#anyway! i agree thinking of alternatives is very fun :) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

m1ckeyb3rry · 7 months

Text

── THE GLASS PRINCESS // SIX

Series Synopsis: You wake up in a strange room with no memories, broken glass at your bedside, and a prince named Zuko as your only chance at figuring out who you really are.

Chapter Synopsis: Two separate encounters with two different Firebenders yield revelations of the sort you are unprepared to face.

Series Masterlist

Pairing: Zuko x Reader

Chapter Word Count: 8.4k

Content Warnings: complicated relationships (strangers to friends to lovers to enemies to strangers to lovers to enemies to lovers), amnesia, alternate universe, lots of secrets and lying and mystery

A/N: i have been writing like crazy recently AHAHA but anyways apologies in advance to anyone expecting anything different from this 😫

“I’m so sad that the break is over. It wasn’t nearly long enough,” Jia-Li said as the two of you returned to your room for the first time since you had left it for Ember Island.

“Our beds look a lot smaller in comparison to the ones on Ember Island,” you said. Jia-Li snorted.

“That’s for sure. And did the room shrink while we were gone?” she said.

“It definitely looks like it,” you said. “At least we don’t have class until tomorrow.”

“Do you think Ty Lee is back yet?” she said. “We should go to the market. It’ll be fun.”

“I should probably do some reading so that I’m ready for tomorrow,” you said.

“Don’t be a spoilsport! I doubt you forgot anything in the short time we were gone, seriously. You’ll be okay if you skip out on reading for one day and come enjoy yourself with the rest of us,” Jia-Li said.

You gave the stack of books on your desk a longing look before nodding firmly, knowing Jia-Li was right, and furthermore that Ty Lee would agree with her. It was just as important for you to socialize as it was for you to study hard, and going to the market wasn’t so time-consuming that it would leave you unable to do anything for the rest of the day.

“Alright, but only if you don’t complain about me reading tonight,” you said. “The book I’m on currently is really interesting.”

“What’s it about?” Jia-Li said.

“The history of Ba Sing Se,” you said. “Since I was found there, I thought that learning more about it might spark some memories in me. All things considered, it’s not as boring as one might expect. The chapter I’m about to start is on the royal family and the construction of the palace.”

“To be honest, I don’t see how you find that so fascinating, but if that’s what you like, then who am I to stop you? Sure, you can leave the candle burning a bit longer in order to finish your chapter if we get back too late,” she said.

“Thanks,” you said. “You are the best roommate ever.”

“You flatter me,” she said. “Open up, Ty Lee!”

“What if Kaho is the one at the door?” you said, grabbing her hand to stop her from continuing to bang on it. Jia-Li huffed at you.

“She’s not going to be back until the evening. Don’t you remember how much she was bragging about having to stay late to submit her official reports from the meeting and all of that?” she said. You let go of her hand, for you did remember that. Once freed, Jia-Li continued to knock.

“Coming!” a muffled voice said, and then the door was swinging open to reveal Ty Lee, who was standing on her hands for some reason. “Ursa! Jia-Li! What are you guys doing here?”

“We wanted to ask you if you would come to the market with us,” you said, twisting your neck so that she would come into proper perspective. To your chagrin, it did nothing but make you dizzy, so you gave up and decided to just look down on her upside-down visage.

“Sure!” she said, rocking herself onto her feet and standing properly. “How were your breaks?”

“They were good,” Jia-Li said. “Very relaxing, but way too short.”

“We did see you at one point,” you reminded her. Ty Lee giggled.

“Right, at that stupid party! I heard you guys ended up partaking in the festivities, if you’re catching my meaning,” she said.

“Yes, that’s right,” you said. Jia-Li grinned, flames dancing in her palm before she curled her fist and extinguished them.

“It was fun,” she said. “You were on to something, Ty Lee. It was exactly what we needed.”

“Jia-Li’s brother was not happy with us when he found out,” you said. “But it’s fine. He’ll make up with her, I’m sure, and as for me…it’s fine if we never speak again.”

“Onto the next,” Jia-Li said. “It’s alright. You win some, you lose some.”

“Exactly,” you agreed. “What about you? What were you up to when you weren’t on Ember Island?”

“Strategizing with Azula, mostly,” Ty Lee said. “You know, she killed the Avatar around when Zuko took over Ba Sing Se.”

“Really?” you said. Ty Lee nodded.

“Yup, I saw it myself! He was about to go all glowy-white-eyes on her, and she just shot him with lightning before he could,” she said.

Killing an Avatar as a normal person was unheard of, and Princess Azula wasn’t even a master yet. She was clearly a prodigy, but you knew from Ty Lee that she was still training, though her training was so advanced that it was theoretically impossible for normal Firebenders such as Jia-Li and even Kaho to accomplish. The fact that she had done something as legendary as defeating an Avatar without full mastery of her element spoke to her skill and talents, and you swore then and there to never get on her bad side.

“That’s insane,” Jia-Li said. “I always knew she was on another level from the rest of us, but I didn’t realize until now just how large that skill gap was.”

“Mhm, but for some reason, she’s gotten to be crazy paranoid recently. She’s convinced that he’s not really dead, and she’s been losing sleep over it,” Ty Lee said. “It’s tainting her victory, and she’s been meeting with Mai and I nonstop on what we should do in case he proves to be alive.”

“It’s better to be prepared than not,” you said. “Though she probably doesn’t have much to worry about. If the Avatar was alive, he probably would’ve made himself known, don’t you think? I doubt it would be easy for an Airbender to hide himself, especially not one as powerful as the Avatar surely is.”

“That’s what I’ve been telling her, but she’s still worried,” Ty Lee said. “So my break was mostly work, except for that one weekend on Ember Island.”

“That’s a shame,” Jia-Li said.

“Next break, I’m going to sleep the entire time,” Ty Lee vowed. “Every day I’m at the school serves as a reminder of why I dropped out in the first place, and I need my body and aura to recover from this kind of environment.”

“I always forget you did that,” you said.

“Why’d you come back?” Jia-Li said. “It’s obvious you hate it here, and you have a place in the palace already, so it’s not as though you’re going to climb the ranks socially by attending.”

“Simple! I’m here to keep an eye on Ursa!” Ty Lee said. “Not that she needs it, but Prince Zuko asked me to come along and help her acclimate to the environment of the academy, since we weren’t sure if she’d be able to handle it or not.”

“That’s a lot more logical than you suddenly developing a passion for the scholarly pursuits, which is what I had previously thought was the reasoning,” Jia-Li said.

“I don’t think I’ll ever develop that,” Ty Lee said, wrinkling her nose. “I’ll leave the academic stuff to Ursa.”

“Me, too,” Jia-Li said.

“Hey, come on, guys. Reading is fun,” you said, though it was obviously unconvincing, as both of them made faces at you. “Or not, I guess.”

“Let’s stop talking about school, please,” Ty Lee said. “It’s bad enough that we have classes tomorrow. We don’t need to ruin our free time by thinking about them now, too!”

“It’s not a problem for me,” Jia-Li said. “Maybe Ursa will have some difficulty, though.”

“Shut up! No, I won’t!” you said. “You won’t hear me speaking about school for the rest of the outing.”

“Does that include whenever you drop your random little factoids to explain whatever’s going on at any given time?” Jia-Li said.

“Hopefully not,” Ty Lee said. “I’d be way too confused without her narrating everything.”

“True,” Jia-Li said. “Okay, you can talk about those, but no more explicit mentions of the academy. Or of reading. Or of other things along those lines.”

“I already agreed!” you said. “Honestly, you guys have such a low opinion of me. Anyways, do either of you have anything specific to get at the market, or are we just wandering around?”

“Maybe I’ll get a new hair ribbon, but I’m not particularly attached to the idea, so I’m alright no matter where we go,” Jia-Li said.

“I don’t have anything I need, so we can go look at the hair ribbon stalls if you want, Jia-Li,” Ty Lee said.

“It’s the same for me,” you said. “Besides, it’s not like I really have money to spend, which means I’ll just admire the different shops, so I have no particular preference for where we go. Lead the way, Jia-Li; you’d know the market best, anyways.”

“Ty Lee probably knows it pretty well, too,” Jia-Li said.

“Nope, I ran away to join the circus, remember? I haven’t been here for a while! Even when I came back to the palace, I was always with Azula and Mai, and they’re not really the type to enjoy walking around the market, so it’s been a bit,” Ty Lee said.

“Then it really is up to me,” Jia-Li said, straightening her shoulders and nodding firmly. “Follow me, girls!”

You and Ty Lee marched after Jia-Li as she strode towards a stall decorated with hair ribbons of every shade. Some were patterned the way Kaho’s was, whereas others were solid-colored, like the one Jia-Li tended to wear. All of them were beautiful, richly made and finely dyed, and you could not help running your fingers over a few of them in appreciation.

“What do you think of this one?” Jia-Li said, holding up a red ribbon that had white flowers embroidered on it. “The one I have right now is so plain.”

“It’s very nice,” you said.

“I like it!” Ty Lee said. “You should get it.”

“Do you think so? Let’s see. How much is this for?” Jia-Li said. As she began to argue with the merchant about the price, you found yourself wandering off, observing the hustle and bustle of the marketplace, the different vendors and their goods, the mothers with their little children rifling through their purses full of gold coins, the serious soldiers standing at attention in uniform — and the not so serious ones with their helmets off and tucked under their arms as they talked to each other. Though the market was so large in scale, it was more like a collection of small, intimate snapshots of domesticity than a grand, epic portrait woven together out of perfectly conjoined parts.

There were so many different stories happening at once. People cried and laughed and argued and bantered on these streets. They lived their lives, unknowing of what would happen to them next or what those at their sides were going through. It was one of those mundane sort of miracles, the sort that were so commonplace that nobody would find them miraculous unless they stepped back and thought about them for a moment.

“Did you hear the news?” someone said to you. You tilted your head at the woman, who had her hand held in front of her mouth politely. “Apparently, there’s a prisoner on the loose!”

“What? In the capital?” you said. She nodded.

“Word has it that he deserted the army during the fall of Ba Sing Se and was promptly captured by Prince Zuko, who sent him to prison. But now he’s escaped! It’s all so frightening,” she said. “Be careful. You’re a student at the academy, aren’t you? My daughter is in her first year there, so I recognized the uniform. You should hurry back to the campus — it’s much safer there.”

“Thank you for the warning,” you said. “I hope you stay safe as well, madam.”

It had been an odd encounter, but for some reason, it wasn’t the random nature of the conversation that made you uneasy. Such things happened at markets, and especially because you apparently went to school with her daughter, it made sense that she had approached you. No, it was the story itself that you were worried about.

The History Mistress had never mentioned anyone deserting the army, besides the former General Iroh. That meant that this escaped prisoner, whoever they were, must’ve been some foot soldier so unimportant that they were not even worthy of the simplest sentence in your lectures, but that begot another question — how had a simple foot soldier escaped a Fire Nation prison?

The haggard man in front of you walked with a limp, and the exposed skin that you could see was littered with scars. Unlike what you would’ve assumed, though, the scars were clearly not from burns. They were cuts, deep lacerations that stood out red and furious against his arms, his neck, his ankles and even his face.

He must’ve been in a terrible battle, but for some reason, no one paid him any mind. The crowds parted around him before melting back together, like he had never been there in the first place. It was only you that followed, you who was entranced, matching his every step with your own. There was some burning desire in you that needed to follow him. You couldn’t place it, couldn’t understand its origin or any part of its existence, but you just knew you had to fulfill it. So you went after the man, growing steadily closer and closer until you could hear what he was muttering to himself.

“Gave everything…fought for that damn prince…what does it get me? Going to kill that girl. Going to kill that girl. What does it get me? Gave everything for that damn prince. Going to kill her. I have to kill her,” he said, over and over, repeating the same phrases on loop.

“Excuse me, sir, but are you alright?” you said when the two of you reached a dead end and the man stood still, facing the wall, continuing to say the same breathless things.

“I knew it,” he said. “I knew someone was following me. We Soldiers of Agni, we know these things.”

“Soldiers of Agni?” you said. The man still did not turn around, pressing his hands against the stone wall and resting his forehead against it. “They’re all dead, sir. They fell during the invasion of Ba Sing Se.”

“And don’t I know it!” the man said. “We gave everything for that prince, and what did it lead us to? Death! Death, you foolish girl, all of my comrades are dead! I’m the only one who survived that wench’s onslaught, but instead of being treated as the hero I am, I was renounced as a traitor. Prince Zuko took my status as a Soldier of Agni away, and he threw me in some dungeon to rot. Tell me how that’s fair!”

“I think you’re confused, sir,” you said, stepping away from him, questioning your own instincts for landing you into this situation. Because this was definitely the prisoner that the woman had been talking about, and since that was the case, you were almost certainly in danger. “Prince Zuko would never do something like that. He is a kind and just person. He even saved me!”

He spun around. “He saved — you!”

Before you knew it, there was a blast of fire heading directly for you. You barely leapt out of the way and readied yourself to fight, but even if the prisoner was telling the truth and he really had once been a Soldier of Agni, his reflexes and musculature had faded during his time locked away. No matter how much he tried, nothing but wisps of smoke escaped his hands, and he shouted in fury before rushing at you.

“What are you doing?” you said as you began to run as well.

“I’m going to kill you!” he said, his voice breaking as he did so. “You took everything from me, so I’m going to kill you!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about!” you said in distress. “I’m just a student at the Royal Fire Academy! I haven’t taken anything from anyone!”

“Is that where you are now, you sly witch?” he spat. “It wasn’t enough for you to destroy us all? You have to infiltrate our nation, too? Get out of here, scum!”

“What are you saying?” you said.

“My comrades are dead because of you,” he said. “I’m in prison because of you. I have to — I have to get justice. If that Agni-damned Prince Zuko really did save you, if he really is just letting you walk around and pretend to be one of us, then the Fire Nation is doomed. I have to do what I must for my country! In the name of Fire Lord Ozai, I will kill you, once and for all!”

“Huh?” you said. “I was a prisoner in Ba Sing Se! I don’t have the faintest clue how I could’ve killed your comrades.”

“That’s rich, coming from you. You don’t have to lie in front of me. I was there, wench. I know what you really are,” he said.

“And what might that be?” you said, skidding to a stop before you crashed into a wall and turning to face him, getting into the hand-to-hand combat stance that you had been trained to adopt at the academy.

“The—” Before he could finish, his eyes widened, and then he was falling over. It was Ty Lee; she had jabbed her fingers into his pressure points in a quick but familiar succession, and now she was standing over him, disapproval etched on her face.

“Ursa! There you are!” Jia-Li said, rounding the corner and almost tripping over the fallen man. “Who is that?”

“He’s an escaped prisoner,” you said. “He claimed he used to be one of the Soldiers of Agni.”

“I thought they were all dead, though?” Jia-Li said.

“They are,” Ty Lee said. “He must’ve been rambling about nothing.”

“Definitely,” Jia-Li said. “What Soldier of Agni would just faint like that for no reason?”

“It wasn’t exactly for no reason. I used my chi-blocking to take him out!” Ty Lee said.

“Chi-blocking?” Jia-Li said as the man groaned, beginning to wake up.

“It’s a pretty useful skill,” Ty Lee said. “All sorts of applications. It can temporarily take away bending, incapacitate people, and more! It’s the way for nonbenders like me to level the playing field and stand a chance even against the strongest of benders.”

“That’s why you aren’t afraid of Kaho!” Jia-Li said.

“Yup!” Ty Lee said.

“Who are you girls?” the man said groggily, pushing himself to his feet.

“I thought you knew who I was?” you said. “You said so yourself!”

“How would he know who you are?” Jia-Li said.

“No idea, but he seemed pretty sure just a second ago,” you said.

“For some reason, I think I do,” the man said. “But I don’t know how or why. There’s just a blank spot in my memories. I can’t — I can’t remember anything.”

“That’s strange,” Jia-Li said.

“He must’ve hit his head when he fell,” Ty Lee said.

“Right,” you said, though when she stooped over to pick the man up and bring him to the nearby soldiers, you narrowed your eyes at her.

You knew that chi-blocking sequence. You knew it well, because Ty Lee had used it on you before, still used it on you even now. You had never questioned it much, never found any merit in doing so. Ty Lee was infamous for being an airhead, so you had always put the strange ritual down as another one of her oddities. But what if it wasn’t? There was no way that the man had hit his head hard enough to forget everything so quickly, especially not when he had been so confident only seconds prior.

The more likely scenario was that Ty Lee had somehow blocked his memories when she had blocked his chi. It made the most sense, but if that really was the case, then what motive did she have to do the same for you? It was uncomfortable thinking about it, but you couldn’t stop the question from reverberating around your mind for the rest of the day.

Was Ty Lee the reason you didn’t remember anything?

That night, when Jia-Li was asleep and you were getting ready to settle in bed yourself, there was a knock on your door. Quickly blowing out the candle and making sure that the door was locked, you leapt into your bed and pulled the covers over your head, squeezing your eyes shut and pretending to be fast asleep.

“Ursa?” It was Ty Lee. “Are you awake?”

You knew what she was there for. It was about the time for her to — if your assumption was correct — block your chi, and possibly your memories. You had never protested, and you didn’t want her to grow suspicious of you in case that led to her taking even more drastic measures, but you also knew you had to avoid her for the time being if you ever wanted to remember who you were.

Just for a couple of days. You only had to stay away from her for a couple of days, and if nothing changed, then you would return to her side and act as if you both were friends once more.

“Are you and Ty Lee fighting?” Jia-Li said the next morning. You were currently suffering from a massive migraine, massaging your temples as you tried to block the light from hitting your eyes, but you managed to shake your head in the negative.

“No, we’re not,” you said. “Why?”

“You didn’t talk to her all morning, and you sat next to me instead of her, the way you usually do. I think she was a little sad about it,” Jia-Li said.

“I just have a really bad headache,” you said.

“Do you need to go to the infirmary?” Jia-Li said. ��If you can’t handle class, I’ll tell the Etiquette Mistress. You’re already her favorite pupil, so she shouldn’t mind.”

“No, I’ll go,” you said, knowing that it was of the utmost importance that you didn’t go anywhere alone. It would be an opportunity for Ty Lee to chi-block you again, one you did not need to create, not if you wanted your experiment to be successful. “I’m sure I’ll get over it with something to drink.”

Yet, despite the cups upon cups of water you chugged, it didn’t do anything to dissipate your headache. It was like there was someone pushing on your brow, crushing your head together, the heaviness seeping down behind your eyes and into your jaw. You thought you might be close to implosion, but there was never a moment of relief. The pressure just kept mounting and mounting until you really did wish for someone to take a hammer to your skull and break it open so that you could finally be freed from the pain.

“Ursa, Jia-Li,” Kaho said as you entered the classroom, her voice filled with venom. “I can’t believe you’re daring to show your faces today.”

“Why wouldn’t we?” you said, far too preoccupied with your migraine to temper your irritation with your usual politeness. “We’re students at the academy, the same as you, Kaho.”

“I thought you might be ashamed of yourself after your performance during the break, at Ember Island,” she said.

“What performance?” you said.

“You destroyed my house!” she said. “I know you all did. You and that group of losers from the beach, whoever they were. My brother told me all about it.”

“Your brother’s the biggest fool I’ve ever met,” you said. “Followed closely by Ruon-Jian. Neither of them recognized the prince and princess even when they were right in front of them.”

“Don’t call my brother a fool,” she said.

“It must be a familial trait,” you continued.

“Ursa, what are you doing?” Jia-Li said.

“I have way too much of a headache to deal with her squealing right now,” you said harshly. “Chan is an idiot and we helped destroy her house. It’s true, but it matters little to me, and I wish she’d just go and wallow in her misery somewhere far from where I am!”

“You’re playing with fire,” Jia-Li fretted. “Quite literally.”

“Can you just leave me alone for once, Kaho?” you said.

“You think you’re so much better than me, don’t you?” Kaho said. “You’ve taken my spot as the top student, and you’re favored by Prince Zuko, so you believe that makes you my superior. But there’s one thing that you’ll never have.”

“And what might that be? An insufferable attitude, or a particularly hideous—” you were cut off by Jia-Li slapping her hand over your mouth.

“She doesn’t know what she’s saying,” Jia-Li apologized. “The migraine is making her delirious.”

Kaho ignored her, staring directly at you, the anger which she was so well-known for blazing to life in her irises. It was the same way she had glared at you after defeating that one underclassman in an Agni Kai. It was the same way she glared at you every time you corrected her in class or got a better result than her on an exam. It was the same way she glared at you whenever you received a letter from Prince Zuko while in the dining hall.

She hated you. You had known this for some time, but you had never understood it until that moment. Kaho despised everything you were, but more than that, she despised that she was jealous of you. She was used to everything going her way, and yet, here you were, a girl who had no memories and no background and no bloodline, taking without difficulty everything that was once hers.

It should never have been yours. To Kaho, you were nobody, a girl from rubble who stole everything from the rightfully deserving. And now here you were, insulting her in front of everyone, clearly rising above the place she had designated for you in her mind. It was an offense of the highest order, and in that instant, you came to the conclusion that you would not escape unpunished. Kaho would no longer allow you to walk over her without retaliation.

“Firebending,” Kaho said. “That’s what I have, and I will always, always be your better, because you can’t even bend.”

“Maybe not,” you said, swallowing and then deciding that if you were already doomed, you might as well have the last word. “It makes it more embarrassing for you, though, doesn’t it? That a nonbender has beat you so thoroughly in everything else? That you can only cling to your bending to maintain your sense of superiority?”

“That’s it,” Kaho said. “You know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”

“You’ve really done it now, Ursa,” Jia-Li groaned. “Don’t even think of asking me to be your proxy. I don’t have a death wish.”

“I do,” you said. “And I’ll save you the trouble. I challenge you to an Agni Kai, Kaho.”

If an Agni Kai was declared, classes were suspended so that the school could watch. Though they were so brutal in nature, they were actually encouraged by the administration, as they served to weed out the weaker students, leaving behind only the strongest, the best of the best.

At present, the field where you and Kaho were going to fight was utterly cleared, though staff and students alike gathered on the edges to watch the event. It had been anticipated for some time, this clash between the two top students of the academy, even if one of them couldn’t Firebend.

“You’re seriously not even calling a proxy?” Jia-Li said.

“Who would I call?” you said, rolling your shoulders. “She’s beaten every girl at this academy already, and I’m not about to beg the prince to save me.”

“Let go of your pride for once and do exactly that!” Jia-Li said. “You couldn’t even take me in a fight, so you can just forget about facing Kaho.”

“Actually, she can manage,” Ty Lee said grimly. You didn’t know where she had come from, but there she stood, her face set, her posture stiff. “Ursa. I don’t know why he said it, but for some reason, Zuko seemed to think that you were strong. Stronger than the rest of us, in fact.”

“He told me as much,” you said. “I don’t know why he said it, either, but for some reason, I don’t think he was lying. At least, he seemed to really believe it, which means there must be some thought behind it all.”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re a prodigy with weapons on par with Master Piandao himself!” Jia-Li said. “Against someone like Kaho, you either need to be a bender or have unusual skills the way Ty Lee does. Can you claim either of those things?”

“I don’t know, Jia-Li,” you said. “I don’t think so. Yet I have to do this all the same. She’s gone unchecked for far too long.”

“And you’ll be the one to check her?” Jia-Li said, throwing her hands up in the air. “I wish you had just gone to the infirmary like I had told you to!”

“Let’s go, Jia-Li,” Ty Lee said. “It’s time. Good luck, Ursa.”

Another pang. You forced yourself to smile through the pain, not wanting to show weakness right when you were about to get into a fight. Ty Lee smiled back, though Jia-Li did not muster the same energy, wailing despondently about how she was going to lose another roommate as Ty Lee dragged her off the field.

“This is your last chance, Ursa,” Kaho said. “If you fall to your knees and grovel, if you accept your place in this world, and if you renounce your ties with the royal family, then I will spare you.”

“I cannot do either of those things,” you said. “And you cannot ask me to.”

“I will not be gentle,” Kaho warned. “I was kind in my last Agni Kai, so perhaps you think that you will get off in a similarly unharmed way. If that is the case, then I want you to know that you are wrong. I will burn my victory into your skin so deeply that you can never look into the mirror without being reminded of the day you angered the wrong person.”

“My head is already full of pain, nearly to the bursting,” you said. “What is one more wound? Do your worst, Kaho. Even if I lose today, I will still have won in the end.”

“And how is that?” Kaho said. You grinned at her.

“Because I’ve shown everyone else at this academy exactly the sort of person you are,” you said. “You can’t beat a nonbender at anything else, so you have to challenge them to an Agni Kai in order to cling to the last threads of your former glory. You’re really very pathetic, and no matter how thoroughly you burn me, you can’t change that.”

“Did no one ever teach you to hold your tongue?” Kaho said, taking a deep breath, fire flickering at her fingertips.

“Certainly, at some point, someone must have,” you said. “But I shouldn’t know when or who or what the purpose of the lesson was. Don’t you recall that I have no memories?”

No one could say that Kaho wasn’t talented. The way she used her Firebending was like an extension of herself, as brutal and efficient as her clinical personality. It wasn’t that she was incredibly powerful — she just did not waste even a drop of energy, focusing her entire being into her forms, which were done with a clear accuracy that was difficult to dodge.

She punched a lick of fire at you, deadly hot, the air shimmering in the aftermath of it as it dissipated into nothingness, barely avoiding singing the edges of your clothes. You employed every trick you had learnt, for the longer you could draw out the fight, the worse it looked for her.

It was a game that you could not win. It was a game you were destined to lose, but — and maybe this was your past knowledge speaking — you had to play along. The outcome was determined, but you still had to play.

“Why did you come here?” Kaho screamed, her careful control slipping the more times she missed burning you. It was like her words drove a knife through your head, and the only reason your faltering was not a fatal blunder was because she, too, was growing more and more errant in her strikes. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“You’re the one trying to immolate me!” you said, sweat pouring from your brow, your shirt sticking to your collarbones and your pants clinging to your legs. “Why don’t you raise that question to yourself?”

“You!” she said. “Why are you speaking so elegantly? Are you mocking me?”

“Of all the things, you choose to criticize my manner of speaking? Your sense of prioritization is as horrid as your personality,” you said.

More fire. This time, the hem of your shirt did catch alight, but you put it out before it could reach your skin, so it didn’t count as a first burn. It did, however, mean two things: you were getting tired, and Kaho was losing even more of her composure.

“You came here,” she said. “I was alright before! But you came here and decided that everything I had was yours. My place in society, my standing in the school…the happy ending I was born to inherit has all gone to you!”

“Happy ending?” you said. “Do you think I care about something as superficial and fantastical as that? I don’t even have a beginning! Have you ever taken a second thought about your hatred? You can choose the direction of your life, Kaho. Whether happy or sad or anything in between, you know who you are. I do not have such a luxury. You resent my friendship with the prince, but if I do not have him, I have nothing left of my past! I helped destroy your house, yes, but at least you have a house — and it was only one of many. I don’t even have a shack in the woods to call my own!”

“Exactly,” Kaho said. “You should be begging on the streets, yet you are here. But no longer. No longer will I allow you to exist beside me, as if we are equals.”

Your eyes widened as her words sank in. This wasn’t just an Agni Kai anymore. She would not stop once she burnt you. It didn’t matter how completely; you had been wagering that you could eventually heal from whatever she inflicted on you. But, according to Kaho, she was not planning on you ever healing. She was planning on you dying.

Without Kaho’s fire, the air was almost cold. Goosebumps raised on your bare arms, though whether it was from chill or fright, you were not sure. Kaho was incredibly still, her eyes closed as she inhaled deeply, centering herself, drawing strength from the core of her bending — her breath. Everyone else was silent, though you thought you could hear someone, perhaps Jia-Li, repeating a prayer to Agni frantically, begging him to protect you from Kaho’s wrath.

You did no such thing. There was a voice in your head, whispering past the pain, telling you that Agni was not your god. You could not pray to him. You could not pray to a lord of destruction. You could not pray to the deity who had ruined your home.

You did not question this voice, though by all rights it was contrary to the little you knew of yourself. You were a Fire Nation soldier. Agni had not ruined your home, he had saved it. He was the one whose banner you had fought under. He was the one whose name you had been tortured in. He was your patron.

No. He was not. He was Kaho’s. He was Zuko’s. He was Jia-Li’s. But you were not a Firebender. You were something else. What? It was inexplicable, but your bones resonated with that truth as the effects of Ty Lee’s continuous chi-blocking began to crumble, your headache finally alleviating as you had your first breakthrough.

Kaho opened her eyes, and then fire gathered in her palms. You stood your ground this time, rooting yourself into the dirt of the field, and as a wave of fire rolled towards you, destroying everything in its path, you cringed back and screwed your eyelids together but refused to move. This time, you would not move.

Right when the blistering temperature got to be too much, it was cut off, asphyxiated before its source could reach you. Then Kaho was hurling insults at you, calling you a mongrel, a filthy half-breed, a daughter of mud. You cracked your eyes open, wondering why she did not attack you once more, why she had ceased her assault at the instant before she would have won for certain.

There was a large wall of stone erected before you, shielding you from Kaho, impenetrable by even the hottest of fires, which certainly she did not possess. That wall had not been there before, and the names which Kaho was calling you suddenly made sense — because you had created the wall. It was yours.

You were an Earthbender.

Within seconds, every single person that had borne witness to the Agni Kai was slumped over on the ground, including Kaho herself. Ty Lee used her momentum to flip over the wall, dropping to her feet before you and crossing her arms.

“You knew,” you said. “The entire time, you knew.”

“No,” she said. “Not exactly.”

“You’re the one who’s been blocking my memories, though,” you said. “Right? You would block my chi so that I couldn’t remember my past or use my Earthbending.”

“That’s right,” she said, bowing her head. She seemed apologetic, but nothing resembling pity filled you. The only emotion you could muster was disgust.

“Why?” you said. “What could have convinced you to do something like that? I thought we were friends, Ty Lee. Was that all a lie? Were you only staying close to me so that you could keep suppressing my memories?”

“No!” she said. “That was the reason at first, but I like spending time with you, Ursa. You really are one of my friends.”

She reached out as if to embrace you, but you took a step backwards so that she could not. She pulled back as if you had wounded her.

“My name isn’t Ursa, is it?” you said. “Who am I really, Ty Lee? Tell me the truth.”

“I have no idea,” she said. “He didn’t tell me anything about you. He just said it was for the best if you didn’t remember anything. I was so afraid the whole time, I thought Azula might be angry if she found out, but he was always so kind to me when I was younger that I thought I owed him at least this one favor…”

“Who?” you said. “Who is he? Who demanded you keep my memories from me?”

She gave you a miserable look. “Zuko.”

“That liar,” you said. It wasn’t just anger for the specific betrayal; there was some old rage quivering in you. You hated him. You hated him. You couldn’t say why, but you hated him. The ground shook, and Ty Lee glanced around nervously, but you paid her no mind. “He lied to me! He pretended like he cared, but the whole time, he was the one who did it! It’s his fault that I’m like this!”

“Don’t be angry,” Ty Lee pleaded. “I’m sure he had a reason. Just talk to him, and I’m sure he’ll explain!”

“Explain?” you said. “I don’t want to hear his explanations. I want him to pay for what he did!”

Another stake driven into your mind. It was your chi, you presumed, chipping away at the place where your memories were stored. There was still nothing concrete, but a sense of claustrophobia was creeping over you. You weren’t supposed to be here. You were supposed to be somewhere else. You were supposed to be doing something, but Zuko — Zuko had snatched you away from that fate.

“Ursa,” Ty Lee said.

“Stop calling me that,” you said. “It’s not who I am.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know what else to call you,” she said, clearly near tears. “Please calm down for a little bit. I blocked everyone’s chi in time; no one will remember this happened, so take the moment to settle and think things over. There’s no rush.”

“You can’t just do that,” you said. “You can’t keep blocking people’s memories at whim. They’re not yours to play with like that. Anyways, won’t they remember again? Are you really going to go around once a week and block everyone’s chi?”

“I was quick enough, and it was a small enough memory, that just one time will be sufficient,” she said. “No one will know what you’ve done, and I promise I won’t block your memories again if you stay.”

“I can’t trust you,” you said, straining with all your might to drive the stone wall back into the ground. “I’m sorry, but I really can’t.”

Dust flew up everywhere, but once it cleared, the field looked placid and undisturbed — barring, of course, the scorch marks left in the wake of Kaho’s attacks.

“What are you going to do now?” she said.

“I’m going to my room,” you said. “You can go ahead and tell Zuko I can Earthbend again. I’m sure you’ve been keeping him updated this entire time, so I won’t stop you.”

“He’ll want to come visit you,” Ty Lee said. And, because you did not want her to get in trouble, because despite what she had done there was still fondness for her buried deep within you, you only sighed and then nodded.

“Then he’ll do just that, I’d expect,” you said. “Goodbye, Ty Lee.”

You weren’t sure if she knew what you meant by the farewell. Maybe she did. For her own sake, you hoped she did not, or at least that she pretended that that was the case. She had in the end only been a tool of Zuko’s, so though you did not forgive her, you did not hate her, either.

Perhaps by a stroke of good fortune or perhaps by design, Jia-Li did not return to the room before dinner. This allowed you to collect your meager possessions, shoving them in the bag you had brought with you to Ember Island. Changing out of your uniform, you bit your lip before placing it in the trash. It was beyond salvaging, and besides, your time as Ursa was over. Now, you had to leave behind the life that the prince had created for you and figure out who you were, what your own life was like.

Fastening a cloak over your shoulders and tossing the hood up over your head to further disguise yourself, you slunk through the dormitory, staying in the shadows and hiding whenever people passed. In that manner, you managed to escape detection, reaching the academy’s aviary before anyone noticed you.

“Bian,” you whispered to your messenger hawk. She was instantly awake, cocking her head at you. You shook your own at her in the negative. “I don’t have a letter for you. There’s no one left for me to write to. I just wanted to tell you something: I’m leaving.”

Even if Bian had once been meant to be Prince Zuko’s, you had difficulty thinking of her as anything but yours. She was your friend, yourhawk, and though she was of the Fire Nation, of your time as Ursa, you could not let her go without saying farewell first, the way you would with the rest of it.

“I can’t tell anyone else,” you said. “It’ll just put them in danger. I can’t even say bye to Jia-Li. She’ll think I just ran away for no reason, and she was too loyal of a friend to deserve that, but I cannot implicate her in my defection from the academy. She’ll be the first they question, and I don’t know that she’ll lie convincingly enough to escape suspicion. So, then, when she says she has no idea where I’ve gone, she has to be telling the truth.”

Bian cooed at you; well, maybe calling the throaty sound cooing was being generous, but there was no other way to describe it, and the sentiment was the same. She was trying, in her own way, to comfort you, and you extended your arms to her perch so that you could rub the soft, tiny feathers of her cheeks.

“Thank you for being my hawk,” you said. “Be good for whoever owns you next — unless it is the prince, in which case I give you full permission to bite his fingers whenever he tries to give you letters.”

With that, you turned around, your hands dropping to your sides as you walked, then ran out of the aviary. If you turned around, you would cry. If you turned around, you might not ever be able to leave, so you sprinted until you reached the stables where the various animals belonging to the academy were kept.

Passing by the sleeping dragon moose and the corral of komodo rhinos, you ducked into the stall of one of the mongoose lizards. Throwing its saddle on, you patted it on the forehead.

“I’m sorry,” you said, swinging on and kicking it forwards. “I promise you can go home once you get me out of the capital.”

The mongoose lizard was fast, but more than that, it was stealthy and could traverse many kinds of terrain. Scuttling through the campus, it climbed the walls at your direction, though it was obviously unsure, as it had been trained not to leave the academy, even when given the opportunity.

Looking up, you saw a shadow cover the moon briefly, and you furrowed your brow as the dark shape came hurtling down towards you. The mongoose lizard continued to dash through the streets of the capital, and you used your hands to shield your face from the incoming projectile.

You needn’t have. At the last moment, it flared its wings, landing gently on your shoulder, careful not to dig its talons into your flesh despite the subsequent loss of balance.

“Bian?” you said. She nipped your shirt collar like she was chiding you for daring to leave without her. You laughed in relief, scratching her crest. “Oh, my dear Bian. I should never have tried to go without you. Thank you for finding me.”

She hopped off your shoulder, sitting on the pommel of the saddle, surveying the terrain with the regal bearing of a figurehead. With her at your side, you weren’t quite as lonely, and though it was selfish of you, you were glad that she had made such a choice, that she loved you enough to follow you away from the comfort of the aviary.

You traveled for a while at top speed, but once the mongoose lizard began to show signs of fatigue, you reined it to a stop. Whistling for Bian, you slid off of the beast. It made a clicking noise at you, and you smiled at it.

“Thank you,” you said. “You have done your job well. You may go back now.”

Without hesitation, the mongoose lizard spun and headed in the same direction it had come from. You didn’t wait, either; the palace certainly had methods to track you, so it would be a folly for you to stay in the same place for too long.

When the search began depended on Jia-Li. If she reported your disappearance immediately, then you were in trouble, but you sensed she would not. You had a habit of coming back to the room later than her, so she’d likely not realize you were gone at all until she woke up and saw your bed had remained undisturbed the entire night.

That left you with a window of time in which you could eat and sleep. After that, you had to walk to the nearest village and appropriate a new mount that could get you even farther from the academy and the capital and Prince Zuko’s grasp.

“It’s just so strange,” you said to Bian as you made a small fire using kindling, the way you had been taught in the academy. “If I’m an Earthbender instead of a former Fire Nation soldier, then there really is no explanation for any of it. Why did he abduct me? Why did he order my memories to be subdued? What significance did I hold?”

If she knew anything about the heart or mind of her former master, she did not reveal it. Rummaging around in your bag for the bit of food you had scrounged up while packing, you chewed on it pensively before pulling out the book you had been reading.

Opening to the page you had left off on, you promised to only finish the chapter on the royal family before you went to sleep. Maybe it was foolish to sacrifice any of the precious little rest you could get, but you longed for something to soothe your mind, and you thought that reading, as a familiar habit, might accomplish that goal.

The last ruler of the Earth Kingdom was the 52nd Earth King, born Kuei. He is famous only for his ineptitude. Ascending the throne at the age of four, he was a puppet monarch for much of his life, until the day he was deposed of by Prince Zuko and the Fire Nation forces.

For some strange reason, there was a lump in your throat reading about the 52nd Earth King, as if he was someone that you greatly missed. But that was not even the oddest thing — it was the next passage that made you truly gasp. Memories upon memories poured in as you read and reread the paragraph, which was more of a footnote than anything.

The 52nd Earth King also had a younger sister, though no one ever saw her. A nonbender like the king, Princess Y/N remained shut away in the palace her entire life, reputedly for her own protection. Because of her fragile and essentially invisible status, her own subjects mockingly referred to her as the Glass Princess.

She, along with her brother, was killed during the fall of Ba Sing Se.

#zuko x reader #zuko x y/n #zuko x you #zuko #avatar the last airbender #atla #reader insert #canon au #the glass princess #m1ckeyb3rry writes

226 notes · View notes

thetarttfuldickhead · 4 months

Text

There was this post a little while back suggesting that Beard gets kicked out by Jane and moves in with Higgins and that’s very narratively satisfying and right, given that Leslie’s the one person daring to tell Beard that his relationship with Jane isn’t, you know, great. However, I’m a Roy & Jamie girl at heart, so I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if Beard instead moved in with his fellow fan of few words, ie one Roy Kent.

Say, for instance, that Roy and Jamie are fucking/dating/what have you and Jamie gets it into his pretty, silly head that they can somehow hide the fact from Beard. Roy tells him stop being an idiot, of course he’s going to know if he’s staying here, only way to keep it from him if you keep away until he finds another place to live, and fuck no, I’m not moving in with you, how the fuck would I explain that, and anyway your fucking headboard would give me a migraine.

Well, Jamie says mulishly, I’m not staying away.

Fine, Roy says, secretly a little relieved. So he’ll know. Big fucking deal.

And in this version of events Roy really is cool with it, because it has to come out sooner or later and he’s not ashamed and it’s not like Beard’s gonna say anything (Roy may or may not be mistaken in this assumption), and anyway, he’s Roy Kent, he does whatever the hell he wants, okay. Only Jamie doesn’t accept that, because he has this strong and somewhat misguided notion that he needs to defend Roy’s honour by not letting anyone suspect he’s fucking his player. So Jamie starts making up increasingly absurd excuses as to why he should show up at Roy’s place like having some work done at my house and Roy was concerned I’d be breathing in poisonous fumes, yeah, so he said I had to come over here and um, Coach, I think I strained my calf today, could you maybe take a look here in the bedroom ‘cause my back hurts too and I need to lay down and yeah, Beard’s eyebrows are not as psychotic as Roy’s but they certainly climb and climb and climb. Later in the evening he just glances at Roy, so, you and Jamie, huh? And Roy shrugs, unconcerned, yeah, and pours himself another cup of tea. He doesn’t tell Jamie that they’ve been made, though; it’s still kind of fun watching the muppet make a fool of himself. Besides, the idea of their encounters being particularly illicit seems to really get Jamie going, so.

Alternatively, Jamie agrees to stay away, and then proceeds to do everything in his power to set Beard up with someone else so that Beard can be happy and move in with his new friend and Jamie can go back to shagging his grumpy old boyfriend all over the house. The attempts are predictably absurd, but also oddly sweet (‘cause Jamie wants the relationship to last, right, so that Beard doesn’t come knocking on Roy’s door again anytime soon, so obviously he needs to find someone properly nice, but it’s hard for him to figure what nice means to someone as odd as Beard).

(These two scenarios work if Keeley’s part of the mix, too, btw. She can either join in Jamie’s antics because she’s a weird girl at heart, or she can be the voice of reason if a voice of reason is what gets you going.)

Or say that Roy and Jamie really are just friends (for the moment, at least) and it’s Roy that gets a little nervous about Beard realizing just how close they are. Like, he’s reluctantly cool with everyone knowing that Jaime is his favourite player (though of course he’d deny it if someone dared say it to his face) or them knowing that Roy spends stupid amounts of time torturing training Jamie, but he’s not quite comfortable having people know that they also just… hang out. That Roy cooks Jamie dinner. Leaves Phoebe with him when Roy’s busy with a coaching crisis. That they watch stupid shit on the telly together, and that Roy doesn’t complain (much) when Jamie curls up to him like a cat. That stuff’s private, all right? So he stops having Jamie over, starts brushing him off, and at first Jamie’s undeterred because if he let Roy’s grumpiness get to him he’d never not be gotten to, but Roy persists and Jamie starts to wilt, hurt and confused. In the end, Beard – wise, all-seeing Beard – fixes Roy with one long stare and notes that there’s nothing wrong with having a friend, Coach. Plenty wrong with being shit to the ones you’ve got, though, and Roy doesn’t even yell fuck he just stands there, stony like, until he jerks a short nod and stalks off to make things up to Jamie.

Anyway, the idea of Beard bearing witness to Roy and/or Jamie being particularly ridiculous about each other is very funny, to me.

(I tried to hunt down that original post because even though I didn’t want to add to it and derail OP’s poignant take with my Roy & Jamie obsession, I still want to credit them for the original idea. Couldn’t find it, however, but please give me a shout if you have a link. Aha! @coachbeards is the original galaxy brain!)

#it's royjamie crack o'clock again #i just like it when one of them is being very silly/very fucked up you know?#they take turns #roy kent #jamie tartt #coach beard #royjamie #roy & jamie #my stuff

169 notes · View notes

lillysdreaminnn · 3 months

Text

Labyrinth.

Labyrinth; chapter II

Word count; 1.9k

Summary; one time Ivy noticed something was wrong with Aaron and one time Aaron noticed something was wrong with Ivy - or alternatively; the case and how Ivy almost solved it.

Warnings; JJ being a little shit because I love her, Hotch being hot (what's new?), nightmare but no description of it, discussion of puncture wounds and maybe a little bit of gore, I think that's all

The team was on the jet, talking about the case and whatnot, but Ivy's eyes were on Hotch. As someone who had suffered kind of the same problem, she knew how his ears must've hurt quite a bit.

"They have parachutes on board, right?" Rossi asked, looking between the team. "They should, it's standard in all federal transport." Spencer said with a confused look on his face, but Ivy caught on Rossi's drift.

"Maybe we should give one to the elephant of the room, get him out of here?"

Ivy's gaze turned to the man across from her, seeing as he was in obvious pain. "That be the elephant with the dead mans DNA." Derek muttered, looking up from his files and back at Rossi.

"Obviously someone planted the semen on the victim." Hotch commented, taking a break from rubbing his forehead.

"In the victim." Ivy corrected, making Hotch look at her with a soft sigh leaving his lips. "That's one theory." Spencer said, taking everyones attention to himself, "There's another theory?" JJ questioned, voicing everyones thoughts once again.

"Think of someone who shared the exact same DNA as an other person."

"Reid, you're not seriously floating around the idea of an evil twin, are you?"

"No, I'm not." As Spencer continued to explain his theory about the unsub, Ivy was looking at Hotch, noticing how he closed his eyes tightly and groaned subtly.

Jesus.

"Hotch, you have been cleared to fly haven't you?" Ivy asked after a few beats of silence, making Hotch look at her, knowing she was fully aware of his situation with the bombing.

He just sighed and leaned back on his seat, throwing his head back and closing his eyes as a sigh mixed with a pained groan left his lips.

Jesus Christ.

With a sympathetic smile, and a sigh because of the scene in front of her, Ivy leaned back on her seat as well, looking down at the file she had on her legs.

Hotch assigned where everyone would go and Ivy was paired with Rossi for the morgue, "My favourite." Ivy said sarcastically, "Tell me about it." Rossi agreed, making her chuckle. The rest of the short flight, they talked about past experiences and funny stories, JJ and Ivy sharing stories one about the other.

"Oh my God... Bella remember when y-" Ivy cut her cousins sentence short, by shaking her head; she knew what JJ was going to say since she loved that story.

"Don't call me that and no I don't."

"What did she do?" A very curious, and grinning, Emily asked making JJ jump with excitement.

"JJ no."

But what JJ heard was "JJ yes" so she told the story Ivy dreaded to hear. "When Ivy was like... five? Three? Four? Or more? I don't know, she was very young anyways." Ivy snorted a laugh at her cousins confusion, hiding her face in her hands.

"She was in daycare, waiting for her mom to come pick her up, right? And she was hiding under the Goddamn slides just waiting, lurking, when a woman with the same pants as her mom came in, looking for her daughter. Ivy, thinking that it was her mom, ran over to the poor woman, clinging onto her leg for dear life."

The BAU laughed, while Ivy was hiding her face in her hands, embarrassement written all over her face.

Hotch couldn't help smiling at her embarrassement as well, finding it kind of sweet how JJ and Ivy always had a nice bond. "My mother still makes fun of me for that." Ivy muttered, laughing softly at herself.

The rest of the flight passed by like a flash and soon Rossi and Ivy were at the morgue, looking at poor Delilah Grenan.

"What about the puncture wounds?" Ivy asked the doctor as he walked back inside the morgue. The doctor briefly sighed before answering the young agents question, "My best guess is a small screwdriver."

"Just like the prior murders, he's a stickler for the details." Rossi said, looking through pictures of the old victims, along with Ivy.

Ivy took a longer look at the pictures and then back at the victim right in front of her. Something seemed... familiar, about the placement of the puncture wounds but she couldn't pinpoint what. "Their groupings on the prior victims were always different in number and arrangement." Ivy commented, showing Rossi what she meant.

The older agent looked at the pictures and then at Ivy, nodding subtly, as if telling her she did a good job. "Three wounds on this one. Five, twenty four... He was all over the map." Rossi commented, as the doctor shifted in his place, making Ivy look up at him.

"I also found traces of paper on the wounds." The doctor said. Ivy shot a quick look at Rossi, before looking back at the doctor and then down at the pictures.

"Paper? Like Tissue?"

"Like... Notebook paper."

Ivy's eyes went wide for a second. Notebook paper? "Well that's new." She commented, mainly to herself, biting her bottom lip in concentration.

"Unique copycat." Rossi added to Ivy's comment, sighing a little. Ivy was still trying to figure out what stood so familiar to her, but she couldn't and it was eating her alive. Being a profiler, Rossi noticed even when she tried to hide it.

"Ivy, what is it?" Rossi asked the young agent quietly. "Hm?" Ivy hummed as she turned to look at Rossi, shaking her head a little.

"I don't know... It just seems familiar." She sighed, rubbing her eyes a little.

Very few hours later, it was dark out, and Ivy along with Hotch and Rossi were at the cemetery, digging up the body of Cortland Bryce Ryan. Ivy was too busy thinking about what the puncture wounds reminded her of, when she noticed Hotch walking away with his head in his hands, groaning.

She looked at Rossi, who motioned for her to go, so she did. "Hotch?" Ivy called out to him, running over to the man, trying to find his gaze to see if he was okay. Her boss just waved her off as if nothing was happening, when in reality he felt as if he was dying.

"Hotch, can I do anything?" Ivy asked, keeping her tone calm and not loud, as she didn't want to cause him more pain.

"No, no. I'm okay." He said mid-groan, making Ivy's stomach fill with a fluttery feeling.

Ivy no.

"Are you sure, Hotch? Let me drive you back to the station; I'm sure Rossi will be just fine." Ivy offered, but Hotch still declined, "Thank you, Monroe, but I'm okay." He sighed heavily, looking at her.

"Okay." Ivy nodded, sighing softly as well.

After the - not so - shocking news that Cortland's body was missing, Hotch decided it was time to head to the hotel, as it was getting late. Everyone went to their rooms and settled in, prepping for sleep or whatever they'd be up to.

Ivy took a quick shower to freshen up and went to bed, wanting her mind to be clear for the following day and the rest of the case.

An excruciating dream later, Ivy shot up from her bed as sobs rippled through her. Seeing as it was only two in the morning, she decided to head out for a little to clear her mind. She put on a jacket over her torso and exited her room silently, not wanting to wake up the man in the room next door.

But she did.

She walked outside and just sat on one of the hotel's benches, staring at the night sky, while trying to calm down. A short two minutes later, someone sat next to her.

"Can't sleep, Monroe?"

Ivy turned her head and came face to face with Hotch, who was in a short sleeve shirt and sweatpants.

Holy mother of God.

"Yeah, kind of. Did I wake you up? I'm so sorry." Ivy quickly apologised, thinking she had woken up her boss; who just waved her off, as if saying no. "You didn't, don't worry about it." Hotch sighed, moving around a little, before sitting in a manspread.

Ivy inhaled sharply and looked away from him, back at the night sky, just as Hotch turned to look at her. He noticed how short her breathing was and how her cheeks shined with what seemed to be dried tears.

"What's bothering you, Monroe?"

"Nothing."

"Don't lie, Ivy; you've been crying."

Ivy's head snapped towards Hotch as he called her by her first name for the first time. Two days in and he was already making her feel things.

"It was nothing, I promise. Just a nightmare." Ivy said with a soft smile accompanied by a soft sigh. Hotch studied her features as she didn't dare to look at him. He noticed how her eyes were brown but had a green tint to them as well, how her lips formed a slight pout and how she breathed deeply.

Aaron no.

"Ivy, I've been a profiler for a while. I can tell something is wrong. I won't push you to tell me, but just know that you can." Hotch reassured her, flashing her a smile that he only seemed to have when she was around.

Ivy finally looked at him and smiled as well, "I promise it was nothing; just a stupid nightmare about the case." She quickly made up a lie - that Hotch saw right through - but he decided not to push her further.

The two agents sat on that bench for another hour, not talking; just looking at the sky in comfortable silence, each one thinking about their own problems. Until Ivy spoke up. "Did you know that the brightest star is Sirius A and the biggest constellation is Hydra?" Ivy asked Hotch, not really expecting an answer - if she wanted to be honest.

"I actually didn't. That's pretty great." Hotch said with a hint of amazement in his tone. "Yeah, see right there?" Ivy pointed to random stars in the sky, smiling to herself.

Her eyes shine brighter than a stupid constellation.

But Hotch looked either way.

"Mhm. What about it?" Hotch muttered as he got closer to Ivy, in order to see where she was pointing. "That's part of Hydra." She said with a sweet smile, turnign her head to face Hotch. "What else do you know about constellations?" He asked, genuinely curious in the girls interests and knowledge about stars.

Ivy started rambling about stars and planets and whatnot, until she finally stopped.

"Oh... My God." She muttered to herself, looking up at the sky. "I got it!" She said rather loudly, before shooting up and running to her room as Hotch was left confused.

He quickly got up and followed Ivy to her room, standing next to her as she pulled out the pictures that Rossi had given her of the puncture wounds.

"Look! That's a contellation!" Ivy said, her tone full of excitement.

"Holy mother of God, you're right." Hotch mumbled, turning his head to look at Ivy, a small smile on his face once again. "Great job, Monroe. That'll be useful for the rest of the case. But for now; get some sleep." He said in a soft tone, as if giving her advice.

After saying their goodnights, Ivy was walking to her bed, when the door reopened and Hotch popped his head in the room.

"Close the window. Cold atmospheres tend to make nightmares more vivid and frequent. Goodnight, Monroe."

Ivy was left smiling like a fool to herself.

The man who was supposed to be scowling and mean and whatnot, was nothing but sweet to her these past forty eight hours that she had known him for. She found herself thinking about him during the entire night.

So Ivy ended up dreaming about him.

And Hotch ended up dreaming about her.

#criminal minds #aaron hotchner fanfiction #aaron hotch x reader #aaron hotchner x you #aaron hotchner x oc #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotch fanfiction #aaron hotchner fluff #hotch x reader #hotch x oc #hotch x you #💗#hotch 🫂

43 notes · View notes

tubatwo · 2 years

Text

sabotage - huening kai

summary: you and kai paint each other’s faces on live and he surprises you

pairing: gn reader x huening kai

genre: fluff; 1.1k words

requested by ohmahgods

“you sure you wanna do this? I won’t force you if you feel uncomfortable,” kai asks one more time, a gentle look in his eyes as he makes direct eye contact with you.

your relationship wasn’t new, but it hadn’t been that long since you two revealed yourselves to the public. while showing off some of his favorite plushies on live, he realized that he accidentally brought a teddy bear that you gave him. a teddy bear that just so happened to have both of your initials engraved on its feet. sure, kai could have come up with something but 1. he’d probably suck at lying and 2. he didn’t want to hide you anymore. so he acted impulsively.

‎

you two had already had discussions about the topic and even talked to bighit staff about it. obviously, they weren’t on board at first but eventually gave you the green light. the only thing left was finding the perfect time to announce it. kai beat you to it, apologizing over and over for making the decision without you, but you were thankful anyway since you were a little shy.

and now here you were. the company phone propped up in front of you two and sets of paint scattered around the table.

“yes honey,” you grab his hands in yours as you return his eye contact, “I promise I want to do this with you. it’ll be fun!”

kai nods and turns toward the phone to press the big “GO LIVE” button. the next few seconds are a bit awkward since you have to wait for moas to start joining the live. soon enough, the chat is filled with shocked emojis and confusion.

WHAT

OH MY GOD??????

IS THAT HIS S/O

YOONGI MARRY ME

?????? who is that

DID HE GO LIVE BY ACCIDENT

“hi moa babies!” kai waves to the camera before taking your hand in his. “I hope you all don’t mind my super special guest!” you smile and wave before introducing yourself. “hi moas! i’m y/n, thank you for having me.”

y/n is so cute

is this a marriage announcement? keke

why can’t I look like them

THEY LOOK LIKE AN ANGEL

“some of you may remember my live where I showed some of my dolls and a very specific teddy bear… well this cutie over here gave him to me!” kai began, “I thought that it would be nice for the person I love to get to know the other people I love! so, we prepared fun things to do today while we talk to moa.” kai brings the paint into the camera frame.

“we’re gonna do some really cute face paints!” you explain while trying to get used to the speed of the comment section. kai chuckles before scrolling up to catch a specific comment. “baby look! moas think you look super pretty… oh, yes they are an angel… no this wasn’t by accident! wait a marriage announcement?!” his famous laugh echoing in the room, making you laugh as well.

after a while all of the paint bottles are open and you’ve both put on cute animal headbands to keep hair out of your faces. “moa! what should we paint on each other?” kai asks.

you should make kai look super cool!

draw a butterfly on y/n!

i cant wait to see the results

while the speed of the comments were making your head hurt, kai catches a specific one that almost makes an evil laugh slip out.

you should pretend to make y/n pretty but make it bad kekeke

“you want me to make kai look cool? hmm… what about like the movie avatar?” you ask the chat. kai lets out a playful gasp. “ah right, my baby is really good at drawing so i’ll look super cool!” his use of pet names makes you look over at him with wide eyes. he simply winks at you and tickles your chin.

W RIZZ

kai the rizzler

WHY CANT THAT BE ME

“okay, how about I paint you first and you do mine last?” you suggest. “okie!” kai agrees and you get started.

you alternate between focusing on kai’s face and responding to some of the comments. kai faces you and stares at you with love in his eyes as you softly brush strokes of paint onto his skin. the paint is cold on his cheeks, but you make them feel so, so warm. thankfully, the paint is covering his blush. he feels like he’s falling in love all over again, and he feels like the luckiest man in the world.

“you’re so beautiful, baby…” his whisper snaps you out of the trance you had while reading comments. your head whips around to see the lovesick expression on his face. at this point, it’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t care about showing pda with you live, so you try to relax a bit.

“says you! moa, isn’t he like a greek god?” you ask the chat while carefully cradling his face in your hands, showing him off to the camera. he laughs a little before shaking his head. “I mean it, you’re so handsome, your face is already a masterpiece.” you notice kai getting shy before he tries to lean in to meet your lips. you back up quickly and softly put your hands on his shoulders. “okay woah! 1. we’re live and 2. y-you have wet paint all over you!” you stutter while kai laughs at your reaction.

so im gonna die lonely

TAKING A NAP ON A BRIDGE

eventually, you finish the avatar-style painting on kai’s face and he takes a look at himself through the live screen. “wah! baby, this is so cool!” he exclaims, “you’re so cool and talented, i’m jealous!” you smile softly and rub his arm as a thanks. you make sure to thank moa in the chat as well for all of the compliments. while reading comments, kai wants your attention back, so he uses two fingers to turn your face towards him. the action makes you blush and the chat goes crazy once again. “my turn.”

were third wheeling i guess

IN FRONT OF MY SALAD?????

it seemed like an eternity passes before kai finishes your painting. with the amount of time he was taking, you felt grateful that he was putting a serious effort into it. however, it was weird how his hand stayed firm on your cheek, blocking you from looking anywhere else but at him.

HES SABOTAGING

LMAO

IS HE DRAWING WARIO??

HES SO WRONG FOR THIS

“okay, one last finishing touch…” kai says. you sit and wait patiently for him to pick up another brush, but instead, you’re met with a quick peck on your lips and the following words, “i’m sorry…”

you tilt your head in confusion at kai’s dolphin laugh before looking at the screen.

“HUENING KAI!”

465 notes · View notes

icedragonlizard · 6 months

Text

Headcanons for certain Magoland masks

I'm aware that Merry Magoland is not 100% canon, but screw it. I implement it and its masks into my headcanon universe anyways.

... And at that point, it begs the question as to how Magolor knew about certain people to be capable of making masks out of them.

Of course, one could easily interpret Magolor just traveling across dimensions and through the timeline to find out himself, but I prefer to go with a more fun route for my interpretation instead.

I'm more than glad to share my headcanons for certain masks:

-The blue, green and yellow Kirbies were literally just Magolor giving more color palettes for Kirby because he thinks Kirby is very special and decided to give him utmost privileges. Lol.

-How did Magolor find out about Nightmare? Here's how: King Dedede has a photo of Nightmare somewhere in his castle. It's there to spread awareness to one of Popstar's earliest threats, and it's also there for the waddle dees in the castle to make fun of. Magolor encountered the photo when he came by Dedede's castle one time.

-"Gray Coo" was the result of Magolor trying to create a fake love interest for Coo to go along with Rick's and Kine's love interests. Magolor was originally going to call it "Poo" until the waddle dee staffers for the park turned that down and instead suggested it to be named "Gray Coo" or else they wouldn't put it up, which Magolor reluctantly agreed. Coo felt embarrassed and awkward when he saw the mask and was told about its purpose, while the rest of the animal friends laughed their butts off as they think that the mask is hilarious.

-How did Magolor find out about Dark Matter to make masks for Dark Matter Swordsman and Zero? Dedede and the animal friends told him about it. When Magolor first met Gooey and learned his origins, he was fascinated to learn more about Dark Matter, so those guys told him more. Dedede has a photo of DMS in the castle, while saying that Zero was super easy to remember the appearance of.

-My headcanon universe disregards a lot of True Arena content from many games, so this means that the Marx Soul stuff does not exist in my headcanons. I interpret that the Marx Soul mask came 100% out of Magolor's own twisted mind. His own invention. He thought of making an alt mask for his buddy Marx and decided to make a more menacing version of him. Marx was ecstatic when he saw the mask.

-Magolor didn't physically encounter a clockwork star himself, but Marx and Susie were able to walk him through about what they look like, allowing him to piece together the appearance of Nova to make a mask for it.

-The alternate Ribbon mask (friend's hairstyle) was a recent hairstyle that Adeleine gave Ribbon. Magolor was interested in giving Ribbon a second mask, and so she and Adeleine told him about the alternate hairstyle to make a mask for.

-The alternate DMK design (dark mirror) was not actually something that Magolor learned about, but made on his own. He didn't plan to make a secondary DMK mask (because they're not friends) until he noticed all the other star allies had secondary masks, so he figured he'd do the same for DMK, albeit just a lazy color hue change. He sometimes look at both DMK masks to laugh at their edginess.

-How did Magolor find out about Drawcia? Drawcia is known amongst Vividria individuals across Popstar. A Vividria slipped out information about Drawcia and depicted her in a painting to show to Magolor, giving him the opportunity to make a mask of her.

-Dark Daroach and Dark Nebula were things that Daroach told Magolor about. When Daroach first came to Magoland to see the masks, he thought it was both hilarious and ironic for the masks to exist. He pointed out that he didn't see a mask depicting Magolor being possessed by a cursed artifact (there's the master crown mask, but that's the phase where he hadn't been possessed yet).

-How did Magolor know about Galacta Knight? Hyness told him.

-Magolor was trying to fill up some slots with alt color swaps, explaining the "EX" masks for Whispy Woods, Mr. Dooter, Fatty Puffer, Goriath, Grand Doomer, Metal General, Landia and Traitor Magolor.

-How in the heck did Magolor find out about Sectonia, and not just that, but her original Joronia form as well? Taranza has photos and paintings of her all over the Royal Road castle. That's how Magolor found out. He decided to make the masks to honor the memory of Joronia/Sectonia and he'd figure Taranza would be grateful to the masks. Uhhh.... he eventually did, but initially he had an outrage because Magolor did it without permission. It's fine now, though.

-Magolor saw the Robobot Armor turned pink one time. It was during one time when he and Kirby simultaneously visited Susie in her home planet that contains the HWC headquarters. Magolor wanted to see Kirby ride around in Invader Armors, so Susie let that happen for him to see. That's how he knew to make a Robobot Armor mask.

-Susie's weekend outfit is, indeed, an outfit that she likes to wear on the weekends. Magolor was physically seen her wearing it, giving him the idea to make a mask for it.

-Susie has photos of her dad in the company's headquarters. Magolor briefly had a weird fixation on Haltmann by virtue of being a fellow egg-shaped money liker, just like he is. This made it a no brainer that he was going to make a Haltmann mask for the park.

Susie was initially not happy to see the weekend outfit and Haltmann masks because Magolor made them both without permission. She was getting close to threatening to sue him until he apologized and said he did it for honorable and celebrative purposes. Eventually, Susie relented and became perfectly fine with the masks existing, but she really wishes that Magolor had asked for permission first.

-Morpho Knight is very elusive in my headcanons, so how did Magolor find out about him? He found out through Elfilin and Leon. They remembered what he looks like and were glad to tell Magolor when he expressed wanting to know.

-I'll make it clear that while I headcanon the games mostly happening by order, Merry Magoland opens after Forgotten Land's events for me. This explains how Magolor knew about New World inhabitants such as Elfilin, awoofies, Carol and Leon to make masks of them. He also watched Kirby perform his mouthful mode stuff when he visited the New World, giving him the chance to make a mask of that too.

-Wait... Forgo Dedede is among the New World masks. How did Magolor find out about that when Dedede is back to normal now? Elfilin told him about the incident. He vividly remembers what Dedede looked like when Fecto Forgo further possessed him.

-----

Ok... that's all of the more questionable masks covered in my headcanons! Thanks for reading if you made it through all of this.

49 notes · View notes

foursaints · 8 months

Note

ok but like i completely agree on barty being the top. however. that man is not in charge, he thinks he is because he got evan ‘no emotions’ rosier to moan but then evan mutters something unintelligible barty thinks is ‘feels good’ and that man is gone. he’s burying his face in evan’s neck and letting out the most pathetic little whine because that man has got to have a praise kink.

and also evan knows. like yaz said he plans their sexual encounters down to a T. he can play this tall dirty man like a fiddle.

(also barty eats ass like a god)

anyways, hope your having a swell day/night and now i’m gonna go think about power bottom evan during my economics class :)))

i touched on this slightly here so i’m sending you that way but LOVE the vision.. you really get me anon.. service top barty is so real. this response got insanely explicit so i’m putting it below a cut LMAOO

but i raise you that evan is very used to Getting What He Wants, and he comes in with his spreadsheets & meticulous mental plan for exactly how everything will go…. until barty (<- sicko pervert who CANNOT restrain himself) immediately and effortlessly ragdolls evan against the wall and then ALL BETS ARE OFF!! i think part of barty always sees evan as so perfectly his type that he’s convinced evan is this diabolical nymphet-angel sent to earth to torture him. and that can alternate between barty worshipping him like a dog OR treating evan like a literal sex doll that was built specifically for his personal use.

the way i see it is that evan is used to having control in daily life. like you KNOW he is bossing his doting boyfriend around 24/7. so he gets off on trying to assert control but then having it forcibly taken from him. and barty is the opposite! but the fact that they’re both so insane about Control is what makes them such a fun dynamic for me… like evan putting barty on a leash and making him beg for it is Entirely as natural as barty manhandling him like an Inanimate Sex Toy & doing all sorts of depraved shit

weirdly i think barty giving up control (and evan having it in a sexual context) is a lot more vulnerable so all their really sweet sex is when power bottom evan & barty’s praise kink really gets to shine… but i see their day to day as barty perversely slobbering all over evan and evan being like Noo Whats Happening This Is So Terrible Unhand Me (❤️❤️🥵🥵)… and then as soon as it’s over evan is commanding him to go make him dinner and barty is all Yes Rosie <33

but they flip-flop for sure. and barty does eat ass like a god. sorry this is so long i think about them constantly. love you

#a #nsft #i guess #rose & thorn

64 notes · View notes

supercorpkid · 28 days

Note

I was going to send this as an ask too bc tumblr screwed me and put my reblog as a draft but then I saw the new pics of Katie McGrath, got distracted and forgot about it until now lol

Anyways

So, ok, I need to ask (and you can say no, no problem at all) but ever since I read The Other Kryptonian I can’t stop thinking about how I just can’t fucking choose between Kara and Lena!!! You wrote it so fucking well that I can’t choose one and see the other sad. So, could you do an alternative ending where reader end up with both?

I even have this headcanon (I have a bunch of them for this story tbh) where she says she now has two hearts (bc of the device Lena made for her) and they belong to two people, so she can’t choose.

I actually have the whole thing in my mind but idk if you’d like to read it all

But as an added bonus: I also see Lena and Kara falling in love for each other and reader kinda seeing this happen but not wanting to interfere and let them do it in their own pace

The Other Kryptonian - alternative ending.

Ending with both Kara and Lena :)

Word Count: 3215.

Notes: damn it was fun revisiting this story. Hope you enjoy this!

part 1, part 2, part 3

They are all so nice. All of their friends are nice and genuinely good. It makes your guilt sit heavier on your stomach because they are heroes saving the world from people like you. Your heart is also heavy, you don’t think you can tell them many of the awful things you’ve done.

After a while talking with all of them, you spot Lena coming out of the elevator. You don’t know exactly what your face says, but Lena can read it perfectly when she comes closer and holds your free hand -the one Kara isn’t still holding.

“I’m glad you all got a chance to meet Y/N, but I think it’s time for her to rest.” Lena blinks at you, etched with support. You nod, suddenly feeling that you should rest for sure.

“You know, I was about to say that.” Alex adds, her hand makes way to your shoulder, and she squeezes lightly. “Go rest, we’ll be here when you wake up.”

Kara looks at you, query in her eyes. “You ok? I can fly you home so you can rest better.”

“Oh.”

Home.

That’s a word you haven’t said in a while. Where would that be? The room Lex used to keep you in? Your old house in Midvale? The ship? Krypton?

“I think Kara meant her home.” Lena explains when she sees how confused you are. “But maybe you should come with me.”

It’s almost unnoticeable, but at that Kara holds your hand a little bit tighter. And Lena’s heart beats a little bit faster.

“No. I mean, what if Lex comes back for her? I have to protect her.”

“Well, she can protect herself, she is also Kryptonian. Besides, I should be around to see if the second heart is working properly.”

Alex, hearing that, takes one little step backwards, aware of something you are not. Everyone else that was watching the interaction, looked somewhere else and engaged in meaningless conversations. You look down on your hands, intertwined with both women, feeling incapable of letting go of any of them.

“If the heart stops working, I’ll fly her back here in a blink of an eye.”

“Sure, and if Lex comes back for her I’ll use the watch and you’ll be there in a blink as well, won’t you?” Lena pulls your hand slowly. “Besides, I have extra space. Your apartment would be kind of cramped. She needs to actually rest; she won’t be able to do that on your couch.”

“My couch is very comfortable.” Kara speaks out of greeted teeth. “And she would obviously sleep in the bed with me. We’ve done that many times before, right Y/N?”

You’re not sure it’s a real question when Kara gives Lena a wry smile. Everyone else in the room is clearly trying to hide their discomfort at the situation, but all breathes are stuck in their lungs after the question, and you can feel the tension wrapping around your throat as your breath also gets stuck in your lungs.

“Oh.” And all of sudden all eyes are on you. “Maybe I should stay on the med bay?” You plead at Alex with your eyes, and she agrees promptly.

“Yes! I have yet to clear her permanently.” Alex comes back closer, hands on your shoulders. “Well, come on. A little bit more of the yellow sunlight won’t hurt.”

Both let go of your hand, unable to argue with that logic. Alex helps you back into the med bay, turning the yellow lights back on.

“You know,” She starts, giving you another pillow so you can get more comfortable. If only she knew this is the most comfortable you’ve been in years. “It’s a hard choice, but one you’ll have to make.” Alex taps on your hand lightly. “I can’t hide you out here forever.”

You let out a smile at that, and she smiles back at you.

“Hey,” You call her a moment before she leaves the room. “Thank you. Lena told me you’ve helped, and I know you did the surgery too. I know I’m a wanted criminal…” You choke on your words after that. It’s true, but still not easy to admit it out loud.

Alex assures you. “It was all Lex. I can tell the difference.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t really like me before that either.” You force a smile out.

“Water under the bridge.”

And just like that, all of those times you thought about Alex and why she hated you faded away.

It’s funny, having dreams. You were never once for having different dreams every night. But this time there was no falling from the sky. No yelling for you to run and protect yourself. No begging for your safety whatsoever.

It was only blue and green. Blue sky. Green grass. Blue ocean. Green trees. Blue eyes. Green eyes. Love and love.

It’s a hard choice, but one you’ll have to make.

It's a decision between secrets, deep understanding, familiar touches, hearts that play the same symphony, and love. It’s about going back to what is known. To what was supposed to happen all along. It’s choosing blue.

It’s a decision between blunt honesty, desperate trust, touch-starved skins, strong holds on hearts, and love. It’s about taking the leap. It’s about closing the distance your body has been protesting all along. It’s choosing green.

A hard choice, indeed.

--------------- different ending starts here ---------------

You wake up to the warmth of the artificial sun on your skin. You haven't felt this good in—well, maybe ever. Now, you're free to use your powers as you wish, not at the command of others. And best of all, beside you are the two women you’ve loved most in your life.

"Baby," you hear, the voice as familiar as your own heartbeat. You open your eyes, hardly daring to believe they aren’t playing tricks on you. But there she is—Kara Danvers, standing in front of you with a hot plate of waffles, just like she used to when you were both teenagers. And right beside her is Lena Luthor, her eyes bright as she hands you a steaming mug of coffee. You think this might be the most beautiful sight you’ve ever seen.

"Can we talk to you for a little bit?" Lena asks gently.

You nod, a bit wary of revisiting the uncomfortable situation from last night. Kara places the plate on the bed, and you start eating before either of them can say another word. It’s been ten long years since you last had waffles, and you’d forgotten just how good they taste. Your mouth is full when Lena begins again.

"We talked about what happened last night." Lena pulls a chair over and sits down in front of you. Kara turns off the sunlight simulator, then joins her, sitting down in front of you.

"We don’t want that to ever happen again," Kara says, reaching for your hand. "We made you uncomfortable, and everyone around us." She takes a deep breath, clearly holding back tears. "It’s obvious that we both have feelings for you. You were the only person I’ve ever loved like this. I tried to have other relationships, but no one understands me like you. No one ever will."

"I know," you whisper, biting your lip to keep the tears at bay. "I feel the same."

"And I would give anything to have you by my side again. It would be—Rao, baby, it would be everything. We’d fly around the world, helping people like we always dreamed. And you’d finally get to explore Earth’s history. There are so many things I want you to see."

You squeeze her hand tighter. "Why are you saying this like it can’t happen?"

"It could. But I'm not going to make you choose me. I want you to be happy, and if happy is Lena, then — then I want that for you."

"And I want the same." Lena says reaching for your free hand. "I want you to have it all. You’re here, and you’re safe. And I finally have you next to me and darling, I’ll do everything I can to give back all that Lex stole from you." Lena smiles at you and you can no longer hold the tears back. "If you want to be with Kara, I'll support you no matter how I feel. I’m not going to hold you back from happiness"

"I—" There's a tennis size ball on your throat and you can't even swallow. "I can't decide. I love both of you. And I — I need the two of you equally. I've gone so long alone. I don't want that anymore."

Kara's arms are the first you feel around you, but Lena is quick to hold you too.

"You are never going to be alone again, darling. We are all here for you."

The embrace feels like home, a place you never thought you'd find again. The warmth of Lena's arms, the steady comfort of Kara's presence—these are the things you've missed for so long. The weight of years of loneliness and fear melts away in their hold.

When you finally pull back, you see the tears in their eyes mirror your own. Kara's smile is soft, and Lena’s touch on your cheek is gentle, grounding you in this moment.

“I don’t know how this will work, or if it will at all.” you admit, voice trembling. “But I don’t want to lose either of you. I can’t.”

Kara nods, squeezing your hand. “We’ll figure it out together," she says, extending her hand to Lena. In a moment, they’re holding hands too. "All of us.”

For the first time in what feels like forever, you allow yourself to hope. Maybe this can work. Maybe you don’t have to choose. Maybe love doesn’t have to be divided like it has been all your life. Maybe the three of you can find a way to share it.

The tension that once filled the room dissipates, replaced by a sense of peace. You take a deep breath, feeling lighter than you have in years.

Lena looks at you, her eyes full of warmth. “You don’t have to rush anything, darling. We have time now. We'll figure out how to make this work for the three of us.”

Kara nods in agreement. “Yeah, there’s no need to decide everything right now. Let’s just take it one step at a time.”

You smile at both of them, feeling a sense of relief. “I’d like that.”

Kara's eyes smile, as well as the rest of her face, and she comes closer to kiss your forehead. You close your eyes to it, can't help but to. It's been years since your touch-starved skin has received any love, any proof that you are deserving of more than suffering. You can’t help the way your heart swirls with joy at this small gesture.

It's almost too long to be considered innocent. And before you even open your eyes, you feel another pair of lips, and you can't believe how well you know the difference, kissing your temple.

"I was never not thinking about you." Lena whispers in your ear, and a smile tugs at your lips, unbidden but welcome.

"I've missed you everyday since the last time I saw you." Kara whispers in your other ear, and you feel another kiss being planted on your cheek.

And another on the other cheek. And another on the tip of your nose. Eye. Chin. Every inch of your face is showered with love and devotion, and your heart, Rao! Your heart has been beating so fast and hard, you're scared of failing you.

"We'd do anything for you." You're not sure who said that, or at least who started the sentence, but you know that by the end of it, both voices had mingled and it was your favorite sound.

You slowly open your eyes, when you don't feel any kisses on your face for a few seconds. Kara and Lena are still so close, you can feel that you are all sharing the same breath. Eyes so close, blue and green are about to become one. Or even better, yours.

"Please," You reach for their faces, each palm on one of their cheeks. "Please," You beg again. You beg with your mouth, and with your eyes. Your love begs in silence and preaches in scream.

"Anything you want."

Lena's lips touch yours for a brief second before they are replaced by Kara's and oh Rao, if only you knew all along this would be your future. If only you knew it was not a choice, but a balance. Not division, but unity. If only you knew you'd get what you've been searching for all your life.

"Lena," You blink at her and you can read her eyes perfectly as if you never once stopped seeing them, "I — I love you. It's you and all the things you do. You're all that I would think about."

She blinks too, starry-eyed and understanding. Face etched with love and desire. So, before you even ask her permission for it, she leans in, her lips meeting yours, her breath mingling with yours. This—this feels sacred, like something holy. And who else would hold you if not her?

It's perfect, incredible, but there is an itch on your throat, there's something more to be said. There's someone else to be touched and felt and loved. And Lena knows it too, for when she separates your lips, she gives you a nod and space so you can tell Kara what you need.

"Kara," You hold her face close to yours so you can whisper in her mouth, "Shovuhodh khuhp w rraop ehm tiv ewuhshehd im tiv aorghuhs uldifirstunia chao ukep."

Kara's eyes are full of tears because she remembers your mom teaching both of you a few sentences in Kryptonian and this is one you'd always say while looking deep inside Kara's eyes. I love you to the end of the ever-expanding universe and back.

And as an answer, she holds your face closer and kisses you like she would all those years ago. Hearts synchronizing playing the known symphony. Souls bleeding so. And who's gonna know you if not her?

This happens once every few lifetimes. You're sure. Who else can tell that they found love in two beautiful souls? In two people who care about you so deeply, they're willing to share and come together and overflow.

When you look at their faces again, you're sure. The three of you will be able to make this work. The certainty is bone-deep within you.

But your life has never been just about good things. In fact, it rarely was. Even as your heart swells with love, threatening to burst from your chest, a voice slices through the warmth, pulling you back to a darker reality. And in a heartbeat, you find yourself thrust to the opposite end of the emotional spectrum.

“You all have something that belongs to me,” Lex’s voice cuts through the air, icy and cruel. Panic surges through your body, locking the breath in your lungs as your eyes widen in fear.

“Stay here,” Kara instructs, rising to her feet immediately. But Lena senses the shift in the atmosphere and follows her instinct, standing up as well. You’re left behind in the med bay, though you can see and hear everything unfold with alarming clarity.

“I’m sorry, sis," Lex sneers. "But I won’t share my pet with you. I thought I made that perfectly clear. Now hand it back, or suffer the consequences.”

A kryptonite gun gleams menacingly in his hand, and it’s pointed straight at Kara’s head. No. No. You will not let this happen. Lex will not hurt anyone else because of you, nor will he use you as a weapon against the people you love. Without a second thought, you speed into the room, positioning yourself in front of Kara and Lena, shielding them from the man who’s tormented you for so long.

“Lex,” you say, your voice steady despite the storm raging within.

“Oh, there she is. Come on, alien," he taunts, brandishing a remote control in front of you. But you hold your ground, eyes fixed on his face.

“You can’t hurt me," you declare with quiet resolve.

Lex scoffs, then presses the button meant to flood your body with kryptonite. But nothing happens. His face contorts in disbelief, fury simmering beneath the surface. He doesn't wear his frustration for long, though, as he snarls through clenched teeth, “I can always hurt you.”

You glance back at Kara and Lena, and in that moment, you know his threat is hollow. No matter what Lex does, no matter how much kryptonite he throws at you or how far his malice reaches, these two women would lay down their lives for you—just as you would for them.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” you warn, gesturing to those standing around you. “You’ve managed to piss off two Kryptonians, one Martian, one Coluan, one human-Naltorian, one badass agent, and your genius sister. Do you really think that a kryptonite gun will save you now that you’ve run out of people to fight your battles for you?”

It’s not the victory you’ve fantasized about for years, nor the vengeance you once craved. It doesn’t come close to the justice he deserves for all the horrors he’s unleashed. But to watch Lex Luthor stand down, to see the realization dawn on him that he no longer holds any power over you feels more liberating than anything you could have imagined.

“Don’t come near us again,” you say, your voice filled with the steel of conviction. “You know the terrible things I’ve done for you, and what I’m capable of doing to you now.” It’s an empty threat, but he doesn’t know that.

“Aliens,” he spits, disgusted, before opening a portal and vanishing from the Tower.

Lena's house is huge, but lacks character. Kara is happy to change that by moving things from her flat. Slowly, the space begins to fill with her colorful additions—bright pillows, whimsical lamps, and blue throw blankets that add a pop of warmth to the cool, neutral tones.

Lena’s massive bed, once so wide and cold, feels smaller now. Cozier. Especially with you sandwiched between the two of them, pillows surrounding you like a fortress.

Routine comes easily. What started as one-on-one moments with each of them gradually blossoms into a shared rhythm, a natural flow in which all three of you find comfort, passion, and peace in each other’s arms. Their love for you is steadfast, unwavering, and it only deepens with time. Just as your love for them grows stronger, you also witness the quiet affection they nurture for each other getting less hinted and more obvious. You’re grateful that you get to see it unfold, to experience it up close.

It turns out, you do have a home. It may have taken you long to figure it out, but now you know. Home, for you, is not a place—it’s the people who complete you. Kara is your Krypton—your origin, your understanding, your soulmate. Lena is your Earth—your deep-rooted connection, your forged and enduring love.

And together, it feels just like home.

#supergirl #kara danvers #lena luthor #kara x reader #lena x reader #reader insert #supergirl fanfiction #alex danvers #supergirl imagine #kara x lena x reader

18 notes · View notes

yuurei20 · 10 months

Note

Hi hi! I have a weird question/thought after seeing the talk about Idia's use of language. There are a lot of things that are just unable to translate from Japanese to English, and some things that get changed as short hand. The whole nerdy implications of Idia using "-Shi" are basically absent from EN, instead he seems to use "Mr." (If I recall correctly) which really doesn't give the same impression? In your personal opinion - is there anyway you'd personally localize it? Stick with the same? Remove it completely? Use "M'lady/M'lord" instead? (haha)

Hello hello!! I love your "M'lady/M'lord" solution more than I can say ♡ It is associated with the past while still being used by some people in present-day just for fun, which is just like how Idia speaks! That would have been so great for the English-language adaptation!

As you say, Idia's honorific for others has (kind of) been translated as "Mr." on EN, but only in a select few places.

For the most part it has just been removed, but the curious continuity makes it seem like he thinks that only Malleus, Azul, Grim and Riddle are (sometimes) worthy of "Mr." (the Riddle screenshots below are even both from the same vignette).

And then there is the Harveston sub-plot between Sebek and Marja, where Sebek refuses to refer to Marja with an honorific until she proves herself worthy of respect (by fixing his plushie).

At that point he awards her with an extremely respectful honorific (equivalent to "-sama," and the same word Silver uses with Lilia).

Marja, however, immediately gives him permission to refer to her in the same way he has been throughout the entire trip.

Idia is a psuedo-narrator for this sub-plot, commenting on Sebek's disrespectful way of speaking in both languages.

But on EN he then proceeds to refer to Marja in the same way as Sebek (and everyone else) does.

This has the unfortunate result of making Idia look odd for mentioning it in the first place, when the odd person is actually Sebek, as everyone else is using a respectful honorific with Marja.

Idia using "M'lady" and everyone else (except Sebek) using "Ms." probably would have been a lot more successful in getting the situation across to people who may not be familiar with such Japanese-language nuances!

As for what I personally would go with...this conundrum reminded me of this amazing joke by @anottercoffee on Twitter:

And I would be very tempted to go for the "fansubber" solution of translating everything literally, but just having the words doesn't mean that the players are going to understand the nuances, and might cause even more confusion.

If "-san" and "-senpai" are just mouth-sounds to someone, they're not going to understand the significance behind Riddle and Azul dropping it from Leona and Riddle's names in important moments, for example.

But maybe that's okay! Because at the moment, the alternative that we have is everything getting removed from everywhere, and no one has the chance to understand anything at all.

The best comparison I have come across is Lord of the Rings and Star Trek, where authors incorporated languages that are completely invented, giving no one any chance of understanding them.

Japanese is a language that already exists, so it seems like it would actually be less of a challenge to introduce world-specific terms like "-sama" and "-chan" for people to either glaze over as a world-building aspect that doesn't interest them, or to gradually adapt to through sheer repetition, so by the end of Book 6 they might have a greater-than-zero understanding of the nuances of a foreign language (much like another magic-school series did with Latin).

The manga is actually approaching the honorifics in a different way than the game and giving “Mr.” to everybody, so Azul’s “Riddle-san," Crowley’s “Trappola-kun” and Deuce’s “Diamond-senpai” are all now Mr. Rosehearts, Mr. Trappola and Mr. Diamond (more here).

So it seems that VIZ Media did not agree with Aniplex USA's localization?

What is going to be the most interesting is the novel! Slated for an August, 2024 official English-language release, the novel is also being overseen by VIZ Media.

This means that we might see "Mr." being used everywhere (to uphold continuity with the manga), but the novel goes much deeper into character relationships than the game, and relationships are what honorifics are all about.

Cater, for example, uses them with everyone:

“Usually, Cater does not ever yobisute anyone. When he calls to Trey, he always adds ‘kun’ to his name...When Cater uses Trey’s name like this, it is only when he is really serious. Only when it is important.” -Twisted Wonderland the first novel

Is Cater going to be calling Trey "Mr. Clover"? And how are they even going to localize these sections describing a feature of a language that is not being spoken? It gives us a lot to look forward to!

In the end, writing out Japanese-specific honorifics into English might actually cause more confusion than it's worth, which is why Twst (and so many other foreign-language-adapting-to-an-English-speaking-audience properties) has gone in the direction that it has.

I like to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they know more than we do about what is going on, and that there are important reasons behind the choices they have made.

But I also think that the sheer popularity of the "fansubber" approach to this situation is a good sign that maybe people are sometimes okay with not understanding things, as properties like Lord of the Rings and Star Trek have shown us!

While too late for Twst, it will be interesting to see how this situation continues to evolve in the years to come. Maybe, one day, we will even get an official localization that introduces honorifics directly!

If such an experiment fails it will be most expensive for the localizer, and money is likely a large factor behind why companies might be reluctant to take such a gamble and would rather play it safe and just have everyone say "Mr."

#twstask

70 notes · View notes

panderbearwolf · 7 months

Text

TMA/TMAP Orignal VS Somewhere else

OK, So….

I’m new here. Take anything and everything I say here with a MASSIVE PILE of salt.

I don’t think that TMAGP takes place in an alternate universe. I think this is the world they left behind, and the fears are making their way back in for some reason.

Now, I know that this is not what most people expect. A lot of what I’ve seen is people thinking this is “somewhere else”, that Jon and Martin made it somewhere else in this sort of monkey’s paw sort of way.

But I don’t think so. I think this is the TMA universe. And the fears are coming back in. That’s why all the artifacts were coming back in from Hilltop. I think Jon and Martin and the extra got caught in the web and dragged into the last semblance of the fears that stayed behind—the web, because it connects everything and wasn’t going to wholly leave its home world because it knows that it’s home is useful and filled with a source of fear—so it left itself a way back in. We know that Annabelle is not wholly trustworthy from Jon’s last statement in TMA 200.

I think that as the fears come back, Jon starts to get more power again, as well. This is why he’s now reaching out to people via e-mail. He’s also probably trying to stop Fear-pocalypse 2, no fun for anyone. Because if the fears are coming back so quickly after leaving, there’s something else driving them back. And they’ll want to feed again.

It would also explain why the ruins of the Magnus Institute exist in this world. Why would a world that never had to deal with the 14 15 cosmic soup of the fears have a ruined Magnus institute? While the fears are a universal thing—or so it seems from how they left in TMA—the specific landmarks and people who are coming through make me think that there wasn’t a somewhere else for Jon and Martin to land.

Now I do understand why people think that this has to be somewhere else. The world of TMA should have been in ruins after the fears took over. And I agree, you’d think. But at the very, very end of TMA we do get Georgie and Basira talking. And it seems like the world just ‘snapped’ back to normal and it seems like everyone is pretending it was just a mass hallucination that everyone suffered. (I don’t want to imagine the generational PTSD, though. Yikes.) It seems like this is the TMA world, a few years down the line after everything righted itself.

That’s why Celia is there. I’ve seen a lot of people saying that she must have made the jump with Martin and Jon, but I don’t see how. (If you have an idea, please, please PLEASE tell me. I would LOVE to be wrong here.) She wasn’t an avatar. She wasn’t even an acolyte outside of being a victim herself. I guess I could see that since she lost her identity that she sort of qualified as a emissary of the stranger, but she’s the only one we’ve met thus far who is might be. And if I’m right, there should be a TON of people who are. Although, I guess people probably wouldn’t talk about their experiences in the fear-world. So maybe I’m wrong. I don’t know.

Anyway, I wanted to ask about something I hadn’t seen many people talking about from TMAP 7: The fact that a ‘security’ force burned down Hilltop Road Consignment shop. It almost seems like the security force knew what was going on, what it meant and why it needed to be stopped. Almost like it was a splinter cell of the original Magnus Institute that recognized what the hell was going on and was trying to stop it. I haven’t seen anyone geeking out about this part as much—mostly because OMG THERE’S SO MUCH to be excited about and theorizing about—but I was hoping someone else thought the same?

I was kind of wondering if there are any descendants from those who survived the TMA series—Basira/Georgie/Melanie—who may have started a watch-group or something because they knew the fears could return.

Anyway.

Happy “I’m losing my goddamned mind” day. I look forward to next Thursday where we somehow find a scrap of sanity left to lose it when TMAP 8 rolls out.

#tmagp #the magnus protocol #tmagp spoilers #the magnus archives #the magnus pod #the magnus institute #basira hussain #melanie king #jonathan sims #jon sims #gwen bouchard #sam khalid #alice dyer #celia ripley #tmagp 7 #tmagp speculation #tmagp theory #the magnus protocol spoilers #tmagp theories

45 notes · View notes

copperbadge · 1 year

Text

Whenever I think about “mental images” or “a song stuck in your head” these days, I think about aphantasia and how that impacts perception. (Aphantasia is the condition of not seeing images or hearing sounds in your head -- most of the population does, but those with aphantasia do not, or do to a very diminished degree.)

I’ve talked about how I don’t have locked mental images of my characters or their homes and such. Things can move around as needed -- like a sofa can move across a room, or a lamp might change tables, depending on what the action needs. I assumed nobody actually had mental images, it was just an agreed-upon method of describing nonvisual imagination. Having found that’s not the case at roughly the same time as I was diagnosed with ADHD (a few months apart) I think about it a lot.

Recently I was playing with form and picked up the thread of an idea I’ve had for years, which is to write a novel as if it were a guidebook to the place you’re reading the novel about (I’m sure it’s been done before, and Italo Calvino has done something like it with Invisible Cities, I just think it would be fun to try). It occurred to me that while I don’t visualize things in terms of furniture in a living room or where people are in a space, I do have a firm and unchanging idea of what a city as a whole looks like, including some mental images.

Even before visiting Menton Garavan, where Fons-Askaz is located in an alternate world, I definitely knew what went where in Fons-Askaz. I know what the harbor and coastline are shaped like, where most of the local residential housing versus the tourist housing is, how the main street is shaped and where several landmarks sit along it, their names and what purpose they serve. I know where the one really divey dive bar is. And I do see images of all of them, but only partial -- specific angles of sight, mainly (I can see both main entrances to the pedestrian shopping area called the Promenade, but not most of the Prom itself, for example).

When I considered this, I realized I could do it to a limited extent for Galia also, and for other fictional places I’ve written about, like Lea from Six Harvests or Low Ferry from Nameless. I could draw rough maps of most of those places -- I don’t have the map itself in my head, but rather a combination of non-visual knowledge and a series of vague mental snapshots. I don’t know the actual layout of the palace, but I know what it looks like from the train station and I know what I would see standing at the windows in Gregory and Eddie’s apartment. I can see about three different views of Wild Mayer’s farm in Six Harvests, and I know the layout of Lea’s main street. It’s like for every fictional city or town that I’ve written about, I have a series of mental postcard images.

I have no idea why, or what it means. Probably it’s just that like many neurodiverse people I navigate by landmark, and I live in a city so recognizing urban landmarks and “views” is vital. I don’t need to “navigate” my apartment so I don’t care where the sofa is, but I have to know what the neighborhood looks like when we’re getting close to my bus stop so I know when to ring the bell to get off.

Possibly it means I should have become an urban planner.

Kind of fun, anyway, now that I’ve figured out I can do it. I can’t really “walk around” Fons-Askaz, but I can do a sort of flyover.

#shivadhverse #aphantasia #sam has adhd #archive

175 notes · View notes

aclowntiny · 1 year

Text

Carnival Dates With Seventeen!

Gender neutral reader! Bro at the slightest provocation I will write one shots for this because going to the carnival??? Way too cute 🥲

S.Coups

♡ ‘So, what do you want to do first?’ A simple question, yet the care with which he asks it & the fondness of his expression as he does have your heart beating a bit faster.

♡ He’s willing to follow your lead all day, but you guys get a good alternation of activities going, following the bustle of your atmosphere well.

♡ Seungcheol tries the test your strength game where you hit the target with the hammer, trying to ring the bell, & of course he does 😌 & looks over at you immediately with a big eager smile like ‘was that cool?’ PLEASE HYPE HIM UP

♡ Your date gets a little interrupted as you guys find a lost little girl wandering tearfully between the cotton candy & churro stands, Seungcheol kneeling down to ask her if she can remember what her mom was wearing. ‘P-purple,’ the little girl, who couldn’t have been more than three or four, sobs. ‘Well that’s easy! I’ll find her soon, I promise.’ You guys tag team, you buying her a small plushie to return her smile & Seungcheol finding a woman in a purple dress who happily runs to her daughter, thanking you profusely. Afterward, your boyfriend begins to apologize for the interruption, but quickly stops when he sees your shining eyes. ‘Don’t be.’ ‘We make a pretty good team, don’t we?’

♡ The whole encounter leaves him feeling extra soft & affectionate, wanting to spend some time just strolling under the lights holding your arm & pulling you closer until his head is practically resting over yours. You feel him place a kiss to the crown of your head, smiling & turning upward for a second one ☺️

Jeonghan

♡ All the games the carnival has to offer turn immediately into a betting ground for Jeonghan, who leans up close to you, batting his eyelashes & saying if you beat him he’ll give you a kiss 👀

♡ You lose, naturally, but he gives you a kiss anyway for your good efforts. Pinches your cheeks as he gives you the prizes he’s won 😊

♡ 'We have to go on the bumper cars, (y/n)!' You take him up on the challenge, leaving a bunch of other patrons confused as they casually putter through the rink why there's two people driving as fast as humanly possible, very aggressively turning & bumping only into each other. Eh, they're laughing though, everyone thinks, so they just let you have your fun.

♡ Oh, boy, do NOT say anything at the accessory & knickknack stalls is cute unless you want Jeonghan to try buying it for you. You have a generous boyfriend ok???

♡ All the running around makes him tired though...if only there was a ride that you could sit on for a long time & relax.... Jeonghan keeps trying to get you to slow down, selling the idea more & more until you realize... he's trying to get you to suggest going on the Tunnel of Love ride because he wants to hear you say it. Finally you relent, rolling your eyes as he immediately teases you about how you must really be in love with him then. You may agree or tease him back, but either way it's too late, you've got a giddy Jeonghan on your hands. Plus he's right, like who doesn't want to sit & smooch in some air conditioning after a long crowded day??? 👀

Joshua

♡ Before the two of y’all go anyyyyywheeeerrrrree, Joshua is making sure you have sunscreen on. Nothing is happening to you on his watch, not even a little sunburn!

♡ Anything you might need gets thrown in his bag in fact; it’s so adorable you can’t even bring yourself to tease him for bringing a bag just to a carnival day.

♡ Once you’re situated, though, that’s when Josh can let his crazy side out a little 😌 he’s taking you on a roller coaster just so you guys can yell funny stuff at the top of the hill & practically giving you a heart attack sneaking up behind you in the hall of mirrors. But he makes up for it by falling into you & turning the scare into a back hug!

♡ Joshua is the type to want to experience it all with you, not a single stone unturned. You guys will manage to cram in every ride, but it won’t feel overwhelming because he’s efficient about it 😌

♡ You guys end the night in the Tunnel of Love where he takes your hand & asks if he can kiss you 🥰

Jun

♡ He gets so excited, taking your hand & interlocking your fingers before running through all the stands & rides 🥺

♡ ‘Let’s get ice cream!’ ‘Maybe we should get the tilt-a-whirl out of the way first?’ ‘Good point. Let’s go on the tilt-a-whirl.’ *Jun proceeds to slightly regret going on the tilt-a-whirl*

♡ You jokingly put an ear headband from one of the accessory stalls on his head, but he wears it proudly, doing a matching pose that you think is so cute you end up taking a ton of selfies together. Jun ends up buying them & wearing them with you for the rest of the day! Every time he looks over at you on a ride with a big wide sunshiney grin on your face, he can't help but boop your nose!

♡ Ok, rides over, ice cream time! The person making the sundaes can't help but laugh as Jun excitedly adds more & more to your shared treat with wide, childlike eyes.

♡ Any excuse to be corny, Jun takes it. 'You've got some chocolate syrup there.' 'Where?' *smooch* right there 😏

Hoshi

♡ Fair warning: he is going to want to drag you onto every huge roller coaster, so hope you like those rides or are willing to wait for him on them 🎢

♡ He also becomes DEAD SET on winning you a plushie, but not just any plushie, a tiger one of course 😌 before he gives it to you, he holds it up to face him & gives it a stern talking to about how it should protect you…but also not steal all your cuddles because those are his 😤🥺

♡ There’s a live band going by the food area, so once you’re done with your meal he takes your hand, leading you onto a patch of open grass to dance. He spins you so fast, you joke that you don’t need to go on the teacups anymore!

♡ Y’all two goofballs joke about doing the Lady & the Tramp scene with a churro, but then of course you actually try it. You can’t even get halfway through because you’re laughing too hard, just splitting the churro like normal people.

♡ Besides, he wanted to save the kiss for the top of the roller coaster anyway >:( that way it’s nice & dramatic at that highest-hill pause, you guys feeling up with the clouds & a bunch of tension you need to release. It’s so worth your priceless expression of shock & the way your smile widens into a shout of laughter, your hand reaching to squeeze Soonyoung’s as you make the next tight turn.

Wonwoo

♡ Wonwoo manages to put a unique twist on such a timeless classic of an experience, spreading out a blanket in between some of the grody plastic tables in the eating area so you guys can sit on the grass instead, all your little dishes of street food suddenly becoming a picnic.

♡ There’s a stall where you can paint a little keepsake sign, so you guys stop there to have something you made together as a memento for the day ☺️

♡ You did a combo of both of your favorite colors, unaware but pleasantly surprised how complimentary they are. ‘One last thing, don’t forget,’ Wonwoo tells you. ‘What’s that?’ ‘The date, so we’ll never forget when this was.’ Simple words, but they tug in your heart nonetheless.

♡ I hope you weren’t expecting Wonwoo to let you win any carnival games…he does not 😔 he can’t help himself being good at games & watching you pout when you lose is just too cute. Somehow, you can’t stay mad at his mischievous little smile. Maybe you aren’t the only adorable one in the relationship!

♡ The only time you get to win a game is when you distract him with a kiss & Wonwoo.exe stops working 😌😌😌

Woozi

♡ There's just something magical about Jihoon that makes even the noise, lights, & bustle of a busy carnival draped in every color of the rainbow feel intimate.

♡ Maybe it's the way he tries to ignore the crowds, looking almost pointedly at you & only you. Maybe it's the way he prepares your funnel cake for you exactly how you like it, pouring your drink for you as if it were wine at a fancy restaurant.

♡ He even lets you bring him onto the merry-go-round, just shaking his head with exasperation at the things he gets into because of you. Besides, he gets to take some cute pictures of you smiling back at him & reaching for his hand 🥰

♡ Y’all have tons of fun on the teacups, your boyfriend receiving relentless teasing about how strong he is when he turns the wheel so fast. He gets so flustered your spinning slows down & you have to pick up some slack 🥺

♡ At the end of the night, you guys take a series of selfies under a light up sign shaped like a heart, one where Jihoon has his arm around you, one where your hands are making a heart, & one where you pull him in for a surprise kiss, pleased smile just starting to form on his face 😉

♡ He will go on ANY ride you really want to, but warning: may squeeze your hand super duper tight & scream a lot.

♡ 'Should we get our faces painted?' 'Do you want to risk what would happen with a stage if you can't rinse it off?' 'Alright, that's actually a great point. You're so smart 🥺'

♡ Suddenly Seokmin gasps, all but startling you as he yanks you forward towards some stall or another. '(y/n), look!' WIN A GOLDFISH, the big sign reads. 'You want one?' You giggle. 'Yes, look at the little black one, he's so cute!' What can you say, your boyfriend's joy is infectious.

♡ He makes the most hilarious overly serious expression before a simple ring toss that that alone has you in stitches, but he's actually a great shot; his second throw is perfect, winning him the fish of his dreams. 'What should we name him?' 'Lee Seokmin The Second.' 'Do we look alike?' *holds up bag to his head & does fish lips*

♡ Logistics of a goldfish joining your date were not considered, thus Seokmin Junior requires a bit of juggling, getting set down on tables numerous times when your boyfriend decides it's time for an impromptu carnival music dance or to gently place a headband he found on you to see how cute it looks. He actually apologizes out loud to the fish before setting him down to cup your face & kiss you, leaving you smiling into it.

Mingyu

♡ Insists on trying the test your strength game part 2. Slams the hammer so quickly you have to jump back, chuckling at your giant puppy of a boyfriend's eagerness.

♡ The bell rings, of course, earning Mingyu his pick of a whole slew of plushies. He chooses the one that's your favorite color with a grin.

♡ After that the pair of you try an assortment of the finger foods from a few different stalls, Mingyu feeding you from his own dish. As he watches your eyes turn upward in pleasure at the amazing taste, he vows to find the recipe for all your favorite things & make them for you at home!

♡ Please don't try to make him go on all the scary rides :(((( just no loop-de-loops or drop towers ok? In fact, just enjoy the comedy of all his reactions to simply watching other people get sent down the drop tower.

♡ But it's ok, he decides to try out the swing ride, which is a little nerve-wracking with the heights, but not too bad when he gets to reach across & hold your hand. Benefits of being tall 😌 the moment you get off the ride he pretends like he thought he wasn't going to see you again so he can put on a whole dramatic act & kiss you like a movie hero hehe

The8

♡ You guys beeline for the caricature stand because what better way to remember the day by? 😌 the artist is really nice & respectful too, not one of the ones that makes an insulting ‘joke’ picture, just a cute cartoon of you & Minghao!

♡ Passing by some of the games, you see one of those semi-creepy mannequin fortune teller guys seated in his little glass prison. ‘He’s kind of scary, isn’t he?’ Minghao comments. ‘Yeah,’ you agree, shudder melting into a grin, ‘let’s try it!’ ‘I don’t believe it’s accurate or anything.’ ‘Neither do I, but just for fun!’

♡ 'True love eternal will find its way to you soon.'

The paper spat out by the box reads. 'You know what?' The corners of your mouth turn upward as Minghao takes the paper from your hand, fingers brushing yours with every bit of electricity as the first time. 'I think I do believe it.'

♡ Next stop: the hall of mirrors! You go in fully expecting to just laugh at how silly & distorted you & Minghao look, but your boyfriend utilizes the blur to take some actually legitimately cool pictures, too, like the artist he is 🤩

♡ The picture he takes in a spot that casts endless repeated reflections is his favorite, the frame filled with the image of him & the person he loves most joined in a kiss reminding him of the way you occupy his mind.

Seungkwan

♡ He makes friends with a baby the lady in front of you in line is holding, playing with him the entire time you two are waiting for the spinning cups. He’s actually lowkey sad when they get separated 🥺

♡ You guys laugh your heads off on the teacup ride though, you insisting on spinning it as fast as humanly possible as he tries to keep up, totally contrasting the way he shouts warnings to stop.

♡ As you stroll through the show of lights & colors, Seungkwan glances down shyly; you notice, the smile you give him encouraging enough for him to muster his courage & take your hand, fingers intertwining perfectly with yours.

♡ He keeps putting off going in the ferris wheel until suddenly the stars are out & it’s all he wants to do. He was saving it for one special moment, something he’s always dreamed of doing.

♡ You lean closer into him, for though the night’s not so cold, as you reach the top the breeze chills slightly. Stealing a glance reveals a look of soft, joyous admiration on Seungkwan’s face, & you matching it is all it takes for him to close the gap between you two, his lips meeting yours as you reach the highest point, closest to the stars.

Vernon

♡ ‘How’d they manage to deep-fry those?’ ‘I don’t know, but I dare you to try one.’ ‘Only if you do!’ ‘You’re on.’

♡ You guys load up on way too much carnival food to do any roller coasters right away, so instead you decide to chill for a while in the petting zoo. Sure, you & Vernon are the only adults beside one dad, but you don't care. All that matters is petting an alpaca, which you get to do 😌

♡ Spending time there also grants you the opportunity to get the most adorable pictures of your boyfriend ranging from him surrounded & almost getting knocked over by a slew of baby goats that realized he had food or one of him holding a sweet fluffy little white lamb 🥺

♡ Y’all also go in the haunted house, AKA the perfect place to see Vernon’s hilarious reactions to the jumpscares. Beyond that, he’s actually pretty calm, so you guys sort of just end up admiring what they’ve done with the place DHCGXVSGXDHSRDVY

♡ Once you finally do go on a roller coaster, his hair gets all messed up from the wind & you tease him about it, but reach your hands up to fix it. He just looks at you with heart eyes until you’re done, your hands slowly dropping until he catches them. When you look up, that’s when he leans in to connect your lips.

Dino

♡ Wants to play allllll of the games! So of course you guys have some loving competition 😌 the bet is that whoever wins more games gets to direct the rest of the evening, so if there's anything that seems scary, well there's some incentive!

♡ Oh? What's that? Scary you say??? That's right, Chan challenges you to a walkthrough of the haunted house too. No bets, just to see who gets more scared. At least that's what he claims, but what he really wants is to 'protect' you & have an excuse to hold you.

♡ So even if you don't seem all that scared, he's draping an arm around your shoulders going 'You're so frightened, aren't you? Don't worry 😏' shhhh just let him have this.

♡ He didn't let you win any of the games anyway, nope, so he gets to control what you do! This advantage is used to force you to let him spoil you 😈 for example, when your feet start hurting he insists on carrying you. 'Nope, no buts, I'm the winner remember 😌'

♡ As you guys leave, you still clinging onto Chan, hands around his neck, he stops, pulling you into a nice little corner where the lights still barely reach, illuminating the lines of your boyfriend's face as he turns you around in his hold. Fireworks go off- literally- as you kiss, the carnival launching off bursts of color into the sky right as your lips meet.

308 notes · View notes