#for now it's back to the little sketchbook a friend put together for me

[starfolk7]

Gnawing at my enclosure because I wanna draw Charlotte so badly but that requires energy and a pencil I can't find hhhhhhh

[cheesecakezyum]

HII;!! (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)/ I'm not sure if you'll take this but can I request a Sun Wukong ofcourze :) where MK and the gang are stalking him cause he's acting weird but is actually just happy his s/o is back from their travels and he's all lovey-dovey over them thank you! (Not a one shot but over all just headcanons plzz ☺️)

Hello there anon! Thank you for such a cute request <3

While I do love my headcanons I hope you don’t mind a bit of predetermined context as to why the reader left at first!

Missed you more than you know.

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♡ - It’s not like you wanted to leave your friends (Leaning more towards found family at this point really), but you wanted to pursue your own goals! And he— well, your lover.. Couldn’t just up and leave with you. He had to attend to his own duties as a mentor!

♡ - Since you were little, you’ve always wanted to travel. You were an artist, and your goal was to draw as much fauna as you could in your quite short life. Wukong had helped you a ton— especially while he was courting you! His gifts were often messily put together flowers and saplings, right at your window! At some point, your small apartment was your own personal nursery.

♡ - But he couldn’t just give everything to you and call your dreams off. You wanted to actually see fauna thriving under the hands of Mother Nature! To not just sketch the specimen but the surroundings as well, the wildlife. You grew warm and fuzzy just thinking of it.

♡ - So after a full year of preparation, you had finally taken your long awaited leave in pursuit of your dreams; Giving your simian one last kiss, you bid him goodbye. The way in which his tail was securely wrapped around your wrist slowly softened in defeat as you turned away.

You knew that if you looked back, you’d never be able to leave.

♡ - Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months. Romania, Italy, Croatia— and so many other destinations had been just what you’ve been dreaming of. Europe was just as beautiful as you’ve read! If not more so. And one sketchbook had grown to 3, 4 if you cared to count the pages which were half filled.

♡ - And every night (At least every night where he wasn’t busy himself), Wukong would telepathically communicate with you! You just called it spiritual face time and chose to call it a day.

♡ - While you’d ramble about whatever interesting interactions or discoveries you’ve made, Wukong would keep you updated on how everyone was doing. An improvement in MK’s technique, Mei fixing up a new scooter she had found, etc.

♡ - And every night, after you’ve wished each other good night— he’d never forget to mention just how empty flower fruit mountain felt without you.

“I love you,”

“I miss you more every day you’re gone,”

“Your warmth, that laugh, the way your cheeks brighten at my cheesy comments.”

“I wish you were here with me right now. Heh, everyone does.”

♡ - After what felt like an eternity; you were more than satisfied with your work and began heading home! You couldn’t wait to tell him in person everything you’ve accomplished, and just how satisfied you were with your numerous sketches, watercolors, and inked works you’d soon frame all over your abode in remembrance.

♡ - Walking into your apartment for the first time in ages made your heart soar the minute you saw what surrounded you.

Your flowers, shrubbery, and plants had all been taken care of to near perfection. Not a single vine or leaf had wilted since your departure.

♡ - Your partner had tenderly cared for each of your greenery with such pristine care that you thought they even looked better than they had before— blooming bright and beautifully even when it wasn’t in season.

♡ - It seemed like you weren’t alone in the apartment as well, turning your head to see the Monkey King himself finishing up watering your pitcher plants.

♡ - And making eye contact, you noticed the way his jaw hung slack— as if he was being delusional and you were simply a figment of his imagination.

—

“Hey, hey, don’t overwater it! It’s spilling all over the floor!” You had urgently exclaimed, rushing over to snatch the watering can from his gentle hold and place it on a flat surface.

(It was a ceramic white duck, by far one of your favorites out of the many which were just stashed away in your closet.)

A puddle seemed to have already been made in between you two— but you couldn’t help but giggle in his obvious stupor.

Wukong’s voice was seemingly breathless, speaking in almost a whisper.

“You’re back, for real?”

Before you could even muster a response, you found yourself lifted in the air— then back in his loving embrace.

“I am, Wukong. I’m back.”

—

♡ - A week had passed, and within it you were more than happy to tell him and everyone else about your travels / experiences. It was practically expected— being gone for so long only leaving so much room for stories to tell.

♡ - What wasn’t expected, however, was the absolute clinginess of Wukong since your return. He hadn’t left your side once if it was in his control. Training and personal duties aside, you never spent more than 10 minutes of free time without being interrupted by his boisterous nature.

“Honey, I’m home!”

♡ - Once, you had to go into the shopping district for produce. The fruits had seemed especially delicious! You couldn’t leave without your mate however, as he had chosen to shape himself into a butterfly just to inspect what you were buying. Totally just that, not like it was anything else!

♡ - You’ve even caught MK and Mei sneaking around you at times where you thought it was just you and Wukong. Not that you could blame them, though. Anyone would be interested if they knew the great sage couldn’t get enough of you, being around you, all that mumbo jumbo.

♡ - Nights were spent either in your own bedroom or on the floor of his shack, coddled by both him and the many other monkeys which called Flower Fruit Mountain your home.

—

It was the same as always; tail curled around you ankle, an arm snaked around your waist and his soft breathing muffled into your hair.

You whispered into the darkness of your room—

“Did you really miss me that much?”

You didn’t expect an answer so quick to come from his mouth.

“More than you know.”

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EEEE IT FEELS GOOD TO WRITE AGAIN! Besides planning of course. I hope you enjoyed!

[mkkk12345]

Student Crewel x Reader headcanon/fic

This is set when Crewel was still a student at NRC, reader is a first year and Crewel is a second year.

Its 3 am I don’t know what I am doing please take my offering and feel free to request I guess. 

- There's no doubt about it he is a Pomfiore student

- Because of his unique and fabulous fashion sense he became the house-warden in his first year

- Back then he did not dye his hair white it was solid black

- As the house-warden he is smart, he has perfect grades to go along with his looks

- In his free time, you could likely find him sketching out new fashion designs for his next show

- Did I forget to mention that he is already an established and renowned fashion designer?

- As a house-warden he is strict not as bad as Riddle but similarly to Vil he requires everyone to look their best at all times

- You and Crewel met in his second year when you were in your first year

- Upon seeing you in the hall of mirrors he would firstly critique your ceremonial robes seeing that although your looks were good my god u did not know how to put that thing on… he can fix you… I think?

- He had mixed feelings when you were assigned to Pomfiore

- Only once you had been sorted into his dorm did he begin to really think about your ill fitting ceremonial robes

- On one hand, he had never seen someone like you before

- On the other hand… there was a lot of work to be done regarding your choice of clothing

- Your first interactions with him were likely right after the ceremony 

- You were talking to a couple of first years before being sent off to your dorms when you heard the clicking of footsteps quickly approaching you

- This is followed by your ceremonial robes being adjusted along with murmuring about how troublesome it's going to be with you in the dorm

- Once you arrived at Pomfiore you found out the one who had been fussing over your clothing was nonother than the house-warden himself Divius Crewel

- Although all the fussing over you was annoying at first as you slowly got to know him things became slightly better

- Once you found out that he was a famous fashion designer all those times he held his sketchbook up to compare to you finally made sense

- Now whenever you catch him doing this your face would flush and you would quickly turn away 

- When you start doing this he is confused, you use to at least acknowledge his presence when you looked at him but now what? Don’t tell him he was about to lose a future model of his?

- After a month of this happening he decided to confront you about it

- Of course, at first you denied anything like this even happening but as the conversation continued an unexplainable hint of pink surfaced on your cheeks

- And that's when he pieced everything together 

- With a smirk on his face, he decided why not torment you for a little longer before confirming his suspicions 

- “Say Y/N why don't we continue this conversation in my room there's something else I must discuss so let's leave it at this for now, shall we? We cant be late for class can we now?”

- Your friends practical dragged you to your next class that day as you continued to overthink everything he had just said

- Once all school activities had ended you slowly inched your way back to the dorms and to the grand doors of Crewels room

- Your shaky knock on the door was met with an annoyed “come in” from Crewel

- “Ahh why if it isn't my dear puppy”

- Your dead 

- On the floor even

- What did he just call you??? Puppy???????

- While you were too stunned to speak he continued

- “I needed to discuss some work-related things with you, would you like to model for me in my next show?”

- What? Did you just hear him correctly?? He wants YOU to walk for him?

- “Are you sure Divus? I mean I've never done anything of the sort before and-”

- “Look dear it either you walk or this show doesn't go on I did design this collection with you in mind after all”

- That smirk god damit that smirk 

- “Fine, I can't let work like yours be thrown into the shadows after all.”

[jacks347]

Exactly one person asked for this but that was exactly one person enough so here y'all go, enjoy the rest of the channels and their high school tropes

Nomad

Caleb and Pack Mom - Childhood friends everyone assumes is already dating (They keep correcting people but secretly enjoy it cause they've been crushing on each other for years)

Connor and Lass - Club president and joined cause she liked him ("Come on, keep up! What are you staring at?" "You. I mean-!")

Deacon and Little One - Book smart introvert and street smart extrovert ("I've never failed a test in my life" "And I've knocked out a gang members tooth once. You tell me which one is more practical")

Chester and CM - Class clown and assigned tutor ("How do you put up with him?" "Remembering he's cute and a lot of caffeine")

Mitch and Lamb - Second generation rivals ("My dad said to tell you you won't win a second time" "Funny, my uncle said to expect it")

Beau and Chef - "Secret" admirer and knowing crush (Constantly leaves notes and gifts in her locker, she absolutely knows it's him but doesn't say anything even though she likes him back cause she thinks it's adorable)

Harlow and Captain - Frequently injured and assigned helper ("How'd you break your leg this time?" "Would you believe me if I said I fell off a roof?" "...goddammit")

GB

Yargwynn and Paradise - Lead in the play and stage manager (Paradise is actually a really solid singer but has paralyzing stage fright so they just stay as stage crew)

Mak and Darling - Delinquent and "I can fix him" girl (Frank is Mak's attempted wingman, he tries so hard to get these two together)

Guardian and Zed - Foreign exchange student and guidance helper assigned to them (Even better if Guardian doesn't speak the language well so they just stare when Zed is talking which makes him nervous and he rambles more, Guardian thinks it's cute)

Albus and Faithful - School flirt and class president tutoring him (Don't lie, you're imagining it now)

Hipswitch and Partner - Reluctant student and quiet art kid project partners (Partner talks through notes ripped from the corners of his sketchbook)

Pandora - Principal's kid that everyone is kinda scared of (Is actually really nice with just a hint of overblown ego, blame football star Odin for that)

Redacted

David and Angel - Quiet kid and popular girl fake dating (Angel dug herself in a hole and needs a fresh face to get out of it, David is only mildly reluctant cause he thinks Angel's pretty)

Asher and Babe - Football star and cheerleading captain (Don't ask, this is the one that inspired all the rest and now it's stuck here)

Milo and Sweetheart - Club presidents fighting for budgeting (SH runs the NHS chapter, Milo runs the drama club, both slightly resent each other because they need the funding)

Darlin and Sam - Frequently in detention and never in detention ("And just what has landed the school's goody goody in my neck of the woods?" "...I broke a guy's nose." "Hah, same.")

Vincent and Lovely - Superintendent's kid who ditches class and vigilant hall monitor ("Come on, can't you let it slide just this once~" "Do you want me to call your dad?" "No, no, I'll go back, please don't call him-")

Gavin and Freelancer - Academic rivals (FL actually takes it seriously, Gavin only pretends cause he loves to watch FL work)

I think I got all of them

I hope I got all of them

This is going to be a nightmare to tag-

[infinite-orangepeel]

“get too close to your muse & you, the artist, will lose all ability to decipher one shade from the next on your palette. keep your distance…”

fall quarter begins at the curly roots of eddie munson’s ineffable head, runs its’ labyrinthian course through passageways of blue veins & black ink, & ends at a set of hairy crimson painted toes.

steve finds himself squandering every waking moment of his lifeblood & attention somewhere, egregiously, in the middle.

“say you’re drawing a bed of flowers,” his professor lectured a few weeks back, “what happens if you put your nose in the middle of those flowers & try to recreate the details on your canvas? you come up with color and shape, sure, but it’s blurry—isn’t it? it’s a big blobby blur of nothing. that’s not very good life drawing, i’m afraid.”

flash forward to the present—

the bed is firm but comfortable. reminding you of its’ presence.

it doesn’t encourage daydreaming &, yet, steve is ignoring the better advice of his mentor & pressing his curious nose directly into the bud of an all too striking flower.

he knows the intimate contact could kill the rose, is aware of the thorns lining the stem, but he can’t stay away.

he’s struck by fear and temptation and self-loathing and a beauty that stings like a slap across the face.

eddie’s his roommate, his friend, his muse for the most important project of steve’s career as an art student.

& getting too close is lethal, so he creates a sort of optical illusion.

designs an environment in which he can pretend they are star-crossed lovers in a broken world that won’t let them be together. in which touch is a small death each and every time.

steve flits to eddie like a dragonfly to water—

never touching.

never spending too much time in his orbit before making up an excuse to leave & jerk off to the smell of old cigarettes in the bathroom.

everything he really wants to say sits in the back of his throat like a painful, malignant lump & gets spat out onto his sketchbook in a tragically romantic exorcism.

doing the dishes next to him is enough to drive him insane.

drawing him, butt-naked, is another story.

“is it supposed to be so….erotic?”

eddie arches an eyebrow as steve traces the outline of his cock into his sketchbook.

“it’s not that erotic,” steve says, blushing into his charcoals, “besides no one will know it’s you. it’s art.”

art is supposed to be weird & naked. now, hold still, & let me draw you.”

it’s definitely erotic.

there are roses—de-thorned, for safety—shrouding eddie’s dick & leaving a trail of pink petals across his pale thighs.

eddie’s hand is draped over his head; exuding a certain brattiness, lust, boredom—

as if he’s lying there because he wants someone, like steve, to stumble upon him & use his body the way it so clearly needs to be.

his lips are parted on the precipice of whispering some filthy secret into steve’s ear while milking him like a simple farm girl with nothing better to do.

fuck.

he can’t be this close to eddie without losing his mind.

fuck. fuck. fuck.

it’s just a body. just limbs and a huge cock and—

eddie’s quiet for a little while which is rare for him, before he pipes up again.

“what if we painted the flowers together?”

steve wipes the sweat from his brow, drops his pencil, and looks up at eddie across the mattress. working overtime to avoid staring at the erection sticking out amongst the bouquet of roses.

“the piece isn’t supposed to be very colorful. i’m going for muted tones. that’s why i picked the pale pinks and whites.”

eddie giggles a little and, it’s so cute, steve has to pinch his own thigh through his shorts just to maintain composure.

“i don’t think you’re understanding—the colors wouldn’t change much. except for some more white, if you catch my drift,” eddie pumps his hand over his cock several times and mimes cumming stop the petals, “might look cool. might get you extra points with that asshole professor of yours. you’ve said he likes ‘shock value.’”

“i—i guess you’re right. that’s a pretty….different and unique….um….idea. yeah.”

it’s like this that steve strips naked and clambers as close to eddie as he can possibly get without laying a finger on him. adhering to the rules—keeping a particular distance between artist & muse.

they lay side by side. sunlight streaming in through the blinds & bathing eddie’s spindly fingers in gold as he touches himself.

“harrington, don’t act like you haven’t been dreaming about this since day one,” eddie snarks, “i’ve seen the way you look at me, sweetheart. your eyes are gonna burn holes in my ass if you’re not careful. touch that pretty cock of yours, lemme see you.”

before steve can do anything about it or change his mind, he’s got a fist wrapped around his own cock and the other hand pinching his nipples. left and right, back and forth, dragging his nails through the hair sprouting around them.

“didn’t think you thought about me like that,” steve whines, watching as eddie edges himself methodically—

moving faster, slower, squeezing at the base, thumbing over the slit, cupping his balls, slapping the insides of his own thighs until they match the pink petals.

“i like a little pain,” he comments when he catches steve’s wide eyes, “and i’ve always was hallucinating the first time i walked into this room and saw you on the bed—thought i was going into the light and seeing an angel.”

“you’re so full of it.”

“i’d like to be full of you,” eddie breathes against steve’s neck, not allowing his lips to pass the barrier, “but i don’t know if you can handle me, big boy. you’re blushing like a nervous little schoolgirl.”

“am not—”

“are too, &, you’re about to cum just listening to my voice. it’s so crystal clear. look at you—fucking yourself so stupid.”

eddie looks so beautiful.

laying there like a forsaken god locked out of heaven.

steve’s been so good about keeping his hands to himself, about keeping his nose out of the flowers, but desire and temptation are stronger than any amount of remaining willpower he has.

he grabs eddie’s shoulder with his freehand & kisses him until they’re both seeing stars.

celestial explosions of pleasure & truth & this thing that’s been growing violently between them since the moment they first met.

“i’m cumming. i’m gonna—fuck steve, it’s gonna be on the flowers—i hope that’s okay—”

they cum in tandem over petals of pink and white and thornless stems.

steve gets an A+.

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[atlasscrumpit]

Here's an idea… The reader and Bucky are in a closed psychiatric ward.

The Ward

You laid in your bed at the hospital staring at the picture of a baby duck on the wall.

"The fuck are you smiling at." You muttered, you hadn't slept all night so being grumpy was to be expected.

The door opened and you looked up to see one of the doctors.

"Good morning, Y/N. You ready for breakfast, Hun?" She asked as you sat up and groaned.

"I need coffee." You muttered making her chuckle.

"There's plenty of coffee, come on." She said as you put your shoes on and left your room, following the doctor down the hallway, smelling the fresh breakfast cooking.

When you entered you found your only friend and walked up to him to get breakfast as well.

"Hey, Barnes." You muttered as he grumbled and nodded his head a little.

He wasn't exactly the talking type.

You both got a tray of food before sitting at your regular spot by the window.

"I slept like shit last night." You muttered as he ate his breakfast and just nodded a little.

"How's the paranoia?" You asked as he rolled his eyes.

"They gave me new medication... I still know the truth though, so that means my paranoia isn't real and what I see is." He said as you nodded a little.

"Well, maybe you need to give the medication some time to work." You replied as he glared at you.

"You sound just like the doctors." He grumbled before he continued to eat.

"I heard Steve was coming to visit this week, that'll be good." You said, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah... I have missed him actually." He muttered as you smiled softly.

"I'm excited to see him again, he's always so nice to me." You said as Bucky smiled a little.

"It's because he feels sorry for you, by the way." He said as you glared at him.

"You suck. Eat your damn bacon."

--

You sat in the main room sketching like usual, you leant against Bucky where he was on the couch watching tv.

The front door was opened by the doctors and you saw Steve entering with his wife, Peggy.

Bucky looked up and for a moment you could see a streak of jealously, you always had a feeling he liked Steve more than a friend.

"Hey, punk!" Steve said, rushing in to give Bucky a hug.

Bucky hugged him, holding onto him for as long as he could.

You glanced up every now and then from your sketchbook. Steve and Bucky sat together to talk as Peggy sat next to you.

"Hello, Y/N. How have things been?" She asked as you smiled softly.

"Not too bad." You muttered in response as Peggy glanced at Bucky and Steve.

"So... How's thing with you and Bucky?" She asked, turning back to you.

"Good, he's my closest friend in here and maybe out there too. He's the only one in here that doesn't care about my past...cause his is kind of worse." You muttered as she chuckled softly and nodded.

"I like Bucky... But, he's still lost in...an old love." You whispered glancing at him and Steve.

"Yeah, I know he's in love with Steve." Peggy muttered as you nodded.

"He's still convinced he's in the wrong universe. None of the medications work on him, he still thinks that this is some crazy simulation and he's a hero or villain or something?" You muttered as Peggy listened.

"Yeah... Steve told me he had a pretty bad episode last time he visited. Screaming about avengers or something." She replied, sadly.

The day dragged on and you continued to sketch while everyone spoke to their visitors, no one ever visited you, but you didn't really think much of it.

You were glad when everyone left and you could finally talk to Bucky again, once Steve had left he just stayed sitting at the table staring down.

You went over to him and sat across from him.

"Hey, how'd it go?" You asked, you could see he was deep in thought.

"They've got to him now too..." He whispered as you looked at him with worry.

"Buck... Do you think maybe it's time you had your medicine?" You asked in a soft tone before he slammed his fist on the table, altering everyone.

"You're apart of this, aren't you!? I can see right fucking through you!" He shouted lunging across the table and tackling you to the ground, he wrapped his hand around your throat as you looked up at him in fear.

Thankfully three nurses ran over and sedated him as you scurried away and caught your breath.

One of the nurses knelt beside you.

"Deep breaths, it's okay." She whispered, gently rubbing your shoulder.

You glanced over at Bucky on the floor unconscious.

"Will he be okay?" You muttered as the nurse offered you a reassuring smile.

"Yes, he just needs time to calm down. Why don't you go back to drawing before dinner?" She said as you returned her friendly smile and nodded.

--

You laid awake at night listening to the screams coming down the hallway, you knew it was Bucky in the isolation room.

You got up and slowly walked down the hallway to see nurses standing at the door to isolation.

"Y/N, it's okay. Head back to bed, okay?" The nurse said as you looked at him.

"I'm worried about him." You whispered as he sighed, he began to lead you back to your room.

"I know, Y/N. But, he's in the best care, okay? I know it's scary to listen to, but he isn't being hurt, he's just in a bad way right now." He said as you went back into your room.

"You promise you'll take care of him?" You muttered as he smiled.

"I promise, Y/N." He replied as you smiled.

You were about to turn around to go back to bed when everything paused...even the nurse in front of you.

"Hello?" You muttered walking up to him, suddenly it was as if he glitched and then disappeared into thin air.

You panicked and quickly sat on your bed and closed your eyes.

"It's not real, it's not real." You whispered over and over again.

The world around you began to disappear as you cried and started running down the hallway again.

"Bucky!" You scream the door to isolation disappeared as Bucky stood there staring at you.

"What's happening!?" You shouted in fear, he looked at you in shock, how only realising you were seeing the same thing he was.

He rushed forward and grabbed your hand.

"It's okay... It's okay, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry I hurt you." He shouted, everything becoming loud as thing disappeared, you leapt forward and held onto Bucky. He wrapped his arms around you tightly in return.

You held onto Bucky as tight as you could, crying in fear when suddenly it all stopped, you pulled away and looked around to see you were standing in a black void.

"Y/N!" You heard a voice shout as you both looked around.

"What's happening?" You whispered as Bucky began to fade away.

"No! No, Bucky!" You screamed trying to grab him before he completely disappeared.

Suddenly you stood alone in the dark, scared as you cried, you looked down and your hands began to disappear.

"It's not real... It's not real." You whispered, sobbing your eyes out before everything went black.

--

You woke up with a gasp, feeling things attached to you as you panted and looked around to see you were in a hospital.

Was it just a dream or an episode you had?

"Bucky!" You screamed out before someone came rushing in.

"Y/N, it's okay. You're okay." He said as you looked up at him in confusion, your memory began to unblur as your eyes widened.

"Tony..." You whispered as he smiled.

"Yeah, yes that's me. Jesus, you scared us... Bucky is okay, he's in the other room." He said as you nodded a little and sat up slowly.

"What happened..." You whispered as Tony sat beside you and sighed.

"We were fighting against these weird ass aliens, we thought we took them down but, we found you and Bucky unconscious. You had been injected with some kind of venom and it trapped you inside your own mind." He said as you rubbed your head.

"How long were we out?" You asked as he looked at you sadly.

"It's been four months." He said as you stared forward trying to take in all of this information.

"It's going to take a while to get used to this again..." You whispered as Tony smiled sadly.

You heard a noise and looked up to see Bucky.

"Steve caught me up... So, in conclusion I was right the entire time and you weren't." He said as you laughed and shook your head.

"You fucking suck."

[withacapitalp]

How to Rehabilitate a Jock Pt 17

Part One Link to ao3 Part 16

A speedy update? Couldn't be me lmao

Step Seventeen: Tell a Story

The party really wasn’t like any of the ragers he used to throw, but in Steve’s opinion that made it a thousand times better. 

From his vantage point on the arm of the couch, Steve could see everything, and all looked to be going well. All of the parents had quickly clustered together around the big dining room table, smoking and playing cards as they reminisced about the good old days and enjoyed the wine Steve had broken out of the cellar. Mike and Lucas were sprawled out across the floor, their books in piles around them as they designed new characters and argued about the best way to win against dragons, while Nancy and Jonathan had curled up together on the loveseat by the window, sharing a cup of cocoa and quietly whispering about god knows what. 

It all seemed peaceful. 

So naturally Steve was sitting next to the most chaotic conversation he had ever heard. 

“In terms of controlling the fight and better initiative, it’s the halberd. Hands down,” Frank declared. He was putting emphasis on every single word, as if doing so would somehow sway the three preteens throwing him impressively dry looks. 

“That’s assuming you have the speed and dexterity necessary to gain that advantage,” Dustin sighed, shaking his head and tutting. “The greatsword is not only faster, but it is shorter, which makes the swing that much more versatile.”

Mike and Lucas sagely nodded along from their spot on the floor next to Dustin. the calmness of the action only riling Frank up even more.

“Reach is speed on its own!” He snapped, tossing his hands in the air, turning to the others for help. Steve bit down the laugh that was attempting to escape, doing his best to appear supportive, and Eddie was already reaching over to give his friend the conciliatory pat on the shoulder. 

Steve wasn’t exactly positive how the debate had started, but it had to have been at least fifteen minutes of furious back and forth between the two. It was pretty entertaining to watch, made even better by the quiet comments Eddie would whisper up to Steve when he was sure no one else was listening. 

“Careful there Frank,” Jeff called from the other side of the room, not looking up from Will’s sketchbook as he did, “you sound like you’re losing to a twelve year old.”

“I am not losing,” Frank ground out. 

“I’m not twelve!” Dustin protested.

“Of course you aren’t losing, Frankie,” Eddie interjected, his tone practically dripping with false kindness. He accompanied the words with a brief pat to the top of Frank’s head. 

“Dustin just isn’t opening his mind to the possibilities that your elder brain has already thought through,” Steve added on, his stomach doing a weird flip-flop when Eddie turned to look up at him with a little gremlin smile. Teasing friends was different when it really was just teasing, and Steve couldn’t resist the urge to jump in and knock at Frank a little for getting so into a debate with the kids. 

“Okay just because you play now doesn’t make you an expert, Steve,” Mike added on, never one to miss a chance to try and knock Steve down a peg. Steve, very maturely, rolled his eyes and chose not to reply. 

“How about it, Sweetheart?” Eddie asked, looking up at Steve where he was sitting perched on the arm of the couch, “halberd or Greatsword?”

“Steve, if you don’t choose the sword, I will feel personally betrayed,” Dustin spat out before Steve could even open his mouth. It was accompanied by a murderous looking glower, and Steve knew trouble was starting to brew on the horizon. 

“Eh, I think Baby might have a problem if I start using a different weapon,” He said, staying neutral and dragging the boys into a different conversation before feelings started to actually get hurt. 

“Baby?”

Fuck. 

Steve’s whole body stiffened up, and he glanced quickly at Eddie before turning away, mind racing to come up with an explanation. How the hell was he supposed to casually bring up the bat studded with nails that was sitting in the trunk of his BMW?

“Okay, but we’re talking in game, not real life!” Lucas objected, keeping the conversation flowing and unintentionally bypassing Eddie’s question. 

“Baby would be more effective than a halberd though,” Dustin pointed out, and Mike hummed in disagreement, flipping the pages of the manual in front of him as he looked for a counter argument.

“So who’s Baby?” Eddie asked quietly as they continued the debate, leaning back towards Steve so only he could hear the words. He was looking up at Steve with those big doe eyes, completely at peace with a soft smile and lax shoulders. He was the picture of calmness, and Steve wouldn’t ruin that with the Upside Down, not even in the most roundabout way. 

“I’m gonna get a refill,” Steve whispered to him instead, reaching down to quickly run his fingers through Eddie’s curls impulsively before standing up and stretching. He felt the hem of his maroon sweater ride up over his hips, and the boys groaned as the bottom half of Steve’s stomach came into view. “Do you want anything, Eds?” 

“Um no, ‘m okay,” Eddie said, his voice uncharacteristically small. Steve relaxed from his stretch, giving Eddie a quick once over. He looked the same as before, save for a slight color on his cheeks and averted downward facing eyes. 

Weird. 

Something to check on. 

But later. First Steve had to take a lap. 

“Dustin, don’t make Frank blow a gasket,” Steve ordered as he passed by, pushing the kids hat down over his eyes. Dustin growled at him and waved his arms blindly in an attempt to smack Steve away, but Steve easily dodged it, sliding over to the edge of the living room and down the stairs to the wine cellar. 

“Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid,” Steve muttered to himself as he picked two bottles at random. How could he have said something like that? He wasn’t even drunk! It had just slipped out, but that didn’t make it okay. Sure, the very existence of Baby wasn’t covered by the NDA’s, but just knowing about her would be enough to make Eddie curious, and curiosity led to more questions, which lead to more answers, which lead to more danger. 

Steve’s stomach flipped over on itself, and he leaned back against the cool stone wall of the cellar, worrying his lip as he tried to take a deep breath. 

There wasn’t any danger. Not anymore. It was just a party, and it was just one little sentence. Eddie would forget about it by the time he walked back up the stairs. He was working himself up over nothing. 

Or everything. 

‘Or’ might just be the scariest word in the world, Steve thought to himself as he climbed up the stairs feeling about ten thousand pounds heavier. He trudged over to the kitchen and quickly opened both bottles, leaving one to air out as he carried the other over to the dining room table, silently listening to the adults as they gossiped. 

“It’s such an insane story,” Sue Sinclair was saying in a quiet breathy voice as Steve walked in, barely even noticing as he started refilling her glass, “it’s hard to believe.” 

“It was harder to live through,” Hopper replied, extremely somber as he gravely shook his head.

Steve bit the inside of his cheek to keep from making a noise and giving up the act. He looked up just a bit to make eye contact with Joyce, who was also clearly hiding a smile behind her hand. 

“Maybe we should pause this conversation?” Karen asked lightly, politely jutting her chin out towards Steve who continued to pour without comment. 

“Steve knows,” Hopper quickly smoothed over. 

“He babysits Jane with the others,” Joyce added on, giving Steve a secretive look as she continued, “such a big help with acclimating her.”

All eyes were on him now, and Steve played his part perfectly. He poured the last of the bottle into Hopper’s glass and stepped back with a sigh. 

“She’s a great kid. Amazing even, after everything she’s been through,” Steve said, his voice pitched to the ultimate tone of caring worry. 

This seemed to seal the deal for the rest of the adults, and they fell one by one. Hook, line, and sinker. The women were twittering on about how sad the whole story was, and the men were shaking their heads and muttering to Hopper about how drugs were going to ruin the nation. 

Everything was going to plan. 

Steve couldn’t help the little burst of pride he felt watching all of the parents gossiping like hens. He was the one to come up with El’s cover story, and it couldn’t have been going better. 

El might not be allowed to go to school until next year, but Steve didn’t see a point in keeping her locked up in the cabin until then like Hopper wanted. The government knew she was alive now, and she had all her paperwork. Besides, having her drop out of the blue sky into one of the most unforgiving social settings on the planet was a complete recipe for disaster. 

This party had been the perfect test run for the story they were going to use to explain her sudden appearance, and it had passed with flying colors. But Steve had known it would work, never had any doubt despite everyone else’s concerns. 

He knew because he knew this town like the back of his hand. If you gave them a good enough story, something juicy and wild but with enough reality that it would stick, then they would buy it. Not only would they buy it, but they would sell it to everyone else on the block too. Now that Sue Sinclair, Claudia Henderson, and Karen Wheeler had the ‘truth’, El would fly into Hawkins High with only minimal odd looks and the occasional jerky kid to deal with. 

And what was the best cover story for a girl like El? 

“I just can’t believe that there was a suicide cult right here in Indiana,” Chuck Sinclair commented, sitting back in his seat. “How did no one know about it?”

“There was no way to leave without being killed. Anyone who would have told someone was killed. Brenner, the one in charge, was convinced he could create dimensions to other worlds and give children superpowers with LSD, if you can believe it,” Joyce replied, laying on the shock and surprise a little thick in Steve’s opinion. Still, whatever got the rest of them on board.  

“Ridiculous,” Ted Wheeler muttered, sounding absolutely disgusted. 

“We’re just lucky we found Will and Jane when we did. We were too late for the others,” Hopper paused to take a long slow sip of his drink, really selling the story. He even lowered his voice, causing them all to lean in, “The feds want to keep it real hush hush, and we were so afraid for the kids that we just went along with that bullshit water contamination story. But I mean, c’mon. Water contamination? Those people disappeared.” 

A round of mutters among the group, and then Karen Wheeler spoke up. 

“But Barbara Holland using drugs? I knew Barb her entire life. She always had such a good head on her shoulders,” She said, grief coating every word. Steve dragged a sharp breath in, holding the bottle close to his chest and forcing himself to stay still and silent as Hopper and Joyce did their best to explain. 

This was the part that sucked. To make the story work, really work, it had to involve everyone. Benny, Barb, Will, even the two hunters. All of them had to be explained, or the story fell apart. It felt dishonest to make Barb a part of it all, but El was still here, and Steve still had a chance to help her. 

For El. It was all for El. 

“That’s how the commies get you,” Ted remarked to Karen the second Hop was done speaking. “We’re just lucky she didn’t bring Nancy into it.” 

Steve bit his tongue to keep from lashing out. This wasn’t about him or his guilt. It was about El. 

“At least you saved that precious little girl,” Claudia breathed, hand still over her heart as her eyes glistened with tears. “It all must have been so scary for her. Does she know… you know… about her mother?”

“She does, but she doesn’t like to talk about it,” Hopper laid both hands out on the table 

“Listen, we really shouldn’t have said anything to you all.”

This was it. This was the moment that would tell them what was going to happen from here on out. Steve held his breath

“Our lips are sealed, Jim,” Chuck said instantly, the rest of the group nodding along. “Last thing any of us would want to do is put your daughter or Joyce’s son in danger. Whether it’s the government or some freaky cult stragglers.” 

There it was. 

In a small town like Hawkins, lips were always sealed. People said they wouldn’t say a word, they promised to keep a secret, but Steve had no doubt that by the end of the week the entire town would be abuzz with the story. The best part was, there was no one that would end up hurt. Hopper looked like a hero, Joyce went from local crazy woman to single mother who did everything to protect her baby, and El was just a poor child who was rescued from an insane terrible man. 

It was the truth, just… shifted ever so slightly. No lies involved. Not really. Just a perspective on it. 

The mood and the topic began to move, and Steve moved with it. He went to escape out the side door back to the living room, but as he went past her Joyce reached out, taking his wrist in her small hand and squeezing it once. It was a tiny display of affection, barely anything, but it stopped Steve in his tracks, making his heart do strange weird things that left his chest aching. 

Damn. 

“Are you alright?” Joyce murmured to him below the sound of the conversation. 

“Yeah?” Steve replied, unspoken question sitting between them as Joyce continued to hold onto his wrist. 

“You looked upset when you came in,” She observed. That was the best and worst part of Joyce, she never let anything drop. It reminded Steve a lot of Nancy actually, both of them so determined to get to the bottom of everything, even when it was best to just leave it alone. 

Of course it had to be Joyce. 

“‘I’m okay,” Steve said, trying for a thin little smile. 

Joyce hummed, rubbing her thumb over Steve’s arm as she forced him to keep eye contact until the fake smile slipped from his face. 

“It’s not a big deal,” Steve said, a dark cloud coming over him as Joyce continued to hold on. It was the same thing as Nancy. Stifling, impossible to be around, a feeling of claustrophobia that would never fully go away. 

It wasn’t any of Joyce’s business. It wasn’t like she was his mother. 

“Well, if you need anything you can always come to me or Hop,” Joyce said after a too long silence, releasing Steve’s arm. “We’re here for you guys too, not just the kids.”

“You’re allowed to not be okay.”

Eddie. 

Since he had said those words, they had been permanently branded in the forefront of Steve’s mind. Every time he tried to forget them, they returned with a vengeance, hitting him directly in the soft spot right above his breastbone. 

It wasn’t like Steve didn’t know that. He knew that he was allowed to not be okay. He did. But it was silly for him not to be okay, because nothing had really happened to him. Will was the one who had ended up in the Upside Down. Nancy’s best friend had died. El had been fucking tortured for her entire life. 

In comparison Steve’s problems were so small it was laughable. 

So why was everyone trying so hard to tell him that they mattered? 

“Steve?” 

Steve had never been so happy to hear one of his kids. 

A hush fell over the adults as El popped her head around the corner, immediately coming over to Steve’s side and pressing close, trying to avoid the obvious stares coming from everyone else. They were looking at her with a mixture of pity and concern, but it was better than fear. 

“Hi Janey,” Steve said, playing with her curls and shooting her a warm grin, “you doin’ okay?”

El shrugged, burrowing impossibly further into Steve’s grip. 

“The others are being loud,” She said softly. Steve sighed, petting her hair again. He and Hop had talked about the possibility of this being too much for her, same as the Snowball. This party was mostly made up of her people, but even her people could be overwhelming. 

Luckily, Steve already had an idea in place. 

“Would you mind helping me with something?” Steve asked, already gently nudging El towards the doorway and into the kitchen. 

Making cookies was the perfect ‘cool down away from people so you don't have a meltdown and psychically destroy Steve's house’ activity. Steve had learned that El really enjoyed cooking, and although she couldn’t use her powers to get the flour down from the high shelf like she usually would if it was just them, she was still having fun. 

“Don’t listen to anyone who tells you oatmeal raisin cookies are bad,” Steve instructed, rolling out another ball of dough and placing it carefully on the cookie sheet. “They’re stupid and childish.”

“Mike hates oatmeal raisin,” El cheerfully replied, licking the spoon that Steve had handed to her when he was done mixing the batter. 

Now that it was just the two of them, she had relaxed. She was sitting on the counter next to where he was working, ever so slightly bobbing her head along to the music filtering in from the living room. Steve had relaxed along with her, all of the previous troubles of the night fading away, replaced by the smell of cinnamon sugar and the warmth of the oven heating up. 

“My point exactly. Mike hates everything great,” Steve countered, dabbing a bit of cookie batter onto the tip of El’s nose. She laughed softly, and stuck her tongue out, trying to reach the offending treat. 

“Mike likes me,” El shot back, continuing to try and touch her tongue to her nose. Steve watched her struggle for a second more before shaking his head and reaching around her to grab a paper towel. 

“Well, even a broken clock is right twice a day,” Steve whispered conspiratorially as he wiped her face clean. This started up another round of giggles, and Steve laughed along with her, his entire body feeling light for the first time all day. 

He loved each of his kids for different reasons- even Mike- but El was just so easy. The rest of them couldn't help the compulsive urge to be difficult little hell beasts. They were always trying to show off how smart they were, which usually meant disparaging Steve’s intelligence to some degree. Even Will couldn’t resist a few snarky comments when he thought Steve was being overprotective.

But El thought Steve was one of the smartest people in the world, and she was always telling him so. It was objectively untrue, but it was fun to get to show her how to do things without being afraid of being told he was doing them wrong. Even something as simple as baking cookies was an opportunity to give her a new happy experience, and getting to be a part of that was kind of magical. 

“How about this- we’ll tell Mike you made these and you’ll see just how quickly oatmeal raisin becomes his favorite cookie,” Steve offered. 

“Sounds like fun,” A familiar voice said from the doorway, making Steve’s heart skip a beat. 

Steve turned around and gave Eddie a pleased grin, waving him in and turning around to finish up with the dough.

“Hey Eds,” Steve said as Eddie leaned into his space and snagged a bite. Eddie hummed appreciatively, going for another taste but Steve smacked his hand with his spoon before he could.

“You’ll get sick eating that,” Steve pointed out. 

“So mean,” Eddie said with a fake pout. He pulled away from Steve, walking around the kitchen aimlessly with swinging arms, “I was just wondering where our liege had run off to. Apparently you went to guide a wayward princess through the fine art of confectionary creation.” 

Said ‘princess’ was staring at Eddie with open distrust. Her spoon had been abandoned beside her, and her arms were wrapped tight around her middle. Steve was immediately reminded of her initial reaction to Max. Although they were thick as thieves now, El had been cold to her too at the start. Steve had figured it was some sort of pre-teen jealousy thing over Mike. 

Apparently it was just an all around jealousy thing. It made sense though. A girl who had nothing would protect whatever she had with ferocious intensity, especially her people. Time to do a little damage control. 

“Eddie’s my friend, and he said he wanted to be friends with you too,” Steve said, pitching his voice soft and low as he reframed things for El. If Eddie was one of her people, then she wouldn’t be quite so possessive over Steve’s time. “He’s a little loud, and a little scary looking, but he’s probably the nicest person I know.” 

Eddie raised his eyebrows in surprise, but Steve just shrugged. He was just being honest, Eddie probably was the nicest person Steve knew. He cared about Nancy and Jonathan, and he loved the kids, but none of them were necessarily very nice. Eddie had taken Steve in without even really thinking about it, which would have been amazing even if Steve had just been another nerd.

The fact that Steve used to be one of the people who would have made fun of people like Eddie only made him even better in Steve’s eyes. 

El’s mouth pursed into a tiny little scowl, and she narrowed her eyes, evaluating Eddie where he stood. 

“Bitchin’,” El said after a moment, punctuating the word with an approving nod. It was probably the closest thing to approval Eddie could earn at this moment. 

“Yeah, Babydoll’s totally bitchin,’” Steve said with a laugh, stretching the word out just because it was funny to see Eddie turn bright red. Steve wasn’t sure if it was from the compliment or the silly nickname, but either way he was enjoying it. 

“It’s good to meet you, Miss Jane,” Eddie said, coughing and trying to will away the blush on his cheeks, “Steve’s told me a lot about you.” 

El turned to look at Steve, adorably confused by Eddie’s statement. Steve stiffened up, avoiding his knee jerk impulse to shake his head. He hadn’t told Eddie anything real about El, just the same story that Hopper and Joyce were selling to the parents. But El wasn’t good with secrets at the best of times, and the elaborate intricate story that they had woven would probably be too much for her. 

“El? EL!” 

“Mike, stop shouting!” Steve said, shouting himself, relieved at being interrupted before things could get hairy. He rolled his eyes and shot Eddie a look, calm now that Eddie seemed less curious about El and more fondly annoyed with Mike and his antics. “We’re in the kitchen.”  

Pandemonium as all four boys trooped in, clustering around El and chattering their heads off like they always did. Steve let out the breath he had unintentionally been holding, leaning back against the counter as he watched the kids mess around. 

“Steve, stop hogging her,” Mike snapped as he pulled away from El, glowering at him with all of the brutality of a two week old puppy. 

“El’s a person, not a toy. She can do something without you and that doesn’t mean she likes you any less,” Steve said, ignoring Mike’s sputtering denials as he helped El down from the counter, “The oven has to preheat anyway. Why don’t you go inside with them, and when the cookies are ready, you can help me dunk them in the icing?” 

El nodded, allowing herself to be pulled away by the boys. But just as she passed Eddie she stopped, grabbing onto the sleeve of his leather jacket and looking up at him from behind her curls. 

“You’ll join us?” She asked. Eddie leaned down so they were the same height and nodded, reaching out to ruffle her curls. 

“I’ll be here, Lady Jane,” Eddie promised. 

“El,” She corrected. 

That was big, even if Eddie didn’t fully realize it. It wasn’t exactly a full acceptance, but only people El actually liked were allowed to use her ‘real’ name. 

“El?” Eddie questioned. 

“A nickname. Not sure where she got it,” Steve stepped in, smoothing out the wrinkle before it could even form. He nudged Lucas, pushing them all towards the door, “Now scram, twerps.”

The kids all immediately began to groan and whisper curses under their breath at the word ‘twerps’, and they dragged El out without another word to Eddie or Steve. Steve turned and began to gather the dishes, dumping them all into the sink and turning on the water. As he started scrubbing, Steve felt more than saw Eddie’s presence approaching him. 

“I think she likes me,” Eddie sang, leaning all of his weight against Steve. He caught Eddie easily, carrying both of their weights as he continued to do the dishes. 

“What’s not to like?” Steve asked. The question was rhetorical, but the shaky little breath inward that Eddie let out wasn’t. Steve paused, sensing the mood shifting, put down the bowl he was holding and faced Eddie. 

He looked wrecked, inexplicably upset and almost guilty as he chewed on his lip and searched for words. All Steve wanted to do was wrap him in a hug and ask what was wrong, but he held back. Whatever Eddie was trying to say, it was important. 

“Steve-”

But whatever Eddie was going to say was interrupted by the sound of an engine outside. The motor was roaring, an obnoxious sound that grated on Steve’s nerves and set his teeth on edge. There was only one person who revved their stupid car that way in town, and he was the last person Steve wanted to see tonight. 

Whatever this was, it wasn’t going to be good. 

Tag List: Taglist: @paopaupaus @zerokrox-blog @surferboyzaza @whatever-is-a-good-name@minjintea @addelyin @5ammi90 @hagbaby420 @shinekocreator @bornonthesavage @starxlark @electrick-marionnett @resident-gay-bitch @ash-a-confused-enby @classicdinosaurdeathpose @valon-whomsttf @rotten-lil-goblin @thereindeerlady @love-ya-kash @kerlypride @sparkle-fiend @thefreakandthehair @flowercrowngods @milf-harrington @sadcanadianwinter @gothbat99 @hotcocoaharrington @henderdads @lightwoodbanethings @colorful565 @h0n3y-dw @craterbbox @sourw0lfs @lesliiieeeee @bidisastersworld @tinynebula @ravnlinn @bonescaro @mexmatch @cottagecoredreams @joruni @hellykelly @maegan1116 @farewell-wanderlvst @desertfern @due-to-the-fact-that-im-a-slut @anythingforourmoonyedits @eerielake @fandemonium-takes-its-toll @sidekick-hero

[noob-with-a-shitty-computer]

Secret Romantic (Grell Sutcliff x gn!artist!Reader)

A/N: I’m still pretty new to black butler but this woman has been living in my head rent-free for the past few weeks, which fortunately has given me a bit of inspiration to write a fic :> hope u like it and i hope it isn’t too ooc.

Summary: You were not really known to be a hopeless romantic, unlike your flamboyant companion. However, she wasn’t expecting to see a different side of you on the night you dropped your sketchbook nearby…

In the midst of another work-filled night, you quickly flipped through the to-die list one last time. “I think that’s about everyone tonight.” You let out a sigh of relief in unison with the red reaper in front of you, “What a night. I’m so glad that Phantomhive got this case closed rather quickly.” A bit of awkward silence passed until you heard a few quiet giggles, which made you turn to your friend who’s green irises were swinging left and right to each picture she had in her hands.

“Grell, are you listening?!” You raised your voice enough for her to let out a yelp as if she was a frightened puppy. “‘Bassy’ caught your eye again?” You scoff. “Come on, can you blame me? He was ever so graceful, how could I not take a photo or fourty~? Especially when he was wearing that ridiculously handsome suit~!” She dreamily sighs and you do nothing but roll your eyes. You never liked demons, always thought they were a hassle to deal with. It didn’t make it any better that a certain demon butler just so happened to steal the doting heart of the woman who stole yours.

“Well, I’ll head off now so you can have your little fun, I suppose. See you at work, my lady.” You greeted nonchalantly as you quickly jumped out of the scene using your reaper agility. Before Grell could glue her eyes back to the photos, she heard a thud nearby, finding a familiar book on the stone ground. It was the sketchbook you always brought around during work to draw on whenever you had a bit of time on your hands. She remembered the times you refused to show her your artworks, hiding the pages against your chest as a faint but cute blush creeped onto your cheeks.

It seemed that curiosity killed the cat (much to Sebastian’s dismay) as Grell approached the sketchbook with a smirk, letting go of her precious photos for the time being…

“Let’s see what you’ve been hiding from me, darling.” She mutters to herself as she slowly flips through the sketchbook, admiring every image. There’s a sketch of the town you recently visited in the view from a tall building, doodles of a couple of dresses you saw from a store window, and other random things. You were quite talented, she thought, curious if you happened to have a doodle of dear Bassy as well~ It only took a couple minutes until she flipped through a page that caught her off guard.

Several doodles of the red reaper herself were presented to her, some smiling, some frowning, some drawings ended down to her head or bust and there were a couple of full body drawings as well. She flipped through more pages and found herself again. There was one drawing where she was wearing a beautiful dress and another where she and you dancing together, she was wearing the same dress while you wore your own outfit with a similar design. It was like an illustration from a fairytale book, the you in the sketch revealed a big smile that your colleagues don’t often see on you in real life.

The next page had sketches of her in other fancy outfits, the page after that had sketches of her doing her signature pose, the page after that was a drawing of you and her, hand in hand and looking at each other fondly while the moonlight illuminated your figures. She didn’t realize you were so observant over her. It was a bit unsettling, but it also felt endearing to her that you put in so much effort into capturing her beauty on paper. Her mind was filled with different thoughts, the memories of you and her training, laughing, smiling and spending time together all those years ago up till now. She couldn’t deny that it made her heart flutter.

Meanwhile, you were panicking in your room trying to find that lost sketchbook, worried that Grell had caught it first. You dejectedly rushed to your door only to find said reaper in front of your doorstep, causing you to stumble backwards. “Gah! G-Grell, what are y-you doing here..?” Your heart was pounding as you looked over to her hand which was holding very thing you were looking for over the past several minutes. Grell chuckled a bit as she handed it back to you. “Darling, I never thought you felt this way about me~” She stepped closer with a smile.

“I-I’m sorry, I can explain-“ “No, I’m sorry for pulling on your heartstrings like that, my dear.” Grell’s eyes softened as she apologized. “The drawings are gorgeous as well. I didn’t know you were such a romantic~!” She smirked and you huff your cheeks, “I guess you just rubbed off on me, my lady.”

“No worries, it’s cute.” Her smile grew as she watched your cheeks flush and eyes widen. “Aww, look at your cheeks! They’re covered in such an adorable shade of red~” She failed to supress a cheeky giggle. “Stop teasing me!” You quickly protest before she held out a hand to you.

“Heh, well I must admit, you were always dear to me, darling. I guess I was too occupied with my own obsessions to realize it sooner… But since you seem to be interested in a dance, may I take your hand tonight~?” She stated flirtatiously, causing your cheeks to grow hotter. You were a lot less experienced in the world of love compared to the reaper in front of you, causing you to hesitate taking her offer…

But then again, who are you to refuse a lovely lady such as Grell Sutcliff~?

A/N: i need sleep. why must motivation show up during midnight T_T anyways hope u like it :P

[solitude4chiron]

Besties, right?

Miles 1610 x Black!fem!Artist reader

A/n: I know I’m wild for promising y’all this fic and just now dropping it 🤦🏾‍♀️ I had some crazy writers block ngl but I’m back 🙏🏾 I’ll be debating if I want to do a pt.2 for this 🫣

🎧- Love Galore- SZA, Travis Scott

Sometimes you questioned you and Miles’s relationship. Not in a bad way though. He was the sweetest boy you knew, at times he was too sweet, but that was just how he showed he cared. You both had been friends since elementary. Yeah, maybe you shared a kiss under the slide, or used to crush on each other, but you both left that in the past. There was no feelings there anymore..Right?

Millimeters 🙄: “You eat today y/n”

“nah 🥲 I’m sketching rn I’ll eat later”

Millimeters 🙄: “whatchu want for dinner 🤦🏾‍♂️”

“nothing”

Millimeters 🙄: “ight gimme a minute”

He always did little stuff like that, but after he’d always clarify it was in a best friend way, just incase.

Before you could get back to drawing there was a knock at your window, and a boy with a bag of food in his hand.

“Miles I told you I wasn’t hungry.” You said with a bit of a frown on your face. You couldn’t help but feel guilty when people did stuff for you, even if they didn’t mind.

“You said you weren’t hungry but you be lying soo…” He came into your room and closed the window, placing the food on your desk and flopping back on your bed.

“So what’s been up witchu y/n? You still talking to that boy from art?”

“I was never talking to him, we literally just sit next to each other in class.” You shrugged turning your back to him at your desk. He came over your shoulder to look at your sketchbook.

“You know you can take breaks right? Arts supposed to be fun.”

“I know, I’m tryna get this scholarship.”

“You will. Just chill with me for now.” He responded, closing your sketch book and getting his food out of the bag.

You both started eating and talking together, completely ignoring the time. Miles was right though, art had been consuming you at this point. He just didn’t want you to lose the fun in being creative.

“Anyways, I got us some tickets to a concert, guess who?” He looked up at you with a faint smirk and a mouthful of food.

“Miles you didn’t have to.”

“But I did. Now guess.” He responded quickly.

“I dunno? You really didn’t have to though..”

“Oh well, guess you’ll see who when we go on Friday.” He shrugged and smiled. “Just know you’ll love it.”

For some reason the room had a bit of tension in it, you couldn’t put your finger on why, and you wondered if miles felt the same way.

“Who you lookin cute for?” He said quickly, still looking down at his plate.

“Whatchu mean I’m just wearin pajamas?”

“Oh. You just look really pretty.” He said looking up from his plate with a faint smile.

“Mhm, thank you miles.” You chuckled a little, playing with your food with your fork. “Why you really come over here?” You said, looking up from your plate this time.

“What I can’t see my bestie?” He laughed, raising an eyebrow.

“No like…nevermind.” You said shaking your head a bit.

“You said you was hungry so I brung you food.” He shrugged quickly.

You genuinely couldn’t tell if miles had feelings for you or not. Honestly he acted like this to everyone, not on this scale obviously but he was a sweet person. Your brain was scrambled at this point, anybody looking at you could tell you had something on your mind.

He reached for his phone and sighed, the time was 12pm and his mom wanted him to come home.

“I gotta go, it’s getting mad late.”

“I wanted to ask you..nevermind it’s nothing.” You quickly said, sighing a little.

He got up from your bed and leaned down to press a kiss on your cheek.

“Stop overthinking it y/n.” He said before climbing out of your window.

You sat on your desk chair frozen in place. What just happened? What did he mean by that? A heavy sigh left your lips as you fell back on your bed and clutched your pillow in your arms.

A text pinged through your phone before you fell asleep.

Millimeters 🙄: “Hope you enjoyed the food :)”

“Night miles ❤️”

[lyssartandstars]

“I’m thinking we keep some of the cool gadgets but reexamine the torso,” she starts, absently pawing through her still open bag for her array of colored pencils. Cass leans into her shoulder, spoon caught in her teeth. “A little extra padding around the ribs—not like, super thick or ‘I can’t put my arms down,’ though.”

“Enough that it doesn’t feel like a baseball bat is going to snap you in half?” Barbara offers. Steph leans her head back onto the couch to look at her upside down. Her next breath tugs at her sore ribs a little.

“See? You get it.”

Barbara smirks and rolls her eyes a little, and Steph goes back to her sketch. For a few minutes it’s quiet, and it’s easy to get lost in her drawing. The redesign on the previous page hadn’t exactly been up to her standards this morning, and black ink still stains the side of her palm from where she’d smeared through it earlier. Now, her head tilts a touch as she traces her way along the page, pausing just long enough to swap out one color for the next, letting them blossom across the design before an errant curl catches her in lashes until Cass brushes it out of her eye and breaks her out of her trance.

“You should draw more,” she says. “It suits you. You look peaceful.”

“Probably shouldn’t quit my day job,” Steph says, sticking the end of her pencil in her mouth as she holds up her sketchbook. She nudges Cass with her elbow in a silent thanks.

the snippet above is by the amazing @thychesters who I got to collab with in the @batgirlzine!! we’ve been friends for just over a decade and finally got to do a piece together, and her words just blew me away. working with her and everyone else on the team was a dream come true, and I’m so glad I got to participate!! 🥰

read the fic here, and go check out everyone else’s pieces if you haven’t yet!

[liquid-luck-00]

Marks of Magic

Day 4 Leaves of Maribat Spooktober 2023

First *** Previous *** Next

Language and cursing is used

1540 Words

~~~~~~~~~~

She’s been at Gotham Academy for a little over a month and the seasons were starting to turn. She was sitting in Gotham Park under a giant white oak in the middle of the park.

Sure she had to deal with an odd rogue here and there but this was peaceful.

"You know you shouldn’t be alone." She looked up from her book and saw Jason standing above her.

"I haven’t been here that long." She put away the sketchbook in her bag as she got up.

"Really?" He reached above her and plucked something from her hat. "It seems you’ve been here long enough to start growing leaves, Nettie."

"I wouldn’t have if you actually got here when you said you would." She pouted at being called out, mostly because she did loose track of everything that happened around her. More than likely she was under that tree for an hour or two.

"B was being a pain, Alfred’s been watching me like a hawk, and…" He trailed off, he looked down kicking the ground.

"Jay." She grabbed his hands, they were cold but he didn’t seem to notice, pulling them up as his eyes followed the motion. "What happened?"

"It’s nothing." He grumbled looking away from her. So she grabbed his shoulder and squeeze them.

"Jason Peter Todd, Wayzz help me, for fucks sake something is bothering you so spill before I make you." She pulled him up slightly so they were eye level with each other. She was taller by a few centimeters but still.

"It’s nothing, really."

"It’s not nothing." She let him go. "You don't have to tell me, but if you want to I'll listen."

"I… not yet."

"Okay." She didn’t pry but knows her friend needs a distraction. "So why are there skeletons and spider webs going up everywhere?"

"What do you mean, it’s October."

"Yes and?" She tilted her head to the side, wondering why the month made a difference.

"Halloween!"

"What?"

"Have you never had Halloween?!"

"Sorry can’t say I have."

"Is it not a thing in Paris?" She shook her head in response. "Everyone gets dressed up and there is a huge festival here in the park. We would…" He would have kept talking but seemed to catch himself.

Fall she understood, granted back home it would be winding down from tourist season which meant a few final fairs would pop up. But there wouldn’t be much to note.

But this! This seemed like so much fun she had to try it.

"Dressed up, in costume?"

"Yeah! Heroes and demons, angels and monsters. Anything really."

She thought of elegant suits and dresses, masquerade was what she pictured. Not what Jay was describing at all.

"This is flying over your head, huh?"

"A bit."

"So what do you want to do?"

"It’s getting late, maybe grab a bite?"

"There’s a pretty good hotdog cart near by." Jason jabbed his thumb behind him.

"Lead the way."

Granted they weren’t even out of the park when they noticed. However in their defense they were pretty much in their own little world. It got eerily quiet, but just as fast everything came into hyper focus.

"Now which one of you was lucky number 13 to leave and set off the area?" Mari quickly looked around before her eyes focused on a stage of sorts and a man in a tacky three piece green suit with purple question marks all over it. She should probably keep more of an eye on rogue locations and incarcerations, but she just turned 14 and this should not be on her to do list.

"Well why don’t the two of you participate together, then." The Riddler practically giggled as a few henchmen shoved them into the center of this makeshift square.

Police cruisers blocked the street in order to stop traffic. The Riddler was standing on the bed of a semi truck with canons on either side of him, and what she assumes is a detonator in his hand.

"Three riddles, three detonators set up around the park. For each wrong answer I push a button, but if you’re right I won’t touch it."

"And how do we know you’ll actually keep your word?" Jason shouted at the villain.

"Quick on the suspicion, aren’t we! Where’s the fun if there’s no trust. Now!"

Mari was planning, she knows he wouldn’t actually let them go if they were right so she had to think. Two must be duds so... even if they answer right he could toss them, only one switch works so which is it?

"Let’s start simple and festive, shall we? Why do zombies never win at poker?"

She looked at Jason since she had no idea, yet he had a shit eating grin on his face.

"Because they have a tell-tale heart." Of course an Edgar Allen Poe reference, that explains his grin.

"One down two to go, kiddies." He dropped a remote, almost as if to prove it was in good faith, two remotes, it’s a 50 / 50 shot.

"Walk on the living, they don't even mumble, step on the dead, they mutter and grumble."

She blinked, the answer was simple. "Leaves."

"And the little miss speaks, correct". He drops one more remote, but this time he pulls a cane from behind him. Two henchmen come and grab each of them. The cane pointing at her, and she noticed the hollow barrel, a gun in the cane.

"Last one." Should she have been more surprised maybe, but who knows at this point. "While some spring forward, I choose to fall back. Come and join me while you sit on a haystack. I may show a movie with a crazed maniac, I will for sure host a festival to give you a heart attack."

Jay was staring livid, too angry to say a word, as he grit his teeth. This was not how she was going to die.

Sass.

Was all she thought when she closed her eyes, the riddle ringing in her mind, but no answer came. Then she opened them.

"There’s a pretty good hotdog cart near by." Jason jabbed his thumb behind him.

She looked at him puzzled, there was no way that happened, but it was so vivid in her mind, could it have actually happened, and how did she come back to this moment.

"Hey earth to Nettie is anyone home in there."

She felt a flick on her forehead, as her attention was drawn to Jay.

"Sorry I got the strangest feeling of deja-vu. This might be off the wall but… " She took a breath and recited. "While some spring forward, I choose to fall back. Come and join me while you sit on a haystack. I may show a movie with a crazed maniac, I will for sure host a festival to give you a heart attack."

"A riddle really?"

"I know it silly but it’s stuck in my head." She shrugged trying to play it off.

"October." They were walking now. "That’s the answer."

"Oh."

And then it happened, the Riddler, his speech, the suspicion from Jason, and it clicked, she called on Sass’s power, she turned back time.

"Now! Let’s start simple and festive, shall we? Why do zombies… "

She didn’t let him finish before she answered. "Because they have a tell-tale heart."

He was surprised and dropped a remote like before. "Walk on… "

"Leaves."

"While…" He stalked towards her.

"October." Things had changed, but she crossed her arms, a sense of confidence and lack of fear, made her ask. "Can you cut the theatrics now?"

"Why you little brat." He lunged at her and she pulled her fist back and caught him square in the nose before flipping him on his back.

She debated on answering him but she didn’t have to as Batman flew onto the scene.

"How? You? Nette?" Jay stumbled through his words.

"I’m from Paris, why wouldn’t I know how to do this?" She shrugged.

"I have more questions."

"Which can wait." An officer came out from the police line. "May we get a statement."

She looked over at Jason who was again staring at his shoes as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world, a feeling that someone was watching them, prickled down her spine.

"Yes, but do you mind driving us home after, it’s getting late." She tried to sound a bit shaken at the events and the officer smiled at her. He seemed honest enough.

"Of course I can, what’s your name."

"Marinette."

"I’m commissioner Gordon, and your Jason, right." She looked between the two, he nodded but Jay still avoided everyone’s eyes. "Alright let’s go."

The commissioner guided them away from the scene.

They gave a short statement before they were driven home.

She was the first one to be dropped off, and Jason tugged on her sleeve as she was getting out.

"Can…" He whispered but stopped. "Good night."

"Night Jay." She smiled as he let go, but she knows something is wrong. But she can’t do anything if he won’t tell her so she’ll wait.

"Come on Wayne." She heard as the door closed, and she blinked.

Did she hear that right. No it can’t be… can it.

Next

~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist:

@jennifer-rose123 @toodaloo-kangaroo

[leonsleftbicep]

Bake Me Back To Eden

Chapter: II

Ao3 Version

Word Count: 1,183

Tags: Bakery AU, Modern Setting AU, Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Vessel/II/III are dating, IV doesn't know them… yet!, Trans II, Nonbinary Vessel, Genderfluid III, They/Them Pronouns for III, It/Its and They/Them Pronouns for Vessel.

Summary: II has an early appointment with a client. heads to Ivy Sprigs for his morning coffee and ham & swiss roll.

II had to go out to work earlier then usual. His client decided to book a five - six hour appointment at nine in the morning. To top it all off he had to shave the grown out scruff on his jaw, and trim his mustache this morning because it was getting in his mouth.

He made his way to ivy sprigs like he did most mornings when he made his way to work, because they took the same route. It was surprisingly hotter than it usually was in the mornings so he rolled up his sleeves and pulled up his hair in a messy bun. not caring how he looks at the moment. 

once at ivy sprigs he went to open the door but it didn’t budge, odd. he decided maybe today wasn’t the day to get coffee but then he heard the jingle of the bell for the door and turned to see IV.

“was just opening up, come on in i’ll get you a ham & swiss roll” Ivy says with a soft look, looking a little longer then usual just to notice II’s more put together appearance and detailed neck tattoo. IV turns around and walks back in, he silently takes a deep breath to calm his nerves. II follows IV in, hold his bag strap a bit out of habit and to calm himself. 

“you can come sit behind the counter with me, no one else is here yet. just us two” IV says with a soft grin as he prepares II ham & swiss roll, like he did every morning for the past month. 

II sits down on a stool near IV, watching as he heats up one of the baked good he likes. 

II looks at the ivy tattoos on IV’s wrists and forearms, “how long have you had those?” II asks while he sets down his bag and pulls out his sketchbook. 

“long, long time. they where originally stick and pokes i did back in uni. then i actually got the rest done by a professional.” IV answers as he hands II the warm ham & swiss roll “i’ll get you that coffee made for you in a second” IV smiles as he starts to clean up the counter. 

II takes a bite of the roll and hums “i could fit you in for a session between some clients if you’re in need of someone to do some designs for you” II offers. 

IV looks over at him with a very obvious blush on his cheeks, “i need a touch up on some tattoos on my thighs, but it would be a while till i can get the money” IV thinks as he looks away and continues to clean up the counter. 

“it's on the house, you already give me free coffee and baked goods” II responds as he sits up straight in a bit of a defensive stoic posture. 

“I consider you a friend now, so it's the most I could do to repay you,” II says with a bit of a softer tone than usual. IV just looks at him with a completely red face and chest. 

“Are you okay Ivy?” II asks worried IV would pass out. 

“im.. im fine, just a bit flustered by-“ was cut off by a whistle “wow Ivy wasn’t expecting you to have a snack this early in the morning” evaline giggles as she walks into the front, she looks II up and down “your that tattoo artist that works up the street, right?” 

IV groans “Lii this is Evaline but i don't think she needs any introduction” he grumbles in an annoyed tone as he motions to her. 

“I like to make myself known,” Evaline smirks, “get your man his coffee, he has work today” she commands as she slaps IV on the rear and makes him squeak. 

II chuckles and covers his mouth “sorry that is just, very funny. it’s understandable now why my partners think you are such a peach” II smiles with so much passion that makes his crows feet really shine. 

IV flusters “im going to go make that coffee for you” he says as he walks off. 

evaline snorts “im going to kill that man if he doesn’t get hitched soon” she says through gritted teeth as she puts her hands on her hips. “believe me i'm trying” II mutters. 

Evaline and II just make eye contact and then act like neither of them ever said that. 

A few moments later IV walks back in with II’s coffee in hand. “So what time is your first?” he asks as he sits on the counter and looks at II. “Nine because this lady is insane” II say before taking a sip of his coffee, “i hate mornings” II grumbles. 

Ivy just looks at him softly “I'll keep that in mind, next time you have an early one just text me so I have it all setup for you” IV offers. ii’s eyes flick to his as he thinks for a second, “i don't have your number?” II say simply. 

“well i can give it to you, yah goof” IV chuckles and puts his hand out for II’s. II looks confused for a second before he understands and gives IV his palm. “you can call me or text me anytime you need m- anything from the bakery” IV says as he internally cringes at the slip up. 

II doesn’t notice the slightest slip up and watches as IV writes his number on II’s palm. the wet ink drying quickly on his skin, the warmth of IV’s hand on his. it makes II sweat.

II’s head was now on a heywire, it couldn’t shut up about IV, he hasn’t felt like this since his first girlfriend in highschool. 

II looks at IV, his eyes scanning over IV’s face wondering if he felt the same. it felt so clique but it was all true, he felt like he was falling head over heels. 

IV and II stare at each other in the eyes for a while, slowly leaning closer and closer unknowingly. 

“eh hem” Erie coughs as her and Evaline stand in the doorway, “works about to start up, we have a couple people outside.” 

Ivy looks at the two and then back at II “i have to get to work, and i bet you do as well” Ivy holds Lii’s hand and kisses the back of his hand. “I'll see you tomorrow,” Ivy says before walking off.

II sits there and tries to collect his thoughts, mulling over what just happened as he holds his to go coffee in one hand as the other is still where IV let go of it. 

Once II zones back in he starts to pack his stuff up, taking a bite of his roll as he focuses on getting out of the cafe as his face gradually redens. 

He runs out of the bakery with a roll stuffed in his mouth, his coffee in hand, and his other hand clutching the strap of his bag for dear life. 

‘The Angels’ Group-Chat

Lii: hey, days all weird today. im on my way to work now. Text me if you need anything.  Thea: hello honey, on your way home pick up some ice cream, poor Vess is all sad today.  Verna: IM IN LOVE AND I CANT HAVE BOTH MY BABIES WITH ME TO COMFORT ME THROUGH THIS!! :::(

[eruden-writes]

Scent Match - Part 2

(Note: Started with an anon asking for the phrase prompt, "Oh. Oh.")

Summary: When Amber Dyer decided to attend a Creator Con, she never expected to run into Of Wolf and Blood lycan hearthrob, Augustine Prime.

But, there he was, stooping over her table, asking to buy the unflattering drawing of his character. Valuing integrity over taking money from a celebrity and running (though she was sorely tempted,) Amber finishes the sketch and delivers it to Augustine.

However, he continues to doggedly pursue her and entwine their lives.

All because of her scent.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Previous | Masterlist

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Hours later, Amber found herself sitting on a bench in the corridor that led to the VIP section. It had to be a large meeting hall, she decided, after a bit of watching. Con staff flew in and out of the door, some bringing in food and drink while others checked papers on clipboards while appearing stressed. Thanks to room dividers expertly placed just inside the doorway, no wayward fans could even glimpse the bigshots inside.

Anxiety clawed up her back as she stared down at the sketchbook laying atop her thick thighs. For now, it was closed, but she could feel the damned drawing burning a hole in her sense of propriety. She really should just forget about this. Augustine paid upfront and likely wouldn’t even remember her or her silly little art. 

“So are we going in?” Next to Amber, Addie piped up. She twirled her bright pink curls - a voluminous wig - around her index finger while noisily snapping her gum. Beside her friend, Amber felt a little dull in her jeans and tee-shirt and hoodie. Addie had brought her A+ cosplay game with the low-cut and high-hemline intricate dress of a popular character from a dating sim.

Closing her eyes, Amber took a steadying breath. Her friend refused to be left at the booth while she made this particular delivery. Which meant Amber had to wait near Artist Alley closing to give Augustine his… commission. Though she couldn't blame Maddie for her disbelief. Amber barely believed her story herself. “Give me a minute.” 

“This isn’t helping your credibility, Amby," Addie giggled, a wry grin curled at her lips. 

When Amber's eyes opened she shot Addie a frown. This had been a repeated topic of conversation since Maddie heard what happened. “How else do you think our cashbox was so much heavier?” 

“Good question." Addie leaned back, making a show of considering Amber's words with a chin-stroking hand and over-the-top hum. With a snap of her fingers, she grinned at Amber and wiggled her eyebrows as she guessed, “Maybe you did do a commission for someone while I was gone, but not for Augustine Prime. Did you take my advice and start taking NSFW comms?” 

“No, I haven’t.” Not that Amber hadn't considered that potentiality, but it wasn't exactly something she wanted to discuss in the middle of a busy hall.

That was the kick in the pants she needed to get moving. Pushing herself to her feet, Amber strode to the attendant near the door, Maddie trotting behind her.

The con staff by the door was a burly gargoyle, expression seemingly in a perpetual state of 'extremely not impressed.' They watched silently as Amber approached, only inclining their head as they asked, “Name and reason for entry?” 

“A-Amber Dyer. I have a commission for Augustine Prime.” Trying not to feel like she was raising a shield, Amber held up her sketchbook. She immediately regretted that, as well. It was like a prop for a weak lie.

The attendant raised an eyebrow. “Do you now?” 

Amber pressed her lips tightly together, before raising her chin. “Yes.” 

Evidently put out, the gargoyle sighed and held out their hand. “We will make sure he receives it.” 

“Fine,” she said after a beat of thought. They likely had to deal with all sorts of fans with harebrained schemes to get in and see their favorite stars. There was no point pressing the issue. If they throw her drawing away, she had already gotten paid, as well.

Having already paper clipped the drawing to a receipt and one of her business cards, Amber held the small stack to the attendant. “Can you please give him the art and his receipt?” 

With a heavy sigh and a roll of their eyes, the attendant glanced down at both the drawing and the paper. Their expression pinched at the sight of the less-than-flattering caricature of Mr. Prime’s infamous character, their gaze flickis back up to Amber as if to gauge if this was a joke. She steadily met their eye, somber expression relaying that no, it wasn't a joke. 

With a shake of their head, the attendant disappeared into the VIP Lounge without another word to Amber. 

— 

Inside the VIP Area, it was like an indoor caravan camping out under fluorescent lights. On the outer edges, cabana-like tents lined the walls. Each housed whoever had been wrangled into coming to the convention. TV show and movie casts, TouYuber celebrities, influencers from an array of social media, voice actors - who most often dipped from one cabana to another - and some notable pillars of various nerd communities.

In the middle of the large room, catering had been set up. Cellophane-wrapped sandwiches, rows of soft drinks and water, decadent cupcakes or other treats, plus a few tables from popular eateries. Screens in the corners of the room blared the schedule, which had mostly completed by this point of the day.

In the OWaB camp, Augustine currently sat in a chair, one leg thrown over an arm as his back leaned against the opposite side. “Do we have any media obligations tomorrow?” 

“Our big one was done today. Showrunners and writers have a few panels or workshops tomorrow, I think,” answered Delilah, the actor that played the battle-hardened lycan protagonist of the show, stretched across a loveseat. Her sharp blue eyes angled to Augustine, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. “Don’t you have that charity auction?” 

“Fuck, you're right. Winner gets to have dinner with me.” Augustine groaned, head flopping back against the chair’s arm. In a fit of theatrics, he threw his arm over his eyes for good measure.

“Why so bummed about it? Usually you enjoy being fought over.” From their own spot on the floor near an outlet, Camry shot Augustine a curious look. In their hands they held their tablet, currently plugged in.

“If that artist came by, I was hoping to ask them to dinner.” He sighed, slumping further in his chair as he slid his arm off his face. 

Thinking of their face, eyes wide with shock and a pinch of a blush on their cheeks made something in his chest twist. The memory of their scent - indescribable and warm, twanging at something in his chest - coupled with the awry curiosity of how they’d feel under his palm. Though they had been sitting and somewhat obscured by a hoodie, he was aware enough they were curvy and round, certainly soft and warm. His fingers flexed, his imagination feeding him phantom sensations. “Guess I could ask them out tonight.”

Just as he finished, Theo entered with a tray piled high with catered food in hand. The human actor gave a knowing snort as they inclined their head to Augustine. “Talking about the smelly artist?” 

“They’re not smelly. They’re fragrant. And you wouldn’t even be able to scent them.” Playfully, Augustine tossed a pillow at Theo. It had been a careless and sloppy throw, since the other man merely turned aside to block it from hitting his face.

“I’m pretty sure they’re not coming, Auggie.” Delilah hummed as her castmate shot her a dirty look. She gave a defensive shrug, her voice softening an iota, “From the way you tell it, I think they were off-put by you.”

“Easy $200 for them, that’s for sure,” Theo laughed as he settled down in an empty chair, placing his goodies on a nearby end table. 

Augustine grumbled to himself, eyes glued back to his phone. He really should have dallied longer at the table and paid more attention. There was probably plenty there with their name or even online handles. He'd been flustered after finally locating the scent that had been plaguing him since arriving at the convention. He didn't know what he expected when he finally found it. Realizing it belonged to someone versus something just hadn't occurred to him.

“Mr. Prime, an artist dropped this off. Claimed it was for you.” 

Those words made his head snap up so fast, his eyes apparently intense as the staff member nearly stumbled backward at his expression. Before Augustine could jump up and snatch the paper from the employee, one of his co-stars beat him to it. 

“Oooh, I see what you mean," chuckled Theo, holding the paper at arm’s length while fending off Augustine with his other hand. “They definitely have a talent for catching your essence.” 

“Lemme see!" Camry jumped up from the floor, making grabby hands at the innocuous piece of paper. Theo dropped it to them and they snatched it up like a monkey stealing fruit. As soon as they glimpsed it, a cackle escaped their lips.

A flare of heat licked up Augustine’s body, his wolf ears pinned back against his head and bristling tingles spread down his back as he lurched for Camry. “Oi, I should be the first one to look at it!” 

Alas, he was too late as Delilah plucked the drawing from her shorter co-star. Sticking her tongue out at Augustine, she grinned and held it away from him, “Shouldn’t have been so slow about it.” 

Glaring up at Delilah - usually his height, but currently given a slight advantage with her heeled boots - Augustine had to swallow down a frustrated growl. She smiled viciously down at him, blue eyes almost glowing with a challenge. The chemistry between Montos and Laira, in-show, was aided by the natural playfulness between the actors that often transmuted into challenges. Not to mention the fan-made enemies-to-lovers content that plagued the fandom sphere.

His gaze shifted from Delilah’s gaze to the paper, quietly agonized by the slight crumpledness after exchanging so many hands in such a careless manner. Not to mention the artist’s own scent being lost, obscured by his crewmates’ hands. 

His pride was no match for the desire clawing at his thoughts. Ears and tail drooping, Augustine’s lips pursed as he held out his hand to his colleague. “Please, I don’t want it to rip.” 

One of Delilah’s eyebrows jumped up, her ears flicking forward in quiet interest at his reaction. Her grin grew, flashing sharp teeth as she held the paper out to him. “Fine, fine. Put that diabolical pout away.” 

Augustine had to temper his eagerness as he took the piece of art from her. Looking at it, it was much like how he remembered, except a little more refined. Overall, it was a wonderful caricature of Montos in his second season grimy glory, dirty and in tattered slack with a furred cloak. Mid-shifted his wolf ears peeked out from the mass of chaotic hair that haloed his head.

A beard stretched around his large sharp-toothed - if goofy - smile as he reached out to the viewer. Near his head, a line of fan favorite dialogue and oft-used nickname for Laira hovered: “I’ll give you a bone, Little Bitch.”

Indeed, in his slacks just before the image cut off, there was a hint of an excited bulge. Or maybe it was just a bump to let viewers infer Montos’s - ahem - size. Regardless, there was the implication of stuffing having been utilized, considering the edge of a coin sack stuck out from his trouser’s waistband. 

His eyes continued to scan the drawing until he found what he had unconsciously been looking for. A scribble of a signature adorned an empty space near the bottom of it. Narrowing his eyes, Augustine realized it was too difficult to decipher. Damn.

“Bummer that they didn’t come in though, right?” At his elbow, Camry piped up, peering at the drawing once more with an amused smile.

“Yeah,” Augustine glanced up at the staff member who still lingered close, perhaps surprised by the delight over the unflattering and crude drawing, “Why didn’t you escort them to me?” 

“They, uh, they weren’t on the list,” the gargoyle stammered, lifting their clipboard as if to provide evidence. 

“Shit.” Augustine stared at the signature on the drawing, but no amount of squinting could decipher the squiggle. His head snapped up, gaze landing on the gargoyle once more. “Were they out in the hall when you came in?” 

Relief fluttered through the attendant’s voice as they answered, “Yes, I can-” 

They didn’t have a chance to finish as Augustine tore off for the exit. 

— 

Amber and Addie stood by the door for a few minutes, waiting for the staff member to return and formally dismiss them. At the very least, if Augustine did not accept the drawing, Amber wouldn’t have minded having it back.

Eventually, Amber sighed with a shrug, condemning herself to the thought of the drawing being pitched into a trashcan. “Guess that’s it.” 

“I suppose so.” Disappointment made Addie’s demeanor slump a little. Trying to rally some humor, she shot Amber a teasing smile. “Still doesn’t prove he actually paid for it.” 

“I know,” Amber groaned, her shoulders slumping as she exhaled and started down the hall. It didn’t really matter if Addie was believed or not. She herself knew the truth. Of course, that didn’t keep her friend from ribbing her, all the same. 

There were a few moments of quiet as the two strolled further down the hall. Since they had packed up the booth early and now Artist Alley would be closing in fifteen minutes, there was no point in heading back. 

“So, what should we do for foo-” A sudden commotion from behind interrupted Addie’s words. Alarmed, both women turned to spot whatever chaos was happening behind them. 

A searing tingle shot down Amber’s body, watching as Augustine - with full almost-a-beard stubble already -  approached while waving her drawing over his head. 

Relief fluttered through Augustine the second he spotted them. They'd gotten aways down the hall, but not so far that Augustine couldn't shout at them. “Mx. Artist, your handwriting is terrible. I cannot make out your name!” 

Movement at his feet caught her eye and she was startled to find him partially tangled in a curtain. She quickly recognized it was one of the room dividers. Her eyes flicked back to the door to the VIP section and, sure enough, staff were desperately trying to gather up the fallen pieces of the divider’s frame. One even tailed after Mr. Prime, weakly calling after him.

Had he seriously barreled through privacy screens just to catch her?

She watched as he kicked off the curtain - to which the con staff member gratefully collected the fabric - and trotted the rest of the way to her. Dazedly, Amber mumbled, “My business card is attached to the receipt.” 

Augustine blinked, glanced down at the paper in his hand, then flipped it over. Indeed, stapled to the back was her business card. For overlooking that, he'd blame his co-stars and their teasing. He plucked it from the paper, careful to not completely ruin either receipt or card, before peering at it. 

AMBER DYER She/Her/They/Them Artist - Writer Creator of Hell’s Promise

As he scrutinized her business card, Amber dutifully ignored Addie’s bugged eyes and barely contained excitement. It was harder to ignore the buzz around her or now the other woman grabbed onto Amber’s arm. It didn’t help that a flush threatened to burn over Amber’s cheeks every time her friend’s big eyes jumped from herself to the actor. 

Something in Amber's chest jolted as Augustine looked back at her, that damn charming smile on his lips. “Ms. Dyer, please come back. My co-stars want to meet you.” 

“Why?” Taken aback, Amber wasn't even able to censure herself. 

Her seeming surprise at simple actions tickled at Augustine’s senses. It was charming, he thought. In response to her, his smile tilted crookedly and he brought his hand to his chin. “They said you captured my essence perfectly.”

“You showed other people?” Amber blanched as her checks heated up. The drawing hadn’t even been her best work. Hells, it had been subpar and kind of mean, if she was being honest! Did his reportedly tight-knit castmates want to rake her across the coals for it?

She was certain he was just low-key harassing her by asking for the drawing. Other than it being some weird powerplay, what explanation was there?

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” A breathy chuckle escaped him as he shot Amber a curious look. Was it so hard to believe he’d want to let others see it? “That’s the point of art, right? To show people.” 

Oh, this way something her brain could understand. Amber latched onto his flippant words, eager to gain some footing of understanding in a world that made nose sense. “I mean, there’s other reasons. Why we make art is a philosophical-” 

“Ugh, don’t start in on that boring stuff!” Addie finally butted in, shaking Amber's arm dramatically. She flashed a delighted smile in the actor's direction as Amber was startled into silence. “We’d love to come meet your co-stars!” 

Still smiling, but blinking blankly, Augustine registered the other person's presence for the first time. They were shorter than the artist and seemed to be wearing a cosplay he couldn't place. Generically attractive, with a round face and full lips upturned with vague amusement at the corners. Pleasant to look at, but something in the air around them put him on edge. 

Tilting his head to her, his own lips mirrored her faint grin. “We?” 

“I’m Addie Kline, she/her! Amber’s friend, roomie, and the one who talked her into even coming to the con." Addie's chest puffed out as she stepped forward, hand jutted out in a demanding request for a handshake. A sly expression crossed her features as she eyed Augustine. "If it wasn't for me, Amber wouldn't even have attended!"

“Ah, well, the more the merrier.” Augustine's expression brightened, now silently thankful to this previously ignored attendee. He took her hand, giving it an enthusiastic shake. “Are you a fan of the show?” 

“Big OWaB fan since day one! I can’t forgive the writers for leaving us on such a heinous cliffhanger last season.” Addie released Amber’s arm, stepping closer to Augustine. Her voice dropped low, into faux inconspicuous territory, as she asked, “Between you and me, care to share what might be in store, Mr. Montos?” 

He made a show of glancing around and Amber had to bite back a smile as overt eagerness radiated from Addie. When the man stooped closer to the other woman, Amber involuntarily held her breath.

“There are too many prying ears here,” he growled, using his character’s lilt. The corners of his lips twitched a little as his attention flicked to Amber, watching her expression carefully. 

“If you two wish to accompany me…” He let the pause languish as he curled a lip in a mean smile, running his tongue over his sharp teeth before finishing with a bit of gravel, “Perhaps I can be persuaded to talk.”

He couldn’t actually reveal anything, but talking around the questions was something he had learned for media interviews. 

Amber bit her tongue to keep from reacting to his eyes gliding over to her. The way his tone shifted, becoming more like Montos, sent shivering sensations over her body. Judging from the way his smile twitched, she thought he knew she was reacting like that. Which only convinced her to batten down against the sensation more. 

It didn’t help that others were stopping and staring, snapping photos with their phone and whispering. That realization sent another sizzle of heat through her.

He offered a hand to the bubbly woman, who delightedly took it, before offering his other to Amber. At the very edges of his awareness, her scent taunted him. Despite the relatively scant distance, the urge to bury himself against her throat burned at his thoughts.

She stared at his appendage like it was a venomous snake. A quick glance to Addie, noting her smug look and slight nod as she leaned into the man’s side, finally convinced her to give in.

With a sigh, Amber Dyer took Augustine Prime's hand, happy to be led somewhere less public.

Hopefully, she could get her head on straight by the time they made it to meet his co-stars.

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[sleepyowlwrites]

first thing I do after returning home is to clean my room and put away all the books I've acquired in the last couple months. and do laundry, 'cause I need shirts. now dad can stop saying "there's more stuff in here" every time he comes into my room.

I made space for all my writeblr friends' books to be together, right underneath the most favorites shelf. when my fancy ARMV comes, I'll have to shuffle again, but whatever. I'm finally utilizing this wine crate I've had sitting around. it's hiding my second Cassandra Clare shelf, 'cause yeah there's two of them. The books on the floor are either give away or "I dunno whose these are" and also my bts albums that I don't want anymore. if anybody will pay for cost of shipping, you can have them. I had not intended to recollect the Lunar chronicles, especially since I never finished them the first time, but the covers! are so pretty!

got my owl prints into frames. if I can remember, I'll link the etsy artist here. somebody comment and remind me. did I really need fancy versions of Howard Pyle's Robin Hood and King Arthur? no, but I wanted them. you can't see the bottom shelf but it's Rick Riordan, Michael Morpurgo, and some misc stuff down there.

I moved some stuff here, too, so the middle shelf is all fairytale or fantasy stories, and star wars is up with the graphic novels. I got ready player one, a book I was never going to buy, from a discount store this weekend, and it's hanging out with Dune, 'cause I was never gonna buy that either.

the plan is to get shelves that are 84" so they go up one shelf higher than that last one. I have a little step stool so I'll be able to reach the higher shelves, and they'll go across from almost my doorframe and hopefully I will then have enough space. but then I won't because I will keep acquiring books. I could always put some floating shelves on the wall beside the window, every bed. my journals take up a lot of space. they're not like sketchbooks. I can fill those, take pictures of each page, and then throw the sketchbook. but journals I want to keep.

I also need deeper art shelves, but that can wait.

once I'm back on meds and my brain stops being scrambled eggs all of the time, I am going to read these books, and make art, and write stories, and it’s going to be great.

[mikhailwrites]

Waiting for Connection 8 / Ghost x Soap NerdAU

Ghost is retired and plays milsim videogame. Soap is still in the force and sometimes plays that same videogame...

This is a bit of a mid-chapter, there will be a full chapter today as well - Soap and Ghost finally meeting face to face - but this was just... way too fun to write not to share.

Previous chapter | AO3

“Sooo,” Gary drags the chair closer, causing it to screech on the floor, earning several annoyed grunts from the other soldiers in the rec room. Soap looks up from his sketchbook, eyebrow questioningly raised. “Gonna confess, or do I have to work for it?”

“What are you on about, Roach?” Soap puts the sketchbook down before reaching for the mug on the table. He takes a sip, grimacing at the taste of the coffee.

“Ghost,” Roach clarifies.

Soap sighs; he should’ve seen this coming. “What about him?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Gary stares at him in disbelief, “how about you being totally smitten with him? Or the fact that he seems to be equally smitten with you?”

“What the hell? What are you talking about?” Soap straightens, brows knitted together and posture clearly defensive.

“Mate…,” Gary shakes his head. “Alright. Let’s not address your obvious crush on a man you’ve never even seen.”

“Gonna see him on Saturday,” Soap says and belatedly realises he just gave Roach a bloody bazooka.

Gary stares at him for a second, wide-eyed, before his face blooms into a shit-eating grin. “Are you, now?”

Soap runs a hand through his mohawk. Well, in for a penny and all that, he thinks. “Aye. It’s along the way to Glasgow. We’re just going to grab a pint or two, and I’ll be on my way.” He doesn’t mention that he usually takes a plane to Glasgow. He is actually going out of his way to see Ghost. But Roach definitely doesn’t need to know that.

“John…,” Gary leans to John, suddenly much more serious, “when was the last time you had friends outside the military?”

“He’s ex-military,” Soap objects.

“Answer the question, Sergeant,” Roach presses on.

Soap squirms a little, gaze dropping on the table. “Before I enlisted.”

“I’m not trying to talk you out of it, mate, just… be careful, alright?”

“I’m SAS, Roach,” Soap says a little defensively. He doesn’t need Roach to babysit him.

“I’m not talking about your physical safety. Anyway… we should also talk about that callsign of his.”

“It’s just a nickname for the game,” Soap shrugs.

“Jesus wept… remind me never to let you have my six again! You would probably shoot me in the back yourself, what with how daft you are! Look, I’ve spent one evening playing a stupid game with him to see that he owns that callsign. So either he’s a pretentious prick who took a callsign of only one of the fucking legends of SAS, or…,” Roach trails off, gesturing for Soap to draw his own conclusions.

“Yer not serious… he’s not…,” Soap shakes his head, “he can’t be…,” then he looks up at Garry with something akin to panic in his eyes. “Can he?”

Lieutenant Kyle “Gaz” Garrick was enjoying his book in the rec room in peace. Until he heard a single word uttered that dragged his attention from the words on the paper to words spoken not far from him. That word being, of course, Ghost.

Gaz doesn’t want to eavesdrop on his men, but it’s hard to let go once the callsign registers. And so he listens, and the more he hears, the harder it is to keep quiet and low-key. When Ghost asked to meet, Kyle knew something was up, especially since he was willing to come to London.

At first, Gaz thought it was just Ghost being paranoid and overly cautious about someone he had spent more than ten minutes with, which was pretty normal for Ghost. But the glint in his eyes when Gaz confirmed Soap is SAS? The momentary panic when Gaz implied Ghost likes Soap? Knowing what he knows now, Gaz can barely keep his face straight. Oh, this is going to be so much fun.

When John pauses to think whether Ghost can really be The Ghost, Kyle gets up and leaves the room. Gaz is really proud of himself because he manages to get all the way outside the building before he breaks into laughter. A bunch of recruits and some lower officers look at him with some bewilderment before scurrying away.

[woodenfawn]

Re Zero Highschool AU Concept

very new to tumblr, sorry if i mess anything up!

mey and i just talked about this and threw it together and had a lot of fun with it XD I'm at arc 6 and mey is anime-only so far, so some things may be inaccurate, and some characters are not included!

If there are things you want to suggest please do, but any spoilers should be either really vague or plot-irrelevant (like, outside of main plot developments. Side stories are fine i think!) mey's notes from our conversation, I'll put some of my individual thoughts in at the end (Thank you @tanya-degurechaff for letting me ramble about my blorbos for so long! and watching re zero!!! and everything!!!)

Click on the keep reading to see all the notes, i think???

Shitty Re:Zero Highschool AU

All the king candidates are all part of the Student Body, all running for Student Body President. That's the competition.

Emilia is an awkward transfer student. Her step-dad, Betelgeuse, had to move for work purposes. She looks a lot like the weird girl, Satella, which people isolate her for. Emilia deepest secret: watches 70s TV shows. Her clothes look vintage. She watches Antique Roadshow. When she goes to Anime Club, she finds out the anime she likes are very out of date. (Astroboy). 

Subaru is the leader of the anime club and he instantly falls in love with Emilia and invites her to join. She takes the invite. Besides anime club, he also goes to the QSA, but as a student named Natsumi Schwartz and it's 100% convincing everyone.

Julius hates Subaru guys he swears. Julius is the captain of the fencing team and hangs out with Reinhard very often. He and Reinhard go to the chess club every Wednesday after school. Julius is also a secret LARP-er and goes to Ren fairs as a cool knight. 

Reinhard is a straight-A, valedictorian, star of all of the sports team golden students. He's planned to take the Astrea Company after he graduates. Secretly, Reinhard wants to be a shoujo manga artist. He keeps his shitty Manga in a pink sketchbook at the back of his locker. He goes to the Anime Club with Subaru and that's the only time he can draw.

Otto had a lot of trouble in elementary school and barely talked, rather interested in his anthills instead of people. As he got older, he started making friends and now hangs out at the anime club. He's known as the student janitor, cleaning up after everyone else. He also lays facedown in dirt talking to bugs. He's autistic and has a special interest… in bugs/nature in general. Sensitive hearing, uses noise canceling headphones. Scalper. Theater Tech. Stage manager. 

Garfiel is a freshman who's known to cause a lot of trouble and hates school. He's actually a youtuber who makes shitty rage roblox and minecraft trolling videos in his freetime. He's quite popular with elementary school boys. Calls Subaru Captain in school, follows him around. Great at sports

Rem is a VTuber for LugunicaEN. Her Oni form is her Vtuber model. Very popular for her genuine talks, she does ASMR, gives advice to people. She's very kind. Writes fanfiction. 

Ram is just a girl 👍. Mobility aid user. 

Priscilla is a theater girl, she acts like she is the best actress. Tries for all the lead elegant female roles. She's a good actor, just a little bit annoying. 

Roswaal is the theater teacher.

Wilhelm principal 

Crusch also does Fencing Club. She's very academically intelligent, though struggles socially. A good leader.

Ferris is the TA for the nurse. Also Vtuber for LugunicaEN. Openly part of the QSA, no one realizes she's a girl somehow. Girlfriends lesbians Crusch.

Liliana is an older student who gets held back, joins theater because she's a great singer. Priscilla has a sexuality crisis and becomes a woman lover.

Anastasia is part of the student body beforehand.

Otto is friends with Subaru's mom.

The triplets are all in the DnD club. It's just the three of them. Mimi is a Berserker.

Subaru is good artist, great at sewing. 

Ferris can also draw. They draw together and talk about their girlfriends. 

Emilia CANNOT draw. Worse than Reinhard.

Puck is the cool teacher, knows everything. Wise…

Beatrice is the librarian. Looks like a student, is not. Never leaves the school, no one knows why. 

Echindna is a history/english/science etc. Teacher, teaches everything no one else teaches. How is she doing this.

Satella is a weird girl who has never really talked to anyone. Advises the anime club, no one talks to her. Has a weird shrine in the girl's bathroom. 

Minerva is the school therapist, part of the health and social relationships classes. She's just so sweet… she takes care of the therapy dogs. Aggressively supportive of everyone. She's like a shaking chihuahua. Tries to act threatening, is just not. Really likes Emilia.

Felt is the youngest running for student body. She really wants two lunchtimes. That's her goal. 

Rom is the gym teacher 

Fredrica is the older sister of Garfiel, top student. She and Crusch are friends. Ready to graduate, just a girl. Trying to control her younger brother.

Henkel stands outside of Reinhard's class window shaking his head in disappointment.

Reinhard likes magical girls a lot, he just wants to help. He genuinely loves power of friendship stories. Really likes Tokyo Mew Mew and made Felt watch it. Reinhard likes to cosplay magical girls for cons and drags Felt along. 

Subaru convinces Reinhard to get Tumblr, does not know how to use it. Reinhard: "Dear Diary, I had breakfast today, two eggs and a toast." He also texts using the glitter flowers gifs with shiny text.

Al is a stage crew guy who follows Priscilla around. Otto doesn't know what to think about him. 

Otto disappears for days at a time. He is camping.

Garfiel is secretly a furry. His fursona is based on Garfield. Has commissioned Ferris.

Ferris is a furry artist. The Vtuber and Furry stuff is completely different.

Garfiel almost stopped going to school, Subaru convinced him to stay because he's been there before. Garfiel respects Subaru because of this and that's why he follows him around.

Petra is an elementary schooler who visits the highschool. On friendly terms with all the teachers. Why is this child here. 

Elsa is the science teacher, especially biology. Seems just fine at first, but has some… moments that's a bit terrifying. Everyone ignores that.

Meli is a future scientist, best friends with Elsa.

Gluttony twins are great students and hang out in the cafeteria all the time. Right below Reinhard, Crusch and Julius. Acts like delinquents.. 

Regulus is a horrible teacher. Terrible man. The kind of teacher that's like "your learning depends on how I'm feeling today", hated by everyone. 

Capella is not in the school… she. She is not in this au. Gets booted in this HS au.

Sirius is a very sweet teacher. She's the kind of teacher that's almost childish, really wants everyone to get along. She almost seems condescending, but she's genuine about it. Obsessed with Betelgeuse, every time he visits Emilia, she flirts. 

Pandora is the one who keeps Regulus in line. A faculty member. Philosophy Teacher.

Hector is a sad janitor man. Otto took over his job.

Tonchinkan are the three school delinquents, but strangely friends with Felt and therefore associated with Reinhardt (who's trying to keep them in line).

Daphne is the Lunch lady. 

Typhon is a student who's really into philosophy. Bad at it. Misquotes things often. Probably says a Lord of the Rings quote trying to be smart. Googles "how 2 be smart"

Sekhmet is a no nonsense teacher, she doesn't like being a teacher, but good at her job.

Individual notes:

We initially thought this up because we were joking about a Subaru-Reinhardt-Julius highschool fanfiction, cause honestly the way they're written in-story would fit that so well, and ended up making this whole thing...

I think the witches should all be staff/teachers of some sort, except for typhon maybe?

We set wilhelm as the principal just by vibes, but we have some ideas that would clash with the concept. maybe the dragon is the principal and nobody's seen him XD

Reinhardt's story in more detail: he's a straight A student (the kind with over 100% in all of his classes) who joined all of the sports but skipped it a lot because he was just so good at it and also he prioritized chess club. Julius is in a similar position. Subaru then invited him to the anime club (being the idiot he [she?] is) and Reinhardt accepted because "friend!!!!" he found his love for shoujo anime and now tries drawing his own. he's okay at drawing girls but awful at drawing guys. He picked up crossdressing from Ferris and Subaru and had a full identity crisis when he realized Ferris was transfem and Subaru is an egg (or closeted transfem or bigender or something). he realized he's just a cis man who likes crossdressing but he had to put his shoujo down for a little while... now he forces Felt to cosplay as a magical girl with him. She secretly has fun! Every time Heinkel shows up outside his classroom window he just... slides his sparkly pink sketchbook back into his backpack

Subaru sews the cosplay fits!

We said sirius is sweeter in this AU because i don't think anything would trigger her more extreme views in this story, and mey can't tell me if that's right or wrong cause they haven't met her yet XD i might be but i think a sweeter role fits her!

Rem and Ferris are in the same vtubing group. they refuse to talk about it

Emilia picked up her outdated language from old shows and anime! She joined the anime club because she was excited to talk about the old old anime she loves, and when subaru talks about waifus she just thinks "ah, like that lum girl!"

Julius has either really really good taste in anime or really really bad taste.

Subaru's just picking up friends cause he's too chaotic to follow the atmosphere, and the people he tried to become friends with just so happen to need someone like him!

Subaru WILL try to woo emilia with anime pick up lines

When Rem develops a sleeping disorder that makes her fall asleep while standing up sometimes, she becomes wheelchair buddies with Ram! Ram is determined to push herself (though she'll let Emilia do it sometimes) and Subaru helps Rem out!

Rom is a very sweet teacher. everyone is scared of him at first but they all call him grandpa at the end (teasing, but lovingly). Felt is actually his adopted granddaughter, and when she got to highschool it got a little awkward but made some very funny moments!

Ram is a very good student in some places but very bad in others. They don't know what to do with her. Sometimes she gets an A and it's clear she didn't cheat but sometimes she fails. sometimes in class she knows everything and WILL show off and sometimes she's straight up asleep. Nobody can figure out the pattern.

Otto will sometimes skip class and teachers either don't notice or just say "oh he's probably doing janitor stuff we shouldn't bother him."

can patrasche be the very aggressive therapy dog

i think i should stop here before i write a whole book

we haven't even got a fanfiction planned or anything we just talked about this for a few hours

if anyone does want to write a fanfiction that would be hilarious and send it to us please