#also yes I nearly caused a kitchen to go on fire

[dashflashy-arts]

Sanji can't catch a break. Also, don't leave Luffy alone in the kitchen. (idk how accurate this is I just based it on what I did bc my brain shuts down when it comes to being in the kitchen)

Bonus:

[ofpineapplesanddawns]

Non-angsty prompt coming up!!

Ineffable Husbands reacting to Trick or Treaters in honor of Halloween! (I feel like maybe trick or treating is bigger in America than England, but just pretend that they get trick or treaters!)

🎃

(I hope you feel better and things get easier! 💙)

That sounds cute!

This is Halloween in the South Downs.

On with the fic!

--

Crowley looked away from the television, where a cheesy vampire movie was playing, when they heard the sound of knocking at the front door. A grin came to them and they extended their fangs in excitement.

Halloween was one of Crowley's favorite times of the year, a night of tricks and pranks, of treats and frights, and a night where a demon could let their hair down in public without judgement! Also, Aziraphale made these really tasty pumpkin scones since the mid-2000s every year and Crowley really liked those.

As they jumped off the couch and made their way to the door, more of their appearance changed. Shoulder-length hair became longer, darker, thicker, almost snake-like in a sense, while scales of black and red peppered their skin like freckles.

Their eyes became fully yellow, the pupils long, thin slits, and their nails became long, sharp claws as they grabbed for something sitting on the side table at the door.

Crowley threw open the door and looked at the children standing there, all dressed up as things Crowley either knew or had no clue because it was something kids liked looking at online. Either way, there was a group, and they were all wanting something.

"Trick or treat!" They shouted, holding out their bags and pails for candies.

"Trick or treat, eh?" Crowley smirked, claws drumming on the large, plastic dish that was black and covered in little images of spiders in oranges and purples. "Which will it be?"

The kids looked a bit confused, before a little girl in a blue dog costume spoke up with glee. "A trick! A trick!"

"Oh? A trick? Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Cried a chorus of excited children.

"Weellll... I suppose one little trick..." They chuckled before opening their mouth wide, fire shooting out from it over their heads for just a moment. Crowley let out a soft cough, then licked their lips.

The kids looked at him in awe, then cheered, though Crowley swore he heard a snap among the shouts of 'do it again'.

"Ah, I said one little trick. That's all you get. Now, do you want some candy or not? Cause we've got full bars!" Crowley said holding out the bowl to the group, who happily snatched up a few bars, then scurried off, thanking 'Ms or Mr Fell-Crowley' as they ran down the dirt path, happily talking about how cool that was and how the Fell-Crowley's always have the best treats.

"Really dear, I know you love entertaining the children, but fire? Nearly burnt my wind chimes!"

Crowley snickered and turned to see Aziraphale, standing at the entrance to the kitchen, his face having a few smears of flour on it.

"The kids love when I do that kinda stuff!" Crowley said as they sat down the bowl, shutting the door with a flick of their wrist. They licked their thumb and used it to quickly wipe off Aziraphale's face when they approached. "How are the baked treats coming along?"

"Almost done, the retirement home is going to love them!" Aziraphale did a wiggle.

"Did you make those one things that Mavis was goin' on about? You did them for a book club a few months ago, right? She was ravin' about them at the knittin' club this week, said you promised."

"I made them, don't worry." There was a knock at the door. Aziraphale chuckled and gently gave Crowley a push towards it. "Go on, I'll finish up here."

"Alright, but when we head out, you need to look a bit more... spooky." Crowley said, heading for the door.

Aziraphale's exposed skin split in places, revealing dozens of eyes, that all rolled at once. "Does this work?"

"Perfect! Should make you hand out the candy if you're gonna do that!" Crowley cackled as they picked up the bowl once more, ready for the next batch of trick or treaters.

--

I'd like to think that Crowley and Aziraphale made friends with a bunch of the old people in the South Down area, just as Crowley would be friends with the kids.

[iluwmycats]

Gonna Hunt You Down (A Colin Zabel Story) Part.3

Colin Zabel x OC!Female

(Part.1) (Part.2)

Summary: Since they had lunch together, Hunter thinks about Colin and can't help but smile like an idiot. Because everything about this guy is so natural and sympathetic. As well as being sexy...

After a peaceful morning routin&breakfast, Hunter goes to her sister's school and finds out the "mean girls" scout of the school bullies her sister. And this makes her genuinely mad. Thankfully Colin, who is there to talk to a witness, manages to calm her down.

Word count: 3135 words

Warnings: Language, mentioning high school bullying, a lot of blushing >.<

Taglist/ @kaismanwich @yes-divine-ruler @blackroseguzzi @spill-the-t @oeudesorientado @witchyykitten @just-anotherstan @jetbl4ckhair99 @eventually27 @lili-tate @lollipopd

A/N: Hey! 👋🏼 Welcome back to this series! I really loved this Colin x Hunter duo and the chemistry between them. So here's a new episode for ya! Sorry for the delay, btw. I believe "Good things take time." is supremacy. So I have to give my 100% in everything I do. 🙈 Last but not least, I was inspired by Mare's mother when I wrote Hunter's. Cuz their cat-dog relationship was just gorgeous back in the show. 😭

I hope you like this hilarious part as much as I am! 💗

"Let's do this."

Hunter cracked an egg into the pan and began to stir it, a cheerful whistle escaping her lips. Her damp wavy hair fell over her shoulders and left small wet spots on her gray T-shirt.

“Oh my... look at that little savage!” Hunter’s mother appeared at the kitchen door with a raised eyebrow.

“Is she really smiling, or am I delusional?”

"What? What smile?" Hunter vanished her dreamy smile immediately and continued. "You're delusional!"

Frankly, she was thinking about yesterday, Colin's gentlemanlike manners, sweet talks, and prominent dimples. But of course, she was never gonna say these to her mom.

"My egg was nearly burning! Don't distract me." She warned her mother and quickly picked up his scrambled eggs with a spatula, placed them on his toast, then added a few slices of avocado & some spices. And voilà! It was ready to go down to her stomach. Hunter looked proud for a moment when she made an herbal tea for herself. It was definitely a delicious breakfast food with minimum effort.

"Are you a freaking Gordon Ramsy or something now?" Her mother teased her, laughing, but it didn't even bother Hunter.

"Oh, fuck off, Martha Stewart! This recipe is fire!"

She took a huge bite of her masterpiece and yelled, her eyes shut.

"OHH, YUMMY! That Gordan Ramsy guy can kiss my ass!"

Obviously, she was joking around. She is not a good cook but loves to pretend like she is. On the other hand, her mother was happy to see that Hunter had something other than cereal, bacon, or just bread for breakfast. But...

"Honey, you're a bit extra today."

Since Hunter started the day with unusual happiness, of course, this did not go unnoticed by her mother.

"I guess... I know the secret behind this joy." Her mother laughed meaningly and leaned against the door frame, observing her. At that moment, Hunter decided not to show her any color and ate her toast silently.

Yes, she woke up in a happy mood today. Because yesterday was pretty good. After a long time, she had a tasty burger & a large-sized cola. And also, finally, she had understood by a man after ages. So, Why shouldn't she be happy now?

"Go on, tell me about it. I'm all ears."

"What? What are you talkin' about?" Hunter slurred as if she didn't understand the question. She was nervously smiling.

"Oh, really?"

Her mother sighed and briefly rolled her eyes. Cause she knew pretty well that her daughter only smiles like an idiot if she catches feelings from someone. It was that simple yet quite rare for her at the same time. Cause Hunter usually prefers one-night stands and has never been in a relationship. But now, she thought it could be possible in the near future. Who knows?

"You know damn well what I'm talking about, young lady." Her mother continued. She was so curious about it.

"I'm asking, who was that eye candy beside you the other day? I saw you on my way home. And you two looked very intimate to me. So... I wanna know every detail."

Eye candy? Intimacy? Oh, come on, ma! She thought in frustration. Dammit! Sometimes this town is so freaking smaller than it is.

"Why the surprise face? Like you don't know him? How long have you been chatting, eh?"

As her mother started to wink mischievously, "OH, GOD!! STOP IT!" Hunter shouted with embarrassment, then shoved her last big bite into her mouth to avoid talking. She didn't want her mother to talk about Colin like he was her boyfriend or something. It was pretty embarrassing. Cause they didn't even friends in the first place.

But it looks like she will continue to deliberately embarrass her daughter.

"Oh, come on now! I'm your goddamn mother! And daughters always talk about their crushes to their moms! NOW, spill the beans already!

Hunter sighed. There was no way to escape, so...

"He was just a random guy," She replied casually. And then, "Actually... He's a police officer. A detective, like Mare." she added hesitantly, couldn't be sure whether to give her that information but...

“His name is Colin. And... He just moved into our town. Recently, he looked at Ms.Lange’s case with Mare. So yeah, I saw him a couple of times.”

She was suddenly acting timid.

"And yesterday... After visiting Ms.Lange at the hospital, he wanted to grab a bite somewhere. And... since he's a newbie and I'm a local girl, I took him to Apple Pie'rre. That's all. That's the story you hyped up about."

"Was that all?"

"Yeah! What else could it be?"

She looked like she didn’t believe her daughter one bit.

"Oh, don't even try to lie to me, girl! I'm your mother and also I’m a woman of love. I can sense these things. It was a date, right? Come on! Tell me the truth." Her mother said while wiggling her brows meaningly, thinking that she gave courage to her daughter to open up. But in fact, she was only embarrassing her.

"MOM, STOP IT!! You're being delusional again." Hunter wanted to hide her face from her mom but didn't do it. Because that would mean she accepted the allegation.

"God! Why are you blushing, then? You're being suspicious."

After a short denial session, she broke her silence.

"It was not a fucking date. Okay?" When Hunter threw a severe look at her mother, she felt compelled to step back involuntarily. Because she knew her daughter didn't like being backed into a corner.

"Alright... Whatever you say, cupcake. I believe you. Just let me know when things get intense, okay?"

Hunter didn't answer; she just took a sip of that herbal tea and continued to shake his knee nervously. She still couldn't believe she had let her mother interrogate her. Yet she had never told her mother about her love life (even her life) before. Why had she told her about Colin now? She didn't understand. It was a silly sloppy move of hers.

"Oh, sweetheart! I was just teasing you but okay, let's drop this conversation before your cheeks burn. Could you please hand me my water flask?" Again, her mother teased her one last time and immediately returned to their everyday conversation.

"I'm gonna go to my yoga class with the truck. So I hope you'll find a way to attend your sister's school meeting on time."

Hunter finished half of her tea and poured the rest into the sink. It got already cold, thanks to her mom (!)

"You know, I'll be there on time. I don't miss any of her school meetings."

"Alright, then. I'm off! Take care of yourself, honey."

She took the truck's keys and headed to the front door as Hunter lazily waved after her.

"Drive safely!"

Then, when the door closed, she couldn't help but scream at the kitchen walls in embarrassment.

"GOD! IT WAS JUST A LUNCH!!"

Hunter felt superheated in a way she didn't want to feel. But that was because of the stupid, unnecessary conversation just now. It had absolutely (!) nothing to do with last night's dream of Colin holding her. Not at all.

It's all because of that weird 'dating' talk.

“As if it could happen?" She spoke to herself, pressing her cold hands to her burning cheeks to cool them down.

Yeah… It was definitely because of that. Not the dream. She thought.

Not even a little bit.

Colin was happy for no reason that morning. He had woken up early, taken a hot shower, freshly shaved his face, and had an excellent breakfast with his mom. Before leaving the house, he had forgotten his coffee thermos, but it didn't bother him this time. Not at all.

"Alright, Zabes! Duty calls you." Colin talked to himself as he parked his car in front of the local high school. He had just visited here to talk to a teacher who had witnessed a stabbing incident last night and take his statement.

"Let's talk with that teacher and see what we got." Colin took his notepad and got out of the car by saying it himself.

The weather outside was much nicer today, and the sun warmly embraced his shoulders for the first time since he arrived in this town. So Colin did not regret not wearing his coat today.

He breathed in the fresh air and walked towards the school's front gate. It was almost lunchtime, but the bell hadn't rung yet. He didn't mind because it was a good thing the corridors were empty. So he could get to the teachers' lounge quickly to find the man. And that's what exactly happened.

"So... Mr. ...?"

"Calivanger."

"Yeah, Mr.Calivanger. Didn't you say you saw one more man at the crime scene?" Colin asked. The best thing he was good at was asking questions.

"Yes, I did, but I was confused back then. Cause, you know... It was pretty dark, and I was far from the crime scene."

"Where were you?"

"Oh, I was at my home and saw them from the window. When the man stabbed and fell on the ground, my wife told me to call the police. So..."

Colin slowly nodded when he wrote down what the man said. And suddenly, he missed the days when he was solving murder cases. In his previous station...

Here was a small town, and as he observed so far, generally, cases were just actual bodily harm. They were simple cases. But Colin didn't mind anymore. Because he eventually started to like this town.

Started to like the peace and closeness, the sunsets, the people, and especially a woman...

"Okay, Mr.Calibanger. Thank you for your cooperation. I wish you a nice day."

"Uh... Thank you, detective."

As he walked out the door, an angry shout was heard.

“Bitch, shut the fuck up!”

"Miss, can you please calm down? It was not a big deal. Let me tell you the scene all over."

A couple of girls and two women were discussing something over there. And Colin wondered what's the issue.

"What is happening there?"

"Uh... I don't know, but it looks like an angry parent." Mr.Calivanger replied anxiously. “I wouldn’t want to be there.”

Troublesome parents, Colin thought as he returned his gazes to them. Jeez... What is wrong with these people? It’s class time. Shouldn't they discuss it somewhere outside the building?

"Thanks again, Mr.Cali... banger," Colin faltered but continued anyway. "I'll take a look before I leave."

"It's Calivanger, dickhead." The teacher said in frustration, but Colin was already made his way to the end of the hallway where the fight was happening.

The closer he got, the more clearly he could hear their voices. And see their visuals... Unfortunately, there was a problem, and one of the actors in the scene was Hunter.

"Oh girl, whatchu doin' there?" He mumbled and stopped to watch them from a safe distance without making any sound.

They were still fighting over an issue. But what was the issue?

"Apparently, these bitches were bullying my sister the whole time. Unbelievable!”

Hunter held her sister's shoulder protectively and kept mercilessly roasting the teacher.

“How could you shut your eyes to this, Mrs.Markle? Look at that! Look at her face!"

Colin narrowed his eyes and saw the girl's blood stainted nose and red face, damaged by small scratch marks.

Oh my... He got shocked and felt sorry for the poor girl. Apparently, there was a HUGE bullying issue. And Hunter had a right to be overprotective right now. Although he was an only child, Colin knew what it felt like to see a loved one hurt.

"We didn't do anything! She wanted to care for my cat, but as you can see, she couldn't manage." One of the cheap Britney wannabes talked semi-crying. "My poor Wandle was literally terrorized by her. So stop yelling at us! We're innocent." And add a little sob at the end of her shitty speech. That was absolutely a play. And not even well-played.

"And also, we're minors. So you're technically bullying minors! You psycho bitch!"

Oh, girl... Colin thought, still watching the scene silently in the back. They're basically testing her patient.

"Oh fucking..." Hunter sighed and took a deep breath while she tried to keep her sanity. She looked so done at the moment.

"Okay, then explain the punch."

"What punch?" One of them asked while chewing her gum like she knew nothing about it.

"I'm talking about the punch your lousy cat threw at my sister!"

The girls thought for a moment, and one of them, the blonde one, broke the silence:

"Cats can't throw punches, silly."

"OH, MY GOD!! I'mma chop your empty head off!" Hunter yelled in rage and tried to walk up to them, but the school bell rang, and all the students started to run for their freedom. That way, Hunter's movement was interrupted.

"Please, calm down. I'm begging you. Let's talk about this in my office." The teacher suggested, but Hunter didn't even move an inch where she stood. She sure would turn those bitches 'slap maniacs' if they weren't at the school and were of legal age. Even Colin could assume that.

"Enough. Please, let's go. You're embarrassing me." Her sister begged her silently, but Hunter didn't reply or move. Instead, she stood there with her arms folded tightly across her chest, like a rock in a raging river. It was such an impressive pose that Colin could not take his eyes off her for a moment.

When the students vacated the hallway in seconds, the group was still there, and Hunter was ready to continue to fight as before.

"Just admit your quilt already, girls," Hunter suggested calmly. "I promise I won't hurt your pretty nails."

None of them spoke.

"We didn't do anything. Right, Lilly? Tell her." The redhead broke silence this time. It was clear from the timbre of her voice that they were putting pressure on Lilly.

"Y-Yeah, it's true. They didn't do anything to me. I just fell from a tree when I tried to save Wandle. Now, please, let's go. I'm hurt."

Hunter listened to her sister carefully and then -never wanted to but- decided to let it go. But of course, from now on, she would keep an eye on these three bully.

God... How long have they been using my sister like this? She thought in frustration. Why didn't I realize sooner? Also, they were only sixteen-seventeen. How can they be so cruel?

"Okay, Lily. I believe you. But if I see you like this again..."

Hunter threw dead glares at those three and continued, "I swear to God, I do what I gotta do."

The girls trembled with fear, knowing what Hunter was capable of, but they held their heads high and approved her. And Hunter's tantrum safely ended there.

"Good."

When the teacher and the girls almost ran away, Hunter hushed for a while. She was still taking deep breaths, trying to control the beast inside her.

"I'm sorry, Abe." Lilly's trembling voice was heard.

"Please don't tell Mom. I know I should've more-"

"Shut up, Lilly!" Hunter interrupted her, shouting. "Just shut your fucking mouth full of lies and go wait outside. I'll talk to you later at home when I calm down."

Lily didn't talk back. Instead, she just clenched her teeth and did what she was told. Her hair, blonde unlike her sister's, resembled a bird's nest from behind.

"Oh, God..."

As she left, Hunter sighed and stayed still for a few minutes. Then she turned around and found Colin right before her. The moment when she needed him the most... he was right there.

"Detective? Hi... What are you doing here?"

She realized her voice sounded fragile and weak but could do nothing.

"I... I just came to talk to a teacher about a case. But I gotta tell you, I didn't expect to see you."

"Yeah, me too."

As Colin watched her uncomfortable little moves, she averted her slightly full eyes. It was embarrassing for her to show her feelings to him again.

He's gonna think that I'm weak. She thought. But it was unnecessary thinking. Cause he hadn't changed his thoughts about her. She was still the strongest to him. Inside and outside.

"I wish it was a beautiful coincidence, but... I must say, though. You are a good sister."

"What?" Hunter blinked a few times in surprise and wondered, has he been watching them this whole time?

"I mean... It was bold of you to take on four people to protect your sister. And you handled it very well for a person with anger issues."

Colin wanted to cheer her up. Cause the tension and sadness around her were heavy that he could sense it.

"I'm not gonna lie. At first, I thought you would end up at the police station again, but you surprised me."

"I surprised myself too..." She giggled numbly.

"I'm sure you heard it often, but your sister doesn't look like you at all."

"Physically, right? Yeah." Hunter replied shortly. Her mind was a mess. She wanted to flee and find a hole to bury her miserable head like a fucking ostrich.

"She looked so angry when she left. Will she be okay? Not gonna check her?"

"Nah..." Hunter was so upset for scolding her, but what was done was done. "I... I don't think she wants to see me for a while."

"Why is that?" Colin asked like he didn't know the reason (like he didn't watch the whole scene). Basically, he did it to get her to talk. And it worked.

"I got mad at a couple of... girls." Hunter breathed to calm a little. "And I snapped at her, broke her heart badly. Well... I'm a hothead. Most of the time, I react without thinking and always regret things I did afterward. And I messed up this time too."

Colin was listening intently, trying to make sense of her every move. Hunter was a bit complicated woman.

"I guess... I wanted her to be tough like me at some point. I wanted her to be strong, confident, and even shady. That's why I'm outraged to see her beaten up by a bunch of Britney Spears wannabes."

Colin nodded to show that he understood her.

"I was very different from my sister in high school. Some said I was a bully too… but that's not the point."

No, that's the point. She thought. She was totally screwed up on this.

"I just... You know... I just wanted her to be strong. That's all."

She wanted to smile a little, but the lump in her throat didn't let her. Cause... Even if she's here for Lilly, her bad high school memories and triggered things were suffocating her again. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't escape. It was just too much for her, and just in seconds, tears gathered in her eyes and blurred her sight.

"Can I..."

When she held up her arms a little, Colin understood the assignment, quickly pulled her into his arms, and hugged her tightly. It was her relief moment cause the hug was precisely the same hug she had dreamed of.

So close, tight, warm, and full of intimacy...

"It's okay..." He whispered in her left ear with a low, reassuring voice. "It's okay to break your character sometimes."

Hunter felt safe when he patted her softly on the back.

"You've been trying to stay strong for a long time, right?"

As Hunter nodded, her tears fell on Colin's shoulder silently. She couldn't even remember the last time she had cried. It was a long ass time ago.

"Shhh... It's okay. I understand what you feel."

She couldn't help but let out a sigh. His low voice was just... so calming and soothing.

Ah... What has this man done to me? She thought.

How could he make me feel so good? With just a hug...

Hunter concluded that hugging was better than any migraine medicine.

"It felt so good."

She then responded to his hug with a pat on his back and gently whispered into his ear:

“Thank you.”

( Part 1 ) // ( Part 2 )

Thank you for reading! 💗

I finally decide the length of this series. I'm planning to write 8 chapters in total. I wrote a lot of lines for this fic, so I'm a bit nervous. I wanna use every line. I hope it turns out well. 🙏

Please feel free to leave comments. They give me the motivation to write. And also, remember to leave a like. 😋💫

[torchmlp]

Quarry ask! Which of the counselors do you think can cook, and which do you think are so bad at it, they could burn water?

Oooh this is a fun ask!

The obvious one who can cook would be Nick since he worked in the kitchen all summer. And I think he'd be really good at it. Obviously his ingredient choices would be limited at camp, but I bet he has a spice rack at home with everything in it, including those spices that no one has ever heard of. Whenever the counselors get together (I fully believe they would have potluck style get togethers), everyone always devours whatever Nick brings. In other words, get that boy a Kiss The Cook apron.

Abi I think would have a basic understanding of cooking. She can make most meals and can follow recipes without issue. I don't think she'd be into any of the real fancy stuff, though, preferring to make simpler meals. She cooks in bulk and then has a lot of leftovers so she doesn't have to worry about cooking every day.

Emma also has basic cooking skills, but I think she'd be more willing to experiment with different things, like looking up recipes online to try if they sound interesting. And then maybe she records it for her followers.

I think for Jacob and Kaitlyn (childhood bffs my beloved) it'd be really funny if Jacob was the one who could cook out of the two of them. And like, he's surprisingly good at it, not Nick levels of good, but still really good. Maybe he had to learn how to make healthy meals for himself when he was in sports because nutrition is important (it's not gonna stop him from splurging on peanut butter butterpops, though). He can also bake really well.

Kaitlyn, if left to her own devices, would eat cheap ramen every day. Could she learn how to cook? Yes. Does she care to learn how to cook? No. I do think she'd know how to make some traditional Chinese meals, but doesn't really bother cooking most days.

I fully subscribe to @ghostradiodylan's headcannon that Dylan is a disaster cook due to his ADHD. He would get distracted and forget that he was heating something until he'd smell smoke and by then it's burnt to a crisp. He just doesn't have the attention span to focus on cooking, especially with recipes that require waiting for something to boil or heat up. Maybe he could do crockpot meals where you just throw the ingredients in, turn it on, and forget about it until the end of the day. But mostly I think he would stick with easy microwave meals (just throw it in the microwave and heat it for however long and then it's ready. No other prep work) as long as he could hear the timer go off when it was ready.

Ryan can definitely cook. He probably learned more out of necessity than anything since he had to help take care of his sister. Maybe he finds it relaxing. I could see him learning some skills from his grandmother for his cooking.

I don't remember who said it in the quarry brainrot discord (come join us!) but Laura is definitely a grill master and has a Grill Daddy apron. The girl can make a mean steak/burger/ribs. I bet she even has her own smoker.

Max straight up can't cook. He's a kitchen disaster. One time he wanted to surprise Laura with breakfast in bed and it ended in him spilling pancake batter everywhere, burning the eggs, undercooking the bacon, and nearly causing a kitchen fire when the toaster short-circuited (he was saved by Laura waking up to the sound of the fire alarm going off and using the extinguisher on the poor toaster. She still said it was one of the best breakfasts she had ever had). He can't cook, but boy can he bake. @itscomingupaces said that Max can make a mean cheesecake and that's 100% true.

Thank you for the ask! What's everyone else's headcannons?

[tobeornottotc]

KinnPorsche Ep 1-10-Cigarettes: Vices and Playing With Fire

One of the most intriguing things in episode 10 was the return of cigarettes. In the show KinnPorsche, Porsche has a certain addiction to cigarettes it almost always gets him in trouble from nearly burning down the kitchen, beating Macau up, to giving Vegas an opportunity to speak to him and even in moments of trauma e.g episode 5. Porsche’s cigarette breaks have never been good however in episode 8 it seemed like he himself was done with the certain object motioning to Pete happily about how he’s ready to quit and start anew now he’s found something else to replace his need for smoking. We all cheered or well I did at this because surely it represented the start of Porsche staying away from trouble but also it showed how much Kinn made Porsche feel hopeful and excited about life again. Except…It all threw us off, this metaphor, when Kinn later on in episode 10 returned the cigarette to Porche. Sacre Bleu cigarettes are a bad omen no? Why is Kinn giving Porsche a cigarette instead of quenching it out or taking it away from him. I’m not sure I like where this is going. This was so confusing it made us try to come up with good motifs for cigarettes and more. But I’m going to break it down a bit more. It is a massive red flag, a massive red neon sign warning us that these two may have found each other and are each other’s catalysts for good and freedom however they’re also meant to be each other’s entrapment. Let me explain.

Let’s go back to how cigarettes have been presented in this show. For Porsche, if Green is always a bad sign of danger, cigarettes are just that too. In fact it’s interesting how much KinnPorsche puts a focus on cigarettes. In the first BOC promos for this show we see KP in the rain, dancing around in the dark, Porsche looking at mirrors darkly and then smoking cigarettes, then Kinn later embracing him and also giving him a cigarette from his mouth to his. Just, first of all, I think if you all haven’t seen those BOC promos you should go se them because they foreshadowed a lot of the meta the show takes steps to consistently show with symbols of fire, trust, mirrors and even colors etc… It’s a minefield of so much goodness. But yes cigarettes are a thing, Porsche uses it to calm down each time the world seems like it’s slipping away from him, it’s one of his vices, something that relaxes him and gives him time to breath and think. However unlike meditation which is what he tried to replace it with in episode  9, smoking causes chaos around Porsche.

Smoking is not a good thing in KinnPorsche. It represents danger. Porsche consistently puts himself in positions of hurt and chaos each time a cigarette is at his lips, or aimed for his lips. Cigarettes bring so much errors, from being a catalyst to fire that causes Kinn to be soaked with water in episode 2, to needing another smoke break and seeing Macau for the first time and almost getting himself killed. Smoking always leads to Porsche making an impulsive error and it has a consequence.

 Vegas lighting the fire to Porsche’s cigarette in episode 4 was also a warning sign, by letting Vegas into that space Porsche let someone who was going to again cause his impulsiveness and rashness to result in chaos and hurt. And it does in episode 10, it leads to Porsche almost upending all of Kinn’s plans to uncover who is putting his life in danger. Smoking represents irrationality, impulse, and harm, and yet Porsche seeks it until the presence of Kinn, the love of Kinn actually makes him want to slow down and find a different way, the opposite of impulse and chaos meditation. Yet Kinn once again lit the fire consumed cigarettes himself (too many times) and then returned that chaos and sign of peril back to Porsche. Why?

Let’s breakdown Cigarettes symbolically for you all. The two things/themes that cigarettes align to in KinnPorsche is one addiction and the second, fire. These are two themes that are secretly interlaced in the subtext of this show especially with this couple. Let me break it down even more

Vices and Addiction

Addiction as a theme in KinnPorsche isn’t fully talked about, each character have their own vices or things they run to that give them pleasure from the world they’re in. Kinn’s drinking is an extreme habit that isn’t talked about in the show, but shown visually, he either does it each time he puts on his mask as the cruel mafia heir or each time he needs to pose and show his authority, and he also does it when stressed. Porsche’s as mentioned is his impulsiveness and smoking, Porsche surrounds himself with jokes and comedy to mask his feelings at times, but he runs to cigarettes and physical touch (he’s starved of it) as his comfort. Vegas is the opposite and views pain as his, he loses himself in seeing people hurt and also in hurting himself, he’s become numb to the emotions of pain and views it as one of the only things he can embrace in a different way mentally. Pete also has cigarettes as his vices, but we don’t fully connect him to that, because we still haven’t seen the real Pete, they’ll explain soon what he actually is addicted to later. Either these addictive vices aren’t meant to be great, they all cause harm one way or another, and they focus on numbing of the chaos around the characters. They’re just temporary solutions to escape from the wreckage they face each day. Which is why I think it’s really important to note that Kinn smokes heavily once after Tawan’s exposed and the destruction he imposed, when he’s surrounded by the breakdown around him, it’s messy, loud and chaotic this world he’s in and he has to somehow deal with that pressure, all around him lies bodies, screams, and tears from everyone, people mourning his loyal bodyguard etc, there’s a lot both Vegas and Kinn have had to encounter and because of this they need something a way out to deal with this. Kinn in his tattered clothes surrounded in pain, while taking a cigarette is a powerful visual of how he’s not okay but he’s trying to numb it all out by focusing on instead the cigarette’s warmth.

There in lies an irony, these vices are meant to be freeing but they end up hurting the ones who need them. This is the thing with addiction. In KinnPorsche, the theme of KP is the struggle of freedom vs entrapment. This theme is fully explained and explored in episode 6 where you see these twos characterisation is based on it, they both have duties and responsibilities that strip them of the identity they want to be, they both have symbolisms in that forest scene suggesting how trapped they are, with the idea of the handcuffs, the forest it’s self and finally also each other. These two feel free together because the latter make them escape their roles and obligations for a while, Porsche can be pampered and cared for by someone else, and Kinn can remove his masks and smile and be childish in that space. It’s so freeing in the handcuffs that Kinn wants to stay trapped in the forest than return back to the outside. Because the biggest symbol for entrapment that persists through out this whole show is the mafia family itself. This is what makes me talk about this the most. It is the pressure and need for everyone apart from Porsche to survive and become efficient for this family despite it not being what they want. For Porsche in episode 6 he’s given a way out or so he and Kinn thinks, yet he finds himself in the same exact loop, the same exact starting point with Kinn as the reason for why he returns and situates himself in the degradation of his morality and more. For Porsche the mafia world was meant to be seen as a trap from episode 1, he fought to escape it, the duties, the lack of identity and power imposed on him as a bodyguard and the loss of proximity to his brother. He fought to return back and yet in the time it could happen it’s a sad realisation that once he entered into this world there was no going back.

This is where addiction is harmful. There’s a loop, despite the harmfulness and fear of it’s consequences like the cigarettes causes, Porsche ended up ironically being ensnared by something else to fully embrace his role as the queen on the chessboard. Remember the chessboard also signifies the trapping of these characters, the lack of will because all pieces on the chessboard are controlled by the player not the other way round, they’re all pawns despite the fact they have different roles and positions. Porsche was chosen by Korn from the start with the plans to add him to this game with a set position and because of that he was never going to have a chance to leave. That’s what’s dark about this type of addiction. Because what ended up caging Porsche into this is not Korn himself but Kinn. See why Kinn giving Porsche the cigarette is a warning now? Porsche’s feelings for Kinn in a world where love is meant to be weakness is both freeing and destructive. Like the cigarette its self. Kinn’s presence in Porsche’s life, erodes his morality, his identity (or what he thinks is his identity) and his will. This doesn’t mean Kinn means to be that symbol in Porsche’s life, that bringer of chaos and destruction, but he just does because his position requires it, as the King of the chessboard he can’t help but lead people to have to sacrifice something for him. It’s something he also knows about and can’t escape from. Love is meant to be this great thing for KP, it makes them escape and see each other, and feel liberated, but it also unfortunately is a trap, it’s luring Porsche into the wreckage of the mafia world more closer and closer, and because he took that step back in episode 7-14 have been if you have noticed more darker, and serious because Porsche is slowly realising what he’s been put into. As much as Kinn is a lovely gift, the mafia world is still a cage and every character on this show are imprisoned by it.

For Porsche Kinn returning back the cigarettes, the very thing he’s trying to quit, the very thing he’s trying to stop because it hurts and leads to damages and horrifying consequences, he ends up being lured back in to do so by Kinn giving  it back to him. This isn’t a positive sign it’s foreshadowing of what’s to come. Kinn is Porsche’s biggest vice, and as episode 10-14 unveils the choices of being free with Kinn and himself, vs losing his family, and himself as well is going to be Porsche’s biggest obstacles, from his brother being hurt by the mafia world already, to his uncle and other secrets that are going to be revealed showing up, Porsche will have no choice but to choose to be a puppet to Kinn’s world, to be with him, or to escape and leave Kinn alone on that throne. Porsche’s role as the queen is the most important in the chess board, the queen is the most powerful, the strongest and most loyal, and yet the queen also has no voice, the chess game is about the King’s win or defeat, even in both the queen has no choice in the matter but to serve him and fulfil her purpose, either captured by his defeat or a weapon at his side. Porsche’s arc to become the queen of the chessboard also then parallels his arc to become the phoenix and this brings us to the next symbol in KP that represents danger and destruction fire the very thing that lights up a cigarette.

Fire and Phoenix

Once Porsche mentioned in episode 4 about his tattoo, and his mum giving him the role and responsibility to be like a phoenix and rise from the ashes we all knew Porsche was connected to fire. When Kinn mentioned in episode 6 how he and fire get each other, we also squealed and knew this was intentional, Kinn was the fire to Porsche’s phoenix. This was great because they connect and it meant how Kinn would be the catalyst to Porsche’s transformation, rebirth and growth (things connected to the phoenix rise). But I also mentioned it’s a warning, because the process to get a phoenix to rise from the ashes, is to first make them the ashes. As in fire takes the life of the phoenix and isn’t a wonderful thing. This again the irony of KP, the thing that brings strength, and transformation and growth, is the very thing that also takes it away in a hurtful process. Fire is a catalyst but it is also harmful. See how this is similar to the cigarettes. 

When Vegas first interacts properly with Porsche he lights up his cigarette, I noticed this and knew it meant fire was bad not good, when Kinn mentioned about fire in episode 6 I sighed while others rejoiced, because the meaning of fire is still bad despite the fact that yes Kinn is also a source  of fire, and he does bring fire into Porsche’s life. Just like he returned the cigarette to Porsche in episode 10. Vegas brings fire that’s destructive, he brings wounds, pain, and trauma along with his fire, he represents turmoil and disarray with the fire he brings, and Porsche accepts it until it’s shown to him how much that fire (an explosion by Tawan) destroys everything it touches mercilessly and cruelly. Vegas’s actions took away Big, it broke Porchay and it almost obliterated KP relationship and their life. Again upon seeing Vegas as a symbol for fire, we know again that fire is bad. But Kinn is also connected to fire… That’s the dark and scary thing. 

I always motion though the show hasn’t given me my evidence that if Porsche is the phoenix, Kinn is the dragon, he’s had to be cruel to protect those precious to him and he's constantly hunted and entrapped with all his power and wealth but he’s lonely and scared. But I also said this because a dragon breaths you guessed it, fire. Kinn isn’t fire its self but he’s acquainted to it, he’s intertwined with it, this is what he means when he explains Fire and him get each other in episode 6. Kinn was made in the flames, he is surrounded by the flames constantly and he also has to bring out the flames to protect his life and his loved ones. Kinn isn’t fire but he’s the source of fire. Just like he was the one who isn’t the chaos in Porsche’s life but he’s the one who brought him into it. Again Porsche’s feelings for Kinn are the reason for why he settles into this trap of Korn, it’s Kinn he's thinking of, protecting and needing even when his brother brings up an ultimatum, Porsche focuses on the fact that being on Kinn feels good (something he’s never had before) and he wants to keep that even if it means destroying everything else. What does fire to do to a Phoenix before it leads to rebirth? Erosion. It burns the phoenix away, the old phoenix.

 Porsche’s phoenix , metaphor is connected to his mother’s promise for him to stay alive (i.e avoid fire) until his brother is safe and protected. Porsche’s mum’s words became one of the weights of his life, it took away from him his own freedom (not Porchay), Porsche lost his identity and only focused on that and as a kid he was traumatised with a heavy burden and never got to deal with it until he met Kinn, he never got to find someone who provided solace for that child within him until Kinn showed up and cared for him. Here lies the issue, in order for Porsche to be his happiest he’d have to let his mother’s words go and let his brother know him, and see him. This is erosion. 

Kinn bringing Porsche into the mafia world not burned away his sense of identity (his mother’s promise) but it burned down his relation to immorality (as he mentioned in episode 3 this was the last thing he wanted to do because it was people like Kinn who used to make him fear for his life constantly as a child because of debt). These conversations aren’t forgotten, Porsche’s acceptance of immorality and letting himself be comfortable with the violence and chaos in the mafia world isn’t forgotten it’s just seeming that way because he himself isn’t recognising the erosion of his old identity. Now you can view this in a good way, for a phoenix erosion isn’t bad it’s good it leads to rebirth, it leads to change and transformation and resignation of purpose. 

This is good for Porsche because this world and Kinn unveils what he’s good at and lets him be selfish for once. However people keep forgetting that in order for a phoenix to get there they have to burned and this isn’t painless, it’s the worst type of pain to endure. Kinn being the source of fire to Porsche’s phoenix isn’t meant to be a romantic comedic thing it’s also meant to be dark and conflicting and complex. It’s meant to hurt and traumatise him before he rises from it. Being with Kinn isn’t just good, it’s also painful and this is what Porsche accepting the cigarette from Kinn is. The ost for this show is called Freefall in both versions of the song KP sing to each other about recognising they’re falling into chaos, it’s scary and all around them isn’t great but together they will be fine because they will be in each other’s arms, this doesn’t mean they’ll be safe, or not hurt, or comfortable, it means they’re literally choosing to fall despite it being bad and leading to consequences. By choosing each other they choose danger and pain but they also choose freedom. It’s painfully ironic.

So yes the sudden influx of Kinn smoking isn’t a good sign, it means he’s being stressed with the burden and weight required of him, it’s making him realise how much he can’t escape bringing damage to others by his position, it’s difficult for him to process it so he numbs himself to it, and pushes it back and he ends up also avoiding everything else to be in Porsche’s arms at the end. That moment of solace for them in episode 10 is painful because they refuse to communicate about what’s happening (a warning sign) about trust issues, they choose to forget it and just hold each other, but it leads to dire consequences, Pete being left in the flames, and Porsche being left to deal with the consequences of the destruction around him. Being free with each other leads to consequences, that can’t be just forgotten or pushed away so it’s a warning sign that nothing is good at the moment in the show.

Kinn giving Porsche the cigarette a symbol of addiction and impulsive chaos, and a symbol of destruction and agonizing fire is meant to be freeing and good, but in the end it foreshadows that with these two it’s not roses at all, in fact they are each other’s doom and prison as much as they are each other’s independence and contentment. How ironic.  The rest of the episodes will focus on Porsche coming to this truth, and struggling against himself which is more worth it, it’s going to be a very heavy choice as with this world, it’s not just black and white it’s bloody red, morally grey and full of wickedness and anguish. Sorry but you guys had to know. KP is a romantic comedy but it also is a dark mafia series, ironically it’s the same thing for KP with the light comes the dark with this drama and it means there will be more dark to come. Sigh.

[kireijae]

njm. 20:39

“but you with your doll’s lashes, your infinite t-shirts […] the boy with the plan.” — ‘the man with the axe’ by lorde

pairing: jaemin x reader

genre: fluff, pining

a/n: this song reminds me so much of nana esp those two lines i quoted ugh i’m in love! also repost bc tumblr tags are faephobic

♡‧₊˚ ↴

jaemin seemed different in this light. the fire further warmed up his skin tone. maybe it was the soju, though you’d only had a couple sips from jeno’s glass. perhaps the sentimental air swirling around the fireplace and through everyone’s hair. or maybe it was just him.

“jaemin!” the sound of jeno calling his name ripped you out of your stupor. you looked around, anxiously hoping not to meet anyone’s eyes.

“are you going to grill the meat?” jaemin laughed at the passive aggressive tone in jeno’s voice.

“yeah, just give me a minute,” jaemin didn’t look up from his phone where his fingers were tapping away.

jeno got curious, his body leaning over the camping chair the other boy was hunched over on.

“who ya textin’?” he asked in a tone that sounded much too much like isabella from phineas and ferb.

jaemin looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed, “my mom.”

“oh really?” jeno seemed not to believe him as he lifted a brow.

jaemin looked at you quickly, causing you to widen your eyes and shoot your gaze in chenle’s direction. he was at least doing something interesting— nearly falling off his chair watching stephen curry play— so you wouldn’t seem too weird for looking at him.

“yes,” you heard jaemin say almost irritatedly, “she was just telling me some advice her broker gave her.”

“of course,” jeno sighed and you heard him sit in a chair nearby “that’s just like you, grandpa.”

you turned your head back to them, “‘grandpa’?” you questioned.

“all he does is adulting stuff,” jeno explains, “plans for the future and invests and blah blah blah.”

“don’t ask me for money when you’re old and you’ve spent all your life earnings on popcorn and bikes,” jaemin quipped back.

how did you find that attractive? he’s smart with money and it makes your cheeks hotter? you were down horrendous. luckily the fire in front of you could be another explanation for your cheeks heating up. and your hands getting slightly sweaty.

“jaemin!” mark was the one yelling this time, only from the kitchen, “can you start on the meat?”

“sure thing!” he yelled back, standing up and putting his phone back in his pocket. “can you help?”

he was looking at you when he made the request, but you placed your hand on your chest in question anyway.

“only if you want?” he said, reaching his hand out for you to take.

you put your hand in his and instantly regretted it. you felt your heart swell at the touch. you’d fallen for your best friend’s best friend. in the space of a month.

♡‧₊˚

[104thsquadfam]

@ssatxr​​                           Happy Birthday~

     It was another day for the people of Paradis Island, they went about their day like any other...selling their goods in the markets, kids going to school to learn, Military Police....well they were just lazing about like they always did while the Garrisons patrolled the towns and walls. Yes today was an average day for most.....

     But not for the Survey Corp, today was someone’s special birthday, someone who was considered a dear ally who’s helped them through thick and thin, a friend, a daughter figure and little sister figure. In fact they meant so much to them that they took today to set up a surprise for this person, the permission for this event was approved by Commander Erwin Smith and the entire event was planned out by Captain Levi Ackermann who left no room for error....seriously if you put something it shouldn’t have been you could forget about even attending the event cause you’d be to busy recovering in the infirmary.

     The 104th and other scouts were helping set everything up since they had all agreed together to do this before approaching Erwin and Levi about it. While everyone worked to prepare things in the mess hall for this celebration, Connie and Sasha were in charge of keeping Midnight away and were only allowed to come back with her once the signal was given.

      “--So anyways that’s how I got stuck with three weeks of leaning duty! I’m sure Captain Levi forgives me by now but he’s so scary I don’t want to get on his bad side.” Connie laughed after sharing a story on how he’d made a complete mess of the kitchen and nearly set it on fire. It was fine he was used to messing some things up who didn’t??

     Sasha laughed a little as they both walked with Midnight in the middle of them “ Anyways I hope you don’t have anything planned today Midnight cause we really wanted to hang out with you all day....and night if that’s okay with you.” the brunette would smile a bit to her friend. She was about to say something else until Connie shouted “ It’s the signal!” which in turn had her gazing at the sky at the green signal flare.

     The two beamed as they each grabbed hold of Midnights arms and dragged her along towards the Survey Corps barracks “ Come on!” they’d both exclaim suddenly giddy, they really hoped she liked the surprise! Or at least didn’t feel too overwhelmed by it.

     Sasha couldn’t wait! All the food that would be there! Ah....of course she was also excited to see Midnights face when she saw her little surprise....but she was also excited for the food. And the fact that everyone made something even Captain Levi...what did his food taste like ? Did Commander Erwin also make food? Wait...did Ymir make something?

     All these thoughts flooded her mind all at once as they approached the Barracks, it looked abandoned but Connie and Sasha  didn’t seem too concerned with the lack of scouts that were usually around “ Okay here we are.” Sasha smiled as both she and Connie placed their hands on the mess halls large doors before swinging the doors open, well if she was wondering where everyone was now she knew as they all shouted in unison and stood there welcoming her as she was pulled in by Connie and Sasha.

     “SURPRISE ! Happy Birthday Midnight!” 

     All the scouts cheered and in no time they rushed the girl to surround her, luckily for her Reiner was the one to lift her up onto his shoulders while everyone continued to wish her a happy birthday “ Not what you expected huh?” the blond smiled over to her as he moved his free hand to her face pinching her nose a little, at least the one that wasn’t holding Midnight on his shoulder.

     “ Look at you getting the war hero treatment, how does it feel to have everyone cheering you on? Hopefully it’s not too stressful.” he’d chuckle a bit only setting her down on the ground once Erwin asked everyone to give her some space and looked down at her with a slight smile “ The others informed me that it was your birthday, so we all came together to do something for you. I hope we have not overstepped out boundaries in doing so.” 

     “ Try not to make a damn mess.” Levi says to them, that same indifferent look on his face as usual as everyone froze for a moment to look over at him “ Ah...yes sir Captain Levi!” they quickly responded “ Relax...I’m only joking it’s not like you lot are gonna be tame just clean up when you’re done.” 

     Sure Levi wasn’t the biggest fan of the place being turned into a mad house but he wasn’t going to rain on their parade...at least not today he wasn’t for Midnights sake “ Yo, Midnight so you’re an old hag now huh?” Ymir said with a smirk getting a punch to the side by Christa, which was as effective as a soft plush toy hitting her “ Ymir! You don’t have to be mean to her on her birthday!.” the small blond frowned up at her, which in turn only made Ymir chuckle more “ Relaaax she knows I’m just messing with her.” 

     Was she? Who knows she assumed Midnight knew when Ymir was just joking with her by now if she didn’t, oh well not her problem. Christa only continued to frown at Ymir before looking over to Midnight with a smile “ Happy Birthday Midnight I hope you like the gift I got you!” she says holding a small gift out to her “ Oh but open it later we made so much food to celebrate ! Everyone pitched in so I hope it all tastes good and that you’re able to enjoy yourself.” 

     “ Try not to eat to much though....you’ll upset your stomach...” Mikasa added from the crowd, watching the other female before feeling a hand on her shoulder to see Jean “ How’s she supposed to get drunk if she doesn’t have a little bit of fun? Besides we’ll be here to keep an eye on her and if we’re drunk too we have the Commander and Captain.” though he knew that they wouldn’t be baby sitting them...at least Levi wouldn’t, Erwin just might.

    “ Alright now that we have all that settled let’s go get this party started!!” Sasha shouted as the others agreed grabbing Midnight and moving her away from the door...where Bertholdt was shutting it so keep the noise to a minimum, there was no doubt that this party would go on through out the night....let’s just see how long the birthday girl could last with a bunch of drunk scouts cheering her on. 

[empressofthesunwriter]

The Stick of Truth

Codename: Dovahkiin Part 1!

N.K. is angry at her parents. Not only did they move again, no, but they moved into a snowy hicktown named South Park! She was sure she would hate it there, yet surprisingly she gets to participate in the epic RPG the kids play and falls for the human princess and the elf king. Who is friend, who is foe and which side should she choose?

Main Pairing: New Kid/Kenny McCormick/Kyle Broflovski

Chapter 8: Your Guide to Be a Goth

In the morning I wake up, thanks to my ringing smartphone.

I blink sleepily and yawn.

I feel like a trunk hit me.

Urgh.

Wondering who is calling me, I pick up the phone.

I grunt a greeting.

“N.K.? Are you okay? You sound pissed off.”, say’s a female voice.

I need a second to register, who is talking to me.

Oh right, there was the space adventure I had last night!

“Tammy, hi sis!”, I say back. “Sorry, I’m still half asleep.”

“Yeah, I feel you. I called you to check if you are doing okay?”

“I should ask you that. You nearly got ass raped.”

I can imagine that she is making a face.

“Don’t remind me. Anyway, school got canceled for the next few days. My mom told me there was a huge earthquake!”

That’s interesting.

I sit up on the bed and put my glasses on.

“I have the feeling we caused the earthquake with the crash landing we did.”, I tell her.

“Same.”, she agrees. “I hope no one finds out. Since we are free, do you wanna do something today?”

Aww, did I hear right? Tammy wants to spend the day with me!

“Girl, I’m so on board. When should we meet up?”, I ask excitedly.

“Well, the mall is out of the question how about after lunch we meet at Tweek Bro’s?”

Now I make a face.

“Tam, they put drugs in the coffee, let’s not!”

“For real? Thank the lord I never drank any. Okay, how about cinema? We could watch a movie.”

“That’s a plan. Let’s do this.”

We agree on a time and then hung up.

Happily, I jump out of bed and start my morning routine. You know washing and then dressing.

Humming the first opening of Demon Slayer I make my way to the kitchen.

“Morning Mamma, morning Papà!”, I greet my parents.

Papà is reading the newspaper, while Mamma is making pancakes.

Oh yes, this day starts awesome!

“Morning my princess.”, greets Papà back.

“Sit down N.K., the pancakes are nearly done.”, informs Mamma.

Grinning I give her a cheek kiss and then Papà one as I sit down on the table with him.

Mamma serves the pancakes and we dig in.

My parents tell me as Tammy did, that school got canceled for a few days. They tell me to enjoy this extra free time and to make new friends.

Well, I sure will get to know better Tammy and there are also Kenny and my other fourth-grade buddies.

We will probably still play our RPG.

I wonder if I somehow I can convince them to let Tammy join? Would she even want that? I mean we kicked ass together on the alien ship, but LARPing is something different.

I will ask her when I meet up with her.

For now, I’m done with my breakfast and ask my parents if I can watch some TV.

They permitted it.

Awesome!

I think I’m going to watch some Naruto. I grave some cool Ninja action!

The TV is on the news channel of South Park, before I can switch to Crunchyroll, I hear from the news anchor: “…And that a large earthquake and several fires in the South Park area last night woke many residents from their sleep. Here with a report is a midget in a bikini.”

What?!

They really switch to a midget in a bikini, who is standing behind a large crowd, and…oh there is the spaceship Tammy and I crashed! It’s hardly hiding with these few pieces of clothing they put over it.

I need to know, what they know. Not that suddenly the FBI is before our door and throws me and Tammy in jail or some shit!

So I continue watching.

The midget reports: “Tom, government workers here are assuring everyone nothing out of the ordinary has happened. They claim that the only reason huge tents have gone up to cover this area is to mask the construction of a new Taco Bell which will open sometime later this month.”

….Please tell me I didn’t hear what I heard?! I mean yeah for me and Tammy, but no one can be this stupid and not see that this is a UFO?!

Also, why does the government hide it?

Oh wait, that’s the USA of course they would cover it up.

“Thanks, Midget, I do love me some Taco Bell.”, says the news anchor. Oh my lord, are the adults in this town really that dumb?! “The mayor of South Park states that last night's tremors and fires are under control and that hopefully schools and businesses can open again soon.”

I can just facepalm at this whole stupidity.

I just can’t with South Park.

Where the fuck did my parents moved us?!

Not that I’m glad that Tammy and I aren’t going to get punished for the UFO crash, it’s just….aargh!

I don’t even have words.

That’s when someone knocks on our door.

Wondering who it is I open it and…. yippie it’s Lord Big Stomach.

Can you feel how happy I am?

No?

Neither I.

“Cartman what-“, I can’t even ask him what he wants, since he starts to yell.

“AGHGH!! MY GOD!! They came outta nowhere!”

“Who came out of nowhere?!”

“There was a huge earthquake and then, and then and then there was burning in my yard!”

“That doesn’t really explain what do you want?”

 “You don't understand.”

I’m getting really tired of this shit!

“Spit it out, Cartman!”

“The elves... THEY TOOK THE STICK! And it's BULLSHIT because that is TOTALLY CHEATING! We specifically said no trying to take the Stick at night! Elves are DIRTY LITTLE LIARS! And we have to lay waste to their ENTIRE BASE!”

He is huffing and puffing and if I was the bigger person I should offer him the couch and ask if he needs a glass of water.

But since I’m petty, I will not.

Suffer asshole.

“So you are telling me the elves used the earthquake to steal the Stick of Truth at night which is against the rules.”, I sum it up.

“YES!”, Fatass yells.

Damn, he is angry! Maybe he will get a stroke and we are free from him!

Ding dong, the wicked Wizard King is dead!

Okay, I shouldn’t joke about it, just I really, really hate Cartman.

“Well my king do we have a plan besides burning down the elven kingdom?”, yet I still ask.

Hey the RPG is fun.

Even with Lord I-can’t-see-my-feets.

“Yes, I have!”, he begins. “You have some incredible qualities to make friends quickly, Sir Douchebag. I'm sending you on a quest to go out into the lands of Zaron and recruit a whole 'nother FACTION to Kupa Keep. Find the goth kids and give them this letter.”

I stare at the piece of paper in my hand. My experience with goth kids tells me, they won’t join thanks to the way it’s written and the crude drawing of an evil elf.

That’s still too conformatistic for them.

From where did I know this? When I lived in New York I had a goth girl in my class. She was pretty and I tried to hit on her.

I learned fast that my charms don’t work on goths.

So I needed I know a new way, which lead me to learn a bit about goth culture.

Let’s just say what I learned turned me away from the girl.

That is really not my sub-culture I’m happy to be an otaku.

“Get them to join our kingdom and we shall lay waste to the Drow Elves once and for all!”, commands King It’s-a-wonder-I-don’t-have-diabites.

“Can I first get dressed in my Stick of Truth get up?”

“Oh, sure.”

With that, he waddles out of my house cursing the elves.

Damn, today is going to be a long day, I can just feel it.

I hope I can manage to watch the movie with Tammy.

Better I get dressed fast and make the goth joins us.

Somehow.

I feel already a headache forming.

Urgh.

Back in my Link cosplay I step out of the house.

I’m sad that I can’t put on my Dark Magician Girl cosplay, since I don’t think it’s time to let on Cartman the bomb drop that I’m a girl.

He is already angry enough today.

“Hello my dear mage!”, greets me the lovely voice of my fair princess. “I hope you had pleasant dreams.”

I grin and we hug each other. Then I pull her hood down, so I can give her a sweet morning kiss.

Princess Kenny formally purrs. She licks along my lips, begging for entrance and I open my mouth to welcome her sweet tongue.

Oh yes!

That’s what I need right now!

We kiss for a few minutes till I stop it with a kiss on her cheek.

“This is an awesome way to start the day, my beloved princess. Be assured that all my dreams were about you!”, I flirt.

Princess Kenny smiles happily and gives me another kiss.

“Glad to hear that, babe.”

I can’t help but blush at the nickname. I like being called babe.

I find it hot.

“My lady be assured that I would love to kiss you the whole day, but I got a new quest from Wizard Fatass.”, I explain to her.

She takes my hand, nodding.

“I know. I will be your buddy. Butters wanted to lead you to the goth kids, but I won at Rock-Paper-Scissors.”

I giggle and we start walking.

“Can’t get enough of me, my princess?”

“You know it, hot stuff.”

Now we giggle together.

At least I have Kenny on my side today.

This makes this whole quest 1000 times better.

Okay, I really thought my princess would lead me to the cemetery.

The goths I meet liked to spend their time there.

But the school?

…Well, someone said once that school sucks your soul out. Don’t remember who.

That is pretty goth, I think.

Already gothic music greets us from behind the school, where the South Park goth kids like to hang out.

I can also smell cigarettes.

Yeah, we are in the right place.

I walk up to the four smoking goth kids.

Two are clearly fourth graders. The one with the black and red hair and the only girl in the group.

Another boy is clearly in my grade, but I’m surprised to see a little kindergarten child with them.

And he is also smocking.

I know, live and let live, but that’s not okay that practically a baby smokes.

What even lets someone so young join the goth culture?

“Who's that?”, drags me back from my thoughts the voice of the black-red-haired goth.

“I think it's that new kid people are talking about.”, answers him the girl goth.

“Beat it, New Kid, this area is strictly for goth kids.”, tells me the fifth grader goth.

I roll my eyes at them.

“I have eyes, you know.”, I sass back. “And also a name. I’m N.K. and I’m here to give you this.”

I hand black-red hair goth Cartman’s letter. He hands it to the girl and she to the fifth grader goth.

He is probably their boss or something.

“Join the Kingdom of Kupa Keep to battle the wicked elves. All recruits welcome.", he reads aloud.

With a huff, he crumpled up the letter and throws it away.

“Sorry, Galadriel, we don't play Dungeons and Douchebags.”

“Yeah, beat it, New Girl.”

I can’t help but roll my eyes.

“I have a name, you know?”

At least they can also see I’m a girl.

Also, I fucking know it wouldn’t work out!

“Aw, come on, let's do it.”, begs surprisingly the kindergarten goth. “We never do anything.”

“No WAY! We can't do what this kid asks us to do! She's a conformist! Look at her clothes and her hair!”, disagrees boss goth.

“I would more say I look like Link from Breath of the Wild which makes me a Cosplayer/Otaku but whatever.”, I call in between.

My correction gets ignored.

What nice people!

Black-red-haired goth turns to me saying: “Yeah, tell you what, New Girl. Get the right clothes and some cigarettes and coffee and then talk to us again.”

“Yeah, if you wanna prove you aren't a conformist then you need to look exactly like we do.”, agrees Boss Goth. “Then MAYBE we'll consider hanging out with you.”

Do I even have another choice?

Then it’s time to turn Goth.

I rejoin my princess, who had waited at the little fence door for me, and call over my back to the Goths: “I will be back.”

“Coffee, cigarettes, and some goth clothes.”, repeats Princess Kenny, what I told her what I need to show the Goth kids I’m not a conformist. “Well coffee, we could get from Tweek Bro’s, and the clothes, there is an old hobo by U-Store-It who sells some. Cigarettes could be a problem. We might need to steal them from someone.”

I snort and squeeze her hand.

“I pretty much ransacked any house here, a pack of cig’s I didn’t find.”

She hums thoughtfully.

“I don’t like to say it.”, she starts with a frown. “But I know the six graders smoke, we could get the cigarettes from them.”

“By asking?”

“I think, we need to beat them up.”

“This quest is already a headache.”

We both sign.

I lead Kenny to my house. She gives me a couries look.

“I’m not drinking any of the drug coffee of Tweek Bro’s.”, I explain. “I think we have some really dark coffee.”

She nods in understanding and we enter my home. My princess looks around, while I lead her to the kitchen.

Funny, Mamma is currently drinking a cup of coffee.

“Hey my princess, what are you doing here?”, she ask. “And who is your little girlfriend.”

“Hey Mamma, that’s Princess Kenny the fairest maiden in all the kingdom.”, I present her.

Cutely Kenny curtesy before Mamma, which makes her coo.

“Aww, what a cute Princess you are.”

Kenny mumbled a thank you.

“I grave some coffee, Mamma. Do we have some extra dark?”, I ask her.

Mamma hums. She puts down her own coffee and searches the shelves for it.

“I think your Papa brought some…”, she trails off as she finds the package. “N.K., this is really potent I will make you only a little thermos and no more coffee for the day, understood?”

I sign but accept Mamma’s condition.

Not like we have another way to get extra dark coffee as I said I wouldn’t buy anything from Tweek Bro’s.

After Mamma heads me the thermos with the extra dark coffee, she hands Kenny and me some chocolate chip cookies as snacks.

We thank her and munching on the cookies we leave my house.

“Hey, there he is! New Kid!”

Outside are waiting for us four elves.

I protective stand before my Princess, sending them glares.

It’s weird that they aren’t attacking us.

“What do you elves want?”, I growl at them.

“New Kid, the Elf King has requested your presence.”, explains one of the elves. “You can either come quietly or you can fight. But I warn you, fighting this fight at this point in the game is a complete waste of time and you might as well skip it and just come with us.”

….Okay, this is surprising. Didn’t expect that. But…this could be worth it to get information on the elves.

“N.K.?”, whispers Princess Kenny worried.

I lick my lips and turn to her.

“Return to Kupa Keep my princess, I will see what the Elf King wants. Don’t worry about me.”

“Are you insane?!”, shouts Kenny at the same time as an elf say’s: “You chose wisely, New Kid. Come with us.”

The elf binds my arms behind my back. The four elves lead me away from Princess Kenny who is shouting my name.

I hope I made the right decision.

Some elf is playing the drum as another elf is leading me with a lance in my back through the Elven Kingdom.

I have to admit the Elven Kingdom looks 100000 times better than Kupa Keep.

It’s so beautiful here.

We stop before the throne and…all air leaves my lungs.

On the throne sits a handsome red-haired boy with forest green eyes wearing a red and golden robe with a branch crown over his green ushanka.

I turn embarrassingly red and feel hot.

No, no, no, no!

That’s not fair that my enemy is my type!

Damn, how I wish now to be wearing my beautiful Dark Magician Girl cosplay, to show what a pretty girl I am and not my Link cosplay who hides my gender.

Mostly.

The elf king frowns at me, damn even that looks good on him, and turns to his right side, where a warrior with a blue helmet, a green cloak, a brown sleeveless shirt, and some blue jeans stands.

They two whisper with each other, sending me looks, which turns me even more into a tomato.

What the heck are they talking about and what’s with these looks?

The drum finish playing.

All is still in the kingdom.

I only hear my own beating heart, as the Elf King speaks to me: “So... you're the new kid everyone is talking about. What's your name?”

Before I can answer, the elf with lance answers him: “He doesn't talk, Elf King, he thinks he's hot shit or something.”

The king and the blue helmet elf, I bet it’s his right-hand man, share a look.

They seem to understand each other without words.

I wonder what they are discussing.

“I can talk.”, I say loud and clear and give my captor the evil eye. “I just didn’t want to talk to you.”

Lance-elf sends back an evil look, while the other elven are all whispering and mumbling at each other.

I can’t quite catch what they see, only that the word feminine and female fall often.

Regally the Elf King raises a hand to make them all stop.

And I get weak knee seeing what power he commands. Not only is he hot looking, but no his subject also respects him so much that a simple raised hand is all he needs to make them stop talking.

The Elf King gets hotter by the minute and I just wanna turn into goo.

Urgh I can’t take it!

“Would you talk to me, New Kid?”, he asked me directly.

God, these green eyes will be the death of me. So determined and strong.

Since I can’t trust my voice, I nod simply.

Something like a little smile forms on his face.

Even that is so attractive!

Aaah!

“What’s your name?”

I gulp and hope I don’t stutter.

“I’m…Novella-Karin, but people call me mostly N.K.”

Suddenly all the elven freakout, only the king and his right-hand men stay calm.

“A girl!”

“The Wizard King lets a girl play with them?!”

“Of course, she is a girl, she is too pretty to be a boy!”

That and other things get yelled.

Nice to know that there are more people with brains.

“Excuse me.”, I raise my voice above all, which surprisingly makes the eleven shut up. “Wizard Man Titty’s doesn’t know I’m a girl, he thinks I’m a dude, would be really awesome if you all could keep it to yourself.”

The right-hand man snorts, and the Elf King smirks, fuck that’s hot, while the rest of the elven laugh.

“G-Good n-nickname for the W-Wizard King.”, tells me a familiar voice.

I can’t help but smile as I see the Bard walking up to us.

“Hello Mister Bard, nice to see you again.”, then embarrassed I add. “I hope I didn’t hurt you too bad yesterday.”

“D-Don’t w-worry, m-m-my lady. N-Nothing an l-l-level 10 Bard like me c-can’t h-handle. I’m Jimmy, b-by the way.”, he tells me.

I nod smiling.

That’s when the Elf King steps behind me and frees me from my binding. I shiver as I feel his warm hands on my pulse. How I wish they would me touch everywhere.

“Lady N.K.”, he formally whispers in my ear, and…goddammit whatever he wants from me, I will do it. I’m already putty in his hands. “I think we need to talk about some things.”

With that he gestures for me to follow him, his right-hand men and Bard Jimmy right behind us.

Time to finally find out what the handsome Elf King wants from me.

Next

[janetbrown711]

Fine, Great

Part two: electric boogaloo

It's MK's perspective time !

tw for smoking

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 8.5 Part 9

Ao3 Link

“OoOOOooo, who’s callin’?” Mei asked, pinching her last bean dumpling shut.

“Ah– no one. I’ll call back later,” Pigsy hung up and set his phone on silent. “You two done?”

“Yes sir Mr. Piggy,” Mei gave a big old grin. MK panicked at that– quickly twisting the last five in front of him and placing them on the tray with a nervous smile and thumbs up.

Pigsy chuckled. “Alright, how’s about you go set the table then?”

MK didn’t know how to set a table. It wasn’t really practice at his old home. It was more of a “paper plates and utensils if you’re lucky” kind of deal– if there even was food, because there was a solid amount of days there straight up wasn’t anything.

“Do we gotta?” Mei flopped onto the kitchen counter, making MK giggle but also get nervous about how Mr. Pigsy would react.

When the chef rolled his eyes, he nearly flinched, though relaxed when he said, “If we finish early and you two’re still up for it, we can get you some dragon’s beard candy, alright?” instead of threatening them.

MK looked to Mei for their next course of action, which was when in an act of pure betrayal, she dashed off to the plates, starting a silent race without him that he struggled to catch up.

“HA HA! They should call you MK the Slowpoke,” Mei smirked as she slammed her plate down.

“Well they should call you Mei the… um…” MK thought furiously for a good comeback before snapping.

“They should call you Mei the Meany Dragon Girl,” He smirked and crossed his arms in his victory.

“Original,” Mei raised her eyebrows in mockery.

“Yeah, well so is ‘slow poke’,” MK rolled his eyes.

Mei just blew a raspberry at that, before the kids both erupted into a laughing fit.

“Being mean really isn’t our thing, is it MK?” Mei snorted.

MK shook his head. “Looks like we’re stuck on the good guy team.”

“Rats. And here I thought I’d look really cool in red and black,” Mei shook her head ‘solemnly’.

MK shrugged with a grin. “Who knows? Maybe we can find a cool bad guy who can turn us evil for us– maybe with mind control OooOOoOoo,” MK wiggled his fingers.

“Ooo! Yeah! And they can have cool fire or ice powers,” Mei grinned. “And then it’ll be all like ‘Oh MK-! Please wake up! Who will be my bestie without you?!”

“Oh puh-lease, as if I’d ever turn evil without you,” MK elbowed her.

“Yeah you right,” Mei elbowed her bestie right back. “C’mon– let’s go get the other plates and stuff.”

MK nodded and the two were gonna head out to the kitchen when they saw Mr. Pigsy and Mr. Tang standing very close together slicing the lotus root.

MK was going to just keep walking in, but Mei grabbed his arm and yanked him back.

“What the heck was that for?” MK rubbed his arm, but Mei shushed him.

“I wanna see what they’re doing and you were just gonna walk in and ruin it!” Mei whisper-yelled, getting low and peaking around the corner.

“They’re just slicing lotus,” MK looked back at the demon and scholar, not finding anything all that interesting.

The two men broke apart and started laughing, which made Mei’s eyes narrow.

“Somethin’s weird about them, MK, I can feel it,” She said.

“Weird? What’s weird?” MK was genuinely lost when Tang suddenly exclaimed, causing Mei to jump back to her feet.

“Well, guess that’s over now,” Mei dusted herself off. “Still weird though.”

“Mei, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” MK stated flatly and Mei rolled her eyes.

“Maybe you’re now MK the Oblivious Kid,” She teased again, watching as Pigsy hovered behind Mr. Tang, and there was a knock at the door. The kids looked at each other in confusion, before deciding to step out and watch as Tang disappeared to the bathroom and their guardian didn’t open the door.

“Who do you think it is?” MK whispered to Mei.

Mei shrugged. “Hope it’s not cops again– I can’t even think of anything bad we did.”

MK hoped it wasn’t cops either.

And then Pigsy opened the door, whereupon a large female pig demon burst through and started showering their guardian in kisses and affections, startling all three of them.

“Ah– there’s my widdle Pigsy-wigsy! My, you’ve gotten so fat– why are you wearing your glamor at home? Also why didn’t you tell your father and I you moved??? Oh I missed you so much,” She had said as she did.

“Pigsy-wigsy?????” Mei had to physically hold back her laughter by slapping a hand over her mouth.

“Ma– Pops– you really shouldn’t’ve come,” The guardian said, straining.

Mei and MK shared a look at that.

“Oh I know, I know– but that’s why I called– you know, I really didn’t expect you to suddenly move into a place like this– is that a genuine Bluthner piano? Oh, you know your nana and I used to own a piano in the house Papa bought– wasn’t genuine ivory or anything but it was real lovely. Oh, you know that one song that–”

“Wow, that ‘Ma’ can really talk,” MK had no interest in piano and so easily tuned it out, instead looking at the absolutely hulking demon standing in the door, whom he made eye contact with.

“Who’re the humans?” The demon asked and Pigsy glanced at them anxiously.

Hm.

“Ah– well– um– it’s complicated, but I’m their– uh– legal guardian now,” Pigsy said, and the bigger demon stepped inside, an ice cold stare still over MK and Mei. MK didn’t know why he said it was complicated– seemed pretty straight forward to him.

MK met the demon's gaze, and decided maybe complimenting him would make him relax or smile or something.

“Wow– you’re really tall Mr. Pops, sir.”

Wow that sounded stupid.

“I like your tusks! They’re cool!” Mei went along with MK, much to his relief. It helped she was right too– he had biiiig tusks that MK once thought Pigsy had but he’d only seen them when the chef had been asleep in the old apartment.

Just then, ‘Ma’ emerged from around the corner, and practically rushed to ‘Pops’ side.

“Oh my great sage– Who are these absolute cuties? Are they like your little delivery boy and girl? Oh you know that’s just the sweetest little idea– I’m Zhu Jiayi, and this is my husband Zhu Hangleng– we’re Mr. Pigsy’s Ma and Pa,” She all but pinched their cheeks.

MK’s face lit up. ““Woah! We got grandparents?” he jumped and looked to Mei, who was equally excited at the prospect.

“Grandparents? That’s–” Miss Granny Jiayi looked at Pigsy before letting go of her husband's arm and hugging her son. “Oh Pigsy– why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve brought gifts-!” She clapped before suddenly turning to anger and punching his arm. “How long have you kept this from me?! I remember tellin’ you specifically if you ever gave me grandbabies you were supposed to call me immediately.”

“Wow– talk about nice,” Mei snickered.

“She’s just like you,” MK smirked and she elbowed him.

“Woah– woah– I– it’s not like that– they’re full human– if dragon counts as that–” Pigsy broke the hug and shook his head. ““It happened so fast and strangely– I couldn’t explain it if I tried.”

Ignoring that, MK looked back at Jiayi and Hangleng and smiled. “This is so cool! I’ve never had a granny or grandpa before.”

It was true– of, at least he thought so. Being randomly found on the street probably meant he had no original grandparents and his ‘parents’ didn’t have any either.

“Oh please, call me your Nainai, you absolute cuties,” Again the female demon fawned over them.

“Oh sweet! I’ve never had a Nainai and Yeye bef–”

“Just call me Mr. Zhu,” Pigsy’s father interrupted coldly.

Oh…

“Hangleng– don’t be a pain,” Pigsy’s mother elbowed Mr. Zhu, but the elder demon just kept looking coldly at MK– making this all feel strangely familiar.

Thankfully, Mr. Tang finally emerged from the bathroom, and Mr. Pigsy’s parents focused their attention on him instead.

Well. Except Mr. Zhu.

“MK, is this guy still staring at us, or is that just me?” Mei whispered to him.

MK shrugged and made a face that made Mei snort but keep her focus foward.

After about a minute of this weird standoff, Mr. Zhu’s attention was finally given to Tang, who was looking pretty uncomfortable now that MK looked at him.

He started listening to the conversation just as Miss Jianyi was saying, “...I mean– seriously– the least you could do is let us meet our little grandbabies after turning off your phone and not telling us about ‘em in the first place– not to mention barely answering any of my calls this past year.”

“Well that sounds kinda mean of Mr. Piggy,” Mei remarked.

MK kinda understood though.

“Of course,” Their guardian sighed. “MK? Mei? Could you set the table for two more?” he turned to them, making MK jump and nod.

“Ah– actually, maybe just one– I-i should get going–” Mr. Tang stopped the two from moving as they looked on in even more confusion.

“What-? You can’t go– you won’t get free food like this anywhere else,” the chef said, and while Mr. Pigsy’s words were funny, his voice sounded sad.

“Oh, I just–” Tang looked at Pigsy’s parents, then MK and Mei, and then barely at Pigsy. “I-i can’t intrude on this whole ‘family’ business– ‘Sides I think I might need stitches for this cut so I should head to an urgent care–”

“Ah, I see. You got folks that can pick you up?” Pigsy’s mother looked at the scholar.

Tang took another step back. “I– I really should go–”

“Tang, wait–” Pigsy grabbed his arm, but Tang yanked it away, startling even MK and Mei.

“Okay, this is definitely weird now,” Mei whispered and MK couldn’t help but nod.

“Oh, well I supposed I could drive you if you’d like– we can be back here in just a jiffy,” Mrs. Zhu said, digging through her purse.

“A-Actually-! I-I’m fine! Totally fine! I just— I need some… air,” He glanced at Pigsy before speed walking to his room.

“This is weird weird,” MK whispered back to Mei. “Think I should ask?”

Mei shrugged, and MK raised his hand.

“Mr. Piggy, why is Tang acting weird?” he asked.

Their guardian’s eyes were forced away from his bedroom door with great difficulty as he cleared his throat and scratched his neck. “Ah, well–” Poor Pigsy couldn’t get two real words out before Miss Jiayi interrupted.

“Seems like the boy doesn’t have any manners,” she answered for Pigsy with a huff.

“I take back what I said Mei– you’re much nicer,” MK whispered and Mei bobbed in agreement.

His mother wasn’t finished though. “Seriously– who wants to leave a feast they’re invited to and then declines a ride? And then he just needs ‘air’ – you know, I’m just glad he’s not your boyfriend or somethin’ because he just seems–”

Boyfriend??? Is that allowed???

Now it seemed it was Mr. Pigsy’s turn to interrupt with “MK, Mei– why don’t you two go freshen up a bit and I’ll call you when the food is ready, alright?”

Freshen up? What was “freshening up”?

“What if I don’t wanna?” Mei probably knew what the word meant.

“D’aww, these kiddos are precious Jiejie,” Pigsy’s mother walked over to Mei and patted her head. “And I know you didn’t teac–”

“Kids. Rooms. Now.”

Now there’s an order MK didn’t need to hear twice. The boy immediately took Mei’s hand and scampered off to their rooms– where they decided to sit on Mei’s bed to talk instead of “freshening up”.

“So– uh– they seem… weird,” Mei said, flopping on her bed, causing the springs to bounce a couple of times.

“Yeah– I thought grandparents are s’pposed to be nice and stuff,” MK agreed, picking up one of Mei’s dragon plushies and lifting it above his head to look into its beady eyes.

“Eh,” Mei shrugged. “It’s about equal I’d say– plus if Mr. Piggy’s a big grump, makes sense his pops would be too.”

“He’s not a total grump, right?” MK dropped the plush on his face.

Mei took her plushie back with a laugh. “Guess not– maybe that’s his ma’s half.”

“Ooooh, makes sense,” MK agreed, picking up one of her pillows and holding it above him again. “You think that means his dad’s got a secret good side?”

“Who knows,” Mei shrugged and took the pillow from MK before he could drop it on his face again. “All I know is that I’d rather meet his Nana instead.”

“Yeah. Sucks that she’s dead,” MK agreed.

“Man, why do people gotta die? It’s so lame,” Mei huffed and sat upright in her bed.

“Yeah– sucks your parents are dead too,” MK sympathized.

Mei nodded, looking at the dragon plush in her lap. “Sucks your parents didn’t die sooner. I bet I could’ve convinced Mama and Baba to adopt you.”

“You think?” MK smiled a little.

“Totally– even if you are a total slowpoke,” Mei grinned and MK picked up a pillow and hit her with it.

That escalated into something of a pillow fight until one of Mei’s pillows ripped open and feathers went flying– to which MK and Mei quickly scrambled to try and shove feathers back in before deciding to bury the pillow under her bed and take this to their graves.

“So… how long do you think ‘til Mr. Piggy’s gonna call us back in?” Mei asked, flopping back onto her bed after successfully hiding the evidence.

“Heck if I know– I’m just surprised I haven’t heard shouting yet,” MK picked up a dragon action figure she had on a shelf and started messing with it. Mei laughed despite it not really being a joke.

“Maybe he’s done talkin’ with them and went to Mr. Tang?” Mei suggested, which made enough sense.

“You think that means we can go out now? I’m starvinggggg,” MK grabbed his stomach dramatically.

Mei snorted and sat up, “Do you wanna talk to– uh– “Nai Nai” and Mr. Zhu?”

“Kinda..?” MK scratched his neck. “I dunno why– I mean– they seemed kinda mean, but Mr. Piggy can be kinda mean too so– I dunno.”

“Alright, I’ll go if you do,” Mei hopped off her bed.

“Cool cool,” MK grinned as Mei took the action figure from his hand and put it back on her shelf before they quickly crept out of their room.

Pigsy had indeed left, as his mother was working in the kitchen and Mr. Zhu was–

Smoking.

MK hated smoking.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Mei grabbed his arm before he could refuse and so forced him to walk into the kitchen.

“Oh there you two little angels are,” Pigsy’s mother smiled down at them. “I was just checking on the spiced bean dumplings– they still need a minute to cool,” She said, taking them out of the oven and MK’s stomach growled.

“Miss Nai Nai, do you know where Mr. Piggy is?” MK asked her.

“Mr. Piggy? Miss Nai Nai? What’s with all the formality kid?” Jiayi looked at him strangely as she set the tray down on the island.

“Um– respect?” MK scratched his head.

“We’re family, kiddo, no matter what Bajie says,” She patted MK’s head with an oven mit.

“Oh but Mr. Zhu–”

“Mr. Zhu was being rude earlier,” She raised her voice so Pigsy’s father could hear from the couch, no doubt. When he didn’t respond, she growled. “Just call him Hangleng, dear. We don’t need any ‘misters’ or ‘missus’ around here.”

Mei and MK looked at each other.

Calling Mr. Piggy that was fun, and calling him just “Piggy” felt wrong though, so maybe they’d just have to use his actual name now.

“Okay Miss– um… okay Nai Nai,” MK said, and she smiled at him briefly before taking off her oven mitts and checking on some of the other foods.

Mei raised her hand. “Can I still call you just Miss Jiayi though? I already had a Nai Nai– kinda feels weird.”

The female demon sighed and nodded. “I guess whatever makes you comfortable.”

Mr. Hangleng huffed in content from the couch, which got him a look from his wife.

“Ignore him, dears, he’s just kind of like this,” She said, adding a pinch of salt to a noodle dish.

Mei tilted her head. “Then why’d you marry him?”

Jiayi’s face turned red. “Ah– well– that’s um–” she cleared her throat. “Maybe when you two are older.”

MK and Mei didn’t know how to interpret that.

“Nai nai, when is Pigsy gonna be back? I’m starving here,” MK asked, looking around for the chef again.

“I’ll say– you’re far too skinny, kid,” She snickered. “He’s out talking to that Tang fellow wherever ‘air’ is.”

“Ughhhhhhh, it’s gonna take forever til then,” MK groaned, sitting on the stools by the kitchen island, where Mei joined him.

“Well then, I suppose it’s a good thing I brought these then, isn’t it?” Jiayi smirked and pulled out bags of white rabbit candies, jingling them a bit before giving them to the ‘absolutely starving’ children.

“Thanks Miss Jiayi!” Mei said, tearing open the packaging with her teeth, making the elder demon laugh.

“No problem, firecracker,” She said, opening MK’s packaging for him since he was struggling. “So… Pigsy was rather light on the details of the adoption. What can you two tell me?”

MK thought a minute. “Well, our parents both died in a huge fire and I was on the streets for a day or two before Mei decided she wanted to run away.”

“Oh you poor things,” She shook her head and checked on something else.

“Yeah and then these cops found us, but they weren’t normal, they were tiger demon cops who apparently had it out for me,” Mei added, inspecting a piece of candy before popping it in her mouth. “So we hid at Pigsy’s Noodles and that’s how he found us.”

“It was super cool Nai nai! He fought off those tigers like it was nothing while Mr. Tang took us and ran! And then Mei showed off her dragon form and scared ‘em away! And it was so big!” MK gloated about his friend.

“Tigers, huh?” Mr. Zhu spoke from the couch now, standing up and approaching the kitchen, lit cigar still in mouth.

“U-uh, yes sir,” MK got quiet.

The male demon chuckled to himself. “Sounds like something that Sandy would’ve done for him.”

“It’s true! Pigsy totally hit one in the face with a frying pan,” Mei informed.

“Yeah! And now he’s got a big old scar in his shoulder from a claw,” MK agreed.

Hangleng thought a moment, taking a long drag before puffing out a huge cloud that made MK shrivel a bit inside.

“Makes sense. Kid’s a dipshit who doesn’t know how to stop trouble– ‘course a kid has to handle it for him,” He laughed, making MK wince.

“Hangleng, you’re been an ass again,” His wife scolded.

Mei leaned over to MK. “I didn’t think adults were allowed to curse around us.”

“My parents did.” MK whispered back.

“Yeah, but your parents sucked.”

True.

“Not my fault if the kid’s an ass,” Hangleng argued and Jiayi just shook her head.

“Pigsy isn’t an ass, he’s a pig,” Mei crossed her arms, getting her a look from Pigsy’s father that would’ve shut MK up in an instant but Mei just stared down defiantly.

Hangleng muttered, “Celestials,” under his breath before bringing the cigar back to his lips.

Mei was clearly coming up with a snappy response when Tang and Pigsy both came back into the kitchen with puffy eyes but soft smiles nonetheless. That was, until Pigsy saw his father smoking right next to Mei.

“You know, you really shouldn’t–”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hangleng smothered his cigar in the sink before tossing it in the trash, clearly startling the chef.

“Uh… thanks,” Pigsy blinked.

His father acknowledged it with a brief nod.

“Pigsy! We told your pops all about when you fought off those tiger demons,” Mei told him with a smile.

Tang laughed a little. “Did you now? Did you tell them about my brave heroism?”

Pigsy snorted. “Last I checked, all you did was run when I told you to.”

“It was very brave running,” Tang defended. “Besides, everyone ended up alright.”

Pigsy’s father smirked. “Only because a little girl saved your ass.”

“Pops–” Pigsy’s eye twitched. “Please don’t swear in front of the k-i-d-s.”

MK didn’t know he bothered spelling when he and Mei were still right here, and also knew how to spell.

“Oh- Sorry-! We completely forgot– our bad honey,” Jianyi apologized, wiping her hands on her apron.

“You both– stars above–” Pigsy rubbed his nose and Tang patted his back.

“So, is anyone hungry? Because I know I’m absolutely starving,” The scholar asked, instantly shifting the energy of the room.

And so after MK and Mei actually finished setting the table, the family gathered around the table and had an actually decent meal. Well– decent in conversation, excellent in food quality. It even turned out that Mr. Chronic Grump was a lot better on a full stomach and even had some funny stories to share about “him and the guys” and his past. Plus, Pigsy’s mother had one or two embarrassing stories from Pigsy’s childhood– plus a photo of him when he was just a widdle Piglet, which was cute (even if it made Pigsy mad and drink quite a bit of that wine Tang brought).

After many, many hours of eating and talking, Pigsy’s parents did have to leave, and so it was just Tang, MK, Mei and Pigsy again, and boy that felt a lot more right.

“Ugh, I don’t know about you three, but I simply cannot move a muscle– say what you will about your mother Pigsy, but she can cook a mean duck,” Tang joked as he lounged on the couch close to the chef, who laughed a little.

“You can say that again, Mr. Tang,” MK laughed, curling up next to Pigsy, who absentmindedly wrapped an arm around him.

“I’m just glad the feeling of doom is over now” Pigsy rubbed his entire face. “Those people are never gonna sneak up on us ever again, you hear?” He pointed to the ceiling for drunk emphasis.

“Yes, yes, I hear you Pigsy,” Tang smiled this weird ooey gooey smile MK had only caught once or twice that he now took the opportunity to study– especially when Pigsy had an equally gooey smile to give back (probably from the drinking).

“Good, because you lil’ kiddos don’t deserve Pop’s ssstupid face,” Pigsy made a face at MK that made the boy laugh.

“Pigsy?” MK sat up a bit.

“Eh? I thought I was ‘Mister Piggy’? What happened there kid?” Pigsy placed a hand on MK’s head that he removed with a laugh.

MK just kinda shrugged with a smile. “I dunno. All I know is my old parents made me call ‘em ‘Mister’ and ‘Missus’ – and I like you a lot more than them,” MK curled up again.

“Yeah, well I like you more than my parents too kiddo– both– er– all of you,” Pigsy patted MK’s back.

“Same here,” Tang rustled MK’s hair a bit.

“Eh, my jury’s still out,” Mei stuck her tongue out as she sat next to Tang. Pigsy gave a drunk and offended gasp, which made Mei laugh and confess– “You are definitely above most of my old nannies and butlers, so yeah.”

“Hear that Tang? We’re better than people gettin’ paid– now that’s a mid autumn festival miracle,” Pigsy finger gunned MK with the arm that wasn’t wrapped around MK.

“Ooh! Speaking of– can we get that Dragon Beard candy now?” Mei suddenly jumped up. MK had a feeling she wanted him to jump up too, but he was far too full of food to be moving now.

“Haha! Busted,” Tang laughed at Pigsy who rolled his head.

“Can’t we just watch Cooking with Chang’E? It’ll be the special Mid Autumn episode and I don’t wanna miss it,” Pigsy pleaded with the girl.

“I’ll take her Pigsy, you two little hogs rest,” Tang rolled his eyes before standing and patting MK’s back.

“Yippee! Let’s go, Mr. Tang!” Mei eagerly took the man’s hand and they were out the door in a flash.

And there were two.

“Pigsy?” MK spoke up and looked at his guardian.

“Yeah kid?” Pigsy’s eyes were still closed.

MK looked down. “I… I meant it, you know? I really, really like it here– and I even liked it at the old apartment too– I– I feel safe with you.”

Pigsy placed a soft hand on the back of MK’s head and stroked it with his thumb.

“I meant what I said too, kid– it ain’t just the alcohol talking; You’re a really cool kid, and I’m glad to have you ‘round.”

MK smiled and cozied up even more, the warm feeling of the chef’s hand on his head lulling him to sleep.

“Thanks, Dadsy.”

A pause.

“...You’re welcome, kid.”

[curryandbread]

Hello Curry! Can I request a Twisted Wonderland Headcanon with Dorm Leader when they witness they're S/o almost getting kidnap by someone (can be RSA student or anyone random but please no Neige) that have obsession towards their S/O.

Thank you~ oh! And make it Sfw please.

TWST Dorm Leaders protecting an s/o whose involved in an attempted kidnapping

hi anon!! thank you for requesting~

TW: drugging

Riddle Rosehearts

You were asked to meet someone at Heartslabyul’s rose gardens. It was a heartfelt letter, and for some reason it got you curious to who the sender might be.

Riddle keeps you close whenever you go somewhere. But this is a matter on your own hands, he lets you off once as he bids you a farewell with a kiss on the forehead.

You were waiting, looking around until someone from behind hugs your body tightly as you yelped. Unfortunately, your screams were muffled as the perpetrator covered your mouth with a hand.

Just when you were struggling, Riddle successfully hit the perpetrator down with his magic before running towards you.

He hugs you first thing, cupping your face as he checked if you had any injuries.

Riddle’s eyes were full of fire. He glared down at the person who attempted to kidnap you, not taking another latency of making them pay.

And once the situation was settled, with the perpetrator being taken away, from that since on, he will not leave you alone anymore.

He’d have you stay at his bedroom for security purposes, cuddling you to sleep as he whispered sweet nothings while he’s here.

Leona Kingscholar

Who dared to capture you?! Especially if you’re with the Leona Kingscholar.

In any circumstance that this one person doesn’t know that you’re dating Leona, he just signed himself a ticket for a train to hell.

Someone asks you to meet at the Magift field, offering you to ‘watch a game’, in which you allowed.

Leona would be somewhere unseen, most likely sleeping at random places again.

Someone violently grabs your arm, pinning you down to the ground with both of your arms behind you, you tried thrashing around but the perpetrator had a well-built physique.

Until suddenly, the perpetrator was sent flying by the jaw. The weight hanging over you dispersed immediately.

You look up to see Leona with the grimmest expression. His green orbs practically glowing.

Of course, the perpetrator got the message. As they scrammed without looking back, Leona eyes some of his men and gestured the delinquents to follow them.

Once the two of you are alone, he picks you up and slings you on his shoulder.

“Hey, herbivore. From now on I should see you in my sight. If you’re not there, you know the consequences.”

Azul Ashengrotto

Azul is the master of trickery, but he never saw it coming that someone would go to such an extent to kidnap you.

You were sitting alone at the bar of Mostro Lounge, waiting for your drink.

One of the students came to add something to your drink. Azul was not at the area, most likely at the VIP room doing his usual business.

You reach for your drink now being delivered to you. You took a sip, suddenly feeling your vision drop. The perpetrator purposely catches you before you even fall to the ground, insisting he’ll take you to the infirmary.

The perpetrator drags you somewhere secluded. Before they even tried to do something, a punch was landed on the perpetrator’s cheek.

All you could here was Floyd’s insanely high-pitched laughs, Jade following behind Floyd.

Once Azul gets the cue, the twins are going to give the perpetrator a little... lesson.

Whilst you can hear the perpetrator being abused by the twins at the back, Azul would stroke your cheek lovingly as he held you close.

“Let’s put it like this, treat it like a contract. You’ll stay by my side forever and never leave me, yes?”

Kalim Al-Asim

He knows he should be the one who’d get kidnapped due to certain cases in the past, but it had to be you instead of him.

You were only eating alone at Scarabia’s kitchen. The dorm head had gone to bed, and you were there to drop by for a little midnight snack.

Whilst your back was turned, arms loomed over you and your mouth was covered, trying to break free from the grip.

However the perpetrator stood his ground. You were struggling until the grip loosened. All you heard was a pan being hit on someone’s head.

It was Kalim who had thrown the pan at the perpetrator, now lying down on the ground.

He runs towards you and pulling you into an embrace, blaming himself for leaving you alone.

Jamil rushes down to see what’s the commotion he’s been hearing at the kitchen, of course, things are taken care of as he is already at the scene.

Next time, Kalim would have to reinforce the dorm with security barriers, and even make you sleep in his room, making sure that you’ll let him know that you’re running off somewhere.

Vil Schoenheit

Of course, some people will look down on you just like how people underestimate Vil.

It was the day of VDC, the representatives were busy preparing for their performance so you were left alone, Grim tagging along with the committees to secure other things for the festival.

You were only sitting on a bench by the stage. A student approaches you and they seemed to be from RSA. They hung around with you until they insisted to take you to a place they want you to see.

You politely decline but somehow the RSA student contained a short temper and was about to lash out on you.

However, Vil was quick to kick the student away from you.

The RSA student will definitely recognize who he just bumped into. Announcing a lot of apologies for his ‘rude’ behavior and leaves the two of you alone.

“Never mind you leaving us here. I’m taking you with me.” Said Vil.

Idia Shroud

Yada... yadaaaaaaa..! No way is he gonna have anyone even lay a finger on you without him around you.

You were only doing laboratory maintenance duties, you alone with another student assigned to help you.

Somehow, the student beside you pushes you down to the ground as he pinned you down. Shocked and unable to asses the situation, you suddenly heard a small voice from the corner.

“Charging laser beam, 30%.”

It was Ortho.

The student hissed, getting off of you as he ran away. Idia rushes in to check on you and pulled you up.

You asked him how did he know, he said he saw it from the security cameras. Don’t even ask him why he even has access...

Of course you had to thank Ortho for him nearly blasting the whole school down just for you. Giving Idia a reassuring smile as you held his hand with a light squeeze.

Malleus Draconia

It would bring a disgrace to the title of the next head of the Valley of Thorns if he were to harm someone for you. However, he will do so just to keep you by his side.

You were at a janitor’s closet, putting away the mop you had just used to clean a breakage that Grim has caused. Malleus was also there to witness it, however you insisted you’d clean up instead of him.

You were heading out of the closet, suddenly someone blocks your path and pushes you back in the closet.

It was a delinquent from Savanclaw who had wanted to take revenge for Diasomnia’s victory in every Magift tournament by holding the Diasomnia dorm leader’s precious, you, captive.

It was not long until a green mist of magic hit the back of the student’s head, knocking them to the ground.

Malleus had come to rescue you.

“I can never forgive myself for dragging you into this.”

You were quick to tell him that it wasn’t his fault and thanked him with a kiss on the cheek.

[natsfirecat]

Natasha Romanoff X Fem!Reader. R has fire powers linked to her emotions. The Avengers try to guess who her crush is and when Natasha’s name is mentioned R’s powers play up 🔥🔥. So her friends make it their mission to get the two together. Fluff please and thank you 😊

yes i LOVE writing pyrokinetic reader

Operation Fire Widow

word count: 2.5k

warnings: some swearing, Supergirl references, accidental burning

A/N: anon i’m so sorry this so long. i got shadowbanned and my dumbass didn’t know I could get my account back until recently so- but anyway i hope you enjoy! :D 

-

"Sam?"

"No,"

"Bucky?"

"Also no,"

"Me?"

"Just when I thought your ego couldn't get any bigger, no,"

"Ugh, fine. Is it Steve?"

"Dumbasses,"

Sighing, Carol and Wanda looked at each other in defeat; they were not going to crack you tonight.

"Alright, new subject then," Peter interjected, taking a sip of his root beer. Despite his age, you found that he fit in well with you Wanda, and Carol. The four of you made quite an interesting friend group.

"I overheard Mr. Stark talking about how Mr. Fury made Natasha train a bunch of new SHIELD agents and she made a lot of them cry,"

You gripped the pillow tighter, picturing her losing it and yelling. The thought started to make smoke come out of your hands, hence why you were gripping the pillow tighter in an attempt to hide it.

Unfortunately, your attempt was unsuccessful.

"Y/N what the hell are you doing?" Carol asked, noticing the smoke rising.

You let go of the pillow, then balled your fists to try to stop the smoke.

"What's going on?" Wanda asked softly. When you first joined the Avengers, she was the one who helped you learn all about your powers and how to control them. She knew you lost control sometimes, so she placed a gentle hand on your back, which nearly burned her.

"Wait a minute," Carol said, connecting the dots. "It's Nat, isn't it?"

"No!" You lied, feeling the smoke starting to rise from your palms again.

"It is!" Peter said with a grin.

You sighed, hiding your face in the scorched pillow.

"Don't be shy, Y/N," Carol said, smiling at you. "It's sweet,"

"It's pathetic, and never gonna happen!" You protested, not peeking out from the pillow.

"I beg to differ," Peter stated proudly.

"Me too," Wanda said.

"This is gonna be a thing now, isn't it?" You said with a groan.

Peter thought for a minute, thinking about your superhero name and Natasha's.

"Operation Fire Widow," he said.

Wanda and Carol nodded in agreement.

Yep, this was definitely going to be a thing now.

-

The next morning, you woke up to a loud knock at your bedroom door.

"What is it?" You groaned, rolling over.

"Us!" Wanda yelled back.

You let out a deep breath, there was no getting out of this one.

"Come in!"

The door opened, and Wanda, Carol, and Peter all walked in and sat on your bed. Peter was holding a piece of paper with a bullet list on it.

"What is this?" You asked, rolling your eyes at them.

"Operation Fire Widow!" Peter replied with a bright smile.

"Oh what the hell?" You said, giving in. "Tell me about the operation,"

The three of them surrounded you, holding the piece of paper up.

"We've created a three-arc plan," Carol started. "Part one starts today; we're gonna get you and Nat in the living room at the same time, alone. Then we're gonna take away all the blankets, and turn the air on really high so it gets freezing. Because of your powers, you'll be fine and be really warm, so then she'll want to cuddle you to warm up,"

"Oh come on, you guys aren't gonna actually freeze the room, right?" You replied, slightly concerned.

All three of them looked dead serious.

You let out a long sigh,

“Look, you’re not gonna actually do something like that. I’m open to some things you guys could plan, but this is taking it too far,”

Carol rolled her eyes, then snatched the paper back. 

“I’m going downstairs now,” you told them.

“Good, ‘cause Natasha’s down there!” Wanda called as you exited your room, earning an eye roll in response. 

She was right, Natasha was sitting at the table eating breakfast. 

“Hi,” you told her. She waved in response, giving a small smile.

Unfortunately, she stood up as soon as you sat down.

“Where are you going?” You asked.

“I need to reheat this,” she replied, holding her plate up.

“Wait!” You said, stopping her. “I could do it! It’ll be faster!”

You immediately regretted it as soon as you said it. She raised an eyebrow at you, then shrugged. She handed you the plate without another word.

Taking in a deep breath, you knew you couldn’t mess this up. You closed your eyes, then slowly began to heat up the plate. 

Once you finished, you handed it back to her and smiled triumphantly. 

She hesitantly grabbed her fork and took a bite out of it, then looked at you with a shocked expression.

“It’s a little warmer than I was expecting, but it’s better than how it was before. Thanks,”

You smiled at her for a few awkward second before backing away. 

You ended up backing into the counter, your hands smoking as a jump response.

“Shit!” You cursed, closing your fists whilst trying to ignore the growing pain in your lower back.

“Are you okay?” Natasha asked, standing up immediately.

You gave her a thumbs up, forcing a smile.

“I’m good, I, gotta go, I-”

With that, you ran out of the kitchen before spending the next few days trying to forget the incident.

-

“Alright, you’ve done enough sulking,” Carol said as she barged into your room without even bothering to knock. “It’s time to talk to her again,”

“What? More operation Fire Widow?” You asked in a mocking tone. 

Carol rolled her eyes.

“You guys are just like Kara and Lena, you’ll either be the greatest couple of all time or the worst queerbait ever. In your case, it would be because you’re too afraid to admit your feelings to her,”

You sighed. Of course your best friend would use one of your favorite ships to pressure you.

“Talk to her at Tony’s party tonight, okay?” 

“Fine,”

“Good. Wanda and Peter have already agreed to help you get ready,”

You couldn’t help but smile at all their efforts to help you with the woman you were hopelessly crushing on. 

Carol returned your smile, then exited your room.

A few hours later, as promised, Wanda and Peter (who was surprisingly good at doing makeup) arrived.

Wanda had come over with a few different outfits for you to try on, while Peter already sat behind you and started doing your hair. 

Whilst he was experimenting with a bunch of different styles, Wanda held two outfits up, then held one over your chest.

It was a sparkly purple dress. She pulled it away and held the other in it’s place.

This one was a dark red suit. Wanda’s eyebrows raised, then she set it down before holding one last outfit up. 

“That one,” you said. It was darker with some sparkles on it, just enough to make your eyes shine. 

After putting the outfit on, Peter added the final touches to your hair. 

He then turned you around to face him, carefully putting some makeup on your face. He sat up a little straighter, leaning in to make sure he got it right. 

“Perfect,” he said after a few minutes. 

Wanda gently grabbed your wrist as you stood up, leading you to the bathroom so you could look at yourself in the mirror. 

“Is that one of the steps in your little operation?” You asked Peter with a smile.

“Maybe,” 

“You look beautiful,” Wanda told you, grinning widely. 

“Thanks,” you replied, returning her grin.

Just as you were about to say something else to them, your bedroom door opened once again as Carol walked in.

“Wow, Y/N...” she said, looking you up and down. She smirked at both Wanda and Peter, then back to you. “Go get your girl.”

-

The music was loud, there were people surrounding every side of you. It was honestly overwhelming if you were being honest.

You eyes scanned the room, looking for Natasha, but you couldn’t make anything out in the crowd of people. 

“Sorry,” you muttered, making your way through all the people. 

Being in the middle of the crowd was doing you no good for finding Natasha, and you hated being surrounded by people like that anyway. 

So you walked away from the dance floor, and made your way to the drinks. 

You couldn’t help but sigh as you took the drink. Your friends had gone through all this effort for you, and you hadn’t seen her at all.

As you held the glass in your hand, the liquid inside began to bubble. You frowned, realizing that you were involuntarily using your powers. 

You took a deep breath, then closed your eyes. 

In 1...2...3...4...

Hold 1...2...3...4...

Out 1...2...3...4...

Hold 1...2...3...4...

You repeated this pattern a few times until you could feel yourself calming down. 

You opened your eyes, and sure enough, your drink had stopped boiling.

You began to head for the hallway when the familiar red hair swept into your vision.

“Nat!” You called.

She swept around to face you, her lips immediately curling into a smile.

“Y/N, there you are! You look amazing, by the way,”

“Thanks! You look amazing too!” You replied, hoping she couldn’t see the red in your cheeks as you blushed.

As you took the last swallow of your drink, she stepped closer to you.

“I’m probably gonna leave soon, I’m not really in the mood for a party.” She said. “But, before I do, wanna dance?”

You nodded, taking in a deep breath, hoping she wouldn’t notice.

She smiled, then grabbed your hand as she led you to the dance floor.

For a few moments, the two of you stole glances at each other while moving your body along to the song. It was going fine.

Until it wasn’t.

A slow song started playing.

You were about to suggest to leave the dance floor when she shrugged, then wrapped her arms around you.

Natasha was touching you. Her hands were on your shoulders as she pulled you closer to her. She was actually dancing with you.

You let out a shaky breath before placing your hands on her waist.

As you stared into her eyes, all you wanted to do was close the gap in between you and kiss her right then and there.

However, the nerves in your stomach were stopping you. As much as you tried to stop it by slowing your breaths, you felt the anxiety getting worse.

“Ow!” She said suddenly, pulling away from you. 

You gasped, realizing that you had once again used your powers without meaning to. This time, Natasha got hurt from it.

“I’m sorry,” was all you managed to get out before dashing away from her, and out of the building.

Natasha watched you run out, her mouth hanging open, dumbfounded. 

She wasn’t mad. Disappointed, yes. But not because you hurt her. She knew you had pyrokinesis, something must have trigged your powers. She was mostly disappointed because of how you left her.

The burn barely even stung anymore.

She walked off the dance floor, attempting to follow you. 

While Natasha was unsuccessful at finding you, she was lucky enough to find one of your best friends.

“Peter!” She called, walking up to him.

“Hi Ms Romanoff,” he replied, grinning.

“I’ve been over this with you, call me Natasha or Nat.”

“Right, sorry, Nat,”

“It’s fine, I wanted to talk to you about Y/N anyways,”

“What about her?” 

As soon as your name was mentioned, he tensed up. Had things not gone well between you and Natasha?

“She ran out on me,” she told him. “We were on the dance floor, and something set her powers off ‘cause she burned me. She apologized, then just ran off without another word,”

“Oh no...” he replied, frowning.

“Do you know why her powers could’ve been acting up? Is something going on that’s causing that?” She asked.

“No-” he replied too quickly. 

Natasha caught onto this.

“Peter... what’s going on?” 

She took a step closer to him, narrowing her eyes.

He gulped, looking to the floor.

“I told you, Ms. Romanoff, nothing’s happening,”

She took another step closer.

“If you don’t tell me right now...”

“She likes you-” he got out just as she was leaning in again.

“What?” She asked, finally stepping away.

“Oh god, she’s gonna kill me now.”

“What do you mean she likes me?”

“Nothing, I-I gotta go-”

Just as he was about to run off, she grabbed his wrist.

“Oh no you’re not. Sit down. You’re going to tell me everything.”

-

The next morning, your heart dropped to your stomach when you got a text from Natasha asking you to meet her in the training room. 

You had spent the rest of last night, and a good portion of this morning watching sad episodes of Supergirl. 

You closed your laptop right as Lena shouted the words, ‘I KILLED MY BROTHER FOR YOU, FOR OUR FRIENDS! DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’VE DONE?’

Carol was right about you and Natasha being like Kara and Lena. You could’ve been one of the greatest pairings ever, but instead you ruined it when you burned her and ran out. 

You let out a slow breath, preparing for her to yell at you for hurting her and want nothing to do with you ever again. 

You texted her back, saying that you were coming as you finally changed out of your pajamas.

You could already feel your palms heating up as your heartrate increased on the walk. You were trying so hard to stop it, but there was already a little smoke. 

When you opened the door to the training room (which you had to do by pushing with the side of your body, since you were worried you could accidentally burn the door with your hands) you tensed up at the sight of her.

She didn’t look mad.

In fact, she was smiling at you. 

She walked over to you, then started to put a hand on your shoulder, before you backed away abruptly.

“You okay?” She asked gently. 

You weren’t sure how to respond as you balled your fists, doing whatever you could to get your powers to stop.

“It’s okay, and you’re okay,” she told you, leaning in close. “Take a deep breath with me,”

Had this happened earlier, it would’ve been embarrassing for Natasha to bring your nerves down like this. But now, it didn’t feel embarrassing. In fact, it felt safe.

She made you feel safe.

Once you felt okay, you gave her a small smile. She returned your smile, then took your hands in her own. 

You almost tensed up again, but soon felt relaxed as she ran her thumb over your knuckles. 

You stared at each other for a few moments of comfortable silence before she leaned in closer.

“So, about your little Operation Fire Widow...”

“Oh my gosh, um- it’s not what it sounds like! I promise, it’s-”

She brought a finger to your lips, interrupting you.

Your cheeks turned bright red as she moved her finger under your chin so you’d look her in the eyes. 

“Y/N, I think you are adorable,” she said, smiling. “In fact, I’d really like to take you on a date, if that’s alright with you?”

You couldn’t believe what she was saying. 

Natasha Romanoff, the intimidatingly, scary, spy who could easily kill you in two seconds if she wanted to, liked you back. 

Suddenly feeling a surge of confidence, you leaned forward and kissed her. 

Your lips fit so perfect on hers as you smiled into the kiss.

She moved her hand around the back of your neck, and moved the other through your hair. 

She softly bit your lip, prompting you to allow her entrance. Her tongue explored your mouth as you leaned in even closer to her.

You didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon, but unfortunately air soon became an issue. 

You were practically gasping for breath by the time you finally disconnected your lips.

She couldn’t help but smile at you, reconnecting your hands.

“So I’ll take that as a yes, then?”

[spaceman-earthgirl]

Supercorptober 2021 Day 9: Super

Fic link. Series link.

“Nope!” Kara says, catching Lena around the waist, pulling her back onto the couch where they end up in a laughing pile, Lena now half on top of Kara.

“Please?” Lena laughs, trying to wriggle out of Kara’s grip. “Just one photo album and I won’t ask again. I want to see what a young Kara looked like. Were you cute? I bet you were cute.”

Kara’s cheeks flush, though that could be from either Lena’s proximity, or her words. It’s probably both, to be honest. She’s about to give in to the request, because Lena is smiling at her and her eyes are so green and she always struggles to say no to anything Lena asks when Eliza walks into the living room.

Kara quickly lets go of Lena, like they’ve been caught doing something they shouldn’t.

“Sorry to interrupt girls,” Eliza says, smiling all to knowing for Kara’s liking. “I was wanting opinions on what I should make for dessert, I know Kara will have a preference.”

Her embarrassment is temporarily forgotten at the mention of food.

“Can you make chocolate pecan pie?” Kara asks, mouth already watering at the thought. She turns to Lena, whose cheeks are also flushed, she notes. That’s a thought for later though, when dessert isn’t in question. “Eliza makes the best pecan pie, you have too try it.”

“Chocolate pecan pie, it is then.”

“Yes!” Kara punches the air in excitement. “We only ever get to eat it here since the recipe is a super secret family recipe. It’s so secret, she won’t even share it with Alex and I.” Okay, that might be less about the “secret” part of it, and more because of the fire risk her and her sister are in the kitchen, but that’s besides the point.

Eliza rolls her eyes at Kara, turning to Lena. “Kara’s told me you’re a bit of a baker yourself, she said you made blueberry muffins recently that were delicious.”

Lena ducks her head, her hair falling to hide half her face. It’s cute. “I wouldn’t say I’m that good,” Lena says, clearly embarrassed as she looks between Kara and Eliza.

“I think the fact that you got Kara to eat muffins with fruit in them in the first place is a remarkable feat in itself, you know Kara doesn’t usually like fruit,” Eliza says, sharing a look with Lena.

“I tried to get her to eat kale once,” Lena laughs. “It did not go well.”

“You know I’m right here, right?” Kara grumbles, causing both other women to laugh.

“Lena,” Eliza says, ignoring Kara’s protests. “I’m about to make the pie now, do you want to join me? I could show you how to make it if you like?”

“Oh,” Lena says, glancing between her and Eliza again. “Isn’t it a super secret family recipe? I wouldn’t want to know something I’m not allowed to.”

“You are family, dear,” Eliza replies without missing a beat and Kara can hear the way Lena’s heart speeds up at the comment. Even though you couldn’t tell looking at her, Kara knows how much the words really mean to Lena. “And me not sharing the recipe with my daughters has nothing to do with it being a secret, it’s because they can’t be trusted in a kitchen, they nearly burned this house down multiple times growing up trying to cook.”

“I put the fires out,” Kara mumbles. “I’m Supergirl, I can handle a little fire.”

Lena presses her lips together, clearing trying not to laugh at the comment. “Then I’d love to help,” Lena smiles, giving Kara a conciliatory pat on the thigh as she stands.

“Perfect,” Eliza smiles, motioning Lena towards the kitchen, though she holds her hand up when Kara tries to follow. “Not you, I don’t trust you.”

“Not even to watch?” Kara pouts.

“Have you ever baked with Kara around?” Eliza asks, her question directed at Lena and suddenly Kara is feeling very ganged up on.

“I have.”

“So, you know she likes to steal and eat the ingredients when someone is baking?”

“I do,” Lena laughs.

“So, you’re not allowed in the kitchen,” Eliza says. “Not if you want pie for dessert.”

“Fine,” Kara grumbles, slouching back onto the couch. It’s not exactly the worst thing in the world to be left out, she’s glad that Eliza has been so welcoming and accepting of Lena, something Kara knows Lena had been worried about when Kara had first invited her away for the weekend to visit Midvale, and she gets pie in the end, but it also means that she doesn’t get to spend this time with Lena, left alone to find something else to do while they cook.

She ends up finding a book on one of Eliza’s shelves to read, and she gets so immersed in it, she jumps when Lena finally returns.

“Looks like I’ve been kicked out of the kitchen too.”

Kara frowns, closing the book in her hand. “What? Why?” Is she going to have to have words with Eliza? She thought they were getting along well, thought her mother trusted Lena.

“Relax,” Lena says with a laugh. “I’m kidding, or at least sort of. The pie is in the oven now and Eliza suggested we go for a walk before dinner.”

Kara, who never says no to spending time with Lena, readily agrees.

They don’t go far, they just walk down to the beach, stopping on the grass verge, before they reach the sand. Kara sits down on the sun-warmed grass, pats the ground beside her so Lena joins.

It’s nice and peaceful here, watching the waves roll in and out not far away, the smell of salt and sand surrounding them.

She needs to come here more often, needs to bring Lena here more often too.

“Thank you for inviting me here,” Lena says, as if reading Kara’s mind. “I needed a break, and I’ve enjoyed spending time with you and getting to know Eliza.”

Kara links her arm through Lena’s, leans into her shoulder. “I’m glad you said yes.”

“Did you listen to what Eliza and I talked about in the kitchen?” Lena asks, Kara suddenly worried. She’d purposefully not listened, wanted to give them both some privacy, but now she’s not sure what her mother could have said.

Kara tilts her head so she can see Lena, the lowering sun only making green eyes look brighter when Lena turns her head too. “No, I didn’t.”

“She thanked me,” Lena says. “For making you happy. She said she’s not sure she’s ever seen you this happy, and I want you to know that you make me happy too, happier than I ever thought I could be, so thank you.”

“You make me happy too,” Kara says, green eyes holding steady on hers. This moment suddenly feels important, and Kara doesn’t want to let it slip away.

“She also asked me something,” Lena says, looking away, eyes on the horizon. She takes Kara’s hand, threads their fingers together.

Kara swallows. “What did she ask you?”

“She asked me if we were dating, and when I said we weren’t, she asked me why not.”

Kara can’t breathe. “And what was your answer?”

“I said I didn’t know. There used to be reasons, why I didn’t ask you out, why I didn’t just tell you how I feel, but they’re all gone now. I don’t know why I’m waiting anymore.” Lena turns to Kara. “Do you know why we’re waiting?”

Kara shakes her head. She’d had reasons too, but none come to mind. She wants this with Lena, wants a life with her, wants to share everything with her, and she knows Lena wants this too.

“Have dinner with me, when we get back to the city?” Lena asks. “I don’t want to wait anymore.”

Kara laughs, the sound half disbelieving. Is it really this easy? Kara lifts their joined hands, presses a kiss to the back of Lena’s. “I don’t want to wait anymore either, I’d love to have dinner with you.”

Lena turns back to face her, smiles. “Then, it’s a date,” 

Kara knows she’s grinning like an idiot, but she doesn’t care. “It’s a date.

Lena looks back out across the water and her head falls to rest on Kara’s shoulder, neither of them saying any more as they watch the sunset across the water.

They don’t say anything as they stand either but it’s there, in the shy smile that Lena gives her when they stand and they keep their hands joined, the way their sides keep bumping together as they walk back to the house and then in the quick kiss Lena presses to her cheek at the door before they go back inside. 

This is the start of something incredible.

[absolutepokemontrash]

MC’s Date With the Side Characters is Going Terribly and Then it Starts to Rain

Brothers ver.

Diavolo

It was a tragic truth that the poor Crown Prince didn’t get to go out and have fun very often, but he had managed to get a singular day off! He of course was going to spend it with the future monarch-consort of the Devildom!

Diavolo had a whole list written out that was full of fun cliche date activities that he wanted to try, and it was also full of stuff MC said they wanted to do, so the date was going to be completely perfect.

As Diavolo and MC walked hand in hand to Madame Scream’s, they both took notice to the fact that literally every single demon in the vicinity was staring at the two of them.

The crown prince laughed it off, saying that MC looked so positively radiant that everyone couldn’t help but stop and look. MC laughed and leaned their head against Dia’s arm, but both of them knew full well that everyone was really staring at Diavolo.

To be fair, wouldn’t you stare if the most powerful person in the entire realm walked by holding hands with a pathetic little human?

They got to Madame Scream’s, got their sweets, then Diavolo got a phone call. It was Lucifer frantically explaining that the RAD gym was on fire and he needed to run everything by Diavolo before he could do anything about it.

That ate up about fifteen minutes and the desserts ended up getting cold… Diavolo tried to make light of it as the two finally got to eat their chocolate chip cookies.

“So apparently one student thought it would be a good idea to set a firework off inside, you know I encourage having fun at school but maybe they should have set this off outside.” “Maybe..?”

Next it was time for a romantic walk on the beach! That would have gone better if Diavolo remembered it was giant-crab season. As cool as it was to watch Diavolo hammer-throw an eight foot tall crab into the ocean it left MC’s ankles vulnerable to get pinched by regular sized crabs.

And maybe they both should have wore appropriate shoes… they were sinking into the sand and it was getting into their shoes…

Okay, so the beach didn’t work out, Diavolo had plenty of other ideas! They just had to- wait he was getting another call.

Half an hour later, Diavolo was finally able to hang up and gave MC an apologetic look. He said that he needed to cut the date short and go to an unavoidable meeting…

Oh well, at least this date couldn’t get any-

A loud crack of thunder caused Diavolo to nearly drop his phone in surprise. Oh… oh no… not rain…

Large droplets of water pelted the pair as they waited for Barbatos to pick them up. Diavolo slowly lifted up his arm and shielded MC from the rain as best he could. Well… this outfit was ruined, the least he could do was try and save MC’s…

“Well…” Diavolo tentatively began. “I heard getting caught in the rain is supposed to be romantic..?”

MC only sighed and moved a little closer, they folded their arms and stared blankly ahead. Their glassy expression made the crown prince’s heart sink right to the floor. Maybe he could cancel the meeting! He promised he’d spend more time with MC and he intended to keep it!

“MC, I could-”

“Dia, no.” MC looked up and gave him a small smile. “It’s okay, I’m okay. I knew what I was getting into when I said I’d be with you. Your kingdom is more important than one little date.”

“But I wanted to make you happy today…” Diavolo mumbled. His kingdom had always come first, before his friends, before MC, before even himself, was it so much to ask to have just one day for him to spend with the person he loved?

The human reaches up and lowered Diavolo’s arm and looped it around their shoulders. “And you did, any time that I get to spend with you makes me happy. Besides, it wasn’t all bad. The crab moment was pretty awesome.”

MC pulled out their DDD and showed Diavolo a picture of himself chucking the giant crab into the watery horizon. “We can put at least one moment of this date into the photo album.”

The precise tapping of the falling raindrops cause the DDD to flick to the next picture, which was an awkwardly angled snapshot of MC brandishing a stick at a much smaller crab who had attached its claws to their ankle.

“Uh, maybe not this picture…”

Barbatos

The poor butler rarely ever gets a day off, and he could tell MC missed spending time with him, so he asked Diavolo for a day off.

Of course Diavolo said yes, but when the day of the date came…

Barbatos saw every mishap and disaster coming a mile away. The smart thing to do would be cancel the date, but NO. Barbatos was going to use his powers for good and make sure MC had the time of their life!

The first disaster was supposed to come in the form of a pickpocket stealing MC’s wallet, key word being supposed.

As the perp made their way through the somewhat crowded sidewalk, fully prepared to swipe some wallets, Barbatos quickly twirled and dipped MC out of the way. This action also conveniently had the result of Barb knocking the pickpocket out cold.

MC of course, was none the wiser of the attempted theft and just assumed Barbatos was being suave (tm).

The second disaster was both MC and Barbatos getting hot coffee accidentally spilled all over them. Or it WOULD have been if Barbatos hadn’t quickly notified the person that would have spilled the drink that their shoelaces were undone.

Hell yeah! Second disaster averted!

The date progressed smoothly, well, as smooth as it could have gone. All those days of work and the task of making sure MC was none the wiser of any of the nasty things that could have ruined the date was really making Barbatos tired…

“Barbatos, are you alright?” “*exhausted breathing* Y-yes dearest, of course. Don’t trouble yourself.”

MC would have bought that lie if Barbatos didn’t look like he had just finished running a ten kilometre long race through a heatwave.

After making sure MC was not in the path of the escaped hellhound that would be running down the street in three, two, one, there it went, MC was safe and sound, Barbatos sighed in relief.

Just one more thing…

In the smoothest possibly motion, Barbatos opened the umbrella he had been carrying and held it over himself and MC.

MC looked up at the umbrella perplexed. “Barbatos, why-”

Thunder rumbled as the first drops of rain pelted harmlessly against the umbrella. Barbatos smiled softly and took MC’s hand. “Did you enjoy the date, darling?”

“Have you been doing damage control all day..?” MC asked. “Oh no wonder you look exhausted…”

Barbatos’ face burned with embarrassment when MC wrapped their arms around him.

“You work way to hard, this date was supposed to be relaxing for the both of us,” MC sighed. “You know what? We’re going to go back to the Demon Lord’s Castle, and I’m making you tea and snacks.”

“MC..?”

They began to pull Barbatos in the direction of the castle and plucked the umbrella out of his hand.

“I’ll hold this.” MC smiled brightly. “You relax, mister.”

Barbatos was about to protest, then sighed, no future he could see in his brief overview involved MC giving up on their new mission to make him take a break. He felt himself smile, he really lucked out with this human, didn’t he?

Simeon

The next volume of TSL had been released and Simeon was officially completely exhausted. He had spent the past two days signing special hardback copies and his writing hand was officially deceased.

He needed to relax and unwind… who better to do it with than MC? Simeon simply invited MC over to Purgatory Hall to hang out.

Oh my~ premarital eye contact~

It was just so nice, MC rested their head on Simeon’s chest while they lounged in bed watching TV, their hands gently intwined, the smell of Luke baking cookies…

Simeon let out a content sigh, he was truly and completely at peace in that moment. The soft knock on the door to his room barely phased him.

Solomon poked his head into the room with a bright smile.

“Hi you two, so sorry to barge in on your date, but before Luke took over the kitchen I made way too much food. I’ll bring some in for you guys!” “Solomon no-” “Wait!”

The date was now in intense danger. They needed to get out of there immediately! The first thing the angel could think to do to save the love of his life was to throw them out of the window.

Fret not, MC’s fall slowed considerably and they gently landed on the grass outside thanks to Simeon’s magic, but the angel himself was not as lucky. Yes his fall was slowed, but he still faceplanted into the dirt.

The two ended up running for dear life away from Purgatory Hall, further exhausting Simeon.

Well, at least they ended up near a very pretty fountain. Simeon and MC sat on the fountain ledge and resumed their snuggling.

Until Simeon got a phone call from a very frantic Luke begging for help with his math homework.

Due to being quite rusty at the subject, Simeon had to teach himself how to calculate the square root of something and then teach Luke, which was honestly frustrating for everyone involved.

After the homework was felt with, Simeon got ready to sit back down on the fountain ledge, ended up missing, then slipped straight into the fountain. It was a good thing that the water was shallow…

Then to MC and Simeon’s horror, it began to rain.

“Well…” Simeon sighed, he accepted MC’s hand and allowed himself to be pulled out of the fountain. “This isn’t so bad..?”

Lightning cracked in the distance, Simeon pulled MC into his arms on reflex, only to then realize that MC had become just as soaked as he was.

“I… sorry, MC.”

Simeon slowly unwrapped his arms from around MC, but the human remained firmly in place. “Ah, it’s fine. Want to call a cab or back to Purgatory Hall?”

“Y-yes, that sounds-” Simeon felt around for his phone, then winced and looked into the fountain. His phone was lying at the bottom of the fountain… “Do you think you could call?”

MC perked up and planted a kiss on Simeon’s cheek. “Of course, we can cuddle in the car.”

“That sounds wonderful…”

Solomon

Solomon decided to text MC at two in the morning to ask them out. In his defence, he was up late making potions and didn’t notice what time it was.

“Hey MCMCMCMCMC-” “ITS TWO OCLOCK IN THE FUCKING MORNING.” “Wanna go on a date tmrw?” “…ok.” “🥳” “see you tomorrow, Solomon.” “Oh yea- that reminds me- look at this snail I saw yesterday.” “Effervescent.” “Marry me.”

Obviously super happy that MC said yes to the date, Solomon was newly rejuvenated and went back to making his potion. It was six in the morning when he realized that maybe he should have just quit while he was ahead and went back to sleep.

It was a little late for that! He needed to go to school, then go on the date. Solomon gracefully took MC’s hand, led them out of the school, then fell down the stairs.

It um… may have messed up his tailbone. Solomon never felt more like an old man than when he and MC sat down at the cafe for coffee and MC had to help him into his seat.

The coffee arrived, MC and Solomon drank it, and Solomon just sighed in relief. This was nice, time with his sweet MC…

The way they made him feel so completely at ease… that smile… those eyes… those eyes were looking very confused-

“Solomon…” “Yes my sweet?” “There’s uh… there’s a giant spider on your head…”

…Solomon looked up and the giant spider fell right into his drink. He wasn’t thirsty anymore.

A little later, he and MC were walking hand in hand through the park, the darkness of the Devildom was almost comforting as the fireflies and pixies created little balls of light that danced around the pair.

It was such a soothing sight to behold, Solomon and MC sat down beneath a giant tree. MC rested their head on his shoulder, and Solomon let out a content sigh. He was just going to rest his eyes for a moment…

Solomon was harshly shaken awake by MC who yelled at him for falling asleep in the presence of pixies. Solomon had completely forgotten that pixies like to possess sleeping people. That was probably why he was awoken in the middle of stuffing his face with cookies that were in his backpack.

The two unanimously decided that it would be best to head back to Purgatory Hall. When the two had just returned to civilization… Solomon heard thunder.

Quick as a flash, Solomon looped his arm around MC’s waist and pulled them closer, using his other hand to draw a circle above them, when the rain began to fall, the two were completely dry thanks to the shield.

“Ha… HA! HAHAHA!” Solomon pointed and laughed at the sky. “GOT YOU BITCH!”

“Solomon..?” MC asked tentatively. “Are you alright?”

The sorcerer looked at his dear sweet perfect MC, gave them a toothy smile, and shook his head. “No darling, I’ve been awake for 56 hours.”

“Wait what? You texted me at two in the morning, you couldn’t have been awake for more than an extra few hours..?”

Solomon peppered MC’s face with sleepy kisses as the rain pattered against the shield. “I have a weird life.”

“You know what, I buy it.” MC sighed fondly. “Do you want to go home and sleep?”

“More than anything, I’ll teleport us home!”

“NO! Let’s just call someone to pick us up!”

[miekasa]

the babysitter’s club (1)

+ pairing: levi ackerman + (fem) reader, featuring bright-eyed but very easily intimidated interns and part-time babysitters eren and armin who are trying their best

+ genres and warnings: modern au, parents au, fluff, yes the dog’s name is captain and he’s tiny what about it

+ summary: eren and armin are good subordinates, who happen to be pretty good babysitter, too. usually. 

+ word count: 2.7k

+ notes: this was just something fun i edited and reworked again, also to provide some more insight about dad levi and my oc kids; this focuses only on holden, who is the oldest of the bunch, but you’ll more about the rest as they go

It’s not that Levi doesn’t trust Holden’s babysitters, he just would rather watch over her himself. Moreover, he would rather have the time to spend with his small daughter instead of having to leave her in the care of someone else who isn’t you, but sometimes life gets busy, and babysitters come in real handy.

He still doesn’t understand why Erwin would schedule the both of you to attend such important work-related meetings on the same weekend; much less, to send you half-way around the world for yours, and then book Levi for damn near twelve hours on a Saturday. He would murder Erwin if he weren’t his direct boss, and a long-time friend. But shit happens, and while it’s a major inconvenience and pain in his ass to be working on a weekend, it’s good to know he could rely on the brats at the office to step up on such short notice.

“I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that if anything happens, I won’t hesitate to dismember you,” Levi says calmly, closing his briefcase after triple-checking its contents.

“Of course,” Armin stiffens visibly, awkward laughter seeping through his words, “Eren and I would never let anything happen to Holden.”

To his left, Holden has already tugged Eren to the coffee table for a game of children’s Scrabble, determined to show off her new skills. Levi smiles slightly as he remembers playing the game with her last week, and how awe-struck she was to have seen Levi create a word bigger than “unattainable”—which is currently the longest word in her four-year-old vocabulary. But he’s certain she would have no trouble beating Eren.

He gives Armin a slight nod. He knows Holden is in good hands; or good enough hands with Armin, anyway. It’s not the first time the duo has babysat, and for as air-headed and clumsy Eren could be at the office, he seemed to be pretty damn good with kids if Holden’s attachment to the brunette was anything to go by.

Levi recounts that you’ve questioned on multiple occasions why Eren was so dedicated to being your PA when he seemed to have a potential career in taking care of, and maybe even teaching children. Not that he’s not a good assistant to you, but he’s certainly not as organized or detailed-oriented as Armin. Levi shrugs away the thought. Eren’s career choices are none of his business; his only concern is that he keeps his daughter safe and sound.

“Right. My card is on the kitchen island, you can buy lunch and dinner or whatever, I don’t think there’s much in the fridge,” Levi informs Armin. He looks briefly to the clock on the wall; he really should get going. “Remember to walk Captain at some point, and no matter what Holden says, he absolutely does need a leash on him. If Erwin isn’t being a complete asshat, I’ll be home by nine. (Y/N) will probably still be on her flight, so call me if you need anything.”

Armin nods enthusiastically, promising Levi that they would take care of everything. They’d better.

“Alright, I’m heading out,” Levi announces, pulling his keys from the table near the door, “Be good, Holden. Tell Armin and Eren if you need anything.”

Holden’s head perks up at the sound of her name. Elegantly, or as elegantly as a four-year-old can be, she stands from her seated crisscross position, to run over to Levi by the door. He should remind her that she should use walking feet inside the house, but he can’t bring himself to, instead crouching down to meet her height.

“Bye, daddy,” she tells him sweetly. Levi reaches a hand out to ruffle the top of her head, much to the small girl’s chagrin. She sports a grimace almost identical to his as he reaches up to try and smooth out the aftermath of her father’s affections, “Daddy!”

Levi can’t help but chuckle, reaching two fingers out to poke at his daughter’s forehead. “Be good. I’ll be back soon.”

“Mommy too?”

Levi sighs, “No, mommy doesn’t come back until Tuesday.”

“That’s four days away,” Holden’s doesn’t hesitate to express her dissatisfaction. Levi nods, a little proud of how quickly she’d calculated that in her head, “Can Eren stay until Tuesday?”

“No, Eren cannot.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” Holden crinkles her nose. Levi really has got to do something about her fascination with Eren.

Holden looks backwards to where Eren is still seated around the coffee table, he and Armin watching the father-daughter duo. After reconciling with the fact that Eren does, in fact, have his own home to go back to at the end of the day, Holden turns back around, and holds her hand up, palm facing Levi. He does the same, bringing his larger palm to hers, so that her hand is pushed against the middle of his.

Not one for hugs, kisses, or larger displays of affection, Holden simply turns her palm so that her hand grabs around Levi’s as best as possible, hooking her thumb around his pinky finger—what Levi’s heard the young girl call a hand hug.

“Bye, daddy,” she repeats, squeezing his hand, “Come back soon.”

Levi bends his fingers to wrap around her hand, “I will.”

“Keep an eye on her,” Levi reminds Armin and Eren, after standing back up and gripping his briefcase in his hand, “Don’t cause too much trouble.”

“Holden never causes trouble,” Eren says in response, but his words are spoken in coos to the young girl, who’s already back at his side. 

Levi scoffs, “I was talking to you.” 

“We’ll be fine, boss, don’t worry,” Eren chuckles with an awkward blush, “We love looking after Holden.”

“I’m not your boss,” Levi deadpans, double-checking his pockets for his keys, “You’d better hope everything is fine. Call me if anything happens, I’ll be back soon.” 

With one final round of good-byes, and a wave from his daughter, Levi’s out the door, and stepping into his car with a grimace. It was just one stupid day out of his life. Besides, Holden would be fine with Armin and Eren; she always is. Levi is just grumpy that he can’t be the one to spend the day with her. 

He sighs, reluctantly, putting his keys in the ignition. The sooner he got this over with, the sooner he could come back to Holden. Everything would be fine in the meantime; for now, he had to focus on how he was going to get himself to sit through Erwin’s long-ass meeting. 

“Levi! Hi! Um… okay, so don’t freak out, but Armin and I are at the hospital with Holden right now—don’t freak out—because there was a small incident at lunch—don’t freak out and fire me please—but! It’s all gonna be okay, they’re already treating her and she’s doing fine now, so don’t freak—”  

“Tell me not to freak out one more fucking time and I’ll castrate Armin and feed you his balls myself.”

“You sound a little freaked out,” Eren placates, wincing and holding his phone away from his ear when Levi growls in response.

“You have five seconds to tell me what you two idiots did to my daughter and explain why I shouldn’t decapitate you immediately.”

“It’s a funny story, actually—so, um, we think Holden might be allergic to nuts…?”

“What do you mean might be, Jaeger?”

Eren can feel his heart in his throat. He eyes Armin on the other side of Holden’s hospital bed. He looks no better—color almost completely drained from his face, but Eren doesn’t think he can say much else to his boss before his knees give out from underneath him.

“Uh, well, it was a lot of technical terms, and—I—um, actually I’m going to let Armin explain!” Eren hurries, all but chucking his phone at the unsuspecting blonde.

Armin’s blue eyes look almost grey with anxiety, but before he can protest, Eren is flailing his hands and pointing fingers and reminding him that Levi will kill them both if he doesn’t start talking.

Reluctant, and terrified, Armin finally lifts the phone to his ear, stuttering out a pathetic hello, but Levi cuts him off before he can say anything else.

“Save it. Send me your location, and pray I don’t kill you when I get there.” Armin chokes out a “yes, sir,” before slowly bringing the phone down to his side.

The good news is that Holden’s allergic reaction wasn’t too severe: her throat had been irritated, and hives had emerged as a result, but it hadn’t been closing up. And luckily, Eren had the endurance to run nearly a mile and half with a four year old tucked under his arm; because with the traffic Armin observed whilst he and Captain huffed and lagged behind, it would have taken thrice as long to get Holden to the ER had they waited and called for an ambulance.

Even better was that Holden was an unnervingly calm kid, even whilst having an allergic reaction. She looked almost back to normal now, save for a few red looking blotches on her neck and upper arm; and seemed more than content to be watching a video on Eren’s phone, despite the situation. She was a little bummed out to find out that she could never eat the new ice cream she liked so much ever again, but she seemed to quickly get over it once Eren reminded her that there were lots of other flavors out there for her to try. Flavors that wouldn’t make her choke to death.

Still, Eren and Armin could probably kiss their jobs goodbye, seeing as they had nearly just poisoned their bosses’ daughter. Holden seemed to like them enough, but, unfortunately, Holden wasn’t the Ackerman who signed their checks.

At the very least, Eren doesn’t think you’ll be too upset with him. He doesn’t think you’ll be ecstatic to hear that while you were away on your already inconvenient work-trip on the other side of the globe, that he also managed to land your daughter in a hospital bed… but you were the more forgiving one. Then again, maybe not so forgiving when it comes to the health and wellbeing of your daughter. 

Eren falls back against the wall in dread. You weren’t even in the same country as him and he was worried about what you might say or do to him. Levi was probably less than twenty minutes away and fully capable of beheading him.

“You… uh, you think the Interior Branch is still looking for interns?” Eren breaks the silence, looking towards Armin, who’s taken the seat next to Holden’s bed, petting Captain robotically as the dog sits in his lap.

“I don’t think it matters,” Armin responds, “They won’t hire corpses.”

Fifteen minutes, and several run red lights later, Levi is bursting through the doors to the pediatric wing of the emergency room. He doesn’t care about the old woman at the reception yelling at him for causing a ruckus, or the other parents, doctors, or visitors eyeing him for marching around like he owned the place. Holden was in there somewhere, and he was going to get to her.

“Holden—oh, god, Holden,” Levi coos, frantic, as he marches into Holden’s room, scurrying to the side of her hospital bed. A cold hand reaches up to stroke her face. Angry, red bumps litter the sides of neck, her cheeks are puffier than usual, and the perimeter of her mouth seems a bit irritated, but Levi is relieved. She’s okay, his baby girl is okay.

“’M fine, daddy,” Holden assures him. She’s almost overly-perceptive for her age, able to pick up on her father’s out of character antics, and does her best to console him. “Eren ran with me all the way here when I started coughing and itchin.’”

Levi nods, the dark grey splotches in Holden’s eyes bringing him comfort, ensuring him that she was okay. “They gave me a shot, and I don’t like needles, but I didn’t even cry at all. Ask, Armin and Eren, they saw! Captain, too.”

“Brave girl,” Levi smiles, reaching his hand up to push her hair out of her face then leans over to press a kiss to her forehead.

Levi had almost forgotten that Eren and Armin were in the room until he hears a blundering cough from behind him. The younger boys look petrified, Eren practically shaking in his shoes, while Armin doesn’t even have the confidence to look him in the eye.

“We’re really sorry, Levi,” Eren apologizes, voice scratchy and wobbly, like he’d been the one to just get a shot, “We didn’t know—and when she started coughing and saying she couldn’t breathe, I swear, I ran here as fast as I could—”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s… fine?”

Levi sighs. Maybe he’d been a little harsh with them on the phone, letting his emotions get the best of him. He’d already been pissed off enough to not have the time to spend with Holden this weekend; hearing that she’d been hurt was just the final push over the edge for him, but it wasn’t necessarily Armin or Eren’s fault.

“I didn’t know either,” Levi exhales, reaching at hand out to pet the top of Holden’s head again, the young girl now distracted once again by the phone in her hand, “She’s never had a reaction to anything before, and neither (Y/N) or I have any strong allergies.”

Armin shuffles where he’s standing. “The doctor said she might be allergic to tree nuts. We, uh, we gave her pistachio ice cream after lunch.”

If there’s anything concerning Levi, it’s that they gave Holden ice cream before dinner, but he supposes he can let it go for now.

“Eren told me to try it, and it tasted good, daddy,” Holden interjects, “Before I started coughing, it was good.”

“Ah, well, you can’t—you shouldn’t eat things that make you feel sick!” Eren stutters loudly.

“But it was good,” Holden pouts, “And you said to try new things, Eri. I won’t know if it makes me sick if I don’t try them.”

Levi holds back his laughter. He knows that Holden definitely wouldn’t want to try the same same flavor again knowing now that she was allergic to it; she was just pulling at Eren’s leg. Levi would have to keep an eye out for the stuff anyway, especially if her oh-so-precious Eren has expressed any former love for it. 

“Um, Levi, sir,” Armin calls, pulling Levi’s attention towards the blonde, “We didn’t know if (Y/N) would have landed already, but do you think you should call her, to, um, let her know?”

Levi’s face pales three shades when he realizes that none of them had already informed you that your daughter was currently hospitalized with a new found allergy.

“You can call her,” Levi says, a shudder in his spine at the thought of relaying this information to you, “That’s your death sentence, not mine.”

[wheelsup]

the taming of the shrew | two

if i be waspish, best beware my sting

after some setbacks, penelope is willing to do anything to get you back on board. but has spencer already ruined things?

A/N: hello! im so sorry that this posting schedule is super inconsistent. the more i thought about this chapter, the less i liked the more technical aspects of it. but! i hope you enjoy to plot aspect of it nonetheless <3 thanks for reading!

category: fluff, slow burn series, spencer reid x fem!reader

wc: 4.4k

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Since that phone call with Penelope, she’d been over nearly every night for a week with plates of treats and onslaughts of apologies. Each time she came knocking, you told her there was no amount of persuasion that could change your mind. And yet the following night, she’d be there, a new type of pastry in hand and a new set of reasons why Spencer was worth the trouble.

First, she brought blueberry muffins and reasoned that deep below that prickly exterior, he really was everything she promised –– sweet and caring. But that must be deep, deep down. Like, The Lost City of Atlantis, deep down, because you didn’t expect it to surface any time soon. 

Then, she brought fudge brownies and explained that his behavior wasn’t personal –– he was getting snippy with everyone lately. And while you maintained that anybody would have a hard time getting along with Spencer, you were absolutely positive that it was now impossible for you. 

Quite frankly, it wasn’t just Spencer who was unwilling to play nice. You hated him. More than you’ve ever hated a stranger. 

You wished him a lifetime riddled with minor inconveniences that would drive him to the edge of insanity. You wanted him to miss all his trains by just a quarter of a minute; close enough so that he could see it leave the platform, knowing he almost made it on. You wanted him to constantly feel like he was about to sneeze. You wanted his socks to be perpetually wet, and if he should happen to put on a dry pair? You hoped he stepped in a puddle.

That was all you could think about as you laid out on your couch, munching on one of Penelope’s lemon bars while she paced around your apartment. She kept going on and on advertising Spencer to you. As annoying as it was, she was also saving you a ton on groceries that week. 

For the most part, you filtered her out. Not a single word that came out of her mouth was believable anymore, especially not when she was talking about Spencer. Despite what Penelope thought of him, you saw in him what she refused to accept. 

As her speech came to a close, she looked at you like she expected a response to dignify her prattling. 

“Give it a rest, Penelope. He’s a lost cause,” you laughed dryly. “He doesn’t need –– nor does he want –– anyone in his life.” At the very least, he definitely didn’t want you. 

“Yes, that’s the problem!” If you’d been listening to her, you would’ve heard her saying the same thing. “He doesn’t want to date!” 

Your head just about exploded when she said that. 

There had been countless, fruitless conversations about this, and all along she saw the gaping hole in her supposedly airtight plan?

“If he doesn’t want to DATE, then WHAT was the point of this?!” Your fingers pressed the bridge of your nose; you suddenly felt a headache coming on. Funny how it always happened around the time of day that Penelope came to visit.

Penelope stopped pacing. She stalked over to your couch, picked your legs up by your ankle, and moved them to make space for herself. You begrudgingly sat upright as she took her place beside you. 

“Because he’s not himself anymore. He’s not open like he used to be. Not to the people who care about him the most, and certainly not to the world.”  

Penelope toyed with the hem of her dress, distracting herself from her quivering lip before pressing on, “Spencer Reid has always wanted love. And it’s not right that he no longer believes he can have it.” 

You hadn’t seen Penelope look so desperate until now. It was concerning. Because what could make her look so hopeless? What could make Spencer so hopeless? 

“Penelope, I don’t know what’s wrong with your little friend, but… there’s a lot more bubbling inside him than you’re letting on.” 

She chewed up the insides of her cheeks, wincing to herself at your incredibly accurate claim. 

“You are hiding something, aren’t you?” You narrowed your eyes on her. You were no detective, or whatever exactly her team did, but she was just awful at concealing her thoughts.

“It’s not my story to tell,” she murmured. 

She could already feel herself about to give it away and doubled down her mental defenses against it. Focusing extra hard on keeping Spencer’s privacy intact. If only you knew her track record with secrets, you’d be proud of her for staying quiet this long.

“What isn’t your story?” 

“That his girlfriend died last year.” 

She spilled it before she even realized what she was saying. You’d just asked so nonchalantly that she forgot she was talking aloud. Penelope turned purple, terrified now that the whole truth was out there. 

You couldn’t even take satisfaction in the fact that your trick worked. You were just as mortified as Penelope, and if you weren’t already sitting down, you knew you’d need to. You assumed there was something deeper going on with him, you didn’t think it was a dead girlfriend. That was some Nicholas Sparks shit. 

“He pretends like he’s fine but I know he’s not. And if he found a way to move on, maybe he’d start feeling as okay as he claims to be,” she sniffled before snot could run from her nose, tears lining the rims of her eyes. “I know I should’ve given you the full picture, but I didn’t think you’d go for it if you knew…” 

You were too floored to process it all right away. This added a whole new layer of complicated to an already uneasy arrangement.

“Well, I know you’re right about one thing. I would’ve said no.” 

She gave you a set of pleading eyes, praying you’d see where she was coming from. 

“I know,” she whispered defeatedly. “But maybe... now that you know, you can understand why he acts out the way he does.”

“Penelope, I can’t just… make someone move on, or –– or get them to believe in love! Especially when it’s fake.”

How on Earth did she expect you to pull that off? Did that guy from A Walk to Remember move on when Mandy Moore died? You hadn’t seen the ending of the movie, but you assumed not. 

“I’m sorry, this is just… a lot bigger than the favor I thought it was ––”

“What if I could return it?” she cut in. The gears in her head started to turn, figuring ways to patch up the holes she made. 

“There’s nothing I need from you.” 

That couldn’t be true. Penelope looked around the room and it didn’t take her long to think of it.

“I can help you sell your art,” she tempted, gesturing to the scattered canvases. “You make all your income from this, right?” 

You didn’t want to give any fuel to her fire, but you nodded. “What if… what if you didn’t have to settle for local buyers? What if I told you that you could make way more money selling them to the whole world?”

You chortled at her idea. 

You were a local artist, through and through. Your art got put in local galleries and sold to local buyers. Nothing more, and that was fine with you. You realized it a long time ago that it was just a pipe dream to think you’d be more. 

“I’m serious! You could get a separate painting studio, and stop living in one? Huh?” She wrapped her hand around your shoulder, waving the other in the air, urging you to picture it with her. “Imagine this: a kitchen that’s separate from your living room. A bed, inside it’s own four walls, and more than twelve feet from where you cook your meals.”

Pushing aside her so blatantly insulting your apartment, if that were a possibility, you’d want nothing more. But it already sounded foolish and you hadn’t even heard how she planned to pull it off. 

“Penelope, I’m fine where I am. I make the money I need, and that’s... it’s fine.”

She gave you a pointed look. “You know, I can hack all search engine results to make sure you are what comes up first anytime someone enters the word ‘painting’, right?

An airy chuckle left your lips. Of course she could. You patted her thigh twice and stood up, prompting her to follow you to your door –– hopefully, so she can show herself to the other side of it. “Still no, Pen.” 

“Just take some time to think about it!” Her voice carried through the wood as you shut it on her.

*

There was this one bench in Kenilworth Park – the one that overlooks the crystal clear pond – that you’d always been able to rely on to fix any problem.

There was hidden magic in the bushes that sprawled out from the edges of the water, surrounded by spiky green blades of overgrown grass. A simplicity you loved in baby ducklings paddling into the tiny body of water, swimming close together so they don’t get lost in, what seems to them, a whole ocean. And clarity provided by the freshest air in the world, under the shade of the big oak trees on a late summer afternoon.

But at the present, none of that came close to being enough.

The artist’s block started off as a minor inconvenience, but without your permission, had stretched into weeks of steadily declining motivation. Each new idea felt even worse than the last, and you were acutely aware that there would come a point where you’d officially hit maximum capacity for how awful they could get.

Still, that didn’t seem to light a fire under you. You happily coexisted with the blank pages of your sketchbook. Staring down at them, laying open on your lap in their stark-white glory, you felt like you were playing a waiting game. If you stared long and hard enough, maybe they’d flinch. 

Unfortunately, you never got to find out who won, because your phone rang inside your pocket. As if the caller had interrupted an incredible genius at work (which couldn’t be farther from the truth), you hastily raised the phone to your ear, slamming your sketchbook shut.

“Hello?” Your voice wasn’t as kind as it could be for someone with nothing better to be doing. Two seconds later, you learned who was calling and came to regret it.

“Hi, This is Rebecca from District Arts, calling with a message from Andre ––”

“Oh, hi!” you tried to walk back your previous tone, straightening up in your seat and pitching your voice higher, “Yeah, I’ve been waiting to hear from him!” 

While Rebecca intimidated you, Andre happened to be your closest friend at the gallery. He worked closely with the artists to curate their collection and help them make sales. 

“Does he want to sort out what to set the opening bid prices at for my new pieces?” A handful of days ago, you sent him pictures of your new work and were waiting to hear his thoughts. You’d always been able to trust his opinion, and a vote of confidence from him might be just the thing to inspire you.

“Uhm…” There was a criminally long pause on the other side of the line, ended by Rebecca’s weary inhale. “Unfortunately, we’re calling to inform you that your pieces will not be included in the next rotation.”

For a minute, you weren’t sure what to make of what she said. You’d never heard those words before.

“What – what do you mean?” you laughed nervously. She probably misspoke. Perks of friendship aside, Andre always included you in sets. 

“Ugh, let me just get him…” her voice faded away as she put the phone down. 

That wasn’t exactly the reassuring statement you were looking for. In the time it took for the call to switch hands, your confusion finally melted in. And then quickly boiled into anger.

The District Arts gallery changed their entire collection every two months. The pieces shown accepted rolling bids throughout the full eight weeks, finally selling at the end of term to their highest offer. After that, the pieces got taken down, sent to happy new owners, and the entire gallery reset with entirely new works. 

So if you missed one rotation, that meant waiting two months to get back in.

“Andre, how am I just cut from the gallery!” you barked before he could get a word in. If he didn’t like your work, he could’ve just said so. 

“No one said that ––”

“Okay, let me rephrase.” You pinched the bridge of your nose, something you found yourself doing quite frequently lately, and took a deep breath in and out. It was seemingly just for show because it did absolutely nothing to calm you down. “Why wouldn’t you put me in the next set? I’m in all of them!”

“I know you are!” He sounded just as upset. “It’s just that… we give you the biggest space we have, because you always manage to fill it up. But this time… I’m not so sure you can.”

“That’s ridiculous,” you scoffed. “What makes you say that?” You asked that, but you knew.

“You’ve only finished three pieces… I’m worried how you’ll deliver seven more before we set up.”

“But… it’s four weeks away, I could do ––”

“And it took you four weeks to make what you have... I’m sorry. We couldn’t take that gamble.” 

He took your silence as an opportunity to turn off the work talk and speak, just friend to friend. 

“You know that I trust you and I’d hold that spot if I could. But, I also know what you’re going through right now, and… I don’t know, maybe letting yourself rest would be a good thing?” 

Your heart paused. By, “knowing what you’re going through”, you assumed he didn’t mean the little artist’s block.

“If you’re implying that I can’t do my job because of what happened with Cyrus –”

“I’m not, I’m not....” he backtracked as quickly as he could. “But take another look at the paintings you showed me and tell me if they feel like you.”

Even if he was right, you wanted to fight him. You wanted to cry. You wanted to beg that you didn’t need that big space; you were willing to downsize and just turn in the three that you had. Even if they got shoved into the corner where hardly anybody bothered to look. You just couldn’t afford to go two months without the income. 

But even with tears beading up, you realized that the gallery couldn’t afford it either. They needed to bring in money and you couldn’t do that for them this time. So they were right to go to someone who can.

“Right,” you sniffled, recollecting yourself so he can’t hear the shakiness in your voice. “I understand. It’s a big risk, like you said… It’s for the better.”

Andre tried to thank you for being understanding and spewed some sort of encouragement. The words flew over your head. You managed to toss in a few ‘mhmm’s and ‘sure’s at the right places to coast you along until the call finally ended. 

As soon as it went dead, you dropped your phone to the side and brought your hands to your face, rubbing them furiously over your cheeks. Your fingertips pressed hard into your eyelids, trying to forcibly reabsorb the tears threatening to spill. 

It almost worked, until you tried to breathe. 

A full sob escaped in that one gulp of air and you succumbed to it. But the loud crunching noise of some pedestrian walking over the falling leaves destroyed your sense of privacy, and you quickly wiped away all signs of your breakdown. The crunching stopped just short of your bench and on instinct you flicked your eyes up to see who the intruder was.

You did a double take. It was him. That fucking asshole.

He was standing there, looking dumber than you could even remember, with his hands in his coat pockets and a curious look on his face as he watched you cry. Tucking your sketchbook under your arm in haste, you made it a point to stand up with as much aggression as possible, rolling your eyes at him.

“Don’t worry, I’m leaving,” you barked. “No need to yell at me this time.”

You bristled past him, barely refraining yourself from checking his shoulder as payback. You wanted to believe you were better than him, but it did sound incredibly tempting. He stood there for a moment before turning on his heel and following you.

“Wait,” he groaned.

You didn’t listen, neither stopping nor slowing down.

“I said wait,” he huffed as he caught up to you, popping up at your side and jogging along as you kept going.

“Yeah, because I need to listen to a guy who yells at strangers in bookstores.” 

Now that you’d brought up the elephant in the room, your feet started moving even faster, working double time to get you away from him.

Damn the fact that he had those long legs. He didn’t even break a sweat trying to keep up. He was inescapable.

“Well, if you waited like I asked, you would’ve gotten an apology for the ––”

“Gee, thanks!” you yelled, stopping for only a second to turn to him and give him a mocking bow of your head, hands clasped together like you were praising at his altar. “I was waiting with bated breath for that! Thank you, kind sir, for now my life can go on.”

“Look, I’m actually sorry,” he snapped. Then in realizing the irony, softened his voice, “I’m sorry for being rude. I was having a bad day… not that that’s an excuse.”

You stared at him blankly, just watching his mouth moving quickly and waiting until it finally stopped. 

“Did you need something?” 

“Did you… did you not hear what I just said?!” 

“No, sorry,” you smiled, voice sweet like sugar. “My ears filter bullshit. Wanna try again?”

He scoffed, looking away like he couldn’t believe you before stepping even closer. “What’s your problem?”

“Me!? The fuck –– what the fuck is your problem?” You turned and stormed off again, seething at his audacity. Spencer just couldn’t relent his annoying tendencies and followed yet again.

“My problem is that I’m trying to be nice, and you’re not letting me!”

You got a good, hard laugh out of that. “Okay, first of all, having to apologize for yelling at me and pushing me isn’t exactly the best starting point for the journey of becoming a nice person.”

“Like I said, I was having a bad day.” 

Under your breath, you muttered, “Well, I hope this one’s even worse.”

“Why are you such a ––” He stopped himself from finishing that thought. Even in his worst mood, he wouldn’t cross that line. 

But he didn’t need to finish it, you knew exactly where he wanted to take it. The soles of your shoes scraped against the loose gravel as you came to a grinding halt, ears ringing.

“A what?” You turned to face him, a sarcastic smile on your face growing wider as he started to shrink more and more. You got up close in his face, daring him to say what he really wanted to. So he could reinforce your belief in exactly the type of person he was. “A what?” 

Spencer pursed his lips and shook his head, refusing to say it no matter how much you challenged him. If he wasn’t going to have the balls to say it, you decided to take it upon yourself.

“Tell you what, you keep thinking about it and get back to me the next time you’re in a cunty mood.” 

The word he was thinking of was probably not as bad, but you had a habit of escalating things. Even if you took this one too far, you didn’t care. 

Before you tried to take off again, Spencer’s hand flew to your elbow. He tugged you back, forcing you to turn around and face him. He didn’t know his own strength; without any resistance, you came stumbling into his chest, at risk of falling over if it weren’t for his tight grip on your arm.

It took you a beat to push him away with both your hands on his chest, vocalizing your disgust for being so close to him. 

“Can you stop trying to disagree with me for a second? I’m trying to tell you that you’re right, I was being a… well, you know…” He avoided the word. Apparently ‘cunt’ was where he drew the line. “I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve it.” 

Your nostrils were still flared and blood hot as ever, but he made you pause. He looked sincere, if not a little tinged with guilt as well. You were suspicious of it.

“You saw me crying and felt bad, didn’t you?”

He laughed darkly. “Well, I saw you, yes. Did I feel bad? No.” 

“Oh, my God,” you growled, berating yourself for getting close to believing he might be capable of decency. 

“I’m joking! I’m joking.” He squeezed your elbow twice in earnest. “I did feel bad, but that’s not why I wanted to say it.”

“Okay.” You weren’t ready to give him a real smile, so you flattened your lips into a thin line and nodded once slowly, and left it at that. 

You still weren’t a fan, but the apology did dampen some of the resentment. Maybe he wasn’t the worst person alive. You’d settle for saying top ten most annoying, instead.

Minutes later, you came to the startling realization that he was still on the path, just two paces behind you. You flinched when you saw him out of the corner of your eye, not expecting him to still be here. 

“Uhm. Where are you… why are you still following me?” 

“I’m not. My car’s that way,” he gestured to the parking lot at the end of the long walkway. “I forgot my loaf for the ducks.” He didn’t mean to offer that information up, it just slipped out. He could practically see your smug expression coming before it even got there.

“You’re not supposed to feed bread to the ducks. It’s bad for them.”

“I don’t.” He didn’t care to explain this to you, but he couldn’t have you thinking he was any less competent than he really was. “It’s a special bread made from water and seeds that were ground into flour. It’s duck-safe.” 

“They make duck-safe bread?” Now that was something you’d never heard before. 

“No… I make duck-safe bread,” he said softly under his breath. 

You didn’t know how else you were supposed to react to that besides laughing wildly. 

“You make it?” He nodded like you were the crazy one here. As if he wasn’t the one spending his spare time grinding up seeds and baking loaves of bread for ducks, donning a frilly pink apron and oven mitts as he did so. At least that’s how you imagined it. “Why not just feed them the seeds?”

“Because, loose seeds will sink in the water and can potentially clog waterbeds and cause foreign bacteria growth in the pond.” 

“So you… hand-make the seeds into a little loaf of bread so it doesn't do that?”

He confirmed. You pondered silently for a moment, then absolutely had to ask, “You ever eaten the duck bread before?”

Spencer was caught off guard by that question. His cheeks deepened to a rosy color.

“Yeah, well, it was the house so…” he laughed nervously and stared at his sneakers. “It’s actually not too bad.”

You weren’t entirely surprised by that. You remembered what his grocery basket looked like, and given those same options, you probably would’ve tried the duck bread too. Still, you cracked the smallest of grins at knowing he makes bread for ducks. The one, sole redeeming fact you’ve learned about Spencer. 

You reached your car first, and Spencer stopped in front of it with you. 

“I’m actually sorry, you know,” he whispered once more, hand resting at the top of your car door as you opened it. He wasn’t talking about the incident at the bookstore.

“Yeah…” For a while you were so busy being angry at Spencer that you forgot about your own problems. 

He noticed your nose was still red around the edges, eyes still a little bleary. “Are you okay, by the way?” His voice was too soft, too genuine.

You shook your head no.

“Is there anything I can do?” You shook your head again. And then you had an awful thought.

You knew he was just offering to help just to say it, because that’s how people react when you say you’re not okay even if they don’t care. But there actually was something he could do for you… Something that Penelope could do.

“Uh, no but…” you fixed your hair and tucked it behind your ear, seamlessly switching to a flirtier voice. “If you still feel bad about the other day, you’re welcome to make it up to me.”

Spencer cocked his head to the side, unsure of how he could do that. 

“Hang out with me sometime.”

“H-hang out?” You could tell that it flustered him, even if he tried to play it off. He swallowed thickly, nose twitching and brows scrunched together.

“Relax, I really do just mean hang out.” You were lying through your teeth. He didn’t need to know that. 

As if he didn’t want to think about it for a second longer and just get out of this conversation as quickly as possible, he agreed without thinking it through. He didn’t even ask why an almost complete stranger would want to hang out with him. 

You stuck your hand out, expecting him to hand over his cell so you could put your contact into it. He rocked on the balls of his feet, watching as you input your contact and sent yourself a text on his phone.

“Hi, this is…” you read out your message as you typed, pausing at just the right place. “What’s your name by the way?”

“Oh-uh, I’m Spencer.” 

A devilish grin took over your face, hidden from his view while you were looking down at the screen. He was going to be easy to fool.

-

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agh! im still not in love with how this chapter is turning out, but it came to a point where i just had to stop fiddling with it and just post it. any feedback or comments about this story is very much appreciated 💕

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[kaleidoscope77]

Amazing (NaLu One-shot)

Summary: Natsu and Lucy's monthly routine is interrupted by a seemingly harmless question.

Rated: T

Words: 1998

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"Lucy?" Natsu scanned the room for his blonde teammate, a little hint of worry on his face. 

Mira had told him about how she came into the guildhall incredibly grumpy that morning, and she's been cooped up in her apartment for the rest of the day. 

The girls advised him to give her space for a bit, and while Happy decided to heed their warnings and lay low, Natsu knew good and well what was going on. 

"I'm in the kitchen!" The sound of Lucy's voice was enough to prove that his suspicions were correct, she sounded so out of it right now. 

Natsu poked his head into the kitchen, and gave a sad smile at the sight of Lucy hunched over on the counter. "You okay?"

"Do I look okay?" Lucy grumbled, "Where have you been?"

"We just got back from a job yesterday," Natsu rolled his eyes, "I was sleepin'."

"...Well, I need you. Now."

"Hm… It's early."

"I know it's early. Just be glad it's not while we were on the job. Now c'mon," Lucy held her arms up, Natsu quickly getting the hint and scooping her up to carry her.

"Bed or couch?" 

"Bed, please."

Just as she requested, Natsu brought her to the comfort of her bed and gave her a moment to get situated amongst the pillows before he joined her in laying down. 

The two wrestled with the comforter for a bit before ultimately deciding to go without it, and as patience began to run thin, Lucy pulled Natsu closer by his scarf, bringing his body flush against hers. 

"You know what to do," She mumbled, earning a quiet growl in response. 

"Yeah, I know," Natsu didn't like being rushed, but he knew she had good reason to be impatient. He wrapped his arms around her abdomen and warmed up his hands, Lucy immediately sighing in pure bliss from the feeling. 

"Ah, yes…" She snuggled back into him, leaving no space between their bodies, "I've been waiting… all day for this."

Natsu frowned, had he known she was in pain, he would've came over sooner. "Sorry."

"Don't be. Like you said, it came early this month. Hit me like a ton of bricks, though."

"Then you should get something to warm your belly up when I'm not around…"

"I actually do have a heating pad," Lucy turned around to face him, making sure his hands didn't lose their place over the source of her pain, "But your hands are so much better."

Natsu couldn't deny that he really liked hearing her prefer his magic over something else, but a part of him still felt bad. He didn't mind doing this every month, it was the only time Lucy allowed him to not only be in her bed, but to also be this close to her while doing so. 

It's nice to feel like she depends on him, and to be able to do something for her that no one else can. And their alone time during these days are always nice, sometimes she'll fall asleep in his arms, and other times they'll pass the time by just talking about any and everything. 

But, he still hated that she had to be in pain for them to get this… close.

"Thanks for always doing this for me, Natsu," Lucy smiled. He couldn't help but smile back at her.

"'S not like I got something better to do."

"Mhm," She wrapped her arms around his middle, now each of them holding the other tightly, "You're the best. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Me too."

"Really?"

"Yeah…"

"Aw, that's sweet," Lucy laid her head against Natsu's chest, closed her eyes and took in the peaceful moment. It was amazing to think about how she'd been in so much agony this morning, only for him to show up and relieve so much of the pain in seconds. She considers herself quite fortunate to be close with a fire mage like this. "...Do you think you could do this for me forever?"

"Of course," Natsu couldn't see how that could even be a question. He'll always be here for her when she needs him.

"You sure? Forever is a long time…"

"Yeah, it's not like it's hard to lay here with my hand on your stomach."

Lucy let out a quiet giggle, "That's not just it, though. Like, would you do it even in the distant future? When we're older?"

"...I don't see why not."

"Okay, and even when we go off and get married?"

"Uh, obviously… C'mon, I thought you were smarter than this, Luce."

"What? Don't start with that," She rolled her eyes, "Do you actually think our future spouses would be okay with us cuddling once month?"

Natsu stared at her, and when she didn't get a response, Lucy pulled away from his embrace to look into his eyes. He seemed genuinely confused, like there was something he was silently trying to wrap his head around. 

"...Lucy."

"Yeah? You're thinking pretty hard there-"

"Why wouldn't it be okay for us to cuddle once a month?"

"Oh, c'mon. You know why," Lucy's face began to flush. It was obvious that these moments were pretty intimate, she'd only been ignoring it because her cramps are too ruthless for her to be worrying about that sort of thing. 

But for him to be so confused, it was like he hadn't even noticed how close they are, and how close they've been since he started being her personal heating pad not too long after they met. Lucy assumed being able to lay with him like this was great progress in the direction she wished to go with him, but perhaps it's not reciprocated.

"Actually, nevermind. Just forget I asked-"

"Wait, I don't get why you think I'll stop doing this for you when we're married…"

"When we're-" Lucy shook her head, choosing to ignore his choice of words and the way they sounded, "Look, my future husband may not like you in my bed, holding me like this."

"...Yes I would, though? And you just asked me to do this for you forever, why would that change when you're my wife?"

It took a full minute for Lucy to process what he just said, and then another minute for her to replay it over and over in her head to make sure he really just said that. 

Her face was bright red, burning nearly as hot as his hands on her stomach. "N-Natsu…" She willed herself not to stutter, but it was impossible with the way he looked at her. 

"Yeah?"

"I didn't mean we'd be married to each other..!"

"What? Why?" Natsu's face broke out into a pout, and it was just the cutest thing. 

Now, Lucy's heart felt like it'd just explode. "Oh my gosh! You seriously- I- I don't even-" She was at a lost, she'd been harboring these feelings for so long, just for him to blatantly admit something like that. "You… you'd wanna marry me?"

"Uh, duh?" This whole conversation had Natsu so confused, "We're basically already married anyway."

"W-what!? No we are not..!"

"We're not..?"

"No!"

"Oh…" Now the sadness on his face doubled, causing Lucy's heart to get tight.

"But…" She took in a deep breath. If he could say it so casually, she need to be upfront with him too, "I mean… I'm not opposed to being l-like… that with you…"

"Oh, so you're cool with it?"

"...Yeah, I'm c-cool with it."

"Cool. Now let's get married so you won't have to ask stupid questions like that!"

"Huh!?" Lucy squeaked when he began to sit up, stopping him before he could start carrying her, "Wait, lay back down!"

"Oh, right," He almost forgot about her current predicament, laying right back down and warming up his hands to offer her comfort. "We'll do it once you're done."

"Oh my gosh…" Lucy still wasn't convinced that this was real life right now, and that he was actually serious about this, "...We can't just go off and get married, Natsu."

"Huh? Says who?" Now he seemed to assume there was something coming in between them, the angry look on his face nearly making Lucy laugh.

"We aren't even dating yet…"

"...So?"

"So, we can't just get married when you haven't even… asked me on a date yet…" Lucy played with the loose ends of her hair, now refusing to look him in his eyes. It was easier to say these things knowing that he wants something like this, but it's still incredibly embarrassing. 

"Oh."

"Y-yeah…"

The room fell back into silence, and Lucy let out an awkward cough when she realized he wasn't going to say anything more on the subject. "Uh, Natsu?"

"Hm?"

"...We can't get married before we start dating…"

"Yeah, I heard ya."

"...So, ask me on a date, silly!"

"Oh," Natsu had just assumed that was a rejection, he didn't know he could just ask like that, "Okay, uh, wanna go on a date?"

"I do!" As Lucy engulfed him in a big hug, Natsu's own heart began to flutter. She could be pretty confusing at times, but he was glad to have her right here. 

"We can get married now, right?"

"Ugh," Lucy tightened the hug so she could hide her flushed face, "I don't know if you're doing this on purpose…"

He wasn't, but if it got her to react like this, he'd be sure to keep it up. "You're so weird."

"Me? You literally just assumed we'd get married! Imagine if I didn't feel the same…"

Natsu growled, he did not like imagining that. Besides, it was pretty obvious to him at this point, it's not like Lucy just let's anyone cuddle with her. 

"And to answer your question- we can't get married now, that commitment takes time to think about."

"Eh? But I've had plenty of time…"

"...You've been thinking about it for that long?" Lucy's eyes sparkled, but she quickly brought herself back to reality, "I mean, no. That's something we'd need to discuss together in due time."

Still, Natsu couldn't understand why she'd want to wait so long, but if all she wants is time, he was willing to be patient. "Alright."

"Mhm. Leave it to you to wanna get married before we've even…"

"Hm? 'Before we've even' what?"

"...N-no, nevermind."

"C'mon, Lucy, I wanna know what else I gotta do."

"We, uh, we haven't had our first kiss…" 

At the same time, they leaned back to gouge the other's expression, their eyes darting to each other's lips. 

Lucy stifled an awkward laugh as she saw the look on Natsu's face, "Oh my gosh, are you blushing?"

He huffed, she was acting like her face isn't bright red right now. Before Lucy could convince herself that she shouldn't have said that, Natsu cupped her cheek and inched closer, her face heating up with each second. 

Lucy knew he'd go for it as soon as she said that, and she fought the urge to cowar away when his lips came down to meet hers. 

The kiss was quick and clumsy, but it had Natsu grinning against her lips and puffing out his chest in pride. 

Lucy let herself giggle once they separated, she was overcome with giddiness and excitement. In her head, things would've been more romantic than an awkward confession in her bed while she's battling period cramps, but that doesn't matter right now. 

"Can we kiss again?" Natsu mumbled, already leaning towards her lips.

Lucy answered by closing in the space between them, crashing her lips onto his and deepening the kiss. 

Her hands ran along his body, feeling him up and down and enjoying every second before they had to separate for air. 

"...Amazing," Lucy mumbled, though it wasn't like she had anything to base the kiss on. 

Natsu was in the same boat, and he was actually more concerned about kissing her some more. "Yeah… Amazing."