#and the rest was mostly collected from the suggestions :3

[sqgeism]

WAIT HAVE YOU SEEN THOSE ONES WHERE LIKE THE CHILD(REN) LIKE DISRESPECT (?) THE MOTHER (READER) IN FRONT OF THE FATHER ???? LIKE JUST TO SEE THE REACTION

THAT WITH PHAINON!!!!! (and whoever else you like)

(I'm so sorry for spamming phainon reqs 💀)

love mail — 🍒 ⨾ this crashed mid posting and i had to re edit EVERYTHING. dont pmo.. just a collection of blurbs for phainon in my inbox so they're all done LOL hi if youre the person/people who requested this i was too lazy to make individual posts im saurrey o(T◇T o)

(fem reader)

if you and phainon had a child—and they disrespected you—he probably wouldn't take it all that seriously. especially if he can tell if it's just to get a reaction out of him.

aits the little one down, one to one talk. tries to act tough but is so gentle with his scolding that it's funny, "don't ever say that stuff to your mama, alright?" while ruffling their hair. "if you do, i'll have no choice but to take away your cereal. yep, AND the building blocks too. no one talks to my wife that way, not even you."

although in a hypothetical situation where his child genuinely DOES respect angel, he's much firmer, strict. his sweet tone is gone and is playing NO games. ❌️ "you think cause you're big now, means you have the right to treat your mom like that? no way. absolutely not. better sort yourself out before i have to do it myself." he will NEVER have a child that holds any disrespect for their parents. he's locked in

phainon would LOVE it if you were gentle. like on everybodys soul. he'd kill to just be able to fall into your arms and be cared for and pampered for the rest of thw day. his killer combo is the "you okay, baby?", while resting on your lap, and your hands in his hair. BOOM. he's dead.

the next 6 hours are for you and phainon ONLY, mainly with him whining about how even if he's literally pressed up against you that he can never truly be close enough. he wants all of you, every inch and every part. he just wants to be all over you i fear </3

and shy? oh he loves it. totally a tease, going back to what i said earlier, he wants to be aaalll over you. probably likes to squeeze your waist just to feel you jump against him, it's his favorite reaction. and he doesn't mind the fact that he probably leads most of the conversation, but he loves to hear you speak. there's this air of grace yet humility to it that he can't get enough of.

absolutely smitten, i say. every and any version of his angel.

clumsy in the more hurtful type, phainon's probably the same. he likes to joke that it makes you two interlinked, 'sharing the pain' he says. but he also makes a great effort to stop you from bumping into things, keeping his hand on your head when you go underneath tables, pulling you away if you're about to run into something, all of that. he's probably just more cautious, and definitely makes sure to leave the big *sword he carries around at home when he's visiting.

'healing kisses' are also a pretty big thing he does, but it's really just an excuse to kiss you. he'll bandage you up and kiss the wounded area a couple of times to 'heal' you, and you play along with his little antics because you love him and it's cute. and what other reasons do you need when it comes to phainon?

(the wording kind of confused me 💔? sorry anon!)

he laughs, but not mockingly, as it's mostly in awe. he thinks you look great! not much of a difference, so he wonders why you make your life intentionally harder by not wearing them. makes sure to reassure you that you look perfect no matter what you choose to wear, but definitely suggests going back to using your glasses. he doesn't really care either way LMAO but please wear your glasses 💔

yeah, he probably would. flops ontop of you when hes exhausted and falls asleep a lot. probably wouldnt flirt with a blahaj, even if it was you, but he isn't leaving you to fend for yourself so i guess that's something!

i could see phainon being a kid with horrible acne, just the worst when he was a teenager. so if you're insecure about yours, he totally understands that. he offers a skincare routine that will hopefully help, ease the pain, stuff like that. but also he just thinks you're beautiful regardless to how your skin makes you feel. and when you don't love yourself, that just means phainon has to love you harder. which he reaaaally doesn't struggle in doing.

he is also very careful with touch! making sure to always have clean hands to hopefully not worsen the acne or anything like that, always trying to help you feel confident.

© sqgeism or wtv (^_^;)

[moonknightsonata]

Book Dilemna

pairing: Marc Spector x reader, Steven Grant x reader

summary: You’re moving in with the boys, and Marc greatly underestimated how many books you were bringing into their already full of books apartment.

cw: What’s a little bickering between lovers, Marc suggests something blasphemous about books several times. Mostly fluff.

wc: 1413

a/n: Is this a little anecdotal of when I moved in with my boyfriend and he thought I had too many books? Yes. I can only imagine how many books Steven and I could have if we combined our libraries and we would both be in heaven but Marc hates it.

Here’s something a little sweet while I work on something heartbreaking with Marc.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆ ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Marc thought Steven had a lot of books. He had naively assumed Steven had the biggest personal collection of books that someone could have in one apartment, and that only libraries or bookstores would have more than him.

That thought left his brain immediately when he was lugging up the tenth box of books from the moving van into his - now shared with you - apartment.

He unceremoniously dropped the box on the table and rolled his shoulders as he gave you an unimpressed look. “Please tell me that was the last box of books.”

You looked at him from the kitchen where you were unpacking your favorite mugs into the cabinets. “Um… how many have you brought up?”

“I think that was ten.”

The grimace on your face let Marc know it was not, in fact, the last box of books. How many books could you even have? Marc wondered if you had even read them all, or if you hoarded them like a dragon. He groaned as he sat at the dining table, leaning his head back on the rest of the chair. “How many more?”

You gave a little shrug, apologizing. “Maybe a few more?”

Marc’s eyebrows furrowed as he looked at you suspiciously. “A few, like 3 more or a few like another 10?”

“… 5? I’m not sure honestly…. I didn’t keep track when I packed them up!” You defended yourself, putting the last mug away. You made your way towards the door, slipping shoes on. “I’ll go get the rest of them, you sit for a few minutes, you’ve been going up and down for the past hour and a half.” You really did feel bad, Marc was being such a trooper after all, lugging your stuff from the van.

Marc shook his head, already standing up and wrapping his arms around you to stop you from going downstairs to get the boxes. “No, no, I can do it. C’mon, I was Moon Knight - I’ve dealt with ancient Egyptian gods, you think I can’t handle boxes of books?” he teased.

“You’re the one complaining -“ You started, before Marc interrupted you with a kiss. As he pulled away with a grin on his face, you rolled your eyes. He started it.

“Where do you and Steven plan on putting all these books, huh? Steven’s books already have most of the real estate in here.” Marc gestured to the stacks of unorganized books that already claimed every available surface of the apartment sans the kitchen counters and dining table.

“We just have to organize them a bit, we’ll fit them!” Marc raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms with an incredulous look on his face. Your confidence wavered a bit under his look and as you took in the inventory of just how many books were around you. But really, you were sure that with a bit of organizing you could fit them all.

“Maybe you’ll have to get rid of some -“ Marc started before he heard two interruptions.

Are you out of your mind? Steven.

“Are you out of your mind?” and you.

If it wasn’t so annoying how you had both screeched at the mere suggestion of losing a couple of books, Marc would’ve found it hilarious that the two of you had been so in sync. He raised his hands in mock surrender, he at least knew when he’d lose a battle. “Okay, okay, forget I said it. Geez, you and Steven hated that idea.”

You smiled triumphantly, both for getting your way of keeping all of your books, and the fact that at least one of your boyfriends understood. Two against one worked in favor, after all. “Good. At least one of you has some sense! Getting rid of books… unbelievable!”

She’s right, Marc. Getting rid of books, that’s just mental. Steven agreed with you, and Marc could see him shaking his head from the corner of his eye in the mirror hanging nearby.

“At what point do you two have too many books?”

There’s no such thing as too many books!

“There’s no such thing as too many books!”

“You two have to stop doing that.” Marc deadpanned, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Let’s just finish getting all of them into the apartment, before we decide what to do with them. I will honestly be shocked if you and Steven can fit all of them on these shelves.” Marc said, opening the front door to go back downstairs.

You trailed behind him, at least to help finish unloading the van so that he wasn’t the only one doing the heavy lifting. “We’ll fit them all, you’ll see!”

-

You definitely were not going to fit all these books.

You and Steven had waited for the next weekend to tackle organizing and shelving both his and your collections.

The day started with the two of you bickering over the proper way to organize the books.

“Definitely by title.”

“Title? But then you could end up mixing the subjects! We should do it by subject and genre.”

“That might work for all of your history books, Steven, but what about my novels? Some are romance, some are fantasy, and some are both! What if one of my romantic fantasies get misplaced into the ‘just fantasy’ section?”

Oh my god, you two are making this so much more complicated. Just put them on the shelves!

Steven’s gaze shot over to the mirror hanging on the wall so quickly, you thought he might have gotten whiplash. “We certainly will not “just put them on the shelves”, Marc! They have to be organized.

Do it by color then.

Steven knew if you had just heard the blasphemous words that Marc just suggested, you would lose your marbles. “Absolutely not.”

“What? What’d Marc suggest?” you asked curiously.

“Organizing them by color.” Steven snorted, even adding an overdramatic touch of shuddering his shoulders. “Can you imagine, love? By color?”

You paused and Steven’s bemused expression fell. “You can’t be serious.”

”I’ve seen pictures online where people have done it, it did look kind of pretty.” You shrugged, nonchalantly. You couldn’t say you would actually humor the idea of organizing books by color, but the absolute conniption it put Steven in almost made you reconsider.

”How would you even find anything?”

“I know what color my books are! Not my fault that most of your history books are all brown and yellow.”

Steven couldn’t believe what he was hearing. His own partner, suggesting organizing books by color. If he wasn’t so in love with you (and if he didn’t think it would be a case of the pot calling the kettle) he would’ve called you mad.

After about ten more minutes of bickering, discussing how to organize the books, you and Steven had agreed that first by genre, and then by title would be the simplest way. It would most likely be the quickest way to find books when they were needed.

It took another three hours just to organize the books into stacks, spread out around the apartment and labeled with sticky notes on what genre they were (which also lead to a few more interesting debates on whether you would sort ‘general mythology’ books with his Egyptology books, or should it Steven just have a ‘mythology’ genre - or should your romance books be separated by ‘young adult’ and ‘adult’).

But by dinner time, you and Steven had managed to get many of the books onto shelves around the apartment.

You were washing the dishes after dinner, when Marc approached you from behind, wrapping his arms around your waist and kissing your neck. “I’m surprised you two got as far as you did.” Marc had honestly suspected he would come to front and find the apartment overrun with books.

You turned your head towards him, beaming with a prideful gleam that Marc could practically hear ‘I told you so’ coming. “You doubted us?”

”When I could hear you two arguing practically all day? Yes.” Marc chuckled, rolling his eyes.

You returned the eye roll and handed Marc a towel to start drying the dishes you were washing. He took it from you, diligently drying and putting the dishes away. “We weren’t arguing, we were discussing.”

”Mhm. If you say so.” Marc says, a teasing grin on his face.

“Although… I hate to say you were right about one thing.”

Marc’s face lit up and he grinned like a cheshire cat.

“Oh? Do tell.”

”We’re going to have to buy more bookshelves.”

[liillyliilly]

mentos and coke-a-cola kuroo tetsurou x reader words; 15706 synopsis: as vice captain of a co-ed intramural team, you found yourself increasingly close to the members of your team. including the witty, loving, captain of yours, kuroo tetsurou.

FROM TETSUROU: ATTACHED: 3 IMAGES

You think to yourself, how many times did you have to tell Kuroo Tetsurou that you were not in fact his personal gym journal? Sitting at the central table of the university library, you had to quickly set your phone down. Then, you opened your laptop to text him, glad that your laptop blurred photos unless you had clicked on them.

This hadn’t been the first time he’d sent you photos of him. Nor had it been the second. By the eighth time it had become routine, he’d send what he considered the ‘best’ photos from the week to you, and expect detailed analysis and thoughts on the way his joggers hung low on his hips with Calvin Klein underwear showing the brand label boldly.

He always posed without his face showing in the photos. Just glimpses of his chin or cheek in the photos. Even though that had always been your only suggestion for him, just a little more of his face and a little less of the v-shaped muscles near his hips.

Kuroo never understood why the most obvious form of flirting never worked on you. Perhaps it had been because of your systematic desensitization to the possibility that he was trying to overtly make you see him as attractive. Perhaps it was all in his mind. The concept that photos could equate to romance. Or how he began deluding himself into finally overcoming the imposed relationship barriers you had begun building once you joined his recreation team for intramural volleyball at The University of Tokyo.

TO TETSUROU: kuroo put the softcore porn thirst traps away 🤢

FROM TETSUROU: i need your opinion

TO TETSUROU: ??? my opinion? i don’t have an opinion on your abdominal muscles or your back or your arms. I need to STUDY the human ego not your body (my philosophy major homework is kicking my butt right now)

You flit from the message tab on your laptop, opening a pdf copy of your textbook to copy notes from. You just needed to finish two more chapters and then you would drop by Kuroo’s place for dinner. He had invited the whole team, but everyone else said that they couldn’t make it. You had tried to deny his offer, but everyone else in the team said that you should just accept the free food.

The part that you hadn’t known at that time was that there were two group chats related to your volleyball team, Consensual Sets. (The team name had all been Ito’s idea, the setter on your team. Kuroo had strongly suggested Setters of Catan, and you had proposed Block Party. In the end, Ito’s pun won the hearts of the rest of your seven member team.) There was one group chat that had everyone, and another that had everyone but you in the messaging history.

Kuroo had dubbed the secondary chat as his collection of wing-people. But mostly they were unhelpful in actually progressing his romance with you. But this time, the dinner he wanted to have was successfully handled by the other five members. It was simple for the rest of the team to just decline the offer due to fake excuses and then to strongly encourage you to go get food with Kuroo at the end of what had been a long week for you academically.

FROM TETSUROU: you drive me crazy 🤕 (just drop out of philosophy and switch your major, all the cool kids do that my dear confucius)

Kuroo was wiping sweat from his forehead using a towel in his bathroom. Instead of doing cardio at the gym, he had decided to just run back to his apartment on the outskirts of the university. That way he could shower before you’d show up to get food. He still didn’t have an idea about where to take you. There was a fine line between a potential date and forcing you to go to a fancy restaurant against your will. He didn’t want just to go to a drive-through, but then he remembered how much you loved the fries at that one burger shop.

He would always try to make you eat a balanced meal, trying to make your diet secretly better. It was all for your good though, because he was aiming to make you live to be 100 through his secret dietary aids he had been slowly integrating. Hell, you couldn’t even eat pizza without also craving a side salad now because of Kuroo’s insistent nature.

TO TETSUROU: i will forcibly remove my number from your phone pls give me peace of mind and stop acting as a shoulder devil for my future career choices

FROM TETSUROU: you love me really

And you did, you loved him like a best friend. Almost like an overbearing, annoying, childish older brother. But also, as a role model to some degree. If you could call being the captain of your co-ed volleyball recreation league team a role model figure in your life.

It was around thirty minutes later when you finally shoved your laptop into your bag and got onto your electric skateboard to get to Kuroo’s apartment.

Knocking a few times, you had shoved your board under your arm and unclasped your helmet.

He swung the door open with a big smile, “I got Thai. From Suguru’s mom’s restaurant, discounts for friends of that brat.”

You rested your board against the door once you had entered his apartment, removing your helmet and trying to pin down the hairs that had been rustled by your head protection.

You set your helmet down on the coffee table near the entrance, setting your board against the wall unobtrusively, “Suguru’s mom is such a sweetheart, remember when she brought food for our team after our big loss last year?”

Daishou’s mother also bought the team amulets, with Nagas (which you had learned were essentially snakes) surrounding a Buddha for good luck and for protection. Yours hung up in your living room, next to your roommates various other key chains. Before you left the house, you always rubbed the charm. If the luck Daishou’s mom seemed to have was due to the amulet, then there wouldn’t be any harm in trying to get some of it to rub off on you as well.

Kuroo pulls out a chair for you and you sit down proceeding to open some chopsticks. One pair for you, and then you open another for Kuroo, resting the wood utensils onto his plate. He opened the fridge and poured some glasses of water from his Brita.

He smiles to himself when he finally sits down, “We really couldn’t stay sad when we had khao soi and pad kra pao, and that mango sticky rice. I dream about that sticky rice literally every night.”

You agree, accepting the styrofoam box from Kuroo to get some rice and egg onto your dish. Kuroo was busy pouring curry onto his plate.

“It was so sad that we lost last year.” You chew your food, waving your chopsticks around a little in the air, “If only we had gotten more team practice time in, I think we almost could’ve been up to your level Tetsurou.”

Kuroo leans back into his chair, sipping his water, “It would take a lot more than just two practices a week to get everyone on our team last year up to my level. But this year, we might actually have a chance, The Consensual Sets have a lot of connecting people.” He sits forward again, getting some food into his mouth.

“Yeah, I still can’t believe Suguru agreed to join full time instead of just being an alternate! With his regular season on top of our intramural team, he’s gonna be so tired out.” You jab the chopsticks in Kuroo’s direction, emphasizing your point.

“At least he brought us a replacement alternate, Mika is gonna be great to have on the team- even with her lack of skills.”

You roll your eyes, “Mika has skills!”

“Sure.”

The other members of the team had joined Kuroo’s team for a variety of reasons. Ito Yuuta, the setter, joined because he wanted to beat his twin in intramurals this year- and because his friend from high school, Alba, was also on the team. Ito was also the only first year on your team. Alba, a spiker, joined because she needed something outside of her architecture major to keep her extra busy. She was a second year student like you.

Daishou and Mika, who came as a set due to their dating status, joined because Daishou had been convinced by Kuroo to join for fun. You suspected that Kuroo was still carrying some lingering sadness at Kenma not joining the university team, but Kenma was busy with his multi-pursuit endeavors to join a recreation league. Kenma did come to an occasional game to support his best friend though.

Mingzhe, the libero and defensive specialist, was an international student from China. He had joined the team because he was too busy with his Computer Engineering and Science double major to be apart of the regular team. The University had been devastated that Mingzhe denied their offer for him to join. But it only elevated your own team to have such a good player.

The reason you joined? Because you wanted friends. Kuroo had made a poster advertising his desire for people to join a small co-ed volleyball team. You had taken a photo of the poster, went to the open gym time that he had outlined, and the rest became history relatively quickly.

Kuroo hadn’t been captain last year though, it was a collection of older fourth and third years who made the team. All of whom were in the sports marketing major with Kuroo. But they weren’t really playing the game for the love of the sport, but rather for extra credit from their professors. The old team name had simply been ‘Extra Credit for Prof. Singh’s Sports Marketing 5910 Special Study Course’ but it was always shortened to ‘Special Study Kids’ on the excel spreadsheets that listed out opponents and playing time.

Kuroo had shifted the narrative, he wanted this year’s team to be for fun- genuine fun and love for volleyball. And you had found yourself enjoying playing, even though you were sharing a position with Kuroo who scared you with his ability to read the opponents. But Kuroo always told you that without your support blocks, then his own blocks wouldn’t work most of the time. That had been a major ego-boost.

He knew how to do that for a lot of people, you recall. Kuroo could make people feel special, feel seen, without having to do much except for just show off his sincere love for people. A person like him was rare to find even once in life, so you wanted to stick around him for a long time. (Even if Kuroo got onto your nerves, he balanced out his provocations with kindness.)

“Thanks for the food, I can’t believe everyone else said no to free food at your expense.” You pat your stomach, rolling your shoulders a little to get comfortable in the metal chairs Kuroo had.

“It’s no problem. What do you have planned for the rest of this month?”

Pursing your lips, you try to recall your schedule.

“Besides our two-a-weeks, games, and classes, I don’t have much else going on in September.”

“Do you want to come watch a game then?” Kuroo grabs your plate, starting the sink faucet, you grab a towel to dry off the two plates. He tries to bump you away with his hip, but you resist and narrow your eyes. He yields and hands you a cleaned dish to dry.

“Is it the game you were talking about at practice? The reunion game?” You set the ceramic dish onto the shelf, waiting for Kuroo to hand you the other plate to dry.

“Yeah, it’s a bunch of my buddies from high school, we wanted to play a game before some of our pals leave for other countries to play professionally. Remember Bokuto? I mentioned him a few times.”

“The owl furry guy?”

Kuroo chuckles, turning around and leaning against the sink to watch you put the other plate away onto the cupboard shelf. “Yes, the owl guy. And Kenma will be playing, and Akaashi, and Fukunaga, and Kai, and-”

“I think I get it. A Nekoma versus Fukurodani game?” You suggest.

You had met Fukunaga once before, when Kuroo took the team to a comedy show of his the day before a match some time ago. Fukunaga’s set had been so hilarious that you asked Kuroo to personally introduce you to the comedian. Kuroo had been hesitant, for reasons unknown to you, but ultimately gave in to you and introduced the pair of you.

Fukunaga had taken one look at you and immediately pointed out what he liked about you. Which made you laugh, Kuroo hadn’t been entertained by that joke though. His reaction had been furrowed eyebrows, a huff, and defensively folding his arms- you had pointed out how overly dramatic Kuroo could be sometimes. Fukunaga had just smiled and shook his head.

Kuroo clarifies about the game, “More like a Nekoma versus an agglomeration of other high schools. Hinata, this crazy little dude, and my protege Tsukishima will play with Akaashi and Bokuto.”

“Okay, I’ll bite, I’m in.”

He had texted you the details of where to go, when to be there, and what color to wear to show your support for Kuroo’s team. You had been tempted to wear anything but the red and black combo he asked you to wear, but in the end, you wanted to be a good friend and wore what he asked you to wear.

The game was intense, to say the least. A lot more yelling and commands came from Kuroo than you had seen during your own games. It was nearing the end of September, and instead of studying for an exam, you were here in a gym watching a group of cohorts from the Volleyball World of High Schoolers play to their heart’s contentment.

You screamed when Kuroo got a good block, and you remained quiet when the opposing team scored a point. One of the things you noticed was how much higher they had made the net. In the intramural league, the net was at least a few centimeters shorter than the one they were playing with.

The tall blonde made a face at Kuroo through the net, and you almost found yourself laughing at how Kuroo teased him back. A ginger with the jumping power of a kangaroo kept making the most insane plays you had ever seen, keeping you on the edge of your seat for most of the game.

Ultimately, the Nekoma reunion team takes the win. You could see Kenma’s sour expression from where you had been sitting. Kenma immediately went to sit on the bench to play on his nintendo when the rest of his team was clapping each other on the backs.

Kuroo waved you over, face beaming.

When he pulls you in for a hug, you realize your hands get wet, soaked, not even a little damp but instead dripping wet. But he keeps his arms tightly around your waist. It wasn’t one of the usual hugs you exchanged with him, where your arms crossed around his chest and he did the same. In this hug, he had wrapped both arms around your waist, which made you wrap neatly into his chest.

"Your jersey is soaked, did they pour water over you Tetsurou?" You chuckle a little, talking into his body almost.

"Nope. This is all homemade sweat."

You pull away from the hug, wiping your hands on your thighs. Only to realize that your red shirt is soaked through the front as well, an imprint of his body outline on yours. You grimace, knowing that you now smell heavily of a unique perfume you’d dub ‘Kuroo après le match de volley’.

Kuroo shrugs, then wraps his arms around you again, which earns him a groan from you.

"You love me really."

You don’t say anything in response, letting him have his moment.

The post-game dinner was fun, even if you did have to complain to Kuroo about him buying your food for you. He had been too insistent about paying, even secretly paying for you when you went to the restroom.

“You took the train, yeah?” Kuroo asks once you exit the restaurant.

“Yep.”

Nighttime on the bullet train in Tokyo back to the university was always your favorite. Being able to stuff your ears full of music while you watch the passing scenery had such a hold over your emotional well-being. During train rides like that you thought maybe you could study Ralph Waldo Emerson again. But then you push away the thought because you remembered how much of an annoyance you found reading his pieces. You would always prefer Thoreau to Emerson at the end of the day when talking about the Transcendentalist Movement.

Kuroo nods, yelling out, “Kenma, I’m gonna take the train, you’re good to head back to your house! Text you later!” He waves enthusiastically to Kenma, who just throws a thumbs-up in regard to Kuroo’s statement.

The walk is mostly silent, with hands brushing against each other. The train station is vaguely busy. Kuroo had changed into some joggers and a loose t-shirt that had a neckline that was a little too stretched out so you could see his collarbones and the start of his chest. The design of the shirt was a logo for a cologne brand, with cursive writing.

While waiting for the train, you kicked your feet against the pavement a little, listening to Kuroo talk about the game and his favorite moments. His passion for volleyball was clear, but it just wasn’t the only thing Kuroo wanted to do for the rest of his life. His love for teaching other people, and helping others achieve their own passion outweighed his personal feelings. He just had a heart so open and willing to help others, that the blurred lines of what he loved and what others loved had become interwoven.

His belief of lowering the net for others, that helping aspect of his personality shone through with your recreation team. Although it was a casual team, it also meant so much more to everyone because Kuroo’s appreciation and understanding for the volleyball essentials and foundations made everyone want to do better. Made everyone want to play volleyball.

The train roared in, and you lifted your head, going to stand near the yellow painted lines where the door would be near. You turned around, and Kuroo was still standing fairly far away.

“Tetsurou?” You held your hand out for him to take, an effort to urge him to wait nearby with you.

Kuroo freezes. In his mind, his slightly exhausted mind that had lowered inhibitions from physically exerting himself with the game earlier, the two options were to grab your hand or to play around with you. He let his teasing, flirtatious, scheming personality win out over his shyness and earnest kindness.

He bent down, and rested his chin in the palm of your hand, so you had ended up squishing his face slightly. Once you realized that it was his face in your hand, you tried to tug your hand away with a laugh and with your tongue peeking out between your teeth as you bit down on it.

Kuroo didn’t know how to stop when he was ahead. He used his hand to grab a hold of your wrist. Then he gently bit down on the space between your pointer finger and thumb, pressing a kiss to the skin immediately after. And he would’ve continued with the affectionate kisses to your hand, but you swallowed thickly and your fingers began to twitch.

You couldn’t comprehend why you had wanted him to keep going. It was knotting your stomach, and turning the gears in your brain.

He stood up properly, noticing how the train had stopped. He slid a hand into your hand that was still outstretched and stunned from his actions, “The train won’t wait for us, c’mon Confucious.”

That night, you had spent a lot of time looking up onto your ceiling. Tapping your tummy to make little songs as you run through the day you had experienced over and over again.

Your phone dings.

FROM TETSUROU: ATTACHED: 3 IMAGES

FROM TETSUROU: thanks for coming to the game! hope you had a good time watching. kenma got photos of us celebrating after nekoma grad team won

FROM TETSUROU: im really glad you wore red

Kuroo’s head is resting on his pillow, the light of his phone shining on his face as he lays on his bed in the dark. He can feel his palms sweating, and he keeps shoving his face into the pillow before taking a peek at his phone again. Under the blankets, his feet keep bouncing from the mattress as he fights against what feels like hypertension in his blood. You still hadn’t responded to his messages.

You looked at your phone for a moment, your eyes slightly static and blurry. You read his messages, trying to think of what to say. Your red shirt lays in your dirty clothes basket, and a grin starts to make your face hurt.

FROM TETSUROU: i think i love you

FROM TETSUROU: i love you a lot

FROM TETSUROU: do you think you could love me back?

FROM TETSUROU: UNSENT THREE MESSAGES

You look at the notification that tells you Kuroo unsent texts that you hadn’t got the chance to read. You shrug, responding to the messages you did get a chance to read.

TO TETSUROU: the game was so much fun! wearing red for you was also fun, i felt like a cheerleader lowkey- i mean you should’ve seen some of the looks i got from this grandma who clearly just wanted to watch the game lol after the game tho! she said it was nice to see young people cheering so passionately so i guess her dirty looks were all in my mind

FROM TETSUROU: that’s hilarious- whose granny was it tho 💀

TO TETSUROU: no idea but she really liked you 🫣

FROM TETSUROU: 😐

TO TETSUROU: i’ll see you at practice next saturday! goodnight tetsurou, sleep well

FROM TETSUROU: goodnight ♥️

FROM TETSUROU: UNSENT ONE MESSAGE

FROM TETSUROU: goodnight confucius 🙂

The first Saturday of October was a practice for the members of Consensual Sets. You were busy tossing serves over the net for Mingzhe to receive. Alba was jumping on Ito’s shoulders as she asked him repeatedly to let her tape up his fingers this time. Daishou and Mika were tugging on their knee pads, and when Mika started pouting at the way her nails got tugged by the fabric, Daishou knelt in front of her and pulled the pads up where they belonged with a huge smile as he looked up at her.

Daishou and Mingzhe wanted to do some quick laps outside, but you wanted to warm up by doing some flying dives. While the flying dives did hurt your elbows from impact catching your weight, they made for great practice to get you better prepared for your back row position duties. Alba finally got to tape up Ito’s fingers as he looked terrified at giving her the tape he used.

Mika decided to stretch out, only really getting ready to hit some serves for the rest of the team today. Her role as a support, and as an alternate wasn’t needed for most games, but in case of emergency, at least she had created a weapon for herself with that nasty jump float that makes you chew the inside of your mouth.

Fifteen minutes into the practice, when everyone was done warming up and getting water, you looked around the gym. The only other people here were a group of basketball guys playing a game of pick-up on the other end of the courts away from where you’d set up the net. You were the first one to notice a lack of one particular person.

“Does anyone know where Tetsurou is?” You ask, going over the bench were Mingzhe was meditating.

Ito shrugged, “Maybe he couldn’t make it today?”

Alba rests her chin on Ito’s shoulder, commenting, “Perhaps he’s sick? Our fearless leader lost to the measly germs of society. Damn it, I curse the bloodline of those germs.” She dramatically clenches her first and Ito tries to hide an amused smile on his face.

“I’ll text him, I’m sure he’s just running late.” Daishou says, accepting his phone from Mika.

You, as vice captain of the team, decide the best course of action is to start running some drills. 10 spikes, 10 serves, 10 receives, and then 10 blocks. Each person alternated the roles until everyones did their 10x4 drill.

Even after the drill, Kuroo still hadn’t shown up.

“Suguru, any sign of Tetsurou?” You question, getting some water.

Mingzhe, looking nearly sweatless and unaffected by the drills, is still meditating in the center of the court. Alba tried waving her hand in front of his face. But Mingzhe opened one eye right when she started making a face- which caused her to jump back in alarm. Ito audibly laughed at that exchange while adjusting his taped fingers, away from where Alba could see so that he didn’t hurt her feelings.

“He said he can’t make it, something about a presentation for a class of his, apparently it slipped his mind. But he did send me a list of what we should do today. Let’s go for two miles outside!” Daishou shouted out the instruction to the rest of the team, then patted you on the shoulder. “Don’t worry so much, Tetsu would let you know if something happened to him. I think you’d be the first to know if he got hurt or sick or something. Trust him.”

After practice, you make your way to Kuroo’s building, the one where all his classes were held.

You scanned your badge and entered the building, appreciating the cool sports poster that Kuroo’s department had covering the walls. Tall posters of soccer players, basketball players, and even some table tennis players. The coolest one was a blue poster where a soccer player had altered edited eyes to seem like they shined gold, and there was a huge skeleton behind them making the player look imposing and strong. You snuck a photo of the poster, then shoved your phone back into your pocket.

The weight of the spam musubi you got for Kuroo, and the two cold banana drinks made your bag feel heftier than usual. In reality, the actual tangible weight didn’t affect anything. You just felt strange being in a building that wasn’t your own.

And you’d been thinking about Kuroo again. More specifically, the way he’d bitten and then kissed your hand. You felt your throat swallow thickly as your brain flashed images of what it might have been like if he had bitten and kissed elsewhere on your body. Of course, Kuroo had done it as a tease, a little game, you reason.

But why did your heart begin to stutter when you found him sitting in a niche, his hand in his hair as he scrolled through his laptop? He looked exhausted, and slightly upset. He was bouncing his leg, his knee hitting the top of the table occasionally.

You slid into the alcove opposite of Kuroo, pulling out the treats you got for him.

“Tetsurou, take a quick break.” You shoved the musubi and drink in his direction.

Kuroo shut his laptop, then looked from the food to your face then back to the food. He covered his face in his hands as he propped his elbows onto the table. His words were muffled by his hands, “Thank you.”

You reached out and touched his forearm, “It’s no problem, eat up.”

He tried to split the spam musubi but you shook your head, holding your hand up to deny him. He gave a downturned smile as he bit into the sustenance. He let out a hum, “This is really good, this is just what I needed.”

Sipping on the banana drink, you rested your foot overtop of his under the table.

“How did the presentation go?” You purse your lips, trying to give Kuroo your best hopeful look.

Kurooo grimaced a little, “Professor Singh said it needed some more work.”

“What was the grade?” You prepared yourself for the worst. That Kuroo failed and would need to disband the team that you’d grown so attached to. And your next game was in three weeks, at the end of October too.

“Oh he gave me full credit, said it was the best he’s seen this year. But if I want it to be my thesis project for senior year next year, then it would need more tuning. Then he proceeded to give me a list of corrections to make.” He pulled out a sheet of paper that was bulleted, Kuroo gave it to you to read and you started feeling bad for him.

He finished off the musubi, then rubbed his eyes, his reading glasses pushed up onto the top of his head in the process, “This isn’t even half of the things that need to be fixed. Professor Singh said he’d help me though, so it’s not like it’s the end of the world.”

“Still, I’m sorry, that’s rough.” You suck in some air through your teeth, and click your tongue just barely, “I’m sorry.”

Kuroo waves his hand to diffuse the air between you two.

He rolls the sleeves of his white button up down, the arms are wrinkled, and he undoes the top button of his shirt, releasing his throat a little so he can relax into his spot. Kuroo sets his head on the table, his hand on the bottled drink you had gotten him, he rocks the bottle around in circles, the liquid sloshing inside.

You bite the inside of your mouth, racking your brain to look for anything that could possibly ease Kuroo’s contemplations.

“Did you still want to try my electric skateboard out?”

Kuroo jolts up, sitting with his back straight.

“Hell yes. Please teach me.” He holds his hands flat together in front of his face in what you recognized as some kind of prayer posturing.

“Okay, my dorm is just a few miles away, let’s head out.” You pull your backpack over your shoulders as Kuroo tucks his laptop into the shoulder bag he has.

For a moment, you fight against the urge to hold your hand out for him to take.

When you do end up holding your hand out, ready to accept his, Kuroo wipes his hand against his thigh discreetly before he rushes to grab a hold of your hand. His hand is bigger than yours, more rough, but it’s warm and comforting with the way that he intertwines your fingers with his. He swings your connected hands back and forth as he starts talking about the upcoming game, and how he’ll go into the gym with Daishou to join in on Daishou’s regular practices with the university volleyball team tomorrow.

Kuroo was not built for your skateboard, but he had fun trying to balance on it as you tried to support him with hands on his waist.

“I’m ticklish there.” He feels his stomach tighten when you squeeze his sides.

“Blah, I’m trying to prevent you from eating dirt. I can’t hold you by the shoulders since you’re too tall standing on the board.” You explain, keeping one foot on the back of the board to keep it from moving too much as Kuroo wiggles around trying to find a balance.

You probably spent two hours trying to get him to actually start the board up and go further than a few strides away from you. But in the end, he could successfully circle around you without your hands supporting him. Alba and Ito came around to the part of the campus you and Kuroo were occupying.

Alba jumped up and down as Ito covered his ears, awaiting Alba’s yells to call for attention. She was tossing up a Mikasa volleyball, and Ito had a Molten under his arm.

“Let’s play two versus two since Kuroo couldn’t be bothered to come to practice today.” Alba lifted a hand up and spiked the ball in your direction, and you received the ball with ease as you dropped your hips and crouched down. Kuroo caught the ball you had dug out, spinning it in on a fingertip before just palming the ball with one hand.

Ito rolled his eyes and rolled his shoulder, “Not today, it’s almost dark out.”

Alba took her ball from Kuroo, trying to balance it on her head.

“What does our gorgeous vice captain have to say then? Let her decide, my absolute queen.” Alba blows a kiss in your direction, which you fake catch with one hand before pressing your palm to your heart and playfully, although also impishly, sighing deeply.

You glance at Kuroo’s expectant eyes, he adjusted his shoulder bag again. He was still in his dressy presentation clothes.

“Maybe next time, it’s been a long day, my legs are jello and my arms are sore.” You complain lightly, “But Alba, maybe Ito wants to play DIG 2000 on the computer with you?”

Ito smiled, DIG 2000 was a simulation game similar to the FIFA 23 sports video game. Alba nodded, bouncing the volleyball on her head a few times before turning to Ito, “Let’s go back to yours then.”

Ito copied Alba, bouncing the volleyball with his foot instead of head, and nodded, “Sounds good.”

The pair walked off, Alba talking excitedly and Ito listening intently.

Kuroo walked to stand close by you, holding your skateboard in his hand.

“If they don’t start dating, I don’t think I’ll ever believe in love.” He jokes.

You raise an eyebrow, “Really? But you love all people, you got that big heart behind all the muscle. I find it hard to believe that you need proof of romantic love to believe in love at all.” You think about Plato’s symposium which defined love as two people becoming one through a connection and Aristotle's emphasis on philia, the platonic love between friends.

Western love philosophy had always been rooted in two main branches of thought, the classical beliefs of the ancients such as Plato and then the French Skepticism that believed love was a guise for sexual fulfillment.

You noted that you’d have to thank your professor for their in depth analysis about the Love Unit your class had covered earlier in the year. Clearly, more than you realized had stuck into your brain.

Kuroo starts walking back to your dorm, you trailing after him.

“I think that love can be found in all things, but I was more so thinking about Alba and Ito you know? Like, if I see two people like them, who are clearly compatible, then it feels wrong when they don’t become more than just friends. When clearly, like, they’d be brilliant together. The way they bounce off each other for example,” Kuroo focuses his eyes straight ahead, knowing that you’re looking at him with those bright and curious eyes he’d fallen for- knowing that he’d be powerless to look away once he locked eyes with you.

Kuroo continues, “I mean, Ito takes such good care of Alba, and she doesn’t even realize that she reciprocates naturally sometimes. Like all the times she asks to tape his fingers before a game or practice, and he reluctantly lets her? Then he proceeds to fix the tape when he knows she isn’t looking. That’s love.” You can hear the sigh he lets out with his concluding statement.

You take your board back from Kuroo, playing with one of the wheels as you bump your hip into his for a moment, then you give your two cents to the discussion.

“But does that mean they need to be romantically involved? If we’re using our friends as examples, then I’d like to point out Daishou and Mika. Or even Mingzhe as an example. When we see Daishou and Mika, it is very blatant that they’re in love. They equally fawn over each other, they kiss, they feel that physical pull. When we look at Ito and Alba, they never cross that physical boundary. I think that love has a physical element to it as well as emotional. I think they might just love each other as best friends.”

Kuroo swallows, puffing out his cheeks for a second. If you believed that love needed a physical element, then why did you initiate touch with him just as frequently as he did with you? He wasn’t so egotistical to believe that you were hiding feelings from him, but it was a unique argument to think about in his head. He feels the heat in his cheeks and his ears, he’d kissed you before. Albeit, on the hand, but it had been a kiss. You’d let him cross a boundary that he wasn’t sure even existed between you two.

If the kiss had been anywhere else, would you have let him press his lips so tenderly and longingly the way he did? Would you have pushed him away? Would you’ve made a disgusted look? Would you reciprocate, kissing him back?

He’d known you for two years now, and he wasn’t sure about anything besides the fact that he wanted you to stick around him for as long as possible. For eternity if possible. For infinity, if it existed. He wanted that physical element though too, to hold and kiss you. To bite your earlobe, to scratch your back, to hold the back of your knee as he pressed his lips to the inside of your thigh.

He releases a breath, looking at the space between your eyebrows rather than your eyes.

“What about the innocent kind of love? Love shared between kids for example, they don’t necessarily cross that physical boundary you talk about. But you know when two kids love each other. It isn’t just that physical element that adds to the definition of love, it’s simply the feeling shared equally between two people. It isn’t just friendship, but it’s clearly love.”

“I don’t know. That’s a good point though. There’s definitely nuance, and I think I might have philosophized myself into a corner here.” You laugh, smiling at Kuroo.

The layers to this conversation had begun to hurt your head. Philosophy was much easier when it was sitting behind a desk, at your laptop. Philosophy was harder when it seemed like Kuroo was pressing you for answers, for your thoughts rather than a structured argumentative essay with dozens of academic pieces of evidence.

At the end of October was a selection of games to be played all Friday evening. All the intramural recreation teams were at the large gym of the university, and the Consensual Sets put on the team shirts made by Mingzhe. They were a dark grey, with the team name printed on the front, and everyone’s nicknames on the back of the jersey style top.

Kuroo just had Tetsu on the back of his. Mingzhe had put his name in a simple cursive, Alba and Ito swapped names for fun. Daishou had his full first name, and Mika put Mika-Mika as her name. As for you, you put Confucius on the back of your jersey, grateful that Kuroo had given you a nickname that actually suited your personality.

After winning the first two games, you found yourself playing against another team that had been undefeated for the entire intramural season thus far.

It was halfway through the second set, and you were exhausted. But just one more rotation before Kuroo would be back to the front with you and your killer duo block could be utilized for a perfect angle.

When Kuroo would twist his body to the side, and you’d barely skim the ball so that the spiker would be forced to send the ball straight to the libero, Mingzhe. Mingzhe had the freaky ability to reign in the ball and get it to Ito without Ito needing to move too much. Ito would then, of course, set the ball right to Daishou or Alba, depending on who would have a better shot at scoring that moment.

However, in this current rotation, you were on the end of the front row, with Ito in the center of the front. Kuroo was behind you on the back row, Mingzhe on the far back corner. Daishou was on the other side of Ito. Everyone was ready to play. You could hear Alba from the back next to Mingzhe, getting after him for not wiping the sweat off his shoes. Mika was busy refilling bottles, but still ready to swap Alba or Mingzhe if needed.

“Chance ball!” You call out, getting ready to jump up for a block. But at the same moment, Ito shifted his body to try and set the ball that Alba had received. He just happened to get a little too close. So that when he was backing up and jumping to get a touch onto the volleyball, he slammed into you.

Hitting the ground with a thud, you felt the air get knocked out of you. And once you could feel the force your back had slammed into the gym floor, the combination of painful sensations was just too much and you choked out a sound of anguish. Tears were streaming down the side of your face as you were gasping for air, but ultimately just choking on your empty lungs.

“Idiot!” Kuroo shoved Ito, knocking Ito into the net. Ito held his hands up defensively, but understood the reaction Kuroo had had. The referee called an emergency time out, and called over the nurse. Kuroo had picked you up, making you sit up. His hand was rubbing your back, telling you what to do.

Ito tried to go over to you as well, but Alba had grabbed the back of his shirt and gave a look to Ito by directing his eyes to where Kuroo was holding you. She mouthed something that you couldn’t distinguish. But then again, you couldn’t distinguish much due to the panic state you found in perpetual motion within your cells.

“Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth.” Kuroo’s jaw was clenched, and his other hand was on your thigh. You kept trying to inhale through your mouth though, your body nervously reacting to the lack of oxygen. “Listen to me, c’mon, please, just relax okay. You’re safe, I got you. Just relax.”

The nurse arrived with a first aid kit, but once she saw how Kuroo was following standard protocol for an injury like this, she left the kit for Kuroo to use. He said a quick thanks, and the nurse went to go check on some other college student who had blood dripping from his mouth. The bloody kid was holding up a tooth and his teammates were clapping him on the back.

Kuroo tilted his head up and called out to where Mika was filling up bottles near the back of the gym, “Mika, can I get a water bottle over here?”

Daishou ran over to Mika, picking one up and running back over to Kuroo and you. He handed the bottle to you and crouched down on the other side of you.

You had taken a sip of the water, and your breathing was normal again, and the only concern was the pain in your mid to low back.

“You took quite a fall there, Confucius.” Kuroo brought his hand up from your back to caress your head, soothing you.

Daishou chuckled, sitting down, and stretching his legs out. But he scrambled to get back up when Mika asked for his help carrying all the other water bottles over to the Consensual Sets break bench.

Ito was busy sulking over on the bench, getting chewed out by Alba and Mingzhe for not listening to your call of ‘chance ball’. In that scenario, Ito was supposed to wait until after the rally went back over to the other team instead of trying to catch the ball to set it.

Ito was just awaiting when the true test of his spirit would be put through the wringer. That of course would be the eventual moment when he was on the receiving end of Kuroo’s fury.

Everyone on the team knew, if you were at the center of an issue, Kuroo would ultimately be there resolving it. Usually you never get too injured, it was just supposed to be a casual intramural team, but the seven members of Consensual Sets had grown into a tightly knit friend group who really wanted to chase down the championship at The University of Tokyo.

That did put some more strain on the level of ability everyone had, and the intensity of which Ito had been aiming to score just another point. But it also reminded everyone, you getting hurt, that this was a casual team. There was nothing to be gained except for a fun time and some good stories to tell.

Kuroo was glad that you hadn’t landed too badly, he’d be much more angry at Ito if you would’ve landed on your head or your bad knee that hadn’t healed up all the way from the sprain you got a few weeks ago. Now, Kuroo tried to focus on keeping his heart rate down so you wouldn’t be able to hear it pounding in his chest.

Completely aware of his own protectiveness for you, Kuroo had been the first one to react to the collision between you and Ito. He’d always been the first one to make sure you were okay. And he wanted to keep it that way.

You decide that you want to get back into the game, leveraging your hand against Kuroo’s shoulder, “We still have to finish the set, we’re ahead by three. Just five more points and we win.” You tried to stand up, only to get dizzy and stumble back. Kuroo caught you again, bringing you back to the ground to sit in between his legs so he could hug you from behind.

“Yeah, no. We’re gonna have to cancel this match for a different day.” He rubs his thumb over your elbow, trying to ease the bruise that was forming there.

You spin your head around to face Kuroo. He can feel the way his Adam’s apple bobs at your face being so close to his.

“Yeah, no, trade Mika in for me. Let’s finish the game.” You pouted a little, and Kuroo could only roll his eyes in response. He never could say no to you indefinitely. He did make you finish the water bottle before he would let the game resume with Mika’s substitution in your place.

And the game does get finished, a sequential five points with Kuroo getting a block kill for the winning point. He had made you sit on the bench, wrapped in his blue Nike windbreaker.

Everyone, except for Daishou and Mika who rode to the gym on her motorcycle, piled into Kuroo’s Toyota Sienna minivan. You sat in the passenger’s seat, as usual, and Ito was relegated to the very back of the car with Alba sprawled out trying to take a nap. Mingzhe enjoys the silence of the middle row all to himself, adjusting the temperature to be freezing. You rest your head on the window, looking outside at the busy streets.

“Who’s getting dropped off first?” Kuroo hands you the collection of semi-final medals, an award for making it to the top four teams. The finals would be in three weeks, and you fully intended to take the championship trophy home.

“I live the furthest away, so you can work your way towards your apartment if you drop me off first.” You say, putting the medals into your duffel bag. You’d pass them out at team practice in a few days.

Alba sits up, and Ito’s relieved to have her legs off of his thighs.

“I have to work early, like super early tomorrow morning. Drop me off first please.” Alba announces, poking her head next to Mingzhe’s seat so that she can have Kuroo hear her better.

You groan, “Alba you live the furthest from me, Tetsurou would have to go back and forth to drop me off second.”

Ito raises his hand, inserting himself into the discussion, “Yeah, but I live closer to Alba, and so does Mingzhe. Kuroo can just go to the East Campus first, and then drop you off last.”

Kuroo grins, “Sounds like we have a winning plan. Alba, Ito, Mingzhe, and then you, Confucius.”

The engine starts, and Kuroo double checks the GPS before merging onto the main street highway.

“I still think it’s illogical to go past your house to drop everyone off, then go past your house again to drop me off.”

“Just stay the night at mine then?” Kuroo says, keeping his eyes on the road fully, not even considering glancing in your direction for worry of getting seen right through by your perceptive instincts.

Alba bites down on her lips, squeezing Ito’s arm in anticipation for what will unfold. Ito tries to push her off, but she just holds on tighter.

Mingzhe is too busy swiping through his Tinder to pay attention, but he’s passively listening in on what you could possibly say in response. Mingzhe needed to find a date for the Chinese cultural exchange event the school would be having, and you had to hear about how all his potential dates were just not up to his par. The exchange event would be a few days before the Intramural Finals.

You think for a moment, it would save Kuroo a fifteen minute drive in the bad traffic. And anything to avoid the traffic of an evening rush would be best, especially since Kuroo was bad at estimating when he’d need to buy gas again. If you stayed at his place, then you would have a ride to your early morning Saturday class without having to ride the bus onto campus. In addition, you’d get free breakfast since you knew Kuroo liked to make big meals in the morning.

“I’ll get a ride into school yeah?”

“Yeah. I have a class at the same time you do tomorrow.” He lied. His earliest class would be two hours after your class.

“Then I guess so. You got an extra toothbrush?”

“Dozens.”

Kuroo’s apartment smelt like him. But in an unfiltered, undiluted way. You inspected some photos that he had around, but you were more interested in the calendar he had posted on his fridge.

He had everyone’s birthdays written down on a notes section of the entire year overview calendar. Your birthday was circled multiple times, and the entire week before and during your birthday had been highlighted bright yellow. He had already started brainstorming ideas about what to get you, and had a few sticky notes on the fridge listing things.

You noted some books you had mentioned, a website address of what you identified as a custom volleyball brand with a drawing of a volleyball Kuroo had done, a bunch of question marks around his note of matching hoodies, and then a heart around the words ‘ring’ and ‘house key’.

Kuroo saw the way you honed into his fridge and tried to pull you away, “You’re spoiling your surprises.”

You folded your arms, “I don’t like surprises.”

“Fine then, you’re spoiling my surprises. I get you things, and my reward for doing so is seeing your reactions.”

You waved a hand, dismissing him. He had told you that the toothbrushes were under his sink.

While you were in the bathroom, brushing teeth and then taking a shower, Kuroo quickly cleaned areas of his apartment that you might meander into. Once he was satisfied with the cleanliness, he tried to remember how to set up his pullout couch.

Changing into your backup sweatpants and the loaned Nike sweatshirt had given you in tandem with his windbreaker, you hugged yourself to embrace the soft fleece that was coating your skin.

Once you saw the pullout couch, with a pile of folded blankets on top of a grey pillow, you started to make the bed. Unfurling the blankets and slightly fluffing the pillow. Before crawling under the blankets, you decided to scroll on your phone for a minute, setting alarms for the morning and responding to some texts from your friends and teammates about today.

“What are you doing?” Kuroo had changed into shorts and an oversized shirt that he tucked slightly into the waistband of his shorts.

“Texting?” You answer.

“No, what are you doing sitting on the couch?” Kuroo was holding a pillow from his bedroom, the one he used to press against the side of his head. (Also the one that had caused his incessant case of bedhead spiky hair.)

You uncross your legs, dangling them over the edge of the couch, “I’m sleeping on the pullout couch?”

Kuroo tosses his pillow onto the couch, crawling under the blankets you had set up. When he pulled the blankets over his shoulder, you were tugged back a little. In response, you just stood up and went around to kneel in front of Kuroo, attempting to make eye contact.

“Where do I sleep?”

He reaches his arm out and pats the space next to him.

“No.”

He sighs, rolling onto his back as he brings his hands behind his head. The obvious flex he does in his biceps from the way his shirt sleeve rolls down does not go unnoticed by you.

“Then I guess you’re sleeping in my bed then, first door on the right. Goodnight.” He immediately covered his head with his two pillows.

You tried to pull one of them away from Kuroo, but his grip was stronger than your slight strain to jerk the pillow out of his grasp.

“You win this time. But next time, I will take my rightful spot on the pullout couch.”

Kuroo mimics you, imitating a high tone, his voice is muffled by his pillow barriers around his face. You stick your tongue out at him even though he can’t see it.

At least his bed was comfortable, and cold. Cotton sheets that definitely had to be a higher thread count than your own, and he left you with only one pillow. He had a few plushies from all the times the pair of you went to a big box store to buy groceries, and instead of buying bananas or a fresh watermelon, he’d spend his money on collecting an array of large stuffed animals.

You had asked him once about why he bought them. He just said because they were cool to have around his place. In reality though, you had gone through his phone once, when he was going through yours for fun trying to find dirt or juicy gossip, and you found out the truth about his assortment of plushies. You went to his notes app and only found a list of things he wanted to buy for his future kids, and a list of maybe fifteen stuffed animals was at the top. He’d already crossed off around ten of them, so he needed only five more to complete the collection he wanted to curate.

It was a cute sentiment that he had, thinking about his future children so soon. Which is why for his upcoming birthday, in a few weeks, the same day as the final for the intramural championship, you had three stuffed animals in a bag in your closet to give to him to celebrate the eventual win.

Kuroo looked through his phone, spending some time watching volleyball videos before going to sleep. He was also biding his time, wanting to check in on you before he fully went to sleep. He just wanted to make sure you were sleeping well before he let himself sleep. His phone beeped, once and then twice.

FROM SUGURU: ATTACHED: 3 IMAGES

FROM SUGURU: got some good photos of you and our dear vice captain, say thanks to me, mika 💖, and mingzhe for actually CAPTURING the way you are so sickly deadly embarrassingly openly precisely adoringly obsessively entirely fervently passionately feverishly restlessly frantically FREAKING HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE with her

TO SUGURU: 🖕

TO SUGURU: she looks good in the photos

FROM SUGURU: i feel ill thinking about what your plan with these photos is now 😟

TO SUGURU: exposing your rough drafts for proposing to mika in the gc RIGHT NOW

FROM SUGURU: I’LL MIC DROP THE DRUNK VIDEO OF U WHINING ABOUT NEEDING OUR VICE CAPTAIN TO KISS U AND HOLD YOU- I’LL DO IT DON’T TEST ME MF

TO SUGURU: hand hovering over the collection of mika stalker photos you have that you’ve sent to me

FROM SUGURU: literally this close to posting on my instagram the HUNDREDS of text messages you’ve sent me about her, including the ones from the day Consensual Sets spent at the beach, AND the ones from the week after she broke up with her loser ex, AND the ones from that time you almost kissed her, and then the other time you also almost kissed her like the love sick loser you are

TO SUGURU: i’ll kill you.

FROM SUGURU: i’d kill you first + here’s more photos mika my darling angel, wants me to send to you that i took on my phone. you better be grateful to me for forever you ass. I’m single handedly providing all the pictures for a wedding video slideshow.

FROM SUGURU: ATTACHED: 5 IMAGES

FROM SUGURU: date her asap. mika wants double dates and i’m tired of asking mingzhe to find strangers online to satiate mika’s yearning for the double date extravaganzas she wants. Ok goodnight pookie bear tetsu i hate your guts 🔪🫰🤬💯

Kuroo lets his falling phone hit him in the face as he huffs. He didn’t sleep well that night. The same iteration of her getting slammed into and crashing onto the ground keeps replaying over and over again. Kuroo wakes up in a cold sweat two different times that night.

“Thanks for the ride onto campus,” You click your seatbelt into your seat, as Kuroo taps the steering wheel a few times.

“No problem, I have class too, remember.”

“Ahh, yes, you and your fancy finance and sports marketing double major.” You giggle, holding up your pointer finger into the air in an ‘actually…’ pose that you know Kuroo hated.

He puts his hand behind your seat, hand coming near the back of your head behind the head of the chair, to reverse out of the parking lot.

“Don’t forget my minor in chemistry.”

“So weird. You’re going into sports promotion and business, but you have a science minor?” You shake your head in disbelief.

It never shocked you at just how smart Kuroo could be sometimes. When he did or said things that made you wonder if you were actually learning anything at university. Or when he could treat you to an entertaining story about his lab classes, those were the memories you’d take with you into the future. Stories Kuroo shared about his college experience, which often contrasted with your own experiences.

All through the differences though, the pair of you had become so close.

The way your friendship had increasingly deepened, and at such an unprecedented rate for you, had you feeling like he’d been doing much more for you as of late. You hoped you hadn’t been imposing on him since you stayed over at his apartment. Even though he had been the one to suggest it, you felt guilty at accepting the offer. You felt guilt that you’d been possibly taking advantage of him.

He’d been the most caring, and considerate friend you’d ever had. The closeness of you two began to feel like each time he did something, you’d need to supplement it with your own acts of kindness. Drowning in friendship wasn’t an expected result of joining a intramural volleyball team.

Kuroo shrugs a little, speeding up a little more, “I think it makes me stand out. Plus, who doesn’t love chemistry? It’s just like math with better concepts.”

You play with the hoodie strings of a borrowed top from Kuroo.

He notices your silence, but doesn’t comment on it, just continuing the drive to your building. He let you out near the entrance. The tall Humanities building had walls made of glass windows, letting people look in on lectures and socratic seminars. The concrete details blended with the fragile glass details in a dichotomous way that just worked so well.

When you shut the door to the car, Kuroo rolls down the window, calling out to you before you enter the building. Your roommate stood on the steps, holding your backpack that you’d asked her to bring. She lazily scrolled through her phone, waiting for you to talk to her and then you could go to class with her. She’d never been much of a morning person.

You turn around and rest your arms in the empty space left by the window being rolled down. Tilting your head, you waited for Kuroo to say what he wanted to say.

“You know you’re mentos right?”

The confusion is blatant on your face. You clarify, “I’m mentos? I thought I was me?”

Kuroo smirks, “You’re mentos and I’m coke-a-cola.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Your roommate called out to you, letting you know that class would start soon and she wanted to get a good spot in the lecture hall. You waved to her, signaling you’d only be a few more seconds.

“You’re my chemical reaction.”

You laugh, “You make no sense sometimes I swear, but okay. I’ll be mentos and you can be coke-a-cola.”

Kuroo watched as you bounded up to your friend, sliding your backpack on. Your roommate asked about the top you were wearing by tugging on the waistband of the deep red hoodie. Kuroo knows he’s being talked about, because you jut a thumb in his direction and your roommate turns around to look at his car and she nods with understanding.

Kuroo doesn’t see your roommate wiggle her eyebrows, or how she makes a kissing face at you teasingly. He’s too busy driving to the library to find a spot to nap while he waits two hours for his own class to start.

The final two games would be critical. On November 17th, that Saturday, the gym for intramural volleyball would declare the winner. Out of 32 teams, and after five months of training, games, and unique coaching opportunities, there could only be one winner. Consensual Sets would go against EZ Pass, and Ice Ice Blockers would oppose Monster Spikes. You had found it funny how the final four all had different volleyball skills as their team name, setting, spiking, passing, and blocking.

But before the Intramural Finals, Mingzhe still needed to attend the Chinese cultural exchange event on Wednesday.

On that Monday, Mingzhe was complaining to you during team practice.

“Listen, I still haven’t found someone to be my plus one.” Mingzhe paced a little in front of you, as you wiped off a volleyball. You wanted the ball to be cleaned properly before the team would start playing with it.

“Just ask Daishou or Ito, it’s your pick. Either way, you’d have a great time.” You pull out your elbow grease to get a particularly nasty scuff out of the ball.

“It needs to be a woman. It’s a date type of event.” Mingzhe suddenly turned on his heel, facing you straight on. You brought your head to the side, eyeing Mingzhe’s rapid shift in mood. “You. You should be my plus one.”

You gape, loosening your hold on the ball that Mingzhe just ends up taking from you.

“It’s perfect! You’re interesting, we have a good friendship, fake dating for this event would be easy-peasy.” Mingzhe smiles, looking entirely too self-satisfied.

“Fake-dating?” Sourly, you try to take the ball away from Mingzhe, who just brings it closer to his chest.

Kuroo comes around to the pair of you, putting a hand on Mingzhe’s shoulder. “What’s happening? We need this ball to do the drills, it should be good by now yeah?”

Mingzhe hands the ball to Kuroo, “I was just finalizing plans for our date on Wednesday.”

Kuroo almost drops the volleyball that was placed into his hands. But he grasps onto it, trying to appear composed and chill. You tug on your knee pads, making sure they’re secure. In doing so, your shorts ride up a little and more of your thigh is exposed. Kuroo again almost drops the ball at how quickly his eyes flit to the exhibited skin of your legs.

“Date?” Kuroo wonders if the word sounds as dumb as he felt saying it.

You raised your shoulders, “Yeah.”

Mingzhe claps his hands, “Our fourth date, remember?”

Mingzhe was already trying to get into the acting persona of a fake relationship and you were not amused, shoving his shoulder roughly as you walked over to Alba. Kuroo had interpreted the shove as playful, as romantic, as being adjacent to love.

Kuroo looked between Mingzhe and you. Then he looked at Daishou desperately asking for help with his glance but Daishou was too busy helping Mika with her knee pads again. Kuroo then went back to looking at the space you had occupied.

His heart lurched, and just like a bad sickness, he couldn’t help but continue his downward spiral.

“When did you guys start dating?” He folds his arms in front of him, shuffling his feet a little.

“A few weeks ago. Just trying it out, you know.” Mingzhe said, “She’ll be going with me to the exchange event, it’ll be fun to see her dress up formally for once.”

Mingzhe, unaware of Kuroo’s radiating tension, goes over to where Ito had called him.

Kuroo, dumbstruck and frustrated, called out a change of plans, “We’re doing a three versus three.”

You stood on the other side of the net, blocking spikes from Daishou. Each time Kuroo served, he went straight for Mingzhe’s throat- putting more force than he typically did. Alba was drenched in sweat by the end of the single match. Ito had his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.

“Are we done yet Tetsu?” Ito asked, and Alba made her way under the net, patting Ito on the back.

Mingzhe had fallen to the ground and was laying on his back, sweat dripping from his black hair to the gym floor. You had half a mind to join Mingzhe. But Kuroo still looked fired up.

“Yes, we’re done for today, Ito. Good practice everyone!” You called out, and Mika gladly started packing up the shared bag she had with Daishou. Kuroo looked at you with pursed lips.

Kuroo and you stayed behind to take down the volleyball net, and as he began folding the white ropes, you began to speak, “Our three versus three is supposed to have more balance than that. You weighed the sides wrong. Alba never has to spike that much, she needed to practice her receives today. You just kept serving straight to Mingzhe, not to mention you had Suguru aim solely for Mingzhe too. He’s going to be exhausted tonight.”

“Worried about your boyfriend? He’s supposed to be essentially a professional anyway. Mingzhe is fine.” Kuroo kept folding the net, however, you could see his knuckles were white and each time he folded the stringy-material he left a mark on his hand from the unneeded strain he was putting

“Mingzhe is a friend. We aren’t dating, Testsurou.” You take down the side rods, detaching the sections so you could carry them easier.

“Oh really? Four dates in a row sounds pretty serious.” He gnaws at the words he sends your way. “Wouldn’t be surprised if you two were going to start acting like Suguru and Mika soon.”

You put the rods away, not saying anything to Kuroo’s comment.

He pushes further, “How long have you liked him?”

“It isn’t like that.” You face Kuroo, hands on your hips, “Mingzhe was joking about it being our fourth date. Calm down. I don’t know why you’re so pressed over this.” You say.

“You two don’t go well together.” Kuroo claims, “He’s not right for you. He’s going back home at the end of the year anyway.”

You take the folded net from Kuroo, but he tugs it away from you, pulling you closer to him.

You’re both gripping the net, standing barely a foot apart. Kuroo is looking at you, a twitch in the vein of his neck tells you he’s upset without him having to say anything.

“It’s not even a date, Tetsurou. I’m his plus one. He just needed a girl to go with him.” You explain, trying to get the net away from Kuroo, but his hold is stronger than yours.

“It isn’t a date?”

“Not in my book. It’s not a romantic date. We’re going as friends. Why, just why does it matter so much to you?”

He lets go of the net, and grabs a hold of your arms instead. He opens his mouth a few times, only to close his mouth soon after. Fully taking the net away from you, Kuroo puts it into the storage room.

You sigh with exasperation, going to grab your skateboard.

“Let me drive you, it’s dark out.” Kuroo swings his keys on his pointer finger.

You turn around, tilting your head down slightly to glare at him, “Are you going to throw another fit?”

“Geez, someone’s mad.”

Your jaw drops, then you shake your head with a snicker dying out on your lips.

“You can be so hot and cold sometimes Tetsurou. Did you know that?”

Kuroo holds the gym door open for you to exit. He locks it up once he steps out as well.

“That’s why I’m the coke-a-cola, and you’re the mentos.”

“I really need you to explain your analogy to me.”

The Chinese Cultural Exchange Event at the ballroom of The University of Tokyo really was a stunning celebration. Lanterns were hanging from the second floor open balconies, and the marble pillars were covered in a mixture of bamboo and woven leaves to showcase the Horticulture Department’s skills of arranging foliage. There were tables filled with classic Chinese dishes, along with unique Chinese-Japanese dishes from the diaspora history of China to Japan.

You were surprised to see just how many exchange students the university had from China, it seemed like there had to have been at least a hundred or more Chinese exchange students, including Mingzhe.

Mingzhe has asked that you wear red and black to match with him. You thought it was funny that so many men in your life asked you to wear the red/black combination so frequently. Your dress was formal of course, but you had opted for a loose silky maroon dress that had black lace detailing.

The long sleeves of the dress were a sheer black, so that air could filter to your arms as well. Even though you never opted for a sweetheart neckline most of the time, the lady at the store had said you’d look great with this specific dress. So you had bought it and called it a day.

Mingzhe, as you were coming to realize, must have been rich because there was no way his tailored suit would’ve cost any less than one million yen. Mingzhe clearly had only worn red leather shoes to match slightly with you, because otherwise he was in an all black outfit.

You put on a forceful smile as Mingzhe puts his hand on the small of your back and introduces you in Mandarin to one of his friends. Once the conversation died down, you leaned over to Mingzhe with gritted teeth, “I’m actually going to murder you. You didn’t tell me that the Chinese exchange student association at our school was filled with rich kids.”

An older lady, presumably an exchange coordinator, stops to compliment your dress, in Mandarin. You fumble over the words of thanks that Mingzhe had taught you a few minutes ago. When Mingzhe laughs into his cup of water, you elbow him in the side discreetly.

“Just what are you telling people about me?” You demand. Mingzhe hands you a glass of water from the plate a dressed up server was walking around with.

“Girlfriend, three months.”

Your eyes widen, and Mingzhe chuckles.

“Close friend who I play volleyball with, who graciously accepted my invitation to join me tonight.”

Moving your head up and down appreciatively, you sip on your water, “That’s more like it.”

Scanning around, you tried to see if you knew anyone. Which was a long shot, but-

“Kenma? Is that you?”

The dip dyed blonde makes eye contact with you and raises a hand. Kenma makes his way over to you, eyeing the way Mingzhe had his arm around your waist with suspicion.

“It’s nice to see a familiar face.” Kenma comments, shaking hands with you and Mingzhe.

“What are you doing here?”

Kenma smiles, pointing to an enamel pin on his suit jacket, “Got a sponsorship from a Chinese company. Said Chinese company has a college aged daughter, and thus, here I am as a plus one as a favor to my sponsor.”

You nod, trying to make an estimation for just how much net worth Kenma had. Mingzhe started talking to Kenma about what games he’d seen Kenma play, because apparently Kenma’s streams were popular on a Chinese video server called billibilli. You were glad that your parents limited your screen time as a child, otherwise you’d be just as chaotically involved in the conversation Kenma and Mingzhe were having about a new game that was releasing soon.

The rest of the night was spent listening to more of Mingzhe’s Mandarin speaking skills, as you swished around in your dress waiting for the time to go.

Mingzhe threw back a shot, well, a quick drink from a flask that a student had snuck in, “Let’s dance!”

You tried to pull back, but Mingzhe grabbed you by the hands and pulled you into his chest. A smile that you’d never seen on his face appeared, and instead of harmonious traditional Chinese pop music, someone hijacked the music- rap music you were sure was not school approved started blasting.

The administration looked furious, but Mingzhe just kept giving you that face splitting smile. He mouthed his words again, and the only response you could give was moving his hands from your back to your waist.

The club style dancing eventually devolved into a mosh pit that was quickly disassembled by the administration due to the cutting of music. The students groaned, but the administration said that the event was over and that everyone needed to get back to their housing.

Mingzhe dropped you off at your dorm, running a hand through his sweaty black hair.

“Had fun?” He asked.

“Yes. It was very fun.”

Instead of just waving, Mingzhe opened his arms up, and you gave into the offering of a hug.

His hugs were different from Kuroo’s hugs. For one, Mingzhe was shorter than Kuroo, so you could feel more of his face than just solely his chest or neck. For another, Mingzhe didn’t smell like Kuroo. Mingzhe was mintier, like spearmint and peppermint- it burned your nose a tinge. Mingzhe was also lankier, arms not quite packing as much heft to them like Kuroo’s did.

“Don’t look now, but I think someone is spying on us.” He whispered into your ear, and you grabbed onto his shoulders tighter. The bounce of his body as he laughed shook you, and you slapped his shoulder. “You really shouldn’t trust me when I say things like that.”

“If people knew even a fraction of what I know about you, you’d be immediately canceled.”

“Good thing no one knows me like you.” Mingzhe swiped at your cheek with two knuckles, a gentle caress. “You know I have feelings for you right?”

You nod affirmatively.

“But I’m also guessing, and tell me if I’m wrong, but there’s a different black haired boy on our volleyball team that holds the key to your heart?” Mingzhe murmured. You could practically hear the deep ache in his soul.

You nod again.

“Well, I can’t win them all. Here’s to being good friends.” Mingzhe grabbed your hand and shook it a few times, “When we win on Saturday, make sure to at least give me a little peck on the cheek.” He brazenly states.

“No promises.”

Mingzhe throws his head back, dimples coming out to show off.

“Thanks for a great night Mingzhe, I’ll see you on Saturday.” You pat him on the cheek, separating the pair of you. Your heels were killing you, and all you really wanted to wear was the fleece hoodie Kuroo gave you that you hadn’t returned for weeks now.

He salutes, walking backwards for a moment. Then he calls out with mirth laced into his words, “I always get cock blocked by the middle blockers I swear to the gods.”

And you thought, Mingzhe was absolutely correct.

TO TETSUROU: ATTACHED: 3 IMAGES

TO TETSUROU: she seemed to have fun tonight at the little event thing

Kenma had paused his late night stream, sending photos of you and Mingzhe dancing- leaving absolutely no space for Kuroo’s mental sanity. Kenma knew that sending the photos could possibly instigate something that he didn’t want unfolding.

FROM TETSUROU: i don’t care.

TO TETSUROU: hmm yeah sure

FROM TETSUROU: i dont care- i just want her to be happy, genuinely happy. like so happy she literally feels sore in the mouth from smiling so much

TO TETSUROU: there it is

TO TETSUROU: look, here’s the situation. she isn’t into mr. libero chinese model guy- she likes you.

FROM TETSUROU: i wish

Kenma felt his eye twitch at Kuroo’s message. How long did Kuroo have to keep the back and forth before Kenma just wrote out a confession for his friend and mailed it to you?

TO TETSUROU: she likes you. the only logical conclusion is that you both are giant pussies who are so afraid to break the friendship between yall that you’ll end up missing each other in the process. like those stupid freaking robots on mars, the ones that battery died before they could share data.

TO TETSUROU: regardless, she’s hot, you’re hot, get together and have a bunch of weirdo genius kids or whatever it is you want the point is that you need to say something before its too late

TO TETSUROU: stop ignoring my messages.

TO TETSUROU: tell her on saturday. after you win the finals and get those gaudy trophies- just like pull a tetsurou move and pull her into you and kiss her so good she forgets her name.

FROM TETSUROU: i always knew you were a freak on the down low

TO TETSUROU: i always knew you were a freak out in the open but a sweetheart teddy bear on the down low. we could go for hours, but the main thing here is: tell her, kiss her, live happily ever after

FROM TETSUROU: i feel sick

TO TETSUROU: you care too much. and you know what? SHE LOVES THAT ABOUT YOU- im tired of telling u what to do. Tell her, dont tell her, grow old without ever experiencing the touch of your woman, do what you want. but honestly, if i have to witness one more longing gaze ill vomit so for my sake, your best friend, tell her and be happy.

Kuroo powered off his phone.

Then he immediately turned it back on to look at the photos Kenma had sent him. He kicked off his blankets with his stewing offended reaction to the photos. Plugging his phone in, Kuroo got a glass of water from his kitchen.

The moon wasn’t out, or at least it wasn’t visible. Storm clouds thundered, lighting struck the ground in bolts of blue and grey. At least the weather understood him. He could always trust the universe to send him a message with what the weather was. Sunny days would be happy, rainy days would be brilliant, and stormy nights would reflect the inner turmoil of his spirit.

He scratched an itch right above his knee, leaving white marks from how his nails drug against his skin. The clock told him that it was Thursday at two in the morning. He counted on his fingers. The end of the finals game would be around eight in the evening on Saturday.

He had sixty-six hours to decide if he would give his heart away. Sixty-six hours to conjure up a magic spell to make him anyone besides himself as he uttered the words, “I love you.”

Sixty-four hours goes by much quicker than Kuroo would expect.

“Okay, listen up everyone.” Consensual Sets was huddled up, you were giving your final speech of this year. Your team had won against EZ Pass, and now the final match would be against Monster Spikes.

You were aware of how tired everyone was. In the third set against EZ Pass, Alba twisted her ankle, leaving the team to substitute her out for Mika. Resulting in an extremely close third set, but in the end, you were able to do a block kill and Daishou was able to get a good spike in to secure the win in Consensual Sets favor.

Alba sat on the bench, with a bag of ice on her ankle. Although she’d never say it, she was angry. Her face was entirely blank, devoid of any emotion. No comments or out of the blue thoughts rambled out of her- and you knew that Alba was fermenting in her own self pity.

Ito was sitting next to Alba, as the rest of the team stood around with arms around shoulders. You could feel the sweat from everyone’s bodies in the team circle.

“Monster Spikes as a whole lacks the ability to connect. Their passes are sloppy compared to ours. Ito, your setting skills outweigh that other setter. Kuroo, your blocks are always on point. Alba, Daishou, Mika, you're some of the best spikers I’ve seen. Not to mention Mingzhe being our solid foundation as libero, nothing gets past you.” Your speech wasn’t organized, it wasn’t even meant to be motivational.

But you continued, “These past six months, I wouldn’t trade them for anything. So many team practices, so many late night drives, so many junk food purchases.” You look down to the gym floor, “I was so worried when I started college that I wouldn’t find my people. But look at me now, I have the best friends in the world and we’re playing in a championship. We don’t need to be a school sponsored team, just being on a intramural team is enough to make me glad.”

You don't see the way that Alba wipes at her eyes. You miss the way that Mingzhe and Ito share a big smile at each other. Mika rubs your back, urging you to continue. Daishou and Kuroo kick each other in the shins, an amicable gesture between rivals turned competitive friends.

“So, you know what, let’s go out and win this. Connect every receive, every toss, every spike. We are the blood that flows through, let’s make it easy for each other to show off our skills.” You stick your hand into the center of the team. Everyone stacks their hand on top of yours.

Kuroo had told you that you should be the one to give the final speech, you should be the one to speak before the final game with this team. His selfish desire to hear you tie up the loose ends of a season of volleyball, knowing how he’d fumble the speech due to his inability to accept that this team would never be the same after their last game.

But also, Kuroo knew that just hearing you talk would soothe his nerves before this game. Hearing you express your thoughts and emotions about your team, the team he shared with you, would do wonders for his confidence in the game.

After listening to so many of Kuroo’s pre-game speeches, you had an idea of what would be good to say. In the end though, this speech was uniquely yours. A testament to the power of connection.

Kuroo locks eyes with you. You nudge your head in the direction of everyone’s hands, he shakes his head, mouthing that this call was all yours. You mouth a thank-you to Kuroo.

Looking around at your friends, you give the last cheer of the year, “3, 2, 1, let’s play!”

Kuroo wins the coin toss, and Mika serves first.

She starts with a jump float that undeniably starts the team off on the best footing possible. A service ace right off the bat, and Daishou can’t help but pump his fists and give a yell of excitement. He loved to see his fiancé play a game that had become the center of his universe, more accurately though the center of Daishou’s universe was a mixture of volleyball and Mika.

The game picks up with an indomitable force, the speed and increasing frequency of you having to jump up to block or to give a feint hit is more than you’re used to. Kuroo’s breathing is heavier, and between points scored, he keeps his shoulders low. Ito keeps shaking out his hands, then rolling his dominant shoulder. The only one who still looks moderately normal is Mingzhe, who’s sporting a dimple on only one side of his face.

After set one, Consensual Sets is ahead 1-0.

Four more to go.

1-1.

2-1.

2-2.

Alba is sitting on the edge of the bench, eyebrows furrowed, her hands grip the plastic seat. Each time Daishou spikes, Alba purses her lips.

During a time out, you sit next to Alba.

“Thank you.” It’s a quiet moment shared between you and Alba, everyone else getting some water for a moment. You express your gratitude plainly, because that’s all that's needed to get the sentiment across. You appreciated her, and she knew it too.

Alba’s bottom lip quivers, “I just wanted to play one more game with everyone. With Mingzhe behind me, with Ito sending me those smooth tosses, with you and Kuroo as my wall of defense. With Daishou shouting at me telling me to fix my form. With Mika telling me to ignore Daishou. One more game with everyone.”

You pat her knee.

“Alba, we couldn’t have gotten here without you.” Smiling, you hold her hand, “Remember, this is all for fun. And as long as you’re having fun- then we’re winning. You’re on the court just as much as I’m on the court, even if it might not seem like it.”

She wipes her face with the back of her hand, “You suck- making me cry like this. I'm such a baby, screw you.”

Ito laughs once he hears Alba’s comment, full body laughing. It's a new sound for everyone on the team, to hear the joyous childlike giggles erupting from the most stone-faced member of Consensual Sets. Following suit, everyone else joins in, laughing. Mingzhe even snorts.

The opposing team raises their eyebrows at you all, but in the end, it's just a game of volleyball. It's a game being played by a group of friends who like spending time together. You weren’t sure that friends was the right defining terminology anymore. There had to be a word for what everyone shared, because it was deeper, more meaningful, richer than just being ‘friends’.

Kuroo watches as Alba punches you in the arm, and the grin you give in response stuns him. You stand up from the bench to escape Alba’s gentle wrath. You bump into Kuroo, turning around and giving him that smile that made him feel like himself.

He just can’t help the way he grabs your face and slots his lips to yours.

To his surprise, you wrap a hand around his neck and pull him in closer. He rubs his thumbs on your cheekbones, letting his cold nose bump into yours. You tilt your head so you can breathe through your nose a little better. He moves from your lips to the side of your mouth, rapidly placing gentle pecks there before doing the same all over your face.

Wrinkling your nose, you make a noise of complaint at being gross and sweaty.

When you pull away, Kuroo’s face follows yours, trailing closely. He reminds you of a cat trying to nudge their way under your hand. He connects to your lips again, humming against the plush of your skin. Thinking back to his failed confession at the train station, he nips at your lips before kissing them lightly. It’s hard to kiss when he’s smiling this much.

“As much as I love a free show, we have a game to win.” Mingzhe tugs on the back collar of Kuroo’s shirt, ripping him from you. Kuroo wriggles out of Mingzhe’s hold, trying to attach himself to you again, but gets shaken out of his one track mind, his desire to just keep kissing you, when the referee blows his whistle.

Serve. Receive. Set. Spike. Block.

Block. Receive. Set. Spike.

Receive. Set. Spike.

Block. Spike.

Spike.

3-2.

“LET’S GO!” Ito screams, whipping his head around to look at Alba. She waves a little from her spot on the bench. Ito thinks to himself, if Kuroo can confess, then surely he can too.

Although, Ito’s kiss is much less tame than Kuroo’s. Ito’s kneeling on the bench, arms wrapped around Alba’s torso as she’s practically hanging off of the bench, only supported by Ito’s hold.

Mingzhe throws his hands up in the air when Daishou and Mika kiss as well.

“Can nobody just appreciate the win? What's with all the kissing?” Mingzhe speaks into a void, rubbing his forehead with exasperation.

“This is appreciating the win.” Kuroo wraps an arm around your waist, pinching your side. The pinch makes your body move closer into him.

“Oh yeah, suddenly everyone on our team is in love and I’m here, just the best libero in a loveless existence. At least I’ll always have volleyball.” Mingzhe jokingly states, hugging the volleyball to his chest.

Alba holds up a marker, “I can draw a kissable face on the ball if you want Mingzhe?”

Ito laughs loudly again, resting his chin on Alba’s shoulder.

Mika, in her wisdom, tells everyone to line up for a group photo before awards are handed out.

Three sequential clicks of Mika’s phone, and one of your opponents double checked that all the shots they took were good. Handing the phone off, the tall girl who had kindly taken the photos of your team shook your hand.

“You’re one of the best blockers I’ve seen on an intramural team, how’d you get so good?” She asked.

You shrugged, but Kuroo spoke up, “I taught her everything that she knows. But also, my girlfriend is a quick learner too, an easy study if you will.”

The girl nods, bowing curtly before going over to her own team.

You grab the front of Kuroo’s shirt, pulling his face down to yours.

“My boyfriend really is a handful. What should I do about that?”

Kuroo smirks, grabbing a hold of the front of your shirt as well.

“Definitely kiss him. That’s the best solution.” He nods his head.

“One question first,” You comment, smoothing out his shirt where you had twisted the fabric, “Explain the mentos and coke thing.”

Kuroo slips a hand under your shirt, resting on your bare hip, “You put mentos in a bottle of coke then, bam. Explosion. One of the coolest chemical reactions I know of.”

“Wanna try that out?”

“Yes, please.”

TO SUGURU, ITO, MINGZHE, ALBA, MIKA, AND TETSUROU: ATTACHED: 3 IMAGES

TO SUGURU, ITO, MINGZHE, ALBA, MIKA, AND TETSUROU: my epic teammates, my best friends, my family.

FROM SUGURU: i’m going to be sick why are you so sentimental

FROM ITO: alba and i are on our way don't start without us!

FROM MINGZHE: ur lucky i got a flight in time for this

FROM ALBA: i bought you a photobook for all our pictures! and i got tetsu some mentos like he asked

FROM MIKA: sugu and i will be there soon, needed to get gas for my bike

FROM SUGURU: what's the point of having an engagement party if we can't even play volleyball

FROM TETSUROU: suguru i’ll make you chopped liver. i don't know who told you we wouldn't have a volleyball at the party ??

TO SUGURU, ITO, MINGZHE, ALBA, MIKA, AND TETSUROU: make sure to add songs to my playlist for tonight! thanks for getting mentos alba! Make sure to sign your names into the guestbook when you get here

FROM TETSUROU: me too?

TO SUGURU, ITO, MINGZHE, ALBA, MIKA, AND TETSUROU: tetsurou what am i going to do with you for the rest of our lives 🥲

TO SUGURU, ITO, MINGZHE, ALBA, MIKA, AND TETSUROU: ATTACHED: 3 IMAGES

TO SUGURU, ITO, MINGZHE, ALBA, MIKA, AND TETSUROU: consensual sets reunion + their engaged captain and vice captain (look at how cute my ring is 😭 thank you tetsurou 💖) (also peep the coke and mentos explosion behind us in that last photo!!!!!!)

FROM TETSUROU: wedding in 5 months be back soon everyone! it was nice seeing everyone again. love you all ! 🙏🏐💍

[bladeupnred]

Just Don't Lie to Me: Part 2 ~ n.s

Pairing: Noah Sebastian x Reader, Reader x Female Character

Summary: After mustering up the courage, reader and mystery girl begin to get to know each other. In an effort to really get to know each other, Noah suggests you invite her over for dinner.

Warnings: flirting, tension, (i think that's pretty much it), drinking, things are happeningggg…soon!

Word Count: 1.8k

Author’s Note: Part 2 is here! When I was writing, I kept going and going so I decided two split the story in 3 total parts. This part is mostly filler and story-building where now part 3 will contain threesome and gg smut. Please message me if you’d like to be added to the taglist! Enjoy ♡

Part 1 - Part 3

This Saturday night looked fairly similar to the usual for you and Noah. He was in your kitchen shaking up a couple of pre-dinner cocktails, you were in the living room crouched over your record collection, sifting through in search of the perfect Saturday night soundtrack. You knew you wanted something your focus could drift in and out of amidst conversation, but still something special to you that you knew everyone was a fan of. There was one thing drastically different about this Saturday though, and as if on cue, she made her way over to you.

“So, what are you gonna play for us?” Your gaze broke away from the pile and over to see her, with your cocktail in hand, closing the gap between you.

5 Days Earlier

It had been a few days since the bar incident, since Noah devoured you, since he told you to think about it, about her. You had been, constantly, and don’t get it twisted, you’ve had sex like that more times than you could reference with Noah, but now the thought of him and that beautiful vixen using you, degrading you, together, was all you could think of. More than that, you couldn’t help but fixate on if he truly meant what he had said, if he really was open to letting you get to know one another. There was something about her so enigmatic, something that drew you in.

So after the constant inner ramblings of your mind had become too much, you decided to bring it up again. You were both getting ready to call it an early night and spend the rest of the night watching your latest reality TV guilty pleasure show. Brushing your teeth, you both kept stealing glances at each other in the mirror.

“So, would you actually be okay giving me her number?” You spat into the sink and continued on, pretending like that was the most casual question in the world to ask your boyfriend.

He half-smiled around his toothbrush, following her spitting into his sink.

“Well, that’s why I got it from her,” he grabbed a hand towel from the vanity, wiped his mouth, and shot you one of those effortless yet devastating smirks.

You rolled your eyes back at him and followed his actions then led the way back into your bedroom. Settling into bed you got ready to hit play on the most recent episode of your show.

“I know, but I just want to make sure you’re really comfortable with the possibility of me getting to know someone and … you know being attracted to them too.”

You had turned in to face him now, searching his face for any sign of disgust or anger. Nothing.

“Baby, this isn’t a new conversation for us,” his head dropped lower, eyes meeting yours finally. “Look, I love you and I love seeing you happy,” he brought a hand up to trace your jawline, urging you to keep focused on him.

“And more than anything, your pleasure,” he leaned in closer, his lips ghosting the shell of your ear, “is my pleasure.”

You couldn’t be more turned on by this man than you are right now. He was perfect, completely, undeniably, perfect.

“Whether you end up with a new friendship, or you just want someone new to play with,” he smirked at you, like the mental image had just flashed across his mind for the first time, “or even if it becomes more serious than that. I trust you, and I think you should at least reach out to her.”

All of a sudden, you got curious as a new thought worked its way into your mind. “If something happened.. happens.. between us.. do you want to be involved?” You lifted a finger to his chest, grazing up and now nervously. “I mean obviously I’ll talk to you before anything even becomes a thought but.. ya know..”

“That’s a good question,” he reassured you. “I think I would leave that up to you. You’re the only one that I want. If you want me to participate,” he took your hand from his chest, placing a kiss on top, “I will. If you want me to watch,” his voice dropped an octave lower, sending a shiver down your spine, “I will. And if you don’t want me around, that’s okay too.”

Like a switch flipped, you almost felt a weight lift off your shoulders. You were worried that he would get angry with you or be repulsed by the idea, even though you knew better than that. You two had talked about you bringing other women into the bedroom in the past, along with even talking about you having another partner, but it had never been on the brink of reality until now. 

So you did, you texted her. After 15 minutes of scrambling together a flirty, sophisticated, frantic, introductory text, you did it. You apologized for texting late and told her that you were sorry for being “dismissive” the other night, that you were glad Noah of all people had the guts to intervene, how you’d like to get to know one another if the offer still stood, and finally, you gave her your name. You couldn’t believe that she had this effect in you whilst not even knowing your name.

The next morning, you noticed you had a text notification from an unsaved number when turning off your work alarm. 

I have to say, I was starting to get nervous you had forgotten about me. I’m happy your boyfriend made your move for you too…lol. I’d really like to get to know you too. It’s nice to officially meet you Y/N. I’m Raven.

Raven.

You skimmed the message, zeroing in on her name, and saved her contact before really processing anything said in her text. You felt a head rush, like you were buzzing. High on the fact that that alluring, dark-haired, goddess was real—Raven. 

Then you were off to the races. Over the next few days, you and Raven communicated in some form whenever you were free to. You felt the adrenaline and giddiness of getting to know a new crush all over again. Asking questions about anything you could think of to understand each other better: your careers, your passions, your relationship, pet peeves, favorite albums, even your stance on the age-old debate, does pineapple belong on pizza?

You had learned, and shared with Noah, that you and Raven got along really well. You had similar senses of humor and enjoyed a good back-and-forth banter, and you had an almost eerie amount of overlapping or mirroring interests. She owned her own business, a hair salon in town you walked by whenever you stopped into your favorite coffee shop. She moved here almost a year ago, and was single, looking for new friends, maybe even something more. 

When you finally felt confident in the fact that she had been flirting with you just as much as you had been with her, you asked to see her. 

Earlier in the day, on Friday. Noah had proposed the idea. For her to come over to join you both in your Saturday night plans. At first, you were shocked by the proposal. Saturday nights were special for you two: you’d stay in for the night and spend the night making dinner, listening to music, appreciating each other, it was what you looked forward to at the end of every week. But after hearing him out, you agreed that it would be the perfect setting to see Raven again. You were comfortable enough with her now to invite her over for dinner, to hang out in a more casual setting. Your mind started to race, thinking about her in your house, what would you all do? What would her and Noah talk about? What were you going to cook? What would happen?

Anxiety aside, you did it. You asked, to which she eagerly accepted, if she would be interested in coming to you and Noah’s house the next night for dinner. You didn’t know at the time, but her stomach was doing somersaults when you finally asked to see her. She had typed up a text asking to meet for coffee, or a drink, or anything, and hit delete an embarrassing amount in the last few days. After you sent her your address details and decided on a time, you tossed your phone to the side.

It was really happening.

Present

Raven extended her right arm to you, handing you a fragrant floral drink Noah had made for you two.

You were almost ashamed by how much in awe you were of her. Tonight she looked absolutely ethereal. Pieces of her black hair were loosely pinned back away from her face, her eyes painted with her seemingly signature black eyeliner. Her lips looked different tonight, like they were stained red—which was driving you crazy.

Her body was draped in a crimson-colored maxi dress, mock-neck hugging her neck, the dress fitting her body like it was made just for her. The dress was sleeveless, leaving you to steal peeks of her heavily tattooed arms. God, you really did have a type.

Pulling yourself out of your admiration, you reached to grab your drink from her. For a second, your fingers brushed over hers, send a zap of electricity through your body.

“Well I was thinking… this,” you pulled out the record you’d been scouring for the last few minutes, lifting your eyebrows at her.

Koi No Yokan — Deftones. 

Raven smiled at you nodding her head, “Gorgeous choice.” Koi No Yokan was one of your favorite albums of all time, housing some of the songs you hold dearest to you. Over the last 5 days you’d learned it was also a favorite of Raven’s.

“Here, I’ll put it on,” she grabbed the record from you and moved past you to the record player. “You should try that drink, you’ve got a damn good bartender on your hands.”

As if summoned, Noah walked over to join you two, walking straight to cheers you. He clinked his own whiskey drink against your glass, and you took a healthy sip in hopes it would give you the courage you needed for whatever was to come tonight.

“Dinner’s ready ladies. Shall we?” he asked, motioning his hand toward the dining table for you both to have a seat. Raven walked to her seat first with you following behind. As you walked past him, he stopped you to pull you in for a quick hug and to steal a kiss on your forehead. 

You looked up to him with all of the love and admiration in the world.

“Thank you,” you whispered, finally breaking apart to join your new guest at the table.

You knew your night was only getting started.

taglist: @flowery-mess

[linxnnalyn]

Hewwo :3 Can I ask for Rui and Fem!reader going on a beach date together? I'm really infatuated with that one 4 star card of him (it was from The Nene4 event if I remember correctly)

Fem! Rui going on a beach date with her fem! S/O

࣪𖤐.ᐟ note -> Rui is such a cutie pie I love all the genderbend fanarts.

࣪𖤐.ᐟ warnings -> none.

࣪𖤐.ᐟ content includes ->  fluff, beach date, swimming, splashing, water guns, playing in the sand, having a picnic, beach games, sandcastle contest, collecting seashells.

۫ ꣑ৎ Going on a beach date with Rui can be quite an experience. She is definitely the type to overpack for the trip just in case, she would bring everything and anything the two of you could possibly need while at the beach. Rui would bring hats, chairs, sunscreen, beach shovels, etc. She has everything.

۫ ꣑ৎ When the two of you get into the water you should expect to be splashed immediately, even if you still haven’t adjusted to the cold of the sea. Rui would bring multiple water guns to your date and chase you around with them. She would even bring you some so you two could have a water gun fight.

۫ ꣑ৎ Rui unsurprisingly loves playing in the sand. After all she did bring a beach shovel! Rui likes to make things in the sand and she would even ask you to do a sand castle competition which she undoubtedly wins. Hell she would even try and dig up a massive hole which usually ends up with some little kids joining in.

۫ ꣑ৎ She likes to collect things at the beach. It’s not just seashells—though she does love them—but also small smooth stones, fragments of sea glass, and even interesting driftwood. Rui treats the beach like a treasure hunt, and she drags you along for the ride, pointing out each find with sparkles in her eyes.

۫ ꣑ৎ Rui makes sure to bring a picnic basket to the beach filled with all of your favorite foods and drinks. Of course, it’s not just any picnic basket—it’s a custom one she decorated herself with stickers and paint, adorned with charms. Inside, everything is organized with care.

۫ ꣑ৎ She insists the two of you wear matching beach outfits. A few days before the date, she sends you several outfit ideas she mocked herself—some cute, some silly, all very Rui. She ends up surprising you with a matching set of pastel swimwear with little embroidered stars and ribbons on the sides.

۫ ꣑�� Rui takes candid photos of you the entire time. Rui isn’t just capturing memories—she’s capturing every expression, every laugh, every little moment that makes the day special. She uses a film camera she brought just for the aesthetic and sometimes switches to her phone for selfies of the two of you.

۫ ꣑ৎ At one point, Rui suggests playing classic beach games. She pulls out a beach ball and a frisbee she stashed in one of her many bags, and the two of you end up playing a messy, laughter-filled version of catch near the shore. She cheats a little—tossing the frisbee in impossible directions just to run and chase it, dragging you along with her.

۫ ꣑ৎ The two of you would stay on the beach even as the sun goes down. Long after most people have packed up and left, Rui suggests staying “just a little longer.” She sets up a small blanket on the sand, and the two of you sit together, hand in hand, your fingers loosely tangled. Your head leaning against her shoulder. It’s perfect.

۫ ꣑ৎ By the end of the day, when the sky turns dark and the beach is mostly quiet, Rui pulls you into her arms on the blanket, your head resting on her shoulder. You fall asleep like that—wrapped in her warmth, listening to the ocean, with her chin resting gently against your forehead.

[mysticalserenity-tarot]

💸 What sort of money flows comes to you naturally? 💸 (Pick a pile)

{How to pick a pile? First, take a deep breath with your eyes closed to clear your mind. When you open your eyes, don't hesitate – pick the image that immediately grabs your attention or stirs up a memory. Remember, you can pick more than one pile if you feel called to. If none of the images stand out for you, it means there's no message for you at this time. You can always come back to it later.}

✧○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ - ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ - ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ✧

Pile 1, Pile 2, Pile 3 (from left to right)

Hello and always a huge thank you to everyone for your incredible support, it means a lot to me!

In this collective pick a pile reading, we'll explore the ways in which money and financial abundance might come into your life effortlessly and harmoniously. Let's see where your energy takes us.

Disclaimer: This is a collective reading I picked up on multiple energies, so please only take what resonates and leave the rest. When something resonates you usually feel a light energy and in your heart you can feel it's your message, and the pic that attracts you is a clearly sign.

✧○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ - ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ - ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ○ꊞ✧

💵 PILE 1

(the longest lol)

The Sun, Ace of Swords, The Hermit

Hello Pile 1, and welcome to your reading. Let's dive in!

The vibes I'm getting from this collective are super energetic and moving. It's about not staying in the same environment and situations, because life should move for y'all. This tells me that the way money and financial abundance come to you is through experiences, trying different things. Mostly through traveling and freedom. Literally expanding your mind and soul. To attract prosperity, you have to feel free from any burden, which could be in the form of a thing, a person, or a situation. I see that you easily drain yourself, and you need to retreat for a certain period to come out stronger and empowered. People drain you, my pile 1, but you shouldn't feel bad about it. Indeed, you benefit more from alone time and focused on your goals.

You attract financial abundance, money the most when you're tuned into yourself - which is hilarious because in my spread I see no one but you. When you do what your heart suggests and ignore people's opinions trying to get into your business, you hate this, right? You don't look for help outside of you, but let me remind you that asking for help doesn't make you any lesser, but it's actually a strong act, and you should be proud of it.

So, the inspiration comes or should come from within you because you're the type that ventures in search of new, exciting experiences, and this is a great way to attract abundance into your life. But, your guides are warning here - be careful not to spend over 'useless' things that don't serve your higher good, and some of you do this a lot, and when you go broke, you regret it.I see your cup overflowing with water, and you know when you fill something with too much liquid, some of it falls. You have to learn how to control yourself, my dear, and stop yourself from falling into this trap of spending where there's no need. However, don’t deprive yourself entirely when you truly desire something. Always remember the saying, 'who wants too much, at the end nothing holds.' Be mindful of your own spending - and when you borrow money from someone, please don’t forget to give it back, or the divine may not be forgiving.

If we have to sum up your reading, we'd say keep seeking new experiences and don't forget to follow your heart/your intuition, and trust that money will find you. This doesn't mean immediately or magically, but for example, if you take new job opportunities or open your own business. Right off the bat, if someone here is thinking about open their own activity this is your sign, as I saw the Chariot before starting your reading, it's a sign that it will bring you success in the long run. I also see many 9, Aces, and numbers following – 9, 111, 789 may be significant, as well as enlightenment and the color yellow.

9: validation, completion, justification, intuition, success.

1: beginnings, core, inspiration.

Thank you for allowing me to read your energy, Pile 1.

Note: -If you enjoyed this and my other readings, and you'd like to support me further, you can do so on my ko-fi, I'd greatly appreciate it. It's not mandatory.

-For further guidance or a personalized reading, feel free to book a reading through my Tumblr DM or email [dvinecrystl@gmail.com]. I'm here to help you navigate life's challenges and find clarity. We can decide the price together. [I will be providing more details on my paid readings in the future. Keep an eye out for it]

💵 PILE 2

2 of Wands, Ace of Pentacles, 10 of Pentacles

Hello Pile 2, and welcome to your reading. Let's dive in!

When it comes to money flows, I pick up a similar energy to pile 1, although in an opposite way. Despite this possible correlation, some of you may still resonate with some messages in pile 1, so feel free to check it. Unlike my pile 1, who is more open to adventures and new experiences, you are more restrained and closed off, even though you'd like to get out of your comfort zone. The cards have spoken, dear. It's not a question of 'if you want' but a necessity – 'you've got to go.' This is how financial abundance naturally finds you. Some of you have refused job offers that would have brought significant gains because you felt you weren't good enough, or someone was better, and later regretted it when it was too late.

I completely understand, but I have to tell you that our mind is powerful, and if we want something, we shouldn't give up and persist through sweat and tears. In this way, we'll obtain it no matter how it may not align with us. We are souls in a human body, and we can reach whatever we set our minds to.

The abundance of pentacles suggests the career area as your most thriving and struggling aspect, but this struggle is a lesson for you to do even better.What I also see is that you're stubborn when it comes to want something - people and even the divine offer you something that would help you grow and expand, but you're always thinking, 'No, I want that one thing/person.' Unfortunately your tendency to be a traditionalist or afraid of change hinders your growth and expansion. You have to be more open to new possibilities. You're a traditionalist or afraid of change, and I hear you loud and clear because same here.

Side note: I feel like some of you are about to get money from your friends or family, perhaps a grandmother for your birthday? this is nice!

To sum up your reading, you have to stop refusing any kind of opportunities presenting in front of you, evaluating the pros and cons based on your goals, and not on your lack of confidence. Get out, and let everyone see you. You are meant to shine, darling!

Thank you for allowing me to read your energy, Pile 2.

Note: -If you enjoyed this and my other readings, and you'd like to support me further, you can do so on my ko-fi, I'd greatly appreciate it. It's not mandatory.

-For further guidance or a personalized reading, feel free to book a reading through my Tumblr DM or email [dvinecrystl@gmail.com]. I'm here to help you navigate life's challenges and find clarity. We can decide the price together. [I will be providing more details on my paid readings in the future. Keep an eye out for it]

💵 PILE 3

7 of Wands, 2 of Cups, Knight of Pentacles rv

Hello Pile 3, and welcome to your reading. Let's dive in!

You guys let other people step on your dreams and goals, and I'm picking up energy of defeat. Maybe you let others dictate your life, consciously or unconsciously. When we don't realize it, our subconscious starts to play. This is a heavy burden for you.

So, the sort of money flows that come into your life effortlessly is when you don't let anyone's opinion, including family or friends, phase you. You have all the tools to live on your own terms. One of the worst feelings is to regret not doing something because someone didn't want you to. You need to start believing in yourself more. You have all the right tools to go forward without anyone's help. But as I like to mention asking for help doesn't make you any less, and it's important when you really need it. A little trip alone can be beneficial to show yourself that you can do it on your own.

Another important thing I'm getting for financial abundance to naturally enter your life is to be loyal to your goals, dreams, beliefs, and complete things you start. Be productive as much as you can, and don't let laziness take control. We all have lazy days and there's nothing wrong with admitting it, but as I said try not to let them get the best of you because it would be a pity since you're one of those people that can change the world if you really want to.

Some of you may have or will have wealthy or even rich partners who will bring financial stability or significant gains, especially if you're still youngish. I'm picking up unions, partnerships whether in love or in work as an another money flows for you, connections that will help reach your goals and so financial stability (not immediately though)

To sum up your reading (which is kind of short as the cards and your guides came up more straightforward for you 😆), the cards highlight the importance of self-belief, loyalty to one's goals and beliefs, and the potential for financial abundance through partnerships or wealthy partners.

Spiritual warfare, meaningful pieces of jewelry may be significant for some of you, as is the color green.

Thank you for allowing to read your energy, Pile 3.

Note: -If you enjoyed this and my other readings, and you'd like to support me further, you can do so on my ko-fi, I'd greatly appreciate it. It's not mandatory.

-For further guidance or a personalized reading, feel free to book a reading through my Tumblr DM or email [dvinecrystl@gmail.com]. I'm here to help you navigate life's challenges and find clarity. We can decide the price together. [I will be providing more details on my paid readings in the future. Keep an eye out for it]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ANY LIKE/REBLOG/COMMENT IS APPRECIATED, ALSO IF YOU LET ME KNOW IF IT RESONATED.

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST MY WORK.

ALWAYS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EACH ONE OF YOU'S SUPPORT, I'M GRATEFUL 🤗🤍

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please note that I used AI language bot to help improve grammar and spelling in my readings, as English is not my first language. However, the interpretations and insights provided in my readings are all my work, based on my intuition and the cards' symbolism.

Disclaimer: Tarot readings are for entertainment purposes only and are not meant to predict or dictate your future. The cards provide insights and guidance, but the ultimate power of choice lies with you.

[bee-ina-boat]

heres a collection of concept art for the rest of the entities for the mythos au!! if you're wondering where the eye is, they've been drawn already!

they are all FAR from done. keep in mind these are all just my initial concepts and i plan to do in-depth design sheets as i go to explore their designs more.

IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS ON HOW TO IMPROVE THESE DESIGNS PLEASE THROW EM AT ME- MY ANON IS OPEN AND I READ TAGS I DONT CARE JUST!!!! GIMME!!!!!

(also au context: the magnus mythos is an au where the entities are all gods, similar to various religious mythology, rather than paranormal entities that feed on fear)

design thoughts for each of them under the cut

The Web - God of Fate (she/it): im pretty happy with her design atm, shes meant to be a half spider half woman thing and i love that for her. shes probably the one ive thought the most on so far given her importance to the story. i want her to wear silks and shiny silver jewelry that just sparkles like wet spiderwebs do, not sure if im gonna keep the veil?

The Dark - God of the Dark (she/he/it): probably my weakest concept at the moment. it doesnt do the dark any justice. i mean i like the cloak idea but i want them to be very tendrilly, all consuming, shadowy, but i dont know how to properly portray them :/

The Desolation - God of Destruction and Fire (they/it): i have a neat vision for them! i want them to be made of coal and ash and smoke, to be burning and glowing on the inside, and their body is decorated with melted wax to look like clothes. not quiiiiiite sure about how their melty candle dress is now? i want it to be less constrictive

The Stranger - God of the Unknown and the Whimsical (he/she/they/it): it's meant to be this. weird wirey creature hidden behind masks and a lot of fabrics, like the framework of a poseable plush doll? i like the way the masks look but im not so sure about the body.

The Vast - God of the Above (she/he/they/it): im not so sure about his design at all im gonna be real. i want them to look like the atmosphere and be covered in clouds and have mountains for feet and an ocean cape but i feel like it might be a bit?? idk??? im just not that happy with it :/

The End - God of Death and Time (they/it): ugh i love this concept sm, making death read as less scary and more divine is so fun. theyre based on a seraphim and a sand timer,

The Buried - God of the Underneath (she/he/they/it): ANOTHER OF MY FAVORITES!!!! i love them. theyre inspired by hermit crabs!! and they have silver chains holding their shell to them. they look so endearing with their lil lopsided eyes ;; <3

The Flesh - God of the Body and Meat (she/he/they/it): i have so many ideas for the flesh y'all- im very excited to do a concept sheet for them. theyre meant to have no skin, just exposed bone and muscle, large limbs, hooves, exposed heart underneath a ribcage, teeth that close around their abdomen. white bandages that wrap around like clothes. a teeth/horn crown? i dont quite know whether to go for a more animalistic look or a more human one? like- theres so many ways to go with him idek!!!

The Hunt - God of Predators and Pride (they/it): see, i like this design but i feel like its too werewolf like? yknow? thats cool!! but itreads more monster to me than God :/

The Corruption - God of Nature, Rot, and Disease (she/they/it): i love this weird bug thing. this one i was really inspired for (mostly because. corruption aligned. so obviously im gonna think about this one alot) theyre this weird bug thing, the veil is inspired by the one from the art on the wiki! i want to maybe make them a bit more gross and weird because nature is like that sometimes, a moot on tiktok suggested that i add animal bones!! and i think thats SO smart im absolutely going too

The Spiral - God of the Incomprehensible (it/its): this weirdo is so hard to pin down istg. i imagine them as this spiral thing. body is kindof liquidy, arms are spindly and long, multiple shifting faces, overall just constantly changing and moving and like!!! how am i meant to draw that??? when my brain cant even wrap my head around what its supposed to look like yknow??? bruh jrdbhgfjdldgfh- that being said i think the main problem with the design is that it just gives me too many Michael vibes!!! is it the hair? the arms? its probably both.

The Lonely - God of Solitude and the Self (they/it): i like what this one has going so far! theyve got fog hair, fog tears, their body is meant to be splotchy like turquoise marble, i vibe with it so hard. not so sure what to do with their outfit tho :/

The Slaughter - God of War (he/they/it): another one of my more stronger designs i think! centaur with weapons sticking into them, face concealed, medieval armor and antlers- it vibes

the extinction isnt drawn because i literally have no idea what they should look like aside from color palette-

once again any and all suggestions will be taken!!!! i need ideas!!! plese!!!!

[astrangetorpedo]

IN INTERVIEW

Julien Baker, the interview 6/8/2016

At just 20 years old, Julien Baker gave us last year a first album of intense and rare emotional force, the superb Sprained Ankle reviewed here . A moving record that left a deep and lasting mark on me. It was therefore impossible to miss the young American's arrival in Paris and not to take advantage of the opportunity to try to get to know this outstanding artist a little better. A meeting was thus organized thanks to the invaluable help of Sean, her manager, in a café in the 12th arrondissement, two hours before the young lady's very first Parisian concert, on May 24. A one-on-one meeting that revealed to me an adorable and voluble young woman, incredibly touching and sincere, and above all determined to seize life with all her might! A moment of exchange and sharing that I am not ready to forget.

Hello Julien!

Julien Baker : Hello!

First of all, thank you very much for granting us this interview. I am a big fan of your music and it makes me really happy to meet you!

Oh, thank you! It's a great pleasure for me too, you know! I still can't believe that people like my music enough to want to meet me to talk about it. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart, really!

Perfect! Let’s start at the beginning of your story. I read that you’ve been making music for a while now. Could you summarize the journey that led you to where you are today?

Yeah, sure! I started listening to music in middle school. It was rock, I was really into it with painted nails, black eye makeup, all that stuff! [laughs] Then I started playing in bands, punk bands mostly. Then I joined Forrister which is the band I still play in today. We were playing shows in cities around our area. Then I went to college and a friend of mine who worked in a studio there offered me to record with him for free. Since my band couldn't be there, I did it solo, without any specific plans. I put the album out on Bandcamp for $2 or $3 a copy.

That's when Sean [Julien's manager] contacted me and suggested we release the album in a more official and professional way. I told him that I was actually in a band, Forrister, and that no one would be interested in me as a solo artist. He insisted and even though I didn't believe it at all, I agreed to give it a try. I'll always remember the day he called me to tell me that NPR [National Public Radio] was going to play my single. I hung up crying and immediately called my mom all excited to tell her the news! But then, as things seemed to start to take off for me, I started to doubt myself. I felt guilty towards the rest of the band, thinking that they would resent me for doing this project without them. So I called the drummer and asked him what they thought and he said they were just proud and super happy and not mad at me in any way. So I kept going and here I am! I never thought I would come to Europe and do all this, it's crazy, really!

During the band's time, did you already have this desire to write your own songs?

I don't think I had any real unfulfilled desire to do this.

But you were writing?

Yes, I wrote my own songs. But not because the band was holding me back or preventing me from doing it within the collective. It's just that sometimes you write songs but they don't fit the moment. So I put those lyrics aside, like that, without any specific goal. I've always written and played in different bands. There was enough space for all that, things didn't have to be done exclusively in one framework or another.

Were your parents musicians?

Not really. Well my dad bought me a guitar and showed me how to play it. So I started playing by practicing at home on my own. I also took piano lessons but for a very short time. My teacher didn't really like me because I didn't work hard enough. I just played by ear without wanting to learn to read music and he didn't like that. So I taught myself. But my parents were big music fans. They played records all the time at home. When I was younger I wanted to go to a concert, my dad would come with me to make sure I was safe! He was the only adult in the middle of all these tattooed and pierced kids! [laughs] Oddly enough it never bothered me. When he made a surprise appearance at the Bowery Ballroom for my concert in New York, I was so proud! He and my mom have always been a great support!

This is really great!

Yes I know !

In addition to being an author and composer, you are also a student. Are you still going to university?

I just finished my semester. It's currently summer vacation. But I think I'm going to take a break in the fall. I completed the theoretical part of my literature course thanks to online courses. The last thing I need to fully validate my teaching diploma is the practical part, in school with students. I tried to do it last fall but it's complicated to carry out both projects at the same time: give lessons during the week then take a plane to California or New York on the weekend to play a concert, before returning to teach on Monday morning! So I'm going to take a break to devote all my time to music.

Do you want to teach one day?

I think I would really enjoy teaching. I love it. As a teenager I was a summer camp counselor, I love children. So yes it would be really cool to teach!

You studied literature. Did that influence your way of writing?

Yes, totally! I try to feed myself as much as I can from all these different ways of perceiving life and emotions that I find in books. It enriches me intellectually speaking. I have the feeling of learning new things about myself each time I discover a new author and this is then reflected in my writing I think, consciously or unconsciously.

Are you familiar with French literature?

Voltaire! I often joke with my professor friends that I would really like to have a big Voltaire and Cervantes tattoo! I already have a Gabriel Garcia Marquez tattoo [Julien then shows me his 2-part tattoo on the inside of his 2 wrists]…

Is he your favorite writer?

One of my favorites, I can't choose just one! And so when my students would complain that Voltaire is an old man who's not cool, I could show them my Voltaire tattoo and prove to them that it's really cool! [laughs] Reading Candide really changed my life. It was incredible! I think the translation of the title is The Optimist , which is quite ironic. Cervantes wrote Don Quixote and we have this word in English, "quixotic" which means optimistic but optimistic to the extreme, to the point where even if everything is going wrong in your life and you know it, you continue to believe in it despite everything. There is a really romantic and admirable dimension to that attitude I find. Same for Candide where there is this quote that I always come back to when I feel really bad and which says: "I wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but I still loved life" . I think I cried when I first read that sentence. Anyway, I could talk about literature for hours, don't drag me down that dangerous path! [laughs]

Haha, ok. So back to the music! Listening to your album I couldn't help but think of two other artists I really like: Sharon Van Etten and TORRES…

I love TORRES!

Me too! I even did my very first interview with her!

Wow! She's amazing!

Do you agree with this comparison even if the artists in question do not come from the same scene as you?

I totally agree with this comparison! As a teenager I only listened to punk and thought that anything that wasn't punk was worthless. Then I grew up as a musician and learned to appreciate all styles. When you really love music, you love an artist as long as their music is honest and good, no matter what the style. It doesn't matter if it's hip hop or country or whatever!

I totally agree!

And so I'm a big fan of TORRES! I loved her first album, the one before Sprinter . The song Honey is the very first one I heard from her.

The same !

And oh my god, what a song! I played with her in Chicago, I was added as the opening act at the very last minute, I felt so honored! On my way to the dressing room, I ran into her and as I was saying "Oh sorry, I don't want to bother you" she said "No, come on, this is a shared space, you have as much right to be here as I do" and she kindly invited me in. As for Sharon, it's funny because the first time I met her, she asked me to have lunch with her, can you imagine having lunch in New York with Sharon Van Etten! And she told me she was also going to invite her friend Mackenzie [Mackenzie Scott aka TORRES]. But our phones died and we couldn't get a hold of her. So in Chicago TORRES couldn't make the connection, I was just the little girl at the door!

Excellent! Are there any other musical influences that you would claim?

Do you know David Banzan?

Nope…

Ok. There's a band called Pedro The Lion and David Bazan is the lead singer. He influenced me quite a bit. And do you know Death Cab For Cutie?

Yes of course !

They were the first non-punk band I listened to. At the time I only listened to loud and fast music, but when I heard Transatlanticism for the first time it was a shock, everything changed. They really meant a lot to me.

Your texts are very strong and very personal. When you wrote them, did you think about the impact they could have on those around you first and then on the general public?

Well, at first, I didn't imagine that this solo album would lead me anywhere, I was convinced that my music would only be made with my band Forrister. So when I released the album on Bandcamp, I really thought that only my friends would listen to it. So I wrote all these songs like that, just for me, without really thinking about the scope of the lyrics. And I'm ultimately happy that I didn't think about it because if I had known what was waiting for me, I think I would have most certainly changed things, I would have probably been more reserved in my words. But if it's difficult for me to show my vulnerability, I realize that it's totally worth it when young people come up to me after concerts to tell me that my music has helped them in difficult times in their lives. It's of course a little embarrassing for me to share such intimate things but if these things make others feel good, then I think it's worth it in the end.

But isn't it a little scary to expose yourself so completely naked and transparent? It's so brave, I don't know if I could do it myself!

Well, you see, it's exactly the same for me, I'm not sure I would have been able to do it if I had known everything in advance! But now that it has happened, I feel that from now on I have the right, the license to be brave. Perhaps it was the plans of destiny or God, something like that.

And isn't it too difficult for you to sing songs every day that inevitably bring you back to painful moments?

I think there are two options. Option one: I can sing these songs every night, let them take me back in time and feel sorry for myself. Option two: there is the quote from this poet that I love who says that all the horrible things in life just need to be seen from a different and courageous perspective. Things that seem bad can indeed turn out to be good in the end. So I have chosen to let the dark and sad aspects of my songs become pretexts to be positive and happy. Because yes, all these things have happened to me but if that had not been the case, I probably would never have written these lyrics and I would not be here today in Paris talking to you, Laurence! In the grand scheme of things, everything has a meaning and works for our good in the end.

That's very beautiful what you say! [laughs] To talk about lighter things, this is your first time in Europe, isn't it?

Yes !

How do you feel?

I love it! I have such a good time. Well I don't sleep much... [laughs]

Is it the time difference or the excitement?

Well now it's the excitement! But a week ago it was also the jet lag [laughs]. Imagine, we traveled for over 30 hours straight to get here! I first took a plane to Richmond and then a train to Washington DC. We then took a flight to Iceland where we took another flight to Copenhagen. Once there we took a train but due to a problem on the tracks we had to take a bus that took us to another train! When we arrived at the hotel, we were totally exhausted! [laughs] It was 11 o'clock in the evening but at that time of year the sun hadn't set because we were so far north and my body didn't understand anything at all! But hey after a good night's sleep everything was better! And now if I don't sleep it's just because I don't want to miss anything, not a single minute you know! I thought I would never be able to afford to travel and once again it seems that Destiny's plans are extraordinarily kind to me. I feel so grateful and lucky!

And that's just the beginning!

I hope so! But you know, even if everything had to stop, well in any case it would have been much, much more than I could have imagined! I am so grateful for everything that is happening to me!

Are there any particular places you want to discover?

Sean has been here before and wants to show me places he liked. Today he took me to see the Sacré-Cœur which is beautiful. On my side, there are also places I would like to visit, especially in Barcelona, ​​because I am majoring in Spanish literature. I would like to go to the café where Picasso had his very first exhibition, long before he was famous. I would also like to see the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's work, visit a museum, buy a Viva Cataluña t-shirt and eat paella. I am so excited to be able to do all these things!

That's great! But it's going to take you some time to do all of this!

We are staying there for the whole festival [Primavera Sound Festival]. So we should have some time. Of course we won't sleep much because in the evening I also want to attend the concerts!

You'll sleep when you get home!

Exactly! Since I am a big coffee drinker, one of my friends gave me a badge for my jacket that says "I will sleep when I am dead" ! [laughs] There are indeed so many things to experience in one life! [laughs]

And what are your plans for after the European tour?

We're actually going to be touring until the end of the year.

Will you come back to Europe?

We're going to Australia in November I think. I can't wait! We're also going to tour the States so as for Europe I don't really know... And then I hope to have some free time early next year. I'm always writing new songs that I play live. I must have 30 demos on my computer and I'd really like to record them. So it would be great if I could get into the studio early next year!

Last question: do you have one or more musical recommendations to share with us?

Lucy Dacus!

Oh I love it!

We played together in Washington DC. I had never heard her songs before Washington and I remember hearing the lyrics to Map On A Wall which say "I hope good comes from good and good comes from bad anyway" and I started crying all by myself watching her play. Her music is so beautiful, so powerful! And we have so much in common: questions of spirituality, sexuality and faith, questions about gender too and the place of girls in rock music. We are really like two halves of the same person. We have the same booker and were approached by the same label. And when I saw her again in Richmond I knew we operated exactly the same way. So our biggest fear is that we will one day become jaded and arrogant. We want to remain grateful, sincere and enthusiastic. There are so many people who do this for a long time and end up jaded. It's really great to find someone who feels exactly the same way you do, and that's the case with Lucy. We're platonic soulmates! She's a very, very dear friend.

You must tell her at all costs to come and shoot in Europe and in Paris because there are people waiting for her here!

Promise! I'll send her a message as soon as I have wifi!

Lucy Dacus! A perfect choice! Thank you very much Julien!

Thank you! It was great!

photos by jean-marc ferré 📸

interview by lolo from paris (who has great footage of that paris show on his youtube account) 📝

wayback link for the interview 🔗

[btsficsandsuch]

Leaked- Part 3

Final part to this request!

Parts One Two

@hopefulrascalstatesmantoad @prettyxxxplease @moons-v @btsfluffsworld @shycreationdreamland @namjooningera @scuzmunkie

The guys watched in silence as the gurney was loaded up into the ambulance. “Maybe it wasn’t Y/N. Did you get a good look?”, Taehyung asked. Jimin nodded his head, “Yeah I’m pretty sure.” The car returned to silence as the driver pulled out around the accident. “Does anyone still have her number?”, Yoongi inquired. The group collectively shook their heads and the ride continued without another word.

Once back at the house the group continued about their usual post concert routines, but there was a definite sadness in the air. Jin called everyone in to eat the late night snack that he had made which would normally be eaten with jokes and chit chat about various things. However this time everyone ate in silence until Jungkook spoke up. “Hyung do we have any way to find out if Y/N is okay or not?”, he asked of Namjoon.

He shook his head, “Not that I can think of. None of us have her number and there’s not really any other way to contact her.”, he replied. “What if we call her workplace on Monday? I’m sure if it was her in the accident that they would know what hospital she was at?”, Jimin suggested. Jin shook his head, “Even if they do know they can’t just give out information like that to anyone that calls.” “What if we just go to her apartment to see if she’s there?”, Hoseok asked. “We have two meetings in the morning and then we leave for tour in the evening. We’d never have time.”, Yoongi replied. Feeling hopeless they slowly one by one they made their way to their respective bedrooms to try and get some sleep even though they were all filled with worry.

After being gone for six weeks on tour the boys were all ecstatic to be home, to sleep in their own beds, to get some much needed rest. But mostly to check on you. They spent the entire tour worried about how you were doing. “Come on guys. We have to go see if Y/N is home. Let’s go.”, Jungkook said impatiently. “Maybe we could stop and get some flowers or a teddy bear.”, Taehyung added. Namjoon nodded in agreement and off they went to hopefully find you at your apartment.

“Just a minute.”, you shouted after hearing several knocks at your door. You had been home from the hospital for a few weeks but were still getting a hang of using crutches. Luckily the cast should be off of your leg in the next couple weeks and then you can start physical therapy which should make it easier to move around.

You were more than surprised when you opened your door and saw your seven former friends standing there holding various stuffed animals and flowers. “Oh my god Y/N, what happened to you?”, Hoseok asked before wrapping you in a hug. “Oh it’s nothing. I had a little accident. Do you guys want to come in?”, you said. They all nodded their heads and followed you inside setting the gifts on the bench by the entrance.

“How was the tour?”, you asked trying to break the awkward silence. “Oh you know. Exciting but exhausting.”, Namjoon replied. “Can I get you guys anything to drink?”, you asked. But as you were struggling to get up Yoongi pulled you down back next to him on the couch, “Y/N please don’t hurt yourself. We’re fine. We’re more concerned with what happened to you?”

“Umm well it’s a little hazy but from what I can remember I saw your performance where you dedicated that apology song to me. I decided that I wanted to talk it out with you guys and maybe work on becoming friends again so I was walking to the bus stop. When I went to cross the street there was a car and I don’t really know how it happened but basically they couldn’t stop in time and they ran into me. I woke up in the hospital a week later. I had two surgeries on my leg and I had a lot of bruises and scrapes but other than that I’m okay.” There were loud gasps throughout the room followed by hugs. “I’m so sorry Y/N. Is there anything we can do to help?”, Jin asked. “No it’s okay. I’m getting by.”, you said through a smile.

“Well Y/N we’re glad you’re okay. We do really want to apologize for what happened and how we handled things. You were the first person outside of our company that we let get that close. I guess we just panicked and didn’t really think things through. Looking back we should’ve trusted you because you’ve never given us any reason not to. We really regret it and we want to be friends again no matter what it takes. We really miss you.”, Namjoon said. You thought for a minute before taking a deep breath, “I really miss you guys too. It’ll take some time before I feel 100% comfortable again but I do want us to be friends. I think it’s good for all of us.”

Over the next couple weeks they all took care of you in verified ways. Jin and Jimin brought you enough food so that you wouldn’t have to stand for long in your kitchen to cook anything. Even though you kept telling him not to, Yoongi insisted on driving you to all of your doctors appointments so you wouldn’t have to try and get on the bus with your crutches and cast. Hobi and Taehyung came over to keep you company by watching movies or painting. Namjoon came over and cleaned up your apartment for you while Jungkook would come help you do some exercises that were safe while your cast was on. You had to admit it was really nice having them around and things were starting to feel normal again.

You were sitting in the passenger seat of Yoongi’s car after getting your cast taken off. You were a little wobbly but it felt amazing. What your were even more happy about was going to dinner at the boys house. You never got the chance to see it after they officially moved in so you were excited. “Take it slow Y/N.”, Yoongi said while helping you out of the car. With every step you took you could hear him whisper “slowly”. “Yoongi I’m not made of glass.”, you chuckled. “I know I just want to make sure you get in okay.”, he said shyly with a hint of a blush forming on his cheeks. Once in the house you were greeted with the smells of all your favorite dishes. “Everybody we’re here.”, Yoongi shouted. It didn’t take long for six others to come running to the front door to greet you. After giving out hugs, very gently as ordered by Yoongi, you walked off with Taehyung who had you by the hand. He wanted to give you the official tour.

Dinner was filled with lots of jokes and laughter. You had forgotten how much you missed this. Once the dishes were cleared everyone made their way to the living room to watch a movie. You were cuddled under a blanket next to Yoongi who would ask you every ten minutes if you were okay or needed anything. You wanted to be annoyed but you found it so cute how worried he was. Once the movie was over you grabbed your jacket and headed for the door where Jin was already waiting to take you home. Before you left you heard Namjoon call your name. “Y/N I was wondering if you wanted to stop by the studio one day this week. We’d like your opinion on some new music.”, he said. He must’ve sensed your apprehension because he continued, “Only if you want to. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. We just really value your opinion and like knowing what you think from an Army’s point of view.” You thought for a minute before nodding, “Okay yeah I’ll be there. I’d love to represent Army.” You watched Namjoon breakout into a big dimply smile before walking away. You turned back to Jin who was standing there with his own big smile. Taking his hand you made your way carefully to his car.

You were finally comfy in your bed after a long exhausting day. About to drift off to sleep you were woken up when you heard your phone go off. Quickly checking it your heart skipped a beat when you saw the message,

Yoongles: “Hey Y/N, I hope you’re home safely and comfy right now. I’ve been thinking about something for a while and I just can’t wait another minute. I really like you a lot and I was wondering if you’d want to go out to dinner with me next Saturday? Like a date.”

[emmalouisefanfiction]

Dramione Picture Prompt Drabble

Read it on Bluesky.

Read it on AO3.

A collection of drabbles based on prompts from Dramione Prompt accounts on Bluesky. The drabbles in each chapter will all be dramione of course. Varying ratings and content warnings: so be warned I'll be updating the tags as we go, as needed. But I do intend this all to be mostly light-hearted. No dead doves, if that's a worry, so no worries. I will be posting new chapters as the daily drabbles inspire me. Just on a whim, so not daily.

.

Picture prompt: of the 'above' image.

Enjoy. :3

Hermione almost yelped when Draco snaked his hand between her breasts. His fingers danced along her skin almost tentatively. Brushed against her nipples suggestively. Making her sigh.

His shit-eating grin almost made her smack his hand away.

This wasn't what Hermione meant when she agreed to fake date him to get his rabid fans to back off. They'd done the whole "kiss for the crowd" and gazing deeply into each other's eyes until they watered and stung. They'd been on several dates as well.

But it wasn't enough, apparently. He grinned down at her and she narrowed her eyes up at him, almost daring him to do it.

Maybe she'd had too much to drink at this newest facade of a gala because all she could do was smile and flush as his warm hands cupped her from the side. Awkward and daring but gentle and arousing all the same. Almost like he was trying to confuse her.

It's fake, she told herself as she struggled to control her reactions. Fake. Fake. Fake. As in, not real. He didn't really want her that way. Fuck but that last lick of his lips made it seem so much more real. As though he was just testing her reactions. Cataloguing her. Watching and listening to her ragged breaths and racing heart.

She wanted so badly for him to lean in, kiss her, and declare that it's all been real for him.

Hermione gazed up at him, her eyes darkening. Surprisingly, his smirk softened and he leaned in closer. Her lips parted and she held her breath.

But all good things must come to an end.

"Damn, Granger," Theodore Nott said from the side, leaning over to get an eyeful and breaking the spell. "You look good."

Hermione pulled back and blinked owlishly. Draco removed his hand and she felt cold and bereft. Then she mentally slapped herself for the public display. She looked around but most people were still dancing with their own partners. She shooed a laughing Theo away and avoided Draco's eyes as he pulled her back into their semi-swaying dance.

His chin rested on her head as Hermione made the decision right then and there to stop fooling herself. To either ask him if he felt something too or just stop this charade before he broke her heart.

After the song was done, she pulled away, took a deep breath and met his gaze. He looked concerned.

"We need to talk."

[maximumdino]

The Crane Wives Ultimate Legacy Challenge

Introduction

Hello! I am Maximum Dinosaur. I make videos on youtube, and challenges for the sims 4. I decided to make a long and somewhat niche legacy challenge based on something very near and dear to my heart: The Crane Wives. This band released their incredible first album 14 years ago, and has released their long awaited 5th album in 2024. The Crane Wives is an alt-folk band made up of 4 members who’s music is about many things, including songs telling stories, statements, life lessons and myths, folklore, and themes of religious trauma and being lgbtq. Their music hits a spot in my heart that I cannot quite place anywhere else. Their lyrics are probably the most beautiful lyrics I've ever heard, going through this legacy has made me realize that. And the Crane Wives have not yet been brought to the sims 4. Creating this challenge has made me become more connected to the songs in their discography, and after spending countless hours analyzing lyrics and melodies, I can only say I appreciate the band all the more.

This challenge is made up of 6 different challenges, and 72 generations. Yes, that is an insane amount of generations. But I mostly just made this for myself, and anyone else who loves The Crane Wives so much. Every single one of their songs creates an incredible narrative surrounded by crafty lyricism, powerful vocals, and meaningful metaphors. Their songs range from absolutely heartbreaking to sounding like the sound track to a chase scene in the wilderness, and I wanted to bring each unique song to life in the sims. I realized when going through the discography how many unique and incredible ideas could come from these songs.

You really don’t have to know The Crane Wives to play this challenge (or parts of it!) This challenge may be good if you enjoy storytelling based on deep emotions, familial connection, and cottagecore/folk vibes. The generations are mostly focused on stories but have small little skill, aspiration, or miscellaneous challenges to add onto the fun of the generation. As you can imagine, most of the packs in this game will be used during the 72 generations. Take a look at each album to make sure you have the packs, and if you don’t, you obviously can still find a way to play without that pack. No gatekeeping here, this is just for fun and there’s no shame in removing a few rules from a challenge for any reason.

The albums can be reordered however one would like- you may start with their newest album or their oldest, or whatever works for you. I wrote the challenge from oldest to newest, and will be playing it that way, but you should be fine doing whatever you’d like! The challenge is split up as such:

Part 1: Safe Ship, Harbored (2011, 12 songs/generations)

Part 2: Fool in Her Wedding Gown (2012, 12 songs/generations)

Part 3: Coyote Stories (2015, 13 songs/ 12 generations)

Part 4: Foxlore (2016, 11 songs/generations)

Part 5: A Collection of Singles (2017-2023, 14 songs/generations)

Part 6: Beyond, Beyond, Beyond (2024, 11 songs/generations)

Part 1 is the only one fully completed at the moment, so stay tuned for the rest, as well as some challenges inspired by other artists!

A couple of notes:

Some generations will cover topics such as queer identity and religious trauma, especially related to being a woman in the church- so while for a good majority of the generations, it doesn’t matter what the heir’s identity is, I would say specific songs are meant to have feminine or queer heirs. It will be suggested in the rules as well as the lyrics of those generations.

If the Crane Wives do ever decide to release more music, I will greet the music with open arms and add onto this challenge to complete the discography <3 It’s suggested that you go in order from top to bottom of an album, but the order of the albums/whether or not you play each album is completely flexible. Each album's legacy is designed to stand on its own if needed.

This is an interpretation of art, and as any interpretation of art goes, not everyone will agree with my interpretation of the music. I’ve done my best to make the best decisions for each generation that I could. The Crane Wives are not the most popular band, so while there is a lot of information out there on the meaning behind songs, not every song has much information on it out on the internet. So I did what I could with the information that I had!

I would absolutely adore to see someone playing this challenge, so definitely let me know if you do! Use the hashtag #the ultimate crane wives legacy and let me know if you are a crane wives and sims fan! I've never met any others, haha!

Generation 35 is a combination of the interlude song “Of Everlong,” A one minute song about unrequited love, and the following song, “Never Love an Anchor”, which is about a person seeing themself as unlovable to another. All of the songs in this challenge are on Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, Youtube, and a majority of other streaming platforms. Give them a listen!

[blastedking]

I'd like to get into your comics. They look and sound amazing. But, is there a reading order? Where do I start?

Hello there! And Thank you so much!!!

I had posted this SOMEWHERE sometimes before but that was way back when Return to Darkness was just getting posted. There has been a lot added to this so let’s update this! x)

Here is my recommendation as to the Order in which to read Universe - Law of Fire: 

IF you want to only read the comics (and you can, i do try to keep them as standalone as possible, buzt of course, they are not seperat of the stories) they are to be read in the order they have been posted! They are ordered as such on the ULF Website Overview

That is Tale of Moons -> Starheart -> Kings and Legends -> Remnants of Gods 

With Mondfeuer being a standalone spinoff based directly on some of the stories.

Speaking of, that’s the point where the whole context and backstory stuff comes in. So if one is at all interested in that, here is the full ULF experience reading list: 

Heart of Fire, The Warrior and Comic one, Tale of Moons, are year one content. I'd suggest reading HoF as soon as possible, because it answered the question about why and how the comics are even happening. (fun fact but no reading recommendation: all of Comic 1 to 3 happen during the initial Chapters of HoF, and Comic 4 is set exactly between on transition in Chapter 10 of Hof.) 

Wizard of Cowdenbeath, Kilchoan and Comic Two (Starheart) was year two.  WoC and Kilchoan do belong firmly together, intended to be read in that order but I think one could switch them around if one would want. (Kilchoan is probably my favourite story I’ve ever written, and timeline wise it is way before any of the other stuff (besides Little Wizard)) WoC is the make it or break it story of them all. If you enjoy WoC, you will probably like the rest as well.) 

Leitnacht is a more light hearted bonus story referencing back to the first Comic, building on what happened in Tale of Moons featuring Powerwolf again. 

Next is Parts and Fragments and Return to Darkness. These two, Parts and Fragments and Return to Darkness, belong firmly together. PaF also ties back all the previous stories and really shouldn't be read before the rest - there would be a lot of context missing! The whole question of “What are wizards and how do wizards” is explains slowly in the stories leading up to Parts and Fragments, with this one being the first we see a complete wizard (namely Ralathor in this case) in action. (Absolutely normal sentence that makes sense in this context I swear. It’s all about the Parts!)

With our newfound understanding of Wizards: The Mezchinhar Collection is next, a collection of short one shots following a couple Wizards around - and with already a bit of a feel for the home of the wizards, reading “Little Wizards” will fit very well. This is a very, very young Zargothrax slice of life.

Then Triton is the first story that picks up with Zargothrax since the last time we’ve seen him in WoC and - as the name implies - covers the whole escape from Triton. Thematically Hootsarival fits very well right after Triton, because it picks up with the Hootsman after he blew himself up. 

By this point I would suggest having read and finished the third comic, “Kings and Legends” because the Hootsforce Collection has two chapters in the end that reference that comic. Again, it’s a collection, so it’s mostly stand-alone one shots from different points in time, looking at what’s going on on the Hootsforce.

Somewhen here I did a little spin off Comic focusing on the Powerwolf guys and Ralathor, namely: Mondfeuer. So that one makes sense to read around this point, because the version/Part of Ralathor we follow here is the Kingmaker, which is mentioned in Leitnacht, and he shows up in Kings and Legends too. 

Then The Court Wizard. Picking up basically after Triton and Hootsarival - it’s Zargothrax’ arrival on the Terrorvortex earth - and what he does till he inevitably get’s bonked by a hammer. (I say it like that, but that ending is one of my favourites. It hurts a lot, but i like it a lot) 

After that, we swing a little wider with a little interlude and a bit more wizard world building with “Heshiva’s Journals”

Then, finally picking up after Return to Darkness, we’re back with Ralathor in “Stargazer Part 1” This story runs at times parallel to Comic No. 4 “Remnants of Gods” (the current one), mainly the point where Ralathor is taken over by that Remnant is felt in this story too! 

The story is cut in half because it’s not only very long and i haven’t written part 2 yet, but also, between Part 1 and 2 there are things happening, mainly, we finally, after all this, pick up where we started, we have arrived at the present day and following the events AFTER HoF in “To Save a Prince” which will lead into some events that will happen in Part 2 of Stargazer. 

Very relevant to that too, there will be the Tempest Atum Collection, which also is relevant. But that is future talk. There is only the prologue posted yet. x)

So my go through recommendation would be:

1. Heart of Fire (Comic)

2. The Warrior (Story)

3. Tale of Moons (Comic)

4. Wizard of Cowdenbeath (Story)

5. Kilchoan (Story)

6. Starheart (Story)

7. Leitnacht (Story)

8. Parts and Fragments (Story)

9. Return to Darkness (Story)

10. Collection: Mezchinhar (Story Collection)

11. Little Wizard (Story)

12. Triton (Story)

13. Hootsarival (Story)

14. Kings and Legends (Comic)

15. Collection: Hootsforce (Story Collection)

16. Mondfeuer (Comic)

17. The Court Wizard (Story) 

18. Heshiva’s Journals (Story)

19. Stargazer Part 1 (Story)

20. Remnants of Gods (Comic)

21. To Save a Prince (Story) 

22. Collection: Tempest Atum (Story Collection)

Eveything Posted to AO3 together sits currently at roughly 430.000 words so… bring some time x) It’s a handful by now! 

[blueiscoool]

Extravagant Bead Necklace from Neolithic Child’s Grave Reassembled

An elaborate necklace of thousands of beads discovered in a child’s grave in the Neolithic village of Ba’ja, southern Jordan, has been reassembled bead by bead five years after it was unearthed. It is the most elaborate adornment ever found at a Neolithic site, and is a unique testament to the funerary practices of the elite in this prehistoric farming and livestock-raising community.

Located not far from the Nabatean rock-cut city of Petra, Ba’ja was occupied between around 7,400 and 6,800 B.C. It is densely packed with multi-layered stone dwellings that are believed to have been homes and stores for family units. While the deceased were usually buried elsewhere, some of the dead were buried in individual, double or collective graves underneath the structures.

In the summer of 2018, a stone-lined cist grave was found underneath the floor of a stone house. It contained the skeletal remains of a child about eight years old buried in fetal position. While the sex could not be conclusively determined, the shape of the chin suggests the child was female. The archaeological team named her Jamila (meaning “beautiful” in Arabic).

The skeleton was in a very poor state of preservation with bones missing and severely damaged by thousands of years and the heavy weight of the layers above the grave. Excavation revealed concentrations of beads of various materials and sizes mostly grouped around the child’s chest and neck. An astonishing 2,500 beads — flat beads, cylindrical beads, disc beads, tubular shell beads — were ultimately unearthed. Most of them were made of sandstone, but there were also turquoise, shell and amber beads from Lebanon that are the oldest ever discovered.

The bead concentrations were distributed between two large pendants: a mother-of-pearl ring carved from a large single pearl oyster shell with multiple perforations and a double-perforated oval hematite pendant. The mother-of-pearl is particularly spectacular, and cannot have been local. It was likely an import from the Red Sea more than 700 miles away.

Some of the beads were found still aligned in several rows on the left side (the child was positioned on her left side and gravity did the rest) but many were scattered. Repeated patterns and combinations of bead type and color in the surviving rows indicate the beads cannot have been scattered over the body, but it was not clear whether they were originally part of a necklace, a decorated garment, chest piece or something else entirely.

The grave was documented in painstaking detail, and the concentrations and surviving rows made it possible for researchers to reconstruct the original configuration. The entire assemblage was loaned to research laboratories in Germany and France for cleaning, consolidation, restoration and analysis.

The result of the reconstruction is nothing short of spectacular, 12 inches wide at the widest point and 12 inches long at its longest. The most plausible arrangement for all those beads and pendants turned out to be ten rows, seven connected to each side of the mother-of-pearl ring and 3 separated from it.

The reconstructed necklace (with black foam placeholders for the beads that are too fragile to be integrated) is now on display at the Museum of Petra.

[karoiseka]

3) Tempest

((a little silly today, Shadowbringers after MSQ for 5.2 at some point. Implied early trio. ^_^))

The interesting thing about knowing–or at least hoping–that you’re about to leave somewhere along your journey is the ability to be able to pack what’s important, and give away those items that might be beneficial to those that were staying.  Which is how Karo found herself helping Thancred clean and organize the Pendents suite he had been sharing with Ryne whenever they were in the Crystarium.

He didn’t have much, but even when traveling light, stuff gathered.  There were small gifts scattered throughout the quarters–most of which he was leaving for Ryne since she was there when they were acquired.  There was a mostly full bookcase as well, tomes from all over the remaining parts of Norvarant carefully organized by region and subject.  Those he was leaving instructions with Ryne to talk to Moen about if there were any that weren’t already in the Cabinet of Curiosity.  Most of what they had collected was non-fiction due to wanting to learn as much about the world he found himself in as possible.

Karo had been instructed to go through his small closet of a private bedroom, going through clothes, figuring out what was torn or worn beyond repair, and what could be packed in her own bags for when she traveled between worlds.  The bedding would stay of course, as would the curtains and other bulkier items.  Backups of his chest armor Ryne wanted to keep–she said she was going to work with the original crafter to see about repurposing it to her own size.  Thancred hadn’t said anything, but his expression and body language had radiated pride and joy at the statement.

There was also a small shelf of books here above the headboard–mostly poetry and fables, tall tales and folklore that told almost as much about the people that the books in the other room did.  These, Karo stopped to read titles and thumb through a couple–smiling in fondness as she found a poem Thancred had recited to her bookmarked in a well read tome. Sitting on the edge of the bed, a straggler caught her eye, tucked off to the side on the nightstand, a bookmark placed carefully.  Eagerly, Karo reached for the book, curious about what he was currently reading.

The first thing she noticed was it was fragile.  The book binding was worn, and the original cover had been wrapped carefully in a thick paper to keep it together.  No name was written on it, which was odd, nor an author.  It was small in size, but a decent length, and she let the pages open where the bookmark lay.

“The Doman Prince strode across the room, fire in his eyes as a tempest raged in her bosom.  Karoiseka could scarce believe her own meekness as she allowed him to pin her against the wall, maddeningly close.  She may be the Warrior of Light, but he was the Warrior of her Heart, as forbidden as their love was–”

Karo stared at the passage, read it again, then flipped through the rest of the book carefully with an ever growing mix of emotions fighting for dominance.  Carefully peeking under the paper cover, she could see the bodice-ripped cover with a poor approximation of her own and Hien’s looks, staring into each other's eyes longingly–the title of the book almost blessedly worn off.

There was only one place this could have come from, and that thought was the only thing that had kept her from throwing the offensive–though hilarious–material across the tiny room.  Reaching up to her ear, she activated the whisperweed and beckoned G’raha down to Thancred’s quarters.

Confused and concerned about the summons, the Crystal Exarch must have teleported down to the Pendants with how quickly he arrived, poking his head into the open door still filled with clearing as Karo walked out of the bedroom, book behind her back.  Gesturing that he should take a seat, and suggesting that Thancred should join him, Ryne watched from the sideline, adolescent curiosity having her continue her own cleaning only half-heartedly as she watched Karo with her two paramours.

Karo was having a hard time keeping a straight face pretending to be upset, but her bardic background didn’t fail her as she held up the “offending” tome to her lovers.  Two very different responses met her; G’raha went white a sheet, as if his robes had stolen all his color, eyes wide.  Thancred, however, started laughing.  He was quickly doubled over, tears forming at the corners of his eyes as every time he tried to stop, he got another look at her face, and was set off once more.  Soon, Karo’s mask cracked, and she too joined in the laughter–G’raha finally chuckling as well, though more with a storied relief than anything.

The tale finally emerged, and it was as Karo suspected.  G’raha had found it among the plethora of tomes he had shoved into the Tower before his time-traveling journey from the Source.  It was from a time after the Eighth Umbral Calamity, where she had been gone, but tales had started to crop up around and about her.  Not all were very accurate. 

G’raha had re-found it recently during his own cleaning of the Tower, and shared it with Thancred who had been using it for a good laugh–knowing the true relationship between Hien and Karo made the sordid novel all the more amusing to him.  Stowing the book carefully back in the bedroom, Karo reminded Ryne that it was not under any circumstances to end up in Moen’s collection–and she would prefer it if the teen didn’t read it either.  Blushing, Ryne stammered her affirmatives as the others laughed, ending the day’s cleaning early to go share a meal.

[glowstone23b]

warden/ancient city thoughts …

Anicent cities aren’t actually cities, they’re actually massive temples instead that devoted themselves to a certain god (im not sure what god the old builders would worship akandk)

They laid many people to rest in those underground crypts, that a bit of their souls leaked out of the bodies and infected the glowing cave vines, resulting in a strange mutation of sculk

and as more people died and got places in those tombs,,, the more sculk spread

Eventually some worshippers caught notice of this and assumed it to be some gift from the gods, so they continued to add fuel to it, experimenting with it, etc, finding out that when a creature dies— instead of the soul ascending to an afterlife, it is instead pulled down by the sculk and merged into what was like a sentient hivemind of connected souls working together to become something akin to an organism

At some point, as evolution of the sculk furthered and sculk sensors formed, it eventually led to a sculk shrieker

and after worshippers activated it a couple times in a row,

It summoned the massive, blind hulking beast known as the warden. It harvested as many souls as it could from the worshippers as it chased after them, leaving no one in it’s wake, before retreating back into the biomass until the next time there is a significant amount of soul that alerts the shriekers once more

Ok mini rant story thing over. i like to think that sculk works in a weird sort of method

Catalyst farm and form the extra sculk needed to begin an infection —> sensors pick up on sounds made by noises that supposedly could be creatures with a soul —> shriekers sound a scream that helps determine if a warden should form —> warden harvests any nearby creatures to help the sculk spread. if killed, the warden drops a catalyst, so it can all begin again

The warden itself is a weird amalgamation of human souls stuck together fused with the sculk. the main reasoning for it being blind (other than cave animals usually being blind since low to zero light requires little need for eyes) is because detecting sound means a very high chance of something w soul

Sculk sickness …. Possibly a rare disease only picked up by deep miners. nasty no good and probably hurts as the sculk eats you from the inside out

Illagers came across the ancient cities and set up camp for a short amount of time to try and study the sculk . you can imagine what happened to them

[ i like to think every ‘living’ creature in minecraft has a soul. that keeps them alive and thinking and breathing and stuff. and undead mobs have soul residue which leaves them with very basic instincts or things they subconsciously remember how to do ITS A FUN THOUGHT ]

[ in my little au illagers love experimenting w souls . because the more you experiment the more messed up results you get (vexes being the fused collective of 2-3 allays, or creating abominations via sticking two different mob souls together… possibly how ravagers came to be since they look a bit like villagers that got turned into beasts . fun theorizing ]

Hey invention? Phanon? I love your mind, it's wonderful. Have a drawing!

I've never drawn a warden before, mostly because it's been very daunting, but I think I got it out the way I wanted it to!! Sculk itself is kind of like... a fungus-y tentacle-y mixture, and i got some inspiration from the devil's fingers fungus irl! Really cool, I suggest giving it a look-see.

In my head, sculk would start off kind of like little eggs or pips or... whatever those things are... there's a name for it, when a plant or a cell decides to split off to make a new plant or cell? Mitosis? Bulbs? Plantlets? There's a word I'm looking for. Anyways. They'd probably grow mini sculk bits off of more mature ones so they can drop off and spread on their own, kind of like some types of succulent if that makes sense? Which explains the little sticky-outy bits on the wardens' horn things. Man, there's gotta be proper terminology for this, my brain is not finding the right words today.

They'd release some sort of bioluminescence when disturbed, and have an almost tar-like substance produced to trap smaller mobs (spiders, bats, etc.) that happen to wander too close, akin to fly traps. It wouldn't work as well for humans, but it's not uncommon to have your foot tugged on by some sculk in the hopes it can digest you.

I went off "The warden itself is a weird amalgamation of human souls stuck together fused with the sculk" because it's FREAKING COOL, so !!! Yeah!! I've got some of the larger/longer sculk tendrils used as arms and 'fingers' in a sense, though they're not all that precise in use. It just opts to smack the heck out of people usually. The bones in the shoulders and feet I thought were really cool on the in-game design, so I feel that the sculk would grow around any sorts of bones it had access to to keep a more stable structure. Keeping yourself upright if you're a soft mass of plantiness/fungus-yness would be a little tough, I think. Also, keeping bones close to the sculk might make it easier to tether souls together? Who knows!

It'd be neat to see what types of matter the sculk would attach to to form a warden-- it could be enderman bones, for all we know! Big and long and short and stubby, and all of the bones are in the wrong places. Using femurs for toes, or ribs for arms... it'd definitely not be fun to see in person.

Sculk sickness sounds SO NEAT TOO!!! I imagine you might be able to inhale it, like spores? Since it feeds off of xp or souls, you just keep fueling it once you're infected whether you like it or not. Does it have any cure, or would you have to have some sort of surgery to try to remove the existing sculk from your body? That'd cause a heck of a lot of complications, if it were to block anything internally. Wild, but neat to theorize about.

And YES on the experimenting with souls thing! Especially with the update so vexes look a lot more like allays-- definitely experiment material. I wonder how many more mobs are out there that we haven't seen because they haven't been made yet? Just mish mashes of any sort of soul they could get their hands on, inhabiting a body that doesn't feel quite right. Kinda interesting!

Thank you for sharing as always ily you rule. Your theories slap, may your inventory be full of diamonds or something. May the Nether's fire guide your way, idk. More piglin-y, as per my blog, lol.

[caliburn-not-calculator]

ALL My Fanfic

Hi!! Seeing as I now have banished so many post from deleting my account I figured it would be best to post the fanfic links all together so, here you go :3

Maxim/VR-LA Long Fics:

Are you my Lighthouse or the Storm - Canon compliant, angst and healing, slow burn, from Maxim’s POV

Let’s Make This House A Habit - Post campaign but no longer canon compliant, domestic fluff and some hurt/comfort, also slow burn

VR-LA/Maxim Other:

Sea Meets Earth - Pre campaign, first meetings, mostly just platonic, developing friendship

“Yes. Me.” - That one moment where Noir and at least half the audience called Maxim hot, from VR-LA’s POV

The Fall - VR-LA POV, feelings realisation, flustered VR-LA, arcanobabble

Farewell for now, Friend - Post Finale goodbyes, fluffy, hopeful ending

Mistletoe in Mechanus - Christmas fic, robit kiss, pre relationship

My Silence is my Self Defence - Angst and pining, separation, preemptive mourning

Camellia & Carnation - Courtship, declarations of love, nervous Maxim, getting together, flowers

Did it hurt when you fell tripping over your own scarf? - Silly, gay panic, awkward flirting and fluff

Please Don’t Do That - Stealing clothes, light angst and misunderstandings, fluff, Maxim has an Oh No he’s adorable moment

Wander, Wonder - Canon compliant, Maxim and VR-LA’s totally not a date night walk in Sigil

Dawning - Human au, Maxim and Veerle having a lazy morning in the early days of their relationship

Mage’s Duel - Post canon, Maxim and VR-LA practicing their spell craft and sparring

How I’m Imagining You - Human au, Maxim and Veerle as colleagues, Maxim can’t stop imagining kissing him

A Cosy Frostfell Evening -

Jump Scare -

I don’t Believe in Gods, but I Believe that you’re my Saviour -

MR-SN/VR-LA:

Painted with the Blood of Somebody you Love - Big angst, dark fic, possession and temporary character death, eventual healing

We’ll Write Our Names In The Stars - Emotional hurt/comfort, VR-LA has self confidence issues, MR-SN is a good captain, friendship/love

Sweet Dreams - Denial, oblivious MR-SN, fluff in dreams, snuggles

Word Left Unheard - Angst, final goodbyes, love confessions, copious apologies

Mi Capitán - Pre campaign slow burn, pining, feelings realisation, developing relationship

Star Kissed - Modern and human au, MR-SN/VR-LA, they go stargazing and there is much flirting involved

Witness - Ghost MR-SN, seeing VR-LA in the 2.7 plane shift

Nocturne - Alternate ending to What Happens in the Captain’s Quarters, robot smut… yeah

Proximity - VR-LA and MR-SN running from the hardheads, flustered and crushing VR-LA, romantic tension

Pirate AU:

Welcome Aboard - How Veerle came to be part of the pirate crew of the Per Aspera

The Crooked Kind - Veerle binding with his new crew mates, and finding his place on the ship

Collect Your Scars (and Wear them Well) - A night swim, Veerle and Emerson talk about their scars

What do you do with a Drunken Sailor - Veerle and Emerson drunk and making out… that’s about it

Kiss me on the Mouth, Love me like a Sailor -

Superhero AU:

Golden Hour - Veerle/Maxim, rivalry, banter/flirting, Veerle is a little shit /aff

Office Hours - Veerle/Maxim, two totally not superhero’s at their day jobs, pining, massage

Unravelling - Veerle/Maxim, power mishaps, hurt/comfort, injury, flirting

Coffee Shop AU:

Hot Day, Hot Damn - Maxim/Veerle, fluff, slightly suggestive flirting, pining

It’s not Romantic I Swear - Valentine’s Day fic, Maxim/Veerle pining and fluff

Vampire AUs:

Sanguine - Vampire Maxim and human Veerle, a lil spicy, lazy morning and kisses

Libation - Veerle/Maxim, short fic, blood drinking, possessive undertones

Hungry for a Love (To Sink my Teeth Into) - Veerle/Maxim, making out, tending to each others wounds, light sadism

Detective/Sherlock Au:

Firelight -

But if You Asked me for my Fire (Just Watch me Burn) -

For You, I Shall Rest -

Nothing but a Ruse -

Other:

I Shine Only With The Light You Give Me - Kyana and Ione, romantic or platonic, character study of Ione sort, moon/sun dynamic

May I Have This Dance? - MR-SN/VR-LA, Maxim/VR-LA, they dance, mutual pining, first chapter is pre raid

What is Waiting in the Dark - Pre campaign, Ione and Kyana, blood and gore, child soldier

A Mechanite Purrs - VR-LA and plug purring at each other, Dani and VR-LA being siblings

Threads That Bind Us - My first fandom fic, VR-LA’s first meeting with Mystra, hurt/slight comfort

Kisses :3 - Various short oneshots of different kisses, based off tumblr asks

What Happens in the Captain's Quarters stays in the Captain's Quarters - MR-SN/VR-LA, Maxim/VR-LA, two mildly spicy instances of VR-LA demonstrating the fact that he has a type

Moribund - Post canon C1 fic, VR-LA goes missing and his friends must race to save him, big VR-LA whump