#but I thought it would be fun to answer this question—really took me down memory lane

[cha-squad]

Hello there friend,

Is there any Drama with N, where he's the main role and gets the girl?

I was rooting for him in Castaway Diva but that ship has been sunken >:/

Do you have any suggestions for me?

Hey 🤗

So yes and no, to answer your question…Hakyeon has been the romantic lead in a couple web dramas (short drama series usually uploaded to YouTube) Tomorrow Boy and What’s Up With These Kids (technically not a romantic lead but the audience literally got to vote for the ending couple lol)

Both of these are pretty low budget and cringey with some awkward acting (Hakyeon included) but I appreciate that they gave him an opportunity to learn and grow also they are very funny but unfortunately kinda hard to find at least with a cursory search

Hakyeon isn’t a romantic lead in Familiar Wife but he is a side character with a romantic storyline that ends in him in a relationship. (It’s also a really excellent drama series I highly recommend)

It looks like he’s also probably a second lead (aka not destined to get the girl) in his other drama from this year Joseon Attorney but I’m not certain because I haven’t watched it .

Honestly the fact that he’s playing second lead at all is actually a really good sign for his acting career and I’m really excited for his potential going forward. I’m not certain if he fits the type cast that directors want for their male leads in romance dramas but I do think there’s a good chance of him getting to play lead at some point if he continues the trajectory from side character to second lead to main lead .

That said I personally think the roles Hakyeon is most effective in are his unromantic roles like Children of Nobody, Tunnel, or even Sassy Go Go. He’s really excellent at playing guy who gets beat up a lot, well or maybe I just like that look for him a lot. I think he’s also good at comedic rich guy roles. He can do a lot these days with a role that isn’t just guy who will get together with the main girl and I think that’s awesome.

Here’s hoping he gets more fun opportunities in the future, I think at the very least we probably won’t have to wait very long to see him on screen again at this rate.

[adultbabystories]

A night out at the circus? That was a strange offer by your friends, but you went along. Maybe years have passed by ever since you’ve been to the circus. You wondered if it was like you remembered. Your memory was vague about it, but when you and your friends parked the car, you saw the giant red tent. It was dark, but lights were shining on the red fabric from afar. A red carpet led the way to the entrance. The smell of popcorn and beer filled the space as you got closer. You and your friends were laughing about how silly it was all going to be, holding beers in your hands.

“Hey kids! Get inside quick!” a clown passed before you, shouted in a goofy voice, and squeezed his red big nose.

You threw the empty beer, got a new one, and went quickly inside. Getting inside was a sight to behold. The interior felt bigger than what you imagined from the outside. You and your friends found your places and sat down. The lights turned off and only spotlights lit the ring.

“Howdy folks! Are you ready for the show?” A clown shouted to the crowd as he was holding a comical big microphone.

“YES!” the crowd responded.

“Are you really ready? Let me hear it” The clown looked toward you and pointed, or at least it felt like it.

“YES!” the crowd shouted again.

The show was wild and funny. The clown's customs were colorful and silly. Each one had his own thing and color. One had fuzzy huge purple hair. One had huge shoes he could barely walk in. Another had a nose that covered almost half of his face. But there was one you would never forget his appearance. His face was painted all white, with a red smiley mark covering the lower part of his face, and red curls that looked like red springs, trying to bounce out of his head.

You had so much fun, that you barely noticed the pressure to pee building inside of you from those two giant cups of beer. You didn’t want to leave for the bathroom, the show was so entertaining, so you held it as much as you could. Eventually, you stood up and walked to the outside to find the toilets.

“You! The guy who’s walking outside! STOP!” you heard from the speaker, and the lights hit you.

You turned around and saw the curly clown was pointing at you. The lights washed all over you. You pointed at yourself questionably. 

“Yes you! Where are you going? We are in the middle of the show!” he asked, intending to get the crowd interested in the moment.

“I’m going to the bathroom.” you naively answered.

“Can’t you hold it to the rest of the show? You are such a baby! Isn’t he a baby people?” the clown asked the crowd, making them clap and cheer.

You turned red from embarrassment, gave him your back, and went outside. You had to pee so bad, you didn’t have time to think about what happened, not just yet. The toilets were around the tent, a bit far from the entrance. Next to it, there were the wheeled caravans of the circus crew. You could hear the crowd inside cheering and the faded voices of the clowns.

“Hey there kid, how’s it going? Have you found the bathroom yet?” said the clown with the curly hair.

He must have finished his act and went outside. He was smoking a cigar and the smoke moved around him in the light breeze. He looked at you, without the act from the show.

“No, not yet” you answered.

“It’s not polite what you did back there, only babies can’t hold and wait. You must be a baby. But you are funny, at least I can look at you and see you have The funny in ya. Ever thought about clowning? Do you want to clown around with us?” he asked as you took a big drag from his cigar, putting his lips around it, making it visible for you to see.

“What? Me as a clown? Nah, I have to take a piss, excuse me,” you said and turned away.

“You are certainly not excused.” you heard him say.

A second later, a bag was covering your head and it felt like two strong guys were holding you and dragging you somewhere. You heard a door slamming open and then closing. You don’t know how, but suddenly you were knocked out of consciousness. Sometime later, that could be moments, that could be minutes, you gained your consciousness back. You heard the crowd cheering very closely. Lights were shining into the cotton bag your head was in. You were wearing something else, something that wasn’t your clothes. You felt like you were sitting on something very thick and puffy, which seemed like between your legs as well. Maybe you wore it you thought.

“We have a surprise for you good folks! Do you remember the baby who couldn’t hold it before? Well, I’m glad to tell you that he is a baby! Our new baby clown! Give it up for the biggest baby of them all!”

Someone grabbed your shoulders, squeezed them, and pressed his head to the bag, and whispered.

“This is your birthday baby clown, the crowd is cheering for the new baby, make us proud!”

The bag was lifted from your head. You looked around, shocked. You sat in the center of the ring, in front of the cheering and going wild crowd. The lights were blinding but you could see you were wearing a comically massive white diaper and big red clown shoes. A bib with the words “big baby” was strapped around you by the purple-haired clown. A bonnet hat was strapped around your head by the clown with a big nose. You felt like crying from the humiliation.

“Awwww is baby gonna cry?” the curly clown asked, now not so serious like he was outside, but goofy and cheerful.

He took some kind of blue makeup marker and drew tears on your cheeks.

“Give it up for our crybaby people!” he made the crowd cheer even more.

He took a rolled-up carpet and unrolled it in front of you. It was a childish carpet like you see in nurseries.

“Crawl around for us baby! Let everyone see your wet diaper you needed!” gesturing you onto the carpet.

From the excitement and the commotion, you didn’t even notice you were peeing in your new diaper. Somehow the massive diaper became yellow on the front as you peed. You looked at the wet and yellow diaper, at the carpet, and the gesturing clown, and the cheering crowd. 

“Always, such, a whiny, baby. Folks our baby always wants us to pick him up! But he can crawl, I tell you he can! Cheer for him, tell him to crawl!” the clown thrilled the crowd.

“Crawl! Crawl! Crawl!”

They were cheering for you. They were cheering for the baby clown. You were it, you were the show now, give it to them. Crawl to the carpet. Crawl to the spotlight baby.

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

My conversation with @itsclowntime about clowning got me really inspired to write this short story. If you like clowning or being naughty thinking about it, check out his page. A side note - I used AI to visualize the story. I hope it adds to your imagination.

[mostly-marvel-musings]

Love me back to life - Part 2

A/N: Here we are, the final part. I think I want to marry this Tony and have all his babies. Leave a heart, reblog or comment if you enjoyed it!

Pairing: Tony Stark x Reader

Warnings: 18+ hurt comfort.

Word count: 2965

Find Part 1 here

Tony Stark Masterlist

.

Strobe lights and loud music seemed to drown your nagging thoughts as you made your way over to the bar, ordering a drink for yourself after taking a seat.

It had been a while since you dressed up for yourself and actually went out. Stepping out reminded you what you were missing, being cooped up back home did nothing for your mental state. Not since you were all alone there too.

You had decided to have a good time, not be bothered about anything, drown your anger and sorrow in alcohol. So far, it was working. The whiskey settled in your belly, a warm buzz slowly relaxing your tense muscles.

It didn’t take long for a guy to approach you, ask if he could buy the next drink for you and to your surprise, you didn’t object.

“So, no ring. Can I assume you’re single, Y/N?” he asked, nodding at your left hand which was caressing the whiskey glass idly.

His question made you frown initially, as far as you remembered, you wore your engagement ring everywhere you went. It was an inseparable part of you. At least, it had been.

How did you miss it tonight? And why?

It then dawned on you that you took it off in the shower and left it on the bathroom counter, completely missing it while you got dressed.

It broke your heart. Yet again.

It was bad enough that you felt your relationship with Tony was hanging by a thread, now you weren’t consciously wearing a reminder of it either.

Instead of answering, you shrugged, downing the rest of your whiskey in one go, clearly impressing the gentleman sitting opposite you.

He asked questions about you and you answered, letting your guard slip. He seemed genuinely interested and it felt as though you hadn’t spoken to anyone in a long, long time.

Back home, Tony went looking for you with Rhodey, he had been surprised when he didn’t find you in your shared room. Maybe you had gone out with a friend? Heading to the bathroom, he spotted the ring he had given you all those months ago. The initial shock followed by pure happiness on your face filled his mind, the memory vanishing as quickly as it appeared as his fingers touched the cold metal that was missing the warmth of your hand.

Panicked, FRIDAY let him know you had been out for over four hours and after knowing your whereabouts, his heart sank.

“I’ve lost her, haven’t I?” he asked his best friend, clutching the ring tightly, not really wanting him to answer.

“Not yet. But if you don’t bring your girl back right now, and get your act together, you will. She is too in love with your idiotic ass to ever leave you.” Rhodey clapped a hand on his back to snap him out of it.

Rhodey was right. It was only a matter of time before you decided to call it quits and hand him his ring back. He wouldn’t let that happen. Not now, not ever. He would find you and bring you back. Back where you belonged.

.

You couldn’t remember the last time you laughed out loud, swayed to the music without a worry or even let a stranger put his arms around you. The lights were all a hazy blur as you danced, your head spun given the amount of whiskey you had consumed. But you were having fun.

Tony drove at lightning speed, giving Rhodey a heart attack until they finally reached the club.

It wasn’t hard to spot you, there you were, looking your best and dancing to the beats, giggling when some stranger whispered something in your ears.

Tony’s hands balled into fists looking at that, the other guy would have a bloodied nose soon if he didn’t remove his hands from your waist.

“I’ll go. You stay here, Tony. I mean it.” Rhodey stated, giving him a stern look before making a beeline for you.

You didn’t notice Rhodey until he yelled your name over the music and the guy you were dancing with suddenly had disappeared.

“Rhodes!!” you yelled back, giving him a hug and stumbling when someone in the crowd pushed you.

“Time to go, Y/N. Come on.” He gently guided you towards the exit, honestly a little surprised when you didn’t protest.

Tony was relieved to see you, more than anything, you were safe and away from that random creep. He caught you as you stumbled over a step, steadying yourself with a drunken laugh before finally looking up at him.

“Hey! How did you manage to get him out of that lab?” you giggled, looking between the two men as they exchanged looks. You were too drunk to think about how he had actually shown up here but deep down a part of you was relieved to see him.

“You know I’ve tried. So many times. And failed. So then I just stopped!” you shrugged, pushing past Tony and out in the cool, night air. It made you shiver involuntarily, but only for a moment before Tony’s jacket covered your shoulders and his arms held your waist securely, opening the car door for you.

“Let’s get you home, honey.”

“Why? What’s the point? You’re never there. You’re just gonna disappear.” you mumbled, letting out a huff when your back met the plush leather seat, finally making you realize how much your feet were aching. Kicking off your heels, you threw them in the back, closing your eyes and letting out an audible sigh.

“I’m not going to disappear. I promise.” Tony fastened your seat belt before getting into the driver’s seat, waving goodbye to Rhodey who decided it was best to leave you two alone.

The car cruised along the familiar path home, cold air making you snuggle into Tony’s jacket some more.

“Where’s your ring, Y/N?” he asked, keeping his voice low, almost afraid of the answer.

“I don’t know! Where is my fiance, Tony?”

Your retort made him fall silent for the rest of the ride home, and you eventually dozed off. Glancing at your sleeping form, the gears in his mind were already turning to work his way up to get that ring back on your finger.

He carried you up to your room, smiling to himself as your body naturally shifted closer to him with his arms around, as if out of habit. A little glimmer of hope that he still had a chance. Placing you on the bed, he made you sit up after you almost fell against the pillows, chuckling at the pouty face you made as he peeled off his jacket.

“I need you to stand up for me, hon.” Tony supported your back as he attempted to make you stand, letting out a small sigh when you shook your head.

“You don’t like me in this dress?”

“I think you look stunning, you always do. But we need to get you into your pjs and tuck you in for tomorrow’s impending headache, don’t we?”

You simply hummed in response, not moving as your eyes started to droop again. Vaguely aware of what was going on, you felt the zipper of your dress being undone and your hips being lifted off the bed only for a second and before you knew it, you were left only in your underwear.

He felt guilty for many things but not knowing where your clothes were kept had just been added to the list. Opting for one of his t-shirts, he carefully dressed you, removed your make-up to the best of his ability before laying you against the pillows.

Tony pulled the sheets back and got in next to face you, not recalling the last time he actually slept in his own bed with you.

“Look at that! It can fit two people after all!!” you exclaimed sarcastically, while he remained silent. He deserved it.

“Y/N, you should get some sleep. We’ll talk in the morning, okay? I’ll be here.” he promised, brushing a lock of hair from your face and placing a soft kiss on your forehead.

“You still smell nice.” you hummed right before sleep took over, the familiar homely scent that Tony had lulled you to sleep. You missed Tony’s soft whisper of ‘good night’ before he too dozed off, getting himself a good night’s sleep after weeks.

.

You woke up to an empty bed. Again.

It wasn’t much of a surprise for you. However, you found a long stemmed red rose on your bedside along with a glass of water and some Ibuprofen for your head that was now throbbing painfully.

Not long after you had swallowed the pills, there was a knock on the door revealing a tray full of breakfast food held by Tony Stark - someone who was far from being a morning person.

“Morning, sleepyhead!” he smiled, placing the tray on your lap carefully, taking a seat away from you, almost cautious of your mood.

You ate breakfast in silence and he watched you, all while thinking about the right thing to say.

Fortunately, you broke the ice first and asked him what his plans for the day were, surprised when you found out he had cleared out his schedule not just for the day but for the week. That was new. You just hoped to God that this was a step forward and not a once in a blue moon temporary delight.

.

Tony Stark was a man determined to make you fall back in love with him. The following week had proven that he was taking honest efforts to show up, remind you what butterflies in your tummy felt like and charm your pants off.

He surprised you with dinner one evening, wearing a ridiculous apron and stirring a pot of pasta. He looked so out of place, it made you giggle. He had poured you a glass of wine, pulled a chair, lit candles and served you his slightly over salted but tasty dish.

“This is really good, Tony.”

“Is it really? I mean it only took about three hours, I think I’m starting to get this cooking thing." His statement made you grin, a sight that made Tony’s heart sing happily.

“How many dinner dates have I missed?” he had asked solemnly.

“Only about seventy five thousand. But who’s counting?” you covered his hand with yours, giving it a gentle squeeze to reassure him that he was making progress.

.

The sun was disappearing down the horizon, rendering the skies in beautiful hues of flaming orange and purple as you walked hand in hand with Tony, on a little stroll around the city, with ice-cream of course.

A bunch of excited teenagers gathered around after recognizing him, asking for selfies and autographs. You were happy to take photos for them as you had done many times in the past however Tony stopped you.

“Thank you guys truly, but first meet my beautiful girlfriend Y/N. She is one of the reasons I am who I am, she’s my Iron Lady.”

“Now he’s just exaggerating.” you shook your head but couldn’t help the warm blush that rushed to your cheeks as he pulled you close to press his lips against your temple, earning a couple ‘awws’ from the teens before one of them requested you to be in the picture with them.

They showed you the pictures, while everyone was smiling into the camera, Tony was looking at you.

.

Later one afternoon you lay in bed, watching a mediocre show on Netflix while the man lounging on your right asked a thousand questions about it. Normally, it would irritate you to the core but the fact that he was there, with you, not preoccupied on the Stark pad, meant something.

By the time the credits rolled, you were sleepy again, probably owing to the lack of it these past few weeks.

“Take a nap, Y/N.” Tony insisted, his brows furrowing as you shook your head.

“I’m afraid.” you admitted quietly, angling your body to face the man who did the same.

“Of what, sweetheart?”

“Of falling asleep. Of—of waking up and not finding you here.” your lip trembled as you stated your fears out loud, sending a pang of guilt slicing right through Tony’s heart. Tipping your chin up, he made you look into his big brown eyes that held the same anguish yours did.

“Where would I go? Hmm? Where would I ever be if not here with you? What would I even do if I didn't hold you? Love you like my life depends on it? Because it does.”

His confession broke the dam that was held together by a weak little thread, tears streamed down your cheeks as sobs wracked your body. Tony was quick to gather you in his arms, cradling your head against his chest as his own vision blurred with tears watching you break down.

“I’ve got you, honey. I’m here. And I promise you I’m gonna be here every time you open your eyes. I need you to believe me. You have to believe me, Y/N.” his voice cracked at the end, making you hug him tighter.

“I want to. I really want to believe you, but—”

“It’s gonna take time. I know.” He finished your sentence for you, pressing his lips to your hair repeatedly as your sobs quietened.

Tony had pulled you on top, your ear pressed against his beating heart, quashing your insecurities one beat at a time.

“What if I lock that lab of yours?” You murmured after some time, resting your chin on the back of your hand to gaze up at him, a hint of a smile playing on your lips.

“I’d ask you to never share the passcode.” Tony simply shrugged.

“You know that would never happen right? I know better than to keep you away from that lab, Tony. It needs you as much as you need it. The world needs Tony Stark.”

“Yeah and so does my girlfriend. And she happens to be my whole world, so the rest can wait.”

Ah there they were. The butterflies.

.

There was a collective applause as people clapped and cheered, an evening that honored and celebrated the Avengers for their extraordinary service and gallantry.

It had been three weeks since your relationship with your boyfriend drastically improved, since love and laughter returned in both your lives. Tony won you over in more ways than one, his efforts, little gestures that reminded you how much you had missed the man and why you fell for him in the first place, all of it filled your heart with joy, chucking away any insecurity that arose.

Tonight, the team was being celebrated and Tony Stark would be given not one but two awards, one for bravery and the other for his contribution in philanthropy. Of course, you were dressed to the nines for the occasion, the color of your dress matched Tony’s pocket square - he had made sure of that.

You cheered the loudest when they announced his name, giving him a chaste kiss which he turned into a real one, much to the amusement of the crowd. The team coerced him for a speech, taking a seat at your table while you sipped on some champagne.

“Thank you wow, look at that! So shiny. Umm, the speech I’m about to make is probably not suitable for the occasion but we’re doing this at my Tower, so screw it. I can do whatever I want.” There was collective laughter across the room as you shook your head, exchanging a knowing glance with Rhodey who mirrored your expression.

“You know philanthropy is not about money, it is about feeling the pain of others and caring enough about their needs to help. It took me a serious kidnapping and a couple of near-death incidents to realize that life is a gift, and it offers us privilege, opportunity and responsibility to give something back by becoming more. And my journey of becoming the ‘something more’ would be impossible without some of the individuals sitting over there.” he tilted his head to where you and the team were sitting, your heart swelling with pride and love as he spoke.

“Colonel James Rhodes, my brother and the harshest reality check, I love you man. My parents up there, who taught me that legacy is everything. And Y/N Y/L/N. Home stopped being a place for me ever since Y/N entered my life. She’s my home now. Love, you’re the center of my universe. You’re the reason why I am here today, you’re the reason I–I am. You loved me back to life.”

There was a moment of silence before the room erupted with cheers and hoots, your vision blurred thanks to the tears as Tony made his way back to you, flashing you his winning smile before enveloping you a big hug.

“Good speech?” he chuckled, gently wiping your tears while you hit his chest lightly, pressing a loving kiss against your forehead.

“Do you think now I can put a ring on that finger again?” Tony grabbed both your hands in his, glancing down at your left one when he found a shiny silver metal already adorning your ring finger.

“Way ahead of you, Anthony Edward Stark.”

[runninriot]

inspired by the song Solitude by Black Sabbath, written for @steddiesongfics june song fics

Memories I Have Remind Me Of You

wc: 1999 | rated: T | tags: modern au, friends to lovers to exes to lovers, marriage proposal, dealing with heartbreak and regrets, Steve needs a little push from a stranger to make it right, sad but with a happy ending

The girl is nice. She’s pretty. Big eyes, plush lips, a kind smile, dimples.

Fucking dimples.

Her hair’s long and curly, doesn’t remind Steve of anyone in particular.

It doesn’t.

He does not think about someone else when the warm colour of her brown irises makes him remember.

Steve tries to listen when she talks, tries to laugh when she giggles sweetly, tries not to jerk away when she brushes his hand in a flirty manner but it’s hard to focus when his mind isn’t where it should be.

Did she just ask him a question?

   “You didn’t even listen, huh?”

Steve shakes his head, looks back up at her, tries for an apologetic smile but to his confusion, she doesn’t even seem mad at him for not paying attention.

No, it’s worse.

She’s got that empathic, knowing look in her eyes. Like she can see right through him.

    You’re so easy to read, baby.

He was never good at pretending.

   “I’m not boring you, am I.”

It’s not really a question. The girl knows she’s a good catch, knows she isn’t the problem – Steve is.

   “No, uh. Sorry, I-“

Who is he even trying to fool? No excuse he’s trying to come up with would be good enough because if he looks how he feels, it must be written all over his face. No way to hide the obvious.

I can see it in your eyes, baby. Your eyes always tell the truth.

Steve should’ve known it was a bad idea the moment he saw her picture, noticed the similarities. She instantly reminded him of-

He shouldn’t have agreed to this date.

Not because he doesn’t like her, no. She’s perfect, really. Or she would be.

They matched on a dating app, texted a bit back an forth. She was fun to talk to, made him laugh. And when she asked him if he wanted to meet, he thought that maybe it would help. That maybe this was his sign to finally get his ass back out there. He’d been holed up at home for too long. Sulking, sad, depressed.

Life just hasn’t been the same ever since.

His favourite meal has lost its taste. His favourite songs all sound off-key. Going to his favourite bar just seems like a waste of time - Steve’s life has lost its light, making everything seem dark and grey and dull.

Nothing is right anymore because everything reminds him of Eddie.

And Steve himself is the one to blame for his misery.

   “I-“ Steve hesitates. He doesn’t want to bother her with his mess, didn’t come here to whine about things he can’t change. She didn’t come here to listen to him talk about his goddamn ex for fuck’s sake!

   “What’s wrong?” she asks and Steve knows there’s no point in trying to pretend that everything’s fine when nothing ever is. Not anymore.

   “I’m sorry for being such bad company,” Steve apologises and means it. She deserves better, could’ve gone on a date with someone worth spending her time with.

Someone actually interested in... something. Anything. Whatever it is she’s looking for.

Steve’s not it, that much is clear.

He’s not ready to move on. Maybe he never will be. Because what he had was all he ever wanted, all he ever needed to be happy. Life was good, perfect, before he ruined it all. Let the love of his life slip away because he was too afraid of the what ifs. So he pushed and he fought and he hurt the one that would’ve given him everything.

Now, Steve is just an empty shell of the man he used to be. Because the day Eddie left, he took Steve’s heart and soul with him, left him empty and broken and sad.

So fucking sad.

   “You remind me of my ex.” The words are out before he can swallow them back down.

   “Oh,” she answers, expression neutral. “Bad break-up?”

Steve nods. He doesn’t want to talk about it, doesn’t want to think about the day his whole life fell apart but-

   “It was my fault. He left me because I fucked it up.”

The truth still hurts, even after all those months.

   “What did you do?”

Steve and Eddie had met through a mutual friend, Dustin. It wasn’t quite love at first sight but close to it.

They quickly became friends, started hanging out on weekends, then, soon, even during the week. Spending the evenings after work at each other’s places, cooking dinner together, watching movies, talking.

Steve had never felt so drawn to another person, had never felt so comfortable in someone else’s presence. Eddie was... he was funny, kind, loud and wild. He had all these big dreams about what he wanted to do with his life. Dreams that were so very different from the small-town life Steve had always resigned himself to. Eddie wanted to travel the country, sleep under the stars, wake up next to a lake, follow the wind to wherever it would take him.

He wanted to be free.

But he stayed.

Eddie stayed because when they shared their first kiss in a weak moment of alcohol-fuelled recklessness, they ignited a fire that became too big too fast, making it impossible to smother the flames before they turned into burning desire that took a hold of them both. Scorching its way into their hearts where it settled, warm and bright, making light in every dark corner of their being.

It was the second first kiss that sealed their fate – a sober, slow, and tentative kiss in the low light of the morning sun that wiped away any worries and doubts Steve had when he woke up in Eddie’s arms after a night spent giving into their unspoken feelings as they took each other apart, not thinking about the consequences.

Knowing what it was like to wake up next to each other made it impossible to go back to simply being friends, to stay apart, to not fall in love.

Eddie and Steve were meant to be.

Together, everything felt right.

Eddie willingly put his own dreams aside for Steve who knew he could never repay him for the sacrifices he made just to be with him, tried to thank him every day by showing and telling him how much he loved him. And things were good, perfect.

Until-

   “I don’t understand,” she says quietly when Steve takes a moment to breathe away the ache in his heart and the tears threatening to spill, “that sounds like a dream come true. What happened?”

Steve smiles sadly, sighs.

   “Yeah, felt like a dream, too. But the thing with dreams is that no matter how beautiful they are, inevitably you will wake up.”

And a beautiful dream it was. Life was full of love and laughter and happy moments spent together, until Eddie proposed and Steve said No and the world tumbled down.

Because it was in that moment – with Eddie down on one knee, the simple gold ring Steve knew had belonged to Eddie’s uncle held between his thumb and finger as an offer, a promise to be his forever – that Steve realised he couldn’t do this to him. He couldn’t marry Eddie and keep him trapped in a life he never wanted just because Steve was too scared of giving up the safety of his home for a life on the road with no destination ahead and an unforeseeable future.

Steve said no to set him free but even then Eddie kept fighting for him, fucking apologised for putting ‘so much pressure’ on Steve with his question which- was insane because Eddie had done nothing wrong, ever. He had never been anything but wonderful and considerate and perfect. Steve had been the one not willing to compromise, who inadvertently put Eddie in a cage of his own making.

So he pushed and he fought and he hurt Eddie in order to give him back his freedom, thinking, believing he was doing the right thing. It was only when Eddie packed his bags and left that Steve realised he had made the biggest mistake of his life.

The moment Eddie walked out the door without looking back, Steve knew he had lost everything.

 

   “Where is he now?”

   “Hm?”

   “Eddie. Where did he go?”

   “I, uh...” Steve shouldn’t know the answer to this but he does. Because Dustin told him. Tells him whenever he gets a call or another letter from Eddie, ignoring the fact that it tears Steve apart every time. Or maybe he does it on purpose, punishing Steve for hurting his friend. And Steve lets him, never complains, always holds back his tears until he’s back in his fortress of solitude, where he can drown in his pain and sorrow.

He deserves to suffer for what he did.

   “He’s in Michigan.”

   “Huh.” She cocks her head, smiles. “It’s been what, 5 months you said? Pretty sure he could’ve gotten a lot further by now.”

   “What do you mean?”

   “For someone who’s always wanted to travel the whole damn country, he didn’t make it that far.”

   “Eddie never made plans on where he wanted to go. Maybe he found a nice place to stay for a while before he lets his heart take him somewhere else.”

   “Staying conveniently close for no reason whatsoever. Got it,” she scoffs.

Steve looks at her with pleading eyes, needs her to stop giving him ideas, can’t allow himself to let hope bloom.

   “He’s free to go wherever he wants.”

   “Maybe what Eddie really wants is for you to tell him to come home.”

Her words hit him hard like a slap across the face, ringing loudly in his ears.

   “What if- What if he doesn’t?”

   “You’ll never know if you don’t try.”

 -------

   “You left me.”

It’s not meant as an accusation, sounds like one though. And Steve can see in the way Eddie furrows his brows and tightens his lips, that it wasn’t the right thing to say.

   “You told me to.” Eddie’s answer is short but calm, not filled with anger like Steve expected.

   “I wanted you to stay!”

He knows it isn’t fair because Steve did tell him to leave. What right does he have to want him back, to ask for forgiveness?

   “I didn’t want you to leave but I was scared that you’d wake up one day and realise that being with me isn’t enough. That being in love isn’t worth giving up your dreams. You shouldn’t have to give up your dreams for me! I should’ve gone with you. I love you. I-”

Steve is crying, can’t stop shaking. He’s so angry at himself, feels so powerless and stupid. And Eddie just stands there and stares at him confused like he doesn’t know that Steve would do everything for a second chance.

Just when Steve is about to give up, turns to go because if he stays here any longer, he’ll fall to his knees and make an even bigger fool of himself than he already has, two strong arms wrap around him from behind, keeping him from walking away.

   “Don’t go,” Eddie whispers into his hair, tightens his grip to emphasise his words. “Stay.”

It’s what Steve should’ve said all those months ago, when he said the opposite instead.

Slowly, Steve turns within the arms holding him until he’s facing Eddie again. Eddie, who is so close now, Steve could bring their lips together by only moving in another inch or two. Could kiss away the tears running down Eddie’s cheeks.

   “I can’t live without you, Eddie.”

   “Then let me be with you.”

Their third first kiss is an angry one, rough and desperate. Full of regrets they swallow from each other’s lips, drinking them up to make them go away. To make it better. To make it right.

   “Marry me, Steve.”

The answer comes easy this time - one word, a promise.

Forever, never apart, wherever it'll take them.

[keikeu]

question...? :: lee heeseung

pairing :: nonidol! lee heeseung x f! reader

genre :: angst, open ending, exs to implied lovers

warnings :: lots of alcohol consumption, reader and heeseung have a complicated relationship (tension kinda??)

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you got out of the car, closing the door behind you. after taking a deep breath, you followed your friends. the loud music was quick to fill your ears the closer you walked to the building. the two-story house was filled with people, you weren't shocked. as you made your way to the front door, tailing after your friends, you couldn't help but observe the place and the people. nothing had changed. everything was the same just like the last time you had come here, where it all started.

parties weren't your things. to the people around you, you were considered a good girl. seeing you in big social gatherings always came as a shocker to them. dressed in a revealing outfit, drinking alcohol, they didn't expect someone like you to participate in such gatherings. it seemed out of your leisure and in truth it was. sure you enjoyed going out and having fun, but only with your small group of friends. when more people got involved, something bad always happened.

one of the first parties you went to was in the same house. you were in your second year of university, feeling stressed, and without a second thought, you agreed to let your friends take you somewhere new. thinking back to it now, you wished you had stayed home that day. and maybe, you should have stayed home today too. but drinking your sadness and loneliness away sounded better.

you pushed through the people, walking to the kitchen. all your friends had gone to do their things, some to dance, others to meet new people and possibly flirt. you just wanted to get wasted enough so you could block the memories that came with this house. it seemed that your goal was going to be harder to achieve though.

lee heeseung. heads turned when he entered, people greeted him like he was a celebrity or something. well, in your university he was. he was handsome, smart, funny, talented, and knew how to make people fall for him. he knew how to get what he wanted. you downed your third shot, it was going to take more than that to fully knock you out. when you felt memories resurface, you got ready for the fourth.

you and heeseung shared a past. the first time you made your appearance at a party, you turned a few heads yourself. people didn't expect to see you, and you didn't expect to receive so much attention. it was overwhelming, and in order to escape from all the flirting and questions, you went to the only place that seemed less packed. the balcony. that's when you saw the boy in all his glory.

you weren't going to deny the fact that he was beautiful. especially under the moonlight. you walked over to the railing, looking at the night sky, although you were really trying to get a better look at him. heeseung noticed, a small smile made its way on his face before he took a sip of his drink.

"you can look if you want." you turned to face him looking at you. that sentence left you rather confused, and you knew it was evident in the expression you held. heeseung laughed before turning his gaze to the moon. you thought he was vain.

"why would i want to look at you when i have a perfectly good view in front of me?" you asked, now staring at the sky. heeseung shrugged, taking another sip of his drink.

"just seemed like you wanted to admire my face or something. don't need to get too worked up over a small misunderstanding." he answered, you didn't expect him to.

"i am not getting worked up." you said, his pestering was certainly working. he chuckled at your words, you didn't like it. he might have been the first person to push your button like that, others never did knowing your temper.

"so what's your name, pretty girl?" he asked, his eyes connecting with yours. you didn't want to admit it but the nickname did affect you. not a lot of people had called you that before, but knowing him, it probably rolled off his tongue easily to any girl he found interest in.

"i don't think i want to tell you just yet." you said. now heeseung wasn't exactly a playboy, contrary to the rumors about him. his relationships weren't very long-lasting though, leading to him having multiple partners within a year. you didn't exactly trust him, especially when he had been cocky the first time you talked.

"i see, you want to play hard to get. i like that. how about i get you a drink?" for some reason, you found yourself agreeing as you walked down the stairs to where the people were partying. you got to know heeseung better, he wasn't as self-obsessed as you had thought, but he sure was flirty. his witty and provocative remarks often caught you off guard, and you liked that. it was something new, something you hadn't experienced in a while.

"i love this song." you said, finishing the last of the liquor that was left in your drink. you couldn't remember the number of cups you and heeseung had chugged down, lost in conversation and laughter. you two were totally drunk, and that's how heeseung got a genius idea.

"let's dance then." you would've rejected the offer but you were wasted so you said yes. he held your hand as he guided you through the crowd. you were in the middle of the dance floor, all eyes were turning in your direction and you could feel the people staring. it made you a bit self-conscious, but having heeseung's hands on your waist and seeing his bright smile calmed you down.

when the song was almost coming to an end, he came closer. you moved too. you were inches apart. he was eyeing your lips, his looked asking for permission to kiss you. all it took was a small squeeze of his shoulder and you felt his soft lips on yours. it was sweet, yet sloppy. your hands were placed on his neck, he pulled your body forward. you felt hot, you didn't know if it was because of the many beverages you had had or because of the intimacy of kissing in such a packed room.

at first, your and his friends were laughing. you wouldn't blame them, the scene was a bit comic. yn, the good girl kissing, or better said, making out with heeseung, the popular boy. but then that laughter turned to clapping. your friends were proud of you, you rarely got out of your comfort zone and this was definitely out there. people were cheering and later, a drunken kiss lead to the start of your complicated yet beautiful relationship.

you were snapped out of your thoughts when a girl asked for the bottle of wine. after handing it to her, you looked at your own reflection on the drink. you looked sad. just like heeseung looked the first time you saw him. why couldn't you stop thinking about him? even after a year, why couldn't you move on?

what you and heeseung shared back then was special. every moment felt magical. you two challenged each other, you brought out the best in one another. he changed you. you introduced each other to a new world filled with colors and although the time you shared was magical, it wasn't meant to last.

lost in situations, circumstances, and miscommunications ultimately lead to your downfall. there was a reason heeseung got out of relationships so quickly. he was always looking for a thrill. for something new. you, tried your best to keep up, but eventually, you got tired and called it quits. after heeseung, nothing was the same. nobody was the same.

"hey yn, come dance with us! we brought you here to cheer up not stand in the corner all depressed like that!" one of your friends said, grabbing your hand and taking you to where the rest were waiting.

you danced for a bit, but you excused yourself when you weren't feeling it. you walked to the same balcony you had gone to that night and breathed the fresh air. for once, it didn't smell like a mix of alcohol, cigarette smoke, and perfume. you looked at the sky, this time it was different. the moon was covered by clouds and you couldn't make out many stars. you sighed before running a hand through your hair. at least you were away from the people.

heeseung wished he could say the same. he was still surrounded by people waiting to exchange a few words. he just wanted to enjoy the music and make himself a cocktail by mixing a bunch of random alcohol. this was not how he enjoyed his time. finally, he did manage to get away from the crowd and he made his way to the kitchen, where he had seen you.

he didn't want to make it obvious, but there was a point where his eyes lit up when he saw you. he hoped to talk to you in the same night, you hadn't caught up ever since your break up and he understood your reason not to do so. he just wanted to know. he was curious if you missed him as much as he missed you. he quickly made his beverage before going up the stairs and noticing you in the balcony. the feeling of nostalgia made a bittersweet smile form on his lips.

he cleared his throat in order to grab your attention. you gently turned, upon noticing him you felt your body freeze and your heart swell with emotions. well, this certainly was a bad surprise, you thought. you hated the effect he still had on you, and how good you felt when you had his attention.

"sorry if i'm bothering, i just wanted some fresh air." he said, walking closer. you got a whiff of his perfume, it send chills down your spine. you gulped before speaking.

"i could tell from all the people crowding at you back there." you mentally scolded yourself after that, you had just given away the fact that you were staring at him from afar.

"yeah, i guess you could say i have fans." he smiled, and you let out a small chuckle. he turned his head, this time he was admiring you. you looked beautiful. you always were beautiful. the party lights made your features glow and the dress complimented your figure. he smiled softly at himself before focusing his attention on the drink.

even after you two had broken up, heeseung still thought about you. he tried to repress the image of you in his mind, but you always lingered there. it was impossible to forget you when you had made him feel so amazing.

"so what have you been up to?" what heeseung really wanted to know was if you were seeing someone. he wasn't going to ask you immediately though, after some small talk, he'd pop the question.

"nothing much. i joined mrs. moon class. well, i had to, but she's not as bad as you described her to be." you said, tapping your fingers on the railing.

"oh really? you haven't had her give you a project yet, those are always hell." he answered before taking a big gulp out of his cup. the alcohol mix burned his throat but he didn't pay much attention to the pain. he waited for your answer.

"well i'll just have to ask for your help then since you managed to pass." you chuckled at the end, remembering the times when you'd catch heeseung working on his homework late at night. he'd always leave the sheets half done on his study table just to cuddle with you thought. it was cute.

"i'd be more than happy to help you." he smiled at you, making your heart skip a beat. he also moved closer. it was your turn to ask him what he was up to. he answered quickly, something about an internship at this company, you didn't quite catch the name as you were getting lost in his eyes.

after what seemed like a few minutes of small talk, you were engulfed by silence. it was awkward, yet comfortable. hard to explain really. it was like you both wanted to say something, but at the same time, you didn't mind staying like that. the sky was slowly clearing so you busied yourself with the sight of the moon, rather than heeseung next to you. he had other plans though. he wanted your attention. he wanted to look into your eyes and hear your sweet voice again.

"are you... still seeing that guy?" his question made you freeze. words were stuck in your throat. your body tensed and you tried to think of a quick answer. a few months after you and heeseung broke up, to make yourself feel better, you started dating again. except this other guy, hyungsoo, wasn't your type. nobody felt like your type after heeseung.

he was slow and you were impatient. he was distant and you needed love. he was rude at times which only made you more sad. to put it simply, he wasn't good for you, but he served as an okay distraction from heeseung. others could notice he didn't treat you well and that your relationship wasn't the best. hell, it was shitty, and heeseung saw that too. he was surprised to see you with another guy, especially with such a douchbag like him. he wanted to say a few words to hyungsoo, but he had no right to do that. he was your ex after all.

heeseung hated the idea of seeing him with you, so that's why he asked. seeing you so nervous almost, made him feel bad. maybe he shouldn't have butt into your business like that.

"we broke up. why do you ask?" the relief he felt after hearing you weren't with him anymore didn't last long because the question that followed left him nervous. he moved in his place, scratching the back of his head.

"no reason." he finished his beverage. you turned to face him, trying to read his expression. did he perhaps feel jealous because you were dating someone after breaking up with him? you didn't want to feed into that thought, although it sounded nice.

"since you're getting so personal, you don't mind me asking if you're seeing someone right now?" heeseung had tried. he had tried to find someone else, but the two girls he dated were nothing like you. in fact, he found himself missing you even more as he began new relationships. no one was like you. the way you made him feel, nobody could do that to him. and he only realized that after it was too late. he took you for granted. he always wanted something new, not realizing that he could still have that with you.

"no, i'm not. i've been busy." he lied. he wasn't going to tell you exactly how he felt. you could guess that yourself, he didn't want to show that he missed you without being sure that you felt the same. you gave a small nod before joking, "i guess that's what comes with popularity."

he chuckled, his grip on the cup tightened a bit. you noticed. there was definitely something he wasn't telling you. you were going to risk it. weird really, you hadn't even had enough drinks to make you think out of line and yet here you were, thinking of asking heeseung a very ballsy question that could leave you either very happy or completely crushed.

"can i ask you a question?" your body was facing him. he also turned, now standing in front of you, hands in his pockets. he hummed in agreement. you fiddled with your fingers and let out a small sigh.

"do you ever wonder what it would've been like if we stayed together?" his eyes lit up. his heart threatened to pop out of his chest. he gulped, you noticed how tense he was. you mentally face palmed, wanting to turn back time and pretend you never said that. it was too late now, so you waited for heeseung to answer. he, on the other hand, tried not to sound too enthusiastic.

"yeah, i do." his answer and the smile on his face as he said those words made your eyes grow wide. you wanted to jump from joy, scream from excitement and cry from pain. you wanted to pull him into the tightest hug ever and tell him that you still loved him. but all you could do was smile back. you knew your words were going to fail you if opened your mouth.

"i always think what would've happened if i didn't leave that night we fought. if i had apologized and held you in my arms again. i guess i still think about those days although it's been a year." he said with a chuckle, avoiding your gaze by looking at the ground. he didn't mean to say all that, it just came out. he sounded very desperate, even though he had been the one at fault. you also blamed yourself, maybe if you had kept your cool and let him explain, you wouldn't be here right now.

"i find myself thinking about that time too. it feels like everyone else after you has been second-best." you confessed, coming closer. heeseung wanted to touch you. to embrace you. he understood what you meant, he felt the same.

"look, yn, do you think we can-" he reached for your hand, holding it tightly in his. his words were rushed, he wasn't thinking straight. and before he could finish, your friend's drunk tone cut him off.

"yn we need to leave now! minhee got into a fight and you're the only sober one to drive us home!" you immediately let go of his hand and walked to your friend, worry laced in your speech as you asked her about the details. heeseung watched as you walked away, for some reason he didn't have the guts to follow you. he ran his hand through his hair, letting out a long sigh before putting his hands in his pockets.

he had missed his chance. he didn't ask you the most important question of the night. heeseung wasn't sure if he was going to see you again, but he was going to try his hardest. he missed you too much to let you go. and something told him you felt the same.

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a/n :: halloween post!! i had fun with this one and i like it🤭🤭 heavily inspired by taylor swift's song with the same title (i just love her lyrics)

©keikeu

[hanafubukki]

I'm snobbing for 4 days at the fact that what made Lilia's "dream" a dream is the Senate reaction after Malleus birth.

They were praising him. They congratulated him for hatching this baby. They were as happy as him for his birth.

And his spirit immediatly understood something was wrong. Making the dream's world shake and turning the Senate reaction on what they were in truth.

That's how deep this flying spirits words hurted him. But worst, they took Malleus away from him. This new born baby was about to die 10 minutes before. The child of his decreased friends. A baby he waited and tried to hatch for 200 years. Nearly half of his life at that time !

Lilia dream could have been about everything. Meleanor and Levan alive. Malleus hatching and living happily with his parents. Silver and him in the cottage. The present. But no. His dream was his painful memories, just until the happiest and relief moment of Malleus birth - with the only change being the Senate reaction.

Deep down, Lilia wanted to keep that kid. He wanted to cuddle him again and again and again. He wanted to show him the world. To raise him. Instead, the child was taken from him, and he received horrible insults.

This Book will give me a need for an hundred years of THERAPY ! And murderous feeling against flying dead spirits.

Also. Love how Overblot Malleus is such a cute kid with Lilia. Boi is in the middle of a desesperate magical crisis making him a bit crazy and emotionaly unstable. But when the occassion comes where he can play catch with his father he is just so happy ! Well. A bit crazy too. But his face beaming with "Now my inner child is out and we're going to live our best life".

- 🦋 Anon, returning to her incoherent thought going everywhere, swaping to any emotional state possible

Hello 🦋 Anon 🌷🌻💚

All of this!! All of this!!

With all the emotions I have been feeling and all the posts, wow, has it really just been five days? I'm so shocked. It always feels as if each update leaves us reeling more and more, and with more questions than answers.

The fact that the senate insulting him is what led him to give in to the blot and then it was them complimenting him during a time when he was happiest that shook him out really says something doesn't it?

How it was the happiest moment and he received complements. He's so relieved. He's overjoyed, but no, this didn't happen.

In fact, it was the exact opposite. And do you know what this implies, something terrible happened right after and he remembers it vividly. Because if he was truly happy and received these compliments, then surely, what happened next wouldn’t have happened.

Surely they wouldn't have taken Malleus away? And that's what breaks my heart. We didn't see it, but we know the next scene would have something that would break all our hearts.

The fact that we know what's going to happen is what hurts the most. We don't see it, but we know it will happen. and during such a sensitive time? My heart aches for all of them. Lilia and Malleus, the way they have been so hurt.

No wonder Silver was so protected and kept a secret until he was older 😭, can you imagine what the senate would have said if they knew?

The fact that his happiest moment was Malleus' hatching despite all the obstacles he went through 😭😭😭, just can you see all the love?? I'm in tears and they have been done so dirty 😭😭

Let's all just go into the game and make them pay, what we could have had. What Malleus and Lilia could have had 😭😭

All the Baby Malleus and Baby Silver fanart people have been drawing even shows others think the same way. The father and his sons 😭😭😭

YES!! That Scene with hide and seek with Malleus and Lilia; then the scene where they are fighting as if they are battling in Bean's day again 😭😭😭 ahhhhh Malleus just wants to have fun and play with his dad.

He just wants to spend time with him, despite his inner emotional state, he just wants to be with his family. He doesn't want to be alone anymore and I can't. I'll join you in that therapy.

[spookberry]

Hello I hope you are doing well! I wanted to say that I really love your art! Could I ask for more information about Henri and Claire, or just Henri in general? I think they're super cute but additionally, I think Henri is interesting by himself because I feel like I don't know as much about him! How long has he been immortal? How did he become immortal? How did he learn to exorcise? Oh, and I wanted to ask how you feel about fanart of your ocs? I really love Claire's design and I think it would be fun to draw him :)

:D! No one's ever asked me about Henri before! Also to answer your last question I'd love fanart of my OCs 🥺

More on Henri under the cut:

Okay so basically his backstory goes like this: back in the Victorian era there was this couple that was really into the occult. They were fairly nomadic, traveling the states as consultants when people were having supernaturally driven issues. This couple also happened to have a young son, Henri. Henri and his folks were very close and he took after them and their interest in ancient magic A Lot.

When Henri was about 9 his parents died. They left everything to him, but they didn't exactly have a house or anything, just a ton of old books and cursed trinkets. His favorite though was a book that was written entirely in ancient greek. So when he ran away to avoid being shipped off to live with relatives that didnt appreciate his interest in magic too much, that book was one of the things he thought to grab first.

Grief can make a 9 year old orphan do crazy shit, for Henri it became about trying to translate this book. Thats when he discovered problem number 2 with the book: its full of dark magic. Every spell in it is awful and corrupting. There's one unfinisged spell thats meant to banish a demon from their host body. And its like the one spell he can concieve of in this book that isnt just like flat out evil. So he decided to try and finish it.

The book also has a demon summoning ritual in it, so you can guess what he does.

After that he's saddled with Claire a 12 year old girl who is VERY mad it him about getting rid of her demon and demands he help her find him again. (Note: Claire does not realize he's trans yet here)

They try to summon skid back but it just doesnt work, so they gotta do this the old fashioned way.

Takes them months before they finally manage to track skid down again, but during that time the two manage to become friends. Claire opens up a lot about her fear of dying and how she feels she cant enjoy life because of how little time she has left. Henri decides his new goal in life is to heal her so that they can grow up and grow old together. He tells her as much and she gives him this gentle little smile and he internally is like "i would die for her" (he's in love but doesnt know it yet.)

Once Skid is back in and puppeting the body, Henri makes the choice to stick by Skid's side. He needs them to be close for when he finally figures out a way to heal her. And ya know the modern medicine of cough syrup with cocaine and mercury isnt gonna do it so he starts experimenting with magic instead.

He's 15 when he accidentally curses himself. Part of the curse effects his memory, so he doesn't actually know WHAT he did, and he doesn't even realize right away that he isn't aging. All he knows at first is that suddenly dark magics waaaay easier to do so he needs to be careful about that and also one of his eyes is fucked up. So now his secondary motive is also undo his own curse as well as heal Claire. Cuz itd suck if he finally heals Claire but isnt able to age himself, ya know?

Henri's a pretty chill guy and most of the cast view him as skid's 2nd in command and often her voice of reason(though he himself is prone to being impulsive and moody due to the whole technically still being 15 thing). The underlings also all view him as an older brother sort, because he's protective but often "hands off" in how deals with things but also hes just really tall. Lucky him he had his growth spurt before cursing himself to never age.

He tends to have a lot of memory issues, some days are worse than others. On his worst days he doesn't even remember how he met skid, but most days hes just sort of fuzzy and cant quite remember all 200 years he's spent by their side. His vision has also deteriorated with time, he cant see out of his left eye at all and can only make out colors and general shapes out with his left.

Even though he stuck with Skid for Claire's sake, Henri has actually become very close with skid after 200 years. Skid's secretive and doesnt actually like talking about themself honestly but depsite that he knows a lot about them. He knows skid has their own memory issues, and he's aware that Skid's not a full demon. He's heard skid's human name before but forgot it at some point and knows better than to ask about it. He's also very aware that Skid's prone to getting involved in shit which leads to them getting hurt magically and letting Claire run the body for a couple days every other decade. So they still get to see each other. These brief meetings is how Henri realized he was in love with Claire.

Bonus Info: Henri doesn't actually subscribe to modern labels and doesnt really consider himself as being into women or men. He just loves who he loves. (Hes asexual and panromantic)

Fun Fact: i came up with Henri and Skid when I was 12, but every other character in their story, including Claire, formed a slightly later.

^ skid and Henri drawings from when I was 12

[trashyswitch]

Untold Embarrassing Memories

Twig is bored, and is thankful when Gricko comes up with a conversation topic. But who knew one single question could open up all sorts of untold memories between the group members?!

I thought this would be a really fun idea. This fanfic goes out to @fillxsargeloverfan. I hope you enjoy!

“I’m bored…” Twig admitted. 

“Bored?” Gideon clarified. 

“Yeah…” 

Torbek sighed. “Torbek’s bored toooo…” He mentioned. 

“Can we play a game or something?” Twig asked next. 

Kremy chuckled. “What kind of game?” 

“I don’t know…” Twig crouched down slightly. “I was hoping you’d know.” Twig admitted. 

Gideon laughed a bit. “Sorry, Twig.” He said. “We’re not the best at coming up with games.” 

“Well, you’re not…” Kremy mentioned. 

“Well, do you have a game idea?” Gideon asked. 

“What? Uh- No. Why?” Kremy replied. 

“There’s your proof.” Gideon concluded. 

“Aww…” Twig mumbled, crossing her arms and pouting like a little kid. 

Noticing this reaction, Frost began to feel bad for the girl. So, he looked at Gricko. “You got any ideas?” Frost asked.

Gricko looked at Frost. “I mean…It’s not a game, but it’s more a question that’ll get people chatting.” Gricko admitted. 

“I’m sure that’ll suffice. Go for it.” Frost encouraged. 

“Alright.” Gricko cleared his throat. “What’s the funniest memory you can think of?” Gricko asked. 

“Funniest memory?” Frost began to think for a moment. 

“Is that just a question for Frost?” Gideon asked. 

“Nope! It’s for everyone to answer.” Gricko replied. 

Gideon smiled a bit. “Alright, good…Cause the first thing that comes to mind is the time in the cave…” Gideon mentioned. 

“What?” Twig looked up at Gideon. 

Gideon smirked and looked at Kremy. “Me and Kremy were tryin’ to escape one of the towns during our travels. It was years ago, but I still remember it to this day.” Gideon explained. “On our way, we had found a large cave. Seeing as it was the only way out, we ran deep into the cave despite knowing how dark it could get.” Gideon explained. 

“Oh god…This one?!” Kremy complained. 

“Hell yeah, this one! It’s funny!” Gideon admitted. “The cave was pitch black…I couldn’t even see my hand in front of me.” he explained. “I offered to set my hair ablaze to help create light.” Kremy sighed and hid his face with his tophat slightly. “But Kremy, over here, told me the fiery hair would be too obvious…And that he had another way to light up the cave without getting noticed.” Gideon mentioned. “So I let him do his thing…And this bumbling idiot-!” Gideon shook his head with a laugh. “So- So for context…You know how Kremy can use the magic in his staff to light up his entire body with neon lights?” Gideon asked. 

Frost widened his eyes. “Yeah?” 

“That’s EXACTLY what he does!” Gideon wheezed. 

Frost snickered a bit and covered his mouth. Gricko threw his head back with a long cackle. 

“And oh my god- the COLORS! Yellow, blue, green, orange, fucking PINK?!” Gideon cackled. 

“Giiid…” Kremy mumbled. 

“Oh my god, I fuckin’ lost it. This guy-” Gideon wrapped his arm around Kremy, much to Kremy’s dismay. “-Thought NEON LIGHTS would be LESS NOTICEABLE, then MY FIRE HAIR.” Gideon explained with a laugh. “We almost got found cause of how hard I was laughin’!” Gideon concluded. 

“Yeah…Gid wouldn’t shut up about it for weeks after that.” Kremy admitted. 

Twig laughed into her hand. “Hahahaha! That’s pretty funny! Hehe!” 

Torbek was smiling a little. “That’s funny.” 

Gricko smirked. “Wow…I never took you as the ‘flashy’ type, Kremy.” He mentioned. 

“Shut up.” Kremy muttered. 

Gricko’s smile widened as he felt Kremy elbow him. 

Kremy pulled himself together. “Well since we’re talking about embarrassing stories…” Kremy fixed his hat. “There was the time Gideon thought hot sauce was strawberry sauce, and put it on his dessert.” Kremy mentioned, laughing a little bit to himself. 

Gideon widened his eyes before groaning. “Kremy…” He covered his eyes with his hand. “God dammit…” 

“Wait, what?” Frost widened his eyes with a small smile. 

Torbek tilted his head. “Huh?” 

“Oh! Oh! I wanna hear this one!” Twig reacted excitedly. 

“Oh god…” Gideon muttered. 

“This was at the very beginning of the Carnival LeCroux’s success, and we had successfully brought in about a hundred people for the show. At the time, that was huge for us!” Kremy admitted. “But after the show, I learned I had more than enough money to go out for dinner. And since Gid had never gone out to a fancy restaurant before, I wanted to show him what it’s like.” Kremy explained. 

“Okay.” Frost nodded his head. 

“After the meal, I gave Gid the dessert menu and told him “Get whatever you want”.” Kremy explained. “So he ended up getting a vanilla cake.” 

“Vanilla caramel, actually.” Gideon reminded him. “If you’re gonna tell the story, you gotta get it right.” He joked. 

“Right. Caramel-vanille, my apologies.” Kremy told him dramatically in french. “He got his cake. He took one bite of it, and then said “It’s missing something”. I looked up at him right at the moment he grabbed the hot sauce, and poured it onto his cake!” Kremy exclaimed. 

Gricko dropped his jaw in shock. Frost had gagged and covered his mouth, while Twig let out the most childish “EWWWW!”. 

“That sounds pretty gooood.” Torbek muttered next. 

“Torbek, no!” Frost muttered. 

“I looked at him with the most confused look…and I watched as the dude took a bite of the cake…” Kremy threw his head back with a fit of laughter. “His face!” He clapped his hands together. “His face spoke louder than words ever could!” 

“What was the reaction?” Gricko asked. 

“Did he like it, Mr. Kremy?” Torbek asked. 

“Hell no! It was disgusting!” Gideon reacted. 

“It was the look of horror, regret, and disgust, all rolled into one face.” Kremy snorted. “It was amazing!” he admitted next. 

“For context…” Gideon spoke up. “I thought the red stuff in the bottle was strawberry topping.” Gideon explained. 

“Oh yeah! And you can’t read, right?” Twig added. 

“Exactly!” Gideon reacted. “The only thing I could understand on the bottle was the little flame symbol on the side.” He admitted. 

“Oh…” Frost muttered. “Okay…that makes a little more sense.” Frost admitted. 

“Doesn’t change the fact that you put hot sauce on your cake!” Kremy cackled. 

Gideon rolled his eyes. “At least my incompetence made you laugh…” He muttered with a small smile. 

Kremy chuckled. “Aww, don’t be so hard on yourself.” 

Gideon smiled a little more. “Cause it’s not very often I get to hear Kremy cackle like a crazy witch.” Gideon added. 

“Wha- HEY!” Kremy punched his shoulder. 

“Ow! Okay, okay!” Gideon reacted, backing down. “Geez…” 

Frost smirked slightly. “Well, at least Gricko’s not alone in that…” He muttered. 

Gricko widened his eyes and froze. “Wait, what?!” 

Frost’s smirk widened. “Oh nothing…” Frost mumbled. 

“No, repeat what you said!” Gricko ordered. 

“Oh sure, I can do that.” Frost declared. 

Gricko yelped. “Wait, NO-” 

“I said “At least Gricko’s not alone in that”, if you can sense what I’m saying.” Frost replied. 

Gricko frowned. “Frosty!” He warned. 

“A reminder that you chose the question.” Frost mentioned. 

This made a growl leave Gricko’s mouth as he covered his face. 

Frost cleared his throat. “There was a time when Gricko, Hootsie and I had set up camp for the night in a small clearing within a forest.” Frost explained. “We had put a clothesline up between two trees, so my robe and Gricko’s clothes could dry overnight.” Frost explained. “The next morning, Gricko had asked Hootsie to get his shoes from outside. And…” Frost looked towards Hootsie with a smile. “I guess Hootsie got distracted…” He shrugged his shoulders. “Or she wanted to help in other ways. Cause a few moments later, we heard a screech and a moving rope. Me and Gricko got up from our tents, and found Hootsie’s body wrapped up in the rope, dangling from one of the trees.” Frost explained. 

Gricko giggled a little bit. “Yeah, that was funny…” 

“Awww, poor thing.” Gideon reacted, looking at Hootsie.

“But I don’t know if it was because Hootsie was still a little cub…because somehow…this single moment made Gricko burst out into the most outrageous, witch-like laughter I had ever heard.” Frost shook his head slightly in shock. “I’ll be honest, I thought it was fake at first, cause…Who laughs like that?” Frost asked. “But then Gricko flopped onto the ground, holding his stomach. And only then, did I realize it was a real laugh. And it’s…almost haunting.” 

Gricko’s face morphed into embarrassment. “I-I- You can’t prove that.” Gricko yelled at him. 

“Yeah…You’re doing all this talk about his witchy laugh…but we haven’t even heard it.” Kremy told him. 

“Yeah! The least you can do is imitate it for us.” Gideon told him. 

“First of all, I can’t verbally imitate. So that’s not happening.” Frost told him. “And even if I could, I would never be able to do it justice.” Frost admitted. 

“Therefore it didn’t happen.” Gricko muttered. 

“Torbek doesn’t think Frost is the kind of person to lie.” Torbek told him. 

“It didn’t happen. Case closed.” Gricko muttered.

Frost widened his eyes. Is Gricko, Mr. oldest-of-the-group, really acting like a stubborn teenager?!

Well…Two can play that game! 

Frost’s eyes lit up. “Actually, I think there is one thing…” Frost picked up Gricko and held onto him. 

“HEY! Frosty!” Gricko wiggled around. “What are you doing?!” 

“Is it here?” Frost placed his claw somewhere on the ride side of his neck. 

Gricko gasped and squeaked. 

“No…” Frost muttered. “Maybe here?” He placed his finger on the back area near the spine. 

“aAH- FroSTY!” Gricko lifted his arms up to stop his claws. “STOP THAT!” 

“Oh!” Both of Frost’s index claws went straight for Gricko’s armpits. “There we go!” 

“FROSTYYYY-” Gricko’s arms instinctively crashed down against his sides. “GAHAHAHAHA!” He hung his head as Frost’s claws continued to scratch deep into his hollows. “DAHAMMIT!” 

Twig gasped. “Gricko’s ticklish!?” She reacted. 

Gideon raised an eyebrow. “I guess so.” He replied. “But that’s not exactly witch cackles, Frost.” 

“Getting there takes patience-” Frost muttered, before scratching the muscle against the back of the armpits. 

And that’s all it took…for Gricko’s crazy cackles to come out! 

Frost gasped as his determined face turned to pure excitement. “YES! JACKPOT!” Frost shouted excitedly. 

And when Gideon heard it…He dropped his jaw. “Holy shit-” Gideon stared at Gricko as Frost tickled him. 

“That’s a more witchy laugh than Mr. Kremy’s, I think…” Torbek admitted. 

“I love it! What a funny laugh!” Twig admitted, giggling. 

“In a creepy kinda way…” Kremy admitted, visibly unsure how to take it. 

“Forget Gricko’s laugh for a second, look at Frost!” Gideon’s shocked look had morphed into a big smile the moment he saw the excitement on Frost’s face. 

Frost had moved Gricko into his left arm and began to tickle his belly playfully. “Coochy coochy coo!” Frost chuckled. “Or as you like to say, a Hootsie-Hootsie-hoo~” Frost teased in an out-of-place, but wholeheartedly authentic baby voice. 

Gricko’s laughter seemed to calm down when it was just his belly being tickled. “HAhahahaha! Frostyhyhy- Stahap this is sohohoho mehehean!” Gricko yelled. 

Kremy looked at Frost, and was taken aback. “Now THAT is something you don’t see everyday.” Kremy reacted. “It’s like he’s a child!” 

“Torbek is getting a warm fuzzy feeling from watching this…” Torbek admitted. 

“It’s both cute and funny all at once!” Twig reacted. 

With the witchy cackles and cute moments now out for the group to hear, Frost stopped tickling him and put him down. “There…Now I don’t have to walk around being accused of lying.” Frost admitted. 

Gricko adjusted his shirt and narrowed his eyes towards Frost. “Since cute and funny is now on the docket…” Gricko rubbed his hands together with a growing smirk. “I think now is the perfect time to talk about the time Hootsie made Frost purr.” 

Frost’s calm and almost cheery demeanor completely fell away the moment he heard Gricko’s words. Oh NO…

“Wait, purr?” Gideon looked at Frost. 

“As in…kitty cat purr?” Torbek asked. 

“Yes! Exactly like that!” Gricko declared. 

“Gricko-” 

“Hush hush Frosty, you’ll spoil the story.” Gricko warned him. “Now, Hootsie had a funny pattern of sitting on people’s shoulders as a little cub. She knew how small she was, and she knew exactly how to beg for shoulder rides.” Gricko explained. “One day, we were walking down a dirt road. Hootsie had been getting tired, and she kept begging for uppies. She’d just raise her little paws up and start hooting with the cutest little pleading eyes, awww-!” Gricko cooed. “And this time, Hootsie asked to ride Frost’s shoulder!” Gricko explained. 

Frost smiled a bit, remembering the way she would beg to him. “It was really cute…” 

“Anyway, this one time, Hootsie had been riding Frost for about 20 minutes. But the more time went by, the more I began hearing these…strange sounds.” Gricko began to recreate the purring sounds. “And I look over, and Hootsie is making biscuits on Frost’s shoulder!” Gricko exclaimed. “Now, Hootsie does purr, but not as loudly as this.” Gricko added. “So it had to be Frost! And on top of that, when I looked up at Frost, his eyes were slowly starting to shut as he was walking.” Gricko added. “He looked like he was gonna fall asleep mid-walk.” 

“It was a one-time incident.” Frost muttered. 

“A one-time incident that continued to happen.” Gricko added. “Cause about 7 days later, I found Hootsie kneading Frost’s chest in her sleep…and can you guess what Frost was doing?” Gricko asked. 

Twig giggled. “Purring?” 

“Well yeah, but not just purring…He was flicking his tail too!” Gricko added. 

“Okay, that’s adorable.” Gideon said to Kremy. 

“Torbek wishes he could have that…” Torbek admitted. 

“How did I never know that Tabaxi’s can purr?” Kremy asked. 

Frost huffed and covered his face with his hood. “When did this turn into telling embarrassing stories?” He asked. 

Gideon raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? This has been ‘telling embarrassing stories’ since the beginning! You think I found it funny that I ate hot sauce on cake?!” Gideon asked. 

Frost looked at Gideon, and stifled a laugh. “Well…That was a little funny.” He admitted. 

Gideon dropped his jaw slightly. 

“Especially when you didn’t notice the ‘fire’ symbol on the bottle before you put it on.” Frost added. 

Gideon crossed his arms. “I didn’t know I had to read sauces before I used ‘em.” Gideon admitted. 

“And that’s okay! That’s a hard lesson you only have to learn once.” Kremy told him, patting his shoulder. “Besides: you’re not the one who thought neon lights would be harder to spot than fire.” Kremy told him, laughing at himself. 

Gideon, Gricko, Torbek and Twig all laughed at that. Frost just smiled, secretly thankful that they moved on from his purring story. 

But as it would turn out, Gricko didn’t let go of the story…He was just waiting for the moment to show it off…Cause that night, the group had set up camp. While the others were getting ready to sleep, Gricko had turned to Gideon and made a shushing motion before pointing to Frost. As it would turn out, Frost had been the first one to fall asleep. 

Gideon, remembering the story, pointed to Hootsie. 

Gricko silently gasped, and nodded his head excitedly. “Hootsie…” He whispered, before pointing to Frost. “Cuddles?” He asked softly. 

Hootsie’s ears perked up, before happily trotting herself over to Frost. Laying on Frost, Hootsie started gently kneading Frost’s belly. And just like Gricko had said, a little smile grew onto Frost’s face as a little purring sound filled his body. 

Gideon couldn’t help but laugh quietly at the scene. He shook his head as he laid himself down. 

“That’s so cute…” Kremy admitted, gently elbowing Gricko. 

Gricko giggled and laid himself down as well. “I know, right?” 

Torbek smiled and laughed a little. “Torbek finds this really funny.” 

When Gideon looked over, he covered his mouth in a desperate attempt to cover up a wheeze: Twig was staring at Frost with a look of pure excitement, almost like she wanted to jump up and down and flap her hands. Twig’s reaction only added to the rare, but adorable moment. 

And to make matters even better…Frost was sleeping so deeply, he didn’t even realize what he was doing. So the rest of the group went to bed, and listened to Frost’s purrs starting and stopping all night long. 

[alexblue29]

hey, you're cool.

oddly the therapist possum has a request!!

so, er.

ghost of chicago by noah floersch.

then, add

lovesick foolish!?

here's that idea, idk :,)

ANYBODY READING THIS, ILL BE YOUR THERAPIST :))))

Olay that song is so good though, thanks for making me obsessed with it! I made this pretty fucking angsty sooooo sorry? And let me know if y'all want more angst cause it's kinda fun to write! I wrote this in 45 minutes btw.

--

Foolish Gamers x Fem!Reader

It's angsty with a happy ending, unrequited love but not really, Foolish is a lovesick, kicked puppy, Foolish is called Noah although it.

Ghost Of Her

Noah sighed as he let himself fall into his chair. He looked over his setup, his monitors and computer were turned on with a discord call going. He had been chatting with Tina and Mouse before starting his stream. He rubbed at his face as he unmuted himself and picked up his cup of coffee.

His throat closed up for a second as he took his first sip, he missed her. She would always ask him what he was drinking and she'd have the same answer everytime he'd offer his reply,

"Honestly, people who drink their coffee black have to be psycopaths or something. Are you a psycopath, Foosh?" She'd laugh.

He quickly put his cup down as he stumbled into a coughing fit. His friends laughed at him, they asked him what happened.

"Nothing," he rasped out before clearing his throat, "Nothing, coffee just went down the wrong pipe."

He took his time getting his breath back and quickly redirected the conversation,

"I'm gonna start stream, see y'all on the server!"

--

Streaming did not help get his mind off of her, it never did. He would try to focus on his build but get distracted by his own thoughts. His chat, observant as ever, could tell he wasn't fully himself.

How could he be?

She's getting married tomorrow.

Noah rubbed his face roughly as he stood from his desk, he stretched, his joints popping as he did. He needed to clear his head and, even though it was nearing ten p.m., he grabbed his phone and made his way outside.

He walked for what felt like forever until he stumbled upon a familiar park, he made his way to it. As he walked, his feet guided him to the fountain in the very middle. He could see her, sitting by his side on the edge of it. A memory he cherishes of when she came to visit him for his birthday.

He remembers it like he still was there. A cold night, much like this one, he'd given her his sweater to keep her warm and tried to not melt every time his eyes found her. It was the perfect night. He should've said it. Why couldn't he just express his emotions like she could?

He frowned as he turned his back to the fountain and made his way away from it as fast as he could. His phone vibrated in his pocket, he reached for it and pulled it out.

Bad was calling him.

That was strange. They never called each other with their personal numbers, they exchanged them in case of an emergency. Before he realized it, the call had ceased. He didn'f reject it, he just waited too long.

Bad messaged him,

From: Bad (Dumbass)

I know you're looking at your phone.

It was all the warning he got before Bad called again. Noah retained a sigh as he answered,

"What's wrong?" his friend questioned right away.

"I have no idea what you mean, Bad."

He heard Bad scoff, Noah had always been a bad liar. "Tina and Mouse both messaged me saying you were being all weird and moppy this morning and I've watched your stream."

A moment of silence passed. Noah found his way on a stray bench before he whispered,

"She gets married tomorrow."

His voice broke in the middle, he couldn't bring himself to care.

He heard clicking noises from the other end before his phone vibrated again. He pulled it away from his ear and looked at the file Bad had sent him, a plane ticket?

"Bad, why did you-?"

"Because you are both idiots who refuse to be happy. Go get her, Foolish."

"I can't just barge into her wedding!"

"Says who?" Silence. Bad spoke again, "She's not happy, Foolish. Go get her."

And so here he was, in a taxi on his way to the wedding. It wasn't starting until twelve, it was currently ten-thirty. He couldn't fuck this up.

He thanked the driver as he closed the door. He saw her sister clock him immediately, he saw the way her eyes lit up with hope. She excused herself from a conversation and made his way to him.

"Noah! Thank god you're here, she's in the bride's room. Fifth door to the left, she's alone," She clapped him on the shoulder and lightly pushed him towards the building.

He thanked her quietly and quickly made his way to the room, he stopped before the door and raised a hesitant hand to knock.

"Angie? Is that you?" His heart lurched as her voice made its way to his ears.

"No, but she sent me to you."

He heard her inhale, he heard her quick steps to the door before she opened it, "Noah."

She let him in without a second thought. He took his time to look at her as she closed to door behind him. She'd barely changed from the last time he'd seen her. She already had her hair and makeup done for the wedding, but she was still in her white robe.

Noah couldn't take it, he took two large steps toward her and wrapped her in a tight hug that she reciprocated immediately. She was smudging her makeup on his shirt and he was definitely messing up up her hair as he gently grabbed the back of her head.

"Don't marry him," he muttered as he nuzzled into the top of her head, "Please, don't marry him."

"I can't just leave," she whispered to him.

He swallowed, "Bad bought my ticket to come get you, and two more to go back. One for me, and one for you," she looked up at him. "Your sister is on your side, she'll help you get your stuff if you need."

He caressed her cheek gently and whispered, "Come home to me, my clementine."

He could see her melt. He could see her ghost melt and finally letting the her he knew out again. She nodded. His heart was beating out of him chest. She broke away from his, went into the bathroom. He gathered all her things in her bag as he waited.

When she stepped out, her hair was up in a ponytail, her makeup off and she'd changed into some joggers and one of his old t-shirts she must have stolen when she visited him.

With her bag in his hand, he gently grabbed her hand and guided her away from the wedding. Together they made their way to the airport. She texted her sister and thank you and asked for her help to which her sister immediately agreed.

As they were flying back to Noah's home, he took a selfie of the both of them and sent it to their discord server with all their friends with a single message,

"Thank you, Bad."

[inkedroplets]

⭐️🌟💫

I went back and forth on so many different sections to talk about in depth. I finally settled on this one.

I'd rather not dream at all, Lena thought, thinking of how often even her most pleasant dreams so often turned to nightmares, hoping that the sheer exhaustion she felt would be enough to keep them away. She watched Kara go as she waited for the light to change, too tired to work through everything that had happened, what still had to happen but unable to stop herself from trying. She watched the crosswalk light tick down and got ready to shuffle across when she felt a very light tap on her arm. Expecting Kara, Lena turned around and was more than a little surprised to not see anybody, until she felt another tap on her arm and saw that the culprit was just short enough to limbo underneath her eye line. A young girl with a bright yellow bow stuck in her hair that for some reason looked awfully familiar. "Hi!" the girl said, beaming up at Lena. Lena could only stare as she tried to figure out just why the girl looked so familiar, urging her incredibly sluggish brain to cough up the right memory when it came rushing back a few moments later. You were crying because you ran away from home... The confusion on Lena's face fell away and she smiled warmly at the girl. "Hello, Kara." Hello, Kara. Kara was already half a block away when the sound of Lena's voice stopped her in her tracks. She came to such a sudden stop that the man walking a few steps behind her had to very hastily sidestep around her, muttering darkly as he found his footing and began to walk faster in a bid to put some distance between the both of them, glowering at her, although Kara didn't notice. She was too busy trying to figure out if she had really heard what she thought she did or just imagined it. She stepped a bit off the sidewalk so as not to make other people have to walk around her and listened more intently and picked up the sound of Lena's voice, still standing out front near the coffee shop. How have you been? Kara's brow furrowed and she took a few steps back in the direction she had just come from. Are you talking to me? Kara mused, not sure what to think. She stopped when she heard a child's voice answer Lena's question. I'm good. So is my mommy. Thanks to you. She has a new job. She's inside now getting coffee and hot chocolate for me! I'm glad to hear that and I just had coffee too. With a friend. But it's Superman that helped. "Superman?" Kara said aloud, more confused than ever, eyes wide and her heart pounding. You walked me home. Well... Superman did too. Your mom will be worried if she sees you're outside talking to a stranger, you should go back inside. Promise again that you won't run away ever again? I won't. I promise. Thank you again. You're very welcome. I hope you had a good birthday too. I did! Oh, I wanted to tell you that I really like your helmet. I thought it was scary at first but now I think it's really pretty. I wanna dress up like you for Halloween. Kara swayed where she stood, like a boxer at the end of a very long round. She could feel her stomach twisting in on itself, while the same solitary thought pounded in time with her rapidly beating heart. It can't be true... It can't be true... It can't be true...

I had many, many ideas about how Kara would find out that Lena was the vigilante. And none of them involved Lena getting the chance to tell Kara the truth because where's the fun in that? I think initially I was leaning towards a big dramatic reveal. One during the penultimate chapter would have fit the bill but to drag that secret all the way to the finish line never seemed all that appealing. Kara managing to overhear Lena talking about her double life seemed plausible but the ethics of Kara always listening in never sat right with me. And as far as Kara figuring it out herself... I quite like the notion that for Kara and Lena that they are each other's blind spots. For as smart as they are or the clues that should seem obvious they just don't see them either by accident or design. When Lena ended up helping out the young girl who had run away from home, I had the epiphany to name her Kara. Something that seemed like a throwaway line at the time. Fun foreshadowing to stumble into as a writer. And it fit thematically since Lena unmasked to put her mind at ease and that's how Clark ends up finding out that it's Lena that's been prowling Metropolis and much (much) later how Kara found out as well. Kara hearing Lena call her name from far away seemed like something she would be actively listening for and while she did eavesdrop it was never malicious. I wanted there to be a lot less baggage. With how carefully Lena and Kara had begun to heal their relationship, I didn't want it to be something that could endanger that. They'd come to far for that. It might not seem all that important of a passage but I'm quite happy with how it came out and that Lena's first "fan" just happened to be a girl named Kara.

[soleilnomoon]

Hi again! Still absolutely adore your Kid fic from your last event 💜 Never got around to asking for a Sanji one, so here I am again😅 But seriously, congrats on over 550 followers!! Love seeing your blog grow, cause you’re really talented and deserve them all and legit can’t wait til you hit 1k+ 🥰

For the event order, may I please ask for a #1 with my boi Sanji, with anmitsu, konpeito, and keylime pie and with honey, please? 🥹 i hate this but need some sanji angst 😭

I also dunno if these three would work particularly well together for a prompt, so you can choose whatever! just really feeling angst and sanji rn and maybe comfort if you’d like 🥰

Thank you for all your works you’ve done so far 💜💜

hiiii omg haha i loved that fic fr (i'm obsessed w that man!!!) also ily for requesting sanji i don't write him nearly enough 🥰️ but thank you sm!! 😭 making me all soft and i am so so sorry this took forever, as u know i am so slow but!!! i had fun tormenting sanji w the angst ngl 💓💓💓💓 also those were great choices for the prompt, i wanted to write more but it would've been 8k words before i finished and who has time for that (i do, but listen... that's besides the point) ✨

2k words, fem reader (honestly gn too now that i think abt it), sfw (SHOCKING i know), 18+ mdni, a lil bit suggestive but nothing wild, angst angst angst city babey, fluff if you squint, also i gave u comfort bc u deserve it bb 💗(and sanji does too); feat. sanji being in denial forever and ever, mutual pining, fake unrequited love, reader is determined and sanji is a coward; also i made myself sad writing this but a good sad bc sanji deserves happiness and i'll fight oda if he doesn't get it i s2g... (if u see grammar mistakes/spelling errors... no u didn't 💗)

“loving each other began this way: threading / loneliness into loneliness / patiently, our hands trembling and precise.” — yehuda amichai

STEP 01:

what does it take to kill a soul? —

a question that’s posed unironically, without a hint of remorse or tact, the words precise and venomous, slicing through the thick veneer that he’s carefully crafted. he’s never been able to answer that question — not at six years old, not twelve or fifteen, and not at twenty-one. his siblings took pleasure in taunting him with seemingly philosophical questions, ones that clamped down onto his thoughts with heavy shackles.

even after he’s extracted himself from that life, he can’t scrub those memories from his mind — no matter how hard he tries. they sit, still raw and bloody, giving rise to unpleasant emotions that make his stomach churn from so many things left unsaid. he never set out to be a pirate, but piracy has given him the sort of freedom that he could only wish for as a child.

it’s with tender hands, with nimble yet graceful fingers, and with a fastidiousness that puts him in a category of his own, that he creates and creates and creates —

he’s told he’s an artist, which only pushes him to work harder, to be better. and when he asks himself why, he doesn’t have an answer. or, rather, the answer he does have only serves as a punishing reminder that he’ll never be good enough. no matter how many times his crew mates thank him — their emphatic, genuine praise a soft, warm breeze against his heart, gentle caresses that he commits to memory — despair still manages to infiltrate, a darkness choking out what little light he has left inside of him.

STEP 02:

how far are you willing to go to reach the truth? —

when you join the crew, he’s unnerved by your presence, which is wholly unlike him. usually, he’s able to put on his façade of the flirtatious cook, one that’s jovial and sociable, that lives to serve and please those around him. his first conversation with you ends in disaster; he spills the drink he tried to pour for you, despite your insistence that you are perfectly capable of pouring your own drink — and he knows it’s not out of malice, but it cuts into him all the same.

he tries again and again, bringing you little treats that you only agree to eating if he sits and eats with you; confusion eats away at his mind, and when he opens his mouth to decline, you pat the seat next to you and he acquiesces. he sits stiffly, at first, unsure of why he always feels on edge around you — an irritating need to impress you in a way he’s never wanted to for others grows stronger by the day.

you think it’s cute that he always seems flustered around you — that he stumbles over his words, refuses to hold eye contact with you for longer than thirty seconds — you also think it’s cute that the false bravado that he puts on for the world, diminishes immediately the second you come close to him. if he’s skittish, it’s because you always catch him staring at you; despite his quick reflexes, his reactions around you are slow but pure — childish, almost.

lately he’s clumsier and scatterbrained, nearly burning dinner when you decide to keep him company. you lean against the countertop, a teasing smile on your face — the same one that that caused him to bump his forehead against the cabinet door earlier — as you prattle on about a dream you had. he can barely keep up, his eyes drifting from the skillet to your face, gliding around the curve of your cheek, dipping lower in a slow descent along your neck.

he blinks repeatedly when he reaches your clavicle, stunned at his restraint; and it’s only when you call his name loudly that he realizes he’s left the heat on for too long.

“are you okay?” you ask when you see that he’s fussing over how best to save the dish, mouth moving as he quietly mutters to himself. he barely registers your voice, as an insidious one whispers harshly into his ears about his perpetual incompetence and lack of talent.

you can see that he’s retreated even further into his mind, a feat that also leaves you frustrated. you want to shake him but refrain and grab his hand instead. he snaps out of whatever stupor that held him captive just moments ago, lips parting as he sighs softly before glancing down at you.

“thank you.”

the words are quiet, but impactful, as he didn’t think he’d be able to get them out. you let go of his hand too soon, but he doesn’t say anything else, choosing to focus on cooking than embarrassing himself again in front of you.

you take his silence as a silent dismissal, but you don’t fight him on it — it’s bitter, that sort of rejection, and you swallow back your argument with great difficulty.

STEP 03:

what’s the difference between cowardice and self-preservation? —

frustration bubbles underneath his skin when he can’t find where he placed his lighter; he runs a hand through his hair and tugs on impulse, accidentally ripping a few strands from his scalp. they swirl and tumble onto the ground, pathetic in a way — just like me, but he never really says that out loud. he doesn’t hear your footsteps, although you did your best to remain as quiet as possible.

a cigarette sits in between his lips, and he has half a mind to toss it over the railing of the ship, but a warmth suddenly appears in front of him in the form of a flame. you found his lighter on the floor earlier and meant to give it to him, but every time you got closer, he found every excuse to leave. you don’t realize the impact you have on him — not really, anyway — because he’s genuinely surprised that you can’t hear the heavy beats of his heart that grow more intolerable the longer he hangs around you.

always afraid of being found out, he opts to keep his distance. it’s easier this way, he tells himself, better. but he doesn’t quite believe that; the evidence is plain as day when his tongue feels like its grown three sizes in the span of seconds, where his words get lost and forgotten. it’s all your fault, he reasons; you who insists on talking candidly with him, who insists on listening to him ramble about his dreams, who absolutely insists on stubbornly tearing down his walls, steadily chipping away without a care in the world. he looks at you as if you are the source of all his problems, but he also looks at you as if you’re the solution.

the intensity behind his stare makes your hands tremble slightly, it’s a miracle you’ve managed to keep yourself composed for this long. you light the end of his cigarette with ease, as if you’ve done this for him hundreds of times —and place the lighter into his pants pocket afterwards. if he wasn’t so used to you getting in his personal space all the time, he’d retreat immediately. the proximity is almost too much for him, but he doesn’t step back; you take that as a good sign and keep him company for a few minutes.

you don’t care for the smell of smoke, but on him it smells good. you almost tell him that, but instead bite down on your lip and keep your comment at bay, nerves getting the best of you as you nearly choke on the possibility that your feelings won’t be reciprocated.

another time, maybe. cheeks flushed, you turn your face to look elsewhere. although, you wonder if there ever will be another time. with him, you never know.

he’s still trying to figure you out and why he feels a different sort of calm around you; it’s alarming and new, drumming up an irrational fear within him. he doesn’t think he’s deserving of your attention or affection, and he’s convinced himself that you don’t harbor any romantic feelings for him. and why would you?

one by one, his thoughts pummel into him, acerbic and overwhelming. he exhales a sliver of smoke and puts the cigarette out. he gives you a quick, apologetic look before telling you goodnight, the smile on his face is melancholic and barely existent. you don’t dare say a word, keep your lips pressed together stubbornly; exasperated and dejected, you don’t know what’s worse — his inability to lower his guard around you for longer than ten minutes, or your inability to stop yourself from trying to carve pieces of yourself to give to him.

maybe if you helped him fill the gaping holes in his heart, he’d truly understand how you feel.

STEP 04:

if you had to do it all over again, would you do anything differently? —

sleep evades you after that night, and the night after that, and so forth; it gets so bad that you’re yawning in the middle of the day, falling asleep before you can have a cup of coffee or tea. this does not go unnoticed by the others, and after talking with nami, you feel less out of your element and finally can see the parts of sanji that he wants to keep hidden. her advice is simple: approach slowly and with intent; corner him and don’t let him escape.

you bide your time, full confident that you can find a moment to sit down with him and talk this all out. it doesn’t come easy, but franky mysteriously swaps sanji for the night’s watch — something that should strike you as odd, but it’s a small opening that you take without thinking as you hurriedly climb up to the crow’s nest with a renewed sort of energy.

even with his eyes closed, as he sits lazily on the bench with head tilted back against the wall, he knows it’s you.

“go back to bed,” he says firmly, refusing to look at you.

your stubbornness, unfortunately, wins out. “i’m staying.” at that he sits up, his attention completely on you as his eyes widen at your words. he wants to ask you why, but cowardice wins out — again. as his features soften, a flush crawls along his face, lightly painting his cheeks pink. he closes his eyes again, tries to steady his breathing as he counts backwards, only for his efforts to be obliterated with ease the moment you sit next to him.

as your thigh presses against his, you take his hand and on impulse you trace your fingertip along the lines on his palm. he watches you with a morbid fascination that scares him; but then you start to say things like, “you will live a very long life,” and “you are courageous, and you have a big heart.”

a small part of him wants to pull his hand away, so you won’t say anything else — but he remains put, so still that you almost think he’s stopped breathing. your voice is sweet and disarming, even when you carry on this charade of reading his palm. a belated realization hits him forcefully, making him blink several times; it dawns on him that you’ve always been so kind and gentle with him, even when you teased him. he’s spent all this time overthinking and hiding behind his past, that it never occurred to him that he could have simply let you in. you’ve never given him reason to believe that you’d betray or harm him intentionally.

he takes a deep breath, voice a little uneven, “i—”

you lean in close, adoration dripping onto your words as you interrupt him. “hey, have i told you?” the question glides along his skin, the words seeping into him as you continue, the lilt in your voice a honeyed, melodic spell. “you remind me of starlight and the mysteries of space.” your lips brush against his when you tell him that, and a warmth settles into the middle of his chest, makes it hard to focus. he doesn’t think when he curls his fingers around yours and doesn’t think when heleans down to kiss you — tender yet electrifying all the same.

the move disarms you in a way that doesn’t quite make sense to you, so you simply hum in approval and lean your head against his shoulder. a comfortable silence settles around you both, but you don’t mind that at all; it’s nice, not having to tip-toe around him anymore, and the demons that plagued him for so long don’t seem so intimidating with you by his side.

[unma]

Thoughts of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley?

idk why it took me so long to answer this, but I remembered that this was sitting in my inbox just now so I might as well. I'm going to assume you came here because you wanted to hear my actual thoughts on the game in good faith and not so you could find someone new to harass.

I like the game and really want to see what happens next. I love how dysfunctional both characters are, and it's fun to see awful people be put in awful situations and do awful things to survive. Especially when they're surrounded by equally awful people (and demons too I guess).

The hate over the game was stupid and was basically just people going "I can accept cannibalism, murder and demon summoning, but I draw the line at incest," which is frankly hilarious and one more reason I simply don't touch twitter anymore. Incidentally, you could probably dig through my posts and find an old one of mine where I opined that the game wasn't going down the incest route after chapter 1... That aged like milk, lol.

All in all, I wish the dev well. Nemlei didn't deserve being harassed off the internet, and I wish I could play the rest of their games. I actually had their itch.io page open at the time, so it was a shame to suddenly see it go blank. Oh well, that's on me for procrastinating so much.

I'd ramble on more about how I love the game's deep exploration of themes, and- actually, scrap that. I'm coming back in 5 minutes and I'll write my thoughts over both of the characters under the cut.

Ashley is pure evil. Is what I would say if I was someone who believed any person could be distilled down to those two words. No, she is very clearly a product of her downright terrible upbringing, and her downright obsessive love for Andrew is shown time and time again to be a product of her emotionally isolated childhood in which Andrew was the only one who ever gave her love. He was the only person who actually treated her like a person. Anyone with that kind of childhood is bound to end up at least a little maladjusted, so Ashley as a person is not unrealistic in the slightest. Her sabotage of Andrew is also rather clearly a method to ensure he will never leave her, even if he reassures her time and time again that he would never do so. Ironically, as her visions show, it may be her own obsessive actions that cause him to finally abandon her, which is just the most delicious flavour of ironic tragedy indeed.

Andrew is a coward. Through and through. I feel for him constantly, but he truly, truly, needs to learn to say no to Ashley. Or, well, he should've learnt to do that before she forced him into their current position. And yet, he's not malicious or actively evil. He's passively evil, in fact, though using the word 'evil' feels like hyperbole. He's consistently trying to never make a choice, and hoping he can simply pass on all responsibility to Ashley. And while I get where he's coming from, given everything they do and go through, he doesn't realize that not making a choice is still a choice, and he still did commit many of those deeds even if at Ashley's behest. At first, I wanted to pretend like he was completely innocent in the games, but it really doesn't take a genius to realize he's completely wrong about how responsibility works.

I'd say more, but it's been a while since I've watched Manly's playthrough of the games. My memory is rather fuzzy now. But feel free to ask more questions if you'd like.

[eventinelysplayground]

Shattered

This is my second last fic for my 50 follower event and was requested by the delightful @fang-and-feather whose ask I put up on Tuesday if you want to take a look. This fic was hard to get the idea for but then I ended up getting an element I wanted and built two different ideas around that that weren't working so I dissected them and took parts of both along with the element and here it is. I had a lot of fun with this one, it felt like I could be a bit more daring with it in a way. I also switch pov at the end but it's mostly in Comtes. I hope you enjoy the fic Fang and thanks so much for the congrats and all your support especially when I first started out you have no idea how much it meant to me. An outing, a memory and one bad action tempt Comte. Mentions of alcohol, suspected infidelity, pregnancy and blood, WC approx 1929.

The night was warm with the subtle scent of flowers carried on the wind as the moon danced in and out between the clouds. Comte stood alone on the balcony, a glass in one hand and a half empty bottle of whiskey on the top rail. He had managed to outrun his thoughts since this afternoon but now in the stillness of the night he was at their mercy.

She looked absolutely stunning this afternoon, her smile was so radiant.

Comte took a long sip from his glass then let out a short self deprecating chuckle.

Really, this is unbecoming of me. It was all my own choices, I have no one else to blame. It's for the best anyway I would only have ruined her life.

When he had first started to notice that Mitsuki and Arthur were developing feelings for eachother he said nothing, believing his own feelings for her nothing but a passing desire that would be quickly forgotten. He'd had more than his fair share of romances just like that in even his long lifetime and yet…yet as time continued forward he realized just how wrong he was.

Mitsukis appearance at the mansion had brought a light and joy to their lives. She had touched all their hearts but only Arthur had been able to touch hers. Every time he witnessed them together, their happiness, devotion, love for one another, the warmth he felt to see her so happy warred with an ugly darkness in his heart. The darkness only grew as time went on and Mitsuki got even closer to him.

She certainly did manage to work her way past all my walls without even trying. She's always reached out and tried to see the best in everyone even then….

‘What were you thinking!?’

‘I knew you were a filthy klootzak but this is low even for you.’

‘Didn't think you'd be the type to settle down but I hoped for cara mias sake that I was wrong.’

‘How did you not even make it six months!?’

‘Newt, What the bloody hell are you all going on about!?’

‘You're going to play dumb?’

Theo had moved to grab Arthur by the lapels and Comte had been the one to stop him.

‘Calm down all of you, let's see if Arthur has anything to say at least.’

‘Anything to say to what? I don-’

‘You better think of something better than that after the way cara mias been crying.’

‘Wait, Mitsuki is upset? What happened?’

‘Like you don't know.’

‘Arthur enough games-’

‘I swear Comte I'm not playing any g-’

Arthur's eyes had gone wide with a sudden revelation.

‘Mitsuki!’

Arthur went to run past them up the stairs but Napoleon caught him by the arms.

‘Damn it all, let go Leon! I swear to all of you this isn't what you think. That bird was-’

‘Choose your next words very carefully Arthur.’

Comtes eyes were cold and voice commanding.

‘That bird was someone I had spent a few nights with years ago before Mitsuki ever arrived. She had gone overseas, family issues or something I honestly don't remember but she's been gone for years and just got back and-’

‘And she's been gone long enough she had no idea.’

‘Exactly! I was coming back from my publishers when she just bloody well threw herself into my arms and started kissing me. I mean do you all really not know me better than that? I've answered enough of your questions, I need to see Mitsuki.’

‘Let him go Napoleon but Arthur, you best be telling the truth, for your own sake if not for hers.’

Comte recalled that the whole mansion was tense that night and they all took turns keeping an ear out for any hint of trouble from a respectable distance. After a few hours Leonardo had come down smirking and declaring that ‘any screaming now wouldn't be from anger’. It had only been about eight months prior and the emotions that just the memory of that incident brought forward caused Comte to smash his glass on the top rail littering it with glass.

She's too good and pure for him. Forgiving him after hurting her like that even if it was unintentional, and now be giving him a child after it all.

Comte sighed and looked down at the broken glass.

Well now, that wasn't very mature of me. I should be happy that she forgave him and they're able to continue to be so happy…

Comte lifted the whiskey bottle to his lips, drinking back the last of its contents. He looked up into the night sky smiling as his thoughts returned to the afternoon.

‘Don't you think that this is all a bit much?’

‘Whatever do you mean?'

‘I mean you've bought multiple things from every store we've been in today! I didn't need those new dresses and on top of that you're also spoiling this baby before it even gets here!’

‘Nonsense Cherie, I could never dote on you or the child enough to ever come close to spoiling either of you. You deserve all of it and more.’

‘Really I-'

Suddenly they had both heard soft laughter from nearby. When Comte turned around there was an older woman standing there smiling fondly at them.

‘Just let him do as he pleases dearie, if your husband's anything like mine was nothing you say will deter him.’

‘Oh but he’s-’

‘Listen to her words of wisdom ma Cherie, plus have you ever been able to convince me before?’

‘Well no…’

‘If it makes you feel better dear , think of it as payment for the hard work soon to come.’

‘Who are you bothering now?’

The older woman clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes.

‘I’m not bothering anyone, I was just telling the young dear here to accept as many gifts as her husband desired to provide her and their child with.’

The old gentleman who had approached quickly cast an appraising look over Mitsuki then Comte noticed his lips turning up into a faint yet fond smile.

‘A word of advice son, pace yourself unless you don't mind spending all your wealth spoiling them.’

‘See he agrees with me, you're spoiling them already.’

‘I still say you should let him.’

‘Hahaha of course you would, come my dear leave the young couple to enjoy themselves.’

‘If you insist, oh but wait! Congratulations to you both.’

‘Comte, why didn't you correct them?’

‘Hmmm? Is the thought of being married to me that horrible?’

‘No, of course not! I didn't mean-’

‘Haha it’s alright cherie, honestly they just seemed happy and besides it didn't cause any harm’

‘I suppose not.’

It was nice to dream if only for a brief moment. If I hadn't dismissed my feelings, not been afraid to lose what we did have then maybe…

“Comte?”

The sudden voice startled Comte and he turned towards the door.

“Cherie, what are you doing up so late?”

“Sleeping is becoming incredibly difficult lately and this heat isn't helping. What about you, could you not sleep?”

I wish it were that simple.

“Something like that, come let me take you back inside.”

“No, I'd prefer to stay out here. The breeze is really cool and-”

“Cherie don't-”

“Ouch!”

Comtes warning came too late as Mitsuki placed her hand on top of the shards of broken glass. Blood began to trickle down her palm and fingers momentarily freezing him to the spot.

“I'm so sorry, Comte! I should have been more careful.”

Comte said nothing, his gaze fixed on the trails of blood while the rest of him desperately fought the intense burning in his throat.

“I should go and get-”

“No!”

“Comte?”

Comte closed the small distance between them staring down at Mitsukis bloodied hand for a moment before lifting it upwards.

Maybe it wouldn't have to be a dream.

Comte lifted Mitsukis hand higher to his lips and lapped at her blood before sinking his fangs into her soft flesh. The taste of her blood on his tongue as it passed over it and down his throat was heavenly and sweet. He felt her knees begin to give and wrapped an arm tightly around her waist as he-

“Comte!?”

Comte shook his head slightly as he was pulled back to reality, he held Mitsukis hand dangerously close to his lips. She was looking at him with wide eyes filled with fear and confusion.

I just need another minute... to compose myself.

Comte took his free hand and removed a shared of glass from Mitsukis palm before removing a handkerchief and pressing it into her slightly trembling fingers.

“There doesn't appear to be any more glass in the wound.”

“Thank you for checking.”

Comte could tell Mitsuki was relaxing again and so he released her hand and started walking towards the door.

“Wait here cherie. I'll go and fetch a first aid kit and send Arthur or Sebastian out with it. We wouldn't want you to wander into any of the other residents like that.”

“Alright.”

Comte left the balcony without another word or a backward glance. His throat was burning out of control and his mind was racing.

That was too close, how could I have scared her like that! She looked so frightened and-

“Luv? Oh Comte, sorry old chap I thought I smelled-”

Comte looked down at his hand and noticed he had traces of Mitsukis blood on him.

“She's fine Arthur, just a bad cut. I was actually on my way to get a first aid kit then find you or Sebastian.”

“Where is she?”

“On the balcony.”

Comte watched Arthur head off down the hallway towards the balcony for a moment then continued on to his own room where he locked the door behind him.

Arthur found Mitsuki standing on the balcony cradling her hand, one of Comtes handkerchiefs pressed against it.

“What happened luv?”

“Arthur! I just cut myself on some glass that's all.”

Arthur took in the scene before him and put together with what Mitsuki told him of her and Contes outing and the way he looked it made his eyebrows furrow.

“Are you sure you're alright?”

“Yes, Comte took the shard of glass out and then gave me his handkerchief.”

Arthur let go of a breath he wasn't aware he was holding as he inspected Mitsukis hand. Finding no shards he began to wrap her palm.

“Once the bleeding has mostly stopped I'll clean and wrap it properly for you. It shouldn't take long, now come here.”

Arthur pulled Mitsuki towards him, placing a kiss to the top of her belly before turning her away from him and wrapping his arms tightly around her. They stood there in silence for awhile when Mitsuki suddenly tilted her head upwards.

“Was Comte ok?”

“Why do you ask luv?”

“He seemed….hurt.”

Arthur sighed remembering the fevered look in Comtes eyes and glimpse of his fangs he had caught during their brief exchange.

“It's nothing that won't heal with time.”

“Are you sure?”

Arthur looked down at Mitsuki and saw the concern in her eyes. He wasn't sure at all but he couldn't bear to tell her that so he smiled and kissed the top of her nose.

“The old chap is stronger than he looks so don't worry about him, just focus on this right now.”

Arthur moved his hands to caress over Mitsukis belly and she laughed.

“Alright Arthur, I trust you.”

I really do hope his willpower holds out but regardless… I know we'll both do what we need to do to keep you safe.

[strengthinbloom]

Strength in Bloom [Chapter 7]

(full chapter for you guys this time <3) (this happens while Sakura is being held hostage by a mysterious nukenin!)

Life was good in the Hidden Village of the Leaf. Over the years, Sakura had made real friends and at least one good rival, and had learned so much with Iruka, Kakashi, Tsunade, Shizune and so many others who were so good to her. There were those who looked down on her for not belonging to a prestigious shinobi Clan, but she had proven them wrong time over time.

She had Naruto to thank for that. After all, he had been the one to prove Neji wrong in the Exams, and when that wasn’t enough, he proved Gaara wrong too. Kakashi-sensei taught them tactics and Ninjutsu, but really it was Naruto who inspired them. Their lives had never been the same since the Land of Waves.

And during the Exams… Sakura grasped at the shortened threads of her hair, letting the memories wash over her once again. Naruto and Sasuke were so brave back then. I wish they could see me now. She had considered growing out her hair again, but she came to like the new haircut. Shizune had short hair too, and she was beautiful. Sakura didn’t have to compete with the likes of Ino anymore.

“What is the difference between shinobi and kunoichi, Sakura?” Tsunade had once inquired her. “Can you tell me?”

Sakura took a moment to think. They were both exhausted and covered in sweat after a long session of sparring; All around them, the training grounds had been reduced to cratered earth and shattered trees. “Is this a trick question, sensei? We learned all that mumbo-jumbo in the Academy a long time ago.” She answered with a know-it-all smirk. “Back during Sengoku Jidai, before Shodaime-sama founded our Village, only men were allowed to fight. So shinobi lead field missions while kunoichi infiltrated as princesses, geisha or serving women. Even whores, sometimes.”

Tsunade chuckled softly. “You aren’t wrong, dear student. But there’s more to it than History.” She took a long sip of her water bottle and splashed it across her face, the coolness a welcome relief. “The difference between shinobi and kunochi is simply what the world expects of them.”

Sakura frowned, so the Hokage explained it further: “Men are simple creatures, kid. You’ll learn that soon enough. Most shinobi, friend or foe, will expect less of you simply because you don’t have a weiner hanging between your legs. Your enemies will assume you are the weak link of your squad, and will lower their guard when they’re fighting you. You can use that. Yeah, kunoichi of the past have taken down tyrants and emperors by killing them when they were most vulnerable: naked in bed, their eyes closed, ready for some fun… That’s pretty badass, not gonna lie. But nowadays, any shinobi can pull that off with a good Transformation Technique.” She winked. “We gotta be more creative than that.”

“I understand, sensei.” Sakura took a sip of her own water. Lady Tsunade always gave her lots to think about after these sessions, in addition to the bruises all over her body. She couldn’t help but wonder if Jiraya did the same with Naruto, and if Sasuke…

Tsunade must have noticed the sadness in her eyes. She stood up and hopped from one foot to the other, raising her fists. “Come on, back to work, now. Your stance is still way too off, you need more practice before we’re done for the day.

O, Konoha! O, Hokage-sama! Those had been good times, and for that Sakura was thankful. If only I could see them one last time. Walk among the trees in the Training Grounds, tend to the deers in the Nara woods, get a big bowl of Ichiraku Ramen with her friends… Kakashi used to give them all-you-can-eat tickets after a particularly tough mission. She had been thinking she could do the same with Neji and Kiba once they were back, even if they weren’t exactly friends. She thought it might make things better. They would be going out in other missions as well, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a non-hostile environment.

But none of that mattered anymore. They had encountered nukenin on the road, and had lost the fight before it even started. Neji had been captured or neutralized. With luck, Kiba would stall the puppeteer long enough for her to run, and she would return to Konoha with news that Hyuuga Neji and Inuzuka Kiba had been killed in the battlefield.

Tsunade would be disappointed. “Neji is one of the finest shinobi in this village, and a martial arts specialist.” She had said. “These are difficult times, and we must make do with what we have.”

Konoha found itself in dreadful need of competent shinobi, and Sakura had managed to get one of them killed in his first mission as a Jonin. The Third Shinobi War, the Uchiha Massacre, and more recently Orochimaru’s invasion had costed the lives of many high-ranking shinobi, including notable names like he Yellow Lightning, Fugaku of the Wicked Eye and Shisui of the Body Flicker.

Even if she survived the mission, Sakura would forever carry this failure on her shoulders. Once she aspired to rise to Jonin, and train a trio of Genin just like Kakashi… But now, how could she ever do it? After she let Neji and Kiba behind, unable to save them, to protect them, to heal them.

“That will be enough.” Said a mysterious voice, far away. “Let her wake.”

Sakura opened her eyes with a snap of invisible fingers.

[End of chapter]

[gemini-sensei]

Black Belt | Boss!Eli Moskowitz x Nanny!Reader Pt. 4

Chubby!Fem!Reader ○ Single Father!Eli ○

Series Masterlist | unedited part

Eli was practicing his breathing, hands held in front of him, eyes closed. His kids were spending the day with the Diaz' and that meant he had a moment of peace on this sunny Saturday, since Miguel and Sam told him that they - with the enlisted help of Moon - could watch the children for the day. So he took deep breaths in, held them, and let them out slowly.

Everything was calm and clear, his mind a place of peace and quiet. There was nothing he had to worry about. No work calls, no stress, nothing. It was only him and his inner balance.

Once he'd found it and centered himself, he moved into the kata practices he'd learned when he was younger. They always brought him back to those days when he and his friends had done karate for sport and then some, how much fun it had ben, the highs and lows of high school. The fond memories were what he put forward and he remembered Mr. L's words of wisdom to this day, believing that (most of) it were words to live by. Of course he put his own spin on most of it, that Hawk flare that he'd been known for way back when.

He moved on to offensive practice after a while, going back to his roots. The strikes and kicks that started it all. The lessons that gave him what he'd needed back then. It was all muscle memory, as he'd never let go of the pieces of him that had brought him to where he was today. If it weren't for Sensei Lawrence, he didn't know what his life would look like...

It was calming yet thrilling, exciting but tame. He was in a place of peace...

Until a soft shuffling caught his ear.

He turned to see who was there, a little surprised to see Reader in the doorway of his little home dojo. It was her day off and she'd told him she'd be out with friends, but he didn't expect her to be back so soon. He straightened up and stood to face her.

"I didn't expect you back for another hour or two," he said, still a little startled by her presence.

She hummed. "And I didn't expect you to be the martial arts type."

Reader stepped into the little home dojo, but he held up a hand to stop her. She gave him a questioning look and he pointed down at her feet.

"No shoes on the mat."

"Of course," she said softly. She kicked off her small heels and set them by the door, then she proceeded to walk further into the room whilst taking a look around.

He wasn't surprised by her interest. He kept the small room closed, out of reach of the children. It hadn't been a part of his home tour for her because the kids never came there, Eli keeping this little part of him to himself for now. He wanted to introduce his kids to it at some point, of course, but those low points from his teenage years always came back to haunt him when he thought of the idea. So he kept it hidden away for now.

"You didn't answer by original question," he said.

Reader gave him a quick look. "I don't remember you asking one."

"What happened to your day out?"

She turned her attention to a picture on the wall of him and all his friends in their gi, letting out a short hum. "Had to cut it short. A friend had a family emergency and the rest of us thought it better to just hang out another day when we could all be together."

"Go figure," he chuckled.

"Right?" She continued to walk around the room, only stopping when she came to the small podium that housed his winning trophy atop it. She stared at it for a moment, read the inscription, then turned to him with a smile. "You continue to surprise me, Mr. Moskowitz."

He licked his lips and laughed. "So do you."

"I'm serious," she insisted, then gestured to the whole room. "I mean, look at all of this. What is this place? Who are you?"

He continued to laugh. "Uh, well, if you really want to know, I'm an All Valley champion and former sensei with double black belt."

"Former sensei? Really?"

"It's true."

He walked over to a set of drawers and opened one, producing the scrapbook Mr. LaRusso had gifted him when he'd "retired" from teaching karate. It had only been a part time job when he was in college, something that had kept his love for karate going when he didn't have the time to put into competitions anymore. It was wonderful and he'd do it again given the chance.

He passed flipped it to a certain page that showed a large class photo; he was stood on one side of all the students while Mr. L stood on the other with Sensei Lawrence. They were all in their tournament gi, proud smiles on their faces. He passed the album to her and she took it with a big grin.

"Oh, look at you and your mohawk," she laughed. It was sweet and bubbly, like her. The room was suddenly far more alive than it had been a few minutes ago. "This is so cool."

"I know," he said with a little shrug. He smirked. "Tell me something I don't know."

She gave him a look. "Okay, uh, I don't know anything about this stuff."

"Nothing?"

A small embarrassed smile took over her face, but she wore it with grace. "Uh, yeah. I hope that doesn't make me any less cool to you."

He shook his head. "Not at all. Just means I can teach you. thing or two."

"Missed being a sensei?" she asked, closing the scrapbook and setting it aside.

He shrugged. "Maybe a little, but you don't have to do anything you don't want to."

"No," she said, stepping up to the center of the mat. He watched her as she took off her coat and tossed it aside. "I'm interested now. Show me something."

His eyes scanned her over quickly, then followed her. "Alright, let's start with the easy stuff."

The afternoon went into a direction neither of them expected, but it wasn't bad. Hawk enjoyed showing Reader the moved he once had to master, and though she wasn't out with her friends like she'd planned, she had fun nonetheless. He kept everything simple and easy to understand for a beginner, but she caught on fast. Despite that, he didn't put her in any position to spar and they wrapped up their little impromptu lesson within an hour.

He offered her a class of lemonade as an "after training" refreshment and she accepted, following him to the kitchen with a smile. They had worked up a sweat and deserved something sweet in his eyes.

The whole thing obviously intrigued and amused her that he was a former kids karate sensei and All Valley champ, as she started asking him questions all about his experience and where he used to teach. He didn't mind answering all her exciting questions, as if was rather fresh and new to talk about it with her than it was to someone like Miguel and Sam.

As they sat with their lemonade glasses, she smiled. "So, have you ever thought about teaching karate to Phoenix and Mia? They're the right age to start something like that, right?"

Eli sipped his drink, a master at hiding his inner most thoughts by keeping his expression blank. He took a moment to think about the question, unsure of how to answer it. Of course he'd thought of it before, but he wasn't certain about it. He'd love nothing more than to teach his own kids karate, but he had some hesitations.

He set the glass down and sighed. "I've thought about it, yeah, but I just don't know if that would be something they'd be interested in."

"There's never any harm in asking," she said with a smile.

"I just don't want them to think I want them to do karate," he said. He wanted his kids to do it if and because they wanted to. "Sam's dad taught her at a young age and even today he carries it with him like a badge of honor. But I can't tell you how many times she's quit karate. I like Mr. L, don't get me wrong, but he can be a little... overbearing sometimes, and I just don't want to be that to the twins."

Reader nodded gently. "I understand, but a one time lesson wouldn't hurt. Or a demonstration. They won't know if they like it until they try it. They just have to be exposed to it, try new things."

Eli gave her a look, smirking at her. "Are you sure you've never been a nanny or teacher before? Because you certainly sound like one, quite a lot of the time too."

She scoffed. "I'm just good with kids," she laughed. She used a napkin to wipe some sweat from her forehead, the cool down still in effect. "And I think that it's important to share the things that are special with your kids... I can only sit here and wish my parents had done something like that with me as a kid. So maybe Mr. LaRusso wasn't so far off from that idea."

Taking a moment to let her words sink in, Eli coolly sipped his lemonade. Then he nodded. "I'll think about it."

Reader smiled, deciding to tease him. "Do they even know you have the big, shiny trophy in that hidden away dojo of yours?"

He chuckled. "No, no they don't."

"I'm sure they'd love to see it."

"You mean stare at their reflections in it."

"Something like that."

They laughed, and continued to enjoy each other's company - one on one - until the kids came home.

[dreaming-marchling]

I hope you don’t mind I come with more questions!

I re-read Exile (which was the VERY FIRST fic from you I read which led me into the rabbit hole of reading all of your stuff).

How might the story have played out if the accomplice warlock had in fact told Magnus and Crew what happened?

How might the story have been altered if it was difficult if not slower to gain his memories back? Maybe also what other memory recalls you might have liked to write.

And something I have been pondering how might Magnus have approached figuring out how to help Alec get his runes back if the Silent Brothers couldn’t? I almost felt miffed on behalf of Magnus because he was so desperate to be with Alec and for things he could do.

You and your questions are a delightful highlight of my day, please never think otherwise :)

Re: If one of the warlocks had gone to Magnus to tell him what Imogen paid them to do: This could have been SO FUN! Them realizing with absolute horror that Alec is alive, somewhere unknown, without runes (what does a warlock removing runes even do to a Shadowhunter long-term? All they know is that he survived the procedure, not that he survived it long-term), with a broken parabatai bond, AND without his memory. The rush of them trying to figure out how how to find Alec, perhaps looking for weird spikes of demonic activity or maybe trying to infiltrate Imogen's people to see if they can get answers that way of where Alec is. All the while knowing that they might be too late. All this hope might turn to ash because Alec might still be dead. Thankfully he would have been decently easy to find, considering how Jace hacked the records of the apartment payments and other warlocks were already having a demonic activity spike that would have been happy to report it to Magnus if he sent a call through the Downworld about it. Them not finding him in Exile was because they didn't even know to look. With Imogen as a springboard they could have absolutely managed it.

Re: Memories: I definitely wanted to continue that thread but at a certain point the plots gotta move and my soul just wants to finish so I can start posting. A complication that I didn't get into with that but would have been really fun to play with would be Alec getting a bad memory back. His fight with Jace or his breakup with Magnus, for instance. Maybe he hides it from them but there's a backslide in trust. I also thought it would be fun if the memory sessions took way more of a toll on Alec's body, so they become these agonizing things that torture Magnus because he's essentially torturing Alec. I figured people would murder me if I continued down this too long.

Re: Runes: I didn't really have any other plans there, when things get too theoretical my brain hurts, lol, although then I keep then writing things like the collar breaking ritual or the time travel stuff so clearly I'm not very nice to my brain. I do think there could have been fun with maybe Alec's body just being so done that he really could have used Magnus there to stabilize him, maybe he gets called in halfway through and he's got to magically keep Alec going but also hold him still even though he's in pain. Knowing he can't stop this or Alec will shatter with the lost hope. Ultimately though, I do think that the Silent Brothers wouldn't tolerate Magnus helping them with the ritual, crappy as that was to cut him out after it was him healing Alec piece by piece for weeks.

It definitely could have been fun with the runes taking longer so Alec is left in limbo longer so we got more "loft is safest, stay in the loft" recovery time with Alec hiding in bathrooms when he got too overwhelmed. I liked that part, it was depressing but cute imo.

Thank you for asking! It's great stretching my Malec muscles, my brain has been very turned on to 9-1-1 and my Marked in Trust series so I haven't fallen into them lately. I have a Magnus-centric oneshot completed but I want to wait to post it until I'm in a mental place to use the comments to get me over the finish line for some of my other Malec WIPs and that's just taking a bit. Soon, I hope!