#hm i made a mistake in choosing his title

[sasster]

What IS That Thing?

Can you guess what ICP song is on this guy’s playlist with what was provided?

[Doc] —

The lights are out when you return to your hive, not just turned off, but actually smashed out. Small piles of broken glass near where the lamps live, only partially lit by the light in the hall of the building as you enter, indicate that much. Maybe the lights in these hivestems have a tendency of just exploding with very little stress put upon them, it has only been a few perigees since you moved into the place after all. At the behest of everyone that heard about your campaign to dethrone the local regional ruler.

Not many trolls possess that sort of audacity, at least not the ones that aren’t also fleet aligned. Dethroning those guys is a little bit like pulling teeth, or, more appropriately, getting rid of a bedbug infestation in the hive of a hoarder. Short of burning it all to the ground and starting over from scratch, it is always an uphill battle. But doable. Certainly doable. Actual Empress-fighting would be punching a little bit above your weight class, but you think you can handle a little skirmish with some run of the mill general. It should be a no skin off your nose sort of situation. After that, you’ll be able to put in place the sort of guidelines that will see that the people who live in these areas won’t have to deal with the mistreatment. The fight is only in a few hours, you’re amped, and there is no time for second guesses.

With caution you step around the broken glass and make your way into the small kitchen space that shares an area with your living room. It is a far cry from the near palace you were raised in, but laying low is important. The local regional ruler will have your head if they find you, and you’ve done so good to shake off their muscle thus far. What a shame it would be for it to all come to pieces now.

You sit in a stool in the kitchen and sigh, relaxing into a slump against the wall as all of the stress of the day starts to roll off of you in a wave. No one told you how stressful it would be to run this sort of campaign, but that might be just because it goes without saying. There is so little time between now and the fight, but you can’t show up to it wound up all tight like this. 

A creak in the floorboards draws your attention to your bedroom, and a cold dread pricks at the back of your neck. Did you shake off the muscle? Could have just been the building settling. Slowly you pull yourself to your feet and take deliberate steps back to the bedroom, stepping around piles of glass still while you do, and equip your trident in the process.

You call out toward the sound, “Hey, man. Whatever you’re getting paid, I’ll double it. Just get the hell out of here,”  as you near the door, using your weapon to slowly poke it open all the way. “Or I can kill you, it really doesn’t matter to me.”

The intruder is sitting on your bed when you enter, with a face obscured by a mask that appears to be smooth with some simple designs, from what you can see lit up by the dim moonlight. They angle their head toward you.

“They sent a laughsassin after me? Really?” Your laugh is breathless.

The intruder laughs as well, it is a mirror to yours, but much higher in pitch, and absolutely sardonic in nature. “I always get that. Laughsassin,” he bemoans as he stands up and stretches, there is something incredibly uncanny about the looseness he handles his own limbs with. “It’s outdated. Implies that all I do is kill and laugh. Which, alright, I won’t lie. It does take up a big chunk of what I do.”

Dealing with a clown today was the last thing you thought would happen, it was your understanding that GHBs don’t typically put their noses into the mess of seadwellers trying to kill each other. Isn’t it a net-zero loss for them, at the end of the day? But now that you’re thinking about it, they might just be happy to stick the old ‘the devil you know’ addage.

“Sometimes, I’ll have you know, I’ve also been known to convince.”

“You want me to believe you aren’t here to kill me?”

“I am here to let you know you’ll be taking a dive later this evening.”

This time when you laugh, it comes from sheer shock. They sent a clown.

To tell you to give up in your pursuit of the regional title.

They must be scared.

With his hands on his hips, the clown takes confident strides around the bed and closes some, not all, of the distance that separated you. Your grip tightens around your weapon.

“How about I kill you now, and then your boss later?”

He bounces on his heels. Why is he so flimsy?

“Or you can leave here with your head attached to your body, and watch from the crowd. I’m not taking any bribes.”

He comes to a stop within striking distance of your trident, you can make out two faint lines that curve like tear tracks down the cheeks of his mask, but you hold firm, watching him carefully. He stretches again, bending his body at the waist until something pops audibly. “Oh, I’m not here to bribe. Did I confuse you? The dive you’ll be taking will be the swan type. Y’know? Into your grave.”

In the time that passes between the words leaving his lips and confusion contorting your features, something else hits you, literally — A small blade, tossed with such precision that it slices through a bit of your cheek and ear on its way to embed itself in the wall behind you. “Y’know?” He echoes.

You are already advancing on him with your trident when the gears start turning in your head, and the springy bastard ducks out of the way of the attack and dances behind you with another laugh that suspiciously sounds like it’s still mocking yours.

Clowns are the worst. You didn’t even see him move to throw the damn thing in the first place. A frustrated growl rips out of your chest as you turn to face him.

“That’s all? You’ll need to do better than that if you’re going to scare me out of it.”

It’s hard to tell what he’s going to do next, without being able to see his face, which you gather is the whole point, but he’s already rocking back on his heels, reaching back to get a grip on his knife. He practically cackles, “You’re right,” followed by pulling the thing out of the wall. It doesn’t matter that he has his hands on his weapon, you think, without the element of surprise, a throwing knife loses the fight to a trident every time.

Smugness settles in your breast as you pull yourself to stand a little straighter, having found the confidence to make it through both of the fights the stars have set out for you this evening.

Then, the smugness quickly dissipates when the nuisance does something completely unexpected, and tips his mask up to uhm.

Well, it looks like he is lapping the blood, and bits of drywall but whatever, off of the knife.

“Why do so many fish carry a trident, anyway?” He asks and though you’ve instructed your body to lunge with the subject of his criticism, you stay rooted in place. A sinister glow begins to spill out around the edges of his mask. “I always thought it was a bit on the nose. You know? There are other weapons. Bet you’d have fared better with a harpoon gun.”

His words fly over your head, you are more concerned with your suddenly immovable body.

The masked intruder stays where he is, stretching and bending his freakish form while in the meantime your own disobedient body once again closes the distance between the pair of you. Your mind is racing. You’ve come so far, your aspiration right within your grasp, just to be killed by a clown.

His knife comes up to your cheek, where he’d already cut it before, and from the angle his mask sits at now, you can see two rows of sharp teeth exposed in some form of twisted grin. It is almost worse that the rest of his face is entirely concealed. He presses into the flesh and more of your blood is drawn out onto the blade.

“It’d be really nice of me to kill you just like this, y’know, but the boss wants to make an example of you. No hard feelings, right?”

[taeyamayang]

MINE.

❀ MSBY sakusa kiyoomi x fem!reader

❀ themes/tags: fluff | romance | i was having a brainrot im sorry | timsekip! | established relationship | friends to lovers

ㅡsakusa kiyoomi loves in private but that doesn't mean he's afraid to show you off.

not proofread. forgive me if there are mistakes will fix them soon. also, it's my first time to write for him agh!

you arrived a bit... early.

apparently from your standpoint which is the entrance of the arena, your claim is simply an understatement. you are the first person to arrive. as a matter of fact you're the first person in line for ticket check.

"are you...(y/n)?" the staff controlling the line to the entrance has taken interest in your identity rather than your ticket in his hand.

"yes. why?" you ask, uncertain of how he knows your name.

"hm, i need you step aside for a moment." he shoots you a small smile before turning his head to where other staff are gathered. he shouts. "someone call Sato, he needs to assist a lady right here!" the group of staff nodded before briskly walking away.

you observe the ticket master takes, rips, stamps a logo on a person's inner wrists, and gives their tickets back precisely like he has done this for years. he didn't question any of them, heck he didn't even spare more than a second looking at their faces unlike what he did to you which brings you in wonder.

"am i in trouble?" you ask.

"no." he side glances you for a moment before returning his focus back to his job.

"then why am i being on hold?" you didn't want to irk him by asking too many questions but he's isn't supplying you with answers that will keep you at ease.

he halts mid-air, holding a stamp in hand as he looks at you with a confused face like you uttered a statement that was too far-fetched.

"he didn't tell you?" he cocks a brow before pressing the stamp on the skin of the person waiting in line. his eyes still on you.

"who's 'he'?" the more you question the deeper the crease between his eyebrow becomes.

are you supposed to know everyone in this arena? sure, you have watched games here a couple of times but that doesn't mean you know everything that goes on in their system. he could at least let you on with a bit of information.

the ticketing master shifts his vision to the person approaching behind you. he hums.

"hm, worry not. sato's here. he will assist you inside." you don't even know who sato is but you nodded like you understood what he met. he speaks to the boy catching his breath. "she's (y/n)."

"yes! i know her face. he made sure i remember her." the man wearing a laced id with his last name, Sato, printed on it chuckles. at the corner of his laminated identification card is a job title.

"VIP staff" you read with your eyes.

"I'll lead you to your seat." Sato gestures you follow him inside.

without saying a word, even though you're dubious of what is going on, you trail behind him. he walks down a fleet of stairs, looking through his shoulder from time to time to check you.

he stops right before the barricade separating the blue and red chairs. the blue chairs dominate the arena. it's tiered starting from the barricade to the exit doors while the red chairs are numbered. it is in equal footing with the floor of the court, placed right next to the team's corner.

"you can choose whatever seat you want but i suggest you go for the one over there. that's the nearest seat to MSBY and the view there is amazing." sato directs you with full smile.

"there must be a mistake. i have a regular ticket." you decided to speak up, showing him your stub but he waves it off.

"everyone gets a regular ticket whether you buy it online or over the counter. the red chairs or the vips are per request." as sato explains the more confused you get.

"i didn't request a vip seat." you reply.

"yes, you didn't but MSBY Sakusa did." As he mentions your boyfriend's name your lids peel off and gradually everything make sense.

"i didn't know." you said in a hushed tone.

"oh! it must be a surprise!" sato claps his hands enthusiastically but you, on the other hand, is horrified of the situation.

your eyes scan the vip section only to recognize a couple of faces. celebrities, influencers, bloggers, daughters from prominent families, and so on. and you look at yourselfㅡplain white shirt tucked in a high waisted jeans. slung over your shoulder is a signature bag that took Sakusa ages for you to accept. a bag priced thrice as a regular one is a no-no for you but your boyfriend argued that it's reasonable because it's your first birthday with him (although, you have spent countless birthdays with him it was as a friend and not as a lover. he thought dating you will give him the right to spoil you with gifts). you are not prepared for this situation. you wish you pulled your best top out of your closet or caked your face with make up.

"make yourself comfortable, i'll be at entrance C if you need anything." Sato says as he walks back up.

"wait, Sato." you stop him and he turns. "is it okay if i move seats and by that i mean up there, in those blue ones?" sato pauses for a moment before he replies.

"course! you can take whatever seat you want." he offers you a gentle smile before walking out.

knowing that famous individuals that will sit next to you gives you anxiety. you don't want to be put alongside with people whom you constantly feel like you have to adjust yourself just so you could appear admirable in their eyes. you wish to spare yourself of headache. albeit, all you want to do is to enjoy you boyfriend's game and cheer for him.

with much thought, you make your way up to the blue seats. you settle in the last seat in a row and immediately pulls your phone out of your pocket. you snap a picture of the court from where you are and sends it to your boyfriend. you type in "here." before clicking send.

a few seconds to a minute, a check appears next to your message. a note that tells you he has seen it. you didn't bother waiting for his reply as you already that at this point he and his team are preparing for the match. so, you zip your phone in your bag and relax your back on the seat.

a chattering noise accompanied by steps coming from the stairs is heard as two girls wearing a Bokuto and Sakusa jersey appears. they sit next to you, giddy about the upcoming match. the other girl which is sitting farther from you notices you.

"who are you cheering for?" she asks, cheeks turning red the moment you met eyes with her. she's probably hesitant to start a conversation with a stranger but since you're stuck with them (because you're sitting in the last seat of the row) she ought to make friends with you.

"MSBY." you simply state.

"who in MSBY?" she asks.

"Sakusa Kiyoomi." the other girl turns and instantly her face lights up at the mention of her idolㅡobviously, as she's wearing his jersey.

"Oh my god! you like him too?!" she gasps, leaning to your side.

"like" is a funny word. you don't just like him, you are in love with him. you have loved him for years even before he became a professional volleyball player. you were his friend and ally, mostly when you join forces into jesting or pushing other people's buttons. your admiration for him goes beyond Sakusa as a volleyball player. you like him as the person you share breakfast with or the grumpy old man he turns to when the room gets too messy to his liking. you like him when he's unable to decipher how to bake a chocolate cake or how to callout a neighboor that's too loud. you like him in many ways others couldn't.

nonetheless, you nod to the girl and as she squeals her friend taps on her shoulder as she points to the court. "they're here!"

both you and your boyfriend's fan turn your eyes to where she is pointing. there you see his team walking from the dugout. you spot him behind the three: hinata, bokuto, and miya. contrary to the three men who never run out of energy, he walks behind them calmly almost like he's bored. as soon as he steps in the court his eyes scan the audience.

he's looking for you.

he squints to search for your face and when his piercing eyes sees you, you swear to the sky and below that you felt your whole body shiver in fear. he tilts his head to the side as he narrows his eyes at you then he jogs his way to the team's coach. they exchanged a few words and after a nod from his coach, he's on his way to you.

your throat runs dry when his long legs skip the barricade separating the court and the red seats and the red seats to the blue seats. the two girls next to you jumps in their seats in excitement as they watch Sakusa climb the stairs towards their direction.

you turn your head to the side, away from the stairs and to the two girls with owl-like eyes anticipating the volleyball player. you cover your pathetic face with one hand and after a while you feel a daunting presence next to you. he didn't do anything, he just stands and looks at you through his bottom lashes.

"hey, hey, MSBY Sakusa is here! i thought you like him? come on this is a one time opportunity!" the girl next to you wearing your boyfriend's jersey scream-shouts. thanks to her support now you're melting in embarrassment.

Sakusa clears his throat and it's about time for you tear your hand away from your face. you shoot him a sheepish smile as his brows meet at the center of his forehead.

"why are you sitting here?" your voice hitches as his cold tone reaches you.

"i, uh... heh." you purse your lips into a tight smile.

"did sato not assist you? i made sure he remembers your name and face. i reserved a seat for you at the vip section." he arches a brow. at this point, the two girls next to you are watching the events unfold with their mouths hanging. they didn't expect this at all, and it's clear with how they look.

"listen, omi. i don't want to sit there." your mention of his first name, no, his nickname had the girl sitting next to you gasp loudly in shock. her friend cupped her hand over her mouth to stop her.

"and why?" sakusa challenges as he bends his back down to match with your height. he anchors his hand on the backrest of the seat in front of you and the other on your seat. you are completely caged, trapped between his spreadout arms.

"i don't want to sit next to celebrities looking like this! we both have many things in common but we surely share the same level of hostility towards people, especially famous entitled ones. you know this."

the amphitheater is beggining to swarm with people. you and sakusa have gained a number of head turns and even some of them took a quick photo of him. the least you want right now is attention but your conversation with your boyfriend isn't ending any time soon.

"i don't even know who those celebrities are." He pauses, then adds. "i want to see your face up close when i play, baby." he never calls you with that pet name, ever. not in public places, not in front of friends, but always when he needs something from you.

"baby, can you cook me dinner?"

"you look so good. do you have spare time, baby?

"oh, come on, baby, cuddle with me won't you?"

it's totally fine when it's just the two of you in a room but when he says it with ears nearby you can't help but succumb to his request just to end the embarrassment. when he sees you slowly sinking into your seat, he already knows.

he has won.

sakusa offers a hand to guide you to the vip section but you look at him, head slowly shaking to the sides.

"you don't have to do that."

"i insist." a cheeky grin plays on his lips as he continues. "quick, you don't want everyone's eyes on us, don't you?"

hence, with a long sigh and a quick grab on his hand you flees you out of your seat like a knight saving his princess. you give the two kind girls a swift nod as a way of saying goodbye and in return they stick their thumb out, eyes still wide as a deer in headlights.

as you tail behind sakusa with your hands intertwined, you pull him back gently so he can stop and wait for you.

"you're doing this on purpose. you're enjoying my flustered face. i know you, omi." you say through your teeth and for the nth time today he catches you off guard by leaning in to the side of your face. he turns his head towards you just enough for you to feel his lips brushing against your ears.

"let me show you off." he whispers.

"i thought you said you hate attention." you reply, swallowing in air as you feel a growing grin against the shell of your ears.

"i do but i'm letting them know you're mine."

title's not the best lol but thanks for reading! hope ya like it ;)

masterlist | hq.list

[whatifyoulivelikethat]

ur opinions/thoughts on indigo? i love your blog :D

I think it's the most refined group of songs Namjoon has ever released. Life is more complex than how you see yourself, but that's what you tend to focus on when you're younger. It takes time to realize the weight of expectations even if they come from a good place. I see 'Indigo' as Namjoon's process of understanding how the expectations of those around him affected his personal growth and choosing how to he wishes to grow from now on.

Previous mixtapes, while lyrically sound, I felt that he struggled with clearly conveying what he wanted to say (and maybe he didn't quite know himself) or perhaps he just lacked the depth that growing up brings, better understanding yourself through self-reflection. When you're younger, you try to absorb as much as you can - you have to, that's the only way you can learn about the world. Growing up is sorting through all that shit and deciding what you want to keep. You can choose who or what influences you depending on what energy you surround yourself with and it feels like Namjoon has entered that period of his life.

I always listen to albums following the tracklist. When he asked us to listen to it that way, it showed that he put thought into the order, which I think isn't as heavily considered these days. I didn't even watch the MV first. I listened to the album the way it was ordered, at my desk. I usually listen to albums through headphones but this time I chose to use a Bluetooth speaker thanks JK's Mikrokosmos lol. Has a feeling this album would be more about the ambience. The first listen is dedicated to his voice, tone, inflection and his choice of collaborators. He uses a lot of English in this album, so I focused on his word choice too. Since I don't know Korean, I look up the lyrics after the first listen. I'm missing some of his wordplay probably, but that's my fault for not learning Korean (I should at least try, hah, but that's a later me problem lol)

The grouping of 'Closer', 'Change pt.2' and 'Lonely' is my favorite part. I enjoyed 'Still Life' too; I always like happy beats with subtle sad implications. Youjeon's voice in 'Wildflower' was the prefect choice. I'm glad he chose it as the title.

It's not natural to have one's life put on display like that. Sure, he chose this profession but he didn't choose to be dragged to the extreme. No one predicted the scale that BTS is at now. I think Namjoon struggled a lot with trying to not let it affect him, and 'Indigo' is him understanding that he can't. He's ended up in too weird of a position and how could be deny the love that ARMY has given him thus far? How could he give back to all that was given? Love has expectations too. Even if it's not meant to hurt, it can still become a heavy weight. He has to learn to let go a little bit so he can flourish (and not go insane lol). You can end up in a weird place but there's ways to ground yourself and find your center.

And, anyway, the secret of life is that everybody is in a weird place, everybody has their own challenges, everybody feels alone in your situation, because you are. No one lives your life but you. We're as similar as we are different. Giving back in love is recognizing that your mistakes made you and being your best self. It's up to others to decide if that's enough for them. It is what it is, hm.

'Indigo' felt like a conversation. Thanks for the conversation, Namjoon. :)

[nyxicnymph]

Luna Noctinou

Stormswept Breeze

Luna Noctinou is the runaway daughter of a Fontaine politician. Having faced a greater injustice than she could take in her homeland, she made her escape to Liyue, where she now temporarily resides.

Weapon: Polearm (Taken from the hands of one of her family's guards)

Vision: Anemo (Granted during her flight for freedom, she uses her vision in ways more akin to hydro users)

(Image not accurate to actual appearance)

Luna is very wary and reserved, and can be spotted most frequently near Dihua marsh. She yearns to be useful to her mentor, Adeptus Xiao, in combat and elemental abilities, and so chooses to patrol that area, when she isn't doing a supply run.

Luna will enter the city of Liyue Harbor on occasion, usually to purchase supplies for Verr Goldet to stock the Inn. While in the Harbor, she frequently crosses paths with a young man named Childe. She also interacts with the proprietiers of Wanmin Restaurant on a frequent basis, and can also occasionally be found at the market on the docks on her supply runs.

Skills: Luna is skilled in diplomacy thanks to her family's status and careers. She can easily cut tensions down if a fight is brewing, and is shrewd negotiator, the reason Goldet asks her to take over the weekly supply runs. Luna is also usually quite hard to sneak up on, as she has developed hyper-vigilance as a safety measure to keep herself out of the reach of the Fontaine soldiers sent to track her down for the crime she didn't commit. After extensive training with the Adeptus Xiao, she's become quite skilled with both her weapon and her Vision

Flaws: Luna has the unfortunate ability to trust the wrong people while being distrustful of those who could help her. She also fears bonding with other people to a certain point, and has a very high grudge threshold. She's also hesitant in battles, especially ones against human opponents.

Potential Voice Lines:

Hello: I am Luna Noctinou. However, I've cut all ties with my family, so... just Luna is fine. Xiao's told me much about you, I hope you live up to his stories.

Favorite Food: I prefer Light and airy foods when I can get them, but as for a specific favorite? I don't think I could actually tell you.

About the Vision: I got it in Dihua Marsh, not far from where I patrol. I remember it was raining thanks to one of the guards who had a Hydro Vision. ...I don't actually remember getting it, just coming to and finding... Never mind.

About Fontaine: For the land of Justice, only our Archon is truly Just. The people, the politicians? They're all corrupt. I guess that means I am too... Huh? Just because I don't lie to you doesn't mean I'm free from corruption!

About Trust: I know Xiao trusts you, but... I have a bad habit of trusting the wrong people. Just. Just give me some time.

About Trust II: You truly are trustworthy. Thank you for being so patient with me. It's an honor to travel with you.

About Appearance: Hm? Why do I look like... this? It is a result of a blessing from my archon. I'm unsure what the blessing does. But I woke up one day after a dream like this. That's all.

About Xiao: He was nearby when the incident in Dihua Marsh occured. He's the reason I have a place in Wangshu, and he helped me train with both my weapon and my Vision. He acts tough, but he has his soft side. And, again, he speaks highly of you.

About Zhongli: Oh? I see him around the Harbor sometimes. His gaze frightens me, so I haven't spoken to him beyond a few passing greetings.

About Childe: ... I can't trust him again. I can't tell you anything else.

About Keqing: The Yuheng, that's her title, right? She's... aha, she's admirable. Very admirable.

About Mona: Oh, I think I know her, at least in passing. Dark hair, light eyes, astrologer? Yes, she would drop by my family home at least once a year. I hope she's doing well.

About Thoma: I... Made a mistake when I first met him, and I fear I hurt his feelings. Thankfully we've made up, but it still haunts me when I see him. Would you tell him... agh, that would be redundant.

About Ayaka: Ayaka is kind, and good. And if anyone hurts her, I will... Ahem, I beg your pardon, that wouldn't be very ladylike. Keep her safe when she's with you, yes? I'm not sure if I could land a hit on you but I will not hesitate to try.

Happy Birthday: So it's your birthday? Well, I've... I made you a card. It's not much but it's all I can offer- Hey! Oh, it's just a hug. I thought maybe you were displeased. Apologies.

Character Design:

[myherowritings]

PART 5. THE INHERENT EROTICISM OF BUTTONING SOMEONE’S CLOTHES

SUMMARY. Todoroki Shouto was a wealthy, young CEO who inherited his father’s enterprise. You were a barista at a local cafe who wouldn’t mind some extra cash. One day, Shouto came in during an early morning shift and tipped you such a large sum of money, you were certain it had to have been an accident. To your surprise and complete pleasure: It was not.

PAIRING. ceo!todoroki shouto x barista!reader

WORD COUNT. 3.0k

GENRE. ceo/barista au, fluff, eventual smut

WARNINGS. sexual tension !! and umm sexual frustration ;p, not explicit but prob rated 16+, just read the title of this chapter BAHAHA

A/N. sorry this is coming a little later than planned ! :( but i hope the dressing room scene can make up for it u.u tysm for reading and for all the feedback! enjoy :3 xx sof

SERIES MASTERLIST

© myherowritings — all rights reserved. reposting, modifying, copying, or translating of any kind is not allowed. do not read my writing as asmr. do not plagiarize.

What were you supposed to wear to a shopping date? you asked yourself. Not that today was a date or anything. Though maybe you sort of wished it were… 

The Naruhata Charity Gala was in a little over a week and Shouto would be coming over to pick you up in less than one hour and you still sat in your room with nothing but a towel on feeling more and more hopeless. 

It was a strange dilemma. He met you in your work apron wearing an unflattering work shirt and work pants. And when you met up over the weekend previously, you never paid too much mind on what you would wear. In fact, you were positive he wouldn’t even care how you looked. So why was it such a big deal to you now? 

Probably because of your recent admission of your growing feelings towards him, you thought crossly. 

In your defense, it wasn’t like it was your fault! Right? Seeing someone everyday… Wanting to see someone everyday… Texting regularly about the most random things, having the most banal objects you saw throughout the day remind you of something Shouto did or said… With all those occurrences it would’ve been practically impossible to not start crushing on him! 

Time passed as you stared at your ceiling blankly. If you kept this up, he was bound to show up in your house and find you half-naked. (Now that you mentioned it, that didn’t sound like the worst idea. But it wasn’t something you’d randomly spring upon someone.)

“Get up, Y/N!” you scolded yourself, rolling off your bed and heading towards your closet. 

In the end, you ended up settling for another variation of your usual go-to outfit and called it a day. It happened to be perfect timing since, by the time you finished getting ready, you got a new message on your phone. 

Shouto: Parked in front of your place

Shouto: Sorry I’m a little early. You can take your time getting ready :)

Y/N: it’s okay i’m ready now!! 

After hitting send, you put your shoes on, gathering your belongings you wanted to bring with you, and headed out the door. Excited to hang out with Shouto again, you walked with a skip in your step down the path until you reached his car. 

“Hi!” You waved through his half-opened, tinted window. To no one’s surprise, his car was a sleek black color with dark, tinted windows, and gold details along the sides. If it didn’t look so oddly sexy you would’ve laughed at how cutely dorky he was for matching his car with his credit card. “This is one hot car.”

He turned his head to the side when you entered the passenger’s seat. “Should I turn the AC higher?” 

“Huh— Oh!” You stifled a giggle when you processed the pun he made. “You’re funny, Shouto.” 

He only looked a little confused. “Thank you.” 

The interior of his car was no less—for lack of better term—sexy than the outside. Leather seats, a large screen for the radio and carplay, and the dashboard and side doors lit up a nice blue color. 

“Pretty!” you complimented, poking at the colorful light.

“Want to pick a color?” 

Your eyes widened. “It can change colors?!” 

Shouto nodded.

“Can it be pink?” you asked intently. 

“Light pink or hot pink?”

“Light.”

He swiftly obliged and with a hit of a touchscreen button, the interior lighting changed from blue to pastel pink. 

“Green!”

It turned green.

“Orange!”

Cue the orange. 

“Purple?” 

Purple. 

Once you were thoroughly satisfied with Shouto showing you the whole color selection (you were almost embarrassed to admit it kept you entertained for a good ten minutes), you settled on a bright turquoise that reminded you of the color of his left eye. 

“Ooh, this color! My favorite,” you said simply, giving him a wide smile. 

A faint blush dusted his cheeks as he developed a sudden interest in adjusting his rearview mirror. “Hm.”

Shouto drove the rest of the way in a comfortable silence, occasionally asking how your week was outside of work and what type of outfit you wanted to wear so he could have a better idea on where to take you. 

“Did you eat?” he suddenly asked when he hit the next stoplight, one hand holding the wheel and the other resting comfortably on the gear shift. 

His hands looked nice and slender and soft to the touch. Pretty hands, you thought but shook yourself out of it because you could go down a rabbit hole of examining his hands and going into detail about them. 

You remembered the single, measly granola bar you had due to your rush getting ready. “I didn’t really eat yet, no. Did you?”

He shook his head and pulled into a food plaza with lots of stores to choose from. The two of you agreed on a noodle restaurant that apparently had some of the best cold soba (once you learned it was his favorite food, you wanted to be able to have some with him and today was the perfect opportunity to do just that) and promptly headed to the location. 

In the shop, a waiter sat the two of you down at a dimly lit booth with the perfect amount of ambience that if someone were to casually look over, they might even mistake this outing as a date. 

You grinned at the thought. 

“Excited for the soba?” asked Shouto, examining the smile on your face thoughtfully. 

That’s not why you were smiling, but it was close enough. “Mhm. And the udon. You can never go wrong with noodles!” 

Yes, you got both udon and soba. But in your defense, where else would the fun in life be if not in sugary sweets and carbs? 

As the two of you waited for your main dishes, you ate some fish cakes and edamame while talking about the ways in which capitalism could be dismantled. Rather sexy of him, if you did say so yourself. 

Before you knew it, you were done with your meal and headed back into his car to go fancy-people shopping. On the remainder of the ride, you asked yourself what color you should pick that would match well with both you and Shouto. After all, nothing said a cute couple who totally liked each other going on a totally real date to a gala like color-coordinated outfits, right?

He parked in front of a street of buildings with a dark glass reaching from ceiling to floor with security guards at the door. Just standing near it made you feel fancy. 

“This is a place my sister told me she liked,” he said, leading you to the store front with his hand on the small of your back to guide you. “I hope you’ll find something to your liking.”

You tried your best not to pay too much attention to the warmth you felt both on your back and your stomach from the fuzzy feelings that spread. 

“Hello, welcome!” the both of you were greeted as you walked through the doors. The interior of the store was lined with designer dresses, some long, some short, and all incredibly stunning. There were only a few other patrons in the store, but all of them looked so elegant as they tried on their dresses. “It’s so lovely to see you again Mr. Todoroki.”

Shouto nodded subtly. “Hello. This is Y/N, my date to the gala who’ll need your assistance today.”

“Hi!” you chimed in at his cue. “Nice to meet you.” 

The worker smiled and made her way over to you. “And you as well. I’m Masuda and I’ll do my best to make sure you leave the store satisfied with your purchase! Did you have a particular style or perhaps color in mind?”

“Umm,” you said sheepishly, looking around the wide variety of clothings and unsure where to start. “I’m not too sure. It’s my first time going to one of these things so maybe something comfortable, but also still...fancy?” You scratched the back of your neck. “Does that even exist?”

“Of course— Just have to find something that feels comfortable to you.” She told you to hold on one moment as she disappear into the rows of fabric. 

As Masuda collected some starter dresses for you to try on, a customer walked by with bags of clothes in her hands, her gaze lingering on Shouto, though neither of you paid her much mind. 

“In this setting, you look almost fit to be a sugar daddy,” you said jokingly, looking around in awe at the sophisticated yet lavish dresses. “You take all your sugar babies here?”

“Only the ones I really like,” he teased back. His voice was deadpan but there was the telltale hints of a smirk on his face to let you know he was only messing with you.

The door chimed to signal that a customer left and by then Masuda had returned with bundles of fabric draped on her arm. She led you away in a hurry and you hesitantly looked back at Shouto who followed in a safe distance. Seeing your moment of panic, he gave you an encouraging smile that somehow was enough to ease a significant fraction of your nerves. This may be new and confusing territory, but at least he was here to help you through it. 

Masuda set a dressing room up for you—it was one of those rooms in the middle of the store with curtains that reached the ceiling and mirrors all around—and placed a bunch of outfits she thought would suit your taste. It reminded you of when a bride would go wedding dress shopping with their family. When you had enough outfits for the first round, she told Shouto to sit down on a leather seat in front of your dressing room while he waited for you to try the different dresses on. 

In a way, it felt oddly intimate: Shouto sitting just a few feet in front of you as you undressed, only separated by the veil of a curtain. Would he offer to help button the back of your dress up, fingers brushing against your bare skin? The thought made you feel almost hot inside as you changed out of your street clothes and into the first dress. 

Unfortunately for you, this dress had no such difficult buttons to reach. 

“How’s it look?” you asked shyly as you emerged from the dressing room. 

The dress was pretty and didn’t feel uncomfortable to walk in, but there wasn’t any sort of attachment you felt towards it. In other words, it was simply...meh. 

Shouto looked up from his phone to take in the sight of you. He smiled. “You look amazing as always.” 

“You think so?” You spun around and curtseyed jokingly and he chuckled. “I don’t think it’s bad, but I’m not sure if it’s the right one.” 

“We’ll be here until you find the right one you want, then. Take your time, Y/N.” 

His voice was normally on the deeper side, but it sounded even more sensual and gravelly at this very moment. You felt goosebumps on your arms and it wasn’t just because of the sleeveless dress you currently had on. 

“T-Thanks, Shouto,” you murmured, turning around and walking back into the changing room to hide the look on your face. You didn’t even know what kind of look you had on your face, but you knew it was one that might give too much away. 

It wasn’t fair that he had to be so sweet and caring and thoughtful and handsome and rich… Most guys you met barely fit into one of those criteria, let alone all five. (Sure, the last two weren’t necessary in your opinion, but you couldn’t deny they were a nice bonus.) It was too bad you had no clue how he felt about you. 

There were moments where he felt flirty and teasing, like maybe he viewed you in a more-than-friends way. But other times he was so polite and proper and you couldn’t help but wonder if he was just being nice because that’s simply the sort of person he was to everyone. 

While you were trying to sort through all your thoughts, you completely forgot to change into a new dress the whole time you were in here. 

You saw a shadow at the floor of the curtain before a voice said, “Y/N? Are you okay in there?” 

Jumping at the sound, you scurried to put the next dress on, a blue one with almost translucent fabric and a delicate neckline. Judging from the proximity of Shouto’s voice and the shadow of his shoes, he was right next to you as you changed. 

“I’m okay!” you managed, hoping you didn’t sound as wobbly as you felt. You held the dress closed at the back, fumbling with the fastens. “I just, ah, needed help buttoning this one up.” 

A light ruffle on the curtain then a pause. “Should I...come in and help?” 

Your eyes widened, not expecting him to actually offer to button it up like you fantasized earlier. You fully thought he might called the worker to aide you just so he wouldn’t risk making you uncomfortable. (Not that he would’ve. At all.) 

“I apologize,” he said somewhat tensely after you didn’t respond. “That was indecent of me—”

“No, no!” you said profusely, poking your head out of the curtain while holding the fabric at the front of your dress to your chest. You tilted your chin to meet his gaze with a determined one of your own. “I’d love your help, Shouto.” 

With a dusting of pink coloring his cheeks, he nodded and entered your dressing room. “This dress is a nice color on you.” His voice was loud against the silence. 

Shouto ran his hand down the length of your spine and then up to unfold the column of buttons on your dress that curved inwards at your movement, his knuckles grazing against your skin like lightning striking water. You jolted at the sudden feeling but he didn’t remove his touch when he felt it.

“Sorry.” His voice was low, almost like a whisper. “Was just getting the buttons out.”

“N-No worries!”

His fingers began working on the bottom-most button at your lower back as he applied a steady pressure on the base of your spine to control the motion. Shouto slowly began his way up, fingertips cold to the touch. But you knew that wasn’t the only reason you felt yourself shiver. As he fastened the dainty buttons with immense concentration (much more concentration than was actually needed to fasten buttons, you were sure), you felt the heat of his breath tickling the back of your neck. You almost couldn’t keep yourself from arching your back in a mixture of anticipation and delight at his constant touch. 

When he finished the last button, Shouto let one hand rest on your hip, grasping the fabric between his fingertips to examine its silken texture. Your breath caught in your throat as you stepped back and bumped into his chest, but he was already there to steady you. 

With his arm on your waist and your back leaning against his chest, you made eye contact through the mirror in front of you. You weren’t sure if the pounding you felt was from your heart or his or a combination of both. 

There was something almost erotic about holding each others’ gaze in the mirror after Shouto just helped you dress, the two of you still not letting the other go despite the task being complete. 

“The dress… You look gorgeous,” he said, not taking his eyes off you for one moment. 

You nodded slowly. It did look amazing on you. And it was breathable and soft. (Plus, Shouto liked it, which made you happier than you’d care to admit.) “The only downside would be I need help getting into it.”

“We could get ready together so it’s no issue.” 

“I’d...also need help getting out of it.” 

You held your breath as his eyes darkened, his grip on your waist tightening ever so slightly in a way that made you curve your back before you remembered you were flush against Shouto and he could feel even the most subtle of movements coming from your body. But by the time you stopped yourself, it was too late. He already felt it and you wanted more.

His voice was hoarse. “I could help you with that too.”

Instead of beginning to unbutton the dress like part of you thought he would, he surprised you by spinning you around to face him, your shoulder blades pressed against the cool glass of the mirror and your palms lingering on the muscles of his warm chest. The contrast of the cold glass and Shouto’s body heat left a shiver down your spine.

“And how do you plan to help take off my dress when you can’t even see the buttons?” you said challengingly, a smirk on your face despite knowing full well your body was showcasing just how affected you were by this situation. By Shouto.

He tilted his head to the side in response to your daring tone, hands swiftly finding their way to your back and unbuttoning the top five buttons. It wasn’t enough to completely expose your breasts, but it was enough to loosen the fabric at the neckline in a way that made you gasp. 

“Seems doable to me,” he commented. 

You tugged him down slightly by the collar of his shirt. “I don’t quite believe you. Maybe you should prove it.” 

A guttural noise sounded from the back of his throat as he cupped your jaw and leaned in closer. You inched forward, eager to meet his lips. But before they could touch, a knock came from the wall next to the curtain, causing the two of you to freeze in your spots, bodies pressed against each other in an intimate flush.

“Hello, Y/N?” said Masuda cheerfully, blissfully ignorant about what was about to happen in a public dressing room in the middle of the store. “How are the dresses coming along? Did you like any?”

“Ah, actually…” you trailed off, exchanging frustrated but amused glances with Shouto. “I think we’ll take this one.”

a/n: so...mirror sex/sex in a dressing room as a bonus chapter? u.u why yes of course. i’m one step ahead; did u even have to ask? LMAO and hm i wonder if y/n’s fEeLiNGs~ are reciprocated skfkfkdg ALSO THEY WERE SO CLOSE TO KISSING BUT DIDN’T I CRY hopefully the wait will be worth it ;3

what to expect in the next part:

GALA TIMEEEE

yes y/n finally gets the fancy candy they so desired

we get to see shouto’s sexy penthouse

shouto says eat the rich >:c

[kingpreciouswrld]

Hi luv, can you do a angst to fluff Miranda Priestly imagine where Andrea comes back to Runway to confess her feelings for Miranda, but Miranda is in a relationship w/ the reader and has to choose between them. At the end Miranda chooses the reader!

Wants and Needs

Title from Drake's song -"Wants and Needs"

Pairing: Miranda Priestly x Reader

Genre: Angst -> Fluff

Word count: 2k

A/N: God you know I'm a sucker for angsty Miranda 😫 I hope you like it! All mistakes are mine ;-;

__________

The phone landed on the sofa with a soft bounce as you sat back into your own chair with a sigh.

You just got a call from Nigel. He called you right when he got back from leaving Miranda’s office and told you that he saw her walking into the office.

Her being the infamous Andrea Sachs.

The young journalist was known as the one who walked away alive. And thanks to Nigel, you also knew Andrea as the girl who was in love with her ex-boss and your girlfriend, Miranda Priestly.

It wasn’t new information to those who knew the young journalist. Nigel had told you that the girl developed feelings for the editor during her tenure at Runway. So far, the girl never showed any interest in Miranda after she walked away in Paris, and you hoped it stayed that way.

Your relationship with Miranda wasn’t public and you liked it that way. Miranda wanted to keep things underwraps until the both of you were ready to face the numerous paparazzi, critics, and the unavoidable page six, but keeping things underwraps meant that no one knew the editor was taken.

There was no reason for the girl to be at Runway unless...no, no, you needed to use a wise mind. But the journalist wrote small columns in a mediocre newspaper, so why would she be in Runway’s offices?

You tried your best to not jump to conclusions but if anything, you had faith in Miranda. She didn’t like to be bothered during Runway hours unless it was a family matter so you knew she would ignore the girl.

You hoped she would.

You didn’t know much about how Miranda felt about Andrea, she never talked about it.

Either way, there was nothing you could do with the information you were given, you weren’t going to call Miranda at work,

So you just waited.

~~~~~~~

The shutting of the front door followed by heels clacking on tiled floors told you that Miranda was home.

You didn't need to check the time for it to tell you that Miranda was late, more late than usual.

You followed her movements with your hearing, never breaking your staring contest with the painting in front of you.

She was getting closer.

You didn’t have to tell her where you were, you didn't have the energy to anyway but she always came to the study to work on the book.

“Darling there you are.” Miranda bent down and pressed a small kiss to your forehead.

You responded with a hum and watched as your lover made herself comfortable on the sofa across from you.

“How was your day? Did you manage to turn in your project on time?” she asked as she put on her reading glasses before turning to the book.

You were too out of it to answer her questions. Your day was...fine, it was tolerable, but your mind was running at a thousand miles per second and it made you despondent.

Not getting a reply from you, Miranda looked up from the book, “Darling?” she asked softly, "is everything alright?"

"Hm?" Your eyes found icey blue ones that were filled with concern. "Oh, yeah–yes, everything's fine."

Satisfied with your response, Miranda sent you a soft smile before she returned her focus to the fashion pages in her lap.

The silence that followed swallowed you whole, only broken with the few scratches of Miranda's red pen and the flipping of pages.

"Why was Andrea at Runway today?"

At least you held off for longer than you thought you would.

Miranda's focus didn't falter, the only telltale sign that she heard you was the sharp inhale through her nose.

"What are you talking about darling?"

"Andrea Sachs. Why was she there?"

Miranda made no move to stop her work and you sighed,

"It's just a question Miranda."

Knowing that she couldn't get any work done until you were addressed, Miranda finally looked up at you, taking her glasses off in the process,

"If you must know, she was just there to talk."

"Okay," you nodded slowly, "talk about what?"

The white-haired editor fluffed her hair before she waved you off, "It's nothing, really."

"Miranda you never just 'talk' to someone during work let alone an ex-assistant who walked out on you. She worked for you Miranda, I thought you wouldn't be caught dead with someone like–"

"Do NOT talk about Andréa like that," Miranda snapped.

Miranda had never raised her voice at you and it made you physically flinch. She was defending Andrea.

For the first time since the relationship started, you were shaken. You couldn't read Miranda at all and it scared you.

Without warning, your mask slipped in place and you became eerily calm,

"What happened," you said quietly.

Miranda had gone back to the book albeit working slower than usual,

"The girl merely wanted to have dinner."

The puzzle pieces were settling into place. You could feel your stomach clench. Your heart sped up, and you felt your nerves set off as the waves of anxiety spread from your chest throughout your whole body,

"That's why you were late wasn't it…"

Miranda simply continued with her work as she pushed some of her bangs out of her eyes, "Don't be ridiculous Y/N, it was just about friends catching up."

"You never talked about her, you refused to talk about her, she isn't just a 'friend' Miranda."

There was a silent pause as you observed your lover. Her own mask was in place and she was blatantly ignoring the situation. She wouldn't even look you in the eye.

"She asked you out again, didn't she."

A whispered 'yes' cut through the silence.

You took a deep, steadying breath,

"What did you say."

Silence. Miranda returned to the book, turning the pages and making notes here and there. She never once acknowledged you, it was as if the editor shut you out completely.

It broke your heart.

"I hope having your fun is worth it."

You quietly approached the editor, making sure you didn't jostle the book in her lap, before you bent down and placed your own kiss on her forehead.

You couldn't bring yourself to say anything else. The answer of silence was an answer in itself.

Quietly leaving the study, you made your way up to your– to Miranda's bedroom and gathered your clothes into a duffle bag. You didn't want to stay here, you couldn't. You didn't know what all of this meant, it was too much for you to process, but you knew you had to leave.

~~~~~~~

A year of being together and a journalist is what comes between the two of you. A year. A fucking year.

And now, here you were, sitting alone in a hotel room for the 8th day in a row.

How easy it was for Miranda to look at another.

Throughout the week you did your best to not doubt yourself. You knew Miranda's curiosity had nothing to do with how you were as a person or a lover, but you couldn't help that little voice in the back of your head that questioned why you weren't enough to satisfy Miranda.

After the second day of being away from the editor, she started to blow up your phone. Calls on top of calls came through, even during Runway hours and Miranda never called you during Runway hours, maybe texted, but never called.

The night you left the townhouse was the last time you talked to Miranda. Even though she's made many, many attempts to reach you, you weren't ready. Those self-doubts made you hesitant to pick up any of the calls that came to your phone.

On the third day she started to get Nigel and Emily to contact you. You told Nigel what happened and he wasn't happy with what Miranda had done. Emily heard what happened the first time she had contacted you and the redhead wasn't thrilled either. Although Emily was hard to deal with at times, you knew she wanted the best for you and right now she didn't think Miranda was what's best for you. Either way, both of them knew the situation and both of them promised to keep your location underwraps.

That, in turn, caused Miranda to double her attempts (as if they weren't enough already).

She started to send gifts, flowers, anything the editor thought you might like.

When you would arrive at work, there would be a bouquet of flowers on your desk, then throughout the day more bouquets would follow. Hell the woman would send you chocolates, not the cheap ones either, the best chocolates money could buy in New York City. You started to find Roy waiting for you after work and despite your attempts of refusal, you caved in after he personally wanted to see you make it back to wherever you were staying, safely.

Every mutual friend you had with Miranda knew where you were and what had happened between you two, and each of them promised to keep quiet on the matter.

You knew you couldn't hide forever, you just didn't know when she'd finally find you.

A knock on your hotel door snapped you out of your thoughts.

Your breath hitched. It couldn't be Miranda right? You've managed to slip away for 8 days, surely you had more time.

Looking through the little peep hole, you felt your body relax before confusion passed over your features. You never ordered room service. Unless you did and just forgot about it.

You shrugged, 'Free food is free food.' You opened the door and followed the bellhop as he pushed the cart in. Taking a closer look, you found that the cart held a tray of your favorite foods with a basket of your favorite snacks.

"Um, excuse me, where did you get all of this?"

"You only deserve the best."

You whipped around and found Miranda standing in the doorway.

She looked as if she came from work. Her famously white hair had fallen out of it's usual coif and there were a few wrinkles on her blouse.

What surprised you was the fact that the usual poised editor was fidgeting with her fingers. You could practically feel the anxiety rolling off of her body in waves. It was only then that you noticed that the two of you were now alone in your hotel room.

Miranda didn't know where to start, "Y/N, I…" she took a deep breath, "I love you and I-I'm sorry for my lapse in judgement about the whole..Andréa spiel."

You watched as Miranda took tentative steps forward, gaining more confidence when she didn't get any refusal from you.

She took hold of your hands and pressed kisses to them both, "Darling, it's you. I love you and only you. There has never been a moment since you left that I haven't thought of you."

"Miranda…" you whispered softly.

She shook her head and squeezed your hands, "I need you. I should have never entertained the thought of life without you by my side. I choose you Y/N, I love you."

You bit your lip before you sent a small smile towards the editor and Miranda's eyes brightened. She pulled you into a crushing hug and she clung to you like a koala as she kissed any part of your body that was in reach: your shoulder, your neck, your hair. All the while, she whispered 'I love you's' and 'I'm sorry's' and 'Y/N' as if chanting these things would keep you two in the moment. You indulged in the love that was showered on you and you hugged Miranda back just as tightly.

Miranda finally settled to hide her face in the crook of your neck,

"How did you find me?"

Her response was muffled by your neck but you heard it all the same,

"I may have threatened Emily with the banning of cheese in the offices."

You snorted a laugh.

'Ratted out for cheese cubes..are cheese gift baskets a thing?’

__________

Devil Wears Prada tags: @007giu

[writeyouin]

Hi there, can I request a headcannon list for tfp ratchet? Something where Reader, who is usually very easy going and wears a smile on their face is one day very quiet, only for Ratchet to find out that their family is practically estranged from them when they found out that they're gay. ty for your work!

Transformers Prime / Reader Insert – Family

A/N – Hey, so this got pretty angsty and bittersweet. I just hope that all of you know that being gay is great. It can be so difficult to be proud when someone doesn’t accept you, but I promise that the world gets better, especially when you find other supportive people. Friends are the family we choose for ourselves, and I hope that message stays with all of us.

Warnings – Angst.

Rating – T

For once, Ratchet found himself able to work peacefully in the base. The other Autobots were out on various missions. Jack, Miko and Raf were in school. Agent Fowler was at his own official place of work, and you had gone straight to the archives room as soon as you had entered the base.

‘Yes,’ Ratchet thought, satisfied. ‘All is quiet.’

It took him a long time to turn his processor to you. While it wasn’t unusual for you to go about your own business, it was certainly out of character for you to pay so little heed to Ratchet.

Sure, you always let him work when he was busy, but you also always greeted him with a smile, pestering him until you got one in return.

Ratchet couldn’t remember a day when you hadn’t told him not to be such a sour-puss, or sang his name until he paid you heed. Out of the humans, you were his partner, helping him in many a scientific task, once he had taught you what to do.

You joked, you sang, you danced, and you laughed. So, what had changed today?

Yes, Ratchet had found that he was able to work better in the peace and quiet that had befallen the base, but was there such a thing as it being too quiet?

“Bah,” Ratchet grumbled. He was over-reacting.

You couldn’t always be the easy-going, happy-go-lucky person who radiated warmth and life throughout the base. There had to be a limit to your seemingly endless supply of energy. Reassured in his conclusions, Ratchet got back to work. You would come to see him when you were ready to, and probably with some data from the archives that he needed.

Hours later, when Ratchet was sure that he was close to a breakthrough in his research, he found that he had hit something of a mental block. On the rare occasions when that happened, you were always there to talk him through his problems, or listen to him rant until he figured out what he was missing. It seemed that you always had a way of sensing his troubles.

Ratchet waited to hear your voice, but he was met with only silence. There had been a time when he worked alone, needing no such reassurances from anyone, but that time was long gone. The simple fact of the matter was that he needed your seemingly endless supply of positivity to spur him on.

Muttering to himself in a way that only those with old souls do, Ratchet left his work console in search of you.

“(Y/N), do you have a minute?” He called, upon distractedly entering the archive room. “I need to bounce some ideas off you.”

You stared up at Ratchet with hollow eyes. Ratchet had seen every emotion possible in his fellow Cybertronians. He knew sadness, guilt, despair, anger, resentment, and longing. As a medic, it was his job to heal the mind as well as the body. He had sworn an oath to help those in need where he could, and clearly, you needed his help now.

“(Y/N), what’s wrong?” Ratchet said, getting straight to the point; he never wasted time beating around the bush where people’s health was concerned.

“Hm? It’s nothing,” You answered in a dull monotone that didn’t suit you.

“Don’t lie,” Ratchet reprimanded.

You looked to the ground sadly, making Ratchet feel somewhat guilty that he hadn’t spent more time adopting a soothing tone. Still, it was too late for pleasantries now, so instead he waited for you to speak.

When it became apparent that you weren’t going to answer him, Ratchet spoke again.

“You can tell me now, or you can tell me later. Either way, neither of us are leaving this room until you talk. Clearly something is bothering you, so you may as well get it over with now.”

You knew that Ratchet wouldn’t really hold you verbally hostage against your will. If you told him that you weren’t ready to talk about what was bothering you yet, he would leave you be. Still, you didn’t want him to worry over you, nor did you want him to treat you like you were made of glass, afraid to say or do anything that might upset you.

“I’m just having a hard time right now… With my family,” You admitted.

Ratchet considered your statement momentarily. Cybertronians rarely had problems with so called ‘family.’ While all Cybertronians had creators, it didn’t seem to hold the same weight as the title of parent. Besides that, the few Cybertronians that did have family by Earth definitions were usually estranged from them, or their relatives were dead. Ratchet had a nephew, Medix, out in the galaxy somewhere, but he had not seen the young bot for quite some time.

Humans, he had learned, had strong familial bonds where possible. Ratchet wasn’t sure that he had the cultural understanding to help with whatever was troubling you; however, perhaps just the simple act of listening would alleviate your troubles.

“Would you like to talk about it?” He asked.

You swallowed your fears, wondering exactly where you should start. Although you knew that Ratchet would not judge you for whatever you might say, your irrational mind reminded you of your previous rejection, injecting you with fear that it would happen again.

“I…” You began, closing your eyes against tears that threatened to spill. “My family don’t want anything to do with me.”

“Why?” Ratchet demanded, offended on your behalf. You were wonderful, positive, intelligent, and caring. What cause could they possibly have for abandoning you?

There was a time that Ratchet believed that Miko was estranged from her family, but it turned out that they simply wanted what was best for her, and they thought the answer to that lay in America. All the same, sometimes the girl would take the ground-bridge to Japan, so she could watch her parents through the windows of their familial home; it was the only time that she was ever sombre.

Ratchet instantly knew from your tone that this wasn’t the same.

“Don’t worry about this, Ratchet,” You told him, courage abandoning you when faced with telling him of your troubles.

One stern look from Ratchet told you that this issue wasn’t going to be dropped. You loved that he cared for you enough to ask about this, yet you also hated it. There was a time that you felt that you could tell your family anything, and it had cost you everything; you would be remiss to make the same mistake again.

However, pinned by Ratchet’s penetrating gaze, you felt obliged to continue with your story, explaining what had happened.

“Three years ago today, my family stopped talking to me… I just get sad around this time when I think of it.”

“(Y/N), please tell me what happened between you and your family.”

You wiped your eyes with the back of your arm, your voice cracking when you next spoke, “They don’t want me because I’m gay.”

Gay? Ratchet searched his memory banks for a brief conversation he’d had with Jack. Gay was the term humans used for attraction to the same gender. He remembered that humans had this primitive idea, usually based on perversions of religious texts, that attraction to the same gender was shameful, disgusting, or dangerous.

Anger flared inside Ratchet’s processor. Both as a medical professional, and your friend, he wanted nothing more than to give your family the telling off that they deserved. However, as good as that would make him feel, this wasn’t about him, nor would it help the situation.

“There is nothing wrong with being gay,” Ratchet said resolutely, showing support in his unwavering stubbornness. “And your family are foolish for thinking so. I hope one day they get their heads out of their afts long enough to see what a wonderful person you have grown to be, and when that day comes, they had better beg your forgiveness.”

Although those weren’t traditional words of comfort that Ratchet was offering you, you knew that he was doing his best.

“Thanks, Ratchet,” You murmured. “I hope so too.”

“Well…” He hummed, clearly unsure of where to go from here. “Would you like to help me with my research?”

You smiled sadly, “If it’s all the same to you, do you mind if I have a little alone time today?”

“Of course,” Ratchet nodded. He was about to leave when he thought of one more thing that had to be said. “Cybertronians know little of family matters. That being said, the other Autobots and I are honoured to have you as a part of ours.”

“Thank you, I needed that.”

Ratchet gave a sympathetic smile, leaving you in the archive room and vowing to check on you again before you left.

[mobagehelllocal]

“you are the best thing, that’s ever been mine”

Hi! If you could can you write the dorm leaders squishing/reacting to their s/o’s soft and adorable cheeks, or just them cupping their cheeks in their hands (like those vids with the dogs fitting themselves in their owner’s hands)

- from Anonymous

A/N: Hi Anon~! Thank you so much for this! I listened to Taylor Swift’s whole Speak Now album to get into the vibe... and “Mine” seemed to suit it... so that’s where the title is from! ... This almost got called Chubby Bunny but... I never liked that game xD

--

"Uwawa~ Riddle this is delicious!” You had hummed, a fork pressed against your lips, and a hand on your cheek as you chewed happily. Riddle was torn between being incredibly pleased or embarrassed at the amount of praise that you were casually throwing at him. 

“Of course!” Riddle decided, as he puffed his chest out and straightened his back. 

“You definitely learnt from last time.” you giggled, as you remembered how he had actually taken Trey’s statement seriously about the oyster sauce...

“That was Trey’s fault.” Riddle defended himself and you giggled again. 

“Either way, this is delicious~” you pop another slice of it into your mouth. “Ish really good~” 

“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” He scolded lightly, as he brushed a gloved hand at the corner of your mouth to remove pie crumbs. At the action, you beamed at him brilliantly, and his heart melted at how adorable you looked. 

Unconsciously he found himself cupping your cheek as you chewed your pie. You blinked at hm in surprise, and as you swallowed, you closed your eyes and leant your face into his palm. He felt his face flare up in response.

Under the light of the hot afternoon sun, surrounded by the red roses of Heartslabyul and the colorful tea set prepared for the Tea Party...

You--serene, eyes shut, and the way you leant into his touch so naturally--his pulse leapt in response. 

Resplendent.

“You...”

When Riddle began to speak your eyes opened to peer at him curiously. 

“...” 

“Riddle?” 

“I’m glad I met you.” Riddle said, his heart pounded in his ears. 

“Hrm?” 

“If it weren’t for you... I don’t think I could be myself.” 

“You give me too much credit... Ace, Trey, everyone... they were there too.” you laughed lightly, but he shook his head. 

“Yes but... you’re here right now.” he said very quietly, as he reached his other hand to lace with your own. “You’re by my side. You’re my friend, and also my...” here he paused as his blush brightened, and you couldn’t help the grin that spread across your face in response. “My lover...” he whispered.

“Thank you.” he smiled gently, “for helping me find who I want to be... and for accepting me as myself.” 

“Silly Riddle.” you giggled as you leant forward to press your forehead against his. “That’s not something you need to thank me about!” 

“So you say but...” 

His eyes fluttered shut, and his heart might be beating fast--but he was at peace with you by his side. 

‘Thank you, [Name]... for being mine.’

--

Leona felt something tickle his nose, which made his whole face twitch. As he jerked his head away from the ticklish sensation, the light of the morning sun hit his eyes, and he blinked rapidly. 

‘Morning.’ he sighed, already exhausted just at the thought of it. When he looked away from the wide windows of his dorm room, he glanced down to see your head lying on his right arm. ‘No wonder I couldn’t move it.’

Since he couldn’t move (not that Leona wanted to move), he decided to watch you until he fell asleep again. He raised a hand and began to brush it through your hair--aimlessly choosing to untangle your hair. He snorted softly to himself as you let out a particularly loud snore against his arm.

He resolved to tease you about it later... but for now.

He spent the morning admiring the way you looked in his arms, in his bed--in his room, greeting the dawn of a new day by his side.

To be honest...

‘It’s not a bad look on you.’ he decided, ‘it’s something I can get used to.’ 

His tanned hand trailed down, from your hair, and cupped your cheek gently--brushing the pad of his thumb against your cheek. 

Your cheek was soft against his touch, and from this close he could see the way freckles dotted your skin. He loved to nap in patches of sunlight, and since you constantly spent time with him--he had, on more than one occasion--dragged you to lie with him under the sun. When his thumb brushed underneath your eye, your lashes twitched.  

“Mhm... Leona...” you muttered, and his ear twitched in response to that. 

“Are you dreaming about me, herbivore?” he asked lowly, at which you didn’t respond. You did however turn your head. Originally you had tucked your head underneath his chin, and had tangled your legs with his at some point in the night. You turned your whole body so that all your back was pressed against the bed--your head still on his arm. 

As the light of the sun illuminated your whole form, he could see the way your eye lashes twitched, but determinedly stayed shut. He chuckled at that. He slowly slid his arm out from underneath your head and moved to straddle you. 

His other hand still cupped your cheek, and he leant down to brush his nose against yours.

He cherished this quiet moment. 

He knew he wasn’t the best person at expressing his happiness with you being by his side. It was just... difficult for him. 

You--ever so kind, and understanding--you knew these things without prompting. You had never demanded more of him than he was comfortable giving--even if (and this is something he would never tell anyone--) he would push himself--if it was something you truly wanted.  

“When did I become so smitten with you?” he asked, underneath his breath as he stared at you--as if your sleeping face held all the answers to his problems.

And wasn’t there a sense of truth in that? 

When he had asked the universe for a mate who would see him--

The universe had delivered you to him. 

Under the morning light of the sun, as he pressed a brief kiss against your forehead, he renewed his promise.

‘You will never be left wanting,’ he thought, ‘you are mine.’

--

You had been standing with Azul next to the huge window of Octavinelle’s Mostro Lounge that peered into the depths of the sea when you feel something enter your eye. 

“Ack--!” Azul’s head whipped in your direction when you start making uncomfortable noises.

“[Name], are you alright?”

“Hngh... Yeah--just--something got in my eye.” You rapidly begin blinking, but the irritation causes you to start crying. Azul twitched at that--he hated seeing your tears. So he reached forward and gently cupped your face in his hand before he leaned in.

“Which eye?”

“This one.” you point at your left eye as you rapidly blink. “Blow please?” 

“Of course.” Azul gently brushed the tears away, as he raised his lips to gently blow at your eye. “How’s that, my love?” 

“Still there.” you said as you blinked again. Azul repeated the process until you finally confirmed that it was gone. 

Azul had chosen not to let you go though, and as you blinked your tears away, he would gently swipe them at them with the pads of his fingers. In the process of that, Azul began to grow lost in thought.

Azul hated your tears as much as he hated his own.

He had always hated that he was quick to cry about almost everything--especially about anything that made him feel upset.

He hated your tears because it meant that you had been hurt. He (and the twins really) always fell into an overprotective state whenever your eyes would turn glassy. 

You--who had chosen him despite all his flaws...

Despite all of his mistakes, his faults, his imperfections...

He had long accepted that he wasn’t worthy of your love, to have your presence at his side.

But for some reason you chose him--you had still chosen him.

It’s because of that, that he was so grateful you were willing to stay by his side. 

The least he could do is make sure you will never cry. 

The least he could do is be the best person he can be, so you would be proud to call him your lover. 

And if in your future you would cry--then Azul will do everything in his power to at least make them tears of joy. 

You stared into Azul’s eyes. You could tell he was a million miles away, deeply reminiscing... 

“See something you like?” He flinched at you suddenly speaking, and realized he’d been holding your face for a socially inappropriate length of time. 

“Sorry I’ll--”

“You mean you don’t like what you see?” 

“That’s-- of course not!” His face brightened, going from the lightest shade of pink to a brilliant shade of red. You giggled in response.

“You--why must you keep teasing me like this?” he sighed, as he rubbed his fingers against your cheeks. “You didn’t use to do this.” 

“I got it from Jade and Floyd.” you chirped back, and you giggled at his angry mutterings of ‘corruptions’ and ‘why I oughta--’

He’s distracted from his ramblings when he felt you lace your fingers with his hands. 

“Such gentle, caring hands.” you hummed. “the hands of the one who makes me happy.”  

You thought it was impossible for his blush to intensify--but it did. 

The way your eyes fluttered close in bliss, the happy smile on your lips and the way that the ocean’s waves illuminated your skin made him think--

‘You belong here, right by my side.’ 

“I’ll,” he paused as he cleared his throat, He blinked rapidly, and hoped that he wouldn’t start crying. “I will do my best to be someone who can make you even happier.” 

“I’m already happiest by your side Azul.” you beamed up at him, your eyes contained the endless depth of your love, and he felt like he could drown in them. “Just never let go.” 

“I have no plans too.” He said, serious, at which you giggled.

“I think this is the part you kiss me.” you said, all cheeky, and though the red on his cheeks flare up again, he leant down to kiss you.

If Azul used contracts to make a deal with other people--what you had were his kisses. 

Azul’s tender kisses were his promises to you--of never letting go, and of happiness in your relationship. 

--

"Do you like the food [Name]?” Kalim beamed at you, and you couldn’t help but beam back--your cheeks filled with tasty treats from the Land of Hot Sands.

“Mhm! Kalim ish good!” Kalim only laughed at how adorable you were when you spoke with a mouth full. 

“I’m glad you like it!” Kalim nodded happily as he too began to eat, “Jamil cooks very well after all.” Jamil twitched as he was mentioned, and when he looked up from his meal, he’s instantly blinded by both of your brilliant smiles.

“Jamil! Thanks!” Jamil felt his brow twitched as the both of your spoke with your cheeks filled with food.

“Stop talking with your mouths full.” he reminded, while he thought ‘these two were made for each other.’ You both simultaneously swallowed your food, cleared your throats and spoke in unison again--

“Jamil!~ Thanks for the food~!” you both beamed. 

‘Ugh, bright.’ he thought, as he sighed and looked away, his hand tugging at his hoodie. “Yeah yeah, just eat already.” 

In response the two of you promptly dug in and kept eating. 

“Mhm~ I really love the spices used.” you hummed. 

Kalim couldn’t help but just smile at how much you enjoyed spending time in Scarabia and taking a part in his culture. He wanted to bring you home with him for sure during one of the breaks--he would love to share with you the culture of his home. 

You were adorable already in your enthusiasm for his culture, he can’t wait to write a letter off to home to ensure that you would have clothes from his culture too. He was sure you would be thrilled with it. 

You chewed happily, but when you looked up you noticed that Kalim was looking at you with a really goofy grin.

“Hrm? Is something up Kalim? Do I have something on my face?” 

“No, you’re just really cute.” he said with a grin (a few seats away, Jamil thumped his head against a table and groaned in disgust). 

You felt your cheeks flare up in response.

“Aw! You look even cuter with red cheeks!” Kalim declared as he reached forward to cup your face in his hands. You swallowed, nearly choking in the process as you felt your face become hotter.

“Ungh! Kalim! Don’t embarrass me!” 

“But I can’t help it! I adore you!” he said, with a wide grin and your heart pounded in your ears because this boy was going to be the death of you. 

“Kalim is cuter than me!” you protested, as you reached forward to press your hands against his cheeks.

“No, you are!” he mushed your cheeks together, and laughed as you struggled against his hands.

“No you are!” you pinched his cheeks in response, and when both of your gazes meet, you shared a giggle at how silly you two probably looked like. 

“You two...” you both flinched as you see Jamil give you both a death stare. “Finish your food or so help me...” 

“Sorry Jamil!” you both yelped as you dug in back into your meals--though that didn’t stop the two of you from sharing a glance, and giggling to yourselves. 

--

"Hold still, my sweet potato.” Vil ordered with a roll of his eyes. “I need to put this eyeliner on you.” 

“I just don’t like things close to my eyeballs.” you tried to defend yourself. “It scares me.” 

“I’ve been doing make up for a long time, sweet potato.” Vil chided gently. “Do you not trust me?”

“Yes?” you would’ve shrugged if Vil would’ve let you but he didn’t. “No? Yes? It’s me? It just... makes me uncomfortable.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you say you didn’t trust me.” Vil huffed, before he quite literally used his other hand to keep your face still by cupping your cheek. “Do not move, or we’ll have to start from the top.” he threatened, you let out a whiny sound.

“I mean it, sweet one.” Vil said, “I’ll have to reapply the moisturizer, the foundation--” 

“Alright, alright.” your fist clenched as you tried to hold your position.

“Close your eyes.” you obeyed, and you caught the satisfied smile that spread on your lover’s pink lips, before you completely closed your eyes. 

Vil leant in as he began to line your eyes with a deep violet color. He could see your eyelids quiver at his movements, and the way your lips twisted downward in discomfort. Despite that, you put up with him. It made his smile slip into a much gentler one. When he pulled away, he immediately warned you not to open your eyes yet so that the liner could dry. You mumbled out a protest, but kept your eyes shut. 

Vil couldn’t help but chuckle underneath his breath.

You were truly--

peculiar. 

His hold on your face slackened, and though you twitched in response to that, you didn’t open your eyes. He leant forward, and began to gently blow over your lids so they’d dry faster. He could see the minuscule twitch of your eyes, and nose at the sudden sensation. He pulled back a little to admire your face against his palm. 

Don’t get him wrong--you were always going to be splendidly beautiful in his eyes--whether he was waking up in the morning to see you snoring away, or when you were busy stuffing yourself away with your favourite food but--

But because he was a social media celebrity, he knew that some people didn’t like you. There were people out there with ugly hearts who refused to acknowledge your relationship because of it.

You always told him you didn’t mind, that what mattered was that you both loved each other.

While that placated Vil, there was just one thing he wanted to do.

He wanted to show you off.

He was very happy to be taken, and proud that you were his partner. 

He wanted people to realize how amazing you are.

He wanted them to realize that you were a steal--and that you belonged to Vil as much as he belonged to you. 

So when he’s painting your eyelids lavender to match the tips of his hair, and your lips the matching pink shade on his own lips--he’s declaring that to the world--

‘This person is mine. Just as must as I am theirs. They are the best thing I have and no criticism you throw our way will get in the way of that.’ 

“Vil, are you done?” you asked.

“Let me just put the finishing touch.” he said, as he tucked a strand of hair behind your ear, and leant in to press a soft kiss against your lips.

A soft one, just so he doesn’t have to redo anything.

When he pulled back, he’s delighted to see the red tint rise to your cheeks.

“Beautiful.” he smiled, “you can open your eyes now.” 

Your eyes fluttered open, and his heart leapt--

you looked so good in his colors. 

--

You eagerly stared up at the monitor, back at Idia, and repeated this several times before the Ignihyde dorm leader finally gave in.

“Alright.” he sighed very deeply as you cheered. “I’ll help you make your character.” 

“I want them to look like me please!” you requested, and Idia nodded. 

It was easy enough for him to maneuver the mouse around to make sure that the character model had your hair, and body type. Then he zoomed in on the face.

“Come closer.” he instructed with a tone of confidence that you normally didn’t hear from the Ignihyde dorm leader. You blinked in surprise, but shrugged. Once you had pulled your chair closer to him, Idia wasted no time and cupped your face with his hand. He brought his face close as he began to customize the character’s face to look like yours.

“[Name]’s forehead is small, but cute...”

“Their brows should be like this...” 

“[Name]’s eyes are sparkly, I can get blinded by them...” 

“Cute. Nose.” 

“I love kissing their lips... The shape are like this...” 

“The jawline--yes, soft and adorable...” 

You could feel your face heat up as he muttered all this lovingly underneath his breath--as if that would make it so that you couldn’t hear it. 

“Alright, I’m done.” Idia’s smile was wide and pleased as he turned back to you. 

Your face was red. 

“Are you okay, [Name]?” he tilted his head in concern.

“That is...” you muttered as you lowered your face to hide your expression.

That’s when it hits Idia that he’s holding your face in his hand.

“Eeek! Sorry!” he yelped as he pulled his hand away from yours. 

“No--no it’s fine.” you squeaked in response as your hands flew to your face, as you hoped you can get the red flush on your cheeks to calm down.

“I’m sorry! I held your face without permission!” 

“No--no it’s not that Idia!” you protested.

“Then--what, what was it?” he asked, his own hands covered his face. He felt his heart get hit by a bunch of arrows when you shyly look up at him through your lashes. 

‘Cute! You were so cute! If he had just a bit more confidence, he’d tell you that everyday and kiss you!’ 

“I...Idia... did you...” you glanced away awkwardly at the monitor, and he followed your gaze to the 3d model of a character made to look like you. “Do you... often, mutter under your breath?” 

“Uh well--Ortho tells me I do it a lot but I normally don’t realize I...” Idia froze in response.

“[Name]...?”

“Yeah?” 

“You mean I... was I thinking out loud?” 

“Um. Yeah.” you squealed lightly, and his whole body turned red. 

“Oh no! Ortho! Your brother is on fire!” 

--

Malleus stared expressionlessly up at the sky as he waited for you.

“Tsunotaro!” you had greeted when you had seen him earlier in the halls. “Are you going on a walk tonight?” 

“I will.” He nodded, beside him Sebek bristled at the nickname.

“Cool~ Wait for me okay?” you beamed, before you skipped off. “See you Tsunotaro!” 

“Lord Malleus,” Sebek hesitated. “If I may be allowed to ask...?” 

“You’re already asking.” Malleus arched a brow as Sebek sputtered quickly.

“My apologies.” he said, as he quickly jerked down to bow, “but I must ask--why do you let that person call you nicknames?” 

Malleus stared down at Sebek who began to sweat at the intensity of the young Lord’s stare. Malleus sighed, and he looked up in the direction you had left. 

Truthfully it was because...

(”Who are you?” an innocent question, and the curious face of a person who didn’t know him.

I didn’t want this person to realize who I was because--)

“Who knows?” Malleus hummed, before he turned away. 

A faint sound disrupted his thoughts.

Malleus blinked, and turned his head to see you creep up on him. You were hidden behind a tree, the shadows overwhelmed your form. (He frowned--you did not belong in the shadows.) 

“Ah, you heard that?” Once you made eye contact, you stepped away from the shadows, and walked right into the moonlight. Malleus could feel his face smoothen at the way the iridescent, soft glow of the moon kissed your features. (’Better,’ he thought to himself.)

“Were you attempting to sneak up on me?” Malleus asked, a smirk grew on his lips. Ah, weren’t you just so adorable and amusing? 

“I tried.” you shrugged, before you finally paused to stand before him. “Hey, why is it that even when sitting down, you’re still taller than me?”

“Perhaps you should sleep early.”

“Eh? Then won’t that mean I can’t accompany you on your walks?” Malleus stood slowly, and carried with him such elegance that makes your breath catch in your throat. Malleus was just too pretty.

Your thoughts halt when Malleus reached forward to cup your face with a hand. Instinctively you lean in, and pressed your cheek against his large hand. 

“You are not afraid at all.” No matter how much Malleus knew this, it never ceases to amaze him. 

He--is a dragon fae. 

He--is the fifth strongest magician in this world.

He--is the heir to the throne of the Valley of Thorns. 

He is a terrifyingly powerful immortal--and you were a soft, delicate mortal with a body that could break and a spirit that could be lost if he is not mindful of himself. 

Yet you let him touch you like this.

He stared into your eyes, tiny windows to the galaxy of your soul. He wished he could read your mind, spend time exploring all of which that made up every facet of you. 

You were so dazzling. 

Your fingers laced with his, as you pressed his cool hand against your warm cheek. 

“How could I be afraid?” your eyes flickered upward shyly as you look into Malleus’ bright ones. 

“This hand could kill you.” 

He said, as nonchalantly as he would speak about the weather.

“No,” you disagreed. “this is the hand of a kind person.”

His eyes widened, and he felt his heart skipped a beat at that. 

“This is the hand of a person who helped me despite not knowing me,” you continued. “this is the hand of a lonely man, who has a pretty smile when I make him laugh.” 

He could feel his face heat up at that. 

Malleus Draconia--blushed.

“I’ve never been called kind before.” he commented idly. 

“Well, people should see that you’re a kind person, Tsunotaro!” you exclaimed, as you puffed your cheeks in frustration. 

He only laughed in response, as he gently squeezed your cheeks. 

“I don’t think I need anyone else to know that.” 

“Huh? but why?” 

He hummed and chose not to answer you. Instead he leant down to pull you in a warm embrace, his hold on you tightened as you tentatively wrapped your arms around his body.

‘That’s because... I need only hear it from you, my bright light.’ 

--

[regularno]

One Day Prior

“Look at the world, Mordecai.”

“I am, dude.”

“Mordecai! Mordecai wake up!” Rigby shouted as he arose from his trampoline bed, “Today’s the day!”

“What,” Mordecai mumbled before his eyes widened, “wait, you’re not talking about-”

“Uh huh. Today’s the day. It’s-”

“The premiere of Samurai-bot 3000 The Movie! Hi-yah!” The stoners yelled in unison.

They scrambled around the room, hurriedly getting ready for their epic day. Just as they were about to exit their messy, cluttered room, they both remembered the most crucial part of their morning routine.

“Dude, how could we forget bro and bake?” Mordecai said, reaching for their brown, greasy bong. 

“Bro and bake! Aw yea-yuh!” Rigby scrambled towards the bong, “light it up, babe-ey.”

The boys broke into one of their signature song-raps:

“Bro and Bake!

Bro and Bake!

We simply cannot wake until we bro and bake!”

Rigby snatched the bong just as Mordecai lit it, creating the biggest, sickest bong cloud known to man. 

“Agh!” Right on schedule, Rigby burst into a coughing fit, falling back onto his trampoline and laughing.

“Dude, that was so lame. Watch this.” Mordecai sucked into the bong, creating an even sicker, nastier cloud of smoke. 

“Hm, hm hm hm. Hm hm. Hm.” Mordecai sneered, not even flinching as massive amounts of THC entered his body. 

“Alright alright. You win.” Rigby conceded, lying on his back.

Mordecai made his way back into his own bed. 

They sat in a comfortable silence, both of them looking up at their spitball-covered ceiling. 

“Dude, this movie is about to be si-”

The sound of Rigby’s ringtone, Hollaback Girl, interrupted Mordecai. Rigby groaned and flipped onto his stomach dramatically.

“Hello.” He snapped. 

A small, indiscernible voice responded.

“Oh, hi Margaret. Yeah, he lost his phone again… Okay I lost it… No, Mordecai can’t go to the shop today, we’re going to see Sa- hey!”

Mordecai snatched the flip-phone out of Rigby’s hands.

“Hi Margaret! I mean, hey, Margaret. What’s up?” Mordecai tried (and failed) to sound cool, “I can meet you at the coffee shop. Oh, Rigby? He’ll be fine. We didn’t have much for plans anyway. 3 o’clock? Sure! I can meet at 3 o’clock! Okay, see you then. Bye.” 

Mordecai hung up and raced around the room, searching for hair gel and deodorant. 

“3 o’clock? Mordecai, you aren’t going to be able to hang out with Margaret at 3 o’clock, that’s when we’re going to see Samurai-Bot 3000 The Movie, hi-yah!” Rigby said, not realizing what was going on. 

“Rigby. Margaret just asked me out on a date.”

“She did not ask you out on a date, dude. She asked if you wanted to hang out at the coffee shop, something we do together every day.”

“No, dude. You’re just too young to understand. She’s totally into me.”

But Rigby did understand. He understood quite well what it meant to be in love. He also knew what it was like to not be loved back. 

“Mordecai! You can’t go!” Rigby yelled, following him around the room and attempting to swat things out of his hands, “Call her back and tell her you can’t go!”

Mordecai dodges Rigby’s attempts at stalling him with ease, “nah, dude. This is too important.”

“What could be more important than me! Than us!” He followed Mordecai down the stairs, throwing objects in his direction in an attempt to slow him down.

“Don’t say it like that dude, You’re making it weird.”

“Come on! We were supposed to watch Samurai-Bot-3000-The-Movie-hiyah,” Rigby said, as if the move title was all one word.

“Bring Muscleman with you, or Eileen.”

“We’re supposed to watch it together!” He followed him down the stairs.

“We can just go see it tomorrow.”

“But today was supposed to be the day!” He followed him through the living room, “today was supposed to be our day.” 

“Ugh! Dude, who cares if we watch it today or tomorrow? We’re still gonna watch it together either way!”

“I do.” Rigby said quietly, feeling rejected. 

“This is my only chance to go on a date with Margaret. Don’t ruin this for me.” 

Rigby followed him to the front door. “Mordecai, if you leave, then… Then!”

Mordecai, who was already walking away from the house, looked back, “Then what?”

“Then… Then don’t bother coming home.” 

“C’mon, dude, you’re being so dramatic.”

“I mean it.” Rigby said before slamming the door shut.

Mordecai did go on his date with Margaret, while Rigby went to see the movie by himself. But this date was not what Mordecai was expecting in the slightest. It wasn’t even a date at all. So Mordecai sat there, silent and dreadful, as Margaret droned on and on about how her now-ex boyfriend was such a douchebag, which Mordecai already knew, and how she was so much better off without him, which he also knew. 

Then, a thought struck him through the heart with the force of a thousand knives. He pictured Rigby, walking into that movie theater alone. His little buddy, with no one by his side. Or worse, Muscleman by his side, exclaiming snide remarks about his own mother. Oh, Rigby would simply die of embarrassment if he were only that self-aware. He began to realize how big of a mistake he had made. 

He quickly stood up from the booth he and Margaret were sitting in, startling both her and the other patrons of the restaurant. 

“Mordecai, what are you doing?” Margaret asked.

“I’m sorry Margaret, but I’ve gotta go. I made a huge mistake coming here tonight.”

“Is that what I am to you, Mordecai? A mistake?”

“No no no, Margaret, that’s not what I meant!” Mordecai started, but was interrupted by Margaret’s intense voice. 

“Forget it, Mordecai. Go hang out with your friend. He clearly means more to you than I do. Doesn’t he?”

Mordecai stood there for a moment, staring at Margaret, before he quickly turned and ran out the door. 

Rigby was just about to enter the movie theater when Mordecai ran up to him, out of breath. 

“Rigby!... Wait… I need… To talk to you…” He leaned over and put his hands on his knees. 

“I told you, Mordecai. Don’t come home. It’s over.”

“This isn’t… Our home… It’s… The movie theater.” Mordecai looked up at him, smirking.

Rigby couldn’t resist that smile. He practically forgave him in an instant. But he wouldn’t show it. Not for a few minutes, at least. 

“Whatever, dude.” Rigby replied and started to walk away. 

“Rigby, stop! I’m sorry man, we can go watch Samurai Bot 3000 now! I’m sorry, I-I didn’t realize how lame I was being!”

Rigby stopped but didn’t turn around, “it’s not about the stupid movie!”

Mordecai frowned in confusion, “What?”

“It’s not about the movie, Mordecai,” Rigby whispered with a sigh and turned around.

“Then what’s it about? Dude, I’m confused.”

“I can’t believe you would choose Margaret, some girl you just met, over me, your best friend from diapers.”

“Rigby, I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would bother you so much! I just really like Margaret.”

“Well I really like you!” Rigby yelled, immediately realizing that he probably shouldn’t have said that.

”Don’t make it weird, dude.” It was Mordecai’s turn to blush. He could no longer pretend to ignore the obvious advances that Rigby had been throwing his way over the past few weeks.

“I have to, dude. I’m sick of playing these games,” Rigby crossed his arms, “Every day I have to watch you be with her, when you and I both know that you should be with me. You’re my favorite person in the world, Mordecai.”

“You’re my favorite person too! But I won’t ruin what we have. What if we mess it up?”

“We wouldn’t mess it up!”

“You don’t know that, dude! You know what happens if we do mess it up? We won’t even be able to be friends! And then we’ll both be loners again!

“Not loner stoners.” Rigby whispered sadly. 

“That’s exactly what we’d be. Loner stoners.” Mordecai wraps his arm around his shoulders and walks towards an empty field. The sun was going down in just the right way, making Rigby’s brown eyes shine like the most delectable honey. 

Look, Rigby.” Mordecai shakes the thought out of his mind as he gestured to the area around them, “you have the whole universe, Rigby. You can either fill it with friends and family and crushes, or you can fill it with a string of broken hearts and break-ups. Which one sounds more appealing?”

Rigby looks out at the wide, empty field. “You’re right, dude.” He said, kicking a rock sullenly. “I’ve spent so much of my time and energy on what we could be, I never thought it could ruin what we have now.” He looked at Mordecai, “I like what we have now, Mordecai. I don’t think we should change it.”

Mordecai nodded and smiled, but his eyes were filled with melancholy. Had he just revealed his true feelings, he wouldn’t have to keep living with this terrible feeling of longing. Of wonder.

“Plus, I really do have the whole universe to choose from. There’s Eileen, or that girl from the snack bar that is totally crushing on me.”

“She so does not, dude.” Mordecai chuckled. 

“Does too!” Rigby shoved him playfully.

The sun had set by then, exposing the bright stars and even brighter galaxies that lie millions upon millions of miles away. There was something symbolic about it, the sun finally setting on the relationship that was simply never meant to be. Mordecai stood behind Rigby, his hand on his shoulder as his small friend’s eyes gaped at the night sky.

“Look at the world, Mordecai.”

“I am, dude.” He responded, gazing down at his best friend.

“Isn’t it beautiful?”

With tears in his eyes and a small, sad smile on his face, Mordecai nodded, “It sure is, dude. It sure is.”

[lilacslovers]

💎 Lilac x Gordie {Royalty + Royal Guard AU Fic} Chapter One | The Meeting 💎

aaa i’m so happy! i’ve finished a fic of the first meeting of my s/i and gordie in the royalty au <3

yes it does say chapter one but. idk if this a proper series, its possibly a figurative ‘lets start from chapter one !’ its also just. omg it’s just a chapter like. not even a drabble. just a whole chapter HSJSND

but i truly hope you guys enjoy this! :0 (fic is in the keep reading !! ^^)

•••

The dark oak-stained carriage rattled around Lilac with every prance of Rapidash transporting it, the tight space and cool, pillowy seats barely making up for the sheer cold she was moving into.

In her gloved hands lied a handwritten letter from the Royals in Circhester; a neat cursive paragraph requesting her and her other guard apprentices to protect their home. After all, they would need good protection to hide their most precious jewels in the family, and they required the best of the best. In a way, it flattered Lilac to know they wanted her to assist them.

She folded the letter back into her sac tied at her waist, cuddling into her cape in shock from the sudden Circhesterian chill; she wasn’t too far from the castle now, and wished that they could’ve made her Royal Guard uniform more cozy inside. Perhaps they considered this weather late spring or summer temperatures...

Off guard, the shrill of Rapidash’s cry as it finally came to a halt nearly catapulted her into the rock-hard wood in front of her. She gasped in relief to have caught herself in time, straightening herself to correct such unawareness.

A crunch came from the snow as she dropped down from her carriage, a bag with her necessities slinged over her armoured shoulder. Walking to the near entrance, she turned to the coachman.

“Brr, it’s quite cold around here! You better stay safe in that house, Lilac!” he said, smiling cheerfully.

“Thank you, coachman.” she replied, turning next to the Rapidash, stroking its soft mane.

“And thank you, Rapidash.” she grinned at the Pokémon, in which it whinnied gleefully in response.

Walking across the tiled road to Circhester Castle, the snowy bushes brushed up against her, gorgeously grown flowers to withstand the eternal cold peeked their heads out of the fluffy hedges. Already employed guards outside were gossiping to each other about the family; perhaps they were new guards, like herself. Lilac halted, gaining the attention of the two guards at the grand door they stood up against.

Lilac decided to break the tension between them.

“I am incredibly sorry to interrupt. I am Lilac. I am here to sign myself into the occupation of Guard. I have a letter from the castle itself if you were to want it-“

Before her quiet voice were to finish her sentence, the doors loudly creaked open, revealing the Queen herself; the entrance surprised all three of the guards, yet they all retained the same serious face to show their composure. The Queen gave Lilac a stern look...

“Oh!” came the cheery exclamation of the Queen Melony, holding her hand to her face. “Welcome, dear! I suppose you must be the new Indoor Guard, correct?”

“I- um,” Lilac mumbled, clearing her throat to free the words she had before being surprised. “Yes, your Majesty. I have brought your letter. It is an honour to work with you.”

“Come inside!” invited the Queen. “‘Tis warmer in here, after all! I’ll show you to your position here in the castle.”

“Ah, thank you, your Majesty.”

•••

The warmth of the castle quickly defrosted Lilac’s freezing arms, and the sudden relaxation couldn’t help but make her stare in wonder at the details within: the castle walls were extremely high, regal tapestries hung. Across the tapestries came multiple family portraits from popular artists, and looking closely at the painting would reveal details drawn ever so to-the-point, it made Lilac ponder how someone could even make such a realistic piece in a time limit...

“Oh, I must say,” the Queen began to state. “My children can be quite the troublemakers, hoho... My youngest, a daughter and three sons, I believe they sometimes choose whom they like to see more often, more with my sons, I think. But... my oldest...”

She stopped in her tracks, and so did Lilac.

“... Well, he’s heir to the Throne, now. He possibly cannot choose who he works with, hoho!”

“I see, your Majesty.” Lilac lightly smiled to match the emotion of the Queen’s conversation. “I shall wish the Prince congratulations on being first to the Throne.”

“Oh, he would simply love that,” the Queen chortled. “He is quite the sensible man. I do hope he is excited to rule... I’ve had quite the years around here.”

It was hard for Lilac to decipher who this Prince was; after all, the long generations of family portraits across the wall couldn’t help Lilac’s imagination at all.

Queen Melony pointed to a space by a door, where Lilac stationed herself onto.

“Perfect! Your routine will to be to guard at this area, as well as to watch the household members around here if needed.

You will also patrol around here with other guards around 12 to 1 o’clock PM. Is that understood?”

“Yes, your Majesty.” Lilac agreed, straightening herself stoically. The Queen promptly smiled, and as she went out of sight, another guard poked their head out from the corner.

“Psst, hey. New guard.” they squeaked.

Lilac made eye contact with the other new guard.

“Have you seen Prince Gordie yet?”

“Who?”

“Prince Gordie!” another guard peeped. “C’mon, ‘who?’ Like, the Prince that is, like, constantly just... around? And cool?”

“I really don’t mean to be out of the loop, but...” Lilac held her chin to think. “I haven’t heard anything about any Prince Gordie... All I heard back from my town was when the Queen of Circhester came to visit, and when she did, it was never a ‘visit’ visit, only a ‘come to check out the best carriages’ visit.”

“Oh my Arceus, the Prince...!” yet another guard joined the conversation. “He looked shortly at me once. I just... I felt so seen...”

Oh, brother. Lilac looked away, until the commotion of the group caught her attention once again.

“Ah, look, there he comes...!”

A man came from the depths of the hallway, and suddenly it felt like everything was going slower - or perhaps Lilac was imagining things...

The man had his soft hair tied into a well-kept short ponytatail, as well as his soft and cute lapis eyes kept relaxed and sensual.

He walked with such confidence only a prince could ever have, his cape drifting gently across the satin carpets below. A slight jingling sound came from his minimalistic, yet beautiful necklace around his collar, the pendant resting on his chest where his relaxed blouse shaped the area around such jewellery.

His shoes lightly skipped across the satin carpets to not make even one noise, yet his heels made an dull tap that satisfyingly echoed across the area.

Whatever decent vision Lilac had of the Prince completely went from her mind; the Prince of Circhester, in her eyes, was indeed quite more handsome than she thought.

The guards squealed in delight, making all sorts of gestures to make Prince Gordie look over.

“Gordie! Could you please have a quick discussion with us? We need to talk to you about something?”

... And suddenly, all light the Prince had in his eyes disappeared as soon as he looked at them.

“... Gordie?” his deep, muttering voice repeated, his eyebrows furrowed. Lilac could see the optimism drain from the group, herself shivering along with them even if not involved.

“Never, in all my life, have I heard a stranger call me only by my first name. From what I recall, my title here is ‘Prince Gordie of Circhester’. Is that correct?” his angered voice paused for a while to let the guards rapidly nod their heads, truly attempting to not get into trouble.

“Yes. Now, all I want to hear from you few now is to refer to me as ‘Prince Gordie’. If you cannot, then ‘your Highness’, but if you can’t even manage a formal tone with a prince, you shall expect to be evicted from this castle. Is that understood?”

The guards nodded once again, mumbling out a few ‘Understood, Prince Gordie’s out from their held breath.

“Now. Don’t you have some patrolling to do? It is, after all, 12 o’clock. Go.”

The guards scurried away slowly, cowering from the unfortunate interaction.

Lilac, afraid herself of getting into an altercation, began to steadily inch her way around one corner.

“Please wait.” the Prince interrupted in a much normal, albeit naturally deep tone. Lilac hastily straightened her back once again, turned to face him.

“I did not mean you, I apologise for any confusion.” he stated, grinning. “It’s not actually 12, I just wanted them to leave, hehe.”

“My complete mistake, your Highness.” Lilac replied. “That is quite a tactic to make somebody leave, it’s certainly impressive, your Highness.”

“Hm,” Prince Gordie hummed, taking his chin with one hand. “Tell me, what is your name?”

Lilac paused, finding herself quite confounded at his question; oftentimes, asking for a guard’s name would be informal, as was taught in training.

“Ah, um, if you want it, It’s Lilac, your Highness.”

“Lilac, eh?” Prince Gordie grinned to himself. “A fitting, lovely name for a lovely guard.”

Lilac’s heart struck from the compliment, trying not to show any emotion upon her face, but the Prince began to speak again.

“I must go. I have quite a lot of errands to do.” he sighed, flicking his hair away from his vision.

“But, I do hope to see you again... Lilac.”

Prince Gordie gave a wave as he walked back out of the corridor, Lilac waving goodbye at the same time. As soon as he went completely, she faced the brick wall, intensely pondering the peculiar conversation she had had...

Surely...? Surely, he wasn’t trying to get her into trouble...? But, why would he take interest of only getting her name? Perhaps he was... No, absolutely not, Princes don’t form relationships with their servants...!

Unless, Prince Gordie wanted to?

Nevertheless, Lilac herself had duties to do. But, as she began to walk away, she couldn’t help but think as she rested her palm on her blushing cheek...

[meigh-day]

Breathing Lilies (Tendou x Reader) - Part 6

Here is Part 6. Hope you enjoy this Tendou focused chapter. Also, “The Girl” finally has a name...

————————————————————————-

Title: Breathing Lilies

Characters: Tendou/Ushijima/OC Students/F!Reader

Includes: Hanahaki Disease, Angst

Status: Complete

Word Count: 1.6k

Previous Next

————————————————————————-

"Dammit Tendou!!" Goshiki grumbled petulantly as he watched the ball leisurely roll by his feet.

"Awe. Cheer up man." Tendou peered through the net at his teammate. "If you really want to be the ace you'll have to get through me." The way he said it. You'd almost take that as a threat but they knew it wasn't. It was simply a challenge. Goshiki wanted to surpass Ushijima some day and Tendou was happy to encourage him in his own way.

"Hmph...whatever. Let's clean up." Despite how sullen he was acting, the black haired boy felt inspired. He would keep trying, if only to see the shock on Tendou's face when he spiked a balk right past him.

Once the gym was put back in order and they'd said their goodbyes, Tendou and Ushijima found themselves together on the walk back towards the dorm.

"Wakatoshi..."

"Hm?"

Satori slowed his face, glancing over at his friend before continuing his thought.

"Is something wrong with Y/N?"

Ushijima kept his expression neutral but was pleased to hear he was starting to notice.

"Did she say something?"

"Well, she kinda got mad at me the other day." Here he paused, thinking about what you had said and, when prompted by his stoic faced friend, explained.

"I didn't get it as first but I think I'm starting to..." Again he paused, looking thoughtful doe a moment. "But, it wasn't just that. She seemed...off... I could feel her shaking and I mean I know she was mad...but I just don't think that was why. You must have noticed something's wrong with her too, right?"

"Yes." Wakatoshi stopped, their already slow pace halting completely. "You should talk to her. It might take some serious convincing on your part but...she needs you." It was just a tiniest trace of a hint, just a little encouragement to push in in the right direction. He was willing to try and give this a chance. One chance, before he took things into his own hands.

Tendou found his friends statement a little perplexing but it also didn't make him feel better. It seemed like Wakatoshi knew more than he was letting on but Tendou also knew there was no power in this wide world that could make his friend talk. If Ushijima was going to tell him whatever it was, he simply would have told him.

"I'll do or say whatever I need to, to get her to listen to me...."

The following day Tendou stood anxiously in the corridor near your class, his beady red eyes peeled just waiting for his moment to pounce. He was going to be relentless, he'd drag you off against your will if he had to. It didn't matter if you hit him or yelled at him or ever cried, he wasn't going to let you do until he'd coaxed it out5 of you.

"Uh...Tendou..." He spun around and came face to face with 'her'.

"Oh, hey Sumi." A smile greeted her as he looked down at her but she didn't return it. Instead she signed and motioned for him to follow her.

"Can this wait? I was waiting for Y/N...need to talk to her." He took a few hesitant steps forward, glancing around the hallway hoping to catch sight of you.

"No. I'm sorry but it can't. It has something to do with her actually...please."

He offered her a quiet nod and followed her into the closet empty room. Once inside, and she was sure the two of you were alone, Sumi let out a sigh, facing away towards the windows. All night she had thought long and hard about what she had done and what she had seen. To say she felt guilty just didn't cover it. People had called her selfish in the past and they had every right to do so. It wasn't that she was unfeeling but until now the only consequences of her actions had been hurt feelings or maybe some tears. This time, her self-centered actions were on the verge of costing someone their life. She hated herself for it.

"I made a mistake. I lied to you about..everything."

"What..are you talking about?"

"I...was never really interested in going out with you. Honestly, I wanted to try and get closer to Ushijima so I pretended to like you."

She tried to keep her voice even as she spoke. It was the first time she'd ever had to come face to face with what a shitty person she was. Her gaze in the windows caught the reflection of his face and his expression just cemented that fact even further.

Tendou looked absolutely crushed. He could have handled it if she had said he just wanted her type or that she didn't feel the same. But to find out he more or less meant nothing to her, well it made him feel insignificant.

"I'm not asking you to forgive me. I hope you never do but I am hoping to try to fix what I've done to Y/N."

"Y/N?" That got his attention. Amidst the swirling pool of emotions he was falling into, hurt by the cruelty of the girl before him had inflicted, it was all put on hold when she said your name. If Sumi had been heartless to him, he could only imagine what she might have done to you.

"What did you do to her?" His voice was low and heated, the harsh tone making her flinch away.

"I just...If it wasn't for me...If I'd left you alone...she might not have gotten sick."

That..was not what he was expecting. Tendou was ready for her to say she had said something horrible to her or bullied her in someway...not that she had made her sick.

"I...What?...How?"

Sumi sighed, you hadn't told him. Not that she was overly surprised. This wasn't her first time dealing with someone who had this disease.

"Tendou, I don't know what you and Y/N mean to each other..." She paused for a moment. "It really isn't my place to tell you..."

He listened to her hesitant words, a cold unease settling into the pit of his stomach.

"Please Sumi. What's wrong with her?" Satori's voice came out softer, the anger replaced with apprehension. The way she looked back at him, sympathy in her eyes, made him feel ill.

"She has Hanahaki."

"Hana....haki?" The name sounded familiar but he'd only heard it in passing. Though what he has heard was not pleasant.

"No. No that can't be right." He shakes his head in denial. "You..you're wrong. People only get that when....and...and we....I.."

"I know this is a lot to take in right now Tendou. I am, unfortunately, all too familiar with it. Hard to mistake it when you see someone coughing up flower petals and..." Sumi stop short, not wanting to finish her thought.

"And what?" He had to know. He needed to know what was wrong and he needed to know the truth. This was nothing like the things he had imagined might be bothering you. It was so much worse.

"...blood." Sumi let out a shaky sigh, averting her gaze. "My sister had it too. It was...awful."

Tendou ran a hand through his hair, his heart racing. He needed to know more so, for now, he put aside what she had done to him so he could focus on finding out more to help you.

"Your sister...did she get better?"

"No." Sumi crossed her arms along her chest as she thought back. " You'd be surprised by how many people choose to wait and hope. Instead of getting it removed my sister kept it. She loved them so deeply and couldn't bear to lose any memories they had made, including her feelings for them."

Silence. For several long seconds they stood there, neither of them saying a thing. Tendou's mind was racing. How long had you been sick and why hadn't you told him? Part of him felt hurt and sad you hadn't come to him. Though he could only imagine how hard this had been for you and he knew you well enough that he was certain you only did this to spare him more pain. Like Ushijima, he wished you would rely on him more and not try to do so much alone. Tendou wanted to be someone you could depend on, someone you would come to for help. He wanted you to let him help you shoulder your troubles.

"What...happened to her?" It was a pretty shitty question to ask under normal circumstances but he needed to know if there was any hope and Sumi's feelings didn't matter right now. She glanced back over at him, her lips pressing into a line before falling into a frown.

"She died. The roots kept spreading and the flowers bloomed and grew until they suffocated her." Her voice trembled as she spoke but she didn't care that you had asked. Honestly, she was willing to do whatever it took to help you. Hoping she could give you a chance to live, hoping you didn't meet the same end as her sister.

"Tendou, do you really only think of Y/N as a friend?" She paused for a moment, her thoughts wandering. "When I watched the two of you, I honestly didn't think this fucked up plan I had stood a chance. You guys just looked like you were...together. And the way you look at each other..." Sumi paused, an imagine in her head stilling. Even before she had decided to enact her malicious plan, she had seen the two of you almost everyday and couldn't help wishing someone would look at her the way he looked at you.

"You look at her like you're watching a sunset." Tears began to gather at the edges of her eyes.

" I hate what I've done to you...to her." Sumi could never go back and change the things she had done but she was going to try and make amends, starting with you. As she turns to go, Tendou stops her with one final question.

"Can I actually save her?"

"That all depends on you."

[prinzessinlouise]

hi welcome to my first ever blog lmao..Today imma write about my favourite.. Billie Eilish🐍. So enjoy lol.

Billie Eilish is know to be a songwriter, model, and most known as a singer. She was homeschooled when she was younger and so was her brother Finneas because their parents wanted them to have a creative life and let them kind of do and choose what they were interested in. They also had actor and musician parents so it was a really creative life for them. When Billie was only 6 years old she said she wanted to sing “Happiness is a warm gun” in a talent show and she also joined the choir at 8 years old because her brother was in it and she thought that was cool and it actually helped Billie control her voice without hurting it, she was also in a songwriting class taught by her mom. Billie was 10 years old and she told her parents that she wanted to ride horses but they couldn’t afford it so for 2 summers she worked at the stables all day to get the money she needed to ride. O’Connell was Billie’s real last name but she didn’t like it when she was younger so she changed it to Eilish. She didn’t like her first name either, she said that she would try anything to change it. When she was younger she loved to take pictures and make music videos to random songs she liked. When she was just 11/12 she wrote her first song that was posted on SoundCloud and YouTube, it was called “Fingers Crossed” and it was about the walking dead. HOW SHE GOT FAMOUS When she was 14 she made another song and it was called “Ocean Eyes” for her dance teacher and it blew up of views and listens and she basically got famous overnight. In 2017 she put out her first album called ‘Don’t Smile At Me’. In 2019 she became a lot more popular and put out a album called ‘WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” and then she became the first female artist born in the 2000s to have a #1 album.

I personally love Billie eilish so much, her music is great, it’s calming, and when you listen to it you know what it means straight away..? Ygm?

The song as you know “ when the party’s over” is about Billie eilish falling in love with a guy who is still recovering from his past relationships, and that he knows he has feelings for Billie but he’s broken, and Billie likes him aswell but she knows she can’t be with him. The video she made for this song portrays her as being locked in a painful cycle of self destruction. She continues to willingly engage in a toxic relationship until it utterly consumes and destroys her.

In the song “xanny” Billie is explaining in her song that Billie found herself with some toxic friends. They are always high and drunk and she wasn’t into that kind of stuff. Most people would say that they are just high but she says, “bring ashtrays to the table, and that’s about the only thing they share”. They mostly were probably rude, and would never communicate with her.she was always the one watching over them taking care of them and watching them make their mistakes The song title was meant to kinda sound like the drug Xanax. Like the mood keeps changing you. Billie probably was being suggested to have it and kept saying no.

The song “ wish you were gay” as Billie eilish says “I wrote this song about a guy that really was not interested in me and it made me feel horrible, so the song is called ‘Wish You Were Gay’. Some people find this song very offensive which I don’t know what there is to be offended about the song. The song itself is about how Billie has an interest in a boy who doesn’t feel the same way. She wishes the guy was gay so she wouldn’t think it’s something about her that's preventing the guy from liking her back. If others find it offensive, I don’t necessarily understand how, but I mean everyone is entitled to their opinions.

The song “You should see me in a crown” was about Sherlock.. tbh I thought there was going to be more meaning about this song but it was just a sentence in a movie from

Jim moriarty saying “ you should see me in a crown”I like the way they all scream

billie eilish explained that she thought the line was dope/cool because if you heard it in a dark room, it'd be terrifying and her goal is to freak the people out who’s going to be listening and hearing.

when she said “Cause even God herself” why use the term “herself” who is this ‘she’ she speaks of? Does she speak of herself ?? Or maybe She is refering it to the Mother Earth. Woah, big brain moment now i understand/see the song in a different way now… so Billie prob. meant in the line “once the water starts to rise and heaven’s out of sight, she’ll want the devil on her team” that mother nature is going to begin punishing humans or that she’ll (mother nature) will want to get revenge on us humans for how we have been causing this planet to begin die slowly… Hm..or maybe it also makes me wonder if Billie eillish takes part in the occult,(the selling your soul stuff) I don’t really believe it but I am open to the possibility that these supernatural entities might exist. In the end she says my lucifer is lonely my God is gonna owe me, which indicates that she believes lucifer to be God, I don’t think she is a devil worshipper but yeah it all tells that this song is definitely not only about climate change. I don’t know we all have different opinions..😁😁

lastly.. I have so many other songs to write about but these ones more catch my eyes and ears. Billie is a physically-abusive relationship. However, she is not alarmed. Rather she is just going along for the ride because ultimately she knows that she is in control. In fact whereas he partner likes to play tough, in the end Billie is actually the “bad guy”, and not him. You think the song would be all about the guy.. no no the song is about her. In fact Eilish is so bad that she says if her mother were to actually hear this song she would feel “pity” for the men in her life.

[bitch-i-migth-be]

Crash Course | Chapter 06: That one weird uncle-godfather-almost-parent-figure-thingy that refuses to go away because you're a walking disaster and they love you to pieces (sometimes literally)

Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman,  

Relationships: Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton,  Danny Fenton & Jazz Fenton & Vlad Masters, 

Characters: Danny Fenton, Jazz Fenton, Random ghosties mentions *boo*, Vlad Fucking Masters Everyone, OC. 

Words: 5′195

Tags: Sibling bonding, Shenanigans, Swearing, Quasi Family dinners, cuddling, ghost core shenanigans, OC, Ghost King Danny, Vlad being vlad

Chapter Summary: Vlad.exe has started ‘the scheming’. These kids are tired. And another agent of Chaos is here.

A/N: I can’t believe I can get away with using that title.

Why is no one stopping me?

As the writer, I reserve the right to withhold information for now. Remember what I said about taking liberties?? Yeah, still doing that. Roll with me, pls-

Good news! This and another chapter more before Gotham! Fucking finally.

-.-.-.-

THIS IS ON AO3, IF ANYONE WOULD PREFER TO READ THERE. LOVE COMmENTs  so if u have anything to say IwillBeReallyHappyYesThankU

CHAPTERS: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7

-.-.-.-

Vlad considered himself a man of simple pleasures.

If something caught his attention and would make him happy then he went and got it. 

Not caring about what other people might think about his choices. If his happiness was on the line what other people had to say was irrelevant. Unless said people were influential enough to affect his future, in which case he had to tread carefully. But he never gave up on what he had put his sights on. 

This way of thinking had accompanied him since he was a young lad and It didn’t seem like it was going to change anytime soon. If his experience with Jack and Maddie hadn’t made the trick he didn’t know what possibly could. 

At the time, meeting Jack Fenton at the University of Wisconsin had opened the door to new possibilities. The man got so pumped up that he seemed to exude cheer all over the place, it was a sharp contrast to the dull family Vlad had left behind in his search for higher education, for something better than the leftovers they hoped would make him happy. 

What Jack brought to the table was new. A field of study no one had ever researched before, not like this, not with proper scientific evidence.

So he had let himself get dragged along. Just to see what it was like. A shot in the dark, so to speak. 

It was enough to intrigue him.

To the point that Vlad, who until that point was gunning for a major in business, had upgraded to a double major to include engineering, with a personal-extra-side of whatever the hell he needed to know to make sense of the things Jack kept spouting around like a complete madman.   

With the proper knowledge, and even more intrigued, Vlad had come to realize that while Jack seemed like a goofball at first sight, there was some backbone to his theories. That had just sealed the deal. 

And then Maddie came along. crashing into them with all the brilliance of a shooting star.

Madeline, who had been the cherry on top. Beautiful, passionate, and headstrong. Well on her way to becoming an amazing engineer with the meanest right hook Vlad had ever seen.

He had become infatuated. It was almost laughable how hard he had hit the ground running with that one. 

It went downhill from there with him none the wiser.

They had shared hopes and dreams with Vlad in a way not even his blood family had. Become his best and only friends. And he was sure that with time and careful planning Madeline could become more.

Could anyone blame him for thinking this could be what a true family was like? For thinking that this was it. 

They had been his everything, and as such he would have done anything within his power to lay the world before them. 

Which made their betrayal hurt deeper.

He had failed to see, as submerged as he was in his little happy bubble and the research, the growing distance between them and him, the sneaking around, the way they had started to look at each other. The distraction that had lead to mistakes 

Irreversible mistakes.

Ones they hadn’t stuck around for. 

He had been a complete mess after that. 

He had carried on. Once out of the hospital he has persevered and achieved everything that got on his way, and if he used a little bit of ghostly help that was no one’s business but his. And maybe he would have been happy with that, but there was always that little thorn that seemed to be stuck to his core. He had tried to play the fool. It hadn’t worked. And it wasn’t even his style, to begin with.

So when the opportunity presented itself to try and fix some of what he had lost in the past, he took it.  

He had planned to barge in guns blazing. And he did. But he hadn’t been expecting the pair of scrawny teens he had been presented with. Much less for one of them to have been subjected to the same affliction that haunted his days. Just that the brat had it worse because it had been his parents who had half-killed him and not his best friends.

Vlad would find out later about what exactly happened in the Fenton’s basement and laugh bitterly while sipping cognac because that made it even more ironic. 

He had thought about it long and hard. And decided to accept the child as his apprentice and honorary son. The kid was in urgent need of some proper training. A pair of meals for him and his sister wouldn’t hurt either — as blind as he had been back then, he was coherent enough to still recognize the mistake that was letting either of his ‘friends’ in the kitchen. — He was deliberately choosing to disregard their parent’s crime in order to help them. 

He was amicable like that. Kind, even.

If only the ungrateful little badger cooperated.

jasmine, who had eventually realized what exactly was going on — The man had seen it coming from miles away, the girl was smart and her disaster of a brother kept stumbling around town as if he didn’t have a care in the world. It was distressing to witness. — and not just the surface passive-aggressive way they sniped at each other in public, would help him realize that he had been going all wrong about approaching Daniel.

He had been treating him like he used to treat the boy’s parents

The older Fentons had never treated him seriously, so he always had to find dramatic ways to make them go along with what he wanted. Come to think of it, he had done that with a lot of people…

So, he had unconsciously regressed to his college years. Never a good stage to revive. It had obviously led straight to disaster, and he might or might not have neglected his business in the meantime. Thankfully, Jasmine had taken it upon herself to snap him out of it. Trying to run for mayor in a town in the middle of nowhere. Him. A goddamned Billionaire. What was he even thinking?

Obsessions were a dangerous thing. He would need to be more careful in the future. 

To summarize, Jasmine had been, as much as it pained him to accept it, most helpful in their little chats on how to deal with teenagers.

Now, he realized, the desire to keep striving for his beloved Madeline’s hand was putting a dent in his interactions with the little badger, and even his sister would show reluctance if he went a little too far. And if he wanted to educate this childr- child, educate this child properly,   that was not going to help him to accomplish his goals.

He was a businessman. He knew when risks were acceptable. Knew what investments would not be profitable.

There was a reason he had managed to convince the University of Wisconsin to finance their research when there wasn’t any concrete proof of ghosts, a reason he had managed to become a millionaire. Other than sleight of hand. That is. 

In the end, the final choice was pretty obvious. 

Having his obsession slowly shift targets after meeting the kids had been quite the experience. 

Especially because he, self-made billionaire, the man on top of everything, who had fingers in all of the biggest pies out there, The Vlad Masters Himself, had not seen it coming. 

-.-.-.-

Vlad would love to say he exhorted the best place to eat out of the boy. But really. Once Vlad said he was paying Daniel was more than happy to shoot for the tastiest and expensive things the siblings normally couldn’t afford. Jasmine was not openly contributing to her brother’s effort to suck him dry of money, but she was not stopping him either. 

He didn’t have any proof those two could communicate telepathically but by this point, he felt he didn’t need any. They probably had some sort of silent signals. The sneaky little shits. 

The man didn’t mind. Not really. He got the brats all for himself, after all. It was a win-win situation. 

“So,” he started with a hum “What happened with the box ghost?” Vlad inquired

The boy glared at him. Vlad smirked. Jasmine was making a great job at feigning deafness while looking completely done with them.

“I dealt with him accordingly.”Danny glowered, stabbing his burger with a fork. The billionaire wasn’t sure if that was meant to make a point or the teen went feral on automatic these days even with his food. “The fuck, Vlad. I thought we were in peace mode.”

“Excuse you, child. I didn’t have anything to do with that. It was just making a simple question.” Which was mostly true, Vlad wouldn’t lower himself to the point of using such an annoying ghost as a lackey. He just liked to poke fun at little badger  “And even if I had, that was before I called a truce. It would have been completely valid.”

Daniel just grumbled, conceding the point, and continued mangling the food on his plate. The little heathen. 

Having lost the attention of the boy, he took a sip of his drink and turned to look at the other sibling. 

“You convinced them to do your research in ghosts, hm?”   

“Not like it was hard.” she was eating at a more sedate pace than her brother, but still a little faster than would be considered appropriate in polite company.  “Thanks to a pair of someones.” she sniffed at them. Danny smiled at her but kept his mouth closed and otherwise occupied with food. Vlad just hummed in quiet approval. 

“Good job.” then he frowned. “But also, why?”

“Why what?”

“Not the best place you could have chosen to do that, is it now?”

“Maybe not the most agreeable, no.” She conceded, reaching over to take a napkin. “But it is the best place for my purposes.” 

“Why though?” He insisted, hoping for a proper explanation.  

“Why not?” she retorted, the picture of innocence taking another bite. Vlad sighed and rolled his eyes, he kept forgetting she could be as bad as her brother sometimes. 

“Does it matter, old man? We are going anyway.” Daniel finally joined the conversation again, waving one of his french fries in an extremely judgy manner in Vlad’s direction “I didn’t pull all those strings in the zone for you to come complaining and think we are backing down just because you don’t like it.“   

“Oh ho, strings, you say?” Vlad mocked, “Would that have anything to do with the reason why Skulker came to me seeking refuge with his tail between his legs?”

Daniel almost choked on his next bite. Enough that Jasmine started looking worried, most likely about whether or not she would have to use the Heimlich on him. She relaxed when her brother finally sucked some air into his lungs just to immediately start laughing. 

“It does have some relation, yes” Jasmine took over for her brother, seeing as he was too busy making an impression of the lion king’s hyenas. It was a good thing they were in the more private part of the restaurant. “We, um, had to get creative.”

Vlad just raised both his eyebrows at her, and with a background of her brother’s cackles, she finally acceded to give in some ground. 

“I have a theory, and frankly, it would be faster if I do this in Arkham. For a bunch of reasons I don’t feel comfortable discussing at the moment.” Jasmine offered, “Plus, seeing as Danny is insisting on tagging along and at the moment he can’t really afford to leave Amity for longer than necessary-” Hearing that made Daniel come back from his endless snickering.

“Hey! don’t try to pin this on me. This was all you-!” 

After that, a free for all started between the siblings and Vlad stopped listening, feeling honest to the ancients offended. Couldn’t afford to leave longer? Please, Vlad could fix that in a jiffy, they just needed to ask- but nooo, the brats always had to go to the extremes for everything.

Although Vlad had to admit that Jasmine most likely had good reasons — If Daniel had said it, he wouldn’t even contemplate the validity of such a loose statement — for saying it would be faster doing it in Gotham- ugh, he had to stop himself from sneering just at the mention of the place. 

He had decided to open a branch office for one of his companies in the damned city and it had been nothing more than a headache in the last years. He had opted to send people over from the other branches to take care of everything rather than hiring people from Gotham to fill the spots available. 

After a pair of months of operations, it had become obvious that the place wasn’t working as smoothly as any of his other offices all over the world. 

It seemed like his employees didn’t have the spine to deal with the city’s threats properly. And hiring more Gothamites, who were guaranteed to have a spine on behalf of being raised in the place, would just make the mess bigger without him there to supervise. 

Which he hadn’t had the time to do. 

Come to think of it, the only reason he hadn’t taken it into his own hands was because-

His train of thought stopped right in its tracks, eyes snapping open as he took a long look at the kids in front of him. 

They seemed to have stopped discussing at some point, but the teenaged halfa was currently trying to steal some food from the plate of the young lady at his side. His sister, on retaliation, was moving her fork in an exaggerated stab motion to discourage her thieving little brother. 

“Oh,” he uttered under his breath, as good as speechless and unable to take his eyes off them. 

I didn’t take matters of Gotham into my own hands because of them.

The thought, and the implications that came along with it, struck him so suddenly that they left him startled enough to start laughing without care for present company. 

Oh, this was too good!

Daniel was watching him warily. As if Vlad showing any kind of amusement was a sign of danger. Which, considering, was fair enough. 

Jasmine just took the opportunity the distraction lent her to keep eating peacefully before her brother got any other funny ideas about food-thievery.  

Vlad put his elbow on the table, interlacing his fingers so he could rest his chin on the joined hands, smirking and allowing himself to let out some random chuckles from time to time. Seeing the boy get all ruffled up was fun. Especially when he hadn’t done anything yet.

‘Yet’ being the keyword.

Oh, this was going to work perfectly after all. 

-.-.-.-

After eating their fill and doing some more quasi civilized talking they finally got some dessert and the siblings took the opportunity to order some take-out to have for breakfast. It was never a bad thing to secure food beforehand, and Vlad had seemed agreeable enough. 

Way too agreeable if you asked Danny. But food was food, and there wouldn’t be no looking at horses’ mouths in this household, no sir. 

Vlad said his goodbyes claiming to have urgent business to attend to, and vanished into the night like the dramatic pseudo-vampire-ghost he had always aspired to be.

Why the man had bothered to come all the way to Amity Park if he had work to do was beyond Danny, but good riddance. His random giggles were starting to creep him out. 

Once he was sure the fruit loop was not coming back and they were truly alone on the sidewalk, the teen turned around to his sister and found her stifling a yawn on her hand. A quick look at his phone confirmed that it was already pretty late, and having a full stomach always made Jazz get all lethargic on him. He would too, but that was why he consumed coffee religiously, unlike his sister who preferred the occasional vitamin drink. 

So he resigned himself to playing pack mule yet again and let her lean on him so they could start their trek back home. A trek that would be slow as fuck, because Jazz kept insisting on using him as a pillow while they walked rather than focusing on using her feet properly. 

She was lucky he loved her and had ghost cheat codes to support her weight, otherwise the night would have ended very differently. 

Danny huffed and let her snug closer to him.

Now they just needed to sneak into the house without alerting their parents. 

Yey.

-.-.-.-

Jazz had to give it to Danny, he was the best cuddle partner she could have asked for in a brother. 

Though she could admit that her brother’s temperature could fluctuate wildly sometimes while sleeping because of his ghost-core-thingy or other random ghost power, whichever it was at the time had made it a little awkward for them to share sleeping quarters when one of them needed the comfort.

Luckily, they had found ways to deal with the temperature clashes. In summer it was easier to deal with them because in that season her brother’s often chilly nature was a complete godsend. Winter was trickier but there was nothing a pair of isolation blankets couldn’t manage, and when Danny’s powers decided to be contrary and transform him into a living heater, Jazz was more than happy to take advantage of it.  

They had a few space blankets too, Jazz was pretty sure Vlad had gotten those just for Danny, but her brother had been rather tight-lipped about them, even if he clearly loved them.    

So here they were, sprawled on the bed with Jazz’s arms firmly around her brother’s waist and half her face buried against his upper chest, rejoicing in the coolness emanating from the spot.

She had been awake for a little while but couldn’t make herself let go of her little bro. After they had sneaked in — after Danny had half-dragged her in — they had ended up crashing in her room. This for two important reasons, first because Danny’s room was still a mess after their parents threw all the equipment they could their way, and second because she had refused to let go of her newly acquired pillow. So her bedroom it was. 

Ugh, she would get hungry eventually and would have to go downstairs for their breakfast effectively separating her from the cuddles. Jazz released a little grumble and buried herself deeper into the embrace. 

The only up-side was that she would only have to heat their food and not make it from scratch. As long as she managed to avoid their parents and make it back upstairs she could rejoin her brother without interruptions and-

“Good morning, Princess Jasmine! ”

Wha-?

Jazz lifted herself and turned her head towards the voice so fast she immediately regretted it. There went her neck. she winced and raised a hand to carefully massage her nape. It would never work the same way again. At least she could see the source of the unfamiliar voice now and it left her perplexed.   

There was a ghost on the window sill. 

Why was there a ghost on their windowsill?  

As a general rule, most ghosts tended to stay the fuck away from the Fenton house once they got out of the zone, so this development was very strange. Then again, Jazz had never seen this ghost before. 

It was a female ghost, that was clear, and her hair-

Jazz had to blink a few times, completely awestruck at the number of colors her brain was trying to process at the same time.

She really had rainbow hair. What the-?

The apparent twenty-somethings female ghost had her hair done on a perfect half-up ponytail and displaying all the colors in the visible spectrum, she was clad in a cute summer dress that seemed to be patched up with- were those postage stamps? and a pair of lace-up sandals. She sat with one leg crossed over the other, a giddy smile stamped on her face. She was glowing. literally. 

Meanwhile, Jazz had not bothered to change clothes before going to sleep or even tied her hair up into a bun, and now it looked like she had gotten trapped in one of her parent’s ghost traps. She managed to stifle the urgent need of running to the nearest mirror to tame down her hair as much as she could. She was feeling tacky all of a sudden.  

Ugh. She felt like a hobo just looking at her. she had patches on her dress and she was still pulling it off. Maybe that was the ghost’s thing? making other girls felt like vagabonds with just her presence. Jazz blinked a pair of times, brain finally processing the other girl’s words, and becoming even more baffled by the living — animated? embodiment? — rainbow’s presence. 

Had she just called her ‘princess’?

“Um, hi?” Jazz finally greeted her, she sent a look to her still slumbering brother and debated on whether or not she should wake him. On one hand, he had been running himself ragged the last weeks getting everything in order so she was reluctant to do it. On the other hand, there was a ghost on the window. A rather cute one, but still.

Choices. choices.

The redhead turned her whole attention towards the ghost again. Well, she looks calm enough, and has not set anything on fire or attempted any kidnapping yet, so- 

“Sorry, I’m still rebooting. Do I know you?” Jazz went on, trying to get some sort of grip on the situation. 

“Not really, but I have heard plenty about you.” the ghost beamed, just to falter suddenly and offer a chagrined smile “I must have seemed very rude.” 

“My name is Iris.” She finally presented herself and jabbered on while pointing at the little cloth string bag resting on her hip. “I’m the Infinity Realms’ Official Messenger. And I have a few packages for both of you, my lady.” 

“The Zone’s messenger?” Jazz parroted back. She had never heard about a messenger in the zone, but it was a rather big place and there were things even Danny hadn’t heard about, so it was a possibility.  “And just Jazz is fine, thank you.”

The skittle girl just smiled. “Yes, I made the rounds earlier and there were some packages for the crown prince,” she said, confirming the reason for her presence in the room. 

Ok. She could deal with ghosts addressing her brother with titles. And messengers? messengers were fine in her book. She could deal. She got this. Still-

“Danny was in the zone yesterday, though? Why would they wait until now and not just take advantage of his visit?”

“There are some fragile things in here, and your brother seemed to be getting- uh, quite busy yesterday,” she replied, clearly amused. “The senders didn’t want to risk it. So here I am!” 

With that declaration, she opened her little bag and started to unload a staggering amount of packages and even some mail into neat little piles. Great, more things to pack. How some of them could get into such a tiny bag was a mystery, but that was probably just ghost zone physics. Or magic. Maybe both.

“Oh, thank you.” Jazz just conceded. It was better to just go along. Iris hummed in acknowledgment, still organizing everything and explaining to Jazz where each pile had come from and some extra information that the messenger had found interesting on her rounds. 

She was quite lively for a ghost.

“Pandora in particular was rather twitchy yesterday about not catching your brother for a chat. Did you know she is having a gathering next month?” Iris gushed at her in low whispers, with all the air of a gossipy neighbor that couldn’t separate himself from their windows. “It’s a shame you will not be accompanying them for the festivities.”  

“But Isn’t that just for amazons..?” Jazz asked from her seat on the foot of the bed, where she had moved to have a better view of the things the other ghosts had sent to Danny and her. 

“Yes.”

“…I think I missed something.”

“Haven’t you heard?”Iris giggled. Getting a pen and notepad out of her bag and starting to write something down, she presumably used that to keep inventory. “You are both part of Pandora’s honorary amazons.”

The redhead’s eyes widened. “She can do that-?”

“I mean she is the Queen of the Amazons on this side of the pond, so-” the messenger replied, tapping her pen against her chin and looking up in thought. 

“Wait, does that mean Tucker and Sam are honorary amazons too?” Jazz startled at the sudden sound of her brother’s voice coming from behind her. He was practically on top of her now, still looking half asleep but definitely awake now. She hadn’t even felt him move. 

“Good morning, Lord Phantom!” Iris beamed at him from her spot on the ground among the still growing piles. “For what its worth, I think so, yes.”

Danny couldn’t help himself. He started cackling. 

“Seriously, Danny?” She pursed her lips at him in disapproval.

“You don’t understand. They are going to flip, Jazz. Pandora can count me in.” He gushed, finally getting a hold of himself. 

“She already did. Weren’t you listening to me, My Crown Prince?” Danny sighed.

“I did bubblegums. Sounds amazing.” her brother had already given her a nickname, or many for what she knew, so he probably had met the messenger before this. “So you were talking about some go-away gifts” Jazz sighed and rolled her eyes.

“They are called farewell gifts, Danny” jazz corrected. 

“Whatever. It’s almost the same.” he waved his hand dismissively and looked down at what Iris had just laid down. “You got way too many things there. You are almost done or..? “

“Yep! I was actually just making time until you woke up.” She admitted sheepishly, lifting the last package that had come out of the bag and had been all by its lonesome amid the others and passing it along to the halfa. “Your Order is ready, Majesty!”

Jazz watched her brother extend a hand to take the package but his face reflected puzzlement at her words rather than excitement at finally receiving something he ordered.

“Direct from the FarFrozen and the Acropolis, Sir Casper!” 

With those words, Danny seemed to snap wide awake, “already?” He didn’t waste any time in seating properly and opening the package. Jazz took the opportunity to peer into it. 

“Jewelry?”

Danny jus hummed back in response and started examining the little jewelry box inside

“you ordered jewelry?” Jazz asked again, a little confused because even if his brother didn’t mind using the occasional accessory it was not like him to own them. Her brother —as well as herself — was more of a borrowing person “Ghostzone’s jewelry?”  

“Yep.”

“why?”

“why not?” Jazz debated tackling him to the ground and tickling him until he talked, but considering they had company the redhead didn’t know very well yet and thus was not completely comfortable around, forcing Danny to spill the tea would have to wait. 

The little shit probably knew it too and was openly smirking at her. 

“hey, colorfalls?” Danny called to Iris

“Yes, winter pools?”

“Am I imagining things or this is way more than what I asked for?”

“The crafters outdid themselves, didn’t they? The Pan Queen said it happened because you ‘didn’t specify for shit so you better suck it up, brat.’ The Yeti-man said something too, but it was long and boring, so I forgot~” She ended sheepishly.

“Well, that’s helpful.”

“wouldn’t they have explained it in the letters?” Jazz offered, bringing his attention to the pair of envelopes under the probably-handcrafted box. 

Danny grabbed them and grumbled. “Probably. But, ugh, reading.”

Jazz tried to snatch the letters from his hand. Danny dodged her lunge and moved the letters out of her reach. 

“Thought you didn’t want to read them.” Jazz sassed.

“That I don’t want to do it, doesn’t mean I won’t do it. There is a difference, carrot cakes.”  

“Well, get on with it then, cakesicle.” 

They could have continued sniping at each other, as they were fully prepared to do so until Iris talked again.

“I better get going and leave you to it. Places to be, gossip to spread. You understand.” She declared with a playful smile and hopped up from the ground and attached her cloth bag to her hip again. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Jasmine.”

She made her way to the window waving her goodbyes as she went, the siblings waved back a little entranced by the sway of her hair. 

Danny looked thoughtful, he seemed unsure for a moment and ended up waiting until the last moment to call after her.

“Hey,” The girl turned around to raise an eyebrow at him in question. Danny smiled at her and pointed a finger towards her little cloth bag. 

"Do you think I could get one of those?”

-.-.-.-

“Jazz” 

“Yeah?”

“How long was she here for before I woke up?”

“She-” Jazz stopped herself and really thought about it. “I, I don’t actually now? I think she was already sitting on the window sill when I woke up”

Her brother had gone suddenly quiet, watching intently through the window Iris had just left. 

“She has a- quite bubbly personality. Good to know there is someone like her around.” She offered, trying to break the tense silence that had enveloped them. 

“I once saw her knock-out Walker from a single blow,” Danny replied, finally turning to look at his sister. Jazz’s eyes widened. 

“She what?”

“He threatened the network.” Danny deadpanned. “One does not simply threaten the network, Jazz” he stressed, seemingly trying to make the importance of a network she didn’t know anything about very clear to Jazz. 

“…That sounds really ominous.”

“She moves around human merchandise in the zone.” Danny explained, “She has- umm, I think you could say she has a thing for humans.”

“…”

“I’m not telling you this to make you wary of her.” Her brother said after the lack of a proper answer, carefully keeping eye contact with her. “Walker was being an ass, he deserved it. Jolly Beans is very helpful around the zone. Has even helped me with a pair of things. A real pal, she is. But-” Danny sighed and ran one of his hands through his hair in exasperation.

“Just- Just don’t mess with her gossip mags ” 

-.-.-.-

“Hey, Danny?” She probed, going through one of the ‘care packages’ that had been sent to them, “Do you think the ghosts know humans don’t wear these types of clothing anymore? They are cute, but-”

“I’m going to tell them.”

“Don’t you dare.”

-.-.-.-

ENDNOTES:

Say hello to Iris, everyone :)

She is one of my agents of chaos. She got the Job 5 minutes ago when she bitch slapped me with her bag and the pOssIbiLItieS.

(Not to be confused with intrepid reporter, Iris West, that might or might not appear here. )

-.-.-.-

Me, writing about sciency stuff, major and double majors like I know what I’m talking about: seems legit.

-.-.-.-

It’s fucking sad when the reasons you used to love someone end up becoming the same reasons you end up hating them.

-.-.-.-

I don’t remember if Vlad used Boxy as a lackey? If he did, let’s pretend he didn’t.

-.-.-.-

Vlad to Danny and Jazz through all this fucking fanfic:

-.-.-.-

The moment when your weird-murderous-uncle is actually more responsive to your ‘How-To-Parent’ talks than your actual parents.

Press F to pay respects.

-.-.-.-

I just want to let you know that one of the reasons Danny curses like a sailor is because he has a great respect for Pandora and that woman puts sailors to SHAME.

-.-.-.-

Did the show care about historical accuracy? no. Do I? That’s also a no.

-.-.-.-

The ghost jewelry will come back later to bite all of us. Be patient.

-.-.-.-

Danny is the Elsa to Jazz’s Anna.

-.-.-.-

UPdate on the JJ Ship!

I just imagined Bruce looking at this tiny (but feral) red-head psychologist interning in Arkham and seeing how good she is for Jason and just pulling a Mulan’s Grandma when Jason asks her to have dinner with them, like:

“WoulD YouU like TO sTAy FOREVEr?!?”

And Dick with, like, a banner and streamers behind him, fully supporting the notion.

And-aND! then on the eventual-some-years-in-the-future-engagement party:

Jazz: “Jay? Seems your family invited someone to help us celebrate the engagement.” Jason: “Really? Who?” Jazz *Opening the door that leads to the Mansion’s garden that is currently full to the freakin’ brim and deadpanning*: “Gotham.”

{(And all the fucking league. Let’s be real people-)}

Can u Imagine the wedding? The absolute chaos?? If you think the ghosts aren’t crashing the party or even demanding to hold a ceremony in the zone u are a FOOL.

bECAUSE If DanNo is theIr HighKING, Guess who is their MoTHErFUCkING PRINCESS.

It’s what she deserves.

My god, Jazz would look so pretty in a wedding dress.

I’m crying.

Danny would definitely sob.

Send tissues.

-.-.-.-

Great.

Now I want to write about the wedding and they haven’t even met in here yet.

*wishful sighing*

The struggles of a shipper-

-.-.-.-

These goddamned endnotes are getting bigger and bigger.

-.-.-.-

I’m still thinking over Danny’s SO. Guess who. Yes. You are right. It’s the Demon Spawn. You KNOW who I mean. I didn’t make them be a year apart in age just for the giggles. Like, I was aiming for Bros Wreaking Havoc when I started this but then The Shipper Feels struck me dead plus-if-Jazz-is-getting-a-wedding-out-of-this-then-why-the-fuck-not and here we are. What do u think?? Because it’s most likely happening. Though, this one is going to burn slowly, because these boys.

And, wtf. Why didn’t anyone tell me Bruce and Selina almost got married?? I don’t know what happened to prevent it but I cAlL foUl.

Who wants a wedding. I want a wedding.

-.-.-.-

Me: Writes like 40 pages of this fic Also me: They are random scenes in different chapters and I’m still struggling to wrangle everyone into some sense of order and coherency.

The first twenty-something chapters already have titles and brief summaries so that’s something?? I can’t see the light at the end of this tunnel.

If you have ideas about things you would like to read about? Between the Bats and the DP Characters? Interactions and blabla? You can write them in the comments and I will see if I can fit some in :D

I have more or less decided where this is going, but I still need to enrich the chaps, SO, this might take a while. The good thing is that they will probably be way better now that I have Some Plot and I’m not just running blind all over the google doc.

-.-.-.-

Really, tho, if you have some headcanons about the characters? Bless. I need help with Steph and slightly less with Cass.

I have some plans for Cass. Steph is the one worrying me.

-.-.-.-

Chapter 9 will be their arrival to Gotham! I. am. happy.

[writefinch]

The Prince’s Offering, Pt.5 (noncon, bondage)

As the wine girl collected her board and scurried off, Karim continued. "It is good that your house sent you, I think. It is not often that an offering of tribute falls through from the boorishness of the emissary, but it is most sad when such a thing happens. But you, Lord Davai, have been naught but gracious and pleasant in my company."

"I thank you, Sir Karim," said Davai. His throat was dry, absurdly dry considering that his entire body now seemed soaked with sweat, as cold as morning dew on every inch of his skin.

"We will enjoy another few cups together, the serving girls will show you to your rooms—they make delightful pillows, so choose freely amongst them—and once you break fast on the morrow I will bid you goodbye to return to your estate," said Karim. He paused, and his brow furrowed. "There is a trifling matter first, however, and I beg forgiveness for thrusting this upon you. My scribe, Farah, had a query regarding the translations upon the scroll."

Davai stared dumbly at the gauze-clad girl as she sat down next to him and unfurled the parchment. Over her shoulder he could see the continuing scene of degradation on the dais, where the Mughal men were fitting the iron masks back on to their captives. Before affixing them, they scooped up the puddles of bile, slobber, and sperm from beneath the hounds' chins and deposited them on the inside of the masks. Each hound was then encased, coating their faces in slime as well as depositing it in their open mouths.

"Lord Davai?"

He snapped back to attention and nodded. "Yes, please, go on."

"I apologize for my confusion," said Farah, "I am familiar with Mongolian writing but somewhat less so with the Latinate script of these lands. The passages in each language are a fair translation for each other in most cases, but there is one line I fear I have translated incorrectly. Beg pardon, could you tell me what the final line of the passage in Latin reads?"

Davai nodded and took the parchment, feeling the sweat wick away from his fingertips. "'...We offer this to you secured in the blood and honour of each noble line within the Houses of the Amber Plains,' is what it says, girl."

"Oh." She looked concerned, and looked between Davai, Karim, and Thom with worry. "That is what I suspected, but that is not at all what the final line of the passage in Mongolian reads. Perhaps there may have been an error in its composing?"

"Why, what does the Mongolian passage read?" asked Karim, his attention occupied by the final brandy-soaked pear as it slid around the serving plate away from the jabs of his fork.

"It reads, um," Farah cleared her throat, and gestured for Davai to return the parchment. He did so, upon which she turned it over and said, "it reads, 'inquire with the man known as Thom the Brigand for further instruction.'"

Karim looked up. "Hm?"

Davai's head shot around to stare at his companion. "What?"

But Thom the Brigand was not looking at Davai, or Karim, or Farah for that matter. He was staring directly at Justyna. "My instructions are but three words: take the gift."

Karim nodded as Davai stared between the two of them in bewilderment. "I see. Very well then," said the host, and then raised his jewel-encrusted hand in the air.

Davai did not see the two men who seized him from behind.

He shouted and struggled and kicked at his assailants to no avail, two of the guards pinning his arms behind his back as a third one slipped a thick leather strap around his neck, strapping it in place and tightening it until it bit into his skin and pushed on his Adam's apple. He panicked, fearing he would be garroted, but as the pressure let off he realized with a deeper horror that he'd been collared. Cold metal closed around each of his wrists, his arms were bent behind his back and his hands were raised up to his neck, pressing against each other in a deeply uncomfortable reverse-prayer position. His wrist shackles were clipped in place onto a D-ring at the back of his collar, and a long length of twine was wrapped around both of his forearms. His captors tightened the loop, forcing his elbows together behind his back. Excruciating pain shot through him as if his shoulders were ready to pop free of their sockets.

The guards pushed him down to his knees, keeping a firm grip on his collar to discourage further struggles. Still he craned his neck to look at Thom, eyes bulging and teeth gritted, his face a mask of rage.

"Betrayer! Thom, you Janus-faced dog-buggerer, what foul bargain have you made?"

Thom's smirk was stomach-churning. "I have made no bargain that you were not privy to, Young Lord. The Houses of the Amber Plains tasked me to deliver their emissary, gift, and letter of tribute to the Great Empire, and I have done as instructed."

"You were tasked with my safe return!"

Thom burst out laughing. "You fool, you highborn vapourhead, I was tasked with the emissary's safe return."

"That's—"

"You said it yourself!" Thom cut him off. "You recited the very customs of the Mughal rulers before we even caught sight of the keep, and you said aloud the rule of gifts: the gift must be a trifling thing to the Mughals and yet terrifyingly dear to yourself." He pointed to Justyna with malicious glee. "Even you, Davai, are not so soft and sentimental as to think that a peasant girl, no matter how comely her face and how warm her bosoms, holds any value to the Houses of the Amber Plains."

Davai looked at him in stunned silence. Horror did not so much dawn on him as it revealed itself—the outline of wrongness had been clear since he arrived, and he felt as if on the cusp of solving an awful riddle.

"Allow me to present something to you all," said Thom, walking over to the shelves and lectern and picking up the scroll case. He returned to the table, tapped the bottom of the ornate case, reached into the opening, and pulled out a slightly thinner tube that had formed a false wall. He gave the whole case a shake, and removed a second piece of parchment that had been hidden within. "Read this, girl," he said, handing it to Farrah.

She read this much-shorter scroll, her eyes widening as she did. "It reads that the young Lord Davai is to be given to the representative of the Great Empire as a gift, stripped of his titles and claims, to be done with as the Great Emperor wills. It is signed at the base by all the signatories of the first scroll."

Davai shook his head wordlessly, the numbness in his shoulders spreading through his entire body.

"The elder nobles cast lots, and it was your name plucked from the pile," said Thom with mocking melancholy. "I am told your uncle was heartbroken over the matter, but he persisted nonetheless. A true believer in the obligations of the nobility."

Desperate, Davai turned to look up at Karim. "Sir Karim, I beg of you, if you will please only—"

He squealed as a fist crashed into his liver, doubling over and retching from pain, and as he opened his mouth a leather-wrapped ring was forced between his teeth and buckled around the back of his head. As he sobbed and writhed, he knew he had missed his final chance to talk his way out of this nightmare.

"I am deeply sorry, Davai," said Karim with what sounded like genuine regret, "but now that you have forgone your noble title, your penalties for rudeness and impertinence have increased quite massively. That gag is a gift of sorts, for it will prevent you from saying anything you might come to regret in this time of adjustment."

"Hlah!"

"I’m afraid that's what they all say." Karim sighed and shook his head. "Guards, take him to the throne."

The struggling noble was dragged up onto the dais as the eight Mughal men finished dressing themselves and stepped down off of it. As he was pushed towards the tattered chair he saw that many of the rags on the seat of the throne were not rags at all, but restraints and leather straps. He howled in protest, resisting as best he could through pain and misery.

"Stop, stop!" shouted Karim, waving his arms and moving between Davai and the throne. "I have made a mistake, and treated the young lord unfairly. He must be given a chance."

Looking up at him with wide eyes, Davai did not dare to let hope burn within himself but was not so consigned to his fate that he could ignore any such offer. Karim crouched down in front of him and held Davai's chin between thumb and forefinger, stroking his boyishly smooth skin.

"I told you three things, Davai," he said. "The first was that our gift, received from the Houses of the Amber Plains, must become a slave and a serving girl. The second was that it is impossible for any true member of nobility to be enslaved, as their very honour prevents such a thing. The third was that I am a torturer by trade."

Davai swallowed. In front of him, Karim opened his palm to reveal the tiny silver fork he had used to spear fruits. He took the fork in his fingers and slowly brought the points an inch away from Davai's eye, until Davai backed away from sheet instinct.

Karim spoke with the soft intensity of a priest delivering last rites. "If you do not wish the indignity of slavery—and it will be a great indignity, your fate will not be a perfect mirror of the hounds to our sides but by Allah it will rhyme—I will kill you. It will not be an easy death. You are a young man and in good health, for now, and I will draw your death out to a fortnight, perhaps a day or two longer even. Your skin will be flayed, inch by inch, you will learn the terror of cold ice and the agony of the hot iron, I will strip your fingers, toes, ears, eyes and teeth away at a rate just slow enough to allow you to mourn their absence before destroying the next part, your bones will be broken, your tendons split, I will feed you broken glass to see your innards torn apart...

He looked Davai in the eye. "But it will come to an end. You will die as a noble, and though your body will lie in tatters I will not—I cannot—strip the honour from your soul. You will not be reduced to a slave, and you will be free in death and life."

Davai stared back at him, his breathing ragged. He thought of Ihsan, the wine girl, of her drugged haze, her lewdly-pierced nipples, and the gilded cage around her cock. This is what he would become for the rest of his life, a toy for men like Thom.

"I can see you are considering it, so here is my offer: ram your head forward and pierce your eye with this fork," said Karim. "If you do so I will kill you slowly. If you do not, I shall grant you a new life."

The torchlight glared off the tines of the fork, blooming until it took up the full field of his vision. Davai thought of his grandfather, a great warrior, felled not by the arrow that struck him on the field of battle, but by the soured wound a month later. His death had not been a quick or pleasant one, but all who knew him remembered his bravery and honour. He reared his head back and prepared to strike—he would only have to make the choice once—then pushed forward.

He flinched, stopping himself a hair's breadth from the point.

"You've a yellow belly to match your golden hair," mocked Thom, as Davai sagged in his bonds, sobbing helplessly. Karim ran his fingers through the lordling's locks, petting him pityingly, and put away the fork.

A guard took a small hunting knife from a walnut sheath and deftly cut away Davai's dull green tunic, tossing aside the sliced-up rags as he did. Karim bade him to pause as he admired the young lord's bound form.

"No hair to speak of, certainly not overfed, it is not exactly a warrior's physique but there are some thews to be softened.... Small nipples but the herbs will help with that of course, and soften the skin even more, yes, delightful..." He looked at the guard. "Leave the stockings on for now, they're rather fetching. Carry on!"

The final part of the tale is here:

https://writefinch.tumblr.com/post/649562103918837760/the-princes-offering-pt6-end

[myhistoryobsession]

Did you watch the harry and megan interview?

Hi, Anon! Yes, I watched most of it. Below are some of my thoughts. I’m having a rough day whole lifetime really so I apologize in advance for any mistakes, or if I sound snippy - I promise I didn’t mean to be! 

Honestly, nothing in it really surprised me - it was basically a confirmation of everything I assumed. I think that Meghan walked into the situation very naively, not really understanding what it meant to be a working member of the royal family and the sacrifices that she would have to make, and that the media being...well, the media, smelled that from a mile away and tore her to shreds in a way that’s really unprecedented, and the palace did a really poor job of handling it. Essentially, there were no personal objections to Meghan - the family itself was welcoming, especially HM The Queen - but members of the palace staff (the Firm as Meghan calls it) failed to protect her. 

I’m glad that she was able to get away and is now doing okay. She seems very happy now. I think that she and Harry could really have torn everything and everyone to shreds in that interview, and they chose not to - they expressed their side of the story in a very classy way. I honestly wish nothing but the best of them in the future. 

I also want to say that I don’t blame Meghan in this situation. I do think that she walked into the situation naively, but that’s to be expected considering she’s an American. Palace officials should have given her lessons or made her take a course like “How to be Royal 101,″ which she stated they did not. 

The one thing that did bother me was when she said that her son wasn’t going to be a prince because of his race. The princely title and style HRH are reserved for the children, male-line grandchildren, and children of the eldest child of the heir apparent. Harry and Meghan’s children were never going to be princes, as they were male-line great-grandchildren of the sovereign. The Queen, as the fountain of honour, could have issued letters patent to change that, but she chose not to. Archie’s race could certainly have played a role in that, but it’s not like he was denied the title and style solely based on race. In any case, when Charles becomes king, Archie will become a male-line grandchild of the sovereign, and, assuming that Charles does not issue any letters patent to the contrary, Archie will be allowed a princely title and HRH style, becoming His Royal Highness Prince Archie of Sussex. Whether he will use the title is known - probably not, considering his parents' attitudes to him being called Earl of Dumbarton, but nonetheless, he will be allowed to the princely title and HRH style if he so chooses. 

All in all, I thought it was a good interview. I’m very proud of Meghan for having the courage to speak out and speak her truth, and happy that she, Harry, and their soon-to-be-two children have found some happiness in all this mess. They expressed nothing but compassion towards the royal family, spoke highly of the Queen, and seem to want nothing more than to live their lives in peace and on their own terms. I wish them nothing but the best. 

[dennou-translations]

Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Chapter 4

Please feel free to message me about possible corrections. If you can, consider supporting the creators by purchasing the official releases here.

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Writing letters was similar to singing tunes.

“Pleased to make your acquaintance. I rush anywhere my customers might desire. I am from the Auto-Memories Doll service, Cattleya Baudelaire.”

Such was the pet theory of a certain Auto-Memories Doll, and she truly did think that way.

“Well, I’m going to begin, okay?”

Singing required people to put together a scenario in their heads, and therefore, it was also similar to painting.

“‘Mert, have you been doing fine? Thank you for the letter. Your letters are encouragement for me.’”

The moment she would take a breath to begin writing was when she would start singing.

“My, I mistyped. Let’s do it over.”

Once the recipient received the letter, how would they react? How would they feel about those words?

“It’s natural that you want to tell him to study hard... but if that occupies most of the letter, it’ll get tiring. Your younger brother was pushed into a boarding school, right? It doesn’t look like he’d have much fun there, so I think it’s better to take the direction of saying that he’ll grow up the way you did and become free from home if he puts effort into his studies. But if we write about you praising yourself too much, it’ll get boring, so let’s be moderate. All the more if you want to receive a reply.”

She would picture it in her head.

“Well, then, on from where we stopped.”

There was a beginning and an end to melodies. How they could differ from being remarkable or otherwise gently cheerful depended on the song she was playing, but from the start to the middle, things would gradually become more exciting.

The typewriter’s noise was the piano. The rustling of the fountain pen was the violin. Lastly, the clatter of the cymbal would ensue, bringing it to an end.

“How’s that?”

The finished letter turned into a living being. Each sound of each word danced about, and human vitality could be felt in the smell of ink. The letter had become a story.

Cattleya Baudelaire performed her ghostwriting in that fashion.

Auto-Memories Dolls and their customers were world-building cooperators that created the tales, music and images called “letters”. The more time they spent together and the richer the contents of the letters were, the closer their hearts would be to one another. However, there were people who would reach that level at once, even within an unusually short span.

“Would you... accept going out with me?”

Such as that client.

      Cattleya Baudelaire

      As of late, a certain establishment was popular in Leiden, the capital of Leidenschaftlich.

The owner of the building that used to be a reception hall had reformed it into a space where people could enjoy sweets and music – “Café Magnolia”. The citizens of Leiden admired the place, in which one was only finally allowed to enter through waiting for a month after having made a reservation. It was a desired spot where people would have their eyes watering at the decorations of the marvelous interior and could bask in the music of pianists whom remained there constantly.

The players changed depending on the day and hour. Perhaps because a place where young musicians performed was also a place for seeking patrons, the age range of the visitors was wide.

As they let out emotional sighs, it would seem that Cattleya and the one sitting with her were the youngest in the shop. Just as the rumors had it, the prices in the menu handed to them were high, but as they saw the dishes brought over, they understood the worthiness of the investment. Money could hardly purchase the emotion instigated by a three-level cake stand.

She and her companion decided to pick the items they liked one by one. Firstly, after much indecision, she chose the apple pie. Excitedly bringing closer the plate of apple pie that was next to her, she thrust her fork into it. Upon having one mouthful, she realized that it was what she had wanted. Eating something sweet inside a warm shop was the true pleasure of winter.

Lux Sibyl, who sat across her, was unable to lay her hand on a chocolate cake even as it sat in front of her. It looked extremely delicious. Cattleya wanted to eat it.

As the waiter had brought the cakes in the middle of their conversation, the topic cut off completely at the good part.

“Cattleya, and then what?”

“This is the best... Ah~, really~, thanks for hanging out with me, Lux! Isn’t this place so expensive? Besides, you can’t finish a three-level stand if you don’t love sweets. Everyone told me no, but isn’t that stupid? You’d have to be pretty dumb not to eat this, right?”

“Yep, I think it’s a wonderful shop. Well, then, Cattleya—”

As if to interrupt Lux as she at last uttered those words, Cattleya continued, “By the way, have you heard? Didn’t the President buy some land? Like, the one he made into a base for our production factory. They say there’s a legendary waterfall near that village. If you bring home a stone from the bottom of the water, your dreams come true... How about we go together next time?”

“This kind of legend is no use if you go with someone, right? But that’s not it, Cattleya. I want to get back to the previous topic.”

Putting a sugar block processed into the shape of a star in her tea and mixing it, Cattleya answered, “Ah, the talk about me getting asked out, was it? Yep, I declined.”

“EH~~~~~~?”

Cattleya found herself thinking about strange things, such as how the sugar must be feeling good if it was melting in that kind of tea. It might be that her head was in a daze from the sudden ingestion of too large an amount of sugar. Or was the problem that the two were currently talking about actually the one to blame?

“That’s ‘cause he told me it was on the condition of marriage.”

It was not the first time Cattleya Baudelaire was proposed into a romantic relationship, but that had been the first person to make her conscious of marriage ever since she had been born.

“EH~~~~~~~?”

“Lux, you’re noisy.”

As her voice had indeed been loud, Lux put both hands over her lips after restlessly scanning her surroundings. “Is he that person who came by the company?”

“Right. That person who came by the company is him.”

“I have the feeling he was a cool guy... He’s a bit older than you, but that’s also charming, so to say.”

As Cattleya told her to eat up, Lux finally brought the cake into her mouth. While chewing without uttering her impressions of it, she waited for Cattleya’s next words.

“Lux, you sure enjoy listening to other people’s love matters even though you yourself aren’t in a relationship, huh?”

“I do. I mean, it’s still early for me to be into that stuff, so it’s like an encounter with the unknown...”

Lux Sibyl had the title of president’s secretary, but her figure as she spent her time so peacefully was that of a little girl. Moreover, she had lived most of her life being controlled by a cultist organization, and so she was most certainly a novice to everything. There was no mistaking that Cattleya’s was one of the problems in the textbook of romance between women and men.

“I want to try it one day too, but right now, I want to listen to other people’s stories. Okay, go on.” Lux’s heterochromatic eyes were full of curiosity.

“He runs a perfume store here in Leiden. He’s a perfumer. His name is Chris. I passed by his store a while ago and it seems to be doing well. He also looks like a good man; his face isn’t bad and he’s got a soft demeanor. That’s right, he seems like he’d make a good husband if he got married. He’s a man that women get attached to.”

“Cattleya, don’t you like him?”

Being asked so, Cattleya was deep in thought. Between choosing if he was either her type or not, she would say he was. However...

“I wonder. I don’t really know. He feels different from what I tend to like.”

...the face of one person surfaced in her mind.

“The one I like isn’t a person who’d fall for me, huh.” She rested her chin on her hand and sighed.

“Aah, President Hodgins. Indeed, I think it’s impossible with him. Not because it’s you, Cattleya, or anything of the sort. It’s because the President plays with fire where it won’t harm the company, so with fellow members, that’s… He’s the sort of person who experiences romance in a properly logical way. He just likes romantic relationships and women, so he doesn’t fall in love.” As expected of someone who was always together with him from morning to night, Lux, who usually gave gentle and modest responses regarding other people, described the individual named Claudia Hodgins with her merciless side.

“Hm~. That’s right. President Hodgins. He does give off that feeling after all, doesn’t he?”

“He does. I think President Hodgins is probably waiting for a fated person. It feels like he won’t marry anyone if this person doesn’t show up... But a woman that President Hodgins would throw everything away for and dedicate himself to is just...”

“What about Violet?”

As the name of the friend that both of them had in common was mentioned, Lux made an X with her arms. “Eh~, Violet is his family already. Besides, Violet has... that man.”

“Is that so? I see. It can’t be her.”

“Right, can’t be her. That’s why I told him that I think there’s no such person in the world.”

“What did President Hodgins say?”

“He told me, ‘Little Lux, that’s horrible; I’ll take it out of your pay’. He pretended to be crying.”

Cattleya was able to imagine it and burst into laughter. Lux did not manage to hold back either and giggled with a “huhuhu”.

While the conversation became lively, a second serving of black tea arrived. The next cake she picked was a tart decorated with fruits and candy sculptures. It was expectedly delicious. She wanted Violet, who had come into the topic, to try it as well. She had not seen the latter in a while.

Violet was the most demanded Auto-Memories Doll. She was currently somewhere around the continent. It would have been great if she were present.

“Y'know, I’ll say this because we ended up talking about it... I declined dating him, but I accepted going together for a meal... with Mr. Chris.”

If Violet Evergarden were in that place, what would she have said in reply to Cattleya’s statement?

“Have you become friends with him?”

——Yeah, feels like she’d ask something as off-handed as that.

Although she was not Violet, Lux had a good reaction in her own way. She moved her chair with a clang, pitching forward. The three-level cake stand interfered with the distance between the faces of the duo.

“W-Why? I-Is this the beginning of a for-fun relationship? Cattleya, you do that kind of stuff?”

As it was quite a misunderstanding, Cattleya denied with impressive vigor, “Wrong, wrong! I may have these looks, but I’m pure-hearted when it comes to romance, y’know? What I said when I rejected him was that I couldn’t date on the premise of getting married to someone I didn’t know very well… so the talk turned into ‘then please get to know me’… The other was a client, so I couldn’t strongly refuse him.”

“Eh~, how rare. Isn’t it so Cattleya-ish to firmly tell the people you don’t like that you don’t want it? Were you feeling ill?”

“Oh, Ms. Lux. That’s badmouthing, isn’t it?”

“It would be badmouthing if I were giving a critique, but as a friend, I like that unwavering side of you. Besides, I think that’s essential for Auto-Memories Dolls. Aren’t the female Auto-Memories Dolls actually wooed all the time by the costumers? Like, have you heard the rumors about that girl from the Guardian Company?”

“The one about how she was going to fall into the hands of some big-name politician, but her postman boyfriend showed up climbing the slope, chased him off and confessed to her in the end! I know it! That one really makes my heart race!”

“I get you! To top it off, those two were childhood friends, they say. My, honestly. Isn’t that romance novel level?”

“I really like the climax where he goes, ‘She’s mine~’. From that book you lent me, I mean.”

“The ‘Chronicles of the Star Knight Order’? From the part where the protagonist offers her body to the grandmaster? Chapter three of the second volume?”

“That one~! It’s very similar to what happened. Huh, aren’t we getting off-topic?”

“We are. Sorry, I was the one who deviated from it... Ah, this cake is delicious.”

As the flow of the conversation between the two women turned into a commonplace one, they decided to calm down for a moment.

Cattleya helped herself to a third cup of tea. The pot became empty, and so they requested seconds to a fine-looking waitress.

Customers who ordered the three-level cake stand had free second servings of either black tea or coffee. Cattleya deemed it a good arrangement. Such thoughtfulness was important. She was already starting to think about whom she would come with on her next visit to the place.

“Cattleya, is it okay if I eat the scone?”

“Sure thing. It’s plain, though, but is it tasty?”

“I like it a lot. Might like it more than cake. That’s right, the continuation. When is your date?”

“It’s tomorrow.”

“EH~~~~~~~?”

“Lux, you’re noisy.”

“That’s ‘cause…” Lux protested, her face red. “Hey, hey, if… if you end up thinking after this date that going out with Mr. Chris wouldn’t be so bad, it’d be a date on the premise of going out, wouldn’t it?”

“It would for him, but I...”

“Cattleya, if you don’t have that intention, it’d be fine if you didn’t go, right? You’ll go, won’t you?”

“I will...”

“Then, tell me the results, ‘kay?”

Being asked so with a grin, Cattleya replied with a “if I feel like it”. Lux gave her a sullen look.

Cattleya took her eyes off the complaining Lux, watching the scenery out the window. The roadside trees that would have been filled with fresh verdure if it were summer, their frames devoid of any leaves and completely naked, as well as the outdoors where cold winds blew fiercely appeared somewhat sad. The people walking on the streets had their backs arched, holding the collars of their coats together.

She could also see the figures of postmen running their motorcycles around. Despite not thinking that it was him, Cattleya wound up leaning her body over the window to take a look. It indeed was not him. The other did not have blond hair, and even from far away, she could immediately tell that he had a completely different face and body. He just happened to also be a postman.

“What’s wrong?”

Cattleya had overreacted to a mere postman. Upon being asked the question by Lux, she answered with “nothing”, her voice sounding as though her heart was not there. She sat well-mannered back on her seat.

“Hey, what happened, really?”

“I thought it might be him.”

“Hm? What?” Lux asked again, perhaps not having heard it well.

Puckering her lips, Cattleya answered, “Benedict.” Her tone was prickly.

With an “ah”, Lux soon understood what she had been attempting not to say. Tilting her neck a little, Lux giggled, “Feels like it’s been a long time since he left, huh... Whenever I see someone in the city turn around the corner on a motorcycle, I also find myself thinking that it might be Benedict. Everyone asks me if there isn’t any correspondence from him yet like it’s an every day thing.”

“Aren’t there any letters or postcards from him?”

“Nothing... Hey... Cattleya, today’s the first time you’ve asked about that, right...? Ever since Benedict reported a leave of absence.”

Almost like a child being scolded by an adult, Cattleya dropped her gaze. “Can’t I...? I-I used to fight with him a lot, but we’ve been buddies since the founding days!”

“I didn’t say you can’t, Cattleya.”

“He’s really heartless. He told the President and Violet that he was stepping away from the company!”

“Yup.”

“Even though... Even though I was also there from the start...!”

“Yup. Makes you lonely, huh?”

Lux’s honesty precisely described the feeling that Cattleya had been trying to hide. She was lonely. Except, if she were able to say it, she would not be puckering her lips and spouting complaints.

“I don’t wanna say that I’m lonely even if my mouth splits!”

Cattleya Baudelaire was not that kind of woman.

She pierced a cake with her fork and forcibly thrust it into her mouth. She chewed it, downed it at once with tea, and violently pierced the cake again. It might be that she thought of the cake as if it were Benedict.

“It’s already been three months. Winter is ending and it seems like spring’s about to arrive, huh… Yet the President doesn’t let anyone touch Benedict’s motorcycle... I also haven’t removed him from the employee name register.”

Hearing Lux’s words almost as consolation for her, Cattleya puffed her cheeks. “I’m not lonely!”

“Hm-hm.”

“The President’s being himself too. Simply lets an employee leave when he asks for it without knowing when he’ll be back.”

——I’m a disgusting fellow.

Although the truth was that she did not want to be defaming him, she detested having her feelings exposed.

“Even if he comes back just like that, I won’t talk to him. ‘Cause he left without talking to me,” she spat out her negative emotions as a distraction. She basked in the kindness of Lux, who laughed as if troubled by hearing that.

She had been pondering over someone to listen to what she had to say today in that place. She had chosen Lux.

Lux said gently, as if to soothe her, “I’d be happy if he came back, though…”

It was almost as if she represented Cattleya’s inner thoughts.

“I’m someone who started working there midway, but I think he’s a good person, though he has a foul mouth. After I was brought in by Violet and hired to work under President Hodgins... the one who’d come talk to me every now and then almost looking concerned was Benedict. He’s nice to girls younger than him. Besides, thinking about the company’s management as the President’s secretary, he’s needed. There’s never enough people in the postmen personnel. Many of them soon quit after being recruited and employed, so people like Benedict, who roam around a lot even while complaining and have leadership skills, are really important staff. He should be involved with the company’s management in the future. As the spokesperson of the employees, that is. I’m sure our administrator, the President, feels this way too. Also, Cattleya, there was no helping that you didn’t know. I mean, you were far away because of your Auto-Memories Doll work. It might be that Benedict had wanted to tell you but couldn’t. No, surely he wanted the number of people he had to say goodbye to to be small. Looks like something really terrible happened to him. Violet and the President won’t tell me anything, though. But the two said he’d come back, and Benedict himself has that intention too, so maybe he didn’t say it on purpose. Isn’t he the kind of person who hates sappy stuff, that guy? Let’s wait for our selfish Benedict. I’m also one of the people that he didn’t say anything to.”

Whispered slowly in a quiet and lovely voice, the prolonged statement pierced straight into her chest. Rather than the contents of what was spoken by Lux, Cattleya was stunned at the excessive broadness of her views and the wideness of her heart’s capacity. Lux was a girl younger than her, but could almost be thought of as her mother.

“Why do you have to be such a good kid…?”

She wound up feeling miserable about how immature she was despite being the older one in their afternoon tea party.

After that, they left all sorts of things aside, fooling around and going on a stroll for the first time in a while. They went through bookshops and adorable general stores, as well as fashion boutiques for their respective differing tastes. Whenever the clerks asked, “Are you sisters?”, they would laugh and answer, “We’re colleagues and friends”.

As sunset time came about, they headed to the office, holding several shopping bags. Cattleya tagged along with the diligent Lux, who claimed she wanted to get over with at least a little of the work that she had left undone the previous day.

With nothing to do, Cattleya went to the president’s room. Hodgins was absent, a cactus and small potted plants sitting on the president’s desk instead with an odd sense of displacement to them, as well as a note that used them as paperweight. “Business and dinner. Be back at night,” it said. As she showed it to Lux, the latter deciphered, “This means going out for dinner with the woman he’s making a move on lately” with a displeased face. It seemed he would in fact properly come back at night. That much was a given, for he had his residence in the company.

The two had dinner together afterward and split. As they had talked so much, although she bid her farewells cheerfully, Cattleya felt lonely after walking three steps.

She would be on vacation the next day as well. While dispirited and lonesome from parting ways with someone even though she knew they would see each other again soon, she went home. She spotted a stray cat on the way and gave chase, but did not manage to pet it.

“I’m home.”

Once she sat on the slightly dusty bed of the residence that she did not come back to very often immediately upon arriving, she lay down naturally. She then stirred up with a “shouldn’t do that, shouldn’t do that” and wiped off her make-up.

With her stunning facial features, people frequently thought that Cattleya’s make-up was too dense, but there was actually not much difference from before and after she applied it. As each part of her face had a distinct structure, she would merely look a little younger.

After taking a hot bath, she took out of her closet a negligee that she had bought but never worn and changed into it. Wondering what phase the Moon was in that evening, she looked out the window, but it was not visible. Instead, she could only see the twinkling of a few stars. Dressed in her negligee and brushing her hair, Cattleya eyed the lights of each house. They reminded her that, unlike herself, who was living alone, there were people living in the company of others.

——Married couples are actually amazing, huh.

That form of love, which could be considered a contract carried out all over the world, could not be conceived without a second party. She would probably do it someday. Or so she believed when she was a child, but she had not yet met a man that she would likely marry after having become of age. Perhaps she would never.

——Being with someone for your whole life even though it isn’t a person that you’re in love with would be impossible for me.

Since that was her situation in regards of just marriage, she was even less able to imagine herself having a child. After all, Cattleya thought, she was like a child herself. Even so, as the trends of society were composed in a way that urged her on, she had a vague sense of obligation to do it.

Such sense of obligation caused her to taste a coffee-like bitterness. It was by no means savory.

——I wonder if there’re other girls out there going to sleep with the same feelings as me.

It would be better if not, but she found herself wishing that there were. She hoped said girls had female friends who could tell them that everything was all right.

——I’m glad I have a job.

Working enabled her to deviate a little from the demands that she had as a woman to fulfill such obligation. As she thought about the word “obligation”, it pierced her heart indirectly.

——Benedict didn’t have any obligation to tell me anything.

He had been stuck in her mind all along. Much like a small cut, it ached.

Cattleya had not been allowed into Benedict’s life, plain and simple. Whatever he did was of his own concern. That was all. He was under no commitment to report anything to her.

Nevertheless, Cattleya had intended to get along well with him. They did fight often, but somehow or other, she had the feeling that he was the one she got along with the best. That had been a misunderstanding on her part.

——I’m... always like this.

In Cattleya’s life, it was not one or two times that she had misinterpreted getting along with someone when it was actually not the case.

——‘Cause I’m an idiot.

It might be that everyone was putting up with being together with her.

——I’m... definitely...

Perhaps she was the kind of person who could never become somebody’s significant other.

Thinking about it caused her to feel anxious and sad, tears coming out of her eyes, and so she rolled onto the bed, covering herself past her head with her blankets. Blocking the outside world had her slightly relieved. She pleaded that the morning did not have to come. Her worries and sorrows would all melt away once she was asleep, much like the sugar in her black tea.

——...lonely.

To think Benedict Blue’s absence would make her so weak.

“Give up,” another side of her reveled in her head.

Right. She had no choice but to give up. He was not fond of her and she no longer had room to enter his life.

——I’m lonely.

Rounding up like a fetus, Cattleya fell asleep.

      As if the coldness of the previous day had been a lie, it was warm out in the next morning. Winter was truly about to end.

Cattleya stared outside by the windowsill for a while, but started dressing up as if to shake something off. She had decided what she would wear since the day before. With the face of the person that she was going to meet in mind, she had picked from her various colorful outfits a white cache-cœur​ one-piece. It was slightly open at the chest, but not as much as usual.

When people with plump breasts dressed into clothes that did not fit the curves of their bodies, it would seem as though they had put on weight and their shape would expand into a different width as suggested by the outfit, almost as if they were clad in papier mache. It could be said that her attire was the best one to show for the first time out of her personal clothes.

She had considered putting on a black cape coat, but as the temperature had risen, she went with a lighter beige-rose gown coat. Lining up her nine-centimeter and five-centimeter heel shoes, she chose a five-centimeter one. They were probably only going to have a meal, but if they happened to go for a walk, nine-centimeter heels would take up time and make her feet hurt. After taking out a clutch bag in which only her wallet and lipstick could fit, she was ready.

As she went outside, the landlord of the rented house that she occupied was sitting on a bench at the edge of the road. She greeted him while passing by his side.

In the residential district where Cattleya lived, there were many elderly people living alone, as well as family households. Having been secluding themselves in their homes out of cold during midwinter, the elders were all strolling around. Caught up in their sluggish way of walking upon observing them, her fast pace reduced.

Going down the alleyway that led to the central part of the city, she could hear the sound of a piano from somewhere. The player was most likely a child, but they had probably practiced quite a lot with the windows closed in winter. The playing was more skilled than what she had heard back in autumn. It gave her an extremely real feeling that people were taking root and living their lives. In her continuous commissions, she would rush about every day, ignoring such scenery and sounds.

“Guess I’ll... quit being an Auto-Memories Doll in the future.”

She found herself wanting to lead an unchanging daily routine in that same city. In that sense, someone who worked in a shop fixed within city lines might be the best relationship partner.

      As she approached the front of the restaurant that they were supposed to meet at, regardless of it being a little earlier than the arranged time, the person in question was standing there. It was a man of burned-umber hair, with a thin frame but tall stature. He wore a trench coat over a jacket and shirt. He was the perfumer who ran a popular perfume shop in Leiden.

“Mr. Chris.”

A cache-cœur one-piece had indeed been the right pick, Cattleya thought. The restaurant pointed no dress-coats but the clothes that she had chosen instead. Suitable of a port capital such as Leiden, the restaurant apparently served a delicious shellfish.

“Ms. Cattleya. Thank you for coming. It’s warm today, isn’t it?”

“Yes, spring arrived all at once, huh?”

He casually held out his forearm and guided her into the restaurant. Instead of the sweet scent that Hodgins would have, of something like briars within sweet vanilla, he smelled of refreshing greenery.

——I prefer President Hodgins’s scent.

She was fond of the hunger that she felt whenever sniffing it from nearby. Being enveloped by the smell of something sugary gave her a feeling of glee. Today, too, she had actually wanted to eat cake since morning.

——What did he smell like again?

A blond man who had a bad way with words crossed her mind. Putting on cologne was not his taste. He probably did not smell of anything. One day or other, he would be clad in the scent of rain or reek of sweat – he was the type of man who wore his own odor.

“How about we pick our drinks?”

Having been shown to her seat, she scanned the menu. For safety, she chose a fruity wine as her drink. When reflecting on what to eat, she was informed that a pre-determined meal course had already been prepared. They had escaped having to evaluate in order to decide.

——He’s used to this, huh.

He would smile whenever they locked eyes, and so she would naturally end up smiling too.

“By the way, I got a reply from my little brother to that letter.”

“Ah, how was it?”

“More sincere than the usual. All thanks to you being the one who wrote it. We’re far apart in age, so... even though I find him so cute that I can’t help myself, he’s on one hell of a rebellious phase. It’s been hard to communicate my intentions.”

Starting with appetizers, the two ate in sequence each dish served to them as they were brought over.

“Aah... I understand. I’m on the opposite side. I’m the youngest child, and other than me, there’s nine... older brothers.”

“‘Nine’? That’s incredible.”

The conversation did not feel unpleasant. Back when being commissioned by him, she had felt from the beginning that he was someone easy to interact with. Never had he become incomprehensibly angry or flared up at her. Like how a certain someone would.

“My oldest brother was over ten years older than me, and to a youngest daughter with an older brother like that, the eldest son was someone irritating, ‘cause he’d get praised just by showing up at our house while I was always being scolded.”

“I see. But I’ve also had a tough time in the process of my growth.”

She could tell that he was trying to have her enjoy the conversation. He had an adult composure.

“On top of that, Mr. Chris, we think we can’t compare to people like you, who reign over the other siblings as someone who works hard and is successful, and we’re treated as lesser no matter what we do, so it’s even more complicated.”

“I wonder if that’s like what I feel towards my father. He’s a trader, and I’m no match for him at all.”

“Even though you run such a popular store?”

“I have yet to earn passing marks from my father.”

——Did you ask me out because I reached the passing marks to be your marriage partner?

She used the shellfish to push down the words that seemed about to come out of her throat.

“In my family, it’s customary that everyone has a ship of their own. Want to go for a ride when it gets warmer?”

“That ship is probably not like the kind I have in mind, is it?”

“What were you imagining?”

Being asked so, she answered honestly, “A ferryboat.”

That was a small boat used to move from shore to shore. Chuckling, he replied, “It’s a little bigger than those.”

From the way he laughed, she guessed it was probably quite a huge ship.

Cattleya looked at the man named Christ once again. She liked the gentle eyes that peeked from underneath his burned-umber hair and his slow manner of speaking, she thought. He did not lack anything. On the contrary, she was the one full of defects, which made her want to question why he had chosen her as companion for today.

She attempted asking frankly, “Why... did you ask me out?”

Chris showed an aspect of surprise at the prodding into the heart of the matter, but responded levelly without glossing things over, “I often have to be cautious at work, Ms. Cattleya, so I fancy carefree women like you. It’s fun, like normal. Being with you, that is.”

“Aren’t you being super careful right now?”

“It’s not like that. I mean, sure, I’m making an effort so you’ll enjoy yourself. But there’s an ease to it. You probably wouldn’t be too disappointed if I showed you an ugly side of me in this date, right?”

“‘Ugly side’?”

“Like getting pasta sauce on my shirt. Or letting coins spill out of my wallet when paying the check.”

“I do stuff like that too. I’d ask, ‘what are you doing~’, but I’d help you out.”

“That’s it; this much carelessness is just great. The costumers who visit my store have a demerit system, so there’s no mistaking that we need to have them make their purchases with beautiful gestures and with a sense of refinement to it. I used to think Auto-Memories Dolls were also like that, but you were completely different. The moment we met, you greeted me with a cheerful ‘Hello!’. It was also really easy to get advice for the ghostwriting. We’d just met for the first time, but it felt like I was hanging out with some girl who lived in my neighborhood.”

“O-Our most demanded Doll deals with the costumers in an elegant way, unlike me. I’m... I’m no good. Besides, Mr. Chris, there are many girls like that. Aren’t there some of them among the girls that frequent your store?”

“There aren’t beautiful women who are as easygoing and nice as you at all.”

“Is it about my face?”

“You’re pretty.”

“I...”

“Also, you’re cute. You’re probably much competed for, but I wanted to have you, is what I thought. That’s my reason.”

Being told so, in spite of her embarrassment, Cattleya’s chest filled with happiness. She wondered how someone who could give off such a feeling of certainty was single. She could not refrain from suspecting that he had some sort of dubious habit.

“Mr. Chris, could it be that you’ve been married once and have a child or something?”

“I haven’t yet even taken anyone as my fiancée.”

“Do you wander around night after night as a hobby or anything like that?”

“I have a disposition for getting sleepy as soon as I finish eating. I sleep before midnight.”

“Why are you single?”

“You too, why are you single?”

“I...”

“For starters, why do people get married?”

As his intonation changed, Cattleya looked at him sternly.

“There’s many motives, like the connection of a household and another, the continuation of a bloodline, financial assistance and romance, but don’t you think it’s okay not to be shackled by the contract called marriage?”

“Y-You asked me out on the basis of marrying me, yet you say something like that?”

“Sorry, sorry.” With a downcast look, Chris whispered, “How can I put it?” He wiped droplets from his empty champagne glass with his finger. “People around my age are treated like deviants if they aren’t married... but when you’re not blessed with any opportunities to get married, you end up thinking about lots of stuff. Like, ‘What’s marriage about?’. Or, ‘What’s falling for someone about?’. You see, whenever my parents come to my house, they’ll say, ‘My, there’s so much tableware even though you live by yourself’. I just happen to buy a lot of it because I come home tired and don’t wash the dishes for days. It’s not for someone else. What’s the point of getting married when I’m living for my own sake...? I think... and think...”

——The point of being in a romantic relationship while I’m living for my own sake...

“I can lead a life by myself, and my hobby is making perfumes, so I spend my free time secluded in my workshop. I get extremely happy when I pass by women around the city who wear my perfumes. I think I’d get even happier if I had a lover with me, but then the time I have for making perfumes would be reduced. I also think that, if so, it’d be reasonable to find a good person, get married and move in together. But can this be considered genuine love?”

——Being accepting of others while moving on with your own life. This and pure-heartedness just aren’t compatible.

“I... think you’re a wonderful person. I want to try falling in love with you. But when... impurities like having to marry you break into it, I immediately end up finding it stale. Even though I asked you out as a prerequisite for marrying you.”

“Like. I. Said. Why are you telling me this?”

At the slightly fed-up Cattleya, Chris raised both of his hands. “This is the reason why I can’t get married.” With a troubled frown, he kneaded his shoulder. “I dream with romance often. If I’m going to be in a relationship, I want to do it with being in love as the only point to it. Same goes for getting married. I like you, so just not wanting you to be taken by somebody else is a good enough reason. But when it comes to marriage, the pros and cons get mixed up. I also get stumped when I see the profits that the other person would gain by pursuing me. Even when I do get to date someone, my strength runs out before we go all the way. Like, ‘What, so this wasn’t a genuine one either’... But, if it’s with you... maybe even a straight-laced guy like me, who keeps thinking that love has to be done in a certain way, could age together almost as if we were friends... It’s not like I don’t want to fall in love. It’s that it doesn’t go right.” While speaking, perhaps because it had become difficult for him, Chris rested a hand on his front bangs, hiding his face. “For friends, it doesn’t matter much where you live or what you believe in, right? It’s fun to be with each other, and being together just for that reason is what friends are about. I believe I can have this kind of relationship with you... I’m asking you out on the premise of getting married, so I’ve tried... to put it honestly.”

Silence.

“Is that weird?”

“It’s... not... weird.”

——It’s not weird. It’s not weird at all.

“Even if... someone says it’s weird, I won’t.”

——No, I can’t say it.

After all, she was the same.

“Stupid woman.”

There was a voice in her head. A voice that she was yet unable to forget resounded.

“Cattleya.”

He had only ever called her name a few times.

“You, what’re you doing by yourself? Aah? Old Man left you behind?”

——If I’m going to be in a relationship, then let it be for the sole point of being in love.

“He~y, we’re getting complaints. Did you shake the client’s hand too hard again?”

——Because I like you.

“Old Man! Why’d you let her drink!? It was a pain in the ass sending her home!”

——Because I like you. Because I like you. Because I like you.

The feeling of “I like you” rushed about, almost as a revolving lantern. Her feelings for Benedict Blue were like an electric current.

——Why do I like him?

They were impactful and vibrant.

——The person in front of me is definitely better.

The revelation was unlike any other.

——But, I can’t with him.

It was as if it had been thrown into her face.

——Because love...

...was not electricity-powered.

——No matter what country you’re in, love...

...was not written with the verb “to do” but with “to fall”.

——If I still have someone I like, I can’t be in a relationship out of self-interest.

The one Cattleya had fallen for was not that person.

“Mr. Chris... I... understand.”

She could tell why she was unable to fall for the man named Chris at that very moment.

“I understand very, very well.”

She could tell why she should not jump into his life.

“I... understand.”

It went against the love rules of Cattleya Baudelaire. She was in love with Benedict Blue, after all. She had been having a bad feeling the whole time due to inflicting said rules.

——It’s... that idiot’s fault.

She had controlled herself as to forcefully stop being in love. She had made an effort to forget about it. Normally, she did not associate with her clients. Yet she had ended up thinking that she must do so. Because she did not have someone.

One could not be in a relationship by oneself.

“I... get you, so it’s definitely better... if we don’t date each other...!”

Still, if she did not kick off the feeling of being in love, she would surely be stuck with that sentiment forever.

“Mr. Chris, you’re just choosing someone who resembles yourself. I’m like that too. If I’m going to be in a relationship...”

According to Cattleya Baudelaire’s love rules...

“...if I’m going to be in a relationship, I also only need the feeling of being in love!”

...one should go after the other and confess.

The people inside the restaurant quietly regarded the voices of the excited pair. They flickeringly turned their gazes toward the two, but as Cattleya sat down after having stood up with excessive vigor, each went back to their respective conversations.

Dumbfounded, Chris opened his mouth, “You’re telling me that now?”

Tending to giggle, she replied after a moment, “You asked me out on the premise of marrying me, so I spoke honestly too.”

Chris mushily ran his hands through his hair. He then said intermittently, “We might really be alike...” He let out a moan and fell prostrate onto the table.

“I think so. Besides, if we were friends, we’d probably get along super well. Seems like we’d get into arguments too, though.”

“Because we’re alike?”

“Because we’re alike!”

Perhaps finding her bitter smile truly entertaining, Chris snorted and broke into laugher.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’m the one who forcefully kept chasing you anyway...”

He called the waiter after that. She thought that he was going to request the check for certain, yet he up and picked a strong drink from the menu. He invited Cattleya to drink something as well.

“Eh, is it okay if I drink too?”

“Of course. Rather, please don’t go home. If you left now, it’d make things even harder. You dumped me the fastest out of the dates I’ve had until now, but the dessert hasn’t come yet and I don’t want to go home. I want to eat it together. It’s tough for a guy who assumedly got dumped to eat a dessert for two all by himself. I’m a sweet tooth.”

Being told so, Cattleya answered merrily, “Me too! But I haven’t dumped you. Nothing even began.”

“Indeed... it feels like it got cut off before it started.”

Oddly enough, the conversation they had afterward went smoothly somehow.

“Besides, instead of the beginning of a love that might end by the middle, Mr. Chris, isn’t the beginning of a friendship where it kinda seems like we’ll get along really well just what you need? In the end, rather than having fallen in love with me, you’re just personally picking someone to somehow satisfy your own dreams and self-interests, right?”

“No... Well... yeah.”

“Self-interest is really no good. Being in love is important.”

“I like you, though, y’know?”

“Give up on me. I’m sure this would’ve turned out as not genuine too. Also, I actually have someone I like.”

As Cattleya said so, Chris finally worked the resolve to give up. And on top of that, he gave her harsh and open advice. Even though he had not become upset when being suddenly rejected, he lost his temper. “You, if you have a person you like, you shouldn’t have accepted to go for a meal with me, right?”

“I-I’m sorry. I wasn’t getting myself too well...”

“So even if you’d gone out with me, you’d have broken up halfway, wouldn’t you? That’s rude to me.”

“I’m very sorry.”

“Please apologize more; I’m requesting a formal apology. I hate this kind of thing the most.”

“I’m very sorry. Next time, I will treat you to sweets. Would you go with me to Café Magnolia?”

“Eh, that one-month-wait place?” His attitude abruptly mitigated.

“Yesterday, I tried going with a friend and it was really good, and my friend and I finished a three-level cake stand!”

“‘A three-level cake stand’...”

“You also get free seconds of black tea.”

“That’s tempting...”

“Seriously, it feels like that sugar content deals you a physical blow, and it’s the best. The shop itself is also wonderful. It’s hard for a guy to go there by himself, right?”

As both rid themselves of the part of them that was being cautious of the other, they indeed talked quite some. Chris could not deny the feeling of becoming thoroughly distressed, but was a gentleman until the very end.

They ate the dessert, had an after-meal tea, and afterward, they passed by Chris’s shop, where he created a perfume fitting of Cattleya from scratch. The shop had a good air to it, to the point she wanted all of the lined-up products. Perhaps she could have had a future working there, but the one who had crushed it was Cattleya herself.

Making arrangements regarding the next day they would meet, they parted ways by evening.

“Manager, did you get dumped again? Why’d you make friends with the girl that rejected you?”

“Shut up.”

Hearing the exchange between Chris and a clerk before the shop’s door closed, Cattleya let slip a giggle.

      As the blue sky merged with the sunset, Cattleya was crossing a bridge said to be the oldest of Leiden. Having an extensive view of both the city and the sea, the place granted the best sight. Lovers were leaning onto each other’s shoulders and enjoying the scenery from the bridge. There was also an elderly couple walking an old dog. Amongst them, Cattleya alone strode in high and proud spirits.

——Tomorrow, I’ll give President Hodgins a notification of leave.

Walking with five-centimeter heels, her feet were making lighter footstep sounds than that morning.

——Even if that guy makes a fuss, I’ll ask him the reason why he didn’t tell me about it.

She felt as if she had become unbound by anything.

——I’ll look for him, find him and tell him that I like him.

She would not mind being rejected. That man was at least supposed to let her say it.

“Like. You,” as she tried mustering it out in a low voice, she became contented. “Like. You.” Drifting away from the people going past her, she was not embarrassed of talking to herself. “Like. You. Like... you.”

Only carriages and cars passed by her side.

“‘Benedict, I...”

Her own shadow strolled with dance-like steps.

“...like you’.”

Those were the only things supposed to be beside her.

“You, what’re you doing?”

Suddenly, a motorcycle riding right by her side entered her field of vision. Much like a mishmash of garbage, the motorcycle had a strange frame. It was not something from that continent.

Cattleya moved her gaze lethargically. Slightly burned by the Sun, sandy-blond hair was visible. So were androgynous facial features. Except, they felt somewhat manlier than before.

“Ah~... by the way, long time no see. Been doing well?” His voice was rough and a little peevish yet strong-willed. “I was going back just now. I thought it might be you and followed after, but...”

Cattleya wordlessly stood bolt upright. Her face was completely red.

“What... was that... just now?”

Once she saw his shy expression as he scratched his cheek with a finger, she reached her limit. She forgot about her determination to go meet him and confess. Everything blew off and she broke into a run from the spot at full speed.

“Eh, hey! Hey, stupid woman!”

——This is the worst, this is the worst, this is the worst!

The five-centimeter heels had been the right choice. If she were with nine-centimeter ones, it would have been the death of her feet.

——What do I do?! Where should I kill myself?!

Her head was deranging from the embarrassment.

——Sh-Should I kill him? Would that be faster?

She could hear the sounds of the motorcycle chasing her. Although she wanted to run faster, the cache-cœur​ one-piece coiled around her body, making the wind resistance strenuous.

“Cattleya!”

There was also no way that a human being could win against a motorcycle, and so it seemed her arm was going to be grabbed by the moment he overtook her. Not wanting to be caught no matter what, Cattleya changed her course and headed to the bridge’s handrail.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!”

She threw away her clutch bag. She also took off her shoes. Without caring about her long legs showing from underneath the hem of her one-piece, she climbed onto the railing. Crouching, she turned toward him. “I’ll kill you if you come here!”

“You’re the one who’ll die!”

That was their first exchange upon reuniting. Being himself, Benedict also seemed to be losing composure, but spread out both of his arms as to accept her. Seeing that, Cattleya bit her lip.

——Aah, how happy those arms would make me if this were a different situation.

Now they were nothing but an obstacle hindering her suicide attempt.

“Calm down; quit trying to die and to kill me.”

Cattleya shook her head as though to say she was unwilling. “Did you hear what I said earlier?”

“I did.”

“Wait, let’s redo this. When I ask you if you heard it... tell me you didn’t... please.”

“Got it. Ask one more time.”

“Did you hear what I said earlier?”

“It’s the part where you said that you liked me, right?”

“GEEZ~~~~~~!”

He caught her as she flailed her arms. If she were an ordinary girl, he would have secured her and it would have ended there.

“You’re on.”

But Cattleya Baudelaire was not.

“Ouch, ouch—ow, ow, ow, ow!”

“Let. Go. Of. Me!”

Cattleya was the physically stronger one. She bent the inner side of the arm that had been grasped and started striking with a twist.

“Stupid woman! Stupidly strong woman!”

“I know I am!”

“Why’re you running away? I don’t get it! You like...”

“I don’t like you, I don’t like you, I don’t like you!”

“I get it! Stop! I get it already! I’ll leave it as that for now, so seriously, stop applying force for a bit!”

Her movements ceased completely. As Benedict let go, Cattleya did not get off the railing but sat back down.

“Don’t glare, don’t glare.” His eyes locked with Cattleya’s teary ones. Benedict was finally able to look straight at the colleague that he had not seen in a while.

She was dressed in a way that he could instantaneously tell she was off-duty. More adult-like than usual, she had her luster remarkably intensified. She was wearing a fragrance that had the scent of greenery, which had rubbed on her from Chris. It was obvious that she was back from a date.

Whatever Benedict thought of it, he burst out laughing, “Hahah, you... I really don’t understand you.”

“What’s with that...?”

“Hey, I get it already. Let’s talk in peace for a bit. How was the company while I was out? Weren’t there any weird incidents or something? How’re Old Man and V?”

Cattleya replied with puckered lips, “Not really. Everyone’s doing fine. President Hodgins and Violet, too.”

“And you?”

“I’m doing fine.”

“That so? I think you got thinner, though.”

As she had actually lost weight, Cattleya was surprised.

“Hey~, were you lonely, even if just a little?”

Silence.

“Y’know, not even a wild animal would glare like that.”

“I definitely don’t wanna tell the guy who didn’t say anything to me that I was lonely!” She attempted to kick him with a bare foot, yet she swung and missed.

Benedict climbed onto the railing and sat on it as though to line up with Cattleya.

——Smells of earth.

She could sense the scent of him, which changed depending on the day.

“I ended up coming back ‘cause I was lonely,” Benedict whispered with a falsely energetic voice. “I went looking for someone for a bit. But I seriously have no clues so I really just went in circles. I also used most of the money I’d earned from the company and now I nearly haven’t got a single penny. Even it’s a continent that I used to live in, I’ve got next to no acquaintances over there... so I ki~nda started thinking that I wanted to hurry back home and stuff like that...”

Having never seen that side of his, Cattleya was in a trance, forgetting to close her mouth.

“In the end, even though the places I went to weren’t any good, I was able to gather a little info, so I’m thinking of going there again when I save up more money. Well, it’s also a mystery whether or not she’s in that continent in the first place...”

Silence.

“Ah, it’s my little sister. I’m looking for her. By the way, say something.”

“You had a little sister?”

“Oh, I did. I definitely did.”

“Did she run away from home? I did too, though...”

“No, it’s more like we lived separated. You, is it okay for you not to go back? Your parents must be worried.”

“Impossible. I’m me, so... it’s hard. Enough of my matters. So, are you returning to the company?”

“Yeah. I don’t have any other place to go back to.”

——I see, Cattleya thought.

Benedict would return. That alone made her incredibly happy.

“That so? Saves the trouble.”

She was truly glad. Leaving aside the fact she was currently in an embarrassing situation, she was honestly happy for just that much.

“Welcome home,” she wound up saying, smiling naturally. “Don’t go away all of a sudden anymore, ‘kay?”

——I like you, after all.

Perhaps that feeling of hers...

“‘Cause I was about to try looking for you.”

...had seeped out.

A slightly strong wind gusted, her long dark hair getting on her face. “You’ve ended up unfolding a foolish-looking escape number, but isn’t it about time to get off the handrail?” suggested the serenity of the cold wind.

“Hey.” She was about to say, “Shall we get off?” but saw him raising his hand. Beyond it, she also saw a face that she had never witnessed from Benedict.

Her dark hair was caught in his fingertips. While pushing its way through, his approaching palm drew near her. It was not even a second later that their faces connected with one another.

——His hand is moving, but...

She could not bring herself to flee, push him away or anything of the sort. As their faces rubbed onto each other’s, she sensed something wet. Rather than the feeling of “Why are you doing something like this?”, what she thought about was, “Why are you crying?”.

“If I disappeared... would you look for me?” His face had distanced from hers, but the hand that had come close to her cheek firmly reached out to her back and she became incapable of running off. “Hey, would you?” His rough and slightly peevish, yet strong-willed voice had changed into one that sounded as if he were so lonesome that he had become unable to endure it and was holding back from sobbing.

“Took me three months to work up the resolve for it, but if this ever happens again, I’ll go look for you.”

Benedict Blue’s three-month journey might have been something far more arduous than she had thought, Cattleya finally perceived. He was truly so, so lonely. Thus, he came back to the city that had already become his homeland and to the people in it.

“Even if you didn’t know where I’d go to?”

For the time being, she would leave aside what he had done to her. It might have been trouble for her, but she did not take it as cruelty.

“You’re an idiot, so I think you’d definitely leave clues somewhere.”

Right now, it was certain that she should listen to what he had to say.

“I—What if I – what if, y’know – were living life having forgotten about you?”

“Eh, I’d cry...”

“You’d cry?”

“I would. Like normal. But if I could bring you back, I’d do it. I mean, the President would be sad too.”

“I... wonder if he misses me. He was making an okay face when sending me off.”

“One more cactus appeared in President’s room while you were gone, and that’s ‘cause he named it Benedict. He’s lonely enough that he seems about to buy himself a dog with the name Benedict or something one of these days.”

“Don’t lie...”

“It’s not a lie. Let’s go to the company now. There’s a cactus on his desk, I tell you. Everyone’s seen him going, ‘Benedict, grow on’ when watering it.”

“Kuku. That’s a lie, ain’t it?”

“Hey, c’mon. Let’s go. I was thinking of going home, but since you’re here, I wanna go to the office.”

“Hn~, just a bit more.” The strength of the arm that was holding Cattleya became even firmer.

If she thought of shaking it off, she would be able to, but by the looks of it, she would turn into just a girl when she was in front of that man. She wondered if she still had a piece of her mind to give about him doing such things to her. She did not, but even if she had, she would want to kill it off.

——Well, I guess... that can be after this heat cools down a tad more.

Cattleya herself also wanted to stay like that a bit longer.

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

“I said ‘welcome home’.”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t ‘yeah’ me.”

“I’m back.”

“Well done.”

——If I’m going to be in a relationship, let it be with liking you as the only reason for it.

“Benedict, you know, I...”

That alone was good enough.

——If it’s not just for that, I don’t want it.