#oh i chose wrong :( i can also sing songs in french

[boldlyanxious]

Panic at the Haunted Maze

Part of meet cute Mondays

My masterlist

Marinette couldn't see her group anymore. She didn't think anyone would miss her. She had just signed up to join a random group but she had turned and when she looked back she couldn't see them. All she found was another dead end. She didn't have her own flashlight and her phone died. Her shoes were definitely covered in mud.

Of course it started raining again.

She had done a corn maze in France before but it was nothing like this haunted maze. The path had been hardened and easy to follow when she went with a group from lycée. She remembered it being brighter and full of laughter. Maybe she was looking back with her heart shaped glasses. It was the unplanned moment that Marinette had finally been able to tell Adrien how she felt. Everything else about the night felt happy and fuzzy with the memory of her first kiss. It had been a couple years later that she found out her two previous kisses had been with him.

She definitely didn't remember soft, sticky mud underfoot with cold rain pouring down. Her pants might be as bad off her shoes. It was worse than walking through snow. Which would be happening soon as she could see the icy rain being joined by large, wet snowflakes as the temperature was dropping. That might be scarier than anything she had seen in the maze so far. Mostly it was jump scares but apparently the dead end she was currently in was so obviously the wrong path that no one had bothered to put anything scary there. She really needed to find a way out before she froze.

She pushed herself on and she was fairly certain she had found the main path. There were definitely louder, creepy sounds and some moving light up ahead. She knew that meant there would be a jump scare around the next corner so she took a breath and squared her shoulders to prepare herself. She could see the person moving quickly towards her in the dark. It was a black light moving back and forth, shining on all the floating ghosts. She could see where they were tethered and being blown to look spooky. But then the light illuminated the person. It could have been anything but it was a person in a catsuit, all bright white against the black around him. The large predatory eyes turned to her and the mouth formed an evil grin.

She didn’t even realize that she was screaming but she could hear the piercing sound. She rushed forward and slammed into Chat Blanc in a panic. He fell over and somehow didn’t reach out to grab her. She raced on in a frenzy to get away. She needed to find a place to transform. She could barely form words when she ran into civilians just ahead. They were trying to calm her down but she couldn’t process the English in her panic. One of them didn’t wait for her to process. He wrapped something warm around her and scooped her up. In only seconds he had reached the end of the haunted maze.

---

Jason was surprised when he turned at the sound of crashing in the maze. He hadn’t remembered any of the last scares being particularly scary but something had clearly been knocked over and then a woman ran right into him. She was clearly in distress about something. Taking in her appearance with a too thin jacket, that had probably been fine an hour ago before the rain and now the snow and then the mud halfway to her knees, Jason didn’t wait to find out what had spooked her. He just wanted to help her. He wrapped her in his jacket and carried her to the exit. There were a few tents set up for those who needed a calm place to recover and there was a variety of warm drinks.

Possibly it wasn’t the best thing for him to do with a stranger, but she didn’t seem to be with anyone so he sat back on the cot in the tent and pulled her against his chest after helping her out of the wet jacket. He kept his arms around her, speaking softly or singing in French. The only French songs he knew were Jagged Stone ones but he just sang them much softer like a lullaby and hoped she would forgive him after. It took a bit but when he was trying to remember the words to Jagged’s song about a cartoon superhero Ladybug she seemed to become aware. She filled in his missing words anyway.

She still didn’t seem to fully realize where she was but he passed her a cup of hot cocoa and she started to sip it slowly. She was no longer shaking and her breathing had started to even out. Jason pulled back as soon as she started shifting. He was only trying to get her calm and warm so he didn’t want to overstep any more than he already had. He left his jacket on her as well as the blankets covering her arms and legs before trying to find out more.

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked.

“I’m feeling very embarrassed and a bit confused,” she said.

“I don’t know what you saw but it was clearly enough to take you to something your brain couldn’t escape from,” he explained. “Did you come with anyone?”

“Yeah. But it wasn’t people I knew. I doubt they even noticed I was missing.”

"I'm Jason. Can you tell me who you are?"

"Uh, Marinette."

“Okay Marinette, we were not able to find anyone missing a person. There were 3 larger groups that had gotten out around that time.”

“I got lost a while back. I couldn't see and I got stuck in the mud. It started raining and everything was worse.”

“Do you have a way home or anyone who will be near you when you are home?”

“I rode in a van that brought a group of people. I could probably find another one leaving if there are other groups around.”

“I think they are all gone for the night. They are closing up here.”

“Oh no. I guess I could call a cab. My phone died though.”

“I have an idea. I live really close to here. It is not just me. I have brothers and sisters staying over. They wanted to make it an all night thing and keep on with scary movies.”

“I couldn’t do that. You don’t even know me and I definitely am not in the mood for scary movies.”

“I know you are having a rough night. You are cold and alone. I can’t just leave you. So if you want to go home, I will take you. But if you want to stay by the fire with lots of snacks and a pile of blankets, I’m offering,” he smiled. “Actually I’m begging. There are plenty of warm clothes and I’ll put on Pride and the Prejudice. It's the solution to all bad days.”

“You want to watch Pride and the Prejudice?”

“Of course I do. It’s a classic,” he said with a smile.

Jason kept pushing because he could see that she seemed interested. He really didn’t want her to be alone after tonight. He put her in the back of the car with Steph after introducing her to everyone, and he and Dick sat up front. They talked and joked for the few minutes it took until they reached the manor. He sent a message ahead to Alfred so he could have a fire going and heat up drinks for them. When they arrived Marinette was dragged off with Steph to get her clean dry clothes and an offer for a bath. Marinette chose to just clean up as much as possible and get directly into the clothes so she could warm up faster.

---

Jason had not been kidding about the set up. She could see that he had Pride and the Prejudice queued up and a variety of foods set out. He pulled her over and dumped her into a pile of blankets wrapping one around her. Marinette tried to argue with the change in movie line up but Jason assured her that nothing had changed. The scary movies were still going in another room but he was going to watch Pride and the Prejudice anyway and it would be better with her. He sat near her on the couch and pushed play. Steph, Dick and Babs were in there with them but as it got later they left one by one.

Marinette felt so warm and cozy. It reminded her of movie nights with her parents. She didn’t know when she had slipped down into the covers but the credits were rolling now. She must have noticed the music change. She had fallen asleep and she was now leaning on Jason. He seemed to be okay with it. He had leaned back into the couch and had pulled some of the blanket over himself. His breathing was steady while he slept and Marinette found it comforting.

She knew it was odd to be basically cuddling with a stranger but she felt safe. Jason had helped her when she was panicking and he had offered choices with every suggestion. Each choice had always included the option of having one of his sisters there. He was protective but he also realized that he was a large man who could seem intimidating and he countered that with giving her agency to make her own choices

It was probably the drowsiness that had her move back down against him. He moved in his sleep and his arm pulled her close. She was smiling as she slipped back to sleep.

Taglist

@theymakeupfairies | @emjrabbitwolf | @vixen-uchiha | @trythisagainlove | @trippingovermyfeet | @tbehartoo

Maribat

@adrestar | @zynna

@technicallyburninggarden | @iloontjeboontje | @certainmuffinbagelcalzone

[pixelwisp-archive]

Itadakimasu!! | Part 2: Try harder, Paradis (Written Portion Included)

 Your brows furrowed - a small, nearly unnoticeable pout settled on your face as your index finger hovered over the reply button. You were hunched over the counter as your fingers danced across the keyboard, various snarky responses fluttering onto the screen only to be immediately redacted, another comment snippier than the last taking its place. At one point you got fed up and decidedly wrote ‘Fuck you Miya’, and to your horror almost clicked ‘reply’ before your reflexes caught you and quickly tapped on the ‘cancel’ button instead. A familiar ring sounded through the bakery at the arrival of a new patron, tearing your eyes away from the current dilemma as you shoved the phone into your back pocket, a smile as bright as sunshine replacing your recently sour features. It was decided then that you would deal with it later, maybe with some of Tendou’s or Lev’s help. They were good at being bitchy when they needed to.

Try harder, Paradis.

The comment burned itself into the back of your memory the rest of the day as you sat on how best to reply, and truthfully, you still had no idea. In reality, you knew next to nothing about this business. You were aware that they were located in Osaka, thanks to their twitter profile. You also knew that it was run by Atsumu Miya’s brother, who’s name escaped your memory and you’re far too petty lazy to bother googling it - and that for some reason, they’ve decided that Paradis would be their target practice for their criticism and holier than thou attitude. It was easy to assume the attention came from Atsumu Miya’s shout out after their visit a couple days ago, but why they’ve taken it so personally, you probably would never know.

Regardless, you couldn’t deny that the attention you’ve gotten from your little spats between the two business was nice - you and Tendou had been talking about wanting to expand and open up more locations in other prefectures (Tendou grins as his hands gesture dramatically. “No no, Y/n, think bigger, like Paris”), but the process of saving up ended up being slower than you two had anticipated. It wasn’t like you guys weren’t making a profit or anything - you had quite a few regulars and had a growing list of clientele that chose your bakery as their supplier for their restaurants, events, etc. But living was expensive; between the business expenses, rent, food, and bills, you had to admit less than you would have liked ended up taking residence in the cleaned out pickle jar that was tucked away under the kitchen sink - the one Tendou insisted on using because ‘with cash, it feels more real’, and had Tendou’s messy scrawl in bright fuchsia ink, ‘Paris’, across a crooked streak of duct tape that had been clumsily torn from the roll. A smile tugged at your lips at the thought of someday being able to take Satori to Paris like he’d always wanted. 

“Paradis, I’m home. You in?”

“In the living room,” you called back, looking back down at the tweet you had been once again staring at for too long a time.

“You would not believe what Ushiwaka texted me today, he- uh, you good?” 

You snapped your attention up at him and blinked at the defensive posture he held. “You look like you’re gonna set something on fire. I support you, of course, but I gotta hear the tea before we get the Kerosene.” A laugh emitted from you then, loud and boisterous, your head thrown back against the couch cushion. 

“Sorry, it’s this stupid Onigiri shop,” you explained as you showed him your phone with a sigh. Tendou squinted at the text, then leaned back with a grin. “ What’s wrong? I kinda like them, they’re snarky.” 

You rolled your eyes. “I don’t mind a little harmless twitter beef, but I almost feel like while I’m trying to keep it light and airy, this guy seems like he’s ready to go for the jugular.” The bitter taste left in your mouth at the mere mention of him made you scrunch your nose, lips puffed out slightly. Tendou must have taken note of the pout because he sighed and climbed onto the couch cushion you were leaning up against. Long, nimble fingers found their way into your hair as he hummed to himself. “Well,” he began, the mischievous lilt to his voice not going unnoticed by you.

“I have some news, but I don’t know how well you’re gonna take it.”

Prev | Masterlist | Next

Fun Facts - 

Whenever Kita tweets from the account, he uses the little Onigiri emoji to finish off all his tweets. He’s cute like that.

While Osamu does use emoji’s from time to time, he is partial to the :) because it just exudes bitch energy and he’s into that.

While Atsumu’s “pull your head outta your ass” might not have seemed very friendly - he knows its what Osamu needs, and frankly, wants to hear. Twin thing, you know?

You and Tendo live together, have since you were 17. You guys are platonic soulmates

One of your core memories with Ten was when you were both drunk in your apartment, and Tendou had insisted on a French accent for the better part of two hours because it was always a fool proof way to make you laugh, especially when you’re borderline shitfaced. When you were in the kitchen opening up another bottle of wine, you heard Tendou summon you in a sing song, slurred voice “Oh Paradis~” and for some reason, it stuck and suddenly Tendou calling you Paradis was second nature to you guys. So when you guys had finally made enough to open up your own store and had to come up with a name, Paradis just felt right.

A/n: Another chapter done!! I went back and forth between whether I wanted to add a written portion to this chapter or not, and ultimately settled on the little snippet above - I really just wanted to open the door back over to Paradis so we can get a little more of my favorite little bakery, as well as dive into Y/n and Tendou’s relationship! As always, I hope you guys enjoy, and feel free to reach out if you’d like to be added to the taglist!

Taglist -

@larkspyrr @oikawaandkuroostan @fucktheworlddude @doctorspencereid​ @keiarma @cherriechurros

[ourplaceinthecosmosphff]

Chapter 20. Courage

‘Her courage was her crown and she wore it like a Queen.' Atticus

When I walked inside after waving goodbye to Adrien, Harry and Lourdes were still in the kitchen. They looked at me, as if waiting for an idea of what came next.

“Well, I, for one, need a drink.” I said, trying my best to give them a smile.

Harry got to his feet and poured us some wine.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Lourdes asked.

“I don’t think we can.” I told her. “I don’t know what happens next. All we can do is wait.”

She avoided my eyes, and mumbled, “I know how much you love that.”

“Shut up.” I said, grabbing the glass Harry offered and drinking most of it in one sip. “Distractions, right? That’s what I need.” I said, looking at him.

“Oh, Harry! Do you have Amazon or iTunes or something?” Lourdes asked, excitedly.

“I think I have both. Why?”

“I know what we should watch!” She smiled, jumping up and going to his TV. “It’ll get your mind off things!”

Half an hour and half a bottle of wine later, we were watching Frozen.

“How do I know this song?!” I asked, confused and entertained at once, as Elsa let go of her fears on the screen.

“Some songs are so popular they are just downloaded into our subconscious without us noticing.” Lourdes said, but I wasn’t hearing her.

I was singing Let it Go.

Harry laughed. “I think you’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk.” I complained, more than contested. “Sadly. I’m just… slightly buzzed.” I said, going right back into singing the words I somehow knew.

“I wish I knew what being drunk feels like.” Lourdes said. “It looks fun.”

“…Let it go–I’m not drunk.” I corrected, mid song.

“It’s not all it's cracked up to be.” Harry sighed.

I scoffed. “Says the guy who–”

“You don’t need to finish that sentence.” He said, making me laugh.

To Lourdes, I explained, deflated. “He’s right, though. Really, it just makes you make dumb mistakes.”

She looked at Harry, “Like dressing up as a nazi?”

“Lourdes!” I admonished, completely sober now.

“No, no…” Harry said, soothing. “It’s fine. She’s not wrong. But, sadly, no. That wasn’t a drunk mistake. It was just… a mistake.”

She looked away from him. “Do you regret it?”

“Of course.” He answered, without a second beat. “Every day. But I was… dumb. Young. Privileged. Completely unaware of what it truly meant. I just… I thought it would be funny. I was an idiot.”

On the screen, Elsa wasn’t bothered by the cold. I drank more wine.

“How about this, Lou?” I proposed. “When you’re… seventeen I’ll let you try wine.”

“Seventeen?!” She asked, surprised.

“…and eleven months.”

“Eleven–are you serious?!” She rolled her eyes.

“Yes, I’ll get you drunk before your birthday, in a responsible way, in a safe and controlled environment.”

“Ugh.” She complained, and then talked to me in French. “Like you waited until you were eighteen.”

“Excuse me? Yes, I did.” I replied, also in French.

“Really? What about the time when you came home from–?”

“Okay, but that was an accident!”

“Okay, my French is not that good!” Harry complained. “What did you say?”

Lourdes gave me a smug look.

“Nothing.” I said.

“Really?” She chuckled.

“Shut up and watch the movie.”

She sighed, “Okay, what’s up your butt?”

“Nothing.” I shrugged.

As I sat in the middle, I saw from the corners of my eyes as she exchanged a look with Harry.

“Truth or dare?” He asked.

I sighed. “Truth.”

“What’s up your butt?”

I gave him an annoyed look, but he just grinned at my sister. I looked away.

“Adrien just gave me a lot to think about, I guess.”

“I think he was right.” Lourdes said, sitting up, pausing the movie. “Not about everything, like going to America. That’s dumb. But about you.”

“You think I have power, too?” I asked, half hope, half skepticism.

“I know you do.” She shrugged. “But that’s not new, you’ve always had.”

I scoffed. “Excuse me?!”

“Mags, I don’t know what family you’ve been living with, but the rest of us know you as the perfect one we need to live up to.”

“That’s-” I started, but gave up with a sigh.

After all, in one of the last times I had spoken to Louis, he had told me I let our parents do whatever they wanted with me and my life. So, of course my parents saw me as the one who always said yes. Who never questioned. No wonder they thought it was okay to not tell me anything. No wonder they were so upset I had ‘ran away’. And, if that is who I was, it made sense that that’s how my siblings and cousins saw me.

“I don’t want that to be true.” I told them.

“Why not?” She asked. “It’s a compliment. Sort of.”

Harry reached over to the bottle of wine, and refilled my glass. I took a long sip.

“Even if it is true,” I started, “doesn’t that mean they can do what they want, and therefore they hold the power? And not me?”

“Not really.” Harry said. “Because they’ve grown dependent on you always being there. Especially now.”

“Now I’m the heir?” I asked, whispery. Almost afraid if I said it too loudly he would leave, as if he didn’t already know that.

“Yes.” He said, avoiding my eyes. “A death that alters the line of succession is a big deal. It’s a big change. People grow used to a royal family, they see us as newborns, they watch us grow up. For someone they expected to watch grow old and become king to die so young, I imagine it shakes up the entire collective mindspace of the whole country… Not to mention the ways it can affect politics and all the people who may try to take advantage of it. They may not have told you much yet, but they’ll need to start showing you off soon, to reassure the public that the family is still there, and that the throne is secure. Just because we’re ceremonial doesn’t mean they don’t need us. Unfortunately.”

The silence that followed wasn’t bad or uncomfortable. The twinkly lights and wine helped.

“Truth or dare?” Lourdes asked.

I looked at her, surprised.

“What? Apparently that’s the only way you answer questions now.”

I exchanged an amused look with Harry, who looked down, grinning.

“Dare.” I chose, defiantly.

She rolled her eyes.

“Fine.” She said. “I dare you to let me try your wine.”

“Fuck off.” I said. Harry laughed. “Don’t think I forgot about the smoking and cutting class bullshit. I’m not rewarding your behavior.”

“Just a sip!” She justified. “You just said that it’s healthy to let kids try these things at home, in a controlled environment!”

“Oh, so now you’re a kid again.” I grinned, sarcastic. “I thought you were a teenager.”

“I’m just saying,” she argued, “you want me to go after it myself? Who’s to say what I might get into?”

“Oh, my God.”

Harry laughed harder. 

“You know, to be fair,” he tried, “I wasn’t allowed to drink and I still did it way earlier than I probably should. Maybe if I had been allowed to taste it at home the whole mystique of it wouldn’t have wheeled me in.”

“Who’s side are you on?!” I asked, as Lourdes nodded enthusiastically. I sighed. “Fine. One sip!” I told her, pointing a threatening finger. “And with one condition.”

“Maman and Papa never find out.” She guessed.

“We take this to our graves.” I told her, serious. Then, I looked at Harry, who tried to suppress his grin and made the motion of locking his mouth shut and throwing away the key.

I sighed, grabbed my wine glass and passed it to her. “Slowly!” I warned.

She sat up, excitedly, and changed positions so she was facing the both of us, sitting on her knees and closing her eyes as she held the cup with both hands.

“I need to enjoy it the most, so... Okay, I’m going to pretend I’m a fancy adult who just came home from... practice--” Harry and I tried to suppress a laugh. “I’ve been practicing for my… third Olympics where I will, once again, win gold, of course.”

“Of course.” Harry nodded, amused.

“…and my hot, live-in boyfriend, who happens to be a… what’s a hot sport?” She opened her eyes, staring off into the distance.

I laughed.

“Does he have to be an athlete, as well?” Harry asked.

“I’m not going to just date anybody.” She replied, all seriousness. “I need to respect a boy to make him my boyfriend.”

“Hear, hear.” I agreed.

Harry smiled. “That’s fair. How about gymnastics?”

She pouted. “Male gymnasts are all… tiny.”

“Swimmer!” I chimed in, excitedly. “All swimmers are hot!”

“That’s good.” She agreed, before her smile fell. “Oh, but that's the summer Olympics.”

“So, that just means your schedules don’t conflict with each other!” I argued. “He’ll be free to go to your competitions, and vice, versa.”

She smiled. “Okay! That’s good. Awesome, okay, so!”

I smiled, and leaned back into Harry, mindlessly. He seemed to take in a sharp breath as my head laid on his shoulder, before he slowly moved his arm up and passed it around me. I leaned into his embrace, feeling his skin and clothes warm up parts of me I hadn’t realized were cold. We watched Lourdes daydream.

“So, I come home from practice and my hot, live-in, swimmer boyfriend is cooking us dinner, and–”

“Oh, boy, you really need to lower your expectations.” I mumbled.

Harry sighed. “I forget what a rare breed I am.”

I scoffed, as Lourdes giggled. “You can’t cook!”

He looked mock-outraged. “Yes, I can!”

“Harry, you couldn’t even flip a pancake without burning yourself.” I argued. “You didn’t even have oregano!”

“Okay, I may not be a great Chef, but–!”

“Chef?! It’s just oregano!”

“…I know enough not to starve!”

“Okay, I’ll lower my expectations!” Lourdes interrupted. “Hot swimmer has ordered us delivery. I thank him, and he hands me a glass of wine…”

She dreamily closed her eyes and brought the glass to her lips. Almost immediately after she drank, she spit it back into the glass, making us break into laughter as we watched.

“Disgusting!” I accused.

“This is awful!” She complained. “Why is it so bitter?!”

“Oh, my God!” Harry said in between laughter, his head back, a hand to his ribs.

“That’s really expensive wine!” I added.

“How do you drink this?!” She asked, smelling the cup, before trying it again, making the same face.

“Ew, Lourdes, no!” I complained, taking the glass from her. “Disgusting!”

“Yikes.” She complained.

“Yeah, remember this next time someone offers you alcohol.”

--- ---- ---

    We fell asleep right there – with the end credits of the movie rolling up, in the living room blanket covered stone floors. Lourdes curled up to the side, her blonde hair sprawling out around her, hugging a couch pillow. Behind her, I still had Harry’s arm around me.

His eyes were closed, peace all over his face. I pulled the duvet over us, snuggling into him and ready to embrace sleep. I let my arm rest across his stomach, on the side of his waist. As his shirt was wrinkled up, I could feel his skin under my fingertips, so I stretched my hand under it.

He was so warm, and his stomach moved up and down slowly as he breathed. Slowly, I brought my hand up across his stomach, feeling his pecs on my palm.

It now felt too warm for the duvet, but I remained completely still, hidden underneath it, with nothing but the screen and the twinkly lights illuminating us in the darkness.

I felt a chill over all of my skin; it felt too personal, too risky, but I couldn’t bring myself to get away. Resting in his embrace, his shoulder under my head, his face right above mine, his breath lightly breezing over my hair, and his warm skin on my palms… it was exactly where I felt I needed to be.

So I raised my hand higher, slowly, just a little more, to hover over his heart. His breath grew heavier, and his arm tightened around me. I felt his lips on my forehead and his heart under my hand beat so fast it was almost worrying.

On my forehead, his lips whispered so low I wasn’t sure I had imagined it. “It’s yours.” He said.

I moved my head only slightly to his direction, so he knew I was listening.

“What is?” I asked, matching his tone.

Instead of replying, he just moved his other hand – the one not around me – to touch my arm under his shirt, slowly making its way up until his hand was above mine, above his heart. His finger tapped my hand, twice. I didn’t need words, the gesture said enough.

His heart, it said. His heart was mine.

“But you know that, already.” He whispered.

I could barely breathe, and the duvet felt almost unbearable now as my skin grew hotter.

But I couldn’t answer. All I could do was stretch my fingers up to intertwine my fingers with his.

I thought it was the end of it. I thought we would just sleep now, and I would wake up tomorrow struggling to understand if it had been a dream or not. Then he spoke again, just as quietly as before, but slower, so I could make out every word.

“Don’t marry him.”

“…What?” I looked up higher; it felt like if I couldn’t see his eyes, it might not be real.

He looked down at me, under his lashes; the twinkly lights made his hair look golden.

“Don’t marry him.” He repeated.

Again, I couldn’t answer. So he rested his lips on my forehead again, and we let the hours tick by.

Both of us took a long time to fall asleep.

--- ---- ---

When I woke up, we were still on the floor under the twinkly lights of the blanket fort. Lourdes was facing away from me, her knees almost to her chest. In the middle, I still had my head on Harry’s chest, and his arm around my shoulders felt warm, but the noise echoing around the house was anything but.

He moved his arm delicately from under me, and I grunted a complaint, mindlessly.

“Sorry.” He whispered. “The phone.”

He stumbled to his feet, crawling out of the fort slowly, and walking, crooked, to the phone mounted on the wall in the hallway, in front of the stairs.

“Hello?” He said, on a low tone; his voice guttural from sleep. “Who? What do you–? Are you sure? Yes, I know who– I just–” He sighed. “How soon…? Okay, okay. Thanks.”

He returned the phone to the wall and soon he was kneeling in front of the fort again.

“Hey.” He touched my arm, gently. “Mary, wake up.”

“Good morning.” I tried to smile. “What’s going on?”

His face was serious. “We have another visitor.”

Behind me, Lourdes grunted. “Tell them I’m not going home, Harry, especially if they insist on waking me up.”

Harry’s eyes were on mine. “It’s your father.”

I sat up, “What?”

“We’ve been through this with your mom, already.” He started. “I’m not joking, he had to be signed on at the gates. He’ll be here in a minute.”

I recalled Adrien saying he would send someone ‘with power’. Surely, he couldn’t have meant–

“What do I do?!” Harry asked. “Send him away?!”

“When you say our father,” Lourdes asked, crawling up from behind me, “surely you don’t mean–?”

“Forgive me, do you have another one?! Because I’ve only met the King one.”

“Oh, God.” She mumbled, just as I forced myself to get up. “Oh, God, Maggie–”

“Okay,” I started, “Okay.”

“Should I send him away?” Harry asked.

“Maggie, the fort!” Lourdes aggressively whispered, hurriedly pulling the blankets and twinkly lights down.

“I can just send him away, like with the others!” Harry repeated, whispery still. Behind him, the pole holding the fort up hit the floor with a dull thud.

“One of you, help me!” Lourdes whispered at us, pulling the chord of the twinkly lights out of the outlet and trying to ball up all of the blankets and pillows.

There was a knock on the door. We all froze in place.

“Oh, God.” I shuddered.

“Maggie.” Harry said, holding on to my arms gently. It was the first time he used the nickname only my family used for me. “Do you want me to send him away?”

“You can’t send him away!” Lourdes whispered, now so low I could barely hear her. “He’s the king and you barely know him!”

“It’s my house, I can do what I want.” Harry replied, awfully calm. “Margueritte?”

I took in a deep breath in and one deep breath out, and then there was another knock on the door.

“I have to speak to him.”

His hands traveled down my bare arms until my hands, which he held firmly. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want.”

I smiled, sadly, down at our hands. His touch was so soft.

“That’s not true.” I said, shaking my head.

He stepped closer to me. “Yes, it is.”

My eyes felt heavy, my throat felt tight. I wanted nothing but to lay down inside our blanket fort into his arms and stay there forever.

“I’m the Crown Princess of Savoy.” I looked at him, allowing the words to break us apart as I knew they would the moment my brother died. “There’s a lot I have to do that I don’t want.”

He looked like he was going to protest, and I wasn’t sure how much of it I could take. So I pulled my hands from his and walked to the door.

My father was wearing a high neck wool shirt, black, and a khaki blazer over it. He was clean shaven, as always, and his receding hair was now so gray it was almost impossible to tell it had once been blond.

He seemed surprised I opened the door, or that was just the smile he gave me; a tentative, surprised small smile. He let out an almost imperceptive sigh before saying, softly,

“Bonjour, Margueritte.”

“Papa.” I replied, feeling breathless. “Bonjour.”

His eyes then examined every piece of me and I was, at once, fully conscious that I was still wearing Harry’s sweatpants and shirt. As we had just woken up from sleeping on the floor after a late night, my face was probably still swollen, my hair a mess, my eyes dirty.

“Tu as l'air bien.” He decided, diplomatic. “Confortable.”

‘You look well. Comfortable.’

“Nous venons de nous réveiller.” I justified, embarrassed, feeling my cheeks redden. ‘We just woke up.’

He nodded. “May I come in?”

I started to open the door, but closed it again.

“It’s not my house.” I explained. “I–”

“Of course!” Harry shouted from inside. “Entrez, s'il-vous-plaît!”

I looked down at the floor as I opened the door and stepped aside to let him in.

It felt so weird. Like intruding and being intruded on at the same time. I felt an urge to apologize, but I couldn’t decide to whom. To Harry for bringing him all of this? To my father for not being dressed?

As he walked inside, taking the house in slowly, I hurriedly let my hair down and brushed it with my fingers, putting it back up with all its loose strands on a ponytail.

The sofa was still facing the back wall, and the coffee table was pushed against the bookshelf. The TV was back to its place of origin, but the chord was clearly hanging to the side. Surprisingly, the blankets, pillows and twinkly lights were gone.

“Your Royal Highness.” My father shook Harry’s hand, with almost no accent. “How do you do?”

“Your Majesty, sir.” Harry bowed his head. “I’m well, thank you. And yourself?”

“Good. The flight was good.” He nodded.

The small talk was killing me. Harry, however, stood tall and confident, one hand firmly shaking my father’s, the other casually in his sweatpants’ pocket. He also had sleep all over his face.

“Is my other daughter around?” My father asked, casually. “Or is she still asleep?”

“I’m here!” Lourdes called from the stairs. Two seconds later, she jumped as if having leapt over the last two steps. “Papa, bienvenue!”

She was in jeans and my sweater, slightly too big for her, but in a stylish way. Her hair was brushed down and, though her face still looked a little swollen as well, she overall looked as though she had been up for a while.

She kissed his cheeks and he held her in place, hands in her shoulders. He spoke in French,

“I am very angry with you.”

Her face fell. “I wasn’t smoking!”

“I know that, and we will talk about it at home.” He replied. “But running away? Not answering your phone? We were worried!”

“It’s hardly running away when you sent me here.” She justified. “And I was with Maggie! In a palace! I couldn’t be safer!”

They went on like this, in French, as he berated her and she tried to justify herself. I caught Harry’s eyes behind them, and tried to give him an apologetic, humorous, if awkward look. But he looked away.

“Papa?” I called after a while of this, trying to be brave, remembering Harry’s French wasn’t so good. “Maybe we should speak in English? As we are in England. And in Harry’s house.”

They all looked at me, all somewhat surprised.

“Of course.” He said, smiling at him. “Sir, I am sorry to trespass even more on your hospitality. Is there a place where I would be able to speak to my daughter with some privacy?”

Harry thought on it for a second, looking around the living room. Lourdes gave me a silent, desperate look.

“Why don’t you talk here?” Harry proposed. “I have been meaning to show Lourdes to the gallery in Kensington, anyway. It’s closed to the public today, so it should be safe. What do you say, Lou?”

Dad’s eyebrow twitched at the nickname, perceptible only to those who knew him enough.

Lourdes looked at each of us and sighed.

“Sure.” She said, rolling her eyes. “Why not?”

Harry followed her to the door.

“Thank you.” I told him as he passed by me.

He smiled in acknowledgement, but didn’t look at me.

They left.

I could hear each of my heartbeats as I looked back at my father. He walked over to the armchair and looked at me, smiling sadly.

“I can wait until you get changed.” He said.

I nodded and had to stop myself from running out of the room. At the stairs, I realized Harry and my sister had just shoved all of the blankets and pillows out of sight. They were crammed in the small space precariously, only a tiny passage through in the corner where Lourdes probably made her way up and down to change.

I schooled my face to not react to it and attempted to climb up as quietly as possible, hoping my father wouldn’t make his way to this end of the room and see it.

In the guest room, Lourdes’ pajamas were on the floor. I picked them up and put them on the bed, as well as my bag, quickly emptying its contents to find clothes that felt appropriate. My dress for the wedding was wrinkled, so I would have to make do with jeans and the simple blouse I had on in the train.

As I got dressed, I was overcome with shame again. Why did I feel so embarrassed at wearing pajamas or not having formal day clothes? How was I to know he was coming? And why were my clothes not good enough if they were mine? If I liked them?

I was reminded of Louis, lecturing me about dressing up the way mom wanted me to. I stopped myself just before pulling out the shirt; Harry’s shirt. I had told my brother I would stand up for myself and my own fashion choices, but now I had to stand up for a lot more. For being heard and for being told the truth. For being allowed to do something with my life other than look pretty in pictures. I had to.

I took in a deep breath and kept Harry’s shirt on. Then, I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and went back downstairs.

Dad was standing in front of the bookcase holding a picture frame in his hand, the same one Lourdes had noticed when she arrived.

He made no comments of the clothes I was wearing; instead, he returned the photo to the shelf and said, as he walked back to the armchair.

“I knew her, you know?” He started in French. “The late Princess of Wales.”

“Yes, I remember.” I said. “I was there when she visited Savoy with Prince Charles.”

He seemed confused. “Right. That must have soon before she passed.”

“It was.”

“You won’t remember this, Maggie, but we were actually in Britain when it happened.” He sat down, crossing his legs and sitting back, leisurely. “We went to–”

“I do remember it, Papa.” I interrupted. “That was the first time I met Harry.”

He suppressed his surprise better this time, nodding.

“He was a good kid. Bright, charming, smart… It was a terribly traumatizing event to happen to such a young child.”

I grabbed a chair from the kitchen table and placed it across the room from him, in front of the still turned sofa.

“Which is what I imagine made him into such a problematic young fellow.”

“Should we talk about us now?” I asked.

As anxious as I was to have this conversation with my father, I was more impatient at his tone regarding Harry.

“We are.” He replied, gravely. “I can’t pinpoint anything else that might have brought you to this, Margueritte.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Henry. What is it? What did he say to you to get you here? To get you to do this?”

My mouth dropped open, and I, for one second, was almost amused.

“Are–? Are you serious?!”

“I understand he is charming and fun, Margueritte, a lot of men are, particularly to pretty girls like you–”

“Wow, Papa–”

“But he is older than you, and he has a reputation, which has not been manufactured with no cause.” He insisted. “He’s wrong for you even before we focus on the fact that he is a foreign royal.”

“Do you hear yourself?!” I asked, choked. “Harry is not the problem, Papa! He has nothing to do with this!”

“My daughter,” he started, enunciating the word loudly, “my firstborn, the little girl I raised, would never have done something this outrageous! Goodness, Margueritte, you’re a good girl! You’re kind and respectful, and you have always put others before yourself! You were always a good student, you went to Harvard, for goodness’ sake!” He took in a heavy breath, “To just disappear like this with no effort to alleviate our minds! Do you have any idea how worried we were?! What went through my head when they came into my office to tell me they had no idea where you were?!”

He uncrossed his legs, sitting up now, restless, fidgeting with his hands.

“I have sat through so many security meetings discussing the risk assessments for each of you, having to hear from expert after expert what are the most likely horrible things to happen to you, and having to decide what the best way to protect you is! And to suddenly be told that the two security officers who were meant to keep you safe simply lost track of you in a foreign country!”

His voice was raising with each word, until the last one, which he shouted, finally getting to his feet, restless.

“Did you even spare a single thought to your mother and me?! We could barely sleep for three days, we were in and out of meetings with the staff trying to decide what was the best way to go about the situation,” he went on, now walking up and down the living room, “Should we contact the police? Interpol? Ask the Scotland Yard to intervene?! So many people trying to show us what the best resolution would be, to then be told you were just… sleeping over at Kensington, walking right in of your own free will as if it’s a holiday!”

He ran a hand through his hair, nervously; a far cry from the composet monarch he was in public.

“And not one call… Not one call going through…” he mumbled. “It’s alright, I tried to tell them. She probably had an issue with her phone. It must be a misunderstanding… Marie-Margueritte would never be this dismissive and disrespectful!” he shouted, again. “And to then have Auguste’s account of how he was treated when he was merely trying to make sure of your wellbeing. Do you think that is an appropriate way to treat your private secretary?! You’re a Crown Princess, Margueritte! You have a responsibility to the people whose job revolves around making you the best future monarch you can be! Do you understand that?!”

My palms were aching, burning, as I scratched them with my nails, tightly holding my hands in fists as I took in deep breath after deep breath.

“Not to even speak of the disrespect towards your mother! To not even see her, after she made the whole trip here?! To allow your… Harry,” he said, with contempt, “to treat her as… as–!”

“He was nothing but polite and kind to maman.” I interrupted, speaking for the first time, my voice barely a shaky whisper. “She was the one who changed the tone of the conversation, Harry did nothing but be honest about why she wasn’t allowed to go upstairs, and he was still polite at that.”

“And why didn’t you see her, Margueritte?! If you had a problem, why didn’t you come home and speak to us about it?! Is this fun for you? Is this what the plan was the whole time?! Because I’ll tell you this, I have never yelled at any of you kids like this, never since you were born!” He sighed. “What is the point? Tell me?!”

He removed his blazer, methodically, slowly, breathing heavily still.

“And Christopher!” he added, shouting. “What are we to tell him?! As far as I understand he left for Canada thinking his girlfriend was going home and all was normal, how are we to explain to him this little holiday you took at another men’s house?! You think he’ll enjoy this information?! Or did you just assume your mother and I would lie for you?!”

“Christopher is my problem, not yours.” I said, shaky. Hands hurting, still. “And I’ll tell him what–”

“I don’t think you understand, Margueritte!” He interrupted, walking over, and sitting again, leaning into his knees to look me in the eyes. “Whatever is your problem, is our problem, too! You’ll be Queen to Savoy one day, you don’t get the privilege of privacy, anymore! Or you think it’s not a big deal that Christopher will be the country’s consort one day?! You think that’s something we can just worry about later?!”

I tried taking another calming, deep breath, but I couldn’t anymore. It was as if my throat was also tighter from the anxiety and anger.

“Do you even know how many threats we’ve received since you became Crown Princess?!” He asked, whispery now. “Do you even realize the amount of detail and accurate information that has to be in a threat for it to be deemed credible?! Do you even know how close you could have come to coming to serious harm in the way here when you were completely alone?!”

“No!” I interrupted, using all of the strength left in me to raise my voice enough so he would hear. “I don’t! I don’t know any of it! Do you know why?!”

I waited, looking at him, but, confused, he seemed to have no response.

“Because you don’t tell me anything!” I told him. “None of you! And that was fine, Papa, when I was a child, or when I was just someone who would never be needed to work for the Crown, but from the moment Louis died I knew my life had changed completely, and I kept waiting for someone to tell me how and what to do, but no one did! Even when I asked! And I asked, and asked! Almost every day I asked, and I was dismissed and condescended to, by almost every single person in the Palace, including you and Auguste, who is supposed to work for me, somehow!”

I ran my hands down my jeans, trying to assuage the burn of the scratches there.

“You talked to me when it was about quitting my job to give the press something to talk about,” I started, “and to make sure I knew I had no choice in what my own staff was, but that was it. I was never given any… choice, any direction.”

“Alright.” He nodded, sitting back again. “Alright, then what do you want, Margueritte? What is it about your life that is so upsetting now?!”

“You do not get to say it like that anymore!” I shook my head. “You don’t get to make me feel like my feelings don��t matter, Papa. If you do, this conversation is over right now.”

“When have I ever–?!”

“You always do that!” I interrupted. “At first it was about me being too young to have any real issues, it was about being too pushy or demanding, when all I wanted was some power over my own life!”

“Margueritte, if sometimes I am harsh, it’s because I don’t think you understand what your life really is.”

“I know I am privileged!” I assured. “I am very aware of that, but that was never the problem. No, the problem is that you, and maman as well, got used to me always being accommodating of whatever it is you needed! We need a child for a photo opportunity, well, Margueritte can catch up with school later, by herself, let’s pull her from class to bring her to an event, then! Well, we need to improve female registration for military service, Margueirtte would attract a lot of girls, I’m sure she wouldn’t mind postponing university a year!”

“Are you saying we made you do those things?” He asked, sounding truly concerned. “You were always given a choice, Margueritte. That was always important to us!”

“But is it a choice when the people asking are the most important people in my life?!” I asked, eyes watering. “When the people asking are the two people I love the most in the world? The two people I could see working so hard to do a good job for the entire country and to be as good to us as they could be?! How could I say no when saying no was upsetting to you? How could I say no to anything when I knew there was so little I could actually do to help!”

He looked down, hands fidgeting again. But I powered through, thinking of Louis; thinking of the promise I had made to stand up to myself.

“The truth is I think you got used to me being the easiest answer to whatever problem you had. Always.” I said, trying to sound calmer. “Even when I was in America! If there was a scandal, like with uncle’s divorce, and you needed someone to put in front of a camera to draw attention to it, you never had an issue asking me to come home, and I never said no, because I felt too guilty.”

I felt a single tear fall from my eye.

“I used to feel guilty that I didn’t want this life, when you had no choice, when Louis had no choice.” I confessed. “And then, when he died, I felt so guilty about inheriting his title that I couldn’t say no to anything. Even if I didn’t want to quit my job in such a public way. Even if I didn’t want to fire Cadie. Or Joyce.”

I dried my cheek with one hand, taking a deep breath. Dad hadn’t moved, yet.

“You got used to me being easy, dad. To not fighting. To not trying too hard to stand out, to accepting anything you needed. Even if it was about my life. My choices. My staff. My clothes?!”

“When have I ever policed your clothes, Margueritte?!” He asked, hoarse.

“You may not have done it, but you didn’t try to stop it, either.” I replied. “And I can’t go on like that, Papa. I can’t go on letting you, and Maman, and Montennon or Auguste or whoever, make me into a paper doll Crown Princess, to be dressed up and sent away to look nice for a picture, that’s not who I am. I can’t do that anymore.”

He nodded, slowly, seeming alarmingly calm.

“I’m the Crown Princess now, and I accept that.” I told him. “Mostly because I don’t have a choice, but I accept it regardless. But if I am to do this, then things can’t be the way they’ve always been… I can’t just say yes, and you can’t just dismiss me when I say no. I need to be allowed to ask questions, and I need actual answers. If I’m to learn what I need to learn, then I need the staff to see me as the heir, as their future monarch, not as good, obedient Princess Margueritte, and they won’t as long as you still treat me as the good daughter you’re trying to protect, or the one you pull out when you need help because you know I won’t complain!”

He took in a deep breath, biting his lip; his hand scratched his chin, and he looked at the center table behind me, thoughtfully.

“I’m sorry I disappeared.” I told him. “I honestly am, but I would do it again. Because I didn’t know what else to do… and let’s be honest, why should I be home? It’s not like I have been doing a lot of work. I don’t have a job anymore, and the work I wanted to do was quickly shut down by Auguste.”

He sighed, exhausted. “There’s a lot going on that you don’t know, Margueritte.”

“Then tell me!” I said, louder than intended. “That is my point!”

“There are things you’re not ready for.” He shook his head. “This job isn’t as simple as you seem to think it is. You can’t be ready one day after someone dies unexpectedly.”

“I didn’t expect to be ready in one day!” I assured him. “I wanted to learn. I just wanted to know there was some sort of plan that didn’t include telling me to avoid the news and just go enjoy my day.”

“That is not what happened–”

“That is exactly what happened!” I contradicted.

“Do you think maybe we just wanted to give you time to grieve for your brother?” He asked.

“I did.” I nodded, enthusiastically. “More than that, I assumed you needed time for that. I assumed it just felt too hurtful to see me in his place when he had just died.”

I looked away, tears falling from my eyes again when my voice broke.

“But months passed, Papa.” I went on. “Months. Then the year was done. And nothing. And fine, if I’m to do nothing, then I’ll do nothing. But why should I quit my job, then?! If I can’t have an active part in this role, then why should I be home, doing nothing, every day?! Should I spend every day just waiting for the moment you’ll need me for another photo opportunity?!”

“It’s much more than that, Margueritte.”

“Good.” I nodded. “That’s good, then tell me what it is!”

We sat in silence, looking away from each other as I tried to dry my tears as soon as they fell.

“I realize that it’s hard…” I started. “I miss him every day. I cry every day. I think about all the things he won’t be here for, every day… And I can only imagine what it’s like for you, having raised him for this job his whole life and now to not only be unable to see him do it, but to have to accept me into it. But, Papa, you need to understand that I did not want this.”

“…You don’t think I know that?!”

“I honestly don’t know!” I shrugged, crying. “But I can understand that it can feel like… like a betrayal to Lou. For me to have his title now. I feel it, too. But I think he would know, surely he would know that I did not wish for this!” 

I tried to dry my tears again, as they fell more freely now.

“For the rest of my life, every time I wear that crown, every time I am addressed as Crown Princess, or Queen, I will be reminded of the fact that my brother should be here.”

I stood up, and walked over to the bathroom near the stairs. I washed my face with cold water, trying to take in deep breaths, trying to think of the promise I made to Louis. Trying to fight the desire to tell my father I would just do whatever he wanted as long as this ended.

When I came back, he was using a handkerchief to dry his own cheeks.

“Do you remember…?” He started, sniffling slightly. “On the train ride to London last year, for the tour, when you asked me to promise you that would be allowed the space and time you needed to focus on your own life?”

The memory was like a dream from a lifetime ago; I nodded, as I sat back down on my chair.

“When your brother died,” he started, so calm and in such a low tone now that I could barely hear him. “My first thought, after him, was you. It was the heartbreaking realization that I would not be able to keep my promise.”

He definitely stifled a sniff, now.

“I have spent so much time feeling guilty over bringing you and your brother and sister into this family, Margueritte.” He admitted. “I have loved you every single day of your lives, but there hasn’t been one day that I don’t fear you’ll resent me for bringing you into a world where you have no real free will. No expectation of privacy… So, when I knew how much I would have to ask of you… All I wanted to do was try and keep your life from changing too much. I figured, if I can keep you out of the conversations that need to happen, if I can keep you just informed enough, then you can go about your life, and those changes won’t feel so disruptive. I just… I didn’t want you to have to give up anything.”

“But that is not your choice.” I told him. “It’s not your choice, either, Papa… You don’t think I know that?”

“I was afraid, chèrie.” He told me, apologetic. “I was afraid you’d blame me. And you’d be right to do it.”

“This is not your fault.” I said, louder. “Keeping me out of the loop on conversations about my life, that was your choice. And it was a bad one. But the changes that need to happen, those are not your choice. I know that.”

He nodded, almost reluctantly. 

“We can’t bring him back.” I said. “And we can’t stop my life from changing, it already has. But you can help me. You can help me be… good at this. Good enough that Louis would be proud of me.”

He nodded, took in a deep breath and ran his hand down his face, staring into the floor. He had never looked more tired. I sat back on my chair, hands in my lap, no longer closed in fists. I tried to calm my breathing, and to allow him time to decide where we should go next.

“Okay.” He said, after a while, nodding. “So, you want to be included.”

I sat up. “Yes.”

“Okay.” He nodded again. “I’ll make sure you’re more included going forward.”

“That’s not good enough.”

He sighed. “I don’t know what that means, Margueritte.”

“I want a meeting.” I said, bracing myself, trying to ignore the painful anxiety ache in my stomach. “With the whole staff, mine and whomever from yours needs to be there. I want… to be told, item by item, everything that needs to be different now. I want to understand why it needs to be different. I want to choose a new security team, to be headed by Joyce.”

“Joyce has been transferred, Margueritte.”

“Then transfer her back.” I insisted. “And Cadie, too.”

“Margueritte.” He sighed. “If you’re serious about understanding what your new role is, and I think you are, you’ll have to be prepared to accept that there are things that are out of your control. Sometimes, staff issues are one of them.”

“Then you can explain that to me… at the meeting. With our staff there, including Cadie.”

He sighed again. “You can’t fire Auguste.”

“We can discuss it in the meeting.” I repeated. “It’s more professional.”

He grinned, scratching his nose. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“The staff will need time to prepare material for a meeting this… itemized.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “It’s pretty early now, how about tomorrow night? That should give them time to prepare.”

He looked at his watch. “…I suppose.”

“Good.” I nodded. “Then it’s settled. Tomorrow. Six?”

He let out a long sigh, and nodded as he got to his feet. “You will have to be home. Will you be home?”

I gulped, looking around the room, already missing it. Realizing I would have to leave Harry’s clothes behind, pack up my bag, and travel back to being five hours away from him. Realizing I would have to sleep alone again. 

But I had been right before. I had to do a lot that I didn’t want to.

“I will.”

--- ---- ---

[A/N: Extra long, meaty chapter! WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT ‘DONT MARRY HIM’ MOMENT???? And MM finally standing up for herself??? But now she has to leaaaaaaave??????????? Let me know what you think??? Thank you SO MUCH for reading, I cant thank you enough! What do you want to see next? <3 ]

[therookieking412]

Rouge

I had come to live a penniless existence. I had come to write about truth, beauty, freedom… and that which I believed in above all things: Love. There was one problem. I'd never been in love.

Just then, an unconscious Arabian fell through my roof, he was joined by a woman dressed as a duck.

“How to ya do!” She smiled, her hands moving quickly to clean the boards and dust off the Arab, and then four heads were peering down at me through the hole in my roof.

They asked me to step in for the Arab while he slept, and then in the next minute the writer quit the story, and I got the job.

“Congratulations!” The Duck said, hitting me on the back, the pianist and the Arab had joined us for… Absinthe.

“Duck, Mr. Cat will never agree-” The Arab began.

“Have you ever written a play before?”

“No, I-”

“The boy has talent!” She spread her arms, her hand hit my face. “Oops!”

“Wait, I- I can’t write for you!”

“Why not?” She pouted, the glass in her other hand had spilled.

“Well, I don’t know if I can-”

“Do you believe in Beauty?” She asked, taking my hand.

“Yes.”

“Freedom?” The Arab asked.

“Of course!”

“Truth?” the pianist said.

“Yes.”

“Love?” Duck asked me.

“Love?” I stared into her eyes. “Love? Love? Above all things I believe in love!”

So, we formed a plan, to convince Mr. Cat to let me write the show.

A plan that involved…

Femio.

And with that, I had my first taste of Absinthe.

We flew to the Moulin Rogue, where it was loud and colorful, where everyone was so very alive, they were singing and dancing, men and women, women and women, men and men.

It seemed like chaos, it seemed like peace.

And I was in the center of it.

Then, everything fell silent, people moved from the center of the floor, the lights dimmed, and I heard a voice, the voice of an angel.

“The French are glad to die for love.”

I could see no one, but then, I out my gaze on the heavens, and there he was, floating in the sky, sparkling under the concentrated lights.

All eyes were on him, and I fell victim to his charms.

I saw Mr. Cat look over in my direction, and then he looked right into my eyes.

I realized that I would do anything for him, I would die for him, I would love him for all eternity.

“The prince is here!” I heard Duck whisper to Fakir.

It broke my concentration, my head turned to scold the girl for speaking out of turn, and then, out of the corner of my eye, pink.

There he stood, his ensemble changed, something feathered and pink, a shining diamond heart sta right above his-

“Sorry, boys!” He shouted over the rest of the crowd. “Ladies choice.” He held out his hand to me and I was too stunned to take it. He pouted and whined, and the rest of the crowd pouted with him.

I opened my mouth, but he grabbed my hand, and pulled me out onto the dancefloor.

The world disappeared, colors flashed around us, but I didn’t see them.

He left me to rise back up into the sky, to sing one last chorus, but something happened, I held my breath as he fell from his perch, I rushed to catch him, but someone else was there, and he was pulled away.

I was escorted to something called the elephant room, to await Femio, when I asked if he was alright, the light woman told me it was nothing more than a dramatic flourish.

I swallowed, something made me fidget, I would see him again, with no one else to interrupt us, no one else would get between us…

I was only supposed to show him my poetry, to get him on board for the play, but… if something else were to occur…

There was no knock, but he stepped out, dressed in black.

A nervousness consumed me, what if I said the wrong thing?

“My- my gift.” I stuttered, I never stuttered!

“Shh! No, no, this is no time for you to tell me about your gifts, this is the time to show me.” He stepped closer, but I turned away.

He wasn’t making this very easy!

“My gift.” His hand was on my shoulder, trailing down my back, and I jumped away. “My gift is my song! And this one’s for you.”

He stopped, blinking as his hand fell to his side.

I took it in mine, and shared with him the poetry I had rehearsed and memorized.

It made him smile, his eyes twinkled in the moonlight. Was this love? Was this the feeling I was meant to write about?

The thing I believed in?

I wanted to kiss him, so badly, but then he said.

“I can’t believe I’m in love. In love with a young, handsome, talented prince.”

“Prince?” I laughed, my lips mere inches from his. “I’m not a prince.”

“You’re not?” His eyes widened, and he seemed to fit the pieces together. “You're not one of Duck's talented, Bohemian, impoverished protégés?”

“Uh-”

“Oh, no!”

There was a knock at the door.

“The Prince! Hide!”

I was frightened, I hid behind a table, and he threw out his robe to hide me further as the Prince came in with Mr. Cat.

Femio did his best to hid me, but the truth became apparent soon.

His eyes… his eyes were a jealous, all consuming, raw pink. He glared at me, and demanded what I was doing here.

“Rehreasing!” Femio smiled. “For a play called-”

“Called-”

“You expect me to believe that you’re rehearsing for a play in an elephant, dressed like that?”

“How’s the rehearsal going!” Duck said, announcing her presence as she waltzed into the elephants head through the window.

“I hope the piano’s tuned!” Penny said, baning his hands on sour notes.

“What’s going on in here?” Mr. Cat asked, and gasped at what he saw.

“Mr. Cat! You’re here!” Femio smiled, moving to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “My precious prince here is interested in investing.”

“Oh, investing!”

“Investing?” The Prince asked.

“In a play!”

“Called Spectacular, Spectacular.” Duck announced. “Our dear boy is writing it!”

All of us moved to improvise a story, one that would interest the likes of a man such as the Prince, a tale of a princess, a knight, and a Prince.

“And in the end should someone die?”

It was luck alone that got us through that encounter, with the Prince promising to invest, as long as he was involved in the process. As long as he saw Femio.

The others celebrated, and my mind was fixated on Femio, I could see him, standing on top of the elephant, leaning out to see the world, and so I went up to meet him.

“Clever.” He said, not turning to face me. “Convincing the prince like that.”

“You deserve better than him.”

“Do I?”

“You deserve the world.”

He sighed, and turned to face me. “No, men like me… men of the night, we deserve one thing and one thing only.”

“Love.”

He chuckled.

“The best thing in the whole world is to love and be loved in return.”

“Pretty words.” He breathed the fresh Parisian air. “What is your name?”

“Autor.”

“And you know mine already.”

“Femio, please- “

“I will be fine, I will simply give the Prince everything he has ever wanted, and he will move on, and so will I.”

“It doesn’t have to be like that.” I was bold, I took his hand. “What you said before, earlier tonight, that you love-”

“That I loved you? I thought you were the prince. It was an act.”

“Was it? I saw the look in your eyes, the way you looked at me. Say it again.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “No, silly, love-struck boy, you couldn’t pay me enough to say those words.”

“Love comes for free.”

“Everything comes for a price.”

“Not love.” I shook my head, my hand bold as it reached up and traced the edge of his jaw. “Love is oxygen, love is all you need.”

He closed his eyes. “I have loved a thousand times, I won’t make the same mistake again.”

“You won’t.” I took the chance he presented to me, and I kissed him.

Lips as soft as a rose, breathe as intoxicating as wine, for one single moment he was mine, and I knew it wasn’t enough.

We parted and he left me, but I saw it in his eyes, that first spark.

The Moulin Rouge was getting turned into a theater in order to host Spectacular, Spectacular, Femio was our Lead, our Prince, with Duck as his Princess, and Fakir as his knight. Mr. Cat was adamant about being the evil Monster Raven.

A day did not pass where I didn’t see him, where I didn’t speak to him, but I had to be careful, for wherever Femio was, the Prince was also.

He had laid some claim on Femio, and no one else was allowed to be with him, but that didn’t stop me.

And it didn’t stop him from falling madly in love with me.

I knew with every glance he stole to look at me, with every soft smile he gave me, with the flush of his cheeks I knew he was mine.

There came a night, I had planned to meet him, but it was a test, because I knew that he was supposed to see the Prince tonight as well.

I was forcing his hand, making him choose.

Me or the Prince.

He never came, but by the morning, I heard that he hadn’t see the Prince either.

“He was seen by the Doctor.” I heard, as I walked past all the actors. “Coughing up blood.”

I rushed to see him, he was pale, still in bed, but he seemed happy to see me. “I was sick.” He said simply.

I cradled him in my arms, and apologized, I had forced him to choose when I knew it couldn’t be done. If he chose me over the Prince, what would happen to the Moulin Rouge? His home would be abandoned.

“I can’t keep doing this…” He turned his head to the window, the pale light of dawn filtering through. “Choosing you over the Prince, but, Autor… he holds the deeds in his hands.”

“I know, I’ll-I’ll write a song.” I rushed to his side. “And whenever you hear it, or hum, or sing.” I placed my hand on his cheek, he was so warm, something had taken hold of him. “You’ll think of me, and it’ll mean that we love each other.”

I kissed him, his lips hot, I was desperate and sloppy, but I knew it was okay because his hand rested on my cheek, and his lips moved with mine.

“Come what may.” I whispered into his lips.

“Come what may.” He nodded, pressing his forehead to mine.

But… he was right, eventually, the Prince demanded everything that Femio owed him.

We all sat, waiting for the night to end, all of us knew…

This wasn’t what Femio wanted…

We all knew that Femio was selling his body to the night.

“Jealousy will drive you mad.” Fakir said. “If it hasn’t already.”

Duck was sitting close by him.

“In my home, we have a tale about a prostitute, and a man… who fell in love with her.” He stood, there was something predatory about his gaze, he was trying to warn me, while also telling me it was too late. “She sells herself to the night, to other men. There is desire, passion, but suspicion! Jealousy! Anger! Betrayal! When Love is for the highest bidder there can be no trust. And when there is no trust, there is no love.”

“Duck.” I said, my throat dry, my eyes wet. “Why does…?”

She stood, leaving Fakir and coming to me, her hand on my shoulder.

“Why does my heart cry?”

She hugged me, and I saw Fakir roll his eyes.

“The Prince will get what he wants, will you still have Femio once he’s done with him?”

Come what may.

I left, the air stifling, the pitying looks suffocating, but as I walked into the cold night, I walked beneath the tower, where Femio and the Prince were to share dinner, and I saw them, out on the balcony.

Femio’s shoulders were bare, a sparkling necklace around his throat, the Prince kissed his shoulder blades.

“Come what may, come what may, I will love you, until my dying-”

His voice floated over me like soft rain, I stopped, but so did the Prince.

I meet his eyes, and even from the distance I could see the anger swelling inside of them. I watched uselessly as the Prince pulled Femio back inside.

I ran, I ran because something awful was about to happen, and as my hand reached for the doorknob, the door opened, and Lysander was there, holding Femio, his neck neck, dressed in nothing but his underclothes.

Femio was passed into my arms, behind Lysander the Prince had crumpled to the floor.

I kissed his tender temple, I whispered promises that we would run away together, that we would have a good life.

When he woke, he went off to pack his bag, to leave a note of good-bye, and I was doing just the same, my heart fluttering inside of my chest.

Everything was going my way.

There was a gentle knock at my door, and it was Femio, carrying no trunk, and wearing a sober ensemble.

“The Prince came to me last night… he apologized for everything… and promised me everything, that he would make me a star.” There was red around his eyes, I knew had been crying, that he was hurt, but it was a wound he wouldn’t let me mend. “Go home.”

I didn’t want to believe Femio, but when he left, my whole world faded into nothingness.

I sat, alone, in the dark, even when Duck came the darkness did not abade.

The show would go on, and I felt anger like no other consumed me.

It was my play, my story, my love!

I thought Femio wanted love, the love I had to offer, but he was just using me, using me to write him a play, and only when it was finished did he leave me.

And run to the Prince.

I did what I thought I had to do, I sold my typewriter and bought a ticket to Spectacular Spectacular.

The audience was packed, its what I deserved, what my play deserved, and I would never receive any of the glory.

I marched in, and went to the backstage, determined to see Femio, to be the one to get the final word.

I could hear them laughing and cheering, I could hear the applause, and I could hear him, his clear voice as he spoke my words, the words I wrote for him.

It must have been the Knight’s death scene, but as Fakir tried to stop me from getting on stage before falling asleep, I was at the trap door.

I entered, and Femio faltered.

“Ah!” Mr. Cat cried. “The Knight! Though you wear a clever disguise! I can still smell you!”

The audience gasped.

“I have not come to vanquish you, Raven.” I said, I knew the lines by heart. “I have been betrayed! By the Prince!”

The audience gasped.

I refused to say the Knight’s soliloquy.

A proclamation of loyalty and dedication.

“Had I known the truth, I would have stayed far away!”

There was confusion, what truth was I speaking off? What secret was being kept?

“Autor.” I heard him say, lowly, so that only I could hear.

A chill went down my spine, and I could only think of the times he called my name, between kisses during the day, between carases during the night.

But before I could create a grand story for the audience, Duck fell from the ceiling, proclaiming.

“Autor! They’ve got a gun! They’re going to kill you!” She dangled from a rope, and cried once more. “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love! And be loved! In return!”

“Come what may!” Femio sang in my ear. “I will love you.” His voice rose. “Until the end of time!”

The Prince stood, “Seize him!”

Femio pushed me to the ground, and there was a rush as everyone tried to run off the stage, or grab me.

“No matter what you say! The show is ending our way!” Duck said, still dangling from the rope.

There was a gun somewhere, it went off, severing the rope just as Fakir walked out onto stage, his arms thrusting out to catch Duck.

I stood to my feet, my hands finding Femio’s.

The gun was in Mr. Cat’s hands and the band started again, Penny’s beautiful score filling the air the knight was supposed to be ripped to pieces, but instead, Femio and I were lifted into the air, and together we defeated the Raven, and the gun flung from his grasp.

The audience cheered and I wondered for the first time if a happy ending would suit my story better.

I smiled, and the world was right, I kissed Femio for the last time.

He smiled too, but soon he grew pale, and cold, he coughed, and fainted.

He blinked rapidly, unseeing. His fingers clawed at me face, and there was nothing I could say, no words came to me, all I could whisper was “Come what may.”

His lips moved, forming the words, but they never reached my ears.

The tips of his fingers traced my lips.

“Come… what… may… come…”

His hand fell and his eyes, oh his eyes stared up lifelessly into the sky.

I cleared the blood that trickled from his mouth and cradled his body close to my chest, I felt my heart tear itself apart, and I couldn’t even hear my pitiful cries as the appalus rose into the air.

Time passed, and my heart healed, my love, all my love, still belonged to him, so I did my best to write a story about a time….

About a place…

About the people…

But above all, a story about love, a love that will live forever.

The End.

[thetravelerwrites]

Monster Match #24: Bugul Noz

The Traveler's Masterlist

For: @voxnipop​: Hi there! I'm Ariel (Voxni on Kofi). I'm female-presenting agender, and use they/them pronouns. For a brief description, I'm a software engineer and genre-fiction writer. I love learning new languages and skills in my free time. Physically, I am clearly the designated nerd in a family of badasses. Tall, pale, and soft with curly red hair and thick thick glasses. (Compared to the rest of my tattoo-ed, super-athletic family. I love them though, do their taxes for them every year lol.) Always down for a fight to defend my family or friends, but thankfully as a super-soft sweet female-bodied person in the Southern US, most people disengage quickly after that.

In a partner, I honestly want to feel valued and protected. I know my default is to take control and basically be the protector and nurturer, but I'd like someone who reciprocates that care that I give. Intelligence isn't all that important as much as sweetness, and also maybe the ability to cook? I'm living that takeout lifestyle haaaard. Physically, I have a slight preference for larger partners, but I'd be pretty excited to see whoever the match happens with! No preference on SFW vs NSFW, whatever you feel more inclined/simpler to do. Thank you, and hope you hit your goal soon!

You’ve been matched with a Bugul Noz!

In Breton beliefs, the Bugul Noz, or "Night Shepherd"), is a fae-like being who lives in the woodlands of Brittany. He is the last of his kind and is said to be incredibly ugly, which causes him distress. His appearance is so awful that even woodland animals avoid him, and he sometimes cries out to warn others nearby of his approach, so that he won't frighten them and that they’ll go home. He is called the night shepherd because it is generally not safe in forests late at night, when he is most active. The Bugul Noz is not malicious (indeed, rather kind and gentle), he is always alone because of his hideous visage.

Rather than being a spirit to be feared, he’s said to, "fulfill a beneficial office, in warning human beings, by his coming, that night is not made for lingering in the fields or on the roads, but for shutting oneself in behind closed doors and going to sleep. This shepherd of the shades would then be, take it altogether, a kind of good shepherd. It is to ensure our rest and safety, to withdraw us from excesses of toil and the snares of night, that he compels us, thoughtless sheep, to return quickly to the fold."

It was the baleful moaning that alerted you, making the hairs stand up on your neck.

When you first heard the sound, you were spooked but unsure what you could do. You only had your bag, which had a map, compass, and a cellphone that had no service. You’d gone hiking before and never had a problem, but it only took one wrong turn in the woods to lead to disaster.

You didn’t work out much, as you kind of enjoyed being squishy, but walking along hiking trails was your favorite form of exercise because you could take it in your own pace and sit to sketch if you were tired.

You’d gotten lost while hiking during your vacation in France and night had rapidly come upon you. You eventually found yourself in some sort of ravine with a sheer cliff face preventing you from leaving. You followed it until you’d become tired, finding a cave-like cliff hollow to shelter under.

It was then that a gigantic brown bear decided to come back to what you realized was its den, and panicked. It reared up on its hind legs and bellowed at you, and you shrieked in reply.

“Oh, god, please don’t let me die,” You prayed. “All I wanted was a vacation in Europe before I became a serious adult! Please let me live to see the Louvre!”

You heard the moaning again, but it wasn’t coming from the bear. The bear came down from its hind legs and looked behind itself. It stiffened, and then jumped as if startled. The moaning grew louder, and the bear grunted, shying away from whatever it was. Apparently deciding that a fight with whatever it was looking at wasn’t worth it and moved on.

After a moment of waiting for the bear to return, you cautiously stood up. It was still dark out, the stars were clear and bright, but not enough to illuminate the way out.

“Hello?” You called to the darkness. “Who’s there?”

“Est-ce que tu vas bien?” The voice called. It was deep and scratchy, like someone who had a cough.

“I’m sorry,” You said. “I don’t speak much French.”

“Parlez vous anglais?” They asked.

“Angl--English! Yes, I speak English,” You replied, relieved.

“My English… not good,” They said in a very heavy regional French accent. “Follow, s'il vous plaît. Lead you to trail.”

“I can’t see you,” You said.

“C'est pour le mieux,” They replied. “Come now. Not far.”

“How can I follow you if I can’t see you?”

They were quiet for a moment. “Sing?”

“You’ll sing?” You asked, slightly amused.

“Oui,” They said. “Ça va?”

“Okay,” You said, unsure whether or not this was a better option than the bear. “Lead the way.

The… person… began to sing in French a song you didn’t know. Their voice was coarse, but they could carry a tune, and you could follow it well enough to be able to join them for the refrain.

“Singing est très jolie,” They said during a pause in the song.

“Thanks,” You said, smiling. “I like your voice, too.”

“Merci,” They replied with a happy, sing-songy tone. “Sing alone often. Nice to have… partenaire.”

“Do you live out here?” You asked as you walked.

“Oui,” They said. “Près de.”

“Close?” You asked. “I don’t want to impose, but I’m very tired and thirsty. I ran out of water hours ago. I just want to rest for a little while and have a drink and I can manage.”

They were quiet, and for a moment you wondered if they had understood you. You opened your mouth to rephrase it more simply when they said, “Juste une minute.”

“Thank you. Uh… Merci,” You said.

You followed their humming until you reached a hut made of stones. It looked old, like centuries old. It looked like someone had been keeping it up by replacing the old crumbling stones with newer ones. There was a simple door made of sticks and vines.

“Il y a un puits sur le côté de la maison,” They said. “Water. Must draw bucket. Go in. Sit. I get.”

Inside, there was a small fire inside a stone circle on a dirt floor. There was a rudimentary chair sitting next to it, and a simply carved table next to it with a bamboo cup. At the farthest end was a straw and large leaf pallet that you assumed they used for sleeping. Maybe it was an old man who shunned modern society and made his life out of leading lost people out of the woods. That would be noble.

Well, it was much better than your worst imaginings, which were running rampant in your head at the moment.

There was a thump at the door and you heard their voice again.

“Water,” They said. “Outside. You drink. I wait.”

You opened the door slowly, and there was a bucket sitting on the ground full of water. Though you couldn’t tell in this light, it looked clean enough, and you were too thirsty to complain.

“Where are you?” You asked.

“Here,” They said, though you couldn’t see them. “Go now?”

“Why won’t you let me see you?”

“Ugly,” They said. “Scare you.”

You laughed. “That’s silly. You won’t scare me.”

“I scare toutes les choses,” They said sadly. “Best no see. Get you home.”

“If you say so,” You said. “Okay, I’m ready.”

They began to sing again, and you followed the sound of their voice until you eventually came upon a trail. You laughed in relief and rushed to it.

“Go west,” They said. You heard shuffling, as if they were moving away.

“Wait!” You called. “What’s your name?”

“Auberi,” They said. “Be safe.”

You made it back to the town where you were staying as dawn broke. There had been a search team out looking for you, and they were relieved to hear you were alive and unharmed for spending an entire night in the woods.

You insisted you were fine, but they called an ambulance anyway. At the hospital, you asked the nurse, “Have you heard about someone living out in the forest?”

“Que voulez-vous dire?” She asked. “Did you see someone else out there?”

“Not see,” You said. “Heard. There was a person out there who led me out of the woods, but they wouldn’t let me see their face. They sang a song and I followed their voice out of the woods.”

“Ah,” The nurse said with a knowing smile. “You must have met le Bugul Noz.”

“The what?”

“Night Shepherd,” She translated. “It’s a kind creature that helps keep people and animals safe, but it’s said to be so ugly that it scares everything away from it. Not even animals will go near it if they see it. It is lonely and cries because no one will be friends with it.”

“Is the Night Shepherd real?” You asked.

“It’s a fairy tale,” The nurse replied. “But who’s to say it is real or not?”

A week later, you went hiking on the same trail, with a GPS this time in case you got lost again, and went searching for the Night Shepherd. You tried to sing the song they had, but you could only remember the refrain, so you sang that over and over, hoping it would draw their ear.

After a few hours of nothing, you sat down on a large stone and sighed unhappily. Perhaps you had hallucinated the voice, but how would you have hallucinated a song you’d never heard in a language you barely knew?

“Lost again, petit oiseau?” You heard the rough voice say.

“Auberi!” You said, jumping up and looking around only too see nothing but forest. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you?”

“Moi?” They said, sounding surprised. “Pourquoi?”

“I heard a story from the nurse after I made it out of the forest,” You said. “About a creature so ugly that no one would stay with it. Is that you? The night shepherd? Le Bugul Noz?”

They sighed heavily. “Oui,” The admitted. “Je suis.”

“Is that why I heard you crying before you drove off the bear?” You asked gently. “You are lonely, aren’t you?”

They were silent.

“You saved my life,” You said earnestly. “No matter what you look like, I want to thank you for that. Please, can I see you?”

“Je ne veux pas te faire peur.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Scare you,” They said. “Don’t want.”

“You won’t,” You said. “Come out, please? I have a gift for you.”

“Not ask for gift,” They said. “Just want safe.”

“I know,” You said. “But I brought you one anyway. Please? Please let me see you.”

There was a large breath followed by a deep, heavy sigh that blew the low branches around. Then the saplings in the low brush were moved aside as the creature came out into the light.

They were hunched and crooked, with a long neck like a horse, complete with a main of tangled, coarse tan hair. They had three pairs of arms, one of which worked in tandem with their feet to propel their large body forward. They were covered in the same coarse fur as their mane, only shorter and curlier. Their face was flat and revealed a dark hole that seemed to lead to nowhere. They had no visible eyes or ears, but they seemed to hear and see just fine. There was a long tail stretched out behind them that dragged the ground as they walked. You had no way to determine their gender, so you didn’t try.  

They were certainly unusual, but you didn’t think they were ugly.

“Not running?” They asked, their head turning in surprise. You had no idea where the voice was coming from, as they had no mouth, just the dark maw in the middle of their face.

“Not running,” You said. “I told you, you saved me. As far as I’m concerned, you’re as handsome as a prince.” You reached up to touch them, and they shied a little in fear, but allowed you to put your hand on their neck. You stroked their hair and scratched their skin, and there was a strange guttural purring sound from the maw.

“I’m going to be in the village for another month,” You said. “And I came to France to learn about it’s art, it’s culture, and it’s people. You’re part of that. I think I’d like to spend my month with you.”

They leaned their head against your cheek, and there was an odd hollow whistling from the maw, but it wasn’t so bad.

“Teach you all my songs,” They said. “We sing together, petit oiseau?”

“I’d love to sing with you, Auberi.” You said, laughing and snuggling against them.

To get your own Monster Match, buy me a Kofi!

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Thanks for reading!

My Masterlist

The Exophilia Creator’s Masterlist

[elyhaikyuu]

JUST A TRANSFEREE

Tsukishima Kei x OC

Chapter 03: LA VIE EN ROSE

(Masterlist) [prev] [next]

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3rd Person's POV:

Kiyoko was strolling around the 1st years floor when she heard someone calling her.

"SHIMIZU-SENPAI!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

"Oh Hinata, I'm just looking for someone who haven't join any clubs yet." She said to the energetic boy.

"OHHH, ARE YOU LOOKING FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO APPLY BEING A MANAGER?" Hinata asked his senpai, tilting his head.

"Yes, you know we are graduating soon, and I think that it's better to have a manager now so I can teach her." Kiyoko explained.

"I CAN HELP YOU SENPAI! IF I FOUND SOMEONE, I'LL TELL YOU IMMEDIATELY!" Hinata said enthusiastically.

"Thank you Hinata! I'll be going now, see you." Kiyoko thanked him and continued finding a person.

-Timeskip-

'Uwahh! She's so pretty!' Yachi thought while looking at the third year talking to her.

"So, why don't we try a trial membership?" The third year said to her, oblivious that she's not listening.

'WAIT! WHAT DID SHE SAID?!?! I'M SO BUSY LOOKING AT HER, I FORGOT TO LISTEN!!!' Yachi thought hysterically.

"Huh!? YES SURE!" She agreed not knowing what this is all about.

"Really!? Thank you so much!" Kiyoko said holding her hand in the process.

"Uhm, I have a friend who also haven't join any clubs yet. I can ask her too if you want." She said, remembering Akemi.

"Oh, of course! I'll just come later and you both can introduce yourself to the club. Thanks and see you later!" She said bidding her farewell.

"Bye." She said smiling awkwardly.

-Another Timeskip-

Akemi was on her way to have lunch at the rooftop. Yachi was not with her because it's her turn to help the teacher with paperworks, so she decided to have lunch there since she knew there's no one there right now.

She reached her destination and sat in the shade, away from the sunlight. She take out her bento which is fulled with rice with a marinated meat that is her left-over dinner last night, a salad on the side and fruits.

She started eating while looking at the sky.

'It's a nice day, huh?' She thought, smiling a little bit.

She continued eating until she's full. She tucked in her bento in a handkerchief and let it down beside her.

Akemi brought her ukulele today since Yachi found out that she knows how to play. She requested to play her some songs that's why she brought it today. But since Yachi was not here, might as well play a song to kill some time right? Since it's still not yet time and she's alone here.

She decided to play La Vie En Rose, french version.

(Listen to this while reading.)

(I know that this might not be a ukulele version, but if you want, click this video.)

Quand il me prend dans ses bras

Il me parle tout bas

Je vois la vie en rose

She starts singing, getting lost in her own world. Not paying attention to her surroundings.

Il me dit des mots d'amour

Des mots de tous les jours

Et ça me fait quelque chose

She doesn't notice someone opening the door. The person stopped when he heard her singing. The languange was unfamiliar but it's not the reason why the person was captivated. It's because of her voice.

Il est entré dans mon cœur

Une part de bonheur

Dont je connais la cause

He slowly walked towards the voice, afraid the person might stop singing when she heard him listening. He taked a peek and was shocked to see it's the transferee girl. She doesn't left his mind ever since he saw her.

'Why is everything captivating to her.' The person thought getting frustrated with his feelings.

C'est lui pour moi, moi pour lui dans la vie

Il me l'a dit, l'a juré pour la vie

Maybe it's not the right decision to come here. But then if he did not come, he'll probably not hear her sing. So maybe it's a good thing, right? Or maybe not because his feelings are somersaulting.

Et dès que je l'aperçois

Alors je sens en moi

Mon cœur qui bat

She finished singing and smiled a bit.

"I know there's someone there." She said looking at his direction.

"You're not very good at hiding, you know? Tsukishima Kei-san." She told him, standing up and walking towards him.

'Huh!? How did she know?! And wait, did she called me by my name?!?!?!' Tsukishima was panicking on the inside but on the outside, he doesn't looked bother at all.

"Ehh~ and how did you know my name?" Tsukishima teases her, smirking.

"I asked my friend who are you since you're staring at me the other day." She straightforwardly said, not getting affected by his teasing and looking straight at his eyes.

Tsukishima got stunned at her words. His ears reddened due to embarrassment. Akemi saw this and laugh a bit.

'Even her laugh is captivating, the hell.' Tsukishima thought.

"Don't worry about that Tsukishima-kun, it doesn't bother me. I'm Kudō Akemi by the way, nice to meet you." She said reassuring the guy, looking at her watch.

"Oh! It's almost time. We gotta hurry if we want to make it in time." She told him. Getting her things hurriedly.

She was about to get past him when he held her wrist.

"Tsukishima Kei." He said looking away from her.

She got surprised by what he said and smiled when she recovered from the shocked.

"Hmm. Let's go back now Tsukishima-kun."

They walked side by side. Smiling in their minds.

-It's another timeskip-

Yachi was fidgeting in her sit while Kakashi-sensei discusses. She doesn't know how to tell Akemi that she told Kiyoko-san that she doesn't have a club yet and that they are having a trial membership today.

Akemi notices her and asked her what's wrong.

"Hitoka-chan are you okay? Do you want me to tell Kakashi-sensei that you're not feeling well?" She asked, worried that something might have happened with her friend.

"Uh! It's not like that Akemi-chan! I'll just tell you later." She answered, not looking at her friend.

"O-okay." She asked still hesitant with her answer.

After their class, Yachi pulled Akemi in a corner. Akemi was confused with how her friend was acting. Yachi is still hesitant to say something, so Akemi decided to ask.

"So, can you tell me what's wrong?" She asked, examining her friend's expression.

"Uhh, please don't get mad at me Akemi-chan. I kinda did something without your permission." Yachi said lowering her head.

"And what is it?" Akemi asks, now curious with what she'd done.

"I-ah there was a senpai who talked to me about joining their club since I still don't have one. And I kinda told her that you also don't have one, and now we're having a trial membership today and I just told you! I'm so sorry Akemi-chan! I'm such a bad friend, I'll understand if you don't want to be friends with me anymore!" She said teary-eyed. She's really ashamed of what she's done.

Akemi now understands what this is all about.

"Hitoka-chan it's okay. I understand why'd you do that. And I am thankful that you thought about me not joining a club. It's really fine. Yes, I know I don't really want to join one but it's still a trial membership right? So, it can't kill me if I come right? So it's really fine Hitoka-chan. And I still want to be friends with you." She said to her, explaining that it's really fine.

Yachi stared at her in bewilderment.

"AKEMI-CHAN!!!!" She exclaimed and cried, hugging her tightly.

"Now now, stop crying now Hitoka-chan." She comforts.

Yachi calmed down after a few minutes.

"Can you tell me which club is it now?" She asked her.

"It's the volleyball club. Kiyoko-san, the senpai who talked to me said that she'll come here after class and fetch us." Yachi told her.

"Oh, so it's right now. Guess we just have to wait then." She said looking around in hopes to find someone looking around.

'It's Tsukishima-kun and the others' club, eh? Well, guess it's just the way it is.' She thought leaning her back to the wall.

×××××××××××××××××××××

Hey guys! This is where chapter 03 ended. Hope you have fun reading and give me some feedbacks to improve my writings! Thank you guys so much, lovelots❣

[plush-anon]

after many hours spent pausing the show bc good lord why did they do that, i have now finished Love Never Dies

annnnnd yikes 😬😬😬

I’ll start with the few positives I did enjoy from the recorded Australian production on Youtube:

1.) the camera work. This is the kind of thing I dream of for professionally recorded shows - it really allows for some lovely close-up shots of how the emotions play over their faces, it’s lush

2.) the costumes are well-crafted, and I desperately Want the Phantom’s long-ass swooshy trenchcoat cape thing he wore for the first half-hour 

3.) the sets used throughout this are honestly very impressively used and put together for some really fantastic shots

4.) the opening, with ‘Til’ I Hear You Sing Once More’. This song is honestly very lovely, and really articulates the Phantom’s loss and heartache for Christine. It’s sung very earnestly, and had the rest of the show been more like this I might have liked it more. 

5.) the Fucking Song, ‘Beneath a Moonless Sky’, is a guilty pleasure. It’s so over the top, and it is only about recounting that One Time they totally banged yo, and I love it. I think it’s the orchestration, but it’s also enjoyably silly even while it takes itself 100% serious. 

6.) As much as I hate to say this? ‘Devil Take the Hindmost’. While I hate the gist of the song - that being Raoul and Erik betting on who Christine will choose, and pretty much deciding for her who will get to be her one true love forever, completely negating the entire point of the OF musical where her choice was the most important factor for all of them - the pacing and the lyrics as they dance around each other are absolutely fantastic. It’s kind of sad to say, but Raoul and the Phantom, in this scene alone, display more chemistry in their singing than they do with anyone else. Let the hatefcuking commence~

7.) Some parts of ‘The Beauty Underneath’ I enjoy, particularly the ending scene where the Phantom is trying to talk Meg down. It’s very slow, melodic, and shows his more manipulative side, as well as how he can crawl into someone’s head, I love it. 

8.) This very interesting visual with a mirror in Christine’s dressing room. There are two separate scenes where someone is in the mirror singing. The first is the Phantom, between Raoul and Christine. The second is Raoul between the Phantom and Christine. It’s honestly a nice touch.

9.) The main three are excellent singers. 

 Unfortunately, that’s all on the list of what I liked. Everything else is a Giant Fcuking Mess. 

1.) The Phantom is no longer a complex, messed-up, but still somewhat sympathetic character, no; this is just a giant asshole who takes everyone for granted and barely realizes that anyone else exists except Christine, and even then only really as his personal instrument. 

He never actually apologizes to Christine for the shit he’s put her through and continues to put her through, but still demands obedience and forgiveness and understanding. It completely negates the entire point of POTO’s ending, where he actually realizes he’s done wrong by her and his actions pertaining her, and lets her go from his world entirely, and RESPECTING HER CHOICES AND LEAVING HER ALONE. 

Not to mention This Bitch also threatens to kidnap/possible “lose” her child if she doesn’t sing for him, keeps pushing her around and telling her what to do, and manipulating her life to change her decisions for her. 

AND HE’S FRAMED AS THE BETTER OPTION HERE

2.) Which reminds of me of the next big asshat: Raoul de Chagny, who has now become an alcoholic gambler who pushes his wife to do things she’s not comfortable doing to repay his debts, neglects his son entirely, and also is abrasive and controlling of Christine, to the point he yanks her back and forth on doing shit. Play this role! We should leave bc he was an asshole! No now we should leave bc Phantom is back! No take the role he’s paying triple! I’ll make a bet on whether she loves me to pay my debts! No wait you should quit ten minutes before you go on-stage bc I don’t want to lose you! MAKE UP YOUR GODDAMN MIND YOU MISERABLE PISSANT SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP

Like I can understand being overprotective to a certain degree, which could eventually morph into being controlling. But neglecting your son, your wife, drinking and gambling your fortune away? ALL of that?!? Really???

Shouldn’t he be desperate to keep his wife and son close to him at all times after the events of POTO? Never leave, never go anywhere, only do what’s safe? You COULD have set this up as a continuation of Safety versus Freedom with Raoul and the Phantom, show the good and bad of both and have her choose from there. Show the dichotomies and hypocrisies of both men’s standards. 

But nope! We’re just totes gonna make the husband like this for no goddamn reason, especially since Raoul doesn’t start suspecting that Gustave (his son) isn’t really his until Devil Take the Hindmost. He’s just that much of an idiot!

3.) The presence of Madame Giry and Meg Giry. Oh gods, where to even begin? They’re pretty much only here so that Sir Andy doesn’t have to make new characters with different backstories and motivations and introduce them accordingly. Nope! Now both women are blaming Christine for leaving the Phantom Man-Baby, and talking about everything they sacrificed to help him make his stupid-ass circus, and talking about how they love him and GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH Madame Giry in the POTO musical YOU LED RAOUL DIRECTLY TO THE PHANTOM’S LAIR SO HE COULD RESCUE CHRISTINE WHY ARE YOU COMPLAINING ABOUT HOW SHE BETRAYED HIM

And, oh, Meg... she reaaaaaaaaaaaaally got the short end of the stick here. I just... poor dear, she was horribly treated in this. 

Neither of them deserved to be like this, honestly. 

4.) Christine, to a lesser extent. Experienced Literal Character Assassination, forced to choose between two horrible options, stripped of her agency entirely, used as a bet in a game between said two horrible options, lied to and dragged around constantly, should have taken Gustave and run off with Meg to run a music store together. Fcuk you Sir Andy, for using POTO characters to act out your bitterness and frustration at your ex. 

5.) The entirety of the whole Boardwalk Circus schtick, spawning an additional Fuck You to Frederick Forsythe, who thought this was a tenable option for the story to progress. 

6.) The Phantom’s deformity was literally just four lines drawn onto his face with crayon and some smeared lipstick:

what even the fcuk, you couldn’t make the make-up crayon drawing more detailed??? take more than ten minutes to draw it on???

I never thought I would say this, but even the 2004 film’s depiction was better than this! At least that one partially drew from a real medical condition, Sturge-Weber Syndrome. What the fcuk is your excuse LND?!?

7.)  The Lyrics. Oh gods, the lyrics. Some songs were decent, mostly the ones I listed up top. But the rest? Did someone forget to give the writer a more advanced/creative guide to rhyming lyrics? I wrote better shit in middle school than Glenn Slater did for the majority of these lyrics. 

Glenn my dude, what the fcuk is this nonsense? You’ve written good shit like the Tangled songs and stuff for Galavant! Why are you writing worse than an angst-ridden middle schooler? It is immensely frustrating, to say the least. 

8.) The really WEIRD direction in acting. No one here acts like they know how to move their arms or hands naturally; there’s a lot of really odd and unnecessary gesturing that makes it look like everyone has just had their limbs replaced with faulty robotic arms. There’s also a lot of leaning the characters do, with their arms perfectly straight by their side and it just looks wrong. 

9.) The Phantom’s pseudonym is Mr. Y. No, they never explain why it is he chose that particular moniker. 

10.) Bathing Beauty. Just... all of it, here, tied to POTO, present and here. 

11.) It’s been exactly 10 years since Christine saw/banged the Phantom, and her son is precisely 10 years old. 

That’s... not how pregnancy works. At all. 

12.) This weird scene with the American press, where they are absolutely obsessed with Christine, despite the facts they present, such as:

- She hasn’t performed in 10 years anywhere. 

- She was a French performer, and

- She only starred in three operas at the Populaire (Hannibal, Il Muto, and Don Juan Triumphant, which wasn’t even finished. So technically 2.2 operas that we know of). 

Why, precisely, would American reporters be so obsessed with her upon hearing she’s coming? I could see some interest given the whole shebang with the Phantom, but after 10 years of radio silence, would she really garner an entire crowd of reporters and photographers... in America, no less? 

France I could definitely see. America? Not so much. 

13.) Gustave is a flat, generic kid character, who apparently is totes the Phantom’s son because... he can play the piano well. And also has the same ideas of music as the Phantom, despite never being taught about them, or discussed such things with his mother. 

Is musical talent only inherited through the father’s side of the family in this universe? I mean, we never learn about Christine’s mother, just her famous violinist father. Otherwise, why is it Gustave’s musical talent isn’t attributed to - oh, I don’t know - HIS FAMOUS OPERA SINGER MOTHER?!?

14.) Apparently the Phantom is also now the one who invented cars OH I MEAN “horseless carriages” 🙄 A carriage with no engine and a “ghost horse” appears, and everyone is just fcuking stunned by this, like they’ve never seen a vehicle move without a horse before. In 1907. 22 years after the first functional automobile was invented. Ugh. 

15.) seriously tho who thought basing a sequel on the Frederick Forsythe novel was a good idea why did nobody think to stop him apart from Sir Andy’s pet cat Otto. why.

16) The Phantom’s interactions with Gustave are distinctly creepy and unsettling. I keep getting pedo vibes from him and I Do Not Like It.

17.) The death scene at the end is so goddamn over-the-top and out of nowhere I just want to throw something, ugh

18.) And finally, my last gripe with this mess: This takes place in 1907, and declares that it’s ten years after the original musical. Despite the fact that the OG took place in 1885. Yippy skippy. 😑

I can honestly say I am Not a Fan of this musical as a whole, mostly based on the plot and the character assassinations (one quite literal) and the poor lyrics. I can admire the camera work, the basic singing ability, the scenery and costumes, and maybe two or three songs. But I just do not enjoy it. It took me two days to finish watching it because I kept cringing from what shit kept happening, and had to walk around and listen to other shit to get it out of my head. 

HOWEVER: People do enjoy this one on the sake of it being so bad and over-the-top, and I can honestly see the whys. It helps that most of the cast can sing, and the orchestration is done well. There’s a TON of stupid to mock, and a lot of over-the-top awkwardness to laugh at. This is a good one to watch and mock with friends, IMO. 

For those of you who do enjoy it, I’m afraid I have to disagree on most of it. Still, it is nice being able to watch this one for free, even if it is a giant hot mess.

And that’s all for me on this one! Have a good week guys!

[kylankingfiction]

Ryoichi Ishino | Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Origin of GQO (Part 1)

“Hey, look, Sakura has U.A. on her high school future sheet. There’s no way a quirkless tranny like you could get into U.A,” someone teased me as I sat at my desk, minding my own business. I sighed a bit, fed up with the name-calling and teasing. I scratched at my head, a frown covering my face. Hitoshi, my best friend, looked over to me, seeing if I needed any help, but I gave him no response.

“I’m sorry, first of all, my name isn’t Sakura, dumbasses. Secondly, I’m not fucking quirkless. Thirdly, who the fuck do you think you are? I’ve kicked your ass four times over in the last month alone. Wouldn’t you be sick and tired of getting beat up by me?” I retorted in a calm voice before giving my famous death glare at him. He just gave a cocky chuckle in response.

“What are you going to do, huh? Nothing!” He says, trying to provoke me before I turned my body and punched him across the face. I stood up and grabbed my things before walking out of the classroom as the bell rang. I heard the rest of the class hurry to leave me behind. I grumbled to myself, shoving people out of the way as I walked down the hall.

“Fucking extras…” I mumbled before I noticed Hitoshi catching up with me. “Hey, how’s it going?” I asked him casually, to which he just rolled his eyes in response. I sighed and folded my plan paper, and shoved it into my shirt pocket before tugging at my mandatory skirt uncomfortably.

“You do know I should be asking you that…” he mumbled quietly and then looked towards me, watching me being uncomfortable. “Also, remember what the doctors said… once you get your surgery, you’re not going to be able to work out. You’re going to end up physically weak, and you can’t keep fighting people like you are now,” Hitoshi says to me, clearly concerned. I swapped out my shoes with him before starting to walk home.

“I know, I know, seriously. I’ve been prepared for that…” I mumbled, looking down, shivering at the sight of my chest so prominent under my blazer. “These need to get the fuck off of my fucking body,” I mumbled, gripping my hands. I just wanted to be myself, regardless of what others thought. I just needed to be myself.

***

I was sitting in bed, bandages around my chest after my surgery. I was in so much pain and too sore, but other than that, my top surgery went well. I was working on schematics for gear since I will be fragile when the U.A. entrance exam comes around, and with permission and filling out forums, I can have the equipment.

I could hear someone knocking on my door. “Come in!” I call without looking away from my notepad, tapping my pen on the paper. In comes, Hitoshi is holding a bag of fast food, drinks, and his pack. “Hey, I’m here with homework, and I thought you’d be hungry. I bought you a ten-piece,” Hitoshi said as he walked in, coming to sit with me on my bed.

“Oh, thank you. I am now that you mention it,” I say to Hitoshi, chuckling a bit. I move my notepad off to the side and lightly reach out to him for the food, but unable to really since my body was so stiff. He chuckled and handed me the container of chicken nuggets, then my french fries. I set them down on my lap and start to eat. He then pulled out the packets of homework I needed to do today.

“Everyone thinks you got arrested, by the way,” Hitoshi adds, chuckling lightly. I shook my head as I looked at my homework and ate. “Yeah, I didn’t think you’d be too impressed,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. He moved on my bed and leaned against the wall as he ate his burger.

“It’s whatever, not that funny though,” I said, reading over the packet. I held my hand out for Hitoshi to pass me my drink, which he does without thinking. “Fuck, are you coming over after school every day with food? Because I can get used to this,” I said as I took a drink, which made Hitoshi chuckle.

“Sure, I don’t mind,” he said, smiling at me. I smiled back at him for a moment before I grabbed my pen and set the packet onto my small table my parents bought me so I could work on my bed. I started to fill out the responses as I continued to eat. “Can I see your progress?” Hitoshi asked me, seeing my notebook with my makeshift schematics open. I nodded without looking away from my paper.

He flipped through the schematics and looked at my hero outfit design as well. “These are pretty cool, but your hero costume is so boring,” Hitoshi points out, showing me the page with the hero outfit. “Why not make it more punk? It’s just a baggy jumper with the boots, gloves and goggles,” Hitoshi said, looking back at it again.

“I don’t know… My quirk doesn’t feel like- It doesn’t feel like its punk, and shouldn’t my hero suit represent my quirk?” I explained, shrugging a bit, continuing the homework, and eating. He nodded, sighing a bit, looking at it again, then smiling a bit.

“You could add some buckles; that’d be cool,” Hitoshi suggests, chuckling a bit. He took a pencil and started to sketch some out as I shook my head and continued to do my homework and eat the food, he brought them.

***

Hitoshi came over every day after school for three weeks straight, bringing me food and homework and then bringing my homework back to the teachers. It was my first day returning to school, and everyone kept asking me why I got arrested. I kept telling them arson, and it freaked people out.

“Why did you keep telling them you got arrested for arson?” He asked me as we walked towards the Karaoke bar my dad worked at as a chef. Most of the food there was his original recipes by this point. We were planning on letting off some steam by singing our hearts out like we always did when shit got rough.

I shrugged in response to him asking why I chose arson. “Because it was far left, and I’m dying to burn down the Endeavor building anyways,” I explained, chuckling a bit at the idea. Hitoshi puts his face in his hands and shakes his head.

“That is not something you should say when you’re trying to get into U.A., and you know that already,” Hitoshi said to me, making me laugh even more before and winced a bit, my body still being tense from the surgery. When we got to the karaoke bar, we went to our usual table and sat down, ordering some appetizers and sodas.

“Okay, I’m going to go and sing my first song,” I said, patting his shoulder a few times before going up to the guy running the karaoke and putting in which song I wanted, heading onto the stage. I started to sing January Gloom by All Time Low, getting the usual cheers from the regulars who knew me and the fact that I was the head chef's child.

***

I was sitting and watching Ryoichi on stage. They were so handsome. They had been growing out their hair after having it completely shaved for the last two years. They still had around a third of their head shaved, and then the long part was as long as their ear lobe. And the over-the-top makeup they used looked amazing on them. They had black and dark purple today and black lipstick.

Maybe I was in love with them, but they aren’t interested, and I’m okay with that. I told them that I had feelings for the last year, and they rejected me. But we’re still best friends, and they trust me more than anyone. I notice a guy at the table next to ours staring up at Ryoichi in awe as they sang. I walked over with my soda and leaned on his table.

“You must be new here. Ryoichi normally performs all the time. Their dad is the head chef,” I said to him casually, startling a bit by my presence. “I’m Shinso, that’s Ishino. They prefer their first name, Ryoichi,” I added, holding my hand out. I mostly spoke to him because I didn’t want this guy to misgender them.

“Oh! Uh, yeah. My friend told me this place is a good place to hang out, so I thought I’d check it out,” he said softly, glancing towards me. He saw me holding out my hand and shook it. “I’m Sero,” he said, looking towards me and then glanced back up to them. “She’s beautiful…” he muttered under his breath. I did everything I could to not frown at him.

“They’re nonbinary and go by them and them pronouns. They also don’t like being called pretty or beautiful,” I said, glancing towards Sero, seeing the way he looked at them. I wasn't into the fact someone was looking at them like that, but from what Ryoichi had told me, he was their type. Sero flinched a bit, getting an apologetic look, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh shit, my bad…” he apologized and then looked down at his drink, blushing a bit. He seemed to be, well, questioning his sexuality. Ryoichi was the one who helped me figure out I wasn’t straight, so this wasn’t that big of a surprise to me. “They’re handsome…” he mumbled, correcting himself.

“Hey! How was it?” Ryoichi cheered after running over, smiling brightly towards me before hugging me. Before I could say anything, they looked towards Sero, staring for a moment. A light blush appeared on their face. Knowing Ryoichi, their brain probably stopped working if they thought he was cute. “So, who’s this nerd?” They asked, their tone shifting to be a bit flirty as they leaned against the table, smirking a bit. Yup, they thought he was cute, and if I’m not wrong, their exact thought right now has to be ‘Cute nerd boy’ over and over.

Sero looked towards them, blushing a bit. “Oh! I’m Sero; Shinso told me that your name was Ryoichi,” Sero said nervously, holding his hand out for them to shake. They smirked and shook his hand.

“Nice to meet you, hot stuff,” they flirted with him, which made his whole face turn a bright red at their words. I chuckled and put my hand on their shoulder.

“I’m going to go and sing a song. Don’t scare him off,” I whispered to them, chuckling a bit, making them blush as they continued to flirt with him. I haven’t seen Ryoichi show such interest in someone so quickly. Maybe it’s the top surgery? They’ve slowly gotten more confident as they transitioned and gradually became themself more and more.

I went all the way to the stage and performed a song of my own. I watched the scene below of Ryoichi flirting with Sero. He seemed very flustered, but it was nice to see Ryoichi hit it off with someone like this since he appeared to not be against the idea of someone who wasn’t a girl flirting with him, so I wasn’t too worried about that.

[sp00ks-odyssey]

Okay part 2 here we go

Day 2: The Confession (Slow burn though Stitches isn't really good at believing that someone feels things for her[Kinda like our lovable Ink Sans but he isn't gonna be like that in this one]} 

Also I wanted to keep the name Stitches instead of using my real name if that's okay with everyone.

I decided to make Point of views for both Stitches (me) and Ink so you guy's can know both sides of the story,

I am sorry if Ink's actions in this one is off and OOC-ish and I'm sorry if you guy's hate his personality, 

If I said something wrong in French i’m terribly sorry, I know nothing about French to be honest.

Warning's: a little bit of abuse, Insecure thoughts, depressive thoughts, negative thinking, some intense fluff, VERY intense fluff and feels......LOTS of feels.

okay....let's do this *deep breaths*

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HE HAS PERFECT TIMING THANK THE STARS!

After that strange meeting that same day I didn't even get to calm down and understand what had happened, the minute my parents and siblings got home I knew I was in for a bad night, my little brother and sister ran to go play in my little brother's room and my mom started cleaning the living room as my step dad sat on the couch, I knew by the looks my mom and step-dad gave each other my mom got yelled at by my step-dad and didn't get what she wanted at my grandparents, she was glaring at me with so much hatred and I knew she decided to take out her anger on me and start another fight with me to make herself feel better. She yelled at me and demanded I help her clean the living room while complaining I wasn't doing it right and calling me "worthless" and other words as I tried to help her clean, after a few minutes I asked where to put the laundry basket full of clean clothes so I didn't get in trouble for misplacing them and she stated to my step-dad that I was giving her an "attitude" and that I was refusing to help her clean.

My step-dad screamed at me for "Not thinking" and "Being stupid" and "I should know where to put the basket I'm not helpless" he got as my mom put it “So out of control” that she started acting scared and telling him to leave me alone causing once again both of them to yell at each other and I crept away to my room with the basket to fold it quietly regretting my question and feeling like the cause of their fight.

I went to bed that night with another anxiety attack and fell asleep forgetting the whole meeting with Ink thinking the whole thing was just a dream.....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week later my parents and siblings left to go see a ten hour long parade with my aunt in another town, thankfully some days my mom actually agrees to make excuses for me, other times she tells them the truth and talks behind my back and sometimes I'm forced to go.

I was in the kitchen instead of my room this time sitting on my stool with my laptop on the table, the picture I was trying to draw this time was an adorable baby raccoon in a trash can with a heart in its mouth, I had my headphones on my head and blaring my favorite songs in my ears as I was trying to sing along to the songs.

I felt two arms snake around my waist in a backwards hug and I made my usual inhuman dog sounding noise and jumped off my stool, my headphone's short wire went taunt and fell off my head onto the table behind me as I spun around and made a poorly fighting pose my fists in awkward angles. 

“Woah woah! Easy Stitches it's just me, Ink!”

I gasped at the figure in the middle of my kitchen: 

His hands were up in surrender and he was ducking a little his top half practically bending over cause of how tall he was, he couldn't stand up all the way to his full height cause of how low the ceiling was and he was looking at me with his mismatched blinking eyes,

the headphones were still blaring the song I had on loud enough for both of us to hear during the awkward silence as I removed my fighting pose and instead had my hand on my chest panting and trying to breath from the scare and he took to sitting on the floor criss-crossed applesauce looking at me. 

“You scared me half to death!” I said after calming down a little bit more and sitting back on my stool.

“I am so sorry about that! I thought it would be nice to give you a hug cause I haven't seen you in a week” He said looking up at me grinning before a look of realization crossed his face.

“OH STARS! I AM SO SORRY! I forgot about your fear of being touched! I am so sorry Stitches!” He started sobbing tears falling down the sides of his skull as he sniffled, I looked around confused and awkward trying to figure out what to do about him crying.

“Did I trigger something again?” he asked lowering his voice after his small outburst looking at me while rubbing the tears falling down his face.

I shook my head forcing a smile, “No no, you're fine I'm just-” I paused.

“Just?” he asked.

“You're......you're actually real! It wasn't a dream I had then”I said more to myself looking down,

“Wait!! Dream is here?? Where? I didn't know he was here too!!” Ink said looking around exited his tears suddenly gone.

“No no I meant I thought meeting you was a dream.....I went to bed a week ago and......forgot about our meeting cause I had an anxiety attack and I rested to calm down and forgot about the whole day assuming it was all a dream” I said looking at the floor embarrassed.

“Oh.....Well I didn't forget! I made sure to write it down on my scarf! I was gonna come sooner but so much went on with my fight last week, a Sans got captured by Nightmare's gang and Blue, Dream and I had to try and get him back and it took a few, few...-wait what were we talking about??” He titled his head looking confused,

I giggled a little at his forgetfulness and he looked up at the sound his eye sockets widening,

“Oh!!! I remember now! Sorry about that I tend to forget a lot” He rubbed the back of his skull sheepishly looking through his notes on his scarf.

I nodded, “I know you do, I pretty much know everything about you and- wait......That sounds like I'm a creeper I'm so sorry about that!! I don't mean to sound like a stalker! That must of sounded rude I'm sorry.....I am so grateful that you decided to show up again, I thought you didn't want to see me again cause of our awkward meeting and you had friends to help who are better than me and you were busy-”

I stopped rambling hearing the familiar small noise he made last time as he vomited black ink on the floor perking up now on his knees and looking at me with his mismatched eyes blinking and changing rapidly.

“Oh wow!!!! You know all about me!! That's amazing! How many Aus do you know?? I know all of them, there is so many! I love seeing each one which Au is your favorite? I personally can't chose they are all amazing!” Ink said speaking fast,

I looked down at the now ink vomited floor and sighed at the poor floor that was now covered in black ink and rubbed the side of my face looking up at the ceiling.

“I can't chose either, they are all amazing to me as well, it's amazing how well the creators think and how amazing the plots are and the backstories and everything!” I flinched still staring at the ceiling hearing the small noise again and in the corner of my eye I saw him vomit more black ink and wipe his mouth looking down at the floor his face a rainbow blush. 

“Whoops! I am sorry about that Stitches! Here-” He took Broomie from his back and wiped it clean as I still looked at the ceiling. 

“Thank you for cleaning that up.....here, let's go into the living room, the ceiling is high enough for you to stand if you need to” I said getting up and walking into the living room sitting on the couch; my drawing and music forgotten as Ink waddled a little on his knees and came into the living room standing up and stretching no longer touching the ceiling.

“That is much better actually, Merci beaucoup! Thank you so much!” He said as I looked up at him hiding in my hoodie and blushing a little at his sudden words in French, his voice sounded so calm and soothing in French and it sounded like it was meant for just him and his type and tone of voice.

“Are you okay Stitches? You are very red, Ai-je dit quelque de mal? Did I do something wrong?” Ink asked and translated looking at me his skull tilted, I hid in my hoodie further: 

It sounds so right hearing French words rolling off his tongue and spilling out of his mouth, that was a weird thing to think....

“Y-y-y-yeah I'm fine” I said turning redder before slowly peeking a little out of my hoodie as he looked down at me grinning.

“I have to say, you are a really shy human” Ink said sitting on the couch next to me and I scooted over a little putting a lot of distance between us and was practically pressing myself up against the armrest, he tilted his skull at me.

“What happened now? Why did you scoot so much?” Ink asked looking at me concern in his eyes, 

“I'm j-j-j-just not really good with physical contact or being next to someone on a couch......it's really weird” I said looking down sadly. I felt the couch shift and looked up suddenly being face to face with Ink.

“Tu as de beaux yeux, you have beautiful eyes” He mumbled looking into my eyes.My face burned a bright red and I looked away a bit clearing my throat.

“U-u-u-uhhhhh.....thanks?? They, they look plain to me heh....I'm n-n-n-not really, really used to com-complements by people uhh....how? how do I respond?” I asked laughing nervously as he continued staring. 

“You don't have to respond, just know that they are a beautiful shade of blue and grey, they have such a sparkle to them....I see little tiny flecks of brown in them and they are so memorizing, a masterpiece to observe” He kept staring at them mumbling about the colors as I looked around nervously trying to process what was going on-

he jerked back abruptly and I flinched as he stood up,

“Well it was nice seeing you again I must go now, sorry for the short visit I will try and make the next one longer Au revoir!” He made a portal and jumped into it leaving me sitting on the couch still red and confused.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

After that he came by to visit more, sometimes he would stay for a long time and sometimes it was just to drop in and say 'Hi' and then go. I was grateful each time he vomited he would clean it up so I didn't get yelled at.When he came by for long visits I would allow him to search up Aus he knew on my laptop and let him see the art of them by the creators, we would also watch videos and I would show him all the UnderTale and Au related ones, sometimes he would go on and on about something he wanted to tell me and then he would forget what he was talking about and then start a new topic but that was normal for me to hear him do- 

my parents and siblings weren't home every time he came over which made me relieved, I didn't want to explain to my parents who Ink was and I didn't want the only happiness I got out of my life to be banned to hang out with me cause my mom and step-dad would use him as an example of what they will take away from me if I don't behave-

after each time he came to hang out and leave I would beat myself up and let my mind race with all the negative thoughts estimating how long he was gonna stick around and how worthless I was and sometimes I would remember something I said during one of his visits and beat myself up over how bad I sounded or how I could of said it-

One of his visits made me think the next time he came to visit that he was gonna say he was gonna leave for good and stop hanging out with me cause I was “too much” for him, he was acting off that day even more off then before, he kept staring at me and stuttering and blushing rainbow, it was a short visit really short and when he left I kinda just sat there trying not to cry knowing he wasn't gonna be my friend or be around any longer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ink's pov

I made a house similar to UnderTale Classic's home to live and sleep in so I wasn't floating endlessly in my DoodleSphere-

The wooden porch was a light brown color with three steps- the whole outside of the house I painted in every color and the front door was a deep maroon. I went through another one of my portals after another visit to see Stitches and I stepped out in front of the house, I walked up the steps and went through the front door going into the living room and sitting on the green couch sighing in relief clutching my chest,

“Stitches is something thats for sure” I said to myself as my chest made the same pains it's been making the day I met her and every day after my soul-less, empty chest pulsing with pains I wasn't used to.

“It sounds like she has been the one affecting the way you have been acting and these emotions you have been projecting around these last few weeks” Dream said in the doorway.

I jumped, “AHHH Dream! You scared me!!” he chuckled watching my outburst, I cleared my throat-

“It's good that you came though I need your help, why are you always quiet when you enter rooms??” I asked relaxing as he approached the couch and sat next to me.

“Magic~ What do you need my help with?” He asked as I started fiddling with my scarf suddenly nervous.

“Ummmm........uhhhh” I stuttered

“You aren't acting like yourself I can feel it.......Stitches has an impact on your emotions”

The word ‘Impact’ reminded me of the day me and Stitches were watching a YouTube video of Papyrus and Mettaton having a child named Impact and how hilarious it was which made me chuckle snorting a little lost in thought.

“Ink? Did you hear me?” Dream said snapping his fingers in front of me,

“What were we talking about?” I said trying to pretend I didn't know to avoid the conversation.

“Don't play dumb with me Ink! I know you can remember things.....which is another thing. You have been remembering more and more haven't you? And your emotions are interesting and confusing for me to figure out, you only take half of your veils to feel instead of all of them and I've noticed you are lost in thought more,” He paused looking at me to see if I heard him,

I sighed, “You are right Mon ami which is why I want your help with this, she has been affecting me a lot.....in fact.......I think I might like her.....and I'm confused as to what to do about it” I blinked trying to process what I just said.

“You have affections for her Ink, feelings to be with her and cherish her, to be her partner for life, I know what you're feeling Ink, it's my gift as being a guardian of all positive emotions, you have affections for her feelings that you can't explain, I think the next time you go visit her you should confess to her and let her know how you feel” Dream stated standing up,

I paused at his words my bone brows furrowing as I glared up at him feeling angry that he was telling me what to do.

“Don't look at me like that you asked me to help you! Your soul-less Ink, I'm only looking out for you, you are confused about this but I've been around Stitches and felt her emotions and feelings and I know she is confused too, she is fragile and full of self doubt and negativity, she doesn't know anything about love and her fear was quite strong that day her soul is so full of despair it physically wounded me......Ink, focus on how you can make this work for both of you and how to confess to her and make her feel sure about it and please, don't be a jerk about it” Dream looked at me as I processed his words.

“I will do that before I go see her again as to not hurt her, Merci beaucoup, Thank you so much Dream”

He nodded and left leaving me to think. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hadn't heard from Ink for a few weeks possibly five weeks or more I couldn't keep count and I was worried, I knew he was going to leave our friendship forgotten and never come back. I took up too much of his time he needed to focus on protecting the multiverse and I was just a normal human. Every night I regretted getting attached to Ink my mind screaming at me with negative thoughts as I sobbed myself to sleep-

I got in trouble one day, my mom said that I cleaned the dishes wrong and told me to leave the kitchen so she could “clean them right” so I walked down the hallway to my room a little down and annoyed and sat on my bed and decided to read a book-

my little sister came in being annoying and I told her to leave me alone cause I was reading, she got annoyed at me for not paying attention to her and hit me, it triggered my PTSD and I dropped the book and cowered under her blows as she laughed and called me a chicken until I couldn't handle it. I screamed at her to stop it and shoved her away and she fell on her bed fake crying to alert my mom who came in and accused me of harassing my sister and being abusive because I couldn't dirty the dishes and I was plotting to hurt them all, I got grounded and told I couldn't leave my room for a week and then my parents and siblings left to go get ice cream and to “Get away from that creature you call a sister,” once they left I sat on my bed quietly crying losing track of how long I sat there.......

*****************

“Are you okay Stitches?”

I bolted up looking to see Ink sitting on my floor looking at me with concern and I wiped my eyes nodding,

“Yeah I'm fine. Hi Ink long time no see, didn't hear you come in” I said chuckling with no humor.

“Can we talk for a minute?” he said as I gulped: Today was the day he was gonna leave for good.

“Sure! But I can't leave my room, I got grounded for a week and I don't know how long my parents and siblings are gonna be gone so you will have to hurry and make it quick” I said as he sat criss-crossed applesauce and nodded clearing his throat as I held my breath knowing what he was gonna say.

“Ever since I met you Stitches, I have been feeling very weird, being soul-less makes it hard for me to know what was going on but after talking and getting help from Dream I know what it was, it was love! I love you Stitches! Will you be my girlfriend?” He blushed rainbow fiddling with his scarf as he waited for my answer.

My negative thoughts took over instantly my mind screaming as I just stared at him:

Uh oh..........Of course uh oh!! I just got Ink to like me!! He is soul-less how did this happen?? He's still waiting for me to answer him!! SAY SOMETHING BACK YOU DAMN DISAPPOINTMENT!! I have to say something to him he is just sitting there watching me! But I don't know what to say? If I say No because I'm not ready and I'm going through too much and I don't even know what love is he will hate me for making him feel....but if I say Yes he can destroy my heart and crush it....Just like what happened last time I got attached.....

I opened my mouth to answer him quickly but started full on ranting instead, I couldn't help it-

“Wait! Ink you actually like me like me?? B-b-but what if you get tired of me and leave? What if I'm too much for you to handle? You need to protect the multiverse and I'm too much to handle, I need reassurance all the time and you can't be with me all the time all day and I understand this but...this is...What if we get into a fight and you hurt me cause you can't properly express what you feel? What if you start to hate me? What if I can't give you all you need and my lack of motivation at times makes you weak and not able to fight and you lose an Au and it will be all because of me? What if I shut you out when I'm feeling down, will you force yourself in or will you leave like everyone else I've shut out? What if I'm too damaged for you? I am too damaged.....What if I mess it up? What if I'm finally happy and then you leave and I'm back to being alone? What if your just playing a trick on me and you don't actually like me at all and you are just bored and wanting to goof off, is this is a joke Ink?”

I took a deep breath noticing he hadn't moved from his spot looking at me his mismatched eyes changing shapes as he blinked I looked down sadly.

“.......There are better people out there Ink people better than me, why would you like me out of all of them? There are other choices.....they are prettier than me, talented, worth your time, able to do things for themselves.....I can't cook, I can't draw, sing, nothing......man I feel annoying and needy right now and I'm probably asking too many questions but I just......can't take any more fake emotions not after the last time I-.......I know you have to drink paint to feel so I don't know if what you feel is real or fake, I don't even know the first thing about love! I never had it before, how can I give you something if you can't give it or feel it and I can't properly give it back cause I don't know what I'm supposed to be giving? I'm not good enough for you Ink......I'm no-” 

I looked up and flinched making a strange noise and cutting off my words, Ink was suddenly really close to my face his gloved hands resting on both of my shoulders as he stared at me.

“I understand this, we can take it slow no rush I was just confessing you don’t have to accept right now.........you know what you deserve Mon amour? You deserve everything the universe has, you have only seen the dark in this world I can see it when I stare into your eyes you need someone to hold you in the light, to show you the light. You deserve the best and don't think your not worth it cause to me you are! Tu es ma joie de vivre, you are my joy of living,”

He paused rubbing my shoulders and gazing into my eyes his changing every time he blinked at me,

“You never need to worry cause I will never leave you I can't leave you alone! I won't! I refuse to let you believe you will be forgotten and lost!! I will never question you or make you feel bad about yourself, I will be here whenever you need me and I will help you feel safe and I will protect you from everything. I will cuddle you when you feel down even though I know you have a problem of people touching you, you flinch when someone is near you but I will not harm you, you can trust me. I will use my hands for your protection and for your comfort I will never use them against you or with intent to harm you. If you need space I can give it to you but I bet you if you ignore me too long I will be the one grabbing you into a hug and never letting you go, you may think you are clingy and needy but so am I! I won't let you leave my eyesight,” 

He paused again both his eyes changing to hearts as he looked at me lovingly.

“I will be your shoulder to cry on and a friend to laugh along with you, I know you think you need to do more and become more for me but you don't need to worry about doing anything for me, you just staying with me and I knowing you are here is what I need, just seeing you here looking into your eyes and sensing your presence here is enough you are a keeper in my eye sockets. Je t'aimerai pour toujours, I'm going to love you forever if you will accept it”  He finished looking at me for my answer as I blushed a little at his intense gaze.

After a few minutes I took a deep shuddering breath and slowly nodded hoping I was making the right choice, he grinned and gave me a tight hug burying his face in the crook of my neck and I flinched but slowly hugged back, 

“I'm never going to forgive your parents or this universe for treating you so poorly” he muttered making me shiver from the breath he blew on my neck when he talked. 

“Let's go” He said breaking away from the hug and holding me out at arms length smiling, I looked at him tilting my head. 

“Go where?” 

“To the DoodleSphere you are coming to live with me” 

My eyes widened as I looked around,

“B-b-b-but.....If I leave my parents will think I ran away and I will get in trouble and-”

“Don't worry about that I will have Dream take care of it, they won't even know where you went and they will forget all about you” he physically flinched at his last words before snapping out of it and smiling at me.

I sighed wondering how long this happiness would last before he actually left me for good.......I was still doubting this whole thing and still a little scared of this sudden change in our friendship. I finally got up nodding.

“Okay let's go”

He rapidly clapped like a little kid and quickly made a portal before he stretched out his arm like a gentleman smirking like a dork and I smiled a little hesitantly wrapping my arms in the crook of his outstretched arm as we went through the portal into my new life my old life shutting behind me.....

__________________________________________________________

Done here is day two @selfshipperapproved

[quickspinner]

MLHolidays2k19 - 23. Carols

Part 2 - 20. Traditions 

Part 3 - 21. Blankets 

I was thinking about today’s prompt, and then I played this song and remembered the carols prompt and got to thinking, so we’re jumping back a few prompts. 

New York was full of inspiration, and Marinette’s favorite place to find it was a little bistro she’d stumbled on a few weeks into her assignment. A wide variety of people came and went, and they often had live music. Tonight, though, she just couldn’t seem to get interested in anything, even though one of her favorites was playing, a nice-looking young man with pierced ears and dyed hair who played the guitar beautifully. He had a fun style and Marinette had sketched him more than once in the past, but tonight she was just staring into her drink, stirring it listlessly, her sketchbook idle under her other hand. The people swirled around her little table but she just didn’t feel like watching them. The music was nice, but it seemed a bit melancholy.

Or maybe that was just her. 

She was startled out of her thoughts as the blue-haired guitarist began to sing. He rarely did, and it was always a treat. Marinette loved his voice and the songs he chose always seemed to resonate with what she was feeling at the time. 

I’m dreaming tonight of a place I love Even more than I usually do And I though I know it’s a long road back I promise you

It was no different tonight. His voice was smooth and mellow with just the right amount of longing. He sounded like she felt, and the song went straight to her heart as the words penetrated.

I’ll be home for Christmas You can count on me Please have snow and mistletoe  And presents under the tree  Christmas Eve will find me where the love lights gleam I’ll be home for Christmas  If only in my dreams

She’d heard the song many times since Thanksgiving, often enough that she had largely stopped noticing it, but now it struck her dumb. 

Marinette stared at the singer, who remained calm and relaxed, but with just enough tension in his body and in his face for you to believe he really felt it. For a moment Marinette felt he was looking right at her. She reached up quickly to wipe away the tears that had begun to cluster on her eyelashes. She’d never heard this song played on an electric guitar before but it fit him, and he made it fit the song too. Somehow he captured the perfect tone of wistful longing hidden under a brave smile, and it robbed Marinette completely of her ability to be brave any longer. She hunched down in her chair, clutching her drink, and hoped no one would notice the tears. 

Marinette had no idea how long she’d been sniffling there when a shadow fell over her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you sad,” said a male voice, low and smooth and...with an accent? She looked up to find the singer standing next to her table, with his guitar case in his hand and a friendly, sympathetic smile. 

“Oh,” she said, sitting up straight and grabbing her napkin to wipe at her eyes. “You didn’t. Truly, I was already sad. You just sang what was in my heart, I guess.” Marinette tried to smile, and the man’s face brightened.

“Pardon me, but are you French? Your accent—” Marinette was having the same revelation; she hadn’t been wrong, though his singing had always been perfect, when he spoke, he did so with an accent; lighter than hers, but distinctive. 

“Yes, I’m from Paris,” Marinette smiled. “I’ve only been in New York a few months. And you?”

“I’m also from Paris,” he answered in French, and it sounded like music as much as anything he had done with his guitar. He gestured at the chair across from her. “May I join you? It’s been a while since I was able to speak to anyone from home and, well...it seems like maybe we’re both a little homesick tonight.”

“Please, go ahead,” Marinette said eagerly, and he sat down immediately, tucking his guitar case under the table.

“It’s been months since I’ve been able to speak French with anyone,” he said with a self-conscious smile. “It feels good.” He held out his hand across the table. “My name is Luka, by the way.”

“Marinette,” she answered, shaking his hand. Luka’s smile widened.

“That’s a very pretty French name.” He leaned his elbows on the table, clasping his hands in front of him. “What brings you to New York?”

“Work,” she replied. “I work at a fashion design firm and they’re based in Paris, but they sent me to New York to work on a collaboration with another company that’s based here.”

“They must trust you a lot,” Luka observed. “You must be very capable for them to send you here on your own.” Marinette felt a little fluttered at the compliment, and didn’t quite know how to respond. Luka continued, with a slightly knowing smile, “I’m also here for work, playing backup for my mother’s old partner. It’s been fun, but this time of year, you definitely start to feel the distance. My boss is having a big Christmas party but it’s not the same as Christmas at home.” Marinette wasn’t sure but she thought he was blushing a bit. “I feel foolish admitting it, but I’ve never been away from my mother and sister at Christmas, and I miss them.” He swallowed hard and looked away.

Marinette leaned forward and patted the hands he had clasped on the table. “I feel the same way. I’ve never been away from home at the holidays either. When I think about missing my father’s bûche de Noël...” Her throat closed up and she couldn’t say anymore. 

Luka took her hand before she could pull it back across the table and squeezed it, and for a moment they just sat, connected but not looking at each other as they both tried to pull themselves together. When their eyes finally met again, they both shared a sheepish smile. 

“You okay?” Luka asked, and then cleared his throat, letting go of her hand.

“Not really,” Marinette giggled weakly. “You?”

“Nope,” he laughed back. “All right, well, how about this. If it sounds good to you, I can go get us another round of drinks or some food, and you can tell me about your family, and I can tell you about mine, and maybe we can at least keep each other company for a little bit, enjoy having someone to talk to without having to stop and figure out a word every few minutes—” Marinette giggled, and he smiled. “Because I can tell you, they don’t teach you the names of musical equipment in standard English classes.”

“Ugh, it’s the same with the technical terms where I work,” Marinette sighed. “I know exactly what I want to say but sometimes I just can’t find the right way to say it and I feel so stupid!”

Luka’s grin broadened. “I’ll get us a menu.” 

Marinette’s tears were soon forgotten in the joy of having someone from home to talk to.  Luka was a good listener. He asked insightful questions and seemed actually invested in the answers, and when he spoke he had interesting stories to tell. They shared plate after plate of food until they were really just nibbling for the sake of justifying their continued presence as they compared neighborhoods and swapped stories of their travels. 

“Seriously,” Luka grinned as Marinette laughed, her hands over her mouth and her eyes sparkling. “He rolls up outside our houseboat playing a piano on top of his giant tour truck—because of course he can’t have a bus like a normal rock star. And I’m just staring there like an idiot because it’s Jagged freaking Stone playing the piano on top of a truck outside my house, and then my mom just rips into him like’s her scummy ex-boyfriend.” Luka paused for a sip of water. “Because apparently he was. And my sister and I are just completely freaking out but only on the inside because a Couffaine never sweats where you can see.” 

Marinette could barely breathe for laughing, but she waved for Luka to go on.

“So he finally gets down off the damn truck and they have something almost approximating a conversation between two normal human beings, and it turns out he needed a guitarist and he wanted my mom to come play with him. And she basically tells him to fuck off but he can have me if I want to go.” He shrugged. “The money was good and I’ve never been to the States so I said, sure, what the hell. And here I am, Jagged Stone’s backup guitarist.” He rolled his eyes. “I get why mom was so pissed at him, though, he fires me like once a week, but…” He shrugged. “I’m good at what I do, and I’m laid back enough not to care about most of his weird antics, so his agent always just sends me home for the day and tells me to come back in the morning. I’m pretty sure she thinks nobody else could put up with him for this long so she has a vested interest in keeping me around.”

“Still, that’s terrible,” Marinette giggled. “I met him once, actually, years ago. He probably doesn’t remember, we met as part of a school project, but he wanted these sunglasses shaped like the Eiffel tower and colored like the French flag. I ended up making them because I couldn’t find anything like what he described.”

“You made those?” Luka raised his eyebrows. “He loves those things. Never lets them out of his sight. He left them in a restaurant once and Penny had to drive a six hour round-trip to go get them.”

“Really?” Marinette blushed, eyes wide. “Wow. They were so...wow. Okay.” 

“Yeah,” Luka grinned. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell him you’re in town unless you want me to. He’d probably have you making glasses shaped like the Empire State Building next.”

They both giggled at that, and when the laughter finally died, Luka sighed and rubbed his neck. “I should really get going.” He hesitated. “Could I give you my number? Maybe we could hang out again sometime.”

Marinette smiled. “I’d like that.” Luka grinned and they traded phones to type in their numbers. They split the check and both got up to go. She got a bit stuck trying to get her coat back on, but Luka stepped behind her to help, chuckling, and sorted her out quickly. 

They walked together at the door, and just outside, Marinette turned to Luka. 

“Luka, do you—“ she hesitated and bit her lip.

“Do I?” he prompted with a gentle smile.

“Do you want to come over and spend Christmas Eve with me tomorrow?” she blurted in a rush. “I mean, I know we just met but if you’re going to be alone and I’m going to be alone and neither of us wants to be alone then…” She shrugged. “Why should we be? I can cook and maybe it won’t be the same but—“ she paused as Luka laughed quietly.

“”You don’t know how nice it is to hear somebody talk that fast and still be able to follow,” Luka chuckled, and though the laughter faded, the warmth remained in his smile. “And as for us being strangers, you’ve been listening to my music for a long time, so I think you know me better than you realize.”

Marinette’s eyes widened slightly. He’d noticed her, all those times he played?

Luka cleared his throat, glancing away for a moment before bringing his gaze back to hers. “I’d love to spend Christmas Even with you, Marinette. Text me the details? I’ll pick up some wine and bring my guitar and neither of us has to be alone.”

Marinette felt all bubbly inside at the thought of cooking for another person after all this time. Suddenly she felt motivated to clean up and find a nice tablecloth and put up some lights. All of those things she had always loved but couldn’t see the point of with no one to share them with. “Great! Yes, okay. I’ll see you then!” She had so much to do, she needed to plan a menu and make a grocery list and—“Bye!” she called with a bright smile, setting off with a bounce in her step.

Luka watched her go for a moment, his own smile growing. She practically sparkled as she bobbed down the street, clearly lost in her plans and looking so happy...

Yeah, he wasn’t going to feel bad about ditching Jagged’s giant Christmas party at all.

[fayewonglibrary]

Dou Wei and Faye Wong: The "Ambiguity" of "The Higher Being" (2020)

by Xu Jinjing  

I can't see through your ambiguous eyes They seem to be deep yet still very shallow The sky turned gray-blue I want to say goodbye It's not too late

—— Faye Wong, "Ambiguous" 

Oh~ my goodness, the higher being Heaven and hell are all on earth ...

Where is the happiness Where is the happiness Where is the happiness

—— Dou Wei, "The Higher Being"

From the masterpiece "Shameful" in the Black Panther era to the masterpiece "The Higher Being" in the Masters of Rock era, Dou Wei had obviously undergone a transformation from angry rock and roll youth to music philosopher. Dou Wei's transformation was brought about by his age and experiences and it was also closely related to his love life.

Before and after the release of Dou Wei's first solo album "Black Dream", he was in the vortex of a love triangle with Jessica Jiang and Faye Wong. On one hand, Jessica Jiang was the "suffering lover" who gave up her studies for him. On the other hand, Faye Wong was the "Heavenly Queen" who had risen to prominence in Hong Kong and the entire Chinese music industry. How could he choose? For Dou Wei, it was an extremely difficult decision.

In "The Higher Being", he described the rich aspects of human nature in the form of two-character words. He spoke indifferently and calmly, then shouted in a rather desperate voice: "Where is the happiness?" Dou Wei's thorough understanding of human nature and his matter-of-fact attitude towards life is somewhat reminiscent of the ideas of French existential philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre's "Hell is other people" and Albert Camus’ "There is only one really serious philosophical problem and that is suicide."

Dou Wei knows that it is very absurd to place one’s happiness on others. However, in his own life, he could not be so decisive and transparent. He lingered back and forth between the old Beijing hutong with Jessica Jiang and luxury hotels in Beijing's business district with Faye Wong whenever she returned to the city. There was aura and fame in Faye Wong and freedom and love in Jessica Jiang. All fulfilled the emotional needs of this artist from different aspects, making it difficult for him to make a definitive choice.

Faye Wong is a Leo who pursues control of her career and feelings. She could be very satisfied with the rich emotional and spiritual world that she created on her own. For the man she loved, she could also put down her identity as the "Heavenly Queen" and return to Beijing's old hutongs to pour a chamber pot and take care of him [when he was ill]. For these feelings, she vowed to not give up. Faye Wong finally had the last laugh in this long-distance love triangle relationship.

It is worth noting that when Faye Wong’s dream of love becomes a reality, she also needs daily self-affirmation and her lover's care to maintain the freshness and vitality of this relationship. The phrase “seems to be deep yet still very shallow" in her song "Ambiguous" perfectly expresses Faye Wong's complex and contradictory mood. In order to win Dou Wei's love, she could put herself down and be the little woman next to him. But in her emotional life, she obviously could not only just hold the "chamber pot".

When she and Dou Wei got married, Faye Wong in Dou Wei’s eyes turned from a musically compatible partner to housewife. Faye Wong’s career, aura, as well as her romantic ideals made the contradiction between the two more intense. In other words, the symbol of the chamber pot only became a gimmick for the media to describe the love between Faye Wong and Dou Wei, but it could never become the core element and theme of Faye Wong's expression of this relationship. The romantic Faye Wong can never be constrained.

Even if the sky deepens, still can't see the cracks on the brows Even a house filled with dim lights cannot shine through my body It can still reflect your heart ...

I fear that tragedy will repeat in my life The more beautiful things are, the more untouchable they are History repeats itself in this busy city There is no reason to fall in love without the undercurrent —— Faye Wong, "Undercurrent"

What is good or bad How can we adapt to this era I do not understand ... Look forward to receiving love's greetings Hope someone can save me Come soon, I'm waiting Take me to safety Stay with me at this time Let me feel your tenderness —— Dou Wei, "Sad Dreams" 

On the evening of December 31, 1998, Faye Wong held a New Year's Eve concert during her Scenic Tour in Hong Kong. After singing the opening three songs, she told the fans in Cantonese (in summary): This year, many people encountered a lot of happy and unhappy things. The important thing is to continue to learn from these experiences so you can face them in the future. I wish the fans a happy new year.

After the New Year's greetings, she sang the classic song "Undercurrent" in a trembling voice. When the fans started to cheer her on, Faye Wong stood on the stage and sang selflessly: “I fear that tragedy will repeat in my life..." At this time, Faye Wong and Dou Wei's marriage was on the edge. Faye Wong's popularity was continuously growing and the emergence of the third party Gao Yuan was close to exploding.

Three months ago, I repeatedly listened to the live recording of Faye Wong’s "Undercurrent”. I felt her emotional situation at the time with empathy. Faye Wong's spirituality and creativity have given her a very clear perception and intuition of her situation and fate in her emotional life. However, even if she knew that this relationship would not end well, even if she knew that the love with Dou Wei would encounter many ups and downs, while facing the doubts and opposition of many relatives and friends, she still chose to marry Dou Wei without hesitation. Faye Wong’s firm decision naturally reminds me of Nietzsche’s famous line: “Even if life is a dream, we must have this dream with a sense of interest, not to lose the sentiment and fun of the dream; even if life is a tragedy, we must act this tragedy vividly, not to lose the magnificence and comfort of the tragedy”.

The "tragedy" that Faye Wong firmly chose is most representative in Dou Wei's music. However, if you scrutinize the lyrics of "Sad Dreams", you will find that Dou Wei's "sadness" mainly comes from disappointment and uneasiness during this time period. In this state of loss and dissonance, love and salvation are just looking for a temporary "safe haven”.

One person saw love as a source of inspiration and romantic ideal. The other person only saw love as a substitute for grand narratives. The tragic ending of the two could have been predicted.

But there are times, when I'd rather Choose to keep this love alive and not let go And wait until we have finished admiring this view Perhaps you will keep me company And watch the trickle of water flow forever 

—— Faye Wong "Red Bean" Outside the window, the sky, the mind, the endless green field Your brilliant smile, I run desperately Fly by in the distance, no chance to reach the village, sunset, the boat returns Look at that day, there are white clouds In an instant, you appeared in front of me I saw the evening breeze blowing and the beauty of the rainbow —— Dou Wei, "Outside the Window" 

Of all of Dou Wei’s albums, "Sunny Days" was the most open and unconstrained. The self-doubt and isolation in "Black Dream" transformed into the self-expression of a Taoist temperament that was rather at ease. Take this song "Outside the Window" as an example. The style of the leisurely and boundless melody outline a simple and poetic atmosphere. The era of this album was when the relationship between Dou Wei and Faye Wong was in its best state.

In early 1995, Faye Wong released her live concert album which is still one of her most highly regarded albums by the public.  Dou Wei’s album "Sunny Days", which included the song "Outside the Window" was also released in the year 1995. No matter how bleakly their love ended, these moments are unforgettable. Listening to Dou Wei’s "Outside the Window" along with Faye Wong's smart and spirited singing in her concert, it is really wonderful to witness how the two people were in harmony.

By the time Faye Wong released the song "Red Bean", her relationship with Dou Wei had almost completely broken. In fact, "everything has an end" is already a well-known law of life for Faye Wong. But she still "chose to keep love alive and not let go" and to love vigorously rather than fall apart tragically. This is the "female lioness" side of Faye Wong. Her self-determination has been the same with Dou Wei, Nicholas Tse and Li Yapeng. Life is short and there will always be people who are unwilling to repeat mediocrity and unwilling to hesitate. After so many years, when listening to Faye Wong’s "Red Bean" again, we can see that this is still a person who seeks happiness without regret. 

When will the moon be clear and bright? I raise my cup of wine and ask the blue sky In this heavenly palace I wonder what year it would be? ... People may have sorrow or joy, parting or meeting The moon has times when it is not bright Nothing can be perfect since long ago

——  Faye Wong, "Wishing We Last Forever"

Good spring scene on this sunny day Hazy like before Sweet dreams, the green mountains beyond the sky in the dream Look up at the blue sky ... I often say that happiness is born out of suffering Joy turns to sorrow, it’s been true since long ago Don't make me uneasy, it's hard to tell right from wrong The vicissitudes of life are no longer regrettable ... Spring Summer Autumn Winter Every year, every year, a hundred years, a thousand years The sky changes, the earth changes, the mountains change, the water changes A thousand changes, people change, hearts change

The past has come from afar to the present Something will make you remember

——Dou Wei, "Sunny Days"

When it comes to Dou Wei's open and sunnier side, we can't help but talk about the title song "Sunny Days" from the album of the same name released in 1995. However, if we analyze the lyrics carefully, we will find that the melody seems cheerful and happy, but the content expressed a kind of indifferent pessimism that sees through everything.

After separating with Faye Wong, Dou Wei's emotional life was not able to settle down. Although he maintained a high quality creative output, in the eyes of the media and the public from the aspect of mainstream success, he is seen as just a middle-aged "uncle" who is increasingly "down" and "frustrated".

However, if we listen to "Sunny Days" carefully, we can appreciate that all joy, happiness, and success in the worldly sense have already been foreseen, reflected, and deconstructed in Dou Wei's spiritual and cultural vision. During the eight years I spent in Beijing, my biggest regret was that I did not get to listen to Dou Wei’s live performance. However, whenever Dou Wei’s music is on, we can temporarily deviate from the secular world of fame and fortune and escape from life for a moment of freedom and calmness...

From this perspective, when facing Dou Wei’s love, Faye Wong has never  leveraged the various areas of her fame and fortune. She loved Dou Wei because she loved his soul and his talents, and at the same time, tolerated the arrogance, gloom and betrayal attached to his soul and talent... Faye Wong’s love for Dou Wei is reflected in her cover of "Wishing We Last Forever". It's so vivid.

If we link together the titles of these two songs by Dou Wei and Faye Wong, we will discover the eternal expression of emotions and the ultimate meaning of life:  "On this sunny day, I hope people will last forever." From this perspective, although Dou Wei and Faye Wong have been separated for more than 20 years, the love between them and their continuous pursuit of life and love seems to have never faded and never changed.

In these classic songs that Faye Wong and Dou Wei gave to the world, may ordinary people like you and me realize the blessing!

POSTSCRIPT

For the purpose of researching China’s social and cultural life in the 1990s, I began to discover some important Chinese films and popular music during this time period to study. Among them, Dou Wei and Faye Wong’s music naturally could not be overlooked.

Listening to them over and over, not only evoked my youthful memories of the 1990s, but also inspired me to use the love life of celebrities as a clue to sort out the ecology of Chinese pop culture in the 1990s. After all, professor Li Gongzhong from the School of History of Nanjing University suggested that I use emotion as a clue when researching. While professor Cheng Boqing from the School of Sociology, Nanjing University taught the academic history of emotional sociology in a simple and systematic way where I learned to be open to exploring social and cultural life with emotions. 

Next, in preparation for writing: Dou Wei and Faye Wong had several representative albums that came out in the 1990s that I listened to dozens of times. The quality of their work is very high.

There were not only the biographical works of Dou Wei and Faye Wong, but I also found sources such as: "Perfect Faye Wong-Selections of Faye Wong Songs" (edited by Tian Lai Music Studio, Baihua Literature and Art Publishing House, June 2006). ), "Faye Wong Biography" (Huang Xiaoyang, Jiangsu People's Publishing House, January 2011 edition), "Days When My Long Hair Flew" (by Jessica Jiang Xin, Bo Ji Tianjuan & Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House June 2011 edition). These references were used for my writing. Of course, it should be noted that I was quite suspicious of many details in the books, so this essay will not list them as official citation notes. All the text in the article is the author's hypotheses of the above materials. If there are errors, the responsibility for the text is entirely the author's own responsibility.

Because Dou Wei and Faye Wong are both musicians who have had a profound influence on the author, despite the preparation, I was unable to find a suitable way to express the writing. In the long process of coming up with ideas for this article, I made a small playlist on NetEase Cloud Music, consisting of 8 representative songs by Faye Wong and Dou Wei, including 4 by Faye Wong and 4 by Dou Wei, and paired them up in 4 groups. I set the name of the playlist as “菲”常，“唯”一 ".  Friends who are familiar with the music and life of Faye Wong and Dou Wei will naturally smile at the name of my playlist.

When I listened to this playlist for the 30th time, I suddenly had an idea: Why not use the 8 songs in this playlist as a thread to write this essay? With this idea, the inspiration for writing this article occurred instantly.  Although I try to be well-researched in my interpretation of Faye Wong and Dou Wei’s love life, these are still very personal accounts. I welcome all the fans, followers and researchers of Faye Wong and Dou Wei to communicate, criticize and correct.

------------------------------------------------------------------  

SOURCE: THE PAPER // TRANSLATED BY: FAYE WONG FUZAO

[rpf-bat]

Spent My High School Career Spit On And Shoved To Agree

Pairing: Gerard Way x Reader

Genre: High School AU, Romance, Drama

Summary: You find out that a classmate has been picking on your best friend, Gerard. You won’t let this go - even if he tells you, that you should. 

A/N: Guess who came off, like, a year long hiatus from writing, just because I read a really shitty high school AU fic, and thought I could do better? (It me. Sorry for being inactive for so long!)

Trigger warning for bullying/violence, and usage of the f-slur.

You held the paper towel Coach Rickly had given you to your nose, trying not to bleed on your Misfits shirt as you walked to the nurses’ office.

As soon as you entered the clinic, you saw a familiar figure seated on one of the cots.

“Gerard?” you blinked, surprised.

“Y/N?” your friend looked up at you, not expecting you to be here. “Oh geez, what happened to your face?”

“I was in gym class,” you explained. “We were playing dodgeball, and when Ray threw the ball, it hit in me in the face.”

“Oh no,” Gerard grimaced.

“It was an accident,” you shrugged. “He apologized like six times, he felt really bad. I told him I’d be ok.”

“I hope so,” Gerard replied.

“More importantly,” you asked, “what are you doing here?”

Gerard lifted up his shaggy hair, revealing a black, bruised left eye.

“What happened?” you gasped.

“Matt happened,” Gerard sighed.

“Matt, from French class?” you guessed.

“Yeah,” Gerard confessed. “The, uh, the school play is coming up. It’s a musical this year. The tryouts are today, so I was in the boys’ bathroom, practicing my singing. Matt came in, and he heard my falsetto, and started making fun of me. Said only fags sing that high. And then his friend was like, I bet if you kick him in the dick, you can make that pansy boy sing even higher. So, Matt kicked me, and I tried to fight back, and then his friend punched me in the face.”

You saw red.

 “I’m going to kick Matt’s ass,” you growled. How dare he bully your friend like this! You were going to make him pay.

“Y/N, don’t….” Gerard protested. “I just….I’m just gonna wait for the nurse to come back with that ice pack for my eye, and then I’m going to back to class. And so should you. Just forget about it.”

“I can’t forget about it!” you insisted. “Matt’s a douchebag! I won’t let him get away with hurting you!”

“Don’t get in trouble on my account,” Gerard argued.

“I don’t care if I’m in trouble,” you fumed. “You’re my friend, Gee. I hate the way people at this school treat you. You don’t deserve it. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there to protect you.”

“It’s not your fault that we don’t have fourth period together,” Gerard shrugged. “And it’s not your job to defend me. Guys are supposed to be able to defend themselves….I just need to get stronger.”

“You don’t need to change anything about yourself.” You loved Gerard for the chubby, nerdy, soft boy that he was. He wasn’t like all the other boys in this shitty New Jersey town. Nothing was wrong with him.

Something was very wrong with the system, that allowed a popular kid like Matt to get away with this. But, you were going to fix that, and god damn the consequences.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

You found Matt at lunch, sitting with his goon friends from the football team. You stormed right up to his table, rage in your eyes.

“Hey asshole,” you glared. “I heard you beat up my friend.”

“Who, the little poof from the art club?” Matt chuckled.

“His name is Gerard,” you snapped.

“I don’t care what his name is,” Matt shrugged. “He’s a fucking weirdo. Putting on lipstick in the bathroom mirror, singing some fag song about being a ‘sweet transvestite’….does he want to be a chick or something? Wasn’t sure his dick was actually there til I kicked it.”

His friend high-fived him, as if this was the funniest joke he’d heard all day. You weren’t laughing. You grabbed Matt by the collar, pulling him out of his seat.

“Hey, let me go, you psycho!” Matt protested.

“Eat me,” you swore, and punched him directly in the face, knocking him backwards.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” Matt screamed, getting back up, and launching himself at you. You dodged his punch, and kicked him in the shin, sending him tumbling  back onto the cafeteria floor.

“Guys, help me!” Matt cried, and his friend (probably the one who had blackened Gerard’s eye) leaped up from the table and punched you in the mouth.

You tasted blood - the lip had split. You didn’t care. Still fueled by rage, you punched Matt’s friend in the gut. He cried out in pain.

“Miss Y/N!” you heard a horrified voice scold, and you whipped around to see the principal standing in front of you. “What on earth are you doing?!”

Shit, you thought. I’m in trouble.

“My office,” the principal barked. “Now.”

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Ultimately, you were given three days of suspension. Matt didn’t get suspended along with you, which you thought was bullshit. But, you weren’t really sorry for what you had done.

Your folks had grounded you, when they found out what you did. But, three days sitting at home watching zombie movies while they were at work, still wasn’t all that bad.

You were halfway through Dawn Of The Dead when you heard a knock at your front door. You hit pause, wondering who it could be.

You looked through the peephole and saw Gerard standing on your doorstep.

It’s four o clock, you realized. School must have just gotten out. He came straight here to see me?

He really was the sweetest friend a girl could have. You opened the door to let him in.

“Hey, Gerard,” you greeted. “How’s your eye doing?”

“The bruising’s gone down,” he shrugged, shuffling awkwardly into your foyer. “How’s your lip? I heard you got hurt, trying to….avenge me.”

“I’m fine, Gee,” you assured him, shutting the door behind you. “Don’t worry about me.”

“But, I am worried!” he said, and you realized he sounded near tears. “I….I wasn’t man enough to fight my own battles, and so you got dragged into it, too. And he hurt you.”

“You don’t have to ‘be a man’, Gee,” you sighed. “You’re just a sixteen year old kid. The adults - the teachers - they should do something about all the bullying that goes on at our school. They should try and help you.”

“They don’t care, Y/N,” Gerard frowned. “Matt is the teacher’s fucking favorite, he’s the MVP, Homecoming King, whatever, and I’m just some weird loser….”

“You’re not a loser,” you insisted, grabbing Gerard and pulling him into a tight hug. “You’re amazing, Gee. You draw, and you sing, better than anybody else I know. You’re special. They just don’t know you like I do.”

“I’m not special,” Gerard mumbled, pushing you away. “The drama teacher probably won’t even give me the role of Frank N. Furter. She’s gonna tell me I suck.”

“You don’t suck!” you reassured him. “You can get that role!”

“Even if I did,” he argued, “prancing around onstage, in that costume, would just make people like Matt, make fun of me even more.”

“Who cares what they think?” you scoffed. “Gee, listen to me. Two more years at this piece of shit school, and then you’re gonna graduate, and you can finally get out of this town. You’ll get into a good art school in New York. I know you will. And in the big city, people will appreciate what you can do. They’ll be more accepting, of people who are different.”

“They keep calling me gay,” Gerard frowned. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being gay, but, I....”

He blushed and trailed off.

“But, you do like girls,” you supplied.

“I’ll never get a girlfriend,” Gerard mumbled self-loathingly. “What girl is gonna want a fat wimp who can’t even defend himself? Who hides behind a girl, like a coward?”

“I chose to fight Matt,” you reminded him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder.“You didn’t make me do this for you. As I recall, you told me not to.”

“I knew you were going to get in trouble,” Gerard said, looking up into your eyes. “You’re suspended from school, because of me.”

“I’d do it again, in a heartbeat,” you confessed. “I care about you a lot, Gee. I couldn’t stand to see what he did to you, and just do nothing.”

Gerard turned red again, and looked away. “I, uh, I brought you the notes from French class, that you missed today,” he stammered.

“Thank you,” you replied gratefully.

“There’s going to be a test the day you come back,” he reminded. “So, you’ll need to study while you’re stuck here.”

“I will,” you nodded. “I appreciate the heads up.”

Gerard looked around your living room awkwardly, unsure what to say next.

“Since you’re here,” you asked, “do you want to watch the rest of this movie with me? It’s your favorite.”

“Your folks won’t mind?” Gerard asked uncertainly.

“Oh, they won’t be home for a few more hours,” you shrugged.

“Were they really mad,” Gerard wondered, “when they found out, that you got suspended, for getting in a fight?”

“A little,” you winced. “They confiscated my car keys. And my phone.”

“Oh!” Gerard realized. “That’s why you didn’t answer me, when I tried to call you last night?”

“My phone’s been off since yesterday,” you frowned. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s ok, I’m….actually kind of relieved,” Gerard admitted. “I was worried you weren’t answering, because you were mad at me.”

“Never,” you said gently. “You’re my best friend, Gerard. I couldn’t possibly stay mad, or blame you, for something like this. I was the dumbass who decided to fight him in the middle of the cafeteria! Whatever consequences I get...that’s on me, not you. Okay?”

“Okay,” Gerard smiled, sounding like he was feeling a bit better. He sat down on your couch. “Let’s watch some zombies eat people.”

You grinned, and unpaused the classic Romero movie.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

As the credits rolled, Gerard sat up straight and turned to you.

“Y/N….” he began nervously.

“Yeah?” you smiled. “What is it, Gee?”

“So, the day after your suspension is over,” Gerard said quietly, “is also the day of the school dance.”

“Are you planning on going this year?” you asked. “I think it was pretty fun last year, when we went with a big group of friends. I know Frank got in trouble for spiking the punch bowl, but…”

“I don’t want to go with friends this year,” Gerard interrupted.

“Oh?” you blinked. “Is there a girl that you’re going to ask, to be your prom date?”

“I shouldn’t even bother,” Gerard sighed. “Never mind.”

“What do you mean?” you frowned, looking over at him. You wished he had more self confidence. “You’re really cute, Gerard. I’m sure if you ask a girl, she’d be happy to go with you.”

“I’m...cute?” Gerard repeated, like he didn’t believe the words he was hearing.

You looked him over again. His long, soft-looking hair. His big, strong hands. His squeezably chubby cheeks. He really was a cute boy. Secretly, you’d thought that for a long time.

You leaned in closer, and his face reddened.

“Gerard,” you said, almost in a whisper, as you looked into his hazel eyes, “is there something that you want to ask me?”

“I….I can’t,” he blushed.

“Well, then, I can,” you smirked, leaning over so you were almost touching him. “Gerard, will you go to prom with me?”

“Y/N, I…..”

“Not as friends this time,” you clarified, a long-hidden attraction in your eyes. “As a date.”

“Yes,” Gerard whispered hoarsely. “Yes. I never thought you would say that, but, yes, please!”

You closed the gap between you, kissing him on his stunned mouth. He didn’t move at first. It was as if he was waiting for you to tell him, that this was all some kind of sick joke.

But when he realized this was real, you wanted him, his mouth responded to yours eagerly, and he pulled you closer, into his lap.

“No matter what Matt, or anyone, says,” you gasped, coming up for air, “you are so handsome, Gerard, and so talented, and one day, the world will appreciate you for who you are.”

You pressed him down into the couch cushions, enjoying the redness in his cheeks and the desire in his eyes. You thought he was beautiful - and you were certain that one day, you would be far from the only one.

[nyaheum]

My 2019 Eurovision Final Ranking

Everything is different from my fromer lists and that's the way it's supposed to be. I only looked at the live performances for this and basically ignored the music videos or studio versions.

This is also purely my own opinion, I’m not attacking you if I dislike a song you love, it’s just difference in taste in music (which is great).

(tbh i kinda like all songs except czech republic and estonia, and even czech republic isn’t that bad anymore)

26. Estonia: Victor Crone - Storm

It’s a gamble whether or not he’ll hit his notes, and even if he does, I still don’t like it. It’s just too basic for me, and I’d still happily switch him with Portugal.

25. Czech Republic: Lake Malawi - Friend of a Friend

I just...can’t like this. I tried really hard because Albert seems like a genuinely nice guy, but urgh. I just cannot stand this song at all.

24. Denmark: Leonora - Love Is Forever

Liebe ist für alle da~...but not for me. Apart from the really boring staging, this is pure Eurovision lovey-dovey romance. And why not utilize the fact that your singer can actually dance very well?

23. North Macedonia: Tamara Todevska - Proud

Honestly, I like the live version way better than the music video, but I’m still not that into it. She sings really well though.

22. Germany: S1STERS - Sister

A little bit of national pride definitely helped place them here - I don’t mind the song, they have nice voices, but compared to other songs? Meh. And we still had better songs to choose from.

21. Serbia: Nevena Bozovic - Kruna

I just can’t get into this song. It’s not bad by any means, but it doesn’t catch me. It didn’t catch me before the semi, it didn’t catch me in the semi and it won’t catch me in the final.

20. United Kingdom: Michael Rice - Bigger Than Us

I like him. He can actually sing so well, but he got a rather boring song, so I’m not really into it. I also haven’t seen his live performance yet (the ol’ Big Five struggle) so I can’t say anything about that.

19. Greece: Katerine Duska - Better Love

Oh well, I know everyone likes her a lot and I used to liker her a lot too but...the song lost it’s appeal for me. I don’t know why. I just woke up today and thought: “Oh, yeah, Greece is here too. Hm.”

18. Slovenia: Zala Kralj & Gasper Santl - Sebi

I’m starting to like this, even though the two of them staring at each other and him slightly touching her arm and face makes me a bit uncomfortable, for some reason.

17. Belarus: ZENA - Like It

It’s a bop, you guys are just mean. It’s not a musical masterpiece, but she can sing well, and even though her outfit is really awful, the song is fun. And she’s 16, guys. She’s really young.

16. Sweden: John Lundvik - Too Late for Love

I don’t know what I think about this. It’s not as boring to me as UK (so John Lundvik chose the right song) but I definitely don’t like it as much as some people seem to. Definitely not my Top Ten, but it’s alright.

15. Albania: Jonida Maliqi - Ktheju Tokes

I like ethno-songs, especially in Eurovision, so I like this too. I actually don’t have anything in particular against this song, I just like others better.

14.San Marino: Serhat - Say Na Na Na

This is pure sympathy and not at all quality. His performance wasn’t good, I can admit that, but I like Serhat so much? And at least this song is fun. (Also, calling me out with the very first line in the song? Perfection. (I do look sad and lonely. Something is wrong tonight. My faves won’t win, Serhat!))

13. Israel: Kobi Marimi - Home

Kobi can sing and the song isn’t that bad, and you can fight me on this. They won’t win with it, that’s for sure, but it’s not bad. It does sound like a musical number though.

12. The Netherlands: Duncan Laurence - Arcade

Loving this is not a losing game, we all know that. I don’t mind it, it gets stuck in my head, but that’s pretty much it. I won’t mind it winning, let’s say it like that. I won’t be rooting for it either though.

11. Azerbaijan: Chingiz - Truth

No hate for this song. Shut up about it. I don’t understand what he’s saying because his English is very...interesting, but it’s so catchy. I’m not a big fan of the robots though. They are, uh...bulky?

10. Spain: Miki - La Venda

It’s just fun! The performance looks...interesting, but this will be at the end of the night, after Australia and Iceland and Russia - nobody will care that this is a bit weird. The song’s fun, and I just like it! For no reason!

09. Australia: Kate Miller-Heidke - Zero Gravity

It grew on me again. The staging is amazing, especially the part where she’s over earth and you can’t even see the pole she’s sitting on? So cool. And the way she hits those high notes perfectly every time, mhmmm.

08. Cyprus: Tamta - Replay

Let’s face it, her performance in the Semi wasn’t the best of the best, but she has charisma enough to make me forget that. The song is catchy and I love it.

07. Malta: Michela - Chameleon

Also a very fun song, and I really like her voice. She also reminds me that I’m sitting at home doing nothing while she’s on stage at 18 years old and performing for all of Europe.

06. France: Bilal Hassani - Roi

When I dream, I’m a king too. Sometimes I’m also chased down a hill by thousands of rolling cheeses. But you don’t write songs about that. But if you did, I think Bilal could make me like it. (It also makes me giddy that my French is actually good enough to understand this whole song :D)

05. Switzerland: Luca Hänni - She Got Me

Yes, little-DSDS-boy, dance! No, actually, I like this. Choreography, yes please. Fun song, yes please. Neighbour-bonus, apparently.

04. Norway: KEiiNO - Spirit in the Sky

I hope we’ll hear people calling for them tonight. (No, that one didn’t really work, did it?). This is pure Eurovision and I’m so here for it. I love it. The joinking is weird, but it’s also weirdly fitting? I love them!

03. Russia: Sergey Lazarev - SCREAM

This is my emotional-support-Russian, leave me be. He can sing so well? The staging is...interesting. Yeah. I’ll use that word.

02. Iceland: Hatari - Hatrid mun sigra

We all love Hatari. Well, most of us, anyway. I love Hatari. (I’m german, we know how to do this kind of music. Might be why I like this.)

01. Italy: Mahmood - Soldi

🖤 Apart from the fact that this song is something special and I love it a lot, this speaks to me? My dad’s an ass to, Mahmood. I feel you.

[shakespearean-tc]

Last day of school post?

Originally posted July 3rd, 2019 Ok so i guess it wasnt my official last dayof school but it was like a month ago and i decided to,,, talk about it??? since i never did and it was literally like ugh my heART this is basically more stuff about A so if you arent interested ignore this post

So,,, the last day that i really went to school was this thing that ,,,, idk if other schools do it but its lagoon day where the seniors go to Lagoon and like half the teachers go to chaperone, right??? So i got there early because I always get to school early and I saw a familiar mess of brown hair and i just got hype??? My heart practically did the happy emote and he turned around and smiled really big and he was like “M!!!! Hi!” and he waved and stuff then he went up the stairs because he was heading to the class he was subbing for (that was before class)

Later my friends came to school and i was just kinda sitting there being a dork and daydreaming and then i was like “OH YEAH A is here!!!” and my theatre friend was really happy yknow and we jsut talked for a while and i was like “man i wish he was subbing for my french teacher, but i know hes not because she didnt hire a substitue because she knew like no one would come” and so i got a little sad but yknow i knew id see him at lunch and stuff

well the bell rang and i headed up stairs to the french room and it was empty from what i saw so i popped my head in and GUESS WHO WAS SITTING AT THE DESK

YUP YOU GUESSED IT

So i played it cool because i can totally do that yknow and just kinda leaned against the doorframe and i was like “well, fancy seeing you here.” and he looked up and smiled again and laughed and he was like “are you following me?” and i laughed and sat down in my desk and i asked him how he was etc etc and we jsut talked for a while until the bell rang signaling that class was to start but??? no one walked in??? and so i was talking to him when two of my friends walked in and stuff and so we just?? sat and played cards all period long?? i say this but we actually (A and I) broke into song because I mentioned this musical I really love (Hadestown) and A kinda stared at me for a minute and his eyes went wide and the conversation went as such:

A: “Wait, you like Hadestown?” Me: “Yeah? I LOVE Hadestown.” A: “I… I love Hadestown too! I just didn’t know that anyone liked it.” Me: “Okay, wait- What’s your favorite song?” A: “Well, Way Down Hadestown is SUPER great, but the one I really love is Wait for Me or Hey, Little Songbird. I wish I had Patrick Page’s voice. What about you?” Me: “Hey, Little Songbird is literally one of my favorites. Also same?? I wish I could sing as good as anyone in the cast.” A: *he smiled and started singing it (his vocal range is tenor so he hiked up the key and we changed the tune a bit because yes)*

So we literally ran around the room singing Hey, Little Songbird and like, 17 other songs from miscellaneous musicals. My other friends joined in too and it was so much fun

Obviously, we were still in school, and so that class period had to end ;-; I had Physics next and I was whining to him how I really didn’t want to go. He turned to me and said “Listen. You’ve gotta go to class M. If you actually get permission from your teacher to come back, then fine. But I don’t want you to skip class because you missed me.” I agreed, begrudgingly and headed to Physics, which was literally across the hall.

I went in talked to my teacher and was back in the french room in like under 15 minutes

The classroom was empty and he was just sitting at the teachers desk playing pokemon on his frigging nintendo ds and i laughed and he looked up and was like “oh hey, i didnt think you’d be back” i told him my physics teacher told me i could leave since,,, she doesnt really like me and i had already done everything i needed to do like fr its the end of the school year why would she want me to hang out in her class for an hour???

anyway i hopped up onto the table and we just,,, talked??? about everything??

I told him I was super bummed about school ending and not being able to go to Drama class everyday. He told me he was worried because him and his girlfriend were having a lot of issues lately and he was struggling with knowing to stick it out or just break it off. I told him that I was not gonna influence his decision whatsoever, but that whatever he chose,,, he needed to keep in mind that HIS mental and physical health was the most important at this point. We eventually brushed that subject away because I told him I would be of no help at all bc,,, ive like never been in a healthy relationship so i didnt know what was right and what was wrong - i dont remember how but i think he asked me how class was going and what classes i was going to be happy to be done with and i was like “hOOOO BOI HISTORY CLASS fOR SURE” and he kinda laughed and was like,,, “what why”

and i just weNT OFF telling him how trashy of a class it was and that no one would pay attention and that my teacher would always rant about democrats and liberals and just say all this garbage about how trashy immigrants were and etc etc and he just sighed and he apologised that i had to deal with a teacher like that and we started to talk about some prick in that class that went off about how rape isnt rape if she doesnt outright say no

me and A just,,, bonded over mutual disgust for this kid haha

anyway after that i just kinda,,, decided to lay down on the table bc i was tired and i kinda sighed and stared at the ceiling. I think A could tell something was up with me because he asked me what was wrong and I kinda gave him a “nothing is wrong im fine” kinda mumbled response. of course this is A and he obviously knew i was lying so he asked me again and i jsut kinda started to choke up and I sat up with tears in my eyes. Immediately he was like, “Omg what’s the matter whats up” and I just,, broke down and told him I was super worried about my friend who he knows as well. I told him that I was stressed and that I felt like our friendship was mostly one sided. That I was just there because… I was the one that put everything into our friendship and instead of her giving AND taking as well, it was just her taking and taking and i was left in the dust. I basically poured my heart out to him and told him that I didn’t want to break things off because I didn’t want to hurt her but I told him that my mental health was suffering gREATLY. Of course, he took my advice and shoved it back into my face. It went something like this,,, A: “You need to take care of yourself. You. Come. First. You put everyone else before you, and that’s such an admirable trait, but you need to take care of yourself as well. Your mental health is in danger because you refuse to put yourself first. And you need to. At least, every once in a while. Anyone is lucky to have you care so deeply for them, but… you need to step back and be selfish for a while.” (I kind of flinched when he said selfish, because I have a big issue with that word, and I guess he noticed) “Why do you- You don’t like that word. Selfish. You don’t like it, do you?” Me: “I just… I’ve been called selfish a lot by my family and past friends and romantic… partners…? I don’t like it at all.” A: “You? Selfish?” *he laughs* “Bull. You’re one of, if not THE most selfless people I know. Listen to me. It is OKAY to be selfish sometimes. Not all the time, yeah. But you need to take care of yourself.” Me: “I just… I love my friends so much that I… I’d rather that I be miserable and they be happy, because… then they’re happy. Y’know?” A: *he smiles, but I think it was kinda a sad smile because his eyes looked a little tearful* “M. You have a heart of gold.That’s rare nowadays. In my opinion, it’s a blessing and a curse. You just need to learn to take care of yourself. You are the most important person in your life.” The conversation kind of… fizzled out after that emotional,,, discussion but we did talk about college and I asked him a lot about being a student teacher. The bell rang, we said goodbye and??? That was really it? I visited him at lunch and we ate and talked a lot more because I had a bunch of questions about college (i’ve been thinking about going to the same college that he is because they have a really good teaching program) but that was,,, pretty much it. School’s been over for a while and I just asjdfajf i miss him a lot this post was so  long super super sorry haha have a good day i guess??? end of the post??? how do i finish this whatever goodbye yall haha

[lilyvandersteen]

Puppy Eyes Chapter 18

Nope, no smut yet, sorry, only more schmoop and fluff...

Thank you so much to everyone who sends me feedback - you’re wonderful and you spur me on to keep writing :-)

This story is also on AO3 and on Fanfiction.net.

The other parts can be found here: Prologue - Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7 - Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14 - Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17

Chapter 18: A Lot of Firsts

When Kurt had to leave for a dog walking assignment later that evening, Blaine felt a prickle of dread. Blaine had declared himself now, and handed Kurt his heart for safe-keeping. Did Kurt believe him? Did he want to be with Blaine? Kurt wasn’t going to slip out of his life again, was he?

Blaine didn’t want to seem clingy, but he also didn’t want to let Kurt walk away without any reassurances on this matter, so he offered to come with Kurt and help him walk the dogs.

It wasn’t until Kurt pointed it out that Blaine realised he was still naked from the transformation. It cracked the both of them up, and that bout of merriment instantly made Blaine feel better. He dressed quickly, and held Kurt’s hand all the way to the dogs’ homes and then to the park. It felt amazing. He sneaked a few glances at their joined hands, grinning happily, and that grin only widened when he caught Kurt doing the same.

“I love you,” he said, the words tumbling out of their own accord for the millionth time that day, yet Kurt’s eyes lit up as beautifully as if it were the very first.

When Blaine gave Kurt the unicorn brooch and the accompanying letter, he got the reassurance he’d been craving. The letter made Kurt tear up and reel Blaine in close, murmuring that Blaine was the one for him too.

Blaine didn’t check if anyone was around before taking Kurt’s face in his hands and kissing him like his life depended on it.

Kurt drew away a few times to gulp in fresh air, and each time Blaine chased his lips as if Kurt provided the only oxygen he needed.

Blaine didn’t know how much time had passed when they finally remembered the dogs and took them back home, but he did know it wasn’t long enough by far.

Kurt was dog-sitting, so Blaine knew he couldn’t come back to Blaine’s apartment. But maybe Blaine could come with him? He needed to be close to Kurt. Preferably till death did them part, but he’d settle for right here right now.

Kurt seemed hesitant about letting him stay over, so Blaine gave him his most beseeching look. The one that even Pam had never been able to say no to.

“You don’t play fair,” Kurt grumbled as they walked towards the apartment where Kurt was staying.

Blaine, happy as a lark now, beamed at him. “All’s fair in love and war, beautiful.”

Kurt shot him a quick look, and a corner of his mouth ticked up. “Is that going to be my pet name from now on? What happened to ‘honey’ and ‘sweetie’?”

Blaine shrugged. “Those are generic, and I use them for everyone. You deserve a special name just for you. And ‘beautiful’ suits you.”

That made Kurt blush, and Blaine just had to kiss him again because he was so adorable.

It wasn’t until they were lying in bed that Blaine initiated phase two of his wooing plan, and asked Kurt out on a date. He fist-pumped when Kurt said yes, and nodded off contentedly.

Then Kurt’s voice jolted him awake again. “Just so you know, we have an appointment at The Sweetest Thing Bakery tomorrow at four p.m. Make sure you include that in your date plans.”

“You rescheduled? Mrs Peters wasn’t angry that we missed our appointment?”

Kurt chuckled. “I pretended that you’d written the date down wrong.”

“Clever!” Blaine praised him. “I’m glad. She has the best reviews. And the best designs.”

“And hopefully scrumptious caaaaaake,” Kurt yawned.

“Sleep, beautiful.”

“Sweet dreams,” Kurt slurred, and then laughed, “because of the cake, geddit?”

He turned on his side, his head on Blaine’s chest, and was out like a light.

Blaine kissed the crown of his head. For a few minutes, he basked in the feeling of having Kurt with him again. Then, he started going over his date options. Their first date had to be perfect.

K&B

Of course, mandating that the date had to be perfect jinxed it. From the moment Blaine woke, he knew he’d have to adjust his plans. He’d counted on cold but dry weather, not the rain and cold wind that assaulted him as soon as he opened the window in the kitchen. That meant the walk through Central Park was out. Bummer.

Blaine busied himself making Kurt a delicious breakfast, making sure it would be ready by the time Kurt’s alarm clock went off, but Kurt didn’t even spare the breakfast tray a passing glance when he rushed past Blaine mumbling, “Dogs to walk. Back in half an hour!”

Blaine looked down at the tray he was holding and sighed. By the time Kurt got back, the eggs would be a congealed mess, the toast would be unappetizing, the fruit salad would no longer look fresh but brown at the edges, and the mocha would be ice-cold.

Oh, all right then.

Blaine sat down at the kitchen table and ate the breakfast intended for Kurt, grimacing when he drank the mocha, which was much too sweet for his taste. After that, he showered and dressed, and then made a new breakfast tray, timing it so that it was ready just when Kurt was due back.

Kurt and the poodles returned in the best of spirits, despite the weather, and now Kurt did notice the tray. “You made me breakfast? Oh, you’re the BEST! I’m starving! I forgot to make myself sandwiches yesterday.”

Kurt kissed Blaine square on the mouth before sitting down and wolfing the whole meal down in five minutes flat.

Then, he looked up at Blaine expectantly. “So what are your plans for today?”

“Still raining?” Blaine asked, and Kurt nodded.

“I guess a romantic walk in the park is out, then,” Blaine mused, and Kurt laughed as if Blaine had made an excellent joke.

Blaine praised himself lucky that he’d asked Ashton if there were any good exhibitions in the NYC museums. At least he had that to fall back on.

He looked up, meaning to tell Kurt they were going to the Met, but Kurt had disappeared. His bowl and plate stood in the sink, already rinsed, and his voice floated out of the utility room, singing a French song.

Blaine distractedly petted one of the poodles while letting Kurt’s singing wash over him, and then started on the dishes.

An hour later, Kurt and Blaine were on their way to the museum. Blaine had first stopped by his own apartment for Kurt’s present of the day. He’d had an umbrella made with the same puppy pattern as the book bag, and Kurt could really use that in this weather.

Kurt exclaimed over the umbrella, calling it über-cute. Outside, he opened it and offered Blaine his arm.

Blaine had never shared an umbrella with anyone before, and found it cosy and intimate. The wind still howled, and the rain still beat down on them, but the umbrella was sturdy enough to provide shelter, and the heat from Kurt’s body was a welcome solace against the biting cold.

When they reached the Met, the queue at the entrance made Blaine’s heart sink. He knew that Monet always drew a crowd, but this was simply ridiculous. They’d be queuing for hours, and in this inclement weather, standing still for so long wasn’t an appealing prospect.

He ran through Ashton’s other suggestions, and flagged down a cab to take them to the Museum of Natural History instead. The exhibit there was about newly discovered deep sea creatures, and when a class of third-graders came by with a guide, Kurt’s eyes shone and he followed them, soaking up every bit of information the guide doled out.

Kurt was keen to discover the rest of the museum too, and in the end, he only let himself be led out of the museum when his stomach started growling.

“We can always come back another day,” Blaine promised him.

Blaine looked at the overcast sky and chose a nearby sushi restaurant for lunch. It still wasn’t close enough for them to escape a sudden rain squall that drenched them in seconds, and they ran the last few yards, Kurt squealing and trying to protect his hair when the wind blew his hood off.

They stumbled into Gari of Columbus with dripping coats and squeaking shoes, laughing and shivering a little. In the restaurant, it was toasty warm, though, and Kurt slipped into the restroom to try and fix his hair.

“Ugh,” Kurt said when he came back. “I can’t get it into a decent coif. You’ll have to make do with the hairstyle I had when I was a sophomore in high school. Floppy bangs and all.”

Blaine smiled at him and cupped his cheek to give him a kiss. “You do look younger this way. But just as beautiful.”

After lunch, Kurt had to head back to the place he was staying to pick up the poodles for their midday walk, and then a few other dogs as well. Blaine grinned when Snowball and Summer greeted him enthusiastically. It was still raining, but Blaine hardly felt it as he ran with the dogs. Kurt flashed him a happy grin and upped his pace a notch.

After their run, Kurt was shivering again. Blaine hunted for a blanket in the apartment and wrapped Kurt in it, installing him on the sofa and hurrying to the kitchen to make them both tea. When he came back into the living room, Kurt was watching Casablanca, and stretched his arms out towards Blaine. Blaine offered him a cup of tea, and chuckled when that made Kurt pout. “So impatient, beautiful.”

Blaine kissed Kurt’s pout away and sat down next to him, encircling Kurt’s waist and sipping his own tea.

“So where is The Sweetest Thing bakery?” Kurt asked. “We have to make sure we’re on time today.”

Blaine beamed at him. “It’s not far, beautiful. Four blocks or so. So you can drink your tea and watch Humphrey and cuddle me and get warm again. Plenty of time for that.”

Kurt’s answering smile was wide and toothy, and he wiggled a bit closer still. “That sounds perfect.”

They arrived at The Sweetest Thing bakery twenty minutes early, and Kurt used the extra time to inspect the shop window. “I see what you meant about the best designs. These cakes are gorgeous. If they’re yummy, too, I’m sold.”

A gust of wind made them both head inside the shop, and they told the sales assistant that they had an appointment with Mrs Peters.

“Anderson-Hummel?” she asked.

“That’s us,” Blaine confirmed, and he felt Kurt squeeze his hand.

“What is it, beautiful?” he whispered, and Kurt blushed and whispered back, “I like that there’s an ‘us’ now.”

The girl behind the counter cooed. “Aww, you’re too adorable. Have you been together long?”

“Nearly a year and a half,” Kurt lied glibly.

“And you’re already engaged? Wow, I’ve been seeing my man for five years and not a peep about marriage!”

Blaine gave her his most disarming smile. “When you know, you just know.”

A voice behind him made a retching noise, and then hissed, “You disgusting fags, why don’t you get out of here before I break your neck!”

Blaine whipped his head around and saw a burly middle-aged guy, red-faced and looking furious.

Before he could say or do anything, Kurt retorted, “Why don’t you back to the Middle Ages, where you belong? Last I checked, gay marriage was legal. We have as much right to buy our wedding cake here as you do.”

The guy came closer, his hands reaching for Kurt’s neck. Blaine quickly got in front of Kurt and took on a fighting stance.

“Cut this out RIGHT NOW,” a woman commanded.

Blaine recognised Mrs Peters’ voice, but didn’t take his eyes off the angry guy.

“Mr Miller, if you have a problem with my clientele, I suggest you go elsewhere. I’m not having this kind of scene in my shop.”

Mr Miller looked at Mrs Peters, affronted. He’d clearly expected her to side with him. “Oh, fine. Your cakes suck anyway.”

He strode out of the shop and banged the door with all his might.

“Good riddance,” said Mrs Peters. “Now if you two would follow me, please. Anderson-Hummel, right?”

“That’s us, ma’am,” Blaine said. He grabbed Kurt’s hand, and together, they followed Mrs Peters.

Soon after, Kurt was deep in discussion with Mrs Peters about the design he wanted on the wedding cake. He drew several versions on a napkin, and promised to send the baker a digital version of the design by the next day at the latest.

Then, it was time to taste-test the different cake flavours. Kurt took small nibbles and closed his eyes every time a new taste hit him, his brow furrowed in concentration. It made Blaine smile.

Kurt pronounced the chocolate delicious but too heavy, shook his head after tasting the red velvet and vanilla options, made a so-so gesture about the carrot cake, wrinkled his nose at the pink champagne cake, but lit up when he tasted the coconut and lime combo.

“This is it,” he whispered, “This is the perfect cake.”

Blaine nodded. “Okay.”

Kurt took another small bite and moaned. “No, seriously, it doesn’t get any better than this. So good.”

Mrs Peters laughed. “That’s settled, then. So I’ll write down coconut and lime for the cake, and your own design for the decoration. Do you have my e-mail address to send the file?”

Blaine assured her they had the address.

“And what’s the wedding date?” she wanted to know next.

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other.

“We haven’t decided on the venue yet,” said Blaine. “It depends which one we’ll go with. If we pick the Bowery Ballroom, it will be the 7th of June. If it’s at the NY Public Library, it will be on the 14th of July. And the date for the Loeb boathouse is 9 September.”

Kurt cocked his head to the side. “I thought we’d decided against the Loeb boathouse? It’s going to be either Bowery or the Library, Mrs Peters. We’ll let you know as soon as possible. We’re visiting both places again next week, and then we’ll decide.”

Mrs Peters made Blaine repeat both dates and jotted them down with a question mark behind them.

As they filed out of the back room, Mrs Peters put a hand on Blaine’s arm.

“Hey…” she said. “Don’t mind that guy, please. Don’t you worry your pretty head about him. Your fiancé is right. Love is love, and it doesn’t matter to me that you’re two men. It shouldn’t matter to anyone. It’s nobody’s business but your own.”

Blaine swallowed and tried to smile, but it probably came out more like a grimace. “I’ll go pay the deposit at the counter, then.”

Nothing like striking while the iron was hot, so Blaine called both wedding venues to ask if he could come by again, this time with his fiancé. For the Bowery Ballroom, he made an appointment for Monday evening. There was no appointment needed for the New York Public Library. “We’re open until 5.45 today, sir.”

That gave them a little over an hour to go discover the place, so they took a cab there. As soon as Kurt entered the building, he seemed to be vibrating with excitement, and that enthusiasm increased with every detail he pointed out to Blaine, in reverent whispers. They stayed until the library closed, and as they went down the steps, Kurt told Blaine, “This is the right place for us. I can feel it in my bones. We can go check out the Bowery, too, but I don’t think I’ll change my mind. I see us getting married here.”

They picked up Thai take-away on their way back to the place where Kurt was staying. After eating, they took out the dogs for their evening walk, and then curled up on the sofa again until it was time for bed.

When Kurt laid his head on Blaine’s chest, Blaine blurted out, “I’m sorry our first date was such a mess. I wanted it to be perfect, but it all went wrong.”

Kurt raised his head. “Blaine, what are you talking about? There’s nothing about today that I would have changed. To me, it was perfect. A wonderful first date. I couldn’t dream up a better one if I tried.”

“B-but the weather…”

“I loved that it rained. That meant I got to share an umbrella with you. That was so romantic. I’d never done that before.”

“Me neither,” Blaine confessed.

Kurt beamed. “I like sharing firsts with you. I want us to share a lot of firsts. I couldn’t give you my first kiss ‘cause that one got stolen, but the rest of my firsts are all yours.”

Blaine smiled tremulously and pecked Kurt lightly on the lips, but then went back to his grievances about the day. “And I meant for us to go to the Met, but the queue was too long.”

“Aww, Blaine. The Natural History Museum was a much better choice. I loved it there!”

“And your hair got wet!”

“Yep. Yours too, and you looked so sexy with wet curls. I wanted to grab you right there and then and make out with you.”

“And then at the bakery, that guy nearly throttled you!”

“And you defended me, you brave knight in shining Armani.”

Kurt batted his eyelashes at Blaine and pouted his lips.

Blaine laughed and kissed Kurt.

When Kurt came up for air, he breathed, “Perfect. I’m telling you, perfect.”

[stan-and-the-newbie]

A kpop newbie’s reaction to LOONA

you know i had to do it to ‘em

Alexa: bold

Alex: italic

okay so today you're reacting to Loona!

o, noice

they just debuted like two days ago and everyone is crying

damn. ok but do any of them speak english <<

y es

n  u  t

i believe i already told you, they built this Loonaverse, and released a girl each month

yeh, you told me a few things

right. all of them have an animal and a color. the first five girls have an additional location, then the next three girls have a superpower, and the last four girls have a fruit

...alexa. t-twelve

yeah

<-<

>->

alright fam hit me up

okay, the first girl that was released, back in 2016, is heejin

damn she looks like a disney princess

she does;;

this is aN INSULT

isnT IT

someone arrest her, she's not allowed to be so cute. it is illegal.

how old is she and what does she do

uhh she's 21and she's a singer

she iS BORN IN 2000

... ALEXA WE'RE MOVING TO KOREA PACK YOUR SHIT

ill give you her music video now

alright

the location is hard to guess, so just try to guess her color and animal

hmm

*ViViD*

i'm not watching this u freak, you know about my arachnophobia

y tho. there are no spiders

THERE IS ONE IN THE THUMBNAIL, BIG AND RED

there are no spiders, so play the song, its good. no girl has the spider as her animal u coward

the song's aight. i'd listen to it in a cafe. her animal is obviously a bunny and her color is either red or white. asian girls with thick thighs are too powerful alexa. someone needs to do something about them. it's a health hazard.

omf. her color is actually hot pink;; but u got her animal right lol

o damn. well pink is the mix between red and white isn't it >>

ooOOO

pFFF

she's part of the first subunit, 1/3

ah, so she's a colonel

omG. i mean, y'know, subunits are some of the members that form like a band of their own and put out music

with 12 bloody members, i can imagine

loona has three. anyway, a few things about heejin

hit me

she’s a whole cutie

o gee i couldn't notice

sdfdsdf she likes dad jokes and randomly breaks into silly and awkward dances but she doesn't care. she's also afraid of pigeons 

the guards would have to restrain me from pinching her cheeks if i was ever in the same room with her. and to be fair those things are chaotic evil. one literally flew into my face once.

omf

they also carry diseases similarly to rats. except they fly. so yeah, i can see why one would be afraid.

she also named a rabbit from the set "heekki". hee from her name, and kki from the korean word for rabbit, tokki. and proceeded to ask if she could adopt it.

that's adorable go away i am stone cold

is there anything else u want to know about her. her location is paris, and the first ever video of her beside her mv was her repeating random french phrases she knew in the airport

pfffF.

the next member is hyunjin

they’re all so pretty i cry

they are :(

they are like porcelain dolls, but without the creepiness of a doll, just the beauty and cuteness

i KNOW. so, how old is she

hmm 20 and she's a rapper

she is ALSO born in 2000 ;D and she's a singer

i-

here's her music video

after mark's video on that cat game, the thumbnail horrifies me

o-oh

alight so her animal is a kitteh. so she's the neko of the group, noice... is this a thriller film, geez.

ghjkjhghjk its just a kitten smh

an e v i l kitten

cats cant be evil. her song is very kdrama-ish

her color is... i honestly have no idea

her color appears in the first third of the video

green? blue?

she wears it

lemon

yeh, yellow. and yes her animal is cat lol. what about the song? it’s a drastic change from the last one

ok that last part horrified me. idk it's a weird mix between depression and a drug trip

so, about this baby. her location is tokyo, and she is the savage one

o-oh

shes the one that kept a blank face on a rollercoaster while the others were screaming. also, she really likes bread and croissants

and she's not a rapper smh. well, she does have a pretty voice.

she does~ and shes really sporty, practiced a lot of sports before becoming an idol

alright, off to my wife. this is haseul.

and no photo makes her justice

i-

UGH queen

that jawline fam

i’m sorry i just. literally have never seen such a beautiful woman

alright by now i'm about 70% convinced that these people are created in underground governmental labs

m e. aight, how old is she

fucc it, she's uhh 18

she's actually born in 1997 dfgfdsdfgh

OF COURSE. sigh. that's just my luck

but i understand u

they all look between 15 and 20 anyway does it really matter- i- she's more pretty than she is cute. respecc.

this is her music video

her color is bleagh. i mean bleuugh. blue

omf

she's a parappa the rapper. but she's also a singer. idk her voice sounds like she can rap. was that plane just there and they used it or did they buy a gigantic plane prop for the video

(i really hoped alex would say this because this video exists)

i-

she’S TRYING. her color is green but her location is iceland so liek,,, i guess the writers clashed ideas

blasphemy. they should have went for turquoise

her animal is a dove. she’s also the leader of the group, and the mom friend #1. she can speak english but she has a cute accent which i Love

awh

aaaand she’s a seal enthusiast

o. that's something

they went to iceland so she was like "omg a seal!!! hi !! that was a seal!!"

pffa whole cutie

she is :( she’s also really funny

anyway, the next one makes me feel worthless. this is yeojin

another flawless creation of the secret korean labs

her age?

that tissue-printing chamber in that korean lab from avengers 2? not fiction - they use it to create idols. uhh 19

:D she is 15!!!1

...

and turns 16 in november !!

Goodbye. Tty later, i gotta pack my stuff

dfgfdGHJH here is her song. its very cute because, well, shes a child

L O L I C O N    A L E R T. those three dudes are terrifying. is that the joker wearing a frog head

mmmmaybeh

this is weird lmfao. aaand there's the foot fetish

you’RE HORRIBLE

why is the frog dude going all roaring reeo on her only to give her a fucking present

well, its a song about how she doesn’t want the relationship to move too fast, so she doesn’t want to kiss the dude just yet

that ending was just... idk man. this one broke me. her color is red, and her animal is a frog because that's the only animal in the foreground here idfk

her color is orange, close enough. the other members call her "bean" because shes the youngest and rlly smol and chubby.

awh ;;

and everyone treats her like a baby lmao

well, what did u expect. hmm i think i like the first one the best so far

o, alright

so, these past four girls and the fifth one form the subunit 1/3. the fifth one was introduced through the subunit's first song, but i'll give u their second song cuz its Better

*check out “Sonatine it’s superior*

basically, these girls have a very dreamy concept with a lot of piano and strings. the fifth girl is the pink haired one, and baby yeojin isn’t here cuz her grades were dropping lmao

i-

shhhh just listen to the song

this song gives me the sad

u gotta appreciate the animu songs

i do, i was literally gonna say that this one somewhat reminds me of miia's second song

same !!

her color is W H I T E like my teeth. p u r e  w h i t e

she haS HER OWN mv

o

the fifth member is vivi

shes chinese and the oldest

from communism to idolization. noice

i-

so she's wot, 21? 22?

yeh, shes turning 22 this year

noice

here’s her song

a break from the animu songs. ps: they dont come back

sad. kinda stalkerish fam

ikr. shes a hooman here. but in the subunit mvs she’s an android

what

idk fam they go all out and no one knows whats happening

i am gonna get bashed for this but when she smiles her cheeks look kinda weird she kinda looks like a chipmunk? but not in a bad way

ghjkHJ she does;; shes cute though

yeah

her color is her haircolor lawl. pastel rose

o, nice

and her animal is deer

so she's basically bambi gotcha

she speaks english, and shes the reaction memes queen. and shes also very smol

awh ;;

alright, we're done with 1/3. is heejin still your favourite?

yepp

cuz we're entering girl crush land

o h

the sixth member is kim lip

LISTEN YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO DO THIS

she’s cute tho

of course she is. they're all cute perfect goddesses. i'm noticing a pATTERN HERE

hey, shes mostly a tsundere

well, ngl, she looks like one

sdfgfds

she chose charmander tho 10/10

here’s her amazing mv. her animal appears for 1 second here so lmao good luck. her color is very obvious

white, at long last

the other one

FUCK

SDFGFDSD

red?

yes

that building is aesthetic would hang out there with my weird friends 10/10. the song is odd, but it's nice

i think the song really suits her voice

it does! that's why it works

her animal is an owl

n o i c e

also in one of her vlogs all she does is talk about food. she also keeps the members company while theyre shooting their mvs!! and shes also a reaction meme queen. she sings, but her main strength is dancing

yeah, i can tell

oh right !! she is in the odd eye circle subunit, and these girls have super powers. imma tell you now, the odd eye circle members are in different planes. like, theyre in different dimensions, not the flying planes lol

umm alright..?

anyway, her super power is speed. aaaand i think thats it with kim lip

the next one is a fan favourite. jinsoul

oof. idk man the blond is weird

oh, is it. i dunno, i feel like it suits her.

hammers in that "created in an underground lab to be flawless" vibe. idk, maybe a darker shade? like a golden blonde?

most people choose her song as their favourite

singing in the rain? is tom holland gonna come in and dance to "umbrella"?

oh my god

if not i'll be disappointed. the song reminds me of minecraft intros lmao. especially that synth part

geT OUT LMAO

the dancing is lewd af tho. so 8/10

well, so was eclipse. girl crush land

is she a necromancer? because those hips kill me and bring me back to life

i knOW. she can sing, rap and dance. triple threat. okay you cant possibly be wrong about her color and animal

uhh blue and fish. idk wot fish but a fish

y e s. its a blue betta fish. she said, and i quote "the blue betta fish is one that needs to be kept alone, because it eats the other fish in her tank. so i'm going to take over the group like that"

i- IS THE ENTIRE SECOND SUBUNIT SASSY

SDFGHGFDSSDFGH shes very oblivious and confused also idk if i should show you this but its hella funny and falls into the dumb blonde stereotype. she acts cute in a live stream and then she just

*that beautiful face plant video*

and at the enD KIM LIP IS LIKE "yes. whats next?" and looks through the comments

i-is she ok

yeah, she just stays there like ten seconds and then lifts her head while laughing. her superpower is teleportation btw. anyway, shes just very oblivious and awkward

nice man

the next member is choerry

oof, she qt. her color is purple.

yes. she doesnt like cherries btw

of course. why doesn't she like them? they're gud ;; maybe they remind her of all the bad puns she must have had to endure

i- most likely tbh. she prefers her actual name too sdfgfdsasdf. but choerry is a play on her name. cho yerim.

ah, i see

here's her song that takes a very weird turn and supports further the girl crush concept lawl

i expect lewd dancing. wot’s her animal?

a bat

e d g y. they made her eat a cherry. the monsters

i know, the madmen

o, here comes the lewd dancing. oof, that was short, but it was cool. back to... this??

it happens more than once. hmm, its a really nice song tbh

yeah, it was pretty nice

shes the bright, positive one

and managed to feed a squirrel out of her hand, so shes a princess confirmed

o damn how tall is she. she looks pretty tall in this pic

oh my god all of them are so small i literally cannot cope

;-; pure babies

hmm i think this is old information but the tallest is 165 sdfsGHJKJHJ

o damn

it says here shes 160. p u r e. her super power is plane travelling, like, shes the only one who can meet both kim lip and jinsoul. thats why i told you about the dimension thing

..alright..? this seems pretty redundant, idk. the whole superpower thing and the different planes thing is just odd. what purpose do they serve

well, its basically a whole universe, i guess it ties to the whole story

there's a story? uhh

yeah, but we won't get into that too much. here's odd eye circle's debut song

oh, this song is... something. i could live without the weird distorted voice. fucc yes more lewd dancing. well, that was trippy.

anyway, the third subunit is called yyxy, and it has "fall from eden" as their concept

o

the first member from this subunit is yves, pronounced as eve but it gotta be fancy y'know

oo, noice. please for the love of god tell me her color is white

no one's color is white

well, it’s not a color ;D

ug h. anyway, here’s her song.

hecc yes more lewd dancing

omf

the song is.. odd. GET OUTTA HERE HER COLOR IS TOTALLY WHITE. EVERYTHING HERE I WHITE. SHE WEARS ALL WHITE.

:( her apple is burgundy

what. is that- is that her color

yeah

...i quit.

fgfdghjkghjGHJ

well, that was something

her name is eve, so people speculate the song and mv are about her living a normal life after falling from eden y'know. anyway, shes the mom friend #2

o, interesting pFF

she was very awkward at the beginning, when she first was introduced

awh ;;

and her animal is a swan

AND HER COLOR ISN'T WHITE GET OUTTA HERE

fgfdsdfg shes also pretty savage now that she isnt as shy, but she takes care of the members, since shes one of the older membersGHJKJHGHJK

wholesome

shes very cute i like her uwu

the next one is an actual animu waifu. her name is chuu

i-

and she is the full of cuteness member

yeah i can teLL. the second image scraped my stone heart

yes, she softens everyone. here’s her mv, and the other girl is yves. and chuu is more or less in love with her. lesbian icon

alexa ur doing the thing, but reverse

SHES LITERALLY STALKING YVES AND GIVING HER AN APPLE AND THE SONG IS ABOUT ROMANTIC LOVE get outta here

ALL OF THESE BANDS ARE BASICALLY FAMILIES YALL SHIPPING THEM IS INCEST

ASDFGFDSDFGHJ but yves just shot a heart at her

it's a music video smh

hey, im not saying shes gay for yves in real life, just in, like, the universe theyre building

ah, i see. the choreography is gud. and the whole music video is nice. and the song is nice too. alright, what's her color

peach

do these people only know red and blue variations. THERE ARE OTHER COLORS OUT THERE

her animal is penguin, hence her posing with a penguin plushie in that photo

awh ;;

and her fruit is strawberry. she also sang a kids show ost before she became an idol :( and the other members make her act cute sometimes in front of the camera because everyone loves her. take dis

:'c

when she does the winking thing she stops and asks "why am i doing this..." and the others are just "because its cutE"

s-STONE COLD I AM S T O N E C O L D

anyway, yes, we all love chuu

we have two members left, keep your head in the game

i'm in it to win it

the second to last member is go won

speaking of winning, apparently she already did

she is a real life doll- oh my god alex

yet another qt what is new. cute dolls. cute talented dolls e v e r y w h e r e

i remember her song just because of the way she sings "baby" there

o

*check out “One&Only” yall*

ah, i see. some nice cinematography here. she has an interesting voice

shes mostly a rapper

yeah, i can picture that. that was a pretty nice song

her color is eden green :3

n o i c e

her animal is butterfly and her fruit is pineapple

but does she like it on pizza tho >> that is the question

she's kinda cold, but shes pretty oblivious, the staff messed with her saying that "adam" is her stage name (adam translates to "small" in korean) and she actually believed them and she didnt get the joke either affdsdfg

;-; god bless

shes pretty savage tho, we have three so far

oof

she is olivia hye

and she does not appreciate olive jokes

she's pretty 0^0

she is~

wot's her personality

shes very blunt and she seems like someone that might succeed at being a famous blogger

o damn

she always speaks her mind. i haven’t really seen her play around, but that doesn’t mean i don’t find her funny sdfgfsdfg

pff the mom friend

hmm, she doesnt really take care of the others, shes the second youngest

o rlly

but she does boast about how shes the only one without a fear of heights jasdfjks

pfff alright, hmu with her song

her song is my favourite

*”Egoist” ftw*

s m o o t h. yeah, this is a nice song

ikr !!

aaand more lewd dancing the world is kind to me today

they never give it up

wot's her color and animal

her color is gray, her animal is wolf and her fruit is plum

o damn

here’s their song~

this is hype af. this song is nice too but it has odd parts

i feel like the quality of their music increased with time. the first songs are also nice but you can tell these ones are better put together

well, it makes sense

it has been two years yes asdfdsdfg

o o f

here's a predebut song. the first ever with all of them, but not their debut the intro and the chorus are the best parts ngl

that's a lot of idols fam

eh, 12 isnt that rare. BRRRRRRRRRAH

where the esketit at. that was a pretty good predebut song, all things considered. they fit a bit of everything in there

yep, here’s their debut song

this one's trippy. ah, that's why it's called "hi high" they're saying hi to me, and i'm high after watching it. UOUOUOUAAAHH

I ONLY LISTEN TO MUSIC WITH MEANINGFUL LYRICS

HLBJLNKBJLNKBKLN

do you remember any of them as your favourite or did everything already vanish

i like chuu and the last one but i think the first is still my fave

oo alright, i see. any last thoughts?

well-managed for a 12 idol group, nice choreographies (& lots of lewd dancing >>), plenty of good songs, gud stuff overall, 10/10. 11/10 for the UOUOUOUOOAAAHHH

noicE

alexa here!! oof, this took so long to put together;; also if haseul sees this please marry me goddess ily

i hope you enjoy this post, even though its a little messy!! pop a little message in our ask box too, it’ll make our day~ i hope everyone has a nice day or evening!!