#dream team hcs

[gophergal]

ms paint

make scout and snipers dreams come true, whatever that may mean

Sleepover dreams

or something idk

[send a request, get a shitty mspaint doodle]

[icara-mack]

My final (planned) entry for the @sixteenth-day-event </3 and it’s time for: snow and snow and snow

!! the syndicate my beloved + bonus ghostbur and the gremlin child <3 ranboo’s dying it’s fine (he did not know what he was up against)

if you spot a crow with little cat ears? No you don’t I’m invisible.

if this event runs again, you can count on my participation as usual ♥️ thank you for what you do for the community! You’re a wonderful mod

REBLOGS ARE APPRECIATED <3

[toxiccaves]

🩵🏳️‍⚧️🩷

[val-lady]

So, can we all agree that Sonic Dream Team has one of the most unique atmospheres in a Sonic game, like, ever?

If you were to remove all the Sonic characters and badniks, it could be a totally different game. I love it for that.

In fact, I love it so much, I made this :)

Such a pretty and simple game... it's a shame it's locked behind Apple Arcade only

[adr-n-sketchy]

My annual reread of dos managed coincided with both my drawing mood and proof that sometimes I have some talent for this

"I didn’t really expect him to hug me back but he did, with a fierceness that was a little surprising. That alone would have told me how badly he was taking this all. "If I thought that I had been clingy in the Wave Country when Sasuke had been injured, it had nothing on Sasuke’s overprotective tendencies. I’d had a glimpse of that in the Second Exam but it must have slipped my mind, because I was surprised by it all over again." - Dreaming of Sunshine Ch 43 Tsukiyomi Arc

[kumezyzo]

hello! i hope you're doing okay!!! I'd really appreciate any desperate bf!sapnap smut please 😩 and don't feel pressured take a rest!!! writing can be exhausting sometimes

ask and you shall receive 😌 so many weeks later fem!reader. nsfw themes. you know the drill.

anyway, enjoy! or dont :) m.list

bf!sapnap only starts getting desperate when you blatantly ignore him. he's trying to kiss your neck and feel you up, but you have other things to do.

nick wraps his arms around you, running his hands over your sides.

you sigh and roll your eyes, "i dont have time for this right now, babe."

"what do you mean?" he asks, thinking your joking before you pull his hands off and walk away. he stares at you in disbelief as he watches you leave.

bf!sapnap who tries so desperately to distract himself from how worked up he had gotten himself. he ends up mindlessly deleting screenshots and going through his camera roll.

nick is swiping through pictures on his phone in his office, deleting pictures of george that the latter had spammed three months ago. that was when he swiped once more and a picture of you in a lewd position popped up.

nicks eyes widened and his heart started to race as he remembered that night. he looked at the picture closer as his face started heating up.

it was of you laying in bed, you stomach covered in his cum and your arm draped over your eyes. nicks dick resting on your thigh with cum pooling out of the tip.

he felt himself start throbbing in his shorts at the memory of taking the picture. he continued scolling, finding more picture of the same night until he found a video.

he groaned and let it play, the sounds of both of your moans resonating from his phone. it really got him when a brief second of silence fell between you two and all he could hear was the sound of how wet you were. he felt like it was so loud he could practically hear it.

bf!sapnap who gives up on waiting and runs to find you. you try to ignore him at your desk, trying to finish an email.

"baby? baby, please!" he pleads once he draped himself over you and your office chair from behind.

"give me like two minutes and then im all yours," you say to get him to calm down temporarily. he sighed and sat down on the floor next to your chair.

bf!sapnap who once again gets a surge of desperation seeing you nonchalantly look down at him and go back to typing.

nick licks his lips as he reaches for your your thigh. you glance down at him before moving your thigh away from him. he looks up at you with a glare before scooting under your desk.

"no," you say before he could even do anything.

"i havent even done anything," he said as he placed his hands on your knees and kissed your inner thighs.

you stayed silent, sending the email and waiting to see how far your boyfriend was willing to go. you sat back and crossed your arms, watching how your boyfriend spread your legs farther and kissed farther up with his eyes closed.

bf!sapnap who ended up realizing you were done and rushing to get your sweatpants off. it was like a blur and you were getting eaten out by him.

"just wanted to fuck you, peach," he said, lightly biting your thigh. you ran a hand through his hair, throwing your head back when he licked along your slit. "fuck you taste so good..."

bf!sapnap who desperately gets up and pulls out his dick because he desperately needs to be inside you.

"cant believe you made me wait for this," he whines as he slowly pushes into you. you sigh and pout up at him condescendingly.

"oh im sorry, baby," you say in a pouty voice. "ill try to let you fuck faster next-"

he cuts you off by thrusting into you quickly, ignoring anything you were planning on saying. and you forgot what you were going to say, your head only filled with him telling you how much he needed to fuck you.

lets ignore how many times i used the word 'fuck'. also, im sorry how short and kinda off it is. -Nony

[shannonsketches]

Piccolo and Vegeta sharing more screen time is literally all I’ve wanted for like a year and Daima just ran in here with a full IV drip like “I got you bro”

[aceyanaheim]

I NEED to know how Ten Ten and Lee actually won Neji over like he truly hates everyone but them

[mingot-studios]

what color do you associate with each of the mercs?

edit: ok full disclosure i'm working on a magical girl au and i need to figure out what colors I should assign to each merc

[mrs-luigi-vargas]

During my flight last night I'd decided to spend the few hours handwriting some fic; I was going to flesh out an existing idea but then I remembered a headcanon I'd seen what feels like years ago that claimed that Mario had a fear of falling. Or rather, it was more of a fear of…unplanned falling? Basically with how often Mario gets flung away long distances and knocked out of the sky and stuff during his adventures, they'd thought it made sense for him to develop a Thing (negative) about it.

Like, off the top of my head there's the intros to Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Odyssey, Paper Mario, and New Super Mario Bros U, where Peach is Very Much in trouble but Mario is forcibly torn away from helping her. And in the case of all but the last instance it's implied that he gets some amount of injured during the process. So now he's hurt, probably miles and miles away from the loved ones that need his help the most, and has a veritable mountain to climb to go help them. And this happens so much, on even a smaller scale than the inciting incident of an adventure, too, I'm sure — like the Odyssey getting knocked out of the sky twice in SMO. I can see how that could start messing with his head a little, haha. Enough that I've now got half an outline of a fic exploring that ^_^;

[scythemichaelfaraday]

Haha Ariem- REM- like sleep- haha dream team.

Okay but Ariem is trans right. Like we know this right? Because yes, female sheep can have horns, but they’re normally shorter and less curly/curved. But hers are big and curved/curled like a ram. And the pink and the blue and the white. I don’t care what anyone else says, what is “canon”, but that woman is trans and I love her.

[stitchwraith-stingers]

HEADCANONS THAT ACTUALLY REVOLVE AROUND HER

I'm so hungry for hazel content literally if anyone has any headcanons throw them at me I feel like that one Micky gif slicing bread

[kumezyzo]

i love cute sapnap sm

maybe you could write a lil something about cuddles in general with him, how he likes to cuddle etc🥰

we just have to accept that all these asks have been in my inbox for way too long....

anyway, enjoy! or dont.... :) m.list

bf!sapnap who loves cuddles, mostly while sleeping. he never says it. not because he's embarrassed, but because it almost feels like a no brainer.

bf!sapnap who will complete wrap himself around you. the definition of a bear hug. he loves pandas because he is one...

bf!sapnap who generates so much warmth in general, that when you're cuddling, you dont actually need a blanket. its really just a formality.

bf!sapnap who would want to hold you for the lost part. whether youre laying on him or snuggled up at his side, he wants you close enough to wrap his arms around your waist.

bf!sapnap who likes waking up to you holding him sometimes. where somehow you two ended up with his face snuggled into your chest or neck, his arms wrapped tightly around your mid section.

bf!sapnap who tells george or dream to fuck off if they say something about you two cuddling on the couch.

"aww," georges voice dragged out and echoed through the large house. "look at sapnap and yn all cuddled up!"

you scoff and flip him off without turning to look at him. instead you snuggled further into nick, burying your face into his neck, feeling his stubble on your forehead.

"george, fuck off," he says, adjusting his head on yours with his eyes closed in content. "your just mad cause dream wont fuck you."

bf!sapnap who absent-mindedly gives you little kisses when you cuddle. if you give him a little smooch, he will try to give you one back.

im travelling a lot rn so i might just start writing like im on crack 😭😭its really short but i hope you enjoyed! -Nony

[oh-no-its-bird]

Sakumo being a super popular borderline sex symbol in his era will never stop being my favorite hc, I need to see more of it

All the people his age and younger had a crush on him. It was just a Thing(tm) where 9 times out of 10, a Konoha shinobi's first crush was probably Sakumo. Even other villages young shinobi hung up his bingo book picture above their bunk and dreamed of both killing him, being killed by him (in a hot way), having a battlefield fling with him, and more. There was blackmarket fanfiction. He was incredibly popular among civilians all over fire country. Some popular romance novels had love interests very blatantly based off him.

Even before they were on a team together, Obito and Rin both had a silly kid crush on Kakashi's dad (Obito more than Rin) and he was aware of it. This did not help make him like them any more. (By the time hearing smthn positive ab his dad would have made Kakashi softer, they'd both gotten better at hiding the crush, so to Kakashi it looked like they'd gotten over Sakumo.) Even Minato had a bit of a thing for him, not really but like— strong, popular, feard and very friendly ninja who is now paying him some attention (bc hes his kids teacher) he's not immune. Kushina understands, she is also not immune. (Kakashi is going to throw a fucking fit)

Even after his failed mission, when his reputation crashes and burns within the village, he still can't completely shake his admirers— they possibly just get more disrespectful ab the attraction when it mixes with the hate. (Which tbh could make for an interesting discussion all on its own)

Kakashi is haunted by his father's insane popularity for decades after his death. He does his very best to ignore the lingering evidence of people being insane ab his father.

One day he realizes one of his favorite romance novels has a romance interest based off Sakumo and has a break down ab it and can never read the series again.

When raiding an old abandoned enemy camp w Team Ro, he finds an old, autographed photo of his dad covered in lipstick marks in the communal bathroom. He chooses to ignore it but it's quickly spotted by his teammates, who do not know who Sakumk is, and v quickly begin to remark on the poster, who this mysterious Konoha nin is, and ahaha damn he is kinda good looking, huh? (Kakashi wants to DIE)

Shisui ends up taking the poster back to Konoha with them and hangs it up in the ANBU communal quarters where it is VERY quickly recognized. And also some of the people in that room recognize it so quick bc they also used to own a similar poster. (Kakashi wants to DIE someone PLEASE kill him now)

Its only when he's given team 7 that he finally thinks he's escaped the legacy of his father as Konoha's Most Sexiest Shinobi. Only for Naruto, when being trained by Jiriyah, to find his drafts for Icha Icha very clearly inspired by his dad. Which he can never publish for multiple reasons (lingering respect for Sakumo. Also for Kakashi, who is his biggest fan and would probably never look at him again.)

Naruto somehow accidentally brings this up with Kakashi who like. Has war flashbacks and immediatley stands up and walks away as Jiryah scrambles to try to explain himself and Tsunade looks on in scorn (she will approach him later to carefully ask for the drafts while trying to seem like she's not really asking for them bc she's too proud to admit it)

Naruto and Sakura discover Kakashi-sensei's dad was a sex symbol. I don't even know how they'd react but like. Oh my god. Oh my god you guys.

Funniest option would be they accidentally revive his popularity a little bit by being so loud ab it they like, remind people ab him. + introduce another generation to the idea of him

Kakashi is crouched on the floor with his face in his hands. When will he be freed from this hell.

Sasuke does not escape tho, he goes to sound and finds a picture of Sensei's dad in Orochimaru's office (???????)

This is such a shitty sketch but the vision:

Itachi, who learned who Sakumo was from that poster thing, goes on to find a photo of him in ""Madara's"" belongings and gets super weirded out but ultimately doesn't. Super care. But also. Like. What. What.

After Itachi finds the photo, which Obito genuinley forgot he fucking had and keeps in part just bc its like one of the only belongings that remained from his Konoha days, he shoves it somewhere in Kamui to forget about.

But then in the Obito vs Kakashi Kamui fight, it fucking flutters down in the middle of the fight and Obito fucking dies of humiliation as Kakashi realizes he will truly Never Escape and that this reality is his own personal hell

Uhh endgame Kakashi becomes Hokage and accidentally retreads his father's path in becoming the new Konoha Sexy Man. Which simultaneously crushes him (he will never escape) and fills him with delight (he will now be able to impart the pain of having your father figure be lusted after by all ur friends and acquaintances onto his students)

[qingyuns]

— i won’t let you fall down, unless you’re in my arms

alternatively, the 3 times kinich saved you from falling and the 1 time that he was the one who fell

pairing: kinich x gn!reader, wc: 2.8k, two or three swear words, reader has a pyro vision because mualani kinich reader burgeon team is a funny hc i have, ajaw makes 2 brief appearances, fluffy but ig they don’t do that much?? pre-relationship and confessions (does this count as a confession), title from an nct dream song (rains in heaven), pls reblog ty

1) The fall that was Pacha’s fault

You were never one to back down from a challenge, not when your pride was on the line. And presently, it was. It was an unfortunate mistake on your part when you’d been a little too cocky, bragging about your rock climbing skills, and as an even more unfortunate result, a friend of yours from the Scions of the Canopy had decided to dare you to climb an actual cliff near his village.

“I’ve got all the equipment,” Pacha had exclaimed. “If you’re really that good, then this should be no sweat.”

You’d narrowed your eyes at him. You couldn’t tell if his smile was mocking or not.

“No problem.”

But now, as you looked up and tried to find another edge to grasp at, you were wishing you had backed down. Seriously, this cliff was just a flat canvas of orange. What were you supposed to hold onto?

“Stupid Pacha,” you hissed to yourself as you reached for a bump in the cliff face. “Stupid cliff.”

Man, you wished you had a Geo vision. Then you could probably create some kind of ledge to rest on. Or maybe an Anemo one would be more useful. You could make yourself float to the top.

You were also never one to be afraid of heights, but as you glanced down, your heart jolted at the distance between you and the ground. Too high. Much, much too high. Your Pyro vision hung uselessly at your hip.

A second glance told you that Pacha was no longer anywhere to be found, and you cursed him under your breath.

“Okay, don’t panic. Just don’t panic and don’t fall,” you huffed. “Easy enough.”

Your palms were moist, your fingers were suddenly too smooth. And just when you risked a second to wipe your hand dry on your leg….

….the other one slipped, and you were falling.

The organ in your chest seemed to stop. This is it, you thought, I’m dead. You were falling, and falling and falling, until suddenly, while your eyes were squeezed shut and your stomach was leaping like a wild Koholasaurus in water, you were flying.

It took you a second for your brain to orient itself, to realise that you weren’t in fact dead yet, but when it did, you felt an arm wrapped securely around your waist, so tight that it was almost painful. You peeled your eyelids open. In your limited view, your saviour was nothing more than a head of dark hair and a blur of green attire. The surrounding cliffs were reduced to blobs of colour as you were swung through the air, down then up, down then up, until your feet were once again on solid ground.

Your knees almost collapsed once you were, and both of your saviour’s arms moved to steady you. A blink. Two blinks. You waited for your breathing to return to normal, then your eyes flitted up to meet theirs.

A kaleidoscope of green and gold greeted you. Huh, pretty.

Your saviour let out a strangled sound, something between a choke and a grunt, and released you. Oh. Had you said that out loud?

“Uh, sorry,” you coughed awkwardly. You took a step back, fiddling with your fingers. “Thanks for saving me.”

With the bandana that was tied over his forehead, it was difficult to discern his emotions. He gave you a curt nod. “You should be more careful.”

A distant yell made both of your hands turn, and you saw the tiny figure of Pacha rapidly approaching and waving his hand at you. By the time he’d closed the distance, which to his credit only took about eight seconds (so he must have felt at least a little guilty about almost letting you die), the guy beside you had vanished.

“Are you okay?” Pacha exclaimed as he skidded to a stop in front of you. You nodded, and he let out a sigh of relief, before looking around curiously. “Was that Kinich?”

2) The fall that was a Tepetlisaurus’ fault

The next time you met Kinich (‘Malipo’ Kinich, a Saurian Hunter who according to Pacha, was transactional, blunt and borderline reclusive), you were on the cliffs by the Children of the Echoes, picking Saurian Claw Succulents as a favour for a new friend of yours, a sweet young girl by the name of Kachina.

And maybe you shouldn’t have been crouching so close to the edge of a cliff, but how you were supposed to know that a Tepetlisaurus burrowing in the earth would come straight for your footing and uproot you, effectively tossing you off the side? Really, it wasn’t your fault! It was just some kind of ninja saurian.

This was only the second time you’d ever fallen off the side of a cliff, but for some reason, you were hardly surprised when the same person came to your rescue this time.

He looked at you blankly as you clutched at the succulent in your hand, eyes darting around to avoid prolonged eye contact. You were sure he probably had an eyebrow raised under his bandana.

“Do you make it a habit to throw yourself off every cliff you come across?”

You flinched. “Well, no.”

His arms crossed over his chest, and you couldn’t help the way your eyes were drawn to the tattoos exposed on his biceps. The teal suited him, you thought absently.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a screeching voice. “Well, what’s your problem, then!”

A flashing myriad of yellow and green flitted into the air. The creature that had popped up from behind Kinich was … strange, to say the least. A strange, blocky thing. It looked strangely flat, like a hundred tiny, flat, square blocks. Were you going insane?

Kinich sent an annoyed glance towards the creature, before looking back at you to see that your mouth was now agape as you stared.

“Oh, right. You haven’t met Ajaw.”

“Oh,” you muttered, suddenly feeling fainter than you had when falling off the cliff, “so this is Ajaw.”

The blocky creature expanded around the middle (you supposed that was the equivalent of puffing out its chest). “Aha! So you’ve heard of the Almighty Dragonlord, K’uhul Ajaw, have you? Tell me, peasant, what have you been told? That I’m ferocious and powerful?”

Kinich sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. You blinked at the creature. You thought back to what Pacha had said – “Ajaw. He’s Kinich’s saurian companion. Really weird little guy. Super annoying.”

“Yeah,” you assented, “something like that.”

“Do you ever shut up?” Kinich sighed. It took you a second to realise that he wasn’t talking to you.

“Maybe you should shut up, Kinich!” Ajaw’s eyes angled themselves into a glare, and he fluttered around agitatedly.

The response he received was a flick of a gloved hand, which sent the Saurian soaring into the sky, until you couldn’t even see him anymore. You were pretty sure you’d never blinked as much in your life as you had in the last five minutes.

Kinich turned to you. “Sorry about him.”

“Um, that’s alright,” you said half-heartedly.

“So how come you’ve fallen off another cliff?”

Yikes. He must have thought you were either insanely insane or tremendously stupid.

“A Saurian knocked me off the side when I was picking succulents,” you muttered, cheeks flushing with heat.

He hummed. You weren’t quite sure what that meant. “And the other time?”

 “Um, my friend dared me to climb the cliff. So I did.” You winced. “But I swear, these are the only times I’ve ever fallen off a cliff.”

It was a sentence you never thought you’d have to say. How embarrassing. You waited for the inevitable scolding or mocking to fall upon your ears, but then—

“Alright,” Kinich nodded easily. “Maybe try to avoid cliffs from now on."

Then he turned around, and started walking away. The sudden departure made you recoil in shock. Was the conversation over? Pacha really wasn't exaggerating when he said Kinich was reclusive.

"Huh? Wait a second!" You weren't sure what came over you in that moment, but you had a startling feeling that you couldn't let him leave here.

He paused, and turned to look at you, head tilted slightly to the side.

"Um, hold on." You thought for a moment. How to make him stay for longer? "Are you free right now? I'd like to treat you to a meal, if possible. You know, to thank you."

Your hands clasped in front of you and you fiddled with your fingers.

Kinich blinked slowly for a moment and stared at you. For a horrible moment, you thought he was going to decline, in which case you would have had to turn tail and flee on the spot, but instead, he nodded.

"I have some time."

You brightened. "Great! I know this place that has the best tatacos!"

There was a light skip in your movements as you began to lead the way, trusting that he was following you. You could only hope he didn't eat too much. You weren't sure your pockets could afford it, and you'd hate to make an even bigger fool of yourself in front of him by being too broke to pay. What a horrible first impression...

“Oh, right!” you paused in your steps for a moment. “I forgot to introduce myself!”

And so you did, and you watched as something that almost looked like a smile twitched at Kinich’s lips. Then, as if testing the way it rolled on his tongue, he repeated your name carefully.

Something fluttered in your stomach as you beamed. Yeah, you sure liked the way that sounded.

3) The fall that was the fault of a slippery rock

“No, guys, trust me. I just discovered it. It’s like, really underground.”

Kinich sighed as Mualani giggled at her own joke. As if on impulse, you laughed along with her, but you even as the sound escaped you, you couldn’t tell if it came from a place of pity or not. Underground, because it was literally in an underground cave. Hilarious. Still, a small smile made its way onto your face. This was nice. As much as you loved your other friends, it sure felt great to hang out with people who didn’t always challenge you to risk your life (fuck you, Pacha), though you suspected Mualani was just waiting for a chance to take you Spirit Wave riding, and you weren’t sure you were quite ready for that yet.

Today, however, you were spared. Mualani had promised you and Kinich a relaxing afternoon in a new hot spring she’d found. And so you were following her into an opening in the rock face.

The air was immediately a little cooler than it was outside as you stepped into the darkness. The cave was still illuminated by the sunlight, and you could see more patches of light ahead. It glowed slightly in the reflections of the rock on the ground.

“It’s a little steep here,” your friend warned. “Watch your step.”

No sooner had you nodded to show your understanding than you had placed your foot down on a particularly slippery patch on the floor, and it slid.

A gasp tore out of you, but two arms were already wrapping around you from behind.

“Be careful,” his voice murmured in your ear. You almost gasped again. How glad you were that he was behind you and thus couldn’t see the way you froze up at the feeling of his breath on your skin.

From a little ways ahead of you, Mualani called out. “Hey, you alright?”

Your throat suddenly felt very dry. You cleared it before telling her that you were.

Kinich kept one hand on your waist for the next few steps before removing it after you had found your footing. You found yourself missing his touch upon the removal.

No matter, you assured yourself. Focus on not falling over again. The decline of the slope eased out into a flatter path, and soon the tunnel opened up into an expansive area. The underground spring was much brighter than you had anticipated, thanks to the perfectly round opening at the top. Smooth, round rocks seemed to line the edge, and the water sparkled in the ripples as Mualani crouched down to test it with her hand.

“Oh no!” she exclaimed.

You turned your attention to her. “What is it?”

“It’s cold! It was really toasty last time, though,” she frowned. “It must be because it’s further away. The underground water flow can get unstable and–“

As she rambled on, you crouched by the side of the spring, dipping your hand into the water. It lukewarm at best, but the pool wasn’t as big as most of the one’s above ground. You could work with this. Placing both hands in the not-so-hot spring, the vision at your side pulsed with energy. You let the heat flow through your body to your fingertips, as steam floated just above the surface of the water.

You failed to notice the pair of eyes that were fixed on you as you smiled to yourself.

“Hey, Mualani? Is this better?” Mualani’s eyes widened as she watched the mist rising out of the hot spring.

“Yes, yes, yes!” She squealed. She rushed to your side, squeezing you in a hug, before drawing back immediately. “Ow, hot!”

The girl quickly submerged her arms in the water, sighing in relief. You couldn’t help the giggle that escaped.

You grinned at your friends, stepping into the water yourself. “Shall we swim?”

The pounding of your heart against your chest was hard to ignore when Kinich slid into the spring and settled right beside you.

???) The fall that wasn’t even you

Kinich wasn’t sure what was wrong with him lately. He’d been sleeping the same, his regimented diet was unchanged, but in recent weeks, he’d found himself feeling a lot more strange.

Hunting commissions had been slow lately, so he’d taken the liberty of accepting ordinary bounties and commissions from the Adventurers’ Guild. When you’d heard about it, you’d insisted on joining him. He hadn’t had a problem with that, but since he started taking on these new commissions, Kinich had noticed that something was happening to his health.

He’d been spending a lot of time with you these days, but that couldn’t be it. How could that explain his borderline feverish symptoms? The heat that flushed his head and neck sometimes, and the weird way that his heart flipped, like it did when he went bungee jumping that one time.

And sure, those symptoms only happened when he was with you, but that was just because he was almost always with you. How could fighting a few treasure hoarders in your presence make him ill?

“Isn’t it obvious?” Ajaw growled. “You like them!”

Kinich was too surprised to scoff. “What?”

“You have a big fat crush.”

“No, I don’t.”

The little green dots in Ajaw’s eyes rolled around so hard, Kinich thought they might fall out.

“Fine! Don’t believe me, then! Even though you blush whenever you’re with them, and you stare at them when they’re talking, and you didn’t even complain when they wanted to join your commissions and you’ve been losing half the profit!”

Ajaw’s body doubled in size before he vanished in agitation. Kinich raised a hand to his chin in thought. He needed a second opinion.

“You like them,” Mualani replied simply. “It’s pretty obvious.”

Kinich blanched. “Why does everyone keep saying that?”

“Because it is,” she grinned. “Dude, you’ve fallen hard.”

There was a twist in his stomach. The tips of his ears turned redder than a hot chili pepper.

“Come on, Kinich. You’re a smart guy. Think about the way they make you feel.”

Despite everything, despite the fact that he was, in fact, a smart guy, and he had always been sure to analyse and prepare for every outcome, and he was always weighing the costs of his relationships and seeing right through people and thinking way too much about everything—

—the realisation hit him like a tidal wave.

Oh.

Mualani grinned, satisfied. “I’ll leave you to your thoughts, then.”

Kinich barely registered her departure.

Because of course. Your relationship had never been transactional. All you ever did was give and give, and without even realising it, he’d poured his all into giving back without a moment’s hesitation. He’d never asked anything of you, nor you of him.

And because Kinich was a level-headed man, and ever-so-straightforward, there was no time wasted before he was at your front door.

If there was ever one thing he would ask of you, it was this.

“I like you, and I need to know if you feel the same.”

A grin found its home on your lips. A step forward and you closed some of the distance. The sparkle in your eyes did nothing to shake Kinich’s nerves, but it did make his stomach flip.

“Guess you’re the one falling for me now, huh?”