#but i told one of my besties i needed to just GO somewhere (preferably somewhere i'd never been) so ✨✨✨✨

[stillcominback]

𝚕𝚊𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚕’𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚘𝚗 𝚟𝚊𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 !!!  this has been a way-too-long time coming [ cause your girl is burned the hell out ], but i’m finally taking a little trip to toronto from march 30 - april 4 <333 

[askinkiskarma]

OMGOMGOMGOMG NEW THE 1 CHAPTER??? i'm so excited i'm gonna cryyyyyyyy!!! whenever you can, please post a snippet??? pleasepleaseplease

ARGHHH I'M EXCITED YOU'RE EXCITED :(((( and you're in luck because i have 3.6k words written on it already bestie xx

The 1 Chapter 2 snippet below x

“Fuck! Neteyam, you scared the shit out of me! What are you doing here?” 

Your heart almost jumped out of your chest as you took in the man sitting on your bed, that was way too big to comfortably fit in your tiny room, not that that’s ever stopped him in all the years you’ve known him. He looked almost out of place here now, so long after the last time, and you winced a little at the contrast between the memories in your mind and what was displayed so clearly in front of you. 

Neteyam looked lost in thought, almost unaware of your presence or your voice, glossy eyes fixed somewhere beneath your desk, on a specific box you wish he never got to see.

“This room hasn’t changed one bit in all this time. It’s so weird. Everything’s changed…” the sigh that tried him felt like it was expelled from deep within his soul, like a sigh he’s been holding for the last year and a half. “Everything… and yet this room, it’s like a portal to the past, like I woke up in a life that feels like a mere dream sometimes.”

You don’t interrupt his musings.

“The sheets, the books, the smell, the way the light flickers sometimes, the way the mattress dips on one side more than the other because you’ve always preferred the left side of the bed, and I always had to sleep on the right, even the broken vase I broke with my tail the night I left. It’s all the same.”

His gaze finally settles on you. He looks pained as he sees you, finally the human he remembers, that he loved. It hurts him being in this room. It hurts you, too. It was your turn to sigh, as you tried to remove the images of the past flashing in front of your eyes like a picture book, and tried to focus on the reality that was still weighing heavily on your heart, no matter how many counterweights you balanced it with. 

Your sigh matched his earlier one as you spoke, your eyes darting to the room that you spent less time in with each passing day, that felt as much of a relic of the past as you sometimes felt in his life. 

“Yeah. I guess nothing’s changed.”

He notices an ornate bow by the foot of the bed, clearly the make of a talented Omaticayan warrior. It annoys him to no end that he can recognise the work easily, having grown up seeing it, having been one of the few that could compare to his. It angers him further just how much the disdain doesn't seem to want to melt away, regardless of how much he's told himself to let it go, regardless of how he swore the reason he came here tonight had nothing to do with it. He had no right to pry, not anymore. No right to be jealous... not anymore.

“Well, at least some things have changed...”

You blush and he hates it, hates that you're even talking about it to begin with, hates that he has to hear this in the first place.

“Tarsem made it for me. It’s cute.” You didn’t know why, it’s not like you owed him anything, but you couldn’t help the next words, that stumbled unceremoniously out of your mouth in a panicked hurry. You didn’t owe him anything, but you still needed him to know. “And platonic.” 

“Yeah, so were we.” The words, and the bitterness in them, so thinly veiled despite what you assumed were his best efforts, shocked you. This wasn’t like Neteyam at all - Neteyam was kind, and careful with his words always, he was considerate and empathetic, and he was never mean, especially not to you. Especially not like this.

You swallowed the lump in your throat and the tears that threatened to spill, leaving his words to hang in the air, making it thick and heavy with heightened emotions you were both trying your best to suppress. 

“That’s not fair.”

“You’re right. It’s not.”

[bandedbulbussnarfblat]

I had a rough week last week. Tuesday my dog gets sick, so I look up her symptoms. And bc I'm a crazy person, my mind automatically latched onto the worst possibility. So I spent three hours crying hysterically and having panic attacks bc I was so scared she would die. Then Wednesday I had to take my dog to vet and was still super stressed out. Thursday and Friday I have to deal with medicaid and disability paperwork. Saturday I had a panic attack so bad that I couldn't stop it and had to text my brother to come help me (he lives with me. we're too poor to live without a roommate, and we've basically lived together our whole lives, so it was whatever). Sunday morning I have a panic attack and can't leave my house to play my weekly dnd game bc the thought of spending hours with other people away from home was...bad. Sunday night, I got completely (and irrationally) terrified of being alone. I was so afraid that I called my mom, and of course she offers to come over. And I'm freaking out so bad I let her, even though it was late and I know she has to get up early for work. (She only stayed until my brother got back around 10:30)

BUT, today is a new day. I managed to get my blood work done today, and talk on the phone to my case worker, and pick up a pair of contacts from my eye doctor to wear until my order comes in. And I didn't have a panic attack. I mean, I still had to have my dad take me, bc leaving home alone isn't something I can do right now. (Mentally or physically. My brother's car broke down, and since he's the one who has a job, he's been using mine. i stg it's like a fucking family curse; every time someone is already in a financial bind, their car will break down.)

So I have decided to take the next few days to just relax. My two besties that I've been friends with since middle school both have kids with autism and they said I'm probably going through autistic burn-out. I'm pretty sure I'm autistic and my doctor thinks I'm somewhere on the spectrum, though on the lower support side. I'm gonna play bg3, and unwind. And try to work on some fic. (bc I have the next chapter of 16 Days damn near finished, and it's the last chapter that ties up the current plot, then there's an epilogue that takes place later that played out like a movie in my head, so writing it will be a breeze.)

Side note, did y'all know that some school systems still use 'high/low functioning'. I've had to say to my coworkers that autistic people would prefer not to use those terms. But it isn't surprising; one of my cousin's kids was literally diagnosed with Asperger's. Which has fallen under the autism spectrum disorder since like, forever ago. And also there was a TA in the autism classroom I worked in once who literally told me that autism was caused by demonic possession. I'm so glad I left the school system. Bc I eventually was going to fucking explode with rage after the way my kids were treated. (My students, not my actual kids. I don't have or want any)

Working in EC has really shown me how little the school system actually cares about helping the disabled; they will cut corners and do shit that 'technically' meets a kid's IEP, but doesn't do a damn thing to help them. And if you say something like, 'i don't think that counts' your coworkers will not be happy. But to a certain degree you can't be too mad, bc there is literally not enough time or resources to meet every child's needs, bc they cram as many kids in one EC classroom as possible, hire the minimum amount of TAs required by law and expect one teacher to be able to magically meet all their needs. My last job had 3 kids in wheelchairs in those tiny ass mobile units schools started using, that literally did not have room to move around, unless the other students stood up to let them get by, and sometimes even move their desk. We had multiple kids with autism. One of them stimmed by screaming, another was triggered by loud noises.

This post kinda went off on a tangent. Anyway, heads up to any parents who have kids starting school, make sure you get a copy of your child's IEP. If you think they aren't being serviced, contact your local Board of Education, and tell them that you have a child with an IEP who isn't receiving adequate services. Then threaten to sue them if they don't start providing your kid their services. It does not matter if you can actually afford to sue them or not, an IEP is a legally binding document. You have the right to sue, and most of the time the threat alone is enough to kick their ass into gear.

[lovecolibri]

SaL anon here my friend, only mildly hung over but still severely disappointed, just coming into your inbox to share my random finale complaints that have been stockpiling.

Already been said many times but why Marisol again?? Just why??

You know what the awkwardness of the daddy talk reminded me of?? Remember in RNM 3x01 when Alex came back and told Forest "a man has needs" or some shit and we all collectively cringed away from our screens?? Its was sooo weirdly out of place and character and that's exactly what the dinner scene is. Also notably written by a former showrunner who won't stop fucking up storylines at every opportunity.

How exactly is the Chris leaving BS supposed to last more than like, 1 week tops??? When Helena (and Ramon) tried to take him 7 years ago and get their redo he was just a kid, but now he's a teenager whose been raised by Eddie Diaz. Not saying he's ready for college or to make his own housing decisions or anything 🙄, but his personality and preferences are not going to change much. He's not the moldable little kid anymore, and the moment Helena realizes that and Chris realizes that's what they wanted him for wouldn't jump on the next flight?? I know there's so much about that arc that's utter nonsense but did the writers put any thought into the characters at all??

Anyway, I probably should do my job for a few hours before I go completely off the rails, hope your own recovery is going well!!

Hey bestie! If it seems like you haven't heard from me all day, that's because I girlbossed too close to the post limit sun reblogging every petty, irritated, frustrated, what-in-the-actual-fuck-was-that post. I scheduled a bunch too do drop after the doors open on the post limit jail cells, this one among them.

I'm sitting here with my twisted peach tea, fresh off of work and a trip to the store (it was awful and full of people and only one lane open that could sell alcohol, AND they didn't have the honeycomb ice cream I specifically went there to get and try out with my earl grey tea ice cream because the universe hates me), just still so SO frustrated that once again they let KR swoop in at the last minute and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the finale. Not even anything Buddie related, just in making literally ANY storyline all season have a good narrative payoff that felt like we went somewhere. Even the most watchable part of the episode (the Mara reunion) fell flat because we didn't see Hen and Karen putting up the fight they set up with the councilwoman, and Maddie and Chim had time all season to talk about maybe having another child, or fostering to make them able to swoop in at the last minute make sense but instead it just came out of the blue! (And don't get me started on the whole "this lesbian couple can't have a kid but the straight couple runs into no issues despite Chim being involved on scene in the death of the councilwoman's son).

ANYWAY. Let's talk about your bullet points please, because I have THOUGHTS.

1/3. Marisol was literally less than useless and if they HAD to avoid an off-screen hiatus breakup (they didn't need to, no one remembered her, it would have been fine) they easily could have ditched her in 7x05 and it would have affected absolutely nothing.

IMAGINE Buck is the one taking Chris to the movies and walks in on "Shannon" and Eddie? We get some Buddie angst with them having to talk out what happened because Buck was worried before but now he's WORRIED, and we could have gotten a more heartfelt resolution with Chris by allowing Eddie and Chris to have one single conversation this whole season, and maybe deciding together to go to therapy in a couple weeks when he gets back from his pre-planned summer vacation to Texas.

Then start s8 with Chris having delayed coming back all summer, and Ramon and Helena facilitating getting him into camps and stuff so he "couldn't" come back and Eddie starting to get fed up and maybe being ready to go to Texas himself to get Chris when whatever disaster the opening is strikes. Cue Chris seeing it on the news and panicking and demanding to go home and see his dad. It would be satisfying to watch, and would tug on the heartstrings without ripping them out for no good goddamn reason and punishing Eddie so severely while also NOT actually dealing with his issues about Shannon!! *screams into pillow* If we never see or hear about her again it will be too soon. They have drug this out past the point of any purpose and it needs to be put to fucking rest, 25ft down so it can't crawl back up. Doused in holy water just in case.

It really feels like they had a plan for Buck with the whole Natalia thing fizzling out and breaking up which I actually am glad we didn't see because as this season proved, it is LONG past time to leave Buck withering away in unfulfilling relationships he don't know how he got into in the first place, but once that was gone he got the coming out bit and....nothing much else all season and even that was one episode and then a couple minutes of screentime sprinkled throuout that used those precious seconds to show us how incredibly ill-matched they are. While Eddie, who was SUPPOSED to have the coming out arc (that was maybe more in-depth and planned to ACTUALLY deal with the Shannon of it all), was also left with a "well what do we do with him now" arc. Spoiler alert, it was NOT THIS. So no, I don't think they had the time in the shortened time frame they had to put literally ANY thought into what to do with these characters.

Point 2. My friend. Not only are you EXACTLY right about the tonal issue matching that cringe AF scene from RNM, but I will raise you that, AND everything about 2x06, including fandom swooping in to claim everyone who didn't fall all over themselves about that scene being amazing was a) homophobic and b) puritanical, pearl-cultching, and uneducated. Oh! and c) just needs to learn how to fucking multi-ship and be happy with whatever is on screen because it couldn't POSSIBLY be better, and you should just accept it now. 😒😒😒

It's gonna be a loooooong fucking hiatus but here's hoping Timmy got all the Lone Star brainworms out and can not just pack a punch in the disaster opening (RIP to everyone who didn't like the cruise ship disaster, I had a great time and it was the best opening in YEARS), but can actually follow through on storylines and emotional beats all season. And maybe get more calls??? On the weewoo show?? It was always and issue on LS too which I thought was Rob Lowe syndrome an all the "Owen things firefighting is boring" stuff but maybe it's budget constraints? Yo! ABC! Give us the cash for good emergencies! And of course, they need to get Kristen the FUCK out of the writers room. Please, literally ANY cop show out there, we are literally BEGGING you to take her off our hands!

Bright side, I have been working on my Countdowns fic (I posted a little bit last week and I want to try and work on it more now that all my shows are on hiatus), and while *I* may be the worlds slowest writer, I just know the Buddie fandom is going to come through with some BANGER canon-fix-it fics. So cheers to that, and lets pray the muse smiles on me astronaut!Buck/medic!Eddie so I can actually contribute something. I'm gonna go make a flatbread spinach and artichoke pizza, watch something, literally ANYTHING else, and oggle my d20 Bad Kids dice that arrived today, my Ayda pin, and my Jawbone quote mug and not think about 911 for a little bit. (until I'm allowed out of post-limit jail and can go back to being a petty bench on main).

Take a breath, we can get through this hiatus together! At least we know we have Oliver and Ryan on our side, so let's make some Buddie content for them to send to each other to help THEM through this rough time.

[inkthecat]

OC - Lark Penn

sometimes you impulsively make an oc at 2 am and then you keep turning them around in your head for the next few hours unable to sleep because theyre so skrunkly and suddenly its 6 am and you NEED to draw them. anyway this is my baby lark i love them very much

pokemon oc if it wasnt obvious already dkfjlasdkjflasd but aaahhhhh theyre so baby aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

lark penn, they/them, 16 years old, from eterna city in sinnoh, so very tired. aspiring artist with a special love for sculpture. their parents are kinda busy 24/7 so they just kinda raised themselves (and they had really nice elderly neighbors who taught them how to cook and also how to do a mean right hook if anyone ever tried to hurt them).

more info under the cut if youre interested!

they wear loose, long sleeved clothing with less saturated colors, and almost always wear a scarf. when they were younger they believed the flowy ends could be wings. theyre emotionally and socially awkward (like me :D) and cant handle people being around them very well. they always put in earbuds with music when they go grocery shopping (also me afdbfasffhhfcgfbn)

they really really like flying types. they met ven the zubat in a cave somewhere while they were stumbling along looking for cool rocks. they didnt have any pokemon at that point so ven kind of maybe poisoned them a bit (there are a lot of humans that come through the ravaged path and a good percentage of them dont do anything good. flash bright lights, break parts of the walls, litter, etc etc) and lark was like. oh. that sure happened. and theyre like "hey mx. zubat? uh. do you know the way out? i get that you poisoned me out of a sense of self defense so ill see myself out but im kinda lost also i probably need medical help" and ven is like. bestie you fr right now and shows them out of the cave where they promptly collapse and ven kinda likes this human at this point so they go get help. long story short, woah its lark's first pokemon! theyre besties!

umbra the corviknight was brought to sinnoh as a rookidee by a rich galarian trainer on vacation. sinnoh is very much colder than galar (in my hc at least) and the baby bird's wings could not handle it. consequently her battling was severely hindered, so the entitled rich trainer shoved her off to someone else (who happened to be lark. they were just at the right pokemon center at the right time) and they were having none of it. then they realized umbra would be in a much better home if they accepted her. ven proceeded to leave the rich trainer with poison and a nasty bite on the ankle. umbra has been added to the party! she adapts to the colder climate gradually and with much care from lark

lark isnt a battler but ven definitely is. ven is a fast and bitey little menace who prefers staying unevolved because they love it when people underestimate a tiny zubat and then get obliterated. also they really like being small and sleeping in lark's scarf (and they are kinda scared to become a golbat. they saw a big one being a bully back in the cave and theyre scared evolution will make them meaner. it wont and they know it, but lark doesnt mind ven napping in their scarf for as long as they want to). umbra...umbra likes battling sometimes, but she doesnt like it when its too intense. reminds her of her old trainer. not good. she doesnt mind evolving- her evolution into corvisquire was out of something like fear that she wasnt good enough as a rookidee. lark figured that out, hugged her, and told her that no matter how strong she was theyd always love her. she evolved into corviknight with more love in her heart, and she loves being big enough to fly lark around and to curl around them as they sleep.

haha yup i am so normal about pokemon

[lunaastoir]

fluff/relationships w the liyue crew

characters included: xiao, childe, beidou, and zhongli

ik i forgot ningguang i promise i’ll include her in part 2, i just didn’t have time :(

all x a gn! reader 

my liyue babies :,) ft. ningguang in spirit

an: i was listening to my soft playlist (more like listening to cupid’s chokehold on repeat, no i am not basic 🔪) and i thought some fluff headcanons would be cute w these sweet people

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

xiao

ok so no surprise that he hates liyue harbor

he hates anything w a lot of people in it so he prefers to stay at wangshu inn tyvm

but by contrast, you love liyue harbor sm (it’s gorgeous i mean c’mON)

you go there often to retrieve your commissions in order to stay closer to xiao (liyue harbor is closer than mondstadt he argues but you’re well aware that they’re both equally far away)

so if anyone asked, xiao would absolutely refuse to go to the harbor like i hate people??? why would you even ask???

but,,,he’s so sOFT for you

if you asked??? he would agree in a heartbeat

but since he’s >:( angsty boy, he makes you think that he won’t go even when he’s already decided that he’s coming w you

he puts up the “if you so require, then i guess i will assist you with your travels in liyue harbor” but in reality he would definitely have said yes even without the almond tofu

while he hates the harbor, he thinks that with you anything is bearable :,) simp

you take him to see xinyan to vibe w her music and you can tell he really enjoys it

even tho he’s like 🕴 the entire time, you see the softer look on his face and the very slight smile on his lips as he listens to the music and watches the crowd

so so so cute very soft for him

i do see him as a subtly touchy person in public like brushing the hair off your face, swiping his thumb across your cheek, or gently pulling your hair back when you have a plate of food in your hands 

the type to link your pinkies together - he claims it’s so you don’t get lost but yk better 

after the concert is done you take him to that one waypoint near mt. tianheng and the both of you just watch the city lights and the way they reflect beautifully on the water surrounding the harbor 

personal headcanon that xiao absolutely loves stargazing since he believes the stars are the one true constant in his life especially since he’s experienced so much loss (basically they’ll never leave him god i hate myself why do i make everything SAD)

mini headcanon off of that - he doesn’t stargaze with people,,, like ever 

it’s something he loves to do alone so the fact that he lets you stargaze w him and even allows you to shift your head onto his lap while you watch the sky is a huge deal 

he loves it when you softly whisper abt how your day was or something you saw that made you laugh 

he just loves hearing your voice, it automatically calms the voices in his head 

you absolutely ADORE when he has flowers in his hair especially cecilias (cecillias? ceccillias? idfk) and you make a point whenever you go to mondstadt to pick a fresh batch of cecilias just for xiao while enlisting the help of your favorite bard  

these soft moments on the mountain are usually when you’ll sweetly tuck in a flower or two in his hair while laughing 

he’ll blush fiercely while looking away but will tuck the cecilias in securely as you’re unable to do so due to the position you’re in on his lap

all in all - this was not meant to come out as a date idea but we’re going w it 

this is so cute xiao pls let me put flowers in your hair sweet boy <3

childe

god, loml, my favorite war criminal after eren yeager 

there’s never a dull moment w this man - if you wanted peace and quiet, why the hell are you dating him bestie???

is the type of person to yell out “Y/N, i can’t believe i ran into you here!” if he sees you somewhere even tho you explicitly told him you were going to be here in the morning (ik you have a good memory ajax don’t lie to me 😐)

i don’t see him as being obnoxious w pda unlike someone else kaeya but he would definitely participate (think: handholding, cheek kisses, an arm around your shoulders)

loves it when he comes home and sees you in an apron cooking 

domesticity just makes his heart melt so you can be sure that your face will be peppered w a lot of kisses afterwards <3 

absolutely ADORES it when you trace his scars absentmindedly when you’re lying down or even when you’re having dinner in public  

he’s been far from his family for so long that small acts of mindless affection like this really make his heart happy 

you have him drunk on your love luv haha see what i did there 

he will let you put makeup on him. no i do not take criticism ⛄️

he already has on lowkey thick eyeliner,,, don’t be shy put some more bestie 

he will shamelessly go out in public w whatever you made him wear - doesn’t really give a shit even tho he has a reputation to maintain 

speaking of reputation,,, yk his mask? yeah that one - the red hair accessory that he has on his head

well on the mask, he attached a little charm the both of you got together on your first date during lantern rite 

it’s this adorable fox that we all shamelessly kill for meat and he placed it so it anchored to the side of his mask so when he fights it isn’t a nuisance or anything (does that make sense??? i hope it does) 

his subordinates notice and while they’re stoic around childe, behind closed doors they do whisper abt the mysterious person who’s captured his heart 

not so mysterious anymore when they literally see him cling onto you during his daily patrol around the harbor 💀

it’s ok tho he’s lucky he’s cute 

bestie,,, pls give him a neck massage 

i just KNOW he’s tense there idk something abt the way he carries himself just screams “my neck hurts so bad someone pls help me i would ask but my pride literally will not let me”

so give him a neck massage :) don’t worry tho he’ll definitely return the favor and then some

LOVES TICKLE FIGHTS 

he’s obsessed w them,,, it’s just the faces you make??? he can’t get enough 

he loves seeing the pure joy and the brief fear (he’s kind of a sadist) in your eyes before he attacks you w those damned hands 

it reminds him a lot of simpler times w his siblings and he’s happy he brings you joy and makes you forget your worries - at least for a little while 

all in all, he’s a good boy and no i will not tolerate childe slander 🔪 kaeya slander tho 😏

beidou

you pulled beidou??? wow everyone’s jealous (pulled as in literally from the banner and in this context but no i do not have beidou and no i definitely do not want to talk abt it)

god made beidou and zhongli just so all of us could have a sexuality crisis 

anyways, being w her is hard i will not lie 

not bc she isn’t a capable lover - no, quite the contrary 

she’s an amazing partner but the problem here lies in the fact that she’s almost never on land 

it’s hard working a long distance relationship but y’all love each other so it works out :,) 

when she is physically present however, expect to never be bored 

she’ll quietly fix the wrinkles on your shirt or fiddle with your fingers in her hands while she recounts her adventures out on sea 

she sometimes gets worried she bores you, however the way your eyes light up every time she tells a tale always reassures her otherwise

definitely the type to let you use her claymore if you want to learn 

she’ll provide useful tips as she tucks her hands into your sides gently, positioning you correctly so you don’t hurt yourself 

miss girl is an AMAZING cook 

i just know she cooks the best meals - i mean she’s friends w xiangling after all 

whenever she comes home from a voyage she’ll always insist on making something for you even if she’s abt to pass out 

pls tuck her into bed and promise her that she can make you something in the morning <3 the poor woman needs rest 

brings you back trinkets but they’re actually very practical 

she knows you won’t have much use for a simple charm (not that there’s anything wrong w that) but she believes you’ll like something practical more so she might get you a new engraved knife from the most recent place she’s been to 

definitely the type to surprise you when she docks 

i can imagine her anchoring her ship out a little ways from liyue harbor and rowing to the dock in order to make sure you aren’t alerted of her presence (i’m sorry the mental picture this made in my mind is SENDING ME INTO ORBIT but she means well i love you)

will take you to remote spots she’s found in her travels through liyue 

for example - the little heart shaped island and the island quest (?) that you had to use kaeya the bridge maker for in order to get to im sorry i’ll stop w the kaeya slander

she’ll get you seashell bracelets or necklaces idk why but she gives me those vIBES 

they’re super nice ones too, only the highest quality for you 

yes she’s a bruh girl but i also see her as someone who would enjoy intimate moments like watching the sunset or something 

“yo wanna catch the sunset, i heard it looks sick from the jade chamber” said before ahem it yk fell from the sky

kasdjksfashfjsahf yes ofc i would love to catch the sunset w you pls come home luv

anyways, she is a woman i would give the world for 

zhongli

ok gimme a sec i need to get my gentleman mode on 

this man,,, THIS MAN 

everything w him is so soft like your entire eXISTENCE w him could go in a museum it’s that beautiful 

in the morning when he visits you, he always brings you a cup of your favorite tea and a bouquet of glaze lilies he got from madame ping

holds the door for you, pushes the chair out for you, uses a napkin and brushes sauce off your lips when you’re eating - you name something sweet, he’s done it

secretly loves it when you fuss over him 

he doesn’t like to fight but say he encountered a group of hillichurls he couldn’t avoid and promptly defeated them but ended up tearing a part of his tux(?) (is it a tux? i could not tell you)

not that big of a deal, i mean it’s a scratch, he’s a 6,000 year old god, he’s dealt w much worse 

but seeing the worried crease in your brows as you usher him to sit at the table while quickly grabbing antiseptic to clean his wound

“it’s just a scratch, my dear. do not worry i’ve dealt with much worse.”

you quietly protest abt how “yes zhongli, i understand you’re an archon and have gotten worse injuries but i’m worried about infection just please let me take care of you ok? <3″ 

when you say that he feels weird emotions,,, wdym take care of him? 

he’s always taken care of himself or been expected to take care of others as the former ruling deity of liyue so having someone else genuinely worry abt his wellbeing creates a warm feeling in his chest 

he strikes me as the type to knit you something??? idk maybe it’s the grandpa vibes but i headcanon that he would knit you a scarf for the colder weather, it’s cute 

in the privacy of your home, he really likes picking you up

he loves it when you wrap your legs around his middle while he gets up to go do the dishes or smthg 

domesticity go brrrr

if you’re into making flower crowns, he would totally have you on his lap and wordlessly hand you a glaze lily whenever you expectantly hold your hand out while weaving the flowers together 

he expects you to make the crown for yourself but when you place the crown on his head and it fits perfectly while simultaneously tucking a glaze lily behind your ear, he looks at you dumbstruck 

his mouth parts open in awe and it’s quite literally the cutest thing

you’ve broken him 

thinks it’s the sweetest thing - will keep it on his head for the whole day 

he’ll even put it in water before he sleeps so it won’t wilt and he can wear it the next day <3 

scenic picnics!! scenic picnics!! 

the type to take you to the nicest spots in liyue to chat abt the history of the land w you over a cup of tea and your favorite food (whatever you like, he doesn’t mind)

recounts the people he’s met in his long life before finishing off by saying you’re by far the best person he’s met 

zhongli strangles lovingly come home soon 

thanks for reading! if you have any requests don’t hesitate to send them in <3 

[darling-i-read-it]

Missed

Loki x reader

Word Count: 1.1k

Warnings: LOKI EPISODE 1 SPOILERS

Author’s Note: I literally saved this request to do after I saw the first episode besties and it was AMAZING!!!! I usually do my requests in the order I received them but I had to post this one now lol Loki supremacy

Requested: by anon, Sooo I'd love to request a short where the s/n meets the other timeline Loki and she had a relationship with the one who died in infinity war, I imagined a few lines from favorite crime by Olivia Rodrigo, I hope it's fine ♥️ thanks love, I really love your writing!

Summary: When Loki looks back at his memories he is happy to see you there. Then you happen to be at TVA as well.

Genre: angst then fluff

I don’t own these characters. They belong to author/director/creator

(not my gif)

Loki was confused. He was confused and he didn’t like to be confused. He would much have preferred that he go wherever the Avengers had planned for him, especially if it meant back to Asgard. But instead he stood in front of a little device that held his every memory, confused and angry and worst of all, scared.

Memory and future.

He was almost nervous to see what else was there. His mother dying had been bad enough, what else would he have to watch?

But he did it regardless. The scenes in front of him started with Odin, telling him and Thor that he loved him just before dying. A pit formed in his stomach and he started to choke up. That was all he ever wanted to hear. Then Thor, telling him that he wasn’t all that bad. His brother liked him, his brother didn’t see him as a villain.

Then you.

You were smiling. How he loved and missed you. He had left you on Asgard and he truly didn’t mean to. Knowing that you were in his future made him smile. He let the small bit of tears he had fall down his cheek.

“You know I’ve always loved you right? Even when people told me you were the bad guy. You’re my favorite crime Loki”

Loki’s eyes closed for a minute, letting those words sync in, knowing that you meant it. Then the memories moved on to a couple more of Thor and him. The three of you and a woman he didn’t recognize teaming up.

And then his face was illuminated with blue as Thanos picked him up. He stood up quickly moving toward the screen.

There was a quick flash to Thor, being held down and then back to Loki as he took his final words and last breath.

The screen then changed to Thor over his body and you, shaking him, screaming for him to wake up. Your voice was raw with pain.

The file ended.

Loki didn’t know what to think at first. All he could do was wonder if that was it. How could that be it? That couldn’t be all that he was meant to do in his life. He couldn’t have his time cut off, right when he was getting to a place where he thought he belonged, could he?

The door opened and he figured it was a person coming to get him. He started to laugh dryly, shaking his head slightly.

“Burdened for glorious purpose,” he muttered before turning around.

What he saw stopped him dead in his tracks.

You.

You in the same uniform he was in, the same collar.

“Is this some kind of cruel trick?” he asked, not taking a step forward. He regretted the words when he said it because he saw the tears in your eyes. You ran up to him, throwing your arms around him. It almost knocked him over but he stayed steady, wrapping his arms around you. You smelled the same as he remembered.

“I thought I had lost you,” you said, crying desperately. You pulled away and he wiped your eyes carefully. That was when you noticed that his hair was shorter than it had been. His face just a little younger. “Loki?”

“I don’t believe I’m the Loki you knew.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I picked up the tesseract when the Avengers went back in time,” he explained. Your eyes went wide as you composed yourself.

“So you were just picked up after trying to take over New York?” He nodded. You let out a small breath and smiled a tad. “So young.”

“I suppose you are the person who cried over my dead body.”

“You saw that?” He nodded solemly.

“I am sorry you had to see it,” he said gently. Seeing you, a familiar face made him want to jump for joy.

“I knew I would see you again,” you said matter of factly. “You promised I would see you again.” You hugged him again and he breathed you in.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. His voice was very kind. He had always been kind to you his voice now reminded you of when you were just children and the innocence hadn’t been stolen from him yet.

“I apparently made the wrong choice somewhere and it wasn’t the right timeline. Last thing I remember, Thanos had just been defeated. Maybe I was meant to die. Either way, I’m glad I disobyed the time lords.” You grabbed his hands and held them tightly. “We have to get out of here.”

“I can’t use my magic.”

“Me neither. Come on, we’re smarter than this. We can out run Mobius and whoever else comes for us,” you explained.

“I believe this is the highest power,” he said. You rolled your eyes.

“I thought you were the highest power.” He smiled.

“It’s great to see you.” You kissed him. He leaned forward and you molded your bodies together, like you did every time you kissed. When you pulled away you had a determined look on your face.

“Believe me, it’s even better to see you. Now come on, we have to find a way out of here.”

“Are you going to fight your way out using only your wits?” he teased as he started to walk behind you.

“I have some combat training, thank you very much.”

“Yes, that combat training you took with me where we did anything but combat.” You nudged him.

“Perhaps we should watch that back in our memories. It was a glorious evening.”

“My point exactly. How do you think we can get out of here without magic?” You turned to him, stopping.

“Stop asking questions. We have never had a plan in our lives. Why now do you think we need one?” He wanted to kiss you again but refrained.

“Odin's beard I’ve missed you.”

[waka-chan-out]

hi bestie that matsun fic had me running laps 🏃🏽‍♀️ so i’m here yet again. may i get goshiki with prompt 29 & nsfw? preferably with him as the sub? thank you for the food bestie 😩

300 Follower Event

Goshiki Tsutomu

Prompt 29: “Don’t be shy.”

this fic was part of my 300 follower event. check out the rest of the submissions here.

post-timeskip, obviously.

word count: 1.6k

content warnings: established relationship, sub!!!goshiki, dom!reader, masturbation, edging, praise kink, begging, pet names, some teary eyed goshiki because i have no self control.

tanz i swear to god you’re trying to kill me. i had to take several deep breaths when i got this message because goshiki activates a feral part of my brain.

quick reminder that all my kink-related fics use the stoplight system so everything that is going on is 100% consensual :)

You watched from the doorway for a moment. It was almost adorable how desperate he looked, how eagerly he fucked into his fist, bangs messy on his forehead, mouth hung open in a silent moan.

He sped up the motion, face screwing up as a quiet groan caught in his throat. You were sure he was getting close to finishing, but you couldn’t resist holding him back.

“Tsutomu,” you said. He made a surprised sound and jumped off the bed. He could barely look up at you as he pulled the covers off the bed to cover himself. “Couldn’t wait for me?”

God, he looked so good when he was embarrassed. You couldn’t tell in the dim light of the bedroom, but you were sure his cheeks were bright red. He was frowning, but in a precious, humiliated way that made you want to pounce.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d be home this early.”

“You shouldn’t apologize. Go ahead and continue.”

“What?”

You smiled and climbed onto the bed, sitting right in front of where he stood.

“No need to stop on my account.”

He was frozen, surprised and confused and still trying his best to cover himself.

“Come here, puppy,” you said, grabbing his free hand. He let out a sharp sigh. He knew the second the pet names started coming out, he was yours. You pulled him down so he was kneeling in front of you.

He still wouldn’t look up at you.

“Tsutomu,” you said. When he didn’t move, you reached out and lifted his chin with a finger. “Don’t be shy. Show me.”

He looked unsure for a moment, different emotions flashing across his face and not quite settling. Looking up at you, however, he seemed to steady himself. He took a deep breath, then began moving his hand again.

He immediately let out a ragged gasp, left over from being forced to stop so suddenly. He got over the feeling quickly, eagerly pumping his hand with parted lips.

You had been together for long enough now that you could read all of his tells. The little noises he let out rose in pitch, his face screwed up into something that looked almost like pain. Finally there was the tensing of his shoulders, the tipping of his head, and—

“Stop,” you ordered. His eyes flew open in surprise and, seeing you were serious, he took his hand away. His breath was caught for a moment, then he let out a sad noise.

“You need to learn patience, love.” You leaned down and pushed his sweaty bangs out of his face, then planted a quick kiss on his forehead. “Can you do this?”

His eyes were distant and tired, but he nodded. You smiled.

“Good boy.”

His face brightened up at the praise. He always preferred sweet talk, being told how well-behaved and good he was, but if he didn’t like the rest of it, just a little bit, he wouldn’t be squirming the way he was.

“You can keep going,” you said. He closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath before slowly running his hand down his length. The moan he let out almost sounded pained. He hung his head and let the top of it come to rest against your knee. It was like his body was fighting him with every motion, but he didn’t let himself stop.

He got to the edge quicker this time, normally quiet, high pitched gasps turning into full blown whines. Even though he was hiding his face, there was no misplacing the tensing, the final push towards the summit.

“Stop.”

His hand flew to the back of your leg to hold himself back. He let out a breath that sounded like he was resurfacing from a deep pool.

“Good,” you cooed, running a hand through his hair. You cupped his face and tilted it up to look at you. His eyes were a bit watery and his cheeks were bright red.

“You’re being so good for me, Tsutomu. Are you okay?”

“Yes,” he breathed. He leaned more of his weight into your hand. “Just . . . need to come soon.” You laughed.

“You will, baby, don’t worry. Just not until I say so.”

He groaned and hid his face in your hand.

“Come on, you’re doing so well. Show me that you can do it.”

He hesitated, still breathing heavily. He nodded.

“I’m so proud of you. Can you try to stop yourself this time?”

His face screwed up in a wince, but he nodded.

“Use your words, puppy.”

“Yes. I can do it.”

“Okay, good boy. Start when you’re ready.”

He took a deep breath and prepared to start. His face tipped back down against your leg.

“No, no honey. I want you to look at me this time.”

“Okay,” he whispered. He slowly turned his gaze back up to yours. He hissed as he touched himself again. You carded a hand through his hair and he let his eyes flicker shut for a second. Slowly he started, the loose circle of his hand pumping himself almost gingerly, like he was afraid of the contact. At this point, he probably was.

“Enjoy it, Tsutomu. You can’t stop yourself if you’re scared of what you’re feeling.”

He bit down on his lip and nodded. It was hard for him to maintain eye contact, so you leaned forward and grabbed the back of his neck. You pulled him close to you, holding his forehead against yours.

“Such a good boy. You look so cute when you touch yourself, you know that?” His fist sped up as you spoke and a groan tore through his lips. He continued staring into your eyes. His widened as he felt himself getting closer. You smiled.

“So desperate. My handsome boy.”

His eyes punched shut and he swore as he tore his hand away, balling it into a fist against you. His whole body remained in motion, locking in protest to the lack of stimulation.

“Please,” he panted, rocking his hips into nothing. “Can I please come?”

He looked up at you with pleading eyes. His mouth hung open as he panted, desperately waiting for permission. He was sweating, dark hair sticking up wildly where he rested his head against your thigh. He avoided looking down at his cock, now an angry red color.

You gently stroked his cheek.

“Do you think you deserve to yet?”

He whimpered and buried his face against your thigh.

“Please. I’ve been good. It hurts.”

“You’re going to listen to me, right?”

“Always. I’m good. I promise I’ll be good.”

“You are good, baby.” You cupped his chin and brought him up into a kiss. He sighed unsteadily and you could feel him shaking.

“One more,” you said. He let out a sob and pressed his face back into your leg.

“I can’t.”

“Look at me, Tsutomu.”

He looked up with watery eyes.

“You’re so good for me. It’ll be worth the wait, I promise. Do you trust me?”

He nodded.

“Go ahead and start then, puppy.”

He took a deep breath and slowly began shifting his hand again. He swore and pressed his face further into your skin.

“I can’t. Please. I can’t do it.”

You looked down and realized he might be right.

“Okay, puppy.”

He let out a sound somewhere between a sob and a sigh of relief. You ran a hand through his hair and shushed him.

“Hush, baby. You’ve been good and begged so nicely. You can let go.”

“Thank you,” he mumbled.

He stared down between his legs, psyching himself up before wrapping a hand around his oversensitive cock. He immediately jumped and leaned close to you. His head fell into your lap and his free arm wrapped around your midsection, clinging tightly to you as he began moving.

It was fast and hard, pushing gasp after gasp from his lips like he was barely holding onto control of his lungs. He moaned on almost every exhale, sweet sounds that raised in pitch at the end and made his whole body shake.

His shoulders shrugged and he grasped you tighter, a strangled “fuck” falling from his lips. You continued running your hands through his hair as he chased the high he had been forced to avoid. He swore again and then went silent.

He was motionless and all of his breath was caught in his throat.

Then he let out a long groan, his entire body vibrating with an orgasm you were sure was overwhelming. He spilled over his hand, his stomach, your leg, completely unable to stop himself when his body was out of his control.

He stopped the motion of his hand and twisted his head to the side so he could breathe freely, long, exhausted gasps that racked his entire body. His body went slack and he melted into you. You continued shushing him, running your hand through his hair and muttering short “good boy”s and “you did so well”s as his panting slowed.

He looked up at you with tired eyes and you smiled.

“Didn’t I tell you it was worth the wait?” you asked. Wonder was written all over his face as he let his head fall back to your lap.

“I’m sorry. I mean, thank you. I’m sorry.” His voice was muffled against your leg and you laughed.

“Come on, big guy. Let’s get you cleaned up.”

You tried to help him stand and he shot you a dopey smile.

“Thank you.”

[theonewiththefanfics]

Black Ice (one-shot)

Synopsis: Black ice is considered one of the most dangerous winter weather phenomenon. It appears after it’s rained or snow has melted and then the rapidly cooling air freezes it, leaving it as a shiny black mirror on the ground.  A deadly shiny black mirror. 

Pairing: Harry Styles x fem!Reader

Genre: angst, fluff

Warnings: swearing, mentions of hospitals and injuries

Word count: 8852

“God, Harry, it’s just one night!” Y/N exasperated, throwing her hands in the air. “One fucking night I wanna go out with my friends and have some fun. Is that really too much to ask?”

        “I haven’t seen you in two months!” he snapped back. “So, please fucking forgive me that I wanna spend a night in with my girlfriend and have her say ‘no’ one time, and make me a priority. Is it so hard to reschedule?”

        “Yes, Harry it is!” Y/N stood her ground. “Adam and I have been talking about this for three weeks before we could set a date and meet up. He fucking flew out here! To London! And it’s not my fault you haven’t been home in two months, so don’t put that on me.”

        “No,” he shook his head pointing a finger at her. “Don’t pull that shit on me. You knew about my job, you know how it can be, how much I have to travel.”

        “I get that, and I’d get your anger if I was fucking off with my friends on our anniversary without any notice or some shit, but I’m not! I made these plans ages ago. I told you about them! How could I have known you’d decide to ‘surprise’ me a week early?”

        But the thing for Harry was – he did think there was an anniversary to celebrate. It wasn’t an official one, and he hadn’t told Y/N how much the date meant, but that day was the day they’d met a year prior.

***

        He was in the middle of filming ‘Darling Don’t Worry’. This time they'd flown out of California to shoot a scene in the middle of the woods, in the cold of November, which as exciting as it was to have his acting career flourish, Harry wasn't too happy about freezing his ass off in the middle of nowhere.

Y/N, however, lived right next to those woods, her family house having been there for generations, while the location scouts of the movie had chosen the location because the aesthetic could double as the location of the woods behind the mansion.

        Y/N’d been out on her daily run (well, daily complaining because Y/N, with all her being, hated running, and thought it was a sign you were a masochist. But her best friend Adam loved running and hated going alone, so he bribed her with the promise of pizza afterwards), when they’d run into pitched white tents, filming equipment and barriers encasing a part of the path they were on.

        Adam’s eyebrows furrowed as he slowed his pace, and Y/N thanked god for that because she felt like she was about to pass out.

        “What’s going on here?”

        “Dunno,” Y/N huffed. “But we should probably leave.”

        But instead, Adam grabbed her by the bicep, dragging her forward to the set. “Nope. Come on.”

        “Adam!” she hissed. “What the fuck are you – “

        “Hi!” He flashed a woman standing by the railing a smile. “Could you-uh-tell us what’s going on? Why’s the path blocked?”

        “A movie’s being filmed. Sorry for the disturbance.”

        “Mhm, and when do you think you’ll be leaving?”

        That she hadn’t expected, given how typically when people saw a movie set, they’d be more than intrigued in getting into a shot or finding out about who were the stars, not when they’d be going away.

        “Oh, uh,” she stammered. “I’m not too sure. Depends if the snow starts falling and how much we manage to shoot. Sorry. But uh, would you be so kind and find a path around?”

        Y/N jumped in, flashing her a kind smile. “Yes, thank you. So sorry to have disturb –“

        “You do realise this is a public place?” Adam raised an eyebrow. “We have a right to be here.”

        “Adam, shut up,” Y/N groaned. “We can run around them, it’s not a big deal.”

        “But this is our route!”

        “Adam for fuck’s sake! It’s the woods, you don’t own them!”

        “Exactly!” he said. “And neither do they! They have no rights to infringe on our ability to get to the sea.”

        That’s when Harry had noticed her, and to this day Y/N had no clue as to why he’d fallen for her. He was conversing with Florence about the upcoming scene when his ears caught the very end of the conversation, green eyes snapping to where two people in running tracksuits stood.

        One of them was a tall burly man, muscles practically ripping apart his clothes at the seams, the other was a shorter woman, hands-on-hips, hair kept away by a headband which also covered her ears, and the most done expression on her face as she glared at her companion.

        They were talking with a nervous assistant; Harry could see by her stature and how her head kept snapping to the side in hopes of finding someone above her to deal with the two strangers.

        “Adam, I swear to god, I’ll punch you." Harry heard the woman exclaim. "Leave the girl alone! We can run around.”

        “But I –“

        “Adam!”

        “Fine,” he grumbled as he threw the assistant and apologetic look. “Sorry.”

        “ ‘S okay. Have my preferred cycling route as well, so yeah… Sorry.”

        Harry watched as the woman next to the person, Adam, shook her head and gestured to where the barriers curved around, starting up on a slow jog, and when they passed where he was standing by the trailers, he could hear them still arguing. 

        “Oh my god,” Harry heard her whisper while looking at the ground. “I’m friends with a fucking Karen.”

        “I am NOT a – you’re Harry Fucking Styles!” Adam shouted so hard, it startled Y/N, and when she looked over, it was like a deer in headlights before relaxing and both of them slowed their pace.

        “Sorry,” she gave him an awkward glance. “He’s a fan, but we’ll be going and stop bothering you...”

        “No, no,” Harry shook his head, putting his hands in his coat’s pockets and smiling. “ ‘S alright, you’re no bother. I’m always happy to talk to a fan.”

        “Yes, well, don’t encourage him. Soon enough, you’ll be besties, and Adam here’ll be turning your life into absolute chaos.”

        He scoffed looking down at his friend. “I’d like to think I’m taking you out of your boring routine, Y/N, and giving it some spice.”

        “Anyway,” she gritted out. “It was lovely to meet you, but uh, we should probably be on our way. You have to be somewhere.”

        Y/N’s eyes glanced over Harry’s shoulder, where a nervous AD stood, bouncing on her feet, a weary smile on her face as she caught the singer’s eyes and motioned with her head he was needed back on set.

        Harry nodded and wanted to turn back to tell the two to come by whenever they wanted (well mainly Y/N), but when he turned around, the two were already quite a few feet away. Just as he was about to leave, he heard Y/N shout, “Congratulations on the three Grammy nominations, by the way. ‘Fine Line’ was amazing.”

        “And that’s a compliment!” Adam hollered jogging backwards. “She only listens to shit from the early 2000s.”

        “Adam, shut up!”

        With that, Harry was left to watch the two disappear behind the trees, a feeling he was quite familiar with settling in his chest.

        It was three days later, when he saw Y/N approaching the set barriers, hands in her pockets, as she rolled her neck. Their eyes met, and even, from the distance, he could see her smile split apart her face, but when she just waved without the intention of coming any closer to the lot, Harry rushed to the side calling out to her. “Hey!” 

        “Hey!” Y/N responded chuckling and ducking her head down. “You alright?”

        “ ‘M alive. How ‘bout you? You doin’ fine?’”

        “The bar’s so low?”

        “I guess. Won’t be able to get you to nurse me back to health though, which is why I’m in the cold again.”

        She wiggled her eyebrows at Harry. “If you wanted to see me, there's no need to lose limbs or bits of yourself.”

        Harry hadn’t expected her to be so upfront, but he couldn’t lie and say he didn’t like it. Made it easier for him to understand if his advances were welcome or if he should back off. “So uh, no Adam today?”

        “No, he has a late shift at work. Which means I’m spared from the running.”

        “Not a fan?” he looked at her with a quirked brow, seemingly saying ‘you’re sure dressed like you are’.

        “Do I look like someone who likes stabbing pain in her side and having her heart ripped out of her chest?

        “You’re just not breathing properly.”

        Y/N sighed. “If one of you gives me any more advice about how to properly run when I don’t even want to run, I swear I’ll stab you.”

        “Okay!” he threw his hands up in surrender, laughing. “No more talk about running if I wanna keep my head on my shoulders. Where are you uh going? You don’t have to answer, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

        Y/N squealed on the inside, but bit her lip to keep the grin away. She’d been dying to talk to Harry since they’d briefly met but had no real reason. Not that she had one now, but she’d had a horrible day at work and needed to clear her head, and what was better than the forest air (also she could scream there without anyone really caring). “You’re not, so don’t worry. I’m uh I’m going to the sea.”

        Harry’s eyebrows rose. “There’s sea nearby?”

        “You’re like a fifteen-minute walk away from it,” she chuckled, stuffing her hands in her coat’s pockets. “Should really be more aware of your surroundings.”

        “We’re in the middle of nowhere.”

        Y/N tilted her head. “Yeah, you’re kind of right. But it’s places like these where you can find the best spots.”

        “Will you show me then?”

        She looked at him with an unreadable expression, and he could only hope his nervousness wasn’t as apparent, because Harry was more than convinced his erratically beating heart could be heard miles away. But then she nodded, giving him a wide grin, making one of his own bloom on his face. 

“You sure you won’t freeze on your way there?” she said in a sarcastic tone eyeing him up and down, and Harry shoved her a bit.   

        He donned one of the standard down-jackets issued for the movie with winter boots, but given the costume underneath, he was chilled to the bone. “It’s bloody cold, and my toes are freezing off. How are you still standing?”

        “Insulated shoes and thermal clothes. Kinda boiling actually.”

        “I should steal ‘em.” He smiled at her. “Probably have frostbite by now.”

        “Wow, you people from the South UK really are weak.”

        Harry’s gasp made her smile as wide as a Cheshire cat. “How dare you!” He dramatically placed a hand on his chest, Y/N’s laughter erupting through the air. It cut through the yells and shouts from the filming crew, and made a warmth spread in his chest. “How do you know about the South versus North? You don’t sound like you’re from the UK.”

        “Studied there for three years; had loads of flatmates from all around, let alone course mates.” Y/N chuckled and shook her head. “And to say that I thrived on the chaos  was when you said North was better than the South would be an understatement.”

        “Well, I guess I know where your loyalties lie.”

        “Did you expect me to immediately swoon over you?” Y/N batted her eyelashes at him. “Oh, Mr Harry Styles. Your voice in ‘Kiwi’ was so good it fucked me to cloud nine. Will you please do that to me with your dick instead? Which you should take as a compliment again, considering kiwi is the only thing I’m allergic to.”

        “Wait,” he looked at her, eyebrows up to the middle of his forehead. “So you have heard my stuff?”

        “Well, I don’t live completely under a rock. I did say 'Fine Line' was amazing.”

        “But you don’t really like it?”

        Y/N shook her head. “ ‘S not that I don’t like yours or other pop stuff, ‘s just that I have a preference, and I guess it’s, as Adam said, ‘early 2000s shit’.”

        A sly smile appeared on Harry’s face. “But could that include by any chance 'One Direction'?”

        “Afraid not,” Y/N sighed giving him a pout. “When you came onto the scene, my heart was already taken by a boyband. And I can be a lot of things, but I most definitely a loyal bitch.”

        “One band at a time kind of gal?”

        “Exactly.” She beamed. God Harry had never wanted to kiss a person that bad. 

        “Duly noted, but I will need to know who they are, and how many graves do I have to dig? You know, for research purposes.”

        “Going method now?”

        “What’dya mean?”

        Y/N shrugged sniffling a bit from the frosty weather. “Looked up a little bit about the movie. Need to know what kind of people might be around in the area. Psychological thriller. Wife. Rich husband. A dark secret. My guess – someone’s dead and buried. Also, the huge pit we walked past was kind of a give-away.”

        He paused for a second before nodding. “Fair enough.”

        A comfortable silence fell between the two as Y/N motioned with her head to where they needed to turn and made their way onto a new path when she spoke. “ ‘S not that I wasn’t a fan,” Y/N shrugged glancing at Harry from the side. “The songs were really catchy, but I guess I got tired of them? Like they were on the radio so much, it was a relief I didn’t have to hear the five of you singing about how I don’t know I’m beautiful.”

        Harry threw his head back in a laugh. “Don’t worry. Sometimes we’d get sick of it ourselves. But umm, ‘Fine Line’… You said you liked it… Do ya’ have a favourite song?”

        Y/N cringed. “Is it cliché if I say ‘Golden’? Because it’s ‘Golden’. I’m a sucker for a slow and then a ‘bam!’ kind of an opening.”

        Harry shook his head. Now he was the one biting back a grin. “ ‘S not cliché. Was one of my favourites to write, so I’m glad you appreciate it.”

        “Also, it makes me feel sunny? If that makes sense? Like – like when I listen to it, I feel warm and safe and just happy...”

        He’d be lying if he said his heart wasn’t pounding in his chest at her words. Warm. Safe. Sunny. “Well,” Harry cleared his throat to keep the words ‘One day I’ll marry you’ at bay. Fuck, he'd only known her for like twenty minutes! “I’m glad you like it more than my previous stuff.”

        “You just love putting me in uncomfortable situations, don’t you?”

        He smiled, nudging her shoulder with his, and was just about gearing up to take a breath and ask Y/N out (before he could ask to marry her), when quick steps from behind him drew their attention. 

        Dressed in a typical 50s housewife dress with a black coat on top, Florence Pugh came to stand beside them, and Harry swore he saw mischief twinkle in her eyes as she raked them over both people and then settled on Harry’s companion.

        “Hi!” she said giving Y/N a bright smile, and a wink to Harry, which passed the other girl’s head, given how she was absolutely fangirling right now. “I’m Florence.”

        “I – yeah – I – you – I love you,” Y/N finally breathed out. “Fuck, I just, you know, 'Midsommar' was a fever dream, but I absolutely loved it, and I can’t wait for 'Black Widow' to come out. Oh my god, I think I’m gonna pass out.”

        “Please don’t.” She laughed grabbing onto Y/N’s shoulder. “Feels like I already know you, but I’ve been dying to meet you actually. Created quite the commotion yesterday.”

        You know how they say men can think of absolutely nothing, like have a completely blank page in their head? Yeah, Y/N was having that exact moment. 

        Florence tutted crossing her arms over her chest and looking at Harry with mock disappointment. “But Harry here just kept talking about you, without any intention of inviting you to the trailers, so I had to take things into my own hands.”

        “You’ve been wanting to meet me?” Y/N breathed out, hands going into her hair, looking at Harry. “Oh my god, what is happening? Am I hallucinating?”

        “No, you’re not,” Harry grumbled glaring at Florence. “Unfortunately. But we were on our way to the sea, so I’ll see you back on se-“

        “Hello there,” Chris Pine’s smooth voice interrupted them, as he extended a hand for Y/N to shake as he jogged up to the trio. “I’m Chris.”

        “Wow, your eyes are even bluer in real life.” Her own Y/E/C ones widened. “Did I just say that out loud?”

        “You did,” Chris chuckled, “but I most certainly take it as a compliment. You said you were going to the sea?”

        “Uh, yeah,” Y/N breathed out still gazing into Pine’s eyes. “Wanna join?”

        Harry wanted to scream, but he couldn’t really. As much he wanted to tell both Florence and Chris to go away, he didn't. Seeing Y/N’s eyes light up as the two other actors conversed with her, laughed and joked around, made his heart expand.

        It was insane to him, that a woman he’d seen twice in his life could have such a huge impact. It was like she’d been his missing part. Well, no. Harry didn’t like that notion – that the ‘right’ person would complete someone. People were complete on their own, but it was true to him that there was someone out there that’d make each and every moment special, someone who would help the other become better, but also hold them accountable when needed. 

        They wandered around the seashore, which like Y/N had said, was a fifteen-minute walk, for about half an hour before turning back to the woods.

        By that point, she’d somewhat calmed down, and could actually comprehend what Chris and Florence were saying to her, and it was rather enjoyable to ask all the questions about Hollywood and the industry most people wouldn’t say on the record. 

        At around four PM when all of them got back to set and Olivia came to tell them they were wrapping up for the day, Florence, and Chris split from Y/N, telling her to come by whenever she wanted, while Harry said he’d walk her to the end of the trail.

        “You know I’ll be fine. I grew up here, know these paths like the back of my hand.”

        “ ‘S alright,” he shrugged his shoulders. “I’m sure they won’t mind much if I come back ten minutes later.”

        “You know, you’re not how I thought you’d be.”

        “What’dya mean?”

        “I – I don’t even really know… just not how I imagined you.”

        Harry didn’t know what to really do with that information, but the look on Y/N’s face most definitely didn’t seem like she meant it in a bad way. In fact, her shy smile and fleeting glances told him otherwise. At least he hoped he read her features right.

        They said goodbye with soft ‘see you laters' and he watched her throw one last glance at him over her shoulder before he himself retreated and ventured to the trailers to start de-shedding the character of Jack for the night.

        Harry plopped down in his seat with a groan, fishing out his phone from the pocket while the hair and make-up team did their work, taking the products off his face before applying moisturiser to the stressed skin.

        Florence poked him in the cheek, and he swatted away at her hand, looking up from Instagram (or his attempts to find Y/N with just knowing her first name). “What’s wrong?” she asked, poking his pouting face again.

        “She literally fangirled about everyone but me.” He huffed sliding down even further in his seat. 

        Florence raised an eyebrow. “Jealous, Styles?”

        “No,” he scoffed crossing his arms. “Why would I be jealous?”

        “Because literally both mornings that we've got here, you’ve been fidgety, keeping a watch of the path, and didn't calm down until Y/N appeared just now. So I’d say you’re absolutely smitten with the girl and are jealous because she’s more of a fan of us than you.”

        “I know she likes me.” His eyebrows furrowed. “I think. She hasn’t told me to fuck off.”

        “She’s a stranger you met in the middle of the woods. You should hope she likes you. But not too much. Otherwise, it could so easily become a scene out of a horror movie.”

        Chris bit his lip looking at Olivia, who’d come in the trailer after having seen the group come back with an almost heartbroken gaze – it was clear as a summer’s day Harry was struck by the girl, but they had to face the music. “Harry,” he started. “You – you do realise we end filming here in two weeks, right? And she’s a local.”

        “And?” his eyebrows furrowed at Chris’ words.

        “You’ll be leaving in two weeks for another three months of filming, while she stays here. I don’t – I don’t want to see you hurt, but you have to realise that most likely nothing will happen.”

        “And what makes you say that? Maybe she could come with.”

        “Y/N is her own person with her own life, job and friends, which, as it seems is all set here.”

        “Besides you don't really even know her,” Olivia said as well. “It's been two days."

        “Sometimes a day is enough.”

        A silence settled over them, as Harry tapped his phone against his nails.

        “You guys, come on!” Florence came to his defence. “He likes her. Why not give it a shot?”

He'd flashed her a thankful smile and mouthed a 'thank you' to which she just gave him an encouraging nod. She was on his side. She believed he could do it. And he did. Using Florence's faith in him as a catalyst, a day later when Y/N had gone on her run with Adam, Harry had excused himself and joined the two. 

        Adam was thrilled to the bone, but he was also competitive, so after ten minutes of trying to persuade the woman to run faster so he could beat his previous time, he took off on his own, with a promise of meeting up by the shore. That’s when Harry grabbed Y/N by her bicep and stalled them both, confusion written all over her features.

        “I uh,” he started. “I wanted to ask you something.”

        “Yeah, sure. Go ahead.”

        “I – “ he stuttered taking in a deep breath. “I – uh – and you have zero obligations to respond, but uh – I was wondering if you’d like to go on a date with me sometime?”

        That made Y/N do a double-take. “You want to go out? On a date? With me?”

        “Ye – yeah.” It was uncertain how the word came out, but it felt so good to say it. “Yes, I really do.”

        “Sorry.” She shook her head looking at the ground with furrowed brows. “Sorry’s just, kinda hard to believe it.”

        “ ‘Nd why’s that?”

        “Well because the first time we met, I looked like a sweaty mess, the second, I could barely function around your friends and co-workers, and now, well now I look like a sweaty mess again.”

        “So?”

        “I just –” Y/N laughed but waved him off. “Never mind.”

         Fear instantly took hold of his core at her statement, so he rushed to salvage what could be salvaged. “No, I mean if you don’t want, you - you don’t have to say ‘yes’. I’m not gonna be upset or any –“

        “Harry!” This time Y/N placed her hand on his shoulder to stop his ramblings. “I’d love to go on a date with you.”

        “You – you would?”

        “Yes.” Her smile blinded him like the golden rays of sun which broke through the overcast sky. “I’d like to very much so.”

        But it was Y/N’s tearful huff, a storm cloud compared to the warm light from his memories, which brought him out of the fond thoughts and into the icy right now.

        “Because unless it revolves around Harry Styles, it doesn’t matter, right?” she let out a pained laugh. “Because unless he’s there to have all the spotlight on him, it’s not important. Unless it’s not something he wants to take part in, it immediately needs to be cancelled or rescheduled because god forbid someone made plans without him.”

        He grunted in disagreement. “You know that’s not what I meant!”

        “No,” she snapped, snatching her purse and coat. “I get it. Very clearly. I’ll show myself out.”

        “Don’t be so dramatic!”

        She scoffed, glaring at him. “Call me when you get your head out of your ass.”

        The door slammed shut, and Harry sat down onto the sofa to scream into a pillow.

***

        Y/N’s sight was blurry as she drove down the street. A light snow had started to fall over London, so she was twice as careful, knowing Londoners had zero clue how to function when snow hit, and no one had winter tires.

        “Fuck,” she choked out, wiping away at her cheeks.

        She’d had fights with Harry before, it wasn’t like they were perfect. From the outside they looked like nothing could ever be wrong, but they were human. They had flaws and tempers and ideas and beliefs, and sometimes they clashed, but it’d never been as bad as it was that night. 

        She loved Harry, Y/N truly did. She’d even had dreams of the two of them in some far-off cottage in the Italian mountains living a domestic life, but she also just wanted one night to herself. To let loose and think about her own needs and wants, while Harry was away doing the same. It wasn’t selfish, not in her mind. 

        It’d been her who’d uprooted her whole life to be closer to Harry, not the other way around. She was always the one cancelling and making new plans with her family or friends just so she could spend a spare second with Harry. She was there for his sleepless nights and there for his knock-out concerts. Why couldn't he let her have this one thing?

        She was sitting by the wheel at a red light taking in deep breaths to calm herself down. 

        The light turned green, and her hand was slightly shaking as she changed gears.

        Y/N released the clutch and pressed down on the gas.

        Two lights came rushing from the side.

        She gasped.

        A sharp pain went through her side.

        And then it was all black.

***

Anne was going to rip Harry a new one, as she rang him for the fifteenth time, but he still didn't pick up. After the accident and the nurses being unable to contact Harry, they obviously called Y/N’s parents which were next on the emergency contact's list, but given how they lived outside of the UK and the next flight was only in four days, they immediately reached out to Anne, begging for her to go be with their daughter while they got there.

“And please tell Harry to fly over as well!” Y/N’s mum had cried. “I – I know he has work, but please.”

Anne had been shocked to hear Y/M/N ask that, having assumed he was already there, but she wasn’t going to let them get to Harry before she set him straight herself. 

In the beginning, she’d been kind of sceptical, but after spending an evening together where Y/N, her and Gemma all did wine baking, and it had ended up in a disaster in the kitchen with the three of them crying from laughter while Harry stood at the entrance completely baffled and just so done with them, Anne knew Y/N only had good intentions with her son.

        Anne’s love for her only grew from that point on, when she also realised just how much Y/N’s love language was giving. It wasn’t the kind of ‘hey, look, I bought you some fancy thing, now love me’, it was ‘hey, I saw how much you wanted this, I noticed how much it’d mean to you, and I love how happy it makes you. And if it reminds you of me, that’s just a bonus’, and Anne couldn’t help but become as protective of Y/N as her own kids. 

        But at that moment, as finally, after her twenty-seventh attempt, Harry picked up with a gruff ‘ ‘ello?’, Anne was about to burst with rage.

“You get to the hospital right now!” she hissed into the phone.

“What are you talking about?” There was a tremble in his voice. 

The thing was, for two days since Y/N had stormed out, Harry’d been feeling sick. He thought it was due to the stress from the fight and from the pressure his label was putting on him, but now he understood it wasn’t that. It was his instinct telling him something bad had happened, and at Anne’s words, the bad feeling that’d settled in his stomach made his blood run cold. “Mum, what’s wrong?”

“Y/N was in a car accident, and you didn’t bother to pick up your phone.”

“I –” He stammered unable to process her words. “What? Mum? No…”

“You’re her emergency contact,” Anne spoke. “The hospital tried to call you a billion times, and you didn’t pick up.” 

And that’s when he remembered all of those calls from unknown numbers. He thought they’d been some crazed fans who’d gotten his personal number, so he’d just blocked them. “Mum, no.” Harry choked out. “I didn’t mean to – we fought – mum…”

“She’s at St. Helen’s. Please get here.”

He immediately ended the call, and in the span of twenty minutes was at the hospital, which Anne was sure to scold him for because there was no way in hell anyone who didn’t speed would be able to get to St. Helen’s in less than forty minutes. The second she saw her son burst through the door, tear tracks down his face, all the anger and disappointment vanished. 

“Where is she? Is she alive? Y/N!” he yelled across the hallway. “Where is she? Mum! Where’s Y/N?”

“Gem.” She patted her daughter’s knee as both of them stood up from where they’d been sitting at the chairs outside the recovery room assigned to Y/N. “Get a nurse, please.”

Gemma didn’t need an explanation or reasoning seeing Harry’s wild eyes, erratic breathing and shaky hands. 

“Mum!” He practically sprinted after seeing the woman, grabbing her by the shoulders.

“Calm down, Harry,” she shushed him, pulling him in for a hug and feeling his whole body tremble. “Calm down, it’s alright. Gem’ll get you some help, but you need to breathe.”

“I – I’m not the one who needs help!” Harry pretty much screamed. “I need to know if my girlfriend is alive.”

Anne spoke in a calm voice as to not agitate him even more, and her heart broke at the sight of her son so utterly broken. “Harry, you’re about to have a panic attack, and you’re no use to Y/N in that kind of state.”

“So.” He took in a chocked back breath. “So she’s alive?” He didn’t know what he’d do if the answer was anything else but a resounding ‘yes’. There was no version in his brain of where his life could possibly lead but down if he had to go on without Y/N.

“Yes,” Anne nodded, smoothing his hair away from his face, and watching as he took in a deep breath of relief. “She was just wheeled in for her second surgery. Should be out in about four hours. ”

All over again his insides froze. “Second? Mum, tell me the truth – how bad is it?”

“Harry, this is routine,” Gemma put a reassuring hand on his shoulder having returned with a nurse behind her, the man keeping a close eye on Harry and his behaviour. “They did as much as they could the first time, but their priority was on the worst injuries. This one is just to set things properly.”

“Set everything right like – “

“Like bones and stuff…” Gemma shuddered, trailing off. “Y/N broke her hip, dislocated her kneecap, her ankle was shattered and she fractured her collarbone. They took her in so that the bones could be properly placed together and there’s a lesser chance of complications not only while healing but later on in life. But can you please sit down? So they can help you as well?”

“I – alright,” he conceded, taking a place on one of the stiff plastic benches, as the nurse came to him, took his pulse, gave him an inhalator just in case and some herbal tablets to help him relax a bit.

“You said they focused on the worst injuries.” Harry looked at his mother. “What were those?”

Anne sighed, leaning to sit back on the chair next to him and ran a hand through his hair. “A piece of debris punctured one of her kidneys. The bleeding was pretty intense, but they say it was salvageable, so she’ll still have both of them. Gem donated some blood.”

“Thank you,” Harry whispered, looking over at his sister who wiped a stray tear away from his cheek.

She shook her head. “There’s nothing to thank me for. Y/N is family. If she’d lost the kidney, I’d give her mine in a second.”

“The worst they’re worried about is the head injuries,” Anne said. “Luckily, she got away without anything major, but she definitely has a concussion and minor whiplash to her neck, so they want to keep an eye out for any side effects that could arise. They have another surgery scheduled for her in a week if recovery goes as planned. To take the stitches that won’t dissolve out and put in the ones that will.”

        Harry sagged against his mother’s side, her palms soothingly running up and down his back. “She’s gonna be alright, love,” Anne muttered in his hair, pressing a kiss to his temple. “She’s strong. She’ll be okay.”

        It was comforting for both of them – for Anne to have her youngest in her arms, to know he was safe and sound, and for Harry to be held by his mother, the person who always knew how to comfort him when times were rough, and at that moment, they were the roughest they’d ever been.

        “You’ve got some nerve to be here.” Adam’s seething voice pulled Harry away from his mother’s embrace and watched as he rounded the corner with a coffee cup. He was quite sure he was keeping his temper well in check from how hard he was gripping the Styrofoam cup. “Fucking ignore her for two days while she’s laying in the hospital, and appear when it’s convenient for you? Is she some fucking toy for you to use when you want?”

        Anne’s tone was consoling and pleading. “He didn’t know.”

        “The hell he didn’t, he just didn’t want to know! They called you!” Adam pointed at the nurse’s desk. “And you let them go to voicemail. And then, better yet, you fucking blocked the number.”

        “I didn’t know it was the hospital,” he weakly defended himself.

        “Because you didn’t bother to find out.”

        He didn’t have anything to say to that. And not that he really could think of anything when the surgery ward’s doors swung open and they watched as a nurse wheeled Y/N’s gurney back inside the room, while another wheeled her saline bag along with. 

It was a terrifying sight to see. Her face was basically nothing but a swollen piece of flesh, bruises and scratches littering her cheeks, a neck brace to keep her head from moving while one leg was wrapped in a full-on cast, the other in one up until her knee and her left arm was in a sling.

        He’d had nightmares about her before. Most of the times it was about Y/N leaving him because she could no longer do it, could no longer commit to the hectic lifestyle that came with Harry, and as he screamed, banging on the invisible window that separated them, she just walked away, his sobs carried by the wind in the other direction.

        “You should go inside,” Anne whispered motioning with her head to where the nurses checked the monitors and how stable Y/N was. “I know you had a fight, but she’ll want you to be there when she wakes up.”

        “How,” Harry gulped back the lump that’d risen in his throat. “How do you know? How do you know she doesn’t want me to just disappear? I wasn’t there when she needed me, I was – “

        Anne put her hand on his cheek. “Because when she woke up yesterday morning for the first time, you were the first person she asked for. You. She wants you there. And it’s the least you can do for her.”

        He nodded, then took a deep breath and entered Y/N’s room. Watching her lay in the bed, unmoving, without her usual grumpy features as she slept, made Harry sick to the stomach so much so, he thought he’d have to call back the nurse.

        It was some twisted version of Sleeping Beauty, yet he knew a true loves kiss wouldn’t awaken her. Y/N just laid there, small breaths making her chest rise and fall, not even a flutter of her eyelids.

        Harry had spent countless night watching her sleep, looking at how her lashes fluttered as she dreamed of something; how her forehead creased and small, incoherent noises passed her lips as she talked to someone in her mind.

        Now, he was surrounded by none of that, only artificial reminders that she was still alive and fighting to get better.

        With uneven steps, Harry made his way to the chair which’d been stationed next to her bed (he was convinced beyond belief that Gemma, his mum and Adam had all taken shifts to sit there, to be there for Y/N), and much like a king who knew he was unfit for the throne, Harry had to swallow a lump as he took the seat.

        “I – I don’t know if you can hear me…” Harry took hold of Y/N’s palm and let out a sob of relief when he felt it was warm, not cold like he’d feared. “But I’m here for you. I’m not leaving. Not unless you want me to, so until you wake up…” there were so many words, so many apologies he wanted to say, but kept them at bay. Y/N deserved to hear them when she was conscious, so instead, he said, “I’m here, lovie. Get some rest, I’ll be here…”

        With that he put his head on the side of her bed, twisting his face so he could look up at her, watch her chest rise and fall in a steady rhythm, and fell asleep to the sound the beeps of Y/N’s beating heart.

        While he slept he dreamt again, the same terrifying dream of Y/N leaving, only this time she did look back at him, but her face was all wrong, her neck bent in a way it shouldn’t be, and eyes covered in a milky white. 

        “You weren’t there, Harry,” she said in a voice void of emotions. “So why should I be there for you?”

        Harry was 100% sure if he’d been hooked up to a heart rate monitor while he slept, people would think he was going into cardiac arrest, but it sure would’ve shown it flatlining as his green eyes swept over his lover’s frame to check his nightmare hadn’t become a reality, only to be met with two Y/E/C sparkling orbs looking back at him, giving him the softest gaze in the universe.

“Hey,” Harry’s tone was quiet, afraid to bring even the littlest of discomfort to Y/N given her state, and he had to physically restrain himself from sweeping down to bring her in a hug. 

What he saw on her face made his heart leap to his throat, as she smiled, genuinely happy to see him, lifting up her right hand, the only limb without a bandage on to cup his cheek. “Hey, love.” Her voice was scratchy like nails on a chalkboard, but to Harry, it was an absolute symphony. “Are you alright? Your eyes are puffy. Have you been getting enough sleep?”

        “Fuck,” Harry choked on his tears looking up at the white ceiling before back at her, complete disbelief in his blood-shot eyes. “You’re the one lying in a hospital bed, with casts and bandages all over you, scheduled for a third surgery, and you’re asking me if I’m alright?”

        If Y/N could, she would’ve shrugged as if that wasn’t the most self-explanatory thing in the world. “I’ll always want to know if you’re alright. ‘S not exclusively you that can care for people, you know.”

        And there she was – his sarcastic, allergic-to-kiwi-but-‘Kiwi’-loving girl that never ceased to amaze him, as she made sure everyone else was alright before herself. And that made Harry break down. 

“I’m so sorry Y/N. So fucking sorry. I – god – I – there are not enough words in any language to say how fucking sorry I am. I should’ve been here, should’ve never let you leave. This is all my fault.”

Through all that, through his choked back sobs and crying, Y/N’s hand had steadily remained on his cheek, wiping away the tears from underneath one eye before switching to the other side and making the little pearls of hurt disappear with just her touch. 

“Harry, are you the weatherman?”

That was not what he thought she would say. “I – what?”

“Do you control temperatures and have not told me?”

“N – no?”

“Were you the guy who ran the red light?”

“No.”

        “Then how is this your fault?”

        “I – “ he stammered. “I shouldn’t have let you leave. I should’ve gone after you, found a way to make you stay or – or should’ve fucking stopped being so selfish and driven you to see Adam yourself.”

        “Harry, had you tried to make me stay nothing would’ve changed.” Y/N sighed letting him lean into her touch, as she bit her lip, thinking over her words. “I was just so pissed, that I think anything you would’ve tried to do, would’ve only made it worse. And I’d rather be here with you than alone in my apartment crying in a tub of Hagen Dazs because of a broken heart.”

        “You-you've got your priorities completely backwards.” He wasn’t laughing when he said that, but Y/N was.

        “Maybe.” She raised her eyebrow. “But I don’t think so. The bones will heal, but the amount of love I have for you… I’m afraid you’ve ruined the thought of a future without you in it. We’ll talk,” Y/N swallowed hard. “We need to talk, but when I get better. Right now, I just wanna hold your hand and have you hold mine as I try not to kick the nurses trying to take my blood for tests.”

        It felt inappropriate for Harry to smile, to feel happy about how Y/N hadn’t told him to go screw himself, even though he felt like he deserved it, but fuck was it impossible not to when his body felt so light, and her love chose to invade the dark corners of his mind to fill it with golden warmth.

        She fell asleep not long after their small conversation, body too tired and in need of recovery, but like he’d promised, he was there for her when she awoke again, this time to a more familiar Y/N as she glared at the coffee cup in his hand, while he sipped, a ring clad palm gently pushing away strands of Y/H/C hair from her face.

        “I hate that you can drink coffee.”

        “Yeah, and why’s that?”

        “Because I can’t.”

        “I’ll happily buy you as many coffees as you like. Once you get better and are allowed to, of course.”

        Y/N snorted and then winced as the action caused pain to shoot through her body. “Knowing you, it won’t be a cup of coffee or a coffee machine, but a fucking coffee chain restaurant.”

        “Would it be that bad to own one?”

        Her eyebrow rose at him in an incredulous look. “You know I can’t bake. Coffee shops include pastries, and I’m not the one who worked in a bakery. I can cook, I can clean, but make me make muffins from scratch, and I’ll set your house on fire.”

        “You already did.” Harry laughed. “Gem and mum helped.”

        “They supplied the wine, so I’m putting 60% of the blame on them.”

        “You do realise that equates to 30% of the blame on each of them, and most of it is still on you?”

        “Shut up,” Y/N smiled, weakly pushing against Harry’s arm, but the motion made him happy to know she was trying. “I was just in a car crash, so forgive me for not being that great at division.”

        A knock at the door made Harry look up, Y/N not even attempting to turn her head to see who’d interrupted them, given how the first time she’d tried it with the neck-brace, it’d hurt so bad she’d passed out.

        Her doctor was a man in his mid to late fifties with greying hair, Y/N’s medical record file slapped underneath his arm.

        “How are we doing today?”

        “Better than yesterday, I guess,” she responded. 

        “Well, you were out for most of it, so I’d say so.”

        Y/N and the doctor chuckled, but Harry didn’t, as he thought of how bad, how absolutely tired a person has to be to sleep for a whole day. He’d had those days himself, and that was from being exhausted from work. He couldn't imagine what being in a bloody accident would feel like. 

        The doctor stepped forward a bit and extended a hand to Harry, introducing himself as Dr Tate, while Harry rose in his seat to accept it, but not wanting to move away an inch from Y/N.

        “You must be the boyfriend.”

        “I – uh – I can only hope I still am,” he let out a nervous giggle, which made his girlfriend slap his arm, a furrow on her face.

        Dr Tate looked Harry over from head to toe, eyebrow raised at that, but all he said was, “We tried to contact you, seeing as you’re Miss Y/L/N emergency contact, but the nurses said it couldn’t go through.”

        “He was filming overseas.” Y/N butted in, clearly having rehearsed what to say beforehand. “Flew over as fast as he could. I’m the luckiest person in the world.” Her tone was soft as a feather, but Harry’s stomach felt like it was filled with rocks. 

        “Is there anything I can help with?” he asked hoping to be given some sort of a task to do, to allow him to redeem himself some way.

        “Well, actually yes. One of the injuries Ms Y/L/N sustained was a concussion,” the doctor said, “which could lead to some complications like headaches, migraines, spotty vision or amnesia.”

“Amnesia?” Harry wanted to vomit. It had crossed his mind, but having a professional say it made it all so much worse. 

        “Yes, and we’d need someone to be with her as much as possible, 24/7 would be desirable, to keep an eye on.”

        Harry honestly hadn’t heard anything past the amnesia part, mind spinning in a circle that just screamed ‘she’ll forget all about you’.

“It’s nothing to worry about too much.” Dr Tate was quick on his feet, seeing Harry’s blank stare, and tried to diffuse any possible spiralling. “With Y/N’s cognitive abilities and having repeatedly excelled at the test without a single stutter, it’s very unlikely she’ll have those side effects. 

“But it’s still a possibility, right?”

The doctor nodded, giving Harry a kind smile. “Which is why I’m informing you of it. To keep an eye out to see if anything changes so you could come in if necessary. But as I said – Y/N’s memory has proven to be intact so far. And I always say to trust the facts.”

“Harry,” Y/N placed her hand on his. “You know I won’t forget you.”

“I’ll uh, give you two a second.” The doctor exited leaving them alone, an almost sad silence over both of them. 

“God I almost lost you to some idiot running a red light with no winter tires, and now you won’t remember me. And – and even with everything you’re going through, you’re still trying to protect me? Why did you lie? I – I wouldn’t have cared if you said the truth that I was an asshole.” Harry dragged both hands over his face, trying to keep the cry’s at bay as Y/N ran her hand through his hair in an attempt to calm him down.

“I’d prefer to think,” Y/N shrugged trying to tease him and make him crack a smile, “me being dead would be the worst-case scenario, not me forgetting you. And of course, I’ll protect you. Your reputation matters to me. Just because we had a fight doesn’t mean I’ll immediately run to everyone I can and say how shitty of a person you were in those specific ten minutes.”

But Harry’s lips didn’t quirk up, the tears didn’t disappear as the painful grimace on his face wasn’t replaced by the crow lines next to his eyes from smiling so much. “What if you – what if you forget you love me? What do I do then? I know I sound selfish and like the biggest fucking dick, but as pathetic as it is – I can’t go on without you. I don’t know how I could.”

Y/N’s heart broke at his words because if the roles were reversed if Harry forgot about her and fell out of love, she didn't know how she'd survive. She’d had those fears before, when he was away filming and she couldn’t follow; she’d been terrified because what they’d had was so new, he could easily move on, find someone better, someone who was familiar with his lifestyle. But any time those thoughts came to her mind, Y/N reminded herself of what she’d do. And that’s what she told Harry.

        “Then you make me fall in love with you again. You’re great at that. Make me love you more with every passing moment.”

        “And – and if you don’t fall in love with me again?”

        Y/N shook her head. “Impossible, Harry. You made me fall in love with you after barely two hours spent together. And well, if you put your mind to it… who knows how much deeper I’ll fall.”

        For the first time in two days, Harry leaned down and pressed his lips against Y/N’s. The kiss was soft and sweet, a barely-there touch, but it meant everything. It was a promise to one another to love unconditionally, to remind the other of it at every passing moment; it sealed their future to be spent together, and neither wanted it any other way.

        Harry’s phone rang, eliciting a whine from Y/N as he pulled away to answer it. “It’s Florence.” He pecked her lips one more time. “I’ll just tell her to call back.”

        He turned to the side for a second muttering a soft ‘hey, can you –‘ before whatever Florence told him made him pull away and extend the deivice towards Y/N.

        “It’s for you.”

        “For – for me? Florence is calling me?”

        Had the two women become friends? Yes. But didn’t mean Y/N had an easier time not fangirling about her. 

        “Hi, Flo,” she breathed out, looking at Harry with wide, happy eyes. “Yeah, I’m alright.”

        Harry sat there watching as his love talked to someone she looked up to, and someone he cared about. He hadn’t told Florence, but her encouragement meant the world to him, as she was partially the reason he’d gotten together with Y/N. After all, she’d been the one on his side from the very beginning.

        Y/N giggled like a crazy person after the call ended and she handed Harry back his phone. “Florence Pugh just called to give me well wishes.” She gasped looking at Harry. “Do you think Chris Pine will too?”

        “God, I love you,” Harry laughed with her, pressing their foreheads together.

        They’d be alright, they’d make sure of it. No matter if a disagreement arose, egos needed to be put in check or black ice covered the roads. They’d get through anything. 

Tags (crossed out wouldn’t take):

Everything tags: @lumelgy @palaiasaurus64​ @supernaturalbaesduh​ @breezy1415​ @crazy--me​ @thatawkwardlittlefangirl​ @sea040561​ @staryeyedgirl​ @deathbyarabbit​ @s-c-a-r-e-d-po-t-t-e-r @reblogger-not-a-blogger @m-a-t-91​ @dalilx​ @i-need-a-hero-i-need-a-loki @maladaptive-ninja-returns​ @averyrogers83​ @in-the-end-im-still-trash​ @gallifreyansass​ @dewy-biitch​ @avxgers​ @unlikelygalaxygiver​ @magicwithaknife​ @ollyoxenfrees​ @bnhvrdy​ @tvwhoresblog​ @celebsimagines @thatkindofgurl​ @sj-thefan​ @teenwolflover28 @lestersglitterglue​ @im-squished​

Harry Styles tags: @sarcasticallywitty15​ @breezykpop​ @girlboss99​ @harrystylesdoesntknowiexist​ @alliyjane​ @sirtommyholland​

A/N: Listen, Linda, those pictures of Harry on set does things!!!

Also the being allergic to kiwi - that’s me. Like legit it’s the only thing I’m allergic to. I always hated how they tasted like pain, like it made my mouth sting and feel like pins and needles before going numb, and according to professionals, that’s a sign of being allergic. But I love ‘Kiwi’ the song. 

P.S. my tags are always open :)

P.S.S. I don’t take requests, sorry :(

[morganaspendragonss]

holly's august extravaganza day 4: a friend in me

📍 anon - I don't know but I feel like Carlos and Nancy can have such an awesome best friend dynamic. Maybe something sad/scary regarding Nancy happens where she has to make a report at the precinct and Carlos doesn't tell anyone as she made him promise so he starts to just check on Nancy and they just develop this caring, supportive, beautiful, fun, full of banter friendship to the amusement of TK and the 126.

kept this separate from your original ask because i want to keep those other prompts you sent alongside this one for later 😊

ao3 | 2k | hurt/comfort, brief references to gun violence, mostly just carlos and nancy being besties

Carlos has never seen Nancy look so small.

She’s sitting hunched over in one of the interrogation rooms, shock blanket around her shoulders, hands seemingly moving of their own volition to tear the empty styrofoam cup in front of her to shreds. As soon as Carlos had seen her being escorted into the precinct, shaking like a leaf and clutching her coat like a lifeline, he’d persuaded the officer with her to let him take over the case. His association with the 126 is well known so the officer had been reluctant, but Carlos had managed to wear him down, saying that he doesn’t really know Nancy that well.

And it’s—it’s not exactly a full lie. Through their hangs and TK’s stories, he’s coming to see Nancy as a force of nature, a woman who will let nothing and no-one stand in her way, whether that’s out on the field or during a game of Monopoly. But of her personal life, Carlos knows next to nothing; she mentioned a sister a few weeks ago, and TK delights in teasing her about her growing crush on Marjan, but that’s about it.

He needs to make more of an effort, he decides. When they’re anywhere else but a police station.

Carlos knocks lightly on the door to announce his presence before entering the room, sending her what he hopes is a reassuring smile. Nancy visibly relaxes at the sight of him and she drops the remains of her cup, though Carlos doesn’t miss the continuing tremble to her hands.

“Hey Nancy,” he says, sliding into the seat opposite her. “How are you doing?”

Nancy’s lips twitch, the corners barely curving into the beginnings of a wry smile. She breathes out shakily, meeting Carlos’s eyes for the briefest second before staring back down at the table. “I’m not great,” she answers, and for her to admit to that… Well, Carlos suspects it’s not a regular occurrence.

He nods, reluctantly pulling out his notebook and pen, hesitating before flipping to the next blank page. Nancy tracks his movements, resignation clearly etched all over her features. Carlos glances at the two-way mirror—not that it does him any good—then reaches across the table to take Nancy’s hand.

“We don’t have to do this right now,” he murmurs. “If you need more time, just say the word and I’ll leave. Or if you’d prefer to talk to someone you don’t know, we can do that too. Anything you need.”

The sudden tightness of Nancy’s grip is unexpected, as is the flash of panic in her eyes.

“Please, don’t go,” she whispers. “I don’t—” She cuts herself off, shutting her eyes and breathing slowly for a few seconds. Slowly, her hold on Carlos begins to loosen until her hand is slack in his, then she draws both hands into her lap and straightens in her chair. When her eyes reopen, she seems more like the Nancy Carlos knows—strong, confident, assertive—though there’s still clearly an undercurrent of fear underneath it all.

“I’m fine. Let’s do this.”

Carlos bites back an are you sure and settles for clicking his pen, his smile unwavering. “Can you run me through what happened, exactly?” he asks. “Take your time.”

A second or two passes, then Nancy nods, her voice steady when she speaks. “I was restocking the bus at the end of shift. I was alone; Captain Vega was in her office and TK was with the others in the showers—he did try to help but he’d had to go into a fire on our last call to help a patient and the smell of smoke was giving me a headache, so I told him to go.”

Carlos pauses in his note-taking, mentally filing that last piece of information away for follow-up as soon as he sees his boyfriend again. Judging by the amused quirk to Nancy’s eyebrow, she’s fully aware of where his mind has gone, so Carlos clears his throat and motions for her to continue, forcing his thoughts back to the present.

“Like I said, I was alone. I didn’t mind it; it was kind of relaxing, you know? Then this guy appeared from nowhere and pointed a gun at me, saying if I called out or turned on the siren or anything, he’d shoot. I thought—” She inhales sharply, her knuckles going white on the tabletop and her jaw clenching tightly. Her voice sounds different when she next speaks, more controlled, as though forcing each word out. “I thought it was happening again. I thought he was going to take me somewhere, make me his personal pet paramedic, something like that.

“Turns out, he just wanted drugs. I gave him what we had on the rig and he seemed satisfied, so I figured he’d shoot me anyway ‘cause I’d seen his face, right? He didn’t—obviously—but it looked like he was considering it.” Nancy pauses and flicks her gaze up at Carlos, biting her lip. “I think he might have done it,” she admits quietly, “but he got spooked by one of the guys making noise so he just bolted. I’m not sure how long it was between that and TK coming back and finding me. I’m sorry.”

Carlos shakes his head. “It’s okay. We can check the cameras at the station. With luck, that should get us an ID, maybe a license plate if he drove. I think that’s almost everything; just one more question, if that’s okay. Can you tell me what you gave him exactly?”

Nancy nods. “Morphine, Ativan, tramadol… I’d have to check stocks for the exact amounts.”

“We’ll do that, don’t worry about it.” Carlos taps his pen on the pages before flipping his notebook shut and leaning across the table again. “Are you okay?” he asks softly. “Speaking as a friend and not a cop, if there’s anything you need, anything I can help with, let me know.”

She smiles wanly. “I’m okay. I just want to go home and forget all this ever happened.”

“Fair enough. I’ll walk you out to your car.”

Carlos half-expects her to brush him off, but she just nods and allows him to escort her back through the precinct and out to her car. He dithers awkwardly, shuffling his feet as Nancy turns to him, one hand on the door handle.

“Thank you, Carlos. For real. I have the feeling it wasn't a coincidence that you were the one in that room with me.”

The tips of Carlos’s ears go pink as he finds himself caught out. “That, uh… That would not be inaccurate.”

“Well, thanks.” She pulls open the car door and Carlos takes a step back, wanting to wait until she’s safely away to go back inside. Nancy ducks as if to get in, then pauses and straightens again, biting her lip as she looks back at him.

“Hey, Carlos?” she says. “Can you do me a favour and not tell the others? Not even TK. They— They know vaguely what happened, but I’d prefer it if the details and, uh, some of the other stuff I told you could be kept between us.”

He agrees immediately, just grateful that she trusts him enough to handle this for her. “No-one will know any more than they need to,” he promises, which seems to relieve her. She thanks him again, then gets in the car and drives away, Carlos watching after her with one hand raised in farewell.

*

It grows from there.

It’s not intentional exactly, but one text to check up on her soon turns into a steady stream of messages, stories and jokes and even the occasional meme passing back and forth between them. Carlos especially appreciated Nancy's carefully curated collection of dirt on TK, which, as a concerned boyfriend, it is his duty to know. Many a conversation has been spent griping about TK's accident prone ways or sighing over his latest mishap.

Lovingly, of course.

Nancy, 15.48: you’ll never guess what happened this time

Carlos, 16.22: ?

In answer, he receives a picture of a dejected-looking TK sprawled on the floor with Buttercup’s front paws squarely resting on his chest. Buttercup’s tongue is lolling out, a wide grin on his face, and in the background stand the rest of the crew. All of them also seem to have their phones pointed towards TK—probably the reason TK looks so down, as Carlos knows his boyfriend couldn’t be upset with Buttercup to save his life.

Nancy, 16.26: he thought he’d try to teach buttercup some tricks. turns out, dog trainers exist for a reason

Carlos has to stifle a laugh—technically, he is supposed to be working—but his attempt at being subtle is thwarted when his phone repeatedly pings with similar texts and photos from Paul, Marjan, and Mateo. He screenshots the sudden influx of notifications and sends it to Nancy before saving every single photo.

Nancy responds with a laughing emoji and a promise to keep him updated.

*

Not all of their conversations are about TK, naturally.

Carlos, 19.10: I don’t understand why you don’t just talk to her

Nancy, 19.12: i do talk to her. every shift, actually

Carlos, 19.13: Nancy

Nancy, 19.13: carlos

Nancy, 19.14: i don’t even know if she’s into women, alright? it’s not like i can just march up and ask, that’s like waving a banner saying ‘hey, i’m in love with you’ in her face

Carlos, 19.16: Oh, we’re talking about love now, are we?

Nancy, 19.17: can it, reyes

Carlos, 19.20: Noted. Look, take it from someone who’s been navigating gay relationships in Texas his whole life. Sometimes you just have to go for it. Ask her for coffee, test the waters, see where it leads. You never know, it might work out. I mean, look at me

Nancy, 19.24: wow, way to rub your happiness in my face 😑

(Carlos doesn’t find out if she follows his advice, but he does notice her and Marjan showing up to their hangs together)

(Nancy does not appreciate his smugness)

*

Without even realising, they become a formidable team. This fact is highlighted one game night about three months after the incident, when Nancy and Marjan blow into his and TK’s house, a determined glint in both their eyes.

“We’re switching up the teams,” Marjan declares, much to TK’s outrage.

“What? Why?”

“Because,” Nancy continues, “we’re tired of losing to you guys. You’re like, freakishly good at board games and it’s not fair. Plus, we have to watch you both being all lovey all the time when you’re on the same team and it’s exhausting. We want to see you being competitive for once.”

TK pouts, but Carlos just shrugs when he looks to him for backup. “It’ll be fun,” he says, smiling at Nancy and Marjan. TK still looks put out, so he leans in close and half-murmurs, “C’mon babe. How about a prize for the winner?”

TK perks up considerably at the suggestion, and, going by the twin looks of despair on Nancy and Marjan’s faces, they caught both the comment and the innuendo. Marjan groans and Nancy raises her eyes skyward, as if pleading for divine intervention.

“This was a great idea, actually,” TK says, grinning. He quirks an eyebrow at Nancy. “You and me, Nance?”

That seems to shake Nancy out of her silent prayers for strength. “Uh, no. I’m with Carlos.” To emphasise the point, she strides forward and grabs Carlos’s arm, dragging him to the couch. He nudges her gently when they sit, smirking at the disgruntled way she digs into the snack bowl.

“You did say you wanted to see us being competitive.”

“Shut up.”

*

In the end, TK ends up paired with Mateo, and Marjan with Paul. It’s clear from the outset who’s going to win—Nancy and Carlos dominate the board, and not even Paul’s master strategy is enough to catch up with them.

They win by a comfortable margin, fist-bumping in celebration. There’s a general air of bemusement in the room, and when Carlos looks round at the others, he finds four pairs of eyes fixed on them.

“What?”

“Since when have you two been such a good team?” Paul asks, leaning back in his chair and raising an eyebrow.

Carlos shrugs, sharing a smile with Nancy. “Guess we just are.”

[starlight-writes-stuff]

SO HEAR ME OUT an nsfw alphabet for draco

hey bestie - im literally so excited to do this (: i have a guilty pleasure of reading nsfw alphabets so u really hit the nail on the head with this request . n e ways , enjoy !

AYO LOOK AT THESE ! : smut (duh but still) , hair pulling , breeding k!nk , unprotected sex (wrap it b4 u tap it) , masturbation , choking , light bondage , praise kink , general adult themes and content so please only read if ur okay with that .

reblogs are always appreciated ! <3 ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁  ☁

a = aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

draco is the literal definition of a fluff fic after sex - hes so soft and loving and affectionate . if the sex was on the rougher side , draco goes out of his way to kiss any bruises , cuts , or red marks he may have left on you, soothing the sinfully painful spots with soft touches of his suddenly gentle fingertips.  

b = body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

draco is built like a greek mf god , and he knows it . he’s all lean , toned muscles and his alabaster pale skin only makes him look more ethereal . draco is quite proud of his body and isn’t afraid to show off if needed.

draco literally loves everything about you , and you’ve tried over and over to get him to pick his most favorite - he never does it because he’s a stubborn little shit and refuses to let you think that he values one part of you over any other . finally , you wore him down to coming up with a top 3 : your hands , your hair , and your chest .

 your hands as they fit perfectly in his , they brush his hair out of his eyes with a gentleness that melts him every time (and the way you dig your nails into his back or his arms iykyk) . 

draco loves your hair mostly because its the exact opposite of his own ; long , thick , and chocolate brown . he’s constantly playing with your hair , whether that's running his hands through it or gently tugging on it to get your attention . he would kill you if you ever told anyone , but draco taught himself how to braid your hair so he would have something repetitive to do to calm his anxiety .

 draco loves your chest : he's such a boob guy . he is such a boob guy . even in a non-sexual context , draco loves having his hands up your shirt just feeling how soft your breasts are , the way that he can feel your heartbeat if you’re still enough . when things are getting *frisky* draco loves your tits - in his hands , using his mouth on them , titty-fucking you , literally everything . 

c = cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

draco has a huge breeding kink , but is simultaneously terrified of getting you pregnant. he knows that he wants to be a dad eventually , but draco malfoy is the king of daddy issues™ and can’t fathom having a child right now .

that doesn’t stop him from filling you up with his cum every time you guys fuck - draco loves watching your face as you take his entire load , begging him not to pull out . 

once he does , though , draco’s head is immediately between your legs watching his manhood drip out of you , fingering it out of you while you whimper at the way he seems to hit all the right spots . 

he’s extremely thankful for the tiny , yellow birth control pills that you’re on , and he reminds you every day to take them .

d = dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

draco had never , ever said i love you to someone during or after sex until the two of you had your first time . now , its a normal occurrence for draco to tell you how much he loves you as he thrusts into your pretty , fucked out body . he lets his forehead fall to yours , moaning the words in between heavy breaths as he finishes inside you .

e = experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

draco had a couple of hookups , and a complicated friends with benefits situation before the two of you got together , so he was somewhat experienced by the time you guys finally got down to it . he made sure you felt so good the entire time , using every trick in his book to make you cum around him over and over until he reached completion as well . 

f = favorite position (this goes without saying)

draco is a sucker for regular old missionary . he likes being able to watch your face as you take every inch of him , watching your facial expressions change and morph under the influence of his pleasure . if he’s eager to feel you - all of you - draco will hook one of your legs over his shoulders , giving him better access to your sex . this is the one instance where draco wont keep eye contact with you : he can't resist watching himself slide in and out of you , coated in your cum .

however

he's an absolute sucker for you riding him , too . he loves to let you take control and chase your pleasure - plus the visual of you bouncing up and down on his cock , eyes rolling back into your head as you hit all the right spots is enough to send him over the edge . if you get tired while on top , draco will gladly hold your hips in place , fucking up into you until you practically collapse into him , entirely taken over by the force of your orgasm. 

g = goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

intimacy is something that didn’t come easy for you and draco; he’d never been with someone that he actually loved before you . there was a deep intensity to the emotions shared between you two during sex , and draco viewed that time between the both of you as something almost sacred . foreplay , or just general teasing can be silly with you two , but making love is more serious . 

h = hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

draco keeps himself trimmed , but not entirely clean shaven , and the hair down there is darker than his signature white-blond locs .

i = intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

(refer back to g but i could talk about this for days) draco is incredibly romantic when it comes to sex . your first time was like something out of a movie - draco had lit candles everywhere , filling the room with soft , flickering light , as well as changing the sheets on your bed to a soft , white cotton . he’d taken his time making you comfortable ; you and draco had talked through all your fears for hours before he laid a hand on you . once you were ready , draco’s touches had been soft and slow and tender all over your body - he’d made you feel like the angel you were . quickly , you learned that draco wasn’t like that just because it had been your first time ; draco made an effort to make sex just as special every time. 

j = jack off (masturbation headcanon)

draco was raised thinking that masturbation was a shameful act , something dirty and below him (you literally can not tell me that this isn't true i'll fight it until the day i die . as much as i love narcissa the malfoy family fkn sucks and they damaged draco so bad . anyways) so it’s very rare that he’ll get himself off. when he does , its somewhere where he can quickly get rid of the evidence , such as the shower . 

k = kink (one or more of their kinks)

while draco makes sex between you two meaningful and special , that doesn’t mean that he’s afraid to be rough (after yall have had a long talk about it before where you gave him enthusiastic consent ofc . ) 

draco loves to pull your hair or wrap a hand around your throat while he’s hitting it from the back , so much so that he’ll bring your back up to his chest . 

he really enjoys a bit of light choking here and there - just enough to watch your pretty face flush with blood , making your moans the slightest bit weaker . 

draco loves to tie your hands up above your head while he’s eating you out as well ; it makes you take all the pleasure he’s willing to give , and he lives for the way your body writhes and bucks under his skillful tongue. 

you literally can not tell me that draco doesn’t have a praise kink - both giving and receiving . draco loves to tell you how good of a job your doing whether you're sucking him off or taking all of him inside you , and he’s constantly reassuring you that you’re doing such a good job.

however

he fucking loves when you praise him as well (my theory as to why is so fkn sad so we wont go over that here) but that boy lives for you telling him how good he’s making you feel , and when you encourage him nodding and whining for him to go faster . its the one thing that undoes him almost immediately , and he flushes furiously every time you tell him just how fantastic he’s doing .  

l = location (favorite places to do the do)

you and draco rarely get it on outside of your bedrooms at hogwarts , or your childhood rooms when you’re home for the summer - but there’s an exception to every rule. draco has absolutely ruined you in the quidditch changing rooms after a rather brutal loss , and he’s the king of shower sex , too.

m = motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

praise !! draco loves you telling him how good his dick feels , or his tongue , or his hands . he also appreciates when you’re rather direct with him - telling draco exactly where you want him , what you want him to do - it drives him absolutely insane . hearing such dirty words come from your sweet , innocent mouth kills him , and it makes draco that much more excited.

n = no (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

there's nothing draco wouldn’t try at least once , but he’s rather uncomfortable with voyeurism. he hates the idea of anyone else seeing your body , watching how you wriggle and whine underneath him as he makes you cum . while the two of you have done it in some questionable locations , draco had made sure that no one could see . 

o = oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

while draco loves your mouth wrapped around him , that boy could spend all day between your legs . he's nothing short of obsessed with eating you out , and its one of his favorite things to do for you . he cant help the way it makes him feel - hearing you whimper and moan while you pull on his hair , your back arching off the bed when his tongue flicks in just the right way . he gets a sort of high from it , and absolutely prides himself on making you cum with just his tongue . 

p = pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

it really depends on the day . draco loves fucking you slow , watching his manhood slide in and out of your pretty body coated in your arousal , but he cant resist fucking you so hard he leaves bruises , either . if its just a regular day , the two of you fall somewhere in between , a perfect mix of rough and sweet . 

q = quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

draco loves a good quickie every once in a while ! sometimes he needs a release , and your body is his favorite vessel . usually quickies are where the two of you get a little more risky - he’ll grab your arm , pulling you into an empty classroom or the shower and take you then and there . 

r = risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

yes and no . draco would try anything and everything , especially if you asked him to , but there are some things that are a one-and-done for him . the two of you are good at talking about that stuff - if something made one of you uncomfortable , the other would understand 100% . its all about the balance of boundaries and still being adventurous. 

s = stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

draco would fuck you all day if you would let him . he can make you cum many , many times before he’ll allow himself to even get close , and even then his stamina is through the roof . he can go at least 3 rounds if not more , and switch positions as many times as you’d like . 

t = toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

while draco doesn’t mind you using toys on yourself , they do make him slightly jealous . you gently tease him about this sometimes , how he works himself into a sulk over an inanimate object - however, that usually leads to your hands tied to his headboard , draco holding a vibrator on your clit until you can’t take anymore orgasms. 

you two have expirimented with using your vibrator during sex , but draco much prefers playing with your clit over using an outside source , and seretly , you do too . he’s amazing with his hands , and rubs tight , fast circles onto your sensitive nub while his hips snap against yours only intensifying the sensation .

u = unfair (how much they like to tease)

draco loves to tease you - he likes to watch the way you come undone under the slightest touches of his hands . very rarely does he tease you for long - he can’t resist giving you what you want , what you’re begging him for in that high , breathy voice .

v = volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

he’s a loud motherfucker all the time , and the bedroom is no exception . draco’s moans are music to your ears , and they turn you on more than anything . his already rough voice only gets raspier , and deeper , too . he loves to talk dirty to you , but as he approaches his orgasm , he can barely form full sentences . his cocky pillow talk turns to almost desperate moans and whimpers as his thrusts get sloppier and quicker , his hips snapping against yours hard . his groans as he cums are heavenly , especially since he’s usually buried his head in your neck or dropped his forehead to yours by then . 

w = wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

we all know that draco have a superiority / god complex (as he should 😌) , and this manifests in the bedroom - you would’ve never known , though , if it weren’t for a complete accident . you and draco had been studying together , and he’d asked one of the yes or no questions written on a flashcard .  not thinking about your actions , you’d answered the question with “no, sir” - then physically felt draco’s entire body stiffen underneath you . you’d picked up on it immediately , blood flooding your face as you’d asked him if he liked it .

yes , he did .

he loves when you call him sir as he’s fucking the life out of you - like , he has to stop himself from cumming on the spot . 

when you want to fuck with him for whatever reason , you’ll jokingly call him ‘sir’ in front of your friends

you’ll pay for it later , though

x = x-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

mans is built in every sense of the word . draco is quite well endowed , which was something that took you a bit to get used to . he was never one to measure - it just seemed wrong to him , like he was doing something dirty - but by your estimations , draco is about 7 inches . he’s thicker than most , too , which only adds to your pleasure . 

y = yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

draco lives in a constant state of horny™ . he can’t help it - something about you brings out his most primal instincts . he’s so in love with you and your body that he can rarely keep his hands off of it , but he knows how to control himself . he tries to match your sex drive ; when yours is high , his is too , but he doesn’t mind waiting on you to give him the green light if you’re libido has been lower . 

z = zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

its safe to say that the both of you are extremley tired after sex - its quite the workout . draco is so soft once he’s finished , and he would live in that post-sex haze forever if he could ; he’s all sweet kisses and skin-to-skin contact , but he’ll usually wait until you fall asleep on him before he can drift off . something about making sure that you’re comfortable enough to sleep on him fills draco with a sense of immense pride . once you’ve fallen asleep, depending on how vigorous everything was , draco will usually fade pretty soon after ; on the off chance that he still has some energy , draco stays up and watches you . he looks at you as if you were a piece of art , usually following the soft lines and curves of your face with a gentle finger ; admiring you like the angel you are .

[milks-writings]

CHARACTERS/ READER: Akaashi Keiji x GN!Reader/ Shinsuke Kita x GN!Reader/ Rintarō Suna x GN!Reader

REQUEST: ❤🥺❤since your request are open can I please have a scenario (or headcannons if you prefer) with Akaashi, Kita and Suna (or Osamu) with an gender neutral s/o whose friends are very touching with them (not in a weird way) and one of their guy best friends likes holding their hand and kissing them on the cheek (partly to annoy the boys) and how the boys would react❤🥺❤ it can be angst but please may it end fluffy🙈🙈🙈(hope this isn't to much and I explained well🙈🥺❤) (Request by @aquariarose​ )

A/N: That requests sounds v specific 👀 I mixed it,,, like I made headcanons and then a small scenario with that :D

→ Masterlist

✫ ˚♡ ⋆｡ ❀ HC + Scenario: S/O with a touchy bestie + their reaction

KEIJI AKAASHI

He knew that you and your best friend never meant it in a romantically way, and that you two were just friends who kinda liked to show affection through actions and not words

Honestly, at first Akaashi was more relaxed and didn’t get jealous quite often, he trusted you and knew that you loved him, maybe not more than your best friend, but loved him in a romantically way

Though as the days passed he slowly got tired of you two always being together and sometimes also just wished for some little more affection

Akaashi always knew that communication is the key to make a relationship as good as possible, though it can’t be perfect, some problems could be solved with talking about them so he begun the conversation one day

“I think it’s unfair that (Your bestfriend) gets more affection than me”

And let’s be honest, Akaashi telling you that he thinks that its unfair is probably the sweetest and best thing ever, because he was honest enough and didn’t just ignore you or got mad

He knew that it was not “Your fault” or that you didn’t mean to hurt him with these things. And since Akaashi is really observing he noticed quickly how your bestfriend only did these things to annoy him

In the end, he kind of got you to talk to your best friend about that and was glad once you two “Solved” those things between you. There was never a problem to begin with, but you two noticed that Akaashi always tensed up after seeing you holding hands with your friend or giving your friend a small kiss on their cheek

“Keiji, you are quite tensed and silent these days. Is something bothering you?”

Out of all questions you could’ve asked, you asked the question he expected the least from you. Nevertheless, the relief that took over his body after that question kind of put his mind at ease, leaving Akaashi quiet for a second to think of a proper answer that would satisfy you and himself. “I guess” the setter begun with a sigh, looking up to lock your eyes with his “I am kind of jealous that I get less kisses than your friend” His words managed to give your heart a small tug somewhere, leaving a trace of somewhere relief and somewhere also guilt behind. “Keiji you know that I only love you, but I promise to give you more affection and less to my friend, mh?” with wrapping your arms around his neck and pressing a small kiss on his cheek he slowly nodded in agreement. “Thanks for telling me” you added lovingly, making him smile a little. “I love you too” He replied while pressing a small kiss on your forehead

SHINSUKE KITA

I just know for some reason that this man will be insecure about himself after seeing you giving your best friend more affection than your boyfriend

He just feels like having done smth wrong. There is no particular reason why, and there is no evidence if he really did, after all nothing happened between you two, but I can see him overthinking this situation

His intentions aren’t to ignore you, but he somehow always just begins to drift off into his mind, his thoughts getting over him and his body, just deeply thinking about how he can apologize to you and straighten out his mistake

But little did he know that it was not his fault

You noticed him getting more thoughtful and dreamy over the time, which was kind of weird. Also did you notice that his words were chosen more carefully

But after thinking and thinking Kita gave up, since he couldn’t figure out what he had been doing wrong or saying wrong

“Y/N, if I did something wrong, tell me, alright?” It probably ringed in your head at this moment and you immediately knew about what was wrong with him

“Shinsuke, you are all fine. Is it because I give my best friend kisses and so on?”

Baby feels like crying because he really thought that he fucked up :((

“Yes kind of…”

“I am so sorry, I will tell them not to be that affectionate any more, okay?” he just silently nodded, trying to sort out his thoughts

After this conversation you two promised to not give others more affection than to each other and you also gave him lots of kissies and hugs afterwards

The silent between you two begun to kill you and him, almost like a flame without any oxygen. “Shinsuke” You finally spoke up, looking at the other side of the table where your boyfriend sat, quietly and collected. “Hm?” He asked confused, raising an eyebrow at you. “Something is up with you. Is there anything on your mind?” Kita could swear that all his thoughts got a big knot into his mind, leaving him rather quiet and confused behind. There was something on his mind, he was just a little scared to admit it. Slowly nodding, he looked at you. “I was scared that I did something wrong since you seem to like (your best friend) more than me…” he mumbled out quietly, making you feel bad. With getting up and patting his head after having reached him, you begun to assure him “No no, it’s not your fault. I am sorry about making you feel bad, but I promise that my friend if just very affectionate. If you want to, I can tell him to stop.” You offered, looking down at your boyfriend who only sat there, leaned into your touch and slowly nodding at your words. “I mean… You don’t have to. Knowing that I didn’t do something wrong is fine” He admitted, a small smile finally creeping over his lips. Your words really put him into easement

RINTARŌ SUNA

To be honest, I feel like he would be the most relaxed one about this all

Suna couldn’t bother more about affection and about your best friend. Not like he didn’t like you, it’s just that he is very very vERY observant and he gets things quickly

So when he sees that your best friend is actually a little more touchy and that it doesn’t make you uncomfortable he is absolutely fine with that

Like Suna is super chill about it but still sometimes makes sure that your best friend knows their place and kisses you here and there on your forehead or on your hand, glaring at your best friend before going back to whatever he had done before

Of course, sometimes he wishes also to get kisses here and there, but most of the time, he is okay with that all and just takes it the way it is

Though on bad days he really wishes to get some more affection and once he notices that you don’t give him anything he just gets pissed and a little cold towards you, he just never tells you what the matter is

Suna is not pissed at you, but at the fact that your best friend gets more physical love than he does

And once Suna is cold you can literally not get him to talk unless you find out the reason why he is pissed and apologize for that

Often you ask Osamu for advice and he immediately tells you though since he knows how hard Suna is sometimes

“sorry for giving my bestie more affection than you”

“Oh so you figured?” Suna was clearly a little upset but only played with you. “’is ok. I am not mad, I just wanted to hear you admitting that you are in the wrong” he playfully added

“He is just mad that you don’t give him enough affection sometimes. Not more. I am sure you two can talk that out”

That’s what Osamu had told you previously. After thinking and thinking, but never finding the answer you decided to ask Osamu what he had heard about Suna. Without that guy you would’ve been literally dead by now.

“Hey Rin~” You hummed, trying to gain your boyfriends attention. But he just stared at his phone screen, only giving you a small “Mh”. Unsatisfied with his answer you laid beside him, looking up at the rather lazy middle blocker. “I am sorry for not giving you enough love” His eyes peeked over to you, raising one eyebrow before he suddenly put his phone down and embraced you with his two long arms. “It’s ok. Can I get kisses now too?” He almost fell asleep while saying that. “Yes of course” A small chuckle left your lips, leaving kisses all over his face while he begun to fall asleep with you in his arms. Suna was an easy going guy, but sometimes he just needs some love here and there too. And that just proved your point.

«𝐛𝐲 𝐄𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐞»

✫ ˚♡ ⋆｡ ❀ LOYAL PEEPS: @elianetsantana

[fiddlepickdouglas]

Viva Las Vegas, Pt. 2 - Desert Oasis

Summary: Sunset Curve Alive AU, Willex, was it coincidence or was it meant to be?, 2.3k

@trevor-wilson-covington is my bestie who makes me these lovely edits, we stan supportive friends

Part 1

The boys entered the empty theater from backstage, all gazing at the splendor of it. Luke leapt onto the stage with a stomp, smiling at the echo. Alex just took in the high ceiling, the lights, and the private boxes that made it feel less like a concert venue and more like a mini operahouse. Reggie seemed to think something similar, and by extension made some wobbly ballerina spins across the stage. Not to miss an opportunity to show good form, Alex pirouetted and ended with a jeté, unable to resist feeling smug.

“Now that Alex has christened the stage,” Bobby said. “When do we do a sound check?”

“The stage manager guy said not till about five,” Luke mentioned. “So we can do whatever we need until then.”

“Then why’d we get here so early?”

Both Alex and Reggie gave Bobby funny looks. They knew why. Bobby’s face went from confusion to understanding as he added things together. Luke was already heading back toward the green room. Julie Molina hadn’t arrived yet, but he was clearly excited for when she did. He was probably compiling lyrics to show her.

“Met her once and he’s twitterpated,” Bobby joked, Reggie chuckling after him. “Bet you know what that’s all about, though, right Alex?”

“Well...” Alex said in a high-pitched voice. He wasn’t entirely sure if it was the same thing. Willie was nice, and seemed to accept his invitation, but he didn’t dare assume.

“Come on, that waiter couldn’t keep his eyes off you,” Bobby insisted.

“Waiter?” Reggie puzzled. “What waiter?”

Alex looked at him, sticking his tongue in his cheek. “Really?”

Reggie shook his head, still clueless. Bobby stuck his hands in his pockets.

“Your friend, Smooth McDuck, here practically asked him out right in front of us,” he said. “How many pancakes did you eat anyway?”

“Ooooh that waiter!” Reggie said, finally.

“Okay,” Alex muttered to himself as they continued toward the green room. He didn’t want to get his hopes too high, especially with Bobby being so encouraging. Part of him was almost afraid of seeing Willie actually show up at the show tonight. It was more from the uncertainty of what Alex would do if he saw him again because he didn’t trust himself to keep his cool. How he’d managed it back in the diner he attributed to either his upset stomach or mild shock. 

As they reached the green room, Luke was on the phone, a concentrated look on his face. A crew member sat with his arms folded next to him.

“Uh huh...okay, thank you.” He sighed. “Yeah, sure thing. Thanks, bye.” He hung up and ran his hands over his face.

“What was that about?” Alex asked.

“Just called the motel to see when we could check in and they’re flooded, plus their other rooms are full,” Luke told them. “But they’re gonna give us our money back and hopefully we can find somewhere soon.”

Everyone groaned at the inconvenience. Finding somewhere in Vegas that they could afford within a handful of hours sounded practically impossible.

“Who wants to go hotel hunting?” Bobby said solemnly, looking around for more volunteers.

“I’ll do it,” Reggie responded.

“Me too,” Alex followed. “Is there a phone book?”

“I got you,” the crew member said, going back to a closet and pulling one out. He handed it to Alex, who proceeded to flip through the yellow pages.

“Anyone got a notepad so we can write numbers down?” he asked.

After a bit of scrambling between the rest of them, a pen and notepad were provided.

“I’m gonna go get the cash back,” Luke said, heading out to the van and disappearing.

In a combination of checking their map and collecting a list of numbers and locations, the other three looked at their options.

“Okay, I say we take turns making calls,” he said.

For the next hour Bobby, Reggie and Alex rotated between contacting numerous hotels and writing down prices and seeing where reservations were open. Most places were too expensive, the rest were booked. They were down to the last two numbers, and Reggie was on the second to last call.

“We need two rooms. Or one with room for four, if you have that,” he was saying for the umpteenth time. The silence thickened with anticipation, and then thinned out again. “No problem. Thanks anyway, bye.”

Hanging the receiver, Reggie sighed heavily.

“Man, if this last one doesn’t work, I am gonna hate driving back overnight,” Bobby stated.

“Me too, I can’t fall asleep in the car,” Reggie said. “I don’t know how Luke does it.”

“Well, let’s try this last one and hope for the best,” Alex told them.

He picked up the receiver again and dialed the last number, listening to it connect to the operator and then start ringing.

“Thanks for calling the Desert Oasis, my name is William, how can I help you?” A familiar voice said on the other line.

Alex dropped his jaw.

“Willie?” he breathed. Bobby and Reggie perked up in interest. Luke reentered the green room as he returned from collecting their money.

“Um...yes?” Willie answered in confusion. “Who am I speaking to?”

Alex chuckled nervously, avoiding the looks on all his friends’ faces.

“It’s, uh...it’s Alex. You work at a hotel too?” One of the guys playfully socked him in the shoulder and he swatted them away.

“Yeah, I do.” He could hear the slight happy tone in his voice and had to make himself focus on the task at hand.

“Cool, well, me and the guys are actually kinda desperate. Do you have any open rooms?”

“We should.” Alex pumped his fist excitedly at those words. He could see the rest of the guys’ faces light up.

“Do you want one with four beds or two with two beds?” Willie continued.

“What’s cheaper?”

“The one room. How many nights do you need?”

“Just tonight,” Alex told him.

There was a short pause on the other line.

“Okay, I’ve got you in.”

“Yes!” Alex exclaimed, to which the boys started celebrating. Luke and Bobby hollered while Reggie gave everyone high-fives. Honestly, if Willie had been in the room, Alex might have nearly choked him with a tight hug. “Thank you, Willie, thank you, thank you!”

WIllie giggled on the other line.

“Of course! You guys should check in soon though.”

“Yes, right,” Alex calmed from his euphoria. “We’ll be there as soon as we can. Thank you, again!”

“Yeah man, I’ll see you soon!”

Alex hung up and ran his hands through his hair in relief.

Luke wrapped an arm around Alex and thumped his chest, and Alex in turn messed up his hair.

“Okay boys, let’s get checked in!” Luke cried as they all ran to clamber into the van again.

Alex was still wonderstruck at the idea of seeing Willie again. It had been only a couple of hours; maybe he’d been nervous at the thought of him appearing later that evening but now he was too excited for that. Even though it was a short drive, he made sure to ride shotgun this time. The last thing he wanted was for the nausea to resurface.

As they arrived, Alex grabbed his backpack and headed straight for the front desk. It was empty, but soon a man with dark curly hair came around the corner and stepped behind it.

“Sunset Curve, I presume?” he asked. He had a slight accent that Alex couldn’t place. Maybe it was French? Either way, he was disappointed not to see Willie there. The rest of the guys had piled in behind him.

“Yeah, man, that’s us!” Luke said, stepping forward.

“Tell your friends!” Reggie quipped habitually. The concierge gave him a stiff but polite smile. Luke quickly handed him the cash to pay for their stay and he was handed a room key.

“Your room will be on the second floor and then all the way down the hall to your right. Have a wonderful stay.”

Alex sat in disbelief while Luke had handled everything, so Reggie had to nudge him. Returning to the present, he shouldered his backpack and followed the boys to the elevator. He didn’t like the unsettling feeling descending on him like a shadow. It was more than just not seeing Willie upon arrival, but he couldn’t explain it just yet. A small pat to his shoulder diverted his attention.

“He’ll be around here somewhere,” Bobby assured him.

Alex nodded back to him, glad for the support. This was a newer side he was seeing from Bobby, and it was a change that strangely didn’t make him completely freak out.

As they got into their room, Reggie sprawled onto the main bed as though he were landing on a cloud. Luke claimed the couch, which Bobby insisted was a pullout bed as well. They all got to argue over which territory they claimed, and found out that the couch was just a couch, but there was a bed that came down off the wall in the closet. Reggie had brought his stuffed bear and placed it on the main bed, saying it was now being “reserved”. In retaliation, Bobby threatened to be the big spoon, to which Reggie replied “I’ll just be the bigger spoon!” in a very flustered manner. Alex sat on the bed from the wall with his legs crossed, enjoying the insanity.

“What you should really be fighting over is who gets to shower first,” he said, knowing the seeds of chaos he was sowing.

“Dibs! I call dibs!” Reggie yelled, raising a hand.

“Not if you can’t get in there first,” Luke said as he passed him on the way to the bathroom. This caused a comical fight to enter the bathroom, which Reggie ultimately lost.

“They know there’s showers at the venue, right?” Bobby muttered over to Alex.

“Not if we don’t tell ‘em,” Alex murmured back, giving him a fist bump. He preferred not to wait for all three of them at either location to finish getting cleaned up after the show.

Bobby picked up Luke’s acoustic and started playing around, and quickly Reggie sat on the floor to listen. Alex didn’t feel up to jamming and decided he needed to get out.

“I’m gonna take a walk,” he announced, to which the other boys only nodded. He caught Reggie’s hypnotized expression as he looked up at Bobby and chuckled as he made his way out the door. He wondered if they would ever figure it out.

Alex pulled a drumstick out of his fanny pack and dragged it along the wall of the hotel, tapping a simple rhythm. This place was across the street from the diner, he’d noticed on their way in. The temptation to search for Willie grew, but he questioned it for a moment. Was he really going to get feelings for a guy he’d barely met and likely wouldn’t see after this trip? It seemed a little crazy.

He came to the end of the hallway and peered through the window overlooking the street. It was kind of a pretty view of the Red Rock Canyon, and would have been even better if the window had been wider. The sun was bright, inviting him to go outside. It isn’t searching for Willie, it’s just getting fresh air, he told himself. He took the stairs down to the main floor and waved at the concierge as he pushed his way out the door.

The wind had picked up a little, and Alex breathed in as the breeze swept over him. The heat was a little more intense than back home, but he liked the change. Heading toward the sidewalk, he chose to try just walking around the block before going back up to the room. Being on the outskirts of the city was thankfully much quieter.

Quiet enough to hear the gentle click-rooolllllll of small wheels behind him.

Before he could fully turn around, Alex was hit full force with someone’s entire body weight and they both landed together on the concrete. Grunting in pain, he looked to see Willie on the ground beside him, hand on top of a cracked helmet.

“There are better ways of getting my attention,” he said hoarsely, standing up.

“Sorry, I was meaning to stop before I got to you,” Willie said, chuckling through his own pain and holding onto his skateboard. Alex offered him a hand and Willie took it to help himself up. The closeness already had Alex catching his breath and he mentally begged to hold himself together repeatedly.

“So I don’t get it, do you just run back and forth between the hotel and the diner as you’re needed?” Alex asked.

Willie’s eyes went side to side and he shrugged.

“Sort of,” he told him. “It makes every day different.”

Alex caught a glimpse at his other hand and saw the newly opened sore that wasn’t being mentioned.

“Willie, your hand!” He cried, carefully taking hold of it so the palm faced up.

“It’s no big deal,” Willie said while trying to pull it away. Alex kept a firm grip on his wrist so he couldn’t hide it. “I’ve had worse.”

“Well, you shouldn’t stay cut open,” Alex scolded gently. He dug into his fanny pack and pulled out an alcohol cotton pad and some bandaids.

“Do you seriously carry those with you everywhere?” Willie wondered as Alex opened the packet.

“You’ve seen my friends, right?” was his only response. He continued to clean Willie’s hand, ignoring his winces, gasps and reflexive jerking, and then covered it the best he could with the bandaids. Willie just bit his lip and sighed.

“You used to play doctor with your teddy bear as a kid, huh?”

Alex looked at him and the adorable expression on his face was too much. He smirked.

“Right, hah. Not gonna be a problem, will it?”

Retaining his smile, Willie sat backward and raised his eyebrows.

“Problem? I don’t think so.”

He dropped his board and kicked off.

“Hey, where are you going?” Alex said, running after him.

Willie simply nodded for him to follow, and it was all too compelling. Holding the strap on his fanny pack, he ran to catch up, unsure where they were headed.

[levis-hazelnut]

Summary: when you and your best friend, Hanji, were younger, you had made up stories about your dream guys - what they would look like and how you would meet. What happens when the one you had made up appears to be real?

Warning(s): I don’t think there are any in this chapter. But, please do tell me if there are any.

Taglist (closed!): @castellandiangelo

Status: completed!

part 3 > part 4 > part 5

series masterlist

My elbow was propped up on the table with my head in my palm as I flicked around the fruit in my bowl with a fork. I was home alone since Hanji went out somewhere and I had nothing to do. Yeah, the weather was pleasant but I didn't feel like going out even though it's a Saturday. I just wanted to roll myself into a ball in a corner and slowly die. What's the reason for my misery? Well, you probably don't even care, but I'll tell you anyway. So, you know how I told Petra that she can take away my Levi, yes, he's my Levi. Whatever. So, of course, since I'm such a great friend, I started to try and get them to hang out more and more, while I tried to fight away my feelings. The feelings that try and consume me every time I see that stupidly sexy face of his.

 Before I start fantasising about him, I'll carry on... So, they seem to get along well since Levi prefers normal people, unlike myself and my other friends. He still hangs out with me, but just not as much as before and I truly think he's catching feelings for her. Oh, I should also mention that this has been going on for three months so it's definitely possible for that to happen. Like I basically fell in love with him as soon as I saw him. Well, who cares about me and my feelings? I know Levi doesn't (well, he tries to care for me but I push him away as the idiot I am).

And that's essentially the reason why I want to die in a corner. They both better thank me when they get together otherwise I will straight up trash every single one of their dates. I'm an idiot. I'm stupid. I'm a poor excuse of-- "You aren't an idiot, you're a weirdo. Don't forget that." Tch. His dumb voice is trying to slither into my brain. Can't I at least finish my self-loathe session? So inconsiderate. "Ugh, why am I annoyed at him for something I caused? I'm truly a horrible being," I muttered to no one in particular before groaning when I reached for my phone that buzzed in my ears. "What?" I spat when I answered, not even reading the caller ID. "Good afternoon to you, too, darlin'. What's wrong with you?" Oh, it's my favourite person ever... "What do you want, Ackerman?" I asked with a bitter tone. "First of all, I want an explanation." "For what?" "Why are you acting like this? You've been moping around for the past couple of fucking months. What's going on?" "... Nothing. What's the other thing you want?" "I haven't gotten an explanation yet." "Levi, please, just forget about it." My tone showed that I just wanted to end this conversation as soon as possible. I heard a sigh before hushed words sounded. "(Y/N), I'm going to come to your apartment and hold you at gunpoint if you don't tell me." "Sure, do whatever, but I'm still not going to tell you." "You're fucking crazy." Yeah, I know. That's why you prefer Petra over me, I thought. "I know. Can you leave me alone now?" "... The other thing I wanted to ask is if I could come over later." "Why? Are you actually going to hold me at gunpoint?" I asked sarcastically. Another sigh sounded. "We've barely hung out recently and it sounds like you're going to start crying any moment, so I'll come and keep you company. Also, we have that assignment to do." Why do you have to be such a softy? Just when I was getting annoyed with you, you decide to be a Prince Charming. "Fine. What time are you coming?" "Is three fine?" I glanced at the time and saw that it was already two o'clock. "Yep. I'll see you later." "Bye." ~/~ Levi and I sat at the small, round dining table with both of our laptops open as we worked on the assignment together. We let Lo-Fi play quietly as background noise and we often spoke - either to distract ourselves from the boring shit we were doing, or to help each other. As he said, Levi had a come a few minutes before three o'clock and after trying to get me to tell what happened, he decided it was futile and suggested we start working. Since I had nothing else to do apart from dying, I agreed.

As he cleared the table and put his things on the surface, I got whatever snacks we had and placed them in the middle of the table. I also made Levi a tea and myself - a coffee before we sat down and started. I wasn't really in the mood for anyone. I didn't even want Levi to be here when he first arrived, but now I don't mind since he gives me good company. After about an hour, Levi suddenly decided to get up so I averted my eyes from the laptop screen to question what was wrong.

And his answer?

Girl, get ready for this. You're going to burst into tears for me. "... I'm going on a date with Petra." There it is. The reason why I wanted to just breakdown and die in a hole. Levi is going on a fucking date with Petra. Levi is going on a fucking date with Petra. Levi is going on a fucking date with Petra. Levi is going on a fucking date with Petra. Levi is going on a fucking date with Petra. Those words kept on repeating in my mind like some kind of incantation as he packed his things away and slipped his jacket on before grabbing his phone. Soon, I knocked out of my trance and looked up at him before standing up. "... Petra?" "I asked her out yesterday." "You did?" I squeaked out, assuming that Petra would have been the one to ask him out. "Yeah. Anyway, I'll see you on Monday." "Okay. Bye." Being a good host, I walked him to the door and waited for him to put his shoes on before closing the door once he left. (Y/N), don't cry. Don't cry. Do not cry. He's just a boy... A boy that's a damn Adonis, and has hair I want to tangle my fingers in, and eyes I could stare into all day, and a nose that's just so boopable, and a jaw that could slice me, and lips that I wish I could feel on mine, and a body that looks better than any athlete... Yeah, he's just a boy... that I'm going to fall in love with. Hey, does anyone know a good suicide method that leads to certain death? No? Okay. ~/~ "(Y/N)? Are you home?" "... Yes," I muttered as I laid on the soft carpet in the living room with my cheek pressed against it. "Why are you... on the floor?" Hanji inquired with clear confusion written on her face. "I need help: I want to cry, but my eyes won't even fucking water. I want to die, but I still have a long life ahead of me. I want to sleep, but I'm not even tired. I want to--" "Okay, okay. What's going on?" my bestie questioned and crouched down. "Why are you like this?" I turned my face so it could hide in the carpet. I don't care if I would get spots from stuffing my face in it, I just needed something to comfort me and this was my solution. "Levi and Petra are going on a date today," I spoke into the material and I could almost imagine Hanji's shocked face. You see, I never told her about my stupid promise. "Sorry?" "Levi, aka the love of my life, asked Petra out yesterday.." "Oh, (Y/N)..." I could hear the pity in her voice. "How did this happen?" "Because of my dumb ass." I explained the rest of the story to Hanji, though my words were muffled since I was still giving mouth to mouth resuscitation to the rug. But I know she heard every single word I said. "You know I would never say this to you, but you're a fucking idiot." "Yeah, I know." "You aren't an idiot, you're a weirdo. Don't forget that." "Tch. I can't even stop thinking about him and his shitty words," I mumbled, making sure that my words were inaudible to Hanji since she would ask what I was going on about. "You should've asked him out." "But that would've looked bad after I told Petra I'd help her." "Well, I don't know why you didn't ask him out before. It's already been five months since he first came, and you haven't done anything." "The first month, Eren didn't let me. And the second month is when Petra asked me to help her, so I couldn't do anything for the other three months." "Okay... Petra is a sweet girl with a kind heart, and she deserves someone to make her happy. But, you've basically been married to him since you were thirteen, or however old we were when we made him up. You can't let others take him away from you. I'm sorry, (Y/N), but you truly are an idiot." "I understand that, Hanji. Don't make me hate myself more than I already do." "So, what do you plan to do now?" "I don't know," I sighed before finally sitting up, cross-legged on the floor. "I can't really do anything about it... Hanji, what if they end up getting married?" "... It's only one date. And it may lead to many others, but we never know if they'll get that far." I huffed once again and stared at the ground. Tears still wouldn't fall. And a couple of hours later, I found the kind of comfort I needed. I didn't need words, I just needed warmth in the arms of someone that cares about me and loves me. My face was buried in the crook of Eren's neck as his arms tightened around my form as we laid down on the sofa. I rested on top of him as he tucked my head under his chin and fiddled with my hair.

No words were spoken, none were needed. And he knew that whenever I felt better, I would tell him what happened. But, for now, he would hold me and comfort me. I seriously don't know what I would do without him. He's always been there for me (if Hanji was unable to) and he always manages to get me back to my normal self. But who knows if it will work this time? We stayed in that position for maybe just less than an hour before I sat up and drifted my fingers through my hair with a heavy sigh. Eren also sat up and I could see him looking at me from my peripheral vision, so I turned to face him. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" "... Yeah...” I sighed before explaining everything to him. "... Oh," was all that came out of his mouth before he embraced me once more. "What do I do?" I whispered, and anyone would be able to hear the obvious pain in my voice. "I'm sorry, but I don't know, (Y/N). Just distract yourself. Moping around won't do anything." "I know. But I don't even feel like going anywhere. Or doing anything." "Come on. Don't just dwell on it, do something to take it off your mind. Have a shower, or sleep, or anything to help you." "Hanji's in the shower. I'm not tired. I don't know what else I could do." "(Y/N), I don't like seeing you like this," Eren muttered and gripped my shoulders to pull me away from the embrace. "It's one guy--" "Yeah, one guy that happened to be someone me and Hanji made up. And he happened to like someone else." "Well, why did you make up someone so attractive?" "Eren, this is not my fault, so shut up. How the hell was I supposed to know that he was going to be real?" He bit back a chuckle. "Sorry." "... Please tell me what's so funny?" "You're just adorable when you're angry. Well, when you aren't angry with me." I huffed and flopped back against the cushion of the sofa, hoping it could suck me in. ~/~ On the way to university, I stopped by my favourite cafe and grabbed a coffee before continuing my journey. Wondering why I'm not rushing or tired? Well, that's because my first lecture is at two o'clock so I had the right amount of sleep, and didn't have to force myself to get out of bed or rush. However, I wasn't looking forward to going since two people are going to be there, and I don't feel interacting with them. If you haven't guessed who I'm talking about, the two people are Levi and Petra. As I wandered through the building to get to the lecture hall, I spotted Petra talking to Historia and decided to walk in a different direction. When I turned around, taking a sip of my coffee, I bumped into someone which caused me to choke on the beverage. I patted my chest as I coughed before silencing and looking at the person I accidentally collided against. Of all people... "Hey, darlin'." "You sure you still want to call me that now even though you have a girlfriend?" I muttered and he lifted an eyebrow my way. "Why do you look so confused? Have you already forgotten about Petra?" "Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. You're still in a bad mood?" "Yeah, I am. And don't even think about questioning me about it. I have a lecture to go to." "Hold up." He took hold of my forearm and I tried yanking myself out of his grip but it was futile. His grip was strong, but it wasn't painful. "We still have five minutes until we have to be there." "... So? Don't you think I should be early for once?" "Fine. But let's walk together--" "Levi!" Oh, I knew exactly whose voice that belonged to. Why am I annoyed at her? She didn't do anything wrong. I need to stop blaming others for the things I caused. "Hi, Levi!" Petra beamed and she pecked his cheek as I slowly felt the raven's grip on me loosen, allowing me to free myself. "Hi, (Y/N)." "Hey," I smiled. Damn, my smile was more fake than propaganda. "I heard you went on a date with Levi. How was it?" I asked, shooting a glance to the male to see that his eyes were on me. "I'm going to borrow your girlfriend for a second." "Sure," he replied as Petra walked beside me, going through random corridors as we spoke. "So, where did you go?" "Well, we went to the cinema first, and then, a small restaurant." "Did he initiate anything?" I smirked, trying to be a teenager that loves gossip. "Um... He gave me a small kiss on the lips when he dropped me home. It was very brief though, almost like a peck." "That's great! That obviously means he had a great time. Did you have fun?" "Yes. Thank you so much, (Y/N). I owe you so much." "Oh, no, it's fine. It's just a favour for an awesome friend." She smiled at me as we made our way back to Levi, finding him standing in the exact same spot. He noticed the smile on my lips but didn't say anything when Petra told him that she has to head to her next lecture. She waved at both of us as I started walking. "(Y/N)?" "What?" I said with exasperation. "Where's that smile gone?" "Levi," I started and turned around to face him. "You don't understand how much I'm trying to stay calm right now. But if you ask me one more question, you'll regret it. All you need to know is that I'm going through something and I don't want to talk about it at all." He simply sighed and nodded as we proceeded to go to our lecture in silence. When I walked in after Levi, I felt someone tousle my hair so I turned around to see Jean, who winked at me. Oh, yeah, I also didn't speak to Jean about getting over me and whatever-whatever. I'm only human, okay? I can't deal with so many things when I have so much on my mind. "Hey, babe." "I already told you not to call me that millions of times." "What's wrong with you?" 3... 2... 1... and... "I've had enough of this... Everyone can just take their fucking noses out of my fucking business! It has nothing to do with you and I have no intention of sharing it with you! Just leave me alone, you fucking assholes!" There it is. The eruption. I barged past Jean and stormed down the corridor as I heard Levi and Jean call me. For fuck's sake. What part of my outburst did they not understand? I do not wish to talk about it and I don't want them commenting on my mood. Just let me be. I slammed the door of the bathroom open, frightening someone I paid no attention to as I leaned against the wall of the bathroom and gazed at the floor. I didn't care about hygiene right now, I just needed some space. "(Y/N)?" I guess I won't be having that, I thought before I looked up to find Hanji there. Gosh, I was so grateful to see her, so I threw myself at her. "What happened? Don't you have a lecture right now?" "Yeah, I do. But people are just pissing me off," I spoke into her chest and I felt her hand pat my back. I parted from the hug and she looked at me questioningly. So, obviously I told her what happened earlier. It wasn't anything big, but I just needed to vent. "(Y/N), you've looked so hurt the past couple of days, or even the past couple of months, and I hate to see you like this. You either cut off ties with both of them or try and keep your feelings away." "I can't do either of those." "Then, you won't be able to fix yourself. Get over the fact that Levi has a potential girlfriend, who is not you. We never know what's in the future so suck it up and be a man,” she said. I fought back a smile that tried to etch onto my lips before giving up and letting it spread across my face. Hanji grinned because she saw I was in a better mood. "Now, get back to your lecture. Who's your professor for this lecture?" "Mike." "Oh, he won't care if you walk in late. Go." I was about to leave, but I looked back and gave Hanji another smile. "Thank you, Hanji." "No problem!" I entered the lecture hall, avoiding the stares from Jean and Levi as I went to sit next to Historia, who grinned up at me. I gave a smile in return and paid attention to the lecture straight away, not wanting any distractions. I kept any negative thoughts out of my mind and focused on my education. Both males that I shouted at didn't try to speak to me for the rest of the day and I was glad about that because when I shouted at them earlier, that was just me getting a little angry. So, if they attempted to talk to me, I would literally explode and say things that shouldn't be repeated. Now, I was at home with Hanji, talking about crap I was barely paying attention to. "(Y/N)...? (Y/N)?" the brunette called. "(Y/N)!" "Hm...? Oh, sorry." "What's up?" "... I kind of feel bad for shouting at Jean and Levi when they were simply caring for me. But, I'm also still pissed at them for nagging me. And I'm not over the fact that Levi and Petra are dating. Also, I haven't spoken to Jean about the whole moving on thing--" "Stop. You need to forget about everything, it's affecting your mood and your thoughts, and you barely concentrate on anything. If you keep this going, you're only going to get worse." "Hanji... I'm trying. No matter what I'm doing, these thoughts always consume me." "Well, talk to Jean. At least you'll have one less thing to fret about." "Uh, I think I'll wait for him to talk to me because I can't just bring it up out of nowhere after shouting at him." "Okay. Also, just apologise to both of them. Then, all that's going to be on your mind is Levi and Petra," she smiled before her expression contorted into something that seemed as if she was deep in her thoughts. "However, that's the biggest of your problems," she muttered and tapped her chin with an index finger as she stared at the ceiling. "I'll do the other two things, and try and do something about the Levi and Petra thing... Of course, I'm not going to break them up or anything," I quickly added when her eyes slightly widened. "I guess I'm just going to be happy for them, and then be even happier if they ever break up. I sound like such a bitch, but I can't help it." "Be whatever you want, just don't be an idiot and get yourself into another mess like this again." "No promises~" I sang with a smirk. So far, ever since Levi appeared, my life has been nothing but a mess. I don't know if that will ever change, but hey, I can only hope for the best.

[alteridolriley]

Comfort

Summary: Remus learns about what happened between Roman and Janus so he goes to find his brother.

Warnings: nothing much except for some cursing and Remus being himself

Platonic creativitwins because I need them to be bros okay?

BASED ON THIS COMIC BY MY BESTIE @availe I'm sure you've seen it by now but yes go look at her amazing art thank youuuuu

((Sorry for no read more, on mobile, and this is unedited so take it as it is))

×××

Remus tiptoed around the castle deep within Roman's side of the imagination. If he had overheard correctly, his brother was somewhere in these walls hiding from the others. Janus had told him off, according to Patton. But Roman had made fun of his name right in front of Thomas. Remus could respect Janus's anger for sure. 

So where was Roman sulking?

As he walked through the empty halls, his footsteps echoing, suddenly he heard singing. It was dull and lifeless-- as if being sung by a robot.

Remus followed the sound to the end of the hallway and pushed the door open to see a grand theater. He was at the top of the seats which filtered down to a stage at the bottom of the auditorium. Standing on the stage was Roman. He wasn't facing the empty audience but towards the backdrop. Remus shrugged and walked down the aisle, shoving his hands into his pockets. Roman continued singing a song that Remus didn't recognize. It spoke of loneliness and regret, anger and rage. Roman raised his arms toward the ceiling on the final, held out note before falling silent.

Remus climbed onto the stage from the side (steps are for normal people) and as he got to his feet, he applauded. Roman flinched at the first clap but his shoulders sank down afterwards.

"Brilliantly done, dear brother." Remus said slowly, his voice peppered with sarcasm. "If you tune out the flat tuba sound coming from your throat, it might actually sound like real singing!"

Roman clenched his fists at his side but otherwise he didn't move. Remus frowned and began to slowly walk closer to Roman.

"I heard all about what happened between you and Janus. How exciting for him to finally get his point across to you losers and Thomas too! Even getting to reveal his name! Though, knowing Janny, he wasn't too happy to do it under those circumstances." Remus strutted along the stage, clapping his hands to the beat in his head. "And you laughed at him? Really Roman, didn't you learn anything from your time as the villain in Virgil's story? I guess not." Remus stopped right behind Roman. He was so close he could smell Roman's perfume. "Jan called you the evil twin! It must've hurt a lot-- you pride yourself on being the good guy but what do I know right? I'm the actual evil twin, unable to be any kind of good at all. Because of what I am. But it's fine, you know. I am evil-- I'm different."

Remus ignored the lump in his throat as he spoke to Roman's back. Janus probably hadn't meant to hurt Remus but being known as the evil twin really didn't sit well with Remus either. 

Roman turned to look at Remus and the darker twin felt his facade of anger fall from his face. 

Tears rolled freely down Roman's rosy red cheeks, his bottom lip quivered as he tried to say words but nothing came out. Remus reached up towards Roman instinctively before the prince finally spoke.

"I'm sorry… Remus." Roman choked out, wiping his face on his sleeve. "I… I never…" Roman coughed, clearing his throat. "I never realized what it ..  feels like to be called that."

"Well…" Remus stammered over his words. "Janus was kind of in the right you know. How would you feel if someone laughed at your name?" 

Roman stared at the ground. "I laughed because it sounded like a woman's name that's all."

"Then why say stupid?" Remus jabbed back. "Sounds like something I'd do."

"I know! God I… I know." Roman shouted, clearly frustrated. He ran his hand through his messy hair, smoothing it down. "I wanted the callback so badly. But Patton… he said that going to the callback meant siding with Deceit. I couldn't do that. I didn't want to be evil! I-- I wanted Thomas to be good." Roman paused, biting his lip. Tears pricked at the corner of his eyes again. "But now Patton says agreeing with Deceit is something we should do! That he doesn't know everything! So… what else have I done wrong? How else have I ruined things for Thomas?" Roman trailed off. "Am I actually the bad one?"

Remus sighed as Roman sat down at the edge of the stage, pushing his head in his hands. Remus sat down next to him and looked at his hands. 

"Roman… we are the way that we are because of Thomas and how he sees creativity." Remus started. "I'd rather not get into the philosophical shit and let Logan or Janus do it but whatever… I am you and you are me. No matter how divided Thomas tries to see us, we are still connected as creativity." Remus looked up at the tall theater above them both. "We both have the ability to be good or evil but we have preferences. I think… as long as we do our best to be there for what Thomas needs and wants… I think that's enough."

Remus shook his whole body. "Blech enough of this goody-two-shoes talking, I hate it." Remus glanced at Roman who was still crying. "Come here."

Roman blinked and stared at Remus's open right arm before complying, leaning into Remus's embrace.

"The bananaconda can be pretty harsh sometimes." Remus admitted.

For a single moment, Remus felt Roman laugh. "I… I called him that too."

"Damn right you did. If there's one thing the creativity twins are good at, it's nicknames!" Remus boasted.

The two sat in silence, staring out at the empty theater. 

"Remus…" 

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Thomas hates me now?"

"Really? That's what you're concerned about?"

"..."

"No, Roro. I know for certain he doesn't hate you. You're still his hero. I just… know it."

×××

[poliel]

Surprise Egg 4/13: Congrats

Filbo had just gotten the fire going in the pit for the evening when he glanced up to see Buddy wondering into town. Always happy to see them, he straightened to smile at them as they approached.

“Hey Buddy, how’s it going?”

“Filbo!” Their eyes sparkled with excitement, a wonderful sight after how exhausted they’d been lately. “You’ll neverguess what just happened.”

“You found out where Liz is?” Filbo almost didn’t dare hope for such a thing but if anyone could find her it was Buddy so… maybe.

“Oh uh… no, not yet. I will soon though, I promise.” Yeah, definitely too much to hope for. “But I did find something very cool. Or more like it found me. I’ll show you.” They walked over and sat down on the log bench by the fire.

Filbo sat next to them, close enough that he could see their camera’s screen as they lifted it from where it hung around their neck. It booted back up in seconds, allowing them to navigate to their recently taken photos.

“What is that?” Just a photo of it made Filbo’s fur prickle with unease. It was some kind of bugsnax? But grumpus shaped. And it might’ve just been the angle the photo was taken from but it looked big too.

Buddy flipped back through more, including ones that showed it did indeed have large googly looking eyes like bugsnax. “I’ve decided to call it Snaxsquatch because it’s like Grumpsquatch but a bugsnax. I also got a recording of what it sounds like. Wanna hear?”

Not really but Buddy was clearly very excited about this for some reason and it was nice seeing them happy so… “I guess.”

With a far too excited grin, they switched their camera back off and pulled out their tape recorder. After rewinding it a bit, the pressed play.

“Hello. Can you understand me?” There was a brief pause filled with the sound of Buddy’s camera snapping a few photos before their recorded voice continued. “I’m a journalist and I’m here to do a story on bugsnax. If you can understand me, I’d like a…”

A wet growl interrupted them, making Filbo flinch. Knowing something that could growl like that was on the island somewhere was the opposite of a cool find. And… and that thing had been right near Buddy, close enough that they’d talked to it. Did their bravery know no bounds?

Apparently so as their recorded voice continued without hesitation and full of even more excitement. “Growling works. How about a long growl for ‘no’ and short a one for ‘yes’?”

A short growl answered Buddy followed by an unidentifiable sound. Which was were Buddy stopped the recording. “That’s where it sank into the ground. And when I looked there wasn’t any trace of it, not even a hole for it to have sunk into. So I have no idea where it went or is now. But cool, right? I’m sure it’s the thing Beffica and Gramble saw that night when the spooky message appeared on the town sign, meaning it wasn’t aliens after all.”

“Uh… I don’t know about cool but it’s certainly scary. How much of a threat to Snaxburg do you think it might be?”

“Not at all. It’s friendly.” For how scary it looked and sounded, their nonchalant confidence was surprising even for them.

“How do you know?”

They slipped their recorder back into their back pack’s side pocket as they answered. “I was that close to it because it was dragging me back to town after I passed out in the Sizzling Sands. It even pulled down Shelda’s lean-to to transport me on.”

“Whoa, what? You passed out! Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just…” They trailed off as a look of dawning realization came over their face. “Huh? I’m not sure how I forgot about that but uh…” They looked around for a couple seconds before turning back to look at him again. “I gotta talk to you in private.” All excitement was gone from their voice now, replaced by a chilling seriousness.

“About what?” What could be more important than the fact they’d apparently passed out in the middle of a hot desert and had to be dragged back by a monster? And why didn’t they seem to care?

“Just… something, okay? Now let’s…” They cut off as they stood up, teetering for a moment before he shot up to steady them. They leaned on him slightly as they lifted a paw to press to their forehead. It only lasted a few seconds but it was long enough to almost give Filbo a heart attack.

“Oof, that was… ugh,” they said as they pushed off him to stand under their own weight again. Before Filbo could ask him if they were okay though…

“Whoa Bestie, you okay?” Beffica said as she wondered into the campfire circle.

“Yeah. Don’t worry about me.” They lifted a paw in a weak dismissive gesture towards her.

“You should probably go lie down.” Unsure of what else he could do, Filbo stood ready to steady them again if they needed it. Oh, if only Eggabell were here.

It hadn’t been a commotion really but Cromdo had stepped closer too, looking maybe kind of worried. At that moment, Chandlo wondered in with a “What’s going on? Why’s everyone here look so worried?”

Buddy frowned at him before speaking. “I need to talk to Filbo about something.” They took Filbo’s paw and started leading him back towards the hut the two of them now shared.

As soon as they were in the hut with the door closed, Buddy pulled off their back pack and lowered it to the floor with a grateful sounding sigh. They then unzipped it and took out their camera’s case, placing that on the table before carefully pulling their camera off over their head and into it. They put that back safely in their pack before zipping it up once more. It was a familiar routine of theirs, one that Filbo had seen many times since Buddy had moved in but they did it with much more exaggerated care this time as if they were so exhausted, they could barely move.

“You okay?” Filbo asked as they finally turned to look at him. They’d been acting clearly unwell for a while now but this was different and worse. … If only Eggabell were here, she’d know how to fix it.

They looked at him in silent thought, one paw on the table as they leaned slightly onto it. After several seconds of this they pushed off and walked over to him still standing by the door and… hugged him. They pressed into him with a slight, exhausted sounding purr. “I missed you.”

He hugged them back of course, though he couldn’t quite muster up a purr himself right now. “Uh… I missed you too but… you weren’t gone that long.” They even still been here this morning when Filbo woke up, something that was honestly pretty rare with how busy they were.

“I know. But something happened and… it made me miss you.” That was strange but… okay.

Unsure what to say to that, Filbo just held them for however long they wanted to be held for. Which wasn’t long as they soon gave him one more tight squeeze before pulling back.

They stepped all the way back before speaking. “I finally found out why I’ve been so unwell lately. It’s kind of obvious now that I really think about it.”

“What is it?” And how seriouswas it?

“Um…” They looked away, lifting a paw to nervously rub the back of their neck. “You remember a few months ago when I was in heat and you helped me. And then you asked if I had any contraceptives and I didn’t but told you it would probably be fine anyway because having a hard time conceiving runs in my family? Well turns out it wasn’t fine after all. Whoops.”

“Wait! You mean you’re…” He cut off, unable to say it quite yet because how could they actually be carrying his egg? Yeah sure, it made sense given the whole heat thing and but still. That wasn’t at all news he was prepared for or had ever given any thought to possibly one day receiving or having to give to someone else. Kids were fine and all but never once had the thought occurred to him that he might someday have one of his own.

“I was pregnant but then uh… I laid the egg which is how I found out about it. I passed out afterwards. And that’s when the Snaxsquatch brought me back here.” They reached into their pouch where they’d taken to carrying Sprout. What they pulled out though was undoubtedly a grumpus egg. The faded splotches of colour on it were burnt orange and light blue, confirming its parentage. They tried to hand to Filbo.

He flinched, pulling his paws in close to this chest. “Why are you giving it to me?” Given his track record he should be the last one handling something as important and delicate as an egg.

“Just… because. I need sleep. You can tell the others about it while I take a nap. Or I guess you could keep it a secret for now if you want to. But regardless, we’ll talk about what we’re going to do about it after I get some rest, okay? So just take it for now.” They pushed it towards him again.

He wanted to refuse but… they were clearly beyond exhausted and utterly unwell. The fact that they’d just given birth to the egg not long ago certainly explained why. They’d done it all alone out in the middle of the hot desert too, how awful and scary must that have been? And yet they didn’t complain, they never did about anything. So… trying not to grimace too hard, he accepted it from their paws.

“Thanks.” Then, without further word, they turned and walked over to the bed and collapsed face first onto it. Probably not even five seconds later they were snoring softly.

Never the most dexterous of grumpuses, Filbo’s paws were even more clumsy than usual due to being like strawberries. So very carefully, before he could drop the egg or some potential disaster could befall him and it, he put it into his own pouch. Unlike some he preferred not to carry things in there but… it was meant for carrying eggs and the grumplings that hatched out of them so this was how it should be. … Still felt weird though.

Shaking it off, he went over to the bed to check on Buddy. … Yep, they were out like a light and they certainly deserved and needed the rest. So… with a deep breath he turned and left the hut.

As he walked back towards the campfire, he tried not think about tripping and crushing the egg in his pouch. Would that even crush it though? Eggs were supposed to be pretty sturdy, right? But how sturdy? This was his first time seeing one up close in real life so he had no idea. … And it was his! Oh gosh, he wasn’t ready for this. How was he supposed to…

“Filbo!”

He flinched and looked up at Beffica. She was still standing by the campfire with an air of having been waiting for him to return. Chandlo was with her and Cromdo had perked up from his stand again.

“What’s wrong with Buddy?” she continued. … She was concerned, it was written in her face and in her tone.

“Come on dawg, out with it,” Chandlo said before the silence could stretch for long. “What’s wrong with them? They going to be okay?”

“Oh uh… they’re sleeping. I think they’re going to be okay… well as okay as they can be… maybe. I don’t know.” Ugh, he was doing an awful job at putting anyone at ease but he was worried about Buddy and the egg that had quite literally seemed to have come out of nowhere and… it made it hard to think. He took a couple deep breaths and put on not a smile but a hopefully less freaked out expression because panicking about it wasn’t going to make it better. “The reason they’re so exhausted is because they uh… gave birth to an egg earlier today.”

That was met with surprised silence for several seconds before Chandlo broke it. “You mean they’ve been carrying an egg this whole time? Why didn’t you guys tell anyone?”

“We didn’t know.”

Beffica scoffed. “I thought at least one of you would have some kind of birth control and be smart enough to use it.”

“Well… we didn’t have any and it was kind of… urgent and they’d thought it’d be fine. And we’ve been careful sincethen.” Getting pregnant outside of heat was rare but not impossible so they’d done their best to avoid risking it as much as they could whenever they made love but apparently it hadn’t mattered anyway. “So we had no idea.”

She sighed and shook her head. “Well, let’s see the egg then I guess. Since I assume you have it now, right? Because what else would you be carrying in your pouch?”

Filbo wasn’t sure he wanted to take it out for fear of dropping it but… With a sigh, he reached into his pouch and pulled it out. Beffica snapped a photo of it as Chandlo stepped closer to look at it too.

“It’s a bit small and the colours are faded,” Cromdo said, making Filbo jump a little. He’d approached unnoticed and now stood on the other side of the log bench so he could get a good view of the egg. “That means it was born sooner than it should’ve been. Which with the way Buddy’s been running around, doesn’t surprise me. I’d say get it checked out by a doctor but we don’t got one anymore. So instead, just make sure to keep it as warm as possible. Like if you’re gonna have it outside of your pouch for more than five minutes put it in heated cradle, assuming you can find a way to make one that’s safe. Otherwise make sure someone’s carrying it around all the time, okay? And don’t let Buddy take it up the mountain or whatever.”

“What do you know about taking care of an egg?” Beffica asked pretty much exactly what Filbo was thinking but with far more scorn than was necessary.

“I just know, okay? It ain’t none of your business.” He turned back to look at Filbo again. “And don’t shake the egg neither or drop or anything else rough, got it?”

Under his stern gaze, Filbo carefully put the egg back into his pouch. “Got it. Thanks for the advice.” He’d take any from anyone who was willing to give it.

“You could maybe ask Floofty to examine it,” Chandlo said. “They’re real smart and know a lot about biology stuff even though they’re not a doctor. So they might be able to tell you if it’s okay or not.”

“All right.” It certainly couldn’t hurt.

The three of the followed as he started for the research tent. He’d really rather not ask Floofty for any kind of favor but… they were the only one here who might be able to examine the egg with any degree of accuracy. If only Eggabell were here. … Yeah, ifonly, and if only wishing for her return could actually bring her back to town. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Shaking off the bitterness of that thought as he stepped into Floofty’s part of the research tent, Filbo put on his best attempt at a pleasant expression. “Hey Floofty.”

Still leaning over the table and whatever they were working on they didn’t even turn their head to look at him as they answered. “Greetings.” Indifference was better than disdain but… still uncomfortable.

“We need your help with something,” Beffica cut in as she strode over and put a paw on Floofty’s desk, rattling it a little.

They looked up at her with an annoyed sigh. “What is it?”

“An egg,” Chandlo said. “It’s looking a bit unwell so I thought we could bring it to you and you could look it over, make sure it’s okay and stuff.”

“Ooh, an egg you say?” Triffany was suddenly in on the conversation too as she stepped over into this part of the tent. “Whose is it?”

“Buddy’s and Filbo’s,” Cromdo replied. “Apparently Buddy’s been pregnant this whole time and didn’t know. Unsurprisinglywith the way they’ve been running around it was born early so we need someone to check and see if the grumpling’s still alive inside it or not.”

Triffany grimaced. “Oh dear, yeah with the way they’ve been running around and stuff… I do hope they’re okay. Both Buddy and the grumpling.”

“Well, Buddy’s getting some much-needed rest right now,” Filbo said as he pulled the egg out again. “So Floofty do you think you could…” He held the egg towards them.

“I suppose with the use of Eggabell’s equipment I should at least be able to determine if the grumpling’s alive inside or not. Exactly how healthy it is, I’m not sure I’ll be able to tell, but something’s better than nothing.” They took from him. “Now someone go get me Eggabell’s medical bag.”

“I’ll do it,” Filbo volunteered, immediately turning to run over to Liz and Eggabell’s hut. He needed the distraction and to be moving and since he was keeping the place clean for their eventual return, he knew exactly where the medical bag was.

~

Standing around while Floofty examined the egg with Eggabell’s limited equipment was nerve-wracking. Was Filbo actually going to have to figure out how to be parent or was this was one big scary false alarm. … Part of him hoped for the latter. … He flinched internally. How could he even think that? Grumplings dying unhatched was always tragic and not something that should be hoped for. So no he didn’t hope that that had happened but… but… he wasn’t ready to be a parent!

Despite his inner turmoil he kept his expression as positive as he could. The one thing he was good at other than messing up was maintaining a positive energy. Like a good leader should. … Except for the fact that no one here respected him as a leader. Which he couldn’t blame them for given everything. But his chances to ever gain that respect from them or anyone else were severally hampered by the fact that he now had an egg and eventually a grumpling to take care unless… He wasn’t hoping for that though.

How did one even care for a grumpling after it hatched? They were mostly just carried around in their parents’ pouches, right? Until they were… whatever age where that wasn’t a thing anymore. What age even was that? And what happened then?

“Congratulations Filbo,” Floofty said as they picked up the egg and turned away from their desk to approach him. “Despite Buddy’s negligence for their own wellbeing, the egg and grumpling inside seem mostly fine as far as I can determine, certainly alive if nothing else. Which admittedly I’m not a doctor nor a proper expert on fetal development but I am fairly confident in my assessment nonetheless.”

As they handed him the egg, he put on a smile. “Thanks.” He slipped it into his pouch.

“You’re welcome. Now take Eggabell’s stuff back to her cabin and shoo, I have work to get back to.” They turned their back and went back to their desk.

Filbo quickly grabbed the medical bag and was out of there.

“Congrats,” Beffica said as she fell in step with him. She even sounded kind of sincere for once.

“Uh… thanks.”

“Yes, congrats,” Triffany added. “I’m sure you and Buddy will be great parents. I almost can’t wait to have a little one running the place. I’m going to go tell Wamby.” And she was off.

“Yeah, congrats dawg,” Chandlo came up on his other side. “What you going to name them?”

Oh no, they were going to have to come up with a name too? How? “Uh… I don’t know. I’m sure Buddy will think of something, I’m really bad with names.”

~

Before much more than even an hour had passed since he’d even got the news himself, everyone in town had approached Filbo to congratulate him on the egg. Gramble also offered to watch the egg and/or the grumpling if he and Buddy ever needed or wanted a break for a bit. Filbo was tempted to hand him the egg to watch right then and there but… just thanked him with a smile instead. If any of them even suspected how much he was freaking out below the surface, they didn’t say anything.

But when Buddy woke up and they talked about it some more, surely everything would be okay, right? Buddy would know how to handle the situation and thus they’d ease Filbo’s fears and… stuff. So everything was going to be fine.