#i literally customized him overnight lmao

[robboyblunder]

I found a cute 3 inch nutcracker for $2 at a thrift store and decided to give it a makeover for fun :) I really love this game and this enemy, so now I have a one of a kind figure! painting over sequins was an interesting challenge... I used sculpey for the gun and hat visor!

ID in ALT text!

(Bonus photos under cut)

First bonus photo, showing details on the gun but also... why did you take the train today? (inhale)

annnd what he looked like before!

[jiminrings]

hi hannah !! can i request a drabble where jungkook visits florist!y/n and he went “hi i’m here to get a flower for my girlfriend” and the girlfriend is y/n. i’m sorry if it doesn’t make sense 😭 love u <3

full blooms

love u too bestie <3

aka jungkook really should’ve thought this through!!

...... oh no

there are so many people in the shop

not just any shop though :D

sometimes you collectively forget that this is yOUR shop and you’re the literal owner of it and you’re not just working it

and sometimes, you forget just how influential things could be

case in point: kim taehyung !!

kim taehyung as in the hottest musician in the scene rn, who happens to be vante on spotify, AND someone who you just happen to know as kim taehyung!!!

kim taehyung as in the friendly customer who comes into your shop more oftenly to look at your flowers than to buy them

and you just let him look at them without buying anything because there’s no harm in it!! the guy is just straight-up Vibing looking at the flowers

(and he also leaves a handsome tip in your jar even when he doesn’t buy anything!!)

you just knew him to be that pleasant customer,,, not exactly a world-renowned musician you couldn’t exactly piece together

but apparently, you’re now more aware than ever lmao

taehyung sneaked in the name of your flower shop somewhere into the lyrics of the mOST famous song from his newly-released album

flowers from spring day on my mind, corner of the street with the neon sign, heaven on my mind and i spent no dime

goddamn

it just so happens that you letting THEE vante look at flowers as he pleases has become his favorite routine and it just makes him so happy in general

so happy to the point that your shop is specifically mentioned

— so, so happy to the point that your shop had become fully-packed and was making single-file lines that stretched all across four blocks overnight

so sO happy to the point that he had unknowingly become a catalyst for your shop to be almost fined because so many people were clogging sidewalks and a warning to get it together so that there would be better organization

YOUR SHOP WAS LITERALLY FEATURED ON THE NEWS?????

anyways, taehyung slipped in from the staffroom you mentioned to him in passing two days after he dropped his album, and then could you properly freak out about him

he was giggly the whole time when you were spouting out your disbelief for him but tHEN he also apologized for all the (positive & money-making) trouble he’s gotten you into

and he managed to sales-talk you (u swear u are the boss here) into collaborating with him for a limited collection with all the favorite flowers he’s taken note of so he could share it with his fans

he even brought you a notebook with all the illustrations and ideas he’s conceptualized so yeah,,,, there’s that

not only do you serve more than a full house in your flower shop and spend much more hours and energy, you’ve also agreed to add something big into your plate that’s easily getting crowded

what a good thing you have jungkook :D

you could literally not ask for a better boyfriend than jungkook

he’s been so supportive the whole time and he kept sHRIEKING when you casually told him that the frequent sight-seeing customer turned out to be vante himself

“all this time?! all this time and you fORGOT to mention to me that he wears a leather watch and a pearl necklace??? baby, those are basically his trademarks!!”

he supports you in ways you can’t even fathom <3

he was supposed to help you in the shop to help tackle the horde of vante-loving and flowers-from-spring-day enthusiasts, but he got an even better idea

he spent the whole week designing and building an online website for spring day from scratch!! he wanted it to be perfect for you and everything you stand by

also even him, a computer sciences graduate, had to back up the website extra nifty because he already predicts that it would get so much traffic (!!)

he took it upon himself to hire from his friends to be your helpers for the shop because ur severely under-staffed

he has tHREE more-than-willing candidates!!!

jimin’s summer job in college was him being a cashier in goddamn music festivals :D OF COURSE he’s gonna be the greatest cashier you’ll ever have!!! he can whip up change even before the customer hands the bills; he’s that good

he also has a great stern voice of making people stand in organized lines and not cut it so that would come handy

hoseok has a great instinct for color theory!!! he just knows what works and what doesn’t and you need an extra mind to help conceptualize arrangements in the blink of an eye

namjoon is a master of small talk and an all-rounder!! you have a loT of customers who have no gist whatsoever on what they want, and you don’t want to risk giving them an arrangement they loathe!! he knows how to hit it

he was actually so excited when jungkook pitched him a job offer

he could literally go “y/n, the lady in yellow has a dalmatian. i could tell she would tulips in her arrangement along with hydrangeas.”

so that’s that, basically

you and jungkook have been hectic and apart for a whole week because you practically sleep in the shop trying to keep up with everything

he’s actually keeping the website and sneaky hires from you as secrets in the meantime because he wants to surprise you!!! like literally right now

he enters from the staffroom and make sure none of the people waiting by the entrance see him because that would be utter chaos

the shutters are all closed so no one from outside can see what’s inside, but you actually fAIL to realize that your shop would still be closed for another ten minutes

the moment you hear a voice, your mind automatically goes to “hi! welcome to spring day. what blooms would you like?” mode :|

jungkook frowns because you look so haggard under his trained eye even if you still look well-kempt!! you can’t have your shops and yourself appear ratty in the eager instagram stories that taehyung’s fans take

but that’s okay!!! he’ll coax you to come home with him tonight because he’s gonna tell you about his hires this morning

“hi! welcome to spring day. what blooms would you like?”

you briefly look up to send a smile, already fetching your paper on your left hand and twine and scissors on the other

“hi! i’m here to get flowers for my girlfriend.”

“that sounds lovely. what would you-“

wait

hold on a second

that’s jungkook’s voice....??

that’s your bOYFRIEND’S VOICE???

“j-jungkook?”

you mutter and the boy beams in return, registering the blank look on your face to be surprise instead of what you’re thinking

the tears suddenly pool at the corner of your eyes even before you realize

“is this your way of breaking up with me?”

...

.....

“what? nO!”

your shoulders visibly sag in relief but jungkook’s clearly perplexed on how you even came to that

“why would i ever be dumb enough to break up with you?” he immediately consoles you when you bury your face in your hands, hopping over the counter to put you in a massive hug

“i-i haven’t slept, dummy!! and i figured that you hate me because we haven’t seen each other for a week and-“

you say in between sobs and chuckles, giggling when your cheeks are smushed and jungkook keeps peppering you with wet kisses

“ten minutes before opening,” kook sweetly reminds you, kissing you on the lips after an entire week that the sheer euphoria he’s getting now is enough to last another

“mhmmm,” you hum when he presses his warm hand on the small of your back, “tell me about your week in ten minutes.”

“sounds good,” he affirms, scratching your scalp that makes you relax even more until he stops red-faced —

“but like, while multitasking, y’know? kiss me while i tell you about my week.”

[ijustneedtowhine]

I realized I don’t want to work, so I won’t.

I feel like I‘m going to be judged for what I’m about to say. But I’m going to say it anyway. I kind of always wanted to be a housewife. Let me start by saying, I hate the term, “housewife”. It sounds like I’m a human pet or something. But moving past the stupid word, I always pictured myself homemaking, married or not. In school, growing up, when we would have to say what we wanted to be when we grew up I never ever meant what I said. I could not for the life of me think of a job I ever wanted to do. It sounds “lazy” but I never wanted to do anything. Don’t get me wrong, there were things I liked to do. I was a very active kid. I did a million different clubs, stage crew and color guard all throughout high school. I enjoyed it all. But I would be lying if I didn’t say that the second I thought about those activities turning into jobs, I lost all interest. Something about turning my hobbies into means of production, swiftly sucked all the joy out of it. I realize now that it was weird we were being taught to aspire to become workers. I just have no interest in living my life that way (doesn’t mean I didn’t try though).

In the beginning I did try to force my round peg into some of the square holes provided by our capitalist society. I went straight to college after high school. My second year in, I decided to turn my hobby of stage crew into a career path. One very big thing ruined this for me. In order to take the classes I needed like; stage lighting, stage makeup, and the opportunity to work on the crew, I had to major in theatre and take all of the acting classes. YEAH. You read that right. I had to freaking act. I have ZERO interest in acting. Very much not my thing you guys. The program director's excuse was that we needed to understand what the actors did as well. These classes were some of the most uncomfortable times in my life and I really wish I had never done it. Needless to say. that only lasted one and a half semesters for me.

One thing I feel like I should inform you of is that 2 weeks before I dropped out of college, my big sister, my absolute favorite person in the world, passed away suddenly. She had small children and an ex unfit to take care of them. My family and I were dealing with custody fights and a new life no one in my family ever wanted. Looking back now I know that it was incredibly traumatic for everyone involved and played a huge roll in why I left school.

Another hobby I tried to turn into work was makeup and skincare. I went to beauty school right after I dropped out of college. You see, even though I was able to convince my parents to let me leave school, they still wanted me to be working towards a career of some sort. So I enrolled into beauty school not fully understanding what I was getting myself into. Like I said, I am only interested in makeup and skincare. But here, at my school you had to also learn to do hair. My naive 20 year old ass trusted the enrollment lady when she said that I wouldn’t have to do much hair and that the program was pretty evenly distributed. LIES. Hair was 90% of what we did there. I fucking hated it you guys. I of course liked certain parts of it. The material was interesting, the tests were a cake walk, I made some friends, and even dated a girl I met there for a short while. But when it came to graduating to the salon and doing real customers hair for 8 hours a day (before going to my job where I worked 5-6hrs a day 6 days a week I might add) I was fucking over it. This on top of my ever blooming anxiety was a real recipe for me to avoid, avoid, avoid. My attendance was piss poor by the end. I got kicked out because of this. I wasted $20,000 on something that turned into nothing and ruined my self esteem. I felt like such a loser for not being able to finish. I could not for the life of me understand why I couldn’t get myself out of bed and go. Why would I cry at the thought of having to walk through those doors? I knew I had to, but I physically couldn’t after a certain point. So after beauty school I just kept working a shit-ton. I got a retail management job that I was at for a couple of years. I liked it well enough. Management was fun and I was good at it. The day I put in my two weeks notice I walked into the back to put my stuff away and my store manager and district manager were there with balloons ready to surprise me with the good news that I was being promoted. That was a pretty awkward conversation to have needless to say lmao. And to be honest I only left because I wasn’t making anywhere near enough money.

 The job I left for is where I met my favorite person alive, my sweet husband. We were in the same department and we started talking when I was new and had no clue what I was doing. He would help me out when I needed it but was too stubborn to ask. We would stand around and talk when there wasn’t much work to be done. I could tell he was really kind and funny, so one day I just decided I didn’t want to stop talking to him. I offered him a ride home that morning (we worked overnight). We went to a park to watch the sun rise and we literally haven’t spent a day apart since. He’s truly the loveliest person I’ve ever known. I can confidently say our relationship is the only good thing that came out of my first couple of years of adulthood.

This job is where I hurt my back, Christmas 2019. I was working 7 days a week 12 hr shifts and I was fuuuckkinggg exhausted. I lifted something wrong and that was that. My back hasn't been the same since. I’ve gone to chiropractors and nothing helps. I can’t even do the dishwasher without having to take a break. So obviously I had to stop working there. I lasted until august 2020 though! I used a back brace and took lots of days off lol. At the end I just could not do it anymore. My last shift I spent the last three hours of  my shift crying in pain and taking breaks to sit every 5 minutes. I walked out the second my shift was over and never went back in. I felt like I was ripping my body apart. My now husband, then fiance, and I decided that I should look for something to let me sit. I did that. It sucked. Depression and anxiety got the best of me once again and I stopped going. I don't know what happens to my brain but it feels like it starts to attack me with words, fears and feelings of despair. I shut right the fuck down. I’m not strong enough to push through. And I don’t think that I have to be that strong. Once I had enough break downs about being too scared to leave the house my husband and I decided I would stay home as long as it takes me to get better, physically and mentally. I love him so much for being on board and understanding that I needed a break. 

It’s been a couple of months now and I’ve had a lot of time to try and connect the dots in this pattern of my life. I think that I spent a really long time fully convinced that being a housewife in this day and age was out of the question. Deep down I knew it was the only thing I could ever picture doing and being happy with. I loved organization, lists, cleaning, and cooking. Growing up I always felt really good about myself when I cleaned and organized my room. I would sit around and day dream about what my home would look like and how I would decorate it. But none of that mattered when I was being told that I should aspire to do a job and love it enough to do it until I’m in my 60s. Like what? I don’t love anything enough, besides my family, to do it for decades of my life. When I finally admitted to myself that taking care of a home and a family is truly what I aspire to do, the thing that feels like it gives my life meaning, I felt a sense of relief, and then quickly after, some anxiety. I started to get scared of what people would think of me. I know that there are a lot of feminists out there that actually understand the ideal of feminism. They would never down a woman that is doing exactly what she wants (as long as she isn’t hurting anyone). But on the other hand I have encountered so many people, men and women that are really nasty about women that are or aspire to be housewives. So many of the people I grew up with joked about people they didn’t like ending up bored housewives. I know I shouldn’t have but I laughed along. Knowing deep down in a locked away place, it was the only thing I pictured myself doing. I just don’t see what’s wrong with homemaking if that’s what you truly want. 

Finally, I’ve come to realize that I shouldn’t be ashamed of doing exactly what I want to do. It works for my husband and I, and that’s the only thing I should truly care about. I picked the side of things that felt like home. Like they fit. The part that brings me satisfaction, joy, and the space to move at my own pace.

[vannahfanfics]

@mynameistakenhavethisinstead So... I sat down to write your GrayLu holiday request, and... It ended up becoming something else entirely! ^.^” Because I am not one to short my requestees, you’ll still get your GrayLu request (which is why I answered this outside of the physical ask) so, uh. Just have this one on the house, I guess? Lmao

Forever Begins Here

Category: General Fluff

Characters: Lucy Heartfilia

Lucy’s coffee-colored eyes glistened with the reflection of the bright, merry, and undeniably Fairy Tail-esque array of multicolored fairy lights strung at the guild entrance. They were a nice compliment to the dull and gray winter that had been plaguing the city for the last several days; though the steely clouds hung oppressively low to smother the earth in a perpetual, seeping chill and deliver puffy white snowflakes onto the already buried community, the twinkling bulbs brought holiday cheer in the form of red, yellow, green, and blue soft glowing light that kaleidoscoped across the white snow. Lucy stood a moment in front of the guild to simply admire the beautiful display that had literally appeared overnight. It really was the simplest of things in life that made it worth getting up every day, she mused with a small smile before charging into the guild.

As usual, the guild chorused with raucous greeting at her entrance, as was custom. Lucy barely noticed because her eyes were alight attempting to absorb every ounce of holiday cheer that had been applied to the buildings interior. To keep from being overly gaudy, white fairy lights instead of colored ones were on display, wrapped around every column and trailing over every banister. Pine garland complimented it in certain areas, notably demarking the second-floor balustrade. Lucy had tracked half-melted snow onto a thick, downy, bouncy red rug that sprawled across the floor and traveled up the steps to likely puddle across that wooden floor in cherry-red bliss; with a light giggle, she stepped onto it and so wished she could pull of her shoes to feel it with her bare feet, because it was simply so pillowy and the fibers looked as soft as featherdown. Beside the entrance were two large copper vases stuffed to bursting with red poinsettias, and a garland of holly stretched over the doorframe. To complete the ambiance, a roaring fire was blazing in the guild’s massive fireplace to steep the wide room in cozy warmth. To Lucy, Fairy Tail was homier than ever before.

She pranced down the aisle to notice that the holiday decorations were still far from complete, as various members were hard at work applying decorations elsewhere. Mirajane and her siblings were adorning her bar with what looked like hand-made paper snowflakes, which were being produced at length by Asuka and Romeo, who wore matching beaming smiles as they attacked the folded papers with scissors to produce one-of-a-kind patterns. Cana was going about the room setting holiday-scented candles of many a variety on each table to create little bubbles of cheery aroma- peppermint, gingerbread, candied apple, sugar cookie, and those were just the ones she smelled as she walked by. It was all so festive and fun, and Lucy dearly wished that she would’ve arrived earlier so she could’ve joined in.

“Lucy! You’re just in time!” Levy called to her from her seat beside Gajeel. Lucy trotted over to the girl with a cheerful greeting before inquiring what she was just in time for. “Erza, Gray, and Natsu should be here with the tree soon.” Not a moment after did the blue-haired girl speak did the guild hall’s door fling open with monstrous ferocity. Lucy looked over her shoulder to catch Natsu’s tufts of pink hair peeking out from a massive expanse of pine needles. Lucy watched in mild concern as Natsu shook himself out of the needles, gasping for breath, before gripping onto the trunk of the trees with bulging muscles.

“You’re not getting the best o’ me, you damn tree! Ahhhhhhh!” He yelled, literally spitting fire from his mouth as he feet slipped uselessly over the floor while he attempted to haul the gigantic specimen into the guild. Lucy smiled in bemusement. Leave it to Natsu to spice things up…

“Hey! Stop breathing fire everywhere! If you catch it on fire, Wendy will cry!” Levy accused him from her spot at the table and pointed at the sky dragon-slayer. Sure enough, she had her hands balled up at her chest as she watched with great anxiety, tears even brimming in her big round eyes. Natsu flushed from head to toe and grumbled something under his breath, but obediently ceased his flame-spouting. Shifting positions to try and get better leverage, he buried his arms up to his shoulders into the pine tree. With another guttural roar, he yanked hard, and the tree came bursting into the guild hair with exceptional force. Little did Natsu know that Gray had blasted the back end with swirling icy wind, aided by Erza with a powerful glae from her flashing swords, so it was really questionable whether Natsu really aided in the process or not. The wood around the door splintered as it was stretched beyond capacity to fit the wide girth of the pine tree, which was now skidding across the guild hall with reckless abandon right to where Levy, Gajeel, and Lucy were sitting.

The both screamed in alarm as the tree shot towards them like a massive green bullet, trying to scramble away; the tree was simply gargantuan and would swallow them up no matter which way they ran. “I love you Levy!” Lucy wailed as she threw her arms around her best friend, pitifully crying tears.

“I love you too, Lucy! I wish I could’ve finished reading your next novel draft!” Levy whined in lament. Behind them, Gajeel rolled his eyes before plucking them both up by the backs of their shirts. The two girls released their hug as he plopped each of them on either of his broad shoulders, then grunted and reared back to pull up a combat-booted leg and plow it directly into the top of the tree. Despite his brawny form, he was actually pushed back a good deal across the guild hall, but due to all the friction and resistance, the tree slowly came to a stop. Gajeel grunted as he disentangled his leg from the gigantic tree, as it had sunk nearly up his thigh. Levy squealed as she sat on his shoulder like a little parrot, hugging his head and nuzzling into his spiky dark hair. “Ah, Gajeel, thank you! I thought I was a goner.” Gajeel blushed a salmon color and looked away bashfully.

“Well, you’re small, so…” he grumbled under his breath. Lucy chuckled under her breath at their impossibly cute interaction before patting his back and hopping down with a similar gratuitous remark, just in time for Erza and the two boys to walk across the crammed-together, flipped-over guild tables to marvel at their prize.

“Now we just have to put it up and then we can decorate it!” Gray remarked. His shirt had been lost in the exchange somewhere, though if it was while hunting for the tree or the debacle that had just occurred, Lucy wasn’t for sure. At the mention of the most basic of holiday traditions, Lucy clasped her hands together at her chest and gasped in delight.

“Oh, yay! I’ve never gotten to decorate a tree before!” Lucy could hear the record screech as all the noise suddenly died in the guild and dozens of eyes became centered on her in utter horror. A blush rose to her cheeks in slight mortification; she knew decorating a tree was a normal holiday tradition, but really, was she the only one who had never done it? She shrunk into herself as Gray hopped down from the table to look at her incredulously.

“Really, Lucy? Never?” he hissed in a mixture of shame and pity. Lucy puffed out her cheeks at the interrogation.

“Never… My father always insisted that it was too frivolous and made the servants do it…” she admitted meekly. Now that she said it aloud, it was pretty sad. At least half the guild whipped around clutching their hearts while tears streamed down their faces, while the other half crowded around to hug the very confused and slightly pissed-off blonde. Mirajane tutted as she pulled Lucy into her chest while snuggling her chin into Lucy’s hair.

“Oh, dear… How tragic… Get this tree up at once! Lucy is gonna lead us in decorating this tree, top to bottom!” she suddenly barked in a tone that indicated that she was dangerously close into tapping into her demonic alter ego. With yelps of “yes ma’am!” the grew scattered across the tree, trying to riddle out some way to heft the massive thing into standing position. In the end they decided to situate Wendy at the peak to blast its front end upward with her sky dragon-slayer magic, and the rest of them would keep the momentum so that the tree nestled upright in the corner of the guild. Wendy sucked in a deep breath to the point that her chest swelled to painful capacity before releasing her Sky Dragon’s Roar at such an angle that the tree’s end skyrocketed up. It actually went pretty high, up to about a sixty degree angle, before it threatened to come crashing down. That’s when the rest of them went to scaffolding it with all manners of their magic, pushing up against its thick trunk until it finally rested in the proper position. Standing beneath it, Lucy could not help but be enthralled; it really was the perfect tree, towering over all of them with just enough room between its single-branch summit and the roof to place an adornment. Though Lucy’s forte was in the aesthetic of words, her mind also was not lacking in the creativity of décor, and her mind began to swim ecstatically with various ways to arrange baubles and ribbons and ornaments on the gargantuan pine tree.

“Okay, Lucy! Let’s get to work,” Gray mused as he walked by her to grab her in a tight but affectionately comfortable headlock, tousling his fist into her hair. Someone had probably scolded him for walking around half-naked, because he was now wearing his overcoat. Not even bothered by his wrestler’s grip, she smiled giddily as she saw the guild members dragging out countless boxes filled with decorations that had accumulated over the years.

With Lucy at the helm, they began decorating the tree- though of course, the Celestial Mage participated plenty in the physical aspect of the event. They began by stringing more fairy lights to the tree, sticking with plain white bulbs that flickered like stars from deep within the branches. Then they applying round bauble ornaments to the tree. The largest ones, which were hung at the base of the herculean plant, has such an incredible circumference that Lucy couldn’t even wrap her arms completely around them. To compliment the red rug and the flickering white fairy lights and the pine garland, Lucy elected for a tri-color arrangement of red, white, and green. The covered the tree in the circular ornaments, using the Exceeds to fly to the top of course, but left plenty of space for some more fun flair. The kitty-like creatures found massive spools of ribbon, and were more than happy to zoon about draping the sheer white glittery trimming over the branches (with some left over to play with after!). Lucy found with delight a set of milky-white glass tailed fairy ornaments, most likely in honor of their beautiful and kind founder Mavis, and so they hung them at strategic gaps in the foliage, as well as sets of crystal stars and red-and-green holly ornaments. Finally, when every space in the tree was stuffed to capacity, it was time for the final piece- the tree topper. It was just a generic angel figurine, but Lucy hesitated to put it atop the pine tree as an artistic vision stirred in her mind when she spotted a plan wreath.

“Hold on a minute!” she cried as she dashed off into one of the guild’s hall where they had hung a corkboard. Mirajane had installed the small panel for them to post pictures on, and though it had only been hung a few months or so, the thing was so smothered in photographs that a plan had been enacted to fill the entire hall with corkboards to create a grand display. Lucy plucked photos from the board one by one, aiming for every guild member to be represented, and even found an old photo of the founders, with a sweet, beaming Mavis in the middle, practically glowing like an angel herself. Snickering to herself, Lucy scampered back to her very curious guild members to kneel down in front of the wreath and begin clamping the photographs to its stems with small clothespins. Once she was finished, she held it up in triumph, though wobbled a bit as it was nearly as large as herself. “Ta-da!”

“Oh, Lucy, it’s so beautiful,” Juvia whispered as she marveled at it, tears brimming in her navy blue eyes. Levy was crying silently as she nodded in approval. Gray and Natsu both snickered and threw their arms around her slim shoulders, with Gray affectionately rubbing her hair again. The Exceeds flew around it with glee, with Happy pointing and naming everyone he could. The Master, who had been watching the proceedings the entire time, smiled softly and nodded in approval.

“I couldn’t ask for a more perfect centerpiece for our work of art. Am I right?” he mused and stroked his mustache. The guild chorused in an earth-shaking roar of approval.

“RIGHT!” Lucy hugged the wreath to herself, tears flooding her own brown eyes with overwhelming joy that they cherished her little creation so much. With a guiding hand on the small of her back, Gray turned her back to face the tree and, with a flourish of his hand, fashioned her a set of icy stairs up to its peak.

“Go for it, Lucy,” he smiled softly down at her. Though she had her back turned, she knew the rest of the guild was wearing the same look. Like she was a fairy aflight, she ascended the stairs with her toes barely skimming the surface of the ice, like a fleeting winter wind rushing to the heavens. When she arrived at the top, she hefted the massive wreath over her head before settling it into the pine branches, giving it a little shake about to ensure it was secure before turning around with a gleeful shout. The stairs beneath her feet suddenly morphed into a slide, and with a shocked scream her legs went out from under her. She zipped down until a small bump sent her airborne, and she landed unsteadily on her feet, wobbling around while pinwheeling her arms. With a mischievous smirk dancing on his face, Gray steadied her with hands at her waist. She made a face at him, but couldn’t be too mad, because it was all in the spirit of fun, of course. He then whirled her around so that she could meet her masterpiece, and all the breath left Lucy’s lungs.

Enchantingly gorgeous was the only way that Lucy would ever be able to describe it. The soft glow of the fairy lights reflected off the shiny surfaces of the various ornaments to create sparkling glints against the deep green of the pine needles. The little fairies seemed to be fluttering as the light played over them, and the crystal stars absorbed the light to glow with a pulsing luminosity of their own. The rich tones of the red and vibrant hue of the green complimented the striking white well. At the crown of the tree, all their happy, smiling faces beamed down, with the beloved smile of their founder Mavis outshining them all. A single tear rolled down Lucy’s cheek as she beheld it, and then she put her hand over her heart as it clenched with more joy than words could ever express.

“You guys… Let’s do this again next year, okay? And the next, and the next… Forever…” she sniffled.

“Of course!” they hollered before jumping forward to envelop Lucy in a crushing, smothering, suffocating and wonderful group hug. With her friends, her greatest treasures, enclosing her with tender arms, Lucy had never felt more loved. Her forever began right there, at that pivotal moment… Her forever with Fairy Tail.

Such was Lucy’s first time decorating a holiday tree, but it certainly was not her last…

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

Tag List: @searchfortheonepiece

[fuck-customers]

If we're not open yet you do not belong in the store

I work at a grocery store gas station. Both the main store and the gas station open at 6am but I'm let in at 5:45am to punch in and be walked out to the gas booth so I can do my opening duties before open. When I come in, the doors are unlocked just long enough to let me through and then locked behind me again, for obvious reasons. So this morning I punched in and then headed out with the overnight manager. Unlocked the first of two exit doors and saw this woman standing outside, looking at us expectantly. I thought it was weird at first but then remembered that they'd transferred in a new cash office department head and they sometimes start really early. I hadn't met her yet and figured this had to be her. Nope! Manager had no idea who she was and as soon as we unlocked the second exit door this random woman started squeezing past us, saying something like "You're not gonna be a tough guy and let me in, right?" to the manager. He was so caught off guard that all he could manage to say was "There aren't any cashiers till 6:00". She was like "Oh, that's fine!" and finished barging in. Like, what the fuck? She knew we weren't open. Our hours are clearly displayed on the doors, which had been locked. She was only able to get in after literally forcing her way past two employees exiting the building. What a fucking weirdo. She didn't have a cart with her so I can't imagine she was planning on getting a lot of stuff, so after grabbing a box of k-cups or whatever, what was she planning on doing for 15 minutes till the opening cashier came in? Before opening the only people in the building are the overnight stocking crew. The front end is deserted. And speaking as someone who used to be opening cashier a lot, I absolutely loathed coming in (a few minutes before 6:00) to punch in only to discover that some asshole customer had already managed to force their way into the store. One time there was a guy already waiting at a register and when he saw me walk in was like "Uh, can someone ring me up?" Fuck these people, honestly. This shit is so incredibly rude. How entitled do you have to be to think this is acceptable behavior? If we're not open you shouldn't be in the fucking store, plain and simple. Like 1. there's no shoplifting prevention if no one's even in and working yet, obviously. You could load up an entire fucking cart and just waltz out the door. Why the hell do you think that's something we should risk? 2. I have no idea if our insurance covers customer injuries and shit when we're not even open. Like, just watch your dumb ass get hurt and sue us. The overnight crew uses forklifts out on the floor when we're closed that they're not allowed to use when we're open because of the risk of injury to customers and they may not have cleaned everything up behind them yet so there're all sorts of tripping hazards in the aisles like boxes and plastic wrap. 3. WE'RE NOT OPEN YET SO THERE'S NO ONE TO RING YOU OUT. What do you think you're accomplishing by being a forceful, trespassing, impatient asshole? If you stop by the store earlier than we're open and really need/want to shop, wait in your car like a normal fucking person. Nothing that you can buy at our store is so important that you need to be forcing your way in before opening.

I really should have said something but the overnight manager is one of those people who carefully picks his battles so he'd probably have let her in regardless. I did mention to him the possibility of her shoplifting so I hope he kept an eye on her, at least. It was funny though because the entire walk out to the gas station he was mocking her use of the phrase "tough guy" and saying that she could kiss his ass, lmao.