#another thing is my sketchbook. haven’t added to that in a while and I want to do that but then I will have to wait til sunset or daylight

[strawberryfaced]

I NEED. TO DO. OR MAKE SOMETHING. PLEASE

[steftastan]

Carian Stroll

“Tell Blaidd, and Iji…I love them.”

Before this piece, I had been wanting for a long time to create my own piece of Elden Ring fanart featuring Ranni. I had tried several sketches unsuccessfully, just wasn’t particularly feeling the ideas I had sketched up until that point.

One day of usual internet scrolling, I stumbled upon this gorgeous piece of art by Shimomura Kanzan.

I knew immediately I wanted to do something like this for my Elden Ring fanart. In fact, if you look at this piece, there is tons of inspiration that I drew from the original artwork, such as the style of the yellow leaves and the main subject matter being a prominent silhouette of the brightest value, placed at approximately the bottom third of the image.

The main character is cleverly shrouded amidst various layers of trees and foliage, giving us the impression that we're peeking into candid moment of their life. In the case of the fox, we caught it during a mid-day snack. In the case of Ranni and her party, we caught them in a leisurely stroll, while Iji outfits the dreaded Fingercreepers with their iconic rings.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to capture a happy moment, but Ranni goes as far as to ask us to deliver to Iji and Blaidd the message that she loves them dearly as her quest draws near its end. I would imagine they all must have had fun moments together as a family. Hey, maybe even the hands liked to be around them?

The process

I started this on my iPad using the procreate app. Sadly the full process is not captured on video, as I switched to Photoshop for the rendering phase of the illustration. This video is a fun window into my chaotic process and how I iterate on the fly on the same canvas. I probably wouldn't do that in a professional setting where you often need to have color keys and iterations to be reviewed and analyzed. I like to I cut myself some slack when doing personal art to keep things fun.

Trying and failing some more

This illustration was not a straightforward path. I haven’t been very diligent about personal art, and at some point I started deviating too much from my reference by adding too many levels of depth to the background and suffocating the piece. I got into a weird loop where I would randomly open the PSD, play around with the values, pushing Iji to the back, then bringing him back, cranking all the levers on Ranni, etc., decide it would look horrible, then begrudgingly determine I’d never complete this image and go on with my life.

As artists we likely have unfinished work sitting everywhere, be it in our sketchbooks, canvases, or hard drives. But it’s a different kind of sting when you feel like you can’t even nail the fundamentals.

Anyway, so a couple weeks ago, I decided to give it another go, but this time I would get rid of all the unnecessary stuff, even stuff that I had been trying to render for ages. I would not hold on to anything, I would try and recapture what drew me to Kanzan's beautiful painting to begin with.

After it became a matter of pushing and pulling pixels until the image was finished!

That’s about it. I didn’t go crazy in depth but lately I’ve been enjoying reading into artists’ processes and I’d be remiss to not share my own thought process also.

Thank you for viewing!

[possiblyi4657]

I babysat two rather chaotic children yesterday.

They threw pillows at me, yelled loud enough that i was worried someone next door would knock on the door and complain about the noise, and the brother (kid #1) told me- with a straight face- that his sister was evil.

This aforementioned evil (kid #2) carried around this really adorable sleeping eevee plushie, and after finding out that eevee is her favourite Pokemon, i offered to draw an eevee as a peace treaty. She constantly shook the chair i was sitting in, making it somewhat hard to concentrate on my craft, BUT JOKES ON HER CAUSE I LIVE WITH 4 YOUNGER SIBLINGS, SO I KNOW HOW TO KEEP A SOMEWHAT STEADY HAND WHEN I NEED TO. HA.

After some trial and error, I drew this:

Considering i dont draw Pokemon that often, i think i did a good job!

…And then the creature threatened to scribble all over my hard work. (I think she was joking. Probably.)

I was still planning on giving the drawing to her, so i decided that i may as well tear the page out and ask if the two wanted anything else drawn. Kid #1 asked for a pikachu, and uh. I tried.

If youre wondering why hes holding a toothbrush and toothpaste, kid #2 asked for him to hold a toothbrush and i thought i may as well add some toothpaste while im at it.

This is when all hell broke loose.

They said the eevee looked buff, so i drew a buff eevee

They saw the other cat doodles i was drawing in my sketchbook, so i added it to the page. Kid #1 took my mechanical pencil (with my permission), and wrote notes on the page. Kid #2 wrote down what she claims to be “dad’s phone number” (false)

Kid #2 then turned her gase towards one of my unfinished eevee drawings, asking me to “make it lighter” (ink it in).

Boy am i glad i took a picture of this before kid #1 got ahold of it, as what you shall see below is what happened to the drawing an hour later, as i was working on another drawing.

Yeah.

This leads me into the final Main drawing i made in the evening. The two children asked me to draw….. a Charzard.

This is where i have to confess. I have never, in my life, drawn a charzard. Hell- I haven’t drawn a good looking dragon before!

(I did once draw a REALLY bad looking dragon when my mom asked me to draw Haku (from spirited away) back when i was first started digital art at the age of 13 or so, but i cringe even thinking about those times.)

But ive dug too deep to back out now. Not only is my pride as an artist at stake, but these children are finally looking at me with expectation. So, i looked up a Charzard reference on my phone, set it off to the side, and started drawing.

For a brief moment, the world stood still. My singing to myself probably helped, but Kid #2 FINALLY stopped shaking my chair. Those two little spawns of condensed chaos, who until now have threatened to draw all over my drawings, didnt say anything bad about this one. Hell- both of the children HELPED me erase the pencil outline!!!

I have no clue how this managed to impress them but here’s the finished drawing

Apparently, this drawing was good enough for them that they want to colour it in.

This is probably the highest compliment ive ever received about a piece of art ive created.

And to think that 4 hours ago kid #2 was threatening to scribble all over my eevee- and kid #1 did so with the sleeping eevee! (Im not upset at that, i know that by giving the paper to the children they can do whatever they want with it, not to mention i take pictures of my drawings for a reason.)

A few minutes later, the parents of the children came home, I got paid for my time, and then i left, concluding the tale of how i somehow impressed two children with my art skills despite rarely drawing Pokemon.

This somehow made me feel a thousand times more confident about my art skills, as its one thing for someone my age or older to say “hey, your art is good!” But its a whole other thing to hear that your art is good enough to be coloured in by two around elementary school level kids who previously have been throwing pillows, shaking your chair and joking about how theyre going to scribble over your art.

[tonytylerdraws]

August Artist Blog (more under the cut)

For August I tried to make a vlog, not only to document my month making art, but also my attempts to overhaul my approach to making and sell art. However, I’m not experienced at making vlogs, nor do I have a quiet, dedicated space to record voiceovers. But I did post a video of me doing marker work. We’ll get to that in a bit.

Introduction

First off, in case you’re new here, my name’s Antonio Tyler. I’m a webcomic creator and illustrator. I’ve been making art most my life, but started drawing comics in 2003 with my first webcomic, Synaptic Misfiring.

I drew variations of Synaptic Misfiring for a few years, got married, had kids, worked two jobs (because California). Over the last 5 years, though, I’ve been focusing more on illustration and selling products, though o want to get back into webcomics. I did a 3 episode Webtoon called Only Human, but I haven’t done a comic in a few years now.

Mobile Studio Setup

I don’t have a dedicated studio. I know a lot of artists do. But it’s not impossible to have a setup that is portable.

I use a 4th generation iPad Air with 64GB and a 2nd generation Apple Pencil. I use IbisPaint X, and use the paid version. I find it’s most ideal for making comics. And it’s constantly updated. New features are added all the time.

I have an assortment of tonal markers by Tombow, and a couple of Copics.

I always carry my iPad with me, so I can work on sketches or finished art whenever or wherever. You can access IbisPaint’s cloud storage via internet if needed, but it also stores files locally. It’s great being able to draw on a lunch break, a bus ride, or at the library. Occasionally I carry a sketchbook and pens with me if I intend to do traditional art.

Rethinking websites and storefronts

A couple months back I looked into doing a website on a number of platforms, such as Wix, Squarespace, etc. While a lot of them are pretty affordable, and have good options, I don’t really use my website much. It’s mostly a hub for all my other sites and profiles.

Tumblr, having been purchased by the Wordpress folks awhile back, is really pushing itself as a website alternative, with their templates (which they always have had) and having direct sales of web address. I’m in the process of updating AntonioTyler.com while also keeping the functionality of a Tumblr page. Tumblr is notorious less functional as a mobile site or app. So choosing the right template has been a challenge.

One thing is making a Linktree/Beacons/Milkshake-style link page instead of just a text based link page. Including links to all my different store fronts.

Updating my storefronts happens to be another thing on my to do list. I have several, and they are all decentralized. I use several: Ko-fi, Threadless, INPRNT and BigCartel. Originally I was going to use BigCartel for my sole storefront, but issues with getting Stripe to work dampened those plans. And BigCartel was mostly for my international customers, since it uses Printful products. But since there was a less than enthusiastic response, I will keep all my storefronts, but make them specialty shops. Threadless will have the bulk of my products, BigCartel will be a seasonal exclusive shop, INPRNT will be my…prints, and Ko-fi will be my digital shop (though I’m toying with the idea of carrying my Printful items here).

September plans

Working on some new Wand-Slinger merch for the seasonal shop. Threadless will be getting an overhaul. The website will be wrapped up and relaunched.

[lugonzalez94]

Journey Down the Yellow Brick Road Part 2

This post is long overdue since I finished the YBR2 workshop earlier this month, but life’s been keeping me busy. To be honest it’s been a bit hard to keep up with my practice, with making this blogpost, with my social life, or working on selling my art, but I am coming up from it and doing the best I can!

YBR 2 Week 3 - 5: Making the Finish Line

In my previous post I left off with struggling with 1 of my 3 paintings, sitting with 2 of my 3 paintings, and letting some thoughts around my practice and who I am as an artist simmer.

I found myself stuck with the Té de Noche painting because I was overthinking it. I wanted to bring in the feeling I get while sitting around the table at my grandma’s house on Sunday evenings with the family. We share pan dulce, café con leche, and friendly conversation. I guess one of the reasons why I was struggling with this was that I was trying to remake a memory and was getting caught up in the details. For instance, I couldn’t for the life of me remember what kind of table cover my grandma had. This memory of Sunday evenings together also began to feel very distant to me. Even though I have spent close to every Sunday at my grandma’s for more than half of my life, these past 2 years that we’ve missed spending together has made a significant gap in my memory. I was also going through another significant life change during the last few weeks of YBR2, so I was going through a lot emotionally and physically. And as I was going through these emotions and thoughts, I came to realize that although I was hoping this series would depict community and family, it’s rooted in moments of solitude. It’s about finding joy in your own company. Comfort in your own thoughts. It’s about putting yourself first and taking the time to care for yourself. Letting myself figure this out while doing the work was exciting. It’s interesting how much art can teach us and let us discover for ourselves, especially if you’re the one making it.

I often find myself stuck in a painting when I’m close to finishing it but I’m unsure if it’s done. I also feel stuck when I’m trying something new and it doesn’t feel quite right and I don’t like how it’s coming along (big shocker, this happens all the time when you try something new!). I haven’t really worked this big before, which made me feel like I have a lot of space to work with, so I automatically think I need to add more to my painting to fill the space. I also received the feedback that my art is quite graphic, which I didn’t really realize before. At first, I wasn’t sure how to feel about that. But after some time to think, I came to realize that yes, my work has always been a bit graphic. I’ve more-or-less drawn and painted the same way since I was a child, it’s just better now. There’s nothing wrong with it, it’s just who I am. My art is soft and warm. My art has some texture, some shadows, some shading. My art is round and curvy. My art depicts the way I see the world. It’s my artistic voice.

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To get unstuck, I take some time away from my work. Or sometimes I make different work, like work on a different painting or in my sketchbook. I come back to things when I feel the time is right. I don’t force it, I know it’ll happen. What I love most about my practice is that it’s mine. I can make things I envision or am inspired by and bring them to life. I listen to my favorite music while making art. I use materials that I that feel good. I let myself get “in the zone” and just be in it. Most of the time I go in with no expectations. And honestly, these things helped me finish my series.

After adding a few more details and letting my paintings be, I finished! I feel so accomplished with my series and I am very proud of myself. Taking this class and going through this journey has really made me develop a newfound dedication to my practice. During the last two weeks of the workshop, I started a new job. And while I was preoccupied with the transition, I noticed I missed painting when I was doing other things and I noticed when I felt like I wanted to paint. I worked best at night right before bed and also made time to get a little paint session in the morning before I started work. From this series, I see a few more paintings, and have even started to work on a few. I see another picnic scene. I see more moments of solitude. I see moments of longing and wishful thinking. I see community. I see smoothness. I see some rough textures. I see scenes in different angles.

Ultimately, I feel motivated to keep going and to build out my community with other artists and support systems. I feel more confident in sharing with those close to me and re-evaluating what I want to share, how much to share, and with who.

After the workshop I’ve been a bit quiet and took some time to rest. I felt like I needed it. This transition has also been a lot and has been challenging to navigate. I haven’t had the energy or mental capacity to paint a lot, which bums me out. But I take advantage of those few moments where I feel motivated to paint and just do it. I also started to sketch on the couch a bit, which has been fun. I took a little trip with my closest friend and my sister, which made me feel re-energized. I feel like I’m getting over this slump and am looking forward for what’s to come.

Thanks for reading and for being here.

[cozage]

Hi! Could you write something with Sanji, Zoro, Law (maybe Izo) with a S/O that likes to do graffiti? Like, they have a small ring notebook (idk if it's this, but it's the one that opens and close and u can put more pages) where they keep their small arts, incluiding their name? Pretty pleasee

A/N: I hope I did you justice!! I kept Izo off because I haven’t met him yet (Still in Wano!) but when I get to him I might revisit this and add it!

Characters: gn reader x Sanji, Zoro, Law

Cw: just cute fluff :) 

Total word count: 600

Graffiti on His Heart

Sanji

He finds your notebook by accident. He was cleaning up your room to surprise you, and found your binder in a pile of scattered files

You found him a few hours later, mesmerized by your drawings. You rush over to him, trying to cover it, but you see him staring at some decorated block letters “Sanji + Y/N” with a heart around it. 

There’s other things around it, quotes you’d heard from the crew and things that happened around the ship that you doodled to make cute page accents, and you can see Sanji’s eyes looking at every single thing you drew, his fingers sliding down the page as he looks. 

“You weren’t supposed to find that,” you say, your hands gripping around your notebook. 

“What?” his eyes are still on your pages even as you take them away. He looks up at you, and it’s like he just realized you were there. 

“Oh, Y/N!” He blushes hard when he realizes he's been caught snooping. “You never mentioned being an artist! This work is magnificent!”

“I dabble sometimes,” you say, closing it quickly. “Nothing fancy.”

“Nothing fancy?!!?” he scoffs. “You could design our logos! You could decorate this whole ship and give it some real character! You should talk to Franky!”

“Oh, thanks Sanji.” His compliment makes you blush. “But I don’t really like to show my work to others or show it off. I just use it as a creative outlet sometimes.”

“Oh!” He looks back at the notebook at smiles. “Well if you ever want someone to show it to, I would love to see the rest of them.”

You sheepishly give the notebook back to him, and the two of you flip through the rest of it together. 

Zoro

Zoro walks up to you while you’re sitting on the deck. “Is this yours?” he asks, holding your sketch binder. “I found it in our room. Never seen it before.”

He opens it and flips through it, and you jump up to grab it. “It’s some really good stuff,” he mumbles, and you snatch it out of his hands and snap it closed. 

“Thanks!” you say, holding it close to your chest. 

“Hey wait, I was still looking!” He reaches out for it but you pull away.

“It’s mine!” you say, taking a few steps back from him so he can’t leap forward and grab it. 

He huffs and rolls his eyes, turning away from you to go back to whatever he was doing. 

“It looked really good,” he called back to you. “I liked the themed pages you made for each crew members. Especially ours.” He winked at you and walked away without another word.

You’ll occasionally find your binder moved from where you last placed it, or find little extra things (like subtle lines or shading) added to doodles as proof that Zoro was occasionally checking it out, but he doesn’t comment on it or tell anyone else about it. He just waits for you to bring it up and show you again before he outwardly comments on how much he likes your work. 

Law

“Law,” you call out, walking into his office. “Have you seen my green binder anywhere?”

“Over here,” he yells from the back room. You walk into his lab to find it sitting on top of his books. He’s measuring out some kind of liquid, focused on getting it perfect. “I really liked what you did with our jolly roger on page three. I was thinking we could adopt it for some of the gear we have.”

“You looked through it?” you gasp, your eyes flicking over to your sketchbook. 

His gaze moves away from the beaker in front of him and over to you for a moment. “Was I not supposed to? It was on my desk.” 

You cursed silently. You had been doodling last night while he was reshelving some books, you must’ve left it behind when you all went to bed.

He stood up, abandoning his project to put his full attention on you now. “I didn’t know you liked to do graffiti and sketches. We could definitely spruce up the outside of the ship soon and use some of your designs, you know? Or have a crew wall in the common area. The names you did on page ten really captured the essence of each crew member, it’d be cool to have that displayed somewhere.”

You feel anxious at the thought, and Law can feel it. “You don’t have to,” he rushes to say. “It’s just a thought.”

“Can I think about it?” you ask, and he nods in agreement. 

“You should show them though. The others. You’re talented, and I’m sure they’d like to see it.”

He goes back to his work, and he doesn’t bring it up again, but he clears off a wall in the common room and sets out some spray paint if you ever feel up for it. And he always keeps his eye out for a chance to steal a glimpse of new work you’ve done in your green binder.

[cjsinkythoughts]

FATWS One Shot #2 - The Beginning of a Family

Word Count: 1804

Warnings: Cursing, Mentions of Human Trafficking (once, it was a mission Reader did), Minor Character Injury

Setting/Characters: The first half-ish of The Avengers in 2012; Reader, Steve Rogers, Nick Fury, Natasha Romanoff, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Thor, Mentions of Loki, Phil Coulson, and Clint Barton, OC!Agent Anderson

A/N: Here’s One Shot Number 2! I was thinking of making it longer and adding the actual Battle of Manhattan, but I dunno if I’m gonna do that. I just wanted these to be One Shots of first meetings and other smaller events. I didn’t want to do scene-for-scene two parters. If you want me to, I can, I don’t mind doing it, I just wasn’t planning on it. I’ve kinda been slacking today, which is why I haven’t cranked out more than this one, but I’ll see if I can finish one more for tonight. Tomorrow’s another late night for me at work, BUT! Tomorrow night FATWS comes out! So I will be doing the next Episode! I also don’t have Friday off this week, so the Parts might bleed into Saturday, but they will come this weekend!

Reminder that this has nothing to do with FATWS the show, but I don’t have a title for my FATWS Series, which is what these are based off of, so this is what they’re called for now! If you have any ideas for names, feel free to send them in! I’m just too lazy to come up with something clever for the whole Series.

Thank you so much for reading! As always, not beta’d so please excuse any mistakes! Be kind to yourselves and others! Stay tuned and enjoy!

FATWS Masterlist

cjsinkythoughts Masterlist

You were exhausted, coming back from an assignment that lasted a little over two months. It’d been your first one since you were assigned to help Steve adjust, and you were guessing they’d keep you on desk duty for a few months before sending you back out again. Which frustrated you to no end.

But then you got back your personal cell phone from a fellow agent and, seeing you had a few  voicemails - which you never had - you flipped it on.

“Hi, Y/N.” Your lips turned up at the man you started growing close to over the past year. “I-I know you’re on a mission right now. I mean, you just left last week. Anyways, I just…I hope you’re doin’ okay. You probably won’t get this until later, but…still. I hope you’re safe. I, uh, I got that book. The one you were joking about me getting. The U.S. History for Dummies one. It goes farther back than I need to know, but I still read all of it. It helped. I wish you were here though. But I know you’re working. And that’s important. Um… I guess I’ll see you in a few months.”

The phone beeped before the next message played. “I took your advice. I got a sketchbook and some other stuff. There’s a ton of new supplies. I’m kinda excited to try them out. Maybe they’re not new but they’re more accessible now than they used to be. And I found a gym. In Brooklyn. It’s kinda run down - a hole in the wall type place - but they don’t do memberships and they don’t care how long you stay as long as you pay for your time. So that’s nice. I guess. Anyways…hi. I don’t think I said that earlier. It’s Steve, by the way. But you probably guessed that. Um…that’s all. I just wanted to let you know. Stay safe, honey. Abbyssinia.”

You listened to the next couple ones, all along the same lines. Steve telling you about his day; about the dog he was allowed to pet on his run or the different coffee he tried this morning at your previous suggestion. You snickered a little, shaking your head. You would never guessed that Hitler hitting, Nazi punching Captain America was so…soft. Cute.

His last voicemail was from earlier that morning, and it made her brow furrow. “Hey, honey. I, uh…God, I really wish you were here. I was told you’d be getting back last week, but then they said it might be another couple weeks because something happened? I hope nothing happened. Please be okay. I’ve really missed you. I know it’s only been a year, but…you’re the only familiar thing I have right now. I guess Fury was right to choose you since you were the first person I saw. There’s a, uh, problem. Fury’s got a mission for me. Some guy named Loki stole the Tesseract. Which was HYDRA’s secret weapon. That blue cube thing. I was just getting used to laptops and fast food and this…it’s just a lot. Overwhelming. You were always good at making things less intimidating. I’ve gotta go. Some SHIELD personnel are picking me up now. We’re going to…somewhere. I’m sure you would know, but they haven’t exactly told me. Hoping to see you soon, Y/N. Please be safe.”

You frowned at the information, looking up at one of your fellow agents, Anderson. “Hey.” He turned his head towards you from his conversation with the copilot. “Is something going on at HQ?”

“The Helicarrier.” Anderson corrected. “Fury just called it in. Something with the Tesseract. And some guy’s mind controlling people. He’s got Barton, apparently. The director is bringing a few people on board; Banner, Stark, Romanoff. Rogers, too, I heard. He wants you to be there ASAP, so we’re going there now.”

Letting out a sigh, you rubbed your eyes and nodded. “Alright. Let’s go see what’s going on.”

*************************

Fury met you as you walked off the jet, lugging your duffle bag over your shoulder. You were still in your clothes from the mission; a human trafficking ring in Guam. Dirty, torn up jeans along with a white tank top hugging your torso and a flannel, unbuttoned, over your shoulders. One of your sneakers had a hole in it, too, and you were walking with a slight limp from the dislocated kneecap you got a few days prior.

“Agent.” He nodded in greeting, passing you a file. “The others are waiting. We just brought in Loki.”

You chewed your cheek, narrowing your eyes as you scanned the information in the file. It had personal files of the others, but you didn’t need to look through those. You knew Natasha very well, considering she taught you half the things you know, along with Barton. You knew Stark - of course you did - especially after you helped set Natasha up to be his secretary a while back. Banner you were also knowledgeable about, seeing as you went undercover to find him when he first took off and had been part of the tracking team on him ever since. Thor you had learned about after his fiasco in New Mexico from Coulson. And, last but certainly not least, Steve Rogers, who you knew better than any file could explain.

“Walk me through this; Thor and Loki are the real Thor and Loki? Like, from Norse myths?”

“Apparently so. You know about the New Mexico incident with the two last year, don’t you?”

You nodded, pinching your lips together tightly. “Well, yeah, but I thought…I dunno. I guess it just didn’t click. So,” you tucked the file under your arm securely, raising an eyebrow at Fury. “We’re fighting a god? An actual god?”

“With an army of aliens.” He confirmed.

“Wonderful.” You huffed as the two of you turned a corner, making your way onto the bridge, just in time to hear Stark talking to Banner about him turning into the Hulk.

“Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube.” Fury butted in. You crossed your arms behind Fury, leaning on your good leg. “I was hoping you might join him. Before you do, this is-” 

“Y/N! You’re back!”

You shot a grin to the blonde, who perked up upon seeing you. “Hi, Steve. Just in time, too, huh.” You nudged Natasha slightly. “Hey, Nat. Sorry about Clint.”

She shrugged. “I’m just glad you’re here to help.”

“I’m sorry.” You looked over to find Banner frowning contemplatively at you. “Do I know you?”

You opened your mouth to answer, but Fury beat you to it. “Formalities later. Y/L/N, we’ll bring you up to speed-”

“I’ll get there, sir. How are you boys planning on tracking down the Tesseract?” You questioned, nodding in the two geniuses’ direction.

“I’d start with that stick of his.” Steve suggested, turning to look at the duo as well. “It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.”

“I don’t know about that, but it is powered by the Cube.” Fury stated. “And I’d like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.”

A tall, broad as hell blonde looked at Fury, confused. “Monkeys? I do not understand-”

“I do!” Steve jumped in, pointing at Thor, before leaning back in his seat at the silence that came after his exclamation. “I-I understood that reference.”

You chuckled and shook your head, winking at Steve when he smiled bashfully at you. As the two scientists - was Stark a scientist? - started heading out, Steve hopped up, padding over to you.

“You’re back early.”

“Late, technically.” You shrugged, letting him pull you in for a hug, your hand rubbing his back. “I got your calls.”

He pulled away, his ears turning red. “Oh, yeah. I, uhm-”

You sniggered. “It’s fine, Steve. You can call me whenever you need to. I’m just sorry I couldn’t answer you sooner.”

“You were working.” He shrugged half heartedly. “Did it go okay? Are you okay?”

“Yes, Steven. I’m fine.” You rolled your eyes just as a yawn threatened to escape your lips. “If not a little tired.” You tapped on the star against his chest. “Nice suit, by the way.”

“Ha ha.” He grinned, eyeing your own clothing. “You’re matching me.” He tugged on the red, white, and blue flannel hanging from your arms. “You also look like shit.”

You snorted. “Wow. What a gentleman. Let’s get this whole Loki situation over with so I can go to bed, yeah?”

He chuckled a little with a nod. “Sounds like a plan, honey.” The two of you started out of the bridge. “You should shower first, though.”

“You’re a bully, you know that?”

“I’m just sayin’!”

“I’m just sayin’!” You mocked with a huff. “Leave me be, Rogers.”

His laughter was cut short, making you look over at him curiously, only to find his slitted eyes studying your movements. “Why are you limping?”

“Relax, Captain. I just dislocated my knee. It’s fine. Shit happens on missions, you know that.”

“Is that why you came back late?”

Shaking your head, you lead him to one of the private rooms the Helicarrier had so you could shower and change. “No. I just needed a little more time. That’s all. Now let’s focus on the problem at hand. We can talk more later.”

He hesitated, leaning against the doorway and watching you set your bag on the small cot.  “Okay. As long as you’re alright.”

Your heart jumped a bit at the concern laced in his tone, the apprehension in those blue eyes - which you found out had some green in them - making your breath hitch slightly. “I am.” You spoke softly with a firm nod of your head, trying to assure him and his worries. “I promise.”

“I’m gonna go check on Banner and Stark, then. Come find me when you’re done.”

You cleared your throat to recover yourself, throwing him a cheeky grin. “Aye, aye, Captain.”

He rolled his eyes with a smile, before turning and walking out, leaving you alone and confused.

What was that? You’d never had that reaction to anything. Your heart doesn’t race whenever someone walks in the room. Not like it did with him. What the hell did that even mean?

You shook your head, clearing your throats. You didn’t have time to dwell on that now. You doubted it was anything more than a fluke. You were just tired and seeing someone familiar, who was genuinely excited to see you was like a breath of fresh air after your operation. That’s all. Yeah.

With that decided, you headed to the shower, head spinning with new thoughts of this problem with the God of Mischief and that stupid blue cube.

All Works Taglist (Open):

@happygoreading​ @bibliophilewednesday​

[movedbl0g]

stray kids - reacting to you being an artist

Genre: fluff

Warnings: none

🖤requested by @tayatubby

-> I hope you like it!!

(Gifs also belong to their original owners)

————————————————————

Bang Chan:

Chan finally got a day off, he was spending the last days in his studio, busy with working on new music. So when you finally could meet again, you decided to go on a picnic date, bringing cinnamonrolls and a lot of other stuff with you.

After you ate, Chan laud down, his head pointing up while resting on your thigh, slowly drifting to sleep. You softly stroked his hair, when u had an idea. You grabbed your sketchbook from the bag besides you and you started to draw the peacefully sleeping man in front of you.

You were almost finished, just a few little details missed, so you were looking at Chan, appreciating his features in order to draw them right. All of the sudden, a little “hey! You’re staring!”, brought you back to earth, as you were completely zoning out. “Oh- I I’m sorry I just-“ , you stumbled nervously, but after your eyes met Chans , you both laughed it off.

Then, Chans eyes fell into your sketchbook. “What are you drawing?”, he curiously asked trying to peak on the page. You tried the close the sketchbook as fast as possible, but Chans fast reflexes already kicked in and he grabbed the book before you could close it.

As he saw your drawing, he immediately blushed and let out a small chuckle. “I didn’t know that you can draw that well y/n! This looks really amazing!! Why am I only seeing this now?? Please,,can tou draw something for me??”

Lee Know:

You were sitting on the couch in the large dance practice room,the room filled with the sound of music and Minho’s steps. He has been practicing for a while now, while you carefully watch every movement he makes.

After a while you decided to draw a little, you always had a sketchbook and a pencil with you (just in case), so you pulled it out of your beg and opened a free page.You started to sketch the different movements Minho did, analyzing his anatomy and emotions, trying to include them in your sketches.

Once you had the base of several movements and poses in the paper, you started working on the little details. You were so caught up in drawing, that you didn’t notice that the music suddenly stopped and that Minho walked up to you.

“I didn’t know that you could draw that well, y/n!”, he said and you clearly heard the amazement in his voice. “Thank you”, you said while your cheeks flushed red. “But no matter how good my drawing skills are”, you continued,” the drawings will never look as handsome as you do in real life”.

Changbin:

Finals week were coming up soon, but you just couldn’t concentrate on the school stuff in front of you. You tried listening to calm music and asmr, but nothing seemed to help. Your mind just kept swaying to other things or well...Changbin.

You started to mindlessly scribble on your notes,but after a while you started to draw an actual portrait from Changbin on your notes, trying to bring in all the details, like the sparkle in his eyes and cute dimples.

“I thought you wanted to study”, a voice behind you said, causing you to jump. You blushed and tried to cover the drawing on your notes but Changbin already laud his eyes on it. “Is- is that me??”, he asked,you were not able to tell if he liked it or if he thought that it looked horrible.

You hid your face in your hands, trying to hide the embarrassed look an your face. “Yes...maybe....”, you said slowly, waiting for a clear reaction. Changbin started to giggle, blushing from your cuteness “it really looks amazing, you could definitely sell this!”

You both started to giggle. “Well, maybe you should draw another one tho, because these math equations kinda kill the vibe”, he added,giving you a small peck before walking into the bathroom.

Hyunjin:

“You really think that you can draw better than me?”, Hyunjin asked teasingly. “I mean we could do a drawing contest and let the other members decide who won”, you answered confidently,raising an eyebrow at him.

What Hyunjin didn’t know,is that you always were good in arts and you even studied it for a while, before you decided to concentrate on other things. After you both agreed on a theme you both started drawing, a wall of arts supplies blocking you both from looking at the other’s artwork.

Time flew by quickly, you were both silent for the most time, concentrating on the drawing in front of you. “I’m finished!”, Hyunjin suddenly screamed, confidence written in his face and you can’t help but let out a small giggle.

Hyunjin eyed you offended “so you’re thinking your winning, huh”, he stated in a teasing voice, “then show me your drawing fir-“. He stopped in the middle of his sentence, as you turned around your artwork to him, causing him to gasp out loud. “Nooooo”, he whined dramatically,” how was I supposed to know that you’re THAT good at drawing....this is not fairrrrr”

Jisung:

It was the first time that you two went to your apartment. You had been together for a few months now, but you always met at different places and mostly the dorm.

The two of you had bags filled with groceries in your hand,since you were planning on cooking together this evening.After a little bit of struggle you opened your apartment door and held the door open for Jisung, letting him walk in, while his eyes explored your apartment.

As you put down the groceries in your kitchen, Jisungs eyes fell on the colorful wall in your apartment, it was filled with little drawing, landscapes, forms and a lit of different things, but somehow it all harmonized to one big picture.

As you catched your boyfriend staring at the wall, you walked up to him, wrapping your arms around his chest while pulling him close “Do you like it?”, you asked. “Are you kidding me??”, he answered, his voice excited while his eyes were still lingering on the wall, “this is one of the most amazing and beautiful things I’ve ever seen...I can really be happy to have such an talented partner like you, y/n”

Felix:

“Do you want to help me decorate this cake??”, Felix yelled from the kitchen,while you were busy scrolling on your phone in the living room. “Sure,,I’m on my way!!”, you screamed back, putting your phone down and making your way into the kitchen.

“The cake smells totally amazing!!”, you complimented as you pulled Felix into a tight back hug. The boy giggled,putting both of his hands on yours.”what theme do we want to go for?”, he asked while turning around, so that he can face you. “what about if we try to recreate the latest album cover and draw a group photo on it?”, you suggested.

“But isn’t that kinda complicated?”, Felix asked worried, but you gave him a reassuring smile. “ I mean yeah, it’s not very easy, but if we mess up we just have to eat the cake as quick as possible, so no one sees it” you said jokingly, turning to the cake to star decorating it.

After some time you were finished with decorating, the kitchen was a really big mess, but the cake turned better out than you expected. “Woahhhhh”, Felix let out as he saw the cake. “You’re talent is crazy...like wowww look at that.....”, he immediately pulled out his phone to take a picture of the beautiful decorated cake. “Now i really don’t want to eat that cake, because this artwork of yours is more than amazing”

Seungmin:

You were sick today, so you stayed at home to rest and get healthy again as soon as possible.But as time went by,you started to get really bored, so you decided to look up pictures from your boyfriend and decided to draw him.

Your bed was quickly filled with art supplies, your sketchbook on your thighs as you started to draw. You started with a simple sketch, but it soon turned into a detailed fanart and you even incorporated colors (what you usually don’t do).

After the piece was finally finished, you had to go to the toilet, so you put down the drawing on your bed and rushed into the bathroom. While you were away, Seungmin returned home, bringing your favorite take out food with him.

As he entered your bedroom, he saw the drawing of him on your bed and looked at it for a while. “Why did you print out a picture from me?”, Seungmin asked as you came back. “Huh...what?” You asked confused, until he pointed out your drawing. Your cheeks turned red and you started to giggle. “Minnie, that’s a drawing...”

Jeongin:

You came home from work and found your boyfriend in the living room drawing while talking to his fans in vlive. You gave him a small smile as a greeting and he immediately smiled back at you.

“Do you wanna draw with me?”, he asked while holding up a blank paper. You hesitated at first, but after he gave you a pouting-puppy-stare you gave in and took the paper from his hand, sitting dien behind the camera, facing Jeongin.

He continued to talk with his fans, peeking over to your drawing a few times, but he couldn’t really see what you were doing. Your mind was totally focused on drawing, you haven’t done that in a while,but now that you are drawing again, you remembered how much you loved it and how stress relieving it was.

“I’m done!”,you shout out after a while, holding your paper up to Jeongin, so that he can finally see your drawing,while waiting for his reaction. His jaw dropped open as he looked at the drawing. “Omg look guys!”, he stated while taking the paper from your hands and showing it to the fans,”I didn’t know that you could draw that well!!”. His eyes lingered over the drawing, appreciating every single detail in your drawing,while you were blushing at the cute reaction of your boyfriend.

🖤masterlist

[latenightdecaf]

Entry 6 - of light gaze and worrisome face

part of let the pile of good things grow series - series masterlist

previous entry here

Yoongi x reader

Ft. nonidol!bts

Producer!yoongi, roommate!yoongi, soft!yoongi

slow burn romance, friendship, slice of life

series of drabbles/one shots

no warnings for now

A/N: starting to get the hang of this again, it’s been a while so i’m just going where my imagination takes me. So i’ll probably be posting another one for tomorrow before the motivation leaves me. Hope you all like it.

Word count: 1,953

Pacing back and forth in the living room as you’re having this conversation with your friend and also editor, Hye Jin. Talking you out into the possibility of taking in another project that would put an indefinite pause to your own book.

“I couldn’t possibly say no, she had this whole speech on how she wanted to make this book for her baby. To read to her when she’s old enough. Words from a loving mother for her newborn child, my goodness.” You stopped and sighed. “I know, but having to accept this means also putting your book on hold, you’ve been working on that for months now—is that really something you are willing to do?” Hye Jin reminded you on the other end. You stopped on your tracks, not saying a word and just looking blankly over the view from your living room. Thinking to yourself, ‘I can’t believe it’s summer already.’

Yoongi who have just woken up and is getting himself some water in the kitchen and were just looking intently at your back not particularly eavesdropping in your conversation, but just looking. You haven’t even realized he walked in.

“I know you, you’re just running away from this. You’ve been so scared of finally publishing something that is yours and yours only. So when a small window of opportunity presents itself you immediately took the ticket to leave.” Hye Jin, your editor who has became a good friend to you throughout these years, has always been good to you—she can so easily read you, too.

“You know for someone who’s actually trying to get pregnant for months now, you don’t seem to understand her feelings. Of course, I’m just here to help.” Weak argument on your end, you know she’s right when she said that you were running away. “You’re always there to help. But what about you? You know for someone who doesn’t want to have kids. I’m surprised you’re too adamant to do this.” Her statement made you laugh. “Have you changed your mind?” She added.

“I may not want kids, but I’m not heartless.”

And those were the last phrase Yoongi heard from you as we backed to his room.

Your conversation with Hye Jin went on for a couple more minutes only to end up with some sort of a compromise.

“You’ll need minimum 3-4 months, and probably maximum 6/7 months to wrap this all up? You need to get this done more quickly. That’s my only deal.” You sighed in defeat. “I’ll try.” Ending the call and waving the white flag. You too were also not sure of what you’re getting yourself into. Is it just you running away? Or is this the small part of you feeling guilty again.

“You’ll need minimum 3-4 months, and probably maximum 6/7 months to wrap this all up? You need to get this done more quickly. That’s my only deal.” You sighed in defeat. “I’ll try.” Ending the call and waving the white flag. You too were also not sure of what you’re getting yourself into. Is it just you running away? Or is this the small part of you feeling guilty again.

Weeks later, Yoongi’s packing up for their fishing trip that his friend, Jin insisted they would come. He felt like he has no choice but it might be good reason to go our for a change.

“Hey, I thought you said you guys were going camping? Why do you have your equipments with you… you poor corporate slave.”

He laughed at your remark. You’re still looking at his stuff all puzzled and confused by how heavy it all looks. You leaned on the kitchen counter as you watch him put his stuff out from his room.

You asked again, “Dont you think it’s a little too much? Cant you leave some stuff? Do you even have clothes in there? How bout food? Not important? Music is life?” He laughed. You’re good at making him laugh.

He finds all of your worrisome-sarcastic remarks endearing. He looked at you and said, “Look, it’s like you—you not taking your ipad everywhere you go. Or that small sketchbook you have. You draw every chance you get, you draw in the middle of lunch or while waiting for someone. And if not your ipad, you draw even on table napkins and ask the waiter for more. It’s the same for me.”

You let out a smile at his comparison.

“Okay okay, point taken mister. Point. Taken. But my ipad wont break my back—just saying.” You teasingly replied.

“Maybe i can leave some.” Looking at his bags and talking to himself as he puts some of his stuff back in his room and minutes later he’s done preparing for their camping tomorrow.

“All done?” You asked as you look over to a now somehow reduced luggage. “I’ll help you put some of it in your car.”

You carried with him some of his bags as he is the type to have everything ready before leaving.

As you walked down the stairs, just carrying the lightest possible baggage you could ever find. “You sure you have enough food in here?” Lifting the bag and shaking to hear whats inside. “I mean i know you can certainly whip anything and turn it into a meal but this looks like there’s just ramen in here.”

He finds you cute when you worry.

“We’ll do grocery tomorrow on our way, no worries.” That statement puts you at ease. You reached the ground floor and towards his car. “That sounds good. I mean—just incase the fishing thing wont work out. You know, like last time? There might be a lot of fish in the sea and then suddenly there’s none for you—i mean that in the most literal sense. Not just in women, you know—just incase.” Teasing him again and bringing up the time he went home from a fishing trip. He was so tired, they didn’t caught a single fish. And the trip was cut short and they all immediately went home. He declared then to never go with Jin again but I guess, he love that Hyung of him a lot to be packing all these for yet another fishing trip.

There’s a good sense of companionship between the two of you. The way you can always make him smile without even trying. The way you always tease him lightly. He’s known you for a while, has seen you with your friends and he knows that you’re just the warmest person—to everyone, not just to him. But it looks like something has been bothering you lately, he even offered if you wanted to go with him on their fishing trip, assuring you that Jin and Hoseok are good people and nothing bad will happen. But you respectfully declined. Not just because you don’t eat fish but because you just need some time alone. Not that Yoongi has ever been a bother to you in any way too but just alone would be nice, you thought.

Yoongi will be gone for the whole weekend and possibly be returning on Sunday afternoon. You don’t have any particular plans just work and then some more work. As soon as you’re both back into the apartment you asked, “You’re leaving tonight? At midnight?”

“Yeah around that time, why?” Yoongi confirmed.

“Nothing.”

“Are you okay?” He asked, as you stopped in front of the refrigerator to get yourself some coffee.

“Yeah, why won’t I be?”

“You do know you say that a lot.” Yoongi grabbed himself a glass and grabbed the pitcher in your hand and you just smiled. “There’s not much meat left in the fridge, couple of things are missing too. You want me to go to grocery before I leave?” Leaning in the kitchen sink and drinking your coffee. You let out a deep sigh unknowingly. “No, I’ll go. Don’t worry.” You left your empty glass onto the sink. “I’m just saying, I can go if you’re not up for it.” You shake your head to reassure him, “I don’t mind, okay? I’m going to be fine.” You walked passed him as you went to your room.

Yoongi definitely knows that something’s been bothering you for days. He doesn’t want to pry, if you don’t want to talk about it. He just keeps looking at you, just in case you want to talk—these days your mind has always been elsewhere and there’s just so much work to be done.

You wanted to say goodbye before he left but you fell asleep in the middle of the evening and woke up half past one. You went outside to check and it looks like he already left. You got yourself some water from the kitchen and there’s a post-it left in the fridge that says, “Got you some groceries, call me if there’s anything.” You opened fridge and he even refilled your ice creams. You know you couldn’t have a more thoughtful cat. Even when he went away for almost a week for work and you were dying from a sky high fever, you never really called him for anything. But he constantly reminds you that you always can.

Yoongi volunteered to drive this time for some odd reason. It’ll be an almost 2 hour drive from Seoul to Daejeon, he actually doesn’t mind driving and quiets enjoy it more than he’d ever admit. Everything is set, their fishing trip as orchestrated by his hyung, Jin and Hoseok who had no choice but to be dragged unto this trip. They’ve been his friends for the longest time, being in the same company who also works in the industry. Hoseok, a renowned choreographer and Jin, one of the company directors in his agency. He never would’ve agreed to yet another fishing trip if only Jin didn’t promised to have everything paid for and ready to go. He held Hoseok hostage though and so he has no choice but to go as well. Sleeping at the passenger’s seat they both drifted away as Yoongi drives.

They have gone to multiple fishing trips over the years, some where even overseas during their vacation and something wrong always turn out like the time they have to cut the trip short because they have been sitting in the boat for hours and they haven’t caught a single thing. The owner of the boat found it odd too.

But to Yoongi’s surprise everything’s turning out smoothly, on their second day of camping they were able to caught a lot of salmon and have it for dinner. Stuck in his own thoughts while grilling some salmon, Jin shouted. “Yoongi-ah! You’re burning it.” Immediately going back to reality, and thankfully saving the precious fish from burning. “What are you thinking about so deeply?”

“No it’s nothing, Hyung.” He replied as he kept tending to his almost burnt fish.

Once grilling is done they all gathered to have their dinner with some drinks. Soju and beer is always present and with Hoseok around to play some games. In the middle of all the silliness that is Jin and Hoseok and taking the game way too seriously for their own good. Jin asked Yoongi, “Why are you always staring at your phone?” He immediately hide it and said, “No nothing, hyung.”

“What are you thinking of again?” Knowing how Yoongi is sometimes, Jin pried as Yoongi kept looking distracted the entire trip. “Nothing, Hyung. Really.”

“Okay, it’s your turn.” Giving him his Nintendo, he eventually added “If this is about Hyuna, just let me know if you don’t want to work with her again. Maybe we can do something about it.” Yoongi let out a chuckle and drank a shot of soju. “Hyung it’s nothing really, it’s not about her either. The work is fine, we actually finished it sooner than I thought. You must have heard it already.” Jin eventually took the game from Yoongi replied, “I did, you guys were really professional about all this.”

“Of course.” Yoongi proudly replied as he sneaked a peek into his phone again. Unconsciously waiting for some call.

moodboard sr: x x x

[phoenix-downer]

Spring Birthday

After Sora’s return, Naminé’s friends celebrate her birthday with her. While her early days were lonely, her life is very different now, and she treasures each new memory with the people dear to her heart.

~1650 words. Post-Kingdom Hearts III and Melody of Memory. Gen, Friendship, Fluff. Naminé POV. Written for @naminezine​, and the banner art is by the lovely @somniumars​.

“Naminé, when is your birthday?” Kairi asked over breakfast one day, scones with jam and clotted cream, served with a hot cup of tea for both of them. They liked to visit this cafe together at least once a month. It had outdoor seating, and the weather was finally warm enough again for them to sit outside with light jackets. 

Naminé stopped buttering her scone for a moment and frowned. It was a simple enough question, and yet she found herself unsure of what to say. 

“Well, I suppose it was the day Sora released his heart to save you,” she said at last. “But as glad as I am to be alive, it feels strange to celebrate that day, considering what happened.” 

“I understand,” Kairi said softly. “Are there any other days you can think of?”

Naminé paused once more and thought as Kairi sipped some more of her tea. The only other day she could really think of was… 

“The day of my rebirth. It was spring on Radiant Garden. The sun was shining, the flowers were blooming, and the weather was perfect.” She sighed happily at the memory. “I’ll never forget what it felt like to walk outside for the first time in a body of my own.”

“Then why don’t we make that your birthday? I know we technically missed it last year, when we were all searching for Sora, but it’s coming up here soon.” 

“Sure, that sounds nice.” Naminé put one more cube of sugar in her tea to get it to just the right sweetness, then added a little more cream and stirred. “I’ve never really thought about having a birthday of my own before.”

“Well, you deserve to have one,” Kairi said with a determined glint in her eye. “You’re your own person. Always have been, always will be.”

The two girls chatted some more as they finished their breakfast, and the subject soon slipped away from Naminé’s mind. It wasn’t until she and Xion were gathering shells together on Destiny Islands a few days later when the topic of birthdays came up again.

“See,” Xion said as she picked up a thalassa shell, “I like these ones the most, with the pink centers and yellow edges.” 

“I like them too. Yellow’s one of my favorite colors.”

Yellow was the color of the sun. A hopeful color for a girl that had begun her life in a cage, longing to see the outdoors for herself. For that reason alone it was precious to her. 

“You like blue too, right?” Xion said. She placed another thalassa shell in Naminé’s palm, this one with a blue center and yellow edges.

Naminé nodded. “Yes. Blue is the color of the sky… of the waves… all the things I longed to see when I was imprisoned in Castle Oblivion.” 

“It suits you, and so does yellow,” Xion said with a smile. “Born from the waves, and reborn during the spring.” 

“Xion, when is your birthday?” Naminé suddenly asked. She realized she hadn’t really gotten to celebrate it with her before. 

“Oh, my birthday? I figured it should be during the fall. I don’t know why, but I’ve always been drawn to falling leaves, the seasons changing, that kind of thing.” She smiled ruefully. “I suppose because I felt like my time was limited, just like those leaves. Kairi actually asked me about it recently, I think because she wants to—”  

Her eyes went wide, then she coughed and craned her neck. “Look, I see some more shells over there!”

Naminé found Xion’s startled reaction rather curious, but she didn’t press her friend. It was just nice to spend time together sharing a hobby they both enjoyed. For a girl who had started life with no friends of her own, Naminé was lucky to have so many now. 

The next time she met with her friends, it was for a picnic on Rapunzel’s world, in a clearing in the woods near a small pool. The weather was perfect, sunny with a breeze blowing dandelions and flower petals through the air, and she and Sora and Rapunzel were all cloud gazing after a delicious lunch of sandwiches and cookies and lemonade. 

“See that one right there?” Rapunzel said, pointing up at the sky. “It looks like Maximus.” 

“It sure does!” Sora put his hand behind his neck and grinned. “The sky’s full of all sorts of interesting clouds today.” 

“I wish I had my sketchbook with me,” Naminé said with a sigh. “I’d love to draw all of them.” 

“Take a picture with your Gummiphone then,” Sora suggested. “You can always draw it later based off of that.” 

“I’d like to, but I’ve run out of room in my sketchbook. I could really use some new pencils, too.”

Sora and Rapunzel exchanged glances, and Sora grinned.

“Naminé, you should come to the castle,” Rapunzel said. “I’d love to show you some of my art supplies. Have you ever tried painting before?”

Naminé shook her head. “No, I haven’t, but I’d love to. Thank you for the invitation.”

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go now!” Sora sat up and sprang to his feet. 

The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon trying out Rapunzel’s art supplies. Well, more like Rapunzel showed Naminé her things and let her try them out while Sora kept typing away at his Gummiphone. Naminé giggled at how he still typed with one finger, like a bird pecking at grains of rice. 

“There we go,” he said all of a sudden, then put his phone in his pocket. “What’d I miss?”

Naminé and Rapunzel both giggled and showed him what they’d made: a painting to hang on the walls of Naminé’s room in Twilight Town. It was of the beautiful woods where they’d had the picnic with dandelions flower petals floating through the air. As soon as she got home, she put it up and gave it a satisfied nod.

The days flew by until at last it was the anniversary of her rebirth. There was a knock on the door late in the afternoon, and when she went to get it, she was surprised to see Riku and Roxas waiting there for her.

“Hey Naminé,” Roxas greeted with a grin. His eyes were playful, like he had a big secret he couldn’t wait to share.

“Come with us, there’s something we’d like to show you,” Riku added, and she ducked back inside to grab a few things before following them through the woods and to the Old Mansion. 

“Why are we here?” she asked. 

“You’ll see,” was all Roxas and Riku said, and she followed them inside. She was shocked by how nice the entrance looked, like someone had been in here and cleaned things up—

“Surprise!”

She gasped as she entered the foyer. A huge banner hanging from the stairs read Happy Birthday Naminé, and all her friends were gathered around a large table in the center of the room. The evening light shone through the window behind them, pink and purple and blue, another gorgeous twilight on this world she called home now. 

“Happy Birthday Naminé!” her friends all cheered, and she couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. So this was what they had been plotting and planning all this time. Roxas grinned and grabbed a camera to take a few shots, and Sora and Riku had some of those confetti poppers that they popped with loud crackling noises.  

The seashell decorations were yellow and the star candles were blue on the cake Xion held. Axel lit the candles, and they cast flickering lights and shadows over everyone’s faces.

Kairi leaned close and murmured, “Make a wish, but keep it secret.”

“A secret?” Naminé asked, tilting her head.

“It won’t come true if you tell us,” Ven explained, and Terra nodded. 

As Naminé looked at the faces of her friends, what she should wish for became clear. She knew, deep in her heart, what she wanted more than anything.

With that, she blew out the candles, and everyone cheered loudly. Aqua swept the cake out of Xion’s hands so she could cut it properly, and then everyone sat around the table. The cake was delicious, vanilla and lemon, and after everyone was done eating, it was time for Naminé to open her presents. 

“Here!” Sora said, his eyes shining as he handed her the first one. “It’s from all of us.”

Naminé’s hands shook as she removed the wrapping paper. She wasn’t used to getting gifts, and it took her some time to free the box. But once she did, she couldn’t have stopped the smile on her face even if she’d wanted to.

“They’re like the paints Rapunzel has! And in all the colors I like too.” She hugged the box to her chest. “Oh, thank you so much everyone, I can’t wait to use these.” 

When she was finished unwrapping the rest of her presents, more art supplies and nice jewelry and cute clothes, she thanked her friends for making this such a wonderful birthday night. But there was one last thing that would make it truly perfect.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” Naminé said, “let’s make a painting together. So we have something to help us remember tonight.”

Naminé loved drawing on her own, but drawing with her friends was truly wonderful. Everyone brought their own unique spark to the table. And when the painting was finished, it was one huge flowing mosaic of color and life and creativity. Sure, it wasn’t a masterpiece, but it was something truly unique that only they could have made. And that was why it was a work of art. Not because it was perfect or technically skilled, but because it had their hearts poured into it.

Naminé couldn’t have asked for a better way to commemorate her birthday.  

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A/N: Thank you so much to the mods for making this project possible and for being so caring and supportive! And thank you to the other contributors, this zine was such a joy and I enjoyed talking to you all. A big thank you too to Somnium for drawing the banner! I really enjoyed working with you!

And thank you for reading!

[three-gulons-in-a-trenchcoat]

We Gon' Burn The Whole House Down

words: 1.4k

[Notes: ahhhh it's finally completed! this was actually a prompt I started first, forgot about it, lost motivation, and eventually came back too heh. I am proud of this one though]

Also: I would recommend listening to this song while reading this since it's what the story, as well as the title, is based on. For mobile users, or if the link isn't working, listen to Burn the House Down by AJR thanks!

*This Story Contains Spoilers For Unlocked*

“Keefe was right, you really haven’t decorated your room much.” Sophie glanced up from where she was rubbing Iggy's belly, the small (now blue and green) fluffball letting out a whine of dissatisfaction at her retreating fingers. “I guess I’ve just never had much time to decorate,” she sighed. Tam shrugged,” I guess I can’t complain, my room at Teirgans isn’t that decorated either.” He stared at the papers framed around the room, Keefe had gotten into the habit of giving his friends old pages from his sketchbooks, insisting that they were useless to him in his quest to find memories about his mom. His gaze lingered on a drawing of Luna and Silveny, curled up in the grass together. The mama alicorns head rested on top of her baby’s, both of their eyes closed as they dozed. Currently, the two alicorns were playing in the pastures with his sister. He was sure Wynn and Greyfell were there too.

Faint chatter echoed downstairs. The collective had gathered in Havenfield for another meeting. They've been having a lot of them lately.

Ever since Keefe left.

Sophie cleared her throat, looking away from the pictures. Her body felt heavy.

Tam seemed to notice her discomfort, and he turned to her, his eyes softening, “I’m sure he's alright.” He murmured.

Sophie resumed her scratching, Iggy's grumbling purrs filling the room, “I hope so.” she whispered.

The silence stretched on for a moment before Tam cleared his throat,“ This is a bit awkward isn't it?” he asked.

Sophie looked up, “What do you mean?”

Tam huffed slightly, and Sophie noticed how he shifted in the same spot, so she patted the bed. He hesitated for a moment before sitting down.

“I mean, I know we’re friends, but….” He trailed off.

Sophie understood, “I guess I haven’t been the best at including you and Linh huh?” she said.

It felt weird, she knew Tam, and she knew they both considered each other friends but, they barely talked to each other outside of Blackswan stuff, or when all of them were hanging out together.

Tam was only up here because he asked to see Keefe's artwork.

Tam nodded, “It’s partially my fault,” he grimaced, “If I hadn't joined with the Neverse-”

“Don’t say that.” Sophie said firmly, her eyes meeting his, “We all know it wasn’t your fault.”

Sophie knew he didn’t believe her. His eyes betrayed him. Unfortunately, she knew that guilt all too well.

The silence was back, and thicker than it was before.

“Have you ever listened to music?” Sophie found herself blurting. Her face ran hot, wishing she could take the words back. Of course, he could you idiot, her mind reprimanded, his family literally does that for a living.

Tam opened his mouth.

“Human music,” Sophie added quickly.

Tams mouth closed, “No, I haven't.”

“Do you want to?” Sophie offered.

Tam cocked his head, his eyes skittered around the room, “How?” he asked dumbly.

Sophie sat up, walking over to her dresser. She crouched down, reaching into the bottom drawer. It's not like it was illegal to have human items, In fact, the collective and Councilor Terik knew she had kept some human things with her when she came to the Lost Cities, but you could never be too sure.

She withdrew, holding her iPod and some earphones, “With these.”

Tam blinked as she walked back over, sitting down and plugging the earphones into the jack. He stared at the iPod curiously as Sophie turned it on.

“It’s human obviously,” Sophie explained, tapping the screen and opening her music. She smiled softly, it had been so long since she had listened to any of her songs.

“Are they human artists?” Tam asked, peering over her shoulder to look at the screen.

Sophie nodded, “A lot of human music is stored in this app so that people can listen to it from anywhere.”

Tam's eyes flashed with understanding, and Sophie handed him an earbud. He stared at it.

Sophie giggled slightly, pointing to her ear, “In here.”

The tips of his ears turned slightly red, and he looked down, “Right.” he mumbled sheepishly, placing the earbud in his ear slowly.

Sophie scrolled to her most recent playlist (recent meaning a couple of years Ago) and clicked on her most recent play.

She had only found this band when she was bored and homesick, scrolling through her recommended.

The song started almost immediately, and Tam’s brow furrowed, trying to understand the language.

Used to keep it cool

Used to be a fool

All about the bounce in my step

“It's in a human language,” Sophie explained.

Watch it on the news

Whatcha gonna do?

I could hit refresh and forget

Trumpets started in the background, following the beat of the song, and Tam relaxed slightly, “That kinda sounds like one of the instruments my mother uses.”

Granted, Sophie could understand the lyrics just fine, but she knew Tam couldn't. Even so, he seemed to like the beat as the song progressed, and she smiled lightly when she saw his head bobbing along with the music.

She noticed the song fading slightly, and her mood lightened, she had always been a fan of beat drops in songs, especially these ones.

…..Is that right?

The trumpets sang faster as the tempo picked up, and Tam's eyebrows raised slightly.

Lose

My

Mind

The beat dropped, and Tam's mouth gaped slightly. Sophie laughed softly at his expression. She had to admit when she had first listened to it, she had a pretty similar reaction. There was something about the distant drums and the background bass that really tied the whole song together.

We gon' burn the whole house down

Tam smiled, glancing up at Sophie, “What are they saying?” He asked, and Sophie noticed his foot tapping her carpet to the rhythm as well.

Sophie quoted the lyrics as they faded out, “We gon' burn the whole house down.”

Tam snickered, “Are humans a bunch of arsonists or something?”

Sophie laughed, “Some maybe, but these lyrics have a different meaning I think.”

Tam glanced down at the iPod, which was flashing lyrics, but not in a language he could understand.

Sophie was no singer, but she did want Tam to understand the song, so without meaning too, she began to quote the song as it continued.

“…Gawking at the tricks up your sleeve,” She said it quietly, and Tam looked up

“Are those the lyrics?” He asked.

Sophie nodded, continuing, “Too good to be true, But I'm in a room, Full of entertainers and thieves, Used to let it go.”

The trumpets picked up again, and Tam must have realized that the beat was about to drop again because he followed Sophie’s words slowly.

“Woah no,” Sophie smiled, moving her head in time with the lyrics as Tam copied her.

The two had turned to face each other, with Tam slowly mouthing the lyrics (A little bit off time-wise, but Sophie didn't blame him) And Sophie nodding along.

“Way up way up we go, been up and down that road, way up way up oh no,-” Sophie started.

“We gon' burn the whole house down.” A large grin broke out on Tam’s face, and Sophie found herself smiling with him. She had never heard him sing before, and it sounded nice. His voice was smooth and drifted slowly, almost like he was whispering the words instead of singing them.

They finished the song like that, with Tam slowly learning the repeating lyrics and timing and Sophie helping him out occasionally.

The song finished loudly, with the beat dropping one last time as the riff slowly faded out.

The grin stayed on Tam's face as he glanced back at the iPod.

“That was…nice.” He murmured, and Sophie gazed at him.

“I listen to human music sometimes, when I want to remember my old home.” Sophie said, looking down at the iPod, “Dex fixed it up so it's powered by sunlight too,”

Tam nodded, and he glanced back up, looking sheepish, “Are there maybe..more songs by them?”

“AJR?” Sophie questioned.

“Is that what they're called?” Tam asked, then nodded quickly, “Yeah, them.”

Sophie smiled, clicking right below the song and opening up the band's full list, her eyes widened slightly, “There are more since I last listened to them.” She said.

“How many?” Tam asked, leaning over.

“About 60.” She murmured.

Tam shrugged, and then he smirked, “Can we listen to all of them?”

Sophie smiled back, laughing slightly, “Sure.”

[sugareey-makes-stuff]

2022 Fandom Goals

Happy new year, y’all! Belated post, and thanks so much for the tag, @pennygalleon! 2021 was a big and busy year to get fully immersed in fandom again beyond participating in fests. I’ve befriended some lovely people, read more fics and discovered so many more ships I didn’t even know I’d love. But let’s be honest, it’s still important to stay grounded as we head into another new year. So my fandom goals are going loose guidelines:

>>>Cut back on fests: I made 10+ pieces of art for fests alone. That doesn’t include non-fest HP pieces, or all the other art I was making in various sketchbooks or for other projects (and some of the all-nighters I pulled for these). So, I’m being selective with fests this year, even if something might look shiny. An idea really has to speak to me before I claim it because I want to plan in advance and have a solid idea to work with. >>>Use open challenges for motivation: I love challenges because they’re low-key but can help move things along for both art and writing. I’d love to incorporate more of that into my work so I can still enjoy and make progress on independent projects that are already in progress or I want to start. Basically, a way to write and draw more for me but with an extra push. >>>Learn more about community modding: While I have event and community planning experience in my back pocket, I haven’t modded anything specifically for fandom in a long time. That’s why I took a leap of faith with the Wizarding Creators’ Den server, and Wood You Rather (and there might a few other open challenges and another server coming soon). Maybe I’m being too ambitious with the mod hat since that’s a lot to plan for, but a. planning things way in advance, b. already having a foundation to help run things like this and c. talking with other fandom folks and mods has really helped. If there’s a way to bring a community or platform for fandom squeeing or creations, I’m totally willing to give back in that way. And if it helps with my projects creatively too, that’s an added plus. >>>Continue with more multi-ship content: I was really happy to see how my art and overall planning and techniques changed when I started drawing other ships along Drarry and Perciver. It shakes things up and helps with practicing to draw new figures and the ideas are just so fresh. So I’ll keeping up with that energy this year. >>>More writing: I met my goal of writing 12.5k, which isn’t a lot, but it was a big deal to me, since I was very iffy about even posting up my work in 2021. But the amount of love and support I’ve gotten from the HP community and just people who took the time to read my fics was wonderful. I had low expectations, but the fact that people couldn’t wait for more has given me the confidence could probably write more stories for this year. I’ve got a multi-media fic series I’d love to get off the ground, and of course, going to see how much I can complete out of the one-shot prompt series I’m working on. >>>Find time to get through the TBR list: Pretty straight-forward, but it needs to be done before it keeps growing. And then I’ll be able to start making some rec lists, since it is an occasional request I’ll get every now and then. We’ll see! OKAY, that was really damn long!

Honestly, if anyone hasn’t done this yet, please feel free to mark your goals down if it helps. I’ll tag @sketchyblondes, @anaxandria-writes, @yourtokentrophywife, @awesomedig/@digthewriter, @seekercass and @themightyflynn08 for funsies.

Here’s to another year for fandom creativity and awesomeness!

[inkdemonapologist]

IF YOU HAVENT READ BOO’S RECAP for the previous session (chapter 4) of our Call of Cthulhu But With Bendy Added game YOU REALLY SHOULD......

okay are u caught up? You got the reveal? 

okay cool

SO WE FOUND OUT WE’RE DEAD!!! Well, specifically Sammy and Joey have been killed(?) and this whole adventure it’s just been Henry haunted by his two friends, and we have just been POSSESSING HENRY every time we interact with the world in any tangible way, and every time we have a conversation it’s just been Henry Having A Conversation With Himself to everyone else’s eyes, WHICH I GUESS EXPLAINS why everyone has been acting so unsettled and frightened every time we start bickering with each other!! I have been just LOSING IT thinking back through everything we’ve done and imagining Joey and Sammy’s expressions and body language on Henry’s physical form. INCREDIBLE.

Also, while Sammy’s mind/spirit/???? is stuck with Henry, his ink-drowned body appears to have gone a bit prophet-y and is running around with this cult talking about serving his lord and sacrificing sheep, which Sammy would just rather not deal with. Sammy Being Deeply Embarrassed By His Ink Self is my favourite genre of comedy

(also credits to @sketch-cryptid for their henry design..... he’s just, v soft,)

OUT OF CONTEXT QUOTES AGAIN!

[Sammy is played by me, Joey is played by Boo (inkyvendingmachine), Henry is played by Maf (sketch-cryptid), and Thren (haunted-hijinxer) is our GM!]

[Sammy] [ooc] Unless one of them decides, “I'm not going to follow Henry, he seems responsible,” and just stays put at the hotel, then that doesn't help us-- [Joey] Well, Henry's "crazy," so [Henry] Honestly, yeah, I think maybe if we have Henry and Joey split off, then those might be the ones that they'll follow, which... leaves..... S a m m y  to talk to Senegal I guess;;;??? [Sammy] ...I don't know how to feel about the way that you said that.

[Joey] I guess once Joey's downtown he's going to, kind of look around and see if he was followed. [GM] Make a Spot (hidden) roll! [Joey] *rolls* [Joey] ... he is not going to look around and see if he was followed!

[Henry gets a hidden message in his sketchbook, "They're doing all they can, please don't blame them for leaving you."] [Henry] Okay, then, he's going to write back "who do you mean?" [GM] "Who do you mean?" [Henry] Yeah, who is "they"? [Sammy] Unclear antecedent. That's what I'm writing in the book, "unclear antecedent."

[Joey] Once he's back at the table, Joey is definitely drinking Henry's drink. I don't think he's noticed that it's not his, just, his hand came in contact with it and now he is drinking it.

[GM] Looking out the window, you don't see any guards, but you do think you see some black drips on the balcony-- [Sammy] UHHH CLOSING THE WINDOW. NOT ENGAGING. [Joey] Sammy Does Not See It... Sammy is Looking Away,

[GM] After a bit, he probably starts distantly hearing That Song again. [Sammy] WHY ME. UM.......... THAT’S FINE. It's just very annoying. It's hard to play music when someone is playing music loudly next door. [GM] It's quiet. But it's also Sammy.

[GM] There is a tough-looking individual that is holding a gun onnnnnn..... Henry! [Henry] Why me? [Joey] WHY HENRY?!

[GM] "Correct me if I’m wrong, but you're with Joey Drew Studios?" [Joey] Yes! And it's about fucking time you talked with us! [Joey] [ooc] Sorry, I rolled a one on my Bad Decision dice.

[Joey] [to our kidnappers] ...Can we have a car? [GM] ...........make another Fast Talk check.

[Sammy] ...Tom is the one being stabbed, right? [Joey] I guess? If he's already hosting whatever it is-- [Sammy] My dream ended with me getting stabbed... [Joey] Joey's gonna take a moment to kind of process that, and says something along the lines of, Well, we can't let that happen! Who else is going to write the songs? [Sammy] tHANKS,

[Henry] Really!! Can I get-- [Sammy] an amen [Henry] --a straight answer!

[Joey] Joey pockets the map, and he looks between the two of them............. and he bolts! [Sammy] oKAY, [Henry] Can I roll... to grab him.... [Sammy] Runs after Joey! [Henry] runs after Joey..., [GM] Um, okay -- [Henry] I want to make a roll to grab him, I will wrestle him to the ground. [Joey] I want to make a roll to lose them! [GM] uhhhh..... in retrospect I should've looked up the chase rules.....

[GM] *still looking up chase rules* Why is it all about cars?!? [Sammy] Get back in the car, chase after Joey! Sammy's gonna hit him with a car! [Joey] This is why he needs the cane later.

[Henry] DREW. You are not leaving us! You're not going by yourself, you're going to get yourself killed. [Henry] And then he's going to try to drag him to a halt. [Joey] I do think, Joey is just going to kind of stare at him,,, he wasn't ready for Henry to take that tone with him,,,,

[Sammy] I'm not really sure what decisions my past self thought most wise. Apparently, my past self thought coming on this trip was a good idea! [Henry] *mumbling* I don't think any of us thought this was a good idea.

[Sammy] Sammy really is impressed at the way that Joey is able to weaponise his worst qualities.

[GM] Make Spot (hidden) checks too, just for funsies. [Sammy] Oh! Oh just for funsies! Just a little, a fun activity, planned just for us!

[Henry] Have we ever gotten Binoculars’ name? [Joey] No. [GM] I know it, but no, you haven't. [Sammy] [in character voice] "Binoculars" works! We all know who we're talking about! [Henry] Oh, no, that wasn't in character! That was just ME wondering. [Joey] Henry's also wondering this, but just not saying it. [Sammy] Sammy just takes a moment to think about how much we don't need to know Binoculars' name!

[Joey] He is going to take out his gun, and then-- [Sammy] Oh! That's right! We have guns!

[Joey] Joey is going to toss the mask on the ground and step on it with his foot to break it. [GM] It... it snaps! [Sammy] [ooc] NO, MY LORD

[Joey] Sammy, is that you...? [GM] No reply. [Joey] ...Binoculars?! [Sammy] ........we really should've got his name.

[Joey] *pushes Sammy's voice out of the way*

[Sammy] We’ve gotta bring Joey back to life, so we can strangle him.

[Henry] Oh my god. I didn't expect ANY of this!! [Henry] I expected this game to be a short, fun session of, you know, Oh! That's neat! That's a Bendy, that's a Bendy right there! I DIDN'T EXPECT... THIS.

[Sammy] [ooc] I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT HENRY’S BEEN FAST-TALKING WHILE POSSESSED BY THE SPIRIT OF JOEY DREW.

[Sammy] Sammy thinks it'd be a great idea for you to go back and grab one of those Bendy masks, and put it on. [Henry] *sighs* ...would it make you feel better, if I went back and grabbed a Bendy mask? [Joey] NO.

[GM] And you hear a voice from the bushes say, "Anything for my Lord!" [Sammy] Oh god, it's me.

[Henry] NO WAIT, this is Sammy, I can't kill him! [Joey] Hit him with the back of the axe! [Sammy] Throw a projector at him, that works really well!

[GM] The creature skids to a halt, and the snickering happens again, and it says "I had you going that time, though, didn't I?" [Henry] Henry, uh, hesitantly stops running, [Henry] Uh, yeah, you did! Is this a trick, should I keep running. [Sammy] Well THAT's the sort of question that ALWAYS gets answered honestly!

[GM] It seems they're implying that whoever is currently the host made a deal that ended up with the Lurker starting to look like Bendy, and Henry being unable to die. [Joey] *distressed noises of realisation* [Sammy] That sure sounds like the kind of deal Joey would make, doesn't it?! DOESN'T THAT SOUND LIKE SOMETHING JOEY WOULD WANT, FOR HENRY TO NEVER DIE?!?!

[Joey] Joey is having his own breakdown now, because he finally accepted that he did something wrong, and thus his brain has gone into both overdrive and.... it's like a computer that's overheating, [Sammy] Joey doesn't know how to function when things are his fault.

[GM] Increasing your spiritual power, for lack of a better way to put it -- which you've repeated now, how many times? [Sammy] This buff stacks? That seems like an oversight. [Henry] No, don't tell the devs! [Sammy] I mean, admittedly, Joey has done a bit of, of cheating, I think? Which is unsurprising for him.

[Sammy] If Joey's the host, I wouldn't be surprised if whatever deal he made might result in him not dying in addition to you. [Henry] Yeah, it sounds like, in all the previous loops, either I died, or he died. [Sammy] I'm not really sure what I got out of this arrangement. [Henry] I'm not sure either. [Joey] *hopefully*... some quality time in Haiti?

[Henry] [to the ink demon lurker creature] Anything else we should know? [GM] It does a shrug. It looks real weird.

[thewildsophia]

.Art Project. Clone High//Van Gogh x Reader

Van Gogh x Reader

Word Count: 2564

~~~~~~~~~~

No matter how hard you tried, you just couldn’t get the thought of the tiny Dutch artist out of your head. You weren’t even sure what about him it was that caught your attention. Perhaps it was his orange hair that almost looks red in the right lighting, or maybe his pale skin that mirrored the white bandages that you know he changes everyday (you also loved how his face would blossom with this gorgeous shade of orange-pink when he was complimented), or maybe it was just his hands. Yeah that was it. His hands, petite and delicate, that could paint such beautiful, exquisite paintings that told of many different things.

God you felt like such a creep. 

But you couldn’t help it. You were absolutely infatuated, -- no, that’s not quite right -- obsessed with him. 

And the worst part about it all was that the two of you have barely had any real interactions with each other. The last time the two of you had really talked was when you were assigned an art project with him. It was a collaborative project where you two were given a piece of art and two canvases and you would paint half the artwork on each canvas using styles and colors that were different, but still complimented the other half. 

You two had received the artwork The Kiss by Gustav Klimt, with you painting the man and Van Gogh painting the woman. You had used cooler colors -- blues, greens, grays and purples -- while Van Gogh used warmer ones -- reds, yellows, oranges and whites. You had focused most of the detail on the man, leaving the background somewhat barren with Van Gogh doing the opposite, focusing on the background and less on the woman.

It had actually turned out really well and the two of you had received a perfect grade, but what you liked the most about the whole thing was how much time you got to spend with him. 

You worked with him for a whole week and when the deadline was coming up he invited you to his dorm to finish it. You actually found it quite funny how much his room looked like The Bedroom, but you weren’t surprised. 

If you really thought about it, it was probably the second day when you started to become fascinated by him. The sketches had been completed and you two had just started painting. No matter how hard you tried, you just couldn’t focus on your piece, intrigued by his painting. His strokes were quick, decisive, like he knew exactly what he wanted. It was difficult not to stare as he painted and you had barely gotten any work done that day. And he quickly picked up on your distracted state. 

“Is something the matter?” God that voice sounded just perfect to you. It was deep, but not too deep, and somewhat raspy, like he had a slight cold. You could listen to that voice for hours. 

“Y/N? Are you alright?” You remember him asking. 

“Yeah.” You had answered, “I’ve just never seen you paint before. It’s beautiful.” After those words had left your mouth, that beautiful peach color blessed his pale skin and he looked away with a bashful smile. 

“I-Thank you.” He had stuttered and it was probably the cutest thing you had ever heard. You wanted to get him to do that more often. After that the two of you continued to work on your project with the occasional chatter between you. 

When the two of you had finished, you didn’t really talk to the other. You’d wave to each other in the hallways while transitioning classes or offer a quiet “Hey” when entering Painting II. What you did find a bit strange is that if you show up first, he’ll sit at the same table as you and vice-versa, and neither of you seemed to mind it. 

Actually, it kind of worked to your advantage. 

You really couldn’t help yourself and often found yourself drawing Van Gogh in your sketchbook, ranging from basic sketches to full on ink pieces (of course you’d ink them when you got back to your dorm). It’s actually gotten so bad lately that you now have completed paintings of him, whether it be acrylic, watercolor, oil, gouache, you name it and you probably have it. 

You were actually about half way through painting another piece of him, although you didn’t like this one as much as some of the others since he looked a bit too feminine. While painting, you heard a knock at your dorm’s door. You quickly looked at the clock hanging on the wall opposite of a window. 

“It’s almost 10pm, why the hell is someone coming up here?” You thought before getting up and looking out the peephole in your door only to be greeted with nothing. You grumbled to yourself while opening the door just to make sure no one left something for you. 

Upon opening the door, you’re greeted with none other than the clone of Vincent Van Gogh himself, canvas and set of acrylics pinned at his side. You felt yourself straighten as you greeted him.

“Oh-Hey. It’s almost 10, are you alright? You need something?” You asked watching him shift his stance before answering, 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry for coming by so late, I just needed a bit of help with the portrait project and you’re the only person I really felt comfortable coming to.” He admitted, rubbing the back of his. You felt your heart stutter at hearing that.

“It’s alright, what did you need help with specifically?” You asked leaning onto the door frame. 

“I’m having trouble with making a background that works with the subject.” He said. Weird. Backgrounds are usually his speciality. “Um, may I come in?” He asked. Your eyes widen slightly with realization of you forgetting to let him hit you.

“Of course! Sorry.” You apologized sheepishly, moving out of the way to let him in. 

“It’s fine.” He said. You closed the door before quickly jogging over to your desk, grabbing the still wet painting and placing it against the wall opposite the door, facing towards said wall. You cleared a spot on your desk for him to place his things. 

“Alright, let’s see what you got so far.” You said looking over his painting. 

You talked to him for about 15 minutes about how he could improve what he currently had before you got up to grab you painting to show him what you had done.

“That’s Frida Kahlo, right? If I remember correctly she’s from Mexican descent, so I would use brighter colors like greens, pinks and yellows.” You said while rustling with the huge stack of paintings you had looking for it. “I had gotten Aaron Douglas, so I stuck with more desaturated colors and focused less on details and more on the silhouettes of the subjects.” Once grabbing the painting you returned to Van Gogh, placing the painting onto the desk next to his.

Only…That wasn’t the right painting.

Nope, instead it was one of Van Gogh, specifically the one of him you had finished a few weeks ago of him looking at himself in a full-body mirror while painting a self portrait. You grabbed the painting, pressing it against your chest the moment you realized it was the wrong one. You stared at him a moment before turning around and scrounging around in the pile again for the right painting. 

“Y/N-” Van Gogh started, but you weren’t gonna let him finish. 

“Just! Give me a second.” You said, searching a bit faster. God seemed to be against you that night because when you started to look for it faster the whole stack fell and, of course, with it came the majority of paintings you had made of him. And…the painting of Douglas. 

You stood there a moment, feeling the sweat gather at your forehead and back of your neck. You grabbed the painting of Douglas before stacking all the other ones up. You turned back around, slowly walking back over to the desk and putting the right painting next to his. 

“So, um, like I was saying earlier…” But your voice died in your throat when you heard him speak.

“Y/N.” He said firmly. You felt yourself swallow thickly before looking over at him. “Come with me.” 

And you did. You really didn’t feel like arguing with him after what had just happened. He led you to his dorm room on the 3rd floor, unlocking it and gesturing for you to step in. You did before he closed the door and walked over to the corner of his room. He pulled out a bundle of canvas, separating them from each other. 

“You know, for the longest time I felt like such a creep doing this so often, but after seeing what you’ve been doing, I feel a lot less like one.” He said while revealing the paintings to you.

They were of you. They were all of you.

You felt your heart leap out of your chest as your eyes laid on the paintings. They were all different from the last, varying in size, color, style, much like your own. 

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you ever since we were assigned that project together, ever since…you said that about my painting.” He started, “At first you were just a passing thought, but as time went on, you started to plague my mind more and more often to the point where I couldn’t get you off my mind.” He finished, that stunning peach color returning to his cheeks. 

You walked over to where he had the paintings spread out over his bed, running your fingers over the texture in the dried paint.

“Oh, Van Gogh, these are…” You started, still stunned about everything. 

“Not my best work, I know.” He said scratching the back of his neck, “It was a bit difficult painting you without having you here to reference.” He admitted. 

“No, Van Gogh, these are beautiful.” You said stroking your cheek, “And not just because they’re of me.” You added with a laugh, to which Van Gogh also let out a chuckle. 

The room then when quiet, neither of you having the courage to speak up until you decided the silence had lasted enough. 

“I don’t know what it is about you,” You started, “But you’ve captured my interest, and ever since I got to watch you paint that day I also haven’t been able to get you out of my head.” You paused, breathing in deeply. Well, it’s now or never you suppose. 

“Everytime I think of you, I can physically feel my chest tighten and I feel almost like I’m going to be sick, but in a good way.” You tried to explain, not meeting his light blue eyes once. “I’m not sure if this is what love is supposed to feel like, since I’ve never really been in love before, but…I know that I do like you. Like…really like you and…God, I don’t know what I’m saying; I’ve probably said too much.” You finish with a nervous chuckle. 

“No,” You heard him say, “You said just enough.” He grabbed your hand, making you look down at him.

“I’ve…I’ve never really been in love before either, but…I do know that I really enjoy being with you, even if we’re not talking to each other. Just being around you makes me happy. Hell, the whole point of me seeing you this late was just to see you.” Van Gogh looked up at you briefly before looking down at the ground. “Ah, I’m rambling. Look, my point is that I don’t know what it’s like to love someone, but I do know what it’s like to really like someone, and…I really like you.” He finishes, looking back up at you only to notice the glassiness of tears that clouded you e/c eyes.

“Oh, no, wait don’t start crying.” You heard him say, but you couldn’t stop the flow of tears that warmed your cheeks every so slightly. You collapsed onto your knees, embracing Van Gogh, soon feeling his arms wrap around you and the wetness of tears on the back of your shirt. You hugged him harder when you heard a sob rip from his chest, trying your best not to start sobbing yourself. After all, you didn’t look the most elegant when you cried. 

The two of you stayed like that for what felt like hours before finally pulling away from the other. You looked him in the eyes, rubbing away some of the stray tears that still remained on his cheeks. He returned the favor. 

“All this time,” he started, “I was so scared to tell you how I felt about you. Hell, I was scared to talk to you at all. I was so worried that I would mess things up between us that I decided to just stay silent.” He paused, sighing. “It’s…difficult for me to connect with people so…I don’t have many good friends. I didn’t want to ruin what we had.” 

“I was scared too,” You admitted, “In all honesty, I wasn’t sure if you even wanted to talk to me after we finished the project. I like being around you, so I was okay with just sitting near you in art.” You ran your hand through his orange hair, being mindful of his bandages. 

“I guess we're both kinda creeps.” You say after a minute. He smiles with a chuckle. 

“Yeah.” He whispers, “I guess we are.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Extended Ending: 

You let go of Van Gogh, allowing him to clear his bed and put the paintings away. He straightened his bed out, looking over at his own clock that read quarter til midnight. He turned to you, peach dusting his pale cheeks.

“Would you, um…” He stuttered, “Would you like to spend the night? I don’t mean like, you know, but just…sleep. It’s late, we have class in the morning and it’s a bit of a walk to your dorm.” He finished, gesturing to his bed. You blushed before smiling.

“I’d love to.” You answered. He smiled before opening the covers, patting the open space.

“Great! I-Um, I’ll get the lights.” He said, walking past you. You took your shoes off before climbing into his bed, moving all the way over to one side. He turned the light off, the room only being visible because of the moonlight coming through the curtains. You felt the bed shift, assuming Van Gogh had gotten in the bed with you. 

For a while, you both laid there stiffly, painfully aware of the other’s presence. You felt his eyes on you for a while before he spoke.

“Um…would it be alright if I…” He said, scooting closer to you. You did the same, until the two of you met in the center. You turned your body towards his and he did the same. The two of you simply stared at the other for a moment before he wrapped his arms around your neck. You, in turn, wrapped your arms around his waist, resting your chin upon his head. He pressed his face into your collar and you shuttered as you felt his breath on your neck. 

“This,” he started, “This is…” Leaving you to finish his sentence. 

“Nice.” 

[samanthadalton]

Thank you for writing my Poppy sketchbook request!! I loved it! 😭😭💕💕

Anyways, I have another idea: Poppy and MC doing body shots at a frat party!

I'm so sorry I keep requesting stuff. Hehe

I’m really glad you loved it anon it means a lot. Sorry if you were waiting a while for this one because I’m working through the requests now, I hope you enjoy it 💖💖

pairings: Poppy x mc

(Takes place after chapter 7 of queen b) 

taglist: @cloud9in @somewillwin @baexpoppy @save-me-the-last-dance @helpconfusedpersonhere @dopeyouth (i forgot i had a taglist for poppy but if you wanna be added on in future fics let me know 😁)

word count: 2.3k (its a long one) 

Body Shots 

The party at the frat house is in full swing, music blaring from the speakers, the pulsating and infectious beat echoing throughout the entire house. Every inch of the house is filled with drunk college students, all immersed in the party, drinking, dancing, playing beer pong and the classic, hooking up. 

Poppy Min Sinclair stands in the corner of the living room, a scowl etched on her face as she observes her surroundings. Veronica’s nowhere to be seen, undoubtedly live streaming for her picta fans and after many gruelling hours of begging and pleading, Chloe was back at the queen b’s side as her number 2. Chloe looks at the party-goers longingly, wishing she could join in on the fun but with Poppy in a sour mood tonight there’s no chance of that happening. After throwing away her remaining self worth to get back into the strawberry blonde’s good graces, she was not about to mess it up again by ditching her. 

You hover at the front door of the frat house, self-conscious about being in the public eye after weeks of hiding since Poppy released that embarrassing hog calling video. Everywhere you went, you were met with stares, laughs and even a student or two who would mock you. 

“Girl stop worrying” Zoey says reassuringly placing her hand on your shoulder, “everyone’s practically forgotten about the video.” 

You glare at Zoey indignantly, and then roll your eyes, “no they haven’t. I mean yesterday someone literally sent hay to our dorm room. Maybe this was a bad idea.” You turn away from the door and begin walking away. Zoey chases after you, her hand firmly clasps your arm as she tugs you towards the door. 

“Bea, pleaseeeee. Tonight is all about getting drunk and having fun. Please stay” She bats her eyelashes while giving you the puppy eyes treatment and your doubts start to dissipate.

You stand a little straighter, giving Zoey a resolute nod, “you’re right.” You begin mentally steeling yourself as you stare down the Alpha’s front door, which somehow looks way more intimidating than the first time you were here. 

Zoey ushers you in through the front door where you are met by a half naked, unmistakably drunk, Ford who throws his arms around both you and Zoey, “looks who’s hereeee.” he takes a swig from the cup in his hand, “we were hoping you would come Bea.” 

“Really?” you raise an questioning eyebrow at Ford who replies with an eager nod, pulling both you and Zoey into the living room. He motions at the dj who gives him a knowing nod, and the music suddenly changes and the sounds of your hog calling, which begins to echo throughout the entire frat house, evoking an assortment of reactions. All the students turn to look at you, humour written all over their faces while embarrassment is on yours. You look around the room and your gaze meets Poppy, whose lips quirk up, her eyes glimmering with amusement as she stares you down. You feel like you’re staring right at the face of the devil itself, and anger begins to flood through your body.

Zoey looks at you apologetically once the normal music resumes and she draws you into a hug, and mumbles an apology in your ear, “we can go if you want you.” 

You eyes once again roam the room, most students once again indulging in the party while some gawk at you, finding the ordeal humorous. You mind drifts to Poppy and how infuriating she is, because this is all her fault. You shake out of your reverie and softly shake your head, “no.” Zoey raises a worried eyebrow at you, “I came here to get drunk so that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” You both walk over to the keg, pouring yourself and Zoey some beer in some plastic red solo cups and drain the entire thing within seconds before refilling it. 

“You might want to take it slow,” Zoey says, as she carefully sips her beer. 

“Nope, I need to forget the last couple of weeks existed,” you raise the cup almost as if you're doing a toast before downing the rest of it. You sharply inhale as you feel the alcohol beginning to warm your body, and you feel yourself starting to feel more at ease. You’re about to pour yourself another cup until a familiar voice comes up behind you, and it takes everything in you not to roll your eyes. 

“I see the Alpha’s are doing their regular charity work by taking in a stray,” her voice crackles with detest as she looks you over, but you notice her eyes lingering on your body but you don’t blame her since the dress you’re wearing is doing wonders for your figure. 

“I’m pretty sure you’ve already used a line like that before Pops, don’t tell me you’re losing your touch already?” you give her a little smirk, her eyes glowering at the sound of the nickname you’ve given her but she brushes over it and returns a demonic smile. 

“Hmm, maybe it’s because my point still stands. You don’t belong here. Maybe you’ll be better off on that farm of yours, getting down and dirty with the pigs than the frat boys.” 

“You didn’t mind getting down and dirty with me a few weeks ago.” Chloe who’s standing behind Poppy gives a small gasp, while Zoey stares at you, mouth hanging open. Poppy however, stares at you, all sense of amusement wiped from her face as a fire begins to burn in her eyes. 

Poppy turns her head slightly, speaking over her shoulder, “leave us now.” her voice commanding, and Chloe awkwardly migrates into the party. A few seconds later Poppy raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow at Zoey, “why are you still here new money? Did befriending Farmsville cause you to lose brain cells or something?” Zoey sputters and looks to, waiting for your answer. 

“It’s okay Zo, go and enjoy the party. One of us should be able to without feeling like the air is being sucked out of the room.” Poppy lets out a small huff but Zoey obliges and walks but not before mouthing, “you and Poppy?”. You respond with a wink and then you’re left with the strawberry blonde who’s just staring daggers at you. 

“Listen here you oversized gremlin” she takes a menacing step towards you, but you stand your ground no matter how much steam is coming out of her ears, “you weren’t even that good in bed so I wouldn’t get all high and mighty if I were you.” 

“Funny, because I remember you screaming out my name.” 

“Hmm, I remember you begging me to say yours.” she retorts, with less sass but her tone almost seductive. As the air between you intensifies, Poppy does something you would never expect, she looks away. 

“So what’s her majesty doing in a place like this? You clearly aren’t having any fun?” You begin refilling your drink while Poppy’s face twists in disgust. 

“You’re still talking to me?” 

You roll your eyes, “Why are you always such an uptight bitch? Does it ever kill you to have some fun?” 

“I have fun Farmsville. I’m just not a juvenile like you, finding entertainment in the most banal things.” 

Maybe it was the alcohol, or just plain boredom, you’re not sure but something within you sparks a challenge as you raise an eyebrow at Poppy and say, “prove it.” Maybe Poppy’s feeling the same way as you, because her eyes mirror your exact feelings when she gives you a small grin. 

“Okay Farmsville, but first I need a drink.” You lift up your cup towards Poppy who pushes it away with disgust, “no a real drink.” 

As the party blazes on, Poppy leads you to a secret room within the Alpha house which is a replica of a bar, only smaller but you repress making a joke about how it’s a literal minibar. 

Poppy reaches behind pulling out a bottle of tequila and looks at you with a devious glint in her eye. “Now we can have fun.” She takes out two glasses, pouring out a drink for you both, and you both quickly down the drink. You slightly wince as the tequila burns your throat but Poppy seems unaffected as she refills the glasses again. 

“Damn,” 

Poppy raises a cocky eyebrow at you, “bet you didn’t think I could hold my own Farmsville.” 

“I’ll have to remember to not underestimate you.” 

“You have a habit of underestimating me Farmsville, just know I will never back down” she runs a finger down your chest, and you sharply inhale as you gaze into her eyes. As the atmosphere intensifies you find yourself almost drowning in Poppy’s brown doe eyes, and you begin to slowly lean in, Poppy notices your expression and quickly lifts her glass blocking your face and drinks it all before setting the glass down hard. “You’re falling behind Farmsville.” 

You quickly grab the other glass draining the contents before giving her a small grin, “please, I could literally drink you under the table.” 

Without missing a beat Poppy retorts, “but could you drink off me on the table.” her voice commandeering with confidence. In the moments that follow, Poppy easily unzips her dress and slips out of it, before hopping up on the counter and reaching behind grabbing a lime wedge and a few salt packets. She eyes bore into yours as you helplessly appraise her body, your mind flashing back to the night you had sex with her, and how perfect her body felt against yours. How her nails dug into your back leaving red marks all over it, but the pleasure was too much for you to care about it. As your eyes travel back up Poppy’s body you reach her eyes, which are glimmering with humour. “So?” She lifts up a salt packet in her hand, “are we going to do this or are you too much of a coward?” 

You step forward daringly, and take the salt packet from her hand before licking your own hand and sliding it down Poppy’s chest, the substance of your saliva sticking to it. You rip open the salt packet with your teeth, while maintaining eye contact and slowly guide the strawberry blonde’s body down the counter and empty out the contents of the packet onto her chest. Poppy lets out a giggle, her cheeks flushing red as she takes you in. You pour some of the tequila into her belly button and eagerly begin licking her chest, your tongue exploring the swell of her breasts. You hear some light gasps from Poppy as you kiss your way down to her belly button, your lips encircling it as you begin to suck the alcohol out of it. Once you’re done, you move your head up and begin looking for the lime wedge, your brows furrowed with confusion until Poppy opens her mouth and you see the lime wedge between her teeth.

You stare at Poppy before slowly moving down to her mouth and taking the wedge between your own teeth, your lips softly graze together before you tilt your head up, biting down harder on the lime squeezing out all of its juice. You laugh victoriously as Poppy sits up and begins to pull you down onto the counter. 

“My turn.” She begins hastily unzipping your dress and pushes you down onto the counter, as you lie down she straddles your hips. She pours a glass and balances it on your chest. She licks her fore and middle finger before sliding it down your throat and pouring some salt onto it. She delicately places a lime wedge on your lips, your mouth opens slightly biting down on the peel. Poppy leans down and begins to run her tongue down your throat, her tongue caressing it as she licks up every grain of salt before moving down your chest. Her lips curl around the glass as she picks it up with her teeth, emptying its contents, plucking it out of her mouth and moving down to the lime wedge. As she slinks down, your eyes meet hers, as she takes in the lime and begins to bite down on it. While the peel is still in your mouth, she finishes the rest of it, slightly wincing by the time she's done. In that moment you look over at Poppy and her eyes glisten with want and her gaze lingers on your lips. You turn your head spitting out the rest of the wedge, grab the back of Poppy’s neck as your lips come crashing together in a passionate kiss. Her lips taste sour, hints of the lime juice and tequila remaining on them as you nibble on her bottom lip, eliciting a few high pitched moans from the queen b. 

You stay attached at the lips, Poppy’s tongue invitingly tangling with yours, as you kiss her without restraint. Your hands slowly start to trail down her body resting on her hip. You’re about to flip the strawberry blonde over on the counter until the door abruptly opens and a gasp pulls you out of the moment. You look over to see Veronica, phone in hand as she ogles at the two of you. 

Poppy pushes you away, jumping off the counter, “you better not be live streaming Lombardi” her voice quickly sobering up as she glares at the ombre-haired girl. 

“I wasn’t and I’m going to leave. Have fun with whatever this is.” Veronica gestures between the two of you before slinking out of the room and as you get your bearings, you see Poppy already slipping her dress back on. 

“So that’s it huh?” 

Poppy doesn’t answer, her gaze averted from yours, she quickly zips up her dress, before running a hand through her silky hair and moves towards the door. Before she leaves, she turns towards you, “this was fun Farmsville. Maybe one day we’ll continue this in a more private manner.” She gives you a small wink and disappears, leaving you and your whirlwind of thoughts. 

[verymuchimmortalcat]

Maribat March Day 2: First Time and Day 3: Warmth

ao3

@maribatmarch-2k21 

Marinette al Ghul-Wayne spent the first ten years of her life in a League base. She was put through extremely rigorous training from the time when she could walk. She was occasionally visited by her mother. A woman she didn’t know much about. All she knew was her first name and that she spent most of her time in another League base. When she was four her mother held a test of sorts. She must have passed because afterwards, her mother joined her in her room and said that she was prepared to meet her Grandfather and Brother. Her Grandfather was Ra’s al Ghul as it turned out. It would have been nice to have some warning before meeting him. Her Brother on the other hand thought everyone was beneath him since he was the heir of Ra’s al Ghul. It had taken beating him in a spar where he had declared that he was going to do his best and prove that he was the better of the two, before they started for him to accept her as his twin. After that they spent most of their time together. When they were ten their mother left them with their Father. The first year after their arrival was nothing less than chaotic, with Jason and Father continuously arguing, Father getting lost in the time stream, Tim leaving to find Father, joining Richard and Damian on patrol as Sunbird.

Soon after Father’s return all the previous and current inhabitants of the Manor had returned during the Holidays. Cass arriving from Hong Kong a week before, Jason only coming after Alfred himself had told him that he would be expected at the Manor, Richard had come mid-week instead of on the weekend from Blüdhaven and Father had convinced Tim to move back to the Manor a few months after his return. Steph said she would drop by in the evening and join her mother for dinner while Babs was spending the day with her father and joining them for dinner.

Christmas morning dawns bright and cheery. Marinette meets the rest of the family as they head downstairs. There’s a large Christmas tree with so many gifts underneath it’s a miracle only Alfred could have managed. All of them are still in their pajamas, Damian and Marinette included. Alfred joins them, he however is in the same formal attire as ever. They settle down and start unwrapping their gifts, thanking each other and teasing each other mercilessly. Richard suddenly says, “look out the window, it’s snowing.”

Next to her Damian says, “tt, it’s just snow and feels like little pin pricks on your face either ways.”

“That’s only when it’s windy, plus it’s currently heavy snowfall and once it sets in in a couple of hours, we can go out and play,” Richard protests.

“I want Nette and Cass on my team,” Tim calls out.

Marinette only registers all of that in the back of her mind, having turned to look out the window when Richard says so. She watches the snow fall in white flakes mesmerised.

“What about you, pixie? You agree with the little demon?” Jason asked dragging her attention away from the snow falling outside.

She knew her siblings knew most of what had happened during her time in the League. Knew that as far as she had remembered she had spent all her time in just one League base. Maybe she had neglected to mention it was the one in the middle of the desert. Dami had spent time in Nanda Parbat while Marinette had not. Meaning Dami had seen snow while Marinette had not. She knew theoretically what it was, that was covered in her lessons but that was not what Jason was asking for.

“I haven’t ever seen snow before now,” she admitted and anyone who didn’t know her would think it was a casual comment but to people who did know her it was obvious she was almost worried to say that. Given that she was sitting in a room full of people who knew her the best and who also happened to be trained to read body language, she knew they would have figured it out instantly.

Richard, however just smiled and said, “we get to influence your decision than, it’s going to be so much fun.”

“She’s still on my team,” Tim added

“Team,” she said questioningly, “What are we going to need teams for?”

“Snowball fights, since Timbo’s taken you and Cass, it’s gonna be you three against me, Dickface and Demon Spawn. Bruce never joins. He’s allergic to fun.”

Father grunts.

Damian opens his mouth to retort but Alfred interrupts him, “If you wish to spend the rest of the morning arguing, I would not object but I do not think your breakfast would be extremely appetizing when cold.”

And as always when Alfred says something they listen and followed him to the dining room. There’s an impressive spread of food and Cass and Richard together convince Alfred to eat with them. Not that he joins in on the chaos that follows her and her siblings everywhere.

After breakfast, Father retreats to the study. The rest of them head to the Lounge. Marinette and Damian with their sketchbooks, Tim with his laptop and Jason with his book. Richard and Cass start a competition on who can stay in a hand stand the longest and rope Tim into measuring the time. Jason reads quietly while Damian and Marinette sketch with Alfred the cat and Titus on either side of the two. Steph and Babs eventually call to let them know neither of them will be able to make it to the Manor with all the snow outside. Eventually, the snow stops falling and Richard declares that it’s time to go out now.

They bundle up on coats and step out into the freshly fallen snow. It’s beautiful outside nothing but trees around and only the Drake Manor in the distance. She’s out for about two minutes before something cold hits her neck. She turns to see Richard and Dami creating a large pile of snow balls, Jason standing next to them looking her way and grinning, another snow ball in hand, “C’mon Pixie pop. We’re gonna win before you start otherwise.”

She catches sight of Tim and Cass, behind one of the snow-covered bushes, signalling for her to join them. As soon as she joins them Tim explains his plan of attack. Marinette catches on fast. They’re all running around and laughing but every single one of them intends to win. Then around fifteen minutes in Jason throws a snow ball at Richard and Chaos is unleashed. All alliances and teams dissolve and they’re just throwing snowballs randomly.

Alfred drags them in soon after that stating that they’ll catch colds and he is not going to look after six sick children. Her brothers immediately start to protest at being called children citing several reasons why they aren’t, Alfred continues on his path to the kitchen ignoring them, while Marinette and Cass just laugh at them.

Once in the kitchen Alfred tells them to change and be down in five minutes and that he’d have hot chocolate ready for them. They rush to their rooms to change and all of them come back in the next five minutes. Richard suggests that they bring Father out of his study and watch Christmas movies. Richard and Cass head of to convince Father while Marinette, Dami, Tim and Jason head to the media room to set things up. Jason dumps a pile of blankets on the floor and the couch. Tim starts the system and picks out a movie. Damian and Marinette bring out the junk food that they hide from Alfred to watch during movies, though Alfred is probably just letting them fool themselves to believe he doesn’t know about them. Nothing escapes him. Richard and Cass return with Father. They pile onto the couch and the blanket pile on the floor. Tim seizes the blanket pile on the floor and moves it near the couch so that he is near Father. Father’s sitting in the centre with Damian on one side and Cass on the other. Marinette was tucked into Cass and Jason is sitting on her other side. Richard is hugging Dami and holding him close. And then the movie starts and it’s Home Alone, which earns Tim several concerned glances which he ignores. They’re all watching and laughing and at some point Marinette falls asleep surrounded in the warmth.