#anyway I’m just blabbing now but this is so so so so sweet thank you SO MUCH

[stvharrngton]

Hi! Can I request something with either Steve, Eddie or Billy. Something sweet based on the song ”I’m not gonna teach your boyfriend how to dance with you.” Like maybe reader is friends with one of the boys (and he has a crush on her but she doesn’t know) and then she gets asked out by someone else and asks for advice or somwthing but he gets upset about thw thought of her with someone else and at last confesses and happy ending, you can do with it what ever you like if you decide to write it! Hope you do cause i love to read your stuff! Thank you!

hey anon, i only write for our boy stevie atm so i chose him! i hope that’s okay 🥺 anyway here it is i hope you enjoy 💞

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader

word count: 1.6k

warnings: none really, cursing, a little angsty, best friends to lovers

The bell above the door of Family Video chimed as you walked into the store. Robin and Steve were both stood behind the counter, barely acknowledging the sound until you skipped up towards them, a beaming smile on your face.

“Oh, hey!” Robin greeted, taking her eyes off the computer screen for a second, “What’s got you smiling like that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing..” you grinned, leaning over the counter now, “just Ryan asked me on a date, is all.”

Steve prayed he didn’t hear you right, trying his best to pay as little attention as possible to the conversation. He really wasn’t in the mood to hear you fawn over Ryan. The boy thought it was torture, hearing any mention of you and the dumb college boy, especially as Steve was head over heels for you himself.

He could only scowl at your happiness, meeting Robin’s enthusiasm with a glare. The younger girl frowned at him, nudging him with her elbow.

“Did you hear that, Stevie?” She asked, a knowing grimace painting her features, heart a little sympathetic for the boy, “She’s gone and got herself a date with Ryan, isn’t that great?”

“Yeah,” he nodded, eyes never reaching your gaze, continuing to flick through the magazine on the desk, “that’s… it’s great! Just great.” His shoulders shrugged as he stood up straight, “I’m made up for you. Really, I am.” Voice a little sad, his tone laced with a hint of sarcasm.

You watched him carefully as he made his way out from behind the counter and towards the back office, away from you and Robin. You shared a confused look with Robin, waiting until you heard the door shut behind him.

“What was that all about?” you asked, “That was weird, right?”

Robin stammered for the right response, so not to invalidate your feelings because yeah, Steve’s reaction was weird, to you. To you who was totally oblivious to Steve’s feelings towards you. But also not blab about Steve’s secret.

“I’m, uh—“ she chuckled nervously, fingers scratching her head, “yeah, I mean that was a little weird,” shoulders shrugging, “but that’s just… Steve, right? You know how he is. I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Right…” you dragged out, unsure whether to believe her or not. You shrugged it off but still couldn’t get the look on Steve’s face out of your head.

~

Your date with Ryan was coming up in a couple days and it was safe to say you were nervous. You liked the boy a lot, always having a crush on him in high school. He was a couple years older than you and, of course, never paid you the slight bit of attention whilst you were in school together.

You ran into him again a month or so ago, walking straight into him in the middle of the movie theatre, spilling his large Coke down your shirt. He apologised profusely, insisting that he take you out to lunch to make it up to you.

You hung out a couple more times before he asked you on a date and you were crushing hard. You thought the boy was handsome, the right amount of charm and confidence.

Steve insisted he was a bad apple, that he was no good for you. Trying his best to convince you that someone who wouldn’t pay you the time of day a few years ago certainly didn’t deserve your attention now you were a little more grown.

You would always roll your eyes, of course. Mind always foggy with infatuation and always wanting to see the good in people, insisting that high school was, well, bullshit.

But you wanted this to go well and so you needed some advice. You had no idea what the date would entail, Ryan insisting it would be a surprise. You wanted to make sure you were ready for anything.

So you sauntered your way into Family Video again, fingers dinging the bell on the counter.

“One second!” you heard Steve call out from the back.

You tapped your freshly manicured nails on the hard wooden counter as you waited for the boy. Steve was your best friend, and despite his weird mood the other day you needed his help.

“Welcome to Family Video, how can I— oh!” Steve exclaimed, “Hey, what brings you here on this fine evening?”

Chucking at his lighthearted reaction, you leaned over the counter on your elbows, giving Steve your prettiest pout. Your eyelashes flattering up at the boy.

“I… need your help, Steve. Need some advice.”

He quirked his eyebrows at you, leaning his head to the side slightly, “Oh yeah? And what exactly can I do for you, sweetheart?”

“It’s about my date with Ryan,” you started, shifting on your feet, not meeting Steve’s gaze, “I jus’ feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. Like, what if he wants to go dancing or—“

“I’ll stop you there,” he said with a sigh, “he is not going to take you dancing. The guy’s got two left feet! Didn’t you see him at Tina’s party a few years ago?”

“Steve,” you whined, “I’m being serious!”

“And so am I,” the boy shrugged, rolling his eyes, “I don’t even know why you’re bothering with college boy.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You scoffed at Steve, arms folding over your chest in annoyance, “Why do you have such a problem with me hanging out with Ryan?”

“What?” Steve gawped, “I don’t have a problem.”

“Oh, come on, Steve,” it was your turn to roll your eyes now, “you always have that grumpy look on your face whenever I mention him! And you were acting so strange when I said he asked me out.”

Steve’s heart was thumping against his chest, teeth gnawing at his lip. The heat was rising up his neck, not sure he was liking where this conversation was heading. He watched as your tone turned accusatory, your usual soft features turning hard in irritation.

“I wasn’t acting strange.” was the only response Steve could give.

“Sure,” you jeered, “whatever, Steve.” Spinning on your heel towards the door, turning to leave.

“Fuck,” Steve grumbled under his breath, “are you really gonna make me say it?”

“Say what?” you asked, narrowing your eyes at the boy.

He sighed, stepping out from behind the counter to walk after you. He took your hand in his much larger one, thumb rubbing over your skin. Steve’s eyes locked on where your fingers were laced together.

“You are— shit, how do I say this,” he winced at his stumbling voice, “you are the girl that I’ve been dreaming of ever since I was a kid.”

“Steve,” you whispered, voice quieter, features softening at his confession.

“Let me finish, please, sweetheart?” You nodded in response, heart swelling in your chest.

The boy smiled softly at you, his fingers tucking a stray strand of your hair behind your ear, “I don’t like you hanging out with Ryan because you’re too good for him. You deserve someone who knows you inside out, someone who’s always gonna go that extra mile for you,” he paused, giving your hand a squeeze, grinning before he said, “you deserve someone who knows how to dance with you.”

You giggled, a smile pinching at your cheeks, shaking your head at his words.

You had no idea. Really, you had no clue at all. Steve was your best friend. Sure, you had toyed with the idea of being with him. What it would be like to wake up in his arms, what it would feel like for him to call you baby. To rake your hands through his mussed hair as he laid his head in your lap. You failed to pick up on any signs though, and so you shut down your imagination.

“And who’s that, Steve?” you asked teasingly, head lolling to the side in a taunt.

Steve chuckled as he leaned in a bit closer, breath fanning over your cheeks. A pretty pink flush spread across his cheeks, decorating the moles and freckles, “I think you know the answer to that.” was all he said.

You nodded, gazing up into his warm brown eyes. They were bright and inviting, glimmering with sincerity, “Why didn’t you say anything?

He shrugged, “I just couldn’t, had to bite my tongue every time and prayed that you would somehow catch on.”

“You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington.”

“Sure am,” he chuckled, nodding in agreement with you. His warm palm cupped your cheek now, the rough pad of his thumb stroking over the flushed skin, “now can I kiss you?”

You leaned into his palm, enjoying the way his touch made you feel. How your skin lit up with excitement, heart thumping against your chest at the possibility of having something with your best friend.

“What’re you waiting for, Steve?”

The boy didn’t need to be told twice, both hands holding your face so delicately. Steve leaned into you as your eyes fluttered closed, his lips brushing against yours in a sweet kiss.

The kiss was soft, his pretty pink lips moving against yours so gently, as if you would break if he kissed you any harder. Your knees wobbled as your legs turned to jelly, fully melting into Steve’s kiss. Your arms snaking around his neck, your fingers brushing at the hair at the nape of his neck.

Steve sighed contently into your mouth, a noise that had you both smiling against one another. He broke the kiss for a second, forehead resting against your own. The tip of his nose came to brush along the slope of yours before he pecked your lips again.

“So, is he better than me?”

You rolled your eyes, swatting at the boy’s chest playfully, a smug smirk tugging at your kiss bitten lips.

“No, Steve.”

You pulled him back down to you again, fisting the thin green work vest he wore. Lips crashing against Steve’s, wondering why you couldn’t see what was right in front of you this whole time.

[boxofbonesfic]

I'm so sorry to hear that :( I hope the universe rewards you tenfold for having to deal with this. 💖

I was so moved by your fic that when I sent the ask, I took a screenshot because I wanted to remember my feelings in that moment LOL! I'll retype what I wrote originally but it cuts off at the bottom so I'm not 100% sure what else I wrote and I'll just freestyle some extra thoughts <3 Written at 4:33 am December 25th (LMAO):

"hello!!!! 🩷🩷🩷 i am writing this message feeling so vulnerable and raw at 4:30 am because i was reading ur rockstar!bucky fic the devil between us and wowwwww... when i say im crying, i mean I'm literally crying!!!!!!!!! the way you tell stories is fucking incredible from the plot to the pacing to the dialogue to the FEELINGS!!! i am so in awe of your talent and i feel like i just walked into a movie that changed my life. this fic is so fucking beautiful and painful and vivid and i'm feeling it everywhere and i am hopefully going to go to sleep now and dream about it bc !!!! it's bone deep for me right now. Thank you for your art!!! And marry Christmas if you celebrate ❤️❤️❤️ the present i'm giving myself this year is believing that those three got their happy ending 🥹"

And that's where it cuts off!! Looking back, I could have been way more specific. I think your world building for that fic is a stroke of genius. It was so visceral for me. The way you wrote Bucky's grief and his desire to just completely disengage with the world as he knew it gave me such an epiphany. I honestly started crying because his feelings were so powerful and overwhelming. Reader's helplessness made me emotional, too, because I've been there - watching somebody abandon themselves and knowing you can only do so much. And I've also been that person running away myself. I felt this crazy gratitude for the moment I was in, getting to read your fic, and Bucky's grief was so real to me that I was honestly also grateful I haven't experienced his pain. Sweet iris, reader's strength, the small town vibes, the washed up rockstar, the slow burn, the tension, Bucky's negative self-talk, the family that is and could have been... it made me feel the full spectrum of human emotion. Their love was so real and palpable and the history between them that you felt in every scene was disarming. It was so healing for me and I hope they ended up healing, too. God, I just love the fic and think you're amazing ❤️ anyways I think i've blabbed on long enough!!! Love you bones have a good day <3

i don’t even know where to begin—there’s a lot of like, very real pain in that fic from all angles, and it really means a lot to me that some of the people reading it can feel what i’m going through when i work on it. it’s one of the things i’ve got sitting on my harddrive that makes me feel the rawest, to be honest.

and there’s just something so like, real, about hurting people and knowing you’re doing it but having absolutely no control over that. i feel like i’ve been the reader, i’ve been bucky, and i’ve been steve, and sometimes that makes it both really cathartic and also sometimes very sad to write 😅

anyway this ask made me cry, thanks

[grimsneverendingfuneral]

Grimmm! Don’t worry about it, really haha. I love you toooo, I’m happy I can make you smile eeeee! :D

I promise it was all good things haha, it was just us blabbing back and forth about their dynamic and Cherry Blossoms. Was very fun! I’m so happy that made you feel better, and I’m sorry you’ve been down aw! :( I really hope you to continue to share you writing, it’s seriously amazing and you have such a beautiful way with your words. Your writing style is so unique and unlike anything I’ve ever read! I’m really looking forward to that Rosekiller fic hehehehe >:) I’m so glad you had a good day and laughed a lot!

That’s so cute omg. I’m always too scared to wear steel toed boots idk why! >///< I pegged you for a Converse person so I’m glad I was right lmao.

Anyways, guess what time it is! What is the highest temperature outside that you still consider “cold”? Like, me for example, I consider anything below 23° Celsius cold. So what about you? 🎤

ugh wow thank you so much mic anon youre toooooo good to me 💗💗💗 like holy fuck honestly. thats whats cool about writing styles. there are as many as there are people who write. the rosekiller is coming along reaaaaal fuckin slow though cause im just a pretty scattered person. but hey its cool im in no rush

hope your days have been gentle to you. youre very sweet and i love your little questions time bit

ya steel toe boots are heavy as fuck. theyve definitely altered the way i walk in normal shoes. like normal shoes are so light to me now i hate it so i dont recommend wearing steel toe forever and ever the way i do. but then again my feet are always divinely protected

and your question made me cackle ngl cause i live here:

im a nordic ass motherfucker. so to answer your question genuinely? i consider anything below like..... 5 to be cold lmfaooooooo. when its zero here, its NICEEEE. it was zero the other day and i was like oh sweet i can wear my denim jacket!!!!

but in the summer its a whole different story. it can get up to 40 celsius. weird ass place

im curious as to where you live for 23 to be cold holy hell

[lucyandthepen]

hi it’s 🍭 anon here !!

first I wanted to tell you that the last time you answered my ask I was so happy, like fr thank you so much for your kind words, it touched me a lot :’) 🫶🏼

NOW ! I just read salted caramel and. omggg.

first I wanted to say to jisung, I also enjoyed Age Of Calamity lol

hyuck is really a menace to society here💀 but thanks to him we had a jealous mark (in this house, we love jealous mark ‼️). I read the tag before reading the fic but I didn’t expect y/n and mark to be on the phone with hyuck this long hahaha.

thank you again for sharing your work, it’s always a pleasure to read your works <3

as I said last time, I go check your blog everyday to see if you updated anything.

1st I hope that your move while go smoothly ☝🏼 and I cannot wait for honey citrus !!

Also, have you seen the nct nation concert and heard the album ? (https://twitter.com/allforljn/status/1695421368870015007?s=46&t=wPoG9lz8nXXKd2HT9NynOA this jeno clip literally drive me crazy)

sorry I talk too much 😭 anyway, I hope that you’re okay. Have a great day/night and take care of yourself ~ <3

hello my sweet candy anon! 🍬 i’m so happy you’re happy! hearing from you always makes my day so much brighter, and i’m over the moon to hear from you again. 🩷 thank you for always being so nice and sending a message again!

are you a zelda fan/koei games fan?? i am both!! i really enjoyed age of calamity (even though some people say the format is kind of boring) and i love botw/totk! (watch that come out in another fic!) fun fact: the argument about dynasty warriors is based off of my personal experiences, and i share my opinion with chenle — the seventh is the best! the ninth was a train wreck! (although the art was truly quite nice.)

we always love a jealous mark! i am of the opinion that he is a very possessive person but tries to act like he isnt/thinks it’s not right to be so openly jealous. i will not delve into it too much right now but if i had to mtl the dreamies and their jealousy, mark would EASILY be in top 3 😭 SO WE LOVE SEEING MC FEED HIS POSSESSIVENESS WITH A FEAST! poor hyuck tho 🥹 he was a champ for staying on the line for that long but!!! he may have gotten something out of it anyway so we can’t say it was a terrible time for him😮‍💨

i hope that it isn’t too much of a hassle for you to check my blog! 😭 i know i’m not the fastest when i write so there are gaps between fics but i hope to not make the wait between uploads too long 🥹

thank you for your super kind words; i hope the move goes well too! i am quite scared but i think it’ll be a good new adventure, so it’s exciting too 🥹🩷

and honey citrus is something i’m definitely excited for as well 😮‍💨 i have a very particular hc list for jaemin when it comes to intimacy so i hope to get to explore those things in the fic! we can be excited together!!!!!

i wasn’t able to watch the beyond live of nct nation BUT i’ve seen clips and THE BAT JENO WAS SO OFFENSIVE (lovingly) TO ME LIKE WHY DID HE !!! HOW COULD HE!! he slayed every outfit and his arms were GOING HARD! what was your favorite performance of the night??

never apologize for talking too much!!!!!!!!!! i talk like crazy too so don’t even sweat it. i love blabbing and rambling with you and with everyone, so i hope you always feel comfy talking to me. have a really great day or night where you are, and as always, stay safe and happy! 🩷💜

[luversgirl]

Please Could you do a rafe x jj x reader and there at party and there overprotective because this guy won’t leave you alone . Could you please also make it where jj and rafe actually show each other affection hope you have a lovely day x

OURS, jj maybank & rafe cameron

summary: jj and rafe defend what’s theirs

notes: i saw this request and got so excited to write this then i forgot about it lol, anyway here it is enjoy this babes & happy valentine’s day !!!

warnings: an arrogant cis man not getting a clue, fighting, jj & rafe being cuties boys

“I’M gonna go get another drink" y/n spoke standing up from her spot in between her boyfriends.

"are you sure?, i can grab you one" rafe offered ready to stand up.

"i'll be okay" the girl smiled disappearing into the party.

"y/n's been gone for a while" jj looked around the party trying to see if their girlfriend was near.

“yeah” rafe commented moving his arm from jj thigh and looking around the party scene displayed in front of them only to be met with no luck.

“come on” jj got up from the couch they were seated on rafe following in suit going to find their girl.

“so what’s a pretty girl like you doing here alone” the toutern y/n had bumped into asked after he finished blabbing about himself to the girl.

“i’m not here alone i’m with my boy-“

“well i don’t see them” the guy chuckled.

“you do now” y/n heard the two familiar voices from behind her making her sigh in relief.

“who the hell are you?” the toutern looked at the two.

“we’re her boyfriends, who the hell are you man?” jj moved in front of the girl pushing het into rafes chest lightly, rafe quickly wrapping his arms round her shoulders.

“you okay baby?” the kook wispared into her ear.

“fine, thank you” she smiledl thankful her boyfriends showed up.

“boyfriends? damn” the touterin chuckled shaking his head “never took her as a whore” he spoke before jj punched him square in the jaw.

“oh fuck no” rafe moved in front of y/n.

“don’t talk about her like that!” jj yelled wrestling him to the ground.

“jj get off man it isn’t worth it” rafe sighed ripping jj from the guy holding him back.

“yeah come on that slut isn’t worth it”

“you two shouldn’t have done that” y/n spoke to her boyfriends as they sat on the counter legs dangling while she rooted through under the sink in cameron boys bathroom looking for the first aid kit.

“he called you a slut of course we had too” jj grumbled as he watched the girl walk towards him and their boyfriend.

“and was pushing himself onto you” rafe added as she moved in between them each one of their knees in-between her own as she opened the first aid kit.

“still” y/n sighed ripping open two antiseptic wipes to clean the two boys’ cuts on their faces and knuckles.

“i don’t like you two getting into fights” she first wiped jj’s two spit knuckles and the cut on his face making him winch in pain and grab rafes hand with his other.

“sorry baby” rafe mumbled as the girl turned to him and grabbed his chin tilting his head gently.

“yeah, we just wanna keep you safe” jj said as he watched their girlfriend place a butterfly bandage on the cut by his jaw.

“cause you’re ours” rafe leaned forward placing a kiss on the girls shoulder making his way up as she closed the first aid kit.

“and we just want everyone to know” jj said copying rafes actions on y/n’s neck making her moan out as they found her sweet spot like they always did.

“because you’ll always be ours”

taglist: @iheartrafecameronsmut @prettyboystarkey @rafecameronswhore @pogueslandia @rottenstyx @thexplosivegirl @popeheywardssecretgf @yunho-leeknow @galactaghost @pankowfruitsnacks @totallynotkaibiased @dumbasscorn

[statticscribbles]

Fight Response

Summary: Riverdale, Reggie Mantle/Male reader soulmate AU where you feel each others pain

Soulmates always feel each other's physical pain; you’ve known this since you were around five. That was also when you discovered who your soulmate was; Reggie Mantle, the one northsider who seemed to get in more fights than any of the southsiders combined. Everyone joked about how he was too stupid to back down from a fight and that even the youngest Southsider knew better.

It was a running joke that Reggie should have been born on the southside and you always shrug it off, you think it would have made accepting him as your soulmate easier.

You’re thankful that you don’t get his bruises; although you get in your fair share of fights and you’re sure if you had to share bruises or scars you’d both have you fair share.

Reggie doesn't know; you’ve kept it that way, which wasn’t really hard to do, considering for now you were permanently in the southside.

Which changes when Southside High gets shut down. You’re now a Riverdale Bulldog.

At least this gives you a chance to get a better look at Reggie. You enjoy watching him when he has practice and you debate either joining the football team or even the River Vixens just to see more of him.

“Y/n you still pining over Mr. Reggie ‘100 percent straight football is life’ Mantle?” Fangs laughs and you scowl, swatting him.

“Shut up people are gonna find out!”

“Oh find out you’re pining after some sweaty bulldog football player? Everyone with eyes knows it; besides Reggie.” Fangs comments and you scowl.

“They don’t know the other thing?”

“No Y/N they don’t know he’s your soulmate.” Fangs says the last word muffled under your hand.

“They don’t know. Seriously Y/N I’m not going to blab about this; just like you won’t blab about mine.” Fangs almost warns you and you nod automatically; when you’d both been younger; when you’d discovered that both of you had Northsider soulmates. You’d sworn each other to secrecy and it helped that you were best friends anyways so nothing was awkward anyways, and most people either assumed you were each other's soulmates and never asked beyond that; or they, like most everyone else, assumed you had a soulmate somewhere else in the world. Most Serpents knew that their soulmate was a fellow Serpent pretty early on.

”Y/N right? Why don’t you try out for the football team?” Reggie’s been pretty much trying to recruit anyone that breathes and has an inch of muscle on them to be part of the football team. He’s clearly about to repeat his question but seems to realize you’re a serpent and scowls, before shaking his head.

“Nevermind.”

“Oh so what, a Serpent can’t play with the bulldogs?”

“You could if you were any good.” Reggie snaps and Chuck laughs shoving you back down into your seat; you think you see Reggie wince but ignore it.

You manage to ignore him until there’s some sort of fight and Fangs does try to keep you out of it but instead you find yourself pretty much on the front line watching Sweet Pea and Reggie beat the shit out of each other and you’re trying not to wince or scream at every hit that Reggie gets. You can see him watching you but his gaze also seems to glance around. He’s looking for your soulmate; idiot; you think before Sweet Pea hits Reggie’s jaw so hard you see stars.

”You were supposed to look out for him!” You snap at Fangs who laughs a little.

“I tried Y/N; it’s a little hard when Sweet Pea decided that Reggie is the one who was going to be on the receiving end of his anger.” You’re angry, and you know it makes you a little stupid but your jaw is still hurting so you don’t really care so you walk away from Fangs and the rest of the table at lunch.

Which is how you find yourself walking next to Reggie, you want to say something to him but debate it, he has a nasty black eye, you remember how Sweet Pea’s fist had felt even if he hadn’t hit you. You can tell Reggie is annoyed, if you were in his spot, having gotten beaten up and having the whole school practically watching it.

“Move.” He snaps and you try, which unfortunately means you have to cross in front of him. Before you know it you can feel your back hitting the edge of the locker.

“Fuck off snake.” You don’t feel much, just feel white hot pain, the telltale sign your soulmate is the one causing it. You blink, finally not seeing spots in your vision, just to see Reggie staring horrified. He doesn’t shove you again, you know it would hurt him just as much, but he glares.

“Stay the fuck away from me.” Before he storms off clearly gearing up to spread a rumor about you.

Support My Writing?

[comfortwriting]

Best friends Brother - G.W

Part 1 of my slow burn mini-series, inspired by and dedicated to @amourtentiaa , want to be tagged? Let me know!

Masterlist, Requesting Rules, Writing Prompts

Part 2

George Weasley x Fem Reader 

About: The Reader is falling for her best mates older brother, she confines in Ron who is already afraid of losing his best friend to the brothers he’s so pressured to be like.

Warnings: swearing, fluff, mention of food and eating, but of angst, George punching a creep.

Walking away from Hagrid’s hut towards the castle, thoughts about the more quiet Weasley twin filled your hazy head - you were planning on shooting your shot, but first you needed some advice and the only person who could do that right now is your best friend Ron - currently chewing your ear off about Hermione and the house elves. 

“She doesn’t know when to stop does she? All the S.P.E.W nonsense, if she brings it up one more time-”

“Hey, do you think George likes anyone?” you asked as cool as possible, trying to contain your nervousness and excitement. 

Although you and George had only spoken few words to one another, he was all you could think about, all you ever thought about, day in day out. You would share sweet glances and looks across the common room in the evening, the beautiful amber glare coming from the flames projecting onto George’s face, making him look like an angel. 

As much as you liked him, you were terrified that he wouldn’t feel the same, that he only saw you as his little brothers best friend - you hated it. 

Ron slowed down from his brisk walk and he continued to stare at the ground “George? As in.. my brother?” 

“yeah” you smiled shyly, swallowing hard. 

Ron could feel his heart flutter, the idea of another person - his best friend - favouring one of his legendary twin brothers over him made him sick to his stomach, he couldn’t lose anyone else, he wouldn’t let it.

He pondered his thoughts, perhaps you were asking for someone else, someone Ron didn’t care about - the desperation in his stomach kept churning to find out. 

“I don’t know” he replied in a huff “we don’t really talk much, why you asking anyway?” 

You went quiet, suddenly finding interest in the scenery as the two of you edged closer to the castle. 

“uh, no reason” you lied, running your hand through your hair. 

For all of Ron’s flaws, he could tell when his best friend was lying - he never failed calling you out for it in the past, you learnt not to play any card games with him - especially when galleons were on the table. 

The two of you entered the loud castle, pushing past students in the hall, making your way to the Gryffindor common room.

“you like him, don’t you?” Ron muttered under his breath, making sure everyone else around you couldn’t hear.

You sighed and made eye contact with Ron, his facial expression even more sour than when he puked up slugs in first year. 

You walked up the stairs and held on to the rail, looking around for the Fat Lady “I suppose I do, I was thinking of asking him to-”

Ron could feel the sweat form in his palms and under his arms, images of you and George being together all the time instead of him flashed before him.

“I don’t know, Y/N, you’re two years younger than him, you haven’t spoken more than ten words to each other.” 

Your heart pained for a moment, your spirits crushing like the ingredients in one of Snape’s potions.

“I just don’t think he’ll like you that much, I don’t want you to get hurt.” he finished, the two of you finally reaching the portrait. 

“I guess so” you mumbled “you know him better than I do.”

Over the next few days you couldn’t stomach being around George, each time you looked into his gorgeous eyes and seeing him smile, caused your heart pain, a lump forming in your throat, and hot tears filling your eyes. 

At first George didn’t notice but when he would wave and smile - only to be ignored, he couldn’t help but overthink; wondering if he had done something wrong. 

It wasn’t just George who you ignored, you kept away from your best friend Ron too - Ron felt like shit but you were away from George and that gave him enough of a clear conscience to sleep at night. 

You couldn’t sleep, you missed your best friend even when he hurt your feelings, you also felt hopeless, the only person you ever showed an interest in wouldn’t even give you a chance.  

“What’s been up with Y/N lately? George asked his younger brother, buttering his toast, causing Ron to almost choke on his. 

“What you on about?” 

George rolled his eyes and swallowed his food, “unbelievable you are, she’s been avoiding you like the plague and she won’t even look at me.”  

“So, did you make up your mind yet?” 

You swore silently under your breath, recognising the voice who called out to you - an attractive and charming Hufflepuff student in George’s year with short black hair kept asking you over and over to go on a date with him in Hogsmeade, each time you said no had failed to satisfy his desire. 

“Uh” you were trying to figure out the best way to tell him to fuck off, but then again, what did you have to lose? “yeah, I’ll be there” you faked a smile. 

Ron watched in the distance and felt relieved, from his perspective, the possibility of you and George seemed incredibly slim to none. He walked over towards you as soon as the lad split, a smile creeping up on his face. 

“Y/N, alright?” he smiled, his hands in his pockets. 

You stared at him, yes you were hurt, but you missed him - he could do much worse to cause a much bigger fall out between the two of you. 

“I suppose” you sighed “walk with me to Transfiguration class?” 

Ron smiled “can do”

“and took your bloody shirt in!” you scolded him, bumping into him playfully. 

As much as you enjoyed visiting Hogsmeade, you couldn’t help but want to go back home and climb back into your warm bed, hiding away from the world - but your habit of trying to see the best in people lead you here - waiting outside Honey Dukes for your date to arrive. 

“Look at you!” he called out, walking over and kissing your hand “ready for the best day of your life?” he grinned.

Best day of my life? with you? I should’ve stayed in bed.

“Sure” you replied, plastering a fake smile on your face. 

The best day of your life wasn’t too bad, you had someone new to talk to, to try and get your mind off things - but your heart couldn’t help but yearn for George. You looked around the shops thinking of the products he liked, disliked, and what he bought for Ron at Christmas. 

Your date had more to blab about himself than get to know you, he held your hand and bought you a much needed Butterbeer - but he talked so much that he didn’t even get round to drinking his own. The more he had to say, the more he tried to impress you, the more you disliked him, making you fall for George even more. 

Finally breaking out from the busy and overwhelming pub and out into the cold, your date stood in front of you with a strange expression on his face. 

“So?” he shrugged

“so, what?” you stared at him, your patience wearing thin. 

The shared laughter between George and Ron came to a halt when George spotted you with his classmate, he knitted his brows together. 

“Why’s Y/N around that plonker?” he asked his younger brother. 

Ron looked at you then back to George “she’s on a date”

George shook his head “he’s an absolute creep” 

The two of them stared, the student took a hold of your hand and tried to pull you in for a kiss, you pulled away and glared at him, trying to not make a scene. 

“Fucking pervert!” George hissed, storming over towards the two of you “Hey!”

George clenched his jaw, his nostrils flared and his glaring gaze settled on on the lad, he bunched his right hand into a fist and swung, everything went in slow motion as George punched him in the face. 

You were speechless, you didn’t know what to say, all you could do was stare and watch the fight unfold. 

“Stay away from her or my foot will rip you a new one!” George threatened him, he turned to you, his facial expression instantly turning soft.

“th-thank you” 

“you don’t need to thank me love, are you alright?” George searching your eyes with his, full of care and concern. 

Your heart fluttered, his voice, him speaking to you sounded like the most fascinating birds chirping, and his caring face caused fireworks in your stomach to erupt into the sky. 

You wanted to take your chance, ask him out and start over but before you could do any of that, let alone reply, Ron hurried over and interrupted; putting you back in your place and making you remember how his brother felt about you. 

“Proper shiner he’ll have in the morning” Ron laughed “sort your knuckles out George, if anyone sees they’ll send a letter home.” 

The fluttering in your heart died down, the chirping of the birds instantly turning into the most dreadful squawks, and the fireworks in your stomach burning out, starving the embers before they could relight.  

“Thanks again” you murmured quietly, flashing George one last smile before walking away, wanting to retreat to your bed and hide away. 

George had to admit, he felt quite hurt that you went back to ignoring him after he had your back the other week - he knew that you didn’t owe him anything, not even an explanation - but he couldn’t understand why even after making up with Ron, you still refused to look at him.

Sitting on the sofa in the common room in your pyjamas, you flicked through your Quidditch magazine and blinked over and over whilst you looked across the page, sleep trying to pull you in. 

“Georgie, I’ve already said-” 

“Shhh!”

Jolting awake, you looked behind you and stared at the twins, long roles of parchment in one hand and a map in the other, you yawned and rubbed your eyes, closing your magazine. 

“It’s okay boys, I’m going to bed anyway.” you yawned again, slowly getting off the sofa. 

Fred and George shared a look, the older twin nodding his head towards you “go on then, mate, I’ll be upstairs.”

Fred walked past you, he whispered a “goodnight!” and went off to his dorm, leaving you alone with the person you wanted more than anyone in the world. 

George pursed his lips, standing around awkwardly before approaching you “Y/N, can we talk?” he asked softly. 

You nodded slowly, the nerves piping up in your tummy. 

“What’s up?”

“You’ve been ignoring me, love” he said softly “have I done something wrong?” 

This was your moment, not to ask him out - but to tell him the truth. 

You pushed your stray hairs out of your face and sighed, the lad of your dreams standing beside you, looking down on you. 

“I have feelings for you George” you admitted, your mouth going dry “and that’s why I have to stay away from you, because I know you’re never going to feel the same.” 

George went quiet, the embers from the fire spreading and making it set alight, the amber tones coming from the flames resting on his face. He smiled for a moment and licked his lips, looking into your eyes.

“Tomorrow night” he whispered softly in your ear “where we first met”

Tag list: @reeophidian @inglourious-imagines @alwaysnforeverfangirl  

[sillyroyalty]

Edit : reuploaded separately because I ended up attaching this to a reblog. I don’t want to inconvenience others viewing the comments with my long as paragraph so I thought it over

Note: oc for Sincerely Not, an absolutely amazing attention grabbing story by @saintobio . I recommend it anyone who’s 18 and over since it’s a mdni

My post is purely for fun and Yuuta simping because he is fine af in this fic and needs love 😌

This reminds me of the doodle I did in chemistry class instead of paying attention. I remembered that someone made and oc (I think they made a character that was the by blood sister of satoru? The white haired one?) And they provided facts about the character and how they would play out in the story. In the moment I had a thought and doodled out a concept. However this character while connecting to a character in SN isn’t necessarily invested in the affairs and family drama (she’s on the border of it though), instead she seeks out the affection and companionship of the Second Gogou son…Yuuta👀

Mona Zenin

Step 1 : concept art and plot

*the doodle I did behind my teachers back🙊 haha please excuse the scribbles I call sketches, I had to be sneaky

Mona Zenin (18-19 yrs old) the younger sister of our favorite manipulator Naoya Zenin. Just another child the sea of the Zenins. She has no clout sadly because Naoya is probably gonna inherit all the business shit if given the chance also there’s a long ass line before that happens. (Toji, Megumi, Maki,Mai,etc). In the end I’m terms of benefits for the family she’s useless. It doesn’t help the fact that this young lady has no sense of money and has not a damn clue how to run a business. Mona can’t tell you the state of the stock market but she can tell you that the mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell :D

Now as you’ve guessed useless = not exactly mommy or daddy’s favorite 😞

I mean they don’t hate her, nonono, they just try to keep her away from business partners and business info 🙃 because she blabs everything to Toji anyways

Step 2 : about Mona

Mona was born weak and was always a sickly child, spent most of her toddling days in the hospital or puking on expensive shit. The Zenins have maids specifically tasked to look after her. Now our Mona is mostly healthy but the house servants have grown attached, looks at the wittle Miss Mona eating and growing 🥺💓

Mona is dressed by the maids. Sadly they be out there dressing her in frills while her cousins ( Maki and Mai) and other rich kids are decked out in fashion. Mona feels awkward and out of place, the weird looks and whispers she gets are hurtful, all she’s known as is the ugly duckling of the Zenin clan.

That’s not to say Mona is actually useless…she’s creative and smart, does well at science and English, and loves to act on stage for school plays- but none of that is important to the Zenin clan now ?

To sum it up Mona has all the cons of being a Zenin but none of the pros.

Step 3: relationships with Sn cast ?

Yuuta: He’s sweet, adorable and well mannered, and compared to most socialites actually down to Earth. Talks to Mona during gatherings, invites her to hang out with her cousins and him. She feels happy with him. Mona hates herself quite a bit, she feels helpless and trapped but with Yuuta she feels as if they are in the same page. He dances with her at the balls when everyone else picks the elegant Maki and Mai. He indulges in the theatrics Mona does. Mona is dead ass in love, she holds a silver of hope that she’ll be able to marry him. Will Mr Gogo and Eula give his hand to her ? She maybe and outcast but nevertheless she is a ZENIN…. Mona hates sucking up to her parents and other rich snobs but to up her status so they’ll let her marry him…she’ll suck up to whoever and study all the business books in the world to be by his side and support him.

Naoya : She doesn’t really bother with him, she knows about the whole Eula thing- she’s not going to bring it up ever though…she hates Naoya, he’s annoying, spoiled, and unfaithful but he is a man and the apple of their parents eye. Mona will simply keep quiet but Naoya know quite a bit about her, it’s not like she can keep her mouth shut anyways. She’ll rant to him often and they have their occasional arguments over petty things ( ah siblings)

Naoya knows about Mona’s crush on Yuuta…he promised he’d slip in a good word about her to the Gogo clan so they’ll consider her for their younger son.

Well to be fair the entire Zenin family knows about her crush, they find it cute and funny.

Maki, Mai and Megumi will sometimes subtly make up excuses and set Yuuta and Mona up 😄

Toji even promised he’d introduce and get her in touch with Y/N L/N one day …maybe she’ll help Mona get a better dressing sense because this girl is dressed like a old time Victorian porcelain doll 😔

Mona feels lonely often but looking into her family’s actions more closely perhaps they aren’t ashamed of her after all 💙. But then again all of this could be wishful thinking…what they are just playing with her ? The fear that all his kindness is a joke for their amusement keeps Mona up often at night

Mona’s official character look : (thank you picrew for saving my ass) I’d draw her personally but my art style is garbage also my chemistry work is pending 😭

[angelofthequeers]

Free to Be You and Me: chapter 20

Chapter 19 | Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I don’t own ML.

The sun is shining, the pigeons are roo-looing, and Adrien’s left wondering how the world can still be functioning like normal as he slowly climbs the steps into Françoise Dupont. Now he has to go to school and act like everything’s normal, like Lila’s still just a sweet, troubled girl with stories galore for their awestruck classmates rather than a conniving little snake who’d – who’d –

“Adrien!” says a voice behind him. Adrien jumps out of his skin and whirls around, arms raised to fend off…Marinette? “Oh my gosh, are you alright?”

“M-Marinette?” Adrien says numbly.

“I’m so sorry!” Marinette waves her hands around. “I didn’t mean to frighten you!”

“No, you didn’t. I’m just…tired.” And definitely not because Ladybug had stayed with him for hours after his bath, lying with him and stroking his hair and letting him just exist.

“Y-Yeah! Same!” For some reason, Marinette’s cheeks flush pink. She clears her throat. “Anyway!” She rummages around in her bag; a tacky blue backpack rather than her usual pink one. Adrien vaguely recalls Alya mentioning something about Lila and a coffee incident when giving him the heads-up, and he decides that he doesn’t want to know the details for Lila’s sake. “I thought you might like these!”

“T-Thanks?” Adrien carefully takes the small pink box that’s been thrust at him. It’s a selection of cupcakes, piped with flowers, and something rises in Adrien’s throat because even though this is the first time she’s given him a box of treats, it’s the second time she’s done this for him. How does she know just what to do when he needs it?

“I feel like things have been rough lately,” Marinette says slowly, as though she’s choosing each word with the utmost of care. “And I thought you might appreciate something little. Just to help you through it.”

A sick pit of foreboding starts to settle in Adrien’s stomach. “Marinette, are you – I mean – are you saying –?” Had Ladybug gone and blabbed to Marinette despite promising not to?

“Um…yes,” Marinette admits. “I know.”

“But Ladybug –”

“She had nothing to do with it!” Marinette says quickly. “I have no clue what she knows!”

“Then how –?”

“Lila. She, um…took great pleasure in sending me a photo this morning, like when Kagami got akumatised, and she said she hoped I enjoyed what it took to get her to leave me alone.” Marinette’s face twists. “She’s evil. How could she enjoy something like that? You didn’t even look like you liked it! I was this close to punching her in the face, let me tell you, because I don’t even care what she’s done to me, she doesn’t get to do that to you –”

“Marinette.” Adrien grabs Marinette’s shoulder with his free hand and squeezes. Marinette squeaks and turns bright red. “I appreciate it. Really.”

“Someone should tell she!” Marinette babbles. “I mean – you should tell someone! About her! She can’t get away with it!”

“Tell who?” Adrien says with a twisted smile. He guides Marinette away from the school gates, from the people throwing curious looks their way, no doubt wondering what Adrien Agreste is talking about that’s got him looking so on edge. “No one would believe me.”

“But surely you have proof of some sort! Your place is full of cameras –”

“Marinette, people don’t even believe you, and you’ve torn your own hair out getting evidence for all her lies. Why would anyone believe me? I’m a boy. I’m…rich and handsome and famous.”

I always get what I want. Adrien shudders.

“I got a recording, yeah, but how do I know they won’t twist it around on me?” he continues. “I had to have been asking for it. And I don’t want it to be some massive, drawn-out thing.” He shakes his head and clutches at his hair. “I just…want it all to go away. Please, Marinette.”

“No one’s ever asking for it!” Marinette hisses. The blue fire in her eyes is so like Ladybug’s in the heat of battle that, for a moment, it’s like his lady is standing in front of him instead of one of his best friends. “Don’t you ever think that, you understand me? She’s cruel and evil and one day, her lies are going to catch up with her and she’s going to suffer the consequences of her actions, and you’re going to be standing there laughing because you have actual friends who love you for you and –”

Adrien throws his arms around Marinette before his brain can catch up with him. Marinette gasps and her rant splutters off, but she still hugs him back, which Adrien is thankful for because he’s never quite sure how to read Marinette Dupain-Cheng on any given day.

“Thank you,” Adrien whispers. “You’re one of those true friends, Marinette. I’m so grateful to have you in my life.”

“Worries no!” Marinette babbles. “Definitely a problem! I mean – it’s definitely no problem at all!”

Despite her being flustered, Marinette still gives Adrien one of her famous hugs that he’d told Ladybug about; she leans into him, hugs him with her whole body, her arms firm around him but not tight and strangling, for him rather than for show. Adrien melts into her touch, rests his cheek against her soft hair, the hair that smells of the same vanilla as Ladybug’s – maybe they use the same shampoo…

“You’re an idiot,” Marinette says, her voice muffled by his shirt. “I’m gonna help you any way I can, but I just need you to understand that you’re an idiot.”

Adrien just laughs. After a few more moments, he reluctantly releases her; she probably doesn’t want to spend all day just standing there hugging him, and what she’d just given him is so much more than he could have asked for.

“You know…” he says slowly. It’s probably a bad idea but…if he can’t trust Marinette, who can he trust? He just hopes that Ladybug won’t be mad. “Can I, uh, tell you a secret? Something no one else knows?”

Marinette’s brows knit together. “Sure?” she says. “Do you have a long-lost twin brother or something?”

Adrien snorts. “No, that’s just Félix. Um…you remember that video Lila got? Of Ladybug visiting me?”

“Yeeeeah…” Marinette says slowly.

“Well, um, nothing was happening then, I swear, but, uh…she visited me a few more times and we were good friends and it just kind of happened and, um…I’mdatingLadybugshe’smygirlfriend.”

Marinette blinks. “What?”

“I’m dating Ladybug. She’s my girlfriend.”

“Really?” Marinette’s eyes widen to almost comical proportions. “So, you really do have a superhero on-call!”

“No, no!” Adrien says quickly. “I don’t have her phone number or anything. She just visits sometimes and, um…yeah. She’s the girl I love. I just wanted to tell you because I know I can trust you.”

“That means a lot,” Marinette says. Her smile softens her entire face, and Adrien’s insides flutter at the realisation that he’d done that! He’d made Marinette Dupain-Cheng smile! “To know that you trust me that much. Thanks for telling me, Adrien.”

“What are friends for?” Adrien says, hooking an arm over Marinette’s shoulders to lead her back to the main courtyard. He releases her when they reach the crowd – the last thing she needs is for Lila or someone else to see and draw the wrong conclusion entirely – and they thread through the throng of people in search of Alya and Nino. Maybe even Zoé, if they can find her, since she’s not in their class and sometimes hangs out with her own classmates.

“So…” Marinette says. “What’s…Ladybug like? I don’t think anyone other than Chat Noir would know her that well.”

And Rena Rouge, Adrien thinks, but he manages to hold it in just in time. Ladybug would flip if he spilled to someone else that there’s someone who knows her identity. “She’s, well…she’s just awesome.”

“Just awesome?”

“You’re asking me to describe an angel in human words,” Adrien says. Marinette’s cheeks flush scarlet.

“O-Oh. Right! I get it, haha, but, um, just try?”

Adrien sighs and closes his eyes, trusting Marinette to guide him through the crowd as he tries to think of how to describe Ladybug. “She’s so…caring. She cares. About Chat Noir, about Paris, about her friends and family…about me. She’s always there when I need her. I don’t feel like I’m there for her nearly as much.”

“I are you think,” Marinette says sagely. Adrien just takes her stammer in stride.

“She’s so…emotional,” he says, opening his eyes. “And I don’t mean that in a bad way or anything. She just feels so strongly. She’s funny, she’s playful, she’s furious, she’s a mess – she was pretty harsh to Lila over the whole lying about being her best friend thing, and she makes mistakes, but that just makes her more human, you know? She’s not some unattainable statue on a pedestal. She’s…like me.”

“You sound like you really love her,” Marinette says quietly. Adrien ducks his head and smiles.

“I really do.”

“Well, look who finally decided to show up,” drawls a familiar voice. Alya’s reclining on one of the benches against Nino, who’s furiously tapping away at some sort of game on his phone. The last spot on the bench is taken up by Zoé, who’s actually lying on the ground with her legs crossed up on the bench, her blonde hair strewn across the concrete.

“Are you sure you won’t catch something?” Marinette says. Zoé grins up at her.

“I’ve already been fraternising with the peasants,” she says with an airy wave. “What else could I catch?”

“Speaking of fraternising,” Marinette says, “Alya and I are having our Saturday sleepover tomorrow, but do you want to come, Zoé?”

“A sleepover?” Zoé’s eyes glimmer. “Of course! I’ve never been to one before! Um, what do I bring?”

Alya chuckles. “I’ll text you the details later. Can Nino come too, Marinette, since it’s not just the two of us now?”

“We-e-ell…”

“Pleeeease?” Alya blinks puppy dog eyes at Marinette, who rolls her eyes.

“Oh, fine. But you get to explain to my parents why there’s a boy staying in my room.”

Like you told them about the times Chat Noir visited you? Adrien desperately wants to say, but he’s not supposed to know about that, so he bites his tongue. Instead, he says, “I’ve never been to a sleepover either. Must be a rich kid thing?”

“You should come too,” Alya says, shooting a strangely shark-like grin at Marinette. Marinette flushes and splutters something unintelligible. “Adrien’s invited, right, girl?”

“Roar!” Marinette shrieks. “I mean – sure!”

“I appreciate that, but I can’t,” Adrien sighs. “Father barely lets me hang out with my friends. He’d never agree to a sleepover. Not unless my bodyguard was with me, like in New York, but this would be more trouble than it’s worth.”

“So not fair,” Nino complains while his phone chimes in celebration. Alya raises an eyebrow.

“How can you even follow along and play that at the same time, babe?”

“It’s a gift,” Nino says rather smugly.

“Do you think Kagami would be allowed to come?” Marinette says. “Maybe I could bribe her mother with more pastries, like when I managed to get her out of her fencing practice for an hour. You’d get along great with her, Zoé.”

“Doubt it,” Adrien says. “Same reason as me.”

“Aww.” Marinette’s shoulders slump. “I’d love it if she could come. So not fair that you guys don’t get to be normal teenagers. I may as well invite the rest of the girls, then.”

The bell rings at that instant, signalling an end to the conversation. Marinette reaches down and pulls Zoé to her feet with a strength that belies her slim frame, no doubt from all her time helping her parents in the bakery.

Just like Ladybug, Adrien thinks with a smile. Tiny but deceptively deadly.

“See you tonight!” Zoé says before heading off to class, brushing down her clothes. Marinette turns to Adrien with a kind of grimace-smile.

“Ready to face the music?” she says. Adrien shrugs, while Alya and Nino just stare at them in confusion.

“Better get it over with.”

“Don’t worry.” Marinette bounds the step and a half back to Adrien’s side. “I’ll be your bodyguard away from home!”

Adrien can’t help but laugh at her antics. “Thank you, my brave knight,” he says with a slight bow. Marinette giggles.

“You two are disgusting,” Alya mutters, giving Marinette a look that Adrien can’t begin to decipher. “I can’t believe I had to see that with my own eyes.”

“It’s cool,” Nino says. “I’ll just keep on being the only guy here who’s not possessed or anything.”

[starshine583]

New Girl on the Block (21)

(Sorry for the late update, guys! Yesterday was CRAZY for me. Actually, this whole MONTH has been crazy! I haven’t been able to write in weeks :’( but thankfully, I’ve pre-written a few chapters so I can still post an update today. I hope you all are doing well and don’t forget to check out the mini series connected to this called Journal Entries!)

Ch. 1 / Ch. 20 / Ch. 22 (ao3)

Chapter 21: Elementary

Felix eyed the Dupain-Cheng bakery as he stepped out of his limo and onto the pavement. The open sign hung neatly on the front door, and behind it, the lights shined brightly inside. M Dupain-Cheng was manning the register from the looks of it, which meant Marinette either wasn’t home or wasn’t working. Both scenarios would suit him fine.

After a swift ‘thank you’ to his driver, Felix walked over and pushed open the bakery door. The entrance was noticeably different from the first time he visited- no mulling or fussing over manners and such -but the warmth that came with the charming patisserie was the same. Scents of cinnamon and vanilla wafted through the air, and the bright chattering of M. Sabine was as light as the customer bell that rang above his head when he came in. 

A usual Sunday for the Dupain-Cheng household, he mused.

M. Sabine caught his eye in an instant, her smile brightening as she shooed off her current customer. The customer didn’t appear to be happy about it, but she clearly didn’t mind, because she continued beckoning Felix over to the register with a wave of her hand.

Felix strolled over as requested and managed not to tense too much when M. Sabine pulled him into a hug.

“Felix, it’s so good to see you!” She trilled. “What can I get for you? A croissant? A cupcake? Or are you here to see Marinette?”

Felix offered a small smile. “The last one. Is she home?”

“She is! Just take those stairs up- oh, but you know how to get up there already. You’ll find her in her room, but I advise you to tread lightly. She’s been working on some projects non-stop for the last two days.”

Felix hummed. Has she now?

“Thank you very much. I’ll be sure to buy some sweets for my mother on the way out.”

“Oh, don’t be silly! Tom and I can get a bag ready for you while you’re up there. No charge necessary!”

Felix chuckled softly and shook his head. Marinette truly did inherit her generosity. 

“That’s quite alright. I have plenty of money.”

“As do we. Now go on up before Tom finds you and gives you another bear hug.”

The comment was enough to send Felix scurrying up the stairs (in a dignified fashion, of course). Tom was a wonderful man, but his bear hugs were.. not exactly something Felix would actively seek out.

He glided through the familiar hallways of the apartment complex until he found Marinette’s, then quietly walked inside towards the attic stairs, taking care not to bump or touch anything that would alarm her. If Marinette became aware of his presence, she might find time to panic.

Or hide things.

Felix climbed that attic stairs and lightly knocked on the trapdoor, waiting for an absent invitation to enter. Hopefully, her parents knocked when they came to her room too, or she was going to guess rather quickly that he wasn’t her father or mother.

“Come in!” A muffled voice called, to his relief. She didn’t suspect a thing.

He pushed open the trapdoor and climbed inside quickly, his eyes darting around the room before anything could be touched. Various things were scattered across her floorboards and furniture, namely things like unrolled fabrics or loose spindles of thread. She’d clearly been working on something, but what? How was he supposed to find anything in this explosion of colors?

Thanks, Claude.

Marinette gasped, bringing his gaze back to her.

“Felix!” She yelped, that predictable panic washing over her features. She shot up from her rolling chair and snapped her gaze from left to right as her hands flailed a bit behind her. It was almost like she couldn’t decide what to protect or where to escape. Did that mean the entire room was somehow a clue or only part of it?

Felix straightened, giving her a small, innocent smile. “Good afternoon. I hope I’m not.. interrupting anything.”

“Uh- No, no! I was just-” Marinette’s gaze flicked over her shoulder “-You know. Working on Claude’s.. Suit. What are you doing here?”

“You haven’t been responding to my texts,” He said idly, scanning the room again for good measure, “so I thought I’d come check on you.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Marinette’s surprise melt into annoyance.

“You mean your texts about the surprise?” she asked flatly.

Felix held back a smirk. 

“Hm? You mean the surprise you mentioned offhand two days ago? Yes, I suppose some of them were about that.”

“You know this is cheating, right?”

“Cheating?” Felix nearly gasped. “I don’t recall setting any rules.”

“I thought it was a given!” Marinette huffed, though he caught the corners of her lips twitching upwards.

“Clearly not,” He replied with a smirk, “but by all means, if you have rules, I would be delighted to know them. I want to win knowing you had all of the advantages.”

Marinette scoffed, giving him a playful eye roll. “Well, first off, you can’t ambush me like this. If you come in while I’m working on the surprise, then of course you’re going to know what it is.”

“Are you working on the surprise?” Felix inquired, tilting his head to see what was on the desk behind her.

“No, but that’s not the point.” Marinette said, blocking his view from her desk anyway.

“Alright, then what should I depend on for my guess?” He asked in turn. “You’re words? You could be lying or giving misleading information, and if you did tell the truth, I highly doubt you’d give me any clues that you thought would help me.”

“True,” Marinette agreed, “but the bet was to have you guess the surprise.”

“An educated guess is a guess all the same.”

“An educated guess is an assumption based on prior knowledge and experiences.” She pointed out. “If you see my surprise, you won’t be guessing what it is from things you saw beforehand. You’ll just know what it is because you saw it directly.”

Felix hummed. That was a good loophole. 

“So are you saying that the surprise is easy to make out once you see it?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”

“Oh, so it’s not easy to make out?”

“Felix!”

Felix laughed. “So you want me to make a deduction based on what I already know about you? Is that correct?”

Marinette eyed him for a moment, seeming to search for a trick in his words, then sat down in her rolling chair again. “Yes.”

Felix nodded thoughtfully and walked over to the chaise, gingerly moving scraps of cloth and a stray, bush pin holder aside so he could sit down as well.

“Alright, let’s see.. What do I know about Mlle Marinette Dupain-Cheng? I know you are creative.. Thoughtful.. Clever.. Minorly obsessed with giving gifts.. And work mostly in the clothes district, though that doesn’t mean you can’t make other things such as dolls or fake jewelry.”

Marinette snorted, an amused smile crossing her lips. “Go on.”

“You’re also empathetic and incredibly intuitive, picking up on the things around you without a second thought while also managing to run into a pole that’s directly in front of your face.”

“Hey!”

“My point is,” Felix continued slyly, “you’re clumsy in your walk, but not your work. If you made this bet with me, you’ve no doubt guessed where I would look and tried to counter that already. The gift is either hidden where you know I won’t look for sake of privacy or out in plain sight where you don’t believe I’ll see it as odd.”

“How do you know it’s even in this room?”

He smiled. “Your anxiety. Putting the box in any other place would have you fretting constantly over who’s touching it or whether it’s been moved. Your bedroom is the one place you can hide it while also watching over it unceasingly.”

Marinette raised her eyebrows ever so slightly, apparently impressed, and it only made his smile widen. He’d been spot on, hadn’t he? The surprise was in her room!

“That’s very cute and all, but you still haven’t guessed what the surprise is,” She retorted, crossing her arms, “or who it’s for.”

Felix tilted his head in a nod. “Alright, let’s go through the possibilities. You have Claude, Allegra, Allan, and myself. Anyone else wouldn’t make sense as a surprise.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because otherwise you wouldn’t feel the need to keep it a secret.” He pointed out. “You’re keeping this a surprise because you don’t want the person being surprised to find out prematurely, yes? So telling me would only jeopardize that if it were myself or someone I’m with regularly, which is Claude, Allan, Allegra, and you, and you can’t exactly surprise yourself-”

“I could. You never know.” Marinette joked.

Felix chuckled. “Sure, but it would be highly unlikely. Moving on, I don’t think it would be Claude, Allan, or Allegra either, because, as you know, I don’t enjoy blabbing my mouth to others. If you were surprising one of them, you most likely wouldn’t have hesitated to tell me what the surprise was. There is the possibility that you’re just being extra careful, but I highly doubt it.”

“Therefore, in conclusion, you’re left with me.” He finished.

Marinette hummed, setting her elbow on her desk and leaning her head on her palm. “So you think the surprise is for you?”

“It’s my leading theory.”

“I see. Might I ask why I would make a surprise for you?”

“That wasn’t part of the bet.”

Marinette snorted. “What if I don’t want to tell you because I don’t feel like it? I don’t have to tell you everything about my life, Felix.”

“No,” he agreed, though a part of him would like her to, “but you wouldn’t have made the bet if you didn’t want me prying, now, would you?”

“Maybe I’m just a poor planner.”

Felix simply raised an eyebrow. Marinette’s plans might not work out the way she wants them to on occasion, but she certainly wasn’t a poor planner. 

Her smile widened, clearly catching onto what he was thinking. “It could always be a possibility.”

Felix lightly scoffed and leaned back on his palms, his gaze sweeping over Marinette’s bed up top. It was neatly made, with nothing else surrounding it but a stray glass of water. That probably meant the surprise was on the lower portion of her room, since it would be hard to keep something hidden in a clean space. Could it be in one of her chests, perhaps? Or was he going to have to unravel one of her fabric rolls to find it?

“Perhaps I’m putting too much faith in you, but-” 

A yawn cut off Felix’s remark, and he blinked at Marinette as she stretched out her free arm. Her posture was practically slumped against the desk, her cheek sagging against her palm as she slid further into it. Was she.. tired? 

“Are you alright?” He asked, leaning forward to get a better look at her. Had those bags under her eyes been there this whole time?

“Hm? Oh, yeah.” She pulled herself back into a sitting-up position, attempting to rub the grogginess off of her expression. “I just hadn’t realized how tired I was until I stopped working.”

Felix frowned. “When did you last sleep?”

“Uh.. What day is it again?” She glanced down at her computer. “Saturday.. I think I got some sleep yesterday morning.”

“Yesterday Morning?” He repeated, flabbergasted. M. Sabine had mentioned Marinette working non-stop on her projects, but he didn’t think she meant it literally. “Why haven’t you been sleeping?”

She offered him a half shrug. “I didn’t mean to stay up this long. I just keep getting into the zone with Claude’s suit, and it makes time fly by.. Plus, my insomnia was getting to me again. So, I figured: Why roll around in bed relentlessly when you can do something productive?”

“You need to rest.”

Marinette tossed her hand in his direction. “Nah. What I need is to go get one of my mocha frappuccinos. Actually, can you get it for me? It’s downstairs in the fridge.”

“I’m not getting you a frappuccino,” Felix stated flatly, “but I’ll get you some water. Have you eaten anything today?”

“Uh.. I think I ate a macaron sometime this morning?”

Felix sighed and stood up from the chaise. Why was he not surprised?

“I’ll find something for you to eat then as well.”

“Felix, you really don’t have to do that.”

“No, but I’m going to. You can’t work on a project while you’re half-dead, after all. It’ll only lead to mistakes.”

“What are you talking about?” Marinette drawled. “Being half-dead is when most of my inspirations come to life!”

Felix pinched the bridge of his nose, though a small smile tugged at his lips. Sometimes he forgot how much of a mess Marinette could be.

“I’ll be right back.” He said, pulling open the trapdoor. 

Since Tom and Sabine were still working, the main housing area was empty, so Felix was able to slip down into the kitchen without a problem. 

He went to the fridge first, though he wasn’t entirely sure what to give her. M. Sabine told him to ask her for snacks if they needed any, but she would probably only bring them sweet treats. Marinette hasn’t eaten anything but a macaron since this morning, so she needed something healthy. Would fruit work? What kind of fruits did she like? He’s seen an orange in her pre-made lunch every now and then, but did they have any oranges here?

He closed the fridge and glanced at the counters. They were mostly covered with kitchen utensils, but he did spot a bowl of apples and oranges on the island, along with a few bananas on a hook nearby. 

Perfect.

He snatched one of each fruit, then got a cup from the cabinet and filled it with as much water as he could. Hopefully it wouldn’t spill on his way back up.

With food and water in hand, Felix carefully trudged back up the stairs to the trapdoor. He switched all of his fruit over to one arm and pushed the trapdoor open, keeping a watchful eye on the water while doing so.

“Marinette, do you like oranges more or..” Felix trailed off as his eyes landed on Marinette again. She was slumping in her chair now, and her eyes were completely closed while her head was tilted to the side at an odd angle. If that didn’t bring him to the realization that she was sleeping, the snore that came a few seconds later certainly did.

Felix almost laughed as he continued into the bedroom. She fell asleep? Within the two seconds that he was gone?? 

“Marinette, you truly are incredible.” He whispered to himself, setting the water and fruit on her desk. Should he wake her up? She’ll probably be embarrassed if she finds out she fell asleep while he was there, especially after claiming she wasn’t that tired. 

..On the other hand, leaving her be might give him a bit of an advantage..

Felix smirked, carefully tip-toeing away from her sleeping figure. Where was she looking when he mentioned the surprise again?

~~~~~~~

Marinette squirmed under her blanket, twisting herself to become more comfortable on the fluffy material underneath her. She’d forgotten how soft her chaise was, or how the memory foam helped her sink into it just right.. Maybe she should try sleeping on this more ofte-

Wait a minute.

Marinette cracked an eye open, glancing around her room with a frown. Since when was she lying down on the chaise? Hadn’t she been sitting in her rolling chair a moment ago? With-

“Felix!” she gasped, lurching upwards. Where was he? Did she fall asleep while he was in her room? Why didn’t he wake her up? Was he still in the house?

Marinette threw off her blanket and stood. She didn’t see him anywhere in her room, but that didn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t there. He could be downstairs in the living room, or talking with her parents in the bakery. Did he see anything while she was asleep? What if he found the small cans of paint behind her fabrics? Would he be able to figure out the surprise from that? What if he found the surprise itself?!

Seized with panic, Marinette raced up the ladder that led to her bed, then scaled the next ladder that led to her balcony. She threw open the trapdoor and poked her head outside, glancing around again. 

The platform was empty, thankfully. No Felix in sight. And the little pot in the corner next to her beach chair looked to be untouched as well.

Marinette let out a relieved sigh and walked over to the pot, carefully picking up the fake plant that she’d placed on top of it. Inside, past the plastic that covered the top in case of rain, she saw her package sitting snugly, right where she’d left it. Thank goodness she decided to hide it the night before, otherwise Felix would have won their bet as soon as he stepped inside her bedroom.

Marinette put the fake plant back where it was supposed to be, making sure the plastic wasn’t visible anymore, and stood up to scan the road. Felix’s car wasn’t on her street, which probably meant he went home, but that didn’t mean she was safe just yet.

“Tikki!” She called as she climbed back down into her room. It was a nasty trick he played, visiting her home unannounced, but in hindsight, she probably should have expected it. If Felix was going to guess the surprise, he needed more information on it, and how else was he going to get information (aside from herself, who was currently ignoring his messages)? Her house, where the surprise- and any clues pertaining to it -would naturally be. 

Tikki zipped up to Marinette almost immediately. “Yes, Marinette?”

“Do you know how long I was asleep?” 

Her kwami hummed, briefly turning to find a clock. “I’d say about.. Two hours?”

“Two hours?” Marinette repeated, horrified. Imagine what Felix could have done in that amount of time! 

“Did Felix find anything about the surprise?” 

“Not that I know of,” Tikki answered, to Marinette’s relief, “He started to look around for a bit, then decided against it, I guess, and left you a note before leaving himself.”

Marinette’s eyebrows knitted together slightly. “A note?”

Tikki nodded. “It’s on your desk.”

Marinette turned around to scan the bottom of her room again, indeed spotting a piece of paper on the corner of her desk. She must have been too worried about the surprise to notice it.

She climbed down her second ladder and walked over to the desk, picking up the small piece of paper. Felix’s letters curled across the page, beautiful and delicate, and to her surprise, she found something tucked underneath the note as well: A string of hearts. The same hearts she’d made for the Valentine’s Day party.

Dear Marinette,

You fell asleep before I could mention it, but the real reason I stopped by was to give you the decoration we talked about while cleaning up last Thursday. I noticed you forgot to ask Allegra about it, or perhaps you simply didn’t want to in the end. If the latter is the case, feel free to throw the decoration away. 

I left fruit on your desk, along with a glass of water. Please eat and hydrate yourself so you don’t collapse later.

Signed,

Felix

A soft warmth bloomed in Marinette’s chest as she glanced at the group of fruits on her desk. It was a bit embarrassing that he remembered her stupid ‘reminiscing-over-the-hearts’ excuse, but also sweet that he took the time to ask Allegra about them after Marinette left. He always seemed to pay more attention to her than she realized. 

“Hey, how did I get on the chaise?” Marinette asked Tikki curiously. “Felix didn’t.. You know.. carry me or anything, did he?”

The very thought nearly made her blush, but she tried to push it aside as best she could.

“Oh, he thought about it,” Her kwami confirmed, a certain amusement to her tone, “but in the end, he decided to wake you up just enough to have you walk over to the chaise yourself.”

Marinette nodded thoughtfully. She didn’t remember any of the moving process, but the neat piles next to her chaise proved that Felix put a lot of effort into cleaning the furniture off and making it comfortable. He even found a stray blanket for her to use.. With such gentle treatment coming from him, she almost wondered what she could have done to deserve it.

“Did he.. By any chance.. Do anything else while I was sleeping?” She asked hesitantly.

Tikki furrowed her eyebrows, confused. “Like what?”

Marinette flushed, flailing her arms as she replied a bit too loudly, “O-Oh, nothing! Nothing at all! I mean, if you didn’t notice anything then clearly nothing happened- hahaha! Anyway-”

She turned away from Tikki and put her hands over her face, almost groaning from embarrassment. Why would Felix even do anything to her while she was asleep? He didn’t like her that way! In fact, he didn’t like touching people at all! He wouldn’t be the type to longingly gaze at her sleeping face or maybe gently brush her bangs to the side with a smile.. It just wasn’t realistic. She needed to quit hoping for these fantasies before she fell too deeply into them.

A sigh passed Marinette’s lips, and she lowered her hands to look at Felix’s note again.

At least he cared for her in general. That’s better than nothing, right? She was happy just being his friend. 

Even if she might be starting to see him as something more.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Devotion: Hey guys! Thanks for coming back for another end-of-chapter devotion! I really appreciate all of those who read this, and I am very excited to share more of the Bible with you! Today we’re going to talk about the beginnings of Hell, why it exists, and why it’s now our problem today. 

People often like to question God’s goodness and grace by pointing out the existence of Hell. They say that if He is truly loving and truly as great as we say, then putting someone into Hell- or making it in the first place -should be too grievous of a task for Him. He shouldn’t want to create a situation where any of His other wonderful creations will suffer. I will agree that is a good question, but it is also a question that can be perfectly explained. (or as perfect as I myself can explain it anyway lol)

The first thing we need to understand is that Hell was not originally made for us. Hell was made for Lucifer and his followers. For background, Lucifer is an angel of light that used to be known as one of God’s chiefest angels. He had six wings, was beautiful beyond imagination, and (some believe) served at the right hand of Jesus Christ himself. Despite all of these magnificent gifts, however, Lucifer became unsatisfied with his position. As he looked at the things around him and thought about the incredible powers he’d been bestowed, he started to believe that he was above God. That instead of serving the one who made him, he should be the one on top, the one served and glorified. Pride and envy snaked through his chest like weeds, and soon, he was convincing other angels that he should be in charge too. This blasphemy continued until Lucifer felt he’d rallied enough angels together- or perhaps God called him prematurely -and He attacked God with one third of Heaven’s angels. As you can imagine, the fight didn’t last long. God won with an overwhelming victory, and for their insolence, God banished Lucifer and his followers to the place we now know as Hell. It is a place that God does not touch with any of his mercies or graces or light, a place a complete darkness where you can’t even see your hand in front of your face and your soul is tormented with an excruciating, unsoothable pain for the rest of eternity, where the only sounds you’ll hear is wailing and screaming and crying and gnashing of teeth. This was the place of punishment that God created for Lucifer and his followers, but it wasn’t supposed to be a place of punishment for us. 

Now this brings us to the beginning of creation and earth, where Hell suddenly became a problem of our own as well. See, Hell is the place where people who do not want to serve God or give their hearts to Him go. It is not a direct punishment or forced suffering, per se. It is more like getting all of the privileges that come with serving Him taken away from us. If we are rejecting God, then we are rejecting the kindness and gifts that He gives us for accepting Him, such as peace, love, happiness, protection, light, and all of those great things. In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve, and He gave them the choice of following Him or rejecting Him and going their own way. He put them in a ginormous, beautiful garden, where they had everything they could ever need, and in the midst of the garden, He put a tree called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told them that they could eat of every fruit in the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they could not eat. It was a simple rule, just one: Don’t eat the fruit of that tree, but you can have everything else. For a while, Adam and Eve followed that rule. The Bible doesn’t specify how long before they broke it, but one day, as Eve was eating in the garden, a serpent came to her. It’s unclear as to how many animals could speak during this time on earth, or if the snake itself was an exception, but the snake did speak to her.

“Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” The serpent hissed.

Eve, I can imagine, shook her head. “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, ‘Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die’.”

“Ye shall not surely die,” the snake said, “for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

Now, this is the tricky part of how the devil works. He likes to throw in a little bit of the truth to cover up big lies. The fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil did have the power to open our eyes to sin and wickedness, but it also was definitely going to kill Eve if she ate it. With the honeyed words of satan, however, and the tempting thought of becoming something better than she was now, Eve didn’t consider that he might be lying, and she didn’t consult God on the matter either. Instead, she took the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil hesitantly in her hands and, with one final breath of courage, took a bite of it. 

In that moment, she chose to go her own way instead of God’s

.Eve didn’t die physically as she’d expected to, but that wasn’t because God lied. It was because He was talking about a different kind of death, which was a spiritual death. Her body may have remained after she sinned, but her soul was shriveled up inside itself, now separated from God’s touch of everlasting life. She rejected God and His graces, and in doing so, sent herself in the direction of a place where God’s light does not shine. What’s worse is that since “nothing happened” when she ate the fruit, she brought the fruit to Adam as well. Adam, seeing that his lovely wife was still alive and well, came to the conclusion that God had lied too and also ate the fruit he was specifically told not to eat. They’d both chosen a life without God now.

Of course, since God sees everything, it wasn’t long before He came down to talk with them. Just like with Lucifer, God punished them for their insolence and disobedience. He cursed Adam’s seed, so that anyone born by him (or any man) would have their eyes opened to sin as well, and He cursed the ground so that weeds and thorns and such would sprout from the ground, making it ten times harder for Adam to work in the fields. For Eve, he cursed the way she gave birth, multiplying the pain and sorrow of it, and said that she now had to submit to her husband and that it would even become her main desire to please him. On top of those curses, He made the animals to be carnivores from then on, eating meat and growing wild from the curse of the ground, and also banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. And at the very end of that, we know that they were on their way to Hell for their disobedience.

“That’s not fair!” You might say. “They only ate one little fruit! Isn’t that punishment a bit excessive?” Well, no. Sin is a big deal. It is direct disobedience of God, and God’s rules that He gives us are not there without reason. He knew the importance of not eating the fruit and warned us ahead of time that the punishment for eating it would be severe, yet we ate it anyway. Any punishment we were given was completely deserved. You cannot say that God is merciless and cruel for not holding back on a punishment that He told us beforehand that He would give if we did something we weren’t supposed to.

“What about the rest of us? None of us were the ones to eat of the tree. Why do we have to pay for it?” You may not have sinned by eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but you have sinned in your life regardless. At some point, you did something wrong and turned your back on God’s influence and grace. We are all deserving of the punishment that we are heading towards.

“Why not stop us? Why let us choose sin over Him? Why even give us the opportunity to do wrong at all?” Free will. God loves us all dearly, so He wanted to give us the choice to love Him, not just force us to because we are His own creation. Isn’t that amazing? He loves us so much that He created us knowing we wouldn’t love Him the same way He loves us, and He continues to give grace to those who reject Him and essentially spit in his face. I can’t imagine having that much love or patience for somebody, can you? He even gave us another chance to spend paradise with Him by sending Jesus Christ down to save us! Think about it: You know somebody who’s rejected you. You’ve given them good advice, and they’ve spit curses at you while deciding that they know better. They’ve shaken their fist at you and refused to talk to you, called you awful names for giving them the best things they could have, and yet, despite all of that, you decide to send your only son, your prime possession, to go down and take an incredible punishment for them, to die for them. That person who rejected you doesn’t deserve it. They haven’t asked for forgiveness. There is no guarantee that they will even acknowledge the fact that you saved them, but you do it anyway. God did it anyway, and He did it on a much larger scale than that little metaphor.

Hell was not meant for us, but we are headed there now because of our poor choices. God has given us a way to reconcile, to change the choices that we’ve made, because He loves us. He’s calling out to you now. I pray that you are listening. Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a blessed day! If you have any questions about God, please message me and let me know! <3)

Tag List:  @sasstrashforlike5fandoms  @artbyknigit @athena452 @nickristus-dreamer @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @arsaem @abrx2002 @neakco @pawsitivelymiraculous @too0bsessedformyowngood @nathleigh @lusicing @officiallydarkgeek @all-mights-asscheeks @tbehartoo @woe-is-me0 @raeuberprinzessin @lazuli-11 @miss-chaos27 @trippingovermyfeet @sadpotatoondrugs @ladybug-182 @jaggedheart11 @marinahrasauce @i-need-blog-ideas @thewheezingbubbledragon @crazylittlemunchkin @unabashedbookworm @moonystars14 @sunflowers-and-mooncakes @2confused-2doanything @magnificentcrapposts @moonnette @nickristus-dreamer @vixen-uchiha @casual-darkness @luxmorningstarr @jjmjjktth @kaithehero @itsme1598 @theymakeupfairies @xjaccyx @miraculous-ninja @miraculouspenta @swiftie-miraculer13 @justafanwarrior @all-mights-asscheeks @ira-sairain @lookatthestars1 @dahjokester @blissful-passing @solangelo252 @canivialemonsquints07  @derbygracie  @pleaseignorejustheretoread

[miraculouscontent]

Always.

“Truth” is just... I mean, I want to say “garbage” but that doesn’t even do how bad it is justice? Like, okay, I take four major issues with it (my followers be like: just four? :P):

First is the writing in general and the continuity of it all. This episode looks like it’s been through multiple drafts and the final product is an amalgamation of a bunch of them with no coherency between any of them. I already could kind of guess it from the Adrimi kiss that the finale removed, but it’s obvious that there were going to be Adrimi/Lukanette arcs in Season 4 but then stuff happened (i.e: the staff being cowards) and they got cut. It’s totally possible that the plot with Jagged Stone being the father and Marinette having to keep secrets from Luka were still the same episode even in the original draft, but I imagine it at least wasn’t episode one.

There are other, more subtle hints as well, like the episode giving no time to Luka learning that Jagged is his father (making the fandom wonder if Luka remembered when he was Truth) and Ladybug being shocked when she realizes that the akuma is Luka as if she didn’t already see him be akumatized. Juleka also gets weirdly sidelined in the episode despite being Luka’s twin (Astruc has stated that both Luka and Juleka are older and Juleka got held back, which is why she’s in Marinette’s grade but Luka isn’t), so she’s Jagged’s offspring as well. One might presume that Juleka just never cared at all but that doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be allowed to interact directly with the guy or have any involvement at all. All it would’ve taken is for Luka to mention that Juleka never cared about who their father was but he did, thereby implying that Juleka’s reaction to Jagged would probably be more like, “oh okay.”

You know, if they didn’t reduce her to incoherent mumbling.

Second is the timing of this episode. We had the New York special with Paris being destroyed, but it’s clearly fine here (so I guess it isn’t canon now; thank God honestly), and while it’s technically possible that enough time has passed (supported by the vague implication that Marinette having to miss out on dates with Luka has gone on for a while, given Tom and Sabine’s lack of reaction to them dating), it’s not supported by Marinette examining the Miracle Box as if she’s only just gotten it.

There’s also Shadow Moth, where we’re shown an extended version of the scene from the end of “Miracle Queen” where Gabriel repairs the peacock miraculous, giving the episode a “Volpina”->”The Collector” vibe but then why are the events lining up the way they do???

The narrative also does a really bad job at showing us why Marinette is so strapped for time. She has guardian duties now but you’d think it’d balance out with her not having to go to Fu anymore for guardian training (you know, that thing we never saw but was said to be happening or at least that it was Fu’s intent to have it happen). You could argue that maybe Shadow Moth is more active, but then Chat Noir should be affected by this too; Ladybug states outright that she’s been busy and Chat Noir responds with something akin to, “oh I know, because you’re guardian,” which implies that it’s her guardian duties keeping her busy and Shadow Moth is just interrupting her dates specifically.

But we don’t even see what responsibilities she has added on as guardian. I knew the writers would make it so her being guardian was a hassle, but it’s the first episode of the series and we’ve gotten next to no answers for what being guardian actually adds.

It’s almost like this was a rushed first episode to break up the only thing that unambiguously made Marinette happy for the sake of bringing the love square back and needlessly making her suffer because the writers think it’s hilarious.

Speaking of which, the third thing thing is the comedy because--just--I hate the comedy in this show.

Like, just to start, there’s the kwami, who clearly begin with their mob mentality from the later episode of “Furious Fu” and all proceed to act like children. No, I didn’t expect them to all be wise (I mean, Xuppu exists and is very much not that, having been implied to be a fit for Kim who is known for being a total himbo), but I don’t expect them to all scatter like they do. Kaalki in particular, who was shown to be more poised and refined, blatantly reveals herself to a bunch of civilians just for the sake of Marinette freaking out and needing to make up an excuse.

Same with Alya and her friends. Marinette is panicking because of the kwami and Alya “deduces” (while shading Marinette so blatantly that it’s insulting) that Adrien must be there in her house which--maybe don’t SAY THAT OUT LOUD in case Adrien is literally in her room???). Then Marinette gets a call from Luka, shouts his name, and the girls do a complete 180 in support of Lukentte. It’s not like I’m not for them supporting whatever Marinette wants to do, but the shift is so sudden (and contradicts “Frozer”) that it gave me whiplash and the entire scene ends up being pointless since the girls still go with the “Marinette is in love with Adrien” thing when Truth asks them what Marinette’s secret is. Like, we could’ve gotten small, stupid secrets that everyone thought only they knew about Marinette, but instead it’s just the same thing over and over again (which makes no sense since, by the time Alya blabs the secret - which Alya has already told Nino before anyway - it’s no longer a secret therefore making the answer invalid).

Heck, the whole “secret” thing could’ve even been the people Truth shoots finding ways of answering his questions in a way that is technically telling the truth but also not really, such as if Anarka had answered the, “Who’s my father?” question with, “someone you know/someone famous,” so as to avoid saying that it’s Jagged Stone. It’s just boring seeing characters answer with whatever the asker wants to hear instead of being able to find a way around it.

And then there’s Chat Noir, who’s just--ugh.

Like--okay, I’m going to be extremely petty for a moment and just go off because I hate Chat Noir’s role in this entire episode. The Season 3 finale went out of its way to have Chat Noir be all like, “I have a girlfriend,” when it was a lie, and then Season 4 just parkours around Ladybug telling him that she’s dating (Ladybug clearly took no issue with Chat Noir telling her he’s dating so it’s not like she’s worried about issues there; she’s gotten on his case before in episodes like “Startrain” so there are exceptions) because they want to keep having him flirt and not be sAd because this is Marinette’s episode of suffering and Chat Noir actually having to face the reality that Ladybug is dating (not just in love with someone else) would’ve actually been interesting. Chat Noir gets tons of unnecessary screentime in the episode - mostly for the show to shove in LadyNoir shipping fuel - and then actively avoids telling him the obvious thing because he would’ve actually been forced to grow/develop/stop flirting.

It would’ve been so cute and sweet to see him awkwardly trying to flirt without overstepping boundaries (so more like banter than flirt) or - you know - actually try to support Ladybug and want her to be able to finish her dates by him offering to keep akuma/sentimonsters busy, but no, he’s just left in the dark.

The finale had Chat Noir supporting her (terribly but I digress) and then doesn’t do anything with it at the start of Season 4, meaning his support of her was completely meaningless and just there.

His first appearance is him pranking Ladybug when she’s already overstressed and busy, which comes off as super poor taste and I’m both glad he got splatted into that window for it but also upset because it’s screentime completely gone to waste, and of course it’s just a lead up to him guilting her by being like, “nooo the only thing that hurts me is when you leave me alone during patrol!”

I know he’s teasing (...probably) but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth because we know (well, I knew because I know how this show works) that Luka and Marinette were going to break up because of Marinette’s hectic schedule, so it just comes off as insensitive to joke about it, especially when Ladybug’s busy guardian status just serves as a reminder that Fu is gone.

Even when he’s protecting Ladybug from Truth’s questions by cutting in and asking a question of his own, of course he asks about himself to forcibly fish compliments out of Ladybug because she can’t lie to him, and of course they have Ladybug compliment his humor most of all as if that trait hasn’t nearly gotten them in danger multiple times and she’s been repeatedly annoyed when he decides to joke during the worst possible times. It’s as if the writers wanted to pat themselves on the back for their own comedy, so they had Ladybug be a mouthpiece to stroke Chat Noir’s ego.

He claims he won’t force a truth out of her and then literally forces her to say what her favorite things about him are. I acknowledge that this can be seen as me nitpicking but we went from the finale where Chat Noir actually stepped up and took charge (because Ladybug was stressed but I guess him doing anything useful is just whenever it serves the plot) to this where he’s back to flirting constantly and jamming in as much LadyNoir shipping fuel as physically possible. It’s not that he’s useless but he’s annoying and takes up space in an episode that’s supposed to be about Luka and Marinette.

And that leads us into the fourth thing, which is the break-up and just the treatment of Luka and Marinette in general. I could go on and on about how the Season 3 finale built up their relationship just to tear it down in the first episode of Season 4, but that’s not the main issue here.

Luka brought Marinette comfort. He made her happy. He never judged her. He was happy to just date her regardless of any conflicted feelings she might have because hey, who is he to complain if she wants to give him a try and who knows what’ll happen?

And the season couldn’t even give one moment of them being unambiguously happy without ruining or interrupting it. I was ready for the break-up and I was even ready for it to be the first episode but I wasn’t ready for it to be so bad.

Marinette’s Adrien pictures appear out of nowhere (again, makes no sense for the timeline) when they’ve been gone for basically all of Season 3 and even “The Puppeteer 2″ specifically which makes a direct reference to “Troublemaker,” the episode that purposefully overdid it with her pictures (”Truth” has more hanging up and clearly used “Troublemaker” as a reference, by the way). They’re just there for force the love square and Adrien into the episode as much as possible to remind the audience that Adrien breathes. There is literally no purpose to any mention of Adrien and bringing him up isn’t even relevant to Marinette and Luka’s break-up.

It’s just upsetting to know that the umbrella scene from “Origins” (which is already flawed in and of itself) kickstarts this whole thing. Adrien did basically nothing there except for clear up a misunderstanding and give Marinette an umbrella when his ride was a few meters away and Marinette’s house was just across the street, but that actives Marinette’s absolutely crippling crush on him that lasts for 3-4 seasons. Marinette is in this eternal struggle of not being allowed to grow and change because the writers think her stammering/crushing on Adrien is funny while actively punishing her for having this crush in the first place (again, like in the scene with Alya, which insults Marinette for her crush when she wasn’t even panicking over her crush).

It’s the same with Luka, and I can’t believe that it took me until this episode to realize that he and Marinette are both treated the same way: tormented by episodes for having a crush on someone. Episodes will go out of their way to forcibly insert Adrien into the plot to both humiliate Marinette and make Luka feel awkward when the episode isn’t supposed to be about Adrien at all. “Truth” is just “Desperada 2.0″ except Adrien is barely on screen at all and they still felt the need to name drop him constantly. The writers are so sensitive to the idea of people jumping onto another ship or forgetting that Adrien exists that they’ll find any possible way to include him.

“Silencer” knew better. “Silencer” knew that Marinette’s life didn’t have to revolve around the mere mention of Adrien’s name and that she had other interests/desires/traits outside of him. Adrien isn’t brought up once and it was great because the show didn’t feel the need (for once) to throw Adrien into an episode that he had nothing to do with.

Even if I was a love square shipper, I would feel insulted by “Truth” because one half of my ship kept getting name dropped and used as a tool to humiliate the other half, which makes it all the more eyeroll-worthy when the love square stans of the fandom praise this episode for breaking Lukanette up when--oh, wait, they didn’t even break up “because Adrien.”

And that ends up being the real thing here. The writers had to invent a reason for Marinette and Luka to break up. We already know that Jagged Stone being Luka’s dad is a retcon (not technically in the show’s canon but in information we heard about outside of it), so they shoved in Luka having issues about not knowing his father specifically so that he would be pushed over the edge when Marinette couldn’t tell him about her being Ladybug.

When Luka and Marinette were just together and hanging out, Adrien wasn’t mentioned once. Say whatever about the Adrien pictures being on the wall and Marinette’s stammering (she always says stupid stuff when she panics - especially stuff she doesn’t mean - so I’m not upset with her so much as the writing for having her mess up in that specific way), but the only time Marinette talks about Adrien at all in the episode is when someone else brings him up.

She goes on a date with Luka to the cinema and they were having a great time without Adrien involved at all. I know I already stressed this point in a previous post, but one of the reasons that I find Lukanette to be so amazing is because the show actually focuses on Marinette’s interests and doesn’t force her to be the writer’s mouthpiece for gushing about their sunshine boy a punching bag for comedy. In every Lukanette scene that doesn’t bring up Adrien/before Adrien shows up, Marinette is either praised, able to be happy, or is showing one of her interests that isn’t aDrIeN, and whereas Adrien being on-screen around Marinette usually just means that she’s gushing about/stammering around him with no development, Lukanette features us actually learning more about Luka or other characters.

“Captain Hardrock” - lets her bond with Luka over a shared interest in Jagged Stone, and Luka is established as a sort of empath who uses music as a way to speak for himself

“Frozer” - gets to practice ice skating with Luka, who is actually good at ice skating and also can tie laces despite not tying his own because he’s a rebel

“Desperada” - gets to try out guitar with Luka and we learn that Luka has been playing guitar for as long as he can remember

“Silencer” - showcases Marinette’s interest in fashion and properly introduces Kitty Section; has a plot featuring all of them together doing something not even remotely love-related and we get actual confirmation of Luka’s crush on Marinette, along with Marinette’s reaction (blushy+happy; just saying, idk how anyone could watch “Silencer” and not think that Marinette was crushing on Luka)

“Heart Hunter” - Marinette gets a song written for/about her and Luka is established to have a job

“Truth” - brings up Lukanette’s shared interest in Jagged Stone, features Marinette’s interest in fashion when she gives him a gift she made + had Jagged Stone sign, and shows her raising her voice but not being judged by Luka for it, who’s happy with her just the way he is

When the show focuses on Lukanette, it’s all about lifting Marinette up, praising her, and making her feel good. When Adrien is involved or it’s hyper-fixating on Marinette’s crush on him, it’s about bringing her down and making her feel bad for a crush they keep forcing her to hold onto and humiliating her for.

Point being, the writers had to force their way into getting Lukanette broken up because of their precious love square and the fact that Marinette and Luka being happy is the opposite of what they want.

It’s embarrassing to watch a team full of old white guys (I’m convinced at this point that they just hang their female writer on a coat hanger so they can point to her whenever someone says that their staff is too male-dominated) treat their female biracial lead with such disrespect, and I can only presume that the mistreatment of Luka is because he’s supportive of her and they don’t like that, meaning that the way she’s treated ends up rubbing off on him.

It doesn’t come off as a fun or interesting plot; it comes off as cruel. When Adrien is sad, he usually gets people rushing to comfort him (”Party Crasher,” “Gamer”), but “Truth” has Marinette in tears over the fact that she can’t have a boyfriend due to being Ladybug and the writing has the gall to crack jokes about Kaalki not knowing what tears are, and then Marinette has to ask for the kwami to hug her for comfort.

When Luka gets akumatized into Truth, the episode doesn’t even hesitate at bashing away at him, from everyone saying that Marinette’s secret is that she “loves Adrien” (which, as Truth points out, isn’t a secret, and they could’ve had this somehow lead up to a twist ending where Marinette actually isn’t into Adrien anymore and the Adrien pictures were genuinely for reference, but she stammered about it because it was embarrassing that her boyfriend got sent it with no context) to one of Luka’s favorite songs actually being about how Jagged abandoned him to go on tour. Luka has to deal with Marinette ditching him constantly (not that I blame her) and not knowing who his father is despite wanting to know, and the episode treats him like trash for... what? Having a crush on a girl who’s secretly Ladybug? Because that’s all it seems to come down to in the end.

I also have serious gripes with the fact that Marinette has this huge schedule established in “Gamer 2.0″ and they don’t even try to explain why she can’t use it to keep track of her obligations. The episode has her say (in a roundabout way but still) that she’s forgetting stuff constantly because of all of her emergencies (the emergencies of which are not stated and I hate the subtle implication that forgetting something means you don’t care about it when that’s clearly not how things work and also not what Marinette comes off as because - again - they establish that she’s overworked) but fails to properly explain it. The episode hammers away at Marinette having all these issues and even has Tikki chide Marinette by asking her about leaving Luka alone while apparently neglecting the fact that Marinette HAS to go be Ladybug right now and what else is there to even do??

Both Luka and Marinette are punished for just having a crush and wanting to be together and I hate that the episode forces a break-up instead of coming up with a solution to the problem. Instead of “Marinette isn’t ready for a romantic relationship,” it feels more like she’s just not allowed to be happy.

Long-distance relationships are a thing. Relationships where people don’t get to go on dates frequently are a thing. Instead of forcing a break-up, the episode could’ve had a lesson/development where Marinette is told that she’s allowed to pursue a relationship and just needs to plan accordingly. but they just didn’t want to.

For example: instead of planning dates, Marinette could wait until an akuma/sentimonster is defeated to call Luka and ask him out, because Hawk Moth usually doesn’t strike immediately after one is dealt with. I’m positive that Luka would happily take impromptu/sudden dates over planned-but-inconsclusive ones. Heck, they don’t even have to date specifically and can just stick to phone calls (kwami can’t be picked up on technology) or hanging out in Marinette’s room/on Marinette’s balcony while they do their thing.

Relationships are a commitment, but that doesn’t mean they have to be a burden, and the episode absolutely drags Marinette over it. The whole thing with the kwami being released and stressing her out when they’re not supposed to be able to just come out normally is explained away by, “oh, the new box must be like you, Marinette; full of surprises!” when the reality is just that the show wants to take away everything that’s sacred to Marinette. The Season 3 finale had Fu’s letter telling Marinette that “life doesn’t always give you what you want, but the real gift is life itself,” then proceeds to turn Marinette’s life into a living hell.

Her room? She has to say good-bye to her privacy because now the kwami are always going to be around. The first thing one of them (Trixx) did was start reading her diary, showing that they have absolutely no shame or regard for Marinette’s feelings.

Her schedule? Conveniently pops away into the realm of non-existence so she can look bad for ditching Chat Noir on patrol and neglecting dates with Luka due to her responsibilities/stress.

Her boyfriend, the one person in the entire show who loved her, respected her agency, never judged her, actually apologized when he made her sad, and who she was genuinely in love with rather than just having the equivalent of a celebrity crush for? She had to break up with him because plot and needing to force her to go back to fawning over the guy who has only made her life worse by her crushing on him.

When I say the universe hates Marinette, this is what I mean. It created random akuma to attack Paris all for the sake of forcing Marinette away from Luka, and apparently didn’t realize what they were doing in the scene where Marinette hurries back to the Liberty when Kitty Section and Adrien are playing together when Adrien is Chat Noir so he should’ve been late too.

(Oh, and Marinette completely ignores Adrien in favor of waving at Luka and even tells Luka outright that Adrien isn’t even a factor in their relationship issues, further proving the “multiple drafts smashed together” and “the Adrien name drops are pointless” points.)

The whole thing in “Backwarder” where it was basically outright stated that Marianne could’ve been Fu’s confidant had Marianne not been outed by Ladybug’s mistake? Completely forgotten and left to the wayside. Marinette could’ve told Luka that she was watching the Miracle Box in Ladybug’s place (for any number of reasons, really: either Ladybug thinks it’s too dangerous to keep with her, or if the public doesn’t know that Ladybug is guardian, then Marinette can just say that she’s guardian) and that she has to run off to keep guard of the Miracle Box when an akuma/sentimonster happens in case Ladybug needs a miraculous.

Boom, done, episode solved. Luka gets to help Marinette with the kwami, Marinette is less stressed because someone knows half of her secret, and Luka and Marinette continue to date but are able to plan around akuma attacks.

But no. That whole thing in “Backwarder” where guardians (or at least Fu) can have a confidant was just there so Marinette could feel guilty about screwing it all up, because she’s not able to take advantage of that perk herself.

How convenient.

[fuchsiagrasshopper]

The Olive Branch

Author's note: Here is a modern AU one-shot I wrote for @maggiescarborough 400 follower challenge. My prompt was breaking up. Congratulations hun and thanks for letting me take part! It was something completely different for me to write and I hope everyone enjoys!

Masterlist

Pairing: Ivar x Fem:reader

Word count: 3400

Warnings: Angst, language

Your relationship with Ivar had run its course. You had known it was over the moment you overheard him talking about you in his office to his brother. What had begun as a sweet gesture to surprise your boyfriend for lunch had ended with you sneaking back out the building before he could find out you had been there. You still didn't remember most of that escape, as you had been too busy forcing yourself not to cry or scream from hurt.

It was a Tuesday, and you were fortunate enough to have a day off from work. You decided to be spontaneous, picking up soup from your favorite deli to surprise Ivar with for lunch. His job didn't always allow him the time or luxury to stop to eat, but today you would make sure he was looked after.

You and Ivar had been seeing each other for nearly six months, and you felt that in that stretch of time you had made it past any difficult hurdles that could turn a relationship sour. It wasn't perfect, but little arguments and disagreements had to be weathered in any relationship, and you got to a point where you were both comfortable with each other's faults and tendencies. When you had met one another's families without hassle, you figured that was as good a sign as any that this was something special.

You didn't go to his place of work often, but you knew your way around well enough to find his office. He worked for his family's exporting company, a numbers game that consisted of suits and ties, and corporate gatherings. Ivar had once described them to you as ass-kissing at the highest level, and after attending a few black-tie affairs by his side you understood his point.

You made your way down the brightly lit corridor that was all freshly polished floors and heavy oak doors with gold inlaid nameplates. The designer of the office had spared no expense on the finishes, and you felt underdressed compared to the expensive attire of the workers.

As you rounded the corner to Ivar's office you could see his door was ajar. He was speaking with someone, and as you neared you recognized Ubbe's voice. It didn't sound like work talk, it sounded more like Ubbe was discussing his family. You were about to walk in to interrupt when your name was suddenly brought up.

"So, how are things going with (Y/N)?" Ubbe asked.

There was a long pause before Ivar answered, and that filled you with dread. "Okay, I guess."

"You guess? I thought things were going great."

You understood Ubbe's point. You thought things were working out well between you two.

"I don't know. Recently I've been feeling that it's run its course between us. I don't think there's a future there."

Your heart was in your throat, and you thought you were going to be sick. Ivar could be distant, but you had no idea he was at the end of his rope when it came to your relationship.

"Really? Ubbe sounded as confused as you felt. "What brought this on?"

"It's whenever we do something in a social setting. She's not a bad girlfriend, but she's too shy for any of my work functions, and she isn't spontaneous enough."

"Right, as opposed to Freydis?" You heard the crunch of leather as Ubbe took a seat. "You're still hung up on her."

"I can't help it," Ivar shot back. "She was perfect for me. She fit in with my lifestyle. (Y/N)'s a good person, but she's too simple. I'm...bored when I'm with her."

A good person. Those were the only kind words he had to say about you, after dating for months. You knew about his relationship with Freydis in little detail, and only that they had broken up because she moved away for work. Maybe he should have gone with her. You were feeling bitter and used, and you couldn't listen to any more of the disparagement. You even felt guilty about eavesdropping, but you wondered how much longer he planned on keeping this from you if he was so miserable.

Your feet started in the opposite direction, reaching the elevator with your head down and the lunch you had brought hanging loosely in your grasp. Your breathing had turned labored in your attempt to keep the tears at bay, and you kept pressing the button to shut the double doors before you were forced to endure a long ride down to the lobby in the company of one of Ivar's coworkers.

The moment you were on the ground floor you began fast walking to get outside, and you threw away the lunch in the first trash bin you passed. Your eyes stun when the chilly wind brushed your face, and you knew the tears you had struggled to hold in were beginning to fall. You hoped to God people weren't staring, and you kept at a brisk pace in the direction of anywhere. You and Ivar didn't live together, so you at least had your own space to hide.

As you approached the train station, your phone buzzed with a message. It was from Ivar. You wondered what words Ubbe had plied him with to get him to reach out. Usually, a message from him when you knew he was at work would have been a delight, but now you were already into second-guessing. It was a simple invite to dinner, but you knew you wouldn't be able to sit in a restaurant and pretend everything was alright. You replied with an excuse.

Sorry, I'm not feeling well today. Raincheck

Ivar's reply was quick and to the point with a simple 'okay, feel better'. But you wouldn't feel better. Your relationship was over, he just wasn't privy to the fact yet, and you didn't want to end it with the embarrassment and disappointment still so fresh…

ooOOoo

And that's how it was for the next two weeks. You distanced yourself from Ivar while gaining clarity about the situation. The hurt turned into a dull throb, but you also accepted that it wasn't his fault for feeling the way he did, even if that was cold comfort to you. It was best for you both if you ended it and moved on.

"I think we should break up," You finished saying to Ivar as he had tried to gift you a diamond bracelet. He had dropped in unannounced again, a habit that had started after you blew off the dinner. Your visits consisted of sitting in silence on opposite sides of the sofa, and you could barely bring yourself to kiss him when he would leave.

He must have sensed something was off the past few times you had seen each other, and the bracelet was his way of trying to bridge this new gap. Now he was giving you a blank stare, trying to play catch up on whatever details he had missed that led to this behavior from you.

"Alright," He started slowly. "Can I ask why?"

Because you're bored with me, your mind shouted, but you swallowed the bitterness and forced a smile. "We've been growing apart for a little while now. You must have felt it too."

"I've felt that you've been brushing me off," Ivar said as he fell back into the armchair across from you on the sofa.

"What do you mean?" You tried to act surprised by the accusation, but your voice raised a tick. You had never been a good liar.

"Well, just now when I tried to give you the bracelet, you looked disgusted. I might as well have been giving you a can of surströmming."

"That's not--" You started to say, but he cut you off.

"Not true? No, I think it is. And what about that dinner last week? Were you even sick?"

You felt small under his strong gaze, but you weren't about to let him spin this whole thing back on you when you knew the truth. "No, I wasn't sick. I guess I just didn't want to go to dinner with you because I felt it was pointless."

"Pointless? If you'd decided that, then why did you wait until now to break up with me?"

"I've never broken up with someone before," You admitted, the first truthful thing to come out of the conversation. It was always you getting left behind, and it felt strange to do it to someone else. You still had feelings for Ivar, which didn't make it any easier knowing he didn't feel the same, and possibly never had. "I thought you'd be relieved anyways. You must have felt the same, that we were drifting apart."

"I didn't realize you felt that way," Ivar replied, frowning at his lap. "Ubbe didn't say anything to you, did he?"

You tried not to react, but your blood froze in your veins and your heart trembled. "No, why would he?"

And then you realized Ivar suspected you knew about the private conversation with his brother, only he mistakenly thought Ubbe had blabbed to you about it.

"It makes sense now, why you've been pulling away. He told you, didn't he?"

"About how I'm a good person, but that I'm too shy to fit in with your social circle," You blurted out, your anger rising.

Ivar was stunned by your abrupt attitude change. You never raised your voice for anything, even when you'd argued. "So he did tell you."

"No Ivar, Ubbe didn't tell me anything." You rose from the sofa and turned your back on him to stare out the window. It was a beautiful day. You let out a mournful sigh. Too bad you wouldn't get to enjoy it. "I came to see you that day, to surprise you with lunch. I guess you wouldn't consider that spontaneous enough though."

"(Y/N)," Ivar started and over your shoulder, you could see him pushing himself up from the chair with his cane.

"I don't want to hear it," You interjected with your hand up. "This is why I didn't want you to know I knew about that. I didn't want to hear your excuses."

"That was a private conversation you weren't supposed to hear."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Ivar frowned, and he seemed annoyed with you as if you learning the truth had inconvenienced him. "No, but I should be the one upset with you for trying to break up with me without telling the truth."

"I'm not trying to break up with you, I'm done with you, Ivar," You told him, and your blunt tone caused his face to fall. "Maybe I shouldn't have listened to that conversation, but I'm glad I did. It spares me from being in a relationship with someone miserable and bored when they're with me. Did you expect me just to not say anything and carry on as if nothing had happened?"

"We could still talk this through." His voice sounded timid, and you didn't think he meant it.

"Talk through what? You're still in love with someone else, and I won't be your poor replacement." You strode to your apartment door and held it wide open. "Please leave."

You half expected Ivar to stay put and want to argue this through further. He was nothing if not confrontational, and while you admired his inner strength, you did not want to find yourself on the receiving end of Ivar Lothbrok's ire. But in the end, he didn't say anything. His cane thumped down the hallway to the door, and as he strode by you, you kept your head down holding your breath. You don't know if you were hoping he would do something to change your mind, let you know that it had all been a misunderstanding, but that wasn't the case. Ivar left, and you found yourself closing the door long after he had gone.

Now that it was final, you didn't know how to feel. The past few weeks you had been preoccupied with internalizing your heartbreak. You had held it in for so long, that now your well was empty. Your relationship was over, and if you were going to move forward you would have to cleanse your life of Ivar. Grabbing a box from your closet, you began to pack away anything he had ever given you.

ooOOoo

It was such a cliche, the expression about missing something after it was gone, but it was currently how Ivar was feeling. A month had passed by since your break-up, and time had slowed to a crawl. He hadn't seen or heard from you since he had left your apartment that day. You had returned a box of his things when he had been away at work. Hvitserk had been home to retrieve them, and Ivar had asked how you seemed. His answer; fine.

At the top of the box was the bracelet he had bought you in a last-ditch effort to try and save the relationship. You hadn't even worn it. He didn't know why he had put in the effort to save the relationship since at that time he had convinced himself it was no longer something he was invested in. Perhaps Ubbe had gotten through to him, but by then it was already too late. You had heard everything, and it had led to a devastating end.

Ivar knew why he had second-guessed being with you. He knew from the moment you met that you were the complete opposite of Freydis. You were timid, and your interests lied in things you could do independently as opposed to a social setting. Not like him at all. After growing up different from his disability, Ivar made sure he thrived in large groups as an adult, no longer wanting to be the one isolated in the corner of the room. Being with you had reminded him that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, and he never thought you were weak as a result.

But then he had seen Freydis' engagement announcement online, and he was suddenly mourning the loss of his past. Never follow an ex on social media, that was Hvitserk's advice, and he should have listened. He and Freydis had said their goodbyes two years ago, though more reluctantly on his part. She was everything no one thought he would ever have in a partner. The beautiful blonde had chosen the cripple, and his ego had soared to new heights.

Food tasted better, the air was cleaner, everything was different from his supposed view from the top. Ubbe had reminded him that it hadn't been as perfect as the memories he clung to. During that time with Freydis, he had abandoned much of his ties to his family, and he had picked up the bad habit of spending money to the point of debt. When she had left him for new career goals, he had gradually returned to earth with the other mortals and realized he had been an asshole.

He had a momentary lapse back into that spell all because of one picture online, and unfortunately, it had bled on to you. Now all he could think about was how much he had hurt you, and with no real excuse good enough to justify such atrocious behavior.

A knock on his door came, and he threw the bracelet back into the box of his belongings that had made their way from your home and now back to his.

"Hey, you want dinner?" Hvitserk asked, poking his head in.

"Not hungry."

"Still feeling sorry for yourself, huh," Hvitserk said as he leaned upon the doorjamb.

"If I didn't, nobody else would," Ivar grumbled petulantly.

"And how do you think (Y/N)'s feeling?"

"I don't know, you said she was fine."

Hvitserk ran a hand down his face. "I was covering. If anything she looked...disappointed."

Disappointed in him more likely. He was a disappointment, and not because of his legs as he always feared. When the news of his break-up with you had spread through the family, they all were annoyed with him for making that choice. None more so than his mother. She had been vocal over the years of her dislike for Freydis, and while Ivar knew his mother would have a difficult time accepting any woman he brought home, she had come to reluctantly welcome you into the fold. The rest of his brothers didn't hold back on hurtling their own brand of criticism, each as unique and harsh as they were creative.

"What should I do," He asked aloud, and Hvitserk looked startled by the question. He was the last one in the family anyone looked to for advice, but Ivar already regretted not taking the bit about exs and social media to heart.

"Apologize. That's the only thing left, even if it won't be enough to remove the hurt right away. She needs to know you regret what you've said."

For the first time in a month, Ivar felt a smidgen of hope. "Do you think there's a chance we could start over?"

"I don't know about that. If she holds onto those things you've said as the truth, then she might have a hard time trusting you again. Those relationships never work out," Hvitserk said with a shrug.

"Maybe I should go over there and talk to her," Ivar said, already rising from his bed.

"I wouldn't," Hvitserk replied looking guilty. "Thora's over there now, and she's still pissed at you for hurting (Y/N). If you don't want to end up in grievous harm, I'd stay away for now. Sorry."

Ivar sighed as he plopped back down. "No, I get it."

"Try reaching out slowly, and work your way from there," Hvitserk suggested.

"You're surprisingly not as dumb as you look," Ivar taunted, and the first grin broke out on his face. It felt good to use those muscles again.

"I know, I'm brimming with knowledge and ready to impart wisdom," Hvitserk said with a laugh. He stood up from the door and looked ready to return to the sitting room. "You sure you aren't hungry? I haven't ordered yet."

"I think I could eat. Just give me a moment, I need to finish putting this stuff away." He indicated to the box, and Hvitserk nodded in understanding before closing the door behind him.

Ivar pulled out his phone and searched for your name. All of the things he had to say couldn't be composed of one text message, but he could extend an olive branch and hope it didn't come back as ashes.

I know this is probably coming too late, but I need you to know I'm sorry and I miss you. If you want to, I'd like a chance to meet and explain things, that's it -- Ivar

He hit send before he started to ramble or worse chicken out entirely and not send the thing. He didn't know if you would reach out right away, and he didn't want to know. Getting up from his bed, Ivar hobbled on his crutch, leaving his phone behind in his room to join his brother for dinner. Hvitserk must have sensed his change in mood, but he embraced it rather than asking, and they didn't bring you up again. It was the first time in a month he felt like himself, no heartache over Freydis and no self-pity over losing you. After a late-night of buffoonery, and pizza and beer, the brothers returned to their rooms.

Ivar ignored the phone sitting in the middle of the bed, avoiding it as if it was some cursed thing. He went about his nightly routine, all the while he felt the pull to check if you had replied. He hoped you had. Even if it was just to tell him to fuck off, something was better than no answer. After getting his legs settled beneath the covers, he lied down in bed and shut off the lamp on his side table. Before going to sleep it was time to check if you had seen his olive branch. The glow of his phone lit up his face, and his breath hitched. You had replied. His eyes flitted back and forth, tracing your words to make sure they were real.

I miss you too. Let's talk soon.

Ivar fell asleep right after, with renewed vigor in his heart. He would work to earn your trust back. Whether that meant as a couple or just as friends would be up to you, and Ivar would respect what you decided. So long as you were still in his life, everything would be alright.

Taglist

@pomegranates-and-blood @siren-queen03 @peachyboneless @didiintheblog @soleil-dor @zuxiezendler @pieces-by-me @xbellaxcarolinax @heavenly1927 @everyartistwas-firstanamateur @youbloodymadgenius @xceafh @strangunddurm @shannygoatgruff @1950schick @tgrrose @castielsangelsx @rose1729 @ladynightshade30 @mlchael-guerin @dangerouspsychicgardenflower @ritual-unions-gotme @readsalot73 @lonewolf471 @poisonous00 @alytavzla

[eyayah-oya]

Return to Me

Clone Ship Week | Day 6 | Post-Battle - @cloneshipweek

Cody/Rex

Rating: G

Warnings: mentions of Point Rain, canon typical violence, disgustingly cute happy ending

Ao3 link

           Geonosis was just as awful as every vod had ever described. It was hot and dusty, of course, but Cody didn’t really care about any of that.  It was the number of brothers he’d lost on the way to Point Rain, the hundreds more killed by the bugs and their weaponry, on top of all the droids that seemed to come in never-ending waves.

           Cody and the rest of the 212th were going to join General Mundi and the 21st Nova Marine Corps on the other side of the planet while Rex and his men worked with Gree and the 41st under General Unduli.  They would be taking on the enormous droid factory the next day, and Cody would not be able to help any of them.  He would have his own mission to run.

           There were hundreds of vod’e all over the fortified base they’d managed to find and set up camp in.  Brothers from all four battalions mingled and shared increasingly exaggerated stories.  Cody had spotted Corporals Fives and Echo talking to some boys from the 21st, and he’d seen the medics fussing over the injured vod’e and generals.  But there was no sign of Cody’s cyare.

           “Lieutenant!” Cody called to 2nd Lieutenant Jesse of the 501st.

           Jesse snapped off a sharp salute.  “Sir!”

           “At ease, Lt.  Have you seen Rex around recently?” Cody asked.

           Thinking for a moment, Jesse slowly nodded.  “I think I saw him over by the remaining gunships, sir. He was talking to General Skywalker about half an hour ago.”

           Cody nodded and clapped the trooper on his shoulder. “Thanks.  Make sure you take some time to rest, Lt.  We’re in for a rough campaign.”

           “Of course, sir.  You do the same and see if you can get Rex to sleep, too.”

           As Cody walked away, he chuckled to himself.  Little brothers were getting uppity.  At the start of the war, there was no way any trooper, let alone one from a different battalion, would have talked to him so casually.  It was a testament to how well the men of the 501st were relaxing around their Jedi and learning how to be something besides soldiers.  It was nice.

           Cody prayed to whatever gods watched over clones bred for war that Rex hadn’t gone back up to the Resolute already.  He needed to see Rex and make sure his cyare was alright. Too many vod’e were walking wounded, and even more were severely injured or dead.  As much as he knew it was a real possibility, Cody did not want to ever consider a reality where Rex marched on ahead of him.

           “Hey, Commander!” Commander Tano chirped from out of nowhere.  She smiled up at him with bright eyes that hadn’t been weighed down by war yet.  She still had hope and Cody prayed that she would never lose that.  Yet another thing he prayed for to unknown gods.

           “Hello, Commander.”  Cody dodged a pair of vod’e carrying a crate full of supplies and glanced down at Commander Tano.  “Can I help you with something?”

           “Jesse said you’re looking for Rex?  I know where he is!  But we have to hurry before my Master pulls him away again.”

           If Commander Tano was willing to help him find Rex, Cody was definitely not going to say no.  Especially after the massacre they’d just faced.  “Thank you, Commander,” he said, warm affection warming his chest briefly. “I appreciate it.”

           Commander Tano waved away his thanks.  “It’s no problem.  I get it.  Master Skywalker practically ran to Master Kenobi’s side as soon as we got here, and I know Jesse went to go find a batchmate of his from the 41st. Sometimes, you just need to make sure everyone’s alive.”

           “That is very wise, Commander,” Cody said.  He really shouldn’t be surprised, but in his mind, the Commander was just so young.  She shouldn’t have insights into how war worked, and why they needed time to recuperate after a bad battle, if only to reassure themselves that their loved ones made it out alive or to mourn the ones that hadn’t.

           There were far too many mourning vod’e.

           “I have a great teacher,” Commander Tano said with a warm smile.  “Rex said you taught him a lot of what he knows and he’s been passing some of that down to me.  It’s helped me in some tough situations, so I should be thanking you, Commander.”

           “No thanks necessary, Commander,” Cody managed to say without choking or giving away his emotions.  Not that it probably mattered since Jedi were attuned to the people around them.  Only General Kenobi had ever thanked him for anything, and Cody was convinced that his General would thank Ventress after she stabbed him with her saber.  Karking di’kutla jetti.

           “Anyway, Rex is over in that tent, hopefully taking a nap. Coric was threatening him earlier with sedation, so he might have followed through on that threat.”

           And with that, Commander Tano skipped away, most likely to terrorize some poor shiny who wouldn’t know how to deal with an overly friendly shiny Jedi Commander. Cody privately wished he had a holo of their flailing.  It would provide some good laughs in the future.

           Cody strode over to the tent Commander Tano had pointed out, and knocked on the frame.

           “Come in,” Rex called and something inside of Cody’s chest loosened.

           He undid the fastenings and stepped inside, taking his bucket off immediately.  Rex was sitting on the cot, a datapad in his hands, likely going over the initial casualty reports for the battle.  Most importantly, he was very much alive.

           “Rex,” Cody gasped out with a strangled breath.

           Rex jerked at his voice and then a second later, Cody had his arms wrapped around his cyare, breathing him in as he held on as tight as he could.

           “Cody!  You’re okay!” Rex said.  He pulled back to give Cody a sharp look.  “You are okay, right?”

           “Yes, I am.  I didn’t end up getting injured.  That was purely my General,” Cody said, trying for some dry humor but it fell flat in the face of their combined relief.  “What about you?  I heard you got thrown off a wall?”

           “Karking Fives and Echo,” Rex growled.  “General Skywalker and Ahsoka caught me, so I wasn’t hurt.  Nothing beyond a few bumps and bruises.”

           Cody ran his eyes over Rex’s body, as though that would tell him if Rex was hiding any injuries with the armor in the way.  Once he verified that there wasn’t any gaping hole or crack in Rex’s armor, Cody dropped his helmet to the ground and pulled Rex into a bruising kiss.  His cyare responded eagerly, clinging desperately to the hard, sharp planes of Cody’s armor.  There was no finesse, no sweetness in the kiss.  Just pure, heady relief and a desperation to prove that they really survived.

           Rex gripped Cody’s hair tightly with one hand, the other wrapping around his waist to pull him as close as their armor would allow. He sucked on Cody’s bottom lip and gently nibbled before letting go and pressing his head against Cody’s in a soft keldabe.

           “I was so worried when we heard that most of your gunships went down, including General Kenobi’s.  You’re usually flying with him.”

           “We decided to split our forces.  It was a really close call a few times, but we made it.  We both made it,” Cody answered.  He was shaking from relief at having Rex in his arms, alive and unharmed.  Nothing would ever be able to beat that heady feeling of overwhelming gratitude to whatever gods were listening.  They’d listened to at least one of his prayers today.

           “Stay alive tomorrow,” Cody demanded after a moment of just breathing each other in.  “That factory is going to be really dangerous.”

           “I know.  Gree is a solid vod, though.  He’ll have my back and I’ll have his.  Plus, we have the Jedi to help keep us safe.”

           Cody very carefully didn’t think about the many times General Skywalker had gotten men killed by doing something reckless or stupid. The R2 droid was not important enough to sacrifice his padawan, Rex, and three other men to General Grievous.  Out of four, only Rex and Denal had made it back, and Commander Tano had nearly been killed by Grievous when she kept Grievous from killing Rex, all for a droid.  Cody was skeptical, but he also had faith in Commander Tano and General Unduli and her padawan.  They’d protect the men while Skywalker handled whatever crazy idea he had.

           “We will be safe,” Rex said, giving Cody a shake. “While you’re off with the Marines, you should talk to Bacara.  They’re out of contact with most of the GAR.  Only Neyo and Jet can get through the blockades to deliver supplies and intelligence to Nova.”

           A frown carved the worry lines on his face deeper as Cody absorbed that information.  “I’ll talk to him.  See what we can do,” Cody swore.

           Rex nodded.  “Good.  He’ll keep you alive.  Bacara already told me he’s planning on sharing all of my embarrassing ARC training stories to you while you’re on campaign together.”

           Cody grinned.  “I’ve been trying to pull those out of Neyo, Keeli, Thorn, and Thire for ages now.  And Bacara’s the one to spill the beans?”

           Rex grumbled and buried his face against the crook of Cody’s neck.  “He said I don’t have enough blackmail material on him to keep him from blabbing. He also said I don’t scare him because, and I quote, “I’m as terrifying as a sleepy baby nexu cub buried in a pile of nip”.”

           “That—is strangely accurate,” Cody choked out, laughing at Rex’s offended growl.  “You’re a little prickly, but everyone knows you’re just a softy.  I mean, you’ve been teaching Commander Tano what I taught you?”

           His cyare shrugged.  “She’s in the middle of a war, and she doesn’t have the training we do. I don’t want to see her die when I could have prevented it.  Nor do I want to see my vod’e die because she makes a bad decision.  I’m giving her all the tools she’ll need to be successful and survive this war.”

           “You’ve adopted her.”  Cody couldn’t believe he hadn’t seen it before.  Rex had always loved with all his heart, as evidenced by the numerous vod’e who loved him unconditionally.  Of course, Commander Tano would have made the list.  “If she’s yours, then she’s mine, too,” Cody said. “We’re in this together.”

           Rex finally peeked his head back out from where he’d hidden it against the small sliver of skin on Cody’s neck.  “Really?”

           Cody didn’t hesitate.  He nodded and bumped their foreheads together.  “I promise.”

           For the first time since their first kiss, Cody had the amazing opportunity to see Rex completely and totally flustered.  He blushed bright red, sputtering and coughing as he tried to find something to say.

           It took a few minutes for Rex to completely compose himself and then it was Cody’s turn to be flustered.  “Are you asking me to be your riduur?”

           “What?” Cody spluttered.

           For a second, Rex faltered.  But then he squared his jaw and firmed his spine as if he was facing the worst of odds in a battle.  “We are one when together.  We already do that, and have done that since we were cadets.  We are one when apart.  At this point, I don’t think there’s anything that could separate us, even when we’re fighting on opposite ends of the galaxy.  We share all.  We tell each other everything.  You said it yourself.  What’s mine is yours, too.  We will raise warriors.  We are raising Ahsoka together, since we share all.  Not to mention all of our men that we’ve both trained since this war started. If that doesn’t count, I don’t know what would.

           “So, are you asking me to be your riduur?”

           As Rex laid out each point, Cody found himself agreeing. He and Rex were already married, they just hadn’t said the vows to each other yet.  And honestly, there wasn’t a better time than now.  Cody would rather be married to the love of his life for a few hours, then never have married him and watched him die in battle.

           “Yes, Rex of Torrent.  I am asking you to be my riduur,” Cody said, determination in every cell of his body.

           Rex lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Cody, bringing their foreheads together.  “Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar’tome, mhi me’dinui an, mhi ba’juri verde,” Rex swore fervently, his whole heart bared for Cody to see.

           “Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar’tome, mhi me’dinui an, mhi ba’juri verde,” Cody echoed the vow, offering Rex his heart with every breath.

           They shared the same space for a moment, pressing into the keldabe more firmly before their lips brushed together.  Like a firework had been set off in his bones, Cody tugged Rex into a passionate, over-whelming kiss that stole their breath away.  He could feel his heart swelling with the amount of love he felt for Rex, bursting out from behind the dam he kept on his emotions most days.  It rolled over him until the only thing he could think of was that Rex was alive, in his arms, and that they were now married.  What more could Cody care for in that moment?

           Eventually, air became a necessity, and they broke away from each other to breathe.  Rex gave a soft chuckle.  “You do realize that means you’re going to have to adopt Ahsoka, too, right?”

           “YES!  I get two dads AND Cody has to call me by my name now!”

           “Shh, they can hear you, Soka.”

           “Oops!  Everyone scatter!”

           Cody laughed.  His heart couldn’t contain the joy he felt, and he would carry that joy throughout the war as a hopeful flame for when they could all have peace again. But in that moment, he had all night with his riduur, and Cody planned on making the most of it.

[adezahnae]

My Roomie (Part 3)

A/N: These are taking a lot of time, and I know you are all tired of me by now😭 I understand that this is a lot of time but I’m trying to go as fast as I can!! But here is Part 3 of My Roomie💕

Warnings: Smut, first time, soft to rough sex, spanking, dirty talk, secrets, angst, etc...

Tagged People: @whoreforshuaaa @ahgasearmyfan

Your POV

I’m finally at the store. That was the most UNCOMFORTABLE moment I’ve had in my life!! I grabbed my favorite snacks off the shelves and put them in my basket. I was trying to reach for the chips on the top shelf but I couldn’t reach it. A guy suddenly helped me. “Here you go.” He smiled. I looked at him and he looked like a nice guy. “Oh thank you....” I mumbled taking the snack from his hand. “I’m Jamie.” He said holding out his hand. I smiled and took it. “Hello. I’m Y/n.” I said. “You have a pretty name! I like it.” He said. I blushed.

“Thank you. You live around here?” I asked. “Yeah, on the third floor, across from 114.” “Oh! That’s my dorm!” I said. He looked at me funny. “You’re in Kai’s dorm?” He asked. “Y-Yeah? Is there a problem?” I asked. He scoffed. “He’s such a pain in the ass. Really.” He said. “Why? He seems okay to me.” I said. Yeah you say that after you just had an interaction like that with him. “That’s what they all say until he does what he does.” He said. “W-What? What do you mean?” I asked.

“He- never mind..you just be careful.” He warned me. He was about to walk out of the door until I pulled his arm. “Tell me!” I exclaimed. “I just want you to be careful around him. He will do such things to get in your head and then boom..If you need anything or anyone, I’m across the hall.” He said now walking away. I sighed. What does he mean by that? I brushed it off and finished shopping.

I made it back to the dorm with the bags in my hands. I sighed and knocked on the door. The door opened and a girl walk out, looking at me up and down. “Did he sleep with another one?” I mumbled looking at her walk away. “‘He’ has a name and ‘He’ is standing right here.” I jumped at the sudden words. I turned around to see him in sweatpants and a shirt. “Oh! Sorry..could you let me in?” I asked.

He moved aside. I walked in the kitchen and sat the bags down. “It would have been nice for you to come and help me.” I said. “Hm. Can I ask you something?” He said. “Sure..” I replied. “How long has it been since you had sex?” He asked. I widened my eyes. “So suddenly?” I asked. “We’re roommates so...” He said. “Roommates don’t ask each other those type of questions when they’ve only known each other for two days.” I said.

He quirked an eyebrow. “And roommates don’t listen in on each other having sex with other people and then dream about them. Now when was the last time you had sex?” He asked again. Dang it, he had a point. But what am I supposed to say? I’m a virgin... “Umm..I...” “You’re a virgin?” He asked. I blushed and nodded. He only chuckled. “Wow...for a innocent girl, she has a dirty dirty mind.” He teased pinching my cheeks. I pushed his hand away and he laughed. “I’m just playing..” He said. I nodded. “Yeah...” I said.

“I wanna know about you. We got off on a bad foot. I’m Jongin.” He said holding out his hand. I smiled a little, maybe this isn’t bad. “Y/n.” I said shaking his hand. He smiled and began to help me out with putting things up. We began to talk and get to know one another. Throughout the day, we did what actual roommates should do. At this point we were both on the couch, drinking tea and watching TV. “Oh! I met this guy. At the store earlier.” I said.

He hummed. “His name is Jamie-“ “Jamie?!” He cut me off. “Yeah, he actually talked about you! Is there something wrong?” I asked. He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t like that guy...he always get my way.” He mumbled. “What does he do?” I asked. “Nothing. Let’s just leave it.” He said. “Well, I was thinking about going to visit him.” I said. “Today?” I nodded.

He hummed and got up from the couch. “Well it’s only 7, you’ve got time I guess.” Jongin said. “But! I think I’m gonna reconsider...you seem like a nice person to be around, apart from our weird interactions..” I said. He smiled. “Thank you..” He said. I nodded. He sat back down on the couch and stayed silent for a bit. I don’t know what Jamie meant by be careful of him, he’s harmless.

“How about we go back to the question I asked earlier..” He said. “Which one?” I laughed. “The when was the last time you had sex one.” “Oh..that..what about it?” I asked. “Have you thought about?” I sighed. “Like thought about doing it with someone? Yes I have but... I’m scared..” I admitted. “What is there to be afraid of? It’s just sex.” He said simply. “Like what if I get pregnant? Or I catch something? Or if it hurts?” I blabbed. “You get pregnant or catch anything. At least not with me..” He said looking at me now.

“Uhhh Jongin? What’s that glint in your eye?” I asked. He moved closer to me, causing me to look away and back up. He took my cup and sat it on the table. I was now at the end of the couch and he was right there. “Jongin, what are you doing?” I asked. He moved my hair out of my face. “You’re so cute and clueless..” He mumbled. I gulped and looked into his dark eyes. “Don’t you wanna know how it feels? And not in a dream?” He asked. Of course I do, but this was difficult. I JUST got to know this guy.

“But we just got to know each other and we’re not even married.” I said. He let out a deep chuckle. “Who said we have to?” He asked. “It’s only right. Besides, I’m scared. I told you that.” I said. “Who said I was gonna hurt you? You will feel so good afterwards.” He said. This was tempting. I originally came to college to see the world without being shielded from it. I’ve never experienced things with another person, and...I wanted to try it...he seems like he a good guy...maybe. He leaned in and kissed me on my lips.

I gasped into the kiss. He pulled away and looked into my eyes. “How was that?” He asked. I nod telling him that it was okay. I just had my first kiss. “I-I liked it...” I mumbled. He hummed and kissed my neck. I gasped and gripped his shirt. I tried to push him away, feeling embarrassed. “J-Jongin..could you stop?” I asked breathing out heavily. He took my hand that was on his shirt and pinned it down softly. He pulled away and looked at me. “In my bedroom..” He said getting up.

He walked to his room not batting an eye in my direction. I hesitatingly get up and went into his bedroom. He was there, at the end of his bed waiting for me. “Jongin..this is a bit..” I mumbled. “Yet you’re here? I will take good care of you..” He said. I breathed out, I need to live anyways... “Okay..I trust you..” I mumbled. He smirked. “Come here.” He said. I walked over to him and he pulled me on his lap.

Jongin knew he had you where he wanted you. You were in his hands like puddy. His hands caressed your body so softly and smooth. It was something you’ve never experienced. You whimpered at his touch and shivered. He kissed you again and you sat there. His hands traveled up your shirt and caressed your smooth skin. His lips traveled down your neck and he pushed your shirt up more. You began to kiss back and you grabbed on his shirt again. “Jongin..” You mumbled.

“Hmm?” He replied. You looked down to in between your legs and Looked back up at him. He smirked, getting the idea. He moved your skirt a little and felt over your panties. He chuckled. “Are you wet?” He asked. You nodded your head with a slight blush on your cheeks. “Lift your arms up.” He said. You did so and he pulled your shirt over your head, revealing your baby pink bra.

He licked over his lips and bit them. He pushed your skirt up some more and seen your matching pink panties. “How cute..” he mumbled. He turned around and laid you down on his bed. You bit your lips anxiously. He landed sweet kisses on your body, letting you know that it’s okay. “You’re so pretty..” He mumbled as he traveled down. He was now at your belly button.

You began to pull away. He pulled you back. “Hey, do you trust me?” He asked. You knew you shouldn’t trust him, you have no business in doing this with him. You know him but not like that. But he was too tempting to pass up. You nodded your head without second thought. He continued his work and know he made it to your waist band of your panties. He pulled them down slowly and they were on the floor. You bit your lip in shyness as he looked at your glistening cunt. He rubbed over it, making you jerk.

He smirked. “Look at you, wet from kissing me..” He mumbled. He spread your lower lips and smiled at you leaking. He looked up at your eyes and landed a kiss on your bud. You gasp and whimpered. He did it again and added his tongue this time. You bucked your hips up and cried out. “You like that?” He asked. You nod, wanting more. Oh why did you wish for more from him? He smirked placed his tongue at your entrance. He began to work his skillful tongue.

“Oh my gosh...so good..” you cried. You threw your head back against his soft pillows and gripped them. He circled his tongue around your hole and slipped it past it, pushing his tongue in. He pulled it out and replaced it with his fingers, starting at a slow pace. He suckled on your bud, making you scream out. You felt yourself come to a high. You breathing quickens and your chest rises up and down. He began to push his fingers faster. “Are you gonna cum?” He asked. You nodded your head. You then fell it wash over you like water.

You arched your back and whined out his name. “Jongin!!!” How he loved to hear you call out his name, it made him harder than he already was. He stood up and undid his pants and reached into his bedside table. He pulled out a condom from his drawer and ripped it open with his teeth. You laid there watching him. He pulls down his pants and underwear and you widened your eyes. He rolled the condom on his member, stroking it in the process.

He pulled his shirt off and threw it to where your underwear and his pants were. He crawled back on the bed and caressed your cheek. “Don’t be afraid of me..” he said. You nodded. But how can you not be afraid of such a big...thing? He placed a kiss on your lips. “It’s gonna hurt a little so just stick with me baby..” he said. You braced yourself and put your arms around his neck. He began position himself in front your hole and pushed lightly in. You whimpered and gripped his neck and shoulders. He kissed your neck and cheek, giving you praises. “You’re doing great..” He said.

He began to push in more, you cried. “It hurts!” You said. “I know..it will be over soon.” He said. He began to push in fully, finally breaking you open. You cried out and scratched down his back in pain. “Ouch!!” You cry. He kissed your tear stained cheeks. “Hey it’s okay..tell me when to move..” he whispered. You began to calm down and breathed. “Okay..you can move..” you said. He nod and pulled his hips back slowly. He pushed forward again at a slow pace. You bit your lip and hummed. He looked at you with concern. “You okay?” He asked. “F-Faster...please..do me like you did her..” you said. He smirked at your sudden confidence. “Okay...”

“OH MY GOSH KAI!!” You cried in the pillows. He had you face down and ass up while he railed you. He landed a smack on your butt and you groaned out. “YESS!” You whined. He pulled your hair and grunted. “Fuck...so good for me..” he said. You whimpered and gripped the sheets. You were in so much pleasure. This is what you wanted. Everything felt right. You seen no wrong in this. You needed to live. He’s helping you live..so you think.

“I’m gonna cum..” he groaned. “Me too..could you cum with me? Please Kai?” You asked. He kissed on your shoulder and bit it. “Of course..” he whispered. You began to clench around him and he began to twitch. He felt so good with you. It felt like you were made for him. You hugged his member so snuggly. You were his perfect little baby. He had everything of you, your body, your mind, and your virginity. He had your innocence.

You thought him..only him. It was what he wanted. You both groaned and moaned out as you both came. You both rode out your highs and calmed your breathing. He pulled out of you and you fell down on bed. You snuggled against the sheets, feeling your eyes get heavy. “I’m sleepy..” you mumbled. “Go to sleep then, my baby..” he said while kissing your forehead. You smiled in delight and hummed, falling asleep.

Jongin’s POV

I put on black pants and a black jacket while watching Y/n sleep. I smirked to myself knowing that I have her in my hands now. Y/n was too cute to pass up. Knowing that she’s never explored herself with any guy, was perfect. She’s all mine now. But the thing is, I just usually play with girl’s minds and leave them in the dust when I didn’t want them anymore but...she was perfect. I can’t just leave Y/n. As much as I love to corrupt girls, I can’t just hurt Y/n like this. She’s mine personally. No one is gonna have her. I zipped my jacket up and threw the hood over my head.

I walked out of my room and seen Lia sitting on the couch. “Kai, how long?” I rolled my eyes. “You knew our deal Lia.” I said walking past her. “But, I want more!” She exclaimed. “Shh before you wake Y/n.” I said turning. “Do you like her?” She asked. I sighed. “That’s not your business to know.” I replied. “Yes you do! I heard you! I heard all of it! Why can she call your name and I can’t?!?” She exclaimed. “Because you’re just a whore like the others. You slept with Chanyeol right after you left my place last night!” “Kai, watch you mouth when you talk to me!” She said fighting back tears. “Ohh what?! Am I hurting your feelings? Get the hell over it Lia. I told you that you were just here for me to get Y/n. Nothing else.” I replied.

“You’re a cold, cold guy..I hope she’s right through your little scheme!” She exclaimed. “What scheme, Lia?” I asked. “You just want to corrupt her, making her think what you want her to! You are the worst person ever!” She said. I chuckled. “Yes. That and more.” I said. “More?! What do you mean more?!” She asked. “None of your damn business. Get the hell out.” I said. “You can’t leave me! I-I’m pregnant!” She cried. She pulled out a pregnancy test and showed it to me. I seen that it was positive and handed it back to her.

“It’s not mine.” I replied. “What?! Yes the hell it is!!” She exclaimed. “No it isn’t. I fucked you with a condom. It’s Chanyeol’s.” I said. She stood there in shock. “No...it’s yours!” I sighed at her pathetic lie. “Are trying to tie me down so I have a reason to speak with you? Even if it was mines, I wouldn’t speak with you.” “So you would leave your child fatherless?!” “No. I’ll take my child and never have to speak with you.” “With what money?! How would you take care of it?! Huh?!” “True question is, how would you take care of your child? It’s not mine, it’s Chanyeol’s. And knowing how he is, he’s not gonna take being tied down with a baby right now.” I said.

She sighed. “I just miss you..I need you..” she mumbled. “You need me?” She nodded her head. “Well I need you to get out of my apartment with this shit.” I replied. She narrowed her eyes. “I hate you..” she mumbled walking past me. “Mhm.” I hummed. She finally left and I breathed out. I went back to my room to see Y/n fast asleep. I do like her, I just can’t let anyone else know about that. I closed the door behind me and went across the hall. I knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer.

When they did, I seen that it was Jamie and I pushed him back inside. I closed the door and punched his face. “What the fuck Kai?! Are you out of your mind?!” He asked while holding his chin. “Why are you talking to Y/n?” I growled. He chuckled. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m trying to get her away from you!!” He exclaimed. “Why?!” “So you won’t corrupt her. You know she’s an innocent girl and you want to take advantage of her!” He said. Me and Jamie never got along. He was always trying to ruin everything I do.

He ran off another girl I liked in the past once and she never came back. All because she believed his lies. I then became this way, sleeping with other girls and leaving them. He won’t run off Y/n, he won’t ruin this. “I’m here to give a little warning, take this punch as a warning. The next time she tells me you are talking to her, I will and I mean will beat your ass. Understand me?” I growled. “Fine..” He said. I turned around and opened the door, going back into mine. I shut the door and locked it. “I promise to everyone, Y/n is mine..”

[claudesaulniers]

hiii, can i get an imagine of naib having a crush on the reader, and the other survivors knowing this do stuff to make him jealous just to get reactions out of him? >w< maybe he gets fed up n confesses to them!

a/n: PLZ THIS PROMPT IS SO CUTE!! i love it sm i’m gonna have a blast writing this one

Something weird was going on in the manor. Something weird had been going on for a while, actually— It just took you a while to properly notice.

It had started when Emma asked you to help her out in her garden one day. When you were done, she thanked you and kissed you on the cheek.

At the time, you thought nothing of it— Emma was naturally pretty affectionate with all her friends. However, as time went on, you realized that /everyone/ was acting just a bit more affectionate towards you than usual.

Kevin fell asleep with his head resting on your shoulder one night after dinner, and just a few hours later, you got a sudden hug from Tracy with no explanation. The next day, you received a few head pats from José, and another kiss on the cheek from Emma.

After a few weeks of this, you started to realize that was something was /definitely/ up.

The breaking point was when Aesop gave you a half-hearted hug— Since when did Aesop touch anyone? You shot him a suspicious glance as he left the room, followed by an annoyed Naib, and—

Hey, what was up with Naib? Now that you thought about it, he /had/ been acting strange the past few weeks. He seemed to be avoiding you, and before you could ever approach him about it, it seemed like he was always storming out of the room in annoyance for some reason or other. At first, you’d chalked it down to just typical Naib behavior, but with the way everyone else was acting lately— Something had to be going on.

“Is something up with Naib?” you asked Emily, who was also staring at Naib with vague concern in her eyes. She turned to you and shrugged.

“Who knows with that kid...” Emily sighed, waving her hand dismissively. “He’s probably just having a rough week. Why don’t you try asking him?”

“Me?”

“Well, he doesn’t ever talk to anyone else.” Emily shrugged.

You supposed that was true. Naib didn’t mind bickering with Norton, or having small talk with Eli, or talking strategy with Martha— But he’d never really opened up with anyone but you.

“I’ll— I’ll go ask him, then,” you said after a moment of contemplating. “See you later, Em.”

With that, you left the room, following after Naib. It didn’t take long to find him; He usually kept to himself and hid away in the library, passing the time by finding random novels to read. He was somewhat predictable in that sense.

When you entered the library, Naib was already there, half reading a book and half fidgeting. His expression clearly betrayed annoyance. You sighed.

“What’s up with you lately?” you asked bluntly. Naib stared up at you blankly, narrowing his eyes at you after a long moment.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because you’re acting like a moody teenager.”

“I’m not acting like— What’s it matter to you anyways?” Naib’s glare hardened, and you let out a huff of exasperation before sitting down on the floor beside him.

“You’re my friend. I wanna make sure you’re okay.”

Naib shot you an unreadable expression, something between confusion and frustration. You bopped him playfully on the head.

“C’mon, just tell me what’s up.” Before you could pull your hand away, Naib suddenly grabbed your wrist. He looked equally as surprised by his own action as you did, his eyes widening for a moment before he immediately let go.

“It’s— It’s nothing. Something’s just bugging me.”

“Uh-huh,” you replied, smiling softly. You reached out and grabbed his hand, intertwining your fingers. “And that something is...?”

Naib looked away, the tips of ears turning a deep red. He squeezed your hand in embarrassment.

“It’s just— God. Fine.” He sighed, running his free hand through his hair stressfully. “I accidentally told Norton that I— I /like/ you. And he blabbed about to everyone, because he’s Norton. And they all started trying to make me tell you, but I didn’t want to, so they kept trying to annoy me into doing it by being all sweet to you to make me jealous or whatever.”

You blinked in mild surprise. You had known something was up, but you didn’t realize it had all been planned like that.

“For the record,” Naib added, “I wasn’t really jealous. They’re your friends; I don’t care if they hug you or hold your hand or whatever. That’s— That’s just what friends do sometimes. I was just annoyed that they were doing it on /purpose/ to annoy me.”

After a long moment of silence, you began laughing. Naib shot you a look of confusion, but you simply continued giggling.

“You mean to tell me this whole thing could’ve been avoided if you had just /told me/?” You used your free hand to gently bop Naib on the head again. “I was worried about you, idiot. I thought something was wrong.”

“Well—!” Naib tried to come up with some sort of excuse, but clearly was coming up empty. You shook your head, another fit of giggles leaving your mouth.

“You’re an idiot.” You leaned down to press a kiss on the back of Naib’s hand. “But for the record, I like you too.”

[kuroo-shitsurou]

Conditioner (Juban)

note: ngl i think i made them a bit ooc here but SDGJAGF pls i just cant they make me so happy

word count: 1.4k

"Yuzo-san was brutal as ever today," Taichi whined as he got out of the bath.

"Good. Somebody needs to remind this troupe to buck-up or else we'll get overshadowed by the others." Sakyo shifted his glasses, eyeing how tired the rest of troupe members seemed to be. His lead role in Ginji wasn't as difficult to play, given that he already had a yakuza background, but he knew how much the others struggled with their roles. Seriously, how the hell are the yakuza related to hotdogs and juicy weenies or whatever the hell Taichi blabbed about earlier?

"It wasn't that hard, really." Banri piped up from the couch.

"Easy for you to fuckin' say." Juza muttered under his breath.

"Try sayin' that to my face, will 'ya?"

"I said-"

"So! Anyone up for some meat skewers tonight? There was a great sale at the market earlier." Omi spoke up to break the tension between the two. It would be a headache dealing with them if they went full-on brawl mode.

"Ooh, that sounds good!" Taichi could already feel his stomach rumbling.

"In that case, I'd better hop in the shower real quick so I can get started on dinner." Omi moved his gaze to where Juza stood, "Come on, Juza."

Juza gave a small grunt of approval, still glaring daggers at Banri.

"Why must you two always act like such children?" Sakyo pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We ain't children. You're just old."

Taichi snickered at this comment from Banri until he saw the menacing aura that Sakyo emitted.

"The hell did you say to me?"

Taichi prayed for Banri's soul.

-

"What's that, Juza?" Omi eyed the pink bottle Juza was toying with in his hands.

"Muku got this for me earlier today. He said it was conditioner."

"How nice of him. I never really took you for a guy who uses conditioner. No offense."

"Nah, you're right. I normally don't, but it wouldn't hurt to try it once in a while. It'd be a shame if it went to waste anyway."

Omi chuckled as he rinsed the suds out of his hair, "Thoughtful as always."

Juza felt a faint blush form on his cheeks as he massaged the sweet-smelling conditioner through his locks.

"'S whatever."

-

Juza and Omi finally exited the bathroom to see Banri teaching Taichi how to properly solve a rubiks cube.

"So then you turn it here, then here, then twist this part up, and you got it." Banri's fingers were quick to solve the cube perfectly.

"Banny I asked you to teach me, not solve it for me!" Taichi wept crocodile tears.

"Ah, my bad."

"Omi! Juza! You're finally back! Can't wait to taste those meat skewers." The redhead happily greeted the two who were fresh from the bath.

"I'll get started right away. Come help me out for a bit, Taichi."

"Sir yes sir!" Taichi made a beeline for the kitchen with Omi happily humming behind him.

Banri and Juza felt an awkward pause in the room before Juza moved to sit with Banri on the couch. Not beside him though, he was at the opposite end from where the blond was sitting.

He didn't know why, but Banri shifted in his seat and fidgeted with the rubiks cube in his hands; Messing it up and then reassembling it again.

"'Grats on practice today," Banri was sure that there was still leftover water in his ears.

"What?"

"I said 'grats on practice, you deaf fuckface." Was that a blush on Juza's face? "Yuzo-san barely gave criticism on your part for the yakuza shtick. That doesn't mean you'll be top dog, though. I'm still gonna beat your ass."

Banri snickered, "As if. I'm gonna steal the show and have you eat my dust." He turned his body just enough for him to be facing his roommate, "Thanks, though. Whatever, I guess."

His nose picked up an unfamiliar scent; It was sweet and light, which was surprising, since Omi said he was going to be cooking something far from sweet tonight. His eyes wandered to Juza, who was drying his hair with a towel.

"What're you lookin' at?" Juza scowled.

"N-Nothing," Banri stuttered, and he mentally cursed himself for doing so.

"D-Did you use something?"

"Haa?"

"A new shampoo or something," Banri chose his words carefully to pretend like he didn't give a flying fuck about Juza (which was quite the opposite, actually, but Banri would rather die than admit it).

"Wh-? Yeah. Muku gave me a new conditioner." Juza quickly looked at the pink bottle again, "Bubblegum. Eh."

Banri felt his breath get caught in his throat. How the hell was he so cute and dumb at the same time?!

"I see."

Banri had this incredibly dumb idea. It was going to satisfy the burning desire building in the pit of his stomach, but it was also absolutely dumb. It was going to give him a sense of fulfillment, but it was also unbelievably dumb.

And you know what? Maybe Banri Settsu was dumber than he initially accounted for.

"You're doing it wrong." He spoke up nervously, to which Juza cocked his eyebrow at.

"The hell are you-"

Before Juza could even finish his sentence, Banri was already up and behind the sofa, with Juza sitting directly in front of him. He grabbed the towel from Juza's hand and started to twist his damp locks between the fabric.

"Settsu, what in the actual fuck are you doing?" Although Juza's voice was laced with venom and despise for the blond, he made no move to dissuade the other from stopping his actions.

"You're drying your hair wrong and it's annoying me." Banri's reply was quick and quiet. He focused on getting Juza's hair dry.

Banri's mind went blank. There was just one word running through his brain right now.

Soft.

Juza's hair was incredibly fucking soft.

This was the first time that Banri had a feel of Juza's hair right after he got out of the shower, and he hated the fact that it was so soft to the touch. You'd think that his hair would be all rough and dry and spiky with the amount of gel he uses. Maybe it was the conditioner? He silently thanked Muku for that.

The soft texture of his luscious purple locks mixed with the intoxicating scent of bubblegum made Banri's head spin. This was bad.

On the receiving end, Juza was confused and... embarrassed. When was the last time he had someone dry his hair for him? Maybe when he was back in grade school? And for his rival to be the one doing so? This was so weird... and yet, so comforting.

Though he wouldn't admit it, Juza liked how Banri's fingers massaged through his scalp. He liked it how Banri would ruffle his hair with the towel. He liked it how Banri gave his full and undivided attention to him, and him alone.

"There," The male's voice called to him, snapping him out of his daze.

"A-Ah, yeah. Th-Thanks, I guess." Juza coughed to hide the blush on his face.

"Do it right next time. It's annoying when you do it like a dumb kid." Truth be told, there was nothing wrong with how Juza was drying his hair. Banri just wanted to touch his hair. As if he'd ever say that aloud.

"...And what if I don't do it right next time?" Juza's quiet voice ripped the smirk off Banri's face for a split second. It was so fast that Juza's brain didn't even register it happening.

"Guess I'll have to show you how to do it until you get it right." For a brief moment, Juza thought that Banri was smiling at him. A soft, calming smile. Nah. This was Banri Settsu; Annoying, loudmouthed, disgusting, cute (?), calming (???) Banri Settsu. He wouldn't smile at him like that... Right?

"Dinner's almost ready!" Omi called from the kitched.

"Hey! Omi told me that we should call for the others!" Taichi came bounding towards the two, oblivious to the tense atmosphere between them.

"Yeah, I'll call the left wing." Juza stood from where he was seated, annoyed at how wobbly his knees felt.

"I'll go right."

"I'll go with you, Banny! Hey, why do your hands smell like bubblegum?"

"Shut up, Taichi!"

Juza snickered lightly to himself as he went to knock on the dorm rooms.

He needed to thank Muku for the conditioner.