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ao3komorii · 3 years

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Tangling with the Lifeguard (Pool Party Sett/Reader)

The Pool Party Sett story is done! I’ve gone with a beach!AU sort of setting where league races exist in a modern-day beach sort of place. Also sorry to any MF or Syndra mains, they don’t really come out the best in this xD Hope you enjoy, and as always, there is a smut warning for the end!

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The sun was shining high in the sky, crystalline waters lapping against the shore as beachgoers took advantage of the perfect summer day. Taking in the scene from your place in the shade of a tree on the border between the beach and parking lot, you let a smile grace your lips as you mused on just how much this place seemed to not change, even after so many years.

The last time you had set foot on this beach, you had been twelve years old, full of excitement and unaware of the harsh realities of the adult world. Your parents had brought you here for that summer, now thirteen years ago, the beautiful beach an unforgettable experience. You had left after that summer with treasured memories, and a new friend, that same friend the very reason why you had returned to Port Navori beach after so long.

Taliyah had been the same age as you, with fairly lax parents who let her roam the beach by herself, even as the small twelve-year-old she had been. You had bonded instantly, spending almost every day together, and keeping in touch through letters, and later emails and text messages.

You had long said that you had wanted to come back and visit the lively beach town, but the timing hadn’t been right, not until this year.

You were done all your schooling, and had quit your high-stress, low-pay job, and as Taliyah had said on your last phone call, you had no reason not to visit. Her parents had been travelling the world since they retired, so you would have her house all to yourselves.

In your absence, Taliyah had become a fairly accomplished surfer in the local scene, working at an ice cream shop on the beach to support her expensive pursuits. She had been so insistent that you couldn’t find yourself able to refuse her offer; work in the ice cream shop with her in the day, and then spend the rest of your time catching up with each other. You had missed your friend dearly, and had accepted the offer without a second thought.

And now here you were, waiting at the beach’s edge for Taliyah to show up. She had told you to dress for the beach, sounding casual as was her usual, so you had worn a swimsuit with a short, flowy shoulderless dress on overtop. Unwilling to look like a lobster by day’s end, you had carefully layered yourself with sunscreen, and now all you needed was for your friend to get here already. Just when you were about to get out your phone to text her, an excited call of your name had you re-stowing the phone in your bag and looking back to see your friend bounding across the parking lot towards you.

Taliyah, dressed in a two-piece water suit and carrying a tropical-flower-print surfboard, came to a stop before you, leaning her surfboard against a tree to free her arms to tackle you in a hug.

“You’re finally here!” she grinned, surprising you with the strength of her hug. “We’re gonna have so much fun!”

“So what’s first?” you asked as you pulled back from the hug.

Taliyah hummed. “I guess I’ll show you the shop.”

You followed her onto the beach, recognizing the small bright blue building from the pictures she had sent you before. Taliyah took you around the back, fishing a key out of her pocket before unlocking the door and leading you into the small room.

There were large tubs of ice cream in the middle of the room, the walls lined with containers of various toppings and machines. On the back wall from you were two windows, glossy menus pasted to the doors that would display out when they were opened. Upon walking closer to the menu signs, you noticed something.

“Hey, it says we open at nine, but it’s ten-thirty…”

“It’s fine,” Taliyah replied with a shrug. “The owners are pretty chill. If anyone complains, I’ll just tell them I had to train the new employee.”

You playfully rolled your eyes. Sometimes you really envied Taliyah’s ability to be so carefree. Her calm energy was a big help for you, having got advice from her on numerous occasions over the years.

Taliyah came over to where you were, eyes flitting boredly to the menu boards before turning her attention back to you. “So I’m thinking we get you taking orders while I make them.”

“Works for me,” you agreed. It certainly sounded easier than figuring out what a poro float was supposed to be. You never knew ice cream stands had such fancy options now, used to the simple menus of ice cream cones and bars back at the shops in your hometown.

You were about to open the order windows when you were stopped by a rustling noise from the back of the store. You turned to see Taliyah digging in a cardboard box in the back corner, pulling out some folded-up fabric that was the same sky blue as the stand.

“Didn’t think you’d get away without an embarrassing uniform, did you?” Taliyah teased, tossing some of her fabric pile your way.

You caught the bundle, unfolding it to find an apron with Poro Palace Frozen Treats in pink bubble letters, little white fuzzy animals dotting the apron. There was an accompanying blue visor hat that looked like something out of a kid’s store. You reluctantly slipped both items of clothing on, looking back to find that Taliyah had done the same.

“Stylish, huh?” she smirked, striking a modelesque pose.

“We look like we work at an amusement park, Tali,” you laughed.

“Feels like it sometimes with all the annoying kids that come by,” she replied. “Okay, you can open it up now.”

Taliyah settled herself down in a chair in front of the section of ice cream tubs, and you reluctantly turned to unlatch and open the windows, unsure of exactly what you were getting yourself into.

The small room lit up with the outside sunlight streaming in from your window to outside, the immediate glare of the sun making you wish you had worn sunglasses.

Almost immediately, the masses were upon you. You noticed a woman with several children in tow who perked up as she laid eyes on you, striding over to you with her children right behind her, pushing each other as they scrambled to be the first one to get over to you.

You heard Taliyah groan behind you. “Get the pen ready. They always have the most annoying orders.”

You rose an eyebrow, but picked up the pen and notepad that sat beside the cash register as the woman came to a stop before you.

“You know, I’ve been waiting for an hour already. You young girls don’t know how hard it is for mothers,” the woman complained, not letting you get a word in edgewise. “Alright, tell her what you want.”

“I want a brownie sundae!” a small boy with blue hair who clearly intended to make full use of his outdoor voice shouted. “But with cotton candy ice cream and pop rocks and I want only blue candies!”

“Uh…” The kid was talking too fast for you to write, but luckily Taliyah had your back, a got it ringing out from behind you.

You weren’t sure how you had managed to get their orders out before they melted, messing up their total several times before Taliyah had to come and help you out. With a last snide look and a fistful of blue napkins, the mother and her little terrors left the stand at last.

“She’s the worst,” Taliyah said, bringing your weary gaze her way as she cleaned off an ice cream scoop. “I accidentally put one red candy in that kid’s sundae once and he screamed until I remade the whole thing!”

You winced. “Feels like we got off easy today.”

“Yeah,” Taliyah agreed. “Helps that they order the same thing every time, so I’ve got some practice.”

“Are they all this bad?” you asked, turning away from the window after seeing no potential customers nearby.

“Not all of them,” she replied with a strained smile. “I swear the heat just brings the jerk out in some of the people here.”

Speaking of jerks… your conversation was interrupted by an impatient-sounding throat clearing noise from behind you. You whirled around to see a redheaded woman with heart-shaped sunglasses and a revealing swimsuit leaning against your counter. She was staring at you like you were gum she had stepped in, flipping some hair over her shoulder when she knew she had your attention.

“Five cherry snowballs,” she said, dropping a few coins on your counter, some of which bounced and hit the floor. “To the red umbrella, thanks ice cream girl.”

Without any further interaction, she turned on her heel and strutted away, hips swinging as she went, leaving you wondering what had just happened.

You slowly turned back to face Taliyah again. “Um, do we usually deliver?”

“Nope,” she answered. “Not to people like that anyways.”

“But…” you protested weakly. You knew Taliyah got away with a lot here, but you didn’t want her to lose her job because some rude girl complained to her bosses. “I’ll just take them over and next time I’ll just say we don’t deliver.”

“Still tempted to put rocks in their snowballs,” Taliyah joked as she set about piling the scoops of red ice.

Soon you had a tray with five cherry syrup-coated piles of shaved ice in little plastic bowls with accompanying little plastic spoons stuck in the side of the dishes.

“I’ll be right back,” you said, heading past Taliyah to the back door, opening it to find yourself back out in the mid-morning heat.

The sand still felt uncomfortably hot underfoot, even with your flip flops on. With how hot it was out, these would have to be delivered as soon as possible to not be a puddle by the time they were eaten. Your only problem was that you had no idea where to go.

The redhead had said that she would be at the red umbrella, but of course nothing at this ice cream stand would be that easy. Standing just outside the hut, you were treated to a veritable rainbow of colored beach umbrellas. You counted at least ten red ones scattered across the beach, none particularly standing out to you. You didn’t have many options, and were forced to go with the most tedious one; checking every red umbrella until you found the girl and her group.

The first umbrella had been a bust, as had the next five. The sixth had led to a sweaty old man who told you that you were just in time to help him sunscreen his back. By the time you had hurriedly fled from that creep, it had been about five minutes of searching, the snowballs on your tray looking considerably droopier than they had been when you had left the shop.

You stared down at the tray of melting treats, unsure of what to do now. Should you go back and have Taliyah remake the snowballs? Try a few more umbrellas and hope you got lucky? You really hadn’t been anticipating this much stress when you had agreed to work here with Taliyah for the summer.

You frowned at the now-more-water-than-ice treats, your decision made. You couldn’t serve these, not as melted as they were. You would go back and help remake them and see if Taliyah had any insight as to which red umbrella was the right one. You turned around to head back to the stand, only to trip on your overheating flip flops and fall forward with a cry.

You had closed your eyes with a flinch as you fell, but opened them with a start as you heard a grunt from right in front of you. Looking up from your position in the burning sand, you felt like your heart was going to stop in your chest.

Standing before you was the most attractive guy you had ever laid eyes on, with fire red hair and a pair of black animal ears that looked soft to the touch. He was dressed in a tight pair of swim shorts, a lightweight red jacket tied around his waist. He had a flower lei around his neck, but that was the only thing that he wore on his top half, his insanely-well-built torso on full display, a torso you realized with horror was currently splattered with red syrup and shaved ice.

You looked from the hot guy to the ground, the sand around you speckled with plastic cups, spoons and napkins, your tray turned upside down in the sand. You slowly risked a gaze back up, only to see the guy staring down at you from behind his pink-tinted sunglasses as a clump of ice fell from his stomach to the sand just in front of your hands.

Embarrassment forced you to spring up, grabbing some stray napkins from the ground and dabbing them against the mess of syrup and ice on the man’s abdomen.

“I’m so sorry, I–” You looked up from your apologizing to see the man silently staring at you, your hand freezing in place as you realized that you were basically feeling this guy up through the napkins, the realization making your cheeks burn with shame and embarrassment.

“I’m really sorry!” you cried out, pulling your hands back. He still hadn’t said anything, and you realized that you couldn’t just stand here like an idiot, your flight instinct kicking in as you reached down to grab your tray before moving around the man and fleeing in the direction of the ice cream stand.

“Hey, wait!”

The man tried to grab your arm as you passed, but you were faster in your embarrassment-fueled retreat, and soon the hot stranger was far behind you. You didn’t stop running until you were back at the shop, the empty sand-logged tray clutched tightly to your chest, your heartbeat pounding in your ears as you shut the door, making eye contact with a confused Taliyah.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asked, getting up to approach you when you didn’t respond. “Talk to me. What happened? If that snob said anything to you–”

“No, no, she didn’t,” you replied weakly, sinking to the floor with your back against the door. “I didn’t even get to her.”

“Then what happened?” she pressed, bringing you a glass of water and prying the tray from your hands at last.

She ushered you to your feet and down into her chair, taking a seat on one of the counters. You took a deep breath, taking a sip of the water before recounting the events of the past ten minutes to Taliyah, who listened silently.

“…I didn’t know what to do, so I just ran,” you finished, setting your water down to bury your face in your hands.

“It’s no big deal,” Taliyah replied gently. “Everyone has embarrassed themselves in front of someone. Remember that time I tripped over my board in front of that group of tourists?”

“I covered him in cherry syrup, Tali,” you groaned. “I don’t think I’m cut out for this.”

“It’s your first day,” she stressed. “You’re bound to mess some things up.”

She stood up, returning to the shaved ice machine. “Now how about we remake those snowballs and then I’ll–”

Taliyah had frozen in place, a plastic cup in her hand as she stared straight ahead.

“Tali?” you questioned, standing up. “Are you–”

“That guy you dumped the snowballs on,” she quickly interrupted. “Did he have majorly cut abs and animal ears?”

“Uh, why?” You felt a jolt of fear shoot up your spine as you followed her gaze to see the man from earlier currently approaching the shop, well-defined abdomen now minus the sticky mess you had spilt all over him. “Oh god, it’s him!”

You and Taliyah exchange wide-eyed glances before you dove down out of sight, hiding behind the tubs of ice cream like they were a fortress.

“Please get rid of him!” you begged. “I’ll do whatever you want, I just can’t face him!”

You heard Taliyah sigh. “Fine, but this means you’re coming stone hunting with me tonight.”

You agreed immediately, even if the prospect wasn’t overwhelmingly appealing. Taliyah was always eager to add to her collection of shiny stones, but was so picky that it often took hours to find just one stone that met her standards. But right now you were so desperate that you would have promised her anything just to make the angry hot guy go away.

From your position behind the ice cream tubs, you could only hear Taliyah’s voice clearly, the general noise of the beach preventing you from hearing what the furry-eared man was saying. You wanted to peek out from your hiding spot, but found yourself chickening out. You really didn’t need him catching sight of you and making Taliyah’s job even harder.

You had gotten so in your own head with panic that you had completely tuned out of your surroundings until a hand waved in front of your face and you realized Taliyah was crouching in front of you, calling your name.

“You okay?” she asked worriedly.

“Is he gone?” you replied quietly.

“Yeah, he’s gone,” she confirmed, standing up and grabbing your forearms to pull you up with her. “Now help me remake those snowballs and then I’ll fill you in.”

You bit your lip as you scooped shaved ice into a row of plastic cups as Taliyah readied the cherry syrup. Soon you had five pristine-looking snowballs on your slightly-sandy tray, the sight of them bringing you back to your moment of collision with the cute guy.

The tray was snatched from your field of vision by Taliyah, who headed over to the rear door. “Be back in a few. Try not to freak out too much while I’m gone.”

And then the door was closed and you were left alone. Looking over at the order window, you decided that you were probably safer to just resume your position behind the ice cream tubs, unwilling to risk being out in the open in case the guy decided to come back.

While she was gone, you couldn’t help but fret over exactly what had been said between your best friend and the mysterious hot guy. She didn’t seem to be upset, so clearly their conversation hadn’t been that intense. Or maybe it had; Taliyah was a fairly relaxed person, so it would be difficult for a random angry customer to really get to her. But that didn’t quite make sense either; if he had yelled at her, you would have heard it over the noise of the beachgoers. All you were doing was overthinking yourself to death, exactly what Taliyah had told you not to do.

And it was there you remained until Taliyah returned, closing the door behind her and placing the serving tray in the sink before she turned her attention to you at last.

“Calm down, it’s fine… I think,” she said.

“You think?”

“Well he didn’t seem mad,” she explained. “He asked if a girl that looked like you worked here and I said you went home sick. Said he’d come back another time.”

“Another–” Oh god. Was he really so angry that he was willing to come back just for the chance to yell at you?

“I can see you freaking out,” Taliyah scolded. “Don’t. You’re fine. Musclehead or not, he’s not going to kill you just because you spilled shaved ice on him.”

She was probably right; hot shirtless guys on the beach likely had more important things to do than yelling at clumsy ice cream shop workers. By tomorrow, he would probably forget you ever existed, and you could go back to enjoying your time working alongside your best friend.

The rock collecting that night had been long and boring, at least for you. Taliyah hadn’t found any rocks she liked enough to take home, only ending the search after she had found some sea glass that she had deemed acceptable to add to her collection. You could only hope that you wouldn’t owe her any more favors any time soon, unsure if you could survive another late night rock hunt.

The next morning, you entered the shop alongside Taliyah, who put her bag down and began to set up the day’s supplies. Considering it was ten minutes past opening time and Taliyah had insisted that she didn’t need help setting up, you decided that you might as well just open the order window for the day, hoping that mom and her group of demon kids wouldn’t be waiting out there, only to unlatch the widows and see something arguably worse.

The window had only been open a peek, but it was enough for you to see the large figure of the man from yesterday standing ten feet or so from your shop, his back facing you as he stared out at the beach. In your brief glimpse, you also noticed that the jacket wrapped around his waist had a white plus sign in a circle as well as the word lifeguard in white blocky letters above it. Oh god, of course you had gone and pissed off a lifeguard on your first day here.

You shut the barely-open windows with a too-loud slam that made you wince before you quickly locked them again and rushed over to Taliyah.

“Tali, he’s here again!” you hissed.

“Huh?” she replied, pausing her task of refilling a container of sprinkles. “Muscle guy?”

You nodded frantically and Taliyah frowned, putting the sprinkles down and approaching the order window herself. You watched as she opened the window ever so slightly, peering out for a few seconds before closing it back up.

“Well… can’t say I was expecting him to actually come back,” she said evenly.

“What do I even do?” you asked, staring at the order windows like they would burst open at any second and reveal you to the clearly-determined lifeguard. “He’s a lifeguard, Tali! What if he bans me from the beach?”

She rolled her eyes in response. “He can’t just ban you from the beach. Lifeguards don’t have that much power. If they did, I would’ve been banned a long time ago for all the times I’ve surfed after hours.”

“Then what does he want with me?” you asked, looking away from the window.

Taliyah shrugged. “You’d have to ask him that.”

“But what if I… don’t?” you replied weakly. “He’ll give up eventually, right?”

“I mean, maybe?” she said. “But it might be easier to deal with him now and get it over with.”

You saw her point, but it wasn’t her that was being pursued by a tall, muscly lifeguard with a vengeance!

Taliyah clearly caught the reluctance on your face and sighed. “Fine, I’ll switch with you for today. Now let’s go over how to make the basic stuff before we open.”

True to her word, Taliyah had allowed you to hide in the back making orders, telling the lifeguard guy that you were off today. You watched him walk away from behind the shaved ice machine, hoping that your ordeal was finally over, but your hopes were quickly dashed the next day as you went to open the store again, only to see the same broad back facing you from just outside the shop.

Taliyah had reluctantly agreed to switch again that day, and the day after. But by day four, even the promise of helping her scavenge for rocks again wouldn’t get her to agree to switch.

You closed the window again, turning to Taliyah with pleading eyes, but she was having none of it.

“It’s been four days,” she said, arms crossed. “Clearly he’s not giving up. You should just see what he wants.”

“But…” The thought still terrified you. You knew you deserved to be yelled at for what you had done, but it was made that much worse by the fact that the subject of your plight was just about the hottest guy you had ever seen.

Taliyah shook her head at you. “Okay, but I’m not doing orders again today, so if you want to keep hiding from him, we’ll have to move onto plan B.”

Plan B, as it turned out, was a mascot suit of sorts; three fluffy poros stacked on top of each other like a snowman. A poro each made up your upper and lower body, the last poro being the head of the costume. You looked incredibly awkward, the arms and legs of the costume hairy and tipped with little brown claws. You were momentarily stunned by the sheer lengths you were going to just to avoid this guy, but you were already in the costume, so you reasoned that you might as well follow through with it now.

Taliyah put the costume’s head on you and your world was plunged largely into darkness, minus the mesh one-way view out of the top poro’s eyes. You were helped to the back door, some fliers for the store shoved into your hands.

Taliyah helped you walk out front, and you were pretty quickly swarmed by kids. You couldn’t see the lifeguard guy, but the relief that coursed through you was short-lived, swallowed by the immediate explosion of business brought on by your costume.

One thing you hadn’t considered in your haste was the heat. You weren’t sure if it was the costume or if today was hotter than usual, but very quickly you found yourself becoming a sweaty mess under the weight of the dense, furry costume.

The longer you were in the costume, the worse you felt, but you were determined to stick this out. So you handed out fliers and posed for photos with children while Taliyah ran the stand.

You wished that you could wipe the sweat from your face, but you weren’t sure if you could even reach up to remove the costume’s head yourself due to the awkward shape of the costume. So you endured the ever-increasing heat, only feeling wearier as the time ticked by.

You waved goodbye to a group of kids as they left with their ice cream cones, the sweltering heat really bearing down on you. As you went to turn and head back to the stand to ask Taliyah to help get the head off, a wave of dizziness crashed over you. You took one step towards the stand, and then another, and then it all went dark as you felt yourself falling forward, too weak to stop your descent to the ground.

You woke up with a heavy head, feeling foggy with confusion. The last thing you remembered, you had been heading back to the stand…

Immediately, you realized that you weren’t at the ice cream stand, and you weren’t wearing the poro suit, or even your beach dress. Sitting up in the cot you laid in, you found that you were wearing only your swimsuit.

As you sat up, a blue ice pack that you hadn’t realized was there fell from your forehead and into your lap. Picking it up, the pack only feeling slightly cold, you turned to look around the room, still unsure what exactly was going on.

You were in a room of some sort, guessing it was afternoon by the minute amount of light filtering into the room, even through the closed curtains. There was a fan gently whirring above your head, but otherwise the room was silent.

There was another cot beside yours, and a table nearby with a few red first aid kits stacked on it, some bandages messily spilling out of one of them. There was a sign pulled over the door, the side facing you reading come on in, we’re open.

You got up from the bed, shuddering with disgust when you noticed just how sweaty your whole body was. The bed squeaked as you got up from it, your knees hitting a bedside table between the cots that you hadn’t noticed had been there. On the small table was a glass of water, as well as a white fan that was emblazoned with what looked to be a group of cats waterskiing.

You picked up the fan, letting out a small laugh at the silly-looking cartoon cats on the fan. It looked like something you could win at a carnival booth.

“If you can laugh, then I guess you’re feelin’ alright.”

A deep voice from behind you made you jump, fingers fumbling the fan, which fell onto the floor with a clatter that was only made louder in the quiet room. You turned to look behind you, only to fall off the cot in shock when you saw the very lifeguard you had been trying so hard to avoid standing in the doorway of a small office you hadn’t noticed was there.

“Hey, careful!” He quickly crossed the room to squat down in front of you, taking your elbow and helping you back up onto the cot. You were too stunned to resist and found yourself falling into his chest as a wave of dizziness hit you.

“You okay?” he asked, and you tried to nod, but your head was spinning too much to focus. “Hey, hold still.”

He placed his hands on your shoulders, keeping you steady against him until you were able to regain your focus. When he was satisfied with your condition, he pulled back, releasing your shoulders and instead reaching out for the glass of water on the table next to you.

“Drink,” he instructed, handing you the cup before standing up. “I’ll be right back.”

He stared at you for a moment before finally turning back and heading into the office at the back of the room.

You watched him go, feeling on edge, but complied, bringing the glass up to your lips and taking a long drink. The last thing you wanted to do was give this guy more reason to be upset with you. You were surprised at just how refreshing the water felt, and you had soon downed the entire glass, placing it back on the table when you were done.

“Alright, lay back down,” the lifeguard instructed as he returned.

“What?” you replied. What was he going to do to you? How had you even got here? Where was Taliyah?

He stopped before you, furrowing his eyebrows as he looked down at your shaky, terrified form. “Are you–”

“I’m sorry!” you exclaimed, bowing your head. “I didn’t mean to spill the snowballs on you! If you need to yell at me, go ahead. I’m sorry I didn’t just come out sooner and–”

It had occurred to you mid-ramble that he had yet to say anything, and you cut off your babbling, slowly looking up to find him staring at you with what you could only describe as a bewildered look on his face.

He blinked. “Is that why–”

“I’m so sorry!” you interrupted, bowing your head again. “If you want to ban me from the beach, I get it!”

“Ban ya from the beach?” he replied with a bark of laughter. “The only thing I wanted to do was get your number.”

“My… what?” You had to be hallucinating. There was no way he had just said that.

“Lay down first,” he spoke sternly, and you complied, still feeling stunned by his words.

Once you were laid down, he picked something up from the bed, which you recognized as another ice pack. He placed it on your forehead, the cool pack immediately flooding you with a feeling of relief. Closing your eyes, you let out a tired sigh, suddenly feeling fatigued.

“Get some rest, princess. We’ll talk when you’re up again.”

You took his advice, the cooling from the ice pack lulling you back to sleep, your eyelids too heavy to keep open.

When you woke up again, you felt infinitely better, your head clearer and body feeling less overheated. The ice pack on your forehead was room temperature, and it was now dark outside. There was a light illuminating your left side as you sat up in bed, turning to see the office in the back with its light on.

The cot squeaked under you, which was responded to by the squeak of a chair from inside the office, the red-haired lifeguard emerging from the office and approaching your bedside.

“Feelin’ any better?” he asked, and you nodded, biting your lip nervously. “Got you some more water.”

You looked over to the bedside table to see the water cup refilled and took hold of it, grateful to have something to focus on other than the intimidatingly muscular man before you.

You drank the entire glass before you forced yourself to finally address the situation before you. “Um… why am I here?”

“You passed out,” he replied bluntly, taking a seat on the cot next to yours. “Overheated yourself in that rat costume.”

“They’re not rats, they’re poros,” you replied, unsure of what to say.

He let out a huff of laughter. “Poros that important to you that you’re willin’ to fry yourself for ‘em?”

“No, that was…” you trailed off. Well, you might as well just admit it. If he had gone out of his way to care for you after you had passed out like an idiot, then he deserved the truth. “I was avoiding you. I was scared you were going to yell at me. My friend didn’t want to keep covering for me at the window so I decided to wear that stupid poro costume.”

“So that’s what that was about,” he replied. “And here I thought you were avoidin’ me ‘cuz you weren’t interested. Gave up on gettin’ your number and then got news that someone passed out from heat stroke.”

You were still having a hard time comprehending the asking for your number part, so you instead chose to focus on the other half. “Heat stroke?”

“Not sure what you expected, wearin’ that costume in this heat,” he said. “Can’t say nobody’s ever been afraid of me before, but giving themself heat stroke just to avoid me is a new one.”

He sounded somewhat self-deprecating, and you immediately felt bad. You had clearly misjudged him, and realized that he hadn’t even mentioned the snowball incident himself.

You forced yourself to meet his eyes, even with as awkward as you were currently felt. “I’m sorry for giving you so much trouble, and for spilling snowballs all over you. I’m just really sorry.”

He laughed. “Ain’t nothin’ for you to apologize for. I’ve had worse get on me since I started workin’ here, and usually it ain’t from a cute girl.”

You tensed in your seat, tearing your gaze from his to look down at your feet, your cheeks feeling warm.

“Hey, don’t go overheatin’ yourself again,” he scolded, standing up from the bed. “If you’re not interested, that’s fine, but I think it’s best if I take ya home. Don’t need your friend yellin’ at me again if you pass out on the way back.”

As much as you wanted to deny his assertion of you being not interested, you couldn’t muster up the courage, so you instead quietly accepted his offer of help. You would have to ask Taliyah what he had meant when you got back.

It was surprisingly cold on the beach at night, the icy breeze sending shivers along your skin. You stared out at the dark ocean waves, entranced by the water crashing against the sand, when your focus was broken by some soft fabric being laid over your shoulders.

You turned to look over your shoulder to see Sett just behind you on the steps of the lifeguard office, the jacket that was usually around his waist now laying on your shoulders.

He caught your curious look and raised an eyebrow. “You nearly cooked yourself to death today, I ain’t about to let you freeze yourself to death now.”

“Thanks,” you replied quietly, reaching a hand up to keep the jacket around your shoulders.

Your feet met the soft sand as you followed Sett towards the parking lot. The beach was totally empty, an odd contrast to how things were in the daytime. It felt weird to actually see the shape of the landscape unobscured by giant beach umbrellas and a sea of bodies. You only looked away from the empty scene when you realized that you had left the sand, and Sett was staring expectantly at you.

“…what?” you asked, getting the feeling that he had said something that you had missed.

“Which way?” he repeated with a quick glance at the street ahead of you.

“Oh right,” you replied. “My friend lives on Sandstone Way.”

Sett’s ears perked up. “By that tacky souvenir shop?”

“Yeah,” you laughed. “Right by there.”

You giggled at Sett’s assessment; you had noticed the eye-hurtingly brightly painted store when Taliyah had walked you to her house from the train station. She had rolled her eyes at the store as you surveyed the display of t-shirts with embarrassing designs on them, stating that sometimes they got some good rocks in, but it wasn’t worth the amount of tourists always asking for directions when she was walking around the neighborhood.

Looking over at Sett out of the corner of your eye, you were struggling to think of anything to say. He was dressed in just his sandals and shorts, his sunglasses forgone and giving you a clear look at his golden eyes that seemed to glow in the dark.

“So this your first summer here?” Sett asked, breaking the brief silence as you walked side by side. “I know I’d remember you if I’d seen ya before.”

“I was here for a summer when I was a kid,” you answered. “But everything looks so different now. Maybe I just saw this place differently when I was a kid.”

“Nah,” he dismissed. “It never used to be this busy here. Tourists bring money to this place, but it means it’s always loud around here.”

The conversation was slowly helping you feel more comfortable with the intimidatingly handsome lifeguard. You felt dumb for putting so much energy into avoiding him.

“So have you always lived here?” you asked.

“Born and raised,” he answered with a grin that you couldn’t help but feel looked a little sad. “Ma used to work at the boating shop… and the laundromat… and the candy store.”

“All at the same time?” you asked incredulously.

Sett shrugged. “Didn’t have much of a choice. Pa ran off on us when I was a kid, and it wasn’t like anyone would hire a fatherless runt to work for them.”

“Sounds like it was hard,” you replied. “Did you ever find out where he went?”

“For his sake, I’d better not,” Sett sneered. “I heard ma cry missin’ that scumbag more times than I can count. There ain’t a family here for that bastard to come back to.”

“How is your mom doing?” you asked as you turned onto Sandstone Way, passing by the tacky tourist shop, the flashy paint on the walls too bright even at night.

“She’s doin’ good,” he answered, finally looking happy with a satisfied smile. “Got her to quit her jobs when I started workin’ enough to pay the bills.”

“You’re a good son,” you complimented him. “She’s lucky to have you.”

You smiled at him, coming to a stop before Taliyah’s house. “Well, this is me. Thanks for walking me back.”

“Take care of yourself,” he said. “I don’t wanna see you passin’ out again.”

“I’ll try not to,” you replied. “No more poro costumes for me.”

“On that topic,” he purred, leaning closer to you. “You never gave me an answer.”

“An answer?” you squeaked, flustered by his sudden closeness.

“I’ve been tryin’ to get your number for days now,” he replied, and you did your best to supress a shiver from running up your spine. Was this real life?

You wet your lips with your tongue nervously, unable to miss how Sett’s sharp eyes watched the movement.

“I, um, I don’t have my phone on me,” you said, immediately realizing how dumb you sounded. You didn’t need your phone on you to tell him your number! You hastily made to amend your statement. “…but if you come by the stand tomorrow, I’ll give it to you!”

“Oh?” Sett’s grin was wide, gold eyes flashing dangerously. “I s’pose I could find some time to stop by. See you then, sweetheart.”

Sett turned to walk away, but you stopped him with a call of his name. “Wait, your jacket–”

“Keep it for the night,” Sett replied. “I’ll get it from you tomorrow.”

You reluctantly agreed, stunned silent by his bold flirting, his jacket sitting warm on your shoulders as you watched him walk away. You stared at his broad back until he was out of sight, only then turning to head inside, knowing Taliyah would be waiting.

The next morning she was still on you as you spent some extra time getting ready.

“I still can’t believe he gave you his jacket,” she teased with a grin. “I mean, I figured he was probably into you, but–”

“You what?” you replied as you paused styling your hair.

“I kept telling you to talk to him,” she replied. “No guy like that is going to wait outside your work for days in a row just to yell at you for spilling ice on him. But I didn’t think you’d believe me if I told you.”

“I just feel so stupid giving myself heat stroke just go avoid him,” you lamented.

“Yeah,” Taliyah frowned. “If I had realized it was that hot out, I never would’ve let you go out in that thing.”

“It’s my own fault for being so dumb,” you insisted.

“But hey, it all worked out, didn’t it?” Taliyah grinned as she slipped on her water shoes. “You’ve got a hot lifeguard coming to visit you at work today.”

“Don’t remind me. I’m still super nervous,” you said, adjusting your beach dress over your most flattering swimsuit.

“You’ll be fine,” Taliyah replied. “He’s clearly super into you. You should’ve seen him when you passed out yesterday.”

“What?” You had been so tired last night that you had only told her the basics before crashing for the night, completely forgetting to ask her what had happened yesterday.

“Someone got him when you collapsed,” she told you. “You should’ve seen his face when he pulled off the poro head and saw it was you inside the costume! I tried to come with, but he told me he’d handle it. I maaay have threatened his life if anything happened to you, but just a little.”

You laughed. So that’s what Sett had been referring to.

Taliyah came up from behind you as you stared at your appearance in the mirror, resting her chin on your shoulder and meeting your eyes in the mirror. “Relax, you look great. Fuzzy ear boy isn’t gonna know what hit him!”

“Fuzzy ear–” you sputtered, laughing at Taliyah’s choice of words. “I guess his ears do look pretty fuzzy.”

“Well if he lets you pet them, tell me how soft they are!” she teased, pulling back from you to grab her bag. “Now let’s go. You’ve got a boy to meet!”

You somehow felt even more nervous today than you had the few days you had spent avoiding Sett. You were still having a hard time wrapping your head around the fact that a guy that looked like he had walked straight out of a fireman’s calendar was coming to your little beachfront ice cream stand for the sole purpose of getting your phone number. And his jacket, which was folded neatly on the countertop beside you.

You weren’t exactly sure when he was going to come. Usually, he would be there waiting outside in the morning before you opened, but all you had opened up to today was a sparsely-populated beachfront, no handsome lifeguards to be seen. By two in the afternoon, your anxiety had begun to get the better of you.

“Stop pacing,” Taliyah scolded you. “He’ll be here.”

“But what if he decided not to?” you said, taking a deep breath to try and calm yourself down. “What if this was just a joke?”

“Then I’ll go kick his butt,” she responded plainly. “He’ll come. Relax.”

You were about to reply, when a ding of the service bell at the order window had you spinning around, ready to take an order, only for the words to die on your lips when you laid eyes on the well-muscled lifeguard with the fuzzy black ears just outside the order window, sending a grin your way.

“Here to pick up my order,” he said, leaning an arm against the window.

“Your… order?” you replied, too entranced by his appearance to properly make use of your brain.

“A pretty girl promised me her number if I came by,” he replied, looking down at you through his sunglasses.

“I… right… I…” You turned back quickly to see Taliyah staring expectantly at you, mouthing the word number at you. Right.

With slightly shaky hands, you reached for the small notepad at the front counter, taking that and a pen in hand and trying not to focus on the fact that Sett was watching you as you began to write.

Double-checking that the number was right, you handed the paper to him, your fingers touching as he took it from you. Remembering about your other promise, you reached over to grab the lifeguard jacket from the counter beside you. You went to hand him his jacket, surprised when he didn’t take it from you.

“What time do you get off?” he asked, and you answered a quiet six. “Give it back to me then.”

With a short wave and a grin, Sett made a show of stowing the phone number in his pocket before sauntering off and leaving you standing there slack-jawed.

“See? Was that so hard?” Taliyah called from her seat at the ice machine. “Now you just have to keep it together for your date.”

“I don’t know if I can,” you said, leaning back against the counter.

“You did last night, didn’t you?” she countered. “He’s just a guy. A really hot guy, but still. Don’t freak yourself out. You deserve a nice guy. It’s just a bonus that he has more abs than spiders have legs!”

You let out an amused huff. Taliyah was right, as she always was. You needed to get over yourself and let yourself have a good time tonight.”

But for now, you had customers to deal with. You and Taliyah let out a shared groan as you saw the nightmare mom and her army of brats heading towards you. You both returned to your posts, hoping their overly-complicated orders would be right on the first try this time.

Taliyah let out a yawn, stretching her arms high above her head before beginning the process of cleaning up for the day. After the last customer left, you hastily closed the order window, not wanting to give anyone the chance to come and beg about how it was only five minutes past closing and they’ve been wanting a banana split all day. You had learned your lesson from that mistake on day two.

Once the order windows were closed and locked, you joined Taliyah at the side counter, helping to return all the different containers of toppings to their rightful places. You found your hands moving slower, your nerves slowing you down in order to prolong the inevitable.

Taliyah eventually got tired of your pitiful attempt at stalling for time and gently removed the container of blue sprinkles from your grasp. “Just go, I’ll finish up here.”

“Are you sure?” you asked, and Taliyah sent you an unimpressed look. “Okay, fine, I’m going, I’m going.”

“I hope you know I expect all the details later!” she grinned as you made your way to the door, hesitating with your hand on the door handle for only a moment before opening the door.

It was mercifully less warm outside today than it had been yesterday, not to mention that you were also minus a heavy mascot costume. Yesterday hadn’t ended too badly for you, but you would still prefer to not end today in a hospital if you exacerbated your current heat-sensitive state.

You weren’t sure if you preferred if Sett was already there, or if you got there first to wait for him; neither option seemed to abate your nerves. But of course, the lifeguard was prompt as always, leaning against one of the beams that held up the awning above the order window.

You didn’t think you had been making much noise walking along the sand, but he seemed to hear you, turning to face you with a grin as you approached.

“Ready?” he asked as you came to a stop before him, tucking some of your hair behind your ear in an effort to keep your cool.

“Yeah,” you answered, impressed that your voice hadn’t come out squeaky with how nervous you were.

“Good,” he replied, before his grin turned teasing. “Was half expectin’ ya to come on our date in that rat costume.”

“Poro!” you corrected again, trying not to get flustered by his mention of this being a date. You weren’t sure what else it would be, but you couldn’t help the butterflies that fluttered in your stomach when he had acknowledged the obvious.

He surprised you by taking your hand, pulling you along with him as you tried desperately not to stumble and fall into the sand.

The beach crowd was beginning to thin out, people heading home or to one of the many beachfront restaurants nearby. Watching as a kid packed up his sand toys, you wondered if one of those restaurants was where you were headed as well. Sett hadn’t told you anything about what the plan was, and you found yourself curious when he led you to the bright white lifeguard office.

At first, you had thought that maybe he had forgotten something, at least until you followed him into the small building to see what looked to be the table that had previously held all the first aid kits, now decked out in a soft-looking purple picnic blanket. On top of the makeshift picnic table was a spread of various tasty-looking finger foods, the scene completed by two chairs pulled up to the table, cushions with a starfish pattern placed on the seats.

You were perhaps too dumbfounded by the sight, as you snapped out of it to Sett calling your name, looking over at him to see him looking surprisingly tense. You should probably say something, you realized.

“It looks great,” you said, meaning every word as you looked over the table. “Are those cabbage rolls?”

“Ma helped me make ‘em,” Sett explained, looking bashful for the first time since you had met him as he raised an arm to scratch at the back of his neck. “Helped me with all of this, actually. Never done anythin’ like this before.”

“You mean a picnic?” you asked curiously.

Sett chuckled. “Picnics. Dates. Not a lotta women ‘round here who wanted anythin’ to do with a fatherless half-breed.”

You had a hard time believing that; you had noticed several mothers checking him out as they packed their family’s stuff to leave the beach. But the hint of something sad in his eyes made you reconsider. You had no memory of seeing someone like him that summer you had spent here, but it wasn’t like that was a surprise to you. You and Taliyah had been in your own little world at that time, only ever spending time with each other.

“Well I’m excited to try your cooking,” you said, figuring a change of subject was for the best.

Sett grinned as he sat down. “Should be decent. Haven’t poisoned anyone since high school.”

Your eyes widened, hand freezing on its path to grab a cabbage roll, startled eyes darting to his.

Sett let out a bark of laughter at your alarmed face. “Relax. Wouldn’t poison ya. Maybe those kids that keep swimmin’ into the boating zone, but not you.”

“Thanks… I think?” you replied, biting your lip as you stared down at the cabbage rolls, weighing your options.

“Wasn’t real poison anyways,” he scoffed, taking some rolls from himself. “Not my fault sugar and salt look the same.”

You laughed, grabbing some food for yourself at last. “I suppose they kinda do.”

“Ma didn’t wanna hurt my feelings, but I knew when I tried some myself,” he explained.

“It was nice of her to try,” you offered.

“Too nice,” he said. “Ma is always too nice. Never said anythin’ bad about my old man, even after what he did. Had to work three jobs for years because of that bastard, but not a word.”

“Well I’m sure she’s glad she has you,” you commented. “Even if you give her food poisoning sometimes.”

“Once,” he corrected, taking a bite. “Learned my lesson the first time.”

You followed his lead, finding the food to be entirely poison-free, and actually the best home-cooked meal you had eaten in a long time. The conversation moved to swapping work stories, and you were unsurprised to find out that the mother and her the demon children had been a thorn in Sett’s side as well.

“They really buried sleeping sunbathers in sand?”

“Five times in a day one time,” Sett grouchily confirmed. “Last time Braum went to handle it. Said I would bury those little assholes under the sand if I had to go yell at them one more time.”

You sympathized with his pain. You felt lucky that you had only experienced the tip of the annoyingness iceberg with that group of little terrors.

“Braum?” you inquired as you both left the lifeguard office, the beach now fully dark.

“Fellow lifeguard,” he answered, nonchalantly taking your hand in his as you made your way off the beach. “Bald, giant moustache, even bigger than me. Better at the whole gentle-but-firm thing than I am.”

“Oh, I think I’ve seen him before. He comes by for poro pops sometimes,” you said, mind drawing a picture of the surprisingly friendly man in the small purple swim bottoms with a weakness for poro-shaped ice pops. “So are you the head lifeguard then?”

Sett considered your question. “Guess I am the boss of ‘em. All of the other lifeguards are always comin’ at me with problems to solve. The extra pay doesn’t hurt either if I wanna keep momma from feelin’ like she has to work.”

“Say thank you to her from me for the dinner. It was really good,” you said as you passed by the familiar tacky souvenir shop.

“She’ll be happy to hear it,” he replied with a soft smile that made your heart thump in your chest. “I know she wishes she had more to cook for than just me.”

You both came to a stop before Taliyah’s house, and you sneakily glanced over just to make sure Taliyah wasn’t peeking out from a window, which she wasn’t. You turned your focus back to Sett, only to find him closer than he had just been. How was he so good at sneaking up on you?

A large hand came up to cup your jaw, thumb brushing against your cheek, and your face was tilted up towards Sett’s. You were glad it was dark out, because otherwise you knew your reddening cheeks would be obvious.

“Still afraid of me?” he asked, voice low, lips so close to yours that you could make out a small scar that crossed over his bottom lip.

“No,” you answered, making no move to pull away as you stared up into his eyes. “Not unless I was about to taste your high school cooking.”

“Smart,” he replied with a smirk. “But I’m talkin’ about right now, because if you don’t turn and run into that house, I’m gonna kiss you.”

Your bag almost tumbled from your grasp, but you held fast as you stared at Sett, whose own had already become half-lidded. You had no words to describe how much you didn’t want to run right now, so you didn’t use any, instead angling your face further upwards, trying to make your willingness abundantly clear.

With a grin, he leaned down and kissed you.

Pulling back slightly, he dove back in, his other hand coming to your waist to pull you against him. You happily leant into him, your hands on his firm chest.

When he pulled back again, you opened your eyes at last, feeling almost as dizzy as right before you had passed out from heat stroke.

Sett looked content, and you were only hoping you looked half as composed as he did right now. He leaned back in to give you one more peck before pulling back from you entirely, the cold from the air outside immediately apparent as soon as you were minus his warm hands against your skin.

“Think I’ll stop by tomorrow,” he said. “Been cravin’ a cherry snowball for some reason lately.”

Sett was a man of his word, you learned, though you were less happy to see him the next day when he asked if he could order a cherry snowball served like last time, and then laughed as you had proceeded to sputter like a broken machine.

His visits became daily, sometimes bringing Braum with him, who continued to surprise you with the sheer amount of poro pops he was able to consume in one sitting. Quite a few nights a week, you had found yourself all around Port Navori with the half-Vastayan lifeguard. You were surprised at how supportive Taliyah was being, considering you had originally come here to spend time with her.

“Gives me more time to surf,” she answered with a shrug when you had asked her. “And maybe that boyfriend of yours can convince you to stay here after the summer is over.”

“Boyfriend?” you yelped, and Taliyah raised an eyebrow.

“You aren’t? I thought he would have made it official by now. It’s been over two weeks… have you guys even done it?”

“Taliyah!” you scolded her, switching back to professional mode as a group of people approached the stand.

As you helped prepare their orders, you couldn’t help but think about what she had said. You and Sett had kissed quite a lot actually, but he had yet to do more than that. But it was far too embarrassing a subject for you to have the confidence to broach, so you had resolved yourself to just be content with things as they were.

It was just your luck that right then was when Sett had decided to make his daily visit to the stand, approaching the counter as the other group left.

Taliyah apparently wasn’t done pestering you for the day as she sped to meet him at the counter before you could get there yourself.

“Hey!” she greeted Sett with a sly smile as you stood frozen behind her, nervous about her motivations. “You’re on your break, right?”

Sett raised an eyebrow. “What about it?”

“Well,” she said, in the voice you knew meant that she wanted something. “There’s a surfing contest I entered, and it’s almost my turn and it won’t even take that long and–”

“Tali!” you interrupted, rushing over to the counter.

“All I need is an hour,” Taliyah insisted, before pulling you beside her at the counter. “And she needs some help while I’m gone since lunchtime is when most of the people come by.”

“I’m fine, I–”

“I’m in,” Sett cut in, eyeing you with almost palpable smugness.

“Awesome!” Taliyah replied, immediately shucking her apron and hat onto the floor in her haste to get out the door. “Have fun, see you after I win!”

“Taliyah!”

Your call of her name fell on deaf ears as she already had her board and was out the door, leaving you standing at the counter with Sett still leaning against the counter.

Sett reached up to pull his sunglasses off, tucking them into his packet, his golden eyes fully uncovered and sparkling with mischief, the sight alone making you feel weary.

“Well? You gonna invite me in?” he asked. “Not sure I’d fit through the window.”

You scrambled to meet him at the back door, not wanting him to try and get into the shop through the order window that was less wide than he was. It was a strange feeling to open the back door of the shop to a guy that was almost too tall for the doorway, and another thing entirely to try and corral him into behaving as you tried to keep the ice cream stand functioning while Taliyah was gone.

“Aren’t lifeguards supposed to set a good example for others?” you huffed, wiping ice from your apron. At least he hadn’t made things truly equal and put cherry syrup on the ball of shaved ice he had pressed against your neck.

“Not when I’m off the clock,” he answered. “Besides, it’s my once in a lifetime chance to see what workin’ one of these is like.”

It would definitely be only one time if you had anything to say about it. If the almost-hour with him here had taught you anything, it was that Sett was not cut out to work in an ice cream shop.

The scoops of ice cream he doled out were easily twice the size of the ones Taliyah did, which made for happy customers, but a less happy bottom line if he was here for more than an hour. He was also lacking Taliyah’s patience, and you were forced to sideline him when an especially picky middle-aged woman came by who insisted you remake her smoothie four times until it had an acceptable pH level. The woman’s complaints had miraculously stopped the moment Sett had approached the window himself, becoming so invested in flirting with the handsome lifeguard that she had snatched her next smoothie attempt from you without complaint, not even glancing your way as she batted her eyes at him, only leaving when he excused himself with an excuse of needing to make more orders.

You approached Sett to check on him and found yourself pulled down into his lap as he leaned back in the chair.

Huffing, he pulled you against him, nuzzling against your neck. “Don’t know how you deal with that. Couldn’t pay me to make her damn smoothie one more time.”

“You get used to it,” you replied. “Don’t you deal with worse as a lifeguard?”

“Yeah,” he grunted. “But nothin’ sayin’ I gotta be nice when I deal with ‘em.”

“That’s true,” you laughed.

“If anyone complains, they can go somewhere else. Ain’t another beach within a hundred miles as well-run as this one,” he bragged, kissing at your neck.

As much as you were enjoying his sudden affection, you knew time was running low until Taliyah would return. You made to pull back to tell Sett that, but were instead pulled into a kiss that took you a few breathless moments to find the strength to escape.

“This Friday,” he murmured, face inches from yours. “There’s a party at the pool. You should come with me.”

You had heard about the exclusive pool parties on this beach from Taliyah, but hadn’t expected to ever get an invite. The pool, which was at the far end of the beach from the ice cream stand, was as exclusive as it got. Gated with walls so high that you couldn’t see in, it was the membership-only place to be for all of the elite in the beach town of Port Navori.

“Is that… okay?” you asked hesitantly.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” he countered, and you didn’t really have an answer. “It’ll be fine. Come. Have some people I wanna introduce ya to.”

The door burst open at the same time as you nodded your agreement, revealing Taliyah clutching both her dripping board as well as a shiny blue ribbon.

“You won?” you asked, trying to disentangle yourself from Sett, who reluctantly let you up.

“Easily!” Taliyah gloated. “Nobody else stood a chance. So how were things here?”

“The money ain’t worth the drama of this place,” Sett griped.

Taliyah laughed. “Smoothie lady come back with a vengeance?”

“I’ll take kids buryin’ sunbathers up to their ears over this any day,” he replied with a grimace, standing up and stretching.

At his mention of ears, Taliyah had brought both hands up to her own head about where Sett’s were on his head, and you quickly waved at her to cut it out before he saw. Thankfully she did, but you could tell that you were going to get asked if you had pet his ears yet as soon as his fuzzy ears were out of earshot.

“I’ll text ya the time when I know it,” Sett said, giving you a quick kiss on the head and a two-fingered salute to Taliyah before heading out the back door.

“So?” Taliyah asked, pulling the chair up to the ice cream station after she had stashed her prize ribbon in her bag. “Are they as soft as they look?”

“I didn’t pet them,” you answered.

“It’s been over two weeks!” she complained. “Has he at least asked you to be his girlfriend yet?”

You shook your head. “He did invite me to a pool party with him on Friday at that fancy pool.”

“Really?” Taliyah responded, eyes wide. “You have to tell me what it’s like! I mean, I’ve seen satellite photos, but it’s not the same…”

“I’ll probably be too nervous to remember any of it,” you grumbled.

“This is your chance!” Taliyah encouraged. “By Friday it’ll be three weeks. You need to ask him if he sees you as his girlfriend or not.”

You reeled back, waves of anticipatory anxiety rolling over you. “I don’t want to scare him off. What if this is just casual to him and I’m too dumb to see it?”

“Then you’ll know,” she replied. “I know you. It’ll eat you up if you put this much energy into a guy without knowing how he feels about you. So ask. If he says no, then at least you’ll have an entire store’s worth of ice cream to drown yourself in after!”

Taliyah was right. She was always right. You knew that you couldn’t keep whatever this was up without knowing where you stood with him. The more time you spent with Sett, the more you wanted, and if he intended to keep things casual, you would rather know sooner so you could make an informed decision.

So that would be the plan then. Go to the party, have a good time (and get some photos of the pool for Taliyah) and then ask Sett about the state of your relationship. Sounded easy in theory. You could only hope you could muster up the courage to go through with the plan when the time came.

After hearing that the party was to start at four, Taliyah had gone all out, closing the stand at two so she could help you get ready to impress the snobs. You hadn’t put up too much of a fight, happy to have her help and her company, as your nerves only climbed higher the closer it got to four o’clock.

“You’ll be fine,” Taliyah said as she styled your hair. “You’ll only feel worse if you don’t get an answer from him. And with how good you’ll look at the party, he won’t be able to say no!”

“Thanks, Tali,” you replied gratefully. “I promise I’ll get you a bunch of photos of the pool. And whatever else you want.”

“What I want is for you to stay here for good,” she said. “So really I’m just doing myself a favor by helping you. This place has been a hundred times more bearable since you’ve been here, and I want it to stay that way.”

“Still,” you persisted. “I feel bad that you’re going to so much trouble. If you want anything, just let me know.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Taliyah dismissed with a wave of her hand. “You should get going, don’t wanna be late to the fancy pool party.”

She practically shoved you out the door, and then you were alone, walking down the mostly-empty sidewalk. As you walked along the street, you couldn’t help but dwell on the possibilities. What would happen at the party? What would Sett say?

If he told you that he wasn’t looking for anything serious, what would you do? It was hard to have an answer for until you were in the moment, since a lot of it would depend on what Sett’s answer would be.

You walked through the parking lot, and then onto the beach, passing by kids building sandcastles and games of beach volleyball as you walked towards the end of the beach where the pool was. As you made your way to the fancier end of the beach, you began to notice the differences that marked the split between here and the side of the beach that you were usually on.

The shops on this side of the beach were much fancier, the sand littered with designer beach chairs and umbrellas. It was crazy just how different two ends of one beach could be.

The pool was noticeable from a great distance, or at least the wall white walls that surrounded it were. At least you weren’t going to get lost and miss the party entirely.

You approached the pristine white stairs that led from the beach up to the pool entrance, equal parts excited and apprehensive. The entrance was an open doorway, covered by a deep blue curtain and guarded by a muscled bouncer in white. The sight alone was intimidating; why hadn’t you just asked Sett to meet you beforehand?

You plastered a reluctant smile on your face before approaching the man. “Hi, I–”

“Name,” he interrupted, not looking up from his clipboard, sunglasses too dark for you to see his eyes.

Well it wasn’t like you hadn’t expected some level of standoffishness from the elite side of the beach. Keeping your smile up, you told him your name, waiting the prerequisite few moments for him to leaf through the list.

He seemed to have found what he was looking for, as his hand with the clipboard went to his side and he moved over to the curtain, pulling it to one side to allow you to enter. He had said nothing further, but seemed to be staring in your direction, so you took that as your cue and walked towards the now-open entryway and into the pool.

The entryway led into a hallway with pristine white walls, soft lighting hanging overhead. You could begin to hear chatter as you got closer to the end of the hallway, exiting into an explosion of sight and sound.

The pool was huge, and there seemed to be an intricate gold pattern on the tiles at the bottom. The pool was surrounded by lounge chairs and umbrellas, tropical foliage bordering the inner walls around the pool.

There were people all over, in and out of the pool. There was also a bar in the center which seemed to be very popular, as many people were carrying around intricate-looking cocktails.

More than the scenery or the people, your eyes were scanning the area for Sett. You checked your phone again to make sure, finding that it was the time he had told you to be here for. Maybe he was just running late or…

Your rising concern was broken up by the tap of designer wedges on the granite heading your way. You looked up from your phone to see two girls heading towards you, one of which you realized you had seen before.

The stuck-up redhead that had been the reason you had been out on the beach to spill the snowball on Sett in the first place was striding towards you, not a hair out of place underneath her likely-expensive sun hat. At her side was a lilac-haired woman in a swimsuit with a plunging neckline that was color blocked with various shades of purple. Together they made quite a striking pair, but your previous encounter with the redhead had you wishing that Sett would get here soon to save you from the impending conversation.

“Look, Sarah,” the purple-haired one sneered as they came to a stop before you. “So eager to pretend she’s one of us that she rushed right over.”

You took a step back, but that only seemed to embolden them.

Sarah lowered her sunglasses, staring at you like you were in her way. “Sad when they don’t know their place, Syndra.”

“Sett invited me here,” you replied defensively.

The women exchanged a pointed look before Sarah raised an eyebrow at you, a hand on her hip. “You ever think about why that was?”

“What?” you replied, unsure of what she was getting at.

“She doesn’t get it,” Syndra said with a cruel undertone in her voice that unnerved you.

“Look around,” Sarah said sharply. “Really look. Do half the people here look like they belong?”

You looked around, not sure what you were supposed to be seeing. A man with a hook-nose sat at the pool bar, flanked by women in skimpy bikinis. A humanoid form that seemed to be made of water conversed poolside with a large purple man in a ratty straw hat who was holding a ukulele. What were you supposed to be noticing?

“Sett is too nice to break it to you, so the job falls to me,” Sarah said with a smirk. “This is our annual loser fest. Charity case race. Bring-a-freak-to-work-day.”

“Pig party,” Syndra supplied.

“Yeah, pig party,” Sarah repeated, noticing your confused look. “Don’t know what that is? Poor thing.”

“I don’t–”

“It’s pretty simple,” Sarah interrupted. “We take half the summer to find the biggest freak we can, and then we bring them all together and crown a winner, and by the looks of you, Sett is really going for the top prize.”

You gasped, eyes wide, suddenly feeling like you were going to be sick.

“Aw, you really thought he liked you, huh?” Syndra mocked with fake sweetness.

“He didn’t… he never…” you stammered, clutching your bag to your chest.

“Well duh,” Sarah replied haughtily. “He wanted to win. Do you tell a pig when it’s about to become bacon?”

“What is meaning of this?” Braum accused, storming up to your group. “I have not heard of such a thing!”

“Need-to-know, Braum,” Syndra dismissed.

“And you didn’t need to know,” Sarah added.

You felt numb. This whole time… is that why Sett wouldn’t ask you to be his girlfriend? Why he never did more than kiss you? All this time, he had just seen you as a prize pig for an ugly date contest? It all made sense now, why he had been so desperate to get your number. He had never liked you… it had all been one sick joke. You should’ve known; nobody as attractive as Sett would ever see you as anything but a freak. And was too cowardly to come and tell you the truth to your face.

“Look, she’s crying,” Syndra taunted. “Don’t cry! Soon you’ll be queen pig!”

You couldn’t do this. You couldn’t stay here with all these people who saw you as less than human as your heart was breaking into pieces. You were so, so stupid, now wanting nothing more than to cry in peace. So you did, turning and running as fast as your legs would take you out of this awful place.

“Bye, piggy! We’ll ship you the ribbon!”

You heard Braum shout your name, as well as the cruel laughter of the women, but you didn’t stop running. Not when you got to the beach, nor the parking lot or the tacky souvenir shop, the sayings on the gaudy shirts too blurry to read through your tears. Your feet didn’t stop until you were at the doorstep to Taliyah’s home, out of breath, tears running down your cheeks.

The door opened, Taliyah’s face appearing in the doorway. “Hey, did you forget– wait, what happened?”

“Settrigh, stay still!”

Sett frowned, but did as his momma requested, allowing her to tie the ends of his hair after she had finished arranging it. He loved his ma dearly, but he really didn’t have time for her to redo his hair ten times right now.

It was getting way too close to the start time he had given you, and with how nervous of a person you were, he had intended to be on time, but that was before his mother had discovered the reason why he was cutting their visit short today.

Ma was aware that he had been seeing someone, had been ever since Sett had needed help making food for their first date.

“You do intend to let me meet her, Settrigh?” she asked, stepping back once she had fixed his hair to her satisfaction.

“Yes, ma,” he answered, standing up from the chair.

He wasn’t exactly surprised by his momma’s eagerness, considering this was the first girl he had ever dated, let alone considered introducing to her. This world was shallow; he had learned that early in life, which may be why he found himself so drawn to a girl who had put her all into having nothing to do with him. You broke up the monotony in this busy beach town and gave him something to look forward to other than seeing his ma for the first time in a long time.

Sett knew he was working on a time limit. You had mentioned that you had planned on only visiting Port Navori for the summer, and the summer was half over already, which meant his chances to convince you to stay were also halved, which is where tonight came in.

He had been taking things slow, not wanting to come on too strong and scare you off like he had watched happen to many a beachfront pick-up artist. He had been unwilling to rush things and lose you, but the slip of the calendar into August had forced his hand.

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t a bit apprehensive as to how today would end. How would you take him asking you to be girlfriend? He could only hope that he hadn’t misread you entirely.

He didn’t go to the pool parties often, but it seemed like a good way for him to introduce you to his friends, as they didn’t often all gather outside of those parties. He knew you would likely feel out of place, but Braum would be there, and he intended to stick by your side the entire time. And then after the party, if things went well, then maybe he would end the night with you as his girlfriend, but the party would be the first step.

As he left his ma’s house, he found his mind turning to the party. If you were wearing that red swimsuit you had worn last week, then it was going to be a difficult night for his self-control. His desire to take things slow had really taken a hit then, his only saving grace being ma’s lecture on being a gentleman pounding in his head as he tried not to look at how your chest was half-busting out of your top as you leaned over to pick a thread off of his glove. You were really too hot for your own good, which made him all the more eager to see you.

He knew he was running late, the party having started at least ten minutes earlier. It wasn’t his style to be late, but he was also pretty helpless to defy his ma. He only hoped that you hadn’t given up on him and left.

He took the shortest route possible, which included a short trek through some bushes that left him more leafy than he would’ve liked, but it was all forgotten when he spotted the stairs that led up to the pool entrance.

He was able to bypass the doorman who was only half as big as he was and seemed to be wary of interacting with him, stepping out of the way as Sett approached. He pushed past the curtain, hurried steps heading down the hallway. You hadn’t been waiting outside, so clearly you had been able to get in. He tried to fight back the excited grin that wanted to take over his face, but it was a losing battle as he entered the pool area, eyes immediately scanning the area for you.

“Your cruelty is unimaginable!” Braum’s booming voice carried easily through the air. “That girl has done nothing to be deserving of such treatment!”

What had Braum so worked up? Generally he was an easy guy to get along with, easily Sett’s most tolerable co-lifeguard. Not much phased him, which was a little concerning. But Sett had other priorities, the most important being locating you.

You weren’t in the pool, and didn’t seem to be sitting in any of the chairs. Maybe you had gone to the bathroom and would be right back–

“Well how else was she supposed to know Sett is too good for her? She clearly wasn’t going to see reality without a little help.”

Sett’s ears perked up, his attention snagged by the mention of his name, but especially by the latter half of the sentence. He turned around to see Sarah Fortune with Syndra at her side, who had her arms crossed and looked bored. In front of them was Braum, looking more irate than Sett had ever seen him.

“What’s this about?” Sett asked in a warning tone as he approached, the fur of his ears standing on end, leaving him feeling like he wasn’t going to like where this was headed.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” Sarah dismissed, flipping her hair behind her shoulder with a flick of her head. “We just showed a daydreaming little clout chaser the way out.”

Sett’s eyebrow rose. “A what?”

“Your ice cream girl,” Braum cut in. “These two have told her that this is a party for pigs. They have told her that you intend to bring her here to win ugly contest, and then she had run off.”

“What?” Sett growled dangerously, but the two women remained nonplussed.

“We did you a favor,” Syndra stressed. “If we get a reputation of letting just anyone in, then we’ll lose all status as members of the ruling class of the food chain. So we decided to throw this little pig party to make you come back to your senses.”

“You’re one of us, Sett,” Sarah added. “This pool doesn’t have room for little nobodies who don’t know their place.”

“Rather be a nobody than whatever the hell this is,” Sett snarled angrily, the full knowledge of the truth turning his bad feeling to a mix of simmering fury at the two women, and worry for you. He hated himself for being late and allowing this to happen to you. “Save your concern and don’t talk to me again.”

“But we were–” Syndra started, but Sett wasn’t in the mood.

“If you even look at her again, you’ll have me to deal with. And unlike that girl you just bullied outta here, I ain’t so nice.”

With that, Sett turned on his heel and stormed towards the exit to go do his best to fix this mess.

Braum quickly followed behind him. “My friend, I am sorry I could not stop them in time.”

“Ain’t your fault,” Sett replied. “Wish I’d have known. Gotta go see if she’ll even talk to me at this point.”

“I wish you luck,” Braum said as exited the hallway and emerged out into the sunny late afternoon.

Sett parted from Braum, taking the stairs two at a time as he surveyed the area, trying to see if he could catch sight of you. He quickly crossed the sand, making a beeline for the ice cream stand, even if it seemed like a longshot. He passed by a group of kids throwing sand on an older man sleeping on a towel, but ignored it and kept going. If anything was on fire, Braum could put it out. Sett’s sole focus right now was finding you and hoping you’d let him explain himself.

His chest felt heavy with anger and regret. How could he have let this happen? He hadn’t realized how cruel those women could be, and it had led to them making you believe he thought you were some freak he was using for convenience, which could not be farther from the truth.

Seeing those two talk about you like you were a pariah had brought him right back to when he was younger, to what he had endured at the hands of people just like Syndra and Sarah. People who had ostracized him, did their best to make him feel like he didn’t have a place here. Sett-the-beast-boy-bastard; the words had haunted him for a long time.

He had grown tough in response to the years of bullying, but you hadn’t. This was your first exposure to how awful this place could be. He and ma had dealt with it for years after pa ran off; he had nearly gotten expelled from school after a particularly bad fight with a kid that had made one too many nasty comments about his ma to his face.

Sett stopped, letting out a frustrated sigh as he saw the large closed sign on the front windows of the ice cream shop. So that was a bust. Without giving the store a second look, he continued on towards the rocks and then up to the parking lot.

There was only one other place to try. Chest tight, Sett followed the same path he had the night of your first date, the same path he took every time he walked you home. The walk there was one long blur, his feet unable to stop moving until the familiar house was in sight. Without a moment’s hesitation, Sett approached the front door, rapping his knuckles against the wood. When no answer came, he tried again, and after a few moments, the door opened to reveal Taliyah, who glared once she caught sight of him.

“What do you want?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Is she here? I need to talk to her,” Sett said, urgency bleeding into his voice.

Taliyah sighed, stepping outside and closing the door behind her. “You’re lucky I’m even talking to you after this. You don’t deserve to talk to her if that’s how you let your friends treat her.”

“They ain’t my friends,” Sett argued. “If I’d have known they were gonna pull that shit–”

A sly smile lifted the corner of Taliyah’s lips. “Good answer. If you had said anything else, then I’d be slamming the door in your face right about now.”

“Then can I–”

“Talk to her?” Taliyah interrupted. “Nope. Not a good idea.”

Sett’s face must have taken on a darker quality, because Taliyah retreated back a step, raising her hands in the air in mock surrender. “Relax, tough guy. I didn’t mean it like that. But she’s a little too upset to talk to you right now.”

The information only made Sett feel worse. He wanted so badly to talk to you, to do what he had wanted to do before this mess had happened and make you his girlfriend. You had never felt farther away than you did right now.

“Give me some time to calm her down. I can get her to be at the pier at seven, then the rest is up to you,” she said, levelling him with a stern look. “I know this wasn’t your fault. That’s the only reason I’m giving you a chance. She really likes you, so try not to make her feel any worse than she already does. Bye.”

And then Taliyah was gone, retreating back into the house and leaving Sett standing on the doorstep.

“Brought you some water,” Taliyah announced as she entered the room, glass in hand.

“Who was at the door?” you asked.

She shrugged. “Someone looking for my dad. Told them he’s not here.”

You nodded. It was probably too much to hope that it would be Sett. You winced as you thought his name. You hated how much you wanted to see him, someone who had used you to win some popular kid ugly date contest.

So it had all been a lie then? All the things he had told you about his life, his family? Every time he had kissed you, was he picturing kissing one of those girls instead? Is this really what popular people did for fun? You felt stupid for falling for it, for falling for him. You were so stupid.

With some prompting from Taliyah, you took a sip of the water. After she had made sure you had drank the whole glass, she sat down next to you, taking the glass from you and setting it down on the bedside table.

“I should have known,” you croaked.

“Known that popular girls are bitchy? Maybe,” she responded.

“That it was too good to be true,” you corrected.

“You’re acting like you’re eighty,” she scolded. “There are other guys out there. Ones who don’t have shitty friends.”

“Yeah, I know,” you replied. “But I really liked him. And I didn’t even get to pet his stupid fuzzy ears.”

“Well if you’re joking, then you must be doing okay,” she said. “How about we go do something to take your mind off of things?”

You frowned, and she rolled her eyes. “Not right this second. I’ll give you until six-thirty to get yourself ready to go.”

Taliyah got up off the bed and headed towards the door. “I’m not gonna let your night be ruined because of a couple of snobs.”

She closed the door, leaving you alone with your thoughts again. You laid back on the bed, intent on taking some time before you got ready to just veg out. As much as the notion of going out didn’t excite you right now, it was probably better than being a mopey mess all night. There would be other guys; it was just a shame that you had liked this one so much.

Two hours later, you were walking down the street with Taliyah. Your getting ready to go had consisted of washing your face of all the smeared makeup from your crying, brushing your hair into a semi-decent state and then watching dumb cat videos on your phone until you felt like you didn’t want to crawl in a hole and die.

Taliyah had assured you that you didn’t look bad, which you might have believed if you hadn’t seen yourself in the mirror as you were leaving, but at this point you were beyond caring about how you looked right now.

Taliyah had refused to tell you where she was taking you, and so you were forced to follow her down the familiar path towards the beach, unsure of where it was you were being led. Part of you was worried that you might run into Sett, but then the more rational side of you took over; he was likely back at that pool, partying it up with those girls and lamenting that you had run off before he could win his ugly date prize. It was crazy to realize just how flawed your judgment had been.

You had expected to be walking onto the beach, as it was where you two usually spent most of your time, but Taliyah didn’t go to the parking lot, instead heading towards the rockier section of the beach. You hadn’t been over here before, only vaguely aware of the area as a prime fishing location, bait shops and the like lining the street across from this part of the beachfront.

She took you past the fishing spots, down to near the end of the beach, where there was a small pier that went about thirty feet out into the sea. Like most of the beach at this time on a weekday, the pier was empty, most of the fishermen also having headed out with their day’s catches.

Taliyah led you down the pier to the small bench at the end of it, pushing you to sit down. When she didn’t do the same, you looked up at her, confused.

“I’ll be right back,” she said. “I’m gonna go grab something to help cheer you up. You just enjoy the view for a bit.”

You decided to follow her advice, staring out at the water. There wasn’t much to see other than some boats in the far distance and some buoys bobbing in the water that marked the swimming section from the boating section.

It was kind of nice in a way, the calm waters helping you to relax as you watched the waves roll in and out. You stayed like that for a while as you allowed yourself to zone out until you began to wonder how much time had passed. Pulling out your phone, you saw that it had been almost twenty minutes, and yet there was no sign of Taliyah as you looked around.

You had assumed that she went to get you two some food, which likely was still the case. Some of the places here tended to have rather large dinnertime crowds, so a twenty minute plus wait wasn’t exactly unusual. You had no idea where she had gone, so all you could do was wait. If she wasn’t back by seven, you would just text her and ask what was up.

You let yourself be taken in again by the rolling waves as you continued to wait, trying to recall what kinds of restaurants there were on the beachfront. It couldn’t be that fish and chips place; Taliyah had spent a full half hour last week complaining about how stale their food was. Or the taco place, since it had been closed for renovations for the past week. You had been trying to think of a third option when your concentration was broken by someone taking a seat next to you on the bench.

You looked over, expecting to see Taliyah back with some food, but instead nearly jolted off of the bench when next to you was the very man you were out here trying to forget.

Just seeing him when you were feeling so pathetic sent a jolt of you weren’t sure what up your spine, your flight instincts screaming at you as you made to stand up, only to be stopped by a firm grip on your wrist.

“I know you don’t wanna see my face right now,” Sett said. “But I can explain.”

“Explain what?” you replied meekly. “Those girls explained enough.”

“I haven’t,” he insisted. “Just listen for a minute. Then you can leave, or punch me, whatever you want.”

You took a look around, still not seeing Taliyah anywhere. You weren’t sure what he could have to say that would make much of a difference, but you sat back down, and he let go of your wrist.

You turned reluctantly to face Sett, waiting for him to talk first.

“Never told ‘em to do somethin’ like that,” he said gruffly. “Didn’t even know about it ‘til I got there and you weren’t there.”

“But they said…” you started, taking a breath to keep yourself calm as you prepared to recount the hurtful words. “They said you were only spending time with me so you could win their whole ugly date contest.”

Sett’s eyes narrowed, the skin of his knuckles tightening on his curling fists. “First I’ve heard of it. Ain’t no way you’d ever place in an ugly contest anyways.”

His words threw you. “Wait, so you don’t think I’m ugly?”

He snorted, a grin playing at his lips. “Well I was plannin’ on askin’ you to be my girlfriend after the party, so nah, I don’t think you’re ugly.”

“You–” you gasped, pulse skyrocketing. This was not how you expected this conversation to go. You were half convinced you were experiencing auditory hallucinations until Sett reached over, pulling you into his side.

“This is my fault,” he spoke lowly. “If I hadn’t been late, I’d have been there to stop that from happening.”

“What happened when you got there?” you asked quietly.

“Braum told me what happened, then those two tried tellin’ me they did it for my sake,” he growled. “I thought I was used to seein’ through bullies from how I grew up. Doesn’t matter now, they won’t be botherin’ you anymore unless they wanna find out why momma says I got her temper.”

“Why were you late anyways?” you asked.

He groaned, leaning his head back against the bench. Even with the sun mostly set, you could clearly see a pink tone to his cheeks.

“What is it?” you pressed, curious about why the intimidating lifeguard was suddenly being so shy.

He let out a long sigh, finally meeting your eyes. “Ma was doin’ my hair.”

You looked him over, realizing that his hair did seem to be tied differently today. The only thing that looked the same was his ears, just as fluffy as they always looked. You could almost hear Taliyah’s voice screaming in your head to pet them. Speaking of Taliyah…

“Taliyah!” you gasped, trying to extract yourself from Sett’s grip, but failing. If Taliyah was to come and see you here with the guy she had taken you out to forget about… “My friend, she’ll be back any second and–”

Sett laughed, and you were immediately left with the feeling that you were missing something.

“She ain’t comin’ back,” he said amusedly. “I’ve got you all to myself for the night… if that’s what you want.”

“Taliyah set me up?” you breathed, not having suspected a thing.

“I asked her to,” Sett explained. “Wasn’t about to let you go ‘cuz of some shallow assholes.”

Taliyah was much sneakier than you had given her credit for, you realized, but you couldn’t bring yourself to mind right now. Though that didn’t mean you weren’t hungry, your previous stress melting away and removing the only distraction from your empty stomach.

“So,” you hummed. “Are you still going to ask me to be your girlfriend?”

You still had no idea what would happen by the end of the summer, but you really wanted this. You wanted him.

“Yeah, was plannin’ on it.”

You had thought about it all the way back to Sett’s house. Was it really for the best to go back to your city when the summer was over? Back to your parents’ house to find an equally demanding and unfulfilling job?

The more you thought about it, the more you wanted to stay. Taliyah was here, Sett was here, and other than your brief nasty encounter at the pool earlier, this summer had been the best one you’d had in a long time.

Sett seemed intent on giving you more reasons to stay as he was on you pretty much as soon as you entered his house. You had been standing in the entryway, looking at a picture of what must have been Sett and his mother when he caught you off guard, picking you up from behind.

You yelped, turning your head back to face him just in time for him to dart forward to snatch a kiss.

“You’ll have time to look around later,” he said as he walked down the hall, nudging a door open with his shoulder and then taking you into what looked to be his bedroom.

Once again, you were scarcely granted a look around before Sett had overtaken your attention yet again. You were swiftly carried over and deposited on the bed, Sett eagerly caging your body down against the sheets with his own.

“I wanted to go slow,” he said against your ear. “Didn’t wanna mess things up. But that’s not what you want, is it?”

“No,” you gasped as he snaked a hand under your dress, and then under your swimsuit bottoms. “I… I want…”

“This?” he inquired, thumb brushing against your clit, causing you to jolt against him with a breathy moan. “Waited a long time to hear that.”

Seeking more room to work, Sett pulled back to reach down and pull down your swimsuit bottoms, tossing them to the side. You watched with reddening cheeks as he returned his attention to you, head disappearing under your dress next.

His first lick against your pussy felt back-archingly good, but you didn’t have a lot of room to move with Sett’s hands holding your lower half in place. His tongue felt slightly rough, bringing pricks of pleasure-pain along its path.

Closing your eyes tight, you tried not to squirm, but it was difficult as Sett’s tongue prodded inside you before moving back to sucking at your clit. It felt good, almost too good, but you found yourself wanting more than his mouth against you.

“Sett,” you moaned. “Please…”

You weren’t sure if he got the message until you reached down to grasp at one of his hands. He pulled back from you, wiping one forearm against the wet lower half of his face as he sat back. His position on his knees on the bed allowed you a good look at the decently-sized bulge in the front of his tight swim shorts.

Sett caught your eyes, reaching one hand down to cup his cock through his shorts. “All you, sweetheart. Still think I think you’re ugly?”

You somehow managed to shake your head, speechless from his ardent display of his body. Sett seemed to bask in just how speechless he had made you, a sexy grin overtaking his face as he stared down at you.

“Couldn’t ask for more than this,” he said. “But if you want more…”

He was such a tease. With a burning face, you relented.

“Could you just put it in me please?” you asked, too shy to make eye contact.

“Can do,” he replied, and you could easily hear the smug satisfaction in his voice.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Sett stood up from the bed to pull his shorts off, wincing slightly when he pulled the tight fabric over his painfully-hard cock. Tossing the shorts to the floor, his attention quickly returned to you.

Giving his cock a few slow strokes, he watched you sit up on the bed. Feeling a burst in confidence from his display, you reached down to the hem of your dress’ skirt before pulling it up and off your body, Sett’s hungry gold eyes unable to look away from you as you moved onto your swimsuit top.

Once your top was off, Sett struck, pulling you towards him. Sitting at the edge of the bed, he pulled you onto his lap, reaching around to your front to cup your breasts as his mouth went straight to your neck. His hands were warm against the sensitive skin of your breasts, rolling your nipples under his thumbs as his teeth scraped against a sensitive spot on your neck.

You felt his hard cock under you and shifted yourself against it, Sett letting out a deep groan in response. You could feel how wet you were, but this wasn’t enough. You needed to fuck him, needed this building tension to come to a satisfying end for you both.

You turned in his lap, looping your arms around his neck and leaning down to kiss him. Sett was happy to meet tongues with you, one hand resting on your ass until you pulled back from the kiss.

You met eyes with Sett, who began to help you lift yourself up, lining up his cock with his other hand. When he brought you back down onto him, you both sighed as you were fully seated on his cock at last.

“Nothin’ else would feel as good as you,” Sett groaned as he began to help you move and up and then back down onto him. “Never wanted any girl as bad as I want you.”

You were much less coherent, moaning out his name as your hands grasped against his chest. With a further burst of confidence, you reached a hand up to his ear, running your fingers along the fur and enjoying the resulting groan, the next upward thrust of his hips hitting even better into you. Maybe you would leave this out at Taliyah’s interrogation later.

“There,” you moaned as he shifted you in his lap, his cock hitting even deeper inside you. “Right there, Sett.”

“You’re so tight,” he groaned, pulling you down into a rough kiss as he held you close, thrusting up into you as you eagerly moved along with him, needing to make this gorgeous man under you cum.

Sett came first, stilling for a moment before pulling you slightly back to put a finger to your clit, letting you cling to him as you followed him over the edge.

Once you had both come back down from the clouds, you were set back gently on the bed so Sett could run off to grab a cloth to clean you up with. You watched him leave the room, still having a hard time comprehending just how you had ended up this situation.

You definitely had some phone calls to make tomorrow. Your parents would be surprised, but you would probably focus on the Taliyah part rather than the new boyfriend part of your reasoning. Taliyah would be overjoyed for sure; you’d have to thank her for her meddling when you saw her.

As Sett returned, you realized something.

“Wait, is your mom home?” you asked in horror. You hadn’t made any effort to be quiet during sex, forgetting about his mother until he re-entered the room.

Sett laughed at your mortified face. “I don’t live with ma, so no.”

“Oh god,” you breathed in relief. “I was worried I was too…”

“She ain’t here,” he replied as he joined you on the bed, handing you the cloth he had grabbed. “You can be as loud as you want.”

You dropped the cloth, burying your head in your hands, Sett’s amused laughter ringing in your ears as you tried to content with just what you had signed yourself up for.

#xreader #readerinsert #league of legends #league of legends x reader #lol x reader #league of legends sett #sett #pool party sett #sett x reader #smut #pool party sett x reader

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babesonly · 3 years

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fic recs 2.0!

hello kings (gn) ive got significantly more fic than last time which means this is gonna be a little more organized than the last post bc it is much longer <3 categories in order are non casefic canonverse, casefic/roadtrip fic, finale fixits, endverse, non supernatural aus, and then non destiel ones. titles will be in bold for my favs! also within each category they’re in order from shortest to longest

Canonverse

I’m a tulip in a cup by godtiering (1.2k)

I worry that I never really came back from hell. I wonder why, if I got remade by heaven, I’m still the same screwed up kid that I always was.

Sometimes I worry I’m not into women at all.

"Guess not,” he looks at his shoes.

a REALLY good fic that’s basically just a look inside dean’s head during my bloody valentine do not read this looking for a fun time but please do read it

on vessels by flightsofangels (1.9k)

“You know,” Cas mutters into Dean’s bare skin. “When I was still… an angel, I used to dream that I would take you as my vessel.”

hello consumehimnatural fans!!!!! read newt’s fic right now its incredible

dean winchester is not a nicholas sparks protagonist by microcomets (1.9k)

Dean fell in love with Cas the way you fall asleep--slowly, and then all at once. Or some other hackneyed and trite bullshit. God, this is embarrassing.

dean is in LOVE. he’s also a disaster who keeps staring at cas’ hands. sigh

Stay by aeli_kindara (2.5k)

Coda to 13.06 (Tombstone). In which Castiel reckons with the aftermath of Dean's grief.

hello fellow widow arc fans <3 click here to see cas find out abt the events of advanced thanatology !

walking on a string by swordfishtrombones (2.7k)

Between the doomed offensive at the Firmament and the impending retreat from the ravaged northeast border, Castiel left camp long enough to answer one of Dean Winchester's prayers.

S6 DEAN IS A WAR WIFE. been really into early seasons deancas lately and this one is very good. god

the flesh of the mighty by Mudprophet (2.7k)

Ezekiel 39:17 "you shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth."

MY GOD. anyone who saw the @autisticandroids purgatory cannibalism talk and was interested read this right now. also anyone who enjoyed nbc hannibal OR raw (2016). if romantic cannibalism is remotely aligned with your interests read this right now. god

Sam Winchester, Ally At Law by alittleduck (3.3k)

Sam was pretty sure he could read every single gay friendly guide to coming out or supporting queer family members ever written and literally none of them would even imply that arguing with gay people that they were actually just homophobic constituted as "ally behavior". However, Sam was equally sure that none of those book authors had found themselves accidentally watching their brother get pounded by an Angel of the Lord at 9 am on Tuesday, so Sam was pretty sure he might actually still have the higher ground. Now, if only Jack would stop trying to bond with Dean using gay slurs long enough for Sam to convince everyone of that, he might just be able to cobble together some remnant of sanity or, failing that, dignity.

Or, the one where Sam desperately wants to invent PFLAG but Dean won't stop teaching Jack gay slurs

JACK VOICE HEY COCKSUCKERS.

hummed low by microcomets (3.3k)

Dean pulls the Impala over at a cider barn about thirty miles out; doesn't really think about it, just sees the hokey orange lettering off the roadside and lets his hands guide the Impala off the interstate with gravel spitting under the wheels.

they get a nice day out together and dean has a gay crisis and it’s written beautifully mwah

Vena Amoris and Other Old-Fashioned Bullshit by pyrebi (3.9k)

In which angelic marriage bonds are apparently stupidly easy to trigger, Cas wages multidimensional war in Heaven, Dean can't catch a break like ever, Sam rather enjoys being a dick, love saves the day, and nobody consummates anything.

sometimes i think about this fic and it hits that at this point dean and cas would have been married for more than a year. cas my beloved...

an exploration of gender; angelic by sometimeswelose (4k)

Castiel's true form is made of electromagnetic radiation. He has spent the majority of his life, if you really want to add it all up and average the whole thing out, as a wavelength of celestial intent.

The thing about being made of light: it's light in the physics sense of the word. Castiel's waves are gamma, x-ray, micro, and radio. He's visible light too, of course, a visible light so intense that it is blinding to most humans.

hello trans cas community <3 he’s literally trans he was assigned genderless and then went hm actually i will be a man! love of my life

Some Boys are Sleeping Alone by prosopopeya (4.2k)

This isn't something that's okay, not for him, but it chases him through the years until it turns into something he can't -- doesn't want to deny.

ohhh deans tenuous relationship with his sexuality my beloved...

love. worship. consummation. consumption. by redeyedwrath (4.3k)

ConsumehimNatural (copyright marcusantonius) the Series!

These are all snapshots centered around the idea of you know. Hunger in Supernatural. Both carnal hunger and other kinds. Fics are shown in semi-chronological order but this series is generally nebulously early seasons.

for ANYONE who is a consumehimnaturual this is required reading it is INCREDIBLE and gorgeous and very visceral and i am so very obsessed with it. thank you redeyedwrath for enabling my brainrot

the reach of human sense by perilously (4.5k)

“You know what Jimmy Novak looked like. You think he was beautiful—gorgeous, hot, all of it. It’s him. Not me. This isn’t my face.”

“But,” Dean says. He doesn’t know where he’s going with it. Just that Cas’ face is right there, brows drawn together and cheekbones gleaming in the lamplight. It’s a face that’s made his heart skip probably a couple hundred beats collectively since they met.

And it used to belong to someone else.

this one is just very nice <3 cas gets uncomfortable w dean calling him attractive since dean has never seen his trueform and they work it out

Down in the River by Ias (4.7k)

Alone in Purgatory and hunted by Leviathans, Castiel finds himself praying to the one person who can't hear him.

cas i love you <3 cas alone in purgatory praying to dean bc dean is the only thing he still worships i love you so much

Creature of Habit by trinityofone (5.1k)

The more you love someone, the more you want to kill them. Or: How Cas developed some bad habits, and Dean coped surprisingly well.

written in s5 when cas was depowered and completely nails the later seasons bitchy husbands dynamic it’s very good and fun <3

sink by crackers4jenn (5.4k)

"Where to?" A 9.06 coda.

very bittersweet very well written and also canon compliant so do not go into this one looking for a happy ending but i DO recommend it it’s very good

Sensational by castiowl (6.1k)

“When I first came to earth, it was advised that we temper the senses bound to our vessels. They were a distraction, we were told. An antiquated form of experiencing existence that would hinder our ability to complete our missions, whatever that may be. My true form can better facilitate these experiences. What you would recognize as heightened senses of sight and sound, among other things.”

Or, how Dean helps Cas experience all five human senses for the first time in one night.

early seasons deancas man. i love the sound part i love dean being so worried about doing a good job with this. god. read this please

Something to Protect by Sass_Master (6.2k)

Dean’s violent reaction to being unexpectedly woken has become something of a running joke among them, but Castiel can’t help but look past it to the underlying cause. It makes him ache to think that Dean feels so unsafe, so persecuted, before he’s even fully conscious.

Secretly, Castiel has been determined to work on that, to ease Dean into awareness in a less jarring way, smooth away one of the many stresses that follow him even in sleep. Now’s as good a time as any to try.

oh to sleep more soundly in the presence of someone you love...this fic is very nice i enjoyed it a lot

all this and heaven too by ftmsteverogers (7k)

“Hey,” Dean said. “I’m not ashamed of you, okay?”

Cas raised skeptical eyes to meet his.

“I mean it,” Dean insisted.

“I understand you mean it,” Cas said. “But I don’t think it’s any better if you’re only ashamed of yourself.”

hello trans dean community here is 7k of trans dean having to deal with his internalized homophobia now that he’s sleeping with cas <3 it is SO good

The wilderness. by orange_crushed (8k)

He takes a shower and the pressure is not especially good, but it doesn’t matter. It’s warm and he stands under the spray a long time. Human skin, he knows, constantly renews itself, shedding the dead cells of the epidermis. He wonders how long it will take until he is an entirely new person, until every cell on his surface is a new one. He looks at his hands under the water. It might take less than a month.

this might be the only post 9x03 fic on here with a happy ending actually? plenty of good melancholy leading up to it though <3 canon divergent after 9x03 though which means no 9x06 fanfiction gap but it is absolutely worth reading

till the juice runs by deathbanjo (8.4k)

Apparently whoever drew up the venn diagram of Dean’s sex life decided the circle labelled ‘good sex’ and the one labelled ‘sex with men’ should be kept far apart.

hello this one is SO funny dean finally gets comfortable enough with his bisexuality to start having sex with men and it goes so very bad every time so sorry about your shitty choices beloved </3

First Date by aeli_kindara (8.9k)

“We should go on a date. You and me.”

Castiel wishes he could see Dean’s face. He wishes he had any idea what to say.

“I’m asking you out, Cas.”

this one is very sweet i liked it a lot <3 good refreshing little fic where they just get to have a nice evening together

Entertaining Strangers by cadignan (9k)

Dean settles on to his side, lying in the bed facing Castiel. “So you had sex without me and you bit all my moves. I think I deserve to hear about it, at least. What was her name?”

op im in love with you. premise is established relationship deancas and cas mentions he did have sex before dean and not only that it was a threesome. good for him <3 this fic is cas describing the story of what led up to the threesome and what happened during it while dean interrupts regularly. incredible

the shape you take by noviembre (10k)

“What?” Dean says, fake-offended. “I’d be hot as a girl, you know I would.”

And this is when he really, really should have stopped talking. When he shouldn't have whipped back around and asked, “Cas, if I was a woman, you’d fuck me, right?”

Because if he hadn’t said that, then he wouldn’t have had to deal with this:

Cas, meeting his eyes, forehead wrinkles all smoothed out like there’s nothing to be confused about anymore. Cas with something at the corner of his mouth that might barely be called a smile.

Cas saying, calmly and without hesitation, “Yes, Dean.”

Dean Winchester fucks around and, with the inadvertent help of some witches, Finds Out.

dean winchester your gender is diabolical. this fic is insane and its the only thing that matters actually. dean fully convinced its normal and straight to think about being a woman so you can fuck your male friend. incredible. op im proposing to you

Sinnerman by a_good_soldier (10k)

Dean listens to Nina Simone, reads Anne Carson, and makes out with a dude (sort of).

yall want to read about dean realizing he’s in love with a man as a direct result of learning to better respect women right?

you’re fooling yourself by cowboydeanwinchester (13k)

Dean Winchester and Castiel retire from hunting to raise baby Jack. Dean struggles to allow himself the things he truly wants.

Jack is two, Castiel and Dean are idiots, and Sam's gotta solve everyone's problems.

love a married couple who doesn’t know they’re married <3 everyone say thank you sam for bullying dean

The Girlfriend Experience by rageprufrock (15k)

While it's not like Dean hasn't had a couple of truly regrettable hit-and-runs in his sexual history, this is probably the saddest fucking thing that has ever happened to him.

a classic for good fucking reason. we’ve all talked about dean thinking holding hands is too gay after having just had gay sex but my personal favorite was sam accusing dean of cheating on cas because dean bought condoms. incredible

No Kingdom To Come by domesticadventures (16k)

“We should fuck,” Dean says.

Cas looks up from where he sits on his bed, hair still damp from the shower, frowning as he places a finger on the page of his book to mark where he left off.

There are a million things Cas could say here; Dean has rehearsed them. After lunch, his restlessness had given way to a vague panic, a dread that matched his every step and crept along with him from room to room. Eventually, he had returned to his bedroom and spent the rest of the afternoon pacing back and forth, playing out all the possible scenarios. When Cas asks him Why? or Are you being serious? or when he sighs and says, in that way he has, Dean, he knows exactly what he’s going to do. He’s going to shrug casually, like he isn’t invested in the answer, like he isn’t desperate for an outlet, and say, Why not? He’s going to raise an eyebrow and say, What, are you not interested? He’s going to crowd into Cas’ personal space, he’s going to shove himself right up in there and whisper Cas against his ear.

Instead, Cas says, carefully, “Okay.”

literally the only quarantine fic i’ve ever bothered to read in any fandom and completely worth it it’s SO good. they become fwb and dean has an existential crisis and he keeps bringing up meaninglessness and death during sex

Bodies by Speary (18k)

It was a secret they never acknowledged even with each other. It would change everything, end everything if either of them ever dropped the act. So they became very good at acting, at keeping up the lie that gave them what they wanted. Even if that lie involved constantly seeking out temporary, consenting female vessels, Cas would do it. He told himself it was worth it for Dean. He just hoped that he could stop wanting more, or maybe one day Dean might stop pretending that he wasn't really sleeping with Cas every time.

i don’t even have anything to add tbh if that summary did not immediately make you click we are very different this fic is incredible. god. fellas do you ever make yourself a woman so you can fuck the man you love without him having to talk about it or confront his sexuality

it’s such a mystery (the way you know me) by fleeceframe (20k)

So the man crouching in front of Castiel is named Dean. He wonders if that’s supposed to mean something to him.

“Cas must’ve got hit with something earlier. He just dropped like a sack of fucking potatoes a minute ago. By the time I was checking on him, he had already woken up again, but now he doesn’t fucking know who we are.”

“I’m right here you know,” Castiel says testily.

Sam’s eyes are wide even as his eyebrows are furrowed, and he looks between Dean and Castiel again.

“What do you remember, Cas?”

“Firstly, that I’m not Cas. I don’t know who Cas is, but it’s not me. I don’t know who either of you are, either."

or the one where castiel is hit with a memory curse that makes him forget the winchester brothers and is stunned to find out he has a family... also why can't he stop thinking about dean?

BEST amnesia fic oh my god. cas my beloved you deserve the world. everyone read this that is not a request.

More Than Ever by Sass_Master (20k)

Dean’s getting some pancakes together for breakfast when Cas saunters in after a run.

He’s trying to focus on whisking batter, unfairly distracted by Cas a few feet away, breathing heavily and shining with perspiration. Dean’s been painfully aware for a long time that Cas is pretty easy on the eyes, but he’s used to seeing Cas buttoned-up and unflappable, looking straight-laced in a stiff oxford and an unflattering trenchcoat.

Now Cas is sweating, Dean’s borrowed t-shirt clinging to his skin, flushed from exertion and Dean really can’t deal with that in his kitchen right now.

this entire series is really good i enjoyed it a lot, i’m just putting this one specifically on the list bc the rest of the series is very explicit and this is really good as a standalone for anyone who wouldn’t be into the rest of the series!!

Being Dean Winchester by Anonymous (20k)

"You should show me some respect. I dragged you out of hell. I can throw you back in."

Who the fuck was this bitchy "warrior of God" doing talking to him like that? Fuck Cas-tee-el and his dumbass trench coat and abrasive motherfucking attitude.

Dean was done with this shit.

***

Wherein a monster of the week steals the essence of Castiel's vessel, so he must use Dean, recently raised from hell, as a vessel instead.

it is at this point i realize that there are more fics than i expected there to be on this list that involves a threesome with only two people/using the presence of a female body to act like what’s happening is heterosexual. deangirlism is a disease

I Shall Not Want by domesticadventures (20k)

His grace is burning out, and the wasteland it leaves inside him becomes an echo chamber for all the memories, all the fear and doubt and self-loathing he's collected over the years. Things said and done hound him on endless repeat until he's convinced they’ll break through his skin and fill the silence of the bunker.

His head is killing him, and he sits hunched over an open book, not really reading, just digging his fingers into his skull and praying nothing slips through the cracks.

this one is GORGEOUS i love it so so much. dean and cas are both struggling so much to get by and they’re trying to support each other but fucking it up and they have to grow together and learn to cope with the fact that this is where their lives are and they fall in love i need everyone to read this

To Boldly Go by 8daysuntiltheapocalypseiguess (24k)

Title: Just One of Those Things Author: Impala67 Series: TOS Rating: M Summary: Four years into their five-year mission, and all the planets start to look the same.

In which Dean is not Gene Roddenberry, but he does write Star Trek fanfiction.

mx winchester writing star trek fanfiction to process his own trauma <3 this is a wip but it’s SO good and i also have not consumed a single piece of star trek media so it IS definitely readable to anyone who isn’t a star trek fan. please read this

where the weeds take root by deathbanjo (30k)

“Are you happy? Y’know. Just—being here,” Dean says, gesturing to the yard with his beer bottle. “Being with—I mean, you used to fight in celestial wars and—and save the world. Now you’re growing vegetables and talking about chickens.”

this is on here just for the 1.5 people who were putting off this one like i did for no reason. it’s extremely good and it is just gentle. i enjoyed it a lot

Heroes for Ghosts by pantheon_of_discord (42k)

After Sam and Dean are arrested, Castiel is left alone and scrambling to find them. He knows they’re locked away in a government facility, and he’s still able to hear their prayers, but no matter how he tries Castiel can’t seem to track them. He chases leads and even attempts to hunt on his own, but Mary is AWOL, Crowley refuses to help, and Castiel’s options are running out.

Weeks pass, Castiel’s hope dwindles, and through it all Dean prays, keeping them connected. His voice is comforting, frustrating, and occasionally annoying, but in his solitude Castiel comes to cherish it. But then one day, without warning, Dean stops praying, and Castiel is forced to confront some uncomfortable truths about his feelings.

yall ever wonder what it would’ve been like if the sam and dean arrest storyline in s12 was interesting? yeah <3

Teaching Poetry to Fish by aeli_kindara (52k)

In which Castiel teaches poetry to fish. Also, himself. Also, eventually, Dean.

(A series-long story, diverging slightly from canon after S14.)

cas learning about humanity through poetry before dean and thats what led to him developing enough emotion to be lobotomized....cas i love you so much

Emergence by ellispark (58k)

Something’s been missing from Dean’s life for the past three years, a void left after a hunt gone terribly wrong. He often feels a sense of longing with no discernible cause, a need to talk to someone who isn’t there.

A call from an acquaintance leads Dean to James Novak, a man who disappeared more than a decade ago, and suddenly Dean gets the feeling he’s found what he’s been missing. But James isn’t really James — he’s the angel Castiel, who’s wanted by angels, demons and hunters alike. And he may be at the center of the storm that wrecked Dean’s life all those years ago.

another cool amnesia fic!! for unknown reasons everyone forgot cas three years ago but cas didn’t forget anything. cas deserves so much love and support. god

a turn of the earth by microcomets (95k)

Dean’s your typical half-orphaned, monster-killing 22-year-old until a trenchcoated stranger crashes into his back windshield one September night, claiming he’s an angel that knows him from the future and that he’s on the run.

Frigging fantastic.

(Or, in which Castiel gets stuck in Dean’s timeline preseries and Dean kind of hates it—until he doesn’t.)

cas getting to meet and fall in love with pre hell dean just as much as he loves the dean he already knows oh my GOD. i love this fic so much. turn of the earth my beloved

Crossing Lines by sometimeswelose (122k)

Two Deans, one Cas - it's not as sexy as it sounds

An ethics lesson from Hell

The one where Dean from the past meets Dean in the present. They're not sure they like each other very much.

deans intense self hatred vs cas’ unwavering love for every version of dean oh my GOD also this is a wip fair warning but it’s so worth waiting for updates i’m having such a great time with this one i cannot wait to see how it gets ended

Plot Holes by saltyfeathers (160k)

Of course it wasn’t over after the apocalypse.

There was season six. Then there was season seven. Against all expectations, there was season eight. There were the alphas and purgatory, and then the Leviathans, and then the angels fell. Enter season nine. Loose threads Metatron, Abaddon, and Crowley have to be tied up. Sam, Dean, and Cas have to try to tie them while at the same time dealing with their evolving relationships and newfound graceless states.

Amidst all the chaos, someone has started publishing the Supernatural novels again. Convinced there’s something amiss in the pages, Charlie starts her own quest to suss out the truth behind the Winchester Gospels.

With the help of various faces, old and new, they must now not only deal with the typical runs of demons and recently fallen angels, but also reconcile the battles raging inside themselves, as the fate of the world, once again, quite literally lays in the palm of their hands.

saltyfeathers said i WILL make the plot holes in this show mean something because the showrunners are sure as shit never gonna adress them ! and i thank them for it bc this was a really cool read

Casefic/Roadtrip Fic

Deprived Of Every Planet by KelpietheThundergod (9k)

Dean's breathing is audible in the scant space between them, irregular. The motel room is dark, pale blue shadows falling in through the gaps in the blinds. Throwing a pattern of uneven white stripes over the bunched up covers. Over Dean's fingers twisted in the sheets. One half of him in shadow, softened by the dark. The heat of his skin. The tremble of him under Castiel's touch.

He caresses a hand over Dean's chest, slowly. Dean's mouth falls open, his body arching into Castiel's touch. Castiel stops over Dean's heart. Through the fever of his desire, he rejoices about the wonder of experiencing another's heartbeat through one's own senses.

Dean gasps, but then he turns his face away and towards the dark. Eyes closed tight and brows furrowed like something is hurting him.

Castiel stills.

“Dean?”

the case is background on this one but it Does take place over the course of a case so im putting it here. god touchstarved dean trying so hard to work through his shit for cas head in my hands i love this fic so much

before and after breakfast by spocklee (10k)

The monster of the week is a ghost who hates meat, alcohol, and feeling yourself. Guess who it is during the commercials.

chapter 2 of this one.....god. dean and cas you are both so unwell <3 i love everything abt this fic everyone read it now

we shovel all the ashes out by xylodemon (15k)

Dean’s always known things were headed this way. He just figured getting dragged under would be cleaner and easier than jumping in feet-first.

fics that make you go Oh they love each other...also there’s lesbians in it literally what else could you want.

thunder road by dothraki_shieldmaiden (20k)

After Chuck is defeated and the Winchesters settle into life without God, Dean Winchester is bored.

OR: Dean and Cas take a road trip and figure out some stuff along the way.

this fic is just like. it’s kind! this fic is kind it’s just a pleasant experience and i enjoyed it thoroughly. they’re in love and it’s good

Suck It, Judy Garland by GlitterDwarf, midrashic (20k)

It had to be St. Louis. Or, the one where Sam and Cas get fake married for a case, and Dean loses his mind.

actually im gonna defend dean here imagine youre dean and cas gives what definitely sounded like a deathbed love confession while making eye contact with you and then immediately afterwards fake dates your brother. who among us would not have been a bitch about this

best friends without benefits by lizbobjones (20k)

It’s nearing three a.m. and they’ve been on the road a long time. Sam’s been asleep in the back seat since eleven. Giving up and handing the wheel over to Cas and letting the guy who doesn’t sleep drive had seemed like a good idea.

the premise of this fic is so funny. cas voice dean you want to fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid. everyone read this

the taste of gravel in the mouth by deathbanjo (22k)

This is what Cas gave up Heaven for: greasy diner food, shitty motel rooms with even shittier cable, long car rides spent in complete silence except for the same six tapes playing over and over again, and a burnt-out husk of a man who can barely hold a conversation anymore.

alt version of getting rid of the mark of cain, the darkness never happens. this one is VERY heavy but it’s so good and it has a hopeful ending. ive read this one twice and loved it both times

Someone Who’s Feeling For Me by ellispark (45k)

Dean sees her for the first time in nearly six years in some no-name town in Idaho, and it's panic at first sight.

Lisa Braeden, the one woman Dean ever actually had a shot at a real life with, back from where he buried her in his mind. And her hand is on Cas's arm like it's no big deal, like it belongs there. Cas, Dean's dorky, sweet, badass, angelic best friend, and he's just standing there next to Lisa and not moving her hand away.

Dean feels the jealousy rising, and it's not directed where he expected it to be. Because it takes this exact moment for Dean to realize he's in love with his best friend. He's in love with his best friend, and Lisa is looking at Cas like he's the best thing since automatic rifles, and Dean is utterly fucked.

hello op please contact me. please contact me and let me see the inside of your brain. this fic was an unparalleled experience and everyone should also go through it. i love it so very much

Bumper Cars by mansikka (111k)

Two teenagers are missing from an abandoned carnival, and there’s enough to raise suspicion that their disappearance involves a ghost. Dean, Sam, and Cas arrive in town to investigate, though what they find leads them away from those teenagers, and on the trail of a ghost story that churns up things from their past.

Can newly-human Cas, and Dean, with the help of shipper!Sam, work out the mystery behind the abandoned carnival and its ghost, and along the way, figure out the riddle that is them?

one of my absolute fav case fics it forces dean to confront some aspects of johns parenting and work through some shit and also him and cas fall in love and it’s really well done. love this one a lot <3

Finale Fix-its/Finale Denial

Sorry Jimmy by K_K_TiBal (2.1k)

Based on the tumblr textpost:

jellydeans: so are cas and jimmy novak just up in heaven existing at the same time katebushstandean: #jimmy moves to heaven timbuku so that dean stops trying to make out with him every time they run into each other at the heaven grocery store

this one is just extremely funny. local midwestern heterosexual man is forced to play relationship counselor to the dumbest gay people in existence because one of them wore his face

Dean Winchester Really Needs To Make Some Gay Friends by AreYouReady (2.2k)

“Like, I’m trying to think if I’ve had, I don’t know, crushes. If I ever had a gay thing before you came along and just didn’t notice,” Dean said.

Cas suddenly looked down, and away from Dean. If Dean didn’t know better, he would swear Cas looked guilty.

“What is it, Cas?”

“You have had several… gay things before.” Cas still wouldn’t look at him.

“What? When? How come you know this better than I do?”

There was no way the answer to this question wasn’t funny as hell.

dean learning about gay ppl via the memories of dean smith...incredible.

tiny difference (between ending and starting to begin) by sunforgrace (2.4k)

Sometimes Dean catches Cas staring at the sky.

It doesn’t happen often. Not when Dean’s around to tell, anyway. But often enough that he starts to notice.

Eventually Dean starts to recognize the pattern.

Cas just doesn’t watch the sky. He watches the birds.

Chuck is gone, Cas is human, and the world is safe. In the quiet aftermath Dean and Castiel find each other again.

i really don’t have much to say abt this one it is just very good and they love each other so much

Bring Home by cenotaphy (3.8k)

Dean's phone doesn't ring on the drive back to the Bunker, but that's okay. Because—well, maybe Cas lost his cell, what with getting shuffled back and forth between a cosmic void dimension and all. And anyway, Dean doesn't want this conversation to happen over the phone, he wants to—he wants to talk to Cas face-to-face. They should talk face-to-face.

Dean will tell him—

Dean doesn't know what he'll tell Cas. Dean is, in fact, terrified by how utterly and completely he does not know what he'll say to Cas.

cas being forced to face the consequences of sending the risky text that was despair <3

dean’s coworkers vs the heteronormative agenda by cowboydeanwinchester (4.1k)

Dean started working at a local auto repair shop in Lebanon, Kansas about a year ago. His coworkers don't know much about him. Except that he has a wife. Or maybe he doesn't. But he has a kid. Who is either a toddler or a high schooler. Who is either named Jack or Sammy. He also might have a best friend named Cas, but that also might be his wife.

Truth is nobody knows what to make of Dean.

obsessed w people not knowing a single fucking thing about dean because he talks so much and never explains anything. this fic is SO funny

Enhanced Extraction Techniques by goldenraeofsun (5.8k)

The Empty takes Meg’s shape, Samandriel’s, Duma’s, every one of the thousands of angels Cas killed up in heaven. But in the middle of lecturing Cas in the form of Balthazar, it explodes in a burst of light and sound.

Dean Winchester stands in the aftermath.

the empty playing mind games on an awake cas bc it can’t put him to sleep is a thing i like a lot and this is very very good

Speak Silence No More by rea_sunshine (8.1k)

When Dean imagined this moment, it went like this:

Dean bursts into the Empty—guns blazing, chin high, righteous anger coursing through him. No matter what form his plans and fantasies and whiskey-drunk-whispered-promises took, he is always, always successful. When he imagined it, he was finally the hero Cas deserved.

The reality of the moment is this:

It’s fucking cold.

dean and cas STILL managing to not communicate with each other properly after the confession is so funny to me and this fic does it really well. also i like that a human being in the empty, where humans do NOT belong, had some like. consequences

my heart is a compass by lagaudiere (10k)

“There you are,” the Empty says, in Dean’s voice. It’s cold, like Dean’s eyes are cold, his expression set in contempt. It’s the expression Cas feared, he realizes, all the times he thought about saying it. Revulsion. It makes him feel sick in the way that goes beyond physical, here where there is nothing physical left.

The moment before it happened had been so sweet it covered up all the hurt. For years, Cas had been holding back those words, biting down on his tongue to keep from saying them. And now he had said it, and he knew that it was good, knew that it was worth it. But on the other side there is only this.

In the Empty, Cas dreams of his regrets, until someone comes looking for him.

one of thee best dean rescues cas from the empty fics out there i love the way his memories are written i love how many of them were ones that this fic came up with to give me new things to have brainworms over instead of just making me more fixated on He Watched Him Rake Leaves than i already am

killing time by orestespdf (11k)

It's been four years since Dean saved Cas from the Empty and confessed his feelings in return, and in their Vermont lakehouse, the retired couple is now learning how to heal. One morning, Dean gives Cas a haircut.

(A character study of Castiel.)

perfect fic perfect fic no notes no complaints they love each other so much and now dean is giving cas a haircut and they’re spending the day together. god.

and every time we kiss, i swear i can fly by knameless (14k)

Every time, Dean tells himself it’s the last.

aka, twelve times dean and cas kiss.

a just boy best friends kiss for every season <3 mwah

for which no words exist by MediaWhore (14k)

'a prayer for which no words exist' // richard siken

"Dear Cas who art in my bathtub, give me the strength to be honest about how I feel. For your sake and for mine. Forgive me all the times I wasn’t in the past, all the words I should have said but didn’t. And please stay. Please stay with me when all is said and done. Amen. "

Dean rescues a newly human Cas from the Empty. That's the easy step.

mediawhore i am in LOVE with you oh my god this fic. this fic. dean taking care of cas after rescuing him dean wrapping cas in a blanket oh my GOD

swimming with the fish pond fish by februyuri (17k)

Some time between Dean bleeding out on a makeshift hook in a barn in Ohio and Sam making marshmallows on his funeral pyre, Dean was brought back to life. By Castiel. Again. Dean agreed to it if only to give Jack time to work out the glitches up top. So, now Dean’s back in the land of the living and things are ... actually good, for once.

Or, as good as they can be when demons are attacking Earth, Dean’s failing to get over why he died in the first place, and Cas is suddenly, inexplicably taking every opportunity to casually tell Dean that he loves him.

this is a wip! but it is so good and so worth the read i love it a lot and am very excited for the last chapter. it IS pretty heavy though dean has a LOT to work through

looking like a true survivor (feeling like a little kid) by courfeyrac (20k)

"Jack’s a clever kid—has been ever since he was born, maybe even before that—but Dean’s pretty sure he hasn’t figured out where they’re going yet. And Dean’s… Dean’s excited about it. He remembers planning surprises for Sammy when they were little—saving up quarters and sneaking off to the arcade the year he turned seven, or slipping a book Dean had seen Sammy admiring into his jacket before sprinting out of the store the year he turned twelve. There was only so much Dean could give him back then, hindered by lack of finances and transportation and a father who paid attention. Now, though, Dean’s got a wallet full of cash, a tank full of gas, and the freedom to give his kid the kind of birthday he deserves."

Or, it's Jack's fourth birthday, and the kid wants to go to Build-A-Bear.

EVERYONE READ THIS RIGHT NOW. that is not a request this fic undid me. oh my god. oh my god. they’re a family and they’re going to build a bear and they love each other. oh my god. also no it isn’t a baby jack fic he is 4 and he is also alcal

what’s missing is found (our souls can exhale now) by sobsicles (27k)

It's not the first time Claire has ever gone missing. It is, however, the first time Kaia panics about it. Dean's dragged into the mess, but he soon finds that it's the best thing that could have happened to him.

~~~

"But have you ever just met someone and maybe it wasn't from the first moment, maybe it was after all these other moments that meant more than you ever expected them to, and it seems like your soul just—just—" Kaia makes a helpless gesture with her hands, pushing out, and she breathes out loudly. "Like it can finally exhale. And that person isn't guaranteed to make you happy, but they're—they're important. You just know it, you can't even escape it, you can't let them go. Ever met someone like that, Dean?"

"I—" Dean halts, his mouth hanging open. He's looking at Kaia, who's looking at him, and his heart is fluttering in his throat like a caged bird aching to soar again. His mind threatens to spiral out of control, but he focuses, swallowing hard. "Yeah. Um. I—yeah, I have."

deancas AND dreamhunter we love to see it also dean DOES smoke weed with kaia and apologizes for pulling a gun on her what more could you want in a fic

Command Me To Be Well by prospopeya (28k)

Dean did a lot of thinking about when and how he would get Cas back. Months of it, actually, stretching into a year, because while Sam and Eileen were settling into their new lives, Dean was stuck. He was stuck in a faraway corner of the bunker, dark and empty and hollow, ringing with the sound of a vibrating phone.

So when he falls to his knees in that same room, exhausted, hurting, breathless, and he feels a hand on his shoulder and looks up to see Cas, he realizes that he doesn't have a single clue about what to do now. Getting Cas out had been easy--actually, it'd been the opposite of that--but the planning of it, the methodical desperation of one attempt after the other had been a familiar rhythm. It'd been soothing almost, solid, something to focus on that wasn't Cas's eyes, watery and jubilant in a way Dean hadn't ever seen that up close on anyone, let alone Cas.

And now Cas is pulling him to his feet, and Dean's stumbling, and he instinctually grabs Cas's arm, and his hand lights up with a fire that he isn't prepared for.

"Hello, Dean."

oh post despair lack of communication....oh dean refusing to work through his feelings...this fic is incredible i love it everyone who enjoys dean doing everything in his power to avoid talking about feelings up to and including having sex with the guy who’s in love with him multiple times should read this

break the skin (to break the barriers) by sobsicles (29k)

The first time she meets him, he's nothing more than an almost-missed appointment.

SOBSICLES TATTOO FIC MY BELOVED. dean grieving and getting tattoos and it turns into tattoo therapy. im SO in love with mitzi it’s insane. requires some suspension of disbelief for how long a tattoo takes but it’s an incredible fic and an unparalleled experience. sobsicles does not miss

ascend by quiettewandering (53k)

Something in the world is wrong.

Demon activity is rising where mysterious black substance oozes and unusual ecological events are shaking the world. Dean, grief hanging on his shoulders, restlessly searches for answers that might lead him to the Empty… and to Cas.

But what Chuck wrote can’t be undone. The narrative thread pulls Dean along, forcing him to comply. Because once a story already has an ending, it can’t be rewritten.

Or can it?

SUPER cool concept i liked this a lot i’m pretty sure everyone’s read it already but just in case someone hasn’t you absolutely should

oh sooner or later it all comes down to faith by sobsicles (62k)

Getting used to Heaven is something of a marvel. It ain't perfect, and Dean thinks he'd hate it if it was, which is probably why it isn't.

~~~

"You don't understand," Dean whispers, exhaling shakily. "I know you don't, because even I don't. The instant you were gone, I wanted you back. Cas, I wanted you back. I wanted—I wanted—"

Cas stares at him, searching his face. After a moment, his own face falls slack, eyes widening just so. "Oh," he breathes out.

Dean wants to be furious that Cas has figured it out before he has—whatever it is—but he's not even that surprised. Cas knows him too well, always has, even more than Dean knows himself. He's been kicking Dean in the goddamn teeth with how deeply he understands him, even about the things Dean doesn't, ever since they first met. You don't think you deserve to be saved, that's what Cas had said. All bundled up in impossibilities and power, this being that looked at Dean Winchester and knew every single inch of him, as if he had a right to each part.

"What?" Dean grits out.

"I love you, too."

the ONLY heaven fic. i do not read heaven fics bc i refuse to budge in my finale denialism i refuse to read fic where it is accepted that dean dies. i was hesitant to read this but god im glad i did it was so good. literally the best possible outcome of dean dying

Endverse

final fantasy. by orange_crushed (1.9k)

“If I’d actually been born human, would I have gotten sick like everyone else? Would I be running around gnawing on the neighbors?” Castiel tilts his head up and even from here Dean can see the black ring of his pupils, wide and dark as dead stars. He’s high as fuck and he’s been loading the guns for forty-five minutes. He stares into the space where Dean is. He smiles and shows his teeth. “Maybe you’d have already put a bullet in my head.”

"This is why you don’t lead storytime anymore," Dean says. "This kind of shit."

endverse last night on earth fics are something that can be so personal actually. god

The Last Song by Moorishflower (3.5k)

The very last song is the Song of Solomon, and Castiel sings it only for Dean. Set in "The End."

this is like. pre endverse and the tone is so like. wistful? is the best word ive got? it’s gorgeous i love it but fair warning there is graphic description of like. viscera and infected wounds

to think that we could stay the same by cipherwriter (6.5k)

cas has all he needs; himself, his creation, and enough power to continue this cycle for a long time. he's fine. dean wants to take care of him anyway.

oh my GOD this one is good it’s based off the thing of how originally endverse cas was supposed to be just sitting in a room killing and resurrecting the same cockroach over and over. very bittersweet at some points i love it a lot, do not read it if youre looking for something happy though lmao

the first church at the end of the world by withbloodstainedclothingon (11k)

The angels don’t eat the brain. Only Croats do that.

this one is fucked but it’s incredible it contains very heavy and violent subject matter and cas is an Actual cult leader he doesn’t just have orgies it is SO well done and i had a great time reading it i recommend it very highly if the warnings sound like something you can stomach

Down to Agincourt by seperis (1.1 million. i know. yes it’s a wip)

There is no such thing as a guarantee when it comes to war.

The outcome's known. Why try? Return your rusty sword to battered sheath, bow your head and bend your stubborn knee. Why take the field when you cannot win the war? But Harry -- he went down to Agincourt.

PLEASE. i know the length is intimidating i KNOW it’s a very long fic but please. please read down to agincourt i am begging you. head in my HANDS this series is incredible.

Non Supernatural AUS

Long-Term Relationship by bendingsignpost (2.7k)

Castiel says, budging over to make room for Dean on the couch, “I thought we should have a serious talk about our relationship.”

Reflexively, Dean laughs.

Castiel does not.

“Uh, Cas... you know we’re not dating, right?”

look man it’s bendingsignpost okay. it’s bendingsignpost it’s good and it’s sweet and you should read it

One White Lie by komodobits (11k)

Castiel takes a deep breath and rings the doorbell. He doesn’t need to run through what he’s going to say – he’s already planned and edited and rehearsed it a thousand times. He is going to ask Dean Winchester out to dinner. If it’s not too forward, he’ll say, perfectly charming. You see, I’ve seen you around the neighbourhood and you always seem so earnest and I’d really like to get to know you bette— The door swings open, and Castiel panics.

He intends to excuse himself. He means to apologise and come back some other time. However, in a moment of blind fear, what comes out of his mouth instead are the words, “Could you spare a moment for Jesus Christ?”

do you ever pretend to be a jehovahs witness for months to hang out with the guy you like because you fucked up asking him out? yeah.

separate ways and sleeping dogs by sobsicles (53k)

Dean is three years sober when Cas comes back into town.

~~~

For a moment, they just stare at each other. Dean, once again, has to swallow the urge to offer to swallow something else. It's very hard to resist the gut-wrenching pull of want that hooks in his chest whenever he looks at Cas. And to think, he used to have him, used to be able to act on that want.

God, he's so fucking stupid.

Well, there's no point in kicking himself three years later for shit he can't change. He'll just sit right here and pretend that his fingers aren't twitching with the urge to reach out and touch. He can't do that anymore, and it's his own damn fault.

"Three years ago," Cas prompts.

Dean huffs a weak laugh. "Yeah. Eventful."

this fic hit me SO hard emotionally oh my god. don’t have much to say bc most of my thoughts on this fic are very personal but my god read this please

Everyone’s a Critic by Englandwouldfall (109k)

The one where uninspired chef Dean Winchester has a one night stand with the male (!) food critic who described the flavour of his garlic bread as 'closeted' and accidentally ends up dating him to try and prove that he's a kick ass chef, thank you very much.

(He may have a point about the 'closeted' thing).

this one is SO fun. dating the food critic who called your garlic bread closeted and lying about your career because you’re embarrassed and you want to redeem your food in his eyes but then you fall in love with him

Non Destiel Centric

gender? you mean that thing i have that pisses people off? by bigender dean winchester (homosexualitie) (946 words)

sam and dean paint each other's nails and dean abuses the technicalities of her gender. what more could you want?

HELLO HE/SHE DEAN COMMUNITY oh my god the pure rush of euphoria reading this. oh my god. oh my god.

the quiet road to a distant city by rottingbrains (1.2k)

Sam stares out the windshield again. They’re approaching a city, and she can see the lights in the distance. She’s past the danger zone, and she feels like the world around her reflects that in some way she can’t put into words- as if God is telling her that it’s okay. She did the right thing, and soon she will be past the lonely unknown and into the warm, forgiving light of acceptance. Or something. Come to think of it, the lights only look warm from far away, and she knows that the actual city will seem far less welcoming. Still. Best not to imagine the worst when it’s already going well.

required reading for transfem lesbian sam fans. fics that live in your ribcage to make your heart feel good

Four People Ruby Seduced & One She Actually Fell For (Or: Ruby's Epic Love Affair with Humanity in General and Sam in Specific) by tuesday (3.7k)

In which Ruby has a lot of sex, is not any kind of therapist that would be legal, and helps a few people out for her own reasons. (S4/S5 AU)

for everyone out there who enjoys ruby being a girlboss <3

Fractured Link by Trell (orphan_account) (5.5k)

Meg goes on, resolute despite the way Dean flinches, "He likes me. He likes me a lot, and I like him back, and that's probably good enough for both of us. But fuck me for saying so, Dean-o, he loves you, probably more than anything else on his daddy's green Earth, and you need to man up and give back what Clarence over there has been devoting to you for years."

this is meg/dean/cas which is not smth i really seek out but this was extremely good. set in s7 so it’s meg and dean and honey cas and it’s a lot of dean figuring his shit out and trying to forgive cas and i love meg a lot in this

#spn #supernatural #destiel #deancas #mine

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thoughtfullyyoungduck · 4 years

Text

Birthday

Summary: could you do a hs losers x reader where the readers new to town and hates her bday bc each year her past friends and family had always forgotten or did nothing so when richie finds out her bdays coming up he tells the losers and they all plan a special surprise party and richie saves up and gets her something super special and the losers r all like wow he’s never gotten anyone anything like this b4 so she finds out that he likes her or something so it’s like the best bday she’s ever had

Richie bikes swiftly passed you, faster than he usually does, which can only mean he’s trying to surpass you. You barely refrain from flipping him the bird in public, as you too throw your weight into peddling. It’s no use, Richie is more athletic than you by a long shot, and he’s been practicing with Eddie for track. You’ll never be able to catch up with him with no viable effort.

‘You asshole,’ you yell out to him, noticing an elder woman pledging through her yard too late to stop your exclamation. She regards the both of you with malcontent, stabbing her hark too brutally in the soil of her allotment for it to be a coincidence.

‘Not my fault your short legs can’t reach the peddles.’

You growl, lifting up from your saddle to race faster, but Richie sees you do it and does nothing but laugh.

Any other time you might give him hell for it, but today, you are in no mood to indulge in Richie’s escapades.

It’s your birthday, and while for most that equalizes a fun day stacked with presents and cake, to you it stands for a day full of misery.

Your birthday is cursed. And no, that is not you being dramatic. At your ninth birthday, your cake got slammed into floor, therefor ruing the gift your parents had been working on for weeks, and which was their only present.

At age ten, you fell off your brand new bike into a ravine and had to go to the hospital to get eleven stitches. On your fourteenth birthday, you and your parents got into such a huge fight they send you up to your room and forbad you from sneaking down at any point in the day.

There are more examples to back up your claim for the terrible birthdays, but you have tried to desperately block them all out, so you won’t rehash them.

That’s why your so peeved that Richie is forcing you to the quarry.

‘If you could tell me where I’m supposed to be going to bet u could find a short cut and be there faster than you.’

‘Nice try Dora, I’m not telling you anything. It’s a surprise.’

‘Alright, I get two attempts. If I can’t guess where we’re going, I’ll do your homework for a week.’

‘And if you do guess it?’

‘Then you owe me a favor and no matter for what reason I cash it in, you don’t get to complain.’

‘Fine, bring it miss know it all.’ Richie slows down to slide next to you, the wind picking up as the two of you descend down the mountain. His smile is mischievous and cheeky, probably too confident to think you’ll be able to reckon the spot he has in mind.

If only he knew that you had limited the possibilities to two places, the exact amount of guess you were granted.

‘Hm, are we going to the arcade?’ Your first theory is. Richie doesn’t have anything on him right now, except pennies that have been rinkeling inside his pockets the entire bike ride, the only thing he needs to go to the arcade.

Richie smirks, and shakes his head. ‘Try one my dear, may I say that the odds aren’t in your favor right now?’

His impressive ego in the way he taunts you with the right answer fuels your desire to be right. ‘Are we going to the Barrens?’ You sing, smiling wide as Richie’s shrinks.

‘Eh, no?’ He says, but he sounds petulant. ‘Fuck this shit, what gave it away?’

‘A girl never reveals her secrets’, you say covertly, forgetting momentarily about the agitating day. You suspect that might have been Richie’s intention.

It’s not like the Barrens is such a stretch in the first place, the losers and you have made that place your own, but you do hypothesize that he may have planned something special for you.

Your theory turns out to be true, as you can spot a long table at the end of the dirt path you and Richie are currently riding on to get to the clubhouse. The table is stacked with a variety of candies, your favorite, drinks that are sweet enough to rot your teeth, something Richie should be more aware off - having a dad who is a dentist-, and a giant cake with eight candles on. Each one representing a loser.

You say nothing as you approach, in a sneaky way torturing Richie a bit more before revealing that you’re at the verge of tears of this nice gesture. Richie slows down his speed by dragging his shoes along the dirt, glances darting nervously towards your face.

‘I know you said no parties, but how else was I supposed to show off my rocking dance moves?’

‘Do you mean the moves you make that look like you’re dying?’ Stan chides, him and the rest of the losers rolling up behind you two. They’re all walking next to their bikes, and Bill’s hands are smudges with cake residue he somehow missed while cleaning up. They didn’t want to be here before you and ruin the ‘surprise’, but it’s clear everyone has worked hard to organize this for you.

‘Fuck you Stan the man, the color green doesn’t fit you.’

‘Happy’, Bev grounds out, leveling Richie with one look, the way only Bev can, and then address you. ‘Birthday.’ She hugs you despite you still holding your bike, and you let it clatter to the ground with a loud bang.

‘Thanks Bev.’

‘Happy Birthday’, the other losers also call out, because there’s just too many of them for each to wait their turn.

‘We hope you don’t mind we don’t have any presents, we spend basically all of it getting ingredients for the cake, which we had to redo- twice.’

They don’t offer any other explanation about why the cake had to be remade two times, but by Eddie’s scowl you can fill in the blanks.

‘No, honestly, this is already too much.’ It is too much, but their efforts are so kind and heartwarming that you have to bit back a happy squall. No one has ever bothered to organize anything for your birthday, whether it be purchasing a two dollar present or even ordering a cake, but these people that you had met less then a year ago were willing to scramble together all the money they could, just so they could turn your day special. Thank god for moving to Derry.

For the first time in years, your birthday has brought smiles and laughter, and no tears and weeping moods.

‘Nonsense my dearest young lady, this is but a blip on our radar, a speck of dust on the tv, nothing compared too-‘

‘Can we please cut the cake now? Before something else goes wrong with it?’ Eddie glowers, refuting to wait for an affirmative.

‘Don’t forget the candles,’ Ben says as he follows Eddie to the table. You’re about to join them, when a hand on your wrists stops you.

‘Hey, Y/N? You really don’t mind this right? I know you said you didn’t want anything but I know how nice it is be caught off guard with something like this.’ Richie rubs the back of his head as if that makes him see any less anxious. It’s incredible how smart someone can be while simultaneously also being so dense.

‘Richie’, you say as you smile, unable to hide it any longer. ‘It’s amazing, thank you so much. If there is any way I can repay you I’ll do that. I’m really happy with this.’

‘That’s good, not that I was worried about it, who isn’t a fan of everything I do?’

Rolling your eyes only spurs Richie on, but it’s become an automatic response now, you can’t help but do it.

‘Oh, I almost forgot. I did get you another gift. Two actually, if you count my huge dong as one.’

‘Gross Richie, why do you always have to add something sexual to everything?’

‘It’s my game babe, love it or leave it. Anyway, here is the gift if you want it. If you don’t that’s fine too.’

‘Don’t get all shy on me now Rich’, you tease as your bump your arm into his while grabbing the package. ‘I’ve just gotten used to your antics.’

The package isn’t heavy, but it also isn’t light. It’s wrapped in enough layer that you can’t feel what’s inside of it just by holding it, but that was probably Richie’s intention. That or he is simply horrible at wrapping up.

While you carefully peel off each layer, you begin to speculate on what it could be. It could be a gag gift, but Richie looked sincere, and his eyes behind his glasses are magnified in true anticipation, a gag gift wouldn’t illicit that response.

As soon as the final layer is detached, you gasp, armored by the actual gift. It’s a blue bracelet, covered in butterfly pattering. You once mentioned having a similar one as a kid that you loved but lost one day while playing outside and had been sad about for weeks.

You can’t believe Richie had kept it in his mind, and had gone out to look for it.

‘Richie… I don’t even know what to say right now.’ You exclaim, squeezing the bracelet in your hand tightly, a blush covering your face. Richie’s mimics yours. ‘Thank you’, you say while reaching out to him and kissing him on the cheek. Richie face burns a brighter red.

‘Yeah… glad to be of service.’ His mind is ball parks away, and he is left dazed.

‘Come on Y/N, it’s time for you to blow out the candles.’

You go easily, letting your hand linger around Richie’s, deciding mentally that you’ll do it tonight before you go home. Your birthday has already been better than anything you could have imagined, and maybe it has one more miracle left to give. If Richie says yes to your question about going on a date, then this will truly have been the best birthday you have every had. By the love struck expression Richie is walking around with, you have an inkling as to what his response might be.

You blow out your candles, but you don’t need to make a wish. You already have everything you could possibly want.

----

‘Off course that asshole buys her a gift, but never returns the money I loaned him so long ago. I’m not a fucking bank.’

‘I think it’s cute.’

‘No, Eddie is right, I’m also waiting on my refund.’

‘It’s adorable he bought her something, he really can’t hide his crush anymore.’

#richie tozier #My writing #richie x reader #the losers x reader #it x reader #it imagines #richie tozier x reader

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astranne · 4 years

Text

announcemet to my tumblr account

hey guys

i have some things to say related to my account and i hope you‘ll read it. i will take a break from tumblr and i don’t know when i will be back. under the cut is explained why.

i started this account last summer in quarantine, more out of fun and quite inexperienced. i had no idea how to handle things, or what i should post and still gained some followers. later, i had a big break because i was moving places and needed time to finish my drafts. slowly, i started to love being on tumblr and posted more works of mine.

in december i remade my whole blog, spent hours linking and redoing my things and i loved to do it. and somehow i gained 121 followers whom i all appreciate.

but i always had the feeling that i did things wrong, i never really stick to only one fandom because my followers rarely like or reblog my work. most of them are just random accounts which interact with certain tags. it didn’t help that i saw regularly blogs with around 200 followers with followers who sent much more asks and questions. i would love to interact more with my followers, but when nobody of them sees my posts?

people mentioned that it‘s better to stick with one theme/fandom but i wanted to create a blog where i can post things i like and hopefully others too. not to mention it would be too boring for me just to post things about marvel as an example. now i’m thinking that this was a mistake, but i don’t have the guts to just delete a fandom in my creation list.

i had plans to create a new side blog, for my nsfw works but also with angst stuff. (probably with anime but i like the idea with marvel too) it‘s still only an idea so it won‘t happen for sure. not to mention that i‘m a person who doesn‘t like dark content, due personal reasons, but i don’t hate authors who write it. and i have the feeling that especially in the anime fandoms there is much dark content. but not everyone thinks like me and i know many blogs who are attacked because they don’t like dc and clearly state that they won’t interact with people who write this. this made my quite wary of creating a nsfw blog.

i’ve always wanted a blog that can be a save heaven for many and all fandoms, but it seems almost impossible now. i would have to choose one fandom and interact more with the fandom, which i never do. i never went too deep into fandoms because they always scared me as a younger person and now i just keep distance.

due this reasons, and the fact that i just today saw two of blogs i follow and dearly love are practically showered with hate, i will take a break from tumblr. i also thought of deleting this account and go back to wattpad and maybe start something new, and i have to admit that i like this idea. or just a big break from social medias because i just can’t seem to enjoy it anymore. and i don’t want that. it breaks my heart when i see that people are able to hurt other people with being toxic and i fear that if my blog grows that it will happen to me too.

i’m normally a confident person and can usually brush things like this just away. but recently, many things happened in my life, i found new friends/mutals and i just want to have a fresh start in my new home. my family is also going through a rough time and i want to be there for them. it makes my heart clench when I just think about disappointing my followers just because I don’t post things, but said followers never really interact with me- and this leaves a big amount of self-doubt. i still love all of you and i don’t want you to feel bad, this all just made me really think about everything.

i still want to stay in contact with friends i made here on tumblr, also on discord, and i hope i’ll be. but i just recently started to connect with people here, and sometimes i feel just another follower of their big blog to them

i don’t want self-pity myself, sound like a whiny bitch or something like that. and i don’t want pity or attention from anyone else, i just wanted to explain properly why i’m going on a break and what will happen with this blog.

i will probably still follow some of my favourite blogs and interact with them, but i won’t post things anymore here. maybe there will a reblog pop up, but that will be until i decide finally what happens with this blog.

many hugs and kisses, and a thank you <33

justhugefangirl

- p.s. if someone has questions related to anything i wrote here, you can always message me per dm’s

#justhugefangirl talks {⁉️}#news {🚨}#important #i will pin this post so its the first thing everyone will see #thank you for reading and understanding #my inbox and dm's are open if someone has questions

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eleanor-devil · 3 years

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Boruto: Sacrifices [Remade] | Chap.14 - Tears of Regret

Written by: Eleanor-Devil & @mirage-05

Naruto was reading the complete report on the interrogations, Shikamaru standing beside him, neither of them speaking. With each word he was reading the blond was feeling his heart getting heavier. "I... absolutely, completely messed up..." he mumbled finally, shaking his head. "Naruto..." his advisor began with a sigh. "Don't be so hard on yourself..." "And how can I not?!" he exclaimed as he jumped to his feet and began pacing back and forth. "It was my responsibility to keep that child safe! And I failed, I couldn't protect him from those bastards..." There was a pause before the Hokage painfully added. "Or from the villagers..." "You couldn't have known..." "Shikamaru." Naruto gave him a knowing look. "Lame old excuse, and you know it." The Nara didn't say anything else to that. Naruto paced for some more, and turned again to look at him. "I want to hold a second meeting. Inform the clans and tell them that attendance is mandatory, we will tolerate no excuses." Shikamaru nodded. "Any preferences of when?" Naruto thought about it for a minute. "I would've loved to have them dragged out of their beds right now, but let's have it at sunset. Everyone will be present by then."

"On it." Just as Shikamaru walked towards the door, it opened suddenly, making him come to a sudden stop. Seeing the person standing in the doorway, Naruto immediately walked over. "Sasuke..." "Lord Seventh." Shikamaru bowed his head slightly before walking out. As soon as he was out, Naruto asked in a low tone. "Where is Orochimaru?" "I followed him, like you wanted." the Uchiha said seriously. "He went to his son's apartment, and he didn't come out." The Hokage was still tense. "That means he saw those graffitis..." "Oh, he did." The look in the obsidian eyes hardened. "He stared at them for a good while, too. He decided to take no action, but I don't know for how long this silence will continue." The blond closed his eyes for a moment and let out the breath he didn't know he was holding until then. "We have to keep an eye on him. If he decides to strike..." "It is not like he doesn't have good reasons." At the look his friend had given him, the man huffed. "But in any case, I am going to keep close tabs on him. I will keep you informed." The Hokage nodded. "We will have another meeting at sunset." Sasuke didn't say anything, simply nodded. When he opened the door, he almost bumped back into Shikamaru. "Naruto..." the advisor said, almost breathless. "The trackers are back." The blond's eyes widened for a moment, and before he knew it, he was already pushing through his advisor to get out of the room. In front of the office building, he found out that already a dozen people had gathered. And indeed, the trackers were approaching, Konohamaru in the lead, carrying an... unconscious...? dead...? He couldn't be sure, but he was carrying a woman, and something about the look on his face... made Naruto almost cringe. There was also another prisoner as far as he could see... He walked forward to meet them, his eyes on the woman who was on her feet. "Is she...?" "No." the answer came from Konohamaru, and hearing his voice... the blond now knew that something was indeed wrong. "Yoshida Suzume was this person." he indicated the woman he was holding. A moment of silence fell upon the gathered. So many questions came to Naruto's mind, but he didn't voice them just yet. Instead, he turned to one of the jounins. "Take that woman to the hospital." Then another one. "And take the other down to the interrogation rooms." Then he turned to the trackers. "I expect your reports to be delivered tomorrow at the latest." "Yes, Lord Seventh." they said in unison. "You may leave." As they turned their back to go, Naruto spoke once again. "Konohamaru... I would like to speak to you for a moment." The young man nodded and turned around to follow him into his office. The Hokage was watching him intently as he closed the door. "What is wrong?" he asked at last when he turned around properly to face him. "Excuse me, Lord Seventh?" the brunet asked, sounding genuinely confused. "I can see it in your expression... What happened there? Something is troubling you..." There was a pause. "I... I’d really rather not get into this right now." "And I’d really rather not have you in this state of mind.” His look softened. “You know you can tell me.” Another pause. Naruto just waited patiently, hands clasped beneath his chin. "You know, Lord Seventh..." the brunet said at last, not looking up. "We are trained as ninjas, capable of withholding our emotions. But sometimes... sometimes it just doesn’t work out that way. For me especially, tonight..." Naruto didn't say anything for a moment, but felt a small lump forming in his throat. "Konohamaru..." "That woman said he... h-he..." the jounin gulped, it was only too clear that he was having a hard time to continue. "She told me that in the end, he was crying..." Shock reigned supreme on the blond's face as he registered the jounin's words. "H-he... what...?" He was trying, hard, to regain his composure, but it had become a hard job... almost impossible... "She told me a lot of things... Just to bring me down, I guess, but I knew those words were lies... but... When she said that, I knew it was true... What they did to him... What we did to him..." "Konohamaru..." Naruto sighed as he brought two of his fingers to pinch his nose... Honestly, it was all that took him to remain calm... He could understand only too well what could have gone through the poor boy's head... How many times had he felt so heart-broken that he just wanted to run away and never look back? How many times had he felt like he was suffocating under the weight of all the hatred? He had promised himself... the moment he had accepted the boy into Konoha, that nothing like what he had gone through would happen again... That was exactly why he had put up a decree even before the child arrived, forbidding anyone and everyone to cause him harm... He felt like he was falling apart to see that he failed... and not just only a little, he had failed miserably... Trying to ease his mind out of those thoughts, he concentrated his attention on the young jounin again. "You can't let this get to you." "Can’t I?" Konohamaru continued, and his voice came out tired, strained... even with a bit of self-loathe if he had to guess, which made the Hokage frown slightly. "How was I any different toward him compared to the villagers? Did I treat him right, did I make him feel wanted?" His voice faded away as he closed his eyes and shook his head. "What good am I as a sensei...?" The blond sighed again and closed his eyes for a moment before getting up and walking towards the jounin. "You are the best sensei I could ever think of for them," he said firmly, causing the brunet to look up at him. "There were no other options. And I never regretted my decision." He grabbed his shoulder and gave it a light squeeze. "So you made a mistake, everyone does. All you have to do is keep believing in yourself and get right back up." "Some mistakes are not easily reversible though, are they?" Konohamaru said, with the hint of a bitter smile himself. Knowing that no words he said would help and only being sure that time alone could ease the heavy burden on his shoulders, the Hokage let him go and stepped back. "We will have a second meeting at the sunset..." "I will be there." the jounin said, almost in a cold tone. Then he sagged a little. "Lord seventh, if you may... I'd like to... go see him..." Naruto nodded. "You may leave." ... The raw rays of sunshine embraced the hospital building, as if to completely cover what the darkness of the night brought, to right the wrongs. The man's steps were neither too slow nor too quick, he was just striding forward as if a divine order was directing his steps. He quietly made his way to his student's room, his heart thumping loudly. Was he still there? He had to be there, right? He had to hear the news, he had to know he wasn't forgotten, he had to know he was cared for... He stopped for a minute before the room and gazed inside, just to make sure. Their positions weren't changed. Mitsuki was still lying motionless on the bed, the only thing reassuring them being the steady sounds. Boruto sat with his back to him, straight and unmoving. Sarada was sitting by his left side, facing the sensei, her head on the bed, although Konohamaru could see her eyes were open, just staring at their friend. It was a surprise to him that Shikadai was still there too, sitting next to Sarada, but a pleasant surprise. Gathering the courage that he didn't know had suddenly vanished, Konohamaru grabbed the door's frame and slid it open. The three pre-teens turned at the sound. "Sensei..." whispered Sarada. "Hey..." it was all he said as he approached them, pulling out a chair and finding a spot to sit next to Boruto. He stared at his youngest student for a long while, the night's events playing in his head, marveling at how brave this boy had been... reckless too, yeah, there was no denying that... But to face those monsters, completely isolated... He put his hand over Mitsuki's, careful about not touching the IV. A broken smile etched on his face and he had to gulp before he whispered, "Hi there, kiddo." "I…” he heard Shikadai say, and the boy paused for a second before continuing. “I will just be waiting outside…” He could only very clearly hear the reluctance in his voice, even when the Nara started to rise from his chair. Konohamaru was surprised for a moment but that quickly went away as the soft expression returned. He smiled a bit at the young boy before shaking his head. "No..." he said. "I want him to know that we're all here." Shikadai relaxed back in his chair while his students didn't utter a single word, simply staring at their sensei and then back at their friend. The look in the jounin's eyes hardened a little as his gaze, too, drifted to the unconscious boy. "You better prepare yourself for a good scolding when you wake up, Mitsuki." The children were clearly taken aback, both by his words and tone, he could see the shocked expressions on their faces. "W-what do you mean, sensei?" Sarada asked, gulping. "Why...?" "He was attacked..." Shikadai said cautiously, eyeing the sensei wearily. "It's not like..." "It's exactly what it sounds like." the brunette explained simply. "Your friend here thought it was a brilliant idea to engage five jounins in battle for the safety of the village." There was a deafening silence. "...five...?" the Uchiha mumbled finally in a tiny voice. "But that... was he...?" the blond wasn't even able to put together logical sentences. "You mean to tell me... What kind of stupid logic was that?!" he finally burst out. "Why would he do that?! How could he even believe he could win against such odds?!" "That's something only he can tell us... I can't wait to hear the whole story from him, either." Konohamaru went silent again as he looked back at Mitsuki, trying to gather his thoughts. "We did it, kid," he continued. "We got the last member of that damned squad..." Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the kids shifting, now interested. Sarada's fingers curled a little more around Mitsuki's hand. Konohamaru tried to choose the right words, just gazing at the blue haired boy's face. "I'm sorry..." he whispered after a second. "I am sorry we weren't there soon enough. I am sorry you had to face them alone, even when you shouldn't." He sighed. "And I'm sorry... that you ever felt you were truly alone..." This certainly caught their attention. "Sensei...?" whispered Sarada, curiosity but also worry filling her ebony eyes. Shikadai also shifted in his seat, sitting up straight, a frown in his features. "What do you mean... he felt truly alone...?" The young man looked between their faces sadly, this was going to be hard for them. He closed his eyes for a second as, unwelcome as it was, the woman's words about how Mitsuki was... crying... came back to him. He opened his eyes again, looking at the child lying on the bed and lightly squeezing his hand. "One of those damned ninjas..." he began, his voice broken. "She had the power to block sounds. Together with a strong genjutsu they trapped Mitsuki in a place where we couldn't even hear him... couldn't even know he was fighting for us..." He heard the three slightly gasp as their attentions immediately drifted towards their sleeping friend. Konohamaru had to sigh before continuing. "But it seems that he didn't... know about that trap… so they taunted him... about how no one was coming to his rescue, even though he was so close to us..." He felt his lip tremble for a moment but he quickly regained his composure. "Mitsuki... believed that no one was coming to help him... that he was completely alone..." “Damn…” the Nara mumbled, forgetting momentarily the presence of the jounin. Sarada brought a hand to her mouth, the other still tightly grabbing her friend's hand, and tears began to fill her eyes. "No..." she whispered, unable to truly comprehend how that must have felt. They had completely ruined him... The villagers, those ninjas... No one coming for his help... She started shaking with sobs. What did Mitsuki ever do to deserve these...? Boruto was trembling, and tears filled his eyes as he tried to gulp. "How could you ever think we would leave you alone...?" he whispered, so quiet that his voice barely reached his own ears. For a moment Konohamaru let go of Mitsuki's hand before wrapping one arm around Boruto's shoulders and extending the other arm to touch Sarada's hand. He smiled brightly at them. "That's why we need to stick together, to let him know that we're all here for him. Alright...?" "Mitsuki..." Sarada began, trying to pull herself together. "We... we are all here. We are with you... We will see this together..." Her voice trembling, she couldn’t go on . "We will always be here for you..." Shikadai supplied, finally finding his voice again, although the mere effort hurt as he spoke. "Even if you get bored of us at one point, we will stick by you anyway," Boruto said with a strong determination, also trembling a little. It might have been their imagination... but the moment they said that, it felt like the heart rating machine's beeps rose for a moment before returning to normal. Had Mitsuki heard them...? Had he felt that? The sensei gave a small laugh at that, gazing fondly at his younger student. "That's right, kiddo... You are never alone." He didn't know how much time passed, but after a while, he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and got up. "Get some sleep, you three." he said, but he wasn't sure if they would listen. Boruto couldn't help himself as a small, sad smile adorned his lips. "Sensei..." he said, not taking his eyes away from his best friend's face. "Thank you." ... Hanabi was preparing to greet the new day, her mind smoothly, effortlessly going over the daily ordeals she expected to face with the Hyuuga. Not long before Himawari had dropped in - not that she stayed long, only long enough for a quick breakfast with grandpa, and then she was off with her friends from the clan. She really didn’t expect anything big to happen today. The general atmosphere in the clan was pretty mild considering the past few days, and she was content that none of her brethren betrayed her decree about obeying the Hokage’s orders regarding the recent hostility around Konoha. She really didn’t expect any visitors either. That was why the knock on the door came as a surprise. She walked briskly to the entrance, and for a moment was at a loss of words when she saw who it was. “Konohamaru…” she mumbled, still not knowing what exactly to say. It had been precisely three days since they last talked. She knew it wasn’t really a big deal, their brief disagreement in the meeting was just that… brief and insignificant. It had been on her mind for a while actually to make things up with her lover. But the blank expression on his face now, one that sent chills down her spine, made it clear to her that that wasn’t his purpose right now. The jounin raised his head barely to meet her eyes. “I didn’t want to go anywhere else…” And then he began to slump forward. “Konohamaru!!” the woman exclaimed, now truly alarmed as she adjusted herself to support the weight of the brunet so she could carry him inside. That was when she got a good look at his back, and a gasp escaped her lips. She didn’t know he had been on a mission… the cuts didn’t look too deep but definitely needed some disinfection. The jounin didn’t react much as she carefully carried him to the sofa. It was when she made to get up and get some supplies that his hand grabbed her wrist, gently but enough to make her stop. “Stay… I’m fine…” “You’re hurt.” she tried to reason, but didn’t pull her hand back. The look in his eyes was so… tired, so lost that the woman started to get restless… just what was going on…? “This is nothing.” Konohamaru mumbled finally, and then averted his eyes. “Nothing compared to…” “Konohamaru…” “He very nearly died… they didn’t even care he was just a child… He was so severely injured… he almost died…” the man had begun shaking, while Hanabi found it almost impossible to breathe with each one of his words. “And now the medics don’t even know whether he will wake up or not…” The Hyuuga was so shocked that she couldn’t even find her voice. “W-what…” she gulped. “Who are you talking about…?” “And all because he decided to fight…” he continued as if he didn’t hear her. “Mitsuki… as always, he put everyone’s safety before himself and decided to fight… even when we made him run away…” His voice caught, and his next words were almost lost. “Even when I made him run away…” “Oh my God…” Hanabi whispered, bringing her hand to her mouth. She didn’t know the full scope but… what he was telling was horrible… And Konohamaru was still not meeting her eyes. Instead, his gaze was fixed on his trembling hands. “Hana… what have I done…?” And just like that, the woman couldn’t hold back her tears. Sitting gently next to him so as not to hurt him more, she put her arms below his and hugged him tenderly. “Sorry… Oh my God, Konohamaru, I’m so sorry…” After just a heartbeat, the Sarutobi put his hand over hers. Neither of them said anything, they didn’t need to. They just let the still morning serenity engulf them. “I don’t know how to live with that… I should’ve protected him against even the village but I did the exact opposite…” Hanabi’s hands tightened a little more. “Don’t… don’t be so hard on yourself, we all made some hard decisions… But I never thought it would actually come to this point…” “I don’t think any of us did.” was Konohamaru’s soft reply. The Hyuuga snuggled a little more to her lover as silence once again dominated the space in between them. “Is… is there anything I can do for you…?” she finally whispered against his back. “Just stay… please...?” The jounin’s voice sounded so fragile then, almost like that of a frightened child’s. It was almost hard to watch the ever so collected Konohamaru crumble like this… Knowing him so well, Hanabi could see that what he had witnessed had really ruined him… Feeling like her heart was breaking into pieces, she leaned in gently to place a kiss on his hair. “Always.” Pulling back slightly to tend to his wounds, it became unnecessary to talk any further. After a short while, she felt him beginning to relax and lifted herself from the sofa, making him lie back down so that he could sleep off the night's events. ... It was about two hours later that Himawari came back. The young woman was shocked when she heard the door bang open and stomping footsteps made their way inside. She quickly looked at her boyfriend but he hadn't even flinched, out cold. She quickly made her way out of the room and silently closed the door just as she heard Himawari's angry yell. "And don't you ever come back! I don't wanna play with any of you anymore!" Hanabi winced when the door slammed shut, loudly. When she got there, she saw her niece was literally fuming. "Hima! What happened?" "They are all a bunch of idiots!" the eight-year-old cried out in frustration. "I never want to see them again!" And with that, she stomped to her room. After a moment of stunned silence, Hanabi decided to follow her. The youngest Uzumaki was sitting on her bed, arms crossed and a serious pout in her features. The young woman slowly sat on the mattress. "Hima... what is it?" "It is those boys! Like they know anything better!" "Why don't you tell me from the beginning? But it's better if we try to keep it down, okay? Konohamaru-san is here and he is sleeping..." "Oh..." Himawari blinked, and bit her lip. "I'm sorry... I just thought, seeing that onii-chan is never around nowadays... they had training or something..." Hanabi gulped inconspicuously, not knowing what to say. The dark look returned to the blue eyes of the girl after a moment, and she began to speak. "It's about Mitsu-nii... It was all good at first, we were just playing some games, but then that stupid Shoji came and asked me whether or not we were still speaking with Mitsu-nii and I swear, auntie, I didn't think anything of it! I said of course we are, me and onii-chan regard him like a brother, and that was when another one laughed and said we should better say goodbye to him then!" For a moment, the Hyuuga felt her blood running cold. "W-what did they mean by that...?" Surely, the news shouldn't have reached yet... If they did, though... "Some nonsense about how he should get out of Konoha, how he doesn't belong here! Ha! As if!" Her voice had risen again. "And I told him to shut his mouth, that Mitsu-nii does belong in Konoha and a brat like him has no sat in it anyway!" Her look became even darker. "That's when he said... they already had their say in it." "And by that..." "They boasted about how some of the older children ganged up on him yesterday night and how that was what he deserved!" The girl was so angry that she was shaking now. "And I didn't mean to... Well I did, but... I hit one of his chakra points. Serves him right, though." She frowned again, deep. "Don't worry about that now." Hanabi was angry... really angry... Yes, they had agreed for the exile but not for these despicable harassments, she had made it very clear! How dare any Hyuuga disregard this?! But she couldn't let her emotions show now... "I wish I could go see him now," the girl continued, oblivious, sadness in her tone. "He must be feeling really down... He will need some cheering up, and I know I'm the only person!" The woman now had a lump in her throat. "Himawari..." "I know, I will go find onii-chan, I'm sure they're just hanging out somewhere... It's so unlike onii-chan to pass up a chance to visit you though, auntie, so I wanna know what's keeping him, too..." Then she smirked a bit. "Maybe he's just busy helping Mitsu-nii against those jerks." Finally, Hanabi just reached and pulled her in a hug, burying her face in her hair. "You will know soon, sweetheart..." But it would be best for Himawari to hear it from her parents. ... The sun had lowered its position in the sky, dying the heavens in shades of crimson and pink. The people who entered the hall were talking to each other in hushed voices, gazing at the front to where Naruto sat behind his desk, his head bowed a little forward, resting on his hands clasped in front of him. Even from a distance it was clear that he was wearing signs of weariness, and a grave look adorned his features, making him seem older for his age. The serious and sad aura he seemed to be reflecting was almost contagious, as every single person standing around him kept their silence, too, almost as if the scene was not a meeting, but the gathering by someone's deathbed. The people looked at each other curiously, but didn't say anything more as they sat down. Honestly, the young Nara couldn’t help but admire Lord Seventh for his near perfect composure. Yes, they were all trained to keep their emotions bottled. That was the first rule after all if you wanted to become a ninja. Still, after yesterday's events, a night that almost ended up in a tragedy, even his father had asked him not to attend the meeting, just like how Sarada was excused. But no... Shikadai especially wanted to come. He needed this, he needed to look in the eyes of each and every one person who had been so supportive of his friend's exile, of the countless harassments that drew him very nearly to his death. He needed to look at them and remind himself his reasons to become a top-class ninja. His reasons to protect these people because otherwise... it felt like he might as well quit right then and there. “Hey there, loser,” he then heard a voice, signaling that his resolve was going to be put to test much sooner than he expected. “You really wouldn’t want to mess with me now.” the boy muttered in a low and tight tone, so that only Ichiro and his teammates could hear him. “Awww, and why is that? Don’t tell me your girlfriend dumped you? Where is she anyway?” "Is that really all you can think about right now?" His snarl was so unlike him as he turned to face the Sarutobi, who was visibly taken aback by his hostility. "You are a chuunin, your village just received an attack and all you can think about is harassing people and making petty talk? While people put their lives on the line?" He turned his back with a disgusted sneer before folding his arms. "What a joke." Seeing that Ichiro was about to make a very angry comeback, and a few people sitting nearby turning around, his other teammate, Namida, stepped in between the two boys and put her hands on the older boy’s shoulders to restrain him. “Enough with this. We’re obviously here for a very serious reason. Don’t turn this into a mess.” Well, at least his teammates were smart girls, Shikadai should give them that. Naruto looked at all of the people who had gathered over his fingers, having a much despised dejavu as he took in the faces. A couple of minutes passed in silence. He lowered his hands. "How was your day?" he asked in a low voice, a voice which was almost devoid of emotions. His words were met with an even denser silence. Naruto stood up slowly, and walked to the front of his desk. "How was your day?" He repeated, this time loudly. "Was it sunny? Windy? Was there rain? Tell me." Everyone looked at one another, completely taken aback. Why was the Hokage asking that kind of a question all of a sudden? "It was... nice, I guess." someone said finally. "It rained almost non-stop from the night though." "Well the sun did come up - I think it was generally a nice day." Naruto nodded to himself while people kept murmuring. "I'm glad you, at least, can see and feel how beautiful the day supposedly was." He said and stopped, while the people in the meeting room just kept staring at him. "Because..." he continued, and his voice took a softer tone. "One of us was not able to see it. Not today. Maybe... not ever." There was a silence in the room, most in it not understanding a word at all. “What…?” Namida started to say, the first in her team to react. Before she could continue, though, her gaze caught the expression on Shikadai’s face. It was sad, so sad… almost heartbroken… His words floated back to her, people put their lives on the line… What did the Nara know that they didn’t…? "What... pardon me for asking my lord, but what is it that you mean?" Naruto opened his eyes and the look was so cold that it caused almost everyone's blood to freeze right there and then. They... had never seen such a look in their Hokage's eyes... so cold... so distant... "Konoha... made a very, very grave mistake..." Naruto whispered, in a voice which wouldn't be heard normally if it wasn't very quiet in the room. "The price of which was almost too high for us to pay." The villagers were more confused than ever now - the Hokage was sure speaking in riddles. The people exchanged glances, none of them daring to question what their leader's words meant. "The child... that more than half of you," he gestured to the clans present. "wanted me to exile over something beyond his control..." he continued before he faced them again. "Is, in this exact moment, in a deep coma after he nearly lost his life trying to protect our village from a barbarian attack." The silence was abruptly broken as once again, murmurings filled the room. Only a limited number of people in the room knew about the events of the evening, for others, it was a big shock. "An attack?" One of those among the Akimichi asked, baffled. "By whom?" In spite of himself, Shikadai couldn’t help but feel that his disgust only grew. The attack, it was all they can still think about… Not the boy who, no thanks to them, almost died to prevent it... "Rogue ninjas of the cloud and survivors of the sound," answered Kakashi simply, knowing Naruto had very little patience right now. "And the attack, like your Hokage said, was stopped by a thirteen-year-old boy." Naruto immediately cut in. "Who, if I might remind... left the village in the first place because of your clans' constant harassments." "Excuse me, Lord Seventh..." Naruto immediately recognized Sarutobi Kichiro's voice among the others, and he instinctively stiffened with the strong feeling of dislike. "But how is it exactly our fault? We didn't force that child to leave." His tone was practically indifferent, no regard for the child who was in such a critical condition... Naruto hit with his fist in such force against the table that it left a crack. "Not your fault...? You, Kichiro, have a big nerve in talking... because I have gathered proof that at least the Sarutobi were under YOUR direct orders to make that child feel unwanted!" He punched the table again, another crack... "Despite MY strict orders that Mitsuki was to be left ALONE and out of this matter!" “They… they have no proof my grandfather started all these,” Ichiro started in a simulation of his old cocky, superior tone, but it was all too clear that he was feeling uncomfortable. “We weren’t the only clan to-” “You were the most vocal though, weren’t you? Even right now.” It was still pure venom in the young Nara’s voice, no mercy, as more and more people turned to stare at their small group. Konohamaru was trying to keep his temper under control until this very moment, when his clan leader decided to speak, and right then, he just snapped. "My student..." He whispered, his tone so cold and hateful that Kichiro actually did a double take. "...just almost died right before my very eyes... They were about to announce him dead... So, by any right, tell me who has been mercilessly harassing him, so I know exactly who I will never have the misfortune to speak to again." Kichiro was sweating... hard... the frown on his face clearly gave away how guilty he was in the matter... Before anything else could be said, a clear, female voice rose in the room. "Lord Seventh," Hanabi spoke. "I was one of the few people that knew about what was happening yesterday and therefore, I have taken measures. The Hyuuga involved in those despicable harassments will be given the proper punishment, it does not matter if my clan voted in favor of the child's exile, I would never allow such a thing to go unpunished." She bowed. "I apologize for what distraught my clan caused to the child." "Excuse me, Lord Seventh, but... rogue nins? What business would they have, attacking a village as strong as Konoha?" It was a pretty valid question, although the subtext was clear enough. Kakashi felt the need to intervene before Naruto could say anything. "They aimed to disrupt the peace and assassinate Lord Seventh, therefore creating chaos in the village." Gasps rose in the air followed by whispers and mumbles. "Assassinate someone as strong as Lord Seventh? They wouldn't make it!" "Perhaps... but until they reached Lord Seventh, how many innocent people would have been lost? How many children would have died in a clearly planned out killing?" said Kakashi. "We have more than enough strong ninjas who would defend the innocent... It seems to me like the child's intervention was unnecessary..." "Not when you couldn't even hear their screams, you wouldn't be able to protect people." Kiba growled, his eyes hard as steel. "Correct me if I'm wrong, because I really... really hope for your sake that you are not trying to call the child stupid in front of me." "And what makes you SO sure that the child was not involved in the attack and was betrayed?" someone suggested. "You said yourselves, some were ninjas from the sound village, found by none other than Orochimaru, who, oh so coincidentally is the parent of that child." "You bastard..." Konohamaru was about to make his way over to the low life who had just said that, and two people, one of them being the Yamanaka in his own team this morning stopped him before he could move. Ryu turned to look at the person who had just spoken, a great distaste in his eyes. "I interrogated the two rogue ninjas that were captured myself. I hope none of you will ever have to experience such a thing happening to your child... How that boy was mercilessly taunted, beaten even after he was defeated and on the ground... and even then he wasn’t afraid to do what it takes to stop them." Having watched Shikadai all this time and noticing how almost all the color drained from his face, the haunted look in his eyes… Namida couldn’t help it anymore. Leaning forward, she put her hand on the young boy’s shoulder, just a reminder that he wasn’t completely alone here. She didn’t know the scope and extent of his suffering but in her eyes, no one should suffer such a big burden alone. At the unexpected touch, Shikadai flinched and turned back to look at her. His stiff posture relaxed just a little when he saw the intention was friendly, and although he turned back to the front of the room to continue and watch the unfolding of the events, he didn’t shrink away from her touch. "Well anyone betrayed would-" The phrase wasn't even finished... there was a huge "CRACK" which scared everyone in that room, what had that been?! "ENOUGH!" They heard a strong, female voice yelling. The faces slowly turned towards the direction to face a very angry Tsunade... hell, maybe very angry wasn't the correct way to put it... she was beyond pissed! Some even gulped... they knew well the former Hokage's temper... "I was there, I saw that child's life almost slip away between my fingers, I KNOW the gravity of those wounds and I guarantee you that if I could, I would make each one of you idiots, who keep mistreating a poor child, have those wounds for the rest of your lives!" The woman was seething, literally trying to calm herself but it was hard. "If anything... Show some respect for a child who almost give away his life so that you ungrateful morons could rest at your homes safely instead of fighting for your lives on a hospital bed! Be grateful for each one of your breath, because a child was selfless enough to take the brunt of a vicious attack that could've turned into a village-wide catastrophe!" Her fist was shaking, but she quickly controlled it. Naruto's eyes were hard as stone, his lips set in a firm line, he hadn't even flinched for a moment at the woman's outburst. Quietly he stood up. "I believe we have all made our point clear here." He started to walk away before stopping in his steps. "I don't think I need to say that those involved in the harassments will be punished for breaking the decree..." "H-Has..." There was a moment of hesitation which caused Naruto to turn and face the one who had talked. "D-Does Orochimaru know what happened...?" "Heh... so now you're scared..." mumbled Kiba under his breath. "He's the kid's parent, of course he was informed." The restlessness in the meeting hall was now perfectly tangible. Naruto felt sick that these people were more concerned about another possible threat rather than the well-being of a dying child. "So for all of our sakes... Pray for the child to be safe and for Orochimaru to not find out for what particular reason his son ended up in the hospital." And with that Naruto left the meeting hall, followed by the others. Leaving behind restless clans whose voices soon started being heard in a mix of confusion but which Naruto refused to listen and completely ignored...

#boruto:sacrifices #boruto #sarada #shikadai #mitsuki #konohamaru #naruto #boruto fanfiction #naruto fanfiction

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wolvesofinnistrad · 4 years

Link

In which an innocent joke about Charlie dating Sarah Michelle Geller in an alternate universe leads to Jack resurrecting Benny Lafitte and possibly starting a poly trio between two of his dads and an Ex-Vampire.

Most of the gang were sitting around the table in the bunker, reminiscing about old times, cracking jokes, talking shit. Turns out overthrowing a tyrant god and installing your son as the new one was pretty good.

Cas was sitting next to Dean, their thighs brushing together as Dean’s cheeks flushed from more than just the alcohol in his system. Sam and Eileen were frantically signing to one another trying to keep up with the rapid fire jokes Charlie was spouting as she sat in Rowena’s lap. Mary was hitting John on the back for an uncouth comment he’d made about something or other while Jack and Claire were deep in discussion about some meme she was trying to get him to understand.

“Listen, listen!” Charlie says, standing up and wobbling a bit as she slams her beer down on the table. “I could Totally snag Sarah Michelle Geller if she was into girls. It would be my life mission.”

Rowena smirks, shaking her head and laughing as she pats Charlie on the back.

Jack turns up his head, frowning and looking into the distance before speaking. “There are no universes in which you and someone named Sarah Michelle Geller are a romantic couple.”

Everyone turns to look at Jack for a moment, confusion in their features.

Jack then rattles off a list of women that Charlie’s of other worlds have dated or are currently with.

“Wait,” Charlie says, staring at Jack. “You know every other world who people are with?”

Jack smiles beatifically. “Of course, I’m god, I had to rebuild all the other worlds Chuck destroyed. I keep tabs on them a bit, but not much.” He pauses for a moment and then chuckles. “Sorry, I forgot one. You are also with Dean in one universe.”

Dean spits out his beer. “What!?”

Jack continues smiling. “Yes, I believe it is what I have heard Claire call a ‘beard’ situation,” he says marking the air quotes with his hands.

Charlie straight up cackles at that and Dean blushes even deeper red. Then Charlie’s smile turns devious. “Wait, Jack you can see who everyone has ended up with in every permutation of the worlds?”

“Of course.”

“Do Dean,” she says and Dean holds his hand up in protest, but he can’t say anything because he’d just shoved half a piece of pizza in his mouth.

When Jack returns to looking at them all he smiles. “Dean is with Castiel in only this world. In 2 worlds he is with a woman named Cassie, in 4 with a woman named Lisa, in 1 a woman named Ronda, in 3 he is with Castiel’s vessel Jimmy Novak, in 10 he is with a man named Lee, in 5 with a man named Aaron, in 2 with a man named Rufus, in 1 with Crowley and in 47 with a man named Benny.”

There’s stunned silence in the room before Sam turns to Dean with a look of pure vindication and screams while pointing at Dean “I KNEW there was something between you and Benny!”

Dean looks absolutely bamboozled by this information. Finally he ekes out “forty seven?”

“Yes. There are,” Jack pauses for a moment calculating, “5 where you are both vampires, 12 in which he is a vampire and a hunter alongside you, 3 in which you are a vampire and he is a hunter, 10 in which you are a demon and he is a vampire, 16 in which you are both human and 1 in which Dean is a werewolf and Benny a Vampire.”

Dean just stares there, looking at Jack with an unreadable expression.

Jack tilts his head “how come no one asked me to bring back this Benny person if he is so special to Dean in most worlds?”

Again, no one has any response to that.

Until Dean just stares at Jack and whispers “you could do that?”

Without answering Jack smiles and disappears. There’s a tense 5 minutes where no one really knows what’s happening, where Dean grips Cas’ hand so tight he thinks it might break.

And then, suddenly, Jack reappears holding the hand of a large bear of a man.

“Where am I?” Benny says, before he looks over and sees Dean. “Dean? Brotha!” he smiles, his eyes lighting up and in the flash of an eye Dean’s chair is overturned and he’s colliding with Benny so hard they both almost fall over. “Hey, hey, what’s all this then cher?”

“Hello again Benny.” Cas smiles softly, standing and moving towards Benny and also hugging him.

“Anyone care to explain what’s goin’ on here? Last I checked I was dead?”

“Our son is kind of god now, he brought you back.”

Benny laughs, the sound shaking both Dean and Cas who slowly pull away. “Well if that ain’t somethin’. Wait a minute...” Benny stops, feeling his teeth, and slowly, feeling his heart beating normally. “Am I…?”

“You are human once more. I have more experience remaking human bodies like with dad, so I hope that is ok.” Jack smiles at them.

“Sounds good to me.” Benny smirks, looking between Dean and Cas. “So… This finally happen?”

Everyone starts laughing at that, Cas taking Dean’s hand and smiling softly.

“Yes, I finally confessed my love for Dean when I was about to die. Then our son remade me a human body.”

“Seems to be happening a lot,” Benny jokes.

Dean still hasn’t said anything, his eyes sparkling as he looks between Cas and Benny with awe.

“Dean,” Cas says, tugging on his hand, “We should retire so we can tell Benny more about what’s happened since he’s gone.

It takes a minute for Dean to respond but then he’s nodding. “Yeah, yeah, sounds good. Coming Benny?”

“Sure thing cher,” Benny says, following along behind them.

Everyone in the room looks at one another before Claire says “well, I guess that makes 48 now,” and they all crack up.

#fanfic #dean winchester #castiel #benny lafitte #deancasbenny #deanbenny #destiel #mine #my fic

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chilling-seavey · 3 years

Note

hey, so this may be a hard to answer but i kinda didn't have anyone else to talk to about this:/. for a while, i have always been self conscious about my differences. i have been researching about autism lately and i've noticed that my "symptoms" are very similar to ones that i've researched. i just wanted to ask about how your story about it, if you're comfortable:) anyway yea i might just be overthinking it

Hey anon! Thanks for sharing! First off, take it from me first hand, there’s nothing you gotta be self conscious about! Easier said than done, I know, but our differences are what makes us unique and that’s not something to hide.

I wasn’t diagnosed as autistic until I was 18. Autism in boys is often more prevalent so it’s easy for us girls to be overlooked and end up having to figure out ways to cope with symptoms etc themselves for sometimes our whole lives! I obviously don’t know if you’re a boy or a girl and even still, autism is such a wide spectrum that what I deal with may be completely different than what you are dealing with. In any sense, autism isn’t like another mental diagnosis and it is perfectly fair to self-diagnose without input of a professional if one wishes. Yet, at the same time, it can also tend to be like googling your illness symptoms and the website that pops up says ‘you have a mild headache? you’re dying’ when that isn’t necessarily true! Sometimes asking for some professional opinions on what you think might be symptom could be your best bet! But it’s personal preference too!

In my case? My whole life, I was more of the weird outsider girl. I often sat at recess alone with my stuffed animal (that I had since I was born and is still my comfort even know at nearly 21!) and my books and I wasn’t necessarily bullied but I was picked on a little in elementary school for being different. I wasn’t ‘cool’ and I was socially a ‘late-bloomer’ and never seemed to really keep up with the other kids. Honestly, I just thought I was shy.

Once I had to get a psychological test for university done at age 18, my therapist recommended that I do some advanced tests for ASD (autism-spectrum-disorder) and it was then that my results really opened my eyes that - holy crap everything made sense now. In particular, one of the tests I had to do was facial recognition where she showed me an image of a person making a facial expression and I had to tell her what emotion they were feeling. Another was listening to someone say a line and I had to repeat the tone of voice used to mimic their emotion. I scored so low on these tests. I never realized that this was something I struggled with and I soon learn its because of something called ‘masking’.

Masking is super prominent in girls with autism because our symptoms may not be as strong or ‘typical’ as those in boys. It essentially is our mind’s way of reading our environment and forcing ourselves to play a part to ‘fit in’ whether it be through mimicking social cues or other things. It’s exhausting and most times you don’t even realize you’re doing it!

One thing that I can joke about now that I am more comfortable with the familiarity of my diagnosis is what I call my ‘sensory sensitives’. (If you read my writing on here, Penelope in ABM has a few of these!). This is often common in autistic people where certain textures or sounds or other triggers can make you ‘freak out’ (for lack of a better word). I remember when I was little, if my bedsheets weren’t pulled perfectly tight and flat, I would have a bit of a meltdown until mum stripped my bed and remade it. Even now, more often than not, I have to strip my bed and remake it before getting back in if my sheets are too wrinkly.

I could go on for ages talking about my own experiences and if you want to hear more I can share but the main idea to take from this are as follows:

1. Everyone is different. Everyone as in humans and everyone as in all autistics. So what I have expressed about my own experience here may be different from what you have been experiencing but that doesn’t mean one of us is more valid than the other or has a more ‘serious case’ than the other

2. Don’t go searching for something for the sake of searching. This has obviously been on your mind and it’s good that you can recognize this in yourself! If you are worried about a) what this means b) if it medically factual for yourself c) anything else, bring it up to a family member you trust or a councilor or doctor! Not everyone in your social circle is going to be accepting, especially if you are “high functioning” (I use that term loosely) because us in that category “don’t look autistic”. Just remember there’s no mould you need to fit in to be x y z and having a certain diagnosis or not doesn’t mean you are or aren’t any less of your own great self!

3. It’s not something to be scared about. It’s who you are! Autism is something you’re born with and, yes, it can be tiring for others and especially yourself, but it’s just a piece of your personality and you just have to find a way to work with it! Like if you have an allergy for instance, it’s annoying and can get in the way, but it’s just something you have and you need to take certain care through it! So don’t be too hard on yourself. It can be a weird time through possible acceptance and diagnosis (whether self or medical) and crying out your frustrations is certainly valid (I have plenty of times myself) but you aren’t broken and you aren’t scary and you have no reason to be self conscious over any differences you may have. Being social is freaking tiring to try and keep up with neurotypicals so just know your limits and be kind to yourself

I hope this helped if at all...I didn’t mean to write a whole ass novel in reply lol oops. But if you have any more questions or anything you can always shoot me a dm or another ask 🥰 I’m here for ya and I wish you luck in however you chose to progress with this!!

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jwillowwolf · 3 years

Text

Magic and Miracles - Chapter 7

Sanders Sides Big Bang fic, Chapter 7!

< Previous Chapter | Next Chapter > | Masterlist

Summary: “Roman’s right, Remus. That’s not a frog. It is a moss slime.” Logan stated.

“It’s hideous.”

“Hey! How dare you be so mean to poor little mossy.” Remus said, holding the slime to his chest.

Warning/s: food mention, nightmare.

Characters: Logan, Virgil, OCs, Roman, Remy, Remus, Patton, Janus.

Tag List: @theimprobabledreamersworld @remy-please-come-back

Read on AO3

7 | School Holidays

“Eye spy with my little eye something green.”

“A tree?”

“Yep!”

“Remus, you can’t just keep picking trees.”

“Says who?”

“Says me. It’s too predictable.”

“I spy an idiot.”

“Why you--!”

“Can someone put me out of my misery?” Virgil asked over the twin’s bickering.

Everyone was feeling exhausted, despite riding in a carriage all morning. But they had been stuck in the carriage all morning. They were beginning to regret winning that vacation, or at least the travelling part. It had of course been exciting when they first found out, but now they were all cranky and wondering if Remy’s surprises were all meant to torture them in some small way.

“How about we play a game that isn’t eye spy?” Everleigh suggested.

Roman nodded vigorously. “Please.”

“How about charades?”

“There are eight of us packed in here, Pat, we don’t have much room for charades,” Janus pointed out.

Patton frowned and thought harder. “Broken telephone?”

“I think we’re all too close for that,” Roman said.

“Yeah, plus Willow has an unfair advantage,” Remus pointed out.

“And you don’t, Miss Elf?”

“Touche.”

“Yeah, so, that won’t work. What about word-chain?” Roman suggested.

“What’s word-chain?” Logan asked.

“Basically, we each take turns saying a word one after the other to form a sentence. I’ll start! Once.”

“Upon?”

“A.”

“Time.”

“There.”

“Was.”

“A.”

“Butt!”

“Remus!”

“What? It’s not against the rules.”

“Can’t you use a different word?”

“Fine… Once upon a time, there was a posterior~”

“You little-- oof.” Roman -and the others- lurched forwards as the carriage stopped. “What was that?”

Before anyone could do anything, Remy opened the carriage door. “Okay kids, we’re here!”

“Why did we stop so abruptly?” Janus asked.

“We’re here, and that’s all that matters.”

Virgil gave him a flat look. “You couldn’t figure out how to slow down, could you?”

“You’re wasting your vacation time people!”

Everyone got out of the carriage and looked around to see that their surprise vacation destination was what looked like a lovely rustic little cabin in the middle of the woods, beside a gorgeous lake.

Patton gasped with delight. “Can we go swimming there?!”

“Sure, buddy, but let’s take our stuff inside first,” Emile said as he got down from the carriage.

“We really get to stay here?” Willow asked.

“Yup.” Remy nodded. “Courtesy of Mr Picani.”

“Wait, really?” Roman asked. “You guys own this place?”

Logan nodded. “My grandfather built it long ago, but dad wanted to be a baker so we couldn’t live all the way out here.”

“No offence Mr Picani, but this is way cooler than your bakery.” Remus declared.

Emile laughed. “I have to agree with you, Remus. This place is better than anywhere else.”

Everyone followed Emile inside of the cabin, which was quite clean, apart from some dust here and there. The cabin was one long room, with a living, dining room, and kitchen all together open plan style. There were also two nice sized lofts on either end of the cabin, that could be used as bedrooms.

Remy and Emile were each going to have their own room while the kids slept all together sleepover style in the living area downstairs. Once the kids had taken out their sleeping bags and claimed themselves a section of floor, they headed over to the lake. Patton was racing ahead of everyone and ran straight into it until his entire body was submerged. When he resurfaced again, he began splashing around and giggling like a little kid.

Remus laughed. “How’s the water, Pat?”

“Incredible! You guys have got to get in.”

“Last one in, is a rotten egg!” Roman shouted as he ran to join Patton.

Janus ran too and tripped him up, but then Roman grabbed his ankle so he fell too. Remus jumped over both of them and then basically dove into the water. Willow ran around Roman and Janus as they wrestled to be the first one up and into the water. Everleigh laughed at both of them as she ran by, while Virgil and Logan only smiled.

“Are you two going to get in or what?” Remus asked.

“I bet you five silver they wrestle their way into the lake,” Virgil said.

“Ten silver that they continue to wrestle after they get to the water,” Willow replied.

“Deal.”

Logan found himself suddenly splashed. “Hey!”

Everleigh just giggled manically at his angry glare.

“Oh, it’s on!” He splashed her back, and she shrieked, diving out of the way so the water instead hit Remus.

Instead of getting mad though, Remus grinned from ear to ear and yelled, “Water fight!”

Then all hell broke loose; metaphorically of course. Everyone began splashing and using water spells to soak each other, laughing loudly all the while. Later, after they’d expended most of their energy, they all went to the shore and Remy and Emile brought them some lunch.

---

“--and then you do this and, viola, a perfect flower crown!” Willow said, holding up their creation.

“Ooh, these are all so pretty.” Patton squealed.

Everleigh held hers up with a frown. “I think I did something wrong with mine…”

“That’s alright. My first flower crown completely fell apart when it held it up from my lap,” Willow reminisced. “Here, you can have this one.”

“Really, oh! Thank you so much!” Everleigh said, accepting the crown. “How do I look?”

“Like a true summer queen,” Willow answered.

“Hey guys, look I found a frog!” Remus declared.

Roman shrieked and jumped into Janus’s arms. “Oof-- hey!”

“That is not a frog!”

“Yeah, it is! Look.” Remus held the green creature up to Roman’s face, causing him to lean closer to Janus and make them both fall over.

“Roman’s right, Remus. That’s not a frog. It is a moss slime.” Logan stated.

“It’s hideous.”

“Hey! How dare you be so mean to poor little mossy.” Remus said, holding the slime to his chest.

“Uh, Logan, are those slimes at all dangerous?” Patton inquired.

“No. In fact, they play a key role in the ecosystem.”

“Which means you should put it back where you found it, Remus.” Roman declared.

“And you should get off me before I burn you to a crisp, Roman.” Janus snapped.

“I can’t take them back, they’re family.”

“You just found it.” Virgil pointed out.

“Exactly. How could I abandon them after only just meeting!”

“I don’t think Remy or Mr Picani will let you keep, Mossy, Ree,” Willow said.

“But they’re so cute. Who could say no to this face!”

“Anyone with half a brain.” Roman huffed.

Remus just stuck her tongue out at him childishly.

It took a while to convince him, but eventually, Remus was persuaded that Mossy would be happier staying at the lake.

---

The teens were all sleeping peacefully in the lounge area. They all had their own little sleeping bags and were curled up nice and warm, with only the soft glow of dying embers from the fireplace, illuminating the room. Everything was quiet, apart from Roman’s gentle snores, and the distant sound of croaking frogs.

Then a blood-curdling scream tore through the peaceful atmosphere and woke even the adults in their respective lofts. Willow jumped to her feet and stood in a fighting stance, Janus grabbed a log from beside the fireplace and lit it like a torch, Roman reached for his katana, Virgil jumped straight up and was now hanging from the bannister of one of the lofts, Logan and Everleigh were standing back to back with their firsts up, and Patton was beside Remus trying to shake her awake.

After a moment, everyone realised that it was Remus who was screaming so unsettlingly. He stopped with a gasp when Patton finally managed to wake him up. She looked around the room with wide eyes and began to cry as she realised it had only been a dream.

“...It didn’t happen… It didn’t happen…” he muttered between sobs.

Patton rubbed her back soothingly. “Remus...?”

“Thank the Gods… it’s not real.”

Roman paled. “What’s not real?”

“I- it- it was terrible,” Remus choked out. “A greedy soul betrays the heart, the world you know shall fall apart. Your only hope is to find the miracle that time left behind.”

Janus squinted. “What?”

“That’s what they said. Over and over again, while she…” Remus froze, a sob rising in his thought.

“What did you see, Remus?” Patton asked gently.

Remus took a deep wobbly breath. “A woman... She looked beautiful, yet old. Her eyes were dark and held what looked like centuries of wisdom... She was wilting before me, like a rose. Dying in front of me and I couldn’t reach her... None of us could.”

“We were all there?” Willow asked.

Remus nodded. “...But it wasn’t enough.”

“It was probably just a bad dream,” Remy said. “A really bad dream.”

“Perhaps you’re nervous about school.” Emile offered.

“How does that work?” Remus inquired.

“The woman could be representing magic, something old and beautiful. All of you are learning magic and maybe you’re nervous about getting enough knowledge to pass the second test.” Emile said.

Remus’s breath began to even out. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Whatever caused this, I think the best idea, for now, is to just calm down. How about some hot chocolate to help ease everyone’s nerves?” Emile offered.

Everyone nodded and sat down to relax. Janus took the wood he’d set alight and remade the fire in the fireplace, significantly brightening the room, while Emile got some hot chocolate made for everyone.

“I thought you’d grown out of those nightmares,” Roman commented.

Remus smiled weakly. “I’m still young at heart.”

“This has happened before?” Willow inquired.

“Well, I’ve had scary dreams, yeah. Woke nearly everyone in the castle when it happened as a kid. They haven’t been that frequent or… clear, lately.”

“Perhaps it’s the stress of being in an unfamiliar place,” Logan said. “Something that might help to keep you from getting worked up again, would be doing something you’re familiar with. Something that you’ve used to comfort yourself before.”

“My mom used to sing us back to sleep with lullabies,” Roman remembered. “But I can’t remember the words…”

“Do you know the name of the song?” Janus inquired.

“Uh… no… does anyone else know any lullabies?”

Everleigh frowned. “I’m not much of a music person.”

Patton shook his head. “I only know a handful of sea shanties.”

Logan and Virgil also shook their heads no.

“Well, Janus knows one,” Willow said.

“Why are you pulling me into this?”

“Because I can. The song is an older one that lots of people from Evergreen Valley would know, but I’m not sure if it’s well known elsewhere,” Willow explained.

“You’re talking about Running Wild, right?” Janus asked.

Willow nodded affirmatively.

Remus cocked his head to the side. “Running Wild?”

“It is a special song. A lullaby of sorts that has been passed down many generations.” Janus explained.

“Can you sing it?” Everleigh asked.

Janus bit their lip. “It’s meant to be accompanied by violin-”

“We have a violin.” Emile interrupted. “It belonged to my father. It’s a touch old, but should work.”

“Perfect. I can play it while you sing, Jan,” Willow said with a grin.

Janus glared at her a moment then sighed in defeat. “Fine…”

Emile got out the violin and handed it to Willow, who tuned it for while Janus got in position to sing. Everyone gathered in a semi-circle, like a proper audience, and waited patiently for the show. Then Willow began to play...

“Running wild in the sweet, long grass

Running wild where my heart is free at last

Running through the trees evergreen

Running to where my heart is keen

“I’m running, running without end

I’m running, running adventure round every bend

I’m running, running forever more

I’m running, running to see what’s in store

“Running though this world so wild

Running like a joyful child

Running here in the gold sunshine

Running in the cool rain divine

“Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm…”

After that, no one had any nightmares, in fact, all that the kids dreamed about were peaceful forests and running wolves.

---

Logan woke to the sound of laughter and joyful voices, accompanied by the smell of fresh bread and fried bacon. He opened his eyes and scanned the living area to see who was awake. The twins were still knocked out, along with Willow and Virgil. In fact, it looked like the sun was only just rising outside, so whoever was up, had to be among the morning people of the group. Logan sat up and looked to the kitchen area, where he saw Janus, Everleigh and Patton were preparing breakfast.

"Morning sleepyhead!" Everleigh chirped when she saw Logan was awake.

“Good morning,” Logan replied, getting up properly from his bedroll. “I didn't know you all could cook.”

"We couldn't, but we woke up early, and your dad offered to teach us," Patton answered. "He and Remy went to get water from the creek for us quickly."

"Janus wasn't going to join us, but then they got to punch bread dough and we tricked them into joining us," Everleigh chuckled.

"I don't think you could trick Janus into doing anything he didn't want to," Logan commented.

Janus shook their head. "Why are you and Will always exposing me?"

Logan laughed. "What are friends for?"

"Did someone call me?" Willow asked, sitting up and rubbing their eye sleepily.

Everleigh gasped. "Oh my gosh, you look so cute."

Willow blinked her eyes open and cocked her head to the side. "Hmm?"

"I, uh- you look lovely in the morning," Everleigh said with a dark blush covering her cheeks.

Willow smiled. "Thank you, you look pretty too."

Everleigh somehow blushed even harder at that.

"You can get some more sleep if you want, Will," Janus said.

"Hmm, sleep." Willow looked at their pillow and laid back down. "Goodnight…"

Some soft snores a few moments later, indicated she was fast asleep again. Logan raised an eyebrow and looked over to Janus.

"What was that?"

"If she's still sleepy when she wakes up, then it's almost like she's drunk. Which is why they weren't nervous to tell Everleigh she's pretty." Janus explained.

"Why would she be nervous about that?" Everleigh asked.

"For the same reason you're still blushing," Janus smirked.

"I- I am not."

"Ev, we can all clearly see your blush," Logan said.

"That doesn't mean I have a crush on Willow."

"No one said you did'" Patton pointed out. "That's so sweet though."

"Shhhh, they're right there," Everleigh whisper shouted.

Janus shrugged. "She obviously reciprocates, so I don't see any issues with her hearing."

"Well, how would you like it if I exposed your crush on Roman?"

Janus's eyes went wide and then they looked away. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Patton gasped. "Double cute! Both of you would make cute couples with your crushes."

"I don't have a crush on Roman," Janus said.

"Geez, you're bad at lying about this," Logan commented.

"Well, when are you going to finally confess your feelings for Virgil?" Janus asked.

"Considering I have none, never."

"Liar~," Everleigh said in a sing-song voice.

Patton gasped again. "That's four fabulous couples! Oh, we should all do a group date sometime."

"I almost forgot you're dating Remus," Janus said. "How did that happen anyway?"

“Honestly I have no idea, but I love him very much.”

After that, the conversation focused on Patton and Remus instead of the others, much to Logan’s relief. He really didn’t need to have that conversation about his feelings again.

---

The group had decided to build a bonfire and collected every single stick they could find for it. They piled everything on the shore by the lake, to make sure they didn’t accidentally set fire to something else, and as the sun was setting over the mountains Janus lit it with their fire breathing. No one had seen them breathe fire yet, apart from Willow, and they were all very impressed, especially Roman.

“Hey, bro, don’t look now, but you gay is showing.”

“What?! Gah! Remus!”

The twins ran around for a while, Remus cackling the whole time like a mad person. The others began roasting kebabs and marshmallows over the fire.

“This is the perfect atmosphere for telling stories,” Everleigh commented.

“Do you have any?” Virgil asked.

“As far as I know, she has an infinite supply, with how many she tells,” Logan said teasingly.

Everleigh flashed him a glare but was fighting a smile at the same time, so she wasn’t too intimidating.

“What kinds of stories do you know?” Willow inquired.

“All kinds. Tales of adventurous knights, daring heroes, brave travellers, cheerful bards, sorrowful poets, tragic romances, haunting horrors-”

“Did you say horrors?” Remus asked, skidding to a halt and causing Roman to crash into him suddenly.

“Yeah, I love scary stories. There’s nothing like a mild horror to get your blood pumping.”

“Tell us one then.” Virgil urged.

“Uh, are you guys sure you want to go straight to horror stories?” Patton asked timidly.

“Don’t worry, Patty-cakes, you can hold my hand and I’ll keep you safe from your fears,” Remus declared.

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Alright then, let’s hear it,” Janus said, motioning for Everleigh to start.

“Once there were two brothers, Jack and John. They were very normal little boys who loved to play hide and seek. One day, while visiting their grandmother’s house, they decided to play their favourite game. Jack went off to hide and John was seeking him. He looked for a very long time, before he came to a spare room, where he thought he saw something moving in the closet.

“John lept forward and grabbed what he believed to be Jack’s wrist, saying, ‘I finally found you! I found you.’

“John struggled to pull on the wrist, as the person in the closet pulled back definitely. After a few moments, John heard a voice behind him.

“‘I give up. You took too long.’ There in the doorway was little Jack. looking very bored and definitely not in the closet.

“John was so surprised, that he let go of the wrist and fell back, flat onto his butt. He looked up at the closet with wide eyes, then back to Jack, then back to the closet, before getting up and slowly backing up out of the room. After that day, John never went back into the spare room, and he made Jack promise to never play hide and seek ever again.”

“Did Jack see what was in the closet when he let go?” Patton asked.

Everleigh shrugged. “If he did. He never said anything about it.”

“It was probably a bat or something,” Remus declared.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “What makes you believe it was a bat?”

“They love hiding in dark places and could definitely freak out a small child.”

“John thought he was holding his brother’s wrist,” Virgil pointed out. “How big of a bat do you think was in there?”

“Well, bats can get pretty big,” Remus shrugged. “Then again, maybe it was just a murderer hiding out.”

Patton squeaked in fear and pulled his knees into his chest. “You guys don’t think there’s any murders hiding out here, do you?”

“Of course not, Patton. The scariest person here is Remus.” Roman answered.

Remus grinned. “Why, thank you, dear brother.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“It was to me!”

“Tell us another story, Ev,” Willow requested.

“Perhaps something a bit more lighthearted this time?” Patton added.

Everleigh nodded. “Okay, sure. How about the legend of the Miracle?”

Virgil perked up. “I haven’t heard that one in a while.”

“I’ve never heard that one. What is the Miracle?” Remus inquired.

“A creature almost forgotten by time. A legend true enough that it was once known to every elder and child in realms. No one knew truly where it came from and where it went is an even bigger mystery, but what it did changed the course of history forever.

“Three thousand years ago, the miracle lived openly in this very kingdom. It met with nobles and peasants alike, using its unparalleled healing abilities to make even those at death’s doorstep return to their healthy, happy selves. People came from near and far for help with not only their ailments but also other dilemmas. The Miracle was wise from many years of life and could easily council them. Not forever though.

“One day a king came to ask the Miracle to heal his daughter, but the Miracle refused. The king was so upset that he had the Miracle arrested and held captive in the dungeons. The Miracle used its unknown magic to break out, however, killing several soldiers and the king as it went.

“After that, no one dared to go near the Miracle and so it left the kingdom. At least, everyone assumed it did. It seemed to vanish off the face of the earth. Never seen again since its escape...”

“Why wouldn’t the Miracle heal the king’s daughter?” Patton wondered.

Everleigh shrugged. “That’s never been explained in any version I read.”

“Perhaps it couldn’t?” Willow suggested.

“It’s skills were greater than any sorcerer ever known. It could have easily cured anything.” Virgil stated. “From what I know, the princess died shortly after her father, and her younger brother took the throne instead.”

“The poor girl,” Patton said, wistfully looking off into the distance. He quickly perked up again though when something caught his eye. “Fireflies! They look so pretty!”

“Let’s catch them,” Remus suggested.

“Let’s see who can get the most!” Willow added on.

Nearly everyone jumped to the challenge and chased after the lighting bugs. In fact, only Virgil and Logan were left at the bonfire. Logan looked over at the taller teen curiously.

“Not joining them?”

“I don’t feel much like running,” Virgil confessed. “You?”

“Likewise… Do you know the story about how the stars came to be?”

“Hmm, I don’t think I’ve heard of it. Didn’t they just poof into existence alongside everything else the gods made?”

“Actually, the gods didn’t make them at all.”

“Who did then? Wait, tell me the story properly.”

“Alright then. When the world was still young there were only two lights who occupied the sky. The Sun and the Moon. They stood watch over humanity for the gods, each taking turns every few hours to be sure that they didn’t get too tired. The humans had decided to label these watches; day for Sun and night for Moon. During Sun’s watch, they would work, play, and do all sorts of things outside in the bright light. While during Moon’s watch, they stayed safe in their homes, hiding from the shadows, and sleeping until Sun returned.

“Moon would never say anything about it, but Sun saw how dejected they would look after their watch. Sometimes Moon would even accompany Sun during their watch and look down longingly at the happy humans enjoying Sun’s light. Sun’s light was much stronger than Moon’s, so of course, they did a better job of casting aside the shadows. Moon envied that ability. But they would never say so.

“Because of humanity’s hiding away, Moon’s watch was a lonely one. Sun wanted to accompany Moon, the way they sometimes accompanied them, but then people decided it was day since Sun so easily outshone Moon. Sun felt mournful for Moon. Moon was just as good a protector, if not better than them. But the human’s only knew that Moon’s light was lesser. Nothing else really mattered.

“One night, however, Sun came up with a plan. A brilliant plan to give Moon the company they longed for. They took from themselves a bit of light and scattered it across the night sky. These pieces came to life and were known collectively as the stars. Moon loved them dearly and finally found joy in taking up their watch. They were no longer so lonely.”

“That’s... beautiful,” Virgil whispered.

Logan had been staring at the stars as he told the story, so now when he looked at Virgil, he realised how close they were. He could see through his long dark bangs the faint glow of firelight and shimmer of stars in his stormy grey eyes. It was a captivating sight, so much so that he couldn’t bear to look away.

“Yeah,” Logan found himself whispering. “Beautiful…”

Twice, Janus had questioned his feelings towards Virgil, but this was the first time Logan found himself questioning what he felt. He couldn’t exactly describe it. Or perhaps he didn’t want to. For once, he wanted no answers, he only wanted to feel whatever this was. To just exist in this moment for the rest of eternity.

Shrieks of laughter from their classmates, however, broke whatever spell had been keeping the pair looking at each other, and the moment was over as quickly as it had begun.

Logan would later look back on that week as being full of wonderful memories. But that moment would forever stand out...

---

A/N: thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this. I'll be posting two chapters a day until the full fic is up, so if you want to be tagged, you can just ask.

I'd love to hear what you thought about the chapter if you wouldn't mind commenting. Thanks again for reading! Here's hoping you have a magical day 💜

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frccdomfell · 5 years

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So, this is only a little over 1600 words... I have a lot of people to thank. I’ve had Stevie boy here for five months, but I’ve been around Tumblr rp for a long time and thought I’d take this opportunity to thank those of you that have been such lights this year. This year has been extremely hard for me for a number of reasons I won’t get into in this happy post! So, this is for those who were there for me this year:

My Main Peeps:

@liftingxrocks : firstly, i have to thank my incredible fiance. you were here every step of the way this year and it has made all the difference. i couldn’t have gotten through it without you and i’m so goddamn lucky i get to call you mine. proposing to you was easily the best thing i’ve ever done and when you said yes was the single best moment of my life. we met through rp and I love every character you try your hand at. thanks for being such a light in my life, babygirl. i love you.

@bytheanchor : b! you total fucking nerd. god, you’re the best! i’m so glad to call you my friend and you’re definitely one of my best online friends. you never fail to be positive and brighten my day. you’re so kind and encouraging. we talk practically every day. those two weeks you went away were SO BORING! i love all your characters so much, you know that. writing with you is easily one of my favourite past times. you are always just as excited and willing to write stuff as i am and i love it. thank you for being such an amazing friend.

@spitefulandspectacular : i mean you never check your tumblr notifications, but i don’t care. you were so important this year so you get a spot on the list. man, you were such a great roommate. we each had our things, but honestly i’m so happy my first real roommate was such a quality person. i miss ya like hell and can’t wait to see you real soon hopefully. thanks for being such a great friend and taking care of our boy. you’re a gem.

@mangohub : monroe, what can i even say? you’re such an incredible friend and i’m so thankful for you. anytime i’m dealing with anything you’re right there for me, ready to listen. i don’t think i’ve met a better writer in my entire life, no joke. i love your alec more than life itself and writing with you is always such a fulfilling experience. even jut plotting with you is so much goddamn fun. you’re such a bright and loving person. thanks for being one of the good things about my 2019.

@warricrsbcw : my mollee. hey hun. i just want to thank you for being such a stand up friend since we reconnected. you’ve been there for me every single time i’ve needed it and i hope i’ve been able to do the same. you’re such a sweet person and you deserve all the nice things. not to mention that i love your alec to hell and back! magnus would go to the ends of the earth for that boy.

@lcdgerbled : hayley, you are so awesome! I’m so lucky that when i left my magnus blog i was able to take you with me in a way. you’re such an insanely talented writer and an even better friend. you’ve been so great and always there if i need anyone to talk to about my ED. your natasha is perfect! steve adores her with his entire heart and wants to buy a place in a new york and have ten kids with her lol. thanks so much for making this year a little more bearable.

New Friends:

@divabarnes : so, you were actually the reason i remade my steve into a blog. he was just available on discord but you reignited my love for him. your bucky sparked my steve back to life and i can’t thank you enough. i love him so much. your writing is so in character and makes my jaw drop every time. i love writing with you (even though im slow and trash). thanks for everything you didn’t even know you did.

@ivorysatin : i know we haven’t known each other a super long time but i absolutely adore you! you’ve been so kind and friendly and you’re writing is PHENOMENAL! your magnus, anna and blair! i’m so in love with all your threads and verses. every time i see your blair i’m so tempted to remake my charles so you need to STOP! but, seriously, you’re such a friendly bean, thanks!

@semiistable : hello friend! so i know we literally just met like four days ago, but in that time i have totally fallen in love with your writing and you so freaking nice and chill. my steve is head over heels for your bucky, and writing with you never fails to make me smile. i hope we continue to be friends for a long time.

@mischieftomake : bonjour jas! so i’ve been dying to write a loki/steve pairing for so long but could never find anyone that clicked with my steve. and, i’m so lucky that the one who did also has such a phenomenal mun! you’re so much fun to plot with and to play around with what we want to do. i’m loving our soulmate verses so much! i hope we continue to become close in the new year!

@tcnystcrrk : thank you thank you thank you! i’m so happy we met and i feel so lucky to get to write with you. my steve just gravitates to your tony. you’re actually the only tony i’m properly active with. i just love plotting and writing with you. you’ve been so kind and excited and it’s made me so happy. i hope to write loads with you both ic and ooc in the new year. stay frosty.

@heyqxeens : beep boop. we don’t write a lot, and that’s mostly because i’ve been hella busy and whatnot. but, i love your peter. even without writing with you i’ve been heavily enjoying reading your other threads. honestly just the fact that you're on my dash makes a huge difference in my tumblr experience. also, we still need to do that thread where they both work at the bugle lol. hope your new year is full of fun.

@hcpefell : nyxie. again, i’ve been bad at keeping up bc life is super hectic right now but thank you so much for being part of the harder part of this year. the second half really took a lot out of me and meeting and writing with you really helped! i love how you write gwen and steve adores her. thank you so much!

Honorable Mentions: (a.k.a. those i stalk)

@stolenparticles : so hi! i’ve been following you since even before i had steve i believe. even when i never thought we’d write together (bc of the vastly different fandoms) i still needed to follow you. cassie is such an interesting and complex character and i love to see someone taking her and just running with it. i love to read all your threads on the dash, it’s always such a good time.

@stormweathered : we’ve chatted here and there, but i low key am IN LOVE with your characterization. your thor is so beautiful and on point! i read all of your answered memes when they show up because your writing is just so impressive. one day i’ll stop being a potato and actually get to work on saying a proper hello.

@kendolled : SOOOOO... i lowkey stalk your blog daily! you’re right up there with @ivorysatin making me want to remake charles. every single time i read your replies alli can see is mr. archibald. i swear, you encompass him so well. ive been rewatching gossip girl for the past seven months or so (bc im slow and easily distracted) and trust me when i say your nate is spot on! i read literally almost everything you post because it’s so perfect!

@spidaeyaunt : so i lowkey adore you. all the love and devotion you put into may is inspiring. i love reading your headcanons and i adore your threads with tonys and peters. but i think the big reason i follow you is your personality. i love seeing your ooc posts on the dash and your tags always make me laugh! keep it up, you cool cat.

@exposestruth & @smallvxlle : i grouped you together because i found you through each other. smallville was such a huge and important part of me growing up. it will forever be one of my top three shows. having both of you bring these characters to life has meant everything. makes me totally miss my ollie every time i read your individual threads. plus all the smallville gifsets on my dash make me SO HAPPY!

@moqul : omg! your cat is FLAWLESS! i love reading your headcanons and your tags are always so freaking hilarious! i laugh so much whenever you’re on the dash and it’s something i value so much. i love supergirl so much, i played kara for a while and i still play barry (since hes a cw super) and your cat is just perfect. i don’t think anyone else could do her the kind of justice you do.

@hakune : OH MY GOD!! your steve *holds chest* I just love him so much. you write so well and your passion for our boy comes through so clearly. i love reading your threads and just watching you interact on the dash is a blast. keep up the good work, fellow steve.

@madebythejungle : you are so fucking talented, wtf? to take such a cool and interesting character and just explode him into life is so impressive. i love reading your stuff whenever i come across it on the dash. one day i’ll get up the courage to actually come say hi, but until then have this little thank you. thank you for making my dash that much better.

#°♡° magnus bane owns my soul | ooc #°♡° i know this neighborhood | save #thank you all so much #(i didnt proofread it but what else is new?)

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redshirtgal · 5 years

Photo

“Space Seed” is one of the few episodes where Sulu is not manning the helm as usual. In his place is Lt. Singh who appears to be every bit as grim-faced as his colleague, Navigator Lt. Hadley. He appears to be every bit as competent as Sulu is as well. It is Lt. Spinelli Kirk orders to lock on the unidentified earth vessel with the tractor beam.

But Lt. Spinelli has a more social side too. Look at this guy, sidling up to Miss Uhura and finagling a way to sit beside her at the dinner in honor of their new “guest,” who just happens to be named Khan Noonien Singh. No relation, of course. And we know what else happens... Khan and his “supermen” take over, the Captain is thrown in a decompression chamber while Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Spinelli, etc. are forced to watch... but then McGivers frees Kirk, who in turn rescues Spock before he is thrown to the same fate, yadda yadda. But then, you get this great shot....

“Hey, they MADE me eat those beans, Spinelli!”

Tsk, tsk Doctor. No wonder Kirk was going to give Spinelli (among others) a commendation before he passed out. He knew Bones had brought his famous Kentucky bourbon beans to the table. But all ends well, although after this incident Lt. Spinelli evidently asks for a transfer since we no longer see him after this episode. There’s only so much an officer should be made to endure. However, we soon learn that Spinelli has a cousin from India who works down in the Auxiliary Control Room.

You can tell Lt. Singh is related to Lt. Spinelli - they both have that very intense look/scowl when either something is wrong or when concentration is needed. In “The Changeling” Lt. Singh doesn’t appear to be that thrilled when Captain Kirk leaves Nomad in his care.

That stare gets REALLY intense as Nomad starts to move around the Auxiliary Control Room. I mean, look at that crease going from one eyebrow over to the other via that deep crease across the nose. Now that’s some kind of scowl he’s got going on there.

Then Singh comes mighty close to getting a Nomad probe... just kidding. Actually, Nomad has just activated itself and Lt. Singh, as requested by his captain, asks it what it needs. But later, when he realizes Nomad is headed in Uhura’s direction, he decides to call Captain Kirk. At least his facial muscles seem to have relaxed. He’s not going to meet the same fate that some of his redshirt buddies will endure later in the episode.

But let’s back up... just who was this actor with the smoking hot stare and that razor sharp jawline? His birth name is Makee Kalaikinipeapal Blaisdell , but he was known by multiple variations of that name. Memory Alpha has him listed as Blaisdel Makee. Yet he also appeared under Makee K. Blaisdel, Blaizdel MaKee, Blaisdel McKee, and 6 other similar credits. And as you may have guessed, he was a native Hawaiian. As the newspaper story above indicates, he graduated from Brigham Young University with a major in theater arts. Before that, he was a star athlete in high school as well as a swimmer and a surfer. But it seemed to take Makee Blaisdell a while to find steady work in acting. Glancing again at the newspaper article, we can see he was working as a salesperson while acting both in community theater and on television.

One of Blaisdell’s first television roles was that of Sgt. Alika in Hawaiian Eye. He appeared in several episodes before moving onto roles on other shows such as I Spy and Star Trek. But sadly, he seemed to be often cast as either a Native American or an Hispanic, such as in the role of Romeo Sangria in the Ironside episode titled “The Sacrifice” or as the soldier seen above at the checkpoint in the pilot episode of Mission Impossible.

Hey, his buddy from “Space Seed,” Eddie Paskey shows up in this episode too. It’s one of the few acting roles Eddie ever had outside of Star Trek.

But does this guy ever smile? Actually, you get the best Makee Blaisdell smiles ever in the following production.

Blaisdell did have one outstanding although not well known film role - that of Johnny Lingo in the short film (23 minutes) of the same name. Financed by the Church of the Latter Day Saints (of which Makee and many Hawaiians are members), it tells the story of a successful trader who also happened to be a highly sought after bachelor and a quite handsome one at that (who oddly also has an intense stare). One day he shows up at the hut of a poor farmer named Moki to bargain over how many cows he will offer in exchange for Moki’s daughter Mahanna. The villagers are amazed because everyone knows....

And that’s Moki saying that about his own daughter. So the villagers begin to debate just how many cows (or how few) Johnny will wind up paying. Because everyone knows he is a shrewd bargainer. The top price for a bride appears to be around about...

And then her friend just has to mention that her husband paid five for her. Oops. But that does establish the top price. Anyway, Moki is concerned he may be lucky to get one cow. And then Johnny Lingo arrives. The villagers all gather outside the tent while Johnny and Moki go inside to bargain. Moki opens with three cows and Johnny counters with...

Whoa... it turns out Johnny Lingo has been in love with Mahana since they were children and is not about to let anyone think she is not worthy, despite what they see when they look at her. So how well does this work out? Pretty well, actually. Before the couple left on their honeymoon, Johnny had ordered a rather ornate hand mirror for a wedding gift which the local trading post owner had to special order. When word spreads that the Lingos have returned, the merchant decides to bring the mirror to their hut. Johnny is quite pleased with the mirror and calls for his wife to come greet their guest. The merchant turns around and .... surprise!

Mahna has been transformed into quite a beauty. Or maybe she was actually a beauty and no one else saw it. This is the end result of Johnny Lingo being willing to build up her self-esteem by treating her as if she were beautiful all along despite what everyone else sees. As terribly dated and possibly culturally insensitive as this movie would be seen today, it does teach a good lesson in a charming way. And Makee Blaisdell turns in a very nice performance as the lead character. If you care to watch it, here is the YouTube link. https://youtu.be/pfahoLfrddU The movie has been remade into a feature length film with a slightly less offensive story but film critics still seem to think the original gets to the point a lot more clearly. And if you bother to look up the new version, its lead is nowhere close to being as handsome as Blaisdell. Plus FINALLY - we get to see that beautiful smile is its fully glory. Unfortunately, this was his crowning achievement in the movies. He managed to land the lead in one last movie based on the Charlie Manson cult murders.

(Poster courtesy of Duffy Films Limited) Many movies tried to cash in on the La Bianca/Tate murders committed by Charles Manson and his followers. The Cult is a soft porn version of the events with Makee Blaisdell (credited as Blaisdell Makee) as Invar who was plainly meant to represent Charles Manson. One third of the movie is devoted to Ivor picking up girls to be part of his family. The few bits of originality in the plot are 1) besides knives, the girls employ whips and medieval torture devices in the murders and 2) while the murders are going on, Ivor is lying inside a coffin in a hearse outside in the driveway and 3) Charlie...er, Invar.. is the way he is because of an earlier incestuous relationship with his mother . Yeah, it’s that bad.

The film is known by a host of other names, including the misleading title The Manson Massacres. Other names included The Love Cult and The Together Girls. It’s known in Germany as Töchter des Satans (Daughters of Satan). Oddly, the only way you can find this gem today is as a German dubbed version with no English subtitles. Yeah, it’s that bad. If you want to see how bad, be my guest. https://youtu.be/aFXiSEI5B6o By the way, take a good look at the above publicity photo. That’s Makee Blaisdell as Ivor on the left, but do you recognize the only other male in this photo? That’s Sean Kenney who played both the disfigured Captain Pike in the two part episode “The Menagerie” and navigator/helmsman Lt. DePaul.

Unfortunately, this seems to have been the end of the road for Makee’s career in the film industry. It’s likely he continued acting in local community theater but there does not seem to be much on him after his last film in 1971. According to several sources he died in Ventura, California at the young age of 57 in 1988. No information can be found on a cause of death.

Two final interesting pieces of Star Trek trivia. First, a piece of background to Makee’s role as Spinelli in “The Changeling.” This episode was taped before the appearance of Chekov. Makee had heard George Takei would be gone for many weeks during the taping of his part in The Green Beret. This led him to believe perhaps he might be hired as Takei’s replacement during that period of time since he had already filled the navigator’s chair before in “Space Seed.”Sadly, he found out that was not meant to be. Walter Koenig was waiting in the wings to appear as Chekov in the next episode to be filmed, “The Apple.” But that didn’t mean Blaisdel had not made a good impression on the production team. Several sources say that Makee was one of the people along with Lawrence Montaigne who was considered as a replacement for Leonard Nimoy in case Nimoy made good on his threat to leave after the second season. And take a look at those faces above. Could even Mr. Spock sustain a stare that intense?

#Star Trek TOS #Singh #Spinelli #Makee Blaisdell #Blaisell Makee

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eleanor-devil · 3 years

Text

Boruto: Sacrifices [Remade] | Chap.18 - The Ruined Birthday

Written by: Eleanor-Devil & @mirage-05

The day was supposed to be a happy one... but... of course due to recent circumstances it was everything but a happy day... and even less when the person for whom this day was supposed to be special... simply refused to celebrate.

"I don't want a birthday party, I don't want to celebrate anything, I DON'T care if it's my friggin' birthday! Just leave me alone!" yelled Boruto as he stomped away from his family.

That's right, it was the Hokage's eldest child's thirteenth birthday, but Boruto didn't want to celebrate anything at all... not when his best friend was in the fragile condition he was.

The blond shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket and kicked a small rock that went stumbling away, crashing a few times against the floor before coming to a stop. "How can they even ask me to celebrate anything..." he mumbled as he continued walking. But then his eyes softened a little... deep down he knew that his family wasn't trying to be mean or anything like that... they had just thought that perhaps a party would have cheered him up...

But he also knew that no party, no celebration would make this better... What would it mean if one of the most important persons in his life was not going to be there...?

He hunched a little, walking aimlessly, just following his steps wherever they take him. They had no training, so he spent most of his free time - and he had lots of it right now - either worrying out of his mind about his friend or trying to find a way to get him to... Well he didn't tell this latter to anyone, because he didn't want anyone to jump on him and say it would be no use, that it was all up to Mitsuki right now...

He felt a pang in his heart. How was he doing right now...? He didn’t realize that he found his way to the training grounds, almost instinctively. His steps slowed down a little when he saw that he wasn’t exactly alone… but she was probably the only person who knew exactly what he was going through right now. It was a sign of just how occupied the girl’s mind was that she didn’t even notice his approach.

“Hey…” he mumbled as he sat down next to her, making her jump slightly.

“Oh…” was the soft exclaim Sarada gave. “Hi…” she mumbled in response, and the two were once again claimed by silence.

“I… actually had something prepared for today…” the girl said quietly after a while. “But…”

“You know exactly how I feel about it.” Boruto said with a fleeting, humorless smile.

“Yeah…”

“This sucks.” Boruto stated, picking up a small rock from the ground and tossing it around, listening to it clank around. Following it blankly with his gaze for a moment, the blond then picked another one and threw it, then another… Sarada slowly laid her head on his shoulder, which gained no response from the Uzumaki as he simply fell into the routine.

Hearing multiple sets of footsteps then, and also their name being called, they couldn’t help but look back. It was their friends of course, and it had been Metal who spoke. "Umm... happy birt-”

Boruto raised a hand to stop him. "Please, just... don't..."

Metal looked surprised for a moment but a look at his friend's eyes and he understood why he didn't want to be congratulated on his special day. He heard Inojin sigh and looked to see the Yamanaka shaking his head, it looked like a disapproving shake but Boruto didn't seem to have noticed it... or if he had, he was being quite good at hiding it.

"Hey, everyone," another voice joined them.

The group turned around to see Sumire and Iwabe approaching them. This time, before he could even get a word out, Boruto cut in. "Guys, I... appreciate, but I'm not gonna celebrate this day. I can't. So please... Don't wish me..." He couldn't even get that word out. How could this day be happy? "I just... gotta go now... See you around when today is over."

And with that he just left, again all alone...

“Sarada…” Chocho tried to say, but the girl flinched as if she had brandished a whip at her.

“I… I’m sorry, I can’t…” and with that she also left, it was clear to all of them that she was trying to hold it together.

Metal sighed. "This can't go on like this…”

“I know,” Inojin agreed, rubbing his neck. “And it’s not only them, this whole situation affects Shikadai too."

“There has to be something we can do,” said Iwabe.

Sumire thought about it for a moment. “Okay, why don’t you all go and see Shikadai and we will check on Sarada with Chocho?”

"Check on her...?" the Akimichi asked, suddenly feeling a little awkward. "I really think she needs to be left alone..."

“We can’t do that though, can we?” Sumire’s tone was gentle, she was no stranger to Chocho’s social awkwardness, but also determined to see this through. "She needs us right now, even though she doesn’t realize it fully."

The dark skinned girl crumpled the bag of chips in her hand. “Yeah… yeah, you’re right.”

With a new found resolution, the friends parted ways, each group going their different way.

...

It had become a daily routine by now to hide in the shadow of the doors and watch his son carefully from afar.

The big change in Shikadai’s behavior had become a constant source of worry for Shikamaru in the past few days, but if he was to be specific, after the second meeting. He had been quiet in observing the interaction between his son and the Sarutobi heir, because he knew Shikadai had to steam off a little, which had been hard for even some of them, so he wasn’t about to blame his son for it. On the contrary, he had been quite proud of him to call Ichiro out on the harassments.

But this quietness had gone on for way too long. And it wasn’t just that. Shikadai had dropped off everything… he had almost literally dropped out of the face of earth for all there is to it, the older Nara suspected he wouldn’t even eat anything if it wasn’t for Temari and Karura. It was very often that he caught his son staring at the letter, the one Mitsuki gave him before he left Naruto’s office.

He, of course, didn’t know the contents of the letter, but whatever was in it had hurt Shikadai in a way more than what he had witnessed in the hospital, he could tell that.

And he had dropped Shogi altogether.

Which was making Shikamaru’s job even harder to understand his son. Sure, they had their normal talks like any father and son, but especially when Shikadai was as troubled as this, it was easier for the older man to read him like clear water in the game they both enjoyed so much.

It was close to physical pain to see his boy suffering like this. And he was willing to change that now, whatever it took.

Sighing inaudibly, Shikamaru moved a step away from his hiding place and approached the young boy. “Oi, Shikadai… what about a quick game of Shogi, eh?” Of course, their games were never quick per se, but he was willing to get beaten quickly for just a glimpse into his mind.

“Oyaji…” Shikadai mumbled, suddenly looking awkward for some reason. He brought his hand up to rub his neck, not meeting his father’s eyes. “I… thanks for the offer but I don’t really feel up to it.”

“Come on, it will be just one game,” Shikamaru insisted. “You usually don’t turn me down.”

“Yeah, I know but…” The young boy sighed then. “Yeah, okay… just one game.”

It didn’t go unnoticed by the older Nara that his son grabbed the pocket of his pants for a second, where he knew the letter was, but Shikadai otherwise remained silent as they sat at the table and began putting their pieces on the board.

The game started as usual, both of them falling into a familiar rhythm soon enough. It was about six moves into it that Shikamaru realized that his son was really not into it today.

“Checkmate.” he said as he put his winning piece on the board. There was a note of uncertainty in his voice, as though he couldn’t believe this just happened.

Which was the case. The only game he remembered that lasted as short as this one was when he taught his boy for the first time how to play the game.

Shikadai’s look of disbelief was a mirror of his own as he stared at the board. “I… don’t…” he gulped. “One more…?”

The older Nara just nodded and they put the pieces on once again. A chink in his invisible armor had just broken, his true emotions leaking out of it, and Shikamaru was willing to push forth.

It took longer this time… About eleven moves into the game, but surely, the young boy was beaten again. This time, Shikamaru was shaken out of his initial shock, and was able to pay closer attention. Still, he remained silent to allow Shikadai to figure out his mistake on his own, out of respect to the intelligence he was well aware his son possessed.

But to the contrary, Shikadai looked even more aggravated at the second defeat, and his movements were becoming more erratic. It took seven moves in the third round.

And they were back to six in the fourth re-match, with his son, always the poster child of calmness, practically fuming now.

Shikamaru closed his eyes, feeling the need to intervene at last. “Shikadai…” he said, leaning in closer to indicate a piece. “Why don’t you move this pawn instead?”

“No.” was the boy’s immediate - and firm - reply, which took the man off guard. Was his son offended that he showed him a move? Honestly, this was something they never did to one another.

“You will push my king to the edge - now it’s in a bind.” He tried once again, gentler.

“Only after you capture the pawn.” There it was again, the stubborn, defiant note. “I’m not going to sacrifice a pawn.”

“Where did this come from?” Shikamaru was now completely baffled. “This had never been a problem before.” The whole point of this game’s strategy was, after all, capturing the king, even when some pieces are lost.

His son’s brows were slightly furrowed, mostly out of frustration he could tell, as he continued to avoid his gaze. “Why is it that it’s always the pawns that are sacrificed…?”

Shikamaru sighed again, it was clear that the problem ran deeper than the game. “Shikadai… tell me what’s on your mind.”

And still there were no answers… but the Nara was patient, he had no problems in matching his son’s pace if it could ease the mind of the boy. Finally, almost hesitantly, the boy rummaged in his pocket and put the contents on the table. He recognized the handwriting on the letter, the one he had delivered to his son days ago. On it was a piece of Shogi, a pawn to be exact.

“Today is Boruto’s birthday.” Shikadai said, his eyes on the letter.

Of course Shikamaru was aware of that, more often than not until last year he was the one who kept Naruto on track on this kind of normalities, especially when the Hokage was too lost in the village business. He didn’t say anything, though, just allowing his son to speak his mind.

“He… he was preparing a big party for them, and I even helped for it…” A small huff of a smile, although one without humor behind it as Shikadai tapped the letter. “And for what? He left the village and left me a letter with a piece of pawn in it.” He took the pawn in his hand, looking at it as if transfixed. “Make it count… He should’ve been here to see his plan through… But…” after another long look at it, he pretty much threw the piece on the board. “Instead he went and willingly sacrificed himself like a pawn.”

So this was what it was all about… his son continued in the pause he made to formulate his reply.

“Is this what all pawns are about then? All there is to being a ninja? We play our role in the game and make sacrifices for our own?” Now he was looking at the board like it was the cause of all his problems. “And we still go and celebrate life like it still holds a meaning… Oyaji… does it?”

This was when Shikamaru had realized that they had never thoroughly touched upon this subject, not the two of them at least. Out of the household, Karura was her brother’s closest confidant. But he and Shikadai seemed to connect on a different level, and he needed to provide his son the comfort he needed.

But he was also aware that he had to do it in a way that would acknowledge his son’s brilliance, so as to encourage Shikadai in his own way, to make him come to his own conclusions.

So instead of an immediate reply, he picked the pieces they were playing with once again. “One more?”

Shikadai barely suppressed a sigh, a little crestfallen. “I don’t know if it’s worth getting beaten over and over. The strategy just won’t work.”

“No, see,” said Shikamaru, holding up a finger to stop him. “This time we’re going to play it by your rules.”

“There is only one set of rules, though.”

“Not if we go unorthodox.” He was all set. “Alright then… you make the first move.”

The young boy just kept gazing at the board. “You didn’t put the pawns.”

“Exactly.” He was watching his son’s every move carefully, looking for patterns he could identify. “You don’t want to sacrifice a pawn, right? Then we don’t use them at all.”

“We can’t do that, can we? You need all twenty pieces to play.”

A small smile - he was playing right to where he needed him to be. “Humor me.”

Shikadai let his breath out in a huff, he was indeed trying to form a strategy with the eleven pieces that suddenly seemed… almost lonely on the board. But whichever he picked came short more or less two moves later.

“This won’t do!” he finally exclaimed, openly frustrated now. “The best option - if any - is to make the first move with the rook, but you can’t foresee even one move from your opponent without the backup of the… the…” he came to a halt as finally the realization hit, and he understood that this had been his father’s plan.

“Without the pawn.” Shikamaru concluded for him softly, putting one of the said pieces in place, right where it would make a difference by blocking the opponent’s move. When his son said nothing to it, the look in his eyes turned pensive. “You see, Shikadai, as hard as it is to accept… the truth remains that you stand strong wherever you have something that is very important to you, something you are determined to protect at all costs.” He had put three more pawns on the board now, and the boy’s sharp mind could see the almost infallible strategy behind it. “So yes, while it’s our duty to protect our own as a ninja, some of us walk into the fire willingly.” He put the last piece as he drew back slightly, looking at him expectantly.

Almost infallible. But his mind had been working on a counter-strategy the moment he saw the third pawn on the board. “It still doesn’t make me feel better.” he murmured as he leaned forward to put one of his own pawns.

“I know… it didn’t help me back then either.” Shikamaru made another move, pleased to see that they were getting somewhere. The young boy raised his head with a confused look. “Back when my sensei Asuma didn’t think twice about putting his life on the line to protect the king… even when it meant him never meeting his daughter… so yeah. It was hard for me to understand that kind of devotion.”

“What changed then?” the boy wondered as he put another piece. Shikamaru thought about it for a second.

“Nothing, really… just that I understood and made peace with what mattered the most for him.” Another move. “Tell me… do you know who the king stands for?”

Shikadai took a long look at the key piece, turning the question in his mind. Practicality almost made him answer with ‘The Hokage’, but he knew better than that. The answer couldn’t be that obvious, there had to be more to it. He made another move as he weighed the options in his mind.

He still wasn’t satisfied with it, but he went with the next best option. “The people of Konoha? Our village?”

The older Nara’s smile turned knowing, his son was really like him in so many ways, not just physically… “Think about it this way.” The boy was playing almost instinctively, but he really had him cornered now. “You are a jounin leading your troop in a war. What would be the first thing you need to target from your enemy?”

“It’s… their artillery, I suppose?” He could’ve said their headquarters or the top ninja, but that would hit only too close home.

“What about the immaterial things? What could you destroy from an enemy that would have a lasting impact?”

This was a harder question. Shikadai took his time in answering, just allowing the sounds of the moving pieces on board to guide the direction of his thoughts, as if it was a river in which he was slowly floating instead of a jumbled mess.

Then he thought about his friends… not just his teammates but also his childhood friends and those from the academy… and the words just came through.

“Their hope… ideals… everything they want to build I think? Because they wouldn’t even stand up if they don’t believe in a…” He trailed off as their game came to an end.

Shikamaru was now positively beaming at him. “Checkmate. Congratulations.”

“Future…” the boy completed his sentence in a whisper, gazing at the conclusion in wonder.

“That’s what we all fight for. Don’t ever forget that.” Picking up his king, the man handed it to his son before closing his hand over his. “Besides, pawns aren’t just sacrifices. If you stay strong, give them the chance, a pawn can always become a general.”

Shikadai’s fingers tightened a little around the piece too and finally, finally a smile showed through his features, small as it was. It was all Shikamaru could ask for.

Just then they heard someone clearing her throat and turned around to see Karura looking at them with a slightly relieved, slightly amused expression.

“I hate to interrupt, but Inojin and the others are here.” she informed them. “And they said they won’t take no for an answer.”

“There is no need. I was about to go find them myself.” It was refreshing, way more than he wanted to admit, to be back to his own self. Just before he sprinted to the gates, the boy turned to look at his father once again, his gratitude showing crystal clear in his eyes. “Oyaji… thank you.”

Shikamaru didn’t answer, just raised his hand in acknowledgement.

...

Boruto had just wandered into a kid's playground and he had no idea of how he came there, but it wasn't like it really mattered. It wasn't like he cared at all. He walked over to the swings, sitting on one of them and just staying there, not even moving a little to swing.

How simple... how untouched would things have been if they were just small kids?

"Boruto..." he heard someone calling but even when the voice sounded different, he didn't look up, lacking the energy to even give a reply.

"Boruto..." the second voice came. "We know you're down because of what happened but... we're your friends too, and we want to help." There was a moment of hesitation. "Please don't push us away..." He recognized that voice as Metal's.

But he still didn't look up.

"Tch... you are just being ridiculous"

Boruto's hands tightened a little more on the swing's ropes, but he still didn't say anything, still didn't look up.

That person wasn't about to give up though. "You act like you're crying over a girlfriend who dumped you. Get a hold on, already."

"Iwabe!" Inojin exclaimed unbelievably, turning to look at his friend.

Boruto finally looked up, directly in Iwabe's eyes, fire burning in his own. "Shut the hell up."

“It’s not that easy.” Shikadai said with a sigh, rubbing his neck. “Look Boruto… I know what you’re going through…”

“You know nothing.” was Boruto’s automatic reply without thinking. This made the Nara furrow his brows a little.

“Don’t I? I was there too, remember?”

In turn, this made the blond come to a halt. Yeah, truthfully… he had completely forgotten Shikadai had witnessed what he and Sarada did too, maybe even the worst of it. Now he was feeling a little guilty. “I…”

“I know it’s hard, it’s been for me too. But… life has to move on, if for nothing, we should make sure of that because that’s what Mitsuki wanted for all of us. Do you really think he would want us to be depressed over him forever?”

Boruto closed his eyes for a moment, as he felt himself shaking a little. "What do I know what he wants...? He is not here to tell me..." He didn't care about what Shikadai just said, how was he supposed to know how life would move on? Before he knew it, his bitter side was taking over, and although he knew deep down that his friends were only worried for him, it was unfortunately directed to them. "You don't have to hang around if you feel depressed... doesn't look like it will pass away."

This time it wasn’t Shikadai who was talking, Inojin did while frowning. "Do you think we're going to leave when you need us most? What kind of friends would we be if we did that?"

Boruto didn't say anything to it but he felt Metal walking up and kneeling down in front of him.

"We don't have to celebrate anything if you don't want to but... if it makes you feel better, we can all go visit him. We're here for you, Boruto... like Inojin said, we are your friends too and if you need someone, we're here..."

"You don't know how it was like..." the blond mumbled, staring at the ground. "To have him dying in my arms... Life leaving his eyes as he bled out... His..." He squeezed his eyes shut, trembling hard. "When his heart stopped... I can't keep these images out of my head... I don't know what to do if he doesn't..." He couldn't finish his sentence.

And he didn't need to finish... because Metal pulled him in a hug that slowly gathered the other boys too.

"It will be okay, he will be okay. He is strong and we all know it..."

Boruto just broke down right there and then. Sobbing his heart out as the images of his friend dying flashed in his head. He tried, he really did, tried to replace those images with the happiest ones he could ever remember.

He wasn't even sure how long they stood there, but realized just the presence of his friends easing up his pain little by little. It was still there, he knew it wouldn't go away completely no matter what, not until Mitsuki wakes up, but it was becoming manageable, and eventually the sobs calmed down, leaving the boy only trembling a little.

“Well,” Shikadai said as they finally broke apart, with a bit of a smile. “I have something to show you. Sarada will meet us on the way there.”

The others slowly got up. "Well... we have to go anyway."

"No." Boruto said clearly, and a little firmly. "Guys... I'm sorry, you can come too. We would like that. Lead the way Shikadai."

With that, the group left the playground. Indeed, they were joined by Sarada and the other girls not too long after. Boruto noticed that his teammate’s eyes were red, as if she was crying too, but the two didn’t say anything to each other as they moved forth to the mysterious location.

Soon they found themselves in the depths of Konoha's forest. Boruto knew where this would lead to but he wondered what exactly his childhood friend wanted to show him there.

As they slowly made their way to the edge of the cliff overlooking the huge waterfall... The scene that met their eyes made Boruto come to a staggering halt, his eyes widening slightly.

"Wh... Wha..." he tried to say, but words were failing him.

The scene in front of him reminded him of a film he watched and talked to his friends about some time ago, he didn't remember when... A make-shift boat stood to the edge of the cliff, with what he was sure "Team Konohamaru" written on its prow, some of the words missing... A black cloth was attached to the ledge which stood in the middle of the boat, with a white skull figure on it - although the skull looked anything but intimidating, there was actually a smile on it, if anything, it looked a little creepy. Various other decorations and accessories laid scattered around, as if they were booty that they had gathered...

Shikadai went and picked up something. "This was our surprise... Or his, actually he planned the whole thing, I just helped." He turned to him, holding a multi-colored wooden parrot in her hands. "Happy birthday," he said, giving him a small smile.

Boruto continued gaping, speechless, as he carefully took the wooden parrot in his hands, he took it with such care as if it would break right there and then.

He couldn't believe Mitsuki had done this...how had he even managed to keep it in secret all this time? That boy sure was a box of surprises...

The blond felt his throat starting to burn, he opened his mouth but no words came out, just a simple gasp...

"That..." he finally managed to say. "...that guy..." he was clearly emotional with the situation.

“So… that day when he didn’t want me to walk with him after the training…” Sarada’s breath was hitching a little as she brought her hand over her eyes, shaking her head a little. “Was this all it was about…?”

“Yeah… it was.” Shikadai’s smile was small but soft, remembering just how excited his friend was planning all of this. “You guys’ birthdays being so close, he had to keep it from you too. That’s where I came into the picture.”

"Guys... it's alright, let it go if you need it..." Inojin said carefully. They had been just looking around unbelievably, not knowing what to say.

"So almost everyone... knew..." Boruto whispered between his heavy breath, he tried to keep the tears from falling but it didn't work... they just came back and started falling from his eyes...

All the others remained in silence while watching the two friends cry...

"And above all...he chose this place..."

"I don’t know the importance of this place, he never told me.” The Nara was looking carefully at his friend. “Just that it held a special meaning.”

“It did?” Sarada was just as curious as the rest.

He didn't want to talk about it. About their promise... they had both sworn... and he remembered Mitsuki's words from only a few days ago... '

I can't give you a promise I can't keep...'

[Flashback]

"Jump!" Boruto lost his balance when he reached the edge of the cliff, flailed his arms wildly for a bit, then both him and Mitsuki tumbled down.

It was exhilarating!

He couldn't help but scream in excitement as they fell down some meters below into the river. The chilling water cut his breath on impact and for a while, stars danced in front of his eyes. Then he kicked up and burst through the surface, laughing joyously.

"Haha, that was priceless, don't you agree?"

There were no replies.

Confused more than concerned, Boruto looked around. Where was Mitsuki? They had both jumped in... didn't they?

Fear hit him at the possibility, and he immediately looked up... He could see no one at the top of the cliff... Not even the thug was there, which made the blond frown - what was going on?!

"Mitsu-!" just then, a hand was clamped on his mouth, and he struggled to get free of it.

"Not now." came his friend's voice from behind him and Boruto felt himself immediately relaxing. "He could be around here, we should stay low."

And so they retreated back to hide behind a rock, eyes keen and watching everywhere as they listened on to the sounds...

It took a while... and the voice was dimmed due to the roar of the waterfall, but finally they heard something.

"Boruto? Mitsuki! Come out wherever you are now!"

"That's sensei..." the blond said, looking at his friend in relief. They both came out of their hiding spot, looking upwards.

Hands on her knees and bending a little forward to see clearly, Sarada pointed. "There they are, sensei!"

Konohamaru breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that his students were safe. "Come up here quickly!" he called towards the duo again, then looked at the man he had just caught and bound. "We have a package to deliver and we can't lose time!"

"Yeah yeah, we will be up there in a minute!"

Hearing the lazy and carefree tone in Boruto's voice, the jounin felt his temper rising slightly. "There is no time to dawdle! Get moving - now!"

Mitsuki looked at his friend. "I believe it would be wise to do as we are told."

"Yeah, they can wait a little." Boruto said, still carefree. "First I want to make sure of something."

Mitsuki raised an eyebrow at this - leave it to Boruto to get on the nerves of their sensei. "What is it? I'm positive that Konohamaru sensei took care of that thug."

"Nah, it's not about that."

But the blond made no further explanation as they waddled their way ashore, which made the blue-haired preteen even more curious. "Boruto..."

Then his friend finally turned to him. "Oka- whoa...!" before losing his balance and tumbling on the ground.

Mitsuki laughed for a little, which earned him a scowl from Boruto, but in a moment it was replaced by a smirk and the blond reached up to pull his friend down as well. In the next minute, they were both laughing their heads off.

"Okay. This calls for a promise." the Uzumaki said all of a sudden, catching Mitsuki by surprise.

"What promise are you talking about?"

"Simple. Promise me that, just like today, we will always be by each other's side, no matter what, always there to help each other." Boruto raised his fist. "And I promise the same to you."

Mitsuki looked at him for a second before raising his fist and bumping it against Boruto's. "I promise."

[End of Flashback] (1)

As Boruto reopened his eyes, determination shone in them. "I made up my mind," he whispered softly.

"Huh?" asked Sarada, confused.

"I want to celebrate my birthday after all." the blond said a little more clearly, finally letting his gaze drift away from the blanket of white on the ground.

This sudden change in his resolve was certainly unexpected, but it managed to bring a smile to his friends' faces. "Well, that's great," Metal said, they were all relieved that Boruto was able to snap out of it. "So if you still want we can-"

"Guys, um... I'm sorry..." the blond said sheepishly, bringing his hand to his neck. "Can we... do that later...? I... kinda have to make up for someone else first."

"Oh... uh, sure..." Inojin said with a bright smile, one which made Boruto feel a little ashamed because of the way he treated them earlier. "We'll arrange that later." Then, one by one, all of his friends came forward to hug him. "Happy birthday, Boruto."

"Thanks, you guys," he said, finally managing a small smile. He and Sarada watched until their friends were out of sight. Then the blond took the Uchiha's hand. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

Not saying anything else to her, he took out his cellphone. "Hello, mom? Mom, I'm really sorry about the way I behaved... I-I want to celebrate my birthday..." Boruto smiled as he, undoubtedly, heard Hinata's happy tone. "Can all of you meet us in the hospital...?"

...

The snow was spiraling down in a white haze out of the building, piling up on the already thick blanket on the ground. The building itself was alight, the windows glowing in the darkness.

One of the rooms had a very lively party going on inside, as lively as the hospital rules allowed of course. The room contained the youngest patient in the hospital currently, a thirteen-year-old hero.

The hustle and bustle that was going on was a courtesy of his best friend, Uzumaki Boruto, who had insisted that if he was going to have any kind of celebration for his birthday... it was gonna have to include his best friend.

Boruto smiled brightly as those who gathered in the room finished the birthday song, and then he leaned forward to blow the candles out. He was wearing a pirate hat that his friends had bought, and (because they couldn't make it sit on his shoulder) the wooden parrot was standing on the table beside him.

Claps echoed around the room; the entirety of the Uzumaki and Uchiha families were inside the room, plus Konohamaru. They were all practically cramped in the room, and although they had received some stink eyes, seeing the circumstances, they were allowed in; with the pretense that the visit should be short. Which Sakura felt the need to remind them of after they finished their share of the cake.

"I'm sorry, but this is as far as I can let you be in here." she said, with an understanding smile directed to the birthday boy, Sarada and Himawari.

Himawari pouted and let out a long 'aww' before Sarada walked over to her and put her hands on her shoulder to lead her out. The adults followed not too long after, after wishing Boruto the best for his new year.

When everyone left, the blond eyed Sakura a little nervously. "Aunt Sakura... can I please stay a little more?"

The look in the pink haired woman's eyes only softened more. "Of course, dear, but no more than five minutes."

He just nodded and watched until Sakura was out before turning his head back at his friend once again...

[Flashback]

"Oww!"

Boruto flinched a little as Mitsuki gave a short yelp of pain following a thud. He... wasn't exactly adjusted to darkness as he would like to think, plus not knowing Mitsuki's house good enough... didn't help with things much. Which was something his blue-haired friend pointed out soon enough.

"I still don't understand why I have to be led into my own house blindfolded, Boruto..."

"You'll see in a minute," the blond said, barely being able to hold back a chuckle. He didn't want to give anything away. He wanted everything to be great... he wanted his best friend to feel he was welcomed...

And in his mind? This was the best opportunity.

"At least don't make me bump into another thing, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," the blond said cheerily. "Hey, wait over here for a moment, will you? I'll be right back..."

"Boruto..." there was a warning tone in the younger boy's voice.

"Don't open your eyes until I say so!" Boruto called before carefully finding his way to the couch and hiding behind it... coming face to face with his little sister.

"Can't believe you almost blew our cover!" Himawari whispered indignantly.

"Look who's talking! Keep your voice down, will you!"

"Boruto!" Mitsuki's voice came, impatient. "Can we get over with this already?"

"Well?" Sarada asked from the other corner. "Any reason to keep waiting?"

"Is there anyone else here?" this time, Mitsuki sounded confused.

Well... he couldn't see any point in hiding anymore. The blond gave a small nod, and Himawari darted towards the kitchen to notify their mothers, who had been taking care of the cake.

They then heard Mitsuki sigh. "This is getting ridiculous..."

Boruto felt more than saw what his friend was about to do - and it was too early for it! So when he saw the trio coming out of the kitchen already - he rushed forward to stop them... just when Sarada noticed something and plopped out of her hiding spot to alert them...

And that was how Mitsuki found them when he turned on the lights. Himawari, Hinata and Sakura coming out of the kitchen, Hinata holding a huge cake with lit candles on it, Boruto practically on his tiptoes as he was trying to approach them discreetly and Sarada, frozen in the middle of waving her arms towards their direction, half-seen behind the armchair... all of them comically stopped in their tracks.

To break through the awkwardness of the situation, Himawari bent down to snatch a handful of confetti they had previously thrown around for decoration and just threw them over. "Happy birthday, Mitsu-nii!"

The blue-haired boy was so baffled that for a moment, he could do nothing but look around at the decorations with widened golden eyes. "W... what is..."

Following his sister's lead, Boruto snapped out of his stance and came over to his friend's side, putting an arm on his shoulder as he grinned widely. "Don't tell me you forgot it! Happy birthday, Mitsuki!"

The boy was still at a loss for words. "I..."

"Sorry it's not that much," the blond continued almost sheepishly, but he couldn't keep the glee out of his voice anyway. "I wanted to do something more detailed since it's your first birthday here, it should be special, and man, twelve is an important age..."

Hinata gave a soft chuckle at her overly-enthusiastic son. "Boruto, just give him a breath of fresh air..."

"...and we would've arranged something more if you told us about this previously, I mean, who says it's his birthday just the day before it?! It's a crime, I'm telling you..."

"Boruto." Mitsuki finally managed to cut in, and his voice sounded strangely tight. "It's... it's okay, I really like it...

" "Aw, well," the blond said, oblivious to his friend getting emotional. "Tell me about that again when you see what I have in stock for next year..."

"That is a long stretch of time..." Sarada pointed out, sweat-dropping.

"Come on... at least let him blow out the candles before they go out, okay...?"

[End of Flashback]

Boruto sighed. "You do realize you raised the stakes too high, right? How am I even gonna compete with this on your next birthday? There should be a middle ground before you reach the peak, y'know?"

Obviously, there were no answers. But the blond didn't seem to be disheartened by it... his smile didn't falter.

"It's alright... Even if you can't reply to me, I know you can still hear. So listen closely," he said crisply, straightening himself a little. "When you come back, I want a full-fledged birthday party." The look in his eyes softened. "And I know you will come back... because the Mitsuki I know never gives up, and always keeps his promises." He bumped his fist against his friend's, just like how they did back then.

Better not strain Aunt Sakura's tolerance.

Just when he was about to walk out... an idea came to his mind. He brought a hand to his necklace and looked back at his friend, then determination filled his eyes. He took the necklace out and walked over to the bedside table on which he had left the wooden parrot.

"Uncle Neji..." he whispered as he put the necklace on it, his hand staying over it for a minute. "If you can hear me, please help my friend find his way back to us..."

He then turned and walked towards the door, and turned back to look at Mitsuki again. "It can't be his time just yet..."

...

The change in the blond was immediately noticed when he returned to his family's side. "Onii-chan, where is your necklace?" Himawari asked curiously.

In turn, Boruto gave her a big smile. "It's alright, Hima... I just lent it to someone who needs it more."

#boruto:sacrifices #naruto #boruto #mitsuki #naruto fanfiction #boruto fanfiction

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