#oh this was fun to write

[takaraphoenix]

Oooooohhhhhh a prompt game 😍

Maybe if I read something lovely from my beloved Fee I'll have more energy to write my own prompts 💕 Can I get 5 with Nicercy? Pretty please with cherry on top? (Except I get the cherry too, because you don't like it if I remember correctly)

5. “You can lie to yourself all you want, but we both know you’re not okay.”

(Thank you for the prompt, Gennie! I am KEEPING the cherry though xP <3)

--

Nico was sitting alone on the rooftop of his cabin, his legs drawn up against his chest as the cold early autumn wind bit at his skin and tugged on his hair. The night was pitch-black, storm-clouds darkening the night sky and hiding the moon and the stars. But the storm wasn’t ready to break just yet. Only harsh wind and darkness, no rumbling, no rain. Nico wouldn’t mind the rain right now.

“Hey.”

Mh. The rain. Nico tilted his head to look over at Percy, climbing up onto the rooftop to join him. There was always something very piercing to Percy Jackson’s eyes. Sometimes, it did feel like walking into a cold rain shower, to be looked at by the son of Poseidon. His hair was messy, messier than usual, that is. A sign he hadn’t slept and just been tossing and turning.

“What do you want, Jackson?” Nico put as much annoyed exhaustion into his voice as possible.

“I saw you up here and I figured I’d… check on you. It’s late, you know.”

“I’m fine,” there was a slight edge to his words.

“You can lie to yourself all you want, but we both know you’re not okay,” if Nico’s words had had an edge, then Percy’s were cutting cold like autumn rain. “It’s late at night and you’re sitting on your rooftop in a shirt and boxers, staring into the night sky.”

The thing about Nico was that he wasn’t very easily cut down tough. No, he looked at Percy and held his gaze, as sharp and unfaltering as the son of Poseidon. He knew why children of the Big Three often led to great wars when they faced off. Stubborn and strong.

“Like you’re one to talk,” Nico’s voice was cold. “It’s late at night and you climbed onto my rooftop to sit here, with me, instead of laying in your own bed, sleeping peacefully. You’re not okay either.”

If Percy was autumn rain, then Nico was the shadows at midnight. Terrifying and frightening, filled with mysteries one didn’t dare to imagine, and endlessly deep. Percy stared at him in angry defiance yet without any words to counter him. Long moments stretched on as they stared at each other, before Percy grunted and sat down next to Nico, stubbornly staring ahead instead of looking at the son of Hades and his midnight dark eyes that seemed to look straight into his soul.

“So what,” Percy huffed. “Maybe I’m not okay either. Maybe we’re both not okay. Maybe two wars fucked us both up, in our own way. Maybe…” Percy’s voice softened. “Maybe I thought it’d be nice to not be okay together, instead of alone.”

Silver light illuminated Percy as the clouds gave just a little way for the moon, making him shine more beautiful than Nico had ever seen him, making his eyes look so bright and honest and vulnerable. Instead of a verbal answer, Nico simply nodded. The clouds moved again, covering the moon and leaving Nico and Percy in blissful darkness once more. There was anonymity to the darkness, and Nico had always much preferred it to the light.

Percy accepted the silent answer and turned away from him again. The wind around them picked up more, and without knowing which of them moved – or if it were both of them – they found themselves sitting much closer. Arms and shoulders touching as they leaned against each other in the cold and in the dark. Their eyes were trained on the dark clouds above, what little they could make out at least. Quietly watching, waiting for the storm to break.

“Maybe,” Nico’s voice was a whisper carried by the wind. “Maybe I’m not okay.”

Percy’s hand reached out and Nico moved his own arms away from where he had them wrapped around his own knees before, instead reaching for Percy’s hand too. There was only a small space between their fingers. Nico’s heart was racing and he could no longer tell if the thundering was the rush of his blood in his ears, or if the storm had finally broken. And then their fingers touched.

“And maybe I’d be… more okay… if we were not okay together,” Nico continued after a beat.

They’d both not been okay in a very, very long time. So many things had torn them down over the years, chipped away on them, leaving them broken. Broken in very different ways, yet so similar. In a manner maybe nobody else could ever understand, not even their friends.

“Let’s be not okay together,” Percy whispered, a crooked smile on his lips.

Nico nodded, a jerky motion, his eyes fixated on Percy’s eyes. Wandering down, over the curve of his nose and landing on pink lips. Lips Nico had stared at so often over the years. He startled when something ice-cold hit his own lips. His tongue darted out, licking the rain off. He was acutely aware of the way Percy stared at the motion. Nico watched the rain land on Percy’s face, running down his his cheeks in a manner that looked like tears. Maybe they were. Maybe every time it rained at Camp Half-Blood, it was a manifestation of Percy Jackson’s unshed tears.

He couldn’t say which one of them had moved first, he only knew that Percy’s lips tasted salty – like sea-water, or like tears, who was to say. And he knew that he liked that taste, liked that softness. His hand reached out to grasp Percy’s neck, to pull him closer and closer. To never let go.

Percy’s own fingers entangled in Nico’s curls and in Nico’s shirt, clinging onto him with a similar need to never let go. To never be not okay alone again. Their kiss went on for what felt like hours and Nico was fairly sure he forgot how to breath along the way. Yet at one point the need for air broke them apart after all and Nico was treated to the view of Percy, breathless and flushed and with half-lid eyes, staring at Nico like he was the only constant in an ever-changing and crumbling world. The rain made his hair and clothes cling to him and the cold of it caused their breath to puff visibly between them, even in this darkness. In that moment, Nico thought he never wanted to see anything else. He could live in this moment forever.

“It’s cold,” Percy whispered, unsure why he stated the obvious.

“Yeah,” Nico agreed. “And dark.”

Percy blinked a couple of times, as though reality was only just catching up with him. He looked around, watching the air whip down onto the ground, the wind tearing on the trees – or rather, watching the shadowy silhouettes of the trees. And then, all of a sudden, Percy started laughing. Nico wasn’t sure what to do of that. Had the moment been broken or-?

Before any dark thoughts of doubt could even creep into his mind, was he pulled back into another kiss by Percy. If possible even deeper than the last. Surer. Like Percy had realized something vital in these moments that made him more determined than ever.

And though Nico couldn’t say what was going on in Percy’s mind, what conclusion he had come to, he knew the conclusion he himself drew in that moment, as him and Percy were holding and kissing each other. If Percy was rain, and Nico was midnight, then together they could be midnight rain, terrifying and powerful but also gentle and comforting if one needed it.

~*~ The End ~*~

[ofluminance-a]

@diablescharmants said: "Your magic has always intrigued me." With two fingers stroking his chin, Freed voiced a thought that he'd harbored in his mind for a long time. He finally felt like this was an appropriate moment to voice it, and also a more direct way of expression his appreciation for Lucy as a person and mage. "Do you want to tell me more about it, perchance?" I would like to hear your thoughts and feeling about it, and possibly some of its exact nature and rules." Surely, this wasn't gonna be a boring conversation but filled with lots of passion.

when the two are sitting in, for once, a very empty guild hall -- lucy is pulled from the notes she's jotting in the margins of her rough draft for her novel by freed's voice. lifting her head off her curled fist beneath her chin, she blinks her dark brown eyes and feels the heat already beginning to waft into her cheeks.

" it.. has? " well this was the first she was hearing of it. though, now that freed had mentioned it, she was rather curious of his own magic. in a lot of ways, both their magic shared similar traits. setting her pen down on her notebook, lucy tilts her head and smiles warmly. it's rare that anyone ever asks her about these sorts of things, and she's more than happy to share!

" well-- sure! i don't mind sharing! but if i tell you about mine, you gotta tell me about yours!! hm, ... let's see. " with a pause, lucy looks across the room, trying to figure out the best explanations she can. " well, celestial spirit magic is a little different than a lot of the magic that our friends in fairy tail use. my magic requires physical keys! finding each one is kind of a cool little journey, too! there are silver and gold keys. the silver keys are more common and the gold, rare. with me so far? " smiling, lucy pulls her keys out of the pouch at her hip to show freed her examples.

" so after a celestial spirit mage finds a key, immediately upon finding it, we have to summon the spirit and create a contract with them. we have to discuss the days i am able to summon the spirit, and any other important notes! then, once the contract is made, the more that i train and work with each individual spirit, the stronger they and i become! " smiling proudly, lucy looks down at her keys wistfully as she tucks them back away.

" honestly? all my spirits have helped me get stronger over the years! i really am lucky to have become such great friends with them all. from stories i've been told or even witnessed myself, not all celestial spirit mages treat their spirits with the respect they deserve. " looking back at freed, lucy starts once more. " why the sudden urge to understand how my magic works? are you studying up for a new mission? "

[citrenecult]

Drew the Lamb, Narinder, and the Follower Bishops.

Some close ups.

[payasita]

two-step

[starrystevie]

eddie knows his crush on steve harrington is a hopeless cause, okay?

he's somehow been friends with steve long enough to know what he looks like when he's flirting, what he looks like when he has a crush, when his sights are set on someone very non-eddie munson shaped. he also now knows how to hide his jealousy in a fake smirk that he flashes steve's way when yet another pretty girl walks their way with her sights set on him and a smirk of her own.

eddie always watches as steve reaches out a hand just so to gently brush it against a lovely lady's arm with that charming fucking smile and sees how that lovely lady will always melt at the touch. and who could blame her? certainly not eddie, the same eddie who's had his own sights set on steve harrington for what feels like a life time. if anyone knows how painfully a heart can beat when it sees him from across the room and imagines a date and a future and a life with steve, it would be eddie.

but that's where it ends. steve harrington, the ladies man that he is, always stops things there with a smile and a wave thrown in the woman's direction as she walks away. it throws eddie for a loop every time. he would watch the two flirt for minutes that that felt like torturous hours for him only for it to end with a disappointed look on her face and steve turning his attention back to eddie like nothing had happened.

it makes no sense.

"i don't get it, man," he says one day as steve lets yet another girl walk away down to the opposite end of the grocery store aisle they're in. steve's turned back to staring at the shopping list in his hand and is muttering to himself instead of watching her walk away like eddie is, disbelief coloring his face.

"don't get what?" steve asks back, not bothering to look up until the silence goes on for too long. his eyes land on eddie's and he frowns slightly, shaking his head slowly. "... did i miss something?"

eddie reels back, eyebrows furrowing together and motions his arms every which way, from the girl's retreating form to the empty space around them.

"steve, you're just going to let her walk away and not get her number? she was obviously hitting on you, dude."

he watches as steve's face crinkles slightly before smoothing out and shrugs his shoulders, turning back to grab the cat food eddie feeds to the strays off the shelf. he lurches forward and places his hands on steve's shoulders to face him, watching as his eyes go wide.

"what do you want me to say?" steve shrugs again and eddie can feel the movement under his hands. "i guess i wasn't feeling it."

eddie sighs, scrubbing a hand down his face before returning it back to steve's shoulder. "wasn't feeling it... steve, i'm gay, not blind. you two obviously were hitting it off with your fucking charming lines and flirty eyes. you always do this and it makes zero fucking sense-"

"-you're gay?"

steve says a bit too loud for eddie's liking even if they are currently hidden in the pet food aisle. heat floods his cheeks and he throws a hand cover steve's mouth while shushing him to keep him from saying it again. he sees steve's eyes go even wider and feels warmth spreading under his fingers.

is steve...

"you knew this!" eddie accuses in a whisper and tries to breathe evenly while steve's gaze travels all over his face. "we talked about it with robin that one time!"

... is he blushing?

there's a sudden pressure at his side and he looks down to see steve's fingers curling over his waist. eddie takes in a stuttering breath and brings his own wide eyes up to meet steve's. it's like looking in a fun house mirror, seeing his flush creeping up steve's neck and watching steve blink in time with him. he can feel when steve tries to say something, his lips ghosting over his palm and eddie pulls back like he's been burned, but steve's hand stays right where it is on his side.

"i absolutely would have remembered if you told me that before," he says and his voice is a little breathless. "there's no way i was there when you guys talked about it."

eddie thinks back to the party when he and robin were huddled up on their couch together. argyle and nancy were dancing in their socks on the living room floor, bouncing around to some experimental track that had been badly recorded on a cassette. jonathan was sitting at the coffee table snapping photos of them, joint hanging from his lips and easy smile spreading on his face.

eddie's trying to pinpoint where steve is in this memory and that's usually the easiest thing for him to remember, but he can't...

until suddenly he can, because steve walked in through the sliding door with his shirt over his shoulder and his swim trunks low on his hips and water dripping down his chest and a cigarette behind his ear and the sunset bleeding in through the windows was painting him golden and he was walking over to dance with nancy with a wide grin pulling at his cheeks and-

"god, i'm gay," eddie had breathed out. robin followed his line of sight and nodded because she gets it like she has a steve problem of her own and that was that.

eddie focuses back in on steve while they stand in the fucking pet food aisle, focuses on the shrill jingle pouring out of the grocery store speakers and not on the way he can hear his heartbeat in his ears, focuses on the way steve can look good even in harsh fluorescent lights.

"well, now you know," is all he can breath out.

steve smiles, all white teeth and crinkled eyes, and his fingers curl even tighter around eddie's waist as he takes a half step even further into his personal space.

"you're why," steve says back easily and eddie reminds himself to breathe as the other side of his waist suddenly has a hand covering it, too. "i don't take their numbers, i don't give them mine, i don't go on the stupid dates they ask me out on because..."

the fingers dance up his side and eddie can't breathe.

"... they're not you, so why would i?"

eddie sends up a silent thank you to whoever is listening that they're hidden away from prying eyes in the pet food aisle so he can lean it and learn for the first time what steve's smile tastes like.

[arthursfuckinghat]

The sun is your halo, for it is always above you.

Arthur and Weetabix ��𐂂𑁦 Scarlett Meadows

[l3viat8an]

Out of the demon brothers who’s most likely to take playfighting super seriously and who treats it more like a game? or maybe a little sexy ;)

I know I’ve talked about play fighting with the boys before but that was more rambling so I tried to make hcs this time!!

Little bit suggestive in a couple of parts but mostly silly hcs!

Lucifer knows his strength and he’d hate to accidentally hurt you (again) he’s the oldest too so he kinda thinks it’s beneath him 🙄 If it’s more his attention you’re after he’d rather just give you kisses.

That being said; if you can get Lucifer in a really good mood he’ll just chuckle, raising an eyebrow while watching you try to hit his chest. Not like you can actually hurt him- You’ll probably get bored quick and it’s only then that Lucifer moves. Grabbing your waist so he can turn you around and slap your ass- if you say anything he’ll just play it off, saying it’s how he wants to play~

Mammon oh you wanna fight?? Then get ready to fight!! he take it soooo seriously and it’s a good excuse to manhandle you just a little bit!!-

Mammon doesn’t work out for nothing ‘n of course he likes to show off for you! He carries you to your bed and even throws you around a little, laughing the whole time!

He’s fully convinced he’s in a wrestling match and even yells some silly slogan he just made up. Of course he still pays attention to every little thing you do, he’d never forgive himself if he actually hurt you while messing around.

Levi doesn’t really play fight- and if you hit him, he thinks you hate him- he’s more into tickle fights where you’re rolling around tangled up together and laughing!!

Tho there is a chance he’ll randomly bite you, it’s like cuteness aggression takes over and seeing skin = bite you in his head!!! ‘n this could absolutely happen mid tickle-fight!! You’ll feel his teeth nip at your neck / arm / shoulder / wherever he can reach, really. He just likes to bites you. you make him happy? He bites you. It’s simple really. Any excuse is a good excuse to cover you in his bite marks.

Satan also takes it way too seriously- he doesn’t want to hurt you! And he doesn’t really have a good reason for why he takes it so seriously….he just likes to play-fight with you.

You couldn’t beat him in a real fight anyways- but like this he can pretend and let you ‘beat him’ !!There’s also something really hot about the way you pin him to the floor, and smirk down at him while triumphantly shouting “I win.” in that moment all he wants to do is sit up and kiss you-

Asmo the first time he almost cries that you absolutely can’t hit his face!!

But after that he’s a little intrigued, and he can’t lie it is fun to toss you around a bit- ‘n more often then not it’ll turn into something a little hotter~

he’ll looks at you with a little smirk on his face and let you throw a punch or two at him. But before your blows can land you’ll hear Asmo’s little giggle as he grabs your wrists, pulling your hands up to his face and kissing each of your fingers before pulling you into a hug, whispering that if you really want to fight……you’ll have to fight naked~

Beel There’s no way either of them will fight back- even if it’s for a joke he’s too afraid he could to hurt unintentionally.

Beel is too big and worried about his size. He thinks whenever he’s touching you, it should be to make you feel good or make you feel safe. Not to play-fight, but if he ever did try it he’ll probably just kinda poke your cheek or just hold his firsts up while he lets you try and hit him. Don’t worry, your firsts feel more like taps to him.

Belphie loves to tease you, joking that ‘there’s just no way your little human punches would hurt him.’

But he’ll still let you try, his favorite part is when you do hit him and he lets out an involuntary ‘oof’ the huge, goofy, grin on your face almost makes him want to smile too-

He’ll get you back tho!- Belphie will full on tackle you as he starts to tickle you until you have to beg him to stop. But he just laughs tickling you a little longer.

[sugarcoatednightshade]

thinking about how Humans Are Space Orcs stories always talk about how indestructible humans are, our endurance, our ability to withstand common poisons, etc. and thats all well and good, its really fun to read, but it gets repetitive after a while because we aren't all like that.

And that got me thinking about why this trope is so common in the first place, and the conclusion I came to is actually kind of obvious if you think about it. Not everyone is allowed to go into space. This is true now, with the number of physical restrictions placed on astronauts (including height limits), but I imagine it's just as strict in some imaginary future where humans are first coming into contact with alien species. Because in that case there will definitely be military personnel alongside any possible diplomatic parties.

And I imagine that all interactions aliens have ever had up until this point have been with trained personnel. Even basic military troops conform to this standard, to some degree. So aliens meet us and they're shocked and horrified to discover that we have no obvious weaknesses, we're all either crazy smart or crazy strong (still always a little crazy, academia and war will do that to you), and not only that but we like, literally all the same height so there's no way to tell any of us apart.

And Humans Are Death Worlders stories spread throughout the galaxy. Years or decades or centuries of interspecies suspicion and hostilities preventing any alien from setting foot/claw/limb/appendage/etc. on Earth until slowly more beings are allowed to come through. And not just diplomats who keep to government buildings, but tourists. Exchange students. Temporary visitors granted permission to go wherever they please, so they go out in search of 'real terran culture' and what do they find?

Humans with innate heart defects that prevent them from drinking caffeine. Humans with chronic pain and chronic fatigue who lack the boundless endurance humans are supposedly famous for. Humans too tall or too short or too fat to be allowed into space. Humans who are so scared of the world they need to take pills just to function. Humans with IBS who can't stand spicy foods, capsaicin really is poison to them. Lactose intolerance and celiac disease, my god all the autoimmune disorders out there, humans who struggle to function because their own bodies fight them. Humans who bruise easily and take too long to heal. Humans who sustained one too many concussions and now struggle to talk and read and write. Humans who've had strokes. Humans who were born unable to talk or hear or speak, and humans who through some accident lost that ability later.

Aliens visit Earth, and do you know what they find? Humanity, in all its wholeness.

[duu-kiwi]

I bet aziraphale wrote about the day the universe was made, about the angel whose voice recited the words that created the stars, about how bright they shone, and still shine, in those angel eyes✨🪐

Here you have some detailss and a cropped version with just!! them!!!

edit: prints link !

[omtai]

new thursday song so good it got me painting w/ acrylics for the first time in a year …and at 2am no less !!

[waldau]

hii i would like to request a fake dating scoups x reader au where the reader falls first but coups falls harder <3 thank u!

here you go anon, hope you like this :)

reset — choi seungcheol | 2,008 words | fluff, hurt/comfort

cheol brainrot go brrrr

gender neutral reader. warnings: none.

technically speaking, the party’s going fine.

despite how much you want to hate it, it’s going the way parties do. there’s music, there’s alcohol, there’s your own corner if you want to tune out the sound of everything else, and there’s seungcheol’s friends. he’s spent at least half an hour introducing you to everyone — you’ve met a lot of them before, but there’s still some new ones. there’s always new ones.

and even though they’ve been nothing but polite to you, engaging you in conversation and making an effort to learn more about you, you can’t shake off the feeling that this isn’t really where you’re supposed to be.

you don’t know who you were kidding when you agreed to be his fake date for the party. he’s already had a ton of people hanging onto him throughout the course of the night. you’re not sure why he even bothered asking you. he could have asked his manager to find someone that would actually match with him, and maybe create a big splash if it made it to the news.

instead, he’d asked you out.

it won’t make a difference in the news, anyway, he’d said, like he wasn’t aware of the way he shattered your heart with those words. like it was common knowledge that nobody could even imagine the two of you together. like it wasn’t worth anyone’s time or imagination, most of all his.

suddenly, you find the sounds in the room too loud to bear. it’s not the first party you’ve been to, but it’s the first one where you’ve felt truly alone. you’re glad you haven’t touched your drink yet.

no one’s really paying attention to you exclusively, and you’re okay with nodding along and throwing in an occasional response here and there. but then it’s not okay, anymore. you shouldn’t have to be here in the first place, on this stupid fake date you agreed to because of your little crush on seungcheol.

okay, maybe it’s not just a little crush. but the point is that you shouldn’t have to be here hurting your feelings in order to spend a little time with him.

you excuse yourself under the pretense of having to take a call and head towards the balcony. joshua, one of seungcheol’s closest friends, comes up to ask you if everything’s okay. you’ve been friends with him for long enough that he can tell when you're fine and when you're not, but you give him a look that hopefully conveys you want him to let this slide.

“seungcheol mentioned this isn’t really your thing, so let him know if you want to go home. i know he’ll be okay with that.”

you nod wordlessly, words of gratitude stuck in your throat. what seungcheol tells you is true — joshua is just too damn perceptive.

you feel like you can finally take a better breath when the door shuts behind you, separating you from everyone else. the cold air makes you feel better, even if it’s beginning to seep into your skin because of the outfit you’ve worn.

it doesn’t matter, though. you need a bit of a reset.

somehow, it hardly takes four minutes before you feel someone behind you. and it’s not just anyone.

“do you have a death wish or something?”

you choose not to grace him with an answer.

“hey,” seungcheol prompts when you don’t reply. “what’s up?”

“shouldn’t i be asking you that?”

seungcheol steps to your side and looks at you. even though you’re gazing down at the empty road sparsely dotted with streetlights, you can feel his gaze pierce you.

“do you want to go home?” he asks softly.

it hurts. he shouldn’t be this considerate to you and then not like you back. it can't just be one without the other.

“i don’t know, do you?”

he sighs. “okay. i don’t know what i’ve done wrong, but i can tell you’re not comfortable right now. are you done for tonight?”

you shake your head. “i don’t want you to leave because of me. it seemed like you were having fun back there.”

“and you weren’t,” he replies, reading between the lines.

“it doesn’t matter, okay? it’s not your fault i’m not having fun.”

“that’s not how this works,” seungcheol stresses, stepping forward to grip your arms and recoiling a bit. “you’re cold.”

you shrug. another thing that’s not gone well today.

seungcheol takes off his jacket and hands it to you without any hesitation, but you don’t take it. you can’t keep living in your little daydream, living on moments where you think he might love you just a bit more than he would a friend. one of you needs to break the cycle, and if it’s going to be you, you’re prepared.

“seriously, what is wrong with you?” he asks, soft but sharp. you finally look him in the eyes. he has that gaze — the one where it looks like he knows exactly what you’re thinking about. it scares you sometimes, the way he’s so accurate. he must have picked up something from joshua over the years.

“nothing’s wrong with me, cheol,” you say, slightly bitter. “just because i don’t want your jacket doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.”

"you're right, i'm sorry," he says, taking a step closer to you. "i shouldn't have said it like that. but...it's not just about the jacket. at first i thought i caught you on an off day, but you seemed fine till we got here. i don’t know what happened after that. are you hungry? did someone say something to you? do you need me to punch anyone?”

you give him an exasperated look. “you’d punch someone if i asked?”

“in a heartbeat. i thought you knew that by now.”

“and if i was wrong?”

“you’re never wrong when it comes to things like these. and i’d forgive you even if you were.”

"you're too trusting, you know that?"

"well," seungcheol says, lowering the jacket. but it's still in front of you, still on offer. "you're my best friend. i think you have some privilege."

you hate the earnestness in his voice as much as you love it. “i know. sorry.”

“don’t apologize, sweetheart. tell me what’s wrong, and tell me how i can fix it. i’ll do anything.”

“it’s…nothing you can do,” you say, turning away from him. it's most definitely not in his control, but it’s not your fault for loving him, either.

“how will you know if you don’t try?”

“you just know some things, cheol. trust me on that.”

“yeah? like i know you’re hiding something from me right now? something that’s eating my best friend up, and i don’t even know what to do to help?”

again. those two words. they tear you up from the inside just as much as they hold you together. you can’t help the sharp feeling in your throat which indicates tears might be on the way. you're just frustrated at the unfairness of it all. if only life was a little kinder.

seungcheol, ever perceptive, notices immediately. “sweetheart? it’s something i did, isn’t it? something i said?”

you shake your head, not wanting tears to well up.

“don’t lie to me,” he says, draping the jacket over your shoulders and pulling you into his embrace. you push him away, even though you whole body wants nothing more than to be with him.

“please tell me?”

you take in a breath, the cold night air stinging your nose. “you said something.”

“what was it?”

“you said it wouldn’t make a…difference, if i was your date,” you say, focusing so much on not crying that your voice is barely audible to your own ears. “you said it like no one would care if we were together. like it wouldn’t affect you in any way. like i’m just…your best friend. and no one can see me as anything more.”

seungcheol sucks in a sharp breath. “can i hold you? please?”

you almost refuse, but decide otherwise. you’ve spilled out your mind to him, anyway. the least you deserve is a hug from him.

“i’m so fucking sorry,” he breathes into your hair, his arms looped around your waist and holding you close to him. “i didn’t— i’d never say something like that. that’s not what i meant when i said it.”

“then what did you,” mean, you mean to ask, but your breath gets swept away when he presses a kiss to your head.

“it’s just…everyone knows how close we are,” he says, hand gently running up and down your back. “i thought people wouldn’t bat an eye if they assumed we were dating, you know. i know people who already think we are. or…that we should.”

you look up at him at that. he looks serious about what he’s saying, but also shy, like he doesn’t want you looking at him when he’s speaking.

“people?”

“some of my close friends.”

that's news to you. “so you don’t mind…people thinking we’re a thing? or thinking we should be?”

“of course not,” he says, holding you with one hand and tracing your cheekbone with the other. you fall for him just a bit more, right there. “anyone would be lucky to have you. i’d be the luckiest guy to have you.”

he just says things like that, and it makes you wonder if he really means them. so you decide to push him this time, and see where it goes. and blame it on your nerves and the drink you never had if things don’t go well. “would you?”

“want to have you?”

you nod, breath trapped in your throat.

“yeah,” he breathes out, leaning forward and tucking his chin in your shoulder.

you swear your world stops for just a second. you’re hardly even aware that he’s leaning on you now.

"yeah as in?"

“i’d like you to take you out for a real date. if you’ll let me.”

you pull away to look at seungcheol. he’s blushing, but he’s not looking away.

"if i'll let him, he says."

"well?" seungcheol lifts a hand to fix your hair.

“this isn’t a joke?”

he steps back and rubs his face, probably in an attempt to brace himself for whatever he wants to say. it doesn’t work. you like him like this, you think. with his hair messy and his eyes shy.

“of course not. i’d never joke about something like this. especially when it’s you.”

you should be the one who's shy and blushing, and yet there's nowhere else you'd rather look. “what made you…”

seungcheol takes your hands. they're a warm contrast to your cold ones. “i’ve been wrestling with it for a while, and i never told you because i didn’t want things between us to be weird. but i couldn’t keep faking it after i saw you tonight. you look so good, it’s been killing me.”

you shake him off to loop your arms around his neck and pull him down to you, feeling a bit braver. “so if i told you i wanted to leave right now…”

he swallows loud enough for you to hear. “we’d be out of here right now.”

you stand on your tiptoes to bring yourself to his height and place a little kiss on his nose.

he pouts. “that’s it? that’s all i get after confessing to you?”

“i don’t want our first kiss to be in front of an audience, cheol.”

seungcheol smiles. “fair. but i don’t know how much longer i can wait now.”

“you’re going to have to ask me out for real, you know.”

“but you haven’t told me you like me back yet,” seungcheol says. you can hear the whine in his voice and it makes you laugh a bit.

“you need to hear me say it?”

“of course i do! i've spent weeks thinking about tonight.”

“aren't you lucky, then?" you tease.

“the luckiest,” he says solemnly.

it's your turn to blush now.

taglist: @bookyeom @wootify @strnsvt @cloudycaramel @thepoopdokyeomtouched @minnieminshi

[svampira]

commission for @astarionz 💞💓 com info

[pastelhooman]

[WVW Exchange Event 2023!]

"The kisses on your lash, your ears, on the nose that keeps scrunching. The kisses on your hand, on your cheeks, and the exchanging soft words waiting for the break of day."

----- ID under break -----

A total of 6 pages of comics, starting with a close up shots of vash kissing sleeping wolfwood's nose, eyes, lashes, and he furrows them a bit. an overhead shot of the two of them in a motel room, on the bed with vash leaning over wolfwood from the left, laying soft kisses on him. their legs tangled. their normal outfits are thrown haphazardly on the floor, instead donning comfortable clothes. on the outside, the very first ray of lights are yet to shine.

"what a face you're making pfft" - vash says as he grabs both of wolfwood's cheeks, squeezing them a bit. wolfwood mumbles, "There's something that keeps landing on my face, it tickles." he grabs the hand that is on his right cheek. "Well you're letting it happens anyways right?" Vash muses, bringing the hand up to kiss on its knuckles. "Good morning Wolfwood. It's almost dawn"

"… Isn't it way too soon?" - wolfwood asks, but keeps to himself the prayers he's sending to god because the the boy on top of him was such a sight to behold. Vash flops down onto him, leaving the hand hanging and lace his own hand into Wolfwood's hair, peppering kisses to the side of his face. "Yep" - he answers - "But you woke up on your own tho" - facetiously. He giggles, saying that it was a joke after a beat of silence. A sigh, "don't make me upside you first thing in the morning." Wolfwood closes his eyes, hand combing through golden strands. "Heh, how merciful~" "We have a meet up with Milly and Meryl today, remember?" Vash reminds him, which does raise some vague memory. wolfwood hums, the other hand reaching around vash's torso, hugging him. " So, the sooner we arrive, the less likely she'll chew through my head." - Vash adds. "riiiight. And you were SO urgent in waking me up." in wolfwood's hold, both of them slowly turn to the right, towards the edge of the bed.

Well, you were just soooo cute, I couldn't help it! didn't thinkk you'll actually wakE UAA-!"

the bed creaks under the sudden shift in weight as wolfwood tosses vash over and under him, arms firmly hugging him, one at his back and one at his head, hungrily dives down to kiss. "!! Wolf-! Wait-!" Vash yelps, leg instinctively curls around the other's man hip to hang on, trying his damnest to grip on his shirt as HE is now half airborne, barely has any contact with the bed on his upper body. However, wolfwood seems to have another idea as he keeps deepening the kiss, pointedly holding Vash close, hands spread guarding the back of his head as both of them are sliding off the soft fabric.

"THUD!" a resounding fall, possibly enough to wake the room downstairs, followed shortly by laboured breaths amist wet smacks of lips. Heaves and huffs of air exchanging between the two bodies when the need to breath made itself necessary. They press close, cradling each other, and are lost to their own world. After a while they had to part. Metal arm shifts through black locks, caressing down to his nape and they hold eye contacts there, with lidded eyes, strands of saliva thins then breaks.

Wolfwood pushes up on his arms, looking smugly down at his now disheveled partner: "Now this is how it's done, Needlenoggin." he remarks. Vash tries to wrangle his thoughts back in order, but strings of Wolfwood's name and a wonderous question keeps filling his mind, of whether he should risk it all and have fun for a bit more. Regardless, snapping out of his trance, Vash sourly asks, with a wry smile and an aching head: "But did you really need to roll off the bed?" "Wrong side, whoops" - Wolfwood anwers unseriously, laughing as he finds the situation quite amusing.

----- End of ID -----

[electrozeistyking]

Yeah, I don’t know where this came from (beyond N’s new coat in this AU being baggy).

[salemoleander]

At the end of Iskall's ep he's become fixated on fishing, sees a salmon floating on the water, and then gets a mending book

... and idk why bc that is So Much Less ominous or pointed than half the stuff that's happened, but for some reason that's what made me sure the fishing religion/big salmon stuff is becoming a capital-T Thing. Lore. Plot. Whatever you wanna call it. There's Stories Afoot.

(I don't know how the snail fits into it yet. I'm sure that will become evident in due time)

[noxious-fennec]

3 years and I'm STILL IN THE FUCKING BUILDING... unbelievable... anyway happy re-bday to my pathetic cringefail politician

Alt ver. under the cut

***Massive disclaimer: i do not support the cc this is strictly about the fictional character