#i could have finished it earlier but my brain demanded more XD

[idiotdriftinginspace]

Earth with aurora borealis crown

This is fanart for @lets-try-some-writing and the Unicron and Earth AU

So...I was absend mindly doing some house chores, while day dreaming and thinking about yesterday's amazing aurora borealis, and this image poped up in my head and had to draw the moment i got some free time 😅

I just suddenly had the urge to draw it, because I think it's a pretty cool concept - the aurora being a beautiful crown, and happy Earth

Part 2: Mars

[hollowedwing]

Isekai-ed into Hawk's Life

Hawks x gn!winged!Reader

Warnings: ⚠️ Death!(at very beginning, it is an isekai), mentions of death throughout, some angst(??maybe not yet??), slight cursing

THIS WILL NOT FOLLOW A SPECIFIC TIMELINE IN THE MANGA

(so sorry i just, love, love, the idea of having wings)

(this is all my art, it is on IG, im just too embarrassed for people who know me irl to potentially find this xD Even though none of them have tumblr 👀 if you somehow recognize it...props to you?)

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tbh, I can’t decide if I want this to have more than 1 part. 

Word count: ~1,800

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You were on your way home from a long evening at your part time job. Before that you had already taken 2 finals that morning too.

You dragged your feet, exhausted, as you headed towards the crosswalk. Stopping at the edge as the traffic light turned green, you decided to pull out your phone and decided to watch a speed paint from your favorite artist who recently released a new video.

It just so happened it was a Hawks speed paint 👀

The light turned red and you slipped your phone into your pocket as your started to make your way across the street

little did you know this would be the last time you'd cross the street

A wild driver came barreling down the road, no regards for civilians or traffic lights, probably drunk or high or just someone out for blood.

You stood there like a deer caught in headlights as your life flashes before your eyes

You can barely comprehend what's happening as you felt pain engulf your body and suddenly you were unconscious

________________________________________

Keigo tiredly stumbled into his large apartment, kicking off his shoes and shrugging his jacket off by the door

He wants nothing more than to just flop down and pass out. The HPSC has been giving him hell lately about god knows what.

He let out a long sigh and headed towards the bathroom to do his nightly routine

As he finishes up, he drags his feet towards his bed and flops down face first into the comfort of his pillow and sheets

Keigo falls asleep almost instantly after getting into a comfortable position, worn out from a long day of work

What he wasn't expecting was a loud "thud!" coming from the main room. He jolts up from his bed, feathers ready to attack.

*******

Reader's pov(?)

*******

You groaned as you hit the floor. Your head was spinning and it feels like a truck just hit you

oh wait...

You suddenly became more alert, looking around in a panic, expecting to either be on the road and injured or in a hospital of sorts. What you didn't expect was a wooden floor inside of a random apartment.

You felt around your body for any signs of injury, but all you found were a set of wings on your back- wings?? Hold up. Why did you feel wings what kind of sick joke was this?

Your thoughts were racing as your breathing picked up. What was happening? Didn't you just get hit by a vehicle? Why are there wings in your back? Where are you even?

Feeling around in your pockets, you found your phone and whipped it out, trying for anything. You turned it on, the harsh light of it illuminating your face, you tried to send a text to your best friend, but alas, it wouldn't go through. Actually nothing on your phone seemed to work. You checked your location settings, for some reason it said Musutafu, Japan.

Wasn't....Wasn't that the location that most of Boku no Hero Academia took place?? This can't be right, this has to be a dream right? There's no way that you could have actually ended up here unless...

Then it hit you.

You read your fair share of isekai series back when you were alive in your realm. Mostly manhwas of characters getting reborn into another person's body, but, never actually reincarnating as yourself into another world.

That was the only thing you could think of. You must have been reincarnated into the Boku no Hero Academia world. Except as yourself.

In all honesty, this is not how you thought you'd go out. You didn't know what to expect after death, but this definitely wasn't it. After all, this was a fictional setting, wasn't it?

Well, not anymore because now you're living in it! Smh.

That would also probably explain the wings on your back. This was you now. You have a bird quirk.

Now, all you have to do, is figure out where the heck you are.

Just as you are about to stand up, feathers zip towards you, pinning you to the ground

You hear footsteps begin to come towards you. You don't know if you should be scared for your life considering you've already died once or ecstatic because, you knew for a fact, this could be none other than Hawks' apartment.

The winged hero finally emerges and stares down at you, crossing his arms over his chest.

He says in a low, gravely voice from sleep, "Who are you, and how did you get into my home?" You stare back up at him and nervously chuckle.

"I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you." You nervously sigh out.

"Try me." He demands, sounding a little more irritated now. You sigh in defeat and start to explain your situation.

"Do...do you know what an isekai is?" You said sheepishly while turning your gaze away from his. He kind of gave you a confused head tilt and just a vibe that said “No”. You sigh again and explain it to the best of your ability. Hawks becomes more and more interested and confused as you talk, but nods a long slowly. 

“So...you were reborn here, but as yourself? Wait- does that mean you died before!?” He asked, disbelief and fear ran through his eyes. You looked at him in bitter amusement.

“Apparently I did. The last thing I remember of my world was getting hit by some truck or car. The dude clearly did not know how to drive. I had the right of way I was pretty sure at least. I mean, the light was red, usually that means pedestrians can cross the street? And plus he was going wayyy over the speed limit,” you begin to ramble on, the reality of actually dying setting into you. Hawks noticed the panic beginning to set into you and released you from his feathers. He crouched down next to you and grabbed your shoulders gently.

"Hey, hey, hey, look at me, you're ok now, right? You're here, and not dying in the middle of the street still. You're here. In Musutafu," he said trying to calm you back to reality. Well, what was your new reality. Your mind was racing. Trying to put together a coherent thought. 

You look up to him, with a panicked look still in your eyes, thoughts started to come out of your mouth as your brain was trying to catch up with the situation. "I'm... I'm in Boku no Hero Academia and, and you’re Keigo... standing... right in front of me..I have wings. I have wings? Jeezus I have fucking wings. And I’m dead in my own world. I don’t know anyone, well, wait, technically, I do know people, just-Oh gods! I’m so sorry, that name slipped out! I- I, I’m really sorry Hawks." Even in your wild state, you noticed Hawks tense up at the sound of being called Keigo by a total stranger, and were able to get out an apology. That was progress? You were slowly coming back to reality.

Hawks froze up a bit at the sound of hearing his real name mentioned. At first he wasn't sure if he believed your tale of the isekai situation, but after this he might have to reconsider it. He opted to shake off that weird feeling for now and focus on different matters. 

" I-I don't know what I'm supposed to do now? I have nowhere to go or to stay. I'm in a whole different freaking universe! My phone doesn't even hardly work here. And I have a pair of wings on my back!" You puffed them out angrily. Hawks glanced behind you and his eyes widened a little. You in fact, did have a set of bird wings. Kind of owl like wings. Not near as big as Hawks', but definitely big enough to fly you around.

Before Hawks could process the words coming out of his mouth, he was already asking you, "Would you maybe like to stay with me? I can help with your quirk too." He glanced away awkwardly. You looked towards him in disbelief.

"Dude, are you sure? We literally just met like 10 minutes ago? I mean, I'm all for it, I have nowhere else to turn to, but if you really really don't want me here, I will politely step out of your life." You so badly wanted to accept his offer on the spot, but being the considerate, mostly sensible human you were, you gave him the option to back out. Hawks shook his head.

"No, no, it's alright. You can crash here. Uh- I mean- stay here! Sorry!" You giggled at his comment.

"Well thank you very much!"

"It's all good. I have a spare bedroom you can occupy for the time being. I'll give you some clothes to sleep in that'll hopefully fit. Accidentally bought a couple things in the wrong size without looking. " (a/n: just...just assume its your size, or oversized, whatever's comfy idk) He jumped up and headed towards his room to grab you the clothes. You still sat on the floor. Still amazed at everything that was occurring.

Hawks walked back into the room and tossed you the clothes. "Hey uh, you know, you can get up now, sorry for holding you down earlier.."

You blushed and scrambled to stand up, "Oh no! It's ok! I understand. This would definitely warrant that kind of action. Some random stranger crashes into your apartment at like 1am. I completely understand. Honest."

He let out a small laugh and wearily brushed his fingers through his hair. The adrenaline of everything finally wearing off. He could feel the tiredness setting into his aching muscles again. “Ah, well, I’m going to head to bed now. The room is down the hall at the very end that you can stay in. I’ll take you out training tomorrow evening if that’s alright?”

You gave a nod of understanding and followed him down the hallway. “Goodnight Hawks,” you sang as he walked into his bedroom. He gave a hum of acknowledgment and closed his door. 

Making it into what was now your room, you changed out of your clothes so fast, eager to rid yourself of the past hours events. 

Not gonna lie, you could not figure out how to properly get your new wings into the shirt, even with the holes and snaps in the back. Your mind was too exhausted to even process this new skill. So you ended up going to bed without the shirt on and just settled for putting the sweatpants on. 

You figured it’d be good to just pass out asap. You were sure if you tried to recount the recent events, you’d spiral into a panicked mess. 

You shut your eyes tightly, willing yourself to sleep, trying to only think of positive outcomes for the future. But to be honest, you didn’t know enough about anything in this realm to think rationally about anything good. 

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I prooobably didn’t proofread this as much as I should have

[darth-salem-emperor-of-earth]

Not to my surprise, I’m on the late side with my first entry for @naruto-fantasy-week​ but better late than never, as they say (let’s see if I can actually produce my six other planned fanfics for this event. XD). But I was dying to write a soulmate/soul bond AU and this prompt offered the chance to me on a silver platter. I had a lot of fun with this story and had to find a decent place to stop because my brain kept churning with ideas to make this oneshot even longer to the point I should save this concept for later and either explain on it with a sequel or a multi fic. I did a little editing but it was mainly looking out for typos, misspellings, or missing words. Hopefully, I got them all or most of the mistakes. Happy reading! <3

If anyone is curious, the title for this fanfic “Our Two Souls Destined to Be” are lyrics from the song “Until Eternity” by Blackbriar.

Summary: Soulmates, soul bonds, whatever you call them, they were deemed special. But not to Neji. It didn’t matter who he was bonded to, for the main family would never allow him to find his true soulmate. Naruto Fantasy Week, Day 1. Prompt: Soul Bonds. [Neji x Sakura]

Flashback

Thoughts

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“He is half of my soul, as the poets say.”

― The Song of Achilles,  Madeline Miller

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Every shinobi village treated soul bonds with care but they all had their own ways to manage how these destined people found each other. In Konoha, soul bonds were celebrated and considered a thing of beauty but the village leaders, even the Hokage himself, left the clans alone in their decision regarding the treatment of soulmates, even if it meant the clan heads would tear the soulmates apart for their own agenda. The Uchiha and Hyuga clans were particularly known for this, especially in the branch Hyuga family.

Neji was no stranger to how little of a chance the branch family would have in being allowed to meet and marry their soulmate. Unless their bond directed them to a civilian or another branch member, they were demanded to ignore such signs and tether themselves to the person of the main family’s choosing. His father had no such choice in the matter and neither would Neji. And he already knew what color eyes his soulmate would have.

Neji's father, Hyuga Hizashi, regarded him curiously when the four-year-old asked him what color the grass and leaves on the tree was. He glanced at the twisted tree decorated with bright green leaves and budding, light pink blossoms. He knew what that meant if his son couldn't see the color green and there was no Hyuga in the entire clan that possessed such an eye color. Neji was bonded to an outsider, as the main family would see it.

"How long haven't you been able to behold the color green?" Hizashi queried gently, sitting down beside him as Neji stared at the blades of grass strewn across his palms.

"Since I turned four and before oji put the Caged Bird Seal on me." Neji tilted his hands to the side, watching several bits of grass immediately fall back down to the ground while a few still stuck to his warm palms. "I don't want anyone but you know about my soul bond. I don't want Hiashi-oji finding out and deciding he needs to uncover and lock up my soulmate."

His father remained silent at this admission, not even wasting his breath to assure Neji, his uncle–Hizashi's older twin brother–would never do something so horrendous to prevent Neji from being happy with someone destined for him. Hiashi rarely permitted the branch Hyugas be with their soulmates, especially when the union threatened the main family. That was one reason why he kept Hizashi's soulmate hidden and out of sight–that and the fact she was in love with Hizashi, even though Hisana was Hiashi's intended when the bond was initially revealed. The two of them tried to elope together but were eventually caught by a squad main Hyuga jonins and then were subsequently dragged back to the main family's manor. Hiashi never forgave his brother for ‘stealing’ his bride and her love, and punished them both by making sure they never saw each other ever again. Hisana's new home became her prison, living in exile in her own estates while Hizashi had to sneak around to smuggle in her gifts and letters to keep their spirits and hope alive.

As if remembering the painful memory, Neji's father gazed forlornly back at the tall, imposing stone walls that barred Hisana from her true freedom. His jaw locked in a tight grimace. "Not this time, Neji."

Neji jerked his head up in surprise. "Chichi?"

His father looked back at him, a grim yet resolute gleam in his light eyes. "You will find your soulmate, Neji. You deserve happiness with your soul bond and I'll fight with every fiber in my being to grant you that opportunity, even if it kills me."

Not too long after that private conversation between, his father was gone. Murdered by the main family, even though the official claim was he died at the hands of an assassin trying to kill Hiashi and abduct Hinata. Neji doubted the genuineness of that story, for that tale was a mere cover-up to shield their sordid crimes from the village. They didn't even announce which enemy village attempted to kidnap their precious clan heir, claiming they didn't want to start a political quagmire.

The main family were always crafty, elegant liars.

Neji's pale lavender eyes blankly stared at the trees of the village, their leaves vibrant to everyone else but him. To him, they were a lightly toned grey hue. And if his uncle had anything to say about it, the color green would remain elusive to him forever.

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When Sakura received her soul bond mark, she didn’t tell her parents.

The symbol was a family crest, no doubt, one she was not familiar with but it burned itself along her neck, right above her collarbone. She stuffed her mouth with a pillow to muffle her screaming, utterly relieved that her parents were outside, enjoying the warm weather, and couldn’t hear her agonized noises. Then the scalding throbbing stopped and she frantically looked in the mirror to see an upside triangle with a curve up top, encompassing a small, thick swirling cloud. Transfixed, Sakura hesitantly reached out to trace the emblem, the marking smooth like ink instead of an iron hot brand. She had never seen this sigil before but then again, she came from a civilian upbringing and was unaware of the many important shinobi clans Konoha boasted to have among their ranks. She needed to learn more about the other important, non-civilian families in her village, especially since she already joined the Academy to become a kunoichi.

Checking out a record scroll listing all the known shinobi clans, both existing and defunct, was an easy task at the local library. Sakura spent her afternoon reading every name and analyzing their emblems to see if they matched the sketched replica she made earlier of her soul bond mark. The clan names were listed alphabetically and she was rather shocked to see how many ninja houses, both great and lesser, there were in the world. By the time she reached the ‘F’ section, her stomach grumbled and she had to take a break for lunch, the scroll tucked securely underneath her armpit.

About an hour and a half later, Sakura stared in shock at the perfectly inked Hyuga family crest in the scroll’s documentation, the elaborate sigil identical to the soul bond mark on her neck. Instinctively, she reached out to touch the spot, wondering what this could mean for her. There were stories and known instances of people from differing clans, both ninja and civilian, being tethered together through the soul but this was the Hyuga clan, one of Konoha’s greatest and prominent shinobi family since the founding years. How could her, a budding kunoichi-in-training (and a civilian as well), be bonded to a Hyuga?

Setting the scroll aside, Sakura finished the remnants of her lunch in a melancholic mood, frantically debating if she should finally tell her parents about her finally being bonded to another soul or remain mum on the matter. Memories of her parents’ reluctance, almost near protest, to her decision to become a shinobi of the Leaf, crept back in her mind and she cringed. If her parents still hadn’t warmed up to the idea of her being kunoichi one day and kept waiting for her to quit, then how would they come to terms that her soul mate came from one of the most prodigious clans known to shinobi?

No, she was better off not telling them the truth about her soul bond. The less her parents knew, the better.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Due to the shifting, tense conflicts with the other villages, the Hokage decided to pass a mandate that allowed certain classes of genin to graduate a year early. Neji and his fellow classmates were already on their way to gradate but the genin who were all year younger had the chance to pass the Academy and be allotted their own genin team and teacher.

Neji barely cared who they assigned as his teammates when he graduated.

All it mattered he was in the top of his class, his success and herald as a prodigy flying straight in the face of his uncle and the claim that branch members could never rise higher than the main family. He wished he was there to witness the look on Hiashi’s visage when he realized his nephew showed far more promise as a ninja than his precious heir.

Pale lavender eyes surveyed his classmates, observing their reactions rather than their eyes. He once searched for the color in their eyes, hoping to find that missing hue. There was one classmate who supposedly possessed such an eye color but nothing happened between them and the hue remained elusive to him. Of course finding his soul bond wouldn’t be so easy.

“Hello, Neji-san!” greeted one of his teammates, Lee, in a far too cheery tone. “I look forward to working with you on the many missions to come!” Neji’s other teammate, Tenten, sighed, shaking her head.

“Lee, don’t bother Neji-san.”

The said man blinked. “I wasn’t! I was simply introducing myself to him! We’re teammates, after all, so shouldn’t we get to know one another?”

I could care less.

Without saying anything, Neji stood from his desk and removed himself from the room, leaving behind a bewildered Lee and Tenten exclaiming, ‘See? I told you so!’

He didn’t know why the sight of Lee or his over-enthusism grated him so. Maybe he didn’t like overly friendly or cheerful people or maybe it was because it was well known his two teammates already found their soulmates and their bonds lead to each other. Regardless, he had to get out of this damned academy.

“Forehead Girl, I can’t believe you ended up on the same team as Sasuke-kun! I don’t know why you aren’t as excited as me about this!”

“Ino, please! Keep your voice down! I don’t think the entire village learned about who my new teammate is.” scolded a second voice. Soon enough, two girls rounded around the corner, one blonde, the other sporting brilliant pink hair. The second voice belonged to the pinkette.

Neji stopped, his eyebrows furrowing. He had heard about some other shinobi-in-trainees from other classes (like Uchiha Sasuke and other clan members) before but nothing as odd as a kunoichi with pink hair. She must be decent enough to be paired with Sasuke in their three man squad.

The blonde–Ino–shook her head, throwing her arms up in exasperation. “Well, Sakura, if you’re not going to take advantage of being teammates with Sasuke and cozying up to him, then maybe I should come around and visit you guys while you train.”

Sakura snickered. “Sure, but I can’t guarantee he’ll notice you, Ino Pig.” She looked away from her friend and in that instant, her gaze crossed with Neji’s.

And the color green, so brilliant and lustrous, exploded in his vision.

He gasped unwontedly, reeling from the shock of such a vivid arrival, and couldn’t take his eyes off the girl who the universe bonded himself too. She was staring at him too, one hand clutching her neck and shoulder. Their eye contact never broke, even if her face was locked in pain, like she was burning upside. Their bodies remained frozen, partially out of fear that this was all just a dream and the other would disappear the moment they moved. The other reason, Neji, suspected, as he adjusted to seeing green for the first time while his soulmate controlled her ragged breathing, was they didn’t know how to proceed next. Despite the common occurrences of soul bonds, there really wasn’t a textbook example in how to meet your intended soulmate. At least, one that wasn’t a mere marketing ploy to garner a quick yen or two.

Neji opened his mouth, but the girl–Sakura was her name, he recalled–beat him to it.

“It’s you,” she breathed out in wonder. She took a small step forward, those beautiful, dazzling jade eyes wide and curious. He couldn’t recall the last time someone looked at him that way–or at least, not with utter loathing or total indifference.

“I am Hyuga Neji,” he found himself replying, unsure what else to say to her. There was no need to confirm they were each other’s soulmates, the intense exchange between them upon their first encounter was enough proof.

He was still processing how he should now approach this matter when Sakura let out a victorious squeal and launched herself at him, catching him off guard long enough to trap him in a tight but warm, welcoming hug. He stiffened. Soulmate or no, she was a kunoichi and shouldn't resort to such childish behaviors—

“I found you. I finally found you.” Her face was pressed up against his chest, almost nuzzling his neck so he felt her breath tickle his skin. The sensation felt pleasing, much to his surprise. “After all these years of searching and waiting...you’re here. Just like that.” And then Sakura just had to tilt her head up and peer up at him with those beguiling eyes, their green depths pulling him in. Bonded adults who found their other soul always talked about the strength of that instant connection you experienced when you first meet your soulmate yet Neji never esteemed the soul bond would be this powerful, this intoxicating. Maybe that was why Sakura felt compelled to run up and embrace him full-heartedly.

Into those green irises he gazed on, finding his voice at last when she released him from the enfoldment. “Here I am. We are soulmates, Sakura.” He tested the words out. New as they were on his tongue they still seemed right. “And as my soulmate, I will protect you.”

His father once stormed and braved all the shinobi of the main family to set his soulmate, his beloved Hisana, free from her gilded cage and allow her to seize her own life by the reins. Even though their love story turned into a tragedy, Neji wanted to honor them and at least take the chance at life with his soulmate. It was what his father would have wanted.

Sakura blushed, no doubt thinking he was referring to enemy villages but in truth, his uncle was the main foe on his mind. Neji would have said more if it wasn’t for Sakura’s friend, the one nicknamed ‘Ino Pig’, had to barge and interrupt their precious moment quite boisterously to remind them of her presence.

“SAKURA, WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME YOUR SOULMATE WAS A HYUGA?!”  

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The minute people started poking their heads outside of classrooms or followed the sound of her friend’s voice, Sakura seized the opportunity to grab Neji by the hand and get them both out of the Academy and to one of the training grounds for more privacy. She felt bad for not giving him any warning as she tugged him along, her feet picking up a quick sprint to avoid their classmates’ prying eyes and nosy attention. For the first day with her soulmate, Sakura didn’t want anyone else butting in and spoiling their moment. Judging how willingly Neji allowed her to drag him away from the building without warning, he harbored similar sentiments. He didn’t complain once about her sudden actions and kept up with her pace with ease. Sakura had a sneaky suspicion Neji was faster than she was and like most Hyugas, excelled in taijutsu.

Maybe we could train together some time and he could teach me how to improve my taijutsu? Iruka-sensei keeps saying I’m doing fine but never tells me exactly which areas I can improve in.

“Finally, some peace and quiet, and more importantly, privacy!” she declared out loud, even though she glanced around them one more time to make sure Ino didn’t try to follow them. Then again, she probably was telling anyone who’d listened about the soulmate meeting she just witnessed between her best friend and Hyuga Neji. And knowing Ino, she’d probably over embellish certain parts for dramatic or romantic value. Sakura’s cheeks flushed at the mere thought of how...descriptive her childhood companion could be.

“For how long? Sooner or later, our teammates are going to catch wind of our disappearance and scour the Academy in search of us.” Neji pointed out, crossing his arms, his back against a tree trunk.

Sakura resisted the urge to chew her bottom lip, knowing while Sasuke wouldn’t care where she had gone but Naruto would heatedly clamor for her whereabouts and butt into her and Neji’s personal conversation, demanding to know what was going on. While Naruto wasn’t nosy like Ino, he definitely lacked tact and perception, especially in the more delicate or sensitive matters.

“Maybe ten minutes or so, if we’re lucky,” she estimated, silently praying to Kami that her teammates were far away and wouldn’t come along to muck up her very first meeting with her soulmate. “Not a lot of time to talk but we can still try to get to know each other a little bit before we have to go back to our teams.”

Neji nodded. That seemed reasonable enough. “What do you want to know? My skills as a shinobi?”

Heat flared up on Sakura’s cheeks and she wished that practical matter was her first thought. “Well, that too. I was thinking about asking questions more on the line on what we like or dislike, favorite foods, what’s your favorite color--you know, fun little facts to learn about each other.”

Neji couldn’t remember someone asking him such mundane queries or expressing an interest in him outside of the Academy or shinobi lifestyle. He wasn’t sure if he should find the whole point such discussions pointless or refreshing. Albeit he had to admit, he was curious to learn more about Sakura. Despite his grim resignation of the main family preventing him from ever discovering the end of his soul bond, he had often wondered late in the night before going to sleep what his soulmate would be like. Would they be a shinobi like him or a civilian? Were they from a clan or have no distinct, esteemed connections of their own? And would his soulmate even be a denizen of Konoha? At least now he will finally have some answers to the questions his younger self frequently contemplated about.

“Why do you go first, Sakura?” he offered politely. She seemed to know what questions she wanted to ask him anyway.

She nearly bounced in her feet. “Okay! Let’s start with your favorite food and color. Oh, and your least favorite food!”

That was straightforward enough. “Herring soba. I hate the flavor of pumpkin and any spicy foods. As for my favorite color…” He paused, realizing he never truly thought about it until now. Sakura’s brilliant verdant eyes snare his focus again, subtly offering him an option. Her eyes were a pretty shade after all. Perhaps fate had an answer for him after all. “Let’s go with green. Now that I can see it, I don’t think I can get enough of it.”

Sakura’s jaw dropped open. “You couldn’t see the color green for years?!” She had heard that each soul bond was different, that soulmates weren’t necessarily marked the same way but to never behold the color belonging to your soulmate’s eyes until you two finally met (if the union ever betided) seemed like such a huge sacrifice to endure and wait for its end.

Neji shrugged with indifference, knowing Sakura meant well but until today, he was used to not gleaning the color green and all its various shades. Now, he couldn’t unsee the hue and that was perfectly fine with him. “It doesn’t matter now. I fathomed if I had the chance to meet my soulmate, they’d be worth the wait.” His lavender pearl eyes leveled with her jade ones. “And I was right.”

Sakura sucked her breath in, trying her utmost best to remain calm and collected while inside, she was squealing with glee. While she had always been excited at the prospect of one day finding the match to her soul bond, deep down she was nervous, frightened even, that she would be rejected because she  wasn’t good enough, that she didn’t come from a noble or prestigious ninja clan or carried a formidable bloodline in her veins. She was a simple civilian girl who aspired to be a strong kuniochi one day, regardless of all the taunts and abuse the younger girls heaped on her in the early days of the Academy. And Hyuga Neji, her soul bond, seemed to have no issue with her civilian-like background. It was enough to have her heart fluttering all over again.

“T-Thank you,” she managed to say without blushing as crimson as her cheongsam but was unable to stop a grin from overtaking her lips. Neji’s smirk at her reaction was hardly inscrutable now, even as she quickly changed the subject back to her earlier inquiries. “My favorite color is red, as you might have guessed, and I have several favorite foods: anko dumplings, umeboshi, and, oh, anmitsu! But I can’t stand spicy food either. I just don’t understand how people can enjoy burning their tastes buds.” Sakura made a contemptuous face, remembering the last time she tried an overly spicy and seasoned dish. She had to gulp down an entire glass of milk to stop the fire from spreading along her tongue. That was when she learned water didn’t alleviate the fiery discomfort at all. 

“I don’t understand it either,” Neji agreed, granting her a sympathetic look. He had to admit, learning such trivial pieces of information about his soulmate was rather fun. These small talks helped him understand Sakura a little bit better, especially if they seemed to be so unalike in various ways. He was about to propose a question of his own when he sensed very faint but approaching chakra signatures heading towards his and Sakura’s covert location. Instinctively, he activated his Byakugan. He did not fail to notice the way Sakura’s eyes widened with surprise or the expression of awe and wonder flashing across her features as she witnessed his kekkei genkai in action for the very first time.

“What is it? Who’s trying to locate us?” She kept her tone hushed, preventing her voice from echoing over the tall, shrouded trees they used as refuge from curious onlookers.

“Two senseis,” Neji groused, thoroughly displeased with this interruption. If the intruders were fellow classmates, they could have easily been shooed away. “Looks like we’re found out.” His gaze returned to normal.

Sakura sighed exasperatedly, dejected by these turn of events and crossed her arms irately. She had hoped her and Neji would have more time together and no one would notice their absence until much later. “We already have graduated and yet, they still want to lecture us on something we won’t remember or care about now that we’re genin and can finally go on missions.”

“Just ignored them,” Neji advised, a shadow of a smirk gracing his lips. “It’s only for today. And after that, the Academy will be a thing of the past.”

Sakura brightened at his words, standing up tall. “That’s right! And we can have more time to see each other! Do you think you’ll be free tomorrow?”

“I should be, if my new sensei doesn’t keep us training for the whole day. I’ll come find you after practice. What’s the number they assigned your team?”

“Seven. What about you?”

“Thirteen.”

“There you two are!”

In a sudden swirl of smoke, stood two Academy teachers, both eyeing their respective student from their classroom. One of them was Neji’s teacher, who merely cut him a disapproved frown while the other teacher, who was tan and supported a long scar across his nose, smiled worriedly at Sakura.

“Iruka-sensei, you shouldn’t pop in on us like that! Neji and I were having a private conversation!” Sakura protested indignantly.

Iruka almost appeared apologetic the way he shot her an empathetic glance, his smile unwavering, before addressing them both. “I’m sorry to cut this moment short, but you two need to go with your genin team and meet your new sensei. I’m sure the two of you have plenty of time later talk to each other.” He then winked knowingly, now wearing an absurdly goofy grin while ushering both a stoic Neji and an irked Sakura out of the canopy of trees and back to the Academy. Before they parted to be formally introduced to their shinobi squad, Sakura gave him an eager wave, her eyes alight with the promise of them meeting up tomorrow. Even though he only knew her company for such a brief time, he did enjoy the way she beamed at him like that, rife with hope and supreme joy, as if they were the only two people in the world and nothing else mattered. Neji was beginning to understand the inexplicable bliss of having a soul bond much better now. And he had Sakura to thank for that.  

Feeling lighthearted for the first time in years, Neji glanced hopefully at the doors to the Academy and the cherry blossoms trees that framed the grounds around the building. He wondered if Sakura liked cherry blossoms or she preferred other flora in Konoha.

Next time they talked, he’ll have to ask her what her favorite flowers were.

[gwennavierre]

Random midnight Miraculous ladybug reveal musings... I do not know how to put a cut thingy... I am noob. I am sorry. Thankfully only like, 4 people actively see my posts, so...

"Ladybug, we can't defeat this villain on our own, we need help! You're the guardian now, can't you give someone a miraculous?"

Ladybug dodged another attack from their current foe, grabbing Chat Noir's arm and pulling him off the ledge of the building. Using her yoyo, she lowered them safely to the ground and they found themselves in an alleyway.

"That's a great idea, kitty, except ALL the temporary miraculous users have been exposed!" The annoyance in her voice wasn't meant to be so noticeable, and she knew it wasn't his fault. No.. it was most decidedly HER fault the Miracle box had been compromised and Master Fu had been forced into his 'early' retirement. Ladybug scowled.

Chat ran to check if the villain had seen where they landed. So far, so... well, not good, but the duo hadn't been spotted. Yet.

Chat turned back towards the polka dotted heroine and winced momentarily at the scowl on her face. "Not all of them, my lady."

Her face relaxed slightly, but confusion took over as she mentally ticked off everyone she'd entrusted with a miraculous... "who...?"

"Marinette!" Chat sang, his face beaming as Ladybug's eyes grew wide. Her hands went over her mouth, nearly absorbing her whispered words:

"How... how did you find out?"

Chat tilted his head in confusion, but figured she was simply having a memory lapse.

"Remember when the teacher at that school tried to capture our kwamis? You gave the mouse miraculous to Marinette. She helped us defeat Kwamibuster? We even let her use MY miraculous..." he scratched his head thoughtfully "...honestly, she was so good that day, I can't believe you haven't had her help us again. Just because I know her identity..."

Ladybug breathed out a sigh of relief. Of course, Marinette wouldn't exactly be useful right now... she decided to interrupt Chat's muttering about how he should know everything Ladybug knows now that she's the guardian and that means temporary miraculous user identities and not leaving him out like she did with Master Fu and-

"Kitty, that's a great idea, but.. um... I think Marinette is uh.. unavailable...."

Chat stopped his ranting and tilted his head again. "What? Why? I saw her just before we started fighting. Give me her miraculous, I'll find her before you can say-"

"Adrien Agreste!"

Chat's pupils turned to thin slivers as he gaped at her. "Wha-what??"

Ladybug didn't seem to notice her partner's panick and continued..

"I gave him the snake miraculous, back when we fought-"

"Desperada", Chat finished, glumly.

"Er... yes. I actually hadn't told you about that... it ended up not working out too well, and Luka used it instead. Chat, are you alright? What's wrong?" She rushed to her partner who looked like a child who had been told Christmas was cancelled.

He realllly didn't want to remember his failures that day.

Letting out a small sigh, he looked into Ladybug's eyes.

"I don't think that's going to work, either, my lady. Adrien is... also unavailable." His eyes darted back and forth between hers, as if he was watching them play table tennis over her nose.

Ladybug wasn't so easily convinced, however.

"What do you mean 'unavailable'? He was helping people hide just before you joined me. Hold on, I'll go get the miraculous and find him. He's had a LOT of practice with it, so this time I'm sure it will work out!" Her smile was so... genuine and full of what looked like... pride? Chat felt butterflies that had nothing to do with Hawk Moth fluttering in his throat and stomach, but he couldn't let her go on a wild goose chase when the goose was already right in front of her.

"No!" He grabbed her wrist just before she could release her yoyo out. "Chat, what the hell?"

"Adrien can't use the snake miraculous. It was a disaster for him last time!"

Ladybug narrowed her eyes. "What do you even know about it, Chat? You didn't even show up that day until after he'd given up and suggested Luka use it instead. How did you even KNOW he had used it, let alone that it 'was a disaster' for him, hmm?" Chat didn't know finger quotes could look so angry. He swallowed and desperately tried to think of something to get him out of this tangle up. He could hear the akuma villain yelling for them, demanding their miraculous, and generally causing more destruction for them to sort through later, and his mind eventually landed on Ladybug's earlier excuse...

"Why can't I go find Marinette? She's much better at this sort of thing than Adrien was! She even unified Mullo and Plagg! That takes a lot of strength to pull off, and she was amazing at it!" his eyes shone at the memory of Multimouse boldly asking him for his ring as he hid in a banana suit... of her bringing it back to him as promised, of her problem solving skills that rivaled Ladybug's... and of her handing back the mouse miraculous and detransforming into his klutzy and awkward classmate. Huh. She definitely wasn't either of those things that day... Realizing Ladybug had been talking, he tried to tune in as if he hadn't been lost in his own thoughts when time was so precious.

"... the bakery and her parents are probably there so it would be impossible to get her the miraculous without them seeing, and that wouldn't be safe.. look, Chat, we can't waste anymore time. Why don't you want Adrien using a miraculous? Why don't you trust him? Why don't you trust ME? We don't have a lot of options, but as much as you don't like this, I'm the one who has to make the final decisions. Will you help me with this, or not?" Her eyes were shining, but this time with unshed tears.

Chat reached his hand out, palm up, wordlessly asking to take her own. Sighing, she rested her hand in his and looked into his eyes, trying to hide the hurt in her own.

"Ladybug, it's not that I don't trust you. Please believe me when I say this.. there is no one in this world I trust more than you, my lady. You're going to have to find Miranette. Please forgive me for this. I know it's not ideal, but..." Chat Noir closed his eyes.

It was Ladybug's turn to tilt her head to the side. "Chat..? What are you-"

"Plagg, claws in."

....

...

After a few quiet moments, Adrien opened his eyes.

Ladybug had her hands over her face again, and the parts he could see matched the red of her gloves so well they almost disappeared entirely. She made a small noise that sounded eerily like a dog who just had his tail stepped on by a distracted human.

"....Ladybug? Can... can you say something? A-anything?" His voice cracked with anxiety. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked hopefully at Plagg, who had wisely chosen to keep his mouth shut, for a change.

Ladybug wasn't sure how to talk anymore, but her partner, her friend, her crush... was looking at her as though his heart was in her hands and she ran to him and threw her arms around him and let out a strangled laugh.

"Abrien! I can't believe it's you! I can't.. I can't process this time at this reveal, but we should tefinitely dalk once we defeat this akuma!"

Ladybug was stuttering and jumbling her words now? Because she found out his identity? Adrien felt something akin to deja vu but couldn't quite place it..

"So, my lady, think you should go get someone to help who isn't already a superhero?" he pulled his signature flirtatious smirk (which worked waaaay better without the mask covering his eyebrows, Ladybug noticed).

"Um...." she wasn't quite ready to reveal her own identity, and tried to figure out a solution that didn't involve going to look for herself...

"Look, Ladybug, the sooner you get this over with, the sooner you can both unify Tiki and me with other kwamis to give you kids more power. He's going to find out anyway, since we all know you can't speak coherently around him anymore, knowing who he really is."

Adrien and Ladybug turned to look at the smug cat kwami who was now burrowing in Adrien's shirt pocket for cheese. Something finally clicked in Adrien's brain and his eyes shot up at the red faced super heroine who hadn't even been able to say his name properly since he detransformed. She suddenly found her fingertips incredibly interesting.

"....Marinette?"

"H-hi."

---------

Possibly to be continued, if anyone us interested. They still have a villain to fight, after all, though I'm no good with battles. XD

[emospritelet]

Sutherelle : 24 - “We can have our own Christmas party”

I made it Sutheracey, so I could get these two idiots laid. Hope you don’t mind. Please excuse the utter ridiculousness of this fic but Lacey is very, very bad and I’m having fun with her XD

[Part 1] [Part 2] [AO3]

x

The kitchens at Chequers held a large supply of candles, and Lance provided a torch with surprising speed in order to locate them, so it wasn’t too long before Sutherland could see what he was doing. Within reason, anyway. He had moved from his study to the library, where a fire had been lit, and had poured himself a glass of whisky. Lacey was leaning against the desk, still clutching her open bottle of champagne, and he couldn’t be bothered to tell her to bugger off. Besides, the library was at least warm, and he had nowhere to send her with the snow blanketing the roads around them. The rest of the party guests had gotten out just in time, it seemed.

Lance’s shift had finished, but Sergeant David Nolan had taken over, and Sutherland had tasked him with finding out what was going on with the power loss. It turned out that the whole of the estate and the nearby villages were also dark, and Nolan said that the storm had knocked out power lines.

“It won’t be fixed tonight, sir,” he said. “No way anyone can get out in this weather, and it’s likely the roads will be impassable tomorrow.”

“Understood,” said Sutherland. “Keep me posted.”

“Sir.” Nolan eyed Lacey with a bemused look on his face. “I’ll - uh - be outside, sir.”

He stepped outside the door, closing it behind him. There was silence, but for the crackle and snap from the fire, and Sutherland looked at Lacey. Firelight danced, sending flickering shadows and bursts of warm light around the room. It highlighted the smooth curves of her cheeks and shone in her eyes.

“Well,” he said. “I’m sorry you’re trapped here, Miss French.”

“I’m not,” she said. “And it’s Lacey.”

“I should see about getting you a bed for the night,” he said. “The guest rooms are always ready.”

“What about yours?” she said.

He wanted to shiver at the low note of promise in her voice, and wanted to click his tongue in exasperation. She’s probably not even talking about getting in your bed, she’s telling you to get to bed. Stop letting your cock rule your bloody brain! 

“I’m not tired yet,” he said simply.

“People don’t just go to bed when they’re tired.”

She was smiling, her eyes gleaming with gold in the light from the candles and the crackling fire. He licked his lips nervously, feeling his cock twitch with interest. Lacey let her tongue wet her lips, making them glisten, and he looked away before he could grow fully hard. Damn the woman! Okay, she’s doing this on purpose! She knows exactly what she’s doing to me! 

More silence. Sutherland paced back and forth in front of the fire, wondering what to do with her, and discarding every suggestive notion his lust-fuelled brain was coming up with. You should probably just go to bed. Leave her down here. Nolan will show her to a guest room, she doesn’t need you here to entertain her. Go to bed, you idiot! Go to bed, have a fucking frenzied wank, and get it out of your system! 

When he looked around, Lacey was slowly pulling the pins from her hair. He had opened his mouth to tell her Nolan would show her to a room, but the words died in his throat as he watched her tilt her head back, exposing the pale length of her throat as she raked fingers through her hair. separating it into gleaming curls that bounced around her shoulders as she looked up. His pulse throbbed in his throat, and Lacey locked her gaze onto his, her lips parted a little. He could see her chest rise and fall with her breath, blue sequins glittering, and he was aware that he was staring with his mouth open. He snapped it shut, and Lacey tilted her head as she held up the champagne bottle.

“You want to help me drink this?” she asked.

“N-no thank you, I’ll stick with whisky.” He rubbed at the spot just above his left eye, where he could feel a headache forming. He probably shouldn’t be drinking at all with Lacey there to tangle his wits, but whisky in the evenings was something of a ritual. “Go ahead.”

“I don’t have a glass.”

“There are glasses in the cabinet over there.”

“It’s cool, I’ll just drink out of the bottle, I ain’t proud.”

Lacey slammed the bottom of the champagne bottle down on the desk, making him jump, and a gout of white foam spurted out of the open neck. She bent her head, letting the foam squirt into her mouth and run over her lips, sucking at the neck of the bottle. Sutherland felt his eyes widen at the sight of it, his cock swelling as his mind took the image and ran with it, as he imagined that sweet mouth wrapped around him, sucking him hard and drawing him deep. She let out a tiny moan, and straightened up, white foam running over her chin before she wiped it off with a thumb and sucked it clean. He swallowed hard, and Lacey sent him a tiny, secret smile.

“Oops,” she said.

She’s trying to kill me. She’s actually trying to kill me.

“Uh - you said you were at university earlier,” he said desperately. “What are you studying?”

Lacey pursed her lips, pushing herself up onto the desk on the heels of her hands.

“What would you say if I told you it was politics?”

“I’d say you don’t strike me as the political type,” he said dryly, and she sniffed.

“Well, that’s where you’re wrong. I’m doing a Master’s in Global Environment, Politics and Society.”

Sutherland raised an eyebrow.

“Really?”

“What’s the matter?” she said flatly. “You were expecting me to be an airhead?”

“No, not at all,” he said, lifting his glass to take a sip. “I just had you pegged for something on the arts side, like English, or journalism.”

“Want me to peg you?”

Sutherland choked, spraying whisky, and Lacey bit her lip to hold in her amusement. He coughed, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and feeling his cheeks heat.

“Suit yourself,” she said. “The offer stands. I’ll even bring the lube.”

“Are you intentionally going all out to make me feel out of my depth, or is this just how you interact with everyone?” he demanded, and Lacey shrugged, one shoulder rising and falling.

“I think you’re probably surrounded by people telling you what you want to hear all day,” she said. “It’s good to mix things up a little.”

“Clearly you haven’t attended any Cabinet meetings,” he muttered.

“No, but maybe I will in the future,” she said. “My dissertation’s on the Climate and Renewable Energy Bill and the studies and political pressures that led to its drafting,” She lifted her glass. “Maybe one day you and I will be sitting around a table in a briefing room.”

“I suspect it would be the Minister for Climate and Environmental Protection, rather than me,” he said. “And I wish them the best of bloody luck with you.”

Lacey chuckled.

“Come on, don’t tell me you haven’t had fun this evening.”

Surprisingly, he realised he had. Despite feeling as though he hadn’t the faintest idea what was happening to him, it was exhilarating. Perhaps that was the reason. Perhaps she was right; every waking moment of his life had been mapped out and organised since he entered 10 Downing Street. It was almost refreshing not to have a bloody clue what the rest of the night would hold.

“Why did you stay here?” he asked. “Why hide away until everyone else had gone?”

Lacey sent him a puzzled look.

“Don’t you know?”

He stared at her, unwilling to say anything in case he had read her very, very wrong, and Lacey sighed.

“I want to have sex with you,” she said. “Please don’t lie and say I’ve been subtle, because I absolutely haven’t.”

Sutherland stared at her, trying to swallow past the lump in his dry throat. He took a sip of whisky to help.

“No,” he said hoarsely. “Subtle is not a word I would apply to you, Miss French.”

“Glad to hear it,” she said. “We can have our own Christmas party. You up for it?”

He drank the last of the whisky to give himself time to think, but his brain was filled with white noise and was providing him with no answers other than a gentle whisper of how good she would feel. He set the glass down on the mantelpiece.

“You do realise the tabloid press have been trying to catch me in some sort of sex scandal since I came to power?”

Lacey snorted.

“It’s the biggest blizzard in a decade, from what you told me,” she said. “I really doubt any of the paps are camped out in the gardens with a long lens on the camera.”

“I’ve learned you can never be too careful, in my line of work,” he said, and she rolled her eyes.

“This is your place, right?”

“Yes.”

“Staffed by your people.”

“Correct.”

“Who you trust completely.”

“I do.”

“So no one gets in without their say so, right?”

“Again, correct.”

“Then why would you think anyone would ever find out?” she pushed. “This is probably the safest place in the world for you to do something you want to keep secret.”

He hesitated, unable to fault her logic.

“Besides, why is it so wrong?” she added. “We’re both adults.”

“You’re half my age.”

“Does that bother you?”

Sutherland was silent, and Lacey smirked.

“Well then.”

“It would bother some.”

“They’re not here, and given that none of them are gonna give me a mind-blowing orgasm, I don’t give a flying fuck what they think.”

He chuckled at that.

“I like your confidence in my abilities,” he remarked. “Probably misplaced, but even so…”

Lacey smirked, and set down her glass, pushing herself off the desk with the heels of her hands and walking towards him with a slow, sensuous sway of her hips. He felt his heart thump in his chest as she drew nearer, until they were almost touching, and her eyes locked onto his. One hand rested against his chest, fingers walking up his silk tie, pressing gently, one by one. 

“You strike me as the kind of man with a great deal of energy and attention to detail,” she said, her voice a low purr. “Those are excellent qualities in a lover.”

“Is that what we are?”

“We could be, if you stopped over-analysing everything and kissed me.”

“Really?” he growled, and her smile grew, fingers tightening around the tie and tugging his head down to meet hers.

“Really,” she whispered.

He lifted a hand to cup her cheek, feeling the softness of her skin beneath his palm.

“Fuck it!” he whispered, and her smile grew.

“That’s the spirit.”

His mouth found hers, and she moaned as his tongue pushed inside, her taste sweet from the champagne, her mouth hot and wet. One hand slid up into the short strands of his hair, her touch sending shivers through him, and he slid an arm around her waist, pulling her tight against him. It had been years since he’d had a good, long snog, and he’d forgotten how pleasant it was, how arousing to feel the press of a warm body against his and the intimacy of putting his tongue inside someone. His cock was a rigid line in his pants, pressing against the fabric of his boxers, and Lacey pushed against him, moving her hips to grind in a slow circle. It made him gasp into her mouth, and she broke the kiss, lips wet with saliva and both of them breathing hard. She smiled, a slow curve of her mouth, eyes flicking up to meet his.

“Gonna take me upstairs?” she whispered, and he nodded.

“If you want.”

“I do.” Her hand tightened on his tie, and she nuzzled his nose with hers. “Like I said. I never saw a candy cane I didn’t want to suck.”

She kissed him again, and Sutherland groaned into her mouth, the kiss growing messy and frenzied. Maybe he’d tell Nolan to stay downstairs for once.

[queen-mabs-revenge]

I apologize if this comes off as a rude question to a Killian fan, but I think you’d be the best person to answer in a real and logical way: Do you think, given what we know of how the series went, Killian’s character arc might have ended better had he either died from the Excalibur wound or if he had been allowed to maintain his heroic sacrifice at the end of the Dark Swan arc? Not necessarily ‘would he be better off dead than married’, just whether those would’ve been more Him.

Woo boy nonny, you’re out for my life today, aren’t you? xD

OK arggggk ok this is complicated for me bc those two ‘death points’ are very different imo, and also have different implications depending on how close to the story you’re zooming in. For the purposes of this, I’m going to focus on the Camelot death from the Excalibur wound. 

On the purely ~*~i’m love him~*~ level, of course I’m rather dang pleased that he didn’t die…permanently in either of those scenarios. I’m always pleased to get more of Killian on my screen. Even if the situations leave me feeling frustrated, I think that he’s a character that’s complexly written enough and well acted enough to be someone I can enjoy picking apart in any scenario. 

So OK dealing with both of these scenarios I think you can tackle this from a few different viewpoints (and I hate to always go back to this, but it’s literally like the fundamental way my brain works, so I’m gonna kind of be flirting with those ideas the whole time). Looking at the situations as if I were imagining all the characters in the story to be real people? I think it’s clear what the characters wanted: in the case of the Excalibur wound, Killian would rather have died while helping free his friends than Emma turn him into the dark one, and expressed that clearly. In the case of his death at the end of the Dark Arc, he chose death in part as a way to free everyone from the fate he’d doomed them to, but also to eradicate the darkness once and for all. Because of Rumple’s failsafe, that choice was predicated on false circumstances, and so the idea of Emma going to bring him back, and him not wanting to stay dead as long as everyone else was safe, makes more character sense and is more of a plot point to get everyone to The Underworld. Because the first is more character based and the latter more plot based, I’m gonna focus my attention on the first.

If we’re talking about the character arcs? It’s hard. Basically the way that I would approach that would be “how fruitful were these events in catalysing character progression and growth” and as I’ve said in other posts, I don’t think they—especially the Camelot death—were fruitful at all, and in fact were regressive. This is going to focus mainly on CS in 4-6 as that’s pretty much what I see those events and their value enmeshed with (and, as I’ve stated before, IMO nearly all of Killian’s S4-6 interactions are filtered through CS anyway, so I think it’s appropriate to talk mostly about CS here) and bc I’m a lengthy ho it’s going below the cut.

The thing I had loved about CS was that during the S3 build up to their actually entering a relationship, the relationship was set up to challenge both of their character weaknesses. For Killian, his weakness centres around his desire for freedom and agency (for himself or others), when challenged, leading him to close himself off and/or make pretty shitty and harmful decisions. For Emma, you have the fear from the trauma of abandonment leading her to isolate herself, or sometimes not even enter decisions as to not present the opportunity for abandonment.

So the S3 push-and-pull of Killian giving the reins of the relationship to Emma—stepping in as support when her life or familial relationships were at risk, yes, but in their interpersonal relationship, letting her evaluate him and move at her own pace—addressed both of their weaknesses. Killian explored the vulnerability of willingly giving up control of a situation, and Emma, by going at her own pace, was able to evaluate his steadfastness and begin to trust him for it.

And that was the dynamic that each needed in that moment, and why early CS is still in ways compelling for me — if I ignore the follow through. Because the problem with the two “deaths”, as far as I see, is that they follow this pattern of taking that previous dynamic, and digging in the heels and exaggerating it to an unhealthy level, instead of exploring how the two characters heal together and adopt a new dynamic. The important thing in that push-and-pull exchange is the agency both characters have in it — however, you start to see what, in my opinion, is Emma assuming Killian’s willingness to follow her lead is given, which removes his agency from the exchange…and the narrative starts to romanticise it.

I think you start seeing it from the beginning of S4 with Emma getting angry at Hook when he doesn’t do as she says and stay put with Elsa in 4x03. We get insight into both of their mindsets during the confrontation at the end – Emma is terrified that she’ll lose him and that’s the reason she orders him earlier; he, used to being dynamic, struck out on his own in response. But the point we got by the end of the episode wasn’t that she was right, but that she was expressing her valid fears irrationally by trying to tell Killian to do what she said, no questions asked. And he was wrong in that he didn’t counter a demand he didn’t agree with right away and directly, but took back his agency behind her back when he should have communicated that he had a problem with what she was asking. So you have the unhealthy level of the dynamic being played out, handled poorly, and a set up for forward motion into healthiness being presented.

Except it never really followed through—oh it did in dribs and drabs, which makes this so much more frustrating (their conflict over his holding back information about Ursula, and then the resolution they come to together being one positive move I can think of where they’re venturing more into equal partner territory), but overall the idea of Killian’s capitulating to Emma being a given instead of a choice is the theme that continued—to its unhealthiest apex in S5, with the Dark One arc being the dramatic climax of  Emma assuming Killian’s eventual compliance and overriding his agency with her own desires, and Killian, when confronted with being controlled, going to harmful extremes.

And, what that should have done, and what I thought it was doing at the time, was to drag that increasingly issue-laden agency problem out into the harshest light, to the most extreme situation of life or death, and create maximum drama over it so that it could reach a resolution both through character interaction and plot resolution. So that going forward, you would have the two entering into a more communicative partnership and presenting a united front (and negotiating how to navigate what that means) against whatever conflict showed up next (insert forever bitter I NEVER GOT MY FUCKING BATTLE COUPLE face here), or deciding to step back and change their dynamic by moving away from presenting a romantic unit.

But what happened was more of the same, except this time it was treated by the narrative as being just part of their relationship’s standard operating procedure, part of the new ‘normal’ after the major conflict of S5, and not as a problem to be solved. It was romanticised. So you end up with S6 which makes me just want to fling myself into the sun with rage. Lies about the saviour premonitions are Emma taking agency away from not only Killian but everyone around her — it’s the same story all over again, ***walls*** so it’s OK, but no one has the agency to react and to help her because she doesn’t allow it. And as it relates to CS, you don’t get Killian’s reaction to this at all except in sad looks (and That Fucking Cut Scene That Shouldn’t Have Been Cut).

You get a redux of 4x03 with Killian hiding the shears as a way to try to reclaim some agency behind Emma’s back, because she’s shut him out of any solution they could have reached together as partners. But the narrative focuses on what he does as the only grave error of the situation. You have the agency problem embedded in the first proposal – from going through his private things that trusted as a safe hiding place, to her instigating the proposal over his coming to her for help — but this time, unlike in the Camelot situation, her actions aren’t called into question by the narrative, but his immediately very much are both by her at the character level, and at the narrative by isolating him on the realm-hopping extravaganza. Her taking away his agency is very literally romanticised in a proposal.

You have it again right before the wedding with yet another lie to cut Killian off from being able to actively step back to or to step in and help her as her supposed partner — and again, this time the narrative frames this not only as the act of a hero, culminating in her solo take-down of the Black Fairy (with her family literally frozen out of supporting her), but it actually intersperses her actions of lying to him to force him act as she alone thinks is right in with the build up to their actual wedding. Not only does the narrative not call her actions into question, they’re literally put into the most romantic of contexts. The question at that point is never whether or not Killian will follow Emma’s lead, because the relationship never moved past the S5 conflict of Emma assuming he would and acting on his behalf, except unlike in S5, this isn’t portrayed as a relationship weakness, but as Emma’s strength of character, and their romantic apex.

So that comes back to the death question. And my returning question: narratively what was the payoff? 

It’s not that from a story standpoint I think that Killian’s character arc was finished when he was dying from the Excalibur wound — for me it’s that, if that moment is a pivotal moment crafted to show the height of agency imbalance in the only real relationship he has on the show in S4-6, then it should have been addressed and resolved with a pivot in dynamic after the dramatic fallout — with the characters either moving together or apart. 

As it stands, the dynamic stagnated and regressed so badly into that stagnation that the whole issue that the “death” brought up, with the extreme violation of agency and resulting trauma of S5, was angst for angst sake without resulting growth. Without a complete overhaul of the plot from that point out where CS either grow together or apart due to the consequences of that moment, I tend to view that moment when he’s begging to die in the Middlemist field as just a deeply sad one, now made the sadder for its pointlessness. It’s harbinger of the future unchanging and then utterly romanticised removal of his agency within the relationship continuing through the end of the series. The shower of resulting S5 angst affects his character/relationship arc through S6 about as much as a fridging would have anyway, and it’s really bleeding hard for me to side against the character’s wishes knowing all that in retrospect.

(that said, to reiterate, as a killian fan, i am glad he stuck around? but i’m also glad i get to live in a world where there’s a him that didn’t go through that depressing stagnation? ugh HI YEAH!)

[lopithecusfanfiction]

1773

Author: Lopithecus Pairing: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne Rating: Mature Word Count: 2654 Alternate: AO3, fanfiction.net Summary: Clark meets Bruce in 1773 Warnings: Infidelity, Consensual Infidelity  Author's Note: For @frownyalfred​. Res, this was supposed to be reincarnation because that’s what you wanted but then the first part turned out to be longer than I had anticipated. Maybe, if I’m up to it, I’ll turn it into a reincarnation series instead. ;) This is also as a thank you for the other day, helping me through my own shit. I also did a little research, like 18 century insults, 18 century words for cock, you know, the normal things. XD Translations will be in the end A/N. I’m not from the UK so I had to do some research on that as well. Hopefully nothing is wrong. No powers AU! (Which is something I never thought I would write, but here we are. :P) Enjoy!

Clark lies on his side, breathing heavily and clutching at his aching ribs. Another kick comes from behind and he reaches a hand up to try and protect his head. This wasn’t how he had planned this little voyage to be like. He thought he would be okay if he paid the fee and kept out of trouble with the rest of the poor. He thought he would be left alone. He should have known that the rich wouldn’t tolerate such people. Clark closes his eyes and tries to think of how he can get the beating to stop.

“That is enough.” Clark’s eyes shoot open and the kicks and punches stop. There are no more names being said to him. Names like clunch, bracket-faced, cod’s head and duke of limbs. He lifts his aching head to see a well-dressed man, around his own age, standing there looking nonplussed.

“Brucie! Come to join us?” The man who had started the beating asks, flaring his arms out to the side.

“Leave him alone,” The man, Brucie, demands.

Clark dares to sit up some, to watch the exchange closer. The man who addressed Brucie first looks agitated. “What do you want with a man born under a threepenny, halfpenny planet, never to be worth a groat?”

“Yeah, Brucie,” another man joins in. “Don’t be such a rusty gut.”

Brucie, looking from one man to the other, ignores them completely and walks up to Clark. The man holds out a hand towards Clark, and Clark takes it hesitantly. “Come on.” Brucie starts walking away and Clark follows in a rush, the men who were beating on him earlier letting them go. It perplexes Clark.

“Um… Sir-” Clark starts but Brucie interrupts him.

“Bruce.” Bruce turns to him. “The name is Bruce.”

Clark’s eyes dart down to Bruce’s outstretched hand and takes it quickly. “Clark. I am Clark.”

Bruce quirks an eyebrow. “An unusual name.”

“It is a family name,” Clark informs.

Bruce’s lips form a half smile and the man begins to walk again. “So, it is.”

“Uh, Bruce, why did you just stop those guys?” Clark asks. “Why did they just let us leave?”

Bruce shrugs and opens the door to the hall that will lead to the cabins. Clark looks around. This isn’t the area where the poor sleep. Their cabins are down under deck in damp, small rooms, four men or women stashed into one. This is where the rich sleep. “I have a lot of pull around here. That is why they let us go. They would not dare cross me. I could make their lives a living hell.”

Clark hurries to catch up to Bruce, having stopped in awe at the extravagance of the hall. “And you saved me. Why?”

“I do not like to see people being treated poorly by bell swaggers,” Bruce explains.

Clark falls in step with Bruce, pretending that it doesn’t hurt to walk, or breathe for that matter. “And where are you taking me?”

Bruce gives him a side look. “Back to my room so I can take care of your wounds. I would bring you back to your room but there would be a bunch of rufflers in there that would only get in the way.” Bruce’s smile grows and again looks at Clark. “A room full of men. It is sure to bring a woman’s commodity out, I say.”

“Uh…”

One of Bruce’s eyebrows raises. They have stopped in front of a door, Bruce holding a pair of keys. “What? You do not think four good looking men would be able to make a woman’s man trap wet?”

“I…”

Bruce chuckles, unlocking the door. “Never mind. Come in.” Bruce steps aside and allows Clark to enter the room. Though small, it is still lavish and very expensive looking. “Sit on the bed and take your shirt off.” Clark does as he is told and watches Bruce as the man grabs a bottle of cream from the nightstand. Bruce then crawls onto the bed and positions behind Clark. “I will put some cream onto your wounds. There are a lot them.”

“Well, they were not exactly holding back.” Clark hears the pop of the cap to the cream and can smell it right away. “It is very flowery.”

“Yes, well it is my wife’s.” Bruce places his hands on Clark’s back, beginning to gently rub the cream into the black and blues scattered there. “She likes things that smell good.”

“She has good taste,” Clark murmurs, closing his eyes and humming at the feel of Bruce’s hands gently gliding over his muscles. “Good taste in men too. You are very good at this. She is lucky to have a husband who can give her good massages.”

“Hmm,” Bruce hums, hands sliding over Clark’s biceps lightly. “And your wife?” Clark flutters his eyes opens and looks down at the wedding band on his finger. “Do you give your wife massages, Clark?”

“Sometimes,” Clark says. “I…” He trails off, not really knowing what to say. He had come on this trip without his wife, planning on settling in America to make a better living than he was in Norwich. He was then going to save enough money to bring his wife, Lois, to America as well.

“No explanation needed,” Bruce’s voice breaks through the silence, his hands massaging Clark’s lower back. “Did your wife come with you?” Clark shakes his head, relaxing more and more into Bruce’s hands. Bruce hums again, hands going to Clark’s biceps once more. “My wife is currently partying up on the higher deck with the women of London.”

Clark swallows thickly, his skin becoming clammy. “And is that where you are from? London?”

Bruce chuckles. “Is that not where all the rich men come from?”

Clark huffs a small laugh. “And why are you not with your wife now?”

He hears Bruce shrug. “I felt like having a bit of my…” Bruce’s skillful hands wrap around Clark’s body and down his pectorals, rubbing over already hard nipples, “...own fun.”

Clark shivers as Bruce’s lips press softly to his neck, eyes flitting close. His nob is already hard and when he leans back into Bruce, he can feel the man’s is as well. “Fun?” Clark asks, licking his lips.

Bruce’s hands are gliding over his nipples and stomach, lips grazing over the skin of his neck, up to his ear. “Yes, Clark, fun,” the man purrs.

Clark tries to control his breaths. “But…” he doesn’t finish what he is about to say before kissing Bruce, pressing back on those plump lips that are opening for him willingly.

It is fun, what they end up doing, and leaves the two panting and sated, lying naked under silk sheets of Bruce’s room. Clark chuckles, giddy with pure happiness. “You enjoyed that,” Bruce comments. Clark’s smile slowly falls away and he sighs. “What is it?”

“What about your wife?” Clark asks, turning to the man.

“What about yours?” Bruce sits up onto his arm, propping his head up with one hand. The man is gazing down at Clark, no anger or irritation in sight. Just amusement. Bruce doesn’t allow Clark enough time to answer, turning, and plopping back down onto the bed. “I am sure my wife has already gone back to some man’s room and fucked his brains out.” Clark raises an eyebrow in surprise and Bruce laughs at him. “She and I have an arrangement.”

“An arrangement?” Clark doesn’t mean to sound horrified but it isn’t exactly a good thing to have such an arrangement as a couple. One is supposed to be faithful to their husband and wife. Clark peers down at the sheet, sighing. He is a hypocrite.

“You are disgusted?” Bruce asks him. The man still doesn’t look offended or angry.

“No, I…” Clark sighs. “It is just a concept I am not used to. It does not exactly hold a good connotation.”

Bruce nods. “So, you and your wife do not have such a thing between you two?” Clark shakes his head. “Does she know?” When Clark eyes the man, Bruce elaborates. “That you are a sodomite?”

“Must you use that term?” Clark asks, sitting up. Bruce continues to lie down, watching him. Clark crosses his arms. “No, she does not.”

The room is silent for a short time before Bruce starts speaking again. “Your secret is safe with me.”

Clark looks down at Bruce, at the man’s gorgeous skin and features. Bruce is all muscles and pretty looks. “How did you know I would be interested in doing this?”

A smile forms on Bruce’s face. “I tested the waters.” Clark thinks back and tries to remember when exactly Bruce had tested him. Bruce answers for him. “When I was talking about the women and four men.”

“That was you testing me?”

Bruce huffs a laugh. “If you were solely into women, you wouldn’t have reacted the way you did.”

“Or what if I am just a good guy who does not like to talk about women as if they are wenches?” Clark asks.

Bruce chuckles. “That could have been but then I suspect I would have a black and blue eye and a bloody nose by now instead of you naked in my bed.”

Clark huffs stubbornly which only makes Bruce laugh more. When Bruce’s laughter dies, Clark eyes the man again. “Does it hurt?”

Bruce looks at him. “Does what hurt?”

“Taking the woman’s position,” Clark says.

Bruce waves a finger between them. “This?” Clark nods. “Have you never done this before?”

“I have,” Clark says quickly. “Once back in school. Year eleven. I was sixteen.”

“That the only time?” Bruce asks him.

Clark lies back down and turns onto his side. “Yes, and I was still the man during it.”

A small smile is on Bruce’s face. “Someday, you will hopefully realize how insulting that is.”

Clark’s eyebrows scrunch together. “What?”

“Would you like to see what it feels like?” Bruce questions instead of answering Clark, leaning in closer to just barely press their lips together. “I would love to show you.” In answer, Clark presses up and kisses him.

After the ship arrives to America, Clark and Bruce go their separate ways and Clark doesn’t see Bruce again until years later when he reads in the newspaper about the man’s wife, Selina, and daughter, Helena, being gunned down after a girls’ night out. He tells his own wife that he is going to New Jersey for trade, and pays the first horse carriage driver willing to take him from New York to New Jersey handsomely. He arrives within a few days and then starts hunting down where Bruce’s mansion is. It doesn’t take long.

Clark knocks on the door and waits for it to be answered. It eventually does by an older man who looks like the butler. “Uh, hello, I’m here to see Mister Wayne.”

“Master Bruce isn’t seeing anyone at the moment,” the butler tells him.

“It’s okay, Alfred. He can come in.” Alfred, the butler, turns around and peers at the man who had spoken behind him.

The butler nods and leaves, saying a quick, “Very well, Sir.”

Clark steps in and closes the door behind him. “Master?”

“He’s known me since I was a little boy. Insists on still calling me master,’ Bruce explains, waving Clark further into the building. Clark follows and they end up in a large lounge room, one with a huge fireplace. “It has been awhile.”

Clark takes his hat off, having forgotten it earlier, and stands there awkwardly. “It has but… I read about what happened. I am terribly sorry for your loss, Bruce.”

Bruce isn’t looking at him and instead at the floor. “And that is why you came here?”

“It is probably stupid but I… I felt like I needed to come,” Clark says.

Bruce finally looks at him and Clark sees just how tired the man looks. “Do you have a family now, Clark?”

Clark doesn’t answer right away, swallowing. “A son and my wife is pregnant with our second child.”

Bruce nods. “You are lucky you get to have two children.”

Clark watches the man. He doesn’t bother saying that he doesn’t feel lucky at all, that instead he is miserable in his life. “Bruce-”

“What are you doing here?” The question is sharp, agitated, and Clark pretends he didn’t flinch.

“I do not… I do not know,” he doesn’t sound confident in his words but he hopes Bruce understands anyway.

But the man standing in front of him looks dead to the word, beaten and dragged through the mud. As if Bruce is done living all together. There’s silence between them before Bruce finally speaks, accusatory and challenging. “Are you here to cheer me up?”

Clark hesitates, knowing what is being implied. Finally, he says, “If that is what you want.”

Bruce shrugs, arms extended out to the side in invitation. “Then cheer me up.”

Clark doesn’t hesitate again and takes the four steps to get to Bruce, crashing their lips together. They end up in Bruce’s bedroom by the time their breeches are stripped off each other, falling naked to Bruce’s bed. The two explore each other’s bodies as if they haven’t done this before, marking every new injury or blemish with their hands and mouth. When they are done, they lie there in their own sweat, breathing hard.

Clark allows a few minutes of breathy silence to pass them before breaking it, turning his head to address Bruce. “Do you ever wish things could be different?”

Bruce turns to face Clark, inquisitive. “How so?”

Clark fidgets with the blanket, twisting it between his fingers. “Being with a man instead of a woman? Living with a man instead of with a woman?”

Bruce’s eyes search Clark’s. “I fancy both men and women, Clark.” Clark looks away, that statement somehow causing pain in his chest. “But you do not?”

“What did you call me all those years ago, Bruce? A sodomite?” Clark says to the ceiling, avoiding eye contact. Bruce doesn’t say anything to this, just stares at Clark’s profile. “It was always so hard to please my wife in bed.”

“And yet, you still managed to get her pregnant twice.”

“Do not belittle me,” Clark snaps, moving to look at Bruce again.

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Bruce says, placating. Clark turns away once again, staring at the ceiling. “I loved my wife, Clark. Do you love yours?”

It takes a while for Clark to answer Bruce and the man waits silently as Clark gathers the courage to say what he’s been thinking for years. “Not how a man should love his wife.”

Bruce rubs a hand down Clark’s cheek, speaking softly. “Do you wish you could have lived with me?” Clark looks at Bruce from the corners of his eyes briefly before facing away once more, not answering that question. Bruce’s mouth is on Clark’s temple, dragging down to Clark’s ear, and then whispering, “You should go home, Clark. You do not want to leave your pregnant wife alone for too long.”

Clark visibly flinches away from Bruce, out of the man’s grasp. He eyes Bruce, not sure how to read those blue eyes that are staring back. He swallows and sits up, sliding out of the bed with a heavy heart. “You are right.” He pulls on his breeches and grabs his shirt, jacket, stockings, and shoes. “I should get back to her.” Before leaving, he looks at Bruce. The man doesn’t look any happier than Clark does, but, of course, Bruce just lost his wife and child. Clark is just going back to a family that he isn’t satisfied with. “I really am sorry for your loss, Bruce.”

Bruce nods minutely and Clark sees the man swallow. “Thank you, Clark.”

Clark leaves then. He never sees Bruce again.

A/N: Res, I hope you liked it. Sorry for my uncreative title but I’ve decided that if I’m going to turn this into a series, all the titles are going to be the year that the fic is set in. I don’t know why, I just feel like doing it that way. ;)

Thanks for reading!!

Translations:

Clunch - An awkward clownish fellow Bracket-faced - Ugly, hard-featured Cod’s head - A stupid fellow Duke of limbs - A tall, awkward, ill-made fellow Born under a threepenny, halfpenny planet, never to be worth a groat - Said of any person remarkably unsuccessful in their attempts or profession. Bell swagger - A noisy bullying fellow Rusty guts - A blunt surly fellow: a jocular misnomer of rusticus Nob - a man’s penis (trust me when I say, this was the best alternative to some pretty bad and cringy names for it) Rufflers - a crew of men Commodity - A woman's commodity; the private parts of a modest woman, and the public     parts of a prostitute Man Trap - A woman's commodity

[donttellpeterparker]

Helping Hand P3

Summary: Who knew that being saved by spiderman would start a blossoming friendship... or maybe something more?

Requested:  OMG I LOVE IT MORE PLEASE IM BEGGING (if u dont have an idea maybe she sees him at school i would love to see that) 

YOUR REQUEST IS MY DEMAND HUN! I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS! I kind of at the end lead it off for smut maybe.. idk I was trying something new XD LEMME KNOW WHAT YOU THINKKKK

Word Count: 3.9k (this one is a longy so enjoy)

Warning(s)?: Cursing, Some Sensual content I guess? If that’s a warning. CORNY AF! LIKE HELLA CHEESY OMG SORRY! And just to save confusion the parts where its all like 

this, this is like a flashback to her and spiderman talking if that makes sense as she’s in the present kinda thing.

masterlist (x) requests (x)

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Part 1  Part 2   Part 4

Helping Hand

To say you didn't get a wink of sleep that night would be an understatement. Peter Parker... His name sounded familiar.. Almost. You rolled over underneath your covers, plugging in your ear phones hoping some soft tunes will lull you to sleep. Of course unknowing about the surprise you were about to receive tomorrow.

You woke to the smell of waffles. Hoping out of bed quickly, you raced to your bedroom, quickly having a shower. Only spending 10 minutes in there, you get changed then whip out of your bedroom. You walk down the stairs and into the kitchen, grab an apple from the fruit ball. 

''Morning hun'' Your mom greeted you cheerily. You smiled through your food and she laughs. She sets a plate in front of you with two waffles and syrup. 

''What's the special occasion?'' You ask. Normally waffles were only done occasionally. Your mum shrugs your shoulders and turns back to her waffles.

''Okay your being weirdly quiet'' You state through your mouthful of food. 

''Eat with your mouth closed please young lady'' You smirk and raised your chin and let a bit of maple syrup run down before quickly wiping it off with the back of your hand. 

''Your in a good mood this morning'' You have no idea. 

''Yeah, I am actually'' You finish saying once your swallowed your food with a smile on your face. She looks down at her food and twiddles a bit of it with her fork. 

''Wouldn't have anything to do with.. a boy maybe?'' She asks not so subtly. You almost choke on your glass of water but refrain. You set it down before turning to your mother wide eyed. 

''Why do you think it's a boy? It could be a girl, you never know mom'' You state cheekily poking your tongue out at her. She laughs and shakes her head at your teenage antics. You quickly looked to the clock and realised you were going to be late. You quickly lean over the counter and give her a kiss on the cheek. 

''See you!'' You called out over your shoulder as you head for the front door. 

''You too! See you later 'Bug Boy!'" You froze. Damn. You turn around slowly to see her sitting there with a smirk. 

''I can explain-'' You begin before she points towards the door. 

''School. now'' She says with a smile. You smile back nervously and walk out the front door. You make your way over to your jeep, it was very old but you found the car's personality appealing, yes your car had a personality. 

~At school

You rush to your locker, quickly putting in your code before grabbing your books for calculus. Slamming the door shut quickly you see Liz out of the corner of your eye. 

''Hey Y/N!'' she greets with a hug. You return it happily and begin to strike up a conversation as you both made your way to calculus. 

#Peter's pov

I rush over to my locker, putting in my combination before grabbing out my physic books when I felt something touched my shoulder.

''Join me as we build the new lego death star'' Ned said from behind me using his 'yoda' voice. I turn around surprised with a huge smile. 

''Dude no way!'' I respond excitedly, we have been waiting for the death star to come out for ages!

''Lame'' I sigh at the comment from the cheerleaders behind us.

''That's awesome!'' I say to Ned totally stoked. This has seriously got to be the best day ever!

''Yeah so I was thinking tonight after your stark internship of course I could start building it, you know while your at the stark internship and get most of it done then pop around to yours-'' By this point I have zoned Ned out completely. In front of us was Liz and... Y/N? I scrunch my eyebrows slightly confused. Since when were they friends? 

But that wasn't what confused me the most... What confused me the most was when I saw Liz I felt nothing... normally i feel like she takes my breath away but seeing Y/N... She took my whole oxygen source.

''Yeah that'd be great"

Y/N's pov#

''I swear if I have to sit through one of Mrs Larbs (Im sorry I had to) lectures again I might just kill myself'' I over exaggerate. Plonking myself down on the seat in between Liz and Jenny. 

Unfortunately we were currently in gym class, the only class really were all year levels shared the same class, apart from sporting teams and the decathlon club. 

''Okay let's make this lesson fun then, for Y/N's sakeeee'' Liz says dramatically throwing an arm around your shoulder. You sigh in content and lean causing you both to laugh. 

''I have an idea!'' Jenny speaks up. 

''Let's play-''

''You say truth and day one more fucking time Jenny I swear to god I'll throw you on a mat and make you do crunches myself'' you say half jokingly. Her face slightly grows nervous cause if there was anything she hated doing, it was crunches. 

''You know getting yourself so worked up like that isn't healthy and isn't good for your brain cells'' Jenny retorts with a smirk causing Liz to 'ooohhhhh' from beside you. You just smiles and shake your head letting out a chuckle. 

''So Jenny, what is this ingenius game of yours?'' You as mischievously starting to giggle. 

''Kiss, Marry or fuck... Avengers edition'' Jenny says with a smirk. You shake my head, smiling. 

''No'' 

''Oh come onnnnnn'' Liz groans from beside me.

''Okay Liz you first!'' Jenny says excitingly, gathering a small crowd around. 

You begin to daze off, your eyes scanning over the entire gym. There was nothing special about it really... apart from the fact that Flash yet again was showing off. You resisted the urge to roll your eyes at him knowing he wasn't even worth it. Ever since second grade when he spilled his custard all over you on purpose you've kinda been frenemies. Darting your eyes across to the group of people on the mat doing sit ups, you notice one girl lying down lifting her book to and from her face. You laugh. 

''Good going Peter!'' Wait what? You head turned to the sound of the familiar name being spoken. What are you talking about, there are like at least 20 Peter's in your school. Your eyes follow over to the coach who was next to these two guys. You couldn't see their faces seeing their backs where to you. You looked down, beginning to remember details from last night. 

It was weird, the sensation, you couldn't describe it. It was so... foreign. You've never felt like this before and you weren't sure if that was a good thing. Well yeah you've had a boyfriend before but nothing serious and you rarely ever got crushes. You were one of those people to crush on celebs rather than the people who go to your local highschool. In your opinion celebs where just smarter, wiser, nicer and hotter. 

A feeling you definitely didn't miss was the zoo in your stomach. It was so bad that it actually almost physically wanted to make your hurl. I mean how could anyone like that feeling? It was like every time I could feel his breath, or when his skin came into contact with mine, I felt this... fire. Oh god this is so stupid. 

''Yo Y/n?'' You look up to see Liz looking at you with her eyebrows furrowed. You shake clear of your thoughts. 

''Yeah?'' you ask. In the distance you heard a thud, almost sounding like someone falling. All your heads snapped around to the sound to see it was one of the guys you were looking at the back of earlier on the ground. 

''Couldn't get enough of the floor Penis Parker? At least take it out to dinner first before you go down on it!'' Flash yells out causing a small erupter of laughs to echo in the gym. Parker? Wait, Penis Parker? Is that actually someones na-

Oh no. No, no, no god wouldn't do this to you. 

''So Y/N, Thor, Hulk or Spiderman?'' Liz asks. You were confused. Unfortunately you were still looking at the boys back as he began to rub his head slightly. His friend however seemed to notice and pointed in your direction. You quickly advert your guys. Gosh why were your palms sweating? What the hell. And why did it feel like suddenly I woke up a restless monster inside my stomach? 

''What?'' You ask. 

''Thor, Hulk or Spiderman?'' Liz asks again, giving you a funny look. You shook your head, still slightly confused.

''If you could fuck, Marry and kiss them which one of them would go with which?'' She asks. You could feel your throat immediately begin to close up. Almost like you were feeling claustrophobic. 

''Are you okay?'' She asks concerned. You nod your head in response, but you felt far from okay, you felt on edge. And you only ever felt on edge when you were near... him. 

''Wait so you got bitten on a school trip?'' You ask from your desk chair, spinning around to face 'bug boy'. 

''Yeah and the spider was only about this big'' He said showing you with his hands. You began to laugh again. He grabbed one of your cushions of your bed from where he was currently sitting and threw one at you. You ducked your head and came up with fake surprise on your face.

''How dare you want to hurt your nurse Bug boy! If I die so do you Spidey'' This sent you and Bug Boy through a fit of laughter. 

''Okay so the spider bit you-''

''Yeah and it hurt to, so bad that I fainted'' You laughed again. You threw your head back and laughed. You laughed so much you could feel tears welling up in the corner of your eyes. You rest your head back on the back of your chair and stare at him. 

''You weren't the one bit! I swear this one had like superpowers or something so when he bit it made me pass out from like shock or something!"

''You know for a genius you ain't sounding very genuisy'' You mock playfully. He grabs another cushion and hurls at you, this time it hitting you in the face. It came at you so fast you didn't have time to prepare. You began to laugh. 

''Holy hell how did you throw that so quick'' You state in between your laughter.

''Like I said, spider - superpowers, bite - superpowers - me'' 

"Are you high?'' You ask half seriously not understanding a word what he was saying. He threw his head back and laughed then groaned. 

''Wait, wait, wait I think I get it'' You state after thinking about it for a bit. 

''Are you saying that maybe.. after being bit from this spider you developed its... abilities?'' You asked amazed. How cool would that be!

He stared at you with a blank expression, well you assumed seeing he was still wearing his suit so you couldn't really tell.

''That's exactly what I'm saying Y/N'' He says causing you to laugh. 

''Stop making me feel dumb!'' You yell out dramatically before laughing again. 

''Gosh your laugh is so cute'' He says out of the blue. You hide your face in your arms to cover your blush, shaking you head disagreeing with him. 

''So what kind of abilities?'' You ask, immediately changing the subject. You couldn't tell for sure but he seemed kind of.. nervous, like he said something he didn't mean too maybe. You shrugged it off. 

''Well the first one was hearing'' Hearing? 

''I can hear from about 600 metres from me (making this up cause I actually dont know how far spiders can hear so just go with it)"

"Really?'' You ask kinda impressed. He just nods his head in response. 

''Y/N" You felt a hand gently shake you from your thoughts. You glanced to your left to see Liz with a worried expression. 

''What's going on with you?'' she asks. You shake your head and smile. 

''Sorry I was just... spacing out, what was the question again?'' You ask. 

''Out of Thor, Hulk and Spiderman, who would you marry, fuck and kiss'' Liz states seriously. You nervously gulp. Little did they know that spiderman was sitting less than 100 feet from you guys and could hear every word you guys were saying perfectly. 

''Well I'd kiss... Thor'' You say. You turned your head to face the boys direction again, their backs to you again. but unfortunately you couldn't make the beating of your heart slow down, if anything it sped up. your palms were coated in sweated to the point of discomfort that you had to wipe them across your shorts. You could feel the hairs on your back beginning to stand, almost like you had just been zapped.

''And...'' Liz states wanting you to go on. You bit your lip anxiously, crossing your legs over one another. You wiper your palms again, noticing your heart beating faster and faster. By this point you were sure he could hear it. 

''Yeah it's weird actually like one day I could hear a human heart beat!'' Spidey states excitedly. You smile at him and shake your head in disbelief.

''That's impossible'' You state. 

''It should be'' Was all he replied. You just shake your head and softly laughed. 

''Okay well... what else?'' You ask. 

''What do you mean what else?'' He asks confused. 

''Well you said ''The first one was hearing" so.. what was the second?''  You ask.

''Oh! strangely enough it was smell'' Smell? 

''What do you mean?'' You ask and he begins to laugh. 

''You mean like you can smell someones perfume from down the hall or something?'' He shrugs in response. 

''Yeah basically..'' He trails off. 

''Basically... what'' You say, urging him to keep going. 

''I don't know its like I can... sense someones emotions? if that makes sense? Like for instance right now your happy'' He states, You laugh. 

''Yeah you don't have to be a genius to figure that out'' You point out cheekily as the smile on your face grew wider. He sighs and rest his head back against the wall letting out a laugh.

''No but its more than that, it's like I can.. I don't know. It's hard to explain'' You decided to leave it at that, not wanting to push him further. 

''Okay what about the third thing?'' You asked excitedly.

''Uhhh Hulk?'' You question unsure. Liz just nods at you, eagerly waiting for an answer. To be honest you weren't ready to give her one. Well, you could lie but she would know straight away, let's just say.. your a horrible liar. 

''Uhhh'' you stuttered out, rubbing your legs together. You could feel a fire beginning to ignite inside your stomach and lower giving you sinful thoughts. Fuck, snap out of it Y/N! Now was not a time to be a typical teenager. 

''Ummm'' Gah you sounded so pathetic. You glanced back over towards tho boys. But this time you weren't looking at their backs but instead their fronts. 

You didn't want to look but you did. Your gaze lifting to meet Peter's gaze. Now you felt like you were trembling in your seat, not literally of course but it sure as hell felt like it. How could a simple looking leave you completely unhinged? This was bad, really bad. You were trying to get rid of the thoughts, the thoughts of him trailing kisses down your neck, across your torso down to your lower region, you wrapping your arms in his hair as this went on. 

Liz's fingers were quick to snap you out of your gaze. She snapped her fingers in front of your face and you and Peter immediately broke gazes. You looked at Liz uneasy before quickly turning to look at Peter again, this time he was glancing around the room confused, it was weird, he tilted his head up slightly, it was only then that you began to realise. You eyes widen in horror as you could begin to hear your heartbeat in your ears. You could feel the blood pumping through your veins, your body going warm. You began to shake your head rapidly probably looking like an idiot. Oh god please don't, please... don't. 

''Can I say something without it being totally weird?'' Bug boy mutters out nervously. you rested your head back on the back of your chair against your arms.

''Course'' you reply. 

''Won't laugh?'' He asks. You shook you head. 

''It's not just like.. smells... there's also chemosignals?'' it came out more of a question at the end like he sounded very unsure. chemosignals? 

''I'm confused'' you replied.

''okay this is going to sound really weird'' 

''Okay, it's okay I can handle weird have you met me?'' you finish with a small laugh. 

''I walked past this couple a few months back and they were walking down the streets, just side by side, not holding hands or anything-''

''Wait how did you know they were a couple?'' you ask confused. Normally seeing two people walking down the street side by side doesn't mean they're a couple. 

''It was like I could smell their... love? for each other I mean. Like how they desired each other I guess'' To say you were shocked would be an understatement. This definitely took you by surprise. 

''Did it happen only once or all the time?'' You ask curiously.

''It happened all the time but then I learnt to tune it out and only focus on it if I really wanted to'' You nodded your head. But there was just one lingering thought on your mind. For some reason your curiosity just needed to know.

''What do you mean by.. desire?'' you ask shyly. 

''Like they wanted to be together'' he replies calmly. That wasn't what I meant Bug Boy. You shifted on your chair getting comfortable. You took a deep breath, not really sure if you should ask this question or not. 

''Is there... other desire you can pick up on?'' you ask again shyly. He just shrugs his shoulders casually, obviously not getting your subtlety. 

''Like... sexual desire?'' You ask, your voice slightly squeaking at the end due to your nerves. Gosh that was so awkward, why would you ask that! Damn you and curiosity for wanting to know everything. 

At this he stiffened. Uh oh, you went too far, great, you ruined it Y/N, good job. 

''Ummmmm''

''K-k-k-iss h-h-ulk'' Your voice came out shaky, you even managed to stutter as well. You squeezed your thighs together tighter, hoping to relieve a bit of pressure that has been building. You watched Peter nervously, hoping he has no clue as to what was going on and wasn't listening in, no matter how nosy that boy may be.

But of course fate wasn't on your side today. You watched as his eyes went from confusion to wide eyed. You were done, you were so done. If it was possible you wanted the ground to swallow you up whole right then and there. You watched as he quickly scanned the room. The guy beside him continuing on with his set of pull ups. Once his eyes finish scanning he looked over towards you. 

Fuck you couldn't be more embarrassed! It''s one thing to tell a guy your into him them for them to literally smell the desire rolling off of you. You bowed your head in embarrassment, feeling your cheeks heat up. 

''So, Jenny is is your turn?'' You ask out of the blue, spinning around to face Jenny. 

''No, no, no'' Liz says resting a hand on your shoulder spinning you back around. You groaned. 

''Say it'' She says. 

''Say what?'' you say innocently. Liz just smirks evilly at you. 

''Come on! Just say it! Say it and I'll stop'' she says. Yeah hell no. I turn back around to face Jenny to see that she was now also wearing a smirk. Great. 

''But you already know!'' you complained. 

''Oh we all know I just need to hear you say it'' She says cheekily. She was enjoying me being in torture way too much. It wasn't like I could just come out and say 'No I am not going to say it because little do you guys know, spiderman is actually sitting not 10 metres from us and he can smell things like desire and he can literally smell my arousal right now and that if he has been listening in this whole time which he probably has he knows what I'm about to say and I'm going to ruin the first amazing thing I've had in a very long time'

''I'm not saying it'' You respond, turning back to face the front of the gym, both Jenny and Liz leaning on you trying to get you to speak. You couldn't bring yourself to look at Peter, you were too afraid to see his reaction. In fact you knew what his reaction was, you just didn't want this whole situation to be actually real. 

''You'll feel better if you dooo'' she says in a sing-song voice. Yeah I'm sure I would, but after I do there is no going back from it. 

''I can't'' you whisper out. Now slowly bringing yours over to Peter. You looked him in the eyes and you felt your heart stop. Your breath caught in your throat and you froze. He was just staring at you, with what seem like a blank expression. Almost like he was dazed or something. His friend next to him nudged him in the rib and he snapped out of it quickly shaking his head, there conversation to each other inaudible to my ears. Fuck it, he already knows? What else do you have to lose? 

You weren't sure where this new set of confidence came from but you were going to use it before it went away. Pulling your nerves together and using them to your advantage you finally speak. 

''And Spiderman..'' You say trailing off, catching Peter's attention. He was listening. 

''Spiderman what?" Liz teases. You take in a deep breath. Mustering up every last courage you had you looked Peter straight in the eye, making your heart stop again. 

''Fuck spiderman'' You finally spat out. You immediately closed your mouth taking a nervous gulp, all the confidence in the world beginning to slip away. Jenny and Liz from beside you squealed happily and laughed into your sides. But your eyes never faltered from Peters. 

You felt so vulnerable. So bare. And it terrified you. 

Without realising your eyes followed his movements. His tongue came out to lick his lips. Subconsciously you licked yours too, immediately getting 100% more turned on from this simple movement. He made such a simple movement seemed incredibly... mezmerising. You watched as he licked his lips not once but twice, then slowly begin to pull his bottom lip between his teeth. You raised your eyes to meet his. 

And it only took one look. 

One look and you felt it.

He wanted you too. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: would you guys want a smut for part 4? I have never wrote smut and published it before but I'm willing to give it a go if you guys want?

Taglist: @cutie1365​

[zombolouge]

Ah you are too kind!

(cont) Maybe it's because I'm only at the beginning and I take things reeeally slowly, but still, it'd be nice to be able to fix this. One huge question though: how do you write from a child's perspective? For example, in the story I'm writing, Link is 10 in the first few chapters. I'm having trouble with conveying his thoughts across, since they either sound too mature or too childish. I keep saying 'his mother' whenever she does appear, and after a while it gets repetitive - but I don't think I'd use her name since Link wouldn't call her that. So how to go about writing from a third person child perspective? Thank you so much for your tips!

Ah, yes! I went through this same thing when I started writing again myself. I wrote a LOT when I was younger, then stopped for about 9 years before I came back to it. (I started writing again in 2014, seriously about a month later). Then it was like picking up a rusty bike and trying to make the wheels go. There are several things I wrote that will never see the light of day because they were terrible. But that’s all part of the process! So don’t feel bad if it all feels like a disaster at first, because it gets better. In the beginning, your main concern is to just try and write as much as possible, and to finish things. Once you get that down, you can start making things better through editing and more critical thinking. ^_^

Okay, so I can certainly share what helps when I write longer fics, though this process doesn’t always work for others. When I wrote Tearing Down the Heavens, it started as a mish-mash of scenes that I had half-written that I was stringing together. I think by like chapter ten I had already gotten overwhelmed trying to do that, and I opened a word doc and just made a list of the “important plot moments”. Over time this grew into a true, blue outline. 

I don’t think I could write such longform fic without the use of an outline. Some writers can, and some writers even find that an outline completely ruins their creativity, but for me it’s a necessity. Sometimes my outline is incredibly detailed, including lines of dialogue or descriptions or notes about backstory and themes. Other times it’s not more than a line or two about a scene. For instance, the first chapter of A Hundred Years in the Making has a very detailed outline, where I wrote out almost all the dialogue between the King and Vallus. I ended up changing it as I wrote the scene around it, to make it flow better, but the base was there. In contrast, my notes for the portion where Link is traveling to the castle were vague (I actually only put “Write shit about Link’s feelings while he’s on the horse”, which is not particularly helpful notes to myself, but there you have it). I also don’t tend to flesh out the outline all at once. For instance, I may know that I want a certain thing to happen, but I don’t know how I want it to play out or any other details. So I’ll make a note in the outline that says something like “Character tries to leave, gets caught by other character” or something. Then, as the earlier chapters get written, I may add more context, so I could end up with something like this (I’ll use some of the older outlines for Facing Down the Void for this example):

“Autumn wakes up in a panic, convinced something is wrong. 

- Solas is trying to leave, she races through the cold night air to find him and confronts him. He is hurt, miserable to be back around her and torn about what he must do, so he is cold to her. His attitude breaks through her calm, and she starts to cry as she yells at him, demanding to know why he’s leaving again. She doesn’t understand, he doesn’t want her to, but the sound of her voice breaks his heart. He turns and makes his confession, kissing her even though he knows its the worst thing that he could do. She is stunned, and finally lets him go as she processes thing.”

That eventually turned into a pretty complex scene that I wrote very early on and edited several times before it was published.

The reason why I find outlines necessary is that I have trouble writing something if I don’t know where it’s going. I need to have at least a general idea of what I’m building to, or it takes me about 8 times longer to write a chapter. It helps me do proper foreshadowing, and it helps me understand character motivations and growth arcs better. For instance, in As Bright as the Stars, I knew that Saeyoung was going to lie to try and hurt Nicky from the get-go. I had been setting that betrayal up from the start of chapter one. If that moment had been a surprise, however, if I hadn’t planned it, then it wouldn’t have the proper groundwork laid before it. Twists and turns in the plot are what make a story gripping, BUT, they can’t come from nowhere. Your reader should look at surprises and say “I did not see that coming, but I should have”, not feel like it came completely out of left field. You should be able to point to your previous chapters and say “see, there is the proof that this could happen”. Otherwise the shock is cheap, and people tend to lose interest. 

Outline will help you map out events, get foreshadowing in place (important for pretty much all types of stories, including things like slow burns), and understand the characters better. Because when you outline, you are forced to think “what would this character do in this situation”, which then makes you think about the character and think about how they react to things and how they think. Although your story is still going to throw you curve balls, and you shouldn’t be afraid to change an outline when needed. In As Bright as the Stars, I didn’t realize that Vanderwood was going to be such a huge part of it at first until I wrote her first chapter and realized “oh shit I have feelings about this character that need to be told”. I then paused writing the story and worked on my outline to expand it to include this new revelation. So things will still happen that weren’t planned, but at least you have good starting points to handle them better. 

I’ll be honest, though, part of my process is pretty much nonstop consideration. If I am not actively writing, I am usually thinking about writing, or thinking about characters, or word choice, or themes. I’ve written entire scenes in my head on my morning commute and then hurriedly outlined them once I arrived at work. I’ve spent actual hours thinking about something a character did and trying to figure out WHY they did it, to understand that character. So don’t feel bad if a good chunk of your “writing time” is just sitting around and thinking about it, because you have to work those things out at some point before the words will start to come. 

Flow!! Okay, so one of the best things for flow is reading it out loud. You will, in fact, feel like a moron reading your own work out loud to yourself, especially at first. But hearing the words spoken into your ears will trigger different processes in your brain than just reading them. This can often highlight points where there are problems, or where the word order doesn’t work. This goes double for actual dialogue, which should be read out loud until you feel like you have become the characters. If a scene feels weird, it’s usually because your making a character say or do something that doesn’t feel like something they should say or do, which will throw everything off. 

Another thing that I find helpful for both flow in general and dialogue is to map out a scene in very specific, very bland details. (ESPECIALLY FOR ACTION OR SMUT, THIS MAKES THOSE SCENES SO MUCH EASIER). So I would open up my outline, or an empty doc, and write something like this:

“Character A (Jeffrey) opens the door. 

Sees Character B (Heather) arranging matches. 

Jeffrey: Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware...(pauses, curious) What are you doing?

Heather glares. “I’m arranging matches.”

Jeffrey: “Oh.” (pause) “Why?”

Heather (upset): Because it’s what Sebastian would have wanted!”

Jeffrey closes the door slowly.”

I can then look at that outline and turn it into a scene because I have enough notes to go off of, and I know what’s supposed to be happening at any given time, so it lets me focus more on the descriptions rather than the ideas. I wrote up a quick example scene based on that outline (it is rushed, so forgive me if it isn’t a masterpiece XD)

“Jeffrey placed his hand on the cold door handle, already feeling the weight of the other room bearing down on his shoulders before he had even turned the brass. The house was quiet, and the room was quiet, but he was certain that there was unhappiness beyond the threshold. Still, it was a door, and what purpose would doors have were they not meant to be opened? He twisted his palm, pulling the knob along with it, and pushed the wooden boards forward to reveal the room beyond. 

He was surprised to see Heather within, standing in front of a table with one hand on her half-cocked hips. She didn’t look up as he blinked at her, taking in the silent scene with all the dignity that he could muster in such a situation. The house was silent, so he had presumed that it was empty. His error had been the source of his ominous premonitions, knowing that the room had held misery without knowing why. Heather’s presence had that effect on them all lately. 

He cleared his throat, wishing that he could be a thousand miles away from this position at precisely this moment. “Oh, I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware...” his words trailed off, flat and lame in the deadened air as she shifted, moving just enough so that he could see the stack of matches on the table before her. She lifted one in her long fingers, the tip of the match the same ruby color that was smeared across her fingernails. She held it aloft, inspecting it for something, judging its character like a redheaded soldier that had been stripped and homogenized before being shipped off to war. She then took it and placed it atop a second stack of matches, piled in a tower that shuddered with the weight of the new addition. “What are you doing?”

She narrowed her eyes into a sullen glare as she looked at him, clicking her tongue before offering the obvious. “I’m arranging matches.”

“Oh.” he nodded, a compulsory action, as though this made perfect sense. He should have left it, should have mumbled some apology and retreated from the room, but his damnable sense of curiosity burned too brightly in the back of his throat to clamp down on the question before it came tumbling out. “Why?”

She rounded on him, her hands clamping into furious fists that stuck to her sides, the matches in the tower tumbling across the table in careless disarray. “Because it’s what Sebastian would have wanted!” Her voice wavered between madness and grief, and he winced at the force of it, seeing the tears that he had unleashed. It was too much, too great a burden to bear in this moment, on this day. He felt sorry for her, sorry enough to furrow his brow in a voiceless apology that would do less to disturb the fraught air than words would. He felt sorry, but not sorry enough to reach an olive branch across the divide between them. Instead he backed out of the room, shutting the door with the slow deliberation of someone who knows he could have been a better person if he had just left it open. Her cries of frustration followed him out, and he knew that he was a terrible man.”

I think I spent about ten minutes on that little scene, and that was mostly because I had the blueprint of that outline to go off of. I knew what the characters were doing, and I had notes about when it was important for them to feel a certain way, so it was easy to create a bunch of flowery prose around it (well, not EASY, but certainly easier than if I had just tried to plop it out onto the page from nothing). Now, I usually write out all my dialogue in this manner before writing the full scene, ESPECIALLY important dialogue or dialogue involving more than 2 characters. Just write it out like a script, with the name of the character followed by what they said, and that’s it. Maybe a note or two of what they did or how they said it, but only if it’s really important. What this does is let you focus on what they’re saying and if it fits their character, without getting bogged down in irrelevant descriptions or worrying if you’ve used the word “said” too many times. It also makes it easier to read out loud to yourself to check how it sounds. The dialogue should always be able to flow and sound good on its own, with the rest of the text removed. If it doesn’t, then there’s a disconnect in the way they are speaking that will interrupt the flow of the whole scene. 

Okay, now on to your more specific question. Writing children! 

So one important thing to remember is that children are not stupid, nor do they think in baby talk (or talk that way). They also don’t tend to think of themselves as juvenile, because in their minds they already know enough to be basically an adult. This is especially true for a 10 year old, who usually wants to be out in the world experiencing things on their own, unless they’ve experienced something in their past that would dictate otherwise. They think they know everything, and that parents are just being dumb when they restrict them or make them follow rules. 

One thing about writing children is that they tend to be a bit more literal than adults. You won’t get a kid saying a lot of cutesy babytalk, but you will get them being point blank enough that it can be adorable or comical. It is also important, when writing a POV from a child’s perspective, that they will be lacking certain knowledge or ways of expressing things, but they won’t know that. So, for instance, if I were to write the scene of Link from Ocarina of time seeing Ganon taking off with Princess Zelda (just before she throws the Ocarina), I might try something like:

“He saw the horse thundering across the bridge, massive and domineering. He couldn’t quite see who was riding it, but he felt a sickening feeling in his stomach all the same. Anyone who rode a horse that mean couldn’t have been a good person. 

His fear was confirmed when the rider yanked the reins of the beast, causing it to rear up above Link’s head. He felt like an ant, hapless and waiting to be crushed under the foot of something dark and nameless. The horse returned to all fours, flaring its nostrils, and Link could see that man - Ganondorf - was astride the saddle, Zelda clutched in his metal-clad arms. The Gerudo smirked, and it made the feeling in Link’s stomach coil and writhe like a snake. A furious snake that was trying to flee from the scene, trying to force the person around it to move away, but Link stayed rooted to the spot, his feet as still as tree trunks. He could have gone his whole life without seeing something so evil as Ganondorf smiling, the glint in his eyes like poe-fire. It made him feel small and insignificant, a spec of dust in a whirlpool. It made him feel sick, and if he had been able to move he might have turned and wretched into the grass beneath his boots.

Ganondorf dug his heels into the horse’s ribs, and then everything happened in a flash. The horse surged forward, straight towards where Link was standing, and he had to leap out of the way to avoid being trampled. He felt something big and heavy bump into him as he was in the air, and the breath disappeared out of his lungs with a short wheeze. He hit the ground, and he thought he heard someone yell his name as he blinked, trying to clear the daze. Everything felt fuzzy, like reality had become a vague humming sound in his ears and nothing more. The sound of hoof beats turned from thunder to drums, and then faded slowly as the horse galloped away. Link tried to breathe, unable to keep himself from trembling as he did so.

Zelda had been right. That man was a terrible man.”

So, in this little snippet, I tried to keep things more simplistic than I normally would have. I avoid phrases that are overly flowery, and get to the point a bit quicker. I also avoid saying “Link was terrified”, because a 10 year old might not have the experience to know what terror feels like. They also may not want to ADMIT they are scared, especially not in the moment when adrenaline is high. Instead, I went for describing what he feels, so that the reader gets the idea. Additionally, when he gets hit, I made it more vague. If Link were an adult, I would have changed “He felt something big and heavy bump into him as he was in the air, and the breath disappeared out of his lungs with a short wheeze. He hit the ground, and he thought he heard someone yell his name as he blinked, trying to clear the daze. Everything felt fuzzy, like reality had become a vague humming sound in his ears and nothing more.“ to “He felt a blunt object slam into his side, just below his ribs, driving the breath out out of his lungs on impact. Shock rolled through him as his dodge carried him into the ground, the princess yelling his name as the horse retreated. He was dazed from the blow, and as he floundered on the ground he tried to shake away the humming buzz that was affecting the clarity of the world around him.” The difference here is that Link would have known he was hit by something, and where, and he would have had the words and understanding to know that he was in shock from the blow, and been able to take better effort to try and restore himself. 

Okay, so on to your final question, about what Link calls his mother...you’ll want to avoid using all forms of the name, because that would sound weird. If you feel like he would call her “mother”, than you should stick to that. If you feel like it’s getting repetitive, you can try changing up sentence structure to add variety, but be careful you don’t do it too much. Depending on the scene, you may not need to continue listing her, and just revert to “she”. 

For example: 

“Link’s mother smiled, as warm as the sun above them. “Come, sit with me.” she pat the grass beside her, and he ambled up the hill to join her. She was still smiling, and he tried not to look sullen. He must have failed, because she folded her hands in her lap, giving him a knowing look. “You’ve been bickering with your father again, haven’t you?”

“No.” he sounded like a spoiled brat even to himself, and rolled his eyes as he gave into her ability to know everything he was thinking before he had to say a word. “He’s just...he’s so...”

“Stubborn?” She quirked her eyebrow skyward, and he laughed and nodded, feeling the anger in his chest dissipate as she brushed his hair off of his brow. “He can certainly be...firm. You know that he means well, don’t you?”

So, in that, I only had to mention “mother” once, but you still knew exactly who I was talking about (I think, at least lol). There are also other ways to indicate things, but you definitely want to avoid things like switching from “mom” to “mommy” to “mother”. In this instance, “Mother” is the stand-in for her name, so you would treat it as such. You ALSO wouldn’t switch to her actual name if you’re in Link’s POV, because he wouldn’t think of her that way.

Oh boy, I rambled for waaaaay too long. Hopefully this helped??? Haha, I am very sorry that this is so terribly verbose, I got carried away. 

If you have follow-up questions, feel free to let me know. And if anybody else has different questions, you can also feel free to let me know. ^_^ And of course, this is not a hard-and-fast rulebook. These are just the things that work for ME, which may not be helpful to anyone else. Everyone’s process is different, so don’t feel too frustrated if you try this stuff out and it is utterly useless XD

Thank you so much for thinking of me, and I hope that at least some of this is usable to help you get your story written!!!!