#how funny would it be if i gave the girlies a fighting chance

[brutalhonesttruths]

If only i could handle my mistakes like kaori does, i would truly be unstoppable

[bumblebeehug]

Gave him her heart

Ship: Natsu Dragneel x Lucy Heartfilia Summary: Lucy worries about what to get Natsu for his birthday, not knowing how ridiculously easy it actually is. Day 5 of Nalu Week 2023 - prompt: gifts Ao3

***

Natsu was a good man. He was wild, fun, crazy, but most of all: good. Lucy was very aware of this and knew that such a good man truly deserved the best. So, naturally she felt slightly panicked when she realised his birthday was coming up.

Lucy liked to believe that she was good at giving gifts. She was observant, both on the battlefield and off, so she knew what people looked a little extra at when they browsed shops or went by markets. Wendy turned to sweets, cute dresses or jewellery, something Lucy was relieved over when she noticed it – Lucy was nothing if not good at picking clothes and accessories, and Wendy was transparent with her tastes (sweet = good, savoury = fine, if there was a good reason to why it was gifted, otherwise a little weird, and sour = danger zone. It could be risky, but citrusy tastes were appreciated in sweet desserts). Erza was also easy to please with gifts – either go the sword and armour route, or go the girly route, possibly with some suggestive books. Gray appreciated nice soaps and clean décor for his house, and if she wanted to be funny with him she could always gift him underwear, seeing as it was the only clothing that stayed on for a while (though since him and Juvia got together it wasn’t really an option – Juvia didn’t care too much about what Lucy gave him, underwear or not, but Lucy herself felt weird about it, so nowadays she kept to soaps). Carla liked tea and pretty dresses as well, but appreciated flowers and other handmade things, and Happy was never happier than on his birthday, when he practically could get buried in the number of fishes he’d be given.

Natsu, however? Lucy wasn’t too sure what she could give him. He liked loads of things – food, fights, adventures, funny hats, board games: few things were off the table with that guy. If she gave him a bouquet of flowers he’d probably smile and say thanks (and maybe he’d try to eat them once he got home), if she gave him tea, he’d probably set the leaves on fire and accidentally get high or something – she didn’t want to risk it either way. He’d be thankful for any clothes she would give him, but would most likely only wear them when he really had to, or to sleep if they were comfortable enough. He really liked his special made ones, that managed to stay intact no matter how hot his fire was. He would definitely try to eat the soaps, and that wasn’t worth it in her opinion, and if she gave him a fish he’d very likely think she was either giving Happy a gift through him, or that she was confessing her undying love for him, since that’s what it meant when Happy gave fishes as gifts to the opposite gender (of the same species, might be important to add).

Point is: giving Natsu gifts was hard when you knew him too well. She had even considered giving him jewellery that matched with the ones she had gotten from him recently, but it once again came down to him only wearing them as a chore, and her pride couldn’t really take that. She would have to put a pin in this challenge though, because she was expected at the guild to help cover a shift for Mira as she dealt with one of her requested missions.

As she entered the guild hall, she was relieved to see that it was rather empty. It had its perks, working at a bar in the middle of the day, and since she saw some of her closer mates, she knew she could take her chance to dig around and find out what others would be gifting him.

“Hi Master,” she greeted Makarov, still using the title he had tried to give over so many times already. Though technically he was still in charge, so Lucy thought it only appropriate to keep calling him master until he truly was off the position. “I’m covering for Mira this afternoon.”

“I heard,” he grumbled from his position in the wheelchair. “You’ve been behind the bar before, so you know the drill. In fact, could you bring me a plate of fried squid and a beer? Just put it on my tab.”

Lucy took his order and sent a note into the kitchen per his request. Normally Mira would help out in the kitchen as well, but since Lucy had limited experience with cooking the meals they were serving, she was excused to just manage the drinks and easier snacks, like nuts and chips. As she waited for the staff in the kitchen to finish the order, she poured a glass of beer for Makarov. Half with light alcohol, half with none. He was currently cutting down on his alcohol intake, Porlyusica’s demand, but to not make him fall back immediately from quitting cold turkey, they slowly made him drink lighter and lighter.

“So, Natsu’s birthday is coming up,” Lucy said, trying to cover it up as small talk, but realising it was obvious what she was trying to do.

“I’ve heard.” A smug grin graced Makarov’s face. The relations between the mages in his guild were always amusing, especially in the stage that Lucy’s and Natsu’s had been in the last couple of years.

“I’m a bit curious…” She gave him his order. “What do you think he wants? You’ve known him for longest.”

“Child, I’m too old to remember all my guild members’ gift preferences, and I’m definitely not rich enough to give away gifts like it’s nothing. For a long time now, I’ve allowed myself to forget who likes what.” Lucy smiled, ready to brush the topic off and take another order across the hall, but he continued. “I do, however, know that you could give him a stick or a pebble you found on the sidewalk, and that boy would treasure it like it’s his most sacred, most valuable item in his possession. Do what feels right, Lucy.”

She thanked him, but within she felt like she was back at square one. She knew he would be happy about getting any gift, but she didn’t want to give him just any gift. She wanted it to reflect how much she appreciated him and their friendship, and she wanted it to stick out. Maybe it could even suggest that she appreciated him more than a normal friend, but only if he started overthinking the gift (which she doubted he would do anyways). It was meant to be subtle, but not subtle enough for it to never be discovered by him. And if it needed to be discovered by him, whatever this little message it was she was trying to convey to him, then it would have to be flashing in neon lights above his bed when he woke up in the morning.

So, she spent a few hours continuing to ponder on what to do, as she was taking more and more orders as people kept dropping in. At around 6:30pm her true saviours arrived at the guild hall. Her team, plus a few other closer friends and minus Natsu and Happy, who were camping today and tomorrow, were back from one of their shorter missions, and they were probably starving for some dinner. Lucy was quick to come over and take their order, also grabbing her chance to question them about their thoughts on this conundrum.

“Hi guys, did the mission go well?” She greeted them, preparing her notepad.

“It went great!” Wendy beamed, and Lucy made a quick mental note to ask about the mission more in detail at a later date. She must have done a good job if she allowed herself to be this proud – Lucy always thought she was too harsh on herself when they fought on missions.

“Gray even kept his clothes on,” Erza added, praising the man on her right.

They took a quick moment to chat, and as they finally decided on what to eat, Lucy seized her moment.

“So,” she started, already knowing she would never live down asking a question like this, considering that many of the people at the table were quite transparent on their opinions on Lucy’s and Natsu’s relationship, “Natsu’s birthday, huh?”

The silence her sentence brought made her regret it immediately. She could already see how their brains were working on new ways to tease her for whatever she was going to say next, but she would have to swallow her pride once again. It’s for a good cause, she kept telling herself.

“Have you gotten your presents yet?” She chuckled awkwardly, hoping their answers would be enough to inspire her, so she could get their food and forget she ever brought it up in the first place.

“Mhm.”

“Yep.”

“I have too.”

“And I’m with Wendy on her gift,” Carla added, still making it painfully obvious that nobody was elaborating their answers. They were making Lucy work for it; she just knew it. They loved grabbing their chances to make her say embarrassing things, and today was no exception.

“Really…” She forced out a laugh. “So, what have you gotten him?” She tried again to prompt anyone at the table to speak up, but they knew she would have to continue pressing, and that it would sound more and more desperate the less information they gave her, so after they all stayed silent for another minute, Lucy gave in.

“I’ve just completely blanked out; I can’t even remember a single thing he likes! Please, help me! Give me some inspiration!”

Erza exchanged a glance with Wendy before she answered.

“Well, he likes fire.”

“And fighting.”

“And ugly tourist shirts,” Gray chimed in. Lucy groaned.

“I can’t exactly give him a clip card for sparring matches, and I’ve already considered a bonfire, but I wanted to have a get together later with all of us where we make a bonfire and drink hot chocolate and stuff.” She spared Gray a short glance as well. “And he only wears his special made clothes, so I can’t give him a shirt to frame for 200 jewel.”

“Then we can’t help you,” Erza said, flipping her bangs as she always does when she lies. Lucy pouted.

“I’ll get you your food, please help me afterwards?”

“Deal.”

After 30 minutes she finally had four hot plates balancing on her arms, ready to serve to her stubborn teammates. They were chatting along just fine now, so hopefully the would have forgotten their silent agreement to keep themselves clammed about their gifts. Lucy hurried to place out their food, hoping that they would notice her way of bribing them by giving them extra big portions.

“Now please...! What should I give him?” Lucy sat down at the table. She wasn’t going anywhere until she got an answer she was pleased with.

Wendy gave her an apologetic smile.

“Well… We can tell you what we think, but don’t you think he’d like it better if it truly came from you?” Erza nodded along.

“I’m going to give him a sword that’s enchanted with endless fire,” she revealed. “But you know, it’s not really a gift that screams ‘Lucy’.”

“Erza’s right. I’m giving him some scrap wood I found in the woods because I can’t really bother, but no gift we tell you to get will be as appreciated as the one you come up with,” Gray said, taking a sip from his beer.

“And we’re getting him a small cupon at a restaurant,” Wendy added.

Lucy sighed.

“I know it won’t be the same, but my creative well has completely dried up. Nothing I think of feels like enough. If I get him something I’d appreciate it would be like I don’t know him at all, and that doesn’t feel fair.” She started to feel hopeless. She didn’t like how drained she got from worrying about this – she loved Natsu! And she would love to properly show him how much she loved him, because he truly deserved that. Platonic or not.

“Hey, you look like you’re giving up, that’s not like you! Think of it like this, we’ve all combined our own interests with Natsu’s interest: Erza with the sword, Wendy and Carla with the food, and me with the scrap wood that shows that I have zero interest in him. Why don’t you write something to him? It may not look like it, but I think he know how to read. At least simple words.” Gray gave Lucy a half-hug from his seat in an attempt to comfort her.

“So… you think I should write him a letter? Would that be enough?” She felt sceptical, but it could work.

“You spitting on him would be enough,” Carla snorted, almost offended by her obliviousness.

“Carla!” Wendy burst out, not before Lucy raised an eyebrow in confusion. Her gut told her not to ask, and for once, she decided to actually follow that gut feeling.

“Do you really think a letter would be enough though?” She asked.

“How about you give him an experience? A friendly date of sorts,” Carla suggested.

“An experience?”

“Like going to the movies, or to a restaurant, or maybe picknick or stargazing?” It was Erza who spoke up this time, and Lucy thought she could see a sparkle in her eye. If she didn’t know better, she would almost think that Erza had been on dates like that herself.

“Hm… I guess you’re right. If he doesn’t like it, I’ll just have to ask him directly, I suppose.”

Lucy stood up from her seat at the table and bid farewell to her friends, along with her thanks. A letter would have to do, and she had a gut feeling that told her that she would figure out a good topic to write about. She hurried to end her shift so she could get to her gift-making. A good idea rarely stayed for long in one’s head.

When she finally sat at her desk, pen in her right hand and paper in front of her, she knew this was the right thing to do. What better way was there to tell Natsu how much she appreciated him, if not through words on paper? It was her speciality, after all. She had even lighted some candles to keep her company, since she knew she would sit there for a while. There was a lot of things she wanted to tell him and thank him for, and the letter would be the perfect way to convey these feelings. Right. Feelings. That could include her less platonic ones, and even if this was a great opportunity for that as well, she didn’t know if she was quite ready to go that far yet. In the meantime, she would just have to tell him she loved him in every way except the straightforward one.

Four hours and 16 pages later, she had her letter. It was ridiculously long, she knew that, and he probably wouldn’t be able to read it in one go, but her heart felt light. A letter was the perfect gift. She had even included multiple invites to ‘experiences’ she wanted to give him, and if he took as long to read it as she thought he would, then those experiences would be experienced with about one week in between them. Lucy gave the thick envelope a quick lick to seal it, and after that she couldn’t help but to give it a soft kiss. She had poured her heart out, and though it would be embarrassing for her to know that he would read such things, it also felt very right. It wasn’t a love letter, but in a way, it felt like it was. She had told him all the things she loved about him, all the moments she especially appreciated him being there, and how great her entire life was thanks to him. If read with the intent of reading a love letter, it could very well translate into one, and maybe, someday in the future, he could look back at it and see the hints she left him.

Lucy leaned back in her chair with a big yawn. It was well into midnight hours by now, and she really needed a refreshing shower. A thought went to how Natsu and Happy were having it right now, in a tent somewhere in the woods. Though she was happy to get to sleep in her soft bed, she was missing them. Tomorrow couldn’t come soon enough. To speed time up she hurried to the bathroom so she could get into bed as soon as possible – her apartment wasn’t the same without those two.

Lucy cursed herself. Why, why, why had she written that letter? It was the most obvious love-confession anyone could ever read, how on earth had she not realised that when she read it through yesterday? She was dragging her feet behind her, because if the embarrassment wouldn’t kill her when he read it later, she would have to kill herself, and no one non-suicidal would ever look forward to something like that. So, her feet dragged. The letter felt heavy in her hands, and she knew that as soon as it would be opened, she would feel naked. Her gut was begging her to turn back, but her heart told her that celebrating Natsu today was more important than her pride. Him and Happy were coming back from their camping trip, and they promised her they would stop by the guild to say hi before heading home, and that’s when they would be surprised with a small celebration. Nothing like other events, where people went completely wild, but a celebration big enough to show him some appreciation.

Checking the clock one last time, she made sure that she was there before they arrived. They woke up pretty late generally and their favourite camping spot was about an hour into the woods. 10am. Maybe they hadn’t even woken up yet, but Lucy didn’t want to risk it. She wanted to prepare and decorate the guild, and then she would grab something to eat, considering she hadn’t eaten any breakfast yet.

As she entered the guild, she was relieved to only see her team and a handful more people. They were chatting and blowing up balloons, and they had turned one of the tables into a gift-table. Lucy hurried to put her letter amongst the others, eager to get the gift out of her hands.

“Good morning, Lucy!” Levy greeted her with a hug. “You’re pretty late, did you stay up last night?” Lucy chuckled lightly.

“Yeah, I had something important to finish.” She felt her team’s eyes in her back – they knew she had stayed up writing, and though Lucy knew she hadn’t written a love confession of any sort (other than platonic) she still managed to feel a blush creep onto her cheeks.

“So, do you need help with the balloons?” She offered, greeting the rest of the group.

“It’s fine, you go ahead and grab some breakfast instead,” Mira smiled.

“How did you know I haven’t eaten?” Lucy sat down at a table.

“You have a tendency to forget to eat when you have other things on your plate,” Mira just answered, placing down a yoghurt bowl with homemade granola and fruits. Lucy could only smile sheepishly, slightly embarrassed how obviously nervous she was about this event. She was sure Erza had told her about her moment of weakness yesterday, so she reminded herself to try to keep herself under the radar. She’d just be here, sing a happy birthday song, eat a piece of cake and watch Natsu open his presents, then the day would be over and the whole Lucy-confesses-her-feelings-though-a-letter thing would be over! No unnecessary teasing from her friends, if all went well.

“I’m back!”

The guild door shot open with a noise loud enough to give the untrained ear a heart attack. Lucy however had a trained ear, so she just turned her head and met Natsu’s happy gaze, her heart fluttering at the fact that his eyes immediately searched for her and no one else.

“Happy birthday!” The guild cheered. Lucy stood up from her place at the table, not really knowing why until Natsu stood in front of her, just an arm’s length away. If she reached, she would be able to bring him into a hug, and it truly itched in her arms to do exactly that.

“Hey,” Lucy smiled softly. “Happy birthday.” Watching Natsu’s smile go from surprised and generally happy, to soft and caring made Lucy lose what little control she had, and she caved into her needs to hug him. As soon as she felt him hug her back, she knew that whatever the others thought about the content of her letter contained, as long as Natsu read it and took it to heart, all would be fine.

“Thank you,” he whispered, tightening the hug for a second before he went ahead and thanked the rest of his friends, never straying far from Lucy.

The birthday party was overall a quite big success, everyone had a great time, and Natsu, who not so secretly had been itching to open the presents, finally gave in and announced what he was planning to do.

“Time to open the presents!” He cheered, almost jumping in place in excitement, clearly not representing the age he was turning (400-something years old) but making everyone smile regardless. Everyone except Lucy, whose heart flew up in her throat, suddenly getting the strongest urge to grab her letter before he got to it so she could throw it away or burn it. Not because she didn’t want him to read it – she would just prefer it if he read it somewhere more private, where the burning eyes of her much beloved friends could read it and jump to conclusions. So, she hurried close to whisper her plan to Natsu – despite him being the cause of these nerve-racking feelings, he was still her partner in crime, and she knew he would break his neck to achieve whatever she asked him to do. This time, what she asked him not to do.

“Psst!”

Natsu shot a glance to Lucy, who was whispering just quietly enough that no one else would notice, unless they had dragon ears and paid attention to her. Lucy, who saw that he had heard her, hurried to shoot her shot.

“My gift is the letter, I would kinda like it if you read it after the party instead? It’s just – it’s quite long and it won’t be any fun if you sat down and read it here, you know?”

The ball was in the air, and now she could at least sleep well knowing that no matter the outcome, she did try her best to steer the situation into best case scenario – all to her means of course.

Natsu, the king of pranks and someone who was surprisingly good at sneaking around, despite his usual love for the “let’s just barge in and fight anyone who tries to stop us” approach, still managed to keep up his gleeful demeanour as he had listened to Lucy’s request. He once again met her gaze and gave her a quick nod, ensuring that she had scored. The rest of the evening would manage to stay calm and uneventful. All thanks to their ways to keep down low. It was really convenient to have dragon hearing at times like these – though usually she had that thought on missions, and not happy, meant to be uneventful celebrations and parties.

The birthday boy himself didn’t mind opening Lucy’s gift later. In fact, he was just happy he was getting something at all from her, considering how stressful most birthdays could be for her. Sure, she already knew what genre people liked, but getting down to picking the actual thing and managing prices was a hard task for Lucy to tackle without stress. So instead, he went ahead and opened the elongated, wrapped gift that said “Happy birthday, from Erza” on the card. He would make sure to ease Lucy’s mind today, considering how stressed she clearly had been the last couple of weeks.

Natsu couldn’t stop grinning. He truly had the best friends ever, and despite him not being a big birthday celebrator when it came to himself, it felt good to be appreciated. There had been good songs playing, yummy food to eat, and most importantly: good company. He especially loved the presents he had gotten, since they clearly were gifts that his friends had carefully thought through and taken into consideration before giving them – yes, even Gray’s gift was appreciated, because though it seemed silly, he did sometimes need firewood after hard missions to speed up his recovery. Everything was dear to him, so when he finally got home with that thick letter in his hands, he couldn’t wait a second more to open it. This, you see, might be the dearest gift of all.

The softly written “To: Natsu Dragneel” on the front of the envelope made Natsu’s heart beat harder. He knew that the content in it probably wasn’t anything out of the ordinary stuff the two of them said to each other, but still. He liked that Lucy had put extra thought into whatever she had written. Or, at least he hoped she had, seeing as he didn’t actually know what the letter said yet.

Happy peaked over Natsu’s shoulder, closing the door behind the two.

“So, what are you waiting for? Open it!” Happy urged, eager to see what Lucy wanted to say to him, but clearly couldn’t since she had to write it down. In his opinion a speech would be quicker, knowing how slowly Natsu read.

Carefully Natsu parted the sealed wax from the paper, making sure not to tear anything. If he could make some space, he’d want to hang everything on his memory wall later, and in that case he didn’t want to ruin it.

Still standing just inside the door, Natsu began to read. The letter started out rather normal. She was writing the obligatory happy birthdays and saying hi to Happy, who she knew would read over Natsu’s shoulder despite it being a private message. That part piqued Natsu’s interest a little extra. What did she have to say to him that not only had to be written, but wasn’t meant for Happy to know? It sparked some hope in his heart that she possibly could feel something special about him – special-er than what they already had. He continued down the page. She started reminiscing about the past, and about halfway through the second page, Happy gave up on Natsu’s slow reading and told him he’d simply read it after Natsu was done with it. Natsu took a seat as he joined Lucy’s trip down memory lane, enjoying the new information on how she saw him when they first met, during their first missions and more. He especially liked learning that despite his foul mood the first days together, she still had fond memories of him, like when he included her in his list of friends when they fought Macao (before they knew it was him, since he had turned into a Vulcan) and how the reason she didn’t refuse to get along with him after he had seemingly deceived her for a mission, was because he had managed to get a few lucky words in. Something like “because we thought you seemed nice” had made her stick, and Natsu could only thank his past self for accidentally pressing the right buttons.

As he continued reading, he was struck by the wonderful realisation that he truly mattered to Lucy. It’s not like he didn’t know that she enjoyed his company, but seeing in in black and white was completely different. It wasn’t just that she had written something along the lines of “I care about you, your existence matters to me” (though that would have worked as well), but the fact that she could remember so many small details of what he had said and done, that she may as well have written a complete book with all those moments, and it would probably be at least 200 pages long. He knew she had been cutting down on what memories she brought up in the letter, because enough talks with one person made them show how much brain capacity they had, and Natsu knew that her brain capacity was way longer than a 16-page letter. This was her way of being concise. Yet she still managed to bring up moments he only vaguely remembered, sharing almost exact quotes of what was said and by who. Mostly the who was either Natsu or Lucy, but it was still impressive.

Natsu had never been interested in reading. It was a chore he had to go through to get the money he needed for food, had never been any more interesting than that. Except for two occasions: Lucy’s first published book, and this letter. Sure, he had been reading it for almost double as long as it probably took to write it, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t interested. This letter was so far the greatest thing he had ever received, which wasn’t an easy thing to manage.

At 4am had he gotten to the last line of the letter. His eyes were trying to force him to rest, but his mind fought it like never before. He had skipped dinner for this, and he was not planning to give up last minute, just to succumb to something so superficial, boring and unnecessary as sleep. No, he gathered up some extra will power and pulled though. “Though you probably understand this after reading this letter, I am simply eternally grateful for everything you are, and what you’ve just read is the best I could do at describing my gratefulness in words. Thank you for all you’ve done, and for being unapologetically you. No one else could make me as happy as you have, so once again: Happy birthday, Natsu Dragneel.” She had signed it with her signature at the very bottom, ensuring that all he had just read was completely and wholly from Lucy. After reading the whole thing, he felt his legs itch. No, maybe it was his arms. Feet, hands? No, it was most definitely his soul that had started to climb inside his body. He wanted to go to her, and he wanted to see her. Preferably five minutes ago. He threw another glance at the clock. 4:50am. He had been tossing around, unable to even do as much as close his eyes, for the last 40 minutes, and he knew he wouldn’t feel better until he was within a 20-meter radius of Lucy. Or rather, 2-meter radius.

Not bothering to sneak around the heavy sleeper that the exceed was, Natsu jumped out of the bed and pulled on his slippers. In less than 3 seconds he was out the door, and in another 3 he noticed that he was running. He wasn’t quite sure what he would do when he saw her, especially considering that she most likely was asleep in this hour, but he simply had to get to her, quickly. The time was ticking, like he was a bomb soon to explode, like he was going to run out of time if he didn’t arrive soon. Wind blowing in his ears, he could barely make out the sound of his heavy breathing. He hadn’t run this fast in Mavis knows how long, and he might actually had made it outside her apartment in record time. His chest rising and lowering in big breaths, he managed to make something of a sigh in relief to see her window slightly opened. Climbing the wall quietly was no challenge with Natsu’s experience, so he swiftly pulled himself up, making sure to fully open and enter the window as quickly as possible – though this time with less success since he didn’t have as much experience with that part. Usually he just barged in after scaling the wall, seeing as the time he did it at was most often a time where Lucy either was away or awake.

Either way, he didn’t manage to sneak in as stealthily as he’d like. The window creaked and his body almost fell limp after getting a whiff of Lucy’s calming scent – that he had been running like a maniac to get there didn’t help either, and after a loud, nongraceful landing, Lucy was already awake.

“Natsu? ‘s that you?” She mumbled, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Yeah, sorry for waking you,” he whispered, finding his balance on his legs again as he stood up.

“No worries.” Lucy had now swung her legs over the edge of her bed and sat in a more upright position. “Did you need anything? Is Happy alright?”

“Yeah, he’s at home sleeping. I just felt like coming here,” Natsu said, full transparency.

“Alright,” Lucy said, now taking a better look at his face. He looked red and flustered, but with his heavy breathing it might just be the fact that he ran to her place.

“I read it.”

Lucy’s face started getting hot as well.

“The letter?”

“The entire thing.”

“Wow. Uh, so what do you think of it?” Had the hour been normal she might not have asked him such a bold question, but something about the way the streetlights and moon illuminating the room made her feel brave. Perhaps she still thought she was dreaming, but this felt much too real to be just a dream.

“It’s perfect.” Natsu took a few steps closer. He could now make out most of her facial features, sleepy yet alert of his presence.

“I’m glad.”

A few more seconds went by, though it felt like minutes.

“Is it true?”

“Is what true?”

“All of it. All the things you wrote?”

A soft smile graced Lucy’s lips.

“Of course. I would never lie about those things.”

Natsu knew he could be dense in most situations. He couldn’t always read the room, and he wasn’t good at subtext. This time however, he had felt something the whole time as he read that letter. Maybe it was what other would call “reading between the lines” but he suddenly had great confidence in something that could change their relationship forever. Of course, it was a very long shot, but perhaps the adrenaline from all that running was just what he needed to gather the courage to take it. He did, however, decide to test out the water first. Running headfirst was usually his go-to method if he could choose, but he wasn’t blind to the delicacy of the situation he was putting himself in.

“Can I assume things?” He tried.

“Assume things? From what I wrote?” Lucy asked, curious where he was leading this conversation. She was very aware of her heartbeat, but she didn’t know that she didn’t have to be this time, considering that all that Natsu was hearing was his own.

“Yeah.”

“It depends. What do you want to assume?”

Natsu swallowed. Did he always have this much saliva? If so, maybe something was wrong with him. He swallowed again, clenching and unclenching his fists. Had he ever been this nervous in a situation as calm as this? No bandits, no monsters, no big wild animals – not even an annoyed Erza was around.

“That…” he started, his tongue thickening as he spoke. Not literally, but it sure felt like it. He could barely concentrate on what he wanted to say, gazing into those doe eyes. She was so, ridiculously pretty. He knew that before, of course, but he almost found it unfair. How could he think of any words when she sat there, looking all nice and pretty. “That you like me?”

He had said it as a question, though it sounded more like a statement right now. Lucy’s heart must have skipped a beat or two. She was still sleepy, but the tiny possibility that this wasn’t just a perfect dream made her stop herself from straight up answering yes.

“Well… I hoped my letter was clear on that. You’re my best friend in the whole world, how could I not like you?” She let out a small chuckle at the very idea of disliking a friend. She didn’t, however, predict what he would say next.

Natsu reached out his left hand, touching a piece of her hair that had fallen out from behind her ears.

“But can I assume…” He put it behind her ear, “that you like me more than a friend?”

Natsu’s eyes were darker than usual in the dimmed light, but Lucy saw clearly that he was being serious. Though, this exact facial expression was one she had never seen before. She had seen his tender look, his soft look, his happy look, his loving look, but she had never seen this combination of all. And it was her he was showing it to. In fact, maybe it was exactly this expression that made her admit the truth for once. For so long she had been scared that he would feel bothered or surprised by the very idea of “liking beyond friendship”, or love, as she would prefer to call it. She had been afraid that he would find her fantasies of the two of them living their life together as a couple weird, or even mildly repulsive. That her confession would lead to their friendship breaking apart forever. That, however, could no longer be the case. Lucy wasn’t blind, and she certainly wasn’t dumb. If Natsu looked this… happy? To even assume that she likes him beyond friendship, then the outcome from telling him the truth couldn’t possibly be bad. She tilted her head lightly towards his hand, sharing another smile.

“Yeah. I do like you more than a friend, or a best friend.” Natsu took another step closer, now close enough to make her feel his hot breath on her face that he had tilted upwards, towards him.

“Then…” He bended down slowly to come closer to her sitting position. “Can I kiss you?” His words didn’t come out louder than a breath, but Lucy knew what she heard. Her heart had never danced as wildly as it did when she nodded and closed her eyes as Natsu closed the space between them.

The kiss itself was probably nothing special to someone watching. It was plain and soft, just two mouths pressing against each other. For them, however, it was nothing short of magical fireworks. Lucy’s cool, soft lips against Natsu’s hot, slightly rougher ones sent shivers throughout both of them, as if the small touch had opened a completely new door, a way for them to connect and become closer than ever.

Inexperienced as they both were though, they soon had to break it off to breathe. After less than 20 seconds, Lucy pulled their faces together again. How could they have been missing out on this awesome experience for all the years they had known each other? Natsu knew that this already had topped the list of his favourite activities – even placing higher than eating and fighting. The next time they went up for air, they couldn’t stop themselves from giggling.

“Can this count as a birthday gift if I haven’t slept since yesterday?” Natsu asked, more energetic than reasonable after his long day.

“If that makes you happy,” Lucy smiled, giving him another peck on his lips. Whatever they decided to do from this point on, Lucy knew they would figure it out. After all, if they had managed to overcome the obstacle of going from friends to whatever this was, then they could definitely manage anything and everything else thrown at them. What’s important was that they from this point out, took on every challenge together.

[after-nine-at-the-oasis]

Promo time!!

Shaun you have to cut her some slack xdd

Yeah exactly she's a student!

Chill a bit lol

Shaunn ik it's rough but come on xd you did it too

Yeah and she's smart and stubborn like Lim said :)) and yeah like you xD

Yep students can't help how they are

Teachers either but they're the ones with the responsibility

Aww Shaun :'O D':

I get it but it really sucks that he feels that way :((

Totally understandable but I wish he'd gone (and will still go) the opposite direction of "I want to help others so they don't have to go through what I did"

It's hard though it's hard to get past

Aww honey :(( poor girlie D':

SHAUNN that ending bit better not be as bad as the promo makes it seem 😭😭💔❤️

Come on Shaun I know you can realize it's okay that you can do better for her :'((

Uaugh this sucks :((

I am really excited to see where it goes though :D (if stressed as well)

That's about the last of my last thoughts, so now it's onto the. . .

REVIEW

I really loved this episode! It was super fun getting new characters to spice things up and they seem really interesting! Also, I figured they would, but I'm glad they're showing some different aspects and representations of autism than with Shaun :)). They even said in the first scene with Charlie and Shaun lol - it's a spectrum. It's cool :).

Okay, here's the place where I'm doing it day of the next episode, and I don't have a lot of time so for right now this'll be short and maybe I'll edit it later lol.

Shaun and Glassman! I'm so glad they made up :'D. I know it's not perfect and it might come up again, but I was afraid they'd keep dragging it out - especially (afraid) since it's the last season, and extra short. Thank goodness they're better now though <33. Also, Glassman and Lim's fighting back and forth was wild 😭 xD. It was funny, but I am glad they've decided to work together now. Lastly, like I've said a bit on, I think Shaun's taking the path of "I didn't have any help, so why should she?" with Charlie. And I understand that mentality, I genuinely do, but I really hope that changes next episode. It would be so inspiring and just nice to see someone who's come before, fought for their place, helping someone else like them :'). Helping those younger than us is a really important thing in all communities, no matter the mistakes they make. I think that he'll come around eventually, and while I appreciate the emotional nuance, I'm really looking forward to their mentor relationship :).

Poor Dom xd xD Mans is going through it lol. I really like that he's trying, but also not trying to deny it too much. He did a bit, but the second time he knew what it was and was trying to accept that. It was also sweet seeing Asher trying to help him :). Although I gotta go with my boy on the fact that it was pretty funny xD. Also, I'm glad Charlie's suggestion managed to help Dom! It wasn't perfect but it helped, and worked for a little while :D. Also they are so adorable, I love their friendship already :D. I felt bad for Charlie this episode :((. It was nice to see how positive she was despite her mistakes, but while they were 😬 mistakes, I think Shaun was too harsh on her. I do appreciate that he gave her second chances, though. Anyway, the scene at the end with Shimmer (I believe that's what it's called) was SOO sweet 😭😭❤️❤️🥺. Y'all, I love them so much :'DD 🥰🥰.

I don't remember much about what Kalu did lol but I'm sure he slayed. Oh yeah - I appreciate him trying to help Charlie :). Him and Asher took on being the newbie parents today while Jordan drew back lol, but I'm glad she came around :D. And even though sometimes it annoys me a bit, or isn't the choice I would make, I appreciate that Jordan is focused on herself. Like, she's not overly selfish or anything, but she knows what she wants and she doesn't give it up on other people's whims, which is really cool :). Anyway, I love them all ❤️.

Park with the guy :((. He really believed, or at least hoped, that the guy would do better, and then he didn't. I do think he will eventually, or again, at least I hope, but you just never know. And it's not on Park, it's just on him. I really loved Morgan (and Eden lol :') ) encouraging Park this episode :'D. He knows what he's doing, he just needs to have a little more faith in himself and his decisions making. Also even if it was a little questionable his interrogating of the guy was iconic lol <3. Anyway, he slayed SO hard this episode :D.

Again, Lim fighting with Glassman was iconic xD. They were pretty funny pranks/idk petty actions lol, but like I said earlier, I'm glad they're going to start working together. Someone does actually have to run this hospital lol, and I think they'll do a great job :). And that they'll be good balance for each other. Also, as always, Lim slays <3. Just so you know. Oh, and seeing her talking to Villanueva again was great!! And good to know Andrews is doing well :). I miss him <3. But yeah, it's nice to still see that they're friends :D.

I absolutely loved Lea and Morgan's storyline this episode. It sucks that they have to delete that way, and it's so so common, but that's kind of what made it so nice to see. And just the fact that they were on opposite ends of it, kind of. Suffering from the same societal standards and expectations, beating themselves up about it, but being in completely different places. And still being called, and just being period, amazing mothers <3. It's also really nice seeing them be friends and bonding over motherhood :'D. They both slay so hard ❤️❤️. And AAHHH Baby Eden's welcoming party :DD!! That was so fun and sweet :))). Anyway, yeah, I love them so much <3.

Overall, I thought this episode was great. I loved getting to meet Charlie and Dom, and seeing Lea and Morgan together was great. Also, I noticed while writing this review that everyone's storylines really intertwined, despite feeling the same as normal, so I really liked it :)). It helps make everyone feel connected and we don't get that as often on this show :D. And of course, I'm so glad Shaun and Glassman are in a better place now :).

So yeah! I loved this episode, I thought it was really great. It was fun to have new characters! I'm excited to see where we go with them :).

This has been my review of. . .

The Good Doctor, Season 7, Episode 2: Skin in the Game

It was amazing! I'm really excited for the next episode, and to see how Charlie and Shaun's relationship progresses. I'll be back next week for my review of. . .

The Good Doctor, Season 7, Episode 3: Critical Support

See you then!

[salvatore-moreau-is-perfect]

Young Sheldon Rant (kinda long sorry also probably a whole bunch of spoilers)

Don't mind me I just spent the last 4 hours crying over Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory/Young Sheldon.

I have been trying to watch Young Sheldon recently but it's near impossible to watch season 4 anywhere in Australia for some reason.

I just keep thinking....that poor kid. He is clearly mentally ill and there is nothing wrong with that i mean I am for pete's sakes, but the way his family treats it is heartbreaking.

I know its set before the 2000's so the stigma towards mental illness was even worse than what it is now but for fuck's sakes he clearly needs help. In fact his family makes it worse.

One moment they are treating him like an adult, letting him get a job, go to college stuff like that.

But the very next moment they treat him like he is 5. His mother mainly does this and while I can understand it, the level of neglect her other 2 children must feel is scary.

Georgie (His older brother if anyone reading didnt know) even states it in the original show, So much was sacrificed just to make Sheldon happy and again.....it's his mum that does this. She accommodates him almost all the time, she treats him like a toddler despite him pretty much being 13 by season 4/5.

(Random fun fact my pet conure is named Georgie, not after him but after a pineapple duck character Moriah Elisabeth on youtube made)

In the main show it makes us believe that Sheldon's dad is the quote on quote *Bad Parent* while his mum was the good one. Honestly I think it's the reverse. Now don't get me wrong, neither of them are abusive or cruel. I am just saying that when grown up Sheldon talks about his father it's almost always about something bad. His alcoholism, the time he caught his father cheating on his mother, the constant fights the parents would have all the time (Often about money or himself).

Actually now that I think about it, Sheldon did say something that makes it sound like his dad hit him or at least threatened to. It was along the lines of "Stop crying or I will give you something to cry about" which I have heard plenty of stories from real people that talked about being hit. I highly doubt that he went through with the threat, he never gave off that vibe during the show and it's like the only time Sheldon brings it up to my knowledge.

His mother on the other hand oh ho ho (why did I type that?) was just all over the place. 1 moment she was the perfect Christian mother doing her best with a *ehm* "Gifted" son. The next she would be picking fights with neighbors, hiding money from her husband though this could be somewhat justified and refusing to let Sheldon grow up normally.

Now remember, I have seen next to nothing of season 4 and have only had what appear to be glimpses into his fathers' death/infidelity so forgive me if I have some facts wrong.

(Ha this was meant to be about Sheldon but I am mainly talking about his family....sorry)

Missy is also very similar to her adult counterpart but again less mature since she would be the only 1 of the 3 kids to not be in highschool. I love how they gave her a real personality and didn't just make her the stereotypical sister who loves girly things and boys and stuff. She is honestly very funny, has a wide range of emotions, likes to set fires and gets annoyed when Sheldon is being well...Sheldon. Now I am not sure if this was someone's headcanon or something the show actually implied and that I missed because I watched all 12 seasons of BBT in less than 2 weeks but I remember reading somewhere that she grows up to have a unhealthy relationship with alcohol just like their dad and I hope it's not true. I loved it when Mee Maw makes the Baseball coach give her a chance at playing and how despite her reason for joining was to get close to a guy Missy ends up really enjoying the game and it opened up bonding moments with the dad.

Mee Maw (aka grandma) was fine I guess. We only saw her once in the original show and other then being protective of her grandson we knew nothing else about her. So it would not be that hard to give her a personality and they gave her a great one. She treated all the kids the same and helped them whenever possible but she had a life outside of her family. My favorite scene with her though is when she tells Missy that the reason why her mum was so religious was because something went wrong when she was born and her mum promised to be the perfect christen if god would let Missy live and it worked (in her mind anyway.) It was so heartwarming and was such a good way to explain way the mum was so devoted to her faith. The whole "She dates someone with a lot of similar querks to Sheldon" thing seemed odd to me (All romance is odd to me lets be honest) I did enjoy his character.

Speaking of John Sturgis I honestly did not expect his character to get as dark as it did. Not dark as in "He was bad man that did bad things" I mean dark as in he had a mental illness (Dementia I think? correct me if I am wrong) that was affecting him so badly that he had to be placed into a hospital for a while. I am sad that Sheldon never brought him up in BBT and I assume it's because he didn't exist yet. He basically became Sheldon's second Grandfather figure since his bio one died when he was....I want to say between 4 to 6. After season 2 though he wasn't really in it as often anymore. In fact Mee Maw was dating a different man.

(Speaking of the second man is he dying? The most recent episode I saw which was the S3 final showed him acting super weird and suddenly becoming more religious so I think this is the case. I don't care about spoilers so please tell me.)

Also I just thought that I should say I resonate with Sheldon to a alarming degree. We have very similar quirks, we annoy anyone that talks to us, had complicated relationships with our fathers and overall were just the weird kids that nobody liked. The big difference being that Sheldon is a genius while I cried so hard during a maths quiz that I was cut from not only that class but my biology one as well, also I got put into a lower level english class. I passed by the skin of my teeth i'll tell you that much.

This is long as sin so I shall do a part 2 of just Young Sheldon himself.

If anyone actually cares please give me your opinions, any corrections I may need to make and tell me if you want me to talk about the minor characters as well.

[havethetimeofyourstyles]

Chapter One. Welcome to Sweetland

the scene is set in 1956, a young man moved to Hollywood to follow his dreams of becoming an actor. But with little money and a struggle to keep his apartment, he is approached by a man who offers him a job at Sweetland

a/n: THE FIRST CHAPTER IS FINALLY HERE! this story is loosely based on the Netflix series ‘Hollywood’. just the general concept of it and ofc adding my own twist to it. I hope you enjoy this as much as I loved writing it! happy reading <3

SERIES MASTERLIST | JOIN THE TAGLIST | chapter word count: 8.3k

LETS TALK ABOUT CN! share all of your thoughts, questions, and comments!

please rb to share <3

The familiar click of his boots onto the tiled shiny floor is what Harry looked forward to all the time.

He found motivation as he walked down the hall as he passed by locals pacing back and forth with their fingernails in their mouths or sitting on chairs against the wall as they nervously chatted with one another. Some of the girls glanced at him seductively as he walked, making his confidence shoot up a bit. Harry took each and every single one of them in; telling himself to not let their anxiousness get the better of him because he was better than them, he was more good looking than them, and he was a better actor than them. At least that’s what his self affirmations tell himself every morning.

The bright light shining from above him as he takes each step made him feel like a spotlight. He put on his best game face and walked confidently as he wore a white crisp button down shirt with a yellow polka vest, blue flared jeans, and red boots. It was his lucky outfit and one of his favorites. It was a stuffy outfit for the hot weather in Hollywood, but he needed to look dashing. Plus they were all a steal in the clearance section!

“Harry! Over here!” He saw Mikey waving over at him at the end of the hall. Harry waved back at him as he hurriedly walked towards him.

“Hey, Mikey. How is it in there?” He asked as they tried peeking into the room everyone has been waiting to have a chance to get into.

“Man, it’s crazy. Everyone in there is so intimidating!” Mikey shook his head as he looked up at Harry. He was a tad bit shorter than Harry, but he was humorous and the camera always loved a funny person.

Harry and Mikey met in front of the gates at Paramount Studios almost a year ago. They were both standing right next to each other amongst the hundreds of people waving their hands up in the air as they tried to get the attention of the casting directors. But in the midst of it all the chaos, Harry had accidentally elbowed Mikey’s head, which caused him to get infuriated and led them to a fight.

“Think you can go fucking around elbowing people, huh?” Failed punches were being thrown at one another as they tackled each other to the ground; a crowd had circled around him. Despite Mikey’s height, he was underestimated. He was feisty, tough and can pretty much handle anyone.

But that fight had been broken up by security, and somehow and some way, the casting directors found that entertaining and picked the both of them to be an extra. They were both ecstatic, not knowing a so-called fist fight would lead them to being an extra on set. Of course, it was hard to work with one another after the fight they had caused. But after throwing looks at one another, they figured it was best to get along and work together.

And they found out they had many things in common and respected each other’s dislikes. Since then, they’ve been by each other’s side.

“I’m sure you did great. Don’t sweat it,” Harry patted Mikey’s shoulder, reassuring him from his audition.

“Oh, oh! They’re coming! Get ready!”

Two older women walked out of the doors of the room that was frightening but exhilarating all at once. Everyone rushed to the entrance of the door, putting on their best smiles and mystery looks as the two women looked around to find their perfect face. Harry stood still, not putting on his best look as a way to tell them he was trying too hard.

“Alright, here’s how this is going to work,” one of the women screamed out to the eager crowd. She was tough as she wore an all black dress that stopped below her knees and 2 inch heels. Her expression was stern, giving everyone a hard look as they listened to her. “I’m going to choose two of you to walk inside with us and you will be given a chance to audition. We want to see the best actors and actresses to give us the performance of a lifetime.”

“Everyone ready?” The other woman in purple said and everyone nodded their heads. “Please get into two lines on both sides of the wall.” The crowd did so. Harry being the first one in the line since Mikey saved him a spot. Nervous was an understatement for Harry. He wanted to be chosen and this can finally be the start of the career he’s been dreaming of.

The two women glanced at everyone as they walked between the lines, looking at everyone’s smiles and anxious looks. Everyone’s heads turned as they walked passed by them, frowns present on their faces as they didn’t get chosen.

After a few minutes, Harry heard their heels clicking onto the floor as they were walking back. He turned his head and saw a girl walking behind them as she beamed in excitement. A small frown was placed on his face, feeling as his hopes have been crushed.

Suddenly, he felt their presence stop walking and stopped in front of him. His head immediately was brought back up to look at them, frown was replaced by a small smile.

“You’re good looking,” the lady in black said with no emotion. Her stare was intimidating, making Harry stutter.

“T-Thank you,” he cleared his throat. “Thank you,” he said again more clearly.

“Can you smile for me?” She asked. Harry gave her his best smile. The one that wasn’t too bright nor the one that wasn’t too small. But he gave his charming smile, making his dimples pop out. She looked at him for a few seconds as she stared into his eyes before she said, “Okay, come with me.” And she walked off into the room followed by the other director and the girl that they picked.

Harry couldn’t believe that they actually picked him. He turned towards Mikey and he was smiling so big, giving him a big thumbs up and a pat on his shoulder.

“Go get ‘em kid!” He lightly pushed him towards the door as Harry felt his feet were stuck to the ground from the shock.

Entering the room, he was met by the eyes of three other producers sitting at a long table. They had their coffees in front of them and a notepad with a pen, looking through a list of actors and actresses they’ve come across.

“Okay, just wait here as we prepare. Names?” the lady in purple positioned Harry and the other girl in the center of the room in front of the table of people that would dictate his future as she got their names before walking back to the table.

The room was freezing and Harry shook as he got shivers down his spine.

“Nervous?” The girl said next to him.

“Yeah, a bit. You?”

“Eh, I’m doing okay. Not my first audition,” she said in a bragging tone, and Harry just simply nodded. She was a small petite girl with long hair as she wore a pink pleated skirt with a pink striped top. Her hair was short as it curled up towards the end of it, giving her a more girly and preppy look. “I’m Brandy,” she introduced herself.

“Harry.” They softly and quickly shook hands.

“Say, Harry, how about we have a little fun after this audition?” Harry looked down at her and she gave him a brow raise with a teasing smirk.

“Uh-” Harry hesitated and luckily, they were interrupted.

“Okay, you two. Since we planned on not doing any scripts for this audition, you’re going to need to improvise. Show us your true and natural talent. I’ll set the scene: you two are at a party and are about to break up. Okay? Ready? Action!” One of the producers told them hurriedly, giving them no time to take it all in.

Harry and Brandy turned towards each other, and Harry’s face was immediately met with the palm of Brandy’s hand, giving him a hard and loud slap to his cheek. Harry’s head whipped to the side, covering the sting with his hand.

“What the fuck?” Harry asked in shock.

“How dare you break up with me! You don’t get to break up with me,” Brandy’s eyes were immediately filled with tears, and Harry wondered how she was so quick to make herself cry like that.

“I-I’m sorry. But it’s not my fault I caught you fucking some other guy!” Harry retorted back. Brandy’s tears had fallen onto her face, and Harry’s face remained annoyed.

“Sweetheart, I’m sorry. It didn’t mean anything. I promise I won’t do it again,” she grabbed his hands as she pleaded.

“No,” Harry started softly, feeling sympathy for his co-partner. “This has to end. It’s for the best-”

“CUT!” One of the men screamed out, interrupting their scene.

“Great, great job guys. That’s all we need. Brandy, come see us. Harry, you’re free to go.”

Brandy squealed beside him, walking towards the table to possibly talk about a contract and a part in a film while Harry slowly walked back to the entrance that was now his exit, feeling completely gutted. He thought he did fairly well; if they had given them more time, he would’ve been able to continue on and show them what they’re really missing. But that was their decision, and Harry had no choice but to try again the next time.

As he exited the room, he was immediately met by Mikey waiting for him with a big and hopeful smile.

“Well? Got that contract you wanted?” He asked.

Harry shook his head in defeat. “Gonna try again the next time. Didn’t fully get to show my talent y’know?” He said as the two friends walked towards the exit of the building. Mikey put his arm around Harry’s body, hand resting on top of his shoulder.

“There will be plenty of more auditions to come. Don’t worry,” Mikey reassured his friend as they walked out the door to be met with the bright shining light of the California sun.

“S’alright. Gotta keep goin’,” Harry said, convincing himself not to give up as he places a cigarette between his lips and lighting it up.

“That’s the spirit! But listen, I gotta get going. The family needs me, but I’ll see you at the next audition! Be there!” Mikey bid him goodbye as he was walking away from him. Harry waved at him, watching his friend walk home to his family.

And Harry needed a drink.

He found himself at a bar close to his apartment. It was midday so no one was really at the bar except about four other people, chatting and playing pool. He was drinking whiskey, downing glass after glass, needing something stronger than a beer as he had a tough and long day.

“Long day, kid?” A man with a full head of grey hair and grey mustache asked. He was very attractive for an old man. Looked very classy and proper, probably had a good job because he just looked fucking rich; while Harry is struggling to find a stable job to pay off his bills.

Harry scoffed, “You have no idea.” He called for the bartender, getting his attention. “Can I get another one of these please?” The bartender sighed, shaking to himself while getting Harry another drink; his fifth one in just 10 minutes. Once the bartender set his drink down, Harry simply picked it up and threw it down his throat as if it was mouthwash.

“What’s got you like this?” The man asked curiously. Harry turned towards him, giving him a look up and down. He’s usually very polite with meeting new people and is usually shy, but with the alcohol in his system on top of the horrible day he had, it was like he was a different person. He’s usually the soft and cuddly type when he’s buzzed or drunk, but again, he just had a bad day.

“Ya wanna know?” He didn’t wait for the man’s answer, but he nodded anyway. “Well, for starters, got a fuckin’ audition earlier because y’know, that’s what I do. I’m an actor. Anyways, I do the audition that they picked me out of, like, 50 people, and this girl who bragged about having plenty of auditions. And when we start, not even 5 minutes as we start actin’, they stop us! Thought they were lovin’ what we were doin’ that’s why they stopped us, but she told that Brandy girl to meet them after and dismissed me, like for fuck sakes!” Harry was seething as he was telling the story, and practically everyone was listening in since he was talking so loudly.

“Sorry about that, kid. But that’s what you do huh? You act?” The man asked, placing his cigar in his mouth.

“Yeah. Tryin’ to make a fuckin’ living and I’ve been struggling keeping my apartment,” he rolled his eyes, trying to remember the next due date was for his rent and electricity bill.

“It’s a tough world out there. But hey, what do you say you work for me?” The man offered and Harry’s brows furrowed.

“Don’t even know your name.”

“Well if you must know, like you didn’t just tell me your whole life story, I’m Daren,” he offered a hand to shake, and Harry takes it.

“Harry. So what exactly do you do?” Harry wondered.

“I work for a candy store,” he simply stated.

“A candy store…” Harry repeated and Daren nodded. “What the fuck am I gonna do at a candy store?”

“Simple. It’s like a self-serve candy store, but my workers serve them instead. Just grab a bag and they tell you what they want, and you get it. Simple as that,” he explained. “You’re an attractive man! Got the face and everything, and considering you’re tall, bet you’re packing down there too,” Daren said nonchalantly.

“Are you offering me a job or you’re gonna compliment my cock?” He wondered why the sudden mention of his cock came to play, but brushed it off. Harry hadn’t realized that he would be working at a candy store when he moved to Hollywood. He had big dreams, and he wanted to follow his dreams by getting as many auditions as he can and be in front of the camera, not work in candyland.

“Both. Just think about it. You’d be making a lot of money working there—hell of a lot more than minimum wage. And I’m talking about starting at $30 for an entire day. You can’t pass that deal up! And you just said it yourself that you can’t afford to keep your apartment. I mean, let’s face it. When are you going to get another audition? You’ve already gotten rejected from the one today!” Harry was breathing out of his nose, practically huffing at him as Daren mentioned the rejection. He knew that what Daren said was right, but Harry was hard headed and didn’t want to believe him.

“Sorry, mate,” he stood from his chair, grabbing his wallet from his back pocket as he set out a $10 bill on the counter. “Thank, but no thanks,” he told Daren, pride getting in the way.

“Well, my offer is still on the table. I’m located on Sunset, so you know where to find me once you get what I said through your ass,” he said louder than usual as Harry was walking away with no look back, exiting the bar and walking home.

When he reached the front of his door, he was met by paper taped to it that read ‘LATE RENT SECOND NOTICE’. Harry sighed, ripping the paper off the door before unlocking it and heading inside. He briskly threw the notice on the table and he sat down on his couch, rolling out his neck and closed his eyes for a moment. His shoulder and neck felt tight—his overall body felt tense, like he couldn’t relax for a tad bit.

He was stressed. The dream of becoming an actor was made when he was a teenager. From auditioning for one of his school plays in comprehensive school and getting the lead role, he felt the rush of being on stage when he was only sixteen. From then on, he wanted to take that dream to the next step, and he was talking about being on camera, on billboard, stepping on stage when he wins and collecting his Oscar. Harry reaches for big dreams, and he was determined to make his dreams come true.

In his state of pondering about lifelong dreams of making it in the industry, the electricity had gone out. It was like he was so in his head about becoming a famous actor that he felt like he was in the clouds and nothing was limiting him, but the harsh reality of his source of light going out had brought him back to the ground.

A groan from Harry’s mouth was heard between the walls of his tiny apartment, frustrated that he can’t seem to find money just to save him from getting evicted from his home. He took a deep breath as his body was stretched across the couch, hands on his face as he debated what to do.

He thought about getting more auditions, which he will eventually try for because again, that was his lifelong dream, but how many auditions did he have to do for anyone to see him other than a pretty face. Let’s face it, Harry knew he was attractive and having a nice face helped him get auditions, although he’s only had two in his lifetime. But he wanted to be seen more than that. He wanted to be seen for his talent, his ability to act, and being the person the camera loves.

Harry then thought about the offer Daren from the bar made him. It was quite random how someone badly wanted him to work for some candy shop when there are so many people who are looking for a side job. Of course he didn’t want to work there, but he did remember Daren saying that he was willing to pay a lot. But who in the world has that kind of money to pay $30 for working at a simple candy store?

Hell if Harry knew, but he knew that he needed to make some sacrifices.

You were sat in the beige booth across from your two friends, waiting on your food as Alice was reapplying her lip gloss and Frances was talking to you nonstop about a boy she had met from class.

It was your usual Friday afternoon as the three of you met up at Mel’s Drive In to have weekly breakfast for lunches. It was a ritual ever since you were in high school.

Having met them your freshman year of high school when you three were in the same dance class, you girls were inseparable. You’ve been through breakups, crushes, and gossip with them; and they were like your sisters. Sisters who talk about anything and everything with no limits or shame.

And now you three were dance teachers at the academy school you all danced at. It honestly worked very well; when a dancer hits eighteen, they graduate and that’s their farewell from growing up and continuously dancing at the studio. A year before you three graduated from college, your ballet instructor, Sally, had told you three that her and the rest of the staff always loved your techniques and stability. And you were all very excited for the journey.

“I swear to god, I was gonna jump him right then and there,” Frances said waving her hand as if she was fanning herself.

“Wait, he did what now?” Alice asked, pausing from putting on her lip gloss. She did it all the time, but you had no idea as to why she was doing that when you were about to eat. But Alice is Alice.

“If you can take one second not eating your lip gloss, then you would have heard me,” Frances turned to her right to face Alice, a frustrated look on her face. It was the same old annoyed look Frances gave Alice and to others, it looked like she was about to start a fight, but to the three of you, it was just pure bickering and humorously messing with each other.

“Anyways, tell us more,” you said, reaching over to Frances, and she excitedly turned back towards you, happy someone was paying attention.

“He just kept flirting with me! Kept saying I looked so pretty and said he wanted to take me out, which I think he’s gonna ask me out the next time I see him because he kept hinting at it, and I’m just so excited! Although I wasn’t sure if I wanted to date another dancer, let alone a coworker, but I don’t care anymore!” She squealed in excitement, and told her how happy you were for her.

“What about you?” Alice asked suddenly.

“What about me?” You asked back, leaning back on the leather cushion. Before Alice was about to answer, their food had arrived and was placed in front of you,

“Any guys or girls you’ve been into lately?” You thought about it, and shook your head truthfully as you dug into your pancakes. “C’mon! There isn’t anyone at all?” You shook your head again, taking a bite. “Not even that Tyler guy?” You rolled your eyes, waiting to swallow your bite before you answered.

“No, no, and no. I don’t know. It’s hard for me to get out there y’know?” You slightly frowned, realizing that you had been missing the affection and attention you wanted.

“Oh, whatever! You’re just saying because you’re too shy and proper to say that you haven’t been fucked in forever,” Frances said too loudly for your liking. You looked around your table to see if anyone had any lingering eyes on the three of you, but everyone seemed to be only paying attention to their business. “Face it, the last time you’ve been touched was Chris—and hell if he did the job.”

“And we know you can get out there. You’re pretty, smart, funny, and you’re a rich bitch! So many guys go after you in the passing!” Alice added.

“Yeah, only cause they want to get to my dad, remember?” You raised your eyebrows at them, and they went silent for a bit, remembering that ordeal.

“Well, those fuckers don’t know what they’re missing,” Frances said back.

“Since when have you used such language?” You faked a dramatic gasp, teasing her as she laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Please, ever since you told us about your kinkful night of sex that one time our freshman year of college, knew you weren’t an angel yourself,” Frances smirked, and a gasp was heard from Alice.

“Oh god, I remember that! It was with that junior Lance Mills! I want to hear that story over again. It was like listening to a sex film.” Alice put her hands under her chin as they both eagerly waited for you to tell the story again.

“Maybe next time. Y’know when we’re alone and I’m not about to devour this pancake,” you promised and they nodded excitedly.

The three of you ate your food as Johnny Cash was playing from the jukebox. You and Frances were minding your own businesses, thinking the subject prior was far gone and over with until Alice spoke up again.

“Y’know…I know something that’ll help you with the whole…” she started waving her hand around you like she was casting a spell, and you were utterly confused.

Your brows furrowed, “With what?”

“Your whole dry spell of not being able to get some,” her brows raised, and your mouth slightly opened.

“I am not on a dry spell!” You exclaimed, crossing your arms once you were finished with your pancakes, but felt satisfied, knowing Mel’s pancakes were the best you’ve ever had.

“Please. It’s been what? A year since you’ve had sex? Unacceptable.” You rolled your eyes at Frances’ statement. “You have everything you want except a good orgasm. Can you believe that?” She turned her head towards Alice in disbelief; the two of them shaking their heads.

“Ugh! I don’t need to have sex to complete my life! I am perfectly fine with pleasing myself and not having someone do it for me, and I am perfectly fine with not having sex… at the moment,” you added the last part in case the universe had some weird way of working, making your dry spell even longer. Frances and Alice laughed, knowing you all too well that you loved having sex and someone to hook up with.

It was like you were contradicting yourself in your head--thinking you were okay with yourself, but wanting someone else. But you honestly were fine with doing the job yourself--you didn’t mind that at the very least, but it is always nice to have someone to do it for you. What you were thinking was: yes, you could do it and reach an orgasm yourself, but you didn’t need someone to do it for you. If someone comes your way and helps you out, great. If someone doesn’t, also great, you’d do it yourself.

“Anyways, as I was saying,” Alice spoke up. “One of the girls was talking about some shop that always has hot guys working there and they’re always hiring hot guys.”

Frances turned her body towards her, “Ooh, tell me more.”

“You are about to get asked out by some other guy. Don’t be greedy, this is for her!” You chuckled at them as they fought like a married couple. “Well, she was saying how she met this one guy there and they fucked in her car! She would not stop talking about orgasm after orgasm! And she also said all the other workers there are hot too, so you can go down there and check it out for yourself,” Alice explained. “You can just do it once too--get all that stress out of your system.”

You thought about how long your dry spell has been going for. It hasn’t been too long that you were deprived from having good sex, and you would love to look at handsome men even if that means you wouldn’t get any since you were tired of looking at the boys in your class as you thought none of them were really all that attractive to you. So, you nodded in agreement and Alice perked up.

“Where is this shop at?” You asked curiously.

“It’s a candy shop on sunset. But you need a code to get in.”

You confusingly asked, “A code? Why would you need a code?”

“Don’t know. Probably for some identity reason. But they also serve celebrities as well, so that could possibly be a reason,” Alice said.

“Okay…What’s the code?” You asked slowly.

Frances squealed, “You’re really gonna do this?” You shrugged your shoulders but nodded your head.

“So, the code?” You asked Alice again to see her and Frances smirking at one another. Probably because you agreed to doing this and admitting that you wanted to get laid.

“Cloud nine.”

Harry found himself in front of ‘Sweetland’ at 12 in the afternoon on Sunday.

After much debate, he realized he really needed the money when he was in the midst of a shower and the water had turned off. Just as he got soap in his eyes, he figured he would put his pride aside and take up on Daren’s offer. Because what could be so bad working at a candy store? People have to start somewhere in their life in order to make it.

He had a night’s long of pondering, telling himself that an audition is not just going to pop up out of nowhere, but he couldn’t lose hope just yet. And besides, he probably wouldn’t even get paid that much if he wasn’t under a contract with a big agency. So the candy shop would have to do it for now.

Walking through the door, he was met with a few pairs of eyes from men who perked up thinking he was a customer, but quickly put their heads down.

“Ah, so I see you decided to work for me,” Daren said as he noticed Harry at the entrance of the shop, a smirk placed on his face.

“Yeah. Just really need the money,” Harry replied honestly.

“Well, welcome to your first day, boy! Here is your uniform, restrooms are over there,” Daren handed Harry clothes and slightly pushed towards the restroom to get changed.

Once he finished changing and got out of the restroom, he noticed he was matching with the other workers; wearing a blue sparkly blouse with a pussybow and white trousers. He had to admit that he loved the outfit, but wished everyone had different outfits so he could stand out.

“Everyone! This is Harry. He will be joining our team and will be along with this journey of ours.” He noticed Daren smirk as he introduced him to everyone with a hand on his shoulder. There were about five other guys working at the shop that day, and everyone waved, greeting him.

Everyone working were guys and Harry noticed how good looking everyone was, and there were no women working at all, which confused him at the very least.

“Alright, so your job is to basically serve customers. Easy as that. You’ll just grab a bag,” Daren does so as he speaks, “and whatever you want, just fill it up to however they desire. Simple.” Harry didn’t miss his sexual innuendo, even if it was innocent as candy, but he chuckled, amusing Daren. “Got it?”

“Yeah. Seems pretty easy-”

“That’s the spirit! But first, I’m going to need you to stock some of the candy containers in the back,” Daren grabbed a couple of empty jars that were out on display, and Harry nodded as he followed Daren to the back where all the candy was stocked in large containers. “These have the labels on them, so just fill them with the right ones.”

“Alright,” Harry responded, and Daren pats his back before walking towards the exit. “Hey, Daren.” He stopped him before he was able to walk out. He turned around and Harry gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks. Y’know, for the job. I really mean it.”

Daren smiled back, “Don’t thank me yet, kid.” And with that, he walked out as Harry filled the empty containers with more candy.

After 30 minutes of filling jars and sweeping the floor, Daren called him to the front of the store. It was more busy than usual but enough for all the workers to be occupied.

“Ready for your first customer?” Harry perked up, and nodded his head eagerly as he was finally going to help a customer out and serve them. “There she is. Remember to smile, and if they say cloud nine, do as they say.”

“Wait, what’s cloud-”

“Go get ‘em.” With a slight push, Harry was lurched forward, walking towards the woman waiting by the door.

“Hello, how can I help you?” Harry asked with a shy smile on his face.

“Just a bag of candy, please,” the lady said as she looked around the store.

“Sure thing,” Harry grabbed a candy bag and followed her around the store as he waited for her to tell her what kind of candy she wanted.

“Can you put these in there?” She said, pointing to the container of gumballs and Harry grabbed the metal spoon, filling it before dropping it in the bag. “That’s all I want,” she said, and Harry ties the bag up.

“Okay. Anything else?” He asked.

“Yeah. Cloud nine?” Harry was utterly confused when she said the phrase; he didn’t know what to do at this point because Daren didn’t take the time to explain it to him.

The woman slapped a few quarters onto the counter before grabbing the bag of gumballs from Harry’s hands and walking out of the store. He turned around and looked at Daren raising two thumbs up at him and Harry was quick to follow her out.

“I’m sorry. I’m not sure what you want me to do,” he said, still confused on what he was supposed to do. She stopped walking, stopping right in front of her white car, and turned around.

“I want you to fuck me,” she said straightforwardly, and Harry’s eyes widened. The woman was about in her forties with a diamond ring on her finger, flashing in his face from how bright the diamond is and how it clashes with the sun.

“P-Pardon?” He stuttered as his face turned red. The lady’s brows raised and Harry could tell that she was getting frustrated mentally and sexually.

“Isn’t that what you guys do? Fuck your customers when they want to?” She crossed her arms impatiently, and Harry’s mouth opened slightly but nothing came out from it, truly speechless at her words.

“I-I’m sorry…I don’t-”

“Ugh, never mind. Forget it,” the lady scoffed and walked to the driver side of her car and got in quickly before driving away, leaving Harry with an unsatisfied customer, a frustrated him, and possibly an angry boss.

With slow steps, Harry walked towards the entrance as he gave himself a 30 second pep talk before he had to go through the door, hoping he wouldn’t get fired on his first day.

He opened the door, the bell from above ringing from the movement of the door. The first thing that his eyes landed on was Daren’s confused face, and Harry frowned, nerves boiling through his veins.

“The fuck you still doing here?” Daren asked with his hands up. Harry scratched the back of his neck, feeling his blouse getting too tight for his own good.

“I, uh-”

“I sure hope to god you’re about to say you made her orgasm in two minutes. And you better not that you lasted two minutes,” his hands are now on his hips, waiting for his answer. “Well? Gonna give me a straight answer or are you gonna just stand there?” Harry’s brows furrowed in anger; from frustration and desperation of making money.

“You never told me what to fuckin’ do. Just expected me to hear a phrase and fuck someone? A little heads up would’ve been nice!” He snapped, his voice louder than he would like, but figured it’s necessary.

“Thought you already figured it out when I was talking about your cock back at the bar!” Daren retorted back, grabbing Harry’s arm and bringing him to the back, away from the other workers.

Harry yanked his arm back when they were both away from the rest, “The least you could’ve done was tell me straight up.”

“I didn’t think you’d care! You’re a good looking guy that probably wants to get laid. When was the last time you fucked someone anyways?” Harry looked at him and rolled his eyes, not answering his question. “I’m assuming it’s been a while…” he paused, eyes widened as if he made a realization. “Unless you’re a virgin because I’m not sure this is the right job for you—well, it might be depending how you look at it-”

“Yes, it’s been a while and no, I’m not a virgin. Not like there’s anything wrong with that,” Harry interrupted just to simply shut him up.

“Look kid, I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear on what this job offered, that was my fault,” Daren placed a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, how about the rest of the day, you just work with the candy. You don’t have to deal with customers today, and you can decide if you still want to work here. If you do, then you start tomorrow— actually start tomorrow this time. How does that sound?” Harry took a deep breath and nodded slowly, figuring he has about 3 hours to decide what he wants to do. “Great. There’s a few containers that need restocking and some unboxing in the back.”

Harry got to work immediately, but he took his time to make time somehow go by faster as he was surrounded by sour candies, chocolate, and bubblegum. And he was also thinking on how this whole thing will end up. It was only his first day so he wouldn’t get paid, but if Daren was true to his word when he said he would start out at $40, he may as well end up staying here. Because where else is he going to get that type of money in one day? No where. He’d have to work at least two weeks to get a whole $30 when he can make so much more if he were to stay at Sweetland.

Time did go by faster as his brain was scrambled with thought and his mouth felt like he’s eaten every piece of candy. He threw out all the boxes and stored the candy in its right container before washing his hands to see the rest of the workers cleaning up. He wanted to help out, even though he’s done enough, and grabbed a rag before wiping down the counter and the spaces between the candy containers.

“Hey,” Harry said to the guy, whose name tag read Pete, as he was sweeping the floor of sugar and dropped candy.

Pete looked up and smiled, “How did you like your first day?”

“It was unexpected.” Harry chuckled.

“It is, isn’t it?” Pete smiled, and Harry nodded.

“That’s how he dropped the bomb on all of us. Didn’t say much of what we do besides what we do with the actual candy, but just threw us into the pack of wolves and fed us alive.”

“That’s…descriptive.” Pete laughed. “I mean, is it worth it?”

“If you’re desperate for money, then yeah. The reason why we all stayed was mainly because of that, but we’ve grown to like it a lot, and that’s not because we get to have sex everyday. But because Daren is actually really fun and cool, and we’ve all made friends with each other. It’s an experience, for sure.” Harry nodded, taking everything in. He knew his answer before talking to Pete, but he just needed some reassurance, guidance.

Daren came to view when Harry looked up, walking towards him, obviously for one reason. “So, boy, what do you say?”

Harry thought for the last time. Quickly going over his decisions, and having a full on debate in his head as he imagined pros and cons lists. The pros out weighted the cons, and there was really no question about it. The pros were: lots of money, sex, nice coworkers, and good candy. The cons list was: nothing.

He didn’t think he’d end up like this. Working for a fake candy store, but in the sense it’s not fake because it sells real candy, and getting sex this way.

But again, he needed to make sacrifices in order to keep his place and practically live.

“I’ll stay.”

Your muscles were strained from the amount of hours you were on your feet--more like years since you’ve been dancing ever since you were little. From teaching your students a plie to releve to saute; always making sure yours and their toes are always pointed. Your muscles were aching and you were tired, physically and mentally.

It wasn’t like you didn’t love to dance--you’ve been doing it for years, hell, you were teaching it. But it was the long hours during the day where some days, you had to teach and rehearse for at least 12 hours a day. So, needless to say, you were exhausted.

But that wasn’t even the worst of them all. At the end of the day, you had to go home and deal with your family. They were supportive, but not in the sense where you want them to be. They were supportive in what they want for you, not what you want for yourself. It was something you had to live with--you don’t remember a time you got what you wanted, except when you suggested you wanted to do dance when you were younger.

It didn’t take long for them to agree for them to sign you up for dance classes, but only signing you up for classical ballet.

“Sweetheart, it’s just more elegant. You’ll learn how to be more flexible and fix that god awful posture of yours,” your mother had said when you suggested you wanted to do something like tap dance. You had nodded your seven-year-old head as you sulked back to your room, figuring ballet was better than nothing when you asked to take some dance classes.

Your mother, Jane, wasn’t always so harsh with you. In fact, her attitude towards you had gotten better as you got older, but that was probably because she found your dad, Richard, cheating on her with another woman. And she thought you didn’t know a thing, hence why her attitude changed towards you, but you knew everything.

But you were all Jane had, and it was when you were sixteen, she suggested a girls day with you; talking to you with a soft tone and not making any remarks towards how you look. But you were happy for the change; it bettered and strengthened your relationship with your mother and she sides with you with almost everything once your father comes at you for something so little.

Walking through the large doors of your home, you threw your bags on the floor, the heaviness was making your back and shoulders hurt even more, immediately walking towards the kitchen as you stretched out your limbs and joints.

It was almost 10 p.m and you realized you had so many things to do still. Between coming up with a routine and some new ways to warm up, you were filled with overwhelmingness, and you just wanted to have a decent meal in silence.

But sadly, you didn’t get that--either of that. Instead of silence, laughs were heard from the dining room, and once you walked into the room to see what all the noise was about, the thought of a decent meal was lost from your appetite at the sight in front of you.

It was your father laughing with your ex boyfriend, Chris. The sight was unbearable and you wanted to run out of the room, but first, you wanted to know what the actual fuck is Chris doing here.

“Ah, darling, so glad you could join us. Was just having a laugh here with your dear boyfriend, Chris,” Richard had said once he saw you, calming down from his laughter. Chris was looking at you with a smile, and you never wanted to slap a smile off someone’s face before him.

“Ex boyfriend,” you said clearly, making sure they both heard you right.

“Oh, tomato, tomahto. Same shit. Won’t be long until you get back together with him,” Richard chuckled, thinking he was right. But he was far from right; you have no plans whatsoever getting back together with him nor do you have plans ever associating yourself with him, so the fact that he’s in your house right now is just boiling your blood.

“Father, Chris and I are never getting back together. I mean it,” you tell your father, but looking at Chris as you say so, hoping to get your words engrained to his skull. But all Chris did was smirk at like you were wrong, but you rolled your eyes, not amusing him.

“Sure, whatever you say. How about you sit and join us.” Richard points his hands towards the empty chair next to Chris.

“I’d rather not,” you sighed.

“Not asking you, darling,” Richard gives you a disapproving look as if he’s trying not to lash out in front of his ‘perfect’ guest like he’s a ‘perfect’ host.

“Well, I’m telling you I don’t want to. Besides, I have schoolwork to do.” You told him sternly, completely over this conversation. As you were about to walk away, his voice raised slightly.

“Darling. Sit. Now,” he demanded. He was angry, that’s for sure, and the vein on his forehead looked like it was about to pop from you not cooperating.

Giving him the point, you sighed as you took a seat next to Chris, but left a chair between you two, not wanting to be anywhere close to him. You wouldn’t be in this position if you hadn’t walked in on your father and Chris being buddies, and you wished that you had just ignored the laughter because your night would’ve been much nicer than sitting at a table with the two of them together.

But you were rather proud of yourself for sticking up for yourself. Some parents may call it talking back, but that was nowhere near talking back. You grew a thick skin around him throughout the years. From the countless times of crying in your bedroom because Richard would call you names or tell you that you weren’t good enough, you had to grow that kind of toughness around him. Sometimes you had to fight back for yourself; you weren’t going to let him or anyone walk all over you. Seeing your father do that to your mother just broke your heart, but you told yourself that no one will ever treat you like that.

“So, Chris and I were talking about your futures together-”

You raised a hand up only for it to be smacked onto the table causing the table to make a loud sound. “What did I just say? I am never going to have a future with him.”

“Not after what he planned for us,” Chris pitched in.

“Well, you can shove that plan up your ass if you think I’m gonna let you plan my future!” You said, turning towards your father. You were on the edge of your seat, close to getting up and raising your voice even louder or completely walking out of the room as anger flushed through you.

“Do not speak to me that way! Who gave you the right to even use those words?” Richard’s eyes furrowed as he pointed a finger at you, obviously angry, and not giving a fuck if he had a guest hear his anger.

“Gave me the right? You did when you decided to be an absolute dick to mom and I!” You were fully standing up, hands planted on the table.

“Language! You don’t know what you’re talking about-”

“But I do, don’t I? Right, father? I know everything,” you gave him a challenging look, which he was not amused with.

“I’m gonna give you five seconds-”

“Don’t bother,” you scooted your chair back, and walked out of the dining room and up the stairs. You just wanted a peaceful and relaxing night, but you got the exact opposite.

You were headed up the stairs, quickly, furious and frustrated at your father. Stomps on the hard floor were heard that you didn’t even hear the footsteps following behind you.

“Hey,” the voice you recognized was Chris’, and you felt your arm slightly being yanked by him, causing you to stop walking. You turned around, immediately taking your arm out of his hold.

“Don’t touch me or ever grab me like that,” you said, and he thinks it’s the most serious tone he’s ever heard out of you.

“Chill, I was gonna see if you were okay after that-”

“Well, don’t! I never asked for you to check up on me, and stop grabbing me like that--I’ve told you a million times. It’s annoying, not cute,” you rolled your eyes. You were right in front of your bedroom door and you just wanted to go inside and be over with the day, but of course, Chris keeps talking.

“Would you stop being a bitch for once? I don’t understand why we can’t be civil with each other, I’m working with your father,” he said, voice slightly raised, but you don’t let it get to you.

“The only reason why I can’t be civil with you is because I can’t stand being around you. And guess who messed that up? You did,” you pointed at him. “You’re just like him. Can’t have one person satisfy you. Always wanna sleep around and think you’re forgiven,” you shook your head in disbelief, trying not to let the tears cloud your eyes.

It wasn’t like you were still hung up on the situation, but the thought of being that heartbroken again did not make you feel the best. The feeling of your heart sinking into your stomach was something you did not want to feel again. And you didn’t think you were wrong for wanting to protect your fragile heart. You were strong on the outside; not taking shit from anyone, and you think that’s a strong quality to have. But deep down, you still had your guard up. Physically, you were fine connecting with people, but emotionally, it was necessary to protect yourself.

“C’mon, baby, it was one time,” you cringed at the name.

“First, don’t call me baby. I mean it. Second, one time was enough. I’ve witnessed it--still witnessing it with my mother staying with my father when he cheats time and time again. That ‘one time’ shouldn’t have even happened. Now, leave me alone and get out of my house.” You walked into your room, but before you were about to shut the door, he placed a hand on it, stopping you from closing it.

“Y’know, maybe we can just have a little fun. Hate fuck all the anger out of each other. Maybe it’ll help get that stick out of your ass,” he smirked and you rolled your eyes in disgust and annoyance.

“Don’t worry, I have better places to go other than you.”

With that you slammed the door in his face, knowing exactly where you could go to destress.

just a glimpse of what their lives look like! CHAPTER TWO IS COMING ON AUGUST 21!

taglist babies: @froggystyles @outofsstyles @whoschantel @4592222 @groovybaybee @bfharry @wellbafineline @tfonty @bfilipa52 @afire-hes @thorsangel @brrilliant-harry @apples2019

[oristromboli]

If You Be Our Star, We’ll Be Your Sky | 6

Chapter Title: Punishment

The fierce sounds of arguments melt into clashing weapons in the Liyue landscape as all frustrations are released in bloody fury.

Punishment is thus dolled out on the sore, sore loser.

(Smut this chapter: Reader/Childe, M/F)

(Warnings: rough and angry sex after a fight, power dynamic struggles, being very very mean to each other - not a fluffy first time between them given that it's Childe and his implied mission. please be careful if this isn’t your cup of tea!)

CW: the first segment describes Childe making a hunt! Canon-typical violence, but just in case: one paragraph starts with "Childe kneels down - " and another one is "With a firm - "

Childe takes a slow breath in, and on his exhale, releases the arrow, watching as it sinks into the boar’s side.

Damn, he was never good with a bow. He strolls leisurely up to the animal, frowning when he notices the pitiful struggle as it tries to move despite the mortal wound. Poor thing thinks it still has a chance.

Childe kneels down and reaches out to the pig, running his hands gently through the matted fur. He watches as its breathing becomes labored; each unsteady drag likely pushes its lungs against the arrow. How many ways did he watch the abyss deny death to the unfortunate prey wandering in? A quick death was mercy never granted in that suffocating darkness.

He feels black armor fighting to grow from his skin, feels the electricity pulling him taut as he smiles softly, running his hand up to cup the boar’s head.

With a firm twist, Childe snaps its neck and the body goes limp.

Blood from the arrow wound trickles onto his gloves, and he raises his hand to lick it idly away. His frown returns when he realizes that the flaming need in him is barely sated.

Warbled and demented noises creep up towards him from between the cracks in the earth.

Grunting, he hoists the animal over his shoulders and starts walking again while whistling a lullaby.

 ---

 Birds call overhead while the wind rustles through the emerald leaves around you in this little outcrop by the river. The sun felt warm, kissing the back of your neck gently as you took in your surroundings, counting each fish that crested the surface as they leaped further upstream.

Though you normally take these moments of isolation to regain your internal serenity, you didn’t necessarily hate the fact that Childe insisted on tagging along. Yet, confusion still wrung your head as to why he came along on a commission so far off the beaten path. Even Aether would complain at such a wildlife excursion.

“Hey girlie,” Childe calls, grinning wide and bubbles up a rare, genuine laugh when he sees your surprised expression. “I got lunch!”

Your eyes bulge as you watch him carrying one of the largest boars you’ve ever seen with a skip in his step like the animal weighed nothing. When he drops it unceremoniously to the ground, you hear the resounding thud and decide firmly that yes, Teyvat’s animals are ridiculous.

Childe cracks his knuckles and materializes his hydro knife to kneel at its side, and you just… You just watch.

Some deeply primitive part of you is hooting like a shameless dog as you watch him handle the meat with ease. Good man. Strong man. Can feed and protect.

“ – girlie, hey, you listening?”

You shake your head and blink at him. He starts laughing and gestures to the fireplace. “O-oh, right!” In a flash, you turn your back to him to hide the rising heat to your cheeks. “Um… That’s a lot of meat, you know.”

“Well, nobody ever complained to me about that, pretty bird.”

Nevermind. Big, strong man gone. “Why are you always cracking jokes? It’s like you never take things seriously.”

Childe pauses for a moment, stilling his hands. He never looks at you before he resumes skinning the boar, though you recognize the flash of a bygone memory nonetheless. “Nothing wrong in trying to get people to laugh occasionally in this shithole of a world. What else can you do? Tell your siblings that this place isn’t the fairytale they grew up believing in?”

You swallow and nod. Some time passes, and as you finish setting up the makeshift stove, it occurs to you that… There’s two of you. And one very big, very fat pig.

You’ll need a bigger fire.

“Hey, how do you plan on cooking this?”

“You’ll see.”

 ---

 An hour later and you’re in awe at how good the food is. The meat is practically melting off the bone as you eat the roasted pork, slight drool dribbling down.

Childe just stares as you lick your lips. “Did you learn this in Fatui boot camp or something?”

“Yeah,” he mumbles, voice a pitch lower. “Closer to the ‘or something’ part though.”

Idle chatter starts between you two, soft banter and long talks about nothing. You ask about his past, he gives curt answers and you do the same, but there’s this silent understanding between you two about it. There’s little to say on the matter as neither party wants to remember. At least that’s something you have in common with Childe.

“So, along your travels,” he starts, wiping his mouth with a crimson handkerchief. “Did you come across any gods? Besides our resident funeral consultant, of course.”

“A few,” you reply. “Some also stepped down to join mortals too, but in those lands, they gave up their full divinity instead of just the title.”

“Why anybody would ever give up power willingly is beyond me.”

You laugh, though it sounds more vindicative than you intended. “Don’t you know? The gods envy mortals because their lives are fleeting and any moment can be their last. It’s all the more beautiful to them.”

Childe narrows his eyes. “Who said that? Seems to me the gods here don’t really care for us.”

You smile bitterly. “Yeah, I can see your point. The gods in Teyvat are different, but what about Zhongli? Don’t you trust him?”

“Ha, I trust him to pursue his own self-interests. If they align with mine, then great, there’s no problems between us. He’s reliable and stubborn. Shockingly, he has my honest loyalty, and I trust I can predict his next move.”

“Always the tactician.” You both chuckle at the thought. “I would’ve thought there was more than that.” You pray he doesn’t realize how you test the waters, and with the way he looks in the distance, you’re safe.

“You’re not wrong. I care about him. He drives me insane, but come hell or high water, he’ll be my friend to the bitter end.”

Friend. Your heart throbs again, though in deliverance or bewilderment for their strange relationship, you’re not sure.

“With your powers, were you ever seen as one?” Childe says, breaking your thoughts.

“A god? Sometimes, though only if people haven’t seen real divinity. We were also called demons. Unnatural. We keep to ourselves mostly and avoid too much trouble, but with our powers sealed, we don’t even have that going for us. We’re not really welcome among humans or divine, hah.” His eyes relax briefly, shifting to an indescribable emotion. There’s something in them, some light of understanding.

You hate it.

“Don’t act like you care,” you say, turning away and hugging yourself. Yeah, you know you’re being unfair, but you can’t handle Childe’s pity at the moment. He sighs as he tosses his leftovers over his shoulder and tries putting a hand on your shoulder.

“Hey – “

“Don’t.”

“I don’t care. Look at me,” he says, tone sharp and commanding you to listen. During easy exchanges, it became so easy to gloss over the fact that Childe is, indeed, a general of the Fatui.

He’s all but glaring down at you, matching your petulant stare. “What is with you? I’ve been trying to fix things between us, but I’m starting to feel like I’m the only one. This goes both ways, you know.”

“Us? There is no us, Childe. It’s just you. It’s always been about what you want,” you seethe. Stars, you sounded so much like a kid, but some sick part of you is enjoying this. All your words are underhanded and you both know it. “Did you even care? At any point, any at all, did you care?”

His blue eyes slowly widen as realization dawns on him. “Ah. You’re still mad about that. About me using you, huh?”

“What the f – Yes, I’m still mad! Congratulations, you’ve got a pair of eyes. Don’t you know that I – nevermind.”

“No, say it,” he says, placing both hands on each of your shoulders now and caging you in. His face leaves no room for argument as he says your real name. “Say it. Don’t back out now.”

“Stars, you stupid, selfish son of a – “

“Hey, don’t you bring my mother into this,” he says, though a lopsided grin works its way onto his face regardless.

“Very funny, Childe. I just… I kept it, you know? It’s no Mr. Cyclops, but it’s still mine,” you say, looking down. His eyes flick to the starconch dangling from your journal.

“You didn’t have to,” he murmurs, tightening his grip on your shoulders.

“Of course I did. I made a promise to you, and I have a feeling you’re the type to actually cut my pinkie off.”

“Ha. Who’s being funny now?”

You shake your head. “My question still stands: did you care? I’ve forgiven you – you know that – but I’m mad because… I need to know if our friendship was...”

When you look up again, he’s – oh holy – when did he get so close? His deep blue eyes are resolute and you’re holding your breath. Childe is close enough that you can practically feel the heat radiating off of him as his lips parts. “Honestly? I didn’t at the time.”

Oh. Of course not.

You close your eyes as you feel your heart plummet to your stomach. Great. Just fantastic. Nothing can get worse than this.

“But now…”

His fingers gently grab your chin and lift up as he tilts his own down at you. “I can’t remember that time without guilt. When I saw how Teucer showered you all with adoration, it just reminded me of what we had.”

“What we had? What was that? Friend? Enemy? Sparring partner?” You scoff and lean out of the space he made that threatened to suffocate you. “I don’t want to believe a word you’re saying, because even though I’ve been honest every step of the way – “ You pull his right hand off your left shoulder and lock a pinkie with it. “ – I can guarantee that you haven’t.”

Do you feel a sense of joy when you release his hand with a glare?

“You’re no better than the gods you hate.”

When he has the gall to look offended?

Yeah, you do, and know what? Fuck him.

Suddenly, your hand is harshly yanked up as he leans close again, locking a pinkie before you can escape. “You don’t want to believe me? Fine. But don’t pretend you wouldn’t do the same for your duty if push came to shove. At least this time I had the decency to tell you why I’m here, why I’m ‘using’ you again. You beat me to it though, or did you forget?”

Childe sneers, fury now raging in those watery depths. “I’m not mad, I’m happy that you’re as shrewd as you are strong. Yes, I didn’t care then. Yes, I care now, even if I don’t regret it. I want to leave that in the past because today, this moment, is all that matters. C’mon, eye for an eye.”

“What are you even talking about?” You’re seething now, matching his frustration. Seriously, he can’t spout this crap and expect you to suddenly understand. “I am not doing this with you, to you, whatever ‘this’ is. Despite being upset, you’re still my friend.”

“No, we weren’t just friends and you know it,” he growls. “Or enemies. So just give the word and get it over with, comrade. Fight me, use me, do something and get it out of your system.”

He’s… He’s crazy, he’s just insane, you have to get out of here. You swiftly stand and pull your hand away, staring down at him. “I said no, Childe. Not everything is a battle. I can’t believe you… You would think that. Think that I’m no better than the people who treated you like some pawn.”

You sigh and turn away, but your hand is yanked behind you again. May the stars give you patience.

When he turns you, he’s looking at you with a familiar glint as his lips curl. It’s the same expression he wore in the aftermath of Osial.

“Don’t you dare compare yourself to them. You aren’t one of those out-of-touch bastards. I just… I wasn’t sure what else to do to get you to believe me.”

Who would’ve thought a Harbinger could be so maudlin. Torpor replaced your irritation and quiet resignation flickered in your mind. Why you still bickering with him? It’s pointless.

You take the hand holding you and bring it up to the center of your chest.

He freezes and stares at his hand, breathes growing shallow and quick.

“This is going nowhere. Leave it in the past, right? There’s always more to argue over, ha.”

When you squeeze his hand, you smile at him, meeting his bloodthirsty eyes. “You’re right, Childe. Let’s get this out of our system.”

You don’t want to, you really, really don’t, but seeing the way his shoulders relax with barely contained relief shoves that regret aside. Childe was never the best with words – while his fellow Harbingers wove tale after tale with silver tongues, he simply collected others’ tongues with that sharpened silver.

As you both pace yourselves apart, you pull out your journal, long modified to be a weapon of sorts in this world. You know you are at a severe disadvantage as you were never great with other tools, so you had to find a way to either stay out of his range – difficult with his bow – or get close enough to his personal space to land a direct blow with energy gathered in your hands – difficult with his water shields.

Childe summons his hydro blades and begins twirling them, head bowed as he watches your every step. Slowly, you circle one another as both try to find weak points to exploit. His eyes are nothing short of predatory, and as his lips barely twitch into a snarl, you’re once again reminded of just who is in front of you.

Tartaglia, the Vanguard of the Harbingers, whose arrogant and ruthless madness could only be soothed on the battlefield. He’s not so much like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but a monster in wolf’s clothing.

On instinct, you immediately tilt your head as an arrow whistles past your ear, nicking the edge. You feel warmth trickle down and your ear stings something fierce as you start to dodge his incoming folly of arrows.

Is it too late to back out? Like, right now? You can handle the proverbial tail between your legs but you cannot handle –

You curse as water rises from the river to wrap around your ankle and shackles you when you drew too close. Cruel laughter bubbles to your left as you turn and see him charging, serrated blades out for the slaughter.

When he gets close enough to leap, nearly too close for comfort, you immediately summon a wall of stone in front of you. A soft thud echoes, so you form a fist and push the wall forward and away from you as the hydro chains break with Childe’s concentration shifting to his predicament.

Normally, you would be more prepared and calculating in your attacks, but the sheer ruthlessness of his onslaught took you by surprise.

Russet-colored hair juts out from the top as he leaps up and over, twirling in the air. With a clear opening, you reach out energetically to the smattering of small – yet sharp – stones around you to use as projectiles. He laughs as he slices each stone, but your goal of interrupting his trajectory is accomplished.

Childe lands a distance away as you sprint farther back, summoning small pillars of stone between you two as he immediately chases after. Though he’s chaotic, his movements are somewhat predictable; you summon one stone in a bluff to get him to move to his right to dodge, but immediately slam another stone to his ribs on his side from the direction he moved towards.

He grunts, but hardly flinches as you see him double his efforts in chasing you. Belatedly, you realize he’s been herding you towards the massive waterfall the entire time. Either you finish him here or he finishes you there with the elemental advantage.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, you’re not as fast as Aether, this is why you stay on the backline, fuck –

Childe’s lance smashes the shoddy stones rising quicker in your panic to separate you two. Not your finest work, but it’s a bit hard to focus on their construction when you have a maniac sent from hell on your ass, thank you. When you see how he leaps from your most recent stone, utilizing the momentum in its rise to propel himself forward, you tuck tail and run.

Safe to say, two thoughts occur as he tackles you and his iron grip is wrapped around your body to restrict movement as you both tumble along the ground.

One, you’re absolutely torn between humiliation and feeling shameless as you realize your undergarments are soaked with his husky pants filling your ears. His head tucked against your own in the roll.

There’s definitely something wrong with you, you decide, since you were nothing short of terrified two seconds earlier.

Two, when your head slams against the ground and you open your bleary eyes, you realize how lovely the snapdragon flowers lining the riverbank are this time of year.

You hiss as you feel heavy thighs cage your arms to your side and look up. Childe is leering down at you and snarling as his right hand curls into a fist, purple lightning slowly dancing across it. His left hand glows blue as you recognize the sensation of the infamous riptide mark forming over your chest, eyes glazed over with concentration.

In a moment of paralyzing horror, you realize just how far from civilization you two are.

Ha, haha, good one Childe. He’s… He’s playing, right? This was just friendly brawling. Ha. Oh shit.

He’s not slowing down.

When his hand clamps on your shoulder to still your frantic movements, you whine – high and feeble – at the pain blooming from his grip. For a split second, he falters as his eyes regain clarity, hand loosening a fraction to no longer being unyielding. You take the opportune distraction to flick your hand and throw a stone to his chest.

It’s not much, not without the power of your book – now discarded somewhere – but it does the job as he is knocked to the side and off of you.

In the action, you scramble to keep with the flow and slam him on his back, perching on his chest as your hands glow with accumulating geo energy.

Seeing his soft pants, a sparkle in his eyes, and how blood trickles down his forehead, the shattering in your heart is deafening when you realize how young he looks. His laughter is wet and harsh as his arms are splayed.

“Do it,” he grunts. “End the fight, ‘cause I won’t stop.”

No. No, you’re not doing this.

“Aw, is little birdie too scared?”

You lower your hand and wrap it around his throat, and stars, is his grin growing?

“Come on, just do it – “

“Shut up,” you hiss, leaning forward. “Stop it Childe, I’m not punishing you.”

“What if I want you to?”

You freeze as your mouth parts in a silent gasp, his expression never faltering. When you jump back, you grind against something hard and insistent against your ass, and oh. Was this his plan all along…?

Childe’s hands fly to your hips and pull you down, and oh fuck, a moan fumbles from your lips before you harshly cut it off. Your eyes glance down to see his hooded eyes and he’s panting as he watches you. “Pretty bird is suddenly backing out now? So weak, you won’t even take your venge – “

His words are muffled as you lean forward and kiss him, but you yelp when you feel sharp teeth suddenly bite your bottom lip. Something angry twittering in you possesses you to reach into his hair and fist it, yanking his head up to meet your irritated gaze. When he moans again, loud and shameless and grinds against your core, you’re seized by the same fierce need.

“You’re sick,” you say as your tongue darts out to taste a hint of blood.

For some reason, those words still him as his eyebrows furrow slightly. “I know.”

Stars, you hate how he stares you down, daring you to do something about it. You hate how it feels like it was your fault, that crack in his shield as you see your own shocked eyes reflected in his ocean blues. They flicker between yours, and that something whispers in you again: for whatever reason, he wants to be punished.

Maybe that’s how he gets his sick kicks. Yeah. That’s it.

(You shove aside any lingering doubts.)

You pull him to you this time, kissing him as you simultaneously begin a slow, rhythmic roll of your hips against his throbbing bulge. When Childe’s mouth parts in a strangled moan, you take the opportunity to dive your tongue into his and hum in approval as he rubs his hands along your thighs.

As you part, a thin trail of saliva stained red with blood connecting you two, you lean back and smirk at his whine from the loss of contact. Instead, you lean back and arch your back to apply more pressure to his bulge. “You’re such a challenge sometimes,” you murmur, scanning his features.

Childe moans, ragged and hoarse, as his hands find purchase on your hips. “Please,” he replies desperately.

“When was the last time someone put you in your place?” you say as your hands slowly trail down to his chest and meticulously begin undoing each button. Each time your nails scrape his skin, the contact is minuscule but enough to hitch his breath.

“N-not since the Tsaritsa,” he whispers, keening as you dip your fingers beneath his jacket to open it fully, baring his pale chest. “The people in Liyue are too… Let’s call it traditional in bed, hm? A bit too tender.”

You both snicker (unknowingly at the same man), but his laughter is cut off as you lean down to kiss along each scar littering his chest. There is a smattering of slashes and burns, enough to paint a picture of a life hard-won and deserving of his name.

When you ghost your lips back up, you pause at a pale, crescent-shaped… Is that a bite mark? You raise your hand slow to that juncture between his neck and shoulder, and you feel blue eyes watching you intently. As you trace it, you murmur, “What’s this? Did a lover leave this? Doesn’t seem very becoming of a Liyue native.”

Childe releases a puff of air instead of a laugh and rolls his head back. “Let’s just say it’s a trophy for the one time I managed to get a stupidly sentimental man to realize I’m not fragile on my last night here. He even apologized for it.”

Huh. You choose not to comment on the strange memory, but instead, opt to kiss the scar lightly. Childe openly moans, breathes becoming shallower as you move down the expanse of his creamy abdomen from there.

Gloved hands fly to your head and grab. His shallow thrusts against your chest halt when you lift away from him, glowering at him to stop. Childe’s eyes narrow, but when he tries again, you lie your palm flat against his bulge and push down.

Childe cries out at the border between pain and pleasure, and good, that fucker needs to learn when to stop.

Oh, gods, when did you get a mean streak? Except, when you lay your eyes on the Fatui again, memories of each time he’s pushed your buttons surface, directly compromising your promise to Aether to be kind to the locals in Teyvat to expedite finding Lumine.

Yeah, Aether isn’t here right now. You can make a special exception.

“You’re enjoying this too much,” you grunt and you lean up again, choking back laughter when you see how his eyes widen at your abandonment. Ha. “Maybe I’ll go slower and, how is it called, ‘make love to you like the people in Liyue? Maybe I’ll stop pursuing you like this, where none else dared challenge the almighty Harbinger, huh?”

Admittedly, the lust in you skyrockets when you see how he tries putting on an intimidating façade again, yet the flush across his face and chest absolutely ruins it. Oh man, you can keep doing this all day.

Only… When the devil smirks at you, your heart begins hammering.

“Oh? Maybe you should,” he pants, and you pointedly look at his erection now forming a slight damp spot on his pants. “Tch, but don’t tell me you’re not curious. You’re too fucking nice all the time, you’d hate that slowness as much as I would.”

Irritation seers through you again as you suddenly – and perhaps unnecessarily roughly – grab his pants, purposefully dragging your nails along his skin as you begin to pull it down. “What makes you think I’d hate it?” you huff.

Childe aids in your struggle, shimmying his pants down and off as he kicks off his boots while you clamber on top of him again.

“Come on,” he sneers, snaking his right hand around your neck to pull you closer while his left makes begins to slide down your belly. When he leans closer, he pauses short of kissing you and stays like that. “Don’t you want a taste?”

“You – “

Fuck, you didn’t realize how he distracted you until one finger brushes your clit and slides along your folds. Fuck, fuck, you hate how he drinks in your quiet and strangled moans as it begins to slowly dip into you. When you feel something smooth and cold instead, it hits you that he never took off his gloves.

“Come on, sweet girl,” he coos and rolls his hips upwards to grind against your ass. You grit your teeth, though Childe takes this moment to kiss you again and suck on your bottom lip, massaging you all the while. It’s… It’s not enough, damn him.

"Give me a safeword," you rasp as you break apart. "Right now. So I know this isn't a trick up your sleeve."

He grunts and leans forward again to press his lips against your nose, though he pauses in his ministrations. "This isn't -"

"Childe."

"... Calla lily."

You nod and sigh, tilting your head to the side.

The hand formerly around your neck slides down to pull down your clothes, allowing more access as it pools around your thighs.

You pull away entirely – ah, there goes his fingers – and stand, beginning to strip. As he watches you, you see how his jaw clenches, impatient and yet thoroughly enjoying the impromptu strip dance.

When you’re bare, you begin to walk over and have to bite back a whimper at how Childe’s tongue darts along his lips as you approach. Hmm…

You pad over to his head and grab a fistful of his hair again as you kneel by his head, concentrating on how his face contorts with pleasure again.

“What makes you think you’re so special, huh?” you gruff at him as he grins up at you in that wicked, wicked way.

“Because I’m all the sins you never had the courage to commit,” he responds daringly.

“Shut up.”

“Make me.”

Oh, stars forgive you if you (not so) accidentally strangle this man. You swing one leg over his head and pull it up as you lower yourself. At least he needs no further instruction as he immediately rests his hands on your thighs and tilts his head to lap at the wetness dribbling down.

Let it never be said that Childe didn’t know how to use his mouth, because fuck, the eagerness he begins devouring you out with is nothing short of a man approaching his last meal. You become hyper-aware of your wanton moans, how you grind your core further along his lips while his aching cock is behind you, devoid of all attention.

When his tongue dives deeper between your folds, truly fucking you with it, you slam a hand behind his head to prevent your fall. Fuck, you can’t fucking think –

Your thighs are trembling as the pleasure shoots through you, building with each rock of your hips. It’s slow and steady, but you feel yourself surfing the rising pleasure when you mentally short-circuit. At some point, he crept one hand under you and – without warning, the asshole – plunged two fingers deep as he turns his attention to your clit.

It’s pathetic how you mewl, it really is, and like a bloodhound, Childe senses your weakness. He doubles his efforts while humming against your clit, vibrating it with the motion, and fuck, you feel it coming, it’s, it’s –

You open your mouth in a silent scream as it shoots up, pulling you taut and your muscles stiffen. It’s like you’re a bow strung along and Childe is the man just using you like this.

Stars, he needs to stop, he needs to – stop it, it’s too much –

“Stop, Childe, fu-ah – “ When you frantically roll off of him, falling on your side, he merely turns and grins. It’s absolutely sinful how he slowly licks each finger that was knuckle-deep in you, never breaking contact.

You wish he’d say something because for once, he’s not actually talking. He just. He followed your initiative and was promptly shut up, drinking you in. You don’t know what to say to him, so you opt instead to reach over and grab his scarf, yanking him up.

He follows, nearly as eager as a pup, and crawls to you on all fours as you sit up. Childe blinks at you, the smile never wavering as his eyes wander to your chest rising and falling with soft pants. Something in you, some small and evil voice whispering on your shoulder tells you to ruin this man, this arrogant warrior still clad in his Harbinger jacket and gloves and mask –

“Your mask,” you gruff. Childe tilts his head (oh no, that was cute), but follows your command nonetheless.

When he hands you the item, you fidget slightly and fight back that creeping uncertainty. Fuck it, you’re the one punishing him, so why are you getting embarrassed?

In a desperate bid for confidence, you hum and refuse to look at him, pretending to inspect the mask as if just now seeing it. A shaky breath escapes him as he watches you, so you firmly pull on the scarf like it’s some leash. “You always get your way, don’t you?” you hum.

When silence meets you, you yank on the scarf again. “Answer me.”

“Yes,” comes the immediate reply. You smile softly and look at him, look at his wide eyes as you’re met face-to-face. Each of his arms has settled next to your sides as his legs hold himself over you.

You hazard a glance at his cock and smile at how it twitches in response, leaking driblets of pearlescent pre-cum and just throbbing red. Oh, he wants it so badly. “Beg for it,” you say, looking back into his eyes.

Childe narrows his own, gritting his teeth in a snarl. “Beg for it,” you repeat slowly, “or we stop here. Your choice.”

“Please,” he mumbles, and… Oh, oh is he shy? Pink begins to dust the tips of his ears as he dips his head.

“Please what?” you tease and he huffs.

“Please, let me… I want it, I want you.” Each word is punctuated and forced out like it took all of his willpower to hold himself back from taking you then and there.

Some quiet, dark part of you is slightly disappointed he didn’t.

Well, you’re merciful, and he did say please. You lean forward and tilt your own head, catching his lips in a kiss entirely too soft – and yet, Childe doesn’t complain, only sighing in relief as he moves his head with yours.

But this is still supposed to be a punishment, you remind yourself vehemently. That lustful side of you rears its head, screaming at you to stop whatever it is you’re planning because Childe is here, on his knees and begging to fuck you.

But this is still supposed to be a punishment. Damn it.

Childe seems to recognize the idea swirling in your eyes when he pulls back and he frowns. You smirk back and slide his mask into place, thoroughly relishing in how his breath hitches seeing his own face staring back at him.

“You’re enjoying this too much.”

He jerks his head back like he’s been slapped. “Oh, you’re kidding me, right? You just made me beg, you charlatan.”

“Exactly,” you chirp back. You push him back while retaining your hold on his scarf and run your hand down his abs, pausing at the naval above his aching cock. He moans when your nails dig in there and he spreads his legs wide to allow you to move closer. When you finally, finally grasp his cock with a firm squeeze, a strangled groan is wrenched from his chest from somewhere high and deep like he wasn’t expecting the noise either.

“I’m still mad at you, so this is all you get. Nothing more than this, not even spit.”

Gods, how badly do you want to weep and take it back, but you have a point to prove, damn it.

Childe opens his mouth to protest, but you pull on the scarf to effectively cut off his air, watching how his eyes haze over with pleasure when you do an experimental pump. Is this… Is this how you looked when you fought for dominance with Zhongli?

Oh, you really can keep doing this.

Slowly, you shift forward more until you’re pressed close enough to lean next to his head as you gather the pre-cum leaking in torrents to twist around the head of his cock. “Does the Harbinger like this?”

Childe releases another strangled moan and nudges his head against yours, bucking his hips in demand for you to just go faster. You don’t, you’re mad at him, but the insistence is cute. That infamous earring of his dangles in front of you, tantalizingly close, so you grab it with your teeth and pull sharply as the pressure from your hand increases.

Childe cries out in a mixture of shock and pleasure, hands flying to your back to pull you closer to him as you release it to begin whispering filth into his ears.

With each movement, each tug and twist and sin tickling him, you watch as he slowly becomes unraveled and pulled from the seams. The contrast between you two, how you watch with startling clarity as Childe loses his sanity in chasing after that edge, serves only to thrill you. Your core starts to throb again, practically weeping with your own slick as you fight back the instinct to mount and ride him to hell here and now.

As his thighs tense and his breathing drawing quicker, you pause abruptly to stop him from cumming and – oh shit – he yanks your hair back as he growls in your ear, “Don’t you dare – “

Wish granted. You laugh openly and release his scarf to cup his jaw, leaning forward enough that he can catch the whites of your eyes through the slits in the mask. “Then don’t look away.”

And, blessedly, you resume your ministrations with a sudden increase in speed that has Childe panting so beautifully, so raggedly as he whines at the sight of his own mask staring him down. His hips rock into your hand needily, clinging to your back like his life depended on it.

“Ah, f-uck – “ Childe’s words are cut off as he flushes red and you feel warmth spill over your hand. You never pause as you continue milking his cock, jerking it well past the point of pleasure and deep into oversensitive pain. His blue eyes are squeezed shut as a string of Snezhnayan curses tumble from his lips, clinging to what shreds of euphoria are left before you slowly stop.

His chest is heaving, each exhale hoarse and dry as he buries his head against your neck.

Huh, what does a Harbinger taste like…?

As you idly bring your hand up to lap at the cum, you smirk behind your mask when you hear Childe’s breath hitch and he begins mumbling something indistinctly, watching you all the while.

When he’s this close, you can nearly count each freckle dotting his cheeks and nose, and… And you can almost draw constellations between them.

After a moment, he leans back to stare at you before pulling off the mask. When you both see each other again, a lazy smile tugs at his lips before he looking you up and down, then towards the scene around you.

“… Well, this is unsanitary.”

What – what the fuck? You bark out a loud laugh and Childe joins you, though his sounds huskier still as he recovers. “That was a little mean of you to keep going,” he says, pouting when you snort.

“You wanted it.”

“I wanted to fuck you,” he grumbles. You shrug and try to stand, though admittedly you’re no better than a colt with how your legs shake.

Eventually, you manage to waddle your way to the river and take slow steps into the freezing waters. Fish dart between your legs, barely brushing by with slick flutters, and you sigh as you force your muscles to relax.

Some time passes before you hear movement and splashes behind you, though you don’t turn to meet him. If Childe is upset with you, he can deal with that himself, you’re too busy trying to find some peace.

You just need a hard reset. Just once, you need to get one merciful moment alone.

Still, that wish remains ungranted as strong muscles wrap around your front and you jolt at the sudden contact, but more so when you feel Childe rest his head against the back of yours. Neither of you move, opting to instead sway lightly with the currents drifting by. Each wrist is wrapped in a leather brace with a Vision inlaid in the right while the Delusion is in his left.

When you glance down at the water, you suck in a breath upon realizing he’s been staring at you through the reflection the whole time. Soft aquatic plants dance at the corners of your feet, brushing ever so slightly with each tug.

It’s nice, but something about the stillness sparks uneasiness in you. But… It’s not the kind you felt staring down Childe’s lifeless eyes seconds before he struck, no, this is different. This feeling left you feeling both heavy and light, clear and foggy like you were alone with the dawn breaking and somehow that fact makes it all the sadder.

You… You want this to last, you realize. Stupid. You’ve gotten yourself stupidly attached already, two for zero with these men in your life.

He sighs as one hand reaches up, tracing idly over your chest again. “Do you ever feel like it’s some game,” he begins delicately like each breath is an affront to the world around you.

“What do you mean?”

“These gods, these… Not-humans, I guess. The one that took Aether’s sister, the ones that laughed at you for not being good enough in your travels, the adepti that thought Liyue too fragile… Do you ever think it’s a game to them? Like we’re just puppets on strings?”

He whispers these words, writing them like clandestine letters, ones that will surely get him executed should the gods ever see yet he writes them all the same.

“Like the fabled strings of fate?” you reply, and his lips twist in a wry laugh. “I don’t know if it’s fair for me to answer, since I’m not…”

Human.

Childe hums, understanding the tacit sentiment. “Doesn’t matter, you were never welcome among the divine anyway, right?”

“As if the humans would welcome us instead.”

“I would. I already have.”

Without skipping a beat, Childe continues hastily, once again obscuring that something in his voice. “Do you think they understand us? Actually care about their people?”

You shake your head, a barely-there motion, and should any soul look upon you two now, surely they would never see how you squeeze his hands. “I don’t think gods understand true strength.”

You don’t know why, but those two words, that single combination seems to still Childe completely as he listens, utterly rapt with another memory flickering across his expression. At least, that’s what you think, judging from the reflections.

“Gods may shape the world and play with the pieces, but mortals are the ones living in it. I don’t think they remember that humans are not – “

“Things.”

Another beat of silence passes before Childe breaks it again. “They think we don’t understand anything just because we haven’t had an eternity behind us, ha. I don’t blame them, I think I’d take the opportunity to be immortal too.”

You frown and turn in his arms, coming face-to-face with him. “Why?”

“So I can finally make right everything that’s wrong,” he mumbles, placing his hand on your chest again. When you look down, you see how water tickles and caresses your skin – almost lovingly if you were so bold, but you’re not – as it forms a vague riptide mark. You feel cool hydro energy seep into your skin before disappearing entirely, though you suppose more elemental energy could always trigger its appearance once more.

Childe sighs again, massaging the spot from the mark before roving hands move to your shoulders, rubbing along them. When he looks at you again, your heart stutters at the glittering image of wide-eyed wonder and determination staring back at you – the sight of it renders you mute. A cheeky grin pulls his lips. “And more time means more journeys, right? When my plans are complete, I can finally put this all to rest and go adventuring.”

(You vow then to never tell him that Teucer long spilled these secrets to your motley group.)

And then. And then he smiles, though it’s all teeth and wicked intentions, and then you feel your heart race with sudden fear as the sweet moment left as soon as it arrived.

“You know comrade,” he begins charmingly (oh no), “I did warn you about one thing.”

“Y-yeah?” Oh no, you didn’t mean for that to come out as quiet and breathy as it did. Childe chuckles as he slides one hand to cup the back of your neck.

“That I won’t stop.”

That’s all the warning you get before your world is turned askew, everything blurring together in motions of blue and rippling colors.

This is… He’s taking you somewhere, you realize belatedly, this is how he escaped the Golden House. When his face materializes before yours, peering out of the water as the element obeys its master’s commands, he holds one finger up to his lips in a signal to keep holding your breath.

So you do. You hold as long as you can, eyes darting as the world passes by and you’re struck by the kaleidoscope of light as it ripples along the outside of this shell.

When Childe leans forward, slotting his lips against yours, you swear then that he meant to steal your breath.

Hard rock slams into your back suddenly and you break the kiss, gasping for air and flopping your hands about you for purchase. Air, hallelujah, there’s air –

You grumble at him, sulking at the unexpected journey as his drenched hair trickled droplets onto you. Childe rears his head back, roaring with laughter at your cross attitude, but you can’t hear it. As a matter of fact, you can’t hear anything really.

Wait, did he just take you behind the waterfall?

Amusement dances across his face as he watches you drink in the sights around, of how you two are in a small enclave behind the waterfall roaring overhead. It’s not much, probably two lengths of Childe’s body long and wide with temperatures freezing you to the bone.

So, why did he bring you back here –

You keen when he suddenly dips his head to kiss along your sternum, one thigh nudging your legs apart. His hot breath fans across your skin, licking a long stripe up your neck to your ears as he brings one hand up to squeeze one breast.

“Sweet girl is always so far away,” he whispers huskily. “Will you finally let me hold you?”

“Childe,” you huff, your soft breath cutting off into a moan as he pinches one nipple. His teeth graze your jaw, kissing along it and moving steadily towards your mouth. “All this time, you never needed to ask. You already had me.”

He groans, capturing your lips again with the barely constrained ferocity of a starved man as the hand fondling your chest moves down. Stars, you’re already so slick with anticipation; Childe moans appreciatively as one finger slides easily in, then two, then three.

“Fuck,” he mumbles. “Fuck, fuck, you’re so hot, sweet little thing.”

If you were thinking straight, you’d realize that Childe is whispering something about fair trade and equal punishment, is sinking his fingers knuckle-deep into you and ruthlessly finding that sweet spot in you with a single goal in mind. You encourage him further, opening your mouth and welcoming his tongue as he explores your mouth with near-invasive energy.

If you were thinking straight, you’d realize how his cock is already at attention and ready to spear you, how it waits patiently for you to cum first.

Oh, but you’re not thinking straight. You wail as his fingers press harder, palm now rubbing your clit while he nips along your jugular and scatters your thoughts. Childe shifts so he no longer needs his other hand to hold himself over you, and instead places it over your throat as he pulls back to stare into your eyes.

The devil grins at you. “Don’t look away now.”

“Ah – oh, Childe – “ His hands squeeze, tentative at first, then with more conviction – and a terrifyingly practiced technique – around your neck, cutting off just enough air to leave the images blurring around you. Fuck, fuck, you’re clinging to consciousness, holding onto that pleasurable spike for dear life and –

“Come for me, pretty girl,” he pants, leaning forward to brush his nose against yours and you wail. It comes out softer and quiet, like a lamb being laid bare before a wolf, and you’re shivering with the fuzzy pleasure blanketing your body. Calloused fingers work you over as he grins, murmuring praises as you come undone from his unrelenting pace.

Your orgasm is nothing fierce like when he ate you out, but as air steadily becomes harder, the pleasure refuses to fizzle out like the fireworks you felt earlier. No, it only builds and builds and builds like it refuses to let you go, dragging you through this sex-addled haze whether you like it or not.

“Stay with me now,” Childe grunts, dark hunger swirling in his eyes. “Come on, don’t black out on me now, that’s too easy. Do I have to be mean?”

What the fuck is he talking about –

You cry out in sheer panic and blinding euphoria as you feel light sparks dance along your clit. He’s using his fucking electro element, all fine control and just playing you like a fiddle while you writhe underneath him. You can’t take it anymore, this is too much to all once and impossible to describe, you can’t –

Childe blessedly releases his grip and you gasp in lungfuls of air for the second time in a short window; though his fingers slow, they don’t stop. He coos at your writhing underneath him, moaning with you as you ride out a second orgasm from his electro currents.

You’re biting your lip to stop from whining even more, but that must’ve irked Childe because he moves down to kiss you again, pulling your bottom lip away with his teeth. As the stimulation slowly pushes into pain, you hiss and swing your left leg up to kick him away.

Of course the fucker caught your foot and exploited the momentum to wrap it around his right shoulder, of course. “Pl-ease,” you cry out as tears prick at the corners of your eyes, the pleasure quickly becoming too much again. “Please!”

“Mm, you’ll have to beg for it,” he replies, too casually for a man whose fingers are working up a storm to bring you to a quick and merciless orgasm again. Your hands fly down to his wrist in a pathetic attempt to slow him, but he curls his lips in a challenge and speeds up, shifting closer to you to brush his cock along your cheeks.

Fuck, fuck – You cum again, though somewhere in you tells you that you never actually stopped. A last-ditch idea desperately hits you. “F-Fuck me!” you cry out, voice pitching a tune that’s dangerously needy. “Please!”

Childe laughs again, all cruelty and thrilled at your begging, but you can’t find it in you to give a damn, you just need him to stop fucking you with his fingers. You need a break.

But the Harbinger is a merciless god.

He hums as his fingers slowly, slowly withdraw and he makes a show of sucking each one clean before he takes his cock to line up with your entrance. As he does this, he tilts his head and looks at you again, pretending like he doesn’t see you plead for – for what, exactly? For more? For less?

And in a single thrust, he enters entirely into you. Two voices bounce off the walls, pitches varying but both as broken, and Childe immediately begins a harsh pace.

“Please,” you whine and he tilts his head again, grinning through each harsh thrust. He’s rubbing one hand along the thigh draped over his shoulder while the other holds your hips in a bruising grip.

“Please? You’re such a greedy thing, look at that, sucking up my cock like that.” Each word is punctuated with another harsh thrust, each word is met with your loud cries – and when he angles his hips enough that you can see the outline of it pushing against your naval with you on your back, you cum again.

The Fatui starts speaking in Sneznayhan again as you clamp down around him, squeezing and milking his cock for all you’re worth, but gods you can hardly care right now. Your back is surely going to be scraped raw with how you’re being dragged across the floor, but you fucking love it, love how pain and pleasure mix in some addicting cocktail you’re absolutely drunk on.

You make a long, anguished whine as Childe begins kissing along your leg and peppers your skin with nips to pierce that pleasurable fog. His words sound slurred, you’re willing to bet your life that he’s trying to call your name, but you’re not sure if it’s him or your perception that’s screwed up on this side of the river.

And then he’s laughing. The bastard’s laughing at your blissful misery.

Oh. Oh no no, no you’re not about to be humbled by some Harbinger –

“T-tartaglia!” you keen suddenly when a particularly fierce thrust hits you.

You both freeze.

Oh no. Oh shit. Cold panic rushes through you at that, at how you just admitted defeat by calling him out – and when he purrs your real name, low and husky and thoroughly vindicated, he knows it too.

“Pretty thing wants to wear my mask, but you forgot who’s fucking you like you wanted,” he snarls.

After he hoists your other leg over his shoulders, he presses his body into yours and folds you in half, the new angle devastating for your pleasure as he somehow reaches deeper. His hips start again, mercilessly hitting that spot deep in as his hands cage you in by your head. Childe leans in and nudges your head aside, brushing his nose along your cheeks. "What's the safeword?"

"C-calla lily," you murmur and he nods, turning to stare you down again.

When you try to look away, close your eyes, do something, one hand brutally squeezes your jaw to open your eyes again.

And it works. You gasp as he forces you to attention, forces you to address him as those dangerously blue eyes threaten to swallow you whole in the treacherous deep ocean. “Baby, look – hah, shit – look at me. Y-you want Tartaglia, huh? Isn’t that right?”

Your throat is betraying your mind, whining and begging and blabbering something in response as the grinding pleasure continues to drown you.

It hurts so fucking good as euphoria tears you apart, rips your insides as you start openly sobbing from the pleasure he’s dragging out, and the fucker has the audacity to shoot forward and press an open kiss to your tear-streaked cheeks. Chi- Tartaglia lets you claw at his back – hell, he encourages it with how he groans – and he torturously continues his pace.

You’re not sure if you have the energy to continue, so you smack at his back weakly as you mumble against his lips. Your cunt is squeezing and spasming around him in a vice grip, but he continues fucking you through it. “P-please, please c-cum, please, I don’t know if I can keep going,” you beg desperately.

“N-no,” he grunts and your heart sinks. “Fuck, pretty birdie is letting me finallyy – hah – fuck her, I warned you, I won’t st-hhop.”

“It’s too much,” you hiccup through the overstimulation and scream – your throat hurts with the force of it – as you feel electricity twist your muscles, clenching around his cock as white-hot plasma seems to seer you from the inside out. He moans in response, a low and gruff noise.

“Then suffer.”

And he keeps going.

 ---

 You never notice how he traces along a barely-there geo sigil with the smallest, briefest Cor Lapis glow beneath your navel. You never notice how it throbs in time with his thrusts, with each exertion of his elemental visions as if protective over your body in a lingering memory of whatever divine beast spurred its awakening.

You never notice how he grins.

 ---

 The Harbinger is a cruel and merciless god.

 ---

 He ruins you, thoroughly devastates you with a meticulous precision befitting the Vanguard of the Harbingers. You’ve been manhandled and manipulated into a myriad of positions until pebbles and scrapes litter both of your bodies. True to his word, you suffer through each orgasm he tears from you.

And fuck, do you love it.

Your back is to the wall as your hands are interlocked with his own by your head, hips rapidly thrusting you up and down against it as you wrap your legs around him for purchase while he nips your neck like a rabid dog.

Stars, you can’t concentrate, your eyes keep losing focus – and each time Tartaglia notices, he bites or thrusts or squeezes with that iron grip, electricity lacing each action jolting you to the present. He refuses to let you sink, refuses to let you black out as you’re dragged through hell and back by the devil himself.

“Please,” you weep as he rests his forehead against yours, dutifully watching how your chest bounces with the movement and how his cock is thoroughly drenched with your juices. The ease with which he slides in and out of you is downright criminal.

“T-tartaglia, please,” you whimper and his blues meet yours again. “Tartaglia… I want…”

A single eyebrow arches as he presses his body impossibly closers, now chest-to-chest as he cages you in and looms over you. “I want you,” you gasp between thrusts, “all of you, please. I – ah – I trust you, please.”

Tartaglia freezes for a split-second before groaning, raw and thunderous and wild as the storms that herald his coming, and when he kisses you, you feel wetness dribble down both of your cheeks.

In your haze, you weren’t aware you were crying again from it all, but a lot of things snuck past your attention.

You don’t know what happens after that, but you know it’s hot and wet as his body flexes over yours. Somewhere in your consciousness, you hear a voice cry out Tartaglia’s name, utterly shredded to ribbons from how it was abused.

Was that your voice?

His cock is throbbing in you as you feel him empty load after load of cum, more words in a foreign language wrapping you in warmth his tone lightens, his eyes grow soft and his lips curl up. It’s all you can do to squeeze your wet cunt around him, tightening around him to milk more out of him until Tartaglia is gasping desperately in time with the stutter of his hips.

Eventually, he slumps over you, draping his muscled body over yours with sheer exhaustion and sweat glistening in a thin sheen over his skin.

He whimpers your name, almost going unheard and the noise is halting as if he didn’t expect to say it either. Frankly, you’re too tired to unpack all the layers woven into that right now. So you don’t. Instead, you squeeze his hands as you start to feebly sing softly in your native tongue.

Childe freezes instantly as he sucks in a sharp breath. “What is that?”

“Hm? My people’s language?” you respond and he nods dumbly. “Sorry, probably sounds bad.”

“No,” he mumbles, shaking his head enough that his auburn locks bounce lightly. “Just familiar.”

Huh? Whatever. He’s probably too blissed out to make sense right now.

You both stay like that for a time in a slow-going bid to steady your breathing. You… You never honestly expected this to happen when he invited himself along your commission. Not that you’re complaining, of course, it’s just… It’s not what you expected.

Some lust-addled part of your brain, utterly fucked out and blissful, is already planning another ‘excursion’ into these deep woods.

And then you start to giggle at the gooey mess pooling between both of you. Childe huffs against you and you feel his smile against your cheek. “What’re you laughing at, pretty bird?” he slurs out.

“Oh, just. This is just unsanitary.”

Childe just grunts, too tired to join your laughter, but that’s okay. Your bubbling joy is enough for the two of you in this little enclave behind the waterfall.

 ---

 Hours have passed, and somehow – through sheer and utter spite – you both manage to drag yourselves back to Liyue Harbor despite the protesting aches from your muscles. Nerve endings are set alight with each step, but judging from how Childe winces, he feels it too. Night has long fallen and you remind yourself to apologize to Aether and Paimon, since you said you’d be back by dinner at the latest.

Do you regret it though? Nope.

Eventually, you stumble (literally in your case, tripping over a rock in your lethargy) across Zhongli scrutinizing various wares on display with a careful eye.

Zhongli’s smile is brilliant and warm as he spies you two, immediately weaving his way through the crowd to make his way over. In a way, the movement is serpentine as he manipulates each person away. It’s fitting, really.

“I expected you two to be back much earlier,” Zhongli rumbles, though there’s no disappointment. He looks pleased to simply see you both safe and sound.

“Ah, it was a little far,” Childe chuckles as he rubs the back of his neck. “Y’know how it is.”

“Where are the others?” you interject, too tired to maintain any sane conversation. Or sanity in general. You need a bed and you need it now.

The former Archon tilts his head as he peruses through his memories. “I believe they moved to Wangshu Inn. They said that since you both took too long, we are to meet again at midday tomorrow near Jueyun Karst.”

You nod weakly and tune out their conversation, trying to muster what little energy you have left to begin the trek to get outside the city.

“I saw the most interesting thing,” you hear Childe say conversationally. The tone feels off, though. “Did you know geo sigils can stay on skin? I got a most intimate view of it! Even left a little hydro mark of my own,” Childe’s teasing voice continues with something else lacing the undercurrents of it.

Your heart sinks and you slowly turn around, thankful that in your brief glance at their faces, Zhongli was all-too distracted with Childe’s words to see you. However, when one eyebrow raises, you immediately duck your head.

Fuck. What the fuck. You’ll sprint if you have to, but for now, walking away is okay too.

“Oh?” You hear a curiously deep rumble from behind you as you slowly make your way out, but you can’t place the tone. Zhongli is as stoic as ever and you can’t get a read on him from his voice alone, oh no. “Is that so.”

It’s not a question. It’s a statement, a fact, an observation, and it’s delivered so flatly you want to cry from sheer mortification and horror as your mind shifts into maximum overdrive with panic at all the worst possibilities.

What’s he thinking? What does either of them think of you now? Did you cross some unspoken line?

Well then! Now’s as good a time as any to flee.

“See you at Jueyun Karst!” you throw over your shoulder as you wave, but the words are broken since you’re shaking like a leaf in a fierce wind.

As you make your exit, you feel two pairs of eyes burning into your back as neither man says anything.

Haha! Terrific! That’ll surely help you sleep tonight!

 -

notes: 

i love how the 1.5 leaked cutscene says there’s a liyue saying that goes something like “waiting for rain to fall on earth once again” like hello?? metaphors??

[bunnirs]

Scarlet Crossroads:

Chapter 2: Breaking The Ice

Previous/Next

Scarlet Crossroads Masterlist

It felt like hours before most of the exam contestants arrived. Of course, you happened to be exceptionally early, being only examinee 113.

You wish you could’ve said waiting was boring, but a few of the other examinee’s made it extremely difficult to settle down.

There was a wide variety of other characters, their personalities most likely to clash further into the exam, dragging you into the crossfire.

One man stood out to you. He was short, rather full looking, and had an ugly ass beard. Maybe he was a child… seeing as he certainly acted like one. This child of a man was Examinee #16, Tonpa the Rookie Crusher.

It was obvious to you that he was bad news. I mean, he reeked of mold and broccoli. (Well, you thought it was broccoli, but you could’ve been wrong on that. You were hoping, no praying, that it wasn’t the case.

He shifted uncomfortably underneath your stare, somehow growing nervous as he tried to speak. It seemed your aura was suffocating him, how typical.

Anyone who isn't strong enough to withstand it seemed to have that reaction. This just proved he was up to no good.

Your Nen Ability was something close to a Trump Card of sorts. No one would know it existed until it was too late. This poor man had already succumbed to it though, seeing as he was choking on his words.

With a quick inhale, your aura dispersed, leaving the short man to choke on the air that shot into his throat.

“You run a mile or something? Asthma?” You said curiously, a sly smirk seemed to pick at your lips, a laugh growing in your throat.

“No, no! I’m just thirsty! About that, what about a drink? You must be thirsty from your way here? What about we become pals? My name's Tonpa! How about you girly?”

Ew, okay gross. Did this man just call you.. girly? Yeah no, he’s not worthy enough to hold your drink, much less give you one.

With that conclusion, you gave him a forced smile, your eyes narrowing as you stared him down. “That’s really nice of you to offer, but I don’t take things from strangers.”

“Oh huh, really? That’s too bad!” He thought aloud, his expression faltering as he paid close attention to your expression. With each second your eyes got darker, the sides of your mouth twitching as you grew aggravated. Damn, something was up with you. “Your mother must be proud! The whole ‘Stranger Danger’ lesson worked huh?”

“Ah.” You paused, your smile dropping. Looks like the muscles in your face were sore now. Just great. “I didn’t have a mother.” You spoke calmly as you shifted your weight to the other leg, looking down at your fingernails.

With that realization, his eyes almost poked out of his head. He began to spew apologies, falling to the ground in a bow. It was painfully obvious that it was a forced reaction, but you took pleasure in watching him kneel. Okay maybe that’s coming off as too strong? Yeah, maybe it was just funny to you.

With that, you turned on your heel, signaling him off with a mere wave of your hand. Damn old men, they really did freak you out. Usually Chrollo or the Troupe would’ve killed him on sight, but they weren’t with you. The familiar faces began to run through your mind, distracting you from the small white blurr standing in front of you.

In a split second, you could feel your aura activate itself as you collided with another examinee. As if it didn’t startle you, the small kid seemed to be falling off his board. Everything seemed to slow down for you, his surprised face turned into one of anger, and his pupils locked with yours.

You quickly shot out your hand, grabbing his wrist, holding him up so he wouldn’t fall on his back. His skateboard flipped in the air, but it seems he had already caught it. You thought to yourself, ‘Hey that was kind of cool’, and let go of his small wrist.

He shifted uncomfortably, his hair covering his blushing face, his hands clamping up into small fists. “Hey why don’t you watch where you’re going?! If I was someone else, you would’ve been dead the minute you touched me! But you got lucky this time, I don’t really want to pick a fight with anyone just yet.” He smiled confidently to himself, laying his board back onto the ground, his left foot pushing it back and forth. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t come after you, you old hag! Man, people like you won’t ever pass this exam! Especially when you can’t even walk without bumping into people?!”

You didn’t even get to open your mouth before he jumped back on his board, weaving through the crowd, blowing the small strands of hair from his face.

What a spoiled brat. Who the hell does he think he is? Telling you that you won’t pass the exam? Hell, you’d blow through this thing like it’s nothing. All you had to do was get your hunters license, and then shove it into that kids face.

Yeah, sounds simple enough.

That declaration of yours was made almost an hour ago, and now, waiting was getting old. For said hour, you’ve been sitting against the wall, playing with a small rubix cube. Instead of its natural colored squares, small little pieces of duct tape covered the surface. What was written on said tape, were the names of each troupe member.

You remembered Pakunoda spending an hour just writing the names down, wanting them to be spelled perfectly so you could read them correctly. This was years ago, probably when you were nearing age 5, the withered adhesives almost giving up.

Seeing as there were no school opportunities for you, Pakunoda mostly took charge of your education, wanting you to be as smart as possible. She really was motherly in a way, even when she denied it.

Her teaching certainly worked its wonders. Even though you came off as an idiot, your mind worked faster than what was natural. You could tell peoples moves before they even acted them out, which seemed to help greatly in the troupe’s line of work.

It seems they raised you to be a Phantom Troupe member, the spider tattoo being embedded in your mind, almost like a nightmare. It was truly Ironic, considering that you hated the very idea of joining the Spiders.

Your thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the elevator, and the doors slowly opened to reveal a group of three.

They were oddly fitting for a friend group. One of them was obviously a child, his innocent face matched his horrible sense of fashion. Next to him was a rather greasy... business man? He looked to be at least in his late twenties? It was an understatement to say that his limbs were of average length, because damn, those arms were long.

Your eyes then glanced over to his other partner. He was shorter, but much younger looking. He looked to be your age, which was very exciting for you. You never had a friend that was actually close to your age. Maybe you’d sneak in a word or two during this?

The longer you stared, the more you noticed about him. He had blonde hair that stopped right behind his ear, his eyes were soft, a calming grey color. If you stared at them any longer you were sure to get lost. It sounded cheesy, but you ignored that thought.

To be honest, everything about him screamed Mom friend, almost reminding you of Pakunoda in a way.

You watched as Beans, the Secretary that approached you not too long ago, gave them their badges. They were numbers; 403, 404, and 405.

They were likely the last ones to get here, which was good news in your book. Finally, the Hunter Exam was about to begin!

A few more minutes passed, and you shifted uncomfortably as you watched Tonpa walk up to the group. You didn’t necessarily care about the two older ones, but the kid seemed to bother you.

That’s when you decided to take your chances and try to rescue the trio. As you thought to yourself, you figured you most likely wouldn’t make it in time to stop them from drinking it, so you did the next best thing.

Your mind spewed apologies as you looked down at the rubix cube that resembled your childhood. With one last glance, you lined it up with the kids' drink. With a strong over handed throw, it spiraled towards the can, completely tearing through the thin metal.

Juice had sprayed all over Tonpa’s face, it’s orange contents seeping into his clothes. Maybe, just maybe, that would help him smell better.

With a quick smile, you cautiously jogged over. You held up one hand, waving as you came in peace. The closer you got, the more you noticed the blonde boy’s eyes. They seemed empty almost, like they were hiding something behind them. Tough childhood huh? You could relate.

You stopped as you got in front of them, rubbing the back of your neck as an act of nervous behavior. Good act. Keep it up. “So sorry guys, sometimes I forget I’m surrounded by other people! I kinda just threw it y'know?”

“That was… so cool!” The smaller boy piped in, his eyes adorned in admiration. “My names Gon! Gon Freccs! What’s your name?”

“Oh.” You were generally surprised by his positivity, seeing as you just knocked his source of hydration from his hands. “The names Y/N.” You held out your hand, taking the kids palm in yours. “Sorry for spilling your drink.. but I can’t say it was purely an accident. This guy has been trying to mess with people, I just felt like I had to warn you.”

With that, the blonde boy and his accomplice poured their drinks out, a disgusted look on their faces.

“Oh really? I thought it smelled weird! I’m glad to know I wasn’t having allergies or something!” Gon muttered the last part, rubbing the surface of his index finger underneath his nose, as if to wipe something off.

You nodded, a small smile reaching your lips. “Well Gon, and his…” you paused for a minute, your eyes meeting the blonde boys. “Accomplices? Besties…? Caretakers?”

“Friends is a better word.” The grey eyed boy said quickly. “My name is Kurapika, and this?” He gestured with his hands, pointing at Leorio’s stomach. “This is Leorio.”

“I think I can introduce myself, you damn blonde!” Leorio interrupted him, yelling in his face, his finger pointing into Kurapika’s chest.

“Oh, it’s quite alright. Seeing as I got it the first time” You said quickly, not wanting to hear it again.

You ignored the taller man as he started to spew nonsense, most of its contents having to do with insults directed towards you. Your small smile seemed to falter, suddenly remembering the very item you had used to save them was not in your hands.

That’s when your eyes dropped to the floor, searching for the old rubix cube that contained most of your memories of home. You felt your heart spike, the feeling of disappointment taking over.

On the outside you remained stoic, your shoulders merely shrugging as you let out a small groan of annoyance. “Damn, I lost that old thing again?”

“What thing?” Gon interjected, standing on his tippy-toes as he rocked back and forth. “You mean that toy?”

You cringed, your teeth grinding together as you glared him down. “That ‘thing’ is not a toy, it’s something very important to me.”

“Must not be ‘very important’ if you throw it at people.” Leorio retorted, rolling his eyes as he adjusted his suit sleeve. Why he wore it to an exam was beyond you.

“Well, no matter how important it is, I’m sure you’d like it back?” Kurapika cut Leorio off, trying to prevent whatever fight was about to break out between the two of you.

“Huh?” You broke your gaze with Leorio, only to meet the cold, empty eyes of Kurapika. “Well of course I’d want it back. It is mine after all.”

Leorio started to grow annoyed, most likely with the fact that you were ignoring him. “Hey! Don’t give him that crappy attitude! We’re being nice to you, so don’t overstay your welcome!”

“..You make it sound like I’m at your house.” You looked to him, your face forming into a scowl.

This sent the overdressed man into a blushing mess, his words coming out as broken stutters, his hands fumbling with the hems of his suit. It seems he did that a lot.

“Please ignore him.” Kurapika sighed, obviously embarrassed by his friend’s behavior. “But regarding the object of discussion, I think you should have it back.” With that, he reached his hand out, your rubix cube in his hand.

Your eyes quickly rushed down towards it, your hands quickly snatching from his own, scared that if you touched him, he’d know everything about you.

You let out a soft sigh of relief, putting the cube back in your small bag. Unbeknownst to you, the tape that once held your brother's name, was now somewhere along the ground.

“Thanks.” You muttered, your fingers tingling from where they had brushed against his. “..So, why not break the ice a little? Why are you guys trying to become Hunters?”

The small child opened his mouth to answer, but it seems it was cut short by a blood curdling scream.

You all turned your heads to the noise, being greeted by the sight that was Hisoka.

It seems someone had bumped into him, seeing as they were now in a fetal position on the ground, their arms missing as they disintegrated into little flowers. At least the flowers were pretty.

If matters couldn’t get any more interesting, the large door that you presumed was a wall opened, revealing who looked to be an Examiner.

He wore an all purple suit, his white hair almost looking like a soft lavender. His mustache seemed to cover his mouth, hiding whatever lurked inside of it. His name didn’t matter to you, frankly, none of these people did.

Atleast, that’s what you kept telling yourself.

TYSM FOR READING GUYS!!!!!! ALSO WHAT DO YOU THINK READER’S NEN ABILITY IS????? WGAJDHJWdAJDHkjshdkJhd

I HOPE THIS WAS ENOUGH tO SATISFY YOU THIS WEEK UMMMMMM!!!! LUCILFER READER AND KURAPIKA JUST HAD THEIR IINTRoDuctION TO EACHOTHER SO!!!

[embeanwrites]

Hello! If your requests are still open I would like to ask for guzma! He has a huge crush on reader and she get him to watch her favorite movie (like beauty and the beast) and when she starts singing the songs he just like falls more in love with her? Idk I just really want fluff and I can see him just like going the extra step for the person he likes ya know? Thank you so much for your time!

A/N: I love our big tough bug boy being soft for his S/O! I also love the idea that his S/O is HYPER compared to him so I sprinkled that in! 

Masterlist

God did he feel like a major dork. He was currently standing outside (Y/n)’s house. She had invited him over to watch movies and at first he thought she was joking. Why would she want destruction in human form in her home? But when he laughed at her request she had frowned. Quickly realizing she wasn’t joking, he accepted her offer and told her to pick the movie. 

Taking a deep breath he quickly knocked and shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. He rocked back and forth on his heels, looking around. 

“Guzma!” She shouted as she flung open the door, quickly grabbing his arm and pulling him into her house. She giggled as he nearly tripped over his own feet. 

“Watch it girlie!” He shouted as he was pulled deeper into her house. She finally let go when they were in her living room. Guzma noted that there was already popcorn sitting on the table, fuzzy blankets on her couch, and some drinks set out. She walked over to the couch and lifted up the blankets with a frown. 

“Boo!” He watched as her Pumpkaboo popped up from where the blankets were. 

“Pumpkin! I told you not to hide on the couch! What are you going to do when someone sits on you?” She scolded as the pokemon floated up and bumped her in the head, causing her to laugh. She wrapped her arms around the pokemon. “Sorry, Pumpkin can be kind of crazy sometimes.” She laughed and held the small pokemon out towards him. He chuckled and patted the pokemon on the head, causing it to trill.

“I remember Pumpkin, took him down a couple times with Golisopod if I remember correctly.” He teased and the pokemon growled at his accusation. 

“Yeah, but in the end who won all those fights?” She popped her hip out and smirked, causing Guzma to roll his eyes. 

“Cocky as usual Miss. Champion.” She let out a loud laugh that made even Guzma smile. Her laugh wasn’t the prettiest, but it was so genuine that it surprised him, especially since she was laughing with him. 

“Okay, so you said you hadn’t seen any Disney movies?” She asked, plopping down on the couch and patting the seat next to her. Guzma shuffled over and sat next to her, the couch dipped at his weight, causing their arms to be pressing against each other. Guzma tense for a moment and waited for her to move, but she didn’t. She continued flipping through a list of movies on the television. He cleared his throat.

“Yeah no, I haven’t seen any. Not a lot of chances to watch movies in Po Town.” She hummed in acknowledgment as she continued to scroll. After a few clicks, he heard her gasp loudly. “What?”

“Beauty and the Beast!” She screeched as she jumped up and did a little dance. “We have to watch it! We have to! I know all the songs by heart!” She turned towards him with a huge smile as she continued to dance around. 

“Okay! Okay! Jesus Christ stop acting like a crazy person will ya?” He chuckled, she let out another squeal and threw herself back onto the couch. Guzma was aware that she was still leaning against him as she turned the movie on. 

Guzma really tried to focus on the movie. The animation was pretty cool and the songs were catchy, but how on earth was he expected to focus when she was leaning against him and was quietly singing along to the movie. Her singing voice was far from perfect, but he couldn’t believe that he was here, sitting next to her and getting to hear her soft voice. 

He had been denying his crush on her for some time now. He fully recognized how dumb she would have to be to want to date an ex-gang leader, a dead beat, a good for-

“Are you watching?” Guzma was pulled out of his thoughts and looked down at her. Her head was resting in the crook of his arm and he realized his arm was around her shoulders, he must have done that without thinking. She was looking up at him with her eyes full of worry, Guzma swallowed. 

“Yeah, sorry. Just got lost in my thoughts.” Guzma fake coughed and removed his arm from around her. He tried to play it cool, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw her frown. 

“Whatcha thinking about?” She asked, she kept her eyes on the tv and pulled her knees up to her chest. Guzma nervously scratched the back of his head, noting that his undercut was going to need a cut soon. 

“Just nothing and everything. I don’t know.” He shrugged and leaned back, he looked at the ceiling. He heard her pause the movie and lean back with him. 

“We’re almost to the last song.” She whispered, still not looking at him. Guzma watched her sigh and look away. “I’m sorry for making you come over and watching this. I just thought it would be fun and I’ve been wanting to get to know you more and I’m sorry.” She sighed again and Guzma watched her draw small circles on her couch. He blinked. 

She wanted to get to know him more?

“You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.” She whispered Guzma laughed causing her to jump and look at him with big round eyes. “What?” 

“I just..” He gasped between laughs, “You think that I don’t want to be here with you? Are you kidding? I’m still trying to figure out why you’d want me, of all people, to come over and watch movies!” He looked over at her to see her frown, she quickly moved so she was cross-legged and facing him. She cupped his face with an angry look on her face. 

“I invited you because...well I like you, Guzma.” He froze and kept his eyes on her. “I mean, sometimes you can be an asshole, but overall I think you’re a really good person and funny. I mean look at all those kids you gave a home to. I know you probably see me as a kid, but I’m pretty sure we’re the same age and-” 

Guzma wasted no time, putting his hands on her waist and pulled her closer. Their lips crashing together roughly. Guzma took advantage of the fact he took her by surprise and deepened the kiss. She responded instantly, moving one of her hands to the back of his neck and the other tangling itself in his hair. He could feel her smiling against his mouth as she let out a laugh, he pulled back and smiled at her. 

“What?”

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do that, Guzma.” She let out a laugh and laid her head on his shoulder, he glanced at the tv, which was still paused. 

“You said there’s one more song left?” He felt her nod against him. “What do you say we finish this one and watch another Disney movie?” She quickly pulled back with the biggest smile on her face. 

“That sounds perfect.” She grabbed one of her blankets and wrapped the two of them up in it, he heard her let out a sigh as she snuggled closer to him. He put his arm back around her and pulled her closer. Pressing a quick kiss to her temple as she started the movie back up again. 

[jombocostello]

narancia with a tomboy s/o

Anonymous asked: Could you write for Narancia and a really tom-boyish s/o?

sure! i hope you enjoy :)

Narancia is, at his core, a giant ball of energy. Most of the gang really isn’t able to meet his level when it comes to enthusiasm, so when you show up, it’s a complete game changer.

Instantly everyone can tell that you’re more of a tomboy. You spend nearly all your time outdoors, whether it’s bike riding through the city or playing a quick round of football with some passing kids on the sidewalk. You also seemingly have an aversion to average “girly” things, which isn’t too surprising considering your occupation.

You have no trouble at all integrating yourself into the group’s dynamic. They all take to your brash, unapologetic attitude, and they’re delighted to see that you’re more than happy to take part in their sometimes juvenile banter. Truly, you’re one of the guys.

And Narancia is utterly smitten.

He’s never met a girl whose personality meshes with his so damn perfectly. After you settle into the gang, he does his very best to make a good and meaningful impression on you - which means he follows you around like a puppy for a little while. You find it funny and endearing, and after you get to know each other a little better your friendship becomes much more natural.

You wind up spending a lot of time with Narancia. He’s such a bright, enthusiastic guy, and you always have fun when you’re with him. You listen to a lot of music together after you find out you have similar tastes, and you spend lots of sleepless nights laying on the floor of his room and just chatting endlessly about anything. You also try your best to protect him from Fugo’s wrath during study sessions, which he’s eternally grateful for.

He decides that he has to tell you about his feelings after a couple months of being inseparable friends. It’s early in the morning when he barges into your room and all but yanks you out the door, yelling excitedly about his great plan for the day. You just laugh and go along with him; you trust him to know how to have fun.

As it turns out, his grand idea is to teach you how to skateboard at the local park. He cruises a few circles around you with the biggest grin on his face, and he laughs uproariously when you push him off the board once you’ve decided he’s just showing off.

You take naturally to athletics, but your balance isn’t the best. Narancia holds your hands, much more gently than you’d expect from him, as you attempt to ride down the sidewalk. Mostly your gaze is focused on the ground, but a couple times you chance a peek at Narancia. He looks at you with an expression that you hadn’t been expecting. He’s just softly smiling, somehow grateful and giving all at once.

It takes an hour or so, but soon you’re able to ride and do a mediocre ollie. Narancia congratulates you endlessly, but of course he also gloats about how great of a teacher he’s proved to be. He’s a little confused when you don’t tease him back, but you can’t; he‘s the reason you had such a lovely time today.

Unfortunately, you've been emboldened by his praise. Your hubris convinces you that you can perform a kick flip, and because Narancia doesn’t have a sensible bone in his body, he agrees. You give it your best shot, but unsurprisingly, you utterly wipe out.

The scrapes on your knees hurt like a bitch, and as you push yourself up, Narancia drops to his knees and helps you.

“I probably should’ve told you not to try that.”

You laugh a little at that, despite the pain.

“Yeah, no shit. It’s alright, though.”

He then asks you if you’re okay about a hundred times. Once you finally convince him that you’re not mortally wounded, he sits down and grabs a few bandaids out of his pocket. He had brought bandaids in case you fell...? You’re shocked and suddenly blushing. It’s a weirdly romantic gesture in your mind, and the way Narancia's eyes dart away from yours tells you that might be what he intended.

He places a bandaid gently over your cut, asking in a low whisper if it hurts. You tell him no, you’re fine, and he nods and takes care of the rest.

Once you’ve been patched up you cross your legs, scooting yourself until you’re seated on the grass. Narancia follows you, then suddenly he takes your hand with both of his.

You look up at him, taken by surprise, and he takes a deep breath. He seems completely out of character.

“I like you. I really, really like you, (Y/N). I never know if it’s the right time to tell you - I dunno if this is even it, but I - you’re the best. You’re fucking awesome.” His face splits into a wide grin, and he keeps talking urgently with what you now realize are nerves. “So I guess I’m asking if you would wanna date me. Today was kind of a date, right? Maybe a test-run of a date? And I think - well I think it went pretty well. So if you would want to, then - uh...” His stream of consciousness has run dry, and he stares at you in a mixture of hope and fear.

God, he’s adorable. You can’t think about anything except for how perfect he is in this moment, and you launch yourself forward into his arms.

He yelps as he catches you, very nearly avoiding a fall into the grass behind him. You lean back, grinning from ear to ear, and almost instantly he returns the gesture. “Yes! Yeah, of course. God, you’re the best.” And you swallow him up in another hug. Your heart is pounding in your chest and you’re sure his is too, and you can’t stop smiling.

----

No one is surprised by your and Narancia’s relationship. In fact, the first thing Mista does when he finds out is yell at Narancia for taking too damn long to say something. It’s all in jest, though, and everyone’s happy for you and your new boyfriend.

Somehow you manage to spend even more time together. Your stands compliment each other perfectly in battle, and you’re both completely ruthless on the battlefield, so Bruno usually assigns the two of you to the same missions. Fighting alongside Narancia isn’t a distraction - in fact, it’s an incentive to beat the shit out of your enemy so that you can keep spending wonderful time with him.

Days where you aren’t working are always incredible. You both have an affinity for action movies, so you often cuddle up together on the couch and put on the most dramatic, action-packed movie you know. Gladiator and The Matrix are favorites of you two (but not the rest of the group; they’re very annoyed by your and Narancia’s loud cheering after every victorious battle sequence).

You go on lots of walks through the city together, usually near sunset. It’s on these walks that Narancia starts to open up to you about his past, and all of the struggles that he endured to find Bruno Bucciarati and his group. You’re not the best with comforting words, but you always give him the tightest hug and ensure him that you’ll always be there to listen.

On days like those, you’ll sit in the park where you first learned how to ride a skateboard and gaze out at the setting sun. Narancia’s usually a complete goofball, doing things like using his headband to give you a horrible hairstyle or making completely nonsensical jokes until you cry laughing, but on days like these he’s usually silent. With his hand clasped in yours and your head resting on his shoulder, he’s beyond content.

----

When the two of you turn against the organization and everything you’d come to know, Narancia is horrified. He can hardly believe what he’s done - he’s betrayed the people that gave him everything, he’s put a target on his back, he’s left Fugo behind. You sit beside him, your arms wrapped tightly around him, and you shut your eyes. “Are we... (Y/N), are we gonna be okay?” His voice is shaky and he’s still crying hard.

You grimace and then suck in a deep breath. You sit up and press a gentle kiss to his cheek, trying to be as calming as you can manage.

“...Yeah. Yeah, we’re gonna be fine.”

[themadauthorshatter]

RED SCHOOL AU/UA STORY/HEADCANONS ARC 2 PART 3

Hopefully this is the last part of Arc 2😅

We pick up with Tibe, Elara, and Rhian walking towards the royal quarters, Rhian asking his questons, as requested, beginning with how their journey was and if they found the school easy enough.

Tibe admits while the skeleton bird was jarring and they could've done without the storms, but everything was manageable.

Rhian's glad to hear that, and asks if the children will be alright(he's been a teacher/school master for nearly two centuries, and the SGE cast is 16 years old, so if a person is below 21, they're a child, in Rhian's eyes.) and Elara answers for Tibe that, yes, they will be fine before politely inquiring about having a room seperate from her husband.

Rhian sort of wallows at how almost every royal couple he meets hate each other.

He the asks if the two have seen or learned from a magician in recent memory, to which they confusedly answer no.

Rhian's only asking because he knows a trick when he sees one, a slight of hand, if you will, which he demonstrates by making a card 'disappear' and 'reappear' in his hand, though he reveals he's just moving the card while holding it between his fingers.

Tibe asks what he's talking about and Rhian chuckles and continues to lead them to their room, stating that, having been around girls for a century or so, maybe half, he also knows a perfectly baked cake when he sees one.

Here, we cut/transition to Mare as she enters her room, a couple maids setting things up like blankets and clothes, until she asks that they leave and get some test, as they must be exhausted from the trip.

They shakily agree and leave.

Mare looks around the room and sort of cringes at the horrendous amount of fluorescent pink the decorates the room, like the bed sheets and the pillows, before groaning as she sits down. Maybe we even get a gag of her falling into the bed, like the mattress sort of pulls her in and she sinks into the middle of it. With the maids gone, Mare only groans and tries not to give up on life. "Perfect."

With the SGE crew, more specifically Sophie and Agatha, Sophie pushes and slips through the crowd of students as they return to their dorms after classes(they'll get in HUGE trouble, if they're caught bothering the Silvers, and even get moved down a rank), Agatha on her tail and calling for her to stop and just go to class. Sophie shouts back to, "go hang out with Kiki," and continues on her way(Really wonder where she's going?).

Agatha follows her anyway, until Sophie mogrifs herself into a lovebird and shouts, "Prince Tiberias the Seventh, wait for me!"

Agatha watches, completely appalled and then looks up at the tower where the female Silver children are residing, about a long hallway away from each other. Mareena's got to be in one of those rooms. She looks for any wolves lurking, or other students, and mogrifs into a mouse to sneak to the doorway before she turns back to a human and climbs up the steps. I'll just knock first. If she doesn't want to see anyone, I'll leave. That's not me bothering her, it can't be me bothering her, if I give her space.

Speaking of Mare, she rolls onto her front and sits down cross legged, hair a little messy. Her makeup's safe, though, don't worry. "I hate this place," she grumbles.

Give her some slack, she's been trapped on a boat with Book 1!Evangeline for a week, has a really bad paper cut, and just wrestled a bed that basically tried to eat her.

It doesn't help when a knock on the door interrupts her from checking on said paper cut, right as she removes the bandage. Mare panics, hastily puts on her gloves, and tells the person on the other side of the door to come in.

EXPECTATION SUBVERSION! Cal's there to check on her. Mare welcomes him in.

Cal looks around her room and comments on it, and Mare threatens to throw her shoe at him; if he wants to act like a little shit right now, she'll gladly beat him like one, consequences be damned.

They check in and touch base, making sure they're okay, and just letting each other know that despite the color of their blood, they're in this together, him, Mare, and Maven. Mare sighs that Cal and Maven at least have their family with them, as Mare's is still in Norta, thinking she's in the palace.

Cal holds her hand and promises that this trip will be over and she'll see her family again before she knows it. Mare asks how he lnows and how that can even happen, recalling the hair's width close call from the last time she visited her family. Cal's grip on her hand tightens and he forces a chuckle, admitting that if either he and/or Maven found a way before, they can do it again.

It soothes Mare and gets her smiling, which gives Cal the okay to give her space and let her settle into her girly new room, joking that maybe it will rub off on her and he might be able to see a more feminine side to her.

She hurls her shoe at him as hard as she can right as he leaves, the two snickering, Mare despite herself and Cal for a job well done.

As Cal leaves, though, his smile drops at the realization that he has no idea how the hell he's helping her see her family again without getting caught. As much as he knows the rules, he knows Mare's heart, and, having the same problem as her, can't keep his mind and heart seperated.

Lost in his thoughts, he runs into Agatha on the stairs, who asks where Mare is. Funny, he just left her room, which is the second door on the left hand side.

As he leaves and Agatha contemplates her choice, we cut to Sophie as she pants and perches on the window to Cal's room; she's totally right here, she's at the right room. Her logic is perfectly sound here, she's in the right place.

She turns back into herself and does a quick hair fluff and even pinches some color into her cheeks before knocking on the window, maybe a little too hard because it swings open, just for me, she thinks.

Sophie struts in, announcing herself to the crown prince, proud as a peacock...

Only to scare the hell out of a shiryless Maven; he was cleaning himself off a little and was about to change his clothes when she interrupted him.

He asks what she's doing in his room, and Sophie asks if he's Cal, semi-hoping that this is just someone else because Maven looks nothing like a general or a future king.

No. He's not Cal. He's Cal's brother. Sophie kind of feigns ignorance, and Maven gives his name and the fact that she wrote to him. Still doesn't ring any bells, until he brings up the fact that she thinks she's in the wrong school.

"Oh! You ARE Maven!" Sophie gasps, before asking where his brother is.

Maven, realizing he's stuck with this brat, turns to finish changing, i.e. putting on a shirt, and explains that Cal actually left a couple minutes ago and, knowing him, won't sit still on his first day here, so he'll most likely being wandering the school. Sophie groans, and sits on the edge of his bed, and complains that she's tired from using her magic to fly over to meet him, before asking Maven if she can stay and wait for him to come back.

Maven, thinking quickly, admits she'd have a better chance if she just walked around. Cal's 6'3", pale as hell, and wearing black, red, and silver, so he's damn near impossible to miss.

Sophie huffs and agrees, leaving to go meet her new prince, bidding Maven a pizzazz-y farewell.

Maven rolls his eyes and finishes putting on his shirt and coat before falling back on his bed, groaning at the fact they might be here for a little while. Maybe more.

Time to check back in with Mare, who's examining that really bad paper cut when she gets another knock on her door. She answers it and finds Agatha standing at the door, greeting her politely and suddenly noticing her hand.

"You're bleeding!"

The two rush inside Mare's room, Mare panicking and trying to cover the cut herself, but Agatha helping because she's not good, she's great.

THIS is the bomb drop that Mare's not Silver, and it confuses and surprises the hell out of Agatha, who had it drilled in her head that only Silvers have power in Norta.

With little options, the two sit down on the bed and Mare gets to explaining.

It's been a while since we've checked on Cal, so lets do that: he's actually found his way to the boy's Groom Room and sees them training. The weapons are all wood swords, so no one's terribly injured, and anyone not sword fighting is throwing hammers, climbing ropes, or running or swimming some laps.

There are girls watching, all taking turns peeking out from behind a wall to spot Cal unintentionally being a general and mentally noting each boy's strengths and weaknesses, especially the one they're all trying to beat, Tedros, who's holding his own really well.

Speaking of Tedros, he notices Cal watching and gestures for him to come in.

Cal's already in more casual clothes, save for his coat, and complies, meeting the Everboys, who ask, kind of sheepishly how they did, as Cal is sort of a General and knows a lot a bout combat.

He has to admit, as politely as possible, that while they're all skilled, they would all get demolished in a real fight.

Tedros, the dumbass, asks what that means, as they can use magic.

Cal agrees that magic might be able to help them, but what if they wear themselves out and can't use magic?

Tedros, not listening and thinking unwisely, challenges Cal, just to prove his point. Cal agrees and hangs up his coat, one of the boys giving him a sword, one Cal sized(the 6'3" son of a bitch), and the two stand off before the fight begins, Cal telling Tedros to give it everything he's got while Cal will go easy on him.

Tedros goads him that he can take whatever, but Cal affirms that if HE gave his 100%, Tedros would probably die.

Enough talk, someone ring the bell, because THE FIGHT STARTS NOW!!!

Tedros DOES give his best, but Cal is a general. He either disarms Tedros or knocks him down and mock kills him.

After a while, they go at it again, Tedros doing better, and Cal tells him he'll go a little harder, so he knows that Cal can wipe the floor with him. He doesn't get hurt, but he gets the point.

Another rule Cal makes clear: There is no such thing as a fair fight.

He holds a hand out to Tedros, who's tired and bruused from having his ass handed to him, commenting that he's pretty good.

Tedros accepts with a smile on his face, blocking a swing and showing Cal he's already picking up on what he's teaching him, inadvertently.

It's official: The boys want Cal as their new teacher, because his technique is better than what they've been learning.

Cal can only fight the urge to laugh, seeing how enthusiastic they all are.

Back with Mare and Agatha, who are now sitting cross legged across from each other on the bed, where Agatha asks Mare if she's being serious.

She is, which she demonstrates by holding her cut hand and showing a little lightning. She's Red, she's got powers, and if anyone finds out, it's her and her family's heads on the King's platter.

This hits Agatha right in the gut, even when she asks Mare how Reds are REALLY treated, recounting how the students all believe the Silvers and the Reds are all equals, the Reds only picking up the slack of what the Silvers are unable to do.

Mare sets that vision straight: Reds and Silvers are not equal to each other. As the saying goes, in terms of power, 'What is a King to a God?' Or better yet, what is a farmer to a god? The cherry on top? If you're Red and don't have a job of any kind, have fun dying in a trench while fighting in a war that isn't even yours.

Agatha is at a loss for words, only knowing being ostracized and bullied. Out of words, Agatha offers her confidence, that she won't tell anyone what Mare told her. While Mare's glad for it, she still warns Agatha to stay as far away from Elara as possible, as Elara can and will read her mind. And there will be HELL to pay, if she finds out.

Agatha obviously agrees.

That's when shouting gets their attention, and some clattering, which leads leads them to the Boy's Groom Room; how'd the sound get that far? Vibration. And the vents. And Sophie passed by.

They look inside to see Cal and Tedros at it again with the boys cheering them on. This time they're hand to hand fighting and Tedros is locked in a chokehold as Cal tells him to tap out. Tedros only elbows him and they stand, which begins Round 5 of their fight. Yes, Tedros is shirtless, as Book 1 Tedros is gun' do. Cal is as well, because he got hot, but don't worry he shaved(appearances matter, even when it's something you think no one's going to see).

Turns out Sophie screamed because she's a blushing, squealing mess; Cal is far more than what she dreamed of, and it's killing her. Mare can't exactly blame her for staring, upon seeing how fit Cal is and seeing hiw many scars he has, a very unpleasant reminder of what he is and what he's been trained to be.

Agatha asks about wanting Tedros as her prince, out of confusion and a joke, and Sophie admits that she'll get him back because he'll get jealous. Boys fight each other a lot more when a girl's love is at stake.

Mare contradicts that notion by reminding them, and herself, that Cal's betrothed to Evangeline, and she has the teeth of a doberman; once she latches on to something, have fun trying to get her to let go. Sophie waves her off, bragging she can change his mind in 5 minutes. She just needs time with him alone in a broom closet. Mare and Agatha roll their eyes at this.

With the boys, Tedros spots the girls and inwardly groans at the sight of Sophie, which gives Cal the opening to yank his hair and bring him back to the fight; if he gets distracted, he's going to get himself killed. Tedros brushes it off and jerks his head to the girls, saying they have an audience.

Cal notices Sophie and has a moment of, 'Not this shit again,' when she giggles and waves at him, blushing pure red.

Here is where Tedros warns Cal to keep his distance from Sophie, though it's more serious than Ball Banter. Cal asks if she's his girl, and Tedros admits that she isn't, she's just bad luck and a pure snake. Cal admits that that's a little harsh and asks what she did to deserve getting the Prince of Camelot's cold shoulder as the two trade more harmless hits with each other. She didn't do anything, except lie to him about loving him, use him, and leave him to fend for himslef and die in a Trial by Tale, where Evers and Nevers fight to see who would survive a REAL fairytale. And she's a lunatic, sneaking into Tedros's drawers while he was training at night and trying to put him under a love spell.

Yeah, while he doesn't agree with the snake comment, Cal understands why he should avoid Sophie. He doesn't know how love spells work, but he'd rather not find out.

Just as they're about to go at it again, Professor Dovey shrills at the boys to stop harrassing the Crown Prince, from her place behind the girls.

As he puts his shirt and coat back on and leaves, Cal explains that he saw them training and noticed they could use a few pointers, which led to him getting a little carried away.

Dovey politely tells him that while his advuce is good, he should leave teaching to the professors, just to be in the safe side and no one gets hurt.

He agrees, much to the boys' dismay, and mentally kicks himself for leaving when he sees Sophie in front of him and introducung herself. Granted, he gives her the benefit of the doubt and is as gentlemanly as he can be, thinking, Maybe she isn't that bad, but that hope is shot down when Agatha tries introducing herself and Sophie slips in front of her so Cal can't see her.

Okay, maybe she is that bad.

Good thing Maven inadvertently saves the day as he stumbles into the hallway, getting laughed at and chewed on by fairies, who also take to pulling on his hair to piss him off.

Dovey shouts at them all the leave him alone, which they do, and apologizes to Maven for their behavior. He tells her not to worry, because he's had worse happen, giving a pointed glare to Cal, who semi-jokes he should really watch his back because the Everboys mean nothing but business and will attack on sight.

Dovey waves off this notion as she leads them on an official tour of the school, and explains that the schools have rules to seperate and connect Good and Evil, rules like Evil attacks other people while Good defends them, Evil takes advantage and Good gives opportunity, rules like that. (Sophie and Agatha stay behind, Sophie almost fainting at how much of a dream come true Cal is, even though he's a little awkward. She wonders if he was just stunned by her beauty, but Agatha hides her face in her hands and groans.) Maven comments that that's a very black and white way of thinking, but Dovey assures him it's the way of the school, and the rules and fairytales actually have loopholes. The girl who thwarted Rumplestiltskin did so by tricking him, by using guards she had hired to get his name, Rapunzel was born out of theft, in the original Cinderella, Cindy killed her stepmother. Vice versa, the witch that stole Rapunzel NEVER had to allow Rapunzel's father to keep stealing from her garden, Rumplestiltskin NEVER had to agree to help the girl, there are more examples, but I can't think of any.

Just know that there's some evil in good and there's some good in evil.

Cal asks if the other High House children should join them and Dovey admits she wanted to fetch them for the tour, but didn't want to bother them.

Mare's turn to ask a question, and it's one that's been bothering her: Why fairytales? And why have one guy rule over both Good and Evil, when there should one one leader for each side.

Dovey answers that by explaining the story of the School Master and his brother, a very similar story for SGE fans, but with a change: after the war, the stories continued to end with Evil ending every other time, rather than Good hogging all the glory. There were times Good won more, but that would be solved when Evil won certain times in a row and things got back on track.

Cal asks how such a thing is possible, because he's more than certain there's things maguc still can't do. Dovey points to a painting of the Storian, which the two brothers are fighting over.

Maven asks that all the fighting was over a pen, and Dovey tells him not to be decieved, because there's always more to see beneath the surface, which is said as a voice over as Tedros and Agatha race outside in time to see a group of fairies toss Sophie into the clearing outside of Good, snickering as she flails to a sitting position and glaring at them for ruining her dress.

While Sophie shouts at the fairies and then greets Agatha and Tedros with some degree of sass, Agatha scolds Sophie, saying she shouldn't have rushed in to greet Cal like a crazy person, but Sophie defends herself by saying she HAD thought about waiting, but noticed Beatrix and the others giggling and staring at him and panicked, because she didn't want them to steal her prince away from her again.

Tedros barks that he was never her prince and Cal is not her prince either because HE'S BETROTHED TO EVANGELINE. Sophie huffs and states she can change his mind easily, but stops when she hears a male laugh and tell her that she can try all she wants, but, knowing Evangeline, Sophie will end up being a wedding present to Cal, specifically as a mantel ornament.

Sophie deflates at that, and Tedros asks who the male is, noting his pale skin and armor. Lucas introduces himself and tells children not to worry about Evangeline, because she'll be doing one of four things on this trip: clinging to Cal, picking on Mare with her friends, hanging out with Elane, or bitching to her brother while they train.

Agatha sighs that Silvers train a lot for royals, and Lucas agrees, but that's because they have to. Where they're from, there's a war going on. Coming to the SGE wasa risk, and hopefully they don't stay long because Norta's extremely vulnerable right now.

Tedros asks what it's like, the war, which makes Agatha gulp as she remembers her conversation with Mare, and Lucas gives them all a look of, 'you're way too young to be talkimg about this,' before giving them a rundown on the war: the Lakelands have more farms and access to food, but Norta has more crop-friendly conditions and fertile ground and energy for power. Sophie asks they have enough power with Tibe on the throne and the High Houses backing him. Lucas corrects himself by explaining that Norta has electricity, enough for Silvers and Reds, and the Lakelanders want some of that power.

Tedros asks why they can't just give each other what they want and Lucas admits that of things were that easy, it would be the case, but things are never easy.

The trio remain silent for a little while, which prompts Lucas to take his leave, but Agatha has one more question, a couple small ones, and then one big one:

Is electricity stronger than what the School uses(candles for light, winds for ships, etc.)? Yes.

And the Nortans traveled by ship to the School? Yes.

And the ship was powered by this electricity? The engine was, but yes.

Million dollar question: If the Nortans came to the Woods, can ths students go to Norta, or anywhere else using this electric-powered ship?

Sophie gapes at her and Tedros gives her a look of pure hurt, but Lucas contemplates that, answering with a solid maybe before asking where she'd go, if she had her own ship?

With a glance at a fuming Sophie and a crestfallen Tedros, Agatha begins to answer, right as Dovey passes with Cal, Maven, and Mare following.

Too bad something bursts out of the trees and barrels toward Sophie, eyes blood red, body decayed and soaked with sludgy water, roaring like a wild animal, and armed with an axe.

Yeah, The Beast is back, and he's not happy with Sophie killing him.

Cal, Tedros, and Lucas jump right into action, Lucas using his armor to knock Beast away as Cal and Tedros race to stop him; the only one whi recognizes him is Sophie, so Tedros is acting solely on instinct here.

There's tussling, Tedros getting thrown to the ground and Cal getting cut by the axe, and Maven saving his brother, because he's a one way track.

Lucas neutralizes The Beast by chaining him up, but the bastard breaks free and knocks him aside, giving him a concussion.

With a quick, 'What's wrong with me?' Mare joins in, shooting lightning at him. It works, kind of, but gets a gold spell shot at him by Agtha for almost hitting back.

With their powers combined, and Sophie cheering them on, they take The Beast down, red mist leaving his body and curling away into the sky.

Mare and Agatha sigh and check on each other as Tedros, Cal, and Maven all exchange 'good jobs' and some high fives, which Maven accepts with a heavy conscience.

They all stop when they're interrupted by Elara racing to Maven and hugging him close, too worried to notice the 'OH SHIT' faces Mare and Agatha exchange.

Rhian and Tibe join her and ask what the hell happened, Rhian telling them to explain it to him in his tower, away from any eavesdroppers.

They do so, Tedros semi-fanboying to Agatha that he can't believe she was right, and Sophie staying behind to give The Beast one last nervois glance before catching up, not wanting to be alone if/when The Beast wakes up.

[purpleyellow]

ISAC 2020

NCT 22nd member / Dream 8th member

Bee’s Masterlist

“Bee makes a friend during isac ”

a/n:This is a collaboration with my fav @baejl​ , go over to her profile to check out more about Moon, or go here to read her pov. please go show her some support. As usual, don’t be shy and interact a little, ask box is always open. Any kind of feedback will be very appreciated  💛

"What are you doing?" Chenle asked his female member once the guy who was telling them the rules stopped talking.

"Resting my eyes. I woke up way too early to spend the day doing nothing" Bee answered with her eyes still closed while leaning on Jaemin’s back.

"Shh, pay attention" Jeno said to them when the same dude kept talking.

"Please don't drool on me" Jaemin whispered to her and she pretended she wasn't hearing him by putting her arms around his waist. "Oh my God, let me go"

As he struggled to remove her arms from him, something the instructor said caught their attention.

"Bai Yun-Hee and Moon Eunji, I need you guys to stay a couple more minutes to recheck some rules" 

Frowning, Bee let go of Jaemin and looked towards her group to see if anyone knew what was going on.

"Oooh, you're in troublee" the now free boy smirked her way and got slapped on the arm by Jeno.

"It's probably about the whole being a girl in a mostly boy group" Chenle tried to be reasonable "Or you're in trouble. Anyways, tell us how that goes after"

And with that they left her alone.

Fidgeting with the sleeves of her white sports jacket, she walked over to where most of the staff were and noticed a girl who looked just a little younger than her doing the same.

They stood in silence while a woman explained to them the additional rules for their cases and when it was done the girl next to her suddenly spoke

"Hi," Moon, the female member of Ateez, said without being able to stop herself and gave a quick bow to the girl. "I'm Moon! I'm such a big fan of NCT, all of you! I even made a cover for Chewing Gum on one of my monthly evaluations and I- I’m sorry, I tend to talk a lot when I’m nervous.”

“Oh hello! Thank you very much. You’re from Ateez right?” Bee smiled trying to hide her shyness “I’ve seen a couple of your stages last year, you guys are very impressive”

“Oh my…” Moon chuckled and smiled. “Thank you so much, it means a lot for us hearing this from a senior! I didn’t know you guys would be competing this year.”

“Well… we weren’t supposed to” Bee smiled awkwardly and started to explain to her “Not all of us could make it, and we’re only really competing on two categories. But the boys always have a lot of fun and I guess I don’t mind sitting on the bleachers that much. So are you excited for it?”

“I would be more if I could compete,” Moon confessed. “but I suck at games, especially the ones we’re competing for. Are you trying that one you have to take the other person down? Please, tell you’re not.”

“Thankfully not. I’m only taking part in the pubg tournament. To be honest, I wish I was Renjun right now so I could stay home” Bee sighed “Are you going to stay with your members? I’ll see if I find you after I’m done trying to survive on the island” as she said that, Bee cringed at her attempt at a joke.

 Moon involuntary hissed and tilted her head. “Wow, you’re worse than Mingi when it comes to jokes.” The girl’s eyes widened when she remembered who she was talking to. “OH MY GOD, I’m so sorry!” she bowed at the girl multiple times. “Unnie, I’m really sorry.”

Bee laughed at her nervousness and shrug her shoulders.

“It’s ok. I’m not really known for being the funny one in NCT anyway. That’s why we have Johnny and Lucas around”

At the mention of the last name, Moon froze. 

“Oh, I-I see!” she giggled. “I’m not the funniest either, we won’t have a problem with lame jokes.”

Bee raised an eyebrow at her weird reaction and thought for a moment how to ask about it without being invasive and hopefully keep their friendship going.

“You’re not one of million people Lucas befriended are you? Because I’m going to fight him for not introducing us before” 

"I mean… " Moon opened a forced grin. So Lucas didn’t talk about her to Bee, that was a relief. “We met a few times.”

“Oh, ok” the NCT member shrugged “Well, I should probably be going find my members by now. I’ll catch you later after I shoot some idols” after those words left her mouth she face palmed herself “Man, I should really stop doing this”

Moon laughed out loud this time.

"Oh, okay." she said, with her hand on her belly. "Go. Crush them all for me!"

With that, the girls parted ways. 

Running towards the auditorium the PUBG match would be held, Bee found Jeno, Jaemin, and Chenle walking there as well.

“You missed the initial stretches. It was really fun.” Jaemin said with a monotone voice, making the girl giggle

“I bet it was” Linking arms with Chenle they were guided by some staff to where they should sit.

The girl had some kind of experience with the game, so she managed to do well on both practice and actual rounds, but still, after she died she just sat there chipping the nail polish on her nails. If you asked Bee who had won the actual game she wouldn’t know what to tell you. (She only knew who won the practice round because it was Chenle and he made a very big point in screaming on her ear once he shot the last player dead) 

...

"I really have to pee" she said when the four of them were walking back to the gymnasium. 

"Go ahead" Jeno pointed at a restroom. 

"Please wait for me" Bee said entering the bathroom. 

Needless to say, they didn’t wait for her.

Once she was done with her business, Bee walked the rest of the way until she found the three Dreamies putting on their archery gear while talking with some people from Stray Kids. 

Politely bowing at Felix, she told Chenle she was going to watch them from the bleachers and headed there after he pinched her cheeks for good luck, hoping she would either find a quiet place to take a nap or find the friend she had made before.

As Bee was walking by the sidelines of the stadium and giving small peace signs to the fans someone called out to her

"Unnie! How was it?" Moon said approaching her."Killed enough people?"

Bee smiled warmly, getting used to the company of the girl “I killed some people. Not enough to win though. How about you? How have you been spending this ISAAC?”

Moon sighed and leaned over one of the empty benches there.

"Until now, all I did was watching people running, throwing baseball balls, doing archery. Nothing too much." she shrugged. "I'm must being really boring, right?"

“You’re being reasonable right now. There’s really not much for us to do.I’m glad we’re together at least.” As she said that, Bee put her hand on the pocket of her pants and took out two protein bars. "Want a bite?"

“I do." Moon said shyly.

Giving her one of them, Bee opened the other and started taking small bites.

"Random question. If you could have debuted in a girl group would you change? I mean, I don't know about you but the boys can be annoying sometimes, but I'm not sure if I would do it if I was given the chance"

Moon gave a bit on her bar and looked at the space trying to find a valuable answer.

"Hmm..." Moon thought a little harder and then she answered Bee, on a lower tone, almost a whisper. "I was supposed to debut on ITZY if the boys didn't accept me. And, I don't know, seeing all the things they've conquered with less than a year and thinking about all the things Ateez could have conquered being just a boy group, sometimes I do think of changing. What about you?"

"I'm not very sure. At first it was very hard to be around them, and it still feels a bit awkward to do and say some stuff because I know they would mock me for being 'girly'" She said doing air quotes at the last part. "But then, with some stuff changing, I feel like it would almost be like a break up since we've been together for such a long time"

Bee hold back a smile and tried not to think too much into the future.

"Well, " Moon turned at her. "Let's make a protein bar toast for being strong to be the only girls in a boy group."

The younger leaned her protein bar at Bee and waited for her reaction

"Cheers to that" Bee said with a breathy laugh and took another bite from the bar.

[ijwrsmff]

Hellu!♡ I just found your blog and I gotta say... I LOVE YOUR WRITING SO MUCH!!!!!! So I wanted to request...10. "I would give up everything for the chance to see your laugh again" with Danny (Ghostface).. maybe fluff angst mix? uwu~~

Eyy!! Always love new people! I just started posting. Well today. So you’re real early to the party! Hope you enjoy ^^

I got a little carried away again...so much longer than I planned on. 

Fluff Prompt:

10. “I would give up everything for the chance to see your laugh again.”

Danny wasn’t sure when things started changing with you. The two of you used to be inseparable. You put up with his pranks around both campsites, even helping out with some, and you gave him the sense of a normal life. As much as he enjoys the trials, he still wanted to live a relatively normal life. Before, the killings were an itch that needed scratching. When he wasn’t killing, he enjoyed regular things. Tv, video games, going to bars with friends (legal or not). 

Now? Here in the entity’s realm? He didn’t have that downtime. Plus, running around and hunting people down was exhausting. Sometimes he’d use a mori just so he could get the trials done faster. But you kept each other going...he had no idea when what you had together stopped being enough. 

It was pretty often he’d follow you around, trying to find out what it was that made you...not like you anymore. You weren’t happy anymore, you didn’t smile, you even gave up during multiple trials. At this point...he was more worried the entity would grow tired of you and...who knows what it’d do. Would you go to hell? Heaven? Right back to earth where you were pulled off in the first place? 

Anything seemed possible if something like this realm was. 

None of those existential crises mattered as much as the reason for your change in mood. At least not to him. He was more determined than he ever had been to find out what was causing your sadness, and promptly tear it to pieces. Living or not. There had to be something, right? It came out of nowhere, so there had to be a reason…

So here he was, hiding behind a tree near the survivors camp, watching as you sat idly amongst your friends. Not saying a word, simply sitting there. It didn’t even seem like you were listening. 

Danny is ashamed to say that when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he let out a girly yelp. He was about to kill whoever touched him right then and there, but the look on Jake’s face made him resist the urge. What did he want? He never talked to Danny...why was he approaching, and not just that, but going out of the borders of the survivor camp to do so?

Everyone knew that the borders protected the survivors from any angry killers. Cross those lines? You’re free game. 

“Any you’re touching me...why?” The snark was undeniable, but he wanted an answer. 

Jake rolled his eyes, seemingly unphased by the killer’s snap back. “You’re just worried about them, it’s fair. We’ve all noticed their lack of motivation. We wanna know the reason just as much as you do.” 

At that, Danny scoffed, “I highly doubt that. Either send them out or let me in.” The only rule of the camps, aside from the obvious invisible barriers preventing the killers to approach, a killer can enter the circle if they’re invited. Kind of like vampires, as Freddy once put it. He’d never been granted access. 

The only killers that have been allowed within the circle, were Danny (because of his obvious love for y/n), the members of legion, and bubby. Who quite frankly, seemed more puppy-like than killer when not in trials. 

“Alright, come on. Do whatever you gotta do.” Jake feigned displeasure, but the thought of his friend going through something he may not be able to help with? Not on his list of favorite things in the realm. 

Without a word, Danny rushed in, causing Dwight to shriek and fall off the log he was perched on, but Danny paid no mind to that. Any other time, he would have found it hilarious and even tried taking a picture or two to save the memory. But right now, you were the only priority in his mind. 

You didn’t make a noise as he came in, scooping you up in his arms in the process before sitting down on the log in your place. The only indication he had that you knew he was there was a confused look up at him from his lap. 

Danny shifted around, having you sit with your back to his chest and his head on your shoulder, slightly lifting his mask up to place a few, quick idle kisses to your neck. 

It had been the only thing to cause any noise to come out of you for weeks. You could feel him smile against your neck the moment the short giggle escaped your lips. Otherwise, he didn’t acknowledge it. 

“Hey baby, baby? Baby?” If there was one thing Danny was good at, it was getting a response from you. Even when you had gotten into the occasional fight and you insisted on the silent treatment. It never lasted long. Somehow he always got a word or two out of you, and his smug grin let you know every time that he’d won you back over. 

Shaking your head, you turned to look at him, “yes, Danny?” He huffed when you called him by his name. You always replied with “baby” or “honey” or any other sugary sweet nickname that is far too stereotypical to be anything near original. It was your own little joke, you both enjoyed the stupid nicknames, often calling each other increasingly sweet names during trials to throw the other off their game. You only ever called him by his name if you were upset. 

Choosing to ignore it for the moment, he pulled a pile of photos out of his pocket, not turning them over to allow you to see, not just yet. He was going to make you express interest if it killed him. 

“What are those, Danny?” At the second mention of his name, he let out an audible whine. 

“Darling! Baby! Honey! Where is my cute adoring nickname?” He all but nuzzled into your neck, wrapping his arms around your middle in a tight squeeze. 

And for the second time, a small giggle escaped. 

It had nothing on the wide grin that stretched so much, you could see his mask adjust. If only you could see it. 

By now, most of the survivors had slowly circled the two of you, a few closer than others. Everyone was on standby, waiting to see what was wrong and make you smile. They all knew if anyone could do it, it was Danny. 

“Why these, my precious baby doll, are pictures of us. Well. Some of us. Mostly you. Sometimes you’re just so cute when you sleep.” You scoffed, giving him a light jab with your elbow at his morbid humor. The others didn’t think the joke was so funny. But at the moment, neither of you were concerned with them. 

“Lemme see!” It was the most interesting he’d heard you for so long...far too long. So of course, he had to tease. 

“I don’t know, I’ve been enjoying my own little secret collection. What if your greasy hands ruin my beautiful photos?” He held them just out of your reach, waving them a bit for show. 

“Please? Pretty please Danny-bear?” Now that was better.

“Well, alright, if you insist.” He lowered them, slowly going through each and every one of them, explaining when and how he took each photo.

“This one was our first kiss, bet ya didn’t even see the flash. I’m just that amazing.” You could hear how smug he was in his voice, but it was clear to everyone he was going above and beyond to make you smile. 

Danny waived for all your friends to leave, prompting several to scamper away. They all obliged, and Danny waited until they were all farther out of sight before carefully spinning you around to look at your face. 

Slowly lifting his mask to show his own face, you were surprised to see a look of desperation. 

“Y/N, I'm real bad about emotional stuff. You don’t gotta tell me what’s wrong, chances are I wouldn’t understand it anyways.” He picked up his favorite photo, it was just one of you laughing, his wide grin right next to yours, looking to you as if you were the very meaning of life. To him, you were, and it shone so brightly in that moment. “I would give up everything for the chance to see your laugh again. If it’s something I can fix...let me fix it. I won’t stop until I hear you snort with laughter. I mean it. You better laugh so hard you cry.” 

You gave him a smile, kissing him with all of your held back emotions. “I know...I know you will. I promise I will again. Don’t leave me while I figure out how.” 

“If you think I won’t stick to you like a kicked puppy then you’re sorely mistaken.” 

“I know you will, baby. Thank you, for always being here for me.”

Tags: @highdwightofmylife

[ice-cream-nekogirl]

like a dark paradise (Tokoyami Fumikage X Reader)

I’M BACK FOR A BIT! WHAT’S UP MOTHER-TRUCKERS~?!

Ahhhh school is really kicking my ass you guys... >.< But I had this in my head and I wasn’t going to just let it go while the bug was still in me! I can’t get enough of dear Tokoyami so I wrote this! He’s one of my favorites!!

I apologize for any OOC-ness cuz my writing skills are NOT getting any better XD

Featuring... Birb boi!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZwCu8u0bzA

Every time I close my eyes, it's like a dark paradise... No one compares to you, I'm scared that you won't be waiting on the other side...

6 YEARS AGO

He was never treated like the rest of the other children. Then again, not all of the children had features as unique as his, some actually looked more bizarre but they always chose Tokoyami because he was an easy target. Ever since he started school he’d gotten a lot of stares, not subtle jokes made at his expense and he was a sensitive child back during those days so he spent a lot of time hiding in the bathroom, crying.

All he wanted was to keep to himself so he wouldn’t bother anyone with his presence as he sat outside, but they never left him alone and they always followed him just to torment him more. The boy cringed and whined when he felt little bread crumbs being thrown at him. Again. They always did this, any chance students got they would toss bread at him to ‘feed the bird’.

‘Let me at them! Come on!! I can’t let them hurt you!’

But he had gotten his quirk by that time, as Dark Shadow arrived in his life when he was 4 years old and has been with him for the past 5 years. Tokoyami was partially relieved to have a sentient quirk that made him feel a little less alone, but the shadow could be very willful at times and he didn’t have the best control over it yet.

‘No! Don’t! You’ll just make it worse!’

Tokoyami knew better than to fight back, the worst thing children could do at this age of childhood was to stir the pot and give bullies more reason to pick on him. On top of that he had gotten in trouble a few other times because of Dark Shadow’s intervention and he didn’t want a repeat of that because he always got blamed for it even if he and his parents knew that it wasn’t his fault.

“Hungry Tokoyami?” The voice belonged to a slightly older boy, maybe 12 at best with three other 6th graders beside him, all of them boys too. Tomo was the name of the ringleader he thought. The others were Katou, Goda and Maeda.

He slowly stood up where he sat. He could feel all of their judgmental, taunting eyes on him but Tokoyami didn’t dare say anything back to them though, because he feared if he did it would somehow give them more to tease him about.

“I love feeding the birds, but I don’t get why you don’t ever eat what I give you? I go out of my way to feed you dude.” Tomo asked him, leaning in a little closer as he kept his eyes to the ground and kept quiet.

“You need to show a little more fucking gratitude you stupid bird.” Goda then roughly raised his voice as the boy cringed and closed his eyes, his fists clenching from fear as he held them to his chest and trembled where he stood.

“Maybe he don’t like bread. Maybe he’d rather have worms instead? Birds love to eat worms.” Katou suggested with a small smirk, and Maeda had gone off, likely behind a rock to find said ‘worms’ as Tokoyami flinched and gasped a little bit, a hint of fear flashing in his eyes that the other boys noticed.

“Ooh! That’s right… sorry bird boy, I’m an idiot for forgetting that birds like to eat bugs… here we’ll give you something juicer…”

Tokoyami took a step back, but didn’t realize what a mistake that was as Goda hooked his arms under his shoulders and prevented him from trying to get away. “N-No…” He whimpered quietly as he saw Maeda coming closer, hands full of dirt and worms he could see slithering about as he gasped and tried to wriggle away but Katou helped Goda pin him to the ground and held his arms down.

“No… no please…”

He shook his head and pleaded with the boys to show mercy, but he knew that they weren’t as Tomo gave him a menacing grin. “Hee-hee-hee… calm down… just a little bite. It’s delicious… birds eat them all the time… and that’s all you are anyway. A bird we get to feed…” His smirk darkened as the worms Maeda gathered were set to the ground and the latter made sure to hold the 4th grader’s legs down.

“Please! D-Don’t… no…” Tokoyami shook his head, involuntary tears springing to his eyes as he squirmed in their hold but they were stronger than him, bigger than him and older than him.

‘I WANT TO COME OUT! I WON’T LET THEM HURT YOU!!’

‘DON’T!’

The young crow shut his eyes as Dark Shadow demanded to be released but he couldn’t let him, because then the whole school would be after him if he did. “Lunch time Tokoyami~.” Tomo held up two long, wiggling worms as Tokoyami’s eyes widened and he turned his head when those disgusting things were brought closer, and closer to his beak…

“N-NO!!”

Meanwhile…

You weren’t a particularly special student, and you didn’t have a particularly special quirk. All you could do was construct things out of light and you could barely do that. The most you could make was a ball of light, real awesome. You sucked at it…

And on top of that, everyone here at school was lame too, well… maybe except this one guy. He seemed like he was okay but he was a bit of a loner based on what you noticed from the boy.

Perhaps you were a cynical 4th grader but no one really talked to you and you couldn’t find it in you to talk to anyone else either so you decided to just go outside for a bit with your backpack to draw or something instead of being around the other students.

However, you froze when you stepped foot outside and the loud sounds of retching hit your ears as you cringed.  It sounded like someone was sick…

“OH HE PUKED!!”

“DISGUSTING!”

“What the hell is wrong with you?!”

You heard voices, and they were yelling, and by the sound of it they were yelling at someone. Now the logical side of you was telling you to go and get a teacher, but the impulsive side of you instead forced you to run towards the sounds as the voices and the laughter got louder.

And you gasped and hid behind the corner, your (E/C) eyes widening as soon as you saw what was going on. There he was, that boy, hunched over with his arms around his stomach and a puddle of vomit in front of him with three other boys standing over him and laughing. They looked much older too, hell they were 6th graders! What were they doing picking on a 4th grader?!

It made you so mad you shook and breathed heavily, what the hell was wrong with those psychos? Whatever they did they made the boy throw up and it pissed you off to no end as you looked around the ground…

“Unbelievable… we give you food and this is how you repay us?” Tomo asked the smaller boy as Tokoyami heavily panted in an attempt to catch his breath after purging up what the force-fed him. 

He whimpered lightly as he made the mistake of looking at the thick, pale-yellow and chunky liquid that used to be his breakfast, along with the two worms that had been shoved down his throat, still wiggling and undigested. He couldn’t dare look at it anymore without fearing he’d throw up again as he fearfully peered up at Tomo’s face. He tried to glare at him but the tears streaming from his eyes hardly made him look threatening.

“You know… I also read somewhere that mother birds puke up what they eat to their babies.” Katou once had an evil idea as Tokoyami gasped. No, that wasn’t going to happen, he already choked down those vile worms and vomited them back up. He couldn’t take it anymore…

“No…!” He stood up on shaky knees to run away but Goda grabbed his shoulders and pushed him down to the ground. Clutching a fistful of his feathers. “If you don’t eat that throw up I’ll tear off all your feathers one by one bird boy…” The boy growled as Tomo laughed a little bit.

“Well Goda… go ahead… let him eat up his own puke… c’mon it’ll be funny. Do it!” He demanded of the boy and he smirked, picking up the boy and motioning him over to the vomit as Tokoyami shook his head, crying more openly as he pleaded and begged for them to stop, but they weren’t going to…

He shut his tearful eyes as he cried, he didn’t want to look at it, he didn’t want to…

“RAHHHHHHH!!”

Without warning you whacked the brutish Goda on his head with your backpack hard and made him shout as his hands released Tokoyami, making him hit the ground just inches away from his own vomit. Quickly he backed away with wide eyes of shock, gasping as soon as he saw his savior.

His classmate, he had seen you before but not once did he ever expect you to come to his rescue…

You were panting and carrying your backpack with contempt in your eyes as Goda growled angrily at you, while Tomo, Katou and Maeda looked at you in shock. “You bitch!” Goda shouted as he held the back of his head, obviously in pain as you glared at them.

“Go away! Why don’t you ass-clowns go pick on someone in your own grade?!” Despite being a fourth grader, you already picked up on some swear words, but that didn’t matter to Tokoyami. The second he realized that he was saved, he quickly stood up and ran from the four boys and hid behind you. He felt like such a coward but he couldn’t help it.

Tomo on the other hand, still had the gall to be smug as he laughed and smirked, “Oh look Tokoyami. It’s the princess coming to save you… it’s supposed to be the other way around though… hehe c’mon girly girl… what are you doing? Are you really going to try and mess with us? For that freak?” He asked with his hands on his hips, his smirk pissing you off so much that you grabbed one of the rocks you filled your backpack with and threw one right at his stomach.

“OH!!” The boy suddenly held his stomach, groaning and moaning in pain like a little bitch as his friends all gasped and backed away. “AH!” But then they all started screaming when more rocks and small balls of light were tossed as you didn’t hesitate to throw whatever you had on you at them. Unknowingly giving them a taste of their own medicine now that they were the ones getting pelted.

“What the fuck?! Are you crazy?!”

“Get lost Tomo!”

“Bitch!”

“Hey! Leave your mom out of this!” You exclaimed, grinning a little bit when you saw Tomo’s face turn red, and out of impulse you grabbed a very stunned Tokoyami’s arm to run off. The boy yelped a little bit, but he ran away with you as Tomo kept screaming at you both. 

“I’M GOING TO GET YOU BOTH!! I SWEAR IT!!”

Neither of you paid him anymore mind though as you and Tokoyami made your ways back into the semi-safety of the school building. Both of you were panting after such a brisk run, but you started to laugh a little bit as you leaned against the wall.

Not noticing Tokoyami looking right at you, his red eyes still wide as he stood stunned, almost marveled and in disbelief. You looked like a heroine in his eyes as he blushed warmly at the sound of your laughter. Such mirthful laughter sounded like a sweet melody to him. You saved him… why did you save him?

“Hey… are you okay…?”

He was so distracted he didn’t even hear you speaking until you waved your hand in front of his eyes. “Hello…? Are you all right?” You sounded gentle, yet concerned and confused especially since the poor thing got sick from whatever it was those assholes did.

Tokoyami finally noticed that you were talking to him, you were talking to him. “I…” He couldn’t quite muster up a sentence though, so he could only timidly nod at your question. “Good… do you need to go to the nurse’s office?” You asked again though, but Tokoyami shook his head.

“ ‘m fine…” He said rather quietly, voice full of trepidation as he averted his eyes shyly. 

“W-Why did you… w-why did you do that…?” Finally, he found it in him to ask you a real question, which surprised you since you hadn’t ever really heard him talk before.

“Help? I had to… I don’t know what they were doing but I couldn’t just let them hurt you.” You gave your answer, pretty simply too as if it were obvious. And it was to you, there was no way you could let that happen and not do anything.

However, Tokoyami was still surprised that someone, anyone, would even bother to help him at all. After all, he was just a creep and a weirdo.

“But… I… I-I’m a freak… aren’t I…? Just… some weirdo…” He quietly said, tearing up slightly when he repeated all the things almost all the kids he’s ever met in his life called him. You could see how sad the poor guy was though, so you wiped a tear from his eye and he perked up with a light little gasp, his face growing hot at the unfamiliar touch.

“Don’t show them your tears. We’re all freaks. We all have powers… I’m a bigger weirdo than you…” You smiled with a little giggle, “Anyone who tells you you’re a freak is just a nasty little shit, those boys are nasty little shits and if they think they’re gonna try and be heroes like All-Might they’re as stupid as they are ugly. And they are ugly.” You reassured him kindly despite your language as you flashed him a grin.

“T-Thank you...” He said very shyly, his voice cracking a little bit as you swore you could finally see a little smile from the little crow.

“Anyway I’m (L/N) (Y/N).” Finally you shared your name and gave a little bow, and Tokoyami immediately bowed back, except his bow was lower, more respectful. “I’m Tokoyami Fumikage.” He said in the politest voice you had ever heard from any other fourth grader as you giggled happily, making the boy blush as he looked away shyly. If there’s one thing having a bird head was good for, it was hiding any blush on his face.

‘FUMIKAGE LOVES (Y/N)~!!’

Dark Shadow did nothing to help as he sang that in his head, and the boy immediately grew flustered, “N-No I don’t!” He shouted back at his quirk, outloud as you perked up and looked at him in confusion… now he was REALLY thankful that he had all the feathers…

PRESENT

Every time I close my eyes, it's like a dark paradise... No one compares to you but there’s no you, except in my dreams tonight...

Tokoyami’s eyes slowly opened as he escaped dream world but that wasn’t a dream, it was a memory, bitter and yet sweet, just like a dark paradise.

He sighed heavily when it all came back to him, all the bullying, all the torment, and yet here was now. In the prestigious UA Academy, already dubbed one of the stronger students, and he actually made friends. Friends who didn’t judge him based on his appearance, and friends who actually cared about his well-being, amazing friends that he was so happy to have made.

However…

He had to admit that none of them compared to you, as you had gone to UA with him. The two of you remained friends, rather close friends after that day and you freed him from his loneliness. Although Tokoyami had gotten used to solitude and at times preferred it, he made you an exception as the two of you could just be alone together.

Something he considered a personal paradise.

But now that he was awake, he realized that you were not here, you weren’t in his bed as you had been previously. He swore you were just here, you were in bed with him weren’t you?

Tokoyami knew that he shouldn’t have gotten so frantic, but he couldn’t help the rapid beating in his heart as he sucked in a sharp, shallow breath and looked around. He opened his eyes and you weren’t there. Did he dream the whole thing? Did none of that really happen and were you just a figment of his fragile imagination?

If so why did he have to wake up? He didn’t want to wake up anywhere if you couldn’t be on the other side with him. And you weren’t here…

He shook his head as he couldn’t go back to sleep, he wished he could but he couldn’t. All the crow could do was exit his room and go look out the window, clear his head despite the faint tears he tried to fight back. Dammit there was no way that this could ever leave his head…

He hated this, he hated feeling like the same, pathetic little boy he was all those years ago.

The same boy that had to be saved by a kind human being that he wasn’t even sure was real anymore. But then he paused and froze when he heard a familiar voice, a familiar melody.

“Whether near or far… I am always yours… any change in time, we are young again…”

You sang somewhat cheerfully, shaking your hips as you grabbed the small canister of ice-cream and a spoon, “Laaaay us down… we’re in love… lay us down… we’re in love…” Softly you twirled about in your pajamas, not seeing the shocked face of your boyfriend as he slowly walked closer to something he hoped was real…

“Ahhhhh…” You started to hum, but stopped as soon as you finally saw Tokoyami right there, a pink blush coating your cheeks as you couldn’t help but grin widely and nervously. “Oh boy… hee-hee you’re awake… well… good evening handsome~.” Still you kinda flirted with him, but grew a bit confused when you saw his figure slowly slouch as he let out a subtle breath of relief…

So it was all real…

“Good evening.” Feeling somewhat embarrassed for freaking out like that, he reverted back to his polite, ‘edgy’ self as you giggled. You remembered back when he was just a shy little thing and now he was the gloomy prince of darkness, but you fell in love with that, all of him. Of course you had to be the one to ask him out first though, since secretly, Tokoyami was a little bit shy when it came to things like romance even though he was a secret romantic at heart.

“What are you doing awake?” He asked you, a hint of curiosity in his voice as you chuckled sheepishly, shrugging your shoulders. “You know me… it’s hard for me to go to sleep and… I tried to sleep but I just couldn’t…” You sighed a little bit, having had some trouble sleeping since you never did go to bed early, and Tokoyami knew that.

He gave a small sigh as he went over to you, “I can stay up with you.” He offered to you politely, scratching the side of his beak a little bit as you couldn’t help but smile, “Yay~. I’m glad you’re here actually, I don’t like bein’ up all by myself… less I’m gonna be dancing…” You chuckled a little bit and earned a small smile from your boyfriend.

You always knew how to light up a room, like you had lit up the darkness in his life just by being in it. For all his talk about his love of the darkness, you were his break from the darkness by giving him light.

“What about you? What woke you up Fumi?” However, the fact that Tokoyami was awake at the same time you were, didn’t go unnoticed. It was 1 in the morning, and while Tokoyami didn’t exactly go to bed early, as most teenagers didn’t, you were still concerned.

Tokoyami almost froze, the last thing he wanted was for you to ask any questions like that since it honestly still embarrassed him. It’s not like it was even a nightmare or anything, but the memories of those ‘nasty little shits’ from his childhood still haunted him from time to time. How they made him feel, how they treated him, it was something he hadn’t quite let go of yet even though he tried.

But he would never lie to you, he swore to never lie to you when the two of you got together. “I had that dream again. The memories of my childhood.” He admitted lowly, his eyes downcast as you frowned a little bit, eyes narrowing slightly when you recalled those little assholes that you were happy to never see again after they picked on your dear Tokoyami.

You knew it was something Tokoyami didn’t like thinking about, even if something good came out of that memory, parts of it was something that brought out all of the feelings of worthlessness and self-hatred back to him. So you put your arm around him, gently leading him over to the couch, sitting him down as you gently kissed his beak.

He jumped ever so slightly, his red eyes widening as his face burned hot at the little kiss. Even if you and him were dating he would still always blush like a schoolboy every time you kissed him. “Remember what I said? How those boys were all just nasty little shits? Well I stand by that…” You said to him gently, nuzzling up to him and making him blush even darker, but you couldn’t see under the feathers.

“You’re a hero Fumikage… leagues ahead of any of those little shits, and stronger than anyone else I know. To go through all of that, and to be here now… that goes to show that you were always better than them. I always thought so…” Your voice was gentle as you gently hugged him, running a gentle hand through the soft feathers you loved as you felt Tokoyami’s arms slowly engulf you into a soft embrace.

“Thank you (Y/N)… thank you for everything…” Tokoyami whispered to you as he held onto you a little tighter, wanting to feel more of your warmth. It gave him peace during these times as it just reminded him that this wasn’t a dream, and even if it was, he never wanted to wake up from it.

Smiling warmly, you gave his beak another little kiss as you giggled when his feathers floofed up a little bit, no doubt from embarrassment, “C’mon… it’s Friday night. Let’s stay up together love… wanna watch The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina?” You asked as you grabbed the remote, remembering the ice cream you grabbed as Tokoyami couldn’t help but give you a smile.

“Yes I would like that very much.” He said with a very content, relaxed tone as you grinned and turned on the TV but kept it low so you didn’t wake anyone up. Your head on his shoulder as you and Tokoyami gently put his arm around you while the credits played.

I don't wanna wake up from this tonight

[flickityfics]

Don’t Play With Fire, Chap 7 First Day of Work

Um..to answer your concerns Sokka there's no need to worry. This may embarrass you to read but its all perfectly normal in women's body. The throbbing and slick you've mentioned is from arousal and the ones you mention that come randomly isn't always arousal but the way the body is trying to self clean or protect your genitals from tearing and dangerous bacteria's. Sometimes your vagina can even..well for lack of a better word let's just call it sweating, so for example say you're moving around a lot and you feel you're self dripping but its a different feeling from arousal just hot and a wetter feeling which again all normal, if you're feeling uncomfortable just wipe yourself and go through the day. I'm Glad you're taking my advice seriously and it's good to hear you're doing well with your situation. So far I haven't found anything about body swapping? gender swapping or transference of any kind I'm so sorry. Just keep staying low and being careful, we'll figure this out soon.

                                                                                                                                                              -Suki

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sokka, It's great to hear from you! We're still putting up fliers of Appa around Ba Sing Se and looking all around places. Toph and Katara are always fighting though, Katara won't let us play our tricks on anyone or even explore or relax, its all work work wor-  

                                               Anyways Sokka you better be pulling your weight and not having Suki cleaning up after you and do try to stay out of trouble okay, I do worry you know, we miss you a lot.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  -The Gaang

Sokka laughed hard seeing Toph's lone foot print right underneath his sister's and Aang's writing, seeing that told him more about her than words ever could. He really missed his family/friend group. Before he could get any sadder he folded the letter and stuffed it in his pack heading to work, he'll write a responding note later tonight.  

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sokka was full of energy heading towards his new job. He's curious to know how different it'll be from the other ehem manlier jobs he's done. 'Honestly how hard could a girl's job be? Katara complains all the time but I bet she was just being dramatic'  he figured. With everything double checked and his breakfast packed he went out for the semi-long walk to work.  Upon arriving to the building, Sokka went straight through the door finding the elder lady waiting for him.

"Hi, so what will I be doing today?" He asked with all the enthusiasm he could muster.

"We start by checking our list of customers who dropped off their laundry, with the other workers we'll go wash together then hang all the laundry to dry and fold, lastly we pack and send out the clothes." she explained.

"Alright sounds easy enough." Sokka followed along as she gave him a tour of the place and areas he'll be needing to know.

After a few tiring hours did he have breakfast, the work ended up more tiring and tougher than expected but he got the hang of it pretty fast and turned out he was the fastest and strongest there which turned out some of the girls didn't like. On his first day an older girl by few years was sabotaging all his work trying to get him trouble and after explaining that to the elder boss lady was he able to stay working. 'women are crazy, guys just nod at each other, find their spots to work, get paid then leave without any word to one another'  He couldn't believe how cut throat it was working as a girl alongside other girls. Just a few more hours and he'll be able to relax and enjoy Zuko's company at the Jasmine Dragon, 'oh my god I didn't just think of stupid fire bending Zuko as nice company?! I've got to get a hold of myself, I'll just blame this dumb girl body and girly brain, ick .'  He mentally shook himself from the strange feeling that came over him towards another guy.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sokka came through the door of the tea shop dramatically falling in the doorway trying to catch Zuko's eye. He spotted Zuko in the kitchen and waved to him obnoxiously, he could honestly say he liked the perplexed and fearful look in the other boys face from the scene he was causing. Walking towards the kitchen, he sat himself down waiting to tell Zuko about his day.

Since Zuko looked like he was trying to ignore him, he caught the uncle's attention instead, "Hey old man when's the jerk's break?" To other's he may seem like an uncouth girl but he really didn't care for appropriateness right after work.

"You can't talk to him lik-" Zuko was just about to rant when he heard his uncle guffawed loudly.

"Oh nephew don't worry about my feelings, I love this young lady and her wily ways, its quite refreshing from your gloomy moods." he expressed. Zuko could only scoff at his uncle's slight rub towards him.

Sokka stuck his tongue at Zuko watching as he just rolled his eyes in return.

"I'll let my dear nephew  off for the rest of the day. Please take him away and show him how to have fun for once in his life." His uncle practically begged.

The two conspired against Zuko and all he could do was hang up his apron and get dragged by Miyuki's whims, he'll never admit to either of them that he likes getting pushed around, he'll keep that to the grave.

"Great! Let's get a table, I've got tons of stuff to share about my day." He grabbed Zuko by the arm and lead him to a free spot.

Sokka waited to be settled at the table, ordering before turning around to unleash his rant. He was weirdly giddy wanting to tell Zuko about his day.

"You won't believe my day." Sokka shook his head tiredly, "So I get there, the boss lady is nice but oh man some of those girls are mean. I had one try to sabotage my work by telling me to place stuff in the wrong place and they're very particular about where things go so that messed me up some. The washing part was tougher than I thought, I had to wring and scrub the clothes til my fingers cramped and wrinkled, ugh it was tiring. Drying was easier and folding strangely calming, the whole clean-up routine was just easy and besides the rude girls, I liked the job overall and think I can stick with it." He ended with a flourish, elbows on the table smiling at the fire prince, laughing internally with Zuko's stoned-face reaction to his long-winded story.

"Sounds like a frustrating day to me, welcome to the job world I guess." Sokka could't believe Zuko's flippant reply, he honestly thought he would be more caring to his woes and again what's with himself wanting Zuko's sympathy?

"Excuse me, that's funny coming from someone whose probably never had a hard labor job before. I'm guessing you had it easy since your uncle was able to provide you one. You don't know the struggles of running around and being told flat out no or when you finally get lucky it only lasts for so long before you're replaced or treated like crap and running yourself exhausted for people who don't care but keep abusing you til you can't go on anymore." Sokka had no idea why he was throwing everything at Zuko. His emotions just started bursting maybe its the way he knows Zuko's privileged, entitled fire prince jerk that he is has everything handed to him and  just pretending to be undercover as some regular civilian to get to Aang. He could only huff in annoyance at himself and Zuko for letting his emotions get the better of him, he decided it was just best to stay quiet and not look at Zuko lest his hostility for the guy becomes more prominent.

"Well, I do find serving customers and cleaning after everyone frustrating and tiring most days. I've been assaulted by older women pinching my bottom cheeks, jealous boyfriends harassing me when their girlfriends try to be flirty at me, even got some few girls who stalked me for quite some time or the rude customers I hate who are disrespectful to me but mostly my uncle, I just want to burn them to a crisp, nobody disrespects my uncle and his beloved tea shop in front of me. I actually do know how hard laborious work can be especially with not much help and little pay." Zuko looked at the girl in front of him with all the openness he could muster. He knew she had it rougher than him but it wasn't like he didn't have his own hardships, they were just different from hers.

Sokka huffed in annoyance even more hating being so temper mental while Zuko explained himself calmly and free of judgment for his part. 'why am I such a child?'  he thought lamely.

"Ugh, sorry for being rude, I guess I'm more annoyed at the fact that I got turned down for most jobs just because I'm a girl. I know I can do the tough jobs, I've done them before and I like working hard and with my hands so it makes it more frustrating not even giving me a chance just by one look at me." He drummed his fingers nervously on the table still embarrassed about earlier.

Zuko couldn't help finding Miyuki's mannerisms and  temper cute, just seeing her emotions displayed out in the open and being ridiculous was refreshing and exciting to witness. Most of his life was closed off of emotions and barely a few months now he's been trying to open up to his feelings, they were scary but freeing and seeing Miyuki so unafraid of her emotions filled him with more confidence each day.

"I get it and if you'd like something more.. uh manlier to do, I can train you in dual wielding after whenever you'd like." He offered.

"Oh? Is that a date dear Lee?" Sokka jumped on the chance to embarrass him, something about seeing Zuko so flustered had him feeling awesome. He liked being back in control and harassing the poor teen.

"Ugh no, if you don't want the training then I won't bother." The tips of Zuko's ears went red as he looked glaringly at Sokka.

"Nooooo, I want the training really." To soften the blow of annoying Zuko did he mentally shrug and go for a kiss to the bender's cheek. He gasped in total surprise as he felt heat around his lips and a waft of what could only be the fire bender's particular scent, it was in his nose so thickly and strangely addictive he wanted to keep his nose to the other's cheek and soak it up forever even be mixed in it. 'What 's wrong with you?! Why are you smelling another dudes scent, stop! Stop it nooooow!'  he couldn't believe how soft a cheek could feel and was that a bit of scruff he felt, it felt so rough on his lips he actually didn't like that. Finally did he pull away and hope to agni the shudder he felt coursing through his body didn't show outwardly.

Zuko was surprised from the peck, it happened so fast but had him feel deeply warm from such a sweet kiss. "Um, how uh- or I mean.. What else did you like about the new job?" Yeah, his brain was done for.

Sokka rolled his eyes playfully, "How bout we talk more about it on the way to walking me to my place?" He held out his hand nervously.

"Okay." Zuko agreed grabbing her hand walking out the shop and down the familiar path to Miyuki's place.

The two caught up with each other's day, some more teasing, awkward flirting and plans for the next time they meet unaware of the mischievous moonlight's gaze upon them.

[nightwingshero]

1-25 for jane 💋

YOU TOO, HUH, STELLA?! jfkdsl;fads under the cut, boo! xoxo

1. What’s their go to pick up line/flirting tactic?

Jane....is not much of a flirter. She’s more likely to stab you, tbh. (Or throat punch you--although Wren would up the ante and suggest that she throat stab you instead--Wren, please...). Now, that does’t mean she doesn’t do it at all or that she’s completely immune to advances. Jane will see flirting as she sees anything else--a competition or challenge. If she’s being flirted with by someone she’s open to be being flirted with, she’s gonna play it off by acting...I don’t want to say super arrogant, but she definitely plays hard to get. Mostly to see how hard you’re willing to work for it--and yeah...she really makes you work for it. If she flirts back, that’s in the form of overly sarcastic and taunting comments. They can come off as snarky and arrogant, and honestly, it’s to see how you react to it. She’s....she’s a very “I’m gonna test you” kind of person. In her defense, she’s been hurt a lot, so...this is just how she is. She doesn’t give people the time of day most of the time, and I’m telling you right now that if she’s not into it, you will definitely fucking know because she will knock the fuck out of you without a second thought or hold a knife to your throat. 

2. Can they dance?

Secretly, yes. Will she? Fuck no. Don’t even fucking try. And honestly, not many people know...but a certain someone did some ballet in her time. You can definitely tell, though, if you have an eye for that sort of thing. She’s graceful and light on her feet, like, even though she wasn’t much of a hunter, she took quickly to the training Jacob provided because of it. She’ll never tell you, though. 

3. Underwear style?

Jane is pretty simple, she keeps it to normal cotton underwear in different styles--mainly bikini or boyshorts. She does have a few thongs--lace and cotton--but you didn’t hear that from me. That’s on the super down-low. 

4. Crayons, markers, colored pencils, or paint?

Ha! None of them. She’s not that kind of artist. If she had to pick--markers or spray paint. She’s gonna do some damage with it, like draw on people’s faces or spray paint stupid shit on people’s property (like the time Wren spray painted dicks on Hurk Sr’s car). Jane is more into photography than anything like that, though. She’d rather not, to be honest. 

5. What was their childhood stuffed animal of choice?

She didn’t really have one. There was a doll she had, but she grew out of it and kept ripping the heads off her Barbies because her parents kinda tried to force her in that girly role, and she was not having it. She preferred Legos and toy cameras. 

6. What’s their sleeping positions?

On her side with one hand under her pillow, right where gun is. 

7. Do they snore?

No. She’s a light sleeper, if she did, she’d constantly wake herself up, I’m sure. 

8. What do they act like when they’re drunk?

Already answered! 

9. Sweet, sour, salty, or savory?

Jane likes sour and hates sweets, they make her sick. She can tolerate some chocolate--like dark chocolate or brownies. She likes salty just fine, she’s pretty neutral about it. Savory is a fucking win with her. Jane does eat on the healthier side, but she loves savory foods. Especially when it’s Whitney’s cooking. 

10. Can they play an instrument? If so, which one(s)?

Randy tried to teach her how to play the harmonica once...not her cup of tea. So, no, she doesn’t. Wren does joke about her maybe trying to drums since she’s so damn violent--”you have good rhythm when you fight, it could translate. just pretend their the heads of your enemies, you’ll be fine.”

11. What would their favorite book be?

The Tale of Two Cities, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Frankenstein. 

12. What is their guilty pleasure?

Michael Hughes. She doesn’t really have one, because she doesn’t really feel guilty about anything she does. Jane will--on a rare occasion--join Wren and Randy in drunk karaoke. It’s super lowkey and she won’t do it in public. She does like listening or reading poetry, bird watching, and just sitting in nature and meditating. 

13. If they got a new pet, what would they name it?

Something funny and...dark or aggressive. Maybe something that would be a bit over the top just to shock people. 

14. Beach house, cozy snowy cabin, treehouse in a forest, or desert paradise?

Treehouse in a forest. She would love the seclusion and fuck, the nature shots she would get on a daily basis? Jane would be so damn happy. 

15. What would their favorite board game be?

Clue, Battleship, Risk, Chess, Monopoly, and Scrabble.

16. What do they smell like?

Blood, murder, gunpowder, pot on occasion, whiskey, vodka, pine, campfire smoke, citrus, spice, cinnamon, wildflowers, honeysuckle, leather, kerosene, melon and cucumber. 

17. What’s their favorite smell?

Pretty much everything listed above, especially blood and murder. Maple, cedar, honeysuckle, leather, cinnamon, melon and cucumber....food. 

18. If they were drunk, what would they get a tattoo of?

Jane already has Norse runes down her spine and a star between her thumb and pointer finger on her left hand (thanks, Wren)...hmmm...I could see her getting a cool camera tattoo on her wrist. Or some badass quote in Latin on her forearm (gee, I wonder which friend gave her that fucking idea). I could also see her getting a middle finger tattoo on the back of her neck. 

19. Describe their laugh.

Already answered!

20. Hoodies, knit sweaters, wool coats or just a blanket to stay warm?

Hoodies. Jane is a minimalist. She would rather just throw a hoodie on and say “fuck it”. She has other things to do, and chances are, it’s gonna be worn and something she’s had for years. 

21. Are they good with their hands? How do they deal with household-type maintenance?

She is. Jane is the kind of person that will go out of her way to learn how to do something so she doesn’t have to rely on other people. She’s very good with her hands and takes advantage of it. 

22. If they had a custom car horn, what would it be?

Fuck You by Lily Allen or just a recording of her saying “fuck off”. 

23. Favorite carnival attraction?

Dunking booth or a haunted house (if they have it). She’s also down for those spinning rides, the ones where you twist the wheel to go faster? That’s an opportunity for a competition, and she will gladly take it. Also dart games. 

24. Showers or baths?

Showers. They’re usually pretty quick unless she’s had a long day or sore. She works out a lot and does some heavy lifting for the Project...girl deserves a break, okay? 

25. What’s their ideal day like?

Being left the fuck alone, hiking through the woods with her camera, and just taking pictures. That’s it. She just wants peaceful time alone to enjoy her favorite hobby. 

[plus-size-reader]

Betty Weir

Benny Weir x Plus size!reader

Word Count: 1055 words

Warnings: none 

Summary: Benny needs help becoming Betty and asks his loving gf for assistance. 

———————————————————————————————————

The all too familiar sound of Benny's footsteps approaching your locker didn't phase you at all but there was something off about it. He didn't have his sneakers on, but somehow, you knew where they had gone.

"I swear to all that is holy, if you're wearing a skirt, I'm gonna flip" you warned, giving him a two second warning before turning on your heels, your suspicions confirmed.

There he was-your darling boyfriend, wearing not only a skirt but a halter top and bright white sneakers.

"Hmmm, I never pegged you as a blonde" you teased, running your hand lightly through the bright blonde ringlets of his wig. You had no idea why he was dressed like a girl, but with any luck, he'd let you in on the secret.

All he could do was giggle, doing a light twirl for you. The action made his red skirt swoosh around his thighs. "Ethan and I have to infiltrate the cheer squad, it's not like I'd ever do this on purpose" he grinned.

You couldn't help but laugh along with him, Benny was just so damn cute.

"Okay sure, so the plan is what?" You wondered, moving on completely from the dress to something else, anything else to change the subject.

However, as Benny continued explaining the plan to you, you noticed just how off his lady costume was. Anyone who had ever seen Benny or Ethan would recognize them almost immediately.

If he was going to do this, he would do it properly.

"Alright baby, keep talking but I have some work to do" you smiled, grabbing your makeup bag from your locker and dragging him off toward the a/v lab.

It wasn't going to be perfect by any means, considering you'd still have to cover up the guy on him but you could do it.

You knew that that there was nobody in the lab after lunch and it would be the perfect place to turn Benny into Betty if there was ever a chance.

"What are we doing in here?" he wondered, sitting in the chair you lightly shoved him toward as you closed the door.

There were a million things going through his head as he watched you, but only a small percentage were pg.

"Your girl disguise is good, but not that good...I'm trying to make it better" you informed, opening your makeup case which seemed to get much bigger every time you opened it.

You had every single thing in the world in that box and honestly, Benny thought it was magic.

"Better than this?" he teased, knowing full well that you were right. You were the prettiest girl that Benny had ever seen and if anyone was going to be able to make him over, it was you.

You smiled, sitting down across Benny's lap. The angle gave you a better access to all of his face.

All you had to do was put a little bit of makeup on him, style his wig some and send him on his way.

If Benny's makeover went well, maybe you could help make E look much more convincing too.

"Try this" you suggested, handing him your favorite tube of rose scented lip gloss. Instead of being applying it himself like you'd intended, he lent forward toward you and swiped the wand across your plump bottom lip.

It wasn't lost on him that this wasn't what you had in mind, but he didn't care. It was much more fun for him to get his way like this.

Before you knew what was happening, Benny's lips were on your own.

After the initial shock value of a surprise kiss from your adorable boyfriend, you put together what he was thinking. He was inadvertently putting on your lip gloss with your lips.

"Very cute" you grinned, placing another casual peck on his lips before snatching the tube back. The kiss had put a little bit of gloss across his grin, but not nearly as much as you'd had in mind.

"How cute? Cause I was thinking about doing it again" he winked, bringing a smile to your face, no matter how hard you tried to fight it. You had things that needed to be done but you'd never finish if he wouldn't let you.

That being said though, you didn't care about it if he didn't. You would much rather keep kissing his adorable, smooshy face than anything else.

"Pretty cute" You allowed, pulling him by the collar of his polo shirt toward you. As soon as your lips met, you melted. It didn't matter to you that Benny was pretty much in drag, all you could think about was how right it felt to have him this close to you.

He was everything you'd ever wanted, and honestly...skirt or not, you wouldn't trade him for anything in the world.

"You wanna know what's cuter?" he wondered, his forehead pressed against your own as he spoke to you. It was almost as if too much distance physically pained him, so he had to stay attached to you, at least somehow.

You shrugged, not sure what his next words would be.

Knowing Benny, he could have said Ethan. It just depended on the kind of day and what mood he was in.

"You"

The word came out of his lips and onto your own, due to your close proximity. Still, it was enough to bring a giggle up from your throat. He could be so cheesy sometimes, and you weren't sure how to deal with it...

However, humor seemed to be the best way to go.

"Hmmm, I don't know about that Betty. My boyfriend might have a problem with us sneaking around behind his back" you teased, sticking your tongue out with him. Without missing a beat, Benny smiled.

You could tell the wheels were spinning in his head to come up with a comeback and in all honesty, you were just waiting for it.

And luckily, the wait wasn't too long.

"Don't worry Y/N, we don't have to tell him" he assured, using his girly voice which really wasn't all that good. However, it was really funny and earned another laugh from you which was what he'd wanted all along.

If nothing else, he had just found another way to make you laugh.