#countries whenever they like. which is such a fun concept and i used to love the show when i was a kid and it's very fun to rewatch because

[katya-goncharov]

I'm rewatching A Gurls World and it's making me wish that there was a real life magic chatroom like in the show where I could teleport to different countries and hang out with all my tumblr mutuals. I mean, that would be the ideal solution if tumblr ever did shut down!!

[bitchlessdino]

chan- your personal knight/guard. been by your side since what feels like practically forever and has protected you against pretty much everything. You both are close but despite knowing him for so many years and being so close you realise you don’t actually know that much about him so on a walk maybe you’re just asking him random questions about him and learning more about him as a person. Somehow the conversations moved from something like his favourite colour to why he’s not settled down and without missing a beat he’s already answered because of you. Queue a love confession from your knight/guard that you reciprocate.

On a regular basis struggling with cheol and chan rot but today felt fluffy- idk i just think chan would be so sweet as your guard like him being super protective like ‘don’t pick that flower it might be poisonous let me check it’ and it’s like a dandelion or somet 😭

anyways just wanted to leave this with you and express how much I love your work!! I hope you have a good rest of your day or evening and genuinely thank you for taking the time to write on here, i truly appreciate the fact you take time out of your own day to read peoples requests and write whatever comes to mind <33

Pairing: royal!reader x bodyguard!chan

Genre: fluff

Word count: 3.1k

tags: royal au, overprotective chan, yearning, childhood au, love confessions, misunderstandings

author note: I forget how much fun fluff can be and I thought this concept was so cute also to the person requesting. I hope you like it. I love taking requests, including this one and i apprecate your kind words so much. we could all use your positivity. 💕

You remember when you first met Chan. He was the son of the Head of security that would tend to your father's every public and private safety. In a land ruled by a monarchy, these things were just necessary. You’ve been taught about the value you hold simply because of your bloodline and how you were the most precious there is, you must be protected and guarded at all costs. That’s where Chan came in.

He always claimed to be destined to take on a job much like his father, promising to protect you until the end of your days. That was a huge proclamation for an 8-year-old. He carried a wooden sword wherever he went and always had that big goofy smile on his face. It was his life goal to be strong and dependable like his father, and you believed he one day would.

That was the first and last time you saw him until he was officially appointed your personal bodyguard when he turned 18 years old. You were taking etiquette classes and studying scholarly journals of your country’s history, he trained day and night, mastering every possible martial art to exceed expectations as a protector. He was much different when he returned to you, and much stronger as well. He did not disappoint, but the light in his eyes as a child seemed to have faded, leaving a solemn shell of a man who lives to serve his master.

“Chan!”

He responds promptly. He stands by your side in an instant in proper attire, fit for both professional settings and in case he needs to be active, and meets your eyes. “Yes, your highness.”

“Bake with me.”

He blinks, “Your Highness. Would you not rather have the chefs bake something for you if sweets are what you desire?”

You stare back at him pointedly, crossing your arms, “Are you talking back to me?”

His gaze perks up at the accusation, immediately shaking his head, “No, your high—“

You laugh, doubling over at his panicked expression. “Just kidding. I wanted us to bond! No better bonding than creating delectable pastries. No objections.”

“Yes, your highness.”

He was there whenever you needed him. He never told you ‘no’ and he always did what you told him to. All done with a stone face. He took his duty seriously. He was far from who he used to be, which was probably a given, it had been around a decade. That’s when you executed a plan of action to peel away those layers, hoping to find the cute boy that childishly wanted to blindly protect you. 

It was over time you saw progress, seeing him smile at every comment or the little mistakes you couldn’t help but make (you swear to him you’re normally more graceful than that) when he thinks you aren’t looking. You loved that: making him laugh. He has a beautiful smile. And the more you spent time with him, the more it feels he knows you, even bringing things you need without you even having to ask, but what was it you know about him?

“Chan.”

Right on the dot as always. “Yes, your highness.”

“Walk around the garden with me.” You take his hand before he can even answer and had him trodding beside you out of the palace.

“Please slow down, your highness.”

You practically dragged him, it was necessary given the Palace’s size.

“There is very little daylight left. We must make the most of our day. This is a royal order!” You playfully command.

“It is 3 pm, your highness!”

“Royal order!”

You walk side by side with him taking in the air, the freshly cut grass, and hearing the birds sing their sweet melody. Calling it a beautiful afternoon was an understatement. Even after living in the place you call home for so long, there is more that surprises you. “Doesn’t the sky look extra blue today, Chan?”

He softly grins. “It does, your highness.”

You turn your head, watching the smile slip out of view, “Speaking of which, what is your favorite color, Chan?”

He thinks for a moment. “Blue, actually, your highness.”

You offer him a wide grin. “That suits you very well. I’m glad I know that. How was it that you’ve protected me for so long and I never knew that?”

Chan is quiet at that, not sure how to answer.

“My favorite color is green, or was it purple?” You cross your arms in thought, a single finger tapping against your cheek, “Last week it was pink.”

“It should be yellow, your highness. You decided to wear the yellow two-piece today.”

You look down at your attire and confirm his statement, seeing the pretty outfit you properly picked out the day before with Chan. You twirl, watching how the sun reflects off the expensive fabric, “You’re right. Looks like you know me better than I know myself again, but of course.”

His eyes fill with concern. “Does that make you uncomfortable, your highness?”

“No. Not necessarily. It just feels very one-sided. You know so much about me, but I feel like I know so little about you.” You skip ahead of him and you hear his footsteps catching up.

“I apologize, your highness. I never believed it was necessary information.”

“Of course, it is. How am I supposed to trust you if I know nothing about you?” You pointed out nonchalantly.

“I apologize again, your highness. This was careless of me.”

You turn around and let him stand beside him and push him ahead, “Nevermind that. What’s your favorite food?”

He stumbles slightly but does not let the matter phase him, used to you treating him much like a companion rather than the help, “Barbeque.”

“Favorite animal?”

“Otters.”

“Favorite ice cream flavor?”

“Chocolate.”

“Least favorite thing about me?”

“Nothing.”

“Ah ha–oh.” You tilt your head. “Nothing? Seriously?”

“There is nothing to dislike, your highness, and even if there was, I could not speak out on it. However, there isn’t.”

You blink back at him dubiously, an aggressive finger pointing at his chest, “Are you lying, Chan?”

“Not at all, your highness.”

He would have no reason to lie, you thought. And like he said, if he did, he much rather not answer. You stare at him for a little longer, scanning his frame before simply shrugging and continuing your leisure stroll.

“Hmm, alright. Favorite genre of music?”

“...girl group pop.”

Your eyes widen at that, smiling from ear to ear. “No way! Which group?”

The tips of his ears cause a hue of red, spreading all across his cheeks in an instant. “Apink…”

“Ooo, how refreshing. I would’ve never guessed.”

Chan was relieved to hear such a positive and encouraging response, feeling his hairs falter just a little bit, quite enjoying your company. “It’s very encouraging when I train. They lift my spirits.”

You chortle. “That’s quite endearing of you, Chan. I feel like I’m knowing you way better already.”

“That’s a relief, your highness.”

“What else do you like to do in your free time? You spend most of the day with me, even tend to events with me, but I have no idea what you do for fun?”

He was drawing a blank. What did he do worth mentioning? “Mmm, lots of activities. Such as…”

“Such as?” You egg on.

“Such as–-horseback riding, jousting, martial arts–”

You wave the list off. “Save the pleasantries. I mean real hobbies, ones not instilled by the palace. Things that are actually fun.”

“They are fun, you highness…But I guess I do like dancing.”

You perk up once more, strutting backward to talk while facing him, “Dancing? How lovely! You must show me how you move. This instant!”

He grows flustered, knowing they were still very close to the other guards and staff in the palace. He wasn’t sure he felt about showing off his moves this publicly. “Another time, your highness. I feel rather shy at the moment.”

“Oh, but you must, you must! What do you do? Ballroom? Contemporary? Interpretive–Wha!” You feel yourself trip over a rock, falling backward in slow motion, shutting your eyes for impact, until a strong pair of arms prevent you from collapsing.

“Your highness, are you alright?”

Feeling him pull you against his chest, you stare back into the eyes of your savior. His genuine fright and concern peek through his gaze and he grips your build extra firmly. He instinctively frowns, lips quivering anxiously, sweeping your stray hairs away from your face. You naturally melt in his embrace.

You nod, sighing a breath of relief. “I am fine, Chan. Thank you.”

“Who knows what you could’ve landed on.” His gaze scans over the bed of flowers behind you, vibrant and vivacious, “they could be poisonous for all we know.”

You allow yourself to land back on your feet, turning your gaze on the same bed of flowers. “Those are dandelions.”

Chan feels redder than a tomato in August. How is he constantly embarrassing himself, he thought to himself. “Oh. Well, better safe than sorry. Your Highness.”

You chuckle, infatuated by his thought process. “You truly are something, Lee Chan. Your significant other does not have a boring life with you around.”

“I don’t have a significant other, your highness.” 

“That's strange. I’d say you’re at the age to be married or betrothed. Why aren’t you?” You mention, decidedly walking side by side with him.

“Why, my work is the most important thing in my life. I do not have the time to commit myself to someone other than the royal family.”

You raise a brow, “Your father was married and had two kids by your age. If he could do it, I don’t see how you couldn’t.”

“Now, you’re sounding like my mother,” he jokes.

“She is a wise woman.”

He splays a bittersweet smile. “If I’m being honest, I’ve been given a few opportunities, but I don’t believe they can take the place of the person I hold in my heart. No one will.”

You clap your hands together in excitement. “So you are interested in dating? Tell, good sir. Who is the lucky lad or lass?”

“Someone far worthy than I’ll ever be and deserves more than what I can give them.”

You slightly shove him, finding such an assumption doubtful. “Oh please. You’re strong, you’re kind, you’re handsome…anyone would absolutely be ecstatic to have you.”

Chan felt warm all over, taking your words into careful consideration, “Do you truly mean that, your highness?”

“Are you doubting a royal?” You chuckle, “I do. Tell them. I am sure they would happily return your feelings.”

He halts his steps, and you quickly follow, curious about his abrupt actions, “...You ask me why I am still unwedded and untaken. How would you feel if I said you were the reason?”

“No excuses. You can’t use work as an excuse for your lack of love life.” You wag a finger at him.

“Not like that,” He takes your hand in his, bringing it up in mid-air, thumbing over the pristine skin of your knuckles, “How would you feel if I admitted the person I hold dearest to my heart is you, your Highness?”

A gust of wind takes you by surprise, the fallen flowers and leave being picked up with it and fall around you like a picture-esque scene in a movie. Your heart pounds a million times a minute, staring back in awe at his presence, overflowing with love and sincerity, and your eyes flutter from the breathlessness you feel in your chest and throat. You stare at Chan like the first time you were reunited with him, with pure unadulterated infatuation.

“Me, you say? Well, I’d say I was surprised, flabbergasted,…flattered.”

You feel the heat of your cheeks from the back of your free hand. “And inexplicably flustered.”

You release your hand from his grasp, the lingering sensation of his hand on your skin causing you to clench and release, and your heart easily audibly through your eardrums. You look towards the ground, finding it hard to meet your guard’s eyes. “Your choice of humor is rather brass.”

“Your highness–”

“It’s supper time. I must get going. I will see you back at the palace, Chan.”

You make your grand escape, clutching your frills, shielding your face from others in the palace with your arm before heading u to your room. You collapse against the bed, clutching your burning face in a silk pillow, yelling muffled songs of your fluster, reimagining the majestic look on his face when he confessed his feelings. Deep down you knew there was truth in his words, but how could you normally react to something so abrupt from someone so…admirable.

You embrace your pillow, push down your swelling heart, and smile. Tears of bliss fall to your cheeks and you can’t help but kick your feet like an excited schoolgirl.

You find yourself making glances at Chan when you reunite at the dinner. As usual, he does not have dinner with you but he stays by you for your own protection and eats afterward once you’ve finished. He’d look as solemn as he always did in front of other people. He took his job almost too seriously, sometimes even tasting your meal with a separate spoon in case it was poisoned. You used to laugh at his old-fashioned methods of work, there was technology for that sort of thing now, but you finally understand his devotion to his service. There more to meet the eyes, you realize.

When he follows you all the way up to your room for a night's rest, you part ways. You squirm in his presence, his confession fresh in your mind. “Good night, Chan.”

You are ready to run from him until he calls out to you, hesitancy in his voice. You meet his apologetic gaze, regretful of their last close encounter. He wishes you would not see him any differently, that he was simply a lowly guard and protector to you. His feelings towards you would not have changed regardless of your reaction. He knew his place and that was by your side as a human shield.

“Please take no more than a single thought at my confession today. Do not let it diminish my utmost respect and loyalty to the royal family. Have a good slumber, your highness.”

He retreats to his quarters conveniently not too far from your chambers, standing by the door, he gestures for you to enter your room and you obliged, watching his figure disappear behind your door. You fear that the air had changed between you, and perhaps not for the better. Your sleep would be anything but peaceful that night.

“Your highness, Good morning.”

He stands tall and firm with a smile as wide as a river. He holds beside him a fairly large trunk, gripping it by the handle.

You peer at his figure in worry, and earnest fear. “What is this, Chan?”

“I’ve decided to leave the palace forever. I realize my life was being wasted away taking care of someone who could never love me as much as I love them. So, I’ve taken on a lover of the same status.”

As if by magic a common lady appears, taking him by the arm and nuzzling his nose. They look in love, happy, and a sharp pain would shoot through your heart.

“No.” You chant.

“You will never see my face again. Goodbye. Your Highness.”

“Chan, no.”

The image of their silhouette gets smaller and smaller as they walk further away. You fall to your knees in desperation. “Chan please!”

You sob in your sleeves, hands reaching out to their shirking figures until you can only hear the echoes of your pleas.

“CHAN!”

You sit up from your bed, perspiration dampening your forehead and you are flushed to the touch. Clutching your sheets, you sigh a breath of relief that was only a dream. Soon after, your doors swing open, and a panicked guard in his baby blue nighttime attire runs to claim you, “Your Highness. I’m here. I’m here.”

His strong arms wrap tightly around your frame, soothing strokes to your hair, whispering to you it’d be okay. Your hands instinctively hold on to the fabric of his clothes, squeezing the flesh underneath, drinking in his soap’s scent and noticing how pleasant and just to your taste it was. “I know.”

He pulls you away to stare back at you, scanning you for any signs of danger placed upon you.

“I’m okay,” you reassure, “just a bad nightmare.”

“What foul image betrays you to cause such a reaction? I was ready to spar with whatever evil demon tried kidnapping you.”

He must’ve been still asleep, you assume. His colorful vocabulary, wakes you up delightfully.

“I am fine. I promise. Come, I’ll walk you to the door.”

You push him out of bed, meeting the exit, while your guard’s doubts seep out of him like a fountain. 

“Are you sure? Was it truly just a nightmare? Do you need new sheets? A snack to soothe you?”

“Not at all, all good, my good sir. Good night.”

You attempt to push him out completely but he holds you back from doing so, gripping the rims of the bedroom door. “I just want to assure you’re okay, your highness.”

You fall a little deep into those eyes, perceiving the truth of his word in them. It drove you insane how a simple confession could affect you this much. You brighten up your world, open your eyes, and made you feel alive, just like a person in love does. “I am. Just…don’t go anywhere. Stay right where you are.”

He gives a confused smile, his gaze softening the same way your tone does. “But your highness, you were just pushing me away a few seconds ago—“

You tug against his shirt and your lips for the first time make contact, his plush surface meeting yours seamlessly. Your hands clasp over his cheeks and neck, languidly moving them against him. You slowly process how he reciprocates, holding you to his chest tenderly, savoring your warmth, taste, and how it all excited him. The thin fabric between your body was the only thing to stop you, and the world around you simply disappeared. 

Before you both knew it, you were pulling him back into the bedroom. He’d quickly follow, doesn’t leave until the following morning, carrying out what he only imagined in his dreams, even if it was only for the night. It was the matter of his duty to keep you safe, to keep you happy. And he knew he could make you happy.

[withered--s0uls]

Vat7k random headcanons.

Varian:

Trans FtM (tho I enjoy MtF Var too :3)

Bisexual (was intended canon in vat7k)

When originally not trusting Hugo, he makes it painfully obvious to him in the way he acts around him vs around Yong and Nuru

Writes NewDream & his Dad letters :3 probably whenever arriving in & leaving a new Kingdom!

I prefer the vest design so uh; I hc the reason he has 2 hairstripes now is a result of the S3 finale. I hc his canon hairstripe is from the fact his dad was hit by a blast of the moonstone. The 2nd one is a "scar" from dying and being revived in the S3 finale (I imagine Eugene has a similar "scar" in a blonde strand of hair from the movie. Also Cass and Raps each having ones in their respective colours bc of being past users. Also yes this implies the entirety of ppl who helped in the S3 finale has blonde/gold and/or turquoise/blue "scars" from the S3 finale somewhere in their hair or on their body)

Alchemist and engineer rivalry with Hugo bc Hugo likes to be a smartass

Hugo is his first proper masc crush, he doesn't really count his celebrity crush on Eugene he had as a kid

I hc his surname to be VanGuard (inspired by "His Little Light" on AO3)

Slavic from his dads side (not sure what specific country I hc the DK as but I like the idea of it being slavic)

Hugo:

Genderfluid (amab if anyone cares)

Pansexual

Never actually had like time for proper romance due to his work, so he doesn't actually know how to deal with catching feelings for Varian and Var seemingly reciprocating them (its different to actually love someone opposed to pretending for a job)

Actually really good with kids! This shows in him actually helping care for Yong a lot (he sneaks a Flynn Rider book from Varians bag and reads it to Yong as bedtime story lol)

Probably met Eugene and possibly Lance in their criminal pasts

Having beef with Nuru bc oh no royalty and royals suck (he doesn't understand how Varian can be best friends with a princess [Raps] either) at the start but learns through her that some aren't just stuck up selfish assholes

Teasingly tries to one-up Varians alchemy

Post-vat7k he stays in Corona with Var! First working as his assistant until being offered the role of royal advisor (bc fuck Nigel)

Not a hc bc it is his original DND surname, but personally I go with the surname Rottewange for him (seen some ppl use different ones)

Russian (ah yes the common "Ingvarr is Russia" hc)

Yong:

Probably not the best relationship with his family considering they just sent him off with some stranger from another kingdom

Basically the collective little brother of the group

Hugo jokingly calls him Varians kid after finding out his clumsiness and exploding projects are something Var used to experience too

Gets along well with everyone in the squad yay

He really likes Ruddiger too, getting all excited when seeing him for the first time (I imagine he loves animals :3)

Him and Nuru definitely catch on the fact Varigo both crush on each other way before the two actually admit it themselves

To make him more relatable to Varian, I also imagine him being a Farmboy too

Kinda canon bc it seems to be his clothing inspo + some concept art aspects but; Chinese

Nuru:

Lesbian or at least Sapphic, kinda realizes that when they meet Vars cousins (if you read "Varians Tangled Trials" yk why lol. Nuru and Amber my beloved.)

Huge mistrust towards Hugo

Yong and her often pacify the situation if Varigo alchemist rivalry goes a bit too far

NOT the mom of the group. She's a kid lol. (Hugo and Varian being the only adults and actually having to take responsibility for the two minors >>)

Regardless she's still rather mature in handling situations bc raised as a princess so she knows how to behave

She however is a bit more fun as herself, which the other three would learn over time. Especially when she nerds out about the stars.

Her title as princess as well as Varians as Coronas royal engineer prove useful a lot on their journey

Post-vat7k she would probably try to seek out Varian at royal gatherings so they can catch up. If he's not there then she seeks out Rapunzel to ask about how he's doing :3

Idk just random stuff, nowhere near everything lol.

Dont have surname hcs for the kiddos so uh yeah idk feel free to share yours? Ig Nuru would just be "of Koto(/whatever Kingdom you assign her to)" bc princess or smth? For Yong I might look into some chinese surnames mayhaps...

Also don't have a nationality hc for Nuru so feel free to pitch yours lol

[echthr0s]

tagged by @longeyelashedtragedy

1. Do you make your bed? Absolutely not. I also sit on my bed during the day, but even if I didn't I never really saw the point. Also, in my opinion a bed should have a chance to air out when it's not being used.

2. Favourite number? Nine and nineteen. Mainly nineteen, for Reasons. Those are the two numbers I use whenever I need a number for literally anything.

3. What's your job? Full-time dilettante, desire deity, and begrudging PR agent for the Earth-facing facet of the Laudarant Configuration.

4. If you could go back to school would you? Much like the person who tagged me, I am not at all suited for a school environment. I do love to learn and I could even love to learn in a small group setting with likeminded individuals (this would be nice for stuff like languages, which kind of requires the social element), but school is not for me. I do like it when other people go to school and then tell me all the stuff they learned, though. I get all the benefit and none of the bullshit!

5. Can you parallel park? Of the very few things I know about driving, how to parallel park is not one of them. And no, I am not at all interested, it seems awful. Driving in general seems awful, in this country in this day and age. Proud to be a passenger/pubtrans princess ✊🏿

6. Do you think aliens are real? Do I think life exists on at least one other planet? lmao of fucking course, like... statistically speaking, the math maths Do I think it's life like in Mars Attacks or The Day The Earth Stood Still or the MCU or whatever? Most likely not. But I also believe in the multiverse, which is immensely more complex of a concept than just the idea of sapient life on another planet in the same universe, so... you know, maybe. Maybe!

7. Can you drive a manual car? See #5.

8. Guilty pleasure? Guilt? In my me? It's not as likely as you think. Or likely at all.

9. Tattoos? The number 19 in Roman numerals with a spider on my wrist, the Mannaz rune on the back of my hand, and "scully, it's me" on the inside of my elbow. All on my right arm.

10. Favourite colour? Yellow. Pink is a close second. Really, I think they just share the first place spot, because I do what I want.

11. Favourite type of music? Metal is technically my favourite genre, since so many bands and songs I love fall under that umbrella. But there's so much music out there that gets me that it feels restrictive and reductive to just name a favourite genre and leave all those other ones out in the rain. I have no idea how to answer this question otherwise, though! My favourite type of music is my favourite type of music. You know?

12. Do you like puzzles? I like jigsaw puzzles and logic puzzles (not nearly as good at these as I was as a child, but they're still fun) and fill-ins (constructed like a crossword but instead of solving clues to find out what the words are, you're given the words themselves and have to figure out where in the puzzle they fit) and... that's about it, really. When I'm playing a video game, I hate puzzles, lmao. They're always so annoying (at best).

13. Any phobias? None.

14. Favourite childhood sport? I did not enjoy participating in sports, ever, but my favourite sport to watch when I was a child was figure skating. In fact, it still is. But I was super autistic about it back then, when I didn't know what masking was and wasn't bogged down with adult nonsense.

15. Do you talk to yourself? Occasionally, but mostly I talk to Can Calah and whomever else is hanging around in the Configuration. To other people, that'd just look like I'm talking to myself, so I guess it counts by way of perception.

16. What movies do you adore? laughing about the fact that prev said "I'm not a huge movies person" and then went on to name about 25 movies (I understand, it's just funny)

I am a huge movies person and I have a Letterboxd account, so here are all the movies I've hit the "Like" button on (my highest honour): Liked Films There are a few on there that are outdated, like I watched them in like 2014 and loved them then but I probably wouldn't feel the same way now (like, I see Chappie on there and I'm like "hm. really?" it's probably fun and all but I can't imagine it's Like worthy :V), but mostly it's accurate.

17. Tea or coffee? Tea. I do enjoy coffee, I just find tea to be the superior beverage.

18. First thing you wanted to be growing up? how on earth would I remember this 💀 I do remember wanting to be an environmentalist when I was a middle schooler, though. I used to badger my father about recycling batteries and shit like that.

[tearsofcalamity]

hi hi its wriofucker69 again taking a break from the wrio fucking to say a few things! first, oh my god thank you so much for explaining the fuckin bachelors thing to me I'd had that question for so long. you see in my country a 4 year (bachelors) education is the minimum so i just didn't understand!! also lots of ppl like to dunk on business majors but I've taken like a couple economics/marketing classes myself and. jesus fucking christ. respect honestly i almost dropped out.

if you're wondering im in communications + cultural studies, it's a bit of a mix and match kinda department. I've got a short story assignment for one class and a fuckin video essay for another one. nothing here makes sense

btw i updated hsr so i just. have to Actually get around to it now. hopefully soon!!

btw your recent kaveh.... delicious, thank you for the food. smth about that pretty boy makes me wanna be soo so gentle to him yet teasing at the same time. overstimulating him by fucking him while mouthing at his wings then wiping his tears away all soft & gentle and telling him what a good boy he is and how pretty he looks...... AHH!

WELCOME BACK WRIOFUCKER ANON!!!!

glad to hear my explanation kinda helped!! yeah we don't have mandatory bachelor's here, I guess high school would be the closest we have to mandatory 4-year "upper" education but it's a lot different from our university system :,) thank you for the faith in us business/econ majors LOL it's true that some of the courses and concepts seem a bit basic (the biggest one I see referenced is profit = revenue - costs which like Yeah Obviously but that's like the first concept in your first intro to business class LOL) but a lot of people don't get that it can be a total hassle omfg

AND OMG... I CANT IMAGINE BEING IN COMMUNICATIONS PROPS TO YOU!!! I took a few communications classes for general ed and I was having a very difficult time so omfg good on you, cultural studies sounds super fun though!! I wish you luck with all your assignments ;w;

YIPPEEEEE FOR HSR!!! boothill isn't out yet (it's currently robin, an intergalactic singer + topaz/numby rerun!) but I definitely recommend getting him... he'll be great for a returning player I think! of course there's also another good character rerunning with him so do whatever you fancy :3 they're pretty generous with returning players!

THANK YOU FOR THE LOVE ON THE KAVEH STUFF AS WELL!! I fear he is deeply underrated by the fandom... as a kaveh enjoyer who isn't really into hkvh/kvthm (no disrespect though!! I'm just personally not big into the ships :,) I am afraid I very seldom get content of Just Him so I write him whenever I can

I soooo get it when you say wanting to be gentle yet also teasing, like... I wanna be kinda mean to him and fuck him until he's crying and overstimulated and begging but also at the same time he's my sweet angel prince who I want to lather with affection and love and gentle kisses and treat him like a delicate precious gem... I don't think I could ever like outright degrade him I'd have to throw in praise too like "my pretty slut" but honestly it's more worth to see how he squirms and moans when you call him a pretty boy or your good boy...!!!!! and you just know he's gorgeous when he cries he's totally a crier during sex!!! aauughjyghghghghfjghghjg I need him so bad oml

[breitzbachbea]

1, 3, 9, 11?

OH, thank you very much!!!!

Meta OC Question

What inspired you to create your oc?

Depends on the OC, but there's two reasons at the start of all my OC endeavours in the past, which also intertwine:

I've always been a very creative kid with adhd that makes her daydream all day long, so I've been plagued by visions that needed a creative outlet & writing was the choice.

Since I wrote since elementary school, whenever I liked another piece of media, I'd express it by writing fanfiction, which would usually involve OCs. I'd often spin so hard and so fast out of control that I would make up a whole batch of OCs, often together with friends, who'd interact with the main cast and story, but also spin off into their own storylines.

These days, where I only make OCs and write mostly for my Hetalia Human AU (which is 10% Fanfic, but 90% Orig Fic): The mainer characters come to me because I am plagued by visions and constantly inspired by real life. I have over 250 named characters in this AU, PLEASE stop me from making more. Went to Romania for Erasmus for a week and came back with an OC concept that could have such a dysfunctional and toxic queer romance with one of my underdeveloped Hungarian OCs. I need to be stopped.

However, once mainer characters are established, OCs related to them spring up out of necessity or because I am like 'You know what I didn't do yet and would be fun in relation to these new bitches and also the old bitches?'. OC creation never happens in a vacuum, I am all about how they add to the world I created for the past 10 years and could interact with its inhabitants.

3. What is the origin of the character's name?

Used to go on babynaming sites and look at the most popular options, which is why all my Irish mainer characters have English names (RIP). These days I like to do some research on the cultural background they come from and also take inspiration from public figures from their country/region/city. However, once that is done I usually just visit Behind the Name and spend 15 minutes browsing, talking with friends about options, ignoring their feedback and then choose a name by closing my eyes and throwing a dart at the PC. I do consider nominative determinism to a degree, but I'll tell myself that the parents who named the kid couldn't have known what they will grow up to be and I'll also get used to any name.

I also love to use names I encountered in life, too! Like old classmates or family names of friends!

9. In a group dynamic, what kind of role does the oc usually fill? Are they a worry wart? A troublemaker? The straight man?

I LOVE GROUP DYNAMICS AND I HAVE SOOOO MANY OF THEM. Let's take the Chaos Seven, aka Team Ireland + Soph and Team Sicily as an example.

Team Ireland shares one collective braincell. Paddy, who's twice as old as Harry and Charlie, is its keeper about 40% of the time. Since he helped raise Harry since he was six, is a father figure to Charlie and helped raise Sophie since she was born, he's the Guardian figure of the Group. Hashtag Daddy Paddy. However, he's also a bastard like his own kids, so while he tries to be a good influence, he's not exactly the voice of reason. Just hopelessly devoted to the three and wants to ensure that they don't make choices they will regret without return.

Charlie is the social butterfly, or at least the one who's the most willing to engage in diplomacy and also enjoys working people the most. Do not let that fool you, half of the European underground wants to punch his teeth in for being endlessly annoying, but the other half wants to either fuck him or keep him as a purse dog. He and Harry are brother's from another mother and when Harry is too stubborn and fatalistic to consider anyone outside of himself, Charlie will pick up the slack and care for him and their goals. To Soph, he's the big brother figure with whom she can discuss personal affairs that she feels Harry and Paddy are too close and guardian-like for comfort to discuss with.

Harry's the driving force that inspires the others, since if he is hellbent on something, he'll pull through with it and won't let anyone push him around. He bickers all day long with the rest (especially Charlie, Soph and Harry do nothing but pick on each other), but is also always there to root for the others and take risks on their behalf. Probably the biggest troublemaker, but since Team Ireland as a whole is nothing but troublemakers, it's a bit unfair to single him out. He's got an unmatched love for pranks, though!

Soph is the nestling, the little darling of the family. All the others care for her, and as she grows up, she takes more and more after her brother, for better and for worse. Being Harry's little sister, the two are especially close, but she worries and cares for all three of them, as they do for her. When she's with the other three, she's a troublemaker who's not gonna let anyone push her or her family around, much like Harry.

Michele ... he is the leader and the voice of reason in Team Sicily, the one who raised the twins Marco and Lorenzo together with his mother. Since Marco and Lorenzo look up to him, he's also their guardian figure and tries to be as good an influence as he can - he's also constantly herding cats with these two mischievous guys.

Marco and Lorenzo share their creativity and their analytical thinking, as well as their love for mischief. They're definitely troublemakers, but at the same time problem solvers extraordinaire. And while their devotion to Michele is blind to a degree, they also unite in pulling him back onto the rug at times. It's not often that they need to play the straight man and they aren't good at that role with anyone but Michele, but they can do it.

11. What is your least favorite trait regarding your oc?

I mean it is an Organized Crime AU, so for most it gotta be, among others, the uhhhh ability to justify the horrors to themselves.

But that aside. I don't really think in favourite and not-favourite, since an interplay of traits is what makes OCs so close to actual humans and simply fun as literary constructs.

If I was held at gunpoint, though - That Hugo is so persistent in his quest to be liked/loved/the best that he can't take no for an answer in the long run, to his own detriment and everyone else's. That SK, aka Sri Kadek, is so stubborn in her perceived role as being the fixer of the family that she won't consider someone else's motivation for how they treat her could be genuinely out of caring for her. And most of the OCs are assholes, again because of the circumstances and I am a messy bitch who loves drama, but the Arora twins (Frej and Freja) take the objectification and the prioritization of their entertainment a little bit far even for this crowd. (... but also, that does make them very very sexy <3).

[renee561]

Question for you! Since you have so many WIPs loaded in the chamber, I wanna know about some of them.

Can you give me top 3 favourites (or those you’re willing to spill the beans on) and why you like them? Bonus question if you’re stalled, why??

I am a curious cat this morning. Meow!

*Clears throat*

Top 3 Favorites, as if a creator can talk about favorites as if they were able to choose between their children...but alas it is such a task that I am willing to undertake for you.

So, top 3...top 3...hmm decisions decisions.

Well let us go in reverse order because that way I can make sure we are choosing the correct one.

Please note these are WIP titles. So the posted name will most likely change whenever I get around to it.

3. Hedge Witch Suggestions:

So this is a fic is very oof. And by that I mean is dubcon/noncon rated just because I was infuriated at the lack of this type of fic for the movie which is annoying.

Its a Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves AU fic that i wrote out in 10 days because it would not leave me alone. WC: 48k

It starts with the 10:45 friend aiding the Sheriff of Nottingham in getting what he wants, that is Lady Marian. And we know she would not do so willingly post meeting up with Robin in the Forest (she did like the sheriff. Note the dagger scene she is stumbling and fumbling in the exact way she is stumbling and fumbling to the Sheriff about Robin later. Also the Sheriff is hotter then Robin anyway so no truly lost in that department.)

Anyway, for three nights she is given a potion that makes her susceptible to suggestions and therefore the Sheriff's advances...ahe thinks she is dreaming and eventually he does win by the magic that I wish the movie had played on more, but I digress.

Its *hopefully* over graphic, and it's not something I usually admit to writing on Tumblr or even amongst many others but since it is in edits its actually a work im very proud of and had a bunch of fun writing.

2. Socialite Papers:

Bridgeton is a fabulous show, and the most appealing aspect of it is Lady Wistledown. So inspired by that and my love of Jane Austen is to do a sort of similar concept of Sense and Sensibility.

I haven't worked out the particulars but it would start with the news of Mr Dashwood's death and follow the Dashwoods into Devonshire and the effects being felt by both sides of the country.

It will include things such as:

The move of the sisters

Willoughby

Edward's Engagement

London

Cleveland.

Because there is such thing as gossip being based upon observation.

I will not spoil the ending tho, because I have not yet decided on how it will end (per usual)

Now moving on to the top one that I really wanna get to, but its going to take forever because either has to do with Filmography and I have come to find that I really dislike watching movies alone anymore.

1. ACU:

If you know nothing about know this, I love Alan Rickman and while I will agree that the first time I saw him was as Severus Snape, my favorite is actually Colonel Brandon and the Sheriff of Nottingham. And I have been blessed because of the Rickmanaic Server on Discord and the lovely people I have met there.

Anyway this starts with the original crap ending, where the Sheriff dies. He was married to Marian even though they did not consumate the union (yes, yes I know i know).

Anyway, he was a pagan, and worshiped other beings and while in Christianity he would have gone to hell (though the concept of such a place didn't exist in that period but I digress) what if he didn't? What if his gods decided that he was worth saving?

Therefore, he was..and in each life (each character he's played) he lived there is something he must have had to learn and with the free will of him he had to go back and do it again, again, and again until he learns all the lessons.

It does somewhat follow the period of which his movies are set, and while some are ambiguous (aiw1&2,hitchhikers,Sweeny todd) it is very much an appreciation of his work while also being a fanatic about his growth as a person.

And the faces of the women he has loved over the time is an important factor, because it starts with a woman and must end with a woman, and while its not solely the romance that is important, I'm a romantic at heart and want to give him happiness and pain and love. Because everybody, no matter how evil or broken you are, deserves someone to love them.

Thank you so much for the asks! I love talking about my wips!

Much love,

Ren

[platoniclokiimagines]

Ok, but one thing I would love to do is show Loki my culture, like music and literature (I'm Brazilian), I think they would love it. Could we get reader also showing their culture/country to Loki to see their reaction? Could be any so other followers can relate too. I'm also kinda tired of them only showing American reality and not other places in big media lmao

I wanted to make this a bullet list, simply because I didn’t want anyone to feel left out if I focused on one specific country or culture, but one day, when I have the askbox open again, if you’d like to see something specific to you, please drop an ask! I’d love to learn about your culture, too.

okay but Loki would be the Most interested in learning about your culture and your country

obviously, from a learning point of view because Loki is a reader and they enjoy learning new things and seeing new things

(something Thor finds endlessly amusing and teases them about to no end)

and also because Loki has the help of the Allspeak, they’d be super interested in learning more about where your mother tongue comes from and what it’s like there

they’re just a curious little bean all around

(tell that to anyone and you’re Dead though)

and of course, Loki would want to hear things from your point of view first

what sort of things you did growing up, what traditions you have and the like

and naturally, they compare this to their upbringing on Asgard because it’s just such a Stark difference between realms

“So you don’t have coming of age balls which all the finest nobility from all the Nine Realms attend?” “...no?” “Well, why not? It’s a perfectly good excuse to dress up.” “Yeah, well, considering we didn’t even know there were Nine Realms until, like, ten years ago...?” “.....fair enough.”

and of course, you talk about the food from your home country, as well

you even make them samples of your favorites for them to try and see if they like

and try not to laugh when the spices nearly take them out

“What, Asgard doesn’t have spices like this?” “That set your mouth on fire the likes of which matches your Midgardian concept of Hell? No.” “Wimp.”

they always end up liking the sweets more, anyway

and so you always make extra whenever you cook or bake treats

and one day, when you have the time and the money and the ability to, you take Loki to go visit your homeland

and you show them all the places you’re familiar with and that have meaning to you

and also explore places you’ve always wanted to see but haven’t yet

and you buy handmade goods and trinkets to take back as souvenirs

and watch the locals sing and dance and celebrate various occasions and whatnot in the streets (while trying to get Loki to join in on the fun)

“I’m observing.” “Participate.” “Make me.” “One push and you’re the center of attention, you big icicle.” “...I will end you.”

you also go to art museums and historic buildings while you’re there too!

if not because you want to go, because Loki wants to go

they’re surprisingly interested in the history and all the art that comes with it

and they always point out the constants in presentation and architecture that show up throughout history

certain buttresses in buildings, or certain characters or ideas in paintings

elements that transcend the decades and centuries

things you never would have thought to look at or think about, but that are so obvious once pointed out

sometimes you wonder if you’re learning more than Loki is

and you just have so much fun learning and exploring with your best friend

and you take so many pictures, so you always remember the time you spent together visiting your homeland

and when you get home, you miss it already, even though you know you’ll be able to go back some time again

and Loki thanks you for sharing your world with them

“I used to think Midgard was so... dull and useless and... primitive, when I used to be... Well, back then. But you’ve shown me that it’s beautiful and colorful and alive, and most importantly, you’ve shown me what’s made you you, and what’s influenced your life, and I’ll never forget this journey we took. Thank you for sharing it with me.”

[dangermousie]

Mousie’s absolutely subjective, very biased Top 10 web novels list

Please note that this is hardly aiming to be objective, if one can even be properly objective about a work of fiction. It is 110% based on my preferences, which means this list is heavy on the angst and has nothing set in the modern day. It is also heavily danmei-centric, even though I read way more het romance than danmei, because for whatever reason, most of the danmei I’ve read has been insanely good.

10. Return of the Swallow - one of the two non-danmeis on this list. Smart and nuanced and with a large cast of characters. Our heroine is a long-lost daughter of the family that is brought back in and has to cope with familial struggles, crazy royals, court intrigue, invasion et al. It’s SO GOOD! There is romance with the sexy smart enemy general but honestly, it’s the heroine that is the main selling point for me.

9. Transmigrator Meets Reincarnator - the only other non-danmei novel on this list, this was my very first web novel and what drew me into this insanity. This is just a ton of fun, probably the lightest novel on this list, not an ounce of angst to be found. But it’s hilarious and features competent heroine and tsundere hero and I will always love it for opening a new world to me. Anyway, our heroine transmigrates into the novel as the female lead. Unlike the original lead though she doesn’t want to seek adventures and angst - she just wants to comfortably live with the wealthy, nice husband heroine has. Alas, said husband is no longer nice since he has previously lived this story where he was betrayed by FL and then transmigrated/reincarnated into the past. Oh well, the heroine opens up businesses and makes friends. And eventually, her husband realizes his wife is way different this time around. This actually doesn’t have much romance, not until close to the end, but this is so fun I don’t care.

8. Lord Seventh - I am only partway through this so far, but it’s already on the list because it’s smart and somehow intense AND laid-back (not sure how this works, but it does) and is honestly just a really really solid and smart period novel, with the OTP a cherry on top of a narrative sundae. Plus, I love the concept of MC deciding he is not going for his supposedly fated love - he’s tried for six lifetimes, always with disaster, and he’s just plain done and tired. When he opens his life in his seventh reincarnation and sees the person he would have given up the world for, he genuinely feels nothing at all. (Spoiler - his OTP is actually a barbarian shaman this time around, thank you Lord!)

7. Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (MDZS) - oh come on, how are you even on this tumblr if you don’t know MDZS/The Untamed? This was my very first danmei and it’s so much fun! I love everything about it - the unreliable narrator, the looping structure, the main OTP, Wei Wuxian’s laidback, traumatized insouciance, everything. Anyway, the plot in the event you somehow transported here from 2005 is that the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, Wei Wuxian, was defeated by the righteous sects over a decade ago and fell of a cliff to his death. Only now that same Wei Wuxian opens his eyes in another body and everything that was supposed to stay in the past starts again.

6. Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF) - people either love its meandering narrative, picaresque structure and cast of thousands, or find it a detriment compared to much more compact MDZS. I love it even more than MDZS for those very qualities. It does have a rock-solid, darling OTP, but what really elevates it to me are the MXTX trademark combo of snarky/light tone hiding a ton of trauma underneath, the insanely intricate world-building, and what it has to say about the nature of grace and goodness. Xie Lian is one of my top 5 web novel characters and probably in top 10 from anywhere. Oh, and while MXTX’s stuff is not as angsty for me as Meatbun’s or even Priest’s, there are always exceptions, and there is one chapter in this novel that pretty much broke me and sometimes I still flashback to it and feel unwell.

Anyway, what is it about? There is a commotion in the heavenly realm - Xie Lian, the Crown Prince of a long-destroyed kingdom, has ascended to Godhood. That in itself is not so exciting. However for Xie Lian this is the third time (!!!!) as he’s ascended and lost his godhood twice prior. And now, the biggest joke of the divine realm is back, throwing the heavenly realm into chaos. And elsewhere, Hua Cheng, one of the four most powerful demons of that Universe, sits up and takes notice.

5. Golden Stage - my perfect comfort novel. Probably the least angsty of any danmei novel on this list (which still means plenty angsty :P) It also has a dedicated, smart OTP that is an OTP for the bulk of the book - I think you will notice that in most of the novels in this list, I go for “OTP against the world” trope - I can’t stand love triangles and the same. Anyway, Fu Shen, is a famous general whose fame is making the emperor antsy. When he gets injured and can’t walk any more, the emperor gladly recalls him and marries him off to his most faithful court lackey, the head of sort of secret police, Yan Xiaohan. The emperor intends it both as a check on the general and a general spite move since the two men always clash in court whenever they meet. But not all is at is seems. They used to be friends a long time ago, had a falling out, and one of the loveliest parts of the novel is them finding their way to each other, but there is also finding the middle path between their two very different philosophies and ways of being, not to mention solving a conspiracy or dozen, and putting a new dynasty on the throne, among other things. It always makes me think, a little, of “if Mei Changsu x Jingyan were canon.”

4. Sha Po Lang - if you like a lot of fantasy politics and world-building and steampunk with your novels, this one is for you. This one is VERY plot-heavy with smart, dedicated characters and a deconstruction of many traditional virtues - our protagonist Chang Geng, a long-lost son of the Emperor, is someone who wants to modernize the country but also take down the current emperor his brother for progress’ sake and the person he’s in love with is the general who saved him when he was a kid who is nominally his foster father. Anyway, the romance is mainly a garnish in this one, not even a big side dish, but the relationship between two smart, dedicated, deadly individuals with very different concepts of duty is fascinating long before it turns romantic. And if you like angst, while overall it’s not as angsty as e.g., Meatbun stuff, Chang Geng’s childhood is the stuff of nightmares and probably freaks me out more than anything else in any novel on this list, 2ha included.

3. To Rule In a Turbulent World (LSWW) - gay Minglan. No seriously. This is how I think of it. it’s a slice of life period novel with fascinating characters and setting that happens to have a gay OTP, not a romance in a period setting per se and I always prefer stories where the romance is not the only thing that is going on. It’s meticulously written and smart and deals with character development and somehow makes daily minutia fascinating. Our protagonist, You Miao, is the son of a fabulously wealthy merchant, sent to the capital to make connections and study. As the story starts, he sees his friend’s servants beating someone to death, feels bad, and buys him because, as we discover gradually and organically, You Miao may be wealthy and occasionally immature but he is a genuinely good person. The person he buys is a barbarian from beyond the wall, named Li Zhifeng. It’s touch and go if the man will survive but eventually he does and You Miao, who by then has to return home, gives him his papers and lets him go. However, LZF decides to stick with You Miao instead, both out of sense of debt for YM saving his life and because he genuinely likes him (and yet, there is no instalove on either of their parts, their bodies have fun a lot quicker than their souls.) Anyway, the two take up farming, get involved in the imperial exams and it’s the life of prosperity and peace, until an invasion happens and things go rapidly to hell. This is so nuanced, so smart (smart people in this actually ARE!) and has secondary characters who are just as complex as the mains (for example, I ended up adoring YM’s friend, the one who starts the plot by almost beating LZF to death for no reason) because the novel never forgets that few people are all villain. There is a lovely character arc or two - watching YM grow up and LZF thaw - there is the fact that You Miao is a unicorn in web novels being laid back and calm. This whole thing is a masterpiece.

2. Stains of Filth (Yuwu) - want the emotional hit of 2ha but want to read something half its length? Well, the author of 2ha is here to eviscerate you in a shorter amount of time. This has the beautiful world-building, plot twists that all make sense and, at the center of it all, an intense and all-consuming and gloriously painful relationship between two generals - one aristocratic loner Mo Xi, and the other gregarious former slave general Gu Mang. Once they were best friends and lovers, but when the novel starts, Gu Mang has long turned traitor and went to serve the enemy kingdom and has now been returned and Mo Xi, who now commands the remnants of his slave army, has to cope with the fact that he has never been able to get over the man who stabbed him through the heart. Literally. This novel has a gorgeously looping structure, with flashbacks interwoven into present storyline. There is so much love and longing and sacrifice in this that I am tearing up a bit just thinking of it. If you don’t love Mo Xi and Gu Mang, separately and together, by the end of it, you have no soul.

1. The Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun (2ha/erha) - if you’ve been following my tumblr for more than a hot second, you know my obsession with this novel. Honestly, even if I were to make a list of my top 10 novels of any kind, not just webnovels, this would be on the list. It has everything I want - a complicated, intricate plot with an insane amount of plot twists, all of which are both unexpected and make total sense, a rich and large cast of characters, a truly epic OTP that makes me bawl, emotional intensity that sometimes maxes even me out and so much character nuance and growth. Also, Moran is my favorite web novel character ever, hands down.

Anyway, the plot (or at least the way it first appears) is that the evil emperor of the cultivation world, Taxian Jun, kills himself at 32 and wakes up in the body of his 16 year old self, birth name Moran. Excited to get a redo, Moran wants to save his supposed true love Shimei, whose death the last go-around pushed him towards evil. He also wants to avoid entanglement with Chu Wanning, his shizun and sworn enemy in past life. And that’s all you are best off knowing, trust me. The only hint I am going to give is oooh boy the mother of all unreliable narrators has arrived!

The novel starts light and funny on boil the frog principle - if someone told me I would be full bawling multiple times with this novel, I’d have thought they were insane, but i swear my eyes hurt by the end of it. I started out being amused and/or disliking the mains and by the end I would die for either of them.

[nationalharryleague]

Diplomacy

Pairing: Harry Styles x Reader

Genre: Enemies to Lovers Royal AU 

Word count: 12K (I may have gotten carried away) 

Warnings: Parental Death, an American writing about monarchies she doesn’t understand 

A/N: Hi everyone! I have been working on this one for a while and it’s by far the longest thing I’ve ever written and I am so proud of it (please be nice)!! I also made a Pinterest board with all the outfits from this if you want to check it out here!! SO SO SO much love to @meetmymouth​ @bfharry​ and @hardcandy-harry​ for helping me out when I needed it and being the most wonderful people in general :) As always, thank you so so much for reading!! More of my writing can be found in my masterlist and feedback/reblogs mean the world!!! 

****

Y/N knew from the day she could understand the concept of marriage that she would one day be married to the little prince with wild brown curls her mother always forced her to play with. She still vividly remembered the first time he told her that she was ugly and that he hated her. She was only five years old at the time.

Fortunately, she hated him just as much as he hated her. He was rude, somehow always sticky, and seemed to have no filter or manners, letting every nasty thing he could think of fall past his lips in daggers aimed at his future wife.

As they grew older, their animosity only grew, from petty to school yard quarrels to attacks on their personalities and who they were as people. Despite her pleas to her mother to be sent to a different boarding school than the one he was already attending, she was shipped off.

She studied judiciously, what was expected of every future queen, while she watched Harry meander through his schooling. He never seemed to listen in class, never studied, and seemed to only care about football and girls. She watched with jealousy and contempt as he flirted with every girl at their school, every girl except the one he knew he was to marry; while every boy in the school knew Y/N was off limits, direct orders from the crown.

It made her uncomfortable how much she disliked him. She was not a hateful person, having been trained well to treat everyone with dignity and respect, she was a princess after all. But something about Harry just got under her skin. She barely was able to control the instinctive eye roll whenever his name was mentioned and she often pretended to gag when discussing him with her friends, especially when one of them would inevitably call him ‘dreamy.’

The happiest day of her life was the day she watched him graduate, knowing she had been awarded years of peace without having to listen to his taunts or watch him flirt with everything that breathed. During those years, she flourished. She grew from a timid girl in line for power to a confident young woman preparing for the crown. She knew her country through and through, her constitution front to back, and had even begun studying Harry’s country as well. Whether she liked it or not, she knew she would have to pick up his slack in governing his kingdom eventually, she might as well be good at it.

Four more years of education at Cambridge, brought four more years of growth and being free from Harry, but the deal she had made with her mother was quickly coming to a close. As soon as she finished her education, their engagement would be made official and wedding planning would commence. While she was tempted to beg for some sort of delay or escape, she understood this was her duty. She owed this to her people, and soon to Harry’s as well; her mother was counting on her.

For the first time in too many years, she stood inside her former and future home. She remembered running through the halls of the massive palace under the ornate ceilings that now hung above her again; reality was sinking in. Through the massive wooden doors that sat in front of her, she knew her fate awaited; a fate named Harry. With a deep breath she steeled herself and smoothed the blush pink lace skirt of her dress, preparing to see the face that had haunted her for so long.

The first thing she noticed was the playful smirk that she associated so closely with his taunts from when they were children. It was the smirk that made her stomach drop; she could only imagine the nasty things that could come past those lips now. He had years to practice.

He stood confidently next to her mother, who had a bright and triumphant grin on her face. He was dressed in an impeccably tailored forest green suit, decorated with his coat of arms pin on the lapel. She wished for the vibrance of his green eyes to lessen but the tone of his suit only made them more intense than she had remembered.

“Harry,” she breathed, as diplomatically and with as much confidence as she could muster. “It’s good to see you,” she lied, reaching her hand out for him to kiss in the antiquated custom that always made her deeply uncomfortable. He delicately grasped her hand and slowly brought it to his blushed lips, the kiss lingering longer than what could have been considered friendly. His snake-like eyes locked with hers, still containing the mischievous glint she had nightmares about. She couldn’t help but notice the hysterically hopeful smile on her mother’s face as she watched them interact.

“It’s always a pleasure, your highness,” he hummed. He must have remembered how uncomfortable that title made her. She was honestly impressed at how he managed to lie and antagonize her in the first sentence he had said to her in over six years.

“Please call me Y/N,” she instructed as politely as possible.

“As you wish,” he said with a conniving smirk on his face. She had been with him no more than two minutes and she already wanted to run for her life. But this wasn’t about her, her country would need a leader soon, and unfortunately, that had to be her.

Her mother rushed over excitedly between the two, breaking the contemptuous silence that had built between them. “Oh children, it’s so nice to see you two back together again. I remember when you used to play when you were little. Always teasing, like you had the biggest crushes on each other.” ‘Teasing’ is a nice way to refer to torture, Y/N thought to herself, never daring to verbalize a thought like that.

“We did always have fun didn’t we, Y/N?” Harry asked her, a thin glaze of politeness coating his malice.

“Oh yes, we did. I still have a scar on my thigh from when you pushed me off the monkey bars.” Her tone was tight lipped and curt, her politeness beginning to give way to the verbal lashing she was dreaming of giving him.

“You’ll have to show me sometime.”

Y/N’s jaw nearly hit the ground. She knew he was a dirty good for nothing flirt, but in front of her mother? If her mother hadn't gently grasped both of their hands, she would have stomped out of the room. Her mother’s gentle touch brought her mind back to what this was all about once again.

“Harry is going to be staying with us from now on,” her mother interjected, clearly sensing the animosity between them. “Oh, and I nearly forgot! Harry, I believe you have something for Y/N, correct?”

“Of course.” He flashed his charming smiles at her poor mother, “How could I have forgotten about that?”

She watched him intently as he reached for the pocket inside his suit jacket, pulling out a small indigo colored velvet box. He opened the box with delicate hands to reveal one of the most gorgeous engagement rings Y/N had ever seen. A deep green emerald sat inside a ring of crystal clear diamond florets, all placed meticulously with care into a gold setting, the color of the velvet intensifying the emerald stone. “It was my grandmother’s,” he spoke softly, the first time she had ever heard him speak with any emotion or genuine feeling. “Before she died, she said she wanted you to have it. She was the mastermind of this arrangement afterall,” he said with a slight chuckle. “For formality’s sake,” he began with a sigh, “will you marry me?”

No, passed through Y/N’s head, but “Yes” fell from her lips. While her heart broke for herself and any chance she had of finding true love, the smile and happy tears in her mother’s eyes reminded her why she was doing all of this. She needs me to do this, Y/N thought to herself, my country is going to need a leader.

Their engagement was announced later that day by royal decree and their wedding was scheduled for the next month. There was no going back now.

The palace was in a flurry of planning and plotting for the big day. Y/N was rushed from meeting to meeting, instructed to make decisions about everything and anything she wanted for the wedding. She stared at floral arrangements until her eyes hurt and flipped through magazines looking at bridesmaid and flower girl dresses until her fingers felt like they were about to fall off. Unsurprisingly to Y/N, Harry was there for almost none of it. Although, she wasn’t exactly complaining about his absence.

He only surfaced when food or his suit was involved. In one vile incident, he arrived at the cake tasting with a wad of gum in his mouth, which was not only strictly prohibited for royals because it could be perceived as being too casual, but Y/N almost called off the entire wedding when she watched him stick chewed bubble gum to the bottom of a 200 year old handcrafted dining table.

“Were you raised by wolves?” she asked through gritted teeth while scolding him and desperately trying to remove the mess.

“Nannies, actually.” She knew by the smirk on his face that he wasn’t done with whatever antagonistic taunts that were planned to fall from his lips. “I’m pretty wild in the bedroom too, wifey.”

His crude comments were meant to hurt her and make her uncomfortable. He knew from their time in school together that she was constantly watched and kept far away from the gaze of any peaking boys, shining a spotlight on the massive double standard between the pair of future rulers. She wore a cloak of inexperience and innocence given to her against her will that embarrassed her to no end, and he knew that the easiest way to pinken her cheeks was to mention sex in any way. He aimed to fluster the poor girl and he got away with it anytime he flashed his dimples in a devilish smirk.

Y/N’s cheeks flushed red in embarrassment and furry before she got up from the table and stormed out of the room, muttering “pick whatever fucking cake you want,” before flying down the hallway to her bedroom and slamming the door behind her.

She felt frustrated tears pricking at her eyes as she slid down the back of the heavy wooden door to the floor below her. She let the fabric of her once perfectly steamed dress crumple beneath her and before she let the floodgates of tears open, she looked down at the dainty silver watch that sat on her wrist. You have five minutes until your appointment with the dressmaker, she thought to herself. Three minutes to cry, two minutes to change into a new dress and fix your makeup.

For three minutes, she let all her anger, frustration, and heartbreak fall out of her in loud sobs that anyone on the other side of the door was sure to hear. For three minutes, she let herself feel every angry emotion she had ever felt towards Harry. For three minutes, she didn’t care about her country or her mother needing this wedding. For three minutes, she didn’t care about anything other than her hurt. But only for three minutes.

Then she wiped the tears away, picked herself up off the floor, dressed herself in her favorite navy blue dress, fixed her mascara, and pressed a cool cloth on her cheeks to quell their angry heat. And then she went to see the dressmaker.

The only joy Y/N got out of this whole ordeal was getting to see her dressmaker, Agnes. Agnes was a kind and quiet old woman who was one of the most talented people she had ever met. The pair would sit together for hours discussing styles, the only time her schedule allowed her to relax, and the woman was in the middle of crafting the gown of  Y/N’s dreams. It was a lace long sleeved gown with a cathedral length train. The top portion of the lace was sheer, making a strapless neckline visible, before the delicately crafted lace moved crawled up Y/N’s neck into a high collar neckline. It was reserved, but elegant and unique; “just like you,” Agnes once said.

The first time Y/N was able to try the dress on was bittersweet. The dress was stunning and it made her feel like the princess she was, but she did shed a tear thinking about how this moment was tainted with Harry. She wouldn’t be wearing this dress while walking down the aisle to marry the love of her life, she was marrying someone she would consider an enemy.

She bowed down reverently when her mother placed a veil and tiara on her head. The tiara was encrusted with diamonds and speckled with emeralds that happened to match her engagement ring. The tiara was an heirloom and every woman in her family had worn it while getting married for the last two hundred years.

Her mother wept softly before her, a proud smile on her lips. “I’m so happy I get to see you in the wedding tiara before I go, sweetheart,” she said leaning in to press a gentle kiss to Y/N’s cheek. “I know you and Harry aren’t always a perfect pair and neither were your father and I, but we made you.” The queen’s eyes flashed over her face trying to take her in, “And you turned out to be my proudest achievement and the savior of a nation.”

“Thank you, Mama.” She hadn’t called her mother by that name since she was a young girl but it just felt right at that moment. She felt like a child, needing someone to take care of her while she waited for a country to fall on her shoulders.

“I will always guide you through whatever I can,” she said tenderly. “Even when I’m not here, I will always be with you.” Y/N watched as her mother’s eyes welled with more tears, excusing herself quickly before they grew more intense.

Not more than five minutes later, she heard the obnoxious whistling that she had begun to hear in her nightmares from down the hall. What she didn’t expect was for Harry to burst through the door, not only interrupting her fitting, but seeing the dress before the wedding day.

Like all members of traditional royal families, Y/N was extremely superstitious. Her heart immediately broke as she watched his eyes look her up and down, like there was a little piece of her that thought if they did everything right and didn’t break any traditional rules, maybe they would work out. What hurt her even more was that he didn’t even try to leave. He just sat down on a chair, smacking his gum, and stared at her like he was doing nothing wrong. Her eyes were still filled with tears from the emotional moment with her mother and they continued to flow, no longer out of love, but out of anger and frustration.

“Agnes,” Y/N finally spoke, voice cracking as she tried to hold back her tears, “will you excuse us for a moment?”

“Yes, your highness,” Agnes took delicate steps backwards like she was expecting a bomb to go off, before turning around and scurrying out of the room. Her instincts were correct, because at that moment, Y/N exploded.

“What did I ever do to you Harry?” she questioned angrily. “Why are you so determined to absolutely ruin my life? It’s bad enough that I am having an arranged marriage, not even one that I have the tiniest bit of say in.” She watched Harry’s eyes grow wide, like he had never expected her to stand up to him. “I have spent my entire life being watched and guarded, and avoided by every man I’ve ever gotten close to because I was already claimed by someone who wanted nothing to do with me.” She couldn’t remember the last time she had raised her voice like this at someone; she wasn’t sure if she ever had before. “You can’t even pretend that you like me or that we won't be miserable for our entire lives.”

“Y/N, I don’t want this either,” he spoke after a moment of silence, the quiet only broken by Y/N’s heaving breath. “Why can’t you just calm down?”

“Why can’t I calm down?” she repeated. “Maybe because my country is looking to me to become it’s queen. I can’t give myself to my people when I am worrying about you and your incompetence. You may not become king in your country for another 30 years; you have time to learn and grow into a ruler because you’re in my monarchy and you get to learn here first. You’re playing king with my people. Millions of people rely on us the second I am crowned and you act like your irresponsibility doesn’t have far reaching consequences.”

“I’ll be perfectly fine,” he spat back at her, rolling his eyes with his arms crossed in front of himself as he sat back in the chair. “I can’t believe I have to marry you and into this family.”

Y/N felt like she had been punched in the gut. She was stuck with this man for the rest of her life and here he was, disrespecting her, her people, and her family. “Get out,” she said under her breath. When he didn’t move from his seat, she began to yell once again, “Get out! I mean it!” She dropped her voice once again, and spoke more seriously than she ever had before. “I have never hated anymore more than I hate you, Harry. I am doing all of this because I love my country and my people, but I want you to know, I will never be happy because of you.”

For a moment, through her tears, it looked like he had been hurt because of her words, but he was gone from the room before she could confirm it.

She fell to her knees on the dress platform, surrounded by the piles of pure white fabric. She was a perfectly dressed ball of furry and sobs, angry at the world and her predicament. Leaning over and putting her head in her hands, she felt the tiara as it began to slip off her head, falling into her lap.

Y/N picked up the tiara, using gentle reverent hands, examining it closely. The tiara represented the monarchy and every female ruler in her family that had come before her. It shined and dazzled in the bright lights of the room, its crystal clear and emerald stones reflecting multi colored light onto the crisp white of the dress below her. “I’m doing this for you,” she whispered quietly to the tiara like it could answer, tears still silently rolling down her face.

***

They didn’t speak again for almost a week. They communicated solely through their royal secretaries, sending the poor men back and forth with angry messages, almost gossiping about what was happening with each member of the pair when they returned to the sender. Y/N hated Harry, Harry hated Y/N; the same sentiment sent back and forth over and over. The two were driving fast towards a brick wall, and the brick wall was their wedding.

When she woke up one morning about a week before their nuptials, there was a small envelope sitting on the ground like it had been slid underneath her bedroom door. We have to talk, was all it read. It was not lost on her that the stationary had a small olive branch illustrated onto the page.

Later that afternoon, they met in the garden. It felt like a neutral place to talk, the palace obviously being her territory. She had worn a casual flowing white dress, like she was raising a white flag; and she carefully walked with a mug of black coffee, a peace offering of sorts, careful not to get any of the dark liquid on the fabric of her dress.

She found him along a bed of purple Hyacinths, their sweet perfume enveloping them both, sitting on the soft ground dressed in the most casual clothes she had ever seen him in. He was wearing a simple lilac button up and a pair of jeans. He seemed more approachable this way, without the tailoring and the coat of arms that always sat on his lapel. The golden highlights in his curls came out in the sun and his tanned skin seemed to glow. He held a rose colored leather bound notebook in his hands.

“Hi,” she said softly, a sharp contrast to her screaming the last time they spoke. “I brought you a coffee. The nice ladies in the kitchen say you take it black.” The corners of his mouth turned up slightly and he gave her a friendly but unenthusiastic smile.

“Thank you,” he breathed, as she handed him the hot mug.

“Can I sit?”

“I’m not in charge of you,” he mumbled into the cup taking a sip. It wasn’t until she noticed how his eyebrow shot up and how his eyes had a playful gleam in them, that her offence washed away. “Of course, you can sit down.”

“What’s the book for?” she asked gently once she settled on the ground a safe distance away from him. She decided a few grass stains were worth being on speaking terms with the man she was supposed to marry.

“Um, it’s actually for you.” He reached over and placed the book in her hands. She ran her hands over her initials that had been embossed onto the leather cover. “I’ve been meaning to give it to you for a while,” he said quietly, “I remember you used to write a lot when we were in school together. I thought you would like it.” She felt a confusing mixture of thankfulness for the book, guilt for her outburst, and all the frustration that she still held towards him.

“Thank you, Harry. That was really thoughtful of you.”

A silence hung among them, neither of them sure of the next steps this conversation had to take.

“Can we talk?” Harry asked, finally breaking the tension between the pair.

“Yes, please,” she answered just as quickly as he had asked.

“I wanted to apologize for interrupting your fitting like that. I didn’t know all the traditions meant so much to you and I never meant to make you so upset.” She had never heard Harry apologize before, to anyone else, and definitely not to her.

Before that moment, she had always thought of him as an impenetrable force, wondering if there even was a soul or a conscience in his body. But here he was, vulnerability and all, offering an olive branch and an apology.

“Thank you,” she said cautiously, wading into the almost friendly waters she had never been in with him. “I’m sorry for screaming at you like that. I said some very hurtful things to you.”

“So have I.”

“I want you to know that I don’t hate you and I shouldn’t have said I did. But, I don’t necessarily like you either, Harry,” she said, deciding now was the time they needed to open the line of communication. One of them would eventually combust if they continued on with their hatred like this. “You have tortured me since we were little kids and it’s going to take me some time for me to get over that.” She watched as he nodded his head along with her words, seeming to listen intently.

“I feel like that is also something I should apologize for. No offence, but I didn’t want to get married to you either- still don’t, but I was much more of a dick about it then,” he let out a light laugh, flashing one of his famous dimples before releasing a sigh. “I took out not having control of my life out on you and I’m sorry.” She never thought she would receive validation for all the hurt he put her through for so long.

“Listen, we are getting married as part of a diplomatic partnership,” she began, “I feel like we should at least act diplomatic towards each other.”

“Does that mean that we have to be friends?”

“Definitely not. Just not enemies.”

“I think I can do that, wifey.”

***

The next week passed in a surprisingly civil blur for them both. Y/N was still in the throws of getting ready for a wedding and Harry was off doing whatever Harry usually did. She didn’t expect him to be doing much but she was just glad he was out of her hair. But when they did run into each other, usually at some sort of meeting surrounding the menu, they had a new found respect for the other.

The pair hadn’t been fighting which was nice for a change, even though it did raise some eyebrows in both of their staff. At her final dress fitting two days before the wedding Agnes had asked her if she was ready to be a married woman. “Absolutely not,” Y/N had laughed, “but it’s my responsibility to my people and my country. I have lived the most privileged life imaginable up until this point, it’s time for me to begin my duties.”

“You’re a good girl, your highness. You’re going to make a great queen when the time comes. Even with a husband you may have to wrangle sometimes.” She ended her compliments with a giggle as she zipped Y/N into the dress, and she felt her heart warm. Agnes placed the final touches of the veil and tiara on top of her head, giving her a nod of permission to finally look at herself in the mirror.

The dress fit her like a glove. The delicate lace ran the expanse of the dress, starting at the very back of her immensely long train and crawling its way all the way to Y/N’s throat, and the fitted top half gave way to a full ball gown skirt. Y/N’s eyes followed the intricate lace patterns down her arm, eyes eventually landing on her hand and the ring that sat upon it. For the first time since it had begun to sit on her ring finger, she didn’t want to throw it across the room in frustration. It really was gorgeous and the tiny inkling of respect she had for Harry now made it much less painful to look at.

Staring at the mirror, she noticed the blurring of her vision and the wetness on her cheeks.

“I really am getting married, aren’t I?” she asked with a disbelieving laugh.

“Yes you are, your highness.” Agnes looked up at her through her thick lensed glasses with a proud smile on her face. “Now, let’s get you out of this contraption so you can go rest up for the big day.” Anges’ skilled hands freed Y/N from the beautiful layers of fabric and tulle and sent her on her way back to her bedroom.

Y/N was finally almost asleep in the early hours of the morning when she heard a gentle and almost timid knock on her door. She could have ignored it, rolled back over and let her dreams take her, but for some reason it felt important for her to get out of  bed and answer the door. Her bare feet hit the cold wood floors and she tip-toed her way to the door.

When she grabbed the knob to open it, she heard a familiar voice say “don’t open the door! I don’t think I’m supposed to see you,” in a hurried and hushed tone.  

“Harry?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” His voice was gravelly with exhaustion and had an apprehensive, almost nervous quality she had never heard from him before.

“Why are you here?”

“I just wanted to talk to you.” He said it so softly she wouldn’t have been able to hear him if her ear wasn’t pressed up against the doorway. The sentiment brought a smile to her lips and she wasn’t completely sure why. She was quiet for a moment, deciding if she wanted to turn him away or not when she heard him sarcastically ask, “What? I’m not allowed to talk to my wife?”

“I’m not your wife yet,” she reminded him with a tired chuckle. “But we can talk,” she assured him. “I’m going to sit down, okay? My legs are tired from my heels all day.” She kneeled down and leaned herself up against the hard wooden door.

She had been in this same position only a few weeks before, angry at the world and wanting to kill the man on the other side of it; but here she was, speaking to him willingly, even joking with him. She listened close as his own body rested against the floor and leaned on the opposite side, mirroring her own position.

“Those heels really hurt, don’t they?” he asked, voice still hushed. If she wasn’t so tired, she might have even said she heard a smile in his voice.

“Yeah, they are like little death traps for your feet and legs.” He let out a small laugh on the other side and her lips pulled into a smile that she hadn’t given them permission for.

“How many pairs do you have? You always match your dress to your shoes so you must have a ton.”

She was gradually learning that he was much more observant than she had originally thought. He apparently wasn’t the dumb boy that she remembered from school anymore.

“Too many,” she said with a soft laugh and a shake of her head. “I’m wearing my favorites tomorrow.”

“And which ones are those?”

“They’re white, obviously; they have to match,” she smiled. “They have a green gem at the toes. They match the tiara I’ll be wearing.” She stopped for a moment before continuing on. “And your grandmother’s ring.” She played with the gold band that sat on her ring finger, still somehow dazzling in the very limited light of her dark room. “Thank you, by the way. It’s gorgeous.”

“You’re welcome. She wanted you to have it.”

“Did she really?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said confidently on the other side of the door. She imagined him nodding along with his words to emphasize his point, as he often did while speaking. “She kept tabs on you while we were growing up. She was always talking about how smart you seemed and that you would be a good queen one day. If I didn’t know better, I would say she liked you more than me growing up.” Y/N felt her cheeks heat up with the information. She was flattered by his grandmother’s opinion of her, but her heart also ached for Harry.

“I’m sure that's not true.”

“I think it was. I was always screwing up in one way or another; always creating messes that her and my parents had to clean up.” He paused for a moment and she heard him let out a long sigh. “Always running around with other girls and making the one I was supposed to marry feel like shit.”

She wished she could see his face. She wished that she could get a read on his emotions. But there was, literally and figuratively, a wall between them.

“Y/N,” she heard his voice squeak out through a voice crack, “I really am sorry for everything I’ve done to you.”

“I know. I forgive you, Harry.”

Saying those four words, lifted a weight she didn’t know she had been carrying off her shoulders. This moment felt like an absolution, a time to wipe their long and complicated slate clean. There was no better time for them to start anew than the night before they began the next chapter of their lives. But this chapter would be together, as a pair and a team.

“Thank you.”

“I’m sorry too, Harry. I know this all had to happen so fast so I could take the throne, but I know you thought you had more time. I thought I did too.”

“What do you mean? Why did it have to happen so fast?” he asked.

First, Y/N was confused. There was a very obvious answer. Then her heart began to break for him. He wasn’t ready at all for what was coming. No one must have told him.

“Harry,” she said softly, “Do you know about my mother?”

“What do you mean?” From the tone in his voice, she knew he genuinely didn’t know.

“My mom-” she began gently, swallowing the lump in her throat that always appeared when she began to talk about this, “My mom is dying, Harry.” She heard a soft gasp through the door before she went on. “She’s been sick for a while, but things are getting really bad. Her doctors think she only has a couple weeks left.”

She listened to his breathing stop, like his mouth was hung open searching for something to say. He was quiet for a few moments before he landed on what seemed like the only thing he had said over and over these last few weeks, “Y/N, I’m so sorry. I’m here for you if you need to talk about all of this.”

His offer was not lost on her. The idea of Harry being someone she could confide in was a new one, but one that she would consider.

“It’s okay.” She choked out, wiping a few stray tears that had found their way out, off her cheeks. “I have had enough time to come to terms with it. But in our archaic constitution,” she said with a biting distaste in her voice, “a woman cannot become the sovereign of the country if she isn't married. That’s why this all had to happen so fast.”

“I see.”

The pair were quiet, both curled up on opposite sides of the wall; simultaneously experiencing a unique type of loneliness that only the other could understand. In less than 12 hours, they would be married, linked by an oath that neither of them had signed up for, in circumstances with responsibilities that neither of them were ready to handle.

“Harry,” she peeped, breaking a silence that hung heavy over them both, “you should go to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow.”  

She listened through the door to the rustling of him getting up off the floor beside her. “You should get some sleep too.”

“I’ll try my best.”

“So will I. I’ll see you at the altar, wifey.”

She let out a strangled laugh at the nickname he had adopted for her, her throat still tight from crying. She listened to his foot falls until they disappeared down the hallway before she mustered the strength to drag herself back to bed. Her staff was on strict orders from the wedding planner to have her woken up at 8 to begin getting ready and she wanted to get some rest before the sun came up.

And like clockwork, her curtains were thrown wide open at 8 am, sunlight blinding her as she woke up. Her eyes took a moment to adjust to her rude awakening, but soon she could make out the bustling room around her. Hair stylists, makeup artists, bridesmaids, flower girls, her mother, and some lady with an ear piece and a clip board fluttered about her bedroom with an excited chatter. Taking in the chaotic scene, it really hit her. Holy shit, I’m getting married today, she thought.

Her stomach twisted and turned in knots as the gaggle of women fawned over her, instructing her to stay still and “stop shaking” as they applied layers of makeup and fussed with her hair. Her hair was pulled into a delicately crafted low bun and her eyes were painted with neutral tones and a little bit of shimmer. Diamond and emerald earrings were threaded through her ear lobes and her fingernails were inspected to see if they needed any touch ups. Her shaky body was zipped into her dress and her feet slipped into her heels while her cathedral length veil was pinned meticulously into her hair. She was only missing one last thing.

“Your tiara, your highness,” her mother joked through the happy and proud tears welling up in her eyes. The tiara was the one last thing she needed before she was sent on her way to the cathedral. She bent down slightly, her mother delicately crowing her; when she rose, she couldn't help but grab onto her mother and hold her tight. It was hard for her not to think about the next time she would be crowned, a time when her mother wouldn’t be there to offer the guidance or support Y/N needed.

“I love you, Mama,” was all she said. It was the only reason all of this was happening. She loved her mother too much to let her down.

“I love you more, my princess,” her mother said gently, before turning away and scurrying off to do something else. Y/N tried to ignore the wince on her face when she moved too fast and the slight wheeze she made when she was speaking.

Surveying the scene around her, Y/N felt like she was about to die. Her heart was pounding hard in her ears, her palms were slick with sweat, her breathing was labored, and her chest felt tight. She had never been so overwhelmed with anxiety before. She had known today was coming her entire life, but the fact that it really was here was too much for her brain to wrap itself around.

It was like she had blacked out from fear, an hour of her life completely unaccounted for. She didn’t remember the last minute checks and touches to her hair and makeup. She didn’t remember her mother delicately resting her veil over her face. She didn’t remember getting in the car bringing her to the cathedral. She didn’t remember someone shoving a bouquet of flowers in her hands. She didn’t remember the music starting up or walking down the aisle of the giant imposing and ornate cathedral.

She was only brought back to reality when she reached the imposing altar and Harry delicately took her hand into his. His green eyes were painted with concern when he saw the worried crease between her eyebrows and the way she was chewing on her bottom lip under her sheer veil, swiping his thumb up and down her skin in an attempt to soothe her. It was the first time he had ever touched her voluntarily; it was a gentle and tender touch, full of care.  She gripped back tight onto his hand, holding on for dear life as she thought over everything that was about to happen.

They were instructed to stand forward, watching the officiant as he droned on about love and duty to one’s country and spouse, but their hands stayed clasped tight onto each other, like they were being thrown into a stormy and unpredictable sea and the other’s hand was their only life line. And in a way, they were.

When they were told to turn towards each other to begin their vows, their eyes locked and she began to really look at him for the first time. She watched his plush lips closely as he recited the words fed to him from the officiant, although she didn’t hear a single word of them. Her eyes traced his strong cheekbones and landed on his adorable button nose before returning back to his eyes. She noticed the slight blue bags that sat under them, signaling he had just as much trouble sleeping as she did.

His eyes brought her a calm that she hadn’t felt in years, silently telling her that she wasn’t alone in all of this, his warm hands still holding on to hers punctuating that sentiment. There wasn’t anyone else in the massive cathedral but the pair of them anymore, just two scared kids trying to make it through the demands weighing on their shoulders together.

Shaky hands exchanged rings, her heart stopping for a moment when the ring caught and didn’t slide onto his finger gracefully. But her heart regained it’s rhythm when she heard a light chuckle coming from the man across from her, a gentle smile that was just big enough to flash a dimple at her, signaling that it would be okay.

She recited her vows without much thought, letting ‘I do,’ slip past her lips while still entranced by Harry’s intense yet comforting gaze. She watched his strong hands disconnect from hers as he lifted the lace trimming on the veil covering her face, dark lashes flickering down to her glossed lips. She let her eyes fall closed as he leaned in towards her and rested a hand on her cheek, prompted by the officiant and clapping coming from the pews, bracing herself for a feeling of disgust she hoped wouldn’t come.

He carefully connected their lips softly with a sweetness that felt gentle, tender, and caring. But there was more to the kiss than a softness, there was a respect there as well. His hand felt secure and protective on her cheek, and he pulled away with a smile after a short time, sure not to overwhelm her. The feeling of disgust in her belly that she was waiting for never came; if she didn’t know better she would say she felt an excited flutter.

They stood on the altar for a moment and just stared at each other, excited and relief filled smiles creeping into their lips, his dimples prominent. “Shall we, wifey?” Harry beamed with a sigh, extending a hand to lead her back down the aisle, now as a married woman.

“We shall, husband,” she giggled back, cheeks still a fiery red from their contact. Calling him her husband felt foreign, but not unwelcome.

Harry held her hand tight, keeping her in the moment by the warm contact. He held her hand down the aisle and all the way back to the palace, all throughout the signing of their marriage license, and all throughout the many, many photos taken of the two and their wedding party. She found comfort in his warm touch, continuing to ground her through the chaos that unfolded around them. Even when they had briefly disconnected from each other, he was always close by, only a call of his name away.

She was shocked by how careful he was around her giant dress, taking calculated steps to avoid dirtying the crisp white fabric. He was playing the role of a dutiful husband, and was seeming to enjoy it.

They spent the next hours just following orders from wedding planners, shuffled around from place to place, constantly surrounded by people. All she wanted was a moment to speak to him alone, but it seemed far out of reach.

That moment finally came in the middle of a dance floor, with hundreds of eyes staring at them as they danced. They swayed together slowly, a gentle rock to the delicate sound of strings. “Thank you for staying by me all day, Harry,” she said quietly, hoping that no one could hear them over the music.

“No need to thank me, wifey,” he said with a chuckle, his lips grazing against her ear as he spoke. She chuckled like always at the name and shook her head.

“I mean it. I don’t think I would have been able to get through all of this,” she said looking out at the crowd watching them and the giant ornately decorated ballroom they were in the center of, “if you hadn’t been by my side.”

“I quite like it, actually. I could get used to standing with you.” He said nonchalantly, like it was no big deal, while her heart just about stopped.

She wasn’t able to answer before the music slowed to a stop and they were pulled apart by their mothers and dragged off to speak to “very important” people. He seemed just as disappointed as she was when they were separated.

When they finally found each other again, Y/N had changed. She had abandoned her massive conservative skirt of tulle and lace for a creamy silk gown that she could actually move in. It was a simple a-line v-neck dress with cap sleeves, but the back held a deep V that ended at the small of her back coupled with a loosely tied bow.

The cool breeze on her back made her feel sexy. She knew she was pushing the boundaries on what was appropriate for a princess and she loved it.

“My darling, you look gorgeous,” he said, taking her hand and spinning her so he could fully take in the new dress, mindful of her tiara and trying his best not to knock it off. Her cheeks burned at his flattery, something he could surely feel when he pulled her close and pressed a delicate kiss on her cheek.

“You’re just saying that,” she said bashfully staring down at the floor, deflecting the compliment easily.

“Wifey,” he singsonged the teasing nickname that had evolved into a term of endearment. He lifted her chin to look up at him and he looked down at her with the most honest expression she had ever seen him wear. “You look beautiful. You have all day.”

“Thank you, Harry.” She spoke quietly, barely audible, unsure what to make of her husband’s compliments. He leaned in to her, layed a tender kiss on her forehead, and dragged her across the room to the dance floor.

They stayed on the dancefloor most of the night, almost always touching in some sort of way, while dancing and celebrating with their friends and family.

And Y/N was happy; a genuine type of happiness that she hadn’t felt in a very long time. Obviously, this wasn’t ideal. She was now married to a man she knew virtually nothing about, who had been a sworn enemy of hers only a few days ago, and had only begun enjoying his company last night. But happiness isn’t linear, she thought to herself.

Their night had passed in a joyous and opulent blur that went late into the night; full of food, dancing, and a swimming pool's worth of champagne.

Eventually both of them were led, by dutiful staff as they were both quite drunk and couldn’t exactly be trusted to make it on their own, to their new bedroom, or bedrooms depending on who you asked. They were led into the massive room consisting of two separate suites connected by a dressing room of sorts in a cloud of giggles, finding themselves in a fit of laughter after passing a portrait in the hall of some distant ancestor who had an amusing mustache.

“Thank you for leading us back,” she said, trying to gain a sober composure to the men who had flanked them on their way back, “you can go now.” The men shared a look between themselves that seemed to say ‘someone should be watching them,’ but followed the princess’ orders anyway.

“I just can’t understand how he got it to curl like that,” Harry cackled, beginning to wheeze from his hysterics and slightly stumbling as he was doubled over.

“Maybe it was natural like your curls,” she suggested, through her giggling hiccups that she let return when their staff left the room. “I quite like your curls, ya know? I like it when you let them grow a bit.”

They were still holding hands, despite being alone in their new found privacy, no longer needing the support from the other to shield them from the pressure of looking eyes.

“Then I’ll have to grow them out a bit,” he said, a smile still beaming at her with droopy drunk eyes. He tugged on her hand softly, bringing her body into his and setting his hand on the exposed skin of the small of her back. His hands were warm and soft and in the moment, she never wanted his hand to move from that spot again. “I can’t refuse the princess’ orders.” His voice had dropped low, not to a whisper but to a soft and lazy volume that made her feel safe.

Their faces were close and she could smell his strong vanilla and sandalwood cologne coming off him that she wanted to envelop herself in. He looked back down at her with a face that was loving, but she attributed it to the alcohol in his system. For a moment, she was overwhelmed with adoration for this man who she had spent so much of her life violently hating. Admiring and adoring him was much easier on her soul than harboring the hatred that had eaten at her for so long.

“I have another order,” she spoke quietly, letting the words tumble from her lips without her usually logical brain’s permission, “I want you to kiss me. For real this time.”

His lips were on hers as soon as the words left her own. It was sloppy and sweet, but with a passion behind it that Y/N felt in her bones. Their lips moved in a drunken rhythm, with Harry’s aimless wandering hands sliding up and down the silk of her dress before resting on her waist and pulling her impossibly closer to him. Her hands found and twirled the few of Harry’s curls that remained after they had cut his hair shorter than usual for the ceremony at the base of his neck and sunk her fingers into it, pulling him further into the kiss by his hair.

It was not long before their tongues found each other and the kiss deepened into a desperate dance of gasping for breath and soft moans into each other’s mouths. Harry’s mouth left hers and began to press sloppy open mouthed kisses down her neck while fiddling with the bow at the back of her gown that would release it from her frame.

Feeling him fuss with the bow made her pounding heart shift from one of excitement, to one of panic. This was too soon, she didn’t know him well enough. She didn’t know his favorite color or any of his hobbies. She didn’t know how he liked his tea, or if he drank it at all. She didn’t even know his middle name.

Her fuzzy mind couldn’t deny how much she didn’t know about him or the anxiety that made her want to pull away from the man and run.

“Harry,” she breathed, voicing the apprehension and anxiety that had begun to rise in her chest, “please stop.” She had squeaked out the words, a mix of embarrassment and panic taking over her slightly slurred words.

His hands froze, pulling himself back quickly from her, a mix of worry and guilt on his face. “Did I do something wrong? I just thought…” he let his words drop off, his own fuzzy mind not sure of what to say either.

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I’m sorry, I just can’t.” Her cheeks grew hot and her eyes became glassy.

She was embarrassed to admit it, but the kiss on the altar that morning was the first time she had ever had another pair of lips on her own. Her entire life she had been shielded from men with any interest in her, her affection already spoken for and claimed. No man had ever held her hand romantically, or danced with her, or kissed her with the passion Harry just had.

Harry had lived a life with freedom that she had never been granted. She remembered all the times she had watched him interact with various girlfriends at school, and remembered the shame she had felt when he had ended up on the cover of tabloids after he was photographed naked and kissing a  random woman on a yacht. Every article had ended with the same line that she still knew by heart. 

“The prince is arranged to marry Princess Y/N when she comes of age in an effort to unify their countries.” 

They had lived very different lives, with very different freedoms up until this point. It was sexist and archaic and unfair, but she couldn’t deny the impacts it had on her while she was around Harry. Even though she couldn’t deny that she was beginning to feel something real for him and she believed that he felt the same; she didn’t fully trust him like that yet. She couldn’t.

“I’ve never done any of this before, Harry. This morning was my first kiss.” Her cheeks burned in a mixture of embarrassment and shame as she spoke the words. “I like you a lot, but today has been nerve wracking and scary enough. I just can’t add another new thing into the mix, especially that. It’s just all too much. I’m sorry.”

Her sheltered and delicate heart couldn’t even bring herself to say the word ‘sex’.

As he listened to her explanation, his features softened. They were no longer fearful that he made a mistake or crossed a boundary, but they moved into a soft and caring smile.

“Y/N, my darling,” he began in a soft and sweet voice, “come here.” He beckoned her with open arms to rest up against his chest again. She had curled her arms in front of herself, holding them close to her body, as she walked into his arms and let herself be enveloped by them while resting her head on his chest. “You are my wife now, but I think we both understand that we are not exactly in this position by choice. I would never ask you to do something you are uncomfortable with and I am sorry that I crossed a boundary.”

“Thank you,” she peeped before he continued on.

“Also, I heard that part when you said you liked me a lot,” she could hear the smirk in his voice, making her cheeks inexplicably hotter. “And I like you a lot too.”

The pair stood in that hold long enough for them to lose track of time, just resting against each other in silence, listening to the other’s breathing. The silence that enveloped them was comforting, but Harry eventually spoke again, inexplicably soft and gentle in tone.

“Y/N, I really want to try to make us work.”

“So do I, Harry.”

The pair stood together in their stillness and peaceful quiet, until she let out a small yawn.

Harry released her from his grasp and began walking around the room, opening wardrobes and dressers searching for something. He breathed a small triumphant noise when he opened a drawer, spinning around with a light pink and baby blue nightgown in his hands.

“Do you need any help getting out of your dress? Would I be allowed to help?” His face was so thoughtful, carefully navigating the boundaries she had made him aware of but not set in stone yet.

She took the nightgown from his hands and slipped it over her head, the silk dress beneath it. “I just need help untying the bow.” Her voice was still low, a quiet and delicate murmur.

His hands carefully untied the bow, turning around for modesty’s sake, only turning back around when he heard the silk hit the floor.

She had begun carefully removing the bobby pins that still held her bun together, causing them both to giggle when her hair was finally released into a giant poof of curls and hair spray.

She looked so sweet to him. This was the first time he had seen her relaxed like this, no longer in a fancy dress, heels, and her hair and makeup done to perfection. She looked like a real person to him, not a princess who would soon become queen.

He moved gingerly towards the door of her room, but not before pressing one more soft kiss to her lips.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, wifey.”

“Can’t wait, my husband,” she called from under the covers, watching him close the door behind him.

***

The two were sitting on a hot beach, baking in the sun when the call came.

It was day four of their honeymoon and a week after their wedding, spending their time alone together on a small island in the sun neither of them could remember the name to. It was a paradise straight out of a movie, and she swore nothing could ruin it.

They spent their days learning each other well, often joking that they should make up trivia quizzes for each other to see who knew the other best. She had learned that Harry’s eyes lit up like a child when he saw any type of animal, especially the small lizards that would run across the deck hanging off the back of their small beach house. It was also a surprise when she found out he loved to cook, whipping up a meal that could rival some of the chefs at the palace for dinner one night.

But her favorite thing she had learned about him by far, was how he sang in the shower. He had a low and melodic voice that he didn’t know traveled into the house from the outdoor shower. She would sit by the window closest to him, often pretending to write in the pink notebook he had given her in the garden, close her eyes and appreciate the man’s voice. She swore if he wasn’t a prince, he would be a singer.

In the time since their nuptials, the pair had become lovers. Always attached at the hip and sneaking kisses; they were blissfully and unstoppably becoming increasingly obsessed with the other. The word ‘love’ often played at Y/N’s lips, seeming to always be only a drink away from letting it slip out towards him.

Every day, they would walk down a short path from their house to a pristine white sand beach, picnic basket in hand, and sit. Sometimes they would sit in silence, just staring at the clear blue ocean, and other times they would talk about everything and anything that came to mind, or they would read silently next to each other. But they were always holding onto each other; sometimes it was a hand placed gently on the other’s thigh, or fingers intertwined between them.

The shrill ring of Y/N’s phone broke their fantasy while sitting on the beach on the fourth afternoon. Her heart dropped as soon as she heard it, knowing that the palace had agreed not to bother them unless the worst case scenario was happening.

She closed her eyes and braced herself, tears already threatening to breach her eyes, as she answered the phone with shaky hands. “Hello?” she choked out.

“Your highness, you need to come home.” She immediately recognized the panicked voice of her mother’s secretary on the other end. “It’s happening.”

“Okay,” she said, trying to remain as composed as possible. “We’re leaving now.”

Harry’s face held a furrowed brow and concerned eyes as she spoke. He immediately began rubbing his thumb back and forth over the back of her palm like he had done on their wedding day, but today, it did nothing to soothe her pain and anxiety.

She hung up the phone before letting out a heart wrenching cry. “We have to go home,” she sobbed. “She is dying.”

The entire journey home was silent after Y/N had composed herself on the beach.

She sat emotionless, staring straight ahead, flinching away every time Harry moved to touch her. She spoke only when absolutely necessary, but her voice brought no tone with it. She had become a shell of herself, losing the warmth behind her eyes that had begun to appear after the wedding.

She felt empty, like she had lost the ability to think, while simultaneously feeling so overwhelmed, by thoughts of her future as queen and the loss of her mother. She had become blank, inside and outside, the happiness she had begun to build for herself with Harry, melting away and leaving the hollowness of grief and dread.

It took them about twelve hours to reach the palace from the time she hung up the phone, but it wasn’t fast enough. The second she stepped out of the car, she saw the guards outside the palace dressed in their black uniforms that were reserved only for the passing of the sovereign. She closed her eyes silently, as if when she opened them up again their uniforms would turn back to their usual blue and maroon; but they didn’t, their clothing still black as night.

Her heels clicked the pavement, maintaining her immaculate posture and steely blank expression as she entered the palace, the loving man she had been excited to have a life with trailing mournfully behind her. She watched as if she was out of her body when she passed people, all now dressed in black, in the hall. They all acted the same.

First, they would give her the saddest look, silently extending their sympathies to the daughter who just lost her mother, and then bowing their heads in respect to the now reigning queen.

“I need to see my mother,” was all she said, before being led into her bedroom.

She hadn’t remembered when her father had died, too young to understand. All she could wrap her head around was that her Daddy had an accident and wasn’t coming home. But she remembered her mother’s cries, loud and earth shattering sobs that traveled up and down the hallways of the palace for all to hear.

She looked like she was just sleeping; arms peacefully crossed over her chest and eyes shut gently. But she was cold when Y/N reached for her hand. She tenderly brought her mothers hand to her lips, and pressed a final kiss to her hand, before walking blankly out of the room.

Her mother was gone. And the country fell onto her shoulders.

She heard Harry saying something as he followed close behind her. While she heard him, she didn’t process a thing he said. She stalked towards their bedroom which was unfortunately on the other side of the palace, locked in her daze. He trailed close behind her the entire way, trying to say anything that could break through to her, and stood dutifully outside the door of her side of the bedroom for an unknown amount of time after she had shut it in his face.

***

She didn’t speak, or show emotion, or allow anyone at all to touch her for three days. Only nodding or shaking her head in response to the rapid firing of questions she was asked about planning her mother’s funeral.  Harry only saw glimpses of his wife, or the shell of Y/N that she had become, usually while she shut the door to her bedroom between them.

He left his door open all day everyday.

When he awoke the morning of the funeral and found her bedroom door open, his heart jumped. He slowly walked inside to find her in a room full of black dresses. Dresses had been laid carefully over every surface for her to choose from; the dress she would wear to her mother’s funeral and her first public appearance as queen.

“Good morning,” was all he said, quiet and careful.

The person that looked back at him was someone he didn’t recognize. The light was gone from her eyes, and she wasn’t the woman he was head over heels in love with anymore. She looked like her, but emanated sadness and anxiety like nothing he had ever seen before. Dark blue bags held under her eyes from not sleeping, her hair was tied behind her head in a messy unkempt ponytail, and she was dressed in a giant and ill fitting nightgown, shoulders bent down in a fashion that made her look small. The only feature of the put together, confident, and commanding woman he was married to that remained was the bright emerald ring that sat on her ring finger.

“I can’t decide what to wear,” she said without expression, but the tears started to fall down her face before she could finish the sentence. Harry moved quickly across the room to her when he saw her knees began to shake, catching her just in time as they gave out and she fell into his arms, settling them both onto the soft carpeted ground. That was when her heaving sobs began. It was a bone rattling cry that consumed her wholly and her exhausted and hurting brain could only put together two thoughts: she missed her mom, and she didn’t want to take on all this responsibility alone.

She sobbed into his shirt, holding onto the soft and worn fabric of his t-shirt for dear life, and he held her close to his body, slowly rubbing her back and letting all of the emotion fall out of her. She cried for a long time, giving herself a pounding headache, and when the tears finally began to slow she connected her tearful ones with Harry’s ever vibrant green eyes and mumbled, “I just thought I had more time with her. And I thought we had more time to just be us.”

“I know you did, darling.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead and reveled in being able to touch her again, as his heart broke a little every time she would pull away from his touch.

“I’m not ready, Harry. I can’t do this all alone. It’s too much.” She spoke softly, shaking her head from side to side, still choking back sobs as she tried to regain her composure.

“You’re not doing anything on your own. The second we were married, your problems and responsibilities became mine too,” he assured her. He moved to grab her left hand in his own and showed her the rings that sat on their hands. “Remember these?” he breathed with a light chuckle. “You’re stuck with me for life, whether you like it or not.”

He watched as she processed the realization that he was there to lighten the load. It was like a lightbulb had gone off for her, slowly nodding along with what he said. She let her eyes fall to the dresses that surrounded her, but he gently took her chin and directed her eyes back to his. “Y/N, we are a team. I am always here for you and I always will be.”

He took a deep long breath before continuing on, “I love you.”

She didn’t think when she pressed her lips to him, she just did, desperate to be close to him again. A coldness had swallowed her for days, and his words brought back the smallest feeling of warmth, a glimpse of hope she had been desperate to find.

She had known the passing of her mother was coming for years, her illness getting progressively worse over time. She had always believed it would bring more pressure, weighing down on her heavier than ever before. But looking at their rings and the man before her, she was hit by the fact that she never had to carry the weight of the country all by herself. She had Harry the whole time. He was her partner; in life and in power.

“I love you, too,” she said after breaking the kiss, salty from all her tears. She was quiet and her voice was still shaking and unsteady from her sobs, but he was there, holding her and keeping her safe.

He held her hand, slotting their fingers together as he picked them both up off the ground and helped her pick a dress. It was a black blazer dress that fell below her knees with three crystal buttons going down the left side. Harry carefully helped her into the dress, his warm and respectful hands sliding up her bare skin as he pulled it up over her shoulders. He then sat her on her bed, and began to carefully brush out her hair, doing his best to work through knots without hurting the girl who was already hurting enough. And he held one of her hands gently while she sat at her vanity and did her makeup with her free one. He refused to leave her side.

Harry stayed firmly planted by her side throughout the entire day, not daring to leave her while she needed him. He knew that photos of him holding her hand tight during the funeral would make the press, and the photos of him wiping away her tears as they left would make the front page, but he didn’t care. She might be the queen, but she was also his Y/N.

***

Their fingers were always locked together, Harry’s thumb passing back and forth over the back of her hand in the steady rhythm he always used when she was stressed. He was there whenever she needed him, gently taking hold, to remind her that he was there and they were a team.

He cradled her hand as she crushed his, gritting through the most excruciating pain she had ever experienced. It felt like her entire body was being ripped apart from the inside out, but Harry’s hand was the light at the end of the tunnel. She was screaming and crying in the small crowded room, feeling like a science experiment as all the doctors looked on at her pain.

But it all stopped when she heard the smallest little cry.

Then shouts of “It’s a girl!”

Exhausted and elated tears flowed freely from her eyes that were locked on the slimy little baby a nurse was burredly placing on her chest. She was so small, delicate and breakable, with strong lungs that screamed out to announce her entrance into the world. And when her eyes opened for the first time, they revealed the same bright sea glass green tone that matched her father, the green she had been falling in love with and swimming around in for years.

This baby was so much more than just a little girl, not only to them, but to their countries. She would forge a kingdom united in the future, a product of peace and partnership. She was a symbol of unity and a future of kindness between their countries. She was the future.

But for right now, the tiny baby was just theirs.

She felt him press a proud kiss to her head before she connected their lips together in a tear filled kiss before they both looked back to their new pride and joy who was still screaming for all the attention.

“She’s beautiful, darling,” he whispered quietly though tears next to her, hand still grasped tightly onto hers. “You did such a good job.”

“Literally couldn’t have done it without you,” she chuckled, still staring down, entranced by the little girl who looked like her daddy.

The pair stayed with their baby, quiet and just being, long after the doctors and nurses left the room. They learned she liked to scream and sleep, about as much as you could learn about someone only hours old. But she didn’t have a name. They had been debating for the last nine months over what the little princess would be called.

“I think she should be named after your mother,” Harry would say.

“But I think she should be named after your grandmother,” She would reply.

Their roundabout banter never left the pair, only changed; from malicious and teasing, to one of loving partnership.

“So neither?” he quipped with a small smirk while holding the little girl tight to his chest.

“I guess we have to compromise; diplomatically,” she said with a giggle, alluding to how they got to this position in the first place.

“I feel like a loving marriage and a new baby is pretty good for diplomatic relations.”

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! Please send feedback and reblog if you enjoyed it! 

[spookyfishbiscuit]

Black Clover Headcannons

Prompt: What it's like to be best friends with Black Clover characters. (outlining how you met, why they like you as a friend, what your relationship is like and what you like to do together).

Includes Asta, Yami, Mereoleona and Nozel.

Asta:

To be honest, I think it would be very difficult to become Asta's number one best friend, considering how well he gets along with literally everyone.

I'd say to have an advantage you would have to have known him from an earlier stage – namely his childhood in Hage village.

Before you were friends, he would always see you running around and helping at the local tilling fields. You were a peasant out in the country side of the Forbidden Realm, just as he was.

What initially drew him to you was your positivity and happiness. You were a very earnest child and many of the village's adults enjoyed having you around to help them farm.

One day he approached you, and ever since then you guys were inseparable.

He always had a bunch of energy and you always managed to keep up with his shenanigans.

Because of you he started helping around the village just like you, which ended up acting as a contributing factor to his wish of becoming the Magic Emperor.

He didn't really show it, but when he didn't get his grimoire on the day he was supposed to, he was a bit upset about it.

You were the one to motivate him to keep trying. You were literally the only person at the time to believe in his hard-working efforts.

As a result, he now keeps you in the highest regard for all the help you gave him.

Because of you, he strongly believes that his bonds with others are the key to unlocking his inner strength. You're quite literally the proof for his ideal.

When you meet up, the two of you like to hang out around Hage village. The place holds many memories for you, so you spend a lot of time catching up while walking and lounging around in your childhood meet up spots.

He loves to tell you about his exploits with the magic knights and he keeps you updated on the latest happenings in the country.

Sometimes he takes you to the royal capital or to the towns in the common realm. He doesn't go there too often himself, so the two of you go around exploring and doing fun things in general.

Unlike with others, Asta can also confide in you whenever he isn't feeling like his usual self. When he's down, you're the only person he honestly confides in, because he knows he'll feel better and that you'll end up finding a way to motivate him again.

Yami:

With this guy it's pretty simple. As long as you're straightforward with him and honest from day one, he'll end up taking a liking to you.

It doesn't matter whether you're super strong, gutsy or brave, as long as he can understand where you're coming from, he won't have anything against you.

However, I believe that in order for you to become his best friend you may have to be able to fight (either in battle or just standing up for yourself) – even to a small extent.

If he's genuinely impressed by one of your qualities, he'll want to spend more time with you.

He'll be amused by your antics and would truly find you intriguing enough to spend his time with.

But if he can learn something from you, that would be an even greater bonus. If you can challenge him and bring new concepts for him to try out in battle, he'll keep you around even more and his respect for you would skyrocket.

The first time you meet, it could literally be anywhere. You could either be a fellow magic knight, a random person on the street or someone drinking in a local bar – the options are limitless.

Yami opens up rather quickly after getting used to someone being around, so you don't necessarily have to know him for a super long time in order to become his number one friend (a few years is more than enough).

He enjoys his alone time and generally tends to be reserved, so if you're someone who can be quiet and inconspicuous he'll appreciate that greatly.

The two of you like to lazy around together most of the time. He invites you to the Black Bulls base often just to chill and strike up conversation ocassionally.

Everyone in the squad knows who you are, and literally all of them respect you just as much as their captain (they see you as practically two peas in a pod).

When something's bothering Yami, he would genuinely confide in you with anything (even if it's vulgar and ought not to be discussed). As a magic knights captain he feels the need to be strong in front of the his squad, so if he's ever in a pinch about something, you're the person he talks to.

He really likes when instead of sympathy you give him solid constructive criticism. He may be a bit defensive at first but once you knock some sense into him he'll begin to look at it your way, and more often then not he'll find the solution to his problem.

Naturally as your best buddy, he would hang around with you at his favourite bars often.

Even if you're not much of a drinker or a gambler, he enjoys the atmosphere of the place and the two of you always find ways to entertain yourselves there.

He trusts that you'll be able to protect yourself if need be (he truly sees your value), but he can be a bit possessive at times, especially if he's a bit drunk.

"Oi, what the hell. They're my friend you dunce. Go get your own." (He would say that with the most ticked off and intimidating expression).

The man has literally no shame in front of you. Honestly, he would even walk out naked and not bat an eye to your presence despite how indecent that is.

Mereoleona:

In all honesty, you would probably meet her in the middle of a forest.

As a kid she was very aggressive and wild, but despite that her heart was still pure.

When she first saw you walking by yourself through the wilderness, she grew intrigued and decided to go test your strength. You were close to her age which was something she instantly recognised.

It's said that strong people sense others like them from a distance, and that's exactly what happened between the two of you.

Somehow, you managed to stand your ground after your confrontation, and ever since then the two of you were attached by the hip.

Mereoleona loves to drag you around with her. You're considerably more passive compared to her which she adores about you (because you never resist when she literally kidnaps you).

She finds that adventures with you are always more fun than if she were to go alone, so be prepared for a bunch of spontaneous tests of courage and strength that she creates.

As her best friend, you're able to keep up with her and occasionally challenge her outright.

Even if you're not a mana genius or a combat expert, if you have any quality that far surpasses her she literally won't stop bugging you until she beats you (but she will always admire that quality of yours).

Over time, you'll learn to read her.

Mereoleona isn't a woman who expresses herself in ways other than toughness, but sometimes she lets a softer side slip.

She enjoys that she can open up to you without being viewed any differently. In fact, she's considerably softer towards you in general.

She truly loves that she can smile and laugh around you freely.

The two of you often stay up late, laying around outdoors and staring up at the dark sky the same way you used to do as kids. She talks to you about anything and everything, including more sensitive subjects such as her feelings towards her brother's injuries.

You're one of the only people capable of calming her down and she's very honest towards you as a result.

Nozel:

You would have to know this man a while before he considers even slightly opening up to you.

He's very cold on the surface and has a hard time expressing his true concerns, so naturally it would take ages of dedication to finally crack that shell.

The first time he began considering you an ally was when you stood up for him despite not needing to. Someone was making fun of his stoic expression and hairstyle, but for some reason you decided to shut them up.

You weren't a suck up, so he knew you weren't doing it just to get in his good books.

In fact, on the inside he's always admired your righteousness and peace-loving attitude.

After that incident, he actually started speaking to you properly. He graudally increased how often he spoke to you, and eventually he could be found with you more than with his siblings, which greatly surprised everyone.

He continued to hold you in high regard throughout the years. He saw you as a strong and independent person.

You never really relied on anyone to do anything, which only prompted him to confide business related problems with you more often (since he knew you weren't influenced easily by others).

He's only ever viewed you as a strong and greatly trusted ally (practically a confidant) until one day you called him your friend, at which stage he realised that this was in fact the case with you two.

It was foreign to him at first, but when you explained that the words ally and friend were practically the same thing, he realised that it wasn't as bad as he initially thought.

You are honestly the only person in the entire kingdom that can make him smile even a bit. Because of you, he's actually been caught smiling in front of others too – a very strange sight to those who know him.

You've finally discovered his fleeting non-existent sense of humour (which apparently only works when he's in a good mood).

He feels like he can express his problems with you easily enough. Of course he still gets a bit flustered when doing so, but your totally normal attitude towards his confessions brewed confidence in him, so he started doing so more often.

Whenever he's tired of paperwork or any official business, he calls you to his office just to have you around. He'll continue working even when you're there, but he'll give you a small smile if you bring him some tea.

Despite how busy his schedule is, you guys are always near each other. If not in the same room, then definitely in the same building.

He really enjoys talking to you in peace and even feels comfortable falling asleep near you when the two of you are alone.

Also, if anyone as much as insults you, good luck. They won't be going unpunished by Nozel's wrath.

[mysterystarz]

hi! first and foremost, i love your layout! 💕 (i swear, whenever i see blog layouts that i think are cute, i’m like “damn, mine could never compare to theirs” LMAO 😂) anyways, so i read your nekoma manager headcanons and i love them! i was wondering if it’s alright if i can have some nekoma x manager!reader in which the reader is either a second or third year (i’ll let you pick) and is a foreigner (no need to specify their nationality). let’s say that in the country the reader is from, they don’t have honorifics for upperclassman like they do in japan, so whenever the reader’s underclassmen calls them “senpai”, they get a bit flustered (they don’t even know why they’re flustered, it just happens) idk, i think it’d be cute 🥰 i think it’d also be cute if the underclassmen decide to mess with the reader to see who can fluster them first by calling them “(f/n)-senpai” in every single sentence whenever they’re talking to them and eventually yaku’s like “knock it off!” 😂 tysm! 💖

the manager game (nekoma deluxe edition) <3

g!n manager!reader + the shenanigans of nekoma!  ☆ a/n ☆ AWWW thank you!!! this request was super fun to write and being from a country that doesn’t have a concept of upperclassmen, i can proudly say that i’d be flustered if someone called me “nova”-senpai too <3 hopefully, i did your request some justice hahaha

when you moved from your home country [insert country] to japan, you were not prepared for the cultural differences 

before you moved, you had practiced some Japanese so you could interact with the people around you, but the idea of people using honorifics on you was something you never imagined 

cue you walking into nekoma high for your third year! 

you already were familiar with the volleyball club and even managed for them 

tough love style because serves can’t be flubbed and they cannot sacrifice the poor underclassmen

one day you were walking through the halls when you accidentally bumped into lev 

he was all apologetic and started wildly gesturing before he said “sorry (f/n)-senpai! I never meant to bump into you!” 

your composure 

GONE 

(hotel?) trivago (sorryyyy!!)

you were so flustered that you just nodded and ran the hell out of there (you go!!!) 

lev reported this to the VBC at their usual practice and kuroo decided that the underclassmen should mess with their little foreign manager and call them (f/n)-senpai...for everything

and thus started....THE MANAGER GAME™ 

monday morning, all the first years were at the gate, ready to greet you (like they always did since they are sweethearts), except they were going to switch out the honorific 

instead of the (-san) that they usually used they were going to use (-senpai) 

so you were the unsuspecting victim and walked up to meet them and...

“good morning (f/n)-senpai!!” 

you were all red and were gesturing to try to ask them what the hell they were doing when fukunaga walked up to the gates 

and you thought “phew, at least fukunaga will probably be in his senses” 

but instead, he waved at the first years and said “what are you waiting for (f/n)-senpai? class is going to start soon” 

and he freaking WALKED AWAY WHAT

the first years and fukunaga laughed at your shyness as you waddled off to class

you thought practice was going to be better

OH HELL NO, IT WAS NOT BETTER 

anytime the ball went out of bounds, or they needed a specific set of stats, kuroo would always send a first or second year

“hey, (f/n)-senpai, how do I have a stronger receive?”

“(f/n)-senpai, what do you think the correct angle is for a good spike?” 

YOU. WERE. SO. FLUSTERED. 

SO FLUSTERED THAT YOU STARTED SPEAKING IN [insert language of your country]

the VBC was laughing their head off

but you couldn’t help them or give them tips because of the seniority and respect you were being given 

you were always fine with a (-san) or (-chan/-kun) 

it was the final straw when kenma said “hey (f/n)-senpai, can you get kuroo to stop giving weird speeches?” 

YOU EXPLODED (hinata style pftttt) 

yaku had been observing (and kicking lev) for most of practice but he knew he needed to intervene or else they were going to virtually kill their manager 

so in the typical yaku fashion 

“YOU GUYS NEED TO CUT IT OUT! NOW!” 

BONUS: 

once you calmed down you put on your most evil smirk....and sentenced the underclassmen to an eternity of calling you (-senpai) >> the underclassmen were TERRIFIED because now if they called you anything but (-senpai) they’d have to do flying falls 

AHH you really loved those boys <3 

©mysterystarz all rights reserved - please do not plagiarize, modify, or translate this post in any way or form

click here to join my taglist (if you're interested!)

[theshadowwalkers]

You have opened the floodgate for ask spams fjjffdjdjd! I wanted to ask first about the language: what inspired you? Do you follow a set of rules or just go with what looks cool? Do they have an alphabet? Any chance of hearing how the most important stuff (especially names) is pronounced?👀

OMG you just asked about one of my favourite topics ever around this world lmao

So, the goal eventually would be to be two fully functional languages, Ahnol and So'Kaï, respectively the languages of the Ahn’né and the J'kaï, and have some common words and titles translated into the languages of the Fées, the Naïades, the Ëkos and the Changeformes. The Dracs' language is a bit different, because I'm basically using a regional language from my country and tweaking it a bit for them, so it's not like I'm coming up with it from scratch like I did with Ahnol. So'Kaï is currently at the point I'd like to get with the other languages, which means a bunch of important words used by people in the story.

I was, of course, inspired by Tolkien just as a concept, but the language in itself is a combination of a bunch of things. I've learned seven languages in my life, even if I'm not fluent in all of them, and I've always been interested in them. So, for Ahnol, I based the syntax structure on French, which is S+V+C, or Subject, Verb and Addition. Then, I just began making up words until I had enough that I begun noticing a pattern in sounds I had made unconsciously. When I noticed that pattern, I stuck to it to make a consistently-sounding language. So eventually, it began to sound like the regional languages from my country, mixed with Japanese and Chinese. I'm also using some of the additional letters we have in French, like é, è, à, ç, the little triangle symbol like this = î and the two-dots symbol like this= ï

It has very consistent rules for how it's pronounced and it's relatively easy to understand. Time works like in Chinese, where every sentence is present tense and you just add a time signifier. In English, that would look like this: I was hungry // Yesterday, I am hungry. So the latter is basically how it works.

Unlike French, which its heavily based on in other aspects, I refused to add gender markers and the formal and familiar "you" we have, because the first sucks and the second, although fun, was more complicated than I wanted to get at the time (that changed but at this point it'd be too much work to invent both "you"s)

There is an alphabet and I even made a custom font so I could type the words in documents or when I'm drawing something. The alphabet looks roughly like this (this is an earlier version but the only picture I currently have on my computer, but there's like one tiny difference in the current version so this will do)

The alphabet is clearly based on Ogham, which I'm very familiar with because of my religion, culture and practice. Because the Ahn’né live exclusively in forests, it made sense to use something literlaly called the Alphabet of the Trees as an inspiration.

Right now, Ahnol is completely usable, but it looks vocabulary, which is what makes a language rich. Since I basically add new words whenever I need them in the story, I have a wild variety of words atm.

Excuse my voice, I went to a metal concert with my sister that went on for almost 5 hours and had four bands, including the legendary Gojira, so my throat is busted. But here's a list of words and short phrases, what they mean, and how they're pronounced, as well as some of the most important characters’ names

link to the sound file

(rough transcript of names)

Naradrilen’né Anathÿ O’sha

Olaÿ Erenalui

Mehetÿl of Ashbloom Domain

Hé’noûr of House Faon’den (Faon’den’né Hé’noür)

Aubiel

Sheoril Ashall’dil

Jora Dil’norr

Eobel (Naradrilen’né Eobel)

Orril (Naradrilen’né Orril)

and hey, if you want to use what I give you later in this post to make some sentences of your own, I’d love to see them lol I haven’t copied everything from my language file because I want to protect my work a little bit, but I use Ahnol pretty extensively in the game so I thought it’d be cool to share some with you and everyone else

Thank you so much for this question, I had so much fun writing all this. I might post a language breakdown in the lore tag of the blog for later, we’ll see. And if you have any other question, I would be DELIGHTED to gush more about the world of Enschka.

[everything below the cut is copied straight from my language file on my computer, so it has annotations, French thrown in the middle of it and it has literal translations as well, marked as ‘lit.’, short for ‘literally’ (for ex, I love you is Je t’aime in French, but the literal translation would be Je aime toi. Or in reverse, Je m’appelle John translates to My name is John but the literal translation, so word-for-word, would be I am me called John)]

PRONOUNS & BASICS mün: to be ih: I, me noür: you wa'ih: you far away (like in japanese, sore/kore/are) ara: they (gender-neutral singular third person) araï: they (gender-neutral plural third person) ihnoü: us

ihn: mine noüh: yours arani: theirs (no distinction of singular/plural) ushihi: ours ushihnoü: together

aa: yes eo: no i: and, also

asharr'noür: thank you (lit. blessed be you) dil asharr: you're welcome (lit. bless the white -implied, bless the white instead of me)

aa: yes eo: no i: and, also

asharr'noür: thank you (lit. blessed be you) dil asharr: you're welcome (lit. bless the white -implied, bless the white instead [of me])

TITLES

o'sha: gender-neutral word for a ruler a'sha: king specifically, since the ahn’né don't have those they invented the word for other cultures shalle: master ha'norr: healer (the magic of hands) irhashal: mage (master of life) ashto'ïreq: shadowwalker (lit. walk in the dark) vallemek: warrior oshallem: soldier (lit: warrior of the queen) irhamek: battlemage (lit: warrior of life) erenmek: councillor, specifically for war (lit. the one who sees war)

ETHNICITY

olaÿé: dreamers sila'né: sylvains héki'né: septs

POINTS CARDINAUX

héki: septentrion arheyü: after-sky oshaji: stone sheo: sea

COLOURS

dil: white dila: light ïreq: black ïreqa: dark nara: red eri: blue sato: green lunil: yellow faon: gold adoo: marron

FAMILY

eranga'a: sibling essa'a: older sibling (like Chinese. this is familiar way, like "big sis/big bro" but gender neutral) osso'a: younger sibling (same) irha'a: twin/beloved sibling/sibling of life because of irha ushana: companion, partner nooqa: parent who provided the stasis (familiar) anooq: idem (soutenu) neqe: parent who provided the constant stream of irha (familiar) aneq: idem (soutenu)

PHRASES

ih shalle'deo: I don't know -something implied- (literally meaning I don't master -something-) quera ihqari: come with me ihqari: with me (works with any pronoun or noun, subject or speaker first, then the thing being with the subject) asharr'uil: blessed be [...] shallon ihqari: i love you (lit. love with you)

GREETINGS & SAYINGS

for bonded people: peace for you: noür thyna'shi (lit. you peace is for) and prosper: i n'ahanni (lit. et t'prospère -même raccourci que dans je t'aime par ex)

formal greeting: asharr'uil noür dil'oshallonri: Be blessed on this day, you who is beloved by the White (lit. blessed be you, sun beloved) ushihnoü ashto dilero: may we walk together under the light of the White (lit. together walk the sun under)

PET NAMES & NICKNAMES

oyami: precious (gender neutral) (ihn)ushana: (my) companion (gender neutral, with the possessive it becomes a full word) (ihn)venhael: (my) bonded (gender neutral, same) oshallonri: beloved

SWEARING (scale of #1 to #5 from less offensive to worse)

shkaï: putain (#1 used like putain, is a bastardized version of Kaï, the angel island) irha'o: connard/connasse (#3 gender neutral insult, lit. without irha/without a soul) mera: salaud/salope (#4 gender neutral, short version of Merathÿ, the traitor queen)

VERBS

quera: come, follow quera'deo: stay put, don't follow shalle'rea: to know something, to have mastered something asharr: to bless asharr'ui: to be blessed shallon: to love, (lit. to master emotion) shallon'ui: to be in love ahanni: to prosper eren: to see eren'ui: to be seen ashto: to walk arahn'ui: to give birth

NOUNS

dil: the sun/the white, light norr: hand irha: life/centre (also the name of the particles that form their life-force and magic) ahnol: language of the ahn’né ahn: the small fairy-like creatures who inhabit the Dreaming Woods and are born from the irha in the trees. Also how the ahn’né talk about themselves in their language sooreth: cloud sooreth'irha: clouded heart, ahn’né slang for half-blood/mixed people thyna: peace sil: tree sileo: bois (du bois, pas les bois/forêt) (common first name) soori: a type of tea, very bitter, from the Ashtou Chain nalui: friend olanéi: the dreaming elm (lit. the ones who speak the dreams into existence) lemek: conflict, though used also in the context of war ol: langue (autant le muscle que le concept de language) olaÿ: dreams, songe ishell: the wrapped tunic worn by Dreamers over their undershirt and pants thÿrun : the facepaint worn by members of a specific House to denote their status yüe: the sky qeraÿo: a follower, someone who subscribes to a belief yano: wind shi: "-day" or celebration (Dreamer-day is olaÿ-shi for ex) jarré: snow oshaji: stone sheo: sea asharri: god/the divine, as in a general term for a god when not using their name (ex: the gods have spoken) arahn: birth mer: carer, caring person ant: star/celestial body

[sachirou-senpai]

Kageyama, Yaku, Kenma and Hinata as sugar daddies.

request: ELLIE YOU CAN'T GET AWAY WITH PUTTING THIS IN MY HEAD AND LEAVING ME LIKE THIS AHSHSUSVSHS,,,, can I request some headcannons for Kageyama, Yaku and Kenma as sugar daddies? Or Hinata!!! Even though he's a sugar baby already shsghsbas ;;; Or you can choose whichever you like best between them??? I will be happy with every crumb I can get 🙏

warnings: mentions of s*x and sugar daddy/sugar baby relationships, hoshuimi is a nosy bitch, yaku has the confidence of a god (must be a leo thing) kenma is so cute ahhh, Hinata just wants someone to love and call mommy, i really love this. implied fem!reader for hinata, although i guess you could call a gn person or a male reader mommy. whatever floats your boat.

a/n: this was very fun. ;)

Kageyama:

what the fuck

how did he even get a sugar baby?

great question

it happened because he had a fuckton of money and had no idea what to do with it

and hoshuimi, of course

cause hoshiumi's a nosy lil bitch

saw kageyama checking his bank account app on his phone and was like

WHAT THE FUCK WHY DO YOU HAVE SO MUCH MONEY

it's cause he never spends it

hoshuimi offhandedly tells him he should get a sugar baby

later that night kageyama googles what a sugar baby is

he's shook

doesn't think about it for months

until he gets this ad for a "meet sugar babies" website on a volleyball video he was watching

he thinks oh hell, why not

so he signs up, and meets you

he's so awkward oh my god

but you think it's adorable, and you're glad he's not some old dude

he doesn't know what to do so he asks you a lot of questions about what you like and stuff

the first thing he sends you, i kid you not, was a fucking volleyball

you call and ask him about it and he's like:

"it's the best quality"

you keep it.

eventually he starts sending you stuff you ask for, which works out better for both of you

you help him with the concept of a 'luxury life'

eventually gets a black card and literally just says:

"please use it for me, i don't know how"

and you're like damn okay

the first time you attempt to do something sexual he literally short circuits

you have to explain to him that a sugar baby usually repays their sugar daddy/mommy with sexual favors

he makes the 😮 face

he didn't even think you were sexually interested in him?

he'd be lying if he didn't think you were the most beautiful thing he's ever seen

and he's definitely had some um, not so pure dreams about you

and definitely jacked off to the pictures you've sent him

which he just thought was to show him what you liked

so god if he didn't fucking jump your bones right then and there

it was uh, intense, to say the least

best sex of your life

and the cuddles afterwards? on point.

you two get very attached

he really really likes you

introduces you to the team

which was embarrassing

eventually, you decide you want to become financially independent, and so you tell him you want to cancel the agreement

he fucking cries

he so desperately doesn't want to lose you

cause he's fallen in love with you

he tells you about all of the feelings and how you make him want to do anything for you and he's sobbing while telling you

you're shook, because you've kinda been developing feelings too

so you're like, okay, no sugar daddy stuff, be my boyfriend instead

total 180°

tackles you and holds you, on the floor, for like 3 hours

he still spoils you, it's a habit of his now

but you don't really mind, because you have one hell of a man by your side

(gimmie a kageyama pls)

Yaku:

knows exactly what he's doing and knows exactly what he wants.

You.

he probably met you at some sort of event, you going because you were the personal manager for some really weird guy there

he knew he wanted you the second he saw you

and he was straight up about it too

we're talking like walking up to you and saying:

"quit your job, let me take care of you."

and you're surprised, because who just says that?

you don't even know what happened, but you said yes

quit your job that night, and left with him

yeah, you fucked on the first night but so what?

he is the best sugar daddy omg

he already knows what you like just by looking at you

(no he doesn't, he's just called Alisa so many times she swears her phone is gonna break)

he's more of a surprising you with what he's gonna buy kind of guy, but he always enjoys when you surprise him

he takes you everywhere with him

he has a game in another country? you're going. guaranteed.

he just always wants to be near you

it's clearly more than a sugar daddy/sugar baby relationship from the start

and he likes it that way

he just doesn't want to make you uncomfortable, so he doesn't say anything

you two fuck....a lot

it's clearly not because of the arrangement anymore

you're just naturally drawn to each other

it's intense

and you spend a lot of time together, not only because he literally takes you everywhere

just because you like it

there'll be periods of time where he doesn't buy you anything and you don't buy anything either, but you still stick around and you still have sex

and that's when he knows you actually have feelings for him

HE'S SO HAPPY OMG

you've been in the arrangement for several years

you're practically dating

and so one day he just asks you to marry him and you're like

fuck yes

who wouldn't want to marry yaku morisuke?

cause i sure as hell want to marry him

Kenma:

i think kenma likes to watch twitch streams in the background while he's playing his games

it's just relaxing

with a fake account, of course, he didn't need all the hype from when he joined their stream

one day, a streamer he was watching ended their steam and raided yours

he first heard your voice and was SHOOK

you had the prettiest voice he'd ever heard

so he looked at his computer screen and nearly died

how could someone have such a pretty voice and a pretty face?

wildly unfair, he thought to himself

at first it was just a low-key thing

he'd watch your streams, whenever you were streaming

it was a miracle you two never streamed at the same time

you were just his go to relaxation method

one day, he heard you mention offhandedly that you were struggling with money

and so you know what he did?

donated 10k

he was already basically in love with you, so why not help you out?

and your reaction was perfect

you started smiling so hard, and thanking him over and over

it put a smile on his face for the next week, kuroo though he was sick

and he did it again, the week after

and again

and again

and so finally you messaged him asking why he kept sending you so much money

and he just sent you his number, with the message "call me"

you were so nervous

but you did

AND OH MY GOD IT WAS KODZUKEN?

WHAT?

you were such a big fan

and you really didn't know what to do

he was ever so kind, (lmao no) and just said:

"let me take care of you. i don't want you to ever have to stop streaming and go find a job that makes you more money."

you're so surprised you can't even speak

WHO SAYS THAT??

KENMA FUCKING KOZUME, APPARENTLY

you agree so hesitantly, and he notices

"you deserve it, please don't feel bad. i want to spend my money on you."

"o-okay"

"good."

and so that's exactly what he does, he'll just send you money every week

and little trinkets too, stuff you've mentioned in your streams or in the calls you'll have

you don't live close at all, but you wanted to meet up

he was sooooo nervous

kuroo, yet again, thought he was sick

and he probably was

but he came to you, and you just walked around a little, you showing him your favorite things about your city

he was just staring at you the whole time

he had come to stay with you for a week

and insisted that you stayed in a hotel with him, even though your house was literally right there

you slept in different beds

until one night you just got really paranoid about the horror game you played earlier

so you walked over and just got into bed with him

he was half asleep, but all he knew was the person of his dreams was laying in a bed next to him and he would hate himself in the morning if he didn't hold you close as physically possible

you woke up in each other's arms

annnnd that's when you both knew you were done for

he asked you to move in the day before he left

you said yes

(now i want a kenma too)

Hinata:

oh my god what a baby

he just wanted someone to be with, really

atsumu was the one who suggested it

after kenma stopped sponsoring Hinata, he ended up learning how to manage his money and he was really good at it??

he invested well and now had a loooot of money

he was talking about his money like a Grown Man

and atsumu was like,

"do ya spend any of it?"

"yeah, on my investments"

"no, i meant like on yourself"

"well for food and stuff"

"LIKE FOR ENJOYMENT"

"m-my gym membership?"

"oh my fucking god"

so atsumu tells him to get a sugar baby

"a baby? i don't have the time for a child!!!"

queue atsumu literally dying inside

he shows Hinata an app and is like,

"don't worry, they're all grown"

"oh"

so atsumu helps him fill out the profile for the app

atsumu uwu's inside when he sees Hinata checked the box for 'emotional fulfillment only'

cause like, what a precious baby

anyway, a couple hours later he gets a match

and he's like

"WOAH ATSUMU LOOK LOOK HOW PRETTY THEY ARE"

"damn, okay hinata, nice kill"

he's so happy to find someone to talk to besides his family and volleyball friends

you two talk

ALL

THE

TIME

and he sends you the cutest things omg

like a little plushie he saw? in the mail the next day

some MSBY merch? yeah, he's sending that too

little snacks he thinks you'd like? yep, those are going too

he sends you the stereotypical sugar baby stuff too, like pretty dresses and suits and lingerie and jewelry

he was blushing so hard when he tried to put the lingerie in the mail, atsumu had to do it for him

a couple days later, you send him a picture of you wearing it

he

wow

sure, he knew you were pretty, and was undeniably physically attracted to you

but he'd never felt like that

he took the LONGEST shower

he couldn't even message you till the next morning because he knew he'd have to look at the picture and god he'd never get to bed if he looked at it any more

he was surprised in the morning when he had messages from you saying sorry and that you shouldn't have sent it and that you didn't mean to make him uncomfortable

that you would understand if he wanted to call off the arrangement

he was like WHAT???? NOOOO

so he drives alll the way to where you live and pounds on your door

you're like hinata what?

"PLEASE DON'T THINK THAT I HATE YOU AND WANT TO CANCEL THE ARRANGEMENT I JUST DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO YOU LOOKED SO PRETTY AND I JUST I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT AND THEN I STARTED THINKING ABOUT BAD THINGS LIKE WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE IF YOU DID NAUGHTY THINGS TO ME AND I WANT IT I WANT IT REALLY BAD I-"

you're kissing him

wait

YOU'RE KISSING HIM???

holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit

he doesn't know what to do

he's desperately trying to process what you're doing, but with your tongue shoved down his throat that's a little hard

so you know what he does?

he fucking whines

and you're like ohhhh shittttt

yeah you fuck

and you get the nickname mommy

which you love

such a sweet relationship

yes, relationship

you got together

he's so happy

looks like he got laid all the time

(which he usually did, but that's beside the point)

he's just giddy

and it's the cutest thing

10/10 relationship, please cherish him forever

(now i want a kageyama, yaku, kenma and a hinata DAMNIT)

oh my god this was so fun and perfect

@warmbearhugs i'm so glad we talked about with this, and i'm so glad you requested it

taglist: @warmbearhugs wow, i've tagged you 3 times in this post now @beanst0ck @your-local-abyss @oof-she-needs-therapy @tendouthighs @oyasenpai @senkuwu-chan @lovetsuki @kuroos-babie @keijination

send an ask to be added to the taglist!

[expired-blueberries]

this as an au where instead of max and gwen it's Verdona and sunny ben is on the trip with. (details under the cut)

verdona, still an anodite, is disguised as a stereotypical hippie hippie (like shastafay but worse). she's a free spirit and prefers to let the kids do whatever they want. ben and sunny have a relationship like os gwen and Ben but they're also best friends. they're ride or die but would also sell each other for a single corn chip. verdona doesn't realize Ben is being so bad because she basically parks and lets them run errant while she does whatever. sunny isn't a good influence on ben but rather more like she does bad things just to see what will happen. she's also very spoiled, very used to getting her way and getting whatever she wants. anyway ben would be like hey grandma can i have some money for fireworks? and verdona would be flirting with a guy 40 years her junior and not even looking at ben would be like yeah sure just don't set them off in the camper. and then give him $100 because she has no concept of how much money is the right amt of money for a 10 yr old wanting fireworks.

ben would pretty much use the omnitrix for fun (and to torment sunny). with little guardian interference to stop him, he would pretty much do whatever he wanted. he wants something, he uses the omnitrix to get it. he doesnt want to do something, he uses the omnitrix to get out of it. he wants to cause mischief he does it, he wants to just go wild he does it, the entire time sunny is cheering him on and joining him. it isnt that theyre bad kids, just that they dont really know its wrong. its not that verdona doesnt care, just that she needs to pay more attention. ben got the omnitrix from random chance - it still fell from the sky to him, and it was still meant for max, but vilgax shot down the omnitrix pod in an effort to get it first. the omnitrix, while still high in the atmosphere, locked on to the closest tennyson dna it could find, which just happened to be ben (max and gwen were back in bellwood, not as close). it knows that ben isnt max and max isnt ben, but any tennyson was better than vilgax. 

sunny is still an anodite, as is verdona, and its not a secret to ben. sunny didnt even want to go to earth, but her parents sent her there both to have some free time for themselves and also so she can experience a little more of the universe. sunny knew about ben before he knew about her. verdona, of course, was the one to bring sunny to earth, and on the way she told sunny about her cousin and the tennyson side of the family (what little she knew - its not like verdona hung around earth much). she forgot to mention sunny shouldnt shed her skin suit around ben. it was common knowledge to stay in the suit around random humans, but sunny didnt realize ben wasnt in on the secret until after the fact. poor ben was terrified and ran, and when he ran he found the omnitrix. sunny initially fought with him for it, but grew bored relatively quickly and let him have it. watch on wrist, he and sunny went back to the camper and verdona explained how she and sunny were aliens.

verdona, of course, is verdona. she loves her grandkids, but she also loves her freedom, and she lets them run free when she can. shes always up to rescue them from danger, but she usually leaves them to their own devices so she can be left to her own devices. shes a flirt and often ben and sunny will find her hanging off the arm of a new man whenever the run for her help. from that point, verdona will do everything in her power (including shedding her skin suit and revealing her true self as necessary) to help them out, although usually theyre just running from the consequences of their mischief. 

kevin on the other hand would be on a cross country road trip with his single mother (they go on the road trip immediately after she divorces his father and they move out). rather than having the blueprints put into his head, kevin makes his watch himself, meant to be basically a smart watch, so it was supposed to tell time, have internet access, etc. vilgax finds out about it somehow and subtly implants the alien dna and directions to properly tweak the watch. from there, when kevin modifies it and can start to turn into aliens, vilgax appears and takes on the mantle of ‘mentor’. of course, the entire time hes just using kevin to try and get the omnitrix. kevin is the good kid and obviously he wants to do the right thing, so he wouldve been against ben using the omnitrix so irresponsibly anyway, so vilgax manipulating him into believing ben is evil and needs to have the watch taken from him wouldnt be so hard to do. 

vilgax knows it would be easy enough to get the watch from ben, especially because with no really good influence acting on him hes more liable to be sloppy and do whatever he (ben) wants, but vilgax chooses to leave it to kevin. vilgax lives for the drama, and watching two kids fight is fun for him. beyond that, he also knows that even a sloppy fighter given the omnitrix could beat him in a fight, so he leaves the hard work to kevin, all under the guise of wanting to help kevin be better. 

max and gwen arent really. in this au. but maybe they go on their own trip and they cross paths once or twice. 

[planet4546b]

can't remember if i asked this before but (whenever u have time) i would love to hear about the world beyond present-day continental u.s. in s/n ?? idk if you've thought much about that tho lmao (also gotta be honest that screenshot u posted once of one of ur discord notes that's like "the astronaut's mission control moved so they couldn't communicate w them anymore and they died in orbit". extremely fucked up i am in love with the concept) <3

omg yeah of course!!!! to be TOTALLY honest i havent actually done a lot of thinking about it outside of the most vague ideas and its something i would want to do a LOT more research to be able to talk about confidently, but also would be so much fun to develop one day tbh!!! what i can say are some general rules of the worldbuilding that would affect what the rest of the world at this time looks like:

the nature of the resonance is that it's an apocalypse that is neither hugely destructive of infrastructure or particularly deadly. the reason that in the continental us most large cities are nearly completely uninhabitable is because of how the spire placement sort of worked out, which is different in the rest of the world - so there are probably at least some places where cities and infrastructure are still mostly standing, and are still inhabited!! (i actually really like the idea of just an absolutely MASSIVE city out there somewhere - the original city was preserved, and then everyone in the surrounding area just started going there because it was safest so now it's just a single city the size of like conneticut)

complete and utter randomness is the name of the game, down to a geographical level (ie. the ocean in the middle of the us lol), so pretty much anything goes. lakes, rivers, mountains, even things like climate and weather are likely to be COMPLETELY unexpected and fairly fluid until a spire is established. once a spire is established, it'll stabilize one way or another, but there are new mountain ranges in places made of strange stones, places once divided by rivers that are now next to each other, whole forests full of prehistoric plants, new cities that are originally from other worlds, etc. borders in many places (but likely not universally) become pretty meaningless, and thats only IF you're in a place that attempts to/is stable enough to try to define itself as a country at all

spires are found around the world, and the sort of worldbuilding rule for their placement is that spires are often found at 'liminal' spaces or spaces specifically associated with travel (in the continental us, it's SPECIFICALLY airports). spires are, for whatever reason, responsive to a sort of collective understanding of what places could be definied as liminal for different communities, so this rule changes around the world but there will always be at least SOME spires. how people use the spires changes too - again, i would want to put a lot more thought into exactly how spires are used worldwide, but it's fairly universal that people figure out how spires can make things more stable and can use that in SOME way, but it's not always 'put a radio observer at the top of one and see what happens' (this is the reason that the spire network that sam is a part of isn't particularly connected to other people on other spires around the world, because they're just used in different ways). maybe people build cities straight into the stone of the spire, maybe they have digital equipment recording from the top that people log, maybe they have a sort of reverse thing where people on the ground stand close enough to the spire and observe it, maybe they anchor it in place physically to their community with something meaningful - the rules of this world and how spires work are loose enough that all of these things and more would work in some way!!!

travel without the protection of a spire is INCREDIBLY dangerous. the rules of spire placement above mean that the only place on the planet that truly will have NO spires present is the open ocean (the morganic is a pretty big exception because it's a sea that wasn't always there, and travel across it is still INCREDIBLY difficult), so there is next to no travel/communication between places divided by more than like, 100-200 miles of water. along with changing geographical features, it's spire placement that will determine what other travel is possible, and where and what communities are able to be in contact. this isn't a hard and fast rule!!! technology to negate the dangers of traveling outside of a spire's range exists, so if you're in a place that has developed this technology, travel looks entirely different, in an entirely different set of ways (is it a series of radio beacons and checkpoints across an expanse that still has to be walked across? is it a train that by moving along a single path every day stabilizes the world around it? is it ships that move in fleets around a central ship that somehow protects them? is it people moving in large enough groups that the sheer number of them begins to act like a mobile spire, a huge fleet of observers that can therefore stabalize the world? careful journey planning? extensive mapmaking? lots and lots of options!) BUT the range of spires still shapes the HISTORY of places and their interactions in a huge way

technology is difficult to use both becuase of collapsing infrastructure and because technology very often just sort of acts unpredictably (it's better within the range of a spire, but still not completely reliable). for this reason, access to and development of technology is HUGELY variable, and the sort of radio age that the continental us is in is by no means a universal thing (this is why somewhere out there there's a space program even though the cities we know are just getting electric light). it's also pretty dependent on access to knowledge, how knowledge is preserved, and if those places are accessible (are libraries/colleges/reserach hubs/etc in safe areas? is it important enough to a society to try to reach them anyways?). and also it can and should get WEIRD. cities powered by impossible perpetual motion machines and probability engines and communication through other universes and wifi through light etc. the world no longer works by our rules, so the technology doesnt either!!

while a large amount of societal/governmental collapse happens after the resonance, cultural collapse ABSOLUTELY does not, and cultural traditions familiar to our wold persist alongside new ones. as an example, in the areas of the continental us that ive developed, there are a handful of new religions, but existing religions are ALSO still around, and you'll find churches, mosques, and synagogues in pretty much every major city - this theory and concept carries over pretty much everywhere!!

as an overall, final rule places in this world very very often look unrecognizable at a surface level - new technologies, new cities, new mountains, new structures of society and types of government, new names for things, new environments, new animals and plants, new fashion and architecture and art - but are rooted in the familiar, and should still, in some way, feel familiar, homey, and recognizably human in one way or another to the viewer. this has been my overall goal in the worldbuilding ive done for the cities i have made, and is the single most important guiding factor for worldbuilding in general!!!!

which is an incredibly, incredibly long answer for me to essentially say 'i dont know' but still. what i love most about worldbuilding is just going absolutely ham within a loose set of rules so if i end up developing places outside the continent s/n is on it would get SO weird and SO fun!!! thanks for the question as always love you <33