#forgot to schedule this WHOOPS have it in the morning

[peachesofteal]

Dead Disco / Chapter 1

I looked away from my other WIPs for only a second and vomited this up. Thanks.

Simon Riley/John MacTavish/female reader 1.4k words - AO3 Warnings-tags: 18+ Minors DNI, M/M/F, angst, explicit sex, DP, everyone is bad at feelings (or are they), men are gross and touch you without consent, protectiveness, bar fights, mentions of injury and violence, polyamory, probably could be considered toxic. You should have gotten out.

It was always them, and then you. You, on the outside looking in. Them, on the inside looking at each other. It felt like you lived somewhere different, a place that you weren’t even sure existed. You were a body in the middle of a big bed, empty for weeks and months at a time during assignments, phone silent, dinner table set for one.

It had been your mistake, of course. Because how could it not? They existed, before you, and they would still exist after you, this you were sure of. And of course, you should have known that it would be a problem. That this snarling, festering, rot of feelings would take shape into something that was bad for all three of you. Still, you tried to scratch and claw it away because you didn’t want to accept the truth.

You should have gotten out, long before it had changed from middle of the night entanglements to phone calls and text messages, dinner plans and grocery shopping, mild pillow talk about the future.

You should have gotten out the morning you made pancakes for breakfast, when you and Johnny sat in the window and tried to keep your voices from waking Simon. You had been on your third cup of coffee by the time you noticed his shadow, standing in the dark of the hall, the small smile tugging at his lips just barely illuminated by the kitchen light.

“Did we wake you?” They only just got in yesterday, their sleep schedules still askew and their eyes still heavy. Your fingers tapped anxiously against the mug as he sat between the two of you, large hand pulling the hot liquid from your grip. 

“No, love.” He sipped your coffee, face twisting into regret before setting it aside and pulling you by your ankle towards him. “But no more coffee. Makes you all jittery, yeah?” Johnny chuckled, folding Simon into his arms easily, and rested his face across the dirty blonde mop of hair under his chin. His eyes said something to you that you couldn’t understand.

You should have gotten out the first time they called you Darling. When Johnny had his face in between your legs, lazily lapping at your cunt and Simon fucked him open.

“Darling.” He hissed, the vowels long on his tongue, fingers intertwined with yours. The cramp of muscles in your lower belly tensing with each stroke of his tongue, your body moving in time with his, his moving in time with Simon’s. The dip of his spine arching like a bridge between the three of you, connecting you, pulling you into the water with them, deeper and deeper until you couldn’t swim anymore, until you had no choice but to rely on them to keep you afloat. 

 You should have gotten out the night you and Johnny went to the bar. The night you wore that dress, dark but dotted with little flowers, small ties looped in a knot across your chest. It swung at your hips, easy in the breeze, the hot summer wind snaking across the skin of your legs, cooling the sweat that collected on the back of your neck. Johnny liked it, he had told you once, and you never forgot. It was nice, and felt good, and hid the raw edges of your open nerves. You had felt like a predator. You looked like prey.

The pool stick was slick in your hand, the buzz of the vodka in your system cocooning you in fuzzy softness, your body lax against Johnny’s so he could position you correctly. 

“Now, hit it here…” 

“Like this?” 

“Aye, that’s it.” You struck the ball with the cue, knocking another into a pocket, Johnny’s thrilled whoop lighting you up with heat and butterflies. “Well done love.” He pressed the palm of his hand against your back, teasing his lips across your cheek. 

“Give me a real one.” You whispered next to his ear, and he obliged you easily, the two of you pliant and undemanding against one another. 

“Go for another round?” he shook his empty beer bottle with the question. 

“Sure.” You placed yourself on a stool while you waited, but the line at the bar was too long, and it wasn’t a minute before there were two others, standing at your side, asking you questions and tracing their foul fingers across your exposed knee. 

“I’m with someone.” 

“Who, don’t see nobody.” Johnny’s back was to you, head bobbing as he spoke with the bartender. 

“He’s over there.” You pointed, but it didn’t matter. The finger moved higher. Your own curled into a fist and slammed into skin and bone. A jaw, maybe. Or a nose. You weren’t sure. But your shout was loud enough, and you could see the turn of Johnny’s body, felt the relief of knowing he saw you. Your victim yelled, and in a second later and a flurry of appendages, Johnny smashed a bottle over his head.

When the two of you got home, Simon was irate. But it wasn’t the kind of red vision rage that you had heard whispers of, but something darker, something more distraught. His eyes were tight when he pressed an ice pack to your knuckles, visible discomfort shifting into sympathy when you hissed in pain. 

“Poor darling.” He murmured, lips on your forehead. He was silent for the rest of the night, fingers constantly feeling for you, for Johnny, until the three of you fell into bed together, your back pressed to his chest, Johnny’s arms around you both.

You should have gotten out the first time Simon said the words our girl, the first time you took them both, with your chest pressed to his, his cock sunk to the hilt in your cunt and his fingers spreading your ass open, the cool kiss of lube making you shudder.

You drew a breath, and the bed sunk beneath the weight of Johnny’s knees when he positioned himself behind you. 

“Take it easy.” Simon murmured, hand reaching somewhere you couldn't see, little grunts falling from Johnny's lips until you felt him pressing the head of his cock to your ass, and pushing inside.  It was so much, the pressure making your head spin, the feeling of taking them both forcing gasps of air from your lungs, your face cradled between two giant palms, thumbs stroking your cheeks. 

“Jus’ relax. That’s our girl.” Simon soothed, eyes flicking up to Johnny’s face, heavy conversation transpiring without words, just over your head. 

“F-fuck.” You hissed, the burn and stretch and sting crushing together until you were babbling nonsense, while Johnny fucked you deep and Simon lazily jerked his hips up into you, over and over. When you fell into your orgasm, you dragged them down with you, and your bodies were limp against one another for hours afterwards.

You should have gotten out, the day you fell asleep on the couch with Simon, curled against his body like you fit there, hand stroking patterns into his forearm. You slept for hours, and when you woke up, the sun had set, apartment dark and quiet.

“What time is it?” you blinked blearily and sat up, groping into the dim light for your phone.

“Just past seven.” He’s still in the same position from three hours ago. 

“Oh my god. Why didn’t you wake me? We’re going to miss the-“ he pulled you back into his chest without a word, thumb pressing to your bottom lip to silence you. 

“Didn’t want to. Rather just lay here with you.” Something broke after that, some part of the protection you had built inside yourself crumbled, and you rolled into him, content to be there until Johnny got home and forced the two of you up for pad thai, his lips ghosting along yours and then Simon’s until you were both fully awake.

You should have got out, but you didn’t. You held onto the hot pan too long, let it sear your skin, let it mark you deep and leave a nasty scar. You let yourself sleep in the big empty bed, worry gnawing you alive on the inside, phone silent as you waited for the ‘touched down’ texts or calls, too eager, too invested. You let yourself think, believe, want, something that wasn’t real. It was always them, and then you, after all.

So, this is how you found yourself with two bags by the front door, key sitting alone on the kitchen island, a four-sentence email sitting in your drafts. Waiting to be sent.

Hey,

I’m sorry. I left. The key is on the island. I locked the front door.

-Darling.

[redhairedwolfwitch]

Sombra y Amor

First part - Sombra y Fuego

A/n: I forgot where I was going with this part 2, but I have a vague idea of a timeline running up to the 2023 summer transfer window👀 but keep in mind it's set in the 2021/22 season in this part so whoops. I decided to be nice since I passed my driving theory test today:)

Summary: R’s family were family friends of the Putellas family, R grew up with them, goes over to help establish Manchester United WFC whilst studying there, over the years befriends some Dutchies and Ona when she arrives too.

///

Whoever organised the villas for Ibiza clearly thought you needed to be babysat. You were in the room next to Alexia’s, and Alba was in the same villa too. 

The agreement for your birthday was two celebrations, one in Manchester, which you had with your United teammates, a celebration that ended with you waking up the next morning with Ona using your chest as a pillow, and a teasing text on your phone from Jill, about how you fell asleep on the call with her. 

The other celebration would be in Ibiza with as many of your Spanish national teammates as possible, plus, much to Alexia’s resistance, and Jenni’s encouragement, Jill had tagged along, meeting some of her Wolfsburg teammates in the process.

You weren’t going to admit that you’d been staying up to work on your final assignment of the trimester, the part-time degree taking up chunks of your time when you weren’t training for a match or participating in said matches.

Your sleep schedule was a mess though because of it, Ona having woken you up so you could both get to the airport in time to head back to Spain being one of the more significant events. Or how you slept on Ona’s shoulder for most of the flight back.

Footsteps approaching your room were the first thing you heard, but whoever it was knocked gently, waiting before opening the door slightly, then walking in. You ruled out Alba, Ona and Jill, and nobody else would walk into your room whilst you were sleeping but one. The knocking and waiting, the door opening slightly to peek in, it was Alexia.

“Buenos días mi pequeña sombra… are you awake? I hope you are, Jenni’s plan was to dump water on you, but I said I would check first…” Her voice was soft, reminding you of when you were a child, sneaking into her bed when you had nightmares. You would choose Alexia over Alba then because Alba accidentally rolled you out of her bed, waking up the entire Putellas household because you had hit your head on the way to the floor.

A soft groan left your mouth as you rolled over, leaving space for Alexia to sit on the edge of the bed, her hand gently pulling down the back of your pyjama shirt from where it had rolled up.

“Hm… buenos días…” you whispered, rubbing at your eyes as you rolled over to look at her.

“What’s wrong? You have that look on your face- the same one you had when… what’s bothering you?” You trailed off, avoiding admitting what you had thought of last time Alexia had that expression on her face.

“You re-signed with United?” Your signing with United in 2018 had taken Alexia, Alba and Eli by surprise, but you explained your reasons well, for the three year contract anyway, but now you were tacking on another two years, taking you up to summer 2023.

“My degree… It's taking longer than I thought, since it’s part time, but after the lockdowns, the universities got better at online work, so I’m ahead… I re-signed because it’s going to take another year at least, and United is getting better. Ona’s contract is until 2023 too, if they activate the option year. The WSL is fun, and it’s not like Barcelona needs Sombra.” You replied, about to bury your face in your pillow but Alexia let out a sigh.

“By the way, thanks for kicking Chelsa’s ass in the finals.” You changed the subject, seeing the disappointment in your older sister’s eyes at you saying Barcelona didn’t need Sombra, referring to yourself like that.

“Come on, get dressed, you’re missing breakfast. Jenni, hold off on the water. Sombra is awake.” Alexia nudged you, calling out to Jenni, who let out a bored groan in the hallway, peeking her head in as Alexia nudged you again, spotting you going back to sleep.

“Finally!” Jill teased you whilst Ona laughed, but you chose to ignore them both in favour of breakfast, sitting down next to Ona with Jill opposite you. You could feel other eyes on you as you realised that Alba, Jenni and Alexia were all watching you three.

“Hoe zijn je nieuwe teamgenoten?” 

Jill let out a chuckle before replying in Dutch, the two of you chattering away as Ona looked overwhelmed, but a smile lit up her face when she saw the looks on the other Spanish players’ faces.

“How much of that do you understand?”

“Jackie’s Dutch lessons are really good, plus I like the looks on everyone’s faces when faced with a language they don’t understand.” You shrugged, before Jill said something in Dutch that left your face burning.

“Ik probeerde dat te vergeten." 

Jill laughed at that, leaving you to huff as your sisters looked confused, and Ona shook her head in amusement, having a slight idea of what was happening.

“Let’s move on… what are we doing today? Also where is everyone else?” You glanced around, taking another bite of your breakfast.

“They went to rent a boat.” Jenni explained, as you got up to make a drink, following you over to make a coffee.

“A boat?”

“Yes. You can reenact Titanic.” Jenni smirked, but you frowned in confusion, taking a moment before realising.

“I’d understand that reference, if I had actually been awake during that movie.” You retorted, watching as Jenni removed the teaspoon from her coffee cup. 

“Have you told Alexia about when we’re back in Barcelona? What did Mapi say?” Jenni asked into her coffee, sparing a glance in the direction of your sisters as you hummed.

“Mapi offered to do it herself, but Alexia would kill her. I haven’t told Alexia, but I think she’s still a little offended that I went with Alba for my fourth one, instead of with her. She had a media thing so couldn’t go with me.”

“Fourth? It is like you are growing up before my eyes!” Jenni teased, grinning as you grimaced into your drink.

“You’ve known me for years-”

“What are you two talking about?” Alba raised an eyebrow, walking over to make herself a drink.

“Nothing!” “Nothing!”

///

“Are you sure those three aren’t all dating?” Lola gestured to where you, Jill and Ona were on the dancefloor together.

“We’re sure, but… I don’t think our baby sister realises anything beyond trying to annoy Alexia.” Alba replied before disappearing onto the dance floor.

“Annoy you?” Lola enquired, turning to Alexia, who rolled her eyes, swaying to the music slightly as she turned to look at Lola, no longer watching you, Jill and Ona.

“My baby sisters… who have somehow disappeared?” Alexia frowned, looking over the dancefloor again to spot Ona dancing with Leila, and Jill was talking to some of her Wolfsburg teammates.

“Maybe they wanted some air?” Lola suggested, looking over the dancefloor and seeing no indication of you or Alba anywhere.

///

You had to grow out of sneaking into Alexia’s room as you grew up, because she grew up too, and you saw her less and less due to football. Instead, you’d lay awake at night, staring up at the ceiling trapped in your thoughts. Sometimes Alba would find you kicking a football outside, or Eli would wake up to find you studying at the dining room table in the early morning.

Exiting your room at the villa, your feet were soft against the floor, tapping your knuckles against the door you needed carefully, waiting before opening the door enough to peek in hesitantly. It was only when you saw that it was safe that you slipped into the room, curling up on the floor next to Alexia’s bed.

You tried not to flinch as you heard the bedsheets rustle, but Alexia was peeking over the bed to look down at you curled up on the floor.

“What’s wrong? You had a nightmare? Why are you on the floor?” Alexia whispered into the darkness, hearing you let out a sigh.

“I can’t sleep. Jill admitted she’s had feelings for me for a while, but she’s leaving for Germany, and I’m not going to see her unless Spain plays against the Netherlands and I’m on the roster. We both accepted it was a missed opportunity, but it still hurts.” You wrapped your arms around yourself, curling up further on the floor until Alexia reached down to rub your shoulder.

“I’m sorry, mi pequeña sombra, although, you’re not that little anymore…”

“I’m still five years younger… even if I’m not that toddler running after you and Alba anymore.” You replied, leaning into your sister’s touch as she huffed.

“The ball was bigger than your legs but you wanted to play with me. You would cry if I wouldn’t let you. Mi pequeña sombra… my little shadow…”

“Too long for a jersey. I still remember when they started calling me Sombra, but it didn’t warm my heart like mi pequeña sombra did. You called me just Sombra once, and I wanted to cry. You’re my sister, even if we’re not blood. You, Alba, Eli, you’re more my family than… them. I love you.” your rambling was cut off as Alexia shifted in her bed, wrapping her arms around you to pull you into her, the hold reminding you of when you were little, clinging to your big sister after nightmares had woken you up.

“I love you, mi pequeña sombra, my littlest sister… Does Alba know about it?” Alexia hummed, gently rubbing your back as you shifted.

“Yeah, we talked the entire way back here from the club, I think I wrecked her plans to dance with whoever she was eyeing at the club but if Ona saw me cry, or Jill realised her confession made me cry… Alba’s had my back ever since she threw a boy in the mud for trying to kiss me.”

“¿Qué?” Alexia almost flew up from the bed, confusion all over her face at what you had said, quickly asking when this had happened, and where she was at the time of the event.

“We were at the park. You had gone off to play football with the big kids, and I wasn’t allowed to join you since I was seven, you were twelve, Alba was nine. I’d played with the boy before on the playground, but I don’t know why he thought kissing me was a good idea. Alba spotted it, shoved him into the mud and glared at him, he cried, and I cried too when Eli came over… and that’s the story of how a boy was almost my first kiss.”

“Remind me to thank Alba. Wait, almost your first kiss… who was your first kiss?” Alexia asked, but you were either asleep, or pretending to, as Alexia got no answer. Who your first kiss was was something only you and some of the Spanish squad from the under 17’s championships in Iceland knew.

///

Your sleeping-in habit was apparently contagious. You and Alexia both were still sleeping when Alba went to check on you, finding your bed empty, so she headed towards Alexia’s room, finding you asleep, having stolen the blanket from a sleeping Alexia, and your foot was dangling off the bed.

A shriek echoed through the villa, leaving everyone else in the villa, and outside it in the pool to immediately look around, wondering what had happened.

“Alba! Don’t do that!” you yelled, having awoken to a hand grabbing your ankle, whilst Alexia flew up at your shriek, protectiveness in overdrive until she realised it was only Alba pranking you.

“Lo siento, but you left your foot dangling over the edge.” Alba smirked, but you huffed, glancing around to realise you were not in your bed, or your room, and the three of you were not alone.

“Buenos días, everyone!” you got out of bed, heading into the hallway, bypassing the audience to head to your room to get ready for the day. It wasn’t until they heard another shriek for Ona that had them hurrying to your room, finding you jumping around.

“What’s going on?”

“I got my grade back on my assignment, the one I stayed up until 2am to finish, I got 75! That’s a first class!” you exclaimed, jumping around in excitement as Ona eventually realised what you had said, and what assignment you were talking about, quickly jumping into your arms to join your celebrations.

You didn’t see the way your sisters exchanged looks, because you were busy jumping around with Ona in your arms, grins on both your faces.

///

Floating in the pool, you stared up at the blue cloudless sky, the water rippling gently against your skin.

It was only when you heard a sploosh, eyes staying on the sky as the water rocked you roughly, turning your head to spot Ona swimming towards you.

“What are you doing?” Ona enquired, floating on her back next to you.

“Just thinking.”

“Be careful!” Ona teased, making you huff and roll your eyes, spotting a lone cloud drifting over.

“You, thinking can be dangerous, Sombra.” A new voice teased, making you and Ona sink instead of float, hurrying to swim over to the edge of the pool where Laia Aleixandri stood with a smirk.

“Charming… so, are you going to stand there like a lawn ornament or swim with us?”

“You two weren’t doing much swimming.” Laia deadpanned whilst Ona frowned.

“Lawn ornament?”

///

“Do you know who the first kiss was with?” Alexia quietly enquired to Alba, spotting you, Laia and Ona chatting in the pool.

“You don’t?” Alba went to tease, but Alexia’s sigh was enough to stop Alba from teasing her older sister, “I just know it happened, no details, too awkward to talk about it, but it was with a girl.”

“When, Alba, when?”

“That football trip in Iceland.” Alba replied, trying to recall more.

“In 2015?” Alexia perked up, trying to recall who would have been on the Spain squad back then.

“Hey, we’re getting ready to go to the restaurant now!” Lola called out, whilst Jenni tried to jokingly wrangle everyone out of the pool with a broom.

“Why are you so interested in my first kiss anyway? It’s not like I know who yours was, or that I want to…” you dramatically grimaced as Alexia let out a gasp, whilst Alba snickered, watching on as Alexia went to tease you back.

“So it was in Iceland with the under 17’s… you’re close to a lot of our national teammates-” Alexia began but you ducked behind Ona and Laia.

“Was not us!” the two defended themselves, hurrying after you as you all went to get ready for the restaurant, not going to dinner in your swimsuits.

///

“You’re so nosy today.” You pointed out, sipping your drink through a paper straw as Alexia put down her glass.

“You never told me-”

“The entire concept of a first kiss is awkward, and I haven’t spoken to her in a while because she plays in Spain, like nearly everyone else on the national team besides Ona, who isn’t going to tell you, and neither is Laia, who I also haven’t seen in ages so…” you shrugged, turning to talk to Laia, whilst Alexia sighed.

“First kiss, that happened already?” Lola turned, raising an eyebrow as she remembered you from years ago, how little you were.

“Five years ago apparently… no idea who it is, but someone from the national team during the under 17’s in Iceland. Not Ona or Laia…”

“Maybe you should drop it, Sombra does not have to kiss and tell.” Jenni suggested, leaving Alexia to nod in agreement, especially since dinner was beginning to arrive.

“You never told her?” Ona whispered, leaving you to shrug.

“You know me, I don’t realise people like me until it’s too late. Carmen, Jill, there was even a girl at school, we were fourteen. No point telling my sisters every missed opportunity of a relationship.” You explained quietly, poking at your meal with the fork, your appetite gone as you recalled what Jill had admitted to you yesterday.

Ona frowned slightly, reaching over to take your hand and squeeze it gently, gaining a forced smile from you in response which she shook her head at.

“How about we celebrate your assignment grade, that first, not your first kiss?” Ona asked, making you laugh slightly too loud as you gained the attention of some of the others.

“Fine, fine, yeah, let’s do that.”

///

Heading back to Barcelona, your sisters had noticed your sneakiness, but hadn’t been able to figure out why. Jill had left to pack up her stuff in London for the move to Wolfsburg, so it wasn’t about her.

“Have you seen-” Alexia began to ask Alba, but Alba already knew, since you three were supposed to be going out for dinner with Eli soon.

“Out with Mapi and Jenni-”

“Dios mío, they went out to get tattoos.” Alexia let out a sigh, but Alba wasn’t done.

“Leila and Ona too.”

“Sure, everyone else… didn’t even ask me.” Alexia began to sulk, much to Alba’s amusement.

///

“Happy?” Leila enquired, turning around to see you were giving Ona a piggyback as the five of you walked through the streets of Barcelona.

“Sí!” you grinned, but let out a groan when Jenni leaned back to pat your head, making a remark in Spanish about how you were growing up before her eyes.

“You’ve known me for years!”

“You were so little!” Jenni replied, pretending to wipe away a tear.

“And now I live in another country to play club football whilst studying for my degree, and have a few tattoos so…” you shrugged, shifting slightly to not drop Ona.

“You have more than a few!” Ona cut in, gaining Mapi’s attention.

“The ones on my ribs are private!” but what you said didn’t help, as Mapi looked between you and Ona on your back.

“But Ona saw them?”

Jenni and Leila stopped walking to raise eyebrows at you and Ona then.

“We share a flat, and we don’t have a shower curtain, it’s a pane of glass.” You deadpanned, about to retort when your phone began to ring in your pocket, “I’m going to be late for dinner, look, if you’re that interested in my tattoos, I’ll snapchat you… just not the rib ones, Alexia looked murderous when she found out Ona saw one, and that Jill went with me to get one done…”

“Alexia looked murderous about that? Good luck to whoever you end up dating!” Mapi deadpanned, noticing the look on Ona’s face as you huffed.

“No, too young to date!” Jenni cut in, with Leila agreeing, whilst Mapi began to laugh and Ona buried her face in your shoulder to hide her laughter.

“Literally the same age as Ona!”

///

Heading back to Manchester, you hugged Alexia, Alba and Eli tightly, not wanting to let go but your home was in Manchester, at least for the next two years.

“Ay, you’ll miss your flight.” Alba poked you in the sides as you fumbled with your suitcase handle.

“You have to go, mi pequeña sombra.” Alexia hummed, noticing your hesitation, but you nodded, smiling softly before turning to walk into the terminal.

///

Spain didn’t qualify for the Olympics in Tokyo, so you and Ona were well rested by the time that pre-season for the 2021/22 season began. Starting with some club friendlies, then the WSL began. The first game back against Reading was memorable, for more reasons than one, as Ona had scored the second goal in the match, Kirsty getting the first, and you scoring the third one.

The first game back was also memorable because of the meowing you heard on the way back from the cafe you had picked up breakfast from for you and Ona the morning after. You both had the day off, but you had volunteered for breakfast, allowing Ona some more time to sleep.

You froze at the mews, glancing around but there were no signs of the source. Paper bag of breakfast for two in one hand, you hummed, glancing around to try to get closer to the source of the voice.

“Oh, no, poor baby, no, I’ve got you, I’ve got you… Ona’s gonna kill me, I’m bringing home more than just breakfast.”

///

Ona didn’t expect you to bring a soggy stinky cardboard box back for breakfast, a box that happened to be transporting a furry meowing creature that was determined to try and eat the breakfast you bought.

“I’m going to find a vet now, just don’t let any of the breakfast get eaten… also, I’m not sure how long the box was in the bins outside the cafe, so… be careful of fleas and ticks.” You grabbed your phone, starting to google, while Ona looked in the box to find the meowing creature trying to climb out. The breakfast sat forgotten on the kitchen counter as you and Ona began to sort out the latest edition to the household.

///

The fuzzball had no identification, and since being found in a soggy cardboard box near the cafe, was assumed to have been abandoned, meaning that after a few pouts between you and Ona, the cat was staying.

“Desayuno.” You ran your finger over the fuzzball’s head, the feline still not happy with the veterinary handling, but was also happier to be out of that box.

“Breakfast? You want to name the cat, breakfast?”

“Yuno for short. I went out to get breakfast for us, and came back with it, and a stray cat, thus, we have Desayuno… Sombra-Batlle.” 

“Desayuno Sombra-Batlle?”

“I don’t go by my surname, and legally I’m not a Putellas, so… okay, no Lion King moment for Yuno-” you immediately put down the flailing fluffball who wasn’t enjoying being picked up and held in the air.

“Maybe once Yuno is bigger.” Ona shrugged, looking over at how the fuzzball was now exploring the flat.

“We have a couple of neighbours who can watch Yuno when we’re on away trips.” You added, following the fuzzball around the flat as Ona playfully rolled her eyes, getting her phone out to text Alexia.

///

“How many tattoos do you have now?” Vicky glanced over at you as you held the cafe menu between your fingers in thought, turning it over to make sure you’d considered all the options.

“More than my sisters think I have, but last time I went was with Mapi, Jenni, Leila and Ona in Barcelona a few months back…” you turned the menu over again, not seeing the look on Vicky’s face.

“Did you five book out an entire studio or something?”

“The others have connections, plus it was an excuse to hang out with them, bringing everyone together. Although Alexia gets grumpy every time I come back with another tattoo she didn’t know I had planned. She just needs to wait until her birthday. Tattoos, no matter your background, they bring you together, y’know…”

“That is far too philosophical for someone who used to hide behind Alexia at national team camp.” Vicky pointed out, making you falter, but Ona’s return from the cafe bathroom was enough of a distraction for the conversation to be forgotten.

///

An instagram notification distracted you from your reading, glancing up from the online textbook on your laptop to your phone to look. Yuno’s eyes opened slightly to acknowledge the movement of your arm, but the cat stayed put, happy as could be curled up in your lap (regardless of the fact you were starting to need the toilet.)

“Ona, did you tag me in something on your stories?” You enquired, but Ona had gone to her room for something after the two of you had had dinner, leaving you with a stubborn, sleeping Yuno.

Opening your phone to see what Ona had tagged you in, you chuckled at the photo of you reading, with Yuno in your lap, asleep.

Your phone buzzed again, reminding you of the time as you saw Jackie’s text, quickly opening zoom to join the group call that Jackie had sent you a link to.

“Hoi!”

///

Ona raised an eyebrow as she exited her room, hearing you talking to someone, and as she entered the kitchen, she glanced into the living room to spot you on the couch, on video call to a chunk of the Netherlands national team that you had crossed paths with at Arsenal and through knowing Jackie. Jill was part of the call, the defender discovered as she walked over to the couch, falling into frame of your camera as you leaned back to acknowledge her.

“Hoi, Ona…” you murmured, smiling as Ona sat next to you, waving to the camera. She didn’t know Dutch, but she could still pet Yuno, who stretched in your lap, a paw pressing into your stomach that made you grimace slightly. Yuno had developed a sixth sense that involved being able to press paws over your internal organs.

You froze at a comment made specifically in Dutch so Ona wouldn’t catch on, feeling your face burn as you murmured back a “misschein.” Maybe.

Maybe you looked at Ona like she hung the stars in the sky. Just maybe.

/// hopefully some translations ///

Buenos días mi pequeña sombra - good morning my little shadow

Hoe zijn je nieuwe teamgenoten? - how are your new teammates?

Ik probeerde dat te vergeten. - I tried to forget that.

¿Qué? - what?

Lo siento - I'm sorry

Dios mío - my god

Sí - yes

Desayuno - breakfast

Hoi - hi

misschein - maybe

[angelpuns]

Sorry I wasn't on much today!!! I have been so so so busy all day and then I played mine craft :)

Anyway- the entirety of the "Training" arc has now been scheduled!!!! Which means it will be over next Friday!!!

I've already begun sketching the next arc and will hopefully be able to get it out a week or so after the training arc is over, but that depends on how quickly I get used to my new daily schedule, which has me getting up earlier and doing Stressful Things ™ every morning. So. We'll see :)

I plan to work more on both the Lil Hater comics but they're sadly not my main focus. I'll be making another announcement this weekend about the preorders since they will be closing next week, plus I'll try to answer any multi verse election asks/make some posts about that!!!

Anyway, this has been a late night announcement and briefing about how the next two weeks might look! Hopefully I'll be able to be on a bit more the next few days, it just depends on my mental energy and all :)

Also I am thinking about what to do to celebrate winning the Best Sibs comp as a thank you to everyone who voted for Kid Leo!! I'm surprised and delighted that he won ( although I admittedly forgot about the competition multiple times whoopS)

I really wanna try doing a magma or whatrver its called soon, and I'd also like to try and do another comic collab, but I'm going to take my time.organizing it and enlist other people to help because it got very very overwhelming for me before ;-;

Anyway, that's all for now!! I'll try and be on more and continue updating about Kid Leo and whatever else I need to stay on top of

[cyberstudious]

friday, june 2nd, 2023 | 03/100 days of productivity

only 2 days in and I already missed two posts, oops haha. this is a best-effort challenge, folks :D

anyway, today is a catch-up day. I forgot to include the labs when I put together my study calendar, so that's several extra hours that I didn't anticipate. I have until the end of August to take the exam though, which is more than enough time, so I can afford to move my schedule around if I need to.

today has been a good day, though. it takes a bit of effort to get going, but once I'm actually studying I realize how much I really like this material! cybersecurity is cool, y'all. and somehow there are still tiny interesting things to learn even when I'm going over how TCP works for like the third time lol. I'm feeling inspired to finally set up the homelab of my dreams, although I figure I should wait until my first Real Adult Job paycheck comes in before I start buying networking equipment to play with :')

today's productivity:

spent the morning cleaning up my hard drive & fixing some OS errors that I've been ignoring, whoops

finally downloaded all the lab materials for the course

caught up on section 1.3 and did section 1.4 (~5 hours oof)

today's self-care:

met my goal for water intake!

swept the kitchen floor (this goes in self-care instead of productivity because It Needed To Be Done lol)

went on a short walk

took some time to water the plants & chill on the balcony

[sunny6677]

There's four of us!

A RED GUY X MALE! READER

Chapter 1: Jobs PART 1

TWS: Slight profanity and slight gore.

-------------

There's four of us!

There's four of us!

Look closely, you will see!

There's four of us!

There's four of us!

There's him, and you, and me("A-And me..")

And everyday we all hang out

To find out what we talk about!

And I'm the one that's over here!

And I'm the one that's over here..

And-- uhh-- I guess I'm here..

And I am over here--

There's four of us!

Just four of us!

Us four!

-----

Silence clung to the air as the daylight slowly faded in from the windows of the tall house, fresh glows of the sun pouring in like a vast waterfall. The four roommates sat together at the dining table, not saying anything.

It was only a minute after of staring at eachother blankly and saying nothing whatsoever that the Yellow Guy had finally said something. "Oh, look.. its morning.." Said he, looking out through the glowing window of light.

"I guess we spent all night talking again." Said Red, maintaining a look of no emotion in his blank eyes of a deep void. Y/N stared down at the table and only replied with; "I.. guess we did, heh."

A minute of silence passed again, before the Duck Guy spoke up. "Well, what are we supposed to be doing now?" "What?" "Uhh.." "Um.." To Ducks question, there was no answer, so he in frustration slammed his finger against the table repeatedly while raising his voice.

"I would like to know whats meant to happen today!"

"Right, um, let me check the schedule.." Red pulled out his 'Hand Captain' devices and clicked the pen onto the screen to check the schedule. In all three seperate spaces of it read the words; "Nothing."

"Oh, says here we don't have anything planned.."

"Oh-- I see.. thats goo--"

"What? Nothing?"

"Nothing at all?"

Red pointed to the screen while replying with; "Well, thats what it says on the schedule.."

"No, we need to be doing something! Especially me!

"Honestly, I don't mind it. How about we just give it another twenty minutes?"

"Yeah-- I'd kinda like to not have to do something for once, so--"

"No, it's too dull!"

Red only blankly stared at him, before averting his eyes to the side and saying in an almost pouty like voice; "Only dull people think things are dull.."

"What? I'm not dull! I'm the best one!"

Yellow Guy only nodded at this before Duck continued; What do you think we should do?"

A jolly voice suddenly erupted from beside the direction Duck was looking, and from the random newspaper that randomly appeared was a briefcase with a smiley expression on its "face". Y/N flinched at the random appearance of this stranger with a shocked expression.

"Oh my, would you look at the time! I better get going!"

Y/N felt himself jolt towards Red, and his nonexistent heart beat for 9 miles an hour. With how powerful his jolt was, now his body and head were against Reds body, and he felt a huge stir of emotions inside his stomach. Red didn't provide a reaction to this surprisingly.

"Hm? Who is this? Why didn't we get breakfast?" Asked Red, looking minorly confused, yet still holding a barely visible hint of slight jealousy for the breakfast that the briefcase had received.

"I certainly wouldn't wanna be late for my job, would i?"

"Umm.. probablyyy.. not, I don't know."

The briefcase then proceeded to drop his fingers onto the food on his plate, and began to mess with the materials present. The noises of the dish clattering and the food splashing around were mixed into one, and after a bit, he shoved it all into himself.

"Cheerio then!"

"Bye.."

"Uhh.. bye?"

"Bye!"

"Wait.. can you tell us what we're supposed to--"

The Briefcase suddenly shoved himself back into the house, and pulled out an even tinier briefcase, only it did not have a face or glasses.

"Whoops, almost forgot my briefcase!"

"Oh, he's one of those guys who has one of himself!"

"Hey, where are you going?"

"To my job, of course! I've got a million things to do today!"

"A million things.. wow.." The Duck looked at absolute nothingness in amazement, as if he were in a dream-like state. Red only remained unphased by his look of adoration at the thought of having things to do for the day.

"Hmm.. sounds stressful."

"Not at all! If you've found the right job, it won't even feel like work! In fact, you'll feel like an angel!"

"Wow.."

"I've got a job.."

...

"On my shoulder.."

"Thats not a job.. thats.. a welt."

Yellow looked to his shoulder, and asked it with a curious glance; "Is that true?" It slimely answered back with a barely noticeable "Yeah.."

"Nah, I think we'll have to pass. We got other plans I'm afraid." Said Red, not bothering to look at the Briefcase, as if he weren't even there. Duck only raised his brow in confusion at his excuse, "No we dont-- we're not doing anything.."

"Yeah, exactly.."

"Sign us up for three jobs straight away!"

"Wha-- what?.. No, dont--"

"Yeah."

"Steady on there, friend! You need to find the right one first!"

"What? No? What about nothing day? We're supposed to be doing nothing day, I'm really looking foward to that."

"Yeah-- I dont--"

The Briefcase then randomly began to sing.

The four of them randomly appeared in a classroom with pencils, unaware of how they randomly got there.

"You can be anything you want to do

It's totally up to you

A'even if you don't know what to do......

I can help you! A'show you!"

They all then randomly showed up at different places of jobs, but still somehow heard the Briefcase singing anyway. Strangely enough, Y/N seemed to be the only one confused about this.

"You can be the guy who types so fast on computers (a'Clackity-clackity-clackity-clack!)

Or you can be the one who kicks so hard at a football (It's a goal!)

Or you can be the one who bangs the hammer when he's angry (Order!)

Or you can be the one who makes people better when they're poorly (Careful!)"

Yellow Guy:

"Maybe I can be the one plants a tree!

Cuts it down to make a shed"

Duck:

"And I will invent a digital currency based around respect!"

Y/N:

"And um-- I'll, uhh.. become a musician or whatever.."

Red Guy:

"And I would really prefer to do as little as possible or nothing at all... Is that an option?"

"What-- you really wanna sit around all day? A great big guy like you?" Asked the Briefcase in disbelief at the lazy sentence he just heard, the Duck only walked up and said; "He's not that big.."

"Oh, I get it! So you wanna be like my brother-- unemployed Brendon! Take it away, Brendon!" A spotlight suddenly showed up on the wall, as another Briefcase who randomly appeared came out from the shadows and into the light.

"Oh you don't want to end up like me..

I'm very shameful and upset..

My brother is quite successful and perfect, even though I'm older than him.. ugh!"

"I don't wanna do this anymore!" This Brendon cried with anger, as if that of an intemperate child. The Briefcase's face softened upon looking at his angry form and attempted to calm him down, "Whats wrong? That was good! Come on?"

"Yeah.." Muttered Red, unimpressed. "That was.. good." Said Yellow, furrowing his brows at the utterly awful performance he and his companions had just witnessed.

"Keep going, unemployed Brendon!" Encouraged the Briefcase.

"Why can't you just call me Brendon?! My name is Brendon!" Shrieked Brendon, as if he were having a temper tantrum.

"Oh, don't be like that.." Softly said the Briefcase.

"No, this isn't fair!" Upon saying that, Brendon then turned to face the wall and punched it, but cringed in pain. "Ow! My.. hand!" He cried in agony. "You alright?" Asked Red in minor concern for this little briefcase.

"What did you just say to me?!" He whined like a little brat. "Uhh.. he asked if you were alright. You just punched your hand--" "Are you gonna publish my novel?!" Abruptly asked Brendon, cutting off Y/N.

"Hey, don't talk to him like that.." Red softly pitched in. "Uhh, sorry, sir, but no--" "Then just leave me aloOOOOO--"

Duck:

"I can be the one who tells all the soldiers to stand up straight (Attention!)"

Yellow Guy:

"I can be the one who drives a truck full of ice creams (Yum-yum! Have one!)"

Briefcase:

"Or you can be the one who cuts people's hair for a party.."

Duck:

"So it looks smart?"

Red Guy:

"It looks dumb."

Yellow Guy:

"Maybe I can be the one who catches all the fishes in a big net!"

Red Guy:

"What? There's nothing in it..."

Briefcase:

"Or you can be the guys who fly so high to space moon"

Duck:

"Aaah..."

Briefcase:

"Or you can be the guys who work as a team in the work place"

Yellow Guy:

"Jobs!"

Briefcase (going away):

"Or you can be the ones who dig a hole for a funeral...

Or you can be the one who..."

As they randomly got shoved into another workplace by the Briefcase, he suddenly went through a door and shut it, and his song became muffled as he went in as well. "Eh?" Duck went up to it and creaked it open.

...

...

"What?.."

..he was gone.

"Where'd he go?" Asked Duck, searching from him inside the closet that was too small for him to hide in.

The four of them slowly turned around and saw the employees of the place they were now stuck at. In Y/Ns thoughts, he could only think one thing in particular..

What the fuck just happened?

[deusvervemakesgames]

Project RBH Devlog 0036

Whoops.

Didn’t mean to wait two days to post this but I forgot Monday morning and then after a full retail shift kept forgetting that I’d forgotten.

 Though, to be fair, I was planning on announcing my holiday break from posting things anyways. I do this ever December for a few weeks into the start of January, but this is the first year I’ve had this DevLog series going—and the first year my entire upload schedule has been upended by retail work—so I thought it would bear mentioning.

Additionally, I’ve added a new $1/Month tier to my patron. I had planned to have this from the start instead of the $3/Month tier but Patreon actually gets really judgmental if you do that. But hey it can’t tell me what to do so I did it. This won’t affect anything for any of my current Patrons either.

Other than that, Happy Holidays!

Until next Devlog!

-DeusVerve

Special thanks to my $7 Patrons, Haelerin and Christos Kempf!

Support me on Patreon to get Early Access to builds!

[memberment]

Gooodmorrrning

I have been shit at updating due to my hellstorm of past few days. HOWEVER.

I am awake literally three hours before I'm supposed to be so we may get some early morning updates because I can't fall asleep and work actually just ruined my sleep schedule so I need to cope by writing fanfic LMAO

guys its 537 pm I forgot to update this morning but Im on chapter three of SOMETHING

also Im still awake

Like I actually wanna sleep rn so I can keep writing and I cant fall asleep like what do I do???? LMFAO

8:34pm: Hi guys good fucking morning I fell asleep for like 2 hours and then spent the last one being a menace and learning Rush E (I don't know how to play the piano)

My iPad is charging so I can post my genesis square SO I CAN POST GENESIS TN

BC I NEED TO GET BACK INTO THE GENESIS GROOVE BC THERES SO MUCH GROUND TO COVER.

Um. A Girl and Her Dog is at 5.6k. I've decided it's gonna be short. Probably like eight chapters. And I'm going to quote the following text I just sent regarding it, because I genuinely think it might be the funniest thing I've said regarding any of my fics.

'LIKE rn I think I’m settled on kicking out horror comedy and it just being like some morbidly cute fluff adjacent thing that starts with cannibalism' which was immediately followed up by, 'And why am I wrong for that????'

Just know I'm laughing really hard because who the fuck do I think I am??? But yeah I may or may wind up banging out that entire fic tonight bc of how short it's gonna be so uhhhhh. If I can lock in (I'm struggling) updates on that tonight?

Then, I truly don't know. I think I have settled on my ten fics. Contributions have been considered. There's a google doc.

I might fuck around and work on Princess of Fire bc I gen want to start really working on that. That and Resurrection are the only behemoths I don't have anything for yet and I need to get on those.

WHO KNOWS THOUGH. WE'LL FIND OUT!!!!

(8:51) I am currently going through the trials and tribulations of writing 1k worth of someone STARING AT SOMEONE.

Let's see if I can do this successfully.

(3:27am) I somehow lost several hours but I updated Genesis so it's fine. LMAOOO. A Girl is at 6.8k. 10k more to go???? Ish?????? I think I may got it. idk dudes. Kinda wanna read something bc a new chapter is up & I am going feral over it🫶🏻

but also I know that's gonna turn into me reading like six things and getting nothing done LMFAOOO

(5:19) I DON'T KNOW WHERE THE TIME KEEPS GOING LIKE WHAT IS GOING ON????????

I'm at 8.6 though. I keep just like??? Walking away?????? From my screen???? I'm literally not even doing anything I'm just existing. And am now just remembering I forgot to post Desolation.

Whoops. Looks like I'm doing that????

It's 7am. And I posted Desolation. And The End. And then realized people actually have subs on for me and I am definitely spamming the shit out of people. IF YOU APPLY TO THIS STATEMENT, MY SINCEREST APOLOGIES LMFAOOO I FORGOT THAT WAS A THING.

I am going back to A Girl and pretending that I can concentrate.

[knight-engale]

❝  can you just…stay here?  and hold me.  ❞ for countess/demon au?

Another prompt I *completely* forgot about until tonight

This got longer and sadder than I expected whoops

Morgan hadn't been able to sleep that night, but not because of the fireworks or celebrations of the holiday. Quite the opposite; the last day and night had been extraordinarily difficult. She didn't used to mind New Year's, back when her father was alive. It used to be a day second only to the Masquerade, her father would make sure of it.

But her father had been dead for nearly a year now. She had thought she was past it, but the arrival of New Year's Eve had proven her wrong. She had spent most of the day hidden away, barely eating. She'd even pushed away her Rowan. She had regretted it the moment she saw the look on their face. They'd followed her orders, though, staying away for the rest of the day.

Now, as the sun rose on the morning of her twenty-third birthday, she was alone in her room, curled in an armchair meant to accommodate a much larger person than herself. She was so tired, but she just couldn't sleep.

Eventually, a knock on the door snapped her out of her thoughts. She sat up and looked over the back of the chair as whoever it was unlocked the door and let themself in. Both relief and shame overcame her when she saw who it was. Rowan, holding a breakfast tray. They locked eyes for a moment. It didn't escape her notice that their usually serpentine slit pupils dilated when they saw her. She still hadn't figured out what that meant, though.

"Good morning, my Countess," they greeted quietly, bringing the tray over to her dining table. "I had breakfast made for you. I thought you might be hungry...you didn't seem to eat much yesterday."

"Thank you..." She slid out of the armchair and wandered over to the table.

They nodded. "If you don't need anything else, I...guess I'll go set the guards' weekly schedule."

Rowan turned to leave. Morgan stared at their back, then words left her before she could stop them. "Wait."

They paused, looking at her over their shoulder. "Hm?"

"Can you just...stay here? And hold me." Her voice had gone quiet.

Rowan's eyebrows lifted and they turned to face her again. They regarded her for a minute before their eyes once again dilated and they nodded. "Yes. I'll stay."

Morgan could have cried with relief. She hurried to the other side of the table and practically melted as their strong arms wrapped around her. She pressed her face into their chest, holding onto them as if for dear life.

"You're thinking about him...aren't you..."

"Y-yes..."

"I thought so. My poor, sweet Countess... It's alright... I've got you. You don't need to worry about a thing... I'm here. I've got you. There's nothing to worry about when I'm here."

She relaxed even more, relishing their warmth...their comforting presence. They were right, of course...they always were. So long as they were with her, she never had to worry about a single thing.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Shinkai Tenun no Shou Short Story - Heisuke

whoops. forgot to schedule this. guess i'm more tired than i thought. will deal with other stuff later i guess. anyway, this is my last post of the month!

enjoy!

Hakuoki Shinkai Tenun no Shou Short Story - "Benefits of searching for a lost person"

Translation by KumoriYami

【I heard that around Fushimi, there was a bald man looking around for his daughter.】

That morning, while I was sweeping, such a rumour reached headquarters.

(Could that bald man be father...?)

The moment I thought that, I became restless and anxious, so I asked Heisuke-kun to accompany me to Fushimi——.

"——So, you were able to find your missing daughter?"

"Yes, I've troubled you."

Looking at the bald man his daughter bowing their heads in thanks, Heisuke-kun and I looked at each other in dismay.

A bald man. Looking for his daughter.

He really did match father's characteristics...

"There's no shortage of people who look like monks..."

"Nn. It's great that his daughter is safe... I'm really sorry for getting Heisuke-kun accompanying me over nothing."

"It's fine. I'm not on duty today anyway, rather I wasn't doing anything."

Since I came to Kyoto in search of my father during the third year of the Bunkyū, it's been three years.

I've ended up looking for the wrong person more than time times, so I'm used to being disappointed...

"Seriously, I still can't find him..."

I unconsciously whispered.

What are you talking about. Isn't that the reason why you keep searching?"

"But, I haven't been able to find him for so long, so maybe he's already left Kyoto. There have been some rumours of him being in the western provinces, so maybe he has——"

"Chizuru!"

It was only after Heisuke-kun grabbed my shoulders and stared at me, that I came to my senses.

"Don't say it again. It's too early to give up now."

"Sorry..."

"I can understand your feelings. After all, it's a fact that nothing has been achieved yet.”

I lowered my head, and Heisuke-kun patted my shoulder, and smiled as he comforted me:

"Don't continue talking about depressing things. There's somewhere i want to go, so let's go there and have fun together!"

Fuushimi is located in the south of Kyoto and is a place with a long history. Centered around the area that was once known as Fushimi Castle, there were many samurai residences, temples, and shrines scattered around.

And among them, the most famous were undoubtedly——

"Look here Chizuru! It's everywhere here——there are torii!"

The 'Thousand Torii Gates' of Fushimi Inari Taisha in the Inariyama area [referring to the Fushimi Inari Taisha Senbon Torii Senbon Torii].

"What a spectacular view..."

"Hey, are there really a thousand torii gates here? Let's count them. One, two, three..."

"Hehe. I think we'll have to count until it's dark."

The sunlight shining through the torii gates and the sound of cicadas dyed our surroundings as we walked together [i guess? was really confused about a phrase here].

Looking at the endless vermillion torii, I couldn't help but sigh.

"....Being here always makes me feels as if I've strayed into another world."

"Yeah, I feel like I've been spirited away."

"That would be a problem... being spirited away before I found my father, that'd be putting the cart before the horse."

I smiled wryly as I continued to walk——

"Ah, there it is."

Suddenly, Heisuke-kun stopped in the middle of a path between the torii.

In the middle of a clearing, there was a rather large pond.

"This pond is...?"

"It's called Ajigaike Pond....I've heard that this place is particularly effective for finding people."

"Finding people...?"

"I heard that if you clap your hands by the pond, the direction of where the echo comes from is, is the direction of where the person you're looking for is in."

"Then the place that you wanted to go was..."

I asked as I blinked my eyes, and Heisuke-kun sheepishly scratched his head.

"...We came to Fushimi after great difficulties, and while I don't know if this will be helpful, I wanted to try everything that I could."

"Heisuke-kun..."

"Alright, let's do it!"

"Yes...!"

At Heisuke-kun's urging, I walked to the edge of the pond, and closed my eyes.

——Please, I hope to find my father——.

I clapped my hands to pray while a sharp sound spread through the pond, and as the winds rustling through the trees and the cicadas chirped, the direction the echo I heard came from——.

"...How was it, Chizuru?"

"Hm..."

Looking at Heisuke-kun's worried face in front of me, I couldn't help but laugh.

"What's wrong, did you not hear the echo?"

"It's not that. I did hear it, but..."

I paused and pointed in that direction.

Where I was pointing——that had stunned Heisuke-kun.

"The echo... seemed to have come from Heisuke-kun's direction..."

"I don't know anything though!?"

"I think so too. That's why... as long as I stay together with Heisuke-kun, does that mean... I'll be able to find my father?"

Although that was something I said myself, my face still turned red for some reason.

Of course, I know that this was just a coincidence...

"...I see. So we just need to stay together."

In contrast to me, Heisuke-kun was staring into the distance, and quietly gazed at the pond.

"So it means that we won't be separated for the time being..."

"Heisuke-kun? What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing."

Shaking off the lonely expression that flashed across his face, Heisuke-kun smile again and spoke.

"Hey, Chizuru, you might get angry hearing me say this. I, ah, just a bit sometimes... I feel like it's fine if we never find Kodo-san."

"...What does that mean?"

"Sorry, I'm being too willful."

Heisuke-kun looked lonely again as he narrowed his eyes and grabbed my sleeve.

"If you do find Kodo-san , won't you no longer have a reason to stay with the Shinsengumi, and have to go back to Edo? I think that'd be very lonely."

——Indeed. That would be the case.

I haven't' considered that for a long time, but that is a fact.

"“.... But someday... there will be times when we all have to separate ways, and there's no way around it."

"......"

I hope that I'll be able to find my father.

But I also don't want to part from Heisuke-kun and everyone else in the Shinsengumi.

In my heart, these contradictory thoughts couldn't be entangled...

"Sorry, I've said some boring things. Let's head back to headquarters after eating something delicious!"

With these words, Heisuke-kun stepped forward.

I also followed Heisuke-kun's back, and walked through the torii gates as we left there.

-end-

The folklore [if that word should be used here?] is related to the Seven Wonders of Fushimi Inari Taisha. Apparently if you clap your hands towards the pond, the direction the echo comes back from is supposed to be a clue for the direction the person you're looking for is in.

Reference:

https://bunbun.hatenablog.com/entry/kodamagaike https://fushimiinari-guide.com/kumatakasha/ https://www.cyber-world.jp.net/fushimiinaritaisya-nanafushigi/ https://kyotojisyanabi.com/2021/07/05/higashiyamatoreiru-inari-keage/].

While most of those links are in Japanese and contain the same information, for that bit in the translation, I looked up the pond name name, then the bit about the clapping before confirming it on multiple sites. Couldn't really find anything in English that referenced clapping at a lake at Fushimi Inari Taisha for some reason so I just wanted to be sure about what I was writing.

[wingedkiare]

Hello my lovelies! If you're new to following me, please prepare for a ridiculous amount of Ides of March spam. Every year, I schedule just about every Ides of March posts I can find, to run every so many minutes. It'll start at 8am Pacific tomorrow morning, and go until I'm out. If you want to mute it, I tag it with #Ides of March and #Ides of March 2023. So if you use the latter, it'll hide my entire spam for the day, but show anyone else who is tagging Ides of March.

Everyone has their thing, and this is mine. As always, I couldn't do this without @accidentallypallas, who has been diligently sending me so many Ides related posts over the year - I think I might have to be choosy so that this isn't going until midnight. *It starts at 7AM, because I just started scheduling and forgot what I'd put on this post. WHOOPS

[incomingalbatross]

Follow-up to the previous question: It's also a worldbuilding struggle for me as a writer - I want to write a sci-fi novel with aliens, and I'd love for my characters to reflect my worldview, but I don't feel competent enough to discuss faith in-depth yet, out of fear to commit some blasphemy. Any comments on that? Thanks for your time! <3

My primary answer on this one is "HARD same."

I think this is one of the reasons fantasy/sci-fi is good for us--it allows us to create representations of the important truths without having to touch on the mysteries of Faith directly. I'm scared to represent a character's spiritual life in-depth, because I don't feel competent to do it correctly myself!!

Since it's sci-fi, you don't have to restrict yourself to things we know to be true--your audience knows, hopefully, that you're not presenting your world as literally true, and that things may be "real" within the story that are nonexistent or unknown in real life. Elves aren't real. C. S. Lewis's aliens and angelic entities in the Perelandra Trilogy aren't real (or entirely theologically sound, probably). But we know we aren't supposed to think they are--that this is a could-be universe or a parallel universe set up next to ours, where things have a shape that they could have but, as far as we know, don't actually.

In terms of wanting to create a Catholic sci-fi universe, I think the important thing is not to misrepresent God or His Church? The spiritual makeup of the aliens is fair game, as long as their nature doesn't imply something false about God (for example, that they were given life by someone or something other than Him, since that would represent the God of your story as less than the sole Creator); similarly, I don't think you have to have your characters talk about faith much or even be Catholic, as long as you avoid implying that the Church herself is dead or in error.

I guess my general rule is that your characters don't have to have all the answers, and you don't even have to have all the answers yourself; as long as you make sure any answers you do provide aren't in conflict with revealed truths of the Faith, you can work on the assumption that the answers exist in your universe and--like in real life!--may just be beyond the knowledge or the understanding of those living within the world.

For more specific ideas, I would recommend reading fiction and essays by Catholic and Christian sci-fi authors, but I'm afraid I don't have any recs off the top of my head. If anyone else who's studied up on the topic wants to add a rec on sci-fi writing from a Christian perspective, please do!!

[tennessoui]

if you wrote obikin for #4 with anakin as a single parent and obi-wan as luke and leia's teacher i would simply die happy!!

here it is!!! thank you so much!

4. Teacher/Single Parent AU (modern!AU)(DinLuke shows up as little kids)(2.4k)(whoops)

Anakin stares across the table at Luke, who gnaws on a slice of grilled cheese, carefully leaving the crusts behind. Oh god, he’d forgotten to cut them off of Luke’s sandwich, had cut them off of Leia’s instead, even though she didn’t mind them. And of course they hadn’t told him either. He can’t tell if he’s been forgiven for his error or if it will come back to haunt him later tonight when he tries to put the twins to bed at eight.

“Luke,” he says carefully. “I think I’m just a little confused.”

Leia looks up. She loves when her father is a little confused because it means Luke is probably a bit in trouble and she gets to be the one to set the record straight for him.

Which isn’t to say Leia is a tattle-tale. Anakin’s seen her watch Luke hit another child upside the head with a toy train and then say absolutely nothing when questioned by the daycare instructor.

Daddy’s interrogations are just a special case where she can become a guilt-free turncoat.

“How did you get a Unicorn sticker in art class?” he asks.

The Unicorn stickers, of course, mean unsatisfactory.

He pays extra money for his children to be coddled and kept away from words like Fail and Unsatisfactory, even though that’s what all the parents know the stickers mean. As long as the children don't yet.

“And I don’t understand the rainbow sticker at all,” he continues helplessly, regarding the piece of artwork in front of him, where a handful of dried macaroni noodles are lacklusterly glued to the page.

“The Unicorn sticker means it was bad, but the rainbow sticker means that Mr. Kenobi forgives him,” Leia pipes up, leaning across the table to take the icky crusts from her brother’s plate and dipping them into her tomato soup.

“But it was dry macaroni,” Anakin says incredulously. Luke’s eyes start getting misty as he stares resolutely down at his plate. That’s the last thing Anakin wants. But he just doesn’t understand. Luke’s the most creative of both of his children, has seemed to take after Anakin in that way. Last Christmas, Anakin had given him a model train set that he’d put together inside of a week. If he can do that, he can do a self-portrait in dry macaroni.

“He gave Din all of his noodles,” Leia reports.

“Didn’t Din have any?” Anakin asks, feeling completely out of his element and also sort of like a detective trying to solve a cold case.

“He wanted to save them for his puppy,” Luke mumbles. “They just got him and they can’t figure out what he eats, so Din thought he could try macaroni because I told him I like macaroni and cheese a lot.”

Anakin is on the cliff of despair, but he can’t exactly ask whether or not this Din knows there’s a difference between the dried macaroni from art class and boxed macaroni and cheese from Kraft. He’s not sure he even wants to know the answer.

“And then Luke didn’t have a lot left for his picture,” Leia finishes the story and her soup in one fell swoop.

“Couldn’t you have asked Mr. Kenobi for more?” Anakin asks Luke who shakes his head but doesn’t seem to want to elaborate. Anakin turns only slightly pleading eyes to Leia, who is the expert on anything her brother doesn’t want to say.

“Mr. Kenobi sits at the front, and Luke sat at the back today so it was really far.”

“But you always sit at the front!” Anakin says, appalled. Sure, he hadn’t managed to make it to the most recent round of parent-teacher conferences due to an unfortunately timed shift at the garage, but he knows where his kids sit in a classroom.

Luke mumbles something into his bowl.

“What was that?” Anakin asks.

Leia translates. “Din doesn’t sit at the front,” she says.

Anakin sits back in his chair and runs a hand over his mouth. Luke has a crush. His son, Luke, has his very first crush on a boy and he’s already doing stupid things in order to see the boy. Oh no. Oh god. Of all the things to take after Anakin on, it’s this one.

“Okay,” he says, mostly to himself. “It’s okay. Unicorns aren’t so bad.”

“Way better than giraffes,” Leia tells her brother bracingly, seeming to know instinctively that the gossiping part of this conversation is over. “And you got a rainbow, which means Mr. Kenobi isn’t mad.”

Anakin wonders, with the context, if that’s actually what the rainbow means, or if Mr. Kenobi isn’t just incredibly observant.

“TV time, kids,” he says, only feeling sort of bad about the screentime or whatever, as Luke perks up and runs with Leia into the living room.

After five minutes to make sure they’ve successfully turned on and found a child-appropriate show, Anakin gathers the dishes and loads the washer. Then he sighs as loud as he can without disrupting the kids.

Then he pulls out his phone and the school directory and finds the email for one Mr. Obi-Wan Kenobi, art teacher.

It takes him twenty minutes to figure out an email that doesn’t sound too judgemental, harsh, worried, skeptical, or angry. It takes another five minutes to figure out how to sign off on it. Kind regards? Best? Thanks? Sincerely? What is the etiquette for emailing your son’s art teacher to arrange a meeting because you’re worried your son will fail the class simply because he’s inherited terrible genes from his father?

It takes ten minutes, in the end, for Mr. Kenobi to email back, and he does so with a very straightforward message. He’s available to chat after school hours tomorrow, if it works for Anakin.

Anakin pulls up his work schedule. He’s supposed to work until five in the evening tomorrow, has already booked a slot at the after-care program for the twins. But.

He texts Ahsoka to ask if she could cover the last few hours of his shift. She texts back a string of rather offensive emojis, but settles down when he tells her it’s for his kids. Technically, he isn’t even lying. He’s just being overbearing.

He spends another fifteen minutes trying to compose a response email in between making sure the kids brush their teeth, wash behind their ears, and have their bags packed for the morning. He’s so stressed out by it that he’s not even sure he includes a signature at all before he hits send. God. Meeting Mr. Kenobi had better be worth all of this stress.

---

Finding Mr. Kenobi’s classroom is almost more stress than the correspondence from the night before had been. The only reason Anakin doesn’t sit down and cry against the garishly yellow brick lining the hallways is that he keeps telling himself that if his two seven-year-olds can do this, Anakin surely can.

The art classroom is tucked away in a forgotten corner of the school and it takes three wrong turns and one accidental entrance into a thankfully deserted first grade room for Anakin to find it. He knocks on the open door and then decides he should call as well to announce his presence. “Uh, Mr. Kenobi? I’m Anakin. Skywalker. We talked last night?” He takes a couple of steps into the room, which is lined in children’s art and paint-stained tables.

A man emerges from a backroom, dressed in a very loose and paint-flecked denim shirt over a white tank top and a pair of slacks. He’s wearing a pair of thick glasses that he takes off as soon as he sees Anakin. His beard is neatly trimmed and his hair, a sort of bronzed auburn, neatly combed.

He’s holding a paintbrush in one hand, and still, of course, Anakin’s dumb brain overrides the part of him that’s saying, This is clearly Mr. Kenobi in favor saying, quite politely, “Oh! I’m sorry. Is Mr. Kenobi back there?”

The man who could not possibly be more obviously the art teacher raises an amused eyebrow.

Look. No one told Anakin that elementary school art teachers could be so attractive. He’d not done anything to prepare for this.

“You must be Luke’s father,” Mr. Kenobi says, waving him forward.

“What makes you say that?” Anakin asks, a tad too defensively, thinking of his own self-deprecating thoughts last night about Luke taking after him when it comes to being sort of stupid around people they liked. He’s just being paranoid.

“The...last...name,” now Mr. Kenobi is definitely trying to hide his smile and Anakin wants to die. “Would you like to sit?”

Anakin does so rather graciously, given the circumstances. He even makes sure he keeps their chairs very far apart. Mostly in order to preserve his own dignity, but he thinks he should get credit for his self-control at this spur of the moment single-parent-hot-teacher conference.

“I’m sorry for my appearance,” Mr. Kenobi says, pulling the oversized button up closed over his tank top. “I must admit, I mostly forgot you were coming by. I was working on one of my own projects.”

“You paint?” Anakin asks.

Mr. Kenobi tilts his head slightly and flicks his eyes around the room as if in answer.

Anakin flushes but digs his heels in. “Well, I don’t know,” he mumbles mulishly. “Do math teachers do math in their spare time?”

This startles a laugh out of the teacher, which makes some long forgotten part of Anakin’s psyche sit up and preen. “I’m sure some of them do,” he says. “No, I do art mostly for the town right now. I’m working on a series of pieces for the public library at the moment.”

Anakin tries his hardest not to obviously melt, but Mr. Kenobi has not looked away from his face much so surely he can see it in his eyes.

“That’s quite. Nice,” Anakin says, coughing into his fist.

“And what do you do?” Mr. Kenobi asks in a way that’s just on the other side of polite. Anakin has the strange thought that if they had cups of coffee between them, he’d feel like he was on a very casual first date.

He has to shake his head to rid himself of that idea. “I’m a mechanic,” he says.

Mr. Kenobi looks interested, of all things. Most people don’t. Most people make some sort of assumption about him, about his life, his ability to parent his children, as if they’re not the ones rolling into his shop at 5:54 pm because their car is “making a funny noise”.

But Mr. Kenobi just looks interested.

“Oh?” He says. “That makes sense. Leia is always talking about how her father can fix anything.”

��Well,” Anakin blushes and looks away. “You know kids. Turn it off and turn it back on usually blows their minds.”

Mr. Kenobi smiles indulgently before clearing his throat. “You wanted to talk about Luke?”

“Oh! Yes!” He had come here with the express desire to talk about Luke with Mr. Kenobi. Not secure a date with Mr. Kenobi. “I saw that Luke got a... unicorn...and a rainbow on his last project, and it made me worry.”

It sounds very, very overbearing coming out of his mouth. This is an elementary school art class. Why did he think that he should come in and talk to a teacher over his son’s bad grade? Especially when it was pretty clear Luke deserved it.

Mr. Kenobi tilts his head in confusion. “Well, yes, I suppose I usually give Luke two suns on his work, so I understand if the change was upsetting to you.”

“And we’re saying that two suns are good?” Anakin checks, feeling very out of his element here.

“Oh, yes, very good,” Mr. Kenobi assures him. “But his last project wasn’t. Well.”

“He says he got distracted,” Anakin mutters, rubbing a hand down his face. “Over a boy.”

“Haven’t we all been there,” Mr. Kenobi murmurs, sounding very amused. Anakin peeks over his fingers at this declaration.

“Yeah,” he says roughly. “That’s sort of exactly what I thought.”

Mr. Kenobi clears his throat again. “Well. That’s why I gave him the unicorn then. It was a bit of bad work, but a very rare showing of it. And the rainbow, to signify that I know he’ll be back to normal again next time. You shouldn’t worry about this one project either, Mr. Skywalker. I do give final grades holistically, not weighted by any one assignment. This is, after all, a children’s art class.”

Anakin wants to thunk his head on the table in front of him. “You do know that all the parents think unicorn means unsatisfactory, right?”

“Why?” Mr. Kenobi has the nerve to look shocked.

“They both start with U, I don’t know,” Anakin says, waving an agitated hand through the air.

“Well, sometimes parents can be quite stupid,” Mr. Kenobi says primly and then looks horrified at himself. “Please don’t tell them I said that.”

Anakin laughs and gets to his feet reluctantly. His worries over Luke have been dealt with, but he finds himself very reluctant to leave.

“Well,” he says slowly, eyes firmly looking only at Mr. Kenobi’s face, “Thank you for meeting with me. I guess you don’t get many frantic parent-teacher conferences over a unicorn sticker.” He ducks his head and rubs the back of his neck with his hand in embarrassment. He can admit now that perhaps he had overreacted.

Mr. Kenobi places his hand delicately over the hand Anakin still has on the table, just for a second, squeezing it with enough pressure that Anakin has to look up at him again. “Only the best parents,” he says with a half-smile.

Anakin finds himself grinning back, unwilling to move his hand now that Kenobi’s touching it. “And, um. If you ever take the kids on an art museum tour or something, and you need chaperones….give me a call.”

“Would I have to wait that long?” Kenobi asks innocently.

Anakin’s never shaken his head no so quickly before. “Any time,” he tells the man very seriously, already backing out of the room. “Before you think too much about it and decide not to would probably be preferable.”

Mr. Kenobi laughs. “I’m sure I’ll think about it a lot,” he says as he turns to go back to his art studio. He calls over his shoulder. “In bed, tonight.”

Anakin trips over a child-sized easel with a loud clatter and an even louder curse, and he can’t decide which of the two should be more thankful school is out for the day. Probably Mr. Kenobi. Yeah. Probably definitely Mr. Kenobi.

[tsukishumai]

Away Games - MSBY Black Jackals

A/N: WOW it feels so so long since i’ve done an HC i kinda feel like i forgot how to :( ahhh im sorry this one sucks LOL but im feeling a bit burned out & this brought me a lil comfort so i hope it brings some for u too :)

Bokuto

Shamelessly facetiming you every possible second.

He’s not terribly upset to be away, to be honest, because he’s doing what he loves, but a huge part of him still misses you.

So he settles for the next best thing

And it doesn’t matter what you’re doing; if you’re at work, if you’re out shopping, if you’re sitting on the toilet – Bokuto will blow up your phone until you answer.

“What took you so long to answer?” “Kou, I was on the toilet.” “No way! Me too! Soulmates <3”

He’s always telling you stories about the dumb things that go on during practice, he complains about how his shoulder’s been feeling a little tense lately, and the food at the hotel reminds of the food they used to serve at Fukurodani

But he always wants to hear about your day too. He asks if your coworker is still being a jerk, he wonders if you managed to try the new drink at the café you mentioned the other day, and he reminds you that he’s coming back in a couple days, so make sure you remember to pick him up from the airport!

When he can’t facetime, he’s sending you videos; videos of the guys goofing off at practice, videos of him working out, videos of behind the scene interviews.

He’s sad you don’t get to be there with him but he does everything he can to share his experiences with you anyway

Bokuto even started his own personal tradition during every away game

If MSBY wins, he sends flowers to your door step.

If MSBY loses, he still sends you flowers anyway because he just wants you to know that he’s thinking of you always

Atsumu

He doesn’t want to admit it, but Atsumu goes into emo mode whenever he’s away.

When you ask him how he’s doing, he’ll always tell you that he’s fine

But the pictures Bokuto and Hinata sent you of Atsumu crying into his protein shake tell you a different story.

You try to make him feel better by sending him tiktoks and memes, and it works for a second, until he sees a mug in the tiktok that looks JUST like the mug you got for him when you first started dating, and now all he’s thinking about is how he wants go back home and drink his coffee from that mug, not the cheap paper ones from his hotel room and god, can the days go by any slower?

talk about dramatic

But you can never stand to see Atsumu so down

And you don’t do this every single time, but when MSBY loses and Sakusa was the one to text you a video of Atsumu staring longingly out his hotel window, you asked him what city their next game was going to be in, and bought yourself a plane ticket there.

You don’t want to spoil Atsumu like this. You really don’t, and you usually won’t

But when you walk into the gym, Atsumu’s eyes land on you, and his entire face lights up, his whole demeanor changes, he’s standing a little taller, his smile a little wider, and all of a sudden, the whole room just felt so much brighter.

He’s in the middle of a pre-game interview, and all of a sudden his words trail off and the interviewer’s like “Miya-san? You were saying?”

But he can’t wait any more, so he’ll excuse himself, and all cameras are on him when he scoops you up from the floor and plant kisses all over your face.

You don’t always spoil Atsumu like this, but when he points at you after scoring his third service ace in a row, you know you’ve done a good thing

Sakusa

grumpycat.jpg

Sakusa doesn’t tell you he misses you because he doesn’t really think he does? It’s normal for professional athletes to spend time away from their s/o, right? This was to be expected, Sakusa knew you guys would have to spend some time apart, he was prepared for this.

Still, irritation floods through him when he wakes up to a shrill alarm instead of your sweet voice. 

He snaps at Bokuto when he has to eat the team’s provided lunch, and not the lunch you make and pack for him.

He’s particularly cranky when his uniform was wrinkled on game day, and you weren’t there with your emergency Wrinkle-Release Spray

He doesn’t directly say ‘I miss you’ but you hear it in his words anyway.

When he complains about the hotel’s mattress and how it’s “nothing compared to our bed at home” you know that he feels your absence.

“The food here makes me want to gag, all I want is your tempura”

“My skin feels so raw from the scratchy towels; the towels you bought us feel much softer.”

“Babe, how’d you manage to make all my stuff fit in my luggage? I can’t pack it the way you do.”

Sakusa most likely won’t blow up your phone, but he always makes sure to send you a good morning and good night text

He doesn’t buy you flowers, but when he gets home, he hands you a large bag without saying anything.

“What’s all this?” you grunt, cause damn that bag was heavy.

But Sakusa was shrugged. “Souvenirs. I thought you’d like them.”

And you squeal in excitement, pulling him to sit down on the same couch that he’s been thinking of for weeks, a smile on his face as he watches you sift through all the little knick knacks and presents that reminded him of you.

Hinata

EXCITED BOY

He’s constantly texting you and checking in, even when he doesn’t have to

☀️Shoyo☀️(6:58am): We just got to the gym where they’re letting us practice!

☀️Shoyo☀️(7:01am): I’m about to go into the locker room and change now

☀️Shoyo☀️(7:05am): Whoops I think I made the wrong turn.

☀️Shoyo☀️(7:07am): Whoa, this gym is pretty big; I wonder what other sports they could use it for?

☀️Shoyo☀️(7:15am): Wait, I can’t find my way back

☀️Shoyo☀️(7:30am): Babe, help

He doesn’t facetime you like Bokuto, but he is blowing up your phone just the same.

He misses you of course, that’s a given, but to be honest he mostly does it because he doesn’t want YOU to miss HIM.

Maybe that’s the wrong way to put it; he wants you to miss him but he doesn’t want to ever make you feel lonely.

He knows that feeling so well :( he never wants to be the cause of your loneliness. And if he had to pick between being a persistent man or an aloof man, then Hinata will choose persistence five hundred times over.

Hinata has an incredible talent of being able to make you smile and laugh, even if it’s simply through a screen, from hundreds of miles away.

Even though his career and ever-changing schedule can make things a little extra challenging, when you see him play on TV, watch as the crowd cheers and hollers for Hinata, listen to the way the commentators describe his insane plays, and you realize you don’t mind having to share Hinata with the world

Because when he stares directly into the camera and smiling while he holds both hands over his heart, you know this gesture was meant only for you.

[sambvcks]

redefined, b.b. x reader

summary: just because those ten words no longer wreak havoc on his mind does not mean they are gone. just redefined.

warnings: mentions of food, blood, gunshot wound

word count: 3.7k....whoops

author’s note: first standalone! i’m also itching to work on a sam story next. the last episode still lives in my mind rent free and this is a reworking of that which diverges from civil war and we get one big happy avenging family that aren’t dead :)

[ read on ao3 | masterlist | inbox | join my taglist! ]

Longing

An Avenger.

The concept was still so foreign to Bucky, despite dozens of successful missions under his belt and a permanent residence in the tower. Still, every morning he sprung up in bed expecting to still be in some run-down apartment halfway across the world, on the run.

Instead, he would awake on a plush mattress that offered little back support. He would shuck on the first shirt his bleary eyes could see and pad into the hallway, the smell of fresh coffee overtaking his superhuman sense of smell. You would be perched at the kitchen counter, pouring over mission files stained with coffee rings that Tony would later complain about.

Steve and Sam would have already come through on their way to their morning run, the coffee pot running dangerously low. You’d already placed his favorite mug nearby, two packets of sugar emptied into the bottom. A routine.

Bucky didn’t think he’d ever have a routine again.

His hand would press against your shoulder in a familiar greeting as he passed, you’d grin up at him with sleepy eyes and a lazy smile before returning to your work. Your cereal sat forgotten beside you, the overly sweetened kid’s choice growing soggy.

It was a silent and comfortable interaction. Neither worked to fill the quiet or felt the need to. Even with Steve, there was always talking and planning and ‘what about this’. With you, it was so natural to just exist how he was in that moment. No excuses, no whispered apologies.

He pushed his back against the sink as he sipped at his coffee, eyes immediately settling on your distracted figure. Your pajamas were wrinkled, mouth formed into a perfect concentrated from as you hunched uncomfortably, hand scribbling furiously. He swallowed and decided you were the most beautiful person he had ever seen, especially with your coffee breath and fingernails chewed to nubs.

He wanted so desperately to move across the kitchen and press himself perfectly against you, to push aside your paperwork and demand your sole attention. His hand clenched into a fist as he longed to feel your soft, round cheeks in his hands, how warm you would feel against the cool metal of his left and how you’d nuzzle closer still.

He hadn’t heard the dragging footsteps of Steve and Sam returning from their run and didn’t even notice them until they were settled at the doorway, watching him watch you.

“Morning.” Steve grinned, all knowing. Bucky cleared his throat and refocused on his mug.

“Morning.” Bucky replied with a look that said ‘don’t say anything’.

Rusted

Bucky learned that if you weren’t cooped up in your room or camped out on the kitchen island, you were tucked away in Tony’s garage. On slow days where it seemed everyone was off in their own little world, Bucky would know to find you under the hood of one of Tony’s vintage cars, each kept in pristine condition, but you claimed that ‘there’s always something to work on’.

Bucky was never a car guy. His family was too poor to even think of ever owning his own car. He didn’t even have his own license and technically couldn’t legally ride his bike either. He found out quickly that being an Avenger meant the term legal could be bent a bit. So, he wasn’t a car guy. But the sight of you with streaks of grease across your face and your raggedy workshop clothes would have him buying one just to see you work on it.

You were notoriously protective of your little hideaway, the music loud and the sound of metal ringing as you fixed and fiddled with every little thing. Steve nearly got a wrench to the face when he tried to distract you from Tony’s antique Chevy.

Bucky was different, though. He was always different.

He would sit himself on a tall stool positioned next to one of Tony’s many rolling tool chests. You’d call out a tool and he’d rifle through the collection until he found what he thought was the right one and only slightly tease him when he’d emerge with the wrong one. Typically, you’d spend these afternoons in silence, the thumping of the heavy base of whatever crazy metal album you picked the only soundtrack to your work.

Sometimes, though, you’d play gentle rock music. Bucky would ask questions on what you were doing, how you learned to do all of this, why you did it when Tony worked on these cars enough for the both of you.

You’d fish your rag from your pocket, concentrating on scrubbing the grease from under your fingernails as you answered.

“I like using my hands. I like fixing things. For every car that Tony has in this garage, there are hundreds just like it sitting in junkyards gathering cobwebs and rust.” You looked up at him from under eyelashes and Bucky knew you were speaking about much more than just hunks of metal. “They’re worthy of love and care.”

You were talking about him, too.

Seventeen

Bucky didn’t think this superhero business would have so many parties. There seemed to be a celebration for everything. Galas, fundraisers, full on parades whenever Tony happened to wake up in a good mood.

At least this one is a holiday, he thought to himself as he nursed his third beer of the hour. Not that it did anything other than keep his hands occupied.

The year was coming to a close, and the top floor of the Avengers Tower was decked in golden confetti and banners to ensure no one forgot. The music was obnoxiously loud, and the lyrics made little sense, but everyone seemed to be having a good time mingling and even venturing to the dance floor.

No matter how many times Sam tried to drag him in with an invisible rope, Bucky was not going to dance. Well. Maybe he would if you asked.

The party had been in full swing for hours now, with only ten minutes until the ball a few blocks up finally dropped and he could sneak away to his room without a teasing ‘bedtime already, old timer?’ from Nat.

Still, the party raged on and he eyed the glass door to the balcony. He downed the last of his beer, brushing past enthusiastic partygoers with his shoulders hunched forward in some attempt to minimize the space he took up in the room that only seemed to be getting smaller. He caught Steve’s eye on the way out and plastered on a smile in response to his disappointed look.

He let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding as soon as the glass door slid closed behind him. His eyes closed as he leaned back against it, the chill of the December New York air blew his hair in every direction.

“Fancy meeting you here.” You were sat in the far corner, so well hidden he hadn’t even noticed you, though he had been on the lookout for you all night. “Tired of the festivities?”

“And Tony’s music.” He grumbled as he fell into the seat beside you.

“Been waiting for you for the past thirty minutes. Honestly, you made it a lot longer than I could’ve in there.”

You were waiting for him. You wanted him to be there, with you, tucked away from everyone else’s prying eyes. He wanted that, too. Sometimes he wanted it so much it scared him.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, doll. It’s not polite for a gentleman to make a girl wait.”

“Hmm, I think I’ll find it in myself to forgive you.” Your shoulder pressed against his, eyes focused on the smattering of buildings surrounding you. Identical parties were happening in each of them, you were sure. “Can you believe another year is gone?”

“I can’t believe I’m about to make it to 2017 and my back hasn’t given out yet.”

You laughed, loud and unabashedly in a way only Bucky could make you laugh. Head thrown back and eyes glittering from the city lights, Bucky wanted to spend every new year you would allow him to by your side, trying his best to make you laugh again.

“Well,” You stood to peer over the glass railing, Bucky close behind you. You could hear the drunken cries inside as the countdown begun. “I’m glad you did.”

“Me too.” Bucky offered his hand to you. You took it easily.

5, 4, 3…

He wanted nothing more than to pull you close, to finally press a kiss on the lips that had thrown teasing remarks at him during missions. To once and for all end this little dance you both loved so much. But you looked so perfect.

Bucky wasn’t ready to ruin that perfection with everything wrong with him quite yet.

“Happy 2017, Bucky.” You whispered as the fireworks started, but Bucky couldn’t pull his eyes from you.

“Happy 2017, doll.”

Daybreak

The mission had been long and grueling. The week-long stakeout turned into two and quickly turned into a month away. You can’t remember the last time you’d had a good night of sleep that wasn’t interrupted with Bucky’s hand on your shoulder, telling you it was your turn to keep watch.

It wasn’t a horrible mission, more of an exercise in patience and restraint than anything. Bucky’s stories kept you entertained enough, and he was a good partner. Which is why you were paired together more often than not.

Still, it was nice to finally collapse into your familiar bed, not even bothering to kick of shoes or take a much-needed shower. Your sleeping schedule was all out of whack and you tossed and turned, despite the exhaustion seeping through your bones.

After fifteen minutes, you finally huffed a sigh of defeat and stumbled back to your feet. You showered, which was a few good days overdue, and dressed in your largest, most comfortable pajamas.

You weren’t surprised to see Bucky up as well, sitting at the dining table with a mug of fresh coffee.

“Couldn’t sleep?” His foot kicked out the seat beside him as an invitation.

“Sleeps overrated, anyways.” You shrugged, slumping into the seat and pressing your face into the cool glass of the table.

“Sleep is good for you.” He insisted, reaching forward to brush aside the hair that had curtained over your face. “You deserve a good night’s rest.”

“So do you, Buck.”

He stayed silent for a while, just sipping at his coffee and stealing glances at you, face trained out the floor to ceiling windows. He really didn’t know what he deserved, anymore. Sure, he had made some semblance of peace with what the Winter Soldier had done with his body. He was better, that was certain.

Worthy of you and all your unwavering sweetness? He wasn’t so sure.

You idly chatted about nothing for hours, filling comfortable silence with talks of the mission and the food poisoning he had given you when he tried to make dinner two weeks in. You sat side by side until day broke the next morning, eyes squinting at the sun peeking over skyscrapers and finally finding the need to fall shut in rest.

“I guess I should say ‘good morning’ instead of ‘good night’.” You were the first to stand, shuffling towards the hallway that led to your bedroom.

“Good morning.” He answered as you padded away, deciding he would be just fine losing sleep every night if it meant he could watch the sunrise by your side.

Furnace

“Doesn’t Tony make enough money to keep this place at least habitable?” You grumbled as you fell into the couch beside Bucky.

“I’m fine.”

Bucky sat in his patent jeans and t-shirt, unphased by the temperature that practically had your teeth chattering. You were bundled in multiple layers, including one of the many sweatshirts he’d wear jogging on cold mornings and blankets you had stolen off his bed. Your glare from under your cocoon of warmth rivaled even his.

“I’m not a muscle-y super soldier-”

“You think I’m muscle-y?”

“-that runs so hot you’re basically a personal furnace.”

“Oh, so now I’m hot.”

“I would strangle you to death right now, but I’m about to lose my fingers to hypothermia.” You burrowed further into your smattering of blankets with a violent chill running down your spine. Bucky simply rolled his eyes and marked the spot in the book he had been reading before you stormed in.

“C’mere.”

He balled up a fistful of one of your blankets, tugging you even closer to him. You opened your arms to allow for direct contact, sighing contently as your face pressed into his shoulder and legs tangled with his. You sighed contently as you welcomed his warmth, shimmying as close as you could get.

“Better?”

“The best.”

Nine

“Do you ever think what your life would be like? If you’d gotten to go home?”

Even a year ago, this question would have turned Bucky into a brooding mess. He would have delved into every little moment he had missed, every plan that had been turned upside down when he fell from that train all those years ago. But he was better now, more contemplative. He wouldn’t drown in the idea of what could have been because he knows what it’s like to be on the other side.

“I like to think I would’ve gone to college.”

“Really?”

“You calling me dumb, doll?”

“No! You’re the smartest person I know. I’m just picturing you at college. Carrying textbooks and wooing all the dames.” You fell into him at the thought, a fake swoon overtaking your face.

“I’d be too busy studying for dames.”

“Studying what?”

“I always liked math. Maybe engineering or something. Wanted to be a teacher before the draft.” He shrugged like the information was no big deal, but to you it was everything.

“Professor Barnes. Kind of sexy.”

“Oh, shut up.” But his words held no malice. Instead, he was grinning that cheeky grin that pulled his cheeks into perfect rosy apples and his eyes crinkled in joy. “I wanted to have ten kids.”

“Ten?!”

“So we’d be a dozen. My own little army of mini-Buckys to take over the world. Couple sets of twins, maybe. Definitely as many girls as I could manage.”

Of course Bucky would be a girl-dad. Playing dress-up for fake tea parties and scaring off boys when they’d come ‘round for first dates. You could imagine how he’d learn how to take care of their hair and plait intricate braids when they asked. He would make breakfast for the whole bunch, kiss his wife goodbye before escorting them to the bus stop and taking off for a day of teaching classes. Bucky would be an amazing father.

An amazing husband, too.

“I think ten may be pushing it, Barnes.”

Bucky pictured it, too. A little more modern than maybe the image you conjured up. Teaching was replaced with small missions. The gaggle of kids were smaller, and he wouldn’t have to kiss his wife goodbye. You’d be in the car next to him, headed to the tower for your morning briefings together.

“I’ll settle for nine.”

Benign

If you were to ask any New Yorker what they think the Avengers do on Friday afternoons, they would probably say something like ‘kicking ass!’. None would get even close to what your actual routine looked like.

None would imagine The Winter Soldier lounging in a bathrobe, hair knotted into a bun at the top of his head as his fellow world-saving Avenger spread some green goop over his face. Chinese takeout boxes littered the living room coffee table, his feet were bubbling in warm foot spa.

“To keep your youthful complexion!” You had promised him. He didn’t comment on the obvious sound of your phone’s camera clicking.

He knew he must have looked completely ridiculous. But as you sunk into the couch next to him with identical spa treatments covering you, he couldn’t find it in himself to really care.

He never thought in a million years that he would have the chance of boring, completely benign afternoons. He thought he would be sidelined to violent missions for the rest of his life, to being thawed out like a microwave meal every time he was deemed useful. Sure, he felt a bit ridiculous when you reached over to adjust the slices of cucumber placed over his eyelids, but he also felt so relaxed.

As you settled even closer to him, head tilting to rest on his shoulder, he would happily take the teasing remarks from Sam when you showed him the pictures.

Homecoming

Peter wasn’t crazy about the idea of getting ready for his senior year homecoming dance at the tower. But Aunt May was upstate on vacation with Happy and he still didn’t know how to tie a tie.

“Oh, you look so handsome, Peter!” You gushed as your fingers worked on his tie. Bucky stood to the side, holding MJ’s corsage in a delicate plastic container. Peter had been careful to find the perfect color, with a little guidance from you. The white dahlias matched perfectly with Peter’s light green tie.

“Thanks, Ms. (Y/L/N).”

Peter, ever the polite kid.

“Be safe, kid. Have her home at a reasonable time and no wandering hands.” Bucky handed over the corsage with a supportive slap to Peter’s shoulder. He was quick to promise that he would follow all the rules before making a dash to the door, just as you were about to ask for pictures.

“Don’t wait up!” He called as the elevator dinged behind him.

“They grow up so fast.” You sniffled. “I didn’t even go to my homecoming dances.”

“Why not?”

“Nobody ever asked me.” You shrugged, collecting the other ties Peter had picked from and hanging them carefully over your arm. Tony didn’t have to know that Peter was taking one of his priceless Versace neckties to a homecoming dance.

“To be fair, I would’ve been scared shitless to ask you to a dance.” Bucky followed close behind. “And I fought a war.”

“That’s sweet, Buck.” You brushed him off as you retreated into Tony’s closet.

“No, really.” His hand caught your elbow. “I would’ve been the luckiest guy in town if I had you on my arm.”

You fell asleep that night imagining you and Bucky twirling around a dance hall without a care in the world.

One

Steve’s hand was firm against your shoulder, his tactical glove soaked and dripping with your blood. Your eyes were unfocused, head lulling every so often when the fight to keep it steady just seemed too difficult. Sam was at your other side, cracking jokes to try to keep your attention on him and not of the literal bullet lodged in your shoulder.

You were escorted from the jet in a flurry, doctor’s hands replacing Steve’s. You barely winced when you were administered painkillers and the ache begun to subside. Before you could blink, you were lifted onto a gurney in the medical bay and the clink of the bullet that had been dug from your flesh rang through the room as it clattered into a metal dish.

Bucky ran in just as the doctor finished maneuvering a long roll of gaze around your shoulder, scheduling a time for you to return to have it cleaned and reapplied again.

“What happened?” He brushed past the doctor without a second glance, eyes trained on your figure pressed against the sterile hospital bed. “Steve said-”

“It’s nothing. Steve likes to be dramatic.”

“-that you were shot!”

“Oh, well. Yeah, that happened.” You moved to sit up, your arm immediately giving out under the weight. Bucky moved even closer to help you, hand careful on your back like you were made of glass. “But just the one time.”

“As far as I’m concerned, one is too many.” He watched the gauze turn darker against your skin; your eyes screwed shut in pain as your knuckles turned white against the sheets. “And you’re never going on a mission without me again.”

Freight Car

“You’re free.”

He remembers those worlds so clearly, it’s like him and Ayo are still sat next to that crackling fire in Wakanda. He thought that had been it. He would never again worry about those ten phrases that erased Bucky Barnes and allowed a machine to emerge from his memory.

As he stole glances of you from the corner of his eye, shadowed by his unruly hair, he knew those words still very much existed in his mind.

They weren’t a means to an end, anymore. He didn’t have to grit his teeth and clench his fists to fight them off. They were new, now. He saw each of those words in you and realized just how important they are now they they’ve found a new meaning.

His love for you came easy.

One second, he was looking at his friend. She was looking back at him and he felt safe.

Your fingers brushed over his shoulder, where flesh turned to metal, and you looked away as though you hadn’t just made him fall in love with you with a single touch.

It took three years for Bucky to make a move. Another party, another escape plan to the balcony where you were waiting for him, like always. The last time you had found yourselves in that position, he had been too unsure. Too wary of what it would mean and if it was too soon.

Now, he didn’t care. He just wanted you and to be selfish and not think about consequences when he leaned forward and finally pressed his lips to yours.

You pulled back, but not far.

Something clicked.

Your love for him hit you like a freight car. Swooping in from nowhere but really, you should have felt the rattling of the tracks beneath your feet. You should have seen all the signs that you loved him and he loved you back. In stolen glances and easy afternoons, in hard missions and bloodshed. He was there, and he looked at you like that. Like everything his body had done was to finally make it to you in this moment.

He waited, patient. He had waited this long, what was another few seconds as the realization washed over your features?

“Oh.” Was your clever whisper.

“Yeah.” Bucky’s hands cradled your face, “Took you long enough.”

taglist: @bibliophilewednesday @teti-menchon0604​ @thiswasnevermylifefromtony​ @spid3rgwen​ @beautyandthebleh​ @victoriabaker112213​ @orthellqs @phasma-trash​

[worldserasingandcreatinginmymind]

Unfaithful | Part Five

Series Summary: After dreaming of your perfect wedding since you were a little girl the big day is almost here. But after meeting the priest you start to question your relationship.

Pairing: Hot Priest x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 2005

Warnings: angst, lots of angst, drunk priest, bad friend 

A/N: Please be warned there will be some themes of toxic/abusive relationship in this series. Also, spelling and grammar is not my strongest skill so please be kind :)

Part Four | Masterlist

- - - - -

I can’t sleep. 

Half excited for my hen party, and half nervous for the talk I know I need to have with the priest. 

I spend hours lying awake imagining how the conversation will go, all the possible outcomes. I must of drifted off some time in the early hours because I'm awakened at 9am by a text from Daniel: 

‘You looked so peaceful when I left for work I didn’t want to disturb you. But I just realised that since I’m going straight out with the boys for my stag do later, the next time we see each other I’ll be in my suit and you’ll be in your dress walking down the aisle to me. I can’t wait. Enjoy the fundraiser and have and wonderful hen party tonight. I love you Mrs Davison xxx’

The text makes me smile, until I read the last sentence. ‘Mrs Davison’ send a panic rushing through me. This suddenly all feels very real. I’m getting married tomorrow. I take a deep breath. It’s fine. I'm fine. This is just pre-wedding nerves. Completely normal. 

I take another deep breath and get out of bed. 

— — — — 

“Ah Y/N! You’re here” Pam greets me at the church doors and swiftly ushers me around the side of the building towards the church garden where the fundraiser has already started “We’ve got an emergency” 

“What do you mean?” I reply as she leads me through crowds of people till we reach a table lined with various numbered prizes. 

“Ruth was supposed to be running the raffle but she’s just called to say she can’t make it, ate something bad she thinks and now she can’t stop throwing up.” 

I grimace slightly at the story but mostly I’m just wondering what any of this has to do with me…

“So if you wouldn’t mind taking over and running it for us that would be wonderful. Tickets are a pound each. Thank you!” 

Before I can say anything she’s gone, rushing off to check the youth band are ready for their performance. I stand bewildered for a moment, looking around at the crowds until I spot the priest who is currently admiring cupcakes at the bakery stand and laughing about something. Suddenly he turns and locks eyes with me. His face drops, he stares at me like a deer in headlights. I give him a small smile, which he doesn’t return. My heart hurts. 

“Excuse me, how much is a ticket?” Someone asks, forcing me to turn my attention away

“One pound” 

“Can I get five please” 

By the time I complete the transaction and look back to the bakery stand the priest is gone. I scan the crowd again, but there’s no sign of him. 

An hour later I still don't know where he is. What I do know is I really need the loo. I ask the person on the stall next to me to watch the table while I head inside in search of the toilets, but when I enter the building I bump into someone. 

It’s him. 

“What are you doing here?” He asks

“Just trying to find the ladies room” 

“I mean here, at this stupid event”

“Pam didn’t really give me a choice” I explain and he just looks irritated “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I wasn’t welcome”

“I just wasn’t expecting to see you here today”

“Well here I am” I say dryly and there’s an awkward silence. I take a deep breath before I speak again “I actually wanted to talk to you… about what happened-”

“Nothing happened. We agreed”

“But it did happen, Father, we need to talk about it”

“Oh, fuck you calling me Father like it doesn’t turn you on just to say it”

My mouth drops open, dumbfounded by his comment. I shake my head slightly as I try and think of something to say.

“I know what you’ve been doing” he continues

“Please, enlighten me because I have no idea what you're talking about!”

“Playing the sweet, innocent girl. Making me like you, fall for you. Making me think that you needed saving from the douchebag boyfriend… Was any of it real? Was anything you said actually true?” 

“I never lied to you” I almost whisper as he gets really close to my face, moving my hair off my cheek to study what’s left of the burn scars.

“Did he ever really hurt you? Or did you just make that up so I’d feel sorry for you”

“Fuck you!” I say through gritted teeth as I start to walk away, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. I stop and look back at him “You’re the one who told me you loved me, remember? That was you! If you regret it, that’s fine. There’s no need to be such a dick about it” 

I turn and leave again, his final words repeating through my head as I walk away. 

As I walk home I can’t stop the tears from coming as I replay the conversation in my head over and over again. Why is he being like this? How can he be so loving to me one day and so nasty a few days later? What changed?

I get home and go straight to bed. I wrap myself up in the duvet and try to push everything out of my mind so I can get in a quick nap before I have to get ready for my hen party. The last thing I feel like doing right now is going out celebrating, but I know there’s no way I could cancel.

Thank God there’s going to be alcohol there. 

— — — — 

“Bride’s turn! Truth or Dare?”

“Truth” I say happily, finishing off my third glass of wine. 

“Okay… if you could have a free pass and choose any celebrity, who would you sleep with?”

The girls start whooping and laughing, but before I can even answer Tiffany cuts in.

“She won’t answer that, she’s far too vanilla”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, slightly offended by her tone.

“Don't start Tiff” Eva rolls her eyes

“I’m not starting anything, I’m just telling the truth. She’s only ever had one boyfriend and she’s marrying him tomorrow. She lost her virginity to him and I bet you anything that they schedule the days in the week when they’ll go to bed and have boring missionary sex. Vanilla! She’s never even kissed another guy…”

Maybe it’s the alcohol in my system or the way she’s talking about me like I’m not here, but I can feel myself getting more and more irritated.

“Actually I have!” I speak up and she laughs.

“A kiss from your dad doesn’t count”

The room falls silent as everyone stops to watch my reaction. I can see from Tiffany’s face she instantly regrets her words. She knows how much I miss my dad, but it’s too late to take it back now.  

“Well done Tiff” I hear Eva say as I walk away from the group. I head outside and take a deep breath of the fresh air. Looking up at the stars I find myself thinking of my parents and wishing they were here. 

“I’m sorry” Tiffany’s voice makes me jump, I hadn’t realised she’d followed me outside and was now leaning against the wall next to me “that was a low blow, I shouldn’t have said that”

“It doesn’t matter” I mutter quietly 

“It does! I should have thought about what I was saying… I just forgot”

“I forget too. So often I pick up my phone to call him and realise he won’t be on the other end. I would give anything for them to be here right now”

“I know, come here” she pulls me in for a hug, squeezing me tightly before leaning away to look me in the face “I’m sorry I called you vanilla”

“Maybe I am. You were right, I’ve only ever been with Daniel. Until this week he was the only man I’d ever kissed!”

“This week?” She pulls away completely and my heart drops as I realise what I’ve just said “You kissed someone? Who?”

“No I- I didn’t mean to say that” 

“Its okay, you can tell me. We have been friends forever haven’t we?”

“I guess… but you can’t tell the others!”

“I won’t”

“Promise me Tiff!”

“I promise!”

I take a breath. 

“I kissed the priest” 

“What priest?” She replies blankly.

“THE Priest! The one who’s doing the wedding tomorrow!”

She stares at me blankly for a moment as she processes what I’ve just told her. I can almost see the cogs turning in her brain and suddenly the penny drops.

“OH MY GOD!”

“I know”

“Y/N!” 

“I know!”

“Does Daniel know?”

“Of course not”

“You have to tell him!”

“Are you insane?! He’d go mad!”

“He deserves to know that his so called fiancé has been cheating on him”

“I haven’t been cheating on him, it was just one stupid drunken kiss”

“If it was ‘just a kiss’ why haven’t you told him?”  

“Because-” I think about telling her the truth. That if I told him he’d get angry and most likely hurt me. But I don’t. “I just can’t”

“If you don’t, I will” 

“No, Tiff please you can’t”

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t go there now and tell him” she says and stares at me as I silently stare back at her. When she begins to walk away I panic.

“Because he hurts me!” I finally admit, and she looks back at me confused “That’s why I’ve been too scared to tell him”

“No” she shakes her head “No he wouldn’t, he swore he’d never be like his dad”

“And he’s not. He’s not as bad as his father was, he just gets angry and sometimes he takes it out on me.” I explain but she’s still shaking her head in disbelief “a few days ago I had to go to the hospital because he burnt me” I pull the collar of my dress down to expose the burn scars on my neck “this is what’s left of him throwing boiling hot coffee in my face”

She looks from my neck to my face, sadness in her eyes as she processes everything. After a few moments she finally speaks. 

“I won’t tell him” 

“Thank you!” I breathe a sigh of relief 

“But I also won’t be at the wedding tomorrow” 

“Tiff, you're my maid of honour! My best friend! I need you”

“I can’t pretend to be happy for you, pretend that I agree with this marriage. I’m sorry”

“Tiff! Tiffany!” I call after her but she continues to walk away, hailing a passing taxi and disappearing into the night. 

“Y/N? What happened? Where’s Tiff?” Eva asks, poking her head out the door and looking around. 

“She’s gone” I say simply, turning to look at her “Guess I need a new maid of honour” 

— — — — 

The following morning goes by in a blur. The girls, minus Tiffany, stayed at my house over night while Daniel stayed at his mate’s house. I was awakened by the sounds of the girls running upstairs, screaming excitedly that “today is the day” as they jumped into my bed. 

Once they’d calmed down we had all gone downstairs for a light breakfast before the girls began getting ready. Maybe it’s the constant sound of laughing and chatting, or maybe its the slight hangover from the night before but I suddenly feel the need to get out. I excuse myself and head outside to get some air, taking a seat on the front step of my house. I take a few deep breaths and allow my head to drop into my hands, my elbows propped up on my knees. A few seconds later I hear footsteps up the driveway and look up to see the priest. 

“Hi” I say, unable to hide the confusion in my voice. 

“can we talk?” 

Final Chapter

[ji-yaaan]

Jessamine-rose asked:

Ohh hiiii!! I really loved your leona fic, it was so soft!! X3 may i request idia and jamil seeing their short mc wearing their hoodies?? Headcanon or one-shot whatwver you are more comfortable with!! I would like to request a but of spice as well if you dont mind.

𝐖𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐇𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬♡

Headcanons with: Idia, Jamil, Kalim, Jack

Note: Yo this idea is so cute I'm melting as I write this- this scenario is just wholesome and I won't forgive myself if I sully this wholesomeness... Oh but Jamil however- ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Oh btw I added in some characters I can imagine with this secnario lol. Ok on to the headcanons!

And yes... I reposted this cuz tumblr hates me and won't let me use the tags... I don't stay up til 5am for nothing bro-

°•°•°•°•°•𝑰𝒅𝒊𝒂 𝑺𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅•°•°•°•°•

After 8 rounds of Mario kart Idia destroying you 8 times lol cuddled up in the blankets as the both of you crush your consoles attempting to win a round.

It's getting pretty late, but game time is holy for the both of you, so both of you gotta make time to schedule the most awaited activity of the day! GAME TIME~

But after a long day of brain damage at school *cough braincell squad cough* anyone is bound to get exhausted. Taking a break from the game, Idia takes off his jacket and nyooms away to the kitchen to get some chips and soda for you two.

"Potato chips? check~ Soda? check~" Idia smiles as he excitedly makes his way into his room to crush you at the game again.

Oh my what's this? He found a rare treasure lying in his room!!! Quick! What does he do now??? OH MY GOD! You were sleeping... BUT YOU WERE WEARING HIS HOODIE! What is this cuteness? What is this ultra uwu energy? What is this fluff doing here? That's it! Idia has now died of uwu. Respawn later...

While Idia was holding his bags of chips and cola, he can't help but blush at how cute you were! You looks sooooo smol in his jacket- congrats you stole Idia's heart.♡♡♡

I'd say Idia's greatest weakness is cute stuff and small things. So you looking so smol in his jackets is just going to give him heart combulsions.

Idia will probably crouch in the floor to stare at your sleeping face. He'd sit right next to you and stare at you for a while. "Hehe..." Linking his arms with yours as he playfully pokes your cheeks.

He'd rest his head on your shoulder still blushy wushy cuz you're just sooo adorbs♡ "Games can wait for tommorow.."

•°•°•°•°•°•𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒊𝒍 𝑽𝒊𝒑𝒆𝒓•°•°•°•°•°

Like the usual, the Scarabia dorms is up for a party 24/7 because of the happy go lucky kalim. Jamil is still pissed like the usual too...

While kalim was performing his thing entertaining the guest... A wild Jamil appeared! Care to send love??? Jamil makes his way to you, so he can finally chill and recharge from chaos with a powerhug. But as he was just inches away from from you... Dammit someone just have to ruin his moment.

"WAHHHH! Y/N! OH NO I'M SO SORRY!" Some idiots just have to ruin his time with you... Drinks spilt in your top, leaking wet from the juice that spilt on you.

Jamil will just sigh and volunteer to take care of another problem yet again, just like the usual. BUT! Before he takes care of those stuff PRIORITY FIRST! You need to be taken care of first ;>

Jamil will drag you in an empty room to change... now all thats left is to change in clean and dry clothes- Wait....Wow just the luck you both have... No one got spare clothes... what now?

Of course Jamil will offer his hoodie! He can't have you walking around uncomfortable in damp clothing!

When you walk out of the room... Cute... What is this cute creature? Since you are small and short, Jamil's hoodie is oversized on you. The sleeves go way past your fingers, and the big jacket makes you look even smaller in general.

Jamil's having a lowkey midlife crisis inside his head, but gotta keep looking chill and cool, so he just settles with a pinch on the cheek.

HOWEVER! When you go back to the party in the banquet halls. Everyone seeing you will comment how tinier you look like in a big hoodie. Everyone is just going ballistic with the smol and cute comments. Jamil is not happy about this.

As people are making cute comments about you. You'll just blush and freeze on the spot. BUT JAMIL HOWEVER... SNEK BOI IS BURNING WITH RAGE AND JEALOUSY... I mean... That's his hoodie you were wearing. Are they blind? Should he hypnotize people to do stupid things later?

After the party... Oho ಠ ͜ʖ ಠ with Jamil going jealous a little while ago... He'll hug you tighter this time, his chin resting in your head. "Don't look cute in front of other people... I'm the only one you're allowed to look cute for."

Expect markings here and there in the morning... Take this sentence however you like...

•°•°•°•°•𝑲𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒎 𝑨𝒍 𝑨𝒔𝒊𝒎•°•°•°•°•

Midnight trip in the clouds with your local sunshine boi! Riding the magic carpet with kalim is one of the most magical experience! Moonbathing with the stars WHILE YOU SIT BESIDE A LITERAL STAR LIKE KALIM TOO! as kalim cheerfully tells fun stories while laughing.

But of course the night today was kinda chilly and cold but you forgot to bring your sweater with you... Dammit it was really cold today. But somehow seeing kalim smile warms you up! I can't blame you though-.

When a really cold wind blew past the two of you... THAT'S IT! IT WAS REALLY COLD TODAY! You shivered while you held unto your arms and shoulders in attempts to keep yourself warm.

Of course Kalim notices this and offers his cardigan in uwu style! "Oh? Y/n are you cold? Oh! If you want, you can use my cardigan! Hehe..." Kalim brightly smiles like the usual. A blinding smile to keep the sleep paralysis demons away.

Frankly, Kalim is not that big, but his jacket still drooped on you which was very cute in Kalim's eyes!

"Y/n you look so small~ how cute!!" Kalim just casually blurts out, no embarrassment or whatsoever...

Of course it's a bit embarrassing for you at first, but Kalim's too pure and innocent for this world, so it's mainly just rainbows and sunshine being with him.

While the both of you are up in the air, maybe he'll offer a hug too if you're still cold. ಠ ͜ʖ ಠ it wouldn't be a sin to decline right?

•°•°•°•°•°•𝑱𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑯𝒐𝒘𝒍•°•°•°•°•°•

As the both of you are walking home, casually strolling in the roads that leads to the ramshackle dorm, this night was especially chilly.

The cold breeze was not cooperating this time as it continues to blow past the two of you. "Brrrr" this was cold... this was really cold... It was stupid not to bring your jacket with you when it's autumn near winter...

Jack was not blind to not see you shivering from the cold! Because jack is a good boye, he'll lend you his Jacket!!!

Seeing you look so smol in his jacket just melts his heart away. It literally looks like a blanket on you with how big it was. I MEAN THIS BOY IS LITERALLY WHOOPING 192CM TALL! GIVE ME UR HEIGHT

He'll just stare at you for minutes while you take walks, if you look close enough, you see his tail wagging and his ear perking up... Maybe a little blush too if you really look close ಠ◡ಠ

But a jacket can only do so much... Even if it was big and warm, your hands were somehow still cold seeing as you rub them every few minutes...

Good boye Jack offers to hold your hands!!! Would you like to accept this kind offer? ∆Yes ✓Yes!

When Jack holds your hands, JACK WAS A HEATER ALL ALONG? Big warm hands.... How comfortable... ;v;

Maybe along the way, he'll put your tiny hands in his pocket too... Who knows... But what you know is that you don't want to go home yet. Can the both of you extend this hand holding session?

Bruh...... tumblr won’t let me use the tags and properly post this... sigh.......

That's about it! I added Kalim and Jack to quench my thirst! And indulge in personal interests Again.. thankz for the request! And I hope you enjoyed this! ಠωಠ sending love before you read the next post under this♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡