#no business has ever wanted me. nobody's made hate pages for me. nobody ever wanted my adopts or comms even if i was selling for pennies

[jacesvelaryons]

valentines

tom blyth x kpopidol!fem!reader

fc: jennie kim of blackpink

part two to english love affair

notes: and i’m back! you must’ve feared i’d never post again but i’m more inspired than ever. thank you for someone suggesting a valentines post, and for once im early. most posts will be coming from me soon!

please request, send me anons, talk to me, suggestions and what not. i do soc med aus and also written blurbs and have plans for stories about tom and his characters. ♥️

hope you enjoy! again please like, follow, share, and most especially reblog with your lovely comments to reach more and send me feedback/comments on anything.

divider by @cafekitsune

yourusername

liked by hunterschafer and 5,009,656 likes

happy valentines to my heart of heart, the soul of my soul, my best friend, the light of my life and more. my life has never been the same since you’ve been it, and i wouldn’t want it any other way. i love you @/tomblyth

user145 THEYRE SO CUTE

randomuser8 oh i’m so single 🤒

tomblyth i love you too, my sweet 🩷

↪️ yourusername i love you so much

↪️ tomholland2013 oh get a room guys 🙄

↪️ yourusername @/zendaya go get your man please

↪️ zendaya 🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️🚶‍♀️i don’t know what you mean

↪️ tomholland2013 HEY! 😭😭

jessicalxander dream couple!

hallebailey you guys are so perfect together

tayrussell send the wedding invites please 🙏

↪️ user7 HUH?

↪️ ynfan she’s playing we know y/n and tom are so busy to even think of it lol

tomblyth

liked by alexademie and 2.8m others

my siren, my muse. as another valentines rolls in, i never wish to take this for granted as another milestone simply and enjoy everyday i’ve had with you, my angel. my brilliant, talented, gorgeous, intelligent girl. i love you @/yourusername

jenaissante treating my girl right as you should 😌

↪️ yourusername love youu girlie pop 🫂

↪️ ynfan6 tom found dead in a ditch who?

user197 aww him following her in the studios to watch her produce so cute

johnnyjsuh and when are we getting that solo song y/n? 🤨

↪️onyourm__ark yeah @/yourusername where’s all that studio time going

↪️ yourusername trust it’s coming soon 🙏🙏

↪️ user67 she said this last time i hate ___ entertainment 😭

username9 she’s so pretty i wish to be like her when i grew up

antifan8 get this ugly off tom’s profile

↪️ tomblyth you have no right to insult my girlfriend like that. get out my page otherwise.

↪️ randomuser5 tom defending his girl as he should

user77 nobody send a truck in front her company she ain’t leaving her man

liked by yourusername

yourusername

liked by tomblyth and others

oh how i love love.

usernamehere her apron is so cute does anyone know where it’s from?

↪️ random8 probably couture or something at this point or goop lol

↪️ user7 probably my mom made this

↪️ ynfan725 who’s momma?

↪️ user7 that’s the brand 😭

↪️ ynfan725 oh my bad ignore me lol 😅

user86 she’s so spoiled by him and he in turn manifesting this for me

random9 me next year

user7775 that cake must be so good and easy to make

↪️ fan721 i’m a pastry chef and make these and they ain’t easy lol

kpopfan421 ynnie what’s the name of your bear?

↪️ yourusername not sure 🤔 any suggestions?

↪️ user8 how about tommy!

↪️ yourusername lets go with that 😁

tomblyth

liked by mayahawke and 7.8m others

ynfan856 oh y/n you are so loved

random1002 the daily love notes in the mirror and countdown oh i’m sick

melissabarrera 🩷

oliviarodrigo how romantic!

rachelzegler putting in the effort blyth!

↪️ tomblyth anything for my girl

↪️ rachelzegler ofc because i’d steal her from you if you don’t 😝

austinbutler great job man

yourusername

liked by taylorswift and 10.5m likes

so grateful, i’m speechless.

alexconsani OKAY GIRLL GET THE BAG

↪️ yourusername learned from you sis 😍

user86 this has to be the most liked post on ig in a while

kpopfan454 do they have this on amazon lol

↪️ user1111 you checked craigslist or something i’ve given up 😭😭

random723 oh he has to be rich rich to give her that

↪️ user913 GOOD FOR HER!

hunterschafer you deserve this and more my angel

↪️ yourusername love you so much hunty im going to cry

[ameonds-dragonn]

Nevermore Wednesday x HOTD

I watched Wednesday and thought of the Targaryens being there. I made an OC after Dany but she has dark hair and purple eyes. But she is literally 21st century Dany. No hate to Wednesday she is my home girl! This for plot! . Also thank you @valeskafics for loving my idea and hyping me up to post it!

Summary: daenerys Targaryen is the oldest daughter of Daemon, his half witch half shape shifter child. The very best and ugly of him in a female body, her visions and intuition helps her in Nevermore. She is there with her sightly older cousin, Aemond. Half vampire half shifter. She is madly in love with the resident artist, Xavier Thorpe. 

Daenerys Targaryen, daughter of Daemon and Rhea Targaryen, witch and dreamer. Heiress to Daemons company and part owner of Targaryen international, her uncle’s company. The family company, 9 generations strong.

Y/n’s family had witches, dreamers, shape shifters to vampires. Aunt Ali made that into the line, her cousins were half vamps and half shifters. Her step sisters were shifters like their father and her step mother. This never affected the family business crashing, thankfully everyone kept their powers under wraps. Most of them, Aegon, her older cousin was in and out of magazines for his behavior. Uncle Viserys shipped him to Nevermore academy to help him with his powers. Aegon was too blood thirsty to ever be ceo, Rheanyra was in line to inherit it anyways.

Nevermore wasn’t bad like Aegon had put it, he hated authority, being away from his mother. Nobody put up with his shit that’s how Aemond put it at least. Aegon wasn’t wrong about Thornhill, something smelled off about her. I made friends unlike Aegon. Yoko was my roommate, my sister away from home. Bianca, surprisingly. She was misunderstood, needed someone to listen to her. Underneath her typical mean girl exterior was a sad, lonely girl who wanted love from someone. Xavier, is my best friend in the whole world. We met at my family’s annual gala, his father dumped money into our company.

I was 12 and Xavier was 11, I found him sitting on the staircase, crying. His father had yelled at him for showing his powers off to my cousin, Daeron. A simple rabbit came alive off the page and danced in front of the toddler. I never seen the chubby boy until a year ago, when I started Nevermore. Weems assigned Xavier to be my guide, I never realized who he was until dad laughed as he hugged me. Dad was weird so I didn’t think anything of it. Well until I unknowingly encouraged him to ask Bianca out. My chest rows angered and hurt as I saw him smile at the siren.

They broke up over the summer, I had to be the one who picked up the pieces. Xavier never told me who broke up with who and why. The rumors from Enid’s blog were endless and girls who loved X. Who knows why!

“Dany! We got a new girl!” Kent gushed as he sat down.

“Mid semester?” I furrowed my brows

“Wednesday Addams, I think you have Thornhill with her” Yoko grinned.

“What’s so bad about her? Quit smiling with your fangs, Yo” I sighed.

“Look, 4 o clock” Bianca nudged me

She was dressed in an all black Nevermore uniform, braids, scowl on her face. Enid was smiling and pointing at various students. The bell rang. “Let’s go see how this Addams girl is” Bicana smirked.

“Be nice, b. And not bitchy nice” I said as we passed Xavier’s mural.

The same dark girl stood in front with Thornhill. She was spooky for sure, not a bad one. Xavier smiled at her as he opened his sketch book.

“Miss Targaryen” Thornhill said as I looked at Addams sitting with Xavier

” Daenerys!” Thornhill raised her voice, Yoko kicked my leg

“Yes, Miss Thornhill” I jumped

“Pay attention, Xavier has a hole in his back from you staring at him” Thornhill smirked

“Right” I sighed as Xavier smiled back at me

Xavier’s energy was off after he saw Wednesday and it made Bianca’s off. It made me nauseated as class ended. “He could be yours, if you asked him. And quit hiding in Leana’s skirt” Aegon’s voice ranged in my head.

“Dany, you coming to practice?” Xavier asked

“Oh yeah. Ready to get your ass kicked, sweetheart?” I smirked. Xavier bit his lip and nodded.

I arched my bow back

“What do yoI think about Wednesday?” Xavier asked, making me miss my shot.

“You dick! I missed!” I groaned

“I know” he smirked

“I forfeit” I threw my bow down and walked away

“Dan! Dany! Come on I was joking” Xavier yelled

A knock broke me from my crying and thoughts, Yoko was out with Bianca for the shadow meeting or something.

“Go away, Xavier!” I yelled

The knocking continued

“Enid leave me alone fuck!” I opened the door to my slightly older, much taller cousin, Aemond.

“Loose your attitude, bitch” Aemond walked in

“Jerk” I smiled

“You’re not suppose to be up here, Thornhill will kill you” I sighed

“Not before I find out why my cousin is bawling her eyes out. Now talk” Aemond raised his eyebrow at me.

“It’s stupid. It could be solved if I listened to Aegon” I plopped on my bean bag

“Don’t listen to Aegon ever. Why do you say that?” Aemond rubbed my head

“I really like Xavier and I can tell he is in love with Wednesday fucking Addams already. She sat with him for one class and he’s already planning their wedding in his head. I seen them at the dance this semester” I broke down.

“Dany, calm down. He can’t love her just in one day” Aemond said.

“He has the same look, he did when I pushed him to ask out Bee” I looked my cousin in the eyes.

—————- a week later

I was walking to meet Xavi for archery practice for the day. “Nice leggings, Dee” Enid smiled as she typed away.

“Thanks, babe!” I giggled

“Hey” I grabbed my bow as he was showing Wednesday how to shoot.

“Oh Dany! Daenerys, Wednesday Addams. Wednesday, Daenerys” Xavier smiled.

“At least I’m not an elitist snob” Wednesday deadpanned and made her bullseyes

“Ouch” Xavier said

“Damn, I gave you a week until I showed you I didn’t need your help” I giggled

“Dany” Xavier sighed

“Right. Sorry your manhood is damaged now” I bit my tongue

“Why do you have to be a mini version of Daemon?” He sighed

“It’s fun, my love. Now excuse me, I’m gonna sneak out with Yoko. See ya later, Thorpe” i patted his back as I left him with his thoughts.

“And then Enid asked Wednesday to join us for the Poe cup. I mean how do we even know she is even worth having. I love bee but I would love to beat her even more” Yoko gushed. I sat in the window seal, barely hearing anything she had said

“Dany? Dan? Daenerys, hey” Yoko shook me.

But it went dark and I hit the floor

“Danyy! Shit” Yoko ran off

I woke up in the medical wing, my head was pounding out of my skull.

I looked over to see Xavier sleeping in the chair, his neck was showing. He must have felt my eyes on him, he got startled.

“Hey hey. You’re wake!” He smiled

“What happened? Why are you here?” I deadpanned

“Apparently you passed out and fell when Yoko was talking to you. She busted into my room screaming for me to help her. I’m your best friend why do you say that?” Xavier held my hand

I dropped his hand and stood up grabbing my sweatshirt. Well Xavier’s sweatshirt, fuck it! It was comfortable.

“Dany!”

———- two weeks later

Xavier barely talked to anyone, staying in his shed if it wasn’t school hours. The community outreach was boring as always. I got assigned to pilgrim world with Yoko and Bianca.

I snuck away and decided I needed a chai latte to even make it through this hell of Jericho. According to Enid’s blog Xavier was at the coffee shop for his assignment. Aemond was there too or maybe he snuck off to the library.

“Let me guess an iced vanilla chai with almond milk?” Xavier grinned as he sat in the side of the booth.

“You remember” I smiled

He grinned and went to make my drink

“Here” I tried to give him a ten

“Quit, on the house. I don’t make pretty girls pay for stuff” Xavier shut my hand with the bill crumbling in my hand.

“Xavier! At least take it for a tip” I sighed

“Be right there” he said as he walked to the counter to help a customer

“You’re supposed to be at pilgrim world, kid” Aemond punched my shoulder, playful like.

“Here I thought you blew this assignment off. Looks like only of us are the smart Targaryen” I smirked.

“I promised mom I wouldn’t be like Aegon and actually interact with people”

“Mamas boy” I laughed

“How’s daddy gonna get his little girl out of this one?” He shot back

“Hey Wednesday!” Tyler smiled as he came from the back room

“Does everyone have the hots for the mini goth?” I threw my head back.

I stood up, “See ya, Aem. Be good”

“Dany?” Xavier quipped

“What?”

He held my latte

“Thanks” I took it and left him standing there

I was sitting under an oak tree, reading the family history again. I could quote it word for word but I needed comfort. Dad was in London for a business trip.

“When are you gonna tell how you feel and not sulk like a lost puppy?” A voice asked

It was Bianca

“How can you tell?” I sighed

“Because he looked at me like how you do him. Don’t lose him to another” she sat down.

“Piss off” I brought my knees to my chest

“Before I piss off.. Listen, I know you love him, just tell him how you feel. You would be surprised in the outcome, Dans” She held my hand

“Why would you help your ex’s best friend get with your ex?” I scoffed

“Because I like you shockingly. You remind me of me a little too much also” Bianca looked with her ocean blues

I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face, “I’ve already lost him to Wednesday. There’s nothing I can do to show him how I feel. Thanks but you’re too late, bee bee”

“Stop crying. I don’t do crying” She pulled me into her chest

“Shut up, sushi” I giggled

“Hate that name, but since you’re sad I’ll let it pass” she rubbed my back

“Don’t mention to anyone that you saw me cry. Now kindly fuck off” I stood up

“Tell him!” She yelled

I walked up the stairs to mine and Yoko’s room, I passed Wednesday and Enid’s. Suddenly a severed hand ran across my shoe, making me yelp.

“Thing!” A voice yelled as they jerked the door open.

Wednesday

“Is that your family pet? We have a dragon”, I blurted out

“You’re the Targaryen girl” Wednesday looked at me as she picked up her hand.

“How do you know who I am but not Xavier’s family?” I asked

“My father has a copy of your family’s history. Daemon’s daughter from his rocky first marriage”, she quipped

I looked her up and down

“How do you know that? That’s not in the book it stopped after my great great grandfather” I scoffed.

“Enid” The small girl shut her door

“Can’t wait for this semester to be over”, I sighed as I finished my journey to my dorm

——————-

I sat with Xavier and Aemond during breakfast before class broke. Xavier winced every little movement, claiming he hurt his back during fencing. They haven’t had fencing in a week.

“Look at his neck, Aem” I threw my thought in Aemond’s head

“His fencing wound. So what?”

“You’ve not had fencing in a week moron”, I rolled my eyes

Aemond stood up, saying his goodbyes for the day. Alys was at the other side of the quad. Of course he leaves me without no answers.

“How does one get a starch like that from a fencing sword? Wednesday’s was a tiny nick” I said

“You don’t believe me” Xavier scoffed

“You’re a shitty liar, Thorpe” I smirked

He sighed, “I drew a monster from my vision and it came out and attacked me. Just don’t tell anyone”

“Why don’t you have a bandage? Unless you want your neck to turn green and fall off”, I ran my over his hoodie collar

He jumped back

“See ya in Thornhill” He stalked off

“Yeah you’ll be naming your kids with vampira”, I sighed, collecting my things and met Yoko before our first class

It was getting close to the end of the day, my class with Xavier and Wednesday. The closer I got to the class, my music blaring. I decided to skip class and see what my other family was up to.

“Fuck it”

It was easy to get the dorm hall without Thornhill bugging me about my life and why I blasted the Sex Pistols.

I slammed the door and threw my blazer off, kicking my shoes off.

“Dad will be in London or everywhere. Lena will be pissed that I skipped.” I sighed, scrolling through my contacts.

Egg 🍃

“Worth a shot” I clicked the blue phone and let it rang

“Shut up, it’s my cousin” Aegon sounded out of breath.

“Bad timing, cousin” I giggled

“Kinda but what’s wrong? Go take a shower or something” I heard Aegon tell a girl

The door shut

“What’s wrong? You’re supposed to be in herbology, kiddo” Aegon tried to lecture me

“Stop being my dad! I need my older cousin who I love like my brother to listen” I whined

“I am” Aegon sighed

I bit my lip

“Okay. There’s this new girl Wednesday Addams, she is the goth girl but she gives me Ted Buddy vibes. Anyways Xavier is in love with her, he has been blowing me off. Just hurts because it’s like when he was in love with Bianca. I don’t know, Egg it’s just too much and parent’s weekend isn’t until next month. I already know Dad won’t be there, probably in Spain or bora bora. I’m sorry I bothered you with your hookup” I cried

“Dany! It’s okay breathe, in and out. The new will wear off on Thursday and he’ll ask you to the Rave’n. He does love you, you’re both too chicken to say anything” Aegon replied

“Don’t let this go to your head but you’re right. And it’s Wednesday, bud” I laughed

“There’s that laugh! Now lay down, drink some water and stop worrying” Aegon smiled

“Thanks, Egg. Love you” I smiled, not like he would see it but it’s the thought that counts.

He giggled

“Tell my giant little brother I said hi. He probably won’t notice but won’t being attached to Alys”

“Tell me about it. I walked in on them making out, I asked him something. He responded but didn’t break away from her. Sad thing I understood what he said” I giggled

“Teenage angst. Now don’t call me unless you asked him out and you’ll make me your maid of honor” Aegon said before he hung up

“Aegon! Aeg” I sighed

The door slammed open

“Why weren’t you in class? Did you get sick?” Xavier walked over and laid his on my forehead

“No, I'm not sick. Family issue came up. Did you take any notes or did you impress your little girlfriend with your moving art” I smirked

He jerked his hand back and looked down at me with disgust, “Jealousy isn’t a good look on you Daenerys”

He walked to the door, “She hasn’t do anything to you or Bianca and you two hate her”

“She’s a stalker, Xavier! Somehow she knows about my fathers first marriage and how it was. I never talked to the girl before, she don’t even have a phone. You’re too blinded by love to see it now but she’s no good” I walked over to him

“Like you can point your finger on how crazy people are, Dans. Look in the mirror” Xavier scoffed

“Fuck you” I pushed him out as Yoko walked in with Divana

“What a spoiled brat” I heard him say before leaving

“Asshole!” I yelled back

Yoko and Divana looked at me with a sympathetic smile.

“Want me to sneak Aemond in?” Yoko asked

I shook my head and flopped on my bed

What a fucking day! Curse Wednesday Addams! And fuck Xavier Thrope, he’s such an asshole!

[valhallaas]

Play to Win

Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley x reader

Warnings: none

Word Count: 2.3k

Summary: Ghost is good at the silent game. Even better when you don’t know that you’re playing. 

A/N: This is is something new. I just wanted to dabble in it. It leaves you wanting more which is the whole point. As always, feedback is appreciated, and enjoy! Also! Shoutout to @charnelhouse the ghost queen.

He’s been here two weeks and the only reason you know that is by the empty coffee pot that greets you every morning. He truly lives up to his name. Ghost. A name you’ve heard, a reputation that lives beyond him. He may be a ghost, it’s still pretty shitty of him to leave no coffee for you at all. You run a tight ship, have a set schedule. Your routine only differs when someone drops by. Which is rare. Normally it’s just you and the silence. You don’t mind. It is a simple, boring life. But you’d rather be bored than dead.

You’re not lonely. Twice a month you go to town. You get the occasional phone call from Sargent Mactavish (I call you when I can, Val. Y’know how it is) There’s also the farm. Two horses, two cows, one goat and three cats. You’ve got your hands busy.

Feet banging on the mat outside, you can’t help the sigh of irritation that slips. You glare at the snow as it falls. The air was chilly, freezing you down to your bones. It’s a beautiful wonderland until you have to go muck around in it. Finally peeling the boots from your feet you pad your way to the kitchen as the door slammed behind you.

Your fingers twitch. It’s empty. Again. He has to be doing it on purpose. You’d adjusted the settings so there’d be enough for the both of you. You need your coffee. The familiar cup sits beside the coffee maker waiting to be filled. It was 6:20 am and murder was on your mind. You could get away with it. You knew these mountains. Your rifle was a limb forged by war. You’ve never missed a shot. Maybe another day. You’re running on fumes. You blow on your hands, flexing your fingers, you move to the cabinet and grab the coffee container. It’s another twenty minutes and a steaming cup of coffee rests next to you. You’re curled up in the reading nook, fingers gripping the book like your life depends on it. They haven’t quite got any feeling back in them yet. Sometimes you wonder how you ended up here. You hate the fucking cold. Snorting softly, you open your book and get lost in the pages.

There’s a loud bang. Like a distant gunshot. Like a door slamming. Boots pounding against hardwood. The book you had been reading earlier clattered to the floor as you shot up. It’s bright, sunlight glaring off fresh snow; squinting you throw your feet to the floor, hands searching for your gun. What you find is a blanket. The one that normally stays draped over the couch. Frowning, you stare down at the soft material. As your breathing calms and your thoughts become clearer, you relax and slump against the seat. You had fallen asleep. Your dream had shocked you, taken a turn from a memory and made it seem real. It had been at one point, but that was a long time ago. You’re safe now.

The sudden sound of vibrations startle you, causing you to jump. Now more than ever were you glad to be alone. You know how to take care of yourself. You’ve been doing it for a long time. Nobody needed to be questioning that. Standing, you go to the counter where your cell phone sits. An eyebrow ticks at the caller I.D.

“What do you want?”

“Is that how you answer all your calls?”

“I don’t get very many of them. Sorry if my etiquette is lacking. Why are you calling me?”

“I wanted to see how you’re doing.”

Your eyes narrow. “Either you know I have a guest, or you think I’ve been compromised. Which, if it’s the latter, I’m deeply offended.”

“Come on, Val. Y’know I have the utmost faith in you. Is he there?”

“Been here two weeks.”

Soap hums. “We haven’t had any contact. But I figured he’d go far to get a break. The farthest safe house is you.”

He wants peace. They normally do when they come out this far. You offer solace.

“Has he spoken to you?”

You snort. “That’s a negative.”

“Are you at least getting along?”

You look behind you at the blanket spilled on the floor. You think about your empty coffee cup. The first day he came to the house comes to mind.

You hadn’t even seen him. Hadn’t noticed one of the coffee cups was missing from the counter. Hadn’t noticed the sugar not right where you had left it. It had been the coffee pot. It was empty. Brows furrowed, your hand hovered over the handle of the pot. There’s a little at the bottom. You knew that you made some. You hadn’t drank it. Right?

Turning to grab your cup, you froze. A squeak lodged into your throat, hand flying to your back where your gun rested. A large man sat at the counter, an almost empty cup rested in front of him. His gaze was lazy as he stared at you. Unaffected. Black smudge was marked around his eyes making the whites stand out. The mask, you knew the mask. Had heard of it hundreds of times. You didn’t have to ask his name. Huffing out a sigh, you relaxed. Hand dropping back to your side. He watched you a moment more before leaning down to pick up his duffle bag and headed down the hall. You didn’t move again until you heard the sound of the shower turning on.

The silence that lingers between the both of you, though, might just kill you. He hasn’t said a word. You haven’t attempted to either. More so out of pettiness.

“Could be better. Could be worse.”

“Valkyrie,”

“He keeps drinking my coffee, Johnny. I don’t know how to function.”

He hummed again. “Expect a care package soon.”

It’s two days later when the helicopter lands in the middle of the open field. You lean in the doorway watching as packages are being tossed out. Who knew you were this special? You perk up when a familiar face starts heading your way. Heart pounding you push from the house and run. Seconds passed and you were pressed into him. Strong arms wrap tightly around you. Your teeth dig into your bottom lip when it begins to wobble. You didn’t cry. You wouldn’t cry. He’d just laugh at you. Though, maybe not. It’s been over a year since you’d last seen him. He’d never know, but you locked yourself in your bathroom after he called you and bawled for twenty minutes. Being alone was hard. Being away from those you cared about, those you loved, that was even harder.

“What are you doing here?!”

“Came to see my favorite girl,”

“Gross.” Your nose crinkles.

The small moment is cut short by the flurry coming through the trees. Your breath caught, hand grabbing for your gun. Soap steps in front of you, already armed, gun pointing towards the unknown danger. You sigh when the figure comes barreling out of the brush. The familiar white of his mask is drastic compared to the lush, green backdrop. Shaking your head you turn back to Soap.

“This should be fun.” Leaving the men outside you amble inside, setting up the coffee maker for the company you’d have for the day.

Soap didn’t stay long. He and Ghost brought the packages up to the house, shared a few words, kissed you on the cheek, and he was off. You don’t like the feeling he left behind. Don’t like how your chest tightens, your heart aches. It would never get easier.

You’re surprised to see Ghost sitting at the counter. Arms crossed across his chest, eyes raking over the packages. It’s rare for him to be at the house. He leaves early in the morning and comes back late at night. Circumstances were different today. He probably spotted the chopper and instantly ran. That thought makes you slightly lightheaded. He doesn’t know you—knew absolutely nothing, but he still came for you anyway.

“I’ve never known Soap to make house calls.” He doesn’t sound like you thought he would. His accent lilts his words, his voice rough like it’s been dragged through gravel. It gives you goosebumps.

“Guess I’m just special.”

“You’ve got history.”

Your lips twitch. “I’ve known Johnny a very long time.”

He hums, dark eyes on you. You meet his gaze head on. For as long as he stared, you met the dark abyss of his eyes right back. No twitching, no flinching. You took in what he gave you. Which wasn’t a lot. His sleeves are rolled up, exposing a tattoo sleeve on his left forearm. His hands are bare of the gloves he often wore. They’re large, scarred, veins running through them and up his arms. It’s the most exposed you'd ever seen him.

“Who are you?”

You raise a brow, leaning forward to rest your arms on the counter across from him. “You haven’t found that out already?”

“It’s like you don’t bloody exist.”

“You should know all about that, Ghost.”

His gaze lights up at his name. His call sign. His being. He’s like a black hole. But you know there’s stars, hidden galaxies. Every soldier has their well kept secrets. If he’s going to call you out on yours, might as well call the kettle black.

“Have you fucked him?”

You only snort. “He wishes.”

***

Pop. You sit in the living room, your rifle torn apart. After setting your alarm even earlier last night, you were able to get the chores done, drink your coffee while leaving some for your guest. Pop. There’s no biting back your smirk when you see his muscles twitch. You want to twirl the bubblegum around your finger like some lovesick school girl. It’s the oldest trick in the book, and you couldn’t be more thankful for Soap Mactavish. Looking away because you know he can feel you staring, you go back to cleaning your gun. You were a trained professional at one time. You’d like to keep it that way. It’s one of the reasons you ran the safe house. You didn’t like having to rely on people.

Pop. There were always exceptions, though.

An hour later you’re trekking through the woods. Snow crunches underneath your feet, your breath hot puffs of air clouding in front of your face. The cold air prickled in your lungs with every inhale. You were not made for a place like this. Perhaps California. Mexico maybe. Somewhere you can get a tan. You like solitude, though. You like the silence. Maybe it came from years of doing just this.

The wind was not in your favor. You’ve had to adjust three times. This is the clearest your head has been in weeks. Since that man has come into your house. There's something about him that puts you on edge. It’s more than the mask. You haven’t spent a lot of time with him. You can’t pass judgment. But maybe that’s just it. There was a real live ghost in your presence.

Focus. Breathing in only to cough against the burning cold. You lean forward, eye peering through the scope. You can see your targets. Five of them. Each one ten yards farther away from the last. Deep breath in, deep breath out. Finger on the trigger.

You’ve never missed a shot.

A clean hole through the fifth target and you see movement. Heart rate skyrocketing, you’re not nervous. Whoever it is, they couldn’t know where the shot came from. Instinct is telling you to get up and head home, but you're curious. Who the hell else is out here? Who the hell is insane enough to be out this far in this weather?

He appeared out of thin air. His mask blended in with the snow while his gear isa stark contrast. He favors black, much like you do. With your eye still watching through the scope, you see him check each target. Each hit through the center. Not a hair off. You swallow down the anxiety building in you. Slowly he moved away from the target, his gaze taking in the mountain range.

Your heart falls into your ass when his gaze lands on you. Only for a few seconds, but long enough that you know. You can feel it. He knew exactly where you were. The moment passes, and he’s disappearing back into the woods again.

***

“Valkyrie. You were a sniper in the army.”

Oil popped in the pan as you stood over the stove. You had been so sure he’d meet you back at the house. Seems like he had gone and done a little research. Turning the chicken, you peeked at him. He was in the kitchen with you, his back against the counter. He has the plastic skull piece off. Your breath catches when you meet his gaze. His lashes were so long. His eyes were piercing, yet sad. You don’t think he’s perpetually sad, that it’s only the way he looks. It almost feels like you’re seeing him naked. Tearing your eyes from him you go back to cooking.

“How many?”

You sigh. “I don’t know. I didn’t count.” “No?”

“No. It didn’t matter how many, it mattered that I took the shot and it hit.”

“And you never miss.”

He was closer now, breath hitting the back of your neck. Goosebumps break out across your skin.

“No, I never miss.”

He hums before stepping away. Your legs feel like jelly. You never knew a man could do that to you. Flipping the burner off, you ran a hand over your face. It’s been a long day and you were ready for bed.

Later, when you’re getting ready for bed you do the usual lockdown. Blow out any candles, Check that all the doors were locked for the third time. Your eyesight is bleary, eyes begging to close. Socked feet pad as you make your way back to your room. A graveled voice stops you in your tracks.

“When I want something, I never miss either.” Ghost appears in his doorway. “I’d never forget to make more coffee.”

Your lips twitch. It’s been a game, and he was winning.

[namingofcatszine]

Not sure how to say this, but this whole thing seems really sketchy. No one knows who you are or anything and now you're appointing yourself as some kind of leader? Think there are tons of contributors and older blogs that could be involved but you probably scared them away already. Yikes. Then to be pick and choosy? For what? Seems like a slap into the face to those that are not seen as important enough to you and the 'mods'.

Hi! Thanks for your concern!

To give a proper introduction to who I am and what I do, please refer to my instagram , my twitter, and my upcoming small business account . Here is my Tumblr, too. I made a recent post about my current fear of somehow "scaring people away". My name is Peach. I am 20 years old. I have been a fan of CATS since 2021, but I haven't exactly expressed my love for this musical to any social media due to personal embarrassment and fear. Ever since I saw it live for the first time in the Oasis of the Seas production last summer, I've grown back into this phase and this time, it's bigger than ever! I'm going to see the US Tour production in March of this year and I'm super excited!

The reason why I wanted to make this zine is because I haven't really seen a CATS zine being made! (I know there was one, but that was years ago). There's so many wonderful artists and fic writers that I have seen and I wanted to create a special zine dedicated to this musical that I have grown to love! I have experience in sourcing products, manufacturing my own stickers, I have even run a successful Kickstarter Campaign that raised over $25k to fund plushies that I have designed for another fandom I'm in! I am and have been the owner of several Discord servers in the past, moderating them and running them. I have also been in several Zine projects for different fandoms so far as well. (Matsuhana Calendar 2023, To Have You As a Partner Iwaoi Wedding Zine, and currently the Haikyuu Tarot Project Zine).

I have prepped all Mod forms, Contributor forms, schedule, Zine page layout, Zine Discord server, pitch sheets, and more ever since I came up with this idea literally three days ago.

I know I'm not known in this fandom, but if nobody else was going to do the hard work, who is? I'm not establishing myself as a leader, I'm just very experienced in organizing events and I know where to source my products. I, myself, am an artist, a merch designer, and a little bit of a fic writer. I'm a go-getter. Sorry if this seems leader-ish, but organizing projects such as these requires a leader and I'm stepping up to do so.

If you're concerned about me "scaring away" older accounts, I never had any intention of doing so. When the Interest Check forms were released, I had comments and concerns regarding "proshippers" which is why I addressed it in the first place. I don't like to leave people in the dark about topics but I regret addressing the problem because it led to so many other problems. I am also currently addressing the problem of having other creators "fear" this project because of what people spoke up about first.

If older blogs would love to be involved, then you're free to do so! I'm not stopping anybody. The Zine is for all artists and writers in the CATS fandom! I never said that anyone wasn't allowed in. I, Peach, am a very accepting person. I'm approachable too.

I have been a victim of being wrongly accused in past fandoms because I speak up against meaningless harassment and hate towards creators who have been wrongly accused of something they're not. I love to see fanart and I love to read fics. I would never want to exclude anybody who don't think they can join because of useless fandom discourse. This is a musical about singing and dancing cats haha.

By me being "picky and choosy", I'm not. This zine has room for 25 artists, 5 writers, 7 merch artists, 3 print artists, and 5 guest contributors (who have been recommended by the audience who have answered the form) because it is what I deem fitting for a fandom of this size, cost-wise, and also location-wise. This is the usual amount of contributors that most Zines have.

If there are anymore comments or concerns about me, Peach, then please DM me! Please don't forget to check my other socials too!

Also, if you'd like to read my Mod page on the Zine carrd, then please do so!

Lovely to meet you! And whoever wants to join the zine can join! It's not up to me, it's up to you!

[rumbleonthemill]

I want to address this issue, and I want to write my thoughts about it (it’s my page after all) It’s the old story: people shitting on Hello Neighbor, despite all they know is misinformation and lies. Nothing more.

…

I’ve been subbed to Markiplier for 9 years, if not more. He was the first and only youtuber I began watching, when this whole youtube thing became big. I remember watching him during university years, whenever I felt down, whenever I was happy. and after university too. And for long, I watched nobody else, but him.

…

He has a recent video, which you find here: https://youtu.be/tkREzi3IL7M I’m going to ignore the fact that they probably paid for a traced art for the thumbnail, this is another topic, but holy fuck. Ew. Okay, so this video went out recently, for nobody’s surprise, it is full of misinformation and gossips, and that’s HN for Mark and his friends.

This video…this video goes against one single rule, which sane people keep: “don’t like? Ignore”

I have a shitton of things I dislike. Heck, I even have things about Mark I dislike, but I have no right to change him, nor to criticize him. I skip the disliked things. But what does Markiplier do?

Nothing special. He does what every “fnaf youtuber” does nowadays: kicks into a game that is already laying on the ground. This doesn’t only mean a kick in the game, and the developers, who are probably the nicest people I’ve ever met. I love them. (And no, they didn’t beg to fucking matpat, whose HN theories are WRONG, it is marketing category, not development, and matpat himself does tag people multiple times, so find another cringe excuse to shit on us) God save us, the developers are not equal to the producer/publisher, who is responsible for the marketing part. Tinybuild is ONLY the publisher of HN, the game was created by Dynamic Pixels(now Eerie Guest Studios) who were five people in an office during that time. Five. Their first pc game.

This doesn’t only affect the devs, or the publisher. Believe or not (I don’t give a shit if you don’t) the FANS of the game also receive hate and actual death threats - because they’re fans! You read it correctly, I’m being harassed and sent death threats, made fun of, people wish my DEATH, because I’m thinking DIFFERENTLY. I word my comments fairly and trying to encourage people to not instantly hate something and try it for real - useless. Makes me think, where is the brain level of those shitting people. If I, a random person, despite hearing a lot of bad things, could try HN on my own and experience it, while my forming MY OWN opinion, then why can’t others?!

I like something they know nothing about, but the xy famous youtuber said, it is bad, so it must be bad, right?!

…

Absolutely fucking not. I’m tired of mob mentality and people shitting on things they have no real knowledge NOR REAL INTEREST about. I wrote my personal story about Mark, because I’ve been his faithful fan for years, watching his videos, saying “hey, Mark disliked HN and I’m okay with it. I wouldn’t want him to play with something he dislikes. At least he won’t shit on HN this way.” BUT HE FUCKING DOES. I don’t care that I’m one of the million fans of his, that he doesn’t care if he loses one. I’m aware.

But as a 30 something GROWN adult man, he should think and be aware of the consequences of his words. It was so fucking unnecessary to shit on something he has no interest in, nor knows anything about.

DONT LIKE? IGNORE. SCROLL PAST. or say “I’m not interested” and people with brain will perfectly accept and understand. It’s this simple.

(And no. Idc if Mark is famous. He is a human being, a man like many others. I treat him like a normal person. His opinions are as equal as everyone else’s, those opinions just have insane consequences which make people attack others. Shit on others, harm people they don’t even know.)

all I want is peace and people minding their own business, especially if they don’t care about something.

[omegasmileyface]

Of All the People - Ch. 11

second to last chapter!! and the last journal chapter! the next one might take a bit to upload, so on our ao3 upload we promoted four fics that inspired the way we wrote this. here are those links! click through or check the end note on our ao3 upload for names and authors. as always, this was written by me and @attackradish and @ectolemonades for InvisoBang 2022, with chapter 1 art by @/toasty-ghosti!

whole fic summary: After a stupid dare puts Dash Baxter in the lab at Fentonworks during the middle of a ghost fight, he finds himself a little more spectral than usual. Apparently Danny Fenton’s gone through the same thing (someone has got to call OSHA on these guys eventually), and who could better help Dash than his hero? His lame, stubborn hero?

warnings: Nothing for this chapter! In others, existential crises, and Spectra.

words: 1981

AO3 link

first chapter

previous chapter

next chapter

===

November 21

Today in chemistry we had a lab and it was weird, cuz I wasn't with Star. Theirs no set partners in that class or anything but nobody switches up partners after the first lab. That would be stupid. But before class Star was talking to Foley about some part of the lab prep and they didn't want to stop the conversation so they paired up. It sucks that we had to re partner but Foley's usual partner was Danny so it could of been worse. Apparently hes still banned from the glass wear after he dropped everything in freshman year. Which was totally because he was still getting used to intangibility and thats really unfair. He's perfect at that now. Anyway, I had to hold all the equipment while he read the lab instrutions to me but it worked out fine. I'm glad I'm not dropping stuff like he was. I know he had way more times where he accidentally used his powers than I am (its hard enough to use them on purpose) but I think the training has also helped a lot. If we BOTH got banned we'd be screwed on the lab. It was pretty boring since I was just taking instructions and Danny's used to labs and shit so we ended up talking a lot. I got exited about Invasion Z 2: Redeath coming out this weekend and he kept agreeing with me. Turns out he likes movies too! Mostly sci fi and horror and stuff but hey, a good movies a good movie. He gave me some horror reccommendations and I don't usually like horror but I'm gonna try them. He's probably too busy but I think I'll ask if his friends wanna go see Redeath when it hits the theater.

===

November 22

The Red Huntress was in a ghost fight today. Like one where Phantom was there too. I havent seen her since Igot my powers but I don't think I've ever really thought about her before. I got to get up kinda close without her noticing me cuz Danny had her distracted and… she's so human. Like I mean obviously, she's human but I don't think I ever thought of her with that in mind. She's just kind of a superhero to me more than specificly a human that deals with ghosts. But up close I could hear what she was saying to Phantom and it was so different compared to the ghosts. It was all hate. It wasn't any challenges or competition or whatever mostly. She doesn't yell as much as when she started showing up and I feel like she's less trigger happy around Phantom now but she's still all personal and intense. I guess it just makes me wonder who she is. If she's human she's gotta have like a life and job when she isn't chasing ghosts and it was weird enough learning that it was the same with Phantom but Danny doesn't have a choice. This chick has to care a hell of a lot to keep doing this. What hapened that made her so invested in ghosts?

===

November 23

Me and Kwan and Star and Paulina were gonna go to Nasty Burger with Danny's gang after school today to make sure we are all on the same page about ghosts and everything. But Kwan wanted to bail, which I get. He's still on the football team and so I guess the free time I've got now minus training isn't the same for him. Then Paulina and Star both had family stuff come up. I guess Thanksgiving IS tomorow. So I just went alone but when I got there Manson and Foley had ditched too. That many people leaving is kinda suspiscious, except that I don't see why my friends would do that on purpose. Fenton's friends maybe. Nerds are weird like that. Danny decided to stay even after it was just me there. I mean, foods food. Since everybody else was missing we didn't really talk business, instead we just talked about whatever. Did you know Danny has piloted the space shuttle before??

===

November 24

Turns out the Red Huntress is Val. As in, Valerie Gray. Danny's known the whole time she's been doing the job and he acidentally let it slip when we were talking about having to fight humans. He forgot I didn't know. He felt really really bad about it so obviously I can't tell anybody but it almost feels like I should. Is she okay? I mean she's doing this but shes just a human and I know she did sports before but it's super not the same. Where did she even get all that tech? Did she make it herself? I guess probably not because she was never into techno stuff before but did I is that the kind of stuff she has to do? It's weird that she's in high school too, with how busy Danny is she must have it the same way. I don't know if her grades are worse or anything because I haven't really talked to her since her dad lost his job. None of us have. Since then she's really been fighting ghosts? Why is Why won't Why does she hate them so much? Fuck weve all been such assholes to her and we just forgot about it when we didn't see her as much. I can't invite her back into the group becase she'll find out I'm a ghost and probably try to kill me at school or something. Plus she doesn't even wanna come back I bet.

===

November 25

Lancer wants everybody to do a writing piece on some exhibit at Amity museum. Something about getting imersed in knowledge or whatever. A bunch of us went there after school today to find topics so we could ignore it on the weekend. They have this exibit on the moon landings and mars rovers and all that space robot stuff and apparently Danny hadn't been here since before they added that cuz when he saw it he looked like he found $100 lying on the ground. He was fucking thrilled and he started talking about stuff that wasn't even on the information posters. I'm thinkin he should have designed the thing! His eyes got all sparkly and I'm 100% sure his freckles were glowing like little stars. He was also clearly trying not to float?? Honest to god it was so cute… Anyway everyone else went away after a bit to look at other exibits but like didn't they want to hear what Danny was saying?? I did.

===

November 26

Ok I've been mostly staying out of ghost fights this whole time cuz I get that while I'm still training it's better for Danny if I stay out of his way. But today there was a fight with this ghost skeleton dude in a white suit (he was kinda familiar?? I dont remember any ghosts like that though. ghosts are weird like that) and he kept punching Phantom into the road and shit and it was brutal. So I joined in too at least make it a two on one fight. But there was a bit where Danny was on the ground resting (I think his arm got broken?! Does he have bones?? I mean I do right??? But maybe he doesn't cuz he's a litle different or whatever???) so the skeleton dude started going after me instead. That was scary but like it's what we're training for so I was sticking my ground ready to help out my hero. But he barely touched me before Da Phantom was just… back.

He tackled the skeleton ghost strait into the road and it made another crater. He backed up into the air and fired a perfect ecto-blast that broke up the asphalt more so it looked like gravel around the ghost. I think at that point the ghost had passed out but Phantom jerked his hand and put some kind of green layer around the guy. I guess it was like one of his sheilds but at a distance. Then he came over and got me, I never had time to move away, and he just picked me up and took me to the other side of the street like mom moves Pooky when he's in the way. I tried to get out so I could keep an eye on the ghost and make sure he didn't escape but Ph Danny wouldn't even give me any wiggle room. It was like he was made of iron. I felt that a couple times before when he's saved me from stuff but it's a lot less comforting when I'm trying to fight it. I saw that he was still somehow keeping that sheild up though so I guess I didn't need to escape any way. Man, he looked pissed… but I don't think it was at me. It at least didn't feel that way somehow. 

After that he went back and captured the guy without anoher word to him and he checked me over and told me to "be careful around people like that" and went home. He didn't look me in the eye since he moved me out of the way. Maybe that's good, becuz I don't know if its a ghost thing or what but there was something really heav paralys intense about him at that point. I don't know how I would of acted if we had made eye contact. Stupid, probably.

I've been thinking about it and if I'm gonna be honest I was scared. Part of it was that kinda electric air thing that comes with ghosts sometimes, the feeling that makes you go all still, but I've never gotten that kind of feeling from Phantom before. Still though like I said I don't think it was aimed at me. That must be some kind of ghost comunication like Danny was talking about that one time, and it was comunicated to me that it was for the other guy. And it pretty much went away after he got the ghost contained. Still. I guess that wasnt all of it.

I re I guess I realized around then that like he didn't have to put up with everything. Me being an asshole I mean. When he was in that fight, even though it was worse then usual and he was suffering for it, when he got mad he just kinda switched gears. Ended the battle. Like he was sick of it. It gave me the feeling that he was sort of playing around until he cared enough to really get engaged (but why would he do that? Why wouldn't he just take care of the figt in the first place??)

And I guess that makes sense! I've been looking at every fucking Phantom fight I can these last few years. He doesnt really lose and he's done some crazy shit before. Pauli and I started getting stats at one point, like it was fantasy football. Those are kinda outdated now but I've seen a little stuff like that during trainings too and it's not like hes stagnated. He's crazy strong even compared to other ghosts and I guess I knew that but. I never really thought about what that meant for me. It's got me thinkin back to the times I was bullying him, after he became Phantom. A couple times he said "he didn't have time for this" and stuff like that but wh Fuck I don't know. It's just. He could have killed me really. Easy. If he was tired enough of me. That sucks.

===

November 27

My leg isn't getting better. Niether is my chest. Danny told me, because he still gets numb body parts and muscle spasms. Dying isn't really something you get better from.

===

November 28

am I ok?

[deangirlnotagirl]

Season 1 Episode 2: W*ndigo

Let’s do this.

- I love this recap remember when if you missed the first episode you just didn’t watch it until the reruns or dvs anyways those dramatic screen titles “what they witnessed sent two brothers on a quest for answers 22 years later”

- Oh there it is there’s the SUPERNATURAL noise with the title page ok it was just the pilot that didn’t have it

- Ok we’ve traveled from California to Colorado

- Love the flip phone and game boy in this cold open what a throwback

- Once again genuinely pretty creepy good job supernatural

- Oh that transition out of Sam’s dream made me jump I think my volume is a little too loud

- Aw Dean offers to let Sam drive that’s cute I love watching their relationship emerge

- I love their maps makes me miss maps

- Love watching Dean improvise and figure out who he needs to be to get the information he wants (and figure out what information he wants)

- Her brother looks like a high schooler so like once again I’m asking how old is Haley

- On this rewatch I’m really enjoying watching Sam’s arc of going from almost getting a full ride to the top school in the county to returning to hunting. The way he actually kind of loves it sometimes in a way Dean maybe doesn’t. It’s so tragic because it’s not what he would have chosen and he worked so hard to get away and all of that was taken away because he couldn’t escape his family forever. But at the same time we see from the pilot that he really has fun once he gets into it and hates that he has fun but starts to lean into it and find his niche as the show goes on.

- Ok so Dean introduced them as Sam and Dean and his fake ID says “Samuel Cole” which I looked up and don’t see an obvious origin (like a musician or something) so does that mean this is just a random name Dean picked and that he’s using Sam’s name sometimes when he hunts? Because that hurts.

- Every 23 years nice I love a recurring monster who hibernates

- Noticing that they pretty much never have to work very hard to get information bc they so clearly actually believe the person when nobody else ever has and even if maybe Sam and Dean are full of shit maybe they’re not and this is proof the person they’re interviewing is not crazy. Anyway if that’s not a metaphor idk what is

- “Corporeal”

- I forgot how angry Sam is this season (and a lot of seasons) and honestly he deserves to be angry right now

- Dean’s fragile masculinity lol but also Roy’s fragile masculinity the fragile masculinity of it all

- Ok I’m pretty sure they save the lost brother right like I hope so?

- This is a lot like the x files episode detour where they go into the woods and are hunted my an invisible humanoid but that doesn’t make it less good I loved that episode

- Once again I’m genuinely getting creeped out

- I really don’t like Roy

- Sam and Dean realizing John isn’t here and he wasn’t leaving a clue for them to find him. Realizing he put them on this case to keep them off his trail and set them up to doing his job while he goes on hunting his obsession.

- The fact that Dean sees Sam getting obsessed too and it scares him.

- “Saving people, hunting things, the family business” 😭😭😭

- Dean saying all that anger is going to kill you to Sam and he knows because he’s seen it happening to their dad ugh.

- Friendly reminder as they explain the lore that use of w*ndigos is major cultural appropriation and racist please read link on the title of this post to learn more

- How many do not enter signs can one entrance have

- They really do a good job of making this scary by not showing the scary thing good use of budget there sometimes you don’t need a giant cgi monster for good horror (no hate to giant cgi monsters I just love practical effects).

- The way that neither Sam or Dean are particularly freaked out by almost dying many times in this episode (or last episode if I recall). Sam even after taking a break from hunting presumably for most of the past four years - like that kid left home at 18 why has he had enough near death experiences at this point to be so cool headed in a crisis. Wtf John (I say over and over again throughout this show)

- Ok phew they do save the brother

- The way Dean uses the swagger to cover up everything else

- Again I just feel like this girl is too young but I guess if she’s old enough to be taking care of her younger brothers maybe she isn’t? Whatever what do we expect from supernatural

- Sam’s driving the impala!!!

- This last shot reminds me of my cousin Vinny

I’m doing this watch through as an escapism/nostalgia fueled way to remember a specific time in my life and let myself enjoy a very flawed show. So like as a monster episode this was scary and fun to watch and there was good character development and a good intro to the monster of the week episode format. And at the same time it’s a reminder of rampant casual racism to the point that it was basically thoughtless - I’m sure it just never occurred to the writers that there was anything wrong with using a being from another culture as a monster for Sam and Dean to fight and I’m sure this won’t be the last time they do this.

[thatfuckingweirdo]

Up, Up and Away...

Bucky Barnes x Insecure!Female Reader

Summary: Bucky turns soft in the middle of sex, and you're left wondering if you were the cause.

Warnings: Angst, insecurities, erectile dysfunction, tears, self doubt, semi smut, implied smut, and uh, I think that's all?

Authors Notes: This was a fun one to write! It definitely got out of hand and I'm glad I ended it before it got any longer, no pun intended!

This is written for @the-ss-horniest-book-club thank you so much for the prompt! 💙

Word count: 1,298

Hours Earlier

"Oh Bucky… yes… right there…" you moaned, your nails scratching down his back as he fucked you hard, the mattress squeaking under you that only made the sex feel so much better and intimate.

Bucky was panting quietly, a permanent frown in between his eyes. He was so tired from the mission and the stress from the upcoming mission didn't help his mood, there were things on his mind but he wanted to please you before the two of you went to sleep.

The longer he was thrusting, the more tired he was feeling and fuck… he turned soft inside of you. Ashamed, he pulled out and sighed, rolling away from you and bouncing back on his side of the bed. "Sorry doll, good night." He mumbled under his breath, reaching over to turn off the lamp. He was already snoring before you had the chance to say goodnight.

Present time...

The coffee cup in front of you held your interest as you stared into the cup. Was it you? Was Bucky not sexually attracted to you anymore? Did he finally open his eyes and realize just what he could have with someone else? This has never happened before, not in the three years of your relationship. His stamina and sexual appetite has always been really good that sometimes you would need to turn him down because of how sore he made you.

You couldn't make sense of it. The more you thought about it, the more likely it felt like it was your fault. It was also the first time you slept away from each other, it was like two strangers in a bed where in normal circumstances, you would usually be cuddling up to each other in the night. It was strange and you didn't feel good about it.

Bucky soon joined you in the kitchen, pouring his own coffee and sitting down silently opposite you, flipping through the pages of the newspaper. He hasn't said good morning, you realize and it stings. What you weren't aware of was the embarrassment he was feeling from last night. He shouldn't have let the stress and tiredness get to him which caused his boner to deflate mid use. He didn't know how to apologize for such a thing.

The mission coming up was the worst one yet because it was an infiltration of a hydra base, the former bunker in which he was kept and that's why this mission weighed down heavy on his shoulders.

Bucky realized he forgot to say good morning and looked up from his newspaper to find you already starting at him with a sad look in your eyes. He smiled as kindly as he could before clearing his throat and scratching his head. "Mornin' doll."

A little bit of hope sends flutters to your stomach and you shift in your seat before clearing your own throat. "Morning, did you sleep okay?" The atmosphere feels awkward and you hate it. It's never been like this before.

"Yeah- yeah I slept good. Just waiting for this mission to be over and done with." He sighs, gulping down his coffee in one go and standing up to put the dirty cup in the sink.

The morning after the awkward encounter in the kitchen, Bucky left for his week-long mission with a quick kiss to your cheek. You spent most of that time alone and it was probably the most dangerous thing you could have done. All of your insecurities crept back one by one, making you feel like you were the most grossest person on earth. The nights were spent crying and sobbing into his pillow, you would wake up the next morning with headaches and sore eyes.

On the fourth night, there were no more tears left to cry. You did wake up in a bitter mood though, it only improved slightly because an agent had come running in to inform everyone the team was on their way back earlier than expected. Apparently, the mission had been a success. You're glad that nobody was hurt, but you couldn't help the anxious feeling of what would happen with you and Bucky. What would happen to your relationship?

You would soon learn things would remain the same, you still haven't talked about that night and your insecurities were still eating away in your mind. Bucky hasn't initiated sex since, and to be honest it only made you feel worse. You started to wear full pajamas to bed instead of just your sleep shirt and panties because you thought it would make him feel a bit more comfortable around you.

It hurt a lot more when you would notice his bulge in his sweatpants from watching a steamy sex scene in a movie, but not around you. Deciding you couldn't take this anymore, you figured the best thing to do would be to move out of his room and back into your old one. You had to negotiate a hug with Tony for your key back, but it was worth it.

Bucky walked in after his run with Steve to find you throwing your clothes into a duffel bag and tears streaming down your face. Panicked, he closed and locked the door behind him to stop you from walking out before he's had a chance to speak to you.

"Doll? What's going on?" His brows furrow even deeper when you ignore him, and he grabs the duffel bag and throws it over the other side of the room. Thank goodness the window wasn't open.

"I could ask you the same question. It's fine if you're not sexually attracted to me anymore but it's an insult if there's something more going on-"

"Something more? What are you talking about? And who said I wasn't sexually attracted to you? Did that Neil guy say something?" Bucky was feeling angrier by the second. Not at you of course, but he hated people on the outside of your relationship sticking their opinions in your business.

"I'm talking about that night, Bucky. You haven't initiated sex with me since and I know it's something to do with me because I've seen you adjusting yourself from watching a movie!"

"Doll, it's a misunderstanding please let me explain?" He pleads, taking your hands and kissing the back of them before capturing your tears with his thumbs. You nod, taking a seat on the bed and waiting for him to continue. He kneels down in front of you and rests his arms on your thighs. "That night had nothing to do with you baby, you felt as amazing as ever. It was my fault; I got myself worked up over the missions that it interfered with… things. And, I haven't initiated anything because I thought you were ashamed of me and I was embarrassed."

You let out a breath that you didn't realize you were holding. "So, you still want me?" You sniffled, wiping your wet cheeks with the sleeve of your sweater.

Bucky looks almost offended that you could ask such a question. "Of course I want you doll, I always want you. Can I show you how much?" His eyes drop to your lips and you subconsciously lick them out of the bad habit you have.

"How- do you wanna do that?" Bucky smirks at your question and reaches for your hand before dipping it under the elastic of his running shorts and boxers. You gasp audibly when you're met with something very hard, hot and pulsing against your fingertips with need.

"You see? It's not you, it was me. If it was you, I wouldn't be constantly horny for you." He winks, shoving his pants and boxers down his legs to let his erection spring free. "Now, let me show you how much I want and need you."

[amazingmaeve]

Neck kisses ━ p. parkinson

─ “i love it when you kiss my neck.”

summary ─ y/n loves it when pansy kisses her neck

request ─ a pansy smut requester with the numbers 22 27 29 please 🥺

warnings ─ smut (18+)

a/n ─ love writing for pansy!

word count ─

tags ─ @chokemepansy @faerabella @amourtentiaa @inglourious-imagines

Soft kisses flutter against Y/Ns shoulder as she stares at herself in the mirror. Her hands explore Y/Ns body as she leans her head against Pansys shoulder. Y/Ns breath hitches as Pansys hands trace the top of her skirt. This wasn’t how this started with tender touches; it was much worse.

“I love it when you kiss my neck,” Y/N remembers saying to the Slytherin girl who was too preoccupied sucking and kissing her neck.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be for Y/N and Pansy. With Pansy being a pure blood with pure blood family who didn’t like muggles, which is what Y/N Y/L/N was. Pansy believed everything her parents told her, until she met Y/N. A bright witch the same age as her that made her heart flutter. Pansy didn’t know why she was feeling like that but she did.

Y/N and Pansy hated each other when they got to Hogwarts, with Pansy being friends with Draco and his little group and Y/N being friends with the golden trio. They despised each other so much that Y/N almost casted a hex on her in their third year when they were saying some crude comments about Harry.

“God I can’t believe how pathetic Potter is,” Y/N heard Pansy say loudly to his friends as she walked down the hallway. She tried her best to ignore them but they just kept getting louder and louder.

“Yeah and his mudblood friends along with the Weasley who looks like he can’t even afford the clothes on his back,” Malfoy smugly retorted looking at Y/N who’s temper just hit ten and felt like she was about to explode at the slytherins. They crossed the line when he mentioned her and Hermiones blood status.

“I know it's too bad those dementors didn’t take them away,” Pansy faked a dreamy sigh Y/N clenched her teeth walking over to the slytherins and took her wand out and pointed Malfoy but Pansy stepped in front of him. “Are you gonna hex me,” She mockingly said.

“Don’t test me Parkinson,” Y/N hissed gripping her wand tighter but deep down she knew she wouldn’t do it and she knew she shouldn’t waste her time on them but they just make her so angry.

“Miss Y/L/N,” Professor McGonagall gasped out of shock at seeing one of her prime students about to hex one of her peers. “What is going on here,” She separated the two girls.

“She was gonna hex me,” Pansy faked a cry as crocodile tears cascaded down her cheeks. Professor McGonagall furrowed her eyebrows in confusion; she knew that Y/N wouldn’t have done this without reason but according to rules she had to be punished. Before Y/N could get a peep out McGonagall stopped her.

“Miss Y/L/N follow me,” McGonagall sternly said then walked away leaving Y/N to glare at the girl in anger before she swiftly followed behind the professor leaving smug slytherins.

That wasn’t their only fight. Over the years they kept making snide comments to each other which led to detention for both or one or the other, depending on the teacher. If it was Snape he would allow Pansy to walk off scott free and Y/N expected it with that teacher knowing he favored his own house.

The attraction towards Y/N didn’t start until their fifth year when she saw Y/N studying in the library. Butterflies erupted in Pansys stomach as she stared at the girl she detested for so long.

Pansy tried to shake that feeling off her since her parents would hate it if she got together with a muggle. But Pansy couldn’t stop staring at Y/N longingly as she studied in the library. The way that she bit her lip in concentration and she flipped the page and jotted notes down for the class. Pansy looked in awe but it soon turned to disgust as she thought the revolting things. She couldn’t like her. She spent these years hating her.

Y/N’s attraction towards Pansy started later that year (5th). She had just finished practice with Dumbledore's army and she caught Pansy looking at her. Once Pansy caught her a blush painted the cheeks of the girl who was starting which made Y/Ns stomach flutter. Why? Y/N thought to herself why is she feeling this way towards a girl she loathed for years.

It kept happening, Pansy staring at her and Y/N staring back which made Pansy look down in embarrassment.

“You’ll be doing this assignment in pairs,” Y/N heard Snape's cold voice which broke her concentration. Snape started to list off the pairs with his usual harsh tone. “.....Parkinson and Y/L/N,” Snape lists and Y/N’s head shot up when she heard her name being said. Of course it was with Parkinson. Once Snape stopped listing everyone went to their respective places while Y/N went to sit next to Pansy who had a sour look on her face.

“Don’t be so mad about it and let’s get this done and over with,” Y/N sneered a glare painted on her face as she got out her book and started to list some of the ingredients off while Pansy just rolled her eyes.

“Can’t believe I got paired with you,” Pansy muttered under her breath and even though under everything she knew that she was kind of happy to be working with Y/N but just didn’t want to admit it.

“You think I’m jumping for joy having to work with you,” Y/N says sarcasm dripping in her voice as she looks up to meet Pansys green eyes. “Because believe me I’d rather work with anyone but you,” She hissed.

For the first time in a while Pansy felt a pang in her heart. She knew she liked Y/N and hearing her say those words made her feel hurt. Like when she got in trouble for messing around with the golden trio but this made her feel even worse.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Pansy muttered her eyes focused on her paper as Y/N looked at her confused. It looked as if she had been sad but what would Parkinson be sad about, they’ve been squabbling ever since first year so why would this hurt her.

Over the next few days Pansy and Y/N have been meeting up for this project and Y/N felt like she was getting closer with the girl. They were joking around more often even though still making snide remarks. Y/N felt her heart race when she had to meet with Pansy.

Her friends often asked if she was okay working with Pansy and she always responded saying that she could handle her.

When the last sessions of them studying Y/N felt almost disappointment as almost though that she would miss working with Pansy. She met with Pansy at her dorm this time instead of her own. Everyone was gone at their classes or in the common room. But Y/N never got over the eerie feeling from the Slytherin common room.

She sat next to Pansy on her bed with green blankets as they finally had finished the assignment the Snape gave them.

“Finally,” Y/N yawned, stretching her arms, feeling her elbows crack. Pansy gave her a tight smile. Before a thought entered her mind this was the last she was going to see Y/N with nice formalities at least. So she decided to make the best out of this situation and lean in and kiss her.

The kiss surprised Y/N as she felt her kiss her, she didn’t respond at first which made Pansy retreat in disappointment but Y/N grabbed the back of her neck and gave her a kiss which surprised her. Of course Pansy kissed back as she put her hands on her hips tenderly massaging them.

The two of them caught for dominance as Pansy finally won and slipped her tongue to let it massage Y/N’s. Y/N moaned into her mouth feeling elated by this kiss. She has never kissed a girl and she has to say it's the best kiss of her life.

“Wow,” Pansy and Y/N said in unison shock going through their veins as they stared at each other with smiles. Pansy hid a smirk while Y/N shyly smiled. They both giggled and started to kiss each other again. That’s as far as it went for that a moment in time they just kissed.

Their first time was much more special.

Pansy and Y/N just kept sneaking around so nobody would catch them. Pansy stopped picking on Y/N and her friends but that didn’t stop Malfoy from doing it though. Even though on opposite sides of their friend group that didn’t stop the passionate moments between the two.

The first time was special to the both of them. It was one night where everyone went out to honeydukes leaving the two of them alone with a few wondering students who were minding their own business.

It was a magical night and after it all laid under the covers pleasured looks on their faces as they intertwined their hands smiles painting their lips. Y/N would never forget that night and neither would Pansy.

Which lead them to the almost the end of the year as they were cooped up in Pansys room where Y/N stood with Pansy behind her kissing her neck. Fingers tracing the hem of her skirt. A happy smile was draped onto Y/N’s as she enjoyed her touch. The tests this year were harder and which made her more stressed. So after every test was done Pansy and Y/N finally got some alone time.

“I just want to please you love,” Pansy whispered in Y/N’s ear making a shiver go down her spine as Pansys fingers finally seeped underneath the fabric of the skirt. Y/N was already soaking from all the teasing that Pansy had done and she smirked feeling her arousal.

“Can you feel what you’re doing to me,” Y/N whimpered as Pansy’s fingers began to circle her clothed clit. Pansy hummed feeling the wetness come in contact with her fingers. She trailed her fingers under the panties and began to softly circle the swollen nub.

Y/N moaned when Pansy made contact with the sensitive part. She hated the effect Pansy had on her. Pansy began to rub faster and faster as Y/N could feel her orgasmt about to approach.

But then abruptly Pansy stopped and removed her fingers from her panties bringing them to her own mouth sucking the juices off them.

“You taste so good love let me get a better one,” Pansy seductively smirked bringing herself to her knees pulling Y/Ns panties down and throwing them across the room and she smirked at Y/Ns shocked reaction. Pansy rubbed Y/Ns thighs soothingly as Y/N herself clench around nothing feeling herself get more aroused. “You ready princess,” She whispered letting her breath fan across her pussy. Her skirt was lifted so it covered Pansy’s head.

Once Pansy’s lips wrapped around the swollen nub Y/N moaned loudly grabbing the back of her head and pulling on her hair. She breathed and moaned loudly as Pansy kept sucking hard on her clit. She trailed her fingers to the inside of her thigh and circled her entrance as Y/N closed her eyes from the pleasure.

Pansy entered her fingers and curled them so they hit her g spot and Y/N almost lurched forward as her fingers came in contact with that spot. And all the while her lips still around the sensitive nub. But not for long as she released her lips and pushed her skirt higher so she could see Y/N’s reaction and what she was doing to her pussy. Y/N clenched around her fingers as she felt herself getting closer and closer.

Pansy kept thrusting her fingers in while her thumb made its way to her clit and began to massage the sensitive nerve.

“I’m gonna cum,” Y/N whined as Pansy rubbed her clit at the perfect pace while her fingers kept thrusting in harder and harder and still kept hitting her g spot.

“Cum all over my fingers like the dirty girl you are,” Pansy said with a smirk on her face while she kept thrust and removed her thumb and brought her lips back to her clit and began to suck as well. That’s all it took for Y/N to moan out Pansy’s name loudly and to see stars

Pansy lapped at her sensitive nerve as Y/N came down from her high. Y/N let out a happy sigh as she finally reached her high. Pansy kissed up her body and made her way towards her mouth.

She wrapped her hands around her cheek and leaned in and kissed. As Y/N kissed her she tasted herself on her lips which made her clench around nothing.

“Don’t worry love we’re not finished yet.”

[crimefightingspiderguy]

marry me

Summary: Shang-Chi and (Y/N) are best friends, but it's not enough. They want to be more, but can they be more?

Warnings: Angst? No spoilers for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the the Ten Rings, just one reference to the movie but it's not a spoiler.

Pairings: Shang-Chi x platonic!reader

Word Count: approx. 2,423

A/N: I based this off the song Marry Me by Thomas Rhett. Go give it a listen, it's a great song! I want to make more fics for Shang-Chi that aren't as angsty as this, but I wanna wait until more people have seen Shang-Chi so I can include scenes from the movie. Hope you enjoy this ❤️

“She wants to get married; she wants it perfect”

“So, when are you two getting married?” Your grandmother asked as she pointed between you and Shang-Chi.

You spit up your water, “Nana, we’ve been over this. Shaun and I are just friends.”

“Then why do you have a scrapbook in your room titled ‘My Dream Wedding’ if you don’t plan on getting married.” She sassed her granddaughter.

This isn’t the first time she had asked us if we were together. Every time (Y/N) just brushed it off as her being old and stuck in her ways. But this is the first time that I’ve heard of this scrapbook. “A scrapbook? This I have to see.” I grinned at (Y/N), her faced flushed and you could basically see the wheels in her mind working up an excuse as to why her nana had said that. But she couldn’t think of any.

“Nana, what did I tell you about snooping?” (Y/N) turned to scold her.

“What? I’m old and have nothing better to do. It has some very beautiful ideas. Have to both worked out the details or are they all your plans dear?”

(Y/N)’s face turned a deep red as I burst out in laughter. “Come on (Y/N), I have to see this” I held out her hand to bring her to her bedroom.

“Look, I’ve been planning my wedding since I was little, okay? I just want to let you know this isn’t some creepy shrine for you and me or something like that.” She said as she hesitantly took the book down from her top shelf above her bed frame.

“Oh, don’t worry, I KNOW this is a dedication to me and our love. You don’t have to hide it.” I chuckled as she punched my arm and gave me a threatening look.

“So basically, I have pictures that I’ve cut out from magazines or printed off from TV shows that I watch with my Nana that I think would go well with my overall theme.”

“She wants her granddaddy preach in the service”

“I originally was going to have my Papa do the service, but that was before he passed last year.” She looked down at the picture of him that she cut out and tapped down at the end of a poorly drawn alter. She put on a sad smile and sighed, “Hopefully by the time I do get married Nana is still around and I can get her ordained online. Then she can speak for both of them.”

“I’m sure she would love that.” I put a hand on her back to sooth her. She was the closest with her grandfather. Since her parents passed away in a car accident when she was young, they were all she had and he spoiled her rotten. Nana warned him not to let her turn too spoiled, they didn’t want her being a brat. But he assured her that he was just showering her with love. I couldn’t help but understand now why her grandfather would go through such trouble to make sure she felt loved. She is worth it.

“And she wants magnolias out in the country”

“I want to have the ceremony outside, have the alter be surrounded by magnolia trees.” She turned the page to pictures of roads and sidewalks lined with magnolia trees, beautiful shades of pink and white blooming across the page.

“Why magnolias?” I remember her telling me years ago that her favorite flower was a white rose, so I thought that she would for sure have those.

“They were my mother’s favorite.” She smiled, “If I’m going to have a ceremony where I’m bringing someone into my family, I want them all there. Even if it’s just in spirit.” She chuckled as she pointed to the single picture of her mother with a crown of magnolias on her head, spinning around in the sun. “I would always make her flower crowns of them, and I think that’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her.”

“I think that her seeing you on your wedding day would’ve made her even happier.” I say, hoping to reassure her. I never met her mother or father. They were gone before I even came to the US. But when I met her, she had this spark in her still, I imagine that it’s the spark she got from her mother. The same spark she seems to have in this photo.

“Not too many people, save her daddy some money”

“So, how are you planning on paying for all this? I mean, realistically a job valeting cars won’t get you far.” I was hoping to try to get her to change the subject so she wouldn’t get too upset looking through this book.

“My daddy left me his savings in his will. My Nana and Papa saved it for when I went to college, but I got enough scholarships I didn’t need it. So, I figured I’d save it for my wedding or buying a house.” She shrugged, “Like I said, I want all the people important to me with me that day. But I will have to have a smaller ceremony because it’s not that much money he’s left. I think I’d invite family and the few close friends that are like family.”

“She got it all planned out. I can see it all right now. I’ll wear my black suit, black tie, hide out in the back.”

“Of course, I’ve made sure you’ll be on the guestlist.” She flipped the next page and pointed to the picture of me and her on prom night our senior year. I’m in a black suit and tie, she had a soft blush pink dress that flowed down to the floor with white magnolias in her pinned-up hair. This was the first time I was able to really picture it all. Not just looking at pictures, but what it would look like as I walked around the place myself. I can see myself hiding in the back as we get ready for the ceremony to start, making some last-minute adjustments to my suit. Making sure my hair looked okay.

“I’ll do a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask. I’ll try to make it through without crying, so nobody sees.”

I’d probably have to take a shot to ease my nerves. I wonder if I’d be one of those people who would cry as soon as she walked down the aisle.

“This is the dress that I want.” Her voice pulled me out of my thoughts, she showed me a dress that would fit her perfect. It was flowing but puffy. She had a long train and lace accents all over. She would look like a princess. I can see her perfectly in the dress, and not just because she cut a photo of her head out and taped it over the model of the dress, but because I think it is exactly the type of dress, I would expect her to wear. This answers my question, I would definitely be the first one to cry as I saw her walking down the aisle.

“It’s perfect. You’ll look perfect.” I whisper to her. I could see her holding onto my every word. Like she wanted to hear nothing more than those words. I slowly moved my hand from her back up to her cheek and cupped her face. “Everything is perfect.” I tell her. Her skin lights up under my touch, as if it’s a flame setting fire to her body.

“Yeah, she wanna get married. But she don’t wanna marry me. I remember the night when I almost kissed her. I kinda freaked out, we’ve been friends for forever. And I’d always wonder if she felt the same way.”

I’ve never wanted to kiss her more than right now. I’ve thought about it before, but never needed it like I do right now. She started to lean in, eyes fluttering shut. It’s now or never. But something stopped me. I don’t know if it was my nerves, or if it was just too much all at once, imagining us get married, but I just couldn’t do it. She felt me pull away and stopped herself, she shot her eyes open and realized that she read the situation wrong. But she didn’t read it wrong, I just chickened out. I’ve wanted this since the day I met her, but it was just too scary. What if we ended up breaking up and hating each other? She was too important for me to lose.

She just cleared her throat and acted as if nothing happened, turning the next page of her scrapbook.

“When I got the invite, I knew it was too late. And I know, her daddy’s been dreadin’ this day. Although he don’t know he ain’t the only one givin’ her away.”

I woke up to the sound of my alarm, turning over to shut it off I felt the paper I had cried over last night. An invite to (Y/N)’s dream wedding. After the night when she showed me her scrapbook, she seemed to become distant. I don’t know if it’s because we almost kissed and I seemed to reject her, or if she just got too busy with her new boyfriend, but it broke my heart more and more every day until I was just numb. That was 3 years ago, now she had moved on and found someone who wasn’t afraid to grow up and commit to her.

I’d been to see her Nana a couple times after she had started dating him and she scolded me just as I had scolded myself.

“You know, I was really hoping it would’ve been you. You would’ve been perfect together.” She shook her head in disappointment as I helped her in the kitchen while (Y/N) and her boyfriend set the table in the dining room. “I don’t like him as much as I like you.” She sighed and went back to chopping her tomatoes.

“No one’s more disappointed than I am Nana.” I looked down at my hands, feeling empty without hers in them.

“I’ll wear my black suit, black tie, hide out in the back. I’ll do a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask. I’ll try to make it through without cryin’ so nobody sees. Yeah, she wanna get married, but she don’t wanna marry me.”

“Hey, did you get the invite?” (Y/N) called me shortly after I’d woken up, knowing when my alarm was set for.

“Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say.

“I know that we haven’t been… the closest lately… but I hope you’ll still come. Afterall you’re in the scrapbook.” She chuckled, hoping she could bring me around to the idea of going. She still didn’t know why I’d distanced myself from her all these years. I can imagine I’ve hurt her, but I only hurt myself every time I see her with him, so I had to do it. “I asked Sam if he’d be willing to make you a best man, since I can’t have you as a bridesmaid. He said of course you could be. It really would mean the world to me if you would.”

While I wanted to be nowhere near Sam, helping him celebrate his wedding day with the love of my life, I wanted nothing more than to be there for her. No matter how she wanted me there.

“Of course, I’ll be a best man. I wouldn’t miss your wedding if the world was ending.” I smiled through the phone, knowing she wouldn’t see just how broken it was.

“Ah! Yay! I was hoping you’d say yes! I can’t wait to tell him. I’ll talk to you later, love you.”

I hung up before I could say anything back.

The day of her wedding came sooner than I’d hoped. It was a beautiful spring wedding with the pink magnolias surrounding the alter in full bloom. I was in a black suit and tie with a flask of whiskey hidden in my coat pocket. I was in the back helping Sam make his last preparations when I saw her.

“But she got on her dress now, welcomin’ the guests now. I could try to find her, get it off of my chest now.”

She was stunning. The sun shining off her in the most perfect way. She was out greeting guests before the ceremony started, in her reception gown, saving the real gown for later when no one would see. Even in this substitute dress I couldn’t help dropping my jaw when she turned my way. She came over to me and threw her arms around me. “I know I’m supposed to be getting ready, but I couldn’t wait to see you.” She whispered in my ear. God did I miss her.

“(Y/N), there’s something I want to tell you.” I start to work up the courage. It was now or never.

“But I ain’t gonna mess this up, so I wish her the best now. I’m in my black suit, black tie and out in the back. Doin’ a strong shot of whiskey straight out the flask. I’ll try to make it through without cryin’ so nobody sees. Yeah, she wanna get married. But she don’t wanna marry me.”

“Yeah Shang-Chi?” She looked up at me as she pulled away from me. She looked so perfect. I just wanted to tell her everything on my chest and run away from all this with her. Live happily ever after. But this is real life, this is a wedding she’s planned out since she was a kid. She wants it to be perfect. I can’t take that from her.

“Everything is perfect. You look perfect.” I force a smile as she grins and giggles at me.

“You’re so dramatic, but I love that about you.” She kissed my cheek and told me she’d save me a dance as she went back to her dressing room to finish getting ready.

I pulled the flask out of my jacket and took a strong swig. Sam was calling me over to get in line at the altar.

Bridesmaids one through four walked down the aisle carrying bouquets of pink magnolias. She followed them up in her beautiful gown, straight out of her scrapbook. A bouquet of white roses with pink magnolias blossomed out of her hands. She absolutely took my breath away, but it wasn’t me she was marching towards.

Find more of my work here.

My work is exclusively posted on Tumblr by me, on this blog. If you see my work posted elsewhere, please reach out to me.

Thank you, xx.

[pfreadsandwrites]

九つの命/9 Lives Translation

Hi!! So, @foxy-and-tales asked me to tell her what was going on in the comic mentioned in this post. After skimming through it, I thought it'd be good practice - and it'd be easier to answer her question - if I just went through it and told her what it all meant. I realised by that point I was doing a translation, and since I was going to the trouble anyway, I thought I'd post it publicly.

So, the full comic is here. It's basically a comic that has 7 little stories about Kakashi's ninja hounds and their lives with Kakashi. It's an adorable, heartfelt story and I absolutely love the personalities that the artist gave all the ninja hounds and the depictions of their relationships with Kakashi.

My translation will be this post, follow it as a script. I don't have the skill or knowledge to edit and typeset and change the images myself - and I wouldn't do that anyway, as it would involve reposting the art and changing it without the artist's consent. But I do think that not referring to the pictures as you're reading through the script really harms how sweet this story is, so if you can go through the comic slowly whilst referring to my (amateur) translation of it, I hope you can get a glimpse of that!

WARNINGS: There is a depiction of an already dead dog in part 4 😢, and some (human!) male partial nudity in part 6 (😉)

Tagging: @scaredlittlefoxy @lemony-snickers @backalleykat @whatshernameis @gwedosuns @topsyturvy-dream @ice-icebaby @cosmiclattes

This is also the artist’s note that follows after the comic, that I’m putting here:

(Artist’s note translation)

"This is a story about the daily life of Kakashi and the eight ninken.

The ninja dogs’ personalities etc mightn’t be faithful to the source material.

The dogs live free range in Kakashi’s house.

There is an illustration of a dog dying, though it isn’t any of the ninken. Please take note.

You don’t have to read it, but below this are the dogs’ personalities:

Shiba: Friendly and sensitive

Biscuit: Childish and Selfish

Akino: Calm and cool demeanour

Bull: Timid and Quiet

Urushi: Ladykiller. A little bit dim. (Note: Himbo!)

Guruko: Annoyingly helpful and naggy

Uhei: Pure-hearted and cheerful

Pakkun: Same as in the series"

Some notes and then onwards into the translation under the cut:

Please take heed before continuing:

I’m not a professional translator, in fact I’ve done very little of this, so there’s some guesswork and liberties taken, and I don't claim that that there’ll be no mistakes.

I’ve separated it out by sections and pages, so you should be able to follow the story from following the speech bubbles (right to left) and referencing the lines here by speaker

Each space between a line denotes that it’s the next speech bubble

A new line but no change in speaker will denote that it’s the same character talking, but in the next panel or speech bubble

Italics means the character is thinking or flashbacks. I'll try and make this obvious as I go but the artwork should make that clear too.

Brackets are my additions, or me translating things like signs etc, or brackets will have smaller background dialogue not in speech bubbles. I'll try to make this clear as I go.

Stuff surrounded by * denotes actions or onomatopoeic actions/words in panels

Ask me if there’s any parts that confuse you about the story!! The way I’ve done this isn’t easy to follow but it's the best my dumb brain could come up with

TRANSLATION:

Title page

(p.1)

ここのつのいのち

9 Lives

(p.2)

1. ‘I won’t tell anyone’

(SFX: dogs playing and wagging tails)

Kakashi: Hm? You’re not gonna play, Shiba?

Shiba: …No. …Hey, Kakashi’

Kakashi: Hm? What?’

Shiba: There’s a girl I like’

Kakashi: Ohhh… I won’t tell anybody.

I won’t tell ~ I won’t tell ~

(p. 3)

Shiba: She’s really cute…

Kakashi: That’s great ~

Shiba: But I haven’t even spoken to her once

Kakashi: You should go for it ~

(SFX: *happy dog panting*)

Shiba: I’ll come back as soon as I’ve talked to her!’

Kakashi: Yep!

Shiba: I’ll be right back, definitely!

Kakashi: Ok, ok (lit. Yes yes)

(p.4)

Shiba: She’s already got someone (lit. she’s already in a couple/has a mate)

Kakashi: I see…

Shiba: She said her mate hurt his leg and can’t walk so he's staying at home…

(p.5)

Kakashi: Shiba, you know.. have feet that can walk anywhere…

So maybe you’ll meet an amazing girl again, won’t you?

(*dog cries*)

Kakashi: ...I won’t tell anyone. (*Comforting doggy*)

I won’t say anything. I won’t say anything.

(Kakashi: Aw, Shiba is pretty sweet to me, huh?)

2. Biscuit’s Sausage (note: I know his name is technically Bisuke in Japanese, but Biscuit is his dub name and it’s too adorable so that’s what I’m going with here! Also suits the personality he has in this story. What a biscuithead this boy is)

(p.6)

Biscuit: -You’re so sneaky, Kakashi! I wanted to eat sausages!

*crying dog noises*

(Uhei: Sorry, Kakashi…

Guruko: I told you!!)

Kakashi: You know if you eat sausages, Biscuit, your tummy will get sick, right? I’m boiling cod for you right now

(*tantrum noises, pounding feet and barking*)

Biscuit: *angry puppy noises* I hate fish, you idiot! I said I want to eat sausages! Sausages! Sausages!

Kakashi: *sternly* Biscuit

Biscuit: *whimper*

(p.7)

Biscuit: Kakashi, you IDIOT!

(2. Biscuit’s Sausage)

Biscuit: *sniff*

(Sign says Konoha Pet Food)

Biscuit: This is the store that sells the dog food Kakashi buys! Wow, maybe they have sausages here too!

(p.8)

Biscuit: I wonder if I'll be able to eat as much as I want… *gulp*

But if I did that, Kakashi would get in trouble

No, maybe…

*heart pounding*

Kakashi kept it (this) a secret just from me, because I'll get sick...

(Apron says Konoha Pet Food)

Shop Lady: *shuffles*

Biscuit: I didn't do anything yet!!! * heart pounding*

Shop Lady: Oh my… you really just talked!

Shop lady: You’re Kakashi’s pup, aren’t you?

(p.9)

Shop lady: Kakashi got you to come here, huh?

(Shop lady: you’re a good boy!)

Bisuke: Oh, no-

Shop lady: Though, he shouldn't have made you come pick it up without contacting us, huh? Here, sausages!

Biscuit: Sausages?!

Shop lady: There’s a pup among you guys that can’t have normal sausages, right?

It was a request from Kakashi.

He said he wanted me to make some especially for the puppy who can’t handle meat.

(p.10)

Shop lady: Well, here you go!! You’ll tell Kakashi we’re sorry for making him wait, won’t you?

Biscuit: Oh, um… But I don’t have any money…

Shop lady: It’s fine, because it’s Kakashi!

Whenever he has free time, he comes to pay.

I have a deal with him, you see. And he can't get the food if he's not here...

Next time, come together with Kakashi, okay?

(p. 11)

Kakashi: *casually picks up Bisuke* Thank you! This is for you ~

Shop lady: Thank you, come again!

Biscuit: Kakashi…

Kakashi: Hm?

Biscuit: Sorry…

Kakashi: Yeah…

I’m sorry too. I gave everyone else sausages while keeping it a secret from you.

I thought you’d definitely want some if you saw…

(Kakashi: But I got caught.)

(p. 12)

Kakashi: But…. Everyone’ll want some if they see this, too.

How about stopping by the park and eating it there?

We’ll keep it a secret from everyone 😊

Bisuke: *happy face licking and barking* When we get home, I’ll eat the cod too!!

Kakashi: Uhh… Well, Uhei and Guruko already ate it…

Bisuke: WHAT?!!!

(Flashback, Uhei and Guruko saying ‘Cod! Me too!! Me too! I want to eat some too!’)

3. Kakashi’s smile

(p. 13)

*paws thudding on ground/running away*

Kakashi: …Got you.

Akino: Ack!

It’s always only me that you brush so roughly, Kakashi!

Kakashi: It can’t be helped, can it? You have the thickest fur, Akino

*brushing softly* It’ll be over soon, it’ll be over soon…

Other doggies: That seems nice to me, Akino…

Kakashi: Hey, it’s falling out, it’s falling out ~

Akino: !!!

Kakashi: Look, it’s a mini Akino!! So much fur…

Akino: That’s too much hair off the bottom, Kakashi! Wha…

(p. 14)

*Kakashi continuing to laugh at his mini Akino*

Akino: There are times now where Kakashi summons us, even if he doesn’t have any business for us to take care of…

(Back then) he never ever summoned us outside of missions…

(p. 15)

Akino: He was doing all kinds of things, but he was the kind of person who never had a smile on his face…

Kakashi: If I had more time, I could make an even hairier one, you know

(Other dogs: *laughing* Akino: That’s a lie!)

Akino: Kakashi…. You're having fun?

Kakashi: *genuine smile* Yep, I am!

Akino: *smile* If you feel like it, you can keep going…

Kakashi: Oh?

(Later, Akino notices Kakashi has put sunglasses on the mini Akino)

4. Timid Bull (CW Animal Death)

(p. 16)

Bull: I’m the last ninja hound that came to Kakashi’s home.

Before that, I was living in a training centre for ninja hounds.

(4. Timid Bull)

The dogs I lived together with there… were all adopted when they were puppies.

But I still lived at the training centre, even as I became fully grown.

Ninja Hey, that dog looks tough, doesn’t he?

Centre manager: Yes, but… he’s not all that suited for battling…

Despite how he looks, he’s actually a timid dog.

Bull: I… I’m scared of insects. I’m scared of noises.

I’m scared of blood.

Centre manager: Because he can understand the stories of troubled humans, you see…

Bull: I’m scared of anything other than myself.

(p. 17)

Bull: Nobody would want a dog like me, right?

Kakashi: I found a good boy ~

Bull: *panicking* There’s no manager here!

Kakashi: Hello ~

Bull: …Hello… *heart pounding*

Kakashi: Ah, one that talks, huh…

Would you like to become one of my pups?

(p. 18)

Bull: Me…? Me, really? Quit it… That’s enough joking around.

Kakashi: What do you mean?

Bull: No-one wants me (😢)

Kakashi: No-one?

I want you, though.

Bull: What kind of a strange person would want me, I thought

(p. 19)

Bull: There were lots of dogs at Kakashi’s house

(Happy barking doggy noises)

Uhei: Woah, you’re huge! But among these guys, I have the fastest legs, you know!!!

Guruko: And I have the best nose!!

Biscuit: And I’m whiny!! (Note: lit. ‘I’m selfish!’)

Shiba: I have the sharpest bite!

Pakkun: I am the wisest. (Note: Pakkun I think uses Kansai-dialect Japanese lol so he sounds kinda... distinct. This is hard to convey for me lol)

Urushi: I’m popular with the ladies ;)

(Akino: I’m the fluffiest!)

Bull: I was so confused

You… you’re not scared of me?

I’m huge, and I have a scary face… So no one comes near me.

They all said they weren’t scared.

The reason, they said together, was…

(p. 20)

‘Because Kakashi brought you, Bull!’

Everyone was totally relaxed, as if they had no worries at all.

They all clung to me as if it was completely natural to do so.

I realised that there’d always be someone beside me.

(p. 21)

*sounds of paws scuffling against ground in first two panels*

*jumping to the ground noise in third panel*

Kakashi: …Bull, this way is a dead end.

Bull: …Sorry.

I couldn’t go back to where you were, and I thought so, but -

(p.22)

Bull: *looking at dog* He asked me to stay by his side.

…He was an enemy, but he was already dying.

That’s why, Kakashi….

Kakashi: …Yep.

Let’s give him a send-off together.

(Note: this was a tricky one because Kakashi says 送る, which means send, and is used with mail etc, but can mean to say farewells to the deceased, which is why Bull comments on it on the next page)

(p. 23)

Bull: He wanted to say ‘I want to bury him’

But Kakashi said ‘send-off’.

Lightly, as if his life force was still there

There… there are a lot of things that scare me.

When I was waiting for this dog, I was scared.

But I couldn’t refuse his request.

(p. 24)

Bull: …I’m spineless.

Kakashi: Everyone else has lots of things they’re scared of, you know.

That’s why they all stay by your side, Bull.

If you’re there, everything will be alright. That’s how everyone feels.

If you’re close by, everyone’s able to feel safe.

(p. 25)

Kakashi: ….This puppy, too.

Dying dog: …Please…

Bull: That dog…

Dying dog: Stay with me, until the end…

Kakashi: Because you stayed with him, Bull, he felt at peace, didn’t he?

Bull: I don’t think that dog was happy…

…Kakashi.

He was very thin, and he also smelt like he was sick

To protect themselves, his owner didn’t treasure this [this dog’s] life.

Kakashi, I…

Somehow, I..

I’m very…

(p. 26)

Bull: I wanted to cry out as loud as I could..

Kakashi: Yeah… (I’m not sure who’s saying this line)

Bull: For feeling guilty towards that dog, and for knowing Kakashi…

For my life being here now.

For my life, I wanted to cry it out until the blood came out of my throat.

(p. 27)

Bull: That dog…

I wonder, was that dog ever able to feel like this, even once?

(Flashback) Doggies: Because Kakashi brought you, Bull!

Uhei: Hey!!! Bull!!

Shiba: You’re late!!

I was worried, you know!

Guruko: (to others) Hey, Bull came back!!

Bull: I’m Bull. The dog that Kakashi found.

5. Urushi’s scales

(p.28)

Urushi: I think I’m good looking

(5. Urushi’s scales)

Girl pups: Ahh~ Urushi…~

Urushi: I’m popular with the ladies

(note: he uses メス, which means bitch in the literal sense - a female dog - and all the puppers use it to refer to human women too. So I just left it as ladies, as I don't think the pups mean it to be crass, they just use dog language and apply it to humans as well as themselves)

Sometimes I’m told ‘it’s probably because you’re one of Kakashi’s ninken’, but…

(Background lettering over the other dogs says ‘Unstylish/Uncool/Lame’)

But my other friends aren’t all that popular, really.

Still, I think it’s because I really am good-looking after all.

(Choruses of ‘Urushi~’, ‘Ahh…; and ‘Let’s play together, Urushi)

Urushi: Hehehe…

Being good-looking is a great thing.

Guruko: Hey, Kakashi!

(p. 29)

Guruko: You got hit by a girl again, didn’t you?!

Kakashi: *laughing* No…

Akino: Why were you hit by a girl? Do girls not like you?

Uhei: It looks like it hurts…

Kakashi: Nooo ~

Shiba: You’re so strong, Kakashi, why were you hit?

Biscuit: You couldn’t avoid it?

Guruko: *Steam from nostrils* I’ll fight her for you!

Kakashi: It’s fine, it’s fine ~

What are you saying?

(p. 30.)

Urushi: Kakashi said ‘I took responsibility’.

Sometimes humans say things I don’t understand…

Girl dog: Urushi… pair up with me.

Urushi: If Kakashi’s saying it, it must be important…

Be… Because I’m one of Kakashi’s ninken?

Girl dog: It has nothing to do with that. I like you, Urushi

Urushi: Wow… *heart pounding*

Girl dog: Pair up with me, and…

I want you to leave the ninken. (Lit. Stop being a ninken)

(p. 31)

Girl dog: I love you, Urushi, but what if, on a mission, you…

I can’t stand the thought of that!

Leave the ninken, and… always stay in the village with me?

Urushi: This girl’s a beauty, and has a kind personality…

I think that I might want to be with her…

Should I leave the ninken?

(p. 32)

Urushi: *perplexed*

Kakashi, Bull and Biscuit: *zzz, sleeping sounds*

Urushi: If I said I wanted to leave the ninken…

Kakashi: (in Urushi’s imagination) If that’s what you want, Urushi

It’s fine with me! (Background: It would be a shame, though…)

Urushi: I feel like Kakashi would say something like that…

Do I want to do that…? Not really, but… *sigh*

Hey, Pakkun.

(p. 33)

Pakkun: Something bothering you?

Urushi: Yeah, there is

I have to decide between two things, but it’s difficult…

I want both of them, but I can’t have them.

Pakkun: … Is it a girl problem?

Urushi: Yep ~

Pakkun: That’s just like you, Urushi. (Pakkun’s imagination shows two girl pups arguing:

Urushi!! Which one will you choose, me or her?! *indignant barking*)

When making a decision about something, one needs to think about what’s most.

...important to oneself.

Let’s say you balance both sides on your scales…

Urushi: My scales?

Pakkun: For example….

(p. 34)

It’s not the physical weight, but the weight of what you think is precious and important. It’s the weight of those feelings.

If you think about which is heavier, you’ll find the answer.

Kakashi: You guys are having a kinda complicated conversation, huh…?

Pakkun: Oh, Kakashi, you woke up, did you?

Urushi: *heart pounding*

Kakashi: My scales lean towards sleep, you know..

Let’s eat soon, okay? Please…

Urushi: Kakashi…. Are you happy that I’m here?

(p. 35)

Kakashi: Hm? Yeah, I’m happy!

Urushi, of course I’m happy ~

(Note: the word Kakashi uses is 嬉しい, which is ‘ureshii’ so Kakashi is making a pun with Urushi’s name here.)

Urushi: *blush* Okay!

Pakkun: What we were just talking about… Don’t talk about it in front of Shiba.

Urushi: Huh? Why?

Pakkun: Seems like he recently had his heart broken…

(p. 36)

Urushi: The thing that’s most important and precious to me… isn’t you.

That’s why I can’t be with you.

I can’t be with you, but… you’re a beautiful and amazing lady.

So, let’s meet again one day ~

Biscuit: Kakashi! Kakashiiiii! It’s awful!!

(p. 37)

(*throbbing pain*)

Biscuit: Urushi’s hurt!!

(*dogs barking*)

Guruko: Let’s go fight them!! *steam from nostrils*

Shiba: No way, is it a girl? Kakashi, you better tell him off!!!

Kakashi: Did you get into a fight with a dog from the village?

Urushi: No, it’s not that…

I took responsibility.

I’ve got a manly mark on my face, heh~

Shiba: You better tell him off!! *bark*

Pakkun: That’s it…

6. Kakashi’s Helper Team!

(p. 38)

Kakashi: I’m home~!!!

Guruko: ?!!! Kakashi, you stink!!

Kakashi: *sweetly smiling* Oh, stop it…

I saw Asuma after a long time, and we talked and ended up getting some drinks… It was nice to see him… *flops down on floor*

Guruko: Take a bath!!!

Don’t go to sleep!!

(*soundly sleeping*)

(p. 39.)

Guruko: Uhei! Uheiii!

Uhei: What is it?

Guruko: Let’s clean up Kakashi!

(6. Kakashi’s Helper Team!)

Uhei: Ehh… But if he wakes up, he’ll take a bath himself, won’t he?

(SFX: Heave-ho! Heave-ho!)

Guruko: We can’t leave Kakashi as he is when he’s this stinky! It’s fine, take it off!

Uhei: Uh, this is stuck half way, I can’t take it off

Guruko: Because you haven’t taken off his leg bandages!

(p. 40)

Guruko: Damn, this is stuck half way *pulling*

Uhei: Isn’t that because you haven’t taken off his headband?!

Guruko: This is enough, let’s carry him to the bath like this!

(*dragging noises*)

Uhei: Won’t his clothes get wet?

Guruko: It’s fine, because we’re going to wash them anyway!

Uhei: It’s amazing… Kakashi still hasn’t woken up!

Guruko: Okay, let’s wash him!

Uhei: Isn’t that… the shampoo that we use?

Guruko: It’s totally safe!!

If it’s fine for us to use, it’ll be fine for Kakashi too, right?

Uhei: I guess…

(p. 41)

Uhei: We can wash his body, but what about his clothes?

(SFX: *scrub scrub*)

Guruko: If we wash them together, it’ll be fine! Hey, pour some hot water over here ~

Uhei: Okay!

(SFX: *splash*)

Kakashi: *suddenly yelling* I’m gonna die!!

Guruko: *screaming*

Kakashi: Even with my face covered, if you pour hot water on me, I can’t breathe, you know!! You really can’t do that.

Guruko: You woke up…

(SFX: *heart pounding*)

Uhei: You really scared me…

(p. 42)

Kakashi: You’d started something, and I wondered how far you’d carry on… Ah, I’m drenched.

Guruko: Ah, I’m sorry, Kakashi!!

Kakashi: Well, anyway.. you guys ended up cleaning yourselves pretty good too. You’re all drenched, too.

Guruko: Then I’ll go get some towels!!

Uhei: Kakashi, Kakashi

Guruko acts the way he does, but he really loves looking after you!

Kakashi: I know.

Biscuit: I want to have a bath with Kakashi too ~

Guruko: That’s not it! It’s just all slippery (note: not accurate, but the gist is that Biscuit misunderstands and Guruko puts him straight)

7. I’ll always love you

(p. 43)

(Flashback)

Sakumo: Pakkun…

Pakkun…

I have a favour to ask.

(Present)

Pakkun…

(SFX: Snoring)

Kakashi: Pakkun..

(SFX: Gasp)

Pakkun: Huh?

Kakashi: It’s time to eat.

(p. 44)

Pakkun: Alright.

(Other dogs: Food~ Food ~

Kakashi: Yes ~ Yes ~)

(Flashback)

Sakumo: Pakkun…

Pakkun….

Pakkun..

(p. 45)

Pakkun: Kakashi?

Kakashi: Hm?

Pakkun: For the mission report before… You didn't need me, did you?

Why did you bring me?

Other dogs: We want to come too!!

Kakashi: It’s just Pakkun for today

Kakashi: Hmm…

Hey, let’s relax here for a little while.

Pakkun: What’s this…

Kakashi: Come on…

Well…

(p. 46)

Kakashi: I want to talk about Dad.

…No. Maybe it’s a confession?

Talking about Dad…. Felt like something we couldn’t even broach. Ever.

I think you felt this way too, right, Pakkun?

I couldn’t tell you earlier that ‘it’s all right now’. Even though it was.

It was just a matter of timing, I guess…

Pakkun: But I wasn’t waiting for you to say that… Even if you’d have said it earlier, that’d have been good, but..

Why, out of the blue like this?

A change like that… Just like…

Just like…

(p. 47)

(Flashback)

Sakumo: I have a favour.

(Present)

Kakashi: The day Dad died…

Ever since then, for a long time, now… I became strange.

I’ve been nothing but trouble for you.

Pakkun: Kakashi-

Kakashi: Even though… you were hurting over Dad not being here too.

(p. 48)

Kakashi: Dad was your first master, right?

You really were precious to him.

….The other day, when you were having a nap, I woke you up, didn’t I?

It might have been because of the food, but your nose was twitching.

At first, I thought you were growling.

When I woke you up, you had a really startled expression when you looked at me.

I understood right away.

You were thinking about Dad, right?

(p. 49)

Kakashi: You were having a dream about Dad that time, right?

Thank you for always being considerate towards me…

But it’s alright now.

From now on, I want you to tell me…

The things about Dad that only you know.

(p. 50)

Pakkun: Sakumo…

(Sakumo: Pakkun…)

Pakkun: …really was a loving, kind man.

Kind, and…

(Sakumo: Pakkun…)

Pakkun: Kind, and…

…Kakashi.

I’ll tell you about Sakumo.

The things I’ve always wanted to tell you

I’ll tell you now.

Kakashi: Okay.

(p. 51)

Kakashi: Thank you for telling me about Dad, Pakkun.

Pakkun: …Don’t you dare die.

(Pakkun…)

I’ve had enough now.

Yeah. Enough.

(p. 52)

(Sakumo: I’m asking.…)

Pakkun: Sakumo…

The two of you are exactly alike.

Kakashi: Oh, really?

Pakkun: Everything’s alright now.

(p. 53)

“Kakashi!”

(p. 54)

(No text)

(p. 55)

Kakashi!

(p. 56)

Kakashi

(Note: I think the favour Sakumo asked of Pakkun was to take care of and be mindful of Kakashi always. This isn't outright stated)

[crown-anon]

aah i thought of a req!!!!! could i maybe request one shots or hcs (separate) w dream, sapnap, n wilbur with a s/o (preferred he/him!!) who draws a whole lot,, n one day they catch him drawing him?? tysm :]

@ghcstbnr asked

gn i just realized i made a typo i meant cc catching reader drawing them- but ty again :)

of course! it's kind of long, sorry about that

I took a little creative liberty with the notion of "catching you drawing." also Sapnap's looks kind of long but it's also dialogue heavy. if you want me to redo it, I will. hope you like it 💗

& a note to everyone else, I don't write for Wilbur yet! I only write for the dream team at this time. sorry about that! this will probably change in the future, though, so look out 👀

CW: swearing

format: one-shot

people: dreamwastaken, Sapnap

pronouns: dreamwastaken's piece is ambiguous, Sapnap's piece uses he/him

edited 27 April 2021

—

dreamwastaken

since he doesn't use his camera, you find yourself with your boyfriend in the studio more often than not. when he's gaming casually, you play together, or one of you will cheer the other one on. when he's streaming, sometimes you interact with the viewers, or read donations for him; sometimes you just sit next to him, soaking up his energy and warmth. when he's working long days and long nights to edit videos, you're content with just relaxing together in the same space. at times you have to drag him out to the kitchen to eat, or help him to bed if he passes out, but…he's really cute when he's focused. (and you're starting to think he does it on purpose just so you can dote on him.)

today is a little different. he's recording for a manhunt that's meant to drop in a couple days. you're quiet, trying to avoid disrupting them. you're perched up on the loveseat, staring fondly at him across the room. he's so animated, the way his eyes shine when he talks to his friends, how he tears up when he laughs…

Patches mews at you from the arm of the couch, as if to say, disapprovingly, I cannot believe how sickeningly sweet your inner monologue is.

and you try to understand where she's coming from, you really do, but the sun's starting to set, and the gentle rays slotting through the blinds are shifting from white to gold.

he looks so divine, you decide. it's unfair. how could I not love him? he's seriously pretty. and before you can stop yourself, you're sketching him out on your tablet. you glance up at him fast to get the details right, and look away just as quickly. he never meets your eyes. soon your whole page is covered in little Clays, capturing the way he feels, the way he acts, the way you feel about him. Patches jumps off the chair, with all the moving. and before you know it, you've drawn up a whole page of concept art of your unfairly beautiful boyfriend. Patches was right about me, you muse to yourself.

fuck. Patches. the same Patches who's been meowing at you for the better part of an hour, now sitting patiently at the door? there's no way Clay didn't pick up on all that noise, you fret. but he's still playing, looking intense as ever. relief washes over you, replacing the guilt.

come here, girl, you think to yourself, knowing Patches wouldn't have even understood you if you spoke. sorry to keep you waiting. and you rise, slipping quietly out the door with his cat in your train.

—

you're coming back to the studio. Patches, fed and sated, is napping in another room. opening the door, you have to stop yourself, you freeze. your boyfriend's kneeling on the ground, sitting on his heels, right next to the door—you'd have hit him if it opened any further.

"baby, what are you…" the words die on your tongue.

my book. my sketchbook. my sketchbook full of drawings of him. shit, he's gonna think I'm such a simp! the embarrassment, the shame, the fear, it's overwhelming you.

you hear your voice break. "…what happened to recording…?"

"finished half an hour ago," he says simply.

and that was that. for the first time in ages, the silence hanging between you was thick and heavy with tension. you wait. and wait. and wait. you wait for the criticism, the hate, the argument that never comes.

suddenly, he seems content with what he's seen, when he looks up at you adoringly, and takes one of your hands, giving it a soft squeeze. "is that…me?"

you've lost your voice, all you can do is nod.

"you…you think I'm beautiful?" he glows.

ah, I suppose I did write that, somewhere in there. you look away. all the things I've said…

he brings your hand up to his lips and leaves kisses on your knuckles.

you sound small. "do I not tell you that enough?" you pause. "that you're beautiful? that I love you?"

and just like that, his nervousness dissolves into euphoria. you both start laughing at the same time.

"oh my god—" he wheezes. "—you're so sappy."

"only for you," you blurt out, and start laughing harder. but he quiets, he hesitates.

"only for me," he repeats.

you sink down onto the floor next to him. he's staring so fondly at you, you can't help but smile back.

"only for you," you affirm.

he rests his hands on your knees, pulling himself closer to you. he's so close to you, you can feel his blush. you let your eyes close, softly.

but the kiss never comes. instead, you're met with a "then what about all those drawings of Patches?"

laying on the floor, tangled up in each other, in hysterics, you distantly think I hope he remembered to leave the call from recording earlier.

—

over dinner, you meet his gaze, and he gives you that look. that stupid, handsome look; the one with the smile and the danger behind his eyes. he makes a point of pausing mid-bite, but it takes you a minute to notice that he's stopped eating.

"what's up, honey?" you ask, sounding a little more concerned than you should have been.

he shrugs dramatically. "oh, nothing…just figured you'd appreciate a muse." there it was. the teasing. you knew it would happen eventually. but the tone, it's kind, it's tempting; gentle, unlike a serious jab.

so all you do is roll your eyes, but you can't help the way your mouth quirks into a smile. "you're so dumb," you murmur with affection, and shake your head at nothing in particular.

Patches curls her tail around your ankle as she passes you by.

—

on the couch hours later for movie night, you're the last one up. Patches is curled up in Clay's lap, purring. Clay, in turn, sleeps soundly in your lap. (you think if he could purr, he would, but he settles for humming softly when you play with his hair.) you might think it's funny looking back on it later, but it feels so tender and vulnerable now. you like calm evenings like this one. Studio Ghibli plays quietly on the flatscreen; you don't know which one, you're not really paying attention anymore.

you're busy tracing the contours of Clay's skin, feeling more than seeing his shape in the dark room. mapping him out in your mind, learning his figure like you're seeing him for the first time again. you think you understand him a little bit better, every day you spend together. and with confidence, you make your first stroke, illuminated by the moon.

—

Sapnap

you only barely stop yourself from drawing a big "X" across your paper. exhale, and start erasing furiously. don't rip the paper—well, we didn't need that sheet anyway. ball it up and throw it at the dark, cobwebbed corner of the room. along with the rest of your mistakes.

you're trying. you're really trying. but those lips. his fucking lips. fuck.

your boyfriend smiles at the camera as he gets a donation with a sweet message on it. it should be so easy. he's right there. right here.

you check the time. it's been an hour. you've been trying, and miserably failing, to get his lips right for an entire hour. today, at least. you scoff at yourself, your misery, and pinch the bridge of your nose. it isn't fair.

his camera's on, and he's live, so you know you can't be in there with him. nobody knows you're together, and you don't want know what kind of backlash to expect if people found out. so you've been avoiding his streams…the whole room where he streams, really.

you've kept yourself busy by drawing. and you've cycled through many subjects in your life, and eventually, been able to draw whatever you put your mind to with enough time and effort. the problem is, your sights have been set on Sapnap, even for months before you got together. okay, maybe that isn't the problem. the actual problem is that you fucking suck at drawing him.

you get going, start it out, do an okay job, but midway through screw it all up somehow. to make things worse, your reference is his 2D image. he doesn't…know that you draw him. you're terrified to say. so you can't use the real life Sapnap as a reference, like you would prefer.

ugh, and this one's ruined too. you rip it up and throw it at your growing pile of paper balls, but being tiny confetti-sized pieces of paper, they don't make it very far. great, something else to clean up later, you huff at your own thoughts. it isn't fair.

—

"[name]?" he calls for you. you're one step ahead, already opening the door. you can't remember when you got here and decided to brood outside his room.

"hey, do you think you can—" he tears his eyes from his camera, his waiting audience, to look up at you expectantly. when he sees you he stops immediately, looking concerned, standing to meet you.

"what is it?" your voice is flat.

out of view of the camera, he mouths, are you okay? you only shrug and avert your eyes.

he falters, contemplates, sits back down at his desk and starts to talk to his viewers. "hey guys, I'm sorry for the short notice, but I gotta cut this stream short. my…" he glances at you for approval, only to see you motioning with your hands as if to say, no, don't.

(you yourself don't really know what for. no, don't end the stream for me? no, don't out us like this?)

he looks back. "…my friend…something came up with my friend. I have to take care of it. it's really important." you can tell he has trouble finding the right words. you can tell it throws him off, he's acting out of character for his internet personality. do you blame him? isn't this your fault? "sorry again. bye guys!"

the second he made the last click, he gets up and pulls you into a hug. it's unexpected, it knocks the wind out of you. you're certain he feels the tension.

"babe…what's wrong?" it's muffled by your neck and the sweater you're wearing. you just hold him, saying nothing.

he pulls away and holds you by the shoulders. "look at me. what's wrong?"

you feel all the more embarrassed. it's so silly to be upset about. "I…I…well, it's a lot."

he shakes his head, to say I'm not going anywhere, but his expression softens, his grip loosens. "do you want to talk about it?"

you sigh. "it started as 'I can't draw for shit', then it became 'why am I afraid of asking you for help?', and finally, worst of all, 'why the fuck can't we be seen together?' it isn't fair. it's never been fair. I'm sorry."

he thinks about it for a second. "okay, what makes you feel like we can't be seen together?"

"are you joking?" you snap. "we're two fucking boyfriends. in this society." he didn't look hurt by the outburst, but the guilt crept in anyway. "…I'm sorry."

he shakes his head, "do you really think I'd let that happen? I wouldn't ever let anyone hurt you, darling. remember that."

"I know, I know…" you don't know what to say. "it's easy to forget, I guess."

"what are you afraid to ask me for help about?"

"I…" shit, you guess you have to tell him. close your eyes, breathe, "I've been drawing you. trying to draw you. but I can't, it never turns out right."

you peek, and he's red in the face, stuttering. "me? you draw me? of all the hot people out there?"

you furrow your eyebrows at him. "don't give me that shit. you know you're cute."

he shakes his head incredulously. "are we talking about the same person here?"

"dude, your smile is literally the most radiant fucking force of nature I have ever seen."

"you're hot too! why are you coming after me?"

"I'm not 'coming after you', you're being defensive about your looks, when you shouldn't be! you're gorgeous, baby."

you're both giggling like girls at a sleepover, the anger and frustration long forgotten. now it's a war of who can be more grossly in-love with the other.

"what part of me," he manages between laughs. "are you having trouble drawing?"

"oh god," you groan, remembering yourself and your dilemma. "your lips."

"my fucking lips? you would think that—"

"no," you warn. "shut up. don't say it. don't you dare say it."

he leans in close, his hands have moved up to cup your face. you shiver.

"don't worry," he grins. "I won't."

the kiss is long and sweet, nothing like the ones you've shared in the past. he takes his time, you savor each other. you feel time stop ticking, you feel your heart stop beating, you feel the way he tilts his head. you grab him by the collar of his shirt and pull him in. and when you part, you're breathing heavy, in tandem.

"thanks," you manage. "but I needed to see your lips, not kiss you into next saturday."

"nah," he laughs. "I think you needed that too."

you choose your words thoughtfully. "do you need me, too?"

he hums, and—

ding!

dreamwastaken donated $69!

:)

you could die. you could really, seriously die.

the response is instant. you don't even see Sapnap move from you to the PC, flushed down to his neck, apologizing, apologizing, and apologizing again. "change of plans, guys, we're doing an art stream!"

the chat is filled with "huh?"s and "what?"s.

"huh? what?" you didn't have the time to process what just happened.

karljacobs: I thought we were doing a make-out-with-our-secret-boyfriends stream :(

he smiled warmly at you. "yeah. my lovely boyfriend is going to draw me! he's been wanting to for a really long time, and his art is really good. let's go get your stuff."

you're in so much shock that he makes it past you and out of the room, while you stand there waiting. after a pause much longer than you intended, you hurry after him.

—

down the hall, in your room, he's got your sketchbook tucked under his arm, closed. you're sure you left it open when you came out.

you only barely get the words out. "um, did you…go through it? please don't laugh."

your heart sinks when he laughs heartily, but he grabs your hand, resting it on your book, about to hand it off. but he holds you there for a second. "of course not. I respect your privacy." he ponders for a moment. "I respect you."

you can feel the sigh of relief when you let it out. "I…love you."

your holding your book now, as he moves to collect the boxes containing your pens and pencils and colors. he gets them all together, but before he picks them up to head back, he turns around to face you. "is this too much?"

you absently reach for a hand, tracing over the lines on his palms. and you think about it. am I okay? is this too much?

"I don't think so. not with you. I'm okay."

he moves to open the door and grab the rest of your things. "well then, let's not keep them waiting!"

—

edited 27 April 2021

[littlechinesedoll]

A Single Man In Possession Of A Good Fortune, Must Be In Want Of A Wife aka that SuperBat ABO Regency AU - Chapter 4

tumblr: chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | Chapter 4

ao3 : chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter 4

---

notes: bruce is very spoiled. and very loved.

also happy holidays and season’s greetings! this is a christmas present from me to you and i hope you like it.

---

The year before…

In the weeks after the disastrous dissolution of Bruce’s engagement to the younger Alpha Dent, as the bruise on his face fades, Bruce declines all social calls. He stays in Wayne Manor, in his room, attending to unfinished embroidery; in his study, reading, writing letter after letter to Veronica Vreeland; and playing gloomier and gloomier songs on the piano as the days go by. And if the mood strikes him, he visits the stables and feeds Ace, his beloved black stallion, an apple and brushes his mane, and takes him on a ride around the property and the surrounding foliage, accompanied by a beta named James Jr., one of the groomers.

He even declines his mother’s invitation to a shopping trip at Bond Street and stay at their city home in Soho Square.

“You’re due for a new dress! Or maybe we can visit that embroiderer you love so much for a new vest! We can get you a new necklace!” says Lady Wayne, lifting Bruce’s chin. “Silver, with your favorites, sapphire and pearl drops,”

Bruce has been reading the same page of the book he’s ready for who knows how long. “Do you think that’s what they represent? The sapphire and pearl drops?”

“What do you mean, darling?”

“Tears. My favorite jewels, shaped like teardrops,”

Lady Wayne pulls her son to her into an embrace. “Oh, my poor love,”

Just because Bruce doesn’t let them see how the engagement affected him, doesn’t mean he hadn’t cried about it. It’s not that he’s desperate to be married. He just doesn’t have any other choice but to be married into a good house that will provide for him. The social calls he received aren’t to say hello and cheer him up. They’re to pry information from his mother so the rumors can circulate longer, farther, reach more marriageable alphas, and with more truth: that he is not good enough for a wealthy, alpha barrister with high social standing, despite the truth a complete lie.

But after an uneventful supper, Bruce puts on a brave face and visits Thomas Jr. in his study, where he’s reviewing his letters. No use for shame now, despite it bleeding into every crevice of his body and corner of his mind.

“Are you busy?” he asks as the door clicks shut.

“Never for you, little brother,” the elder of the Wayne children says, setting aside the papers and emerging from the intimidating desk. He leads Bruce to settee near the window. “Mother says the unimaginable has happened. You didn’t want to go shopping,”

Bruce chuckles. “I’m in no mood for…society,”

“Goodness me,” Thomas Jr. says in mock surprise. “My little brother, turning down the chance to get pretty new clothes and jewelry,”

The omega sighs. “I hate him,”

Thomas Jr. gives him a fond look. “I despise him,”

“Is this a challenge? Who can hate him more?”

“Yes,” his brother answers. “And you win by letting go,”

Bruce huffs. “It’s easy for an alpha to let go, Tom,” he says. “He can deny hitting me and nobody will accuse him of lying. If you ever listen to anything these alphas say, I’m too much of everything they don’t want in a marriageable omega,”

“And what’s so wrong about being too much?” Thomas Jr. asks.

“This family might not be so rigid in the acceptance of James Fordyce’s views that the only purpose of an omega is to be loveable in the eyes of alphas, but the rest of society is. Omegas must do nothing to make their parents unhappy. And I have made them unhappy—Mother is mourning, and I am alive!”

“Bruce, darling,” Thomas Jr. takes Bruce’s hands in his and kisses his knuckles. “Dent made them unhappy. We know the truth—I heard him verbally abuse you; I saw him strike you. And believe me when I say that I am making all the effort of correcting whoever dares to besmirch your virtue.

“Mother and Father aren’t unhappy because of your failed engagement, Bruce. They’re unhappy, furious even, that their precious child was hurt by the very person, the mate, who is supposed to vow to protect and love him. Yes, you’re too much. Much too beautiful, intelligent, formidable. And they’re much too blind to see, much too intimidated to approach. These alphas don’t want to do the wooing. They want the omega to fall at their feet, and you are no such omega,”

No alpha will want an omega that is too much, Bruce wants to tell him. “If this…whole business with Mr. Dent causes this omega to never find a husband…” Bruce holds onto Thomas Jr.’s hands with his life. “I hope I won’t be a burden to you when you inherit the lordship, and that your wife will have the patience of a saint, having me under your care,”

“If my future wife ever so much as annoy you with the littlest thing, it is them who will be sent away,”

Bruce’s eyes widen in surprise. “What of an heir?”

“Maybe when they're done with one or two, maybe three to be certain, we can send them away,” Thomas Jr. winks.

The omega breathes in relief.

“I will always, always be here for you, little brother,” he presses a kiss to Bruce’s forehead. “Now, enough with the tears, my darling. How about new earrings to frame that beautiful face?”

“Tom, no,” Bruce says in attempt to dissuade him.

“I’m trying to cheer you up, Bruce—what about a tiara?”

That gets Bruce’s attention. “Tiara?”

Thomas Jr. grins. He'll do anything to make Bruce happy again. “Tiara it is,”

---

And a year later, Thomas Jr. doesn’t expect to have this conversation with his father.

“Are you sure, Father?” Thomas Jr. asks Lord Wayne.

“Is there anyone else better to secure a safe future for him?” the lord sighs, nursing a glass of French claret.

“Yes,” Thomas Jr. huffs. “Me,”

“Oh, shush, child,” Lord Wayne takes the decanter from the table and refills his son’s glass. “I’ll have none of your alpha pride today. I meant in marriage. Who knows what your wife will do to Bruce when I pass and they receive the ladyship from you,”

“You know I will do anything to protect Bruce, even from my wife,”

“And I am doing the same. This is what I believe is best for him now, even though I made a mistake in Dent,” Lord Wayne sounds tired. “All I want is for him to be happy, safe, and loved, just as we try to make him happy, and protect and love him,”

“Of course, that isn’t everything, is it?”

Thomas Jr. knows, of course, that for a secure future, omegas must marry up. Dent might not have been a peer of a realm, but his estate is enough. This time, though, with this engagement, Bruce will be joining a family with a higher rank, and will automatically become a marchioness once married to the Duke of Kent’s son, and then a duchess when marquess inherits the dukedom.

“He’s a lovely lad, boy, you’ve met him,” the elder Wayne reasons. “Don’t antagonize the Marquess, I beg you, Thomas. Bruce has suffered enough humiliation,”

“I will try, Father,”

The lord sighs again, the smiles as he recalls the thrill in Bruce’s face when the tiara arrived this morning. “Did he like the tiara, at least?”

Thomas Jr. chuckles and takes a swig of the wine. It took a year for it to be finished, set with sapphires and diamonds. “He’s absolutely delighted. Bewitched even. He's already looking for all the clothes and shoes that will match,”

---

Notes because I want to defend the income of Lord and Lady Wayne (Baron and Baroness) because of the casual way Thomas Jr. talks about commissioning a tiara like a painting. In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy earns £10,000 annually and that’s already…rich. Like, he’s really rich for the time, even richer than a lord because he has investments and businesses and whatnot. The Duke and Duchess of Kent might be at £10,000 like Mr. Darcy. I’ll put the Waynes at the top, with an absurd amount of money at £20,000 annually. For drama.

[shatouto]

I.Raised as sith Anakin au asdfghjkl I actually cried at some parts when obiwan was treating his injuries. T-T “I always looked at you like this… should I not?” …. My poor (criminal) child has a lot to learn. I wanna go down the angst road but I’ll never find my way back so let me just go the opposite direction because I feel like ani will short circuit everytime obiwan shows him any positive reaction/emotion that he can’t recognize...

aaaAAHH thank you SO MUCH for these asks, i am so so so happy that you like this super self-indulgent au (at least on my side). writing a very needie babie woobie ex-sith anakin is one of my biggest guilty pleasures, so i am always super grateful when people join in. i LOVE anakin and ahsoka bonding with that sibling rivalry. im not super good with ahsoka so i’ll probably leave that to @obiwanobi; for the time being i will go feral over the idea of anakin not knowing how to read ;;O;;

lost lonely loth-wolf

It’s not just boredom that scratches at Anakin’s bones from the inside; it’s idleness. Under Darth Sidious’s care (for want of a better word), he must always make himself useful, be it training or killing. No waking moment should be wasted; he should spend every of them on bettering himself in combat and commanding. He must always convince his Master not to doubt his worth, lest he be cast back into slavery again. Idleness is but the short-lived quiet before storm.

Having nothing to do makes his old scars ache.

It borders on astonishing him how the Jedi can afford themselves so many luxuries. Music halls, corridor murals, gardens, so many gardens. Not that he has seen all of them; he only saw glimpses from under his hood, whenever Obi-Wan takes him by the hand and walks him through the Temple to get to the hangar, for their nightly trips in the park. He’s no stranger odious displays of wealth, but the Temple is not odious, and that is hardly wealth. Everything looks simple and… soothing, somehow. The Jedi seems not wealthy, but rich.

The thing they are the richest with, is books. Loads and loads of them, along with datatapes and datacards. Anakin hasn’t been to the Archives, but he has heard the apprentice (Ahsoka, she has a name) talking about it. There are datatapes in Obi-Wan’s quarters as well. Obi-Wan can often be found poring over his datapad with one of those tapes plugged in, quiet and serene and glowing at the edges, backlit by the late orange sun. There’s always a lock of hair falling over his forehead. Anakin can’t recall how many times he has had to stop himself from reaching over to brush it back in place.

“Anakin.” Obi-Wan’s voice stirs him out of his reverie. Their eyes meet, and Obi-Wan smiles a little. Anakin’s face heats up, which he promptly ignores. “What are you looking at?”

You, the true answer. Obi-Wan did tell him not to stare, though, so Anakin shrugs and drops his gaze to the glowing device on Obi-Wan’s lap. Obi-Wan, in turn, rests a warm hand on his shoulder.

“You can read anything on those shelves, you know.” He gestures towards the bookcase in the living room. “They’re all my favorite novels. The bottom shelf is younglings’ stories, and I still enjoy them greatly. Ahsoka leaves her comics lying around often, in which case you are perfectly in the right to read them as well. Force knows how many times I have told her to tidy—”

“I hate reading.”

Silence shatters upon them. Anakin scowls deeply, biting the inside of his cheeks. Books are written to corrupt you with lies. The majority of them are but garbage. There’s no need to busy yourself with those things, no need to wade through messy pages of drivels composed by Force-blind loudmouths, when your Master can dispense true wisdom to you. Your Master has great plans for you, so great that you needn’t burden your mind with trivia. So Anakin doesn’t read.

Nobody ever taught him to.

Obi-Wan gives a dismayed little “Oh.” Anakin rises to his feet and escapes to the fresher, as reluctant as he is to leave his warmed seat.

He shouldn’t have said that. At least not in that harsh manner. Night after night Anakin can’t sleep without seeing Obi-Wan’s face: his upturned brows, his downturned lips, his eyes wide in surprise. They never truly speak of it again, because that is how Obi-Wan is: if Anakin refuses something, Obi-Wan will simply let him be.

Obi-Wan leaves on a mission once more. Day after day Anakin passes by the bookcase in the living room, eyes sweeping over the datapads, fingers itching to pull one out - just to look at the pictures if there are any. He could now, right? There are no eyes looking over his shoulders anymore. No Master to sneer at him, call him a silly boy, and order him to go to meditate in the Sphere.

It takes Anakin another day to make up his mind. He picks a nice moment into the evening, after he has had his one meal of the day (the way he eats when he is alone), and crouches before the bookcase. He could have taken one of Ahsoka’s comics, but his eyes keep getting drawn towards the bottom shelf. Younglings’ stories, Obi-Wan said.

Anakin plucks out a datatape with a lilac casing, and takes the datapad left free for use on the other end of the shelf. He settles on the couch, something like excitement brewing in his belly as he plugs the tape into the datapad. The screen lights up in its familiar cyan glow. The cover page is a beautifully drawn illustration of a Loth-wolf under a great tree. He taps through the pages until he reaches the other illustrations. The Loth-wolf is depicted in various sceneries: in its den, between the trees, atop a boulder, under the starlight, and there never seems to be any other being around, beast or sentient. It feels wrong to him, so he keeps tapping to go through the pages. There has to be at least a scene where the Loth-wolf is with its pack, doesn’t it?

The main door slides open, and Anakin almost drops the datapad. He snaps his gaze up to find Obi-Wan staring back at him. Whatever expression Obi-Wan is wearing, Anakin can’t afford to study it for so long. He rises to his feet, fumbling to unplug the datatape from the device with just one hand and the Force.

“Oh, is this The Lonely Lost Loth-wolf?” Obi-Wan says with utter delight, his hand gently covering Anakin’s. “I hope you’ve been enjoying it, Anakin. This is one of my most-read books yet.”

“I…” Anakin struggles. He’s hot in the face and tongue-tied and his eyes flit over their nearly entwined hands in the bluish light from the screen. He dreads the moment Obi-Wan asks, I thought you didn’t like to read? - something he’s bound to do. Mockingly, maybe. The truth perches on the tip of Anakin’s tongue; what would Obi-Wan think of him if he says it? Even younglings a quarter of his age know how to read.

But Obi-Wan asks no such thing.

“What a strange coincidence; I’ve been meaning to reread this story,” the Jedi Master tells him with a gentle smile. “I would be loath to fight you for the datatape, though. I think we’ve had enough of fighting for a lifetime.” Humor twinkles in his eyes, and Anakin blinks, stumped. “So how about we share this?”

“Uh… Yes?” Anakin lets go of the datapad, now that Obi-Wan has a hold on it. “How?”

“Well, I would like to read to you, if that’s alright with you.” Obi-Wan squeezes his hand lightly. “I do prefer to take it from the beginning - it’s been a while since I read this last - unless you…”

“No,” Anakin says immediately. “I—Yes. Yes, I… want to hear it from the beginning.”

Obi-Wan changes into something soft, and insists Anakin settle in bed for comfort, just for the night. (To be truthful, Anakin would settle in bed with him every night if he could bring himself to.) It’s reminiscent of his first night here, only with a lot less blood and a lot more tenderness.

There was a time when Lothal was made of forests. There were more beasts than men, and among the beasts, the wolves were the strongest, wisest, most respected of them all. There were two Loth-wolf clans: the blue-eyed, and the golden-eyed. They did not always like each other. On the night the first daughter of the blue-eyed clan was born, the golden-eyed wolves hatched a plan…

Obi-Wan’s voice pours like velvet, smooth and warm with the occasional sparkles in his melodic lilts. Anakin’s eyes droop; he strains to open them as the kidnapped Loth-wolf princess begins her journey to travel back from the swamp land, to find her family and restore peace in the realm. At some point, he finds great, pooling-blue eyes looking down at him, and ashen fur with markings like the stars. A calloused hand runs through his hair.

The stars blink at him, and Anakin smiles as he drifts into the softest darkness.

[bahorell]

Les Amis (& co.) and what they’re like camping

Enjolras: Is kinda scared of the woods. Also he’s that guy that really has a hard time putting his phone down because “I just have to respond to this one email”. “Yeah give me one second I’m dealing with a work thing”. “omg did you hear about what’s happening in Canada? It’s horrible those poor people” “Enj the point of this is to get away from everything for a couple days” “Right I know…”. So if there’s even one bar of service they gotta go find a different place. When he isn’t on his phone he’s very active in all his friends activities. He’s not super outdoors-y so he mostly tags along when other people do things. He’ll have Baz or Courf take him on rides on their paddle boards. He’ll tag along when Chetta and Ferre go on hikes. He’ll be Feuilly’s little helper person when Feuilly’s working on building the fire. Or he’ll just hand out with people at camp or on the beach of the lake/river and just talk.

Combeferre: Loves camping because of all the bugs and critters! Found the tiniest little frogs on the shore of the lake one time and made everybody look at them. Brings plant and animal and bug ID books with him and will take little leaves or flowers and stick them in the pages of the book when he thinks he found a match. He doesn’t usually snack too much when he’s at home but when he’s in the woods he is always eating something and it’s really when he’ll let himself just go balls to the wall with the junk food. The only thing he doesn’t really like about camping is that he doesn’t get to go on jogs in the morning because he’s smart enough to not run into the woods in the middle of nowhere with no service by himself.

Courfeyrac: Has an inflatable paddle board that he bought! He likes to play lifeguard and will paddle around to all his friends who are swimming and give them rides to shore. He likes to share his paddle board with his friends but he didn’t have enough money to buy a super super fancy one that has a large weight capacity so usually if someone else is on it with him it sinks into the water enough to stress him out. Also he shares a big tent with Combeferre and Enjolras and he likes to sleep in the middle of the two of them.

Joly: Invested in a super super cute small teardrop camping trailer a couple years ago. It’s easier for him to get in and out of than a tent or god forbid a hammock (Bahorel has to lift him into it then Joly wants to get in one… this is also partially because Bahorel sets up all the hammocks and they are p much impossible to get in unless you are also 6’7”) The inside of the camper is just a bed and the back hatch opens up to cabinets and drawers and a counter and stuff that makes a nice little make shift kitchen. He’ll set up the camp stove and the cooking area right next to it. He’s not super involved in any of the cooking it just gives him less stress when the food area is organized and the table legs are on a flat surface.

Jehan: Jehan tells the ghost stories. They aren’t very good at telling ghost stories so nobody really gets scared (except for Marius and if they’re really doing a good job Enj will get a little spooked). They also wake up with the sunrise so they’re up and ready to start the day at like 5am… and they really aren’t quiet about it so they manage to wake up 2/3 of everybody else at camp. Has more dietary needs than other people so when every one gets together to build a grocery list and meal plan for the trip they’ll make their own list. They really don’t mind because they HATE sharing snacks so having their own little baby cooler all to themselves is the best. Bousset: Somehow manages to have the most amazing balance and can get on and off Bahorel or Courf’s paddle boards like it’s nothing but when he gets in the canoe with anybody they somehow always tip it over within like 20 seconds. He is the opposite of Jehan he’ll sleep until like 2 in the afternoon if one of them doesn’t come to wake him up. He’s also usually in charge of getting all the booze together for the trip bc he’s very aware of what everyone likes to drink. He takes turns with Chetta sleeping in the trailer with Joly since not all three of them can fit. When he’s not sleeping in the tent he’s sharing a tent with Grantaire.

Feuilly: Fire guy. Loves the fire. Is always excited for the sun to go down so he can start the campfire. Will not take his eyes off the fire. I mean seriously. They once played never have I ever and when it got to be his turn they timed him to see how long it would take for him to realize it was his turn bc he was too busy staring at the fire to pay attention (it was a solid 4 minutes). Sleeps in a tiny little one person tent that would make anybody else claustrophobic but he LOVES it. He does set up a hammock right next to Bahorel’s. He doesn’t sleep in it but the two of them will take naps together in their hammocks. He also has to dowse his body in SPF 10000000000+ because he’s the whitest person ever, and somehow he still manages to get a sunburn on some part of his body.

Bahorel: He’s the guy thats super picky about the camp spot. “eh i mean this one is cool but it’s a little too close to the other campsite and I don’t wanna be that close to other people thats the point of this trip is to get away from everybody.” “This one WOULD be perfect but it doesn’t have good access to the lake so it’s gonna be hard for those of us that have boats to get down there” “Bahorel the boat ramp is like 1/8 of a kilometer away we can just walk down to that…” “i mean we COULD… but it just kinda sucks” Also Bahorel has this super nice hammock system with like a bug net and a rain tarp, he will not sleep on the ground because he is scared of bugs and also the baby boy likes getting rocked to sleep. He always follows Feuilly around when he’s looking for a place to put his tent and he’ll set up his hammock right next to him. And he WAILS to Feuilly when they get back home because his SKINCARE ROUTINE GOT MESSED UP FEUILLY OHHH MY GODDDD

Grantaire: Not super big on camping but if he’s with his friends he’s having fun. There’s something about being in the woods that makes him quiet… but not in a sad way. He feels really peaceful when he isn’t dealing with a bunch of people in a big city (Even tho he loves the city). He always brings stuff so that he can draw or paint the mountains or his friends on the lake but he usually doesn’t get enough time to really make anything more than a sketch. He’s not scared of water but he avoids going in the lake if it’s not a part of it that’s deeper than his tummy. He won’t get in the boats unless there’s a lot of coaxing (usually by Enj)

Marius: LOVES being in the woods. I mean really loves it. Surprisingly it’s usually Marius that sends out the text to the group chat that’s like “hey is everybody free in a couple weekends? I wanna go camping!” He just really doesn’t like going by himself or going with just one or two people. He wakes up super early as well and usually will sit with Jehan and share coffee waiting for everybody else to wake up. Sometimes the two of them will go on a little walk together. He winds down pretty early in the evening though since he wakes up so early and is usually ready for bed by like 8:45pm. He’s also that guy that wants to eat all the berries on the bushes they walk past and has almost given Combeferre a heart attack like 7 times.  

Eponine: She’s… alright to camp with. She gets kinda grumpy in the mornings because of how cold it is but she warms up (both temperature wise, but also her mood) once she’s eaten and it’s gotten warmer out. She really just likes to lay in one of the communal hammocks and read book after book. She’ll also tag along with Gavroche on a lot of his little adventures. When she’s not with Gavroche or letting Combeferre show her all the little bugs and cool plants he found, she just sunbathes. For HOURS straight. Going camping for her is just a really long fun weekend to get her tan on.

Cosette: She’s so fun to camp with!! She’s like… the best person to camp with. She always does the planning and researches everything there is to do at and near the campsite. She knows all the hiking trails nearby and what areas have service and which ones don’t. She knows which campsites have lake/river access. She also makes the best camp coffee. It’s really the only time she drinks coffee unless it’s like… finals week or she’s got an early flight or something. She also ALWAYS has to tell her dad where they’re going. She shares her location and route with him on the drive there and texts him to let him know she’s about to lose service and texts him the second she has a bar of service. He’s just very protective and she wants to make sure that he knows she’s safe. Plus if anything DOES happen he knows where she’s going and can come save the day.

Musichetta: She sleeps like the entire time she’s camping. She’ll wake up in the morning and move from her tent or the camper and go lay in one of the communal hammocks near the fire ring and doze off with her hot chocolate… which she has spilled a couple times. Once it warms up a little she’s walk down to the lake or river and lay down, get her tan on, and take a nap. One of her favorite things is to go on hikes with Combeferre. He’s one of the only people in the group that can keep up with her. If they go with other people usually by the time they reach the end of the trail the rest of the group is about 2 miles behind them. One of the best parts of camping for her is going home and showering after not showering for like 3 or 4 days.

Gavroche: Spends the entirety of the first day trying to find the perfect tree to put the perfect swing on. He also likes to try to find any big rocks near the campsite and go bouldering and run around on top of them. He still really has that childhood curiosity about everything and no fear. He’ll run off trail trying to find deer or elk. If he doesn’t get back home with a couple scratches or bruises he doesn’t consider it a good camping trip. He also will swim out to Bahorel’s paddle board and Bahorel will grab him out of the water and throw him back in. Gavroche thinks it’s the most fun thing in the world even though he’s growing really fast and it’s taking a little bit more muscle every year for Bahorel to throw him as far as Gav wants him to.

[bondsmagii]

My wife writes online recipes.

It’s just a little hobby of hers. I don’t really get it myself. She’s a great cook, and she gets a lot of great comments on her recipes – she’s one of those people who’s just good at teaching, you know, makes everything super simple and easy to follow – but she tends to write absolute essays at the top of all her recipes. Backstory, where she got the recipe from, how she adapted it over the years. It’s not that I don’t care. It’s just a lot of words, and I’m not a chef. I don’t know what she means by half of it. I look at the pictures, though. She’s a great food photographer as well. Manages to make the food look great – no shininess there, no congealing. It’s a neat little page, and she enjoys doing it, so what’s the harm?

Only thing is, she always stays up really late to update it. There’s no reason why she does this, that I can see. When I’ve asked, she just tells me she was busy during the day and had no time, and I believed her for a while. Then I began to notice that it didn’t matter how busy she was – she’d always wait until one, maybe two in the morning. Then I’d hear her downstairs, tapping away on the keyboard. Once, she even got up to do it. Like, out of bed. I was too tired to ask at the time, but during breakfast she just gave me a blank look and told me I must have been dreaming. We got into a bit of an argument about it, actually. I was so sure I hadn’t been, but… now I’m not as sure. I’ve definitely seen her down there, though. Late at night, when she thinks I’m asleep. I’ve stood at the top of the stairs, where I can just make her out on the couch. She writes with such grim concentration. She doesn’t look much like she’s enjoying it at the time. Looks like she hates it, if I’m honest. Then I’ll catch her reading it back during the day, and she’s smiling again. Perhaps the writing process, I don’t know.

One day I got kind of curious. That night, at about four in the morning, I woke up to my wife getting quietly out of bed and tiptoeing downstairs. Sure enough, soon I heard her fingers going over that keyboard at a rapid pace, like something had driven her out of bed and had her in a frenzy. I was so curious as to what simply couldn’t wait until morning. I thought about asking her over breakfast again, but I didn’t want a repeat of last time. Instead I went back to sleep, and when I woke up she was in the shower like she was every morning, and I pulled up her recipe site on my phone.

The latest recipe – the one she had posted that morning – started off normal. A greeting, a quick update about her life. The first thing that struck me as odd was in the second paragraph. Only a little thing, but still. She said that she was up so late typing the recipe because she hadn’t been able to sleep, but that was a lie. She had been sleeping soundly when I’d come to bed, and when I got up a few hours later to get a drink. Why would she lie about something like that?

More normal paragraphs followed. She talked about where she had picked the recipe up, about barbeques when she had been a little girl. There was a real poetry to how she described those late summer afternoons, the lazy drone of the bees, the golden air. It was beautiful, but I wondered just how many people actually read all of this stuff, and how many people scrolled rapidly down to the recipe. The thought caused a pang of sympathy to go through me. She worked so hard on these introductions, and the thought of nobody reading them made me feel heavy. Then I saw it. About five lines in, at the seventh large paragraph.

Now everyone has stopped reading, here’s what you really need to know.

I sat up a little straighter.

This recipe has a slightly stronger sauce, because the meat wasn’t as fresh as I would like. If you have fresher meat, you’ll probably want to reduce the ingredients by half, or if you don’t mind strong flavours, adjust to taste.

I sank back a little, disappointed. What had I expected to find, really? The water in the shower changed in pitch as my wife moved around under the jet, and I found myself tuned in, listening for the creak that would let me know she was stepping out of the tub. For some reason, I did not want to be caught doing this.

I caught this one on Friday night. Friday evenings are good, because a lot of people go out on the trails. They take some of the longer ones, because they have the next day off. Unfortunately when I went to check the snares, a bunch of teenagers were using the parking lot to goof around and drink, so I had to wait hours before I could collect the catch. You’ve read about how my snares are designed in the Long Pulled Pork and Slaw recipe, so you can see my problem here, lol! The snare worked perfectly, but obviously the meat had been dead for a few hours by the time I had it up and out of there, and I’m a sticker for getting to it as quickly as possible.

Here's the thing. My wife is not a hunter. She has no problem with eating meat, and she can cook up a mean steak and pull pork better than any restaurant I’ve ever been to, but she’s never had any interest in catching the animals she cooks herself. She goes to local places for the meat, likes to source it farm to fork, but snares? She’s never mentioned snares once. She doesn’t own any hunting rifles. She’s never been hunting in her life. I have no idea what she’s talking about. I wonder, briefly, if she’s delusional – some highly specific delusion from a condition that somehow impacts no other part of her life – and then I scroll up slightly and click the link to the pork and slaw.

This time the extra information is hidden in the fifteenth paragraph, in the middle of a long-winded but beautifully written story about catching fireflies with her little sister.

They showed me how to make the snares when I was nineteen years old. It’s fairly time-consuming to set up, but well worth it! If you’re interested please don’t hesitate to email me for more information, but it’s my little secret so I don’t want it right out in the open ;) The important thing to know is that the snares are quick and humane, and designed to kill the catch immediately. This is why it’s super important to check them regularly! The longer the catch is dead, the more the taste of the meat is affected – and this meat needs so much work to begin with in order to make it palatable. You don’t want to give yourself extra work! (And for those of you wondering about the obvious, don’t. They will take care of the rest of the body. This is the payment for using their techniques, and besides, we couldn’t eat that much anyway! My husband and I barely make a dent in all the food I have stored away in the freezer. Just take the cut you want, and leave the rest to them.)

The shower was still going strong, and I got to my feet before I could think too much about it. I was starting to realise I might have made a mistake, leaving all the cooking to my wife. She loves it – cooking is her real passion in life – and I’m abysmal at it, so it makes sense. Having said that, I should have probably taken more of an interest in what it was, exactly, that she was cooking.

There’s a huge box freezer in our garage. I never look in it. She doesn’t like me to, anyway. She has everything arranged and knows where it is, and she likes to be able to run out and grab something without wasting too much time. It felt almost dishonest to crack the lid and peer in – like I was snooping in her diary. All I can see are bags upon bags of frozen meat, but that’s not unusual. She stocks up sometimes. You can never be too careful. Like I said, I’m no chef, so I can’t make heads nor tails of it. It’s dark meat, red, and I mean, it’s really dark. Beef, maybe. Venison. Is she out there catching deer in snares? If so, why would she have to wait until the teenagers had gone to bring it out? It’s not illegal to hunt deer around here – not at this time of the year. And why wouldn’t she mention it to me at all?

Cautiously, I move a few of the packages. My hand closes around a strangely shaped one and I pull it out so I can see better. My heart skips a beat before I realise it’s probably just for her stock. She makes stock out of bones, you see, so it’s not unusual to see a whole shin bone in the freezer.

Except this shin bone is long and thick. It doesn’t look like any kind of shin bone I’d expect from an animal. Looking at it, it’s about the length of mine.

You know, I never could quite place the flavour of the steaks she’s been serving me.

I swallow hard. I slide the shin bone back into its place. I realise, too late, that the gurgle of the pipes stopped long ago. I realise, also too late, that I left my phone on the bed.

I think I hear the garage door creak.