#only made me food herself once (1) in over a week

[ouchhq]

venting :-) sorry

[naughtyneganjdm]

Lost & Found - Chapter 2

Summary: Once Negan gets better, he tries to teach Mia to fend for herself so she can take care of herself when he leaves, but Negan finds himself more attached to this girl than he expected to be.

Characters: Negan, Mia, Y/N (reader/OC), etc.

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53376820/chapters/135146467

Warnings: Swearing, Gore, a child gets hurt, Severe Angst, etc.

Notes: I was going to wait to post this, but since it's already done and the reason I didn't post it all at once because I thought it may have been too long is why I'm just posting it today. I know it won't get the hits because it's not smutty, but that's okay. I wrote this all in one night a few weeks ago. (Chapter 1)

“Would you knock it off,” Negan looked back over his shoulder to see that Mia was standing in the middle of the woods with her head tipped back and her hands thrown up in the air. With the rays of sun shining through the trees, she was enjoying the way it felt over her flesh. “You’re being weird again.”

“I’m sorry man, it’s just been a long time since I got to be outside this long,” she informed him, her long eyelashes fluttering when she turned her head to stare out at Negan with a big cheesy smile. “It feels nice to get the sun on my skin.”

“You have to listen to me,” Negan snapped his fingers to get her attention hearing her huff loudly. “You’re never going to survive if you can’t focus.”

“I’m focusing! I listened to you when you explained to me how to dress a wound. Which I obviously knew by the way since your ribs. I helped you move the bush and the branches over the gates to hide the fence. I listened to your long ass description of each and every gun,” she listed off the things they had already done together, “So please excuse me if I take a moment to enjoy the warmth on my skin after being locked away inside of a house for so long.”

“Mia, I’m leaving tomorrow,” Negan reminded her of what was happening. Over the last few days Mia had been taking care of him and nursing him back to health. Today was the first day he actually had the strength to get up and move around. “If you don’t pay attention now, you are never going to make it. You have to find your own food and be able to survive.”

“Okay! Okay! I’m listening boss,” she lowered down into the same position that Negan was in noticing that he was pointing to the footprints that were in the grass.

“You have to be able to track and be quiet,” Negan motioned her to follow him to track the deer that they had been for a while now. When they made it to the bush, he motioned her to be quiet and reached for the bow to give it to her. Pointing out in the distance to where the deer was, he saw her face turn pale at the idea of actually killing the animal. Motioning her to use the bow the way he taught her earlier had her expression changing and he could tell she didn’t want to do it. “I know you’ve never done this before, but it’s the only way to survive.”

With a frown, she did what Negan had shown her earlier in the day with the bow and arrow. When it hit the deer and it let out a pained sound, Negan reached out to pat her on the shoulder, “Good job. We’ll have a good meal tonight because of you.”

“I just feel like a horrible person doing this Negan,” Mia stated when Negan moved up on the deer with his knife and she had to look away when Negan finished the deer off. A gagging sound fell from her throat when Negan looked back at her with his hands bloody. “I hate killing something else…”

“It’s the only way you live,” Negan reminded her hearing the sound of something moving in the bushes and he pulled his handgun out, stepping before Mia to keep her behind him when he saw three men approaching them. “Back off.”

“Hey, we don’t mean any harm,” the man in the center explained, his features softening when he looked beyond Negan to see that Mia was with him. “We just didn’t know someone else was out here hunting. We didn’t mean to scare you and your daughter.”

“I’m not his daughter,” she spoke up, her face scrunching when the man that was speaking gazed over her. Negan hushed her and tried to push Mia back behind him to keep her safe. Hearing someone else refer to her as his daughter out loud made even him uncomfortable. “What?”

“She’s not your daughter? With the same eye color, the dark hair and the dimples?” the man inquired drawing Negan’s lips to part, getting distracted in that moment to look back at Mia. Clearing his throat, Negan noticed the way that the sun hit in her hazel eyes and he felt a breath catch in his throat. “I’m sorry young lady. I just thought this was your daddy.”

“My dad died,” she responded once more and immediately Negan cut her off.

“The deer is ours,” Negan informed them, his thick eyebrows bouncing up.

“Do you have a place around here somewhere?” the stranger questioned, but Negan remained quiet. “If you’re looking for a group to join, we have a campsite about a mile or so away. If it’s just the two of you, it might be easier if you join us.”

“We’re good. We’re not alone and our group is waiting for us,” Negan lied, keeping his gun up like he had taught Mia days earlier. “The three of you can move along now. We’re fucking good.”

The three strangers stayed where they were and Negan clicked something on the gun drawing the stranger in the middle to throw his hands up, “Listen fucker, if you don’t leave, I’m going to put a bullet right between your eyes and then your friends. So I suggest you get the fuck out of here.”

“Like I said, we didn’t want any trouble,” the stranger hit the chest of the other two he was with before nodding in another direction. “We will get on our way.”

“Better do that,” Negan waited for them to leave, never lowering his gun until he knew they were far out in the distance. Swiftly moving down, Negan grabbed the deer the best he could and threw it up over his shoulders. Motioning Mia to stay close to him, he walked around in circles for a while and out of the way to make sure that people weren’t following them. Just in case they might be tracking the two of them, he hoped by doing what they were, the strangers would get lost.

“What are we doing?” Mia questioned when she even picked up on Negan acting strange. “This isn’t…”

“Quiet,” Negan hushed her with a hiss before finally leading them back to the cabin. Once they got there, Negan did his best to hide everything and dragged the deer into the kitchen. Dropping the deer on the counter, he heard Mia let out a disgusted breath when the blood splattered. Starting to pace back and forth in the kitchen had Mia’s eyes locked on him, confused. “Fucking hell.”

“What is it?” Mia didn’t understand what was going on and he gave her a glare.

“You are going to fucking die Mia!” Negan claimed with tension flooding his veins.

“What?” she gave him a surprised expression when Negan threw his bloody hands up in the air. “Why?”

“You don’t give strangers personal information!” Negan snapped at her, his face twisting with anger when she looked up at him with her big hazel eyes. “People aren’t nice anymore Mia! They are more dangerous than the walkers and you are able to wind up dead in those kind of situations.”

“You were a stranger,” she reminded Negan and he immediately shook his head.

“I’m not like everyone else Mia! You have to be cautious of everyone. You have to be prepared to kill anyone because they are going to do the same to you. They don’t care if you’re a kid,” Negan continued to lecture her seeing the color growing in her cheeks the further he yelled at her. “People will kill you or they will do something…much, much worse.”

“What’s worse than killing me?” she whispered, her eyebrows furrowing and Negan let out a growl of frustration. “I just don’t understand Negan.”

“People aren’t good Mia. That’s why I had to walk around like I was so they couldn’t follow our tracks,” Negan educated her on what he had done, his head shaking when he stared her down. “Men like that are dangerous. You’re a pure, sweet, little girl that they can take advantage of and hurt. Do you understand me?”

“Negan, I just…” she tried to reason with him since she hadn’t really felt like she did much wrong.

“Do you understand me?” Negan screamed at her causing her to lower her head.

“I understand,” she nodded, a lump growing in her throat while she tried to avoid getting upset with him screaming at her like he was.

“If you don’t listen to the things that I’ve been telling you, you’re going to die and then there will be nothing for your mother to come back to. Do you understand?” Negan snarled when he noticed the redness growing in her cheeks as she continued to avoid looking at him. Curling his finger underneath her chin, he forced her to look up at him and let out a shuddering breath. “Do you understand me?”

“Yes sir,” she responded with a firm nod trying to hold back on her emotions that she was having. Even though she was trying to put up a façade, Negan could tell that she was getting emotional. “I’ll pay attention and listen to everything that you have to say.”

“I’m going to show you how to deal with this deer. It’s very similar to how you would deal with any other animal. You don’t let things go to waste. Not anymore,” Negan started, leading her toward the counter while he started doing the process of what to do after you killed the deer. Even though she was uncomfortable, he made her do a lot of it with his help and instructions because he knew she would be left alone. Whenever it looked like she was going to get sick, Negan would take over and give her a break. At the corner of his eye, Negan could see that Mia was observing him closely. “Why are you staring at me like that?”

“Do you think that guy was right?” Mia brought up the men that they had run into and Negan stopped for a moment to look over at Mia. “Do you think you look like you’re my father?”

Hearing her ask him that question caused his heart to skip a beat. A breath caught in his throat and he immediately lowered his head to go back to work trying to avoid the question. It had been something that he considered several times since being here, but he didn’t want to bring it up to her.

“We do have the same color eyes. The dimples,” she pointed to her cheek when Negan gave her a quick look trying to avoid getting blood on his face. “Even the freckles on our shoulders.”

“Your father died, Mia,” Negan reminded her, his nose wrinkling when he tried to stay firm about everything. “You know that.”

“Yeah, but maybe my mom was lying like you said,” Mia suggested and Negan almost heard a hopefulness in her voice. “We have so much in common and I do look like I could be yours. We both love peanut butter…”

“Everyone loves peanut butter,” Negan corrected her with a grunt, shaking his head when she was considering this whole thing herself. In one hand he had a knife when he shrugged his shoulders and he noticed that he was dripping blood all over the floor. “You know, unless they are allergic or some shit.”

“You don’t think I look like I could be your daughter?” she wondered having him step back to stare out at her. The truth? Yeah. She looked very much like she could be his. He thought it from the first moment he saw her.

“I’m not your dad,” Negan shook his head, refusing to allow that thought to linger between either of them when he went back to work. “Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? Some random woman gets pregnant with my baby fourteen years ago and just somehow, miraculously I find her in the middle of the woods in a cabin fourteen years later?”

“Weirder things have happened,” she went to try to help Negan when she noticed his hands were shaking and he lifted his hand to stop her. “So there is no way that you could be my father? You weren’t with anyone back then?”

“Mia, I can hardly remember what I did last week let alone fourteen years ago,” Negan reasoned with her, his Adam’s apple bouncing in this throat. “I’m not the only person in the world to have dark hair and hazel eyes.”

“Yeah, but the dimples and the freckles,” she reasoned with him, tugging at her shirt to reveal the freckles that were over her flesh. Stepping forward, she tugged at Negan’s shirt to look at the freckles that were on his shoulders and he pulled away from her with a huff. “Maybe it was the world’s way of…”

“You’re not my daughter!” Negan snapped at her, throwing his hands up in the air to have her stop talking. “I understand that you are probably feeling a certain way because your mother has been gone for so long. You’re looking for someone to cling onto, but I’m leaving tomorrow, Mia. Think about what the chances would have to be for that to happen. It’s impossible. And I have a family. A son that I have to get back to. He needs me.”

After Negan brought up Joshua to her, it made tears burn at her eyes and she nodded her head, “you’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. My dad is dead.”

“Can we finish this please? I’d like to get some sleep tonight so I can start early,” Negan begged of her noticing her lifting her arm up to wipe at her eyes with an area of her arm that didn’t have blood on it. Without another word, she stepped forward to help Negan.

Most of the night she stayed quiet, even throughout dinner after they cooked. That was rare for Mia, but she talked. A lot. Just like him. Negan taught her how to preserve the meat and use other parts of the deer. When it was time to separate for the night, Negan went to the room he had been staying in. During the middle of the night, he heard movement in the hallway and he carefully got up to look through the small crack in the door. Mia was sitting on the stairs and she looked deep in contemplation, but also sad.

Considering talking to her, Negan realized it would only make things harder in the morning when he left so he just went back and crawled into bed. By morning, when he came out with the bag he had upstairs packed, he found her sitting on the couch and he wondered if she had been up all night.

Usually Mia never shut up. Yet she was speechless right now. Mia went to sit on the stairs again with nervous energy, but she still said nothing. With him packing the rest of the supplies that he would need that he was taking from what Mia had after their agreement, he could see that her face was red and she looked extremely upset.  

“Well kid,” Negan went to the bottom of the stairs with her hazel eyes lifting to meet his. “I guess this is it. Thanks for taking care of me.”

“Yeah,” she moved down the stairs and held out the thing that she had in her hand. Seeing that it was a full jar of peanut butter made Negan’s eyebrows bounce up. “Here, you should have this since I know peanut butter is your favorite.”

“I already have enough,” Negan pat his backpack knowing that she had already given him supplies for his journey. When she held the jar out further toward him, he accepted the jar of peanut butter and gave her a small nod. “Thanks kid.”

“I hope you find them,” she whispered, a tremor falling from her throat as she tried to keep things together. Holding her hand up, she curled it into a fist and held it out to Negan. With a smirk, Negan fist bumped Mia and gave her a wink. “Goodbye Negan.”

“Goodbye Mia,” Negan motioned her to follow him outside so she could let him out of the gate. Before he left, he made sure to help her chain everything back up. “Make sure you cover everything once I leave,” Negan gave one more order noticing that she was having a hard time looking at him when he left. “I hope your mother comes back Mia.”

There was a single tear that was sliding down her face when Negan frowned and lowered his head. Maybe he should have said something more or done something, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Pushing forward, he knew that he had to keep on and find his family. It was hard leaving a kid that he knew had nothing, but he had to. His family was out there waiting for him and he had been gone long enough.

For a while he walked and made some good distance. After some time, he started to hear footsteps following him and he would steal a look over his shoulder to try to see what it was. Keeping on, he heard the footsteps start to quickly come up on him. Turning on his heel, he brought his gun up only to come face to face with Mia who had been following him.

“Mia! What the hell are you doing?” Negan yelled at her, his heart pounding away inside of his chest. Mia had stumbled back when he had thrown the gun in her face out of surprise.  

“Do you think…do you think that maybe you could just stay until my mom comes back?” Mia requested causing Negan’s throat to tense up, a small rumble of a groan falling from his throat. “Please. I have so much to learn still and…I don’t want to be alone again Negan. I’ll give you all the medicine that I have if you do. Please.”

“I can’t,” Negan shook his head, clinging tightly to his bag drawing the color from her features to return. “I have a family of my own that I have to find and get back to. I can’t just wait with you until your mom finally comes back.”

“You’ve been away from them this long,” she reminded him causing his dimples to become more prominent with the anger that flooded his veins when she brought up how long they had been apart already. “Why not wait a couple more days? What difference would it make if you just stayed with me a few more days until my mother came back?”

“I owe you nothing Mia,” Negan reminded her, his eyebrows bouncing up and his head tipping to the side.

“I mean, I did save your life,” she pointed toward his ribs, her chest aching at the annoyed glance he gave her. “You’d be dead if it weren’t for me.”

“And I paid you back plenty with my knowledge,” Negan insisted, throwing his hand up in her direction. “So don’t pull that shit on me.”

“Just a few more days,” Mia placed her hands together, her jaw clenching when she stepped forward toward Negan who pulled the cowboy hat he was wearing from his head. “And when she comes back, then you can just…”

“Your mom isn’t coming back Mia!” Negan interrupted her having a frown flood into her young features. “I hate to be the one to tell you this Mia, but your mom is dead. You know that I’m right. If your mom was alive, she would have come home a long time ago. Something obviously happened while she was out on a supplies run. I can’t stay waiting forever with you because I have a son and a wife to find. You can’t trap me into staying with you while waiting for your mother to return when we both know it’s never going to happen.”

“Just a day?” she tried to get him to agree to something, but he frowned and shook his head. “Please? My whole life I’ve felt like I was just some kind of mistake. It’s my biggest fear. It always was. That I was something my parents didn’t plan and I shouldn’t have been here in the first place. I felt like a waste of space Negan. Until you came along. I felt like maybe I wasn’t a mistake anymore. I saved you. I took care of you. I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

“Go home Mia,” Negan ordered, clutching to his bag and letting out a long sigh. It was breaking his heart hearing all of this, but there was nothing he could honestly do. “You’ve got a target on your back if you stay out here.”

“Negan?” she whispered his name with a whimper and he shook his head before continuing in the direction that he was headed all along.

It hurt leaving that girl all alone, but he had to or else he knew that he would never leave. There was no way that Mia was ever going to understand that her mother wasn’t coming home. He couldn’t get stuck in a child’s dream that was never going to happen so he had to make his way onward. For a while he walked until he came up on a small camp where a fire was burning. Swiftly making his way into the bush, he wanted to get by without being detected until he heard the sound of a radio being used.

“We found the girl from yesterday,” Negan stopped when he heard that and looked over his shoulder to see one of the men that he had ran into with Mia the day before. Biting down on his bottom lip, Negan squeezed his fist closed and lowered his head.

“Just keep going Negan,” he tried to coach himself, cussing under his breath.

“Did you find out where they were hiding?” the man stood from where he was sitting beside the fire and Negan lowered down. “Did you find the guy that she was with?”

“It was just her. She won’t talk,” the voice on the radio responded leaving Negan to lower his head. “I can’t get her to talk, so we’re bringing her back to the camp.”

“Good idea,” the stranger replied with a grumble, pacing in the small area that they were taking up in the woods. “I can think of a few ways to get her to talk. And if she doesn’t, I really don’t care. I’ll make good use of her.”

“Fuck,” Negan lowered his head into his hand. There were four people already at the camp and he had no idea how many were coming back. Cussing to himself, Negan thought about what he was supposed to be doing. Where he belonged. If he stayed behind to help this girl, he would likely get hurt again or die before he found his family again. “Come on Negan.”

Trying to stay close to the ground, Negan managed to get out of the area of the camp, keeping his head down. He couldn’t let a few days ruin the few years of planning that he had done. It was the sound of a gunshot going off that made him panic. Rushing back toward the camp, Negan carefully came up on it noticing that one of them he had just seen was lying face first in the dirt dead.

“Stop moving you little shit,” the original stranger they interacted with was screaming at Mia from where she was underneath him on the ground. Two of the others were holding her wrists down while she struggled. “You just killed one of my men, you can’t just expect me to let you go without punishment.”

“Get off of me you fucker,” Mia spat at the man and Negan could see that her face was bloody from whatever the men before had done to her. “I’ve got nothing to give you.”

“Where is your dad?” the man questioned, grabbing a firm hold of Mia’s face to get her to look up at him. One of Mia’s eyes were swollen and Negan felt his chest tightening when Mia said nothing. Reaching behind him, the stranger grabbed a hunting knife and held it to Mia’s throat hearing her whimper. “Where is your dad?”

“He’s not my dad,” she repeated what she had told the man the day before. A scoff followed and the stranger dug the tip of the knife further into her flesh. “He’s not my father!”

“Come on little girl. You look exactly like that guy and you expect me to believe you aren’t his kid,” the man half laughed drawing Mia to swallow down hard. “It be one thing if you weren’t a spitting image of him, but you are. You’re expecting me to believe that you aren’t a product of that man’s nutsack?”

“I’m not. Even if he was my dad, he’d want nothing to do with me,” Mia explained wincing when the tip of the blade cut at the side of her face. “He left me! He was just a stranger. Please.”

“Fine. Whatever. I don’t care, he’s not your daddy,” the man mocked her hearing her straining to get out from beneath him. “Where is all of your stuff? Your community?”

Instead of answering the man above her, Mia spit causing the blood from her mouth to spray in his face. With a laugh, the stranger shook his head and wiped at his eyes, “You don’t want to talk? Fine. I’ll find other things to do with you then…”

Going to reach for Mia, the man screamed out when she sank her teeth into his hand causing him to yelp. Trying to pull his hand back, the man couldn’t get her off him and when he finally did, his fist came crashing into her face.

Immediately reaching for his gun, Negan started firing it off hitting one of the men that was holding Mia down on the ground between the eyes. There was no more holding back, Negan needed to protect her now. Shooting the gun at the other one holding onto her wrist had the man rolling backwards and Negan felt his body being tackled by someone from behind. The gun fell from his hand, sliding a few feet away while he struggled with the weight that was over him. Bringing his elbow back over and over again, Negan managed to get the person that was there off before he reached for his hunting knife to bring it back to stab the person that was behind him in the throat.

Shoving the weight off of him, Negan swiftly got to his feet only to feel someone tackling into his ribs drawing him to hit the ground hard. That knocked the wind out of him, especially since he was still tender there from being injured. Over and over again fists hit him and he did his best to block the punches, but the person still got a few good hits in. When the man over him got tired, Negan managed to get a few powerful hits in before bringing his knife up to dig it into the center of the attacker’s chest. Pulling it down gutted the stranger that was over him, causing blood to pour down over Negan. Grunting out, the weight of the body fell in over him and Negan hissed shoving the weight off of him. Struggling for the gun that he had dropped, Negan scoffed when someone shot at the gun causing him to fall back. Gazing back over his shoulder, Negan saw there were two of them left. One was the main stranger that they had seen yesterday and Negan presumed he was the one in charge. He was the one with the gun and the second stranger was approaching Negan.

“I knew daddy wouldn’t be far away,” the man in charge muttered when Negan considered his next move. Noticing that there was a rock beside him, Negan waited until the man approaching was close. Sweeping his legs out, Negan locked his legs with the stranger causing him to stumble, hitting his head on the oversized rock leaving a large blood smear across it. Snatching his gun up from the ground, Negan held it up at the stranger in charge while keeping his knife in his opposite hand. It was then that Negan noticed the stranger had an unconscious Mia in his arms with his knife pressed to her throat and his gun pointed at Negan. “Don’t!”

“So you get your rocks off hurting little girls?” Negan questioned wiping the blood away from his bottom lip. “Is that your thing?”

“Drop your gun or I swear to God I will cut her throat,” the man screamed at Negan watching Negan toss his gun to the side and hold his hand up in the air. “You give me your group’s location and I will let you have her.”

“See, here is the thing,” Negan took a step closer hearing the nervous breath that fell from the stranger. It had him clinging tighter to Mia and Negan clung tightly to the knife in his hand. “You hit that little girl. There is no fucking way I’m going to keep you alive.”

“I said stop,” the man warned, shooting the gun off and hitting Negan in the arm with the bullet. A grunt fell from Negan’s throat when he looked to it and then back to the man. “I said stop!”

Rushing the man, two more shots went off, but a gurgling sound fell from the stranger’s throat when Negan managed to bring his hunting knife into the stranger’s belly before pulling up. Dropping backwards, the stranger released Mia who fell to the ground as well. Standing over the stranger, Negan looked to his own shoulder with a wince. One of those two shots hit him in the shoulder, but the second missed him completely.  

“Your aim is shit,” Negan reached for the gun that the stranger had used, his head tipping to the side. “Are you part of a bigger group?”

“Fuck you,” the man snarled and Negan pointed the gun down at the stranger’s groin. “I’m not telling you shit.”

“Fine,” Negan shot the stranger in the groin hearing him crying out in agony. “Are you the last one?”

“I’m the last one. Please…” the stranger begged holding up his hand for mercy when Negan moved further in over him. “It’s just me. It was only us.”

“You should have left the little girl alone,” Negan took one final shot, hitting the stranger right between the eyes. Dropping the gun on the man’s chest, Negan looked to Mia and frowned. Picking her up in his arms, Negan made sure to grab his things before carrying her back toward the cabin. It took longer since he was injured, but once he made it back, he carried her into the cabin first and laid her down on the mattress that she had previously pulled into the living room for him. Going back outside, he locked things up and hid the gate as best as he could before heading back inside. Getting some water to clean Mia up, Negan frowned while he took care of her hating that he let this happen. He wished she would have just stayed in the cabin like he asked.

After he was done cleaning her up, he could only really see that she had a swollen eye with a bloody nose and lip. Which she should have never had in the first place. Once he was sure that she was okay, he shakily pulled his shirt off and assessed the damage of his gunshot wounds. The one in the shoulder was a whole lot worse than the one that hit his arm. The one in the arm was a flesh wound, but the one in his shoulder was one that he would have to dig the bullet out of.

Shakily searching the medical supplies that Mia had, Negan did what he had to in order to get the bullet out of his body finding himself thankful that this guy had a shit shot enough that it didn’t hit anything major. It was hard to clean up the wounds but he did what he had to in order to make sure that he was safe.

Waiting in the chair that Mia had before when he was hurt, Negan stayed there until morning. Toward the middle of the night he had started to drift and he tried to fight it, but he couldn’t. When it was morning and she started to shift, Negan noticed her trying to lift her head up and he motioned her to stay when he moved to the bed beside her.

“Hey, it’s me. It’s Negan,” he hushed her noticing the way that she seemed to calm down when she heard his voice. “You’re safe. I’m with you.”

Shakily her hand reached for his and he hooked his fingers with hers hearing her breathing uneasily, “I’m sorry I left. I’ll stay with you until your mother returns. Okay? I won’t leave you again. I promise.”

Mia said nothing, just gave a nod and lowered her head back to the bed weakly. Clearing his throat, Negan went to pull his hand away, but he felt her still clinging to it, “Please don’t leave.”

“I won’t,” Negan assured her lowering down beside the bed to allow her to keep holding onto his hand. “I’m right here.”

It didn’t take long for Mia to fall back asleep and he frowned looking her over. The thoughts about what the stranger said about her looking like him was running through his mind. They both had questioned in multiple times and he really did wonder if he was her father. Getting into the bed beside Mia, he laid at the other side watching her while she slept.

After a while he had fallen asleep as well and in the middle of the night woke up to see that Mia had cuddled up next to him much like he had described Joshua to her in the past. Clearing his throat, Negan lifted his head to see that her head was laying over his chest and he was thankful it was on the side that wasn’t hurt. Cautiously, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him so he could nestle his chin in over the top of her head. There was something about Mia that felt personal. And now he knew that he had to stay with her. There was no other way.

----

“Would you show your cards already?” Negan snickered from where he was sitting across the table from Mia who was staring out at her cards that were in her hand. It had been a month and a half since Negan had decided to stay with Mia and wait for her mother to return. Each day Negan could tell that her belief and hope that her mother would return was leaving her. But Negan did his best to keep her hope alive. “You take forever with this game. If I would have known you were incredibly slow, I would have never taught you poker.”

“Hold your horses old man. There is a lot at stake here,” she pointed toward the potato chips that they were playing with in order to do the game. Tossing the potato chips into the center to match his bet made Negan smirk and shake his head. Lowering down his cards, he showed her that he had a straight.

“Not so arrogant anymore, are you?” Negan stole one of the potato chips and she playfully swatted his hand away from the rest of them. Plopping one between his lips, Negan watched her lay down her cards to show that she had a full house. “Jesus. How do you always beat me?”

“Because I’m awesome,” she dropped her hands forward to scoop the potato chips in closer to her. A snort fell from Negan’s lips when she shook her head and pushed the potato chips forward. “But we can share.”

“Very bold of you kiddo,” Negan winked at Mia, taking another potato chip for himself before relaxing back in the chair that he was sitting in.

While relaxing, Mia collected the cards and started to shuffle the cards. It made him smile to see her working them the way that he had taught her. Grunting out, Negan pulled himself up from the chair and moved toward the fire that they had set up earlier in the fireplace. Grabbing his chair, he pulled it to him. Taking a seat, he got comfortable and looked to his wrist. Around it was a bracelet that Mia had made for him in their time together. Sadly, it made him think of Annie and Joshua. It had been six weeks since he agreed to be here with Mia and he never thought he would wait this long for Mia’s mom. It had been over two months since Mia’s mother had left and there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she was never coming back.

“You know,” Negan began, looking back over his shoulder at Mia while she was playing a game of solitaire on her own. “You just keep beating me at all the games that I teach you.”

“That’s because you’re a good teacher,” she got up from where she was seated and grabbed her chair to move in beside Negan. Clearing her throat, she stared out at Negan who was looking at her funny. “What is it?”

“Can I ask you some things?” Negan inquired knowing that they had been on his mind for a while, but he was worried to ask them considering the topic at hand. When Mia gave him the go ahead, he stretched out his legs and frowned. “What else do you know about your father?”

“I told you everything I know about my father,” she reminded him, her jaw flexing when she reached up to stroke over her earlobe in a moment of contemplation. Grumbling to himself, Negan knew that was something he did when he was uncomfortable too and it made him sigh.

“You never saw a photo? She never gave you a name?” Negan threw his hand up in the air pretty sure at this point that Mia was his. That stranger wasn’t wrong. The more time that Negan spent with Mia, the more he realized it. From her physical features to some of the ridiculous quirks that she had—she was so much like him.

“I think it just hurt her so much to lose him,” Mia attempted to explain her mother’s behavior. “I don’t know Negan. She just has a ring that she wears. They were married and she never took it off. That’s all she has from him.”

“What does the ring look like?” Negan’s eyebrow arched up as he stroked his fingers down through his short beard. “Is there anything that stands out?”

“I don’t know, it looks like a ring,” Mia was dramatic, a laugh falling from her throat at how serious Negan was being about everything. “Why? What does it matter about the ring that she wore?”

“I don’t know,” Negan lied knowing that he was just trying to strike something in his memory that would make him think about a moment in his life where things made sense. “I just…I feel like if I heard something or knew something, it would make me remember.”

“Remember what?” she could tell something was wrong and she reached out to place her hand in over his. Negan’s fingers hooked with hers and he gave her a weak smile.

Negan’s lips parted when he considered telling her that he thought he was her father. Instead, he waved his hand in the air dismissively and shrugged his shoulders. There was a long silence that lingered over them for a while when they both sat by the fire before she finally cleared her throat. “I was thinking…it’s been over two months since my mother left. I uh, I know I shouldn’t think like this, but I was wondering…”

“Yeah?” Negan tipped his head to the side seeing the color draining from Mia’s features. “What’s on your mind kiddo?”

“If I was ready to finally let go, would you take me with you to go find your family?” she threw out the idea that had been on her mind for a while now after they had waited so long for her mother to return. “I know I’m just some stranger to them, but I really like being with you Negan. You’re the closest thing to a real parent that I’ve ever had.”

“Hey,” Negan frowned, hushing her when she said that out loud.

“I mean it. I loved my mom, but she never used to play games with me,” she pointed back toward the cards that they had been playing with. “I’ve learned more from you than I ever did my mother. I know about football because of you. So many new games. I’ve actually gotten to see the outside. And you make me actually feel seen. Before I felt like my mother’s pet.”

“You don’t mean that,” Negan’s Adam’s apple bounced in his throat and she shook her head with a saddened breath. “I’m sure your mother loved you.”

“My mother loved me the best way she knew how. You’re the first person I’ve actually felt safe with,” she insisted, turning in her chair so that she could face Negan. “You want to get back to your family Negan and I can’t keep holding you back. So why don’t we pack up and I’ll go with you? I’m helpful. I’m a decent cook. I can teach Joshua games. I can babysit when you and Annie want to have alone time.”

“Mia,” Negan snorted, rolling his eyes at the last comment.  

“Please?” she begged of him, her eyes gazing over Negan when she shook her head. “I’d rather just go with you than stay waiting for someone who really never loved me that much in the first place. I know you don’t feel the same way, but I lo…I care about you Negan. You’ve cared for me more in the last month than anyone has in my life.”

“I…” Negan could see the hopefulness in her eyes. It took a minute before he sighed and he gave her a slow nod. “Okay. Yeah. I’ll take you with me to Missouri. You’re just going to have to listen to me and be on my ass at all times.”

With an excited breath, she jumped across the small space to give Negan a hug. An amused sound escaped his throat when she put as much of her strength into it as she could. Hugging her back, Negan nuzzled his nose in against the side of her neck and smiled.

“Thank you, Negan,” she was grateful for him agreeing and she excitedly hopped up from her seat. “I’ll pack tonight! What should I take? How much should we bring?”

“Hey! Calm down. We have to think things out and then we can pack tomorrow. We’ll leave the day after,” Negan announced knowing that he had found comfort in this home, but he wanted to find Annie and Joshua. Staying here was nice, but this wasn’t where he belonged. He knew that. “Let’s just sit and talk about it. Then we will figure everything out.”

And that’s what they did. They planned everything. They packed and she asked a million questions about Annie along with Joshua. What they were like. The things they liked. And he found it charming that she was doing that. With how much she talked, Negan couldn’t help but find amusement in it. She was so much like him and he knew that. They had fallen asleep talking about things before waking up in the morning to go over everything.

“When are we leaving?” Mia seemed frustrated while she paced the living room with Negan taking in account of everything they were bringing with them. “We should just go.”

“Missouri isn’t that close Mia. We just have to make sure that we have everything. We have a very long journey ahead of us. Okay? Just let me make sure that we have everything that we are going to need,” Negan hushed her while he finished looking through all their stuff. The fact that she was so excited to leave surprised Negan. It was a huge difference from the little girl he had met originally. A laugh fell from his throat when he felt Mia wrapping her arms around him from behind. “What are you doing?”

“I’m giving you a hug,” she answered him, burying her head against the side of his neck drawing Negan’s laughter to grow. “I’m just glad you came into my life Negan. You showed up when I needed someone the most and I love you.”

Hearing that drew a breath to catch in Negan’s throat. Closing his eyes, he cherished the hug that she gave him.

Tension flooded Mia’s body when she heard a faint sound coming from outside. Looking back over his shoulder, he could see something change in her eyes when she looked back toward the door, “What is it?”

When they both heard it this time, Negan watched Mia scramble to her feet and run to the door looking out the front of it, “It’s my mom.”

“Mia, don’t,” Negan warned knowing that it had been so long that it likely didn’t make sense that her mother would be returning. It was too fast though because she was running outside and pulling away the brush that Negan had previously thrown in front of the gate. Once it was open, Negan saw a woman hunched over. She was thin, her hair messy, her clothes dirty and she was covered in blood. It made his throat go dry knowing that whoever this was, she had obviously been through hell. “Mia?”

“Mom?” she whispered and Negan heard the woman let out a tremoring breath before stumbling forward. With the way she could barely hold herself up, Negan swiftly swooped in and caught her when she collapsed. It was obvious she had passed out and Mia was scrambling to get a good look at her face. “It’s her. Negan, it’s my mom.”

“Run inside and get a cloth wet,” Negan instructed carrying the woman in his arms toward the cabin after making sure things were locked up again. Laying her down on the couch, Negan could see that Mia’s mom was likely starved and abused. Wherever she was, she had gone through hell. Footsteps were heard when Mia returned with a cloth. “Go find her some clothes Mia. Some clean clothes.”

“Okay,” Mia ran off to do what Negan requested of her.

Negan did his best to clean up the woman before him. Once the blood and the dirt was mostly gone from her face, Negan felt his heart sink finally seeing the features of Mia’s mom before him. An overwhelmed exhale escaped him when he looked to her hand. Observing the ring over her finger had the room spinning around Negan. Dropping back onto his bottom, Negan cleared his throat and lowered his head between his thighs.

“Hey?” Mia called out when she entered the room again with the things Negan asked of her. “Negan? What’s wrong? Is she okay?”

“I uh…I don’t know,” Negan stammered with an uneven breath brushing his hair back when he gazed over at Mia. “Let’s just get her cleaned up and we’ll have to wait.”

For days they actually waited. Mia was exhausted and finally fell asleep in her room leaving Negan alone with Mia’s mother. When he was finally about to pass out, he noticed her shifting on the couch. Sitting up straighter, he saw her eyelashes fluttering and she let out a pained sound. Moving in beside her, Negan was doing his best to monitor how she was so he could help her in whatever way possible. When she finally came to, she turned her head to gaze over at him and she let out a shocked breath.

“Negan?” she muttered his name, shakily lifting up to reach out and stroke her fingers over the side of his face. Leaning into her touch, Negan closed his eyes and felt his mouth dry when her whimper followed. “Am I dead?”

“No,” Negan answered her, his eyes opening and he could see that she was crying while she stared out at him. “Hey Y/N.”

“How is this happening?” she let out a tremoring breath, doing her best to pull herself up, but Negan hushed her and tried to stop her from overextending herself. “I thought you were dead. When I went to Alexandria, I was told you were gone. That you weren’t…”

“I’m not dead,” Negan shook his head, biting down on his bottom lip grabbing a hold of her hand while she brushed her fingers through his hair. “I never was.”

“How did you find us?” she questioned, noticing that Negan was crying while he stared down at her and she reached up to swipe the tears away. “I never thought…I never thought I would see you again. I tried to talk to Rick after Mia was born, but no one would listen to me. They took some of the people from The Sanctuary, but they wouldn’t take me. I was too loyal to you and they wouldn’t let me in. Even knowing I was pregnant. They just gave me some supplies and shooed me off. I tried going there. I did and I thought I would save you, I just…they told me you were dead.”

“You stayed at The Sanctuary?” Negan confirmed with a frown, his bottom lip trembling when she nodded.

“Until we couldn’t anymore. We were forced out after a while. It couldn’t sustain life there anymore and we had to leave,” she educated Negan, her fingers tracing over the side of his face while she slid in closer to him. “I’m so sorry. I would have kept trying if I would have known that they had you. I just didn’t and…”

“Y/N,” Negan breathed out feeling her lips claiming his and he was frozen against her kiss at first. Closing his eyes, he allowed her to kiss him before faintly starting to kiss her back. When her fingers brushed through his hair and stroked at the back of his neck, he pulled away and pressed his forehead to hers. “I can’t.”

“You can’t what?” she repeated with a weak smile. “Does Mia know that you are her father? Did you tell her? She’s going to be so excited to know that her daddy found us.”

“I’m married,” Negan stammered, his body trembling when she stared out at him with confusion. When she went to kiss him again, he put a distance between them and shook his head. “I can’t Y/N. I’m married.”

“I know,” she lifted her hand to show the ring that he had given her when they were at The Sanctuary together. Y/N was someone that Negan had flirted with for a long time. Someone that he had relentlessly asked to be one of his wives, but she always turned him down. So he romanced her and he romanced her hard. And somewhere down the line he truly felt like he had fallen in love with her. So that’s why when she finally agreed to be one of his wives, he had given her a real ring. At the time, he promised her that after everything went down with Rick that she would be his only wife. And he did know that she was pregnant. It was something he learned toward the start of his war with Rick. It was just when he asked about the people that were still at The Sanctuary, he was told that they all died and he believed it. When he returned to The Sanctuary after he escaped his cell that one day, when there was no sign of Y/N or a baby there, he just believed them. He thought they were dead and never went looking for them again. He couldn’t believe it was something he forgot until he saw her face again the other day. “I’m your wife.”

“Stop,” Negan begged when she went to touch his face again and he lowered her hands down to keep her away from touching him. “I’m married to a woman named Annie. We have a son. His name is Joshua and they are waiting for me in Missouri. I found Mia by mistake almost two months ago. I started thinking she was my daughter, I just didn’t know for sure. We were going to leave for Missouri the day you showed up to go find my wife and my son.”

“You’re not being funny Negan,” Y/N declared with a saddened breath and Negan shook his head slowly. “It’s not…”

“I’m not kidding Y/N. I’m very happily married,” Negan informed her noticing the way that she looked down at the ring that she still wore that he had given her so long ago. “I’m sorry. They told me when I was locked up that everyone was gone at The Sanctuary. I believed them. I thought you were dead. I thought our baby…”

“But Negan, I love you,” Y/N whispered, her voice broken when she shakily reached out to touch him. “I’m your wife.”

“You were one of my wives,” Negan corrected her, leaning back on his knees and shaking his head slowly feeling his heart breaking when she started to cry. “You are a past that I wanted to forget Y/N and I did. I moved on. A long time ago. I thought you were dead and I fell in love with someone else. Someone really great. She knows all of me and she still loves me.”

“So did I,” she reminded him with a sob and he felt guilty, dropping his head down when he saw her sliding back on the couch that he had her on. “Why wouldn’t you look for us? You know that I would never give up on you because I loved you so much. We worked so hard to get pregnant with Mia. We were…”

“I know,” Negan interrupted her with a shake of his head, letting out an uncomfortable sound. “I know. I just thought you were dead Y/N and I moved on. And I’m happy. I was happy. And I want to be with my family. I didn’t mean to, but I completely wiped that part of my life out of my head that I shared with you. I didn’t even remember it until I saw your face again the other day for the first time.”

Silence. That was all that was heard other than her cries while she stared out at him, “Mia and I were going to leave to go to Missouri and search for my family. She thought you were dead and you weren’t coming back. We can take a while to get you feeling better and if you want, I can bring the two of you with me. I can wait the extra time and we can all go together.”

“No,” she immediately responded with a shake of her head, reaching for the pillow that was beside her to bring it in closer to her. “I refuse to go on some journey with you so you can find the family that you actually wanted.”

“That’s not fair,” Negan cried, his head tipping to the side while she stared at out him with pain in her expression. “I didn’t know you were alive.”

“You didn’t even bother to look,” she yelled at him causing the color to drain from Negan’s features. “Now you’re asking me to follow you to another state to find the woman you are in love with. So I can what? Watch you and her together for the rest of my life?”

“You’d be safer with me. You and Mia would be much safer with me,” Negan suggested, his eyebrows full of emotion and he let out a tremoring breath. Hearing her sobbing broke his heart, but he couldn’t fix what had already been broken for so long. “Just come with me. We’ll find my family and all of us can be together. Mia is my daughter too and…”

“Oh, fuck you,” she snarled at Negan shaking her head in anger. “You’re in her life for how long and suddenly you think that you can say and determine what I do with Mia? No Negan. That’s not how this shit works.”

“She wants to be with me,” Negan explained, his fists tightening up at his sides with his body clenching up. “She doesn’t even know I’m her father and she wants to come with me. She loves me. She belongs with me.”

“You didn’t even fucking care to look for her,” Y/N snapped back drawing a shuddering exhale from his throat. “So how dare you act like you even care now. Do you have any idea what I’ve done to get back to Mia. What I’ve suffered through? What those people…” she stopped to look down toward the ground and she shook her head. “No, I won’t let you take Mia from me. Not after what happened to me. You won’t take my daughter. Why don’t you just leave Negan.”

“I can’t just leave knowing that you and Mia are here, vulnerable,” Negan reasoned with Y/N hearing her sobs getting harder. “You aren’t healthy. You both need to be protected. Just rest and in a few weeks we can all…”

“Get the fuck out of here Negan,” she screamed at him shoving her hands into the center of his chest drawing him to fall back onto the ground. “I have been heart broken since the moment they took you away. I haven’t been the same since and you just think you can do this?”

“It sounds like you were so fucked up that you were a shitty mother to our daughter,” Negan erupted back on her, shocking her with his response. “You taught her nothing. If I wasn’t here to take care of her in the two months you fucking disappeared, she would have been dead. I kept our daughter alive and she almost…she almost fucking died at one point, but I saved her. And then she tells me that you never even acted like you loved her to begin with. She’s felt more loved in the last month with me than she ever has with you. So why the fuck did you have to show up and ruin it? It would have been fine if you wouldn’t have showed back up!”

“So you get to just show back up in our lives, say fuck you to me and take Mia away from me?” she spoke softly while Negan’s heart pounded away inside of his chest. “So what was I Negan? Just someone you used to get pregnant? You promise me things that you will never give? Did you ever really love me Negan?”

“Of course I did,” Negan replied back with a frown, throwing his hands up in the air. “I did love you Y/N.”

“Like you said, I was just one of the wives though,” she reminded him what he had said earlier and he reached up to shakily brush his hair back. “I was just the only one dumb enough to love you, wasn’t I? To let you get me pregnant.”

“I understand you have to be going through a lot of emotions right now because of everything,” Negan began, the vein at the side of his neck protruding with the tension that he was feeling. “And no matter what I say to you, you’re never gonna believe me because you’re hurt. Regardless of what you think, I did love you and I was happy that you were pregnant.”

“But you found something better,” she filled in the blanks, her head nodding slowly. “I understand. I’m glad you found what you always wanted. I hope it makes you happy.”

“I am happy,” Negan assured her with a nod of his head knowing that what he was telling her absolutely destroyed her. “But I would be a lot happier if you and Mia came with me back to Missouri. You’d be safer. I’d get to be with my daughter. It’s a win for all of us.”

“No, you don’t get to have the best of both worlds,” she denied him, shaking her head and confusing him. “You pick them or her, you can’t have both.”

“That’s not fair,” Negan countered, anger flooding his veins with her giving him an ultimatum. “I don’t want to lose Mia now that she is back in my life. I’m her father. I belong in her life. You know that you both would be safer with me, but you’re mad at me so you’re holding this over my head. Look what happened to you being alone Y/N. Get your head out of your ass and do the right thing. The right thing for you and the right thing for your daughter. The two of you are just going to die here if I leave you. Look at you Y/N.”

“And it’s not fair that you abandon us and then you get to have everything you ever wanted. A family. A wife that you actually love. Two kids. While I have nothing,” she shook her head causing Negan to frown and drop his head back. Dragging his hands down his face had Y/N dropping back against the couch. “I wish you would have just stayed gone. Because at least with me thinking you were dead I thought you died protecting us instead of knowing that we meant nothing to you.”

“If I would have never showed up, your daughter would be dead,” Negan reminded her with a bit of venom in his tone. “Our daughter deserves to know that she’s mine. I’m leaving to go find my family and I’m going to give her a choice. She can stay here with you. Or she can come. She deserves to have a choice.”

“And she will pick you because you’re what’s new. You’re the fun parent that has shown her love that she never felt,” Y/N pointed out with a frown, squeezing the pillow in closer to her. “Thanks Negan. I take over two months of abuse and torture to make it back to my daughter only to have you take her from me. Thank you.”

“It’s not my fault that all of this happened,” Negan stood up from the floor, staring out at her with confusion flooding his veins. “She deserves to know that she’s my daughter. And she has the right to pick who she wants to be with.”

“Great. I’m glad that you are going to go find your family. Your son. Your wife. And you get to have Mia,” she tremored, a long shallow breath falling from her lips. “Congratulations Negan. You got everything you ever wanted in life. Good for you.”

“I suffered too you know. I was in prison for seven years with people abusing me and treating me terrible,” Negan hissed, his eyebrows furrowing in anger when she rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Fuck it. If you want to be like that. Be like that.”

“I should have known from the start you never loved me. They all told me,” she laid back down on the couch, turning away from Negan when he stopped to listen to her. “Sherry, Dwight, Simon…even Rick. I just never fucking believed it. I was too in love with you. Or the idea of you, I guess. How happy you got when you found out I was pregnant, I thought you were happy to finally have a family. But it was just the baby you wanted. Not me.”

“That’s not true,” Negan reasoned with her hearing her crying when he attempted to move forward to reach for her again. “Can you please just be an adult about this and understand? It makes more sense for you to leave with me and go to Missouri. We’ll all be together and…”

Negan knew it was no use talking to her like this. It just wasn’t. In the end they were never going to agree. Going over to the other end of the room, Negan sat down and cornered himself. Thinking about things, he rocked back and forth. It took him seeing Y/N’s face for him to actually remember that he had a woman that he was married to that was pregnant when he got taken to Alexandria. Maybe she was right. How could someone who loved someone like that forget?

Looking up toward the stairs, Negan knew that he wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to Mia, but he knew he had to leave. Grabbing his bag and one of the bag of supplies, he threw it over his shoulder and headed out the door. It was better for everyone if he just left and he knew that.

For a while he walked until he heard the sound of feet trying to catch up to him. Cussing out, he lowered his head and swallowed down hard, “Go home Mia!”

“No,” Mia’s voice responded while she moved in behind Negan. Looking back, he saw that she had the other supplies and her backpack on ready to go on the journey with him. “We made plans, we’re going to Missouri together.”

“Go home!” Negan screamed at her and she immediately shook her head. “Your mother is home now. We made a deal.”

“You promised. You told me that you would never leave me,” she reminded him with a whimper hearing Negan scoff.

“Until your mother returned home,” he reminded her with what he had said. “Your mother is home. Therefore, I owe you nothing. My promise? I made it. So I’m leaving.”

“Please,” Mia begged from where she was standing behind him with the bag over her shoulder. Her eyes were optimistic and she shook her head. “I want to go with you.”

“You are meant to be with your mother,” Negan could see that there were tears swelling up in her eyes while she stared out at Negan. Here she was begging to go with him not even knowing that he was her biological father. And that fact? It tore him apart. “You can’t come with me.”

Turning on his heel, Negan went to leave when he heard her feet following him and he stopped again, “Stop following me!”

“Negan,” she reasoned with him, her bottom lip quivering while she stared up at him. “I…we…I think…”

“You can’t be this stupid, right?” Negan dropped his bag at his side knowing that there was only one way he could think of to get her back to her mother and that was to break her. “I don’t love you, Mia. I don’t. You were a means of keeping me alive. I have no feelings toward you. You told me you cared about me and that you loved me. Did I ever tell you it back? I don’t love you.”

“That’s not true. You wouldn’t have stayed that whole month and a half if you didn’t care about me,” she reasoned with him, her dimples sinking in and it killed Negan seeing that he was breaking her down after his talk with Y/N. “I know you’re just lying to get me to stay here, but with you…I feel safer than I ever have in my life. I love you Negan. Please. I don’t care about anything else. I want to be with you.”

“I don’t want you with me!” Negan screamed at her, his body shaking and his eyes tearing over when she took a step back. Fear flooded into her features as Negan shook his head and bit down on his bottom lip. “You know, your father didn’t die Mia. In fact, your father knew that your mother was pregnant with you and he didn’t care. He didn’t even think about the two of you while he was gone. He just assumed the two of you were dead and he didn’t bother to come looking for you because he didn’t care. You and your mother? The both of you meant nothing to him.”

“That’s not true,” her voice tremored, her head shaking. “My mother said my father very much wanted me. That he loved me. That he loved her. That he would have done anything to keep me safe and…”

“Then why did he go off and have another family? He got married again and had a little boy,” Negan explained, his eyes narrowing when his jaw tightened. Contemplation started to flood her features when Negan started going off about things. “A little boy he loved more than he loved you.”

“Why are you saying these things?” Negan was hurting her and he could see that his words were breaking her heart. “You told me that I could come with you before. You said…”

“I thought your mom was dead,” Negan reminded her, his bottom lip quivering when he shook his head. “You see Mia. I know your dad isn’t dead because I’m your dad. We both know it. Even those strangers that we ran into knew that you were my daughter. All you have to do is look at us and you know that you’re my daughter. You have my eyes, my dimples, my freckles, my smart-ass sense of humor…”

Negan’s finger circled his own face and then he pointed out at her, “I’m your dad Mia.”

That backfired. After he confirmed for her what they both had wondered before her mother even came back, she ran to him and wrapped her arms around him to hug him. Holding his hands up in the air, Negan swallowed down hard and closed his eyes.

“Get off of me,” Negan demanded, shaking his head while venom flooded into his tone. “I didn’t want you then and I don’t want you now.”

Stumbling back, Mia looked up at him with her hazel eyes full of tears and Negan shook his head, “I knew your mother was pregnant with you. Once I was taken to Alexandria, I never looked back. I didn’t give a shit about the people there. I didn’t give a shit about your mother. And most of all…I didn’t give a fuck about you.”

A hurt sound fell deep from within her and her sobs followed. Even though he was trying to hold it together, he was breaking himself and he hated himself for doing this but he knew that he had to find a way for her to stay with her mother, “I could have come looking for you. And I didn’t. Because I didn’t care Mia. I started a whole new family. I have a son that I love. A wife…”

“Maybe…maybe you could learn to love me,” Mia whimpered, tears sliding down the sides of her face. “I don’t think we can make it without you Negan. I almost didn’t. Daddy please…”

“Don’t call me that,” Negan warned her, holding his finger up in the air and pointing it at her. “Don’t you dare call me that. You have no right to call me your fucking father. I didn’t want it then and I don’t want it now.”

“But you are,” she frowned, reaching up to rub at her tear-stained face while he continued to down talk her and chastise her. “I know you love me. And knowing that you are my dad, that just proves that this was meant to happen. You were meant to find me…”

“I have a son that I actually love and I’m going to find my way back to him,” Negan informed her with a shake of his head and he reached for his bag. This isn’t how he wanted things to go down, but Y/N made things clear earlier. There was no way that she would come with them and if he took Mia, it would destroy her. “I have a family that means something to me. And I’m going to find them. So why don’t you stay with your mother? Someone who actually loves you.”

“Please, I can help you find them,” Mia begged of Negan, her body shaking while Negan tried his best to stop himself from crying, but he couldn’t. “I’d be a really good big sister. I’d…”

“I’ve spent the last month and a half with you Mia,” Negan reminded her of the time they spent together and he shook his head. “And in that time, it only confirmed for me what I knew back then. I feel nothing for you. There is nothing here. You were a mistake. A poorly timed mistake that I never wanted in the first place.”

Calling her a mistake when that was the thing she was the most afraid of hearing hit her deep down and he knew that it would, “Goodbye Mia.”

Her sobs filled the woods and Negan continued walking through them. After a minute, he felt her running out and grabbing a hold of him in attempts to keep him near. Yanking his arm away, Negan spun on his heel and stared down at her, “I don’t want you, Mia. What about that don’t you understand?”

“Then I will sit here. And I’ll wait for one of the flesh eaters to get me,” she whimpered dropping down in the middle of the woods that they were in. “If you don’t want me, I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t like it with my mother. I love you and I want to be with you. Please.”

“I don’t care Mia,” Negan scoffed, grabbing his bag hearing her cries getting louder when he threw his hands up in the air. “If that’s how you want to leave your mother, then that’s your decision. From here on out? You aren’t my problem.”

“Please Negan,” Mia’s voice was broken when he turned away from her to look in the other direction. He had to convince himself to keep going. He couldn’t let this break him. He made his choice and so did Y/N. “Daddy. Please. If you leave, you’re leaving me to die. I’m begging you…”

Walking away, Negan could hear her cries no matter how far away he got. And he had to force himself to keep going. After what her mother told him, there was no way that it would have ever worked. And he had to tell himself that. He had to find Annie and Joshua. There were no other options. Y/N was his past and while he understood why she was hurt, she was the one that denied them going with him. So he had to respect her wishes. The best that he could hope for at this point was that they were able to keep going. That they would find a community and be able to move on.

More than anything he wanted to bring Mia with him, but her mother made it clear that wasn’t a possibility, so he had to wipe that idea from his mind and keep going. No matter how much it broke his heart.

[jinkiezzsstuff]

Omg the x transmigrated reader was AWESOME.

I absolutely love it , thank you so much for doing it!

I didn't mind the wait really, you have your own life and thing's to do ! (⁠~⁠‾⁠▿⁠‾⁠)⁠~

Would you mind doing a part 2? Meeting Lucifer and the angels maybe. (Adam,lute etc.. when charlie went to heaven.)

Do I need to describe the reader?? You can leave it blank as " h/c " "e/c" ( h/c meaning hair color and e/c meaning eye color. )

Have a good day and don't stress yourself 〜⁠(⁠꒪⁠꒳⁠꒪⁠)⁠〜

Hiya! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I can absolutely do a part two!! I feel I owe it to you since the last one is so short but i’m really glad it’s whatcha wanted :) hopefully i also do this one justice

Characters present: Charlie; Vaggie; Nifty; Alastor; Husk; Lucifer; Adam; Lute; Sera; Emily (With the focus being on mainly Charlie; Vaggie; Lucifer; Lute; Adam; Sera and emily)

Part 1

Summary: You’ve spent about a week in hell and easily fell into place and routine. It was like a cheat code for life knowing everything that came next, and you made it your mission to meet the angels with Charlie

Warnings: Male Reader, Male pronouns, reader is a goat, implied to be tall, POSSIBLY OOC angels, reader kinda flirted with lute? i couldn’t help it love her teehee, loosely follows plotline but could be holes, cussing, possibly rushed because dude i was literally obsessed with the idea i needed to get it out, let me know if i missed anything! oh and not proofread so sorry luvs xx

Transported

“Couldn’t you just use you magic to bring these in Al?” You grunted setting the last box of supplies down. Alastor hummed flatly, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s more entertaining watching you lug those boxes up all those stairs!”

You gave him cut eye as he laughs, snapping his fingers disappearing to, god only knows where. Taking out a pad and pen from your back pocket, you wrote down all the stock you bought from the store- per Charlie’s request. As you did so your ear twitched picking up the faint sound of tiny pit pats from a certain cherry haired cyclops running around manically.

It wasn’t long before she came barrelling into the kitchen, you however were too occupied to mind her; staying bent over the kitchen counter writing all that you had bought. Nifty without asking, scaled your body, gripping your (h/c) hair and deeply inhaling. Looking up from the paper your hand ceased its writing in shock and confusion.

“Nif, what in the great fuck are you doin?” You asked in disbelief, she only cackled muttering to herself about bad boys and bad… bugs? “Hey can you do me a favour stabby?” You ask grabbing her gently off the nape of your neck and plopping her down below.

She stood at attention, hand in salute before shouting; “Sir yes sir!” You clapped your hands together huffing out a laugh. “Alright, good energy, would you mind helping me out by putting these things away. It’s all food for our patrons and stuff, i gotta go find Charlie and tell her what we couldn’t and could get.”

Nifty once again saluted before zipping around you in a blur. Cautiously you walked off trying to avoid the little speed demon as she zoomed around the kitchen. Once in the lobby you noticed, well a lot, the whole room was decorated, and there hung a banner with ‘welcum home daddy’, which you knew what that meant.

A little pep put in your step you trotted up to Husk at the bar. “Want a drink?” He immediately asked, looking over at you as soon as you got within reaching distance of the bar. You shook your head. “Nah, I wanted to ask if you know where Charlie was? It’s about stock, and i’ve got left over cash,”

Humming the cat shook his head eyebrows raised high. “Good luck with that one kid, she’s up there tryna convince the king to get her into heaven. You could try though, lord knows you will anyway.”

Although his voice was bored and tired, face looking as though he’d just been through hell. Thankfully he grinned at you calming the insecure thoughts that unwelcomingly entered your mind about him being annoyed at your appearance. Perhaps if it was your old life you wouldn’t have cared, but these characters, sinners, people, they were cherishable to you in a indescribable way, and you didn’t want them disliking you.

And that could be arguably unhealthy, but you saw a demon with the head of a chair carrying around their partner -you think?, it’s safe to assume you don’t have to worry about mental wellness and emotional instability or healthy decision making; it’s hell duh.

After waving goodbye to Husk you trotted up the stairs, hooves pounding against the wood a noise you’d recently gotten used to. As you stepped down the hall you wondered if Alastor had already threatened Husk, it would make sense as to why he disappeared while you unboxed, and why Husk seemed so down and out.

You tried to ignore how upset that made you, but realistically you weren’t any match for Al, you may be knowledgeable about the future, but that made you far from immortal or combat savvy. You had to be a little more calculated with situations like that.

Recognizing the voices of Vaggie, Charlie and Lucifer in the distance, you excitedly sped up. Eyes locked on the balcony door, you breathed deeply not wanting to look like a babbling fan boy over the king of hell.

Standing up straight you opened the balcony door, effectively stopping Lucifers railing rant as he hung himself over the edge. “Oh my gosh! This is him, dad! The guy i told you about, dad this is YN, YN, my dad: Lucifer!” Charlie exclaimed happily pushing the king of hell toward you.

His face was turned up in disgust, but you were too enthralled to care, instead you gave him an easy smile sticking out your hand. “It’s so nice to meet you Lucifer, and I apologize Charlie for barging in and interrupting; I came to tell you about to produce I bought.”

Lucifer took your hand shaking it firmly, slowly a smiled appeared. “Ah well, well, uh, you… i mean look at you! You’re huge huh, uh i’ve never seen a goat in hell! Aha, y’know, aside from… me.” Lucifer trailed, pitch raising and dropping rapidly as he observed your looming presence.

Charlie discreetly nudged her father for being so blunt, but you shrugged it off deciding to sway the conversation slightly. “So I just got back from the store, I got everything we needed for the hotel, food wise, aside from toilet paper, Niftys putting everything away. The only thing i didn’t restock was liquor, let’s let Alastor handle that one.”

Vaggie humphed, giving a rare approving smile and nod, involving herself in the conversation after being casted aside to herself. “It’s nice having someone actually spend the money on stuff we ask for.” Charlie tsked at her before focusing back on you and her dad.

“What do you think of this hotel?” Lucifer asked skeptically circling you. Charlie shook her head at her fathers antics but said nothing. “I think it’s possible, why shouldn’t it be.” You say, giving Charlie a sharped tooth smile. Lucifer put his finger and thumb under his chin, he hummed at you, look back at Charlie but he seemed to be elsewhere.

“I think we need a good word in, and some good marketing. No one likes a commercial or ad, y’know.” You add trying to sway Lucifers contemplative thinking into believing in her. After all you don’t think you could do another musical number.

Sighing and lurching forward, Lucifer smiled back at you then to Charlie.

_____

You waited in the lobby checking your watch occasionally, impatiently waiting for Charlie and Vaggie to meet you. You spent a good deal of time talking to Charlie and Vaggie about the things they could say to the angels that you ended up being invited along for the trip. Charlie’s reasonings were that you were a good example of a goodness in hell, which you could agree with but part of that was because you may have not belong.

Needless to say that admittedly was not how you saw yourself weaselling your way into the venture, but eh, didn’t matter to you. You had one of your freshest suits on, compliments of Alastor, your hair styled perfectly after much fighting for the proper look you were seeing angels after all, cologne freshly spritzed and wafting off your body; you felt excited and your readiness reflected that.

Lucifer entered the lobby with a poof, being the one to conjure the portal to heaven. Smiling at him, he returned it and strolled his way to you, swinging his cane. Slamming it down he leaned forward supporting himself with the apple handled of said cane.

Sniffing the air almost comically he hummed approvingly. “That smells, so fucking good!” The exclaimation went straight to your ego immediately feeling better about your decisions with frangrance choice. “Thank you, it’s one similar to my favourites when i was alive.”

Lucifer nodded looking up at you, you could see vulnerability in his eyes briefly before his eyes darted away. “Can you do me a solid? Please,” Lucifer asked quietly stretching upward toward you. Hands in your pants pockets you leaned over just slightly as to not disrespect him and his height, but to get a little closer to him. “Protect Charlie, and Maggie-“

“Vaggie.” You correct quietly. The king shook his head hand coming upward. “Yeah her- anyways, please while your there use your frightening, uh, form, to keep her safe please. I can’t go up there and I’m loosing my mind with worry!”

Lucifer grabbed the rim of his hat pulling it over his face as he stressed no doubt catastrophizing things slightly. “Don’t worry Luce, from goat man to goat man, i got you. Charlie is pretty bright and i do believe she’s got this in the bag. I’m glad you could give her this opportunity as well, i know it’s hard. Good job.” You praised clapping Lucifer on the back, he looked up at you a fog seemingly cleared from his mind.

He thanked you with a new look in his eyes, appreciation for your words was definitely evident in them as well. Without further ado, Charlie came skipping down the stairs, Vaggie way less excited than her girlfriend but that’s understandable. Things always got worse before they got better and it’s not different for Vaggies fallen angel situation.

After a few short hours of travel, another musical introduction, you’d finally got to the place you would be staying. You lingered in the hall, waiting for Charlie to skip on out, maybe you could lessen the brunt for Vaggie. For you it was a show playing out, but for her, momentarily her world will feel crushed and confused and you didn’t want someone you could relate with going through such a thing.

Watching as the door swung open, you backed off into the shadows hoping you wouldn’t notice you, and once she was out of sight you knocked on their door. Opening the door, Vaggie stood there meek and shy looking, and gazing behind her you knew why.

There stood Lute and Adam tall and sharp. “Ouu a throuple interesting.” Adam says slyly smiling, Vaggie visibly cringed at that. “Who the fuck is this guy now!” Lute exclaimed grabbing at Vaggie.

Adam scoffed at Lute muttering at her to chill the fuck out, and thankfully she did stepping off from her attack position. “I came to see how Vaggies doing, who’re you?” You asked faux confusion feeling bubbles of excitement in your stomach, mischief brewing in your mind. “Uh duh, Adam the first fucking man, shit what’s with you losers.”

Adam was clearly pissed off, at your invasion but you didn’t intend to back off, instead you walked in beside Vaggie. You don’t remember them just appearing in the room when you were watching the show, but perhaps your mind is confused a bit.

It’s been awhile since you got here. “I, you filthy demon, am Lute,” You interrupted her finger pointed her way. “As in short for lieutenant?” Adam snickered and Vaggie pulled at you. “Please leave they, we, have to have a talk.” Looking towards Adam, Lute and then Vaggie, you decided the best thing to do was let it all play out.

With a prompt nod you turned to the door. “I’ll wait outside then.” Adam pushed Vaggie away from the door, he grabbed it and pointed a finger at you. “I won’t lie dude, you look fucking sick, hard shit, but next time you look at me fucking sideways, i will rock your shit. I am the literal MAN.” Slamming the door in your face you were greeted with silence.

Well for a moment. You could begin to hear Adam compliment your form toward Lute, saying they needed “horns like that” because they were “way more wicked”. It did strike your ego ever so slightly, in a way you suppose you and Adam could get along. You did enjoy guitar, and you wouldn’t mind knocking him down a peg for a little enjoyment. Plus, he lost his first loves literally made solely for him, you could sympathize with that heartbreak and how it changes you.

You weren’t shocked to hear the point of the conversation turn manipulative, as Adam threatened to tell Charlie that Vaggie was a fallen. You knew all their backstories though, you knew how this would go, so it almost felt fake pretending. It’s not that you didn’t feel for the emotions they felt because you truly did, you just new how momentarily it would be in the grand schemes of things.

The only problem seemed to be, when the show ends, do you end too? Would you then suddenly thrusted out of this world, become a part of it? You weren’t sure you wanted to think about that.

Hearing the door open, your head slowly and lazily swayed toward the sound watching Adam exit the room with Lute, only to have the door slammed on their heels. “Pft, on the rag.” Adam muttered hands on his hips, then his eyes travelled towards you. “The fuck are you doing, spying around?” Lute accused eyes hard as they lassered into your soul.

Your mouth shrugged and you shook your head no. Lute however didn’t let up stepped up to you making you cast your eyes down to her. You smiled mischievously at her, it was so cool seeing her yellow eyes stare into your (e/c) ones for real, not just some 2D colours on LEDs.

“I can smell the filth from a mile away. Whatever you and that antichrist have planned i will not stop until i sniff it out.” Lute gritted out angrily, Adam sticking up the bird in the background. Scoffing you shook your head. “Whatever pretty thing, i mean no harm,” You put your hands up defensively before continuing. “I only come for business. Trust, I and especially Charlie mean no harm. Heh, and i think you know Vaggies innocent.”

Lutes mouth hung open as Adam ‘aha’d pointing a finger out you. “You fucking freak! You were spying. Pound it.” Adam at first screamed than calmed down a coy smile present on his face. Lute groaned frustratingly at Adam. “We will fucking end you filthy sinners. We need to go!” Lute called as she walked away, Adam shrugged a cup materializing from nowhere for him to suck down.

Grinning you called out to Lute as she walked away. “Love you too sugar! See you in court.” You twiddled your fingers in their direction the two of them glanced back at your voice. Adam kept yapping to Lute but she was too busy sulking to herself.

You expected to be actually hit by one of them by now, maybe it was because you were in heaven that they couldn’t, or maybe Lucifer was right, you just looked frightening. Although you didn’t see what he saw, in your opinion you just looked slightly different.

Who knows though. Your whole worlds flipped upside down.

Walking aimlessly around the holy fortress you eyed everything around you and worried not about angels; most of them ran or avoided you. After all you were maybe the scariest outside of Adam with his mask.

Your eyes locked on an angel with dark skin and lavender hair. “Emily.” You accidentally say aloud, you grimaced watching her turn to you, and look up in awe. “Woah! You must be Charlie’s friend!” She exclaimed happily fluttering over to you. “Uh, yeah, YN, nice to meet you Emily. Sorry I went straight to the rooms i promised to unload things for Vaggie and Charlie so they wouldn’t stress themselves. I didn’t mean to ignore.” You say watching as he nodded along fully attentive.

“Oh that’s fine! I was so excited and distracted by Charlie and everything I barely noticed i’m sorry,” She trailed finger to her lip, she now realized that didn’t sound as good aloud as it did in her head. You brushed it off telling her it was fine. “I hope i don’t scare you, i’m used to myself but all these angels seem a little… disturbed.” You explained.

You weren’t gonna lie the looks you’ve been getting are what fueled the rush to get things over with, so you could get back to more welcoming eyes, well welcoming as they can be. It felt awful to be the centre of attention that was negative especially since you already really didn’t belong to this world.

“Oh no! You’re totally fine! I mean you are intimidating but if what Charlie said is true you’re a great man- uh, goat?” You laughed a genuine boastful laugh at her comment. “Yeah, goat man is good. Thank you Em, i appreciate it.” Her wings fluttered hands clapping rapidly. “I love when my nickname gets used!”

“Emily,” A warm voice spoke, approaching the space you took up in the communal space you were in. “We have to prepare, court is going to be in session soon.” Sera said placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. You met Sera’s eyes and immediately she looked as if she was pushed slightly, the hand not resting on Emily’s shoulder rushed up to her head.

Coming to herself she harshly questioned you. “What, and who are you?” A little taken aback by such a intro, you stuttered and stalled for the first time since being here. Most things flowed naturally but now it seemed something was, wrong.

“Sera! This is Charlie’s friend, the one accompanying them, the good one.” Emily whispered the last part to Sera who didn’t let up her seering gaze. “You don’t look like you belong here.”

Your blood ran cold at that sentence, what Emily assumed was a simple statement of your appearance to you was more of an acknowledgment. One that was specifically for you to understand that she knew. There was no mistaking it in her eyes either, it was like she was telepathically telling you that the gig was up.

Clearing your throat you nod once in finality. “Well, uh, let’s get to court hm?”

[writersdare]

Two Gummy Worms | Luke Hemmings

Pairing: Luke Hemmings x Reader (she/her)

Summary: Luke was determined to take Y/N on a night drive. Some things, though, didn't want to go according to his perfect plan.

Warning: friends to lovers, fluff, mentioning of food

Word Count: 1 503

Requested: yes

Author’s Note: Honestly I enjoyed writing it so much, it gave me some sense of comfort, and I really hope you'll feel it as well once you read it ♡ Also, yes, I am obsessed with Luke's blue eyes, you can't take it from me...

A calm evening was interrupted by a sudden knock on the door. Y/N lazily got up from a couch and wandered into the hall, feeling tiredness with her whole body. Someone celebrated Fridays with friends in local bars, Y/N, though, preferred to spent it quietly that time. Watching a silly show on Netflix, she’s been wrapping herself up in an old blanket, which was given by her friend Luke few years ago. Maybe – only maybe – it was fair to correct that the poor blanket was actually stolen from him, however, in Y/N’s defence, Luke didn’t use it much anyway, so the girl only borrowed something he never needed. 

Possibly, the stolen blanket made the guy to come over uninvited; in any case, once Y/N opened the door, she saw the friend on the threshold of her apartment.

“Let’s go,” without a proper greeting, Luke grabbed Y/N’s hand and dragged her out of the house.

“Where?” the girl stumbled, trying her best to stay where she was. Y/N was in her PJs, the hair was carelessly tide up in something close to a ponytail — the look that simply screamed “I’m staying in today”.

“For a drive. I’ll bring you back in few hours,” he promised, sounding both calm and determined.

“I warned you hours ago that I’m not going!” Y/N outraged, ignoring the fact that her friend drove all the way out there. The girl made it clear in her message that even though his adventitious idea sounded nice, she simply did not have any powers left for the trip. The tiredness was the size of the passing week, which fell on her shoulders sharply once Y/N entered home that evening.  

“It’s just few hours!” he whined and suddenly lifted the friend from the ground to bring her to the car himself. It was almost ten o’clock in the evening, and Y/N was getting cold. 

“Gosh, wait! Let me get changed at least,” the girl rolled the eyes, smiling a bit and still trying to set herself free. 

“Five minutes,” Luke warned, and once he put her on the ground, Y/N hurried up inside. She hoped to shut the door in his face, however, the guy foresaw it well, so he managed to slip through the door quicker. A wide smile appeared on his face. 

Even though the whole idea of going somewhere so late didn’t really excite Y/N, once she was in the car, checking all the snacks Luke bought them for the little trip, the girl thought that, perhaps, it was a nice distraction from her exhaustion for an hour or so. 

“You didn’t need to change, you looked pretty earlier, too,” Luke spoke up, glancing at Y/N who was chewing gummy worms and time to time placing few in his mouth as well.  

“That’s sudden,” the girl chuckled, trying to ignore a quick shutter of her heart. The girl fancied her friend for quite some time, but it was not as scary as dangerous to reveal her feelings. Y/N didn’t want to ruin their friendship. “Be honest, you just wanted me to get sick. I was freezing cold, by the way!”

“Well, if you didn’t hesitate for so long, you would be in the car a while ago, enjoying my company and food.”

“Thank you for mentioning food, I’d put it on the first place, though,” Y/N laughed shortly, looking at the window. Even though it was late, the lights were illuminating the road, and quite soon she started to see untouched fields, passing by. “Also, I wasn’t hesitant, I told you right away I wasn’t going.”

“Here you are with an urge to reply on everything,” Luke rolled his eyes jokingly and glanced at Y/N again. He liked how cozy and comfortable she looked at that moment. It was actually rather precious to know that a person he cared about so much trusted him, fully.

“You are the same,” the girl reminded and, giggling, put another gummy worm, a blue one, in his mouth. “Suits your eyes.”

The musician chuckled, barely being able to chew the marmalade.

“A worm?”

“Yeah,” Y/N laughed back and smiled vividly. “I like your eyes,” she mumbled and looked away, feeling too overwhelmed. If only he could be hers, and she could be his…

“So, we have a problem,” Luke announced, when about thirty minutes were left from the final destination. The guy was planning to show Y/N a sunflower field, but GPS suddenly stopped working properly. However, the guy was sure he remembered the way there so didn’t worry too much. Until…

Y/N turned her head towards a friend and frowned a little.

“Are you going to keep holding the dramatic pause or will just tell me?” she smiled, though, not even thinking there could be something serious.  

“Yeah, well,” Luke hesitated and glanced at a dashboard of the car. He still couldn’t believe what he saw. “Apparently, I forgot to refuel and noticed only now…”

“You are joking,” Y/N raised up in a seat to check it herself. “How could you forget?”

“I don’t know!” Luke outraged, slowing down the speed of the car. “I was in a hurry cause I wanted to make a good surprise for you!”

“Well, it is a good surprise after all, Luke!” Y/N giggled, not being mad for some reason. “Let me find the closest gas station,” she mumbled and opened her phone to check a map. The girl didn’t hear how her friend mumbled quietly “go for it”, as he already knew that GPS stopped working twenty minutes ago.

“Okay, so… we’re in the middle of nowhere,” she announced dramatically, zooming in and out on the map. “It doesn’t work. How much gas is left? Maybe we should go back,” Y/N sighed, once Luke stopped the car on the side of the road. He was upset. “Hey, that’s alright,” the girl smiled and unfastened her seat belt to sit sideways to the windshield, facing the musician. The girl gently placed her palms on his cheeks and nodded. “I’m not mad, it’s still a fun trip. After all, it wouldn’t be us if it didn’t end up like this, don’t you think?” she chuckled kindly.

Luke hurried up to cover her palms with his, being scared she’d break the touch too soon.

“We still can stay here for some time? Before going back?” he suggested carefully.

Y/N nodded, feeling the pulsation of her heartbeat almost in a throat. If only she could kiss him, and he could kiss her…

“Y/N,” Luke spoke up, and the voice was hoarse. 

“Yeah?” 

“I… I guess there is something I needed to tell you,” he started, immediately regretting it, though. How was he supposed to tell her that? Was it a bad timing? It probably was. There was no where to go, and if… if Y/N didn’t feel the same way it’d be hell awkward. He really didn’t think it through…

“Again?”

“What?”

“You need to tell me something else? I thought we’re done with surprises,” she giggled, fooling around a bit, as Y/N could see how anxious Luke started to look all of a sudden.

“Oh, no, that’s the main surprise, I guess,” the guy chuckled and looked down only for a moment. The fear took him over, though, and he rested his palms on the knees, so Y/N pulled away from him. “No, actually, forget about it.”

“No.”

Luke looked up at the friend, being surprised.

“What do you mean “no"?…”

“That’s exactly what I mean. I waited for too long to allow you to step back once again,” Y/N shook her head, getting annoyed. Why was he so uncertain sometimes? She was sitting there, next to him, worrying that her heart would break the chest, and he couldn’t say few simple words?… “Would you finally acknowledge my feelings for you if I kiss you right now? You’re so bad at taking hints! How can you keep doubting if I feel the same way you do?”

“How do you– How do you know?…” Luke mumbled, staring at Y/N. The guy couldn’t hide his terror. So she knew? All that time?!

“Honestly, it seems like it’s only you who is blind here,” the girl smiled sadly and looked down, feeling ridiculous.

Another second, though, she felt Luke’s hand on the chin. He carefully lifted her face so the girl could look at him before he covered Y/N’s lips with his. The kiss was tender and gentle, slowly changing into a more passionate one. They both just couldn’t believe it took them that long to confess. And honestly, who knew how long it’d have still taken if Y/N had kept silence. 

“I’ll make it up to you,” he whispered, touching her forehead with his.

“You already did,” the girl whispered back and, smiling, pressed the lips against his in another kiss.

taglist: @dgrangaa, @gracieboogirl, @yukichan67

– gifs aren’t mine and belong to the rightful owner – saw them here @calmfolklore & @kaleidoscopeminds –

Moodboard ♡

© writersdare | all rights reserved

All stories are original and written by me. Do not copy, trace and post anywhere without permission and credit. The stories are fictional, they do not correspond to reality and written just for fun ♡

Masterlist | Taglist

[raainberry]

Keep It Down

« silly series - 1 »

Yeji x gn!reader

Fluff

synopsis - you’ve been dating Yeji for a few weeks and spend most of your time together sneaking around in her dorm.

wordcount - 1.2K

T/W - mention of food

A/N - back in my yeji era✨ (its 24/7)

“That looks so delicious.”

“Oh my—“ Yeji jumped, startled out of her mind, heart racing as she sat up to look at you.

Giving your girlfriend a heart attack wasn’t something you expected to do today, especially not this way. All you wanted was to give your opinion on the food that appeared on her screen as she mindlessly scrolled.

She was sitting in between your legs with her back resting against your chest for the past hour or so. She liked cuddling this way. Your arms wrapped securely around her waist, soft kisses on the top of her head as she brushes her fingers against the back of your hands… There‘s something so wonderfully lazy about it all, a kind of comfort you could only find with each other.

You spent every day counting down the hours until you could sneak into her dorm and have her in your arms again.

“You scared me so bad, I thought you were asleep!” She whined, landing a playful slap on your thigh.

It was adorable, you could only laugh at her reaction, struggling to keep it down as it was getting pretty late and you weren’t alone in this dorm.

“You’re gonna wake up the girls.” She shushed, covering your giggles with her hand over your mouth, only for you to mumble something into it.

“What?” She whispered, furrowing her eyebrows.

You sighed through your nose, and looked into her eyes for a while to show her you’d calmed down. It should have been enough for her to remove her hand, but for some reason she didn’t.

Instead she focused on the door, her body as still as ever as she tried to make out any sign of the girls outside her bedroom.

You were patient for about six seconds. Then you bit her finger in order for her to let go of your mouth.

Freedom tasted wonderful to your lips, but actions had consequences, and she let out a yelp in surprise.

“Shhh!”

Yeji scoffed at the sight of your index on your lips, but she couldn’t do anything about it as the sound of someone knocking on her door resonated in the room.

“Hey, are you okay in there?” Yuna’s chuckle reached you from the other side.

Yeji’s eyes threw you a glare in which you could very clearly make out the words “see what you did?” before she turned to the door.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just— I just bumped into my desk, don’t worry.” She said, trying to sound as natural as possible.

You made a face at the weak excuse, and got ready to bolt under the bed as soon as you heard it. Thankfully, though, Yuna seemed to have bought it and left just as quick as she had come. Their day’s schedule must have been too tiring for her to look further. Or she just didn’t care at all.

Either way was great to you.

Yeji sighed in relief, letting herself fall back against the mattress.

“Apparently they’re already awake.” You whispered, making her glare at you once more.

“Why are you looking at me like that, you were so much more loud than I was.” You argued.

“And who’s fault is that?” She spat back, brushing a hand in her hair as if to soothe herself.

“Why are you awake anyway?”

“Because I woke up.” You answered, earning one of her stuffed animals in the face.

“You fell asleep like twenty minutes ago, I heard you snoring.” She teased as you grabbed the stuffed animal from your lap.

It was a small axolotl you’d won for her after having spent half an hour fighting with a claw machine a couple months ago. You lost a lot of money that day, and she scolded you for it, but you couldn’t be happier.

As much as she said she didn’t care whether you won it or not, that smile on her face said otherwise. She probably really didn’t care, but seeing her happy mattered to you. It was worth it. (losing two days’ worth of pay).

“It was a power nap.” You smiled, hovering her to place a kiss on her cheek. She looked too cute, you couldn’t help but be drawn to her.

“It’s almost one in the morning.”

You frowned at her words and burried your face in her neck. That meant you had to leave soon.

“Why did you say it, now I’m gonna have to leave.” You whined.

If she hadn’t maybe you could have stayed a little longer, acting as though you hadn’t seen the time pass.

“I mean… Yuna is still up…” She mumbled, and her words were interesting enough to get you to lift your head up and see what she had in mind.

“It might be a little too risky for you to escape by then.”

“I like the way you think.” You smiled.

“Stay a little more?” She pouted as if you hadn’t made up your mind as soon as she’d mentioned Yuna not being asleep.

“I guess I can stay the night, yeah.” You joked, making her roll her eyes.

Staying the night was impossible, no matter how much you wanted to. Too many risks.

“2 am?” She proposed, and you nodded, taking out your phone. “What are you doing?”

“I’m setting an alarm.” You said, focusing on putting the right time into the app.

“Are you serious? You’re gonna sleep the whole time?”

“Who said anything about sleeping?” You smirked, putting your phone away to focus on her again.

Her cheeks heated up, and she tried to cover it up by bringing her sleeved hands up to the reddened skin.

“I saw that.” You teased with a grin showing her just how much the sight amused you.

“No, you didn’t.”

You snickered before pecking her lips a couple times, which only really worsened things for her.

“You’re very cute.” You smiled innocently, but she just stared at you in return.

“We’re not making out, I don’t feel like explaining what mom and dad were doing when we get caught.” She said, pushing you away from her so you laughed as you rolled onto your back to lay next to her.

“Fine. What do you want to do then?” You asked, grabbing her hand in yours to play with.

She didn’t say anything. Instead of answering your question with words, she simply used her body, and turned on her side in order to cuddle into yours.

“Seriously?” You asked as she pulled you close with her free arm.

You looked down at her and her eyes were already closed. She had a soft smile taunting you as she snuggled even closer to you, putting a leg over yours.

“I’m sorry, laying down just made me sleepy. We had a busy day.” She mumbled against your shoulder. “Just think of it as one more big hug before you leave.”

You could feel your heart melting. Her small, tired voice along with her words filled your whole body with a warmth that barely left your brain working enough to let you smile.

You weren’t mad, you could never be mad at her for that. She worked so hard every day, you wondered how she even had the strength to stay up and talk to you until late like this so often. The least you could do was lend her your shoulder to rest on.

Late nights and sneaking around in her dorm was one of the few ways you two could love each other. A bunch of boring corporate and industry rules got in the way, but a few weeks ago, you’d both decided it would take much more to keep you apart from each other, and so far… It worked pretty well.

The two of you had your own little routine down by now, you helped each other unwind and relax before taking on the next day with a head and heart filled with enough of the other’s love to keep you going until the next.

You softly pressed your lips against her forehead, leaving a kiss that left her unable to do anything else but smile.

“Goodnight, Yeji.” You said, figuring you’d let her sleep in your arms until you left. “Hopefully you dream of me.”

A lazy chuckle escaped her lips. It felt so sweet being able to make her laugh while half asleep, it contrasted well with the unfiltered words her state caused.

“I’ve seen enough for today.”

[seaweedroll]

Her dearest friend.

Silver hair, velvety voice, killed more people than one can count? Sounds like my type <3 Y/N Stark is the daughter of the youngest Stark lord who is the renowned negotiator and diplomat that travelled through Essos with young Y/N. Now that he's been invited to consult the King, Y/N is reunited with her childhood friends Aegon and Aemond who are not the same sweet boys she used to know. Will it be too late before she realises that? Part 1/4.

‘Now remember; in Kings Landing nobody is your friend. They all want something from you; they are going to use your every move against you so make sure you’re five moves ahead of them’ a tall man with a deep voice spoke to a girl sitting across from him in a carriage. ‘Be very careful when I am not around’ he continued ‘You will be left alone a lot while I attend small council meetings.

‘I’m sure Heleana and Aemond will take care of me like they always had’ the young lady couldn’t hide her smile whilst talking about her childhood friends.

‘The Targaryens are not your friends’ he replied curtly. ‘Aegon and Aemond are not the same boys you used to play with. They are young men now and young men are very dangerous to a lady such as yourself’ her father leaned in and took her hand ‘You must never ever stay alone with Aegon. He has turned into a beast’ lord Stark couldn’t hide the worry in his voice.

‘So he has’ she mumbled quietly.

She already knew that Aegon had bedded almost every maid in the Red Keep. She knew that Heleana loved cross stitching and spoke in complicated riddles. She knew what weather was like last summer; how could she not when Aemond sent her countless letters over the years they’ve been apart.

Lady Y/N Stark and Aemond Targaryen were close childhood friends. She never mocked him for not having a dragon or being weaker than his brother. But last time they saw each other was a week before he had lost his eye. Will he still be the same kind-hearted boy that put flowers in her y/h/c hair? Or was he a monster hiding behind the beautiful words in his letters?

Either way, she had nothing to worry. A daughter of well renowned negotiator, whose silver tongue saved the kingdom from numerous wars and ensured a stable trade route with Pentos, she was protected.

‘They will ask for something big’ her father exhaled once they approached the castle. ‘We are being welcomed like the royalty they definitely want something big from me’ he rolled his eyes getting out of the carriage ‘Remember what I told you, Y/N’ he whispered and extended his hand to her.

‘Yes, father’ she nodded and took his hand, trying very hard not to jump out of the carriage.

‘Lord Ayden Stark and his daughter, lady Y/N Stark’ their arrival was announced. Queen Alicent stood on the stairs, a polite smile on her beautiful face. Behind her stood her children whom Y/N barely recognised. Moments later, Heleana launched herself at Y/N and wrapped her in a warm embrace – she had always been a kind, affectionate girl and that hasn’t changed. Aegon followed close behind and planted a kiss on her hand. Only Aemond stood beside his mother, stoic, cold, proper. It hurt Y/N but she didn’t let it show. But when they all turned to go to the castle, she felt a faint brush of a callous hand against hers, almost ghost like but enough to let her know that he sees her, he missed her.

That night they had a feast. Ayden entertained everyone with stories and riddles; they laughed, they guessed and missed, flooded him with questions about exotic lands. His daughter added to his stories, demonstrating the gift for words she inherited from him. Prince Aegon asked most of the questions, begged for one more story and she obliged, her heart warm from memories she made with the boy he once was.

Aemond sat silent at the table, barely touching his food, his eye never leaving her. He was mesmerised by her warm, open nature and laugh that rung like silver bells in the wind. She had changed so much: her hair no longer wild but braided neatly; her curves filled in the gown made from finest material. Yet she still had the same smile, same innocence about her paired with quick wit and sparks of mischief in her y/e/c eyes. She was a true vision, a dream come true.

A few hours into the evening, lady Y/N retired for the night. Kissing her father goodnight, she disappeared into the dark hallway, unaware that a silver dragon had followed her. Ayden Stark gripped his glass tighter as an uneasy feeling washed over him.

‘I know you’re behind me, Aemond’ Y/N smiled without turning to look at him. A man behind her couldn’t help but smile too, taking a few steps to close the distance between them. For a moment he hesitated to touch her, fearing that this was all a dream but before he knew, she spun on her heel and jumped into his embrace, laughing. He wrapped his arms around her, drinking in her scent. This must be a dream, he thought.

‘You’re so tall’ she pulled away slightly. ‘And so handsome’ the lady stroked his silver hair. ‘How many hearts have you broken already?’ she raised her eyebrow.

The prince was stunned. Did she not see his eye patch or a horrid scar on his face?

‘I’m afraid the ladies are not very fond of my face, my lady’ he bowed his head.

‘Well, I am’ she pecked him on the cheek, making him blush. ‘I cannot believe I’m finally here with you!’ she jumped onto him again. This time he lifted her up bridal style and spun her like he used to do when they were children. ‘Again’ she laughed, and he obliged, making them both dizzy.

He sat her down on the windowsill overlooking the gardens, sweet scent pouring in from the outside.

‘This reminds me of Pentos’ she looked at the gardens illuminated by the full moon. ‘Every full moon we would go and play in the gardens with my father and our servants and then sit by the bonfire and drink peach nectar’ she reminisced, her eyes sparkling.

‘You were allowed outside during the night?’ he raised his eyebrow.

‘I was! I had many freedoms back there. My father is the fourth son, so he has no claim to the North which means I don’t have to be paraded and sold off like a cow to some old ugly lord’ she laughed and jumped off the windowsill.

‘Your father is one of the most influential men in Westeros’ Aemond frowned at her carelessness as he followed her to her chambers ‘Any house would want him on their side. You’ll have a line of suitors by the end of this week’ he warned as they stopped in front of her doors.

‘Well then, I hope all of them are as handsome as you! And if not, I’ll let them know that my best friend is the finest swordsman, and he will slay them all if they are ugly or forget to bring cake!’ she giggled once again. ‘Good night, Aemond!’ once again she reached to kiss his cheek. ‘I’m so glad I am reunited with my dearest friend’ with those words she disappeared behind the door.

Her dearest friend.

That’s all he was to her whilst she was everything to him. Aemond loved her since he was a child, love nurtured by letters and hope she would return one day and now that she has, more beautiful than he could ever imagine, he would stop at nothing to become more than her friend.

[hsangel64]

part 3 of bandmates !

pairings: ellie williams x fem!reader

summary: something happens to you at a party which pushes ellie to do something crazy

warnings: sexual harassment, some guy being an ass, violence, kissing, cussing

part 1 and part 2

a/n: this series is coming together already i love it a lot i hope you all do too ! sorry this took so long to come out with but i just finished my semester and all my finals so i’m free now !! i’ll be on vacation this next week but just means i’ll have more time to come out with more content i have lots of ideas !

“ellie i do not want to go to a party tonight we have a gig tomorrow.” you whined and threw your head onto her lap.

“please please come with me i’ll be alone dina and jesse are on a date.” she whined as she played with your hair.

“ellie i wanted to just stay in tonight and practice for tomorrow. we have so much to do.”

“we will only be there for a little bit and you don’t have to drink!” she moved her face down to look at you and you both were face to face. she was really close and you were really fuckin nervous. you could feel her breathe lightly on your forehead. there was a moment of silence before i finally agreed.

“UGH fine. but you’re buying me coffee first thing in the morning.” you grumbled and sat up from her lap.

“of course babe.” your breathe hitched a little at the nickname not expecting her to call you that but tried to relax once you turned to face her.

“i hate you.”

“oh shut up you love me.” you looked at her and cracked a small smile. she had a smirk on her face and that infuriated you at how much she can make you flustered.

“well before the party for you want to go get food and then go ?” she had moved closer to you so you were just staring at each other. you followed her eyes and she kept looking down at your lips. the tension was insanely unbearable and you just wanted to kiss ellie that’s all you’ve ever wanted to do.

“yeah that sounds good where’d you have in mind?”

“i think thai food today.”

“you know me so well.”

“i know.” she smirked and tapped my leg. “okay ! let’s go then!” she got up and grabbed your hands to pull you up off the couch. you guys got your things and headed to your favorite thai place. you guys went here a lot to the point the owner, jenny, loves you two.

“ahhh my favorite customers !” she greeted you two and took you to your usual table.

“usual for you guys today?” you both nodded and said thank you. while you two waited for the food you talked and talked and talked. you two could talk about just about anything and everything. you two would just pay attention to each other not worrying about anything else. what you didn’t realize was the jenny was talking with her husband while they watched you two.

“do you remember when we were that oblivious?” she turned to her husband and he chuckles.

“of course i do, they’ll figure it out sooner or later.”

“oh i know! we figured it out eventually and now we’ve been married for 45 years now.” he gave her a kiss on the forehead and she was back to serving her favorite customers.

you guys finished your food and we’re on your way to this party. you were absolutely dreading it.

…

you guys made it to the party and ellie led you to the kitchen. you just stood there next to her while she made herself a drink. you rolled your eyes realizing you’ll probably have to take care of her tonight.

“here drink this.”

“els no you said i didn’t need to drink tonight.” you groaned and pushed the drink away.

“please just one for me?” she pleaded and you really couldn’t resist.

“ugh fine i hate you.”

“you fuckin love me.” she whispered in your ear and pulled me to the couch. you both sat down and just watched around like you two always did. just making fun of frat boys, talking about who’s cheating on who, just about anything you two see.

“hey i’m gonna go find some water this is making me thirsty!” you yelled to ellie over the music and she nodded and told you to be careful. you made your way into the kitchen and checked the fridge and saw some bottled waters, you grabbed two and then started to make your way back to the couch when you were pulled around by some guy.

“hey beautiful what are you up to?” he slurred clearly drunk.

“leaving thanks.” you rolled your eyes and tried to move past him but he had other plans. he blocked you from leaving the kitchen.

“what the fuck.”

“don’t leave so soon baby come on.” he got really close to your face you could smell the alcohol. you were getting annoyed and just wanted to leave the kitchen.

“can you back the fuck up.” you backed up and he followed backing you into the counter leaving you no space to move.

“baby don’t be shy…” he then rubbed his finger on your cheek and you swatted it away getting more and more uncomfortable from this interaction.

“get the fuck off of me asshole.” you started to raise your voice more so more people can hear the commotion.

“just let me-“ he was cut off by someone pulling him away. you gasp not expecting the sudden movement. you see ellie was the one who pulled him and had him on the ground. punching into his face continuously.

“don’t you fuckin touch her you asshole!!” you didn’t know what to do, slightly cheering ellie on and silently thanking her.

“she’s mine you hear me? mine!” you blush at her words and realize she’s going to beat him to death. you rush over and try your best to interfere and pull ellie back.

“els it’s okay please!” you tell to her and she instantly turns to you and drops the guy bombarding you with questions.

“are you okay? did he do anything to you? do you need anything? i can-“

“els im okay i promise.” she pulls you in for a hug and a kiss on the forehead.

“you fuckin bitch.” you both turn and hear him barely blurt those words out as he’s starting to cry because of the pain.

“what a fuckin idiot.” ellie scoffs and pulls you away from him. she leads you out the house and into her car.

“hey thank you for that i really appreciated that a lot.” you smile at her and she smiles back.

“of course i would do anything for you, i’m sorry you had to see it though. just when i saw him that close to you trying ti touch you i freaked out and just thought of the first thing to do.” she grabbed your hand and started to rub it with her thumb.

“i know els it’s okay let’s get home so we can clean you up.” you looked down at her hands that are already brushing with dried up blood. you asked for her keys and drove back to campus.

…

you and ellie walked up to your guys room and you went straight to grab her some clothes so she can shower.

“i’m gonna clean up your wounds and then you can shower.” she nodded and took her hoodie off and walked to the bathroom. you grabbed her clothes and made your way over to her in the bathroom. she was looking at herself in the bathroom mirror at the small cuts on her face from the two small punches the guy got in.

you walked in and lent her a small smile and looked under the sink for your first aid kit. once you found it you started to work on her face first.

“it’ll burn a little just warning you.” she hissed when you touched a cut on her face and you pulled back.

“sorry- are you okay?”

“uh yeah yeah i’m fine promise” you nodded and got to work again being able to clean the majority of her face. you looked down for a second until you heard ellie cut the silence.

“you’re so damn pretty.”

“w-what?” you shot your head up and saw her look at you with a slightly shocked face.

“you-you heard that?”

“yes i did-“ you giggled at her eyes almost nearly bulging out of her face.

“oh my god….im so sorry i mean it’s not that you aren’t pretty because you are i just didn’t mean to say that god im an idiot-“ you shushed her and giggled at her banter.

“it’s okay i promise els…oh and thank you.” you looked down and blushed. there was silence between you guys for a little until ellie placed her hand under your chin to move you to look at her. your breathe caught in your throat as you two stared at each other for a second until she started to move closer.

you felt frozen unable to do anything not knowing what to do. you realize she’s going in to kiss you, all your nerves go away and you lean in with her. she puts both of her hands on your face and pulls you in to hurry the process. your lips meet and it’s so cliche but you feel your whole body heat up and you swear you see fireworks. your heart is pumping so fast you don’t know how to react. you move your hands to hold onto ellie’s wrists and push yourself closer to her.

the kiss is passionate and fast, you guys have been wanting to kiss each other for god knows how long and it’s finally happening. it’s just so perfect. you both pull away and stare at each other. you both giggle at how silly this might be.

“i’ve liked you for a really long time bee.” you groaned and heard ellie laugh.

“not the nickname, you know how embarrassing that was.”

“what you getting stung by a bee and having a fat ass lip for a couple of days?” she threw her head back as you pushed her lightly. she pulled your arm back towards her body and you looked up at her. she couldn’t take it you looked so good looking up at her.

“i’ve liked you for a long time too els.”

…

a/n: i want to start a taglist if anyone wants to join !! just comment you do !

@gold-dustwomxn

[cherripieee]

Bloodlust - Eddie Munson x fem!vampire!reader

Part 1 - 'Teeth'

Eddie comes over for your usual movie night and after a night of confessions, Eddie tells you a secret, a dirty fantasy he has about a familiar creature.

word count: 2.9k

a/n: i've had this one in the drafts almost ALL SUMMER so i hope you guys enjoy! i had a fun time making this even though my writer's block made me change the format four fucking times-

warnings: reader is a vampire, 2nd person pov for this chapter, blood, biting, mentions of biting kink/fang kink, cursing

The end of another hot summer day is approaching, and you couldn’t be happier. Heat drags on the days with exhaustion and complete boredom, a scorching sun pairs along with the unbearable weather. Luckily, the sun begins to retire for the day and dusk is upon the sky. Not only are you glad that the weather gets cooler at night, but you’re also glad that your movie night with your best friend is happening tonight. Even though your movie nights happen almost every summer night, the two of you hadn’t planned one in almost two weeks. Responsibilities caught up to him and you couldn’t be mad at him for it. So, after a while, the two of you decided to get back on track with your hangouts. 

You’re actually relieved that he decided to go after his responsibilities. During those days, you had things to attend to. Those things included your urges and your hunger. No, not for food. For blood. You hadn’t tasted a drop of blood in months and your senses started to warn you about the consequences of not taking care of yourself. As a vampire, you knew you needed blood. But living in a small town like this made it hard to hunt for prey and get away with it. And no, you couldn’t just devour a helpless rabbit. You needed human blood, no other exceptions. Well, that was how your senses worked. It was either humans, or no food at all. 

So, you did what you had to do. One late night, you were walking around the neighborhood and a whiff of something delicious caught your attention. That scent had led you down the street, and now the cause of that whiff was right in front of you. In an alleyway, a guy has a woman pressed up against a wall. His lips are on her neck, from here you can see the woman tugging at the guy’s hair. Unrelated to the situation, this guy seriously had some great hair. You wanted to walk away and let the couple be, but that whiff got the better of you. You got closer. 

“Mmh, oh, Steve…” 

…Steve? Where have you heard that name before? 

Shaking off your thoughts, you stealthily sneaked behind the guy and peeked over his shoulder. Your back hits the brick wall, and now you’re just staring directly at the couple. Your senses are overwhelming, but you are used to it. Right on time, the woman opens her eyes. They squint at your dark figure for a moment. 

“What’s wrong, baby? Why’d you stop?” Steve asked, his words coming out breathless and raspy. The woman’s face twists into a look of pure horror as your eyes are now a piercing red. This was just step one. 

“It’s getting late…” The woman slowly unravels herself from Steve’s touch, stealing glances at the brick wall from where you’re watching. Your anticipation builds, igniting a feeling of butterflies deep down in your stomach. You can smell his scent and it smells amazing, it smells hot, and you even smell some sort of cologne. That’ll make the taste even better, you thought to yourself. “...I’ll call you!” 

Before the guy could even protest, she’s already off and speed-walking into another direction. You felt bad for interrupting their little interaction, but this guy smelled so damn good. Once you can’t hear the clicks of her heels hitting the ground, you know she’s long gone. You’re staring at Steve’s backside, running your tongue over your teeth. Sure enough, your fangs had come out just by the scent of him. That’s how you knew that this was gonna be good. Or you were just hungry. I mean, you hadn’t had any real food in a few months. 

“Fuck.” Steve mutters under his breath, catching your interest. Shouldn’t he be walking away? As of right now, usually the person would try to walk out until you stopped them and feasted on their blood. But he’s just standing there, looking down. 

No biggie, this just made things even easier for you. 

You carefully walked up to him, not even sure if you were controlling your own body or if it was your senses taking over. With every step, you felt yourself tapping more into your natural instincts. You didn’t care if he screamed, you just wanted a taste. You didn’t care if it got messy, you just NEEDED his skin against your teeth. 

As Steve begins to move, you pounce on him. You grip his shoulders and push him down to his knees, earning a yelp from him. “HEY! WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” He screams, but you could care less about his threats. Licking your lips, you press your lips to the curve of his neck and trace your tongue around his skin until you find your favorite spot. Your favorite spot on a person was always the area a few inches below the ear. All vampires had a preference, or some just took whatever you could get. You, however, were a mix of both. He’s trying to fight back, you can tell. He’s wiggling around and screaming at you, and for help. He looked so helpless and that just heightened the feelings of your senses. 

“What the-” Were the last two words you heard as you sunk your fangs down into his skin, flavor bursting on your tongue. Just as you suspected, he tastes good. There’s blood streaming from your mouth and dribbling down to the back of his orange sweatshirt. Fuck, this is exactly what you needed. You gulp down each and every drop you can get, your nails sinking down into his sweater. Your senses had completely taken over and the only thing on your mind was: hunger. Steve’s quieted down, his eyes drooping low, and his energy suddenly drains. Unfortunately, you can’t keep at this for as long as you wanted to. You wanted a meal, but you weren’t a killer. You reluctantly pull away, red liquid drips from your fangs and onto his skin. 

Releasing your grip on him, the poor guy drops down to the floor on his back. He’s not exactly unconscious yet, but he’s getting there. He’s staring up at you with his eyes fluttering closed. You stay there and make sure his eyes are closed before wiping your mouth and heading out of the alleyway. Now, your hunger would be satiated for the next couple of months. 

…wait. WAS THAT STEVE HARRINGTON?! 

And now you’re here, at home setting up the living room for your movie night with your bestie. 

You cleaned up earlier and set up the area, he was going to bring the snacks. Snacks in his terms meant: beer, store bought chocolate chip cookies, a huge tub of vanilla ice cream, and more beer. So basically, you were always the one to have all the goods. 

There’s one large blanket draped over your couch, the one that you and him share on nights like these. He’s a HUGE blanket hog, but you don’t mind it. Even if that means that you have to freeze your ass off to make sure that he feels safe and comfortable in your home. He deserves it, he deserves everything. If it wasn’t clear enough, you were definitely crushing hard on your best friend. As much as you tried to deny it, you simply couldn’t. You’re in love with this man and obsessed with everything he does. Unfortunately, only being best buddies would have to do for now. 

About a half hour later than he was supposed to arrive, the door knocks. This was typical of him, so you weren’t bothered. After taking one last glance around the area and collecting yourself, you rush over to the door. You open it, and there he is. Your best friend, Eddie Munson. 

His head of curls is tied back into a ponytail, his brown doe eyes are soft as he gives you his signature warm smile. It almost makes you wanna sink your teeth into his face because he’s so damn cute…in a good way. 

“Sweetheart.” 

You give him a smile back, leaning against the doorframe. 

“Yeah?”

“...I forgot the beer.” 

~

Curled up together, thighs against his thighs and your head rests against his shoulder. You lived for this. Moments like these were the ones you savored because you knew that one day, Eddie would find someone else. He would find someone else to cuddle with and hangout with one day, and it wouldn’t be you. You wanted it to be, but…things don’t work out. Your last boyfriend got a glimpse of your fangs, and he asked you about it, so you came clean…let’s just say that he’s the sole reason why you moved to Hawkins. 

Part of you feels bad for not telling Eddie about your secret, he’s your best friend for God’s sake! But you promised your parents that you would be careful. And if you pissed them off, you’d be sent right back home. Even though you’re a grown adult, your parents had the last say in everything. 

Eddie’s chomping away at the brownies you made him and watching the movie peacefully, his fingertips gently caress your forearm. In that moment, you prayed that his touch didn’t leave a trail of goosebumps. As you thought that, you felt a pleasant shiver roll down your arm. You’re about to excuse yourself to the bathroom to cool off until Eddie sits up. 

He grabs the remote and turns off the tv which stops you from bolting to the bathroom, instead giving him a curious look.

“Didn’t like the movie?” You asked, looking up at him.

Eddie shakes his head, his head of curls whipping him right in the face. You try to hold back your laughter as he brushes it out of his face, and it’s the most awkward yet cutest thing you’ve ever seen. His ringed fingers go through his hair while he gives you that warm smile that he only saves for his closest friends. This guy didn’t know how pretty he actually was.

“Nah, it’s not that.” He replied, setting the tv remote on the table next to the couch the two of you were sitting on. “It’s been a while since we had one of these, I figured we could catch up.”

Your heart melts.

That should be the bare minimum of having a best friend, catching up with each other every second you got and checking up on each other. But you felt so helpless when it came to your feelings for Eddie.

“Alright.” You simply replied. “Let’s catch up.”

Eddie then fills you in on what’s been going on. There’s some girl (you already hate her) and apparently, she stood him up on his date to go and hook up with some guy in an alleyway.

“Who was it?!” You asked.

Eddie chomps on another brownie, giving you a smirk. “Steve Harrington, who else would it be?”

…that’s ironic.

You had caught Steve Harrington making out with some girl in an alleyway the night you attacked him.

Oh.

Your face flushes with embarrassment and you sink down into the couch, hiding your blush with a pillow. Thankfully, Eddie doesn't notice, and he continues talking.

"And weirdly enough, he got attacked by something almost right after." He added.

The fact that the "something" he was talking about was YOU made you feel bad, but you were lowkey happy because you got to hurt someone that hurt Eddie.

"What did he get attacked by?" You asked, acting as clueless as you can.

Eddie shrugged, brushing a few brownie crumbs from his shirt and onto the floor which you'll sweep up later.

"Well, I talked to Steve earlier today when I stopped by Family Video, and he had a bandage on his neck. He told me the last thing he remembered was seeing a pair of red eyes." He explained.

That's what most people usually remember when they get bit by a vampire. It's either a pair of red eyes or a dark figure. If they noticed anything else, you clearly did something wrong. If you aren't careful enough, you could end up getting yourself hurt...or even killed.

You're always careful.

"What do you think attacked him?" You asked, curiously.

Eddie was lost in thought for a moment, his ringed fingers tapping against the arm of the couch. This action made you sit up straight, holding the pillow in your lap.

What was he not telling you?

As his best friend, you knew the signs of when Eddie was hiding something.

His chocolate brown eyes are gazing down at his fingers, sometimes stealing a glance at the black screen of the television.

His other hand is fidgeting with the fabric of a white fluffy pillow, picking at the fur.

"...Eddie?"

The sound of your voice startles him as he looks up, giving you a sheepish look. "Sorry, lost in thought."

Eddie lets out the world's longest and dramatic sigh, his head falling into your lap as he looks up at you. Why did he have to be so damn cute?!

"You're so dramatic." You say, ruffling his hair a bit.

"And you love it." He retorts quickly, flashing you a cheeky grin.

"And I love you, Eddie Munson." is what you want to say, but you can't.

Instead of that, you simply roll your eyes and push him off of you. He lands on the ground with a soft thud, bringing the whole blanket down with him.

"Hey! I bought that blanket, y'know."

Eddie laughs, covering himself with the blanket. He wraps it around his whole body while keeping his eyes on you, that same cheeky grin stays on his face. "Come and get it."

You immediately rush down to the floor, trying to rip the blanket from his grasp. Eddie's surprisingly very strong, despite his lanky form. But your vampire strength gives you an advantage. The bad news is that if you went too hard, let's just say that you would actually rip the blanket.

The two of you play around for a bit, smiling, laughing and teasing each other before laying on the floor in a heap of breathy giggles. Your legs are tangled together, and the blanket is thrown somewhere around the two of you.

The silence is comfortable and content.

The moment was calm and quiet.

"...I think a vampire attacked Steve."

...never mind.

“Vampire?” You said, trying to sound as clueless as possible. 

“Yeah, I mean, what else could it be? Plus, with all the shit we’ve been through, we shouldn’t rule it out too quickly.” Eddie explained. 

You nodded along to his words, even though there was a pit forming in your stomach, filled with nervousness and dread. 

The two of you sat in silence for a moment, absorbing the quietness. Hawkins was pretty peaceful at this time of night. You could hear the faint noises of cars passing by, but that was all the noise you could hear. Just as you’re about to close your eyes, you hear something. 

Something out of Eddie’s mouth that makes your eyes go wide. 

“Do ya think that getting bit by a vampire would feel good?” 

…woah. 

You sit up immediately, tilting your head to the side and giving him a confused look. 

“Uh, no? It probably hurts like hell.” 

Another moment of silence forms, and this time you’re not calm. You’re conflicted, confused yet curious all at the same time. Was Eddie into vampires? Everyone in Hawkins knew that Eddie was a freak, liking things that no other person would. But, honestly, having a biting kink was completely fine and normal. 

But having a thing for VAMPIRES? 

…it’s a problem considering the fact that YOU’RE a vampire. 

You snap out of your thoughts, hearing a little rant from Eddie as he makes wild and dramatic gestures with his hands. 

“But that’s the thing, would it hurt so bad that it would feel good? Imagine the mark it would leave afterwards, sweetheart. Did you not see Steve’s bandage? That shit was big.” 

You can only reply by hitting him with a nearby pillow, earning a yelp and a glare from your best friend. 

“Alright, you little masochist, it’s time for you to skedaddle.” 

Usually Eddie would spend the night, but you can’t face him after what he had just said. You didn’t know if you could even control yourself from giving into his desires…and your own. 

Eddie raises his hands in mock defense, getting up and grabbing his leather jacket from the back of the couch. He’s smiling, as if he hadn’t just told you that he wanted a vampire to bite into his skin and leave a mark. 

You walk him to the door, as you always do, with your arms crossed and the chilly Hawkin’s air hits you almost immediately as you step outside. It’s a great way to cool off, especially after tonight. 

Eddie pulls you into a hug, wrapping his arms around you. 

His scent. 

His fucking scent. 

You close your eyes and lean into him, getting a whiff of his smell. This was definitely weird, but you couldn’t help it. Part of you wants to know what he tastes like, what he feels like… 

…but you won’t ever know. 

Clearing your throat, you break away from his embrace and watch him get into his car, giving him one final wave as he drives away in his truck. You can already hear the loud rock music slowly fading away in the distance. 

“...fuck.” 

[petitelepus]

A Loner's Unexpected Journey, Part 2

Kimetsu Academy!Genya Shinazugawa X Fem!Reader

Summary: You're once again alone and heading to eat your lunch the way you liked it, alone, when you run into a familiar face.

Warnings: None

A/N: Modern!AU, Kimetsu Academy, Female Reader, Genya Shinazugawa

PART 1 II PART 2 II PART 3 II PART 4 II PART 5 II PART 6 II PART 7 II PART 8 II PART 9 II PART 10 II PART 11 II PART 12 II PART 13 II PART 14 II PART 15 II PART 16 II PART 17 II PART 18

You could truly tell how the whole classroom was divided into groups during lunchtime when the members of the said groups would flock together.

Popular guys would talk about sports they had, girls or such, nerds would talk about anime and games and those happy popular girls were sitting by the window again, chatting happily about how they wanted to go to karaoke as they enjoyed their lunches.

You? You were alone at your seat at the entrance like a loner you were. It might have looked brutal, but you were happy as you were, so why did people have to try and include you? You had heard it all before, those pitiful stares and whispers.

"She is eating by herself?"

"Again?"

"Doesn't she, like, have even one friend to eat with?"

"So sad."

They had once tried to ask you to join them in what they must have thought was out of pity, but you could tell they were only taunting you.

You had looked at the poor girl they had sent to ask you and said, "No thank you. I'm fine here." before completely ignoring her. However, once she returned to her friends, they were all giggling like crazy, at you no doubt.

If you had to choose, you would probably have most common with Otakus, those nerds and gamers, but you weren't really a team player. You preferred going solo.

So once lunchtime rolled around, you grumbled by yourself as you grabbed your shoulder bag and made your way out of the classroom before the groups could form.

Many people brought lunch from home and some used their pocket money to buy something from the canteen. You had your own lunch packed in your shoulder bag so you didn't need to buy anything, but what you sought wasn't food but a place to eat in peace.

Normally you would eat outside, but since it was Fall already, it could get pretty chilly outside. So you ventured to this old abandoned classroom that was mainly used to store furniture and such. You liked eating there, you had a place to sit, it was quiet and the best part was that there was no one else there ever.

Or so you thought. You opened to door and stepped inside, but before you could close the door you heard someone say your name. You flinched, slightly startled, and whipped around to see the young man with wild hair and a huge scar on his face, Genya Shinazugawa.

"Oh. Genya." You looked around, trying to see if there was anyone else with him, but he appeared to be alone. You weren't sure if you wanted to disturb him so you turned around, ready to leave, willing to leave your normal place to eat for the sake of being alone again, "I'm sorry, I'll go somewhere else-!"

"W- wait!" Genya called after you and you stopped in your tracks and turned to look at him, "What is it?"

"Would you, uh… Would you like to eat with me…?" He asked carefully, his face flushed red as he averted his gaze. You were starting to see a pattern here when he would blush and look away.

You weren't really sure if you wanted to stay, but you kind of liked Genya and you actually didn't really mind his company. At least that's what you thought, based on his visit to your place last week.

After a small moment of silence, you turned to look at him properly, "Are you sure?"

He nodded quickly and you huffed as you walked up to him and sat by the desk next to his. You dug out your convenience store-bought lunch box from your shoulder bag and you and Genya both noticed that you had the exact same boxes. Same meat on rice and light salad on the side.

"Ah-!" You both opened your mouths to speak, only to speak over one another. This made you both blush and avert your gazes from each other.

"You, uh…" You started awkwardly, "You have a good taste…"

"Thanks…" Genya nodded, "You too…"

Oh God, how could the two of you be so awkward? The two of you got your disposable utensils that came with the lunch boxes and started to eat in silence. The rich meat was well-balanced with pretty bland rice and the side salad was both fresh and refreshing. You were almost done with your lunch when your curiosity got the best of you.

"So, uh…" You frowned as you tried to figure out what to say, "What brings you here?"

"I was just…" Genya looked aside, "I was searching for a remote place to eat in peace."

"Ah…" You nodded, "I'm sorry, I barged in here."

"I- it's okay!" The young man blushed, "If it's you then I don't mind company…"

You blinked as you felt your cheeks tingle as blush rose to your cheeks. You averted your gaze and asked, "Don't you have anyone to eat with?"

"I'm… Not exactly popular or anything…" Genya admitted quietly, "People are kind of afraid of me and I admit, I can be scary and temperamental…"

Ah, you were both kind of similar, or at least in the same boat… But he couldn't help it if he was scary looking, you could at least try to be nicer, but you didn't trust anyone enough to actually open up a little.

"I know how you feel. I'm not exactly very friendly so I don't have any friends." You said as you looked at him, "I admit that I am also a pretty cynical person."

You were a little ashamed of admitting it, but Genya seemed to understand.

"You seem nice enough for me?" He thought out loud, much to your surprise.

"Well…" You frowned as you felt your cheeks tingle more, "Unlike most of the guys and girls in this school, you seem like an alright guy. Genuine and honestly nice."

"I… T- thank you?" Genya blushed as he averted his gaze and you felt a little silly, talking like that to a guy you barely knew… But somehow you had this feeling that you could trust him and that he wasn't like other people.

"How is Lady?" He suddenly asked.

"Hm?" You looked at him in confusion and he cleared his throat, "The kitten."

"Oh!" You felt stupid, not immediately realizing that he was talking about the kitten you had adopted from the streets a little over a week ago.

"She is doing well. Hungry, the little one eats like a damn horse but that's apparently expected from young and growing kittens like her."

Genya smiled at the choice of your words and you felt your chest tighten a little at the sight of his smile. You dug out your phone and saw that the lunch break was almost over. You both would have to rush to your own classrooms if you didn't want to be late for the class.

"I gotta go, the class is starting soon." You said and you felt honestly bad for leaving because some part of you wanted to keep on talking with this young man. The two of you seemed to have pretty much in common so you kind of wanted to get to know him a little better, even if only a little.

"Ah, I understand…" Genya nodded and the two of you put your empty lunch boxes away but before either one of you left, you collected your courage and looked at him. "Um… Genya?"

"Yes?"

"Would you, uh…" You blushed a little, "Would you like to exchange phone numbers? Like, if you would like to eat together or such?"

Hearing you ask for his number made the rough-looking young man blush furiously. He was shaking as he nodded pulled out his own smartphone from his jacket's pocket and handed it to you so you could input your phone number in it and you copied him, handing him your phone.

Once you had both put your numbers in each other's phones, you handed them back and you smiled a little, "Thank you. See you tomorrow at the same time?"

"Y- yes!" Genya nodded and you both left and went your own ways so you wouldn't be late for your classes.

The rest of the day, you were actually in a kind of good mood. You still got annoyed by your foolish classmates, but it bothered you a little less when you thought about your new friend.

[royalvelvette]

dance with me, darling

Final part! The sillies are finally dancing (somewhat). Read on Archive of Our Own here.

(Part 1, Part 2)

Rating: T Warnings: Canon Typical Language, Allusions to Canon Typical Violence

(not so much a warning as a note - Valentino is a POV character in this one)

Characters: Vaggie, Charlie Morningstar, Vox, Valentino, Velvette Mentioned: Husk, Niffty

Word Count: 2456

Vaggie was about two seconds away from going after Charlie herself when she came back. She shot off a quick ‘thank you’ to Husk, made a mental note to do something nice for him sometime soon, and moved to help Charlie with the two plates of food. One good thing about the mixed sinner/hellborn staff meant the hotel had access to ingredients from the other rings – things like eggs, from actual chickens.

(She’d wondered if there was any difference between earth chickens and hell chickens, once – Charlie had gotten a picture for her. There weren’t any, though there were definitely breeds that would never be seen on earth.)

Charlie smiled at her as her arm fell back to her side. Vaggie perched on the edge of the bed; pressing her thigh against Charlie’s when she sat next to her. For a few moments, the only sounds were of scraping cutlery and eating. There was no good way to start the conversation they needed to have, though, and Vaggie tended to get stomachaches from eating too fast a lot easier. Even so, before she got the chance to speak, Charlie did,

“I’m sorry I snapped at you this morning,” she said quietly. “I just... this is the first year I’ve been able to help so many people, Vaggie, and you kind of... sprung this day off on me.”

Vaggie nodded. “Yeah. I’m sorry, too – I could have woken you up last night and told you then,” she said.

Charlie pressed back against Vaggie’s thigh. Forgiven, then; just like she had already forgiven Charlie. They finished their breakfast in comfortable silence. Vaggie took their now-empty plates and stood up, walking them over to the desk wedged into the corner and setting them down. She could feel Charlie’s eyes following her.

Well. It had been a while since she had had a good stretch. With a sigh, she rolled her shoulders. Then she flared her wings, grimacing as the stretch pulled on her overtaxed muscles. She really should have been warming up better these past two weeks; oh well. She stretched her wings as far as they could go without hurting too bad, held the position for a count of one- two-

On three, she let the muscles relax, stretching her arms above her head as she turned around. Charlie was watching her intently, sclera slightly red around the edges. Vaggie smiled – even on days she didn’t feel very pretty (most days, but especially now that she could feel dirt and dust and something sticky in her feathers gross), Charlie was always an appreciative audience. Normally, she would do the full routine, especially with Charlie watching so attentively, but starting with her wings had been a mistake.

(The sticky something was probably blood, fuck, disgusting, it needed to be gone yesterday)

“Shower with me?” she asked, offering a hand to Charlie.

The red of Charlie’s sclera darkened. “Please,” she answered, taking Vaggie’s hand (and nearly her arm), pulling her towards the ensuite.

“No sex,” Vaggie said. “I’m too sore right now, sweetie.”

Charlie huffed but nodded, releasing Vaggie’s hand. Vaggie sat on the toilet seat as Charlie dug around under the sink. She tucked her wings in (ugh, how had she been flying with this much shit in them?) just long enough to take her nightgown off. She would have to change the bedding after the shower; no telling how dirty it was, or if it had even been changed since before everything.

Charlie straightened up with a victorious sound, brandishing the washcloths like trophies. Vaggie clapped; Charlie took a mocking bow. The red had faded from her eyes again; not necessarily a bad thing, especially because Vaggie wasn’t lying about being sore. Charlie handed her the cloths and took her dirty clothes, tossing it down the laundry chute along with her own. Vaggie ruffled her feathers, trying to get the worst of the loose ones to shake out.

“Preening after?” Charlie asked, turning the shower on.

Vaggie nodded. “Yes, please,” she said. “I think this is the worse off my wings’ve been since my first time down here.”

Charlie offered a sympathetic look along with her hand. Vaggie took the hand gladly, sighing as the hot water (hotter than if she was showering on her own, but cooler than Charlie usually had it) hit her skin.

The shower was quick, all things considered. Charlie ended up with a feather stuck to her shin, and there was an unfortunate amount gathered by the drain, but the even just the shower had Vaggie feeling so much better. She hadn’t realized how many half-broken and just loose feathers had been in there; not to mention the lack of dirt and blood making her feel lighter than she had in... a while. She watched Charlie pick up the fallen feathers – even the broken ones – with the care of someone holding something precious; carefully setting them on the sink counter.

“Babe,” she said, “you do know we can just throw them out, right?”

Charlie gasped. “Before I get to pick out my favourites? No!” She cupped her hands, hiding the feathers from view.

Vaggie rolled her eyes. “One favourite. The nightstand is gonna overflow if you keep all of them.”

“But they’re all so good! They came from you!”

“One,” Vaggie said, trying to ignore the heat rising to her face. “One, and you have until I’m dressed to pick it.”

“But what about preening?” Charlie asked, pouting.

Vaggie fluttered her wings; pleased when nothing fell out or shifted uncomfortably. “We’ll do that tonight. I’ll braid your hair.”

Charlie sighed. “Okay...”

Charlie had managed to pick out one by the time Vaggie came back in to brush her hair. She took the rest of the old feathers and swept them into the trash as Charlie left to go get dressed herself. Vaggie took the opportunity to look at herself and winced. Okay, yeah, maybe she had been going too hard lately. She could probably get away with Charlie’s insanely early body clock, instead of waking up before dawn.

She checked her phone, just in case something had gone wrong downstairs. There was nothing from Husk, so it was probably fine – or at least, manageable. Velvette had sent her a thumbs up and a going back to bed; Valentino still hadn’t read his; and Vox had seen his but hadn’t responded. About what she expected, honestly. Niffty had sent her the area that had been set aside for the five of them today; one of the recreation rooms Vox had insisted on.

Vaggie sighed, a little more tension leaking out with it. Maybe a day off wouldn’t be so bad.

Valentino woke up slowly; a novel experience he missed dearly. The last two weeks had been nothing but work, work, work. Not to mention, his chest ached and his throat was cracked and dry all the time. Even still, he was... confused. Vox hadn’t used the body pillow trick since Charlie insisted they start helping (without! Contracts! Or favours! Just helping! For free!) those injured and displaced by the extermination. Vox always made sure Valentino was downstairs before Charlie – something something optics; he hadn’t really been listening.

So to wake up alone, wrapped around a body pillow instead of Vox, was... bewildering, to say the least. He disentangled himself from the pillow and blankets, rolling over to reach for his phone. Vox might not be here, but there was no doubt he would have left a message of some kind; if only to make sure Valentino “behaved.”

And! There was a message (two messages, even!) waiting for him, just not from Vox. Instead, it was from Charlie’s guard dog – Vaggie or something stupid like that.

Mandatory day off, the first message, sent last night, said. The second message continued, There’s snacks and shit in rec 4, if you’re interested.

Valentino made a face. His first day off in weeks – in six months, really – and he had to spend it with her? The princess, at least, was tolerable – naive but eager to please (and she was interested in the plot). Vaggie-or-something just glared at him; or didn’t even bother to pay attention to him at all. Him! One of the greatest cinematographers this side of the city! Fuck, he hated her.

He screenshot the texts and sent them off to Velvette.

mothballsack sent an attachment. mothballsack: ? bithc: yeah bithc: idk might go later mothballsack: Is vox there bithc: b fr. hes prob working

Valentino scowled before responding.

mothballsack: I’m not going bithc: bruh bithc: just drag him there??? bithc: actually yeah just. bithc: u drag vox up there n i’ll come mothballsack: cna i film bithc: gross. bithc: also cna mothballsack: eat shit. mothballsack: but u promise u’ll go? bithc: yeah yeah w/e bithc: whiny

Valentino didn’t dignify that with a response. He sighed, rolling onto his back and throwing his arm over his eyes. He didn’t want to spend the day walking on eggshells around the princess and her bitch (where the fuck did they get off being all preachy, like, what the fuck), but the thought of spending time with Vox and Velvette was... appealing. Especially if it meant Vox would actually take the day off. And he wouldn’t have to wear the suit Velvette insisted he wear in the name of ‘team spirit’ or whatever.

He sighed again before rolling the rest of the way out of bed. If he was going to this stupid thing, he was going to be the best looking demon in the room.

Velvette was tired, when she finally made her way to rec room 4. She hadn’t been lying – she had tried to go back to sleep after starting a few fights in VoxTube comments, but it just hadn’t happened. She slipped in quietly – she didn’t need Val getting on her ass about taking so long right now.

But even if she hadn’t entered the room quietly, Val was busy – dancing with Charlie? Okay, weird, Velvette still thought he didn’t like her. She stared at the pair for a second, trying to understand what her eyes were seeing; it took her tired brain that second to realize what must have happened.

Because, instead of Valentino doing the dipping and throwing like he did whenever he was dancing with Vox, he was being dipped and lifted and spun like he weighed nothing. Charlie stood taller than Velvette had ever seen her – and holy shit did that fucking do something to her – so there wasn’t the constant risk of Val hitting his head whenever he got careless.

Vox noticed her then, lifting the cup of water he was holding in a sort-of wave. His movement drew Vaggie’s – sitting on the same couch, also with water – attention to Velvette; who was maybe – definitely – checking out her girlfriend.

(Charlie??? In a dress??? It definitely wasn’t Velvette’s fault she was having trouble not staring. Holy shit she was going to make so many skirts for Charlie.)

“Velvette,” Vaggie said, grabbing Velvette’s attention.

Velvette felt heat rise to her cheeks, caught. Play it off, she thought.

She walked over to the couch Vaggie and Vox were sharing, throwing herself into Vox’s lap dramatically. “What’s up, Vaggie?”

Vaggie rolled her eyes and didn’t respond, turning her attention back to Charlie and Valentino.

...nailed it.

Velvette started poking Vox from where she was laying. Vox barely reacted, glancing down at her briefly before going back to staring at nothing. (He’d overdone it again, probably – if she had to guess, his battery was around 40%. Not enough for a crash or forced sleep, but definitely enough for the lights to be on but nobody home whenever there wasn’t multiple things for him to focus on.

Why were her boys always so stupid?)

After Vox’s frankly dismal response (not even a swat to get her to stop? Really?), Velvette turned her attention to the other soul on the couch. She didn’t poke Vaggie, though – things had been tense between them ever since Vaggie realized she had a crush on Charlie. She needed all her fingers to sew, thank you very much.

Instead, she said, “Wanna dance?” like an idiot.

Vaggie looked down at her, raising an eyebrow. “What?”

“I asked if you wanted to dance,” Velvette repeated.

Vaggie continued to do nothing, just looking at her. Velvette resisted the urge to squirm, feeling a little like she had just stumbled into a bear’s cave. Then Vaggie sighed and set down her water, standing up. She offered her hand to Velvette.

“Okay,” she said.

Velvette blinked at her; it took her a second to reach out and accept Vaggie’s hand. She hadn’t actually expected a positive response – hadn’t really expected to ask the question, if she was honest.

(Okay, maybe it wasn’t entirely fair to call Vox and Val idiots all the time, if she was gonna do stupid shit like this whenever she had a crush on a pretty (taken) girl.)

And the thing was – the dance was a little out of Velvette’s wheelhouse; slower than she was used to; but Vaggie was good. At dancing. She dipped Velvette and lifted her into spins effortlessly, hands firm but not too hard around Velvette’s waist.

“Do I even weigh anything to you,” Velvette asked during a pause between songs.

“Not really,” Vaggie said. “You’re an easier partner than Charlie.”

Then the next song started, and they were off again. By the time the third song finished, Velvette was breathless – meanwhile, Vaggie barely looked ruffled aside from the strain around her eyes. Vaggie let go of her, patting her on the shoulder.

“That’s enough for now,” she said. “Juice?”

“Yeah,” Velvette said. “I’m just gonna... sit down.”

She stumbled over to the couch (why were her legs so wobbly, what the fuck) Charlie was sitting on, having switched places with Vox at some point.

She beamed at Velvette, squealing, “You and Vaggie looked so good together!”

Heat rose to her face again. Vaggie passed her a cup of maybe-apple juice, sitting on Charlie’s other side. She wrapped a possessive arm around Charlie.

“It was nice to spin someone,” Vaggie said, staring at Velvette over Charlie’s shoulder.

Velvette stared back and tried not to remember the feeling of Vaggie’s biceps. “It was fun,” she finally said; taking a sip of her juice.

Velvette tuned out the girlfriend’s conversation after that. She had bigger things to worry about – like how the fuck was she meant to deal with having a crush on both of them?

Shit.

[finnglas]

In order to explain my cats' latest obsession, I have to give you some history. Behind a cut, warnings for Cat Illness.

In 2015, both K and I were working a lot and I felt bad that my>our cat, Luna, was being left alone for hours on end. So we decided to get a second cat - thus, Evie joined the family. Now, being that Evie was about 2 years old and Luna was about 5 years old, they didn't really enjoy the Sudden Roommate Situation [SRS]. It took a lot longer than normal for the introductory methods to work. (They still tolerate each other more than anything but they seem to have made their peace, eight years on.)

Anyway, we got Evie in November of 2015 and in January of 2016 I lost my job and Luna also developed an ongoing UTI due to the stress of the SRS. (Between this and the Politics Situation at the time, I was so stressed I skipped my period for almost seven months. I don't think any of us have recovered.) Anyway, so Luna had to go on antibiotics, and the antibiotics gave her diarrhea, so we also put her on probiotics, but the probiotics (I learned later) gave her worse diarrhea, and the stress of constant upset stomach meant that she kept having ongoing UTIs which meant ongoing antibiotics/probiotics, etc., in a vicious cycle. I'm still mad at that vet because they refused to slow down to consider me asking "what if the fact that it's making her sick is contributing to the infection" and kept just assigning more rounds of antibiotics that I couldn't afford. Yeah that credit card JUST got paid off two months ago.

A N Y W A Y. The result of all this is that it tore poor Luna's stomach up to the point that she couldn't eat any kind of dry treat or kibble. Literally, one Greenie treat would instantly give her the shits. This means that both cats have been on wet-food-only for like, seven years. It's expensive, and not great for their teeth, but also Luna wasn't shitting herself constantly so you take what you can get. I occasionally tried samples of kibble that advertised themselves as Sensitive Stomach Formulae over the years but none of them were successful.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, when I was at my parents' for my dad's surgery and Kellie stayed home with the cats. She had to go get some more wet food for them during this time and while at the pet store, she eyed a bag of kibble that said it was for Sensitive Stomachs and had a strong impulse to Try It. So she got a small bag. Texted me about it. I said "You're awfully brave trying that while I'm not home to give her a bath when her back end winds up covered in poop at 2am."

But miracle of all miracles: Luna can tolerate this kibble. We started very very small - less than 1/8 of a cup once a day - and have been working our way up. We are at 1/6 of a cup once a day now, and there has been no stomach upset!

This is great news for multiple reasons, but one of them is that we can now have an automatic feeder which means that we can take short overnight trips without needing a cat-sitter. For long trips, of course, we'd still want someone checking in on them and giving them their supplement of wet food.

We have one such short overnight trip coming up in two weeks, so I took advantage of Black Friday sales on one of my favorite pet brands (their water fountain also came from PetLibro) and ordered them a two-bowl pet feeder. It came in yesterday (love Black Friday being a week long now) and I set it up last night. I tested it at the time by having it dispense 1/12 of a cup of kibble. Worked great! tipped most of it back into the granary and let the kitties have a couple of pieces as a treat.

WELL. They now cannot enter the room without paying tribute to the Fickle God of Kibble, aka Sammy the Automatic Feeder, just in case he has decided to dispense more kibble.

They just had their first scheduled 9am feeding, and both of them ran around like they were losing their minds before diving in mouth-first, so I am deeply amused and will be watching these developments with interest.

[tooneys-russo]

You Decided For Us

Plot: Riley and Alessia have a messy history. Now that Alessia is back in the UK can they work out their issues?

Previous Parts: Chapter 1

Chapter 2

The next morning Riley woke up in Leah’s bed with the blonde next to her. She remembered coming home to Leah waiting for her, she was still crying and immediately collapsed into Leah’s arms. Leah never said anything in judgment of Riley, all she did was take the girl to her bed and lay with her until she fell asleep. Riley rubbed her eyes and went downstairs, she felt the hangover immediately as her head throbbed and her stomach churned. She went to the kitchen and began cooking some pancakes and eggs for when Leah woke up. It wasn’t long after the smell started spreading through their house that Leah was downstairs sitting at the island bench. “Do you want to talk about it?” Leah asked cautiously. “Well, Alessia and the United girls were at the pub. We got into it again. I kissed Ella, then Alessia kissed me. That’s it.” Riley slid over a plate of food to Leah. “Wait, you kissed Ella? As in Ella Toone?” Leah shoved half a pancake in her mouth. “Yeah. Just to prove a point that I could kiss anyone and it’s not hard to hook up with someone.” Riley grabbed a cup of coffee and a plate then sat next to Leah. “Shit. Then Less kissed you?” Riley nodded in confirmation. The two ate in silence then got ready to head to training. 

Riley stood up in front of the team before they headed out to start. “Hey everyone. Just quickly before we get started. I want to apologise for my behaviour at the game against United. I had some issues with Alessia that got out of hand and I was reckless and that led to the team being punished. I promise you that after my suspension I will be better for this team, I will give you guys everything. I am so sorry again.” The girls came over to the girl and wrapped her in a team hug. Jill pulled Riley to the side. “I never knew that there was something between you. If I had known I never would have.” Riley smiled. “Don’t worry. It’s ancient history with Alessia, I am sorry you got caught in the middle.” 

During training Riley pushed herself as hard as she could, nearly vomiting by the end of the session. “Riley, come have a chat with me.” Jonas called out to the midfielder and she followed him to his office. They sat down and Jonas smiled at her. “Very brave to admit you messed up. You know I want you all to be the best that you can be, I know for a fact that you are on your way to being one of the best in the game and I want you to live up to that. You can’t play this weekend but you can after Christmas. In that time I have set you up with the psychologist here, there is no pressure there is a standing appointment once a week on Tuesday at 3pm. When you are ready they will sit with you and you can talk about anything you need.” Riley looked down ashamed. “Hey Riley, this is not a bad thing or a criticism. I just want you to keep your head, a few yellow cards is fine but what happened on the weekend wasn’t you. We want the old Riley, the one who lights up the stadium and makes girls question every move they make. The appointment is there whenever you want it, I will not know if you do or don’t go only you will. You aren’t in trouble, we just want to take care of you.” Riley nodded and stood up. “I am sorry Jonas. For it all. I will be better and I will think about your offer.” Jonas stood up. “You are harder on yourself than I could ever be. Head home and have a safe Christmas.” Riley walked out to a waiting Leah and Katie, they took her to the dining room and made sure she ate. Riley didn’t say much, trying to keep her head down and just eat. 

Lotte came over and sat close to Riley. “Hey, I heard what happened. Look I know you probably forgot but we have the good peeps dinner in a few days. We can keep you two separate but I would totally get if you didn’t want to come.” Riley shook her head. “No, I want to see everyone before we have our Christmas break.” Lotte smiled and rubbed Riley’s back. “Perfect, I know Georgia wants to see you.” Riley smiled softly. 

The day of the Good Peeps dinner Riley, Leah, Georgia and Lotte had gone to breakfast to try and relax Riley just a little. As soon as Georgia saw Riley she jumped onto her wrapping herself around her fellow midfielder. “I have missed you so much!” Georgia kissed Riley on her forehead. “My sweet little Gooner.” Riley laughed hard at Georgia’s reaction. “Hi G. It’s good to see you too, my little Bayern Babe.” Riley lowered Georgia and hugged Lotte hello. They all sat down and ordered some food, Riley got pancakes with hash browns, Lotte got an omelet, Leah and Georgia got a full English breakfast. Lotte and Leah were talking about the upcoming games after Christmas, Georgia took the distraction to lean over to Riley. “Hey, I’ll protect you tonight.” Riley smiled. “Thanks G. Appreciate it but she won’t come near me I don’t think. But I do have to apologise to Ella for kissing her. I shouldn’t have done that.” Georgia laughed. “Hey was she at least a good kisser?” Riley rolled her eyes. “Yeah, it’s Ella she’s good at everything.”

Riley and the girls were getting ready for dinner, Riley settled on a dark green short sleeve button up shirt with tan skinny pants and white converse. They got into a cab together and turned up to dinner, Ellie, Ella and Alessia were already there. Alessia was holding flowers and sitting nervously at one end of the table between Ella and Ellie. She stood up as Riley, Lotte and Georgia walked in. The girls all greeted each other, Riley avoided Alessia and walked past her to sit down diagonally to her. Alessia kept her eyes on Riley as the girls began to catch up. “Oi Less who the flowers for?” Georgia asked the blonde. Alessia bit her lip. “They are for Riley, to apologise for everything.” She handed the flowers over, Riley took them from the blonde. “Thank you Alessia.” The ice was broken slightly as the girls began to reminisce about their time in the youth age groups. 

At the end of dinner Alessia had a quick chat to Georgia and Lotte as they headed outside to meet Riley. The brunette turned around to see the blonde walking over. Lotte and Georgia watched the interaction closely, Alessia begging them to give them a minute together. “Can we talk?” Riley sighed and looked down. “Yeah sure. What do you want to talk about?” Alessia ran her fingers through her hair. “I want to apologise for what happened the other night. Also for the shit I did all those years ago. I swear to you that I never wanted to lose you, I think we were perfect together and I ruined it. I should have talked to you, maybe it could have worked. But Riley please know I truly care about you and I want us to go back to how it was.” Riley looked at the girl, anger beginning to rise inside her. “How it was? What when we were dating? Or when we were flirting? Or before I ever met you? Because that one sounds perfect.” Alessia clenched her jaw at Riley’s reply. “I just want us to be something, more than whatever this is.” Riley stepped back. “I will be civil around you, but we can’t be anything more. There is just too much pain. I am sorry.” Alessia nodded. “I can settle for that.” Riley walked past Alessia with her flowers and met up with Lotte and Georgia. She quickly grabbed Ella’s wrist. “I am so sorry for kissing you the other night.” Ella shrugged. “Hey I’m not mad about it at all. You are a great kisser.” Riley laughed and hugged the girl goodbye. 

Riley put her flowers in a vase as soon as she got home, they were gorgeous she couldn’t deny it. Leah didn’t push to ask how the dinner went, she had Lotte and Georgia update her on what went down. Riley went straight to bed and looked through some older pictures of their group thinking about what they had all gone through to get to where they were. 

Alessia was miserable for the week leading up to Christmas, she and Lotte had met up while Alessia was staying with her parents and they went to Winter Wonderland. They walked around having some mulled wine and some rum eggnog. They were certainly a little buzzed when Alessia caught sight of a familiar brunette. “Riley is here.” Alessia began walking towards her and Lotte grabbed her hand. “No way.” Lotte quickly said. It then registered to Alessia that Riley was there with Hayley Raso, the Australian had her arm around Riley’s waist as they laughed together. “What the fuck?” Alessia looked at Lotte. “How long has that been going on?” Lotte shrugged. “I think it is only their first date, look just leave them be. She is happy.” Alessia groaned and watched the pair as they laughed and took a couple pictures. It was killing Alessia to watch another girl make Riley smile like that, she saw them going to the ferris wheel and turned away. It was breaking her heart seeing the one who got away be claimed by someone else, someone who would appreciate her. Alessia tried to focus on Lotte and them having fun but it was difficult with Riley being so close but so unattainable. 

That night there were pictures online of Hayley and Riley together, including one of them kissing. Alessia saw these and immediately messaged Ella telling her. ‘I am happy for her. About time she met someone Less, try to be happy for her please.’ Alessia rolled her eyes and went onto Riley’s instagram seeing that she had posted pictures from the Winter Wonderland but none featured Hayley, that made her a little happy considering she wasn’t broadcasting them together. Alessia liked the post and turned off her phone to avoid seeing more happy pictures of Riley with Hayley. No one had made Riley smile like that since Alessia all those years ago.

Chapter 3

[ashipiko]

NOW INTRODUCING...

—ASHI TAMADAI! ☆

Ashi Tamadai, part of the reborn Terugumi troupe! Often known as the youngest and most excitable member, the 14 year old always comes in with a splash!

TABLE OF CONTENTS—

1. Basic Info

2. Backstory/Introduction Writing

3. Trivia

4. Relationships (More may be added in future!)

5. Gallery

MORE UNDER CUT!

BASIC INFO:

Ashi Tamadai (アシ たまだい)

Troupe: Terugumi

Age: 14 (as of year 1 of Terugumi, year 2 of MANKAI)

Height: 157cm

Birthday: June 5

Blood Type: AB

Occupation: 3rd Year at Kazunari’s Junior High (1st Year at Ouka High in Act 3)

Motif rock: Floral Agate

Color: Salmon #FF9175

Hobbies: Drawing, rapping, doing whatever she feels like

Favorite Food: Spam Masubi

Least favorite food: Beans of any kind

Family: Father, Mother, Older Sister (11 Years Older), Older Brother (8 Years Older)

Strengths: Energetic, multitalented, charismatic

Weaknesses: Stubborn, worries too much on if she’s being annoying

CV: Sato Hinata

BACKSTORY:

Ashi’s always been the younger sister. Always at least 8 years younger than her immediate family, babied by all her cousins, and often treated as the youngest in school friend groups. Due to her age, of course. A birthday like June 5th didn’t help, finally catching up to other kids at the end of the school year. Everyone around her was older, and that always set her in the role of the youngest.

It was like tradition. Something you’re unable to break— “Would you mind babysitting Ashi while I’m gone?”, “Are you sure you can stay home by yourself?”, “Here, let me get this for you.”— An unbreakable curse. No matter what she did, how she tried to prove herself, it would just result in her being seen as stupid or incompetent, and she’d be back in the high chair.

It gets old at some point.

One day, she visited her cousin Kazunari Miyoshi, and heard of his debut in the new MANKAI company. Ashi wanted to show all her support to her favorite cousin, of course, so she bought a ticket as soon as she could. She sat in her seat, within in the sea of observers, and didn’t expect much except an outstanding performance. But that play— seeing Kazunari as Aladdin, alongside Tenma Sumeragi as Alibaba— it opened her eyes.

Seeing the star actor, known for his cool roles, acting in a comedy was such a breath of fresh air. Seeing her cousin, who she knew was more that what met the eye, say his thanks to the audience in such a genuine tone...

It helped her realize that acting was a way to escape from your usual persona and try something new. To branch out to different aspects. To be someone other than yourself. A chance to prove that you were more than what met the eye.

Ashi wanted that. More than anything.

Once she left the theater, she immediately started on her new journey. To find people who accepted her for who she truly is, and to see past what she seems to be. To find people who want to know her, to find a group where she feels she really belongs.

She found that auditioning for troupes around her area was the best way to go about it. If Kazunari can do it, why can’t she? So every week she visited a new troupe, giving her best, most dynamic audition to the directors. Sometimes she’d make the cut, but it didn’t matter anyways. Because again and again, she was merely casted as the background comedy character. The one you kill off, laugh over, and don’t bother to think about.

But MANKAI’s Summer Troupe plays helped her through all the failures, and every play and character she admired grew her passion for acting more and more. Seeing every actor’s happy face as they bowed and said heartfelt thanks for their standing ovation only made her dreams more powerful.

One day, she wishes she can become the shining star who blows everyone away.

One day, she wishes she can be something other than just a kid.

One day, she wishes she can prove herself to the world.

“Excuse me, I’d like to audition!”

TRIVIA:

—Ashi’s cousins to Kazunari! She’s the second youngest within her two families, with Futaba trailing behind just a little.

—She’s bilingual, knowing both Japanese and English (due to English being her first, she writes her name in English for her signature, left of her name on the introduction page).

—Ashi was born and raised in North America. However, her mom’s side of the family lived in Japan, so they would visit Japan every Summer for a long period, allowing her keep in touch with both areas. At age 12, she decided to stay in Japan permanently with her brother, who decided to stay for business reasons. She wanted to stay so that she could seek out more theater troupes along Veludo Way. In the story, her family is often mentioned as being overseas, so her older brother acts as her guardian. When she moves into the troupe, he enlists Kazunari to keep an eye on her when he can’t.

—Ashi’s two catchphrases are “Super Hype!/Hypesies!” and “Tehepero!” (referenced to in her doodle, top right of the introduction page).

—Ashi’s a part of a troupe called “Terugumi”, a reborn troupe (much like MANKAI) that’s one of the many acting troupes along Veludo. When the Terugumi story begins, it takes place after Act 2, before Act 3.

—She genuinely can’t stay awake past 12. Ashi becomes a completely different version of herself and loses all her energy, always having to hold onto someone. Kazunari brings up the memory of when they were younger, when Ashi survived off a churro at a theme park, confident she was going to make it till closing, before she passed out an hour before the park closed.

—She’s often the “little sister” with everyone she hangs out with. Ashi mainly hangs out with Kazunari, Tenma, Banri, and Azami. They all see a part of themselves in her, which leads to them getting attached easily.

—In Year 1 of MANKAI, Azami actually saved Ashi from getting jumped when she ended up lost, going the wrong way. Ever since he saved her and simply gave her his name, she always has an eye open for her “knight in shining armor”, asking around for a guy who she calls “Azami, the dark haired cutie”. She eventually gives up once she can’t find him at her junior high, but has a small sliver of hope.

—When she finds Azami again, she immediately wants to befriend him and get to know him, causing them to become fast friends and besties.

—She’s a hopeless romantic (runs in the family!)

—She raps often with Homare and Azami. They have a group chat that they barely use, and every once in a while she pops in to ask for a rhyme.

—Ashi is hilariously bad at freestyle, and runs out of rhymes quickly, but when given a solid set of lyrics she sings them super smooth.

—Ashi uses Kazunari’s nicknames for almost all of the members. The only weird exception is Juza, who she refers to as “Hyodo”. No one knows why, but it’s assumed by most that it’s due to Banri’s influence. She switches between nicknames and not-nicknames for Kazu, Tenten and Azamin. Banri’s the only one who she calls fully by name.

—She’s terrified of Chikage.

—Being called a “kid” is the biggest insult and middle finger you can give her. In her mind, being called a kid is like being called stupid, incompetent, pathetic, and everything in between. She thinks this because it was often used as a derogatory term when growing up.

—Despite being straight, she happens to attract a LOT of girls. She has a fan club a short while after she starts attending Terugumi (which is mostly girls), and girls at school have tried to pursue her at school as well. She dreads having to let them down, and feels like her charisma can be a curse at times. (“Ehh... Sometimes I wish the chocolates I get on V-Day were given by a bunch of guys instead...”)

RELATIONSHIPS (WITH MANKAI):

KAZUNARI

“Ashi, your latest inste post was super adorbs! ♪”

“Thanks Kazu! Learnt all my tricks from the expert~”

From a first glance, the cousin relationship seems more like a twin one, as they’re both excitable inste obsessed artists who can’t stop talking. But overtime, it becomes apparent that Kazunari watches over Ashi with a careful eye— They’re awfully close. It’s due to the fact that Kazunari sees a part of him in his little cousin, when they draw together in his dorm room, or when they have late night talks over the phone. His older brother instincts can’t help but kick in when he interacts with her.

He enjoys watching her grow and experience new things, especially since he can see her so much more now due to them being in local troupes. Kazunari can’t help but get a little overprotective at times, though. She’s his favorite little cuz, after all!

“Kazu! Mind hanging out with me at the mall today?”

“Bet, let’s do it! Hey, it’ll really help with my charming older bro image, don’tcha think?!”

TENMA

“Tenma… Would you mind buying this kpop album for me…? I’ll promise I’ll pay you back!”

“Sigh, what else should I expect from you at this point…”

The relationship between the two cocky O-High kids doesn’t really bloom (get it) until Kazunari mentions a resemblance between the two. At first, Tenma’s insanely confused. How could you compare him, a worldwide actor, to some 14 year old?! It takes a little clearing up to make him nod his head and quietly agree.

Kazunari notes that both of them are people who put up a strong and tough front, but in reality are just a couple of scaredy cat sheltered kids without a good idea of fun. After a couple indirect conversations, Kazunari decides to get them to start hanging out. Tenma at first is absolutely bewildered at her hyperness (more than Natsugumi, somehow) and finds it hard to talk to “kids these days”, and Ashi freaks over hanging with a celeb, but Tenma loosens up after she shares her admiration for the actor.

At some point, Tenma has to agree and say that he does see a little bit of himself in her too. He doesn’t know when— but the initial annoying feeling she gives turns into something sweet. Watching horror movies with her becomes comforting, and hiding in the blankets doesn’t feel so lonely anymore.

”O-Oi, Ashi, who turned off the lights?!”

“I-I dunno! But I’m totally fighting whoever it is! For more banger movies from Tenma Sumeragi to come! COME AT ME!”

BANRI

”Hey Ashi, you think you’re finally old enough to fist fight me?”

“Oh-Ho! You are ON!”

At first meet, Banri calls Ashi a little kid. It ends up in a fistfight in the MANKAI lounge, which has to be broken up by both Natsugumi and Akigumi. A great way to start a friendship, isn’t it?

It’s through riling up Ashi that Banri finds out she’s also a thrill seeker who’s looking for something new. Not to mention, multi-talented, just like him. It’s rare that you ever find a kid like that, and even rarer that you find a kid as fun as Ashi. Through this little banter relationship, Banri starts taking Ashi out to do different activities— Wood carving, arcades, shooting arrows— Anything new in attempts to give them a thrill. It’s through all the challenges that the yells of “YOU SUCK!” turn into laughs, even if insults still trail behind.

It’s refreshing to meet someone with the same struggles who’s willing to solve them with you. Banri doesn’t know when, but at some point it feels like he has two sisters instead of one. And Ashi can’t help but feel like she’s gained another older brother. NEO finally has a secret weapon to rival Taruchi.

“...Ashi, did you notice that Itaru’s streams have been mentioning someone named ‘Lil NEO’?”

“NOOOO! Don’t tell me I have to be associated with you on social media now...!”

AZAMI

“Hey Azamin, I found this unused eyeshadow palette at my house! You think you can use it?”

“Pfft. Is this your way of trying to get me to do your makeup again?”

Azami and Ashi are both the youngest members within their companies, and it’s definitely something they bond over often. They both have issues and hate being referred to as a kid, so during their makeup sessions, where Azami, the pro makeup artist, happily does makeup for Ashi, the pretty one who doesn’t know anything outside of skin care, they often rant and talk about annoyances within their troupes. Ashi finds it comforting that someone’s willing to listen to her seriously, and Azami finds it comforting that there’s someone else who feels the same way as him. Due to this, Ashi often comes by for Azami to test out new makeup products, since she always trusts in him and his magical skills.

Especially when they reconnect a year or two after Azami saves Ashi, Ashi can’t help but admire and fawn over Azami. “You’re so cool, Azamin! You can fight, do makeup, AND slay in every way?! You’re amazing!”, are things she says often. Azami gets a little flustered at how touchy and affectionate she is, but he can’t help but soften up after a while. Hugs are okay. Hugs are good. It feels nice gaining one from someone who looks up to you so much.

Despite their different aesthetics, the two really aren’t that different. As they hang out more and more, walking home from school, hanging out at the dorms, going to cafes, they quickly become best friends and always enjoy each others company. Ah, well, maybe they enjoy each others company a little more than they’d like to admit.

“Azami, your skills are for REAL magic! Like, you’re insane when you’re holding a brush like that...!”

“...Magic, huh? Heh. Thanks, Ashi.”

GALLERY:

[smolghostbot]

Battle Against A Real Threat (Part 2/2)

Part 1 Here

A Non-canon AU where Contralto’s neighbor wasn’t Clay, but the worst possible person it could be. A vent piece/character study of sorts. The pacing is weird and this is my first time writing an actual "fight", so don't expect a masterpiece, but I hope other people enjoy it regardless.

Word Count: 2.9k Content warnings: Whump, tiny whump, kidnapping, injuries, threats, alcoholic whumper, snapping Contralto’s psyche like a glowstick. Major (deserved) eye injury in chapter 5.

======

Chapter 4: Bathtime

It had been… at least a few weeks since Contralto was captured. She was starting to lose track. Her body was battered and beaten, but her spirit was… mostly intact. Luckily, she had a little knowledge of how to heal herself, but some of the injuries were more than she could handle.

“Good morning, little Connie. Do you want breakfast?”, cooed the human.

“... Yes… please,” snarled Contralto.

“Oh, I didn’t even have to ask you this time! I really think we’re getting closer, you and I. Well, here’s your food and water for the day.”

“... Thank you.” Contralto said, clearly not meaning it in the slightest, but she knew that the human wasn’t expecting politeness, they were looking for submission. So she’d play their little game, until she could find an escape.

“Oh, you remembered the magic words! Well, thank you for being so cooperative!” they said with a fake smile plastered on their face as they opened the cage door and dropped off a small pile of sunflower seeds and a cherry tomato. If nothing else, the human had respected Contralto’s diet, and on days where she behaved she was fed plenty of food.

“Oh, by the way, today will be a long day of work for me, so don’t go anywhere, will you?” said the human, a slight mocking tone in their voice. Contralto simply stared at them, not willing to entertain this game today.

“Well, see you later, Connie,” the human said before once again leaving the sprite alone in her little cage.

Contralto had tried to pick the lock, but it was too heavy and at an awkward angle to move from her position inside the cage. She had tried to pry the bars apart enough to sneak through them, but couldn’t quite get them to budge. Clearly, her captor has spared no expense with this cage.

Resigned, she sat down and began to eat the sunflower seeds.

-

It was a bad day, Contralto thought with a sigh as she heard the slamming happening outside of the human’s bedroom. She always hated these days, as they were when the human tended to be the most aggressive.

As the door opened, and the human came in, Contralto could already tell they had been drinking based on their exaggerated movements. She kept her head low and tried to be as inconspicuous as possible, but their blue eyes darted over to her cage after only a few seconds.

“Oh, Connie…” they cooed, with that voice that could almost be mistaken for genuine if she didn’t know better.

“... What?” bluntly replied Contralto, not wanting to anger the human.

“Oh, don’t seem so upset, Connie, I was thinking, it’s been a long and stressful day, and I think playing a little game may help. What do you think?”

There was a silence that followed the human’s request, and Contralto knew they were waiting for a response. “... Whatever,” was all she could reply, not wanting to agree or argue.

This was clearly not the right answer, at least according to the human, as they walked over to the cage with their brows furrowed. “That doesn’t sound very excited. You’ve been alone all day, surely you want to spend time with your favorite person?”

Contralto couldn’t keep herself from turning away from the human spitefully, with a simple “You’re not my favorite anything”.

She wasn’t even surprised anymore as the cage door flung open, and she was quickly grabbed by the human. At first, this had terrorized her, but she had made peace with the fact by now.

“You know… I think I want to get to know you better. Let’s tell each other some things about ourselves. How about we start with a simple one… what’s your name?” The human spoke, a glint of frustration in their eyes. Contralto instantly knew what they were getting at, and refused to play along.

“I know what you’re doing, human! You’ll never get the answer you want. My name is Contralto, Hero of the Sprites, Defender of the Helpless, The Hero Who Never Gives Up!”

The human could only chuckle, before stroking the sprite’s hair with their thumb. “Oh, you poor, poor little thing… I think you need to understand who’s the helpless one right now…”

“What are you going to do, break my arm again? Go for it, I don’t care anymore!” yelled the sprite, defiant as always.

“Hm… you know, you’re right. Our little games have grown a bit stale… I have an idea…” the human mused, as they began to walk out of the bedroom, into the kitchen. Contralto noticed just how unchanged the apartment was since the last time she had been out here. If anything, she almost felt like more mess had been added to the existing clutter. The human placed Contralto into a plastic container, as they began to dig through their cabinets.

“Here we go… this pot is more than big enough.” The human hummed to themself, as they began to fill a pot with water and put it over the stove.

“What… what are you doing?” uttered Contralto, as her mind raced with the possibilities of what they were doing. The human continued to ignore Contralto until the water had started to bubble, when they looked at her plainly and spoke a few chilling words.

“You’ve been here for a few weeks, and I think it’s time you had a bath.”

Contralto instantly began to panic, as the human grabbed her out of the container and held her over the pot, the steam causing her to sweat and starting to burn her skin.

“That is, unless you want to have a nice conversation?” the human spoke.

Contralto could only stare wide-eyed at the human, awaiting their next words, before they finally broke the tension. “So. What’s your name?”

This was it. This was the lowest point of her life. She knew there was only one way to get out of this… mostly unharmed.

“Contralto, Hero of the Sprites, Defender of the- AAAAH!” She screamed, as the human slightly loosened their grip on her as Contralto wrapped her arms desperately around one of their fingers. For the first time in her life, she needed this human to hold her, or else she was going to fall into a pot of boiling water.

“Sorry, I missed that. And you better speak quickly, my hands are a bit slippery in this humidity. Now, what was your name again?”

The heat from the steam alone was burning her body, and the human was slowly spreading their fingers… they wouldn’t drop her, right? Right?

“I- I won’t say it! My name is Contralto!” she cried, before shouting again in fear as the human loosened their grip even further, and Contralto could feel herself slipping further down.

“Is it? Interesting… I thought it was something else… you know, I’d like to think we’re both honest with each other, wouldn’t you?”

“I… I know you’re bluffing! You won’t get rid of me that easily!” Contralto shouted, before being lowered closer to the boiling water.

“You know… this is getting awfully hot… I may let go soon…” The human mused, as if they weren’t holding a life in their hands. They adjusted their grip ever so slightly, causing Contralto to slide ever closer to the bubbling pot below.

“I-it’s Contralto! My name is Contralto!”, the sprite tried to profess bravely, but her voice squeaking in fear revealed her true feelings.

The human, clearly starting to get agitated, switched up their grip so they were holding Contralto between their index finger and thumb, directly over the water. Contralto could feel the heat from the boiling water through her boots, and the steam was burning her eyes as she stared down in terror.

“Hm… this is getting frustrating. I’ll give you one. More. Chance. What’s your name?” spoke the human, annoyance in their voice.

“M-my name… My name is… You can call me… Connie!” Contralto screamed, as the human slowly lowered their hand. As she said the magic word, the human pulled their hand away from the boiling water, and stared at her with a wide, devious smile.

“Oh, that’s what you were saying, apologies! It’s lovely to finally get to know you, Connie!”

The sprite was flushed, her life still flashing before her eyes, so much that she didn’t even have a chance to respond. Her captor clearly noticed this, and spoke again after a moment.

“That is your name, right, Connie?”

Defeated, Contralto could only nod a “yes”, before hanging her head in shame.

“Well, you know Connie, I wasn’t lying about the bath. But because you seem so upset by the hot water, we’ll just have to use cold water instead.” The human said, filling a cup with ice water from the fridge. Contralto hardly had time to protest before she was dunked, clothes and all, into the freezing water.

Luckily, this “bath” only lasted a few seconds, though it was enough for the sprite to feel the whiplash in temperature. Once she was lifted out of the water, her captor looked at her and said, with that fake smile glued to their face, “Now, wasn’t that nice? I bet you appreciate me giving you a nice cold bath, right?”

“... Thank you…” was all Contralto could say, her fight for the day gone.

Chapter 5: Escape

It had been… two months? Three? Since Contralto has been captured. The tree outside the window had regrown its leaves, so it was at least early spring by now. In that time, the human had continued their little games, trying to break Contralto’s spirits. Her blades, which were previously kept in their nightstand, had been moved to the dresser, just barely out of reach. She had to greet the human each day with a please and thank you, and of course, when asked her name, she was forced to respond with that cursed nickname.

It was another night of their usual performance, with the human grabbing Contralto from her cage and tormenting her, but today was a little bit different. The human was particularly drunk tonight, and after an evening of threatening Contralto with the microwave, they had roughly thrown Contralto back into her cage before falling asleep… forgetting to lock the door. This was her chance, it was her only chance of escape! After making sure the human was sound asleep, evident by their snoring, Contralto slowly and carefully moved the door, sneaking out and grabbing her blades. She could make a run for it, get to the kitchen and never be seen again… but there was something she had to do first.

The sprite made her way down the dresser, using a pile of discarded clothes to cushion her fall. She made her way over to the human’s bed, where they lay on their stomach, face pointed to the side. Perfect.

Contralto climbed the blanket, which was half-off the bed, and made her way up to the bed. This was stupid, thought a part of her, which wanted to run. But Contralto was nothing if not determined to teach this human a lesson. She gently made her way over to their face, knowing that this may get her killed, but she had to try. She could feel their breath with every exhale, freezing each time out of instinct. Eventually, she made her way to her target, the human’s closed eyes. As she looked at their eyelid, she readied her blades. She was under no assumption that she would kill the human, she had grown past that delusion. But she could leave a mark. Channeling her power, and wishing a goodbye to her blades, drove her prized blades into the eye of the human.

The human tried to open their eye in shock, only to roll over and scream in pain as their eyelid tore. They slapped around the bed, trying to catch Contralto, but the sprite moved with a determined speed, jumping off the bed and hiding beneath it. The human swore and screamed as they looked around underneath the bed for their little captive.

“Connie! What the fuck! I’ll make you regret that!” Screamed the human, as Contralto hid.

“That’s… not my name!” shouted the sprite. The human tried to grab in the direction her voice came from, but she had already started moving again.

“You… ungrateful… PEST!” shouted the human, as they moved their hand to catch the blood pooling on their face.

Contralto knew she had to run, now. She made her way to the door, using the piles of discarded clothes around the room and her naturally better night vision to hide herself.

“Where are you?! Get over here, NOW!” screamed the human. “I’ll tear you apart when I catch you, you brat!”

Finally, Contralto made it to the door. She wasn’t sure if she could fit underneath it, and if the human opened it while she was underneath… she had to take the chance. As she slid under the door, feet first, she saw the human make eye contact, their blue eye staring at her.

“You-!” they shouted as they made their way to the door, but not before Contralto made it under the door successfully. She began to sprint, only knowing the exit in the kitchen. As she ran down the hallway, the door opened, and the human looked towards her. They instantly began chasing her. Contralto was ready to dodge their hand, but wasn’t expecting them to go right for a kick, which sent her flying across the room, knocking the wind out of her. As Contralto laid on the floor, trying to get up, the human walked even closer.

“Oh, you’re still alive? You really are a durable one. Well, you’ll wish you weren’t after this…” they said, as they finally tried to reach down and grab her. Contralto rolled away, running between their legs to try and make the intoxicated human lose their balance. It almost worked, but the human regained their composure soon after, resuming their chase. Contralto ran under the couch in the living room, a technique she learned from one of her parents to avoid humans. She was so close, about halfway to her destination. It was a small clearing, then the kitchen, then the hole behind the cabinet where she’d be free.

Just then, the couch started to lean, and Contralto couldn’t resist squeaking in fear as she saw the human lift up one side of the couch. With the human’s hands full, Contralto took the chance to run towards the kitchen. The couch behind her hit the ground with a loud thump, as the human shouted at her. “There’s nowhere for you to run to, you pest! Get back here!”

The kitchen, she had arrived in the kitchen! The cabinet was only a few feet away, to a human. Contralto dashed towards it, but was cut off by the human stomping down right in front of her. “I don’t know where you’re going, but you sure as hell aren’t getting there, you little pest!”

Contralto looked around, planning a way out, and decided the only way out was through. She ran forward and started scampering up the human’s sock, causing them to shake their foot to attempt to dislodge her, sending Contralto flying away again.

“Now I’ve got you!” The human cried as they reached for Contralto, but she had one final trick up her sleeve as the human’s hand wrapped around her, as she chomped down on the skin between their thumb and index finger with all the force she could muster.

As expected, the human’s hand flung open on reflex, giving her a chance to slip away and finally make her way to the cabinet, where, thankfully, the hole in the wall remained undisturbed. Contralto snuck through the door, before giving a final adrenaline-fueled shout, “Consider yourself defeated by Contralto, Hero of the Sprites, Defender of the Helpless, The Hero Who Never Gives Up!”

Chapter 6: Epilogue

It had been four days since Contralto had escaped. After her escape, she had collapsed from exhaustion, and pain once the adrenaline wore off. Luckily, she was found by a neighboring sprite, a lovely person named Harmony, who had helped her patch herself up. Together, they had sealed the entrance to the human’s apartment, with a scrawl of “DANGER” on the wall nearby to hopefully warn any future sprites that this apartment was decidedly unsafe.

Though she had lost her prized blades, Harmony happened to be a tailor, and gifted Contralto a sewing pin, which the hero gratefully accepted as her new weapon of choice.

“Are you sure you’re okay to leave, Contralto? Your arm is still, um…” said Harmony, concern in their voice. After all, Contralto was still in pretty bad shape… not even the healing power of two sprites could undo that much damage in only a few days.

“I’m fine. This has taught me something… My quest can’t wait even a second longer. Who knows what other sprites are suffering the same fate as we speak? I have to save them, Harmony!”

Harmony seemed reluctant, as they knew Contralto’s quest was a foolish one. However, they had learned in the few short days of knowing her that nothing would stop Contralto. “Okay… just, if things go south, you can always come back here, and I’ll do what I can to help, okay? You’re not alone, Contralto. Take care of yourself.”

Contralto nodded, as she turned and left, heading to a new apartment to resume her goal. She didn’t know how she was going to win, but she would never stop fighting.

[sgtmickeyslaughter]

once again, its been one hell of a wednesday

time to unwind with a weekly tag game!

thanks for tagging me @lingy910y @juliakayyy @energievie and @jrooc

name: gigi

age: 24

star sign: full time virgo

first language: english

second language: lol i wish, my girlfriend has been trying to teach me korean the whole time we've been together and cant comprehend that my brain is just simply not wired to learn language

favorite lip product: aquaphor 🥰 and the nars laguna lipstick it was literally made for pale autumns

the best food dish you can make without a recipe? honestly most things, even when its new i like to skim and freestyle, most often i make eggs in hell and various soups, stews and stocks

if you drink tea, what kind? the only tea i drink is bottled cold green tea, and ginger in hot water when im sick

if you drink coffee, what roast do you usually get? light roast <3

favorite thing to watch on youtube right now: music videos! also watching a lot of book binding tutorials and general quiet crafting videos

favorite thing to watch on youtube in 2012: the dame herself ms. jenna marbles and honestly up until she left it would be the same answer

favorite item of clothing right now: i have a few very very cozy sweaters that have been in rotation over the last few weeks, but i am very excited to get back to soft loose blouses and pants

favorite item of clothing in 2012: a very cool 70's jean jacket that i still own and wear!

fandom

three movies you recommend: Chungking Express, jennifers body, in bruges

your favorite concert: tyler childers at radio city music hall, the queen of dancehall herself sister nancy and tune yards

have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion? not a single opinion, we can agree to disagree on things but i have unfollowed people for consistantly being really negative about everyone other than their favorite characters and just overall being a bummer

have you ever left a fandom because of the fans? Nope! every fandom I've been apart of has had really lovely people, but by far shameless is the nicest which feels a little ironic

the best tv show you watched last year: Beef by far, I don't think Ive ever resonated with a piece of media with such raw emotion (also the bear and succession but yall already knew that)

do you have a fancasting you just can’t let go of? Im not really apart of the harry potter fandom at all but sometimes marauder fancasts come on my fyp and theyre all really fun

a ship you’ve abandoned: destiel a little, i still love them that brain rot (damage) cant be undone but i rewatched supernatural last year and like, Dean is so genuinely unkind to him most of the time (/nuanced)

on a scale of 1-10 how willing are you to share your ao3 history? i mean, with who?

do you have a fandom tattoo? no tattoos

what fandom do you wish was bigger? none come to mind

has a finale ever ruined a show for you? no honestly im pretty okay with all of them, but i never watched any of the big ones that people hate

have you…

swam in an ocean? yes! I was a jr lifeguard, swimmer and water polo player in highschool, i am the safest person to visit the beach with

been vegan/vegetarian? I was vegan for three years but when i moved back home during covid i couldnt really keep it up while eating dinner with my family every night and now im very plant based but not vegan or veg

gone skinny dipping? many times lol

gone skiing? yes but i prefer snowboarding

been to a convention? only work related design conventions

tagging from my notes: @mickeysgaymom @rainbowbri @anonymous-galager @gallawitchxx @iansw0rld @mybrainismelted

[mariacallous]

Salmon croquettes aren’t exactly the most elegant dish. Traditionally made with canned salmon, some bread crumbs or matzah meal, eggs and seasoning, they are an easy and cheap way to throw together a meal. These classic patties, which are also referred to as salmon latkes, croquettes or cakes, may seem out of fashion to the young folks who came of age after the food revolutions of the late 20th century, but for me they will always be the ultimate comfort food. With the explosion of increasingly global ingredients at the ready and the emphasis on fresh food, all steered us away from the pre-1970s casserole-from-a-can type of cookery. And yet, classic old-time foods remain beloved, if not perhaps back in fashion.

No one in my mom’s or grandma’s generation made salmon croquettes with fresh salmon. Canned food had become popular during the Civil War, and even more so during WWI, when soldiers needed food that was convenient, safe and tasty. Canned salmon in particular became a household staple during the Depression, when meals had to be nutritious but also as cheap as possible, made with inexpensive proteins and stretched with filler to feed the whole family. New Deal subsidies helped make canned salmon economical enough for most of the immigrant and first-generation Jewish families at the time. And because salmon is kosher and pareve (neither meat nor dairy), the canned kind became ubiquitous in Jewish households, because fresh salmon was neither cheap nor readily available. 

Beyond the convenience, ease and cost, salmon croquettes occupy a particular place in my heart because they were also my mother’s last meal before she passed away. She didn’t know it would be the very last thing she ate when she fussed about the kitchen fixing up a batch of salmon croquettes for lunch. But had she known, my mother would have chosen them anyway. They were among her favorite foods and she made them at least once a week for as long as I can remember. As she used to say, “you just mix a can of salmon with an egg and as much matzah meal or bread crumbs as you need to shape them into patties.” 

It was the only dish my mother prepared just for herself, and, if I were visiting, for me too. That particular day, my aunt was over and the two sisters shared a salmon latke lunch while discussing whatever two older widowed women talk about in private. 

My dad had always refused to eat salmon croquettes because his mother made them so often when he was a kid, he had “enough for a lifetime,” he explained. They were a Jewish staple as far as we knew: Everybody’s mother or grandmother made them for lunch or for a “dairy” meal in the summer, capped off with sliced bananas and sour cream sprinkled with sugar.

The recipe didn’t deviate too much, though my mom would sometimes mixed in fresh dill and a chopped scallion if she had. She shaped them about 1-inch thick and fried them in vegetable oil. We would eat them hot or cold, plain or with sliced tomatoes, and during Passover, on matzah.

While have moved more towards using fresh salmon when I make them, I still sometimes revert to using canned salmon (red, just like my mother said). I’ve added a little of this and that too: one of my family’s favorites includes mashed potatoes and fresh spinach. The thing is, the “recipe” for salmon croquettes is so basic it asks the modern cook to do what our grandmas did: add a bissel of this or that, perhaps some harissa, grated fresh ginger, horseradish or soy sauce. I’ve seen recipes that call for mustard, cooked peas, shredded carrots, chopped jalapenos or grated onion. Some people coat the patties with panko before frying them, to give them extra crispiness. And the latest version: salmon croquettes made in an air fryer!

Salmon latkes. Croquettes. Whatever you call them, they’re still going strong. After all, what’s old is always new again.

My mom died suddenly, unexpectedly, an hour or so after enjoying that lunch. I always feel a little sad when I make salmon croquettes, remembering that day. But I also smile to myself, knowing how much she enjoyed that last simple, perfect meal.