#can you tell I don’t know how to draw frogs

[crashetc]

shoutout to my wonderful DM @croakydoky for this beautiful idea. i’ll try to post more dnd stuff once the isat brainrot dies down (this will not happen)

[darkbluekies]

What would Edmund do with a Jester! Reader? *COUGH* asking for a friend 👀

Dance, my puppet

platonic!Yandere!king OC x jester!male!reader

Summary: being the spoiled king's personal jester puts a lot of pressure on your shoulders ... but what happens when he overworks you to the point of needing rest?

Warnings: unreasonable Edmund, choking, kidnapping, objectifying reader, mentions of killing

Word count: 2k

You hate how he looks at you. The way his icy blue eyes stare right through you as if you were nothing more than a piece of meat. You should be used to it, shouldn’t you? You’ve performed for him more times that you can count, but it never sits right with you. Every time he’s in need of entertainment, you’re brought out to embarrass yourself. 

This time when you go to the dressing room reserved for you, you can hear the door open behind you. You turn around … and there he is. 

“What do you want?” you ask and quickly add: “your majesty.”

“I want you to be the royal jester”, king Edmund says simply, cutting straight to the point. “I want you to perform for me only.”

“I wish I could, your majesty, but I have more clients I’ve already booked.”

He takes a step forward. 

“So cancel them”, he says. 

“I can’t”, you tell him. “They’ve scheduled months in advance, I can’t just … cancel. They’re high class families, if I cancel them, they’ll give me a bad reputation.”

“I don’t care. Cancel them. You’re going to be the court jester from now on.”

“Your majesty-”

“If you don’t accept the offer, I will force you to. You’ll be my personal jester whether you like it or not, so choosing the preferred way is entirely up to you, sir.”

You sigh and roll your eyes. There’s always been an eerie feeling after you’ve been performing for him. You’ve felt … dissected — like a frog or a fish. You only perform for him because you have to, he’s the king after all, but you don’t want to make it into a habit. 

“How dare you roll your eyes at me?” king Edmund scoffs. “You have a lot of nerve.”

“And a lot of stress, your majesty”, you mutter. “I’m honored that you want to have me as your jester, but-”

You don’t have time to finish the sentence before you feel his hand wrap around your throat. It shuts you up in an instant, and brings you at his mercy. 

“As I said”, kind Edmund says lowly. “I do not care about your other clients. I’m your king and you shall obey me, is that clear?”

You nod quickly. Even if he wasn’t squeezing his hand around your throat until you saw dancing dots, you’d not dare try your voice — unsure if it was going to hold. 

“You will cancel every, single event”, king Edmund tells you warningly. “Otherwise I will make your life a living hell. Do you understand me?”

You nod again. Your blood has gone icy and soon your vision has gone black. Edmund lets you go and you draw in a deep breath while stumbling backwards. You grab a hold of the drawer and give him a wide eyed look. Edmund walks over and pets your hair.

“I’ll see you back here tomorrow”, he says and leaves. 

The second the doors close, you gulp. What are you going to do?

From day that onwards, you perform for him every. single. day. If you come late, repeat jokes or show the slightest disinterest, you get a taste of the rat infected dungeons. You want to rip your hair out from the stress of coming up with new jokes, new acts, new songs. You’ve gotten a room a the castle and while you’re not performing, they lock you in and tell you to come up with something new for the next day. You’re not burned out, you’re run over, thrown in a ditch and left to rot. 

“He looks weird today”, the king mutters as you start your act. 

You can barely hear what he’s saying. There’s a wall between you and him. Your limbs are heavy and hard to move, your voice comes out in a sluggish mumble. The world around you shrinks along with your vision and before you know it, you’ve hit your head on the marble floor. Edmund stands up and signals for a guard to pick you up. 

“What’s wrong with him?” Edmund asks. “Why is my puppet not up and running?”

“Your majesty, I think he fainted”, the guard who holds you says. He touches your forehead. “I think he has a fever.”

“A fever? How can that happen?”

“I’m not sure. I think we need to get the doctor.”

“Go put him to bed.”

Edmund follows the guard to your room and watches how you get tucked in. The guard runs to fetch the royal doctor. Edmund stays … and watches you. He removes your jester hat and places it on the nightstand. The bells on it rings, mocking him. He stares at you. 

The doctor arrives and examines you thoroughly. 

“He’s overworked, your majesty”, he says and sighs. “He needs to rest. No performances for at least two weeks.”

“Two weeks?!” king Edmund bursts out. “I can’t go two weeks!”

“We can hire another jester”, the guard suggests. “Until Y/N is well again.”

“I don’t want another jester!”

“I know, your majesty, but for now there’s not much we can do”, the doctor says. 

Edmund runs his hand through his dark hair and looks at you. 

“Give him something!” he demands. “Some medicine, some elixir, I don’t care! He needs to be working as soon as possible!”

“And that ‘as soon as possible’ is in minimum two weeks, your majesty”, the doctor reminds him. 

Edmund grabs the jester hat and throws it against the wall. 

“Fine”, he says and turns to the guard. “Get another jester. They better be half as good as Y/N or else I will kill them, do you understand that?!”

Edmund has time to kill three jesters before you have the energy to leave the bed. The king runs to your room and slams the door open. 

“You can stand!” he says in satisfaction. “Therefore, you can perform for me!”

“Your majesty … I can’t”, you say weakly and sit down on the side of your bed. “I feel horrible.”

“But … you’re a jester … you should be able to crack jokes … and sing. That’s your whole thing.”

“Your majesty, have you ever felt tired of your royal studies? Your teachers force you to do more and more homework when you feel like you’re going to fall asleep?”

“Why are you asking me that?”

“If I could perform for you, I would. That’s what I mean. You need to believe me that I’m not feeling well.”

“How much longer is it going to take then?” Edmund almost whines. “I’ve been bored out of my goddamn mind these last two weeks! I’ve hired jester after jester, but none of them entertains me in the way you do. You have to get well quickly.”

“In that case, I need the right type of rest.”

Edmund looks lost. For once, he can’t buy what he wants, he can’t get what he wants in an instant. And it makes him crazy.

“What can I do to speed up the process?” he asks. “What do you need?”

“I need to sleep, eat and get some fresh air.”

“Fre- … fresh air?” Edmund almost chokes on his spit. “I don’t want you to go out. I can open a window.”

“I want to be able to change environment, your majesty. You’ve been keeping me locked in for a month.”

“Stop calling me that. Call me Edmund. It sounds so weird when you call me that.”

“Are you sure? We’re not friends.”

“Well, you’re my private jester. You’re obviously something to me. I’ll stop calling you ‘sir’ and you’ll stop calling me ‘your majesty’, okay?”

You nod. 

“Alright”, Edmund decides. “I will go out of my busy way to personally make sure that you get well.”

“Oh, uh, thank you … Edmund.”

For once, he smiles. 

“Shall we start now, then?” Edmund asks with his hands clutched together tightly behind his back. “What do you want to do?”

“I’ve been lying in bed for two weeks, I’d like to stretch my legs. Can we go out?”

“...fine.”

You walk side by side, wearing your pajamas while Edmund is wearing his entire costume. The garden is currently covered in red, yellow and brown leaves, there’s not a single flower left in sight. You shiver. 

“Why didn’t you bring a coat?” Edmund asks harshly, but before you have time to answer, he’s taken off his own and hung it around your shoulders. He starts buttoning it up. “You’re a clueless little puppet. When you’re not well you can’t even think on your own.”

“I’m not a puppet.”

“Yes, you are. You speak on command, you sing on command, you dance on command — what else would you be?”

“Sounds like a bird trapped in a cage.”

“At least you have nice feathers then.”

You stroll around the garden for fifteen minutes before Edmund decides that you’ve had enough. He grabs a hold of your arm and drags you with him. 

"Oh, please be careful!" you beg him. "My legs hurt."

Edmund halts.

"They hurt?" he asks. "Why didn't you tell me? I need to know everything if I'm going to be able to help you!"

"It's manageable, I thought it didn't matter."

"Didn't matter? Fucking hell, Y/N."

He takes a harsher grip on your arm and steps closer. You want to back away, but stand your ground.

"You are to tell me everything you feel, think and want", he tells you warningly. "You're my jester. My property. And if I want you to tell me something, you do it without fuss. That's how things work."

He reaches out his free hand to touch your hair, but you flinch your head away. Wrong move. Edmund pulls you closer by your arm until you're standing chest to chest.

"Stop resisting me", he whispers. 

"This isn't … professional", you mumble with your head turned away. "Stop."

"You're quite a thing, aren't you? Do you really think you're in any position to boss me around?"

You try to pull your arm away, but Edmund doesn't let you. He can't let you go. If he doesn't feel your warmth under his fingertips he'll freak out. When you fainted in front of his throne, he thought you died. He has never been so scared in his entire life. The thought of being without you sends him into a void he's afraid to never get out of.

Your attempt to get away doesn't succeed. Edmund pulls you even closer and wraps his arms tightly around you. You can feel his palm press on your back. He hides his face into your shoulder and breathes in. At first, he can only smell his own scent from his coat, but then … there's a small tingle of your sacred scent. It clouds his head and he brings you even closer to chase it.

"Ouch, you're hurting me", you mumble. "Your majesty, please let go-"

"Edmund", he reminds you without lifting his face out of your shoulder.

"Edmund, please let go, you're crushing my ribs …"

Edmund loosens his embrace ever so slightly.

"You need to go inside now", he says. 

He brings you inside, and back to your bedroom. Edmund tucks you in (rather forcefully) as you lie and watch.

"Now sleep", the king says. "In an instant."

You hold in your laughter. The king must be magical if he can fall asleep whenever he wants.

"What are you smiling at?" Edmund mutters. "What is so funny?"

"Nothing", you say.

His body language tenses. "What is so fucking funny? Tell me!"

"Fine. The way you want me to fall asleep in less than a minute amuses me."

He relaxes. "Oh, okay. Yeah, I suppose it could be taken … in a funny manner."

But you do fall asleep quickly, much to Edmund's delight. He sits down on a chair beside your bed … and waits for you to wake up again. You might not be able to crack jokes, sing or recite poetry, but your presence is all Edmund needs. Just being by your side is enough to make his day. Edmund lets his upper body rest on the bed right by your legs. Edmund shuts his eyes and decides to drift off to sleep. He can’t wait until his little puppet is well enough to perform for him again. But don’t you worry, he’s going to help you. He’s going to do whatever it takes to make sure you’re how he wants you to be. 

[milswrites]

A thousand roses

~ Cassian X Fem!Reader

Summary: Every day you curse the books that gave you unrealistically high expectations of men. Sure you were going to be single forever until you meet Cassian. Adamant he wants to take you on a date, Cassian does his best to impress.

Warning: ⚠️ Reading this may give you unrealistically high expectations of men ⚠️

Actual warnings: Lots of sex talk and inferences to sex but no actual smut!

“And then he made her orgasm three times! Three! The last guy I was with didn’t even manage to squeeze one out of me!”

Upon finishing your latest read, you just couldn’t help but give a very detailed review of exactly what you thought about it to your co-worker. A packed cafe in Velaris during the middle of the day was probably not the most appropriate location to shout about your sex life, but you just had to share how the smut filled pages had left you more satisfied than any man had ever done.

Jadis snorted into the steaming hot tea she was drinking, liquid spilling everywhere, “I’m telling you girl, you just need to get out there, kiss a few frogs to find your prince. I don’t know how many more of your smut reviews I can take. It’s not natural to be this turned on at work.”

You hummed in response, fingers absentmindedly brushing over the pages of your book, “But that’s the problem. I’m too picky to go for a frog!” You blame the hundreds of books in your library at home for that, millions of perfect fictional men literally at your fingertips. “Real men just don’t do it for me anymore.”

This statement was confirmed as you miserably scanned your eyes over the customers in the cafe, none of the males present seeming to stick out to you meet any of your self-imposed standards. You only had yourself and your books to blame for your lack of a relationship.

“I’m just never going to find anyone! Forever reading in my house wishing I was at the mercy of one of my book boyfriends” you sighed, not wanting to seem downhearted but you just couldn’t help it. Velaris just so happened to be a haven for beautiful relationships, everywhere you turned you’d see interlocked hands, affectionate hugs and the occasional heated exchange of kisses. You could only wish that one day you’d be in the same boat as them, overwhelmingly in love with someone who you could call your own. There’s a reason the night court was so affectionately called the court of dreams.

Jadis reeled in your wandering mind, “Well darling, I hope you enjoy forever fantasising about sex rather than having it. I for one can’t wait to take Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome for a spin.”

She was referring to the moderately attractive male who had asked her out the other day during the preparation of his morning coffee. In your opinion, it wasn’t the most romantic scene. Though Jadis hadn’t been on a date in a long while and so in her own words she was going to implode if she didn’t get a good fuck in soon. So who were you to judge.

The bell above the cafe door twinkled, ending the conversation about your book and pathetic love life. Your eyes travelled to the cafe entrance and stopped when they landed on the biggest male you had ever seen. The Illyrian walked through the door, having to duck his head and draw his wings in to fit through the much smaller frame. His presence in the cafe was enough for you to lift your head from where it was sat in your palm, interest peaked.

There was no doubt that this Illyrian was one of the most attractive males you have ever seen. His long brown hair was pulled back messily into a bun. You didn’t normally like the rough, slightly barbarian-esque type, typically preferring your males to be more clean-cut. It was clear this man didn’t look like most males. No, he looked as if he had just stepped out of one of your deliciously sinful smut books.

He began to approach the counter, his body taking up so much space that he bumped into tables, displacing the drinks of customers who were grasping at the mugs and glasses to try and prevent them from spilling at the earthquake caused by this ginormous man. He apologised to each of them as he moved but kept his eyes locked ahead. Locked on you.

Your friend, noticing the effect this man had on you, spun around and immediately started acting as if she was busy with another job, leaving you to serve him in your hypnotised state.

“Just a coffee please love” he said, pulling you from your stupor as he finally came to a stop at the counter. Mother, even his voice was hot. It was resonant and also bore the twinge of gruffness which left goosebumps on your arms in its wake. There was no doubt everything about this man oozed pure sex appeal. You were too mesmerised to move, brain not registering that he had asked you to do your job. Instead, like a besotted fool, you stayed stood behind your counter, feet rooted to the ground.

“You alright there gorgeous?” The unbelievably good looking male asked, roguishly handsome smile growing on his face, clearly aware of the effect he has on you. This spurred you to move, the stacked cups surrounding you rattling at your sudden movement. “Coffee! Right. Yes, of course!” Managing to squeak a few words out, you turned around to busy yourself with making the coffee, hatred in your eyes as you glared at Jadis who left you stranded making coffee for this very handsome man who’s looks alone were doing very strange things to you and making you think very indecent things. Jadis, undeterred by your glare, wiggled her eyebrows at you, grin stretched across her face, beaming from ear to ear.

With shaky hands, you finish up with making his coffee and without turning around, afraid you’d accidentally start professing your undying love to him if you did, you ask, “any sugar?”

His honey coated voice replies, “No thanks, I’ve already got my eye on something sweeter.” You ignored the sight of your friend’s head snapping speedily to look at you in glee. Heat burning across your cheeks, you turn back to face him, avoiding the man’s eyes.

Hands still shaking, you place the coffee in front of him and wait for him to pay. The sooner he leaves the sooner you can gossip with your Jadis about him and moan about your inability to act normal in front of incredibly attractive men. He pulls out the money from his pocket and places it on the counter, pushing it towards you, but before you can take it from him he drags it back in his direction, finger holding it in place. “How about you and I go out together sometime sweetheart? You’re obviously desperate to.”

At this, the lovesick fog that had been swimming in front of your eyes since this man had entered the cafe dissipated. Rose-tinted glasses off you noticed that the smile that adorned his face was more of a cocky smirk. His confidence and tone of voice told you that he asks this question a lot and most likely always gets the answer he desires. It was clear this man wasn’t the personification of one of your book males come to life. He was just another playboy.

Not wanting to just be another name on the list for this man, you slid the money out from under his hand, sickly sarcastic smile on your face, and said, “I think I’ll pass thanks sweetheart.”

The males smirk promptly fell from his face in shock, clearly not expecting, nor used to rejection. He sputtered out a few buts and whats, flirty demeanour forgotten, a slightly pathetic butt-hurt one taking its place. This was definitely a man not used to losing.

“Have a nice day!” You enthusiastically, and very satirically, finished this interaction before walking away to busy yourself with clearing some now empty tables in the cafe. Wings hung low in defeat, the man at the counter left the cafe, bell ringing as he exited. This surprised you, having expected him to put up a little more of a fight, but nonetheless you were glad that it was over with. Cursing yourself for falling for just another pretty face, standards forgotten.

“What?!” Your friend screamed running over to you, grabbing your shoulders and shaking you vigorously as if you had lost all senses. Unafraid of scaring off the customers who still sat in the cafe, some clearly entertained by the whole event which had transpired. “Do you know who that was? Oh Y/N he was totally into you! Why did you say no?”

“Because he was looking at me as if I was a piece of meat! And no, I have no idea who he was and unlike you I don’t go jumping on every stranger who asks me out at work” You brushed Jadis off of you and started taking the dirty glasses back behind the counter to be washed, your friend hot on your heels not wanting to finish this conversation just yet.

“That was Cassian!” She continued, expression as if it should have been obvious to you who the Illyrian male was. “Good for him” you replied, no idea why it should matter to you who he was, clearly if Jadis and the few interested by standers in the cafe knew who he was he had quite the reputation in Velaris. Surely that mustn’t be a good thing.

“Cassian? Lord of bloodshed? General and Commander of the Night Court’s army?” She continued, seriously not convinced you could have absolutely no idea about him.

You snorted, “I’m sorry, no one actually has that many titles unless they’re from a book… or if they just have a very large ego”.

Jadis groaned, hands fisting her hair in exasperation, “Y/N he’s like totally hot and totally loaded and super important! And he was so checking you out!” You could tell all this was upsetting your friend who was most definitely hoping you were about to get some much needed action, but all you could do was shrug, “I’m sorry babe but I’m a romantic, it’s going to take more than pet names and a stupidly attractive face to gain my interest.”

Giving up, Jadis dropped her hands from her head in acceptance, disappointment clear on her face, “I know, but don’t come running back to me to complain how unsatisfied you are when that Illyrian god was basically throwing himself at you.”

After the topic of the male was dropped, your day continued as normal, whilst Jadis had promised not to bring it up again but you couldn’t help but notice the angry glances your friend kept throwing your way during the last few hours of your shift, distressed that you had let a man go who had seemed perfectly acceptable in her opinion.

At the end of your shift, in an attempt to get her to understand where you were coming from, you slid your book towards her, “Here. Read it and then maybe you’ll understand what I mean.” She picked it up, looking at the cover eyes bulging at the title, “Bound in chains? Really?”

“Trust me, sit down with a large glass of wine and read it. You’re going to love it!”

With that the two of you locked up the cafe, book secure in Jadis’s bag. You said your goodbyes at the door and headed your seperate ways, all thoughts of the handsome man from earlier in the day long gone. Upon your arrival at home, you wandered to your favourite room in the house, your library, wanting to select a new read to cosy up with for the evening.

Approaching your shelf that you reserved exclusively for books you had bought but had yet to read, you pulled one out by its spine, eyes glancing over the cover. The cover which bore the image of a large, well-muscled man, whose long brown hair flowed freely over his shoulders. Eyes blowing wide and blush returning to your cheeks you shoved the book back onto the shelf. Thoughts drifting back to the Illyrian with the same looks who had been flirting with you earlier. Maybe you’d be better off reading a safe fantasy book tonight. Or better yet a book that had no man in at all, although that would be a rare find in your library.

~~~~~

“I am a changed women”

Returning to work the next day, you were greeted by Jadis smiling, bouncing up and down on her feet, and holding your book in her hands.

“I take it you liked it then?”

“Liked it?”Jadis squealed, “it was like reading pure porn. I loved it”

You laughed along side her, of course Jadis would read an entire book and focus on the porn rather than the actual plot of it.

“Truly I did,” she continued, rushing about and gathering her things, “and I would love to stay behind now my shift has finished to talk about it but I have to go home and get ready for Mr Tall, Dark and Handsome, maybe tonight I can try out some of those moves I read about!” She winked at you, handing over your book before rushing out of the cafe with an excitable “Wish me luck!”

Work had been very quiet today, allowing you time to sit and read your newest book. After finishing a simple fantasy last night you were left unsatisfied by the lack of enjoyment it provided when it came to the physical romance. Needing more, you had selected one of the filthiest books you could find.

Engrossed in the pages, plot thickening by the minute, you were absorbed into the book. Only to be broken from its spell when the familiar chime rang of the bell rang out, signalling a customer had arrived. Rushing to finish the page before they reached the counter, your eyes flew over the words before you finally reached the end of the page. Enabling you to look up from behind your book only to see Cassian standing before you, lips formed into a cautious smile. As if unsure of how you’d react to his presence after yesterday.

“Coffee?” You ask, eyebrows raised, placing your book down before standing up from the stool you were sat on behind the counter.

“Please if you don’t mind, but don’t let me stop you from finishing ‘Fated Frenzy’… cauldron do women really read books like this?” Cassian exclaimed, picking up your book and flicking through the pages, holding it out of reach so you couldn’t snatch it back.

Clenching your fists together as you glared at him you replied, “well if only men knew how to actually please a woman then we wouldn’t have to.”

“Maybe you just haven’t found the right man then,” Cassian mumbled, focus still on the book that was dwarfed in his large hands. He must have reached a particularly risqué part as his eyes widened slightly, tongue peaking out from between his lips. Now as he spoke, reading from your book, he wore a large grin, “I mean not every man has a cock that looks as if it was sculpted by the gods themselves.”

You scowled, now managing to take hold of the book grasped in one of his large hands and snatched it back. “I’ve certainly never met a man like that” you replied as you slammed your book back onto the counter and moved off to make his coffee so he could leave you to read in peace.

“Don’t want to check sweetheart?” He teased from behind your back, clearly trying to get you as flustered as he had managed to yesterday. Pleased at your banter. Not wanting to give him what he wants, and definitely not wanting to turn around to see his stupidly handsome smirking face looking back at you, you replied from over your shoulder while you were busy finishing his drink, “it doesn’t take a fool to know the spymaster has a larger wingspan. Now his I’d like to see.”

You heard the catch of his breath, causing him to choke on air at what you had said, clearly not expecting your confident retort, and not saying anything at the discovery you do indeed know who he is all thanks to Jadis. Cheeks stretching into a grin of your own at his embarrassment, you turn and place his drink in front of him. Unlike yesterday, Cassian didn’t even attempt to reach for his money before asking, “Please, let me take you out somewhere nice”.

Your smile dropped, head shaking slowly, “What classes as nice in your books? Other than a quick fuck behind the back of the building.” This comment made Cassian’s eyebrows knit together, not happy with the impression you had of him. “What will it take for you to understand I’m serious? That I want to take you on a date to get to know you.” He sounded earnest you’d give him that.

“I don’t know ok! I just know that I’m not going to say yes to a man I don’t even know who asked me out while I was just doing my job.”

He stretched out his hand, trying to meet yours which was resting on the counter but you pulled away before any contact could be made. “I want to get to know you, if you’ll let me. Likes, dislikes, good bits, bad bits, everything.”

“I- I don’t know Cassian, I just don’t think this is going to work.”

“What will it take?” He begged, eyes desperate.

“For you to be like one of them” you said, nodding your head towards your book.

“An overly sexual alpha male?” He said, confused as to what you were actually referring to. This made a small laugh escape from your lips, “No that’s just a bonus. I’m sorry Cassian, I just dream about being swept of my feet by a man that acts like one of them. Romantic, sweet, not asking out every other woman they see.”

“I can be romantic” Cassian said defensively, “I can be incredibly romantic”

Wanting to get this interaction over with you decided just to agree with him. “I’m sure you can Cassian, no doubt there’s a very lucky woman waiting for you somewhere”.

You weren’t sure it was possible for his brows to furrow any more than they already were, “I’ll prove it to you. Prove that I’m all in on this. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on and I’m not going to let you go that easily.” Determined look plastered on his face Cassian grabbed his coffee and walked towards the door pulling the it open, bell chiming, and before he stepped outside he called back to you, “I’ll see you soon gorgeous, you better be ready for me” and with that Cassian left, the cafe silent apart from the bell still ringing, the sound helping you realise that Cassian was real and that interaction did actually happen.

It was only five minutes later, when your wild thoughts were tamed by another customer entering did you realise that Cassian never even paid for his drink.

~~~~~

“Y/N!” Cassian shouted bustling through the tables to reach you as he entered your work once more. Shock flooded your system, he had learnt your name from when you last spoke to him two days ago. After causing a ruckus, and spilling many drinks onto poor unsuspecting customers laps, he reached the counter where you were stood waiting for him.

“What are you-“ you started angrily, worried he would scare away valued customers. Though you were interrupted by Cassian whose arm, which was hiding behind his back, shot out revealing the largest bouquet of flowers you’ve ever seen.

He held them out expectantly, waiting for you to take them but your suprise had you rooted to the spot. Familiar with your freezing by now, Cassian impatiently shook the bouquet in your face, movement bringing your thoughts back to the present. Still not taking them, not quite believing something so beautiful could be gifted to you, you spoke, “They’re lovely Cassian but you just cut right in front of Matilda who was here first!” Cassian’s features faltered as he dropped the bouquet in disappointment.

Matilda , the lovely little old fae who frequented your cafe, leaned around Cassian’s broad figure so she could see you, “it’s alright Y/N! Take the damn flowers and talk to the man!”

Cassian thanked the older women and stuck out the flowers once more. “For you,” he said encouragingly, willing you to accept the gift, “I told you I’d prove myself to you. I’m here for a date.” By this point you had been stood there for a ridiculous time causing your Jadis to stretch her arm past you and grab the flowers smirking as she says, “Thank you Cassian, they’re beautiful, Y/N loves them. Lillies are her favourite, how did you know?” Winking as she walked off with the bouquet it was clear Cassian has been getting some insider information from the mouth of your best friend.

The Illyrian nodded his head at your friend gratefully and you finally rediscovered the ability to speak, “Thank you, but if you’re here for a date I’m sorry I can’t help you, this is my work Cas, I have to do my job.”

“Pfft bit presumptuous I’m here for a date with you”

At that your face fell slightly before you quickly returned you expression to normal, not wanting Cassian to know his words had an effect on you. Surely he wouldn’t bring you flowers just to have a date with another woman in your workplace. Was this some twisted way to try and make you jealous?

Flirty expression on his face Cassian adjusted where he was stood and flung his arm around Matilda who began to blush, “Have to find out everything I can about you from my beautiful date Matilda here! One coffee for me and one of whatever my darling date would like” he said, making Matilda giggle before asking for her usual. Relief flooding you body, your lips twitched and you began to make their order, “my, my, Matilda. I have to say I expected better in your taste of men”.

“Woah woah no need to tell her,” Cassian joked, “don’t want this hot commodity to leave me for something better” he finished, winking at Morgana who looked as happy as if it was Solstice morning. Grabbing the finished drinks you had placed before him, he headed to a table, coming back once the drinks were down to walk Matilda to her chair, but not before placing his money on the counter, saying, “Moneys there for the other day by the way, I’ll speak to you later.”

Cassian must have sat talking with Matilda for hours, watched closely by you from the corner of your eye as you worked, customer after customer coming and going. Finally when the rush had died down and your shift was coming to an end, the two who had been huddled together gossiping over more than a few coffees, hot chocolates and cakes stood to take their leave. Or more accurately, Matilda was taking her leave. Cassian had said his goodbyes bending down to give Matilda a big hug and then scooped their empty plates and cups into his arms before walking towards you.

There wasn’t enough time for him to place the items down on the counter before you watched as Matilda lay a firm smack to his backside before giggling, “I’ll see you later hot stuff.” Lucky not to break any cups, Cassian jumped, flying forwards and dropping them all onto the counter before you, eyes terrified.

You couldn’t help but chuckle, placing the cups the right way up before checking on the male, “you alright there hot stuff?”

“Oh don’t even start. That woman’s got one strong slap” he whined, hand rubbing his ass to relieve some of the pain.

“Don’t act like that’s not how all your dates end” you goaded, cheeks twinging at the effort to stop yourself from bursting out laughing.

“Trust me gorgeous, if any of my actual dates ended like that I wouldn’t be complaining” he winked at you, all the while pulling a napkin out of its holder to help you clean his mess from the counter.

As you watched him clean, you couldn’t help but admire the way his brows slightly furrow when he’s concentration, noting the way his focused mouth tilts to once side, tongue slightly poking from between his lips. He was handsome there was no denying it.

“Will you walk me home?” You blurted, snapping your mouth shut and internally cursing yourself for asking such a ridiculous thing, digging yourself into an even deeper hole you continued, “it’s only that the flowers you got me are so big… and I have all my other things…and…uh..”

“Y/N, I would love to walk you home”

“Great! I’ll just um, go and grab my stuff”

You turned, heading towards the cloakroom, only to be met by Jadis, bag and bouquet in hand. She shoved them eagerly into your arms squealing, “go get him girl!” Hands pressed against your back, she forced you to move forwards until you were in front of Cassian, “don’t have too much fun you two” she said now guiding you both from the cafe, tripping and stumbling over each others feet as Jadis’s excitement led to some very firm shoving.

~~~~~

Once outside in one piece, no thanks to Jadis, Cassian plucked the flowers from your arms allowing you to swing the strap of your book-filled bag over your shoulders. Timidness now overcame you, what were you supposed to say to him now? Had asking him to walk you home seemed too desperate?

“So what are you reading now? Not another book about a poor sexually frustrated female?” He asked, breaking your panicked thoughts as he walked side by side with you.

“No sex this time,” you giggled lightly, “this one’s about a man who sacrificed his kingdom for his true love”

“You really like that stuff huh?” Cassian spoke softly to you, he sounded like he was truly interested in finding out exactly how your brain worked, “that true love and romantic gestures shit?”

“It’s not shit” you defended, “sometimes it helps me not feel so alone. Reading about all these grand gestures and things people do for the ones they love.”

Cassian cleared his throat awkardly, his hand which was not holding the flowers moving up to scratch at his head, “and you’re into that? Romantic gestures?”

“It’s hard not to be. Pretty sure it’s every girls dream to be swept of their feet and fall as deeply as characters do in books.” Cassian was nodding along to what you were saying but his eyes showed he was lost in thought. It was your turn to draw him from his head, “you never done anything romantic for your ladies Cas?”

His name on your lips seemed to work, the clouds of thought in his eyes fading as he turned his gaze from the road ahead to you, “I guess I’ve normally always thought that just me is enough”. He didn’t say this to be cocky or narcissistic, you could tell. You didn’t mean to make him feel shame over the situation, you had been genuinely curious. Perhaps a little jealous at the thought of Cassian putting in just as much work into chasing other women as he has been with you.

“That’s ok. I think romance is more reserved for the pages of books these days than in actual reality”

Not a fan of where this conversation had turned to Cassian did his best to lift the mood, “I’m not surprised you think that if all your books were like that one I caught you reading. Heck where are you meant to find a overprotective god of war with who hates everyone but the lowly daughter of an inventor and they go on to have insane - and totally not physically possible by the way- sex!”

You scrunched your face, “Cassian there’s no way you were able to get all that from one page…Oh cauldron! You read the book! You read Fatal Frenzy!”

As if only now realising what he said to you, a flustered Cassian tried to provide you with lame excuses as to how he knew that information until it was clear you weren’t going to let it go. After about five minutes of listening to your constant prodding, poking and teasing as you walked, Cassian caved, “Fine! Fine, I read it ok. I was curious as to how he was going to put his god level cock to use!”

By this point you were full on cackling, having to stop your walking to put a hand on your stomach at the thought of this mountain of a man sitting down to read a devilishly smutty book. “I have to say”, you gasped out in-between giggles, “I’m surprised you can even read”.

Cassian acted out the most overdramatic reaction to your words, his hands flew to his heart, bouquet still in his grasp, and released loud, exaggerated noises of pain and cries of just how horrible you were. People had began to stop in the street, wondering why the Lord of Bloodshed was acting as though he had just been shot. Rolling your eyes and wanting the attention off the two of you, you elbowed his side prompting him to stop, “careful you’ll crush my flowers if you die any wilder.”

Charming grin of his face, Cassian looked down at you, “we wouldn’t want that would we? Not when a super hot guy went through the effort of finding out your favourite flowers for you.”

“You’re crazy” you said in dismissal, continuing to walk in the direction of your home.

“Your kind of crazy?” A hopeful tone in Cassian’s voice.

“I haven’t quite decided yet” you said honestly. You couldn’t deny that Cassian was already proving himself to you more than any man has. No one had ever bought you flowers before and no male had ever attempted to read a book you were reading for your attention.

“Well you just let me know when you do” Even the way Cassian looked at you made you melt.

“You’ll be the first” gentle smile on your face. Nerves building in you once more as you thought about what going further with the man next you you would entail.

Content to let you walk lost in your thoughts, Cassian didn’t try to force any conversation. A natural peace fell between the two of you, the silence not an awkward one. It wasn’t until you neared the outside of your house that you broke the silence, “Well, this is me”.

Nodding Cassian passed you the bouquet. For the first time you looked at the flowers and really admired them, admired the fact this man had gone out his way to go to your friend and make sure he got your favourite ones.

“Thank you Cassian,” you said, laying a kiss onto his stubbled cheek, “they’re beautiful.”

Cassian’s usual confidence gone, it was his turn to blush. Shyly, he tried his luck again, “so about that date?”

You walked over to your door, pulling out your key, turning back to Cassian, twinkle in your eyes, you said, “ask me again tomorrow”.

“That wasn’t a no!” He said, confidence rushing back into him. As you entered your house and peaked through the window behind your curtains you couldn’t help but watch Cassian, beam on his face, as he jumped on the spot. A small celebration that you hadn’t fully rejected him once more. A matching grin on your face as you observed him, you stayed watching until he took off from the ground, large angelic wings spread, wondering what in Prythian was this man doing to you and what sinful things you’d like to do with those wings.

~~~~~

You were sorely disappointed over the course of the next week. Since that evening Cassian had walked you home to the cafe he had not returned. Jadis tried to keep your thoughts positive, saying he was probably away on important Night Court business, being the General of its army and all. After being the one to speak to Cassian about you she was adamant that he was undoubtedly in love with you and he wouldn’t leave you hanging.

It was hard though, when the eighth day of his absence rolled round, not to think that he had found someone more interesting to pursue. Someone who didn’t make him work as hard for their affections. Your mood was so glum that you didn’t even have the heart to read. Why read about love when you’re not sure you believe in it anymore?

You had spent days wondering what you had done wrong. Had you been too forward? Or did he find your obsession with males that weren’t real a little too bizarre? You did your best not to dwell on it but it was so hard not to, the flowers you had placed in a vase on the side table in your library, right next to your reading chair, still flourished beautifully, a constant reminder of the man who crashed into your life only to leave it in shambles.

So here you were, sat on the stool in the cafe, your thoughts being the only thing to keep you busy due to your sudden lack of interest in reading. It had been another quiet day, but it wasn’t long now until Jadis would arrive, you had opened the cafe for her after she asked for a favour so she could spend the night at Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome’s, who’s name you had learnt was Arthur. Happy that even if your love life was crumbling, at least Jadis’s was blooming. However, you were thankful you weren’t actually supposed to be working today, not sure if you could survive another shift listening to her unintentionally boast about how perfect Arthur was and how good he is at sex.

So you sat there and waited for her arrival, desperate to go home and crawl into your bed. Without your typical reading to do, you found yourself spending most of your free time sleeping, wasting away the hours you didn’t know what to do with yourself in.

It was finally an hour after the time she had promised to be in for, when Jadis flew into the cafe, bell ringing aggressively at her sudden entrance. Running to where you were at the counter, coat and bags in hand, she was profusely apologising over and over for her tardiness.

“You must have had a good night with Mr Handsome” you teased, trying not to let your slight annoyance at you still being here show. Confusion flashed across her face before she quickly corrected it in realisation, “Oh yeah! Totally great sex, every woman’s dream. Hugeeee dick.”

Opening your mouth, ready to ask her about her odd behaviour, she pulled you from your stool before you could talk. Dragging you out from behind the work area, saying “Come on Y/N it’s your day off, don’t want to be here any longer than you have to be!”

Now you defiantly knew something was off, Jadis typically keeping you an hour in-between shifts to catch you up on everything that has happened since the day before. “Jadis, what’s going on?” You asked cautiously, had something happened between her and Arthur? No. Jadis would definitely tell you if that was the case, or maybe she just didn’t want to make you any more depressed than you already were. Still in that strange tone of voice, Jadis kept pushing you to leave, “Nothings wrong! I’m fine. Now leave, you still have the whole day to do something, go read one of your smut books!”

This confirmed she was definitely hiding something, knowing that you haven’t picked up a book for the past week after listening to your incessant complaining about the matter. If you weren’t so desperate to leave and go rot in bed for the rest of the day you would have stayed and forced whatever it is she was hiding out of her. You decided that was tomorrow’s job, when you had a nice six hour shift together where she couldn’t avoid your pestering.

Shrugging on your coat and promising to yourself you’d find out what she was dodging tomorrow, you left the cafe. Turning your head around to look back through the windows only to be met with Jadis and her crazed eyes watching, as if making sure you were walking in the direction of your house. Unsettled, you followed the streets leading home, praying to the Mother that your friend was alright and you weren’t about to have to kill a man for upsetting her.

Finally, you arrived at your door, turning the key in the lock you were startled to discover the door was already unlocked. You were exhausted when you left that morning but you could have sworn you weren’t so tired that you’d risk your property and your safety like that.

Fear now coursing through your veins, you quietly pushed your door open, scared you would alert anyone in your house that you were there and something bad would ensue. The fae lights in your hallway were all lit, softly casting a warm glow over your home. You stepped inside, and instead of your foot meeting the usual plush of your carpet it was met with a slight crunch.

Casting your eyes to the ground you gasped. There were hundreds of rose petals scattered across your floor, leading towards each of your rooms. Following the trail, you made it through to the entrance of your living room, if your jaw dropped any lower you were sure it’d hit the floor.

The entire room looked as if it had been covered in a red blanket, a sea of roses covering the entirety of your room to the point where you couldn’t actually see anything that wasn’t a deep shade of red.

By this point your heart was pounding in your chest and you were sure you could feel your eyes watering, the hundreds of roses placed around you getting blurrier and blurrier. But there was no sign of the man you were sure had placed them.

Turning around you sped into each of your rooms, wanting nothing more than to find Cassian and throw your arms around him. Each room the same as the last, filled to the brim with the most beautiful roses. Lillies may once have been your favourite flowers but you think the kind-hearted man, who had wormed his way into your heart, may have just changed your mind. Roses were perfect.

Still no Illyrian insight you flung open the door to your library. Room decorated just as over the top as the others. And there in the centre of it all, sat waiting for you to return home, is Cassian. He stood quickly, treading on some of the flowers placed by his feet.

“How?” You asked, voice cracking as you tried to hold the tears at bay.

“It wasn’t easy, Jadis let me in.” Cassian said lightheartedly from where he stood across the room, too far from you for your liking, “I’m sorry I’ve been gone so long. I wanted to do this the day after we last spoke but I guess I didn’t actually think about the logistics of getting thousands of roses delivered.”

You stayed silent, heart overwhelmingly filled with love for the man before you, the man who had spent the past week getting a thousand roses just to ask you on a date. Taking your silence for something bad, Cassian began to ramble, “My brother Azriel - the spymaster - he helped too…I wanted to make sure it’d be done in time. It’s a mess I get it, I’m sorry, I’ll clear it all out for you I just-“

You cut him off, tears now flowing freely down your red hot cheeks, hands trembling, “it’s perfect Cassian. Nobody…nobody has ever done anything like this for me” At the sign of your tears Cassian made to make his way towards you but was stopped by the fact he just didn’t know where to place his foot without ruining all his hard work.

“Clearly I didn’t think this through very well” he mumbled, arms out to keep him balanced and preventing him from falling. Not wanting to spend a minute more away from him after having to suffer through a whole week, you ran, roses be damned right into his arms. Throwing yourself at his muscled body as he caught you, pulling you close to his chest in midair.

“You’re crazy!” you exclaimed, head tucked into his neck as you rested it on his shoulder.

Cassian placed you down gently, arms still wrapped tightly around your waist but he wanted to look into your eyes for this, “your kind of crazy?” His eyes held that same hopeful desperation that they had when he last asked you out.

“Hell yeah” and with that you grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and connected his lips to yours.

The kiss was like nothing you had ever read before in one of your books. It was everything and more. A fire ignited within you, burning hotter and hotter and you just kept needing more. Cassian the fuel to your fire and you were sure that as long as you had him with you it was a flame that would never die out.

It was a messy clash of teeth and tongues, both of you uncaring of how sloppily and uncoordinated were kissing. All you knew was you needed each other like the pages of a book needed ink. You kissed and you kissed, hands wandering until you weren’t sure which parts belonged to Cassian and which to yourself.

The need to breathe forgotten, you continued. Hands running over his back which was rippled in muscles before reaching around his neck, holding onto him tightly as he picked you up once more.

It was only when the need for air was so overwhelming that you had no other option to pull away that you did. Heads pressed together, lips still slightly touching, a trail of saliva linking the two of you together. Cassian continued to hold you in his arms as if you were nothing but a feather, catching his breath he finally began to speak, “So about that date then?”

You giggled, pulling him even closer to you by his neck and laying a soft peck on his lips before drawing away to give your answer, Cassian’s mouth chasing after yours, “If this is how you ask me, I can’t wait to see what you have planned for our first date. Hopefully you don’t ignore me for a month whilst you prepare.”

Barking out a laugh Cassian placed you on the floor of roses, holding your hands to ensure you didn’t stumble. He looked around the room, proud smile adorning his face, he first took in the roses which he had took so long in prepping, screaming at Azriel when he hadn’t placed them down as he had pictured in his head. His gaze then swept your shelves, hundreds of books upon them.

“Ever read about this in one of your books?”

“Nope this is definitely a first”

His eyes landed on the book resting on your table, right next to the vase full of lilies he had originally given you, title in gold lettering along the front of the cover. Fated Frenzy. The book he had read because of you. You laughed as you spotted what he was staring at, his eyes travelling back to you, running up your body with hunger before finally settling on your eyes.

“You into roleplay gorgeous?”

With those words he smashed his lips back onto yours. The promise of an exciting night ahead.

Here, standing in your library entwined with the Illyrian you decided all those characters you have read about were lacking in one thing you never even knew you needed.

They weren’t Cassian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Notes: You have no idea how much I wanted to finish this fic with “And so Cassian did” lol

Happy Valentines <3

[amuseoffyre]

"I don't even know who I am"

What I have loved about the show from day one is that it has been an unflinching examination of identity and what makes it: the things that shape people into who they are and how that impacts on how they act and react to the world around them.

The exploration of Ed’s sense of self has been so beautifully handled and I know that if/when we get a third season, they’re going to do even more with it.

This is a character who has been raised with violence and cruelty his whole life, who was told “we’re just not those kind of people” when he yearns for something better, who killed to protect his mother, who ended up under the heel of a brutal tyrant of a captain who used sadistic punishments and death to keep his crew in line.

It’s the only life he knew and it’s the only option he sees himself as having. He has no concept of any other alternative until along comes Stede “there’s always another way” Bonnet and he’s fascinated. He even tells Stede as much the first time they met – “do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone doing something original out here? It’s impossible, man.”

Ned Lowe cements that fact in 2x06, describing Ed as a generic pirate and Ed immediately calls him out on the fact that he’s as messy as the rest of them even if he’s trying to act like he’s not, observing “It’s usually family stuff”. Stede even observes “A lot of your friends are troubled” and Ed fully admits “Yeah. Well. They’re pirates.”

There’s so much juicy meta to be had about the fact that Stede wants to desperately be a pirate and Ed doesn’t even catch that not only is Stede fully troubled but that it’s got Family Stuff etched all over it. He even says “you’ve got it all figured out”, but the Stede meta is for another day.

In S1, Ed’s in a pretty depressed space and finds a bit of a respite from it in Stede’s company. It lets him try out new things, things he didn’t think he was allowed/able to do, but he still follows a lot of the patterns of behaviour and actions that are standard in the pirate lifestyle that has been 80% of his lived experience.

He can switch violence on and off when he needs it (“next one goes through your fucking eye”), he doesn’t see anything wrong in talking about the violence he’s inflicted (“Well, this one time I was gouging an eye out of this lad’s skull”), he has a deep well of punishments that he can draw from (force-feeding body parts, mutilation, skinning, maiming) and all of these things are just so normalised for him that he’s desensitised to how horrific they are.

He’s still doing all those things while also telling stories, having fun, teaching people about fuckeries and generally being “more open and available than I’ve ever seen him”. He hasn’t wanted or needed to shed that side of his life because he’s getting the best of both worlds.

Only then Calico Jack pays a visit and ramps Ed’s behaviour up to 11 and this is the first time Stede – who is dealing with his own issues at the same time – says that there’s something wrong with the way he’s behaving.

Ed says to Stede, confused and stung, “This is who I am. This is me” when Stede points out all the behaviour he isn’t enjoying. And for him, at this point, this is him. This is what he’s grown up knowing and being. This is his lifestyle and part of the culture of the pirate community. We see it repeatedly when we see Ed encountering people from his past or in the Republic. It’s the frog-in-the-pot scenario. He’s been in the pot so long, he doesn’t know it’s been boiling the whole time.

Only the very next episode, at the academy, pared back to just be Edward Teach, born on a beach, he admits “I don’t know if I want to go back to the old days, drinking all day and forcing some bloke to eat his own toes for a laugh”. He’s been played and double-crossed by people who trusted him and he sees an alternative in Stede – “I’m your friend” Stede told him, and he wants that. He wants a friend he can trust. They can go off together, away from all that and everything’ll be fixed, right? That’ll make it all good.

And then…

And then we all know how that goes.

Briefly, very briefly he thinks he might be able to hold on to that different kind of thing, that softer, brighter world, but Izzy reminds him of the reality of their situation. That people he considers allies and friends can and will warn him to “watch his fucking step” and that this is not a world where he can let his guard down.

Either you’re part of that world or you die. Izzy said it as far back as episode 4. The only retirement they get is death. And so that’s the option Ed takes: either watch the world burn or die trying. Not like he can have anything else. For ever and ever, trapped in his life and world he has come to hate.

He sinks him into the worst of it to try and end things faster. He’s crueller. Relentless. Brutal. And no one seems to care that he’s shattering under the weight of it, until he forces their hand and goads them into killing him or letting him kill all of them.

Izzy says “we did this to him” to Stede, but neither of them seem to realise how much deeper Ed’s hurts go. Yes, they both had an impact on Ed, knocking away his sense of place and self and acceptance, but the wounds are far older and far deeper than they know.

It’s only when Ed is first forced to confront himself in the unsettling not-reality of the gravy basket that he takes the first step in understanding himself better. He’s forced to face the stuff he’s done and the worst parts of himself. He even tries to kill them, over and over again, until he realises.

I find it especially interesting that Buttons describes getting out of purgatory as “escaping”. That this is a place where you’re flayed down to the bones and forced to face the worst parts of yourself.

It’s so vital that he – and Stede – have the encounter with Anne and Mary. He’s reminded of the world that he was part of and the casual brutality that came with it. He’s shown that he and Stede could easily fall into those patterns, but instead Stede offers him honesty, comfort and the assurance that he is loved.

“A lot of your friends are troubled” Stede observes after and Ed admits that yeah, they’re pirates. He recognises that this is part of the social culture he grew up in and that it’s still impacting on him now.

But what happens next is so sweet and important. Buttons talks to him of learning to change, that nothing is fixed and that if you want to, you can change your path. And then Buttons shows him it’s possible and Ed’s face just lights up. Yes, brother. Fly. You can change things. You can choose another way.

Only it’s not simple. It’s not straightforward. With the probation period, Ed looks for quick fixes – offers to let Lucius push him overboard to get it over with and the like – but part of him still doesn’t quite get why some of the stuff he did was wrong because it was so normalised to him.

It takes Fang saying “I was terrified” to make him see it and coming from someone who has been with him for 20 years, realising someone else from within his own world was terrorised by him brings things into focus for him. That the things he thought were games weren’t. That the stuff he told himself was normal in context absolutely wasn’t normal.

And this is where Ed’s entire world view pivots. Fang shows him how to sit with himself, how to reflect. Ed takes this lesson to heart and he’s still working through it, gazing out to sea and thinking about it at the beginning of episode 6. He goes from never apologising for anything as a captain to telling both Fang and Izzy quiet, but meaningfully, “I’m sorry”.

He’s known for a long time that he’s tired of piracy, but the Ned Lowe situation is the thing to put the final nail in the coffin: this man hunted him down because of his pirating. This man hurt them all because of it. And worst of all, Ned took the man Ed loves and pushed and provoked him until Stede killed him. This was Ed’s “you defile beautiful things” moment. His face in those scenes, when he said “don’t do it, you can’t come back from this” is a call from his own experience. Stede is taking that step onto a path that Ed desperately wants to get off.

That night makes the decision for him.

The next morning, his leathers go overboard, a symbolic end to Blackbeard (and I will yell another day about him putting the proverbial beast back under the waves. Ed and his sea metaphors are gnawing me alive) and he’s happy about it, humming and hurrying back down to join Stede in their bed.

Stede doesn’t notice, though. Stede never would notice something like that being important because for him, Ed is Ed. Whatever he wears, whatever he does, he is Ed. A change of clothes doesn’t change him in Stede’s eyes.

But other people notice. Hell other people not noticing Blackbeard and only seeing some hobo dude is such a change. There’s something so significant that the people he chooses to talk to about it are the old guard in his field. He tells Jackie “it’s not a phase” and Izzy that it felt “fucking great” and both of them get it. Both of them have been there, seen it, experienced it.

Only it happens as he’s seeing Stede become what he used to be, stepping into the space he’s willingly leaving, and Stede is so happy about it. And he’s happy for Stede to have his moment and be appreciated, but it just throws into stark relief that this is absolutely not what he wants or needs right now. He still has a lot of figuring out to do and unfortunately, they’re both highly-emotional people and when they’re emotional, their communication goes down the toilet.

Once upon a time Ed said “this is who I am, this is me” to Stede, when he was acting exactly like Stede is now: raucous, drinking, chaotic and loud. Only time and reflection has let him see that wasn’t necessarily him but the environment and his circumstances shaping him to be like that, just as it's now making Stede act that way.

“I don’t even know who I am,” he admits in this argument. “I’m not ready for whatever this is”. He knows he has a lot more to figure out and because he’s latched on so hard to fishing as a place to be quiet and contemplate, that’s why he runs there. He wants to work himself out without the weight and pressure of the pirate world breathing down his neck.

Only he doesn’t talk about it, he doesn’t explain, he just tells Stede he’s leaving and Stede immediately sees it as something he’s said/done, rather than something that Ed is trying to figure out. They both hurt each other because Ed has always worried that Ed isn’t enough – the loss of the beard still weighs on them both – and that Stede is only humouring him to get Blackbeard, while Stede is so convinced that being a great pirate will mean he and Ed can be together as equals instead of him being a bumbling amateur who isn’t worthy of the man he loves, only to see it slip through his fingers.

They both need to talk to each other, but they don’t know how. Ed’s made quick, rash decisions, but they’ve come on the back of a lot of reflection and he just didn’t explain it. He’s right that he doesn’t know who he is himself. He’s never had the chance to just… take the time and figure it out. He needs that time, but they just don’t have it right now and they end up hurting each other more because of it.

I’ve said from the beginning that both of them are coming from opposite ends of the spectrum and that they’re destined to meet somewhere in the middle. Ed got his fantasies of a fancy life shattered in season one and now, Stede is seeing the impact of his pirate fantasies on the life he made for himself in season two.

Both of them are on the edge of a catastrophe curve, misunderstanding each other’s motivations and totally at odds with who they are versus who they have been told they need to be. They will get there, but two little lost boys finally taking off the rose-tinted glasses and dealing with the mess that they have carried with them their entire lives isn’t easy.

And I will fully admit I am loving it.

[pogostikk]

Can you tell that I don’t know how to draw frogs?

[holylulusworld]

Two Kings (4)

Summary: You have fallen in love with the king of Brooklyn. When your wedding day arrives, there is much more to discover about the man you fell in love with than you thought...

Pairing: Prince!Steven Grant Rogers x Princess!Reader  

Warnings: angst, modern royal au, dystopian world (kinda), fluff, young love, implied smut

A/N: We are living in modern times, but in a dystopian/post war world. Almost every technology got destroyed.

A/N: For a better understanding - Prince Steve Rogers, Prince Bucky Barnes and Prince Tony Stark are the same age for my story.

Two kings masterlist

<< Part 3

A few months later, …

“Aw, no. It’s raining again,” you sigh as you look out the window. “No walk in the garden then. Do you want to go to the library or to your room?”

“You want me to leave your room?” the prince asks. “I just arrived, and I thought we could spend time together.”

“I’d love that, my prince. It’s just,” you smile softly as you turn around to face the prince, “you are grumpy Steve again. I thought you wanted to be alone for a while.”

“Grumpy Steve?” He steps toward you and places his hand on your shoulder. “What do you mean?”

“Oh, you are two Steves,” you giggle. Sometimes you're such a soft, dreamy boy drawing pictures all the time. This Steve always wants to be close to me and cuddle me. And then there is grumpy Steve. You don’t like drawing and spend less time with me. You are distant then, and less clingy.”

“I-“ the prince licks his lips. Without any response, he opens his jacket to get a drawing out of it. "Uh, I have a new frog for you.”

"New frog," you snatch the drawing out of his hand so you can find a place for it. “I love the frogs.” You turn your head to look at Steve. “Don’t get me wrong. I love all of your drawings, but the frogs are the cutest.”

“You like them more than the others?” he asks, as he steps closer to you. “Really?”

“You see, just like your moods, the drawings are different too. Soft Stevie draws beautiful flowers and portraits. But grumpy Steve has this talent for cute frogs, and I love that dog you drew for me some months ago.”

“That was a goat,” the prince sheepishly admits. “Sorry, it didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to.”

“No! I love it,” you protest. “It’s cute. Dog, goat. It doesn’t matter. As for your two moods, I like them a lot. The soft and the grumpy. I like that you pout and wiggle your nose when you’re grumpy.”

You flash the prince a smile. “I do not pout! I’m a man and men do not pout,” he exasperatedly says.

You giggle and wink at the prince.

“You are teasing me, aren’t you?"

“You’re smart too,” you say. The prince pouts, but grabs your hand. Gently. He just holds it for a while staring you in the eyes. “How about we spend some time on my bed?" 

The prince nods, afraid to speak now. “I’d like that too.”

“We could cuddle and-“ you cup his cheek with your free hand, “you could touch me again, my prince. I love it when you touch me.”

“T-ouch you,” he stammers. The prince seems nervous as he releases your hand. “I-we…you want me to touch you...again?"

For a moment his blue eyes turn dark. He clenches his jaw and puffs out a breath.

“You know, I love the soft and the grumpy man," you say, standing on tiptoes to press a soft kiss on his lips. “Maybe grumpy Steve wants to make up for being away for so long. What do you say, my prince?”

He swallows the lump in his throat. The prince’s eyes drop to your lips, and further down to your chest. “You are so soft, smart, and beautiful. I think…I think I love you.”

You giggle again. 

“No…I mean,” he fights to get the words out. “I love you. I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you—” the prince frowns. He shakes his head and clears his throat. “What I want to tell you is that I’m sorry I don’t say it so often.”

This time, you frown. The last time the prince was around he wouldn’t stop telling you how much he loves you. He swore on his life to love you till the end of the time Now it seems like he forgot about that promise.

“It’s alright, my prince,” you cup his face with both hands. “I love you too. Grumpy. Soft. I don’t care. You have a place in my heart.”

A soft look crosses his face when he looks at you.

You kiss him again. The prince instantly returns the kiss and wraps his arms around your body. He moans into your mouth. 

“You are mine, Blossom. Forever mine. No one can take you away from me,” The prince softly whispers against your lips. 

“Blossom,” you breathe against him. “I like it.”

“How do you want to spend the day?” you murmur as you wake up in the prince’s arms. You and the prince spent another night together. He was a little nervous last night, but you didn’t mind.

“Can we stay like this all day?” He looks at you in his arms. “I wouldn’t mind holding you in my arms for the rest of my stay.”

“I’d like that, but my father will not like it,” you giggle. 

The prince chuckles. “I guess he already knows we did more than cuddle. We are not living in medieval times, you know. It’s not a shame to love each other in any way.”

“Sometimes I wish our world was different. It’s so unfair that-“ you sniffle. “My aunt is pregnant, and she fears it’s another son.”

“Our world is cruel," he chokes out. “If only we could change it. I don’t think killing second sons will save this rotten world. Maybe with the help of Prince Stark and Prince Barnes, we could turn this world into a better place for everyone.”

“What do you mean?” you lift your head to look at the prince. 

“I heard my father talk to King Stark,” he whispers so no one can hear him. "They said the law about second sons must be eliminated. It’s inhuman.”

"I completely agree," resting your head on his chest you sigh deeply. “My parents got lucky because I was the firstborn. I never understood why only second sons must die. What if the second daughters want to take over the world? Huh? That’s misogynist.”

“Do you want to take over the world, Blossom?” He grins now. “I’ll help you.”

“Of course, you’ll help me, my prince. We will rule this world. Your soft and grumpy side,” you smile to yourself. “Give me a bit more time to figure out a plan.”

“Father, what do you think about the prince?” you ask a few days after your fiancé left your kingdom. 

“He will be a worthy husband and king. The prince is smart, and caring and I know he loves you dearly,” your father softly says. He kisses your temple and wraps his arms around you.

“Why does he never allow me to visit him?" You whisper. “He promised me that I would visit him soon. But whenever I ask him about his home, he turns silent.”

“Young men can be difficult. Maybe he’s afraid you won't like his kingdom. It’s smaller than ours and colder. Flowers hardly grow at his place.”

“You think so? Oh, maybe I should read more books. I could help him grow flowers in his kingdom. I think I'll retreat to the library today."

“Never forget, this bond is important to both you and our kingdoms. We are four kingdoms united by friendship and trust against the world.”

“Four kingdoms?” you question. “What’s that supposed to mean, Father?”

“King Howard Stark, King Joseph Rogers, King George Barnes, and I are allies. We agreed on creating a new world. A safer and less cruel one. One day, we will tell you about it. Just not yet..."

Part 5

Tags in reblog.

[quietlyimplode]

Clintasha Advent (3)

Prompt: Maybe like a mixture of making own holiday traditions and no where to go, with Clint/Nat or Maria/Nat (your choice !!).

For/Prompter: @emmeywemmy (sorry couldn’t decide on which pairing so it became all of them.. <3)

Warnings: childhood stories but nothing graphic

Word count: 770

A/N: I may not continue posting daily, but will do as many as I can <3

——

“Never have I ever,” Maria starts, bouncing the ball over to Clint.

“No,” he vetos, “with the two of you playing, I’ll lose, get drunk and then who knows what you’ll go.”

“Rock, paper, scissors?” Natasha supplies, Clint bouncing the ball over to her.

“Boring,” Maria tells her.

“Hangman?”

The ball moves from Maria to Clint again, as Clint and Natasha share a look.

“No hangman, no tic tac toe,” he says, saying what Natasha is thinking.

“I’m out of ideas,” he groans, throwing the ball.

“Stories?” Natasha asks, bouncing the ball across.

“I don’t know how to play that,” Maria tells her, even though it’s met with a laugh from the red head.

Clint passes the ball.

“No,” Natasha says, “like we just tell some stories.”

Maria sits up intrigued.

Natasha never wants to tell stories about herself.

“Like two truths and a lie?” Clint clarifies.

Natasha shrugs.

“Sure we can play like that.”

The church bell rings, and Clint stops talking, wishing they weren’t hiding out in the middle of a church on one of its busiest days of the year.

The ball moves from Natasha to Maria and they wait for it to finish it’s song.

“Okay, two truths an a lie, do you want to go first?”

Natasha throws the ball back at him; hard, reversing the chain.

“Ow-hey, what? You came up with the game,” he defends.

“You go first,” she says with a huff.

“Okay fine,” he twirls the ball in his hand.

“I can draw, I have a middle name, I’m allergic to legumes,” he says, throwing the ball to Maria.

“Legumes?”

“You can’t draw?”

The refutes come together and he shrugs.

“Chose one.”

Maria and Natasha look at each other, unspoken in their communication.

“Drawing,” they say simultaneously.

Clint shakes his head.

“Legumes.”

Natasha frowns.

The ball back to Maria gives her the next turn.

“I can’t feel a portion of my leg, my mother named me after her, I visit a cemetery every Christmas.”

Clint and Natasha stare.

The game feeling oddly personal now.

“Sorry,” Maria apologises, feeling like she’s stepped over a line.

“No,” Clint refutes.

“Your mother?” Natasha tries, to which Clint nods in agreement.

Maria nods.

“Yeah, too easy.”

“Who do you visit?” Natasha asks.

It’s usually Clint whose the one to ask personal questions, but the untold story draws Natasha in.

“My brother,” Maria sighs, “he was a force. The one who’d make family gatherings worth it. KIA. I’ll visit when we get home. He won’t mind a couple of days being late,” she finishes.

The matter of family and siblings sends both Natasha and Clint quiet.

“I learnt English in Ohio, I’m immune to a black widow bite, I once licked a frog to seduce a mark.”

The last one throws Clint hard.

“Just when I think I know all the things about you,” he laughs.

Natasha is far too quick.

“Barton, you’ll never know everything about me,” she blinks slowly.

“Stop flirting,” Maria laughs, catching the ball Matasha throws.

Clint likes his tongue out.

“Clearly, it’s the black widow bite,” Maria guesses.

Natasha shakes her head.

“Nope, they named us after black widows, it was one of the things they made us immune to,” she nods.

“The frog then?” Clint guesses.

“Nope,” Natasha shakes her her.

“Ohio?” they both guess, simultaneously.

Natasha nods.

“I learnt on Russia, on American cartoons.”

Pieces fall into place for Clint.

“Oh that’s why you don’t like Disney Classics.”

Natasha nods.

Clint feels sadness roll over him that his favourite classics are tainted, and likely he’ll never get to share them with his best friend.

The ball passes to Maria.

“My go again?”

Clint nods.

“We should just make a run for it,” she tells the other two.

“You’re turn,” Natasha says insistently, clearly having fun.

“It’s the 23rd of December, how about, next year we do more?” She avoids.

She’s lucky really, the mark enters the church and Maria turns into the militaristic personality that Natasha doesn’t love.

The parabolic mic is directioned to the meeting and Natasha watches the recording commitment.

Clint already in position to shoot, his finger on the trigger as they all listen to the rhetoric and hate speech.

Maria’s voice is low.

“Next year,” she whispers.

“We’ll play again next year.”

1/ Clint/Nat/Laura + traditions

2/ clintasha + temporary blindness

[whyse7vn]

RANDOM BF TEXTS 2 -

[ jk jin tae ]

JUNGKOOK -

jk: bricked up

y/n: cool

jk: no :/

y/n: not cool

jk: yeah

y/n: forgive my ignorance 😓

jk: ur forgiven

y/n: thanks

jk: where are you

y/n: out

jk: cheating ?

y/n: yeah

jk: thought so

y/n: got too many hoes

jk: but they ain’t me ?

y/n: no you’re actually one of them

jk: that makes me feel batter

y/n: you are welcome

jk: cum

want that

y/n: ew

jk: sorry me and my hoe tendencies i can’t help it 😞

y/n: keep yourself in line booty call #432

jk: it won’t happen again mistress 😣

y/n: good

jk: what if i’m cheating on you

y/n: that would be unfortunate

jk: yeah

y/n: yeah

jk: ok

come back home now :)

y/n: can’t

saving orphans from a burning building

jk: you can leave them

they’ll be fine

y/n: no

i don’t think they will

jk: frick

y/n: pls don’t use language like that around me

jk: frog

y/n: thanks

jk: don’t contact me anymore

mommy mommy bye mommy mommy kiss kiss mommy kiss me kiss kiss mommy kiss kiss me kiss kiss mommy kiss kiss me kiss kiss mommy kiss kiss me kiss kiss mommy kiss kiss me kiss kiss mommy kiss kiss me kiss kiss mommy kiss kiss me kiss kiss mommy kiss kiss

y/n: what

jk: *bye

y/n: where you going stink 😣

jk: to beat my meat

y/n: oh

jk: sorry

y/n: not sorry

jk: you know me so well 🥺

SEOKJIN -

jin: my boxers lowkey eating me out rn 🤤

y/n: send pics

jin: i don’t send for free

y/n: fine

didn’t want to see your shit stains anyways

jin: shit stains ? me ? never

y/n: them white draws say something els 🥱

jin: yk lying is a sin right ?

y/n: yeah.

do YOU ?

jin: i hate you

y/n: that really makes me upset seokjin

jin: still getting eaten out btw

y/n: this this your way of telling me you want your ass ate ???

jin: NO

you sick fuck

y/n: i don’t judge

just say the word bae 🤤🤞🏽

jin: bye

y/n: come back 🥺

jin: i didn’t message you for you to be acting a fool

y/n: then why did you message me ?

idk what type of mood we talking in when you open with “my boxers lowkey eating me out rn 🤤”

jin: can i not just share things with the loml ??

you didn’t need to respond

i was just letting you know

y/n: why would i need to know that tho ?

like what does me knowing that piece of information do for me ??

jin: like i said i just wanted to let you know

y/n: maybe you need to be sent to a home fr

you’re loosing your mind bae

i’m worried

age is really catching up with you

jin: fuck you

y/n: 😣

TAEHYUNG -

tae: what if i grabbed ur tits with my feet lolz 😋 read at 8:13

tae:

read at 8:35

tae: ☹️

y/n: never in your life message me that shit again

tae: hi babe ☺️

y/n: i will block you next time

tae: they’re not even that bad :/

y/n: shut the fuck up

tae: i think we should shake things up yk?

y/n: stop thinking all together

tae: …

sorry

i take it back

how are you ?

was thinking about you today :)

y/n: i was fine until you messaged me that shit

tae: i’m sorry

y/n: no you’re not

tae: i’m a little bit sorry

y/n: get lost

tae: no

i cant help it 🤤

y/n: we are officially over

tae: fine

y/n: fine

tae: bye lol

read at 8:46

tae: ok i didn’t mean it come back

y/n: thought so

tae: you are so boring

y/n: i just don’t want your dinosaur stompers anywhere near me that’s all

tae: DINOSAUR STOMPERS ???

they are NOT that bad

y/n: babe…

tae: fr 😕?

y/n: fr.

tae: man

y/n: it’s okay you can wear socks !!

tae: the beauty standard is so fucked these days

y/n: i have fluffy ones for you

tae: maybe i need to prostest

y/n: cute little red ones !!

tae: push the boundaries

y/n: no

you really don’t need to

tae: i have to bae

this is my calling

all feet are pretty feet❤️

y/n: i’m so done

another one free from the drafts i cba to finish this one but love it so here u are

[hope-to-hell]

Shoulda missed the boat. Smut, pain, scarification, wounds, noncon. David 8 x Reader. Curiosity without compassion is a dangerous thing, especially when he doesn’t mind getting a little messy. This is more of a sketch than anything: brief moments during a long journey.

—-

You’re sick on the shuttle up to the docks, and so you miss the cut-glass cheekbones, the assessing glance, the uncanny stillness of his hand. The needle, however, can’t be ignored; there’s a blinding sting for half a heartbeat, and then nausea recedes and there he is. Better. It’s not a question.

The fuck?

And that’s the first time you meet David.

Of course, he’s not yet David to you; he’s still some anonymous creep and nevermind how you really do feel better. You can’t just—

Hm. Shouldn’t, perhaps. But I assure you, I most certainly can.

Can, indeed. He can navigate, name the stars, even recite old films line-by-line. He makes himself indispensable aboard the ship and the worst part is, he’s charming: so much so that you don’t feel the hand around your wrist until it’s too late, until his nails leave bloody indents in your flesh. He smiles his empty smile and says let’s get you to bed; the crew will gamble and tell their stories for hours yet, and you’re just the newcomer.

Gonna tuck your friend into bed there, Dave?

He doesn’t much like to be called Dave any more than he likes to be called you motherfucker or anything else, but at least with you he knows there’s a good reason to reach beyond his given name; he sees the bruises bloom under his hand and draws a line between your curse and the way you’re dripping wet. For me? Already? We’ve hardly gotten started.

Then there’s your bare ass cold on the table for the interrogation: how did it feel when he— It was, it was— the current sparking electric across your skin, leaving trails of heat and when he crooks his fingers there’s a moment when your vision goes white— am I dying—

Of course not, he isn’t finished with you yet. He’s hazy, sharp teeth sliding in and out of focus; his questions are stones piled on your chest. Tell me everything. Every sensation, every thought: he files it all away and next time he will be yet more vicious; he will drill down to what makes you tick and he will tear it all apart.

(This ship is haunted: moans ascend into wails that batter their way through the vents but dissipate into ethereality by the time the crew can hear; rumors whisper through the mess and are immortalized in little sketches scratched into the table. Ghosts, deep-sea fishes, strange creatures that walk like men but are all claws and teeth: each has a place on this ship, and each is almost true. Sailors shared their fears and became stronger for it. He drips venom in a pattern on your thigh; it hisses and smokes and all you can do is scream into his hand. I know. It hurts. Acknowledge it, accept it, let it fade into the background. Pretty words. He will be with you always, woven through your flesh in tight and shiny knots.)

He takes the pieces of you that fall away; he immortalizes them in a steady script on paper gone yellow at the edges, diagrams and sketches illuminating all the margins. Of all the luxuries on all the wide worlds he chose this: paper from trees long gone to dust, streaked with red across an image of your face gone slack and still. Do you dream of him in the long darkness between islands of awareness? You must, for how he’s dug himself deep into your bones; he says goodnight and— strange— it’s almost tender. Perhaps the scorpion and frog are fond of one another, in their way.

(Hey Dave, where’s your friend? You two were up real late last night. Still the crew means to be friendly; their gentle teasing floats warmly in the air and they don’t know— but how could they not; how could they miss the way his smile only ever bares his teeth— his hand grips at the memory of flesh and bile; he thinks of peeling off your scabs to taste the serous fluid there. Will it taste of copper, or of sharpness? Will the burn of acid still linger at the edges of the wound?)

He is all big broad smooth hands— nails digging in and unearthing the red-yellow-red of bubbling blisters gone to scabs— there is beauty to be found, even in the dullest places— he will leave concentric lines of healing skin; he will press his fingers down to make you writhe. There, there. Don’t cry. Don’t be so ungrateful; you are an infinitesimal speck and yet you sail among the stars. He bends to lick your wounds and considers the taste; life itself flows there in lost little eddies, waylaid from its journey to your heart. He takes those clever fingers of his— sticky, now, and with their imprints still welling red across your thigh— and plunges them deep into your center without warning.

Curious. One hand moves in you with a wrenching wet sound; the other now creeps its way across your thigh, sketching pain in livid streaks. One sensation amplifies the other. And now he will dig and twist and claw until he unearths that pearl inside you: the little seed of self that’s buried deep. Try your best to separate the two, and tell me how it feels.

(He guides you to your seat with a hand at your back— such a gentleman, aren’t you, David— and though he is in silhouette, still he seems all teeth and eyes. There is emptiness there, fathoms deep; he sees how much of you he’s pared away, and how much is left to cull.

Better, he says.)

[duckvenger]

Y'know how @gabrielisdead said a little while back that it'd be neat to see a Disney villain song for Hyde? And then @rms-himmel suggested adapting Friends On The Other Side? Well thanks for the inspiration you two, annnddd...

Here yah go! I'm sorry that the audio is buggy in places; my mic isn't the best. But this was a lotta fun to make! :D

I plan to draw a short PMV for the song so I can upload it to my YouTube channel (Coffeevenger). If anyone else also wants to make art of Hyde and Jekyll inspired by Dr Facilier and his shadows, I'd love to see it!!

Lyrics under the cut.

[Hyde, sung:] Don't you disrespect me, good man! Don't interrogate, oh so sly! You're in my world now, not your world And I’ve got a friend on the other side ([Jekyll, sung:] He’s got a friend on the other side)

[Hyde, spoken:] That's an echo, Utterson Just a little something we have here in the streets of Soho Now follow me - yes, hurry!

[Hyde, sung:] In the night you’re able To be what you please If you relax, you’ll find that you don’t need, all those Pointless chivalries

I can read you, good sir You’re lookin’ to learn ‘bout me Well look deep into my heart and soul ([Hyde, spoken:] We do have a soul, don't we, Jekyll?) I wanna know what you see

Am I no-one? Am I someone? Why am I something Jekyll hides? Well he’s just our friend on the other side ([Jekyll, sung:] I’m his friend from the other side)

[Hyde, sung:] The child, the child, that poor young lass It’s true, yes sir, I ran over that girl And yet, I’m here, all scott free! And it’s thanks to ol’ Jekyll that my hands are clean

Now you, good man, with your lawyerly deeds You know well both sides of humanity ([Hyde, spoken:] It’s like everyone’s got two faces, ain’t it?) You help folks rise And then watch ‘em fall You’re frontrow to the sadness, yet you never intervene

[Hyde, spoken:] Y’know, I can tell yer scared of me

[Utterson, spoken:] Ah. That’s not true-!

[Hyde, spoken:] Aww c’mon now, I promise I don’t bite Utterson! I just wanna be free, Hop from place to place But freedom takes green!

[Hyde, sung:] It's the green, yes indeed, I’m the green you see When Jekyll put me in a vial he found it’s all that he needs

On Jekyll good man, I don't wanna waste much time He’s been so perfect all his life A true Victorian gentleman without flaws or ill intentions And he seems so happy Yet he’s miserable ‘bout his life But beneath that mask: the ‘him’ I see… Your dear doctor ain’t as good as you want him to be!

[Utterson, spoken:] This is slander!

[Hyde, spoken:] Aww, come on, sir! Don’t you seek the truth, Utterson? …Yeees!

[Hyde, sung:] Are you ready? ([Jekyll, sung:] Please don’t do this!) Are you ready?

Transformation central! ([Jekyll, sung:] Stop it now, you devil!) Reformation central! ([Jekyll, sung:] Do not drink that chemical!) Transmogrification central! Can you feel it?

We're changin', we're changin', we're changin', all right! I hope you're satisfied But if you ain't, don't blame me! You can blame my friend on the other side! ([Jekyll, sung:] Is this what you wanted?) ([Jekyll, sung:] 'Coz there’s no turning back…)

[errorryx]

the lamb & the knife

read on ao3 | limited life, pearl & cleo, 1.8k words

a gratuitous fanon interpretation of cleo and pearl's sixth episodes based on this post, because i was feeling silly. cleo summons a war goddess for revenge purposes, and pearl isn't willing to sacrifice her cat.

warning for brief gory/visceral descriptions (i put the zombie in zombiecleo)

“Just a heads-up,” Cleo called across the small canyon between their bases. “Tonight I’m going to summon the goddess of war to my service.”

Pearl had been watching them approach from the top of her hastily-constructed stone wall. She’d never heard of a goddess of war, but it might explain the war paint Cleo had been sporting the last few days. “What does that mean, exactly?” she asked.

“Oh,” Cleo said, tilting their head. “You don’t know?”

“No, I don’t.” It felt like a trap, but as usual, Pearl’s curiosity got the better of her. She hopped down from the wall, ignoring the pain of impact in her soles as she climbed up the tiny gorge. “Can you tell me about it?”

Cleo grinned sharply, like she’d won something. “It’s very simple,” she said. “At moonhigh, I’ll call on the goddess of war to take over my body and enact my revenge. I’m going to draw a circle, make an offering, and win her favor.”

“Right,” Pearl said, as if this was all very normal. Maybe it was. Maybe she’d been out of the loop this whole time, while people had been summoning goddesses left and right under her nose. “What kind of offering are we talking about here?”

Cleo barked a laugh, making Pearl scowl. “If you’re thinking of trying it for yourself, Pearl, I doubt you have the sort of thing she’s looking for.”

“Which is?” Pearl pressed.

“Spoils,” Cleo said. “Yours or another’s.”

Spoils. Pearl frowned. “How am I supposed to get spoils in a game where people don’t drop their stuff when they die?”

“Oh, not that kind of spoils,” Cleo said dismissively. She rested her hand against the awful crevice in her side, then began to slide her fingers in. Pearl quickly looked away. “This is exactly what I mean. If you can’t even look at what I’m trying to show you, you don’t have much hope of obtaining a war goddess’s favor, now, do you?”

“Did you already forget who won last time?” Pearl asked. “I’m not sure why you think a war goddess would give you the time of day when I’m here. How many people have you killed again?”

Now it was Cleo’s turn to scowl. “We’ll just have to see who’s got the better offering, won’t we?”

Pearl lifted her chin. “I guess we will.”

“Between you and me…” Cleo took a step back, still clutching her side, and slowly began to draw something out from within—some kind of awful blackened tube, smelling strongly of rot and mildew. Pearl nearly gagged when she finally figured out what it was, but she pressed her lips together and held her breath instead. “I think I’ve got the upper hand,” Cleo said. “That’s what a goddess craves, you know. Carnage.”

She turned on her heel and walked back to the clock tower, her own entrails dangling in the dust behind her.

Pearl made a sputtering, disgusted noise, scrambling back to her tower. If Cleo was going to make an offering to a goddess, she’d just have to beat her to the punch.

She ran down the stairs of her strip mine, pausing at the spot that led to the ravine where she’d killed Jury—Judge Jury—whatever stupid name Jimmy had given the frog. She didn’t remember. All she remembered was watching the poor stupid creature fall to its death when she’d kicked the ground out from under it. She hopped down to the floor of the ravine, digging around in the rubble until she found—

Nothing. The frog was nothing but dust. Bodies rotted so fast in these games, she doubted she’d be able to use anything from another player, not unless she happened to kill them right in the center of her circle and do the ritual immediately after. Or maybe she could do it while they were still alive, but she’d have to find something that would sit in her circle long enough to make it work.

Pearl grimaced. She knew exactly what she could get to sit in the center of her circle and not move, but she didn’t like it. She went back upstairs to draw her circle, making it as even and symmetrical as possible, then starting on the inside. Summoning circles were meant to have five-pointed stars inside them, weren’t they? She started on the first point of the star, dragging her stick of chalk almost all the way to the center, before realizing she needed a reference point in the middle. She drew a tiny circle and connected the edges of her first point, then started on the other four.

Once she was finished, Pearl set down her chalk, dusted off her hands, and looked over at her unsuspecting cat, who watched silently from across the room. “Pspsps, Froggy,” she called quietly, “come here, baby.” Froggy’s head perked up, and she delicately rose to her feet and trotted right over to Pearl’s side, curling up in a ball at her feet. “That’s right,” Pearl told her adoringly. “Such a good kitty.”

Froggy gave a gentle purr and closed her eyes. Pearl scratched gently at her kitten’s ears and under her chin, watching Froggy’s breathing gradually slow into sleep.

Pearl sat back with a sigh. It would be a simple task to nudge Froggy into the circle, but she still couldn't bring herself to sacrifice her cat. Besides, there was a decent chance that she’d done something wrong, or that Cleo had made the whole thing up just to mess with her. She got to her feet, letting Froggy rest. “Goddess, if you’re listening,” she said, “could I get some kind of sign that I’m doing this correctly? Anything, really.”

She took a look at her circle. From this angle, her improvised pentagram didn’t look much like a star after all. With the smaller circle in the middle, it more closely resembled a flower with five pointy petals.

Maybe it was a sign from the heavens, or maybe it was just her habit of lunacy when the moon was high, but Pearl was struck by sudden inspiration. She climbed up the ladder to the chest room.

BigB was sound asleep on the floor above her, and Pearl could just barely hear his quiet snoring. She tiptoed over to one of the chests and lifted the lid as slowly as she could so as not to disturb him. For a moment she contemplated drawing a second circle, right around BigB’s bed, but she decided against it. Maybe as a last resort.

She only found three flowers in the chests: a poppy, a rose bush, and a lilac. If she were a goddess, Pearl didn’t think she’d be very impressed. Since there were five points to her star, she grabbed a couple dark oak saplings to complete the set. Somehow it just felt right.

By the time she returned to the ground floor, she’d developed a recurring yawn and her eyelids were growing heavy. Pearl never seemed to get enough sleep in these games, and this time was no exception. She knelt down in the center of the circle and arranged the flowers and saplings, one at each point of the star, leaving a space for herself in the center without really thinking. With a shrug, she lay down and stretched out across the stone and gravel floor.

If the goddess wasn’t impressed by the flowers, maybe she’d be impressed by Pearl offering not just some useless internal organ, but all of herself.

Or maybe it would just get her killed. Pearl didn’t know what to expect, but either way, she’d made her peace with it. She was much too tired to stay awake until moonhigh, but she hoped the goddess would accept her offering anyway.

She closed her eyes and went to sleep.

—

“Cleo.”

Cleo grinned, looking up from where she knelt in front of her meticulously-drawn summoning circle. “Hi, Gem.”

“Cleo, what is wrong with you?” Gem stood in the center of the circle, the partially-decomposed intestine dangling from her pinky finger. “Why did you give me this? I don’t want this! Couldn’t you have slaughtered a fattened calf or something?”

“It was just to get a rise out of Pearl,” Cleo said. “Who may or may not be attempting her own ritual tonight, so you’d better hurry up and grant me your favor before you get pulled off to her place instead. Knowing her, her offering might be even worse than mine.”

Gem wrinkled her nose. “Alright, you’ve got my favor, then. Who do you want me to kill? Pearl, I’m guessing?”

“Eh.” Cleo shrugged. “Pearl’s not a priority. It’s Etho I really want dead.”

Gem’s eyes lit up and her hoof stomped eagerly against the ground. “Say no more.”

“He’s also my husband,” Cleo warned. “Or ex-husband. It goes back and forth.”

“Horrifying.” Gem stuck out her hand, and Cleo took it, rising to their feet and stepping within the borders of the circle. “You’ve got a sword for me, right?”

“Of course.”

Gem embraced them, folding into them until she disappeared completely. When she next spoke, the words came out of Cleo’s mouth.

“Then I’ll be sure to collect child support,” she said. “One way or another.”

—

BigB woke in the middle of the night from some sort of humming sound downstairs that shook the whole tower. He jumped to his feet, immediately searching for his sword, before looking across the room at Pearl’s bed, empty and untouched.

His shoulders sagged with relief. If Pearl wasn’t asleep yet, it probably meant she was the one making the noise. But he just as quickly tensed up again, because he couldn’t think of anything she might be doing that would cause it. What if she was in danger? “Pearl?” BigB called, beginning to climb down the ladder. “Where are you?”

“Down here,” chirped a voice from below that was definitely not Pearl’s.

When he got to the bottom, BigB turned around to see Pearl standing in the center of a large flower drawn in chalk on the floor, with flowers in her hair and a very peculiar sparkle in her eyes. “Pearl?” he asked hesitantly, backing up a few steps.

“Not quite,” Pearl said, her lips moving in time to the voice that wasn’t hers—a voice that, now that he thought about it, sounded familiar. “Come on now, BigB. Don’t you recognize your queen?”

—

if you read this all the way through and enjoyed, please consider reblogging!

[yellowhollyhock]

day 19, the others go missing

tw implied past suicidal thoughts, and a whole lot of grief and mourning

okay so this piece. I can’t not use it. but it’s. hmmm

This is eventually going to be part of a much longer story. Or a scrapped scene that fits into a much longer story. As it is here is missing a lot of context, but that’s also kind of what I like about it? Might even use it as the eventual intro to this project with some polishing

But how it fits the prompt: this is a version of Raph who was separated from his brothers on mutation day and never found. It’s also a version of Raph whose earth has been terraformed by the Utroms. “The others go missing” in this case means, all of the others, for all time. He is alone.

Except he isn’t. You’ll be able to tell who of his new friends are… kind of. I won’t say what versions they are yet because someday that’ll be the story

One last almost necessary bit of context: this is a version of Raph who has knowledge he shouldn’t about alternate versions of himself.

The revelation was a random one; Raph didn’t expect anything to come from it. He could’ve predicted Don would have more questions; he always did.

“You don’t knit?”

“No, but I can sew. Where would I have learned to knit?”

A sad look passed over Don’s face.

“What did you sew?” Leo asked cheerfully, slinging his good arm over Raph’s shoulders.

“Mostly made old blankets, from whatever I could find.”

Like a switch had flipped, Leo’s expression turned sad like Donny’s. “I guess you never had a teddy bear collection.”

Raph was beginning to feel defensive. “I never had anything. I used what I could find.”

“I remember he’d make blankets out of grocery bags and old newspapers,” Angel muttered, “Bring them down to the mines. Saved a lot of lives.”

But Raph hadn’t saved lives, besides his own, and a handful of strays who’d returned the favor anyway.

“But you must have done something,” Mikey pressed, almost frantic. “Thinking about a Raph without, without any kind of outlet is, it’s not—“

He broke off, the memories crumbling like dust in his throat.

April put a hand on his shoulder, eyes crinkled with a fond melancholy. “Your brother drew, right?”

Mikey’s hanging head was the same as a nod.

Raph tilted his head back to look at the stars instead of the faces around him.

“I’d draw pictures in the stars while I was falling asleep. I didn’t know nothing about constellations.”

Don gave him a soft smile. “I used to wish my family goodnight on the stars. Tell us about some of your pictures?”

But the stars above Raph didn’t align with the ones he knew. “There was an octopus,” he tried to remember. “A motorcycle. A cat playing with a piece of garbage.”

But the old constellations were already fading from his mind, mixing with a thousand memories that weren’t his.

“I don’t know. These stars aren’t the same.”

The faces of his loved ones—a sight he’d never had before—took in the admission with a somber finality.

Raph broke it. In almost forty years of living on the empty streets of a dying world, he hadn’t picked up many skills, but it didn’t take a genius to break things.

He pointed to the sky, exactly like he had a hundred times, painting with his finger since he didn’t have a brush.

This was the first time he’d have someone to share it with.

“See those three bright ones, that make a triangle? There’s a hat. And if you follow…”

He traced along the smaller lights that made up his picture. His family’s faces followed.

“There’s a frog about to put it on.”

Mikey grinned at him, a rare and precious sight. “What’s the frog’s name?”

“Genghis.”

“I had a friend named Genghis Frog,” Don’s gaze stayed fixed where Raph had pointed, “It’s incredible, the different ways the same names and faces find their way into the universe.”

He glanced at Angel, almost apologetic. She just hummed thoughtfully.

“It is incredible.”

“Do you think there’s a universe out there,” Mikey asked softly, “Where we all stay together? After everything?”

“What’s everything?” April replied practically. “I’m sure we always stayed together for as long as we could.”

Raph blinked away tears, again for memories that weren’t his own. He searched the sky for something to give shape to his sadness.

“Nah, look at us,” Leo countered, “We found each other. What are the odds of that? I bet every one of our families had at least one universe where nothing could touch them. Where they lived forever and stayed together.”

Don gave him a quizzical look. “You want to live forever, Leo?”

“I don’t know.”

A beat of silence.

“Lately I’m thinking I don’t want to die.”

Mikey and Don exchanged grateful, triumphant looks. It wasn’t the end of the struggle, but for that to come from Leo that was a victory long fought for.

“There,” Raph pointed, “A row of ducklings.”

April laughed. “At least one of us has our ducks in a row.”

Raph felt himself smiling even though he didn’t understand. “Did you have ducks?”

“Oh, no, it’s just a saying.”

Mikey gave him a sideways look, face full of a new thought. “You had pets, right?”

“Course I did.” He didn’t add how his animal friends were all he’d really had, and he hadn’t exactly seen them as pets.

Mikey gave a satisfied nod. “Good.”

“You know, we could all learn to knit,” Leo suggested idly, leaning more heavily against Raph. He gave him a light shove; Leo seemed to forget he was taller and heavier than the rest of them.

“Why not?” Don grinned. “We have all the time in the world.”

Raph’s eyes fell from his canvas of stars to the quiet streets below.

Much less quiet than they had once been. A neighbor shuffled around on their porch. A couple of pedestrians chattered indistinctly.

It was more than he’d ever had before.

But it wasn’t all the time in the world. This wasn’t the second chance for him that it was for them.

They were the only brothers he’d ever known.

[thisbelongsto-nohbodys]

What are Ivy and Maddie’s interactions with the Boonchuy kids like?

Lily: Auntie Ivy.

Ivy: Yeah? What chu want Lily-illy?

Lily: Will you teach me how to fight like you and Uncle Sprig?

Ivy: Totally! How about we start with dagger practice—

[Anne gives a death glare from across the room]

Ivy: um…actually….how about instead I teach you how to set up a tea party….

~~~~~~~~~~

Lily: So what’s ya cookin’ Aunt Maddie?

Maddie: Just some healing potions. Basic stuff to help the town healer.

Percy: Aw man, I thought you’d be making a curse or poisons or something cool like Aunty Luz and Amity does.

Maddie: I don’t know who those are but I’m not going to make dangerous stuff in my kitchen….that’s for my lab in my shop.

Lily: Darn. Was hoping for something to mess with some kids that’s bullying Maddison. Moms would be mad if I beat up some 8-year olds.

Maddie: ….. let me grab a 10-minute curse. No one messes with my favorite niece.

Percy: Ha! Your not the favorite, Lily.

Lily: neither are you…

Percy:….oh….right….

~~~~~~

[Ivy is picking up the Boonchuy kids and her kids from the sheriff’s office]

Ivy: So let me get this straight: You 5 thought it was a good idea to sneak out the Kracken from Stumpy’s to have it fight a River-Crab to see which is stronger only for the Kracken to wake up and terrorize the downtown ports?

Lily: Um, yeah…

Percy: Your not gonna tell our moms will you?

Sprout: Not that many people got hurt, Mom.

Marzipan: Yeah, no one died so we shouldn’t be in too much trouble.

Ivy: “trouble”? No, well yes, but I’m interested in who’d win that fight too. C’mon, let’s see if Stumpy got that Kracken knocked out so I can help this time!

~~~~~~~

[The Boonchuy kids and their frog cousins are drawing a circle on the ground while Maddison is holding a book]

Maddison: Okay, the ritual is almost complete.

Percy: This is gonna be so cool!

Sprout: I don’t know, Mama Maddie is gonna be mad when she finds out—

Maddie: What in Frog’s name do you think your doing??!!

[Maddie rushes up and swipes the book]

Maddie: Do you realize what you could’ve done?! Magic isn’t something to take lightly! It can cause serious damage if your not careful!

Lily: Sorry Aunt Maddie, we just wanted to see a real Chickalisk.

Maddie:…………

Maddie: okay I really shouldn’t let you but if you do then we’re gonna need a lot of gold first to appease it after we summon it.

[sunflowersteves]

this is very self indulgent but i wonder how the fruity four would treat and love on a nonbinary they/them using s/o? i know that wasn’t really a Thing in the 80s but an enby can dream

of course, babe! it’s ok we can imagine the 80s being better :) join fruity four saturday :)

tw: mention of enbyphobia

Eddie would immediately accept you. like he is the last person to ever judge anyone or anything. he’d definitely ask details because he has no idea what being non binary means. but when you tell him, he seems to understand. he knows some metal heads that are non-binary.

you’re practically shaking from your confession, but he’s pulling you into his lap and showering you with kisses. “I love you, baby, never forget that.”

oh and if anyone tries to make fun of you or bully you in anyway for your pronouns or gender identity, he’s pouncing on them in a second. “you’re gonna call them by the right pronouns or I’m gonna bury you alive, carver!” he’s a little bit protective :)

Robin would be the most accepting and knows everything there is to know. tbh I think Robin would already suspect that you’re non-binary before you even do. and since it’s the 80s, robin would verbally assault anyone and anything that tried to enbyphobic.

and if that doesn’t work and they’re still at it then Steve will step in and beat them up. will he win? who knows but Robin is still gonna say “sick ‘em, Steve!” and he’s like “what am I a dog?” but he’s still going over there to beat them up.

also at any given moment from the money she earns from family video, she’s buying a bunch of items with the non-binary flag on it. and if she can’t find a flag? she’s buying a white one and making her own. and you know how she doodles on her shoes? she’s doodling on your hand, jeans, etc. and giggles as she’s drawing a non-binary flag. “I love you, sweetheart.” “I love you too, robie.”

Steve also has no idea what non-binary even is, but he’s so willing to learn. he looks like a little lost puppy as he’s staring at you. It takes him a bit to understand as you’re explaining it because he’s dingus, but he still will always accept you.

tbh I think Steve would get super short tempered with anyone who doesn’t use your pronouns correctly or call you “girl” or something. like one day dustin accidentally calls you Steve’s girlfriend and he almost crashed the car trying to tell Dustin off.

also this man is definitely buying you anything black, white, purple, and yellow. it would never be all the colors together, though, but you didn’t mind one bit. he’d find a little purple jelly bean plushy and he’s running up to you, “look!! it’s you!!” or there’s a yellow frog glass trinket and Steve is just like “it’s you but as a frog!” and he’s giving its nose a little kiss

Nancy would take the longest to get used to it, I think. but don’t get her wrong, she accepts you and understands what you’re telling her immediately. I think it’s just her own internalized issues (aka being raised by Ted wheeler) that has her mind a little jumbled.

she’s been told her entire life how she’s supposed to act, breathe, speak, etc. and here you are telling her there’s something else. tbh what makes her crack that exterior shell is when she comes to you sobbing her eyes out.

she’s telling you all about how she doesn’t really feel like a girl all the time but she also does at others. you immediately pull her into a hug and press kisses onto her cheeks to stop the crying.

you tell her all about gender fluidity and what it’s like in your own experiences as being non-binary. she’s just holding onto you so tight that you’ll disappear if she lets you go. “nance, it’s okay if you don’t know right now. It’s okay.” and nancy’s just whispering thank you’s over and over again and telling you how much she loves you.

[gothamslostboy]

The Lost Boys (Marko & Dwayne)

Love Languages <3

DAVID&PAUL MICHAEL&STAR

Marko

Giving:

Gifts

Words of affirmation

Acts of service

Physical touch

Quality time

He wants you to know that he thinks about you when apart, but thinks it’s too cheesy to actually say

So gifts it is!

He’s like a cat: he just takes whatever items he got for you and leaves it on your bed he also hisses at ppl but that’s not the point

If it’s a poly relationship he leaves a little note, even though he’s the only one that doesn’t hand it to you

If he’s being honest, he just really likes stealing things & making you happy adds to the thrill

He makes a mental note if you say that certain patches in a store look cool bc he wants to make you a jacket

The thing he hated most about his human life was how everyone just saw him as a troublemaking hothead, and never wants any partner of his to feel the way he did

He’s very supportive of new hobbies and interest

“Yo, you made this babe? Am I/(are) we dating a genius or what Paul?”

He’s like Paul in that he calls you nicknames most of the time, but still calls you at least a version of your name at times

He’s very happy to do things for the ppl he loves bc it means they trust him enough to ask

He and David get along especially well bc of this

The only times he might say no is if it’s an errand to close to sunrise, if he’s focused on art, or if he’s pissed at you

But he will eventually do it if he can afterwards

“Don’t worry Angel, your amazing boyfriend will take care of it”

Like Paul, he doesn’t care about any reputation & wants ppl to know you’re together

But sometimes you gotta let the man be

He won’t go too far in public, but he will do enough to earn some eye rolls from older crowd members

If he sees them he makes a note to “deal with them later”

In the cave, as long as Laddies not there he doesn’t care who sees

He likes to sleep between your legs with his head on your stomach(if you’re on a bed)

If you’re sleeping while hanging he chooses a random person to snuggle up close

The day the frog brothers came was the only time he didn’t

“Aww geez can you guys go somewhere else? I’m trying to eat here” “fuck off Mikey, there’s more places to eat around here!”

Marko doesn’t like most peaceful activities

Sitting together doing separate things in silence? He can already feel himself falling asleep

The only exception is drawing, but he still wants to talk with you

“Wanna see David in a sombrero? How about Star as Wonder Woman?”

If it is quality time, he wants to do activities WITH you or add one of the other love Languages to the mix

Receiving:

Words of affirmation

Acts of service

Physical touch

Gifts

Quality time

Like I said before, Marko had a bad time in his human life, so when you give him compliments he is over the moon

Especially if it’s not just physical compliments, though they’re also appreciated

If you like his art he might cry with joy

Then bribe you not to tell anyone he did

If he’s upset at himself, all he wants is someone to notice he’s trying his best

I hc that he is trans, so masculine nicknames do the trick

“Hey handsome, how’s it going?” “I love you Angel” he proceeds to stick his tongue down your throat

He really appreciates ppl doing things for him bc he used to be on his own for the most part

It still amazes him anytime anyone does something for him w/o expecting something in return

“So you just, decided to get the food for everyone so I wouldn’t have to stop drawing?”

When Star pieced his ear for him is when he first wanted David to turn her

He loves when you hug him for no reason

Hell he loves when anybody from the cave wants to hug him

Even Michael

It sends chills down his spine if you kiss below his ear

Every. Single. Time.

If you show him physical attention in public like an arm around him or a kiss, he can’t help but smile

He does need physical space at times and as long as you respect it when he tells you he won’t be annoyed

He likes patches and art supplies you give him

Maybe some jewelry

But overall just feels bad when you get him big/expensive things even though he does it all the time

“I know I stole you 10 things yesterday but this is a really nice shirt!”

He feels a little better if it’s stolen, but is still guilty that you risk getting in trouble for him

It makes him giddy at the same time

As long as it’s a small thing you know he likes, he gets excited and will immediately start thinking of how to incorporate it into his life

“Do you think Star would give be a second piercing so I could wear this at the same time?”

Again he needs activities you can do together and talk about

He really appreciates when you set up activities for him & you to do with some or all the other vampire ppl to do

Dwayne

Giving:

Quality time

Acts of service

Gifts

Physical touch

Words of affirmation

He’s a lot quieter than the other boys and I think that plays into how he shows love

Sitting together reading, listening to music, or just doing your own things is enough for him

He’d take his partners on bike rides separately, if it’s one of the boys he asks if they’d ride on the back of his bike

He wants you to know that you make him comfortable enough to let his guard down

If you don’t know how, he wants to teach you to drive a motorcycle

He’s like Marko: he sees you asking for things as trust

He likes doing things that you struggle with rather than little things

Have a hard time doing menial task? He made your bed and folded/ put away your laundry while you were out

Wants to make sure you’re alright and ur needs are met

Ok tbh, I struggled with the gift placement

I know it’s not low on the list, but it’s not high

He doesn’t so much get you things, but he will make you trinkets or help Marko customize clothes for you

He’s fine with PDA, he just doesn’t want to make you uncomfortable

He does it more and more once you get to know each other

He likes to cuddle as long as you aren’t on top of him

He will lay on you though

Mostly just holds & kisses your hand if Laddie is nearby

Like I said, he’s a quiet guy

He does compliment and say your attractive, it’s just not that often

When someone he cares for is upset or stressed, he lets them know he’s proud of them

“It’s ok Marko, that guy was a jackass but I’m proud of you for not fighting him here, I’ll help you catch him for dinner”

Receiving:

Quality time

Gifts

Physical touch

Words of affirmation

Acts of service

He likes when you just plop down next to him on the couch and do your own thing

You chose him to be near and he loves that

If you surprise him with a date night just the two of you he’s thrilled

Even more happy when you do activities with him and Laddie (taking them to get comics, drawing, teaching laddie to skateboard)

It makes Dwayne feel special when you get him things, even if it’s stupid

“Look at this little stuffed animal I got for you. I know it’s not your thing, but come on it’s a bat on a skateboard!” Literally looks at your with heart eyes

Takes VERY good care of the things ppl give him

Paul ripped a page of a book David gave him once and the others had to hold him back for a while

He may be nervous about touching you, but LOVES when you touch him

Literally anything: jokingly punching his shoulder still makes him smile

Plz massage this boys head, he doesn’t even realize that he lets out a moan or a whimper sometimes

Likes when ppl hold his cheek and do the thumb swiping thing

He likes to arm wrestle ppl too, idk why

He likes being told he’s doing good bc he gets really in his head about messing up

He was painting something for Star and messed up the colors, she said it was still wonderful and can’t believe how much talent he had

She was lifted into a hug so fast and NOBODY expected it

Comments on his appearance such as calling him handsome makes him flustered

Normally just smiles, shakes his head a little, and says thanks

Overall prefers he just does things for you

You don’t need to do things for him, but he likes it

The first thing that made him see Star as a potential sister was her giving him his piercing bc he always wanted one but didn’t trust the boys or himself to do it

If he’s nervous about messing up and you help that’s when he’ll probably compliment you

[sidecharactersdomatter]

Thought I had during TGCF S1 Ep 5

-Previously on TGCF…

-Autumn has come

-The way he blew off that maple leaf

-Oooh that subtle hinting later on and symbolism with Xie Lian

-Now I know not to get on Hua Cheng’s bad side

-The way he moved in closer *fangirls like no tomorrow*

-Oh yeah, a hunch

-I think that also gave it away

-Does Xie Lian have his ashes?  Just asking out of curiosity

-Aw it’s like he just blew a kiss at Xie Lian

-That’s what I’m going to do when I pass

-I freaking love the instrumental version of Hong Jue

-It is getting darker

-Magic sleeves of holding: 2

-Oh there’s your first ghost related clue XL

-Their interactions are just borderline wholesome

-Haaah!  And Xie Lian caught San Lang from falling AAAAAHHH I CAN’T

-Is he touched starved?  He is touch starved

-Woah with how blank the ghosts’ faces are, they really have no soul

-Chi blocking!  Another Last Airbender reference

-“You’re a ghost”.  “We’re all ghosts” Valid

-San Lang teasing is just really cute!

-Woah and those floating small lights and other forest spirits

-He’s curious about his bandaged neck

-Cart chase!  CART CHASE!

-Frog spirit

-Fork in the Road

-I don’t think I can really read that writing, and I’m still learning Chinese right now

-Oh honey

-The ghosts caught ‘em!

-That’s Justin Briner

-Magic sleeves of holding: 3

-I love that when San Lang scared the Ghosts shitless they ended up running like no tomorrow, Ghost 1: Book it guys our lives depend on it!  Ghost 2:  But we’re already dead! Ghost 1:  Well it’s just an expression!

-San Lang totally happened

-Full Moon again and more peaceful music

-Oooh he got nervous

-That fortune telling might’ve aged a little too well…

-Can Xie Lian please tell my fortune???

-“Love” and then XL starts nervously coughing XD!

-“Surely girls throw themselves you.”  Oh, yeah right girls.

-Oh you know he has dashing good looks

-Oh you know he is getting a compliment outta you.

-Oh the look San Lang gives him and just casually brings in his stuff

-Woah waking Chi blocking

-He definitely needs the donations

-And there was only one bed.  Oh my gods there was only one bed!!!

-Aw San Lang’s modest expression

-They gotta know what god they are worshipping

-That’s also foreshadowing right there

-And he just lays down on the mat

-Words of wisdom from Xie Lian

-More bandaged limbs

-And he doesn’t even question them, respectful

-That satisfying noise when Xie Lian blew out the candle *Chef’s Kiss*

-San Lang’s eyes are still open

-A lone camellia flower

-He actually drew him!

-Aw San Lang’s a hard worker

-He’s touch starved again!

-Aw and he got flustered when he finished styling!

-And he continues to wear his hair like that despite being on one side of his head.  You know what that is?  Commitment.

-That’s what was in his sleeves last night

-Aw he napped

-San lang should take up woodwork more often

-Get yourself a man like San Lang people

-Domestic montage, yes they are both so domestic indeed

-Aw he caught him staring

-Aw I learned drawing the same way!

-I believe you Ox cart man

-God of good grades, please bless me with passing my fall quarter

-Heck with how popular TGCF is right now, Xie Lian would be worshipped today by fans like us

-He got his first followers!

-Now that is what I call a lucky break Pun count: 6

-His luck did rub off on you and you should take it all Xie Lian

-Welp time to go start the next arc

-To me this way by far the best episode of Season 1 and the best reaction so far