#especially since it's music I don't particularly enjoy (like don't get me wrong i probably wouldn't like it if it were music i liked either | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

robininthelabyrinth · 2 years

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3. In The Untamed, for some reason the Jiang trio don't speak up or look for Wen Qing & Wen Ning when all the fighting is over. I'm hoping there was some kind of good reason for that, but it bothers me. Particularly since they wrote in all that romance subplot for Jiang Cheng and Wen Qing. But anyway, none of them spoke up before WWX literally ran into Wen Qing. But you know who else was on Dafan Mountan with the scary statue and the local Wens turned it puppets? Who also saw Wen Qing try to protect them and spent time inside WWX's string talisman cage thing with her?

Nie Huaisang. He also knows that there were some Wen being held hostage by Wen Chao to force Wen Qing's obedience. Heck, Wen Qing and/or Wen Ning could plausibly have been the ones to care for him when NHS fainted at the indoctrination camp. What if he had told all this to his brother? Either during the war or as soon as he showed up in the Nightless City for the Very Awkward Victory Dinner.

Emotional Support - ao3

“It’s done,” Nie Mingjue said, and promptly collapsed face-first on Nie Huaisang’s bed.

Nie Huaisang patted him on the back of the head.

“There, there,” he said. “The mean politicians won’t hurt you anymore.”

His brother mumbled something into the sheets that sounded suspiciously like Wanna bet?

“Today,” Nie Huaisang revised. “They won’t hurt you any more today. Tomorrow is a new day.”

His brother groaned.

Clearly it had been an especially awful day, and someone was in need of some attention.

“So what did you end up deciding?” Nie Huaisang asked. He even put aside the book he’d been reading, which was a huge sacrifice on his part. But in fairness, his brother hadn’t acted immature in his presence for years and years by now, not since they were little kids, and he had just won a war and avenged their father; a little sacrifice on Nie Huaisang’s part seemed to be reasonable.

“Jin Guangshan’s going to be throwing a party,” Nie Mingjue said at once, and Nie Huaisang had to hide a smile – of course that would be the most traumatic part of it for his brother, who hated parties and hated politics and (in all honesty) hated most people. He didn’t have any ear for music or an eye for dance, so he couldn’t even enjoy the entertainment, and the Jin sect tended to, as his brother put it, “cook their food beyond recognition.”

“I could get horribly sick right before?” Nie Huaisang offered.

“No, it’s to celebrate the end of the war. We have to attend. Inauspicious not to.”

“Ah, I see, I see. My sympathies.”

“You have to attend, too.”

“Yes, but I’ll actually enjoy it, I like parties and socializing,” Nie Huaisang pointed out, mercilessly, and his brother groaned again. “Anyway, tell me something good instead. What did you end up doing with – ”

He cast around for a subject. It was hard, given that he didn’t care much about politics, and there were so many ‘things that could not be spoken of’! He couldn’t ask about Lan Xichen, because he’d been proposing a sworn brotherhood with Meng Yao and his brother didn’t want to think about that (though he’d probably give in eventually given how much he’d always liked Meng Yao before it had all gone wrong up somehow), he definitely couldn’t ask about Meng Yao for obvious reasons, his brother wouldn’t care or even know about the forever ongoing Jin Zixuan and Jiang Yanli drama, the Jiang sect was also a no-go subject (his brother had literally done everything in his power to warn them of a possible attack short of moving personally to the Lotus Pier to try to defend them, and yet he still felt bad about what had happened), Wei Wuxian had turned into a possibly insane demonic cultivator and everything about him had become incredibly awkward…

Wow, he was running out of Great Sects to pick from.

“ – the leftover people from the Wen sect?” Nie Huaisang finally settled on.

Mostly out of lack of anything better.

It was pretty weak. His brother even turned around and cracked open an eye to give him a judgmental look, which was pretty well deserved.

Still, there wasn’t anything else to talk about, so Nie Huaisang gave his brother an expectant look until he gave in, as he usually did.

“They’ll be resettled somewhere,” Nie Mingjue begrudgingly said. “Xichen’s idea, giving them mercy, and everyone agreed – even Jin Guangshan. They’ll be given good farmland, a place to live peacefully, albeit with a guard, at least at first. The Jin sect promised to take care of it. Suppose they figured they might as well contribute something to the war effort…”

More likely they thought that throwing around their money now would be enticing to all those sects that needed money for rebuilding, Nie Huaisang thought cynically, which was all of them. His own included!

They were short on everything now, thanks to the war. His own spending budget was practically inviolable – the one time he’d tried to cut back voluntarily, half the sect had emptied out their own pockets to slip spending money into his room and he was still finding random strings of coins in weird places – but for just about everything else, they needed to scrimp and save up the money to pay. There were building repairs, which meant both supplies and workers; more disciples, which meant more weapons, more clothing, more food; more staff and civilian support, which meant even more food, and of course as non-cultivators they also got sick more easily, which also meant more doctors…

Hmm, actually, that reminded Nie Huaisang.

“Farmland, you say?” he asked, propping up his chin on his hand. “What about the ones that aren’t farmers?”

“The ones – you mean the Wen sect?” His brother rolled onto his side. “Who cares if they weren’t originally farmers? What do you expect them to do, continue being soldiers?”

“Not soldiers,” Nie Huaisang said, rolling his eyes. “But the ones who had other professions! There was that girl who came to the Cloud Recesses at the same time as Jiang-xiong and Wei-xiong, what’s her name, Wen Qing. She’s one of the ones from Dafan.”

“I’m familiar with Wen Ruohan’s niece,” Nie Mingjue said dryly. “Her medical skills were reputedly the only thing that kept that madman going after he poisoned himself with Yin Metal.”

“Oh, that.He was probably threatening her family.” Nie Huaisang shrugged when his brother stared at him. “She had a cute little brother, a stutterer, nearly as much of a good-for-nothing as me, plus a bunch of people back in Dafan…don’t you remember, I told you, the thing with the statute?”

“That time you went into Wen territory on your way home from the Cloud Recesses? Yes, it rings a bell.”

“Not the point,” Nie Huaisang protested. “The point is, we know she’s a good doctor, right? A doctor and a young lady, which means she’ll probably be shit at farming…and we could use more doctors that won’t turn their nose up at treating non-cultivators.”

“Are you suggesting that we bring people surnamed Wen here?”

“Why not? Wen Ruohan’s dead, and he’s the one we really hated. Anyway, it’s not as if the Jin are going to complain if we poach a few of the Wen for our own purposes, right? That’s just less farmland they have to pay for.”

“…we don’t even know if Wen Qing is even with the Jin sect,” his brother argued, but it was weak and they both knew it. “They didn’t catch everyone, you know, it’s only the prisoners of war. Some of them might still be loose. Or she could have died, or something…”

“The point is still a good one,” Nie Huaisang said virtuously, enjoying being the one in the right for once. “To the extent that any of the ones that were captured by the Jin sect aren’t suited for farming or have other professional skills, we can pick a few of the best and bring them back here. As long as we only bring back a few, they’ll be vastly outnumbered and won’t dare to make trouble…you know, maybe that’s the reason the Jin sect decided to volunteer? Getting first call on picking out the more talented Wen to recruit seems like something they’d do, more than actually contributing to the war.”

Nie Mingjue groaned a third time, which was probably a concession.

Nie Huaisang decided to play his trump card.

“Anyway, if the Jin are angry about us doing a bit of poaching, they might get so huffy that they’d cancel their horrible victory feast…”

“We should be so lucky,” Nie Mingjue grumbled. “No, don’t promise me fantasies, there’s no way they’re cancelling that. But we can go look for Wen Qing anyway.”

“And Wen Ning! That’s the brother I mentioned, the cute one.”

“…that’s the second time you’ve said he was cute, Huaisang.”

“Well, he is,” Nie Huaisang said. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”

“I’m getting at the fact that your argument hinges on us only taking those that have useful skills, and it doesn’t sound like he has any useful skills.”

Nie Huaisang thought about it, but the only skill he’d ever seen or heard of Wen Ning displaying was that one time Wei Wuxian had claimed without any backup he was good at archery, but obviously that wouldn’t help his argument at all. Not that he was going to let that get in the way of an argument with his brother, of course.

“His skill is the fact that he’s cute,” he proclaimed. “His presence is very comforting!”

“…are you suggesting that you want him around for emotional support?”

“He’s my emotional support Wen,” Nie Huaisang said, and managed to hold out for exactly two heartbeats before descending into cackling. “Oh, that’s terrible, even for me.”

“It really is,” Nie Mingjue agreed. He’d hidden his face back in the bed but he sounded like he was smiling. “All right, you win, have it your way the way you always do. We’ll go check out the Qiongqi Path in another half-month or so.”

“Another half-month? Why not now?”

“I’m busy. Lan Xichen…anyway, I’m busy. Maybe we can time it to be just before that awful party.”

“So that Jin Guangshan will be too busy complaining about that to do anything else? I see the logic.” Nie Huaisang carefully didn’t mention what was probably going to be a sworn brotherhood ceremony his brother didn’t especially want to engage in. He still didn’t know what had happened that had made his brother so angry at Meng Yao, but it’d only gotten worse as of late, as had his brother’s paranoia about not letting Nie Huaisang anywhere near Meng Yao. “Of course, that might mean he’d try to talk to you throughout the party…if you want, I can go by myself to check out the last few Wen sect. While you’re busy.”

As expected, his brother looked relieved at the suggestion. There really wasn’t any justifiable reason for him to keep Nie Huaisang, as a blood relation, from attending a fancy sworn brotherhood ceremony, but if Nie Huaisang did what he usually did and ‘wandered away’ on his own business right beforehand, unable to be found, well, that was all on empty-headed Nie Huaisang’s own head, wasn’t it?

And after, once the oaths were sworn, his brother would feel more comfortable about allowing Meng Yao to interact with Nie Huaisang again.

“Yes, I like that idea,” Nie Huaisang said amiably. It was the least he could do. “I’ll head out tomorrow or the day after – I’ll take a few others with me, don’t give me that look! I wasn’t planning on going by myself!”

“Uh-huh,” his brother said skeptically. “Remind me again about when you spent time with Wen Qing? Something about encountering a goddess statute when it was just you, Lan Wangji, and Wei Wuxian..?”

“And Jiang Cheng!”

“Huaisang…”

“In fact, maybe I’ll ask one of them if they want to come with me,” Nie Huaisang said haughtily. “It’ll be just like old times!”

“Huaisang, leave them alone. Don’t they have to rebuild their own sects?”

“All the more reason for them to come with me,” Nie Huaisang argued. “They need spare manpower as much as we do, don’t they? More, in Jiang Cheng’s case!”

“Jiang Wanyin will be preparing for Jin Guangshan’s party, same as me.”

“Sure, but Wei Wuxian won’t be. He’s worse at parties than you are, da-ge, and that’s saying something.”

“You are not allowed to go by yourself with Wei Wuxian,” Nie Mingjue said, and his voice had a tone of finality. “It’s not the way it used to be, with him being a talented young master. We don’t yet know what effects that demonic cultivation of his will have on him – and the Yin Tiger Seal, too…”

“Fine. Then I’ll get Lan Wangji to come with us,” Nie Huaisang said. “He’s not the heir either, and it’d be more convenient if none of us younger brothers were at that thing you are going to be busy with, right? You can’t seriously be worried that Wei Wuxian will try something if Lan Wangji’s on his back all the time.”

“They’re friends, aren’t they? Would you really say that it’s being ‘on his back’?”

“Uh, yes. You’ve met Lan Wangji! The more he likes you, the more he quotes rules at you! If he dislikes you, he’ll just ignore you!”

Nie Mingjue was forced into a chuckle. “Yes, well, I suppose you have a point…take some Nie disciples with you as well, all right? Just in case.”

“Fine, fine, ruin my fun! We’ll take a complete caravan, it’ll be a complete circus, but at least we’ll be safe and secure and ready to fight in the event we should be menaced by, I don’t know, a small army or something.”

His brother was actually laughing now.

Much better.

Nie Huaisang smiled and picked up his book again. He’d go find Wei Wuxian tomorrow, he thought to himself, contented, and Lan Wangji as well – the latter would agree as soon as he knew the former was coming, he was sure. Jiang Cheng would probably be happy to see them get out of his way while he was trying to negotiate tricky political waters, and it wasn’t as if they were actually going to end up causing any serious trouble, after all.

They were going to be visiting a farm. How much political trouble could they find there?

#mdzs #nie huaisang #nie mingjue #my fic #my fics #emotional support #comedy fix it won

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mellometal · 3 years

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Hi, everyone.

I have something extremely important to talk about that is NOT fandom related. I really do hope this can reach everyone on here, especially since it's still Autism Acceptance Month.

A few quick questions for anyone who happens to see this before I dive right into this: Have you ever heard of Dhar Mann? If so, have you ever seen his videos? What do you think about them?

If you don't know who Dhar Mann is, he's a content creator whose main platforms are Instagram and YouTube. He makes these videos about various scenarios from a couple on the brink of divorce, to kids bullying one of their peers, even about Autism Spectrum Disorder. All of his videos have some kind of message at the end that really drives the point home. One of his most recent videos is about ASD, which is what I'm going to discuss today.

Personally, I think some of his videos are interesting, despite the concepts being reused and recycled over and over; however, how I feel about the video he made about ASD is the complete opposite. I'll summarize the video he made so you don't have to watch it. (If you really want to watch it to see exactly what I'm talking about, I'm not gonna stop you. Do what you need to do in order to form your own opinion.)

The video Dhar Mann made about ASD is about this boy who excludes his autistic brother from participating in activities with his friends at school. The boy bullies his autistic brother and does pretty much everything to make his brother's life Hell, even going as far as to pretend that he doesn't know his own brother. The boy "instantly regrets his decision" when their mom is called into the school to discipline her son for bullying his autistic brother. What his mother says is what REALLY upsets me. The message of this video in particular is this, WORD FOR FUCKING WORD. I wish I was kidding. But here's the message below:

How the video concludes is the boy reluctantly includes his autistic brother in every single activity, the boy sees his brother's potential, and they live happily ever after. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

As an autistic woman who works with disabled people for a living, that message Dhar Mann put in this video specifically is not only extremely ableist, but is also spreading misinformation about ASD.

News flash to all the people who still spread misinformation about ASD: Not every single autistic person is a little white boy in elementary school, nor is every single autistic person a young white man who's a Super Genius™️. (I could go on all day long about how the media stereotypes autistic characters and autistic people in general, but that's a whole other topic.) No autistic person is the same, meaning we all fall on the spectrum in different places and all that jazz. There's no "look" to autistic people either because no autistic person looks the same.

Autistic women exist.

Autistic girls exist.

Autistic nonbinary people exist.

Autistic BIPOC and AAPI exist.

Autistic people who are completely nonverbal exist.

Autistic people who are completely verbal exist.

Autistic people who are in the middle of being nonverbal and verbal exist.

Autistic people who require minimal to no support exist.

Autistic people who require moderate support exist.

Autistic people who require full support exist.

Autistic LGBT people exist. (Reason why I bring this one up is because the media almost always shows cishet autistic men and I don't see autistic LGBT representation very often, if ever.)

Autism isn't something you can "catch". People have this same mentality about ADHD and Tourette's Syndrome too, which, by the way, you can't "catch" either.

Autism doesn't "go away" when you reach adolescence or adulthood. Why? BECAUSE AUTISTIC TEENAGERS AND AUTISTIC ADULTS EXIST. Autistic kids grow into autistic teenagers, then into autistic adults.

You can't "cure" it either. Unless you can build a time machine and a device to go back in time to change how a person's brain develops, there is no cure. ABA therapy is a fucking shit show in itself that does more harm than good.

The title of the video is a real squick for me too. It's mostly because I don't particularly enjoy people using person first language (the "boy with autism" part). I've seen many other autistic people on multiple other platforms sharing that same sentiment and preferring identity first language (autistic person). There are also others who prefer using person first language and those who don't have a preference. That's all perfectly valid. Whatever you prefer people using when referring to you, or whatever you refer to yourself as, in this case, is totally valid and I love you. This goes for disabilities in general, not just Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Regarding the message in this video, here's my response to it! A quick heads-up, my response is VERY long and VERY passionate. I was VERY close to making a response video where I tear that video apart AND tear Dhar Mann a new asshole. Unfortunately, it worked me up so much that I was really struggling with what I wanted to say and I had to stop multiple times because I kept stumbling on my words. That's how angry this message made me. I'll try my best to explain whatever parts you have questions about. I put my response in the nicest way I possibly could, despite me seething with rage, wanting to go OFF on him.

(The first part of my response are the first three screenshots, and the second part are the last three screenshots.)

The first part of my response, I did forget to add that the message is offensive and disrespectful to autistic people as a whole. I apologize. My initial comment got way too long. I pretty much covered that when I told him the message is ableist. I wanted to clear that up before anyone asks about it.

The second part of my response is me opening up about my experience with being diagnosed with ASD, formerly known as As//per//ger's Syn//dro//me, at sixteen years old. I also went into how not calling ASD what it truly is (which is a disability) and calling it a "different ability" instead is extremely harmful and is treating being disabled like it's a bad thing.

By the way, saying that a disabled person is disabled isn't a bad thing. I'm disabled. It is what it is. Does it have its challenges? You bet. Does it help me with certain things? Hell yeah. I can really absorb information about my favorite bands, characters, shows, books, etc., and tell you a lot about those things. For example, I can tell you that Su can't ride a bike or read manga and she's okay with that. I can also tell you she can't tie her shoes very well, which is why her boots don't have laces and are slip-on and/or zip-up. But that doesn't mean my struggles are nonexistent or that I never struggle. I do, and it makes my life Hell at times.

The narrative that autism is a bad thing to have, every autistic person is somehow broken and they all need to be "fixed" is also super fucked up and not true. That's the narrative that I received when I was diagnosed by a therapist I had. I'm gonna be real here, I cried when I was first told that I was diagnosed with ASD. I felt like I was broken. I already felt like a total outcast. Being told about my diagnosis made me feel even more broken than I already felt. I was so ashamed of myself, despite me not doing anything wrong whatsoever, that I masked for SEVEN YEARS of my life. I masked for so long that I forgot I was even diagnosed with ASD in the first place. I wasn't taught how to really put my special interests into good use. I kinda had to figure that out on my own. I was pretty much under the assumption that me being interested in anime, cartoons, music, comics, theatre, writing, etc., to the point of obsession, was somehow weird and hurting people around me. You know, despite those things being harmless. Despite me being able to separate those things from other things that are important (like work, for example). Despite my only surviving parent, other family members, and the woman he was dating at the time completely overreacting and not bothering to see exactly what makes these things so special to me.

(By the way, having a disability does not completely make who a person is. There are a lot more things that make who a person is than that.)

It's kinda shocking that I wasn't able to come to terms with my diagnosis until this year. Considering that I masked for so long due to being ashamed of myself, plus being treated like a burden for being disabled, it's probably not very surprising. I initially thought at the time that it was the worst thing to have, as I was already struggling with enough shit back then, but came to realize it's not a bad thing. It doesn't change who I am. But I'm glad I came to terms with it finally nonetheless.

This is getting way too long, so I'm gonna wrap things up here. If you've read this far, thank you so much. I'm sorry this got so long!

If you watched the video, what are your thoughts on it? If this is your first time hearing about Dhar Mann, how do you feel about him? If you're a Dhar Mann fan, did this change your opinion on him in any way? Feel free to sound off in the comments!

Have a great day, everyone!

#mello speaks #dhar mann #autism acceptance #autism spectrum disorder #being autistic isn't a bad thing #autism isn't a different ability stop fucking saying it is #autistic community #autism self advocacy network #autistic women and non-binary people network #fuck autism speaks #i had to say this #dhar mann will live to regret his decision uwu #autism acceptance month #autism speaks does not speak for me #light it up red #light it up gold #no puzzle pieces #tw dhar mann

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fragileizywriting · 3 years

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bad day blues

pairing: Luka / Marinette (Viperion / Multimouse) word count: 10,418 chapter: 1/1 rating: E summary: “How is it that I can sling myself across rooftops for years, day and night, but I can’t even walk in a straight line once I’m out of my suit and end up spraining an ankle?” “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Mousey. That’s not good for you.” “I wish I wasn’t such a klutz.” “You’re not.” Luka kisses the top of her head as a punctuation to his words. “You just had a bad day, that’s all.” “One of the worsts in a while,” Marinette nods into his shirt. “Luka? Could you make it better for me?” He laughs. “And you call me the insatiable one, little mouse.” Her eyes sparkle. “Who was the one that jumped me when I was going to go shower after my pool trip with my friends? One look at me in a towel and suddenly my boyfriend’s hands are all on me— sounds pretty insatiable, if you ask me.” AO3 | Start Here To Read The Whole 'Out of The Closet' Series! | Previous Fic in Series | Next Fic in Series

Here's some more Lukanette! Don't worry, there's plenty more incoming, too. This series is so wonderful to write, I'm having so much fun!!! Especially since Luka is my favorite character 🥺

Enjoy <3

She’s having a bad day.

Like, a really bad day.

There is that whole cake ordering business that her parents live off of, that she helps out with. She’s rolled so much fondant out that her arms hurt, and they’re barely attached to her body when she’s rushing out of the door to get to her class when the second bad part of the day happens.

She spills coffee all over herself.

Well, it isn’t her coffee. Her dad’s been getting into the habit of walking around the bakery and the pantry with his mug she got for him for his birthday, a delicate piece of ceramic that is absolutely dwarfed by her father’s large hands. She’d knocked into him while scarfing down some breakfast of her own, where she’d tried to get bits and pieces of it into her mouth while rolling out fondant for that particular eight-tiered cake that is surely going to be the death of her that she still has to pipe and decorate when she gets back from class.

Her blouse is stained, and it’s warm. It doesn’t seep far into her shirt, because her dad presses his apron right on the stain to soak up as much moisture as possible, but she yelps anyway out of sheer instinct.

“Are you okay, sweetheart?”

“I’m fine! I’m so sorry for making you spill your coffee, baba. Are you okay?” She waves him off with a little smile. These things happen, it’s okay. Besides, smelling like coffee isn’t the end of the world. It isn’t the smell of a particularly expensive perfume, but she can hardly say no to smelling like coffee when she’s lived at a bakery for the entirety of her life.

“I ran into you, sweetheart, not the other way around,” Her dad shakes his head. “Go change your shirt while I get you some packed food to take with you to school for you and Mullo.”

“Thank you! I’ll be right back.” She kisses him on the cheek, making sure to stay clear away from his mug. She rushes up the stairs, trying her best not to accidentally tear her skirt, but isn’t as delicate to her blouse as she could be. The side rips open. She squeaks while getting it off. “Oh, no! I just bought this!”

“Oh! Is everything okay?” Mullo peeks out from the little cubby Marinette’s made into her own little room.

“Yeah— I’m okay! These things happen, don’t worry. I’m just going to change my shirt into something better and then we can head out, okay?” She snaps open a drawer, tossing her soiled top into the laundry bin near her desk. She’s not opposed to wearing other shirts with this particular skirt, but… she really likes wearing that peter pan collar. This is fine. A normal button-up will go fine with the skirt, even though now she looks a lot more formal than she wants to be.

It’s a good thing her bra is nude-colored. She’s already in a rush as it is.

She hasn’t learned a single thing since school was at a walking distance, clearly, because she’s rushing to get to the metro, running back down the stairs, tugging her backpack over her shoulder with Mullo zipping into the pocket of her skirt, and kissing her dad goodbye and thanking him for the food— all the while trying her best to go over the list of things she needed to do before heading off to class.

Feed Mullo, though the little mouse can definitely go scavenging for blueberries whenever she wants. And yet… Mullo starts to whisper that she’s hungry the moment Marinette makes it down the stairs of the metro and goes pawing for her metrocard. She’s grateful that she’s placed a small container of fresh blueberries inside her backpack, with even a portion of small chocolate chips in the screw-top compartment of the container, just for the little mouse— and the small kwami is giggling and back to being happy before Marinette can even blink.

She looks for her metrocard. It’s on the inside of her phone case, which is good, so she’s able to go through the ticket booth with no problem— thank goodness. She doesn’t need another stressor for the day— but she needs to make sure she repays the bill for her monthly pass before the next month arrives so that she isn’t late trying to pay for it the day of, and hopefully she can remember this thought for long enough to write it into her agenda so she doesn’t forget during the week.

Oh, gooseberries. Hopefully she’s not late.

She checks the time on her phone once she’s safely situated inside a subway car, only to look at the turned-off screen with a confused noise. She tries turning on her phone but blinks with so much confusion when the black screen refuses to light.

Wasn’t one of the things on her list to make sure that her phone was charged last night?

What in the world happened to her phone battery?

She tries to think about it, pinning down that the only real reason it would be out of battery would be if Mullo wanted to use it to watch videos or listen to music while Marinette was asleep.

She makes sure to unzip her bag, peering down at the little mouse kwami with inquisitive eyes, trying to understand why her only communication device isn’t charged, speaking in a hushed voice to not alert anyone in the subway car with her. “Lolo, did you watch videos last night?”

Mullo is asleep. At least she remembered to put the lid back onto the container, which is some good news. Marinette can’t feel too upset, looking at the little creature. It’s a good thing she packed her bag and made sure to grab her portable charger— it’s not often that Mullo gets in the habit of overusing Marinette’s phone— but she’s always prepared, just in case. Mullo likes texting Sass, too, though all their texts look like gibberish to her and Luka whenever they try to reread it.

She opens the front pocket zipper with the cute little mouse charm attached to the handle and freezes.

This isn’t her school backpack.

She’s not sure how it didn’t dawn on her before, but this isn’t the right backpack at all.

The only thing it has is a plastic bag with her swimsuit she’d used during the weekend— it’s not exactly dry, given that it’s been in the baggy for at least four days since she’d come back from the pool with her friends. That’s strange— she’s not one to just drop her bag off to the side and not put away her stuff— so, what gives? She chews on her nail while she thinks about what could’ve possibly distracted her from hanging up her swimsuit and letting it dry, and stopped her from putting away this particular backpack, and squeaks to herself when she remembers.

Oh. Right. That’s right.

Viperion had shown up in her room just as she was going to go take a shower— having completed patrol on his own because he wanted her to have fun with friends and go swimming— and since her boyfriend is somehow allergic to learning how to swim, he’d happily shoved her out of the house with the pretense of keeping Paris safe while she relaxes for once in her life— no wonder she’d been so distracted and completely forgot about the backpack.

He’s so insatiable, nowadays, wanting to spend so much time with her that it’s completely pointless to try to keep clothes on around him. He’d taken one good look at her while she was making her way to her bathroom tucked into her towel and had decided to wash her himself— joining her in the shower without even taking his suit off.

She knows that their hexleather is water-resistant— but she didn’t know that it’s enough to keep water from completely entering his suit.

He’d cleaned her inside and out— pressed her up against the bathroom tiles, hopeful that she would keep quiet, as Viperion slicked two fingers inside of her.

The hexagonal grooves on their suits had never been something she’d even considered until now— it was obsession at first touch, in all honesty.

Her back is filled with love bites and possessive teeth marks that make her toes curl in her shoes when she thinks about it more, or remembers it whenever she brushes up against her shoulders. Not to mention she feels a comfortable full-body ache when he finally slips away to go home— she’d spent the rest of that afternoon in bed, curled up, dreaming of the day the two of them can always wake up next to each other.

She shifts in her seat, feeling damp and uncomfortable. She misses him already.

But all of that means… her school backpack is still at home. And she’s carrying nothing except her wet swimsuit, instead of her agenda and planner and notebooks and sketchbooks and pens.

Oh, sugarcubes.

It’s fine, though. These things happen. Sometimes no matter how much she plans and prepares, the universe sometimes throws her for a loop, and that’s okay. A good planner knows how to plan for things going wrong— even if she doesn’t want it to happen in the first place.

In all honesty, this is probably not what Luka meant when he said to let things flow and don’t let things bother her, but it is kind of hard to stop her tendencies to want to plan for the worse.

Okay, so how does she fix this?

She has a lecture that starts in about twenty minutes that she can technically skip out on and go back home to grab her things, assuming she switches subways at the next stop. Since she’ll be late, she might as well change out of her clothes, too, into something much more suited for her. She doesn’t like wearing button-downs— especially since, oh, gooseberries, it looks like she’s missed out on about three buttons and gotten her neckline skewed. There’s no point in even fixing it, as long as she’s able to tuck her miraculous back underneath her shirt without someone seeing it.

What else does she need to do?

Well, she definitely needs to make sure she gets the right backpack the next time she slips through the door. Make sure to bring another container of blueberries, too— she never knows when there’ll be another Akuma, and of all things to not be worried about, this is something she’ll never stop.

Everything will be okay. No worries. The lecture wasn’t that important, she’s sure of it.

The moment she makes that same thought, the subway car slows to a crawl. The lights in the car flicker, and she looks around to the other passengers, hopeful to see anyone who has any idea of what’s going on.

Everyone looks nonchalant. They probably assume it’s an Akuma, at this point.

“We are having technical difficulties,” The subway car emits a tinny, metallic little noise from the speakers near the doors. “Please stay calm and wait while we fix it.”

Marinette groans. Okay, maybe she’ll be late for a lot more than just her first class. This is fine. Things happen. Things like this just happen— she just needs to relax about it. At least it’s not an Akuma— and it’s not like she can be blamed for the subway being stuck.

There’s just nothing to entertain her, though. No pencil, no pen, no paper to doodle and keep her occupied. No phone to listen to music or keep her busy. Just her, the plastic bag with her swimsuit in it, a sleeping kwami, her breakfast, and half a container of chocolate chips. She might as well start eating now, since there’s nothing else to do— eat and think about her boyfriend’s pretty blue eyes.

-*-

She has— well, had— a pop quiz in her missed lecture.

Worth twenty percent of her grade.

She stumbles into the classroom after everyone’s starting to clear out, looking for the professor and her continuously bored glare she gives to the class on the regular. “Uhm, excuse me— sorry, I didn’t attend class today because of the metro—”

“You can’t make it up.” Her professor says, collecting a thick stack of paper into her briefcase. The only professor she’s ever met to actually use a genuine briefcase— it makes her look more like a lawyer and less like an introduction to fashion history professor.

“Make it up?” Marinette blinks, confused. “Make up— make up what, exactly? I wasn’t in class.”

“The quiz. Twenty percent of the grade, of course, because no one in class was answering my questions today for some reason.” Because Marinette’s the one who usually answers for everyone, of course. No one stepped in, probably, because they were most likely too comfortable with her answers to actually come up with one of their own. “You missed out on the quiz. You can’t make it up.”

“Oh.” That’s fine. Things happen. Sometimes the universe just throws curveballs— her grade in this class won’t suffer. “Uhm. Is— is that all I missed?”

Her professor gives her a good look. There’s something in her dull, tired eyes, like she registers who Marinette is in the class— and what she brings to the lecture hall. “I’m going to give you the homework, even though I technically shouldn’t. You’re a good student— you’ve never been late to class— and definitely never missed an entire lecture. And today, without your questions, it was completely and totally quiet.”

“Oh.” She repeats. “Th— uhm. Thank you.”

She pulls out another stack of papers, handing her a stapled group of paper from the top. It looks ridiculously thick— as in— maliciously thick. Maybe at least thirty pages. “Here’s the homework. Make sure to finish it by next class.”

One week to finish the assignment. No problem. She can do that.

“Of course,” Marinette breathes, slightly overwhelmed, looking over the title of the assignment. She has no idea where to begin— the lecture today must’ve been all about it. Maybe she can find one of her classmates and ask about it? Although, she’s never really made a friend here before… “Thank you very much.”

“Don’t make it a habit to skip,” The professor calls out to her as she leaves through the door.

“Understood,” Marinette mutters under her breath. The strap of her kitten heels breaks when she runs her foot too close along the doorframe as she leaves behind her. She trips, falling into her second person with a coffee today, spilling all over her shirt again. This time, it’s cold— it’s an iced latte, of course, and ice cubes fall down her collar and into her shirt, and pain blistering up her ankle.

She tries to walk it off, she really does, but it ultimately just collapses back onto the floor the moment she tries to put pressure on it. Mullo comes out of hiding when she makes sure that there’s no one around, asking if Marinette’s okay— and all she can do is just smile at the little kwami, trying her best not to wince.

Today just isn’t her day, is it?

-*-

By the time an Akuma actually comes around, and tries to do damage in the city of Paris, Multimouse is running on fumes from how close she is to breaking down.

She’s weaved and dodged most of the attacks, relying on her rope to get out of the way. Her ankle doesn’t hurt as much when in the suit, of course, because the magical properties of the miraculous make it so that they focus on the fight first than anything else. She can put her weight on it, which is the good news— and that’s enough for her to walk and run and jump rope when she needs to.

Seeing Viperion is such a blessing. She hasn’t been able to text him much all day, aside from the vague ‘good morning’ text she sent when she finally managed to get her phone to turn on— she’s been too busy to respond to all of the texts he’s sent throughout the day.

Hopefully, she can talk to him after the fight is over. She needs a little bit of downtime.

But she can’t exactly focus on how thankful she is to see him when she’s in the middle of weaseling out of the Akumas grabby hands. She tucks and weaves, snaps her rope out like a whip when she needs to, and does her best to roll out of the way of the Akuma that falls into their trap using the Liberty that sends him spiraling across the city with it. Viperion is nearly on the other side of the city taking care of the sentimonster when she feels her ankle start to blister in pain again, indicating that she’s putting far too much stress on the ankle for even magic to make it stop hurting.

By the time they’ve got the Akuma purified, the sentimonster dealt with, and the victim is in safe care with the social worker from the workforce that’s been assigned to assist people who have just been Akumatized— Multimouse can barely stand up. She chooses, instead, to keep sitting down on the lip of the sidewalk between a couple of parked cars, her legs spread out in front of her, trying her best to seem like she’s just out of breath. She keeps her right boot completely straight, hopeful to not put any more strain on her ankle, but lets her left boot sag against the asphalted road, and tries her hardest not to hide her face in her hands.

Viperion makes his way back to her after he’s done talking to the social worker.

“Mousey?”

“Hi, Vai,” She speaks into her gloves. Some battles are just too difficult for her to focus on, and trying to keep herself from doing something just isn’t worth the effort anymore. “That was a tough one, huh?”

He sits down next to her, shoulder to shoulder. There’s probably not enough space for him in between the cars, since his shoulders are wide, but he makes the effort anyway. Besides, if it’s truly that bothersome, all he has to do is give a gentle push to the car next to him— the miraculous suits give them extra strength, after all— but even without the suit, he’d probably be able to push it forward. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” She leans into him. “I missed you so much.”

“You didn’t text me today like you usually do,” He murmurs into her hair. He’s a thick wall of heat right next to her, and she’s so thankful for him like usual. “Everything okay?”

“Everything is— it’s fine— I’m sorry. I forgot to charge my phone last night, and Mullo was watching videos while I slept, so my phone just went kaput.” She smiles in her hands when he makes a noise meaning that he understands exactly what she means. “I only got to text you when my phone was back on. I’m just tired, really. I’m not having a good day.”

The road is going to be populated soon with whatever foot traffic it usually has, now that the Akuma’s been taken care of. They need to probably get up to higher ground before the people of Paris come out to ask for autographs or selfies— and, okay.

She wants to give everyone the best treatment possible, of course, but she’s in absolutely no condition to do that like this. Definitely not like this.

It’ll be better for everyone’s comfort if she doesn’t stay around to listen to what people have to say about the fight— she’s Paris’s sweetheart, she knows, but if anyone says anything remotely negative in her direction, she’s pretty sure she’ll start crying.

Not to mention that if she hears anything bad about Viperion, she’ll start crying while beating civilians off with a ten-foot pole. She’s not in the mood at all to continue behaving like the sweet little Parisian Princess today— she can’t do it.

“Are you stressed out?”

“Yes. Very much. Ironically, the Akuma was my break from stress. Imagine that?”

He laughs. It’s a loving noise, usually, but there seems to be an edge to it this time. “Do you want me to help you with that? I think I saw an alley over there. Let me help you relax.”

She steams red behind her gloves. Oh, she knows exactly what he means— and, well, the answer is always yes. “Yes— but maybe not here. People are going to show up, soon, and I’m already in pain as it is—”

Viperion looks at her. She can tell because her face starts to prickle underneath her gloves. “Pain?”

She takes a deep breath, looking up at him. His hair is starting to curl around his neck, it’s so lovingly him that she can’t help but comb her fingers into his hair and smooth it back. The confusion on his face morphs into contentment as she takes her time brushing his bangs back, getting a good look at what the top of his domino mask looks like. “Nothing’s wrong— things are fine. Everything is fine. Sometimes things happen, and we can’t control all of it.”

Liquid golden eyes look back at her when she’s done petting through his hair and, he— he smiles at her. Really smiles at her— he knows that she’s trying to repeat the quotes and virtues that he usually says to himself. His smile makes his domino mask crinkle, the scales on his hexleather shimmering turquoise and green, and it’s not exactly a front when she smiles back at him. “That’s true. Sometimes things happen that we can’t control, even if we really try, but sometimes we can fix whatever is hurting us. So what really happened, Mousey?”

“Just a bad day,” She uses her left foot to brush against his, taking her hands back from his hair to follow the scale pattern on his chest. The muscles underneath are no illusion— he’s truly that filled out. She likes physical contact with him, just as much as he loves physical contact with her— and she finds a certain kind of sweetness in the way he leans just slightly into her touch as she traces his collarbone. “I’m not kidding— I’ve been having a really bad day.”

“The Akuma didn’t help all that much, huh?”

She cups his cheeks with her palms. She can’t feel him, because her fingers are covered in protective hexleather, but it means all the same to her when she presses their foreheads together, smooshing their bangs against one another. “I don’t know about that. I’m getting to see you, after all— I love being able to see you, Vai.”

His eyes twinkle as he laughs, giving her a kiss. “Stand up for me? I want to check if you’re missing any body parts.”

“What? I’m not missing anything.” She finds herself laughing at the strange request. “See? Look: I have my two arms, my two legs. Tail is still here, and so is my miraculous.”

“I don’t know about that,” His face is oddly serious, even as she continues to giggle. “Wiggle your fingers for me so I know they’re still there.”

“Vai,” She makes a face as she laughs. When he implores her, she rolls her eyes, twiddling her fingers in the air. “Told you.”

“All ten fingers?”

“I think so,” She breaks into a grin. What is this man on about?

“Let’s see.” He takes her hands in his, bringing every single finger up to his mouth so he can count them with a kiss. “One. Two.”

“Oh my gooseberries. Vai,” She giggles hard enough for her shoulders to shake.

“Don’t make me lose count, Mousey, this is important. Three, four—”

“How did I get so lucky to have you?”

“I think it’s the other way around, honestly. Five, six— how did I get so lucky to have you?”

“By treating me like this,” She can’t help but bite her lip when he makes it past seven and eight. “By treating me so sweetly.”

“Sue me, little mouse. I like treating my girlfriend well. Nine, and ten.” At the tenth finger, he kisses where her fingernail would be, then her knuckle, then the back of her hand. He kisses up her arm, too, all the way up to her shoulder as she snorts and giggles, until he tilts his head and kisses her against the jaw, finally completing his quest and kisses her softly on the lips— she melts. He keeps the kiss soft, though— and if her ankle wasn’t rolled, she’d honestly climb into his lap for more than just something so chaste. She deserves it, after this horrible day— and he always makes her feel loved and comforted. “I think your hands are okay.”

“You think so?” She feels a little dopey from the kiss.

“Move your feet, too, so I can figure out if your legs are still attached.”

She moves her left foot only, letting her right boot rest. Instead, she pulls up her right leg, hoping to look like she’s just switching up her sitting position, but that’s enough for Viperion to break eye contact with her and look at her knee. “See?”

But he’s smarter than that. “Ah, there it is. So you did injure yourself during the fight?”

“No. I— uhm— no. Not during the fight.” She’s not lying, but her smile dies down as a quiet contemplation morphs on his face. “It’s— I’m fine, Vai, honestly, I’m okay. My ankle will be fine after some ice, I’m sure—”

“Oh, Mousey.” He looks hurt for her, immediately swiveling in his seat to look her over. He grabs gently for both of her legs, lifting them up to place in his lap, and gently starts to move her foot at the ankle back and forth.

The first leg is the good one, so she barely even reacts— let alone blinks— to him swiveling her ankle around and testing the elasticity. But her bad ankle— oh— it’s enough to make her start to squirm.

His eyebrows pinch when she continuously flinches, her half-sentient tail batting against the asphalt behind her as she tries her hardest not to cry out in pain. He supports the back of her ankle with his palm, and doesn’t let her foot rotate when he puts her leg back in his lap. “When did this happen, baby girl?”

“It happened at school,” She hides her face back into her gloves. “Just the cherry on top, honestly. I fell and twisted my foot. I thought I was okay, but— I can’t walk in my civilian form.”

“School? And you fought the Akuma while injured? Oh, Mousey— I’m so sorry, I wouldn’t have let you stay alone with the Akuma if I had known. What else happened? Tell me what’s wrong.” She feels the gentle pressure of his thumb against her calf, even through the hexleather. “Maybe I can help you. I sure want to try, at least.”

Why is he so gentle with her? Why is Viperion always so sweet and soft to her— kind and loyal?

She knows why— there is the whole ‘they’re dating’ part of the answer— but honestly, how did it get this way? When did Viperion become the boy she fights crime with, day or night, live or die— to the man who snags her just before her showers, who makes it a habit to make her toes curl every time he sees her, who is happiest when she cuddles and routinely hides in his bed with? How in the world has she gotten this lucky?

How? How did she get so lucky to have a man so conditioned to care about her?

Why did he ever fall in love with someone like her— someone who needs everything to be in its place or else she has a nervous breakdown? Someone that loses her demeanor when there’s even a slightest mistake, because everything needs to be perfect or it’s not worth doing at all and— and— why would he even stay with someone like her like this? Why? She’s completely the opposite of him— so— why does he stay and deal with someone so completely different than him in every single aspect?

The thought is enough to make her cry— and— oh— that’s it, really. That’s what makes her push over the edge and start hiccuping into her hands, tears falling down her cheeks. “Oh—”

“Mousey, it’s okay. Shh. Your ankle will get fixed up in no time, okay? We can fix this.”

“I’m sorry,” She says, more to herself than anything else, gesturing to her leg before hiding back in her hands. She sags against him so easily when he pulls her onto his lap. “I’m sorry— I’m so sorry, Vai. It’s not just— just the ankle— I’m just—”

“I know.”

“And— such a bad day—”

“Breathe, Mousey,” He traces circles against her back.

She gasps for breaths between sobs. “And I just— I really did try to not let it get to me— I really tried—”

“You did very good. You are doing very good.”

“It really hurts, Vai, I’ve never rolled my foot before, it’s so painful— and I know I’m going to be in more pain when I’m out of the suit. I’m so exhausted, Vai— today has been so difficult.”

“Tell me what happened.”

Where does she begin? “So much coffee on my shirt, I smell like an espresso machine—”

He listens to her ramblings, even if they don’t make any sense without the full context. He’s gentle when he shifts her even closer, making sure that her foot doesn’t hit up against the car next to them, tucking her in next to his collarbone and letting her cry it all out. His chest is so warm against her. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

“And then the subway— and I don’t have more blueberries for Lolo right now because she ate them all already, even after I went back home and refilled her cup—”

“We can get more in my house, it’s okay. All the blueberries Mullo could want.”

“And I was also stuck in the subway for two full hours with just a swimsuit—”

“You went on the subway with only a swimsuit on?” He makes a face. “That doesn’t sound right.”

“In my bag,” She explains, even if it doesn’t make much sense, sniffling around her gloves. “I mean— I picked up the wrong backpack— the wrong bag— before leaving the house and it was just my swimsuit in there— the subway got stuck and I thought it was because of an Akuma so I was just—”

“Take a breath, Mousey.”

She sucks in a breath, trying to fill her lungs in all the way, before the inevitable fresh wave of tears that she continues to border on. “And I— I couldn’t— even text you. I couldn’t, because my battery was out— and I was underground— and— oh, sugarcubes, I was so bored— I just kept coming up with more and more ways to sneak off the train without being seen because there was nothing else to do and I ended up overthinking everything.”

Everything. All of it. Every single thing. If she’s doing well in school— if what she’s trying to get a degree in is even worth it— if she’s wasting her time not focusing on defeating Hawkmoth— if Viperion even finds her necessary in fights. After all, most of what she does is just a distraction for him to get close and defeat the Akuma— but there’s not really a genuine need for her since all he has to do is move his ouroboros miraculous over to the side and turn back time and do whatever needs to be done, right?

“I thought about how you’re so much better without me during Akuma battles— I thought how much of a klutz I am— I thought about how I always have these nervous breaks whenever something goes wrong and you always just deal with them and I wish I could just stop worrying about every little thing without making it into a thing— and— and—”

Gentle hands make it to her wrist, and she looks up, sniffling and biting her lip. Viperion’s smile looks soft on his face as he wipes away her tears— golden eyes looking at her like she’s the most important thing in the world. He kisses her forehead, her cheeks— her nose, too— all in favor of getting a smile back onto her face. “None of that is true, okay? There’s no need to overthink about any of it anymore. You’re okay, you’re here— exactly where I need you to be. You are the entire reason why Paris is safe every day— I’m just here to keep you company, in all honesty. You’re the most amazing woman I’ve ever known, little mouse, and I absolutely cannot do any of this without you.”

Amazing woman? Has he met his own mother before? “But— what about your family—”

“I’m aware of what I’ve said,” He smiles. “I don’t deal with your problems, we deal with our problems. You getting worked up about something is something we both work on together— I’m not going to let you suffer alone when you’re nervous about something.”

She blinks slowly at him, her lashes damp and full of tears, only being able to offer him a watery and a heartful: “Oh.”

He nods, encouraging her to smile back. “Everything’s going to be fine, just like it always is, okay? You’re not a klutz. You’re doing great. Everything is going to be fine.”

“But—”

“Breathe, Mousey. It’s okay. You’re okay.”

She looks at him in the eyes, her breath slowing down, looking around them to see just how empty the street is. It’s an unpopulated street to begin with, so there are only a couple of shops at the corners, nowhere near them where they sit in between the cars, catching their breath from the battle. “I’m— I’m going to be okay. I am okay.”

“You’re okay.” He nods, smiling gently, taking her hands in his.

“I’m— I’m fine.” She takes another breath. She still feels watery, still feels like a wet sponge, but it’s a little easier to breathe. “Sometimes days just don’t go my way, no matter how much I plan for it.”

“Good, good— but you’re forgetting the second half of that.”

“The second half?”

“For every day that it happens, whenever your days don’t go right, I’ll be right here for you to cry on because you and I have always been a team.” He kisses her bangs, smoothing his gloves at the back of her head, behind the buns in her hair. “As much as I don’t like seeing you cry, baby girl, I know that I’d rather see that, than have you bottle it up inside.”

She sniffles, giving him a little smile when he pulls away to gauge her reaction. “Thank you, Vai.”

“I love you.” He kisses her on the lips again.

“I love you, too.” She ducks her head as a blush stains her cheeks underneath her domino mask. “Oh, I’m— I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For crying on you and turning this into a mess.”

“My girlfriend seeking out comfort from me— what a scandal, little mouse,” He teases with a flash of his fangs. “How dare my Mousey want reassurance from me.”

She has the reflex to giggle, even though there’s a bit of tears still trying to make its way down her face. “It’s probably not what you had in mind for today, huh?”

“All I had was work today,” He wipes at her cheek again. “The Akuma is always unpredictable, but it’s not like your parents don’t know why I have to leave the register when our phones start to ding with the Akuma notification, right? And I’m always thinking of you, so, in a way this is sort of what I had in mind.”

She kisses him. It’s not as quick as it should be— it definitely isn’t as innocent as it has to be, given that they’re in public and they haven’t technically told the public yet that Viperion and Multimouse are more than just a duo, not to even mention that they’re a lot, lot more than a duo now, if her wandering hands are any indication— but she breaks away just before she has the urge to shift her position on him, laughing softly when he narrows his eyes at her. “We should— uhm— probably go back, right? Your mom is probably calling your phone right now, asking why in heaven’s name you picked the Liberty for the trap location— Alya will be here any moment now to ask things for the Ladyblog.”

“Hmm? What did you say? I was too busy living in the moment of hearing you laugh again. Such a sweet melody.” He looks back up to her from looking at her ankle. She has no idea what’s going on in that head of his— and it bothers her, because she so desperately wants to know, even as he gives her a wink and a smile.

She’s so thankful for this man. So ridiculously thankful.

She bites her lip to stop herself from smiling harder. “We need to go. Out of here. And I need a favor.”

“I’ll do whatever you need, Mousey. What is it?”

“I need you to marry me.”

His eyes widen, completely caught off guard. “What?”

“I mean— I mean carry—” She gasps, hiding her hands behind her mouth. “Oh gooseberries— I’m so sorry. Sorry! I meant carry, I promise! Slip of the tongue, oh sugarcubes— I’m so sorry— that’s not what I meant at all.”

“Breathe, Mousey, come on.” He snorts so hard that he has to hide his face behind his hands, shoulders shaking in mirth. “Obviously I’ll carry you. That’s without question— I’m not letting you walk like that. Come on, let’s get you back home.”

-*-

Marinette’s finally sleeping by the time he’s back into her room.

They’ve wrapped and bandaged her foot, kept it elevated and out of the way for her. She sleeps soundly, even as he struggles with her trap door to not make any noise. He’s not good at being quiet when he really tries— the universe is always out to get him whenever he tries to do something quietly. Or maybe he just gets too self-aware of himself.

“How’s she doing, Sass?”

“She’s been sleeping for the whole time since you brought her home,” The little kwami answers just as softly. There’s a couple of doll-sized lounge chairs on her nightstand, as well as a small little dining table with a couple of cushioned seats— it looks like a playset, in all honesty, but they’re the perfect size for the two kwamis to sit and eat away at their food.

Sass looks like he’s finished with his eggs, which is good to see. Mullo is still working on her blueberries, chewing through each one almost anxiously as the two kwamis watch Marinette rest. He’s never known just how many blueberries is enough for Mullo, so he’d grabbed a heavy container full of it and put it in a small basket to keep her entertained.

“Is her foot going to be okay?” Mullo squeaks out.

“She’ll be fine,” Luka sits on the floor to be at eye level with the kwamis. He takes a couple of berries in his hands to snack on in order to have something to do. “She’s never hurt her ankle before, so it’ll heal up fast. Master Fu wrapped it up for her, after all— her uncle wouldn’t lie, would he?”

Both kwamis nod in agreement.

“I feel like this is all my fault,” The little mouse makes a face. “I should’ve helped her today, I shouldn’t have been quiet the entire time. Maybe things wouldn’t have gotten this bad. Maybe I could’ve told her she was taking the wrong bag— or maybe I could’ve remembered to plug in her phone. I fell asleep watching videos on mermaid history, I’m pretty sure— I don’t think the videos were worth her twisting her foot.”

Sometimes kwami and holder are really alike, huh? Even the face that Mullo makes is so reminiscent of Marinette, it’s incredible— he tries his best not to smile lovingly but can’t help himself. “It isn’t your fault at all, Mullo. There’s no point in thinking about what you should’ve done— all of it has already happened. It’s okay.”

“She’s never gotten injured like this before for as long as I’ve known her— and you said earlier that she hasn’t torn any muscles since I was given to Luka. Her ankle will heal before you know it.” Sass is quick to pet his friend’s arm. “But until then, she definitely won’t be able to act should an Akuma arrive.”

The room goes silent again as the three of them settle back into what they were doing. Sass is curled up, of course, enjoying the luxury of the little doll chair that is stuffed to the brim with cotton and sewn expertly shut. The dollhouse furniture looks well-loved, though— he’s under the assumption that Marinette most likely bought second-hand miniature sets for Mullo to play house in when she had first been given the mouse miraculous. There’s no dollhouse in sight around anymore, but the bookcase near Marinette’s bed still has two cubbies empty in favor of a little curtain pulled open to reveal two fake little rooms.

There’s a little closet rack full of little clothes. There are hats lined up against the bookshelf wall with two slits on the sides to make space for Mullo’s ears. There’s a doll bed with a blanket and a cushion— there’s a couch and potted plants all made out of felted material in order to decorate the space. A rug, too, underneath all the furniture.

All of these little trinkets and toys, so loved and cared for by a young girl and the love she has for her mouse— now something cherished by a young woman. “You know, I’ve always wanted to ask— how long have you two known her?”

“The Cheng family has always kept the miraculouses safe,” Mullo bites into another blueberry. “We’ve been passed down for generations.”

“Well, usually. Master Fu is the guardian right now, but he’s making sure that Marinette is the next guardian.”

“I know that, yes— but I meant Marinette specifically. How long have you two known Marinette?” He turns to her, wondering if she’s in any pain. The inflammatories must be working well in her system because there’s nothing on her face that indicates that her foot’s been wrapped and bandaged to stay still.

“We’ve known her ever since she was little. About eight years old, maybe? All of the kwamis loved playing house with her— the little princess was always so sweet and lovable. Growing up an only child was really lonely for her, so we played with her whenever we could.” The dollhouse furniture makes a lot more sense now. “You name it, we played it. Hide and seek, dollhouse, tea time, dress up— princess and the knight, too.”

Of course Marinette would’ve made them little clothes, how could she have resisted? The idea is adorable.

“Kaalki would frequently run away from Master Fu’s place in order to come play with her. Who could blame him? I for one loved it when it was tea time. Princess always made deviled eggs, just for me.” Sass slips his eyes shut to sleep. He always gets tired after eating his share of eggs following an Akuma attack— Luka’s thankful he works at a bakery, where eggs are plenty.

Sass is out like a light.

Mullo giggles to herself, holding a giant blueberry between her two paws, turning to him in her little chair, speaking as quietly as possible. Marinette may be asleep for longer, but Sass’s hearing is always so sensitive— they don’t want to wake either of them up. “I just ended up being the lucky one that got to stay with her. All of the other kwamis were really upset when they heard that I was her permanent friend— especially Kaalki. They all loved playing with her. We’re sure that Plagg and Tikki will love her, once we find them again.”

So much history between Marinette and the kwamis. No wonder Sass was so happy when they’d finally revealed their identities to one another. “Hey, Mullo— how come she didn’t tell me about her ankle?”

“She didn’t want to worry you.” Mullo replies in her soft, tiny voice. “You both needed to focus on the Akuma first.”

But in the end, she’d hurt herself. What he wouldn’t give to second-chance her ankle back to normal— but it’s been hours, not minutes, since it happened.

He takes his time eating the handful he’s picked from Mullo’s basket. The blueberry is sweet in his mouth, and tasteful, and something quiet to do while he looks at Marinette’s sleeping form. She’s working herself too hard, isn’t she? Trying to keep up with all the things at university— and trying to keep up with everything at home— and definitely trying to keep up with Akumas on top of it all. They haven’t technically even been on dates together, if that’s something she even wants, because her life is so full. It’s commendable, but watching the girl of his dreams get pulled in all different directions makes him understand entirely why a multitasking miraculous is the perfect one for her.

“You should rest, Luka. It’s getting really late.”

“I don’t know if I should— I don’t want to accidentally wake her up.”

“She’ll be more upset if she wakes up and you’re not in bed with her,” Mullo argues. He smiles, because he can’t help the humor at the sincerity of her words. “You should join her.”

He’d have to take off his jeans, and go pawing for one of his shirts she’s stolen from his room in order to not get flour all over her bed, but it’s doable. Her parents already know he’s up here, after all— he’s said he was going to check up on her once his shift ended. Her parents had let him go without barely any warning gaze— in fact, Mrs. Cheng had implored him to spend the night and make sure Marinette didn’t attempt to run off, in case another Akuma were to pop up.

They trust that he’s a good person and will actually stop her from leaving the house. And he doesn’t want to disappoint.

The last thing he wants to do is go back home and listen to the absolute earful he’ll be getting from his mom about using the Liberty as bait, so he’s going to camp out in Marinette’s room after sending about a billion and one heart emojis to Juleka, hoping she’ll try to keep their mom out of trouble.

Maybe it’d been a bad idea to tell his family about his identity— just his family in general. It’s safer this way, now that his family knows, so there won’t be any nasty revelations down the line and his family won’t turn into Akumas (and if he has to fight Reflekta or Captain Hardrock any more times in his life, he’s going to quit) but now there’s the added bonus of his mom knows why he disappears all the time.

So.

Heart emojis sent to Juleka it is.

“And what about you? Won’t you be going to bed?”

“I’m still hungry, so I need to dip downstairs and get some more food, if that’s okay. Or, better yet— do you want me to take Sass downstairs with me when I go?”

He raises a brow. Surely she doesn’t mean to imply… “She’s— Marinette— come on, Mullo. She’s injured.”

“I’m not sure she needs her ankle for that!”

This doesn’t top the weirdest conversation he’s ever had, but this is definitely up there. “And she’s asleep— I’m not comfortable with the idea.”

“She’ll wake up soon. You should ask her then, obviously.”

“Mullo.”

“You’re two aren’t our first holders, you know, we’ve done this so many times before.” Mullo giggles behind a paw. “So, do you want privacy? If you don’t, I’ll stay right here. Mari likes to tell us that we’re as scary as actual dolls, sometimes, with our beady little eyes.”

No one has to tell him that. He learned the hard way when he’d woken up the first time with Sass looking straight at him. Beady little eyes indeed— it’d scared him shitless and almost caused him to scream at a bleary five in the morning. Sass is a terrifying little creature when he wants to be.

“Maybe it’s a good idea to give us a bit of time.” He tries not to blush when Mullo tilts her head in acknowledgment. “I don’t think she wants anything except sleep, but, who knows.”

“We’ll give you all the time you two need,” The little mouse nods. She grabs Sass’s sleeping form by a paw, taking one last bite out of the remaining blueberry, before the two of them phase through the floorboards down below. Sometimes kwamis are weird little creatures with all of their powers, honestly— he’s gotten used to Sass appearing out of thin air in his attempts to scare him, but it’s always so concerning to see it happen without that context.

He lifts himself up from the floor, peeling open some of her drawers in search of one of his shirts. She’d taken his pleading to heart, and now has a steady collection of his clothes starting to grow and multiply in her closet— he’s running out of his own clothes, honestly, but he can’t say no when she smiles at him like she always does before squirreling away a new shirt into her bag when she wants to keep a piece of him with her.

He should probably take some of these shirts home with him, though. If the point was for her to smell like him, well, he should probably make it happen.

He folds his shirt and jeans. Marinette doesn’t have piles of clothes everywhere unlike him, so he makes the executive decision to stack his clothes on her desk chair. By the time he’s going back up the ladder over to her bed, Marinette’s shifted onto her side, facing him— she wakes up the moment he tries to shimmy his way under the covers with her.

“Oh. Hi.”

“Hi.” She has pieces of her hair catching in her eyelashes— he brushes it away, shifting closer to her. Her entire bed smells of faint traces of lavender, what a nice scent. “How are you feeling, Mousey?”

“A lot better,” She’s quick to smile, even as she’s groggy from sleep. Adorable. “Probably because of the amount of pain killers I’m on right now, though.”

He laughs. “Master Fu told me you don’t usually take painkillers. You must just completely relax under it, then, since your body isn’t used to it.”

“I don’t think I tore anything, did I?”

“No, I don’t think so. Your uncle said you’re fine, after all, but you should just stay out of commission for this week until you can put weight on that foot again.”

She looks so disappointed. “Where’s Lolo?”

“Downstairs. She’s probably eating through your entire pantry at the moment.”

“And Sass?”

“Went with her. Mullo took him to give us privacy. Are you okay?”

He should’ve known better than to relax his guard around her. The moment he’s completely at ease in bed, she grabs for him, pulling him so close to her that they’re perfect puzzle pieces. “How is it that I can sling myself across rooftops for years, day and night, but I can’t even walk in a straight line once I’m out of my suit?”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Mousey. That’s not good for you.”

“I wish I wasn’t such a klutz.”

“You’re not.” He kisses the top of her head as a punctuation of his words. “You just had a bad day, that’s all.”

“One of the worsts in a while,” She nods into his— hers?— shirt. “Luka? Could you make it better for me?”

He laughs. “And you call me the insatiable one, little mouse.”

Her eyes sparkle. “Who was the one that jumped me when I was going to go shower after my pool trip with my friends? One look at me in a towel and suddenly my boyfriend’s hands are all on me— sounds pretty insatiable, if you ask me.”

How can she blame him? She has such soft and delicate skin. Everywhere.

He loves touching and feeling her up whenever she lets him and asks him to. Not to even mention her ass— god— he could write so many songs just about it— he likes biting her everywhere he can, and he’s sure he’d done exactly that while sneaking his way into her shower box. Marinette always takes to bruising really well when it comes to him teething at her, she blossoms into hickies whenever he has his mouth on her. Not to even mention just how excited and turned on she was when he’d finally fingered her to completion.

“I don’t believe you were complaining, were you? Besides, I was just giving my girlfriend what she likes the most.”

She snorts and giggles. “And what is that?”

“Word is around here that she really likes Viperion. Has lots of fantasies about him— and, hey, I’m a pretty understanding guy. If my girlfriend wants to call out his name instead of mine, I get it.” He loves it when she laughs this hard— it’s always so much better to hear her laugh than it is to hear her stay quiet and in her thoughts. “It’s a good thing he likes helping out, too. The guy’s taken a real liking to my girlfriend, even though I’ve heard that him and Multimouse are a thing.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” She smiles against his mouth. She’s feeling a lot better now, he can tell, because her hands disappear under his— seriously, hers?— shirt, teasing all of the skin available to her. Her fingers are ticklish against his chest and abs— she’s just as handsy as he is, most of the time.

“Insatiable,” He kisses her before pulling down the covers.

Her sleepshirt is soft and stretchy in his hands, and it’s easy to pull it up enough so he can kiss her stomach and hip at the waistband of her panties. He’s careful with her leg, of course— he doesn’t want to move it, just to make sure the wraps on her ankle don’t come undone by accident. He helps her out of her underwear slowly and gently, pulling the cute panties off so he can get her completely bare.

Such cute underwear. But then again, he’s always a little biased to anything green or blue— and the mint green color is adorable on her pale skin. The cut is cute, too— he doesn’t know enough about women’s underwear styles, but these are a lot cuter on her than he’d imagined. They rest just at her hip, with a pretty little scalloped edge that is just a smidge too Marinette for him to reasonably handle.

But he likes her better naked, of course.

“You’re already this wet?”

“Don’t tease, Luka.” Her hands disappear under her shirt. He doesn’t get to exactly see what she does underneath with her fingers, but it doesn’t take much brainpower to recognize the arching of her back like she always gets whenever he’s pinching at her nipples.

He follows the line she’s made with her body with an appreciating gaze, kissing up and down her thigh so slowly that she makes a frustrated noise. “Awh, don’t be like that, Mousey. Tell me why you’ve soaked through your underwear, I’m curious.”

She groans. “I thought of you the entire time I was in that stupid subway.”

Oh, did she? “No wonder you’ve been so tense today.”

She makes eye contact with him after a little flinch and a little exhale— she must’ve pinched herself just enough to make it count. “I was thinking about what you did to me in the shower. You’re such a glutton, Vai.”

He grins at her. Oh, he loves it when she calls him that. “I’m not so sure about that.”

And gives her what she needs.

He takes his time licking between her legs, even though she’s wet enough that it wouldn’t take much effort at all to slip his fingers into her. He likes this part, personally, even to the point where he shifts his hips down into the mattress to alleviate some of the pressure building at the base of his spine, starting to get desperate himself. It’s always so satisfying to go down on her— the noises she makes are always so attractive, and he loves making her come without much regard to himself. Marinette isn’t loud when she vocalizes her likes and dislikes, but not because she doesn’t want to be— she always hides her mouth behind her hands— and it always feels like a contest.

Today is no exception.

Her ribs heave under her shirt as he licks and licks, swirling his tongue at the place she loves the most. Her sighs are soft and sweet, even as he pulls her good leg up and over his shoulder, burying his face into her cunt as she makes a noise halfway between an exhale and a laugh.

“Who’s the glutton now?”

He makes a humming noise, not exactly interested in answering her question— he’s more in favor of showing. He’s glad to help, after all— pulling noise after noise from her when he licks his way into her, digging his tongue in as far as he can possibly reach. Her hips lift, using his shoulder as an anchor, and she moans— but still, again, it’s so soft and nearly quiet like she doesn’t want anyone to know what they’re up to. Always so considerate of others.

Cute.

By the time he’s got two fingers dipping into her, she’s wound up tight already. He can tell by the way she twitches, how she bites the fleshy part of her thumb— and how she bites harder when he uses his free hand to cup her ass and give her a squeeze. Soft. Soft soft soft.

God, so deliciously soft.

“Luka,” She whispers, trying her absolute hardest to stay quiet as he curls his fingers into her. Her free hand makes it to his hair, brushing it back so sweetly— she’s more cuddly this way, than an actual sexual deviant, like she’s desperate for reassurance. “Please please please?”

He loves it when she starts to beg for more and asks for more physical touch whenever he makes a home between her legs.

“Easy, Mousinette. Take a breath,” He kisses her thighs, liking the way how her thighs get sticky and messy with it. She sucks in a breath at his suggestion, looking at him with her hazy, pretty eyes. “You’re almost there, aren’t you?”

“Yes—” She cuts herself off with a particular sigh that makes him piston his fingers more into her. She reaches down with the hand that was in his hair, gesturing for his hand underneath her to join her. “Could you— oh— please—”

“There you go. That’s it. Come whenever you want, baby girl.” He intertwines his fingers and clasps hands with hers, giving her one last swirl and flattening of his tongue, before he feels her start to come on his fingers.

“Luka—” He doesn’t let up once he recognizes the exhale, or the squirming— especially not when he feels the attractive fluttering of her walls. She squeezes and squeezes, milking his fingers desperately.

He can deal with his erection later. For now, he slowly eases his fingers out of her, and kisses her thigh again when she complains about the loss of his hand between her legs. “How are you feeling, Mousey? Better?”

“Always am when I’m with you. Sex or no sex.” And— oh— if he wasn’t so desperately hard in his boxers, he’d fall in love with her on the spot all over again. She’s always so honest with him— it’s always such a shock, even when he knows that’s just how her personality is. He watches her eyelids struggle to keep open, even as she raises her hands up in an attempt to coerce him to bed— barely clothed, with a sleep shirt that covers nothing except her chest and her shoulders at this point. “Come cuddle? ‘M tired. I want my boyfriend.”

“Probably not a good idea. I’m going to end up dry humping you— I’m so fucking horny.”

“Vai…” It’s so heartbreakingly cute that she tries to be stern even while falling asleep. “Cursing.”

“Sorry,” He laughs, gesturing to himself even though she’s not really looking at him. “I’ll be right back. I should probably go take care of my di— uhm, I mean, this— in your bathroom, and wash my hands too.”

Her face unpinches. “But what about cuddling?”

“I will after I clean you up,” He kisses the lines of her abs— pulling her shirt down enough to get comfortable. “If you fall asleep can I still towel you off? You know I don’t like it when you’re left messy.”

“Always take good care of me.” She mumbles, completely oblivious to the way he hides his steaming face behind his hands. She nods a confirmation, patting the spot next to her. “And then after cleaning come cuddle. Please.”

By the time he’s made himself orgasm while thinking of her, and washed his hands clean of her, and made sure that she’s no longer sticky between the legs— Marinette is still bravely putting up a fight with sleep. He helps her put on some new underwear, making sure that she doesn’t move her ankle as much when he does it— but he’s completely caught by surprise when she pulls him in for a hug— and, honestly— he should know better by now.

He loves it, though.

So much.

AO3 | Start Here To Read The Whole 'Out of The Closet' Series! | Previous Fic in Series | Next Fic in Series

#fragileizyfic #fragileizylukanette #pro lukamari #pro lukanette #viperion #multimouse #fragileizywrites

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patternsintraffic · 3 years

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My 100 Favorite Albums of the 2000s: #70-#61

I'm back with more albums that I love. Listing is fun! Who knew?

70. Rooney - Rooney (2003)

In the days of mp3.com, Rooney was one of the bands that I would stream during my Software Apps class in high school. I probably heard "Blueside" and "I'm Shakin'" a hundred times at barely-audible volume before this album came out. The sunny, bouncy melodies, synths, chord changes, and throwback lyrics are reminiscent of the Beach Boys or The Cars. I just love the carefree feel and youthful energy of this album, and the tunes are great. This is a quintessential California album from a verified California band.

69. Rock Kills Kid - Are You Nervous? (2006)

The only full-length album from Rock Kills Kid was just a few years before its time, which is a damn shame. When bands like Two Door Cinema Club came around in 2010 and captivated the indie rock world, few knew that Rock Kills Kid had been pumping out danceable alt-rock four years prior. "Paralyzed" and "Run Like Hell" should have been the songs of the summer. "Life's a Bitch" should have been a staple of high school mixtapes everywhere. Instead, this was a band that just didn't fit in with the musical climate of 2006 and regrettably fell off the map. At least we'll always have Are You Nervous?

68. Feeder - Pushing the Senses (2005)

Feeder have been a UK rock institution for 27 years now, releasing ten full-length albums over that span, though they’ve never made much of a splash in the States. My favorite Feeder album, Pushing the Senses, strays from the band’s signature guitar-driven power pop for a mid-career foray into the Britpop style popularized by Coldplay and Keane. The band received criticism for chasing the sound of the times, but their take on it felt genuine and sounded amazing. “Tumble and Fall” and “Tender” could stand toe-to-toe with any of the soft-rock output from those aforementioned bands. Feeder even let the guitars loose on “Feeling a Moment” and “Pushing the Senses,” two of the most undeniable singles I’ve ever heard paired on the same album. Coldplay and Keane have never reached such energetic heights.

67. Lifehouse - No Name Face (2000)

Lifehouse have become somewhat of a punchline over the years, as they’ve continued to release pretty standard and inoffensive alternative-rock fare, usually with one or two big singles coming from each album. It seems like most people enjoy a few Lifehouse songs, but no one is really a Lifehouse enthusiast. I think that the band’s best material comes from their 2000 debut No Name Face, and though their output since hasn’t made me into a true Lifehouse fan, I will always go to bat for this album. “Hanging by a Moment,” “Sick Cycle Carousel,” and “Breathing” are the songs most would be familiar with from early-2000s radio, and they are all excellent. There’s nothing particularly fancy about the rest of the album, as the songs don’t need any embellishments to shine. They are organic, earnest, and beautiful, and though I’m sure there’s some nostalgia involved I never regret revisiting them. Lifehouse might be kind of a stale name in music in 2021, but No Name Face shouldn’t be forgotten.

66. Acceptance - Phantoms (2005)

Until reuniting for Colliding by Design in 2017, Phantoms was the only full-length Acceptance album. It's not hard to see why this band continued to grow a cult following during their inactive years, as people tend to want more after an album as good as this one. It had the lyrics for the emo kids, the guitars for the rock kids, and the hooks for the pop kids. It's actually pretty surprising that Acceptance didn't make a mainstream splash in 2005, especially since this album was released on Columbia Records. A lot of that may have been due to the exceptionally poor choice to release "Different" as the first single. It's a great song, don't get me wrong, but there are so many upbeat tunes on this record that would have done a better job catching ears and piquing interest in the band. At least we finally got the follow-up album 12 years later, and the band have remained active since. Sometimes everything turns out OK in the long run.

65. Cursive - The Ugly Organ (2003)

I’m not sure what drew me to The Ugly Organ in 2003, at 15 years old. Listening to it now, it’s brash and angular, and not particularly accessible. I was just starting to stray from the music on rock radio at the time, and I came across “Some Red-Handed Sleight of Hand” and “Art Is Hard” online. I think there was something about the urgency in Tim Kasher’s voice, and the acidic way that he spit out the pointed and sarcastic lyrical content, that left me wanting more. It may be the cover art or the cello that permeates these songs, but something always felt a little creepy about them, like the band were performing in a haunted house. There aren’t many vocalists like Kasher, who seems to meld multiple levels of meaning into each line while drifting effortlessly from gentle singing to yelling to spoken word. This is a good one to dust off around Halloween. What a treat.

64. Long-View - Mercury (2003)

Long-View was a short-lived UK soft sock outfit that released one full-length album, Mercury. Nothing terribly surprising here - it sounds like an early-2000s UK soft rock album in the age of Coldplay and their contemporaries. The music is simple and often quiet, the vocals are smooth, and the tempos are mid. But despite it feeling like one of many on the surface, Mercury is charming and engaging. "Further," "Can't Explain," and "When You Sleep" have great hooks. The lyrics sound personal and conversational, and despite being cliche at times they feel poetic against the backdrop of Long-View's delicate instrumentals. An exemplary take on an oversaturated genre.

63. Augustana - Can't Love, Can't Hurt (2008)

After "Boston" put Augustana on the map in 2005, they traded in their indie rock sound for a set of rootsy, earthy anthems on their sophomore effort Can't Love, Can't Hurt. While the songs still sound like Augustana, there is a more classic, timeless quality to this album that has kept it fresh 13 years after its release. The slow build of "Twenty Years," with its swelling strings and piano leading the charge, was the kind of song I didn't know the band was capable of writing before this album. And "Sweet and Low" has one of the most sublime hooks I've ever heard.

62. Barcelona - Absolutes (2008)

This Seattle indie rock outfit is anchored by pianist and singer Brian Fennell (now of SYML fame). I had never heard of Barcelona prior to this album, and it took me by surprise. Fennell's vocals are captivating, winding through catchy pop melodies while deftly maneuvering from delicate to powerful. They pair with the band's guitar- and piano-driven arrangements to cement Absolutes among the best in the genre. There is a 2007 independent version of this album which is preferred by many who heard it before it was remastered and rereleased with an expanded tracklist in 2008. While I understand being attached to the version of the album you first fell in love with, I just can't agree with the opinion that the album is better without the standout tracks "Come Back When You Can," "Colors," and "The Takers."

61. Kill Hannah - Until There's Nothing Left of Us (2006)

Kill Hannah played anthemic goth-pop that belied their violent-sounding name. Until There's Nothing Left of Us is a triumphant, stadium-ready pop rock record that had the synths, grooves, and hooks to take the radio by storm in the early 2000s. If this album came out two years earlier, Kill Hannah might have been a household name. How did "Lips Like Morphine" not enrapture a generation of high schoolers? This is one of the many albums on this list that had absolutely all of the ingredients, but it somehow didn't add up to musical stardom.

#albums of the decade #best of the 2000s #top100 #countdown #nostalgia trip

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multifandom-girlie · 4 years

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𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠

Imagine requested by @theshyprincess : You take his virginity

Pairing: MG x Vampire!Reader

Warnings: smut

Disclaimer: I am not supporting minor and adult relationships but for the purpose of readers backstory, we are allowing it. Especially considering that is basically what all the shows are about if you think about it. Also I have nothing against MG but I just thought it would be a surprise to not have them dating. Also I thought the idea of the boy being the Virgin is a little more unique considering all stories I've read for this particular request are all girls having their virginity taken, so I thought I'd be different. Also the age of reader isn't completely known to me but I wanted her dating Kol when she was 16 and since they dates for 3 years she must be 19 but I'm not sure if you can stay longer at the Salvatore school unlike normal school. Hope you enjoy !

Since I started the school, Milton's always had a little crush on me but of course me growing up and developing into a women only intensified that crush and here we are. He's not a bad person but I haven't ever seen him in the way he wants me to. But of course he asked me to the back to school dance Lizzie thought would be a good idea to through and of course I couldn't say no. See a few weeks ago, he wouldn't have even dates asking me considering my ex boyfriend is not only and older more intimidating man, not just a vampire but a Mikaelson. Yup, you did hear that right. It wasn't supposed to happen but it did.

See Hope was going home to New Orleans to visit all her family at Christmas around 3 years ago and since I didn't have anywhere to go she invited me. So I went with her met her family and everyone was really nice, but her uncle Kol was particularly nice to me. We were only meant to be staying until the 28th of December and then going back home but Hope was convinced to stay till New Years by her Uncle...Kol. So there we were New Years in New Orleans, drinking champagne. The countdown began, Kol and I were stood in the back and three bottles of champagne had been shared between us both alone. It didn't take long for him to make his move that night, 5 minutes after midnight we were both intoxicated, horny, hot and naked. The amount of times it happened that night, without us giving a care in the world. That was what most of our relationship was like, but I'm afraid it got to careless and he cheated on me with a girl called Davina. He tried apologising but I wasn't hearing any of it, three years down the drain because of lack of loyalty and a bottle of white.

So here we are present day, 20 minutes before the dance and crying into my pillow. Just because I wouldn't hear Kol out doesn't mean the thought of him isn’t heart-wrenching. I pulled away from the pillow, praising myself for using waterproof mascara accidently. I walked to the mirror ran my fingers through my hair, wiped the fresh tears off my face and straightened out my dress. I walked out the door and locked it behind me, walked down the hall and down the stairs to the big hall, where the dance was. I pushed the mahusive brown door away from me and walked into the hall, MG greeted me at the bottom and led me to the middle of the floor.

He grabbed ahold of my waist and hand and started swaying us to the music.

“Look y/n I know that your probably heart-wrenching about breaking up with Kol, so this is the only time I'll mention it but I am sorry. Even if it worked in my favour.”

I looked at him, tears pooling in my eyes. I don’t want to tell him I can't see him that way but I have too eventually, so it might aswell be now.

“MG look. You are the sweetest man I've ever met and your funny and incredibly handsome and any girl would be lucky to have you, but I don't see you like that. I think your amazing but it's going to take me a while for this Kol thing to blow over and I can't give you hope for something to happen when it's more than likely it won't. I appreciate you asking me to the dance and always being there for me but we aren't ever going to date MG, I am sorry.”

He looked down at the ground a gripped me tighter. He looked back into my eyes.

“Eh it was a long shot anyway. It just sucks that you don't feel that way about you, I don't think you quite realise how much I do really like you.”

I smiled slightly and looked him the eyes, I giggled slightly before I spoke.

“What you mean, when you spend hours getting Josie to teach you how to bake everytime I'm upset so you can bring me some food? when you sprain your wrist getting Lizzie to teach you how to dance to impress me? when you sit in your room crying to yourself when you think about me with someone else? when you blackmailed Kaleb into teaching you how to fight property so you could protect me ? I do see all of this Milton and I've tried so hard to feel the same way, it makes me the only girl who wouldn't fall for it. But at the end of the day, would you not rather have me as a really good friend and never lose me or date me, something goes wrong and then we never speak again.”

He had tears in his eyes and he decided to twirle me.

“You saw all that ? I guess I would rather never lose you.”

We looked deeply into each other's eyes and grinned.

“Okay so we can either continue dancing and be boring or go steal Ric's bourbon and Emma's red ?”

He laughed and dragged me out the hall. We snuck into Alaric's office and grabbed the drinks we then took ourselves to Emma's office and stole her brand new, very tasty, expensive bottle of red.

Around 1 hour later, we were waltzing around the halls together with empty bottles in our hands and stumbling into everything around us. We then heard Alaric calling us from round the corner so we opened a cupboard and slotted ourselves in. It was the janitors closet, so I watched through the grates in the door so find Alaric. He was looking around completely clueless and I was silently laughing until I realised how close in proximity me and Milton were. The fact that we were intoxicated probably didn't help. His member swiftly brushed against my behind and turned me on more than I realised. His hands travelled down my waist and his mouth did the same but to my neck. His warm breath fanned on my neck.

“We might be safer in here, away from innocent minds and prying eyes.”

His big soft lips brushed against my neck and my eyes rolled back. I suddenly sobered a little but he wasn't completely with it. I turned around so we were facing eachother and his member was definetely an important factor in the conversation now.

“Milton, honey... have you ever done this before ?”

He shook his head and still continued his movements. Points to the guy for confidence, seriously. I mean what's the worst that could happen, I can't get pregnant because I'm a vampire and he's drunk anyway so he wont't remember that it even happened. I'm still not entirely sure I will yet.

I lifted my dress up and kissed him roughly.

OUTFIT

He pulled away from the kiss.

“Wait stop. Just before we do this... you looked really beautiful tonight.”

I smiled at him in awe and kissed him again.

“Thankyou Milton.”

I ripped the buttons of his shirt and kissed down his chest down to the waistband. He started breathing really heavily.

“Milton, calm down.”

He nodded and slowed his breathing. I smiled and undid his belt and slipped his trousers down. His buldge prominent through his black boxers. I used my hand to stroke his clothed member whilst placing little kisses around his man region. His eyes started to close with pleasure so I ripped his boxers off and flicked my tounge out to collect the pre cum dripping from his tip. His breathing started to quicken as I took his whole cock into my and swirled my tounge around it as I did. His tip collided with the back of my throat and already his dick was already throbbing. I jumped back up before he came and I kissed him passionately. He grabbed my throat and pinned me against the wall.

“I’m okay with teasing but that was too far. Let's see how you like it.”

He lifted me up and ripped my panties off. He held me on the wall and thrusted his cock into me with no warning. It was a very surprising gift. He kept doing it until I was just about to cum, he pulled out and kissed me. We made out for a couple of minutes and he then lifted me higher and stuck his face in between my legs and stuck his tounge straight into my entrance. I was nearly at my peak again when he pulled away.

“Okay Milton, I've learned my lesson. Just please let me come.”

He lowered me into his dick once again and my orgasm was fast approaching. As soon as he's finished his fourth thrust, I released all over his cock. Squirting into his stomach and my legs. He started to rub my clit and I squirted even more. I couldn't handle the pleasure. It was overstimulation at it's finest.

I jumped down with a grin on my face and pulled my dress back over my head. Milton was putting his suit back on before he spoke up.

“The no panties thing was lucky wasn’t it. It's like you knew it was going to happen.”

I laughed and shook my head, I opened the door.

“Don’t get to cocky Milton. It wasn't for you Kol was meant to be coming tonight and whether I forgave him or not, I've been super horny all day. I needed some release and I knew he would give it to me.”

He laughed with me and he walked me back to my room, where there was a surprise waiting for me.

“Kol?!”

He looked at me in horror and walked into my room slamming the door behind him.

“Milton thank you for tonight, it was great. But I need to make sure he doesn't go rouge.”

He smiled and I left him alone. I walked into my room and I'm telling you, i'm dead meat.

Tags: @akshi8278 @theshyprincess

MASTERLIST

#milton greasley #Kol mikaelson #hope mikaelson #mikaelsons #NewOrleans #alaric saltzman #lizzie saltzman #josie saltzman #kaleb #the vampire diaries #the originals #legacies imagine #Legacies #imagines

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carewyncromwell · 4 years

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Hello :).

So.. Can i get some Headcanons for both Jacob and Carewyn cromwell about "How would they react when they see a random little kid crying and how would they handle it"?.

And, "What kind of their music taste like? Rock? Pop? Orchestral? Etc..".

Then, "Which muggle sports the most appealing in their eyes and do they want to try it too or nah?".

Last, "The most awkward/don't know what to do if someone confessed to them (Romantically)".

Ah, sorry for this 😅. Hope you have a great day! Don't forget to smile 💙 :)

Oh my gosh! So many lovely questions about my precious Cromwell kiddos!! Thank you for the good wishes, as well -- I’m feeling a lot better today, and the support really does mean a lot. *virtual hug* <3

All right! Let me see here...Carey and Jay!

"How would they react when they see a random little kid crying and how would they handle it?”

Carewyn: Immediately get down on their level and try to comfort them and figure out what was wrong! Carewyn is the ultimate Mama Bear.

Jacob: At first he’d probably assume the kid’s just throwing a tantrum or something and ignore it. If the kid was alone and/or in visible distress, though, he’d probably look around for the parents. If he doesn’t see them, he’d then try to see if the kid was lost and help find them.

"What kind of their music taste like? Rock? Pop? Orchestral? Etc..”

Hahahaha, okay, Carewyn and Jacob’s music tastes are completely antithetical to their respective “images,” so this is a particularly good question.

Carewyn: “Little Miss Perfect” is all about the rock and roll, baby! Her favorite band is the Eurythmics, but she’s also a huge fan of artists like Queen, AC/DC, Elton John, and Michael Jackson among others, and of course she adores the Weird Sisters. Carey-Bear actually really enjoys rocking out to the hard stuff with Tonks, Charlie, and Carson Ivey @ariparri.

Jacob: The eccentric, grungy, cocky magical prodigy known as Jacob Cromwell likes a lot of chiller and/or cheerful 60′s and 70′s folk and pop music, such as Don McLean, the Osmonds, and Olivia Newton-John, but his ultimate guilty pleasure is ABBA. If you put on Dancing Queen, Take a Chance on Me, or especially his favorite song Mama Mia!, Jacob will be almost physically unable to not dance and sing along.

Both of them are also incredibly fond of singing Christmas carols with their mother Lane! When Carewyn and Jacob were young, the three Cromwells used to go caroling with a group from the Muggle church down the road from their house every year.

"Which muggle sports the most appealing in their eyes and do they want to try it too or nah?"

Carewyn: Carewyn’s much more into watching and playing Quidditch than any Muggle sports, but she does find figure skating competitions a lot of fun to watch! She thinks the talent of the competitors is incredible and their routines are very artistic and pretty too.

Jacob: Jacob’s even less of a sports person than his sister, unfortunately, so watching and playing sports of any type isn’t really his jam. He’s honestly way more of a scholar than a jock.

"The most awkward/don't know what to do if someone confessed to them (Romantically)"

Carewyn: Oh boy. Please don’t confess to this poor child unless you know for sure she feels the same way -- otherwise she will hate herself FOREVER knowing that she can’t be what you want her to be. Carewyn has a lot of self loathing as it is and constantly feels like she’s never good enough for anyone she does feel for, so if she doesn’t feel the same way for you, she’ll resent herself so much for hurting you, even if it’s totally not her fault. There have been a few times Carewyn’s gotten valentines from secret admirers in the past, many of whom she never learned the identities of, and she hated receiving them because she hated the thought both of someone liking her who she didn’t like back and of someone claiming romantic feelings when they probably didn’t even know her very well. (Most of those secret admirers maaaay or may not have been kind of “headed off” by some of Carey’s buddies and told to cease and desist, so as not to get their hearts broken and not upset Carewyn further. *cough*TulipTonksandCharlie*cough*)

Jacob: *snorts* Um...Jacob is an absolute idiot when it comes to people, and that includes romance. There are plenty of times my poor disaster bi boy has had a crush on someone, but it took someone else explicitly bringing up his weird behavior around the person or asking him if he felt something special for Jacob to even realize he had a crush in the first place. Admittedly Jacob’s reckless overconfidence, genius intellect, and risky escapades regarding the Cursed Vaults tended to ward a lot of his classmates off, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have any admirers at school. The few people who were actually brave and foolish enough to try to make any romantic advances toward Jacob, however, had to deal with his boy best friend Duncan Ashe, who did NOT approve of just about anyone who might want to date Jacob. Sometimes Duncan would stand back and let them ask if he knew Jacob wasn’t particularly interested, since it was funny to watch those people comically hit the wonderfully book-smart, people-dumb brick wall that was Jacob Cromwell -- but from time to time, Duncan would also hide a love note sent Jacob’s way, partially to “protect” Jacob and partially out of pure jealousy. Often those notes were from people that Duncan acknowledged could be attractive in some way to Jacob (i.e. physically), but Duncan just didn’t trust them around Jacob for whatever reason, whether because he didn’t like them as people or they had a reputation for playing with people’s hearts. Duncan was never able to admit his own feelings for Jacob before his death out of his own pride, and Jacob didn’t ever acknowledge the feelings he’d subconsciously been nurturing for Duncan until after his death, and that’s a rather sore spot for both of them.

Send me one of my characters, I’ll give you a headcanon!

#headcanon ask #carewyn cromwell #jacob cromwell #about carewyn #about jacob #duncan ashe #lane cromwell #charlie weasley #nymphadora tonks #tulip karasu #carson ivey

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rheawritessometimes · 3 years

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Hello! Congratulations on 250 followers! If it's still open may I get a matchup? <3 I would like a male romantic matchup with the adult characters!

I'm a leo, an infp who when you first meet me is very reserved and quiet. Hogwarts house is Ravenclaw if that helps! I am quite shy and prefer to keep to myself mostly when around strangers. I do take a liking to people easily and when I do it helps with warming up to them! Whenever I'm comfortable with someone, I'm more talkative and more vocal about my interests. I really enjoy talking about things I'm interested in and love doing! I am a family person who loves my family dearly! They mean absolutely every to me and I would do anyway for them! I only have one younger brothers who I enjoy teasing~ I can be very chaotic when I want to be...especially with close friends and family members! I don't have a great sense of humor...if anything my humor is actually quite dark haha- I'm also a workaholic! I strive to do my best and reach as many expectations thrown at me as possible, especially if they’re from my family. I get most A's in school with the occasional B's..Although I stress myself out fairly easily and usually very often. I tend to bottle up my emotions instead of letting them out, one of the reasons are that I don't know how to express myself properly. I would also say I am quite friendly and kind!

I'm an artist and writer who does both things as a hobby and stress reliever. I enjoy creating stories and OCs! I know how to play the piano and guitar, been playing ever since I was young! I'm also a ballerina, which I also started learning at a very young age. I really enjoy music, I listen to all kinds of songs. I would eat anything given to me but I do particularly like cold things and seafood. I also prefer the cold weather over the hot weather, I always feel sick easily in hot weather. I also absolutely have a fear of the dark and clowns...I hate bugs too, they freak me out

Thank you so much for taking the time to read all this and maybe doing my request! Please take care! I hope you have a lovely day!! <3

I match you with...

Childe!

It’s okay that you’re shy because Childe is outgoing enough for both of you! He was probably the one to start talking to you first. Perhaps a result of him doing something reckless, like casually trying to destroy Liyue, and bumping into you or something.

Enjoys the way you progressively open up to him, getting closer feels like an accomplishment. Possibly the reason he started getting to know you, determined to get you to open up to him.

We all know Childe is a family man. The lengths he goes to for his family, just… Sharing stories about your families with him is the best. He probably really wants you to meet his family and in return also wants to meet yours!

If you can be chaotic with him it will always be fun, but Childe can be a bit extreme. His energy is almost boundless, good luck keeping up once he really gets going.

Childe would probably appreciate a darker sense of humor. I’m pretty sure he’s killed people, so…

This man finds ambition so attractive. He finds your drive and accomplishments admirable and he’s not afraid to tell you.

Childe is pretty supportive, so don’t be afraid to rely on him emotionally if you need to. He won’t pressure you to say anything, but he’ll be there if you decide you want his support.

He thinks you’re so talented, 100% brags about it to other people. “My s/o can dance, play instruments, AND is artistic.” If you give him any art he will cherish it. Makes him so soft.

Oh, you like the cold? Move to Snezhnaya with him.

Childe may be a bit of a clown himself but he will protect you from bugs and try to reassure you about your other fears.

Childe was so proud of himself. Today he had gone out fishing and he was going to make dinner with fresh fish before you came home. He was so looking forward to impressing you.

The Harbinger was usually a good cook, and he’s not really sure what exactly went wrong. But when you walked in the door and saw smoke coming from the kitchen accompanied by the distinct smell of burning, he knew he absolutely could not let you witness his plunder. So, he came out of the kitchen before you could see in and flashed a bright smile.

“Hey, welcome home. Are you hungry? I was thinking we go to Liuli Pavilion for dinner,” he said, already moving to usher you out of your shared home to go get an edible meal.

#.rhea mail #genshin impact #genshin matchups #childe #once again #it's not because of the picture #childe would just be their best match #BUT #i was conflicted for a little while #between childe and kaeya #but childe won out

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soft-ris · 4 years

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CP - 👽 - Hey! Congrats on 200! I am 5'3 with short hair. I like to draw, write and play video games but what I love most is reading. I am a very quiet person, I usually only speak up when talked to. I stay away from drama and other conflicts as much as I can. I like dark humor (not offensive humor), I can be funny at times. It's easy to upset or anger me, I don't have very good control over my emotions. I like to have space and enjoy silence / music. My favs are Abbacchio, Prosci and Ghia!

Cupid’s Pick for your match made in heaven is...

... Abbacchio!

———————————————————————

I am a very quiet person, I usually only speak up when talked to.

Abbacchio doesn’t look like he talks that much to begin with IMO. So he quite enjoys that he doesn’t have to try to keep up a conversation with you or try to think of ways to start a conversation. Y’all can just vibe together in peace, and that tranquility is what he needs more in his life (what with all the chaos that he is exposed to with the gang). So I can see him doing very well with this trait of yours.

Not necessarily a bad thing in Prosciutto’s eyes because I would think he’d find your quietness quite relaxing, and I can see Ghia being fine with this too since he’s more of a talker anyways. But I think between these 3 guys, Abbacchio would mix well with it the best.

I like to have space and enjoy silence / music.

Abbacchio enjoys music, very obviously with his headphones always on, so I think a staple bonding and date activity would be listening to music together in silence. Introducing each other to different genres, pointing out your favorite songs in each album. And then off to doing your own things while the music continues playing. Y’all have your own space, but you’re still with each other, ya know? Something about this that’s so chill and non-intrusive that Abbacchio can’t help but enjoy and look forward to. It’s his little piece of peace with you in the chaotic, shitty world he lives in.

It's easy to upset or anger me, I don't have very good control over my emotions.

All three of them have a crude mouth. There’s no way around it, it’s just how they are.

Ghia himself already has a short-temper and anger issues. I feel like he isn’t above riling you up when you’re upset at him because I think he doesn’t have that good of a control over his own emotions as well. He’ll try because he loves and respects you, but it won’t be pretty if you two really get into it I feel. The two of you will have to learn control and boundaries together IMO, which is great way to bond and grow together as a couple and as individuals if y’all are able to push through for each other.

Prosciutto has a sharp tongue. If he says something that crosses the line without any fault on your part, he’d try to make it up to you somehow. But if it’s because he feels that you did something wrong, he’ll hound on you until you can see his point of view and until you improve on it. If you snap back at him and hold your ground, he’d be impressed, but he’d still be angry (even more so than before) until you both run out of steam. And like with Ghia, I think y’all would need to learn control and boundaries.

Of the three, I think Abbacchio would upset you the least? Sure, his words and attitude can be grating, but if he’s dating you, he’s gonna be softer with you. He won’t be intentionally pissing you off imo. If you’re upset or angry at him for something he did, he’ll get angry too, but his anger steams off quick because he dislikes it when you’re feeling like this because of him. You would also have to know by now when his tone is ‘normal’ and when it’s ‘pissed’. So when he’s actually pissed and you get angry at that, he’ll get even more angry and one of you have to cool off quick because you’re his happy place and he hates that the both of you are in this situation.

I like dark humor (not offensive humor), I can be funny at times.

Abbacchio’s quite the serious person, so I don’t think he would actively make dark jokes, but because of the nature of his occupation and his personality, the offhand and snarky shit he would say may be right up your alley. And when he realises that he has made you laugh or realise that you think he’s funny, he gets kinda happy about that (on the inside, on the outside he’d probably sport a little smirk) (may also have boosted his self-confidence, which is a very good plus).

I like to draw, write and play video games but what I love most is reading.

Very chill interests, which matches up well with Abbacchio’s own (listening to music, visiting ruins, and drinking). Y’all can just indulge in your own interests separately in the same space. If you draw or write something and gift it to him, he’d keep it a very secure place and look at it whenever he feels particularly shitty.

Prosciutto thinks well of your artistic hobbies. He also looks like the very educated and knowledgeable type, especially in terms of books. So he would have a discourse with you if he knows of the book. But I don’t see him indulging you in your video games much, he’ll just leave you be.

Ghia, I think, likes reading? He has all those facts and information in his head, so he had to have gotten them somewhere right? He would most probably read with you if he finds the synopsis interesting, but then would sound off at anything inconsistent or false or illogical he finds in the book.

I stay away from drama and other conflicts as much as I can.

All 3 of them attract lots of conflicts imo?

Ghia has a short temper and shouts quite a lot, Prosciutto has a sharp tongue and a ruthlessness about him, and Abbacchio can create conflict and drama if he wants to, but I think out of the 3, Abba won’t be involving you in them when he does. He’s quite serious and would take your comfort into consideration if he’s dating you, so if you tell him you’re not comfortable with such things, he’ll put in an effort to not involve you and sorta become your shield. If someone is starting something with you, he’d be the one who would try to turn the person’s anger onto himself by insulting the shit out of them.

I feel like Prosciutto chew the person out (and the chide you on how you should fight back and stand up for yourself more), and Ghia would unintentionally end up with the same result as Abba (changing the person’s anger onto him) because he’d already be yelling at the person to back the fuck off lol

#abbacchio #leone abbacchio #jjba #jojo #jojo’s bizarre adventure #golden wind #vento aureo #cupids_pick

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leelee10898 · 5 years

Text

Fast cars & Freedom: Drunk last night (7/?)

Summary: The gang celebrates a very Belated birthday for Ellie. A little alcohol makes some secrets come out. And ellie drops a bomb on one of the guys.

Pairing: Ellie x Logan, Ellie x Colt

Rating: Mature

Catch up here.. and as always if you would like added to the tags.. lemme know

Song inspiration:

Over the next couple weeks Ellie and Luca spent A lot of time with both colt and Logan together and separate. Each forming a Bond with her. She knew both men wanted to have some kind of role in her life, as dad or an uncle. They decided to schedule the Paternity test, all 3 ready to know. Luca had a month left before school started, Ellie was adamant about showing here around parts of California, places that meant something to her growing up there. Logan planned for them to a race, see the track and meet the drivers. Colt planned a barbecue at his house for them, and so that Luca could meet Toby and ximena. And all 4 of them were going to the san diego zoo.

It was a Wednesday night, Ellie and Riya had their reoccurring girls night with Luca, while Darius kept Marcus. They would have dinner, paint nails and once Luca went to bed talk about everything they couldn't in front of the kids. On this particular night Riya was acting odd, constantly looking out the windows checking her phone. Ellie started to have a panic attack, the feeling took her back to running from the brotherhood. The doorbell rang, making her damn near jump out of her skin.

She walked over to the door with a shaky hand she turned the knob to see a girl standing there. “Stacie? Oh my god, what are you doing here?” Ellie threw her arms around the girl “I just moved here about two weeks ago and Riya invited me over. Ellie eyed her best friend “What are you up to?” Riya shrugged “Oh nothing. Ok don't get mad.” Ellie threw her hands up in the air “Oh god, what did you do now?”

“Don't get mad at me,” Stacie interrupted “I was talking to Riya about your birthday, and how you haven't celebrated one in 6 years.”

Riya stepped in “So we want to go out and celebrate your birthday a few months late. This Friday night.” Ellie grinned “You guys really?” she hugged them both “But I can't. I have Luca.” Riya shook her head “Nope. Already taken care of. Your dad is keeping Luca. My parents are in, they are keeping Marcus for Dare and I.”

This would be the first birthday that she got to celebrate since she turned 18. Back when the path of her life took a sharp left. They spent the rest of their night chatting before the two women headed home.

That Friday night Ellie, Stacie, Riya and Marcus walked into the hopping club, they were lead back to a private area where Logan stood a broad smile on his face. “Happy birthday, Troublemaker.” He pulled her into a huge, placing a soft kiss on her cheek. “Logan, you know its not really my birthday.”

“I know. But, we're making up for lost time. Just go with it.”

“Logan, you already know Darius and riya,” they said their hellos. “This is my friend Stacie from Langston.” stacie reached her hand out, Logan shook it “So you must be the notorious Logan I've heard so much about.” Logan cocked his brow at Ellie. “Hopefully all good things.” he smirked.

Ellie watched the interaction between the two, a hint of jealousy twinged in her chest.

Her eyes locked with a set of Dark ones standing at the VIP entrance. “Colt?”

“Dont look so surprised, Riya invited us.” She gave him a confused look just as Ximena and Toby came in. “You guys all came?” She grinned, she was excited to hang out with them and then she spotted someone standing off to the side. “Mona? Is that mona?” Colt shook his head. “Oh my God what are you doing here?” she wrapped her in a hug. “Good to see you too.” she could see a small smile threaten to break through her tough girl demeanor.

They all sat around the huge plush couches, a waitress bringing their drinks over. She found out Mona had gotten out of jail after spending 2 years in there. She headed east, but couldn't find a crew to settle in with. She came back to California and Colt gave her a job. After a few drinks ellie was feeling pretty giggly. She never drank more then a ritual cup of wine or two after a long week, or a particularly rough day. Colt looked over at her as she downed another shot. “You should probably slow down, you're gonna end up getting sick.” she rolled her eyes. “I'm fine thanks.”

Riya and Darius were off on the dance floor, Toby and colt were talking by the bar.“Is that bothering you?” Mona motioned to where Logan was talking to stacie. “No. Yes. I don't know.” Ellie sighed. “Feels like the old day, huh X.” Mona let out a loud chuckle. “How so?” Ellie furrowed her brow. “Oh sweetie, you're staring at Logan while Colt cant take his eyes off of you.” Ximena placed a comforting hand on her. “Colts not starting. Hes talking to Toby.”

She motioned to the two seemingly deep in conversation. “He may be talking. but his focus is on you.”

Ellie flicked her eyes up momentarily, sure enough locking with his deep browns. She could feel the heat filling her cheeks. “I need another drink.” she motioned for the waitress.

After a few drinks she decided to walk up to the bar where Colt had seemingly taken up residency. “So what, you just gonna ignore me all night?” her words came out with much more attitude than anticipated. Colt arched his brow “I'm not ignoring you.” Ellie slid up next to him, her side pressed against his. She placed her hands on the bar as if she were holding herself up and cocked her head to the sidez a mischievous smirk spread across her face. “What are you up to?” Colt cocked his brow at her. “Noooothing.” She giggled as she bit her lower lip. “ What do you say we sneak off to the bathroom and, you know.” She gently rubbed his arm. “Ellie..”

“Is something wrong? You don't. You don't want me?” her bottom lip began to quiver. “God No. No. Its not that. Its,” He ran his hand down his face “Jesus I cant believe im about to say this but. Ellie you're pretty drunk. And as much as I would love nothing to make you moan my name. I don't want to do that in some nasty ass bar bathroom.” He squeezed her hand. She pulled away, angry. “Whatever Colt. You could have just told me you thought I was gross.” She sneered walking away, disappearing into the crowd.

She found a corner away from everyone, she watched the people dancing on the floor, lost in thought.

“Enjoying yourself?” the deep voice pulling her from her drunken zone out. “Logan, Hi. Soooo kind of you to come talk to me.” she rolled her eyes. “Ok? Hey how about a dance?” He held his hand out for her. She took it stumbling as she stepped forward, breaking out in a cackle. “you alright?”

“Yuuup. Lets do this.” she followed him to the dance floor, wrapping her arms around him grinding her body against his. “Do you miss this?” She purred in his ear. “I'll always miss you ellie. But you're here now.”

She caught glimpse of Colt standing on the balcony, she could see his white knuckle grip on the railing from across the room. A thrill Rising inside of her.

She was still mad at him for leaving her behind all those years ago. She understood Logan's reasoning but colt? He could have went with her or he could have taken her with him. They were married, you don't just leave your wife behind. And she was even more pissed he turned her down. In her drunken state she could really care less for being mature about it.

Colts gaze was setting her on fire, a smirk played on her lips. She turned around, her back side pressed against Logan's chest, she laid her head against it. Letting the rhythm of the music fuel her movements as Logans hands gripped her sides. “We shouldn't do this El. God you feel so good though.” Logan's voice hoarse in her ear. She continued to grind against him, she locked eyes on Colt who looked as if he was going to rip the railing right off.

She shrugged him off, she was a grown woman who made her own choices. She didnt have to answer to anyone, especially not Colt Kaneko. She turned to face Logan, now completely in the moment. His hands crept up and down her sides, sending a pleasant warmth throughout her. It had been far to long since she had felt the strong hands of a man. “Kiss me colt.” she breathed out just inches from Logans lips. “Colt?” He pulled back, just as Colt pulled at her wrist. “Thats enough Ellie.”

She looked between the two, her head spinning. Did she really just call Logan Colt?

“We need to talk Ellie, alone.” Logan stared at her “She's not going anywhere with you. I think its time to go Ellie.” Colt snapped. “You dont have a claim on her Kaneko, who the hell do you think you are?” Logan stood his full height against him, colt easily matching him. “See pretty boy thats where you're wrong,” Colts lips twisted in a devilish smirk. “I think its time my wife went home.” Logans eyes went wide. “You're fucking lying.” He turned to Ellie, desperately searching her eyes “Hes lying right? Tell me hes lying Ellie.” Colts wicked smirk grew wider “Go on Mrs Kaneko. Tell him.”

Ellie looked between the two, her stomach churning, panic set in. “I. I. I think im gonna..” she leaned down puking all over Colts feet.

Logan let out a wild laugh “Well, I'll let you handle that.” Colt rolled his eyes as he walked away. “Come on El. Let's get you home.” Ellie started to walk losing her balance, colt grabbed ahold of her steadying her. He picked her up bridal style walking towards the exit. “Whats going on?” ximena question, and then looked down noticing the puke all over his legs and shoes. “Can you take ellie to her house? I'll follow you.” Ximena nodded. Colt laid ellie down in the back seat of Ximenas suv. “where are we going?” She moaned, her stomach churing. “were taking you home.” Ellie tried to sit up, panic written all over her face. “NO. My dad will kill me.” colt shook his head and chuckled “You're 25 years old Ellie, pretty sure he wont.”

They pulled up to her house, colt grabbing her from the car carrying her to the door. He rang the doorbell, nervously awaiting her father to answer. He had never formally met him, and he wasn't sure just how he would act but he wouldn't worry about that now. His only concern was getting Ellie home safely and into her own bed.

A few minutes later her father answered the door. His eyes widened at the sight “What happened?” he moved aside letting colt in. “She drank to much. I just wanted to.make sure she got home safe.”

“Hiiii Daddy.” Ellie groaned softly.

Her dad pointed him to her room, Colt got her inside laying her on the bed where Ellie started pulling off her dress. “wheres your pajamas.” He asked heading towards her dresser. “Hey! You'll see my underwear.” Ellie giggled.

“I've seen your underwear before, and you're in them right now.” He snorted as he rifled through her drawers. He found a tshirt and pulled it over her head. “Now. get some sleep.” He turned to walk away, Ellie already sound asleep. He walked out into the living room where her father stood. “Well, shes alseep. Sorry for bringing her home in that condition, I tried to tell her to slow down but, you know how she gets when she sets her mind to something.” Ellies dad chuckled “Yeah. I do.” he looked down at Colts legs, seeing the colorful stain of Ellies vomit.

“She ah. Puked on me.” he gave a nervous chuckle. “I figured that. Why dont we get your shoes cleaned up. I got a pair of sweat you can change into. We can wash your clothes, but its probably best you stay over.” Colt tried to argue but his words fell short. Her dad came back and handed him a pair of sweats and pointed him towards the bathroom. He gave him a blanket and pillow and Colt laid down, his mind going a mile a minute.

Just 6 years ago her father was investigating his father and the crew, and now he was laying in his house while ellie and Luca slept upstairs.

He woke the next morning to the smell of fresh coffee filling the air. He sat up from the couch looking towards the kitchen. “Morning Colt. Come get some coffee.” Colt stood, wiping the sleep from his eyes, he grabbed a mug and poured a cup, sitting at the table with her dad. “Thanks Mr Martin.”

“You're welcome, but its Frank. Call me Frank.” Colt nodded, the sides of his lips slightly pulling up. “So Colt, Can I ask you. what are your intentions with my daughter and granddaughter if you are her father?” Frank cut right to the chase catching him off guard.

“Well Frank, I do not have a doubt in my mind that Luca is mine. And as far as Ellie,” He collected his thoughts “As far as Ellie,I still love her. And if she would have me, I would like nothing more then to spend the rest of my life taking care of them both.” Frank sipped his coffee, nodding his head. “You know, I believe you. But what makes you so sure that Luca is yours?” colt sat his coffee cup down “Call it intuition. I just have a feeling and usually my feelings are right.”

They were interrupted by the sounds off footsteps coming down the stairs. “Morning sunshine.” Frank smirked Ellie groaned as she mindlessly made her way to the coffe pot, pouring a cup of coffee. She sat down at the table her eyes instantly locking with Colts. “what are you doing here so early?”

“I'll give you two a minute.” Frank got up and went up to his room.

“Your dad let me stay over. I wanted to make sure you were ok.” He smirked. Ellies eyes snapped shut remembering the nights events. “Oh god. I puked on you.”

“You did. But your dad tossed my stuff in the wash. It's all good.”

“Colt. You told Logan. Why did you do that?”

“I can't stand how he walks around so smug all the time. Like he's better because he is a semi famous race car driver now.” He scoffed.

“Colt. He isn't better than you. You aren't better than him. You guys have got to stop this pissing contest, its been 6 years. Thats a long ass piss.” she giggled, causing colt to chuckle. “Yeah, maybe you're right.”

“We do need to talk about it though. I was under the impression that you got the annulment Colt. Why,” She took a deep breath “Why didnt you?”

“Because When I asked you to marry me, it wasnt because we were under the stress of the what ifs.”

“Colt..”

“Dont. I don't need to hear it.”

“We were just so young. And were practically strangers now, its just. I think its better if we.”

“If we what?” He cocked his brow

“I think it's best if we get a divorce.” the words came out so rushed she barely understood them herself. But the look of absolute hurt on his face told her that he understood every word.

“You never gave us a chance. And now you're back, with my daughter and you want a divorce? Ellie we could be a family. You won't even try?”

“Colt. im sorry. Im not saying that nothing could ever happen with us. But if it does, I want to start fresh.” She didn't try to correct him about being Ellie's father, he was hell bent on it and it would just add insult to injury.

Colt stood up Grabbing his eyes from the coffee table. “You night now believe it yet Ellie, but I'm going to prove to you that we belong together. Do what you gotta do." he walked to the door, pausing for a minute. "You know they say a drunk persons actions are a sober persons thoughts. And last night, told me alot.kore then you're letting on." He closed the door behind him. She heard his motorcycle start up and take off down the street.

She knew he was sort of right. She never did fully get over either of them. But she couldnt throw herself into a relationship with one of them, not right away. She had Luca to think about afterall.

She pulled out her phone finding Logans number. She sent him a text, telling him she was sorry. A few minutes later she received a text back saying “I need some time. I will call u when im ready to talk.”

She had only been back a short time, but oh what a tangled web she had weaved.

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