#he was pretending he wasn't going to miss her that liar

[bodybebangin]

[webslingingslasher]

i wanna bite peter. no. i NEED to bite Peter.

his skin looks so yummy i crave it😁😁

it's been a long three days and you've missed your frat boy past the point of insanity.

mentally, you were scratching your arms and had a twitchy eye. physically, you were power walking to frat row. the second, and you mean the second, peter texted you and told you he was back from his weekend trip, you dropped everything to see him.

he wasn't even done unpacking when he heard your soft stomps up the stairs, he knows it's you just by the sound. peter had missed you more than he would admit, he couldn't wait to give you a bruising kiss to prove it.

'petey!' it's loud and he doesn't care one bit. his girls in front of him.

'trouble!' opening his arms wide, he's ready for the hug of his lifetime. you're nearly bouncing over to him before pulling his arm down. peter's eyebrows furrow, he thinks you're going for an awkward wrap around, until you tug his shirt sleeve up and sink your teeth into the meat of his bicep.

'ah! you vermin, get away!' he's doing the world's weakest job at pulling away, you smile into his skin before shaking your head like a dog with a bone.

peter had expected you to jump on him and kiss over his face. you had done nothing but tell him how much you missed him and his 'strong arms' and the second you can be in them again, you treat him like a chew toy.

you missed his arms alright, missed eating them, that is.

'hey, c'mon, i missed you too! i want a hug and a kiss, then you can nibble as much as you want.'

you dot kisses over the skin you had under your teeth, 'i missed you so much.' peter's whiny this time, 'then give me a hug!' he wants his arms around you so bad.

you wrap your arms around him and tuck your head under his chin, you can tell how much he really missed you when he fully relaxes into your hold.

'slept like shit without you.' kisses on your forehead has you happily sigh into his chest. 'liar, you hate sharing a bed with me. you always threaten to kick me out.'

peter didn't realize how much he missed you waking him up in the middle of the night for some bogus reason. it made him feel loved, it didn't matter what time it was, you wanted him to be the first person you told anything to, even if it was just a weird dream.

he won't admit that though, instead he says, 'you're right, it was nice not being woken up to cold feet and philosophical questions.'

'knew it,' that means you know he missed you more than he'd ever tell you. 'can i please have a kiss now?' if you'd ever say no to that question, especially when he asks it as soft and hesitant as he just did.

but that doesn't mean you can't give him shit, you let out a pretend groan, 'fine, i guess so.' revealing your face, you blink at the overhead light in his room.

instead of grabbing you passionately, he cups your cheeks and smushes your lips together in a pout. peter takes his time looking you over, he's silent and it makes you feel shy.

While you look down for a second, peter whispers out to you.

'my baby.'

his lips are on yours, a sense of home and peace envelops you. clenching at the waist of his shirt, you lean up to fully melt into him. peter's thinking the same way, wrapping an arm around your lower back to pull you flush into him.

peter pulls away for just a second before he's back on you, placing three quick pecks before breaking out in a smile.

'i have no fucking idea how i'm going to survive the summer,' you bite down on your lip, summer is months away, he's not able to imagine a future without you and it makes you ultra giddy.

'easy, i come stay with you for a few weeks. i think may and i would get along.' you expected him to roll his eyes, instead he nods his head. 'i think she'd love that, she's always hinting she needs another woman around her.'

you kiss your teeth at him, 'three days without me and you're planning the future. i love to see it.'

'it made me realize how much i like having you around me, even if you're biting me.'

you gasp, eyes widening at the forgotten idea. 'oo, thanks, petey!' you swing your head to clamp your teeth into his arm, a hiss follows.

'you're a fucking rat and so uninvited from my aunt's house!' 

[slayfics]

Explosive Tendencies a slow burn fan fiction about the readers developing relationship with Katsuki Bakugo.

Chapter seventeen: Katsuki ghosts you.

Chapter links

It had been a few days since the provisional licensing exam, and Katsuki still hadn't spoken a word to you. You knew he was undoubtedly upset about not passing the exam, but you hadn't expected him to suddenly pretend you didn't exist.

In lectures, he left as soon as class was dismissed. In class training exercises, he never looked your way, and when it was time to go back to the dorms, he went straight up to his room.

You gave in and texted him. However, figuring out what to say was no easy task. It was hard to think of something that he wouldn't blow up at. You couldn't ask him if he was okay. Obviously, he wasn't. You couldn't ask him if he wanted to talk about it. Obviously, he didn't. So, what could you say? Finally, you decide on a response.

Hey, let me know if you need anything.

Seen.

Your message had been left on seen for another day, and classes the next day were the same. He never acknowledged your existence once. It pained you to know how upset he was but refused to talk about it with anyone. Why did he have to be so damn stubborn?

Suddenly, a thought occurred to you: He was blaming you as the reason for failing the provisional licenses exam.

You felt your heart race as you realized- he had stopped to help you pass the first part of the exam. Was it possible they deducted points for that? 

The room seemed to dull around you as you got lost in thought. Your classmates chatting in the dorm common room suddenly vanished. Your hands shook as you reached for your phone and messaged him again.

Bakugo please talk to me.

Seen.

You stared at the message but never received a response back. Just like the last three days Bakugo was in his room and spent no time down in the common room.

"Hey- are you alright?" You heard someone ask.

You looked up to see Mina standing next to you with a concerned expression on her face.

"I'm fine," You lied.

"Mmm- that wasn't believable at all, but I won't pester you. Why don't you come with me though? A couple of us are going to hang out in Jiro's room while she shows us some of her instruments," Mina suggested.

"No, I-," You began to turn her down, but she interrupted.

"I'm not going to take no for an answer. I won't push you to say why you're upset but- I can't just leave a fellow classmate to sulk alone. Come on, some girl time will cheer you up," She insisted.

You reluctantly followed Mina to Kyoka's room, where Tsuyu and Ochaco already were. Kyoka was showing them her bass guitar and basic chords to play it. 

"Hey guys!" Ochaco greeted you both as you made your way to sit down on the floor.

"What did we miss?" Mina asked, sitting next to you.

"Not much just some basics," Kyoka explained. You tried to seem interested, but your mind kept drifting off as she explained some more instruments and played some songs. Kyoka was talented, and you found yourself wishing you could be more present to be engaged.

"Soooooo- feeling any better?" Mina asked you.

"Hu?" You jumped in response as her question dragged you back out of your thoughts.

"I told you I was fine," You replied.

Mina rolled her eyes, "Yeah right! You're a terrible liar. Come on, that's what we're here for, you can talk to us you know?"

"Yeah, is everything ok? It's not good to hold stuff in." Tsuyu said, looking concerned.

"If there's any way we can help please let us know," Ochaco said.

All the attention caused you to start to panic. You hid your face in your knees trying not to become overwhelmed as tears started to form in your eyes.

"Hey, it's ok. Talk to us," Mina said, placing her hand on your back to comfort you.

"It's Bakugo-," You mumbled into your knees.

"BAKUGO?!" The girls said in unison shocked. That was the last thing they were expecting to hear.

You picked your head up to see their confused expressions.

"He hasn't talked to me in days-," you said beginning to sob. "Ever since the licensing test- I think- I think he is blaming me for failing." You explained.

"WHAT?! That's ridiculous! He failed because he's a hothead with no manners!" Mina yelled.

"No," You shook your head back and forth. "He helped me during the exam, and I think it's my fault. But he won't even look at me, and he won't respond to any of my messages," you said, wiping some of the tears from your eyes.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Ochaco said, trying to soothe you.

"Bakguo sucks, don't be so concerned about him," Tsuyu said flatly.

You sighed as your tears began to subside, "I know you all don't think much of him- but he's really not so bad," you said, trying to defend him.

"I don't know what you and Kirishima see in him, but he's as trash as they come," Mina said "Especially, to be blaming you for something that was obviously his fault. He failed because they think he has more to learn to be a pro hero- not because of you. So- him taking it out on you is completely unfair and proves he sucks." Mina said, crossing her arms in a huff.

"Yeah, if he's going to react that way, it's better not to be around him," Tsuyu agreed.

"Don't be so hard on yourself, ok? It's not your fault he failed. His actions were his decisions," Ochaco spoke.

"Yeah, definitely," Kyoka agreed.

"Thanks-..., I think I needed to hear that," you said, beginning to feel your mood lift a bit.

"Of course, you can always talk to us. You don't have to be so mysterious all the time," Mina said, teasing you.

You enjoyed the rest of the night with the girls and even found yourself laughing with them. It felt good to get all of that off your chest.

Mina walked with you to the elevator at the end of the night to go back to your respective rooms.

"Hey- I didn't want to say this in front of the other girls because I know how squeamish you are," Mina laughed. "But- it was totally Bakugo you were crushing on, wasn't it?! I mean, it has to be given how upset you are he hasn't been talking to you," Mina concluded.

You sighed and decided there wasn't any reason to hide it from Mina anymore. "Yeah... I guess I do- or did- I don't know..."

"It's ok, your secret is safe with me. He is a total asshole for treating you that way though. Forget about him until he apologizes or fixes his attitude which- uh will probably never happen," Mina laughed.

"Yeah yeah," you said, rolling your eyes as you unlocked your dorm. "Good night, Ashido."

"Good night!" She called back as she went into her own room.

Just as you fell into a deep sleep, you heard a loud knock on your door.

You opened the door to see Mina standing with her phone in her hand.

"KIRISHIMA JUST TEXTED ME THAT BAKUGO GOT IN TROUBLE FOR FIGHTING WITH MIDORIYA!" She yelled.

Tags: @anon-mouse223 @unofficialmuilover @maddietries @sikuthealien @queenpiranhadon @melrs21 @poemzcheng @kazuumii @bakunianadecorazon @ur-crusty-uncle @reads-stuff-quietly @chixkadee @perfectsukii @faetoraa @fem-weeb @nagicats @lees-chaotic-brain

[no-psi-nan]

Saiki's life if this character wasn't in it:

Nendo: Hell on earth, canonically (according to the light novels). Saiki series gets canceled, leading to Saiki rampaging out of control. All of Saiki's classmates also end up twisted.

Kaido: Might not have reunited that little girl with her dog, which led to an important friendship lesson. Saiki x Nendo rumors would be stronger since now they'd seem like a couple instead of a friend trio. Uhhh... Saiki would've been forced to attend that party they were late to... Saiki might have had to visibly intervene the 2 times Yumehara was in trouble, which would have left her still crushing on him and causing a rivalry between her and Teruhashi.

Yumehara: Teruhashi seems to go evil in every universe where Yumehara is not around or is not her friend, so even though she doesn't do too much to Saiki directly, an untamed Teruhashi would be causing LOTS of problems. Also she's the one who lead to all of Saiki's friends vacationing at the foot of the volcano so that would've been a problem avoided lol.

Hairo: A lot less sports shenanigans to be sure. The armed robbery probably would've been successful. Saiki's summer schedule would have also remained pretty empty that one year lol.

Teruhashi: Honestly this would immediately eliminate like 50% of Saiki's problems. No Teruhashi, no Kokomins, no Saiko, no Makoto, and Imu would not be a problem for him either. Deserted island arc avoided too. However, Yumehara never falls for Kaido and the Occult Club fails to launch, so no Yumehara + Arisu friendship. Saiki would've gotten to watch that movie, which might have left him more comfortable wearing the germanium ring sometimes. 🤔 Maybe him missing an important thought could have caused a problem eventually??

Mera: Makoto would have been on the plane to the Okinawa trip so maybe Saiki would've let it stay grounded instead of fighting the storm hsfjdlshfks. Café Mami would've closed probably, which might have had more repercussions since Saiki goes there often. No clinical trial episode. Saiki might've not grown to trust Aiura as much if they didn't fix the Mr. Mera situation together.

Kuboyasu: Saiki might have had to reveal his powers to Kaido 🤔 He only let the bullies approach at all because of Kaido's thoughts about liars, which were spurred by Kuboyasu though. Possibly Kaido would have had this thought process eventually anyways, which would then make Saiki stop being his friend and reject future friendships even more.

Toritsuka: Would Saiki have been able to defeat the robot clone without Toritsuka's help? Would Saiki have been able to win the cat tank episode without any help, especially if the Toritsuka fight had been replaced with a family member as hostage or something? Who would've pretended to be Saiki during the volcano arc? Also Toritsuka told Saiki about the Hii situation before anyone got killed and was the one who solved Hii's problem permanently(?) so if Toritsuka hadn't helped then there probably would've been a lot more Hii problems for Saiki to solve.

Kusuke: Well, Saiki would be an only child with no limiters and powers growing out of control... Would he have been able to eventually learn to control his powers without the interference of the limiters? Or might have he been driven mad by it, or fled the planet to escape all the noise?? Truly hard to say...

Saiko: Deserted island arc avoided as well as the Saiko manor Kokomin siege. Volcano situation wouldn't have needed a redo, though the lack of hotel room might've caused other problems. No changes to the bathroom at PK Academy.

Aiura: Saiki is stuck in high school forever, since it took 10 clones, the original Saiki, and Aiura's perfect predictions to stop the eruption. Also Yumehara probably would have died when after getting that death mark since she and Saiki would've been at their respective homes at the time it activated. Oh, and the train crash would have happened as well. Saiki probably would've blamed himself for these deaths and/or would've had to do time leaps to fix them, if possible. Actually it's unknown whether Saiki can defeat death marks without knowing about them / without Aiura's intervention. The fortune telling customer would've died too but that wouldn't have been Saiki's problem. That one guy wouldn't have found his soulmate in Africa probably 🥺

Satou: Well there would be less light in Saiki's life. Also Saiki would've had to spend a lot of time interfering with Hii's situation, which could have possibly gotten Saiki killed eventually, since he did get a death mark dealing with her.

Imu: No Teruhashi mixer scene or forcing Teruhashi to acknowledge her feelings. None of that really affects Saiki's life though tbh?

Akechi: Less trauma probably. However, his example of what a good and fun game can be also led Kusuo to reconciliation with his brother, which meant that Kusuke helped with the volcano. 🤔 Hard to say whether it would be a net positive or not!

Hii: Ok, she's pretty much caused nothing but problems and was only around for like 2 episodes. No relationship chain diagram though, and that was peak comedy!

👇🏾 Lmk if I missed anything in the notes or reblogs!

[stawbeemilk]

Hey I love your work ! Um if it’s ok can I ask for kuroo and iwaizumi and Akashi and others if you like! Um they somehow realize that their girlfriend even though she is happy all the time has a abusive mother like she left a scar on her back or something and because of that she is insecure to change in front of them or you know I want to know their reaction 😭🙏🏻💕(you can ignore if you like!)

⤷ his s/o is insecure about their scars – hq

✩ characters: kuroo, iwaizumi, akaashi

✩ warnings: f!reader

✩ a/n: i finally managed to get one of my requests done, i'm so sorry this took so long. i decided not to go into much detail about the origin of reader’s scars bc i thought it might be triggering to some, i hope that's okay!!

⭑ kuroo

⤷ kuroo decided to surprise you with a new dress for you to wear on your date, telling you how he came across it online and immediately knew it would look amazing on you

⤷ you excitedly took the article of clothing from him, eager to try it on, however you soon felt your heart drop to your stomach as you realised that the dress he had chosen for you was entirely backless

⤷ you always made a conscious effort to wear clothing that covered as much skin as possible, especially your back— the large scar that resided between your shoulder blades caused you a lot of insecurity, and you felt more comfortable knowing it wasn't visible for anyone to see

⤷ you did your best to hide the fact you were self-conscious about it from your boyfriend, and while you knew he would never think of you any differently, you would be lying if you said you didn't still feel nervous any time he would see your bare skin, knowing that your scar was on full display to him

⤷ kuroo didn't miss the way your smile dropped or the sudden worried look in your eyes, your reaction seemed so unlike you and he instantly knew that something was wrong

⤷ you quickly changed into the dress, trying to face him as much as possible so that he didn't have a full view of your back, but when he asked you to do a spin for him you knew there would be no avoiding it

⤷ you reluctantly turned around, finding yourself unable to look anywhere but the floor as you came to face him again, watching in your line of vision as he began moving closer towards you

⤷ you couldn't help but turn away from him again so he didn't see the tears that were beginning to well up in your eyes— by this point your heart was beating so loudly you could practically hear it in your ears, nervously anticipating his reaction

⤷ your breath hitched in your throat as you suddenly felt kuroo’s lips brushing against your back, softly grazing the skin where your scar resides before wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you into him

⤷ “you look beautiful. you should definitely wear that tonight.”

⤷ “but, tetsu, i—”

⤷ “shh, you're gorgeous, okay? and nothing will ever change that.”

⭑ iwaizumi

⤷ your boyfriend accidentally walked in on you changing, which to him didn't seem like that big of a deal, and so he was surprised to hear you shriek when he entered the room, watching as you tried to cover yourself with the shirt you were holding

⤷ you shakily tell him to get out and that's when he sees the panicked look in your eyes, realising your reaction wasn't just simply a response to him catching you off guard and scaring you, and that there was clearly something else going on

⤷ “hey, what's the matter?”

⤷ “it's nothing, haji. i'm fine, just— please, just get out.”

⤷ “no, you're not. you're a terrible liar, you know that? i'm not leaving until you tell me what's wrong.”

⤷ you sighed, knowing that regardless of how much you tried to avoid telling him about what was probably your biggest insecurity, you couldn't keep it from him forever and right now it seemed there was no way around it

⤷ the scar on your collarbone was never something you particularly liked about yourself, and so you usually just tried your best not to think about it and pretended it wasn't there

⤷ however you still found it hard to ignore sometimes, especially with the way everyone’s eyes seemed to be drawn to it whenever you'd wear clothing that left the area exposed, and as time went on you found yourself feeling more self-conscious about it than ever

⤷ you couldn't help but feel a little nervous as you explained yourself to iwa, finding it hard to put your feelings into words but doing your best to tell him how insecure you felt, admitting that you were embarrassed for him to see you because of your scar

⤷ your boyfriend listened intently to everything you told him, trying his best to understand how you were feeling, but it still made him sad to hear you talk about yourself so negatively— how do you not see yourself the way he does?

⤷ iwa literally thinks the world of you, he couldn't imagine spending his life with anyone else and to find out that you think so little of yourself makes his heart ache

⤷ he pulls you into a hug, telling you that he thinks you're perfect just the way you are and that he appreciates everything about you, even the parts you don't like so much yourself

⤷ “i love you for you, alright? now put a shirt on, doll. it's cold in here.”

⭑ akaashi

⤷ i feel like it didn't take long for akaashi to notice your scars, they would catch his attention whenever you wore shorts or a skirt and the material would ride up your thighs

⤷ however he didn't mention anything to you, trusting that you'd open up to him about it when the time was right— he knew scars could be a sensitive topic, and the last thing he wanted was to make you feel uncomfortable by bringing up something you didn't feel ready to talk about yet

⤷ until one day when he caught you examining yourself in the mirror, a sad look in your eyes as your fingers lightly traced over the scars that were scattered along your hip bones and thighs, and he realised it was clearly something that bothered you

⤷ your boyfriend came up behind you, wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his head on your shoulder— it was evident that you weren't expecting him to catch you in the middle of picking apart your own appearance, given your startled expression and the way your body stiffened under his touch

⤷ a smile promptly made its way to your face in an attempt to convince him you were fine, but akaashi was rather perceptive and he therefore noticed the way it didn't quite reach your eyes

⤷ “oh, keiji. i was just—”

⤷ “you're so beautiful, sweetheart. you know that, right?”

⤷ you laughed nervously, trying to play it off but it was clear your boyfriend could see right through you, and you knew you had no choice but to tell him what was bothering you

⤷ “i don't know, i just kinda think i'd look better if my skin was… y'know, smoother…”

⤷ hearing you talk so openly about your own insecurities wasn't something akaashi was used to, you were always so happy and carefree, seeming so comfortable in your own skin— he hadn't seen this side of you before and he hated to think he had no idea you really felt this way about yourself up until now

⤷ “nonsense. you are so much more than your body, my darling. your scars don't define you.”

⤷ you watched through the reflection of the mirror as his hands made their way a little lower, softly caressing your hips as he pressed a gentle kiss against your shoulder, eyes filled with nothing but adoration for you and your body

⤷ you felt your heart flutter and you couldn't help but smile at his words, and akaashi was thankful to see that this time it did in fact reach your eyes <3

⤷ please do not repost my works on any other sites!

[axxiomn]

"I'll be home for Christmas"

summary: Kid Stu waiting for his parents to come home for Christmas. Word count: 1221

It was going to be Christmas Eve soon, and 8-year-old Stu Macher was not in his own home. 

He was dropped off at Grandma's house a couple of days before. Mr. and Mrs. Macher had to attend a business conference across the country for work. 

Stu remembered how much he cried and begged for them not to go as he clung desperately to his mother's coat. 

Mom just smiled and bent over closer to meet Stu's teary eyes. 

“Oh, baby,” she brushed his hair gently and tucked it behind his ear in a half attempt at comfort. “We'll be home for Christmas. Besides, you have Leslie and Grandma to spend the holidays with.”

Leslie liked to mess with him, always hogging up the TV with Tom Cruise movies whenever Scooby Doo was on. Grandma smelled like mothballs and old flowers. 

Dad motioned for Mom to hurry up so as not to miss their flight.

 “Cheer up, Stuart, we'll bring you back lots of gifts like always!” 

He wanted them, not any dumb toys. No amount of crying will get that. He's tried lots of times. 

After exchanging goodbyes with him and Leslie, they both walked out that door just like they always did. 

Grandma ushered them into the living room while she fixed up some old Campbell soup. Leslie was quieter than usual as they sat down on the squeaky couch. She was not the mean older sister this time. She didn't pick on Stu as much. Maybe, even then, she knew all they had was each other. 

December 24, 1988. 

The dinner had just wrapped up. Nothing too extravagant. Just some turkey, ham, and other side dishes. Stu wasn't hungry. He was pretty sure Leslie wasn't either. They all sat in silence at the dinner table with the occasional question from Grandma on how school was going and if Leslie liked any boys yet. 

The night dragged on painfully. Leslie took out an old game of Monopoly. Between each couple of turns, Stu would ask Grandma if his parents were getting back yet. 

She just smiled and said not yet before going back to her knitting. 

“I don't know why you just expect them to magically appear. They never do.” Leslie groaned as her puzzle piece returned to jail for the 5th time that game.

“'Cause it's Christmas.” Every child wants their parents home for Christmas or at least have the illusion of that comfort.

“Yeah, well, I don't believe in Christmas miracle, Stuey.“ 

The game carried out in mostly silence until the phone rang. 

“Stuart. Leslie. It's your parents!”

Stu ran to the phone, almost knocking a vase to the floor. 

“Hey, munchkin, it's Mom.” Her voice was tired, but then again, she was always tired after work. 

“Mom! Dad! Are you coming home yet?” Stu's face lit up hearing his mom on the other end. There came a pause before quiet whispering from the other end. 

“Sweetie, I don't think we'll be home for Christmas —"

“But you promised!”

“I know, but there's—”

“But Mom—”

“Stuart.” Her voice was stern. There was no attempt at comfort. “Mom and Dad are stuck in New York right now because all the flights are delayed. We'll be back when the snow clears. Understood?”

“Yes, Mom.” Stu didn't like it when she raised her voice at him. It made him feel small and weak. She always said he was far too sensitive. 

“Good. Now pass the phone to your sister. I want to talk with her too.”

Stu passed the phone to Leslie before slowly making it back to the living room, kicking at the carpet. Grandma left the radio on. It was that dumb old-timey song. 

“I'll be home for Christmas”

Yeah well, that's just not true. Mom and Dad were nothing but dumb liars. They were dumb and stupid for getting his hopes up again. But they promised. They promised they'd be home this time. They really promised. Stu just wanted to grab that radio and smash it into the wall. Oh, it was tempting. But, alas, he just let himself sink into the sofa. Maybe if he closed his eyes and pretended his mom and dad were back, it would be real.

A small hand on his shoulder shook him awake. Long blonde hair tickled at his forehead. It was Leslie. 

“Come on, Stuey, it's time for bed.”

He opened his mouth to interject but was hushed before he could say anything. 

“No buts, let's get you to bed.” Her voice was soft like Mom's,but it was real and genuine. 

With fuzzy socks, they crept up and up the creaky staircase. The entire house was creaky, even spookier at night when no light was on. Thankfully, the glow of the Christmas tree kept the creepiness away. 

But the spare bedroom they slept in had no Christmas trees, no night lights to keep away the monsters. Stu couldn't sleep. How can anyone sleep you're in a strange and dark bedroom and all you want is for your parents to come home?

He couldn't wake Leslie up. She slept like a rock if indicative of her loud snoring from the other bed. He had to go down to the living room. At least there were lights there. 

He mustered up the courage to get out of bed, creep down the creaky staircase, and ran all the way to the living room. The warm glow of the tree illuminated the entire living room. It felt nice. Stu could almost pretend he was home. 

He looked in the stockings, but there weren't any gifts or coal left behind. Santa Claus didn't come just like his parents. Did his sleigh get delayed in New York like them? 

Stu looked through the gifts wrapped up in colorful paper and pretty bows. He did not care. There was no Mom or Dad there to get after him. 

None caught his attention except for a small red box with a not-so-perfect yellow Bow. He quickly grabbed it to see who it was for and who it was from. 

It was for him from... Billy! His eyes light up brighter than the lights above him. Small little hands worked fast to unwrap the bow to see what was inside. 

It was a simple copy of Halloween. The two boys had sneaked off into Billy's basement to watch it a couple of months ago. Stu wasn't allowed to watch scary movies; his mom thought they were improper. What if they were really scary? But Billy reassured him it was fine, that he and his cousins watched it many times. They weren't scared so Stu shouldn't be scared either. That made sense. Billy always made sense. 

Sure enough, he was right! Stu loved the movie. He loved Michael Myers but not as much as Billy did. Either way, he was glad he had someone to have fun with — someone who'd understand.

And so there it was, his very own copy of Halloween. It was nothing overly expensive like any of the gifts his parents got him, but it meant so much more to him. 

He'd love that overplayed tape until he died — even until he became one of the monsters in the dark that he was so scared of. 

But even monsters under the bed crave a good Hollywood Christmas. 

Just a little something to get back into writing. :) hope y'all enjoyed.

[daceydeath]

Cigarettes and Cliches (Part 4)

Pairing Lee Felix x reader Word Count: 4K Genre: Collage AU, Slow Burn Romance Warning: 18+, Minors DNI, swearing, bullying, mentions of sex and pregnancy,

He was the most impractical guy for you to be interested in the incredibly handsome cliché bad boy who collected girls like trophies. As hard as you wanted to stay away you couldn't even if it might cost you everything and leave you heartbroken you couldn't ignore him

Seungmin had driven you home with Inne holding your hand in the backseat, there was no way you wanted to be alone but there was no way that you were going to pretend to be alright either. The worried look on their faces when you came back from throwing up the contents of your stomach was etched into your brain, Felix had looked genuinely gutted that you were so hurt and while Minho gently told you that he had posted a video telling everyone what a liar Nali was and how he had literally only just met you, you knew that it was only a matter of time until you started breaking down so you had asked to go home and the boys had agreed instantly.

"I have messaged some of my friends in the legal department and they have started saving things that will help that we may have missed" Seungmin soothed his voice calm as he pulled into the garage.

"We will go with you to the police station tomorrow to report this alright?" Jeongin whispered to you unclipping your seatbelt for you.

"You don't have to this is my problem after all" you mumbled your lip quivering slightly.

"It's our problem now as soon as she said we had all slept with you it's untrue accusations about us all" Seungmin corrected softly as you made your way up to the apartment "Go get some sleep and we will start sorting it all out in the morning".

You had nodded and got straight to your bedroom not even bothering to get changed as you curled up under the blankets, cocooning yourself from the rest of the world, you looked back at your phone and you had a dozen message notifications from what appeared at least looking at the profile icon to be friends of Nali's slut shaming you and calling you every name under the sun but there were a couple of others, Minho, Hyunjin and Han had all sent friend requests and Felix had sent you a request and a message.

I'm so fucking sorry, again.

You knew he hadn't meant for this to happen, no one had anticipated something like this to happen, but it had and you just hoped it would get cleared up quickly and wouldn't leave too much lasting damage to you life. Sleep wasn't easy to come by that night and the next morning you felt, and probably looked, awful not really wanting to emerge from your room you knew you were going to need to.

"I've ordered us breakfast and I had double checked Nali has taken the video down, but she might repost it" Jeongin spoke softly as you waddled out to the couch and plopped yourself down.

"I have at least a dozen hateful messages from her friend" you sighed dejectedly.

"After we have made the report to the police we will meet with the head of the university, I rang and made an appointment for you and us this afternoon" Seungmin smiled half heartedly "If the cops can't do anything at least we might be able to get her expelled".

"Won't that make it worse?" you frowned as Jeongin placed a coffee cup between your hands.

"Don't really know to be honest" Seungmin admitted "but what do you think is worse people assuming that she was telling the truth but took it down or being expelled for bullying behaviors'?". You hummed in response sipping you coffee and trying not to think about anything the boys just watched you and when breakfast did arrive forced you to eat at least a little bit before you went to the police station together.

It had been a long, long morning of waiting in office chairs and then having to admit embarrassing details about yourself in front of strangers who looked like they pitied you or that they were bored. The police had taken the allegations of the defamation against you and the other seriously but they did send a lovely female officer in to take you to the bathroom to do a pregnancy test to prove that the allegations that you were in fact pregnant were false. You had felt humiliated that you had to admit over and over again you had only been with one guy once and that you had never had a serious boyfriend before all while Seungmin and Jeongin sat and listened. You knew they would want to talk to you about it later but you hoped that by the time you had been over it half a dozen times they wouldn't have anything left to ask.

Once you got to the head of the universities office though it seemed to go from bad to worse, sitting between Seungmin and Jeongin you weren't paying attention until you heard your name called softly.

"Are you doing alright?" Chan asked making you blink in confusion as you looked up at him, Han and Changbin who had arrived while you were staring at the floor.

"Oh yeah, I guess, I'm just tired and embarrassed you know?" you mumbled trying to smile but only achieving half of one.

"She's had to go through all her past history and then pee on a stick" Jeongin added to give them some context.

"Pee on a stick? They made you do a pregnancy test?" Minho frowned as he Hyunjin and Felix made there way down the hallway.

"Yeah, I've never done a pregnancy test so at least I've learn something" you joked humorlessly rummaging through your bad for your water bottle.

"Fucking hell" Han whistled as you took a large gulp of water before looking back at them "You're as pale as a ghost".

"Thanks" you rolled your eyes hard "Why are you all here anyway?".

"Well we thought we would add to your allegations against Nali, she's said shit about all of us" Changbin shrugged.

"Plus Felix was pretty adamant we all support you on this" Seungmin whispered softly so only you heard.

"You alright Felix?" You queried looking at him leaning against the wall furthest from you.

"Yeah, just pissed off" he smiled softly watching you nod as the receptionist called your name and you actually managed to pale further.

"Miss Choi? please follow me we can collect your friends afterwards" an older woman smiled demurely guestureing for you to follow her.

"Oh ok" you picked your bag up and followed her towards a heavy looking wooded door that she pushed open for you. Breathing out through your nose to fortify yourself you stepped into the office to see a large table with a stern looking man at the head and a secretarial looking woman beside him her lap top open and fingers poised.

"Good Afternoon Sir" you swallowed trying to keep the greeting calm "Thank you for meeting with me".

"Have a seat Miss Choi" he instructed gruffly and you sat at the opposite end of the table shuffling you bag beside you.

"It has come to my attention through a third party that there have been allegations made against you that are not true. Is this correct?" He asked briskly.

"Yes Sir" you answered as loudly as you could without your voice shaking.

"These allegations have been made in the form of a video on social media?" His voice remained hard but his face softened slightly as you sat almost quivering like a leaf.

"Yes Sir" you nodded.

"And they have been made by your former roommate which has incited others to make comment both on the video and directly to you?" he removed his glasses to wipe them with a cleaning cloth.

"Yes Sir" you stuttered.

"I see, now do you have any proof you would like to submit regarding these accusations since I assume that you are claiming them to be bullying you. he placed his glasses back on and scrutinized you "Our university has a zero tolerance stance on bullying so if you can provide evidence that these accusations are fake and have resulted in your hardship we will hold a diciplinary proceeding against the party or parties involved".

"Thank you Sir, I have a USB drive of the original video, a copy of the messages I have received since and also a copy of the report I made to the police this morning for defamation". You fished the USB from your bag and the secretary stood walking to you to collect it. "The other male students that are referred to in the video have either lodged police complaints or are here today to give their evidence as well". You smiled nervously as the video Nali had made started playing on the laptop.

"I have to ask if it is just the allegations of pregnancy or also the allegations of promiscuity that you are upset about?" He asked a little more sympathetically as he read over the messages before looking back at you.

"Both Sir, I am not pregnant and I have not been with any on the male students in question. Two of them are currently my room mates in a off campus apartment". You tried to be succinct as you answered keeping your answers as polite and professional as possible.

"I see from the report that you are in fact not pregnant so this is indeed a false allegation against you. They are cruel and down right despicable comments that have been against you after the video was made public are indeed bullying the only issue would be the allegations of promiscuity" he nodded looking at you with a blank expression.

"Sir all of the students who have been mentioned or are eluded to in the video are here in the hallway waiting to speak with you. They will all confirm what I have told you" you smiled hopefully.

"Alright I will consider this evidence and speak to the male students involved, you are dismissed for now Miss Choi" He stood ending the meeting and you quickly scrambled out of the meeting room and back to where you had been waiting.

"Gentlemen if you would like to follow me" the woman who had brought you in was speaking as you made your way out watching the guys all follow her, Seungmin patted your head as he passed you leading the others in with Felix at the end, his hand brushing against your fingers as he met your eyes.

You sat and waited for them, one because Seungmin was your lift home and two because you were hoping that they would give you some form of indication it was over. Chan, Han and Changbin were the first ones out and they came to sit with you reassuring you everything was going to be fine, Seungmin and Jeongin were the nest ones out smiling widely at you as they walked over to you.

"It's all done now" Jeongin smiled squeezing one of your hands.

"Where are the man whores?" Han asked looking to Seungmin for some kind of answer while Chan and Changbin snickered.

"Well they will need to explain the whole how this happened in the first place as well as confirm the other facts" Seungmin chuckled.

"I don't understand" you frowned looking between them.

"Oh we call them the man whores because....." Han started explaining to you.

"No that bit I get funnily enough" you rolled your eyes looking to Seungmin and Jeongin.

"They need to explain how this whole thing started which was Felix putting his dick in crazy, then Hyunjin put his dick in the same crazy and then Minho did exactly the same thing then they repeated the cycle" Changbin answered for them looking frustrated.

"Right" you muttered still frowning.

"Sorry that was cruel wasn't it, I'm just pissed that this even happened" he apologized almost instantly.

"It's ok, I get it" you nodded slowly.

"Should we go get something to eat? When did you last eat?" Chan asked looking at you kindly.

"I could definitely eat" you smiled at him "but shouldn't we wait for the man whores?"

"Part of me is totally in love with you for calling them that" Han laughed loudly.

"Well it's easier than using their individual names" you giggled halfheartedly

"I'll text them to let them know where we are" Seungmin grinned at you offering his hand to pull you up from the chair you had been perched in.

"I know a great bbq place" Changbin beamed his eyes lighting up.

"Of course you do big boy" Chan laughed clapping his shoulder as they lead the way out to the street and towards the reasturant.

"It's a couple of blocks off campus, you will love it" Changbin winked at you confidently.

"I have great faith in your tastebuds" you teased following behind with Han while Seungmin and Jeongin walked a few steps behind you, making you realize they were creating a little buffer zone around you to keep you comfortable but also make you feel protected. You caught a few people look at you but you tried to ignore it until Changbin puffed up his chest in front of you obviously staring someone down.

"Guy's, it's ok" You mumbled feeling uneasy.

"If we can make them fuck off we will" Chan reassured you "Besides in a few days they will all know what has happened anyway, she will have been kicked out and her friend disciplined so it will show them its untrue". Chan held the door of the restaurant open for you to step into you saw it was almost empty.

"It's probably late for lunch but who cares" Changbin stated walking over to the counter to speak with the owner like he knew him.

"I've told the others where we are they will probably join us later" Seungmin confirmed ushering you into a seat at the corner of the booth the furthest from the entrance and anyone who might come in. Changbin had not been wrong the food was really very good even if you were not allowed to get anything yourself and were just being fed by Seungmin, Han and Jeongin the whole time which Chan cooked the various meats they had ordered.

"You know I am able to feed myself" you whined as Han held another mouthful out for you.

"Yeah we know, but it's been a shitty day so let us help" Jeongin teased playfully as you sighed and took the food from Han.

"So this is where you are hiding out" Hyunjin's voice floated over to you as your eyes darted past him to meet Felix's, he still looked annoyed but less so which made you feel better.

"Sit there is still stuff coming out, Changbin ordered a whole cow apparently" Seungmin joked cutting up more meat for everyone.

"Did it go alright?" Chan quizzed them quietly.

"You mean besides the short lecture about our terrible behavior with the opposite sex?" Minho groaned dramatically.

"Yes besides that" Chan sighed sarcastically.

"Good actually, we all confirmed that everything she had said was a lie and Minho gave them a copy of the video he made in response" Hyunjin shrugged.

"Decision should be quick" Felix agreed quietly.

"Oh it should be done today if the amount of evidence is anything to go by" Minho announced making you smile.

"Thank you" you interrupted them all "Really you have done so much more than you had to for me".

"Don't be dumb, of course we were going to defend you" Seungmin started smirking "Because why would any of us want...".

"If you finish that sentence I will put bleach in your shampoo" you pointed at him glaring.

"He is right though, of course we would defend you" Jeongin smiled "You're our roomie and friend you are stuck with us" he held out another mouthful for you.

"Lucky me" you muttered taking the food begrudgingly making the others laugh and Felix smile, watching a smile light up his face made your heart ache and you didn't like it you already had had enough drama for a whole year and it wasn't even the semester break yet.

The following few days passed quickly with your lectures, that you had taken to sitting way in the back so no one would notice you, and the time you had been given off work after your boss had been made aware of the bullying you were going through, you found yourself in a sort of blur. The time from work had given you a chance to totally catch up on all your assignments and studies which you were grateful for but the looks people were giving you were making you want to hide anytime you left the apartment. Seungmin and Jeongin had been incredibly sweet running errands for you and asking the others to check in on you if they had long days of classes. But you were stuck in not only the limbo of not knowing when a decision by the university was going to be made but also Felix. Crushes were always so flippant you knew this, but after all the bullshit that had happened you still felt something that was different for Felix, which scared you more than you wanted to admit. You liked that during the movie night he had touched you in a really innocent way, you liked that he had stayed beside your bed to make you feel safe after he and the others had scared you, hell you had even liked when he had come to speak to you alone in Chan's room. You were feeling something you hadn't had experience with and it was starting to frighten you since there was no way Felix saw you that way he seemed to honestly just want to befriend you, and that actually hurt a little bit.

The lobby door buzzer went off confusing you since the delivery guy had already dropped off the parcels that Seungmin and Jeongin had ordered and you hadn't ordered in deciding you would just eat left overs, still you went to answer it not expecting much.

"Hello?" you called waiting for the person to appear on camera or speak.

"Hey, Seung said they were out today and I thought you might be hungry" Felix replied holding up a bakery bag to the camera.

"Oh thank you, come up" you stuttered pressing the button to give him entry to the building. This would be the first time you were actually alone with Felix in private, outside of the few minutes at Chan's, and you felt butterflies erupt inside you as you waited by the door to let him in. He knocked and you couldn't stop yourself from opening the door almost alarmingly fast.

"Hey" Felix smiled as you stepped aside to let him in "How have you been?"

"Alright I guess, I'm not enjoying the waiting for a decision that should have been easy" you admitted as he slipped his shoes off and followed you up the hallway "you?".

"Oh yeah I'm fine, everyone already thinks so lowly of me anyway it doesn't matter, I'm still pissed that you were dragged into this though" his smile turned sad as he spoke and for the first time since you let him in you actually noticed he was back in a hoodie and jeans with a baseball cap stuffed into one of the pockets.

"I don't think lowly of you Felix" you frowned "I think you're actually really decent and kind".

"Really? I thought you didn't really like me all that much" he joked halfheartedly "I went by your work and they said you were off and they didn't know when you would be back"

"My boss gave me time off after some of Nali's friends showed up and were overheard planning to throw hot drinks on me" you shrugged as you you opened the bag and found fresh pastries sitting neatly in a large box.

"They were going to actually hurt you? Fucking hell" Felix looked furious again and started pacing but you caught him on the second pass, your hand tightly holding his wrist.

"Felix I'm fine and they reported it to the police" You sighed looking at his face as it slowly softened your hand still holding his bare wrist.

"Sorry, it just makes me so angry that they would go after you. You would never do what they are saying you have" he said after taking a deep breath "I feel like I need to protect you from it but I haven't done a very good job".

"It isn't your fault and you have protected me, you spoke to the head of the university, I have seen what you, Hyunjin and Minho have been posting in my defense" You admitted shyly biting your lip and looking up at him through your lashes "I can't thank you enough for it".

"You're too pretty when you look at me like that" he murmured so quietly you almost didn't hear him while she stepped a little closer to you.

"Huh?" you tilted your head slightly confused and sure you had misheard him. He was standing so close to you our chests were almost touching but you didn't mind you liked being near him. The hand that was not in your grasp moved upwards slowly, as you continued to watch him, giving you time to stop him or step back his warm palm eventually moving to cup your face before he cautiously lowered his head and pressed his lips to yours. His soft smooth lips moving against made you melt into him kissing his back tentatively.

"Shit, I'm sorry" he whispered against your lips "I couldn't resist" his lips pressing against yours again slightly harder as his hand slid from your cheek into your hair. You grabbed a handful of his hoodie pressing yourself against him slightly until the front door opened and you pulled away quickly eyes wide.

"Hey, were back" Jeongin yelled down the hall his door opening closing behind his as Seungmin continued down the hallway.

"Felix? what the fuck are you doing here?" Seungmin grinned almost knowingly.

"He bought pastries" You answered quickly hiding your face by looking into the bag.

"Thought since the others were checking in I would too" Felix shrugged not showing an ounce of embarrassment on his face.

"Can you get some plates please Seung" you looked up at him knowing that your face was probably still going to give you away but you couldn't hide from him.

"Course, I'll call Innie too" Seungmin smirked walking back up the hall to fetch your third roommate.

"I'm not sorry I kissed you" Felix whispered tucking your hair behind your ear.

"I'm glad you're not" you breathed feeling a little dizzy from how many emotions were tearing through you.

"We should do that again some time" he smiled genuinely looking into your eyes while you nodded getting shy all over again.

"Since when have you ever rocked up with food?" Jeongin scoffed as he walked into the kitchen.

"Since a couple of bitches decided they were going to assault her when she next went to work" Felix frowned "I thought the least I can do in my never ending apology is buy food she likes".

"Hold one assault you?" Seungmin snapped his head towards you "You said your boss was worried you might get bullied not that people were going to actually hurt you".

"It's been reported to the police and I'm not sure they were actually going to pour hot drinks on me" you shrugged as Jeongin put the plates down with a thud "It didn't happen so I didn't bring it up".

"Thanks for looking out for her Felix" Jeongin sighed smiling at him as he spoke.

"Well it is all kind of my fault isn't it?" Felix shrugged as you put a pastry on each plate.

a/n: Thank you for reading you guys are the best and as always any reblogs, likes and comments are appreciated so much xx

Taglist (open): @christopher-bangnaldoskzz, @armystay89, @damnyouficc, @roamingpolar, @bakedlilgoonie, @shiy, @is2cb97, @beautifulixr, @skyhold-tara, @army-stay-noel, @skizzel-reblogs, @facelesswrittes, @animehideout, @mrsseals16, @honey-pop, @fawnpeaks, @leeknowinggg, @uno7,

[love-islike-abomb]

Scream with me

Roman reigns x Y/n

Warnings: pent up frustration I've been feeling the last few weeks has me beyond fed up so I turned it into what I do best a fic... And a comfort fic at that! Sometimes when Im frustrated this is a song I listen to because one of the lyrics in the song is "stand in the corner and scream with me!" You'd be surprised at just how much letting out a deep scream helps!! Errors I may have missed.

Tag list: @reignsangel444 @acknowledge-reigns @marchm-langdon @mandeelemons @@noisywwerawiconssoul @niknakbucks92 @pittieprincess22 @queengreenarrowmia89 @shadyprincesslife @thesamoanqueen @vintage-pvssy @weirdgirl16355 @windhamsrotunda

______

Why can't people just leave others alone and let them enjoy themselves? Why is it so hard to live your life and let others live theirs? People are cruel evil monsters at times and I would rather be surrounded by animals then people and my husband knew that so him coming home finding me having buried myself underneath our 3 dogs he wasn't surprised. What he was surprised about was the tears that had been pouring out of my eyes. Most the time dog piles helped dry my tears but not this time.

"babygirl what's wrong? Talk to me" he said trying to get me to open up but all I could do was stare off into space. He suddenly ordered our dogs off me "anubis, atlas, Apollo off!" He said, his voice deep yet commanding. they all got off me and went to their beds "sweetheart please tell me what happened! You know I hate seeing you cry" he said still trying to get me to talk. "Why is it that whenever I come up with something creative people have to constantly use my shit? I mean like if I had some that to them they would have thrown a hissy fit 10 miles wide! But they do it to me and I'm supposed to act like it's no big deal?!"

He knew I was pissed. My face still had tear stains but the anger was showing now "and some psycho cow says I'm delusional yet she thinks she did nothing wrong and her ass knows damn well she's a fucking liar! I will post that shit all over the internet if I have to! I give no fucks!! Or that bitch that used ohnmacht and put a 🔥 next to it and her dumbass not realizing you speak Czeck! In German ohnmacht means faint but I'm czeck it means power of fire which explains the 🔥!! Or how about that one bitch who knew I had a choking kink and posted a picture of you grabbing the ref by the collar of his shirt saying 'i'm just trying to make you know who jealous that's all' but im just supposed to act like none of this happened and those bitches can do whatever the fuck they want but if I do it to them and call them out suddenly im the bad guy? Fuck this shit!!! I'm done holding my tongue with this shit and I'm letting it all out!! I don't give a fuck anymore!! And if this is what it takes to show people I've had enough so be it!! I bet they won't bully me anymore!! And I'm sure they fucking remember but will pretend they don't!!" I said starting to yell and I could feel my heart starting to pound harder.

He let go of me and walked to our TV that had a Built in Bluetooth and my phone automatically connected to it "play the song you always play when you're angry" he said. I grabbed my phone knowing instantly which one he was talking about the opening chords hit and as soon as they did i felt my body relax. "Ever feel like dying, ever feel alone..." The rest of the verse played but I was waiting for the chorus and when it came I let lose "stand in the corner and scream with me!! A body full of empty!! A head thats full of rage but i believe it!!" The screaming of the words along with the unbridled rage has released an adrenaline rush i'd never felt before. My heart was beating so hard I had to sit down. He stopped the music and I looked at him "baby are you ok?" He asked rubbing the side of my face, moving my hair out of my eyes. I smiled up at him. "I had a massive adrenaline rush and I feel soooooo much better!!"

He smiled back at me "good I'm glad! But please don't ever let it get that bad again. Promise me you'll talk to me next time!"

"I promise" I said "I love you"

He leaned down and kissed my forehead before moving to my lips "I love you to!"

[clj-art-blog]

DFQC`s innocence

I want to share my thoughts about this interesting moment. Maybe someone already knows the answer, but i have only thoughts. When the XLH rested in his body and in his royal bedchamber, women come to him (her) in translucent, light, open clothes. We see that they seem to staying there not for the first time. They are touching Moon Supreme so calmly and habitually. Judging by their voices, they are very excited about his returnthey and they missed about him… And when he (XLH) drives the women away, they become embarrassed and ask the question: “Why did the Supreme Moon drive them away?” (So he didn't chase them off before?)

However, later, after DFQC's plan to get his body back failed, we hear this dialogue: [Subtitles from Netflix] XLH: Why don't you just accept the reality and keep the status quo for now? DFQC: Keep the status quo? You're getting used to it so fast. That's right. You can even use my body to find a man to sleep with. You should be happy. (Wow! Interesting. DFQC is indeed very attractive, so I think not only women would like to have him. And he still thinks XLH could have anyone while she is in his body. And since she is a girl, it is logical to assume that she will wish for a man). XLH: Should I look for you rather than someone else? That's right. You always pretend to be so proud and aloof. I didn't realize you had a lot of women. DFQC:  Have I ever had a woman? XLH:  Yes, you do. DFQC: When I say no, I mean no. (But after all, she saw how women get into his bedroom without any problems) XLH: You're still pretending. What is there to deny? DFQC: I don't need to prove my innocence to you. XLH:  That's right. Anyway, you already said you don't have any love for me. Your affair is none of my business. I'm not even interested. (But it's interesting to me!!!) And Shangque also confirms that DFQC has never had a woman.

And I'll probably add 2 more interesting points: 1) ) [Episode 10] When the Moon Tribe women treated XLH's wounds, they spoke so calmly (relatively calmly) about how the Moon Lord Supreme was infatuated with the fairy from Shuiyuntian.

2) [Episode 12] Later, one of his subordinates, Nanyu King, the leader of the Moon Clan, wasn't surprised either.

Nanyou: My Lord. She… DFQC-XLH: I'm used to her company. Now I don't want her to leave my sight. Nanyou: It's a small issue if you like a fairy. But it's inappropriate for her to take part in our state affairs. ("Shuiyuntian-fairy-Pet" are nothing new!!!) Ha! Just think, another concubine has appeared in the palace and will please the Moon Supreme… Not a problem!

But, let's go back to the Moon Supreme. Earlier in [Episode 3], DFQC genuinely doesn't understand why Orchid won't let herself sleep with him. (He is the Moon Supreme DFQC, damn it, he is very desirable, which means he is used to everyone wanting him). Moreover, there are also these rules of Shuiyuntian that a man and a woman should sleep separately. This is something new for him. From this we can conclude that there is no such rule in Moon tribe and a woman in his bedroom is a common thing. DFQC likes to break the rules, and he is still trying to stay with XLH in her room… What happened next, we all know.

And no. I'm not saying he lied to XLH. DFQC is not a liar. In addition, he is honest and sincere, and his every word is always true. (100%) There is one more important detail of the above dialogue:

DFQC: You're getting used to it so fast. That's right. You can even use my body to find a man to sleep with. You should be happy.

DFQC has been deprived of feelings since childhood. He read a lot and reads even now, and he knows perfectly well what can be between a woman and a man. I think that women did sometimes stay with him at night in his bed, but as "furniture" or "teddy bears" for hugs. Perhaps they danced and sang in front of him. They entertained him in every possible way (played chess, drank tea …I'm kidding), but he did not let them near him, and even more so did not kiss anyone and did not let anyone do it. He cannot experience love or passion. Why would he do something with women / men if he does not experience happiness from this? DFQC never does anything for nothing. He always approaches the matter rationally, which means he will not do something that will not benefit him.

But why is DFQC asking XLH what will happen if she sleeps with him at night? [Episode 3] But he knows so much about it. (he is over 30,000 years old!) But I think he knows himself and that he has no plans for her, even if she wanted him, he would not let her touch him, as he did not allow anyone before . Like, why should she think about it at all? (And it’s true. So baby XLH didn’t only read books about history? And she always avoided and was afraid of DFQC when he once again came into her bedroom … What were you thinking, baby? So she knows very well what can happen...)

That moment, when DFQC kisses XLH underwater (I think he kissed her as much as he wanted. Otherwise, why would he make excuses like that?). We are even shown after that how a leaf sprouts on his tree of emotions. He touches his lips and realizes, that he enjoys kissing her. He never kissed anyone. And this feeling… (Feelings?! Emotions?!)

He is really pure and innocent in front of XLH. He never loved anyone. She is his first and only love.

Personally, I close this puzzle like this. Maybe someone also has thoughts on this? Maybe you have something?

[astros-star-field]

🔍👣One step behind👣🔎

Zach Chen has gone missing while pip is at collage, and no one knows how to find him as well as she would've. Upon that, pip isn't answering anyone when they try to contact her. So who's better to take on the case than her 11 year old little brother, Josh Amobi?

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

It started with Ravi. Even after the breakup, Ravi and Josh remained close. Josh would've been heartbroken if he lost Pip and Ravi both; his two role models.

Ravi had come over to play video games, but something was off. Well, something bad been off for almost a year; ever since Pip went off to college and they'd broken up. But something different was off. Maybe 30 minutes into them playing, Josh had won everytime, which only ever happened when Ravi was too distracted to try.

"You're acting weird," Josh said, turning his gaze from the TV screen to Ravi.

"I am? Didn't notice. Guess I'm just tired," Ravi replied keeping his eyes on the screen, pressing the 'New Game?' button.

Josh hated that response. He was doing exactly what Pip used to do! He was 'too young' to hear about their worries, and they didn't want to make him worry. So what if he was still a kid, he deserved to know stuff, right?

"Liar," Josh mumbled, looking back at the TV as the next round started. Ravi pretended not to hear him, but Josh knew he heard.

Dinner was quieter without Pip. Maybe it was because Pip always kept the conversations going, maybe things just weren't the same without her, so no one saw a need to talk. A need to pretend it was the same. At least they kept the TV on for background noise, without it Josh would go insane.

Zach Chen was fairly popular around fairveiw; all of Pips friends were, since they had been mentioned in her podcast; AGGGTM.

Josh wasn't supposed to listen to her podcast. Pip had told him not to, but without his sister there, who was gonna tell him no? So with a pair of Pips old earbuds and his worn out computer, Josh listened to every episode until he could recite the entire podcast by heart.

Everyone kept their eyes on their food while the news played from the TV in the living room. Josh wasn't paying much attention until he heard Pips name.

"The friend of our local celebrity, Pippa Fitz-Amobi, Zach Chen has gone missing. We would like anyone who knows about where he could be, or has any information about the situation, to step forward."

Josh had run into the living room the moment he heard Pips name. "Oh. Well that's what Ravi was worrying about, then," Josh thought. He heard some faint, 'oh, that's horrible.' comments from his parents, but it was hard to hear through the ringing in his ears.

It was a impulsive and stupid idea, but that's all that Pips ideas started out as, right?

'I can prove that he's innocent."

'It'll help Connor.'

'Just one more, then It'll all be fixed.'

Josh could make Pip proud. He could be just like his sister; his hero. He could find Zach.

And it started by trying to figure out how to fine the name of Pips printer, (and trying to figure out how to use it,) becuase hes only 11 and why would he know how to use a printer?

After about an eternity of googling things and waiting for his parents to fall asleep, Josh snuck into Pips room, which didn't even feel like a real place with her gone, and immediately walked over to her printer. He had his own laptop tucked under his arm. Josh opened his laptop and set it on the desk next to the printer. He opened photoshop and pulled out a folded up piece of paper; Jamie Reynolds' missing poster.

It took at least 2 hours, but he worked and almost exactly replicated Jamie's old poster. Josh made up a fake email, ChenProject226@gmail.com, and put it in the contact information. Printed out a couple, praying that the screaming poster wouldn't wake up his parents, and then snuck back to his room.

The next day, Josh convinced his parents to let him walk to school. He stuffed the papers and some tape in his bag right before he left. Every couple poles and light posts that he walked past, if no one was looking and no cameras were in view, he hung up a poster.

(HIHIHI COMMENT IF U WANT MORE TO THIS CAUSE I DONT WANNA WRITE TOO MUCH IN ONE POST!! IF UR READING THIS ILY!! ALSO I MADE THE EMAIL JOSH IS USING A REAL EMAIL IF U WANNA HAVE EMAILING IT AS IF ITS REALLY JOSH/PIP!!!)

[snowyfrostshadows]

Wind Spoilers under the cut

Well.

That was certainly a book.

The prologue was kinda funny with Splashtail deciding to reject the nine lives from Starclan and using Curlfeather's choice to receive them as one of his reasons to kill her making him one of the stupidest villains in the series.

They can do as they always have and give a leader their nine lives regardless of that cat's actual morality or actually do something interesting for once and refuse to enable an antagonist.

He gets ahold of all this power but one good hit or sickness and he's dead. Alright. Great planning skills there bud.

But then I realized that Splashtail's decision frees Starclan from having to make that choice.

This way they can stay the wise (yet somewhat powerless) spirit cats the clans can turn to for guidance.

Speaking of Starclan giving out lives, I hate how everyone knows Nightpelt's story despite it never actually being public knowledge. Hell I don't think Fireheart found out and he figured out everyone's secrets.

But no. Since readers know every single trivia bit and history of the clans, the cats get to as well which is so....boring.

It takes out some of the awe and way histories can be changed and retold to fit certain narratives or having characters actually do some digging and discovering things out for themselves.

I know this is primarily a series for children but Erins I am begging you, give your target audience some credit. Kids are smarter than most people give them credit for and actually you know. Enjoy a good mystery here and there.

Another thing that was frustrating to read was having cats ask permission to move the plot along or sit around in a circle discussing stuff and judging each other for it. I. Can kinda see what the Erins are trying to do; make things more of a group decision and have older characters/past povs part of the story but man. In actuality, it just makes things drag on and characters flatter.

I miss the days when cats could sneak out and move the plot on their own and show off their own initiative. With Nightheart and Sunbeam waiting around for permission it just. Makes them feel...... incompetent? Like they literally can't do anything with being told to?? And this makes their chapters a slight pain to go through because nothing really important happens in them or they're just there to observe Frostpaw 's plot and comment on it I guess.

On another tangent, I. have no idea what they're doing with this arc's villains.

The first few books set them up as cunning and clever cats whose strengths are in being subtle but now... they're kinda all over the place.

Curlfeather was the mastermind but apparently just. Did this all on a whim because her mate died and picked a random apprentice to share her plans with but couldn't bother keeping up a pretense of even pretend respect around him and just. Spoke down to him. Okay

Berryheart wasn't happy over the new rule allowing cats to swap clans and was willing to start up a evil book club and set up a sort of rebellion of sorts but then....they just...don't really follow through with that? She gets exiled, curses out the clans, and then....joins a clan she hated to the point of accepting a co-leader ship position from an unstable teenager openly stating his plans to attack her former clan and she's just okay with it because I guess she's just.......an unreasonable woman...

Alright.

And then there's Splashtail.

On one hand, I'm a lil disappointed on how far off the deep end he's gone but absolutely fascinated at the decline in his mental state.

He got his power.

He exiled Frostpaw.

Managed to convince nearly every cat around the lake she's the insane liar and then.

He just. Loses it.

Makes his clan fight each other with claws out, doesn't bother to allow the camp to be cleaned, kills his own deputy and appoints a cat who by all logic, would maybe be the first to kill him given the opportunity as deputy and he's portrayed as the biggest threat to the clans.

Him. One, singular cat that the leaders of the other clans know only has one life.

That any one of them could kill proving to Riverclan that Splashtail wasn't approved by Starclan and was actually lying about Frostpaw.

But no. We get yet another book with everyone sitting around talking about what should be done and why they can't and basically holding Tigerheart back by his tail to keep him from cutting this arc's runtime in half.

The poor man sees the problem, has a solution, wants to end problems before they impact literally everyone in yet another clan wide war but gets called the Real Villain for most the arc by everyone.

Frostpaw and Tigerheart are the real MVPs of this arc in terms of story and literally keeping me invested in this thing.

[onsunnyside]

:deep breath:

college football player!Ari and cheerleader!reader can have so many hurt/comfort tropes alongside the shmut, in this essay i-

ok but for realsies, injuries!! reader could get dropped during a halftime routine 🥺 ari getting asked out by sorority girls right in front of her 😖 quiet moments where everything's overwhelming but they try to comfort each other even though they get on each other's nerves for days

oh yes !! (drabble below)

your arrangement was exclusive to an extent. both of you were too proud to admit your feelings, which led to some jealous fits (on his part) and tantrums (on your part). you're constantly chased by some lovesick people, and he just has to sit back and watch, and you have to do the same too, especially when he's asked out by the sorority girls.

ari notices the littlest things: aka you limping off the field, trying to hide it with your loud cheers and gleaming smile. since there's a game going on, he can't just drop everything to see if you're alright, but he does keep his eye on you for the rest of the night. he even asks the water boy, jake to get you something to drink.

and after the game when you bring up his act of kindness, well, he just rolls his eyes bc "I'm just saving you the embarrassment and myself from the distraction—even though everyone already knows you can barely take care of yourself, miss spoiled little princess."

he says that as if you didn't grow up the same.

(bc i love frat!ari) he's in a fraternity on campus and lives with the rest of his frat bros while you’re at home with your parents in one of those rich and fancy neighbourhoods. oh, and his family lives next door to you, so you see him over the weekend and holidays, and when he invites his friends for winter/spring break.

it's even worse bc your parents are friends with his, and they constantly have barbecues and brunch, those days you just have to grit your teeth and pretend to tolerate their son, the disgustingly hot, selfish and irritating football captain.

being neighbours leads to several midnight talks, with his window right across from yours, you can see him doing homework at his desk or lying on his bed. perhaps it's because you've known each other for years, but he can read you like an open book.

"Are they fighting again?" He asks, referencing your visiting grandparents downstairs, stirring up arguments with your parents. It was the same every visit, and this winter break wasn't any different.

"Is it that loud?"

"Well, you're in your sulking t-shirt and fuzzy socks." He leans over the railing, the midnight breeze flowing through his balcony doors. "The last time you wore that, you and Andy broke up."

You cross your arms, "We were never together."

"Right, you were just going on dates and fucking in his car."

"And his family's boat." You wince as a loud slam echoes downstairs, followed by several other incoherent shouts. Embarrassment floods your body, all families fight, but you just hated Ari being a witness to your dysfunctionality. Who knows if he’d stoop that low and use it against you?

You've always held your own, and this stupid fratboy isn't an exception.

"No yacht or fancy summer lodge? You're downgrading, princess."

You stare at him for a moment, a wicked smile crawling onto your lips. "You know that one night after you won the home game, and you guys threw a party?"

"And I made you come seven times."

"Yeah, he broke that record."

Ari's smirk falls, a deep furrow settling between his brows. "That prim and proper asshole made you come even once?"

"He did, eight times to be exact. And I couldn't even walk, I had to stay in his big, comfy bed until the afternoon the next day."

"You think being a liar is gonna make me jealous?"

“I’m not lying, but you do seem awfully jealous.”

He clenches his jaw, his unbuttoned flannel flutters open, exposing his hairy, muscular chest. "We’re going for a drive."

“Excuse me?”

"It's either a drive or I hop in through your window again." He leans closer, his voice deep. “Or, you come over and I keep you until your horrid grandparents leave. Your choice, princess.”

[modern-day-bard]

Worth The Feeling

Content Warning: 18+ This series contains explicit smut, intimidation, and an age gap relationship. Minors, do not interact.

Chapter 14

So it turns out that putting a wet bathing suit back on when you're still in the water is a task on par with starting a fire with nothing but two sticks. After I struggled for an embarrassing amount of time, much to Javi's amusement, he had handed me his white button down and my shorts. And even after everything, he made a point of looking the other way as I got out of the pool, which made me smile to myself. My smile grew as I got to watch him escort me back to the elevator, sans shirt.

I was thankful for that shirt this morning as Lana's alarm jolted me awake. It's the only thing reminding me that last night wasn't a dream. That, and the dull ache between my legs. I had to scramble to stuff it underneath my sheets before Lana got up. She had been sound asleep when I creeped in last night, and I'm still unsure of what to say to her. Especially since her worried expression last time we broached the conversation. We had gotten ready in a ghostlike state, the cloud of jet lag and long work days hanging over us both. I suppose luck was on my side once more since that meant I didn't have to answer any questions. Or perhaps she truly hadn't heard me come back. I could always tell her that I went out for a walk, but I had no idea how late she had gone to bed, and I'm already a bad liar as it is.

Now that I've been on set for several hours, I still don't have a plausible excuse for Lana. With her introspection, and my poor skills, it might be best to just tell her the truth. That, and lying to my best friend didn't feel that pleasant. Truthfully, most of my day has been so busy that this is the first time I've had the chance to think about it. I keep shifting on my feet, trying to stretch my legs. I must have gone up and down that same hill thirty times this morning as the rest of the crew prepped for the shoot. Though Dwayne said I would start shadowing him today, he had asked me to help out before the shoot first. It took all my remaining strength not to show my disappointment. It was mindless work, but dragging all of that stuff down to the beach again, the production designer having changed the set due to Lloyd's vision, it had me drenched in sweat before noon.

Finally, I am catching my breath next to Dwayne under one of the few umbrellas stationed on the beach. I realize quickly that today is going to be full of mostly observations, and not as much explanation as I hoped. I'm curious as to how he organizes all of us PAs throughout the day, beyond what I see from our side of things. However, most of my time spent under this umbrella has been watching Dwayne watch Alice, the first Assistant Director, and watching Alice watch Lloyd plan out how to begin the shoot. He's already run through about five separate potential visions of his before the talent starts arriving on the beach. My heart rate quickens, and despite the shade that I had been craving, I'm worried that I might start to sweat again.

I lean toward the table that Alice, Dwayne, and Lloyd have been hunched over for the past thirty minutes, pretending to be far more studious than I feel. Out of the corner of my eye, Emma, Javi, and Blake, along with their escorting PAs, step off of the hill's path and onto the beach. With a sudden twinge of mischief, I take one of the water bottles off of the stack on the ground, crack it open, and glance his way. Sure enough, he's looking over toward the tent. Not directly at me, as far as I can tell, but he's the actor. The professional faker. I keep my eyes on him, still unsure of exactly where his gaze is falling, and take a long, long sip of my water.

There . I'm doing as you asked.

The set up takes almost an hour, and Lloyd is demanding that we hurry so we don't miss out on the natural golden-hour. "It will be so much more authentic than adding it in post," he had said, flying by to speak to the second camera operator. I take the extra time to glance over today's pages. I'm skimming through the dialogue when I realize that this is the big reunion shoot, when Javi and Blake's characters have rescued Emma and they finally have a moment to themselves on the beach. It's one of the last scenes in the film as far as I can tell, though it's certainly not the last scene we're going to shoot. I flip through the next few pages slightly more frantic, searching to find what I already know to be true: they kiss. They kiss a lot. And the more that I skim, the more heated the dialogue becomes. I really will have to focus on my water intake today or this combined with the heat may be enough to bring me down.

Normally, I would avoid this situation as much as possible. Probably asking Dwayne if anyone back in base camp needs assistance. But now that I'm technically observing Dwayne, I go where he goes. Curse this career-boosting opportunity.

Eventually, everyone is in position. The cameras are up and rolling and Lloyd seems satisfied enough with the shot and lighting for the actors to start. I'm still under the tent with Alice and Dwayne, gripping my water bottle a little tighter. It's not easy to hear what the actors are saying from this far away, especially with the waves crashing. But whether it be morbid curiosity or masochism, I strain to hear as Lloyd calls for action.

Blake is mostly in the background of the scene, Javi and him have just rescued a disheveled Emma, whom can't keep her eyes off of Javi.

"I...how did you find me?" Emma breathes, her hands sliding up Javi's arms. This seems to be Blake's cue to leave them to it, and he turns, slowly walking down to the far side of the beach as the reunion continues.

"I had some help," Javi jerks his head to the side toward Blake's retreating figure. His smile fades as his eyes rake up and down Emma's body. "How bad did they hurt you?" I caught myself leaning toward the shore to catch that line. Javi's voice is low, protective instinct mixed with knee jerk anger. It makes me feel the same.

Emma just shakes her head, looking at her feet. "They wanted to scare you more than they wanted to scare me...I think they were afraid of what you might do if you did show up and found me in worse conditions."

Javi takes a minute to weigh her words, assessing her body again to see if he believes her or not. The pain and simultaneous relief in his eyes is so real, and it reminds me of that same concerned expression he gave me last night before he gave into my desires. I don't want to share that look with somebody else, and it feels like I'm running an internal marathon to remind myself that this is fake. But just as I felt several weeks ago in L.A., I can't look away from this scene. No matter how bad their words and gazes twist in my chest.

"When I heard–" Javi's voice catches, and I feel my feet instinctively twitch forward to him.

"When I heard they had you...there was nothing else. Nothing else mattered," He settled his steel gaze on her face, allowing with a hand grazing her cheek. "I would have done anything. I want you to know that. And after everything before, if you don't want me now, I understand. But I need you to know that if it's your voice on the other end of the line, there is no call I wouldn't answer," His other hand reaches around, both of them cupping her face now, "I will always find you."

I swayed a little. I believed him. And as Emma melted at his words, throwing her arms around him and claiming that there was no one else she would call, no other face she'd want to see after such an ordeal... I believed it too much. I could tell myself that this was fiction, and I knew I had the pages in my hand to prove it, but my body felt different. His hands being twisted in her hair, the same hands that held me in place last night, it was too familiar. This scene was running a tiny blade against a scab I thought had fully healed. It was far too easy to remember how it felt to see the man I was with touch someone the way he had been touching me.

I keep telling myself over and over again that it's his job. It's fake. But the pounding in my chest was real, along with the anger and jealousy that had begun to bubble to the surface.

Before the logical side of my brain could grab the steering wheel, this face-paced nostalgic jealousy had begun to move my feet. I took a fresh water bottle off of the ground, making a move to leave the tent. No one had called cut, and Javi and Emma were still lost in each other. Dwayne glanced my way, confused.

"Blake doesn't have a water," I whispered to Dwayne, using the bottle to point in his direction. He'd moved off camera, having completed his walk down the beach. The actor was now standing near the original path that he had come from, waiting for the scene to finish. This was definitely more of a standard PA duty, but I didn't care. I needed to do something, to talk to someone else.

"Uh," Dwayne glanced over at him, "Okay, good call." Realistically, it didn't matter whether I was standing next to Dwayne or Blake. They were still going to do another few takes, I'm sure. And if Dwayne needed me for something, it was only a few yards away.

I made my way over to Blake who was fixated on with the water or scene I was desperately trying to avoid. He gives me a once-over when I come up beside him.

"A small thanks," I say quietly, "For saving me the other day."

He accepts the water bottle, "Appreciated. I like the costume, don't get me wrong, but it sure is hot." He cracks open the top, and before I can stop myself, I can feel that weird, seething part of my still in control.

"Well, I have to say it's worth the discomfort." I try to make my voice casually flirtatious, but I think it sounds quite strained.

Blake doesn't seem to notice, his eyebrows flashing upward.

"Really?"

"Of course, who doesn't like a guy in a suit?" I keep my eyes forward, forcing myself to smile. I can feel him eyeing me again. That childish part of me that has taken over is inappropriately pleased.

"Duly noted," Blake says softly, taking another sip from his bottle.

"Cut!" Lloyd yells, and I don't look to see Emma and Javi pull apart. I can hear Lloyd say something about taking five to review the footage, but I try to stay focused on the water in front of me, and on whatever distraction I was hoping for from Blake.

"So, about that Italian," I turn my full attention to him now. If I was correct in guessing his type the other day, he'll respond well to some level of ego-stroking.

"Si?"

I giggle for effect. "Do you think you could give me a lesson or two? I don't expect to be fluent by the end of this, but it could be useful. Just in case Lloyd needs me to rearrange another cafe last minute or something."

Blake doesn't even look surprised at my attempt at flirting. "That could be arranged. What if we got a drink tonight? I could show you some– yes, Javi?" Blake's attention snaps up over my head. I turn quickly to find Javi standing barely a foot behind me, staring daggers at Blake.

Uh-oh. "I think we're running it again." Javi's voice is deadly calm, and he doesn't look at me at all. I'm in his direct line of sight, but he only keeps staring past me at Blake.

"Uh, yeah. Lloyd hasn't called it yet. I'll be down in a minute." Blake touches my arm, a silent request to turn my attention back to him.

"Actually, Dwayne asked Ava back to the tent. I'm the messenger today." His voice is still even, but his body is rigid.

I glance back to Blake now, mouthing sorry as I turn to leave.

"Raincheck then, Ava. About those lessons." He winked at me and I just nodded, completely avoiding Javi as I trudged through the sand back to my tent. I felt like a little kid being caught with candy under her pillow. I wanted a distraction, sure, but I wasn't trying to settle the score. And I certainly never intended for Javi to be near that conversation.

Or had I? Did I want him to look over and feel some version of the jealousy I was feeling looking at him and Emma? But, god, the look on his face. And he wouldn't meet my eyes. He wouldn't even look in my direction.

To get that image out of my mind, I get Dwayne's attention as soon as I'm back under the safety of the tent.

"What can I do?" I ask.

"Uh, hang tight. Lloyd is about to call action again."

I glance around the tent.

"Sounds good. I thought you needed me for a task...?"

"Uh... nope. Just hang tight." Dwayne looks confused. I nod, turning my attention back to the water. A sinking feeling hits low in my gut. Javi had made that up just to get me away from Blake? My heart starts beating quicker. And with each beat, the same word is hammering in my mind.

Mistake, mistake, mistake.

I have no idea what I'm doing here, but I know that was the wrong call.

Next Chapter

Previous Chapter

Series Masterlist

[mydarllinglover]

Alone || Out of The Woods

Previous

More weeks had gone past, Daryl and Natalia hadn't argued since the woods, but they knew what the verdict was, neither of them wanted to be the one to start the conversation, though, Daryl was well aware of how Natalia liked to cope with her problems, and he preferred it a lot more when she wasn't mad at him, which she would be if he uttered the dreaded words of their predicament.

It was late at night as they sat in bed, a few quiet knocks were at the door, before it opened slightly.

Two mops of brown curls shuffled into the room, their stuffed bunnies held in their grip, as Dog followed, behind them, nudging the door closed.

"What's wrong, sweethearts?" Daryl asked, helping each twin onto the bed.

"We missed you." Daisy answered for the both of them.

"Can we sleep in your bed tonight, Mommy?" Bambi bypassed Daryl, going to the boss, deciding to cut the middle man out.

Dog jumped onto the bed, moving in a circle before settling down on the end.

"'Course you can." Natalia accepted Daisy getting comfortable beside her, wrapping her arms around her small frame, as Bambi climbed into Daryl's lap, instantly tracing the deer on his arm. "Is Evie asleep?"

"Talking to Henry. Daddy, we need you to do something to the wall, she's too loud when she talks." Daisy scowled. She didn't like how close her sister was to the boy, she wasn't a fan of split attention, even if she was a twin.

"Yeah, I would help, but I don't want to, but you can do it." Bambi looked up, patting his arm encouragingly, something she had picked up from her mother.

"Uh, don' think there's much I can do about that, sweetheart." He broke it to her, he was good with his hands, but he couldn't work miracles.

"Daddy, earlier, after lunch, I was just talking to her, and then she grabbed Bunny, and she threw him and made me go fetch him." She told her father, wanting justice.

"Why would she do that, what did you say?" Daryl asked, running his hand over Bambi's head.

"Nothing! I was being nice to her."

Natalia pulled a face, both parent found that very hard to believe that she was completely innocent.

They loved their daughter, with everything they had, but there was a clear difference between each twin, where Bambi was shy, timid and with a heart of gold, Daisy thrived off of chaos and mischief, she was a lil prankster, and yet where there was scheming and sneakiness, they were able to applaud her for her smarts and independence, even though Bambi had a habit of helping her twin with whatever she was up to.

Daryl always commented on how well Merle and Daisy would have got along, he'd have loved the spunky little girl. Though Natalia could appreciate the fact that Merle was one of their only blood relatives, and only bio uncle, the resemblance left a sour taste in her mouth.

"Bam?" Natalia asked, whereas Daisy would lie if necessary, Bambi was an open book and a terrible liar, much like her Uncle Glenn was.

"She kept calling Henry "Evie's boyfriend" and would do this." The girl wrapped her arms around her body, pretending to make out with herself whilst exaggerating kissing noises.

"Enough of that." Daryl put a stop to her actions.

"Nothing, huh?" Natalia asked her, a small smile on her face.

"What? If she wasn't always talking to him on the radio, I wouldn't say it, but she hurt Bunny, Mommy, look." She held up her stuffed teddy, showing off a perfectly fine plushie, not even dirt on it. "Uncle Rick gave it to me."

"Oh, what if I give him a magic kiss, will that make him better?" Natalia asked.

"I think so." Daisy nodded, her brown doe eyes staring at Natalia with all seriousness, her lips pouted.

Natalia kissed the Bunny's head, then Daisy's, instantly lighting up the four year olds face.

"Mommy, I need a magic kiss!" Bambi spoke up. 

"Oh, okay, a magic kiss for you too." Natalia granted her wish, whilst also kissing her bunny.

"Daddy needs a magic kiss, too." Bambi told her.

"Oh does he?" Natalia laughed, looking at Daryl who nodded.

"Daddy does." He told her, reaching over the girls and puckering his lips, which Natalia met with her own.

"Now everyone's better." Natalia cheered. 

"What about Dog?" Daisy asked.

"Ugh, okay, Dog come get a magic kiss." Natalia patted the bed. "I'm gonna run out of kisses at this point."

Dog got up from the end of the bed, carefully treading along the sheets so that he could reach Natalia. 

She went to give him a simple kiss on the head, but he beat her to it, licking along her face, excitedly.

Daryl had to raise his voice to get the dog off of his wife as her and the girls giggled.

"Yuck, Dog." She laughed, wiping her face. "Alright, girls, me and Daddy need to have a very serious conversation with the both of you, is that okay?"

She glanced at Daryl, who furrowed his brows, trying to work out what conversation they were about to have, but then he caught how she subtly rubbed her stomach just beside Daisy's head.

"Yeah, so we really need you to listen, okay, it's important." He added, when he clued in, following her lead.

"Okay, I'll go get Evie." Daisy got up from under the covers, going to walk off the bed, but Daryl grabbed her, placing the girl back down.

"No, that's okay, she's busy right now, so we'll tell you guys then we'll tell her later, but thank you." Natalia told her, swiping her hair away from her face, the length was quite awkward, and there wasn't much they could do with it to put it up.

"Are we in trouble?" Bambi asked, her eyes wide as she hugged her teddy closer to her chest.

"Naw, sweetheart, neither of you are, but we do needa talk about something." Daryl rubbed her cheek.

"So listening ears on, okay?"

The girls gestured at their ears, pretending to adjust something, their ability to focus.

"Ready." They said in unison.

"Alright, good girls... uhm. Well, phew, Daryl, something you wanna say?" Natalia asked. 

"Nope, think you got it." He nodded.

"Thanks babe, nice."

"Are you going to die?" Daisy asked, her eyes tearing up at the thought.

"Mommy I don't want you to die!"

"Woah, hey, your Momma ain't dying." Daryl stopped them before they actually did burst into tears.

"Okay, look, you know how the both of you are sisters, and how you have sisters?" Natalia started.

"Two big sisters." Daisy held up two fingers.

"Three." Bambi held up three fingers. "But we can't see one of them." She looked down sadly.

"Yep, let's get back on topic, sweetie..." Natalia cleared her throat. "Well, how would the both of you feel if you had a little sister? A baby sister?"

"You're pregnant, again!?" Evie was stood in the doorway, radio in hand, Daryl had given it back after three days, after she refused to help Bambi with her scuffed knee, who wouldn't accept her parents help, because they're not "real doctors".

"Eve" Natalia looked at her like a deer caught in headlights.

"Henry, my Moms pregnant!" Evie spoke into the radio, storming back to her room.

"That's bad." Natalia whispered. "Oh, god, that's really, really bad."

"He's gonna tell Carol, fuck sake I shoulda broke the damn thing." Daryl cursed.

"Fuck." Daisy repeated.

"Oh, no honey, don't say that word" Natalia covered her mouth gently. "Daryl" She hissed at him.

"What does preg a nant mean?" Bambi asked, thinking hard on the word.

"Yer Momma's got a baby in her." Daryl clarified with a sigh.

"What? Like a walker? I can shoot it!" Daisy jumped up.

"No, no baby, it's okay, it's not a walker." Natalia grabbed her flying fists, making her sit down again. "It's not gonna hurt me. But, is that okay? If we had a baby?" Natalia asked.

"Where will the baby go?" Daisy asked.

"In Mommy's tummy, here." Natalia lifted her shirt, pointing, there was no visible baby at the moment, which was a good sign, because last time she was in this predicament, there were two babies in there.

"But how? There's no room." She poked it.

"Thanks honey." She smiled.

"Yer Mommas gonna get a real big tummy, and then you'll see-"

"Daryl." She hissed at him again, slapping him.

"Does that mean you won't love us anymore?" Bambi pouted.

"No, sweetheart, we won't stop loving you, that ain't possible." Daryl wrapped his arms around his twins, bringing them in for a hug. "Yer stuck with us forever."

"We love you more than there's stars in the sky, more than worms in the ground." Natalia told them.

"Promise?" Daisy asked.

"Pinkie promise." Natalia grabbed each of the girls pinkie's linking each of hers with there's, touching their thumbs with her own. "I'm gonna go talk to Evie, you stay with Daddy, okay."

She got up from the bed, just as Daisy asked Daryl if he would read to them one of their picture books, Dog followed her.

"Eve's?" Natalia knocked on her door, slightly pushing it open.

"Mom, hey." She smiled at her from her bed. 

Daryl and Evie had spent a good month decorating Evie's room, to make it personal and more "grown up" for the fifteen year old.

"Cool if I come in?" Natalia asked.

"Yeah, come sit, Carol made Ezekiel make Henry go to bed." She shrugged, as Natalia sat down on her bed. "I think I'm gonna go round soon, if that's okay with you."

"Yeah, sure babe, uh, about what just happened..."

"Are you actually pregnant, like, Mom, seriously?" Evie asked her.

"We... we think so, yeah, but the reason we were talking to the girls about it, before you, is because, not because we don't love you or anything."

"I know that, Mom." She rolled her eyes.

"But, cause they're a lot younger, and they don't even know about babies, I bet your dads still in there answering questions, its a very long conversation to have, whereas, y'know, you know, right?"

"Yeah, Mom, it's fine honestly, it'll be kinda cool to have another sibling, maybe I can make it like me so I have back up against the twins."

"Good luck, your dad and I are struggling enough as it is." Natalia scoffed. 

"Are you okay, though?" Evie asked, falling on her back on her bed, Natalia copying her. "About having another baby?"

"...I- I don't know." Natalia sighed. "I didn't want another baby, but there aren't much options about that, that stays between me and you, what I just said."

"Got it." Evie nodded, staring at the ceiling. "Mom... how do you tell someone that you think you like them?"

Natalia looked at her, her brows narrowed.

"Anyone in particular?" Natalia asked.

"...no." She mumbled in a quiet voice, picking at her finger nails.

"Eves is this about Henry?" Natalia asked her.

Evie began chewing on her thumb, something Daryl did often, when he was deep in thought, her other one ran along the chain of her necklace.

"Evie?"

"I don't know, it's just... how did you and Dad get together, it's like one moment, you were the best of friends, then all of a sudden, he was just living with us and you guys made out." Evie sighed.

"Well, the first time that we kissed, it was an accident, it was when we were moving that herd, and we didn't talk about it ever again, but then a month later... I don't know, it just sort of happened."

"You guys boned, right?"

"Evelyn, don't ask questions like that, how do you even know what that is, and why would you say it like that? Who taught you that phrase."

"Mom, I may be a teenager who grew up during the end of the world, but I'm not an idiot, I also read medical books." She shrugged. "And other kinds."

"So, anyway, about your crush on Henry, what's going on?"

"It's not like a crush, it's just, I don't know, I think he just see's me like a lil sister though."

"Whys that?"

"Because he literally told me, and he just treats me like a friend, like the guys treated each other back in Alexandria, Ron and Mikey."

Natalia swallowed at the names.

"I get that, but, if you really do like him, then maybe you should just tell him, rejections not that bad, but it's way better than regret, y'know, you're a beautiful girl Evie, you may not be my blood, but I like to think you got your charm from me, guys should be falling at your feet, so just... be picky about who you choose, look at me, took me twenty-seven years to find my other half, when I first met him, we were both ready to shoot each other, now, he's sat in there, reading to your sisters' the same book over and over, whilst I'm carrying his next kid. So, just take your time, there's no need to concentrate on things, or worry if it is or if it isn't, maybe you do like him, maybe you don't, give it a few years and then see how you feel, your dad would appreciate that massively."

"What about that other guy, Winnie's dad?" Evie asked. "Were you in love with him, before?"

Natalia thought for a moment.

"It was real complicated with me and Harry... I definitely think I loved him, and I will always love him, but the way I felt about him, and the way I feel about Daryl, they're too completely different things, Harry, I felt like I had to be in love with him because we lived together and we had a daughter, and that's just how it was back where I lived, but, Daryl, it's just different, he makes me want to wake up everyday and fight, because he gives me a reason to live, he treats me like a queen, I've never in my whole life felt as loved as he's made me feel, not even by my own family, I know we argue and bicker a lot, but he's half of my everything, my other half is you kids. I don't even want to think about what I would do if anything happened to any of you, it hurts me physically just to even wonder."

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you, too, sweet girl." She wrapped her arms around her eldest daughter, Evie doing the same as they cuddled on the bed.

Henry had in fact told Carol what Evie had discovered, and just like they expected, Carol had hunted them down the next time they went out.

They had estimated that Natalia was only about two months along.

Carol had instantly offered help and support, after attempting to bully them into returning back to Alexandria or staying in the Kingdom, they refused both options, but they didn't have much say on the supplies, they had nothing for a baby, the girls were two, after all, when they began living in the woods, and that was exactly two years ago.

After then, Carol came every fortnight, with a backpack full of supplies for the baby, with another invitation to return home, sometimes Evie would go with her, and sometimes she'd be bringing her back, but Daryl, Natalia or the twins never joined. 

"Mommy's got such a big tummy." Daisy commented after dinner.

There wasn't much time left, a few weeks at best, Evie would be turning sixteen next month, and the twins would be five the month after.

They had been living harmoniously, everyday was near enough the same.

They would eat breakfast together, then Daryl and Daisy would go hunt whilst Natalia and Bambi would go forage, Bambi wasn't a fan of hunting, it made her sad when she had to kill what she was going to eat for dinner, Daisy on the other hand got a weird rush from it all. Evie would sometimes stay at the house and study or choose a parent to go with, but since Daryl had put Natalia on house arrest once she reached eight months, Evie had to go forage with Bambi and Dog, though she would stay up late at night to study medicine, she had yet to reveal to Natalia that she was mainly trying to prep herself to deliver a baby, considering Daryl and Natalia wouldn't discuss it and was waiting till the last minute to make a plan for the inevitable arrival.

One thing she hated about her parents, was how disorganised they were, and also the fact that they were large procrastinators when it came down to it.

"Thanks honey, just what I needed to hear." Natalia patted her daughters head, as she went to go run the twins bath.

"Dase, leave your Momma alone." Daryl waved her away. "Hey, lemme do that, why don' you go sit down." He suggested to his wife.

"Daryl, my love, I'm not made of glass, the twins were way worse than this, you already banned me from leaving the house, I can still do stuff."

"Naw, go, I got this, Imma take care of you, was my fault." He shrugged, steering her away from the bathroom and back into the living room.

"Mommy, I wanna sleep in your bed tonight." Bambi told her, climbing into her lap, once she took a seat.

"Thought we were gonna start sleeping in our own beds." Daryl told her. "Because when the baby gets here, you'll have to be big girls."

"But I don't want to, I wanna sleep with Mommy and Daddy and Daisy." Bambi pouted, her face screwing up as she started to cry. "What if- What if the bad things come when we're sleeping and they get me and you won't know because you're sleeping in your room?"

"Bebe, it's okay, I can protect you." Daisy crouched down in front of her, holding her hands as she spoke to her in a gentle voice, copying her mothers tone. "We can have secret sleepovers and we can go to bed super, super late and wake up super early and then we can-"

"I appreciate that Daisy, but no you can not do that." Natalia put a stop to her plan. "Bam, you can stay in our bed as much as you want to, okay?"

"Mommy, when the baby comes, can you get rid of it, I don't want another sister." Daisy asked her with a serious face. "Neither does Bebe."

"Why don't you go help Daddy with the bath?" Natalia suggested.

"Okay, Daddy!" She called for him, running down to the hallway to where he escaped. "Can we get rid of the baby?"

"What?" She heard him shout from the bathroom.

"Mommy, I don't want to get rid of the baby." Bambi whispered to Natalia. "Daisy wants a baby brother, that's why she's upset, because she thinks that If there's another girl, you won't love us as much."

"Bam, you both know that's not true, me and your Dad, we couldn't even possibly love you any more than we do, all three of you, and this baby, no matter what, no matter if Daisy robbed a bank, or stole a diamond, murder.... y'know, you and your sisters are the best thing that ever happened to any of us. Y'know I never had any siblings growing up, and when I was your age, my daddy passed away, so it was just me and my mom, and it was real lonely, I always dreamed of having a big family, having kids that I could love, love like I wish my mom loved me, and I got that, your Daddy gave that to me, and I couldn't be any happier, I love you, so, so much, and I love Evie and Daisy, and then when this baby comes I get to love all of you, and I would do anything for you, anything in the world to make sure I have you here forever."

"Mommy, I love you, and Daddy, and my sisters." Bambi hugged her mother, Natalia's heart melted everyday for her daughters pure heart and kindness for others, it made her scared for her future, but she refused to think about it at times like this. "I can't wait for the baby to come, so I can love it as well, just as much, like... this big." She put her hands out wide, as far as she could stretch.

"Woah, that is big, is that how much love you have?" Natalia asked, swiping at her cheek.

"Even bigger, but my arms are small."

"That's okay, they'll get bigger."

"Alright, kid, bath time." Daryl called for her.

Natalia looked over her shoulder, seeing Daryl leaned against the wall, his arms folded across his chest, clearly, he had been stood there for a while.

"Alright, come on, sweetie." Natalia shuffled Bambi off her lap, standing up as well as she took her daughters hand in hers.

A searing pinching pain attacked the side of her belly, making her cry out in agony.

"Mommy?" Bambi gasped in worry, but also in pain, as Natalia had accidently squeezed her hand a little too hard.

"Nat!" Daryl near sprinted to her side. "You okay?"

"Fine. I'm fine, don't worry, it's gone." She brushed him off. "Sorry, baby, I didn't mean to do that." Natalia told Bambi, rubbing her tiny hand.

"Mommy, is the baby coming?" Daisy asked, she had ran down the hallway after she held Natalia's yelp.

Evie's door had also been pulled open, as she poked her head through the door.

"You okay?" The teen asked, heavy bags under her eyes, her hair was a mess.

"I'm fine, and no, it's not, Evie, when was the last time you slept?" Natalia asked.

"...This morning" She muttered.

"Go to bed, Eve, anything happens, we'll let y'know." Daryl told her. 'M checking in 30, you still got your light on, I'm taking it."

"But, what if-"

"Evie, you look worse than me, and I'm nine months pregnant, go to sleep, you won't be able to do anything if you're falling asleep everywhere." Natalia put her foot down.

"Oooh, you're in trouble." Daisy muttered.

"Hey, missy, come on, it's still bath time, then it's your bed time, too." Natalia continued.

The little girl stomped back to the bathroom, Bambi followed her and Evie retreated back to her room, for some much needed rest.

"You sure you're alright?" Daryl double checked, a hand on her back as he guided her to the bathroom to help, knowing she would resist if he didn't let her.

"I'm fine. Promise, I'd tell you if I wasn't." She assured.

"Maybe I shouldn't go out tomorrow, just in case." He thought out loud.

He had been planning on taking the girls out hunting and gathering, Evie had opted to stay home with Natalia for the time being, through the last little stretch.

"Then what are we supposed to eat? I didn't know this was possible, but I'm more hungry with just this one then I've ever been with the others." She told him, confused, as she rubbed her belly. "Let's just promise ourselves that this is actually the last time, okay? I really can't do this again."

"Promise, baby, this is it." He kissed her hair, which had grown considerably longer, falling just under her shoulders in wild curls.

The next two days followed the others, Daryl and the twins would go out for the day, whilst Natalia and Evie stayed home, doing nothing, together.

"Alright, I'm gonna get more tea." Natalia patted Evie's leg, where she was curled up on the couch beside her, reading and making notes from one of her books.

"I can get it, Mom." Evie offered. 

"No, it's fine, I got it." She insisted, getting up and grabbing their mugs.

She had managed to get a few feet past the couch before she felt that searing pain once again, this time, even more stabby and painful.

Since a few nights before, she had got it every now and then, but to her, it wasn't enough to cause panic and worry, until now.

Natalia dropped the mugs, causing them to clatter and smash to the floor as she doubled over.

"Mom?!" Evie shot up.

"Argh, oh God." She groaned, her face screwing up, the pain all felt like De Ja Vu. "I'm fine."

"You're clearly not, Mom what's wrong?" Evie joined her side.

"It's okay." She groaned through clenched teeth, "I'm just gonna wait until your dad gets home, it's gonna be fine."

"Wait, the- the baby, is it coming, is the baby coming."

"Yes, huhuh, but I'm not giv- it can wait till your dads home, I need him."

Then the water came.

"Oh, god, Mom, your waters just broke, you need to have this baby now, I can do it, I've been reading up on it, I can do this." Evie tried leading her to sit down in front of the couch.

"No, no, I'm not having it without him, I need him home, he needs to be here, not again."

"What if I go find him, he can't be far, I'll go get him and you just wait here, and we'll be super quick, you think you can manage that?" Evie asked her, gently.

"No, it's not safe for you to go on your own, we can wait." Natalia refused.

"Mom, I'm being serious, I probably know more about this than you, and by the looks of it, you don't have much time, so either I'm going to be delivering a baby at fifteen or you're gonna let me go get Dad so he can help you."

Natalia tried to clear her mind, and think through the buckets amount of pain.

"Go, just go, be safe, take my gun, please be safe."

"I'll be super quick okay, just hang on." Evie jumped up, picking up the small hand gun from the top shelf by the door and running out, she already had her knife at her hip, in the same sheath Daryl made for her when she was six years old, the door slammed shut behind her.

"Why do my kids have such bad timing." Natalia cried, when she was left alone.

She managed to shimmy her panties off, she had started wearing long skirts and dresses when she realised how much easier they were to wear.

Natalia took deep breathes in and out as she tried to focus on keeping the baby in, but the more time ticked on, the more pressure she felt to push, which was something she really didn't want to do.

"Okay, Nat, stop being a lil bitch, you got this, it's easy, it's only the fourth kid you would be pushing out of you." She leaned her head back, against the couch.

She bit down on her lip, whimpering loudly, feeling ultimately sorry for herself.

But then she couldn't fight it anymore, letting out screams as she let her body do the work, alone.

And then, she was holding a wailing baby.

She brought it closer to her, examing it as she used one of the blankets to wipe her off, and that's when she realised, it wasn't a she, her womb was no longer a girls only zone.

"You lil shit." She muttered, swiping at her son's face, soothing him as he stopped crying.

When she gathered the strength, Natalia pulled herself up, holding the new-born to her as she reached hers and Daryl's bedroom, so that she could dress him, and so she could lay down comfortably, on her bed.

As he nursed for the first time, she couldn't keep her eyes off of him, unlike the girls, he had little to no hair, and it was light, very light, nothing like hers, he was also bigger than the twins, maybe a few pounds heavier as well.

Natalia let her mind wander back to that note, that was still stashed away in the top drawer in the bedroom of her home in Alexandria, she wondered if Michonne had given it away, considering they hadn't been home in nearly three years, what would she have done with their stuff, would she have read the letter, the letter from Carl?

Natalia could recite the letter off by heart, she used to read it every night, it had actually been the girls first bedtime story, when they were still in the womb, but the sentence in particular, that was nagging at her, was the one that specifically stated that if her and Daryl were to ever have a boy, Carl would work quite nicely, CJ for short.

She played around with it in her head, different combos as well.

"R... C..." She traced the letters on her son's arm. "R... C... Arcy. Archie..." She hummed. "Archie Carl... Dixon. You like that, huh, Archie?"

He shuffled in her arms, his lips pursing as his fists sat clenched.

"Your Daddy and big sisters are archers, fits, right?" She smiled.

The sound of the front door crashing open, made her jump, startling the baby, setting off his cries once again.

"Nat!?" Daryl's voice called out, his tone was laced in worry, she could also hear him shuffling in the girls. "Natty, Nat!"

"In here!" She replied, rocking the baby back into peace, as she heard the stomps of boots across the floor, from the normally silent walker.

He threw himself into the room, pausing as he laid his eyes on the baby, their three girls chased after him, Daisy scrambled to move past him and towards the bed, but had also froze.

"Dase, come here." Natalia waved her forward. "Come meet your baby brother."

"Brother?" Daryl whispered, as Daisy clapped her hands excitedly, though Evie had hissed at her to hush up.

"He's a boy." She smiled, with a chuckle.

"I thought it was a girl." Bambi pouted, joining her twins side.

"I thought so, too." Natalia sympathised with her.

"Yes, I wanted a brother." Daisy fist pumped the air.

Daryl finally got his feet to move, walking towards the bed, and slowly sliding on beside Natalia.

"Y'wanna hold him?" She offered, passing the baby into his arms.

"Hey." He whispered, looking down at the sleeping new-born. "Hi, I'm yer Dad."

"What's his name?" Bambi asked, Evie helped her and Daisy get on the bed, Dog rested his head on Natalia's leg.

"Uh, we haven't, we-" He looked to Natalia for help, but instead, he found a mischievous smile.

"I think I got one." She nodded. "A really good friend of mine gave me permission."

"What?" Daisy asked.

"Archie Carl Dixon." She introduced the baby to his family.

Evie gasped at the name, covering her mouth as she awed.

"Do you like it?" Natalia asked Daryl.

"Yeah, I- I really do." He nodded, holding his son close to him. "'M proud of you." He kissed her head. "Can' believe you managed to do it all by yer self."

"Was nothing." She shrugged, even though she felt like she was going through hell, but it was worth it.

"Hey, look, now all our birthdays are in the first five months." Evie smiled.

"What?" Daryl and Natalia both asked at the same time.

"Yeah, see, Dads is in January, Mom's is in February, Archies in March, mines in April, and the Twins is in May!"

"Your birthdays in January?" Natalia asked Daryl.

"Yours's February?"

"You mean to tell me that we've been married for eight years, and only now I'm finding out what Month you were born in?" Natalia accused.

"Hey, same goes!" Daryl whisper-yelled.

It didn't take long for the Dixons to build a new routine, with Archie around, they had also found that having a single baby after twins, was a huge difference, and much easier.

Once he was three months old, they had begun taking him out with them as they moved around the woods, instead of keeping him cooped up in the cabin, which would also mean that Natalia would've had to stay cooped up.

Another month had passed, Natalia held Archie in her arms as Daryl had a pile of wood for the fire, the twins had been arguing over who had the most walker kills, whilst Evie kept her eye out for food.

"Look, I bet I can get that one over there." Daisy challenged, an arrow already aimed at the walker about 50 yards away, stumbling from the tree's.

"Nuh uh, I'll get it first." Bambi disagreed, also aiming at it, the string of her bow already stretched.

"Girls, stop arguing, there's enough walkers to shoot between the pair of you." A sentence Natalia never thought she would ever have to say, but hey, they were her kids, and once upon a time, she used to see it as a game too, before their father was the one who disagreed with her fun.

"Alright, on your marks, get set... Go!" Evie called, and two arrows whizzed in the air, both with different coloured wings, matching their own rain coats and boots.

The walker soon fell to the ground, two arrows sticking out of its head.

"Dog, go" Daryl commanded, Dog listened, the most obedient out of all their kids, running towards the dead walker to retrieve the two arrows. "Sorry Dase, think that one goes to Bam."

"What? No fair!" Daisy stomped her foot. "I got it first."

"It's alright, honey, you'll get it next time, it was super close." Natalia encouraged, bouncing Archie on her hip.

The twins, like everything else, had actually managed to hit the walker in sync, but sometimes, Daryl and Natalia felt the need to calm Daisy of her competitiveness, she had a tendency to get too much, and a big head about winning.

The sounds of horses caught their attention, as it got nearer.

They looked In the direction, seeing a wagon coming towards them.

Next

[unchartedthelostlegacy]

Meenu sat straight up in bed. She was dreaming. No, she wasn't. She had a sensation of being adrift in a boat. She had been carried, half-asleep, from the sofa she'd slid down into. Papa had lifted her and put her head gently on his shoulder and brought her to her room.

No, he hadn't.

She pushed off the woven blankets and put her feet on the floor. It shocked her with cold. The memories were lying.

She wasn't in India anymore. And her father could no longer hold her in his arms.

The hurt shouldn't have sickened her. The loneliness before finding out had been bad enough. There should be a natural high-water mark to the pain a child should feel, and Meenu had learned this wasn't the case.

She couldn't see the comic books stacked on the floor by her bed anymore, or the hand-me-down Lord of the Rings posters. Meenu pulled her feet back up and curled into her pillow, fighting the sobs.

There was a sound in the flat of something, maybe a frying pan, or a mug, being set down, and then Meenu heard the door open. She curled deeper into the pillow and dragged the blanket-scarf over her damp face.

"Oh ace hiding job," chided the lady in her thick accent.

Meenu rolled over and pressed her face into the bed, not breathing, to hide her sobs. She struggled when Chloe pulled back the covers and pushed her back on her side.

"Back off!"

"Don't start," Chloe said.

"Leave me alone!"

"C'mon, kid. It's okay."

Meenu inchwormed until she pressed her forehead into her mattress, teeth gritted. "You're so lonely," she snapped at Chloe.

"What?"

"You're always lonely. You're just pretending. You're always looking at your stupid photo of miss Ross."

"Maybe," a grin snapped Chloe's moonlit face in two. "I like photography."

Meenu couldn't push down the laugh fast enough and coughed, flopping onto her bed.

"You have millions of stupid pictures everywhere!" she said, pointing an accusing finger. "You only look at hers."

"Maybe they're the good ones."

"You're such a bad liar."

Chloe sighed, and her big warm hand grasped Meenu's. "Everyone misses someone, love."

"You don't even know where she is."

"South Africa, likely. In her house," the woman rose from Meenu's bedside, half-turned to the door. "Go back to sleep. School night."

"What if she's dead."

"Oh, she'd hate that."

Another laugh tumbled from Meenu's stomach, unbidden, and Chloe patted her stocking feet before retreating from the room.

Meenu exhaled a sigh and pushed herself back on the mattress, looking at the sad blue of the moonlit square on the wall.

Someone had carried her from the sofa. Her head had rested on someone's not broad, but thin shoulder. To Chloe, Meenu weighed nothing, and Papa's old picture sat in their dining room, watching her continue in his stead.

[headhedgehog]

Unmistakable (Kunigami/Chigiri)

Summary: Kunigami and Chigiri spend an evening chatting in the cafeteria. Until they aren't.

CW: Minors in intense romantic situations (no danger, SFW); bi panic, cheating on a partner (partner does not show up in the story)

Kunigami tried not to watch the delicate way Chigiri's fingers moved as he cut the steak he'd earned for scoring a goal into pieces. Chigiri had insisted on sharing -- "that pass is the only reason I scored, Kunigami" -- but Kunigami couldn't focus on the food.

"There," Chigiri said as he put the knife down. "Ah, but -- there's only one fork. I don't mind if we both use it, but if you do --"

"That's okay!" Kunigami said too quickly, his voice strained. The idea of putting his lips around the same fork as Chigiri made his face warm. Get it together, Rensuke, he thought. There is nothing sexy about cutlery and that is definitely not how Chigiri meant it.

Chigiri quirked an eyebrow at him but speared a piece of steak, ate it slowly. He held the fork out to Kunigami, who attempted to steady his shaking hands.

It wasn't like Kunigami hadn't noticed how beautiful Chigiri was. Even Isagi commented on that, and Isagi was naive and straight as they came. And sure, there had been the odd moment when memories of Chigiri in the baths snuck into Kunigami's mind when he masturbated in the bathroom at night. But Kunigami could easily turn his thoughts back to his girlfriend, what he imagined she'd look like naked. Never mind that he'd never come close to seeing her naked. Never mind that he felt more out of breath thinking about Chigiri's thighs than his girlfriend's ass.

But sitting across from Chigiri, alone, made it painfully clear to Kunigami that those nights were not full of random, sleep-deprived thoughts.

"...your girlfriend?" Chigiri was asking as Kunigami chewed. Kunigami realized he'd been totally zoned out, staring at the subtle sheen of fat on Chigiri's bottom lip.

"Sorry, what?"

"I asked if you'd heard from your girlfriend. One of the rewards for scoring goals is getting your phone back."

The steak seemed to get stuck halfway down Kunigami's throat. He swallowed hard.

"I -- We're sort of on a break."

Chigiri eyed him, took the fork back. "I suppose Blue Lock would force your hand, a bit."

Kunigami nodded, a bit too eagerly. "And we weren't really that serious, anyway."

"Sounded pretty serious before. She was like the first thing you brought up when we got here."

Kunigami fought the small thrill he felt in his chest. He pays attention to what I say!! He cleared his throat, tried not to watch Chigiri's jaw as he chewed.

"Uhm, well...I'd just called her. To tell her I wasn't coming back for a while. Before Ego took my phone. And she wasn't especially upset."

Liar. He hadn't called her, just sent her a text. He still felt like an ass. She was probably already over him.

Something in Chigiri's face shifted. He looked away for a long moment. Kunigami fidgeted with his napkin, stopped when shredded bits started to fall on the table.

"Kunigami," Chigiri said when he turned back. The usual confidence was missing from his eyes and voice. "I'm going to tell you something but just say the word and we can pretend it never happened."

Kunigami sat up a little straighter. Chigiri looked at his lap, hair falling over his face.

"I like you," he whispered. "I probably shouldn't tell you, I don't even know if you like guys, and you're not single. But it's been driving me crazy and I figure if you just turn me down I can get over it."

Kunigami swallowed hard. The way Chigiri was looking up at him through his eyelashes and hair was causing Kunigami physical pain. He took a deep breath.

"I...I think I like you too."

Chigiri's head snapped up.

"I've never been with a guy before. You're really the first one I've felt about this way. But...but I really really like you, Chigiri."

Cautiously, Chigiri stood and walked to Kunigami's side of the table. He reached out a hand, touched Kunigami's cheek so delicately Kunigami thought he might die.

"Can I kiss you?" Chigiri whispered. Kunigami nodded, too nervous to speak. Chigiri leaned in, his hand holding Kunigami's cheek.

Chigiri's lips were soft, hesitant, almost like he expected Kunigami to change his mind. Kunigami's chest felt like he'd been bound in iron and finally released, the sweetest relief he'd ever experienced. He threaded his fingers into Chigiri's hair, pulling him down until Chigiri straddled his lap. The kiss became deeper, more urgent; when they finally broke apart they were both out of breath.

"Wow," Kunigami said. He tentatively moved his hands toward Chigiri's torso and the redhead guided them to his waist. Kunigami ran his thumbs along Chigiri's sides, enjoying the way the other boy blushed straight across his nose.

"Is this okay?" Chigiri put his arms around Kunigami's neck, touched their foreheads together. Kunigami responded with another kiss.