#leavers ball

[letraspal]

“It’s a memory book,” he says. “They used to give them out at Watford before the Mage took over. At your leavers ball. It’s got class pictures from every year and little stories…” He holds the book open to a page full of photos. It makes me wish I had something like it—I don’t have any pictures of myself or my friends.

Or, fulfilling Simon’s wish (and mine tbh).

[give-grian-rights]

there is nothing funnier than having someone leave a comment that is SO media illiterate . lacking ANY comprehension of what the original post was about, and instead stating their bullshit take .

and then looking at their blog and seeing conveniently . . . they have next to no original posts of their own, NO tags, or additions left in reblogs . whatcha fucking hiding ? ?

[untraceable-ace]

🎁 mwah Tim violin be upon ye + a lil gif (dunno where this one's from actually someone just sent it to me might be in the Mechs photos Google drive)

Loosing my marbles thank you

[iamamythologicalcreature]

COC Day 17: Fluff

"It's so...fluffy..."

For this @carryon-countdown prompt I wanted to draw Big Brother Baz because I adore him being a big brother. Fluffy just turned to fluffy dress in my head soon after that.

I can imagine Baz helping Mordelia find the right gown for her Leavers Ball, someday. Before they can try the dresses she actually likes they first have to try out the one Daphne picked out.

I imagine it goes something like this:

Baz: You look beautiful, Delia. *apologetically*

Mordelia: I look like a sherbert dessert or something.

Baz: Also true.

Mordelia: It's so... fluffy. How am I supposed to move in this?

Baz: Elegantly?

Mordelia: *gives him an unimpressed look*

Baz: .... I'll tell Daphne it didn't fit. Shall we continue shopping?

(Dialogue not set in stone; feel free to improve on it.)

[sailorblossoms]

When breaking up, it always stood out to me that Agatha tells Simon something like “Why wouldn’t you want to break up? just because you don’t want to be without a date in this one social event [where you need to be with a girl to be successful]? we don’t need to be in a relationship for that shit, we can go as friends.” It’s an early sign that Agatha sees the signs of Simon not ever truly being into her, even if she’s still not recognizing them as such (which she does by WS).

But more than that, what I want to highlight now is that when Simon was trying to fulfill expectations, this particular event is highlighted as “it’s important to be there with a girl in your arms, otherwise you don’t fit in, you’re a loser, etc.” But towards the end of CO, Simon goes to a school dance again (or whatever it was, I think it's "the leaver's ball" but I don’t remember, let’s call it “social event”)… but he’s going with Baz. It goes in line with what he says at the end of the book, when he notes how expectations have been challenged, “I’m here at the end, but it’s not an end, and with a boy in my arms instead of a girl,” or something like that. But more notable, this is after Baz offers to wait “before being out”… even if Simon knows being with Baz means going against expectations, being judged, potentially not being accepted… he still wants to be there with Baz. This conveys something Simon will go on to explicitly voice in awtwb, when he says something like “I have lost everything but I still have Baz, so I feel like I got the better end of the deal.” He doesn’t care about “fitting in" here (he didn’t know he wanted Baz then, when he cared), because he considers Baz more important (when he knows he wants him, he always chooses him, and feels Baz is the best thing he could ever have).

[ineffable-grimm-pitch]

imagine u are a watford student in simon and baz’s year. you’re just trying to learn magic and shit. you’re vaguely aware of the rivalry bc these bitches make it everyone’s business. you don’t know the details. you just know they fucking hate each other and are super annoying about it. you can’t go two weeks without hearing about some new drama. this continues for seven years. it’s year eight. baz doesn’t show up. you’re relived. finally. you can focus on something other than the chosen one and his shitty roommate. then baz does show up. god fucking damnit. at least they’re not fighting as much. you go on christmas break. you’re finally able to focus on having a good time with your family instead of chosen one drama. simon doesn’t show back up after christmas. peace at last. baz finishes top of the class. no one is surprised. leavers ball. last hurrah before adult life. simon and baz show up together. they are boyfriends now. there is no escape. the future is meaningless but the snowbaz is now.

[clare-with-no-i]

Hello I totally agree with your explanation of “Deddies” and I love it so much. Can I SOLICIT a director’s cut for back to the old house? (If you feel like it!)

kelsey omg! pls you know I am always one to chitchat about my fics (I am narcissistic). thank you for asking! the entire time I was writing I kept thinking CHANNEL KELSEY CHANNEL KELSEY CHANNEL KELSEY so I hope this connects with you! I knew from the get-go that I wanted to write you something Order-era, because I know you enjoy those stories :) I also knew it was going to be a little angsty, a little contentious between James and Lily. there had to be some distance between them to create conflict. and you said you liked canon divergent! so!

The new recruits don’t know that the potions closet has a spring-loaded trap fashioned onto the doorknob.

the first sentence is actually one of the most important of the whole fic. I wanted to try and set up a few things right off the bat: first, that there's a new group of people entering the scene who are important to the story. second, that the narrator (shortly, you'll find out, it's James) is in a position of authority over them, and is intimately familiar with the setting. third, there's going to be some interaction between wizarding concepts (the potions closet) and muggle technology (spring-loaded trap on the doorknob).

essentially, this one sentence captures the essence of the entire plot: a new recruit (lily) not knowing that muggle tech is going to be key to an Order operation which James is running. I rewrote this sentence a few times, and once I landed on it, I ended up writing a lot of the story around it.

When he was little, before he mastered any sort of magic, he used to bandage the broken wings of birds he’d find in the back garden, gauze nicked from the muggle-junk cabinets his mum kept, fumbling fingers dumping alcohol wherever he saw blood. One of the housekeepers told him that he might just be prolonging their suffering instead of helping them like he thought. He was too young to understand what she meant, or maybe too headstrong to care about anything past what he thought was right. He would always release them, but now that he thinks about it: did any of them ever fly?

another passage I found really important. James has a bloated sense of responsibility in this story, which is something I usually write him with across all of my stories, especially in canon. we see him agonizing over whether he's coddling these new recruits too much, almost to the point of being neurotic about it. he's an unreliable narrator, as we'll learn: he wants to blame himself for things, or try and fix things over which he has no purview. here, he's getting upset with himself for trying to help animals as a child. like, hello? lmao

The eyes he meets when he looks in front of him are Lily Evans Green — she has a patented shade, or at least, he’s always thought of them that way, somewhere between hunter and sea — and narrow. The last time he saw her was at Leaver’s Ball. She’d been a wisp, a moment, an apparition between bodies in ornate robes and gowns. He doesn’t jolt, but he knows from a sudden crick in his neck that he doesn’t stay still, either.

the "he doesn't jolt" sentence is another favorite primarily because we're pretty sure he did actually jolt. you don't just end up with a crick in your neck from barely moving. but it's so fun to see him downplay his reaction to seeing Lily (at least it was for me), and that was part of the reason why I tried to indicate across the story that she sort of knew that he had feelings for her, at least at some point in their lives. he's way more transparent than he admits.

She mumbles a quiet thank you in cadence with the rest of the lot, as though they’re really strangers, as though he’s just a tour guide and she’s not at all surprised to see him, as though she doesn’t care at all that he’s in front of her, except the tips of her shoes point at him for a few delayed seconds, long after the others have walked away. One of her socked ankles fidgets.

I pulled from one of my favorite new girl episodes for this haha. the 'a man's feet point toward what he wants' thing with nick and jess is so cartoonishly stupid but just the right amount of delusional that it felt really authentic to have him fixate on it. especially now that she's given him this bodily reaction of fucking his head, where before he was speaking above his audience. it also gives us a little distance from lily, again: we don't know if she's looking at him or not, or what her expression might be.

A glass bottle full of brown hydrangeas wobbles. The label’s been ripped off, but it was Firewhisky before it housed dead things, and its wide, stained edges keep it from tipping over.

another important sentence here is the firewhisky bottle line, which I've talked about a bit before. the central motif of the story is vessels: houses, primarily, as this all takes place in this house-turned-headquarters, but also bottles — for potions, for alcohol — and to me, in this moment, the firewhisky bottle was just a gigantic metaphor for the entire Order of the Phoenix. all of the Order members had identities before they became soldiers cloistered in this house, and it's those little indicia of their past selves ("wide, stained edges" from holding firewhisky) that keep them from collapsing entirely. James's resilience and humanity; Sirius's humor and fighting spirit; Lily's cleverness and kindness. I promise I actually thought about that as I wrote it and am not just now doing a close reading hahaha

“Hang on.” Inexplicably, James holds his hand up to stop him. The scrolls crinkle as Jeremy clutches them back against his chest as though looking for a threat James has identified. Instead, James elaborates, haltingly, “You’re—uh. You’re going to take up the whole dining table with that.”

it was important to me that this moment was ambiguous in meaning: whether James was trying to keep the plans a secret or whether this was just him reverting to a schoolboy crush by forcing Jeremy to keep the maps in his hands so that Lily has a place to sit with her tea. could be either or both :)

He gets up, suddenly and almost entirely against his will, thinking of the way her lips flattened and unfurled as she whispered, magnets, magnets.

he just wants to be around her! this is the thoughtless beauty of liking someone — you just want to be around them all the time, right? you want to stick to them like, pardon the obvious reference, a magnet.

“You can’t tell me that we weren’t…I thought we were starting to get close in sixth year, is all.” To say that he has a physical reaction to this wouldn’t be inaccurate, but just as well, he’s the longest-serving member of the Order currently living in this house, and he has spent years learning the art of avoiding disarmament.

this is a turning point for a number of reasons: we finally get an insight into how Lily feels, and we James refuse to process it and instead just make immediate reference to his work in the Order, something about which he is confident and assured. I had to find a good enough reason for them not to be together or even really be on speaking terms, and the only catalyst I could think of was to have this big, destabilizing event (James's parents' deaths) really personalize the war for him earlier than it might have done in canon. of course, we know that he would have joined either way just because it was the right thing to do — and so does Lily — but I tried to give the impression that he's not sure, and it's a point of insecurity for him. it was also important that I get across the "oh my god he was just a kid!!!" perspective here from Lily as a proxy for the reader. because now that I've altered the timeline of canon, we presumably won't have that happening with Harry; it's all been transferred to James.

There is an acute sensation which James has experienced only in this room, in the last six months, of realizing that being beholden to a movement and a person are two very different things.

the moment with Dumbledore in his office is where we get a little bit more information about what's going on, albeit in these distorted/fractured formats. Remus is doing work that requires him to be away from his friends; it's at Dumbledore's behest; the mission that we later learn involves Sirius, Marlene, Fabian, and Gideon living undercover in Malfoy Manor has been going on for roughly six months.

“I just think I’m better suited in the field,” one person says. “I can’t be stuck here mixing herbs all day.” “I know. You’d think they’d ask us instead of us having to ask them. I mean, were we recruited to pass out flyers?” “Or fold the clothes they left in the closets.” “Bloody hell.”

another little easter egg here, which connects to something in the first scene! we know that there are four empty rooms in the house. we now know that there are clothes left in the closets in them. we don't know where Sirius is, or why James has this undercurrent of panic beneath his internal narration, but at this point hopefully the pieces started to come together.

When he leaves the lab, he shakes out his overwarm hands, watching the crescent imprint of a fingernail disappear from his palm.

this was my 2005 pride and prejudice hand-flexing-scene moment, in all candor

“You don’t want to be healing me,” he posits, slurring his words a little. “I don’t want you to be hurt,” she replies in her top pupil voice.

I felt pretty comfortable giving Lily the more blunt-force romantic lines here because of the setting and because of how completely frazzled I make James in her presence. we see her have her moment of reckoning earlier, when she's out smoking, basically putting it all together that he didn't just stop liking her in sixth year — he had this massive traumatic event that he didn't even think he could tell anyone, and he had Dumbledore pulling strings in the background to get him to fight for the Order. so, coupled with how blatantly clumsy he acts around her (despite him thinking otherwise) and how often he seeks her out, it would be pretty easy to surmise that he still has residual feelings for her. but, again, we're not getting the full story from him, and she doesn't know what's going on with the mission, so I hoped to create this sense that she couldn't really discuss their relationship until all of his cards were on the table.

Her eyes stay closed for a good few seconds. He can’t tell if he’s fantasizing or reading her expression correctly when he thinks that she’s sitting in the moment, luxuriating in it. He feels at once completely in himself: in this twenty-year-old version, learning what it’s like to have something and let it have you in return. The leaves of a nearby tree cut through the sunlight and splotch their bodies with shade. The wards are down, for just a little while.

after they finally kiss (!), it was important to me that we see him actually start to believe that they're as close as he wishes they would be. he's starting to trust in the face-value reality in front of him: that she's just sitting in this moment, entirely comfortable with where they are, and with him. hopefully the buildup here has been sufficient, but I thought it was a poetic sort of resolve here, that he's been able to fulfill this wish that he's had since he was sixteen, this age where he became stunted in his emotional growth because he was adopted into this grassroots war effort.

earlier in the story I refer to him as a "time-turner body," because he has this incredibly curious, contradictory relationship between certain parts of his identity. he's grown up faster than his peers in that he's become a senior member of the Order after fighting for four years. he became an orphan at sixteen but was taken under Dumbledore's wing. he has this unrealized teenage crush which he has been forced to confront after she becomes a soldier. he's been run ragged by worry and by fear as his friends take on these roles that he can't help with. so here, finally, he's at peace with his twenty-year-old self: his friends are all in one place, he's gotten to fulfill this one-who-got-away romance from his teenage years after getting to know her as an adult.

finally: the wards were my other big motif, essentially just giving visual representation for how trapped James feels by his environment. we know that someone had to "let Lupin in" from the previous scene, AKA take down the anti-apparition wards, and now they're down until the mission is over. finally, he sees into the outside world, a world not limited to this house and this war.

woohoo! thank you to any and all who read this absolute phd thesis. my god. kelsey as per usual you are too kind to ask me for these things and I appreciate you!! and another HUGE shoutout to Hafsa for organizing this wonderful wonderful event!

[mytheoristavenue]

OP Usopp x Sick!Reader - What would you say?

Summary: Usopp, wondering why he hadn't seen you all day, finds you very ill in the girls' quarters. After taking you to the sickbay to see Chopper, he refuses to leaver your side.

Warnings: A lot of fluff, a bit of angst, sick comfort.

You groaned, brows knit and chest heaving as you rolled over to face the door of the girls' bedroom. Pulling the covers over your shoulder and against your face, you couldn't help but huff. Why was it so goddamned hot in here? Loosening the tuck of your blanket, you were immediately stung by freezing air, opting to just suffer under the heat of your quilt, than the agonizing needles of the air. What the hell was going on?

Elsewhere, Usopp sat at the dining table eating breakfast with a few other crew members, who lounged as they usually did on a sunny Sunday morning. "Hey, Robin," he asked, breaking the tranquil quiet that seemed to blanket the entire ship. She looked up from the novel she was reading, glancing up at him, and using the break of focus as an excuse to take a sip of tea. "Have you seen (Y/N) today? She never sleeps this late." He wondered, noting that they hadn't docked in weeks, and that they weren't even close to land, so she couldn't have gone on an errand without him knowing.

"I'm not sure she feels well today." Robin answer with a kind smile. "She was still asleep when I got up, and when I offered to bring her anything she declined." Usopp thought on her answer for a moment before she continued. "I touched her forehead and she seemed warmer than usual, so I asked Sanji to brew her some tea that might help a fever come down."

"That's really sweet of you," the sniper remarked, silently worried over his friend's well being. As if on cue, the chef walked over to the table, setting down and small tray holding a cup of steaming tea, and a jammed biscuit on a saucer.

"Here it is now, thank you Sanji," the ravenette nodded to the blonde appreciatively.

"Hey, wait," Usopp interjected as Sanji began to exit the kitchen, tray in hand. "I'll take it to her. I was gonna go check on her anyways." The chef quirked a brow at his friend's sudden willingness to help, but ultimately passed the it over.

"Just make sure she drinks that tea, I hand picked all the herbs myself and I don't want my time going to waste." Sanji advised, turning back to what he was doing before the request. "And you better not drop that, either."

Usopp simply rolled his eyes at his uptightness, descending the hall toward the sleeping quarters. When he arrived at the door of the girls' room, the carefully held the tray in one hand and knocked with the other, wanting to make sure no one else was there. When he got no response, he cautiously twisted the knob and opened the door to reveal you in the first bunk he found, curled up in a pitiful little ball.

"(Y/N), you okay?" he asked inching towards you timidly. "I brought you something from Sanji." You failed to respond, simply panting from under your blanket. Setting the tray down on another bunk, he slowly made his way to your bedside, laying the back of his hand on your forehead. "Shit, you are hot." he remarked, a bit surprised that what Robin had said earlier was true.

"'M fine...go away." you finally mumbled, rolling away from him to face the wall. Usopp sat beside you on the bed, his hand once again against your head, to gauge just how bad your fever was.

"Maybe you should go see Chopper." he suggested, brows knit with concern. "You seem pretty sick." You growled in annoyance, forcing yourself to sit up, and eventually dragging yourself out of bed, standing on the terribly cold floor. He watched you as you walked over to your dresser, picking out your clothes for the day with a worried expression. "I think you should lay back down,"

"I've got too much to do today to just lay in bed all day. I told you I'm...I'm fi...ne..." With that, you instantly hit the floor, fainting in the middle of the room. Usopp bolted up to catch you, but was unfortunately not able to get to you in time.

"(Y/N)! Are you okay? Please wake up!" he panicked, shaking you gently as he cradled you in his lap. When you came to seconds later, you looking up at him, confused and delirious.

"Usopp...what are you doing in here, this is the girls' room..." His face paled as he struggled to find an answer, befuddled that you'd forgotten that he was even there.

"I've gotta get you to Chopper, he'll know what to do." he concluded, trying his best to calm himself down, before scooping you up into his arms and carrying you out of them room. On the way to the sick bay, he noticed you fading in and out of consciousness, your head occasionally slumping to fall limp off the side of his forearm. Once he reached the doctor's office, he immediately burst into the room.

"There's something wrong with (Y/N)!" he shouted to the small doctor, who instructed him to lay you down in one of the beds that lined the west wall.

-----

Some time later, your eyes fluttered open to see that your surroundings were different from how you'd left them. Almost instantly, you were hit with an absolutely splitting headache, surely a side effect of the pressure in your sinuses, and the time unconscious certainly couldn't have helped.

"Oh, (Y/N), I'm so glad you're awake." a shrill voice voice called, accompanied by cloven footsteps making their way over. "You really had me worried." You rolled over to find the Straw Hats' doctor strolling to your bedside, a clipboard in hand.

"Chopper...?" you verbally noted, deducing that if he was here, you must be in the infirmary. "How'd I get here?" you asked, sitting up a bit and looking around.

"Please don't try to get up," he advised, gently pushing you back down. "Usopp said you fainted in your room, and he carried you here." You blushed a bit at the thought, more embarrassed than anything else. You probably looked like such a mess. "Don't worry, though, you haven't been out very long."

"How long exactly?" you wondered, tilting your head a bit, only to correct it, finding that the action made your migraine worsen.

"Almost four hours."

"Four hours?!" you panicked, jumping out of bed, looking all around for your shoes, only to remember you probably hadn't worn any to begin with.

"Please calm down!" Chopper stressed, running to the door to try and block you from it, and pressing his hooves to your shins, in an effort to force you back into bed with his little brute strength. "You're still sick, you shouldn't be out of bed!" Just as you reached the door, you were able to step over him and the corners of your vision began to darken. The last thing you felt was the doctor tugging backward on your left leg, before both buckled under your weight.

Luckily for you, Usopp opened the door just in time for you to slump forward into his arms. He thanked his lucky stars he was able to catch you this time, now maybe he wouldn't feel so bad for the last. Your eyes had hardly even shut before they fluttered open again, gazing up hazily at the sniper for the second time today. "Usoppppp," Chopper whined. "Tell her to stay in bed, she won't listen to me!"

The man's eyes softened exponentially when they shifted back to your sleepy face and he sighed with a kind smile. "You really should rest," he said lightly, helping you back over to your bed and getting you laid down. The small reindeer huffed with crossed arms as he followed the two of you, taking his chart into his hooves again.

"You might as well get comfortable," he pouted, still upset at your lack of care for his professional opinion. "I'm gonna have to keep you overnight, possibly longer."

This perked your interest and you snapped your head to him as he began to read off your chart. "Wait, all night? Why, it's just a little fever, right?" your fretted. "Right?"

"I'm afraid it's not that simple." he sighed, flipping through the pages on his clip board. "(Y/N), have you ever eaten a Devil Fruit before?"

Your eyes widened at the question. Of course you hadn't, you were just a normal person! You didn't have any powers! "No, I think I'd know if I had, Chopper." you rolled your eyes. "What could possibly make you think that?"

"I didn't understand it at first, but your symptoms all align with sea water poisoning, but that could only be the case if you were a Devil Fruit user." He explained, offering for you to look at some of his notes. "Is it possible that you have been in contact with and sea water lately?"

"No, but it wouldn't matter if I had," you answered flatly. "I'm not a Devil Fruit user." Chopper sighed with frustration, rubbing his head and walking away to sit down and review his notes.

"I'm sorry, maybe I made a mistake, I haven't been feeling very good either." he confessed with little energy.

Usopp sat and thought for a moment, looking around for a clue as to what could help solve the mystery. He eventually took to looking you up and down. Maybe you'd been bitten by something and they'd just glossed over it? That's when he noticed how swollen your feet looked. He curiously stood up and studied your soles, which didn't go unnoticed. "Hey, what are you looking at my feet for, you creep?!" you shrieked, pulling your legs up to hug them and hiding your feet.

He simply tilted his head in confusion. "What are those on the bottom of your feet?" He asked causing you to blush with embarrassment. This caught Chopper's attention, who wandered over to see what the fuss was about.

"What's wrong with my feet, huh?" you defended, still hiding them and refusing when the doctor asked to see. After a bit more prodding, you hesitantly, and humiliatingly let the two study your soles for any potential clues.

"They're almost like the pads on cats' paws," Usopp remarked, poking one, causing you to squirm.

"You've had these all your life?" Chopper asked, finally ending his observation and walking to your bedside.

"I wasn't born with them, no, but I've had them since I was little," you answered, still pouting over the whole ordeal. "They just kind of showed up one day. You mean you guys don't have them?"

That's when the pieces fell together for the reindeer. "That's why your steps don't make noise when you walk!" he exclaimed, finally solving the puzzle. "You must have eaten the Shh Shh fruit as a child! It grants the power of stealth, but you've never needed to use it, so you never knew you had it!"

"But I don't ever remember eating a special fruit?" you asked, puzzled by this new revelation.

"Some fruits can look really mundane, or even disguise themselves!" he explain, retrieving a large book and setting it onto your lap, open to a very specific page. "And look! It says here that it was last seen on the island you grew up on!"

You were having a hard time wrapping your head around what he was telling you. You had powers and you never even knew? That seems a little far fetched. "That still doesn't explain why I feel so bad." You reminded him. Chopper thought for a moment before his eyes widened and locked onto the necklace you were wearing.

"When did you find that stone?" he asked, pointing to the pendent.

"Last time we docked, why?" you cocked a brow, holding it close to your chest, afraid he might confiscate it.

"But when did you start wearing it around your neck?" he pressed.

"I just put it on the chord last night, and then I wore it to bed. Again, why?" You were beginning to get irritated with his interrogation. "Chopper, just tell me what's going on."

"That's a seastone." he said so matter of factly. "It has to be. It has the same effect as sea water on Devil Fruit users. That explains why I've been feeling so tired since you came in. You have to take it off."

You hesitated, having grown attached to rock, unwilling to just throw it away, it was special to you. With a bit more persuasion, you reluctantly took it off, dropping it into Usopp's waiting hand, who then pocketed it to keep it from falling into unexpecting possession.

Instant you felt a weight lift off your shoulders. The entire room felt lighter, and your throat ached a bit less. "Now that that's out of the way, we can get you better!" The doctor chirped, already feeling much better himself.

-----

Nearly an hour had passed since your diagnosis with seastone poisoning, and you were still in bed, only this time with a tray of delicious food, curtesy of Sanji, who'd forgiven you for wasting his time by not drinking his tea. Usopp had also left for a bit to take the rock to his workshop, thinking that the shavings from of it might make for a useful bullet for his Kabuto. Chopper had taken this time to fashion a regiment of treatment for your sickness, which consisted of rest, fluids, hearty foods, and a special cocktail of medicines which he made himself. He also recommended you still stay with him until you were better so he could monitor you.

Now that you were fed and hydrated, and had had the first dose of your medicine, all that was left was to rest. A part of you was nervous about spending the night alone in the sick bay. You had gotten so used to sleeping with others in the room through bunking with the girls that you had forgotten what true silence sounded like.

Chopper had long since retired to his sleeping area, a small closet conjoined to the infirmary, and you laid wide awake, staring at the wooden ceiling, wondering when you'd finally fall asleep. A small creak startled you and you shot up to find the door slowly creeping ajar, before you began to make out a long nosed figure peaking in. "You can come in, Usopp."

He accepted your offer, quietly shutting the door behind him, as if he could disturb any other other patients. Tip-toeing, he made his way over to you and sat down at the foot of your bed. "How do you feel?" he asked softly glancing over to you.

"Better." you answered blandly. A beat of silence passed between the two of you before you spoke up again. "I just wanted to say...thank you for bringing me here. You probably saved my life."

Blood rushed to his face as he smiled, a part of him wanting to boisterously accept your thanks, shrugging it off as what any hero would do, but for whatever reason, it didn't feel right in this case. "You're welcome, I was pretty worried about you, ya know?" You nodded in response. This felt so awkward, Usopp could hardly stand it. "Well, it's getting late and you're probably tired so-"

"I can't sleep." You corrected him, looking more passed him than at him. You were incredibly tired, but your anxieties wouldn't allow you and rest.

"Oh," he stiffened at your sudden melancholy, before softening with pity. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I just don't want to be alone." you muttered somberly, pulling your blanket higher over your legs.

"Well," he cleared his throat, looking to the ceiling with a slight blush. "M-Maybe I can sleep with you tonight?" His eyes widened when he realized his poor choice of words and he immediately back tracked. "N-Not like with you, with you, of course! Like in the next bed, I mean. Or in the farthest one if that's what you want, or not at all or-"

"Would you please?" The tenderness and desperation in your voice was almost enough to startle him. "Please, I just won't want to be alone."

His gaze softened as he cast it over you. "S-sure." He confirmed, standing to set himself up in the adjacent bed. As he sat down, untying his hair and kicking out of his shoes, you took a second to take him in. You rarely got to see him in anything casual, let alone pajamas. His hair was wild and free, yet well maintained, forming a spherical mass of coils that spilled from a shallow widow's peak. He lacked any of his common accessories, only dressed in a baggy tan t-shirt and sweatpants. He looked so comfortable as he massaged his fingers into his scalp, releasing some of the residual tension from his ponytail.

Without noticing your admiration, he easily slid beneath the quilt on his bed, snuggling down onto his side, facing you with a kind smile. "Goodnight, (Y/N)." he cooed, letting his eyes fall heavy.

"Usopp?" you whispered guiltily. He had just tried to go to sleep and you were already waking him. He popped one eye open with a snicker, only to have his expression fall into frozen shock when he found you, scooted as far away as you could, holding your blanket up, inviting him into your bed.

"Y-You want me to..." he stammered, failing to find appropriate words for the situation. He didn't want to admit to having the wrong idea.

"Can you could sleep with me?" you asked timidly, unknowingly batting your lashes. "It's just that...my bunk is a little smaller than this so the bed feels so big."

"I could take up some space. I-If that'll help you, I mean." he answered, already sitting up. Before long, he was in your bed, laying on his back, stiff as a board. You wanted so badly to lay your head against his chest. Maybe this was a bad idea after all. "Are you sure this is okay? 't's a little cramped." he admitted with a nervous laugh. Your cheeks burned from embarrassment with the possibility that you were making him uncoverable.

"I'm sorry, I just want to be close to you." you confessed, the urge to cry welling up in your chest, though you suppressed it.

"Really...?" he asked, in awe that someone like you wanted to be near someone like him so badly. You nodded bashfully, before rolling over, already too humiliated to deal with his need for validation. A moment later, you gasped, feeling his strong arms encase you in a loving cage, pressing your back to his chest. "Is this okay?"

You nodded again, feeling your heart swell in your chest. "That feels really nice, actually." you sighed, shimmying your shoulders to be even closer to him. "If I told you I liked you right now, would you leave?"

"No," he confirmed, nuzzling his forehead against the back of your scalp. "If I told you that I think you're the most dazzling woman I've ever met, would you still want me here?"

"I would," you answered, bringing your hands to cover your face, as it was glowing far too bright for your own good. "If you said that, would you mean it?"

"Every word. I wish I could tell you that you're the most inspirational person in my life, that just looking at you're pretty smile makes me want to be the best man I can be." he confessed, his finger tips gently tracing up your arm to find your hand and interlacing with yours. "But I'm worried you'll think I'm a creep."

"I wouldn't think that." you mumbled, pecking a kiss onto the back of his hand. "Would you think I was a creep if I told you that I've wanted to kiss you since the day we met?"

"No," Usopp grinned form behind you, gently breaking away from you to pull you back to face him. "Would you think I was a creep if I told you I wanted to kiss you right now?" You breathlessly shook your head, looking into his eyes as both his hands came up to cup your cheeks, sweetly connecting his lips to yours. Though the contact was short lived, the meaning behind it spoke volumes. He held you like this for a moment, his thumbs just caressing your cheeks lovingly.

"If I told you I loved you, what would you say?" you finally asked, entirely entranced in him.

"I'd tell you it's about time."

[carryonprompts]

Watford school reunion. Preferably close to canon, but either nobody remembers Simon and Baz kissed at the leavers ball or they didn't and that's all that's really changed. Maybe people think they're just friends now cause they worked together during Smith Smith-Richards, so everyone (except Penny, Agatha, niamh, dev and nial) are gobsmacked to see them happy and together. I want old classmates and teachers reactions to them after spending years at Watford dealing with Simon and Baz at each other's throats. Maybe Simon and Baz know that people are unaware of their relationship cause they keep to themselves, so they arrive separately and make a scene like their gonna fight like they used to only to makeout or something.

New Carry On prompt!

[mynameistocool]

•AT YOUR AID•

Part 5

•••

A sudden darkness settled over the camp, the true nature of winter coming round.

The mud rested hard no more harsh sludge through the grass was glazed with a thick white coat of frost and the trees were dressed with small flakes of snow.

The whole camp yet covered in a white layer was still so dark.

You quickly scurried past the square, rushing to get more water. Although the of patients seemed to calm down, there was still so much to clean and so many who were thirsty.

You walked across the square hearing a shouts and laughter a few men clicking round a ball in the distance, you grinned at the child like moment before returning to fill up the bucket.

You pulled hard the leaver the water coming out in spall burst while spraying the bottom of your dress, you paused for a moment holding your hands on your hip catching a breath.

You l went to go back to pulling, but another pair of hands grabbed the pump handle and began to pull down, the sudden appearance made you turn your head, and you saw the familiar thick browed face of Tjaden.

“You can’t even pump water.” He smiled, shaking his head.

“Good morning to you too, Tjaden.” You sarcastically bid him hello.

“Good morning Y/N” he continued to pull down on the leaver, staring down at the nearly full bucket before deciding to stop.

“Thank you.” You smiled before beginning to pick up the two full buckets, nearly tripling at weight of them.

“Here.” Tjaden grabbed one from your hand, going to go for the other, but being stopped by your body turning away.

“I can at least carry one.” you defended yourself, making the man chuckle.

The pair of you walked to the medical hall, a comfortable silence between the two of you. Before finally reaching the hall, you bid Tjaden a thank-yous and goodbye, watching the man walk away in a huff.

“Who is that ?” you jumped at the sudden voice behind you.

“Bessie.” You held your hand on your chest as the sudden scare.

“So ?” She quizzed you, her brows rising as wrote down on a piece of paper.

“Just a soldier who helped me carry a bucket.” You mutter, picking up the buckets, struggling to stay balanced.

“Hmmm what about the other solider ?.” Bessie walked beside you.

“What over solider ?” You raised your brows, looking at the red head beside you.

“The tallish one you’re always with.” She huffed, placing her pen and paper to her side.

“I’m not always with him.” You shook your head, readjusting your grip on the bucket handles.

“You are, and I know you are, I saw him waiting for you the other day.” She informed, making you quietly laugh.

“And Elizabeth said that she saw the two of you alone at night when she was finishing her shift.” Bessie explained making you stop.

“And why are you all of a sudden listening to Elizabeth.” You replied, staring at the red head.

“I’m not, but a lot of the other nurses are. I…. I’d just be careful if I was you. They assume the worst and gossip, well, gossip spreads fast.” She shrugged. 

“And if you will indulge in pleasure with this man, I’d suggest you stop before something happens” she quickly stated before walking away, leaving you stood alone.

“Unbelievable” you muttered to yourself, pacing through the hall.

Your shift was long and gruelling, as usual, the tiresome ache of your limbs never seemed to leave no matter how hard you tried to rest.

You were ready to leave, but before you could, a stern voice requested that you go get more water to fill up the buckets, so the night nurse didn’t have to you were reluctant to agree, but as you stared around the room at the laying soldiers you grabbed the empty buckets and began your travels to the water pump once more.

You walked outside, the cold air nipping at your cover skin, you had your head down as you thought to yourself about anything but where you were.

The days here only got longer and worse, only more people died from other or their own hands. The bright smile you once wore on your face the first day you arrived her had now turned into a constant frown. The hard ground below you did nothing to ease the aching pain in your feet and the frozen water pump would do nothing but make your job harder, you thought as you began to try to pull the pump down.

After so many times, you had filled the two buckets, not easy work but better than holding down a man and trying to drown out his screams.

You picked the two buckets up, your body wobbling once more due to the weight you continued with your head down, your eyes trailing the frosted mud and all the patterns it held your mind to occupied you fail to notice the incoming body.

“Watch where you fu-“ you stopped your curse mid-way through, looking up to meet the person's eyes.

His eyes squinted at you as he titled his head, ignoring the massive spill of water on both your clothes.

“Kat.” You sheepishly smiled before placing down your bucket, trying to remove the already sticking fabric from your body.

“I’m sorry.” You looked over at him, seeing the sudden wetness of his uniform.

He just shook his head before grabbing the half empty bucket, walking back over to the pump.

You turned round and watched the man as he pulled down on the leaver, so effortlessly his hands held on the rough roof of his hands gripped the metal and his arms were curled allowing you to see the outline of his bicep as your mind drifted to what it would feel like to be held in them maybe even held down by the-.

You shook your head as the man turned his head to look at you. Your cheeks deepened in a red colour and your body stood awkwardly looking away from his form. His eyes travelled down, scanning over the wetness of your uniform made the outline of your thighs visible as the fabric clung to your hips, he looked back up to your face, your eyes on his.

He cleared his throat, pushing the pump once more before looking down and realising the bucket had over flown the past few pumps ago

He grabbed the bucket from the floor, walking over to you before picking up the over which rested below your feet and walking away towards the hall.

You stood for a moment watching his tall muscular figure walk past you, your eyes always watching his back. You continued to watch as he walked away, realising you were now just standing alone.

You quickly joked and caught up to the man before he reached the hall.

“Thank you, I’ll take them in.” You stopped him, grabbing a bucket from his hands.

“I may swell, carry them further.” He stood over you as your hand rested on his chest.

“No, really, Kat, I’ll take them in.” You looked up at him, hoping he’d give up and just let you do it yourself.

He questioned your words but was too late to respond as you gently took the bucket from his hands and walked away, leaving him standing in the hall with only one bucket.

He heard your sweet voice call out some nurse before you quickly ran back round for the other bucket. Your hands caressed his as you took the other one from him, smiling lightly before leaving again, only to return a few moments later.

“Thank you again.” You bowed your head slightly.

“It’s fine.” His brows were slightly furrowed as he stared down at you, his eyes drifted down to your lips before he began to walk away.

“Kat” you once again caught up to the man, his head turned to the side looking at you waiting for your next words.

“I have towels in my barrack.” You simply stated, hoping he’d understand.

“Do you ?” He light smiled, your words sounding like some pickup line from before the war.

“Yes.” You simply nodded back, making the both of you quickly walk to the small hut.

He once again stood outside, the dark and emptiness of your room compared to his full and noisy barrack was refreshing.

“Quick.” You motioned the man in, wanting no one to see you. He followed your orders, shaking his head lightly as he stepped through the door.

“Sorry again.” You quickly walked over to your lamp, lighting it, which allowed you to finally see. You walked back and forth finding the towels, trying to remember where you’d left them. 

Kat watched as your body paced, his eyes always drifting to your thighs and hips and them back to your face.

“One moment.” You muttered, kneeling down to search through the boxes of stuff. Kat's eyes wandered back over to you, the new position you were in made him cover his mouth.

Kat stared at your body, the curve your back made as you pushed your self forward, your arse resting in your legs as your hair now slowly becoming undone from your frantic movements. You turned to him holding up the towels, and he swore you caught him, but the forgiving smile on your face made him think different.

You turned to face the man who stood a few meters behind you. His hat now rested on his belt underneath his large hands and his stance so demanding. You looked up from your position and his eyes stared down at you for a moment went before you quickly stood up, handing the towel over to him.

He slowly grabbed it from your hands, patting himself down, knowing the towel would do next nowt, but he could help smirk at your kindness.

“What ?” You questioned the man’s sudden smile.

“Nothing.” He smile grew slightly as he continued his poor attempt of drying himself.

“What is it ?” You kept pushing for an answer.

“Nothing.” He smiled more, “it’s just this-this situation sounds a lot like a type you would, and I’m not saying this is what you're doing, but a type of situation you would use to pick someone up.” He grinned, looking up at you, his words making your eyes roll and your lips smile.

“Does it ?” You looked at the man.

“Yeah.” He stopped patting himself down, a light smile on his face.

“The nurses already think that we’re well-you know.” You spoke without thinking.

“What ?” Kat asked, playing dumb, wanting to hear the words come out your mouth.

“You know.” You repeated staring up at the man.

“Oh.” His brows furrowed at your words, a moment of silence passed between the two as you continued to dry yourself down, which you now realised was doing nothing, but Kat's eyes stayed on you. Watching you

“You wouldn’t just walk into a stranger's barrack, you know.” You spoke up, trying to break the silence.

“Why ?” He nodded his head, waiting for your response.

“Because they could be anyone.” You muttered, your eyes focusing on patting down your body. 

“You shouldn’t invite strangers into your barracks.” He dropped the towel which he held in his hands, the noise of it making you look up at him.

“I don’t.” You noticed his body walking close to yours.

“So I’m the only one ?” He questioned still walking, making you step back until your body hit the wall.

“Yes.” You breathed out, your eyes wide at the man who stood looming over you. His eyes trailed down your face as your lips slightly parted as though you’re waiting for him.

“Kat.” You spoke, your voice like a whisper.

He ducked his head, his lips meeting yours the warmth of his large body pressed against you, leaving you stuck between the wooden wall and him as his lips started at your mouth, slowly making their way down your neck before undoing your buttons slowly and painfully finding his way to your collarbone.

You moaned at the sudden sensation of the man of his hands grouping your waist your pants of hot breath edged him further, and they eventually found your hips, his hands needing at your skin.

You threaded your fingers through his hair, gently pulling at his hair as he kept kissing your body. You stared down at the man who continued to undo your top buttons, his mouth getting closer and closer to your breasts.

“I’m not- I’ve never.” You breathed he sweet kisses stopped, and he finally looked up at you, his hands stopping and moving away as though he was disgusted at that moment, making you want to cover yourself up entirely.

“Sorry.” You breathed out, staring at the ground, but shortly after your face was lifted by Kats fingers tilting your head up to face his your lips were parted as his thumb slowly stroked your jaw.

His lips sweetly touched yours, his kiss a lot softer this time, as though he wanted to preserve it.

“It’s okay.” He continued to kiss your head with light, peppery kisses.

“Kat…” You held your hands on his chest and before long, he pulled his face away from yours, staring at your sadden expression.

Did he not want you ? Were you not up to his standards? Plenty of thoughts rushed through your head as the man in-front studied your face, your head began to turn to the side, feeling too nervous to stay under his gaze. His hand redirected your face to his again.

His thumb moved from your jaw to your bottom lip, his thumb dragging down on it as though it was his to play with.

“I’ll see you soon.” He spoke, his voice deep and his stare still on your lips before making his eyes find yours, waiting for a response.

The only one you found was a slow nod.

He quickly placed his hat on, leaving you stood against your wall as he left your barrack without a word more. His wide, muscular back and shoulders were the last thing you saw.

•••

*Authors note*

I may rewrite this chapter soon as I feel like it’s a little rushed hope you all enjoy it so far 🧎‍♀️.

@iriashouse @goslingdriver @hauntedbogwitch @flowers-and-fichte @octoberwhore @catdogbirdfishhamster @commanderc0dy @fallenberry @flagrantflower @shmaddie18 @riflerhymeswithtrifle @littlemarylil @greenteasoup @sydmarchsstuff @notklownify @sleepyboysink

[erotic-grope-fest]

Do you happen to have the OG erotic-grope-fest line available anywhere? I'm trying to explain to my friend how this came to be lol she thinks it's just something horny fans made up recently, and I want to prove to her that this isn't anything new lol

Hey there Anon! I sure do have the line. What would this fest be without it? (Not even a twinkle in Baz’s eye.)

From the leavers ball at the end of Carry On:

I’ve become very familiar with his hands. Dating Simon Snow hasn’t been the erotic gropefest I’d always imagined—so far, it’s a lot of sitting in silence and thousand-yard stares—but we do hold hands almost all the time. Snow’s like a child who’s afraid of getting lost in the market.

Please tell your friend that this fest owes its life simply to my inability to resist a good pun. 🤣

[valeffelees]

i didn't think i was going to make a post today, i've been under the weather for a while now 🌧️ and haven't really been making any substantial progress on anything as a result. i've been drawing, mostly. and no shit, i don't think i've spent this much time on my tablet since i was... fuck, sixteen? wild times.

but i dunno, i guess i just missed hanging out and wanted to share a bit of a WIP i talked about very briefly once before in a SSS (🐍) post, an alterous Dev/Niall (and pre-slash Simon/Baz) fanfic with the working title Niall vs the Amatonormative Agenda. i really like this fanfic. it started out as a runaway document where i could shove words when they didn't have anywhere else to go, and slowly turned into a canon compliant coming of age character study that follows Niall's POV exclusively from the Crucible ceremony to the Leavers ball. it's focused entirely on his life, his complicated relationship with Dev, and his friendship with Baz. i dunno if i'll ever post it in its entirety, but it is very near and dear to my heart these days.

[...] with thick, black hair combed around a sharp widow’s peak and droopy, down-turned eyes like a coonhound. He’s panting hard, his whole body heaving as he slumps down into the grass and tries to catch his breath, pressing his shoulders back against one of the beams supporting the underside of the stands. An ivory wand with a leather handle still too-big for his growing hands is clutched in his left fist. “Um,” Niall says. “Shut up!” The boy bares his teeth at him, scowling viciously. “Shut up or I’ll make you shut up, I’ll spell your tongue off!” “Baz!” Niall twists around and peeks through the gaps beneath the benches. Simon Snow is storming across the football pitch, flushed crimson and ripping at the fluffy inch of hair that peeks out below the brim of his boater, sparking along his forearms like a loose wire and steaming with so much magic that Niall starts all but going cross-eyed from it, he can feel it in his throat, acrid and sticky. He cups his palm over his mouth. “Baz!” Simon Snow shouts again, whipping around, his eyes cutting across the Wavering Wood’s gloomy treeline. Ceridwen, he looks like he’s gone mental. (And kind of like he’s about to cry.) “Give it back!” He spins, searching. He doesn’t find them. A noise like the growl of a small, rabid animal pinches from his narrow chest, and then he’s off. Sprinting in the direction of the drawbridge. Niall turns back around. “Baz Pitch?” “Grimm-Pitch,” Baz replies tersely. “You’re Dev’s cousin.” He blinks. “That’s correct.” “I’m their roommate.” Baz looks barely old enough to be at Watford, honestly. He still has one of those squished up little kid faces. His cheeks are puffy and round, his brow is shallow, his chin is short and flat. But he has a tall, straight nose like an adult, so he’s probably going to have a growth spurt sooner rather than later. Drop a layer of baby fat, shoot an inch and a half taller overnight. That’s how it went for Niall, at least. But then again, he’s older than he should be for a first year, he’ll turn thirteen in January before the end of Christmas break. “What have you done to the Chosen One now?” Niall asks, shifting to uncross his legs and stretch them out, moving his Magic Words textbook to lay open on his thighs. Baz settles down next to him, drawing his skinny knees up right to his shoulders with his arms tucked into the space between, flipping his wand back and forth from one hand to the other. His expression is blank—the kind of calculated, intentional blank that children shouldn’t know how to do—but his gaze is keen, almost feral. “Nothing he doesn’t deserve.” “You’re creepy.” “Are you going to tattle on me?” “No,” he says, after what is probably too short a moment of consideration, “I don’t really care. I just want to finish my homework.” “Well, good.” Baz purses his lips, looking Niall up and down with a single quick, deliberate flick of his eyes. (Grey, like a clean riverbank.) “Otherwise I would’ve had to spell you Six ways to Sunday.” “You couldn’t.” “Could too.” “Could not.” “I’m a Pitch.” “You’re eleven.”

thank you very kindly for tagging me today @larkral, @blackberrysummerblog, and @rimeswithpurple, and thank you to everyone who has continued to tag me these last few Sundays and Wednesdays, too. i really do love seeing what y'all are working on. 🙂💕

i hope everyone has a good rest of their week.

remember to drink water, take your vitamins, and rest when you need to. ☀️

Tag, you're it! 🪄 @raenestee @hushed-chorus @thewholelemon @artsyunderstudy @captain-aralias @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @imagineacoolusername @ivelovedhimthroughworse @facewithoutheart @cutestkilla

[onepintobean]

coc day 29 | party

exclusive footage from the watford class of 2016 leavers ball

[jasonfunderberkerthefrogexists]

CARRY ON COUNTDOWN DAY 23 - BITE 🩸

Rating: Teen and Up

Summary: Simon hasn’t talked to Baz properly in years, not since they danced at the Leaver’s Ball and lost touch. But, things can change.

Had fun with this one! Might write more for it in the future

[sailorblossoms]

It's important that Simon feels safe enough with Baz to talk about his sexuality and previous relationship, which was comphet with plenty of issues to process attached to it, and talking to Baz about it helps Simon realize things he wouldn't on his own. It was talking to Baz that Simon realized he wasn't in love, he wasn't attracted, and everything about it felt wrong. He brings the later in CO: how he was always "getting it wrong" but he remained in the relationship because "it wasn't her fault". And this is very interesting to me, because it implies that Simon choosing to break out of comphet made him felt like he was blaming someone else for something that he felt was wrong with him, like a very fucked up, misguided version of "it's not you, it's me".

And this makes me think that even though Simon "never thought he was straight" he never really considered he wasn't either, nor was he ready to. (Chosing to break up also would've meant, at the very least, acknowledging why it would never work, and his lack of feelings. And Simon not feeling shit also meant it was easy for him to go through the motions not processing anything, which is the opposite of when he's with Baz, when he feels all the feelings and it's driven by wanting to be a bigger person, a better person for him. And speaking of Baz...)

When he first kisses Baz, he goes "look at me, I'm kissing a boy!! A guy! A dude! A male specimen, if you will," highlighting how he didn't really consider his sexuality. Simon is also afraid of looking gay (also in the kiss scene, he worries about being seeing, and then relaxes when he realizes they're alone in the woods) because he's afraid of judgment. He's afraid of experiencing homophobia (who wouldn't?). And that doesn't come out of nowhere: the survival instinct to automatically check over your shoulder to see if you're being seen? That's learned. That's something you do when you're afraid of being caught doing something wrong, or something that you know will have bad consequences for you if others see you. It means that even when Simon was not thinking about his own sexuality, he has already learned to fear homophobia, likely by experience. And this brings up a very real possibility that @ionlydrinkhotwater has pointed out: that Simon could possibly have religious trauma (homophobia in the airport, where Simon double checks to see if his dragon parts are hidden, it's linked to a lady wearing a cross. He himself wears a cross to repeal Baz, the anti-vampire=anti-gay cross if you willl, that Baz literally breaks and throws away to kiss him silly). That trauma could've easily happened in his time spend in care.

But there weren't reasons to think he could've felt safe and comfortable enough in the WoM in that sense either. The mage is clearly homophobic, and by extension, that contributes in making the school an hetero hell specifically for Simon, who was especially under his control (even outside of the whole "traditional roles the characters are meant to break away from", but also specifically because of the war: Baz being "the son of the enemy" definitely made everything worst).

Simon was caught in comphet in Watford (and he's initially afraid the person that was caught in it with him wouldn't accept him if he told her he's into Baz, he pictures her going "what would the mage say?"). Baz wasn't out and proud in there either (his own paternal figure is also homophobic), and he was hiding his vampirism (tied to his queerness). Funnily enough, the first time Simon experiences his own queerness tied to monsterhood (growing wings) he gets sucked outside of the school (and is forced to face the manifestation of his hunger for love). Simon and Baz never really act on their feelings until they're outside of Watford (in fact, they never met outside of it until they're on good terms either). The leavers ball was the only time they were gay together in the school (Simon had his tail out). (Penny's rommate did have a gf tho, didn't she? Good for the sapphics!)

Simon being ok at being openly gay at ikea is a huge step for him. Also notable in awtwb is how Baz, who noticed Simon's apprehension, also notes how Simon seems to get off at public displays of affection, and you know what? Good for him! It means that he's ready to say fuck you to his previous fears, because being with Baz makes him happy, and he's feeling comfortable and confident enough to act on his attraction to him. (Also important: Lady Ruth being fully accepting of Simon and Baz, even before she knows he's part of her family. It means Simon finally has somewhere outside of his own flat where he knows he doesn't have to hide his affection to his gay partner)