#i've been rotating this concept in my head for a while and i finally Did It

[aeoris4lovers]

(click here to read on ao3)

The Thelyss manor was far colder than usual on the night Deirta Thelyss received word from the Aurora Watch in Bazzoxan, a message long expected but never spoken of aloud. Death itself chilled every inch of the stone, a stubborn draft that no door or window would dare try to keep out. The sour realization of new grief clung to every throat and held the house hostage in its vise. As they struggled to catch their breath, the thick silence sat heavy in their lungs. 

Ever the poised diplomat, Deirta kept her grief behind closed doors, shutting out even her own sons. The moment the messenger took their leave, she locked herself away in the room she once shared with her husband. No one would see her fall to the ground; no one would hear the cries she choked into a pillow that had already stopped smelling like him. When she finally emerged – days later, not having eaten or rested since the news came — it would be with smoothed hair and a stoic face, her formal mourning attire the only sign of her grief allowed to remain. Her sons would wonder if she had ever loved him, if she had ever loved, and she would make no effort to convince them of her capacity for the feeling.

At the door, Essek stood behind his mother, memorizing each word the moment they left the messenger’s lips: weeks had passed and their search parties had been unsuccessful. With all options exhausted, his father was presumed dead.

The weight on his shoulders, which he had waited so long to have lifted from him by that news, only grew heavier. He stood there long after the messenger left and his mother tucked herself away, staring unblinkingly at the closed door until his vision blurred, each word replaying itself to the point of senselessness. They jumped and turned in his mind like pebbles on a sea floor, smoothed by the currents of emotion that drained from him and left him numb, until there was no such thing to Essek Thelyss as a death or a father.

He didn’t look away as his brother came down the stairs to meet him, though each step on the cold stone sounded to his ears and felt to his chest like a gunshot. He didn’t know if the steady pulse he heard crashing over his head was Verin’s voice calling his name or the sound of his own blood rushing past his ears.

If he had looked up, Essek would have seen Verin there, eyes wide and spilling over with tears in spite of himself, looking suddenly so much like a child again, begging his older brother silently for answers: What have we done? What do we do now? How should this feel?

But Essek only kept staring, eyes trained on the ornate front door as though it were the lid sealed over his own casket, as a warm and calloused hand wound its fingers through his own.

The Thelyss brothers stood there, swallowed by the dark chasm of the empty foyer, until their legs grew tired and they fell together to the ground. Shadows of the events of the past weeks spiraled around them — words snarled and spat, doors slammed with bone-chilling finality, sides taken in a war of blood against blood, the silence that fell in the wake of it all. In the eye of that storm, they held tight to each other, their hands their only tether as the past’s vicious death rattle threatened to sweep them into its oblivion. Neither would remember how much time passed before the torrent calmed at last and they could breathe again, and take stock of all that they had lost and gained.

It was a bittersweet success, to fend off an evil that was also a father. There was no sweet thrill of victory to be found, nor any meaningful relief, in cutting the head from a beast that looked back at them with their own eyes. There was a calmness that came, foreign to them and welcome in its difference from the turmoil they had grown used to, but absence was a calmness that comforted only as it ate away at them from the inside out. 

In the coming years, there would be an unspoken understanding between the brothers, sealed in the furnace of heat shared by clasped hands. On the surface, it would call itself, “I do not blame you.” Beneath countless layers of carefully curated masks, though, its true name would be, “If you are to blame, then so am I.” 

In truth, both would always carry the weight of the part they played in bringing death to the halls of their home, but would refuse to place even an ounce of that burden on the other. Even as they said there was no other way — that their father had gotten only what he deserved, that their crimes incited no remorse and required no forgiveness — they would wash each other’s hands of all that had happened. Time and time again they would pardon and absolve each other, as if their brother’s innocence were the last thing capable of saving their own souls, as if the blood in their own veins would turn to venom the moment they allowed the other to be corrupted.

And every time their hands would find each other again, even in anger or after years apart, the touch would burn with the flaming ghost of the promises forged that night.

[j4keluver]

baby, i'm here to love you

pairing: boyfriend ! jake x girlfriend ! reader genre: established relationship, angst, comfort warnings: reader calling herself stupid, crying authors note: this is for my pookie @luvj4key. i hope i did you justice love </3

jake has always been the best boyfriend - like a golden retriever to your beck and call. his smile radiates through the entire room and his laugh could heal the souls of millions. he has loved you endlessly and never once have you ever doubted it.

so how did you end up yelling at him over not washing the dishes? "jake i asked you to do one thing for me ! and you couldn't even do that," you yell out. whatever those girls said about mercury being in retrograde, were right. it felt like the earth was rotating backwards with finals week around the corner. you have summed up about an average of 3 hours of sleep a day, the rest of the hours hunched over in the library.

it was getting more frustrating with the days going on and jake has been busy with his own school work. you knew jake was busy, either studying for his own finals or gaming with his friends. jake was always a smart guy, being in honors classes and passing them with ease. you. on the other hand, struggle to grasp concepts until they are fully immersed after countless hours of practice.

you had given jake a heads up to ask him to please wash the dishes before coming home. you wanted to cook dinner but you didn't have any clean dishes to use. jake, on the hand, had just got home and decided to take a small nap before doing some cleaning around the house. he sets an alarm and it doesn't ring.

"baby i'm sorry, it was a mistake, i didn't mean to forget," he says as he tries to pull you in for a hug. you shake off his advances and you roll your eyes at him, "it wasn't that hard of a task to do but you still couldn't do it? i've been endlessly studying in the library for finals week because i'm not a genius like you and i don't understand the material ! i keep trying all these practice problems and i keep getting everything wrong and i just wanted one thing to be done. i'm starving all day and i wanted to come home and cook us dinner but none of the dishes are done and.."

your voice breaks with ease and jake's demeanor immediately softens. his tone is so soft that you would miss it, "baby..."

the emotions that you've been holding for however long comes breaking down as tears streamed down your face. jake feels like his heart is chipping away, "oh baby, come here." you take a step forward before jake fully wraps his arms around you, his cologne wafting into your senses. his arms rub soothing circles on your hip as he plants soft kisses into your hair. "hey it's okay, i got you, i got you."

your tears start to slow down as you slowly catch your breathe. jake slowly pulls you to sit on his lap while the sound of your breathing is only heard. jake whispers to you, "what happened baby? tell me."

you only let out a small exhale, "i've just been so stressed with finals and i just can't grasp the content and i feel so stupid. i just don't know how to get these formulas down and i didn't want to bother you because i know you were busy with your own finals. i just didn't want you to become annoyed at me or think i'm stupid."

jake reaches up his hand to cup your cheek and softly caress it with his thumb, "my sweet angel, i can't believe you've been holding all of this in. it's okay to not understand content after studying it, sometimes you just need a little more time for things to click. if it doesn't, you know i'm here to help you always."

he continues on, "you are not stupid because you don't understand something, okay? you are very smart and work very hard and you can never bother me. baby, i'm here to love you."

your eyes soften at his words and the only thing you can say in this moment is a 'thank you.' jake points to his watering eyes, "look baby! you even got me crying." you only softly laugh and give him a kiss which he gladly returns.

"let's order some takeout and we can work on some of your material tomorrow morning? how does that sound?" jake says and you nod. for the first time in weeks, you finally smile.

© belong to j4keluver. do not copy, translate, or repost.

[whumpshaped]

a concept just rammed into my head and i will now share it with my fellow Ambac Rotators on this blog: beck and helle species(?) switch

beck as a (relatively) new vampire

helle as a vampire hunter

no idea where this is gonna go. i just had the sudden image of human!helle pinning down a vampire 🛐

good day anon. i finally have the tentative spoons to engage w the fantasy (that ive been meaning to write for FOREVER and ur ask served as a good reminder of my goals and aspirations thank u)

masterlist

vampire hunter beck

tw vampire whumpee, dehumanisation, pet whump

Beck had been overly cautious every time he went hunting. He had to be, as a stupid little runt without anyone to protect him.

He had crawled out of his grave and into the clutches of a woman he barely recognised, only to immediately be discarded once she realised he couldn't use magic. He had begged her to leave him alive at least, promising to stay out of her way and go 'hunt' on someone else's territory; not his proudest moment, but then again, he had little to be proud of lately.

He hunted as best as he could, picking off lone passerby and muffling their cries as he drank his fill, too frantic and hungry to really care about causing pain. Then he disappeared for days, sometimes weeks, terrified of drawing attention to himself. And the cycle would repeat.

Until one day, he slipped up and chose the wrong target.

Beck had never seen a hunter before, especially not so up close and personal — and now that they were straddling his waist and putting a stake to his heart, he decided he didn't fucking like them. He had his hands up on either side of his head without having to be told, completely still in an attempt to appease the hunter who had caught him.

"You're the runt," they stated, not even a hint of doubt in their voice, but Beck nodded anyway.

"Yes, sir," he breathed, very aware of the sharp point digging into his chest whenever he dared inhale.

The title wasn't a conscious choice, really. He'd had to talk his way out of quite a few confrontations before, and if there was one thing he'd learned throughout all of it, it was that manners never hurt.

The hunter looked amused, leaning down a little and inadvertently placing more of their weight on the stake. Beck tensed under them, squeezing his eyes shut in anticipation of his inevitable demise. "Sir? Have I gotten myself a polite little leech?"

"I can be very polite so long as I'm alive, sir," he said hastily, and they chuckled.

"Alive... as if. Don't flatter yourself. I've seen corpses that looked better than you."

Beck pressed himself even more against the ground. "You're right, sir," he squeaked. "You're right. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Hey, listen." They clicked their tongue at him, like one would to get a pet's attention, and he reluctantly opened his eyes again. "I've got a deal for you."

"A... a deal?"

Was this common? He had nothing to compare this to. Were all hunters like this?

"Only because you're so well-behaved." They pressed down on the stake a little, as a gentle reminder for Beck to keep behaving, and he was suddenly very eager to nod along. "You see, runts are pretty rare. And regular vampires... they can't really be kept. It's a one and done deal, I come in, I stake them, I get my money."

That was simple enough. Terrifying, but simple. But also– "K-kept?"

"Kept," they repeated, grin widening. "Like a dog."

Beck swallowed. He had a feeling of where this was going, and he did not like the implications. "I... I see."

"And while I'm pretty successful, as far as hunters go... This is a dangerous job. I could use a buffer."

"No," he said timidly. "Please, I can't do anything, I can't– I can barely hunt, I'm starving half the time–"

"I could do with bait, too," they interrupted, shushing Beck when they saw him open his mouth to protest. "And of course, because I deal fairly, I'd let you have some blood in exchange. Can't have a pet without feeding it."

That... That made the offer sound much better, all of a sudden. He hadn't had anything to drink in at least a week, getting by on whatever dead animal he could find in the parks at night. Drinking from roadkill. His mouth was watering at the mere thought of human blood, even though the hunter hadn't yet specified what they'd be feeding him.

"Mmm, what is it? Interested?" they taunted, and Beck couldn't resist nodding a little. He wanted someone to protect him so badly; apparently even if they were a hunter.

"What... what do I need to do, sir?" he asked as respectfully as he possibly could, already wincing when the hunter pulled out a collar from their coat pocket and threw it into his hand.

"First things first, put that on. We'll discuss the rest on the way home."

~

taglist: @whumpsday @the-scrapegoat @hidden-dreamland @delicateprincepaper @whumppmuhw @florissimps @nicolepascaline @oliversrarebooks @thecyrulik @pirefyrelight @there-will-always-be-blood @pigeonwhumps @echo-goes-mmm @whumpycries @morning-star-whump @d-cs @watermelons-dont-grow-on-trees @tauntedoctopuses @blueyellow8green @typewrittenfangs @whumpsoda @steh-lar-uh-nuhs @auroragehenna @whumpedydump

[leejeann]

Practicing figure drawing so I can fulfill my dream of becoming an illustrator: Boring, predictable, little bit cheesy

Practicing figure drawing so I can make the bsd stormbringer animation I've had vividly playing rent-free in my head since I was like halfway through the book and heard a song for the first time in years that fit it perfectly: New, fresh, supporting my current source of brainrot

(little ramble about the animation idea below the cut because it's been rotating in my head for MONTHS and I just need someone else to hear it. vague spoilers for bsd stormbringer, but like vague enough it's barely spoilers imo)

The song is Invincible by Ok Go, for any fellow sb fans who want to see my vision lol. It was specifically the pre-chorus (starting with "i'm gonna bet they won't be prepared for-") that made it click in my brain, but then later the second verse also really clicked with it too (see below) and the concept has been rent free ever since. Might end up being more of an animatic but we'll see what my skill level ends up managing lol

ok so imagine the first verse is a combo of just general narration and/or the flags talking to/about Chuuya. "When the finally come to destroy the earth, they'll have to go through you first. Bet they won't be expecting that" just kind of feels like something the flags would say to him tbh. Like not verbatim but the sentiment of it

First pre-chorus is flashing through snippets of everything between Adam showing up at the bar until the first fight in the street. It might start with the confetti thing. I can't decide where to fit that, just that I want to include it lol. Probably ends with the reveal of that car (i know, i know, oof)

The chorus is the fight itself (...idk how to animate a fight but I'll cross that bridge later), ending with a longer shot of redacted holding Chuuya by the neck while everything breaks around them, then on-beat with the chorus ending it's a hard cut between seeing the hand on his neck to the same shot but with Dazai's hand against his back instead and everything immediately stopping, then Chuuya just kind of falling into a void and finally landing on the ground and getting back up just before the second verse starts.

(i really like that part in my head, if you can't tell by how clear of an idea I have for it lol)

First half of the second verse is Shirase talking to Chuuya. "Gonna decimate them like you did to me?" just fits his vibe too well. Then the second half of the verse is Dazai talking to Chuuya because the "will you devastate them deliberately?" line feels like it could be such a snarky Dazai way to make a jab about arahabaki like "So will you devastate them on purpose this time then?" if that makes sense

The last part of the song is still a little fuzzy in my head for how it'll go exactly, but like pre-chorus after the second verse will probably be like flashing through stuff in that lab and leading to the big fight with redacted. Then that chorus being the first part of the fight, the bridge ("so please use your powers for good") being like when they realize they haven't quite won and then Chuuya and Dazai are on the water tower. I think the build-up in that section musically fits the tone of how the scene is also building up, if that makes sense. The last "you're invincible!" after the bridge is like the where Chuuya launches himself off the water tower and/or the moment of Dazai turning around to see Chuuya is no longer behind him on the tower (can't decide which pov would look cooler to see from a narrative standpoint. Maybe I'll say fuck it and spilt-screen for both lmao) and then ya know visuals just kind of pop off until the end of the song/plot

Might have to tweak the timeline a bit because i want it to roughly cover the entire plot of the book. Once I at least get good enough at doing rough figure sketches and have the motivation to do it I'll be able storyboard it and figure that all out. Ok byee thanks for reading my ramblings, hope it made sense~

[littleladymab]

FebruarOC - Winston

I've been poking away at the Keeper Trilogy since 2010 and both attempts to write it never got very far, though I did some decent plotting with attempt 2.  It involves a lot more world building and I do need to do the entire three books in an outline before I can attempt again. 

Winston was one of the first pieces of the story that I had figured out! Even when I just did a few random snippets to play with tone and concept, it had always been Winston and Cora and always in a scene that ended up being the book 1 finale. 

The setting and general conceit for Keeper was that there are five courts surrounding a central capitol -- Onyx, Garnet, Jade, Lapis, and Agate surrounding the Golden City. It was ruled by the Keepers, people who were selected based on some hand-wavy bullshit I never quite solidified while each of the separate courts had their own rules for how their individual leaders were chosen. Only there hadn't been a Keeper in several hundred years, so each of the courts would send someone to serve like a 5 year term on the Golden Throne and it would rotate. 

The current king is from the Garnet court, and Winston is the captain of his personal guard called the Red Guard -- a collection made up of orphans from his court specifically so people couldn't come and try and bribe them with something better. They were already getting the best that the kingdom could offer and had no family that could make claims on them and take advantage of their position by the king. Winston is very dedicated to his role and to his king and takes it (and, well, everything) very seriously. 

Except for when his best friend, head of the Onyx Court and next in line for the Golden Throne, tells him that she had a dream that the next keeper has been chosen. And he's like "Well, that's great, what do you want me to do about it?" Lain says, "I want you to go and get her." Which is like, honestly one of the last things he wanted to hear her say!! 

Now he's caught between duty to his king and duty to the entire kingdom -- not just the Garnet Court. Because he respects King Mithra but the chance to restore order to all five courts and the capitol.... well, that would be an honor unimaginable! 

Winston takes his concerns to the king's advisor (and Lain's mother) Lady Lorelei, and she encourages him to follow after Lain's vision. And so he does! He leaves without fully telling King Mithra what he's doing, but framing it as like, preparing for a "tour of the kingdom". 

His story arc is, for a large part of it, playing the straight man against Lyra (his second in command, and also Lain's girlfriend) and someone for Cora to absolutely butt heads with when he pulls the "this is for the good of the kingdom and it is your destiny and so COME ON" and she's like "what the fuck has anyone ever done for me that I need to give up my whole life???" 

There is also a bit of a fetch quest aspect to it that I'm looking to rework, because they need to get the approval from each of the five courts and in doing so gain their stone of power or whatever the fuck they are. Lain hands her onyx over when sending Winston off, and Agate (where Cora is from) and Lapis fall in easily. It takes a bit of work for Jade, and Garnet is extremely tricky. And then there are the three symbols that Cora must have in order to be honored as a Keeper: a sword (which is kept in the Golden palace, called The First Hand of Justice), a bell (which Lain... has? Earns? I don't remember), and a crown (which is missing). These are the items that give the books their names! Justice's Reach, Knell's Avatar, and Keeper's Crown. 

I also forget HOW Winston comes into possession of the sword considering it's in the palace and, well, once Winston gets Cora and prepares to lead her to the Golden City, they get branded as traitors and ambushed! But the long and the short of it is: Cora as the Keeper has her left hand (Lain, with the bell) and her right hand (Winston, with the sword). And the collection of people who joined onto their group at each kingdom slowly become an army as it breaks into a civil war, as the True Queen versus the pretenders to the throne. 

Winston also often seems a lot more serious than he is because he always seems to be considering his words very carefully and speaking in a measured tone -- this is because he speaks with a stutter! If he gives in to his emotions or speaks without thinking, then he doesn't have the chance to compose himself and work through what he wants to say. 

He and Cora have the FUNNIEST meetcute because when they arrive in town, he stops by her stall at the market without knowing who she is and she flirts with him when he buys some apples or w/e, and then runs into her later when he stops by her house to talk to "the lord who owns the land" and she goes "??? it belongs to my family but if you have any questions about our taxes or w/e I can answer them...?" and he realizes who she is and says "oh, you're the lost keeper, c'mon you have a duty to the entire country" and then she tells him to fuck off. 

She also nicknames him Winny, which he HATES. "Winny isn't even a real name!! It's... it's the sound a horse makes!" (Which I do have as the name for a doc where I was writing beginning of book 2 stuff) 

I absolutely LOVE this story and these characters a lot, but I still had much to learn before I could write it. We'll see how things pan out in the future for allowing me time to formulate attempt #3!

I am back at it with the drabbles for the last few non-campaign characters, so you can find that for free over on patreon!

[robin-the-enby]

I've been wanting to request a Marvel one for a while now, but have just finally thought of something that I agreed on—

A oneshot with the avengers and the genderless reader celebrating their first birthday. Like where they came from, birthdays don't exist, the actual celebration and having a date of being born doesn't exist for them.

I'm also only familiar with the movies so I don't know what actually happened after Endgame— So spoilers outside that would be very appreciated if that's alright—

True meaning behind birthdays

Pairing: Avengers x gn!reader (platonic)

Summary: Reader comes from a planet where birthdays don't exist. The others decide to throw the best first birthday party ever for them.

A/N: I made this story so that it doesn't contain any spoilers. I really hope you like this, I tried my best.

Y/BD - your birthdate

Earth didn't have the best reputation among the other planets. Everyone you knew always told you it's a place not worth visiting. But that didn't stop you.

And oh wrong they all were. Sure, Earth didn't have the most impressive technology, but it compensated for it with many rich and diverse cultures. So many nationalities and religions, each celebrating their own holidays and traditions. Sure, some might say that it was impractical for so many cultures to live alongside each other, but you thought it was fascinating.

You've been on Earth for over half a year now and you already knew about many human customs, yet there was still so much more to learn, since they mingled with each other constantly, for example holidays typically celebrated in the U.S. migrated all the way to middle Europe.

However, there were some events that were celebrated by everyone. Like New Years Eve, when humans celebrated their planet's complete rotation around the Sun. Silly creatures. And the biggest catch? Different people celebrated New Years on different days!

You chuckled at the memory, focusing on your previous activity. You were relaxing in the compound's living room, since there weren't any missions that regular S.H.I.E.L.D. agents couldn't handle on their own.

You were soon joined by Tony, a very extravagant and bold man, but still a very friendly colleague of yours. He scooted over until he was sitting next to you and asked "So, how did you enjoy Nat's birthday party?"

Ah, birthdays, of course. Celebrating one's day of birth every year was something all humans did as well. The concept was very foreign to you, I mean, why would anyone celebrate being one year closer to death? Still, you could not deny that you enjoyed yourself very much.

"Are you asking just because you organized the thing?" you asked back with an arched brow. Tony looked at you as if you grew a second head "Y/N! You know I'm better than that!"

"But...did you like it?" he asked after a few moments of quiet. You laughed "Yes Tony, I really enjoyed the party." You could practically see his face light up like a Christmas tree (another thing you discovered during your time here) "Awesome! Say, when can we celebrate your birthday?"

Oh... "Uhm, well, I don't really have one..." you explained. Tony's eyes widened "What do you mean? Everybody has a birthdate!" he chuckled, but his tone was mainly confused. "Well, yes, of course I have a birthdate, but where I come from, birthdays aren't really a thing. We don't celebrate them or even really acknowledge them." you shrugged.

"Well, when is your birthday?" Tony asked. You thought for a moment, before replying "Well, we don't really divide our days the same way you humans do. You would describe someone's date of birth with the day, month and year, whereas we just describe it with the position a certain set of constellations has in the sky at that moment. You'd be surprised how accurate it is." Tony blinked a few times "Yeah, that doesn't clear it up much." You laughed again.

For the next couple of minutes you tried to explain to Tony how it all worked, using "your" constellation as an example, not knowing about the plan the genius playboy had in mind all along.

After he told you he finally understood what you meant, he promptly excused himself, saying he was actually just taking a break from something he and Bruce were working on. You said your "see you later"s and parted ways.

As Tony entered the lab, Bruce, who has been working on their project when Tony had his break, looked up to see who came in, before turning back to the machine set on the working table in front of him. "Hi Tony." he muttered "Did you enjoy your break?"

Tony walked over to his friend and leaned on the table he was working on "Yea yeah. Listen, I have an interesting idea..."

It took a lot of math and research, but after a few days, the two geniuses finally had it. They managed to convert your birthdate from your people's system to theirs and it was supposed to be on Y/BD.

Which was gonna be pretty pretty damn soon.

So they did the most logical thing. They called a secret Avengers meeting to get everyone in on the plan.

"Are you sure they even want a birthday party?" Steve asked, because the last thing he would want to is to make you uncomfortable.

"Of course, you know they like to be involved in everything." Wanda reassured him with a wave of her hand. "Still, I think we shouldn't throw a big party." Steve muttered. "I agree, it's their first birthday, we wouldn't want to overwhelm them." Vision nodded. Tony sighed and slumped in his chair dramatically "Ugh, okay then. You guys are no fun, I swear..." straightening up once again, he eyed everyone seriously "Okay, here's the plan..."

And what a plan it was. Wanda and Vision were in charge of making a birthday cake, Tony and Nat were in charge of the alcohol and your favourite drink. Thor was in charge of getting your favourite snacks, Bruce and Sam were in charge of decorating and that left Steve in charge of taking you somewhere nice until the others had everything ready.

It wouldn't have been that odd for someone from the team to ask you to hang out, but you couldn't help but notice Steve's eyes darting around almost as if in fear. He must've thought he was being sneaky, but that couldn't be further from the truth.

But once you were out of the compound, you could feel Steve relax as he took you to a restaurant that quickly became your favourite after a few weeks of staying with the Avengers.

You two had so much fun, talking about anything and everything. One thing you had in common with the captain was your love for exploring. Of course, he knew much more about Earth than you, but he still missed nearly seventy years. You two would often share your favourite music or artists you discovered, as well as movies or literature.

"What do you think about birthdays Y/N?" he asked you out of the blue. It caught you off guard a little. Just a few moments ago you were discussing if Disney was a good brand or not and now this...Especially when you discussed birthdays with Tony just a few weeks ago. Strange...

"I think it's fascinating how you humans find so many things worth celebrating. I mean, birthdays are a little hard for me to understand, why would you want to celebrate getting older? I thought that humans wanted to avoid that?"

This answer seemed to throw Steve off his rhythm for a bit. "Well, it's not really about that-" he wanted to explain, but was cut off by a buzzing sound. Steve quickly reached into his pocket, taking out his phone, the culprit guilty of disrupting your conversation, checking the text message he recieved, before putting it back and looking at you again "Sorry, Fury needs me for something. Do you mind if I drop you off and then go?"

You were a little sad that your good time had to end so soon, since you both were having so much fun, but you knew it couldn't be helped, so you just shook your head and smiled.

As you made your way back, you turned to Steve again "So, what did you want to tell me, back at the restaurant?" you tilted your head to the side.

Steve almost started talking again, but before any sound could escape his mouth, it seemed like he changed his mind "Would you believe me if I told you I really don't remember?" he chuckled awkwardly. You couldn't help but squint at him. He was acting very suspiciously... "Yeah..." you answered absentmindedly. Just what was going on?

You spent the whole journey back to the compound mulling it over in your head. Was it somebody's birthday? No, surely they would've told you if that was the case. Was it your birthday? But, nobody knew when that was. So what on Earth was going on??

You decided you were gonna confront Steve if he wasn't going o explain anything by himself. So as soon as you were about to pass the compound's living room, you quickly tugged him in, telling him you needed to talk to him before he had to go.

The room was darkened, somebody must've drawn down the blinds. That didn't matter to you in that moment, you wanted answers. Steve became a silhouette in front of you, so you couldn't see his exact expression. You looked into what you imagined were his eyes, and with the most serious look you could muster you said "Alright Steve, quit joking around. What is happening?"

But before your interrogation could progress, the blinds were drawn up and the room was suddenly bathed in light as people yelled "Happy birthday!!!"

You whirled around and saw everyone gathered in the living room, standing around the coffee table, upon which were various snacks that you grew to love during your stay here, complete with your favourite drink, and in the middle of it all sat a beautiful cake. The room was decorated with ornaments in your favourite colours and everyone had a big smile plastered in their face.

Well, you certainly did not expect that. After carefully looking around at everything, you couldn't help but laugh "So it's my birthday??" you asked, surprised.

"Wait, what did cap told you?" Tony asked, alarmed. "Well, nothing specific, but he wasn't subtle either." you smiled and looked at the now blushing Steve from the corner of your eye.

The rest of the day was great, possibly the best one you've had here. Good food, drinks and laughter all around. It warmed your heart to receive so many beautiful gifts, words couldn't express just how grateful you were. One thing still nagged in your brain though...

All of you were seated on the various sofas and armchairs around the coffee table, calmly chatting about beloved memories, exchanging funny stories and everything was heavenly peacful.

"I still can't wrap my head around why you would go throuh all the trouble for me." you shook your head, the disbelief still lingering in your mind.

"Well, that's simple. We like having you around." Tony shrugged. The others nodded. "Yeah, we appreciate having you with us. You're a great friend." Wanda added. "Celebrating birthdays is like showing gratefulness that the celebrated person is still with you." Bruce explained.

Their confessions were so heartwarming, you couldn't help but to shed a few tears. Sam, who was sitting next to you, put his arm around your shoulders, rubbing your arm comfortingly. So that's what birthdays were really about...

It was great to have friends.

[faikurogane]

I've been climbing up the pedestal

Title: I've been climbing up the pedestal (that I put you on the first day we met, babe)

Pairings: Fai d. Flourite/Kurogane

Rating: T 

Word Count: 2k

Summary: KuroFai Aquatic/Lifeguard AU | Fai was absolutely certain that his life was over the day it was announced that Kurogane was being promoted to headguard.  The bastard seemed to have it out for him since day 1, when Fai stepped on the pool deck all fresh and chipper with his shiney new whistle and bright polyester hip pack. | Enemies to Lovers

Author’s Note: This fic is for @godtiercomplex for the KuroFai Gift Exchange hosted by @kageyambae. I am so sorry that this is so late!!! Work & school kinda snuck up on me, so my sincerest apologies! I hope you like it! 

Background knowledge-

So I kinda got carried away with the Aquatics references, I’m sorry. Here are some helpful things:

HeadGuard -- like a supervisor but without actually being a supervisor, usually headguards take care of writing up rotations and customer complaints that regular guards can’t handle.

Rotations -- Basically like a schedule but for that specific shift on that specific day. It’s the order of rotation of stations around the pool. EX: first you go to the lanes chair, then to the slide chair, etc. 

Fai was absolutely certain that his life was over the day it was announced that Kurogane was being promoted to headguard.  The bastard seemed to have it out for him since day 1, when Fai stepped on the pool deck all fresh and chipper with his shiney new whistle and bright polyester hip pack. Kurogane volunteered him for cleaning duty that day and Fai had spent his first 5 hour shift mopping and sweeping and cleaning windows and literally everything else that wasn't sitting in a lifeguard chair,  all while Kurogane had cleaned beside him, silent and watchful. Fai thought maybe, just maybe, that's how they initiated new guards - maybe they didn't want them on the stand the first day, wanted them to get used to the facility first - but then he spent the next 5 god-awful shifts with Kurogane. Cleaning. Every. Fucking. Inch. of. That. Goddamn. Natatorium.

And if the guy ever said anything, well, Fai didn't hear him. Finally, after the fifth day of absolute silence of cleaning next to Kurogane, Fai started talking. About his life, about why he became a lifeguard, about school, about his brother and his adorable little niece.  Kurogane had grunted on occasion, but mostly the talking just seemed to frustrate him. And Fai could use that to his advantage, so he did. He blabbed on for hours, glancing over occasionally to see Kurogane scowling to himself as his face got a brighter shade of red every couple minutes. Fai noticed, after a little bit of prodding, that if he dropped in the occasional suggestive comment or mild flirt, Kurogane would turn an ungodly shade of scarlet and usually leave for a little while. Which, in the end, it didn’t get him off cleaning duty, but it did give Fai a certain sense of accomplishment to know that if Kurogane was going to make his work life a living hell, Fai could sure as hell make him uncomfortable in the process. But now, Kurogane was headguard. And Fai had a feeling his life was about to get a hell of a lot worse.

Fai had been working at the Beika Recreation Center for nearly 6 months when Kurogane got promoted. As headguard, Kurogane was unfortunately now in charge of rotations - meaning he pretty much controlled where Fai started and ended during a shift and, well, you guessed it, he was on the rotation with the most cleaning breaks, timed out perfectly so that they’d be on cleaning break at the same time, just to taunt him, no less!

“Do you think I could get put on another shift? Like, y’know, if I talk to Yuuko?” Fai asked, sighing as he took another bite of his sandwich. Tomoyo sat across from him in the break room, carefully picking through her salad. She waved her hand in a so-so motion and glanced over at the whiteboard, eyeing over the rotation Kurogane had put up a few minutes ago.

“Doubt it. She gets...petty. And Kurogane’s one of her favorites.” Tomoyo said, stabbing a large chunk of onion, “Maybe you could talk to Kurogane. Ask him why he’s being a dick?”

Fai groaned louder, sandwich dropping limp on his lunchbox, “Sometimes I just want to ring his--”  Tomoyo’s eyes widened and Fai stopped, turning to look over his shoulder to see Kurogane, arms full of various buckets.

“You want to ring who now, Flourite?” Kurogane let out a long breath as he heaved the buckets onto the table. Fai sat for a minute, mouth slightly agape as he tried to think of the best course of action in this situation. And well, Fai was never one to be known for his subtlety.

“You, of course, darling. Want to put a ring on that pretty little hand of yours.” Fai’s voice dipped low, sarcasm dripping from every word, but there was a smile on his face. Kurogane’s ears burned bright red and he coughed, ran a hand down his face, and walked briskly out of the room. The doors to the pool deck slammed behind him and Tomoyo started laughing not a moment later.

“See? He just gets all frustrated and--” Fai started, but Tomoyo clapped her hand on the table and shook her head, still chuckling.

“You think he’s frustrated?”

“I mean, what else could he be?” Fai scrunched his eyebrows together, absolutely lost as to what Tomoyo may be implying. She gave him a look and sighed.

“You’re up for cleaning break next, right?” Tomoyo grinned, “I think you’ll figure it out.”  

*********

Fai scowled into the bucket of musky oil-water sat before him as he lifted yet another drain cap from it. Kurogane sat next to him, a bucket of his own settled between his legs. De-winterizing the outdoor pool turned out to be a lot less fun than it had originally sounded, in Fai’s opinion. First, having to set up an elaborate system of draining pumps to get all of the leftover water out of the deep end, just because some idiot decided they needed to build a pool in the goddamn wetlands of northeast Ohio. A task, which, of course, fell on Fai, in Kurogane’s timely absence. And then taking drain caps out of water that smelled like day-old grease and sweat and cleaning them by hand. Kurogane had finally shown up then and sat next to him without a word. He didn’t even look in Fai’s direction. Thirty minutes of scrubbing passed and Fai could feel himself falling asleep from the staunt repetition.

“So my niece, Sakura, y’know, the one who’s really into those murder mysteries -”

“Agatha Christie’s Poirot?” Kurogane interjected, and Fai stopped what he was doing for a moment, and then brushed it off. He talked about Sakura a lot, of course he would remember.

“Yeah, I think that’s it. Anyway, She’s been taking up needlepoint recently. So yesterday, my brother and I came down to the living room and found her asleep on the couch, all covered in thread and fabric. Just kinda curled up in it. It was adorable.” Fai smiled and plucked out another drain cover and set to work, “Anything fun or new in your life, Kurgie?” Kurogane didn’t respond. So, Fai moved on-

“I just started my last semester of undergrad, so my brother has been insisting I start trying to find my own place. But I’m just lost on how to do it. I was thinking somewhere around here, but y’know, I’m new and I don’t know my way around yet. You know of any good places?”

Kurogane stood to grab another bucket without so much as a nod of affirmation. Fai huffed and tossed the drain cover he was working on back in the water and turned to glare at Kurogane. Tomoyo’s suspicions from earlier had been getting under his skin and Kurogane was acting a bit off. Maybe Fai had really pissed him off earlier?

“Do you have a problem with me?” Fai stood and moved closer to Kurogane, who’d practically frozen in place at this point. There was an odd expression on his face, kind-of half surprised, half confused, like the concept that Fai thought he was upset with him was the most ludacris thing in the world.

“No,” Kurogane said.

“Then what the heck is with all these cleaning shifts? Do you think I’m a bad lifeguard? Did I insult you somehow? Is it because you think my stories about my personal life are just way too entertaining?”

Kurogane’s brow furrowed and he set the bucket on the table behind them, “No.”

“No? Just. No? Okay. Well. I guess that’s that?” Fai threw his hands up and grabbed his hip pack, “I’m going to see if Watanuki will switch rotations with me.” Before he could move toward the door, Kurogane caught his shoulder, and Fai had just about had it with whatever the hell was going on. He ripped his shoulder from Kurogane’s grasp, “What? What the hell could you have--”

“Fai,” Kurogane interrupted, his voice calm and even, “I apologize if you’ve gotten the wrong idea.”

Fai scoffed at him, the wrong idea? The wrong fucking idea?

“Well forgive me for interpreting you turning me into a glorified maid as an indication of you disliking me.”

Kurogane sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger, “I didn’t--You’re hopeless. Did you ever think that maybe I just liked working with you?”

“You just liked working with me? So the first day you saw me, hadn’t said two words to me, and you were just like...hmmm...this guy looks like a really good worker and he’s going to be my new---” And then something in his head clicked, and oh, oh okay.

“You were interesting.” Kurogane muttered.

“You thought I was pretty.” Fai grinned and took a step toward him. There was that blush again, all dusty pink on Kurogane’s cheeks as he stammered through an excuse-

“Interesting! I thought you might make a good guard and-”

“You thought I was pretty.” Kurogane was backed up against the whiteboard now, and as Fai took a final step toward him, his eye caught Kurogane’s name on the rotation schedule, “You thought I was pretty and you put yourself on cleaning breaks with me so you could what? Make a move? You barely said a word to me for 6 goddamn months, Kurgie!”

“I wanted to get to know you, you idiot!” Kurogane was pointedly refusing to look at him.

“And you didn’t say anything because?”

“Didn’t want you to think I was trying to take advantage of you.” Kurogane whispered and Fai let out a deep chuckle.

“It’s cute that you think you’d be able to.”

A pause hung in the air and neither moved, though Fai was still leaning close, barely inches apart from Kurogane’s bare chest.

“I…” Kurogane began, only to be interrupted by the sound of a double whistle, effectively ripping him from his place against the wall as he rushed out of the break room. For a moment, Fai thought about following him out, teasing him all the way to the guard stand as he went to deal with whatever issue was at hand because 6 goddamn months of cleaning hell was nothing to sneeze at, even if it was because Kurogane was absolutely horrible at voicing his feelings. And Fai has to admit that, now that he considered it (and now that he was no longer convinced that Kurogane hated his guts), maybe catching a movie or going to dinner with the guy wouldn’t be half bad.

Fai cracked open the door and glanced out to see Kurogane standing by the side of the lanes and talking to a patron as one of the new guards stood by. Kurogane, on his part, looked like the ideal image of a lifeguard that one tended to only see in magazines - all tan and handsome in his dark blue trunks. Unfortunately, the guy Kurogane was dealing with didn’t seem like he was going to be letting him go any time soon - lap swimmers never wanted to give up their lane, regardless the reason- and rotation would be switching in about five minutes. Not enough time for Fai to get ready to go up and also talk to Kurogane about their possible future romantic endeavors. So, he settled on writing out his number on a slip of paper and settling it neatly amoung Kurogane’s things. Ideally, he’d catch him after work, but there was no reason not to have a contingency plan, just in case.

With that, Fai gathered up his things and started out the door, making a point to walk the longer way around the pool to get to his station just so he could pass Kurogane and wink at him as he passed by. The lap swimmer was still yelling, but Fai swore he saw a smile creep across Kurogane’s face. And yeah, Fai thought, going out with him wouldn’t be bad at all.