#hed be so proud of himself huh...

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

thinking about puppet!Home. also thinking about that tidbit saying that Wally had to learn how to be gentle first as to not break things. combining both for maximum effect

[inlovewhithafairytale]

Morning love

Theo reason x reader smut + a lot of fluff cause I'm a softie also it has some Stydia reference because we Ship them them😤

that's so freaking cute!!! Unable to cant😭

Yn woke up with the feeling of someone gently caressing her face. She hummed softly at the feeling, how long had it been since anyone touched her like that?

She cracked her eyes open and was met by Theo, green eyes staring softly at her, mouth parted into a soft smile.

"Morning sleepy head" he murmured to her, his voice still groggy from sleep.

Yn smiled gave him a tired grin and snuggled close to his chest.

She felt theos run his hands softly through her hair "we promised Liam that we'd meet with him at the preserve remember?"

"I don't want to go...I just want to stay here with you forever and ever" the girl replied stubbornly her voice slightly muffled as she pressed closer to his body.

"Me too baby..."

Yn looked up at him and gave him a tired smile " then let's stay here, damn Liam"

"Oh really? Then Liam will come here and take the katana back and send me straight back ro hell" he replied giving her a teasing smile.

"He wouldn't be cause if he did I'd personally de ball him"

"You are so Stiles sister" he chuckled and bent his head slightly down and pressed his lips against yn's.

The sunlight came through the window illuminating the room in which the teenagers were. Still tangled in the bed sheets, pronouncing their love for each other.

Yn didn't know how but the kiss suddenly took a smutty turn. Her skin felt as if it caught fire, and she longed to feel Theos skin against hers. The arm that Theo had around her waist moved so that she laid on her back with Theo above her propping himself up in an elbow kissing her. Yn found that she didn't feel slightly uncomfortable with the way that Theo kissed her, softly, lovingly and somehow demanding. Somehow it didn't feel as if he was asking something from her that she didn't feel comfortable to give.

Yn hands wondered to his hair. Messing it more that what it already was, she pulled him closer, letting him kiss her more deeply. Her skiing clawed and she felt a somehow familiar wetness between her legs, she knew what she wanted now. She wanted him, more like needed.

Softly she jerked her hips up clashing with Theos side. Theo quickly pulled back and stared down at her with slightly wide eyes. His lips red from kissing and hair a complete mess.

Yn started back at him biting the edge of her lower lip nervously. Maybe she had done something wrong. But that doubt suddenly faded when Theo reached down again and kissed her.

"Are you sure about this" he asked her tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah...I just. I've never done it before...I mean I know all about it, just that you're the first guys I've ever even kissed..." she said nervously. She assent nervous because of him. She was nervous because she didn't want to do anything wrong.

"We don't even have a condom" he told her softly, Theo wanted her, but he couldn't bring himself to do something that she wasn't comfortable with.

"Uh.. I think Stiles has in the bathroom of the hallway"

"Ill get it"

As Theo exited the room she thanked her lucky stars once gain that Her father wasn't home. Hed totally freak out if he was the chimera in boxers wondering in the halls.

Yn giggled at the though. Her dad would surely skin her alive.

Theo returned "he had, why does he even have any? I though he and Malia had broken up" he said climbing into bed.

"Oh forgot to tell you... with my help stydia happened" she was so proud of herself, her brother was finally happy... except currently he was in a ghost riders dimension. But never mind.

"Finally?! I though they we're never going to admit their feeling for each other?"

"I know... but I helped plenty..."

"Huh.. really? It took you so long to admit you had feelings for me?" Theo gave her a playful smile as he laid again next to her.

"That's because I was young and stupid and they already had working chemistry. I only had to add a few touches." Yn said smiling turning to her side to face him." And also because I'm pretty awesome" she added with a wink.

"That you are" Theo. Breathed out as he wrapped an arm around Yn gain and flipped her to laying on her back him hovering above her, propping himself in an elbow. Green eyes looking softly down at her, as if caressing her with a look." Are you a hundred percent sure you want to do this?" He asked her again.

Yn nodded with a small smile.

Theo reached down again and and kissed her forehead softly and then claimed her lips once again. Their lips moved in complete sink. Though more heated up. He softly bit onto her lower lip. Prying her lips open. She granted him access and his tongue explored her mouth, tongues meeting and teeth clashing. Theo ran his hand softly against her side, from her stomach to her tight, fingers lingering over her clothed skin.

Yn ran her hands through his hair, relishing on the feelings he made her feel. She was pretty sure that by now her underwear was soaking wet, and her body was covered in goosebumps.

Theo gave a low moan into her mouth as she pulled on his hair. They parted the kiss and stared at each other.

"No way you get turned on when I pull your hair"yn giggled, Theo rolled his eyes and rested his for head against hers.

"Yn I could smell your arousal form a mile away. No way you get turned on when I kiss you" he retorted back, and before yn could get over the shock that he actually said that, he kissed her again. Yn kissed back after a moment purposely pulling in his hair, she could feel Theo trying to keep his moans at bay.

"Why did you stop?" She asked teasingly pulling back.

"I think I'll live the moaning to you sweet heart" he whispered and tried to kiss her again, but Yn stopped him.

"Dont. I like to hear you" She pulled him down and kissed him again. She didn't know where she had that confidence from but she liked it. She wasn't exactly shy in their relationship, but she left all the smuttiness to Theo because she had plenty.

Theo then started kissing her jaw and then down to her neck. Bitting softly just below her jawline. Yn took a strangled breath as he continued kissing down her neck. Moving her.. well actually his, shirt to the side. Exposing her shoulder. Yns eyes closed shut as Theo found her sweet spot. She felt him smile into her skin as she have a low moan when he started sucking.

"Theo don't live hickeys to big or my dad will skin us BOTH alive" she told him.

She felt him remove his mouth from her neck " uh... you can wear a turtle neck?" He asked sheepishly.

"Theo if my dad sees that..."

" it's only one" he complained.

"Just don't put any marks on my neck, you can live marks anywhere else"

Theo's eyes lit up and Yn wondered if she shouldn't have told him that, but he returned once again to pampering her neck with kisses. Here and there he bit softly. Just to hear her let out a breathy moan, one that only he alone would ever hear.

His hand wondered below her shirt and softly caressed her skin. Making Yn shiver slightly, pulling Theos hair. He lowly moaned into her skin. Sending vibrations through her making her smile. She was enjoying this so very much.

Theo then pulled away from her neck and lifted the hem of the shirt slightly "off...?"

Yn lifted her torso slightly and let him pull the shirt off, leaving her chest and stomach exposed. She blushed slightly because she knew that she had a slightly flat chest which she had tried to ignore all through her teenage years.(this is because you see... I have a flat chest and need to feel like I belong:()

She bit her lower lip as Theo looked at her body. Smelling her embarrassment he looked at her face. "You know you're beautiful right?" He whispered softly.

Yn looked in his eyes and knew he was telling the truth. She nodded slightly still a bit unsure. Theo kissed her lips once again." Yn you're are the most beautiful girl in the world, don't think otherwise" she smiled up at him.

"Thanks" she whispered

"I'm only telling you something you should already be aware of"

"That's why I'm Thanking you, you know I love you right" she said softly.

"I love you too Yn" he whispered back. As if only for her to hear, as if only she should ever hear Those words.

Theo kissed her once again softly, and started to kiss again for her neck.

"Wait..." she stopped him" off..?"

Theo chuckled and pulled his shirt off. Exposing his toned chest and abs. Yn ran a hand down his chest. Never tired of seeing his shirtless.

"See something you like?" Theo asked with a cocky grin

"Spare me the cocky act Reaken"

"Whatever you say Stilinski" and went once again to kissing her neck. He went down to her exposed chest and down the valley between her breasts making shure to live a hickey. One if his hands slid up from her taight to below her breast but to shy to do what he wanted to do. Yn noticed it.

"Theo..." he hummed from where he was kissing in her stomach." You can touch me" she told him quietly. She was comfortable with him. And she knew for shure that's what he wanted.

He looked up to her face and Yn swore she saw him blush slightly but never said anything because she wanted to keep his dignity as a man.

Theo bit in her skin again slightly, earning a breathy moan from Yn who had closed her eyes shut as he worked his wonders on her.the hand that had been resting below her breast he slowly ran up. Thumb circling her nipple. Yn sucked in shakky breath eyes still closed tightly, hands in Theos hair. Theo then reached up and sucked gently on her nipple still massaging her breath with his thumb. Sucking slightly and biting softly. After a while he went and gave the same attention to her other one.

Yn's phone on the night table beside her bed. Dinged with a notification. Yn never put he phone in vibrator since sometimes her pack needed her and had a specific ringtone to all of her friends.

"That's pup" yn told Theo.

"It's only 9 in the morning he shouldn't be bothering" Yn rolled her eyes with a smile at her boyfriend.

She was going to say something when Theo pulled her pajama pants down a bit. Lokking at her for reassurance. Liam forgotten, Yn nodded,.lifting her hips, letting Theo pulls her pants down, living her with only her underwear which was very wet because of her arousal. Once gain she thanked her lucky stars that she had waxed and shaved a week ago because Malia had wanted to go to a pool party. It ended up raining and they didn't go, not that Yn complained. Though Yn knew Theo wouldn't mind if she hadn't shaved at all. But luckily she was spared the embarrassment.

Theo again went up and missed her lips. "You weren't kidding when you said you were wet" he joked.

"I never said that. You did" yn answered, a little abashed.

"Well, I was right"he kissed her again then pulled back looking serious "yn, this is your first time and I will try and be extremely gentle. But if I get out of control ,I need you to lock yourself in the bathroom and not come out till I'm calm" he looks gravely into her eyes "You know I'll never hurt you but I'm still a werewolf with a bit of coyote" he said his eyes softer.

Yn have him a smile " I know you'd never. But I'll keep it in mind."

Taking the condom that he had put beside them in the bed, he pulled his boxers down, reveling his hard length. Yn had seen him naked a few times before. When he turned into a coyote or wolf and sneak into her room through the back door. Thats probably how she got hold of some of his clothes. She stared at him as he opened the plastic wrap and pulled the condom on and it struck her that she was extremely lucky to have a boyfriend that cared so much.

"Ok... are you still sure about this?" He asked once again

"Theo, yes... I'm sure"

Theo nodded and slowly pulled her underwear off, discarding it somewhere around the edge of the bed along with the rest of their clothes.

He pulled her legs apart and set himself between them. He looked at yn in the eye and rested their fore heads together."not going to lie... this might hurt. So try to breath in" he whispered, and kissed the tip of her nose.

Then slowly he pushed half his size inside of her. It didn't hurt so bad at first. Problaly because she had, and was, dripping wet.

"Do you want me to go all the way or.."

"Yeah go all the way" she breathed out.

He pushed inside if her gently. And Yn scrunched her face up in pain. Theo kissed the tip of her nose once again. He stayed still all the while letting yn adjust to his size inside of her. She shifted a bit under him and it hurt pretty much. Then suddenly all her pain vanished and she furrowed her eyebrows as she felt pleasure instead of the pain that had been tormenting her.

"Theo did you...?" She looked at him wide eyed " you took away my pain?" She whispered.

"I don't like seeing you in pain" he whispered " are you good now?" He asked her.

"Yeah, yeah.. you can move now"

Slowly Theo pulled out a bit and inside again. The wave of plesure Yn felt was amazing, she let oh a breathy sight, legs automatically wrapping around Theos torso pulling him closer. Her fingernails involuntarily scratched Theo's back.

"It ok, ill heal" Theo whispered between slight pants.

Yn nodded not trusting herself to talk.

The sunlight snaked it's way to the bed where the couple expressed each other a love that cannot be said or written. Along all the pleasure she was felling. She wondered how people ever had sex with anyone they didn't love, with anyone they sometime didn't even know. This was the most special way, anyone could express their love.

"Oh fuck" Theo murmured as he felt Yns falls tightened against him. She was close, and honestly if she kept tightening around him like that he'd be too. Actually he though he would come right then.

"Theo..." Yn asked unsur saying his name with a light wine in the end " I think I might be close" she said between low breathy moans which made Theo turn on even more.

" whenever you're ready baby ok?" Theo reassured her softly moaning when she involuntarily scratched his back, fingers curling around the bedsheets by the side of her head.

Yn felt a lightly familiar knot on the bottom of her stomach, she had felt it before when she had touched herself, but this one was much more prominent. Theo's head fell into the crook of her neck, his movements a little rougher than before. He lightly kissed her neck and let out a low moan when Yns hips jerked up meetings his stroke. Yn's walls tightened once again.

"Theo" she moaned, Theo felt as if be was in could 9 as he heard his name being said like that by her" Theo I'm gonna..."

"Ok, come for me sweet heart" he whispered into her neck.

His words had her come undone, she came wetting the sheets below then and him a bit. As she came with a moan that sounded in all the room, she jerked her hips up, sending Theo over the edge and cuming inside the condom with a moan and a grunt. Tightenig the grip he had around her waist.

The layd there panting the sun hitting Theo softly on his back which was healing from the few scatches that yn gave him.

Theo have yn a wet kiss on the neck" that was great" she murmured, receiving a humm of agreement from her boy." We have to do that again some other time"

"You never been righter" Theo said lifting his head from her neck and kissing her lips.

"Now I don't want to go to the preserve at all" yn said with a pout.

"How about I take you on a date after?" Theo suggested kissing her cheek.

"Its a deal"

Hi my beautiful readers!!! This is my first smut, and its funny how all the smut readers and writers are all virgins, including me 😂 I'm at leat a 99.0% percent sure of it. Anyway check my account for more stories and have a nice night/day. Love you guys!!

[danimals666]

Im so mad at the fact that people are trying to pin Alador into being "he's not a good dad! Never was never will be. He's abusive and neglectful. He knows what he's doing."

LIKE GIIIIRRLLL. DID Y'ALL NOT SEE HOW HE AND AMITY RECONNECTED AND HOW HE FOUGHT AGAINST HIS WIFE IN AN ATTEMPT TO PROTECT HIS KIDS AND HIS HOME ??????????? ???

LIKE I GET THAT HE WASNT GOOD IN THE BEGINNING. *HE* KNOWS THAT TOO. He *knows* what he did wrong and he definitely feels remorse for all of what he did and the blind eye he turned to Odalia.

He heard his daughter out. He connected with her !!!! He told her he would try !!! And he is !!!!!!!! Now that Odalia is out of the picture, Alador now has the means to slowly rebuild that family bond with his kids. And you can TELL THAT THE KIDS ARE SO HAPPY TO HAVE THEIR DAD. AMITY RRRAANNN TO HUG HIM AFTER THEY FOUND EACHOTHER. SHE LOVES HER DAD, SAME WITH THE TWINS !!! THEY LOVE THEIR DAD !!! THEY KNOW HES TRYING !!!

"but we barely see any reconnecting! He's not trying! He's still a bad dad" HOW MUCH SCREENTIME DO YOU THINK THEY HAD TO GIVE ALADOR ?????? HUH ??? There HAS to be some off screen connections for it to wOOORRKK !!!

Alador is regretful. He wishes he couldve done things better but HES DOING THAT NNNOOWW. HE GOT THE DIVORCE. HE HAS HIS KIDS. HES LISTENING TO THEM NOW. HE LOVES THEM AND HES SO PROUD OF WHAT THEYVE ACOMPLISHED. (Thats an ON SCREEN THING. HE TELLS AMITY HOW PROUD HE IS OF HER PROGRESS WITH MAGIC. HOW SHES DOING SO GOOD.)

Alador IS a good dad. He's TRYING. he LOVES his kids. He would DIE for them. Sure he might fall back into old habits of spending all his time in the workshop or forgetting important things from time to time but he's trying his hardest. He probably has like little notes all over his workshop (somewritten by himself others written by his kids cuz they know how he is too) reminding him of things, telling him to take breaks, etc. And hed appreciate that and hed go out and hed cook dinner for the family and the kids would gather around him and bother him while he cooks (mainly edric and emira cuz i think amity would sit at the table and watch from a distance with a smile on her face) and hed very gently try to shoo them off (it dont work) and alador would turn to amity and give her a look like "can you help me?" And she just shakes her head with a BIGGER smile.

Theyd have a GOOD FAMILY DYNAMIC AFTER THE DIVORCE AND U CANT TELL ME THEY WOOULLLDDNNTTT.

ok thats all i think.

[cyberdragoninfinity]

Sirry to shit myself in here but. Primis sword, he uses it to time travel in that one ep that never got dubbed. Why. Why doesnt paradox have that. Ik why but like. Holy shit, he was made and sent to die for someone hed always love and never be cared by. Im gonna lose my shit they could have had him -go back- or at leats time travel a lot more easily. Z-one cared until he didnt have to for someone who'd so willing kill himself for him i m

YEAH IF I. I think too hard about Paradox's dynamic with Z-one I do start to get a bit Sick in the Head.

LIKE. Primo's sword is such a weird Yugioh Object. It's not just a device for time traveling but also is the key to his Biketaur Form and can be used for just, Standard teleportation (as we see when he leaves his Stupid Factory Full of Robots after rigging it to explode)

ok bye!

AND IT'S JUST PRIMO'S. It's his!! God gave it to him and he's very proud of it!!! Iliaster developed handheld time travel tech and then only gave it to one (third of a) guy. OBSESSED. HE'S KILLED PEOPLE WITH THAT THING.

Meanwhile well I guess Paradox did get a pretty cool time traveling Duel Runner but then it. exploded. And he also had the Field Spell That Kills You and actually ok hang on, thinking about that--god. YEAH. PARADOX REALLY WAS STRAIGHT UP WILLING TO DIE FOR Z-ONE'S CAUSE HUH. he was fully on board to use Malefic World no matter the cost. And Z-one just let him do it. He's got the Emperors gallivanting around with the timeline hopping sword and could have stepped in at any time to make Paradox's mission less of a one way trip and he. Just Didn't </3 I swear to god you can literally chart Z-one's opinion of Iliaster's members over time...the way he will seemingly just stop caring the second someone's use is up (in a best case scenario. worse case scenario when someone's use is up he lights his wife on fire in front of everyone.)

IT'S SOOOOO..... MAN. MAN!!! Did Paradox KNOW. Did he know he wasnt coming back from this mission. Did he know Z-one probably had Extremely Little Faith in him. Did it only sink in when the power of friendship was nuking him out of orbit. Or did he die thinking Z-one would mourn him?

:)

:,)

[ask-dgs-221bbakerstreet]

OP. THAT TRIAL WAS EVERYTHING. TRUCY AND ATHENAS GOOFINESS. KLINT AND BAROK. IRIS AND SHOLMES! RYUUS SPEECH ABOUT GRIEF AND LOSING HIS PARTNER. when i figured out what happened, that kazuma poisoned himself to protect ryuu i was like. wow. thats what he would do huh. hed do that again and again. fucking self sacrificial bastard. also the surprise i had when you used that doctor character from that soj dlc case and made him gay, 10x better than the original.

ALSO THE ENDING SCENE. OUGH. THE FAMBILY. THEYRE SO SPECIAL. THEYRE EVERYTHING. also when the psychelocks appeared i wanted to grab kazuma thru the screen and shake him mad kazuma please stop doing this youre giving me grey hairs

anyway thank you so much for this!! this sparked my love for dgs and aa even more! this was so fun and well made despite the fact this was your first fantrial, you should be proud of yourself :D!! ahhhh this blog is so fun

ME CRYING AT EVERY NEW ASK I GET ABOUT THIS......... i'm so glad you all appreciate it i stressed so unnecessarily about it and it feels so worth it <3

Kazuma is giving ME grey hairs and i'm the one doing this to him

fun fact originally i was gonna do a Klint and Barok parallel, but as i kept working on it and thinking about it, it just became way more about Ryuu and Kazuma and i think that was a better direction to go.

[james-fun-in-the-sunderland]

pt 2 . still vicky. 31, 35, 40, 51, 67, 69. 🙄

NO need for all of these rolling eyes SMH... u didnt evven have to send these sirrrr

ANYWAY link back to the 69 ttrpg asks i GUESS

31. do they respond well to praise? how about criticism?

as said in the last ask he does respond well to praise however it all depends on WHO is praising and how OVERT and how OFTEN... praise him too much and he'll get MAD but praise him too little and he will also get mad, he doesnt respond well to criticism. if you criticise him too much he may actually completely hate ur ass, but thats if he thinks it isnt deserved and EVEN THEN he will still get annoyed like whatever man >:/

35. when did they feel loneliest?

i feel like this ones a LITTLE obvious but while his mom was in the hospital probably! his childhood home would be all empty he'd have no one to come home to and he would only come home after doing jobs and visiting her so he had no time for literally anyone or anything else, not that he really had the energy for anything else anyway, at least after she died he would go out and just talk to anyone off the street but while she was still alive it was just him and a dying woman while he pushed away anyone else bc he felt extremely vulnerable during this time too (he was also like. 25 so he was also just dealing w being a young adult and all the angst there so . he was NOT doing well)

40. if you had to remake this character right now, how would you change them?

GOOD QUESTION id probably make his hair different, change his backstory a lil and quite a few scars ! alot of stuff w him is either in active development or straightened out so id probably change more of the actually established stuff ... maybe give him a different clothing style, make him more outward with some traits like his musical ability... hmmm this is such an interesting q

51. what element of their backstory are you proudest of?

ALOT OF IT im always very proud of my lil characters backstories hehe... i try to make them all make sense for the person a character has developed into and i feel like vickys especially really reflects that, if i really had to choose one aspect it would be how death just follows him all throughout his backstory, people dying annd leaving him left and right making him really feel surrounded by it ya kno... not even just with the obvious stuff like ALOT of his childhood friends end up dying lmao its just fun themes ...

67. do they consider themselves to be special?

NO absolutely not, hes literally described himself as just another average joe DESPITE COMPLETELY NOT BEING ONE . this man cannot die and works for like 5 different mobs and yet hes like nah im just a normal single father man, idk why ur saying im so weird. he also just gets weirded out by the idea of someone finding him so special... ofc he really would love to be special in a way he can control, i suppose thats really it huh, he really loves control and if people find him special for his deathlessness or anything its like... ok but he doesnt CONTROL that... he can control his talents though so if someone found him special for that hed be like YEAH literally im so cool

69. what’s one secret they don’t want getting out?

the classic. lets go through the obvious ones, his deathlessness, even though its an open secret he really doesnt like people talking about it, his crime too of course but he doesnt even care that much about that either, like even less, his daughter even knows and has talked abt how he kills people for money so... his whole past is a secret even to his daughter bc hes just a private person... i suppose also the main one would be his real name (for people who dont know his real legal name isnt actully vicky love, its louis cox! ( louis pronounced louey bc hes french lol)) he started fully going by vicky when his mom died so he just doesnt like to be called louis bc it reminds him of his 'past life' ... hes got alot of secrets huh... these are really the only things he DOESNT want to get out tho, most other things hes private about he doesnt really care if people learn it

[lolita-lollipop]

Hizashi and Aizawa kidnapping a young teenage girl, and her bonding and quickly finding comfort with Hizashi, leaving Aizawa to awkwardly attempt at being super soft and all the more gentle to his sensitive little girl, his heart panging with pain every time she flinches or cowers away from him. “You don’t need to be scared of me, kitten.. please”

your little acts of favoritism weren’t necessarily intentional, you hated both of them. they were your brothers teachers, and whoop dee doo, they kidnapped you. but... you liked hizashi more.

it was just something about him that made you believe he was some form of comfort item, probably because he wasnt brooding, and didnt have a mean face, and he was the first human yud ever seen in this place, that all combined into one and he became your rock, your shoulder to cry on. he was just... so nice, although his quirk was loud, somehow he managed to speak softly with you. it was such a bright contrast to at home where two firey blondes always scream at each other, and your father tries to calm it down.

on your first night ever here, you had tried to jump out the window, and were captured by the thick scarves you once admired, hed lectured you, yelled at yiuu even, all you could see were those red eyes of his, and hear his voice. and he scared you, he scared you so much. i guess it justtranslates to now, first impressions are everything, and to you, he looked like a big scary man who would yell at you.

eventually, you stopped caring about how you hated him, or how you wanted to leave, as you clearly never were. so, instead of glaring at them, or crying, you accepted the fact that he was taking care of you. hizashi, hizashi was taking care of you... aizawa though? no way in hell, he was just so... you'd never seen him with a smile, he never tried to talk to you, he just kinda watched you, and it freaked you out, at some point you started believing he was trying to kill you, don't even ask how you came up with that conclusion.

you just couldn't manage to warm up to hi as you'd done so quickly with hizashi, and it showed. you were always tense when alone with him, like he was going to jump out at you any second and stab you, you didnt talk to him , sometimes you felt so anxious around him that you would outright start crying, shaking in some form of fear, or hide yourself under a blanket. although hizashi was proud that you loved him so much, he knew that this was hurting his husband, that his own little girl was scared of him.

so he would always try to coax you into doing things with him, saying things like "can your papa come and help" or "how about we have papa do this with you while I make lunch?", just trying to get him included so you would feel just as comfortable around him as you were with his own self. Sometimes he just left the room to let you have alone time with him. He’d even lectured his husband about how he always looked angry, and that he has to smile form time to time, and not the creepy “I’m gonna kill a villain” smile.

And so Aizawa started trying, not trying to be like hizashi, even that was too much for him, but trying to be nicer, he was a gentle person when he wanted to be, so this came with ease for him, he would tuck you in at night, read you stories, hold you if you cried, feed you, help you bathe (which you usually liked hizashi to do, and in general, inserted himself as a gentle roger in your life. You would expect taht this would work, that because he was so nice to you, because he was so sweet like hizashi, you would accept him as your father.

But nope! Again, first impressions are everything to you, and now, he was written off as the villain of you story, now, you jsut ran off to papa whenever he was around, and didn’t even give him the chance to hang around you, it just made it worse honestly, because now, not only did he look scary, but he also looked fake, which is never good. Every time he would try to if you, you would clutch onto hizashi for dear life, acting like his hand would do nothing but burn you.

Tears would cloud your vision, and he would pulle back, not wanting to cause you any more pain, and jsut stare in. Pure jealousy at his husband, who cooed and gave you a hug.and guess what? You hugged him back, and hid yourself in his chest, willingly, without a fight, without a tear, instead with a smile, most of the times mic wouldn’t interfere, wbatigg ns this to everyone a safe space for you, a place where you should naturally do things, but sometimes, he would give you little bushes int he right direction. Like disappearing completely for my he house so you’ll be forced to talk to Aizawa.

This is one of those times.

Yo been wandering the house for about ten minutes now, waking up form a nap, to find mic absent from his usual place in the rocking chair at your bedside. It was a little after lunchtime, and they’d only given you a small cup of fruit for breakfast (intentional, from mic), you were fairly hungry, and usually he was there to give you food, but you had no idea where he was, you had heard the… other one on the phone in their shared office, but you did not want to talk to him right now.

Aizawa could tell you were awake by the fact that all of the cats were meowing like crazy, and little pattering footsteps had followed his hearing around, mic had left abruptly, probably some little plan of mischief again, he was hizashi after all. He was just waiting for you to either 1: go back to bed, or 2: come to him for help. Mic had specifically told him to follow these rules for after nap time, so he did. And grew progressively more worried as over twenty minutes, trying to read through his students grading work, too distracted by the urge to go find you to accomplish anything.

His worries dissipated though when he saw your little head poking through the door, cat in hand, confused and tired looking, small tears beginning to prick th corners of your eyes, little sniffling sounds left you. His wha specked up form the desk, you’d given up walking around the whole house, your restarting had slowly pent up, you couldn’t manage to find him, and you were so hungry.

“Oh- hey honey, I didn’t know you were up. Do you need something?” He questioned, smiling intently at you, you just inched back into the door frame, breathing heavier by the moment, your hands shook and your head felt like it was going to explode at any point. Youbcontenoajted runnign back to your room and waiting till mic came out where you could hear him, but your stomach grumbled, reminding you how hungry you really are.

“I’m- im looking for daddy. Where is he.” You spoke, a very hushed tone overtook your words, making them almost inaudible for him. His face sunk slowly, he tougher you were actually gonna come for him, but the he remembered taht patience is key, and that he shouldn’t get mad, because it is t your fault taht you’re just a little sensitive, too fragile to handle more than one attachment, he gets it. He jsut at least wanted you to look at him, instead did your little feet, I’m Ayer if you could meet his eyes the. You would see how much he loves you.

“Oh, he left a. Little while ago. Is there something you need from him? Your papa can give him a call if you want, you could even talk to him!” He exclaimed excitedly, plastering that happy smile across his face to seem more inviting, liek mic had told him to do. He stood out of his chair, rounding up the papers and putting them in his file folders.you tried to sink back furthers, almost disappearing behind the doorway, you shook your head aggressively, almost running off, then yet again, your stomach made another noise, and forced you to stay.

“I- no. I’m- im hungry-“ you spluttered, not caring if it was embarrassing that you were stuttering so much, you just wanted food. And calling mic would just get you a lecture on how you could’ve just asked your papa, the same thing would happen whenever you went to uncnecesary lengths to avoid the man, your daddy would make sure you knew that it made him feel bad, while you’d at there bored. Not caring, at all.

“Oh- well you should’ve told me sooner kitten, if I’d known I would be up already. Cmon, let’s go to the kitchen, your daddy made you some food earlier” he spoke, rising from his chair slowly, you cowered slightly as he walked over, clutching the little kitten right to you for comfort, he mewed and snuggled closer, completely asleep. The man sighed when he saw you backing away from his grasp, he knew you were still scared. But he was just so impatient… he was tired of waiting, he wanted to hold you, even if it was jsut foena few minutes. He needed it feel you there with him.

Is he acted quickly, moving in a matter of seconds, he swooped his arm under your leg, and hooked his other around your torso, pulling you straight up into his grasp. Youu huh froze, his hands felt cold as ice on your skin, like they were burning you, immediately after he started walking, it snapped you out of it and you threw a fit. You dig your fingernails into his skin, and kicked and flailed in a panic, still trying to keep the little kitten in your lap safe. A full blown panic washed over you, clogging all your senses.

The dam holding back tears form your eyes crashed, and immediately you were sobbing, biting at his shoulder to let you go, he tried to rub your back to calm you down a bit, but just made it worse, as his hands felt like living anxiety creeping up and down your spine. He didn’t know what to do, let you ride it out, andkk no possibly have you get sick because of how much your crying in an empty stomach? Or let you down and go straight back to square one.

Your veined felt like pure ice had flooded in them, and it felt liek someone was repeatedly jabbing you in the head with tiny needes, fear was jsut so prominent in your sense, it overcame you, and made you whimper and scream.

“Whoah, breath for me alright? I just want to hold you. I’m not going to hurt you okay? I would never hurt you. Kitten… you don’t have to be scared of me” he spoke, trying to keep a proper computers, he wanted to cry with you, he wasn’t a very soft or emotional man but honestly, he was so upset with himself already, this was jsut pushing him for the edge. You cried, and cried, at some point you weren’t even crying and screaming at him, more with him. He held you close, you’d stopped the struggle almost five minutes ago, letting him hold you. It was odd. It almost felt… nice.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m being stupid again” You alien through your remaining little hiccups, shove my your face into his shirt, smelling the woody scent he carried around with him. He cooed, letting you hide yourself from him, savouring this soft moment was of top priorirty in his head… you jsut looked so sweet, so different from those harsh cries that would sound usually whenever he came around.

Who would think, shouts aizawas hand couldn’t feel nice? The same ones that had just been burning you, the ones that made you scream, felt like a breeze on a spring day, he actually felt warm, he felt like happiness, like contentment.

“No hon, it’s not stupid. Your scared. I know that, we all get scared and it’s not a bad thing, I love you, I really, really love you kitten. Just know that” he continued on with his little speech, leaving down to kiss you in the forehead, Jsut to be suprised when you didn’t flinfh, you were too tired to be scared; and too hungry, plus, he was really warm, the cat had pretty much snuggled up to him already, who says you shouldn’t.

“I- um- I love you… to?” You spoke, more of a question than anything, you’d spent so long Harding him that you didn’t know if you even could love him, it didn’t even feel possible, then again, you litterally cling to hizashi like a koala, and your mental state has relaly said “swoopity swoop” and scattered itself everywhere. Maybe having two comfort items was actually better than one… huh.

“Well, let’s go eat then. All taht crying probably made you tired, I’ll let you watch a movie in my office, you can watch pinto again, I know you love taht one. Cmon, let’s go” he spoke, and started walking again, you cuddled closer to him as he did, smiling slightly at the warmth. Hizashi was very extravagant, exiting, and hyper, this man felt very cool, calm, it was such a dark contrast, but it worked so well. You jsut… you Jsut liked it.

Well… now we’ll just have to wait and see who’s the favorite

———————————————————————————————————

Thank you for requesting! It was super fun to write and had me feeling super happy when I finished :)

I’m thinking about doing yandere todoroki family asks, because I’m litterally in love with @i-cant-sing one… so, requests are open for those if you want to put them in (please do I’m begging)

Anywho, have the most wonderful to days today! Goodbye!

[championrevali]

You said you were looking for writing prompts so how about a reverse AU type of thing where Prince Link enters a Rito archery competition disguised as a Rito (in a rito mask because the King doesn't want him fighting or competing so he does it in secret) and beats Revali (by one point) before disappearing. Now Revali is obsessed with finding out the identity of the Rito who beat him because he may or may not want to settle the score (ie court him.)

Oml I love this so much. I kinda deviated from the og idea a little bit just to work with what was going on in my head. I hope it’s okay. Also thank you to my Revalink discord friends for helping me some ideas for how to link (hehe, link) scenes, i was mega stuck for a hot minute.

I decided to split this into two parts.

(low key should I put this on Ao3?)

Italics is sign language

Word count: 1595

Ship: Revalink, Revali/Link

"Are you sure this will work?" Link asked, surveying the merchants many elixirs.

"Positive! I've tested them me'self. That elixir there will turn you into a Rito. Twenty four hours guaranteed."

Nodding, Link dropped a bag of rupees onto the counter. "I'll take five."

The merchant grinned, inspecting his new riches. "Pleasure doing business with you young man."

Link pocketed the elixirs, and hopped up onto his rented horse. The steed pulled against the reigns willfully, and Link wished Epona wasn't as recognizable as she was.

It wasnt hard to miss his royal steed, and if he had brought her he would be caught for sure.

No, he couldn't be caught. He needed to know whether his nightly training was worth it. He needed to know if he could beat the greatest archers in Hyrule.

~~

Seeing the tall rocky formation from the stable was a great relief to the prince, as the long ride had tired him out. He dropped his horse off, and walked to a nearby pond. He squeezed his eyes shut and drank the elixir.

He probably shouldnt have been as shocked as he was when he looked at his reflection. Golden feathers speckled with light blue covered his whole body. Lifting his hand- or his wing to his light blue beak, he opened and closed his mouth in amazement.

Backing away from the pond, he stumbled a bit on his taloned feet. "How do Ritos walk like this?" Link thought, as he started his way to the village.

~~

The older inspected the small boy up and down. "You're quite small to he in an archery competition... are you sure you can even pull back the string?"

Links feathers puffed up, embarrassed. "Yes I can..."

The Rito laughed. "Whatever you sat kid... What's your name?"

"Link." He said without thinking.

"Ah... same name as the pretty boy prince of Hyrule huh? Not exactly a common name is it?"

Link hesitated. "Right.".

The Rito waved him past the check in, towards the range. "Good luck."

Sighing, releaved, Link went over to pick out a bow. The range supplied bows so that no ones would have an opportunity to cheat.

"These are worthless pieces of crap" a voice announced near Link.

Turning to see who had spoken, Link saw a dark blue Rito, inspecting the bows.

"My bow is far superior to any of these... used bows..." the words dripped from the dark blue Rito's mouth as if he was talking about some muck on the bottom of his shoe.

"Isn't that the point though? That we all have the same quality bows?" Link inquired, curious as to why this Rito found used bows so repulsive.

"Tsk, and I suppose you also believe that it's not about winning it's about having fun." Sarcasm leaked from every word.

Link flushed, choosing to just pick up a bow and walk away. As he walked away he could feel the blue feathered Ritos eyes burning a hole in his back.

~~

Link lined up with the other Rito, feeling utterly dwarfed by their height. He somehow kept his julian height, and was at least a head shorter than most others around him.

The blue Rito he'd ran into before was a few spaces away from him, also looking quite short next to his competitors.

The older Rito he'd talked to earlier stepped in front of the lineup. "The rules are simple. Furthest away from the target is eliminated. Missing the target is automatic disqualification, as is cheating. Good luck."

Taking a deep breath, Link adjusted his stance. This would be where he found out whether all of his training in secret was worth it.

Adjusting his stance, Link lifted the bow. It was heavier than he was used to, but his feathers seemed better adjusted to hold the weight. He pulled back the string, and let the arrow fly.

His arrow slammed in the second outer circle. Link smiled, proud that he was still in the competition.

"Tsk." Link heard to the left of him. That Rito he'd talked to earlier was looking at his target with distaste.

He had hit in the center circle, closer to a bullseye than any of the other targets. Yet he looks disappointed.

"Oh c'mon Revali, you'll get it next time." Teased the Rito next to him.

Link looked away, this Rito was too cocky for Link's taste. He nocked an arrow, preparing for the next round.

~~

Round after round passed, Link becoming more and more comfortable with each arrow.

At last, he and one final Rito, Revali, were the only two left standing. The Rito shot him an overexaggerated, unimpressed look.

"Well I suppose we should just pack it up now... I can't imagine this will be too difficult."

Link clenched his jaw in annoyance.

"Nothing to say oh short one? Very well then." Revali turned back towards the target, tugging on the bow string lightly.

Link shook his head, turning back to the targets as well. He wouldn't let this overconfident Rito ruin this. He took a deep breath, pulling back the string.

Thunk

The echo of an arrow slamming into a tree. But it wasn't Link's arrow.

Revali was staring in shock at his arrow, stuck firmly in a tree a few feet away from his target. Link's own arrow was planted less than an inch from the center.

He had won.

"No! That was a mistake, I demand a redo!" Revali insisted, feathers fluffed up in annoyance. It might have looked cute if Link didn't know it was him the Rito was angry at.

"Revali you missed... meaning you lose... just accept it." A Ritos voice popped up from the side.

Shooting a glare that could kill, Revali slammed the bow back into the stand, and took off in the direction of the village. 

After a moment of awkward silence, Link was crowded in a large mass of Rito congratulating him. He tensed, not used to having to being so crowded. Life in the castle was mostly him doing his duty of preparing to be king someday. His assigned knight and best friend Zelda and his father were the only company he was used to having.

~~

Revali POV

Landing in the flight range, Revali cursed under his breath. "Those ridiculous bows... they're not the right adjustments... it's their fault."

He supposed the small Rito was a good opponent. Certainly was interesting compared to the usual supposed competition he crushed.

The way he held the bow was interesting as well, it resembled the bow hold of a Hylian. Perhaps he grew up near a Hylian settlement. Though that was highly unlikely. Not many Rito strayed from the village that they grew up in. Many would leave the roost and travel for a few years, but they most always returned to the village to let their family grow. 

Revali smiled as an idea came over him. “Perhaps I could convince him to a rematch. Certainly he wouldn’t want anyone questioning the legitimacy of his win.”

Climbing into his hammock, Revali was satisfied that this would solidify his win, and prove that he was still the greatest archer the Rito had ever seen.

~~

The village the next morning was buzzing with news that the great Revali had finally met his match. It took everything in him not to stop and tell the gossipers the truth, that the yellow Rito’s win was nothing but a fluke on the fault of his bow. 

He took a deep breath and steeled himself. Find the Rito first, then prove that it was a mistake. 

“Would you happen to know where that Rito would be? I would like to apologize for my outburst yesterday.” Revali lied through his beak.

“You just missed him.” The gossiper said, looking at him with- Oh dear Hylia that better not be pity he saw in her face. “The lad checked out of the inn not an hour ago, walked in the direction of the stable.”

Nodding, the blue Rito climbed up to one of the landing decks, and flew in the direction of the stable. Surely he would be able to catch his competitor before he got too far away. After all, not all birds had his gale. 

~~

Revali was frustrated. Not only was his competitor not at the stable. But no one had actually seen him leave the stable. The only thing to go by was that apparently his name was Link.

The last sighting of him was when he arrived at the Rito stable, yet no one had seen him leave.

Eventually Revali gave up. Moved on, he claimed. If anyone asked, he would deny that thoughts of the mysterious archer graced his thoughts every day.

And it was definitely because revali was angry about his mess up, not because he wanted to know how soft the others feathers were. It definitely wasn't because he was attractive. No, definitely not.

Shakes head head, Revali turned over in his hammock. It did no good to lose sleep over someone hed never see again.

But here he was, the day before he was to depart for Hyrule castle, thinking about that elusive Rito.

As the winner of first place seemed to be long gone, Revali was supposed to show off his skills to the royalty in Hyrule castle for winning second place. Perhaps king would be impressed and offer him a place in the castle.

Who was he kidding, of course the king would be impressed, he was the great Revali after all.

~~

Cont. In part 2!

If yall enjoyed this and wanna be tagged for part 2, lemme know in the comments.

Thank you for this prompt kasaru_chan! I had so much fun writing it, sorry again that it took so long

~~

@kasaru-chan @silvershadowdragon39 @imofficialbabyuwu

[bnhaficsforthesoul]

Hey , I just found your blog and honestly... I'm a bit of a home for shinsou too 💕👌. Was wondering if you could do like being shinsous s/o with a semi powerful quirk , but getting it in their head that shinsou is losing interest and they think he's met someone else. But really he vvv much still in love , so he finds out and calm them down. He's just like KITTEN, OF COURSE I LOVE YOU, WHAT MADE YOU THINK I DIDNT??!!

Shinsou’s been going out a lot lately

Being busy all night and not really giving you an explanation as to where

You trusted him, but you couldn’t help but worry

Even Denki said hes got great potential to be very popular (especially with girls), and even though he never seems to care you still worry

Cause you love him so much!

But honestly your worrying was for nothing, hes just out training with aizawa

And he doesnt wanna tell you cause one he doesnt want you seeing him make a fool of himself while hes trying to use the binding cloth, and he also wants to surprise you

He knows youll get super excited when you see all his progress, so he wants to show you when he feels fully ready

But then you started avoiding him, hed be coming home all tired from training only for you to not give him any hugs and whatnot

You barely ever texted him

And he was so sad, poor thing didn’t even understand why

But one night you were missing him a bit more than usual so you texted him to come to your dorm when he got back

You threw your phone somewhere across the room so you didnt see that he replied almost immediately

He came soon after

Hes tired and he just wants to go to bed but he wanted to come cuddle with you too so he came, but then you immediately go

“Do you still love me?”

And hes like huh? Ofc?

“It’s just… you’re always gone at night, and you don’t tell me where. Did you meet someone else?”

He laughs and youre like ‘dont laugh im serious!!’

“Kitten, of course I love you - there’s no one else. I wanted to surprise you, but I’ve been training with Aizawa.”

“I already knew that dummy”

“But I wanted to wait to show you my progress! I want you to be proud of me.”

And then you feel kinda bad cause hes working hard and you assumed he was cheating or something

‘Oh… im sorry…’

He cant be too mad, he probably should have told you something

“Its okay kitten, but remember - I love you. Only you.”

[ghosty-files]

after a 7 month wait, here it is! chapter 4 of Business as Usual

read it here on ao3

Walking back to Shane shouldn’t have felt like a mile long, but it did anyway. Sara’s words raced through Ryan’s head at the speed of light, each echoing throughout his mind like the first time he heard them. Shane couldn’t like him, right? They were bros, that was literally part of their branding for Christ’s sake! Ryan rubbed his eyes, and sat down at his desk.

Shane immediately turned his chair to face him, the swivel seeming far too playful for the current situation. “So,” he said. “What did Sara say?”

Ryan shrugged. “Not too much.” Lie. “Just told me to tell you that she still cares for you, and that she just needs some time to process.” Not a total lie. “Something about me having time to process and she didn’t.” The exact opposite of that statement is true.

Shane sighed, but Ryan couldn’t tell if it was relief or disappointment, or a strange mix of both. He nodded, staring off at Sara. “Well at least she doesn’t hate me.”

Ryan cracked a smile and patted Shane on the back. “There you go. Look at the bright side. She’ll come around, I know she will. Hell, she’s been with you for some time now, and demon or not, that doesn’t make all that go away. It just adds a new layer to your personality.”

Shane gave a small smile in return, before tensing up again. “Did you guys talk about anything else?”

Ryan tried not to freeze, it would just give him away. “I mean, I asked how her day was, and the shoot she just did, but not much else.”

Shane kept his eyes fixed on Ryan’s face, trying to read him on if he was telling the truth or not. The paranoid part of Ryan’s brain was thinking that maybe Sara’s conversation was a trick and Shane actually told her and was using her to see Ryan’s reaction.

Shane looked away, whether he was content with his reading, Ryan didn’t know, but there was relief flowing through him when Shane looked away.

“Ok,” Shane said. He took a breath in and released it slowly, running a hand through his hair.

There was something unsettling about knowing a demon can get worried about normal human stuff like relationship problems. If he let himself spiral, which he had many times when contemplating Shane’s demon status, he would fall into a pit of worry regarding whether the universe is even remotely safe if powerful beings like demons still had the emotions of humans.

Or maybe it was just Shane. Maybe he was the exception.

Ryan stopped himself, feeling like his thoughts were starting to have a double meaning. He couldn’t let his mind go back to his conversation with Sara. He’d get nothing done just dwelling on the fact that Shane might have a crush on him. How would he even address it? How wou-

“Ryan!”

Ryan snapped out of his trance, looking back at Shane. “Huh?”

“You were staring at your keyboard for like five minutes, not moving. What’s going on? Are you sure Sara didn’t tell you anything else?”

Ryan sighed. So much for not bringing it up. “She may have mentioned something, and it’s on my mind and I know we said no secrets but also it’s technically your secret but it might not be your secret because I don’t know if it’s even real or if Sara’s reading into things and - and I’m rambling. Ok.” Ryan took a deep breath, he only had one solid option, and that was to outright ask Shane.

“She thinks you have a crush on me.”

Shane froze, standing still in the same way Ryan had a few moment prior. “She said what now?”

“She said that part of the reason she’s backing away for a bit is to let you figure out anything about whether or not you like me or not. And like, you don’t have to say anything it’s just on my mind.”

Shane stayed silent, a common theme in the past 24 hours, as he contemplated his thoughts. “Ok,” he said simply.

“Ok?”

“Yeah, ok. I honestly don’t know what to think right now, so just, ok.” Shane shrugged, going back into his normal state.

Ryan looked down, face twisted in bewilderment. Ok? That’s it? No ‘Yes Ryan I have a crush on you’ or ‘No Ryan that’s ridiculous’? Just ok?

“Oh stop making that face you were the one that said I could say nothing at all.” Shane scolded, playfully swatting Ryan’s shoulder. “Now get to work, you still have to research that asylum you want us to go to. I’m not going to see some basic ass ghosts without any actual information.”

Shane turned back to his computer, finishing up some editing for other Buzzfeed projects, and maybe some Ruining History if he was lucky.

Ryan shook his head to sober up, he felt drunk on his own thoughts. The uncertainty of Shane liking him felt both confirmed and completely tangled at the same time. Was his silence his way of saying he had actual thoughts and feelings he needed to work out and he actually had a crush on Ryan. Or was it because he was trying to figure out how to make sure Sara knew that he didn’t have a crush on Ryan. Or maybe he was considering Ryan as a potential romantic partner for the first time and he needed to consider it if Sara was giving him the opportunity.

It took all his energy not to just bang his head on the desk right then and there. Why did life have to become so complicated? Ryan’s a simple man, he likes his sports, ghosts (debatable), and hanging out with his friends. That should be easy. Now the only thing that could remain easy was sports.

“At least I have sports,” Ryan muttered to himself.

“What are you talking about?” Shane asked, seeming quite confused by Ryan’s sudden change in conversation.

“I was just thinking about sports,” he replied, not confident enough to actually tell the truth but not scared enough to lie all the way.

Shane laughed and shook his head at Ryan. He didn’t seem at all bothered, simply working the way he usually does.

Ryan stopped himself. There was no way he was going to get anything done if he just kept focusing on Shane. Sure, Sara got into his head a bit, but she could always be wrong and things would just stay normal. It’s rarely the worst case scenario.

Proud of himself for rationalizing the situation, Ryan went back to researching the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, letting his only worries be whether or not he wanted to call it a “Lunatic Asylum” or just “Asylum”.

[bodhimcbodeface]

I wrote me some very soft Build boys, as a sort of response to @cheesethesecond‘s fic

Set after the finale.

Banjou isn’t sure at first what woke him up. The cold, maybe, or the traffic outside this crappy room they’ve been renting, or his own head; he was never all that good at sleeping through the night, even before. He stretches his toes out to the edge of the bed, giving a satisfied groan, then rolls onto his side to try again.

That’s when he hears the whimpering.

Sento is turned to the wall, knees curled tight against his chest, trembling almost imperceptibly. Almost. The idiot keeps trying to be unobtrusive, and Banjou kind of wants to roll his eyes, and kind of wants to punch him in his stupid face, but mostly just wants to hold him tight enough to squeeze all the hurt out of him.

“Hey.” He offers a whisper, trying not to startle him. “Hey. Sento.”

Sento stiffens at his name. “Go back to sleep.”

“Sento,” Banou repeats, softly but a little more insistent. He reaches out to touch his shoulder, and feels Sento flinch away from him.

“That bad, huh?”

“I said go back to sleep.”

Banjou prickles despite himself. “Yeah, maybe I don’t want to.”

“Please,” says Sento, his voice tight. “Go to sleep, Banjou.”

“You go to sleep!”

“I’m not…” Sento sighs, and, exasperated, rolls over to face him.

Banjou stares at him in shock. Even in the dim light he can see that Sento’s face is pale and tear-streaked, aching and shattered.

He blinks. His voice comes out as a whisper. “Sento. What did you dream about?”

Sento twists up his face and sobs.

Banjou catches him, pulling him into his chest effortlessly, cupping a hand around the back of his head. Even as he does so, he feels his muscles tense with anger because none of this is right. Sento should never look like this, should never feel like this. He should never have been built for the purpose of being broken, should never have been made to carry the weight of everyone he couldn’t save. He should never have taken the world onto his shoulders— but then again, he wouldn’t be Sento if he didn’t.

Tense and fierce and protective, he wraps his arms around Sento a little tighter, and lets him cry into his chest until the tears soak through shirt, until he finds himself shaking, too, shaking with grief and rage for the broken man who built them all up.

“Banjou,” says a muffled voice from his chest. “Ah--you’re hurting me.”

He takes a breath, forcing his arms to loosen. “Sorry.”

“You need to be more careful, Musclebrain,” Sento says, and the slight smile in his voice takes a load off Banjou’s chest.

“I didn’t realize you were so delicate,” he retorts.

Sento laughs weakly, lingering a moment longer in Banjou’s arms before shifting himself up so they’re lying face to face. Banjou reaches out to wipe a tear from Sento’s eye, and is relieved when Sento lets him. He runs a thumb beneath the other eye then, slowly, patiently, waiting for him to speak.

“In my dream...” he says after a moment, “In my dream I was Katsuragi. I was hurting our friends. I was hurting you.”

“That’s not real, Sento, not anymore. None of it ever happened.”

“Then how come I can still see their faces?”

Banjou can only nod, because he knows all too well what it is to be haunted by ghosts: Kasumi, fading away in his arms; children screaming in the street at the start of the war; Sento, crying out in pain for three damn days in a useless hospital; Sento beaten to a pulp again; Sento on the ground, eyes wide with the realization that he’d killed a man, and vomiting in the sink after Banjou took him home, and sitting on the edge of the bed, his only movement to shrug off the blanket Misora had laid over his shoulders...

Banjou shakes his head to stop his thoughts running wild, then takes either side of Sento’s face with increased urgency.

“So it happened,” he says. “So it’s real enough. But that’s not who you are anymore, okay? Because if that happened, then so did everything else, so did everything that makes you Sento.”

“That doesn’t make up for it.”

“Of course it does! Please, I can’t keep watching you...You undid the damage. You undid the war. Hell, you saved the world, Sento, isn’t that enough?”

“I...I don’t...”

“And you saved me.”

And maybe it’s selfish, but Banjou hopes that might mean something more to him, more than the damage undone, more even than the world.

Sento kisses him, proving him right.

He smiles wide under Sento’s lips, relieved and proud and above all grateful for the privilege of being there for him.

Sento pulls away. “Stop smiling like that and actually kiss me back,” he says.

“Make me.”

“Tomorrow,” he says, settling his head against Banjou’s shoulder. It’s clear that exhaustion has taken him, and he himself feels drained as well; maybe they’ll both sleep till morning. “Tomorrow I’ll make sure you pay me back for it.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” says Banjou, wrapping an arm around him, glad to feel the steadying rise and fall of his chest.

“Thank you,” he says, his eyes closed, his face looking almost peaceful. “Thank you, Banjou.” It’s clear from the way he speaks that the teasing has stopped.

Banjou doesn’t think he’ll ever quite understand how he’s the one being thanked.

[maxhoemo]

Chicago - 1923 

It was a cold, crisp evening in February. The snow blew in the harsh wind, cutting the skin like a knife. Women struggled to trudge up the sidewalk, turning up the collars of their fur coats over their eyes. 

Ian Carter, from the comfort of his automobile, laughed as he lit up a cigar. “Ya’ imagine walkin’ in this, Chet?” he asked one of his goons.

“Ech. No way...” The sleazy right-hand shook his head. 

“Come on boss,” said his driver. “Don’t ya’ feel a little sorry for em’?”

“I aint got no sympathy for a dame in a mink coat. She can afford not to walk, she’s just too stupid. Or proud... I’ll tell ya’ who I feel sorry for... Them,” He pointed out the window. A handful of people stood at the corner. This particular corner was well known to a certain segment of society. “Hookers and Gunsels... Them’s the ones with no choice.”

“Ya’ got a big heart, boss.”

“I do. Don’t I?” Ian agreed, leaning back in his seat. “Speaking of my big heart, after dinner I’ve got a certain act of, uhh, charity... I wanna conduct over on 11th. If you know what I mean.”

------

“Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

“I’m sure you don’t....” Max answered, a little more snippy then he intended. He hated cleaning up after these drunks! But he knew he had to help with the family business... And earn money other ways... Prohibition had not been kind to his family. His grandfather’s Australian style pub had been a huge hit when he’d first come over, but the outlawing of alcohol had nearly sent them all to the poor house. Max had been wearing the same stained old work shirt for a year now. Maybe longer. And those thugs... Those thugs who sold his father hooch at jacked up prices and threatened him and skimmed his earnings...! Those dogs got to live the high life! It made Max’s blood boil! He didn’t even notice how rough he was suddenly scrubbing the table. Shaking his head, he threw the rag back into the bucket and went to get some clean water.

As he was filling his bucket, he heard a sudden commotion. He raced out from the back. It was those goons! Coming to threaten his father again. “Hey!” Max called. “Leave him alone!” He tried pulling his dad back, out of their grip but it was no use.

“Max, please, stay out of this...” His father begged. 

“No! I’m not gonna let them hurt you again!” 

“Ya’ think yer tough, daffy boy?” One goon asks. Max was about to make a smart remark when he found his face inches away from the end of a switchblade. 

“Don’t!” His father cried.

Max was just frozen in place.

------

“Oh Man! That was some good corn!”

“Right here,” Ian instructed his driver. “I want this place for myself...” He adjusted his jacket before stepping inside. His chest puffed out and his men on either side of him. He didn’t expect to step into the middle of a commotion.

“Hey!” he shouted. His loud booming voice enough to intimidate the two goons.

“Shit...” One mumbled.

“Hey...” The other spoke up. “This place is Vinny’s territory.”

“Not anymore it aint. Now make tracks. Unless the two of you want a couple of Chicago overcoats, huh?”

“Vinny’ll hear about this...” One threatened as they left.

“Yeah. Tell him all about it...” Ian turned back to the owner. “You okay?”

The younger one, he just shook his head and looked down. 

“What kid, no thank you?” Ian teased. But the boy turned around and walked away. 

Max just wanted all of these types of people out of his life. Though he knew that was impossible as long as his family was on the wrong side of the law. He sat down at an empty table. Running his hands through his hair, he let out a deep exhale. He took a cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his lips. But as luck would have it, he was out of matches.

“Need a light?”

Max looked up. It was him. “Go away.”

Ian didn’t respond. As usual, Ian did what he pleased. Taking a seat beside Max he lit his cigarette for him with his lighter.

Max took a puff, raising an irritated eyebrow at the man. The smoke billowing around his delicate features. 

“Look,” Ian said. “I just wanna talk to you.”

“Well, I don’t wanna talk to you.”

“Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

Max’s face fell. “No,” he hissed in a stern voice.

“Sure I do,” Ian went on. Flashing his famous smile. “Up on the street corner. I wouldn’t forget a pretty face like yours.”

Max clenched his teeth, narrowing his eyes at Ian. “You’re making fun of me!?” He slammed his hand down on the table. “That how rich cunts get their kicks?”

“No, no. You’ve got me all wrong.” Ian placed his hand over Max’s. “It’s not like that. I just mean, you work so hard. For your family. I wanna help you.”

“Help me? I don’t...”

“Look. I know Vinny cut your pops a bad deal. Sendin’ his chopper squad around here. And, well... I just can’t stand to see human suffering.”

Max rolled his eyes. “Sure...”

“What do you charge up there? 25? 30 cents a go?”

“Kick off...!” Max pulled his hand away, his voice cracking.

Shit... Ian wasn’t trying to upset the little daisy.... “Hey, hey. Shh.. Shh...” He grabbed the spindle of Max’s chair with one hand and pulled it closer. Their two seats now practically touching. “I’m just saying, you shouldn’t have to do that.”

“Why the hell would you care!?” Max shouted in a whisper. Obviously this was not the kind of conversation he wanted anyone to overhear.

“Because...” Ian’s eyes shifted back and forth. He looked around the room before leaning in closer. His own voice dropping to a whisper as well. “What’s your name?”

“Max...” he whispered back. Still annoyed, but confused on top of it.

“Max...” Ian leaned in closer. Whispering softly into Max’s ear. “You’re hiding something... Well, so am I...” He ran his hand up Max’s thigh, causing him to jump. He squeezed it, less than an inch away from touching his crotch. Max’s breath hitched in his throat. “More than just how you bring in the dough... Am I onto something...?”

Max didn’t answer.

“You got thoughts in your head. And feelings. And you try and hide em’. But it’s hard, aint it Max?” Ian’s soft whisper. His breath against his ear. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He bit down on his lip. “I’m the same way...” Max’s dick twitched. He cursed himself silently. Crossing his legs, Ian retracted his hand. 

“W-what are you going on about....?”

“I want to make you an offer.”

“What...?” He turned to look at him.

“How would you like to never work again? What if you could have everything you ever wanted? Just come home with me. You’ll have everything you could ever need.”

Max’s eyes studied Ian for a moment, before he pursed his lips and leaned away. “I am not interested in being your sex slave.”

“No,” Ian laughed. “Dollface. Ya’ got it all wrong. You don’t gotta do anything. You don’t even have to touch me.”

Max raised an eyebrow. He couldn’t make sense of this guy. Nothing in this world was for free. Max had learned that long ago.

“I just want someone around. Someone I can relate to. To talk to... To... Look at... To...” He struggled to articulate it. “...Keep me company.”

“That’s really all you want...?”

“Swear to God.”

Max was silent for a moment. He seriously considered the man’s offer. Who didn’t want to live the high life? Be one of the lucky ones? Of course it was tempting... But these were thugs. They were dangerous. And if Max had learned anything it was that they were not to be trusted. And besides... “My family needs me.”

“You’re family’ll be safer than they ever were before.”

“How so?”

“Look. That’s what I came here for in the first place. This speakeasy here. This is valuable territory to me. I want it. And that’s all I want. Me and my boys will protect your family. And we’ll give em’ a fair price on the merchandise. And I don’t need no cut.”

“Well, I find that all a little hard to believe.”

“Max. All I’m interested in is taking this place out of the control of that putz. That’s my only motivation.”

“Oh really? It seemed more like you were here to chat me up.”

“You? Nah. You’re just a little bonus,” Ian flashed him that smile of his again. “You in or...”

“Well... I...”

“You look awful hungry. You know I just had this real nice steak and toast. But hell... I could eat again...”

Max frowned. What a sleeze-ball. Max lived entirely off of soup. And even that had been tight lately.... This guy was using everything he could against him. But... What an offer... He could only imagine the way these guys ate. And did he really mean that? He wouldn’t have to touch him? Not do anything at all? It didn’t make any sense. He couldn’t really just be lonely. What if this was all some kind of trick? What if they killed him? Max couldn’t really think of any reason they would have to do that. But these were thugs. Maybe they just got their jollies off that way. But then again... Ian hadn’t hurt anyone... He hadn’t threatened anyone. Maybe Max had them pegged all wrong. After all, he and his family made their money illegally too... Besides. Going home to a leftover pot of broth was not appealing. He couldn’t live in regret over such an oppurtunity. Even if Ian was a phoney, he could at least see for himself. “Umm... Well... Maybe I’ll give it a go. A small go. But if I change my mind... You’ve gotta bring me right back home. As soon as I ask, got it?”

“Of course. You’re a free bird, Max.”

“Well then, I suppose I accept your offer. For now.”

Ian grinned and held out his hand, which Max shook. Was he making a huge mistake...?

[antihero-writings]

In Plain Sight –Pandora Hearts Fic for Phmonth18 Golden Trio Week – Day/Prompt 3: Friendship (Full fic)

Fic Title: In Plain Sight

Fic Synopsis: When Break hides Gilbert’s favorite Christmas ornament somewhere in the Rainsworth manor, the Golden Trio must spend the afternoon looking for it

Notes: I originally wrote this for the prompt “Ornaments” in an alphabetical Christmas prompt list my friends and I did last year. However, nobody got to read it last year, and since I didn’t get the chance to write anything for the first week of phmonth18, I wanted to at least post something, and decided this worked well for the Golden Trio! Especially since Christmas is fast approaching. I think it works best for the day 3 prompt: Friendship. I hope you like it! I had a lot of fun writing this, and am rather proud of how it turned out! I would really appreciate it if you left a comment to let me know if you enjoyed it!

I posted the entire thing here, but you can also read this on Ao3. It’s under the same title, by I_prefer_the_term_antihero

P.S. This is a repost of an old fic!

Fic:

“You’re the tallest, Gil, you should put the star on top!”

“Ooh! It looks yummy! Like a big cookie!”

“It’s not a cookie, Stupid Rabbit!”

It was a few days before Christmas, and the trio was at the Rainsworth manor. Finally, everything was ready for the holiday; a fire was dancing in its place, the stockings were all lined up on the mantle, and they had just put the finishing touches on the tree. The only one who hadn’t been informed about the festive season, was the sky outside; it had been raining for the past few weeks. There was a chill in the air, it was frosty, but snow hadn’t quite come yet. Still, they made the most of their time indoors.

“Perfect!” Oz exclaimed.

Oz Vessalius was the fifteen-year-old heir to the Vessalius dukedom, but after his escape from the Abyss that year, when he wasn’t off on adventures, and missions, he spent most of his time at the Rainsworth’s.

“It’s so pretty, Onii-chan!”

On account of the ten-year gap, Oz’s sister, Ada, was older than Oz now, but, no matter what, she would never stop seeing him as her older brother. She was on Christmas break from Lutwidge Academy, and more than happy to spend it at the Rainsworths, with her brother. She had, of course, brought her two cats—Snowdrop and Kitty—with her, (which Gilbert maintained a healthy distance from, due to his phobia of cats).

“The Rainsworths will have the best-decorated tree in town!”

Oscar, their uncle, was spending the afternoon with his niece and nephew too. He was a bearded, bespectacled man, with the same blonde hair and green eyes as the rest of his family. At the moment, he was sitting on one of the couches, with a cup what he called ‘tea’, but which the rest of them guessed probably had something stronger in it.

“I can’t take all the credit, Gil and Alice helped a little,” Oz joked.

“‘A little!’”

Gilbert was Oz’s servant; a dark-haired man, who often appeared cold and reserved, but who was rather sensitive, and a worrywart. He still sometimes acted as though they were only a year apart in age too, despite the fact that he was now ten years older than his master.

“Yeah, manservant!” Alice challenged, “More like we did all the work!”

“I was just teasing!”

“Well,” Sharon had a way of returning things to order with her calm and proper words, “you all did a wonderful job.”

Sharon was the heiress to the Rainsworth dukedom, and looked like a thirteen-year-old girl, though was really in her twenties or thirties—(they knew better than to ask her exact age). Her chestnut hair was usually tied back into a kind of half-ponytail, and, as always, she outmatched them all on style points; today it was with a dress of a wintery blue that looked as if she was trying to encourage the snow to fall. As per usual, she held a cup of tea in one hand—peppermint, she had informed them, for the Christmas season—and a pastry in the other. She was sitting at a small round table on the other side of the room, with Reim—duke Barma’s bespectacled, hard working, servant, who spent more time at the Rainsworth’s than anywhere else, with his two best friends—Sharon and Break.

“Well, I’m beat,” Alice stretched and yawned, “Seaweed-head, when are you going to make me some meat?”

Most Chains (creatures from the Abyss) didn’t look like Alice did; like a fourteen-year-old girl, with floor length brown hair, and an almost cat-like physique—(though it was a giant rabbit she often turned into). Also unlike other illegally contracted Chains, she did not have a thirst for human blood, although she did have a particular love for meat, as well as almost anything edible.

“I suppose I can make you something, now that we’ve finished,” Gil sighed.

“Oh? Have you now?” they turned to see Sharon’s servant, Xerxes Break, grinning as he poured himself another cup of tea. “Are you sure nothing’s…” he leaned back against the table, “missing?”

Break was a red-eyed, white-haired man, also much older than he looked. Even those close to him would say he was a bit of an acquired taste; his love for teasing, the creepy doll on his shoulder, and his general lack of regard for other people and their feelings, made it difficult for those subject to his mischiefs—such as Gilbert—to acquire any kind of affection for him.

Gilbert froze, turning his head slowly to the tree. His eyes immediately found the empty space where a certain ornament had been.

“Break!” he shouted, spinning back to him, “Must you do this every year?!”

“Let an old man have his fun.” Break grinned.

“I believe he must, Gilbert-sama,” Sharon answered Gilbert’s question, nonchalantly taking a sip of tea before continuing, “It has become something of a tradition.”

“I should have spent Christmas with he Nightrays this year,” Gilbert grumbled, reluctance in his motions as he began to pick up books, and other objects around the room, as if searching.

“You’re so mean,” Break chided playfully, then spoke a little more seriously, knowing Gilbert had no intentions of spending much time with his adoptive family, and real brother, “You’d rather spend Christmas with the sewer rat, than us?”

Gil gave him a death glare.

“Sorry…but what’s a tradition?” Oz asked, turning to Sharon and Break.

He wouldn’t admit it, but sometimes, especially with things like this, the ten-year gap could make Oz feel like an outsider.

“Every year Break takes Gilbert-sama’s favorite ornament,” Sharon explained, “And hides it somewhere in the manor.”

“Ooh! That sounds like fun!”

“It’s not fun, Oz!” Gilbert hollered at his master, “It’s a waste of a perfectly good afternoon! Not to mention annoying, and rude!”

Break laughed. Gil had yet to learn his outrageous reactions were what made this sort of thing so fun for the prankster.

“Don’t worry, Gil!” Ada bounded up to him, “I’ll help you look!”

Gilbert flushed, “T-Thank you.”

“What does it look like, Gil?” Ada asked.

He looked at Oz, then turned back to Ada, and explained it quietly enough that only she could hear.

She nodded, beaming, and began to look in a different part of the room.

“What’s the matter, Gil?”—Gil gasped as his master appeared suddenly at his other side—“You don’t want me to know what it is?” Oz’s laugh faded into a more puzzled expression when Gil averted his eyes, turning redder.

“It’s a secret, Onii-chan!” Ada answered for him, “You’ll see when we find it!”

He didn’t get the chance to ask anything more, because Alice broke in, having been observing all their interactions,

“Does…Does this mean I won’t get my meat?”

“Uh huh,” Gilbert sighed, “That’s exactly what it means.”

“No! I will not allow it!” Alice shook her head, and whirled around on Break, pointing at him in an accusatory manner, “Clown! Return Seaweed-head’s stupid ornament his instant!”

“It’s not stupid, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Aren’t you a spoilsport?” The Mad Hatter teased, then the doll on his shoulder, Emily, finished,

“Why should I listen to some dumb bunny?”

Alice growled, her hands clenching into fists. She spun to Gilbert, declaring as she ran up to him,

“Then I won’t rest until I find that ornament! With the great Alice-sama on your side, you cannot fail!”

“Sure you won’t just get in the way?”

She kicked him in the shin, then crossed her arms, “You’d be lost without me, Seaweed-head.”

“Don’t kick me, Stupid rabbit!” he rubbed his leg, “Now go look for it over there!” he stamped his injured foot back down and pointed to the opposite corner of the room, (to which she quickly ran, proceeding to tear her designated space apart in a matter of seconds.)

“Is this ornament really all that important, Gil? I mean, we have lots of—”

“Yes!” he answered before his master could finish, “it is!”

Oz sighed, knowing how attached his servant could get to things, “Alright. So…is us helping against the rules?” he asked, watching Alice destroy the room in search of it, Ada calmly remove things, and put them back where they were meant to go, and Gil as a mix of the two.

“Don’t you think we would have stopped them if it was, Oz-kun?”

Sharon shook her head, “It doesn’t matter who finds it, watching him search is the fun part.” Her mischievous side was showing; most of the time she was this prim and proper lady, but being close to Break had its effects.

“That’s right; the more people searching, the funnier it is when they can’t find it,” Break sang. “Though, tell me, Ojousama,” he turned to his mistress “are you merely saying that because you wagered he’d find it early—before 18:00?” he asked knowingly, sitting up on the table—(Reim gave him a look that could only be interpreted as: can-you act-any-less-like-a-servant?)

They turned to the clock—it was 15:00.

“Why do you want to know, Break?” his mistress asked with a tone of false interest, “Are you afraid your skills as a prankster have gone down with age?” she patted her mouth innocently with a napkin.

“What do you take me for, Ojousama?” he smirked, crossing his legs, narrowing his eyes at Gilbert, “He’ll need all the help he can get.”

Gilbert returned to him an even more murderous look.

“You… betted on this?”

“All part of the tradition, Oz-kun,” Break mentioned, stealing a mini pastry from Reim’s plate—(the incense was more than evident on Reim’s face, and probably why Break did it).

“It’s not money we wagered, though; If I win, Break has to swear off sweets over Christmas—as well as make me a lavish dessert full of those sweet things he can’t have. And if Break wins, I have to buy him an equally lavish amount of extra Christmas candy and sweets.”

“Nice! Break, I didn’t know you could bake!”

“He really can’t,” Sharon chuckled, “But it’s fun to see what he comes up with.”

Break glared at her.

“So… is this how you bet every year?”

“Sometimes it’s different. But it’s usually something to the effect of giving Break a taste of his own medicine…Though I seem to recall one year, I wanted Break to do this dance I had heard of in a book, if he lost. I believe it was called ‘Futterwacken.’”

“That’s a weird name for a dance!” Oz laughed, “So? How did that go?

“I suppose it is,” she smiled, “That was one of the tamer punishments, but, when he did lose, he refused—rather blatantly.”

“Really?!” he turned to Break.

“How many times must I tell you? I have no talent for dancing.”

“Truly, as a servant of the Rainsworth Dukedom, it would be better fitting that you learned,” she shook her head, then turned back to Oz, “Anyway, after that, we thought the chance to take away his candy was rather enjoyable.”

“Aw, I want to join the bet!”

Gilbert looked affronted, but before he could speak, Oz continued, boyish excitement simmering in his tone,

“Say, what if, if Break loses, I get to eat his candy instead?!”

Sharon and Break glanced at each other.

“Let me ask you something, Oz-kun;” Break set down his tea, “Are you willing to risk the consequences of such a wager?”

“Ehh…consequences?”

“Why of course. I couldn’t give little Oz-kun the chance of stealing my candy without the proper torment in store if he lost.”

“Eh…” Oz knew just how mean Break could get, and that this could very well turn into a prank war that ended in actual blood, “I think I’ll pass.”

“I always said you were smarter than you looked,” the Mad Hatter picked up his tea again.

“Maybe you could join in by helping me look, instead of encouraging them, Oz!” Gilbert whirled on him.

“Aww, do I have to?” the fifteen-year-old groaned.

“Oz!”

Oz turned to the masterminds, as if silently asking for them to give him an excuse not to.

“Hey, Oz-kun is sharp,” Break began, then Emily added,

“Probably smarter than these three put together!”

—two of the aforementioned three gave him what can only be described as ‘fight-me’ faces, and Ada looked disheartened—Break took no notice, and finished,

“So that depends; whose side are you on?”

“Well,” Oz thought for a moment, then mused, grinning, “it would be fun to see Break trying to swear of candy!”

“Is that so?” Break’s eye narrowed.

“In any case, why isn’t Reim-san helping?” he shifted the focus. “You’re not the kind of person to sit back while others are in trouble”

Reim sighed, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “While that may be true, these two are often harsher with me, than others. If I help you, I have a feeling I shall pay for it in some way later,” he shot them an icy look, “dearly.”

“Whatever do you mean, Reim-san?” Sharon asked innocently. “We thought you enjoyed our company.”

“Yeah, it’s only because you’re our favorite, Reim-san,” Break gave a fake sappy voice.

“Then pick a new favorite!”

“That’s not how it works! You have a lifetime guarantee!”

“Sharon,” it was Ada who spoke. She had been focused on searching on the mantelpiece, and inside the stockings, “Why are there nine stockings?”

“What do you mean, Ada?” Oz asked, stepping over to her.

“Well, I was just thinking; there’s me, Onii-chan, Uncle, and Alice,”—Alice looked annoyed at Ada mentioning her name—“since we’re staying here for Christmas,” she pointed at each of the stockings in turn, “and these belong to Sharon-sama, Break, Duchess Rainsworth-sama, and Reim-san, right? But who does this last one belong to?” she held the bottom of the last one, careful not to pull it off the mantle.

They turned to Break and Sharon, who glanced at each other, their mischievous grins fading into more somber, reminiscent expressions.

“It was Break’s idea,” Sharon answered.

“Well, I can’t take all the credit—“

“It’s for my mother…That has become something of a tradition as well. We just thought it would be nice, to have something to remember her by during the Christmas season.”

The tone in the room quieted; the rest of them knew that Shelly was Sharon’s mother, who had died sometime after Oz’s coming of age ceremony.

“That’s…actually really sweet,” Oz noted, “Break, I’m surprised you thought of it!”

“You think you’re cute, don’t you? And you say that like I’m cruel.”

“Well…” Oz rubbed the back of his neck, smiling nervously, trying to formulate a non- insulting answer in his mind.

“I think what Oz is trying to say,” Reim started out gently, then finished harshly, “Is that it’s high time you realized you can be a jerk, Xerxes!”

“Well, I wouldn’t say jerk’…” Oz began.

“I would,” Gil mumbled.

“My…I cant believe that you all….” Break began softly, then Emily jeered,

“Just figured that out now!”

The anger was evident on all of their faces.

“Really, why are you all ganging up on me,” Break grinned, without a hint of hurt in his voice, “when you should be focusing on the task at hand?”

“Because it’s your fault we’re in this mess!” Gilbert shouted, then ran his hand frustratedly through his hair, observing the mess they had made of the room, before demanding, “Is it in this room?!”

“Given up already, have you?” Emily teased.

Gilbert clenched his hands into fists, biting back a retort.

“Did anyone see him leave the room?!”

Everyone looked at Gilbert blankly, or up at the ceiling, trying to think if they had, realizing they had no idea, and knew full well Sharon could have used Eques to transport him when their backs were turned anyways. Gilbert put his hands on his hips, sighing at their silence “Alright. We have a whole manor to look through, it’s best we move on from this room,” he paused, turning again to Break, with malice in his eyes, “Right?”

“Sure, kiddo!” Emily replied, and he gave the fakest grin yet.

Gilbert gritted his teeth, then shook his head, directing them,

“Let’s split up; Ada, you go down the left hall, Stupid Rabbit, you take the right. I’ll go downstairs.”

“I won’t let you down, Seaweed-Head!” Alice sped down the hall, not even searching, as if she had forgotten the task she’d been given.

Ada nodded, “Come on, Snowdrop, Kitty!” she called to her cats.

Oz sighed, “Alright, fine. I’ll help too.”

Gilbert smiled, about to thank him, when Oz added,

“But I expect to be rewarded for my troubles!”

His servant rolled his eyes.

“I kinda need to know what it looks like, though, don’t I, Gil? You seemed to want to keep it a secret earlier.”

“You’ll…um….You’ll know it when you see it,” Gilbert looked anywhere but at his master.

Oz sighed, putting his hands on his hips, “Really? That kinda makes things harder, you know.”

“Oh, not up to the challenge, are you Oz-kun?” Break goaded.

“No, no, I can do it! I just feel like we’re not addressing a key part of the puzzle here!”

With that Gilbert pulled him out of the room and into the search.

Gilbert was right; it did seem like a bit of a waste of an afternoon; exhausting wasn’t the only word that came to mind after rifling through each room one by one, with no clue as to where it might be. Especially because the feeling began growing in them that Gilbert was way too attached to things, as well as that Break was, indeed, a jerk. They didn’t know how much time had passed before they met up again in the hall, everyone hanging their heads in shame and disappointment.

“What should we do?” Ada asked quietly.

“We can’t let the clowny bastard win!” Alice slammed a fist into her other palm to emphasize her point.

“That’s right!” Gilbert agreed, “For years I had to put up with his constant teasing, it’s high time we got him back!”

“I don’t think losing the bet is really going to make him stop. I mean, he’s lost before, right?”

“You don’t have to be so blunt about it!” Gilbert complained.

“Sorry,” Oz shrugged.

In the moment of silence that followed, Ada’s cat started rubbing against Oz’s leg, as if trying to comfort him.

“What do you think, Snowdrop?” Oz asked jokingly, picking up his sister’s cat, (Gilbert eyed it, a whine developing in his throat, scooching away), “Do you have any idea where it is?”

Oz gasped.

“What is it, Onii-chan?”

Tied into the cat’s collar was a ribbon, attached to a little ornament. He pulled it free and placed the cat on the floor (it meowed and padded away).

The other three gasped in turn, leaning in to get a better look at it.

“That bastard!” Gilbert slammed his fist into the wall behind him. “He knew I wouldn’t go near your cats!”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, “leave it to Break to take the cheap shot.”

“What are we waiting for?!” Alice demanded, “Didn’t I just say we can’t let the clowny bastard win!”

“You’re right!” the others said together, and bolted down the hall.

“We found it!” Oz held the ornament high, like a trophy, as they burst through the door.

At the same moment that he held up the evidence, the hour chimed.

They each glanced at each other, then at the clock, which read exactly 18:00.

“My, my, isn’t this an interesting turn of events?” Break remarked, stretching, “It looks like it’s a tie, Ojousama.”

“It would appear,” Sharon smiled “In that case, would you please excuse me for a moment?” she gathered her dress and hurried out of the room.

“So, which one of you found it?” Break asked, walking over to them.

“I did.”

The prankster smirked, “What did I tell you?” he ruffled Oz’s hair, “Oz-kun’s sharp.”

“So… what does that mean about your wagers?” Oz tried to put his hair right. “Since you tied?”

“Just a moment Oz-kun,” he put his hand on Oz’s head, his sleeve falling over his eyes, and looked over their heads

Sharon quickly did return, a little out of breath, holding a small package wrapped in a ribbon.

“Here you are, Break!” she held it out for him.

He took it from her and unwrapped it, opening the little red box to reveal that it was filled with the the candy she had promised.

“Just the thing I needed” he patted her head, unwrapping a piece and tossing it into his mouth. “Better luck next time, Ojousama,”

Oz and Alice stared at him, open-mouthed, dumbstruck that he had beat them.

“Now I suppose I should get started on that dessert of yours,” he waited until the proper moment to add.

“Please do.”

“Huh?” Oz and Alice asked simultaneously.

“Since we tied,” Sharon spoke, as they both turned to them, “we both win.”

“So…does that mean the clown still has to swear off candy?” Alice asked hopefully.

“No—Unfortunately,” Sharon added, glancing at her servant, who rolled his eyes, eating another piece, “We both get the rewards of the wager, but no one gets the punishment.”

“More in the Christmas spirit, wouldn’t you agree, Ojousama?” he said between candy crunches.

“Since when do you care about ‘Christmas spirit’?!” Gilbert demanded.

“Better luck next year, I guess,” Oz tried to put a positive spin on it.

“Next year?!” Alice fumed, “I want to settle this now!” (Gilbert held Alice by the neck of her jacket.)

“Believe me,” Reim grunted, eyeing Break, “it’ll only end worse for you,”

“Who knows?” Break shrugged, “There may not be a next year, Oz-kun.”

Alice continued to seethe while the others glanced at each other, unsure of how to respond to such a statement.

“There you go again,” Reim scolded. “You can’t just mention something like that!”

Break dismissed him with a wave of his hand, chuckling to himself, and muttering something about his uptightness, as he made his way down the hall to the kitchens.

After Break left, Oz looked down at his hand, opening his fingers to reveal the little clay, painted oddity he was still holding. Alice came behind him and looked over his shoulder at it.

“What…is it?”

“You didn’t know what you were looking for?!” Gilbert questioned.

“Because you never told me, Seaweed-head!”

Gilbert looked away, clearly wanting to bite back, but without argument with which to do so.

Oz shook his head, staring at it. It was rather crudely made, ineptly painted. But he couldn’t mistake it for anything else—and Gil had been right, he did know it when he saw it.

Because he was the one who made it.

“I can’t believe you kept this, Gil.”

Gilbert looked away, nodding and turning red.

Now he understood why Gilbert was so intent on getting it back. This ornament had probably become a symbol to Gilbert—much like Shelly’s stocking on the mantelpiece was for Break and Sharon—for Oz himself. This ornament, through the years, had probably become tied to his faithful valet’s unending hope that his master would come back. Each year Break took it, as if teasing that perhaps he wouldn’t (and, maybe this was his roundabout way of him trying to prepare him for that), but Gilbert always got it back, as if displaying that he would never lose that hope.

“Oy! What is it?!” Alice demanded again, upset her ‘manservant’ wasn’t focusing all his attention on her.

“It’s a bird, Alice,” Oz answered simply.

“Really, how do you figure?”

“Yeah, it doesn’t look very good does it?” Oz laughed.

“Seaweed-head, why would a crappy ornament like this be your favorite?”

“Oy! You don’t see me criticizing your bad taste!”

“Bad taste?! I have impeccable taste! I eat meat every day!”

“That’s not what—”

“Its because I made it for him,” Oz answered her question quietly.

“You?” Alice laughed, slapping him on the back, “You have pretty poor skills, Oz.”

“Give me a break! I was a kid!”

Oscar laughed, walking up to them, “You’re still a kid, Oz. Yes…I can’t remember how old he was, but he made me, Ada, and Gilbert ornaments,” he laughed a little, putting his arm around Gilbert, “I remember how offended Gil was at his master making him a gift.”

“Yeah,” Oz laughed, they all looked up at Gil, who got steadily redder the more they spoke, “We had to force him to accept it.”

“Why are you surprised he kept his, Onii-chan?” Ada asked, “Uncle and I kept ours. They’re back at the Vessalius manor. But! we could bring them over here if you want!”

“That’s okay, I believe you! Still… Like Alice said, they don’t look very good.”

“But, like you said, you were the one who made them for us,” Oscar ruffled his nephew’s hair.

“What were the ornaments you made for them, Oz?” Alice asked.

“Well, I made Ada a little cat, and uncle Oscar a camera. I didn’t really know what Gil liked, so I just made him a bird. Funny, how your chain is Raven now.”

“How come you haven’t made me one, Manservant?!” Alice hit Oz on the head.

“Hey! I’ve been busy!” he rubbed the spot where she hit him.

“In any case,” Alice turned to Gilbert, jumping quickly to the next subject, “now you can make my meat, Seaweed-head!”

“Break’s using the kitchen, Stupid Rabbit!”

“Then let’s go to the market! I’m starving!”

Gilbert sighed into his hand, “Fine. Let me get my hat and coat.”

“Can I come with you guys?” Ada asked—Alice looked peeved, but Gil and Oz had already welcomed her.

“I’ll go check if Break needs anything!” Oz ran off towards the kitchen.

As Oz arrived, he saw that Break had changed out of his white coat and purple shirt into more casual closing—likely so he wouldn’t ruin his normal outfit. He had rolled up the sleeves, and was wearing a pink apron Gil sometimes wore when he cooked for them here, but which probably belonged to Sharon’s grandmother, or mother. He had already begun to make a mess of things; flour was all over the counter, chocolate was on the walls, somehow there were even ingredients in in his hair.

“You need some help?” Oz asked, half-jokingly.

Break looked up.

“Oz-kun,” he noted, then grinned, “You? Help me? Gotten bored of Gilbert-kun, and Alice-kun already?”

“Nah. I just wanted to know if you needed anything. We’re going to the store.”

Oz knew that Break could have asked for help from the staff, or Gilbert, but Sharon called him ‘Mr. One-Man-Show’ for a reason; sure, it might not taste or look all that good, but at least he would have made it himself.

“You really think I wouldn’t have come prepared?”

“But, if you won, you wouldn’t have to make—”

Oz gasped. Realizing something:

They both had bought the supplies ahead of time. Oz thought one of them would have to go to the store, depending on who won the bet, (perhaps dragging the other begrudgingly along), but they both had already bought the necessary ingredients. Which meant, either the food one of them bought would go to waste, or be used in some other way, or, regardless of who won or lost, they still intended to give each other the gifts.

“You already had the ingredients,” Oz thought out loud. “and Sharon-chan already had your candy…”

“So?”

“I would have thought one of you would have to go to the store, depending on who won.”

“What’s your point, Oz-kun?” Break pushed his hair back.

Oz shook his head, grinning like he now had some secret information. “Break, you really are a nice guy, aren’t you?”

Break put his hand on the table, turning to him, “Wipe that cheeky grin off your face before I do it for you.”

Oz put his hands behind his back, sauntering closer.

“Oh, nothing,” he whistled, “Just that, well, you do this every year, don’t you? Sharon likes to give you a taste of your own medicine if you lose, but you both use this an excuse to give each other extra gifts, don’t you? I bet it was your idea in the first place.”

“How do you know we weren’t planning to use the supplies in some other way?”

“Because you’re not considerate enough to let others use your stuff,” he grinned, “Didn’t you just say there would be punishment in store if I got your candy?”

“Well,” he smirked at Oz’s discovery, twirling the spoon in his hand, “‘nice’ would be stretching it. But maybe occasionally I’m not a complete ‘jerk.’”

Oz grinned. That was all the confirmation he needed.

As if he were brandishing a sword, Break flicked chocolate on Oz’s face with the spoon, “Now get out of here.”

Oz rolled his eyes.

“Good luck, Break!”

With that he exited the room, and ran to the front door to catch up with Gil, Ada, and Alice, who were gathered there, waiting for him.

“Break doesn’t need anything!” he called to them, “Let’s go!”

At first it may have seemed like a waste of time, but, in the end, Oz realized; an afternoon playing a game, learning that after ten years Gil had still cherished the small gift he had once been reluctant to accept, seeing how Sharon and Break found ways to bring each other joy, spending time with his friends, spending time with his real family, would never be a waste of an afternoon for him.

[pennywaltzy]

Serendipity & Coincidence (4/?)

So this is the first of the updates that @strangelock221b asked for! No Molly in this, just a bit of father/daughter bonding, but the next chapter will be the dinner party and then after that the fortune teller, and THEN the real plot can kick in. I may get both those parts up before WIPBB starts.

Serendipity & Coincidence - Bones knows one thing: he likes Dr. Molly Hooper and doesn't want his friendship with her to change...even if the voice in the back of his head says he'd like more than just a friendship with the female Starfleet officer. But a dare from Jim leads to more than he had expected and certainly more than he wanted...or could ever have hoped for.

READ CHAPTER 1 | READ CHAPTER 4 | HELP ME SURVIVE? | COMMISSION ME? | BUY ME A KOFI?

He was about an hour and a half late for getting to see his daughter. Not all of it had been because of Molly; she had suggested his daughter might like a gift of flowers and they had gone to a florist nearby to pick something out for her. Molly said roses were best, and so now he had a dozen white roses for Joanna as a belated congratulatory gift for getting into the Academy.

He was more nervous than he wanted to admit, to be honest with himself. While he knew Joanna had gone against her mother’s wishes to join him in Starfleet, and also knew that she was helping Carol while they had been gone, it still made him nervous because he had missed so much of her life, between her mother keeping them apart in Georgia and the time he’d been on the Enterprise and in San Francisco.

But when she saw him she had a wide smile on her face and stood up, arms open wide as she moved closer. “Daddy!” she replied before hugging him, being careful not to crush the flowers.

“Hey, sweetie,” he said, his voice thick. She was nearly as tall as him, maybe just a few inches shorter, and she’d turned out to be a lovely young woman. She was in a dress in the same sort of style Nyota liked to wear, floral on a black background, and it was paired with a black cardigan. Her hair was long but pulled back into a high ponytail, and he saw at some point she had run red highlights through her black hair, giving it a rather distinctive look. “You look beautiful.”

“Aww, thank you,” she said as she pulled back. “Are those for me?”

He nodded. “Sort of as a congratulatory gift for getting into the Academy.” He handed her the flowers. “I’m sorry I’m late. I was taking a friend home so I would know where to pick her up for dinner at Carol’s tonight.”

“Well, I’m doing double duty with medical school and the Academy and helping Carol with James, but today was one of those rare free days so I have all the time in the world.” Her eyes were sparkling. “This friend of yours, Dad...was she the one Carol said Jim said you’ve been making goo-goo eyes at?”

He rolled his eyes and muttered a curse under his breath. “I’m going to kill him,” he said a bit louder.

“Don’t you dare! That would make Carol real sad,” she replied. “But it’s fine. Mom’s a bitch--”

“Watch your language,” he said almost automatically.

“Well, she is. She had no right to keep us apart all those years. I mean, I know your time on the Enterprise and all that you wouldn’t have gotten to see me, but I could have come to visit!”

“Yeah, I know,” he said, putting an arm around her shoulders. “But you’re here now, so that’s something.” He turned and gave her a grin. “Med school, huh?”

“Figured if I was going to follow in my Daddy’s footsteps I should go the whole nine yards,” she said with a smile. “Plus it pisses Mom of more.”

“You aren’t just doing it out of spite, are you?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I was a volunteer nurse back home at the hospital. I liked it a lot but I wanted more. Took the nurses training at a vocational school while I was finishing my high school education, and so I’m a Licensed Practical Nurse. I’ll tell you, it’s helped with the stuff in med school. Some of my classmates know nothing about how to treat patients.”

He stopped and hugged her, not caring who saw them. “I’m so proud of you, sweetie.”

“Thanks, Dad,” she replied. When he let go she nodded to the restaurant. “Let’s go eat. I’m starving and we have so much to talk about.” He nodded and they headed towards the restaurant she had picked out. All in all, this had gone much more smoothly than he had ever anticipated it would, which was nice. He just hoped having Joanna and Molly together at the dinner tonight wouldn’t be awkward. That was the last thing he needed.

[istheresomebodywhocanimagine]

Because I’m selfish could you do a shipping me with members thing? I’m short, half Greek and Scottish but raised in Australia (yes, I do have an accent) I have really long brown hair and hazel eyes, and I play bass and sing. I love to read and write, and I almost always have headphones on and music blasting. I also am a drama student and I love to act. Thank you so much xxxxx Love your blog btw.

hi! don’t feel selfish for this, i’mma keep it real with you pal - i have asked for several ships before nO SHAME

anyways, in relation to BoRhap - I ship you with Gwilym!!! At first I was going to say Joe, but I think I see you meshing with Gwilym really well:

When Gwilym got cast as Brian in BoRhap, you were the first one he called. First, to break the news. Second, to ask you for a little help brushing up on his skills. He knew you played bass, and it wasn’t exactly lead guitar, but he still wanted to know all of your little tips and pointers in case there was something he could use when he finally met Brian.

In fact, he came over the next day with his guitar, already ready to learn. You were happy to oblige, but you admitted to him early on that you didn’t exactly know how well you’d be able to translate your bass-centered ideas to the guitar.

“What’s different about the two?” he’d asked, seated across from you and leaning forward over his guitar, genuinely interested in what you had to say. He considered you a great mind on the subject.

“Well, the mechanics are similar, you know, as far as that goes, but the fingerings aren’t going to be the same…” you rambled on for a minute, Gwil transfixed by everything you were saying.

After you were done speaking, he’d grinned at you proudly. “You’re brilliant, love.”

He calls you brilliant a lot, actually. It’s his favorite thing to say to you, because of the way your eyes light up when he says it. They are already brimming with all kinds of energy, but after he calls you brilliant - that’s when he’s the most captivated.

You heard that word - brilliant - coming out of his mouth the most often when he was reading over your latest writing, no matter what style it was. Poetry, prose, he loved it all. 

“Can I keep this one?” he’d asked one time, holding up a piece of prose you’d written specifically about him. You grinned and took it back from him, looking over it for a moment.

“What’s so special about this one?” you’d asked as you sat back on the bed, preferring the poem you’d written about him a few months ago much more than this piece. But boy, did he have an answer for you. In fact, you’d never heard someone speak as passionately about something as Gwil would once he got going.

He stood up and gave you a 10 minute speech about why he thought you should let him keep that short story, introduction, body, and conclusion to the speech all included.

“So, can I?” he’d asked after a moment of you sitting there, dumbfounded. He gave you a toothy smile as he sat back down next to you.

“You were definitely born to be an actor,” you mumbled, handing the prose to him and shaking your head in disbelief at how much he’d fought for those two pages of writing. That’d gotten a chuckle out of him, and he peppered the side of your face with kisses before happily taking the story back.

Speaking of acting, Gwil LOVED coming to your performances. He took a whole week off of filming once just so he could see every night of your theater company’s Anything Goes. 

He’d posted a big long paragraph about your performance after opening night, telling all of his loyal followers how brilliant you had been, and how proud he was of you. And, of course, he’d put some sentences in there about how much he loved you and loved going on this journey with you.

And then Joe commented “-Bri” just to make fun of how eerily alike Gwil was to his elder double. Classic Joe.

Now, if we’re talking Queen, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really think I ship you with Roger - HEAR ME OUT, I have some (probably weak) reasons:

The reason I think you’d caught Roger’s eye before any of the other boys is because of your accent - he’d latched onto it almost immediately after hearing you speaking to Deacon, who had hired you as a bass tech. You were both eagerly discussing some kind of system that Roger hadn’t a clue about, but your voice was like a drug to him.

He’d made a point of inserting himself into the conversation, introducing himself and chastising John a bit.

“How come I haven’t met your friend here sooner?” Roger scolded John playfully, John just laughing and shaking his head.

“This is Y/N, she’s my new tech. I figured I’d introduce her to the most sane members of the band first, but first I have to figure out who those are.”

You’d laughed at that, particularly because of the mock hurt on Roger’s face before he’d reached out to shake your hand, you introducing yourself this time.

“That accent,” he’d had to point out, letting go of your hand, “Where is it from?”

“Australia. What about yours?” you’d countered, noticing a bit of a different lilt to his words than John’s.

Roger scoffed at that, shrugging. “Cornwall. Exciting stuff, eh?”

After that day, he’d always find reasons to come and talk to you, sometimes the reason being no better than him wanting to hear your accent.

The day Roger realized he actually might fancy you was when he’d noticed you writing on one of the off days and asked to see a sneak peek of what you were doing. Roger loved writing songs, and wondered if you had any good material.

You did. In fact, he was thoroughly impressed by your work, and spent the rest of the day work-shopping with you, which spilled over into a late night coffee run before it was time to go hop on the bus to head to the next tour stop.

You were in the coffee shop, talking about what Queen had coming up after this tour, when Roger had redirected the conversation.

“You know, I’ve never asked, what did you study back home?” he’d inquired, curious to see what kind of person you were. He’d pegged you as some sort of major similar to John based on your identical knowledge of his bass, so he was pleasantly surprised when you revealed that you were a drama student. “An actor, huh? That must be why you’re so seemingly interested in all of Brian’s stories. God, explains so much now.”

You had to laugh at that, shaking your head. “No, no, Brian actually has some good stories and knows how to tell them. Now you, on the other hand…” you’d trailed off, Roger recoiling in slight insult at what you’d suggested. 

Someone who could keep up with his humor and insult him while they were at it? You were growing on him quickly.

One thing he always really enjoyed doing once you grew more comfortable around him was (carefully) taking your headphones and listening to a little bit of whatever you were currently listening to.

At first, it annoyed you a bit, but when you realized he was genuinely wanting to pick up on some of your music taste, you allowed it to happen with little to no issue. 

Also, he’d started slipping you song recommendations on tapes of his, labeling them cute things and drawing little smiley faces on them. Though it was difficult to understand his scrawlings sometimes, you cherished those tapes.

While we’re talking about songs, Roger liked to hear you sing. One time, you were trying to explain a part of the song where you thought Deacon wasn’t getting a good sound out of his bass to another tech, and you started singing the chorus part where it started sounding off.

Roger was, for lack of better words, shook.

Like, he loved your voice.

So, clever little gentleman he is, he found a way to start getting you to sing around him more by pretending to hear issues with the bass in the songs they’d play during their sets.

“It was like, it was muted during the last part of the second chorus, you know?” he’d said one time, working his way into it nonchalantly. “Like, the part where, you know, Fred goes, ‘and I love the things…’“ he’d trailed off, pretending not to remember the next part.

You thought for a moment, then you sang in a soft voice just to clarify.  “And I love the things, I really love the things that you do, oh, you’re my best friend? That part?”

“Yeah, yeah!” he’d say, smiling and pointing at you like you were a genius for remembering the simplest lyrics in the whole set.

You caught on after a few times of false alarms from him, but you let him keep believing that he had you right where he wanted you. It was honestly really cute that he’d go through so much work to hear you sing, even if he didn’t necessarily need to try that hard.

(But don’t tell him that, for God’s sake.)

[lattemorningwritings]

Eirey and the Journalist (second half)

“First question…”

Eirey’s eyes followed Caroline’s hand as it lifted her coffee cup to her lips then place it back down.  Clunk.  After a gulp, she exclaimed, “that is some nice coffee.”  

“The beans are from Italy,” he stated.

“Is that so?”

A nervous nod.  Caroline replied with a smile before looking back down at her journal.

“Since when did you start writing, Eirey? Am I saying that right by the way? Sounds like airy and not eerie or something?”  Grinning, he answered with another nod.  “Good,” she said.  “Now that I’ve given you a few more seconds to dwell on your answer…”

“Since high school,” he said.  “I remember writing about my grandmother all the time.  She was a muse to me.”  Hearing it out loud brought something warm over his heart and it showed - there was a sad, sweet smile on his face.  Smiling back, Caroline wrote the word muse down before continuing.  “What about her inspired you to write so much?”

His answer was immediate.  “She and I look the most similar to each other, that was what started it.  While everyone in our family has bright hair and eyes, we’re the only ones with this jet-black hair and brown eyes.  I guess every time I saw or thought of her it was like looking at a magical mirror or something like that; it brought out the curiosity in me.”  Before continuing, he took a sip of coffee, opened his box of chocolates and popped one in his mouth.  As he chewed, he thought about the things he could say.  

“It always stunned me to see her.  She always stood out so much at family parties - her black-as-night hair that somehow caused her eyes to have this mischievous yet warm glow, like amber you could say.  She looked nothing like the rest of our family and you could tell she was proud of it.”

“Did it make you feel proud of the way you looked then? Compared to your family?” With a shrug, Eirey reached for his coffee cup again.  “I’m sure it did.  But-”

He caught himself then.  Unsure if Caroline noticed his unusually long sip of coffee, he placed the cup down with an attempt at relaxed eyebrows and parted lips.  When he glanced up, she was looking at her journal.  From his peripheral vision walked in a bundle of college students he knew - by their buoyant voices and laughs - had just finished class.  His eyes followed leisurely their walk to the counter while the details of their clothes and traveling words were plucked by his mind like a child picking daisies for pleasure.

“So when did you start creating stories out of the people around you?”

“Huh?”

Looking at his wide, innocent eyes, Caroline chuckled, “I guess I’m not intimidating you enough to keep your attention locked on this interview.”  As warm air suddenly blows up from the ground, so did the rush of heat from the blush in Eirey’s cheeks.  “I was just,” he admitted, “looking at… the people at the coffee bar.”  In a swift turn, she looked behind to see what he was talking about.  The back of her head faced him for a few seconds before she turned around with curiosity clearly in her eyes.  “Ohhhh, I see,” she said as she began scribbling in her journal.  “You really just imagine stories for the strangers that pass you by?” Picking up a white chocolate square, he answered, “to the best of my ability.  Although often the stories sound too similar to one another.”  Eyebrows furrowed now, he continued, “that’s why I felt uncomfortable about you calling me a creative writer.  I’ve still got a long, long way to go.”

“I see,” she murmured to herself.  Suddenly, he sat up and said, “I haven’t answered your question yet.”  She glanced at him.  

“My grand-”

He caught himself once again.  Eirey’s face scrunched into itself as he debated his choice of words.  The one thing he didn’t want from the journalist was to react in pity or sympathy when she learned that the turning point of his creative writing was the day of his grandmother’s funeral - when he sat there at the kitchen island surrounded by her family and friends and realized his mind was gulping as many conversations down as he always did his favorite drink of cane sugar.  The day he saw her for the last time… she gave me a new muse.

Wouldn’t he sound absurd? Ungrateful?

When Caroline’s voice reached his ears, it felt like she was pulling him out of a dream.  “Sorry,” he mumbled as a hand automatically reached for another chocolate.  Looking at his flushed cheeks, scampering eyes, she smiled to herself for the youth of the boy before returning to the interview.

“If you don’t want to answer, it’s okay,” she said.  “We can move on to the next question.”  At that, Eirey shut his eyes partly in a pang of regret.  When was the last time someone opened wide a door for him to be completely vulnerable? Why couldn’t he speak about something, about a day he’d written about so many times before?

“Wait.”

Caroline’s gray eyes snapped up at him.  “My grandmother,” he murmured.  

So he told her.  

And she listened.