#and the way a LOT of people jumped in and seemingly correctly guessed a lot of signals being dropped

[jlf23tumble]

I sent the anon about a lack of gay rumors about Harry. I don't think you read all I said because I never said he was straight and I never said there weren't any gay rumors. I even said that I didn't think he was straight. I was asking is it possible that all these women who said they've hooked up with him, and there are tons, all lying and were put up to it by Jeff? Like the bachelor contestant? Love island contestant. Influencers, models. Is it all lies or is it more likely that he is bi?

My apologies, I had a lot of similar asks come in all at once that were a) long-winded, b) didn't clarify what they were asking, and c) went off on tangents that kept me stuck on the first bit, and in this case, yeah, I got stuck on your ask's "there aren't any gay rumors" about him because, uh, there are?? Like, a lot?? To answer your question, I don't think Jeff has the ability to encourage random women to make that kind of claim (or the interest: it seems like a lot of work, and he reads as a shirker), and as a rule, I don't think women are liars. That said, are there really "tons" of women saying they've hooked up with Harry Styles, like, truly? I can think of one or two one-off anecdotes, but it gets muddied by media speculation, randos "connecting" "dots," or people linked to him officially. And all of THAT said, I have no clue as to Harry Styleseseses' real-life sex life, but since you ask, sure, he could be bi! Annnnd I think he could also be exploring his own sexuality in a much deeper and layered way than a lot of people in today's tumblr.biz fandom space are ready to consider because, frankly, a) they can't handle too many levels of nuance and b) don't understand that the deepest, most private real-life facets of someone else's sexuality are none of their biz. And that pulls in another part of this ask that kind of raises my hackles, and it's the "is it all lies" bit because none of us are owed the truth from someone we don't know. We see *maybe* 5% of any person's actual lived life! Anyone telling you they have it all locked in w/r/t a stranger is full of shit!

ETA: check out the replies for stuff I should have included but was too sleepy to really get to because YEAH, NAILED IT FURTHER

[thatdogmagic]

The "NSFW = Easy Mode" Post

We all know this post. We all know this complaint. NSFW artists have faced it the entire time we've spent drawing.

Aside from being hugely denigrating towards a very legitimate craft, there are multiple fallacies involved in the argument.

Let's start off with the most obvious, the very real phenomena of getting visible traction on social media sites. Namely, to say that, LIKES/RTS DO NOT TRANSLATE TO FINANCIAL STABILITY. Working your ass off does. NSFW artists who make it their livelihood churn out an absurd amount of work to stay relevant, constantly have to work outside of comfort zones, and face steep competition.

Next, the argument presumes that all NSFW is created equal. It's not. For example: mlm, that is to say, men loving men, will earn you much more traction than wlw, women loving women, and mlm involving trans bodies will earn you much less traction than the cis standard. Additionally, your audience for any of those things is NEVER guaranteed.

It places porn an erotica on the same footing, which is also enormously wrongheaded. Porn has an almost singular focus on secondary sex characteristics, and will rush straight to the point at every given opportunity; erotica is holistic, and doesn't even really have to show genitalia in order to hit its mark, if it's written and framed correctly.

To be clear: both of these things take an enormous amount of skill. It is not something you just learn to do overnight. Good, illustrated porn requires an understanding of action, anatomy, perspective, and all sorts of other technical skills that are often beyond even very adept artists.

With erotica, technical prowess is less of a focus. It's more on character art, scene setting, and story (be it implied by imagery or written in). I don't need to explain the level of expertise this requires, not the least of which is being a good writer, which is fully beyond a lot of peoples' grasp. It's a whole different skill, and being good at erotica is tough for even industry professionals. Many are embarrassingly bad at it.

The other bullet points, I outlined in a Twitter rant, but here they are:

NSFW artists face logistical hurdles SFW artists don't. Namely: we don't know when the site we're posting on will ban NSFW content.

We can be randomly banned/shadowbanned from a site whose rules are not especially clear (Tumblr), and whose filters are garbage. We can also have our work deboosted and effectively removed from circulation because we didn't label a nipple appropriately (Tumblr still thinks a female-presenting nipple is 100% sexual).

We can have our funding cut at random, for seemingly arbitrary reasons.

We face a host of degrading comments and overfamiliar clients.

NSFW artists working commissions have to take on work they're not personally very interested in. This takes way more work and fortitude than anyone is willing to admit. If you're commissioned for a fetish you don't like, you still have to make it look hot for the person who commissioned you. If you don't think that takes extra effort, IDK what to tell you.

We are constantly subjected to arrogant shitbags saying they can just jump in and make bank, because Site Number Went Up that one time.

Bottom line is the 'I should just do furry porn I guess' joke is not a joke. It's not funny. It's just you showing your ass, and insulting your friends/colleagues, who do very hard work for very little reward.

[mae-i-scribble]

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to fandom/media interpretation in general is that seemingly whenever something tries to explore the emotion of love in a nuanced or non-straightforward manner everyone and their mother jumps to the conclusion that it’s inherently romantic in nature. I don’t know if this is my aroace brain speaking, but it’s something I’ve never understood when clearly the author doesn’t mean it in a romantic sense. The two examples I’m thinking of are Violet Evergarden and Ancient Magus Bride.

Violet Evergarden is about a child soldier, Violet post-war trying to discover what emotions are, so that she can better understand the major who sacrificed his life for her. She’s specifically fixated on the notion of love, because the major told her once that he loved her and she’s struggled to understand what he meant by that. As the show goes on, she begins to discover just what these emotions mean, both to other people and to herself. Now, it needs to be said again that she was a child soldier, the major was around 30 if I remember correctly. Either way very much an established adult when he found Violet when she was like 8-10. Naturally he meant that he loves her in a familial way, everything the show does supports this interpretation, the only obscurity comes from Violet’s perspective because she doesn’t understand his meaning at first. Take a big fat guess as to half the posts I saw about their relationship framed it. Yep, “oh how gross he was in love with a child,” “this show is gross,” “its so sad how he was in love but now they can never be together T-T.” Like. What the fuck y’all. What the actual fuck. Did we watch the same show????? It’s legitimately baffling that just because the word love is used that is the assumption made in direct contradiction to what canon is saying.

Ancient Magus Bride has it much, much worse unfortunately, because it’s a much more,,, morally suspect look at what love is, or more specifically, the nature of human relationships. Chise and Elias have a bond that cannot be easily summed up in a few words (which is the entire point), and they see a lot of various twists and turns in their dynamic as they learn  not only to live with each other but come into their own and grow. Now, a lot of people assume Ancient Magus Bride is a romance because of how it starts out, with Elias stating that he bought Chise to be his bride. However, as you read further, specifically into the 40′s, Elias reveals that he only said the word bride because he understood it to be people who spend their lives together, and wanted to cut corners by making his student and bride the same thing. Elias, as an inhuman creature, does not have the capability for empathy or understanding emotions/concepts as humans do, which is what leads to a lot of the suspect situations in the beginning of the story because he doesn’t get the implications of what he’s doing.The author herself has even mentioned in official interviews that she doesn’t see their relationship as romantic (not that it stopped anyone), along with the entire story rejecting such an interpretation because shoving Chise and Elias into such a box goes against what it’s saying about the messy nature of relationships. Additionally, much like Violet Evergarden but worse, Chise is 16 while Elias is a being 100s of years old (although without the emotional intelligence to match). Either way though, their dynamic for the beginning of the show is very much of Elias trying to control Chise. He withholds information from her, manipulates her into trusting him more easily, does things behind her back that he knows she wouldn’t approve of. And that is important, I appreciate that aspect being there because it’s all completely necessary to show just what kind of person Elias is, and how his standards are vastly different compared to human ones. But a lot of the whole “EliasxChise is soooo good” hype came from anime only watchers- and is that really the dynamic yall wanted? Really? Especially when the anime watered down the resolution to that conflict? More importantly, imagine being braindead and also having no taste at all simultaneously. You take so many interesting aspects of their dynamic by just going “and theyre in love UwU” because you ignore their complexities. On top of being really fucking gross in my opinion.

And these two aren’t the only example of this. In general I think plenty of relationships would be far better off being explored as the nuanced, complex things that they are without slapping an “in love” label on them. (Jayce and Viktor from Arcane come to mind for me, what they have going on as friends and the importance the narrative places on that friendships is so much more valuable to me then any shipping). And again, I’m left wondering if this is an aroace thing, bc talking with a friend who is also aroace about her experiences in researching romance literature and what allo people find rewarding about a romance is like reading about an alien species. Do yall just live like this???? It’s so sad you are missing out on so much

[phantomoftheorpheum]

hello! not to go on and on about this but when i first saw the summer school trailer i thought alex aiono wasn’t going to be in the season at all since they showed noa kissing jen right off the bat. you can imagine my surprise at seeing his name in the opening credits. listen, i get that it’s pll and everything is about tension, lies, and deceit, but man did i appreciate shawn being a healthy partner. but they still were able to have moments of conflict!! (around noa’s mom & also shawn’s doping). so i don’t exactly think they were boring but if so then i appreciate boring lmao. and alex aiono deserves better. i need to get over my frustration with all of this and just see how everything unfolds. it is what it is!

hi nonny!

This got kind of long again, so I'm going to place it under a cut to keep the post short on everyone's dash.

I understand the urge to talk about it (I mean, look at my blog just combing through everything and feeling the need to talk about it all), and I think it's totally valid to have loved Noa & Shawn's relationship in season 1 and be frustrated with what they've chosen to do with them in season 2. For a show about teenagers, their season 1 relationship was very open and they actually talked through their issues, which feels pretty rare in tv in general, so I can definitely see the appeal. I never got particularly personally attached to most of the PLL ships in season 1 (obviously I've mentioned how much I love Ash plenty of times), but one of my favorite ships of all time is in a show where they're basically just in a stable supportive relationship for 5 out of 6 seasons. They break up once for a few episodes, but the "drama" of this doesn't feel contrived or forced, and after some time apart they get back together and stay together the rest of the show. I always appreciated the level of communication that ship had, despite the fact that they did face challenges and fundamental differences that they had to work through. I think a lot of people probably found that relationship boring, but I felt really refreshed by it. So anyway, even though I was personally reasonably neutral about Shawn and Noa as a ship from the first season, I can see what's there to really enjoy, too.

I am curious why they have (seemingly) dropped the steroid plot line with Shawn (since, if I remember correctly, it was left unresolved for the audience with him still secretly using them? am I wrong?) and could have been used to drive a wedge in their relationship whenever it came out. If it comes up now, I think it's going to be very confusing for most viewers, because they haven't touched on it at all this season. If Shawn and Noa both had secrets that we were following throughout this season, I think that might have changed the way a lot of people look at this storyline (and the fact that this would have been so easy to do, but they didn't, makes me feel like they want us to forget that Shawn has character flaws, which of course then makes me suspicious of him, and I guess I'm just a little confused as to where this is all going).

I also didn't expect to see Shawn's character at all this season based on the trailers, particularly with the time jump, as that's such an easy way to write a character out. I just assumed he wasn't returning to the show, so I was very surprised in 2x01 when he and Noa were still a couple. I am curious at this point to see where they take these storylines, since I feel like I'm getting mixed messaging between what's on screen, some of the way scenes are framed, and the marketing. Since I'm suspicious of both of Noa's love interests (for different reasons), I am quite interested to see how this all turns out. I don't know too much about Alex Aiono, but it's too bad if his character was essentially sidelined and he's basically just in the background (but if he turns out to be an antagonist, he could have some very fun screen time after the reveal. People always remember a good villain).

Anyway, thank you for your input! I genuinely like hearing everyone's different opinions and perspectives on this, it makes me think about things from different angles. I'm always up for some good faith discussions.

[definitelynotafurinasimp]

Can I request for Ei/baal, Yae miko, and Sara with an S/O who is wife material? Y'know how thoma is a great attendant and male wife and were kinda the same? Like we dote on them constantly?

Them with a s/o that's spouse material

characters: Yae Miko/Ei/Kujou Sara x gn!reader(seperate)

warnings: none, just fluff

a/n: I hope I did it correctly, even though I'm a bit worried that it might have turned into something more considered as a general "living with them" fic, but I guess it should be okay.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Yae Miko

You were what could be considered the perfect partner for Yae. You were easy to talk to, could cook fried tofu like no other and liked reading as much as her. But you were also easily embarrassed and so not even your seemingly perfect nature could protect you from her teasing. Instead, the fox envoy managed to somehow find a way to tease you about it. But once her mocking would end, the two of you would just sit next to each other in comfortable silence, reading whatever new, promising novel Yae had brought home from her publishing house that day.

Yae was sitting at the couch, slowly eating the fried tofu you made her while reading a book you had never seen before, which wasn’t unusual for her, since was one of the first persons to get access to new releases. When you walked over to her and looked over her shoulder to see what she was reading, she instead turned around to face you, her face far too near to yours, causing you to blush a little even though you already lived together.

“Do you need something, little bird?”, her sudden use of nicknames caught you completely off guard and caused you to blush even more. You leaned away from her, somehow feeling that if held your distance, she wouldn’t be able to see the redness of your face, only to notice her wearing the same kind of smile she always did before starting to tease you.

“I-I just wanted to ask what you were reading”, you eventually managed to form a complete sentence after scrambling for words, relaxing when seeing Yae’s smile change to a genuine one.

“Since the fried tofu you made was so good, I guess I could show you”, she said before signalling you to take a seat next to her.

Ei

Even though Ei had a lot of people working for her for the sole reason of making her food or cleaning the different rooms, she couldn’t help but feel a nice warmth in her chest whenever the dish she was eating was made from you or knew that you where the one that cleaned the room she entered. But with every good thing came some bad ones and every time she put her shoes on the wrong spot or forgot to put her plate away, you weren’t shy about lecturing her, the literal archon of Inazuma, about it. And even though she expected herself to feel annoyed by it, she couldn’t help but smile about your typical behaviour whenever it happened.

Like every day after work, both you and Ei found yourself eating the food you made together and chatted simply chatted about your days. When both of you finished eating, Ei stood up and wanted to prepare herself to go roam the streets of Inazuma with you, only to freeze when she felt your stare on her. When she looked back to you and noticed you signal to the empty plate, she mentally slapped herself before putting it away and instantly seeing you begin to smile. She was used to people doing all those little things for her, but you always seemed happy with her, when she did it herself.

“How was the food?”, you asked, clearly knowing the answer already but wanting to hear her praise you anyway. When she eventually did compliment your cooking skills, you jumped up from your seat and quickly put your own plate away.

“That’s good to hear. Have you heard of the new sweets-store opening?”, you asked her and when she shook her head slightly, you grabbed her hand before looking at her once again. “Do you want to visit it?”, you didn’t have to wait long for her answer and when she predictively said yes, you started leading her into the direction of the shop.

Kujou Sara

Sara came back home exhausted most of the days, so having someone that made most of the household chores in her absence was a huge relief. She of course would try helping as much as she could, but you often forced her to just sit down and relax. You would cook for her and let her tell you about her day if she wanted to. Sometimes Sara wondered if you were real or if she had fallen into a deep coma and was dreaming about your whole existence, but even if that was the case, she wouldn’t want to wake up.

Once you heard the door to your home open, you instantly went to greet Sara with a hug. There was a time when she would get completely stiff whenever you as much as touched her hand, but after being together for quite a while, she would simply lean into you after a tiring day, leaving it to you to drag her to the couch so she could promptly collapse onto it. And just like those other days, the same thing happened today too.

“How was your day?”, you asked even though the answer was obvious for both of you. But she still responded, at least she tried to, but when Sara realised that she would have to actually open her mouth for words to come out of it, she let out a small groan before doing so anyways.

“Tiring”, was all that she answered before closing her eyes and letting out a sigh. You instantly stood up and walked to the kitchen, causing Sara to look up at you with an irritated face. “Where are you going?”, she asked in barely more than a whisper.

“I’m going to make you something to eat, so just stay there and relax”, you told her and even though she felt the small urge to argue about letting you do the work alone, she was far to tired to actually say something. Instead, she simply closed her eyes and thanked the Archons for letting her meet you.

[safertokiss]

There’s No One Else

A/N: Heyooo! I loved this request so of course I had to write something for it. It’s my first MGG fic, but it was super fun to write and I plan to do more fics for his other roles. Thanks for the support and all the kind words!<3 P.S. I decided to try out 2nd person in this one.

Request: “Can you do an angst/smut with Matthew but it's the set of criminal minds and they are shooting a scene and reader likes Matthew but she is keeping it a secret? sorry if that didn't make any sense. I love your writing!!” ( @victomizedbyreginageorge )

Pairing: MATTHEW GRAY GUBLERx FEM! READER

Category: SMUT, slight angst, and of course fluff

Word Count: 5.2k

ENJOY!:)

~~~

MASTERLIST

~~~

Ever since you were a child, you knew that you were destined to be on the set of a production studio, surrounded by the biggest stars the business had to offer. Granted, you had always assumed you’d be the one in front of the camera rather than behind, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers in this world.

 It’s not that you disliked being Khalia Dark’s assistant. She was a world renown celebrity, loved by all who were graced with her presence, from afar that is. Anyone who had the “honor” to get up close and personal with her, yourself included, knew she wasn’t the sweetest of the bunch. If you were to use your own words, she was a mythic bitch. Adored by millions, envied by more, which was pretty much the case for all of the A-listers out here anyway. Although you could do without the woman being in your vicinity, you didn’t mind being her servant most of the time.

More often than not you were certain she forgot about your existence all together, which usually gave you a chance to breathe for a bit. While your job brought about many positives for yourself, for example the extensive knowledge of posh coffees that you would have memorized for life, the highlight of the endeavor was without a doubt the exclusive access to the extravagant movie and TV sets that the queen bee happened to be appearing in each given week. Today, much to your excitement, was one of those days. Usually movies were more her forte so it was always a nice, refreshing change when she booked a role for the small screen. 

Her newest conquest in the industry just happened to be one of your favorite shows to have ever aired, Criminal Minds. Of course you were trying to remain professional, but it became increasingly difficult the closer you got to the studio lot’s entrance. The child in you was screaming with joy at the prospect of being there, surrounded by some of your favorite actors and actresses in the industry. You couldn’t even consider the possibility that you would get to meet Matthew Gray Gubler, the object of your affections for as long as you had been watching the show. That simply was a no go. You were positive that if at any point in time he was in your vicinity, you would simply lose consciousness, and that wouldn’t exactly be the best first impression. The further you walked onto the set, the more amazed you were. You were so familiar with it after years of watching, it just felt like a second home. After breaking out of your stupor, you quickly spun around to try and locate your boss, immediately colliding with whatever was in front of you, letting out a small “oomf”. Well. Whoever.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t paying atten-.”

You immediately froze mid-sentence when your eyes caught up with your actions. Fuck. This is not happening. It was him. Standing less than a foot away from you was the one and only Mr. Matthew Gray Gubler, live and in the flesh. Fucking hell.

“Hey it’s no problem, I promise. Don’t worry about it. I’m not exactly the most coordinated person on the planet either, trust me”, he said, chuckling lightly. Running a hand through his unkempt curls, he momentarily let his eyes roam your frame before seemingly snapping out of it, clearing his throat and extending one of his strong looking hands towards you.

“I’m Matthew by the way.”

You, however, were still frozen in place. Realizing how stupid you looked just standing there, openly ogling the man in front of you, you quickly met his hand, a nervous smile adorning your face. His hands were so fucking soft.

Chuckling once again, he seemed to be waiting for something.

“And you are?”

Oh shit. You hadn’t even introduced yourself yet! So much for first impressions you thought.

“O-oh right! Sorry. I'm Y/N. Ms. Dark’s assistant”, you stuttered out, entranced by the specimen in front of you. “Wow, that’s a beautiful name. Well I guess it’s fitting. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.”

Wait a second. Had you heard those words correctly. THE Matthew Gray Gubler just called you beautiful? You must’ve been dreaming, there was simply no other explanation. But when you glanced at him he was once again trailing his eyes all over you. Holy shit. You thought you were going to implode on the spot.

“Th-thank you”, you muttered shyly, feeling the blush spread across your features faster than a wildfire in a dry forest. After your weak excuse of an answer left your lips, the two of you just continued to stare at each other for what felt like hours. Eventually you were broken out of your trance by the director calling all of the actors to their places across the lot.

“I-um-I gotta go do a scene, but it was a pleasure to meet you Y/N. I hope I get to see more of you around here.” With a quick wink in my direction, he was off in the direction of the other actors swarming to the set from their trailers. For the third time in the last five minutes you were frozen to the spot in which you stood on the pavement. What in the actual fuck just happened? He called you beautiful. He wants to see more of you. HE WINKED AT YOU. This time you felt like you were truly about to lose consciousness so you booked it to the bathroom to calm yourself. After splashing some water on your face, you felt your body temperature returning to a somewhat normal degree and decided you should probably go to the set in case the Queen of Hearts needed anything from you. 

When you approached the scene that was being filmed, you were able to deduct fairly quickly what the plot revolved around. Apparently Khalia had been hired as the episode’s damsel in distress victim, typical. She was definitely the type to rely on others for pretty much anything. That wasn’t what was catching your eye though. Even from where you were standing you could clearly see her making eyes at Matthew. I guess you couldn’t blame her, he was gorgeous, but it still made you feel so insecure. It really just served as a reminder that people like him would never go after people like you. They want the ones who count. They want Ms. Khalia Dark. In what world would someone like him want a nobody like Y/N Y/L/N? There wasn’t one that came to mind. And while this revelation was pretty damn heartbreaking, you couldn’t say you were shocked by the cold, hard truth.

Feeling like you had lost a war that hadn’t ever really even begun, you turned back to look at Matthew, deciding to make the most of however short the time was that you’d be here. However, he was nowhere to be seen. You quickly realized that while you had been distracted, the scene had switched to something else, one where Matthew appeared to be absent.

“Hey again!”

You literally jumped off the ground and let out a little yelp at the noise, you were so startled.

“Oops, I’m sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you, sweetheart,” he got out between adorable giggles. Damn, this man was gonna be the death of you. Literally. If he scared you like that again, you might actually have a heart attack.

“Jesus Matthew! A little warning next time!” You couldn’t help but join in his giggling after a few seconds. Returning his gesture just made the two of you laugh even harder until both of your chests hurt like hell. His laugh was angelic. Perfect. Just like him. For some reason, after you guys had calmed down a bit, you noticed him once again looking you up and down, admiring your body. You even swore you saw him lick his lips. You must be imagining things. Weird. Very weird. Bringing his wandering eyes back to yours, a goofy grin was plastered across his face. You hadn’t even realized you were biting your lip until he reached towards you, dislodging your teeth from the soft skin. “Don’t do that,” he said with a much more serious expression adorning his features. Before you really had the chance to decipher what had just happened, a loud voice cut through the air directed towards you both, causing you to put a bit of space between the two of you. You were able to easily recognize the sultry voice as Shemar’s, turning towards him, a smirk on his face.

“What’s going on that’s so funny over here,” he questioned before his attention shifted to focus solely on you. “My, my. And what’s your name sugar?” You were starstruck for what felt like the thousandth time that day, standing there with your mouth awkwardly hanging open.

“Hi, I’m Y/N. I work for Kahlia, her assistant actually. Nice to meet you”, you answered brightly, a polite smile gracing your lips.

“Trust me, the pleasure is all mine sweetness”, he concluded with a wink. While the action was endearing, it had nowhere near the same effect on you as Matthew’s did. You had always adored Morgan on the show, but you didn’t really know Shemar well enough to have any serious opinions about the dude. Matthew, however, you knew everything there was to be known, from his haunted treehouse to his love of Halloween. You weren’t proud of your obsession, but you couldn’t deny the unbelievably strong attraction you had for the man to your left. Regardless, the interaction caused a blush to spread, though this time it was caused more by being flustered rather than speechless. 

You were about to say something else to try and salvage some of the pride you had just lost, but you were beaten to the punch by Romeo himself. 

“Nothing’s happening over here actually, Shemar. I was having a private conversation with Y/N and I’d appreciate it if you let us get back to it. Thank you.” Matthew’s voice had picked up an edge and his eyes were dark. Like really dark. Although the situation was super uncomfortable and kind of unsettling, considering how feral he looked, you couldn’t help to think about how HOT it was. How hot he was.

“Woah, sorry kid. I didn’t mean to interrupt, just thought I’d introduce myself.”

Seeming to notice his mistakes, Matthew’s eyes quickly returned to their normal color and he stuttered out an apology, with slightly labored breaths.

“No, no I’m sorry man. I didn’t mean to snap like that, just been kind of on edge today”, he said, darting his eyes towards you quickly before redirecting his attention and clearing his throat.

“It’s all good Pretty Ricky, I get like that sometimes too. I’ll catch you guys later. It was nice to meet you Y/N”, he spoke before turning and retreating in the direction of the cast trailers. Shifting your focus back to Matthew, you could tell he was still a bit tense. You gently placed your hand on his shoulder to grab his attention, quietly asking if he was ok.

“Hmm what? Oh, um yeah. Yup. I’m-I’m good. All good. Like I said just a little on edge today. I haven’t had enough coffee”, he hastily responded. Before you could push further, the silence was broken by a shrill voice you were too familiar with, Khalia, unfortunately calling for your assistance at one of the most inopportune times. You turned back to him and gave a sad smile.

“See you around,” you asked, with just a little too much excitement laced in your voice.

“Y-yeah. Of course!” He seemed to have perked up a bit and gave you a wide grin. With a small wave, you were off to do whatever in God’s name the queen wanted from you now.

~~~

The week you were on set was surprisingly going by pretty damn quickly.

As much as you were anxiously awaiting the end so you could be free from Khalia for a bit of time, you couldn’t help but lament the fact that you would have to leave what felt like your second home. You would have to leave Matthew. That’s what hurt most of all. The two of you had become quite close in the short time you had been on set. Well, maybe not close per say, but comfortable? Sure. You guys were comfortable with each other, maybe a little too much on your end. Since that moment with Shemar and his outburst, the tenseness never seemed to dissipate completely. The two of you had shared some quick glances while he was filming a scene or while you were navigating the complex maze that was this sound stage. Whenever the two of you were near each other, he always appeared to go out of his way to get some kind of contact with you, whether it was his shoulder rubbing against yours or his fingers brushing yours as he passed by you. You, still in the mindset that someone as amazing and talented as him would never want anything to do you with you, didn’t really think much of his actions, simply playing them off as accidents and coincidences. 

Although you caught him staring at you on more than one occasion during your time there, you definitely spent the majority of your time ogling the fine specimen. You didn’t understand how a person could be so perfect. Seemingly no flaws. Sure, you had known pretty much every fun fact about the man when you had arrived on set a couple days ago, but now that you had spent some time with him, you were even more enamored. Matthew was an enigma and you wanted him. So fucking bad. Unfortunately, so did basically every other girl on the planet. You really shouldn’t be wasting so much time thinking about him, but at this point you were just in too deep. Watching him do his thing on the sound stage was like watching your own personal exhibition, so much talent pouring out of him he shouldn’t have even been allowed to do what he does. The world would certainly be a lot darker without his geniusness though so you supposed it was ok. As the scene you had been watching came to a close, you decided you really wanted to talk to Matthew again, missing the sound of his velvety voice as he focused on you and only you during the few conversations you’d gotten to have so far. Just as you were about to reach him, though, Khalia appeared out of nowhere directly in front of him with the same look in her eyes she had given him your first day on set. Hunger. You didn’t really know what to do now so you just kind of stood there watching the interaction. The conversation was just out of range, but you could tell she had said something that had made them both laugh. You also watched her place her hands on him in a very flirty way. And much to your dismay, he didn’t seem to be that bothered by it.

You knew that you had absolutely no right to be jealous of her advances, seeing there was nothing between the two of you, but you couldn’t help but feel a bit hurt. You had known all along that he didn’t have those kinds of feelings for you, but the cold, hard truth being presented on a silver platter right in your face sucked. A whole hell of a lot. Deciding to leave the two of them to enjoy their moment, you turned and made your way to the snack table on the opposite side of the room. As you got closer, you noticed Shemar lingering around it, seemingly snacking on something among the array of treats presented on the table.

“Hey. Nice to see you again”, you said with a small smile, alerting him of your presence.

You had gotten a bit closer to him over the last few days, getting to know more about him, rather than just his character. He was a really nice guy. Very charming, much like his TV counterpart. 

“Y/N! Hey! How are you today?”

“I’m ok. Not one of the best, but hey I’m alive I guess”, you said with a sad smile. Worry quickly spreading across his face, he pulled you into a hug, gently caressing your back.

“Hey don’t say that babydoll. It might not be the best of days, but everyday is worth living in my eyes. We’re all so lucky to be given the chance to be here so why not say fuck it and make everyday a party.” You pulled away from him chuckling at his words, feeling slightly better than you had before. You were grateful for Shemar helping you out when you needed a mood boost.

“Thanks Shemar. You sure know how to make a girl feel better.” 

“Anytime baby girl”, he said with a wink, making you giggle again at his silly nicknames and behavior towards you. A little bit more at ease, you let your eyes survey the room real quick, eventually landing on Matthew. A very angry and annoyed looking Matthew. He was staring directly at the two of you, his hands balled into fists at his sides, his breathing heavy, his eyes as dark as could be. Less than a minute later, he turned around and stormed off in the direction of what you assumed was his trailer. Quickly focusing on Shemar again, you excused yourself and then immediately ran off in the direction he had headed just moments before.

You were able to locate the trailer simply labeled “MGG” fairly quickly and you cautiously approached the steps leading up to the entrance. Would he even want to see you? Why were you special enough to even be this close to his trailer? Before you could second guess yourself anymore, you speedily climbed the steps and knocked on the door, an action based solely on the fact he was without a doubt upset about something and apparently it was your fault to some degree.

You heard some rustling behind the door before his voice rang out.

“Who is it?”

Shit. He sounded really upset. Pushing aside the anxiety bubbling in your chest, you decided that you were curious more than anything and wanted to know what you had done to get his panties in such a twist.

“I-It’s Y/N.”

Immediately the door swung open, making you jump slightly. Without saying a word, he grabbed your arm and dragged you over the threshold, handling you like a rag-doll. Once you were inside he released your arm and began pacing around the trailer, breathing pretty heavily. Maybe it was a mistake coming here. You thought you should probably go and leave him alone for a bit so he could cool off.

“I-I shouldn’t have come here. I’ll leave you be”, you sputtered out, quickly making your way towards the exit. However, before you could even reach the door, his deep voice echoed through the trailer.

“Why did you let him touch you like that?”

You froze mid-step, unsure of how to respond. “Huh?” Wow, nice going Y/N. Really scraped the dictionaries for that one.

“Shemar. Why did you let him put his hands on you and touch you like that?” As he spoke his question, he slowly moved towards you, like a predator eyeing its prey. What was he talking about? Why did he care that you and Shemar had shared a brief hug? And most perplexing of all, why in the hell was he looking at you with such fire in his eyes.

“I-I don’t know what you mean Matthew.”

After his name fell from your lips, you saw his mouth twitch as he moved to close the gap between the two of you, leaving just enough space that your breaths intermingled, but no actual physical contact was occuring. 

“You’re mine, Y/N. You. Are. Mine.” What did he just say? Were you imagining this whole situation in some sick dream of yours? Your brain was struggling to catch up.

“What are you even talki-.”

Before you could finish your sentence, Matthew had surged forward, clashing his mouth against yours, hungrily devouring your lips like they were his favorite meal. You moaned at the contact, letting the shock envelope your entire body. He was ravenous, tongue pressing against your lips, begging for entry. Finally processing what the hell was happening, your mouth quickly opened and welcomed his needy tongue, feeling it tangle with yours as he released the most delicious moan you had ever heard in all the years you had been alive. His hands moved frantically, hastily ripping at the clothes covering your body, desperate to feel any part of you that he could. 

You couldn’t even comprehend how this was happening. Matthew wanted you? Not only did he want you, but he was acting on it too. Fuck. He had said you were his. Did he really mean that?

Breaking away from your lips to pull your blouse over your head, you could’ve sworn you heard a growl escape his throat as his eyes hungrily drank in your appearance, left only in your bra and panties. “Fuck, you’re gorgeous. How are you so fucking hot?” Holy shit. The pure lust that dripped in his words made your legs feel like Jell-O, barely keeping it together as he shed his own shirt and began unbuckling his belt. Apparently that was what caused the wire in your brain to snap, your body surging forward to reconnect your lips and rake your nails down his chest.

“Please Matthew”, you whined, not even entirely sure what you wanted him to do. You just needed more.

Groaning at the desperation evident in your voice, he let his hand drift down your body, toying with the waistband of your panties. “Please what? What do you want from me, sweetheart?” His words made you whimper, grasping his hand to try and maneuver it underneath the damp fabric covering the place you needed him most.

“Uh uh uh. I want you to use your words princess. You can do that for me can’t you?”

Nodding your head fervently, you pushed aside any embarrassment you felt and answered almost immediately as the words left his mouth. “I want you to touch me! Please Matthew, I’m begging you!” As soon as you finished your desperate plea, his nimble fingers had ripped your panties down your legs and he was guiding you towards the couch conveniently located nearby. The two of you stumbled onto the cushions, Matthew hovering over you pinning you down, his large erection pressing into your thigh through his pants. You choked on a breath as one of his long, narrow fingers entered you swiftly, pumping in and out of you at a brutal pace, soon followed by two more. You were a whimpering mess as Matthew had his way with you, perfectly curling his fingers to hit your special spot over and over again. You needed him inside of you now or you were gonna explode.

“You’re so wet sweetheart. This all for me”, he questioned cockily, savoring the sounds pouring from your lips, cherishing the way your body writhed underneath his. 

“Yes Matthew! It’s all for you. Only you”, your words were accompanied by a long, drawn out moan. 

“Good girl”, he growled as his fingers picked up their pace, pushing you dangerously close to the edge. Matthew must have picked up on the fact based on the way your muscles were clenching around his digits and the way your breath was becoming more and more labored. 

“That’s it, baby. Come for me, little girl. Come all over my fingers.” His graphic words made your eyes roll back in your head as you felt your orgasm crash through your body, Matthew continuing his ministrations throughout the entirety of it. As you came down from your high and opened your eyes, you were met with the beautiful vision of Matthew sucking your juices off of himself, staring intently at you with lust-filled eyes. “Mmmm, so fucking sweet baby”, he moaned as he licked the last bit away. Realizing you simply couldn’t wait any longer, you grabbed onto his forearm, pulling him to you as close as physically possible. 

“Matthew I need you inside of me right now. Please. Please, I need you.” You felt like you were on the verge of crying, you were so damn desperate for him. You didn’t miss the way his eyes instantly darkened even more after hearing you beg him to fuck you so viscerally. 

“Baby, I really want to feel you bouncing on my cock. Can you do that? Can you ride me like a good girl, sweetheart?”

Not even bothering to answer his questioning, you mustered up all of your strength to push him up and off of you, allowing yourself to straddle him on one of the cushions. You made quick work unzipping his pants and signalling for him to lift up his hips, allowing you to hastily pull down both his slacks and boxers in one go. God, you were so fucking horny and needy for the man in front of you, you felt like you were going insane. Actually, scratch that. You were already long gone. Finally having removed the last barrier between the two of you, his strong hands grabbed your hips and positioned you over his throbbing cock, slowly letting you lower yourself down. Both of you released matching groans at the overwhelming feeling. 

“Fuck, princess. You feel so fucking amazing”, he moaned before gently grasping your hips, encouraging you to start moving. You couldn’t control the string of whimpers that escaped your mouth as you started circling your hips, gradually picking up your pace. It felt so fucking good, incomparible to anything you had ever felt before. As your speed increased and he began thrusting upwards to meet you, his hands reached behind you, finding the clasp of your bra, practically ripping the garment off of your body. Without any barrier blocking your breasts, he sat back and ogled you as they bounced in sync with your rapid movements, eventually needing more and grabbing the pillowy flesh with his wandering hands. The stimulation only made you move faster, desperate for the addicting friction that you could feel radiating throughout your whole being. You felt Matthew’s grip on your hips tighten exponentially, in order to get your undivided attention. 

“I bet you thought you looked real cute flirting with him like that, didn’t you princess”, he sputtered, his voice strained and hoarse. The sound of it made your insides quiver even more.

“I-I wasn’t f-flirting. I w-was just being n-nice”, you stammered, feeling your climax slowly building more and more with each thrust. He growled and immediately picked up the pace, speaking his next words clearly for you to understand. “That’s bullshit baby and you know it. Do you really think he could fuck you like this, sweetheart? Do you think his cock could fill you up this perfectly? Make you feel the way I do?” 

“N-Noooo! No, of course not. I only want you!” You were a moaning, whimpering mess as you gripped his shoulders trying to maintain your balance, his thrusts launching you into a whole other universe. “What was that, little girl? I couldn’t really hear you.”

“Fuck! Matthew! I only want you! There’s no one else!” You couldn’t control yourself any longer. You lost the ability to move as he wrapped his arms around your waist, slamming into you so fucking hard you swore you could see stars. 

“There better fucking not be, little girl. You are mine, sweetheart. All fucking mine. Mine!” His words make the chord in your stomach snap, your climax overtaking your body dangerously fast. “MATTHEW!” Your vision was spotty, muscles clenched incredibly tight, when you felt his cock start to twitch violently inside of you. 

“Fuck! Y/N! Oh my god!” As soon as the words left his mouth, you felt his cum fill you up completely, warmth radiating throughout your body as his dick pulsated inside of you. 

You collapsed against his sweaty frame, holding on for dear life. “Matthew, Matthew, Matthew”, you muttered as you fought to regulate your breathing. Both of you were shaking, thanks to the world-shattering orgasams you had just experienced, his hands gently rubbing your back, soothing you. “Shhhhhh, breathe little girl”, he whispered so warmly it made butterflies bloom in your stomach, a stark contrast to the way he was speaking moments ago. 

Pulling yourself upright, you couldn’t tear your eyes away from his. After a few seconds had passed, a huge grin slowly formed on his beautiful face, letting out a light giggle. “Hey.”

Feeling a smile form on your own face from his silliness, you couldn’t help but fall for him even more. “Hi”, you shyly responded, reaching up to poke the dimple that was visible on his face, giggling when he playfully stuck his tongue out, trying to reach your finger with it. Completely absorbed in the moment, you had forgotten that he was still inside of you and you were probably hurting him, not that he was gonna complain. You slowly lifted yourself off of him, both of you wincing slightly at the sensation. He immediately pulled you back to him afterwards and continued to rub your back like he had before. It was so comforting, you were scared you were gonna fall asleep in his lap, which you pretty quickly concluded wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, noticing the way his eyes seemed to droop as well.

As you felt yourself starting to drift off, you heard his soothing voice near your ear. “I’m really sorry I got so rough Y/N. I didn’t mean to act like that. I just got so jealous seeing you with him and I didn’t know how to control my emotions. I didn’t know how to tell you how I felt.” He sounded genuinely sad when he spoke, the guilt evident in his quiet voice.

“Matthew, baby, don’t be sorry, ok? I really enjoyed every second of it, I promise. As for Shemar...you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I’ve only ever had eyes for you. You’re kind of stuck with me Gube.” You felt the chuckle vibrate through his body at your words and you lazily smiled against his chest.

“I know, sweetheart. I know.” You heard him hesitate and you wondered if he was going to finish his thought, hopefully before you knocked out cold. “Would you-would you maybe want to go out with me this weekend? Like on a-a date? You felt your heart swell in your chest at his question and slowly nodded against him. 

“I would love that, Matthew.”

Cherishing the feeling of holding each other in your arms, the two of you quickly succumbed to the drowsiness, falling into the most comfortable slumber you had ever experienced.

Tag List: @hopebaker​ @pastathighs​ @psychedellic-phase​ @gloryekaterina​ @sleepysnapesnake​ @racharr​ @etherealgubler​ @furiouspartyrebelhoagie​ @andiebeaword​ @liaabsurd​ @cielo1984​ @starkeybaby​ @rainsong01​ @moonlight-jukebox ​ @victomizedbyreginageorge

[thanksjro]

More Than Meets the Eye #22- If You Don’t Love Thunderclash, Get Better Soon I Guess

One last issue before we reach Comic Event Hell.

Time to use a dead man to set up the rest of the nonsense that’s got to happen, because apparently 14 issues of setup, including six issues of literal prelude, wasn’t enough.

The first bit of information we’re presented with is the fact that Chromedome and Swerve are on the opposite sides of the camera-shy scale. I guess that’s bound to happen when your spouse has had his video-cam literally connected to his brain for at least several thousand years.

The art may look really gritty and hardcore here, but this is actually due to a filter Rewind has over all his footage that he’s neglected to take off, because it made all the wartime propaganda he would stuff into people’s heads all the more brutal-looking.

No, this is the style of our artist for this issue, James Raiz, who we’ll be seeing a fair bit of over the next several issues. Raiz has worked on the Transformers franchise over the course of multiple license-holders, as well as contributed to both Marvel and DC comics. He also works in special effects, including matte painting and VFX. That’s just neat.

Anyway, the reason Swerve’s completely frozen in place isn’t because Rewind  switched out his head-mounted camera for a gun that goes off if it hears you make a self-deprecating joke, but rather because he’s conducting interviews with everyone in the main cast. We get all their introductions, Cyclonus makes a statement about his political stances, Drift sounds like he’s high as a kite, First Aid strikes a sassy pose while not being bitter in the slightest, and Ultra Magnus makes a move that would get him murdered on any given film set in the universe.

You do NOT use your bare fucking hand to clean a camera lens, mister. Go get a microfiber cloth and try the fuck again, you complete and utter duffel bag of a creature.

We get a quick cut of the speech Rodimus made back in issue #1, with an angle that implies that Rewind was in the front row of the front row, then cut over to Rodimus asking Rewind to document their Capital-Q Quest. This is where we establish that this film doesn’t only contain footage from Rewind’s personal camera, but also that of the Lost Light’s security system.

Which feels like the sort of access you maybe wouldn’t want to give some nosy little film buff, especially when you have a secret giant serial killing sadist living in your basement like a disappointing adult child.

See? He was given the job to record the adventures of the Lost Light not five minutes ago, and he’s already using his powers for evil. Eavesdropping evil. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, Rodimus, and you just handed it to the guy with a massive Dominus Ambus-shaped chip on his shoulder.

So Rewind’s got permission to film just about whatever he wants, and Rodimus figures it’ll be nonstop action from here to the finish line! Fights! Intrigue! Mild hijinks and peril! Explosions aplomb! Oh man, I can’t wait to see what kinds of crazy shit will happen on this absolute roller coaster of a Quest!

Smashcut to Swerve literally falling asleep in the middle of a conversation. Yeah, as it turns out, no quest, capital Q or not, is nonstop action. Which is good, honestly, because that kind of seems like it would be exhausting after the first week or so.

Swerve, Tailgate, and Rewind are discussing cool alt-modes, which seems like an odd topic, seeing as Tailgate and Swerve have basically the same situation going on there, leaving Rewind alone in the camp of “does not have wheels”.

I worry about you sometimes, Rewind. Internalized Functionism is a very real problem. Uh, well, in your universe anyway. Us humans have to deal with regular ol’ classism and racism.

Rung gets brought up, and it’s revealed that the wheel on his back is almost purely cosmetic; it doesn’t even actually attach to his body. The lads decide that they’ve got nothing better to do, and set up a gentlemen’s wager- first one to figure out Rung’s whole deal gets 100 space-dollars.

Throwing shit at people’s heads will be a major plot point in the climax of this comic series.

Swerve’s go at trying to win the bet involved tossing a grenade at Rung to hit him in the neural cluster, which is rumored to be able to force an involuntary mode change if done correctly. Obviously, it didn’t work this go around. Then our narrative focus switches over to the crew’s hobbies.

You were listening to Prince, weren’t you, Magnus? Not even deep space is safe from the Cease and Desist.

Skids’ hobby is meeting new people, because he suffers from the terrible curse of being so fucking good at everything he tries, he always ends up dropping whatever he picked up, because what’s the point? This acts as a segue into another flashback, to even MORE bullshit that the fellas got roped into on Hedonia.

These are the Stentarians. They’re like the Cybertronians, if they were better in every way.

And by “better”, I, of course, mean “more bloodthirsty, warmongering, and driven enough to make their civil war last about as long as the Jurassic Period”. Also, they’re all combiners by default, and Whirl seems a little TOO into their whole situation. So much so, in fact, that when the Imperial Guard of their race show up to kill them, he decides to do them a solid by single-handedly ending their entire war.

You know, in most cases you’re supposed to show and not tell for visual media. This is way funnier, though, so it can be excused.

We jump back into the interviews, and Rewind’s just asked everyone if they’re happy. This might seem like an odd question, until you remember that everyone on-board this ship has crippling depression and PTSD, and Rewind’s married to one of the saddest motherfuckers to ever exist, so he probably has this question loaded into the proverbial chamber at any given moment. We won’t cover all of the answers here, because they’ll be more poignant to reflect back on later in the comic run, but let’s take a gander at the characters who’ve completed the first leg of their character arcs this season.

Drift, is that perhaps… an honest expression of your inner thought processes happening right there? Has Rewind broken through your carefully crafted persona, if even for just a moment, with his question? Perish the thought!

Because Tailgate outed himself as being baby in issue #21, I have zero doubt he’s not exaggerating here. He was a janitor, then he fell in a hole and became Dirt-Nap Supreme for six million years; even the most boring day on the Lost Light’s got to be better than that.

And it’s nice to see Chromedome on a good day for once. Hopefully he reveled in it while he had the chance, because this interview takes place maybe a couple weeks before he fucks everything up big time and has to blow up his husband with a missile strike.

Getting back to the Mystery of the Rungian Alt-Mode plotline, we see Rung using his backpack as a wheelbarrow- no idea what he’s actually pushing in the damned thing- and wearing the most disgruntled face I’ve seen him pull in a hot minute. Someone yells for him to come down the eerily unlit and sinister-looking hallway, which he does. Rung would not do well in a horror film.

He winds up at Swerve’s, where Tailgate, Swerve, Brainstorm, and someone who is most likely Trailcutter, given the colors, are hanging out in their alt-modes. Tailgate’s ploy to find out Rung’s deal is to do what he does best- lie! They’re having an alt-mode party, and wouldn’t Rung like to join in? There are, of course, logistical issues with being a car in a bar, especially when your drink is on the table and your head is tucked up somewhere in your torso, but never mind all that! Let’s get crazy!

This doesn’t work either. Maybe we should cut out the middle man here and just get Rung drunk enough to agree to a wet alt-mode contest.

No, I don’t have any idea how that would work.

In our next vignette, Rodimus comes into the comms room, Rewind trailing behind him like a grim shadow of death, to see what the hell Blaster wants, other than just the hugest glass of water.

Raiz’s work is very detailed, and you really feel the weight of these giant metal space robots, but everyone looks like they’ve been put through a food dehydrator.

We get a lot of build up to the character who’s about to be introduced, with a common opinion being shared amongst everyone- even Tailgate, who hates successful people like his life depends on it.

Lovely readers, put your hands together for the ideal male partner for Autobots, Decepticons, and Neutrals alike:

A man with so much charisma and charm that only Rodimus could hate him, Thuderclash brings to IDW what everyone wishes Optimus Prime would, making our disappointing space dad even more mediocre by comparison. He fights for justice, and freedom, and the good of the universe- and he does it all while having a chronic medical condition that forces him to stay within a certain distance of his ship that is also a life-support machine, otherwise he will die. Despite his handicaps, Thunderclash seemingly brings to others what they need most, even if they don’t even realize that they needed it in the first place.

He also, in this one scene, appeals to Drift’s religious sensibilities, does a secret best-friend dance with Ratchet (who he helped to pass his medical exams- yes, Ratchet), and congratulates Rodimus on his questing so far.

Thunderclash is one of those characters that everyone in-universe is supposed to love, and I completely buy it- because he’s completely genuine and humble about all of this the entire time.

Compare this to the last time Roberts wrote Thunderclash, in Eugenesis.

Where he was an ex-Decepticon.

And kind of an abrasive asshole.

And then he died.

Y’know, now that I think of it, Eugenesis Thunderclash and MTMTE Ambulon being basically the same character makes a whole lot of sense, even without the horrors of Roberts’ Twitter getting involved.

Thunderclash reveals that he, too, is on a quest to find the Knights of Cybertron, much to Rodimus’ chagrin. But first he needs the Lost Light to break out the jumper cables, and then for his second in command to stop threatening his life.

Turns out, not everyone is as obvious as the Cybertronians with their naming conventions. Whirl assassinated the wrong folks; I’m sure the Galactic Council is utterly thrilled. Paddox wants to steal the quantum engine technology for the good of his people, so they can kick the ass of the up-and-coming Terradore leader.

Completely unaware of the situation unfolding here in the lab, Swerve is directing Rung towards the warm, loving aura of Thunderclash for another go at winning the gentlemen’s wager- through the power of lying about having friends, Swerve’s “agreed” to get Rung Thunderclash’s autograph, in exchange for getting to check that Rung’s transformation cog is still working. Then they bump into the nightmare currently unfolding. My, whoever will save us from this dreaded menace, who holds a gun to the head of the Autobots’ greatest warrior, confidant, friend, and perhaps even lover?

How about a bartender and a giant vape pen?

Okay, so Rung doesn’t actually turn into a vape. It turns out that the Mystery of the Rungian Alt-Mode is also a mystery to the man himself. Because Rung is old as shit, the Functionists got to see this bullshit for themselves, and ended up testing him over and over and over trying to figure it out, lest he prove to be a flaw in their fascist ideologies. Fun fact: fascists HATE it when people they’re trying to oppress don’t play to their expectations.

The Functionists were the ones who gave Rung his little wheelie backpack, to make him at least appear useful. This sort of treatment tends to warp one’s head a bit, which would explain why he’s bothered to keep it for so long- internalized functionism’s a real bitch.

At least he’s not giving teenagers nicotine addictions under the guise of being somewhat better than cigarettes.

Back with Rodimus and Cybertron’s Autobot of the Year for 40,000 consecutive years, we get the unfortunate news that jump-starting Thunderclash’s ship is going to make the Quest go a bit slower for the Lost Light, much to Rodimus’ horror, though he does his best to put on a brave face; after all, that’s what heroes do, isn’t it?

It’s at this point that it’s revealed that “Little Victories” was being screened to all the Circle of Light members who didn’t get murdered or turned into Legislators on Luna 1, and man are these guys pissy. What was meant to be a recruitment video turned out to do just the opposite, because none of these guys want anything to do with what the Lost Light’s got going on.

Too bad Rewind didn’t have time for a cleaner cut for showing. Maybe they could have at least snagged a couple of these guys to tag along.

As all of the Circle of Light leave the theatre to go call everyone’s favorite Autobot to see if he needs a more crew members, the film plays on behind Skids, back to the interviews, as everyone promises more adventures just waiting on the horizon.

You’re not even on this trip anymore, you dork.

Chromedome gives us the title drop for the movie and issue, and we cut to Rewind organizing a group photo of all the interviewees.

And then Rewind died horribly like a week later. Thus ends season one of More Than Meets the Eye!

While I’m here, I’d like to take the time to cover a little bit of cut content from this issue, a scene between Drift and Ratchet.

Drift, during his interview, recalls the time that Ratchet called him into his office for a very serious discussion about his/Pharma’s hands.

Yeah, turns out they’re haunted.

Well, no, not really, because this is a prank. But Drift doesn’t know that yet.

Ratchet demonstrates this hand-haunting by punching Drift in the face, as he screams damnation at Pharma’s ghost. Drift, because he is a spiritual man, knows exactly what to do to deal with this possession; he draws his sword and chops Ratchet’s hands off, then throws them out the airlock.

This, too, is a prank, not that Ratchet knows it right away, yelling at Drift that he’s crippled him.

Clearly, these two belong together.

This bit of cut script was lucky enough to have gotten drawn by the colorist for MTMTE Season 1, Josh Burcham. Burcham’s line art is iconic- you won’t mistake him for anyone else. It’s rough and angular, and honestly just very charming. I’m a sucker for this sort of style. If you want to see his adaptation of this chunk of script- and trust me, you do- the link’s right here:

https://dcjosh.tumblr.com/post/107665292031/its-done-the-mtmte-22-deleted-scene-in-all-its

[shuahoonie]

you [tom holland] - seven.

PAIRING: tom holland x female!celebrity!reader

SUMMARY: ah, to be young and in love. it sounds great if only you and tom were actually dating out of pure love and not for the sheer reputation of your careers. it also should be great if you two actually got along, but life isn’t that easy.

WARNINGS: mostly swearing! alcohol consumption! a whole lotta fluff on this one yall. it’s haters to lovers / fake dating au so take that information as you wish! also, their relationship is improving yall 🤧

WORD COUNT: 5.2k

SONG INSPO: harry styles - to be so lonely 

A/N: hiya babes, again, its day n of quarantine. i feel awful that i’ve gone this long without an update. would totally understand that you had to reread this whole series to find out what the hell is going on lmao. also, quarantine life really ruined my general schedule like now, i start my days at 3 pm and it ends at 7 am. obviously, i’m not doing well. 

also, everytime i try to write it’s always like 4 am so there’s prob a lot of errors on this. i also had the initial plan to cut this chapter in two parts but figured you guys deserve this bc i’ve been gone for way too long.  [it was way past 6 am when i finished this]

hope you guys are safe. spam my inbox, tell me what you’ve been up to this quarantine! stay at home and wash those hands!!!!! sending all my love ♡

UPDATES EVERY SATURDAY 11 PM CST WHENEVER I CAN  [I MEAN WE’RE IN LOCKDOWN. PLS PESTER ME TO UPDATE SO I CAN BE PRODUCTIVE]

gif credits: @tomhollandcouk

vanessa’s masterlist | preview | one | two | three | four | five | six | eight | eight.5 [interview excerpt] 

You took a look at the girls and sure enough, they were watching the two of you and were whispering amongst themselves. You didn’t know who they were so you were assuming they were on Josh’s guests.

You weren’t one to start fights however, you were extremely petty though. It’s a habit you’re trying to get rid of. “Hey, Tom?”

He hummed in response. “Do you want to finally get them off your back?” You asked him. He stared at you for a moment before nodding.

“I’m going to do something but promise me you’ll forget it as soon as it’s done.” You disclosed, not even knowing why you’re actually going to do it.

“Okay...” You knew he was getting curious. “What-”

You grabbed the side of his face and kissed the corner of his lips. To say that both of you were surprised was an understatement.

Your lips lingered on the corner of his. As soon as you saw the girls with their backs turned against you two, you pulled away.

You could easily see Tom’s ears turn red. You weren’t sure why, but you were too distracted by the fact that you actually did that.

You also felt yourself getting hot. You were sure that your face is burning, however, you were unsure of the fact that maybe it’s burning because of the stunt you just pulled or because of the alcohol in your system.

“It’s definitely the alcohol,” you murmured.

“Sorry, you were saying something?”

Seemingly lost for words and embarrassed, you told Tom “I need another drink.”

If anyone asked you what just happened, you probably won’t have an answer as you were confused as well. That’s why you were practically running to the open bar, leaving Tom on the dance floor, with the look of bewilderment painted on his face.

“Tom!”

He turned his head around, looking for who could have possibly called his name. Upon seeing who it was, he greeted her with a huge smile on his face. “Liv, congratulations! It was a wonderful ceremony.” He said genuinely.

“Aw,” Olivia cooed in delight. “Thanks, Tom! We’re happy you could make it.” She beamed.

“Would’ve never missed it,” Tom smiled.

“Oh, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but have you seen Y/N?” Olivia asked, looking around.

He felt himself turn red, which Olivia noticed but chose not to point it out. “She told me she was getting herself a drink...”

“That bitch never learns,” Olivia murmured to herself. “Tom, can you do me a favour? Can you please keep an eye out for her? She tends to drink a lot at weddings and-”

All of Veronica’s words came flooding back to Tom, knowing that he was supposed to stop Y/N from grabbing another glass. “Right, of course.”

“She doesn’t have a problem!” Olivia quickly disclosed. “It’s just- She tends to do a lot of weird shit while drunk.” She chuckled. “I mean look at where you two are now. None of this would’ a happened if- Oh, I’m sorry.”

“S’okay, Liv. I know.” Tom shook his head, politely dismissing Olivia. “Uh, Liv, if you don’t mind, I’m going to look for-”

“Oh, no, you’re all good.” Olivia smiled. “I have to meet with Josh in just a few minutes anyway.”

Tom congratulated Olivia again for the beautiful ceremony before he left. As Tom was looking for Y/N, he found you leaned against the bar with a drink in one hand and a phone on her other.

“Y/N.” Tom called, putting his hand on your shoulder.

“Holy fuck-” You almost spat your drink. “Jesus Christ, Tom, you fucking scared me.”

Tom chuckled. “’m sorry, darling.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to pick you up,” Tom said as he saw the drink on your hand and grabbed it “and to stop you from drinking.”

You furrowed your brows at him, “Why?”

For a moment, you could’ve sworn you saw Tom shift his eyes over at your lips. That’s when you realized that you were pouting and quickly pressed your lips together.

“’cause you’ve had enough drinks for tonight,” Tom simply stated. “Why don’t I take you back to your hotel?” He offered.

“I’m good, Tom.” You said “People aren’t looking, you can quit acting like you care now.”

Tom chose to ignore the last part and pulled out his phone. “I’m texting Veronica that we’re leaving.”

“Seriously, Tom, just let me be.”

“Y/N, I’m just looking out for you. You’ve had a couple of drinks already and apparently, Zoë needs you to be up and well tomorrow morning.” Tom said, the frustration was getting through him.

“Tom-”

“I’m serious, Y/N. I will carry you to my car if I have to.”

All you could do was glare at him.

“You’ve been frowning for 10 minutes now, your face is going to get tired, darling.” Tom commented as he stole a quick look at you, only to find you with the look of annoyance plastered all over your face and your arms crossed.

“I can’t believe you actually carried me! It was so embarrassing, you dickhead.” You grumbled, feeling shy since quite a few people did see his stunt and found it absolutely adorable.

“I did say that I was serious,” He pointed out as he did a shoulder-check before making a turn.

“Don’t even know why you’re driving me back to the hotel. I could’ve called someone, ‘ya know?” You were coming up with ways as to how you can avoid spending time with Tom, which was undeniably impossible since he is your boyfriend after all.

“Nonsense,” Tom pulled over at the front of the hotel, stepped out of the vehicle to give his keys to the valet and opened your door. “I would rather drive you back and know that you’re safe.” He said as he offered his hand for you to take.

You were reluctant at first, however, you still took his hand. He was being nice and you had to respect that.

Actually, you did notice that Tom was being nice within the past few weeks that you’ve started to date. Him becoming genuinely nice was starting to become a problem, especially when you’re involved with a lot of fake dating stunts.

It pulled your heartstrings in all kinds of different directions and you know it’s wrong, which is why you’re trying your best to put those feelings aside.

“Thanks Tom, I think I can handle myself from here.” You said as you carefully pulled your hand from Tom’s.

He frowned, “I have to take you up to your room, darling. Don’t you know that there are endless possibilities of what can happen to you just from the walk from the lobby to your room? Especially the lifts.”

You stared at him for a moment. “Well, I wouldn’t say I’m that paranoid but knowing you would never budge, then I guess you can walk me up to my room.” You said, not really going to fight him off. You already fought that battle earlier and you were left embarrassingly defeated.

The walk to the room was quiet, which was exactly what you needed. You were exhausted from today’s events, not to mention that you also had to wake up extremely early to get ready for your hair and makeup.

God, I can’t wait to take all of these off, You thought to yourself.

After what seemed like forever of looking for your keycard, you finally got to open your door. You turned to Tom who was leaning against the doorframe. He had the sleeves of his white button-ups rolled up to his elbows and he had a small smile plastered on his face, even though his eyes were nearly hooded from what seemed to be an exhausting day as well for him.

“Thanks again, Tommy,” you said softly. “Today must’ve been extremely exhausting for you.” You were starting to feel guilty as you felt like you made him jump through hoops just to take care of you when he had no obligation to do so.

“S’alright, darling.” He said before letting out a yawn. “Well, I best be off then. Good night, my darling.”

Tom had a couple of steps in before you shouted for his name, causing him to halt in the middle of the hallway. He turned to look at you, wondering why you called him.

“Do you wanna stay for a while? You must be exhausted and I don’t think I can live with myself if I let you drive whilst so.” You asked shyly. You weren’t heartless. You knew how to appreciate people’s efforts and right now, you had to swallow that pride of yours to show that you were thankful for Tom and his efforts.

Tom had to make sure that he heard you correctly. After all, you were the same girl who was reluctant to spend time with him for most of the time.

He had a loopy grin painted on his face. You weren’t sure whether it was meant to tease you or it’s because he’s getting sleepy, either way, it was enough to make you roll your eyes at him.

“Why are you smiling like that? Just-” You pinched the bridge of your nose, not knowing that it was possible to feel both annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. “Just stay with me for a bit so you can rest.” You mumbled the last part.

“Are you sure?” He asked for clarification. “Think I can drive for at least 30 minutes more-”

“Tom, just get in here with me.” You said as you took a hold of his hand and pulled him inside your hotel room. “If you think I’ll let you drive for half an hour when you’re nearly about to pass out then you’re dead wrong.” You pointed out as you closed the door.

“Are you getting soft on me now, Y/N?” He teased with a playful smirk on his face.

“No,” You denied, drawling out the ‘o’ as you kicked off your heels and pushed them to a side. “It’s called showing gratitude for being there for me.” You said, trying to sound casual as possible.

“Well,” Tom propped off his shoes and made his way to the bed “I like this side of you, darling.” He grinned.

You gave him a sarcastic smile before you turned your back and grabbed some change of clothes from your suitcase.

As you were in the bathroom to get yourself changed and try to get out of the bridesmaid dress, you’ve come across a tiny problem.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” You hissed at yourself as you tried to unzip the back of your dress, failing miserably. “I have already prepped myself for the idea that I would be in the comfort of my sweatshirt.” You said to the mirror, not knowing where to pour the frustration running through you.

You opened the door slightly and found Tom who was sitting on the bed comfortably, his feet propped over the tower of pillows and his back rested on the bed frame.

“Tom?” He looked up from his phone to find where you called him from and when he saw you peering from the bathroom, he had his eyebrow raised. “Can you help me unzip my dress please?” You asked in a quiet voice.

“Sorry, what was that darling?” He asked and when you tried to repeat it again, not changing the volume of your voice. “Y/N, you have to speak up. Can’t hear you from here, darling.”

You sighed and opened the door wider, “Tom, can you unzip my dress?” You practically yelled. “-please.” you added awkwardly.

Tom blinked a couple of times before scrambling his way to the bathroom, muttering soft “yeah”s along the way.

As soon as he reached the bathroom frame, you quickly turned around so you could get this thing over with. Tom moved your hair to the side before finding the zipper of your dress. As he carefully unzipped your dress, you could feel the slightest touch of his fingertips grazing on your skin.

The trails of his touch sent you into shivers. God, am I that touch-starved? You thought. For you, the process was excruciatingly long. In reality? It probably only took like 30 seconds or less.

Shaking it all off, you quickly said your thanks and practically slammed the door on his face.

God, if you’re listening, I know I’m a handful but dying from embarrassment isn’t how I saw myself passing, You practically yelled to your thoughts.

After giving yourself a couple of minutes to change into your oversized sweatshirt and some sleeping shorts and also giving yourself to calm down, you grabbed your makeup wipes and made your way to the bed.

You tried your best to keep your cool and act as if nothing had happened. Act like you didn’t want the ground to swallow you whole.

You and Tom were sitting in silence: him scrolling on his phone and you trying to remove your makeup. The keyword was trying as you barely had any energy left to do anything and removing your makeup and fixing your hair felt like absolute chores.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” You asked, turning to Tom as you continued wiping your makeup off.

“Sure, whatcha got in mind?” He asked, putting his phone down and passing you the remote.

You hummed, waiting for the TV to finish loading the selections that they have on demand. “Ooh, they have Hereditary. I’ve been wanting to see the film for a while and I heard good things about the film.”

“Isn’t that a horror film?” He asked and you nodded. You could see that he was trying his hardest to assess whether he agrees with the film or not.

Of course, being the annoying person that you are, you teased Tom. “Aw, are you scared Tommy?” You cooed.

He rolled his eyes and denied your accusation. “’m not scared.”

“It’s settled then,” You grinned. “We’re watching Hereditary.”

As you were at least twenty minutes into the film, you took a quick look at Tom who was evidently engrossed with the film. You scooted a bit closer to him which he failed to notice, bringing a devilish smirk on your face. You slowly leaned in, just enough for your breath to hit his skin, and whispered “Tom” in an attempt to scare the poor guy.

Your tiny prank worked considering he practically jumped, almost making him fall off the bed. You, on the other hand, couldn’t stop laughing. “That was not funny, Y/N.” He said as he returned back to his spot, only this time, he had his head resting on the bed frame while his back was supported with the pillows.

“I beg to differ,” You said teasingly “Do you want to get room service? I’m kind of hungry.”

He just shrugged, saying that it doesn’t matter whether you want to or not. However, you were hungry and you’re not about to carry on watching the film with an empty stomach.

You quietly ordered room service as Tom was busy watching the film. He looked adorable, if you were being honest. He was hugging one of the pillows and used the same pillow to rest his chin on.

You were debating whether to wait for the food to arrive or fix your hair. Your hair was styled in a half-up braid, tiny flowers delicately placed within the braid, while the ends of your hair were curled. The hairstylist took a significantly huge amount of time to style everyone’s hair which is why you had to wake up at the crack of dawn. No wonder you were exhausted.

You chose to wait for the food instead and settled next to Tom. You two were clearly immersed with the film and you both flinched at the sound of the knock on the door as the scene of Charlie’s head rolls and turns into a ball pops up on the screen.

“Jesus christ,” You swore under your breath as you left the bed to go answer the door.

“Aw, are you scared, Y/N?” He mocked, which you rolled your eyes in response.

“Shut up, Holland. I’m not the only one who’s scared here.” You retorted.

You opened the door and thanked the staff that brought your room service, not forgetting to hand them a tip.

“I ordered strawberry and banana pancakes,” You told Tom with a childish smile.

“It’s midnight and you ordered pancakes?” He asked with an amused smile.

“I was craving pancakes,” You pouted. “We can share, you know? You didn’t tell me what you wanted so I just ordered food for myself.”

“S’alright, darling.” He answered “Don’t worry about it.”

“We can totally share, Tommy. I didn’t expect they’d give me this much so I won’t be able to finish this by myself.” You said as you showed him the huge stack of pancakes.

He just laughed and nodded, giving in because you weren’t going to let him just watch while you ate.

“Oooh, I also ordered tea because I remember that you like tea.”

He hummed as he approached you by the table. You were setting up the pancakes and tea that you ordered. “You remember, huh,” Tom mumbled softly as he watched you carefully set the teapot down.

“’course, I do.” You answered without hesitation. “You practically shunned me for drinking coffee that one time when you visited me on set.”

“Darling, you were on your third cup.”

“So? I needed caffeine.”

“If you needed caffeine, you could’ve easily had tea instead of your third cup.” Tom pointed out as he poured tea on his cup.

“Tea is for the weak,” You mumbled which earned a dramatic gasp from Tom.

“Take it back,” He said in disbelief.

“Tea is for the weak,” You repeated firmly just so you could annoy him even more, a smirk plastered on your face.

Tom pulled you in closer to him and started to tickle your waist, “I won’t stop till you take back what you said, Y/N”

You were squirming away from him, “Tom, stop,” you yelled in between giggles. “I might drop my pancakes, please.” You were trying your best not to tilt the plate and drop your food.

“Not hearing the magic words, Y/N” Tom teased in a sing-song voice.

“Okay, fine!” You gave in, laughing. “I take it back. Tea is great.”

“It is, innit?” He sighed in agreement, making you shake your head in amusement. “Don’t worry, darling, I’ll make you a great cup of tea.”

You started taking a few bites of your pancake before you sat on the edge of the bed, bringing your plate with you and had your complete focus on the screen. You and Tom were still watching Hereditary and you intend to finish the  film, even if the film is starting to creep up on you.

Tom sat beside you, “How can you eat and watch this?” He asked.

You just shrugged. “I’m hungry, nothing can stop that.” You took another bite before you offered Tom the pancakes. “Do you want some?”

“Give me a bite,” He opened his mouth in response, leaning closer to you.

“Do it yourself, you big baby.” You laughed, almost handing him the plate before you realized, “Oh, I don’t think they gave us spare utensils though.”

“I can use yours, I don’t mind.”

You offered him your plate but Tom, instead of grabbing the plate, insisted on opening his mouth, insistently asking you to feed him. “Tommy, why are you acting like an actual child?!” You were joking of course, however, you can’t deny that this whole new dynamic that you two were having was refreshing to the eyes.

“C’mon, darling. Just give it” He replied and had his mouth open once again. “I’ll take the flowers and pins off your hair while you eat-”

“Alright, fair enough.” You agreed since you were getting the higher end of the deal. With the amount of hair pins on your hair? You were hitting the jackpot.

“I’ll do it if you also feed me.” Tom added.

“Eh, whatever,” You shrugged and took another bite of your pancake.

Tom stood on top of the bed so he could sit behind you, definitely on board with helping you with your hair. He sat behind you with his legs crossed, setting a comfortable position for him.

You felt the slight touch of his fingers graze on your neck, as he brought all of the hair to your back. As he ran his fingers softly through the ends of your hair, it was enough to make you yawn. You love it when someone plays with your hair, which perfectly explains why you like going to the hairdressers.

Trying to fight off the drowsiness that was slowly taking over you, you figured you’d cut a piece off of your pancake and feed it to Tom. You sliced a piece off with your fork and hovered it over your shoulder.

Soon enough, Tom generously took the bite and carried on with removing the pins and flowers that were carefully placed on your hair.

The process was going on for a couple of minutes now: you watching and feeding Tom with your shared pancakes, and Tom willingly taking out the pins out of your hair.

It also wasn’t long when another jumpscare appeared on screen, making you jump subtly. Maybe it wasn’t subtle as you thought, since Tom was snickering behind you.

“What are you laughing at? Maybe you insisted on helping me with my hair so you can hide behind me because you’re scared too.” You pointed out, being petty and all.

“Am not,” He grumbled, slightly offended. “Maybe I do wanna help.” He then outstretched his legs, saying that he can feel his leg getting numb.

You started to feel bad, since he didn’t have any obligation to do any of it. “Tommy, it’s okay. You can stop now.” You said, twisting your body so you can take a look at him.

“What? No, you’re fine, my darling.” He said turning your body upright, making you face the television again. “S’alright, you’re alright.” He muttered softly and went back to your hair.

You mumbled a soft ‘okay,’ too shy to say something else. You kept taking turns with feeding Tom the pancakes and taking a few bites yourself. You weren’t gonna lie and tell people that this, this, time with Tom was suffocating because it’s not.

This was the first time you ever felt truly comfortable with him. It truly felt like you were spending time with someone you loved. However, that idea itself terrifies you. The idea made you feel like you were walking on thin ice and you know you’re bound to sink anytime soon.

“Tom, here, take the last bite.”

Tom gratefully took the last bite and said, “Thanks, darling. Now put that plate on the table so we can prop ourselves properly on the bed.”

You obliged and as you did, you heard Tom dusting off the bed. Walking back, you saw him look so restricted with his slacks and button ups made you feel bad. He also looked so exhausted which, obviously, made you feel even more bad.  “Tom, why don’t you just spend the night here?”

“I beg your pardon,” Tom cleared his throat. “Did you just suggest that I should spend the night here?”

“Y-yeah, I mean...” You trailed off. “You look exhausted and it would probably make me worry less if you did stay.”

“If it’s alright with you, then I wouldn’t mind.” He said softly, smiling.

You felt your cheeks burning and you really had to act fast. You remembered you wore your sweatpants earlier, as you were getting your hair and makeup done, and figured maybe Tom could fit in it.

“I’ve already worn this earlier but only while I was getting my makeup and hair done.” You pulled your black sweats out of your suitcase and offered it to Tom. “I’m not sure if it fits but it’s better than sleeping with slacks on right?”

“Are you trying to see me naked?” Tom smirked.

“W-what? No, you shithead.” You stammered. “I’m trying to make you feel comfortable. Also, if you are wearing nothing underneath then maybe keep the pants on and reevaluate why you went to a wedding without underwear?!” You popped off.

“Relax, Y/N, I was kidding.” He laughed, visibly amused at the look of distress on your face. “I’ll try it on. Thank you.”

Tom stood up and began unbuckling his belt. He was about to take his pants off when he gave you a teasing smile, in which you realized that you were staring. You turned around, absolutely embarrassed, and head soft chuckles from Tom.

“Okay, I’m decent.” Tom yelled, which you took as a proper signal and turned around, only to find your sweatpants fit snugly on Tom. “It’s a bit snug, but I think I’ll manage.” He commented as he also began unbuttoning his shirt.

You weren’t going to lie and tell people that you think that Tom isn’t fit. Because he is. He is very fit. His fans know that, you know that, everyone knows that. So, would they blame you if you stared at his fit body, absolutely flustered? Of course not, because they know.

However, what they don’t know is how hard you’re trying your hardest not to stare because, you of all people, know how you don’t like when people stare at your body.

“So, whaddaya think?” He turned around and lifted his bum, asking jokingly: “Too much?”

“Eh, it could be better.” You said, playing along.

“Oh c’mon,” He groaned in exaggeration, “People think I have a great arse.” Tom pouted while he returned to his position. This time he climbed up the bed, resting his back against the headboard, and had his legs spread.

“You know what? They’re right,” You said as you climbed up the bed as well and sat between his legs again. “You do have a fabulous ass.”

“Now, you’re just saying that to flatter me so I can continue removing pins from your hair.” He mumbled softly, feeling the return of his fingers back on your hair.

“Yeah,” you sighed in content. “I’m not letting you go until every hairpin is gone, babe.” You replied, not even thinking about what you were saying. Your eyes widened. Babe? You called him babe? Bitch, you’re losing it.

You heard Tom chuckle, “Oh, so I’m “babe” now, huh?” He teased.

“That wasn’t me, that was the exhaustion talking.” You mumbled shyly, a poor attempt to mask up an excuse.

“Right,” He drawled, obviously aware that you were just making up an excuse for this dubious slip up. “S’okay though, I liked it.” He whispered on your right ear, making you squirm as you found it ticklish.

“Why-” You whipped your head back to face him, “Why would you do that, I’m ticklish, Tom”

“’m sorry, I didn’t know.” Tom laughed, “Can you please call me “babe” again?”

“No.” You replied and just heard him let out an exaggerated sigh.

You two were busy bickering and being distracted by each other, that you didn’t know that the scene you two were watching was the last scene of the film.

“Huh,” You huffed. “Wasn’t expecting that ending.”

“What’s with all the butts?” He pondered out loud.

“I don’t know but I want that image out of my head. Do you have any movie suggestions because I know you don’t like horror.” You asked Tom as you scrolled through the movie selections once again.

Tom peered from behind you and rested his chin on your shoulder, “Oh, have you seen Coco?” He asked in suggestion, seeing the movie from the list.

“The Pixar movie?” You asked and he nodded. “Nope, I haven’t yet.”

“We should watch it then,” Tom said “It’s a great movie. I was in bits when I saw it and I was on the plane then.”

“Is it that sad?” You gasped as you clicked on the movie, waiting for the screen to finish loading.

“Oh, I was full on sobbing, darling.” He confessed, his chin still resting on your shoulder.

As soon as the screen finished loading, you hit ‘play’ and said, “Well, I’m about to let a movie ruin me then.”

You were right. The movie already ruined you and you two were only half-way through. Tom had finished removing all the pins and flowers from your hair five minutes after the movie started, so he had the chance to watch the film properly.

Tom is now lying down comfortably, though he was elevated enough to watch the movie properly. You, on the other hand, are cuddling Tom. You had your head rested on his chest while he had his arm around you, his chin merely touching the top of your head.

How he managed to trick you into this you ask?

“Darling, I think you should cuddle me.” Tom requested as he ran his fingers through your hair one last time. He just finished removing all of the hairpins that managed to cause you pain and suffering all day.

“Why?” You asked appalled, not meaning to ask it with such tone.

“Because I’m shirtless and I’m cold.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have removed your shirt?”

“But it’s uncomfortable.”

“I don’t care”

“Okay, then I’ll just drive back to my hotel then, even though I’m pretty exhausted. I’m sure nothing bad will happen.” Tom sighed dramatically.

“God, you really are an actor, huh.” You snorted. “Fine, I’ll do it. I used to cuddle my friends anyway.”

“Are you friend zoning me?” He gasped, as he laid down.

“You are despicable, Holland.”

As you were half-way through the film, you can’t even remember how much you’ve cried already. You could hear the soft sniffles from the two of you as the movie progressed.

Your sniffles turned into full-on sobs when Héctor’s scene came on screen. He was singing to Chicharrón as a final ode before he passed on with no one from his family that were able to remember him.

“What the fuck is this film,” You commented in between sobs. “Why are they trying to ruin me like this?”

Tom rubbed your arm back and forth on, trying to comfort you. You were going through your packets of kleenex at rapid speed, as did Tom. You weren’t expecting to cry this much but here you are.

Tom wasn’t kidding when he said he was in bits when he saw this film.

“Tom, do you think they’ll room service us some Kleenex if we asked?” You asked him honestly, tears still spilling from your eyes. You knew your nose was red too because it started to hurt as you were continuously wiping it.

Tom laughed softly, crying too “’m not sure, darling.”

You lifted your head to take a good look at Tom, finding his eyes bloodshot red from crying and tear marks still visible from his face.

You used your thumb to wipe the tears from his face, making him laugh. “Why are you crying this much? I thought you’ve already seen the film?”

He lifted his shoulder in a half shrug, “’m not too sure. I didn’t expect I’d cry this much too.” He managed to chuckle.

“We really need to call room service for some Kleenex, Tommy.” You sniffled.

quick side note: i actually saw coco for the first time [as i wanted to stay true to what i was writing] and i was a mess. i wasn’t lying when i wrote whatever the reader went thru bc same. 

TAGLIST: 

@thomasthetankson @autty0314 @marvelous-tswiftfan @averyfosterthoughts @theolwebshooter​ @jackiehollanderr​ @sltwins​ @herondalescecilys​ @notjustpenandpaper​ @ihopethatwemeetinanotherlife​ @gothicwidowsworld​ @heartofholland​ @stxfxniexreads @peruvian-bae​ @hollands-osterfield​ @thenoddingbunny-blog​ @galacticstxrdust​ @sweartomendes​ @itsjstz​ @muade-mua-de​ @runway-to-my-aid​ @snowxbarryxendgame​ @cxlpxrnia​ @notasofti​

CAN’T TAG:

@sectusempried

[fanfictiondreamscape]

Where the Hell am I? (pt. 1)

Title: Where the Hell am I? (pt. 1) 

Genre: comedy, lil floofy (if you squint, I promise), and a lil dramatic - mostly comedic, though. 

Pairing: Aizawa Shota x Reader

Notes: This is, yet again, an idea that was pitched to me by one of my friends over Snapchat. I did take some liberties, contrary to their idea, but I read it and I just HAD to do it. 

Frankly, it made me so happy! I thought that I’d split this, maybe not, but if you want another character (or characters) for this prompt - please let me know!

Some warnings, though; there will be plenty of swearing, so proceed with caution! The reader is also aged up, 21+ purely for the comfort of the writer. I imagine them to be around 24-25, but go about it however you like! 

Below the cut! 

“You really need to stop watching that childish garbage, y’know. You’re too old for that.”

“Grow up already! People your age don’t watch shit like that!” 

“None of that will help you get by in life; stop watching that and get your life together already!”

AKA, things I, (Y/n) (L/n) hear on a daily basis. 

Hello, dear reader! I’m (Y/n), as you’ve already presumed, and according to my family and friends, I waste my time watching what they call ‘immature junk’. I like to call it anime, but whatever floats their boat. 

I have graduated from college, but I still live with a couple of roommates. My diploma has been sitting on the stack of boxes in the corner of my junk, and no matter how hard I’ve tried, the degree has never seemed to win over anybody in the field.

I’ve struggled with a job hunt for a while now, and I’m getting tired of trying to find something that can tie me over for a little while. I know that the job wouldn’t last, something that has followed me around for the longest time no matter how well I completed any given tasks, but I need something to pitch to the split rent. 

I like to think that my roommates haven’t thought of kicking me to the curb as well, but frankly, they’ve probably found a way to do that or leave my ass sat on the empty apartment floor. Whatever the case, things haven’t been working out well for me at all. 

I’ve been broke on and off as of late, and the only things I have managed to keep consistent was my laptop ownership, my phone ownership, and my clothing and personal items. I’ve been making sure that I have cut back on using many things, but it was starting to bite me now. 

Today, of all days, was the one day that everything was seemingly coming to a head. My roommates were both at each other’s throats and took their frustration out on me (for no reason, honestly - I had already paid my portion of the utilities for the the month and had stayed quiet), my mom had just been admitted to the hospital, and my sibling has been taunting me from her fancy-schmancy upscale home by calling me a loser, deadbeat, etc. - all in all, a shitty day. 

Normally, things like this wouldn’t bother me that much (aside from the pandemic confirmation), but this has been a long time coming and I was at my breaking point. 

That night, I had just let everything be. Not a good thing considering the note that they were left on, but I can’t deal with the presence of people that are immature assholes that haven’t been taught to face your issues head-first, and I am too tired to put up with it anymore. 

I grabbed my laptop and opened up my Funimation account. If I could trust no one in the physical world, then I could trust someone in the fictional world instead. 

I had scrolled through, but when I saw that I had watched everything I planned to, I made the final decision to rewatch one - that anime being Boku No Hero Academia, I was pretty content to watch these teenagers grow in a way that I was unable to - nostalgic value in the anime can be spotted, but you have to look closely. 

The opening narration by Deku had started, and as the episodes continued, I got tired. I don’t remember when this happened, but I think I actually fell asleep around episode 5. No matter, things started to blur and I slept. 

...

Everything felt warm and windy, my clothes were brushing against my hands, and I felt extremely groggy. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Well, except for the fact that I felt like I was sleeping on a literal rock, and it was seemingly moving. 

The rocking of whatever it was I was laying on was what woke me up completely, all the sleep forgotten in favor of figuring out what the object was. Looking down, it seemed to be a sheet of metal, and my god - did it stink. ‘Am I laying down in a dumpster?’

After looking down, I did indeed find out that I was sleeping near one. Or in one. Whatever fits, I guess. 

Everything about this situation seemed like I had, somehow, fallen into a blackout drunk stupor. The likelihood of that happening, though, is very low - I have actively avoided any alcohol intake following my 21st birthday. And I had apparently decided to become an emotional drunk when I did reach that point, so that was even more unlikely. 

With that knowledge, this seemed especially fishy. I had to get to the bottom of it. 

I had slipped out of the area slowly, making sure to not accidentally cut my leg or arm on a raw metallic edge, and tread down the alley that I had been sleeping in. 

I didn’t recognize the buildings around me, everything seemed to be a lot more colorful and definitely an extremely far departure from the decrepit, run-down shithole that I had to call a ‘house’. The sky was also so much bluer than what I was used to. 

My parents and other family lived in better areas than I did, but that sky wasn’t what got me - it was the commotion that was coming from around the corner. The sound was so familiar, and I just couldn’t help but assume something crazy: did I land in the world of My Hero? 

‘No, no, no - that’s not possible. That can’t be possible. Your roommates have just lost their shit and threw you out on the street.’ That had to be it, it had to be. There was no other possible situation, though they would have just thrown my ass to the curb and not a dumpster in a generally clean city. 

Yeah, they couldn’t have done that. Or, maybe they did want to kick me out but realized that throwing me out in the dumpster would warrant some legal claims against them, so they decided to inform a family member that actually gave a damn. Then again, the one that was closest lived over two states away, so that also wouldn’t happen so quick. 

“Ugh, my head hurts...”

A crash sounded through the alleyway, and I had made the conclusion that if I don’t leave now, I would get crushed under debris. That being decided, I made a mad dash out of said alley to the opposite end of the sound.

As soon as I left, the obnoxious technicolor of it all made me do a double take. What the hell is with this color palette?

“Are you lost?” 

I jumped from the question. It wasn’t until I turned around that something hit me: yeah, this is most definitely N O T my world. 

The person that had inquired my direction status had a huge spike sticking out of either hand. Their head was shaped normally, their eyes were a dark blue color, and they had short hair. I couldn’t tell if they were male or female, or even non-binary, but I was too freaked out to care. Best bet for this situation, though, was to go with the flow no matter what happens. I refuse to risk my safety any further. 

“I, uh...um, yeah. Yeah, I am lost - but may I ask who wants to know?”

They breathed a sigh of relief, and their hands transformed into regular ones. The only explanation for this was that I was going crazy, or that I really landed in the world of My Hero. “Oh, thank god. I thought you were a villain for a second. Follow me before you get hit,” they said before they directed me further away from the soon-to-be-destroyed building. 

We had made some small talk - if you could even call it that - as we evacuated, and I found out that their name was Dylan. They were apparently an off-duty hero, though that could be left up to debate considering no hero would voluntarily reveal their identity to someone on the street. Though they could have also assumed that I was a regular citizen, as well. 

Didn’t help that I was still completely and utterly fucked on the front of knowledge - still confused, for a shorter explanation. 

The commotion was still very prevalent as I continued walking with Dylan, and when we finally reached the town, the volume was so much more deafening. The sight was as well. 

Two people were fighting in mid-air, one with a dark jacket and leather pants. Gloves were on their hands, but the big kicker was their mouth - it was almost warped into a joker smile, cuts and all, but it was full of teeth. Their eyes, from what I could see from my spot  on the ground, were very large and red. I wish I could have seen more, though. 

The other one was wearing some garb that mimicked Deadpool, though it was very obviously not him since there were some very obvious legs that were protruding from each side of their body. If I was observing them correctly, too, there were eight legs and multiple eyes. A spider hero? Like, a literal spider hero? 

“(Y/n), I’m sure that you’re curious and a little freaked out, but I’m going to ask that you stay here with the crowd,” Dylan said. They laid their hand on my shoulder as I stared at the view in front of me. I absently nodded, muttering a small and measly, “Got it,” as the realization of everything sunk in. 

I really am in the My Hero world. I really landed in a fictional world. 

Holy shit, I’m completely and totally screwed. 

There are so many things that could go wrong, so many things that would warrant a worry. Besides that, though, the thing that’s just hit me now that I know that I’m in their world is the most worrying. 

Whose quirk got so screwed that I got transported here? Do I have to find that person to return to my world? Even then, was this done on purpose? In that case, would they want to send me back? What if it’s a villain and they want something? So many things can go so severely wrong. 

I couldn’t leave my head now. I could, quite literally, die here and no one would notice. 

My blank stare didn’t go unnoticed by certain citizens around me, but their attention was soon diverted - as was mine - at the newest occurrence on the scene. The spider hero was dropping lower, the (supposed) villain was falling quickly to the floor, and another hero stood above the two on top of a nearby building. Cheers erupted through the crowd as the commotion was met with flashing lights, news reporters, and gossip writers. 

It took a second for me to notice, but the other hero on the building was Kamui Woods. Though I would later find this out, too, Mt. Lady was taking care of the runaway villain - she blew up larger with said villain in her hands a bit away from the scene with a triumphant smirk. 

Though there was some slight commotion from the shaken media reporters, they quickly fell back into their goals and started to plow through the crowd. People were being pushed left, right, and forward.

Through this chaos, though, I noticed Dylan pushing against the people looking winded. Eventually, they made it to me while panting. “Okay, so,” they began, “We should probably leave now, but I want to ask you some questions.”

I shrugged, taking a deep breath. “You need to ask, fire away. I need some answers anyway.”

We settled on a nearby restaurant, Dylan offering to pay for whatever food I ordered, and got down to the questions. 

“I noticed that you were stiff when you saw the fight. It wasn’t the normal kind of stiff, either.” 

Dylan’s words seemed off. How could they see a difference in shock between me and the citizens? A villain attack is a villain attack, right? 

“It was more...upset, for lack of a better word. What’s going on with that?” they inquired, making me stiffen. I didn’t realize that I was that odd in the crowd.

I wasn’t sure how to phrase my answer, but I had to say something. Unless I said it straight out, this would probably be a failure to explain. And people may look at me like I’ve lost it. 

“Well...I...”

Dammit.

I’ve just gotta say it. 

“I think I’ve been transported between realities. This one isn’t mine, I fell asleep in a dingy apartment, woke up here, and I’m-”

“Okay, I think I have an idea of what’s going on. I could help you, but it may take some time. Until then, let’s find a way to make sure that you don’t get screwed while you’re here, sound good?”

I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful. Then the thought hit me.

“Wait, how would you know? How can I trust you? Prove that you’re a hero, and then I’ll think about that offer.”

They chuckled a little, seemingly nonplussed, and reached for their hero license. After taking a look at it, I determined that this was a real license. You can’t get one unless you passed the exam, and even then, there are very few circumstances in which you can get one and not be a hero. 

“Getting closer, but still not there. I need more proof.”

Nodding again, they grabbed their cell and opened their messages in front of me. Their phone screen was face up, and they turned it to face me. I saw messages between Kamui and Dylan. I scrolled through the messages to make sure that they weren’t faked, and the image moved. 

“One more thing. If that’s the case, then tell me what your quirk is.”

“Well, my quirk is body morphing, or shape shifting. I can’t shift into anything that’s living, though - and I can’t keep up form for too long of a time. That enough for you?”

I paused, weighing the options - they’ve shown enough awareness, and they do have proof for what I provided, but how can I be sure that this isn’t just a ploy to trap a citizen and get the attention of the heroes? 

“Okay, here’s what I am gonna do - I’m going to trust you. I have nowhere else to go, nor do I have any idea as to why I’m here, and I can’t go about life here without some help,” I uttered, urgency (and possibly a little fear) in my tone of voice. 

With a nod, their bouncy curls following the action. They seemed satisfied, and I had finally found some sense of stability.

I can now figure this shit out. 

[call-me-captain-gally]

Chapter One: Welcome to the Glade

        I awoke to pitch-black nothingness, a siren wailing in my ears. My head pounding and my palms sweaty. I was feeling nauseous; like I had to throw up but, for some reason, I couldn't, as if I hadn't eaten in days or something. My mouth was dry and my ears were ringing with the sound of the siren. That God-awful siren. Gosh, did I wish it would just stop! Where in the world was it coming from? I tried to move my head to look around, but the pain was too much to bear. There wasn't enough light to see anything anyway, it seemed. 

        I lay there on the cold surface of whatever this thing was that I was stuck in until I couldn't lie still anymore. I had no track of time; it could have been hours, or it could have been minutes. Seconds, even. Knowing myself, it was most likely the latter. Knowing myself... Who am I? I tried my hardest to think, to remember something—anything. This just made my already terrible headache seem worse—if that was even possible. I tried to shut my mind off and stop thinking, but it wasn't working.

        I finally got the strength to lift my head. I looked around but it was useless; all I could see was darkness. Where am I? I thought. I lifted myself to my hands and knees, wincing at the pain. I closed my eyes and felt around, crawling on the floor, until I hit a wall. I then stayed against the wall and felt my way around the area, bumping into some hard and seemingly cube-shaped objects along the way. I seemed to be in some cage-like containment filled with nothing but crates and myself. How did I get here? I tried my best to remember how and when I fell asleep; maybe that would give me some insight as to why I was currently in a cage. Nothing came. 

        My headache still hadn't gone away and neither had the siren. The loud noise was not doing anything to help my stupid memory. Suddenly, though, a word popped into my head. Not just any word, either, but a name. Marie. That must be my name, I thought, Marie. I tried hard to remember something else, but I couldn't for some reason. I kept feeling like I almost remember something but then the thought would vanish before I knew what it was, as if every time I got close to remembering something, something, or someone, stole it away and put it just out of my reach. Close enough to torment and frustrate me, but not close enough to remember.

        Suddenly, the cage jerked upward with a metallic sound, slamming my body against the cold, hard floor of the cage once again. I tried to steady myself but the cage was still moving upward, the siren somehow getting even louder the further up I went. Giving in to the pain, I lay there limp and whimpering until the cage jerked again, this time stopping. The siren was louder than ever now but wasn't the only sound. I could also hear a group of people mumbling and whispering among themselves. It was still dark, but I felt my way to the nearest crate and turned with my head away from it. Then I laid on my back and kicked it as hard as I could. After a few more kicks, it finally gave way, just as a bright light suddenly filled the area. My eyes had finally somewhat adjusted to the darkness, making the light painful and blinding. 

        I shielded my eyes and blinked hard a few times, trying to get my vision back to normal. Now that my cage was open, the murmurs had gotten louder, and I could hear conversations and remarks.

        "Wow." Someone said. Most definitely a boy.

        "What is it?" Someone else replied. Another boy.

        "What do you mean, 'what is it', it's obviously a bloody girl, you Slinthead." Said another. This one closer and with an odd accent. Slinthead?

        There were remarks of, "A girl?" and "Is she hot?" and "How old is she?" and "What's she look like?" and "Why a Girl?" as well as other things of the sort. Followed by lots of laughter and chuckling. And then a deep laugh; one that stood out from the rest. It seemed closer, like the boy with the interesting accent.

        Are there any girls here? I thought. It didn't seem like it. 

        "And how would you know, Newt? It's not like you've seen one." The boy with a deep voice laughed again.

        "Just slim it and shut up. All of you!" Said another deep voice, this one raspy. "I'm going down there."

        Then a thump as a tall, young-looking boy with short black hair jumped down, staring at me. He headed in my direction and so I reached into the crate I had broken, looking for the heaviest or sharpest object I could find. Anything I could use to defend myself, should it come to that. I saw the light reflecting off of something shiny and looked over, seeing a dagger. Perfect! I reached over and gripped my hand around the handle just as the boy crouched over me, close enough for me to take in every feature of his face. He had blue-green eyes that just seemed all too familiar, even though I was quite certain I had never seen this boy in my life. His lips were pink and chapped and his face was sweaty and dirty and slightly freckled and burnt from all of the time he seemingly spent in the sun. He had a scratch on his cheek and a small scab on his big nose. But all of that was nothing compared to his eyebrows. It was slightly humorous; they were arched more than anyone I had ever seen before—not that I really remembered any people I had met before now. There were no real memories, just glimpses of faces that meant nothing to me, and I was hit once again with the feeling of those memories being stolen and put just out of my reach. 

        I was taken aback and hesitated to lift the blade. When I did, though, he grabbed it with one hand and put his other up to show he meant no harm. Or, at least, that he wanted me to believe that he meant no harm. 

        "Whoa there, Greenie. No need to try 'n kill me, just tryna help." He said. His deep voice was slightly harsh and scratchy yet somehow calming at the same time, even in the situation I was in. But I still didn't know if I could trust him. I took my hand out of his, along with the dagger, and threw the dagger to the other side of my cage. There was no way I was letting him have it. He looked in the direction I threw the blade then back at me, smirking.

        "Got ourselves a feisty one, don't we shank?" I heard from above. Again with the weird words!

        The boy's smile faded, "I said shut it!" he yelled up to the group of people. He started to stand, reaching out his hand for me to take. I sat there, unmoving, refusing to take the hand of a stranger that I still wasn't sure was a friend or a foe. 

        He sighed. "Look, Girl. You don't have to come with me, but would you at least get out of the box?"

        "I have a name, you know." I glared at him as I stood and started to climb out of the box. 

        "You remember it already?" He replied, climbing faster than me because of his tall build.

        "Yeah, it's—it's the only thing that I can seem to remember," I answered.

        He got to the top and climbed out, then stopped and nodded. I stopped too, not quite out of the box yet.

        "What's with that?" I questioned at the same time that he asked "What is it?"

        "Sorry, what?" I asked.

        "Your name. What is it?" He asked again.

        "Oh, um, Marie," I answered. "I think..."

        "Well then, Marie," he said, reaching out his hand again. This time I took it; I still may not be able to trust him, but, if I had to come out of the box and see all those other people, I would probably feel better with someone else by my side anyway, regardless of who he is or the fact that I met him just seconds ago.

        He half-smiled when I took his hand and helped me get to my feet; it was the only kind of smile I had seen on his face, and I found myself wondering if he ever smiled full-on. Then I realized I was staring and quickly looked away from him and out to the crowd of people. I had guessed correctly, there wasn't another girl in sight. They were all boys varying in age and size.

        "Welcome to the Glade." he finished.

[happyandticklish]

You Can’t Make Me

Notes: For the anon who requested something with Paul and Emma this time. I love these nerds, so I had a lot of fun writing them! :)

Summary: Paul refuses to go to his office’s New Year Eve’s party which prompts Emma to take drastic measures. 

“I’m not going.”

Paul’s arms were crossed against his chest, resolute in his decision. Emma stood by the TV which she had turned off to direct his attention to the invitation in her hand, which detailed a New Year’s work party. It was an invitation that Paul had received about a couple days ago and had been hiding in the hopes that Emma would not find it. Unfortunately, it seemed his efforts were in vain.

“They’re your friends!” Emma exclaimed, waving the invitation around empathetically. “You should hang out with them instead of spending your day here, alone, again, like you always do.”

“I’m not alone,” Paul protested in a manner that was not at all childlike. “I have you. Besides, hanging around with big crowds of people is not exactly my scene.”

“No,” Emma agreed. “Your scene is missing out on every big life event that comes your way.”

“Why do you even care?” Paul pointed out. “Last time I checked, you weren’t too big a fan of them either.”

“Because they’re your friends, Paul.” Emma sighed, flopping down on the couch next to him. “You spend all of your time with me. Don’t get me wrong, I love the attention, but I want you to have a life outside of me. They care about you and I know you care about them too. So why won’t you go?”

Paul shrugged, averting his eyes. “I don’t know. I guess I just—” He broke off suddenly, flushing. “No, it’s stupid, never mind. Look, can we just agree not to go and drop the subject already?”

Emma turned towards him, interest sparked. “No wait, what were you going to say?”

“Nothing, forget about it,” he muttered.

Emma narrowed her eyes. There was no way she wasn’t going to get him to spill whatever it was; it could be important after all. She noticed the way his arms were crossed, leaving his sides fully exposed. Bingo. “I have ways of making you tell me, you know.”

Paul frowned, genuine confusion crossing his features. “What are you talking about—hey!”

Paul startled as two fingers jabbed into his side and pulled a definitively unmanly squeak from his mouth. A flush slowly began to make its way to his cheeks and, seeing the way Emma was looking at him, he was quick to shut whatever this was down before it could start. “Whatever it is you’re thinking, no.”

“I’m not thinking anything,” she said innocently, following him as he backed away on the couch. “Why are you moving away from me? Is something wrong?”

“No,” he protested. “No, uh, of course not. You just—surprised me. Yes. That’s it. So, uh, there’s really no need for you to try again—no!”

Her fingers were fast and devious when they landed on his sides, wringing laughter out of him before he could do anything to prevent it. “W-Wahahait! Emma, nohoho!”

“What were you going to say?” she asked, squeezing up his sides and causing him to flail dangerously. “Why don’t you want to go to the party?”

“B-Behehecause—” In his laughter-muddled state, Paul could think of no genuine excuse. “Behehecause fuhuhuck yohohou!”

“Oh, ho, ho, now you’re gonna get it.” Her hands shot up, sneaking their way into his armpits and digging into the sensitive nerves contained there. He squeaked, jumping a near mile in the air as he desperately tried to pull her hands away. “Is it bad there? Do you want me to stop?”

Paul could think of nothing to do but nod in answer while releasing all manner of embarrassing snorts and shrieks. His arms clamped down on her hands but all that accomplished was trapping them in place so that he had no choice but to raise his arms if he wanted her to stop, something he absolutely refused to do.

“C’mon Paul,” Emma teased. “Just tell me the reason and this can all be over.”

“I cahahan’t!” he protested, throwing his head back on the couch. “Ihit’s ehehembarrassing! Gah—nohoho, dohohon’t!”

“It can’t possibly be more embarrassing than this,” she prompted in what she found to be encouragement. Finally, she decided to give him a break and moved her hands back down to his sides, a place that appeared to be fairly ticklish all on its own, but not nearly the hotspot that was his armpits. “I promise I won’t laugh at whatever it is. You can trust me.”

“C-Clehehearly nohot!” Paul batted uselessly at her hands, unable to coherently function in his current state. “Pfft—nohoho—stahahahap!”

Emma felt her heart flutter traitorously in her chest at the sight of her Paul, cynical, sarcastic Paul, reduced to this writhing, babbling mess from just a few fingers. Though she was very intent on her mission, she found herself momentarily distracted by the sweet, innocent giggles falling from his mouth.

It was in this distracted state, however, that she accidentally let her touch wander too far south. The second her hands came anywhere near his hips Paul’s eyes snapped open and some wild instinct took over that prompted him to blindly reach out and grab her sides in turn.

Emma was unprepared for this turn of events. She jumped, biting down harshly on her lip to prevent the mortifying sound that almost leapt out. “W-Wait, hold on Paul, think about this—noHOHO!”

As it turned out, Emma was somehow even more ticklish than Paul was. It seemed that everywhere he touched was overly sensitive, even her lower calves which he had no end of amusement with.

“This is wild,” he muttered, amazed, as he gently pinched up and down her lower legs. “I never even thought someone could be ticklish here.”

“Paul, Paul, Paul, Pahahahahaul!” she squealed in protest, the only word she could seemingly get out as she writhed on the couch. She twisted around, hitting him viciously on the shoulder. “Stahahahap!”

“You know, all this time I’ve endured your tickle attacks and not once did I think to get you back,” Paul mused, snagging one of her legs in his arms so he could scribble fingers over her defenseless soles. This prompted her to fall back onto the couch in a giggling heap. “If I had known it was this easy to get you back I would have tried ages ago.”

“T-Thihihis ihihisn’t fahahair! Yohou lihike ihit!”

“I don’t think you’re in any position to be talking back,” he pointed out, digging fingers under her toes and attempting to ignore his rampant blush at her words.

“T-Thahat’s whahat y-yohou thihink!” Emma lurched forward and with a sudden surge of energy managed to pull her leg from his grip and flip them around so that her fingers could dig harshly into the slender bones of his hips. She relished in his resulting jump, grinning triumphantly. “I had an older sister, remember? I am well-versed in the art of tickle fights.”

Paul burst into wild and uncharacteristic laughter as she turned the tables back on him. This time he only lasted for a couple of seconds, unable to have his worst spot demolished like that. “Fihihihine, fihihihine, I-I’ll tehehell yohohou, Juhuhuhust stahaHAHAHAHAP!”

That was all she needed to hear. Emma released him, sitting back smugly on the couch. Paul huffed in exhaustion, holding his hips irritably. “That was mean.”

Emma shrugged. “You poked the dragon.”

“If I remember correctly, you poked me first.”

“Details. Anyway, If I remember correctly, I believe you had something to tell me?”

Paul sighed. He hadn’t wanted to get into this tonight, but as Emma stared at him with those earnest, trusting eyes, he found the words spilling from his lips before he could stop them. “I just sometimes worry that they don’t want me around. My co-workers, I mean.”

Emma frowned. “What do you mean? You all seem to get along fine.”

“Now,” he corrected firmly. “But I was never all that close to them before, and if I’m being honest I think I might have come off as sort of an asshole. It’s just kind of hard to believe that they just forgot about all of that.”

Emma reached forward to grab his knee, squeezing it in a reassuring, non-ticklish way. “Dude, trust me. I know all about feeling guilty for being an asshole to people; I get it. Yeah, maybe in the past you weren’t the nicest, but they’ve gotten to know you since then. They like the real you. They wouldn’t hang around you if they still thought you were an asshole.”

Paul gave her a critical look, trying to discern if she was bullshitting him or not. “You sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. When have I ever been wrong?” Before Paul could open his mouth to contradict her, she stood up definitively and shrugged on her jacket. “Now c’mon—are we going to that stupid party or not?”

Paul looked up at her, five feet of cocky grins and ruffled hair from rolling around on the couch, helping him through yet another issue without even trying. Sometimes he found that he couldn’t help but fall in love with Emma over and over again. Slowly he stood up as well, taking her hand. “Yeah, okay. Only because your argument was so compelling.”

“Great, cause I am in the mood for some crappy office champagne.” She paused with her hand on the door, turning to glare at him. “Also, just so you know, if you ever tickle me again I will break both your arms, understood?”

Paul smirked, a mischievous spark taking hold of him. “Is that so?”

Emma scurried back from him, seeing the look in his eyes. “Paul, no, we’re gonna be late—”

“We have a couple minutes. I think some revenge is due, don’t you think?”

“Wait, wait, wait, Paul nohohohohoho!”

Needless to say, they ended up late to the party after all.

[drumboydowoon]

Woof Woof | Stray Kids AU

Chapter Three / Return of the Memories and the Fellowship of Fear

Werewolf!Chan au

Warnings / language

Words / 5K+

Masterlist

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The first thing you notice when your eyes flutter open suddenly, is the splitting pain pulsing in the back of your head. Then it shifts to the aches that run down your thighs to your calves. You groan at the throbbing pain and lay there for a moment, getting ready to sit up both physically and mentally. 

After you’ve prepared yourself to move, you sigh and try to sit up, however, you can’t. You suddenly felt the heavyweight wrapped around your torso. You pout in confusion, then look to see what’s responsible. The questions become endless once you see that it’s someone’s arm wrapped around you. You allow your eyes to trail up the arm all the way to the face that sleeps right behind you. 

Gasping, you lightly jump at the surprise of seeing Chan’s face right next to yours. You’re about ready to shove him away until you notice that his eyes are still closed and he’s letting out soft snores. It’s obvious that he’s still asleep… But why is he asleep next to you? That’s the big question of the hour. 

You purse your lips as you gently push his arm off of you. For a moment, he flinches and you cringe, thinking that you woke him up. Luckily for you, Chan’s still out cold. When you move next, you make sure you’re careful to not wake him. You quietly slip away from him and get up off the painfully hard ground. 

You brush yourself off and look around the room, which definitely wasn’t the bedroom that you were expecting (thank god). Instead, you find yourself in the basement of the boy’s home. More questions arise. 

It also happens that you aren’t alone in the basement. Besides Chan, Felix lays on the floor next to the stairs, curled up into a ball and fast asleep as well. Curious as to who else may be in there with you, you turn around and search the room. You find another sleeping body resting a few feet away. Gazing curiously at him, you finally recognize who it is. It’s neither Minho or Jisung that you suspected. It’s Hwang Hyunjin, someone you knew a lot about, but never spoken to.

Frowning, you wonder what he was doing here, or what any of you are doing down here in the basement. Blinking, you stare at all three of them in thought for a while. What did you do last night to end up here?

Then, like a dam breaking open, everything suddenly comes crashing back to you all at once. Everything from you arriving at Felix’s house, to Felix and co. trying to murder you, to Minho coming to your rescue and knocking Chan out with a rock because he was getting a little handsy. In an instant, your jaw drops wide open as you’re at a complete loss for words. 

Your body starts to shake as you slowly take a few steps back. Keeping your gaze locked both on Chan and Hyunjin, you fail to remember that he’s set up by the stairs. Taking another step backwards, your shoe collides with a body. Your entire being jumps in fear and you accidentally let a squeak escape you. 

Felix groans at the contact and moves his arm out to scratch his leg, where you just kicked him. “5 more minutes…” he grumbles, but his eyes remain closed, though. There’s a cute pout etched on his face as he settles back into his previous sleeping position. You sigh in relief and this time you’re careful watch where you’re going and maneuver around him. 

Once you step over him, you go up the first few steps very stealthy. After going around the corner and out of sight from them, caution goes out the window and you break into a sprint upstairs. It’s not until you're halfway up the stairs that you begin to feel a stinging sensation going across your waist to your stomach. It burns, so it makes you look down to see the issue. Your shirt is a little torn up and within those tears, you can see the angry red scratches covering your stomach. They don’t look too deep, but they sure hurt like hell. 

You don’t recall getting those marks last night. Then again, everything went by in a flash, so a few things are bound to be clouded from your memory. Besides the pain isn’t what is important at the moment. Right now you need to focus on getting away as far as possible from the sleeping maniacs before it’s too late. 

Waving it off for now, you continue your way upstairs and reach the door. You hurry to it and swing it open, not caring if you wake up the whole neighborhood at this point. Then you dart straight for the front door that stands not too far, yet still miles away at the same time. You can’t get out the door fast enough. 

Someone in the dining room is alerted by the noise. He stops what he’s doing and stares, “Y/n?” he questions as he watches you try to make a beeline out the door. 

Nearly tripping over yourself, you promptly look over to find Minho walking towards you with concern and confusion written all over him. Then his gaze wanders over to where your hand is moving towards the knob of the front door. Quickly, he rushes over and puts himself between yourself and the sweet smell of fresh air that he’s denying you.

“You can’t leave yet,” he says while slowly taking your wrist in his hand to move it away from the knob. 

Sorry, but did you hear correctly? “Why not?! Why are you standing around like everything is fine? Do you even remember what happened last night? We need to get out of here!” all the words come jumbling out of your mouth as fear and anxiety sit in your gut unpleasantly. Any moment something bad can happen, so why is Minho acting so strange?

After ranting, Minho simply places his hands on your shoulders, “Calm down. Sit,” he points towards the black dining room table in the next room over. 

Your jaw drops. It continues to hang open, even as he directs you towards a chair to sit down on. “Calm down?” you ask incredulously. 

“You want me to calm down after I saw Felix acting like a fucking… whatever that was!?” you repeat, “Not to mention the fact that Hwang Hyunjin is here too, for some reason, and he tried to eat me as a late night snack. But thank god Chan was there to save me, then act like a weirdo who creepily sniffs girls!” you exclaim, in complete disbelief at what Minho is telling you to do. Calming down is the last thing that’s on your mind. 

Finally a moment of realization hits you as Minho pushes you along. You stop in your tracks and refuse to move any further. Instead you turn to face Minho and jab a finger into his chest, “I bet you are in on this!” you accuse, “That explains why you’re so calm about all this,” you gasp at the sudden revelation you came up with out of nowhere. 

Minho stares down at you with a blank face, but it still holds some resemblance of emotion because it’s quite easy to tell he’s not pleased. You gulp at the daggering stare. “Sit. Down,” both words fall sharply off his tongue as his daggering gaze commands you to do as you're told. 

Though he is your friend, you sometimes forget how threatening Minho can be. Without thinking, your body has a mind of its own as it walks to one of the dining chairs and makes you sit on it. You could curse your mind and body for betraying you like that, but then again, you can’t blame them.

Sighing in relief, he follows after you and takes a seat across from you. He folds his hands on the table. You look to him expectantly, but he remains silent for a second, seemingly thinking before he speaks.

“I know you must be really confused and scared-”

“Terrified,” you correct. 

He gives you a look before continuing, “Yeah and that… It’s not really my place to tell you this,” he starts, “But at this point you deserve to know after all that shit you you went through…” he trails off, trying to find the best words to use to explain it all to you. It’s much more difficult than you think. 

As he thinks, someone walks into the room from the hall over, “Hey did you even start making breakfast yet? I’m starving,” Jisung asks sleepily. His eyes are half closed as he walks in. His face is covered in marks that are bruises forming. His lips have a cut near the corner and he looks exhausted. It’s like he hardly got any rest last night. But who could after a night like that? 

“Oh hey, Y/n,” he greets nonchalantly before looking to Minho for an answer. Then it comes to Jisung a moment later, “Wait, Y/n?!” he jumps when he realizes that you’re there, sitting peacefully at their table. 

He’s sure you would have ran for the hills by now. Thankfully that’s not the case, or that would have been really bad. He’s just surprised that’s all. He wasn’t expecting to see you so soon. Awkwardly, you smile back to the flustered boy. 

“I’m trying to explain everything to her right now,” Minho fills in for him. 

Jisung’s brows furrow as he objects, “What? The boys will be mad… Especially Hyunjin since he’ll find a way to blame all of this on me,” he frowns. 

Rolling his eyes, Minho argues, “Well I think she would rather hear the truth from the only two normal people here.” He scoffs. It shouldn’t be that hard to guess why it would be a good idea to have the other three try to explain it to you. 

“Okay, but it’s not really our place to expose a secret as big as this,” Jisung counterpoints, even though Minho literally already told you that. He’s unsure about making a decision like this. The two of them never really dealt with a problem like this.

Sighing, Minho pinches the bridge of his nose. You watch as they argue back and forth about whether it’s okay for them to tell you or not. Another headache forms in your already throbbing head. 

Being extremely tired, in pain, and pissed off wasn’t the greatest combination. Their voices faded into the background while you thought of everything at once. Flashes of memories from the previous night reminded you of how absolutely scared you were. You’ve never felt so… helpless before. 

For most of your life you’ve never had a reason to feel that scared. The most fear you felt was when you did something bad and you knew you were going to be yelled at for it, or knowing fully well that you did horrendously on a test that you did not study for whatsoever. But never because you had to worry for your own life.

What scares you the most is the feeling of not knowing, though. It isn’t the burning pain dancing all along your body. It’s the confusion that weighed you down the most. Did Felix always act like that? Why now of all times? Is this your fault? 

There’s so many questions bubbling in one mind. Eventually it comes bursting out. Sick of the two fighting over something so pointless, you raise your voice, “Well someone needs to tell me what the hell happened!”

At once, they’re mouths shut. They both stare at you, not expecting your sudden much needed outburst. They only blink at you as you huff out a heavy breath. 

Leaning over the table, you stare at the two. Barely above a whisper, your voice is still deep and dangerous in warning, “I don’t care whether or not it is your place to tell me. I’m telling you that you need to explain to me why my best friend, your weird roommate, and pretty boy, acted like a bunch of horror movie rejects.” There’s no room for debate in your tone. 

You’re so tired. Somehow you’ve become completely different from a few minutes ago. Before, you were frantic and desperate to leave as soon as possible, yet now you’re so done with everything. You’ve had time to process, only momentarily, but you had time. Now you need answers. 

“Y-yes ma’am,” Jisung stutters, it’s clear that he’s far more worried about you exploding at him now rather than having Hyunjin get mad later. Minho mumbles about how he can’t believe that’s all it took to shut him up. 

The older of the two then resumes his previous position of leaning closer to you with his hands folded. He licks his lips in preparation, “It might sound really ridiculous,” he warns, “But it’s not fiction, I promise. Sometimes there’s things-”

Rolling your eyes, you gesture for him to hurry, “There’s no need to sugarcoat it. Just tell me. Is it drugs? Some kind of hypnosis?” The list of assumptions and guesses could go on forever, but before you can question anymore, Minho opens his mouth. 

“It’s werewolves”

Blinking once, then twice, you have to think if you actually heard him right. Once again, he beats you to the point, “Felix, Chan, and Hyunjin are werewolves. Last night was a full moon, so they were way more out of control than usual.” Even after he repeats and clarifies his preceding statement, you’re still not sure if you’re hard of hearing. 

Looking away, Jisung stuffs his hands in his pockets while he kicks at the ground. The other waits for your response. The room is hushed as tension rises high. Such an… interesting explanation was bound to make some speechless. 

By what you understand, Felix, your loveable friend, who acts like a pesky mosquito because he just “feels like it”, is a werewolf. Someone you have known for a few years, somehow managed to hide the fact that they’re a werewolf as well. 

It starts off with a scoff. But soon that turns into quiet giggles. Minho and Jisung give each other a look. One holds annoyance while the other faces uncertainty. The giggling evolves into full blown hysterical laughter. Grabbing at your sides, you laugh harder and harder, even after the fact that both boys look at you like you’re a nutcase.

In your defense though, you can’t possibly believe they’re being truthful for one second. Like seriously? Werewolves? Out of all the things either one of them could choose to lie about, they chose werewolves. You do applaud them for using their amusing creativity. 

It felt like you went on for minutes before you finally began to calm down. After devolving into chokes of laughter, you wipe away the tears that were slipping from your eyes. You glance over to the two, who were not laughing along with you. 

You take a deep breath of air and chuckle midway through, “You are joking, right?” your eyes continue to flick between both of them, looking for any sign that this is some cruel prank.

Blankly, Minho shakes his head, “Nope”

Your jaw drops as you look to the other boy, “Jisung?” you question, hoping he will be kind enough to enlighten you. 

Jisung huffs. He looks conflicted, “Believe it or not, you’ll find out soon enough,” he ominously answers, making you rethink that it’s a joke. 

It’s impossible to believe them. And it’s impossible to think you would believe them. There’s no point in lying now. You’ve already seen enough, so why are they being so frustrating about this?

Minho squints his eyes to something past you. “Looks like soon, is now...” he mumbles quietly to himself. You can’t hear him, so you ask him to repeat himself. But instead he gives whatever he’s looking at a sheepish smile, “Good morning, boys,” he greets. 

All at once, you can feel your entire being freeze. It only takes a few words to figure out who he’s greeting. Three sets of groggy footsteps approach the room. It’s impossible to turn around. Rather than moving, your body sits straight up as you look to Minho with wide eyes. All the feelings from before you somewhat calmed down, come tumbling back into you full force. 

In the moment, both Minho and Jisung feel bad for you (one more than the other). Subtly, Minho unfolds his hands and carefully slides one across the table towards you. You look down at his snaking hand trying to offer its comfort. Instead, you return a frown. Somehow you were able to convey that it wasn’t the time and that you are mad at him now, because his hand retreats to his lap. 

In the corner of your vision, you can see the outline of someone walking into the kitchen and past the counter. Daringly, you decide to look in the direction of them. Felix ignores your presence all together and darts straight for the refrigerator. He opens the door to the freezer and sticks his head in. Sighing happily at the cool contact, Felix enjoys remaining peacefully oblivious to you sitting at their table. 

From behind you, a round of pained groans and groggy voices ring in your ears. Chan and Hyunjin follow shortly after, evidently muttering something to each other. The two of them step into the room and Hyunjin’s tired voice drowns out for some reason. Chan, like Felix, is unaware of you. Your head snaps away from Felix and opts to look down at your fidgeting hands sitting on the table. 

“Hey, what time is it?” Chan’s raspy voice asks. He stretches as he tries to wake up from his horrible night of sleeping on the concrete floor. 

Jisung holds a hand to his face and shakes his head in disappointment. On the other hand, Minho pointedly looks at Chan, hoping that he would see the elephant in the room. Lacking in the ability to understand, Chan cocks his head to the side. It takes a second to fully comprehend his surroundings. 

Getting annoyed, Hyunjin rolls his eyes and elbows the older in the side and points harshly to you, the first thing he noticed when he walked in. A chill goes through you as you feel the many stares on you. It takes another moment before he realizes that there’s someone else in the room rather than his roommates. He sees your sitting body at his table, back facing him and visibly tense.

The uneasiness seeped into him the moment he laid eyes on you. Memories from the night before were vastly blurry. He can hardly remember anything, but seeing the tears in your clothing and the way you kept your head down, he could use common sense and put two and two together. Guilt found a way to drop in the pit of his stomach since he can practically hear you shivering from here. 

He gulped as he waved for the one boy that remained ignorant, “Aye, Felix…” he trails off.

Felix sighs as he hears his name, “What…?” He doesn’t want to leave the refreshing cold air blasting his face. It felt too nice. All nice things come to an end, though, or at least when they’re ruined by Chan calling him again. 

Groaning, this time a little more irritated, Felix pulls away from the freezer to lazily glance at the man that’s making it hard for him to relax. Like a teenager, Felix shrugs in exasperation, “What?” he repeats with a bit more attitude. He could hear the cool air from the freezer calling his name to come back. 

Felix sees Hyunjin’s scowl first, then Chan’s eyes that keep flickering between him and somewhere else in the room. He follows his line of sight to the table. You can feel your heart pick up the second his gaze lands on you, even when you’re not looking at him. If you were watching, you would be able to see the way Felix’s eyes pop open like a cartoon. The color drains from his skin at the sight of you. 

He opens his mouth, stammering to say something, yet nothing comes out. Opting to say nothing at all, Felix makes the hasty decision to turn his back to you and stick his head back into the freezer. You sneak a peek to see his reaction, but are disappointed to see that he isn’t even looking at you anymore. God, how can something be so awkward and terrifying at the same time?

Chan shakes his head at the cowardice of his younger friend. It’s clear that he would have to take matters into his own hands. Putting on a very fake smile, he perks up, “Morning, Y/n! Weird seeing you here,” his voice is so cheery, you totally can’t tell it isn’t real at all. 

After he calls your name for the first time this morning, you can’t help but let your body go rigid. For a second, you look to Minho and Jisung for help. Luckily for you, they’re no help at all and only offer either a shrug or an expressionless face. Classic Minho and Jisung. You’re sure going to give them hell later. 

Shakily, you turn in your seat to face the boys, giving them a nervous smile that wasn’t meant to be a smile. Seeing them now makes you look at them differently. They don’t have their fangs or glowing eyes anymore. Instead, they looked like they always had. But that doesn’t mean you can’t stop seeing the horror that they were. 

Chan saw how hard you were trying to not to make a run for the door, and he couldn’t blame you. Even though he can’t recall much, he’s sure that nothing good happened. And he knows for a fact that he isn’t innocent either. 

“H-hey,” you curse yourself for faltering like that. 

Deciding to speak up at last, Hyunjin rolls his eyes, “It’s obvious she knows. Stop acting like she doesn’t,” he scoffs. He can’t be the only one with common sense. 

Chan’s shoulders drop as his fake happy act does as well, and is replaced by awkwardness and nerves. Before anyone can say anything else, Jisung pipes up quickly, “Minho is the one who told her!” he points an accusing finger towards the boy in question. Minho is just as quick to give him a sharp glare back.

Suddenly your expression of fear turns into one of doubt, “No, what Minho told me is that made up crap about you being werewolves. Please, like anyone expects me to believe that” You take a turn eyeing up all three of them, “Werewolves? More like a bunch of drugged up lunatics…” 

Knowing that the boys weren’t nearly as hostile and out of their mind as they were before, was relieving. You can be brave enough to talk to them, but you can’t be caught off guard yet.

For what felt like the hundredth time, the room became quiet. Hyunjin laughed in disbelief at your comment. You raise a brow at him, “Something funny?” you ask, but you snap to something more important, “What are you even doing here, Mr. Bigshot on Campus?” 

Jisung was amazed how fast your moods can change. One you’re scared for your life, then the next your insulting each and everyone of them. It’s a talent, really. Hyunjin didn’t bother to answer your question, instead he scowls at you. 

Quietly, Chan twiddles his thumbs together, “Well, Minho isn’t lying… We are werewolves,” he admits, looking you straight in the eyes afterward. As uncomfortable and tense he was for admitting such a big secret like that, he still wanted to be sincere. He needed you to know that he wasn’t lying. 

“This isn’t funny anymore…” you tell them with a frown, “If you can’t tell me the truth, then I’m leaving,” you get up from the chair and begin to move. You can’t deal with them. If they don’t want to tell you, then fine. They’ll just have to handle the aftermath of you ignoring them from now on.

Minho calls out to you, “Y/n-”

“I don’t want to hear it,” you shut him up. He’s just as guilty as the rest of them.

Felix is frozen in place. He can’t face you, but hearing that you’re going to leave sends him into a panicked frenzy. You can’t leave, not when you still don’t believe them. If you leave, there’s a chance he could never see you again, and you’ll only know him as the monster that hurt you. Then again, if he does tell you, you might still look at him like that anyways. He can’t think straight. 

Without much thought, Felix stops you in your tracks, “Wait, Y/n” 

You face him, looking indifferent and ready to shut him up too. You don’t want to hear any more excuses. If you’re fortunate, you can leave this place in one piece and never talk to them again. 

Conflicted, Felix looks to his other lunatic buddies. Hyunjin can’t be bothered to care about the pleading look Felix shoots at him. At least Chan is more caring and gives him a small reassuring nod. 

At last Felix sighs and his shoulders drop in defeat. He never wanted to show you this side of him, but now he has no other choice. The only thing he says to you is, “I can prove it…” before his face completely morphs into something entirely different. Rather than seeing the freckled boy with chocolate eyes, who you care for too much, you see the same monster from last night that beat the shit out of Jisung and tried to do the same to you. 

At the sight of his transformation, you jump back, nearly knocking over the chair behind you. “Oh!” you would’ve fallen over if it weren’t for Minho’s quick thinking to jump from his own seat and keep you up right. He holds your arm, but lets go just as quickly after you’re stable.

The hurt Felix felt when he saw your expression is unmeasurable. But he understands that he had to do it. He understands why you’re scared. He’s had the same feeling long ago too. He raises his hand into view, showing off his sharply cut claws, “Do you believe us now?” he hesitantly asks. 

All eyes are on you once again, waiting for your response. Would you look at them differently, more than you already did? Would you expose their secrets? Would you run out of the house screaming “Wolf!”? Each one of them thought up a different scenario. 

They were all wrong, though. In fact, your mind can barely think of what to do. All your thoughts were strewn around in a fiery hellscape. There’s too much information to process. Although you already saw this, you can’t understand why you didn’t believe them before. In some twisted way, it made sense. But you didn’t want it to make sense. You wanted it to be normal and rational. Perhaps the drug use scenario would have been better than this. 

Your jaw slacked open, trying to form a proper sentence, but nothing seems to be coming out right. You stare down at your shoes for a moment, licking your lips in thought. Taking that moment to think your words through, you finally look up at them.

“Can I borrow your shower?” you ask, not noticing how your voice pitched up. 

Being dumbfounded, is saying the least. The boys wondered if they heard you correctly, but they know they did. Jisung is the first to speak up, “Y/n are you serious?! You just saw… that!” he throws his hands up, referring to Felix’s woofed out face, “And you want to wash your hair?!” 

You bit your lip as you realized that the request did sound a little ridiculous, but you needed to get to an escape. “I just need somewhere to think for a second,” you tell them, feeling shy all of a sudden. 

Some of them were still in disbelief, while others could understand. Nevertheless, Felix is kind enough to be one of the few who understand, so he gives you permission. In an instant, your feet are moving and you're going upstairs to lock yourself in the bathroom. Once you’re safely inside, you lean back against the door and sigh heavily. 

The only feeling in your mind that you can describe right now are three tiny words, “What the fuck”

You left in such a hurry that you couldn’t allow anyone else enough time to say anything. And you’re thankful for that. You don’t know what other kind of talking you can handle right now. 

You stood there for a few minutes, trying to catch your breath and calm yourself down. After you settle down, you push yourself off the door and go straight for the shower. However, passing by the mirror made you backtrack once you caught your reflection. 

“Wow I look like shit,” you mumble to yourself, observing your dirt covered face. Not only that, but your hair was sticking up in every direction, and frankly, you’re surprised Minho didn’t make fun of the new look. And worst of all, your clothes appear unrecoverable with all the grim and rips covering you. 

You run a hand through your mess of a hair and pout, deciding at last to start the shower. Once the water heat ups, you slip out of your nasty clothes and step into the hot inviting shower. You immediately put your head under the and relax under the warm water cascading down your body. Head empty, no thoughts. You only felt the comfort from the only normal thing you have had today. 

What did you exactly get yourself into? Is the last thing to pass through your mind before you succumb to the pleasures of taking a hot shower.

[yuzuriha-sayori]

Hey hun💕 Could I please request a SFW Benimaru x Reader firework festival one shot, where Benimaru tries to win the giant rabbit plushie at one of the game stalls for reader? Love you 😊

I got way too carried away with this 😭 be it my first request, btw THANK YOU I LOVE YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS 💕💕💕 but I really hope you enjoy it nonetheless.

Shinmon Benimaru x Reader SFW where Benimaru tries to win a giant rabbit plushie for x reader!

Watashi no Usagi

"Waka, it seems the kids have brought a guest." Konro began as he entered through the noren of Company 7's Guardhouse, using the back of his hand to push it out of the way. Orange light pierced in through where he entered, indicating night was just a few hours upon them.

"Aah?"

Lazy crimson eyes darted to the entrance where the tall Lieutenant appeared, but he had moved himself to his right in order to make way for incoming. The captain sat on the genkan step with furrowed brows and pursed lips. "Tch, what did these little rugrats drag in this time?"

Laughter and squeals bubbled loudly with their fast approach as the twins, Hika and Hina came running in, pulling another person in each hand right through the cloth entrance.

The young girl stumbled in, surprised in the strength of these two kids that she had no time to react well. She wore a thick silk deep blue kimono with sleeves long enough to potentially graze the ground. A light purple juban could be seen and was matched with a similar colored obi, with blue wisteria decorating the sash.  Slightly disoriented, she struggled to catch her footing and teetered side to side a bit before righting herself looking up and taking in her surroundings.

'Oh no,' she thought. These youngsters dragged her right into the den of the beast. The Destroyer of Asakusa. While he had a good reputation among the townspeople as the Captain of Company 7, he was also known to be rowdy at bars, and very ill mouthed.

"S-S-Sumimasen!" She quickly blurted out, bowing unnecessarily low. Her [h/c] spilled over her shoulders as she did so. After quite some silence, she cautiously glanced up, her big [e/c] eyes meeting his slightly displeased ones. One eye a crimson circle, the other with a crimson X. 'He's quite handsome...' She could feel the heat of embarrassment on the tip of her ears.

"Hika. Hina." The raven captain spoke very blunt, not taking his eyes off the stranger that was dragged into the guardhouse. The sudden words made the stranger's shoulders jump. "What did you two bring in here?"

"Ahaha.." Hina sheepishly laughed while both the twins ran to jump on his shoulders. "Hika and Hina brought a friend for tonight!" Hika exclaimed, dangling from his left shoulder, while Hina was climbing up the right.

"For tonight?" The young man's eyebrow twitched in confusion and seemingly slight exhaustion. These kids really knew how to be a handful. The girl, still bowing, uprighted herself. She began to speak, her lips barely parting open before being interrupted by the very tall man standing to her left.

"The festival tonight. The one you promised the girls you'd take them to." The Lieutenant spoke. He then turned to the girl with a gentle smile, and a wink after saying, "I'm assuming they brought a friend in case our young master decided to ditch." The girl gave a small giggle, visibly relaxing just a smidge.

"I'm Sagamiya Konro, the Lieutenant of Company 7. That brazen young man over there is our captain, Shinmon Benimaru. Forgive him for his rudeness, he lacks a bit of tact. What is your name young miss?"

"M-My name is [l/n] [f/n]." She said softly, giving a more proper and curt bow than the one she did earlier. Konro's eyes lit in realization, "Ah is that so? You're [l/n] Shiyou's daughter correct?" She nodded in response.

"The girls started visiting for mother's cooking whenever she makes yakitori for the hikeshi. She doesn't like to stay home during the rebuilding, so she rides with father and cooks for the men during their breaks." The girl gave a small smile to the man in front of her, but he still didn't seem to understand.

"Who the hell is [l/n]?" Benimaru, still sitting on the genkan steps, grumbled. Something told him maybe he should know, but he didn't really care too much about it. It was clearly evident with how he ignored how proper the young girl was dressed.

"Waka," Konro said sternly, eyes locked on the shorter male, "it would do you well to at least be courteous with the young miss. After all, her father runs the business that keeps us supplied with materials. You know, the ones needed to rebuild homes and the shops of our town after they're demolished every other day."

Ack, well this was going to be one hell of an evening. He didn't care much for respect, but Shinmon Benimaru was going to have to do at least some tongue biting. "I guess it would be...rude not to escort the old man's daughter around during a festival. After all..." He looked away and let out a sigh, rubbing the back of his head with mild irritation, "I do owe that old fart quite a lot."

----

"Yaaaaaay! Festival time! Festival time! Hika and Hina are gonna eat all the candy!" The twins chimed while jumping up and down off the sleeves of Benimaru's yukata. The sun was beginning to set and they were making their way to the festival. The lights could be seen glowing over rooftops of Asakusa just a few blocks away.

"Oi, don't tug on the sleeves, they might tear with all the weight you two have eaten in snacks already." The captain complained and he pried them off of the navy blue cotton sleeves. Konro, walking behind him, wore one of matching color.

Hina puffed her cheeks, "Not our fault you take forever getting ready."

"We got hungry!" Hika stuck her tongue out. "No candy for you then!"

"I don't like sweets anyways." Benimaru retorted. "Konro, where did the brat say she was going to meet us?"

Konro let out a deep sigh, "By the mask stall if I remember correctly." He'd mainly came along to make sure his captain didn't lose the kids but he was more concerned with Benimaru causing problems with [y/n].

"I guess your memory isn't going just yet," Benimaru joked while pointing in front of him. The joke earned a smack to the back by his Lieutenant but Konro looked in the direction his captain was pointing in and spotted [y/n] waiting patiently. She was standing in front of a mask stall at the beginning to one of the entrances set up for the festival.

"I wonder how long we've kept the poor girl waiting." Konro jest, walking up beside Benimaru and giving him a slightly disapproving frown.

"Tch. I got it, I got it." Benimaru made his way over to the young lady waiting. "Sorry..." He managed to get out, "I took too long finding my yukata."

She gave a small yet soft smile, something that was becoming usual for her, he noticed. "It's okay. I wasn't waiting long. Besides, I'm glad you were able to find it. It looks good on you." She hadn't realized how that could come off and she immediately flushed red after understanding their positions.

Benimaru however seemed unfazed. Though, he did give her outfit a scan and noticed it was fairly...appealing? She wore her [h/c] hair up in a loose bun, a mahogany wooden hairstick with a glass lotus at the end of it with jewels dangling. Her yukata was a light pink decorated with darker pink lotus and tied with a similar color sash. He had to avert his gaze after noticing he was staring rather long.

"Lets go." He said and pursed his lips, walking onto festival grounds. [Y/n] followed along after grabbing both Hika and Hina's hands. They had ran up to her with hands out to her. Konro felt as if it was going go be a looong evening for him.

The beginning of the festival was filled with much food consumption. Mainly by the twins. They made it a point to stop at almost every food stall they could.

"[Y/n] try this! They only have these during festivals!" Hina had a small brown puff on a toothpick. What appeared to be an octopus appendage stuck out in the cooked dough. [Y/n] bent down and opened her mouth for Hina to feed her was was delighted and the sweet and savory ball of goodness.

"Mmm it's delicious! This isn't a flavor from here is it?" [Y/n] gushed, her cheeks pink in pure happiness.

Benimaru had been watching the whole thing, and while the girls droned on about food, he kept watching her. The way her lips closed around the takoyaki and the way her cheeks puffed up as she chew. She kinda resembled...a rabbit. When [y/n] looked up at him, to ask if he wanted to try one too, he jerked his head away.

She looked slightly downcast but he didn't want her to see his cheeks burning with embarrassment. Just for being caught staring. It was impolite to stare, he told himself. He didn't want to acknowledge the real reason for it. 'I'm too grown to be acting like a teenager.' Had Konro heard those words, he'd have probably shot the sake he was gingerly sipping on right out his mouth.

"Shinmon-sama, won't you try one?"

Benimaru's head snapped back. [Y/n] was looking up at him with her big [e/c] eyes while holding a takoyaki up to his mouth. Not close enough to threaten his personal space, but just close enough that it was too inviting not to eat. Especially from her.

"Tch, fine." He said while opening his mouth and taking the small streetfood into his mouth. [Y/n] beamed. She thought maybe he didn't like her, but that feeling was slowly going away.

"[Y/n] look, look! Toys!" Hika and Hina chimed, tugging on the taller girl's sleeves. The [h/c] haired girl looked up and saw a booth that had toys lined up in several shelves. People were walking away with all sorts of arrangement of toys. The two younger girls darted for the booth and the three adults followed before someone tried to grab them. For the safety of whoever would try to, the two males hoped no one would dare.

"Step right up. Step right up. You have 3 chances to hit your target. Who would like to go first?" The stall owner boasted loudly.

Hika and Hina almost exploded in excitement but Konro stopped them. "This is [g/n]'s first time to an Asakusa festival. You should let her try first. Afterwards, I'll let you two try as many times as you can in 10 minutes." 

"Okay!" The twins exclaimed, fire in their eyes.

"I guess I'll go first." [Y/n] said nervously while stepping up and dropping a few coins into the older stall keeper's hands. He handed her three white balls. They weren't that heavy and probably wouldn't knock down the giant pink bunny plushie she'd been eyeing. "I still have to give it a shot..." She mumbled.

Pklunk. "Darn it." Pklunk. "For the love of..."  Pklunk. "Hmmmm...." [Y/n] hummed loudly in slight frustration. She'd hit her targets. But the balls didn't have enough force to even make the giant plush move one bit.

"Sorry missy, better luck nex--" [y/n]  slapped more money into his hand as he tried to shrug in a 'sorry' gesture. She was not leaving without that plush. Benimaru, who had given up hiding the fact he'd been eyeing her, let out of 'hmmph' of amusement.

Again, she didn't make any knock the pink bunny down. Paying for another round, she furiously threw two out of the three balls at it and they just bounced off and to the ground. "Son of a fuck--"

"Ah our little 'Oujo-sama' can have a potty mouth." Benimaru mused at [y/n].

[Y/n] shook a little before turning to glare at the man a good bit taller than her, the bottom rim of her eyes slightly red from tearing up and cheeks puffed from holding ber breath in frustration. "Pffffttt" He couldn't hold back laughing and [y/n] was so close to smacking him had he not slipped his fingers into her hands and gently pry the last white ball from her fingers. This action caught her so off guard, she almost really did stop breathing.

"The pink rabbit right?"

[Y/n] nodded in defeat and watched as Benimaru lined the ball up. Holding it like a marble ready to shoot. With an audible flick, it shot from his hand, right into the pink rabbit's face.  He knocked it over with so much force, a normal person might've had whiplash...or a very ugly bruise.

Eyes wide in surprise, [Y/n] squealed. Once handed the plush, she burried her face on the top of it's head and spun around. It was a little more then half her height. After letting out most of her excitement, she looked up and smiled warm up at Benimaru. "Thank so much, Shinmon-sama."

A blush began creeping up his neck as he looked away again, "I didn't want you to start crying and scaring all the kids away." He proclaimed. [Y/n] was beginning to feel that his rudeness quite often times might be a little misunderstood. She hoped at least. "Oh, and you can call me by my first name."

"Benimaru-sama?" She said taken by surprise. She wasn't the only one though. The crimson eyed man wasn't ready for her to use his first name so quickly that he couldn't hide the instant unsettling blush on his face. He stormed off down the street in confusion.

"W-Wait!" [Y/n] exclaimed. She turned to Konro and the twins. The lieutenant gave a gentle flick of his hand, as if signaling for her to make her way after his captain. "I have to help these girls carry all the toys they're about to siphon out this poor man." [Y/n] gave a confused expression but turned and darted after Benimaru.

"Hehehe. Hina and Hika are gonna take all these toys!" They dropped all their money on the counter and collected as many balls that could sit on the counter. The sounds of toy after toy hitting the ground echoed past several neighboring stalls as the twins windmilled ball after ball at the wall of toys. The poor stall keeper huddled in the corner shaking in fear, for these balls came flying with more force then he'd ever seen in his life. 

Konro gave a tired and strained smile. He was going to have a lot of carrying to do.

----

"Please wait up!" [Y/n] called out. Benimaru turned to glance at her before continuing to make his way away from the lights and crowd of people. "Then hurry up, the fireworks are about to start soon."

[Y/n] faltered in her dash towards him. A smile spread on her face. "O-Oh okay!" She followed him towards a hill with not quite so many trees. One with a clear view of the sky. He sat down with his legs crossed, not waiting for her to sit down first. [Y/n] smoothed the fabric of her yukata behind her and sat next to him, still clutching her overly large rabbit. Her face burried in it's head.

The first pop of a firecracker shot up in several colors. A basic round one in colors of red, blue, and green. There where sparkles of excitement in [Y/n]'s eyes that Benimaru couldn't keep his eyes away from. She turned to look at him and smiled.

"I think I'll name him Bunnymaru." She giggled and turned back to the fireworks that started coming in more frequent succession. She turned just in time to miss his eyes go wide in surprise, his neck, ears, and face a red so bright that he thought he might actually overheat.

"Tch. Whatever."

As much as he wanted to focus on the fireworks, he kept stealing glances at [Y/n]'s excited face. She was much more like a rabbit herself. In one day, he had noticed she was nervous, skittish, but really bubbly. A bubbly he didn't hate that much.

"My rabbit." He mumbled just as more fireworks sounded off, masking his words. Much to his relief. He didn't mean to say 'my' and he nearly choked in realization. He glanced at [y/n] again, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed in his usual expression as he watched her enjoy the display in the sky.

'Ah what the hell,' he sighed inwardly, 'It won't hurt if she was...'

[marewriteblr]

Traits And Quirks For Characters In Fantasy (list)

idk if I’m the only one, but when creating characters for my wips, I like to google lists of traits and quirks to give a bit more depth to them. and since I mostly write fantasy, I thought my characters deserved some more fantasy-related traits and quirks, so here’s a list of 150+ traits and quirks for characters in a fantasy setting!! hope it helps some of you too

has tattoos that keep changing

bad vision—takes magical potion to see clearly

addicted to magical food or drink

weird things happen when they laugh, sneeze, cough…

sees things that aren‘t there—or are they?

speaks in rhymes

has a wandering scar

has a wound that never stops bleeding

shows symptoms of a curse but pretends to not know how they got it

physical signs when lying, eg hair growing unnaturally fast

can summon any mythical creature easily

has a mythical creature for a pet

brings a slight breeze with them whenever they enter a room

was dead once

refuses to eat certain type of food for no specific reason as though it were amoral or inethical

obsession with a particular period in history

obsession with a magical creature/species

doesn‘t dance or make music because weird things happen

haunted by a ghost, their best companion

always has a candle lit (eg for their ghost companion)

can speak a mystery language only very few people understand

can turn the light of single stars on and off as they please

used to be part of a secret society

wears shoes with wings, no one knows if they actually work

can predict the future correctly for a ridiculous/bizarre reason

lives at court, no one knows why or where they came from but they let them stay

can only talk in questions or riddles

always seen reading spell books though they can‘t do magic

always seen reading books though they can‘t read. bonus if the reason for this is magical

tells everyone about the time they did something they‘ve certainly never done

tells everyone they used to be a dragon, is obviously lying

is actually blind, no one has noticed

never speaks, only talks to people telepathically, they’re used to it by now

has blood of unnatural colour, tells the weirdest stories of why that is—story changes every time

sacrificed 7 years of their life to magical creature who might claim them any minute

sacrificed a body part, determined to get it back

sacrificed their good looks

always learning spells by heart and seen using them the next day as though they’d prepared it for the occasion

has a secret identity, eg can do a certain type of magic and sneaks out to commit crimes/perform on stage/meet their companions…

keeps getting into trouble because people are convinced they have magic, but they don’t

belongs to a human/non-magical species but was kidnapped years ago and never went back

is actually a ghost

is immortal but doesn‘t know anything about history—can tell you all about the migration of dwarf antelopes on their continent throughout the centuries though

always corrects people on history/mythology facts with things they can‘t possibly know if they weren‘t there themselves

allergic to magic. bonus if they‘re a powerful wizard or deity

obsessed with knives and swords. you can fight them but they‘re more interested in the crafting of your blade

allergic to a certain spell and only that spell for no apparent reason

always has a certain item or food in their pocket in case they need to bribe a magical creature today

miscorrects others‘ pronunciation of spells and pronounces them wrong themselves (eg emphasis on wrong syllable)

talks in a fake elf accent to piss off elves

pretends to be a species they clearly aren’t judging by their appearance, and gets defensive when told so, calling people racist

gets themselves into trouble by trying to seduce nymphs when drunk. also an alcoholic

is cursed to never remember any names—has forgotten their real name a long time ago so no one can ever have that power over them

introduces themselves with a different name every time they meet someone

heavily worships an evil trickster god

ominously refers to themselves in third person

doesn‘t walk but jumps from roof to roof instead

predicts the future but is always horribly wrong

challenges people to a quest all the time

seems to know every person in the entire kingdom

seems to be enemies with every person in the entire kingdom

spends a lot of time in dimly-lit taverns seeking opponents for a strange board game

likes to look for bizarre monsters deep in the forest

talks to their dagger

talks too much during sword fights

gets involved in sword fights but only ever carries a paper sword with them

makes up crazy and hardly believable stories when asked about their past to hide their guilt

collects a particular type of item that can only be found on adventurous quests to dangerous places

has large horns on their head despite their species having no such thing, refuses to tell anyone why

never seen eating

never seen sleeping

takes every time anyone mentions something being hard or dangerous to do as a challenge to try it

wears an eyepatch solely for the looks of it

collects dangerous enchanted jewellery

random hissing

an excellent storyteller, like unnaturally excellent

politically involved and fights for giants‘ rights

has a finger that‘s mysteriously shorter than the others

is best friends with a demon

is nocturnal but loves sunlight

pretends to be completely resistant to pain

always sneaking around

has a tattoo that keeps dis- and reappearing

enchants people with their acting

has a wooden prosthesis

doesn‘t wear shoes

changes eye colour every day

wears gloves all the time and tells people it‘s for their safety

hears the trees talk to them

believes the apocalypse is near

pretends to be immortal

breaks into people‘s homes to steal food. no jewellery. only food

pins pressed flowers to their walls

believes that flowers grant wishes

has random visions of other people‘s pasts that aren‘t necessarily true but always get them into trouble

strongly believes in reincarnation

talks in a different accent every day

is convinced they are cursed

sees every minor conflict as a challenge to a sword fight

fights their battles using nothing but darts

is an archer and also blind or missing an arm

accidentally stabs themselves. a lot.

always carrying poison around „just in case“

is at fault for the fall of a mighty god

knows all about mythology

always up to date regarding drama and gossip between the gods

immediately scared they’re about to be cursed whenever someone raises their voice

still mourns over the death of a friend

whatever they touch breaks instantly

chews on their wand (definitely not a good idea)

always wears their hair tied up into a bun, is longer than rapunzel‘s when worn loose

brags they were good at picking locks but actually just hit it really hard until it breaks

accidental shapeshifting

still waiting for an ominous prophecy to foretell their destiny

makes weird/seemingly unnecessary bargains with strangers

has something slightly off about their appearance that makes people stop in their tracks to watch them

unhealthy obsession with cloaks

is a great fan of wizards. collects wands and hats like action figures

horses don‘t like them, they ride a wolf instead

sings the spells they use

constantly mumbling to themselves or someone others can‘t see

can duplicate themselves but can‘t do math so they‘re always a bit confused

has a leaf sticking to the back of their hand. don‘t ask them why

is a painter, travels very far to obtain a particular kind of paint

sketches their dreams in a book after they come to them at night

always seems to be charged with electricity

freckles on their cheeks dance when laughing or when light hits them

makes up prophecies and tells strangers about them

grows wings when high up due to fear of falling

gets arrested regularly for pranking nature spirits and deities

sneezes when using magic

insomniac, needs a particular spell or magical food/herb to fall asleep

magic makes them fall asleep (when they use it or when others use it nearby)

mixes the weirdest potions all day

can‘t eat spicy food, literally breathes fire

necromancy but only to revive their dead cat

turns the same colour of any food they eat

dreams of becoming a knight

horrible short term memory but can easily recite anything they read two centuries ago

makes their eye colour look white just to mess with people

can‘t remember spells for shit. says them incorrectly which always goes horribly wrong

terrible handwriting. bonus if they’re a messenger who has to send important letters on a daily, causing things to go very wrong

can correctly guess anyone‘s magical power on a scale from 1-10. is stupid enough to point it out aloud, too

wears cloaks that are way too long

carries a fake sword on their hip

carries way more weapons on them than necessary

uses their dagger as a toothpick

plays with dagger when thinking

supernaturally heavy sleeper

gets the different species mixed up a lot

tells everyone how many people they‘ve killed in their life

a die hard fan of a well-known assassin

a die hard fan of shakespeare‘s puck

desperately wants to be abducted by the fae

heavily affected by the phase of the moon

[three-drink-amy]

A Walk in Time

Thank you to @outlanderlush​ and @iamnottrisha​ for putting this fun challenge together! My beautiful moodboard was made by @gastairfad​!! I hope this story is worth your creation! 

“You can’t be serious,” Joe said to me. 

I shrugged and insisted that I was. 

“That’s insane, Claire.” 

“Lamb did it,” I reminded him. Somehow, my uncle had become the standard for both of us. 

“Lamb’s dead.” 

I rolled my eyes. “Not because of this.” I crossed my arms. “If you recall, he did the same thing when he was around my age. That’s how we know it works. I can’t believe we found it again.” 

“I can’t believe you actually want to try it. It’s crazy. You could die. You could get stuck there. What would you do if you were never able to come back?” Joe asked. 

I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it’s a risk I have to take.” 

“You don’t have to take it. You could just be a normal, rational person who doesn’t try to go hopping through time for their own pleasure. You could just stay in the 21st century where you belong.” 

“I mean, you have to understand where I’m coming from,” I appealed to him. “Imagine getting to experience history firsthand!” 

“I wish Lamb had never told you it was possible,” Joe sighed. “I knew once you tracked it down again, you’d never let it go.” 

“If you weren’t so scared of the unknown, you would be doing the same thing,” I argued. 

“It’s not that I’m scared of the unknown, it’s that I don’t want to take the risk.” 

I sat down in my chair with a sigh. “Well, Lamb was the last family I had, and he’s been gone for over a year now. I guess it’s not as big a risk for me.” 

“And what if you get stuck there and you can’t get back?” 

I was silent for a long moment before I answered. “I know a considerable amount about that time period. It’s a perk of being a historian while also having been raised by one. I think I could theoretically handle it for a time.” 

Joe looked skeptical. “It’s a totally different thing to be familiar with the conditions and actually living through them.” 

“Well, obviously. But, Joe, it’s two days. I can make it through two days. The space opens between time for forty-eight hours. I’m going to go through at midnight and be back by the time it closes.” 

“And if you can’t get back in time?” 

“Then I suppose I’ll spend a year there and return the next time it opens,” I said, far too casually. 

“What if the portal moves again?” Joe asked. “If I recall correctly, your uncle went through the portal and came back in Scotland. And then it shifted and he never found it again.” 

“We aren’t going to have to worry about that, because I’ll make it back in forty-eight hours,” I retorted. I had secretly wondered about that possibility, but I couldn’t let Joe know I was concerned. From the other stories I’d heard of people who used the portal for short time jumps and came back, it took years before it shifted again. But when it did, there was no telling where it would be. I’d used all of my luck tracking it down in Venice. After hearing Lamb’s stories, I was desperate to have my own chance with such a phenomenon. 

The idea of going back to another time was far too enticing to let it go. 

“So, you think you can steer yourself back to a specific time?” Joe asked, seemingly finally accepting that I’d made my decision. 

I nodded. “Yes, that’s what Lamb told me.” 

“And you have the proper clothing for the time you’re attempting to get to?” 

“I do.” 

“When is it open again?” 

“Tomorrow at midnight,” I said, the excitement building up in me. 

Joe sighed. “I don’t approve, but I’ll be there.” 

“I know you don’t, and I appreciate your physical support,” I told him with a smile. As my colleague, Joe and I had been through a lot together. I knew how crazy he thought I was — because he told me constantly — but he was still there, ready to help me. 

Once I’d tracked down the portal, I’d had a single-minded focus of how to get through it, how to dress, how to survive in a time so different from my own. I’d made preparations for the two magical days where I was going to walk through time and be a part of history for forty-eight hours. It would be a short sample of time, but it would be extraordinary no matter what. I could barely contain my excitement about this upcoming trip through time. Joe was the only person I could share my giddiness with and he was less than excited for me. 

It didn’t matter though, I was doing this and I couldn’t wait. I had a mere thirty-six hours left before I got to go through. Joe, ever the practical pessimist, insisted that I make sure things were square in this century in case, somehow, I couldn’t return. I hated his cynicism, but he did make a good point. I didn’t have much and I decided to leave it all to him just in case. There wasn’t any family left for me in the world. Joe was the closest thing. So he gets it all if I get stuck. But I won’t, so it would all have been for nothing, anyway. 

I started to feel jittery as I put on layer after layer of traditional dress in the eighteenth century. I took in as deep a breath as I could, given the tight corset I was wearing. My hands started to shake as I finished tying laces and fixing skirts. I was excited, but I was also nervous. This wasn’t just an ordinary research trip. I’d been on plenty of those throughout my entire life. This was certainly riskier. I could understand why Joe was nervous for me. But I’d made up my mind and I was doing this. It was the chance of a lifetime and I was about to embrace it. 

Joe knocked on my door at 11:00. He knew I wanted to get to the portal early so I didn’t miss a minute of my time in the past. Joe, of course, kept insisting that I go through at a normal hour so (theoretically) I wouldn’t end up in the past at night, in a time and city I was less than familiar with. I wouldn’t risk losing any time I had to explore the past, so I ignored him. 

I opened the door, smiling faintly, and gestured down to my attire. “Think I’ll do?” 

Joe returned my smile, though he looked a bit sad. “I think you will. You look stunning.” 

I brought him in for a hug before he could protest. “Thank you.” 

“I may be escorting you to the actual site where you’re going to do this, but don’t mistake this for support,” Joe said as we walked down the empty streets of Venice. I was sure I stood out like a sore thumb. It was a good thing there were very few people out and about. 

We’d tracked down the portal to a random alley off the Lagoon. It was early, yet, but we paced nearby, unable to sit still until the time came. Joe had an alarm set on his phone that went off five minutes before midnight. Our eyes locked, both of us growing increasingly nervous. Joe pulled me in for a long hug. 

“You’re smart and you know what you’re doing,” he reminded me. I nodded against his shoulder. “So keep being smart and keep your head up. Don’t be caught off guard.” 

“I won’t.” 

“And I better see you in two days time,” he said. Pulling back, he shot me a significant look. 

“You will,” I promised him. 

We hugged one more time and I turned toward the portal. It was a small fountain that hung on the wall. By all accounts, it looked old and rusty, dirty and unimportant. But for me, it was so important. Joe watched the clock on his phone, counting down for me as we got closer and closer to midnight. 

“Good luck, Beauchamp,” he said, flashing me an encouraging smile. 

“I’ll see you in a couple of days, Joe,” I replied. “And even so, I love you.” 

He rolled his eyes, a smile following after. “Love you, too. Five, four, three, two, one.” He took a deep breath. “Be on your way, Claire. And be careful.” 

“I will!” I gave him one last look before reaching my hand out and laying it against the fountain. 

It started to glow as my hand made contact. I could hear Joe gasp behind me, but I couldn’t pay any attention. My mind flashed to the time period I hoped to go to. I said the year over and over again in my mind, willing the portal to steer me there. The glowing became stronger and stronger til I was surrounded by it. I could see nothing behind me but light and the only thing I could see in front of me was the fountain. My body felt like it was starting to constrict. Everything felt tight around me and inside me. I started to fight for my breath and then it was over. The light was gone and I was standing in the same place I’d been standing before. I took a deep breath, feeling sad that the portal must not have worked. I turned to Joe to lament, but he was gone. It was my turn to gasp. I looked around and noticed that any modern touches of the 21st century had disappeared as well. 

With a laugh and a gasp, I turned back to the fountain. “It worked,” I sighed. I walked back toward the canals, looking up and down the road. I couldn’t believe that it had actually worked. I started walking off in the direction that Joe and I had come from in the 21st century. Joe had been insisting that I shouldn’t be out at night. My main goal was to find a tavern to grant me a room. It would still count as experiencing history, even if I wasn’t out on the streets. 

I knew I wouldn’t sleep, but I could plan. 

I wandered down the streets, keeping my eyes roving for both historical significance and potential dangers. Following the same path I’d walked before, I came across a tavern in a very special place. It was the same place my hotel had been standing 275 years in the future. I stared up at it in awe for a moment before a sound down the road grabbed my attention. It sounded like a scuffle breaking out. Half of me was curious and wanted to go investigate. The other half of me — my sense of self-preservation — told me to go inside. Somehow, my inner protective voice sounded a lot like Joe. Listening to the clearly wiser voice, I went inside. 

A kind older woman looked up at me as I walked in. There was a taproom off to one side and a desk where she sat off to the other side. “You wouldn’t by chance have a room for a traveler,” I asked. The woman seemed surprised by my British accent. 

“Why, you’re no’ Venetian,” she remarked. 

I picked up her Scottish accent. “Why, neither are you,” I replied, a smile growing on my face. 

She shook her head. “My husband moved me here years ago. There are but a few of us Scots here in Venice. And they find us an odd bunch.” 

“I’m sure they’ll find a solitary English woman just as odd.” 

“Likely so,” she said with a knowing smile. “So ye’re needing a room?” 

“Yes, I am.” 

“Well, luckily, we do have one available. Let me show ye the way.” She stepped out from behind the desk, grabbing a key, and leading me up a set of stairs. I marveled at the building and it’s antique (though not at this time) structure. It was incredible to be experiencing such a place. 

The kind woman opened the door for me and showed me what I needed. I nodded with a smile to her. “Thank you so much, uh…” I trailed off, not knowing what to call her. 

“Ye can call me Mrs. Fitz,” she said. 

“Well, thank you, Mrs. Fitz.” 

I spent a few hours writing down things in the journal I’d smuggled in my skirts. Things I’d observed, things I planned to find once it was daytime. I noted the kindly Mrs. Fitz and the fact that I’d found a Scot in Venice. My jitters had been keeping me awake for the past few days. Even though I didn’t want to, I succumbed to sleep, hoping it would only be for a few hours. Without an alarm clock, I was risking a lot. 

The tolling of a bell tower woke me hours later. I sat up, breathing hard, unsure of what time it actually was. The lack of clocks was my first frustration. The sun did not seem to be very high in the sky as I peered out my window. I assumed it was still early enough in the morning and I hadn’t missed prime exploring hours. 

I straightened my skirts and ran down the stairs, eager to go outside again. Mrs. Fitz stopped me at the bottom of the stairs. “I thought ye’d be hungry,” she said, pointing me to a small breakfast ready on one of the tables in the taproom. 

Her kindness was astounding to me. I knew most Scots in this time hated the British. I couldn’t really understand why she was being so generous to me. Perhaps she missed her home, even with the British creeping into it. I thanked her profusely and sat down to eat quickly. Eating at my usual, far too fast pace, I threw back the breakfast, taking note of the eighteenth century meal, while also trying not to taste it.

I left right after my breakfast, telling Mrs. Fitz I was off to see some people. She didn’t ask more than that and I was relieved. Wandering around the city was breathtaking. While some buildings looked familiar, others did not. The mixture of architecture that would stand the test of time and buildings that looked like they were already in disrepair was astounding. Its citizens were already bustling about their days. I tried to keep pace with the people walking around me, instead of stopping every few steps to take it all in. Even if that was what I wanted to do. 

After walking for an undetermined amount of time, I found myself in front of St. Mark’s. I breathed out in awe. It looked the same, and somehow different. In this time, it had already been standing for hundreds of years. Another couple hundred must not have altered it all too much. I’d spent weeks in Venice in the 21st century, tracking down the portal. Standing at St. Mark’s felt like finding a friend in a crowd of strangers. It was comfortingly familiar. 

I turned around to the square behind me, looking at daily life unfolding before me. My hand was itching to take out my journal and note my findings. Of course, I couldn’t. 

Turning from the basilica and the square at large, I tried to rejoin the bustle. Everyone had somewhere to be. Well, everyone except me. 

As I kept walking, my foot caught on a cobblestone and I pitched forward. My hands flew out in front of me, preparing to catch myself. Instead, a strong set of arms grabbed around my abdomen, keeping me from hitting the ground. I looked up in shock, meeting a pair of striking blue eyes. A gasp escaped from me before I could stop it. My hands gripped his arms as he continued to hold me. 

“Are ye alright?” he asked me. 

Another Scot. How was this possible? 

“Yes, thanks to you,” I replied, trying to catch my breath. I wasn’t so sure if it was the fall or the stranger that had made me lose it in the first place. 

“But of course, lass. Happy to help,” he said, his tricorn tipping slightly. He removed his hands from around me. I realized my hands were still on his arms and I slowly removed them. I could almost feel the loss. 

“You saved me from marking up my face, so I greatly appreciate it,” I added, unsure of what to say. All I knew was that I didn’t really want to part ways. 

He smiled, glancing at my face before meeting my eyes again. “It would be a real shame to let a face such as yers be marked.” 

I felt my cheeks grow warm and knew a (likely embarrassing) blush was spreading. “Well, thank you.” 

“Ye’re a sassenach,” he remarked. 

I looked up at him, recognizing the word he used. I’d spent time enough in Scotland with Uncle Lamb to know the insult. “Excuse me?” 

“I dinna mean it as an insult,” he quickly covered. “Just surprising to find an English woman in Italy.” 

One brow raised in reply. “Imagine my surprise to find a Scot.” 

There was a long silence between us, neither quite knowing what to say. Finally, he cleared his throat, bowing his head slightly. “Weel, I’m afraid I must be going. I’ve business to attend to.” 

I almost felt disappointed. It was silly. He tipped his hat to me and started to walk past me. “Wait!” I called impulsively. He turned around and gave me a confused look. “You haven’t even given me your name.” 

He almost looked amused as he took the few steps back toward me. “Of course. Where are my manners?” He nodded toward me. “The name’s James Fraser.” 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, James Fraser,” I replied. “And thank you, once again.” He shot me an expectant look. I laughed when I realized I hadn’t given my name in return. “I’m Claire. Claire Beauchamp.” 

“Pleasure to meet ye as well, Mistress Beauchamp.” He smiled at me, though it held a hint of sadness. “I really must be off.” 

“Of course. Until next time,” I said, knowing regretfully that there wouldn’t be a next time. 

I watched him leave, his tall figure just visible over the crowd. Never in my life had such a simple interaction left me feeling so many things in such a short time. Perhaps it was the past that was messing with me. Or perhaps James Fraser was just a captivating man. 

Or perhaps it was both. 

I spent the rest of my day wandering around the city, taking breaks here and there to rest. My mission was to absorb as much history as I could in the short stay I had in the past. Somehow, no matter where I went, my eyes locked on any particularly tall person, wondering if it was Mr. Fraser. His blue eyes and striking smile had been stuck in my mind all day. 

When I returned to the tavern late in the evening, Mrs. Fitz was ready for me. She quickly began interrogating me about my day, making sure I’d eaten and had taken care to avoid bad parts of the city. I regaled her with my explorations, happily telling her about the things I’d seen and experienced. I left out the part about meeting James Fraser. For whatever reason, I wanted to keep it to myself. I half-wondered if she’d know the fellow Scot. 

“Now, did ye hear anything about the ball tomorrow?” she asked, pushing a bowl of some sort of soup at me.

“A ball?” I asked. 

“Well, a masquerade, really,” she corrected. “It’s to be a large to do. Ye should go.” 

I watched her, trying to make up my mind. It would be quite an experience to attend an eighteenth century masquerade. I would need to be quite aware of the time though, so I didn’t miss the portal before it closed. Joe would kill me if I had to spend a whole year here. 

“It sounds intriguing, but I wouldn’t have anything to wear,” I told her. 

Mrs. Fitz smiled mischievously. “Not to worry. I’ll find something perfect. I know people.” 

Her comment worried me slightly, but not enough to ask her not to try. A thrum of excitement passed over me as I thought of what could happen at an event like this. 

The next day started in almost the exact way. I wandered through the city again. My travels ended earlier as I needed to return to the tavern so Mrs. Fitz could help me get ready for the masquerade. She seemed all too giddy to dress me up in a big, elaborate, and beautiful gown. I glanced down at the black dress with gold accents and was mesmerized by it. I’d never worn something so ornate in my life. Giving me a once over, she seemed to deem me masquerade-ready. With a proud smile, she handed me a mask. 

“Ye’ll need that for the party,” she said, nodding to it. I held it in my hand, noting the white mask with the gold trim. It would work well with my dress for sure. 

I’d never been to a masquerade party in the 21st century. I remembered that a friend in college had gone to one and said she’d found it creepy. It would be an interesting function, no doubt. I didn’t know a soul in Venice except for Mrs. Fitz. My brain was all too fast to supply the image of Mr. Fraser as well. I rolled my eyes at myself and picked up my skirts, ready to head to the masquerade.

My plan was to be as aware of the time as possible so I could get back to the tavern and grab my original dress before heading to the portal. Theoretically, it would all work out. 

Mrs. Fitz and I walked through the streets of Venice til we reached a beautiful, palatial building. We both stared up at it for a moment before looking back at each other. With a nod, we started climbing the steps and following the procession of people entering the building. 

It was an incredible sight. The ballroom was breathtaking, outfitted in marble and sprinkled with gold statues. I was in historian’s heaven. I looked around at the other people there. The dresses were all as elaborate as mine, all faces covered with intricate masks. The skirts swirled as the ladies danced, fabric flowing around them in a dizzying array of colors. 

I watched the dancing from afar. The steps were foreign to me and I did not want to stick out. I held my mask dutifully in front of my face. I’d lost Mrs. Fitz a while ago when she found people she knew. Every now and then, I peered around, trying to see if I recognized the dress or mask she was wearing. Most people’s masks were tied around their heads. Mine was a handheld mask. I was grateful for the ability to remove it when I was growing overheated. 

I was standing near the door to the courtyard when a man walked past me, bumping into me slightly. “My apologies, Madam,” he said quickly. 

“Not to worry,” I replied immediately. My brain was focused on his voice. I knew that voice. “Mr. Fraser?” I asked, hoping I was right. 

He’d stopped as I spoke and watched me. Slowly, he reached up and removed his mask. With a heartstopping smile, he greeted me. “Mistress Beauchamp.” 

“Pleasure to see you again,” I said. 

He grabbed my hand, placing a kiss on the back of it. “And ye.” His eyes looked over my shoulder, to the room at large. “I was just stepping away from the…merriment for a moment. Would you care to join me?” 

I felt a smile overtake my face. I nodded. “Of course. Unless of course you have other business to attend to,” I teased. 

He rewarded me with a laugh. “None tonight. Thankfully.” 

His hand was still around mine as he started out the door and I followed him. He walked into the courtyard, the moon beaming down at us. Looking almost regretful, he released my hand. 

“It’s a beautiful evening,” I remarked, looking up at the stars. 

“Aye.” 

My gaze turned to him. “So, what is a Scot doing in Venice?” I asked. 

He cleared his throat, looking back at me. “I have an uncle in France who runs a wine business. He wanted to expand it to Italy and asked me if I would run it for him. I would have been a fool to say no.” 

“That sounds like a wonderful opportunity.” 

“Indeed,” he agreed. “I came here after I left the university in France.” 

“Do you miss Scotland?” I asked. 

“Every day,” he told me. “But this is where I need to be right now.” I nodded in understanding. “And what about ye? What brings a sassenach to Venice?” 

I laughed at his term this time, hoping a plausible answer would present itself as I laughed. “I don’t have much of a home. I was raised by my uncle and he traveled everywhere and took me right along with him. It was unusual, of course, but I enjoyed it. I suppose I’ve tried to carry on some of the same life.” 

“Ye dinna wish to settle down?” he asked. 

“Maybe someday.” I shrugged, my arms crossing at my abdomen. “But not just now.” 

His eyes lingered on me. “That’s mighty brave for a lass to travel the world by herself,” he remarked. 

“Some might call it dangerous.” 

He stepped closer to me. “That they might.” 

I felt drawn to him, just as I had yesterday. My suspicion had been correct — he was just a captivating man. “But you think it’s brave, James?” I asked. 

He nodded to me. “Aye.” Taking a breath, his hand found mine again. “And ye can call me Jamie.” 

A smile spread across my face again. “Okay then, Jamie.” 

Jamie led me over to a bench in the courtyard and we continued talking. He told me of his upbringing in Scotland and how proud his father had been when he’d gone to school in France. His father had encouraged him to take the job his cousin had offered him. In turn, I talked as much as I could about my life. The places I’d gone with Lamb, the life we’d lived on the road. 

I had no way of knowing how long we’d been talking. It had felt like minutes and hours at the same time. Looking up at the surrounding buildings, I found a clocktower. I still had a few blessed hours before I had to leave. 

“Where is the most fascinating place ye’ve been?” he asked me. 

Looking up at him, I couldn’t help but stare. We were sitting close, his beautiful eyes boring into me. Under his gaze, I felt my breath grow short. I shrugged in reply. “I don’t know. This might be it.” 

A hushed silence fell over us as he stared back at me. I knew what my body was telling me to do. Instead, I sat still. Jamie, on the other hand, leaned slowly toward me. He was giving me the chance to move away. But I wouldn’t. We inched closer to each other. His eyes flickered down to my lips seconds before his pressed against mine. 

Our kiss was tentative at first. With a sigh, I leaned in, pressing my lips more firmly to his. I felt his hand cup my cheek as he deepened the kiss. My lips parted and his tongue found mine, dancing together delightfully. We were wrapped up in each other, in a passionate, wonderful kiss. While I was with Jamie, I seemed to forget that I was from another century, that I was due to return in a few hours. With him, I was just there, happy and alight. We broke apart slowly, just as we’d started. His eyes opened and looked at me almost nervously. When I smiled at him, his thumb began to stroke my cheek where his hand still lingered. 

The sound from the ballroom grew louder as the door to the courtyard opened again. Jamie and I scooted further apart, though his hand grabbed mine. We weren’t alone in the courtyard any longer. He squeezed my hand, standing up and staring down at me. “Would ye like to dance with me?” he asked. His head inclined back toward the ballroom. 

“I don’t know how to,” I confessed. I stared down at my lap. 

He squeezed my hand again, pulling me to my feet this time. I looked up at him in surprise as he drew me close. “Dinna worry. I willna let ye fall,” he said with a knowing grin. Both of us were clearly thinking of our first meeting.  I nodded to him in agreement and he led us back to the ballroom. 

Our masks had been forgotten in the courtyard, leaving us as the only two dancing without covered faces. He could see my nerves as he drew me close, closer than the other couples. I didn’t mind the proximity. His hand was at my waist, guiding me and keeping me close. Instead of looking around me, I stared only at him, utterly transfixed. Jamie Fraser was a marvel to me. I knew when I returned to the future, nothing would leave such a mark on me as he would. 

My eyes closed as I remembered how soon I had to give him up. It was the first time I’d looked from him since we’d started dancing. His hand at my back pressed more firmly, encouraging me to look up at him. I did, noting the question in his eyes. I shot him a small smile and shook my head. He didn’t look convinced. Still, he continued dancing and never actually asked me what had been wrong. 

Eventually, we retreated back by the door where we’d met the second time. I didn’t want to part from him. The sound of the clock tower caught my ears. I counted the chimes. My time was running out and I desperately didn’t want it to. I wanted more time with Jamie. 

He led us back out to the once again empty courtyard. We reconvened on our bench. My eyes flitted to the clock far too often. I wasn’t as present as I had been before. That was, until Jamie started telling me an impossible story. 

“Twas when I was a lad,” he said. “I was in Scotland. I’d journeyed to Inverness with my father. While I waited outside a shop for him to take care of some business, I met a man dressed very peculiarly. He fit in enough, but his clothes still looked odd.” I stared at him, wondering where he was going with this story. 

“I asked the man why he was dressed so strangely. Ye ken how wee bairns are. No manners to speak of.” I laughed with him and encouraged him to keep going. “The man bent down and knelt in front of me. He asked me if I could keep a secret. I promised the man I could. So he told me that he was from the future. That he’d traveled from two hundred years from now just to come see Scotland in all its beauty.” 

I gaped at him. “How long ago was this?” I asked. I’m sure it wasn’t quite the question he was expecting. 

He looked a bit surprised, but answered anyway. “It would have been about twenty years, I think.” 

I gasped softly. Lamb, I thought to myself. Could it have been possible that Lamb and I had met the same person in our travels — him meeting a boy in Scotland and me meeting a man in Italy? It seemed impossible. But time travel is seemingly impossible too. 

“Ye must think I’m mad,” he said, pulling me from my thoughts. 

I shook my head at him, my hand cupping his cheek. “No, actually, I don’t.” 

Jamie smiled at me. He leaned back toward me, bringing me in closer. His lips were back on mine, kissing me soundly. I clutched to him, knowing this would be my last chance. 

When we broke apart, I glanced at the clock tower. If I didn’t go back to the tavern for my things, I could spend a bit more time with Jamie. My journal would be abandoned there. It could alter history, but at the moment I didn’t really care. I knew that when I got back, my memories would be sharp enough to write it all back down. 

I could feel it all slipping away and I felt desperate. My hands held onto Jamie’s tighter. My eyes tried to drink in every detail of him. I didn’t want to lose him, but I had to. 

The time came when I knew I had to part with him. He stood up, reaching out to me. “Should we go back inside? We could dance again.” 

I wanted nothing more than to dance with him again. I stood up and stepped into his arms. I kissed him with all the desperation coursing through me. His arms came around me and held me. He returned the kiss with an equal amount of fervor. It almost seemed like he knew the end was coming as well. As we pulled apart, we were both panting. I felt tears building in my eyes. 

“I’m sorry, but I have to go,” I told him. He looked confused. I took advantage of his confusion and gave him one more kiss before I ran from him, the courtyard, and the palace at large. 

I tore through the city as fast as I could. Tears spilled over my eyes, running down my cheeks. In all the times I’d imagined coming back to the past, I never imagined meeting someone like Jamie. He’d taken my breath away. I knew when I returned to the future, a small part of my heart would be here. 

The clock hadn’t chimed over the city yet. I still had time. And there it was — the alley, the fountain, the way back to my home. I held my hand out to the fountain, but I hesitated. It was stupid, really. There was nothing for me here and if I didn’t catch the portal now, there was a chance it would be gone by next year. But still, my hand wouldn’t touch it. Seconds ticked by as I wasted my precious time. 

The sound of footsteps caught my attention. He threw himself into the alley, moving so fast he almost fell. I looked over, shocked to see Jamie righting himself and staring at me. “This is where ye had to go?” I nodded. His eyes narrowed in my direction. “Ye’re like him. The man from my past.” 

“I am.” 

Jamie walked slowly closer to me. “What would happen if ye didna go?” 

I shook my head at him. “I don’t know.” 

He closed the space between us and held my face in his hands, staring at me, imploring me. “Would ye risk it?” 

“What?” I couldn’t believe what he was asking. 

“I ken I’m no’ much,” he said, “but I’ve ne’er met anyone like ye, Claire Beauchamp. And I canna imagine letting ye go just now.” 

I opened my mouth to reply, but he cut me off. His mouth crashed against mine, kissing me deeply. My body responded as it had every time this evening. Without really meaning to, my arms came up and wrapped around his waist. He held me tighter, turning me slightly so I wasn’t right next to the portal. 

Breaking apart with a gasp, he urged me, “Dinna go. Stay here. Wi’ me.” He was pleading and I didn’t know what to do. Any moment the clock tower would chime and my window would close. My eyes tore from him to the fountain behind him. They bounced back to him, noting the desperation on his face. His arms tightened around me. “Please,” he begged. His forehead touched mine as he stared at me. 

I felt his touch at my back. I looked into his eyes. I could feel his heart racing underneath my hand on his chest. His body surrounded mine and somehow, my body knew I was safe. 

And in that moment, there was no doubt in my mind. 

My hand moved from his chest to wrap around his neck. “Okay,” I whispered. He gaped at me for a split second before I pressed my lips back to his. He held me impossibly tight. We were tangled together, kissing each other with abandon. I felt my back hit the bricks of the wall behind me at the same time his tongue found mine again. 

The sound of the clock chiming pulled me from our embrace. I looked toward the sky for a moment, listening to the number of hours chime in the distance. My eyes found the fountain, noting for the first time that it wasn’t quite as dingy in this time. Now, it was surely back to being just a fountain. 

I looked at Jamie, realizing the gravity of the decision I’d made. He looked just as nervous as I felt. His hand reached up and stroked my face, his thumb moving against my cheek. We stared at each other, both of us at a loss for words. A huge, life changing decision had been made and we both knew it. 

Jamie leaned his forehead back to mine with a small sigh. “Thank ye,” he breathed. I gave him a soft kiss in reply. 

Suddenly, he stepped back from me. “I still remember how he said it worked,” he told me. I must have looked confused. “The man I met from — well, from yer time. He said it opened once a year.” 

“That’s right.” 

“There’s this tradition in Scotland,” he told me, still staying away from me. I nodded for him to continue. “Tis called handfasting. The couple is marrit for a year and a day and at the end of that time, they can either separate or get marrit officially.” 

I smiled at him, taking a step closer to him. I reached out and grabbed onto his coat. “Are you suggesting we handfast?” 

He shrugged, a shadow of a grin on his face. “The timeline would be right. Live wi’ me, be wi’ me. And if at the end of a year, when yer magic door opens back up again, ye wish to part from me, I’ll bring ye back here myself.” 

My arms wrapped around him. I paused with my lips a breath away from his. “I accept,” I whispered. I could feel his smile against my mouth as his arms wrapped back around me. 

There was so much uncertainty, so much we didn’t know about each other — so much I didn’t know about living in this century. But as I felt the solidness of his arms around me, the surety of his kiss, I knew I would be alright. 

One Year Later

Joe paced in front of the fountain as he’d done the year before. He’d cursed Claire for going and worse, for getting stuck there. Watching her disappear in a beam of light had been terrifying. And for two days, he’d worried about her constantly, even though she’d assured him she’d be back. But she wasn’t. 

For a year, he tried to carry on with his life. He went back to Boston, back to his family. So many times, though, he found his mind on Claire, wondering what she was up to or how she was faring in a different century. More than anything, what he wanted was answers. Even history hadn’t been able to provide that. 

So he was back in front of the fountain, praying that it was still where the portal would be. For the better part of a day, he camped out by the fountain. He ate there, accidentally slept there, and read a book as he waited for her return. 

A flash of light caught his attention, drawing him from his book. He shot out of his chair and raced to the fountain. Just as the light was starting to flourish, it went out. Joe was about to yell when he spotted something sitting in the empty fountain. It was an old piece of paper with his name on it, wrapped in a ribbon. He couldn’t open it fast enough. 

My dear friend, Joe, 

I’m sure you’re camped out in front of the fountain, ready to tell me off for missing the portal closing last year. I’m hoping this letter will actually make it through and can tell you my story. 

The eighteenth century was (well, is) brilliant. It truly is a historian’s dream to be here. I find myself marveling at ordinary things. Those in my life (particularly those who know the truth of me) keep shaking their heads at me. 

I should tell you why I didn’t come back last year, and more than that, why I won’t be coming back at all. The night I should have returned, there was a masquerade. I was encouraged to attend by a kind scotswoman I met upon my arrival in the eighteenth century. While there, I (re)met the most wonderful man. His name is Jamie Fraser. He is a Scot, running his uncle’s wine business in Venice. He was so captivating to me and as I watched the hours tick away at our time together, I dreaded leaving him. I know how unlike me it must all sound — giving up my life for a perfect stranger in a different century. But more than anything, I wanted a chance to be with him and a chance to see what we could be. 

He knows the truth of me. Actually, when he was a child, he met Uncle Lamb in Scotland. I still cannot wrap my mind around that fact. Jamie found me at the portal and begged me to stay and somehow, I couldn’t say no. He promised me if after a year, I wanted to return, he’d bring me to the portal himself. 

It’s now a year later and I’m afraid I won’t be coming back. I’m writing this letter next to the fountain. Jamie brought me here so I could try to send word of my life to you. 

So here it is. Jamie and I are so very happy together. Our lives have been wonderful for the past year. Life is so different in the 18th century than it was in the 21st, but with him, I can’t seem to mind the differences. I love him so completely that life without him would feel meaningless. We discovered just last week that I am with child. It was faster than I would have planned in the 21st century, but I find myself absolutely thrilled. He talks of taking me back to Scotland someday, but I’ve assured him that for now, we’re safer in Italy. I won’t tell him why, but he seems to heed my warning well enough. 

I shall miss you, Joe. I have treasured our friendship. Your voice is the one in the back of my head telling me to be careful. And I hope it always will be. Thank you for your silent support, even if you didn’t actually support me. I have found a life here that I never could have imagined, but wouldn’t trade for the world (or even a toilet). I hope you are well and happy. I promise you I am.

With all my love,

Claire Beauchamp Fraser

[caffeinetheory]

Crime Scene [Timari Week Day 4]

@maribat-2k20

told you I’d have it out today (don’t mind the time ;> )

(rewrote a few ties but it’s okay, it was a struggle but I think this is okay)

Big thank you to @theatreandcomicfreak bouncing ideas off with you really helped

///

Another break in had occurred at the jewelry store down the street from the studio MDC was working in. How Tim had convinced her to get a bigger place for her to work on her designs she wasn’t sure but he had that effect on her. She was already planning on leaving when she heard the alarm go off, no reason to rush now. Mari watched as shadows moved from the rooftops headed toward the blaring sound. The thought of running across the skyline brought back memories of a time best left in the past. 

About twenty minutes had past and Mari was getting quite bored. The Bats were efficient so they were surely done by now right? The red and blue flashing lights coming her way signed they were close enough to being done that she ventured down the street, her custom yo-yo (weapon) was hidden on her hip just in case, can’t be too careful in Gotham after all. 

Curiosity got the best of her as she passed, looks like 2 birds were there, maybe 3 if that shadow was anything to go by. Nightwing was talking to the commissioner, the robbers tied up by his leg. In the shadows, so there was definitely 3, was Robin. The black cape almost his the crimson of his uniform but years of being a hero herself, she was able to catch his eye. His split second flash of confusion of being seen was quickly dismissed when her eyes landed on Red Robin, or should she say Tim. She knew that stance anywhere, it was him alright. 

~~~~~~

Robin watched as Drake’s girlfriend walked passed the scene they had just finished cleaning up. Not unusual if he remembered correctly, her studio was on this street and she had the same tenancy to work late like Drake. What was unusual was how she easily made eye contact with him as he hid in the shadows how had she seen him? Before Robin could process that she could easily find him, he noticed her relaxed stance change when she spotted Drake. Like it was second nature, she made her way silently over to him. She didn’t make a sound as if she did it would ruin everything. Watching her move it was clear she had experience, like they all did, but why did she? 

~~~~~~

That couldn't be him could it? Making her way over to Red Robin Mari subconsciously went into Ladybug mode. It was second nature, moving silently and quickly. She took in everything at the scene, even more so than before, it was hard to shake the habit after so many years. The closer she got the more sure she was. That was absolutely her birdie, a perfect nickname in retrospect, from the way he stood to the messy raven hair. The slight jump when she touched his arm and the alarm that quickly melted into comfort when eye met eye under the domino mask to hide his identity, was the last nail in the coffin, that was her bird under there. 

"Birdie…?" Her voice was hardly above a whisper, only for the person in front of her to hear. The shock was clear as day, and he took her close. They should have known better to try to keep secrets from each other, they always found out.

Nuzzling into her hair she knew he trusted her enough to confirm, no words were needed. A call on the com link broke their moment, a hostage was in a warehouse, they needed help. Red Robin pulled away from her, "I need to go-"

"I'm coming too," Mari didn't let him finish, "no argument… trust me." 

Tim knew how to pick his battles and the determined look in her eyes told him it wasn't going to be a problem. The two rode to the warehouse Oracle had sent him, the lights and armed guards were a clear tip off. 

Tim was about to tell Mari to stay back but she was already scouting the doors. ‘You know what, this isn’t the weirdest thing,’ Tim thought to himself as he got into position. Four guards, one female hostage and plenty of cover. 

In the blink of an eye his wonderful girlfriend - how did she get as mask? - was deflecting bullets with what looked like a yo-yo. With an expertise he’s only seen in videos from what he thought was a tabloid she took everyone down without breaking a sweat. In seconds the hard calculating look she had was gone and a carrying one replaced it as she gently untied the women in the chair, offering reassurance that she would be okay. Hopefully Barbara caught that.

“Everything will be okay, I promise. No one else will hurt you while I’m here,” Mari was rubbing circles into the woman’s back. Luckily there got there before anything bad could happen. Instincts kicked in, but now that the threat was gone she realized Tim was there, staring at her catching flies. Thank Tikki she had her yo-yo and was able to get a mask quickly. This wasn’t ideal though, she wanted to leave this life behind. Looked like that was out the window. 

“Birdie, you’re going to catch flies.” the women had been picked up by the police finally, Tim however still hadn’t moved and it was getting concerning. 

By some miracle he snapped out of it, “I need to get you to the cave,” he didn’t elaborate as he got her on his bike and rode in what Mari believed was the direction of Wayne Manor. 

‘I should have guessed,’ Mari thought as they entered a cave though and entrance that was hidden behind a waterfall. Numerous vehicles lined the walls as they rode in, eventually he parked by a larger room. The stairs led up to a large open space with cases filled with old costumes that made her cringe the tiniest bit, a large training area was on the other side and in the center along a wall was a truly massive computer. Time felt still was she made her way slowly behind her boyfriend who still hadn’t said much. 

There were 5 other people in the room visible but she could reason there were a potential 2 more. A red head in a wheelchair sat at the computer, her typing had slowed when the pair made their way up the steps. The big Bat himself sat in a chair in front of the massive supercomputer, chair turned to watch the newcomers with a calculating eye. Mari had to fight the instinct to get out her yo-yo and get ready for a fight. The same small kid she had seen at the robbery was hiding in the shadows not far from the Bat, this time when they made eye contact he had a look of curiosity more than shock. Not reassuring if she was honest. By what looked like a training area was two older men who looked like they paused sparring. One was absolutely Nightwing, as she saw him earlier and was still in uniform, so by process of elimination the other muscular guy must have been Red Hood, no helmet but a crimson domino mask adored his face and the white streak in his hair reminded her of Jason - but didn’t he hate Batman? There’s no way this was real. 

She stopped mid-step, she was already tense but the feeling of eyes on her back was not welcome. Before she could think about it - there were how many people there after all ?! - she whipped out her yo-yo and stared into the darkness, seemingly at nothing. The movement was not lost on her and her yo-yo sped up, she was tense. Mari almost threw Tim across the cave when he touched her shoulder.

“It’s okay,” with a sigh he called out to what he hoped was Cass, “You can come out now Sis.”

Out of the shadows a 5’5” Asian women in a midnight turtleneck, black jeans and the blackest combat boots one could get came out. With her midnight short hair and domino mask it was astonishing anyone had seen her. She gave the pair a nod and silently made her way over to the others. How in the world Mari knew she was Tim wasn’t sure but it definitely didn’t put his girlfriend at ease. It took some reassurance but he was able to get Mari to be a little less tense, not much but it was a start. The yo-yo was at least by her side and she had caught up with him. Mari still shied away from his family, not that he could blame her. This was a lot to spring on her, but she had figured him out she might as well know about the rest - she’d figure it out anyway she was a genius. If her fighting style was anything to go by and her instincts, well he had an idea she knew the family business well herself. 

“This can’t be happening, Tim please tell me this is a stupid joke and I’m wrong,” Mari whispered to him. The only response he gave her was a tight squeeze to her hand. 

The pair stood in front of everyone, the silence was deafening. The only sound was the typing coming from what Mari assumed was Oracle, soon multiple videos, pictures and interviews were displayed on the screen of one Ladybug. The fight from earlier was also pulled up in the corner by the person typing. 

“You can’t be serious,” she Gave Red Robin a look of exacerbation, “I swear I didn’t want you to find out about this. Preferably ever- but definitely not like this! Tikki is going to kill me, oh god I did so well before and now I just slip up over something stupid! God I never should have stopped on my way home, then I wouldn’t have seen you and guess who you were - THAT WAS SO STUPID OF ME!” she was spiraling. Walking herself in circles as she gestured wildly as she spoke and pulled at her hair, “of course I end up dating a hero! What luck do I have?! And he brings me to what I assume is the famed Bat Cave.” she stopped to look at him, “Why would you do that?! Are they going to kill me? Oh Kawmi-” 

Tim grabbed her shoulders to ground her. “Batman has a no kill rule, don’t you B?” he was able to anchor her and he took off his mask. Blue eyes met blue eyes and she was breathing properly again.

Before Batman could reply, “An annoying one if you ask me,” the amusement in the man’s voice was already enough to get a smile out of Mari. She was no longer panicking but the look the big Bat gave him made her burst out laughing, it was so much like the look Bruce gave Jason after he made a joke about dying - WAIT!

“Jay Jay?” at his sideways grin Mari wanted to hurt him, “Of course… does that mean…?” The nod Tim gave her was all she needed to collapse on the ground, she wasn’t passed out but she was overwhelmed. 

Agent A walked in from what must have been an elevator, looked around and gave a disapproving scoff as he made his way over to Mari and Tim who had taken to sitting on the floor with her. He handed her a large mug filled with her favorite tea, “thanks Alfred,” she mumbled before it clicked. “Oh god it’s all of them isn’t it?”

“You always have a keen eye Miss Marinette,” the amusement in the old butler’s voice made a heavy sign leave her lips.

“Let me guess,” Mari leaned into Tim as she started to point. 

“The smiling one is Dick,” he gave a shit eating grin as he bowed dramatically. 

“Mr. Shooty is Jason as already noted,” Jay gave a halfhearted protest at the nick name.

“The one who gave me a heart attack must be Black Bat,” the woman gave a nod, “I’m really hoping that’s Cass,” a smile told her she was right.

“The brooding Robin must be Damian, it would explain a lot like the sword,” Damian gave a nod of affirmation. 

She looked hesitantly at Batman who was still watching her with intensity, “So by logic that must be Bruce,” she wanted to run. If looks could kill she was sure she would be dead  by his look right then. 

The girl in the wheelchair had turned around at this point, a proud smirk across her lips, “Right as usual Mari,” Mari ran to the open arms of one of her best friends. Of course one of the smartest women she knew ran the tech side of Batman, “Barbara!” 

This was a lot to take in, but then a video began to play on the screen, an early fight of Ladybug. “How’d you find me out?” 

“Between Tim and me, well it wasn’t hard, you have a distinctive fighting style. Yo-yo isn’t exactly common.” 

“You make a fair point,” Mari paused to look back at Tim, “why did you bring me here?”

“You up for joining this life again? I know this is out of nowhere but you did kinda figure it out…” he was trailing off. Why did he think this was a good idea, it was more spontaneous than anything he usually did. 

“Only if you promise you’ll tell me when you need help and no one else makes my suit,” she gave a look to everyone to let them know she would be there for them too. It was unorthodox but when did anything in this family happen in a normal way. 

~~~~~~

Nightingale made her first official appearance with Red Robin at a heist about a week later. They were a reliable duo, solving everything the Riddler sent at them in record time, her yo-yo leaving a nasty bruise on the green clad villains face when they were done. The city knew they had one more hero in the ranks.