, and before he has a chance to ask, the sound of heavy boots are disappearing.

The decision to run after him or go check on Mr. Hargrove is difficult. It’s obligations on both ends of the spectrum, but at the end of the day, it’s Neil that lives here so Steve shakes his head to unstir his thoughts until he’s planted in front of an open door and a bare room with nothing but someone inside.

Neil is in his wheelchair today rather than his bed. Steve would take it has a good sign if it weren’t for the way he’s got his leg stretched out in front of him. There’s the thought that maybe his visitor had done something wrong, busted up the knee and left behind pain, but Neil gives him a look that shuts him up, reminiscent of blue eyes who’d argued to speak his mind.

“Get the fuck out,” he grumbles in reply, reaching for the remote. The television isn’t so loud this time, doesn’t bounce off the walls like he’s used to. Steve doesn’t listen, not until Neil flips through the channels and settles on his station of choice.

It’s always the cars. Always the stupid cars on the track. The numbers counting down and Steve unaware of the rules of the game.

He suspects that Neil is fine, would probably bitch at him if he wasn’t. So Steve says, “let me know if you need anything,” and is just about to step out when Neil huffs out laughter.

At first, it sounds like it’s aimed at him. Steve feels that tell-tale leak of shame in his chest for wanting to be helpful and productive, but the flicker of the tv screen changes his mind in an instant.

It’s not just cars anymore. It’s a list of drivers with their sponsors and their numbers, and Steve can’t miss it for the world. Couldn’t if he tried.

Number 61 has vivid blue eyes. Curly blond hair, and a self-deprecating smirk that rings all too familiar.

[adiabolikpastelrp]

Unnamed Role Play

This is a role play between @remnants-of-tragedy and myself. It features her OCs Zion (daughter of Ruki and Hisoka) with my OC Kanaye (son of Kanato and Yuuki).

Status: Ongoing(?)

Word Count: –

ღ Warning: that this may contain content that may be unsuitable for some readers such as mature themes, strong language, adult situations, and sexual content

Quick note - This takes place in that 2 year gap between You Get It And One Final Push. So Kanaye is single, and is in kind of a rough place. ღ

♬° ✧❥✧¸.•*¨*✧♡✧ ♬° ✧❥✧¸.•*¨*✧♡✧ ♬° ✧❥✧¸.•*¨*✧♡✧ ♬° ✧❥✧¸.•*¨*✧♡✧

Kanaye sat in the food court at the local mall. It was pretty busy considering it was a week night. Typically throughout the work and school days, not many humans came out.

For some reason or another, tonight was different and there were humans all around. Disappointing. He wanted to find someone easy and do all he needed to in the mall but, given the circumstances, plans may change.

It had been a few weeks since he’d been back in the human world. A good practice in keeping oneself a mystery to the locals. As a vampire Kanaye did not age the same. Human would notice if he was around too often.

With a deep sigh, Kanaye decides tonight the mall was not going to be successful. Just as he rose to leave, a scent catches his attention. A Mukami, Juliet perhaps? It did smell slightly like her. He decides to search out this scent, if it was her than some company may be nice.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Zion Mukami was beyond pissed.

A red dress under a black buttoned sweater, a pair of white high heels with straps around the ankles, and a long, curly, high ponytail wig.

It’s bad enough to be cross dressed as a girl by his sadist of a sister; But it’s even worse knowing that this is actually a necessity.

Recently, a female actress has fallen terribly ill, and cannot be able to perform her part; Thus the role was given to the human boy, which means he had to play out two different roles; Luckily, neither roles have a scene together as the female role was only a minor character with very few lines where his role was a bigger part. But it didn’t make him feel better that he had to learn to get used to wearing women’s clothing for the part.

This suggestion was brought up by his older sister, Juliet, who learned about this and forced him into wearing these clothes and put on this long wig that’s color perfectly matched his hair. Zion knew that his sister also forced their brother to cross dress in the past, he can only shudder at the thought of his poor older brother having to submit to it. And now that his older siblings were vampires, Zion can’t really imagine what would happen if he defied his sister; He had a feeling he would be forced to submit by Juliet, even if she was still human at this point in time.

“This sucks…” Zion mumbles to himself as he walked with bags in hand. They were supplies for the production. Once Zion volunteered to get them, the rest of the club members were grateful. But the praise became too much for the boy, which made him fluster and shrug it off with the excuse that it was only because he had nothing else left to do.

He begins to recall what his sister has told him when he started to complain about it.

“Your name gets mistaken as ‘Shion’, your voice is like a little tomboy’s, your face can pass off as a girl’s, and you’re already bitching like one too; So get over it already.”

“Damn it, Sis-“ Getting distracted, Zion trips on his heels and accidentally falling on his knees, dropping some of the things he bought. “Ow, ow, ow..!”

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

As Kanaye walked through the crowed halls, the similar smell faded. Perhaps there were too many humans around. He could still catch small doses of the Mukami, but not much.

Not particularly taking the search seriously, Kanaye notices a young girl trip and drop her purchases. Without a second though Kanaye moved swiftly to her side and knelt down to pick up her belongings.

“Are you all right? Heels can be quite a bothersome accessory.”

He’d smile down at the much smaller female and offer her a hand. She was cute no doubt, but also seemed far too young for him. Even if in reality he was much older than anyone here.

“Might I help you up? I do hope your dress isn’t ruined.”

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Looking up to see the smile of the stranger, Zion sensed the hand offers to him belonged to a vampire’s from its aura. Making him jump back a bit and give the young man a look of distrust. From what he learned, you can’t act too casually with vampires; Especially ones you’ve just encountered for the first time.

‘Honestly I wish the dress was ruined, so I don’t have to wear it…’ He commented to himself. But he knew if he did, Juliet would force him into a short skirt since it was a dress she bought for herself but had him wear for ‘training’.

“I-I’m fine, thanks..” Zion commented, he got back up on his own, patting the dirt off the dress. He looked down and noticed the material were dropped, “O-oh no!” Kneeling down, The boy frantically checked the conditions of the materials to see if they were alright. He just got them, he didn’t want to damage them; They were for the production after all. Every shows in the drama club are very important to him!

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Kanaye was a bit confused why the girl rejected his hand. Normally women blush and accept the gesture. Before he could think on it too hard she was back on the ground.

“Would you like some help? Is anything damaged?”

It was simply his upbringing talking at this point. He was a gentleman after all. A young girl by herself could use a hand right?

“I could help you carry them. Are you here alone?”

Kanaye starts picking up some of the smaller objects. There were sewing supplies kind of all over the place.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

“Is there a problem with me being alone?” Zion questioned, puffing out his cheeks in frustration; He stopped when he noticed the vampire helping him, and gave a questioning look. ‘What was he doing?’ He thought, ‘What is he trying to gain out of this?’ This caused him to blush a bit.

“H-Hey Idiot.. you don’t have to help me, you know…” Zion assured, “I can carry everything myself.” He was always used to doing things himself, so why was this guy helping him? They don’t even know each other.

“…. What do you have to gain out of this?” Zion questioned bluntly, “Why are you helping me? You don’t even know me.” It was really weird for him. But this sudden act of kindness was just strange to the human boy.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

“When someone is in need, you help them.”

Kanaye answers warmly, offering the girl a smile. She must be used to doing things alone. A common trait that Kanaye often found in women in this age.

In the demon world, women act a bit differently. Those of Royal blood demand to be treated as such, even those not of it have some sense of entitlement. Human woman were always so different.

“Don’t worry so much about it. I’m not trying anything, simply helping.”

He stands up with a couple of bags in his hands. There were a couple for her to carry as well, he didn’t want to completely take over. Women who don’t normally receive help tend to not like doing no work.

“Lead the way, mistress.”

Kanaye says in a teasing tone and bows slightly. This girl was far too young for his taste, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t treat her as a princess. After all, young girls like that sort of thing right?

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

“M-Mistress..?!” Zion gasped as his blush turned from light pink to red. Did.. Did this guy seriously believe he was a girl? ‘ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!!!!!!!!’ He exclaimed mentally. This actually hurt his pride as a man.

But in a way, it’s good? That also meant that he can pull off that female role without a problem, which is beneficial if they were short on female roles…

‘Wait! This isn’t the time for this!!!’ As much as Zion wanted to yell that he was a boy, it could also cause a scene. And plus, this guy might think the boy was into that kind of stuff. Maybe it was best not roll along with it? They weren’t going to meet again anyways.

“F-fine.. do whatever you want…” Zion turned away to hide his red face and started to walk once he carried the bags in hand, “But don’t call me that; It only reminds me of someone I know, and being reminded of them now only irritates me to no end.”

The person mentioned was none other than the one that forced him to do this. The She-devil sadist herself. His older sister. Once he got reminded of her, He could imagine her infamous devilish smirk. It made him shudder. ‘That damn sadist… How was Bro even able to deal with the likes of her?’

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Kanaye smiled at the young girls embarrassment. It was adorable really, why his own sister couldn’t be more like this was beyond him. Actually, it wasn’t really, he knew why. Their family was full of dark secrets, of this he knew all too well. His sister was the product of her upbringing, just as he and their brother.

Part of him as sad that his sister wasn’t more like this. He could use her to meet women for one thing. On the other- more appropriate hand- she could be a normal little girl. Like the one before him. He walked behind her silently for a while, before the silence grew too boring.

“What is all this for, might I ask? It’s a lot of sewing equipment yes?”

Perhaps she was into making costumes, after all, the one she was wearing was not exactly normal. Or an… what was the word again? He knew of human that enjoy dressing up as fictional characters, though the name escaped him.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

“They are supplies for the drama club in my school,” Zion answered, “There’s an actress that was suppose to play a role in our upcoming production, but she got really sick and is unable to perform her role; Since sizing is going to be an issue since her and I are obviously different in size; But we ran out of supplies and I had nothing better to do, so the responsibility in getting them was given to me.”

The human boy looked down to the dress he was wearing and glared as his cheeks flushed from embarrassment and pouted.

“So now I have to perform two roles; That girl’s role is a minor but I’m the only one whose role isn’t shared with her character’s, so I had no choice.” He sighed in irritation before he started to rant, “Now I have to wear this stupid, girly dress, so I can get used to that role, because a certain SOMEONE thought it would be funny to force me into it when they found out, only to watch me suffer and crush my pride for their own amusement.”

At this point, the human was only ranting, forgetting that the vampire helping him thought Zion was a girl. He was just so irritated that his pride as a man was being crumbled by not only this new role, but also by his own sister.

It was all just a nuisance!

Why him?!

WHY?! HIM?!

Finally, when he was done ranting, Zion breathed heavily.

He is just… so done…

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Well that was quite the rant, seemed the little princess had a temper. Still, he could understand being forced to do something one didn’t want to do.

“You should see it as a complement.”

They reached the exist and Kanaye stepped in front of the girl. He would never meet her again, so what was the point in wasting the opertunity to have a little fun.

“They must think highly of you, to trust you with two roles. I do not think it is so bad to have others put faith in you. Although, perhaps it is a lesson learned with years…”

He offers her bags back to her. She was cute but staying in the company of a young girl didn’t exactly help his situation of needing companionship. Her parents must be near or whomever drove to this location.

“Try not to dwell on the inconvience of it all.”

Smiling Kanaye kneels down to her heigh once more. It was fun to tease someone who reacted so cutely. Surely the small girl will grow into quite the looker, when that happens… well there were advantages to not aging like a human does.

“Good luck in your play, my lady.”

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Huh…?

Wha..?

Why was his heart beating fast the way it was right now?

Zion blushes from this and looked away after taking his bags back, “T-thanks… um…” At this point, he realized the boy realized he did not get his name, “S-sorry, I didn’t get—“

Almost as if it was the right moment, Juliet walked. “Well, well, well~ This is unexpected~” She smirked as the Now former human spotted quite the sight.

Seeing his sister unexpectedly, Zion blushed crimson red and glared, “W-WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!!!!” He busted out. But this didn’t stop the raven-haired girl from smirking wider. “Mother and Father asked me to pick you up and take you home.” She explained before turning her eyes to Kanaye, “Kanaye, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“W-wait…” Zion was now beyond confused, “Y-You know him?” He questioned further. “I met him while I was still human; He’s the brother of that bastard I told you about that I hate, but unlike him, Kanaye is way more tolerable.” Juliet answered before walking over behind Zion, placing a hand on his head with her smirk still in place.

“I see, you’ve finally met my little brother.” Juliet said, “Zion was a tough one to deal with, he tends to run hot-and-cold.”

Zion froze.

His mind was blank.

But once he was able to come to, the only thought that came to mind was:

‘SHE DID THAT ON FUCKING PURPOSE, THAT DAMN—!!!!!!!!!!’

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Well this was unforeseen, though the scent from before now made sense. So this girl was the source of the scent. A new sibling to this Muakmi clan, Juliet’s younger brother. Wait…

“Your… brother..?”

Kanaye looked at the girl before him. The same girl he had been helping, was actually a boy?! Now that he was looking closely, there were boyish features about her. Feeling embarrassed beyond all reason, Kanaye stands up, a light blush on his face.

“I see… Forgive me. This entire time I’d been treating you in such a way.”

He glances over at Juliet, no doubt this was the person the young boy spoke of in a rage.

“Juliet Mukami, I take it you are responsible for placing your brother in this situation? Young Zion Mukami, please forget what I said before. Your sister truly does have a strange sense of humor.”

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

“He wouldn’t really have much of a choice, if you think about it.” Juliet retorted, with her stoic expression returned, “He was going to play the role of a girl; His name, his features, even his personalities is similar to a girl’s; I figured it would be good practice for him to get used to wearing girl clothes for the role, if he wants to make the show a success.”

Zion was just utterly embarrassed. If it was Leon, he would’ve not embarrass him like this. ‘BUT IT JUST HAD TO BE THE SHE-DEVIL HERSELF!!!!’

“But at least it was able to fool you, right Kanaye Sakamaki? You looked rather flustered upon realizing Zion was actually a boy.” Juliet smirked once again, “I would say I am quite proud of my work.”

“S-shut up…! L-Let’s just go home already, you damn sadist!” Zion cursed, before glancing to Kanaye and stuttered, “S-so..s-s-sorry…”

“Also, strange sense of humor? I beg to differ on that remark.” The raven-haired Vampire gave the Sakamaki a questioning look, “By the way, what are you doing here?”

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Kanaye attempts to keep his embarrassment un-noticed. Leave it to Juliet Mukami to point it out. Although, she did have a point, the young Mukami boy did look quite adorable. Poor thing, his pride must be all but shattered at this point, he certainly didn’t help by acting as though he were a girl.

“I was in the mood to eat, when I caught your scent. Appeared to be your sibling instead. He needed assistance so, that is what I was currently doing.”

He glances down at the smaller Mukami. This one was human as well, how fascinating it must be, to be human in a world full of vampires.

“I offer my apologies, Zion Mukami. Your attire is most convincing, although that must not feel like a compliment.”  

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

“Ah, that’s because the dress Zion’s wearing is actually mine.” Juliet explained as she continued to look at him blankly, “It was either that dress or a mini-skirt; See, I was nice enough to give him a choice.”

‘It was definitely NOT a choice at all!!!’ Zion facepalmed before mumbling out, “It doesn’t feel like one..” Ignoring her brother for a moment, the raven-haired vampire suggested, “Well, if you’re still kind of bored, I’ve got nothing better to do later after dropping little Zion off; So if you’re up for it, after I drop him off, We can hang out. It’s been a while since I’ve been out anyways, and I don’t mind keeping you company.”

As the human boy heard this, he can confirm it was quite true. After becoming a vampire and standing beside Thomas, her husband, Juliet has been spending most of her time together in the castle and has been dedicating her time taking care of her new responsibilities as Queen; This must be one of the rare times she can be out like this.

The more he thought about that, the more he began to think how hard it must’ve been for both his older brother and sister as they now have lives of their own, and cannot spend time together as much as they used to after growing up together as close as two peas in a pod.

“Hey Juliet, I’m ready to go when you are. I want to get out of this stupid dress already.” Zion said, before stealing glances to Kanaye.

Seriously? Why was his heart pounding? What did this weirdo do to him?!

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Kanaye looks the dress over again. Juliet… owned and possibly wore something like this? The actual thought of it almost made him shiver. It did not suite her, then again, it was hard to see Juliet Mukami as a female.

“I wouldn’t mind accompanying you. Do we have to get in one of those… vehicles?”

He was not a fan of cars. It was something that the Demon World did not have. In this world however, they are everywhere.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

“You’re saying that as if I’m a bad driver.” Juliet cocked her head to the side before assuring the male vampire, “I’m actually a pretty good driver; I was taught by Father and I was the one that helped teach Leon, so don’t worry about it.”

Her blue orbs looked to Zion and noticed the glances her little brother took of Kanaye, and her eyes narrowed. “Are you ready?” She questioned. “Y-yeah.. I want to get out of this damn thing already..” he mumbled. “Alright perfect; Now you sit in the back like a good, little princess.” She smirked as her brother’s face turned bright red in anger and embarrassment.

“S-shut up…!” He just can’t wait to go home. This was the most embarrassing thing in his entire life. His own sister crushed his pride as a man. In front of someone he just met. ‘I wanna die already..!’

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Kanaye laughed a bit watching the two of them. Siblings always proved to be entertaining. He could not see his own siblings behaving as such, nor himself. As different as they maybe to most, Kanaye believed his family fit the way it was meant to.

“No insult meant, I simply detest vehicles.”

Kanaye followed Juliet with Zion do her car, and helped load the bags inside. Since Juliet had instructed her brother to the back, that left him in the front.

“I beg of you to prove that statement from before.”

It was not as if he was afraid of crashing. A car crash would not kill a vampire, it was more the whole moving aspect. It tended to weigh on his stomach, and it was not a feeling Kanaye enjoyed.

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

“If you want, I can keep your mind off the road by telling you all the embarrassing stuff about Zion.” Juliet smirked. “That isn’t helping anyone!” The human boy growled. “I’m helping Sakamaki Kanaye; You’re not the one that’s isn’t comfortable with cars, so you be quiet.” Juliet bluntly stated, making Zion silent.

“But like I said, I’m an expert driver. You don’t have to worry about anything; When it comes to driving, you can actually trust me.” Juliet stated as she got in the black car with her brother going in the back, before starting up the car itself. “This is my baby. It is a 2017 Toyota Prius; It was a gift and I’m not allowing anyone else to drive it.” Juliet proudly said.

Zion sweat dropped, “So you don’t even let Aniki drive it?” He questioned. “Whenever I have him the offer, he declines; And he was right to always decline.” His sister answered. “Hey Kanaye, did you know, despite how girly he looks, Zion always gets the main roles in the productions he always auditions for? There was one role he played well at and it reminded me of you for some reason.”

✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧ ✧

Kanaye couldn’t help smiling. Just as he found Spencer and his siblings amusing, Juliet Mukami and hers were just as entertaining. The bond of true siblings, must be nice.

“Remind you of me? Now why would a character do something like that?”

To be honest, Kanaye appreciated the attempt to calm his nerves. Auto mobile were truly nerve wrecking.

♬° ✧❥✧¸.•*¨*✧♡✧ To Be Continued ♬° ✧❥✧¸.•*¨*✧♡✧  

[chaoticneutralwriter]

Distance and the Heart

You were convinced that you’ll be fine on your own while he’s gone. After all, all you wanted to do was sit at home and watch BTS videos all day. Instead, you go on a ‘date’, break someone’s nose and dig an even deeper ‘Oh-shit-I-think-I-might-like-my-guardian-demon’ hole for yourself.

You should never be let outside again.

guardian demon!Jimin x reader

genre: slice of life, fluff, slow-burn, supernatural, comedy

word count: 8.1k (I DID NOT MEAN FOR THIS TO HAPPEN)

Related works: Unorthodox | Genuine | 3AM Demon | The Grinch Who Stole New Year

A/N: well this got long....LOL UMM Hope you enjoy it! There’s more plot! And be aware of douchey guys! :DD

“You’re going where now?”

 “Think of it as a ‘performance evaluation’ meeting; you know, the kind you humans have with your boss to discuss how well or not you’ve been doing your job.” He replies back, adjusting the cuffs on his shirt as he stands before your full-length mirror. You try your hardest not to stare at him from your seat by your desk, in the middle of working on some assignments just to get ahead of yourself for the week, but you find your concentration wavering when your mind clearly found something way more interesting to study.

 Jimin is currently dressed in an all black ensemble; a black button down that’s tucked into his black slacks, allowing you the chance to see just how perfectly they hug his thighs and ahem ass. His silvery hair is immaculately coiffed as per usual and as he turns to shrug on the black blazer jacket, embroidered with intricate silver linings, you find yourself very distressed in your seat because your mind is telling you no but your body…. your body is saying hell yes.

 You whip your gaze away, embarrassed by your own thoughts and you hope that your guardian demon hasn’t noticed. Damn him for looking so good.

 “I’ll try to keep the visit short, but don’t be surprised if you don’t see me for a few days.” Jimin makes the final adjustments to his look, brushing away strands of hair that fall out of place over his forehead before turning to fix you with a stare.

 “Don’t worry, take all the time you need.” You encourage, hoping to feign indifference of his departure. It seems to not slip past him as Jimin’s plush lips curl into that damning smirk and to add more insult to injury, he languidly saunters over to you, instantly putting you on high alert.

 “Oh cherub, don’t you know I worry that you’ll probably die from missing me so much?” He singsongs and you blanch in response. “But just so you know, I’m only one call away; hell is completely toll free.”

 He removes his hand previously stuffed into his pocket to pat you on the head mockingly to which you swat at it before it even makes contact with a single strand of hair. You kiss your teeth, annoyed but he just throws his head back and laughs at you. You curse again because as much as you’re irritated, the tinkling sound never fails to make your heart race. 

 “Just go already; aren’t you going to be late or something?” You feebly mumble, turning back to stubbornly burn a hole into your laptop screen. You hear a muffled snort; some shuffling and you finally think you’ve got your deserved peace from this nuisance but then—

 “No kiss goodbye?” 

 On reflex, you hurl your seat cushion at his general direction, only for it to crash against your full length mirror noisily (you wince as little knick knacks nearby topples over from the force), the last remnants of his cackling fading into the air and the only thing you can do is huff out loudly, face blazing. But what you find the most frustrating thing however is that you’re not sure if it’s from anger or from the thought of imagining kissing said demon.

 -

 After about three hours, you shut off your laptop and place your pencil down to heave a big stretch with your arms high above your head. You wince at the kinks and pops of your joints but you’re satisfied with your finished work. Now you can relax and laze around all you want, maybe even catch up on a couple of RUN BTS episodes that you’ve sadly missed due to being so busy.

 “Hey! Y/N, wanna check out this cafe with me?”

 Or not…

 Jaehee’s voice calls out to your from her place by your door, phone in hand to showcase an instagram profile of said cafe she mentioned. You’re a bit hesitant to be honest, feeling like your energy is all spent from working on school stuff that all you wanted to do now was to essentially become a human rock. Jaehee picks up on it, having known you for a while but she must be desperate to get out because she persists.

 “C’mon Y/N! It’s still early and a Saturday plus I know you’re not working tomorrow either!”

 You’re caught in between the pros and cons of staying home or going out because although you’re definitely not opposed to going to a cute little cafe to maybe reward yourself with an iced coffee or latte, you definitely dread the thought of the process to getting yourself ready to look presentable to the world when you’re completely comfortable in your PJs. Your indecision shows and like a bloodhound, Jaehee hones in on it and with a last ditch effort of convincing you, she throws in some puppy-dog eyes and a pout.

 “Please? I really wanna check this place out with you.” 

 The loud sigh you let out is enough to have a smile break out widely on her face, needing no words to know that you’ve given in. With reluctance, you drag yourself up out of your chair to get changed.

 Guess BTS will have to wait a little longer.

 -

 Admittedly the cafe is pretty cute and this iced latte is great so you find the discomfort of being dragged out of the house disappearing. You’re having a good time, laughing at a work story Jaehee is telling you as you’re munching on some fancy looking pastries that should’ve been too good-looking to eat (but that sentiment quickly went away because Jaehee took too long taking photos of it from every angle).

 There’s a lull in conversation as Jaehee takes the time to type something out on her phone, you paying no mind as your attention is more on getting the last of this cheesecake in front you.

 “So Jason; you remember him right? He’s gonna stop by with a friend of his who just moved here to the city. Do you mind if they join us?”

 You’re caught like a deer in headlights, mouthful of delicious desserts. Half of you find that there’s no reason they shouldn’t be allowed but the other half is cringing at the thought of having to interact with people whom you know very little about (Jason has only been a recent thing in Jaehee’s life and from what little times you’ve hung out with him and Jaehee together, you still can’t quite figure out if he’s worth investing in before he’s replaced).

 Rationality wins out eventually, finding yourself no real good reason to say no so you bite the bullet. “Sure, I guess?"

 When you’re halfway through your latte, Jaehee’s phone vibrates and she picks up.

 “Hello?…. Oh you’re here? We’re just inside, come in!” She hangs up promptly with a smile and before you can ask or wonder more on it, the door opens and in walks two guys. You easily recognize one of them as being the one that Jaehee took to the Christmas party as a date so by process of elimination, the other is the friend from out of town.

 He’s quite plain looking; a mop of dark hair and with no striking feature catching your eye other than the fact that he seems quite tall and lanky (but the same can be said about everyone you basically meet). The duo approaches just as Jaehee waves them over, her date going in for a hug to which your friend reciprocates while his friend simply smiles politely on the side.

 “Jason! Glad you could make it, and you must be Mike right?”

 Mike smiles widely and offers a handshake for her, to which Jaehee takes naturally.

 “Yeah, nice to finally meet you.”

 “And this is my friend and roommate Y/N.”

 You smile, taking Mike’s outstretched hand to give a shake as well as giving a simple greeting. Conversations are taken over by Jaehee for a bit before you all collectively decide to leave and walk along the street where the cafe is located. The weather is nice, the air slightly crisp but the real cold was more of something to worry about once the sun goes down.

 You file out of the shop and begin your walk, Jaehee and Jason naturally pairing up to chat, which left you with Mike trailing after them from behind. Oh joy….

 Your heart is beating a little too hard in your chest for your liking, your small bouts of social anxiety creeping in at now being put in a position to make small talk with a total stranger, a skill you haven’t quite got the hang of in all of your twenty-some odd years of being alive.

 “This seems like a really nice place to hang out with your friends huh?” Luckily, Mike’s the first to strike up conversations with you. Pressure relieved, you plaster on a smile.

 “Yeah, most of the cafes and popular eating spots are here….” 

 And that’s pretty much all you get out. You’re starting to get sweaty.

 “What would you recommend here?” Mike persists, seemingly not bothered by what you feel is a conversation struggling to continue every other sentence. He still has a smile on his face which makes his otherwise ordinary features appear more attractive, and coupled by his earnestness to keep talking to you, the friendliness and outgoing characteristics of him becomes more apparent. You find yourself impressed by his efforts of keeping the awkwardness at bay.

 “Uh, I’ve only tried a few places. So far pretty good in my opinion.” 

 “So the cafe today was good then? Because what you were eating back there looks really delicious.”

 “Yeah, I guess. The cheesecake is all right.” 

 It pretty much continues with Mike obviously being the more animated out of the two you as he pretty much chats enough for you both. You find out he’s moved here to attend the local university, the same one Jason goes to and that’s how they became friends and that he’s only been here for a little over two weeks. You nod along, offering comments here and there and the last remains of heart palpitations are thankfully gone.

 “What’s Tsujiro?” Mike suddenly asks as his gaze wanders to a dessert place you’re coming up on. You pause, can’t help but think how the shop name as well known as Tsujiro could slip under someone’s radar at this point. However, you push it aside because who are you judge; maybe he came from a smaller city or town?

 “Oh, uh, it’s a Japanese dessert place; they mainly sell soft serve green tea ice cream in like, tall cups or small ones with other toppings and stuff.” 

 “Oh wow, I might actually want to try one out. Is it good?” He turns to you, bright eyed and you give a shrug and a wry smile.

 “It’s all right.” You say, voice cracking near the end from being unsure. Sure you liked it, but honestly found it too pricey for your taste. 

 You don’t tell Mike that though (who are you to stop him from wanting to try it out; who knows, maybe he’ll like it).

 It seems good enough for him because he makes a beeline into the shop and you call out to Jaehee and Jason to wait up. No sooner, Mike comes out and everyone comments on his chosen concoction from the store; a tall cup of what appears to be green tea smoothie, topped with more green soft serve, a cube of cheesecake (?), sprinkled with mochi and other sweet looking treats. It’s pretty to look at, but the price he tells you were anything but (you’re not surprised).

 Your group walks around a bit more until spontaneously deciding the grab dinner once Mike finishes up with his dessert (“not as good as it looked,” he chuckles disappointingly).

 The restaurant you decide to eat at however was thankfully. You all make good talk with one another, Jaehee, being the ever better socialite than you, does a good job at covering for you both (you have a sneaking suspicion it’s the alcohol you’ve all ordered with your meal). You feel like you’ve filled your quota of talks and keeping up with pleasantries in the face of strangers, though that doesn’t stop Mike from pulling you into conversations every now and then. You throw in a comment or two to suffice.

 Dinner wraps up nicely, the bill is split and you all get ready to leave: Jason with Mike and Jaehee with you. You think you’re in the clear, the slight alcohol enhancing the excited buzz you’re feeling about heading home until Mike calls out to you suddenly at what should’ve been the final exchanges of goodbyes.

 “Hey Y/N, is it okay if I have your number? Would be cool to see you again.”

 You blink, unsure of how to respond. You seldom give your number out to people you’ve only just met, unless the circumstances are called for (i.e. business related, appointment based, or if it’s long overdue if you keep seeing the person). Snobby or uptight aren’t words you would describe yourself with this, but perhaps a combination of pessimistic and realistic is more appropriate; you’ve long made peace with the fact that at this stage of your life, the chances of acquiring any more life-long friends is zero to none. Nine times out of ten, this will be just another number you’ll have to clear out.

 At the nudge of Jaehee’s shoulder, you’re knocked out of your stupor and the realization that you had probably been vacantly staring at him settles as an embarrassed blush on your cheeks. 

 “O-Oh, uh, you have iMessenger? That’s better to get in touch with me.” You awkwardly reach for your phone to pull up the app and Mike laughs good-naturedly, nodding. You exchange contacts and finally, with a breath of relief, you part ways. Not a moment sooner when you had turned the block to the direction of your house did Jaehee pounce on you.

 “So? What do you think of him?” She asks, trying to be on the sly with things but it’s obvious how eager she is to hear.

 “Think of who?”

 “Mike! Jason’s friend.” 

 “What about him?” You’re not seeing the significance of the question nor the person in question.

 “You know… do you think he's nice? Cool? …. Cute?”

 You nearly give yourself whiplash at Jaehee’s choice of questions, turning your gaze onto her expectant ones. You feel your face contort itself into a sort of half grimace and look of incredulity.

 “I only just met him? Like he’s nice, I guess…. Really friendly to people he just met— I don’t know.”

 Jaehee seems to deflate at your lukewarm response. “Really? That’s it?”

 “…. Yeah? Why?”

 She sighs, hand tugging to link arms with you. “Never mind.” 

 The rest of the walk home you’re confused but you’re too tired to really think too much on it at this point. So much so that once you’re in the house, your night routine all blurs together and you immediately fall asleep as soon as your head touches pillow.

 The next morning, you wake up with a groan, stretching your limbs but not quite ready to get up out of your cocoon of blankets just yet. You settle by grabbing your phone to mindlessly scroll through your social media, as one does when they’re intent to make Sunday their designated lazy day. You’re surprised to see a notification for your iMessenger, a face you’re not used to seeing. It takes a moment for it to register as the guy you met yesterday, Mike.

 “Did you two get home alright?” was his written message in the chat box, sent at a time you knew you’d been passed out in the sleep. You do him the courtesy to text back with an apology on the delayed response and that yes, you and Jaehee did make it home safely.

 You go on to open up your other apps, scrolling through your feed, which helps you wake yourself up, more often than not finding BTS content related things. You stop on a video clip compilation of Jimin laughing till he disappears out of frame and it makes you grin. How can someone so cute exist? You hit the ‘like’ button and as you proceed to scroll more, your thoughts shift to the next thing related to said idol.

 Speaking of, you wonder if your demon guardian Jimin-lookalike is back.

 You swivel your head as best you could but find not so much as whiff of the usual lavender and vanilla scent that never fails to follow him.

 Huh….

 You get out of bed eventually, making your way to the kitchen to fix yourself breakfast and find that the house is…uncharacteristically quiet.

 No, it’s always been this quiet. You correct yourself, because it’s true…or was true. Before….

 You huff a sigh, exasperated. Get your thoughts straight girl.

 You continue with your day, making up for the lazing around you missed. Every once in a while, your phone pings with a notification; another sent message by Mike. The conversation was nothing of interest, just more casual talks of what you’re doing and going off on that before the topic is changed, most often by Mike once you’ve ran out of things to say.

 It goes on like that for a couple more days. He messages first always, and you almost dutifully answer back out of courtesy. He truly does seem like a nice guy, polite and easy-going but as much as your conversations with him were good (at a least you think? There were times you’ve haven’t answered for days because you were being swamped with work and school but that still doesn’t deter him), they were still very surface level; not having gone past being ‘good acquaintances’…or more like ‘one-sided good acquaintances’ because you think you know more about him than he does you.

 However, as the days drag on, you find your interest in Mike fading altogether as more other pressing thoughts start to occupy your mind, creeping in and growing like mold.

 Where is your guardian demon?

 Jimin did say the meeting might take more than a few days but it’s almost been more than a week since he’d left. Do meetings in hell usually take this long? More so, why hasn’t the bastard texted you at all? He’s supposed to be your guardian and right now he’s technically neglecting his end of the contract.

 Wait, what are you saying?  

 You flail your limbs in frustration, lying in bed in the middle of the night. You had told yourself that you were going to be a decent human being and go to sleep at normal people time because you’re absolutely beat from the week’s work but instead of drifting off like you thought you would, you ended up reflecting back on the events and had come full circle to the one being who should’ve been your least concerned. 

 Even when he’s not physically there, he still manages to wiggle his way into your thoughts. Unbelievable.

 You drift off eventually, stubbornly muting any train of thoughts that somehow always seem to lead back to him. You wake up a little on the groggy side, as if you haven’t slept at all but it’s the weekend again so you’re not bothered in rushing to get up. Grabbing your phone, you tap it awake to find a message notification.

 Your heart races for a quick second before impassively dropping once your foggy mind has registered the name; it’s Mike. No devil…or demon to be spoken of here. The message preview looks like a good morning text and the beginnings of asking what are you up to and you don’t quite make it that far before brushing it away from the screen; you’ll answer later.

 You mosey along with your day contently, taking time to eating breakfast then getting lost on Youtube (to which you, without fail, ended up watching a bunch of BTS related videos from Vlives to Run episodes to Bangtan Bombs) and even being productive like getting ahead of your studies (though you literally spent a little under fifteen minutes on it but hey, progress is progress).

 It’s around late evening when Jaehee comes knocking on your door, phone in hand once again and a yet another proposition.

 “Hey, wanna head out for dinner with me, Jason and Mike tonight?”

 You blink back at her from your nest of pillows and blankets much like an owl, not giving her an immediate response. She stares right back at you and it would seem like you two were having a silent conversation but you have a sneaking feeling that Jaehee can already see your brain working through all the pros and cons of saying yes or no like you’re Doctor Strange seeing all the possible alternative universes in which to defeat Thanos.

 “Where to exactly?” You ask after a while with slight trepidation.

 “That new Korean BBQ place that just opened up.”

 Damn.

 She’s got you beat. You’ve been eyeing that place for a while now but just never had the time or occasion to go. Not only was it the first branch to finally open here from being exclusively abroad for so long, but the restaurant is only a few blocks down the street from where you and Jaehee live; a true miracle because you had always figured such a popular restaurant would be located more towards downtown (which meant having to commute via subway, ugh).

 And God must’ve cursed you with a gluttonous vice because your stomach rumbles like it had a say in whether you’re going or not, and by the looks of it, you most certainly are.

 So with a defeated sigh, and knowing that Jaehee most likely heard your traitorous stomach even from your doorway, you agree. 

 The two of you meet up with your companions at the restaurant since they were coming from the downtown area so this way it would be more convenient. Jaehee greets the boys enthusiastically, whereas you wave casually, more subdued.

 “Hey, Y/N! It’s been a while since we saw each other.” Mike smiles as he comes up to you. 

 “Uh, yeah it has huh?” You shift a little in place, but you hurriedly follow after Jaehee and Jason who’s already stepped into the restaurant to grab a table. Jason of course, slides in on the bench side with Jaehee…. Which leaves you and Mike on the chairs across. You inwardly sigh out in exasperation. You just want to get through dinner eating the most Korean BBQ you can and with as little small talk as possible.

 To your relief, it wasn’t difficult to do once the food starts rolling out and the grill starts sizzling. For the most part, it works because food is always a great distraction but then the drinks starts pouring and you’d be lying if you said you weren’t totally in love with grapefruit flavoured soju now. Luckily, most conversations stay group oriented and Jaehee takes the lead in most of them, so you bounce off of her topics to make it easier for you to not get stuck conversing with just Mike. 

 As the eating comes to an end and drinks only remain however, you’re left with very little to defend yourself with.

 “So did you see the new Venom movie?” Mike asks you with what you could assume was a playful nudge but all it does is nearly make you slosh your drink. You try not to let the annoyance show on your face as you strain to smile back. 

 “Ah, yeah I did. I watched it online.” You say off-handedly before downing your drink, the sweetness of grapefruit hiding the usual rubbing alcohol burn of the soju, making it far too easy to swallow. You muse absently about how dangerous that can be. 

 “What? Why didn’t you see it in theatres? It was a great movie!”

 It wasn’t that great. But it wasn’t that bad either. You think to yourself but you’re not in the mood to having an extensive discussion with him, head beginning to slightly throb, so you settle to just shrug.

 “I didn’t feel like it. Also, didn’t really have the time.” 

 “Hey, then when we get the chance, maybe we should go see one together.” Mike suggests. You’re about to give a reply that would underlie a soft let down or at least to not get his hopes up when Jaehee exclaims rather excitedly at the suggestion.

 “Oh my god yeah! We should! It’s been so long since I’ve actually went to see a movie in theatres.” 

 “I swear we went to one not too long ago…” Jason comments, trailing off as his thinks back on it.

 “That was in summer, and now it’s winter.” Jaehee turns back to you and Mike in front of her, her excitement not seeming to die down anytime soon as she blurts out a little too loudly. “It can be like a double date!”

 You nearly choke on the soju you’ve been sipping, covering it up hastily with the loud clearing of your throat and decidedly placing the glass down to reach for the cup of cold water instead. 

 “Woah you okay?” You feel Mike’s hand on your shoulder; the sudden contact makes your arm flinch in surprise. You hurriedly gulp down the water, letting the coolness wash over the rough patch in your throat before mustering up a stiff smile in assurance.

 “Y-Yeah, no, I’m fine! Just…. went down the wrong pipe is all.” Your voice comes out hoarse and you cough again to clear it, chuckling nervously. Jaehee laughs as if you just hadn’t nearly choked to death, though she refills your cup of water generously.

 “You need to slow down with that soju. Is it really that good?”

 “Yeah!” You jump on the chance to direct your attention elsewhere, “Really good! I like, almost finished this bottle by myself!” You forcefully laugh; feel your cheeks start to heat up, whether from said alcohol or embarrassment. You start to wonder belatedly if you should check with a mirror to see if you’ve gone as red as you usually do when drinking (boy would that be even more embarrassing!).

 “You know what, I need to go to the washroom. Be right back!” You hurriedly excuse yourself, the chair wobbling as you get up with a stumble.

 “Oh! I’ll come with you!” Jaehee volunteers as she jumps up from her seat, grabbing your arm and dragging you to the ladies’ room. After a quick trip of emptying your bladder, you finally get a look at your reflection as you wash your hands. You’re relieved to find that you’re not completely red, just the slightest shade of pink peeking through your foundation. You note with satisfaction of how high coverage it is.

 “Hey, Y/N!” Jaehee calls cheerfully to you as she steps out of her cubicle with a flush. She comes to stand next to you, bumping your hips before lathering her hands with soap and water.

 “What?” You ask more concentrated in your attempts at patting away some of the oiliness on your nose and chin.

 “I think Mike is really into you.” Jaehee teases, a sneaky smile sent your way but you’re not as amused by the idea as she is. You wrinkle your nose, face scrunching in the mirror in front of you.

 “Um, what makes you so sure about that?”

 “Don’t tell him I told you, but Mike messaged me before we headed out tonight. He said you and him have been hitting it off pretty well.” 

 You furrow your eyebrows because that’s not how you see it and you express that much. Jaehee gives you a look that says she thinks otherwise.

 “The guy’s just super nervous around you. He really wants to get to know you better. Hell, if I wasn’t seeing Jason, I would go for him.” You can see her efforts in trying to get you to sympathize and though you don’t have much to argue against Mike because he really does seem like a nice guy and hasn’t done anything wrong, you don’t feel…. a connection. At all.

 “I mean he’s nice…. I guess? And like we talk, but I just don’t really feel anything? I don’t know….” You reply half mumbling distractedly, not really knowing how to explain but also finding that you don’t really care.

 “Is it because of that other guy who saved you?”

 You swear the speed in which you turn to Jaehee nearly knocks you off your own feet, heart thudding loudly against your ribcage that you have no time to discern if it’s from the alcohol or the thought of your Jimin impostor guardian demon.

 “W-What? Um, no! He’s—We’re not— I mean there’s nothing between us!” You get out, voice raising a little too high that it startles some other ladies who walked in. You shrink back as Jaehee lets out cackles and gives a hearty smack to your back, jerking you forward from the force. She startles you again by abruptly stopping midway to dramatically gasp, eyes wide and gleaming in a way that makes you nervous because inebriated Jaehee is often times too brash and too impulsive for her own good.

 “What if you just…. talk to him?” 

 “Who? Ji—?“ You almost make the mistake of saying his name aloud but you had lit Jaehee to cover for you, even if it was unintentional. 

 “Mike! You need to talk to him…alone.” She cuts you off, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. 

 “I— I don’t get it…?” 

 “You need to get a feel for him in person! And this is only the second time you’ve met and it’s always with me and Jason! No wonder you’re not connecting properly!” 

 “H-Huh?” You’re slow on the follow up because you thought you were still talking about Jimin?

 “I’ll tell you what!” Jaehee laser focuses on you and instinctively, your shoulder hunches up to brace for impact. “Why don’t I leave with Jason so we could give you some alone time?”

 You blink in disbelief and Jaehee pouts at your lack in response. 

 “C’mon, Y/N! How about just…thirty minutes? Yeah, thirty minutes! If you’re not feeling him even then…. then you can leave and I’ll never speak of it again."

 You think that’s about as good as it’s going to get with Jaehee and your mind processes and contemplates it as well. It’s not ideal but you don’t see any harm in chatting a guy one on one for thirty minutes, if it means you could say at least you tried and it’ll put this entire thing to rest once and for all.

 “Okay, fine.” You sigh out with reluctance. “Thirty minutes but that’s it.”

 Jaehee squeals and nods obviously pleased and with one last fluff to her hair, she pulls you out of the washroom and back to your table. Jason and Mike are unsurprisingly chatting it up and having a great time with each other (so much so that you think ruefully that maybe they should be left alone). But at yours and Jaehee’s approach, their attention is drawn, both shooting smiles.

 “Oh you’re finally back.” Jason remarks, “We got another bottle of grapefruit soju since it’s pretty good.” He picks up the green bottle to give it a shake. Jaehee however, makes to pull him up and out of his seat. He follows obediently, although a bit puzzled.

 “Oh sorry, I just remembered I have something to give you Jason so we need to get going.” Jaehee smiles blindingly, cheeks puffing up and eyes creasing as she continues to tug at Jason. “But hey, how about Mike and Y/N finish the bottle? We’ll get the bill this time, our treat! So you just take your time okay?"

 “Oh, uh, sure? If that’s okay?” Mike shifts his eyes to you as you awkwardly shuffle over to make way for the other couple. Your eyes dart to him, a nervous laugh bubbling past your lips as you rub your neck.

 “Y-Yeah, thanks Jaehee…Jason... No worries... I like grapefruit soju….”

 “Great! Then we’ll get going, it was nice seeing you again Mike! Bye Y/N, text me!” And before you know it, Jaehee zips off with Jason in tow and mentally you brace yourself; no doubt that this will probably be the longest thirty minutes of your life.

 Okay, Y/N relax. Just have a casual talk with this guy for thirty minutes and then you can leave and go to sleep. It’s not that deep. You think to yourself as you slide into the bench seat across from Mike who cracks open the bottle and graciously fill your glass for you. You take it with a smile and as he raises his up for you to clink against, you do so before downing it without hesitation, the drink still chilled enough that it seems to cool your nerves.

 Your conversations with Mike were as you had predicted; nothing of interest to note. You talked movies; about the food you just ate which lead to food preferences to other interests that you don’t go too in depth with (at least on your behalf, Mike doesn’t seem shy on talking about how he’s really into cars). 

 Eventually, you make the conscious decision of stopping yourself from taking anymore shots of soju because you realized by the second and a half glass, you’re starting to faintly feel the creeping affects of the alcohol, a light misting of inebriation blanketing your mind causing you to find it difficult to recall how much time has passed. So when Mike had offered to refill your glass, you politely decline. The bottle was still a little more than halfway done, and though Mike attempts to get you to help him out, you were steadfast in sobering up by the time you get to leave.

 Besides, the alcohol is starting to mess with your sense of judgment in which you can actually feel the deterioration of a rather vital thing to your conscious; a filter.

 Which brings you to eyeing your phone surreptitiously from under the table, what should’ve been just a peek to read Jaehee’s text reminding you to call her if you needed anything, turned into a rapidly growing curiosity of ‘what-ifs’ that involve a certain demon.

 What if you just…talk to him?

 You’re hearing Jaehee’s words echo in your head, though you swear somewhere in the back of your mind they’re way out of context. But the point of it remains; what would happen if you were to send a text to him? Would he be annoyed? Would he text back? Hell, you don’t even know if he’s still alive! What if his boss was unsatisfied with his work and just straight up burned him to a crisp with the infernal flames of hell?! Oh my god! Why haven’t you thought of that before?! Now it’s been over a week since you’ve last heard of him you’re so stupid—!

 “Hey, Y/N!” 

 “…Huh? Oh? Sorry did you say something?”

 Mike, who stares at you with a rather glazed look, pulls you from irrationally making one direct call to hell. A quick glance at the soju bottle tells you he’s made good work on it, coming down to the last glassful. A little pink in the face but he still looks way better than you would if you'd down that much soju. 

 “I was askin’ if you had a boyfriend.”

 Oh.

 “Um…’s been a while; got too busy with school and work.” 

 “So…do I have a chance with you?”

 …. HUH?

 You freeze, doing a double take. “W-What?”

 “You know, a chance to be with you…"

 Okay so you didn’t hear wrong. That still doesn’t mean you know how to respond to that appropriately. You didn’t want to hurt him because you’re sure it’s liquid courage that’s making him ask this, also the fact that he hasn’t done anything to upset you.

 “Aha…whoa uh,” You flounder through a nervous laugh because you’d rather get some sort of response out instead of remain silent. “I uh, I…dunno…?” 

 “What’s not to know?” He asks rather boldly and you’re completely taken aback. “I thought we had somethin’ goin’ on.” 

 “H-Hey, I think you’re a nice guy, but I don’t think I'm really looking for a relationship right now. I’m sorry if I lead you on somehow.” 

 “So would you ever love me?”

 Now you’re speechless, can’t really believe just how fast things have snowballed that it almost has your mind sobering up in an instant. You’ve tried your best to let him down gently but it’s like it’s not getting through to him. Perhaps you should take it as a sign as your cue to leave.

 “Uhh…I think I should go. You should go too! It’s…late. It’s been nice.” You slide out from the other side, clutching at your purse and phone. Your heart’s pounding in your chest again and you can feel it pulsing in your ear too. You fumble with shaky fingers to type in your phone’s lock code, getting it wrong twice before getting it right to tap on Jaehee’s number. You press the phone close to your ear, letting the dial tone ring as your feet take you out of the restaurant and onto the streets. The chilly night air does wonders in further clearing your mind but it also makes you painfully aware of how hot your face still feels.

 “Hey Y/N! How’s the date going?” Jaehee’s cheery voice comes through after the third ring. 

 “H-Hey Jaehee! Uh..um…I wouldn’t say well…? He might have had too much to drink so he sorta—“ You’re speed walking in the direction of your home, completely tunnel visioning so you fail to notice a pair of heavy footsteps fast approaching you from behind. A force almost knocks you over; you stumble forward in a mess of legs, fighting to stay upright the same time you feel your phone being ripped out of your grasp.

 “Jaehee? Is that you? Y-Yeah everythin’s okay! I’m okay! Y/N’s takin’ me home now, drank too much haha! She’s just lettin’ ya know! Yeah, yeah no don’t worry! Okay bye!” 

 By the time you’ve righted yourself, Mike’s hung up on Jaehee with the bullshit he’s spewed. You’re absolutely livid when you turn on him with a glare so piercing you’d think Jimin would be proud.

 “What's wrong with you?!” You yell out, trying to snatch your phone back but Mike who’s significantly taller than you, easily keeps it at bay with minimal effort. It only makes you fly more into a blinding rage.

 “W-Wait! Let’s head back to my place and chill?”

 “Like hell I would! Give me back my phone!” 

 “At least walk with me to the subway?” 

 You’re heaving with effort, energy exerted from your fail attempts at getting your phone and your pause to catch your breath must’ve made him think you were going to agree to his request because he’s looking at you hopefully. You wanted to laugh in his face but you’d rather face the devil himself at this point than be with this guy for another minute.

 “I’ll call you an Uber! Now give me my phone!” You seethe.

 “C’mon Y/N, don’t be like that. I’ve been nice to you so can you at least—“

 You swear steam is coming out of your ears at this point, your hands shaking at the audacity and just when you’ve locked in your choice to rugby tackle him with all your body mass, another voice cuts through the both of you.

 “I do believe the young lady said no.” His drawl is a bone-chilling calm that you could almost feel the temperature drop even further by it. 

 Under the flickering street lamp’s light, you catch a wisp of black smoke; the tendrils trail before fading out of sight over Mike’s shoulder. You follow it up until you reach Mike’s hand — the one holding your phone — where you see extra digits wrapped firmly around his wrist, nails digging into the skin. Mike’s head whips behind him alarmed, to reveal the shockingly beautiful face you’ve come to know.

 Jimin stands unperturbed behind Mike who visibly struggles against his hold, even when Jimin is at least a good inch shorter than him. His face an inscrutable mask and eyes swirling a deep garnet, the only thing betraying his utter displeasure.

 “H-Hey what the fuck man! Who are—ARGH!!” Mike’s exclamations turns into a howl of pain at the sounds of a crack, hand dropping your phone to which Jimin smoothly catches and lets him crumple to the ground to cradle his wrist. You step back to avoid being in his line of falling, mouth gaping and trying to catch up with what just happened. So far, you’ve only registered that Jimin is here.

 “Darling you’ll catch flies if you keep that up.” Jimin tuts, stepping over Mike’s curled up body. He takes your hand and places your phone in it and you’re in such disbelief that you nearly drop it. He still looks immaculate as ever, dressed in an all black except this time he’s wearing a cozy looking turtleneck under a leather jacket and fitted jeans. His hair is styled in the usual way it is — coiffed with a few strands hanging over his forehead with such volume that it made you envious— but you’re shocked to see that it was no longer plain silver; there’s a blueish tint to it now. The sight mesmerizes you.

 Jimin goes to say something teasing, you just know it as you see the upturn corner of his mouth but before he can get it out, a shuffling and a grunt from behind makes his face drop back into the frighteningly stony mask again, plush lips drawn into a line. You see Mike stumble to his feet, still clutching at his wrist while trying to burn a hole into the back of Jimin’s head. 

 It was then that you realize that Mike, a human much like yourself, is staring directly at Jimin and now that you think about it, he had also addressed Jimin when he first appeared just as he does now.

 “W-Who the fuck do you think you are?!” Mike growls. Jimin merely scoffs; you don’t need to see his face to know he’s probably rolled his eyes. But instead of addressing the angry man, Jimin slaps on a benevolent smile your way and begins to usher you.

 “Come darling, you must be cold standing out here and we really ought to get—“ He cuts himself off by reaching up and catching a flying fist aimed at him. You gasp out in shock at the speed and the suddenness of Mike actually having the balls to try to throw a punch. Eyes wide, you look up to gauge Jimin’s reaction to find that yes, he looks pissed; jaw clenched and eyes burning with hellfire itself.

 You let out a surprise yelp as Jimin clamps down on Mike’s fist and with little effort, flips him and begins to drag him off, heading to an alley concealed by shadows. You scurry after him after snapping out of your initial shock, panicked and stuttering out words incoherently because you are not going to have another dead body on your conscious, at least not someone who you actually knew no matter how douche-y he turned out to be.

 “I’ll break your other wrist, and then your legs, and then your neck. And if you want a tour of hell, come back three more times.” You hear Jimin spit out between gritted teeth, but you highly doubt it got through to Mike who’s too busy writhing, screaming and cursing from the ground.

 “Jimin! Wait, I said no killing! Jimin! Hey, you jerk! Listen to me!” You had to yell over Mike’s voice, wondering how it is that you guys haven’t woken up the whole neighbourhood yet as you push against Jimin’s very firm chest to get him to halt in his tracks.

 “Sweetie, not now. I need to enact the Lord’s good graces and teach this petulant human some manners.” 

 “That does not make any sense! And—SHUT UP!” The incessant yelling from Mike finally gets to you, having heard enough of his voice for the night as you impulsively deliver an adrenaline filled kick to his face. He knocks out immediately.

Jimin drops his hold on Mike’s fist with an unceremonious thump, bewildered. “Way to kill steal from me, pumpkin.”

 You gasp loudly, nerves shaken from what you just did and what Jimin has just told you as a new wave of rising panic sets in. “O-Oh my god did I actually kill him?! Is he dead?! I didn’t mean—!”

 Your demon guardian throws his head back, a boisterous laughter escaping him as he folds in on himself. You jump back startled and could only stare on in silent horror because of course he would find this funny and would be of no help!

 “J-Jimin! This isn’t funny! What are we gonna do now?!” 

 “Relax darling…” He finally wheezes out, straightening himself up while wiping the corner of his eyes. “He’s not dead, unfortunately; just K.O’ed by a swift kick to the face. Probably broke his nose though so good job on that.” 

 You gape like a fish out of water and all he does is stare back at you with the lingering traces of a fond smile that has your traitor of a heart skipping a beat. Damn him!

 “You—!” You start, huffing and puffing and though words escape you, your fists don’t as you land a hit on his chest. He takes it with little resistant, relenting himself as you let out your pent up frustrations. “You stupid jerk and your pretty stolen face! Just showing up like you own the place without even saying anything to me for more than a week! And then let some other stupid jerk try to get a jump on me! Some guardian demon you are! I could’ve just handled it all myself!” 

 You tire yourself out by the time you’re done your tirade, strength leaving your arms as they slap uselessly against the leather of his jacket until you stop altogether. Jimin’s quiet, the quietest you think he’s ever been. You refuse to make eye contact with him, staring determinedly down on his shiny black loafers but instead of some snarky comment about owing him for using him as a punching bag, you hear a shuffle of movement and then something heavy drapes over your shoulder, a waft of all too familiar vanilla lavender smell easing whatever remaining tension left in your body.

 Your gaze automatically whips up to his. He busies himself securing the jacket to you before his eyes wander to meet yours; the soft brown colour that stares back comforts you.

 “You’ve had a rough night darling, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there. So I’ll forgive you for beating up my Saint Laurent jacket and we’ll call it even?” 

 For a moment, you thought of scowling him and his love for name brand things but all you really want to do now is go home and fall asleep, so you nod softly, giving in. Jimin lets out a quiet chuff of amusement, hand coming up to stroke your hair with a gentleness that has your heart aching with the disgruntlement that you do miss having him by your side.

 “Y/N!” A shout freezes you up like cold water being dumped over your head as you whip towards the source of the call. To your astonishment, you see a familiar face running towards you, her figure unmistakable and as she draws nearer, you can see clearly who it is.

 It’s Jaehee.

 She slows to a stop, panting heavily from how hard she must’ve ran, shoulders slumped as she braces herself on her knees but even then she’s still trying to muster out words in between gasps of breath. “You called and….suddenly Mike was on the phone! Saying how he drank too much? That you were taking him home! And I just…I had such a bad feeling I had to… Are you okay?!”

 Jaehee makes to lunge at you but stops midway as she finally notices your frozen, wide eyed appearance and you see with pinpoint accuracy the way her eyes trail from your face to your shoulders to the extra hand on your shoulder all the way up to Jimin who is quite at a loss for words as well. 

 You watch with baited breath as she squints up at him with a gaze so fixated on analyzing him, a myriad of emotions flitting across her own face before she utters.

 “Have I…seen you from somewhere?”

[arkus-rhapsode]

Rhapsode Reacts: RWBY Volume 3

Hey guys, Rhapsode here. So I’ve been on the record numerous times saying I haven’t watched the internet series RWBY. I haven’t. However, I have a rather close mutual @remnantoforario who tells me about most of the series and characters. Seriously, I basically have experienced the plot through osmosis. Now me and remnant work on a lot of fanfiction stuff and general discussions of video games and manga. And highly suggest anyone who wants a more in depth look at RWBY to please check him out. He’s great.

Now due to the fact he has basically told me the series up this point, its kinda been a bit frustrating when I forget something and ask him to reiterate. So I decided to knuckle down and watch some of the series.

I helped remnant get a non RWBY fan opinion, by basically live-blogging him in our PMs. And I thought I had some level of humorous reactions and Remnant had some witty observations to my reactions.

Anyway, if you didn’t catch it the first time, I must repeat, I’m not coming at this from the perspective of a fan. I have very little emotional or personal enjoyment going in the series up to this point. If I say something that offends you as a fan, I’m sorry in advance.

With that out of the way, let’s dive in:

Oh that’s a sweet scene of Ruby at her mother’s grave.

Why would you start Team RWBY’s preliminary fight in the middle of it?

the Vytal Festival feels like it should be reversed: you should start with 1, then go to 2, then for your finals, 4. Or just do a solid 4 v 4 all tournament

Remnantoforario: I dont know what the purpose of the tournament is, or why anyone would want to participate. There is no prize 

Me: Bragging rights I guess. But the whole point of the festival is to celebrate peace. Lets celebrate piece with a bunch of kids beating each other up .

Ruby has a line of "we did it?" like she was surprised. Was that a concern? 

Like I understand the festival has been built up since the second volume, but there's a reason most good tournament arcs ease you into the first round. Its to reaffirm character motivation and actually show you what a fight would look like 

  I do appreciate some of the “show don't tell” moments like the one girl using a heat crystal in her skate board to free her teammate

But usually even if the first round is jobbers, they're at least presented as a threat. I never really got that. The tide seemed more and Rwby's favor, but I can't tell if that was always the case because we started in the middle of the fight

the pacing just feels like you can't handle the story, so it wants to get to the fight scenes to keep your attention 

Emerald is actually really funny, holy shit 

“How can they be so happy?” And “It’s the heiress and the bimbo” 

Still Weiss and Yang, better savor this duo while I can 

Neo’s gothic Lolita is cute. Though I feel like their match should’ve gotten a focus 

Like I mean not an episode but if they started with the instant eliminations of 1v1, I could easily see this cool intro of Rwby has met Emerald, Mercury, and Cinder, but then is shocked at who this fourth member even is 

OK I feel like the scene with Rwby and JNPR should’ve happened before the first round.  Given Nora’s rant would actually tie to Ruby’s whole “we won?” Surprise

“Cinder: Even if you know how the story ends that doesn’t make it any less fun to watch.” I’d agree with you if you know the story wasn’t Rwby. And it’s not really that fun to watch a bunch of fighting with no weight.

OK team JNPR vs team BRNZ is actually a much better introduction to the tournament than Rwby vs Abrn

We actually see how the field is chosen and we actually get some genuine strategy and coordination. And before all this we actually get some motivation about how the characters feel going into this battle

Me: OK why are these not the protagonists and why was this not episode one?

Remnantoforario: questions for the writers 

I got admit I’m not very much of a fan of melee weapons that also turn into guns and just kind of makes the purpose of melee fighters and ranged fighters pointless 

Logically it makes sense that if you’re making a weapon you do want it to have multiple functionality but at the same time it kind of makes a lot of that fighting less fun 

I mean what do you want to see more a team complete each other or just one person who can just do everything with the right weapon?

  Ehh OK the team meeting joke is running a tad too long

Okay, that was what I was mentioning before... Just cut out Nora with missiles. I feels more like a give and take as well as more unique to have that moment with her slamming on the ground 

“Crow Bar.” Oh you go to the corner for that pun.

OK that joke with Weiss and telling Indigo to beat up Neptune was timed and delivered really bad 

Also port makes a point that Sun is from Vacuo. Wouldn’t it be interesting if the leader or any membr of Indigo actually did know Sun from Vacuo?

I say that because no member of team Indigo has said anything, and it would at least add something unique to this fight

OK I have to bring up the weird use of western cartoon comedy

Neptune running up the mountain it’s super speed is kind of funny but this is also a fight I’m supposed to take seriously 

Nora and Ruby kind of get away with it given their powers but Neptune just ran up a mountain like it was nothing

What is the tone here?

Sage went out like a bitch 

you know if you wanted to eliminate someone to make me feel for this team being in trouble why didn’t you just eliminate Neptune? 

OK scarlet’s scene actually really works 

That nut joke didn’t. Again, tone? 

Me: Why would you sacrifice the two characters we don’t know anything about just to do Neptunes stupid joke?

Remnant: COMEDY 

OK this fight was bad 

Me: I get the idea indigo was a bunch of jobbers so you decided to play the comedy angle. OK, well then tone down the serious rock music, turn down the cartoon physics

Remnant: For reference. That was a post Monty fight 

I agree with Qrow, that was a mess

okay introduction to Winter is pretty good. Shame we don't really get that "Novice victory" vibe from their fight. Maybe if it last for more than 8 minutes and didn't start from the middle... 

okay see, I don't mid Winter and Qrow having a fight in the middle of the square as it helps serve as an introduction to the characters and flexes their strength

though Im also starting to notice something else that bugs me in the fights, no banter or introspection or comments

its just fight moves 

like there's times that's god, DBZ did it tons of times when its just Goku making "Hiyah" noises but there was still a bit of time to get in a line that both broke up the action and highlighted how two characters felt or through thought was able to give us a peek into their head

watching rwby fights makes me think, "This be better as a video game" 

so... does no woman in this world wear a bra? 

 Ironwood: “If you were one of my men, I'd have you shot!”

Okay, that can't be legal

Ironwood is kinda becoming my favorite character 

He's a flawed human being, and the narrative shows that, but it also shows he has a point 

Okay, yeah I see what you mean, all this Fall stuff is happening in the background which is nice, but there's no real plot with the tournament 

Okay Mercury and Emerald vs Coco and Yatsuhashi is actually really good 

not much character, but its actually more intimidating seeing how strong these two are. Wish the music had a bit more ambiance 

Okay, that's an interesting plot point. Qrow explaining how beating one high profile criminal hasn't stopped crime. And the fact there is zero crime is concerning and relating it back to Ironwood

Wow, its almost when you just slow down and lt characters breath and talk to each other and have them be characters without shoving in a fight scene, its pretty good

Why is team Cardin fighting a non faunus team? Feels like a waste of characters 

disappointing that Ciel doesn't know Penny is a robot

mainly because the way its queued up with Ciel seemed like she was only spending time with Penny because ordered and her attention to the schedule makes it seem like she is a soldier just having to play dress up for the robot to make it comfortable 

Me: Wow Weiss's heels...  Never noticed them. I just thought they were boots

Remnant: Nope heels 

Also Neon and Flynt actually have a pretty good intro 

We know what Atlas is like seeing Winter and Ironwood, so Neon and Flynt make an interesting and immediate contrast

And it feels like there is something riding on our opponents side given Flynts history with the Schnee. Which makes him stand out from the other jobbers

And Neon's intentionally irritating personality actually is more character displayed by any other opponent character

I actually really like the OST in the fight too. This might be my favorite action scene 

Flynt actually has a really cool semblance too 

oh wow, some actual dread with Weiss getting eliminated 

Imma let you get away with that Hulk reference Port

I like how Yang beat Flynt, but if I was gonna beat Neon, I'd have Yang punch the ground and through her off balance 

Haha Ironwood doesn't have a heart, I get it, he's tin man 

least they didn't go with Ozpin saying Qrow doesn't have a brain 

Me: So... If Pyrrha is all these things, why aren't we following her team?

So abridged version of the four seasons story Four random chicks find a guy camped out in his house, be nice to him and he gives them super powers. If I were a kid being told that, I’d demand another story 

Pyrrha: like a semblance?

Oz: Like magic!

Me: Like a semblance

Qrow is right, this selection is stupid 

You’re keeping a woman in your basement in cryogenic suspension. Oz you and Rhea need to share notes 

Oh god... Adam. You can’t act

Adam seems already psychopathic Or maybe that’s just his acting

So this is the famous Yang punching Mercury... It works I guess

Actually getting a chance to see some Jaune and Pyrrha moments in v3 and it’s good 

Me: Velvet is British? Huh... never predicted that 

Remnant: Australian 

How can Ruby notice Emerald all the way across the arena? Actually wait she’s the only one not in a black uniform 

Why did they leave Mercury behind where anyone could find him? 

And Penny is dead and I do not care at this point

Cinder’s little speech is the first time I’m actually feeling like I’m getting a villain motivation out of her 

She talks about how Oz and the headmasters are just men capable of making mistakes But she’s someone who would embrace and all powerful godly being. Though that seems and odds with the presumed motive that she’s working with Salem to potentially kill the brother gods

Okay, Blake and Weiss have a pretty good scene when all hell was breaking loose 

Ruby versus the big ass bird was actually pretty cool and the scene of everyone’s lockers being what puts it down is really clever 

Oh really cool scene of Port and Oobleck. Hey the fall is turning out pretty decent

Ironwood killing the wolf was pretty good 

Roman is a breath of fresh air as a villain. And it’s namely his acting 

You know I feel like you could let the more tertiary characters fight the robots while Weiss and Blake fight WF 

OK I repeat this is just become a video game. Giant dragon that spawns mini monsters in a destroyed town 

The spectacle fighting actually really works when your opponents are mindless and faceless brutes

You have Adam in a school full of terrified people, why aren’t you showing his nuance by showing he won’t hurt Faunus staff and is giving them an out? 

Velvet’s scene be cool if it was powers she was mimicking. Looking at a lot of weapons really doesn’t do much for me.

That said, this could work if she ended up copying the mech and fighting against it

Okay I feel like Weiss finally being able to summon something should’ve been done with a lot more gravitas

And Sun proceeds to be the best male character 

Neo is fucking beast. Y’know what, let her be final boss

Now I just have this image of Neo flying through the air with a sign reading “I’m Mary Poppins, Y’all”

Wow, Roman went out like a bitch 

Like zero build up just dead. And his replacement is Adam... There is no justice 

Ironwood: someone has done the unthinkable and taken control of my machines!

Watts: What? Like it’s hard? 

Blake and Yang holding hands on the ground after Yang lost an arm. Yeah that’s pretty shippy 

Also, I feel like the animation really limits a lot of the characters expressions. Like the time Ruby spent dwelling on her sister being mutilated is well timed. But usually a lot of the emotional devastation comes down to the expression.

a lot of faces seem stiff in transition expressions. Or they have this doll like quality 

The most expressive person seems to be Emerald 

Pyrrha and Jaune’s kiss is actually really tender 

Me: Okay how the hell is Cinder’s dress still managing to cover her loins? 

Remnant: maiden magic.

And Pyrrha died 

Are you done with the whole line of do you believe in destiny was fine Personally I would’ve also accepted the Ted Kord response, Rot in Hell.

Ruby went super saiyan 

Tai being the first person Ruby sees is nice 

Yang’s bitterness works here. Though given how I wasn’t feeling too much of the sisterly bond between the two, it’s probably not as hard hitting as they wanted 

Salem’s introduction isn’t bad 

so after watching V3. my final opinion is meh 

Strikes me as they wanted to the fall, and the tournament was just a lot of window dressing. Because the stuff with the Fall is the best part, but everything else has felt dull and fillery.

Maybe I’ll do this for the next season of a series I binge. But till next time, take care.

[queen-scribbles]

The Good Stuff

Prompted by @storyknitter, though not exactly in keeping with the prompt she pointed me toward(which just means I get to do it later :3)

---

One of the biggest downsides to a career like the military or Intelligence was that sometimes your bad days were so spectacularly awful they made the news and were common knowledge before you even got home. Which was why Briyoni detoured past a liquor store on the way back to her place. And why she dropped half paycheck on a bottle of Corellian Whisky. She had a feeling they would need the good stuff tonight.

She left the bottle on the table before heading back to her room to change into something more comfortable--in this case, shorts and a shirt emblazoned with the fading remnants of her favorite gravball team’s logo. Once comfortable, she returned to slouch in a chair and try to focus on the stack of datawork Garza had given her until Jonas showed up.

She didn’t have to wait long. She hadn’t even finished reading the first report when the door slid open. Jonas stepped inside, running one hand through his hair as he tapped the door controls with the other.

Bry dropped her datapad on the table even as she stood. “Hey, Jo.” He looked awful; disheveled, drained, with a beaut of a bruise coloring his right cheekbone.

“That bad, huh?” he tried to joke, flashing a lopsided smile. It didn’t reach his eyes, though, and faded quickly as Bry stepped forward to hug him. He leaned into the hug his arms settling around her shoulders as he rested his unbruised cheek against her temple. “Guess you saw the news, huh?”

“Yeah.” She rubbed his back. “I know this is a dumb question, but how’re you doing?”

Jonas inhaled deeply and hugged her tighter. “Been better,” he admitted, letting out the breath in a rush. “Also been worse.” He hesitated. “I know we had dinner plans, gorgeous-”

“Already canceled the reservations while I was changin’,” Bry cut him off. She reached up to carefully cup his jaw with one hand. “Figured you’d rather spend the evening in.”

A tired but genuine smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. “I love you,” he said, quiet yet emphatic, before kissing her forehead. He didn’t fully disengage from the hug when he started for the couch, pulling her along with him. Bry bit back a smile and grabbed her along with him. Bry bit back a smile and grabbed the whisky as they passed the table.

Rather than just drop onto the couch like she expected with how tired he seemed, Jonas sat slowly, pulling off his boots before he leaned back. It made her wonder how many other bruises he’d picked up in the course of today. Bry sat next to him, resting the whisky bottle on the floor as she settled in close enough to twine an arm around his shoulders and play with the hair at the nape of his neck. They sat in silence for several long moments, but she only felt his exhausted tension ease slightly.

“Full blown gang war’s been inevitable for a while now,” she finally said.  “Everyone’s seen it comin’, and that the SIS even tried-”

“Not in the mood to talk about it yet,” Jonas muttered, leaning his head back against the wall.

Bry slid her hand free, tickling the back of his neck as she did. “Sorry, sure.”

“Not something you need to apologize for,” he said. He squeezed her knee affectionately. “Just a topic that needs to wait until at least tomorrow.” 

“That’s fair,” she laughed wryly. “You wanna watch a trashy holovid and get pretty damn drunk?”

Jonas snorted. “And people wonder why I love you.”

Bry grinned. “It’s my charm, of course. And my excellent taste in booze.” She picked up the whisky bottle and balanced it on his knee.

He lifted his head up and leaned forward to read the label, wrapping his hand over hers around the neck, then shot her a disbelieving look. “What made you shell out for kriffin’ Corellian Whisky?”

She shrugged. “I had a feelin’ you’d need the good stuff after a day like today.”

“Thanks, but this is a little too good to waste on drowning out a bad day.” He smiled crookedly and squeezed her hand. “This is the kinda thing you save for something special.”

“I dunno,” Bry said breezily, trying to play casual. “My man walked away from a mess most wouldn’t’ve and some almost didn’t, that seems pretty special to me.”

That got an actual laugh(good, her plan was working) and Jonas wrapped his free arm around her shoulders to pull her in close enough for a kiss. “Thanks, gorgeous, but I really do think we should save this for something a little more widely considered a special occasion. What else d’you keep around here?”

“Alright, handsome, if you insist.” She winked and made a show of extricating herself to carry the whisky over to the cabinet where she kept its like. “We do have other options...”

“What’ve you got?” he asked, leaning back again and rubbing at a spot on his chest she would bet serious credits was another bruise.

“Let’s see...” Bry opened the cabinet, slid the Corellian Whisky in, and looked over the other beverages already stored there. “Got the old standbys; rodian ale, juma juice... half a bottle of Old Janx, uh, Deltron spiced wine...” she leaned around the edge of the cabinet to shoot him a sly look. “I have an almost untouched bottle of daranu in here if you you’re interested, Jo.”

Tired as he was, Jonas lifted his head enough to shoot her a dirty look--before actually seeming to consider it. “Y’know what, after a day like this, I could use something that hits like a kick in the face...”

“Haven’t you had your fill of that already?” she raised a brow pointedly at his bruised cheek.

“This?” Jonas gestured at the large purple-blue mark and waved dismissively.  “This is from the butt end of a scattergun, not someone’s foot.”

“Oh, yes, that’s worlds better,” Bry said dryly as she took him at his word and poured two glasses of daranu. This would make whatever they wound up watching far more entertaining. “Exactly the mental image I needed.”

“All the more reason to get it out of your head as quickly as as possible,” he countered with a tired smile. 

“Touché,” she laughed as she carried both glasses and the bottle back to the couch. “So, whaddya want to watch?” she asked, sinking down next to him and handing over one glass. “Doesn’t have to be a trashy holovid, or even a holovid at all. We can watch a gravball match or somethin’, if you’d rather.”

Jonas took a sip of his drink and shook his head. “Nothing with a chance of  cutting to the news. And for once, nothing... action-y. Beyond that... “ he rubbed his eyes with his free hand. “I’m too tired to pick, so, your call.”

Bry smiled sympathetically and rubbed his arm. “We don’t have to watch something, you know,” she pointed out. “We can just sit here in silence and enjoy a good stiff drink.” Not her preferred way to spend the evening, but if it was what he needed, she’d do it.

He shook his head again, taking a longer drink of daranu this time. “Watching something is fine, it’s just your call what.” 

She pursed her lips in thought, swirled her drink before taking a sip. “Mm. We could drunkenly trash talk our way through the sappy romance Sayna’s  been buggin’ me to watch.”

Jonas let out a soft laugh. “That’s not nice, Bry.”

“Well, then I’m gonna go with rewatching last season’s gravball championship match. We know who won”--she plucked at the front of her shirt with a smirk of lingering triumph--”so we don’t have to pay attention, but it was a good match if we do decide to pay attention.” She took a swig of her drink. “An’ drunkenly commentating gravball is always good.”

He snorted, but there was something forced about his casual tone. “Fine by me.”

“Gravball championship it is,” Bry crowed, and pulled up the recording she’d made of the match. As the familiar opening statistics scrolled across the screen, she settled back in, tucked under Jonas’ arm with her head against his shoulder by sheer habit. Jonas flinched ever so slightly, but settled his arm around her shoulders nevertheless. Their free hands sought each other out by equal habit, fingers intertwining as they rested against Bry’s shoulder.  They sat in comfortable silence for several minutes, as the sportscasters ran through the pregame chatter and the referee stated the game, then through the initial back and forth until Bry’s team scored.

“Right there,” she said, motioning toward the screen with her glass. “That right there is when I knew they were gonna win.” She took a large swallow, knocking she didn’t have long before the effects hit her, but savoring the sweet burn for the moment. “B’fore that was all team loyalty and bravado, but I knew right there that they would win.”

“Confidence has never been a weakness for you,” Jonas muttered, sounding distracted.

Bry shot a concerned glance in his direction. She couldn’t help wondering what the source of that distraction was, but she’d said she wouldn’t ask, so she wouldn’t ask. Instead she squeezed his hand and kept watching the game. 

They watched mostly in silence, and even the breaks in that were mostly her muttering admiration for clever moves or longshot goals she’d known were coming. Daranu was a strong drink once it kicked in, so they nursed each round, but the bottle was still over halfway empty(less than half full, Bry thought tipsily) when the game entered its third quarter and she felt Jonas finally truly relax. Maybe it was that, maybe it was the booze, maybe she was just turning into one of those worrywart fianceés she always rolled her eyes at in holovids. But she had to ask.

“Hey, Jo,” she began hesitantly, brushing her thumb softly over his knuckles. His hm? of acknowledgement was so faint she first wondered if she’d woken him up and then if she’d imagined it, but she pressed on. “Are... have bad days always been like this?”

“Nah, gorgeous.” He shifted and she faintly felt him kiss the top of her head. “I used to do my drinking alone.” A wry snort. “Occasionally with smuggled goods in a medcenter room.”

It was good to hear an edge of his usual humor creeping back into his voice. Even if  the implications of his words made her roll her eyes. “Jonas.”

“Hazard of the job, Bry.” Jonas slipped his hand free of hers and withdrew it enough to run his fingers lazily through her hair. “Even if it’s nowhere near the risk factor of yours, stuff does still happen.” 

“I know...” Her words trailed off, distracted by a cheer from the vidscreen. When she looked back over, he was watching her, one side of his mouth tugging up in the faintest hint of a smile. “What?”

“Right there,” he said, nodding toward the replay of the absolutely beautiful goal that had just been scored. “When we watched this live, you got  so excited at that score, you almost elbowed me in the face.” His smile widened, the flickering light of the vidscreen casting his features in sharp relief with pale blue light. That was one of the first moments some part of me realized we weren’t just another nothing serious. I almost got elbowed in the face on my own couch, and all I could think was how damn happy you looked your team was winning.”

Bry smirked. “I’ll hafta remember daranu makes you sappy as hell, Balkar.” She leaned in to kiss him.

“Daranu, the long hard day, the good company...” His fingers grazed her cheek.  “Take your pick.”

“Or maybe you’re always this sappy and just can’t hide it once there’s enough of the good stuff in ya?” She waggled her eyebrows and nudged the bottle.

“If I say yes, is daranu going to become your new weapon of choice?” He stole a slow, lingering kiss.

“Oh, darling, with you, it already is,” she laughed, reaching over to cup his jaw and curl her fingers around the back of his neck to pull him into an even longer kiss.  “Well, one of many,” she corrected herself as she resumed her original position. “Glad I make the hard days a little better in return, at least. You know, for all the teasing about sappiness.”

“It’s more than a little,” Jonas murmured, gratitude and relief oozing from the words. “You’re much better company than I ever expected to have.”

Bry simply hummed in reply, and they returned to silence for the rest of the game, then sat there still after it was finished. But it was comfortable silence, and he’d finally relaxed, so not a bad end to the day, even if it was long and hard enough they both drifted off on the couch, still nestled together.