#i got another giant sketchbook hell yeah

[iknowwhereyousleepatnight]

i went to the store and got more art supplies because i am dedicated to ignoring my actual schoolwork in favor of pretending i have all day to draw

[pumpkachubby]

Special interlude: Tale of an encounter at Christmas

Who was the mysterious Santa!Petrov? Seems like Koh and Crescente had an encounter with him years ago, but what happened and what exactly he left behind? Check it in this new chapter~!

Make sure to check the Story Archive for past chapters!

It surely was a rough day, wasn’t it? I went from one place to another and all I found was emotional turmoil whenever I went… people scheming and lying, fighting for their lives. I couldn’t sleep so I got up to get to work on the designs for Horacio’s new outfit and as I took my sketchbook from my backpack, a particular envelop feel too, immediately taking me back to that Christmas eve, back when we were still getting used to Sven and Knoll in our lives.

It was a cold night at Crescente’s cafe, snow was everywhere but I had no plans on leaving, after all I was used to spend the holydays with him if his parents couldn’t make it back.

“Another Christmas with only both of us it seems” – I said, sipping a bit of hot coffee, looking at the window.

“Well, I’m kinda glad it’s quieter, things have been too busy lately.” – He replied sitting in the sofa next to me.

“Oh yeah, too many surprises that Halloween haha” – I said as I got closer to him and sat down at his side.- “Seems like you and Petrov have been getting along too.”

“Yes, we had our differences at first but everything is cool I guess. I’m surprised you didn’t invite him today”

“He is going to spend the holidays with his parents in Galar, he wanted to spend Christmas with us but he couldn’t say no, apparently there was something important they wanted to talk with him, but he said he would try his best to make it back for New Year’s.”

“I see, well, with him here we will probably have a big party with everyone …”

“Feeling lonely since Sven went with Knoll? You know if you want we still got time to improvise something…”

“Nah it’s fine, you are here after all” – He said with a warm smile, looking back at this particular moment really makes me think about how oblivious I was to his real feelings, I was just too focused in myself and how I couldn’t really get over how Petrov declined me years before, but I’m glad we managed to find an answer were everyone is happy. We really couldn’t thank Knoll enough for pushing us into it.

We realized we were almost out of coffee so Crescente got up to make more, but he was interrupted by a loud sound outside the house, almost like something really heavy fell. We heard a loud groan and a loud couple of footsteps getting closer, making the entire house tremble, then, silence.  We didn’t know what to do, should we go check what was happening? Maybe a wild Pokémon was rampaging around? But there shouldn’t be anything in the area that could make such a fuss, and specially not here since the house is protected by a barrier… after a while we suddenly heard a loud knock in the door.

I looked at Crescente and he looked more confused than me, but we decided to see for ourselves whatever was outside, since they knocked the door at least they were a person so we lowered our defenses a little, but maybe we shouldn’t have done so, because as soon as Crescente opened the door a large hand came inside and picked me up, I was suddenly carried into the cold trapped by fingers bigger than my whole body, and when I finally could opened my eyes they were met by a familiar face: a giant bearded Petrov in a Santa costume.

“Merry Christmas~!” – He happily shouted, his breath was warm but strong. Suddenly one large finger came to rub my head – “Look at you, so cute and tiny, don’t know if giving you a present or keep you like one.”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING PETROV!?” – Screamed Crescente down bellow, desperately trying to go through the doorframe but being too big and fat as he always did– “I don’t know why you got so big but you better let Koh go right now or I swear I will kill you!!”

“Hoho, strong words from someone who can’t leave his house” – The giant Petrov laughed, poking Crescente with his free hand and making him roll inside the house, then he slowly put me down and once my feet touched the snow the giant Santa Petrov suddenly shrunk down to his regular size… no, he was still quite bigger than usual. – “Just wanted to give you two a surprise~ lets go inside, I don’t want you two to catch a cold.”

As he said that he walked inside with me. There was something really off with him for some reason, to begin with he just squished himself inside through the doorfreem without problem, even when he was clearly bigger and fatter than Crescente, which only made him even more angry.

“Halloween is over, it’s no time to make such bad taste jokes, also how the hell are you able to do such a thing? Weren’t you supposed to be with your parents?”

“Too many question for which you should be able to find the answer by yourself” – the now normal-sized-yet-still-bigger Santa Petrov said as he dropped himself into the sofa – “I’m craving something sweet, don’t you have some of those chocolate chip cookies?~” – He groaned rubbing his large, hairy belly.

“You know I don’t have it” – Said Crescente, taking a look at me, he was getting progressively more annoyed. – “What’s going on with you?” – He asked, but was only received with a cheeky smile.

“I baked some cookies early if you want” – I interrupted – “They are not very good but it’s something.” – I said looking inside my backpack for the bag of almost burn, poorly shaped cookies I tried to bake for tonight, I was hesitant to show them to Crescente since they don’t taste very good but since Petrov was craving something sweet I didn’t mind anymore, I was ready to hand them over when Crescente stopped me.

“You shouldn’t give your home-made cookies to such a suspicious stranger” – Crescente said, making Santa Petrov(?) show a large grin on his face and sit down properly.

“Wha- what do you mean?” – I asked.

“He is not our friend, I thought he was because his aura is very similar, but he is not our Petrov, at least not the one from our world, he is not even a pumpkaboo! Who are you?”

“Took you longer than I expected, but well done!” – Said the strange Santa, rubbing his long white beard – “You are correct, I’m not your Petrov, but I am “a” Petrov”.

“Just answer my question, who are you? What are you doing here?” – Asked Crescente, stepping in front of me, making the extremes of his scarf levitate and look like claws, I noticed his knees were shaking a little and it was to be expected: an intruder just got into his house and he could tear it apart at any second, we already saw him bigger than the building a few minutes ago.

“Hm… First of all, you can call me Shirou, and you can calm down I’m not here to cause any harm” – He said, getting up from the sofa with his hands in the air – “I was sent here to deliver something for you two, and since the occasion I decided to come dressed up as Santa, I thought it would be easier for you two to let me in and it seems it worked haha” – He laughed.

“Then why didn’t you shrink down before knocking the door?” – I asked, stepping at the right side of Crescente.

“Well, that’s easy to explain: that’s my normal size, I just forgot to adapt to this world haha”

“WHAT are you!?” – Shouted Crescente, making more things in the room levitate. Later that night he would confess that at that moment he was genuinely more scared because he couldn’t figure out the true nature of Shirou and it was making him feel anxious, and it was normal after all we couldn’t see the next revelation coming.

“Well, I’m clearly not a Santa, I just wanted to try the costume” – the stranger said, jumping back and surrounding himself in a white mist, only to reveal himself a second later with a very different appearance: He had longer and curlier white hair with red ends, a couple of pointy animal ears and wearing a white and pink kimono which barely crossed around his large belly, tied with a large white and red rope, one of his arms were exposed, as well as his right leg while the other was covered by a long white stocking – “Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Shirou and I am a Zorua from the old land of Hisui, I traveled through time and space to bring you two a little present which will be useful in the future.” – He said, as he took out a decorated envelop form the sleeve of his kimono.

We looked at him astonished, and it wasn’t any exaggeration, he had just dropped a large amount of exposition while practically naked. Crescente put everything down and had to lay down in the sofa for a minute, Shirou remained in the same position with his envelop in his hands for the whole time.

“You are saying that you were sent here? By who?” – I asked, a bit afraid of the mysterious envelop, sure he said it was supposedly to help us but I couldn’t help but to act cautious. – “Also, what is Hisui?”

“It’s how they used to call the Sinnoh region ages ago, right?” – Replied Crescente, taking out his glasses.

“From your world’s perspective, yes” –Replied Shirou – “I didn’t came from the past, I come from a parallel world. I was asked by a friend to come by and give you two this.” – He said, once again trying to make one of us take the object in his hand – “Don’t worry, I swear it’s not dangerous! it’s just a talisman.” – He said getting closer to me. I couldn’t help but to notice how much bigger he was in comparison to our Petrov, if he was going to get as big as Shirou I would have a lot of work to do, I would need extra help only to take his measures. I looked at Crescente for some confirmation and he gave me a positive sign. Inside the envelop there was a purple rope knotted into a flower shape, with a golden bell hanging from it, I noticed how it didn’t make any sound although it properly had something inside.

“Don’t worry, it will sound when you need it.” – Said Shirou, patting my head with his large hand.

“Let me guess” – Said Crescente, getting up – “You can’t tell who sent you or when are we going to need this talisman, right?”

“That is not entirely correct. I can’t tell you the name of the friend of mine who asked me to come here because that would literally summon them, and I’m guessing you don’t want your whole planet to be destroyed, right?” – He said with a large smile, leaving us with only the idea of how bigger his friend could possibly be – “And about the talisman, here is the exact words they told me to tell you two: This talisman will help you ease your worries when tragedy strikes, fear not because yours bonds with your loved one can’t be easily broken. This will not solve your dilemma, but it will give you the strength and certainly you will need.”

My hands were shaking but even so the bell didn’t make any sound. Shirou had just said that something bad will happen to one of us in the future but how was I supposed to take it? Like he just read my mind he kneeled down and hold me by the shoulders in comfort, his hands were big and kind.

“I wish I could tell you two what’s going to happen, but if I did I would be interfering with the flow of time and space of your world, and in order to fix it, this world would… erase my existence” – He said, as I could feel his grip tighten – “While the future is not set into stone there are some events that cannot be changed, especially if they have to do with more than worlds, and this will be one of these… so, in order to help you and your friends overcome this ordeal I was asked to deliver that talisman, please take care of it.” – He said, closing my hand around it with his bigger hand.

I looked at Crescente who was kneeling down by my side, listening to everything.

“You can’t even tell you when it will happen?” – He asked to Shiro, who stood up straight once again.

“Sadly no, but I think if I give you a hint there shouldn’t be a problem…” – He replied

“Don’t even risk it, if you die it would affect Petrov too, right?” – Said a worried Crescente.

“Wh- what do you mean!?” – I sad, grabbing his scarf scared at that revelation.

“When two versions of the same person are in the same world their fate is connected: If one dies the other will do so, but in this case is a bit different, since it’s the world itself…” – He explained, but stopped middle way, and staring in silence at the ceiling for a minute, we were worried but he suddenly came back at his senses – “Ok, they said I could give you this hint: the time will be near when you see me again, but it wouldn’t be me whom you are looking for.”

We were going to comment about it but he quickly put a finger on our lips like saying “you don’t need to think about it”, and with that ominous sign he suddenly turned around and looked at my backpack.

“You said you had some cookies, right?” – He said. Shirou could be a different Petrov, but I can recognize the look in his face when he is exhausted and hungry, so I looked at Crescente who got the sign to lighten up the mood a little and just walked to make some coffee. I went to pick up the bag of cookies and handed it to Shirou, who was salivating at the sight, they didn’t taste very good but it seems they were more than enough for our unexpected visitor. After chatting a little more about how different our world is from his he said goodbye and disappeared into a white mist in the middle of the cold winter night.

The talisman stayed at Crescente’s place all this time until now, I wish I could say it was for more practicality since his house has a barrier, but the truth was that I was scared of it: just looking at it makes me shiver, but I couldn’t avoid my eyes any longer, after all… when I see Petrov now all I can think is how closer he looks to Shirou, he even started to tie his beard…

We are getting closer, closer to the moment we can’t run away, because it has to happen…

…I just pray this talisman is strong enough to help us, no… I hope we can be strong enough, for now, all I can do is make sure my loved ones are safe and protected, and if I have to spend days sewing to do so you can count that I will!

[ecoamerica]

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[librarianandguardian]

Just a feeling- Saul Silva x Female!Reader

Pairing : Saul Silva x Female!Reader

Word Count : ~2300

Warnings : Fluff, brief mention of drug use and burns

Music : Un homme - Jérémy Frerot

Author’s note : Getting pretty stressed because of a huge project at school, so I wrote this to blow off some steam ! I also wanted to say that I do not agree with the way some characters are written and treated in this show. I hope I did not perpetuate these errors, and that I got Silva’s personality a bit right at least. Feedback is appreciated, may it be on the story telling or even the grammar. English isn’t my first language. Flahs-backs in italics. Enjoy ! :D

GIF ‘s not mine, and I can’t find the creator.

French First World songs resonate in the Great Hall, she is dancing. Wild and free. Her loosened hairs fly through the wind. She has traded her Specialist armour for a long flowing dress. Her feet are hammering the ground in rhythm. The crowd carries her all over the dancefloor; she twirls and claps her hands following the music.

From an ignored fairy bloodline, her parents considered her a Specialist Legacy. When her mind fairies powers woke up, everything went wrong ; she was always an overwhelmed child. No one could help her everytime she lost control. Nothing but medication: earrings to contain, and pills to attenuate. It wasn't bad. She lived like that her entire life.

Silva is sitting on a plastic chair, leaning on the table by his side, his gaze lingering. She is an exceptional fighter; dance must be a piece of cake and fun judging from her large smile. To be fair, he barely remembered her from their time at Alfea. Farah told him she was three years younger than him and seemed to have a few memories.

« (Y/N) travelled a lot to the First World prior to college. Her parents were emissaries and brought back souvenirs. Rumours said that her room resembled a cave of wonders.

-Ever went there ?»

His friend chuckled.

« Once. It was full of trinkets, books, movies, postal cards too. Ben caught interest in it, especially the giant botanic encyclopaedia throning on her bookshelf. We both agreed after a while that she might be the ray of sunshine of her Specialist promotion. But I guess she was discreet, if you've never heard of her.»

It took some memory searching, but he indeed remembered one thing. A conversation between a bunch of 1st years talking about a secret party displaying famous First World movies. A few hours later, on the training field, (Y/N) battled fiercely. It caught the attention of many students, who gathered around the platform. Curiosity taking the best of him, he had followed the crowd.

« What's that First World song that I love to describe you with ?

-By the light Clairo, is it really necessary ? »

Her opponent mocked her. She rolled her eyes, wielding her sword before choosing her fight stance.

« You son of... Maneater from Nelly Furtado. Now let's fight please.

-Alright doll, eat me up. »

(Y/N) huffed in annoyance. Clairo was a good fighter, but a little bit too flirty. He launched himself at her. The young woman stayed incredibly calm. Dodging to the right, she left him to stumble before hitting his back with the wooden weapon. He fell to the ground with a grunt. A shy smile spread on her features.

Now that he thinks about it, her earring had intrigued him : an ear chain hanging from the top of the cartilage of her ear to her lobe. Each end was composed of a lavendish round lilac crystal. When she lost control recently, those crystals lit up with a blinding light and burned her skin.

« I change the earring every five year. Every year If any several big crises occurred.

-What about your burns ? How did they clean them up ? »

Her left hand ghosted over her intact lobe, while Harvey healed the bruised flesh. Her eyes stared at the floor of the greenhouse. Saul was holding her other hand.

« They... I stuffed myself with pills. Sometimes enough to sleep through an entire day. Within the Solarian force, it was the only way for them to treat me. None of their mind fairies could calm me down. I don't think you realize how much this, she lifted her intertwined hand, helps.»

The soldier chuckles at the memory. His eyes examined his fingers, remembering how she locked hers, as she found an anchor in his mind.

« My best guess ? Your training forged your head to have a certain mindset in crisis.

-Loads of Solarian troupers could have given you that.

-Yeah. I can't really explain it, she laughed shyly, maybe because you're a teacher, that two of your long time friends are fairies or just because you're good with people.»

Their gazes crossed. The air thickened. Truth to be told, (Y/N) was so lost upon why he managed to calm her down. Farah tried to guide her, but even then, nothing positive came out. Her youth as a student at Alfea only consisted in shared side glances with him in hallways. She sure as hell found the man attractive, but she had other stuff to think about.

A loud giggle snaps him back to reality. (Y/N) falls on his laps while trying to take off her high heels. Her eyes are opened wide and a little glassy. She's definitely drunk.

« Oh by the light, I'm sorry Silva. Aimed at the table ! »

The atmosphere becomes lighter. He catches her when she nearly trips off by trying to get up, one of his arms snaking around to help. Steadying herself on his laps, she catches her breath slowly, though some giggles erupt as she looks around.

« How can you still dance, uh ?»

With a guilty smile, she leans slightly against the table.

« Alcohol ! It's the only thing keeping me up, baby !»

Instant regret shoots through her veins. Some red creeps up on her cheeks, as her hands cover her mouth. The soldier chuckles, enamoured by her adorableness. One thing that strucked him when they met was her lightness. Out of all the solarian troupers out there, or even all the specialists he ever crossed paths with, she was one of the few who stayed so bright and playful. Subconsciously, his fingers dig slightly in her hips.

« It's alright, (Y/L/N).»

She giggles a bit, but thanks him. Farah watches from a far, joined by Ben. (Y/N)(Y/L/N) has been teaching at Alfea for a year now. The entire school seemed to have transformed into a much more joyous place : students got along better, the shyest opened a tad and the roughest softened. Ben's daughter Terra found a supporter of her personal projects and a confidant. Ben himself benefited from her return. Mostly in books and knowledge but that meant already so much to him. Farah gained a daughter ; (Y/N)'s powers were a mess for her advanced age, helping felt natural. But what she loved the most was how confused Saul got with the new Specialist. Their bond strengthened with time, however the first few days rocked the Headmaster all over the place.

«(Y/L/N), what did you do to our office ? Did you... Are these books classified by alphabetic order and colour ?! »

His colleague shrugged, trying to see if he was mad or just surprised. It happened a few days after her arrival. Their shared office went under few renovations.

« (Y/L/N), why dancing classes ? »

She shot up, put her hands on his desk and took twenty minutes to explain how it would make their movements more flexible, strengthen teamwork and be a tool for future mission on the job. Astonished could not describe Silva's feeling.

An admirable change that proved beneficial to the students. These two grew very fond of each other. A lot more than they thought. Words in the hallways started to spread about their growing fondness.

« Okay, I got a question for you, soldier boy.»

Saul tilted his head to the side.

« Are you having fun ?

-Of course I am.»

(Y/N) looks disappointed. Turning around, she pours some water in her cup and chugs it down.

« Really ? 'Cause the only thing I've seen you do is sit in a corner all night. »

He lowers his head, searching for the right words. How does he say that he just loves watching her run around the dancefloor ? How she bounds with students but also keeps their respect ? The fact that she's so organised that she could plan a First World themed party and keep her teacher skills to their best ? The shortest way for that would be admitting his feelings. He zones out long enough for her to talk again.

« It's okay. »

His eyes lock with hers. How did she sober up so quickly ?

« I know you have a reputation as a serious and frowny teacher to keep. And this is a graduation party, so. »

Never mind, she did not. The woman gets up, only to kneel under the tablecloth. He panics briefly.

« (Y/N), what on Earth are you doing ?»

She mumbles before appearing back outside. Her hands are holding a package. Another bright smile shines on her face. Silva knows what's coming, and he has mixed feelings about it; between fear, excitement and confusion.

« Happy Birthday Saul. »

His heart nearly stops. Few people know about his birthday, she is now a part of them. He frankly does not mind, even wished for it for a while now. His hands gently take the package to open it. Before his eyes lies a hard covered sketchbook and a wooden box full of high-quality pencils. The cover has a crow flying in a pearly sky with a red sun. The box is made of ebony and his name carved in silver. She knows an another of his secret. He tears up. The woman worries when he starts to sniffle. Much to her surprise, the soldier puts the gifts on the table before hugging her with all his might. Thank God the students are dancing or already out of the hall to smoke. (Y/N) answers his embrace, reassured.

« Thank you so much dear. »

It's her turn to have glossy eyes. She buries her face in his shoulder. This man is constantly under pressure and she has always wondered what he does during his free time : Does he train more ? He probably reads, right ? The answer came on a regular afternoon.

Silva knocked on her quarters' door. He heard shuffling before (Y/N) opened. She was wearing a bathrobe and a towel around her hair.

« Hi Saul ! Sorry hum. I woke up late and did not expect you so soon so, hum. »

The woman looked around, making her towel fall. Picking it up, she invited him in. He indulged, though a bit surprised.

« I'll be back in a jiffy, you know, putting some clothes on and all. Okay.»

She disappeared in her bathroom, leaving him to explore her room. Many watercolour paintings covered the walls, some abstract and others from the Realms of the Otherworld. However, a few landscapes felt unknown to him. On her desk lied sketches with a horde of different pencils. He discovered portraits of Farah, Ben, Terra, Sky, Riven and finally him. The lines were thin, some shadows sharp for the warriors and smoother for the fairies. A hint of jealousy took over him, quickly brushed away by shyness. The fact that she took the time to draw him was flattering. His fingers grazed over the pencils, wondering if he had time to prepare a little surprise. He puts down the file he came to discuss. A few minutes later, (Y/N) came out, dressed but her hair still wet on the edges. Silva was leaning against her desk, file in hand, a small smile on his features. She mirrored it before asking about the important matter at hand. Twenty minutes later, he left. Her eye caught a change in her drawing material : the portrait of Farah and Ben switched positions. She shuffled them, making sure everything was here, only to find an unknown piece. A cute fox was smiling, a little bubble under him stating :

« Nice Work (Y/L/N). Nice pencils too. Wish I had your talent.»

That last sentence made her wonder if he indeed had an artistic side. Needless to say that his quarters gave her answer. Same reason as his when he came, she knocked on his door one night. Though he did not fully invite her in, her eyes caught glimpses of nice sketches lying on a table, some rudimental equipment next to it.

They stay like this for a few seconds. The headmistress and Professor Harvey look at each other. No words, no need. Terra is chatting with a second year in a corner, bur her eyes catch them. She smiles, looking away shyly, but happy Sky sees the scene too, thanks to Riven who taps on his shoulder. They can't help the smile growing on their faces. Sky's father figure finding support is definitely going to be one of the highlights of their first year. (Y/N) and Saul part. One of her hands pats his arm.

« Wanna dance ? »

He closes his eyes, sighing. There is no lack of desire but the fear of what the students will say.

« I wish but... I don't know.

-I get it. But one day, you will ! That's a promise. »

With one last smile, she strolls back to the dancefloor, leaving him sheepish. He takes the sketchbook and a pencil. He might not dance tonight, but he'll make up to it.

[sweetchup]

Of Blood and Bruises

Anon asks: You’re writing is super underrated may I request Feitan x artist who draws dark themes please make it a lemon if you’re feeling scandalous :)

Anon asks: I’m in love with your writing! Could you do another NSFW scenario with Fei when he loses control? Thank you!!

Type: Feitan x reader

Au?: None

Word count: 3,000+

Warnings: Angst, Blood/gore, Mature Content, Lime, NSFW, Abuse, Psychotic/Sociopath reader, slight yandere?

Author Note: I decided to combine two asks into one scenario because they fit really well together. I hope you two like it and thanks for all the compliments. I get really happy when I read them!! ❤️❤️

“Though Little Spider, I truly believe that there is a Nen Curse on the Bloody Jewel of the East. It’s the only plausible answer.”

You look away from your sketchbook to look down at Chrollo who had laid his head on your lap, his eyes closed as he talks. What were you going to do with this man?

“Chrollo I’m pretty sure the reason it’s called the Bloody Jewel is because it’s a big red jewel found after 100 men in the mines got crushed to death by an explosion Accident. I don’t think a dynamite getting set off counts as any sort of Nen curse.” You say, causing the man on your lap to snort. You shake your head and go back to sketching. You had really taken inspiration from the recent Budo Knives that you guys had stolen, and you were trying to capture the essence of the destructiveness they caused to the human body when used. The blood splatter, the guts and the gore, always amazed you like it was some sort of wonderful form of art. So you sketch it, framing your memories and love for death into time itself.

“I’m starting to think you should take up my spot as leader. What do you say, (y/n)?”

“Yeah, and let you be the heart? No way Boss, sorry.” You hear Chrollo and some of the other members chuckle. Looking away from Chrollo you look at the members who had laughed. “I’m serious. Come on. Imagine if the boss had my job. We be all dead before we could say ‘Spider Shish Kabob’”

This causes all of the members to break out into a fit of laughter, even causing you to crack and laugh. As you all begin to calm down, wiping the tears from your eyes, you notice something. We’re missing someone.

“Hey. Where’s Feitan?” No one responds but you feel the room get tense. You had just now realized you haven’t seen the sadistic short man all day. You should probably go check up on him.

Pulling Chrollo lightly off your lap, you jump down onto the bottom floor of the cobblestone abandoned church you guys were hiding out in. If you remember correctly, Feitan took the 3rd room on the left side halfway. You go to walk down there but a giant hand grabs onto you. Blinking, you turn to look at Franklin who had stopped you.

“I wouldn’t suggest that, (y/n). Let’s just leave Feitan alone.” Franklin says, using his other hand to pat your head, “How about you just join Shalnark, Uvo, Phinks and I in a game of cards?”

“But, why…Why can’t I check up on Feitan? Is he torturing someone again? You know I don’t get bothered by that stuff.”

Franklin goes to rebut but Uvo lets out a laugh and cuts him off. “Don’t try Franklin. It’s pointless when (y/n) wants to go do her job.”

Uvogin takes a sip of his beer before looking serious at you. “I wouldn’t suggest it though, squirt. Shalnark and Phinks decided to really just annoy the shit out of Feitan today. So he’s not… in the best state of mind right now, kiddo.”

You sigh and glare at Shalnark and Phinks who freeze up under your gaze. “You two hadn’t learned your lesson from last time didn’t you. Well, that doesn’t change things because I’m still going to check up on him.”

“(Y/n)—“

“Franklin. It’s my job. You guys are the legs, Chrollo is the head and I’m the heart. It’s my job to make sure everything is running smoothly within the Troope and during missions. I can’t have any bad blood going on with the members before we go out on a mission.”

Franklin and you stare each other down for a couple of minutes before the larger man removes his hand. He lets out a sigh clearly not happy with letting you go. “Fine. But, you better call us if anything happens. I don’t trust Feitan right now.”

You giggle and hit Franklin on the arm. “Of course but I doubt anything will happen.”

Franklin stares as he watches you walk away. He just can’t understand why you do your job. After all you just—

“Franklin! Come on we are about to start.” Franklin sighs at Shalnark’s call and just decides to leave the thought alone for now.

————🕸—☠️—🕸————

“What? Is that all you can do short ass—“ The man chokes out another scream as Feitan peels off another fingernail. Feitan was not amused by the man and honestly, he wasn’t calming down, he was just getting more pissed off. This man had a sharp tongue just like Shalnark and Phinks. Maybe he should cut theirs out next time when the boss or (y/n) isn’t looking. “Fuck.. you… you gay bi—“

Feitan had enough of the man and decided to just snap his neck, it’s easier that way and maybe with some quiet he could calm down. Feitan takes a deep breath, his fingers shaking in rage. He needs to calm down, he’s usually not like this and if he can’t he’ll snap.

“Fei?” You stick your head through the door. All you can see under the light of candles is the back of Feitan who is looking at a dead man on the table in front of him. You wait a couple of seconds but you get no response so you walk in. You come closer and closer until you're standing next to Feitan. You don’t look at the black haired man and instead, grab the hand of the dead man in front of you. “Wow. I always wondered how you could be so good at peeling fingernails. You always do it so clean and precise. You should teach me one time.”

You two then sit in silence for a while after you speak. You take a shaky breath. Feitan is usually quiet but he’s never been this silent around you before.

“Hey Fei… I don’t know what happened but—“

When you put a light hand on Feitan's shoulder, all hell breaks loose. One second, you're standing next to him and the next you're being pressed up against the wall. You go to yell out but Feitan quickly shuts you up by fiercely kissing you. Crap, you should’ve listened to Franklin. Now, you're stuck in a bad situation, like you always are.

Feitan pulls away from your mouth with a light string of saliva still connecting you two. You look into the man’s eyes and just see pure sadistic darkest enveloping them. Just from looking at it you know. You know that Feitan has completely lost himself.

“Fei—“ “Shut up.” Feitan grabs the roots of your hair and pulls it back, hard. You let a whine out at the painful feeling before letting out a small moan as Feitan moves to your neck. Feitan starts with harsh bruising kisses and sucks on your neck and shoulder. You gulp, slightly scared, as he sucks particularly hard on a spot right where your windpipe is. You hear the man chuckle at your gulp, amused by your reaction.

You definitely shouldn’t have given a reaction because now he was given harsh vampire hickeys and blood drawing bites on important parts of your neck and shoulders. Including the important carotid arteries that are needed to deliver blood to your brain and head. This definitely wasn’t good, it was very dangerous what Feitan is attempting. But, at the same time, you didn’t know what to do in this situation, you’ve been in bad situations but not like this. Technically if you allowed Feitan to do what he wanted, it could calm him down and a possible later on situation with another member could be avoided. You just weren't sure if it was the right call when he’s like this. He could honestly kill you right now without a single thought if he wanted to.

You are startled out of your raising thoughts as you hear a popping noise. Blushing, you watch helplessly as Feitan bursts open your shirt, the buttons flying off as he does so. “Feitan—“

You can’t get a word out again as your head is slammed against the wall with Feitan’s hand at your throat. You shiver as you meet Feitan’s gaze with teary eyes, slightly scared as you feel a little of his bloodlust leak out. As you are about to feel as if your heart was going to actually burst out of your chest and run away, Feitan looks away, focusing on undressing the rest of you.

You would let out a sigh of relief at that but can’t. Afterall, you felt as if you were literally being hanged.

Due to Feitan being strong, he could and was holding you off the ground, with the tips of your feet hardly scraping the cobblestone. It also didn’t help that he was ever so often squeezing a little bit more forcefully down on your neck, making the next breath you take after he unsqueezes feel like hot coal traveling down your throat. It was honestly a heart stopping feeling, it was something so scary that you have never felt before. Not even back in the hell place of Meteor City. Fuck, your mind was screaming at you to do something as you felt your sense of sight loosing itself. You were actually going to die or, at the very least, pass out from lack of oxygen.

As if you God suddenly heard your call, though according to Chrollo there isn’t one, Feitan let’s you go and you fall to your knees in a fit of coughing. It has never been so amazing to you to feel the sweet amazing life force called air flow through you.

Though that is very short lived as you feel a hand grab and tug your hair. You look towards the direction you're being pulled and blush as you come face to face with Feitan’s cock. Gulping, you look up at the man who glares down at you. He had a firm grip on your hair so you knew there was no use in running away now.

Pulling a shaky hand up you grab onto the pulsing shaft and take a couple of slow pumps. As you do so you hear Feitan hiss and grip onto your hair tighter. At least he’s very sensitive so this should hopefully go quickly. You lean your face in and give small kitten licks from the bottom of the shaft all the up to the tip. As you finally make it up to the top, you give the blushing tip a kiss as a little precum leaks out of it. You gulp as you feel the substance make contact with your tongue, it was an interesting taste that sent a shiver up your spine.

Now comes the hard part. You’ve never ever given anyone head or a blowjob before so you are going to have to somehow figure this out, and fast too unless you want Feitan to get mad. Opening your mouth you wrap your lips around Feitan’s tip, careful to make sure your teeth don’t rub against his shaft.

Clenching your eyes shut and trying to focus not on gaging, you take Feitan inch by inch into your mouth until your nose is right against his pubic hair. Your eyes and throat stings, you definitely know you can’t take Feitan in this far yet so you’ll have to use your hands for part of the blowjob. As you go to pull away you feel Feitan clutch onto your hair tighter.

You quickly look up worried at the man as you still have his full length in his mouth. Feitan smirks down at you and, as if he wants you to suffer, he starts to make short thrust into your mouth, keeping your head still as he does so.

Tears start to roll down your cheeks as your throat begins to convulse erratically around his length. Your throat absolutely burned as you continuously gagged at each thrust and you honestly felt as if you wanted to puke. You were definitely already not ready to give a blowjob after getting strangled, little less a face fuck.

You place your hands on his thighs, clawing at them, trying to get Feitan to stop or at the very least slow down. Though the pain you give him as you claw into him only makes him go faster.

“Fuck…” Feitan chuckles as he looks down at you. “Your throat is literally spazzing around me. Can’t take it, can you (y/n)?”

You look up at Feitan and looking at him through blurry eyes, you beg him to stop. Though as you go to make some sort of sound, it only causes vibration and it makes Feitan thrusts move erratically and unrhythmically.

“F-Fuck. You stupid slut, trying to make me— fuck.”

Feitan gives a last couple of messy thrusts before burying his whole length in your mouth. He lets out a groan and a couple of swears as he finally releases and his cum starts squirting out in strands, painting your throat and mouth white. All you can do is try to swallow as much as you can, trying not to choke on the thick white substance.

Feitan lets out a sigh as he finally pulls out of your mouth, allowing a few last white strands to paint your face. As he lets your head go you, exhausted, lean against the wall trying to stabilize yourself. So much hurt, from your jaw to your throat and even some of the bites on your chest. Nothing felt right.

You flinch as you feel something touch your cheek. Opening your eyes, you see Feitan with his hand now away. As you look into his eye, you can see he had finally calmed down and had snapped out of his trance.

Feitan feels as if he’s been stung as you flinch because of him. Though, he can’t blame you, he had lost control of himself and totally blacked out. He just can’t believe what he did to you. You are all bruised and bloody, and dirty with his cum streamed on your face. He clenches his fist as he feels his eyes start to burn. You are the heart, the little spider of the group. You help the troupe members even if not asked. You make sure they’ve eaten, taken showers, you bandage their wounds, and even taken care of them when they get sick. You are the one that actually cares if they make it back from a mission or not. Feitan remembers as if it was yesterday how hard you cried and mourned when the previous number 4 and 8 hadn’t come back.

“F-feitan.” You say shakily, reaching a hand up as you see a tear roll down the man’s face. As you are about to touch him, he slaps your hand away and backs up.

“Don’t comfort me. D-don’t.”

“But-t, feitan I—“

“Don’t (y/n). I don’t deserve it. You know that—“ Feitan is cut off as you grab onto him. Clutching him to you in a hug. Feitan scurries to try to pull you off, “(y/n)! Let go! Are you fucking insane?! Look at yourself, look at what I’ve done to you. You’re our little spider and I hurt you!! I’m a monst—“

Feitan is cut off yet again as he feels a sting. You, you just slapped him. You just slapped the torturer of the phantom troupe. Feitan finally looks at you again and he sees you looking serious at him. “You idiot. Don’t call yourself a monster. This is the first time you’ve ever hurt me. And you didn’t mean it, right? Then to me that means you are forgiven.”

“W-what?”

“I’m not mad at you.”

Feitan puts his head down and lets out a soft laugh. He just can’t believe what he heard. “What…what the fuck is wrong with you? How can you forgive me so easily. Are you fucking stupid or something?”

You put a finger to your chin and think. “Hmmm… I think so. Remember the time Phinks chucked me into a car by accident when he got mad.”

“I’m not fucking talking about that—“

“Feitan. Stop.”

Feitan glares at you as you massage your fingers through his hair. “You know this isn’t the first time I’ve gotten hurt. Like I said before Phinks has chucked me into a car before when he got mad. Uvogin was so close to paralyzing me once. Hell, even Machi sewed my lips closed once. It comes with the territory. Because…”

You place your forehead on Feitan’s and he sighs, not wanting to say what he knows is true. “You're the heart... It’s your job to make sure everything is running smoothly within the Troope and during missions. Even…

Feitan’s throat chokes up and he can’t make himself finish. You place a small kiss on his forehead and finish for him. “Even, if it means I get hurt. I’m the toughest muscle in the body so I can take the burden off of the legs and the head.”

Feitan is silent for a moment. He stares blankly into your eyes, just wondering why. Why do your eyes still spark when you look at him after what he had just done to you? What the others have done to you… Why do you still stay around? Just why—

“Feitan.” The man snaps out of it. He watches as you stand up to pull out your sketchbook that you had dropped when he attacked. As soon as you have it in your hand, you pat your lap as you sit down, “tell me what happened. I heard Shalnark and Phinks caused something.”

The man, unemotionally, plops his head down on your lap. It was wrong, he knew everything was wrong with the current structure of how the troupe was set up. But, he knew, it was pretty much a fact, that they couldn’t live without you and the way you just make their life so much brighter and better.

Feitan just lets out a sigh and closes his eyes. No matter how much bruises and blood you receive. No matter how much trauma you face. No matter how much you just want to quit. The heart has to pump on.

… Because without it…the Spider will die.

[violetwolfraven]

Peace and Joy

@spot-king-of-brooklyn I’m your secret Santa! @newsies-secretsanta

You said your favorite ships are sprace and/or javid and you’re good with pretty much anything so I’m gonna write two separate vaguely holiday-related oneshots in the reincarnation AU. Don’t worry though nothing heavy, just fluff. No COVID because I’ve had enough of that dude and I say so. Enjoy! Happy Holidays!

Tw: referenced past period-typical homophobia.

...

Spot couldn’t remember being this happy... ever. Not in the early 1900s or in the early 2000s.

Well, the closest he could think of was 1902, when he and Race moved on from being newsies and from being leaders of their respective boroughs and rented that old apartment in Brooklyn together. But that had been muted by the need to be careful. They couldn’t be normal young people in love because they always had to hide.

And that was fine at the time because it was expected. It was them doing whatever it took to be together not knowing they’d ever get the chance to do it another way.

Now, in the bright, beautiful, forward-thinking 21st century, they could be safe. They could be in love without fear of the consequences. They could go out Christmas shopping together, and Spot didn’t know if that counted as a date, but it kind of felt like one as he watched his boyfriend bop a little to Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You as he looked around.

He ended up having to look away before he started blushing too hard. Even if he wasn’t the King of Brooklyn this time, he still had a bit of a reputation as a stone cold badass. For all he knew, one or more of their more mischievous friends could be spying on them right now. And besides, this thrift store probably had stuff he could get the few Brooklyn kids who’d come back, too.

He was still deciding if Hotshot would think it was funny if he got him a tank top that said ‘hot stuff’ on it. The others would find it funny, but Spot honestly wasn’t sure if it would make his former second uncomfortable.

“Hey, Spottie, ya think my little brother would like this?”

Spot turned back to see Race holding up a bright purple worm on a string, but a giant version of one. One that was big enough to be a scarf.

“Knowin’ your family,” he admitted, “I think any of ‘em would be happy to get one of those.”

It was true. Honestly, the most sensible Larkin brother was the second-oldest, Crutchie, but Spot could still see him proudly wearing a worm-on-a-string-scarf to school after winter break ended.

Besides him, Medda, Race’s mom, tended to embrace whatever unique fashion choice she could find. And Jack, of course, didn’t let being the oldest of four stop him from being a theatrical little shit who liked drawing attention to himself.

And Romeo was somehow even more eccentric than Race, so he would definitely like that thing.

Race grinned, “I’m gonna get Ro a worm scarf for Christmas.”

“Your family is ridiculous.”

“Thank you. So, what’re ya gettin’ for Denton?”

Oh, shit. Spot had completely forgotten about getting anything for Denton.

He really should get something for him. After all, the teacher hadn’t even known Spot when Jack asked if he could stay with him. All he’d needed to know was that Spot needed a place to hide from his terrible parents and couldn’t stay with the Larkins, mostly because Medda had a strict rule about her boys’ partners sleeping over unless it was absolutely necessary. (it was also because Spot couldn’t think of anyone he’d want to live with less than Jack Kelly, but Denton didn’t really need to know that, did he?)

So far, Spot’s parents hadn’t shown any signs of missing him, and Spot couldn’t decide if that hurt or not, but it barely mattered anymore.

Because Denton didn’t really have any rules beyond ‘do your homework’, ‘take a shower occassionally’, and ‘if you leave the house, let me know where you’re going.’ He helped Spot pick out a Halloween costume, let him spend Thanksgiving with Race, and gave him money for Christmas shopping. He was fine with Spot being gay and having a boyfriend, even if there was an added rule with that of ‘you can’t have the door closed if you’re alone in your room with Race.’

He gave Spot space, but also made it clear that he could come to him for anything he needed help with. He never hit him, never pushed when Spot wanted to be alone, never even raised his voice unless they were in an already-loud room and he needed to get his attention.

In short, in only a few months, he’d become the best adult Spot had ever had in his life. He wasn’t his father, but he was closest thing Spot had ever gotten to a dad.

The Denton they’d known in their last life had been kind of like that, too. He’d helped as best he could whenever one of the newsies got into trouble, always being there for anyone who needed him since Kath first introduced her new reporter friend to her newsie friends. Of course, Spot hadn’t been living with Denton then, so he’d never really thought about it.

“What do you even get a middle-aged man for Christmas?”

Race shrugged, “Power tools?”

The idea of getting Denton power tools was so ridiculous that they both laughed.

“Uh... he’s a writer,” Race pointed out, “So... fancy pens?”

“Fancy pens? We’re at a thrift store, Racer.”

“Well we don’t gotta stay here forever. There’s a Barnes and Noble across the street.”

He wasn’t wrong about that, but Spot wasn’t sure about the whole ‘fancy pen’ thing. It seemed a little generic.

“Yooooo! Spot, check this out for Jack!”

He was holding up a bright blue sketchbook that said ‘Sketchy Bitch’ on the cover.

“Oh yeah, ya definitely have to get that for Cowboy.”

Spotting (no pun intended) something else on the shelf behind him, Spot grinned.

He had the perfect thing to get for the man who’d taken him in.

...

“This is gonna be so fuckin’ awesome.”

Davey snorted, “You’re way too excited ‘bout this, Jackie.”

He loved his boyfriend, but he had a tendency to get overenthusiastic about things.

Well, he loved that about Jack, too. And he loved being able to call him his boyfriend, now. That they didn’t need to hide this time.

He and Sarah had both been a little worried about their parents’ reaction, but it had turned out to be for nothing. They’d each gotten a t-shirt with their respective pride flag for the first night of Hanukkah, and Jack and Kath were always welcome to come over as long as at least one parent was home.

Davey loved Jack just as much in this lifetime as he had in his first, but it was different, not having to hide it. It was good different, but definitely different. Being able to be who they were and be in love and knowing that it was generally frowned upon to be homophobic now, at least where they lived.

And being able to do random shit that was romantic and fun as hell, but not something would even occur to most people to do.

After a sleepy conversation once Crutchie, Race, and Romeo had fallen asleep watching White Christmas (which Davey appreciated for the choreography in the dance numbers) one time about how there weren’t really any Hanukkah movies, Jack had collaborated with Kath to write a lesbian Hanukkah musical romcom to post to YouTube.

Objectively, it wasn’t that great. It was good for a movie made by a bunch of high school juniors, but they couldn’t afford good cameras or microphones or anything. Plus, it was appealing to a very niche audience, so Davey doubted this movie would get more than twenty views.

Still, it meant a lot that Jack was so excited about it, that he was working so hard on props and editing in the lighting and music for it so Kath and Saz could play Jewish lesbians fake-dating at a holiday party who fall in love. It was cute.

“It ain’t gonna win any awards,” Jack admitted, “But I think we’s got somethin’ good here!”

“We do,” Davey agreed.

Was he actually talking about the romcom starring his sister and her girlfriend? Partially. It was a pretty good movie for something produced by teenagers.

But they had something good there that wasn’t on the screen of Jack’s laptop, too.

Jack seemed to share those thoughts, with the way he was smiling.

“What’s with the look, mi amor?”

Davey rolled his eyes as the other boy put his arm around his waist.

“Like you don’t know, love,” he chuckled, “Remember the last time we did somethin’ like this? And by ‘we’ I mean ‘you.’”

“Shh,” Jack shook his head, “Nope. We don’t talk about the latkes incident.”

“You mean when you almost burned down our tiny little kitchen trying to—“

“We don’t talk about it!”

Davey laughed. It was funny, how Jack couldn’t, in any lifetime, cook anything more complicated than like... chili or stew. While he could make something edible, he couldn’t make anything that was really considered good.

“Davey, love, luz de mi vida, it was literally over a hundred years ago, so stop. Bringin’. Up. The. Latkes. Incident!”

He punctuated the sentence by hitting Davey with one of his mom’s throw pillows.

“Okay, Jackie, I get it! Stop hitting me!”

“Fine,” Jack grinned, “I ain’t almost burned down a kitchen in over a century, babe. I thinks that’s a good record to have.”

“Most people never almost burn down a kitchen,” Davey pointed out, “I know I—wait, did you just call me ‘babe’?”

Jack was definitely not meeting his eyes to try to hide how he was blushing, “Uh... is that okay?”

Davey smirked. Jack didn’t get flustered that often, but it was adorable when he did.

And even if he had almost burned down their apartment, it had been cute back then, how he’d tried so hard to try to do something nice for Davey for the holiday season. It was cute now, too.

That was one thing that hadn’t changed through the decades, he guessed.

“It’s definitely okay, babe.”

...

“Spot, is this a... ‘Best Dad In The World’ mug?”

“...if you cry, I’m outta here.”

[theres-no-protocol-for-this]

Amusement Park

Part 11 of the Guardian fanfic (and we’re almost to the end)! If you would like to read this in chronological order and don’t feel like tag surfing, this is also available on AO3.

Not everything my humans do ends in tragedy. Occasionally, they have something resembling fun.

Digging in the Archives led them to one of those traveling amusement parks that sometimes took over parking lots for a week. I'd seen it at a distance but frankly, the screaming and the smell of cotton candy hadn’t instilled much confidence.

You'll hate it, the house informed me. It had given me a pendant through which it talked, sometimes. I was still getting used to the mansion’s constant presence.

For once, the entity was uncharacteristically wrong. I didn't totally hate the amusement park.  The place was loud and there were far too many people, plus it all smelled vaguely of vomit. But my humans had a good time, and that somehow made up for the rest of it.

Arada and Overse held hands and bought themselves giant hot dogs. Baradwahj kept stopping to doodle in her sketchbook. Even Gurathin, who as far as I knew didn't like anything that entailed having fun, was having a good time as he argued air resistance and thermodynamics with Volsecu.

I was walking alongside Dr. Mensah, on two legs at that.

"Have you ever been on a Ferris wheel?" she asked.

I shook my head. If wolves had been intended to leave the ground, we'd have wings. And seeing as how we didn't, I didn't want to chance it. It must've shown on my face because Mensah laughed and touched my shoulder.

"You look like I suggested an execution."

"Yeah, maybe."

"It's perfectly safe."

"It doesn't look safe." How was I supposed to protect my clients if they were going to get on something that rickety?

The house offered unhelpful information, starting with when Ferris wheels were invented and the statistics of accidents and injuries.

Mensah shook her head, clearly amused at the whole thing, and stopped in front of a food vendor. Money exchanged hands, and suddenly she had this puffy ball of sugar on a stick. It was a hideous shade of pink.

"Want to try a bite?" she asked.

"Hell no!"

She snorted. "You could use more meat on your bones, you know."

"That... thing isn't food."

The rest of the group was up ahead, stopped in front of a small building that read "Fun House of Mirrors." These words didn't look right together, but fuck it, I don't understand humans and I couldn't care less what they considered fun.

"Over here!" Arada yelled, waving her hands.

Mensah waved back and started walking again. Normally, I do at most a half-assed version of my job. A decade in, I've come to the conclusion that humans are somehow drawn to danger, and frankly, stopping them is a waste of breath. But these humans... I didn't want anything to happen to them, so I'd been paying attention.

So, when a clown walked between me and them, I growled at the weirdly-dressed human. Except, it didn't smell human at all. It smelled... like me, like another were-creature. I didn't see a collar, so it wasn't a guardian. Just a free were-creature, one that hadn’t been caught by the department.

We’re supposed to report unregistered users of dark magic to the department. But, my binding almost never picked up when such a creature was around—it certainly wasn’t reacting now—and I had no plans of telling the department a damn thing.

The clown planted itself in front of me. "Oh wow," it—correction, she—said, suddenly excited. "Oh my god, you're like the only other shapeshifter I've met. Shit! This is awesome. Oh, god, can I...uh, take a picture?"

The team noticed my absence and came over, and then, there was nowhere to run. I stood around awkwardly while they chatted with the other were-creature, whose name was Tasha and who turned into a bear but had started as a human. And then they exchanged phone numbers. And I was just standing there, trying not to look as uncomfortable as I felt.

"You OK?" Tasha wanted to know all of a sudden.

"Fine."

"You look about a mile down the road from fine," she pointed out. "I can practically see you trying to crawl out of your skin."

"So?"

"So, you need to relax a little," she told me, oblivious.

Mensah carefully explained that I was currently working. Tasha patted my shoulder, and I almost jumped backward. It took effort to stay still and not bite the were-bear's hand off.

"Stop that," I growled.

Tasha handed me a balloon, one of the many she was holding and giving out to kids. I just stood there, string in hand, and tried to puzzle out what the fuck I was supposed to do with it. You can't really kill anyone with a balloon, and you can't eat it.

Ratthi said, "It's very purple."

I looked up at the floating ball. "What do you do with it?"

"Hold it for a while and then let it go and watch it fly away."

"What for?"

Humans often engage in rituals that bring them joy. It doesn’t always have meaning, the entity told me like I didn’t know. I wished I could glare but there was no one to glare at.

"Fun." Tasha was in my face. "The whole purpose of this place is to have some fun. It makes living a little easier, a little lighter."

I looked at Dr. Mensah like I needed rescuing all of a sudden.

"Come on," she said quietly. "Let's go see if we can find you something that's actual food." She smiled at the were-bear. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Tasha. Feel free to reach out to us anytime."

After lunch, we entered the funhouse.

I know humans are supposed to be delighted in things that bend the mind, but the house of mirrors gave me the creeps. I felt sufficiently unnerved to switch back into my wolf form. On the off chance that we got attacked three steps past the front door, I was ready.

I walked ahead of the rest of the investigative team, using my superior senses to seek out our target. But, frankly, I doubted the sanity of any creature that would make its home in this horrible place.

I stopped in front of a set of mirrors that distorted human proportions. Standing on four feet and only half as tall as the floor-to-ceiling mirror, I could still mostly identify what I was looking at. Trust humans to enjoy something as convoluted and mind-bending as this place.

And then a shadow walked straight out of the mirror and past me toward the investigators. It was a silhouette of a person, outlined in gray and green sparks of light. It sang as it moved, each word visible in the fog-shrouded room.

The words were literally spilling out of its mouth like confetti and falling on the ground.

I decided that this monster had bigger problems than a group of curious investigators to deal with.

"Indeed," said the strange spirit and the word plopped on the ground like a meatball. "This is what you might call a curse."

I yipped at it softly. "What kind of curse?"

It, of course, had no idea what I was saying. The mansion helped translate, somehow able to communicate with the creature just because of the pendant's proximity to the monster.

"The kind born of ill intentions," the spirit answered just as the humans caught up.

I placed myself squarely between them and the spirit, moving so that, if it tried anything, it would have to go through me.

Mensah put a hand on my back, between my shoulder blades, as a heads-up that she was standing beside me. I shivered at the unsolicited touch. Baradwahj was taking notes, and in the brief silence I could easily make out the sound of her pencil scraping against paper.

"I wondered why so many beings of light were suddenly in my domain," the creature said, and the words floated away, carried by an unseen breeze. "But now, I understand. The humans beyond these walls never cease to surprise me."

Overse, whose magic also had a connection to words and writing, stepped forward. "Who are you?"

"A difficult question, human." The cursed being rose above the floor on bare feet and twirled before us. "Once, perhaps I was human. But then I was cursed, for speaking the words that needed to be said. And the curse is renewed with each passing moon. For fifty years now, unceasing and unfailing."

"Can you tell us who cursed you?"

"I never knew her name. But she was... beautiful. Like the light of a new moon falling on a still, silent lake."

I heard whispers among the group. Finally, Overse said, "If we could find the one who cursed you, perhaps we could convince her to lift it."

"Perhaps."

The spirit flittered past me and between the humans. It passed through them untouched and didn't appear to cause them any harm. Sparks of green light landed in her wake.

I knew the humans wouldn't leave this alone, so I shapeshifted and became human. The spirit turned to face me now that there were eight people between us, haphazardly arranged and staring.

"So you're more than a wolf."

"And you're more than a prisoner," I countered.

"A curse is a curse." The creature shrugged.

"Not every curse is the same. Why the mirrors?"

"So that I might remember the importance of the human shape, the wonder of what it means to be born a human being." She spit the words out.

I had a sudden, inexplicable moment of clarity. "The head of the department did this, didn't she?"

"You're a smart one, little wolf."

No, not smart. Just good at remembering terrible things at inappropriate times. Mensah did this complicated thing where she got a little closer but didn't touch, like just existing would somehow prop me up. I don't know why. It's not like I cared what happened to this spirit or the uptight asshole of a human who chaired the department.

Overse and Arada grasped hands. Ratthi looked so very, utterly sad.

Mensah made a decision. I like how she thinks hard about her choices but once she's chosen, it's full steam ahead. I hate humans who waffle about things.

"We're leaving," she told the team. "There's nothing more we can do here. The Archives got it wrong this time. Guardian, we have some things we need to do tomorrow. So you have the day off."

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

[tammyhybrid21]

Autism & Neurodivergent Headcanons

TODAY IS A SCREAMING ABOUT AUTISM DAY!

Because apparently it's just the mood, and well, not entirely Autism, but like-- the kind of characters I enjoy. And rule number one is Neurodivergent Coded, in one form or another... Which is mostly Autism, but not always.

So, let's talk about some of the Neurodivergent ICONS I love.

So first, I'm going to go back to my OLDEST, well, okay more like second oldest fandom. With Sonic, specifically Sonic SatAM. And the character who STILL to this DAY defines my taste in characters about 75% of the time.

So, let's talk. This character, I have... no idea how many pages of a sketchbook I have just filled with him. But this is Antoine. D'Coolette in the comics, Depardieu in the cartoon. And he was my first... well, the FIRST character I ever so whole heartedly latched onto. Which is projection and the whole nine yards of that mess. Hell I have old, old OCs who I made into his family and just-- yeah--

So, Antoine, he's the coward of the show, the comic relief and the joke that's picked on. He's also ALWAYS anxious, has special focus and interests and lacks even basic social skills and has issues with vocalizing things properly. Antoine, ticks all the autism flags for me, with additional anxiety. Along with just, massive underdog sense. You need to remember, this was MY CHARACTER, as a kid.

And he still is. I could talk for ages on all the little things that he does that are Autistic or Autistic coded, but that would be a WHOLE other big giant post, and we're not really here for that, but just screaming briefly about Characters I love who're definitely ND

Meanwhile still on Sonic.

LOOK AT THIS ADHD ICON!

Like look! Look! The simple fact is, this is the first truly Nurodivergent ICON form of Sonic we have seen! And I mean that, before and always he was just-- fast. But have you watched the MOVIE?! And okay, there are jokes in the comics and even in the cartoon, but those were always really brief and not enough but Movie Sonic?! Like, this is the baby Sonic! This is definitely ADHD Sonic! This is the TRUE BLUE!

Although I will miss the old school Sonic from SatAM, I will not miss him being rather mean spirited towards my Autism Icon of a character. Which seriously, I have-- many complaints about SatAM on rewatching it as an adult, but one of the biggest is just generally how mean spirited Sonic is... as an aside though, I do still appreciate the series and wish that it got the completion it deserved, and Archie doesn't count.

ALSO BONUS.

Without further comments.

The og ADHD "Sonic". Also Sonic Underground has its charm and place FITE ME!

Soooo, we all know, ALL KNOW! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS AUTISTIC! But I would also, like to just make some comments in general about Sans. So let's lump the Skelebros together and talk about them. Papyrus is the obvious Autistic Icon! In so, so many ways, and damn it, I also have many, many comments to make on the who is older debate, but number one-- I want to talk about something in regards to Sans.

The general image we all have in the fandom is depression, but I would also like to raise Anxiety. And it's all subtle. But both the brothers are not neurotypical and people can FITE ME! I will counter with examples from the game and even some of the characterizations that you yourselves write people!

Also, on anxiety, we get a very small glimpse, but I think Papyrus has it as well, and that's just sad...

Benjamin Tennyson from his series by the same name. ADHD ICON! Also, the best kid with Aliens on his wrist, but only up to the end of Ultimate Alien and we do NOT talk about the retcons in Omniverse and beyond...

But Ben is not just ADHD, I have a missing half complete rant about Benjamin here and Autism, but I will cite Sumo Slammers as the BIG THING! Like do you know how many episodes of the Original series had him just-- deviating from the plot because THIS IS MY SPECIAL INTEREST! Like, that's big, and even grown up-- and he has routines and places that matter to the HEIGHT OF IMPORTANCE! That might be stupid to a casual observer, but for me. Yep.

Icon!

Also just like, who doesn't want to have aliens at their fingertips, tell me?!

And the whole Uchiha Clan in general. And since this is a topic I've ranted on multiple times, I don't really think I need to talk about it again, just go dig through my Naruto tag, or my Autism one... or both, I don't really care. But this whole clan is one big Autistic Family. Also obvious from this series...

And the Number 1 Knuckleheaded Ninja himself. At least pre-shippuden and early on the boy is the ADHD icon! Actually, honestly, all Uzumaki are-- Again, this isn't something I really need to talk about, but I will complain a LOT about how badly Naruto was handled, and I do have many half finished angry rants about how they lost his empathy and it became so self-centered and just--

This boy annoys me beyond belief due to how it was handled.

For some amusement, I'll be honest-- there is only one member of Mystery Incorporated who I don't think is Neurodivergent, and no-- it's not the dog.

No but seriously. I have-- many, many feelings on this show, most of them really honestly too much for me to honestly put into enough words. But on the whole, one of the big things in NOBODY HERE FEELS TYPICAL! They're all neurodivergent best friends aside one single member, and I have many emotions and feelings, and just-- they're so, so good.

Shaggy definitely has some kind of anxiety, Freddy I have a whole rant somewhere about how he's Autistic, Velma gives off some MASSIVE OCD vibes, particularly when faced with challenges to her boxed world-view and while we could debate that to Autism-- not really... Scooby like Shag, has anxious, but he's also a Great Dane--

And Daphne minds them all!

I will also fight you on Vivi! Of course everyone already knows Arthur and anxiety-- but Vivi is SO Autistic/ADHD herself! Like you don't understand!

AND I CAN AND WILL SCREAM MORE ABOUT THESE TWO AS WELL!

Like! I do not think people yet understand! I am THIS CLOSE to digging more into the movies to see if I can find points for Sara and even Tiffany for being Autistic, but these two are the CLEAR AND OBVIOUS Cases! AND I LOVE THEM! Like, Tadeo took a while to grow on me, he's actions in the sequel are... well... But I do not think I could scream more about how clear these two are as Autistic Icons.

ESPECIALLY MUMMY!

Who's not just Autistic but confirmed as Asexual and nb!

Unfortunately I have a less than happy rant about Tadeo coming up, but right now! Let's just appreciate the sheer Autism this series has on display with not one but two characters the fandom can point out the signs in!

Not Autism surprisingly, but I would like to make an aside here for Héctor! For all I relate and ADORE Héctor! It's not Autism that he flags as. Not at all. I mean we can argue about it, people can have that headcanon, but I am firmly over here like, for all those signs there are some BIG things missing for that to click into place. And I do have a piecemeal rant in the process of being made--

But for now.

Héctor Rivera is the REAL ADHD ICON!

Inattentive ADHD, And he's such a GOOD boy for it as well. Like excuse me?! EXCUSE ME! This Papá may be distracted, impulsive and not exactly good at keeping details in his mind, or responsible with property or establishing boundaries but he's really, really a GOOD icon for ADHD! Also, contrasting--

As an aside as well, Anxiety.

That is all.

Miguel and Victoria though, yeah they're Autistic for sure!

Anyway... this is enough of my screaming, so yeah... just a small glimpse of those Neurodivergent characters I love.

[pandaioh]

Poly!RoadRat x ShyMuteFemale! Reader: Ra Ataahua

You were finally going to meet them, the two men whom you set up a casual shopping date with, were finally going to meet you. All the texting and holo vid sessions you had with them, and it still felt so unreal that you were finally going to meet them face to face. 

You walked in the bookstore, the store’s doorbell chimed merrily making aware of your presence and you as nervous as can be, dressed in a cute over sized pink sweater and a pink beanie to match. Along with a pair of skinny jeans and pink skater shoes. You also had an array of adorable pink glasses, rimmed perfectly around your pink eye shadowed eyes, with black eyeliner drawn perfectly. Your stomach felt ill of nervousness and excitement as your little digits hovered over the keypad of your phone. Your fingers tip-tapping away on the screen as you typed out your message.

Y/N: Ok I’m here you two. Where you at?

You casually strode by the collection of assorted books placed carefully by their sorted variety. From horror to romance, fiction to non fiction, cookbooks and “how to” guides, then came the manga. Your anxiety faded somewhat as you grinned up at the Japanese cartoons and their colorful covers. You heard your phone ring for a second time indicating that you had received a text message. Your anxiety sputtering back into your chest as you unlocked your phone and opened the text. It read as followed:

Junky&Roadie: Won’t be long, love. Just hang tight and we’ll be there in a jiffy. ;) <3

You smiled softly and texted back:

Y/N: Ok, just be careful, and don’t get into trouble! ;P

You placed your phone back into your pink Pachimari purse, and you walked along to your favorite section of the store; the art supplies.

At least, your anxiety can somewhat feel at ease being in an all too familiar surrounding. You gazed along the art books, and journals and then…the sketch books. Jackpot. You smiled as you grabbed the first one that you set your sights on. It had a smooth pastel rainbow color as the cover and you gingerly glided your fingers along the pleasant surface.

A few minutes had passed and finally another text tone rang and you picked up your phone, your heart almost stopping as you read the text. It read as followed.

Junky&Roadie: Arright lovey, we’re here. Where are you?

You took a deep breath and glided your fingers across the keys. You typed out;

Y/N: I’m in the art supplies…come find me. ;)

A few seconds later and your phone rang again, this time the text read;

Junky&Roadie: Gladly. We love a challenge. >;)))))

Your heart sputtered, doing flips in your chest at the playful threat of your second suitor. You put your phone back into your purse and continued along the art section, heart beating of anticipation. You looked through the empty pages of the sketch book still in your grasp to help place your mind at ease, thinking about what you could possibly draw in it.

More minutes passed and you still strode up and down the art section, awaiting your two dates to find you. You had your back turned and faced the supplies again when you could’ve sworn you heard the feint whispering of a stranger saying “There she is…swear that’s her, mate…swear it…” You did not turn from your position, too nervous and fearful of your anxiety bursting out of you. Your face had gone completely red as you heard the hissing whispers and heavy footsteps draw closer to you. You look down, pretending to be distracted by your pretty sketchbook yet again, and flipped the pages some more. You then noticed two giant shadows casting over your little one as you felt the presence of two tall strangers standing behind you.

“Found ya…”

You turned up to them, eyes widening and a nervous smile crossing your beat red face. Jamison and Mako, Junkrat and Roadhog, were standing right in front of you. Junkrat grinning wildly and giggling in manic fits as he glanced down at you. And Roadhog, his expression blank, thanks to his all too familiar hog-mask, but still tilting his head slightly as his expressionless eyes stared at you.

You waved your hand “hello”, lightly and tried to give direct eye contact to them, but found your nervousness and anxiety overwhelming you and turned your face away from them, giggling sweetly, face still beat red.

“Hiya darl, oh gosh you’re looking awfully ‘dorable in that pink little numbuh a yours…so excited to finally see you!..” As Junkrat reached out to embrace you, you gasped softly and took a step back, not ready or prepared for any physical affection just yet. Roadhog, picking up on your little distress, placed a hand in front of Rat and said softly. “Easy, Rat. Baby steps…”

Jamie looked up at his much taller companion, slightly put off, but understanding of your slight discomfort. He quickly placed one hand behind his head and his mechanical one in his pocket.

“Ah roight..roight, sorry bout that love. It’s just that, well I-! I mean, we’re so happy to finally see you. All done up and what not! Just look at cha!” Jamie said, eyes glancing up and down at your figure. “Yer a real knockout love...Any bloke would be real happy to have ya, I mean, look how happy ya made me!” Junkrat’s voice was still somewhat audible but uncharacteristically soft.

You let your defenses down slightly and took a few steps forward to the two junkers. Smiling bashfully, you still looked away, but not ignoring the confession of the lanky suitor. Jamie grinned widely as he saw his efforts didn’t go unnoticed. “Not ta mention, that awfully adorable smile ya got there, and that sweet lil giggle ya make when ya nervous and…aww yer cheeks are gettin awfully red there darl’…” He chuckled as he saw you quickly placed your face behind the need-to-purchase sketchbook, hiding the heavy blush that imprinted on your cheeks. You made a soft embarrassed squeal behind the book, making the two junkers chuckle all the more with you.

“Aww look Roadie, she’s gettin redder than a tomata, isn’t she the cutest, mate? What’d I tell ya? A real sweet sort she is, ain’t she?” His much taller companion nodded and gave the alabastor junker a thumbs up, a silent indication of approval.  

You finally looked up at your two junker dates, your face still beat red, but getting more acquainted and used to their presence. Junkrat noticing the book in your hands soon took notice of the cover.

“Oi lookit that, Roadie!” he exclaimed. “Lookit the lil sketchy book she’s got! Suits her don’tit? All cute and rainbowy like her! Hey, sweets, you want us to buy that for ya? We’ll getcha that for ya, misso! Hell, we’ll getcha all the cutesy lil trinkets and shit in this whole bookstore if ya like! We got the money, sweets. All ya gotta do is say the word, got it?” You shook your head quickly, taking some money out of your Pachimari purse, indicating that you had got it covered.

Junkrat raised his mechanical palm swiftly and said. “Now don’tcha worry ya pretty lil head about spendin ya hard earned loot, love. Leave the spendin to us, got it? We’re spoilin ya today, understand? We wanna take real good care of ya.”

He took the book from out of your palms and made a dash to the check-out register. Leaving you and Roadhog standing briefly alone together. Your hands shakily reaching your phone and typing away a message. Seconds later, Roadhog heard his phone go off and read the message. And it read;

Y/N:“I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I’ll pay you both back! And I’m so sorry for not speaking. I’m really happy to see the both of you, I’m just really nervous and shy. I’m sorry.”  

Roadhog glanced down at you, unspeaking and quiet as usual. You look down at the floor, your thoughts clouding your brain with guilt and shame. Feeling that all to familiar sting of baby tears forming the side of your eyes. Suddenly, you felt an enormous palm graze your cheek softly, a large finger tucking under your chin and tilting your head up to his expressionless mask.

“No need for apologizing, toku aroha,” he said his voice a deep gentle grumble. “Let us take care of you, te rangatira.”

Your face flushed and you felt your cheeks burn more as the goliath junker’s words was placed on repeat in your mind. Not getting over just how completely calm and smooth he was being towards you. He then placed a few gentle pats on top of your head, a simple act of affection that perhaps wasn’t too overwhelming for you. You smiled self consciously and had seen that he was beginning to walk where his younger employer had ran off to. You quickly followed him, your face slowly but surely, regaining your soft complexion. When the both of you finally made it to the register, Junkrat was already starting to make a scene.

“Oi! Is there anyone workin ‘ere? Swear ya’lls useless as an ashtray on a motorbike!” Junkrat angrily slammed his hand down on the counter. Finally one of the store’s clerks finally got behind the counter presenting themselves in a dignified and professional manner. “Hi there, I can help you whenever you’re ready.” The clerk said almost too calmly. Junkrat frowned and replied “Been ready, ya drongo! Ya deaf or somethin!? I’m here to get this sketchy book for my girl over there! Real sweet and artsy sort she is. And ya keepin us from our little behind we got goin on. So ring us up and we’ll meander on out, yeah?”  

Before the clerk could retaliate with a smart remark, they soon took notice of the menacingly taller shadow above Junkrat. Roadhog was standing behind his younger cohort, looking down at the clerk, giving them a pretty decent spook.

“R-Right of course, I’ll take care of that right away, sir!” The clerk typed away at their register ringing up your newly purchased sketch book. You peeked from behind Roadhog’s tall and wide form and watched as the clerk placed your book in a plastic bag. “Here you are, sir,” they said and Junkrat yanked the carefully wrapped book out from the clerk’s hand. “Bout bloody time!” he yelled. He soon noticed you were right there behind him, feeling a little frazzled at what you witnessed.

“Oi, sorry bout that, love.” His voice changed from loud to soft within seconds the minute you were there. “Just a bunch of dills workin here me thinks.” He gave you a nervous grin, unknowing if you were actually still afraid of him. He gave you the plastic bag with your little prize inside. “There ya go, sweets. A labor of love it was…” You took the bag and giggled softly and the boys grinned at you full of enamor and relief. Hearing you giggle so sweetly just made the two of them melt simultaneously. Hopefully, this meant that you were warming up to them sooner than they thought.

“Well, now that that’s takin care of, how about we treat ya to a counter meal? Whatdayasay love? Ya feelin a bit hungry?” Junkrat asked smiling at you with that all too familiar grin he always had. You nodded your head and smiled up at him, your lip gloss shimmering as your lips curled. You hadn’t noticed, but Junkrat twitched and giggled his signature laughed. “Well then, let’s ditch this bodgy bookstore and treat ya somethin real nice!” The boys made their way up to the entrance until they’ve noticed that you weren’t following them. They turned to you expression changing slightly, until you took a step forward and reached both of your little hands out to them. Giving them the indication that it was okay to hold your hand. Junkrat gasped and smiled widely as he strode over to you taking your hand.

“Aww I knew you’d come around, darl’! Never fear, we’ll make sure you have big mobs of fun! Bloody oath!” You smiled as you saw your other suitor, Roadhog, take your other hand into his much bigger palms. You walked out of the store, with both boys holding your hands, and you absolutely feel as if you were on cloud nine. Because you practically were, being with the two men whom you’ve messaged and chatted with for months, were now here with you, catering to you and treating you to quite the charming little shopping date, treasuring you as if you were a princess.

But first things first, you three were going to get a meal. Jamie and Mako took you to an adorable pastel looking coffee shop, with a vintage floral theme to it. You inhale the sweet aroma of coffee beans and sweet pastries, and your tummy growled lowly, your hunger for something sweet.

The boys let you pick whatever you wanted, and you had decided to go with a small sandwich with a tall chocolate latte. The boys practically bought out the entire menu. For starters, they wanted to make sure you weren’t holding back on yourself and that you were eating, secondly, the food didn’t look like it could fill anyone’s appetite and lastly, Roadhog. You were getting stares from almost everyone in the shop, you looked down at your meal and felt self conscious about yourself. Mako looked down at your hardly eaten platter and then cast a glance over at his young employer, who was scarfing down one pastry after another. Mako really wanted to roll his eyes since sugar was the last thing Jamison needed, but his thoughts lingered more to you, concerned at how you barely touched your food. He extended his enormous hand and reached for your smaller one, taking it carefully caressing a large thumb over your knuckles.

“E aroha…” he started. “You’re not eating….” His voice wheezed softly and sounding somewhat perturbed.

You eyes were shifting to and fro at different corners of the café. Your expression softened again, your free hand holding your tummy as it made a more growling noise. Mako picked up on your hints and signs and noticed how you made small glances at the patrons watching the three of you. Roadhog elbowed Junkrat receiving a whine but grunted and eyed you as you nibbled on your sandwich, still on edge at the patrons watching you. Junkrat now picking up on the sudden uncomfort, omitted a low growl, and slammed his hands on the table.

“You dills and drongos better be about yer buisness! Our girl here, is gorgeous, loving! A real sweet and tender one, she is! So if you got somethin to say about us, especially her, come at me and Roadie with it, but it aint a smart idear to go up against us junkers!”

Everyone in the café went from staring at the three to bustle about their own respected meals, in fear of course. You were amazed at how Junkrat’s booming voice struck intimidation on anyone who dared crossed him, you couldn’t imagine how Roadhog would be. But you stared up at the wild lanky junker and grinned lightly. As he sat back down in his seat, he started to share his pastry sweets with you and sweet giggles escaped your lips as you bit into a red velvet cupcake. Mako leaned back in his seat, relieved that you were starting to eat again, whole heartedly. Jamison started babbling on about where they could visit next and you nod your head and continued eating and drinking down your chocolate latte.  

The rest of the date went by smoothly with little to no interruption. The three of them, with you wedged in the middle, had your hands full of shopping bags, full of miscellaneous items that had caught your eye and that the boys wasted little to no time purchasing for you. The sun began to set and draw a close on this eventful day, you and the boys made your way to the parking lot, a sudden wave of sadness hit you strongly as you realized that it was almost time for the three of you to part ways. You walked a little more slowly, wanting to etch these moments into your head for as long as you could. You three finally made it to where your friend would be picking you up and your stomach dropped as you saw the familiar car pulling into the parking lot. Junkrat was the first to break the depressing silence.

“Oi cheer up lovey, we can chat later on tonight when you get settled back home. Promise ya. H-hey don’t look so sad, we had a real fun day didn’t we?” He smiled softly. The both of you heard the sound of clicking and straps being unwound, you looked up and saw that Roadhog took off his mask, revealing his scarred face and pierced septum. He smiled down at you, and caressed your face with his giant hand and leaned into it, like an affectionate pet touch starved.

“Aroha nui matou ki a koe…” He recited in his native tongue. You finally had your walls come down, gesturing the two boys to come closer to you, they happily obliged and you did something completely unexpected for them; you embraced each junker with a big tender hug and placed a kiss on their lips individually. After that, and when your friend finally pulled up to the curb, you softly spoke;

“ ‘ank you…I lo’e you…”

You had gotten your things in your friends car and sat in the passenger side casting one more glance at the two who stood completely dumbfounded and absolutely enamored by you. Junkrat waving his fingers gently toward you and Roadhog smiling at you mouthing the words ‘I love you.’ with his fist on his heart. You and your friend finally drove away but even as they drove off you still couldn’t keep your eyes off your two boyfriends. You watched as the car pulled away and were no longer able to see them. You missed them already, you missed their touch and presence with you and you longed to stay with them. But you knew they had their duties to tend to and you had yours. Baby tears stung the side of your eyes as your love and missing grew stronger. But there would always be time for communication via holo vid or text messaging. But now, you and your boyfriends would have much more to discuss more places to explore and more adventures to trek on. The whole world would need to brace itself for the newly coupled trio; You and your two Junkers.  

[marvinswriting]

putting trust in trust fall (not property, part two)

okay this isn’t exactly a prompt more of a suggestion? but the one fic you wrote where Regina is telling Damian about how Janis trusts him?? that’s good shit right there I just love trust between a giant and a tiny I guess haha so take that however you want love you

THAT WAS A MESSAGE FROM BEAR AND I LOVE HER AND THE TRUST BETWEEN A GIANT AND TINY SO HELL Y E A H

"So, I made a mistake," Regina said sitting on the floor of the hallway, across from Janis. Aaron was next to the blonde as they all worked on their homework together after school.

"You tend to do that a lot." Janis said, not even looking up from her sketchbook. 

Regina chuckled nervously causing both Janis and Aaron to look at her.

"That bad?" The boy asked.

"Not for me or you," Regina replied. Janis's eye narrowed.

"What did you do?"

"It's not even that big of a deal you just always get flustered and stuff when things are emotional and-"

"Regina."

"While you were asleep at Damian's i accidentally let it slip that-" Regina took a breath, rushing out the rest of her sentence quietly and all together. "Itoldthemwhatmytinyandmygiantmeantousandhowitsnotabadthing."

"Okay, well I know that was a bitch to explain but how does this affect me?"

"Because I used you and Damian as an example," Regina said softly.

Aaron burst out laughing as Janis's face went bright pink. "Reginaaaa." She groaned, hiding her face in her hands. "I don't like talking about emotions! Now I have to!"

Aaron was holding a hand to his face to muffle the wheezes. 

"It's not funny Aaron!" Janis said, throwing her pencil at him.

"Dude, it's not even a big deal, its Damian he's not gonna make fun of you or anything. I doubt he'll even talk about it unless you bring it up."

It was a conversation Janis was hoping to never have with Damian. Not that she thought he'd make fun of her or anything, but her faith and trust in Damian even scared Janis sometimes. She put things totally out of her control when she sat on Damian's shoulder, yet she was never scared. A fall from a hight like that would kill her.

But she knew Damian wouldn't let that happen.

And that's what scared her. The total confidence, not one bit of doubt, she had for her friend. 

"I'll repeat what Aaron said earlier," Regina said. "Damian isn't gonna force information out fo you. If you really don't wanna talk to him about it, he isn't gonna bring it up. You can continue on blissfully as you have been for the past week."

"Week?!" This sent Aaron into another fit of laughter. "Poor Janis."

"I agree!" Janis said, but it was hard to keep a convincing frown on her face.

Regina shrugged. 

"I'm gonna tell Gretchen." Janis stated, grinning as Regina's eyes widened. 

"Don't you dare-"

"I may hate mushy emotions, but Regina Geroge hates emotions altogether. I'm definitely telling Gretchen."

Aaron wasn't bothering to hid his laughter at this point. "Why are you guys so scared of emotional talks?"

"Oh okay Mr. I love emotions, I told Cady too." Regina poked him.

"You what?!"

Now it was Janis's turn to laugh.

Regina shrugged. "I didn't tell her the full extent of how much you trust her but like, she was there when I told Damian." 

"So you only fucked me over." Janis said, putting her head in her hands.

"It's not that bad, Janis." Regina deadpanned. "There could be worse people you're having heart to hearts with. I know you hate the 'awws' and the love and the mushy affection but Damain thought it was really sweet when I told him. Both him and Cady were a little annoying about it actually."

"Back at it again Regina 'I hate affection because I'm a cold bitch' Geroge," Aaron said.

"It's on my birth certificate, I wear it proud," Regina remarked as her phone dinged. "Karen's here, gotta go. Bye guys!"

Aaron and Janis both said bye as they watched the plastic rush down the hall to the tiny pick up zone.

"I'm gonna kill her." Janis deadpanned.

"Of course. I'll be your alibi."

"Thank you."

Aaron began putting his things in his backpack as Janis did the same. "Seriously though, Janis. I know you don't like getting overly emotional, but I've also seen how close you and Damian are. If anything, Damian is the one person I see you getting emotional with at all. I don't think talking about this will dramatically change your relationship. If it even does at all."

Janis nodded as they both got up and walked to the tiny pick up zone.

"Damian isn't gonna baby you and make it awkward, he knows more than anyone you hate heart to hearts. If it's been a week and he hasn't brought it up, I don't think he will at all."

"Right." Janis said as they reached the platform. The hallways were empty, which, to be fair they were early. 

"It's scary, I get it." 

Something about that one sentence out of Aaron's mouth seemed to ease all of Janis's worries. That she wasn't the only one scared fo the blind faith she had in her best friend. 

"Yeah, it is." She said softly.

Aaron looked like he wanted to say more, but they both turned around at the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway.

"Well, you guys are out early," Damian said, waking next to Cady.

"Regina bailed early and we had nothing better to do." Janis said rolling her eyes.

"Well, we hope you weren't waiting long." Cady said placing her hand on the table for Aaron. Damian simply scooped Janis up without asking, earning a yelp from the girl.

"Dude!"

Damian chuckled bringing his hand (and a disoriented Janis) up to his shoulder.

"Bye guys!" Aaron called out as Cady waved and walked in the other direction.

"Where are they going? The door is this way?" Damian asked when they were out of earshot.

Janis had a feeling that was Aaron's doing.

"Jan?"

What? Oh. Damian had been talking to her.

"Sorry, just- thinking."

"About?"

Damian had opened an opportunity for her to bring up the mess Regina had created. Janis could just ignore it and move on, or-

"Regina told me and Aaron what she said while I was asleep last week."

"That's cool," Damian said leaving the building and heading to his car. "I was wondering if she would ever tell you or if it would be a secret forever."

"That's cool?" Janis repeated, turning so she could more or less look at Damian. 

He shrugged a little, mindful of Janis on his shoulders as he stepped into his car. "I wanted to say its really sweet, but I figured you wouldn't like that." He gently placed Janis on the dashboard of his car to get a good look at her.

"Yeah no, I prefer cool."

Damian laughed. "Do you wanna talk about it or shall we never speak of this again and instead plan Regina's murder?"

Janis giggled. "Tempting offer." She took a deep breath. She and Damian were pretty open with their emotions, they weren't shy from saying I love you or reminding each other how grateful they were of one another, but this felt different. More raw in a way. "I really do trust you, a lot. And I know whats something I say almost every day, but I don't think I can actually put into words how deep that trust it." 

Damian nodded but didn't interrupt her.

Janis fidgeted with the sleeves of her jacket, suddenly finding Damian's gaze very scrutinous. "It scares me sometimes. The unwavering faith I have in you to always be there. I don't think I trust myself as much as I trust you." She watched her finger trace the pattern of her fishnets, not bringing herself to look up. 

Why was she so sappyyyy.

She could see Damian's hand reach out from her peripheral vision as he scooped her into his hands gently.

"I love you, Jan."

Janis looked up with a smile to meet Damian's eyes. "I love you too."

"Thank you for trusting me so much."

tag list! @musicallygt @realmisspolarbear @smallsoysauce @sourishlemons

Me 🤝 Janis

Cant deal with emotions

[quickspinner]

MLHolidays2k19 - 23. Carols

Part 2 - 20. Traditions 

Part 3 - 21. Blankets 

I was thinking about today’s prompt, and then I played this song and remembered the carols prompt and got to thinking, so we’re jumping back a few prompts. 

New York was full of inspiration, and Marinette’s favorite place to find it was a little bistro she’d stumbled on a few weeks into her assignment. A wide variety of people came and went, and they often had live music. Tonight, though, she just couldn’t seem to get interested in anything, even though one of her favorites was playing, a nice-looking young man with pierced ears and dyed hair who played the guitar beautifully. He had a fun style and Marinette had sketched him more than once in the past, but tonight she was just staring into her drink, stirring it listlessly, her sketchbook idle under her other hand. The people swirled around her little table but she just didn’t feel like watching them. The music was nice, but it seemed a bit melancholy.

Or maybe that was just her. 

She was startled out of her thoughts as the blue-haired guitarist began to sing. He rarely did, and it was always a treat. Marinette loved his voice and the songs he chose always seemed to resonate with what she was feeling at the time. 

I’m dreaming tonight of a place I love Even more than I usually do And I though I know it’s a long road back I promise you

It was no different tonight. His voice was smooth and mellow with just the right amount of longing. He sounded like she felt, and the song went straight to her heart as the words penetrated.

I’ll be home for Christmas You can count on me Please have snow and mistletoe  And presents under the tree  Christmas Eve will find me where the love lights gleam I’ll be home for Christmas  If only in my dreams

She’d heard the song many times since Thanksgiving, often enough that she had largely stopped noticing it, but now it struck her dumb. 

Marinette stared at the singer, who remained calm and relaxed, but with just enough tension in his body and in his face for you to believe he really felt it. For a moment Marinette felt he was looking right at her. She reached up quickly to wipe away the tears that had begun to cluster on her eyelashes. She’d never heard this song played on an electric guitar before but it fit him, and he made it fit the song too. Somehow he captured the perfect tone of wistful longing hidden under a brave smile, and it robbed Marinette completely of her ability to be brave any longer. She hunched down in her chair, clutching her drink, and hoped no one would notice the tears. 

Marinette had no idea how long she’d been sniffling there when a shadow fell over her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad,” said a male voice, low and smooth and...with an accent? She looked up to find the singer standing next to her table, with his guitar case in his hand and a friendly, sympathetic smile. 

“Oh,” she said, sitting up straight and grabbing her napkin to wipe at her eyes. “You didn’t. Truly, I was already sad. You just sang what was in my heart, I guess.” Marinette tried to smile, and the man’s face brightened.

“Pardon me, but are you French? Your accent—” Marinette was having the same revelation; she hadn’t been wrong, though his singing had always been perfect, when he spoke, he did so with an accent; lighter than hers, but distinctive. 

“Yes, I’m from Paris,” Marinette smiled. “I’ve only been in New York a few months. And you?”

“I’m also from Paris,” he answered in French, and it sounded like music as much as anything he had done with his guitar. He gestured at the chair across from her. “May I join you? It’s been a while since I was able to speak to anyone from home and, well...it seems like maybe we’re both a little homesick tonight.”

“Please, go ahead,” Marinette said eagerly, and he sat down immediately, tucking his guitar case under the table.

“It’s been months since I’ve been able to speak French with anyone,” he said with a self-conscious smile. “It feels good.” He held out his hand across the table. “My name is Luka, by the way.”

“Marinette,” she answered, shaking his hand. Luka’s smile widened.

“That’s a very pretty French name.” He leaned his elbows on the table, clasping his hands in front of him. “What brings you to New York?”

“Work,” she replied. “I work at a fashion design firm and they’re based in Paris, but they sent me to New York to work on a collaboration with another company that’s based here.”

“They must trust you a lot,” Luka observed. “You must be very capable for them to send you here on your own.” Marinette felt a little fluttered at the compliment, and didn’t quite know how to respond. Luka continued, with a slightly knowing smile, “I’m also here for work, playing backup for my mother’s old partner. It’s been fun, but this time of year, you definitely start to feel the distance. My boss is having a big Christmas party but it’s not the same as Christmas at home.” Marinette wasn’t sure but she thought he was blushing a bit. “I feel foolish admitting it, but I’ve never been away from my mother and sister at Christmas, and I miss them.” He swallowed hard and looked away.

Marinette leaned forward and patted the hands he had clasped on the table. “I feel the same way. I’ve never been away from home at the holidays either. When I think about missing my father’s bûche de Noël...” Her throat closed up and she couldn’t say anymore. 

Luka took her hand before she could pull it back across the table and squeezed it, and for a moment they just sat, connected but not looking at each other as they both tried to pull themselves together. When their eyes finally met again, they both shared a sheepish smile. 

“You okay?” Luka asked, and then cleared his throat, letting go of her hand.

“Not really,” Marinette giggled weakly. “You?”

“Nope,” he laughed back. “All right, well, how about this. If it sounds good to you, I can go get us another round of drinks or some food, and you can tell me about your family, and I can tell you about mine, and maybe we can at least keep each other company for a little bit, enjoy having someone to talk to without having to stop and figure out a word every few minutes—” Marinette giggled, and he smiled. “Because I can tell you, they don’t teach you the names of musical equipment in standard English classes.”

“Ugh, it’s the same with the technical terms where I work,” Marinette sighed. “I know exactly what I want to say but sometimes I just can’t find the right way to say it and I feel so stupid!”

Luka’s grin broadened. “I’ll get us a menu.” 

Marinette’s tears were soon forgotten in the joy of having someone from home to talk to.  Luka was a good listener. He asked insightful questions and seemed actually invested in the answers, and when he spoke he had interesting stories to tell. They shared plate after plate of food until they were really just nibbling for the sake of justifying their continued presence as they compared neighborhoods and swapped stories of their travels. 

“Seriously,” Luka grinned as Marinette laughed, her hands over her mouth and her eyes sparkling. “He rolls up outside our houseboat playing a piano on top of his giant tour truck—because of course he can’t have a bus like a normal rock star. And I’m just staring there like an idiot because it’s Jagged freaking Stone playing the piano on top of a truck outside my house, and then my mom just rips into him like’s her scummy ex-boyfriend.” Luka paused for a sip of water. “Because apparently he was. And my sister and I are just completely freaking out but only on the inside because a Couffaine never sweats where you can see.” 

Marinette could barely breathe for laughing, but she waved for Luka to go on.

“So he finally gets down off the damn truck and they have something almost approximating a conversation between two normal human beings, and it turns out he needed a guitarist and he wanted my mom to come play with him. And she basically tells him to fuck off but he can have me if I want to go.” He shrugged. “The money was good and I’ve never been to the States so I said, sure, what the hell. And here I am, Jagged Stone’s backup guitarist.” He rolled his eyes. “I get why mom was so pissed at him, though, he fires me like once a week, but…” He shrugged. “I’m good at what I do, and I’m laid back enough not to care about most of his weird antics, so his agent always just sends me home for the day and tells me to come back in the morning. I’m pretty sure she thinks nobody else could put up with him for this long so she has a vested interest in keeping me around.”

“Still, that’s terrible,” Marinette giggled. “I met him once, actually, years ago. He probably doesn’t remember, we met as part of a school project, but he wanted these sunglasses shaped like the Eiffel tower and colored like the French flag. I ended up making them because I couldn’t find anything like what he described.”

“You made those?” Luka raised his eyebrows. “He loves those things. Never lets them out of his sight. He left them in a restaurant once and Penny had to drive a six hour round-trip to go get them.”

“Really?” Marinette blushed, eyes wide. “Wow. They were so...wow. Okay.” 

“Yeah,” Luka grinned. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell him you’re in town unless you want me to. He’d probably have you making glasses shaped like the Empire State Building next.”

They both giggled at that, and when the laughter finally died, Luka sighed and rubbed his neck. “I should really get going.” He hesitated. “Could I give you my number? Maybe we could hang out again sometime.”

Marinette smiled. “I’d like that.” Luka grinned and they traded phones to type in their numbers. They split the check and both got up to go. She got a bit stuck trying to get her coat back on, but Luka stepped behind her to help, chuckling, and sorted her out quickly. 

They walked together at the door, and just outside, Marinette turned to Luka. 

“Luka, do you—“ she hesitated and bit her lip.

“Do I?” he prompted with a gentle smile.

“Do you want to come over and spend Christmas Eve with me tomorrow?” she blurted in a rush. “I mean, I know we just met but if you’re going to be alone and I’m going to be alone and neither of us wants to be alone then…” She shrugged. “Why should we be? I can cook and maybe it won’t be the same but—“ she paused as Luka laughed quietly.

“”You don’t know how nice it is to hear somebody talk that fast and still be able to follow,” Luka chuckled, and though the laughter faded, the warmth remained in his smile. “And as for us being strangers, you’ve been listening to my music for a long time, so I think you know me better than you realize.”

Marinette’s eyes widened slightly. He’d noticed her, all those times he played?

Luka cleared his throat, glancing away for a moment before bringing his gaze back to hers. “I’d love to spend Christmas Even with you, Marinette. Text me the details? I’ll pick up some wine and bring my guitar and neither of us has to be alone.”

Marinette felt all bubbly inside at the thought of cooking for another person after all this time. Suddenly she felt motivated to clean up and find a nice tablecloth and put up some lights. All of those things she had always loved but couldn’t see the point of with no one to share them with. “Great! Yes, okay. I’ll see you then!” She had so much to do, she needed to plan a menu and make a grocery list and—“Bye!” she called with a bright smile, setting off with a bounce in her step.

Luka watched her go for a moment, his own smile growing. She practically sparkled as she bobbed down the street, clearly lost in her plans and looking so happy...

Yeah, he wasn’t going to feel bad about ditching Jagged’s giant Christmas party at all.

[soniasimaginatonforest]

Meteor Shower

Fandom:  Ensemble Stars!!

Characters: Ryuseitai and Original characters

Summary: A glimpse in the life of Saya an her relationships with the mighty ‘heroes’ of Starmaker Productions

I fell into Enstars hell and i love these dorks. So take this.

This is the first of an one shot collection

Another successful day of shows was done.

The theme park was almost empty now.

She took a long sign.

That was a long day.

She better go and check on the boys.

‘Good job today!’ she said to the five boys lounging backstage.

‘Another heroic day!’ a brunet boy said. ‘Good job!’

‘Do you have to do this after every show?’ a younger brunet commented.

‘He wouldn’t be ‘Chiaki’ if he ‘didn’t’’ the cyan haired one commented.

‘Agreed on that.’ The black-haired boy agreed and the purple haired boy nodded.

She signed.

Becoming a producer was not her career choice.

But she was a business graduate and it was a job that payed.

When she joined the ES and was told that the group under her would be one based on superheroes, she was hesitant if that was her thing.

But she had managed to click with those five.

And the boys had accepted her in their team.

Chiaki always brought some cheer in her life∙ Kanata, although troublesome to look after, did have a calming effect on her, and the younger trio, Shinobu, Tetora and Midori, always tried to help her around.

He landed water and some snacks on the table.

‘Thanks’ All five said with a beat.

She needed to go make arrangements with the park owner.

They managed to arrange another show next weekend and with higher payment.

Which was better than she expected.

Man, that week was exhausting. All she wanted now was a meal and to get some sleep.

‘Lady Yamaki.’

The purple haired boy came out of the bush looking concerned, almost scaring here.

‘Shinobu, I have told you not to sneak up on others. You’ll scare someone to death.’

‘I’m sorry!’

‘It’s ok. What do you want?’

‘I was sent to check if everything is ok.’

She patted his head.

‘Everything went ok.’ She said. ‘Let’s get you and the boys back to the dorms.’

 Taking a quick meal at the ES dining hall seemed the best course of action.

She got her sketchbook from her tote bag and started doodling.

It’s always something relaxing for her.

‘Your beef steak is here!’ The dark gray-haired boy’s voice got her out of her concentration.

‘Thanks Niki!’ she said with a smile. ‘Your steak is to die for’

‘That’s great to hear Miss Yamaki!’ He said with a giant grin.

‘A nutritious Niki smile for your heart!’ He shouted doing his signature pose.

He leaned closer.

‘What are you doing there?’ he asked as he looked at her sketchbook.

‘Oh, nothing really.’ She said. ‘Just doodling.’

‘Are those Morisawa and Shinkai?’ he commented while looking at the drawing.

‘Yeah… I just felt like drawing some of their moments in today’s show’

‘That’s really good ya know!’

‘Thanks?’ she said. ‘it’s… a hobby of mine.’

‘Seriously? That is pro quality.’ He commented.

She signed.

If only he knew…

‘Well, gotta go!’ The man greeted her. ‘See ya.’

‘See ya.’

She looked at her sketches and breathed.

She would finish this, eat and leave.

She was kind of glad Chiaki had suggested the meeting to be held at a local café instead of her office in ES.

She finally did not have to wear a suit and heels.

She felt more comfortable in her long denim skirt, military shirt and sneakers.

She arrived at the recommended café earlier than the boys.

While looking at the menu, a drink caught her eye.

Or more accurately a group of drinks.

Six parfaits inspired by Tokusastu.

Red, blue, green, yellow, black, pink

She knew this part of the menu was meant for kids, but she could not help herself to think that the boys would love these.

And she might try the pink one for herself.

‘Are you ready to order miss?’ a waitress came up to her.

‘Not yet. I’m waiting for company.’

The other woman bowed and left.

She stared at the other patrons and breathed.

All the lively atmosphere and colors were giving her inspiration.

Vivid browns, yellows and greens.

A very calming combination.

The café’s bell got her out of her thoughts as he saw the familiar red and blue duo approaching her.

‘Producer!’ the brunet’s loud voice echoed.

She smiled and greet them.

‘So, where are the others?’ she asked them as they approached.

‘Their ‘job’ is running ‘late’.’

‘Yeah. They texted they will be slightly late.’

‘Alright.’ She commented. ‘Have a seat.’

Since they waited, they decided to catch up, since they rarely had time for idle chatter.

Kanata rambled about a new exhibit in the aquarium and Chiaki talked about the new movie he does stunts in.

With all the talking, the three youngest members entered the store.

‘There you guys are!’

She greeted them and pointed to their direction.

‘Sorry for the delay mam’.’ Teotra apologies.

‘Don’t sweat it. You had work anyways.’

The meeting continued uneventfully.

They talked about new projects that came in and which ones they should take up.

After everything was done, Chiaki did suggest they should take a stroll around.

She wanted to decline, but the brunet insisted to join them.

You’re part of our team! He keeps on saying.

So, she was convinced to tag along.

Soon enough, they all ended up doing their own thing.

Midori went to a store with cute items.

Tetora, Shinobu and Kanata went to get some ice cream.

And she and Chiaki kept roaming around.

As they walked his eyes sparked up when he saw the regular gacha machine store.

He gave her a pleading look as if asking for permission.

She signed and nodded.

He smiled and run inside.

He was looking at all the machines if any new hero has been added.

‘It’s you!’ A little boy shouted. ‘You’re Ryusei Red!’

She went inside to check if anything was alright.

The boy laughed.

‘Of course I am! I am the Meteor Ranger with a burning heart! The mighty ally of Justice’

The boy’s eyes sparked.

It seems a fan recognized him.

The little boy looked at her.

‘Who is she?’ he asked and pointed.

Chiaki let another boisterous laugh.

‘That, my friend, is Ryusei Pink. She is the mighty hero that helps us form the shadows, an irreplaceable member of our team.’

‘So cool!’ The little boy said with starry eyes.

She feels awkward when he introduces her like that.

‘Would you like an autograph?’ she asked the kid.

He nodded with a smile and handed his capsule over to Chiaki to sign it.

After that they continued their walk at a near park.

‘You know Chiaki, I told you it makes me awkward to introduce me like that.’

‘Nonsense! You are a part of our team so of course you are a meteor ranger too!’

She gave him a light chop on the head.

‘Just stop that!’

But despite her words there was a smile on her face, which the boy responded.

Maybe there was something nice if she was part of something.

[buoyantsaturn]

Give ‘Em Hell, Kid (1/1)

to: @bookplush merry christmas annabel!!

summary: Meg needs a shopping buddy. Nico wants nothing to do with this.

word count: 1,756

read on ao3

With many of the campers away for the holiday season, camp was looking even more empty than usual. For the first time in months, Nico wasn’t the only one that had to sit alone at his breakfast table, though that didn’t make it any less lonely. 

He was about to clean up and move on to the arena when somebody sat down across from him.

“You must be a pretty big loser to be sitting here all by yourself,” Meg told him, getting comfortable. 

Nico raised an eyebrow, choosing not to point out the other scarce tables nearby. “You must be a pretty big loser to be sitting across from me right now.”

Meg’s eyes narrowed behind her glasses. “Touche.” She tilted her head curiously. “You know, I think this might be the first time I’ve ever seen you without that blond kid that smells like antiseptic attached to your hip.”

Nico frowned. “You mean...Will? My boyfriend?”

“Sure. Where’s he at?”

“Visiting his mom for the holidays.”

“Do you celebrate?”

“What?”

“The holidays.”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Which one?”

“That’s what I’m asking. So, what is it? Solstice? Christmas? Hanukkah? Or, uh. Another one?”

“Christmas.”

“Really?” Meg wrinkled her nose. “But you’re Pagan.”

“No, I’m Catholic.”

“Your dad is Hades.”

“Okay, fine. Pagan and Catholic.” When Meg gave him a weird look, Nico elaborated simply by saying, “My mom was Catholic.”

Meg leaned forward on the table with her hands folded under her chin. “I see…”

“Did you need something?”

“Yeah, I heard you can get people out of camp,” Meg told him finally.

Nico gave her a tired look. He got enough of this from Hermes kids who wanted to restock their illegal snack supplies. “Yeah. So can you. The border’s right over there, but I don’t recommend making a run for it, since we’re a few miles away from civilization.”

Meg rolled her eyes. “Uh, yeah, duh. That’s why I came to you. I need to go to a store.”

“For what?”

“It has come to my attention that I suddenly have siblings. One of them let it slip that they both got me something for insert holiday here, and now I feel bad that I don’t have anything to give them in return. So? What do you say? Take me to the city, and we can steal from some corporations together?”

Nico took a moment to consider this, then sighed. “Yeah, okay. I guess I could surprise Will with a gift when he comes back, then.” He broke out into a grin. “It’ll be an even better surprise when he finds out it’s stolen.”

They ditched their activities for the day so that Nico could shadow travel them into the city. They wandered down the street for a short while, not quite sure what they were looking for just yet, until they walked up to a Target and headed inside.

“Who are you shopping for?” Nico asked as they wandered past the greeting cards at the front of the store.

“Just Miranda and Billie, since everybody else went home,” Meg answered. “But I don’t know what they like, so it’s gonna have to be something kind of generic.”

“Get them flowers.”

Meg stopped in the middle of the aisle. “What.”

Nico turned on his heel to face her, his hands stuffed into his coat pockets as he shrugged. “Demeter kids like flowers, right? Get them flowers. Or, I dunno, pots. Soil.”

“That might be the stupidest thing you’ve ever said.”

Nico frowned. “Hey, I’m just saying what I know.”

“We can literally grow plants from nothing,” Meg reminded him.

Realization slowly dawned on Nico, and he said a nearly silent oh. “Huh. Okay, so that was kind of dumb.” He continued walking, assuming that Meg would follow. “What do you know about them?”

Meg blew out a long stream of air as she thought. “Well, Miranda’s dating Sherman, and she’s my head counselor. And, uh, Billie likes makeup. I think she has a crush on Valentina, but that’s just speculation.”

Nico paused near an aisle end cap. “So, probably not the best idea to get her these gay shoelaces,” he said, holding up a pair of rainbow shoelaces.

“Maybe when she comes out,” Meg said. “Or for her birthday. Whichever comes first.”

They kept heading through the store, occasionally pointing things out to each other as they passed certain aisles, until Nico led Meg down one of the crafting aisles. 

“What about something like this?” Nico said, gesturing to an assortment of sketchbooks, then grabbing a pack of multicolored pens off a shelf. “This is what I got for my sister, and she seemed to like it.”

Meg stared at the sketchbooks with deep consideration before she moved further down the row and picked up a smaller book instead. “Maybe not a sketchbook, but one of these journals might be better. And that pack of pens, too. Miranda might not like it all that much, but at least it’ll be useful.”

Meg took the pens from Nico, and stuffed them into one of the pockets of her coat, along with the journal. They weren’t exactly hidden from view since her pockets weren’t all that big, and Nico caught the eye of an employee giving them the stink eye. 

Nico made a show of turning to Meg and saying, “You know you can’t just put stuff in your pockets just because you don’t want to carry it. Give those to me.”

Meg frowned, clearly not catching on. “What are you talking about? I thought we--” Nico lightly kicked the toe of her shoe, and Meg stopped herself. “Oh! Uh, okay, fine, whatever!” She shoved the items into Nico’s chest, and continued around a corner. 

Nico followed, glancing around the area, though the fluorescent lights didn’t leave a single of the corner unlit. “Damn, there aren’t any shadows in this place. Hang on.”

He unzipped his coat and tucked the journal underneath the fabric, sending it into a shadow that would deposit the object in his cabin, then did the same with the pens. 

“How is that any better than my pockets?” Meg demanded, arms crossed.

Nico held open his coat for her to see that the items had completely disappeared. “Because you could’ve been caught. I just sent everything back to camp before anyone noticed anything.”

Meg’s eyes widened in appreciation. “Alright, cool. Let’s go look at makeup now.”

She guided Nico across the store to the overly-bright makeup section, filled with a million products that Nico couldn’t even guess what half of them were supposed to be used for. “Uh, what would Billie want?”

Meg shrugged. “I’unno.” She stepped toward the shelf and started grabbing things at random until her hands were full. Then, she turned back to Nico and shoved it all into his hands. “Okay. Done. Now it’s your turn. What are you getting for Will? A first aid kit?”

Nico tried to think as he stuffed everything under his coat and back to his cabin. “I mean, he wouldn’t hate that…”

Meg punched his arm. “Shut up, you can’t actually get him that. Get him something nicer.”

“Then come up with nicer ideas,” Nico shot back. “C’mon, there’s gotta be some section of the store that’s just full of basic gifts. Let’s find those.”

They wandered a full lap around the store until the registers were in sight, though right as they both turned a corner, they spotted it. The perfect gift for Will. There were rows and rows of ugly Christmas sweaters hung up along the wall, but the best one of them all was tucked away in the corner.

“That is the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen,” Nico muttered.

“It’s perfect,” Meg agreed.

On Christmas morning, Nico once again found himself eating breakfast alone at the Hades table. Right as he leaned forward to stuff a bite of french toast in his mouth, something hit him in the back of the head. He found himself getting angry and turned to find whoever assaulted him, though there weren’t any suspicious figures behind him - and besides, he didn’t need to reopen that giant scar across the pavilion floor.

Nico looked down to find whatever had hit him, and saw a small, gift-wrapped package laying on the tile. He picked it up and pulled off the note attached to it.

To: Nico

From: Jesus

Christmas is basically Pagan anyway.

He tore the wrapping off of the gift and found the rainbow shoelaces he’d picked up while he was out shopping with Meg.

He looked toward the Demeter table. Meg offered him a thumbs-up. Nico flipped her off in return.

Will returned a few days after Christmas, unable to spend the full holiday season with his mom since she had to head back out on tour before New Year’s. As soon as he stepped out of the camp van after being picked up at the airport, Nico jumped on him and wrapped him up in a hug.

“Hey. I missed you,” Will told him, returning the hug. 

“Missed you, too,” Nico told him. “It’s boring having to eat all by myself every day.” Will rolled his eyes, and Nico pulled away just quick enough to see it. “Come with me, I got you something.”

He dragged Will back to his cabin - allowing Will a second to drop his suitcase at the Apollo cabin - and handed him the gift bag as soon as Will was seated on Nico’s bed. Will peeked underneath the tissue paper, and glared up at Nico.

“Babe, please tell me you didn’t get me an ugly Christmas sweater,” Will warned him. “I know I told you I’m Jewish, and don’t you dare try to pretend I never mentioned it.”

“No, I know. It’s not a Christmas sweater, I promise. Open it already.”

Will sighed and pulled away the tissue paper. He brought out his gift and let out a loud groan, dropping his head onto Nico’s shoulder. “An ugly Hanukkah sweater isn’t any better, you know! My grandma got me this same thing, and I accidentally left it at home for a reason, Nico! How dare you!”

Nico wrapped an arm around Will with a grin, and pulled him up to press a kiss to his cheek. “I’m glad you like it!”

“I don’t! Go return it, right now,” Will demanded.

“No way! You got it just in time to wear it on the last night of Hanukkah! And besides, I can’t return something I stole.”

“You WHAT?”

thanks for reading!!

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[yusuke-of-valla]

Demon Fam Fic: Yusuke’s birthday.

[A/n] this was @askmarietheapprentice‘s suggestion! I meant to get it out earlier but it ended up kinda getting away from me. Anyway enjoy some babies in Hell

“Happy birthday Yusuke!”

After 3 months in Hell, they’ve all gotten used to Ren’s sudden entrances, but usually he’s kind enough to appear when it isn’t the middle of the night.

“What time is it?” Haru asks, shielding her eyes from the blue flames that Ren brought to light up their shared bedroom.

“4:28 and 32 seconds, Pacific Time! The exact moment Yusuke was born.” Ren says.

“How do you know that?” Yusuke asks.

“Father owns your souls.”

“Wait, so it’s actually your birthday?” Goro asks. 

“Well, yes.” Yusuke says.

“And you didn’t tell us?” Haru gasps. “We would’ve put something together like you guys did for me!”

“I don’t really want anything.” Yusuke says. “I was just going to make my favorite dinner and some cake.”

“Well, we could’ve done that for you, at least.”

“I like making my own dinner and cake.”

“So we know what we’re doing for dinner.” Ren says, picking up Yusuke. “But there’s another 12  to 14 hours before that, and until then I’ve got the perfect plan for a birthday trip.”

“Can we sleep in a little longer?” Yusuke groans. 

“Nope! It’s very time sensitive! You’re lucky, waking up at the exact moment you were born means you have enough time for breakfast!”

~

After a hearty breakfast of birthday pancakes and tea, they’ve all gathered on Kidd’s ship. There’s a thick fog in the area, that cills to the bone.

“We’re here!” Ren announces as the fog parts, and a giant glacier comes into view.

“Drop anchor!” Kidd orders, and the ship comes to a stop. “Alright, so what’s the plan.”

“We’re going to the top for a bit, and then back down.” 

“You goin’ like that?” 

Ren tilts his head. “Like wha- oh right.” 

With a poof, Ren turns into a cat and lands in Yusuke’s arms. “Now we’re good.”

“Why do you have to be a cat?” Haru asks.

“Oh, Goemon’s definitely going to attack us if he finds out I’m here,” Ren explains, “and I kind of suck at fighting in places where it’s cold.” 

“For my birthday you took us somewhere we're going to get attacked?” Yusuke asks.

“What’s the first thing I taught you?” 

Yusuke sighs. “Everything is going to attack you.”

“Right! And that’s why you brought your weapons. And besides, his grudge is with me, even if he did notice something as tiny as you three, he’s not the type to get revenge by proxy.”

“See you soon, Captain!” Haru waves as they get on one of the smaller ships to get to shore.

“Have fun! Don't die!"

On the shore of the glacier, there’s a raging snow storm.

“K-kind of wish we’d gotten goggles.” Goro says, shivering.

“We’ll add t-that to the shopping list.” Haru agrees.

“F-follow me g-guys.” Ren’s black body stands out in stark contrast to the snow. They all hold hands, and follow Ren until they come across a door.

“S-someone with hands, open it.” Ren says.

“I got it.” Yusuke yanks on the door as hard as he can, and it slowly opens enough for everyone to squeeze through.

“Alright. So now we just have to climb up all these stairs and get to the top, preferably without Goemon seeing us!” Ren says.

Yusuke, Goro, and Haru stare at the giant, winding staircase and then at each other.

“Why do demons have to be so damn big?” Goro mutters as he lifts himself onto the first step and Haru and Yusuke follow suit.

As they climb, Yusuke keeps stopping to admire the art pieces on the wall. There’s watercolors, acrylics, and careful sketches lining the walls.  “Hey, Ren, did Goemon make these?” 

“Yeah, I mean, this is his workshop.”

“Amazing!” Yusuke gasps. “The way he blends colors together to portray the different emotions, it’s beautiful. I hope to be this good some day, thank you for bringing us here.”

“Well, this isn’t exactly what I wanted to show you.” Ren says, “but I’m glad you’re enjoying it.”

They come to a larger platform, where intricately crafted ice sculptures are on display. 

“Woah. I didn’t even think you could get ice to do this,” Goro says examining a sculpture of a woman who looked as though she was wearing actual fabric.

Yusuke wanders over to a group of statues contorted into various abstract shapes. While on their own, the intricate patterns were impressive, taken together...

“These are about the war with Yalbadoath!” Yusuke realizes.

“How can you tell?” Ren asks. 

“Ok, so start here. This one is rigid, uniform all the way to the top, and then this one, it’s rigid in a similar way but there’s a tiny flaw right there. And in this piece the flaws are bigger. Then this one, any sort of structure is gone, and it’s sharp and chaotic. Then in the final one there are two clear sections, one that has that ordered pattern from the first, but only on the top half while the bottom half is still chaos." Yusuke explains. "They represent the world under Yalbadoath's rule, Satanael's rebellion, and the wars in Hell afterwards!"

"Oh, that's so cool." Goro says.

"Not bad, small one." A voice says. A large demon holding a pipe rises from the ground behind them. "Although I would encourage you to consider how the artist feels about the event, and what they might be trying to say about similar circumstances through his piece."

Yusuke nods. "Ummm… the artist feels…" Yusuke stares at the sculptures, trying to decipher their secrets.

"You seem rather young, how old are you?" The demon asks.

"Seven." Yusuke says.

"Seven…" Goemon laughs. "Oh, I've forgotten how short lived you humans are. Do not be upset if you can't figure it out, you've barely lived a decade!"

“Excuse me, are you Goemon?" Haru asks.

"I am. And I take it you three are Satanael's human children?"

"That depends." Goro says. "What would you do if we were?"

Goemon laughs again. "Such bold children! I have no problems with humans, or Satanael. Were Arsene here, I would freeze him in the heart of this glacier for stealing from me, but I have no quarrel with you three."

"Oh thank goodness." Haru sighs in relief. "I'm Haru, this is Goro, and Yusuke." Haru's eyes fall on Ren on Goro's shoulder. "...and our completely normal cat… Akira! Akira the cat from the human world and who is just a cat."

"Meow." Ren says.

"It's nice to meet you. Now, what brings you 

 here? Usually Zorro would come if your father had a message."

"Well, it's my birthday so we're here to see something at the top of the glacier." Yusuke explains.

Goemon lifts his gigantic pipe to his mouth and colored puffs of smoke float out. "How often do you humans celebrate your birth?"

"Every year." Yusuke says.

"Ah! We demons do celebrate our birth, but only once every century or so. A year is barely a blink of an eye to someone who lives for eternity. To be so short lived you celebrate every year. Fascinating." Goemon nods to himself. "Yes, I do believe you three have given me an idea for an art piece."

"You're welcome." Goro says. "Do you think you could give us a ride to the top? We're told it's time sensitive."

"But of course!" Goemon taps the ground with his pipe, and suddenly everything rushes past them and they're at the top of the glacier.

The air is still here, unlike the lower parts, and looking down, Yusuke can see the snowstorm raging below.

From the top of the glacier, the ocean spreads out for miles, and he can also make out Captain Kidd's ship.

"I do believe it's time. Look up children."

The sky's dark one second, and then suddenly it's awash with colors. Blues flow into greens flow into purples flow into pinks, all dancing across the sky.

"It's beautiful." Yusuke says in awe.

"I've never seen anything like this." Goro says.

Haru nods. "I think I might cry."

"The lights only appear here every 500 years or so." Goemon says. "You are quite lucky, children and cat."

Yusuke makes a frame with his fingers and looks around, finally settling on Haru, Ren, and Goro back lit by the lights.

"Yusuke, what are you doing?" Haru asks.

"I want to capture this moment in a painting." Yusuke smiles. "My first birthday with my new family."

"Awww." Haru starts to walk over to him

"Don't move!" Yusuke snaps before pulling out his sketchbook. "This should only take a few minutes."

Once he's finished with the sketch, Goemon takes them all down to the bottom of the glacier.

"Thank you so much!" Yusuke says.

"Thank you for providing me with inspiration. In fact, here's a gift. From one artist to another." Goemon snaps his fingers and two lobsters appear in Yusuke's hands.

"They're beautiful, thank you." Yusuke says.

"I hope you'll let me see your piece when it is finished."

Yusuke nods. "I will."

"Goodbye children and cat! Enjoy your tragically short lifespans!" Goemon says as they make their way to where the boat was. "And feel free to return any time without Arsene."

"Thank you so much!" Yusuke waves back. 

"So, did I plan a great birthday trip or what?" Ren asks, once their a ways from shore.

"I loved it." Yusuke says. "Goemon's nice too. What did you do to make him hate you?"

Ren rolls his eyes. "He's still mad I stole from him."

"Why'd you steal from him?"

"Like I said, I'm bad in the cold, so I like to practice my thievery in places where it's cold. And he's still mad about it like, 500 years later!"

"I'm kinda on Goemon's side here." Goro says. 

"What?"

"I mean you did steal from him."

"It's not like I took anything important!"

"You'd hate it too if someone stole from you."

"No one's good enough to steal from me."

"You're missing the point!"

Haru sighs and turns to Yusuke. "So what were you thinking about for that cake?"

[alkhale]

Hello hello miss!... Uh, I think that's how you identify??? If not, please tell me!!! I don't wanna misgender you on accident or something Q-Q Anyways, I've been reading Memo, and I! Really love Hoku, and the way she interacts with the world, and her relationships with everyone, it's just really well written. Plus, she sounds REALLY pretty and I'm weak for that. That aside, are you up for getting ideas for Memo!AUs people've had, or headcanons? If not it's cool, just wanted to ask :> ~ Vira

omg u good, dw anon. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU CUTIE, I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD USE AN uwu WHEN ANSWERING THIS ONE HAHAHAHA. Thank you for loving it and thank you so much!! CALLING HOKU PRETTY IS SO SWEET WHEN SHE PROBABLY JUST LOOKS AT HERSELF LIKE HELL YEAH THAT KIIONOHI WAS WORTH IT. 

I’m guilty of already having a lot of AU ideas for Memos and I might just start a story on AO3 for a collection of them so they don’t clutter the actual story or I can go more in depth or explore some other things hahaha. I’ll start putting them in little omakes and stuff, but Memos chapters have been hella long so I’m worried about overbogging stuff but y’all seem chill with these crazy counts so i hope u don’t mind

AUs:

- School AU, this one’s just fun shenanigans and I love modern AUs. School Council President Sabo, Ace being Ace, Hot teacher Shanks, for some reason Kid and Hoku both have the same art class in basic architecture and metal welding because he’s a grease monkey and Hoku likes designs. Straw Hat crew in school, Brook’s a popular soul musician. Franky and Robin are teachers. 

- MODERN AU. I have so many ideas i wanna hash out for different Modern AUs, hahaha, i’m so attracted to these and was this close to writing it out instead as its own kind of story but Memos won over. 

ASL+Hoku living together and their daily life (together its HASL like hassle and that’s exactly what it’s like with these idiots)

Started to live together once Ace and Sabo were in their third year of high school, it’s been awhile now. (Hoku’s family passed away when she was young, Garp was doing marine work stationed in Hawaii and took an interest in her but before he could find her, she went to live with ‘someone else’ until he managed to shove her in with Luffy, she’s technically an emancipated minor)

Ace is a construction worker/part time fire fighter and picks up all sorts of odd jobs and errand runs.

Whitebeard took him in on several occasions when stuff happened. Ace is super close to the group even though they’re lowkey high profile crime bosses. Marco’s a doctor underground and professional, Thatch is a chef (whitebeard’s crew always sends gifts and visits and hooks them up with deals at random places)

“Ace! Can you call Marco? I think Hoku’s anemic again.”

“I swear to god, put down that phone he’s going to give me all those pills and I don’t wanna pay the hospital bill–”

“But it’s free.”

“God damn it.”

Sabo works for a high fashion brand design/political activist group (somehow these two meshed and Dragon runs both so)

Hoku and Luffy are students almost finishing up with high school. 

Sabo is designated most put-together-has-his-shit-ready, if you can’t find your paint brushes Hoku, ask Sabo. Ace, Sabo put ur laundry away already. He’s usually in charge of meals and making sure the bills get paid. (Their apartment is spacious but a little dingy and random stuff breaks or falls apart but Ace and Hoku are really handy and always fixing shit)

Ace can only make pasta and grilled foods. He’s great with the barbecue. Luffy can’t cook. Hoku cooks pretty damn well but she’s clumsy in the kitchen so she tries to cook before Sabo or Ace get home and they scream something about her cutting off a finger and needing stitches again

House is always decorated with flowers or something nice like a painting or photos or tapestries. Hoku always does that.

They have a small garden plot by the apartment complex. Hoku and Sabo take care of it. Ace and Luffy eat from it a lot and run out animals trying to steal the tangerines from the tree Nami’s adopted mom gave them as a house warming gift.

The three of them fill out a lot of her pages in her sketchbooks and easels. “Is that Sabo again?” “Yeah, he fell asleep reading and he looks too perfect so I wanted to draw it.” “That kinda pisses me off.” “Me too, we’ll do something about it when I finishl.”

Her art classmates are always super eager to see her stuff and ask about the hot older guys in her drawings and please ask them to model. Hoku relents. Ace comes in to model because he gets paid. That’s a story for another day.

Hoku has regular poker nights for awhile now with a group of people Ace and Sabo didn’t think about (they always thought it was the girls or some friends like their friend group) until one night Luffy goes to hang out with the others and they’re like?? Hoku??? and Luffy’s like?? Hoku doesn’t do poker nights with us you dummies.

This sends them into a panic attack and Sabo has Hoku’s location at all times because he did something permanent to her phone (Hoku does not know this) and they visit (stalk) her at one of her poker nights. Find out its in some weirdly shady fancy club body guarded by a bunch of ridiculously macho looking guys (it’s actually Daz, Vergo and some others) They stake out and froth at the mouth, nearly dying when they see Hoku walk out surrounded by GIANT MEN DOUBLE HER SIZE AND AGE, HOKU HONEY, WHAT? It’s Crocodile and Doflamingo, usually Mihawk, and sometimes Jimbei comes.

Hoku’s like ?? I’ve played poker with these guys for forever. (They’re big crime syndicates and totally into illegal business and Sabo knows this and Ace is ready to murder) but apparently Hoku weaseled her way in and she’s a good player so they have fun and like gambling with her. They always suggest taking her to Vegas with them because they’re high rollers but Hoku’s always like nah i got school and work.

Sabo and Ace after herding her home try to convince her to stop meeting with them and Hoku’s just like lmao no and takes out huge wads of cash from her pockets. “They’re ridiculously rich and I win a lot.” They also pay for a lot of good food and Hoku’s not about to pass that up. (She sneaks leftovers for Luffy all the time ((but the older men already know and usually just have shit boxed up for her anyway))) 

“But they’re older men and dangerous!”

“It’s not like I’m going on a date with them. It’s just gambling.”

“You like older men!”

“Oh, yeah, huh.”

Law and Kid are classmates and Luffy and Hoku hang out with them a lot when its not with their crew and Ace and Sabo are always like cant you hang out with better people. Kid and Law never feel welcome in their house but Hoku’s just like dw if they bother u i won’t talk to them and then they get upset and yada yada. Doesn’t stop Ace and Sabo from being super mean looking and scary. Kid and Law are hard to ward off, unfortunately.

Law’s studying to be a doctor, well on the way. Kid’s a mechanic and works at a shop and does street racing. Hoku wants to design a car interior for him.

People always say Sabo seems like the prim and perfect gentlemen of the three and he’ll make a good husband and they just laugh and Hoku tells Koala and she laughs because they always wave their hands and say nah nah, Sabo’s secretly the most sneaky and lowkey scary/sadistic/a tease out of all of them, don’t let the pretty face fool you

(and he really is, sometimes he makes Hoku beg for the pretty cakes he brings home from work from clients because he thinks its cute when she’s trying to reach them over his head)

Shanks is a famous traveler/explorer, always known for doing crazy stuff and his team of explorers climb mountains, explore caves, travel all around the world and take beautiful shots and Hoku and Luffy always tune in. Shanks saved Luffy once from a freak accident and he’s his hero and Hoku has such a hopeless crush on him.

Modern AU where Law is Luffy’s partner in college for a project and he goes to Luffy’s house. Hoku’s a TA for Shanks and stupidly stupid for him and Law meets her and feels things.

Modern AU where Strawhat crew goes on a road trip.

Monsters AU. Hoku’s a ghost.

Hanahaki AU. Red flowers.

Marines AU.

Genderbent AU.

Some other ones but i gotta go finish that essay i mentioned hahaha, hope these were fun! the modern HASL one ran away with me

THANKS FOR LOVING IT

[mentalmimosa]

sway me close, sway me now (part iv)

Previous installments here: [archiveofourown.org/works/18961441/chapters/45020587]

“How did you know that I’ve been hard up?” Steve stared at him, a fierce sort of sloshed. “Did you look at my bank records or something? I'm pretty sure that's illegal."

Tony blinked. Ok, not where he’d thought the guy was going. But there was the temper Bucky had told him about, that Tony had had a hard time squaring with the sketch of the man on paper, with the gentle giant who had stammered in the dining room doorway. He’d been curious, though, so he’d gone after the kid’s goat, and oh, yeah: a couple of solid poke and oh, there it was.

He kept his voice nonchalant. “I had a PI look in to you before he gave you a call. Purely a safety precaution; Rhodey was pretty insistent. I’m sure you can understand why.”

Now it was Steve’s turn to blink. “A PI? You...you had me investigated?"

“Yes, I did. And if the way you’ve demolished every dish that’s been put in front of you this evening is any indication, then my sources were correct.”

That got him another glare. He was beginning to like that look. “Maybe I just didn’t eat breakfast.”

“Or supper yesterday. Or lunch the day before. But the, I'd imagine that's hard to do when you give a solid half of your paycheck every week to someone else. Or lots of someone else’s, I suppose.” Steve looked confused; maybe that was the wine. Never mind. Tony seized the advantage. “You have a bad habit of looking after other people first and yourself second, Steve. That was my big takeaway from the PI’s report.”

“You’re supposed to take care of people,” Steve said stubbornly. “That’s why they call it the golden rule, isn't it? Treat others as you want to be treated."

Tony spread his hands. “Sure, yeah. But not to the point where you put yourself half a step from the poorhouse. Then you can’t help anybody, can you? If you’re destitute yourself. There’s a fine line between charity and martyrdom, kid.”

Steve’s jaw was set. “Is that what this is to you, Mr. Stark? Is that why you asked me to come here, as some kind of charity chase?”

Ah, Tony thought, a rose moment of revelation. I’ve hurt his pride, haven’t I? Well. We can’t have that.

He sat back and reached for his wine, let the tension simmer, linger, play out like a light show all over Steve’s pretty face. “I asked you to come here,” he said at last, “because you’re a good man, Steve Rogers. Dare I say an honorable one. And yeah, you need the money, I get that, but once you have it”-- if, the negotiator part of his brain said; just because he’s gorgeous when he’s angry doesn’t mean you should give the damn store away--“you’ll make the most of it. For yourself, I hope, but for lots of others too, I suspect. And that means a great deal to me. My mother was like that; I think that’s part of the reason. Selfless without a second thought.”

“And you’re not, are you.” It wasn’t really a question.

Tony’s heart was pounding in his ears. God, the way Steve was looking at him, still pointed even as the kid’s anger faded. He’d been wrong before; the man before him was no waif. He might have the face of an angel, but somewhere inside, there was steel, and shit, Tony marvelled, biting back a chuckle, “what he wouldn’t give to see that steel melt.

“Me, selfless?” he said. “No. But I do enjoy looking after people, sometimes, when I’m in the right frame of mind. And I think I could do that for you.”

“How?”

Oh, my, Tony thought. He felt dizzy. There were too many answers to that question, too many that ended with and your cock in my mouth. He wondered if Steve would stay that same shade of indignant pink when he was close, or if his face would find a whole new kind of red. Would it stay red as Steve came down, as Tony pushed him to knees? Would Steve look him in the eye as Tony rubbed his cock against his lips, or he’d have to be told with a sharp voice and a tug on that neat, golden hair? Would he--?

Tony cleared his throat. “With more suits like that one, for one thing. Some new shoes, some new paints. I can have a room set up for you to use as a studio, if you’d like. Did you bring your sketchbooks with you?”

“Of course. They go everywhere I do.”

“Well, there, you see?” His fingers flexed over his lighter, messed with the cream tablecloth. “And I can introduce you to folks I know who are big into the arts. Who knows? You might find yourself a patron while you’re here. Make enough money to make me look like a piker.”

Fuck, he thought, why the hell was he trying to sell the kid on the job? he wondered. It was a good deal already, that much dough for a few public smooches, some grand dinners out on the town. A shredding of Steve’s reputation, maybe, but he didn’t really have one to begin with, did he? He wouldn’t feel the loss of something he’d never had.

But he would, Tony thought, feeling his own face redden beneath his beard. Now that he’d seen Steve Rogers, crossed swords with him, hell--nobody else would do in this crazy scheme of his, would they? He wanted Steve. Maybe even coveted him, a little. And if he had to sell the kid on what was already the opportunity of a lifetime, so be it. Nobody else would fucking do.

Steve was blinking at him now, like a man who’d just moved from the dark to the light. “You’d do that?”

“I’d be happy to.”

A little smile. “But you don’t know if I’m any good.”

“Not yet, no. But I have a feeling you’ll show me, don’t you?”

It didn’t come out quite right. It also didn’t sound completely wrong. And was Tony dreaming or was it the wine talking, the bourbon beforehand: was there a new kind of heat in Steve’s gorgeous face?

“Yeah,” Steve said. “I do.” His mouth lifted. “Does this mean I got the job?”

“Eh,” Tony said, because what the hell. It had always been his way to push his luck; he’d survived a crash, a Depression, and a world war that way. Why would this be any different? “There’s one more test I have to run, actually.”

Steve’s smile dipped. “Yeah? What’s that?”

Tony’s blood was an ocean in his ears. He felt incredibly foolish. He felt like the universe, for whatever moody reason, had for the first time in a long time, handed him a gift.

So he let go of his lighter and what remained of his sense and leaned forward and cupped the hot curve of Steve’s jaw, and oh, sweet Lord: the shock on Steve’s face was worth the price of tonight alone. “Come here,” Tony said softly, a feather on bone china. “Come right here, kid, and kiss me.”

[haberdashing]

The Road To Paris: Wisconsin

I’m posting snippets of my (unpolished) NaNoWriMo story in the hopes of inspiring myself to write more of it; any and all feedback is appreciated!

also on AO3

“I’m bored.”

The car swerved violently to the right until it was on the shoulder of the road, then abruptly screeched to a halt roughly in the middle of nowhere.

The passenger turned towards the driver, confusion and outrage clear in the passenger’s eyes. “What the hell, Esther?”

The driver met the passenger’s gaze. “What do you mean, you’re bored?”

The passenger rolled her eyes. “I mean I’m bored, duh, not that hard to figure out. So why did you stop the car, huh?”

“We just started this road trip, Max. We haven’t even gotten out of Iowa yet. And if you’re bored now, I don’t want to know what’ll happen a few days in. If all you’re going to do is complain about being bored the whole trip, I’m going to turn around now.”

“Esther, please don’t turn around. I really want to do this with you, I swear.”

“Then will you promise not to say that you’re bored the whole trip?”

Max let out a long sigh. “Sure, fine, I promise not to say that I’m bored again.”

“Besides, I thought you did a bunch of road trips before with your family.”

Max let out a snort of amusement. “Yeah, and I was bored out of my mind on all of those trips too. You should’ve talked to my parents about it before agreeing to go with me, they’ve got stories to tell… though at least you know I won’t be kicking your seat the whole time. Apparently that was a Thing I did a lot when I was younger.”

Esther couldn’t help but laugh a little at the mental picture of a young Max impatiently kicking one of her parents’ seat the whole time during a car ride. It sounded like the sort of thing that a young Max would do, knowing what Esther did about Max. “Don’t you have a sketchbook with you?”

“I’ve got, like, four of them, yeah. Though all but one of them are hiding somewhere in the back with all the other shit we brought with us.”

“Then if you’re so bored, why don’t you draw something?”

“We’re surrounded by corn fields, what is there to draw?”

“I don’t know, Max, think of something! You’re the artist, I’m sure you can come up with something to draw while you’re just sitting here.”

“Does that mean you’re going to be writing the whole time I’m driving, then? Is that part of your master plan?”

“I mean, probably, yeah, at least if it’s light out. Which it is. It’s not even noon yet, I think, because someone wanted to leave extra early, if I recall right.”

“...Esther, can you start the car back up already? I promised not to say I’m bored or whatever, let’s keep moving.”

“Alright, alright.”

The car’s left blinker turned on, and after a brief pause to let traffic by, the two were once again on the road.

“I guess I can draw that cow. Nice-looking cow over there.”

“There’s a cow?”

“Yeah, just look to your right.”

“I’m not going to look to my right, Max. I’m driving. I’m keeping my eyes focused on the road, where they belong.”

“Alright, alright, jeez, miss perfect driver over here. We drove past the cow already anyway, so there’s nothing left for you to see- oh look, another cow!”

“I’m still not going to look.”

“Alright, I get it, I get it.”

“New rule: please don’t point out every animal we pass by while I’m driving. Because I’m not going to look anyway. And it’s kind of annoying, frankly.”

Max rolled her eyes again. “Fine, whatever. Just trying to do a little sight-seeing, don’t mind me.”

“We can sight-see when we stop somewhere. It shouldn’t be too much longer until we reach the first one. How far are we from the state border now?”

“Uh…”

“It should be on the mile markers.”

“Right. Looks like twenty and a half miles to go.”

“See, that’s not so bad! And it sounds like there’s plenty of animals for you to draw.”

“Yeah, I guess I can draw a cow in a field or something.”

“Sounds like a good plan.”

The car filled with silence for a few minutes.

As they approached the state border, fields gave way to houses gave way to taller buildings. Esther tried to keep her eyes focused on the road, but she couldn’t help but sneak a glance once or twice at the buildings that surrounded her, so different from what she knew back in her hometown.

“So this is Dubuque, right?”

“It sure is.”

“It’s… huge.”

Max smirked.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that!”

“Sure, it’s huge compared to Fairfield, maybe, but compared to Chicago or New York or Tokyo-”

“Or any number of other places I’ve never been, sure, yeah, I get it. But…” Esther bit the bottom of her lip before finishing her sentence. “But to me it seems huge, you get that?”

“I mean, I guess.”

“It’s a yes or no question, Max, there’s no ‘I guess’ about it.”

“Okay then, yes, I get it. I forget sometimes how you’ve basically never been anywhere-”

“I went to Atlanta to see my aunt and uncle when I was- eight, I think? But I don’t remember much about it anymore.”

“But you get my point, right?”

“I guess I do, sure.”

As the mile markers continued to tick down and Esther kept sneaking glances at the buildings of Dubuque, Max spoke up.

“Hey look, we’re almost there!”

Max set her sketchbook down and dramatically flung her arms out in front of her until her fingers were brushing against the windshield. “First one in Wisconsin!”

Esther laughed a little. “I’m not going to fight you over that one.”

“Because you’re driving, and all focused on the road and stuff?”

“Pretty much, yeah. And because it’s a silly thing to fight over.” After a brief pause in which they reached the state border and Max let out a whoop, Esther leaned back in her seat and said with a smile, “But I was the last one in Iowa.”

“Aww, c’mon!”

Esther laughed a bit more, and after a moment of hesitation Max laughed as well.

“See, you act all business-like and stuff, but I know you’re really a giant dork deep down, Esther. No reason to hide it from me.”

Esther stuck out her tongue as a response.