#i managed to mostly keep myself together the whole day and focus my energy on the search

[irl-magicalgirl]

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[mystic-sky]

|✨Part 1✨| |✨Part 2 ✨| of the Friends with Benefits Series.

Your relationship with Suguru started off somewhat unexpectedly. A new semester romance, however it was unwanted after dealing with Satoru Gojo just last year. You tried not to blame yourself for the situation unraveling the way it did. You did your best to make Satoru comfortable with you- at least you thought you did.

He cut you off as soon as you made your feelings apparent. You wondered if he somehow did it for your own good, or maybe there was something deeper that went along with it. No matter, you remained optimistic. You were young, and bound to make mistakes. This was just a story to tell your children about in the future if you ever felt it was necessary.

But back to Suguru, who had wiggled his way into your life somehow. He wasn’t a random guy actually. More like a familiar face you’d seen in a few of your classes because you both were in the same major. Just so recently, he decided to talk to you.

You weren’t expecting to hit it off with him so easily. He was sort of scary looking, which led you not to engage with him in the first place. He never tried talking to you before 5 months ago. And neither did you, considering you thought he was so handsome he’d break your heart too somehow.

His arms were sleeved with tattoos that would bridge at his chest. The tattoos would sometimes peak out of his wide collared shirts if he chose to wear one that day. He had a thing for wearing these huge ear gauges that had his favorite anime on them. Though, you never noticed until you sat close enough to him to see the designs. It was a rainy day, and both of you ended up sitting beside each other in your sociology course in the back of the classroom. You were both late, having come in just after the other.

It was weird seeing him this close. He never did come late to any class you’d ever been in with him. Even if you wanted to sit with him, like Satoru, he never had any available seats beside him. He didn’t disturb you until the lecture ended, commenting on one of your anime themed mechanical pencils. That sparked your first conversation with him, and he wasn’t shy to ask you out for coffee right after.

He’s been keen on you since, and you just barely give him the time of day in the beginning. You were just cautious, after the whole Satoru situation. Suguru was fine with whatever you wanted the situation between you both to be. But you will admit, the conversations he’d keep you up with at night made it hard to not fall in love with him.

He’d take you out to dinner, study with you, and sleep with you from time to time since the sexual attraction between you was hard to deny. You think your favorite thing about messing around with Suguru was how he’d always pick your brain after sex with manga theories and better endings than the canonically debuted ones. He was a really good cook, and you often challenged him to make your favorite dishes. They were excuses to invite you over to his place, so he gladly took each one with merit. It was friends with benefits but with far much more substance to hold onto.

He never poked you about getting serious. Whatever you both had was still young at barely 5 months. He could tell you’d been going through something mostly because of how you sexed him. Sometimes you were the dominant one- you’d throw him on the bed and bounce yourself on his length until your knees were far too tired to go on. Other times, he’d steal the show from you, showing you just exactly what he was capable of.

He spread you onto the desk in his bedroom, face deep into your folds. He also loved to spoil you, like Satoru, but you did your best not to think of him when you both were together. Suguru had so much more hair to grab, considering his tongue work was so good it scared you.

“Be a good kitten and cum for me.” He said between sucks on your clit. You often couldn’t think, and that was a good thing. He numbed you in plenty of ways, he knew he had been helping you get over something. He had been doing the same thing but you could care less.

“Actually, I changed my mind.” He tore his mouth from your steaming sex, wiping his chin. You gasp as he lifts you up off the desk, holding your body without leaning against anything for support. You felt weightless, feeling his length prod at your entrance. You tried to hold back a giggle as he smiled smugly at you.

“You ready?” His eyes were sincere, asking for your consent again as he was aching to sink you onto himself.

You nod, feeling a bit nervous. “Stuff like this is about balance. Start flailing around again and I’ll drop you.” He teased. Your hands found some of his hair again, tugging on it a bit.

“Just fuck me.” You roll your eyes as he slams his length into you, making you cry out and clutch your arms around him. His large hands firmly grasp underneath your thighs, using the way your ass recoiled against his thighs to keep a steady rhythm. He’s immersed in the way your broken moans pour into his ear, fueling his stamina. He’s a stickler for teasing you the entire time, praising you for taking his length so well.

“Such a good kitten, you’re taking it so well.”

It was the third time he’d ever held you up to fuck you. After letting go of the fear of him dropping you it became incredibly easy to focus on the pleasure.

“You’re gonna cum aren’t you? Don’t worry about the carpet baby, make a mess for me.”

He knew how to mix things up the way you needed. On your rough days he’d sex you slowly, more passionately and generously. If you were happy and feeling frisky he’d fuck you accordingly. He was pretty good at reading your body just after the first few fucks you had. You hated comparing the two men, but it did happen from time to time when you were in solitude, plagued by your own self-deprecating thoughts every now and then.

It was weird how they emanated each other’s personalities in certain ways. And then you found out that they used to be good friends in high school until something happened. You never poked Suguru about it, since he’d seem to get irritated when you were around groups of friends and Satoru’s name was mentioned. You did your best to be satisfied with what you had. He was handsome, smart, and possibly wanted to be your boyfriend in due time.

But you couldn’t help but think about Satoru. Not only was your experience with him a wild one, but he was fucking everywhere. It’s always like this for you. It’s not until you’re trying to avoid someone do you begin seeing them absolutely everywhere.

You stared at Satoru over Suguru’s shoulder, poking your cheek with your tongue. The audacity he had, showing up in the cafe where you both first met while you and Suguru were on a routine study date. Well, it was a hotspot for a lot of students, so who are you to say he can’t come in here.

“I think I’m overworking myself today, we can go eat now.” Your mood change was evident to Suguru, but he couldn’t put his finger on why at first. He watched you get up and pack your things before shortly following.

As you tossed your bag over your shoulders, he took hold of one of your hands, squeezing firmly. He pressed a sweet kiss to your forehead, tilting your chin up to meet his gaze.

“Is it something I can cheer you up from when we get back to my place?” Suguru was a bit smug about it, and also painfully intuitive about your emotions even though you’d been close for such a short time. Your cheeks went red, eyes burning holes through the floor.

“It’s nothing, really. Let’s just get out of here.” You manage to look back at him, just barely glancing at Satoru who probably had been looking in this direction. Suguru pressed another kiss to your forehead, wrapping his arm around you and leading you out the cafe. He nearly touched shoulders with Satoru and his own dame, smirking just loudly enough for him to hear.

Suguru wasn’t dumb, finally having noticed your energy change just a few moments after Satoru Gojo entered the cafe. This was your favorite place, and he hated how someone could ever ruin that for you. He felt urged to do something about it- with or without your consent. He doesn’t poke you about it until you’re in the car.

“Random question, but do you know Satoru Gojo?”

The question like a pin in your spine, making you visibly un-slouch in the drivers seat. He doesn’t look at you, feeling that would make it easier for you to talk. You take this the wrong way, and feel even more tense.

“I do, we were a thing at one point.” You manage not to stutter. You had no idea why you felt scared or touchy about the subject- you shouldn’t be. His entire vibe had changed, and he didn’t have his usual grin peaking at the corners of his lips.

“Oh,” he says simply. The longest ten seconds of silence reign throughout the vehicle. You’re anxious to turn on the radio, anything to rid the first bit of awkwardness the two of you had ever shared.

“He’s an asshole, isn’t he?” He randomly chuckles heartily, somewhat calming you.

“Yeah,” you’re exhaling properly now, “he really is.”

“We were best friends for about four years. I know him like the back of my hand. Granted, he’s probably changed a lot since high school.”

“But you’re both so-

“Different?” He chuckled. “Yeah, I know.”

“If he was an asshole then, he’s multiplied tenfold.” You roll your eyes. “You both don’t talk anymore?”

You knew they didn’t, but you took the opportunity to ask anyway.

“Nah, he’s a slimy bastard. I hope karma turns him rotten.” You’d never seen Suguru scowl before. He must really hate him, you thought. Still, what a small world; first Satoru and now his ex best friend.

“You still talk to him?” He pokes again. His tone is just barely playful. God, you changed your mind. You didn’t want to talk about this anymore.

“No, we don’t talk anymore. It ended pretty badly.” You say simply. You also decided not tell Suguru that the both of you messed around just before you started messing with him.

“Sorry about that. If we were friends sooner I’d have told you about him.” Suguru is apologizing for something you weren’t entirely ignorant about in the first place. You knew what you were getting into.

Satoru never tried to convince you the situation was anything other than what it was— until the end. The sweet things he started saying to you during those final months often echoed in your head- like he meant all of it.

The sex developed into something that it shouldn’t have. Sex that passionate should be forbidden if you aren’t already in love. And the things he said to you the last time he dropped you off didn’t make it any better. You wanted to slap his stupid, pretty face.

“I’m over it now.”

Suguru pans his gaze to watch you nonchalantly staring out the window. He knew better than to ask anymore. He was more elated that you didn’t interact with him at all. He didn’t need Satoru painting a picture about him in your head before he could first.

What sucks the most about dating people you go to school with is how often you’d see them. Satoru was fucking everywhere. The local restaurants, the library, the cafe, and he’d registered for two of your classes this semester. He didn’t speak to you at all, but he was always just there. Perhaps he’d always been around but since you’d been involved with him you were more aware of his presence.

You were standing in line in the library, attempting to return some books. He entered the space, and walked up behind you, standing on the line and giving your space. You turn your body slightly, peering up at him. You thought to leave, but just because you resented him didn’t mean you were going to cower every time you had to be around him for a while. You let out a sigh as you tip toed to peer in front of yourself; at least the line was moving.

Both of you had made it to the front, talking to separate librarians beside one another. When they both got up from their seats to head towards the back, he spoke directly to you, without actually looking at you.

“(Name), word of advice— I’d steer clear of Getou Suguru if I were you.”

Anger poured over you; you did your best to keep your voice low and eyes forward when saying this.

“That’s the first thing you say to me after almost a year? Go fuck yourself.”

He bites back a witty response, poking his cheek with his tongue. “Whatever. Find out the hard way.”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve. Why the fuck are you telling me this?” You’re whisper-shouting, considering it’s a library.

“Because,” he turns to look at you, “I care about you.”

“What a load of shit.”

Satoru Gojo doesn’t care about anyone, you learned that the hard way.

He let out a sigh. He knew he had no right, but even if he couldn’t get you back, he wanted you to know what kind of guy you were seeing. He couldn’t say anything, he knew you wouldn’t listen. Not like this anyway. Both librarians returned, and gave you back your borrowing passes. You quickly departed, refusing to give Satoru another opportunity to speak to you. His words stuck with you on the way home. You didn’t have any reason to be afraid of Suguru, right?

Two months had passed since Satoru had “warned” you about Suguru. And nothing has happened to lead you to be cautious of him. Satoru hasn’t spoken to you either.

You’re sitting in the guidance counselor’s office as it’s the end of the semester once again. You typed away on your phone, telling Suguru you’d see him for dinner in a bit before throwing your head back and shutting your eyes. The heaviest sigh left your lungs, you were thankful the semester was nearing its end. You had quite enough of studying and needed to unwind.

You feel a presence on the end of your bench, making you open one eye. You see white tresses, and you catch the scent of familiar cologne.

Satoru doesn’t look at you, but he’s quite aware that he’s sitting beside you as well. You almost scoff, only crossing your arms and legs. Noticing the undone laces of your boots, you lean forward to tie it. Your loose bag on your shoulder which unfortunately wasn’t zipped, spilled small notebooks and pencils all over the floor. Spare change rolled across the walk way along with other items.

“Fuck...” you muttered. His head snapped towards you as you let out a sigh and bent down to pick up your things. Your phone that was your on your lap hit the ground as well. You saw his hand in the corner of your eye reaching down to help.

“I got it.” You say sternly, and shamelessly picking up your things. He retracts his hand, and instead gets up to pick up the items that were further away from you, ignoring your request not to help.

He sits back beside you, handful of change and pens. He holds it up towards you quietly while you attempt to fix your bag back to the way it was. You turn to look at him for what feels like the first time in forever, blue eyes pouring into your own (eye color) ones.

“I didn’t need you to do that.” You say, taking your things. You initially thought to take your things from him without a word. He went back to staring in front of himself, waiting to be called. You shifted uncomfortably, and fidgeted with your fingernails. You forced yourself into to pay attention to the soft music playing from the back of the office until he spoke.

“How have you been?”

For some odd reason though, you wanted him to say something to you. You had a lot of things to let off your chest considering the way things ended. You thought of giving him a piece of your mind right there in front of all the staff members, but you restrained yourself.

Instead, you found yourself saying “I’m doing great.”

“That’s good.” He says nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn’t even sound sure of his own response. A few minutes of silence resumes after. You’re a bit startled when speaks again.

“I’m definitely out of line right now, but I’ve been wanting to talk to you about some things.”

“What could we possibly have to talk about?” A lot. You were bubbling over.

“There’s a lot of things, at least for me, that I’ve never really told you.” He’s looking at you now. “Can we talk somewhere quieter? Whenever you’ve got the free time, and only if you want to.”

He was offering closure to you a bit too late. Or maybe all this time you’d convinced yourself you’d moved on. You often found yourself replaying the morning he brought you home and all the things you should’ve said in that moment.

That’s not exactly moving on. Unfortunately, you also found yourself comparing him to Suguru more often then not. That’s not moving on either.

“Okay,” you said. “Later on today. Round 8pm.”

He looks thankful. Just as he spoke, your counselor called out to you to come into their office. You stand up, looking down at him.

“Cafe then?” He suggests.

“That’s fine. See you.” You shrugged. You didn’t care that much for the place. You heard him say goodbye as the door shut behind you.

You had half a mind to never speak to him ever again. Though both of you were using each other, he knowingly crossed a line, making you feel things for him in a situation where feelings weren’t supposed to be involved. And he never gave you a chance to truly address the situation. Now, almost a year later, he’s ready to speak to you on his own terms. You’d be sure to tell him you had no intentions of making amends with him. If you personally didn’t have interest in what he had to say, you wouldn’t bother gracing him with the ability to explain anything to you.

You would’ve made him suffer. He��s lucky you’re still a bit distraught about the situation. Any longer into your situation-ship with Suguru and Satoru wouldn’t even have the slightest chance at something like this.

Dinner with Suguru was transparent. He could tell something was on your mind but he didn’t pry much after his first attempt. The last time you both talked about Satoru he turned into a different person, and it didn’t sit right with you. You did your best to brush it off, assuming he was just protective over you. But Satoru’s warning in the library echoed in your subconscious more and more. Just what happened between them, and would it be okay for you to ask Suguru about it?

He wasn’t your boyfriend either, but you suppose he wanted to be? You hadn’t brought up the dating conversation in while and you probably wouldn’t until you situated the Satoru thing.

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” Suguru’s holding your face, brushing your hair out of your eyes. His smile is incredibly gentle and you feel guilty for keeping this from him.

Perhaps you should hold Suguru accountable too, for being so sweet to you like this. He informed you he wouldn’t up and leave unless you wanted him to and that he’d never say anything he didn’t mean. But after dealing with trauma from past relationships, affection like this was always perceived cautiously.

“I know,” you say, feeling his lips press against your forehead again. “It’s just not easy to talk about right now.”

“That’s alright,” he assures you. “I’m here whenever you’re ready.”

His lips connect with yours while his hands slide down your back. He feels you relax a bit, and that makes him smile. How could he possibly be a bad person?

“I’ll call you when I get home, okay?”

You nod, watching him part from you and get into his car. You never did come to understand how he could afford it; a black Mercedes Benz-Coupe. You assumed that and his nice apartment were inherited wealth from his parents.

You wave at him before going into the station. Luckily he had things to attend to, and you didn’t have to bother making up anything about tonight. It was just barely any of his business, right?

You had an idea of what to expect from Satoru when you got there. You were rehearsing things you wanted to say in your head, some of them incredibly mean. You wanted to hurt his feelings too, if you had it in you. It didn’t take you long to get to the cafe, and you’d arrived early, already finding Satoru in the very back, furthest away from people. You gripped your bag strap, before sitting across from him.

“Hey, you’re early.” He says surprised, looking up at you from his phone.

“You’re the early one.” You say, not even cracking a smile.

“How are you?”

“Same as earlier. What did you want to talk about?”

He’s visibly gulping, and you’ve never seen him this nervous. He places his phone face down on the table, turning the sound off. You cross your arms.

“Right,” he lets out a heavy sigh. “Where should I start?” He attempts to gather his thoughts, rubbing his sweaty palms on his jeans.

“I’m not the kind of guy who really addresses his feelings, if you couldn’t already tell at the time we, you know... I’ve been fucked over a lot. I don’t have a lot of actual friends, and I’m constantly aware that people cling to me for my money or looks.”

He never acted like his entourages bothered him per se, but you did notice that he never bothered being around people anymore when the two of you were a thing. You prompt him to continue with your eyes.

“The only best friend I’ve ever had used me until I realized what was going on and cut him off. The first girl I ever really loved chose him instead of me shortly afterwards. Obviously, it’s not a legitimate excuse to have treated you the way that I did, but I guess what I’m saying is that I’m cautious of people and have been for a long time now.”

“But I never tried to use you,” you interjected. You felt a bit insensitive for spitting it out like that, but he really did hurt you.

“I know, and I realized that a bit too late.” He sighs. “But more importantly, I realized that I didn’t talk about or convey my feelings correctly. I know I confused you a lot, and you didn’t deserve that at all.” He tried to keep eye contact with you when he spoke, but your lion like force was pretty strong.

“And when I dropped you off— I shouldn’t have said those things to you. You were so much more than a warm body to me. You were the first real friend I’ve had in a long time. Things got so cloudy for me since we were sleeping together. I didn’t know how to address it, and it freaked me out when you told me you wanted more. I should’ve been elated, but I suppose I didn’t want my heart broken again either.”

“So basically...” He breathed out, “I’m really sorry. I’ve got some messy emotions, things I’m gradually learning to deal with. I’m not making excuses for myself. It’s just I never did talk about myself much when we were a thing, so I wanted to tell you something at least, and apologize. I hated the way I left things. I know it’s long overdue for an apology but...”

“But?”

“I still have feelings for you. I never stopped. The more time passed, the harder it made it for me to apologize and tell you how I feel. And then I noticed you were going out with... him, so I thought it was too late. But I still wanted to try, I guess.”

He looked so awkward, you almost laughed. Apologies were definitely foreign to him. You could tell he meant it, but even so, he wouldn’t be getting a relationship out of you, if that’s want he wanted.

You let out a large sigh. For some weird reason all the angry things you wanted to say wouldn’t come out. You wanted to be angry at him but you just couldn’t. And your heart was swelling at the idea of him still having feelings for you. Did he really mean that?

“We’re not together. Not yet anyway— it’s complicated.” You crossed your legs and leant back in your seat. Suguru probably would’ve been your boyfriend already if you weren’t so stuck on Satoru.

“Oh,” he said quietly. You’d never seen him look so small, it was definitely out of character for him.

“I forgive you,” you lean forward, holding your head in your hands. All this time and you still had soft spot for him.

“Really?” He’s surprised. Your friends will be too after you tell them this story.

“You want me to take it back?” You’re pinching the bridge of your nose.

He chuckles nervously. “No ma’am.”

“Are you... doing okay though?” He probes after noticing the stress in your brows.

“I can’t stay mad at you. And I want to so bad. It’d make my life simpler. Now I’m conflicted.” You drag your fingers under your eyes, before smooshing your own face, stressfully so. He thought you were cute, but he felt bad being the source of your distraught-ness.

“So I take it you still have feelings for me?” His voice is regular now, and just barely his normal cocky tone.

You won’t even look at him. “I mean...”

How do you explain to him that the only reason you’re messing with someone right now, who just so happens to be his ex-best friend, is because you were trying to forget about him in the first place?

“I get it if you don’t.” He says. “It’s been a while.”

“I do.” It’s almost instinct for you to correct him. “That’s the problem.”

“Ah, I see.” He’s rubbing the back of his neck again. You wished you could start over with a clean slate. School and dating shouldn’t be this difficult.

Satoru thought to warn you again about Suguru in that moment, but he held his tongue. He didn’t want to make it seem as if he was badmouthing him so you could favor him more, he wanted you to lean towards him naturally, if possible.

Silence reigned throughout your little booth in the cafe. The sound of rain hitting the window screen made it easy not to talk so much. It also made it hard to see a certain black, long-haired male in his Mercedes Benz, parked just across the street.

Suguru threw his cigarette out the driver’s window, continuing to watch the both of you inside. He shook his head disappointedly before starting his car.

“And that reminds me,” you say, making Satoru swallow hard and shift in his seat.

“What was that nonsense two months prior, about Geto Suguru?”

[generallypo]

in all sincerity, kim dokja makes me happy and he deserves to be so too :^(

incoherent yelling and sobbing under the cut. these fEELINGS will not be contained aaauuunnghhh. 

------

anyway i binge-read all 500+ chapters of ORV this week and i honest to god feel bad for this -- completely! fictional! aghhhh -- guy. in case you haven’t figured it out, the following is some spoilerly shit

i went in expecting a fun, brainless power trip fantasy for dudes with an isekai addiction. instead, it turns out ORV is actually a gigantic, self-deprecating prank on the entire genre itself. kdj plays more into the sad -- if high-functioning-- clown trope than the sexy, edgy, chuuni bastard type i was prepared to laugh at. there were -- gasp! -- female characters with personalities! parents (aka ADULTS who act like ADULTS) who actually survive and feature prominently! adorable children! a real sexy, edgy bastard! a power trio with amazing fashion! sexual tension and bickering! friendship! life and death bonding! 

*breathes in deeply* fouND FAMILYYYYYYY.

like, yeah, the plot around the first few arcs seems a little aimless, but the buildup is worth. the world-building is pretty decent. there’s discernible effort put into the fight scenes, and i can appreciate that. but -- but! what i stayed for were the characters -- namely, the fantastic OT3 of KDJ, HSY, and YJH -- who come together despite their initial rivalries and end up saving each other’s asses, like, every other day. granted, the other characters don’t get as much focus, and they do fall into certain character tropes.. 

but a trope done well is nothing i would gripe about. every significant character in ORV has a coherent, and more importantly, respectful take on their respective trope. maybe it’s because sing-shong is actually a married couple, but all the interactions between even minor characters are a convincing blend of awkward rambling, suggestive humor, sharp remarks, and casual banter. in other words, this cast of mostly working adults (plus a teen and two kids) talks like working adults. the relationships built throughout the story are, frankly, some of most realistic of its genre. sing-shong has managed to craft a dynamic that undoubtedly brims with fluffy fondness all around, but also drips with sarcastic tension, with unspoken urgency, with a wariness that softens into sincerity over the course of many, many chapters. it’s the kind of progression that makes even stock characters read like more than just the 2-bit villain or comrade or love interest. here, we have relationships both straightforward and not, strained or otherwise, romantically-oriented as well as decidedly the opposite -- and then numerous others scattered along the spectrum with the freedom to shift either way. 

it’s also an interesting point of note that our MC kdj actually does not end up with a stated romantic partner, much less a conventional heteroromantic harem. he gets teased about that fact from time to time, but it’s with less of the sleazy shonen locker room humor one would expect and more of the good-natured ribbing you’d find among friends or that one especially nosy auntie at the yearly family reunion. kdj is a grown ass man. in the background, i applaud his maturity, and he handles all the prodding like a champ. 

so instead of finding and fulfilling his horny, he builds himself a wealth of loving family. yeah, there are beautiful men and women around him. yeah, they unequivocally adore him. but they’re also adults, and they have priorities, too -- which are not so much finding a way to bang kdj’s brains out and more so simply keeping the damn guy alive. this is truly not ‘oblivious mc with his thirsty, sex kitten harem’. it just so happens that a guy proves himself to be unflinchingly gentle and capable in an apocalyptic setting despite his broken self-esteem, and lots of people find that attractive, romantically and platonically. 

it.. kinda makes sense? he’s a hard worker, thoughtful, and good with kids. kdj is the kind of guy you know would make a reliable partner, and anybody with eyes can plainly see and appreciate that. 

and it’s not that our MC’s a total brick wall. in fact, it’s likely the opposite, and he’s just too darned repressed to admit it. from what has been implied, kdj does indeed recognize and accept love, or at least a primitive concept of it. i like to imagine that the kind of love that he ends up seeking out simply manifests itself more easily as acceptance and safety, as warmth and a home of people to return to every day. even better, the people who surround him know this, and they give him exactly that. it’s refreshing, and honestly, really sweet.

(as a side note, i really, really do appreciate the cosmic bi energy radiating off of kdj, who canonically earns the title of being loved by all and is all but in name married to yjh and hsy. he also respects women and small children and honestly anyone who isn’t total scum to him or his family. i respect that.)

but the happy stuff aside, you know it it just ain’t ORV without the generous screaming dollop of angst. admittedly, there’s self-sacrifice, injury, lonesome wandering, more sacrifice, some epic fighting, reunion and confrontation. all of it is a lot to digest, sure, but never does it feel entirely hopeless, or truly, truly heart-clenching. ORV, up until the final act, is a mostly light read. you relax in your chair, thinking that nothing beyond this point can disturb you. 

yeah fucking right.

------

and then the beginning of the end arrives. when the squad finally break through to their ‘ending’, the scene that kind of breaks me is the reveal of the Most Ancient Dream. it ties so much thematically into the little tidbits that we get of kdj’s past, and it though it feels like almost a joke that the source of the goddamn apocalypse is a kid with bruises smeared across his skinny ass body -- it’s such a pathetic picture that it’s kinda poetic, actually. you’re left mystified but somewhat convinced, like a math problem explained halfway through. this.. child.. is a villain somehow, isn’t he?

and then 999th turn uriel speaks up, and she. just. hugs him. 

[[You are this universe’s most powerless existence, aren’t you.]] 

that. that gets me. kdj’s reaction immediately upon this revelation? absolute murder. seeing him essentially self-destruct upon realizing that all these people he’s surrounded himself with -- some who continuously proclaim their loyalty and affection for him throughout their journey, some who suffered eons of war and loss and trauma because of his existence -- not only forgive his younger self but smother him with unconditional acceptance and love is stifling, is too vulnerable and exposed and he simply can’t cope -- it’s so telling of his true mentality, of his crippling insecurity and crumpled sense of self-worth. kim dokja is a liar, through and through, so much that he fails, or perhaps refuses, to comprehend the veracity of others’ kindness and love towards himself. 

by some miracle, the events at the end of the world somehow resolve.. or so it seems. there is a departing train, a liberated team of ex-gods, and a child rousing from his slumber. in the aftermath, i am left shaking. somehow, despite the ending having been (happily?) reached, there’s still another chapter ahead. what is this witchcraft?

------

and then ah, yes -- the epilogue arc. i teetered on the edge of being critical for a little bit there -- is that display of deus ex machina, of sad, self-sacrificing nobility a bit too egregious to be acceptable? is this some wild last let-me-yank-this-outta-my-ass plot twist to drag out the chapter count? i sincerely thought that the arc before it would have been the finale. i was wrong. thank god.

anyways, as an answer to the above: no, and no. i stake my firm claim on the belief that the epilogue arc was meticulously planned out well in advance of its release, confusing and time-warpy as it is. i liked it. tremendously. even if it entirely invalidates all of kdj’s supposed development (”haha lol yeah sure i won’t sacrifice myself or anything anymore guys don’t worry about me” -- KDJ, at some point because he’s a lying rat bastard). actually, our beloved MC disappears for a large chunk of this arc, and i think it’s great. in his absence, the other characters not only go absolutely fucking nuts, but they have to figure out this new problem on their own, even if the lure of peaceful complacency in the newly saved Korea might convince them otherwise. 

and then the whole time paradox thing comes around. yjh goes to space, hsy saves the only life she can, and kdj grows up. the crew waits, holding onto their hope even if it bleeds them dry. sing-shong does a damn good job of illustrating their fraying calm, their lurking madness, the unseen but pervasive depression that seeps in from kdj’s absence. the kids lose their father, lhs and jhw lose their reliable leader figure, ysa loses a best friend and confidant, lsk -- as distant as she pretends to be from her son -- loses her only child. and then there’s hsy and yjh , who are essentially bereft of the other half of their existences. their pain is palpable, is grounded in the hopeless, gnawing frustration of an utterly meaningless victory. emotionally, ORV hits all the right -- if agonizing -- beats.

however, a story can’t sustain itself just through its pathos. i’m happy to say that ORV doesn’t drop the ball after the first milestone, and after all the hurt, the characters do leap straight back into action. even better, the plot holes actually do get patches, and the poetic cycle of writer, protagonist, and reader comes full circle by making use of all those supposedly throwaway characters from the myriad world lines. 

at the end of the road, there is a distinct sense of unity, of a delicate but undeniable cohesion to the world lines and their origins. sing-shong lets us guess a little here at the finish, but there’s just enough information to feel hopeful. maybe there never had been a definite start -- or finish -- to the story of kdj company, and... that’s okay. everybody ends up where they were meant to be, where they fought and struggled to reach. it’s.. almost like a happily ever after, if we’re allowed to dream of that.

------

now, i realize, this was all an orchestrated maneuver.

i’ll take it.

to me, all of this work sounds like someone put some serious thought into this behemoth of a plot. it cements the entire original premise of the story. it suggests -- but never explicitly confirms! -- the possibility that breaking free of the cycle is possible through the exact same system that sustains it. it’s terribly interesting -- and inspirational! with all the dramatic revelations and life-threatening scenarios  and the cast’s resigned acceptance of them that essentially make up ORV’s entire mood, there’s still that last hint of rebellious and righteous anger that lights up the whole damn nebula. it’s like the kdj company blasting away at the heavens just to yell into the nether: we’re not looking for the happy end, but the free one. stay alive.

it’s subtle, and yet it’s such an emotional gut punch. i came away with the most ruinous, frustrating, bittersweet sense of longing in ages. i pined. for these fictional darlings. god, i am weak.

so. yeah. ORV is pretty good. flawed, but ambitious and impressively thought out.  i’m stoked that the webtoon is making pretty good progress, even if it’ll take an eternity and a half to meet that monstrous chapter count. i’m still gonna follow it. hell yeah. 

------

(by the way the idea that secretive plotter and co are literally gonna take care of and raise baby kdj and spoil him and be the best friggin family a kid could ever want does things to me. protect him. he’s suffered too much. let at least one worldline’s version of him know happiness. and actually, aLL OF THEM DESERVE DOMESTIC BLISS TOGETHER IN A BIG OL MANSION WITH SUN AND FRESH AIR AND TENDER FAMILY MOMENTS UGH)

------

and there you have it, folks. you made it to the end. in the far, far distance, i’m cheering you on and crying my eyes out in gratitude. thanks for tuning in!

[arcticfox007]

Angel Wings

Destiel December Challenge 2020

Continuation of Days 2-5 - check it out on AO3

Day 6: Angel

               Dean would be gone for hours if he stuck to the plan Sam had been helping him with. Sam felt that, just maybe, things would go exactly has he hoped they would go. Dean seemed genuinely committed to treating Castiel better. Personally, Sam chalked it up to passing on Mom’s conversation with Cas’, Dean seemed to have taken the idea that Cas felt he didn’t belong here to heart.

Since they got back from the not-Yeti case Dean had been waking up to make Cas coffee, he’d convinced Cas that baking pies was an essential Christmas tradition which resulted in the two of them spending hours watching cooking shows together in an attempt to make the perfect pie, and Dean had even spent time helping Cas order a Christmas gift for Claire online. Just last night Dean had made apple cider for everyone and had been sitting awfully close to Cas while they watched Patrick Stewart in “A Christmas Carol” under the premise of sharing a blanket. Sam had spent the night wishing they would just kiss already because the sexual tension in the bunker was ridiculous, but he had honestly never seen Dean happier. Cas seemed confused but pleased by the change in Dean’s behavior and as a result had thrown himself wholeheartedly into his own Christmas plans.

However, with only 5 days left until Christmas, Sam had managed to kick Dean out of the bunker so he could focus on helping Cas with his spell. Dean had a lot of shopping to do anyway, and the stores were sure to be crowded enough to keep him out for hours. The streets were pretty snowy as well, and Dean couldn’t drive as fast as he normally would in the Impala because of it. Sam went looking for Cas in the library.

“Hey Cas, Dean will be gone for hours, do we have everything to try out this spell of yours?” Cas didn’t look up from the papers he was pouring over.

“I believe so. It should expand on my ability to astrally project my wings, but I’m uncertain it will actually result in physical manifestation perceivable to humans.”

“Okay, so obviously angels have wings, and you can project a shadow type image. You also said they can be used protectively to an extent – don’t they need to have some amount of physical presence in this plane for that to be possible?” Sam really did want to help Cas, but he was also geeking out a bit. How often did someone get the chance to learn this much about angels?

“Yes. Aspects of angel wings can retain physicality in certain circumstances as well. For example, a feather removed from our wings with purpose can retain enough of a, hm, echo of our grace to retain physicality. The purpose of this spell follows a similar principle. The difficulty is in maintaining it for a period of time without draining my grace too badly. It’s also strange because my wings are already altered when I’m in a vessel to be proportionate to the human body. They are only a reflection of my true form, so I’m attempting to alter and alteration.” Sam thought about that for a moment.

“Okay, so you’re saying whatever manifests, if anything, will be at least two steps away from your true form. Will that make them safe to see?” Cas nodded. “Okay. So, if this is mostly about you redirecting your grace, what is the spell for?”

“Two spells. One will make it easier for me to redirect my grace through my wings. When they were damaged by Metatron it became more difficult to make use of them. The second is specifically for Dean to give him temporary access to the astral plane, if he focuses on it. Gifted humans can do this anyway, and his temporary abilities will only work if I can meet him halfway.”

“Okay, so you said the second spell is one you already knew would work. You want to try the first one and see if it works?”

“Yes. Thank you for your assistance Sam.” Sam smiled at Cas brightly and got to work. Since they had already spent a day gathering ingredients, they just had to combine them and cast the spell. Sam did the actual spell work as Cas sat in a chair and tolerated the cold gunk being used to paint sigils on his back. Sam chanted in Enochian and for a moment it seemed like nothing had happened. Then there was a flash of blue light on Cas’ back and the sigils disappeared.

               “Well, something happened. How do you feel Cas?” Cas started to shake and make pained noises. “Crap! Cas, are you okay?” Sam crouched down in front of his friend, not sure what to do. Cas held his hand out indicating that he needed a moment so Sam waited anxiously while the angel curled over his stomach breathing heavily. Slowly, Cas seemed to breath more normally until he finally sat up.

               “I’m fine Sam. I believe it worked, my grace flowing through my wings unencumbered after so long was – painful. I have adjusted though.” Cas took a deep breath and Sam helped him stand. “I guess there’s nothing left but to try and see how much I can manifest them.” Cas looked around the library skeptically.

              ��“What’s wrong, Cas?”

               “This may not be the best location to experiment, my wings are rather large.”

               “Okay, let’s try the roof. We’re in the middle of nowhere so it’s unlikely anyone will see you.” Cas agreed and proceeded to walk outside, still shirtless. Sam almost said something about it being cold and still snowing on and off, but then remembered it wouldn’t bother the angel anyway. Sam grabbed his coat and hat and followed Cas outside.

               “Cas,” Sam started as they worked their way up to the roof, “Why did you want Dean to be able to see your wings as a Christmas present?” Cas glanced over his shoulder as he continued to walk in front of Sam.

               “I guess… it’s about showing Dean something of my true self. Giving him a part of myself so he knows how much I value him.” Cas seemed to want to say something else but stopped short. Sam honestly thought the whole thing was stupid romantic, and while his brother wasn’t big into talking about feelings, he doubted even Dean could fail to react emotionally to Cas’ present.

               “I’m sure he will appreciate it Cas. You make him better, you know. He’s cares for himself more when you’re here, I don’t worry about him as much.” They had made it to the roof and Cas turned around to look at Sam with a solemn expression.

               “Thank you for telling me that Sam. I am happy for anything I can do for Dean, and you.” Cas was silent for a moment, gazing off into the distance, but he then seemed to recall where he was. With a small shake of his head, he returned to the task at hand. “Well, I suppose we should see how much the spell helped.” Sam stood back and watched Castiel close his eyes in concentration. He seemed to be struggling with something and then Sam felt a rush of energy sweep past him. He saw two massive shadowy wings unfurl behind the angel. They were gaps where Sam thought there should be feathers, but they were still extremely impressive.

               “Wow, Cas. I can see them – well the projection at least.” Castiel curled his wings in front of him to examine them. He seemed mildly surprised by something. “Is there something wrong Cas?”

               “No. Actually, they seem to be fuller. Allowing my grace to flow more easily into them seems to be healing them, that must be why they are painful.”

               “That’s good, right? I thought angel wings couldn’t heal after Metatron expelled everyone though, would this spell work for other angels?” Cas shook his head.

               “My wings weren’t damaged by the expulsion; they were harmed by Metatron using up part of my grace. I just hadn’t thought about why they hadn’t healed before. Even then, it’s doubtful the damage can be repaired enough to allow me to fly again, my grace is still less than it was and the power of Heaven is greatly diminished.” Regardless of Cas’ words Sam could tell his friend was pleased to see his wings in better shape.

               “I’m happy for you Cas.” The angel took a few more moments to look over his shadowy wings before getting back to the business at hand.

               “You said you only see the projection of my wings? Do you mind if I try something?”

               “Go ahead.” Sam saw one of the giant wings sweep out and then back. Sam got a dusting of snow and a wave of chilly wind in his face. “Agh, cold!” Sam rubbed frantically at his face trying to get rid of the icy droplets.

               “Sorry Sam. It appears that they do have some degree of physicality. Hopefully that will be enough for Dean to be able to touch them with the addition of the other spell.” Cas tipped one side of his mouth up in a half smile, obviously pleased that his idea was working out so far. Cas noticed Sam shivering. “We can go inside now, thank you for your help Sam.”

               “You’re welcome but yeah, let’s get inside.”

***

               By the time Dean arrived home that afternoon Sam had gone out on a grocery run. Dean found Cas scrolling through the news online after he had hidden the shopping bags in his room.

               “Anything new?” Cas looked up at Dean as if the sun had come out after a storm. For a moment Dean just stared back, stunned more than usual by the angel’s fathomless blue eyes. He realized Cas was talking, but he hadn’t actually heard a word he said.

               “Dean?”

               “Sorry Cas, what was that?”

               “I was just saying there isn’t anything new on the Lucifer front. No new cases either.”

               “Okay. Do you want to do something then? Try another pie recipe? We still have peaches.” Cas’ smile widened. Now that Dean thought about it, he hadn’t ever seen Cas smile as much as he had been recently. Dean smiled back, happy that maybe his plan was working and Cas was beginning to feel more like he belonged here with them. With him, a small voice in the back of Dean’s mind insisted.

               “Can we try the flat pie one we saw yesterday?”, Cas asked. Dean snorted.

               “That’s not pie, more like a tart.” Cas rolled his eyes.

               “Dean. They said it was peach pie.” Well, Dean wasn’t going to deny that the ingredients were similar, and if it made Cas happy, he was willing to call the sheet pan dessert pie. Dean threw up his hands in surrender.

               “Okay, okay! Let’s go make not-pie, c’mon.” Dean grabbed Cas’ hand, allowing himself the brief contact with the angel. Dean was suspecting more and more that his feelings for Cas were only growing, but he was doubtful that angels could even fall in love. He’d just have to content himself with the time they spent together. He wanted Cas to be happier here on Earth, to feel like he was supposed to be here. Seeing Cas smile as they worked on slicing peaches together felt like the kind of peace that Dean hadn’t ever had, and had never thought possible.

               “Dean?”

               “Yeah?”

               “I’d like to give you your Christmas present on Christmas Eve. Just us. I know it’s traditional to exchange gift on the actual day but -” Dean cut Cas off before he could continue.

               “Whoa, Cas, it’s fine. I, uh, I’d actually like it to be just us when I give you your gift as well. So maybe Christmas Eve would work better anyway.” Dean carefully avoiding looking at Cas’ face as he could feel a blush creeping up his neck.

               “Oh. Yes, that would be… agreeable.” Cas’ voice trailed off into a whisper and Dean risked a glance at the angel’s profile. Cas was also studiously avoiding looking at Dean and seemed to be nervous. Dean started to wonder if maybe, maybe he was wrong about angels. Maybe Cas felt something more for Dean as well. They continued their prep work in silence but the tension slowly dissipated as they fell into a friendly argument about how much butter they really needed (Dean was in favor of more). By the time Sam returned they were happily watching Rudolf, at Cas’ insistence, while waiting for the not-pie to cool off on the stove.

               Whatever was going on between them, Dean was looking forward to Christmas Eve.

***

               On the astral plane, Cas’ slowly healing wings curled lovingly around Dean. Cas sighed in contentment, wanting nothing more than to stay here with Dean for as long as possible. He was beginning to hope that, just maybe, Dean wanted the same thing.

***

@galaxycastiel, @jellydeans, @my-favourite-hellatus, @nguyenxtrang

[sleepydew-valley]

Quanrantined Shane: Day 3

Day 1

Day 2

So I know I haven’t updated this story in forever, but why not try and continue it right before I started SDV artober and also while doing university. I mean how else am I supposed to feel too much responsibility and stress and make myself more miserable than necessary [insert nervous laughter]. 

Anyway, previous part of the stories can be read in the links above. Hope you enjoy. 

Also, @dragonindigo245 I didn’t see you reply until recently, but you asked to be tagged in case I updated it. So here you go if you’re still interested.

Day 3 

Nico opted for letting Jas join him in his farm routine. At first, he thought he had to change his entire schedule for Jas, but she seemed excited about joining him. At least she wanted to feed all the animals and luckily for him it was still a sunny day, so they could be let outside while Jas played around with them which made it easy to keep an eye on her while he plowed the field for his future crops. He had already sowed some of the first seeds as soon as the ground was ready for it. Winter had been hard and next time he would try to prepare for it better.

Eventually Jas also became interested in what Nico was doing, and seeing as she loved flowers, he gave her the Blue spangle seeds he had left over from last spring. They made a tiny field for Jas to take care of on her own, and Nico promised she was welcome back to water it even after she went back to the ranch.

Once it was noon and time for lunch, Shane called them, and Jas had to tell him about all the fun they had had on the farm. She immediately wanted to show the field of seeds she had just planted and ran out with the phone, so Nico had to run after her and coach her back inside, but it was too late she had already soiled her hands in the dirt.

“Nico said these are my flowers.” She said excitedly. ”Soon I will have grown beautiful flowers, just like Nico does.”

“They’ll probably be the most beautiful flowers in the valley.” Shane said. “You have to remember to listen to Nico when you’re taking care of them, okay?”

Jas nodded enthusiastically and finally Nico was able to bring her inside again. He had to admit he loved Jas and Shane’s interactions together.

He sent Jas out to wash her hands again so she could help with preparing for lunch. She handed the phone over to him and Nico propped it up against the wall of the kitchen counter, so Shane could still see what they were doing.

“It’s only the first day and she already loves it.” Shane said with a smile.

Nick felt embarrassed but somehow happy at the same time. He was only happy to hear Jas was enjoying her time here, but to see Shane’s reaction to it was even better.

"You have to remind her about her homework. She usually finishes it quickly, but when she's excited she tends to forget it." Shane said.

"Got it." Nico said. "Anything else?"

"Do you mind walking her to the library tomorrow?"

"Of course not." Nico said. "I expected that much for when I send her to school tomorrow."

"Great. Normally she can walk alone but seeing as she would be walking from your farm, I just want to make sure everything is okay and she gets a feel of how long it takes from there."

Nico nodded.

"Also, Marnie will be stopping by later."

"What?"

He stopped his movement and that's when Jas entered the kitchen.

"I'm ready now." She said.

Nico strained a smile as he found a small stool for her to stand on for her to reach the counter.

"Hey, sweetie!" Shane said. "Aunt Marnie told me she would stop by later to check on you."

Jas was excited by the news. Much more than Nico. It made sense Marnie would stop by and Jas probably also preferred her Aunt to come. She probably wanted to share her day with her Aunt since it was the first day at Nico’s farm.

Nico wasn't sure why it freaked him out. He was on good terms with Marnie. He also knew Jas meant a lot to both Shane and Marnie and of course they weren't going to let her be taken care by some random villager without at least checking to see if she was doing okay.

"Did she by any chance mention when she would stop by?" Nico said, trying to hide his panic.

Shane merely shrugged his shoulder as an answer, which wasn’t really helpful.

Could he take deep calming breaths without anyone noticing? Did anyone notice he was panicking? He wasn't sure why he was panicking. It felt like a test. It felt like Marnie thought he wasn't capable. Maybe he wasn't good enough to take care of Jas. Maybe they were just waiting for the right moment to take Jas away from him again. Did Nico have to prepare anything for Marnie? Was she going to join them for dinner? Would she be angry if the farm was a mess? It was now Nico realized he wasn’t all that close with this family and Jas was his responsibility now, and if Marnie took her away today it meant he had failed. It meant he probably wouldn’t be able to talk to them again – he needed to calm down. He shouldn’t spiral like this.

“Jas, can you set the table?” Nico asked.

He pointed her to the directions of the plates and she happily hopped down the stool and went to fulfill her given task.

“hey, are you okay?” Shane asked.

Nico simply nodded.

“you sure?”

This time Nico put on a smile. “Yes. I’m fine, it’s nothing really.”

It was nothing. It was a stupid thing to worry about. He took a deep breath and then tried to be more convincing when he told Shane again he was fine. He was fine. He could handle Marnie coming over and checking up on Jas. He also wanted the best for her and if he wasn’t good enough at taking care of her, then there was no reason for her to stay here. Instead of worrying about the outcome of her visit, he just had to focus on having a good time with Jas and Marnie once she came over.

****

Marnie decided to stop by right before dinner. She hadn’t planned on staying to eat, but Nico felt it was would rude to send her away without eating anything. Also, he had sort of planned for her eat with them, so he had made too much spaghetti for him and Jas to eat alone, which was a convincing enough argument for her to stay.

During the dinner he had called Shane, so he could feel like he was also a part of the dinner.

Jas talked about everything they had done on the farm, mostly how she was allowed to feed the chickens and she got to see how the cow was milked. All things she also did on the ranch, but maybe it felt different for her because it was someplace else. Although Nico hadn’t let her work with the tools, she took part in sowing the crops. At least a few them and that she took pride in, when she watered them. She said she would water them every day until they had finished growing.

Although Marnie had never explicitly said it, the only reason she had come by was because she needed to check on Jas. She almost seemed a bit disappointed when Jas was enjoying her time on the farm. Marnie had looked around the house, but Nico had already cleaned it to the best of his abilities and tidied the few places that were too messy. Jas was sleeping on his bed, where he had changed the sheets to clean ones, and he had taken out the madras he had in the beginning to sleep on himself for the time being. There was also space for the Jas to play with the toys she had brought, which she took out after they had eaten dinner. She had done her homework after they ate lunch. There was nothing for Marnie to complain about and for some reason she seemed to not like that fact.

At least she left in a good mood though. She cheerfully said goodbye to Jas and thank Nico again for taking on this responsibility.

When it was time for Jas to sleep, they called Shane again or rather they turned their attention back to Shane again as they had never hung up since dinner. Jas asked for a bedtime story which seemed to have surprised Shane. It probably wasn’t something she asked for a lot if ever. But Shane still said yes to her request and he managed to come up with something. It was clear he was improvising the whole thing, but Jas still loved it. Eventually she fell asleep.

Nico had barely noticed Jas was sleeping, it wasn’t until Shane stopped telling his story and he looked over at Jas to see she was fast asleep.

“It usually takes a lot more to get her to sleep.” Shane said. “She must have used a lot of energy today.”

“Yeah.” Nico said. “She has been running around all day and it’s a new place. I’m sure she’s exhausted.”

Shane smiled, but then his face turned serious.

“Hey, so I’ve meant to ask you something.” He said. “But something seemed kind of off with you today?”

Nico crawled out of the bed and went over to his own madras.

“What do you mean?” Nico said. “Everything is fine.”

“It just seemed you were a little bothered with Marnie’s visit, that’s all.” Shane said.

Nico shook his head and tried to put on a sincere smile. Except it was a lie. He was bothered. But he knew it was stupid he was bothered, and he wasn’t about to tell Shane that he was person who freaked out over stupid small things.

“Anyway, I just wanted to say if that was the case then Marnie probably didn’t mean anything with it. She just misses Jas, so any excuse to see her girl.” Shane said. “Actually, I’m sure she’s disappointed she doesn’t have a good enough reason to take Jas with her. She seemed almost annoyed with how well you were taking care of Jas.”

Shane chuckled at his own comment and Nico couldn’t help but smile. Shane was trying to calm him down and comfort him.

“Seriously, you are taking good care of her, Marnie and I are grateful for it.”

“It’s no problem, she makes the job very easy.” Nico said.

Shane looked at him with such warm eyes. Nico suddenly felt warm. He tried to suppress his smile. It wasn’t a big deal that Shane had just reassured him in the sweetest way possible. He realized he was being embarrassingly giddy.

He cleared his throat. “Uh, I think it’s time to sleep now. We’ll talk tomorrow. Goodnight.”

Shane barely got a chance to say goodbye before Nico hung up the phone. He put a hand over his heart as he felt it beating too fast in his chest. He shook his head, feeling the smile come on again when he thought about Shane’s words and how he had looked him. He tried to get rid of the smile, but it seemed impossible. This was pride. Pride of being able to take good care of Jas. Nothing more than that.

[endof-theline]

Day 25- Tropetember: Arranged Marriage

Day 25 of super early Tropetember with Arranged Marriage! As soon as Tony knew what an arranged marriage was, he knew that was what was going to happen to him. He just didn't expect it to go like this...

On Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32816527

As soon as Tony knew what an arranged marriage was, he knew that was what was going to happen to him. His father made it clear that as an Omega that was the only useful thing he could do for the family so he was put through the best Omega schooling and learnt from an early age what he was expected to do for his future Alpha.

Though in all of his studies it was said that Tony would get to meet his arranged Alpha or at least get information on them, no one ever warned him that at age eighteen he would be taken to an interrogation room in a secret HQ with a file in front of him that contain no picture or name of an Alpha.

The file claimed that the Alpha was of extreme importance, he was highly ranked and in need of an Omega to come home to settle him after his missions. Tony who had been keeping secrets for Stark Industries since he was born and raised in Omega schools since he was old enough to attend, had been perfect on paper for an unstable Alpha, especially one that seemed to be a spy or so Tony guessed.

“What do you think, Omega Stark?” The beta man asked him, the man was stone-faced but he was giving off a comforting scent that settled Tony’s nerves about him. Howard and the beta spoke before Howard was asked to leave the beta and Tony to speak alone for a moment, Tony had been nervous to be alone with the stranger but quickly realised that his life was about to get very different very quickly and he didn’t have enough time or energy to be worried about every stranger he met.

“He seems nice, definitely important… By the file it sounds like he’s lost” Tony let his eyes wander over the pages again before looking up to the beta who had a small smile on his lips that made Tony smile back at him happily.

“And what do you think about getting married to a stranger?” The beta asked him which made Tony frown as he cocked his head, the beta looked confused in turn at Tony’s immediate response.

“Fine, I suppose, I’ve always known that’s what I was going to do. My father and my teachers have always told me that I was going to marry a stranger” Tony shrugged simply and watched the beta realise what he was saying, and the man just slowly nodded before flicking his eyes to the camera in the room “Have you met the Alpha?”

“I work closely with him, he’s kind but you’re right by saying he’s lost, that’s why we think having an Omega to ground him will help” He explained and Tony could tell that he was being careful about what information he gave out and he looked relieved when Tony just nodded his head with a smile, knowing better than to demand more answers out of the beta.

“Well Omega Stark, I think you would be a perfect fit for our Alpha” The beta stood up and shook Tony’s hand carefully before leading him out of the room and to where his father was waiting for him, the Alpha looking worried for a split second until he saw Tony’s smile and scented the pleased Beta scent coming from the man “I believe we have arrangements to make, Alpha Stark”

Tony had hoped that he would be able to meet his new Alpha before they got married, but he couldn’t say he was surprised that he got his first glimpse of the man on their wedding day. Tony had only seen a flash of blonde hair disappearing around the corner but the Beta who was sorting out Tony’s hair had told him the blonde was his Alpha-to-be.

In school, he was taught that he shouldn’t expect a fancy wedding or a long event and that he would be lucky if he got to wear a real wedding dress so Tony was beaming at the long, white, lacey dress that he was put in. He had purred his way through getting his hair and make up done which made the Betas all coo over him and Tony thrived under the attention as he followed their instructions perfectly, turning his head just so and closing his eyes just right as they worked away.

His mother had pressed a soft kiss to his cheek before taking her place and his father had stepped up to walk him down the aisle to his new Alpha, Tony grinned happily the whole time and managed not to stumble in his high heels when the Alpha turned to look at him. Bright blue eyes and sharp features that smoothed out slightly when he caught sight of Tony smiling at him, the Omega resisted the urge to duck his head under the weight of the Alpha’s heavy stare until he was in front of the huge Alpha that was both taller and stronger than anyone Tony had ever met in his life.

A gentle hand cupped his cheek and carefully tilted his head up to meet those bright blue eyes, the Alpha had leant down slightly to be closer to Tony’s own height “Tell me two things honestly Omega, are you being forced into this and have you ever been kissed before?”

“No Alpha, I’m not forced into anything and I haven’t been kissed before” Tony answered honestly with pink cheeks that made the Alpha smile brightly at him, being this close let Tony catch a hint of the Alpha’s scent and he thanked whoever was listening that his new Alpha had such an amazing scent. It reminded him of being home and that was a scent Tony wasn’t used to but always loved whenever he wasn’t at school. The Alpha nodded his head before standing to his full height and the ceremony started, Tony felt safe to zone out a little as he stared up to his Alpha since he had heard the marriage ceremony speeches over and over growing up so he knew exactly what to say and where to say it even without listening to it.

“I present to you, Alpha Steven Grant Rogers and Omega Anthony Edward Rogers” The priest declared loudly to the crowd, Tony’s nerves tightened for a brief moment as he knew what came next but the Alpha, Steven apparently, cupped his cheek again but kissed his cheek instead and grinned down at the confused looking Omega. That was meant to be his first real kiss, but his Alpha just smiled at him like nothing was wrong and held his hand gently as they walked out of the hall, cheers blocking out Tony’s own confused thoughts as he smiled brightly at the happy faces around him.

Steven quickly tugged his hand and led them down a hallway, into a room labeled private and locked the door behind them making Tony tense up nervously. The lights flicked on and Tony glanced around to see that it was just a mostly empty, office looking room before his attention was back to his Alpha as the man caught his chin gently between his thumb and index finger, gently pulling his head to look up at him.

“Sorry to startle you, but I wanted to introduce myself alone before having to face the crowds” Steven said as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly “You already know my name, but I prefer Steve to Steven and my title is normally Captain instead”

“It’s nice to meet you, Steve. I prefer Tony to Anthony, Anthony reminds me of being in trouble at school” Tony chirped happily as he held out his hand to Steve who chuckled but shook his hand regardless “My name was Stark if you were interested”

“Stark, I know that name, where would I know it from?” Steve asked curiously, making Tony grin, the Alpha chuckling slightly from the Omega’s excited scent.

“My family are engineers, my father built Stark Industries” Tony explained happily and laughed when Steve snapped his fingers and nodded, clearly recognizing the name “Whenever I was home from school, my father would let me help in his workshop!”

“That’s great, Tony!” Steve scented happy and content and Tony was holding back his purrs at the smell of his new Alpha being so happy with him “I know you were confused why I didn’t kiss you so I wanted you to know why, I want your first kiss to be private and when you’re ready, not in front of a crowd of strangers and because that’s what you think should happen”

Tony’s jaw had dropped open slightly at his Alpha’s words which made Steve laugh slightly as he gently nudged Tony’s chin up, Tony blinked up at Steve for a moment before he smiled brightly and let himself purr loudly “Thank you, Alpha, you’re so thoughtful”

“That’s okay, Omega, we need to talk a lot more, but let’s get back so people don’t get the wrong idea” Steve smirked and winked at the Omega who immediately went scarlett and ducked his head shyly with a squeak, Tony kept silent but clung to Steve’s hand when he was offered it as they left the room and met back up with the crowd with matching grins on their faces.

Tony adored being married to Steve, the Alpha was happy to let Tony get on with his chores around their shared accommodations without trying to interrupt him like Howard did whenever he came home from school. He cooked all of their meals and purred at Steve’s compliments every time, the Alpha was always happy to test Tony’s cooking and try anything new that Tony made them. School had told Tony that his Alpha might only want Tony to warm his future Alpha’s bed during ruts or heats, but Steve was always touching Tony in the smallest ways whenever he was close and preferring to keep Tony tucked into his chest when they slept in their shared bed or even just sitting together on the couch.

Of course, Tony missed going outside since living in an undercover and underground base meant that it was very hard to see the sun or just exist outside, but Tony never complained and just smiled peacefully when Steve kissed his cheek and left him alone. He hadn’t gone on a mission since they had gotten married since they wanted Steve to settle in with his Omega before having to separate them, but now Steve was leaving for a week and Tony smiled that same smile as Steve kissed his cheek and left him standing alone in their living room.

The week was horrible for Tony, within two days he had gotten desperately lonely and without Steve to create a mess Tony had run out of jobs to do. He tried hard to focus on anything but his loneliness and boredom but nothing could keep his attention for long enough so he was left floating around his home, lost and feeling a little shaky without his Alpha to help soothe him on restless nights.

The second Steve stepped through their front door, Tony was rushing to him with a huge smile on his face and a loud purr rumbling in his throat that seemed to wipe the frustrated and angry look off of Steve’s face. Steve dropped his duffle bag, dropping to his knees and opened his arms wide for Tony to run into, the Omega rushing him to him and hugging him tightly as he pressed his face into Steve’s neck to take in his scent as Steve tucked his face into Tony’s hair.

“I’ve missed you so much” Steve whispered softly as he felt Tony press closer to him, the purr only getting louder as the pair reassured the other that they were okay and home together again.

“Been so lonely without you” Tony mumbled into Steve before whining when the Alpha pulled back slightly with a little frown on his face, resisting the smile that tempted him when Tony gently rubbed the dirt off of Steve’s cheek.

“Didn’t you go hang out with the rest of the team, Omega, it was only me on the mission?” Steve asked and his eyes went wide when Tony just kept looking at him confused, cocking his head slightly “You do about the team, right?”

“I only learnt when your name when the priest said it, Steve, I was given basically no information about who you are or what you do” Tony explained slowly and wrinkled his nose up at the sour scent Steve immediately poured out, the man scenting distressed, sad and angry in an instant “They never told you what I knew about you, did they?” Tony asked sadly and whined softly when Steve dropped his head and shook it, the sour scent getting stronger “They also didn’t give me a picture, the first time I saw you was when we were about to get married”

“Shit!” Steve hissed under his breath, squeezing his eyes shut from frustration and pushing back the tears in his eyes “You had no idea what you were getting yourself into with me, what did they tell you? How could you even make a decision on marrying me when you had no idea who I am?”

“They told me that you were an unsettled Alpha of high rank who they thought would do better with an Omega to ground him, they said you had a lot of secrets and the beta who I spoke to said that you were kind but agreed when I said that you sounded like you were lost” Tony told him honestly and let Steve scent him to prove that he was telling the truth, Steve just whined sadly when he knew that Tony wasn’t lying but only because he had hoped the Omega knew more before agreeing to marry him “The beta was worried about you and I’ve always known that I would never get to choose who I married, but when they told me about you I decided that if I could help an Alpha settle and stop feeling lost then that’s what I was going to do”

“I could have been older than your father or ugly and twisted and you would have been stuck with me” Steve muttered grumpily but Tony just giggled which made Steve’s head perk up as he let himself smile briefly at the noise.

“Good thing that I got a young, handsome Alpha that I had to stop myself from running down the aisle to meet” Tony laughed as he brushed Steve’s hair out of his eyes, the Omega smiling up at him fondly as Steve’s scent slowly turned sweeter “I am the luckiest Omega in the whole world to have been given such a loving, kind and handsome Alpha that cares for me so sweetly”

“And I am the luckiest Alpha to have such an understanding, thoughtful and pretty Omega who is so much smarter than I am” Steve let his voice purr making Tony blush sweetly, ducking his head down making Steve let out a small growl that only made Tony’s cheeks redder as he hugged him to hide his face.

“M’ready Alpha” Tony mumbled into Steve’s shoulder, the Alpha tensing for a brief second before holding his chin between his thumb and finger like when they had first met to tilt his head up.

“Are you sure, sweet thing?” Steve asked softly as Tony tried hard not to hide his face, smiling shyly and nodding at his Alpha hopefully “Say it, I wanna hear you say it”

“Kiss me, Alpha?” Tony asked in return, looking up through his eyelashes and smiling up at Steve who just let out a small growl before moving to cup Tony’s cheek and kiss the younger passionately.

In that split second, Tony knew that he would be alright here with his Alpha. He was safe, he was happy and he was loved and he knew with complete certainty that he was going to stay that way for as long as he was by his Alpha’s side. There were bad days where Steve was closed off and snappy, bad nights filled with nightmares that left Steve shaking and with tears on his cheeks, but through all of it Tony was by his side and curling up in his arms to assure his Alpha that he was okay and that there wasn’t any danger. Those days were always rough on the pair, but as soon as Steve was out of his rough patch he was cuddling his Omega and fussing over him to make sure Tony knew that he was loved just as much as Tony loved Steve.

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Bonus Chapter 1

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 12,577

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER  | | NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

"Do you think Kristoff is cute?" Anna asked, elbows propped on the table and chin in both hands as she watched the man in question from across the food court.

"You kiddin'? The dude's a hunkasaurus. Total dreamboat," Lea replied distractedly, not looking up from his current task. He was seated atop a different table, this one behind me, his feet perched to either side of me on the armrests of my chair as he played with my hair, slowly braiding and unbraiding it only to rebraid it again. "Better snap him up quick. If you don't slice yourself off a piece of that beefcake, I might beatcha to it."

My sister blew out an amused pft through her teeth as she looked over at him. "Sure, like he'd even give you the time of day."

"Oh-ho, trust me. If I wanted that boy, I'd have him."

"Anna," I sighed, interjecting myself back into the conversation. "Focus, please."

She blinked owlishly back at me, clearly having already forgotten my question. Or quite possibly not even having heard it in the first place. "...on…?" she asked at last, dragging the word out uncertainly.

I exhaled softly. "About Mother and Father?"

Her eyes darted to the left as she squinted and tried, "As in… do they think Kristoff is cute?"

My eyelids drooped and I gave a flat, "No."

Today found me with not one visitor on my lunch break, but two. Lea came as little shock. Even though he had the day off, he'd lately taken to doing his homework here in the food court whenever I was on the clock. That way, he could spend my lunches with me, not to mention score free ice cream throughout the day. Anna, on the other hand, had been an unexpected surprise, but always a welcome one of course. However, it was quickly becoming apparent that it probably wasn't really me she'd come to see.

Not if the way she kept eyeing my coworker as he ran the ice cream counter was any indication.

It'd been a few weeks now since her rather explosive breakup with Hans. Given that she normally got over past boyfriends in under a day, maybe two tops, the fact that it'd taken her this long to quit moping over him said something. But it seemed at long last she was back to her old, perky self again and all but wearing a "cute, single and ready to mingle" sandwich board sign. And apparently it was Kristoff's lucky day, for it seemed my sister had set her mingle-crosshairs on him as her latest conquest.

I didn't know whether to congratulate the guy or tell him to run. My sister would eat him alive.

Anna was now staring at me expectantly, waiting for me to elaborate. I bit my bottom lip, looking down as my fingers absently began to trace the snowflake pattern of my stockings. "I just… I was wondering… how Mother and Father were doing, that's all."

I'd still yet to speak to them since the little blowout at their house the weekend of Grandfather's birthday. If they weren't going to contact me, I certainly wasn't going to make any effort to reach out to them either. Still, I couldn't deny that it weighed on me a bit. I'd mostly been trying to keep my mind off it, trying to distract myself by throwing all my attention and energy into rehearsals.

She frowned then puffed out a heavy breath, causing her lips to flap. "Ya know, I'm not sure really… Fine, I guess? The same? They're not really on speaking terms with me since they found out about me and Butthead."

If you couldn't guess, that was her oh so charming nickname for Hans now.

Not to mention the only name anyone was allowed to refer to him as in Anna's presence these days.

"Ah," I breathed, fingers fidgeting with the hem of my work skirt. "...I see."

Her lips pursed to one side. "Now that I think about it though… them and Grandpa haven't really been on speaking terms either lately. But no clue if that's so much as his choice or theirs."

"Oh? Huh…" my brow furrowed and my head tipped to one side.

What could it mean?

"You should talk to 'em, ya know," came Lea's low voice suddenly as he hunched down next to my ear.

A tiny scowl twisted my face as I glanced over at him. He quirked an eyebrow back at me from beneath my Ice Palace cap, which he was currently wearing backwards. I huffed and crossed my arms, "If they want to talk to me, they know where to find me."

He snorted and sat up straight once more, his fingers returning to gently combing through my hair, eliciting a tingle in my scalp that made me shiver. "Someone has to be the first one."

"Yeah. Them," I harrumphed.

Now he pressed his lips to the back of my head before his hand ruffled my bangs. "You can be so stubborn sometimes, ya know that?"

No comment.

"Right!" Anna was abruptly hopping up to her feet and pumping a fist as she set her determined eyes on Kristoff once more. "I'm gonna march up to that boy and work my magic! Prepare to have your socks knocked off, you big sexy manbeast!" She then smoothed a hand over her hair, tugged on the neckline of her dress to flash a little more cleavage, and took one confident step towards the Ice Palace.

That was as far as she got before, "Hold it!" A hand shot out to snag her elbow, stopping her in her tracks. "We need to talk to you."

Anna blinked down at the offending hand, then at its owner, Rayne. She'd just shown up with a grinning and waving Kairi at her side.

Where'd they come from? I hadn't even seen either of them approaching.

"...me?" Anna asked, pointing at herself as both eyebrows flew up her forehead.

My roomie nodded then turned her eyes towards me to clarify, "Both of you."

Huh. This now brought the count up to four people dropping by to see me on my lunch break today. Never before had I been in such high demand.

Had I become, dare I say it… popular?

Dear god, I hope not!

Rayne's gaze narrowed on Lea. "Beat it, Red. This doesn't concern you."

"You beat it!" Lea shot back as his arms hugged me from behind, pulling me back against his chest. He made a small hmph that I more felt than heard as he rested his chin atop my head, "This is my El Time. You're not allowed to cut in on it, you live with her."

She rolled her eyes. "You two have plans together tonight once her shift is over, right?"

"So?"

"So you can give up five minutes of your precious El Time for me and Kai here to have a quick chat with her. Now go on, shoo," she dismissed him with a bored flick of her wrist.

He grumbled, "Ugh, fine. Looks like the kiddos just punched in over at Pizza Planet, so guess I could go grace their sad existences with my glorious presence." Releasing me, he pulled my elastic band off his wrist so he could tie my hair back into its ponytail. Then he was nuzzling his face into my neck, planting a quick peck there before whispering in my ear, "Be back in a sec. You'll miss me, I know, but try to keep the tears in check, hm?"

In response, I turned my head to kiss him on the nose… followed by smothering his face with my hand and shoving him away. He sniggered, pushing himself off the table.

"Hope you're ready to have your ass curb stomped tomorrow, Organization scum," Kairi slyly smirked at him.

"Big talk coming from someone's who lost the last two years runnin' now, Princess twerp," he tugged down his left lower eyelid with his middle finger and razzed his tongue at her before turning and jogging off, still wearing my cap.

Eyes flicking back and forth between him and Kairi, Anna asked, "What was that about?"

"Laser tag," I grinned softly as my gaze followed Lea for a second before I reached back to tighten my ponytail and glanced at the rest of ladies once more. "It's practically all he's been talking about for the last week."

"Mm-hm," Kairi nodded as she and Rayne pulled up chairs to sit with us. "It's also what we want to talk to you about. We're here to recruit you two!"

My head rocked back slightly. Then my brows knit together as my eyes darted about. Uh, heh… no thanks! Checking my phone, I stood up quickly, "Er… would you look at the time? I'm due back from lunch! I should go cloc-"

"Sit!" Anna snagged my wrist and jerked me back down into my seat with a firm thud. "You still got at least another ten minutes, liar!"

"Snitch," I grumbled back.

Lifting her chin with a smug little smirk, she looked back at the other two. "Please, continue."

"You know Space Paranoids, right? The laser tag place here in the mall?" Rayne began, addressing Anna more so than me, seeing as how I already had some clue as to what was going on, thanks to Lea. "Well some years back, a buncha us rented the entire place out for like a whole day and it was a total blast. We all had so much fun that we decided to make it an annual thing. More and more kept joining every year and as people kept getting more and more competitive, it wasn't long before two official teams were formed. Lea's group calls themselves the Organization."

"Such a buncha dorks," Kairi shook her head with a snerk. Then she was pointing back and forth between her and Rayne, "Our team is way cooler. We're the Princesses."

Anna bit back a grin and cocked one eyebrow at my roommate. "The Princesses? Really?"

She closed her eyes and heaved a sigh, "Kai's idea. It stuck."

"Hey now. Princesses are cute and kick serious butt," Kairi cockily flipped her hair back over her shoulder.

"Anyway," Rayne chimed back in, "we thought this year those Organization losers were gonna have to forfeit because they were down two teammates that moved away recently. However, not only did those jerks manage to snag the mall security guards as replacements, but now we're down two people ourselves."

"Really? Who?" Anna eagerly leaned forward in her seat, thoroughly invested now.

"Me," she muttered, face twisting sourly as she gestured down to her belly. At five months along now, she was starting to look very much pregnant. She huffed indignantly, "Some people think it might not be safe for the baby."

By the tone of her voice, I was guessing "some people" included her husband.

"You are getting pretty big now, Ray-Ray," Anna snickered. "Maybe it's a good idea-"

"Shush!" she glared, striking up a finger in warning. "I get enough of that from Riku!"

Kairi spoke up once more, "Our other person who's out this time round is Ariel. She's got bronchitis."

I blinked. "Again?!"

"Again," she and Rayne groaned in unison. Kairi then beamed, clapping her hands together once, "That's where you two come in! Could ya please, please, pretty please help us outta this major jam here and top off our team? Whaddya say?"

"Sweet! Count us in!" Anna declared, excitedly balling her hands into fists in front of her chest.

"Correction. You can count her in," I touched Anna's shoulder, then placed a hand over my chest, "and me out."

Kairi's face fell, "But we need you!"

I snorted, "No you don't, I'm the last person you need. I've never played laser tag before. I've never even held a, uh… um…" I grimaced, floundering for the right word before saying lamely, "...laser… beam… shooter… thingie ever in my life!"

"You can just call it a gun, sweetie," Rayne cooed, reaching over to pat my hands.

"But that's the beauty of it! That doesn't matter! We don't need you to be good," Kairi argued before a tiny, wicked smile broke out across her face. "We just need you to take care of Lea."

My head tilted to the right as I frowned. "...Lea?"

Rayne nodded, "Yup! He's one of their best players, along with Xigbar and Saïx."

"Saïx?" I echoed, squinting at her. "You mean to tell me he's awake during the daytime for this?"

"There's three days a year that dude'll brave the sun, and our yearly laser tag game is one of those days. He takes it surprisingly seriously," Rayne explained solemnly.

Wrinkling my nose up at the ceiling, I inhaled and exhaled loudly. "I still don't understand how I'm supposed to help you with Lea, especially if he's as good as you say he is."

"Simple!" Kairi chirped. "You just need to keep him distracted! Mess with his head a lil. Throw him off his game just long enough for the rest of us to knock him outta the match early."

I furrowed my brow at her. "...and how exactly am I supposed to do that?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She gave me an impish wink. "Use your feminine wiles."

"My…?" A crease formed between my eyebrows now as I stared down at my lap. "...do I even have those?"

Kairi laughed, "Course you do! All girls have them."

"Yeah, even you, Sis!" Anna pinched my cheek. I shut one eye against it, swatting her hand away.

"Trust me, all Elsa has to do is exist around that boy and he's a total goner. He'll be eliminated so fast, he won't even know what hit him," Rayne muttered to Kairi, who nodded in agreement. Then my roomie was locking eyes with me once more, "So how 'bout it, sweetpea? Will you help us out?"

I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. "I… uh…"

Anna nudged her shoulder with mine, "C'mon, Sis, pleeeeeeeease? I'm super friggin' pumped, this sounds like so much fun!"

Clasping my hands between hers, Kairi pleaded, "Help us, Elsa-Wan Kenobi! You're our only hope!"

"Well, I… er…"

Then they did it.

I was the victim of a triple-decker puppy-dog-eyes pout.

Perhaps I could have withstood one, even if it was Anna's. And maybe, just maybe I could've even resisted the combined force of two. But three?

I defy anyone to say no to that.

Shoulders slumping, I gave a long drawn out sigh. "...what time tomorrow?"

All three of them threw up their hands and cheered. After they took a few seconds to settle back down, Kairi said, "Don't worry, we'll get all the deets to you soon! And remember, you're our ace in the hole. Our secret weapon!"

A tiny gulp. "I am?"

"Yup! So don't breathe a single word of this to Lea!"

And breathe a word I did not. Thus, the next day…

"What the…? Oh, hell no!"

At Lea's outburst, I glanced towards him as Kairi, Anna and I walked out into the Space Paranoids lobby. We'd just been freshly geared up with blasters, half-helmets and vests - and by vests, I meant small, impossible-to-hit (at least I thought so anyway) targets over our hearts held in place by glow-in-the-dark, suspender-like straps that latched back behind our shoulders where a second target was located. The helmets also had targets on them, as well as see-through plastic visors that covered our eyes.

The lobby seemed to be split by an invisible line, with what looked to be the Princesses grouped up together on one side and what I could only assume was the Organization on the other, given that Lea was standing with them as he glared daggers at Kairi from across the room. She merely shot him a cheeky smirk and called, "Problem, beanstalk?"

He marched over, crossing enemy lines to glare down his nose at the considerably shorter redhead. "Uh-uh. Nope. Not allowed. I call foul. Objection!"

She snorted, unconcerned as she checked her nails and shrugged. "Dunno what has your panties in such a twist, big guy. Care to enlighten me?"

He jabbed a finger in my direction while still directing his snarl at her, "Get her outta here. She's not part of this, find someone else."

Kairi scoffed, "There's nothing in the rules declaring girlfriends off limits. In fact, there are no rules."

"Well there should be! In fact, I'll draw some up right this damn second!" he huffed, tucking his blaster into the back of his pants before storming over to a counter, behind which a pasty-complexioned employee currently stood. Lea snatched a pen off the countertop before stomping back over to us, angrily jamming his hand into one of his pockets and fishing out something crumpled. Then he slammed it to the wall and attempted to smooth it (without much success), uncapped the pen with his teeth and began scrawling across it.

"Rule 1…" he enunciated as his pen furiously scribbled, "...no… girlfriends…" He paused, then amended, "or boyfriends…" Another pause, then he scribbled it all out and started over. "Rule 1… no… smooch-buddies…" he underlined those first two words three times before continuing," ...on opposite… teams. Period. That's it. That's all… the rules." His pen stabbed down hard with finality before he shoved the crinkled thing with his handwriting all over it in front of Kairi's face. "There. Rules. Happy?"

Kairi dully stared at what he was holding, unfazed. Then her eyelids drooped. "...that's a napkin."

Lea rolled his eyes, "So what? Doesn't make 'em any less ironclad!"

She gingerly took "the rules" from him, eyeing them with a thoughtful nod for a second. Then she looked him dead in the eye as she ripped them in two, forcing a horrified gasp out of him as the shredded halfs fluttered to the ground. "Sorry, I don't recognize your napkin rules. She's playing, so suck it up."

He narrowed his eyes down at her. "I'm onto you. I know what you're doing."

"Oh? What, pray tell, is it that I'm doing?" she asked all sugar-sweet like.

His face pinched and there was a low, annoyed growl in his throat. Then he pointed two fingers at his eyes, then at her, then back and forth a few more times. "I see you, villain!" he hissed before turning away from her to address me now, his face and tone softening. "...can I talk to you real quick? Please?"

I fidgeted with my gun, struggling to keep a straight face after the sheer ridiculousness of the tiny spat I'd just witnessed, especially with them both wearing their little cheap, plastic helmets the whole time and looking absolutely absurd. At my nod, he slipped his hand into mine and led me over to an empty corner of the lobby where we could chat with some small amount of privacy.

"If those girls pressured you into doing this, you can ignore 'em, ya know," he told me quietly, shooting the Princesses one final scowl out of the corner of his eye. "You don't hafta do this if you don't want to."

I bit back a grin. He actually kind of looked adorable right now, sulking like an overgrown child behind that silly eye-visor he was wearing. It was hard to take him seriously. "It's okay. Really. I'll admit, I was a bit nervous and hesitant at first, but this also sounds like it might be kind of fun. It's fine. I want to play."

"But I don't want you to," he frowned, his fingers reaching out to idly fiddle with the tip of my braid. I don't think he even realized he was doing it. "...some of the guys don't hold back, El. Once that starting buzzer blasts, all bets are off and it can get pretty rough in there. You could get seriously hurt."

I slowly shook my head, "But the other girls-"

"-have played this before and know what they're getting into. You don't," he insisted.

I made a small hmph in my throat as my stubbornness began to spark. "How bad could it be? Really?" Glancing back towards the Princesses, I pointed out one of them in particular. "What about her, right there? She's, what… ten? Eleven years old? If you got grade schoolers playing, I think I'll be fine."

"She's one of their scariest players. Seriously, they hop that kid up on a mega shit ton of sugar from the Wonderland candy store until she's stark raving mad, then set her loose to wreak unholy hell in the laser tag grounds."

Huh. On second glance, the little girl did look twitchy. Almost freakishly so.

Sighing, I looked back up at Lea once more. "Look, I told Kairi and the others I would play, and that's what I'm going to do. I'd feel bad backing out now as I doubt they'd be able to replace me at the last second like this. I can take care of myself, you know. I promise I'll be careful, but I am doing this," I brought a comforting hand up to stroke his cheek, my eyes crinkling slightly. "So suck it up."

He snorted, dragging a hand along the nape of his neck and puffing out a heavy breath. "Fine, I guess I can't stop ya. But know this," he hunched down to my eye-level, tapping me lightly on the nose, "if we cross paths in there, don't think I'll go easy on ya."

"Good," I grinned back. "Neither will I."

"Oh-ho, pretty sure of ourselves, are we?" he smiled, rubbing a finger over his chin now. "In that case, care to put a lil wager on this?"

I turned my head to one side, shooting him some side-eye. "...I'm listening."

"How 'bout… whoever is the last one standing between the two of us, wins. And if I win…" his eyes hooded as he ducked down next to my ear, his voice silky and low as he continued, "...you ravage me senseless tonight. Maybe while wearing that lil mini skirt I like ya in so much."

My face warmed. Flirting was a part of relationships that I still wasn't fully accustomed to just yet. Hans had never really done it and it's not like I could simply brush it off as Lea's empty teasing anymore. Clearing my throat, I just asked, "And if I win?"

He gave a soft chuckle, nipping at my earlobe. "Then I'm the one who ravages you senseless."

A tiny smirk tugged at my lips. "...maybe while you're the one wearing the mini skirt?"

Lea shot up straight, eyes wide. Then he laughed, "Deal!"

I stared at him blankly. "I was joking."

"I wasn't. Be careful whatcha wish for," he singsonged, wagging a finger in my face. I merely drooped my eyelids at him and he snerked. Then his hand was cupping the back of my head, pulling me in for a sound kiss to the lips and murmuring, "Good luck."

"You too," my arms hugged his neck as I gave him a light peck in return. "You're going to need it."

"You have way too much confidence for someone who's never played before," he snorted and I just shrugged. Then we reluctantly parted and started making our way back to our respective teams.

I glanced around as I walked, getting a better look at the lobby. It had a very retro futuristic feel to it, what with all its hard angular lines that glowed neon blue and red decorating the walls, ceiling and floor. Even that pale employee behind the counter was dressed head-to-toe to match the room. His nametag read TRON - I had to wonder if that was an actual real name or (more likely) just the name he was assigned while on the job. On the wall beyond the two teams were a pair of doors, one that was dark grey and blue like the colors of the Princesses' helmets, while the other was white and red like the Organization's. I could only assume each group would enter through their matching door once the game was about to start.

Opposite the room from there was a wall made entirely of thick glass, through which could be seen the front desk where customers came in to sign up and pay for laser tag rounds. That area had several flatscreens hanging on the walls showing live feeds of various sections of the laser tag arena for onlookers to observe the match in realtime, so the place was currently packed with a small mob of people who'd come to watch our little face-off. It seemed this annual event drew quite the crowd.

While I didn't recognize most of the faces, there were a few familiar ones here and there. Aqua, Ventus, and Terra grouped together on one side… Yuffie and Leon on another… and over next to Sora, I could even spot Naminé there with a sketchpad in hand. I think she was drawing us players all decked out in our gear. And was that… Vanitas, of all people, trying to cozy up next to her? She seemed oblivious to him. Rayne, on the other hand, most definitely was not. She shoved her baby bump in between the two of them, forcing Vanitas to stumble back a step as she plucked Naminé's art pad from her hands and smacked the goth lord across the face with it. She then handed it back to Naminé, who just went back to sketching as if nothing had happened. Then Rayne was smiling and waving at me through the glass as Riku stepped up behind her to slip his arms around her waist and rest his chin on her shoulder.

As I waved back and took my spot next to Anna with the rest of the girls, I heard a wry voice coming from the enemy team, "Trouble with the lil missus, Flamesilocks?"

"Bite me, Cyclops," Lea snapped as he rejoined his team, his sour mood apparently resurging.

"Heh. As if," that same smug voice shot back. It belonged to a tall man with a jagged scar on one cheek and an eyepatch that looked rather odd to say the least when paired with his helmet's visor. His long black and grey-streaked ponytail swished as he then bent low into a dramatic, mocking bow directed towards another guy with long silver hair who I recognized as the supervisor over at Cinema XIII. "If I may do the honors, oh illustrious leader?"

The man - presumably their team captain - said nothing, just gave an uninterested flick of his hand.

That was all the go-ahead Eyepatch needed. Raising his voice so both teams could hear, he called, "Alright, listen up, scrubs! For most of you, this ain't your first rodeo, but I'll give a quick rundown anyhow seeing as we have a few first-timers in the ranks today. Here's the short and skinny of it: This first round - as in the only round that really matters - is one shot, one kill. Meaning all it takes is one hit and," he smirked, dragging his thumb across his throat, "you're out. Luckily for you gals, friendly fire has been disabled. This is where we separate the real men from the thumb-suckers. And there are zero points this first match, so when all you pretty, pretty Princesses are KO'd-"

"When?" Kairi sneered, narrowing her eyes at him from across the room.

He flashed her a toothy grin. "You hard of hearing, Strawberry Shortcake? Must be all that glitter and unicorns jamming up your earholes. Yes, when all you ladies are down for the count," he jerked his thumb to his chest, "we win. And for any boohooers out there who wanna play by points and multiple lives, don't worry. All the matches after this one are wimp-friendly. But might I suggest instead of relying on those lame handicaps, you all just get good like me?" he puffed up his chest, planting one hand on his hip while twirling his blaster in the other.

Suddenly the target on his vest lit up red and started beeping loudly, indicating he'd been hit. His assailant - a chick on our team with long, wild, curly red hair - lowered her gun with a snort before roaring with laughter while several of the other girls joined in.

Eyepatch chuckled, "Nice potshot, Hotshot. Save it for the game."

I had to wonder if this guy was Xigbar - one of the Organization's three best players besides Lea and Saïx, or so I'd been told. He certainly seemed cocky enough, that was for sure. Then again, cocky didn't necessarily mean he was any good.

As I eyed the other Organization members, I spotted a few I recognized from around the mall. The team leader wasn't the only one from the movie theater - that kid with the emo haircut was there too. So was Larxene, the blonde chick sporting the funky hairdo. I'd finally had a chance to learn her name, seeing as how she was assistant director in the musical I'd joined. The director himself, Marluxia, was there too, as well as Demyx who was helping provide our play's music and who also worked at The Blue Sitar, if I was recalling correctly. Then there was Roxas and Xion, who were doing their best to perk up a still slightly pouty Lea. Saïx was near at hand to those three, although he seemed to be keeping to himself and concentrating… or more like… meditating? Maybe... honing for the upcoming match? Wow, he certainly did take this seriously!

Next in the lineup were the two mall security guards who I'd met that night I'd accidentally pushed The Anger Button on the soft serve/milkshake machine - their names were escaping me at the moment. And lastly, there were two blondes. The first one had a goatee and piercings and I believe I remembered seeing him working at the magic shop here at the mall. The other one wore his hair long and had a chilly expression. I don't think I'd noticed him around the mall ever. In any case, I suppose there was a chance one of them could be Xigbar too.

A siren blast suddenly blared out through the overheard speakers, making me jump as the team doors slid open. Whoops and hollers from the players filled the room as they all started shuffling into their corresponding doorways. Anna hooked her arm through mine, flashed me a grin and dragged me along to follow the others.

"Don't worry, big guy, we'll try to return her to you in one piece," Kairi gave Lea one last parting shot. In response, he merely flipped her the bird as he disappeared through his door and all the Princesses erupted into cackles.

Beyond the doorway was a long winding hallway that got darker and darker the deeper we went, the only light source now coming from those neon glowing lines above, below and all around us. The further in we got, the more it began to look like we had somehow found our way inside a ginormous computer from the 80s. Eventually it brought us to another big room that was decorated in nothing but blue lines - our team's HQ, if I had to take a guess. There were three more sealed doors that would probably lead out to the rest of the map once they opened up, with huge, light-up timers over each one counting down until the start of the match. We had less than five minutes.

Quick introductions were made - I actually knew a handful of the Princesses already. There was Snow White and Tiana, who were in the musical with me. Aurora, who I remembered from auditions. Belle from Friday night drinks at the 7th Heaven. Then some girls I recalled seeing around the mall and was just now getting to know their names: Cindy from The Glass Slipper, Jasmine from Cave of Wonders, and Rapunzel from Hair, Here, Everywhere - gosh, how was she not going to trip over all that hair of hers while she ran around playing laser tag?!

"And this," Kairi went on, gesturing towards the redhead who'd landed a hit on Xigbar earlier during his little speech, "is Merida from over at DunBroch Goods, the camping and sporting goods store. She's our best shot."

"You're damn right I am!" she declared proudly in a thick Scottish accent. "And I've been putting extra time in over at the archery range! All those scaffy dolts aren't gonna know what hit 'em!"

Next Kairi was nodding towards the little twitchy girl. "This here is Alice. She's Luxord's baby sister from over on the other team." I smiled and Anna began to wave, but Kairi grabbed her wrist and lowered it with a subtle shake of her head, whispering, "Try not to make eye contact."

Apparently lost in the sugar-rush sauce, Alice just gave another twitch.

"And last but most certainly not least, this is Kida from Atlantis Electronics," Kairi pointed to a girl with long white hair and a blue face tattoo who grinned big, "annnnnnd Moana from Heart of Te Fiti, the lil surf outlet we have here." The chick with a mane of frizzy black hair next to Kida wiggled her fingers in greeting.

"Right, that's everyone! Now, onto the plan of attack!" Kairi clapped her hands and rubbed them together with an evil gleam in her eyes. "Everyone knows their positions except for the newbies. Anna, stick close to Alice and Punzie."

"Got it!" my sister nodded before giving a tiny squeal and bouncing on the balls of her feet. "Ahhh! I'm so excited!"

Kairi then looked to me, "As for you, you're with Merida and me. We'll keep you safe until we can track down your boy toy. Then it's all up to you to do your stuff!"

My forehead wrinkled. "My… stuff?"

"Ya know," she waggled her eyebrows at me. "Work that groove thang, girlfriend!"

...first it was feminine wiles. Now apparently I also had a "groove thang?"

I was learning so much about myself within the past twenty-four hours.

"Once you got him good and distracted and all puddy in your sweet lil hands, Merida and I will be sure to put him six feet under," Kairi smirked, squeezing one eye shut as she aimed her blaster and mimed firing it, shouting, "Blam!" before blowing the imaginary smoke away from the barrel and beaming.

"Blue combatants prepare to enter the Grid in sixty seconds," a synthesized female voice announced over the sound system.

Kairi glanced up at it, then added, "Now! Real fast before the game starts, let's show you ladies how these bad boys work!"

In the scant time we had remaining, Anna and I were given a quick rundown on how to aim and reload our guns. Then we broke into smaller groups that stood ready at each of the three doors that would soon open. As my teammates started giggling and counting down the final seconds in a loud chant, I swallowed hard.

All that confidence I'd been flaunting to Lea earlier? Yeah, nothing but talk. Now that the time was finally upon us, icy anxiety began to flood my veins and my free hand came up to twist at my braid. On its own, playing laser tag for the first time was scary enough since I really had no idea what I was doing. But all this talk tossed around about feminine wiles and, er… groove thangs? Wasn't helping. I wasn't sure if I could pull off what the Princesses were asking me to do.

...Rayne had said me just existing around Lea would trip him up. Maybe that would be enough? Maybe-

Another siren blast startled me once again and those big metallic doors slid open. Alice let loose a blood curdling war cry that was surprisingly loud for one so small before charging off out of her door. Anna mimicked her with a bellow of her own as she and Rapunzel raced after her. "Come on!" Kairi snagged my elbow and I staggered into a run between her and Merida as we exited through our own doorway with Moana and Kida bringing up the rear.

The place was an absolute maze inside. We took so many turns that it wasn't long before I was utterly lost and couldn't have found my way back to HQ if I'd even tried. Each new section we entered looked exactly the same as the last. It was all just dim lighting and those glowing blue, red, and now orange lines. Part of me was beginning to wonder if we were just running around in circles.

I could hear muffled shouts and digital blasts echoing from beyond the walls surrounding us, coming from somewhere that sounded far away and making me wonder just how big this map really was. Regardless, each zip and every zap that reached my ears had me flinching and almost stumbling over my own two feet as I ran. I was getting more and more on edge with every passing second.

Alright, Elsa, deep breath. In and out. Nothing to worry about. This is easy. This is fun, in fact… or so I'm told, anyway... Just relax and have a good time. It's a new experience. We like new experiences, right? New experiences are great. New experiences can be liberating. New experiences-

"Watch our backs!" Moana suddenly yelled.

I jolted and started to spin around to look back at her, "Wha-?"

She shoved me out of the way, getting us both around a corner to use for cover just as the sound of laser fire reverberated down the hallway we'd just come from. Breathing heavily, Moana gave me a firm nod and a fierce grin. "You're welcome!"

I just stared wide-eyed back at her, panting to catch my breath after all the running. Then she was ducking low and darting across to the other side of the hall, laying down cover fire as she went.

"Damn," Kairi hissed as she and the other two girls pressed their backs against the wall next to me. "How'd they get around behind us so fast?!"

"Embrace the nothingness!" someone roared from the other end of the hall before several blasts went off.

Returning fire, Moana called over to us, "Sounds like its Xemnas! He has someone else with him, but I can't quite make out-"

More rapid laser zaps cut her words off, followed by someone else snarling, "Grovel before me!"

Wait… I knew that voice… but no, there was just no possible way it could actually be-

"Crap," Kairi hissed, face turning stark white. "Saïx."

I stand corrected. Apparently, it could be and in fact was him.

Talk about being a completely different person! It seemed laser tag turned Saïx from Dr Jekyll into Mr Hyde.

As the gun fight grew louder around me, my heart began to pound in my ears, my knees shook, and my mouth went dry. I felt totally paralyzed and had to keep reminding myself that this was fun. Just... oodles and oodles of fun!

Oh dear, I was hyperventilating a bit…

...hyperventilating from all the fun, of course!

Kida was suddenly in front of me. I think she'd sensed my anxiety, because she was gripping my shoulder tightly and giving me a warm reassuring smile. "All will be well, Elsa," she told me calmly, soothingly… right before her face twisted ferociously as she leaned around the corner and shot off her blaster several times while letting loose a banshee shriek, making me flinch. Then she pulled back to reload and look me in the eye again, face serene once more. "Be not afraid."

...right. Okay. I came, I saw, I experienced… I'm done. Where's the exit to this ride? I want off.

To Kairi and Merida, Kida said, "The three of you keep going, find the target! Merida and I will keep them busy here and get them off your backs. Go!"

"Roger! Let's get outta here!" Kairi snatched my wrist, pulling me along with her. Merida shot off a few final blasts down the hallway behind us to help the other Princesses before dashing after us. I took one last look back to see Kida and Moana locked in a heated laser battle with our opponents before I lost sight of them as we took a sharp turn down a new corridor.

We hadn't been running for long when a tiny, red vertical slash lit up in the upper right corner of my visor. Huh… so these things had some kind of display built into them? But what did it-

The overhead speakers let out a long, resounding beep followed by that female announcer voice again, "Red combatant derezzed."

"Yes! We drew first blood! Take that, Organization trash!" Kairi crowed happily.

Ah, so the display was showing me a sort of… death count? I guess? I don't even know. There was a lot going on and I was just struggling to stay sane and-

"Freeze!" a new voice abruptly shouted.

So I did.

I froze.

Because, I mean, that's what you're supposed to do when someone yells that at you, right?

Apparently not. At least, not when you're playing laser tag.

"What are you- ugh, get down here!" Kairi was suddenly yanking me to the ground where she and Merida had dove for cover behind a low barrier just as I heard more blaster shots going off, presumably aimed right where I had just been standing like a deer caught in the headlights. Shaking her head at me, Kairi sighed, "Never fall for that. It's the oldest trick in the laser tag book. Vexen tries it every. Damn. Year."

As enemy fire abruptly died down, presumably so they could reload, Merida sprung up to her feet and released a torrent of zaps from her gun, roaring, "Choke on my laser, ye gutless, lily-livered bawbags!"

"Yeah! What she said!" Kairi popped up from our hiding spot as well to blast off a barrage herself.

Not wanting to feel left out and just now remembering I was in fact holding a gun that I'd all but forgotten about since the match started, I squeezed my eyes shut, lifted said gun up above the barricade and pulled the trigger, blindly firing several shots into the fray and hoping for the best.

Woo, look at me. I'm helping.

As my two teammates ducked back down to reload, Merida shouted, "Don't think I didn't see ye skulking behind that pylon, ye namby-pamby, scone-guzzling twat! Best get running with your tail tucked between those toothpicks ye call legs cuz we got ye outnumbered three to two!"

"My my, that does sound pretty grim for us, doesn't it?" a male, distinctly British voice called back. "But maybe the odds are more in our favor than you realize. By my count, we're the ones who have you outmanned four to three."

Merida and Kairi exchanged a look. Then Kairi scoffed, "You're bluffing!"

"Maybe… then again, maybe not… do you really want to roll the dice and risk it?"

Now Kairi lowered her voice so only we could hear her, "Definitely bluffing. Merida, let's go see if we can sneak around and get the drop on 'em." She then glanced towards me. "Stay here. I'll call out when it's safe for you to follow."

I blanched. "But-"

"You'll be fine, trust me. Just stay down, keep your back to this barricade, point your gun that way," she nodded towards the corridor we'd come from, "and pull the trigger if anything so much as moves. The advantage is yours from this position. We'll make it quick, so just keep your head down and wait for my signal." And with that, the two of them slipped off into the shadows and I quickly lost sight of them.

So I did as I was told. I stayed on the ground, knees hugged to my chest as I aimed my blaster and waited. There was a slight tremor to my fingers. The sound of blood rushing in my ears made it hard to hear much else.

Gosh, this was really just… so much fun.

It felt like an absolute eternity, but it was probably only seconds before I heard the fighting break out from beyond the barrier I was using for cover. Sounded like the girls had found them, as their maniacal laughter mingled with the digital blasts filling the air. Then Kairi was yelling, "We got 'em on the run! C'mon, Elsa!"

Jerking at the sound of my name, I scrambled to stand only to catch my foot on something and crash back down to the floor hard.

Ow.

Elsa, Queen of Grace and Dexterity.

Picking myself back up and dusting off the knees of my leggings, I ran towards where I'd heard her voice coming from…

...only to find no one there.

The area was completely empty except for me.

Fudge, they'd probably gone chasing after Vexen and that British guy, thinking I was right behind them. Which I would have been if I hadn't tripped over my own two friggin' feet. Worst still, I had no clue where they'd gone and three different archways to choose from.

Now what, oh Nimble One?

...should I just wait here and hope they come back for me? That'd probably be the smartest call. Better than blindly picking a direction to run off in and getting myself even more lost.

Several far-off blasts from behind me made me wince.

...then again, I was standing out in the open and an easy target. Maybe it would be better to just select a path, start running, and hope the next person I came across would be one of my teammates. But now, how to choose which way to go?

Eeny… meeny… miny…

More laser fire went off from behind, this time closer and making my heart leap up into my throat.

Screw it, that one, just go!

I didn't even know which hallway I'd picked, I just took off and didn't look back. My feet propelled me forward, not hesitating whenever new forks in the road appeared. I'd just take a turn on impulse and keep going. A left here, a right there, and another right. Far too soon however, I was puffing for breath. I couldn't keep this pace up, I needed a break.

As I slowed to a walk, sweating and chest heaving, I held my gun up at the ready. I was jumpy as I crept along now, twitching at every distant hollar, laugh, or laser burst. Something rattled behind me and I gasped, spinning on my heel and jerking my blaster around to point at… nothing. I narrowed my eyes and kept my weapon aimed behind me as I started inching backwards, heart jackhammering and breathing shallow.

If anyone was back there, they certainly weren't going to get the jump on me! No sir! I was vigilant. My eyes were keen, like that of a hawk! No one was going to be sneaking up on me, nuh-uh, not today, not-

"Pssssst."

The sudden low noise in my ear sent a chill running up my spine, making me yelp and nearly drop my gun. My hands desperately fumbled it for a second before catching it at last and I whipped around to target-

"Lea?!" I squeaked out.

Quite valiantly, I might add.

He'd already leapt back to put some space between us with his own weapon trained on the target over my heart.

So there we were. Locked in a mortal standoff. Our fated clash to the death would soon be upon us. You could all but hear the-

"You're holding your gun backwards, ya know," he said flatly, eyelids drooping.

...so I was. Heh… oopsie. I hastily corrected it, almost dropping it again before managing to direct the barrel at Lea instead of myself.

Now where was I...? Ah, that's right!

So there we were. Locked in a mortal standoff. Our fated clash to the death would soon be upon us. You could all but hear that whistling tune that plays in cowboy movies right before a pair of desperados have a shootout. Only one of us would be walking away the victor here.

...was it wrong that I was starting to relax and feel comforted by Lea's presence?

Yes. Yes it was. He was the enemy! And I had a job to do! To be fair, that job had only just been to play decoy while somebody else took him out. But seeing as how I was the only one here, looks like I'd just been promoted to executioner.

But now, how to get that killing blow? It wasn't just as simple as shooting. I could see the way he was warily watching me. I knew the second I started to squeeze my trigger finger, Lea'd be dodging out of the line of fire and then it'd be curtains for me. I had to catch him off guard first, distract him somehow or-

Ah-ha! This was it! The moment we'd all been waiting for! It was my time to shine!

Alright, feminine wiles… go!

...aaaaaany time now.

Hmmm… nothing.

Alright, you're up, groove thang. Care to take a crack at it?

...I'll take your silence as a no.

Well, fudge. Now what?

...wait! Hold on… something was possibly stirring…

Yes, I think I might be feeling a feminine wile coming on!

Oh yeah. This was definitely it. Get ready, here it comes…

I clicked my tongue and winked at him.

Nailed it.

Lea blinked at me. Then he snerked and choked back a laugh, shaking his head, "What was that?"

I hesitated, shifting my feet awkwardly. "...my, uh... my feminine wiles?"

Now he spluttered, struggling to keep his gun pointed at me. "El. Sugar-darlin'. Honey-boo. I adore you, you know I do. I worship the very ground you walk on and think you're smart, gorgeous, perfect and God's gift to all mankind. But babe… you wouldn't know a feminine wile if one came right up to you and bit you on the nose."

My spine snapped straight and I blushed. "I would too! I… I have feminine wiles!"

"Uh-huh, sure ya do. By the way," he pointed at a spot behind me, "what's that?"

I rolled my eyes at him, "You really expect me to fall for-"

In the blink of an eye, he'd kicked my blaster out of my hands and sent it clattering to the ground.

Huh. Guess he didn't even need me to fall for it. Apparently it was enough for me to just be irked at him for thinking me so easily tricked.

Crud, he was way better at this whole distraction thing than I was.

"Say goodnight, babydoll," he smirked, aiming his weapon at the target on my chest once again. I held my breath, screwed my eyes shut, twisted my face into a grimace, balled my hands at my sides and waited. Any second now, my target would vibrate and beep, announcing I'd been hit and taken out.

...only nothing was happening.

Why was nothing happening?

Slowly, I creaked one eye open. Lea was still standing there, still with his gun pointed at me… but for some reason, he hadn't pulled the trigger yet. Gone was the smug look on his face, now replaced with a tiny, sour frown. He grit his teeth angrily, his blaster wavering slightly before he lowered it and growled, "Goddamnit!" Then he ducked down and snatched my gun up off the floor, holstering it into the waistband of his pants at his hip.

I cocked my head at him. "Lea? What are you-"

That's as far as I got before he was then picking me up by the waist and flopping me over his shoulder like a rag doll. With one hand maintaining a grip on my legs to keep me secure while still holding his weapon in the other, he took off running.

I grabbed at the back of his shirt to prop myself up and turned my head so I could yell at him, "Just what exactly do you think you're doing?!"

He didn't break stride, just kept speeding straight ahead. "What's it look like I'm doing? I'm taking you hostage!"

"But that's not how the game is played!" I snapped back, making a grab for a metal bar sticking out of one of the walls as we rushed past, my fingers latching on.

He stumbled and nearly toppled over backwards, but caught himself. "Shit! Leggo, you lil..." he pried my fingers free before taking off again. "And I can play the game however I damn well like! Deal with it!"

Huffing out a grumbling breath, I just hung my head and let myself be carried off to wherever it was that he was taking me.

Turned out to be the Organization's HQ. I mean, that was my best guess anyway by the look of it, considering how similar it was to the Princess's HQ. The only difference was there were nothing but glowing red lines decorating every surface in here instead of blue.

"Now what?" I heard a voice unhappily mutter. Sounded like Larxene but I couldn't see her to verify, not with ninety percent of my vision being filled up by Lea's upside down backside and the other ten percent taken up by a lovely view of the floor.

"Whaddya mean, now what? What are you guys still doing in here?" Lea asked as he slid me off his shoulder and unceremoniously plopped me down onto one of the benches that lined the inside of the HQ's walls. I started to stand back up, but Lea narrowed his eyes at me and held a finger up in front of my face, "Ah-Ah!"

I sighed through my nose but stayed put, crossing my arms and slouching down into my seat.

Now that I could see the rest of the room better, I was able to confirm that it was indeed Larxene who'd spoken, with Marluxia in here as well. Larxene quirked an eyebrow at me but apparently decided not to comment just yet, instead opting to answer Lea's question. "We're trying to drag this dumb loser off his lazy ass and get him out into the fight," she ground out through her teeth, pointing at-

Oh! Apparently Demyx was in here too! Almost didn't spot him cowering behind that column over there.

Lea groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Crap, this again? He does this every damn year! We seriously need to stop recruiting him!"

"That's what I keep saying!" Demyx piped up. Or rather, his voice did. The guy himself remained in hiding.

"Dude. Why do you bother signing up every year if you don't even wanna play?" Lea shook his head.

"Because Larxene always threatens to taze me until my nose lights up brighter than Rudolph's if I don't," he whimpered, just barely poking his head out now. Then he seemed to spot me for the first time. "Oh! Hey Elsa!" he waved cheerily.

"Hi Demyx," I mumbled, returning a halfhearted wave myself.

Larxene slammed the sole of her boot against the column, making him squeak and hide again. She snarled, "This fuckwit's actually a halfway decent player whenever we finally manage to chase the damn baby out of his hidey-hole and-"

"Lea! There you are!" Roxas suddenly came barreling in through one of the doors, his sneakers skidding to a stop as he doubled over, wheezing for breath. "We've been looking everywhere for you!"

Xion was hot on his heels, stumbling to a halt beside him and huffing, "You shouldn't have run off on your own like that! Why'd you come back- oh, hey there, Elsa!" she blinked at me in surprise, tilting her head slightly. "What are you doing here?"

Marluxia settled his cool gaze on me, "Yes… why indeed?"

Larxene pulled a face and spat, "Ugh, Firecracker! Please tell me you didn't sneak back here so you could make out with your little girlfriend! You seriously need to stop thinking below the belt all the time!"

"Agreed," Marluxia nodded with a frown. "You should learn to show some decorum. Xemnas will be most displeased when he finds out you were squandering precious game time to nurture your budding romance."

Shaking his head and rapidly waving his hands back and forth in front of him, Lea said, "Guys, guys, it's not- Ah!" he exclaimed the last syllable in warning to me as I tried to get up again to tiptoe off. Placing a hand on my shoulder and pushing me back down firmly into my seat, he addressed the others again, "It's not like that! I just-"

"We don't have time for this!" Xion cut in. "Why is half our team just chilling back here at the base? Get all your butts out there before everyone else gets slaughtered!"

Lea batted his hand through the air, "It's fine, Xigbar's out there! That psycho could take out the whole other team solo with one hand tied behind his back!"

As if on cue, two blue slashes suddenly lit up in the upper left corner of my visor opposite of the red one from earlier. Overhead, that synthesized female voice announced, "Blue combatant derezzed," twice, one for each mark.

"See?" Lea pointed up towards the speakers triumphantly.

"Wait…" Roxas's brow furrowed. "...those were the first two kills our team's gotten… meaning…" he was eyeing me now.

"Son of a… she's not dead yet?! Firecracker, you dumbass!" Larxene hissed, whipping her blaster up and aiming it at me.

Lea was quick to jump between her and me, his hands shooting up in a placating gesture, "Woah now, easy there!"

Not lowering her weapon, she yelled, "The hell do you think you're doing, bringing her back here alive?! Just shoot her already!"

"C'mon, give her a break, it's her first time playing!" Lea argued back. "I just wanna make sure she has a good time! She can't do that if she gets eliminated right out the damn gate."

Larxene made a noise of disgust in her throat. "You are seriously whipped, numbnuts. What'd she do to get you to fold like a wet paper towel, just bat her lashes and pout and go," she poked a finger into her cheek and mockingly cooed, "pwease don't shoot me, I'm just a poor, defenseless widdle girl!"

My shoulders tensed and I snapped, "I most certainly did not-"

"Butt out, Princess! This is Organization business," Larxene growled.

Roxas sniggered as he flumped down beside me on the bench, "Ignore her, she's just cranky."

"Yeah, we lurve you," Xion sat down on my other side, beaming and making a heart with her hands.

Lea was rubbing the back of his head with his gun. "Look, I just wanted her to have fun, is that so wrong?"

A scoff erupted from Larxene. "Yeah, sure, cuz getting taken hostage is so much fun!"

"More fun than being dead in the first five minutes!"

She was glaring down at his hip now, something having caught her eye there apparently. "Wait a minute, is that…? For fuck's sake, you brought her gun too, bonehead?! The hell is the matter with you, are you trying to get us all shot?!"

Rolling his eyes, Lea brushed it off, "Relax, I won't let her get her hands back on it. I just didn't want it to get lost or totally busted and for them to charge her with some bullshit replacement fee for the thing. And trust me: me taking her hostage is a good thing."

Larxene fixed him with a dull stare. "...I think your brain is what's lost or totally busted."

"No, hear me out!" He tossed a hand in my direction, "El is valuable to the Princesses and they know she hasn't been eliminated yet. Once they realize we got her prisoner, they're gonna make stupid moves trying to get her back. They'll be easy pickings!"

"It would seem to me that you're the one making stupid moves," Marluxia deadpanned.

Lea snapped his fingers and tapped his nose, "Exactly! That's why the Princesses'll want her back! To make sure she stays in the game and messing with my head! But if we keep her here and alive, then I'm less likely to screw up while the Princesses keep tripping all over themselves trynta to rescue her! It's a win-win!"

The silence stretched for a bit. Then Larxene sidestepped so she could point her blaster at me again, "I'm just gonna shoot her."

As Lea moved to block her again, Marluxia placed a hand on her weapon and gently pushed it down. "No, let's hold off. His plan, ridiculous as it may be, holds some merit. Let's see how it plays out."

Larxene wrinkled her nose and gaped. "You have got to be shitting me." However, Marluxia's stern look brooked no argument. Curling her lip with a tch, she grumbled, "Fine, whatever. But you!" She marched up to Lea, stabbing her finger into his chest several times, "This is your dumb idea, so your stupid ass gets to be the one to watch her!"

"Lea has so just earned himself a date with Larxene's taser after the match," Xion whispered with a giggle.

Roxas snerked under his breath as he looked to me, "Hope you like your boyfriends with enough electricity coursing through 'em to power a small toaster oven."

"What are you two twerps snickering about?!" Larxene turned her wrath on the pair of them now and they both yelped. "Get off your asses, get out there and bring me those Princesses' heads on pikes or don't come back all!" They leapt up to their feet and bolted out of there as if their lives depended on it. Which, let's face it… they very well might've.

Now Larxene's dark scowl zeroed in on the column that Demyx was using for cover as she snarled, "And you!" A terrified squeak could be heard from beyond the pillar. Muttering a long string of curse words, Larxene stomped over and disappeared behind it as well. Then there was a high-pitched scream before Demyx tore out of the base like a bat out of hell. Re-emerging and dusting her hands together, Larxene smirked with a satisfied sigh, "I do so love being part of a team. The feeling of encouraging and uplifting my fellow players can be so rewarding."

Retrieving her blaster from where she'd tucked it into the top of her pants, she glanced to Marluxia and jerked her chin towards one of the doorways. "Now let's go snuff out some Princesses!" However, as she was moving past Lea, she stopped to narrow her eyes at him. "...swear to god, Firecracker, if we lose because of your bullshit here, I'll-"

"Yeah, yeah, my head will be the one on a pike, I get it! Will ya just beat it already?" Lea lazily shooed her away with his gun.

She glowered but said nothing more, simply stepped outside the door and waited for Marluxia. As for Marluxia himself, he walked over to Lea and fixed him with a hard stare. "I trust when the proper time comes, you won't hesitate to pull the trigger," he told him, shooting a meaningful look my way out of the corner of his eye.

"Not for a heartbeat," Lea waved a dismissive hand. Marluxia squinted at him. "What, I won't! I hate losing just as much as you do, Mr Bubble Yum!"

If Marluxia felt reassured, he didn't show it. Regardless, he faced me now. "No hard feelings, of course. See you at rehearsal tomorrow."

"...looking forward to it," I muttered back as he slipped out the doorway to join Larxene, the two of them stealthily sprinting off.

Now that it was just down to the two of us, Lea glanced towards me with a tiny frown. Then he looked away and readied his weapon, poising it in front of him. He began patrolling from one HQ door to the next, keeping an eye out for any foolhardy, would-be rescuers.

The minutes slowly ticked by. Save for the occasional announcement whenever another player had been derezzed, the silence was absolute. Were this any other time, Lea would probably be cuddling up close to me and delightedly chatting my ear off. But not now. Not while there was a laser tag game to be won. Apparently, laser tag was very serious business. At least, if his expression and posture as he stood guard right now were any indicators, that is.

After a time, I released a low sigh. If anyone was trying to come save me, they were certainly taking their sweet time about it. I felt restless. My muscles were stiff from sitting still for so long. So, I gave a small stretch and began to rise to my feet.

In a flash, Lea had his gun's crosshairs centered on me. "Hey, hey, hey! Plop that cute lil butt of yours back down, Missy!" he ordered, gesturing the barrel of his blaster down towards where I'd been seated.

I hitched my chin. "The bench is hard and uncomfortable. Just let me stand and stretch my legs for a min-" I took a step forward and I winced, a soft hiss escaping me. "Ah, my ankle!"

He blinked, then his eyelids drooped. "Please, that lame ol' trick? Nice try, but I wasn't born yesterday."

"It's not a trick, I think I'm really hurt!" I huffed. Then setting my lips into a grim line, I gingerly tested putting some weight on it. "...you must have smacked it against something while you were manhandling me earlier and- ow!" My ankle gave out and I stumbled forward.

Lea instinctively moved to catch me, his arms wrapping around my waist while mine latched around his neck for support. But then his eyes were immediately suspicious and his empty hand clasped protectively over where he had my weapon holstered.

I rolled my eyes at him with a scoff. "You actually think I would go to this much trouble if I were only faking it? All just to get my stupid gun back? Seriously?"

He continued watching me skeptically, his hand remaining steadfast over my blaster. "...maybe, maybe not. Jury's still out."

"Damn it, Lea, this really hurts!" I snapped at him.

I felt his muscles relax somewhat as he puffed out a breath, bringing his free hand up to ruffle at his hair now. "Then why ya standing on it, dummy? Go on, sit back down."

"No," I turned my head to one side with a tiny hmph. "I told you already, that bench is uncomfortable."

"Whaddya expect, it's a bench. You'll live," he laughed incredulously. Then he was carefully shifting me around, mindful of my ankle as he took a seat himself to demonstrate. "See? Perfectly fine. Now c'mon El, please, if you would just-"

I finally sat back down.

Right on his lap.

I felt him tense beneath me. Then he was shaking his head with a chuckle as he brought up his hand to tweak my nose, "Cheeky."

Slipping my arms back around his neck once more, I drew in a deep breath before giving a pleased little exhale. "Ah, much more comfy."

"I would hope so," one corner of his lips twitched up. Then he was setting his gun down on the bench beside him and readjusting me in his lap a bit so he could more easily reach down, gently feeling my ankle. I flinched, sucking in a little breath. His eyebrows knit together, "Sorry… hm, doesn't seem to be any swelling, so probably isn't sprained or fractured. Guessing it just got banged pretty good. Probably only gonna leave a nasty bruise."

My eyes crinkled as I watched him. "...it's sweet."

"What's that?" he asked absently, still cautiously inspecting my ankle.

"The way you always take care of me." I leaned in closer to murmur into his ear, "It's sweet."

Lea stiffened, then cleared his throat as he straightened back up in his seat and laughed sheepishly. "What can I say? Gotta make sure my lady's taken care of!"

I gave him a warm smile before resting my head on his shoulder, my arms hugging more tightly around him as I sighed against his neck with a soft, "Hmmm."

He shivered and echoed a low, "Hm?"

"Nothing really." My fingers began to lightly toy with the hairs at the nape of his neck as my lips brushed along the side of his throat. "Just trying to think of how I might show you my gratitude later."

"...well, I might have a… few suggestions…" There was a gruffness to his voice now as I felt his thumb idly stroking along the curve of my hip.

"Mm, I'd love to hear them," I hummed a quiet laugh as I trailed my hand down his chest, avoiding the target strapped to it as I went. Then I lifted my head once more to meet his gaze while using my other hand to press a fingertip to his lips, silencing him before he could answer me. "But first… told ya."

His eyes hooded as he playfully nipped at my finger before ducking his head down to press kisses to my jawline as he whispered, "Told me what?"

"That I have feminine wiles."

His whole body went rigid. "Motherfu-"

Too late. I already had my gun back, barrel directly up against the target over his heart. I pulled the trigger and-

"Red combatant derezzed."

"Ha!" I dropped the blaster and shot up to my feet, hopping up and down in triumph on my fine, healthy, and one hundred percent pain-free ankles. Lea groaned and slumped down in his seat, thumping the back of his head against the wall a few times. His moping only made victory taste all the more sweet. Giggling, I lightly clapped my hands a few times before holding my palms together, pressing my fingertips to my huge grin.

My tiny victory party of one was interrupted however as someone else suddenly came charging inside the base. I turned and gasped as their feet came to a screeching stop, revealing the person to be none other than that weirdo with the eyepatch.

He took one look at me, both eyebrows shooting up his forehead. "What the…?" Then with a bemused smirk, he aimed his weapon at me, "Oh-ho no, not on my watch. As if!" He fired and, well… as you could probably guess…

"Blue combatant derezzed."

With a self-satisfied snerk, Eyepatch twirled his gun and took off running once more, disappearing out the door opposite the one he'd come in through.

...well then.

My stint as a legendary, professional laser tag assassin supreme may have been brief, but it had been undeniably glorious.

"That was a cheap, dirty underhanded trick ya pulled," Lea said, pulling my attention back to him as he stood up and removed his helmet, shaking out his crimson spikes. Then his lips stretched into a crooked smile, "One I completely saw through, by the way."

I arched an eyebrow at him, biting back a small grin. "Oh really?"

Tucking his helmet under his arm, he then reached out to undo mine as well. "Mm-hm! You were as transparent as a soap bubble."

"If I was being so obvious, why'd you play along then?" I challenged, crossing my arms.

"Rather, the question you should be asking is... why wouldn't I play along?" He ruffled my bangs before offering me my helmet with a wink. "Never have I more thoroughly enjoyed being proven so totally wrong."

I felt heat creeping up the back of my neck as I took it from him, averting my gaze with a dignified sniff. "I don't believe you. I don't think you saw through it at all."

He snorted, scratching a finger behind his ear. "Alright, ya got me. Can't blame a guy for trynta salvage what lil dignity he has left! But damn, El, you've been holding out on me. Where've you been hiding those lil moves of yours this whole time?"

Rocking on my heels a bit, I mulled over it for a second. Honestly, I'd even surprised myself a bit there. Only reason I hadn't been blushing furiously the whole time was because I wasn't really here to fraternize - it'd just been a means to an end. I'd had a job to do. Finally, I gave a tiny shrug, "Suppose I just needed the right incentive."

"That incentive being making me eat crow on this most holy of battlefields that is laser tag."

I smiled brightly. "Bingo."

He crinkled his eyes at me, then sighed and dragged a hand across the nape of his neck. "Shit, the rest of the team is gonna be out for my blood when they find out 'bout this. We're talking torches, pitchforks, the whole nine damn yards." However, he was next flashing me that dimple of his as he retrieved both our weapons, holding them together in one hand. "Still, was definitely worth it for this lil revelation. I'm telling ya, never woulda thought you had it in you, especially not while we were entertaining an audience no less."

"An audience?" I repeated, frowning. Then I slowly shook my head, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Did you forget?" A half grin tugged at his lips as he pointed up at a corner of the ceiling where one of the arena's cameras could be spotted. "Big Brother's watching."

Just about every last drop of blood drained out of my face.

Fudge, the cameras! All over this damn arena! Feeding a live stream of events as they unfolded here back to anyone watching in the store front! And there had been a lot of people there, meaning…

...every single one of them had just had a front row seat for watching me seduce my boyfriend.

Bolting behind Lea to hide from the camera, my arms clutched around his waist as I buried my now roasting face into his back.

Oh, what I wouldn't give for the cold, sweet embrace of death right about now.

Laughing softly, Lea patted his hand over mine, weaving our fingers together but not removing it from where I still had it clasped against his stomach. "C'mon, we're not s'posed to linger this long after getting KO'd. Let's find a way out. Your adoring fans await."

Remaining firmly latched onto him from behind, I staggered as he began to lead us towards the nearest exit. "I don't think I can face any of them ever again," I muffled into his back. "I am never going to live this down."

"Well, we can hole up in one of the equipment rooms between matches, but that'll only buy you a lil time. Sooner or later they'll hafta kick us out when this place closes up for the night." As he pushed open a door beneath a glowing green EXIT sign, he glanced back at me over his shoulder with a smirk. "But you got bigger problems to worry 'bout now, boo."

I glanced back up at him, gnawing on my bottom lip. "...what do you mean?"

"Now that I know you've got feminine wiles, I'm gonna expect you to start using 'em more."

Author's Notes: It's the face-off of the century, the battle you've all been waiting for… Organization XIII vs The Princesses of Hearts! Gosh, now I want fanart of all of them decked out in laser tag gear and glaring each other down! Could look hella badass! Anyhoo, I think this chapter might have been even more jam-packed with references than that 7th Heaven chapter xD I went with OG Org as you can tell cuz, one, they're my fave incarnation of the Org, and two, let's face it… old man Xehanort would probably break a hip playing laser tag xD And of course, all the official Princesses of Hearts made an appearance, plus a few extras, any of which would get my vote for being one of the mystery New 7 Hearts that were never revealed in KH3! Minor fun fact: If you didn't recognize them, Xemnas's and Saïx's lines were direct battle quotes from the video games. I would've liked to have done the same for Vexen, but I couldn't figure out how to make any of his battle quotes fit, so I took the lame, cheesy way out by just having him shout "Freeze!" xD As for which team won this first match… Princesses finally managed to break the Organization's winning streak, woo! Yeah, Lea barely survived the wrath of his fellow teammates after their crushing defeat xD  I was originally trying to figure out a way to fit this laser tag chapter into the main story, but decided in the end it would be more fun if Lea and Elsa were already a couple for it - certainly had more fun with the chapter's ending that way at least ;D

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

See ya next week for the next bonus chapter, which will have a lil more substance than this one xD Your clue phrase this time is... hair dye. What could that possibly have to do with next chapter?! Stay tuned and find out!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER  | | NEXT CHAPTER

[seven-oomen]

Hi, Ben!  I hope you are having a good day, today!  I’m glad your bloodwork came back good, and I hope your meds’ side effects are finally settling down some.  I saw that your punching bag came in.  I hope it helps!  That’s something I’ve yet to try using (the few gyms I’ve ever attended didn’t have them.)

So while restocking some of our bandanas at work, I started having thoughts about Peter losing a bet or something and having to wear one for a while whenever Noah takes him for a walk in wolf form.  The collage is a selection of some of my fave options (the Wiggle Butt one had me giggling for like a solid five minutes, ngl).  Theoretically this could also be a disguise to make him look more like a dog and less obviously a wolf (not sure it would really work, but people tend to be pretty oblivious at times.)

I’m glad you liked the DILF Club adopting the Winchesters thing (at least, I think I saw something about that?)  It was definitely one of those ideas that gave me all the warm fuzzies.  I’ve been trying to decide if they just take Baby when they take the boys (because it’s BABY, and I fully believe all three would know how to hotwire a car if need be, for various reasons), or if I’d rather they (probably mostly Peter) bought Dean a really beat up old Impala to restore himself, that’s free from any memories or influence from his dad.  And how it might affect Sam to not be the only “smart kid” in the family (and would that lead to Dean not dumbing himself down so much for his brother’s sake?)  And Chris could teach them hunter stuff, and Peter could show them where hunter biases and inaccuracies are, and about what the supernatural is really like, and Noah could teach them driving and classic rock and police procedure far better than their birth dad ever could.  And depending on the age gaps involved, Bobby could either be like “fuck, I forgot what it’s like to have actual friends” with a side of “making a fuck asshole dads club”, or he could figure out a few things about Chris and Noah (and possibly some of the stuff with Peter and Talia), and be like “Okay, so this is gonna be a mutual adoption of wayward idjits.  Deal with it."  I’m not sure how to bring in Cas without all the Armageddon/fighting God insanity, though.  Maybe he’s connected to a pagan god they encounter instead or something.  He wouldn’t need to show up for quite a while, though, so there’d be time to plan that out.

Also, that "sentiment is chemical weakness”, “you’re literally making them a card” quote thing is pretty much the exact mood I’m going for in Peter and Derek’s conversations in IYWTD.  XD  Which I really need to be working on, but my focus is all over the place today.  I also keep really wanting to write a little Valentine’s one-shot for my series, but I keep reminding myself I’ve got too much to do already.  It’s only somewhat helping.

That last preview was adorable, by the way.  ;D  I’d say that if it works, then it’s plenty smooth, frankly, and I don’t know that either of them have a leg to stand on, really.  XD  Sublty is none of them’s strong suit.  And Peter’s whole vibe of “goddamn, but I could watch you two all day” is kind of a fucking mood, tbh.  XD  I look forward to finding out what all shenanigans they manage to get up to before stumbling back to mildly traumatize their children.  ;D

And those are some excellent and admirable goals for this year!  Sending all the best energy for successful completion of as many as you wish!  I hope you’re feeling better today, and that things are going well overall!  (Eat, hydrate, and) Take care!  *Hugs to you both!*

Hey B! Glad you’re alright and I’m doing okay. I’ve started making lists again with things I need to clean, restarted my eating patterns, and restarted an exercise regime. We’ll see how that goes, but for now, I’m doing okay. 

Financially I’m not looking so hot, but eh, yeah I’m hoping next month will be better. Hopefully.

Also, those bandanas are everything omg <3

The wigglebutt XD Peter needs that one. *makes mental note to put that into the oUAT and TWITTB verses.* XD

Also needs the one for pets, attention, and cuddles, pretty much all of them. Omg these are amazing!

I mean Saarloos Wolfhonden (Saarloos Wolfdog, a Dutch breed) are a thing:

So I feel like with a bandana, Peter could probably pass for one of these:

He’s just a very big and broad version of one.

(Or that’s what Chris tells everyone who wants to hear it.)

Ok aaaaah, everything about that whole bit with our boys coming together and being adopted and Bobby making friends or adopting a couple more idjits, urgh!

I’m too tired to form many thoughts but, yes to all of it!

And I’m glad to hear you liked the preview for that one. I still hope to actually finish this chapter before the weekend starts and I’m trying hard. I think it’s gonna be real funny and sweet and also a bit sad. I mean they are going from one day of having sex out of boredom and repressed feelings to suddenly having to act like nothing is wrong. And then stuff with Chris happens and more shit happens and drama, drama, drama, and lots of Stilinski brother shenanigans (Stilinski twins and Liam) and they rope Scott, Isaac, and Jackson into it. And I have a few fun things planned for the universe. ^^

And thank you <3 I hope I manage to tick a few off as well, at the very least the writing and editing part and the bottom few and that alone would be amazing. Hopefully I can keep that up <3

I hope you’re doing okay B <3 and I’m sorry for the slighty shorter reply but I am exhausted right now and will be heading in early. It’s 9 pm but I am falling asleep.

Lots of love from me and Mo <3

[aki-draws-things]

NaNoWriMo 2020 #20

And here we are, at the end of this month. For around 2k words I didn’t met the 50k goal but it’s fine nevertheless. I wrote, everyday for a whole month, I created things mostly for myself, worked on fics I’m going to expand . I probably got even a little better. All while still working full time and currently battling mental health that is proving to be harder than ever. So, in the end, it’s still a success and I’m proud of it.

This fic ended up way longer, but it also belongs to one of my favorite AUs and I just couldn’t stop writing.

Just a little background that I didn’t explained in the fic, Lan Qiren finds the Yin Iron instead of Wen Ruohan and the story moves accordingly. I wrote a little snippet or two before, of this reverse au, but this one is mostly focused on Wen Xu and Nie Mingjue.

Prompt: Trail of blood

Ship: Mingjue/Zonghui (but that’s not the focus)

Word Count: 6608

They once had been friends. He once had dreamed of becoming their sworn brother like his father did when he was younger, he once dreamed the three of them, heir to three of the Great Sects, standing together, side by side. Undisturbed. Untouched by mundane fights. Powerful and proud and strong in their friendship and brotherhood. He had always been a dreamer and his father warned him, not too long before that day, dreamers have a hard life in that world. The world is cruel and people easily turn against you, even those you trust the most. Especially those you trust the most.

They take you by the hand one day, treat you with kindness and love, they teach you what teachers and parents won’t. And you trust them. You love them. You love them so much you burst into flames. And they stay there and watch you burn, because they're the one starting the fire and they admire their great work.

And you burn.

He didn’t understand at first. He blamed his father’s words on grief. His older sworn brother had been badly wounded by a horned beast during a night hunt together, a hunt his older son joined too. He still remembered the look on Nie MingJue’s face when he told him, little Huaisang wailing inconsolable in his arms, the look when he asked him to take care of his little brother because the Unclean Realm wasn’t the best place for him. It took a while for Huaisang to finally let go of his brother, promises of sweets and some new brushes and fans, in the end he let go, only to cling just as desperately at him.

“Da-ge will be back to you before you even notice.” It was a lie, but aren't lies that people always say in those cases? Nie Huaisang started to ask of his brother right after dinner and the wailings started again, now followed by his own brother’s crying, in solidarity.

“Why are you even crying now?” His brother sobbed, crawled on the bed next to them and tucked his head under his arm so that he was holding both of them now.

“SangSang is— is crying.” He sniffled against him.

“That’s not an answer, Didi. You don’t have to do what SangSang does.”

“SangSang makes me sad.”

He wished he had listened to his father that day, maybe all of that wouldn’t have happened, maybe it would have gone differently at least.

Maybe. But it was late now.

They once had been friends. They studied together in Gusu and Qishan, they trained together, hunted together. They spent nights getting drunk and wandering aimlessly around the streets of whatever city they were in, Nie MingJue always sober and running after them before they could get themselves into trouble. They dreamed and shouted wishes at the night, starlit sky. They had been friends, and they had been happy.

Friendship ended in fire. Just like his father said.

The Lan Sect was, first and foremost, known for their rules. Secondarily for following a righteous path, pure and kind and gentle and true like the white robes they wore. Their rules had probably rules of their own, sub-rules, hidden things written so small on the wall that only a Lan could see it. Third, they never lied. It was against the rules, several of them, it was not proper to establish a good relationship with the other sects, and they were absolutely awful liars. Lan Xichen tried once with them, he almost fell for it, then he turned to MingJue who was staring at the young Lan Heir, a hand under his cheek, the elbow on the table and his head shaking just slightly, a fond smile playing on his lips.

“Don’t try that again, Xichen. Even a blind man could see it’s not true.”

Lan XiChen blushed and took a sip from his tea, their game not involving some Emperor’s Smile that time, not after Nie MingJue had to run after them in the middle of the night, way past curfew, around Cloud Recesses, and they kept running, blindly and drunk, in opposite directions.

Lans really couldn’t lie to save their lives but, he soon discovered, they could omit details and plans all too well, they were convincing, with their words falling like silver from their mouths, and their smiles never faltering making them appear completely innocent and honest. That was, in truth, lying but most people failed to see it through, too enchanted by their words.

He didn’t see it coming either, not until it was too late. By then he was burning. 

Nightless city was on fire. Literally, with no exceptions. 

"I don't want to!" his brother cried, clinging at his robes despite not being a child anymore. Wen Xu shook him off and pushed him toward a hidden passage with a Bag of important documents and papers they managed to save from the fire, history of their clan, rules they knew by heart but written by wen mao in person. 

"but you will." 

"brother!" 

"take him somewhere safe, somewhere that will not fall." he said turning to wen zhuliu who simply nodded, he already had two places in mind, trying to decide which one would be safer for the second master, which one was less likely to fall before they reached it. He wanted to ask wen xu, but people could hear them. nothing was safe now in Nightless city, and they were alone. 

"No! - wen chao screamed again. - no, come with us." he tried to reach out, his hand only brushing the sleeve of his older brother's robe before getting dragged away, his cries soon disappearing in the maze of underground corridors leading out of the city. He was in good hands, wen xu thought, gripping his sword and running to find their missing father, the best hands. More than once he trusted wen zhuliu with both his and his brother's life, his loyalty unmatched, just like his. Brother in Qinghe. Maybe Qinghe would be a good place to hide, the sect leader would definitely give them shelter and aid, he hated the Lans for years, ever since his father's ultimate demise. But perhaps Qinghe was also too obvious. The friendship once binding the three of them was not a secret. Perhaps Qinghe had already fallen. 

He stopped short on the doors of the fire palace, he stared at the line of inner disciples, people he knew by name since childhood, people he trained with, hunted with, people with whom he joked around during long nights of drinking and games. Not just disciples, friends. They were kneeling in the ground, robes torn and burned, blades shattered before them, powerless, waiting to be justice by the man towering over them, smiling in his still pristine robes. Waiting. 

"I was thinking you had ran away, a-xu." 

Don't call me that. You have no right to call me that. He wanted to say, growl, instead he gripped his sword and took a step closer, and another, and another, until he was standing in front of his men despite their loud protests to stay back, to run. Despite them saying they would die before letting the young Master get wounded. Lan xichen laughed. Nothing compared to the sound he remembered from the long sleepless nights in Gusu. It was… Dark. It was a pretty obvious description but wen xu couldn't think of any other word, no matter how childish the description was. 

"I'm glad you didn't. There is something I want to show you." 

For a second, a long agonizing second, he feared he would take out a head from the sleeve pocket. His brother's head. Or his cousins' one. But it would have been too gruesome even for him, and in no way his robes would remain this white and clean. A banner then, his mind said in dread. Qinghe's banner. 

Instead it was a little piece of, seemingly, rock, floating on his palm, pulsating with red energy. 

"do you know what it is, right? - of course. Of course he did. Lan xichen smiled again and he swallowed. - well, of course you do. You have a piece too. Now, there are two ways this situation can work out. You hand over your yin iron willingly, - he smiled and walked closer. - and keep your life and your disciples lives. Or I kill them, one by one, then I kill you and take the yin iron from your still warm body. Your choice, little cousin." 

He couldn't give it up, not now nor ever, not to him. His father entrusted him with the shard their clan hid ever since the great fight. Letting lan Xichen have the shard wouldn't only break his father's trust, but he would make the Lans way more dangerous than they already were and he could have that. How many more clans he would destroy? How many sects would fall under his power? 

"xichen-ge…" he tried. Maybe he could still reason with him, maybe deep down it was still his friend, his almost brother. 

"a-xu, a-xu… don't be silly. I have you a great option, to keep your life and your disciples lives. We know you're not that stupid to turn it down." 

"I can't… Xichen-ge you know I can't…" 

He almost said he didn't have it with himself, which was actually true, but that would make him change plans and go after the actual person in possess of the shard. - he trusted wen zhuliu with his life and his brother's life. He trusted him to get the yin iron out of nightless city and hide it somewhere. Possibly forever. He couldn't risk his life more than that. He had probably already condemned him anyway. - 

"a-xu. - now his voice wasn't sweet and kind anymore, there was a not even hidden warning in his tone, dangerous, threatening. - you're forcing my hand here." 

Something told him lan xichen wasn't waiting for an excuse, he was hoping he would refuse, just to have one more reason to fight. One more reason to kill them all. 

He couldn't give him what he wanted, and even if he could he didn't want to. But he could fight. - he would lose. Wen xu was no fool, he knew lan xichen was stronger than him, but he could buy his brother a little longer. He could buy his father, wherever he was, a chance to escape, given he was still alive. He would die, and he wasn't scared of it. - 

"no." he said, straightening his back and unsheathing his sword. He tried to look strong, unfazed by his threats, not a scared young man trying to distract him long enough for the others to save their lives. Lan xichen cocked his head and shook it slightly, his smile never faltering once, he didn't move, still as marble with the glowing shard hovering above his hand, waiting for wen xu to attack first and give him the only excuse he needed to strike back. It wouldn't take much once reached that point, his martial superiority was known to everyone. A fair fight would have been between lan xichen and nie mingjue, not between them. Wen xu hoped it would never get to that. 

Lan xichen seemed distracted for a moment, he grabbed something in his hand and smiled again, pleased. 

"seems like lotus Pier fell just now. - he said nonchalantly, like talking about the weather or the latest gossip running around lanling. He had never been one for gossip. - it's quite a blessing that the Wei boy has such a crush on wangji, he wouldn't deny him anything, not even his home. There is just one problem. Yunmeng has no yin iron. Qishan, on the other hand…"

He didn't care much for yunmeng in truth. He was familiar with the Jiang sect, sure, he was friends with Jiang Yanli and would never wish for her to be hurt, or worse, but the Jiang sect didn't raise a finger when the Lans began taking power. They didn't show support when nie zhenxiang was killed and his son became sect leader. On the contrary, both Jiang and jin sects tried to make moves on him, securing alliances through marriage. Hell! Jin guangshan even tried to offer himself to take care of the young leader and his brother, take them as wards as he rules over Qinghe until they're old enough. His father almost threw himself at the Jin sect leader, a white robe in striking contrast with the usual red and black ones of the wen clan, if anyone would be allowed to take care of the newly appointed nie leader that would be him, he said standing in front of nie mingjue who almost looked even smaller than usual, with being zhenxiang sworn brother and all. 

"not that sect leader Nie needs someone to administer Qinghe in his stead. - he added and turned to look at him. - youth doesn't affect ability, and in these past months as acting leader he proved to be just as great as any of us." 

There was a clear accent of pride in his voice, pride the first time wen xu had been jealous of before realizing, as they grew, that it was because mingjue had been the first. The first newborn his father ever held in his arms, the one he spoiled and kept spoiling even after having kids of his own. He stopped being jealous and started looking up to him. 

Of course, imagining lotus Pier burning into ashes was something he never wished, no matter how useless and blind they acted. Heavens knew who would be next. "not Qinghe. Please, not Qinghe." he silently begged. 

"but it seems like little a-xu doesn't want to cooperate. That's a real shame. You know…" he took a step closer and wen xu pulled the sword in front of himself. "I liked you. You were always my favorite. Mingjue-xiong is strong, sure but… He's too soft, don't you think? Always spoiling that little brother of his. You're not soft. I think I will give you one last option, because I'm in a good mood today." 

Good mood? You stand in front of a city on fire. You killed dozens of disciples to get there. If that's a good mood, then---

"join me." he held out his hand and wen xu eyed him warily. "join me and qishan will be spared. No, not just spared. You'll have power." 

Sure. Like they were going to share it. 

It almost seemed like lan xichen believed he would accept, maybe he hoped, maybe deep down he wished he would accept. 

Wen xu charged against him without giving him an answer, his action was enough already. Lan xichen didn't move until the last moment. His sword remained sheathed but from the yin iron shard came a light, red and hot, a wave that sent him tumbling back and falling on his knees. The shard pulsed again as he tried to raise and a new wave ran over him and the disciples forced on their knees. He screamed. 

It wasn't a pain he was used to with sword fights, it wasn't a cut or even a slash, it came from inside. His body was lit on fire from the inside. For a moment he wondered if those wen zhuliu took the core from felt like that. Maybe it was, maybe it was similar to a qi deviation. Maybe the yin iron energy was triggering one in that moment. 

It wasn't just pain. He felt his energy, his life force and his blood stream through his body and veins, like a constant rumble in his head that made it impossible to focus on anything else no matter how hard he would try. He tasted blood in his mouth, he saw his disciples fall on the ground, some still, some agonizing and screaming, some-- he saw blood. Blood drenching the streets of the nightless city, blood flowing into the flames, its smell mixing with the smoke and rising high to the sky. 

A shiver ran through his back, he tried to use his sword to lift himself but his arms gave out and he fell with his face on the dirt. 

Fire. Smoke. Blood. Screams. 

The wens were born in fire, his father said. They stole the sunlight for the world to never be left in the darkness again. Or so was the tale told to kids  as a bedtime story. It was only a tale in the end, his father said that fire couldn’t harm a true Wen. Either he wasn’t one or that was a lie, he didn’t care at that moment, he just wanted the pain to stop.

“Wen Xu.” Lan Xichen’s voice had lost all the sweetness he had; it was cold, unforgiving, he accepted no answer that wasn’t what he had in mind and he would not put his thoughts into words. His lips could say “Will you now join me?” - Or maybe he had just said that and Wen Xu didn’t realize, struggling to make out what was real and what not. - and the answer he wanted was “Of course I will follow you.”, no more, no less, exactly those words.

“No…” Wen Xu coughed, blood trickled down his chin and his vision faltered, Lan Xichen’s body swam out of focus for a moment, the world tilted and he was glad he was already on the ground, saving himself from another fall. He was going to die. For sure Lan Xichen was going to kill him, search him and the palace for the Yin Iron and, realizing it wasn't there and he had lost a lot of precious time he would hunt down his brother.

“Please… please be safe.” He thought, and night dawned on the Wen’s city.

Lan Xichen didn’t kill him in the end and that was already surprising enough. Perhaps he thought him dead, but he must have not checked for whatever reason, or he had been distracted by something else, got a message or something. Anyway Wen Xu woke up coughing blood and shivering, surrounded by bodies and almost dead fires. No Lans in sight, like they all left Nightless city to its now obvious fate. He couldn’t stay anyway, he had to get out, get somewhere safe and find his brother and their father before it was too late hoping beyond hope that it wasn't already too late.

He felt his stomach churn as he forced his body to move, bile and blood rising to his mouth, everything hurt even where he can’t find any physical wound. Still he forced himself to move, slowly walk out of the city, away from the some and the blood and the smell of burnt flesh of people he once knew. He dragged his feet for hours, through the night and the following day, his strength too unstable to even dare to fly on his sword, the thought of enemies around every corner forbidding him to stop and take a well deserved rest. He couldn’t stop, he couldn’t sit down on the root of a tree in a hidden path and close his eyes a moment. He couldn’t even try to stop the bleeding without risking losing consciousness on the spot. He could only move. Keep moving. Move forward until his weary feet crossed the borders of Qinghe. But he still couldn’t rest, not before reaching the Unclean Realm. He would be safe there, his older cousin would give him shelter, perhaps he already did it for his brother and Wen Zhuliu,. Perhaps he would get there and find them safely inside the tall walls. The Unclean Realm couldn’t fall, not to strength or convincing words. Unbending like the steel of their sabers.

The first time he saw the walls around the Unclean Realm Wen Xu was five and thought it was the most terrifying high walls ever. Everything was in dark gray and black colors, walls, doors, the robes of the soldiers keeping watch. Even the Sect Leader and his older son wore gray robes. Over the years, as he grew older and closer to Nie MingJue he began appreciating the hidden colors of the Nie Sect. Nie MingJue still wore dark gray, but there his inner robe was a pale, creamy white, something he would later see Nie Huaisang wear all the time, there were accents of silver on his outer robe, on the hems of the sleeves and the collar, silver for the sewing thread used in most of his clothes. Wen Xu had always been exceptionally fond of a light, almost transparent dark gray robe MingJue sometimes wore during official meetings and celebration. It made him look almost regal. There was also some gold, on the belt and the tassel hanging from his fan and from Baxia sheath, they said gold was his mother’s color. - he had a hairpin in the shape of a sun with a red stone, a symbol, Wen Xu recognized immediately, of the Wen Sect. When he asked when he got it, and from who Nie MingJue shook his head, finger brushing over the hairpin. “I have it with me since I remember.” He admitted, he later found out it had been the gift his father gave him for his birth, as a sign of his brotherhood with Nie ZhēnXiàng and as soon as MingJue was old enough, and his hair long enough, his father put it on. -

The Unclean Realm was much warmer than what his walls would give away and for Wen Xu that warmth meant safety. He dragged his feet weakly through the streets, he leaned on the walls of nearby houses and only stopped to cough in his hand. Blood trickled from his mouth, it pooled under his feet when he stopped, drenched the red robes and left a trail behind him as he walked. Wounds began to split open as he moved, like the energy that hit him and threatened to destroy his body from inside was slowly making his way out, cutting his chest to get out. The fire was gone, he felt cold, shivering and freezing; he felt numb, his limbs weak and heavy as he dragged himself closer and closer to safety, forcing his body not to stop moving.

There were voices, suddenly, voices close, familiar ones, they called his name, they screamed, demanded to know what happened. He couldn’t place the voices, or was it only one?, he couldn’t find the strength to answer, he looked up, eyes half closed and unfocused, his body trembling so much he felt like he was going to tumble over at any moment if he dared to take one more step, there was a translucent robe entering his line of view, a familiar one. Safe. His mind said at the blurred sight, and that was the last thing Wen Xu remembered. He fell into strong arms and finally stopped.

Qinghe winter nights were long. People living there got used to it after the first years, they got used to waking up in the early morning before the sun was fully up, they got used to seeing it go down as they were still working and returned to their homes in the light of thousands of lanterns. Some people carried their personal lanterns, some were classic, a candle in a metal cage with paper around it to protect it from the wind, others were fancier lanterns in silk, they all had the same purpose of lighting the way home. Nie MingJue had a metal cage colored in gold, the paper had some birds and flowers inked on it by Huaisang, in the perfect light the bird’s eye shone gold, nie MingJue knew he did it on purpose and couldn’t help but love the lantern, he used it to move around the palace at night, like in that moment.

He opened the door just enough to get inside and closed it behind himself before any wind could get in. Winter nights were cold just as much as they were long.

The young man on the bed didn’t move, he slept peacefully through the days and the nights, the healer said his body was recovering slowly, the yin energy caused more damage than what it looked like and his qi was struggling to balance itself.

“You’re telling me he had an induced qi deviation?”

“Sect Leader, I wouldn’t put it in those exact terms, but the symptoms are similar to a deviation, yes.”

“Induced one it is, then.” He decided, because there was no other explanation.

He sat by the bed, vigil and awake, waiting for a change that in three days didn’t come. He too had his small knowledge of healing, many years before, almost a lifetime before, he had begged Lan Qiren to teach him when the Nie healers said it wasn't a knowledge he should lose time on. Master Lan on the other hand taught him to heal wounds, to share his energy and to stabilize the qi. It wasn’t much but it probably saved his life many times already. What he didn’t know was how to stabilize it when a source of Yin energy was rejecting it, there was no one that could teach him, no one that could help. So he waited and kept watch.

“You need to rest Da-ge.” Huaisang said, slipping in the room when noticing the light still on.

“I’m resting.” His voice betrayed him, he stifled a yawn and closed the heavier robe in front of himself.

“It doesn't look like it. You snapped at ZongHui today.”

Yes, he did, he thought guiltily, he also went to apologize after the meeting was officially over; he knelt in front of his chamber and bowed, he said he was sorry, asked for his forgiveness and that it had been improper and unfair for him, as a sect Leader, to behave in such manner. ZongHui sounded almost surprised, not even angry at him. He understood his worry, perhaps better than most people, he shared that same worry, and the rest too.

“If you’re not angry… - Nie MingJue sounded uncertain, still kneeling in front of him until Nie ZongHui forced him on his knees if MingJue didn’t want him to kneel too. - then why did you get out of the council room that fast?”

“You asked me to check on our prisoner, didn’t you? I thought you meant in that moment.”

“Oh…”

“He still doesn’t want to talk.” Nie ZongHui had said.

“I know, Huaisang. - MingJue said to his brother, shaking away the memory of his voice rising to his most trusted man. - And I apologized already. You should be in bed already, or you’ll be late for training again, tomorrow.”

“Da-geeeee…” he complained pouting as he slipped out of the room.” “You go to bed too! Or you’ll fall asleep during training!”

He knew, it wouldn't be the first time either, but he couldn't simply leave wen xu and go sleep, not after--

The truth was wen xu reminded him of father. Nie huaisang was too young at the time, he remembered the shock and the pain of losing him, but not the long, restless nights spent awake, waiting for him to get better, waiting as his qi destroyed his own body. Healers said it was different, small details making it different, wen xu wasn't going to succumb to a massive qi deviation, probably. Still nie mingjue sat by his bed and waited. 

It was after a week that the wen heir woke up, dazed, looking at his surroundings until his eyes settled on the person dozing off next to the bed. He didn't feel rested, he felt like he could sleep one week more, but he also didn't feel his body threatening to split at any moment. 

"you're awake." there was a little surprise in the voice, there was sleep he tried to brush off, a hand holding his and a worried, yet relieved look on MingJue's face. Yes, he was awake. Alive. Safe. 

"my brother…?" he asked, voice raspy, his throat hurting. Nie mingjue shook his head, he wasn't there, wen xu hoped he still managed to reach a safe place. 

"think of getting better yourself, you almost died." he said. "I'll send my spies  to look for him." wen xu nodded, not thinking much of his words and fell asleep. 

The next time he woke up he felt better, more awake, more focused. Nie mingjue was still there. 

"you don't have spies." he stated as a greeting. He had never heard of spies in the Nie sect. They were known for strength, for heavy sabers and direct battles, spies were more something his sect had, or the Jin sect. 

"No, I don't. - nie mingjue agreed with a chuckle. - I have only one spy and it's my own man." 

As if on clue, a shadow appeared outside the door, kneeling and silently asking permission to enter, granted by a quick gesture of MingJue's hand. 

"I found them." 

The man was familiar, wen xu was sure he met him before but he couldn't remember the name, or where he met him. It wasn't important. 

"my brother?" 

"and zhuliu." the man nodded. The next thing wen xu noticed, when dropping his head with a relieved sigh, was the man's shadow. It was… Weird. It was long, stretched in a way that was impossible in that light, almost like it was checking outside. He blinked, thinking it was a trick of the light or due to his tiredness. 

"can you bring them here safely?" 

The man bowed and his shadow stretched more, before he turned to leave. 

"what-- who is he?" 

Wen xu finally dared to ask. 

"nie zonghui. My spy." mingjue said with a little smile. "he comes from the Zhao clan, you're familiar with it, right?"  

The name was familiar. Zhao… Zhao….

"zhuliu came from the Zhao clan… I thought he was the last survivor."

Nie mingjue sat with his back against the bed.

"they're brothers from what I know. The clan wasn't known for they're high cultivation, but every generation had a member with a particular, unnatural ability. In our generation there have been two." 

"and the destruction of the clan when zhuliu lost control over it. What is zonghui?" 

"a shadow. - well, that was obvious enough given how silent he appeared and how his own shadow acted on his own but… - they're twins and their parents were too so proud that zhuliu developed such strong ability, despite its danger, that they wanted to keep him safe. So they made his twin his shadow. He had to protect him from everything and everyone. Zonghui said that when he was 10 and his brother's power went rogue his own ability got triggered and he merged with the darkness to save himself. He lived as such for a couple of years before learning how to free himself, and then they took separate ways."

"he literally became his shadow…" wen xu said, almost sadly. "that's why sometimes zhuliu looks back at his shadow despite them not being together. But… but zhuliu never mentioned a brother, even less a twin." 

"Zonghui left in the night, without a goodbye. Like a shadow. That's when I found him, hiding on the walls of the palace. He looked cold and uncomfortable so I took him in." 

Wen xu stifled a laugh, people said the Nie brothers were nothing alike, but they were wrong. They both were way too keen on taking in strays, be it little birds like huaisang did or people, like mingjue did more time than people knew. Zonghui hadn't been the first one, and he probably wasn't the last either. - he was taking them in too, when most sects would ignore them in fear the lan would come after them. - 

"you're lucky to have someone like him." he commented, laying on his side, a hand playing softly over nie MingJue's hair like so many times before, they were close enough to let themselves be seen at their weakest point without fear, close enough to let the other touch them. - wen xu prided himself of having been the first person to have sect leader Nie under his hands, completely at his mercy, to have him beg for one touch more. It had been one night only, they knew they wouldn't work in the long run, but nothing could stop them from trying. Despite the two years Mingjue had more than him, Wen Xu immediately realized he never let anyone close. Not that close. For a moment he wondered if he still was like he remembered, melting like snow in the sun in the care of someone he trusted and loved. - "it looks like he belongs to you, from the way he was bowing." 

"the way he was… - nie mingjue laughed lightly and cocked his head to look at him. - are you sure you're not referring to the mark you keep touching now? Always so subtle, xu'er. Subtle indeed." 

They slipped back in a familiar banter as they waited, knowing, both of them, that this was the only way they wouldn't fall apart in the dawn of a war. 

It took three days for ZongHui to return, while he could move easily and fast through the shadows he couldn’t bring anyone with himself. Wen Xu woke up with a sudden movement of the mattress, like someone had joined him, he opened his eyes to the sight of his little brother hugging his neck like life depended on that, desperately grasping at his robes and hiding against his shoulder. As soon as he realized who it was his arms flew to hold him just as tight before grabbing Wen Zhuliu, silently waiting beside the bed, and bringing him down in a hug.

“Let’s leave them be. - Nie MingJue said, a hand resting over ZongHui’s neck. - You traveled far and spent enough energy. Come rest.” He di9don’t complain, letting MingJue lead the way, for once.

The Wens never spent more than a week in the Unclean Realm before, usually during cultivation conferences or meeting his father had with the Sect Leader, both MingJue and his late father. Now, despite wishing to return to Qishan and help rebuild it, despite wanting to search for their father, they stayed in Qinghe, if possible the safest place. The Lans could easily get them there, it was true, they could come, both Twin Jades, and destroy everything on their path, but Lan Qiren wasn’t stupid, and neither were his nephews. A direct attack on Qinghe would mean an instant war, and even they, with their seemingly unstoppable army of puppets, couldn’t hope to win without proper preparations.

Lanling, they got notice of, had been quick to bow to the new master of their lands, giving them up in fear masked by an obviously fake alliance. Not even someone like Jin GuangShan could really believe Lan Qiren words of keeping them safe would hold as soon as someone spoke ill of them.

Qinghe still had a little advantage. If the Lans dared to attack the prisoner they had would be delivered to them instantly. In pieces.

What surprised more Wen Xu was how unafraid Nie MingJue looked when speaking of threats and possibilities, when he planned for the oncoming war, be it in a month or a year. The soft young man he knew once had totally been absorbed by the hate for those he considered part of his family in their youth, and Wen Xu couldn’t blame him. His people, his disciples always swore to follow him, to advance and retreat with him, no matter what lay ahead or behind them. He almost wished he could inspire his people with the same loyalty one day, one very distant day, because in no way his father was dead, in no way he would become Sect Leader right before a war, he didn’t even know where to start. And as he watched and dreamed to be like him he saw the cracks stretch bigger and deeper. When the world was turned and people weren’t looking at Nie MingJue he saw the cracks appear. One by one he saw them stretch larger, threatening to destroy him before the time, threatening to swallow him.

“Do you think it exist, a different way?”

He joined him one night when he noticed him sitting on the stairs of the silent training ground.

“A different way for what?”

“Stop them. To avoid a war. Do you think—”

“No.” And his voice broke, because deep down, Wen Xu knew he wished too to find a different way, buried deep beneath rage and grief and desire to protect. “We knew war would come for us the day Master Lan found the Yin Iron, we just turned a blind eye on that until he arrived in our gardens and trampled on everything on his path.”

“But maybe… What if we destroy the Yin Iron?”

Nie MingJue turned, he looked at him, pained, before standing and crossing his arms over the chest, pulling the robe so that it closed on the front, protecting him from the cold.

“I don’t know. - He admitted and Wen Xu looked up. - I don’t know what would happen, I don’t know what will happen the day we’ll move. But I know it will end in war and people will die.”

Wen Xu didn’t want a war. He had been trained, of course, he knew how to fight, and he knew how to survive. He had people he wanted to protect and that was enough to convince him, but he had never been on a real battlefield, he never had to look at his men in the eyes, the few that survived the burnt, and led them into battle. Her would, of course, because it was the only thing to do, right rot wrong meant little when fighting for survival, but he would carry the guilt and the weight of every man he would lose. Nie MingJue seemed to read his thoughts as clear as he had spoken them.

“Maybe there is another way, and maybe that way would work, - Wen Xu looked back at him, suddenly hopeful. - But I will take the higher risk in a battle so that you, and our brothers, won’t have to fight one later.” “Because I will not survive this one.” He thought.

In the end war came. In the end the four Sects came together against the Lans. In the end Wen Xu felt no shame in admitting how scared, absolutely terrified, he felt even when standing side by side to Nie MingJue. In the end he curled up on Nie MingJue one night, their fingers intertwined and held tight in fear of having the other disappear. In the end, when morning came, Wen Xu woke up to an empty bed.

In the end there was blood running down the white stones of Cloud Recesses as he ran as fast as he could until he reached a small pavilion surrounded by absolute silence and a red, pulsing light; Nie MingJue's body, bloody and battered, laid slumped against the wall. At the sound of his footsteps stopping Lan Xichen turned, eyes flashing red and blood smeared on his smiling lips, a hand holding Nie MingJue’s face up, fingers clawing in his skin.

“You arrived just in time. - He said, voice low, never looking away, almost freezing Wen Xu in place. He wasn’t scared. He couldn’t be scared. Not now. Not when it mattered. - Will you join me, now?”

[tangerinegod]

Hello! I am sorry to bother you but I am a senior getting ready for college this year. I am in the US and I wanted to major in the same thing you did, do you have any possible tips for me? I still haven't even looked for colleges that would be best for animation majors so I figured if you were up to giving out any tips/saying any basic ideas if you wanted to/if you had the time to then maybe I'll have a better idea! I apologise for if I sound weird! I'm tried to word it correctly but I can't 😿

hi!! i’m totally down to share my experiences! someone else also had some questions so i’m going to put them all together in this post haha, hopefully this helps! it’ll get pretty long so apologies ahead of time but art school is a lot to think about so i wanna be as helpful as i can around it, its a lot of time and money. I’m gonna put it all under a read more cus it is really really long!

i wanna start off with the fact that I had the privilege of attending school in a financially stable environment, my parents were/are really supportive so w merit scholarship i only came out with around 20-30k in debt and i also had housing support my entire time in school. they were ok with me focusing on academics so i didn’t hold a retail job unless i was out of school like summer/winter break. Ofc though i regularly take commissions/do merch/cons to try and pay for all bills that arent rent cus i did want to be financially independent where it was possible. I also did try and work during the semester but everytime i did my body would deff start to breakdown from the fact that i didnt wanna compromise schoolwork with jobs.. so just read ahead know this experience is from a student who was able to attend focusing only on school work for most of the time!

the biggest thing is knowing art school is not required to become a professional in either freelancing or industry! there are a huuuge amount of online tools and classes these days that provide the exact same education and for cheaper too. i think it depends on what experience you prefer/can handle/want but it’s definitely possible to make art/animation art your living without higher education. the thing that college will for sure give you though is the ability to meet deadlines, work even when you dont want to, and connections with peers+teachers. i think the connections part is invaluable because you’re basically coming out with a network of people you already know and who know you! 

also its good to know if you want to attend/can handle art school! it’s a lot of time and energy and students get burned out really fast. the best piece of advice i got before going was ‘if you draw every single day, even if its for only like 5-10 minutes or a doodle for a whole year you should be fine’ consistency is super key because you’re attending school to draw, and you’ll have to create work for stuff you aren’t excited for at some point or another. burnout is extremely real and the only reason i didn’t experience it was probably because i got super into drawing naruto fanart again inbetween sophomore and junior year! it helped give me something to draw seperated from school which is the only thing i was drawing for since i had entered rip. a heads up id also consider myself a workaholic so i fit in ok with the ‘art school’ environment but it is suuper unhealthy. if you are fantastic at managing your schedule then it’s definitely possible to take care of yourself! freshman year i got 8 hours a sleep a night and only pulled all nighters for some second semester finals at the end. sophomore year + up though i ended up prioritizing hw over sleep and like for sure, definitely shortened my life span. there’s another q down below where i’ll go more into detail but ya, be careful w ur work balance!

another tip especially for animation is knowing for a fact what type of animation you’re looking to go into, and what the school is offering. I didn’t think i’d get into art school at the time so i only applied to two places + decided if i didnt get into either id attend community to get credits out of the way while building portfolio. honestly? i did not do a lot of research LOL but like i did end up having the chance to tour and stuff! just know that each school will have a very different curriculum. The main differences are schools that prioritize 3D (cg animation, cg modeling, ect) and 2D/traditional (hand drawn, ‘oldschool’, digital or traditional based) this is a huge difference so make sure you do research for it! in most cases a 2D/traditional program will also offer 3D since it’s at the forefront of the industry animation wise rn. My school taught 2D but like hand drawn on physical paper 2D, frame by frame. while it was a good experience it’s super outdated because digital tools make it way faster + easier! i’d recommend looking for a program that is digital 2D over traditional 2D. 

if after your senior year covid is still affecting campuses in the US to keep them shut down i’d recommend attending a community college to get credits and then transferring into school. one of the negatives is paying money for gened classes when ur not there for them; if you can get them out of the way sooner and cheaper there is absolutely no negative + you could graduate earlier or use the extra time for better work or to work a job! 

these are all the general tips i think i’d give on like a broad basis of attending or not to think about? let me know if u have more q’s! someone asked q’s im answering below that go more into personal experiences + work culture so heres those:

- how many hours a week do u spend studying, in class, otherwise making art? like how much of ur life does it consume?

I was basically working on art.... 24/7! since i wasnt working a job at the same time i crammed as many credits as possible into my schedule so on avg i did 18 credit semesters (around 6 classes) art classes go for 6 hours and non art go for 3, so i’d spent around 30-35 hours in class a week! hw wise it varied on the class but combined it would be around 35-50 hours a week... im guessing? on average studio classes would have 8-10 hours of hw, maybe 5 for a light week, and gened classes 5 hours w them all combined. or this was probably how things were before junior year? junior+senior year i had thesis + everything else ontop.. i’d spend around 30-40 hours on thesis a week with other classes ontop of that bc my film was super long cus im a dummy! 

- is it hard going to art school n realising that altho u were probably quite talented… so is everyone else? Like. all of a sudden. ur not special and everyone seems as good as u, you know? More generally, how do u deal with comparison?

kinda?? i think instead of the idea of like you vs others it feels more of like a competition at first to be the best. this varies hugely on school culture though; my animation year was really friendly with each other and get along extremely well, so my answer to this is v different than some others who attended different schools. i think that the idea of ‘comparison’ only lasts a portion of the first year because at some point you realize that it’s not a who’s better as much as its a ‘these are my coworkers’ type thing? like healthy competition 100% because we’re all working to improve but i think most of us learned pretty early on that viewing each other as peers going into the same workforce helped a lot. also at some point everyone develops their own style/starts to develop their artistic preferences so there isn’t a way to compare whos 'better’ anymore? i dont think there ever is tbh because style is appealing based off of an individuals preferences. If anything realizing everyone else is also amazing makes you wanna work harder ig? or thats how i felt! it’s inspiring to be surrounded by so many people who create such amazing work. 

- is there a lot of workaholic culture? all nighter culture?

100000% there can be a workaholic and all nighter culture. i know people who avoided it and thats honestly fantastic because i fall super easily into that pit. sometimes i’ll pull all nighters on a personal project just because i really want to finish it... i am definitely considered a workaholic all the way through and its not healthy rip... i’d estimate at the worst i was pulling 2-3 all nighters a week and only 4-5 hours of sleep on the nights i didn’t? that was only for one year tho, after that i was like yeah ok this is really bad for my health in the long run LOL so i tried to cut it down to one all nighter a week and around 5-6 hours of sleep the rest of the week! by senior year my decision to cram in full semesters paid off and i was able to consistently get around 7 hours of sleep a night + no all nighters minus finals since my schedule was lighter despite thesis 😭 while there is that culture i don’t think people view it as like a badge of honor or something to be proud of anymore which is good, we mostly view it as a flaw of the art school system and something that needs to be fixed!!

- are you glad u did it? how did u know it was what u wanted?

i am glad i did it! i’m definitely in a limbo right now of if it was worth both my time, money, and my parents money rip but i think with what i got out of it i definitely wouldn’t be as far skill wise or knowledge wise when it comes to the art industry. i would say it was only worth it for be because i had so much support going in though so i was able to focus so much on improving. if i had only been able to put in part of the effort and not make full use of the resources provided i would honestly have a different answer.. 

i knew it was what i wanted when i realized i really couldn’t see myself pursuing a different profession happily! despite all the bumps and stuff im fully in love with drawing still and feel honored that it’s a field that can provide a living. my second profession choice was to go into culinary school? and third option i think going was into music cus i was also a band kid hehe.  

- how do u cope with ur hobby becoming ur job? how do u deal with art going from something u do for fun to something u do on command constantly?

i think seperating work art from personal art is important! in my case im doubling naruto into being personal work so i have something to fall back onto that isn’t work related. its been a hyperfixation for 12+ years? so drawing it at this point is just like personal art imo. some people have hobbies outside of art and only draw for their job! i think after attending classes for so long the idea of hobby turning into job feels extremely natural? also i enjoy doing it so thats a huge plus! 

sorry this is SO long but i hope i answered your guys’ questions! if you have more just lmk!

[spooky-raccoon]

Road Trip (Finale-Part 14)

The finale!  Part 14 of Road Trip!

Rufo x Female Reader

Bold is Rufo’s Perspective

Non-bold is Reader Perspective

Tag List: @the-clown-crypt​ @chii2blog​ @booklover2929​

         I heard Albert walking around in the early hours of the morning and I figured I’d give him a little bit more time.  He could be a bit of a sourpuss in the morning depending on the day.  I was already wired from my now empty thermos of coffee and knew he would need his few cups too to get started.  (Y/N) seemed to be doing alright from what I could tell so I slipped out to take a bathroom break and see if he needed help with anything.  He had me help with breakfast.  Both of us were quiet as we cooked away.  The stress of the day was already so thick in the air that I could cut with the butter knife I was using on some toast.  

        Albert finally spoke though.  “After we all eat, I’ll start getting the living room ready.  You and her freshen up.  And Cecil.”

        “Yeah Albert.”  I looked over to him from my simple task.

         “I’ll need some of your blood for some of the symbols I put on her. You and her have a strong connection so it’ll help keep her anchored.”

        “Whatever you need Albert.”  I perhaps sounded more groggy and the yawn I let out didn’t help.

         “You didn’t sleep a wink did you?”  Albert said without missing a beat as he started to slice oranges for orange juice.  The man knew me well.  I couldn’t help but chuckle as I went to flipping the eggs.

        “No.  Not a single wink.  Been too wired after yesterday and what almost happened.”

        “Can’t say I blame you Cecil.  I’ve seen what this sort of thing does to someone.  It’s not pretty.  Not even your hands would have stopped what would happen if you were alone or still at that hospital.  Angry spirits get what they want after all and they don’t care how.  You know that very well.”  There was a hint of a smile on his face that I caught out of the corner of my eye.

       “I had a little bit of help.  Even the greatest escape artists has a great assistant behind the scenes.”

        “And it’s been one of the best investments I’ve ever made, Cecil. I consider you a friend besides just someone who works for me. You know very few have that title.”

       “Albert, I think you need more coffee.”  I cracked a smile, a genuine one since a few days ago.  “Either you’re still tired or you’re getting just a bit mushy in your old age.”

       “If that was the case I would be goo a long, long time ago.” Albert let out a chuckle while we wrapped up breakfast.  “Now, go make sure she eats and then we’ll get started.”

        I grabbed the plates he offered to me along with another cup of coffee for myself.  I probably didn’t need it after the thermos, but I have a hard time saying no to a good cup of coffee.  I didn’t really touch my food.  Instead I made sure she ate, and she seemed fine as she took each bite.  Almost like the other day didn’t happen and she didn’t almost spew some too powerful spirit energy from her mouth.  She was still like a limp doll but that would change soon. Soon she’d be back to normal and she would smile with that sparkle in her eyes.  She would hug me tight and I’d hear her voice again.  We could take silly pictures again on her phone and I can take her to diners when I go to bring her home.  I cupped her cheek and gave her a feather like kiss on her lips then looked into her eyes.  I hope she could see right back into mine.

       “We’re gonna get you right as rain (Y/N).  It’ll be alright soon.”  I knew she couldn’t answer me back, but I just wish she could say something.

       With a heavy sigh I scooped her up into my arms, bridal style, and made my way with her to the living room.  The furniture had already been pushed to the sides and Albert was busy drawing a variety of symbols on the floor in chalk.  For now he had me set her down on the couch.

       “Your hand Cecil my boy.”  He held out his hand and I offered mine to him.  “This will hurt just for a brief moment.”

       “Don’t worry about me Albert.  Not the first time I’ve been cut up.”

       Albert chuckled before grabbing one of his knives he had at the ready and gripped my wrist.  He made a few quick cuts and the blood that came from them he gathered in a small bowl. I had already healed as he knelt down by (Y/N) and collected some of hers.  Did it irk me a little as I watched the knife cut her next?  Maybe but I had to remember it would help.  I watched as he mixed the two together and pour in a mix of various concoctions.  I didn’t understand what he was doing but I didn’t need to.  As long as it got her back.

       “Lay her in the middle Cecil.”  He gestured and I did as instructed.

        He got beside her once more and with a small paint brush he started to paint symbols on her visible skin.  I was almost mesmerized as he made sure he got each one right.  I could barely hear him start to mumble under his breath, but he was saying some sort of chant.

       When he covered most of her chest that's when the screaming started. It wasn’t like the ones I heard in that run-down cabin that were hers.  No. These were like a beast got its leg stuck in a trap and was being stabbed by hunters.  She started to thrash, and Albert barked at me to get her pinned down.  I could barely hear him over the howling, but I moved.  I had her arms pinned down and he positioned himself to sit on her legs though she still managed to rock us both around.  That’s when I saw a light come from her mouth.

        “Albert!  Hurry up!” I moved quickly so my knees were keeping her arms down so my hands were now free to clamp her mouth shut.

        “Haven’t had anything so feisty in a while.”  I could hear Albert mutter as he dropped the brush and opted for a knife instead.  “She won’t like this but right now I don’t think she gives a damn.”  With her shirt hoisted up he started to cut into the flesh of her stomach more symbols and he spoke more words in forgotten languages. As he chanted he yanked my hands away just in time for her mouth to open and a series of orbs came from her mouth that flew around the room and fizzled away.

      The strange growls that were coming from her suddenly died down and I watched as her eyes came back into focus on the world around her.  I moved off her arms and stayed to her side, my hands going to cup her cheeks.  Her skin felt so hot and after the strange clamminess it had felt not an hour ago I was relieved.  She looked so exhausted and like she was about to pass out.  Though I couldn’t blame her if she did right there.

       “Doll?  Talk to me (Y/N).  Let me know it’s you and not some rube in there.”  I didn’t mean to sound hopeless or to beg but after everything I just wanted to see her back to normal.

       “Rufo?”  My throat felt sore, almost like I had been on roller coaster all day and screaming the whole ride.  “Where.. where am I?”  I tried to sit up, but my body felt stiff and weak.  Rufo moved to help me up and I saw a man standing in front of me.  Looking around I could see a bowl of a red liquid and then there was a pain in my stomach.  When I looked down I saw weird symbols etched into my skin.  “What the fuck happened to me?”

       “You, my dear, got caught in something nasty when you played hero for our dear Cecil.”  The man went to gather the items that were around.  With the things put away he offered me a hand for a handshake which I took.  He had a firm grip though I expected as much from a man who was built like a middle-aged truck driver.  His eyes seemed friendly, but something was off in them.  “Albert Miles.  You can call me a longtime friend of Cecil’s.”  His hand let go of mine and he helped Rufo get me up onto my feet then sitting down on the couch when we realized my legs weren’t ready just quite yet. “He brought you too me after the little incident with Crowley in the cabin.  It’s a good thing he did, or you certainly would have been lost.”

       “I don’t know how to thank you but, well, thank you.”  Rufo put a blanket around my shoulders which I held tighter onto me before grabbing something to clean my cut into stomach.

       “No need for thank you’s (Y/N).  It’s not often Cecil brings a friend over so I’m happy to help.”  There was that smile again that almost sent chills down my spine, but I smiled back at him.  His eyes went to Rufo who now slipped an arm around me.  “You two clean up then get some rest for a few days before heading back.  And take your time to bring her home.  We don’t need anything to be rushed.”  With that Albert turned on his heel and walked toward what I saw was most likely the kitchen.  “I’ll make us a lunch.  Exorcism’s always leave me hungry.”

       Lunch passed with a blur and the rest of the day followed suite.  Seeing the smile on Rufo’s face was the main thing that was consistent though.  Even as he helped me shower or get into bed there was always a smile on his face.  Albert had been a kind host and I found myself thanking him maybe a little too much as he and Rufo were getting the car ready for the drive.

       “Now, now (Y/N), I’m happy to help.  Besides, Cecil and I have an agreement so I’m always pleased when we can both benefit from it.”  Albert handed me a small leather satchel.  I could hear the clanking of vials inside as I took it.  “There’s some medicine in here in case you start to feel a little off.  There may be some aftereffects but keep up with it and you’ll be just fine.  Only a few sips each time mind you.”

       “Thank you, Albert.  For everything.”  I managed one final thank you before Rufo ushering me to the car.  We both gave Albert a wave goodbye and we were off.

        The drive was mostly quiet but the occasional song singing and light chit chat.  It was almost like nothing happened, but I knew Rufo was keeping an eye on me.  I could see from the corner of his eye how often it would flick over to me.  He even reminded me a few times to take the medicine before I realized I needed it.  It was good to be back again though I had questions.

        “What happened after I hit you out of the light?  I only remember pain and then not being here.” We were sat in a diner, far from others though it wasn’t exactly busy.  Rufo raised a brow while he was taking a mindful chew from his burger.

       “Crowley and I immediately took you to a hospital.  I was too angry to go inside so he took you in. We realized this was something regular treatment wouldn’t fix so he had me take you to Albert.”  He leaned back in his seat as he spoke, and he fiddled with his glass in his free hand.  “I honestly expected him to try to fight me while he had the chance but seems you said the magic word that turns that little switch in him when you just lost consciousness of yourself.”  He could see my confusion clear on my face and there was a small smile on the corner of his lip.  “You said one little word.  Please.”

       I sat there for the rest of meal, both a little confused and thankful. To be fair, a lot of this strange world I was exposed to left me very confused ever since Rufo revealed his clown face to me.  Even when Crowley first sat down across from me at that small diner and warned me about Rufo.  Maybe one day I’d get the answers about some things but for now I was ready to wrap up this vacation and get back home.

       It was almost nice to get back into my town and then to see my small home on the block coming into view.  Rufo pulled into the driveway and despite me saying I could get it, we spent a few minutes getting my things either in the house or in the garage where I could take care of it later.  The whole time though there was an odd look on his face.  He looked almost lost and perplexed.  When the last of it was put away we found ourselves standing in my driveway.

       “(Y/N) promise you’ll take care while I’m gone.”  His hands rested heavy on my shoulder and my gaze went up to his face.  He was already looking down at me.

        “I promise, Rufo.  Don’t worry too much about me.  Promise me that you’ll take care as well.”  That made him crack a bit of a smile.

       “Oh, don’t worry about me doll.  I’m hard to get rid of.”  His brows raised, eyes widening a bit like he remembered something, and he quickly reached for something in his pocket.  “I, well, I got this for you for when you woke up, but it slipped my mind to give it to you then.  I wanted you to recover and rest first.”  He slipped out a small box and he handed it over to me.  

        “Rufo, you didn’t need to get me anything.”  He slipped it into my hand, a move insisting I take it regardless my protests.  With everything that’s happened and how he’d been, I couldn’t really say no.  I opened it and revealed inside the lovely locket inside.  “Rufo, it’s beautiful.  Thank you.” I went to flip it open to make sure the hinge worked properly, and I saw a picture of the two of us inside.  The selfie from the cliff.

         “Albert must have put that in.”  Rufo chuckled and I could see him shaking his head.  “He’s always been a sly man.”

        “I’ll have to thank him again another time.”  Rufo slipped the necklace from my hand and helped me put it on.

       “I need to get going.  I promise to come back.”  Rufo’s eyes roamed over my face like he was trying to make sure he remembered every little feature.  “And when I do, I’ll take you on another trip and I’ll show you all the best sites out there. Coney Island, every fun little museum and we’ll do anything else you want.”

        “I’d like that a lot, Rufo.”  My hands went to hold the back of his neck and we shared one last kiss.  It was deep and I felt my heart skip wildly in my chest.  Everything in me didn’t want to let him go but I knew he couldn’t stay.

       I felt my heart sink as he gave me one last smile before turning and walking down the street.  I watched him until he was a speck on the horizon.  

 A FEW WEEKS LATER

        Rufo had been gone for a little over a month now and he kept in contact when he could.  Usually always by a different phone number but it was always nice to know he was both doing well and to just hear from him.  He always said he’d be back soon though it felt like it would take longer and longer.  Either way, I’d be patiently waiting.  Our last conversation he was nearly all the way across the states but the good news he was almost done with his job.  Almost.

        The next morning I found myself sitting at the dining table with breakfast fresh on the table.  And then a knock on the door.  Usually the newspaper delivery boy just hit the door but perhaps he was trying a different approach.  I got up, still in my pajamas and somewhat messy hair, and answered the door.

        “Well, you’re a sight for sore eyes doll.”  Rufo in his human look was there and he had a duffel bag in hand. “Miss me?”

       “Rufo!”  The duffel bag fell to the ground as I nearly tackled the man to the ground, and he had to quickly grab me.  “You’re here!”

        “I had to lead you on a little bit.  I needed to make sure you were surprised when I came back.  I think it worked pretty well, don’t you think?” He let out a laugh and he smiled down at me.  “Finish what you were doing and get ready to go.”

        “Where are we going?”  A look of confusion replaced my excitement but that only made him smile even wider.

        “Just on a little road trip.  I got it all planned out and set up for us.  It’ll be a blast (Y/N).”  He grinned before planting a gentle kiss on my smiling lips.  

       I used to ask myself if I would have agreed all that time ago if I would still let the man at the gas station into my car when he asked for a ride. As we drove down some random highway in the back way of somewhere that question popped into my head once more.  The answer has always been yes.

[minijenn]

Random Keys/UF Crossover Ideas

Because I’m torn between both of my projects right now and I hate myself, here’s something that’ll only really appeal to the very niche audience of people who read both Universe Falls and Keys to the Kingdom. Basically its a list of somewhat spoilery (for Keys more than UF) headcanons of what it might be like if the Gravity Falls world scheduled to be in Keys was a Universe Falls world instead (in the sense that it still takes place in Gravity Falls physically but like... its set in the universe of Universe Falls (oy I’m explaining too much lemme just start rambling off the random ideas that have been popping into my head over the last several days of this hypothetical crossover of my two stupid fanfics):

For reference’s sake, on the UF end of things, this would take place somewhere around the middle of arc10ish, pretty close to Weirdmageddon as the GF world in Keys is gonna take place pretty close to Weirdmageddon too. 

For Keys, the trip to this world would still take place in the same spot the GF world does, so semi close to the end of the story, as one of the last Disney worlds of the fic (guess it wouldn’t really be a “Disney” world here but ehhhhhh) 

Guess I better give some context about what’s going on in each fic around that time; UF’s is easier to do so we’ll start with that; basically without spoiling a certain upcoming arc ender too much, during arc 10, everyone’s sorta frazzled what between all of the interdimensional travel, worries about Bill coming back and causing chaos, worries about the Diamonds possibly getting involved in stuff, shaken by the recent revelation that Rose allegedly shattered Pink Diamond and so on (basically there’s a lot going on in the leadup to UF’s ending hahaha) 

Context for Keys (again without getting too spoilery (gotta tread even more careful here) is that by this point in the story Sora is basically in nonstop Panic Mode about the whole norting thing thanks to a certain encounter with one Bald Old Fuckhead during the Aladdin world immediately before this; so Sora’s on the run from basically his entire support system cause he’s all worried about unintentionally hurting his friends (and he also just doesn’t want Riku or Kairi in particular to see what’s happening to him cause Disaster Bi). 

Cont. Context for Keys cause that last bullet point was Long: Despite all this fuckin Angst, Sora’s still out searching for the Keys on his own in the hopes of securing the final few for the guardians of light before he can be fully norted and forced into handing them over to the Organization instead 

Not to mention those freak relatively dark/light powers of his are alll outta whack cause he A. Doesn’t know how to control them At All and B. Is Emotionally Distraught so that’s only making things worse

And the entire gang is more or less out searching the worlds tryin’ to find Sora (he yeeted his Gummi Phone off a fuckin cliff or something just so nobody could get in touch with him smh what a waste of a perfectly good cell phone); among the teams that are out doing so include the one we’re gonna focus on here, Ven and Roxas  

Back to the UF end of things, I wanna talk about where each of the Mystery Kids are at this point; Steven is sorta all over the place with, again, the revelation that his mom could have been a murderer; Dipper is hella nervous about the idea of Bill getting his hands on the Rift (even moreso after RMD cause PTSD is Somethin Else kids), Mabel is in that mindset of not wanting the summer to end so they can all stay together, and Connie is basically (as usual) the only one with any brain cells as she’s trying to hold the gang together

(lowkey spoilers for the Keys GF chapters start here) So Sora arrives in Gravity Falls, suffering from all the angsts and anxieties and whatnot and just Not Having a Very Good Time Emotionally/Mentally as he starts lookin around for the Key in the woods or whatever

But lo and behold everyone’s favorite Evil Corn Chip just so happens to be spyin’ on him, and before too long Bill makes his appearance and acts all friendly to Sora, claiming that he can basically undo the whole norting thing (which he knows all about because of course he would, this is Bill Fucking Cipher we’re talking about here)

Sora’s skeptical but at the same time he’s sort of willing to do whatever he can at this point to keep his heart from being taken over by Mr. Bald Old Fuckhead and all Bill is asking for in return is for him to nab some sparkly snow globe that he claims already belongs to him but was stolen by some local family who Bill makes out to be pretty bad so hey, why not at least give it a shot? (dumb, the kid is dumb this is something we’ve established many times over by this point)

So Sora sets out to look for both the rift and the Key (while also being harangued by Xemnas who’s the Org. baddie of the GF world but errrrr i don’t have a ton of ideas about what he’s gonna do yet so we’ll just skip over that for now and focus on somethin else)

Something else being the fact that Sora happens upon a bunch of kids being attacked by a group of Nobodies, so he swoops in to save them even though the kids already look like they’re holding their own pretty well against them (two of them are out here swinging swords around, one’s really handy with that grappling hook while another one has some sort of magical shield? Its weird??? But cool imo) 

So they all team up to take the Nobodies out and following that, Sora meets and mostly hits it off with the Mystery Kids

Mabel is super hype (she kinda instantly crushes on Sora as soon as she sees him even though he’s too fuckin old for her); Steven and Sora radiate the same sort of Sweet But Sad energy so of course they’re best friends immediately 

Connie’s a lil bewildered by Sora (who the hell goes around swinging a giant key like its a sword, that’s just not practical???) but Dipper’s distrustful radar is instantly raised for a a number of reasons, but the biggest red flag he notices about Sora by far is that his eyes are yellow (btw by this point his eyes will more or less be completely yellow and his hair almost entirely white; he usually wears his hood up to try and hide that, but it got blown off during the forementioned fight) 

So the kids were out and about in the woods for mystery hunting reasons, mostly cause they were trying to cool their heads from all of the stress they’re under mentioned earlier (and cause hey, the summer’s ending soon and they gotta spend all the time they can together at this point) 

However, they quickly change gears when they learn about Sora’s quest to find some magical Key and they all eagerly decide they wanna help with that cause it sounds hella rad; Dipper would likely be the only dissenter to this plan, but he’d be lowkey about it, kinda deciding to keep a suspicious eye on Sora all the while (he doesn’t really act like he’s being possessed by Bill, but ya can never be too sure nowadays...) 

So they all set out in search of the Key (Sora decides not to tell them about Bill or the rift just yet, but even so right off the bat he’s basically decided “yes I’m adopting all four of these kids as my new little brothers and sisters and no one can stop me”)

So cut to the other end of things and we have Ven and Roxas who have basically only just met each other face to face for the first time (they’re both basically constantly doin that spiderman look alike meme); they’ve been more or less teamed up to look for Sora together tho, and they both got a massive guilt complex about the whole thing cause they used to be able to directly protect him inside his heart but now they can’t since they’re out of it so they’re determined to find him and make sure he’s OK

They also show up in Gravity Falls, arriving much closer to the Mystery Shack and the Gem Temple than Sora did; since its the closest thing nearby, the boys decide to venture over to the Mystery Shack to look first 

After some brief, confused yet fun conversation with Soos and Wendy, they bump into Stan and that initial meeting goes something like: 

Stan: Who the hell are you two supposed to be? You twins or something?

Roxas: No??? What the fuck is a twin??

Ventus, realizing that Roxas has like 0 real world experience or regard for world order at that moment right fucking there: (oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck) Ummmm YES WE ARE WE’RE TOTALLY TWINS AHAHA AREN’T WE BROTHER?

Roxas, immensely confused: What the hell is a brother??

And then Ford shows up and Roxas looks between him and Stan is just like “ooooh ok now I get what a twin is” and Ven is just like “oh my god I think Roxas managed to catch some of Sora’s stupidity after all asdkjalsdkalsd” 

Anyway after all this awkward confusion is over, Roxas and Ven bring up that they’re there looking for someone, and while neither Stan nor Ford are that invested, they do offhandedly mention maybe the Crystal Gems can help

Ironically enough, the Gems happen to burst into the shack right then and there, taking refuge from the surge of strange creatures swarming outside (Nobodies & Heartless); the Gems are rather overwhelmed by them since their weapons don’t work that great on them so they’ve come to seek Ford’s help (since he’s got all those weapons and lasers and shit he keeps stockpiled) 

In this Ven and Roxas end up meeting the Gems and both of them are just like :O (Ven’s lowkey like, “Aqua would get along great with these ladies, they’re total badasses just like her!”) and the Gems just kinda pass the boyos off like “yeah whatever there’s a fuckton of monsters outside meanwhile where are our kids?”

Stan and Ford are like *shrug* cause neither of them are very good at being Responsible when it comes to keeping an eye on these danger-prone kids and the Gems are just like *facepalm* “Morons” so they set out to find the kids and Ven and Roxas are like “well they know their way around here so why not go with them to see if we can find Sora too!” and so they all head out on a lil adventure

Then a whole bunch of stuff happens on both sides of the plot that I haven’t bothered to figure out; bunch of cute character interactions and whatever; insert possible second encounter with Xemnas in here somewhere where he basically shows up just to intimidate Sora but Sora’s like “no way jose, you touch any of these precious kiddos and you’ll Die” 

Somewhere in here, under... some circumstances, Sora and the MK make it back to the shack but like... everyone’s gone? (cause they all went out to look for them, didn’t even leave a note, fuckin rude) 

They search the house for anybody and then, on complete fuckin accident, Sora finds his way down into the basement (the portal room to be exact) and what else does he find down there but that thing Bill asked him to get (the rift)! 

Though he’s a little confused about why its there (Bill did say some awful family “stole” the rift from him, but none of the MK are awful, they a bunch of Good Kids); Sora still pockets it like a desperate dummy dumb anyway and doesn’t say a word about it to the kids because he thinks they might be too innocent and young to know anything about it anyway (he’s wrong of course because much like him these kids are Traumatized with a capital T but we’ll just ignore that for now)

Still on the search for that Key, Sora and the kids head out only to run right into Stan, Ford, and the Gems on the way out; course, Ven and Roxas are still with them and they see Sora and they’re like :D while Sora’s just like “aw fuck” and runs away from his problems like always

So he rushes off into the woods and who else would show up but that Motherfuckin Evil Corn Chip again who’s like “yo kid ya got the stuff” and Sora’s just like “brb having a panic attack rn” but then he ends up obliviously handing the rift over anyway cause again he’s incredibly desperate for any way out of his current horrible situation

Of course because I’m a sap for Drama, he happens to do so just as all four of the MK show up, having followed him into the woods and ohohohoh boy oh boy let’s just say them seeing Sora just up and giving the rift over to Bill would be a Moment (well, at least for Steven and Dipper cause they actually know what the fuckin rift is unlike Mabel and Connie who still wouldn’t at that point) 

So basically Bill is a little shit and takes the rift, but he can’t actually fuckin do anything with it cause he’s a physical object and he’s still intangible (or somethin like that idk I just don’t want Weirdmageddon to happen cause it would make things too complicated) so he’s like “fuck gotta find some stupid sap to possess so I can smash this dumb thing” and he nearly targets Sora (cause the kid was already stupid enough to help him in the first place so why not?) until Steven ends up being the one to fend him off using his shield 

Bill shrugs it off and makes off with the rift anyway (its like... hovering or something? idk I’m running out of steam) and everyone panics of course, especially Sora cause he’s just like “well shit I certainly Fucked Up didn’t i?” and the MK are both a mix of “YOU THINK?” (from Dipper and Connie mostly) and “imo not your fault Bill’s tricked just about all of us he’s an asshole” (from Steven and Mabel)

Amidst this a bunch of lil things also happen; the Stans and the Gems show up (along with Ven and Roxas), basically everyone is immensely confused (aka those who have no idea what the fucking rift is) and alarmed (those who do know what the rift is) that Bill has what he needs to more or less fuck the entire world over 

So everyone just decides to put everything aside and team up all together to track Bill down and get the rift back before he can break it (there’s a lot of heartwarming trust moments in here, mostly cause trust is like... the cornerstone theme of the GF chapters in Keys for obvious reasons) 

They eventually do find him and *insert big epic battle scene here* where everyone teams up to basically beat Bill to death or whatever (don’t ask me how they be doin that if he’s intangible, again I.... I’m tired and this post is long enough as it is) 

Yadda yadda yadda they beat him, get the rift back and effectively prevent Weirdmageddon from happening to begin with (which just does SO much wonderful fuckery for UF’s timeline moving forward but whatever, this ain’t about that) 

Oh and during that Climactic Battle Scene somewhere there’s some bit about Sora learning to better trust others/himself that leads to him getting the world’s Key? I-I I dunno its a work in progress...

Anyway after this there’s a lot of good character interactions all around, reconciliations between the UF characters and the Keys characters, particularly between Sora and the MK (again he’s adopted these kiddos and don’t you forget it)

So with the Key in hand, Sora starts to leave and Roxas and Ven almost convince him to go back with them until *insert Big Keys Spoiler here that results in the Organization getting their hands on that Key Sora just got and also results in Sora running away again cause... reasons*

And that’s the end of the chapters or whatever idk 

There’s probably more ideas I had in mind for this but I literally can’t do anymore my brain is dying 

I might possibly write this for reals someday i dunno I’m stuck in two personal hells here so I might as well combine ‘em

Yes I’m aware this post leans more heavily on Keys than UF but its set in the world of UF so fuck off 

Feel free to add on with any thoughts you might have about the idea

I’m tired

Amen 

[quickspinner]

⭐️star⭐️ Oooooorrr Hey gorgeous. Honestly one of my favorite lukanette stories of all time. Whichever you prefer 😊

Ask for director’s commentary

All right I’ve got another star in my inbox so we’ll go with Hey Gorgeous since that’s probably my most popular piece to date. So, how about a little bit of background, a couple of the issues I had writing it, and a deleted scene? I’m gonna go ahead and put a cut here because, as we all know: I’m wordy.

HG was totally an accident; I had no idea how it was going to blow up either in size or popularity. It’s also a fic that wouldn’t have happened, or at least wouldn’t have been nearly as big, if I hadn’t gotten such a great reaction to the beginning, so just know: Your feedback matters. If you like something, tell the author, because you never know what might happen (but it’s almost always more fic in some way or another).

I wrote the original 8 or 9 pieces mostly in one go; I did a little filling out and polishing before I posted each piece, and then when the feedback was so positive I started thinking about how I could continue and expand it, and I just jotted down the scenes as they came to me. That was really the fun thing about HG, aside from all the flirting which was fun to write--I didn’t worry about the things that usually stall me a bit. Because of the way I was writing it I didn’t worry about connecting scenes or flow. Usually, when I write a story, I have a bunch of really vivid scenes in my mind that I write first, and then I have to go back and connect them and smooth everything into a flow, but I didn’t bother with that with HG and that gave the story a really unique energy. Since it didn’t have a serious, plot-heavy narrative arc, I could just hit the high points of the relationship and that made it a lot of fun. 

I struggled a lot sometimes with whether Luka was really in character; HG Luka had a little less reserve and a little more sass than canon Luka. I tried to keep the things I see really essential to his character; his music (obviously), his empathy and sensitivity, his relationship with Juleka, his tendency to be a helper/caretaker and a problem solver. I admit I get salty with people who think there’s nothing to Luka; I think that the show gives us a lot of implied information and it’s not hard to extrapolate from there (if you actually care enough to think about it for five minutes instead of just dismissing his entire character because you don’t like the competition), but there’s also kind of a lot of wiggle room with him, because he gets so little screen time, and since I was working with an older Luka, I tried to sort of run with a direction I felt was plausible, even if it was a little more extreme than what we’d seen from him so far. That’s another reason why the feedback was so important in making this story continue; when I started to question what I was doing, I would look at the reactions and think, well, I must be doing something right, so here goes.

With that said, there were times where I started second guessing and got a little bit stuck. One of those spots was the moment where Luka sat down and talked to Marinette about the future. I didn’t want it to turn into a spontaneous proposal (because I already had the proposal scene planned) but I did feel like it was an important discussion to have. I also felt like I should show some conflict in their relationship, and that seemed like kind of a good point, but in the end...I just didn’t want to write it. I didn’t want to write them fighting! Because I didn’t want to it was next to impossible to actually do it, so finally I said the hell with it, I don’t care if it makes them look too perfect, I’m not dealing with that. But in the process of thinking through all of that I wrote this version of the scene, thinking maybe I could handle the argument in flashback, but ultimately, I decided it didn’t fit the tone of the story, and resigned myself to the fact that they would just stay too perfect. I can’t say I regret it, honestly. (Also I don’t know why there was so much cursing in this version of the scene, but it might have to do with the way I was winding myself up over getting it right, lol.)

***

Toni’s words weighed on his mind, but he couldn’t quite find the courage, or the words, or the right opening. 

Luka was overthinking it, he knew. Blunt, raw honesty had gotten him this far. They’d done the meet the parents thing, they lived together, and he was honestly being fucking ridiculous. It wasn’t as if he was asking her for any kind of commitment. 

So why was he so fucking terrified that asking her about the future was crossing a line? That it would somehow make her really look at the idea of a life with him and cause her to freak the fuck out.

He’d seen her freak out, a few months ago when she’d had deadlines stacked up and it was clearly physically impossible for her to meet them all. It wasn’t pretty. It was messy and tearful and honestly a little bit traumatizing, giving him flashbacks to Juleka’s darkest days. Seeing Marinette like that scared him literally sick, and the fight they’d had afterwards gave him chills to think about.

He’d been quietly furious that she had let things get so bad, but he had held it in until her deadlines were past and he’d thought she had recovered enough to talk about it...but she hadn’t, and it turned out neither had he. She’d fled livid and crying to Alya and he’d sobbed in Juleka’s lap, and in the end, after they’d both been talked down enough to deal with each other again, they’d agreed that Marinette had overextended herself to the point of endangering her health and sanity, and that Luka could find ways to confront her about it that didn’t involve projecting all the emotional trauma of his childhood into a situation that, while bad, wasn’t nearly dire enough to warrant his level of reaction. 

Luka hated himself for weeks afterward, even more so because Juleka felt guilty that her past problems had been a contributing factor. He probably owed her therapist a gift basket.

He jumped as he felt Marinette’s hands on his shoulders. “Hey, Gorgeous.” 

“Y-you’re t-tense t-today,” she said, leaning over the back of the couch. “Are y-you r-r-r—” She closed her eyes, and Luka reached up to squeeze her hand and sighed. He’d freaked her out, and now she was nervous. Her stutter was hardly ever that bad at home unless she was stressed out. “Sssorry,” she sighed. 

“It’s fine, I know I’ve been weird. Come on over here, I’ve been trying to figure out how to bring this up and I guess I might as well just blurt it out. It’s not bad stuff, just...well, I don’t know how you’re going to feel about it.”

Marinette came around the side of the couch and sat down next to him. Luka gave into the impulse to pull her into his lap. She wriggled around until she was snuggled against him but could still see his face. “You know I met with my agent the other day,” he said, figuring that was the best place to start. “She’s not happy about some of the choices I’ve been making, about the work I’ll take. She thinks I’m not thinking long term enough, and I…” He paused, and bit his lip, squeezing her thigh nervously. “I guess...I don’t know how to think long term without talking to you first. And I would never, ever want to pressure you into anything and I’m not asking you for any kind of commitment or—” Marinette put her fingers over his lips lightly to stop him. 

“J-just t-tell mmme what you w-want,” she said softly. 

Luka smiled. “I just wanna stay with you, babe, that’s all. I can do what I do anywhere. Toni thinks I should be willing to travel more, make more contacts now with people that will be big later. It all makes sense, I guess, except…” he shrugged. “I just don’t care. I’m not out to get famous or rich, I just want to be comfortable, and happy, and right now I’m all of those here with you.”

Marinette’s lips thinned slightly, and one finger tapped lightly on his arm in a nervous tic that meant she was thinking hard. Luka waited as patiently as he could, though his whole body felt tense and nervous. Marinette’s mind was a thing of wonder, and it was probably racing along paths of possibility he hadn’t even considered. 

When her focus returned to him, she didn’t speak immediately, and suddenly Luka found himself asking, “Does it bother you, that I don’t care about all that stuff? Is it...is it too much for me to want to always be here? Am I too much?”

“No,” she said clearly. “I don’t think you c-could b-be as...as you if that w-was what you wwwanted. And y-you’re n-not t-too mmmuch.” She turned pink. “Y-you’re mmy s-safe p-place, L-luka. Y-you always b-back off when I n-need ssspace, usually even b-before I h-have to ask. I w-want you to b-be here.” 

His shoulders must’ve lowered two inches in relief. Marinette giggled, patting his cheek. “I w-want you t-to be h-happy. I’m h-happy y-you asked mme, b-but I t-trust you to manage your c-career your own w-way.”

[hecohansen31]

Hello! ❤ I was wondering if I could request a season one Roman Godfrey x reader? Reader just moved to hemlock grove and hasn't really talked to many people except for Shelley. She moved there because she has a rare health problem. Roman finds out about it when he sees her at the white tower. She doesn't want anyone to know and begs him to stay quiet. He says yes but if she goes on Just one date with him. They both confess feelings after the date at school after the date.

(A/N): Hey sweetie!

Since you didn’t specify which kind of rare health problem, I chosen one myself and I hope it isn’t a problem, if it is just let me know and I’ll try to do my best to change the fic.

As always: I am sorry for taking quite a bit, and I low key know that this might strain a bit from what you requested, still… I hope you’ll like it!

Much love!

WARNINGS: Gentic Disease about Bones, Roman being stupid, Slight VIolence.

Most children didn’t have to worry about running and playing, because they could break easily their bones, as you did.

You had born with a rare genetic disease, which run in your family, but unlike your mother, who carried the bone deformation, for you it had had much more complexities, which grew with you growing up, something that not only had brought you extreme pain but also a few deformation and slowing of your physical growth.

That is why you had moved to Hemlock Grove before the start of your last year of high school.

 You hadn’t wanted to go, honestly, since it was your last year of college and you saw no immediate urgency to try to make your bones change, as the doctors at the White Tower promised.

You had friends in your old high school and you honestly didn’t want to go through the entire “freak” phase, preferring to keep everything you had to yourself, hiding it from your fellow classmates you met each day at Hemlock Grove.

You didn’t want to be perceived as asocial, although you could care less of their opinion, but you didn’t want to be annoyed by the usual question on your sickness, preferring to stick by yourself and hope that the year would be soon over.

You also didn’t enjoy your trips to the White Tower: most of the procedures which the doctors tried on your body weren’t only painful, but extremely tiring and most days you were stuck in an hospital bed with either a broken leg or arm, meanwhile your parents would question the doctors what went wrong this time.

You hadn’t much hope to begin with, honestly and low key hoped just to be left alone, with your rare disease, but at the same time you didn’t want to bother your parents, knowing they just wanted the best for you.

Although they never listened to what you thought was the “best” for you.

But you had learned how to deal with this, and the fact that most of the time you weren’t alone in the annoying visits helped you, a bit.

Shelley Godfrey had quickly become your best friend over there, since you were always either together in the waiting room, or in the hospital room, after your respective operations.

You, with your talkative nature, had tried to make quick conversation and Shelley had been quite responsive, discovering soon that you two had many common interests, some of which you also talked in school, since it wasn’t unusual that you were paired with the only people you had befriended.

But alongside Shelley, came her brother, Roman.

Not that he was ugly: he was as beautiful as the damned angels, which had fallen from grace after God had chastised them away from Heaven, which meant that, although he was as charming as a shining star, he was trouble.

And boy like him, only wanted one thing from girls like you.

What was worse was that he somehow seemed spurred on by the thrill of the hunt, as if each time you would willingly push him away, backing away from his claws, he would feel his “feelings” for you bloom stronger.

It was as if he liked playing a cat and mouse game with you, which you didn’t like in the slightest.

… but you somehow found yourself to be backed in a corner…

A corner of the White Tower more precisely.

You had gone there for a quick check-up, since strangely the bones in you left leg had been becoming stronger and doctors had wanted to check out if it was true and maybe run a few tests to see what had changed.

And you had found him in the sterile waiting room, not properly knowing his reason, but you had just stack to your own part of wall, hoping he wouldn’t see you, which he didn’t, but then the nurse called out your name, and he had immediately raised his head towards you, at first his eyes had appeared surprised but then he had simply smirked.

And you had wanted the Earth to open beneath your feet and swallow you whole.

“… hey, it is a small world, to see you there…” he had tried to make conversation gingerly, but you just huffed loudly, backing away.

“What the heck are you doing here, Godfrey?” you had replied, meanwhile you had glared at him annoyed.

“Just visiting Bryce” he chatted, smiling charmingly and you had just rolled you eyes, trying to turn around, but he had just leapt out for your wrist, grabbing it roughly.

Actually it wasn’t a tight or bruising grip but due to your frail bones, they quickly ended up breaking lightly and you couldn’t stop the grimace on your face, although you didn’t try to escape Roman’s grip since it would just worsen the situation.

He caught up onto your pain quickly, and immediately let go your wrist, searching your face, meanwhile you trained your eyes onto the fracture, gently probing it with the other hand to check it out, confirming that although it wasn’t fully broken there was some kind of little break.

You were low key thankful that you were already in a medical office.

“I…” Roman looked at you shocked, and you just sent him an annoyed stare, before again you tried to push yourself away, and his hands shot up to try to hold you back, but this time he stopped them before they could touch you “… did I hurt you?”.

He seemed confused and you were thankful the nurse called again your name saying hat doctor Bryce would be seeing you, and you quickly strutted away from Roman, who still showed confusion in his pretty eyes.

“Get lost, Godfrey” you simply mumbled, and strangely, he did as you said

The following day you had a slight bandage onto your arm and justified it to anybody who asked as a bad fall from the treehouse in your garden; nobody seemed to give it too much thought.

Except Roman who had stalked you with his eyes for the entire day, not approaching you physically, but you couldn’t shake the feeling of those leaf green eyes following you around the school, even if you weren’t in the same room.

After school had ended and you were moving to your father’s car, since it was better to avoid buses with your condition and it was even better if you didn’t drive alone, you suddenly felt your shoulder lightly tapped, finding Roman finally facing you, with something shy that shone in your eyes.

“Hi” he simply mumbled, and although you wanted nothing more than to get in the car and leave to avoid that conversation, you thought you might end this story once and for all.

“Hi” and before he could speak up whatever he had to say “… yeah you broke my wrist, nothing too bad, I literally have broken it so many times that it doesn’t even hurt anymore”.

Although you knew he had known about this, he seemed shocked that you said it out loud.

“Now you are forgiven, move on with your puppy eyes”.

“I…” he stumbled again on his words, but managed to focus “Bryce told me what you have and… I can’t pronounce it…”.

Your heart fell down to your stomach at that news: your perfect plan of letting nobody know about your “sickness” was already broken…

“Bryce shouldn’t have told you” you simply mumbled, and fear shone in your eyes, and Roman caught up pretty quickly.

“I just… I was worried, I literally hurt your wrist”.

“And I told you I am used to it” you mumbled, feeling anger subdue fear “… this is the reason why I don’t tell anybody about it… once they know about my bones being easily breakable they only give me shit on being frail…!”.

“I don’t think you are frail…” he surprised you in the middle of the discourse, his hands shooting up towards you, again retracting softly “… you are a freaking power of the nature, like an annoying breeze constantly avoiding me”.

“I know what you are, Roman Godfrey” you simply replied and turned and again that annoying tap brought you back.

“Isn’t it hypocritical to judge others, when you, yourself, don’t want to be judged?” he mumbled, and honestly you had no reply “… I don’t mean to change that opinion you have of yourself… but… I was thinking we might go on a dinner, so that I can make up for that broken wrist”.

And strangely gently he brought your hands to meet, avoiding carefully your wrist.

And you let him, too focused on his pretty soft eyes.

And you let him also take you on a date, the following Friday.

You rushed down the stairs, on your newly reinvigorated legs, since Bryce had confirmed they had been gaining even more thickness, meanwhile your mom recommended on not losing too much energy or doing anything risky; she had had to be brought down from the idea of accompanying her to the date.

“It would look ridiculous, mom” you had mumbled, backed up by your father, who had reminded your mother that you were quite “the responsible young lady”.

So, it was just you and Roman and you were a bit scared of what might end up happening, mostly because your condition hadn’t made dates easy, for the same “frail problem”, but Roman didn’t seem worried by that, mostly after he had realized that he could tickle you with no problem.

(Except a kick from your reinforced shoes).

Roman was waiting outside of your house, smoking nervously although he immediately put out the cigarette when he saw you and you smirked, seeing a nervous twitch in his hands, meanwhile he quickly moved to open your door, getting a smirk from you.

“Trying to be a gentleman” he mumbled, and you leaned a bit in, kissing his cheeks, before setting down on the car, leaving him blushing lightly, meanwhile she settled down.

The date was actually much funnier than you had thought, since it ended up actually happening into a beautiful lighted greenhouse.

“You sure know how to charm your girls, Godfrey” you mumbled, meanwhile you sat down comfortably, and he just smirked shooting you a grin.

“… and are you my girl, (Y/N)?” you just softly kicked him under the table “… and you can stop calling me Godfrey… you can call me Roman”.

“Earn that right, Godfrey” you replied, meanwhile he poured wine, which you immediately refused “…with the amount of chemicals in my body it is better to avoid it”.

And he threw the rest of his own wine to the flowers, making you laugh-complain at him about the environment, but he didn’t give it too much thought.

“… not that I want to focus this delightful night…” the way he pursued his lips made you smile lightly “… on your sickness but is there anything that I might avoid?”.

“My arms are still very much frail, legs not so much” you explained, meanwhile he seemed taken by the conversation “… so if you have any bad intentions, know that I can still knee you in the balls”.

“Why do you always assume the worst of me” he giggled, and you just sent him an expressive stare.

“… then prove me wrong”.

And prove you wrong he did, mostly when the themes of your conversation shifted onto Shelley, where you couldn’t help but recognize a softer side of Roman, even smiling slightly, during the conversation, and although you hadn’t certainly lost the utter chaotic impression you had about Roman, but you couldn’t help but believe that there was something more behind it.

Something almost sweet.

He also brought you back home (strangely by time) and you stood in his vintage car, some kind of awkward silence falling between you two, as if it was spurring you both to act up, but you were waiting for the other to do the first move.

You ended up being the first one to move, but the start of your discourse was immediately stopped by Roman, who simply grabbed gently your face in his hands, muttering a soft “may I?” on your lips, and although you weren’t meant for chaos, your body somehow leaned closer to him, and conquered the distance between you two.

It was a soft kiss, not lasting more than a few seconds, and Roman cradled your face so softly and although you were thankful for his carefulness you didn’t like it in the slightest, and the second kiss, the one you initiated, was more forceful, your tongue trying to enter his mouth, and he tightened lightly his grip onto your hips, pushing you closer.

You battled for a few minutes, till you gave up and let him taste you.

Lights in your house went up, shortly after you broke apart, and you took it as your clue to go back inside, smiling slightly at him.

“… see you, tomorrow, (Y/N)” he smirked, kissing softly your cheeks, meanwhile he also helped you out.

“See you, tomorrow Roman”.

[blankdblank]

Next Caller Pt 20

Warm and changed post drying session from your shower your necklace was added again wearing the same clothes from the day before swapping only your grey flannel for your favorite green one over another comfy pair of undies in yellow matching your socks. With shoes tied on you pushed your hair out of your face pocketing your phone and wallet palming your keys along with the strap to your bag. Into the kitchen you went and a warm breakfast came for yourself at your table as Kuu snacked on his peas back at his house. Ignoring the empty seats around you that grew more tolerable by the day the meal was finished off while a run through of the points you wanted to cover. Naturally blending the details of the tale back together using the notes between bullet points bringing it all back into focus for the location in the tale that had been reached.

A quick rinse of your dishes now sitting to dry and you were frozen at your door eyeing the blustery day blowing a few scattered leaves past your front door. Anxiously you buttoned your flannel shut and griped your bag tightly locking your door in the cover of your front door. Two steps out and your feet began to slide to the left while you kept hold of your bag and the tail of your spun hair to keep it moderately out of your face still flapping violently in a try to blind you. An engine turning over from your driveway however had your head turning and in the light inside the car you caught Frerin’s wave. Letting out a defeated exhale you let the wind help you over to your fence you hopped over and skidded your way around the car to crouch using the car for cover making your driver smirk watching the door seemingly open on its own and struggle against flinging wider at the wind.

In a huff you hopped up into the car tugging the door behind you shut and looked to the smirking Dwarf looking you over. “Thank you.”

Shaking his head he replied, “Not a problem. Dwalin always says this week is a bit blustery. He’d mentioned carpooling, dropping by to pick you up, but I’m off till Thursday so I volunteered, and I will be at the station to pick you up after.”

“That-,”

“I insist.”

“You and your brother with your insisting,” you said lifting your hands to comb through your curls over your chest.

“I hear you enjoyed the mini pampering session.” He said shifting gears to back out.

“Which part, the Mburr knot or the brothers trying to pick me up mid massage?”

Frerin looked at you, “Thorin didn’t mention either of that, where was the knot?”

“My leg. From when my carrier tipped, tried to catch myself on the wall, pulled or tore something, never quite felt as loose. Better now, Thorin insisted on rubbing it again at the room waiting for dinner after.”

“And the brothers?”

“Apparently,” you let out a sigh, “They were friendly enough, but, I get the piercing thing but it’s not like I’m wearing a sign for complete strangers to stake their claim on me like I’m a patch of land or something.”

“I imagine it can be troubling. Especially in a massage. Certain amount of trust and you’re mostly naked and they tried to pick you up.”

“Don’t get me wrong, they were nice enough, the brother, Bo, handling Thorin kept Jo from crossing any lines. Kept it friendly small talk mostly. A lot better than the man in the airport on the way to Rohan telling me if I had some time he’d be in gate 67, never said a word before that, how is that supposed to win me over?”

Frerin smirked backing out of your drive to start the drive to your job, “Not a clue. At least with Thorin you have some ground to stand on, common interests, jokes, some comfortable banter, steady friendship.” To yourself you smirked and tried to brush past his clear nudging comment. “The rest of the trip went well?”

“It was fun, getting a glimpse into the whole world behind his tea shop.” Glancing at Frerin you caught his smirk and you said, “Now I just have to figure out where you got your speed demon streak from.”

“Easy, I can send you a tape. We had this competition in school to make these wooden cars for a track race built off the end of tables. That grew into this lesson few years later on a soap box derby, grew from there. Loved building cars and racing them.”

“And the fiery crash risk?”

Rolling his eyes he said, “You should know as well as any we have enchanted cars preventing crashes and we have ejector bubbles if the engine does catch fire.”

“How would I know that? Just because I’ve known Thranduil for ages doesn’t mean he lets me peek under his hood. Only let me paint it.” In a glance at him you said, “I doubt you’d let me peek either.”

“Says who? You’ve got some serious degrees under your belt, you could build a monster of a racecar no doubt.”

“I doubt my car would be legal if I did.”

“I don’t doubt that. But it sure would be fun to drive,” earning a soft giggle from you. “No worries, I know about your early stop for cider. So you don’t blow away I’ll pop in for you. I know you can do it, but you should save your energy and excuse my ploy to keep you to myself on blustery mornings. I do rarely get to spend time with my friends.”

“Then you should be thrilled to know I have to stop at the post office after my shift.”

“Yes, Thorin mentioned your gifts.”

With a grin you caught his gaze at a stop light, “He’s been bragging about the duck I bought him?”

“He hadn’t mentioned it but I was wondering why he was grinning so broadly at that rubber duck in his morning tea.”

“Halfway didn’t think he’d use it. Thought he might have a favorite he’d prefer.”

Frerin chuckled, “You picked it for him, it’s his new favorite. Trust me, he was aching to get rid of the old one. The anchor kept opening up when he pulled it out half the time ruining his tea. Heard him giggling to himself at the ingenious screw in locker for the strainer.”

“Now I know you’re exaggerating.”

“Rin loves tea, and you’ve given him a gift related to tea that you picked yourself believing he would enjoy it.”

Smirking at him you asked, “You call him Rin? What’s he call you?”

“Rin, occasionally. We used to play up the identical thing when we were younger, but you could always tell when you peeked in our bags who was who. Least till I fell off a rope bridge busted my cheek open. Terrified Amad something fierce, and with press how it was starting to drive thought it best to keep to stubble so Thorin wouldn’t be swarmed, and by now he’s finished his broadening phase while I’m a bit slimmer than him till I hit my century mark at least.”

“What will you do if you can’t fit in your car anymore?”

With a smirking glance your way he replied, “I will always fit in the car even if I have to widen the window.” Making you giggle through his low chuckle.

Outside the shop he reached over claiming the holographic mug from your hand and fought the door to pop out with his hair flipping over in the breeze on his stroll to the door and in the wait at the door post knock confusing his cousins. A lift of the mug he gave a shake to brought Balin over to open the door for him making the men group up and talk about the car parked out front with you in it. Each of them wondering why he had left you there until a stray poster flew full speed past the window hinting at the heavy winds.

Dwalin, “And just how did you manage to kidnap our Mafioso?”

Frerin smirked, “I am chauffeuring our dear Mafioso to work and back in these gales.” He looked to Thorin, “She is my friend you know, Rin. Soon to be sister I hope.”

Thorin rolled his eyes, “Don’t.”

“You didn’t mention the brothers who tried for her affections mid massage,” that turned Thorin’s head wondering how that had come up, “Or the men in the airport who noticed she was unattached. Or why you didn’t say that rubber duck seeper came from her. She hoped you had been bragging about it when I mentioned the gifts she bought.”

Dwalin smirked looking him over, “She bought you a seeper?”

Balin grinned, “Mighty thoughtful of her. A rubber duck?”

Frerin, “It floats in the tea and is adorable.”

Thorin, “I didn’t think you’d want to know.”

Frerin nodded, “And I don’t think you’d want to know I noticed a certain tea cup necklace around her neck.” That had Thorin’s mouth dropping open and him glancing at the car outside. “But, for now, my future sister has to get to work and the post office after to send off her gifts, and we will be back near noon to see all of you. I do get such little time with her, you can’t fault me for it, she is incredible.”

Thorin brought over the mug, “She really is wearing the necklace?”

Frerin nodded, “Would have mentioned it but she was a bit off guard from the wind, even wore a top under her flannel to draw the eye right to it.”

Dwalin smirked saying, “Or another of her fantastic, attributes.” Earning a glare from Thorin. “You said it.”

Thorin said, “Her cup’s on the house. Go get her to work, make sure she doesn’t blow away.”

Frerin smirked lifting the mug, “I would never let that happen and you know it.”

Another short drive while you sipped on your drink through Frerin’s plotting silence ending in his pull into the garage for some protection from the wind had you saying, “Thank you.”

Shaking his head he replied, “No need to thank me. I’ll be here after your shift.”

“Alright, shouldn’t take too long after, unless my friends heard something from Gorgo about the book deal possibly be up for offer.”

Frerin chuckled, “You all must be thrilled.”

“Why wouldn’t everyone? Or haven’t you heard people tend to be addicted to it.”

“So they are,” he muttered in your climb out of the car. Sitting there watching you walk to the door you passed through before turning back to the shop to get settled in Balin’s shop to share the next show with his family. Finally getting the full effect he show was having on the shop and customers lured in by it.

 *

“Spill, now! Last I heard there was wine and underwear and some weird staring fish. What happened with you?!”

Rolling your eyes you showed her pictures of your room dropping her jaw. “Bed was miserably hard. But it was a fun trip all the same.

“And? What about Thorin? Anything happen?”

“Other than me waking up behind him in bed,” a squeak came from her and you poked her in the belly saying, “But nothing happened past me cuddling up against his back. The fish kept creeping me out. Two days and nights in the hotel and unfortunately for all of you still not married.”

Rolling her eyes she said, “You know I wish I could see that river you’re floating on.”

“I am not in denial! Hell maybe something might have happened if his ex hadn’t been there with her muffin man.” You said crossing your arms.

“Ok I’m gonna need some more details on that.”

You sighed saying, “This huge Dam came up to me,”

“Huge?”

“She had to be 5 ft 8,”

Mal nodded, “Ah.”

“And she starts going off how I don’t know who she is and why Dwalin wasn’t there and why Thorin didn’t tell me about her. It was just bonkers, apparently she cheated on him and left him for a Dwarf with a muffin cart business,” Making Mal smirk, “I know. We brushed it off and I laughed it off but he was clearly upset at her talking to me.”

“No doubt, angry ex comes to talk to his new,”

“Friend. I’m his friend.”

“Sure,” she nodded, “I spoon half naked with my friends all the time.” You rolled your eyes and brushed your hair from your face luring her eyes to the sparkle on your chest. And just like a bird she reached out snatching it from its spot just above your cleavage and stared at the necklace that made your grin inch out.

“He bought it for me. Hid it in my suitcase. Knew I’d try to stop him.”

Mal caught your eye, “He bought you jewelry! You’re not friends Jaqi! Look at this! It’s pure white gold,”

“Maybe but the stones-,”

“This pink stone means endless adoration. The white stones mean you have a protector and are a bringer of joy to them, even this metal at this weight means you are of great purity to your intended. You are not friends! If you were his friend he stone would be yellow or burgundy and he would have chosen silver.”

“But, he didn’t say anything...all the note said was he insisted.”

Mal smirked, “Good, because that means this is the first of many to come and he does intend to ask you out.”

“But why wouldn’t he just ask me?”

“Jaqi, from what you told me it was inches from kidnapping you. They just had the tickets, took you for luggage then you were off for two days and nights. Any self respecting Dwarf wouldn’t force anything on those terms. Maybe lay the groundwork, like this necklace for starters, then move after.”

You let out a deep sigh running your hands over your face, “This is all so confusing.”

She leaned in giving you a hug that you melted into, “I know. But he’s from a great family and is crazy about you, and he’s not an ass, clearly your spooning was welcomed, I mean you didn’t say he was upset or anything. It was fun right? It went well?”

You nodded pulling back, “Didn’t help he saw my piercings at the airport though, sort of I don’t know, had him a bit distant at first.”

Her brows inched up, “Piercings?”

“I have double belly button piercings,” she squealed again, “Which is a mark of womanhood for Vanyar. But I do know what it means for Hobbits-,”

“No wonder he was distant, Jaqi he’s plotting how to appeal to you. As a suitor. Trust me, just give him some time, he’ll surprise you with a date or something. You’ll see.” Sighing again you turned to head into the booths at the prior team exiting after their closing sign offs.

 *

“I swear it’s her,” Frerin whispered in Khuzdul, “no, just swap out her usual Vanyar accent for a more Hobbity one and its her, she does Bunny’s voice! Thorin looked her up she’s done voice over work before.”

Thorin smirked rumbling out, “I think she does the Countess.” That earned him flat glares making his smirk deepen as he shrugged and turned to take the next order, “You never know.”

Their argument halted however as the show intro music cut on and through the shop shushing rippled and Bunny’s voice rang out in the shop. “Hey, hey! It is an absurdly blustery day out in the Misty Mountains and it’s just you and me your dear friend Bunny, devoted with my ear to the ground to give you all the latest on our Dear Durin boys.” As always the Durins smiled through the intro though this time it was a bit more quizzical as they were trying to gauge if it could possibly be you with an accent captivating them almost daily.

“First I would like to say thank you for the letters and flamingo pens you have sent me. You have no idea what that meant to me, it was so incredibly sweet of you. I will treasure them always. Now today you are not in my purse but perched atop my head in my bowler hat because I have been summoned to the infamous White Council in the very heart of Isengard.” Lips parted, “It seems our lovely Countess is up to no good and I have been called to act as juror on her murder case.”

Through the shop gasps echoed along with whispers of the word, “Murder??” It was excruciating not to giggle through the show and halfway death gripping he counter the brothers forgot their digging for whose voice had been behind the tale that had a lengthy questioning for the Countess, who was giving the Prosecution hell for it.

Though the big build up came when you hit a saved gasp and murmuring audience sound clip for when the old maid in the mansion was called up to the stand giving the damning testimony. Though Wolsey stood to give his questioning after the Prosecution had their turn and this time shrieks were muddled into the clip as Mal nearly fell from her chair she was scooting to the edge of for the last ten minutes. Tearing off his disguise Holm leapt to his feet and from the center of the coliseum like courtroom he shot to the window and dove through the glass escaping when Wolsey had uncovered him.

Shifting your hand over the mic you muddled your interaction between Wolsey and the Countess and then switched on the final clip of a bulletin broadcast sending chills over everyone listening of Holm being described and labeled as dangerous and not to be approached. Silence left the wide eyed listeners frozen in place before you slid your hand over the mic again faking that you had been running. Panting through this part with even the next crew standing on clinging to one another in anticipation you said, “Guys, guys, I know this seems,” You panted again faking a try to catch your breath. “Pretty grim, but I just have to-,” clicking your teeth and faking the sound of a metal claw of some sort coming at you fists clenched tighter in your covering the mic to let out a shriek as you dropped your bag on the desk.

Open mouthed Mal stole a glance at the clock while you faked Wolsey picking up your recorder and the Countess shouting for you over a clip of helicopter blades echoing off in a flight away. A point to Mal had her hitting the cut off music ending the shouts that the couple would find you and get revenge on Holm for all he had done along with justice for his other victims.

A good few minutes the Durins stood frozen like everyone else before Balin looked at Frerin and asked, “Why are you here?”

Frerin looked him over then turned to race out, “Oh shit!” Making a break for his car to go and get you thankful that he want driving for that show and hoping that you would linger around a bit to talk to Bunny or your friends there oh had mentioned earlier.

 *

“For Mahal’s sake woman!!! Give me a warning next time!” Mal exclaimed.

Giggling in your slide past the crew for the next show you replied, “And ruin the fun of my main audience?”

Mal looked you over in a halfway bother huff already knowing she’d rather see it unfold as you shared it rather than seeing it written down or spoiled before the shifts. “Fine. Is that part at least in the first book? You don’t have to say where...but is it?”

Grinning wider you said in the next show giving their intros before delving into a quick reaction of their own on air to your show. “The book’s, different. You’ve seen The Godfather? How it’s like from the point of view from a therapist?” She nodded, “It’s something like that, but the narrator is writing their memoirs. This is in the series, somewhere.”

Mal’s brow inched up, “The narrator isn’t Bunny?” You shook your head and her mouth dropped open.

Ecthellion and Glorfindel however strolled up chuckling. The latter saying, “It appears Isengard is not regretting not taking our warning seriously on today’s story and loving the attention.”

Mal looked them over and Ecthellion said, “Media is blowing up over social pages saying to search Isengard for helicopter traffic.”

Softly you giggled and said, “They don’t realize it’s an Ent sanctuary and there is not flight traffic over it do they?”

The pair shook their heads and Glorfindel said, “Apparently not.”

Ecthellion said seeing the question in your eyes, “Got another call from Gorgo, no official numbers yet but they are making progress on the figures at least for production costs.

12.5 cost a book, so that is 48.6 a full set to make. If you round up to 50 for the publishers fee and they don’t think selling each set for 60 to 75 would be unreasonable. Of course going down in price each year or so.”

You nodded, “I think that’s good, what are they stuck on?”

“Mainly a question of illustration and composition of the book. They are in the middle of trying to work a deal to see what stores they would focus on. A few of their usual places don’t take novel sets that size so they need to put their finger on the right one to open with.”

“Right,”

“And they are actually going to send out a promotional ad saying that there is a Bunny book to test the waters on how many books they might be making the first wave. Mainly to count how many hits it gets and track social media pages and such.”

“So, we still have a ways off?”

He shook his head, “Not in the least. In fact it is mainly the details right now, of course they’ll be wanting to read through a draft to know which reviewer to send it to for the sleeves.”

“Ah, that, no, I don’t want reviews on it. I’m working on narrowing down between three summaries to use,” his brows inched up, “It’s got the basics in there, I want people to decide for themselves about it.”

“No reviews at all?” Glorfindel asked just to clarify.

“Not till after it’s out then they can say what the like about it.”

The pair smirked and Mal sighed, “That’s gonna be so lovely to actually pick up a book and see the gist of what happens or where it might take you instead of some crotchety old fart’s opinion on the novel you picked.”

“Exactly, plus then, there’s more room for maps and the index.”

Mal gasped again, “I love a good index section! We need more! Bring them back! Make them popular again!”

The men chuckled and Ecthellion said, “Well Gorgo did say there was some argument over the reviewers and now we can squash that. Old ties and allies and such. Put that to bed then we can work on the rest. How big is the index and the map section?”

“Collectively, 55 pages,”

Making him smirk again and him out, “Making it an even 2600, nice. They were confused at the odd number. I suppose they could add it to another tiny book for that.”

“I do have a draft like that with the illustrations for that section. It’s pretty cool, but then again I’m biased.”

Glorfindel grinned at you, “Don’t say that. You have amazing taste and skills. Have you worked on the other illustrations for the rest of it?”

You nodded saying, “It’s all done and nearly doubled the size of the book.”

Ecthellion said, “Well in your draft it’s single sided right now and they can print on both sides so there’s tons of leeway on that. We’ll get their quotes anchored down and get the paperwork in for the deal. Hopefully by the end of the month. Do you need a ride home?”

You shook your head, “I have a ride coming.”

Mal’s brows picked up, “Thorin?”

“Frerin volunteered to be my driver till Thursday for his week.”

Glorfindel smirked, “You have two men fighting over you? Is one your barista still?”

Mal reaches over grabbing your necklace showing the duo, “Thorin’s intending on courting her, Frerin is his baby brother.”

Ecthellion smirked at your eye roll and said, “It’s a lovely necklace and I wish you well in your wooing, Yavanna knows you deserve it.”

Mal chuckled, “Think Thorin’s the one needing the well wishes, poor jittery guy.”

“I’m gonna head out and leave you guys to the details and your other stuff. Hate to leave Frerin too long, he might take off shopping or something.”

Glorfindel hummed in you and Mal heading for the elevator, “Oh yes, because you receiving presents is the worst thing in the world.”

“Now you’re getting it.” You fired back.

To which Ecthellion answered, “You have a house to fill, you need presents.”

Into the elevator you walked giving the pair a pointed gaze making them laugh and turn for their office while Mal glanced at her phone saying, “Hope BamBam is still sleeping.”

“Where is he?”

She let out a short breath, “He couldn’t sleep from the wind, kept knocking the shutters. Tubbs came into the shop early to get ready for his first client today, only available at five, said he’d watch BamBam for me.”

“Well I hope he’s not too lonely without you,” making her smirk, “Dain say if you can visit or not?”

Mal grinned at you, “I can visit when I like. I mean not in the middle of the night like a crazy person. Within reason of course.”

You giggled as she did, “Of course.” Again you looked at her and you said, “When we talked on the phone,” her grin inched out, “Didn’t we talk about your hair? It’s a bit fuzzy.”

Mal giggled again, “You said I sounded like my hair was pretty.”

“You do have a tone you use when you do something nice for yourself like fixing your hair. Must have been it. Did you enjoy it?”

She nodded, “Been practicing at special braids for a while now. Who knows, if the guys do ask me along to a race or an event I might need one.”

“I’m sure you’ll have ample chances to use your braiding. Even if you have to just lounge and braid their hair out of boredom.”

She looked at you, “You don’t do that,” your head turned to catch her eye, “Not till you’ve been accepted by their family, no hair touching unless asked for help. Once you get that token of courtship approved by their clan you can.”

With a nod you asked, “So if I touched Thorin’s ponytail?”

She let out a giggle, “If he lets you touch it that’s really up to him.”

“How is it different for me?”

“Because I’m from the Stonefoot clan. You could braid his hair, but again it’d be up to him.”

Again you sighed exiting the elevator, “And here I thought dating was supposed to be easy.” Making her giggle again, “So many rules.”

“Dating is never easy. Do what you like, Jaqi. No doubt he’ll let you do whatever you want to him and his hair.”

“It’s just so odd, Elves don’t touch, but I just want to hug the big grump and those arms of his,” making her smirk deepen walking with you to the garage. “Not fair.”

“Our Durin boys, how would we live without them? The gorgeous grumps.”

“Oh now I highly doubt Kili could ever scowl. Living vat of giggles he is. I know Fili’s got a good glare or two in him, don’t think either could hold a serious look between them more than three minutes. Especially around you.”

Again she giggled, “I don’t doubt they could have inherited the Durin glare to break out when provoked.”

The empty garage had you nipping at your lip and she claimed a half hug, “I’ll see you tomorrow. Go hug your cuddle buddy in thanks for the necklace.”

Pt 21

@himoverflowers​, @theincaprincess​​​, @aspiringtranslator​, @sweeticedtea​, @ggbbhehe4455​, @thegreyberet​, @patanghill17​, @jesgisborne​, @curvestrology​, @alishlieb​, @jogregor​, @armitageadoration​, @fizzyxcustard​, @here2have-fun​, @lilith15000​, @marvels-ghost​, @catthefearless​, @imjusthereforthereads​, @c-s-stars​, @otakumultimuse-hiddlewhore​, @mariannetora​, @shesakillerkween

Hobbit/LotR – @abiwim​, @jotink78​, @pastelhexmaniac​

x Thorin – @evyiione​, @deepestfirefun, @queenoferebor​ - I didn’t realize i hadn’t been adding this tag list to this story. If you don’t want me to tag you again for it just plz let me know. :D

[rpgmgames]

September’s Featured Game: Turovero: The Celestial Tower

DEVELOPER(S): Queenie ENGINE: RPG Maker VX Ace GENRE: RPG, Adventure, Psychological, Dark Fantasy WARNINGS: Violence, Light Horror Elements, Sensitive Themes SUMMARY: Turovero: The Celestial Tower is a freeware, dark fantasy role-playing game created with RPG Maker VX Ace. Players take on the role of four young adventurers - Sigurd, a brave and kind-hearted knight, Leilia, a gentle and motherly cleric, Edric, a gifted yet sharp-tongued mage, and Ruby, a cheeky, fun-loving thief - who have no recollection of their lives prior to meeting one another. Determined to free their world from the influence of an ancient evil, the Dark One, the group sets forth on their most perilous journey yet as they climb the mysterious divine tower, Turovero. However, as the heroes ascend the Celestial Tower, they begin to realize that not everything is as it seems. Just what is the Dark One that plagues their world so, and what truly happened to the Four Gods of legend? The answers to these questions lie in wait for them at the top of the tower… but do they truly want to discover them?

Play the game here! Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! I'm Queenie and this is my second game that I've developed, written, and composed for (my first game was Prom Dreams: A High School Love Story, a horror / dating sim game available whever you can download Turovero from). I've been making games in earnest for about 4 years now, but I did use to muck around in the old bootleg version of RPG Maker 2000 when I was a kid I guess. Because one of the main complaints about my first game was the artwork, and because I, er, can't draw very well, I also enlisted the help of @genkaiko, @caffeineandcarpaltunnel, @pleasedrawmore, and @meakersneakers to draw the character artwork, title and ending artwork, enemy artwork, and cutscene artwork respectively. Check them out too if you've got the chance!

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *Queenie: I've always enjoyed horror games and games that started out normal / cute / cliched but slowly turned into something darker as they went on. I also really love RPGs and adventure games. So, naturally, I figured I'd combine the two at some point, and thus the initial concept for Turovero was born!

How long have you been working on your project? *Queenie: Total development time was around 2.5 years.

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Queenie: Considering every games I've made so far is essentially cobbling together various ideas from games and anime I love, you bet your ass it did LOL. Gameplay involves a mix of classic Final Fantasy-esque battles and Zelda-style field puzzles, whereas the story and atmosphere takes inspiration from other RPG Horror games and anime such as Madoka Magica and Higurashi. Essentially, dark psychological drama wrapped up in a nice little JRPG shell. Or something like that.

Have you come across any challenges during development? How have you overcome or worked around them? *Queenie: Besides my complete and utter lack of art skills (which I thankfully had my team to help me with!), I also really struggled with the field skills due to RPG Maker's admittedly shoddy collision detection. I was eventually able to make the mechanic work around 90% of the time (and if it doesn't, protip: push up against the object before activating the field skill), so it's thankfully playable, but it sure was a pain to work with :T

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Queenie: I actually try to fully create a solid outline of my games and then stick to it, for the most part, so that I don't lose track during development. So, to be honest, not a whole lot changed besides some minor details, such as names, battle skills, and combat balance adjustments. Although, I did originally envision the theme and look of the final "dungeon" a bit differently (which I obviously won't go into details about), and only went with the current design because I couldn't get the sprites to cooperate with me and I was like "well, eh, this is the next best thing I guess". :P

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Queenie: I did about 80% of the game myself, but I did have an interview/portfolio submission process for artists. I knew many of them previously, and the title artist I'd already had a working relationship and internet friendship with, so that made things easier as well. It also helped that I could share my ideas (and memes. lots of memes.) during the development process so I didn't have to keep the game 100% secret, haha.

What is the best part of developing a game? *Queenie: The music!! I freakin' love composing okay. I also love writing emotional or comedic scenes, then see other people's reactions to them as they play. Speaking of which, my jar of Player Tears seems to be running a little empty lately... :3c

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *Queenie: I usually just go with the kind of gameplay my story needs and that my developer's skills will allow; sometimes I see another game and go "oh, that's possible?", and might keep that knowledge in handy, but I don't actively seek out gameplay inspiration or anything.

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Queenie: My boy Edric and his grumpy yet adorable tsundere ways LOL. I have a thing for characters with love problems okay ;;

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Queenie: I do kind of wish the game had a way to do something like unison attacks from the Tales series, since it'd be thematically consistent with the game's ideas of friendship and unity, but at the time I wasn't willing to fudge around with the battle engine too much, so I shelved the idea.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Queenie: I have ideas for some prequel stories (in an e-book or even a visual novel format) that expand upon the characters and world a bit, but I'm waiting to gauge interest in them.

What do you most look forward to upon/after the release of a project? *Queenie: Player reactions and Let's Plays, definitely. I feed off of player reactions. I crave them like a zombie craves brains. If you play my games please tell me how much you suffered - er, enjoyed it, it really makes my day!

Is there something you’re afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *Queenie: Honestly, only that it'd attract the wrong kind of fan - you know, the ones who harass people over fictional characters and over a work not being 100% to their particular standards. Thankfully that hasn't seemed to happen yet, and most people who've played my games are super chill and awesome.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Queenie: Use outlines and try not to shovel features into your game just because you can! Figure out what kind of game you want and then focus your energy on making it the best version of that image that you can. Sure, my games may not take advantage of everything RPG Maker can do, but I don't think they need to - I only needs the elements that will help me tell my story the way I want to.

Question from last month's featured dev @Teal Crown: If you're working on a team, how do you manage to keep organized? (Otherwise: If you could meet your favourite dev, the one that inspires you the most, what would you ask them?) *Queenie: My artists and I kept up via Tumblr messenger and Discord mostly. I also made a beta testing server when the game reached the testing phase, which was very helpful and also loads of fun. :)

We mods would like to thank Queenie for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Turovero: The Celestial Tower if you haven’t already! See you next month! 

- Mods Gold & Platinum