#it’s ya rach

[denimshortsdean]

I’m decoing all your trees btw. If you even care. Kindness is a free and unlimited resource

[bnbc]

Day 3: In Bloom // Love Is Blindness

@cyberhanami

________________

don't reupload this post to other sites

[sarahsmi13s]

🫘 Spill the beans. What's a new project you're doing this year?

Ah! Hi Rach!

Okay, soooo, I do have two series cooking up in the brain vault!

I won't be spilling too much because I do still want them to be a surprise but one is based off The Family I Chose a fic from my whumptober collection for Phoenix, and the other was inspired by Glen during football season (and that is all i will say on that)

Thank you for popping in!!

if you want to pick my brain send me an emoji!

[yourockthebeatofmyheart]

GOD DAMMIT I just realized that Kat and Bianca's last name in 10 things i hate abut you is stratford bc shakespeare was from stratford upon avon

[etherealstar-writes]

I WANNA BE YOURS | WOSO X READER | PT 15

pairings: woso x reader

summary: in which you're accidentally added to a random group chat, not knowing they're all actually famous footballers, and obliviously end up having many of them competing for your love and attention.

part: fifteen

part one here

✦ ——— ✦ ——— ✦

THE NATIONAL DIVING TEAM

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ nahhh that's it i'm quitting this job tillies my baes you guys hiring? 🙏

stairway NOOOO Y/N IM SOO SORRY

willybum Y/N NO

elton ABSOLUTELY NOT

kyra ABSOLUTELY YES

cha cha YESSS WE WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS

stephy of course! 🥰

the REAL karate kid NAHHH

neev WE DIDNT MEAN TOO Y/N WE'RE REALLY SORRY

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ NO YOU GUYS ARE NOT

meado what did you guys do this time

the imposter aka y/n ❤️

stairway it was nothing!

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ NOTHING?!

willybum did you just make a meme of me ....

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ i've made memes of all of you BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT RN i hate you all except lotte i love you you're the only lioness i'll support

tom holland's twin while i really appreciate that pls don't leave me with these idiots 🥺🙏

meado waittt i wasn't part of all this why hate meee

earpsy yeah i wasn't there either why do we gotta suffer tho

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ MARY you not being there was what caused this torture and suffering in the first place 😭😭

keira i'm so out of the loop rn

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ SO THESE IDIOTS THOUGHT I'D BE GREAT FOR TARGET PRACTICE IN GOALS AND SHOVED ME IN THE BATTLEFIELD WITHOUT MY CONSENT ME WHOS THE OPPOSITE OF ATHLETIC GOT ABUSED BCUZ OF THEM ALL only lotte being the angel she is helped me

willybum it wasn't even that badddd

stairway yeahh you're being kinda dramatic

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ WASNT EVEN THAT BAD?! EXCUSE YOU I HAVE A CONCUSSION BCUZ OF YOU GUYS AND A MASSIVE BUMP ON MY HEAD AND YOURE CALLING ME DRAMATIC?!

tom holland's twin yeah it was a nasty bump ngl y'all knocked out her braincells

elton i mean to be fair she kinda didn't have many braincells to begin with anyway ....

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ SPEAK FOR YOURSELF THATS ITTT TILLIES YALL MY NUMBER ONE MY MAIN MY HOMELAND

the REAL karate kid

willybum NOOO NOT THEMMM WE SHOULD BE YOUR NUMBER ONE

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ WELL YOU SHOULDVE THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE YALL ATTACKED ME AFTER EVERYTHING IVE DONE FOR YALL AND THIS IS HOW YOU GUYS REPAY ME?!

kyra charli and i are coming to get ya rn from these losers we're on our way

stairway WHO YOU CALLING LOSERS?!

willybum this is unacceptable

the imposter aka y/n ❤️

willybum

the REAL karate kid

neev NAHH WE'LL WAGE WAR

kyra

come at me you colonisers

tom holland's twin NAHH NOT COLONISERS 😭😭

stairway WE WILL

cha cha imma bring in the big guns

cha cha added brick wall, ford, lani and sammy the skippa

the imposter aka y/n ❤️

OMG MORE AUSSIES AYEE

cha cha um that photo .... anyway macca cait lani protect y/n at all costs

brick wall

aye aye

lani on it!

ford okay!

sammy the skippa um what is happening rn

stephy all you need to know is that we gotta protect y/n from the lionesses

sammy the skippa

neev we got our own big guns lucy millie mary rach need ya rn

earpsy here!

brightness yes.

daily i was summoned

rusty metal yeah?

kyra well WEVE GOT MCCABE KATIE MCCABE

the REAL karate kid WHAT?!

willybum SINCE WHEN WAS MCCABE WITH YOU GUYS?!

brick wall since always?

stephy yeah katie's an honorary aussie

meado katie?!

mccard yeah i am

elton WELL WEVE GOT ONA ISNT THAT RIGHT?

rusty metal ona?

ona well ..... i'm afraid to tell you that we spaniards have formed an alliance with the aussies

kie THE BETRAYAL 😭😭

willybum what is this blasphemy

tom holland's twin wait isn't spain also a coloniser tho ....

stairway oh yeahhh that's hypocritical of you

ona shhhhhhh

kyra

cha cha well y/n is successfully ours

willybum ABSOLUTELY NOT

neev WE'LL GET HER BACK JUST YOU WAIT

stairway YEAH WERE COMING FOR YOU KANGAROO RIDERS

samma the skippa

what are you all gonna do? drown us in your cup of teas?

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ DAMN yall got violated haha

the REAL karate kid

neev i cannot believe this just happened 😔😭

✦ ——— ✦ ——— ✦

[steddiecameraroll]

I Want to Know What Love Is

ao3

Steve doesn’t know when it’ll stop hurting. Everyone says time heals all wounds. But it’s been three years and that feels like more than enough time for the Eddie-shaped wound to heal.

Why does it still hurt?

“Steve?” Robin’s quiet when she peers around the corner.

Steve’s sitting alone on their couch in the middle of the night, staring at the blank television screen, with tears slipping down his cheeks.

“You ok?” Robin slides in beside him, immediately wrapping her arms around him and tugging him in close.

“I don’t know what’s wrong.” He wipes the back of his hand across his cheek, and then hugs her closer. “I’m just feeling lonely, I guess.”

“You got me,” she tries to sound upbeat.

“I know,” he pats her arm. “Thank you.”

They sit together in silence, rocking in each other's arms. The darkness feels like a vice around Steve’s heart, squeezing him until he can’t breathe.

“I miss him,” he murmurs.

“I know,” she presses a kiss to his head. “You could probably call him. You know he’s not asleep.”

“I know but it’s not the same.”

“I’m sorry, bud.”

“I think I should’ve gone with him.”

He’s regretted letting Eddie leave for the west coast without him, pretty much from day one. But that guilt, fear, and obligation of protecting everyone still in Hawkins was too strong to let him tag along.

“You could still go.” Robin nudges his shoulder.

“He doesn’t miss me like I miss him. He’s probably fucking all kinds of groupies. Y’know, people can’t resist a rockstar.”

“Steve,” her tone is soft but sad. “Don’t do this to yourself. First, they’re not rockstars. Eddie has a day job. Second, you know he misses you. I can always hear him through the phone when he calls. The way he says your name. That man is still crazy about you.” She runs her fingers through his hair softly. “Call him.”

Steve sighs but doesn’t respond. He wants to believe her, but also can’t withstand getting his hopes up only to be devastated later.

He just needs more time.

“Eddie?”

Eddie’s pulled from his thoughts when his coworker Dale waves him down.

“Sup, man?” Eddie leans his arms along the bar, ducking his head under the hanging martini glasses.

“You think you can take my shift tomorrow? Rach has to go to the hospital. Her mom’s in for something with her heart. I gotta watch the kids.”

“Yeah, man. No problem.”

“Fuck, you’re the best. Oh my god that’s such a relief. Thanks. I’ll owe you one.”

“No problem. Hope everything is ok.” Eddie’s heart always tugs a little bit when he hears someone’s mom is sick.

“Sounds like it. They’re just keeping her to make sure.”

“Good, don’t worry about tomorrow. I got it.” Eddie slaps his palm on the shiny bar top and slides down to a new patron at the last stool. He sets a napkin in front of the man. “What can I get ya?”

It’s a quiet night in the bar. Slower than molasses quiet. He hates nights like this. Not only does it hit his pockets it gives him enough time to think. And time to think is bad for Eddie’s mental health.

He’s been in California for three years now and he’s not anywhere closer to making it big than when he showed up. The guys are getting over it. Tired of burning the candle at both ends and hearing ‘no’ at every single turn.

Plus…

He’s fucking lonely.

He has been trying so hard to get over Steve. When he first got to L.A. he was able to distract himself with a new place, a new job, a new dream, new surroundings everything, but that fizzled away quickly.

He’s avoiding the party scene. There’s a lot harder drugs being passed around than in Hawkins. And thanks to his dear old pops, he’s learned stay away from that shit. He doesn’t want to be a washed up rockstar before he even becomes a rockstar.

He pours the new customer a beer then goes back to organizing the receipts. His thumb is tapping mindlessly along to the music pumping from the jukebox, when the tune changes and he feels it in his heart.

I wanna know what love is

I want you to show me

I wanna feel what love is

I know you can show me

Fucking, Foreigner. This song always reminds him of Steve and that night he, Steve, Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, and Argyle went out to the Robinson’s farm. A few six packs, some California Grade-A purple palm tree delight, and drunken karaoke style singing under the stars.

Steve was hanging off Eddie. His arm slung around Eddie’s neck while he sung his heart out into his beer can. Eddie couldn’t pull his eyes off the man. They hadn’t kissed yet. Hadn’t even acknowledged what was happening between them.

But under the August night sky of finally saved Hawkins, Indiana, Eddie Munson fell in love with Steve Harrington.

“You ok, man?” Dale suddenly appears to Eddie’s left, and Eddie has to clear his throat to hide the emotions trying to crawl up his throat.

“Mhm, I’m good. Fucking hate this song.” Eddie keeps his eyes pointed down because it would be painfully obvious he was lying otherwise.

Dale chuckles. “Yeah, hear that. Rach loves it. She belts it out whenever it comes on the radio and she’s in the kitchen.”

Eddie’s heart aches a little more at the idea that maybe Steve would do the same thing.

The phone behind the bar rings and Eddie jumps to grab it.

“Mickey’s.”

“Eddie?”

His heart drops to his feet because how could he know Eddie was thinking about him?

“Steve? Are you ok?” Eddie’s ears are pounding as he waits.

“I don’t know.” Steve sounds too sad for Eddie’s heart.

“Hold on, ok? I’m gonna take my break and pick you up back in the office. Ok? Just give me two minutes.”

“Ok,” Steve whispers.

Eddie presses the hold button and asks Dale to watch the bar, then races to the back room. His fingers fumble to pick up the phone as he drops into the ancient office chair.

“Stevie? What’s wrong?” Eddie’s heart is racing.

“Nothin’, really. I was- I was thinking about you. Robin said I should call.”

“I’m glad you did,” Eddie’s fingers wind through the phone cord anxiously. “Y’know what was playing on the jukebox? Just now?”

“What?” Steve’s voice sounds soft and fluffy.

“I wanna know what love iiiiiissss,” Eddie sings softly down the line. He hears Steve chuckle and it pushes him to keep singing. “I want you to show meeeeee.”

Eddie hears Steve take a shaky breath. “Eddie?”

“Yeah?”

“I miss you.”

Eddie can’t stop himself from smiling. “I miss you, too.”

“No-no you don’t understand.”

“What?”

“I miss you. I miss your smile. I miss your laugh. I miss poking your dimples. I fucking miss you. I should’ve gone with. I’m so stupid. I should’ve gone with you. And it’s too late and I miss you so fucking much. I’m sorry. Shit,” Steve clears his throat. “I shouldn’t have called you. I’m sorry. I’m a fucking mess. I’m sorry. I’m gonna go. Sorry for calling you at work.”

“Steve? Don’t hang up. Please. Don’t hang up.” Eddie rushes out. “Listen to me, don’t hang up.”

“Ok.”

“Stevie? Baby?” Eddie hears Steve whine at the pet name. “I miss you, too. I do. I miss the smell of your hairspray, and the way you crinkle your nose in the morning when your alarm goes off. I miss you and Robin giving me a hard time about my smoking. I hate it here, baby. Fucking California sucks. I miss the stars. But I miss you more. Don’t come out here. I wanna come home.”

He’s been thinking about it for months, waiting for his sign. If Steve calling him out of the blue, while Foreigner is playing on the jukebox, and tells him how much he’s missed him isn’t a clear sign then nothing will be.

“I love you, Steve. I never stopped loving you. I’m glad you didn’t come out here. You’d hate it and probably hate me because of it.” Eddie drags a knuckle under his eye.

“I love you, too. But I don’t want you to give up on your dreams. What about the band? What about The Garden?”

“They hate it here too. Gareth is a week away from quitting. I can feel it. Jeff has a girlfriend and a really good job that he’s not going to give up. It’s over. We tried. Music is different now. New decade means new sound. I wanna come home.” He takes a deep inhale and feels a million pounds lighter. “Fuck, I’d come home right now if I could. Sneak into your place and snuggle under your covers.”

“Yeah?” Eddie can hear Steve’s smile.

“Yep, scoop you up into my arms and kiss every single beauty mark across your skin. Fuck, I miss biting those two on your neck. Are they still there? Do they miss me?”

“You’re ridiculous. Yes they’re still there.”

“And??” Eddie leans forward in his chair.

“Yes they miss you,” Steve says quietly like he’s trying to hide his face.

“I knew it,” Eddie groans. “Tell them I’m gonna be home soon, ok? I gotta get back to work, baby. I’m gonna call you tomorrow and we can talk about it.”

“Ok,” Steve hums. “I love you.”

“Love you, too.” Eddie’s cheeks are hurting. He can’t stop smiling. “God, I love you. Fuck, that feels good to say. I love you, Steve Harrington. I fucking love you. Ok, I gotta hang up. Tomorrow. I’ll call you tomorrow. Ok?”

“Yeah. I love you, Eddie Munson. Night.”

“Bye, baby.”

Eddie slowly lowers the phone down before jumping to his feet and punching happily into the air. He spins around a few times before trying to collect himself and heading back to the bar.

Dale raises an eyebrow at him. “Everything good?”

“Yep, great. Everything’s fucking great.” He slaps the man on the shoulder and beams brightly at him. “You know what? We should play Foreigner again.”

Eddie bounces around the bar and giddily drops change into the machine. He punches in the corresponding buttons, leans against the device and waits for the music to fill the air. Dale watches amusingly from across the almost empty bar when Eddie starts to shimmy his shoulders to the music.

I've gotta take a little time

A little time to think things over

Eddie can’t help himself and sings along. His chest is filled with too much joy to hold it back.

I better read between the lines

In case I need it when I'm older

“Dude? What are you doing?” Dale yells across the room.

“I’m fucking singing, man. Someone still loves me back home. I’m fucking singing.”

Dale rolls his eyes fondly, shakes his head, and turns back to the bar.

Eddie doesn’t care.

He’s going home.

Steve still loves him.

He’s going home.

coffee? ☕️🍩💕

Reply or send me an ask to be added to my permanent tag list.

[desperate-gay]

leah being boyfriend leah (cause we al love boyfriend leah) and trying to get the reader to take her medicine AND then BOOM teammates walk in (specify if you like) and like nobody knew they were together they though like FRIENDS

HAVE FUNN ILYYY DOMESTIC

Medicine

Leah Williamson x fem!reader

It was the time of year when the weather started to shift a little and everybody got sick. You, of course, are one of those lucky participants. This morning you woke up congested with a pounding headache, and your girlfriend took quick notice of this.

And here you are, still in bed arguing with Leah that you are perfectly fine. She stands at the end of the bed in a tank top with her arms crossed over her chest, giving you a look.

“Baby, I’m fine.” You assure her, yet you still remain in bed with the covers resting over your body. Your girlfriend has noticed you kicking and pulling the blankets up constantly through the night and morning, most likely because you have a cold and you’re experiencing temperature fluctuations. But you being you, you are too stubborn to let her know she’s right.

“I will give you €20 and I will leave you alone if you close your mouth and breathe through your nose.”

You squint your eyes at her, knowing where she is getting at. The chances if you do follow through with it, you’ll either suffocate or you will get proven wrong. Her eyebrows are raised, waiting for you to do something. You shake your head and get up out of bed.

“I gotta pee.”

Leah rolls her eyes at your obvious attempt to avoid the situation. “Would you stop being so bloody stubborn and just admit you are sick!” She shouts over the closed bathroom door. After a few seconds, she hears the toilet flush and the door open. You step out for just a second and give her a pointed look.

“I am not sick.”

Turning around, you make your way back into the bathroom to brush your teeth. “It’s not a bad thing you know. It happens to you almost every year.” Leah follows you, demanding that you give up on your front.

“Well lucky for me, it’s not happening this year.” Your words are muffled by your frothy mouth, but Leah understands every syllable. She sits on the standing tub and just stares at you through the mirror.

Once you’re done, you wipe your mouth with a rag and turn your body to look at the blonde. You place your hands on the counter behind you and look back at her. Finally, she stands up and puts her hands up in surrender.

“Fine. Then I guess you wouldn’t mind on Mills and Rach comin’ over, would ya?” Leah was already walking out of the bathroom, too ahead to see your eyes widening. Of course, you love the two but together? Together they are chaotic. And that would just add more pressure to your head, but you have to act like you’re excited to see them or Leah will question why you don’t want them over. While walking away, the blonde has a smug smile etched on her face, knowing exactly what she’s doing. She just wants you to admit that you’re feeling under the weather so she can wrap you up and take care of you.

“That sounds great, baby!” Her smile drops at your reply, and little does she know, so does yours.

—

A couple of hours later, both you and Leah lay on the couch, snuggled up in a blanket, watching Brooklyn 99. Your head leans on her shoulder while her arm is wrapped over yours, her hand rubbing up and down your arms, keeping you close. You feel a tickle in your throat and you bring up your fist to try and muffle your cough, but Leah notices your body jerking.

“Alright, that’s enough. I’m getting you some medicine.” She gets up from the sofa and heads toward your bedroom to get the cold medicine.

She returns to the living room with a spoon in one hand and a bottle in the other, making your eyes pop out of your head. “Leah, I am okay-“

“No, you’re not, and you are going to take this medicine right now.” Her voice is stern as she pours the syrup on the metal. You bounce up and start to make a run for it. “Y/n, I swear to god!” She places the spoon gently on the table and runs to find you.

As Leah is chasing you around the house, the door opens revealing Millie and Rachel with a few treats in their hands. They’re about to call out for the both of you before they are cut off by you sprinting past them, Leah hot on your trail.

“You will never catch me!”

“I will force this down your throat and you will take it!”

Both of the guests' eyes widen and they look at each other, Millie mouthing a wow as Rachel nods in agreement. They hear a huge thump along with a few screams.

“Get off of me!” Leah had somehow tricked you and hid herself in a corner where you were running past, giving her a chance to tackle you to the ground. Her legs clutch together your legs while her arms pin yours to the wooden floor.

“Millie, Rachel! Get me the syrup from the table, now!”

“Don’t listen to her, you guys!”

The two cluelessly drop the snacks and grab the medicine to give to Leah. When they come into the kitchen, they quickly hand the defender the spoon and bottle and back away, seeing you struggle underneath her. You gasp and look at the two.

“Traitors.”

Leah moves up so her knees are pinning your arms, leaving her hands free to gather what she needs. You continue to move your legs, hoping she might spill and give up, but much to your dismay, she has a steady ground. Millie and Rachel have already made their way to the living room to find something to watch so they can eat their food.

Your girlfriend pours the red liquid onto the spoon and starts to move it towards your mouth. You continuously shake your head back and forth, making it almost impossible to make it in your mouth, but the blonde uses her other free hand to grab your jaw and hold it in its place.

“Baby, please. We- we can talk about this.” You try and reason, but she just shakes her head with a smirk on her face.

“Nuh uh, now open wide, doll.” Her hand squeezes your cheeks, causing your jaw to slack open. The cold metal clanks against your teeth as the cherry syrup glides its way down your throat. You squeeze your eyes in disgust, hoping for the taste to go away as soon as possible. “See that wasn’t that bad.” Leah smiles when you open your eyes and leans down to place a chaste kiss on your lips.

Your tongue hangs out in disgust to show that it really was that bad. Your girlfriend rolls her eyes and gets off of you, offering you a hand which you take. The two of you walk into the living room to see Millie and Rach laughing at what seems to be the movie Grown Ups on the TV.

“Hello there, love birds!” Rachel says with a laugh. Leah places her arm over your shoulder and chuckles at your pouting face. She brings you back to the sofa to resume the position you were in not too long ago.

—

By nighttime, the duo left, leaving you and your girlfriend in the house alone. Your headache had luckily gone away, but your nose was still clogged, you constantly felt like you had to cough, and your hearing felt muffled.

Once in bed, you cuddle up to Leah with your head on her chest and her arm wrapped around you. Her eyes are closed but yours are still open.

“Baby?”

“Hmm?”

“I think I’m sick.”

With her eyes still closed, she laughs at your final admission and kisses you on the forehead, pulling you closer to her.

[wileys-russo]

Millie Bright

Reader is a medic for Chelsea and just cute fluff where they are bandaging / cleaning up the cut on Millie’s head when she gets hit with the lid of the trophy in that one final a while back 😂😵‍💫

millie bright

the minute the whistle blew you let out a thunderous cheer with the rest of the team, high fiving your colleagues as all the training staff and subs rushed the field to congratulate the players.

"and not a single injury, job done well." your colleague mark grinned slapping you on the back as you laughed. "miracle as it may be." you agreed with a laugh, clapping proudly as your girlfriend and her team mates did their victory lap.

you caught her eye as she winked and waved eagerly. you sent her a grin and waved back, watching as sam mocked her and sent you a sarcastic wink and a wave before millie shoved her away.

awhile later you took your place with the rest of the staff, cheering proudly as the players all received their individual medals and gathered together on the podium waiting for emma to join them.

millie and sam stood together at the front of the pack and you watched proudly as they were handed the fa cup, taking a handle each and crouching down waiting for the countdown.

the stadium counting in you watched with wide eyes as they shot up to show off the trophy on one, the top of it suddenly flying off and smashing into an unsuspecting millies face.

"well, so much for no injuries."

~

"baby it hurts." millie pouted as you playfully rolled your eyes, rummaging around in the medic bag for supplies. "its barely a graze. you'll have a beautiful shiner of a bruise tomorrow though!" you smiled, standing in between her legs and ordering her to sit still.

"darling only you would get injuried in the fa cup final....but after the game and without any actual players involved." you teased as you gently wiped the small cut with antiseptic making her hiss in pain and ball your top in her fists.

"stop! no being mean to me love i'm hurt, thats not very professional." millie huffed as you chuckled and gently sealed the cut with a small plaster. "there, all fixed." you squeezed her knees and pecked her lips, going to leave but unable to as she locked her ankles and trapped you.

"needs a few more kisses baby, still hurts." millie grinned and you shook your head with a smile at her childish behaviour. "some brick wall you are, more like a pebble." you teased, arms winding around her neck as your mouth met hers.

"toughest damn pebble ya ever did meet baby." "mm dunno about tough, i can't wait to tell rach all about this and repost the video everywhere." "don't you dare! awful cheeky girl."

[totaly-obsessed]

can you do a millie bright x reader where it’s their wedding day and the whole team are there and it’s just really fluffy and cute:). love your writing so much

Tears of Joy

Millie Bright x reader request

-> Marrying the Love of your Life

-> sorry for the delay - I hope you like it!

➳ Masterlist

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

After waiting and planning for months on end – maybe even your entire childhood, the day was finally here. You were getting married!

Sure many dreams from your childhood wedding plans came true, but you didn’t quite find a prince charming, more of a princess charming – your very own knight in shining armor, the one and only Millie Bright.

As soon as you hat met Millie all those years ago in a Social Media meeting for Chelsea, you knew that she was the one. But the gentle giant had been quite scared to come up and talk to you – so you had to take the first step.

While the blonde looked intimidating it only took speaking to her once to see that she really wasn’t – maybe more so on the pitch, but luckily you didn’t have to face her there.

Millie had blushed a deep red when you caught her arms as she frantically tried to leave the meeting room, something you had not expected.

“Hi Millie, would you like to go on a date with me?”

Of course, she knew who you were, the new head of media for the women’s branch of Chelsea and she had spent the last four meetings just staring at you.

While you had felt confident walking up to her, seeing her face contort into a frown and lines appear on her forehead changed your mind quickly and you removed your hand.

“Or not – sorry that was a stupid idea.”

She couldn’t pull you in a hug fast enough. Dear god. If she hugged you like this, you never want to hug another person.

“I wanted to act cool and act like I wasn’t sure… But I would love to!”

To this day Millie and you could laugh about how much more stressful it had been than it needed if she had just said yes immediately.

---

 ---

While you had taken the first step to dating, Millie had been the one to ask the big question. She had just come home, even though she had been at home the entire time, from winning the Euros – and emotions were at an all-time high. Your girlfriend was now officially the champion of Europe.

You had been the first person she had seen out of the stands, her parents pushing you forward when you wanted to let them go first, after all, she was their daughter. “Don’t be silly love!” Had been what her mother said once she saw the blonde making her way towards the barriers.

“I did it, Baby! I fucking did it!” She was in tears, face still hot from running on the pitch for such a long time as she pulled you into a passionate kiss, not caring the slightest about all the cameras.

“You did so well my love! I am so proud of you!”

She would never forget the look on your face – she had never seen you look so proud of anybody, and now you looked at her like this. Her heart? Melted into a puddle.

Your girlfriend didn’t wait for long, lifting you over the barrier and pulling you as close to her as she could.

“My god Mills, leave some for me!” It was Rachel who finally pulled her sweaty best friend off you, just to replace her, giving you a bone-crushing hug.

“Off Rach! That’s my girl! Get ya own!”

The ‘DalyBrightness’ duo had always playful banter between them, and you were no stranger to it either, often getting roped into it somehow by Rachel, determined to get Millie angry – but the taller one of the two could only laugh about it every time.

The whole evening and night was spent partying, first in the dressing rooms, then in a chosen location with friends and family. Trafalgar Square was the next destination, where the girls would meet the nation they had made so incredibly proud, just the evening before.

After all the meetings and interviews had finally calmed down, you got your girlfriend back. Millie had finally arrived at home, in your shared south London house and the first thing she saw was your dogs Hera and Zeus. But upon lifting her head, the defender saw that they flanked both of your sides, while you held a beautiful ‘Welcome Home’ cake in your hands.

She couldn’t kiss you fast enough after seeing your nice gesture and cute smile.

“I love you much my love, and I don’t think I tell you enough. But I really do.”

The first thing you did after not seeing each other for such a long time, was napping. In the big bed, ready to sleep the day away. What you didn’t know, was that Millie woke up way before you and found herself staring at a beautiful ring in a little box.

Today was the day.

After making dinner she had asked you. She didn’t go down on her knees, so she pulled out a box, opened it, and just sat there for a second until you finally turned and noticed the ring.

“Mills?”

“Marry me?”

Choked up on tears you couldn’t do anything but nod. “Yeah, baby. I’ll marry you.” The kiss that followed tasted like tears, tears of utter joy as Zeus and Hers ran through the room yapping as if they knew what had just happened.

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The day was finally here. Yours and Millie's wedding day. In retrospect you could not have chosen a better day, even if you obviously had not known how the weather would be – it was perfect.

Getting ready was a long process, not even physically, but rather mentally. But there was not a single doubt in your mind, that you would marry the love of your life.

You were ready when a knock sounded at the door and your sister who at the same time was your maid of honor opened it. The door was only open a smidge so you couldn’t really see who was behind it, while you talked to your bridesmaids.

“It’s go-time people!”

Your heart fluttered. But you were not nervous or anxious, no. You were excited and nearly ran out of the room with the bridesmaids to get to the altar, but your sister stopped you in your tracks, insisting that you had to wait somewhere else until the rest of the wedding party walked down the aisle.

Now stood in a room you waited for your sign. Fuck. Now the nerves were coming up. In your head, you went through the plan again, when you heard someone clear their throat.

It was Millie. There she was, dressed in a gorgeous white jumpsuit – looking at you like you hung the moon. “Baby! “You cannot see me in my dress before the wedding!”

Tears brimmed in both your eyes as you stared at your fiancé who couldn’t keep standing there any longer, so with brisk steps the blonde rushed forward and engulfed you in one of your favorite hugs. Your hearts find each other and beat in unison.

“How are ya feelin?” She rested her forehead on yours while staring at you as long as she could. “Nervous. Excited. Incredibly happy.“

The music inside was slowly getting quieter and you knew that you didn’t have that much time left. “I thought we could change the plan a little.”

Turns out Millie's idea was brilliant. Instead of just you walking in, both of you walked in together, no one would give anyone away. This would be a union of love between you and her, but that didn’t mean that either of you had to say goodbye to your family.

You could hear the gasps as you walked down the aisle, arms hooked together, each of you a flower bouquet in hand, the biggest smiles anyone had ever seen on your faces. You looked magical.

---

 ---

In the end, you don’t even know how you got through the vows, all you remember were a lot of tears, and an incredibly passionate kiss that was met with screams of joy from the audience.

After all of your families had congratulated the both of you, your Club mates made their way towards you each of them with big smiles on their faces.

Niamh was the first at your side and was the first to pull you into a warm hug. “You look like a princess. But one of those badass ones, that doesn’t need a white knight to save them.”

“I will need a cheaper ring for daily use, this one belongs in a bank in a safe deposit box.” Millie's joke was met with a lot of laughter as Sam came over and after hugging you as well, took a closer look at your ring. “Maybe! That is a fucking rock Mills!”

„You’re one to talk.“ Hempo received a  slight nudge from her captain while everyone else laughed along.

One after the other Chelsea and Lioness teammates alike made their way through the masses, hugging you with congratulatory tones and singing praises. Most of them even brought presents which they gave your sister for safekeeping.

“I can finally call you my wife.” Millie had stolen you away from the open space for a second and pulled you close for a deep kiss.

“My wife, huh? That has a nice ring to it.”

Not only were you her wife now, but she was also yours. Married. Oh dear god, you were finally married to the girl of your dreams. “Best day of my life.”

“Then I am excited to give you better ones.”

“God. you disgust me.” Neither of you had seen Rachel invade the nice little space Millie and you had created for the two of you

“Rachel!”

[queen-of-reptiles]

𝙰𝙱𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝚃𝙸𝙼𝙴

description: In which alisha lehmann and her best friend finally get together after a west ham game of course.

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alisha lehmann x female reader

disclaimer: this is all fiction! Do not take any of this seriously.

warnings: language, cuteness - like so much, mutual pining, slightly suggestive

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y/n just posted on their story

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alishalehmann7 just posted on her story

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twitter/X

username1: parents have fed us !!! 🥺🥺

username2: ARE THEY DATING???

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username3: NOOOOO

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username4: bullshit!!!!! THEY SHOULD FUCKING BE 👏👏

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username5: I get it but it is not our business 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

username6: ALISHA AND Y/N

username7: i want to have a friendship like y/n and alisha so bad :(((

see all comments...

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y/n just posted

liked by, racheldaly7, mackenziearnold, and 203, 122 others

tagged alishalehmann7

y/n we cute - even tho i fell asleep twenty minutes after this … <3

view 11, 291 comments

username1: just dateeeeeeee 😤

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username2: 😂😂😂

username3: 🥺🥺

mackenziearnold: your ability to sleep anywhere and any when is fantastic 👏

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y/n: 😴😴

samanthakerr20: skin and jawline thoooo 😍

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y/n: thanks sissy! 😘

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username4: wtf? are they related???? 🫨

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username5: Na, Sam and y/n met through Mac and became really really close! Even call each other sister 🥹🥹.

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username4: awwwwww 🥺

kirstysmith.11: macca why don’t we take cute photos like this??

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mackenziearnold: cause you can’t sit still babe 😂

alishalehmann: <3

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y/n: <3

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username6: 😏😏

see more comments…

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alishalehmann just posted

liked by _adrianaleon_, racheldaly3 and 982, 333 others

tagged y/n

alishalehmann meine liebe <3

view 416, 281 comments

username1: 🥺🥺🥺

username2: ☺️☺️🫣

username3: hmmmmmmm 😩😩

username4: JUST DATE

username5: she is so hot ugh 🫣🫣

username6: 😍😍

username7: 🔥🔥🔥

username8: 🥺🥹

y/n: <3333

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alishalehmann: <3

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username9: 🫢🫢

racheldaly3: cuties ;)

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y/n: shhhh

vivi_asseyi: see you tomorrow Ali!! xx

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alishalehmann: tomorrow vivi! xxx

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y/n: cuties 🥺

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vivi_asseyi: dramatic ass

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username10: 😂😂😂

username11: ❤️💙

see more comments…

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westhamwomen just posted on their story

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y/n sighed as she chased after Rachel, the final whistle on the edge of being blow to give West Ham the three points, not that the team currently in fifth needed it compared to Villa who were sat worryingly in tenth.

The whistle finally blew and y/n groaned in relief, falling onto her back as Rachel Daly fell onto her, the latter laughing at the woman who she knew well from England camp.

"Rach, get off me ya prick!" y/n called out with a laugh.

"Wouldn't mind if it was Alisha." Rachel teased quietly making kissy noises which caused her to be shoved onto the mud. "Ow." Rachel whined and y/n laughed.

"That's what you get." y/n states, the defender sighing as Rachel sits up and suddenly bolts away. A body blocks the light over y/n's still fallen body and the beautiful face of Alisha is staring back at her.

"Up you get, meine liebe." Alisha hummed and she moved to help y/n to her feet, the defender groaning as her hip popped, the injury still sore.

y/n had only just gotten back from a hip operation, during a game in the world cup, y/n had to be rushed into hospital to have a hip operation and in the December of 2023, was only just okay to come back on.

The loved vice-captain of West Ham was relieved to be back on the pitch, but forgot how fast and physical Rachel was as a opponent and winced as she pressed a hand to her hip.

"Are you okay?" Alisha asked quietly, her hand falling down to her best friend's hip to rub small circles into the muscle with her thumb.

y/n groaned in relief at the pressure on the tight muscle and she hissed as she pulled away, hearing the crowd start to go crazy of the two's proximity.

y/n smiled at Alisha before limping to her medics who handed her an ice pack, she took some photos with fans, before being one of the last people into the tunnel.

"Meine liebe." Alisha called as y/n got to one of the spare physio rooms.

y/n turned and Alisha pulled her into the room, keeping the lights off as she scanned over y/n worry clear on her face now that y/n was ice-less as well.

"Ali, I'm fine, promise love." y/n tried but winced and Alisha sighed.

"You lie like a matt." Alisha hissed.

"Rug." y/n corrected as Alisha shrugged and pushed y/n to sit back on the physio bed, lying her down so she could peel back y/n's shorts just slightly.

"Oh." Alisha sighed, noticing the deep bruising which was around the scar, y/n clearly having pushed her body too far in the game. "Why didn't you ask to be subbed?" Alisha asked.

"Because I'm fine Ali." y/n stated, sitting up and pushing the blonde's hands away.

"No you are not." Alisha stated back, annoyance flooding through her tone.

"You're not playing for the Hammers anymore Ali. You don't need to worry." y/n promises.

"I worry because the love of my life is so careless with her bones." Alisha states loudly.

"Body." y/n corrects before she freezes. "Wait what?" y/n asks.

"What?" Alisha asks her confused at why y/n had paused.

"Say what you just said again." y/n demands.

"What?" Alisha repeats and y/n just huffs and gestures 'before that'. "I worry because the love of..." Alisha starts before trailing off. "That wasn't how I wanted to tell you." She sighs.

"It's real?" y/n asks and Alisha scoffs.

"Of course." She says as she sighs. "Look, you don't have to feel the same, I'm sorry for making this friendship hard." Alisha says, putting some space between her and y/n.

y/n however ignores her rambling and jumps from the physio bed, walking toward Alisha with a new found sense of purpose as the blonde reaches out.

"Careful! Your hip." Alisha chides, but y/n snorted as her hands grabbed the smaller woman's hips and pulled her into her chest.

"Shut up." The defender ordered the blonde, before she dived her head down and pushed her lips against Alisha's, the Swiss moaning in relief and gripping desperately onto y/n's broad shoulders.

The kiss was tight, harsh, plump lips practically glued together as tongues battled in a want for dominance. y/n couldn't help but slide her hands down, gripping Alisha's ass tightly and pulling her closer.

Alisha's moan was a reward for her desperate actions. Eventually the pace slowed, hands stopped wandering and with one final swat against Alisha's bum, y/n pulled away.

"Let me take you out." y/n whispered and Alisha nodded her head, a smile on her face. Rachel then decided it was a good time to chip in.

"About time! Also ew."

"Fuck off Rach ya prick!"

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y/n just posted on their close friends story

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alishalehmann posted on her close friends story

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END

she's so hot oml

tho my friend yesterday accused her of being a shifter and ngl that sent us into a spiral broooooo

lotta love xo

-

Queenie x

[prettylittlels]

I Can See You

summary: You meet Rachel's costar at the academy gala, what will happen next? (tom blyth x actress!reader)

inspired by I Can See You (Taylor's Version) by Taylor Swift

💋⚘️❤️‍🔥💥🍬💄

As an actress, I spend a 70% of my time meeting and interacting with actors, actresses, singers, directors, producers, and people who work in the same industry as i do. A 90% of those people are just passers, travelers that only visited my life. Only very few manage to stay, important enough to make me care for and about them: true friends. Like Rachel Zegler, for example. I met her at the 2022 Golden Globes afterparty, and we kicked off a nice friendship. And a rather weird one, might i add. Rach and I enjoy playing rather exquisite games: i make her try the most horrendous food i find, and she tries to find the perfect man for me.

-Rach, I already told you- i tell her, laughing without even trying - I've lost hope! You gotta accept that i don't have a love life!-

-You're lying to yourself! - she smiles with me- You think I haven't seen the way you look at every couple we meet?-

Maybe she was right. I haven't had a boyfriend in years, maybe I am a little touch-starved. But that was until I met him.

You brush past me in the hallway

And you don't think I, I, I can see ya, do ya?

I've been watchin' you for ages

And I spend my time tryin' not to feel it

As an actress, i spend a lot of time bring invited to galas and events. Tonights entertainment was the Academy's annual gala. I picked out a gorgeous black sparkly dress that caught everyones attention, as I imagined. Getting out lf the car, I slowly made my way to the red carpet, starting to pose for the flashing cameras. Shouts and screams came from everywhere i went. Not only for me, of course; in fact, thay were yelling Rachel's name too when i arrived. She came up to me and gave me a big hug, as we started to take pictures together. I also noticed that a certain co-star of hers, was looking our way. Don't you think I can't see you?

But what would you do if I went to touch you now?

What would you do if they never found us out?

What would you do if we never made a sound?

As an famous actress, I can't just do whatever I want and say whatever i please. The cameras are everywhere. But God, did I want to go talk to you.

'Cause I can see you waitin' down the hall from me

And I could see you up against the wall with me

And what would you do, baby, if you only knew?

That I can see you

As an actress, people expect me to be there when they need me, available for everyone and waiting for directions. But, only this time, I was waiting for something else to happen. When I walked down the hidden hallway on my way to the women's bathroom, you were there. I didn't want to do anything reckless! But here we are.

And we kept everything professional

But something's changed, it's somethin' I, I like

They keep watchful eyes on us

So it's best that we move fast and keep quiet

You won't believe half the things I see inside my head

Wait 'til you see half the things that haven't happened yet

Tom and I started dating shortly after the gala. Being with him was everything I needed: he's a gentleman, a caring person, a funny one, and of course, a very sexy one. The weeks passed and we were both as happy as ever. After the night we met, the cameras that caught our longing stares published the photos and the public strted going crazy, speculating and giving their opinion about our encounter. Oh, they have no idea.

That I could see you throw your jacket on the floor

I could see you make me want you even more

What would you do, baby, if you only knew?

That I can see you

They had no idea that how it was being In a relationship with tom. The envious fangirls wished they were me. They don't I know that I can see him for what he truly is. They don't know that I can see him discarding his clothes on the floor. Yes, even that leather jacket of his that I love so much

I could see you in your suit and your necktie

Passed me a note saying, "Meet me tonight"

Then we kiss, and you know I won't ever tell, yeah

And I could see you being my addiction

You can see me as a secret mission

Hide away and I will start behaving myself

I remember how I pulled you closer by your tie, and unbuttoned your shirt. How you admitted you've been watching me for ages. How we agreed to keep this a sceret, However, I knew he'd be like a drug. And I get drunk on it whenever he's around

I can see you.

I can see you, Tom.

[denimshortsdean]

How come none of you told me meeting a mutual irl was a transcendental experience??? I was just meant to find out that the people I love online are real on my own?????????

[kneexcutter]

Wreckings

Transformers Prime

Reader is presumed female

Reader is an autobot

“Hey Y/N!!!”

Miko yelled as she approached you, waving enthusiastically. You groaned as you shifted your gaze to the human child. Aside from Bulkhead and Wheeljack being on a mission, you'd assume Miko would join Bumblebee and Raph on whatever little trip they were on... yet she chose to stay with you in the base, alone. Ratchet was doing something only Primus knows what and clearly didn't want to be bothered, so you were the only bot Miko could torment.

“Yes Miko?”

Miko shone up at you from the small area the kids have on base, she stood on the couch while gazing up at you, Miko had a habit of doing that from time to time, it never troubled you personally, but it did make you wonder why she only gave you that look and not anybody else.

“So? I gotta know, on Cybertron how does like dating work?”

“Dating?” You tilt your helm in confusion.

“Yeah! Like ya know- if you have romantic feelings or relationships with anyone on your planet?”

“Oh! Well…” you shifted your optics towards Ratchet as he let out a slight chuckle still continuing his work. “Why don’t you ask Ratchet? He’s been around a lot longer than I have and I’m sure he could tell you all about that.”

Ratchet turned his helm with a scoff, “Don’t lump me into whatever that conversation is…”

“Ah come on Ratchet, I’m sure you had some femme look in your direction,” you said crossing your arms. “Maybe even a few mechs?”

Ratchet raised his optical ridge at you and you couldn’t help but cover your derma.

Miko laughed, “No offense Rach, but you don’t really look like a lady killer.”

You snickered as Ratchet scoffed slightly. “I’m a busy medic, I had no time for that stuff what so ever. Thank you oh so much.”

Miko turned back to you and made a wry smile at you, it freaked you out a little how she was able to twist her face like that.

“What?”

“So like you’re telling me that you didn’t have time for relationships either?” Miko placed her hands on her hip.

“Yes?”

“Uh huh-“

Ratchet huffed, “I beg to Primus.”

You turned your helm towards the medic’s direction. “I’m sorry is there something you wish to say? Doc?”

Ratchet didn’t turn his helm but instead only grunted at the name you called him. “Not even a certain scout caught your attention maybe even a certain wrecker?”

You raised optical ridge, “If your referring to Bumblebee then I see him as family, and if your referring to Wheeljack then I wouldn’t cross that line with you… I know how much you adore him.”

Ratchet groaned in annoyance, “Please, I can’t get anything done with that scarp yard metal around. On the contrary you seem to have a soft spot of his partner. Not that anyone but myself has noticed.”

“You-“

Before you could speak Miko let out an ear piercing squeal.

Miko gasped, “Bulkhead?! You have feelings for Bulky?!”

You turned your gaze at Miko, “Oh no- no no, Bulkhead and I are friends. It’s strictly professional between us.”

“So she says,” Ratchet grumbles.

“I do not!” You scoffed. “We’ve been friends forever. Why would I want to ruin that over some romantic feelings?”

Miko hummed grinning at you, “Who says you couldn’t have romantic feelings for a friend hm?”

“I don’t have any interest in Bulkhead.”

“That’s a load of bull and you know it Y/N!” Miko says pointing at you. “Admit it! You’re so totally into Bulkhead!”

“I am not! Miko you’re speaking nonsense right now,” you argued.

“You do!”

“There’s no evidence to prove anything that whatsoever.”

Ratchet let out a fake cough to which you rolled your optics. “Is there something stuck in your vocalizer Ratchet? Because you’re mighty talkative for someone who’s supposed to be busy.”

Ratchet turned to fully face you now, “Oh I’m sorry, here let me just call Bulkhead for you now so you’re aware of his status on the mission since you’re ever so worried.”

“You waste of dirty scarp meta-“

“Y/N come on this is a safe space, if you have feelings for Bulky just come out and say it, there’s no shame to it,” Miko said now sitting on the couch.

“Miko, I don’t have any feelings towards Bulkhead, he’s my friend and I admire him, that’s it,“ You said calmly. “I’m going out for a drive… Miko would you care to come with?”

Miko perked up and nodded, “Heck yeah!”

You smiled as your placed your servo out for Miko to climb onto it.

“Just call us back when everyone arrives Ratchet.”

Ratchet turned back to his work and waved you off. “Be careful.”

Driving out of base, Miko began to play her rock music and air play the guitar as she listened to the music, after about a few minutes she paused it and stared out the window.

“Something the matter?” You asked her.

Miko shook her head, “Nah… just thinkin about something.”

“What is it?”

Miko leaned back in the seat and let out an exaggerated sigh, “Well~”

You sighed already knowing what she was thinking about. “Lemme guess about me and Bulkhead.”

Miko giggled, “Maybe~”

“Whatever it is the answer is no.”

“Aw come on!” Miko groans. “All those years you spent together, you’ve seriously felt nothing?”

“Miko… you know what… okay fine I did.”

Miko’s eye lit up with excitement, but her demeanor didn’t change. “Are you for real or are you just saying that to make me shut up?”

You sighed again, “No. I did at a point have feelings for Bulkhead.”

“What happened? Why’d you stop? Come on Y/N I gotta know! Please!” Miko began to plead nonstop.

“Okay okay fine, but you need to swear to never EVER say a word to anyone, or Bulkhead himself. Do you understand?”

Miko nods repeatedly, “Yes yes I swear! Tell me!”

“Well… I do NOT have feelings for him.”

Miko groaned loudly, “Y/N seriously!”

“I don’t Miko… I just, never gotten around to that kind of stuff, he’s a great friend and I admire him a lot but that’s the furthest I’ve come across as feelings wise,” you said. “I need you to understand that okay?”

Miko sighed, “I get it…but be honest have you had crushes on anyone?”

“…Maybe a few.”

Miko gasped, “WHO? OH PLEASE TELL ME!”

“Alright I’ll humor you… there was this one bot-“

Com link: Y/N back to base

Y/N: Copy. On the way back.

“You ready to see Bulkhead Miko?” You asked, slightly wanting to change the subject but you know Miko wasn’t going to let it go so easily.

“Yup, but do continue about this bot that captured your attention.”

[Back at base]

The kids went room for the night and everyone went off to go into recharge and rest up for the night, everyone except the medic himself.

You walked up to him slowly making sure not to spook him. But he noticed you rather quickly. Ratchet looked at you for a brief moment then turned back to his work. “Shouldn’t you be in recharge?”

“Shouldn’t you be doing the same thing?” You asked stepping beside him and looking at what he was doing.

“I’m working.”

“I can see that,” you hummed turning to look at the medic. “Was the Bulkhead thing really necessary Ratchet?”

“What? And have Miko running around and talking about you and me? Absolutely not,” Ratchet huffed.

“Right…”

Ratchet stopped his work to face you. You went around him and turned off his monitor, he glared at you, “Y/N I needed that.”

“As much as you need me?” You asked moving closer to him. Ratchet stumbled for a moment then smiled shaking his helm, “Not nearly as much as I need you.”

“That’s what I thought, now Ratchet be honest with me, are jealous of Bulkhead?”

Ratchet scoffs, “As if I-“

“Ratchet.”

“Okay fine, maybe just a little… I’ve seen the way he looks at you now and I just- I don’t know…”

You place your servo on Ratchet’s chest plate and gave him a gentle smile, “He’s adorable sure but you’re the one that has my attention and that will never change Ratchet. Even if Miko annoys me until the bitter end.”

Ratchet laughed and rolled his optics, “Maybe telling her won’t be such a bad idea after all.”

“Perhaps,” you agreed. “But you’re not gonna do that are you doc?”

“Nope absolutely.”

[beheworthy]

The past few days I've been very down with this fandom. So, I thought I'd do something to lift my spirits and talk about the wonderful people I've found through it. I want to let you guys know that I see and appreciate you and my sadness toward fandom negativity absolutely doesn't include you. In fact, you guys offset it by being awesome.

While I do love my Cobra Kai people, Extraction people, and the Ted Lasso Intellectuals, this is about my primary fandom, the Thor Appreciation Society. And is in the order I've found them:

Rachel (@notallthosewho-wanderarelost ) is my love. We started as fandom friends and have since become real-life friends and text and share everything about our lives with each other. I mean, she got WhatsApp just to talk to me! If Jane was real, she'd be Rach.

@fostertheory is a Thor fandom legend and the wise sage Master Yoda of our little Thor Appreciation Society. They have read every single Thor comic since its inception (they deserve an award just for that!). I'm always in their walls screaming about things and their calm expertise and knowledge keeps me grounded.

Molly (@the-irish-mayhem ) is a wonderful friend with whom I share a lot of similar thoughts and opinions. Her characterization of Thor is canon for me and I aspire to write him as good as she does. Her fics have kept me alive!

@coolnerdyrn and @rebelmeg are respected members of our Thor Appreciation Society. They've been here since the beginning. I'm always floored by how kind and humble they are.

@bensolothelastskywalker @itsjustme-itsmylife @iwillneverletgoipromise and @cinderellasfella have - no joke - liked and reblogged every single gifset I have created since I started in 2017. I can't stress enough how much it means to me as a content creator that they’ve constantly supported me. I will hunt you guys down and hug you so hard.

@hotdagas , @demigodofhoolemere and @foreveracharmedone appear in my notes often. And I appreciate you.

@youflickedtooharddamnit , @spatialelementalworld , @amanda-trashpanda3000 and @nathog97 don't tag their posts so they're very easy to miss in the lumped-up lists of reblogs in the activity page but I see ya guys!

Nat (@the-mjolnir-owner ) and @hemstolemyheart were there in the beginning, then disappeared for a long time, and are now back. I was so scared to talk to Nat but she turned out to be so wonderful, sweet, kind, and considerate. And @hemstolemyheart's story about meeting Chris is ingrained in my brain. She's also super super sweet.

@m1ghtythor is the actual Goddess of Thunder and I love her so much. She's so special and passionate and I want to keep her protected from everyone.

I'm in awe of @uniiiquehecrt 's knowledge about storytelling and her understanding of Thor's character and story. Where have you been all my life? Her art is gorgeous as well.

I admire @karioke13 's enthusiasm. They're very appreciative and kind to me.

This is based on my chaotic activity page so if I miss anyone, sincere apologies. Let me know and I'll add you guys as well. :) People who interact through anons are also very appreciated.❤️

[off-the-heezys]

Nikkiel/Neilikki (whatever their ship name is) headcanons for ya thoughts?

who are you cause you’re not rach

Anyways I’m not a nikkeil shipper- mostly bc I hc Nikki as a lesbian, but I’ll see what I can come up with. For the nikkiel fans

Neil is the first one to fall, 100%

Nikki is so damn oblivious to it to a worrying degree

Nikki likes to give Neil cool looking rocks she finds and gets sad if he doesn’t keep them

Nikki has random bursts of “I love you!!” And will hug Neil really tightly and be affectionate and get the urge to bite him because she is so overwhelmed w emotion

They are so malewife girlboss

Black cat and orange cat

Never a dull day for Neil when he’s with Nikki

Neil doesn’t know what the hell to ever get Nikki so he’ll find cool rocks to give to her and she cherishes it forever

Neil has a short tempter and Nikki is usually pretty good at getting him to calm down quickly

[thiniceofeternalyouth]

MISLEADIN' ME SERIES: CHAPTER THREE

HATARAT

⊳ Gojo Satoru x f!reader

series masterlist

Genre: angst, fluff, adventure, sci-fi, cosmology.

Chapter warning&tags : ooc, mentions of blood, pus, arthropods and food; profanity, suggestive themes

Words count: ~12.5k

⊲ previous next ⊳

An unpleasant feeling pressed shamefully on your chest. You sat in your workroom replaying in your head the events that had happened a few minutes ago hiding your face in the palms of your hands. That weight was driven deeper beneath your ribs by a pair of green eyes across the room staring fixedly at you as if wanting to leave a burnt mark on your skin.

"If I'm understanding ya correctly," Rachel began saying squinting her eyes. "The first time in your life guy took your hand and the first thing ya did was put a dagger to his throat?"

"Technically, he didn't take my hand, he grabbed it," you tried to parry pulling your hands away from your face and glancing at Rachel. She only raised her eyebrows skeptically at your words causing you to grimaced your face and burrow back into your palms. "God," you squeaked into the skin of your hands.

"Come on, sis," Rachel leaned back in her chair and laughed. "I think our dad has long since resigned himself to the fact that ya're going to die a spinster."

"Don't bring Frank into this, it's none of his business," you mumbled sighing heavily. "In fact, don't tell him about it at all."

"Oh, come on," Rachel said cheering you up. "Ya know he says sensible things sometimes. The peace of mind and safety of mankind is a good thing, but ya shouldn't forget personal happiness."

"Since when does this 'personal happiness' consist of just marrying me off?" you muttered with skepticism in your voice.

"Who said anything about getting married, dumbass," Rachel moved toward you only to flick her long burgundy fingernails across your forehead. "Let's start by saying that it's easier to deal with adversity with 'your' man and it's less sad to die alone," the red-haired girl said with a soft sadness in her voice, her shoulders slumping a little as if nostalgia was smothering them from behind.

"Rach-" noticing her faded look, you started in an apologetic tone, but Rachel shaking her head from side to side, immediately interrupted you.

"Forget it, it wasn't your fault," she grinned, her green eyes brightening again and she immediately changed the subject. "There's no way in hell I'm going to believe you're running around with that white-haired guy just because..." Rachel stammered hesitating. "By the way, why are you running around with him in the first place?"

"His kids asked me to," you said without a shred of shame in your voice shrugging your shoulders.

"Oh, yeah," Rachel drawled squinting her eyes slyly. "Right. Kids. Well, since ya're not interested in him, I'm keeping him," you only nodded toward the door from the workroom at her provocation as if to signal 'go ahead'. "What kind of nerd have you grown into!" The girl was immediately in your face, your cheeks clutched in her hands.

"Raphel-"

"You expect me to believe that you went to Xibalba¹ just because the kids asked you to?" she asked clearly not expecting your answer. "Sure, you could chalk it up to the fact that your ass just can't sit still, but you know, sis," she squeezed your cheeks a little tighter. "Something you're obviously not telling me, because your face is getting a little too warm!" she exclaimed laughing.

"That's because there's nothing to squeeze it that hard!" you squeaked trying haphazardly to get her hands off your face.

***

[19 Nov, 2018; 07:02am; hunters' headquarters]

You had already drained three water bottles in the morning; your body was exhausted from the endless flow of information and lack of sleep. Your reddened eyes darted randomly from the screens of monitors to the pages of old dusty books, your gaze occasionally freezing on the cube that was among all this information mess on the table in your workroom. You felt a growing irritation inside, either from the endless search or from the coming powerlessness. Your gaze turned less and less often to the cube as if you were ashamed to look into the eyes that flaunted it and, damn it, how you wanted to exclaim that he should stop looking at it that way and that it was not easy for you either. The internal war of fatigue with stubbornness was interrupted by the click of the door and you turned around muttering something to yourself. Kyle.

"No, I'm not tired, I'm not hungry, and I'm still not gone insane," you mouthed in a monotone voice, and barely did you blot the exhaustion from your eyes when you noticed he wasn't alone.

"What ya doing?" inquired Kyle, looking at your desk.

"Recording an unboxing on YouTube, what does it look like?" you sneered, not expecting an answer to the question you asked. "Why did ya bring the kids here?"

"I had nothing to do with it," Kyle said raised both hands in mock defeat. Several pairs of young eyes stared back at you from over the man's shoulder, a naive flame of undiminished enthusiasm burning in them.

"We wanna help," Itadori said taking a few steps in your direction.

"I don't get it," you stammered wrapping your index finger and thumb around your chin and giving the kids a perplexed look. "You have air-conditioned rooms here with great sea views, unlimited access to food and gaming pc with Netflix subscriptions and you're still wanna to swashbuckle," your gaze lingered on the guys for a couple more seconds and then with a splash of your hands you jumped up from your seat and started dragging all the available chairs closer to your table. "Well, since you're so eager to help, welcome."

"What do we have to do?" inquired Maki.

"Here," you tossed a huge pile of books mixed with old scrolls in front of their noses, the dust rising into the air making Itadori cough. "Look for and mark any mention of sealing, closing, moving, anything square and small and anything that consisted of or is made up of human skin."

"Marking?" asked Itadori in bewilderment, looking at the ancient waste paper. "How can you do that? You opened your mouth as if to say something, but closed it and exhaled through your nose before grabbing the nearest pink marker and drawing random patterns on the page of one of the books.

"See? Nothing happened," you said with a shrug and tossed the marker aside. "No one died or got sick. Now get to work," you prodded them rubbing the top of their heads and turned to Kyle quietly, "Our house is starting to look more and more like a kindergarten."

"And the zoo, too," Kyle grinned glancing at Panda. You grinned back and settled back into your seat once again bending your head over the riddle. You could feel the excitement building in the room as if ancient magic had challenged the human mind. The workroom became increasingly filled with the sounds of rustling sheets and quiet conversations. The eyes of the kids were vigorously following the written lines trying to get something useful out of them, one could hear the squeak of markers and someone's methodical clicking of fingers.

As the clock ticked, someone would put away their markers, knead their hands or feet, someone would wipe their eyes with the palms of their hands and reach for a bottle of cool water, but the mountain of already re-read materials would inevitably grow behind your backs. The conversations had already died down, only measured breathing was heard and you looked around at the kids and stood up from the table heading for your personal small refrigerator. You opened it and appraised the contents with a glance, mentally figuring out if there was enough for everyone or if you'd have to spend the energy to go upstairs for more. Your hands grabbed a few chicken sandwiches and popped them into the microwave and while they were getting appetizing you pulled a few small boxes of strawberry mochi out of the fridge. When everything was ready, you scooped it all up and returned to the table arranging the loot in front of the kids. At the quiet but enthusiastic cheers, you unconsciously affectionately patted one of them on the top of the head glancing at your phone screen hoping to see messages from Megan, who was scouring the Internet for something useful among the pile of junk. Nothing. You wanted to curse under your breath, but you shuddered remembering you weren't alone in the room and settled back in your chair.

It was getting evening outside the window and you looked at the tired faces in the room." That's it, kids, rest up. First go to the canteen for dinner, and then do your own thing," no one objected to your remark because of fatigue. The students stood up and quietly said goodbye to you and walked out of the workroom. "You know what pisses me off the most?" you turned to Kyle, who turned his crumpled face to you. "Monks and Buddhists and whoever else sits in those monasteries never keep information about anything in an informational form. And I don't relish the thought of bouncing around shrines somewhere in the mountains of Tibet looking for scrolls made of papyrus and cow shit," you muttered and hid your face in your palms, Kyle only hummed tiredly. "How am I supposed to get it out of this fucking box!"

"God only knows," Kyle said shrugging.

Your eyes widened and you pulled your hands away from your face, your head snapping up sharply. "God, ya're a genius!" you exclaimed loudly and immediately jump up from your seat. You ran over to the closet and began throwing the contents aside in search of your backpack.

"Where do you think ya're going?" Kyle asked disapprovingly getting up from his chair. You glanced at the bottom shelves of the closet, then ran to the bed and leaned over to see what was underneath. You finally found your hiking backpack underneath and without slowing down you sprinted over to the table and grabbed the cube, then headed for the exit grasping your jacket in the process. "Hey!" shouted Kyle.

You holding the handle of the already open door, finally looked up at him. "An audience with God!" you said and with a final wave of your hand to him, you slammed the door on your way out.

***

Once you were on the other side of the door to your workroom, you quickly realized in your head that there was neither time nor inclination to waste energy on the long journey. You closed your eyes and mentally pictured an office whose windows were perpetually draped with dark gray curtains, with a laptop invariably on a graphite smooth desk, a mesh pen stand, a crystal decanter with an amber-colored liquid and a pair of shiny clean glasses beside it, all framed by a pile of folders and tax documents. Behind the desk was a black office chair that looked simple and unassuming, but a single glance at the materials it was made of made it clear that it was expensive. On the walls hung graphite shelves in the tone of the desk, on which stood various books, bling, and a few live plants. The whole picture was completed by a cozy and suddenly bright couch with soft cushions. You opened your eyes and before you stood the same picture that had just been in your imagination. There was no one in the office. You walked around the desk and sat down in the chair grabbing a tiny sculpture of an Art Nouveau woman from the shelf. Your fingers slid along the curves of the sculpture and you marveled at every carefully made crease in her veil, every dimple in her skin, as if the sculptor had subdued the stone and made it as docile as clay. The distinct sharp sounds of heels on parquet were heard in the hallway, growing louder and louder. As soon as it stopped just before the door, someone turned the key and pulling the doorknob and entered the office.

"Laitta! Long time no see!" you exclaimed cordially as soon as someone turned on the light.

"WAIT!" you shrieked as she leaned over the table, her face a few inches from yours, her hand clutching your chin in anger. "It's evening; let's not force things because not everyone has left the building. We don't want anyone to get hurt, do we?" You rambled quickly making innocent eyes. The goddess hesitated for a second, but immediately released you resting your head back in the chair.

"Stand up," she commanded icily, and you obeyed.

"Okay, okay, why are ya being so prickly," you walked around the table and Laitta sat down in her chair, opened up her laptop and started doing her busy work without paying any attention to you. "Laitta," you addressed her, resting your hands on the table. There was no response. "La-a-a-aitta," you tried again deliberately drawling your vowels. Nothing again. "Laitta!" you leaned over her and shouted right in her face.

"WHAT!" she barked losing all her patience.

"I need your help," you grinned clearly pleased with your result.

"First return what you stole," she leaned back in her chair crossing her arms over her chest. "Then maybe I'll help you."

"Aren't you a little petty for a Goddess?"

"Petty!" Laitta bellowed in your direction. "You stole an item capable of moving something into the past of something with the planet's position at that time intact! Is the Atlas just another piece of bling for you?"

"What difference does it make?" you asked in bewilderment shrugging your shoulders. "You as a user of Atlas can't employ that ability of it anyway."

"I wasn't going to use it, but I need its side effect!" she exclaimed. "Look what's become of me in these few years without it," she pointed to her face. The once young, statuesque lady had turned into an older, but still statuesque woman in just a couple years. Her dark curls had turned gray, her thin graceful hands were covered in wrinkles and fine cracks, as was her face. "Still, no one, no one can use it but me. Give it back," the rage in her voice changed to a plea.

"I knew you'd beg," you sighed pulling something out of your backpack. You placed on the table an object of silver or platinum that looked a lot like a compass, except there were many times more directions on it and the circumference of that compass was clutched by an Ouroboros ¹.  Laitta grabbed the Atlas and headed for the restroom in her office, and you sat down on her desk with your eyebrows raised wondering how important it was to her. A couple minutes later a young girl appeared in the office, her black hair glistening in the artificial light of the lamp; her skin, visible from under her clothes, became thin and velvety; her dark eyes having regained their youthfulness, gained luster. "Ya know, age was good for you," you sounded a little disappointed.

"Shut up," Laitta said smiling. She was clearly pleased with her new youth and her uplifted spirits seemed to wipe away any previous rage.

"My turn," you said, clapping your hands and hopping off the table and reached into your backpack again. You took out a light cube and put it on the table.

"What is this abomination?" asked Laitta taking a second to hardly tear her gaze away from the small mirror she held in her hand and examine herself going over her curls now and then.

"There's kind of a person in there," you said with doubt in your voice because you still didn't believe that was possible. "I wish I could get him out of there."

"Is it sealed or something?" asked Laitta finally transferring her eyes from the mirror to the cube examining it. "Nah, sorry. Can't help it," she said wrinkling her nose and returning to her beauty.

"Fine," you hissed in her direction maintaining a friendly smile. "Just don't whine later when your face starts getting wrinkles and Atlas disappears again."

 "Wait," she said in a low voice watching as you already stuffed the cube into your backpack and headed for the exit. "There is one option, but I can't make any guarantees." You turned around and raised your eyebrows, signaling her to continue. "There is one place, and according to ancient rumors it could destroy any seal that was imposed. A place called Hatarat."

"And it is located..?"

"Xibalba," Laitta said looking you dead in the eyes.

"Couldn't have worked out better," you mumbled rubbing your forehead with your fingers. You weighed in your head the facts that you hadn't been able to find a shred of information in the past ten days, hadn't moved forward with your search, had a little less than nothing on your hands and decided that maybe this gamble was worth it. "So how do I get into this underworld?"

"There's more to it than that," Laitta said with a shake of her head. "For mortals still alive, the gates only open in a parade of planets. A full parade of planets."

"Incredible," you said raising your eyebrows and looking at your hand as if there was a watch on it. "The only thing left to wait for is... How long is it? 143 years?"

"You won't have to wait," the Goddess said glancing at Atlas. "I can't move myself back in time, but I can't move the rest of the people," Laitta thought rubbing her chin with her graceful fingers. Noticing your concerned look and as if reading your thoughts, she added: "Don't worry, your little hooman in the cube won't be affected by the rules of the creation. It is done without his knowledge or consent. But you," she pointed her index finger at you drilling you with her gaze. "Don't look at anyone. Don't talk to anyone. I doubt there will be any other crazies like you in that place, but don't get into anyone's memories.

"I know the rules," you said with a shake of your head.

"I hope you're ready," said Laitta holding out her hand to Atlas. "You as a fragile living matter are more likely to be torn to shreds, though."

"And what are the odds of that?"

"Ninety-ten," chirped Laitta smiling sweetly.

"Ya could have kept your mouth shut," you said rolling your eyes.

"One more thing," Laitta said rotating the Atlas's case, with each section it made a distinctive clicking sound. "You'll have exactly twenty-four hours to return to your original location, or you'll stay there forever. You need to time yourself as soon as you get there."

"Wait," you stopped her frowning your eyebrows. "Are you telling me that if I unsealed him and he and I don't make it to the original location, we'll have to spend the rest of our lives chilling in the eighties?"

"What are you, an idiot? Are you listening to what I'm even talking about?" Laitta tried to suppress you with a look. "Moving you to the past is only necessary for you to enter the gate, Xibalba itself has nothing to do with time at all, it simply doesn't exist there and you will be the only entity that has it. I told you that this is done without the knowledge and consent of the person inside the cube, he is still bound to the present moment, whether you want it or not, so after the unsealing he will be here. Not specifically in my office of course, I honestly have no idea where exactly he will deploy. The fact is, once the cube is opened you'll be alone in there. But you, stupid creature, have given your consent, so kindly return to your original location within the allotted time frame or stay dancing to Van Halen ³.

"Okay, spin your compass already," you waved her off slinging the straps of your backpack over your shoulders.

"If you make it, I'll see you back here in a second," Laitta summarized, spinning Atlas faster and faster. "And if your body still can't handle moving, I'll be scrubbing your bloody dust off the walls."

***

[3 Mar, 1982; 12:01am; Central America, somewhere in the forests of Guatemala]

Bloody hands. The first thing you saw when you opened your eyes was your bloody hands. The skin was torn in places like an old lightweight dress. You rolled up the sleeves of your irretrievably ruined sweatshirt, and reached into your backpack in search of bandages and if you were lucky, alcohol. You pulled out what you needed and clamping the fabric of the torn off sweater sleeve between your teeth, you began carelessly dousing the fresh wounds. Your hiss merged with the hiss of your skin. You spit the cloth out angrily and began bandaging your hands starting at the wrists and working your way up to your shoulders praying that there was enough white material to cover everything. As soon as the procedure was finished, you looked up and realized you were somewhere in the heart of the subtropical rainforest. In the darkness of the night, each individual twig teased you illusorily depicting living creatures to which your imagination ascribed malevolent motives. Every sound created in this place seemed to be clearer and closer than it really was. You shook your head dumping such thoughts away from your mind and moved forward across the untrodden terrain ignoring the pain in your hands.

"The deeper into the wood ya go," you muttered to yourself treading through thickets of plants and tree roots setting your phone's timer for twenty-four hours and breaking branches of bushes and trees to give yourself clues to return. You could figure out where you were, but you couldn't imagine which way to go because Laitta hadn't said a word about it. Suddenly, for some unknown reason you froze in place turning your head from side to side and staring at the darkness of the forest. The emptiness of the forest to be more precise, because you couldn't even hear the rare sounds of animals or insects anymore. The hair on the back of your neck stirred and the ground fell out from beneath your feet. Literally. The ground sprinkled like crumbs leaving a huge hollow space as if out of nowhere forming a cliff.

"Oh, shit!" you shrieked grabbing at the bare, decrepit roots of the tree, your hands responding with a sharp pain that you didn't pay attention to. You hung like that for a few minutes wondering if this was the 'gate' that Laitta had told you about. After a few more seconds, you let go of your arms and flew downward more out of excitement than fatigue.

Your body didn't feel the pain of hitting the rocky floor, but you couldn't say you'd fallen into soft cotton candy. You rose to your feet and shook yourself off, then pulled your phone out of your pocket to check the time remaining; nine hours and twenty-two minutes. What?

"It's not good to steal time," you said to someone trying to make out your surroundings. Suddenly the torches were lit illuminating the dilapidated, dark walls, water dripping down to the floor filling the room with its gurgling sound. When you turned around, you saw a narrow passage into an unlit corridor.

You walked over to one of the torches hanging on the wall and pulled it from the torchere with some force. "I'm going to need this," and then you headed straight for the hallway.

All you could hear was the sound of your footsteps and the crackling of the flames. Unfortunately for you, you felt something crawling on your skin around your waist; you quickly slipped your hand under your sweatshirt and pulled it out sharply. "Ew," you squeaked with disgust in your voice, wrinkling your nose, and when you saw that you were holding a scorpion, you shoved it away from you.

Your gaze returned to the straight road; the space of the corridor had widened considerably, flanked by horribly detailed huge sculptures of scorpions that went further into the emptiness of the corridor, which seemed to have no end. "Ya're not coming alive, are you?" you said letting out a nervous chuckle. You walked forward slowly and once you were between the two statues, you aimed the firelight at one of them; your gaze lingered on the huge stinger, you swallowed nervously and continued on your way trying not to look back. Something ran down the back of your neck and your hand automatically flicked the arthropod away from you. It was as if the corridor behind you had begun to make unpleasant, subtle noises.

As you advanced, the noise grew inexorably as if a thousand tiny jackhammers were pounding behind you. The scorpions on your body became more frequent and you realizing that the noise behind you was coming from the approaching stomping of tiny limbs rushed forward without looking back. Suddenly a sharp pain pierced your side and you pulled out a small wooden stake; the end of it was soaked with your blood mixed with something else. Glancing at the wall, you saw that there was a small hole through each statue. All you could do was curse to yourself and toss the wood aside continuing to run. Your breath hitched, your eyes became hazy, your fingertips began to go numb and before you could react, you crashed into a wall that had appeared out of nowhere.

The stomping stopped. It was unclear whether the pursuit had stopped or whether you couldn't hear anything because of the ringing in your ears. Your body was lying on the damp surface and a strange force was trying to open your eyes. Your chest ached because you felt you were missing something important. Time.

Your eyes snapped open and you jumped up. Your head was still buzzing and you looked around carefully trying to keep your balance. Even though the torch was lost, you realized that this was a completely different room. Water was running down the walls echoing in the dark room. You took a couple of cautious steps forward, then something crunched under your feet; someone's remains estimated to be about a few hundred years old looked damp as if they were still decomposing. You stepped over the corpse carefully noting that your footsteps were becoming visceral.

Your eyes had almost adjusted to the darkness; there was nothing here but four walls that was deformed in places, a few corpses, a foul odor and a single double door that looked so impregnable at first glance that it was much easier to give up and go back. The trickling of the water increased. You ran your hand along the walls near the door - nothing. As your fingers formed the familiar triangle pointing downward, an inner voice said.

      "Relocate."

 Nothing happened, but you weren't surprised: in places like this, the 'lords' make sure that no magic is used in their territories. You took a step away from the door to try to get a better look at what was around it, making a bubbling sound; you lowered your head and saw that you were standing ankle-deep - no, not in water - in a thick, dark maroon liquid.

All the while the room was filling up with blood and doing so faster and faster as time went on. As you swallowed the nausea, you looked around trying to see where the fluid was coming from. You couldn't see the mechanisms, but you could see a lever that was just below the high ceiling. There were only two options: either try to get there on your own or wait until the room was completely flooded, which seemed easier. The problem was that if the doors opened inward, the pressure in sealed room would keep them closed forever or until the room was empty again.

The blood was up to your knees. You carefully shuffling your feet through the thick of it, came to the wall where the lever was located. It was absolutely smooth, but the adjacent wall was half-destroyed and had some defects and small protrusions. Climbing up this wall to the ceiling was easy except that you turned around when you were under the ceiling. There was about couple feets between you and the lever. It's unclear what kind of hope made you reach for the lever with such force that in an instant something crunched in your shoulder; you clenched your teeth and brought your hand back to the ledge grasping it. Your fingers, wet with sweat and blood, began to slip.

"Fuck it," you shrieked quietly and gathering more air into your chest and turning your body toward the lever, you pushed your legs off the wall with force. Your hands gripped the lever awkwardly and you slipped and grabbed it erratically pulling it down toward you; as soon as it gave way with a terrible creak, you slipped and fell straight into the bloody mess.

The room emptied again after only a few seconds, but immediately filled again with your gasping coughs and spit. You tried desperately to wipe your eyes, but it seemed to make them even dirtier. After a few failed attempts you still managed to see something, and you began to slowly rise to your feet, peering through the door. "Got the joke," you drawled words grudgingly examining the sashes, which were open not to the inside of the room, but to the outside. "Funny."

You waddled toward the door holding the side of your body where the poisoned stake had been stuck earlier. The sight before your eyes took your breath away. An incredibly beautiful huge cave, the walls of which shimmered with numerous violet lights as if someone had put a spotlight on them. Giant stalactites were hanging from the vaults of the cave, which you couldn't even see; you standing on the cliff could also see the tips of the same huge stalagmites except for which you couldn't see anything. The violet sparks of the cave circled around you flying up and down as if beckoning you to go somewhere; as if bewitched, you wandered after them.

Someone shoved you in the back forcing you to come to your senses; you turned around sharply, but there was no one around, not even the purple lights and you were alone in the darkness for the umpteenth time. You stood in the middle of the stone nondescript bridge and a feeling of confusion and loneliness slowly began to fill your chest. You looked around like a small child at a crossroads trying to figure out which way to go. When you couldn't figure it out you sighed and sat down on the edge of the bridge, your feet wiggling nonchalantly.

"I take it the river of scorpions and the river of blood have already been," you addressed someone in the void. "What's next on the entertainment program?" there was a rocky cracking sound after your line, the bridge sagging. The realization struck you with a lightning bolt as if conducting a current through your body, but there was no strength left even to run; your hand gripped your inflamed side harder and you collapsed down along with the splintered structure.

The sensation of something soft and pleasant spread through your limbs. It felt weightless. You still hadn't lost consciousness, though you were close to it. Your body was sinking into something again, but it was clearly no longer blood, much less water, trying to push you to the surface; it was something much, much thicker. You'd lost your coordination in the fall and there was no way to tell which way to swim and your eyes couldn't see anything either. Quickly extinguishing your incipient panic, you began to move slowly your arms from side to side, up and down trying to catch the flow of air. After a few minutes, the oxygen in your lungs began to run out and you desperately moved to the random side doing the same manipulations with your hands. Finally, your fingertips began to blow and you raked your hands in that direction with force. As you surfaced, gulping in air mixing with that was dripping from your face, you grabbed onto something at random hastily climbing up there. Once you were on some surface, you finally lost consciousness.

      "Get up."

You feeling a long-forgotten sense of unease began to mumble something indistinctly, your hands clutching yourself tighter in your arms.

      "I SAID GET THE FUCK UP!"

You jumped up sharply grabbing your stomach with a hand that felt like it had been kicked. Realizing you were alone and he couldn't be here, you moved your hand to your chest trying to calm your racing heart. After a couple of deep inhales and exhales, you finally came fully to your senses; your gaze fell on the spot you had floated out of. A whitish liquid was spreading across the bottom of the cave changing from a dull yellow to a dark green in places. Pus.

Fully regained consciousness you grabbed your back trying to make sure that your backpack was still there; when you found it, you took off the straps and putting the backpack on your lap and undid the lock, some dire need made you check if the cube was still there. It was lying carelessly among a pile of junk, scraps of some papers, alcohol, and even a climbing rope. "Ya know, I'm expecting at least an invitation to dinner after this," you muttered and pulled out your head from backpack before tucking it behind your back and slinging it back over your shoulders, hitching the extra straps around your waist. You noticed that the bandages on your arms had turned into ragged dirty rags and threw them off. Dark energy was already splicing your wounds with thin black lines that looked like nasty worms. 

"Bestie, I hope you keep me safe from blood poisoning too because I've got it with one hundred percent probability," you addressed the dark energy as if it were alive and after standing still for a couple more seconds, you moved forward.

The next environment was something like a huge unlit hall and unlike the previous places, the floor and walls were decorated with shimmering black tiles with silver joints, and around the perimeter of the room stood what looked like animated statues of owls with burning eyes and outstretched wings. Messengers of the lords. In the middle of one of the walls there was a huge gate, whose flaps rounded sharply towards the top forming a sharp long peak. Almost the entire door was decorated with an angular but systematic ornament that was illuminated in red. Barely had the annoying thought of how to open them popped into your head as the gate leafs began to slowly open. "I don't need a lot of begging," you said heading straight for the gate.

Once you passed through it, you stepped onto a road lined with a cool blue mist that blocked all vision. Unlike the other rooms you had passed, there was no sound here, the feeling of absolute vacuum beginning to weigh on your mind. Ignoring the loss of one of your senses, you stubbornly continued on your way. Your eyes still saw everything, and everything was clear; the fog began to swirl ahead as if enveloping someone in its weightless embrace. A familiar silhouette appeared and you caught a glimpse of blue-black hair as you came closer.

"Kyle?" you asked in confusion, unable to hear your own voice. He turned around and looked at you, immediately flashed back into the mist. In absolute silence a deep, low and yet humiliating laugh began to rise from the bowels of the underworld. Remembering the lords' passion for creating artificial scarecrows to humiliate travelers who mistakenly greeted them, you could only roll your eyes.

You finally emerged from the fog and found yourself on a vortex of four roads, each of which was saying something in unintelligible whispers, but all your attention was taken by a dilapidated low pedestal that stood between two of these roads. You tsked at one of the paths whose whispers seemed the loudest and walked towards the pedestal. Once up on it, you were faced with a huge circular platform, the circumference of which was marked with diametrically opposed small gilded circles, one of which had a narrow, thin hole in it, just the same shape of your dagger's blade that was already in your hand. "Need a twist?" you thought to yourself leaning closer to the gold circle, trying to insert the dagger into the hole, but it wouldn't budge as if it had been drawn. You wrinkled your nose in bewilderment shaking the remaining dirt and dust off the circle with your hand, but it wouldn't come off. "Reflection?" you asked yourself suddenly, and lifted your head up.

Your body thudded against the surface that was supposed to be the ceiling and you hit your head hard against the floor. The room turned upside down. Your nerve endings were no longer paying attention to the countless bruises, your mind was already at home taking a warm bath and eating a delicious dinner, perhaps even at the same time; something told you that there were only a couple of steps to go.

You looked again at the large circular platform and saw that there were now numerous straight lines connected to each other inside it; the dagger was now easily inserted into the opening of the small circle, but no matter which way you turned it, nothing happened. "They could have at least included instructions," you thought indignantly looking around the pedestal for any symbols. Nothing.

The lords of Xibalba, though fearsome, were very predictable creatures. All lords wanted sacrifices, and the masters of this place took gold or blood as the myths would have it. Since you hadn't brought any jewelry with you, there was only the second option.

      Slash!  

You swung the dagger sharply across your palm and directed the flowing stream straight into the hole. The red liquid filled the lines as mesmerizingly beautiful as a falling domino would be stacked. As soon as the end of the broken lines joined the beginning, the platform flashed red and went out, immediately moving aside with a deafening screech; you were back on the edge of another precipice. Isn't this the Hatarat?

The first loud click sounded, the first step leading downward appeared. The next step immediately followed with identical sounds; the rhythmic clicks that were created seemed to count down the time to something inevitable. You obediently stepped off the first step plunging into darkness.

This time you could see nothing, absolutely nothing. You were standing on a tiny and looked like moonlit piece of land. As soon as you tried to step beyond the light, someone pushed you back. You tried again, with the same result. "One," someone's murmuring voice exploded and spilled the same recent laughter in your ears and you shuddered unseen.

"What do you mean by 'one'?" you shouted in indignation. "I'm fucking alone here!" barely had you finished speaking as you quickly slurred and it came to you. You threw off your backpack and began rummaging through it looking for the cube. When you pulled it out and brought it closer to your face, you gasped in surprise: all of its facets were glowing red; you spun around in disbelief at your surroundings. "See ya, boxy," you said, smiling. "I hope it won't kill you," after which you threw the cube with force somewhere into the darkness.

The ground beneath your feet shook so violently that you fell on your back out of balance. Your body was covered with stone chips. The faint light that had illuminated you earlier went out and you were left in a darkness that your eyes could not adapt to. Praying mentally that everything had worked and you hadn't accidentally destroyed the artifact along with the person inside it, you gathered your will into a fist once again and was determined to find a way out of this cloaca.

***

After a dozen bruises, a couple of fights, and hundreds of swear words, you were standing in Laitta's office again. You'd been here just a second ago for her and she was still clutching the Atlas, but her eyes were deep in the laptop screen. Unable to say a word, you just stood there, waiting to be noticed.

"Look, the news is reporting a four-point earthquake somewhere off the east coast of Japan, supposedly a tectonic plate shift. Your doing?" she asked you sliding her eyes over the lines then shifting her gaze to you. "Ew, you look like shit."

"Screw ya," you mumbled examining your body, which was covered in dried blood and congealed pus, your clothes were torn in places and your tangled hair added to your charm.

***

You and Rachel were already lying on the workshop floor; she was on top of you pinching your skin randomly in different places not letting you move. You laughed at the ticklish sensations and cried out when Rachel put too much pressure on you. You both didn't hear the door click open because of all the fun chaos.

"Are my girls fighting again?" a low baritone crept into the workroom. You and Rachel raised your heads at the same time looking at the intruder. A portly man of advanced age, whose eyes always seemed narrow because of his cordial smile stood in the workroom doorway watching you, his eyes full of paternal love. His long gray hair was gathered in a low ponytail, his not-young face was adorned with stubble in the color of his hair. Kyle was next to him, too. You and Rachel looked at each other sharply and realizing from your angry look that questioned if she was the one who called him here, Rachel shook her head in panic. "Hey, Dad!" Rachel jumped up first and ran in his direction. "We were just talking about you!"

"Kind words, I hope?" the man asked enclosing Rachel, Kyle and the approaching you in a hug.

"I'm gonna fucking die," hissed Rachel, who had the misfortune to find herself in the middle of a bear hug.

"Here they are, my loved offspring," the man chuckled kissing each of you on the top of your head.

"Hi, Frank," you said detachedly as if resigned to your fate.

"Dad, back off, we're not little kids anymore," Kyle muttered breaking out of his embrace. "I'm going to bed."

"Raised a rude boy," Frank stretched out with a smile on his face as he watched Kyle walk up the metal stairs, then let you and Rachel go. "And I have exactly two gifts for you."

"Mommy!" squeaked someone's childish voice, and from behind Frank's broad back something redheaded and small came rushing toward Rachel nearly knocking her to the ground.

"Mike, honey!" Rachel exclaimed picking the boy up and wrapping her arms around him burying herself in his baby soft hair. You mentally noted how pleased you were that her attention had shifted from you to him.

"So, what's the second gift?" you turned to Frank with growing displeasure in your voice realizing who else he'd brought.

"Hey, Y/N-ie," a quiet voice greeted you. Hidden behind the man's broad back was also a little girl in a blue dress, and she was covered in freckles from top to bottom, her small hands shyly clutching a sheet folded in half to her chest.

"Hey, my little bun," you greeted her softly in return gently picking her up in your arms and carrying her towards the bed that Rachel and Mike were settled on. "Tris, give me and Grandpa Frank two minutes and I'll be sure to look at what you brought, 'kay?

"Okay," Tris nodded her head clutching the sheet to her chest even tighter. Setting her down on the bed, you headed towards Frank and jerked him into the bathroom forcefully but still quietly slamming the door behind you.

You gave the gray-haired man a fierce look. "Frank, what the hell are you doing here? What are you bringing the kids here for?" you hissed at him trying to keep your voice steady.

"Are ya gonna burst or something if ya ever call me dad?" Frank looked down at you crossing his arms over his chest.

"Don't ya dare change the subject!"

"Look, ya didn't even come to Hopetown for Christmas," Frank said shrugging, disappointment flashing across his face for a second and a needle of guilt stabbing into your chest. "So I decided to bring Mike and Tris to you at least, if only for a little while."

"Frank, I'm sorry, I really am. But you know it's very dangerous out here," you ran your hands through your hair and put your arms around your shoulders as if trying to reassure yourself.

Big hands gently touched your cheeks and you looked up at Frank, your eyes widening with worry. "Have you forgotten who your father is? I can give you all a head start still," and at the same time he pulled you against his chest, and you nuzzled your nose into it letting out a relieved exhale.

You would have been happy to pamper your soul further while you were stroked through your hair like a little girl, spitting and forgetting about all the misfortunes, but the sense of responsibility nurtured from childhood made you pull away and retreat a couple steps. "Ya take the kids tomorrow and you're going back to Hopetown," with that said you left the bathroom.

When you went back into the workroom, Rachel shushed you, even though you didn't make a sound. You raised your eyebrows in surprise, but when you saw Mike and Tris laid comfortably on your bed you nodded understandingly. Such a long ride to your place could take a lot out of even the naughtiest of children. You glanced at Frank and Rachel gesturing for them to go to sleep and after they had quietly left the room, you moved closer to the bed. As you adjusted the blanket and wrapped the little bodies tighter, your gaze fell on the bedside table; the same folded sheet laid on it that Tris had been carefully cradling. You sat down beside the bed and unfolded it carefully, and before your eyes was something blotchy and bright, made up of all sorts of shades of blue and purple with dull yellow incongruous stars sprinkled all over it. "So much for the cosmos," the warmth spilling into your chest came out of your mouth with a soft, quiet laugh that you tried to extinguish with your head tucked into the sheet.

The next afternoon as the sun was setting, you walked down the hallway toward the kitchen trying to hold on to the pile of paper bags that contained the groceries mixed with some medications you had just bought. Finally dumping it all on the dining room table, you opened the refrigerator and started filling the emptied contents grabbing Mike who was crawling from the kitchen unit to the refrigerator and putting him back on the floor; once the groceries were spread out on the shelves of the refrigerator, you opened the top drawer to put the medications in there, while changing the coffee cup someone had left in front of Tris' nose, which she was already reaching for with her little hands, for orange juice. "Keep an eye on them," you said to Frank grabbing the only unopened paper bag.

You grinned softly as you watched your students and older hunters pair up with students from the Tokyo magical college, probably having just finished eating dinner in the canteen walked out of the left door of the living room. Stepping onto the threshold of the living room and gathering all your courage into a fist, you headed towards the right door that led to the infirmary.

Your quiet footsteps were all that could be heard in the lighted corridor of the infirmary and with each step you took as you approached the room where Megumi and the white-haired sorcerer were lying your confident gait became slower and more awkward. There was no point in delaying the inevitable, so you stopped at the wall right next to the open door and drew in more air clutching the paper bag tighter to your chest.

Just as you wanted to step out from around the corner, you heard quiet negotiations; you shook your head in bewilderment. Had Megumi woken up? You appeared on the threshold crashing into two pairs of eyes. Both were sitting on Gojo's bed talking quietly about something, but as soon as they saw you, they immediately fell silent. "Oh?" you smiled, tilting your head slightly to the side. "So the reunion has already happened after all. It's a shame, because I wanted it to be a little more festive," you looked at infirmary's surrounding.

There was an awkward silence. After a few seconds, the headmaster got up from the bed coughing meaningfully. "Well, I don't want to lose my lunch muffins, so... I'll leave you two alone. Y/N," he nodded his head in farewell and you watched him going away, puzzled because his room was in the other direction.

Turning your head, you met the sorcerer's gaze. Not sure where to begin, you waved your hand gently. "Hey."

"Hey," he averted his gaze, fiddling with his fingers.

Exhausted from the growing awkwardness, you not knowing where to start until then decided to start with what you held in your hand. "Uh, anyway... I've got apples, peaches, orange and cherry juice in here," a smile grew on Gojo's face as you listed and he bit his lip. "There's also a mochi here. With green tea, chocolate and mango," the sorcerer stopped smiling and his already large eyes rounded with shock and you laughed. "Don't look at me like that. Your students served ya up on a plate," you walked over to his bedside table and carefully set the paper bag down all the while feeling the stare but somehow not feeling uncomfortable about it. "This is my apology for yesterday's uh, incident. I acted impulsively."

"Hey! Just an apology?" suddenly the quiet sorcerer was suddenly as loud as everyone had described him to be. "And here I was beginning to think someone actually cared about me." He turned away from you pouting his lips making you laugh once again.

"And I never said that was the only reason," you never saw the look on Gojo's face as you moved towards the unconscious Megumi. You walked over to the boy and running your fingers gently over his forearms, took his hand examining it; the dark energy was now painted in chaotic dark lines only at his fingertips. "There, he's feeling much better now, so he should wake up soon." Wrapped up in your thoughts of Megumi, you didn't even hear Gojo walk up close to you; turning around, a whistle escaped your lips. You'd never viewed him this close and full-length before not counting that incident when you saw nothing but a red veil; you jokingly raised your head covering your eyes with the palm of your hand as if protecting them from the sunlight. "Mister, isn't it blowing hard out there?"

Not looking up from another thousandth joke about his height, Gojo laughed softly sitting down on the couch at Megumi's feet. "Nah, it's not blowing," he wrapped his long fingers around his chin cocking his head as if in thought. "Though, pipsqueaks can really be kinda hard of hearing."

"We never introduced ourselves to each other," you held out your hand to him looking at him unflinchingly.

He felt either awkward or embarrassed under your gaze; hastily and invisibly clutching the sheets in his hands, Gojo tried to wipe away the sweat that protruded on his palms all the while feeling his cheeks grow warm, but he still extended his hand in return and you shook hands. "Gojo. Gojo Satoru."

"Y/N. Just Y/N," even though your lower face wasn't visible Gojo could feel how bright you were smiling at him taking a seat next to him on the couch.

"Well, Y/N," he swallowed quietly, feeling the warmth radiating from you and if you hadn't been in the room, Gojo felt like he would have slapped himself to come to his senses. "How much more do you know about me?"

"Let me see," you sat on the couch and started to dangle your feet. Even though the beds in the infirmary were quite high themselves, Gojo still had his hand over his mouth pretending to just lean on it, even though he was trying not to laugh. "You're kind of an arrogant creature who doesn't recognize anyone's authority, but with your power it's forgivable," you said, crooking one finger. "You have a heap of altruism in you just so long as nothing goes against your selfish desires," you crooked a second finger. "You're a very light sleeper, I don't think that point needs explaining," you bent a third finger. "You're a fan of ridiculously expensive shirts," you curved your fourth finger. "You also go to the dentist every two months to get another cavity treated because you love sweets too much," you curved the last finger on your hand. "And you also get drunk from one glass of wine," you added and though you really wanted to continue you were afraid you'd be considered a stalker.

"Wow," his voice sounded very quiet for some reason. "And you really remembered all that?"

"Of course I did," you shook your head and grinned staring at him. "I'm a manipulator," he stared at you wide-eyed for a couple seconds then the chamber filled with your soft, seemingly melded laughter. As you laughed, you looked him over with an elusive concern. "But more importantly, how are ya feeling?"

"Wonderful," he crooned looking at you the way professional liars do. He appreciated your skeptical look and realizing the attempt had failed, continued to reassure you. "Really, I'm fine. Sometimes weird thoughts pop into my head, but it's happened before," he smiled awkwardly his eyes fixed on the floor and he clasped his fingers together.

Your conscience gnawed at you for invading his personal space enough already. Suppressing the urge for further questioning and casting a glance behind your back at Megumi, you turned back to Gojo. "Just try not to be alone right now."

Loneliness. The curse or freedom that had followed him all his life, neither letting him fall normally nor fly high constantly keeping him between heaven and earth. "But I have no one to go to," he thought to himself, for the first time not finding the courage to say it out loud.

"Y/N-ie?" a thin voice made you look up. A little girl stood on the doorstep having changed from yesterday's blue dress to a light purple one.

You grinned and patted her knee gently beckoning her over and letting her know you weren't the least bit angry that she was walking around the huge house alone again. "There's my little tail," you picked her up, kissing her on the temple, making Tris giggle uncontrollably. When she calmed down, she immediately stared with her dark eyes at the white-haired man. "Tris, this is Gojo Satoru, the strongest sorcerer alive," you dramatically and meaningfully expressed his status causing his cheeks to warm again; afterward you glared at Gojo. "Gojo, this is Tris, my uh- my daughter," you stammered a bit as you stipulated her status, for which you mentally slapped yourself on the forehead. 

Gojo stared at you in amazement then furrowed his eyebrows incredulously. "Aren't you a little young for the role of mommy?"

"Why, do ya wanna figure it out?" there was a teasing challenge in your voice and you moved a little toward him.

"Yes! I mean N-NO! I mean- Oh my god," Gojo started to stutter and immediately hid his flushed face in his hands. You and Tris sat there looking at him with a look of satisfaction at your prank even though the girl didn't understand what just happened and was just copying your behavior.

"You didn't conceive Megumi at thirteen, did you?" Gojo was even more confused by your question, but when he realized what you were getting at, he pulled his face away from his hands and looked at you raising his eyebrows; you only nodded in response.

"Are we going to watch the Iron Giant?" Tris interjected into the conversation.

"Hmm, are we gonna watch this cartoon for the hundredth time?" you cocked your head as if pondering even though you already knew your answer; dark eyes were looking down at you expectantly. "Of course we'll watch it. Wanna join?" you turned towards the sorcerer again. "Or grown men don't watch cartoons?"

"Gladly," he said carefully hiding a smile. Picking up Tris, you headed into the living room and this time you got another tail.

***

Two elderly men sat in the kitchen sipping hot blueberry tea and watching the three of you on the couch in front of the TV. You and Gojo were sitting close together and Tris kept talking restlessly between you piling pillows around you and trying to get comfortable on either you or the sorcerer. Gojo seemed to be making jokes all the time and after another joke you pinched his nose instead of laughing causing him to let out a disgruntled squeak pursing his lips playfully. "They seem to be getting along quite well," Frank turned to Principal Jaga not taking his eyes off of you.

The headmaster hummed skeptically setting his cup aside. "That restless one gets along pretty well with everyone. As long as they don't get in his way. Anyway, I'm glad he can exhale a little now after everything," Frank sighed restlessly at the principal's words wondering when that opportunity would fall to you as well and the principal certainly noticed it. "So... demons?"

"Well, you could say that," Frank smiled shrugging his shoulders. "A good half of what's said about them in any of the sources is true except..." the gray-haired man faltered, unsure of how to present the information staring first at the end credits of the cartoon you and Gojo were watching then looking up at the night sky through the living room window. "Except they're not of mythological origin. And we call them dioreacts."

The principal furrowed his eyebrows and stared at Frank, but exploded into a low cackle a couple minutes later. "Aliens? Are you serious now?"

Carrying a soiled popcorn dish and hearing the last part of the conversation, you couldn't help but intervene. "What's the matter? Have ya always seen aliens as green little men with mustaches on their heads?"

"No, it's just... Extraterrestrial intelligent life exists after all?" the principal shook his head in disbelief squinting his eyes.

Having put the dishes in the sink, you turned around and leaned against the kitchen unit; Gojo sat down next to Frank and he seeing that you were without Tris, gave you a questioning look. "She wore us out pretty well and fell asleep on the couch. Don't ya dare wake her up," you pointed your index finger threateningly at Frank realizing that if she woke up it would be up to you to entertain her; you then focused your attention on the headmaster. "After all, in the concept of 'extraterrestrial intelligent life' we only understand one word: extraterrestrial. What 'life' is and what 'intelligent' is for some reason no one is in a hurry to explain. So yes, to deny its existence just because it is beyond our comprehension is rather silly."

"But how did they end up on Earth?" the Director asked and you could tell by the look on his face that he still took you for crazy.

"We have no idea why they suddenly began their space expansion. Maybe because of some threat, maybe somewhere in their world they had already evolved to the point where they had nothing left to do but conquer space to keep their evolution from stalling." You scratched your temple thoughtfully and stared up at the night sky. "It's also unclear where they came from, whether from another star system, another dimension, some parallel worlds, another fabric of space-time or Balk ⁴, but either way, there's two pieces of news, good and bad," you perked up, and walked over to the table and sat down across from Gojo who had been listening intently to you all this time. "First and good, they can't interact with us outside of the human body in any way, and neither can we with them. We simply don't have such senses, but the bad one... The bad one sounds exactly the same, but with a different implication. They're infesting people's bodies nonstop. And all this makes us think that they really left their homeland in a hurry because of some danger, and now having found themselves here and having found a shelter in a human body they want to settle here."

Gojo clicked his teeth, something dark and unfamiliar in his eyes. "Why don't they live in peace? We humans are friendly enough creatures."

"It's just that unlike Earth creatures who have an aquatic basis for life, they have it tied to human blood plasma. In large quantities. But they eat us because we're delicious, I guess," you tightened your lips at the unpleasantness of this conversation.

"How is that possible?" the principal asked. "I mean, it's human bodies that they're inhabiting, so they're an earthly life form now, too."

"There is nothing earthly and much less human in them after fusion because the atoms in their molecules have been reshaped and rearranged," you stated flatly, your voice as if it had turned metallic. "By combining certain atoms in a certain sequence we get a structure with properties that a simple bunch of the same atoms don't have, and the name of that structure is a molecule. The basis of life is not somewhere out there at the level of individual atoms, it is higher. The basis of life is molecular. Now try to swap at least two atoms in molecules and living matter having lost its emergent⁵ property will immediately become inanimate turning a human being into a corpse. Now imagine when the Diomorphea having appeared on this planet, began to collide with humans, either completely accidentally or completely intentionally provoking fusion; How many people were killed while the Diomorphea was trying to find the right configuration of atoms with which to exist?         

Gojo tilted his head to the side, which made his hair stick out even shaggier, reached out to you and snapped his fingers in front of your nose bringing you out of your information trance. "Diomorphea? What the hell kind of pokemon is that?"    

"So-called core. According to the information gathered over thousands of years, the hunters came to the conclusion that all dioreacts used to be something whole, but at the first successful fusion they split into pieces, God only knows how many," you kept looking at the sorcerer trying to stifle the urge to ruffle his hair. "So, the Diomorphea is the core or the first dioreact, ya name it. And there's a suspicion that it's the one that's somehow directly involved in the fusion of all the other split-off dioreacts, otherwise, if every dioreact could conduct a fusion we would all be dropping like flies without explanation."

Gojo hummed propping his head up with both hands. Although he showed genuine interest, his eyes were involuntarily sleepy and he desperately tried to blink away the drowsiness causing his long white lashes to flutter. A mesmerizing sight. "Given the nature of our work, it's strange that we've never encountered them."

"We'll take that as a compliment," you chirped swinging your leg, and your bare foot grazed his equally bare ankle. Casually tapping the table with awkward fingertips and pretending that none of this had just happened, you leaned back further into the back of your chair. "Yeah, and if you've encountered them, it's unlikely ya paid attention. Unless you could feel the effect of the uncanny valley, only instead of disgust and fear ya'd feel an uncontrollable rising sense of anxiety. No one's had that?" you looked around the table at everyone and seeing the headmaster and Gojo shake their heads negatively, you shrugged. "No wonder, ya people are unusual too," suddenly looking up and remembering that you should be somewhere else right now, you added. "Actually, not all dioreacts are bad. Some of them blend into the normal human rhythm of life, and just a couple dozen of them are of great help to us. We owe them a lot, because they told almost everything we know because now even though all dioreacts are divided, they are still a single organism and they see, hear, and feel everything that others see, hear, and feel. The name of such dioreacts is insiders," you jumped up from your chair grabbing your phone off the kitchen counter.

Frank, looking around in confusion and trying to catch a glimpse of your flailing figure looked visibly perturbed. "And where do ya think you're going, young lady?"

"Meet the insider, he texted me," you shouted already from the hallway sitting on a chair and putting on your socks.

"Actually, we contact the insiders ourselves for security purposes!" the indignation in Frank's voice grew with every word uttered, his low voice making the dishes on the table almost shake.

"Really?" you blurted out sarcastically, hoping he would hear it. "And for what purpose did you disable our house's security protocol then?"

Frank couldn't take it anymore, he snorted in indignation standing up from the table so abruptly that the chair beneath him fell over, and headed toward you out into the hallway. "Did I have to make Tris and Mike cut their hands open to give your artificial intelligence their blood for examination?" the tone of his voice sounded like you wanted to leave as soon as possible. "Ya do realize this is a trap, don't you?"

"Well, or the information is so urgent that the insider just doesn't have time to wait for us to deign to contact him. Come on, this one's been tried and tested over the years," you gibbered hastily pulling on your sneakers. "Otherwise, this is such an obvious trap that I'm going to fall for it purely on principle! That's it, I'm out of here," with that you gave Frank a quick hug and dashed out the door that led to the basement floor.

To your surprise, you heard the sound of rushing footsteps behind you. Gojo remembering his past experience didn't dare to grab your hand again. Luckily for him, you finally descended the metal stairs and turned around and seeing your face once again, all the words he wanted to say flew out of his head. "Well, uh— take care," he smiled nonchalantly tucking his hands into his pockets.

"As always," you nodded your head smiling back and examining his endlessly mussed hair. "I apologize in advance," you reached out with a hand, briefly but gently ruffling the snow-white hair. "Gosh, even softer than I thought," you squeaked and whether from haste or embarrassment ran out the huge metal door, leaving Gojo utterly confused, alone with his suddenly feverish heart.

Two days later, you were insanely happy to hear the usually annoying beep of the key card because it meant you were home. Your split eyebrow was almost healed and there were only a couple of minor bruises on your body. As you passed through the metal door, you noted the absence of the white room; the security protocol was still disabled, and therefore Frank was still here. He was right after all, this was all just another trap and the insider who'd been feeding you information for years was dead, but you'd rather eat your own pinky than admit that to him.

It was so late that you were sure that the whole house was asleep with its occupants, but feeling terribly hungry and remembering that there was nothing in the refrigerator in your workroom, you headed for the metal staircase trying to keep the sound of your footsteps in the quietest range. Finally, after turning the doorknob and closing it carefully behind you, you carelessly but also quietly kicked off your sneakers and went straight to the kitchen in total darkness.

When you reached the corner of the kitchen around the corner where the dining table and the refrigerator were located you heard a strange commotion. You listened leaning against the doorjamb, your hand in a dark haze ready to grab your dagger. The quiet creaks of the wooden table, the rustling of clothes and suddenly the sounds of kissing. Hearing it, you wrinkled your nose in confusion. Had Rachel really started bringing lovers into this house? The black haze from your hand disappeared immediately; after thinking about it some more, you hummed contentedly but quietly thinking that maybe it was Kyle who had finally found someone, but still remaining creepily annoyed by the fact that they weren't doing it in a more private place. "Nuh-uh, I told you," a teasing male voice made the already immobile you literally freeze in place. "No kissing on the lips, we've talked about this a thousand times."

He was answered by an equally teasing, languid foxy voice. "What's the matter? Are you saving yourself for the one?" you squinted your eyes and tried to rack your brain to remember anyone in this house with a voice like that.

"I don't see any point in exchanging spittle," Gojo barely finished the sentence as you stepped out from around the corner a bit to check that your hearing wasn't deceiving you. No, that's right. Two half-naked bodies pressed against each other on your dining table. Sorcerer pulling away from the woman began unbuttoning her blouse. "Are you sure you want to do this here?"

You stood still and not knowing what to do, watched their actions with completely blank eyes swallowing a disgusting lump of feelings that tasted more like a dirty floor cloth soaked in rotten blood. If only your legs had been buzzing with fatigue a few minutes ago, now even your head ached. The heavy chains that had shackled your heart long before and had loosened their grip over time, clenched it with renewed vigor.

 "Oh, come on!" she giggled pressing her naked thighs against his waist. "Those saints are all sound asleep by ten o'clock at night."

"Then spread your legs a little wider," Gojo grinned finally unbuttoning her blouse and exposing the last of what was hidden.

You flicked the switch, and the light spread across the room just as quickly as your patience was wearing thin. "Not everyone," your face now had a good-natured expression on it instead of blank eyes. "When I told ya not to be alone, I didn't mean it like that, ya know," Gojo pulled away from the girl abruptly and looked at you apparently swallowing.

You didn't forget for a second why you'd come here and you strode lightly past them and straight to the refrigerator. Opening it, you appraised the contents with a glance. "I don't judge people for their kinks, but if ya want to fuck in this house find a more private place."

"We'll remember that," the girl chirped giving you a sly look; still prostrate on the table, she playfully covered her bare breasts with the fabric of her blouse. You grabbed a carton of chocolate milk and slammed the refrigerator door shut and because of your unpleasant emotions, you didn't even notice the sorcerer standing next to you barely moving his parched lips as if he were struggling to get a single word out.

"Or at least not on this table," you tapped your knuckles on the wooden surface next to her white-gray mussed hair. "Because we eat here from time to time. Although, if you're going to eat her out, then I don't even have an objection," you were still keeping a friendly attitude, but it seemed to Gojo that you were literally spitting those words in his face and it also seemed to him that he really deserved it.

You were a moment away from leaving the room, but suddenly you heard the click of the door to the infirmary. You jerked open the refrigerator door and stood across from the two half-naked figures even though you realized that the refrigerator door and your size would not hide the outrage. The next unfamiliar faces were in the room and you slammed the door shut with force barely concealing your irritation.

A woman appeared at the door, a white medical coat draped over her shoulders; her tired look suggested that she was of the same profession. An old man came out behind her. She gave you a look that expressed nothing but a desire to go to bed. "What's going on here?"

"I could ask ya the same question," you waved your hands. "Who are you?"

"Shoko Ieiri, a doctor at Tokyo Magic College."

"Great, that says a lot," you said not hiding the irony bubbling in your voice. You glanced over at the bald old man standing next to her with the ridiculously long beard; you couldn't see his eyes from under his thick gray eyebrows. All of his ears were pierced in completely different places, the jewelry in them playing in the light. The old man seemed to be smaller than you were tall. "And what kind of fossil is that?" the girl behind you burst into laughter, though to you the whole situation was so absurd that it was no longer possible to keep yourself in check.

Shoko cast a glance at the old man before directing her eyes at you and if it weren't for the circumstances you would managed to note that you were crazy about her mole under her eye already. "As of late, our higher-up. Yoshinobu Gakuganji.

"Bring him back to the dig," dropping that phrase, you walked out of the room closing the door with such force that plaster sprinkled from the walls.

You were coming down the stairs to the workroom, one of your hand clutching a carton of hard-won chocolate milk, the other typing an angry message to Frank barely hitting to spell.

[11:57pm] You: I've only been gone for two days so bother explaining why the fuck some obscure doctor paired with a walking antique is walking around freely in our house and someone is fucking on our damn dinner table

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Chapter notes:

Xibalba – the underworld of the Maya peoples

Ouroboros – a snake eating its own tail; one of the oldest symbols known to mankind. Representation of eternity and infinity, the cyclical nature of life

Van Halen - famous American hard rock band of the 80s.

Bulk - long story short, massive bodies like stars, planets and black holes bend space in the vicinity of themselves, roughly speaking in this form woosh ◡ (you can say 'push down'), space cannot be pushed into nowhere, so Bulk that's the theoretical place where space can be pushed

Emergence - the presence of properties in the system that are not inherent in its components individually; irreducibility of the properties of the system to the sum of the properties of its components (imagine that someone methodically and repeatedly throws a bunch of stones into the air and after each throw there is a non-zero probability that the stones will fall on each other in a certain way forming a certain structure and this structure will have its own set of properties that the pile of stones itself does not possess. For example if once the stones fall so that they form a house (it sounds stupid but this is just an example) it will have properties like protection from rain wind animals etc)

PHEW THIS ONE WAS HARD