#hopefully they figure out a way to condense it and still have it make sense

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Two Worlds - โลกสองใบ ใจดวงเดียว

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[harry-on-broadway]

Tying You To Me: Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Word Count: 6.0K || Series Masterlist || Rating: M (contains sexual content)

A/N: I meant to have this posted earlier in the week but work and life have been hectic, so we’ll have to settle for a chaotic Saturday night update. I know I have a lot to make up for after Chapter Eight, so hopefully this one is less painful. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts, so don’t hesitate to reach out. Thank you so much for reading! 

***

December 2019

Time.

That’s what Quinn had asked Harry for that night in the Hamptons. Time to figure out what would make her heart and her head stop racing in the painful way they had been in recent weeks.

Their conversation that night had seemingly raised more questions instead of providing the answers they were hoping for, but she’d walked away from that week knowing one thing for certain: Harry loved her. A deep, profound kind of love she hadn’t been aware she’d been looking for. Quinn and Harry hadn’t broken up. They were still together and completely enamored with one another but what was once a future full of unlimited promise was now a dark cloud of uncertainty.

Even with that hanging over them, Quinn was still ready to support him, which is how she found herself taking a last minute flight to Los Angeles for Harry’s concert celebrating the debut of his new album. It was a show week – Scarlett Johansson was the host – but Quinn had managed to get permission to fly out Friday morning, as long as she was back by dress on Saturday. Getting the time off was surprisingly easy now that people knew she was with Harry.

She hadn’t shared the details of her flight with Harry. She knew he would be overly accommodating, especially after the last fiasco at the Forum, and she didn’t want to distract him from his big night. So when she landed, she called an Uber, tossed her overnight bag on the seat next to her, and texted Jeffrey that she was on the way.

“Quinn!”

Quinn stepped onto the curb and saw Jeffrey waving at her as he jogged up the path.

“Perfect timing,” he said, pulling her into a hug when she met him halfway.

“How’s he doing?” she asked

“You know how he gets,” Jeffrey said. “He says he’s all loose and cool, but he’s really just a ball of anxious energy.” He paused. “It does seem like it’s a little worse tonight…probably because it’s the first time playing it and everything.” He looked at Quinn. “Wait, does he know you’re coming?”

“Yes,” Quinn said. “He didn’t know the flight details though so don’t yell at him for not meeting me at the airport.”

Jeffrey laughed. “That’s a throwback.”

“Not one I’d care to relive if I’m being honest.”

“Want to stop and grab a cup of coffee?” Jeffrey asked. “There’s a shop nearby and I could definitely use a break.”

“Yes, I desperately need caffeine.”

They darted across the street through the suspiciously light traffic and Quinn grabbed a seat on the patio while Jeffrey ordered inside, emerging 10 minutes later with two iced coffees, condensation dripping down his wrist.

“This is much more pleasant than our last encounter, that’s for sure,” he said, as Quinn added cream and sugar to her cup.

“Definitely.” She took a sip from the plastic cup.

“Is everything OK with the two of you?” Jeff asked, making no effort to hide his blatant attempt at fishing.

“What has he told you?” Quinn asked, getting a sense of the situation.

“Not much, just that you all are working through some stuff.” Jeffrey eyed Quinn. “He's been a little more subdued lately.”

Quinn folded the paper straw wrapper. Subdued was the perfect way to describe Harry’s behavior over the past couple of weeks. He’d become more measured, choosing his words carefully during their phone conversations, almost as if he felt like any sudden move would spook her and cause her to run.

“I love him, Jeffrey,” she said, speaking more candidly than she ever had with him. “But it’s like what do we do beyond that? How do we make this work five, ten, fifteen years down the road when things are different? Or if they’re the same? How do we build a life together when we have to schedule everything down to the minute?”

Jeffrey looked at her intently and for a minute she felt as though she’d misspoke.

“Can I level with you, Quinn?”

She nodded.

“I think we’re really alike – we’re fixers, problem solvers, planners. Some of it’s probably because of our jobs and, well, the rest is probably just our personalities.”

Quinn smiled.

“But sometimes, you have to be OK with no plan,” Jeffrey said. “You’ve just got to trust in the universe and hope for the best. I know that sounds cheesy but it’s the truth. Some of the best things in my life right now aren’t a result of planning, but from trust. You know what I’m saying?”

Quinn nodded slowly. “I do.”

“It’s not my business what you all do but I hope you’re able to figure things out,” Jeffrey added. “You’re good for him. He’s a better version of himself when he’s around you.”

“I don’t know about that.”

“Well I do.” Jeffrey took a sip of coffee. “Has he told you about what happened? After the break up? About Japan?”

“He’s hinted at things but I’ve never outright asked,” Quinn replied, remembering the night they got back together when Harry cried in her bed. “It seems like it was a tough time for him and I don’t want to push him if he’s not comfortable. I figured he’d share when he was ready.”

Jeffrey smiled. “See, this is why you’re good for him. You understand how he operates. But yeah, it was a tumultuous time. Lots of tears, lots of analyzing texts he’d never send, but I think he learned a lot during that time. So whatever he’s telling you, he means it. He’s had a taste of what it feels like to lose what matters most to him and he’s not going to go through that again.”

Quinn felt her eyes get watery listening to Jeffrey’s words. She knew they should have meant more coming from Harry but hearing it from someone else really validated what she was experiencing. It wasn’t just lust or a honeymoon phase. She and Harry had something real and significant that was worth fighting and sacrificing for. And she knew deep down that it was worth it to see things to the end.

“Smog’s killer in LA,” Jeffrey said, as Quinn wiped her eyes. “Terrible for vision.”

Quinn laughed. “Yeah, the smog.”

Jeffrey looked at his watch. “I should probably be getting back. You’re welcome to come with me or just chill until the show. I’m assuming you’re staying with H, tonight?” Quinn nodded. “If you want to get ready at his place I can give you a key.”

“That would be great,” Quinn said, catching sight of her reflection in the coffee shop window and cringing at how greasy she looked.

After Jeffrey sent her on her way with keys and directions, Quinn got to work rinsing off, trying to tame her hair into something semi-presentable, and hanging her outfit for the evening in the bathroom, hoping the steam would help smooth some of the wrinkles. Jeffrey had told Quinn that there would be a small gathering ahead of the show – similar to the last LA concert she went to – but suggested she arrive prior to that start time if she wanted to get some time alone with Harry.

When she was ready, she called herself another Uber and made it to the Forum, flashing the guest pass Jeffrey had given her earlier. Things felt different from the last time she’d walked these halls. As she passed by members of Harry’s team they greeted her with friendly waves and words, recognizing her from parties and dinners over the summer. It wasn’t like she was best friends with everyone, but being recognized made her feel like she was a part of everything, which meant the world to her.

Finding Harry’s dressing room proved to be a bit of a challenge, but she finally located it after a couple of wrong turns, knocking on the door and bracing herself for whatever reaction would greet her.

“Hiya stranger,” she said when Harry whipped the door open.

His eyes widened, a genuine smile breaking out on his face. “What are you doing here?”

“Well I was here to see Jeffrey and just figured I’d squeeze a concert in too.”

“Very funny.”

“I try.”

Harry bent down to hug Quinn but paused. “Did you tell me your flight was coming in? Was I supposed to pick you up?” he asked as the color left his cheeks.

“No, no,” Quinn said, stepping into the room and wrapping her arms around his neck. “We had talked about me coming out here but with the album and the show and…everything else…I didn’t want you to have to focus on another thing.”

“That’s sweet,” Harry said. “But you do know it would have been no problem handling that for you, right? I always have time for you. You’re never a bother.”

Quinn smiled, recalling her conversation with Jeffrey earlier. “I know, H, and I appreciate that.”

Harry pulled her further into the room and led her over to a couch filled with velvet pillows. She could see his dinner was spread on the coffee table in front of him – salad with hard-boiled eggs, some bread, some soup – and she could hear the faint sounds of soothing instrumental music.

“Am I bothering you?” she asked, suddenly aware that her surprise might be throwing off his routine.

“What did I just say?” Harry asked, with a laugh tinged with loving exasperation. “You’re never a bother, Quinn.”

As Harry began to eat, Quinn filled him in on the past few hours, omitting her conversation with Jeff. When she’d stepped into the room, she could feel it buzzing with Harry’s nervous energy, but as she sat with him, she could feel a wave of calm surge through the room. After Harry was finished eating, he leaned back against the couch, opening his arms for Quinn. She readily accepted his invitation and snuggled into him as he tightened his arms around her. They sat in silence and Harry was so still Quinn began to wonder if he had fallen asleep, until he jumped when there was a knock at the door.

“Ready for me?” Harry Lambert asked, poking his head in the door.

Harry let out a long exhale. “Shit, didn’t realize it was time already,” he murmured to himself as Quinn moved to stand. “Where are you going?” he asked, grabbing her hand.

“You’re busy and I don’t want to disturb you,” Quinn said, as Harry laced his fingers with hers. She looked down at him and ran her free hand through his curls. “Break a leg and I’ll see you after the show.” She leaned down and kissed him gently. “I love you, Harry.”

“I love you too,” he whispered against her lips. He pulled back, looking like he wanted to say more.

“Harry, we’ll talk later, I promise,” Quinn said, stroking his hair one last time.

“Yeah, that’s probably for the best,” Harry replied, as he tugged at his bottom lip.

“Focus on the show,” Quinn said, offering a word of encouragement. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

Harry locked eyes with her and nodded, understanding the unspoken meaning of her words. “I’ll see you later, Agent Q.”

Quinn offered him one final wave, blowing a kiss as she backed up towards the door. Harry caught the kiss and tucked it into his pocket. Quinn shook her head. He was such a goofball, but her was her goofball.  

“I think there are some people gathered in the green room down the hall,” Lambert said to Quinn as he moved over to Harry. “I’ll catch you there in a little bit.”

As Quinn meandered through the hallway, looking for the green room, she felt more confident than she had the last time she had been in the building and when she stepped inside the green room, she was greeted by many familiar faces.

“Red or white?” Tommy asked as he sidled up next to her, with two bottles of wine.

“White please,” Quinn said, offering him an awkward side hug.”Good to see you again.”

“You too, Q,” he said as he filled a plastic cup with a generous pour. “Have you seen our little rockstar yet?”

“I actually just left him to get ready,” Quinn said, over the rim of her cup.

“I’m so excited about tonight,” Tommy said. “It’s going to be great.”

“I’m excited to hear the album,” Quinn said.

“You haven't listened to it?” Tommy asked, surprised. “I thought for sure he would have played it for you.”

“Well like I’ve heard the singles but I told Harry I wanted to wait until release day to listen. You know, keep the anticipation building. But then when I was flying out I was just like, maybe I should wait and hear it live tonight.”

Tommy smiled. “Well, I think you’re going to like what you hear.”

“I hope so. It would be kind of awkward to go home with him and have to pretend it didn’t suck.”

Tommy laughed and tapped his cup against Quinn’s. “Cheers.”

After a moment, he excused himself to greet someone else across the room, leaving Quinn to start a lap of her own. She said hello to some people from Harry’s label and had a fun reunion with Glenne who scooped her into a hug with a delighted squeal. Jeffrey arrived a few minutes later and scooted into the circle, offering Quinn a wave.

“Did you see him yet?” Jeffrey asked, when he managed to find space next to Quinn.

“Yes.”

“And did you talk to him? What did he say?”

“Jeff, babe, leave them alone,” Glenne scolded. She turned to Quinn. “I swear he’s more invested in your relationship than he is ours.”

“What?” Jeffrey asked. “They belong together and I’m a sucker for a happy ending.”

Before long it was time for the show to start and members of Harry’s team and band left the room to start the pre-show ritual with him, while Quinn and the rest of the group headed into an area of the arena that had been sectioned off for them.

It was a surreal experience knowing that everyone in that room was there for Harry. Quinn knew he was a global icon but she often forgot that on the day-to-day when she was fussing at him for stealing all of the chocolate chunks in the ice cream and hogging the covers. She pulled out her phone and started to take a video as the crowd began to chant for Harry. She wanted him to see the impact he had on everyone.

She stopped recording as the lights went down and she shifted around, searching for a better view of the stage and as she finally found a space to watch, Harry emerged, striking the soon to be iconic pose from his new album cover. Notes of music began to play slowly overtaking the crowd noise and though Quinn was in a crowd of thousands, she felt like she was alone as she watched Harry strum his guitar and sing.

The first song was one she hadn’t heard before, but it made her think of summer, specifically the melancholy she’d felt when she and Harry first broke up. As she listened, she was awestruck by Harry’s ability to make objectively sad lyrics work with a lighthearted melody. She recognized the songs that followed the opener – “Lights Up” would always be her favorite and she’d never forget the first time she’d heard it, walking down the nearly empty city streets early one morning – but as Harry moved from track to track she felt tears welling in her eyes as she listened to the lyrics and all the heartbreak and love they contained.

She couldn’t pretend to know what Harry was writing about – she wasn’t so bold as to presume that the entire album was about her – but the beauty of his songwriting was that the music and lyrics made it easy for anyone to find whatever personal meaning they needed to get from the song at a particular moment. And that was why she ended up standing in the middle of the Forum  as she thought about all the pain she had caused Harry over the years and the hope she had for their future together.

Harry ended the night on an energetic note, rocking out to “Kiwi” as only he could, and as their group made their way backstage to greet him, Quinn could only think about being in Harry’s arms. As he came offstage to the cheers of those who loved him most, Harry searched the room for Quinn and when he found her, he made his way directly towards her, wrapping his arms around her without saying a word. Quinn felt moisture against her head. It could have been sweat or tears, she didn’t know which, but she and Harry stayed like that as everyone milled about around them.

“I love you,” he said after a moment. “I love you, Quinn. I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” Quinn whispered against his chest. “And I’m so proud of you. So unbelievably proud.”

Harry and Quinn eventually broke apart, but as Harry made his way around the room, he kept Quinn close by, holding her hand or pulling her into his side as he greeted all of his guests. The crowd thinned as everyone left for the afterparty venue and after Harry changed out of his sweaty performance clothes and into another equally stylish outfit, he and Quinn set off to meet them.

Everyone wanted a piece of him at the party and Quinn reluctantly relinquished him from her grasp and headed over to grab some appetizers and another drink. As she ate, she said hello to those she’d missed at the show and reconnected with everyone she’d already seen. It wasn’t lost on her how easy it felt to be in Harry’s world now – everyone knew who she was and not only talked about Harry, but also asked about her work and their plans for the future. Two weeks ago, Quinn wouldn’t have known how to answer that question but thanks to the perfect combination of some contemplation, Jeffrey’s sage advice, and Harry just being Harry, Quinn knew what to say.

She was in deep conversation about her former university with the wife of a Columbia executive, who was also an alum, when she felt someone cup her elbow.

“Dina, would you mind if I borrowed this lovely lady for a minute?” Harry drawled, steering Quinn towards the balcony when Dina granted permission.

“Part of me thought you weren’t going to come tonight,” Harry said when they were alone outside, seated on a bench gazing out at the ocean. “I knew you were flying in but I just kept thinking ‘What if she doesn’t get on the plane?’”

“Harry…” Quinn reached for his hand. “I’d never do that to you.”

“I know, but the way we left things after the beach…” he trailed off. “I wasn’t sure.” He squeezed her hand. “But you made it.”

“I’m sorry, Harry,” Quinn said, returning the squeeze. “It was horrible of me to do that to you. Leave things so undefined and leave you unsure of what we were doing.”

“You’re not horrible, Quinn. You needed space to think and you asked for it. You told me what you needed to be comfortable and I was happy to give that to you.”

“I don’t want that anymore.”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “You don’t want me to give you space.”

“No,” Quinn said adamantly. “I want you with me all of the time. I want you texting me at all hours of the day. I want you to steal my sheets and kiss me with coffee breath. I want those spotty FaceTime calls where we have a terrible connection and I can’t see your face but I can hear your voice and that’s all I need because you know exactly what to say to make me feel better. I want you, Harry.”

Harry blinked, stunned, and Quinn took it as her sign to continue.

“You know how I am. I try to look for problems to fix them before they become an issue, and I only do that because I care. And I care about you more than anything in the world.”

“But what about all of your questions?” Harry asked cautiously. “Did you get an answer?”

Quinn shook her head. “No, but that doesn’t matter. We’re a team, we’re in love, and as a very wise person advised me, we’ve just got to trust that it’s all going to work out.”

Harry chuckled as he wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “Let me guess…Marcus?”

“No, Jeffrey.”

Harry laughed a little harder. “We can't let him know you took his advice. We’ll never hear the end of it.”

Quinn smiled as she held out her hand. “Pinky promise.”

“Pinky promise,” Harry echoed softly as he wrapped his little finger around Quinn’s.

“I’m here, and I’m not running, Harry,” Quinn said as she looked into his eyes. “It’s you and me to the end.”

Harry traced his fingers over Quinn’s. “Are you proposing to me, Agent Q?”

“I’m doing no such thing.”

“Good, because I had a different plan as to how that was supposed to go down.”

“Harry!”

“You’ll see one day. Patience is a virtue, my love.” He leaned in to kiss her, taking his time, parting her lips with his tongue as he explored her mouth, tentative as if it was their first time.

Quinn didn’t want Harry to leave and when she felt him draw away, she brought her hand to the back of his neck and pulled him close. Harry sensed her urgency, leaning back into the kiss, their lips moving together, instinctively finding the best angle so there was no space between them. Quinn only broke away when realized she’d grown lightheaded.

Harry leaned his forehead against Quinn’s as their chests heaved in sync.

“Do you have any plans for tonight?” he asked when he could speak again.

“Well, I’d thought I’d go home and fuck my boyfriend and have a snack but what did you have in mind?”

Harry laughed. “That plan works for me. Want to get out of here?”

“Hmm,” Quinn cocked her head. “Actually, I might do another lap, say hello to some people, get some more of those mozzarella sticks.” She slid over, preparing to stand up, but Harry was too quick, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his lap.

“No way. I like the sound of your first plan.”

“The snacks?” Quinn asked, teasing him.

“No, the fucking.” Harry nipped at her ear. “If we leave now I promise I will feed you as many mozzarella sticks as you want. Naked in bed.”

Quinn pursed her lips, pretending to consider Harry’s proposition. “I guess I can make that work,” she said, leaning in to seal the deal with a kiss. She stood from Harry’s lap and pulled him with her, leading him back through the party to the exit.

“Hey you two,” Jeffrey called as he spotted them waiting for the driver to arrive. “What are you all up to?”

“We were actually just headed home,” Harry said quickly.

“Home?” Jeffrey’s eyes darted between the two of them. “Oh,” he said knowingly. “I take it you all had a productive conversation.”

Quinn nodded. “What gave it away?”

“Oh, I don’t know…the fact that you all practically ran out of the room.”

“Yeah, exactly, Jeffrey,” Harry said as the car pulled up. “And you’re holding us up. Talk to you later?”

Quinn shook her head as Jeffrey laughed. “Sure, H. We’ll talk later.” He turned to Quinn. “Are you really sure about this? He’s kind of a pain in the ass.”

“Yeah,” Quinn said, as Harry opened the door for her. “He’s annoying but I love him.”

Jeffrey laughed heartily as Harry gave him a told-you-so smirk and slid into the car after Quinn.

Despite visiting the city on a number of occasions, Quinn was woefully unfamiliar with Los Angeles geography, and while she knew Harry’s house wasn’t too far from the venue, the drive back took an agonizingly long time, which was made even more unbearable thanks to Harry’s insistence on teasing her.

As they navigated the streets, filled with traffic even at the late hour, he grazed his hand up and down Quinn’s leg, fingers dancing close to the spot between her thighs where she most desperately wanted to feel him. When she tilted her head to give him warning glare, he arranged his face into a look of innocence.

At last, the driver pulled up the path, stopping in front of the house. Harry wasted no time exiting the vehicle, briskly thanking them and shepherding Quinn through the door. He locked the deadbolt and before he could fully turn around, Quinn was on him, kissing him with a ferocity she couldn’t earlier in the evening. Harry leaned in, his own passion matching Quinn’s as he raked his hands up her body under her shirt. He’d touched her many times before but this felt like the first time, his fingers exploring each area he knew well. He didn’t know it was possible for someone to feel so soft, so warm.

Quinn started fumbling with the buttons on Harry’s shirt. He’d made her job easy, leaving half of them unbuttoned but with the way she was feeling, drunk on wine and desire, she felt like she couldn’t get his clothes off fast enough. Harry saw what she was doing and quickly stripped his shirt off before pulling Quinn’s off as well. She leaned in, wrapping her arms around him and hiking her right leg up around Harry’s hip, seeking out more skin-to-skin contact.

Harry pulled back and gazed down at Quinn, who looked up at him, chest heaving. “Should we take this upstairs?”

Quinn nodded, and Harry scooped her up, carrying her bridal style up the stairs before dropping her onto his bed. He laid down next to her and intertwined his fingers in her hair, pulling her close to him.

“I love you, Harry,” she whispered against his lips. “I love you so much. Will you let me show you?”

Harry nodded spellbound, but as Quinn stood up his brow furrowed. “Where are you going?”

“You gave me a show tonight, now it’s my turn to return the favor,” she said as she shed her pants and undergarments. Harry eased up onto his elbows and Quinn felt a surge of pride at the way his eyes widened and his throat bobbed as she stood in front of him.

“Oh my God,” he whispered.

Quinn stepped between his legs and ran her fingers through his hair, tilting his head back. “I think it’s time to get your pants off.” She bent down, undoing his belt and sliding the linen pants down his hips and legs, tossing them behind her. Harry leaned back, taking all of Quinn in, eyes darting up and down her body as if he didn’t know where to look and didn’t want to miss a thing.

“Calm down,” Quinn said as she straddled his hips. “I’m not going anywhere, I’m right here.” She cupped his face in her hands and as she kissed him deeply she felt his length start to harden against her already wet core.

“Do you like this?” she whispered.

“I like everything you do,” Harry said in a rush. He ran his hands up her body, landing on her breasts. He kneaded at them, rolling her nipples between his thumb and forefinger, causing Quinn to sigh and arch her back at the pleasure that filled her. He loved how sensitive she was and how the slightest touch could make her weak.

Regaining her composure, Quinn pushed him down and positioned herself over Harry’s growing cock. She rolled her hips, once, twice, three times, sliding her wet heat over his length. Based on how he continued to plump up, Quinn knew he was enjoying it. But he wasn’t the only one. She was so turned on, she was confident she could make herself cum from that action alone.  

“Are you ready?” Quinn asked, pausing to grip him firmly in her hand and running her thumb over his red, leaking tip.

Harry silently nodded as Quinn lowered herself onto his cock, biting her lip in a poor attempt to contain the moan that escaped her lips as she took every inch of him. She always forgot how delicious it felt when he stretched her for the first time after they’d been apart and she loved the way it made her feel full and complete in no other way.

Harry’s eyes snapped shut and he hissed as Quinn moved up and down, adjusting to his size. They weren’t even five minutes in and he was ready to burst. “You feel so good love,” he managed to murmur. “So good.” He brought his hands to Quinn’s hips as she finally settled on top of him.

“Who said you could touch?” she asked, raising a brow.

Harry looked up at her speechless. “What?”

“Tonight’s all about you,” Quinn said. “Just sit back and watch.”

Quinn bounced a few more times before starting to grind, using Harry’s chest for leverage, a position that not only created the perfect angle for Harry’s cock to hit that spot deep inside of her, but also pushed her breasts towards Harry’s face. Based on the dazed look on his face, she’d wager he was enjoying it too. She lowered herself closer to Harry’s chest as she continued grinding against him, and the slight change in position ensured that her clit moved against Harry with each pass and the combined sensation of him inside her and against her was bringing her embarrassingly close to orgasm.

She sighed, trying to hold on, digging her nails into his pecs as she sped up the pace. She looked down at Harry. His curls were splayed on the duvet behind him, mouth lips slightly parted as he looked up at her. “I’m close, Harry,” she said, breathless. “I could come right now.”

“So why don’t you?” Harry asked. “You said tonight’s all about me and I’d really like that.”

Quinn shut her eyes, desperately chasing the high she craved. She could feel that familiar tightening behind her belly button and she bit down on her lip as she focused on falling off the edge. Suddenly, she felt Harry’s hand on her hip and his thumb on her clit as he made quick circles over the tender bud.

“Wh–”

“My night, my rules, right?” Harry said.

“I don’t think that’s exactly what I mea– oh!” Quinn gasped as she felt the rush of her orgasm crash through her body. She stilled as she came down from the high and collected herself, trying to catch her breath, when all of a sudden she was on her back.

“Harry!” she yelped.

“You got yours, now it's time to get mine,” he murmured as he started to rapidly snap his hips in search of his own finish.

Still sensitive from her first orgasm, Quinn knew a second was painfully close, and even though the sensation of Harry inside of her was almost uncomfortable at this point, she couldn’t pull away. She needed to take as much from him as she could and she closed her eyes, relishing the moment.

From his new position on top, Harry had access to all of his favorite parts of Quinn, and he made sure to show how much he loved her, whispering affirmations as he kissed along her face, her neck, her collarbone, and her breasts. His chants of “I love you, I love you,” almost took on a ritualistic nature as he propelled himself to release, collapsing on Quinn after he came.

They lay in silence for a few moments, calming down, when he propped his head up to look at Quinn. “Ready for round two?”

***

“Come home with me.” Harry said a few hours later after they’d showered and eaten and were cuddling in bed.

“I think that invite is a little late,” Quinn said with a smirk. “I’m already here.”

“No,” Harry said gently. “Home. London.”

“Now?”

“No, not now,” he continued as he adjusted himself to get a better look at her. “In the new year. After the holidays. I think we can work something out. Maybe a week when you’re off before I leave for tour?” He started tracing shapes across Quinn’s exposed shoulder while he waited for a response.

“I’d love that, Harry,” Quinn said. “I can look at my calendar and book a ticket.”

He kissed the top of her head. “Have you ever been to London?”

“Technically yes. I had a layover in Heathrow when I studied abroad in Paris, but I never actually left the airport.”

“You’re going to love it,” Harry said without hesitation. “It’s like a quieter New York. We’ll get you some fish and chips and take you around the town.”

“I’d like to meet one of the Queen’s corgis if we’re making plans.”

Harry laughed. “I will try my best to get that on the itinerary.” He paused. “You could also meet my mom if you want. She doesn’t have a corgi but she has a few cats.”

Quinn could feel Harry’s heart pounding in his chest as he tried his best to appear casual. She knew that she and Harry were serious. They’d reaffirmed their commitment to each other numerous times over the past few months, but meeting families was definitely a new step. And it was one that Quinn was ready to take.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Quinn replied, curling in closer to Harry.

Quinn’s flight left early the next morning and Harry was reluctant to let her go. He followed her around the house as she packed the few belongings she brought with her and scarfed down a quick breakfast.

“You could just stay here,” Harry said as he clung to her while she brushed her teeth and hair.

“You know I can’t do that, H,” Quinn replied after spitting out her toothpaste. “I had to fight to get yesterday off. Lorne would kill me if I missed the show tonight.”

“I think I could convince him otherwise.”

“They like you, but not that much,” Quinn said, patting Harry’s cheek as she tossed her toothbrush in her bag.

Harry drove Quinn to the airport and she kept her mouth shut when it became clear that he purposely took the long way to LAX, doing everything he could to postpone her departure. Finally, he pulled up into the drop-off lane outside of the airport. Quinn was emotional thinking about leaving him for a few weeks, but she could tell it was hitting Harry even harder.

“Maybe I could fit into your suitcase,” he suggested, trying to play off his emotions with humor.

“Do you have a new yoga routine I don’t know about?” Quinn asked.

Harry laughed softly. “No. I just don’t want to see you go.”

“I don’t want to go either, Harry,” Quinn said, squeezing his hand. “But we’re going to talk everyday. You know you can always text me. And I’ll see you in a few weeks. I’m going to look at my schedule and plane tickets on the flight.”

Harry sniffed. “It doesn’t make it any easier.”

“It doesn’t, but we know we can do it,” Quinn said with a certainty she hadn’t felt when she’d last said goodbye to him. “We’ve got this.” She kissed him. “And you need to start making my itinerary.”

Harry leaned across the console to give Quinn a long but chaste kiss. “Text me when you land?”

Quinn nodded and opened the door, grabbing her bag. “I love you,” she said one final time before heading into the airport.

“I love you too,” Harry called after her.

Boarding and takeoff were shockingly smooth, and when Quinn checked her email there was plenty for her to sort through. Messages from work as well as her family, looking to confirm holiday plans. But one subject line in her personal account caught her attention: Agent Q’s London Itinerary. She smiled to herself and started counting down the days until she would see Harry again.

***

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[nijishinki]

Another encanto thought:

What if the reason isabela is considered the “golden child” is because she was the first to have a flashy gift that was under control.

Like Pepa’s mood effected the weather so it could never really be under control, Julieta’s skill was probably figured out after making something and isn’t all that flashy. Bruno’s was flashy sure and while it seems to be more voluntary than not, it eventually got a bad reputation. (Though I refuse to believe that the first vision was voluntary because how do you test that?)

Luisa and Dolores both have very subtle powers as in they can only show it with extensions of themselves. Dolores can say she hears something and it proven by evidence and Luisa has to go out of her way to use her strength and do something. Meanwhile Isabela can point and grows a row of flowers or cause an explosion of petals or make a really big plant (like in her song). So like Pepa and Bruno, it gives something more flashy than just showing what the body can do. Sure, Julieta causing a broken arm to snap back in place could be called flashy but I think you all know what I mean when I call the power flashy, or at least I’m hoping it comes off clearly.

And then while Pepa relies on her mood, Isabela’s doesn’t really rely on that, not unless she wants it, and it seems like she can choose when to make a plant grow or not where Pepa need to be mostly happy to have a sunny day. It may be more under control with her age or sometimes condensed to just the area around her, but it still seems less voluntary (unless I’m wrong. Again these are just stray thoughts I feel like sharing). And Bruno has the whole glowey eye, swirling sand, and glass tablet so like that’s flashy but it gained a very bad reputation. Meanwhile, unless she’s going around strangling people with vines, flowers can’t get really a bad reputation, especially since they are important to culture and tend to represent beauty and happiness. So yeah, golden child.

And of course, Camilo shape shifts which sure is cool and mostly voluntary (I’m referencing when Pepa shocked him here but that could still be affected by the magic slowly disappearing) but what kind of reputation would shapeshifting give him? Not a perfect one like Isabela can have. Then Mirabel didn’t have a gift so cross her off, and Antonio was just getting his gift in the movie and by the time everyone got some sense smacked into them, he should hopefully not have to worry about that.

So yeah. That’s my thought on Isabela being the golden child.

[kaistarus]

Just A Line Without A Hook

Pairing: Hinata X Reader

Words: 5.9K

Summary: You and Hinata share your point-of-views during important milestones throughout your relationship.

A/N: This is a full relationship development and I’m very proud lol hopefully you can find some joy in it :3

Masterlist // Ko-Fi

Hinata was weird.

That lurked in your mind as you leaned on a conspicuously sticky bar table listening to him tell you his entire life’s story. Your original intent for the night had been to quickly pop into Yachi’s birthday party since you worked at the butt crack of dawn. Give her the present and maybe have a drink. Whatever you did it was meant to be fast.

Too bad you had never been good at sticking to plans.

“I moved to Brazil right after high school to learn beach volleyball,” Hinata said, his smile soft as he looked longingly in the distance. “But I didn’t explore as much as I should have. I really want to go back.”

“Out of high school?” You cocked your head to the side, “that’s wild. I moved to Tokyo and still felt completely out of place.”

“Well, it didn’t go too hot at first.” He scratched his cheek. “I actually got my wallet stolen my first week there…”

You fought to keep lips from pulling into a smile.

There was something in the carefree way he carried himself that made it hard to turn away. The moment Yachi introduced you there was an odd sense of comfort that washed over you. Which made no sense because you had known absolutely nothing about the guy-aside from him being a professional volleyball player and attending high school with Yachi.

Still, it was no reason to let your guard down.

“Sounds like they took advantage of the clueless foreigner,” you teased, curious butterflies tickling your abdomen when he pouted. “I’ve always thought Italy looked cool. If I could travel somewhere.”

Hinata’s lips mindlessly curved into a relaxed smile as you spoke, as if that was their default expression when not preoccupied. And it made conversation with him easy. It dissipated your usual anxieties about overthinking every action or word. You truly felt like you could be yourself and just exist within his presence.

“I have a friend in Italy!” Hinata said, elation lighting up his amber eyes. He began drawing circles in the condensation of his glass with an awkward laugh. “I think anyway. He travels all over the place, but he was in Italy last I knew.”

“That’s so cool,” your jaw went a little slack. You didn’t know people actually did stuff like that.

“Yeah Noya’s the best,” Hinata nodded resolutely. “He visited me for a while in Brazil. I taught him some Portugese and we played beach volleyball. He was so jealous everyone called me Ninja Shoyo. It was awesome.”

Hinata could speak Portugese? Ninja Shoyo?

So many questions…

“What’s a Ninja Sho-” You began until your phone lit up after receiving a message and you realized just how late it was. “Oh my god, I have to go.”

“Wait,” Hinata interrupted you mid-frantic scrabble to zip your jacket. You furrowed your brow at the smartphone he placed unlocked on the table between you. “Could I-uh-you know… talk to you again sometime?”

You blinked a few times before swiping the device off the bar’s gross table. “Yeah,” you said, a warmth you didn’t recognize filling your chest as you created your contact. “I’d like that.”

An absentminded smile painted Hinata’s face after you waved good-bye and when you stepped outside beneath the light snowfall you realized your lips were curved to match. But there was still too wide a gap between how little you knew about Hinata and how much you desired to be close to him. That new part of you burned too bright in your chest to be ignored.

And you would simply have to change that.

*******************************************************************************************

Hinata huddled in the corner of the gymnasium over his duffle bag, staring at his cellphone in case he received a last second message. His eyes flickered between the ticking clock above the bleachers and his phone’s black screen, stomach sinking as the seconds passed. He anxiously unlocked his phone to scroll through and analyze his last conversation.

Had he said something wrong? He supposed he’d never actively tried to flirt before, so it wasn’t unlikely he offended you somehow. He furrowed his brow and chewed on his thumbnail, rereading his last message. Maybe he overdid it with the emojis?

Wait, were you at work? You could also just be busy. Maybe he was just overthinking everything…

“Why are you crouched in the corner like a creep?” Atsumu crept up behind him, eyeing him suspiciously.

Hinata jumped, shoving his phone back into his duffle bag. “Nothing.”

“Bull shit. You’ve been acting off for weeks,” Atsumu squatted to Hinata’s eye-level and leaned forward with a sly grin. “Someone’s keeping secrets.”

A warmth rushed to Hinata’s face. He was a terrible liar if questioned directly. “I wouldn’t keep secrets from you guys. I mean, we’re practically family now.” he chuckled unconvincingly.

“Right,” Atsumu gave him a once-over before standing. Hinata let out a relieved sigh that he’d been spared for now.

“What’s happening over here?” Bakuto boisterously called out while skipping over to the boys. Sakusa trailed behind him with his hands shoved deep into his sweatpant’s pockets.

“Hinata’s lying out his ass.”

Hinata whipped around toward Atsumu with his jaw slack. The audacity of this guy. “I am not!”

“The guy’s zoning out at practice, making heart eyes at his phone, and fucking notre daming over his duffle?” Atsume raised his brows at Hinata. “Either he’s getting scouted for a different team or he’s dating someone.”

“You’re leaving the team?” Sakusa asked monotone, as if he couldn’t care either way. If Hinata wasn’t used to the constant monotone he’d be offended.

“No,” he denied, qualming Bokuto’s prepared puppy-dog eyes. “And I’m not dating anyone.”

Which wasn’t a lie. You were nothing more than a friend at this point. Even if his heart ignited a flame anytime your name crossed his mind.

“A crush then,” Atsumu waved him off. “Either way a massive Hinata life development you lied to us about.”

“I didn’t lie, I just,” Hinata wrinkled his nose while thinking of ways out of the predicament. “I think Shugo is calling to start practice. We should probably-”

“You’ve got a crush?” Bokuto’s eyes appeared to sparkle when he flung an arm around Hinata’s shoulder. “Who is it? Do we know them? You don’t need to sweat Hinata I’m an excellent wingman.”

Hinata waved his hands in front of him. “You don’t know them and it’s okay. You really don’t have to-”

“Oh, don’t be so considerate. We’re offering our services Hinata.” Atsumu said smugly while Bokuto nodded excitedly.

Hinata forced a half-smile. This had been exactly what he wanted to avoid. If his feelings were just a measly crush he would have gladly brought them up to the guys, but they were way more extreme then that.

“I’m not offering anything,” Sakusa raised his brows slightly in Hinata’s direction before walking off. “Good luck.”

“Buzz kill.” Atsumu pouted.

“Look, this is more complicated than you guys realize,” Hinata brushed Bokuto’s arm off his shoulders. “I can’t really explain it, but I don’t think you guys can help me.”

“Hinata, it’s okay. We all have our faults. Some more than others, but we’re here for you.” Atsumu patted his shoulder understandably and Hinata shot him a glare.

“Akaashi always tells me to ‘just be yourself’.” Bokuto nodded proudly, clasping his fist with determination. “Then you’ll attract the people who are meant to be in your life.”

Hinata blinked a few times. That… was really good advice.

“That’s stupid,” Atsumu scoffed. “You gotta stalk them on all social media. Analyze their personality and figure out exactly what they're into. Learn their ins and outs and become their type.”

That… was the dumbest thing he had ever heard.

“I don’t know Atsumu, that sounds kind of wrong,” Bokuto tapped his chin and Atsumu pinched the bridge of his nose, sighed deeply.

“Okay, but numbers don’t lie and I have the highest success rate.”

Bokuto and Hinata tilted their heads mulling that one over. No. It still seemed dumb.

Hinata zoned off as Bokuto and Atsumu began debating the morals of online stalking and the value of Akaashi’s opinions. He already knew that if he wanted real help picking apart the fire in his chest he’d have to talk to someone who’d take him seriously like Yamaguchi. Then he’d actually get to dissect the confusing emotions in his heart-look at them from all angles.

Learn to understand them and tend to them properly. Help them grow.

He watched Atsumu chase a cackling Bokuto around the gym until their captain Shugo scolded them. Hinata smirked. Even if they weren’t the most helpful he still appreciated knowing he had people willing to help him... in their own way.

*******************************************************************************************

You and Hinata spent the majority of your free time together, but even after several months it was nothing more than two friends placing comfort in each other’s company. Most Thursdays it was normal to find Hinata lounging on your living room sofa. He watched some volleyball commentary video on his cellphone, legs propped lazily on the armrest, while you answered work emails at your coffee table.

On a normal Thursday night you would continue whatever show you’d been watching-currently Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood-but tonight you were stuck finishing last minute work. You heaved a sigh and glanced over your shoulder at Hinata, his breathing relaxed while his eyes flickered across his phone’s screen.

You weren’t oblivious to your feelings. Maybe at first you were able to brush them off as excitement about a new friend, but they had shifted into something intense. Always festering in the forefront of your mind throughout your daily routine.

It became obvious when you noticed you spent more time counting the freckles scattered across the bridge of his nose than focusing on conversations. When you realized you spent more time at work trying to pin-point the exact shade to call his hair than getting actual work done. Even more so when your heart would do acrobatics at the sound of his voice whenever you talked on the phone.

No matter how you looked at it, it became impossible to deny.

“Hey, are you okay?”

You looked back again and Hinata’s eyebrows were furrowed with concern, his earbuds pulled out and phone placed on his stomach. 

“Yeah,” you half-smiled and he raised his brows to show he clearly didn’t believe you. You let out a breathy laugh, breaking the eye-contact to lean back against the couch and place your head on his bicep. “I’m just thinking.”

“Don’t hurt yourself,” he teased, a hand gently placed on the crown of your head.

“Shut up,” you said with no bite behind your words.

He snorted, rubbing his thumb against the top of your head. “...what if I was also thinking?”

“That’s probably more dangerous than me thinking,” you laughed, rubbing your socked toes together with a soft smile. When he didn’t respond you twisted around to check on him, but he wouldn’t meet your eyes. “Hinata?”

“Nevermind.”

You gripped the couch cushion for support as you leaned in slightly. There was no way for you to be sure, but you could have sworn Hinata was blushing.

“What were you thinking about?” You questioned. Your heart was beating a million times a second in your chest and there was something akin to hope burning beside it.

Hinata looked in your eyes challengingly, “what were you thinking about?”

“You.”

He seemed taken aback by your bluntness, but brushed it off quickly. “I want to kiss you.”

Your eyes widened. It felt like all the air had been sucked from the room as you stared into his hopeful amber eyes.

“Well, do it then.” You responded, barely above a whisper. Hinata took a while to process, but once he had his face lit up crimson.

His hand cradled the side of your face and you watched him carefully, allowing him to make the moves. You kept your mind blank so as not to overthink the situation, but you hoped at least one brain cell was functioning enough to get you through it.

The kiss Hinata pressed against your lips was a little too hesitant, too off-center, and too brief. Yet the beaming smile he gave you afterward sent your heart into a frenzy unlike anything you’d ever experienced. The dopey smile on your lips felt too embarrassing and you buried your face against Hinata’s chest.

After a little coaxing with promises of television and snacks you peeked back up, happily met with Hinata’s dazed smile. The rest of the night was spent wrapped in each other’s arms and supplying random kisses because ‘they definitely needed practice’; ending with Hinata falling asleep in your bed for the first, but definitely not last, time.

*******************************************************************************************

Hinata hated being sick.

He hated fighting through a thick fog to collect words when stringing together sentences was usually effortless. He hated the pounding headaches following any light reaching his unfocused eyes. And Hinata especially hated his fit lungs struggling through breaths that came out raspy and weak through his aching throat.

Nothing good came from being sick. It was a lesson he learned long ago.

“You need to sleep,” you whispered against the crown of his head, your fingers carding gently through his sweaty locks. He nuzzled the tip of his nose against the cool skin at your collarbone while gripping your shirt at your shoulder.

Unfortunately, you were making it really hard for him to hate anything anymore.

“You’re going to get sick,” he pointed out, voice scratchy from his throat’s soreness.

You hummed dismissively, planting a small kiss on the top of his head. “My immune system’s pretty strong.”

Hinata knew it didn’t work that way, but was too selfish to argue your flawed logic. The bare skin of your neck helped chill his overheated forehead and he cuddled ever closer into you, twining your legs together. He wrinkled his nose when he realized how gross his fever was probably making him.

He’d have to wash your sheets and stuff when he was feeling better.

“I wish I could kiss you,” he pouted.

“That one’s gonna have to wait,” you chuckled lightly, beginning to rub soothing circles into his lower back. The vibrations from your voice sent a pleasant shiver down Hinata’s spine and the corners of his lips lifted. “You know, you’ll get better faster if you sleep.”

“But I wanna stay awake with you,” Hinata whined, lazily beginning to trace designs on your shoulder. The world was so cruel.

“I’ll be here when you wake up,” you said, barely above a whisper. Hinata grumbled a nonsense of a response and you chuckled lightly. You fell silent for a long enough period that Hinata began believing you fell asleep before him until you asked, “can I tell you a secret?”

“Yeah,” Hinata yawned, snuggling against your chest. “I love secrets.”

Silence enveloped his apartment again and Hinata almost dozed off.

“I think I’m in love with you.”

He blinked himself back to consciousness while the words rolled over in his mind. He froze. The fast paced rhythm of your heart was the only source available to keep him grounded as his foggy brain worked to unpack your words.

Love?

He glanced up to meet your nervous eyes paired with flushed cheeks. He stared in disbelief while you continued to patiently wait for his reaction. This better not be some sort of fever induced hallucination.

“No one’s ever said that to me before,” he said, eyebrows creased. Aside from his mom and Natsu, obviously, but he figured you’d know what he meant.

The corner of your mouth lifted into a hopeful half-smile. “Well, I’m honored.” Your touch was gentle as you brushed the hair back from his forehead. He subconsciously leaned into your touch with a wondrous stare and his eyes scoured your face for his answer.

Except you were the answer.

“I’ve never been in love before, but…” He struggled for the right words-any words-settling on what he could piece together at the moment. “I feel like things are better when you’re here. Like, I can do anything I hope to and more. I just feel happier when I’m with you and it’s easier and everything makes sense…” He wrinkled his nose. “Is… is that love?”

You cradled his fevered cheeks tenderly. “I think that’s for you to decide Hinata.”

He nodded to himself. “Okay,” he said determinedly. “Then yeah. It is, I love you, (Y/N).”

“I’m glad,” you smiled, looking at him with an affectionate stare that set his heart ablaze. He took a deep breath before disappointedly letting his forehead drop to your chest.

“Fuck, I want to kiss you so bad.”

You let out a bubble of laughter, rubbing your thumbs tenderly against his cheeks. “We’ll make up for it plenty when you’re feeling better.”

He tried to hold back a smirk, but failed. “Fine.”

“Now go to sleep,” You ordered, planting a quick peck to the top of his head.

He grumbled half-assed as he situated himself more comfortably, but Hinata was all talk at this point. His eyelids were heavy with sleep and his heart hummed with contentment. He was in love. A smile dusted his lips as he began drifting off.

Maybe being sick wasn’t so bad after all.

*******************************************************************************************

You narrowed your eyes suspiciously at your boyfriend across the couch chowing down on take-out sushi. Hinata’s eyes were glued to the television’s screen, his hand alternating between shoveling food into his mouth and rubbing mindless circles on your shin across his lap. Things were comfortable, easy, perfect some might even say.

Too perfect.

“Why aren’t we fighting?”

Hinata turned, cheeks stuffed with food and eyebrows raised with surprise. Under normal circumstances you’d consider it adorable, but you wanted to be serious.

He swallowed with a wince before raising an eyebrow. “Did something happen?”

“No, but we’ve been dating for a while and we haven’t had the big fight.”

“We fight all the time,” he placed his plate on the coffee table with a roll of his eyes. You huffed because he clearly wasn’t on the same page. “Just yesterday I was pissed because you left an empty container of milk in my fridge.”

“It wasn’t empty.”

“There was a dribble. That’s not enough for-” He put up a hand and took a breath. “Not the point. Point is: we fought right?”

“That was hardly a discussion.” You waved him off. He had angrily brought it up, you kissed him sorry, and he forgave you. Hinata didn’t know how to hold a grudge and all you had to do was buy him more milk.

“Okay, a few weeks ago then. You fell in the toilet because I forgot to put the seat down.” He nodded confidently. “You woke me up in the middle of the night for that one.”

You shuddered at the memory of being shocked into full consciousness by falling into a pool of your own piss. In your shocked state you may have chosen violence and decided to pick a fight with Hinata at three in the morning, but it was well deserved.

“Okay, but that’s not what I mean.”

“Are you sure?” He raised a brow. “Waking up with my girlfriend on top of me and slowly realizing she’s threatening to end my bloodline kind of feels like a fight.”

“Okay, that’s-” You pinched the bridge of your nose and ignored his amused smirk. “I’m talking about relationship ruining fights.”

He tilted his head, clearly not following you.

“Like, you insult me using some secret I’ve only divulged to you and I leave crying with no self-esteem.” You explained with exaggerated hand gestures and his nose wrinkled. “Or I walk in on you having an explicit affair with Kageyama, or maybe you get drunk and I over hear you talking with-”

He put both his hands up, “back it up. What the hell was that last one?”

“An explicit affair?” You blinked a few times and cocked your head to the side. “With… Kageyama?”

“Yeah that’s what I-we’re gonna unpack that later.” He palmed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Anyway, why would any of this happen?”

“Because that’s what always happens.” You answered honestly. Maybe you sounded like a pessimist, but that was just the reality of the world. At least, you had never seen it work any other way. “So just… tell me how it’s going to happen.”

Hinata looked crestfallen at your statement and the dejected look in his eyes made your heart sink to your stomach. You closed your eyes, waiting for him to question your sanity, but was taken back when he crawled forward to rest his head on your chest.

“If I ever hurt you like that,” he mouthed against your collarbone. “I would never forgive myself.”

Your heart raced and you brought a hand to card through his unruly locks, nodding to acknowledge his words.

“Don’t overthink,” he said, kissing your neck softly. “If we’re good then we’re good. Maybe that’s just how it’s meant to be.”

Your lips curved into a small smile and you nodded again. You let yourselves just exist with him for a while. Heart’s beating in unison while you twirled tufts of autumn through your fingers. His lips dusting across your neck as he whispered loving affirmations against you. And maybe he was right.

Maybe it was just meant to be.

*******************************************************************************************

Hinata moved expertly around his kitchen preparing breakfast, sneaking glancing at you perched drowsily beside the stove adorning one of his larger shirts. Obviously it wasn’t the first time he’d seen you like that-hair mussed, eyes heavy with sleep, in only his clothes-but it still warmed his heart when you existed so casually in space. Like you belonged there.

His lips curved into a smile as he cracked several eggs into a heated frying pan. The dull thudding of your heels hitting a cupboard mixed with the sizzling on the pan for the background of your comfortable silence. Even without conversation his life felt brighter in your presence and he was thankful his apartment was such a convenient location for the both of you.

You yawned deeply, rubbing the sleep from your eyes and finally focusing on him. Hinata selfishly wished you could be with him more often. The days he woke up without you were the coldest.

“What are you staring at?” You slurred with another yawn.

Hinata shot you a lopsided grin, “my beautiful girlfriend.”

You side-eyed him with an amused smirk, “kiss ass.”

Hinata slid the eggs onto a couple plates before going to stand in front of you. You raised a curious brow, but weren’t given enough time to voice a question before he pressed his lips to yours. His mouth curved into a smile against yours-another reason he loved you being here so often was it meant more of this.

Your hands cradled his face as he appreciated that you still tasted like mint from his borrowed toothpaste this morning. Another subtle way he’d nudged himself into your life he realized, toying with the bottom of his shirt you were wearing.

“What’s this for?” You asked, sliding your hands over his shoulders and hooking them behind his neck.

“I just love you,” he replied earnestly. Your fingers laid a scorching touch as they teased the baby hairs on his neck, sending a shiver down his spine. Hinata took his time with languid kisses-he could kiss you a million times and the hunger for more would always linger.

Your breaths were heavy when you pulled back to place your forehead against his, eyeing him with pure affection that set his heart ablaze. “I love you too, Shoyo.”

He trailed his knuckles down your cheek and relished in the way you leaned into his touch. How had he gotten this luck? Hinata placed a tender kiss on your forehead, temple, cheekbone, tip of your nose, and finally on your lips.

“You should move in.”

Hinata’s eyes widened in shock at his own question because that had been the last thing he’d planned on doing this morning. Well, the suggestion was out there and it’s not like he wanted to take it back...

You blinked several times as you processed. “With you?”

“Ideally.”

You furrowed your brow while mulling it over and Hinata counted his heartbeats to stay grounded. Worst case scenario you say no and things are awkward for a bit. Best case scenario he takes a large step forward with the love of his life.

Oh god, he should’ve planned this better.

“Okay.”

“I understand,” Hinata sighed. “It was totally random and I shouldn’t have expected-did you say yes?”

“Yeah,” your cheeks flushed and you bit your bottom lip to fight down a smile. “I mean, I’m here most of the time anyway, right?”

Hinata nodded mindlessly before a face splitting grin covered his features and he scooped you off the corner. You squealed while he spun you around with a bright laugh, interrupting any of your comments with a passionate kiss. While you were busy tangling your fingers into his unruly hair he glanced toward his bedroom’s door.

There was probably enough time to celebrate.

*******************************************************************************************

“She’s beautiful,” you said in awe, cradling the swaddled newborn in your arms. She was sleeping soundly, tiny breaths leaving her partly open mouth. The baby looked too fragile for this world, features too small and delicate to be realistic.

She was amazing.

“Well, she’s our daughter,” Tanaka’s chest puffed up proudly. He sat beside Shimizu on her hospital bed with an arm hung loosely around her. “Obviously she’s going to be perfect.”

You wouldn’t fight his dramatics; he deserved to be happy today.

“What’s her name?” Hinata breathed. Seated beside you he leaned heavily against your side to observe the baby.

“Sayori,” Shimizu yawned. She and Tanaka had deep bruises under their eyes, and you smirked knowingly down at the sleeping demon in disguise.

Hinata hesitantly moved his hand toward Sayori before planting it back on his lap. You raised a brow, reaching over with the hand not helping cradle Sayori’s head and grabbed his forefinger. Hinata looked at you panicked, but relaxed as you guided him toward Sayori’s small fist that pressed gently against her pink cheeks.

When she instinctively wrapped her fingers around his forefinger his eyes widened and he whipped his gaze to you. “She grabbed my finger,” he whispered.

“They do that,” you smirked, a frenzy of butterflies attacking your stomach as he stared at Sayori wondrously.

“That’s amazing.”

“Okay, stop using my kid as a way to feed your baby fever.” Tanaka huffed. Shimizu elbowed him in the stomach and a warmth trickled up your face when his words hit you.

“What’s a baby fever?” Hinata asked, raising an eyebrow at you. “Is it dangerous?”

“No,” you stumbled over a reply that wouldn’t make the situation incredibly awkward. “It’s when you, uh, want kids.”

“Oh,” Hinata shrugged, bouncing his finger to play with Sayori’s hand. “What’s wrong with eventually wanting kids?”

“That’s not-”

“No, it means you want a kid now.” Tanaka emphasized by smacking the hospital bed. “Like, go home immediately and make a baby level now.”

Hinata blinked a few times before his face lit up red, “oh.”

You nodded awkwardly and both of you remained quiet while Shimizu chastised Tanaka in the background. One of you should probably deny the baby fever thing… right? You glanced over to Hinata, but his eyebrows were furrowed as he stared intently at Sayori.

“Okay, Sayori needs to eat soon, so I’m kicking Hinata out.” Tanaka announced.

Hinata didn’t put up any fights and you passed Sayori back to Shimizu, making plans to see each other again soon. You offered your services for future babysitting with Hinata’s vigorous agreeing behind you and they were more than grateful for it. Regardless Tanaka shooed you out when Sayori began wriggling in Shimizu’s arms.

As you and Hinata made your way to the metro that would bring you to your apartment complex the air between you was heavy. An obvious awkwardness that was harder to ignore the longer you walked together.

“I’m not surprised their baby ended up looking so cute,” you laughed, filling the space with nervous chatter. “Shimizu is really pretty.”

He nodded, looking up at the cloudless sky thoughtfully. “Do you think our baby would be cute?”

Your heart rate quickened at the idea. It wasn’t like you’d never thought of it, but talking about it outloud was a completely different monster. “I think it would have pretty great genes.”

He nodded, furrowing his brow at the sidewalk ahead.

Hinata wasn’t an idiot. Neither of you were ready for something like that. Several nights ago you’d decided to get drunk and attempt making meat buns-you’d nearly set the kitchen on fire. That doesn’t scream parent material.

On a larger scale, Hinata had just been selected for Japan’s Olympic team. There just wasn’t time for something like that. No, a baby wasn’t realistic.

However...

“What’s our apartment’s pet policy?”

He turned to you with a raised brow, “probably an extra fee and a weight limit. Why?”

You smirked mischievously at him, “want to get a dog?”

His jaw dropped. “Oh my fu-can I name it?”

“Only if I get to pick the breed.”

“Well then, what are you waiting for?” Hinata grasped your hand and yanked you toward the closest metro station. “Look up the closest pet store and let’s go!”

You chuckled, allowing him to pull you toward a random station that probably wouldn’t lead you where you needed. It would work out in the end. Things always seemed to fall perfectly into place with HInata.

*******************************************************************************************

Hinata glared across the roll of wrapping paper at the small puppy crushing the end of the tube, tearing edges of red and white striped paper with its sharp teeth. Hinata tugged it out of the pup’s mouth, but that only encouraged the behavior as it leapt forward to chew with more vigor.

“Can you grab your son?” Hinata waved the roll around, letting the Shiba Inu chase the end that Hinata held just out of reach. “He’s making this more difficult than it needs to be.”

You paused your typing at the dining table and giggled at Hinata’s antics. After closing the laptop you jogged over to scoop the puppy up, flipping him over in your arms to rub its belly. The puppy let its tongue hang out and wagged its tail vigorously at the attention.

“Oh, Deku, are you giving your dad a hard time,” you cooed down at the puppy, lifting him to look him in the eyes with a furrowed brow. “That’s not very nice.”

Hinata rolled his eyes fondly at your pathetic attempt of scolding while Deku licked you on the nose. Just several months old and he already knew how to manipulate people with his cuteness.

“I bought our bullet train tickets,” you said while nudging him the roll of tape he’d started looking around for. “Natsu called me earlier. We decided that you and I should get there around 3.”

Hinata tore a piece of tape off with his teeth while he held the wrapping paper still around the boxed pair of rollerskates with his foot.

“We have to stop by Tanaka’s place before we head out,” Hinata wrinkled his nose at his poor wrapping job. “Noya’s visiting for a while and he wants to meet Deku.”

“Of course,” you smiled as you held a chew toy above Deku’s face so he could nibble on it in your lap. “We have some presents for Sayori, anyway.”

Oh yeah. You had split the present wrapping in terms of difficulty, so you had the pleasure of wrapping weirdly shaped toys while he was left with boxes. Somehow, his still turned out to be a disaster.

He could hear Natsu’s complaints already.

“The train doesn’t leave till one, so we should have plenty of time.” You stated once Hinata taped the final present, completing his small present tower. Deku wriggled himself free from your grip and immediately attacked the empty wrapping paper roll.

Hinata smiled absentmindedly as he watched Deku hold the tube still with his small paws as he gnawed the cardboard. He felt you crawl over, lying your head onto his lap as your eyes followed his to watch your dog-son together. He felt at peace, running his fingers through your hair while Deku wreaked mischief nearby.

He felt like he could never get happier than this, and he never wanted it to end.

“He really is a troublemaker,” you snorted as Deku dragged the tube across the living room proudly. “Gets it from you.”

Hinata rolled his eyes and pinched your cheek. “It’s because you let him do whatever he wants.”

“Do not!”

He chuckled, taking his time tracing your features. The curve of your cheekbones, the dip of your lips, the bridge of your nose-everything he’d kissed into his memory by now but still couldn’t get enough of.

Hinata’s heart burned bright as he ran his knuckles along your cheek, “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” You smiled softly, leaning subconsciously into his touch.

“I mean… I really love you, (Y/N).” Hinata grabbed your hand and brought it to his lips. “I think this is it.”

You met his stare for several moments before your cheeks reddened. “Oh.”

Hinata nodded, pressing a loving kiss to the back of your hand. “I just-I always want you with me and if it’s not you in the end then… then what’s the point?”

Your mouth fell slightly open and he felt your hand flex in his grasp. He assumed he made a mistake-said too much too fast-but his chest was so warm and full and it was hard to reign in his emotions when he got that way.

A smile blossomed across your face and it eased his anxieties when you held his cheek. “You’re it for me too, Sho.”

He blinked several times as the words rolled over in his mind. “Wha-really?” He twisted himself so he could look you in the eyes, begging for you to be telling the truth.

You nodded shyly, your face crimson. “Yeah. You have been. I’m not… I don’t think I’d be able to love anyone else ever again.”

It felt like he’d been hit by a train at your confession and he pressed his mouth against yours before he’d even processed the statement. Your content hum against his lips was enough to drive him insane.

“Well, I’m going to love you forever.” Hinata promised with a dopey smile. “So don’t even think about that.”

You snorted, but nodded anyway. Hinata glanced down at your lips again with hooded eyes and started leaning forward, but was rudely interrupted by a damp cardboard tube hitting his forehead.

He glanced up exhaustedly at the Shiba Inu puppy panting obliviously at the both of you, waiting patiently for the love and attention he knew he deserved. You pushed Hinata off to grab Deku, but he jumped into a play bow and jolted back when you reached for him.

Hinata smiled dazedly as you chased Deku around the apartment, juking around furniture to attempt to throw the puppy off-course. He had never felt so complete than he had in that moment because he realized that this was it for him.

It was you. It was him. It was a troublemaker dog. And it was a promise that you’d be together forever.

And that was pretty damn perfect.

[harvestdew]

pls will u ever elaborate on kiki's backstory im dying to know what on earth is going on there

yeah i was like wow i’m gonna be so cool and mysterious and NOT tell anyone not even my friends what’s going on with kiki til i pump out my comics because i thought it’d be better that way? but school saps the energy from me so idk why i expected to get comics out in a timely manner when comics take a lot of time. i also feel bad because i’ve had multiple people go like “WHAT the fuck is going” so i’ll just tell you all as a little 500 followers treat so you guys don’t misunderstand and think she’s a murderer

also if you ever want to hear me talk about my oc’s more you can always come to my livestreams (i stream my stardew valley gameplay w/ friends or when i draw)!

disclaimer: this will be long. it’s complicated, if you’re more confused just send me another ask and i’ll elaborate, and i’ll split it into 3 sections! i’m so sorry

childhood - after kiki’s parents divorced, she chose to stay with her dad, her mom remarried to a rich CEO (more on this later), whatever. her dad dies in an accident, but instead of being passed over to her mom, kiki got sent to pelican town to live with her grandpa on her dad’s side when she was 13. i think at this time haley is too young for her to hang out with because i always thought she was younger than kiki BUT sebastian is her age and they’re actually put in the same class

kiki struggles with acclimating to pelican town because she’s a) grieving b) joining the class in the dead middle of the year so everyone thinks she’s a loser LOL. i guess sebastian felt really bad for her cuz he finds her crying outside once of class and gives her like his juice or something out of pity. they end up becoming friends though, and by extension, she becomes friends with sam and abigail. she hangs out with sebastian the most though, plus they’re kinda neighbors so robin was used to her stopping by constantly out of convenience

unfortunately kiki only spends 2 years in pelican town because her grandpa died, but before he does he gives her the envelope like in the intro of stardew valley and tells her not to open it. everything goes downhill for her at this point because it means she has to move back in with her mom. kiki knows that her mom has 0 attachment to stardew valley so the only way she thinks she can really keep in contact with everyone is writing them letters which sounds pretty infallible at first

anyway i may or may not have taken inspo from an e ve MV here because childhood friends parting makes me really sad

teenage years up to early 20s - around this time surprise her mom is (surprise) awful. by this i mean her mom literally married a chairman at joja corp., enrolled kiki in private school, and tried to siphon any connection she had to her dad, grandpa, and stardew valley by substituting it with her new life in zuzu city. not to mention kiki’s step-sister irene who i’m going to design lately hopefully (?) also loves making her miserable only because she hates kiki’s mom 

the only thing that makes city life bearable for her is frequent letters from her friends, most often (if it wasn’t obvious again) sebastian. daelin told me he probably sent her emo poetry and i think that’s literally SO funny but even then the letters don’t last that long because within a few months her mom decides the letters are getting in the way of her kid’s success and starts throwing them out before kiki gets them or sends her own. naturally she thinks sebastian just doesn’t give a fuck about her so she stops writing after a while. but then this makes HIM think she doesn’t give a fuck about him and he holds a grudge against her for it for years even though she has no idea

then kiki forgets about stardew valley since there seems to be nothing else tying her to it, goes to business school, and eventually gets as a job in PR at joja corp. if that’s not bad enough she gets engaged to a MAN she doesn’t even like. her fiance is someone who manipulated her into dating him which i’ll again elaborate on in a second, plus her mom is obsessed with him like ohhh big handsome man WHATEVER except he literally only wants to marry her because her step-dad is a chairman. but kiki’s absolute breaking point (which i’m still kinda hashing out and only have a vague idea of) is when she figures out her fiance orchestrated a PR disaster by logging into her computer and messing a bunch of stuff up (idk if i should do hacking or whatever) so she gets blamed, only to take blame/save the day for the thing he LITERALLY started so she could feel indebted to him enough to date him. at this point she feels so suffocated by her life in zuzu city that she contemplates running away, so while packing she finds grandpa’s letter and decides to run away to stardew valley

present - i know the missing person stuff didn’t make sense but i hope everything i explained kinda gives you more context? her mom put out a missing person notice and her peers/family from zuzu city are still looking for her. this is partly why she doesn’t have a phone when she moves in, she tries to pawn her engagement ring off to clint for extra gold, and refuses to have pictures of her taken by haley for the first few weeks of their friendship. ofc when kiki goes back, she is escorted by robin, talks to lewis, etc. whatever is in the official intro and it’s kinda standard but on her way to pierre’s for cleaning supplies she accidentally runs into sebastian and realizes he hates her guts and has no idea why because he literally won’t tell her. the idea of childhood friends to strangers is really fun to write imo and then the story persists from there! 

LASTLY - I’M SO SORRY for writing so much i just couldn’t condense it into less paragraphs if i wanted but i hope it was interesting!

[princip1914]

A few thoughts on writing longfic

I’ve had this post brewing for a while and I figured since today is a Friday I might as well let it out into the wild. 

First off, this is not writing advice. I don’t feel qualified to give writing advice. This is a few observations I’ve made over the course of trying to write something that feels, well, long. Fandom is full of excellent authors writing long chaptered fic, but I don’t see a lot of people talking about how they go about producing such fics. I remember feeling like long fic was really out of reach for me when I started writing again in the summer of 2019 after not writing for years and years and I wanted to talk a bit about how that changed for me. Of course, this post comes with all the caveats that there is no need to ever write long fic if you’re not feeling it. Some of my favorite authors write mostly or only oneshots! But, if you are interested, here’s my lengthy, self indulgent, and entirely personal take on ~the longfic process~ below the cut. 

First, to get this out of the way: long fic is anything that feels long or complicated to you, the author. “I’m working on my long fic” can mean that you’re branching out from microfiction to write something that’s 2k long, or it can mean you’ve got a multi-part 800k epic. There’s no objective measure of if something is “long fic,” Your own personal definitions can also change as you grow in confidence or change your focus as a writer (a little over a year ago when I finished Doubt Thou the Stars are Fire topping out at 31k, that felt very very long to me. Now it feels….still long, but not very very long.) 

Here are a few specific things that helped me write something long. I don’t know if they will be interesting for anyone else, but at the very least writing these down has been a fun way for me to reflect on my own process. 

Practice exercises. Ok, this is going to sound exceedingly obvious, but writing one shots prepares you for writing chaptered fic. Here’s what I mean more specifically: if you know you want to write (as a totally hypothetical example) a chaptered fic set in America in the summer that relies heavily on a nature metaphors, is written out of chronological order, and features a melancholy tone--it helps to write a few one shots like that before you embark on the Big Fic. Just like artists tend to do sketches before starting a big piece, it’s very helpful to write something small that gives you a feel for the ~vibe~ of what you’re trying to do in the long fic. It’s helpful for all the usual reasons--you get to know a specific version of the characters which helps plan out a character driven plot for the long fic--but it’s also helpful because you will learn if the tone and mood of the fic has enough staying power to capture your interest for the long haul. For instance, I have a few unfinished chaptered fics that have a humorous tone. I wish I had done more short humorous fics before starting them, because I would have realized that I don’t currently have the mental stamina to hold up a humorous tone for the length of a chaptered fic (hopefully that will change and I will finish Last Days some time this century!). 

Plan it out ahead of time. I used google sheets for The False and the Fair. I do not think God intended google sheets to be used for fiction, but that was not going to stop me. On a more serious note, I think the best tool for planning fiction is the one you’re the most comfortable with--the notes app in your phone, handwriting, word, google drive, sheets, chalk board, summoning circle, the blood of your enemies, etc. The reason I chose to use sheets is that I knew from the very beginning that I wanted certain things to happen at specific places in the story--for instance, I wanted the first kiss to happen at the end of the first third of the story and I wanted the “reveal” about the mine accident to happen at the end of the second third of the story. But, I didn’t know what was supposed to go in between those elements. A traditional outline for a story at this point in development might have looked like: 

Meet cute

Kiss

Reveal 

Ending 

But, what my brain needed was to preserve the blank spaces in between these story elements, and specifically to preserve the right amount of blank space between these story elements so that it didn’t end up, for instance, that the first kiss was halfway through rather than a third of the way through. In this way, I found google sheets an invaluable tool for pacing in the early parts of the planning process. I simply made 30 rows assuming 30 chapters, and started plugging in the elements I knew I wanted in the locations I wanted them. Then I filled in the blank spaces by asking myself “how do we get from X plot element to Y plot element in Z amount of chapters.” I’m not a mountain climber, but I’ve often thought about the first things that go into the spreadsheet in terms of mountain climbing terminology.  In climbing, a crux move, which can be anywhere along the route, is the most difficult move of the route: if you can’t do it, you can’t do the route. I think of the first things that go into the planning spreadsheet as the crux moves of the story, the most important pieces around which everything else turns. It was not an accident that those were also all the first scenes of the fic that I wrote; if I couldn’t do those scenes, I couldn’t do the story the way I planned it so I wanted to know early on if I needed to make changes.

Make changes if you have to: even though it helps to have things planned in advance, don’t resist the story if it tries to change on you while you’re writing it. Usually the feeling that you have to make changes stems from having a plot that is not entirely character driven. As you write the story, the characters reveal themselves and sometimes the plot has to change to change with the characters’ motivations. Here’s an area where fanfic writers have a leg up on everyone else: if you write fic, you already know the characters really well. That means, (in my experience anyway) it’s less likely that you’ll have a surprise character development which leads to a rethinking of the whole plot. Less likely, but not completely unlikely, unfortunately.

Lie to yourself: The False and the Fair was supposed to be 90k words. I thought that sounded reasonable, a little less than 3x the longest fic I had ever written. Now it's 161k and will probably top out a little over 170k. Ooops. But I never would have set out to write something that long. I wouldn’t have thought I could do it, even though anyone more experienced looking at my plans for the fic probably would have laughed at the idea I could cover all those plot points in 90k. Ignorance is bliss. Protect your ignorance.

Scrivener: Long fic for me means “fic that is long enough you can’t hold all the parts of it in your head at once.” That’s where Scrivener comes in (or another app if you’d rather, but I really like Scrivener for the ability to see the project either linearly or as condensed notecards). You can put together an organizational scaffold in Scrivener that allows you to move back and forth between the forest and the trees. So, for instance, you might be going for a jog and come up with the perfect line of dialogue for chapter 27 when you’re only up to chapter 5 in terms of writing progress. With Scrivener, you can go home, and put that dialogue in the “bucket”/index card/whatever for chapter 27 without compromising your ability to see chapter 5 clearly or muddying up your google doc. You can then use the fact that you’ve started writing bits and pieces of the later chapters in conjunction with the tool of lying to yourself that, actually, you’ve written a lot more of the fic than you realize and that when you get to chapter 27 it won’t be as hard as chapter 5 because you’ve put in the groundwork already. In my experience, this lie turns out to be true about 50% of the time, which is better than 0% of the time.

Digestible mini arcs: The False and the Fair was originally broken up into thirds. I thought it would be 90k and 30k was the longest I had written, so thirds seemed to make sense. Also, 3 is a nice, time honored storytelling number. I think it’s good to give yourself seemingly achievable milestones along the way to completion. These milestones (for me anyway) lined up well with the “crux moments” I’ve described. If you’re someone who likes to write out of order, writing your way to an already written milestone can feel like sailing to an island where you get to rest for a bit from the stormy seas before setting out for the next island in the archipelago.

“It's all part of the process”: I’m categorically incapable of describing things without resorting to running metaphors, and so I apologize in advance, but I am now going to do the insufferable thing of comparing writing a long fic to running a marathon. Here’s the thing with a marathon. You are not going to feel good every step of the way. We all know this. It’s a marathon, it’s supposed to hurt a little bit, especially at the end. In the same way you literally cannot write something novel length or even novella or long short story length without, at least at some point, feeling bad about yourself and your writing. But you also can’t run a marathon if the whole thing is agony, and for most people, it’s not--your meat sack shuffling along the course is subjected to the slings and arrows of all sorts of weird body chemistry that only happens when you push it to its limits. So, you’ll be in agony and then the endorphins will kick in for a while and you’ll be thinking “this isn’t nearly as bad as everyone said,” and then you’ll drink some water at a rest stop and feel like a God for half a mile before you crash and you’re in agony again until that one perfect song comes up on the playlist...and you get the idea. Writing something long, for me at least, is a bit like that. There are massive ups and downs. The key for me is to just understand it’s all part of the process, a necessary step on the way to the finish line. If the fic is 10 chapters long, at some point you have to write chapter 5. Just like you have to write chapter 5, at some point you also have to go through a bit of despair before reaching the end. It is unfortunately non-optional. In fact, despairing is something you can check off your list each time you’ve done it. Cut dialogue tags, check. Feel awful about my writing for thirty minutes, check. Write ending section, check. Often I feel that the stress and shame and fear that come with bad emotions while writing are worse than the bad emotions themselves. It really helps me to remember these emotions are all part of the process and nothing to worry about. If I didn’t have them, then I would worry! 

I certainly have plenty more to say about writing, but this ramble has gone on long enough. If you’re interested in any of this stuff, please feel free to send me an ask. 

I would also love to know more about everyone else’s writing processes, so feel free to pop into my ask box to talk about your own approach too! I am very interested in this stuff! 

[missycodes]

how to: responsive coding

my last couple skins (parkside ave & this is gospel) have both changed based on the screen size with some design changes and people have asked how i go about doing that so this is how! 

an important step for me when doing this is using the right click + inspect > toggle emulation menu on chrome. it’s also available on firefox and safari. what what’s going to do is allow you to look at your codes on different screen sizes without having a screen of that size. there’s a list of popular sizes (including various phone screens + tablets) and a responsive option where you can literally click and drag to make the view wider/shorter. this is super helpful when trying to figure out at what point the code should change and what needs to be reworked or hidden. 

minimum and maximum widths

first and foremost, when you work with responsive coding, you have to know that it is not going to look the same on every screen. that’s the whole point of responsive coding! there is, however, a point on both sides of the spectrum when things are either too tiny on a small screen and spill over and/or they’re just too stretched out for those with particularly large monitors.

this is where minimum and maximum widths come in!

figuring out what works best for what you’re working on is super helpful using that screen emulator. just click + drag until things are too small and then ta-da, your minimum should be no less than that. do the same for maximum width as well. this is helpful for flex containers.

for example, my parkside ave skin’s menu began to look very condensed at 801px and i no longer think that’s useable as in. 

as such, the min-width for this skin is 850px. anyone on a smaller screen will have to scroll horizontally, but it beats the menu being unusable. some of this is personal preference and common sense but this helps you figure it out.

what would that look like in the css? say that you want the skin wrapper to be 80% of the screen with a minimum width of 850px and you’ve decided it shouldn’t be wider than 1600px because then everything looks too far apart. it would look like:

width: 80%; min-width: 850px; max-width: 1600px;

you’re telling the css “hey i want it to be 80% of the screen, but just between these numbers. if 80% is less than 850px, keep it 850px. if it’s more than 1600px, keep it at 1600px.”

you can do the same thing with height, if that’s something your code wants/needs as well. 

@media queries

the other big thing that i do with my responsive skins is use media queries! this declares different css based on screen size. for example, my skin this is gospel has a minimum and maximum width for the sidebar but on small screens, the wrapper overlaps it. 

the way to solve this problem is to put the sidebar on top and to move it to the top left of the screen with positioning. right now, this is what the css looks like:

#sidebar { width: 30%; min-width: 380px; max-width: 600px; height: 100%; top: 0px; right: 0px; }

for screens smaller than 770px, where we first noticed the overlapping we want to change it to:

#sidebar { width: 100%; height: 50px; top: 0px;  left: 0px; }

how do we do that? a media query. a media query basically tells the site “hey, i want to know what the screen width is, and if it’s smaller than a certain amount, i want to use a different set of css to style the same divs.” to declare it, we’re going to need to set up the media query like so:

@media only screen and (max-width: 770px) {

}

now the site knows to look to see what the width of the screen is. anything 770px and smaller will get the new css, and anything above 770px gets the original css.

all together, this is how the css looks:

@media only screen and (max-width: 770px) {   #sidebar { width: 100%; height: 50px; top: 0px; left: 0px; }

}

and this is what the page itself will look like once i’m on a screen smaller than the max-width:

this can be used to hide entire divs (such as avatars too big to fit on the page, or a flex container that is still too big) or add new divs (a mobile-specific menu that has big buttons for touch screens instead of small, close together icons). the sky is the limit there! there will be times you will need to add !important to get the css to override but it’s a quick fix.

but that’s about it! that’s how i go about responsive coding, and hopefully it’s helpful for you all! it’s a lot of trial and error, but that screen emulator makes it about a thousand times easier.

if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out and i will try to help the best i can!

[sagedgeek]

Jakku

Part 1 of Whispers of Fate (A Rey Djarin fic)

A/N: This is a fic I’ve been toying around with for a while and primarily why I created this account. So here’s my first fic for the Mandalorian/Star Wars fandom! I’m excited to see how it goes. Also, this takes place only a short while before Din finds Grogu. He will definitely come into play in later chapters.

Rating: Gen (Platonic)

Word Count: 4.0k

Masterlist ~ Next Chapter

Jakku.

Din had to admit he was not all that impressed, and he didn’t exactly have high expectations to begin with either. Desert planets had never been his favorite. Primarily because of the heavy armor and thick padding of his under armor’s tendency of trapping sand in places it shouldn’t be possible. After his first time on Tatooine, he’d spent the better part of a day cleaning out the dry sand and repolishing his armor. It also wasn’t very exciting to chase runaway bounties across a deserted planet, hiding somewhere along the repeating pattern of large sand dunes and rural settlements. For most hunters it would be a hopeless endeavor, and that’s why the bounty had such a high price with the guild, but for him it shouldn’t take longer than a day… hopefully.

He ended up having to park the Razor Crest a long way from the only known outpost he could find on the map. The planet was ridden with scavengers, all of which probably desperate for scrap and could care less about potentially marooning a stranger on this maker-forsaken planet. Even this far out Din has doubts he’ll return to his ship in the same condition it’s in. As old and scrappy looking his ship may be, it still flew which meant it was still of value and would result in quite the payday for whatever scrapper may stumble upon it. It’s a better chance than landing at the trading post though, considering the most condensed population of scrappers would be around the very outpost they used to trade their scrap.

Good thing his next bounty is on Maldo Kreis. It would be a nice contrast to the blinding sun and the burn of dry oxygen.

He sighs as he takes one last glance outside the cockpit viewport before powering down the Razor Crest and beginning his trek across this barren planet. 

Civilization was scarce and unless this Rodian smuggler was willing to take his chances in the middle of the barren desert, there weren’t many places he could hide.

He follows the fob, wandering out in the direction of the Niima Outpost. So, if he becomes absolutely desperate, the scrappers and traders who supposedly wandered the surrounding desert each day might have spotted a misplaced Rodian during their wanderings and point him in the right direction.

After about an hour of walking, the fob had led him past several scrapped Imperial ships which seemed to be growing in abundance and concentration the closer he came to the settlement. He lifts his hand to adjust his visor view settings to see if he can track a fresh trail of footprints,

Nothing.

He keeps the setting on and continues walking.

He is led in the direction of an old AT-AT, half buried beneath the sand, and there he finds a set of fresh footprints circling the outside that had wandered from the opposite direction. It wasn’t exactly what he hoped to find. The footprints were far too small and humanoid to fit the Rodian he was looking for, but it is the first sign of life he’s found in these outskirts so far. His next best bet would be to continue towards the small civilization further South. So, he scans for heat signatures along the skeleton of the AT-AT and sure enough he finds two. One of which, he assumes, being the owner of the small footprints he just found.

He crouches slightly and pulls his blaster from its holster as he stealthily moves around the walker to keep from drawing attention to his arrival. He ducks into the open belly of the machine, blaster ready. His visor highlights the silhouette of the smaller figure crouched just around the corner, and the other further in, close to where the head must be located.

He senses the incoming attack before it lands and his free hand darts down just in time to catch the staff swinging towards the portion of his gut not protected by his cuirass. He tilts his helmet to the side with a smirk growing across his mouth beneath it as his eyes settle on a tiny little thing with a much too large starfighter helmet jostling around atop their cowl and goggle-covered head. They grunt in frustration, putting their entire body weight into trying to tug the staff out of his grip. He tugs back just enough to rip it from their hands and toss it behind him, out of the way.

“Hey!” And the single word is enough that he can identify the small person as a young child, perhaps female. But the outburst also drew the attention of his arrival to his target. He heard a panicked rustle from the next room over and his head snaps to the side, growling in frustration at the inconvenience.

There goes the element of surprise.

“Get out of here you bug sucker!” A tiny fist collides with the padding over his abdomen and he glances down at his tiny assaulter. He gives a simple shove to their helmet to move the kid out of his way and starts further into the walker to follow the panicked scuffling. He points his fob towards the direction of the noise, and he smiles as he picks up his pace in time with the hurried beeping tone.

This wouldn’t take very long at all.

“Hey! Get back here!” He ignores the kid and leans around the corner to keep his blaster pointed in preparation. He comes around just in time to find the Rodian halfway through a cut out at the side of the head of the walker.

Soon Din’s chasing him across the large sand dunes. It didn’t take much effort, just a few long strides and an easy aim of his fibrecord from his wrist to trip him.

As he finishes securing the cuffs he hears a high-pitched screech just as a hard weight collides into his side. It makes him stumble slightly, and he pulls out his blaster, spinning it towards his attacker as he regains his footing.

“Stand down!” He growls at the young child. They were still wearing that oversized helmet they’d reclaimed their weapon.

“No!” They yell at him, pointing the end of their staff at him threateningly. “Leave him alone!”

Din tilts his helmet to the side curiously, but he doesn’t lower his blaster.

“Is he your father?” He highly doubts it, but it didn’t hurt to ask. Mandalorian’s weren’t the only ones to collect Foundlings… Although for all he knows this kid could have green scaly skin underneath that helmet and oversized tunic.

“No,” she scowls, “I met him yesterday.”

He lowers his blaster and sighs. He reaches down and pulls his captured bounty to his feet, giving him a good push in the direction of his ship in a complete dismissal of the child. They’ll give up soon enough. From his experience, children’s attention spans were extremely thin.

“Doe girl sa insistent.” The bounty mutters to him in Huttese.

Girl… Din notes.

“I can see that.” Din mutters in response. It didn’t take a genius to realize the girl was stubborn and plucky. He knew that when the child tried attacking him, a Mandalorian, with a stick.

“Hagwa hurt cheekta.” the Rodian begged for her, eyeing the twitch of Din’s fingers hovering over his blaster.

Din tilts his head then turns to glance at the girl. “I don’t hurt children,” he replies gruffly, then nods towards the girl to address her. “Go on home kid.”

The girl doesn’t budge an inch, and she doesn’t lower her staff either.

“Ya sa noah wompa tah care che cheekta.”

Din found it amusing that this bantha had the gall to try and guilt him into being released. He wasn’t going to buy into it, and he gave him another push to spur him into a brisk pace forward.

She follows them, because of course she does. She stews for a good while on their journey, but in typical child-like fashion, her curiosity wins over her stoniness and soon she’s peppering him with questions which he promptly ignores, hoping she’d lose interest and go on her merry way.

“Doe girl will nopa leave,” The Rodian muttered, “Mee know.”

“I can understand you y’know Rodey,” the girl quips as she flips the visor of her helmet up and pulls down her goggles to glare at the reptilian humanoid, “I’m not stupid.”

“Karking girl.”

Din shoves him and finally turns around to face the girl with a heavy sigh. “What will it take for you to go home?”

She nods her head at his prisoner. “For him to keep up his promise.”

“And what promise might that be?”

“He say that he’d take me to see his ship and even lemme fly it if I gave him my portions! And now I got no food or water, and I haven’t gotten to seen his ship.”

Maker help him.

He turns his back to her again and continues to walk. He notices that this time the girl’s footsteps don’t immediately pick up behind him like before, and he buckles.

“Come. You can see my ship.” He reluctantly mutters and Din hears her excited gasp and tiny footsteps chasing after him until the girl is trotting passively at his side, the top of her head reaching just below his elbow. She looks up at him from beneath the orange tinted visor of her helmet as if sensing his gaze. She pulls down the cowl covering her face to show off her bright smile, all teeth except the one tooth missing in the front and Din allows the slightest smile to break out in return only because he knew she wouldn’t be able to see it.

***

“WOAH!”

The girl leaps into a quick sprint once they reach the top of the sand dune. The Razor Crest now visible in the distance.

By the time he and the Rodian caught up, the girl had circled the ship at least twice. Her helmet had been discarded near the hangar door which now reveals the messy braid of brown hair falling over her shoulder.

Din lifts his arm to tap a button on his wrist gauntlet and the boarding ramp slowly hisses and begins to lower. Before the ramp even hit the sand, the kid is back beside him, jumping on the balls of her feet in anticipation, her helmet tucked securely beneath her left arm.

“Don’t touch anything,” Din instructs in a gruff tone. She nods obediently and sticks to his side as he guides his bounty up into the hull.

That’s when the Rodian started to get a bit finnicky and he pulled away from Din’s grip, trying to retreat from the ship like he just realized what was happening.

” Mee have credits. Mee can wamma twice myo bounty.”

Din pulls him further into the ship, ignoring his pleads. He gives him one last push backwards and with a final hiss he’s sealed in carbonite.

Job well done.

“Hey! What’d you do to him!” The girl rushes forward, hand slapping against the solid carbonite outline of the reptilian’s leg.  

“He’s fine. It’s just to keep him quiet while I fly.”

“Ohh,” she muses, taking a step back and tilting her head to glance at the two other carbonite slabs behind him. She points at them. “Were they noisy too?”

Din shrugs and sits down on a crate near the open ramp to adjust his vambrace. “You could say that.”

That seemed to be good enough of an answer for her and she approached him with the same wide grin from earlier, fists balled up at her side in excitement. “I didn’t like him anyways! I just wanted to see his ship! Can I fly your ship now?”

“No.”

“What?!” She whined. “but you said I could!”

“No. I said you could see it.” He stands up and points to the crate he was just sitting on. “Sit. I’ll make you food.”

She obeys, but only with an indignant huff and a pout. She turned her glare onto the floor and crossed her arms over her chest. It’s silent for a good while as Din heats up some broth for her and he’s surprised to find that he likes it much better when the girl Is chattering rather than silently brooding.

“You got a name?” He asks after awkwardly clearing his throat.

“Rey,” she answers with a huff.

He turns with the small bowl of soup in his hands and offers it to her.

“How old are you?”

“Seven, I think,” she responds as she makes grabby hands for the bowl before promptly slurping it up in just a couple of gulps then handing the bowl back to him. “Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome kid.” Din hands her a cup of water as he takes the bowl from her and she does the exact same as she did the broth.

“I can fly you back home. Where do you live?”

“I live in that walker!” Rey exclaims, her excitement growing at the prospect of being able to fly even if she wasn’t at the wheel.

Din pauses and looks at her. “That’s where you live?”

“Yeah!”

He grits his teeth, turning to face her fully. Maybe that Rodian wasn’t lying to pull a fast one on him after all. “Where are your parents? Who looks out for you?”

Rey’s face puckers in thought. “Well, my parents aren’t here right now. They’ll be back though… but um… Unkar kinda looks out for me for now. He gives me rations for good scrap.”

“Where are your parent’s Rey?” Din hopes he doesn’t receive the answer he knows he will. Maker knows he cannot afford to care for a Foundling right now…

Rey shrugs like it’s no big deal. “I don’t know. They didn’t tell me.”

“How long have they been gone?”

“638 Days,” she responds quickly.

Din grunts, grumbling under his breath because of course. Her parents weren’t coming back anytime soon that was a given, they probably sold her off to that Unkar fellow as a slave to earn a quick buck. It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence; in fact, it was a familiar story for many Foundlings he’s come across through the years. But to leave a child as young as this one was cruel and disgusting, especially to leave them on a planet the likes of Jakku! Most would never be able to survive, and he wonders how it was possible this girl was able to for as long as she had. He slaps his hand against the control panel on the wall beside the ramp and it slowly raises into place. He moves towards the ladder leading up to the cockpit without another word to her.

“Wait! Mister where are you going?” Rey jumps up to follow him, looking up at him from the bottom of the trail of rungs.

Again, Din ignores her and continues his way into the cockpit. He takes a seat in the pilot’s chair, grinding his teeth together in frustration. He supposed he could just drop her off with the clan when he made it back to Nevarro. It had been a while since any new Foundlings had been introduced considering he was the only one to really leave the covert as of late. She’d be well taken care of, he’s sure. Celebrated even.

He begins flipping through the switches on the control board to start up the engines.

“Sir, are you flying me back to the walker?” Rey asks. For the first time that day she sounded unsure and a bit nervous, but Din is far too wound up by the frustrations of his new predicament to care.

“No. You’re coming with me. Now strap in.”

“What?! No! I can’t leave! What if my parents come back for me and I’m not here?! I have to wait for them!”

Din pauses for only a moment to sigh before continuing about his ritual of prepping the ship for takeoff. “They aren’t coming back for you kid.”

“Huh?”

He turns around when he hears the brokenness in her voice, and he frowns. She clutches her helmet to her chest, chin tucked down to rest against it as tears formed in her eyes.  He takes the moment to note that maybe the way he broke the news was a bit too harsh.  So, instead of risking saying something else that would trouble her he points to the co-pilot’s seat behind his.

She shakes her head. “What do you mean they’re not coming back? Do you think they died?”

Din didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t well versed when it came to emotions, especially the emotions of children. They were sensitive creatures and were quite unpredictable in his experience. So, instead, he completely veers around the question.

“I will take you back to my clan and you will be well taken care of. I will even look for your people if they are to be found, but I am not leaving you here.” His tone and words weren’t up for dispute and she seemed to understand as much.

She stares at him through glassy eyes but doesn’t utter a word.

Din sighs in resignation, “I’ll let you help pilot the ship.”

Anything to keep her from crying.

Rey’s eyes light up then and her head lifts slightly from where she had hidden it behind her helmet. “Is-is it sandy?” She pauses and when Din tilts his helmet to the side in question, she continues hesitantly, “where-where you would take me… is it sandy there?”

“Not particularly.”

“Okay,” Rey nods slowly, inching towards the seat Din had gestured towards earlier.

***

Rey was a natural at flying. She was eager and a very quick learner. She told him about the training simulator she’d found just a couple weeks back as well as a training computer. So Din taught her a couple advanced things, and her utter fascination when they entered hyperspace was enough to distract her from her earlier woes and able to make him smile beneath his helmet. The streaks passing by through the windshield illuminating her wide, glassy eyes. After an hour or so, her sad demeanor about leaving home had diminished completely and was now fueled with excitement and curiosity at getting to traverse the galaxy for the first time.

So, here he sat, an hour after entering hyperspace, answering question after question with as few words as he could possibly manage.

“Why do you wear that helmet? And all that armor?”

“I’m a Mandalorian.”

“What’s a Mandalorian?”

“We’re Warriors.”

“Cool! I wanna be a Mandalorian!”

“Maybe one day.”

“Where are we going?”

“To Maldo Kreis.”

“Where’s that?”

“A ways away.”

“Are you gonna pick up another guy like Rodey?”

“Yes.”

“Is that your job? Are you a bounty hunter?”

“Yes.”

“Cool,” she was silent for all of two seconds. Which was just enough for Din to release a breath in hopes she had grown tired of asking questions…

She had not.

“What’s your armor made of?”

“Beskar.”

“What’s your name?”

“Mando.”

“Is that really your name?”

Din sighs one final time. His helmet is propped against the head rest in defeat as he tilts it to the side.

“You ask a lot of questions,” he grunts.

The kid huffs and falls back against her seat. “Sorry,” she mutters.

Din stands from the pilot seat and gestures for her to stand up as well, holding out his hand to help her to her feet. “Come. I’ll show you how to use the fresher and then you can sleep until we reach our next destination.”

She’s tentative, but she takes his hand and doesn’t let go as she follows him down into the hull. He shows her how to work the fresher and the stream of water pouring form the wall has her squealing in delight, rushing forward to cup it in her hands and watch it spill over her fingers. He adjusts it to a temperature that would be comfortable for her. Then he does a silent onceover of her clothes and leaves to fetch her something to wear once she was clean. Her current outfit looked to be nothing more than a few rags held together by the wrappings around her wrists and feet and the tie around her waist. He places them on the sink.

“You can put this on after you’re clean. I’ll buy you better garments when we are in Nevarro, but for now this should do.”

Rey nods her head enthusiastically, eager to step into the fresher. Din steps out, the door sliding shut behind him so she could have privacy, and he moves further into the hull to begin preparing his own dinner. He made a point to begin heating up another portion of broth for the little one as well. She could probably do for some added nutrition with how small she appeared for her age.

He didn’t risk taking off his helmet to eat. Instead, he lifted the edge to take occasional sips and by the time he was done and discarding his empty bowl, Rey was stepping out of the fresher with sopping wet hair still done up in her messy braid and a wide grin on her face.

“That was so fun!” She exclaimed. “I’ve never done that before.”

She wore the large upper half of his old flight suit sinched to fit around her waist using the ribbon and the trousers she’d arrived in. The thick material barely fit over her small frame, the collar just barely managing to hang on her shoulders. Mando doesn’t say anything in response and simply holds out the fresh bowl of broth he’d just heated up.

Rey stared at the offered portion with wide eyes. “More?” She asked as if she couldn’t quite believe he was really offering it to her.

“Yes. You need to eat.” Din states with his arm still outstretched towards her.

“But I already ate.”

“I want you to eat more.”

Rey gave him a stink eye, lips pursing in suspicion. “You aren’t trying to plump me up to eat me or somethin’ are you?”

As amusing as the accusation was, Mando’s tone remained unamused. “No. Now drink.”

She takes it from him and greedily gulps it down like she was afraid he’d change his mind and Din begins to feel guilt remembering his original intention of leaving her behind to starve on that scorched planet. He’s glad he found her, she’d make a strong Mandalorian one day and she’d do the tribe proud. They would take good care of her.

He stands to begin making up a bed for her on the floor. He gathers as many blankets and cloths he could find, knowing Kreis would be far colder than what she was used to.

She’s at his side in a matter of moments, looking down at the warm cocoon of blankets he’d built on the floor.

“Time to sleep little one,” he tells her, balanced on one knee as he pulls back several layers of blankets for her and gesturing for her to climb beneath. She scrambles over to hurry and snuggle herself beneath the mound of soft blankets and Din gently settles the cloths back over her shoulders. She yawns, hand snapping up to cover her mouth as her eyes squeezed shut for a moment before they opened once more to blink up at him with a tired smile.

“Thank you Mr. Mando.”

“You’re welcome, kid.” He shuffles awkwardly, adjusting the blankets again before standing upright. “Do you need anything?”

She looks up at him anxiously, chewing on her bottom lip. “Ummm not really… but um… can I ask you one last question? I swear I won’t ask no more!”

Din sighs and nods his head.

“Why wouldn’t you leave me on Jakku?”

He pauses as he searches for the right words to explain it to her as he taps a button on his vambrance to dim the lights of the hull. She had no family and no proper home. By creed he was honor bound to take her. No Mandalorian could leave an abandoned child behind. They were Foundlings… and he was once a Foundling.

“This is the way.”

That was the way.

~ Next Chapter ~

[birdsandspades]

Memories (A Todoroki Shoto Oneshot)

- What do you get when you mix a pressed daisy, a broken ceramic, a comic, and a soba receipt? A bunch of chaotic dates with Todoroki, and maybe a few memories along the way too!

-Word count- 11K

- Hi, this one is kinda long. But it took awhile to write and Todoroki makes me all giggly so I figured I would share this cute idea with you folks! It’s mostly chaotic Todoroki fluff! Let me know what you think, and thank you for reading!

—-

After three years of training, interning, and studying it was finally your last day at UA. The dorm was a buzz as everyone packed up their rooms for the last time, today was the day they graduated.

Sadly for you it was not in the conventional sense. Sure you were finished with UA, your time here on exchange had been to grow your power. But you were still an American citizen with one more year of schooling and licensing left. It had been gracious that they let you stay for an extra two years with the people you had grown to love and admire. But it was time to pack up and go home.

A soft knock sounded on your door, “I brought you more boxes, are you doing ok?” Todoroki pushed the door open with his foot, a pile of condensed boxes and tape in hand as he walked into your room. 

“Oh thank you, I was kinda wondering if I had enough.” You looked between him and the dwindling pile laying on your bed, he took it as a sign to set his pile beside it. “Are you finished already?” You brushed your hand over his own, a sweet gesture he was all too familiar with.

“I haven’t started, my father just brought me more boxes and I figured I would see if you needed more.” Todoroki looped a finger with your own, swinging your arm slightly as he pulled you closer. “Do you want me to stay and help you pack?”

“No, that’s ok. You should get started before your father tries to come help you.” You giggled as he tensed at the mention of the man still waiting in his bedroom. You reached up to cup his face, drawing him down just enough to place a soft kiss on his lips.

Todoroki smiled sweetly, staring at you for a moment before standing back up. “ Then i’ll hurry so I can help you. Then we can figure out what you want to do tonight.” He squeezed your hand once more before turning to leave. His heart heavy as he walked back to his room. 

You turned back to the disheveled state of your bedroom, reaching for another box with a long sigh. You knew you had to pack eventually, but part of you knew that as you packed up your belongings you were also packing up all the memories you had shared with Todoroki in this very room. The belongings that lined your shelves, hung on your walls, sat on your desk, they were all mementos of the years you had experienced together.

You set the box down at the base of your desk, sitting down in the chair. “I might as well start with all of this.” You sighed, fingering through the stacks of assignments and notebooks. A shiny red book peeking out from in between a few course books caught your attention. You pulled it out looking over the cover of the comic. “This is Shoto’s Spiderguy comic, how long has this been in here?” You brushed your fingers over the smooth cover, a blush creeping up the back of your neck. They had always been his favorite comics, the stack he had accumulated over the years was close to monumental. You smiled as a memory bubbled up from the back of your mind as you flipped through the colorful pictures on the pages.

—-

You had been looking everywhere for your math book that morning, the panic of having to buy a new one sending you spiraling. “Maybe I left it in Todoroki’s room, we were studying pretty late. I’m sure I just forgot it.” You grabbed your keys off the desk chair before making your way to the dorm elevators. You had a nice room on the second floor of the dorm building, the perfect distance for sneaking late night snacks from the kitchen below. But Todoroki had been lucky enough to get a top floor room, the view from his balcony breathtaking as it looked over the nearby park. 

You pushed the button for the 5th floor once you entered the elevator, trying to think of the last time you had the book in your possession. “ I went to Shoto’s room to study around 7:00 p.m, we called for food around 9:00 p.m. I closed my book at 9:30 when it came, and I….slid it under the table to eat. It’s under his table…” You wanted to smack yourself as the elevator opened, why didn’t you just check his room in the first place.

You knocked on his door, shifting nervously on your feet. You and Todoroki had been together for a little over three months now, but no matter how many times you came to his room alone the nerves never quit. 

“Come in”, his voice was soft from the other side.

You turned the knob of the door, opening it as you made your way inside. “Hey Shoto, I think I left my math book here last night. Can I get it…” Your mind trailed off as your eyes met with your upside down boyfriend, his feet glued to the ceiling with a sheet of ice. 

“I found it when I woke up. I set it on the desk.” He motioned towards the desk with his head, turning the page of his comic as he continued reading. 

“Ok, um Shoto what are you doing?” You questioned as you made your way around him towards the desk. You slid the book off the desk carefully, still staring at your upside down boyfriend.

“Reading.” He looked away from the comic, wiggling it slightly before turning his attention back to his favorite american hero. “It’s the new Spiderguy comic, you can borrow it once i’m done reading it if you would like.” He looked up at you over the edge of the comic, a soft smile pulling at his lips.

You were more shocked at how unfazed he was by what he was doing, and less the fact he was hanging upside down from the ceiling. “Oh, ok…thanks Shoto.” You figured it was best to leave your boyfriend to his own devices at this point, two was starting to feel like a crowd. You slipped past your boyfriend again, careful not to bump him as you made way for the door. 

“Wait F/N, can you stay and help me with something?” His brows were knitted together as he analyzed the page in front of him.

“Of course.” You were sure he needed help getting down, the ceiling he was dangling from a good way from the floor. You made your way over to your hanging boyfriend, standing in front of him as your face met his.

He turned the comic around, handing it over with a confused look. “I don’t get why they did this. Wouldn’t it be easier to just kiss normally?” 

You looked at the cluster of panels on the page, the rainy scene playing out as the protagonist hung off the railings, his love interest pressed against him in a romantic interaction. “I don’t know, Spiderguy said some of it was fake. I’m sure they didn’t have a romantic first kiss so the writer made something up.” You handed back the comic to your boyfriend, his eyes vacant.

He sat there for a moment, working out the scenario on the book. The gear grinding in his head as he struggled to understand why anyone would want to kiss someone upside down. “The lips wouldn’t line up correctly, the ratios would be off.” He mumbled to himself, trying to put himself in the mindset of the webbed superhero.

Your boyfriend often got confused by loving gestures, that was one thing you noticed early on in the relationship. He had never been on the receiving end of it as a child, and he had never been on the giving end of it as a young adult. 

You watched as the gears in his head grinded to a halt, his ah ha moment was upon him. “Would you be willing to try it? I think i’ll understand it better if I experience it.” He pointed to the panel in question, looking at you hopefully. 

You could feel the warmth spreading across your cheeks at the mention of sharing a kiss with Todoroki, your first kiss. You opened your mouth to protest, frantically waving your hands in front of you. 

Todoroki reached a hand up, sliding a finger under your jaw. His other hand on your hip, grasping at your shirt as he pulled you closer to him. He didn’t speak, instead he tilted his head to meet your flustered eyes. He couldn’t help but laugh as you looked around the room trying to find a way out of the situation. His mind was set, he was going to kiss you. 

You were frazzled trying to put together a sentence to explain that it was in fact your first kiss and you were unsure how any of it worked let alone a comic book rendition of it. You managed to get out a surprised noise as his thumb and finger gripped your chin, pulling you a mer inch away from his own face. 

He brushed his lips over yours, watching for your reaction. Once you relaxed into his touch he leaned up, his lips meeting yours for the first time. The kiss was delicate, his hands gripping the fabric on your waist to keep himself center. Your fingers tangled in his dangling locks, cradling his head as you lifted him up to deepen the kiss. 

You pulled away after a moment, unable to meet each other’s gaze as the bufferlies set into your stomach. “D-did that help?” You stuttered out, backing away from the equally flustered boy. 

“Yeah, I think i’m starting to understand why they did it…” Todoroki was trying to pull his hair over his eyes in an attempt to hide his growing blush, gravity pulling small pieces back to it’s upright position. 

You picked up your math book off the floor before giving your boyfriend an awkward wave. You rushed out of his room and down the emergency stair well in an attempt to get away from the thoughts flooding your mind. Once you made it back to your room you shut the door, throwing yourself on your bed.. You clutched your chest, a bubbly giggle escaping as you let the feelings take over.

 A permanent smile plastered your face that night, a faint blush creeping back up your neck every time you thought of the multi-toned boy somewhere above you. You wondered if he had felt the same way as you did. If he had the same feeling bouncing around his nervous stomach when he thought about doing it again. 

“I wonder if he ever got down, maybe I should go check on him…”, you sat up on your bed, swinging your legs over the edge. A few floors up a loud crash reverberated through the walls. You had gotten your answer.  

—-

The box sat on your chair was soon filled up, all your important documents placed neatly inside leaving the top of the desk empty. You sat the comic back on the table, making a mental note to give it back to your boyfriend before you left the following day. 

You reached for another box, setting it beside your bookshelves. They had filled up over the years, each one stuffed with training books, niknaks, and the occasional complete collection of romance manga. It was going to take a good number of boxes to safely transport all the items that littered the shelves. You sat down on the floor, pulled the empty box closer. You had to start somewhere and the bottom shelf seemed as good a place as any. You made short work of the first two sections, most of the books finding themselves packed and ready to be shipped. 

The third level of your shelve was mostly dedicated to the most delicate, breakable items you had. It seemed the safest place in the room, especially with Bakugou living next door. His temper tantrums had shaken a number of things off the walls over the years. 

You carefully picked out each item, wrapping it in newspaper before placing it inside the box. You reached towards the back of the shelve, finger grazing over a rough object hidden in the far recesses of the back corner. After a few attempts you finally got a good grip on it, dragging it to the front of the case before picking it up. “Huh, that’s where you’ve been.”

You turned the ceramic sandcastle over in your hands, the layer of dust rubbing off as you felt over the details. The top part of the highest tower had been broken off long ago, a pleasant reminder of the day you shared with Todoroki.

—-

You were walking hand in hand with your boyfriend along the beach, the festivities on the horizon as you approach the summer festival. It was you and Todoroki’s six month anniversary, a day you wouldn’t normally fuss over. But to him it was special. You had chosen to spend half a year with him, and he wanted to thank you.

“Where do you want to go first?” You looked over the day’s itinerary as he leaned over your shoulder. 

He had wanted to come early to experience everything the day had to offer. An entire day, completely uninterrupted and he got to spend it with you. “Are you hungry? We could go to the cooking competition first if you want to.” He ran a finger over the itinerary, highlighting the event. 

You nodded in agreement, folding the paper and placing it in your back pocket. “That sounds like fun.” You reached for his right hand, lacing your fingers with his as you walked with him towards the event. Your shoulder rubbed against his own, the chill of his skin seeping through his shirt onto your exposed arm. 

“Hey, look, it’s five weenies!” 

Todoroki turned his head at the sound, his eyes glued on a group of grade schoolers running towards the two of you. “ Hello again, are you all here for a school trip?” Todoroki leaned down, meeting the kids eye level as they stopped in front of you. 

“Yeah, we came for the sand building competition!” The kids chatted with Todoroki, telling him about the castle they had built for the day’s biggest event. “Will you come see it with…your girlfriend?” One of the children’s eyes bore into his hand, still holding on your own. He shifted his gaze up to you, giving you a small smile.

You returned it, waving at the group of students before you. 

“Of course.” Todoroki stood back up, smiling as the kids turned to run back off towards the rest of their class.

“Five weenies?” You questioned, giggling at the nickname your boyfriend had managed to get.

“I’ve told them my name is Shoto multiple times, I’ve just given up on them calling me anything else.” He sighed in defeat, the only kids he’s met so far that liked him and they can’t even get his name right. 

“Oh wow, look at all the people here!” You pointed towards the rows of vendors, shaking his shoulder. “It smells so good.” You inhaled, sighing as the aromas wafted your way. 

Todoroki nodded you on, smiling as you drug him towards the first vendor that caught your eye. It was no surprise your first stop was the nearest Taiyaki vendor, you lived for the sweet treat, some nights even begged him to walk you down to the convenient store off campus just to get one. 

You bounced up and down, excitedly looking over the menu as the line moved forward. Once it was your turn you were already fishing your money out of your purse, “One chocolate taiyaki please, and… Shoto, do you want anything?” You looked behind you where your boyfriend should have been, your eyes meeting with a strange pair. Your boyfriend was nowhere to be found, suddenly lost in the crowd of people. “Um that’s all…” You traded the man for your food, handing him the money owed before leaving to find your missing partner. 

You were walking up and down the stales, frantically searching for Todoroki when your eyes fixed on a mismatched pair. You pushed your way towards your boyfriend, cradling your taiyaki as you bumped shoulders with those around you. “Shoto!” You waved your free hand in the air, drawing his attention your way. “I thought I lost you…” You looked between him and the street vendor, offering them a soft smile. 

“I saw someone’s grill go out, so I offered to light it for them. A few others saw and asked for my help too.” Todoroki looked behind you, nodding at someone across the sea of people. “I think they need help too.” Todoroki offered the man he had previously helped a swift nodded before taking your hand. He pulled you along, guiding you over to the next vendor.

This continued for a while, everytime the wind picked up someone else would need your boyfriend’s help. He never refused, happy to lend a hand to anyone that required it. You followed close behind him, offering him bites of your taiyaki as he made his way around the rows of vendors. Soon enough he had made his way through most of the stalls, everyone happily chattering about the two-toned kid that had saved their cooking. 

“I’m sorry. I’m sure that wasn’t how you wanted to spend the last two hours.” Todoroki and you were now standing just outside the still bustling cooking competition, his mood souring. He had ment today to be for you two, but instead he had spent the majority of it with others. 

“I’m with you, there isn’t any other way I would spend the day.” You gave him a cheesy smile, pressing a quick kiss to his warm cheek. 

He had always tried his hardest to make everything perfect when you two were together. He never had a perfect image of what a healthy relationship looked like between two people, because of that he always over compensated whenever you and him were together. Any little inconvenience would dampen his mood, especially when it came to dates. He wanted everything to be perfect for the person he cared about most, and he would stop at nothing to accomplish that.

Todoroki looked around for a moment, eyes widening once he found what he was looking for. “Stay here please, i’ll be right back.” He pushed down on your shoulders, sitting you down on the bench behind you before running off back into the crowd of people. 

“He probably saw someone else who needed help.” You chuckled, shaking your head. You loved the fact that your boyfriend never hesitated to help those in need. You had told him the day he asked you out that you wanted his hero work to be number one, even if it meant putting you on the back burner. He had been confused at first by the request, all his relationship advice had come from the media and this was definitely not something the girls usually did. But over time he had come to realise that it was your way of telling him that you would be with him no matter what, so he didn’t have to put all his energy into making it work. He really appreciated it, even if he couldn’t help but try to make your time together perfect.

After a moment Todoroki emerged from the crowd again, two popsicles in hand as he made his way back to you. “I got you coconut. But if you don’t like it you can have mine, it’s cherry.” He offered both of the frozen treats to you, letting you pick whatever flavor peaked your interest.

You took the coconut flavored pop from him, looking over his soft features as he took a bite off the top of his own. He had always bit into his popsicles, the habit sending a shiver down your spine every time you saw it. But he was cute, and that was enough for you not to question him. 

He offered you his left arm, letting you loop your own through as he led you down to the beach. “We should go see the sand castles before the competition starts, it will be less crowded.” He had already finished his popsicle as you arrived at the first of the sand structures, throwing away the stick in a nearby trashcan as you passed by.

You walked with him, pointing out what ones you liked the best. The sun hot as it beat down on the two of you. You had been under it all day with little to no cover, the red tint starting to show on both of your exposed skins. 

“Oh, Shoto. I think you’re getting burnt already. I should have bought sunscreen…” You let go of his arm, digging in your bag for something to help stop any further damage. 

“F/N, your popsicles melting.” Todoroki pointed to the half eaten treat as a drip traveled down the base of the stick.

“Oh, I’ll finish it really quick.” You leaned in to lick the melting treat, stopping as Todoroki wrapped his right hand around the entirety of it, refreezing it. You looked between the icy pop and his hand, your eyes widening in shock. “Shoto…”

“Now you can take your time with it.” He gave you a sweet smile, taking your hand in his as he guided you to the next castle. He was completely oblivious to you staring down in slight disgust at your popsicle, thinking back to all the things you could recall your boyfriend touching throughout the day. 

Before long the sun was setting, the evening fast approaching as the festival wrapped up. “We should head back to the dorm before curfew Shoto.” You tugged on his sleeve, pulling his attention from the horizon. 

He nodded in agreement, turning around. “I bought something for you earlier.” He fished around his jacket pocket, pulling out a small ceramic sandcastle. “ I wanted to say thank you for being my girlfriend. You mean alot to me and I’m happy we’ve gotten to spend six months together.” He turned the gift over in his hands, smiling before handing it to you. 

“I’m happy too Shoto, I couldn’t have asked for a better boyfriend. I love you.” You reached for the gift, unaware of the words you had just told your boyfriend for the first time. 

His grip on the ceramic loosened as his eyes widened. He fumbled with it as it slipped between his fingers. You both watched in horror as it collided with the concrete, the tip of the tallest town breaking off. He leaned down, gingerly pickup up the broken castle. “F/N, i’m sorry. I’ll go get another one, I’m sure they are still open.” Todoroki turned to leave, cradling the sand castle.

“No, I want that one.” You reached a hand out, stopping him. You took the gift from him, clutching it to your chest. “ I don’t want a new one, I like this one.” Crimson painted it’s way across the bridge of your nose as you looked at the still shocked man in front of you. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that…I understand if it’s too soon.” Your heart clenched as the regret set in. 

“I love you too.” Todoroki took a deep breath, grabbing your shoulders. “I love you too, I’ve wanted to say it for a while but I never knew when the right time was.” He pulled you into his chest, holding you and the broken sandcastle. The contact ended too soon as he pulled away, looking over you with concern. “I can go get you a new present, I have my dad’s card so you can pick anything you want.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, shaking your head. “No, I like my sand castle.”

He shrugged, wrapping an arm around your waist. If you were happy, he was too. 

—-

 You wrapped the sand castle in a layer of newspaper, wedging it between a few shirts for an added layer of safety. It had made it three years surviving in your dorm room, you would be damned if it didn’t make it to America in one piece.

Your phone buzzing suddenly in your jacket pocket, the soft vibrations pulling you away from the now nearly empty book shelves. You pulled the phone out of your pocket, Todoroki’s name flashing across the screen.

“What’s up?” You giggled into the phone. Your boyfriend hardly called, always preferring to just walk the distance down the hallway to your room if he needed to see you. 

“If this overgrown campfire doesn’t leave my room in the next five seconds I will take this whole building with me.” Todoroki whispered harshly into the phone, clearly reaching his limit of Endeavor interactions for the day.

“Is family time not going so well Sho?” You laughed, phone resting between your cheek and shoulder as you packed away the last of your books. Todoroki was to most a very calm and collected person, many of his classmates and colleagues praised him for his cool head and leveled nature. You had believed the rouse at first, but slowly he relaxed around you, letting his true nature show. 

It started with small slip ups, moments that you hardly caught. But soon enough the soft spoken, calm man you had met in the courtyard of the school had disappeared. Left in it’s wake was a scatterbrained, snarky, chaotic mess of a human that you loved with every fiber of your being. You liked that most people didn’t know about this side of Todoroki, it made the moments you shared together all the funnier. 

“Oh, I think it’s going well. He’s only asked me about when I plan on having children of my own SEVEN TIMES. If I paid a share of rent could I come to America with you?”He was half serious, the slight pain in his heart proved that. Sure he was desperate to get out of this small room with his father, but he also wasn’t ready to see you leave.

“Did you finish packing yet?” You questioned, knowing full well what the answer was.

“No, I have not.” He huffed in reply.

“Finish packing and we can talk.” You laughed at the disgruntled noises coming from the other end of your phone before hanging up.

You set the phone down on the desk, sitting up to resume packing. You looked around the room, deciding what to tear apart next. The pictures that hung around your walls seemed as good a place as any. You walked over to the cluster above your bed, eyes avoiding the mess of a closet you would soon have to deal with.

You started by carefully pulling them off the wall, setting them each on your unmade bed as you made your way around the room. Most were pictures of your friends and family, a few some silly All Might posters you had framed after forcing him to sign them on the first day of school. 

You pulled down the last frame, the pressed daisy looking just as vibrant as the day you had gotten it. It had once belonged to a bouquet years ago, but it had outlasted the rest of it’s flowery friends. Even after a month it was standing tall and beautiful in the vase. You had decided to press it that day, a reward for it’s perseverance. It was a reminder of the one and only bouquet of flowers Todoroki had successfully gotten to you in one piece, a fond memory of the first few months you had interned for your first pro hero. 

—-

You were finishing up a long patrol with Fatgum, the day coming to a close as the sun started to set behind the tall buildings. The agency building came into view as you walked up the street beside Fatgum, the tension in your back finally dissipating at the thought of getting out of your hero uniform.

You waved a goodbye to your mentor, thanking him for a wonderful day before walking into the locker room. It was silent, everyone else had gone home hours ago. You pulled open your locker, taking out your phone. It had unplugged during the night leaving you with a whopping 20% to use for the day. Instead of risking it you left it at the agency to charge for the day. Anyone who could have possibly needed you had Fatgum’s personal number, there was really no reason to worry.

You opened the now fully charged phone, eyes widening. You had almost thirty missed calls from Todoroki in the last four hours. You quickly dialed your boyfriend, shifting nervously as you waited for the line to pick up. Nothing, the line went straight to voicemail, you would try again. After almost a dozen attempts you let out a shaky sigh. He had never called you this much, what if something happened? 

You threw on your civilian clothes, shirt clearly backwards as you ran out of the locker room and down the emergency stairs, phone in hand. The receptionist caught you on the way out the door, waving you down to stop.

“Oh, H/N I have a message for you. Someone called with an address, their phone cut out before I could get their name.” She gave you a soft smile, handing you the note.

You shakily took it from her, looking over the address. “What did they sound like, was it Todoroki by chance?”

She shrugged, giving you a confused look. “Maybe, the phone was kind of distorted so it was hard to make out what they were saying. But I think the address is for the park down the street, maybe whoever called is still there?” She offered you a warm smile, sitting back down in her office chair.

You thanked her, waving a goodbye as you ran out the front door of the building and down the street. Todoroki had never been the type to call unless it was urgent. Of course the day you leave your phone at the office he calls 28 times with no voicemail. You couldn’t help but think of the worst, the anxiety building as you rounded the street.

As if on cue you felt the first raindrop, the sky opening up before you. The forecast had called for light showers, but this was anything but. You could finally see the west opening of the park coming into view, groups of people running for cover as the rain beat down.

You started scanning the people walking by, looking for familiar tufts of peppermint hair. As the crowds opened up you caught sight of vibrant red. There he was, sitting on a bench a ways down the park trail, his coat resting on his lap. 

“Shoto!” You yelled, running towards him. “Shoto!” You tried again to gain his attention, his gaze set on his shoes. “Shoto!” You tried once more, his eyes finally landing on you as you pushed through a group trying to escape the rain.

“Are you ok?” You leaned over, resting your hands on your knees as you attempted to catch what breath you had left. Peeking up from between your wet bangs you caught sight of his soft smile as he unwrapped something from his coat.

“Happy one year anniversary F/N.” He pulled out from under his coat a small bouquet of daisies and baby’s breath, untouched by the rain. 

You stood up, looking over the soaked man in disbelief. “So you’re ok? Nothing happened?”

“Why wouldn’t I be ok?” His brows knitted together in confusion, “Do you not like the flowers?” 

You let out a small laugh, covering your mouth to mask the rest bubbling up. “Shoto, you called me twenty seven times, I was scared something happened to you.” You wrapped your arms around the man, pulling him into your embrace. 

“I called you twenty seven times?” He pulled his phone out of his back pocket, clicking the power button a few times.“ That’s probably why my phone died so fast.” He pulled away from you, chuckling lightly. “I called you to see when you would be off work, I must have redialed you when I sat down… alot. When I saw my phone was dying I tried to call your office, but I cut out before I could tell her my name. I’m sorry I worried you.”

That sounded like your ditzy boyfriend, not even knowing he had given you a panic attack.

He lifted the flowers again, tilting them towards you. Water dropped off the white petals, dripping onto his hands. 

“These are beautiful Shoto, did you keep them dry with your coat?” You looked over your boyfriend, completely soaked with his coat in his hand. 

“I tried too.” He huffed, looking up to glare at the clouds. “I just wanted to finally get a single flower to you in one piece.” He reached out, running a finger over a dampened petal.

This had been his fifth attempt at getting you a bouquet of flowers, each previous attempt ending in disaster. The first time had been a simple mistake, the delicate flowers dying in the heat of his locker before he could get them to you after school. The next two had been destroyed on the way to you, falling apart in his hands when you opened your bedroom door. The fourth had been crushed by Midoriya on the bus seat, a perfect imprint of his butt set into the wrapping. And the fifth, those were eaten by Koda’s misplaced pet rabbit before they even made it out of Todoroki’s room. It was his mission to get these to you in one piece and he was ready to kill anyone or anything that threatened that.

“Thank you, this is the best gift you could have given me.” You lifted the bouquet up, the fragrant flowers tickling your nose. “Happy anniversary Sho.”

He smiled, taking your hand in his. “Since your off work now are you hungry?”

You nodded, walking with him down the park path. “Let me buy you soba for being so sweet.” You smiled to yourself, shaking your head.  Your anniversary was in fact tomorrow, but he didn’t need to know that. 

“The lady who sold those to me told me to put them in sugar water when we get back to the dorm. She said they should last longer if we do. She also told me…” Todoroki repeated the instructions given to him by the florist as he walked with you to the soba shop, happy to have finally gotten a complete bouquet of flowers safely into your hands. 

—-

You closed the top of the box, taping it shut. Your room was close to finished, most of the items already packed and ready to move to the truck waiting downstairs. You had managed to put off your closet the entire time, hoping that it would manage to pack itself. But that wasn’t the case as you looked at the disheveled mess of shirts poking out of the semi organized mass. 

You pushed a few more boxes over to the mess, saying a few prayers for whatever was inside. 

It wouldn’t take you long to fold everything and stuff it in a box, if you had listened to Shoto months ago and sorted out what you really didn’t want or need. But that took time and effort, two things you really didn’t want to waste on a closet. You had instead wasted it away on other more important matters, like video games with Denki, and shopping with Uraraka. 

You started by pulling out all the clothing, laying it out on your bed as you slowly cleared out the multicolored mess. Each bundle uncovering secrets you had forgotten yourself. Why did you have so many blank tank tops? Where did you get this Shiketsu High jacket, and why did you have three of them? When did you steal Kirishima’s UA gym shirt (his name written messily along the inside collar), did he have yours you had been missing for most of the year? And most importantly why did you have the entirety of Shoto’s hoodie collection hidden amongst your own?

You knew the answer to the last question at least, those hoodies had been given to you by your perfectly temperature regulated boyfriend every time he saw you without a jacket of your own. He insisted that it was because you were always getting sick, and to his defence the dorm common room was always freezing. But you knew he just liked seeing you in his oversized clothes. He tried to hide, oh boy did he try to hide it.  But you could see the possessive gleam in his eye when you walked out in his far too large hoodies. It was like a big sigh on display to everyone around, “Todoroki’s girlfriend”, but he wouldn’t ever tell you that. 

You fingered through the vast majority of the borrowed clothing articles, pulling everything of his aside to take to him later. Your finger stopped on the plush black fabric of one, pulling it out to look at the cracked design on the front, paint faded and worn. You had brought it back from the states one holiday. His favorite manga had a limited run set of merchandise released in the states, and it was just your luck that you had gotten the last of the hoodies he had shown you months before when you saw it in the store window. 

“I should probably give this back to him soon, I bet he hasn’t even noticed it’s missing.” You chuckled to yourself, fully pulling it out of the pile. A small piece of white paper caught your eye, the corner sticking out of the connected pocket. You pulled it out, unfolding it. It was a receipt from your favorite soba shop dating back to last weekend. You thumbed over the printed words on the front, it was your last study date together before finals. Todoroki had insisted on buying that night, demanding it really as he hid your bag. 

—-

“You bought last time Y/N, that means it’s my turn to pay.” Todoroki shook his head at you, watching you shimmy out from under your bed.

“No Shoto, you bought last time, it’s my turn. Where is my bag, you’re not paying.” You glared his way, pushing him over to check under him.

“You won’t find it, i’m going to pay and you’re going to eat what I pay for.” He was stern, rolling back over to his original seated position. 

“Fine, but we’re doing dutch from now on! You’ve abused your boyfriend privileges!” You pouted in defeat, folding your arms over your chest. You sat down next to him on the bed, pushing your shoulder into his as you attempted to scoot him over. 

Todoroki looked at you curiously, he was already confused by the use of the word dutch, but now you were aggressively rubbing against him. Did you want him to move? He leaned back on his hands, watching as your shoulder slipped off his own. 

With your leverage gone you had nowhere to go but over, into the lap of your amused boyfriend. You looked up, the confused look shifting into a smile as his eyes met yours.

“Would you like Soba?” He chirped, hand resting on your head. He was completely oblivious to you melting at his touch, unable to stay mad at the sweet boy before you. 

“Do you want soba?” you asked, it was a dumb question honstley. He ALWAYS wanted soba, it was to him a major food group at this point.

He took that as a yes, phone already in hand as he typed in the order for the food delivery. “Would you like what you always get?” He peaked down at you long enough to see your nod before turning back to his screen. He had the order for all of your favorite restaurants memeriesed, everything from how you liked it cooked to what things you always took off. He felt it was just another way to show you how much he loved you, the ability to bring you home your favorite foods when you had a rough day being something he prided himself on. 

You shifted in his lap, getting comfortable as Todoroki’s fingers tangled with your hair. His other hand finishing the order before setting his phone down on the bed. “So, what subject do you want to work on first?”

You groaned, burying your face in his lower abdomen. Todoroki’s light chuckles softly bounced your head around in his lap, his hand running down your back. “Y/N, we need to study, or do you want to fail?” He teased, earning another groan. 

“Fine, we can start with math!” You moaned into his shirt, ready to just be done with your course work. It was your last weekend in the dorms with Todoroki, and even though you wanted to spend this time in other ways, you knew this had to be done first. 

You worked for a bit, Todorki leaning over your shoulder as he worked through your more difficult problems before turning back to his own. He had gotten attached to studying with you, almost yearning for it when you were away. He loved sitting at your small table, arms pressed against each other as you both fought for surface space to do your work. He had burned into his memory the feeling of your hand grazing his as you flipped the pages of your textbook. The way you would toy with the corner of your homework, folding it over and over when you got stuck on something. Even just the light glint in your eye when you got sleepy.

He liked the fact that he could lean over your shoulder, resting his head on your own as he guided you though the problem in the privacy of your own rooms. His fingers softly danced over the exposed skin of your legs as he calculated the numbers in his head, the pads of his fingers tracing each one out as he worked. 

“Sho, are you ok?” you questioned, looking over your spacy boyfriend.

“Mmm, yeah. Just thinking about something.” He smiled, he reached for your hand. Stopping as his phone began to vibrate on the table.

You picked up the device, turning it over to see the incoming message. “Oh, the delivery driver is here. It says he’s at the front door of the building.” You watched as Todorki pushed out his chair, standing up to pull his wallet from his back pocket. “Want me to go get it?” you asked, pushing your own chair out to follow him.

“No, keep working on your papers. I’ll be fast.” He smiled, sliding the door open to the balcony. 

“Let me come downstairs with you. You’re going to need someone to buzz you back in…” You watched in horror as your boyfriend swung a leg over the balcony ledge, sitting down on the side of the brick before dropping off of it. “Shoto?” You screamed, running to look over the edge. You watched as he landed, standing back up casually to walk over to the equally shocked man holding your food. “Shoto what are you doing?” You shout down to the dumbfounded boy. 

“I’m paying for the food.” he wiggled his wallet at you, the black square barely visible from your second story balcony. He pulled out a large bill, handing it to the awestruck man before taking the bags from his hands. 

The man dug around in his change bag, handing back the remaining money wrapped in the recipe for the order. His hands shook as he dropped it into Todoroki’s free hand.

“Thank you, have a good night.” He beamed, pushing the receipt bundle into his hoodie pocket before walking back up the steps to the dormitory doors. 

The delivery man gave Todoroki a small nod, backing up a bit before looking up at you. He offered you a small wave, watching as you returned it before sprinting back to the front gates. 

Todoroki pulled on the door handle with his free hand, the door firmly locked as he jiggled it a few times. He sighed, walking back down a few steps until he could see your face from the balcony. “Y/N, would you please open the door? I think it’s locked.” 

Your eyes widened as your boyfriend disappeared again up the stairs, your head turning in disbelief. You were too confused to utter words, the definition of everything seemed to slip away as you tried to compile enough reason to justify what you had just witnessed. You walked over to your door, turning the handle slightly. “God I hope he doesn’t do this from his room…”

—-

You laughed, tucking the receipt back into your own pocket. After all the years you had spent with Todoroki he never ceased to surprise you. He was chaotic to say the least, but you loved him. 

A soft knock pulled you away from your packing, the door opening slowly as Todoroki peaked his head inside. “I’m finished packing, do you need help?” he looked over the mess of clothing laid out on your bed, “You’ve made some progress…” He smiled slightly, his tone double sided as he picked up one of his hoodies out of the pile. 

“I think most of this stuff is yours actually, I got all of my stuff packed up.” You teased, pointing to the boxes of clothing you had just finished packing. 

“And how did all these get in here?” He laughed, pulling an empty box over to the side of your bed. 

You pushed him playfully, knowing full well how you had amassed such a large pile of Todoroki’s belongings. You helped him put them in a box, packing them up for him to take back to his own room. 

“We just need to get everything into the truck…” He trailed off looking at your now completely packed up room as you tapped the last box shut. He nudged one with his foot, sliding across the floor as he fought to ignore the lump forming in his throat. 

“Help me take them down?” You questioned, tilting your head to meet his sad gaze. You hadn’t openly discussed that would happen while you were away in America, the topic lightly danced around whenever it was brought up. You knew he was worried, you were after all going away for an undetermined amount of time. Sure you were planning on coming back to Japan one day, this was your home. But finishing your schooling, taking all your hero licensing exams in the states, and getting a visa to eventually come back permanently would take time.

“Of course.” Todoroki smiled softly, trying to hide the tears brimming his eyes. “What would you like me to take?” He questioned, looked around the room.

“Anything, it all needs to go.” You giggle, watching him pick up a box close to the door. “Let me get my bag and I can follow you down.” You reached over a few stacked boxes, pulling your purse off the desk. You looped it over your neck, situating it before leaning down to pick up a box full of books. 

Todoroki leaned up against the open door, holding it for you as you maneuvered your way out with the large box. He followed behind you, walking through the empty common room and out the door. 

Everyone had mostly left earlier that morning, excited to start their lives as pro heroes. Your goodbyes had been said the night before, everyone wishing you a safe trip before retiring for the night.

Todoroki watched as you carefully walked down the stairs in front of him, your head craned to peak out from the side of the box. His eyes followed down to your bag, swaying slightly as you took each step. He squinted at the small plushie the hung from the zipper, “Y/N why do you still have that stupid thing?” Todoroki compained, stopping you as you reached the end of the stairwell. 

“What, my Endeavor keychain?” You looked over your shoulder at the felt plushie that dangled from your bag. “Because you got it for me.” You looked back at Todoroki as he passed you out the door, shaking your head.

“I wish you would let me get you something else. I hate that thing.” He grumbled that last bit, pushing the box into the back of the moving truck. 

“I like it! It was a special day…” You frown at your boyfriend as he took the box from your hands, sliding it in next to the other one. 

It was like so many other things in your room a fond reminder of yet another special moment you had shared with Todoroki. The day seeming so long ago now that you thought about it. 

—-

You had been pacing around your room for a few hours, trying to walk off the nerves that sat in your stomach. They had been there since your encounter with Todoroki early that morning, the concrete weight starting to erase whatever lingering feelings of ease you had left.

It had been a normal morning, you got up early to run. Stopped at the convenience store on your way back to campus for a snack. You studied when you got back before everyone woke up and the dorms came alive. Once everyone woke up you ate breakfast with your friends, and after went back to your room. Well tried to at least.

You were met with a frantic Todoroki outside of your dorm room, lost in thought as he toyed with his finger. He looked your way as you rounded the corner, walking towards you at a dizzying pace.

“Todoroki-kun, are you ok?” You questioned, trying your best to hold eye contact with the boy before you. It was weird enough that a boy was stationed outside your door waiting for you, let alone your bestfriend  you had been quietly crushing over all year long.

He shook his head, “No, I don’t know how to do this…” He held your gaze for a moment, turning away abruptly when he saw the confusion knitting your brows together. 

“Todoroki-kun?” You took a step towards him, reaching out.

He clasped his hands around your extended hand, closing his eyes. “Y/N, I want to ask you on a date tonight!” He yelled out, his grip tightening. Everything was silent for what seemed like an eternity, his courage wavering at the consistent sound of his heart thumping in his ear. It had taken him months to work up to ask you that, the threat of rejection bitter in the back of his mind. You had been a wonderful friend to him since you started your exchange program at UA, possibly his best friend. You understood him in a way that others just couldn’t, and he couldn’t handle losing that because of some simple infatuation. He peeled an eye open, followed by another, worried by your lack of an answer.

Your eyes widened at the sudden outburst, all thoughts leaving you but the constant echo of his question. Months, you had liked Todoroki for months. At one point you wanted to act on it, but as time went on, and your days dwindled at UA you gave up on the idea. But now, here in your grasp was your chance, the inkling of hope that maybe this was worth the risks. You hadn’t realized the length of time you had been lost in the possibilities until you saw Todoroki open his eyes, hurt slowly tinting the multi colored hues. Everything at once came flooding back, the ability to process words coming to the forefront of your frazzled brain. 

“Y-yes!” You frantically nodded, leaning closer to the shell shocked boy. “Tonight?” You added, the one word answers being just enough to convey what you needed to get across. 

“Um, the pier carnival?” He was in the same boat as you, most of his proper vocabulary seeming to leave him when he needed it most. 

You nodded again, grinning from ear to ear.

Todoroki nodded in understanding, releasing your hand. He turned to walk away without another word, his feet carrying him fast down the hallway and out of your view as if nothing had ever happened. 

You watched his hasty retreat, the blood flow coming back to your numb digits as you started to giggle like an idiot. 

Now you were dressed, impatiently waiting for the knock on your door. You wanted the night to start, whenever that was. You had realized your mistake of not asking any important questions the second you closed your dorm door. You didn’t even know what you were doing tonight, let alone what time he was going to come get you. Was he going to come get you? Was he waiting outside for you, what if he had been waiting for hours?

A soft knock sounded from the other side of your door causing you to stumble over your feet and questions. You rushed over to the door, failing to unlock it a few times before throwing it open. 

“Hi Y/N…” He gathered himself from the surprise, “Are you ready to go…” He trailed off, the calm Todoroki you knew and loved showing itself. You nodded, pulling the door closed behind you. 

“All ready!” You beamed, turning around to lock the door. You turned the lock, giving it a test turn to make sure it was indeed locked before turning back around. Your nose grazed the fabric of his jacket as you looked up at the multi-toned eyes looking down at you. You attempted to back up, pressing your back flush against the door. 

Todoroki smiled down at you, taking a step back to give you room. “You look nice, that color suits you.” He always thought you looked nice, you had a way of making anything you wore look it’s best. He usually never said anything, keeping the admirations in the back of his mind. But today seemed as good as any to finally let them out. 

“Thank you, you look…handsome.” The word rolled off your lips, your hand coming up to smooth the navy jacket that seemed to fit him in all the right places. You took his complement as a sign to let loose, the things you always wanted to say finding light between the two of you. 

Todoroki choked on his breath, his heart tugging at you acting affectionately towards him for the first time. Sure as friends you had shared in the occasional kind words, maybe even a hug of two. But the look in your eyes was pure adoration, directed only at him. 

“Are we taking the bus to the pier?” You questioned, blushing at Todoroki’s heavy gaze. 

“Oh, yes! We should hurry or we might miss it.” Todoroki grabbed your hand, pulling you down the hallway with a new sense of urgency. That would be a terrible way to start the night, missing your only way to the actual date. His hand squeezed yours as you both made your way out of the dorm and down the stairs to the campus gates, the bus turning into view as it pulled into the stop. 

You looked down at the soft hand in yours as your feet dragged behind you. You had imagined what the feeling would be like to have his in yours, the touch, the temperature, the tenderness. It was all better then you had pictured, everything heightened past anything you could have imagined. Your skin buzzed against his, your hand vibrating in his at any slight change of contact. You loved it. 

You had stepped up to the bus just before the driver closed the door, thankful that the driver had made the decision to stay for the two of you. Todoroki thanked the man before guiding you to an empty seat near the middle of the bus. He let you slide in first, a gesture you found sweet. Todoroki always liked the window seat, it gave him something to focus his constant nervous attention on. But he had something far better to distract him today. 

He settled into his seat, scooting closer to you. He relaxed his hand, attempting to slide it out of your own. You grip tightened, giving him a displeased look as you pulled his hand into your lap. He blushed at your brash response, it was unexpected to say the least. But wonderful nonetheless, the action making him feel that much more confident in the contact. 

“Have you been to the pier before?” You questioned nonchalantly, unaware of the steady thumping you were causing in his chest. 

“No, today will be my first time…” He had stated it so simply, the same sad tint to his voice every time he correlated something to his traumatic childhood. 

You knew him well enough to know what he really meant, no real need to ask further. “Me either, I’m excited to experience it with you!” You beamed, squeezing his hand in yours. 

He smiled, the corners of his lips tugging up at the thought of having this memory with you. He would never say it outloud, but he had been planning this date for a while. Every aspect of the day color coded and time organized in his brain all hopefully leading up to a perfect date. 

You chatted the rest of the ride, the conversation easing into something so naturally comfortable it felt like every other day together, just with more hand holding. He could get used to this.

The bus pulled to a stop, the both of you coming back to the world around you as the passengers filed out of the bus. Todoroki stood up, pulling your hand slightly to follow him as he made his way into the line, you in tow. 

You tightened your grip on his hand as you made your way off the bus, the crowd of people thickening as you made your way towards the ticket booth. You pushed through people behind Todoroki, small apologies spilling out of your lips as you fought to keep up with your date. 

You were at the front of the line, standing in front of the booth before you even realised you had been in the line. Todoroki pulled out his wallet to pay the teller, he exchanged a few paper notes for bright wrist bands and a few ride tokens, thanking them before pulling you over to the entrance of the park. 

“We have to put these on to enter the park, do you want help with yours?” He flipped the thin plastic, holding out the white backing for you to place your wrist on. 

You extended your arm enough for him to wrap the admissions bracelet around, his long fingers clipping the end closed. He slid a finger under the band, pulling slightly to check if it was comfortably secure. 

He wrapped his own around his wrist, closing it just as he did yours. “ Ready?” He looked up at you, a small blush creeping up his cheeks. His heart picked up again, thumping loud in his ears. With where you were standing, the sunset hit the ocean water just right. The soft oranges and pinks, tinting your features. Each one highlighted in a way that possibly made you the most beautiful he’d ever seen you, but only possibly. He had thought the same things yesterday when he saw you reading on your balcony early in the morning, the sunrise reflecting off the glass doors behind you. He would probably think the same thing tomorrow as well. 

You waved a hand in front of his face, his eyes shifting as he came back to the present. “I’m ready.” You giggled, it wasn’t everyday you saw Todoroki out of his element like this, you liked it. 

He nodded, walking with you to the workers scanning everyone into the carnival. You both raised your wrists once it was your turn, smiling at the worker as you pushed past the spinning turnstile gates.

The pier opened up to you, bright lights and stalls as far as the eye could see. Every pick up of the breeze bringing a new smell from the food vendors in the distance. You tried to pick out each one, popcorn, cotton candy, chocolate, funnel cake…they were endless as you brain rattled on. 

“What do you want to do first?” Todoroki questioned, he knew what your answer would be. He had seen the twinkle in your eye when you first caught sight of them between the fence posts. 

“Carnival games!” You beamed, looking at the rows of prize lined activities. You had loved games since you were a kid, now you had hundreds to explore for the night. 

Todoroki nodded, letting you pull him towards the stalls as your eyes scanned for one to play. Todoroki had “borrowed” his father’s card for this occasion, you had no limit to the amount of games you wanted to play tonight.

Your eyes landed on a grid of glass bottles, a worker waving you over to give the game a try. “Want to try your hand at ring toss?” She shouted, flashing a few rings in his hand. 

Todoroki handed a few coins to the woman for a play, watching as she handed you a small stack of rings. 

“If you make all five you get a big prize, three for a medium, and one for a small. Go ahead!” She stepped back, giving you a clear view of the rows of clear bottles. 

You tossed your first ring, watching as it bounced off the rim of the bottles and down to the hard concrete. The next three followed suit, landing among the other attempts on the ground. You took a deep breath before tossing the last ring, your breath hitching in your throat as it rimmed the neck of the bottle before ultimately falling to the ground. You sighed in defeat, looking at the rows of large plushies that would remain just out of your grasp. “That one was hard.” You chuckled, turning back to Todoroki. 

“We can always try other games.” He smiled, nodding his head towards the rows of games before you. 

You nodded, picking out your next target. You started out hopeful, but each one dampened your mood slightly as you wracked up lose after lose. After your tenth game you had given up hope of taking home any prize, your attention turning to the rides on the other side of the boardwalk. “How about we go ride something instead…” You gave Todoroki a soft smile, tugging him towards the bright rides. 

Todoroki pulled you the opposite way, eyes fixed on a stack of bottles before him. “Let’s win you a prize first.” He was determined now, you were getting a damned prize. He had watched you walk away from everything you wanted all night, he was going to win you something. 

He stopped at the front of the stall, handing the older man a few coins in exchange for a single ball. It was the last of his pocket money, and with no ATM in sight maybe the last chance he had to win you something to take home. 

“It’s simple enough, knock down all the pins and get the big prize, knock down atleast one and you get one of these small ones.” The man shook a brown box full off small felt hero keychains before setting it down on the counter in front of him.

Todoroki nodded, rolling the ball over in his hand. He only had one chance, so he had better make it count. He reeled his left arm back, giving off just enough added quirk power to send the ball hurling towards the stack of bottles and all the way through them. The thick bottles toppled to the ground, clinking on the concrete as they rolled to a stop at the man’s feet. 

Todoroki looked back at you, a proud smile pulling at his lips as he caught sight of the surprised look adorning your face. 

“Hey no quirks, you lost, no prize!” The man yelled at the two of you.

Todoroki whipped his head around, glaring at the man. 

“That’s unfair, where does it say we can’t use quirks?” You angrily questioned, stepping up to the counter.

The worker hastily undid his pencap scribbling something out on the paper in front of him. “Right here.” He spat, flashing you a badly written “No quirks allowed.” sign

“You just wrote that!” You yelled, leaning towards the old man. 

Todoroki placed a hand on your shoulder, pulling you back. “No it says it right up there too Y/N…” Todoroki pointed to the wall behind the man, frowning.

The man turned around, scanning for the mentioned sign.

Todoroki quickly reached over the stall, plunging his hand into the box of small prizes. He pulled out one, grabbing your hand with his other before turning to run. 

You looked between Todoroki and the disgruntled man, his cries dying behind you as Todoroki ran towards the beach, his hand firmly closed around your own. 

Once you ran far enough, the carnival noise soft in the distance he let go. Hold his chest in an attempt to catch his breath.

You leaned over, hands on your knees. “Todoroki, y-you…” You couldn’t find enough breath for the rest of your sentence, panting at the burning in your lungs. 

“He was a dick…” Todoroki airly laughed, catching your gaze as you stood up. “I don’t know what one I grabbed…” He pulled his closed hand out from behind his back, opening it to examine his prize. 

His face contorted in annoyance as he turned the rough felt Endeavor plushie over in his hands. “Lets just take it back.”

You laughed, plucking the toy from his angry grasp. “You can’t return it Shoto, you stole it.” You turned the item over in your hands, feeling over the poorly made stitching. It was perfect. 

“Have it…” He waved, giving the toy one final dirty look. 

“So what now? I don’t think we can go back to the carnival.” You laugh, clipping the plushie to the zipper of your bag. 

Todoroki looked off into the horizon, reaching for your hand. “I wouldn’t mind some soba…” His mind trailed to the soft rumbling in his stomach, yours was soon to follow. 

He started to walk down the beach, beckoning for you to follow as he started the long walk back home. 

“So does this mean I can call you my boyfriend now?” You teased, matching his pace.

“I would like that.” He smiled over at you, wrapping his arm around your neck, fingers laced together. 

—-

You handed Todoroki the last box, watching him slide it into the back of the truck before closing the door. “Was that everything?”

You nodded, taking one last look at the dorm building. “Yeah, that’s it…” 

Todoroki wrapped an arm around your neck, kissing the top of your head. It was the end of you two being kids, the rest of your lives ahead of you. For most it was a happy day, you all graduated, you were all ready to become heroes. But adulthood came with it’s own new set of problems, and for the both of you it was something you have to figure out separate from each other, at least for now. 

He would be lying if he said he wasn’t scared of the next step, scared that everything would be too much for the both of you. He hated to think about the fact that in less than twenty four hours you would be on a plane, in forty two you would be a whole world apart. He didn’t want to think that this would be the end for the both of you, but his mind wandered to the worst of the what ifs. 

You turned towards him, “Shoto, stop worrying so much.” You giggled, pinching his cheek. 

He still hadn’t gotten used to you reading his mind like that, even after almost three years you knew what he was thinking, sometimes better than he did. He chewed at his lip, unsure what to say.

“I love you.” You smiled, cupping his cheeks. You leaned up, softly pressing your lips against his. 

He smiled into the kiss, but you always knew what to say.

You pulled away, settling down on the heels of your feet again. “So what do you want to do for our first date as UA graduates?” You beamed, walking down the courtyard to the school gates.

“I was thinking soba.” He called, picking up his pace to reach you. 

No one knew what would happen while you were away, if you two would even stay together. But he knew that whatever happened, wherever the two of you were. He would always love you. And if things got tough, or he really missed you. Well the open ended plane tickets in his back pocket would fix that. 

[murasaki-murasame]

Thoughts on Higurashi Sotsu Ep13

The true mystery of this show is trying to figure out how to even talk about each episode without just repeating myself or talking about other parts of the franchise, lmao.

Anyway, thoughts under the cut. Plus probably spoilers for both Umineko and Ciconia.

I’m not even sure where to begin talking about the fundamental issues this show has at this point, lol. It’s easy to just say that Sotsu on it’s own is bad, but I feel like it’s highlighting the fact that right from day one there were problems with the show’s structure and it’s intentions that have just become more and more of an issue as time’s gone on.

At the very least, I think that it was a huge mistake for them to have the gun cliffhanger happen midway through Gou, and to then spend so much time on backstory stuff and answer arcs. That just cast a negative shadow over all of those arcs because everyone was just impatient to get back to the cliffhanger. At this point I think they shouldn’t have even had Nekodamashi be in Gou to begin with. If they transitioned straight from Tataridamashi to Satokowashi then you could keep the general cliffhanger of revealing that Satoko’s the culprit without making people so impatient to go back to it and see what happens afterward.

But there’s also the issues like how Satokowashi revealed everything we needed to know about the howdunnit of the mystery, or how the whole gimmick of reusing the same scenarios as the VN in order to play both sides and make it technically accessible to new fans really wrote them into a corner and forced them to spend more time on the answer arcs than they needed to.

If we at least assume that the whole story ends in this arc, I think you easily could have condensed it all into one 2-cour season if they’d just committed to aiming this at old fans.

I guess there’s still a chance we’ll get some sort of continuation, but at this point I feel like the only way to get that much more content is if it ends up mostly retreading Satokowashi from a different perspective, which might actually drive me insane, lol.

In general it just feels like we’re already at the climax of the story one way or another, and there’s not many ways to keep it going for much longer without it seeming super forced. Like, Eua and Hanyuu are having their big confrontation with each other, and now Rika and Satoko are both on the same page, so they’re going to basically be stuck in a stalemate until one of them gives up. There isn’t really any mystery left to answer aside from giving more info about what’s going on between Eua and Hanyuu, so I’d rather they just cut to the chase and not drag this out.

We also know from TV listings that a different show is going to taking over Sotsu’s time slot next season, so unless it changes time slot for some reason, we’d probably have to wait until at least January to get a continuation, and I just dunno if that’d even be worth it.

I’ve already gone over my general ideas for how I think this will end, but I still think it’s entirely possible to wrap things up in just two more episodes. At the very least, if we get another full cour out of this then that’d probably just end up only having a few more episodes of actually new content, so my point still stands, lol.

I don’t think this episode did much to change my mind about where this is going, but it did at least clarify a couple of things. Like how Eua explicitly calls Hanyuu a ‘part of her’, which means that I’m probably right about my interpretation of them being two halves of the same being. There’s still a lot of different ways they could explain it, but at this point it’d basically still just boil down to the same idea of them being two parts of the same person.

It’s also more clear now that Rika more or less didn’t really know about Satoko being the culprit until the last minute, and was starting to get flashbacks to the end of Tataridamashi. I’m not entirely sure how to feel about that. It’s kinda hard to believe that Rika wasn’t at least suspecting Satoko by that point, but I do like the implication that Rika wasn’t fully dead when Satoko arrived, since that at least feels like pay-off for Satoko being so cocky and openly monologuing about how evil she is when she thinks Rika’s dead and can’t hear her.

I guess this episode also shows that there wasn’t anything particularly special going on with how Takano decided to confess to Rika in this one specific loop, which is also kinda underwhelming. Basically it seems like it just boils down to her feeling guilty about all of the stuff she remembers doing, but it’s still kinda weird that she didn’t confess to her in any previous loops. One of the weird issues with Gou/Sotsu’s storytelling is that Rika seemingly put no real effort into trying to investigate Takano even though she remembered her being the culprit, and I think that could have been really easily resolved if there was a scene like this in Onidamashi where Takano confesses her sins to Rika and leaves the village, since that would at least give a reason for her to not try and investigate them, and to assume that somebody else is behind these new loops. They could have even just had that happen off-screen and only be shown in Oniakashi if they didn’t want to spoil new fans. It just seems like a really easy change to make that would have made Rika’s passivity and hopelessness in this series way more understandable.

I think we’re also meant to assume that Satoko reacting to the box in this episode was just her faking it, since there’s no real indication that her conscience has returned or anything. But I’m not really sure why Satoko would go out of her way to fake that, when the trap box hadn’t even come up in that timeline. Maybe it would have made more sense if we saw her inner thoughts in that scene, but it kinda feels like they had to come up with some sort of scenario where Satoko would accidentally display knowledge that only a looper would know. Compared to how she’s been almost overpowered and hyper-competent in this series compared to Rika, it has a weird vibe of her being stupid because the plot demands it, lol. Either way it just seems kinda weird and contrived.

We also ended this episode on the gun cliffhanger again, which I saw coming, but it still kinda stings, lol. Hopefully the payoff is worth it. Realistically I think Satoko will just immediately shoot Rika, and we’ll cut to them having a proper confrontation in the meta world. With how they compared it to the ‘miracle’ scene with Takano in Matsuribayashi, it’s possible that they’ll somehow stop Satoko from shooting her, but I dunno. The stuff Hanyuu said about how this ‘isn’t the world that Rika fought for’ makes me think we’re probably not gonna stick with this loop for very long anyway, so I’d rather they just cut to the chase and get to the part where the two of them fight it out in the fragment world once and for all. Which at least seems to be what that one part of the OP is teasing at.

On that note, the only other mysterious part of the OP [and the key visual] left is the older club members in new outfits, which still feels like a bit of a loose thread, but it’s entirely possible that it doesn’t really mean much. For one thing, it could be as simple as it being related to an epilogue scene back in the Matsuribayashi timeline where they’re in different outfits to the ones we saw them wear last time we saw them. Either way I don’t really think the other club members are going to be super relevant to how this all ends, so one way or another whatever that stuff is related to could still just come up in the next two episodes.

Basically the question is just how exactly the big conflicts are gonna get resolved, and what note we’ll end things on. Which also ties into the larger question of whether or not this is genuinely meant to tie into Umineko [and maybe Ciconia] like they’re indicating, or if that’s some kind of elaborate troll.

I know i’m biased, but I think all the Umineko and Ciconia stuff is totally sincere, and Ryukishi really is using this as a way to start tying the wider WTC-verse together in a more concrete way, so that’s what I’m basing my theories off of.

With that in mind, I still think this will end with Rika and Satoko officially abandoning their humanity and becoming witches together, with the sword maybe being an in-universe plot device to depict that process. And with the reveal that Eua and Hanyuu are for all intents and purposes two parts of the same person, I feel like their side of things will probably end with them merging together in a way that creates Featherine, which would at least explain why Featherine’s personality is more mild than Eua’s, and also why Bernkastel is her miko, and why Featherine’s whole name is a giant pun about Hanyuu. It’d also fit with the whole religious motif that Hanyuu has going on if she basically ‘sacrifices’ herself to neutralize Eua. It’s at least the closest I think we’ll get to seeing Eua be ‘defeated’.

And on that note, I don’t really think this will end with anyone like Eua or Satoko being used as a villain who everyone else defeats so they can go back to their happy ending, since that’s the exact sort of thing that Ryuukishi regrets doing originally, and is why we’ve gotten so many redemption arcs for people in Gou/Sotsu. So I think at most we’ll see Eua get turned into Featherine so she’s less actively hostile towards everyone else, but I think this will ultimately end with Rika and Satoko reconciling and mending their relationship.

Over on the Matsuribayashi timeline side of things, I feel like this is gonna end up paralleling Nekodamashi a bit, and we’ll find out that Satoko ended up planning to kill herself in the Saiguden, but Rika and the club will show up at the last minute and she’ll choose not to. Then we’ll probably see her and Rika talk things out properly, and maybe Satoko will find out that Satoshi woke up from his coma or whatever, and that way they’ll all still get their happy ending, while also simultaneously we can still have Rika and Satoko split off their witch selves into separate entities that become the Bern and Lambda we know in Umineko.

It’s possible they’ll do something with the idea of Satoko losing her game and being sent to a world without Rika, but that also might just not happen at all. So who knows.

If they really lean into the idea of this directly setting up for Umineko, then it’d be neat if we also see Satoko and Rika meet Ikuko in the future of the Matsuribayashi timeline.

There’s also the Ciconia teases to think about, but they seem to be going in the direction of Ciconia taking place before all this even happened, so I think that’ll be kept kinda nebulous and unexplored until Ciconia itself finishes. Ryukishi might announce a release date for phase 2 after Sotsu ends, but I think it’s way too early for anything like an anime adaptation of it. I’d rather they wait until at least after it’s finished before they do something like that.

On the other hand, Umineko’s been over for like ten years, so it’d be much easier to do something like a remake for it after this. I have a lot of thoughts about how that might go if they do that, but I’m gonna wait until Sotsu ends and then make a separate post about it.

Anyway I guess now I just have to wait and see what happens next week, lol.

[emberfrostlovesloki]

#25 Drowning (in Paperwork).

Prompt: You overhear Spencer defending after someone calls you stupid / lazy.

Category: Angst / Comfort

Content Warning: None

A/N: Sorry that I have been gone so long. Grad school has been as busy as I imagined it would be. I’m almost free however and will hopefully post often over the break. This piece has been sitting idle for months so here is it. This is a collaboration with @imagining-in-the-margins​ who came up with the idea for the story. They have some awesome CM content, so I highly recommend their blog. 

Word Count: 2K

List with all stories

Y/n = your name 

Y/l/n = your last name 

_Y/n_ was currently slumped over her desk asleep. The bullpen was mostly empty at the moment because most of the members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit were out grabbing their lunch from the breakroom or getting food from the many take out joints near the FBI compound. Agent y/l/n_ had planned on shot gunning a cup of coffee and continuing her paperwork over their most recent successful case. The unsub, Keith Drivesdale, had ended the whole situation very dramatically with a seven mile footrace in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Tennessee. Mr. Drivesdale had been kidnapping young female hikers on the Appalachian Trail, assaulting them, and then dumping the bodies across state lines on the trail. Drivesdale had been repeating the same pattern for four months until the authorities in Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and Pennsylvania had the sense to contact the other states sheriff stations to see if there was a pattern in the type of killings that were happening on their portion of the trail. By that time the unsub had killed eleven young women. The man hunt had concluded with twenty five sheriffs, five helicopters searching for the last victim from above, and _y/n_ and Morgan tracking down the man on foot. When they had found his trailer, Keith had not attempted to injure Kelly Browning, his last victim. Morgan stayed with the hiker until Jason and Emily came to take her to the hospital. Meanwhile agent _y/l/n_ had run after Drivesdale. The unsub finally tired enough to make a bad decision in his choice of trail to attempt escape on. The man had run himself onto a lookout with a high drop. _Y/n_ had her gun pulled out and said, “Mr. Drivesdales there’s no place to go. Give this up.” Keith pulled out a pistol from his belt and said, “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t help myself. I really couldn’t.” The man quickly put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. His body wracked with the impact of the bullet, and the unsub fell back off the lookout, and into the river below. A second later Derek rushed into the clearing. The other agent was afraid that the unsub had hurt _y/l/n_. With the accelerating chase over, and the case solved the team piled into the jet and returned to D.C. 

It was the following day after the case and the paperwork was due by the end of the workday. Derek and Spencer entered the bullpen. Morgan walked up to _y/n_ desk and pulled The Decameron out from under the sleeping agents folded arms. Surprisingly this movement didn’t stir the sleeping woman. After a few minutes of standing over _y/n_ Derek gently patted her shoulder. The female agent jerked awake, and gripped the sides of her desk. Morgan startled a little at the sharp movement, and said, “Hey, are you alright _y/n_? After rubbing her palm over her eyes and replied, “I’m fine. I had a paper due last night and about a hundred pages of reading left before attending lecture tonight.” Spencer smiled and moved forward saying, “I’ve read The Decameron five times. If you want me to give you a summary of the pages you haven’t read yet I’d be happy to.” _Y/n_ smiled at Reid. She knew that reading that much text was going to take longer than she had. Also, she never missed an opportunity to hear Spencer flex his extensive knowledge. Therefore she replied, “That sounds great. I’ll treat you to some good coffee. You talk and I take notes. If that seems like an equal exchange to you.” Spencer smiled, trilled at the idea of getting to spend time with _y/n_. Derek could see Reid’s excitement, but refrained from saying anything about it in front of agent _y/l/n_. After an awkward moment of silence the standing agents moved toward their respective desks and started working on their own paperwork. 

After another three hours _y/n_ startled awake again. She internally berated herself for only getting an hour of sleep last night. Unfortunately editing a ten page paper took longer than she had anticipated. The paper was 15% of her final grade in one of the three graduate classes she was taking at Georgetown University. She looked up at the clock and was thankful that she had only been out for ten minutes. She was longing for the day to end, and to spend an hour or two with Spencer. Speaking of the young genius, she couldn’t see him anywhere in the brightly lit desk area. She also noticed that one of her thicker, unfinished files was apparently missing. She took the approach she always did when something strange happened near her; get a cup of coffee and figure it out after the caffeine hit her. She pushed her chair out from her desk and moved toward the break room. As she approached the small coffee area that was separated from the rest of the breakroom by a wall and door on the far right that led to the coffee she craved, she heard her name brought up. The voice sounded slightly like, ‘Dave, Devin, David’ she couldn’t really remember his name at the moment. He was a new quantitative technician that made sure all the servers were up and running as they should be. He often was in the bullpen in a desperate grasp to get into Penelope's good graces. From what she heard from Garcia was that the computer analyst hated the new guy's guts. “He thinks he is so smart, smarter than everyone else, even me,” the computer genius had once told _y/n_ over drinks. _y/l/n_ stopped and waited to see if the man had something else to say and wondered who in the world he was talking to. It’s not like this Dave guy knew her at all. It only took a moment before he heard his voice again, “So did she ask you to work on her files?” After a second _y/n_ heard a voice she definitely knew, Spencer's. He replied to the comment, “No, I just wanted to help.” There was a scoff from Dave and he replied, “Well I wouldn’t put it past her to ask you to do extra work for her. She’s such a lazy person.” This type of talk shouldn’t have gotten to her, she had heard worse. But hearing some egocentric man who didn’t even know her talk about her behind her back hurt in a way she hadn’t expected. What hurt her more was what Spencer said next, “How is she lazy?” _Y/n_ sucked in a breath and tried to stop the warm tears from rolling down her face. She had been doubted by cops, by teachers in the academy, by her own family that she wasn’t capable of doing this job. She didn’t expect to find her own team doubting her. Especially not Spencer. From the way he asked it sounded like he was trying to get more information about how she just wasn’t good enough. She wanted to move away, but couldn’t move her legs, instead she slumped against the wall and heard Dave say, “She’s always asleep at her desk, she doesn’t do her work, I don’t know what she’s like in the field, but I bet it’s not great.” The silence after his statement was finished was deafening. 

At least it was deafening until Spencer replied. On the other side of the wall Spencer was leaning against the counter as Devin made a rude remark about _y/n_. He furrowed his eyebrows and asked the middle aged man to elaborate. When the man replied he was just digging himself into a bigger hole. After Spence finished a swig of his coffee he cleared his throat and said, “Let me tell you something about _y/n_, first of all she performs excellently in the field. The case we just finished almost entirely was solved by her. Secondly, just because she’s new to the team doesn’t make her less valuable, in fact it makes her more valuable. She sees things in the cases and the team that we don’t. I hope that doesn’t change. Third, she’s not lazy or stupid, she’s pursuing an advanced degree in English Literature. She’s essentially condensing her master and PhD. into four years. I don’t see you reading three hundred pages a night of the literary canon plus secondary readings and trying to write a dissertation at the same time. Also, she's taking three classes this semester, which is a full load at Georgetown University. So don’t tell me that _y/n_ is lazy. She’s far from it. Also, maybe stop making observations about people you don’t know to a profiler, and especially to me.” With this Spencer brushed past the man and out into the breakroom. Spencer noticed _y/n_ leaning against the wall. Once he saw her it became exceedingly clear that she had overheard the conversation he just had with Devin. He walked quickly over to her and gently grabbed her elbow and led her away from the wall and the break room altogether. As the pair entered the hall Spencer quietly said, “I’m sorry you had to hear that in there.” After the duo entered the hallway and moved back toward the bullpen. Before they both entered the bullpen _y/n_ stopped Spencer by touching his arm lightly. The genius stopped and looked down at her. She gave him a small smile and bit her lower lip slightly before saying, “Thank you for defending me in there. It means a lot.” Spencer shook his head slightly, as if in shock, and replied, “You don’t have to thank me. That guy is an idiot and an asshole.” Reid’s word’s caused _y/l/n’s_ heart tug slightly, she smiled up at him and said, “So, are we still on for later today?” Spence smiled and nodded. With the conversation being finished for the moment he opened the glass door to the bullpen and held it for her. 

An hour later _y/n_ was sipping on a warm chai latte and Spencer was going over the last fourth of Boccaccio’s plague narrative. It was raining outside, and the atmosphere in the coffee shop felt like it’s own cozy little bubble separated from the rest of the world. After Reid had finished his recap and _y/l/n_ had all her questions answered she looked up and said, “Spencer, um, I was wondering if you’d like to do this again sometime, but without the books and notetaking and all that?” The lanky agent shifted in his seat before responding, “You mean a date?” _Y/n_ smiled slightly uncomfortably, hoping she hadn’t crossed some kind of professional boundary with her colleague. She thought about her response and replied, “It doesn’t have to be a date if you don’t want it to be. I would like it if I didn’t have to have the excuse of studying to spend time with you. You’re a cool guy and I’d like to know you better if you were comfortable with it.” Reid couldn’t suppress the small smile that crossed his face briefly before saying, “Sure, I’d like that a lot.” _Y/n_ looked down at her notepad to hid the redness of her cheeks from Reid. It wasn’t anything yet, but she hoped with time she could tell Spence how she truly felt about him. She reminded her self of one of her favorite quotes, ‘all in good time my love.’

[jaxsteamblog]

Lady of the Moon

Click here to read the entire fic on AO3

Thuy climbed up onto a towering root, pushing Mister Whiskers back down when she tried to claw her fat body up as well. 

“Okay, so the most important thing to remember is that the swamp has a mind of its own and it’s super not great to get separated.” She announced.

Sokka raised his hand and she looked at him.

“Why are we going out at night then?” He asked.

“We did just get in, Thuy. Is this a good idea?” Zuko added. 

“The swamp is to be respected! You don’t keep the grove waiting!” Thuy yelled.

Mister Whiskers turned her head on her thick neck and snapped at them, driving the point home. 

“Besides, if we stick together then we don’t have to worry about anyone getting eaten.” Thuy finished and jumped down. 

“That doesn’t sound….great.” Suki said.

“It’ll be fine.” Thuy replied.

They were, of course, separated almost immediately. 

A mile away from the huts, all of their flashlights went out at once. Someone, probably Sokka since it was him that started to swear, tripped over a root. The splashing seemed to attract attention, as Mister Whiskers let out a low, long rumble in warning.

Thuy told them to run back to the huts, but the heavy canopy over them let little of the full moon’s light down to their level. 

Toph had unhelpfully decided to stay, dropping a bombshell on them that she had, in fact, been to the swamp before. So she wasn’t around to help them navigate with the terrible light.

After running for nearly twenty minutes, Katara started to frantically shake her flashlight. Turning around, she illuminated the empty, twisting spaces between the trees. 

She was completely alone.

“Thuy? Zuko?” She called out.

There was no answer.

Sokka

Muttering and swearing, Sokka kept his flashlight out in front of him as he sloshed through knee-high swamp water. 

“I just want one stupid trip with my sister to not involve spirits.” He muttered. “Just one!”

After he had calmed himself, he quickly reoriented his path and knew with some surety that he was heading back toward the village. 

“Is it because Katara pretended to be a spirit? Is that it? Are we being punished for that?” Sokka asked aloud, not expecting or wanting a response. 

“Or is it La? Because I would think that would make this easier.” He continued, pushing through the unpleasant water and trying not to think about what was clinging to his legs. 

“I try to keep her safe but every single time, something weird has to happen.” He grunted, switching the flashlight to his other hand. 

“It was never your job to keep her safe, Sokka.” A woman’s voice said from behind him. 

Sokka whirled around, nearly dropping the flashlight.

“Mom?” He gasped.

“Hello wolf pup.” Kya said. 

Tears came to Sokka’s eyes and his hand went weak. As the beam of light dipped, leaving his mother’s face, he gripped it tightly with both hands.

“You died.” He stated, mostly for himself. 

Kya smiled sadly.

“I did.” She confirmed.

“We tried to get you out.” 

“I know, wolf pup. Katara nearly did.”

“What?” His voice was barely there, and Sokka didn’t know if he had even managed to speak the question aloud. “She said you were already dead.”

“No. We were caught by some guards and Hama used her bloodbending on them. But she was killing them, and your sister wouldn’t let her. When they fought, Hama lost her control.” Kya said.

“They killed you. In front of her.” Sokka continued for her. 

“I tried to protect her, but I couldn’t keep her safe.” Kya said. 

“Why didn’t she tell me?” Sokka asked.

“Your sister holds her pain in secret. She knows what you have sacrificed.”

“I’m her brother! I’m supposed to!”

“No.” Kya said firmly. “You are supposed to do no such thing. The war demanded it of you unfairly.” 

“I’m all she had!” Sokka cried. Tears poured down his face and the light trembled. 

“And you did so good, wolf pup. You stayed so strong.” Kya said.

Sokka took one hand and rubbed his eyes against his arm. He felt arms around him and he started to sob.

“How are you here?” He asked haltingly, still keeping his eyes covered.

“You know our spirits do not fade. When my namesake is born, I will return. But for now, in this place, I can be with you.” Kya said. 

“I miss you.” Sokka murmured.

“I know. But my love is always with you.” Kya said and pressed her forehead against Sokka’s bent head. 

“I love you, wolf pup.” She whispered.

“I love you, mom.” Sokka said. He stood still, even after he felt the arms leave him. Even after he knew he was alone again.

Zuko

Finding solid ground on a peat bog, Zuko slammed the butt of his flashlight against his palm. The light flickered but continued to give out. Frustrated, he pocketed the heavy piece of useless metal and brought out a bright flame in his hand. 

As he continued to walk, the shadowy edges smoothed and the ground under him became hard. It wasn’t what he expected to find in wetlands and Zuko used both hands to make the fire bigger.

He wasn’t in the wetlands anymore.

He was in the woods of Hira’a.

The temperature hadn’t changed, and the humidity was still oppressive, but the trees were the tall, isolated spires of his mother’s home. The woods were quiet, and Zuko couldn’t even hear the noises of the swamp.

Moving slowly, Zuko continued walking, hoping to find his way out of this waking dream. There was no one around, but he still kept himself from calling out. He didn’t know who, or what, would answer.

Eventually, he broke through the treeline and found a wide lake. Holding one hand out, Zuko looked around the open bank.

A figure stood at the edge of the lake, her long red robes damp from the lapping water.

As Zuko got closer, he recognized the robes.

He recognized the long, black hair.

He recognized the crown.

“Mom?” Zuko asked, quietly, cautiously. “Mom, is that you?” 

Reaching out, Zuko went to touch her shoulder.

The woman turned, her face gone. Zuko jumped back, a scream frozen in his throat and closing off his lungs. His fire went out.

“Zuko.” Ursa’s voice came out of the darkness. 

Shaking hard, but forcing himself to breathe, Zuko recalled his fire and held his hand up.

His mother had a face now.

And it was one that he knew.

Suki

Growing impatient, Suki started to pace and glance up at Thuy as she walked. Chewing on her thumb, she tried to think of a solution.

Thuy was meditating, trying to tap into the root system to find the others, but it was taking a lot longer than she had said.

Suki had a good sense of direction, she mulled over the possibility of heading out on her own and getting Toph. Or anyone else. Or everyone. 

Someone would be able to use the roots to find everyone else.

“Didn’t you learn patience?” A woman asked.

Suki froze and looked up. Thuy hadn’t moved and that certainly hadn’t been her voice. It was deeper and had a familiar accent to it. 

When she turned back, she screamed.

Avatar Kyoshi looked down at her.

“And how is my captain doing?” She asked Suki.

Falling to her knees, Suki knelt in supplication.

“Avatar Kyoshi, I’m honored.” She said. 

“Oh please.” Kyoshi scoffed. “I’m not the Avatar any longer.”

As Suki looked up, confused, Kyoshi tapped her closed fan against her chin. “Or I guess I always am? Was?”

Shaking her head, Kyoshi looked unconcerned. “Doesn’t matter.”

“Are you...” Suki stammered, straightening while still kneeling. “Is Thuy channeling you?”

“In a way.” Kyoshi replied, looking over at Thuy. “She has connected to the swamp and I am connected to her, so here I am.”

“On your own?” Suki questioned.

Kyoshi looked back at her.

“Again, in a way.” She said. 

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” Kyoshi sat down, crossing her legs and resting her fans in her lap.

“Is it okay if I leave the warriors?” Suki asked.

“Why wouldn’t it be?” Kyoshi asked in reply.

“Well, everyone assumes I’m going to keep leading.”

“Do you want to?”

“I mean, I would do it. But Sokka keeps getting called away. And I like going with him.”

“I have seen how someone will find fulfillment in following their beloved.” Kyoshi said. “There is nothing wrong with that.”

“But I don’t want to stop being a warrior.” Suki said.

“You could never stop being a Kyoshi Warrior.” Kyoshi said. “That is a calling you carry for life. Would your man leave you if you had to return to it?”

“Never!” Suki said quickly and then lowered her face in embarrassment. “Sokka has worn the robes, he knows what it means to me.”

“Then let them find a new captain. A Kyoshi Warrior is not bound to the island. I traveled everywhere, and so should you.” Kyoshi said. 

“Thank you.”

“Of course, little sister.” Kyoshi stood up again, looking back up at Thuy. “I’ll give her a little push. Hopefully that can help her find your friends.”

As Suki got to her feet, Kyoshi disappeared. Turning to Thuy, she stepped back when the Avatar’s eyes opened and started to glow.

Katara

Seeing something shimmer between the trees, Katara barreled over tree roots. Hoping against plausibility, she thought it was a rare electric light shining at the edge of the huts. In her rush, her hands slipped over a mossy root and she fell forward into another standing pond. This water, unlike the rest she had trudged through, was cold, and she came up gasping.

Wading quickly back to the tree, Katara climbed into the roots and looked around.

The warm swamp air had condensed over the cool water and moonlight was a glittering column caught in the fog. Tilting her head up, Katara saw an empty space in the canopy and the full moon was visible in the night sky. 

“Well that’s nice.” Katara huffed and continued climbing up the roots. 

When she was high enough over the water, she used her bending to dry herself, dumping the swamp water back into the pond. Her flashlight was beyond repair but Katara kept the hunk of metal in case she met one of Mister Whiskers’ unpleasant cousins. 

“It’s been awhile.” A woman said.

Looking up, Katara yelped and fell backward, tangling her limbs in the roots. 

Yue floated over her, tilting her head.

“I visit.” Katara retorted.

“You visit Tui.” Yue corrected. 

“Well how am I supposed to call you up?” Katara snapped as she struggled upright. 

Yue floated back, her hair and robes waving as if underwater. 

“You know how.” She replied. 

Katara sighed and tapped the flashlight against her knee.

“So did you drag me out here for a chat?” She asked.

“The swamp does what it wants. I just saw a chance.” Yue said and shrugged. The unearthly princess with her divine robes shrugged.

“Okay…” Katara said. “How’s it going?”

Yue giggled and Katara smiled in spite of herself. 

“I wanted to see if I could help you be happier. Or more at peace.” Yue said.

“I’m plenty happy.” Katara said sharply. 

“Except for all this fate and destiny talk.” Yue said. “Which I might understand a little bit about.” 

Feeling guilty, Katara looked away.

“It’s hardly fair to say you were a debt held in trust.” She said, mostly to herself.

“I think I was less fated and more living on borrowed time.” Yue said.

“I’m sorry I didn’t stop Zhao.” Katara said, looking back at her. 

Yue sighed and twisted a bit in the watery air.

“It wasn’t your fault. You did what you could, but you were still learning and he was a Master Firebender.” She said. 

“And now I’m engaged to the Fire Lord.” Katara said, feeling sick.

To her surprise, Yue smiled. 

“Isn’t that a good thing?” She asked.

“What?”

“I gave back Tui’s energy because it was what I was supposed to do, even if it wasn’t fated. We’re Water Tribe, we have to protect our spirits.” Yue said. “And you protected our people. Marrying the Fire Lord only makes that goal easier.”

“How politic of you.” Katara said wryly.

“I was a princess.” Yue quipped.

“And now you’re the lady of the moon.” 

“And you can be the lady of fire and water.”

Katara gaped at Yue, who laughed.

“Marry Zuko,” Yue said. “And become Fire Lady. If for nothing else than because you can.”

“I had the Avatar tell me to date him, now I’ve got a spirit telling me to marry him.” Katara said.

“It’s not like you’re willing to listen to anyone less.”

Katara snorted.

“Can you help me out of here?” She asked, standing up.

“I will send the lights to guide you.” Yue said. “If you promise to visit more.”

“I promise.” Katara said softly.

Floating down, Yue put her hands to the sides of Katara’s face and kissed her.

“Goodbye, my other half.” She murmured.

“Goodbye, princess.” Katara said.

“Give Sokka my love.”

“I will.”

In a blink, Yue was gone. Sighing, Katara turned and looked for any light. Seeing nothing, she shook her flashlight in frustration.

A bone white beam burst out, cutting through the darkness.

“Oh, okay.” Katara said, and followed the light. 

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[lilyharvord]

The Chain (Part 1)

I’ve got two words for you all: Time Travel. Main concept: Two love struck idiots get sent back to a pretty UGH time period in their lives (that required me to reread all the books again) and have to hide the fact that they know everything. Stupidity ensues. Enjoy everyone. @redqueenetwork (this is what I mentioned to ya’ll in the chat, it’s finally here!!!) If you want a tag let me know. I don’t even know who is in the fandom anymore. 

“Don’t back her into the corner, whatever you do. We still don’t know what she’s capable of.” I hiss into my receiver as I sprint down another tight alleyway with Ella close on my tail. My hair sticks to my face as raindrops roll down my nose, and thunder rolls overhead. I swipe my hand across my forehead to push the annoying strands out of my face as we go. Behind me, Ella puffs out an annoyed sigh.

“She helped blow up a building Mare, I think we have a pretty decent idea of what she can do.” She admonishes as we round the corner, following Kilorn’s quickly relayed instructions from a moment ago. Ella and I had originally gone after the accomplice but after he hoped a fence and vanished into thin air, we had realized our mistake. He was a fucking teleporter, and therefore the perfect goose for our wild goose chase. We should have guessed something like this would happen. We needed the girl more than anything now. Sometimes I really hated being called into things like this. 

“Ella has a point.” 

“Agree with her one more time, Cal. I dare you.” I grumble into the receiver, pissed he is even chiming in. “Shouldn’t you be more focused on following our suspect and getting her to a place where we can make an arrest?”


“Trying.” Is his reply, followed by a burst of static from Kilorn probably messing with his receiver again. I reach up and bat at the piece in my ear, grinding my jaw against the sound. I could always just short the thing, but that wouldn’t really help with my frustration. It was my fault we lost the teleporter. I’d let him get too far ahead of me instead of just trying to incapacitate him. The last thing I wanted to do was cook him by mistake though. We wouldn’t get any information from a dead body. We needed that information if we wanted these bombings, and other things like them to stop though. 

We rounded the corner and I almost slammed into Kilorn’s back. He manages to dance out of my way. HIs expression is drawn tight, as he puts his arm out to stop Ella. With a quick gesture to the alley beyond the corner he says, “Cal is trying to talk her down.”

I push his arm out of my way and say, “No one engages Ardents alone, it’s a rule.” 

“She’s a kid Mare, they tend to respond to him better.” He says with a shrug, making me shake my head. If there is one thing Cal is still incredibly good at, it’s being a royal pain in my ass. He shouldn’t face anyone alone. Tyton had learned that the hard way when a young Ardent had put him in intensive care for three days. The last thing I need is Cal getting his leg broken because a kid hears what he has to say and doesn’t like it. My mother will never forgive him if he so much as has a bruise going into our wedding planning. Not that that was happening anytime soon, not now with the information I have tucked away to share tonight. I step around my best friend, who only passively tries to stop me. He knows that’s futile and steps back to stand with Ella as I slide around the corner.

My skin barks in protest as a wave of heat rolls over my skin. I hold my hand up to cover my eyes from the flames that circle Cal and the girl who has her back pressed up against the wall. She glares at him, her palms pressed to the brick and stone. I reach a hand out for the flames, knowing Cal will sense the shift in the flames distribution. Sure enough, the flames die in a small me-sized hole, giving me a chance to slip through them. They kiss the edges of my jacket and burn away the rain there.  

As soon as I enter the makeshift ring, the girl’s eyes fly to me over Cal’s shoulder. I know a cornered animal when I see one. She reminds me of myself too, which screams trouble. She’ll do anything to get out of that corner. Talking her down might not be an option, but we have a duty to her to at least try. Forcing my hands to remain at my sides I say, “We want to help.” 

“The last thing I need is your help.” She spit with a sneer and a raised chin. Definitely red, I realize in the light of the fire. She’s either an Ardent or a Red. I’m praying for a Red, they are far easier to apprehend and deal with during interrogation. 

The girl takes a step off the wall and holds a hand up in threat. Immediately my own hands light up with sparks, and Cal takes a step back to give me a clearer shot. The flames around us die as he channels that fire to a more useful source. Hopefully Ella senses the shift in the air and joins us to apprehend this kid. She can’t be older than sixteen, but that just makes her that much more dangerous. Younger Ardents were untapped fonts of power. 

The shadows from the early morning cut into the alley, and my lightning bathes us all in a deep purples glow. The dark shadows under the girl’s eyes are like bruises in this light. Her ragged breathing turns her into a woman possessed though. I try to dim my electricity, to prevent her from acting too brashly. She doesn’t take the hint, and instead takes another step closer to us. The air around us condenses until my ears pop painfully. 

I cry out at the sensation, almost dropping to a knee, and press my hands to my ears. Next to me, Cal pushes himself in front of me, using his own body to shield mine. I wish he would stop doing that, but no amount of arguing is going to change instinct, I’ve figured that out. Four years is a long time to spend with someone. You knew the intricacies of everything. In fact, if this still goes to plan, I can name exactly what he will want for breakfast after, down to how many cups of coffee he will need to stay awake for the rest of the day. 

A wicked wind snaps at me, ripping strands of hair out of my braid and extinguishing Cal’s flames completely. His hand on my shoulder is both a question and an order. If I’m incapable of standing, I need to get out of his way. If I’m capable, then I need to stand and help him. His voice carries even with the hurricane building around us, and he speaks to her like she hasn’t already made herself a danger to us. “Giselle, at least listen.” 

I have no idea how he got her name, but I file it away for later as I look up. She laughs at his attempt to negotiate, and brings her other hand away from her body, palm side up. The wind whips her auburn hair into a frenzy, but she does nothing to tame it. She should do what’s best for herself and listen. If she blatantly attacks us, her punishment will be more severe than blowing up an abandoned building. 

I grab onto Cal’s sleeve, as the wind tears at me as well. If I could just get a well-placed shot off, then I could disable her. Bringing my hand up, fingers spread, I take careful aim for the space right below her heart. Her eyes fly in my direction, and her lips fall into a tight line. “Don’t make me do it.” 

“Whatever you plan, you won’t be as fast as me,” I assure her, trying to rise to my feet completely. She shakes her head, her eyes growing just a hint wider as she states, “I can’t stop it now.” 

My stomach plummets, and my blood runs cold. What has she done? Is there another bomb? Is she about to set another one off somewhere else in the city? Somewhere that might actually be populated? 

“Whatever it is, we can stop it, if you just stand down.” Cal argues, keeping a tight hand on my arm, while his other arm tries to shield his eyes from the debris in the alley that the wind kicks up. Giselle shakes her head one more time, before looking down at her hands. Her entire body begins shaking, and with a smirk she says, “I’d tell you I’m sorry, but I’m not even sure where you’ll land.” 

My brows fly up into my hairline, and I grab Cal to pull him out of the way as she holds her hands out again. A body blow sends us flying backwards though, and through a wall. 

Immediately, my body goes into free-fall, and instinct kicks in as I try to flip myself over. There’s nothing but a wash of color around me though, and I end up tumbling in circles, simply trying to keep myself in one position. 

My hands seek purchase, and I manage to grasp Cal’s jacket again. His hand latches onto mine and I try to pull myself closer to him. I’m gasping for air though, unable to breathe. It feels like I’m being squished through a pipe the size of my pinkie, like how it used to feel when Shade teleported me. I wish I had opened my eyes during those times, maybe I would have seen the same wash of colors. Those trips always took a heartbeat though; this is taking seconds. I had never seen an Ardent that could teleport people and not themselves. Were Ardents evolving again? Julian said it was a possibility, but it should have taken hundreds of years, just like it had taken that long for us to appear in the first place. 

“Don’t let go,” I managed to gasp to Cal, as he tries to wrap an arm around my hips. I grip the front of his jacket with two hands, terrified of what will happen if I lose him in this tunnel. His answer is to squeeze me tightly to him. 

I press my face into his shoulder trying to inhale the scent he always carries with him. He smells more like the lake in Monfort now, probably because he keeps wearing this jacket when he walks around the lake with Kilorn. He should know better. It reeks of moist lake water. 

I glance over his shoulder only for something to catch my shoulder. I try to scream an alarm as my fingers release Cal, and I go spinning off to the side. My vision is limited but I still see him go limp from whatever hit he took. I scramble to grab at him, my fingers managing to catch his sleeve before we both collide with the side of the tunnel. 

It is like passing through a window, with multicolored glass shards explode around us. I spiral into darkness then, losing my weak grip on Cal completely. My chest heaves for air, and I try to force myself to be as loose as possible in case I end up hitting the ground. It’s a pointless exercise, any hit will kill me at this point. The pressure around me changes again, making me ears pop once more. Only a heartbeat later, I slam into something else, and finally fall unconscious.

[hockey-fics]

Not Enough ~ Vince Dunn 

Summary: After two years with Vince you’re not sure about the future of your relationship. 

Requested: Sort of. This is for the requests of something angsty with Vince Dunn and another for just general Vince Dunn content. 

Author’s Note: Sorry for disappearing for so long and also for the fact that those requests were made ages ago. Hopefully after the absence my writing hasn’t gotten worse. Italics are flashbacks. 

Warnings: None. Swearing if we’re still counting that as a warning. 

Word Count: ~2,131

“Hun, I know it hurts right now but you need to get out of bed,” your best friend, Ally, says gently, sitting on the edge of your bed with her hand resting on your arm. “It’s been a week, have you even left your apartment?”

Shaking your head you keep your eyes fixed on a scuff mark along the baseboard of the wall. “No,” you croak, eyes feeling heavy as you curl your legs further into your body. 

“Y/N,” Ally whispers, pity clear in her voice. A moment later she lifts the blankets off your body, taking one of your hands in hers. “Come on, you’re going to have a shower and then we’re going to go get a coffee and go for a walk.”

Sighing you push yourself up off the bed, obliging her request. You knew she was right, that you needed to get up and do something. Even a walk would hopefully push you out of this state you were in. You couldn’t let yourself do this, couldn’t let your entire life fall apart over a relationship falling apart. Shuffling into the bathroom you turn on the shower, stepping into it once the water was hot enough to engulf you in a comfortable warmth. As soon as the water hits your skin it lulls you right back to that night two weeks ago. 

“Well what do you want me to do? You know that part of my job is being away,” Vince snaps, the two of you standing across the living room from each other, physically separated in the same way you were emotionally. 

“That’s not-,” you start, stopping to take a deep breath. “That’s not what I’m talking about, Vince. I’m talking about when you are here. When you’re home and you barely pay attention to me. When you walk through that door and barely acknowledge me or forget when I say I’m making us dinner and leave me here alone. Am I not enough for you anymore?” you retort. You had started with hostility, losing a little bit of that with each word till you’re left sounding deflated as you ask if you’re enough. A few tears slip from your eyes and you internally curse yourself for not being able to hold them back. 

Vince’s demeanour softens when he notices the tears, bounding across the space between you two with arms ready to wrap you up. 

“No,” you state before he has the chance to touch you, stumbling back away from him. “Don’t touch me.”

“Y/N,” Vince mumbles, this time being the one to sound deflated. “You’re...you’re more than enough. I didn’t...I don’t know...I just, I’m sorry-.”

“Stop,” you say, cutting him off. “Save your bullshit for someone else. I’m done with this.” Reaching up you wipe away the tears from your face, taking a couple deep breaths as you stand in silence with him. Vince watches you with a helpless look, not knowing what was left to do, what he could do to save this. “Should I go or do you want to?”

Vince stares at you blankly for a few minutes, shaking his head a second later. “Go?” he asks in confusion. 

You two had moved in together four months prior, an unfortunate situation now considering the year lease you had signed together. “Yes, Vince, go. Ex’s don’t live together.”

A loud breath of air comes from Vince as if someone had kicked him in the stomach and he reaches up, running a hand through hair anxiously. “Ex’s?” he mutters in disbelief. “We’ve been together for almost two years, Y/N,” he exclaims. “Two years and after one fight you’re going to end it?”

“It’s not a fight Vince,” you tell him, arms folded over your chest defensively. “It’s me breaking up with you.”

“When did you decide you were going to do this?” His voice is so quiet and bleak that you’re pretty sure you can feel physical pain radiating from your heart, knowing you were the reason behind it. 

“A couple of weeks ago. When we were supposed to spend the evening together so I made us dinner and you didn’t come home till after midnight.”

“I was just with the guys,” Vince defends, as if you were insinuating that he was cheating on you. 

“I trust you Vince, I know you weren’t with another girl,” you tell him, sighing. “That’s not the problem, the problem is I’m so far down on your list of priorities that I don’t think you have room for me in your life anymore.”

Vince steps forward, trying again to get his arms around you, to reassure you in the only way he ever really knew how to. “I told you not to touch me,” you say, watching him falter in front of you before shoving his hands into his pockets. “If you’re not going to leave then I will,” you whisper, feeling your eyes fill with tears again as you avert them to the ground. 

Vince shakes his head despite you no longer looking at him. His own eyes fill with tears which he tries to fight back with rapid blinking. “No,” he mutters, sniffling quietly as he reaches up to quickly swipe away a couple tears before they make it out of his eyes. “No, I’ll go.”

You don’t look up till he begins to walk down the hallway to gather some things, but you didn’t need to see him to know he was crying. Maybe you didn’t want him to see you upset. But maybe you really just didn’t want to see him upset. Maybe you wouldn’t have been able to handle knowing you hurt him. 

“Y/N?” Ally calls, her voice drawing you out of the trance you had been in. “You okay?”

“Fine, yeah, I’m fine,” you call back, scrambling through the rest of your shower in an attempt to not break the world record for longest shower. 

An hour later you leave your apartment with Ally, walking down the sidewalk towards the nearest coffee shop. As you get closer your steps get slower and Ally glances over at you with an obvious look of confusion. “What’s going on?”

“Could we not go to this one?” you ask her, never before having realized how often you really went to that coffee shop with Vince. It was the closest one to your place, it made sense that when you two wanted coffee that’s where you would go. But you never realized all those trips had left a lasting impression. Nothing memorable had ever happened, you hadn’t met there, hadn’t shared any personal stories or moments in that little coffee shop. But it had been imbued with memories of him. Of you and him. 

“Of course,” Ally says quickly, reaching over and placing her hand on your arm. “Wherever you want to go.”

A few minutes and a quick google search later you had decided on a small restaurant instead. Perhaps your first real meal in a week would make you feel a little better as well, at least that’s what you were trying to convince yourself. In all reality you wanted to curl back up in bed and forget about the fact that every minute of the day was not filled with regret over your decision to end things with Vince. Why hadn’t you tried harder? Talked to him more about it instead of just calling it quits?

“Please get out of your head,” Ally says. “Look around, it’s a beautiful day. Just think about that right now, that’s all that matters.”

Taking Ally’s advice you do everything in your power to focus on the moment. On the sunlight streaming through the trees along the sidewalk, on the orange leaves scattered around the ground, on the way your breath appeared in clouds of condensation in front of your face. Twenty minutes later you walk into the small restaurant, finding a table near the window. After ordering your meals you do your best to stay present, to listen to the stories Ally was telling you. It was all lighthearted stuff, about the embarrassing thing she had done at work, the stupid stuff her new puppy was doing, about her nephew and all the milestones he was reaching. And you were doing your best to listen, to really care about her puppy destroying a throw pillow or her nephew saying his first word. 

You feel a sudden urge to look out the window, your eyes following along with the sensation and falling on the one person you had been trying so hard to keep out of your thoughts all afternoon. Ally notices your sudden shift, eyes following yours out the window. “Of course,” she mutters under her breath, leaning back in her chair with a sigh of defeat. 

Vince somehow notices you as well, stopping in his tracks outside the window, staring as if he wasn’t sure it was really you. A moment later he begins walking again and for a second you think he’s leaving, that he noticed you but had moved on enough already to not even acknowledge you. But as he gets to the door of the restaurant he pulls it open, walking in and towards your table. “Y/N,” he breathes out, eyes filled with concern. “Are...are you okay?”

“Hm?” you hum, nodding quickly. You knew exactly why he was asking, the dark circles under your eyes had proven to be stronger than your concealer and you hadn’t even tried to figure out how to correct the redness in your eyes. “I’m okay. How, um, how have you been?”

Vince is quiet for a second, glancing over at Ally before returning his attention to you. “Terrible,” he admits, shifting uncomfortably as he stands at the edge of your table. 

“Oh,” you croak, glancing down at the tabletop with a sudden heaviness on your chest. “Where were you going?” you ask, wanting to know what he was doing still hanging around your neighborhood. 

“Just going back to my hotel,” he tells you. “I, wanted to be, uh, like close or whatever, in case you needed me...or, something, in case you needed something,” he stammers, as if embarrassed by it. 

“Vince,” your voice wavers through his name and you push your chair back from the table. “Let’s go outside for a minute,” you suggest, leading the way out of the restaurant. The cold air hits you when you open the door, realizing you had left your jacket at the table with Ally. 

“I’m so sorry,” Vince says sincerely. “I didn’t realize. I didn’t know how you were feeling. I just, fuck, I don’t even know. I feel so...lost. I don’t know how to get you back, if I can get you back. But I just...I miss you.”

You’re quiet for a minute, not knowing what to say. He was being so open and genuine, something that he hadn’t always been good at. It felt unfair of you to not also be open with him. “I miss you too,” you tell him, eyes locked on his. “I don’t know what to do. I love you, but I just got so tired. Tired of not feeling like I was enough, tired of feeling like I had to work so hard for your attention.”

“I’m so sorry, Y/N. I didn’t know, it’s stupid of me to not realize. But you just always seemed so busy with your own stuff, I didn’t think about it. I didn’t know I was hurting you and I’m really sorry.”

Fiddling with the sleeve of your shirt you stare down at your hands. “Yeah, I was busy but I was willing to make time for you. I was always trying and you just weren’t.”

Vince reaches over, his hands tentatively landing on your arms. You feel a slight pull of his arms, testing to see if you would allow him to pull you closer. After a moment of resistance you give in, cherishing in the comfort of his body warmth and his arms tight around your body. “I’ll try, I’ll try so much harder than I ever did. I’ll make time, whatever you need because I need you, Y/N. I never realized how much I need you, how important you are to me. I know I fucked up, I know that now. But if we can try this again, if you’ll take me back I promise I’ll do better.”

Your arms tighten around him, fighting back against the sting of tears. “Come home,” you whisper, barely loud enough for him to even hear.

“Really?” Vince asks with tentative happiness.

Pulling back just enough to look up at him you meet his eyes, nodding your head with a slight smile. “Yes.”

[phantoms-lair]

Serious Freakzoid thing (Freaking Out) Part 3

It was a familiar chiptune that woke Dexter up, one he had set to play when his custom GUI loaded. He forced his eyes open and realized he was one the floor. What was he doing there? 

Seeing the side of his computer opened jogged his memory of the Pinnacle Chip going nuts. Or did it? The computer was functioning perfectly now, humming quietly along with the screen. He looked at the hand where he'd grabbed the chip and saw no sign of the massive electrical burn that would have had to be there. 

An electrical burn is a burn that results from electricity passing through the body causing rapid injury. Approximately 1,000 deaths per year due to electrical injuries are reported in the United States, with a mortality rate of 3-5%.[1] Electrical burns differ from thermal or chemical burns in that they cause much more subdermal damage.[2] They can exclusively cause surface damage, but more often tissues deeper underneath the skin have been severely damaged. As a result, electrical burns are difficult to accurately diagnose, and many people underestimate the severity of their burn. In extreme cases, electricity can cause shock to the brain, strain to the heart, and injury to other organs.[3] 

What....? Dexter shook his head, trying to figure out where that had come from. 

He shook his head and Mr. Chubbikins meowed and rubbed against him. Dexter reached to pet him when a strange feeling shot through his head.

Pheomelamine is the pigment responsible for the ginger color in cats. 

A huge 80% of all ginger cats are male

♪ Cat *wink* I’m a kitty cat. And I dance dance dance. And I dance dance dance ♪

Words and images flooded his head and all of a sudden it was hard to think, to focus. He saw Mr. Chubbikins and for a moment didn’t recognize him as his beloved pet, but simply a cute cat.

“Kitty Kitty Kitty,” he cooed in a tone that wasn’t like him at all. It was certainly enough to scare off Mr. Chubbykins, who nyoomed under the bed. The disappointment of the moment was enough to bring him to his senses.

He turned on his heels and ran to the bathroom. He examined himself in the mirror, trying to see if there was something wrong with his head or eyes. He ran through the Stroke checklist, but passed the standard tests. “Am I just going insane?” he muttered to himself. “Next I’ll be seeing little blue men.”

As he said this he felt a gentle buzzing on his skin. Looking down he saw a wave of electricity passing him over, leaving his skin blue in its wake. He whimpered, his mind trying to wrap around what he was seeing, What on Earth could turn his skin blue?

Cyanosis refers to a bluish cast to the skin and mucous membranes. Peripheral cyanosis is when there is a bluish discoloration to your hands or feet. It's usually caused by low oxygen levels in the red blood cells or problems getting oxygenated blood to your body.

No, this wasn’t cyanosis. Even he knew enough to know humans didn’t turn that particular shade. And why the heck did these...data pieces keep forcing their way into his brain?

His thoughts were interrupted by a pounding on the door. “Hey Dorkster, open up. The rest of us need to use the bathroom too!”

It was all Dexter could do to keep from hyperventilating. He couldn’t let his family see him like this! They already thought he was weird! What could he do? Disguise himself?

He felt the lightning tingle again, around his eyes and the top of his head. A glance in the mirror revealed his hair had become black and spikey, while a domino mask appeared about his eyes. As his panic rose, he felt a strange bubbling feeling in his mind. His thoughts broke apart and drifted away, no matter how hard he tried to hold on to them. Why was he trying to hold on to them anyway?

“Come on, freakazoid, open the door!”

Oh right, Duncan. Huh, Duncan had always been upset Dexter wasn’t like him, big and strong. If everything was changing, maybe he could change that?

He grinned as he became taller and gained a physique not seen outside comics. Duncan would be so happy! He opened the door with his grin growing ever wider. “Let’s Wrassle!”

~~

Roddy took a deep breath as he stopped the car, ignoring the ache in his ribs it caused. There was no ambulance or people screaming, so hopefully no one had been seriously injured. It was a small comfort, but it was there. He grabbed his old Apex employee card and the cane he hated but needed to be mobile right now.

He made his way to the front door carefully, avoiding icy patches on the walk and steps (oh how he’d come to loathe steps) and rang the bell.

He heard some movement inside and the door opened to reveal a middle aged woman with a smile that seemed almost grafted on.. “Can I help you?” “My name is Roddy McStewart, I work for Apex International, creators of the Pinnacle Chip.” He handed the man both his Work ID stating he was an employee and his driver’s license. “We received a signal from a newly installed Pinnacle Chip of a malfunction and I’m here to take a look at it.”

“On Christmas Day?” she asked, surprised.

“We all do what we can to make a living.” He gave her a sad smile.

“Well, okay then. Dexter’s room is upstairs, second door on the right.” Roddy blinked. Just like that? Still he shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Even if it involved stairs.

He was nearly bowled over by a teenage boy running past him, yelling about something blue. Roddy looked to the woman who’d opened the door, but she'd just called up to ‘Dexter’ that he had a guest.

Odd Family he thought, as he made his way up the stairs.

~~

This was some quality family bonding he thought as he sat on Duncan’s back locking up one of his brother’s legs. That’s what it was, right? That’s why it was okay for Duncan to get physical with him.

“I give! I give!” Duncan called out.

But he knew this game. It wasn’t over because the other person gave up. You had to make them say something. “Sing ‘I’m a tugboat, Call me Mel’.”

“I’m a tugboat...call me Mel...I can’t, I don’t know the words?”

“That’s a tough one since I just made it up.” He admitted, but let Duncan up since he had tried.

Duncan tore out of the room, so he knew he’d done a good job, until he heard his mother’s voice coming from downstairs. “Dexter, you have a guest.”

Dexter. That’s right, he was Dexter. And with that realization the floating feeling he had vanished as his thoughts coalesced and his body condensed into the body he’d always had. He fled back into his room and huddled on his bed, too freaked out to try and do much more.

There was a knock on the door and a red-haired man entered. He glanced around seemingly surprised at the computer, still humming along. “Are you Dexter?”

“Yeah, who are you?”

“Roddy McStewart. I’m here about a malfunction with your Pinnacle Chip, but everything seems to be-”

“That was real?” Dexter blurted out. “Ever since that happened...I think I’m going insane.” he clutched his head.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Roddy asked. The room wasn’t a mess of shrapnel as he feared, but it was obvious something had happened.

“After I installed it the cat jumped on the keyboard and it started going nuts. I tried you yank the chip out to save the computer-”

“Are ye daft boy! You could have electrocuted yourself!” 

“I know, I wasn’t thinking!” Dexter snapped back. “I grabbed it and I thought I got shocked and blacked out, but my hand was fine when I woke up. And...thoughts keep popping in my head.”

“What kind of thoughts?” Anything besides a broken computer was well out of his wheelhouse, but Roddy couldn’t just leave the kid when he was so upset. Especially given the concern he now had with the lad’s mother sending him up to see her teenage son without any supervision.

“I dunno, random facts? It’s like articles and videos are just pulling themselves up in my mind. And then everything goes fuzzy.” Dexter didn’t mention what had happened in the bathroom. There was no way that was anything other than a hallucination.

There was the beginning of an idea forming in Roddy’s head, but he wasn’t ready to admit it was possible yet. That the reason Dexter’s computer had been spared was the Pinnacle chip had found a better storage solution for its mass internet download.

Before he could even think of how to check or even explain the door burst open and a taser fired directly at his chest. Roddy’s world exploded in pain, both from the electricity and his ribs from the body spasms, and everything went black.

~~~~

I’m trying to do more of a buildup to Freakazoid’s development and not him just being created fully formed by the accident. In the first episode Dance of Doom Freakazoid states that he and Dexter are two aspects of the same person so I wanted to show how he comes from Dexter.

[watch-grok-brainrot]

April Fool’s

(Notes: Uh… post canon? I guess canon compliant? Fluffy wangxiantics. i like that word, wangxiantics. Bantering. Hinting at wwx's past trauma, not going into it. I feel bad for the juniors.) 

The night hunt ended on a wistful note. Zizhen wept, per usual, for the lost spirits separated from their loved ones. Sizui and Jingyi shook their heads in unison at Zizhen. “Let’s go, Zizhen,” Sizui said, patting the other junior’s back. 

With a tearful nod from Zizhen, all three mounted their swords and headed towards Cloud Recesses. A report was due by Si hour the next day. They needed sleep.

Lan Wangji glanced towards his husband after the juniors left. Wei Wuxian’s eyes stared out over Biling Lake. The waning moon cast a frost-like glow upon the shimmering waters. 

“Lan Zhan, that’s how you felt those thirteen years.” Wei Wuxian’s breath condensed in the cool spring air. He shivered reflexively. 

“Mn. I still had A-yuan. Following you and protecting him were mutually exclusive.” Lan Wangji stepped up and wrapped his arms around Wei Wuxian’s shoulders, pulling the smaller man into a tight hug. “Wei Ying, let’s go home.”

Wei Wuxian nodded as he reached up and pulled Lan Wangji’s arms tighter against his chest. “It’s almost Qingming. We should probably help with preparations in Cloud Recesses. Maybe I should go to Lotus Pier to visit Uncle Jiang, Madam Yu, and Shijie.”

“If Wei Ying wants. I can take us tomorrow or the day after by sword.”

“Maybe. Let’s see how busy Xichen-ge and your uncle make us in the coming days.  Maybe I can send Jiang Cheng a letter first.” Wei Wuxian leaned into Lan Wangji and looked up at his husband. 

The corner of Lan Wangji’s mouth pulled back a millimeter. “Wei Ying is learning propriety.”

“Lan Zhan!” We Wuxian wailed, “You’re teasing me again.”

“Proportional only to what Wei Ying deserves.” Lan Wangji’s pale eyes narrowed slightly in mirth. He took his husband’s hand and the two of them mounted Bichen and followed the juniors home. 

–

The next morning, Wei Wuxian woke up before Lan Wangji. His sleep fitful from flashes of past massacres: Lotus Pier, Qiongqi Path, Burial Mounds. Wei Wuxian felt his heartbeat racing as he sat up and took a few breaths to calm himself. He quickly dressed and left on a walk to clear his head. A few hours later, Lan Wangji found Wei Wuxian asleep in dewy grass covered in rabbits. Wei Wuxian had curled up with a white rabbit in his arms. Streaks of dried tears were visible on Wei Wuxian’s face.

Looking at his husband, Lan Wangji wanted to reach out and wipe the streaks away. He knelt down but stopped, choosing to let the smaller man sleep. It was then that Lan Wangji realized he needed to do something to cheer up Wei Ying. Realizing the date, Lan Wangji’s mood brightened. Uncharacteristic behavior would be welcome today. 

He took off his outer robes and gently covered Wei Wuxian before standing up and walking swiftly towards the kitchens. 

–

Lan Wangji summoned Jingyi, Sizui, and Zizhen to eat with himself and Wei Wuxian that day for lunch. 

“Hanguang-Jun, Wei-Qianbei,” the juniors greeted them in unison. They then sat down at Lan Wangji’s invitation. 

“Lan Zhan, what made you decide to invite the kids today?” Wei Wuxian asked as he leaned into the table and tapped his nose three times. 

“Mn? Offering Wei Ying some liveliness.”

“Lan Zhan, you don’t even like liveliness.”. 

“Wei Ying looked forlorn amongst rabbits.”

Wei Wuxian smiled. Lan Zhan expressed his love in such thoughtful ways. “Well, then, what’s for lunch? I’m hungry!”

Servants brought out a variety of dishes. Two, per Cloud Recesses custom, were pale in color and mild looking. Two per Wei Wuxian’s preference, fluoresced bright red. And two appeared grey in color, also seeming rather bland. 

Wei Wuxian, rolled up his sleeves, picked up his chopsticks, and dug into the bright red dishes. “Sizhui, eat this.” He put a chopstick full into Sizhui’s bowl. “You too, Zizhen and Jingyi.” A few more chopsticks full were moved over. 

The juniors looked at Wei Wuxian and at their own bowl. They weren’t partial to spicy foods but refusing seniors would be rude. They took a bite and then quickly ate a mouthful of rice to dilute the flavor. The dish was spicy but nowhere near Wei Wuxian’s preferred level.

Wei Wuxian smiled and took a bite of his own, “That wasn’t so bad, was it? Hm… it’s actually slightly on the bland side.” 

Sizhui smiled. “No, it was not worse than Wei-Qianbei’s congee.”

“I can’t believe you would bring that up! That stuff was awful!” Jingyi said, making a gagging face. He picked up a bite from one of the grey dishes and put it in his mouth. A few chews later, his eyes started watering. Jingyi looked over at Wei Wuxian, expression unreadable. He swallowed his bite and quickly shoveled some rice into his mouth. Tears leaked out his eyes. “Wei-Qianbei, how could you? What did you do to that dish?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Wei Wuxian responded. “That’s just a bland dish! I don’t know what’s wrong with you!” He reached over and popped a chopstick full in his mouth. His eyes lit up after a few chews. “Oh! It’s actually quite good! Did you get this just for me, Lan Zhan?”

Lan Wangji didn’t look at his husband. “Silence while eating.”

“I’m sure Jingyi is overreacting. Wei-Qianbei seems fine,” Zizhen chimed in and took a bite from the same dish. 

Sizhui and Lan Wangji watched him with interest. Zizhen chewed a few more times than Jingyi and swallowed. “Th-that was actually pretty spicy.” He swallowed again. 

“Hah. Fun!” Wei Wuxian muttered to himself, his smile widening a little. Picking up food from three different dishes, Wei Wuxian put a different dish in each of the juniors’ bowls. “Eat!”

Sizhui’s face paled at the bright red food Wei Wuxian put in his bowl. “Can I only eat what Hanguang-jun eats? I don’t think I can tolerate as much spice as you, Wei-Qianbei.”

“Nonsense. You’ll be fine.” Wei Wuxian replied scoffing as he took bites from all three dishes. “This is a great meal, Lan Zhan! What flavorful food!” 

Lan Wangji’s mouth twitched slightly up. His husband was very good at figuring out games and playing along. 

The juniors looked at their food with trepidation. They took a deep breath and put the dishes into their mouths. Jingyi instantly jumped up from his chair and ran outside. Zizhen’s eyes went wide and he struggled to keep a semblance of composure as he chewed and swallowed. Sizhui slowly took a small bite, swallowed, and sagged in relief.

Wei Wuxian broke out in laughter. “Oh, this is too good. Did you see Jingyi and Zizhen’s expressions, Lan Zhan?”

“Mn.” Lan Wangji nodded. “They didn’t appear to enjoy their food.”

“Wei-Qianbei!” Jingyi yelled as he strode back inside. “Are you trying to poison us?”

Wei Wuxian laughed, “I ate it just fine, didn’t I?”

“That dish contained only raw garlic!”

“I thought it was pretty tasty. Garlic is good for you!” Wei Wuxian responded, still chuckling.

“That dish I ate burned from my mouth to the back of my nose! I can’t believe you ate that without batting an eye.” Zizhen said, shaking from head to toe. 

“I really enjoy the feeling of horseradish! Isn’t it a fun experience?” Wei Wuxian retorted, not backing down.”Let’s all sit down and have more of this delightful food!”

“No!” the two energetic juniors said in unison. “I can’t believe you would choose to eat such awful dishes!”

At this time, Lan Wangji put down his chopsticks. It was time he stopped torturing the children. “Wei Ying didn’t. I wanted to make Wei Ying laugh. Apologies and April Fools.”

The three juniors looked at him and then at the food and then at Wei Wuxian. Their mouths hung open in speechlessness.

Wei Wuxian’s subsequent laughter rang out across all of Cloud Recesses.