#probably mostly because i’m leaving soon… ugh which is another thing entirely let me tell you

[andwewerehappy]

friends i downloaded the dating app and uh. don’t think it’s going too well.

[stanknotstark]

Commanding Loki (just kind of happens)

Summary: You’re not really sure how it happens but you begin commanding Loki, the God of Mischief, around. To everyone’s shock, he happily obliges to your commands. 

The first time you do it in front of the Avengers they all kind of stop in shock.

"Loki, get me a soda before you sit down." You told rather than asked the God.

You were too busy looking at a tablet Tony had lent you to see him stop in his tracks. He glared at the Avengers looking at him, ready to attack him as if he was thinking about attacking you for giving him an order. They weren't wrong but only because you did it in front of everyone. Probably.

He got you a soda and sits next to you, rolling his eyes at your nonchalant thanks. 

The next time it happened was kind of a life or death situation.

"Loki, leave the room right now and calm yourself," You checked Thor's pulse through the gushing blood which made him slippery as an eel, "You either calm yourself and I’ll let you back in or you can sit out there like a petulant child. Go."

Natasha looked at you as if you were crazy, her hands pressing a t-shirt to Thor’s wound tightly. Loki heeded her no mind though and did as you told him.

He was welcomed back within 15 minutes.

Next, you do it more to push boundaries because Natasha had a conversation with you after Thor's fiasco. She's finds it quite funny that he obeys you like it's second nature but if anyone else dared do it he wouldn't hesitate to threaten their life. Trust me, Tony had wanted to test his boundaries and tried to do it too. Needless to say, Tony wouldn't be doing it again any time soon, he was still pissy some very expensive pieces of furniture got destroyed.

So one day while you and Loki are hanging out with Natasha, like you all consistently do because you three enjoy silence but companionship at the same time. You look across at Nat and grin, making sure Loki doesn't see it and commence your plan.

"Loki," Loki looks up from his book on midguardian foods newly introduced from 1996 to 2010, a questioning frown on his face, "Pass me the remote."

It's simple enough, nothing too strenuous. Yet.

"You have two perfectly functioning arms." Loki mutters but grabs the remote and gives it to you. You give him a genuine smile and you can see he has gone soft in the eyes before he looks at his book again. 

You glance at Nat with raised brows, she looks away with a smirk as you turn on the TV. Flicking through channels you finally settle on reruns of Stranger Things. Natasha gets interested and you kind of watch but mostly you're thinking about commanding Loki to do something else but what? Loki keeps looking at his book but you see him glancing up often to watch the show too.

"Hey, Cowboy," Loki growls at the name, it had come up when Thor told you he used to call him a cow for his horns, "Don’t sit like that you'll get scoliosis....if a God can get that." Loki who had slouched forwards blinked at you and sat up straight in shock from the bad posture. When you see him glower at the TV you smile, he's probably cursing midguardians for ruining his good posture.

"Thanks." You whisper.

Loki hums carelessly and puts his book down to instead watch the show. Natasha coughs into her hand (a hidden laugh, you knew Nat too well), Loki eyes her suspiciously, looks at you, then focuses back on the TV. You force yourself, with great resolve might you add, to not laugh. You let things settle again before you try the ultimate command.

"Ugh." You start, rolling your right shoulder around and poking at it as if it hurts. You're literally about to tell Loki to massage it for you but you’re struck by paralyzing shock. Loki had noticed your 'discomfort' and moved closer to you. Lifting his hands towards your shoulder he stopped and looked at you with a tilted brow, asking consent. 

Aww how sweet.

You nodded and shifted so he had better access to your back. One hand landed between your shoulders on your back and the other pinching the area where your shoulder met your arm and began massaging.

Shocked you let him staring at the TV but not knowing what is going on on the show. Loki and you had touched before so it's not so out in the left field that you're concerned but he was massaging you in front of Natasha. Your thoughts turned to mush as he pushes and pulls your body so he could access all of your back and starts massaging your entire back. You couldn't help the little whimpers and soft moans of delight. Not only was this man a God but he was literally gifted God like hands, unfair!

After letting out another whimper Loki stopped. You felt him shift back to his original spot and so you did too. Glancing at him you saw a hint of flushed cheeks as he stared at the TV distantly. Natasha was outright staring at him with both eyebrows raised to her hairline, it looked like.

Loki cleared his throat and left with an offhand excuse.

Once Loki left the area Natasha's eyes fell onto you. She smirked lecherously but said nothing about what had just happened. Turning her attention back to the show when you shrugged your shoulders, completely flustered. 

She asks, "So like, I don’t doubt Will is going to be found but does Barbara make it?"

You smile and settle into the couch, "You'll find out in a few episodes."

Natasha groans and you laugh. You know she hates not knowing but if she's truly desperate she can look it up on Google or ask Jarvis.

The next time you command him it's another crisis. 

In short, Thor and Loki are arguing, both clearly in a ferocious rage in the kitchen. All the team is there to experience it this time too.

"No, Thor, I cannot simply understand why you would defend those inept idiots you call friends. If you think they're in the right you’re more brainless than I thought!" Loki yells at Thor who now looks like a kicked puppy and your motherly instincts kick in.

"Hey!" Loki looks at you shocked, this is the highest he's ever heard your voice, and probably the angriest too because you just don’t get mad. You have the patience of a Buddha God, Tony likes to say. 

"You apologize to him right now, then you will listen to what your brother has say, and if you interrupt him I will show you just how minuscule a God can be to a non believer."

The entire kitchen is silent. Tony looks like he wants to flee the area, he's been on your angry side once before. Steve is practically engraving the table with his eyes. Natasha shrugs and continues eating her meal, the utensils clipping the plate the only noise in the room.

Loki looks at Thor and raises a brow. Thor, still looking at you, swallows and begins to talk, focusing on his brother again. 

"Im trying to learn but I don’t know how to stay neutral between your feelings and my friend's-"

Loki opens his mouth but slams it shut when you snap your fingers.

"-i do not want to offend anyone but every choice i make I offend you and I’m sorry brother, I truly am. What can I do to amend things between us?"

Loki glances at you to see if he may talk now. At your nod he says, "Start by supporting your brother sometimes. I don't ask that you stand behind every argument between your friends and I but you never fail to support them, it seems. You can't please everybody Thor, and you can't stay neutral forever, at some point you have to realize that you have to pick a side and who's side."

Thor has lost to kicked puppy look but he now frowns and nods, staring at the floor with guilt. Loki's hand comes up, hesitates, then he places it on Thor's arm for a second and swiftly leaves.

When no one moves for a few seconds you clear your throat and they all go back to whatever they were doing before the argument escalated out of proportion, you included.

You realize you may have tiptoed the line of being fair with that last command so you let it rest for awhile, give Loki some space. He of course notices your avoidance because Tony had asked you what was up between you both, stating that the God had asked him if anything was bothering you. Usually Loki came to you with his concerns, not being the type of person to talk behind someone’s back. 

You sigh and tell Tony you’re fine, that you’ll talk to him. So you head out from Tony’s lab and search for Loki. He isn’t in the living room, kitchen, or even his own bedroom. You remember him once stating that he likes read on the roof sometimes, Tony had build Loki a garden up on the roof at one point since Loki clearly missed the garden from home, Asgard. A small gesture but a true turning point for both Tony and Loki’s relationship you think. 

Walking out on the roof you don’t see Loki in the garden so you murmur a few expletives and make your way back to the door when a voice calls out your name. You follow the sound and find Loki hidden on a corner of the roof, sitting on the edge of the building. 

Walking up behind him you ask, “Can we talk?”

“You’ve never asked before, don’t see why you’d start now.” Loki says, no contempt in his voice though, it’s just very...neutral. 

You force out a small laugh, hearing your own tenseness in it, “Ya, about that..”

You sit next to Loki letting your legs dangle over the ledge like Loki does now. His legs kick every once in awhile giving him an almost childlike appearance. 

“First off, I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Loki looks at you.

“I was out of line the other day with you and Thor. Not just then I’ve been, well, commanding you to do things for me and that’s...it’s not...right?” You finish lamely, your face a big grimace but you look Loki in the eyes when you apologize.

“That’s why you’ve been avoiding me?” Loki says with mirth lingering in his words. 

“Well, ya, is there some other reason I should have?” You squint at him suspiciously.

“No.”

Loki looks at you with an innocent look on his face, which you know is pure bullshit, but you let it slide. Shaking your head with a smile you then look out across the open skyline below you. 

“Apology accepted.” Loki says after some time has past. Your shoulders, which had tensed involuntarily, now relax. 

You don’t react, well more like force yourself not to, when you feel Loki’s hand come to rest atop yours which had been supporting you on the ledge. Loki lets his hand rest there before he gets more confident and intertwines both of your fingers. You smile, finally looking at Loki who is already staring at you brazenly. 

“Kiss me.” 

“What?”

“Did I fucking stutter?”

Loki smirks then leans in, his left hand coming to cradle your head at your jaw and kisses you. At first softly, as if testing the waters, then begins to put more passion behind it as you lean into him. His tongue gently swipes across your bottom lip and you open your mouth to let him explore. 

If you thought this man had God like hands....

When you’re both breathless you part but keep your faces close together. Your eyes roam over his face, noting how young he looks right now, how vulnerable, and bite your lip. Loki’s eyes drop to your lips and uses a thumb to pull your lip from your teeth lest you bruise them more. “Don’t bite them, it is my job to bruise them.” Loki says breathlessly. 

Much later, when it’s dark out, you both come back into the tower and make your way to the living room. The first person you see is Natasha who, legit, smiles at the look of you two. Tony who notices Nat smiling looks where she’s looking and whistles at the two of you who decide to share a love seat. 

“Shut up.” You command the two of them. 

You were sure the both of you made a pretty funny picture. Your hair was most likely tousled, too much so to just be from the wind, and Loki’s lips were nearly purple with bruising so no doubt yours were any less. Not to mention the both of you were too incredibly happy, which ya you being happy is normal but it was almost an alarming amount of giddiness and Loki doesn’t normally show his emotions so openly like this. 

Tony smirks, raises a brow and points the remote at the TV. “Stranger Things?” 

You, very much flustered, clear your throat and say yes. 

[maleyanderecafe]

Hey there was a mobile game I wanted to recommend you check out! It’s called MazM: The Phantom of the Opera. Obviously the phantom himself is a well-known character and prime example of a yandere, and this version’s Raoul also takes on that trait a little (although it’s mostly because Christine is in a life or death situation and this he’s protective over her), he’s very sweet and doesn’t wait a moment to shower her with praise. Anyway it’s a pretty faithful retelling of the original book and was extra fun for me as a yandere-lover as you play as Christine caught in between the yandere and the actual boyfriend. I think it’s coming to the switch soon as well if you want to wait for that.

...Are you sure that Raoul just takes on this trait a bit...?

Joking aside, sorry it took me so long to answer this ask. I was originally going to watch a walkthrough on youtube, but then I realized that you said it would be on switch and since I just got my switch emulator, I ended up playing with a friend. I will say that there is a lot for me to say about this game, so this will be a long read.

First things first, I'll admit that I've never actually read or watched the Phantom of the Opera before, so I genuinely have no idea what happens in the story. This is where my friend who I was streaming for comes in because she has read the story so she helped fill me in on what happens (she's also making a yandere vn in the future which I will be spamming the heck out of because yandere vn). I think from what she told me, most of the story is relatively accurate, though some parts are changed for one reason or another (for instance, The Persian has a name in this game, but in the original, he doesn't), which has some pros and cons for some characters. Overall though, the story was pretty good for a first timer like me since it really let me experience what the Phantom of the Opera is truly about. I think the creator Mazm did a good job for historical detail, which makes sense considering their platform is about creating games that reinterpret famous stories (they've also done one for Wizard of Oz and Jekyll and Hyde which I sort of want to play), and there are a lot of different notes the player can collect in the game that give more historical insight into what is going on.

The story for the most part is pretty linear. There are some choices you can choose, but except for two, they don't really affect the story. For the most part, the game plays as a visual novel, though you do have to walk around to talk or interact with things to proceed the story. There are cats and notes that lie around the game too, with the notes giving more historical insight and the cats being used as hints in case you don't know where to go. The story is about a detective trying to find out the truth of the Phantom of the Opera at a request of a client whos husband was a victim of him, but most of the story is played through a flashback.

There are also small minigames as well that aren't too difficult, though I honestly felt like some of the minigames got to be tedious at times, specifically the one minigame where you have to press the order of the mirror combo which I found really annoying because besides the fact that I'm bad at those games, you had to do it every time you wanted to enter under the Opera house, which was just... ugh. The game itself seems much more optimized for mobile than it was for switch considering how slow the characters move (and its really slow walking to different places sometimes) as well as the fact that it takes forever to load between different scenes and there's no touch screen option for switch (that I know of). Plus the buttons for moving and pressing hints were annoying to deal with (though this could just be because I'm using an emulator). I also kept getting confused when I was playing, since sometimes I would walk around the entire opera house trying to figure out what to do next, only to learn that I was suppose to talk to someone that was literally five steps from where I spawned. The last thing I found annoying was the fact that there's no option to skip dialogue which is really annoying when I wanted to replay a specific part of the story to take some screenshots. If you play this game, it's probably better to play it on mobile than on switch.

In terms of artwork, Mazm's Phantom of the Opera is really gorgeous, from the overworld sprites to the dialogue sprites to the background and CGs. I love how cute the overworld sprites are (I think Jammes and Raoul's are my favorite, they're both so cute) and every background is really nice to walk through and gives a good atmosphere of what it's trying to show. The character sprites for each characters are nice and varied. I can always appreciate characters that have recognizable faces and shapes, since a lot of times I have face blindness when it comes to characters that look way too similar. The CGs of course are super well done and I love all of them. Overall, the artstyle of this game is very solid and I love the way it looks.

The main character of the story was Christine, who looks really good ( I really love her hair), was for the most part alright initially. While I found her to be a bit naive (because she believed that there was an actual Angel of Music when it was just... the Phantom), she was for the most part alright, and even ended up saving another character from the phantom. However, I found her actions annoying after she met the phantom, specifically the part where she agreed to stay underground with the phantom for two days and would be released as long as she didn't touch his mask, and guess what. Right as she was literally about to leave, SHE TAKES OFF HIS MASK, AND FOR WHAT? YOU WERE JUST ABOUT TO LEAVE?? The other thing that bothered me was the after being trapped with the Phantom for about a month, she is given free reign to go back above ground, under the conditions that she only goes to the opera house and at home. During this time, she's expected to break it off with Raoul, so she fakes a honeymoon with him before he leaves for the artic. However, during this time, she doesn't tell anyone, not even Raoul about what the Phantom is up to. She has an entire month, an ENTIRE MONTH to tell someone that the Phantom is likely to hurt people (as previously he had dropped a chandelier on top of the audience) and she just... didn't. Understandably, she might have been afraid that the Phantom might have heard her, but still, what is he going to do to the possible 100 people that Christine could have told about him. She could have saved people from death if something like that were to happen. Near the end, she does get proper character development and learns to choose things for her sake and not others, which was pretty nice and does stand up to the Phantom after all the trauma (and doesn't get stockholm sydrome, thank goodness), but I still think that a lot of her actions could have probably been written better to make her less naive (since apparently in the original she was about 16ish while in this remake she's about 20 so it's less awkward between her and the phantom).

Raoul is the next character I'll be talking about, because even though he is very adorable, he also has one braincell and talks about Christine way too much. My friend and I actually decided to make a counter on how many times Erik and Raoul say "Christine." Erik says Christines name 128 times and Raoul... says it 340 times. This isn't even counting his introduction and only starts up to when Erik is introduced as a formal character and also doesn't count any time he says it in the overworld. 340! My friend kept on joking around that because Raoul says Christine so much, his brother Phillipe became an alcoholic because he's so tired of Raoul talking about Christine. Raoul only really has like three things going for him: the fact that he was in the military, the fact that he's part of the Chagny household and Christine, and that's it. Throughout the story, his goals are pretty much always related to Christine, whether it be to give gifts to Christine, being worried about her or trying to protect Christine from the Phantom. When the chandelier drops on half the crowd during one of the performances, instead of being worried for them or trying to get out of the Opera House, he instead looks for Christine, who is on stage and quite literally in the safest location within the theater. I would consider him a redeemed/protective yandere though, considering his priority is always Christine (he even gives up his own family name to be with her) and he's always trying to protect her. There's a part of the story where Raoul becomes really unhinged when it comes to protecting Christine, lashing out her her friends and other members of the Opera house. He does some really dumb stuff because of the Phantom, specifically throwing away Christine's ring that she got from the Phantom (that she also literally told him before that as long as she's wearing the ring she wouldn't be harmed by the phantom and he just...?? okay??). When he's tortured in the mirror room, he hallucinates Christine blaming him for her capture, and he even cries while hallucinating that Christine friendzones him (which I though was actually really funny, even if it was a tad bit stupid). His redemption comes near the end of the story where he apologizes for being so emotional and realizing that he was a bit of an obsessive beast, and in one ending he lets Christine go to travel the world. To be honest, I don't know if Raoul would continue to be as protective and obsessed with her even after the Phantom's death, but I guess there's not really any way to know.

The Phantom, or Erik (which I know is his cannon name but it makes me laugh because he really doesn't look like an Erik) is the main villain of the story. Unfortunately, in this version, I don't think I can call him a yandere, for one simple character: Melek. Melek, as far as I know isn't in the original story, is a prisoner that Erik has after she refused to marry her. As a character, I do actually like Melek since she's the one of the more sensible characters in the story and she's the more rational one between her and Christine, but her role in the story basically deconfirms Erik as a yandere, at least in this version. For one, Melek is a blind maid of Erik that he did fall in love with and trap, similar to how Christine was, which kind of comes off as Erik being the kind of person who would trap any girl that he likes. Even if this is the case, I don't understand why Erik would keep her alive even after she fell for Christine. Supposedly the reason is that Erik wanted to make Christine feel despair and he did attempt to kill her, but Melek survives and he just... doesn't do anything with her. Honestly, if Melek were straight up not in the story, I would have put him as a yandere because pretty much all of his other actions point to a more possessive/worship type of yandere, but because of Melek it's just not possible in my eyes. Besides that Erik sort of reminds me of a chunni in this version (he's like this absolute darkness is my curse! Like people with 7th grade syndrom seem to have), it was kind of hard for me to take him seriously in certain times. He is very intimidating when he threatens Christine, but his overdramatic nature (which I know is something he's always known for, just this version is uh...) really makes him seem like a child. Erik is for sure suppose to be more antagonistic in this version, considering the addition of Melek and his general actions of possession towards Christine and his disdain for Raoul, but near the end we do see more of his story and we see just how devastating his life is from the moment of birth. I did feel really bad for him when Hatim/The Persian keeps on mentioning the prince he used to work with because its really obvious that he still has trauma from it (and he keeps begging him to not talk about his past and the Persian just... keeps traumatizing him I guess) and the fact that he was treated so badly because of his appearance, but this doesn't excuse his actions in the story. Christine does try to sympathize with him using her own tragic backstory, which Erik kind of pushes away (like bro, we're not trying to see whose parents are worse, she's just trying to sympathize with you, dang) as not being tragic. I think that Mazm did present him pretty well in this story, not showing just his antagonistic side but also his more tragic side. Sadly, like I said, I can't consider him a yandere because of the addition of Melek, at least not in this version.

In terms of other characters, I really like the trio of Meg Giry, Sorelli and Jammes- the friends of Christine. From what I can tell, they're all a bit more aged up in this version, with Sorelli being the oldest and Jammes being the youngest and I feel like they gave more character to them than in the original version. Sorelli is the head of the dancers and the dating partner of Phillip de Chagny, Raoul's older brother and she's the mature and strong willed one of the group, wielding a blade that she uses to protect her friends. I like the fact that they made her a bit more protective and in one of the overworld sprites its mentioned via rumor that Phillip fell in love with her after he saw Sorelli swing her dagger, which I thought was pretty cute. At the end though, after Phillips death, she realizes that she was struggling too hard to climb up the social ladder and decides to forge her own path. In the beginning she attempts to protect her and her friends from the Phantom, declaring that she'll stab him if she sees him. Next is Meg Giry, and from what my friend told me, she was very young in the original books and kind of scardy cat. In this version, she's a bit older but maintains the scardy cat position, and is very terrified of the Phantom. She does gain more character development during the story, standing up to her mother and the managers and overall being a more assertive and confident person, which I thought was a nice touch. Last but certainly not least is my best girl Jammes. In the original story, she barely makes an appearance, but in Mazm they made her quite literally the best character. For one, the canonical reason why there are so many cats hanging out in the opera house is that Jammes keeps on feeding them and letting them in and she has named all of them after the Opera House staff. Jammes loves to spin and has a cute animation and while she can be loud and a bit strange sometimes, she can be smart and assertive when she needs to. Jammes always pushes the other three into being better and protects them when needed (for instance, when Phillip lashes out at Sorelli, she steps in and demands that he apologize for his actions) and can be really smart at times (she's the only character that attempts to at least cover her mouth when the Phantom's fragrance, a hallucinogenic gas, starts to fill up the box seat, despite others who have been in there not even trying) and is the one who stands up for Christine's abuse as well as for the dancers at the opera house being treated unfairly by the manager as she organizes a strike against them. She also becomes part of the women's suffrage after the events of the story. I could go on and on about Jammes, but instead I'll leave a cute picture of her at the end of this entire analysis. Besides those three, I did like Carlotta, the original singing lead of the opera house. Originally, she became an antagonist towards Christine after she became the lead singer, however, she did apologize to her afterwards and befriended her once more before traveling the world. I love her interactions with Raoul because she basically said that Raoul only has Christine and military training and when he gets angry and lashes out, Carlotta glares and him, causing him to cower (this actually does happen multiple times), and I just found that really, really funny. Mifoid, though useless in the story is actually pretty cute as well, I love his bouncing animation. The last character I'll talk about is Phillip because he became meme material for me and my friend considering he probably is so tired of Raoul talking about Christine (we joked that the reason he was sent to military was so that he didn't have to hear her name again) and while he is mostly a decent but strict character in the story, his last appearance really makes him out as a jerk. I did think it was kind of weird that Phillip was so willing to let Raoul go to the Artic mission considering nobody that has gone there has ever returned, and he was rather elitest towards him, not letting him marry Christine because she's of lower

class but during his last chapter before he dies, he goes on a frenzy after he and Raoul have a fight, revealing to Sorelli that he only dated her for fun and not to actually settle down with her, which is just horrible. It's a bit sad though that Raoul only saw him as someone who tried to get rid of him considering that Phillip did raise Raoul and that his last actions were an attempt to save Phillip from the phantom, and yet Raoul barely has a reaction after seeing his body and doesn't even go to his funeral. It's really sad that Raoul didn't even really cry after seeing Phillip's body, considering that he was basically his father figure.

Overall, it's a good game to play and a good retelling of the Phantom of the Opera. I wouldn't consider the Phantom to be a yandere in this game, but I do think that Raoul is one. Thank you for this recommendation!

[sweetery-ko]

helloo can i req a fluffy hajime x reader scenario where they get caught on a date by their classmates? ty ^^

Sure, anon! Most of this is from Kaz's pov, I guess? Still third person but it's mostly K/z adventures, if you know what I mean, lol. ^^;; (also I'm not really the best when it comes to scenarios so please forgive me if it's bad!)

CW: Hajime Hinata, this is taken place in island mode, the reader has a talent, stalking/spying, K/zuichi So/da, F/yuhiko K/zuryu, mention of S/nia N/vermind K/zuichi has dirty thoughts about y'all before knowing the truth (aka minor nsfw), F/yuhiko's has his chapter 3 personality, swearing, attempted stalking, betting

Caught.

It was just another normal day for everyone else. Everybody was at the restaurant, eating breakfast like usual, nothing out of the ordinary. Well, not for you and Hajime though, you both have been sending the same paper back and forth to each other under the table, almost every part of the paper has been covered by words written by a pencil that is in urgent need to be shared back.

"I'm sorry, s/o but I just don't feel ready yet. Can we just agree on this? I'll make it up to you somehow." You couldn't help but sigh at the reply he gave. You wished he could grow a pair at least this once but what kinda partner are you if you can't be patient for your beloved boyfriend? You took the pencil wrote a simple "ok" and gently tossed the paper back to him.

Hajime opened the paper and his mouth formed into a small smile. The brunette turned in your direction, mouthing "date later?" which you subtlety nodded back. You got up and gestured him to go with you so you can discuss in more detail.

"....."

"Isn't that weird?" Kazuichi turned his head back to the smaller blond, while his eyes are still locked into the both of you. "What is?" "Hajime and s/o have been eyeing each other for the entire time and they both leave at the same time! Isn't that weird?" Fuyuhiko put down his fork and looked at the pinkette in minor displeasure "Those two probably just want to fill out their hope fragments; what's the problem with that?" He grabbed his glass of water and drink, still not changing emotion.

"Are you serious? There's no way that it's just "hope fragment collecting". I know it's something else, like maybe they're doing their version of 'it'~" Teased Kazuichi. As soon as those words came out of the eccentric man's mouth, the smaller man spat out his drink in shock, coughing and gasping for air before glaring at the man in front of him in frustration. "W-WHAT THE HELL, WE'RE FUCKING HIGH SCHOOLERS FOR GOD SAKE!" The gangster blabbered out loud, grabbing the other's attention by accident.

The pink-eyed bastard shushed down his one-eyed friend and waving the confused students off. "Dude, calm down. We're horny bastards because we're high schoolers. Hajime seems the type to..You know, get the stress off by doing the do. Why don't we do a little bet by seeing who's right?" Kazuichi quietly exclaimed as he made his way to Fuyuhiko's side to pat his back. "What? Hell no.." "Come on! Ya scared?" Kaz leaned closer and grinned, feeling rather bold.

"You got some fucking balls to...wished you continued simping on Sonia right now, fine. Let's do this." Fuyuhiko got up from his chair rather aggressively and walked down the stairs on his own.

"I still simp-- like Sonia, ok!? Geez, don't leave me!!" Kazuichi yelled out in desperation as he followed the blond down the stairs as well.

They both sneaked around suspiciously to find you both but unfortunately, they ended walking around in circles about 5 times already. "...ugh! Fucking hell, Kazuichi! We've been walking in circles like dumbass dogs!" Fuyuhiko grunted in anger and stomped his feet like a toddler throwing a tantrum. "Calm down! We'll find them for sure!" "Fuck this shit!"

"Wait, no!" he grabbed the eye patch boy's hand tightly, gripping it harder as the other tried to release themselves. "We haven't check..The cottage..yet" the blond looked at him in disbelief and disappointment "Wh-what!? That's an invasion of privacy, you're going too far!!" "Who cares!? We need to check! For the sake of the best!" he continued to grab the gangster's hand and sprinted to Hajime's cottage.

As soon as they arrived, Kazuichi leaned towards the brunette's door gently to hear any sort of noise and he caught something, something he wasn't expecting but he was rather pleased to hear. "Hajime..this is so wonderful!" he heard you spoke. "See? Didn't you hear that? Collecting hope fragments my ass! We're getting to bottom of this!" "Wait, no--"

The pink-haired male kicked the door with all his might, surprised by himself and Fuyuhiko by his determination-filled strength. "WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING!?-- e-eh?.." Both of them were in shock as the result is neither. Hajime was- well, trying to paint your nails. The both of you looked at the two of them in both shock and confusion as well.

"What the hell!? Get out!" Hajime yelled in frustration and pure fury, throwing the nearest stuff he could get to the both of them so they would leave. Not only did they broke his door but ruined you and his privacy too!? They're gonna face some consequences later.

"Hey, Hajime..calm down. Everything is ok!" You hugged him and patting his back to soothe him down but he softly pushed you back in tears "No, it's not! You know how embarrassing this is!? For someone like you, a person with a talent to date me? A talentless nothing!?" your green-eyed boyfriend cried out as he tried to his almost never-ending tears.

You cupped your hands between his face and turned his face in your direction. "Honey, no! I don't care if you're talentless because the reason I love you is not talent! I love you because you are. You! Your looks, personality. Everything!" You leaned your face into his, your noses touching each other. "Please, Hajime. I love you dearly, with or without talent. I would love to start a future with you so please..don't say such a thing about yourself."

"..s/o..you're right. I'm glad that talent isn't your main priority. Thank you, I love you as well." he kissed you on the lips. Maybe he shouldn't be so insecure and maybe..it's time to tell the others about your relationship?

[whomst-art-thou-whomst-whomst]

Texts from the Lost Tomb part 6.1

🎶 Back on the bullshit I never got off🎶

Is this another unnecessary story arc?? With three sections??

Yes.

Wushanju Crew Chat

Wang Meng: You know, I’m someone who appreciates consistency in my day. My life is pleasant, very few issues indeed if you ignore the big ones. And yet. Yet here we are. With unresolved messes at the end of a day.

Wang Pangzi: SOMETHIN YOU NEED TO SAY MARY POPPINS

Wang Meng: We need to talk about Huo Daofu and the glittery bead curtain.

Wang Pangzi: MY FAVE TEEN WIZARD SERIES

Wu Xie: did you turn on that suggested word thingy lol

What glittery bead curtain

Wang Meng: I closed the shop at 6:00pm this evening on the dot. I locked all of the doors in and out of the shop very carefully, especially in light of recent events. The hall leading to the back office was empty. I filed the day’s paperwork, updated and sent emails, and then spent an extra hour organizing receipts and dusting. When I came back out, there were glittery iridescent bead curtains over the front entrance to the shop.

What could this mean?

Wu Xie: uh that you need to spend less time at work?

Wang Pangzi: LOOKS LIKE WE GOT ONE FOR THE DETECTIVES. THE MYSTERY OF THE BEDAZZLED THRESHOLD COMMENCES

Wu Xie: I think we can be relatively secure in thinking a glittery bead curtain isn’t a hostile threat

Wang Pangzi: SAYS YOU

I REMEMBER YE OLDE EXPLORATION TIMES HOW FAST THINGS GOT FURIOUS

BEANBAG CHAIRS SET AFLAME AND LEFT ON DOORSTEPS AS A WARNING

GLITTERBOMBS FOR DAYS

PANIC AT THE DISCO

Wang Meng: Ugh, forget it. I should have just taken them down, regardless of who they belong to.

Zhang Qiling: They are not mine.

Wang Pangzi: A BOLD STATEMENT COMING FROM OUR PRIME SUSPECT

SOMEONE QUICK GO DRAW CHALK AROUND THE DOORWAY TO MARK THE SCENE OF THE CRIME

Wang Meng: Do we know anyone who *would* sneak in and put those up? For whatever reason, legal or not? Even as a joke?

Wang Pangzi: ARE YOU SERIOUSLY ASKING WHETHER WE KNOW ANYONE WHO IS CHAOTIC, AN OUTLAW, A PRANKSTER AND/OR SNEAKS INTO PLACES

BECAUSE THAT WOULD MEAN OUR SUSPECT LIST IS LITERALLY EVERYONE WE KNOW EXCEPT FOR YOU.

Wu Xie: okay let’s think about this; for starters, I didn’t break into my own shop

Wang Meng: You would be in danger of doing some work in the process, that’s true.

Wang Pangzi: LOL

Wu Xie: ANYWAY let’s keep going. For example, Xiao Ge would only break in somewhere for a good reason. Xiao Ge, did you do this?

Zhang Qiling: No.

Wu Xie: okay who’s next

Wang Pangzi: YOU REALLY MISSED YOUR CALLING IN INTERROGATION TIANZHEN

REALLY PUT THE SCREWS TO HIM

IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE;)

Zhang Qiling: How can we be certain *you* didn’t do it?

Wang Meng: Admittedly that was my guess, too.

Wang Pangzi: WOW I SEE HOW IT IS

BLAME PANGZI AS USUAL

ANYWAY HOW DOES HUO DAOFU FIT INTO THIS

Wu Xie: Oh yeah him! Oops I got distracted

Wang Pangzi: UR ENTIRE HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL

Wu Xie: Ugh fuck off

Wang Meng what abt Huo Daofu??

Zhang Qiling: ?

Wu Xie: oh sorry xiaoge I didn’t realize you wouldn’t have spent much time around him last year

He and I go way back

Zhang Qiling: Way back where?

Babysitters Club Chat

Wang Pangzi: I CANNOT BELIEVE HE IS BUYING YOUR INNOCENT ACT

IF YOU EVER TURN TO EVIL WE ARE FUCKED

Zhang Qiling: ?

Wang Pangzi: YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHO HUO DAOFU IS

YOU WERE EXTREMELY POLITE AND BORDERLINE FRIENDLY TOWARDS HIM

Zhang Qiling: I wanted him to feel welcome. I wanted to be sure he understands he has a place here. A specific place.

Wang Pangzi: FOR A SILENT GUY YOU ARE A MASTER AT SUBTLE POWER PLAYS IM ALL TINGLY

LMAO THE IDEA OF WU XIE LEAVING YOU FOR HUO DAOFU IS HILARIOUS AND ALSO NOPE

Zhang Qiling: Rationally, I understand that.

Main Chat

Wang Meng: Huo Daofu is coming for the weekend—didn’t Wu Xie tell you? Wu Xie asked me to check in a week ahead so we could start getting ready for his arrival

Wu Xie: oh yeah I did do that

Wang Meng: Fortunately I know you and so I already went ahead and took care of everything.

Re: the trip

He made a deal with Wu Xie’s doctor that he would do periodic checkups on him here at Wushanju

Bc Wu Xie hates being in the hospital

And frankly the hospital hates him too

Wang Pangzi: FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT LOL

I FORGOT HUO DAOFU WAS DOING THAT

A VERY CHIVALROUS GESTURE

WOULDNT YOU SAY

XIOAGE

Zhang Qiling: Is it safe for him to be here with a criminal loose on the premises?

Wu Xie: Right, back to the curtain! Let’s focus on the curtain, hmm?

Wang Pangzi: I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS WEEKEND.

ALSO WE CAN RULE OUT XIAO BAI FOR THE CURTAIN SHE JUST SENT A SELFIE FROM NORWAY COVERED IN GREEN SLIME WITH ZERO CONTEXT, UR PROTEGE INDEED

Wu Xie: okay but who else would do something so oddly charming yet illegal and—wait.

Snake Eyes Chat

Wu Xie: hey, Glasses hasn’t been in touch lately right?

Li Cu: uh nope

Unless u count the outdated memes

Why, is money or Xie Yuchen missing

Or is this curtain related, I saw Wang Meng’s tweet

Wu Xie: haha no nothing to worry about really

(I mean maybe? but who knows)

Wang Meng is probably just getting a little paranoid in his old age

Li Cu: better than getting reckless and stupid as hell in ur old age

Wu Xie: …hey:(

Unknown Number: Li Cu, we discussed this.

Wu Xie: ????????

Li Cu: *sigh* fine, reckless and stupid as heck

Unknown Number: …close enough.

Wu Xie: EXCUSE who is that

Madame, Sir, Non-Binary Tree Spirit, etc—whomst the fuck

Are you

Li Cu is underage FYI

So Im staying on this chat

Li Cu: okay first of all, it’s not like that

Second of all I’m literally not underage I s2g

u threw the embarrassing surprise bday party, okay so u should remember

And C, that’s my counselor and I invited her. She wanted to meet u and I knew u wouldn’t agree to a visit so I added her to our chat

we have been discussing u

Wu Xie: Oh wow!!!!!!!

What a surprise:)

hi so nice to meet you:)

Main Chat:

Wu Xie: RED FUCKING ALERT

FUCK THE CURTAIN FUCK THE VISIT

IVE BEEN TRICKED INTO FAMILY THERAPY BY A SMUG TEENAGER WHO TEXTS UNKNOWN NUMBERS

Wang Meng: I assume that means something to someone here?

Not my problem? Good.

Wang Pangzi: AHAHAHA GOD I LOVE LI CU

HES LIKE ADORABLE KARMA FOR ALL THE SHIT YOUVE PUT ME THROUGH

IM RAISING HIS ALLOWANCE

Wu Xie: wait i give him an allowance

has he been collecting on two allowances??

Zhang Qiling: Three. I knew about both of yours.

Snake Eyes Chat

Wu Xie: so uh may I ask your name?

Unknown Number: you can call me Ms. Lee.

Now, if you’re comfortable talking in this format, why don’t you tell me how things have been going?

Wu Xie: oh everything is normal and fine and safe as usual, why do you ask:)

Li Cu: I heard about ur necklace thing. nice of you to NOT mention it.

another dangerous adventure. again. prick.

Ur lucky your cool boyfriend cares about you so much or you’d have already died like ten years ago

Wu Xie: lol try twenty years ago

Li Cu: That isn’t funny.

Unknown Number: …What?

Wu Xie: shit ur right, okay that was a bit glib, my apologies.

…I use humor as a coping mechanism?

Unknown Number: and Li Cu, how do you feel about that?

Li Cu: he doesn’t even know what that phrase means

He doesn’t cope, like ever

In fact

It’s kind of why we met

Which is a funny story in retrospect tbh

Wu Xie: haha what are you talking about sweetie hahaha need I remind you of certain anecdotes that could idk send me to jail maybe lmao

Unknown Number: …You know, perhaps an in-person meeting might be more effective?

Wu Xie: haha such a nice idea but why

Main Chat

Wu Xie: If I go to jail, I’ll have to create alliances for protection, right, that’s how it works on tv

Who do we know who spends time in jail

Other than Hei Yangjing, he’s only ever there for like 12 hours and i suspect he just gets himself arrested bc he enjoys the breaking out process

Also how’s the curtain case coming along

Zhang Qiling: Has someone threatened you?

Wu Xie: well not yet but soon I’m sure

Wang Pangzi: WHERE WAS THIS PARANOIA WHEN WE GOT TAKEN TO THE TEA HOUSE HUH

Snake Eyes Minus Your Fucking Therapist Chat

Li Cu: okay how tf did u pull off spy and undercover shit

u are sus as hell

Wu Xie: damn son is it pick on Wu Xie night

I missed the flyers or I would’ve invited my uncles

Also re: the curtain it’s been mostly solved

Li Cu: I’m not your son, idiot.

Wu Xie: …oh. Sorry, sorry, you’re right, bad choice of words, haha

Forget i said anything

Delete this chat even

Li Cu: shit I meant

Legally, biologically, I meant—

shit

…I turn into an asshole as a coping mechanism?

Wu Xie: oh that’s all okay! I have to go do something else now let me know if you need anything okay kid thanks!

Li Cu: goddamn it calm down who’s the kid here

lemme organize my thoughts so I can articulate my emotions fuckin healthily or w/e

Ugh maybe for like one afternoon we could go to Ms. Lee together? She knows how to word stuff

Wu Xie: uh…okay.

Li Cu: Anyway you don’t need to worry abt jail

As if you would survive prison for one day you’d piss off half the place in like an hour or less

I gave Ms. Lee the heavily edited version of the desert highway to hell roadtrip and i discussed it more in terms of like “nightmarish but still wouldn’t take any of it back”

Well maybe the sand

that shit was everywhere

Wu Xie: oh kiddo. It’s fine, really…You don’t have to explain yourself to me.

Li Cu: no, no it’s just

I do technically have a dad

who is an asshole. Being a son doesn’t really mean shit to me bc it sucked.

So you need to stop backing down just cuz ur guilty abt stuff. I’m really really glad ur not my dad in a good way. Do u get what I mean there

Where’s the mafia widower I followed into hell, huh

Wu Xie: Ur a good kid, despite my influence. I’m really glad you have someone to talk to after everything I…after everything. Wow this talking through feelings thing is kind of weird but nice ur right

Jfc no wonder it took me and xiaoge so long to—you know what, we won’t get into that

Li Cu: ew tmi

Also re: this week’s recent necklace fuckery

I moved my stuff here, I live here now

So you can’t die anymore

Or else…Idk I don’t have a threat planned

anyways abt the curtain

Wu Xie: oh my god, kid…kid you have no idea

I am in tears.

Li Cu: see this is why I can’t be nice to you I can sense the hallmark channel from here

Ugh don’t be sad in ur room that’s dumb

Go hug Pangzi or something

Maybe delete this chat

Or the curtain thing

Focus on the curtain thing

Just stfu and go away

Wu Xie: <3 screenshotting this <3

Li Cu: I take back everything I said. This is why Xiao Ge sleeps on the roof. I hope the ghosts of the Wangs put up that curtain to strangle you somehow. Go die in a stupid way, it’ll suit you.

Wu Xie: lol don’t worry I’m not gonna embarrass you with it or anything

Main Chat

Wu Xie: omg guys look how cute my kid is *sending screenshot*

Wang Pangzi: I MEAN

HE IS WISHING YOU DEATH

BUT SURE

CUTE I GUESS

Wu Xie: no but read the whole thing:):):)

Zhang Qiling: It is indeed very hard to remain angry with you. And you are welcome to join me on the roof.

Wang Pangzi: UH NOPE

NOT WHENI HAD TO BLEACH THE COUNTER IN THE KITCHEN

DONT TRAUMATIZE THE EARLY BIRDS THEYRE ALREADY FREAKED OUT BY U YA HOODIE CRYPTID

Wu Xie: ok true but babe ur like a sexy cryptid

Wang Meng: so, are we just accepting that there is a glittery curtain of unknown origin, and Huo Daofu is going to have to see it while he’s waiting for you at Wushanju bc you’re going to family therapy?

Wu Xie: right

Wang Pangzi: SHOULDA TAKEN EARLY RETIREMENT HUH

Wang Meng: I’m going to go dust something.

Unnamed Chat:

Unknown number: so the curtain…

Unknown number 2: yep, not my best work but I kinda panicked last minute u know

Unknown number: what is in the water at Wushanju that makes everyone dumb and attractive

Unknown number 2: relax they’ll figure it out

[writertitan]

Midnight

pairing: eren x reader

themes: modern au, new year’s eve, angsty if you squint

A chorus of cheers erupted almost as soon as you crossed the threshold of Sasha’s home, though from the clinks and clatters of glass and the smell of bourbon, you could tell that the cheers were in celebration of something other than your unnoticed arrival.  

“Welcome!” Sasha greeted you with a warm smile and bright eyes, tugging you further into her equally warm and bright house, where everyone was already a little tipsy, a little rowdy. You didn’t want to look visibly nervous, but there you were, shoulders up to your ears and eyes shifting back and forth, looking for that mess of dark hair, those green eyes that pierced through you and everyone else. You nearly jumped when Sasha’s whisper danced into your ear. “Don’t worry, he’s not here and I don’t think he’ll show up.” 

“I wasn’t looking for him,” you mumbled, a little indignant, and then rolled your eyes when you saw Sasha’s knowing smirk. “I just don’t want things to be awkward, Sasha. It’s been months since we’ve even seen each other, let alone been in the same space all night. I guess I’m just...a little worried. Well, I was. Are you sure he’s not coming?” 

“Doubt it,” she says, that smirk still plastered on her face. “Why? Does that make you saaaad?” 

“Shut up,” you groaned, but you yanked on her ponytail playfully to let her know you weren’t upset as you walked past her, ready to pour some bourbon for yourself to ease your nerves. 

I’ll have to catch up, you thought to yourself with a grin as Connie raised his half-full glass to your full one, a silly laugh escaping him as you clink your glass to his. 

“Happy new year! Almost!” he nearly shouted before downing the last of his drink in a swift gulp. You tried to follow his pace, always competitive with him, but ended up coughing up some bourbon. Connie laughed instantly, and you could faintly hear Jean laughing as well, which made you glare at the two of them through watered-up eyes, stinging from the liquor. 

“Loser, can’t even hold your bourbon in and you just barely showed up!” Jean laughed, wiggling his almost empty cup in your face, as if to show off his own progress. 

Instead of verbally retaliating, you took another sip and spat it out at him, bursting out into laughter this time with the shout of surprise that came out of his mouth. 

“When are you gonna learn to leave me alone, huh?” you said, snickering and secretly giving Connie a high-five. Evidently, you weren’t going to be needing to drink too much to calm your nerves. You downed the rest of your drink anyway, mostly to piss Jean off and show Connie your two-person drinking game was on. With each drained glass, you felt yourself get looser and warmer, felt the world get a little whirlier, and you found yourself even looking forward to the new year, despite having to leave some things -- and some people -- behind. 

No, you promised yourself you wouldn’t think about that, you thought to yourself again, shaking your head as if to shake the thoughts out. Unfortunately, the shaking made things go a little dizzy, and you bumped into a table to steady yourself. 

“Ugh,” you groaned, setting down your glass and rubbing your forehead. All this drinking was going to be a bitch in the morning, and the discomfort of your intoxication was already getting to you. Even steadying yourself on the table the dizziness didn’t let up, the whirling didn’t stop, and the alcohol churned in your body, that familiar nausea finally surfacing. 

“Oh shit, she’s gonna blow.” 

Whoever had said that should have counted their lucky stars you were too drunk to do anything but stumble to Sasha’s bathroom, but you figured it was stupid Connie, eager to win your drinking game yet again. You shut the bathroom door behind you and took a deep breath, kneeling in front of the toilet and leaning onto your side to use the wall as support, your cheek hitting its cool surface. You didn’t actually think you were going to throw up, but you’d been wrong about these things before, and it was better to be safe than sorry. A knock at the door made you snap your head over too quickly, the dizziness almost being the catalyst for that awful nausea to finally bubble over into the toilet, but you kept your composure. You heard your name being called on the other side of the door, and something about the voice seemed familiar…

“Hold on,” you slurred, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath. I won’t puke, I’m not gonna puke, nope, nope, nope…

Your name was called again, this time clearer and more easily heard above the reverberating music and chatter of everyone else still partying. “C’mon, open the door.” You didn’t answer, finally recognizing the voice, your heart stuttering and fighting in your ribcage. No way. “Alright, since you’re not answering, I’m coming in.”

“No!” But it was too late. Your vision swam as Eren’s figure stepped into the cramped bathroom with you, quietly shutting the door behind him before kneeling in front of you. If you didn’t know any better, you could have sworn that his eyes were clouded with concern for you. But you did know better. 

“Jesus, are you okay?” he whispered, careful to keep his voice low. 

“What are you doing here? Sasha said you weren’t coming!” you whined, slumping over the toilet. You flinched when you felt a warm hand on your back, and when he registered the flinch, he promptly pulled his hand away. You didn’t know which action hurt you more. 

“Changed my mind,” Eren answered simply. You could almost hear the casual shrug of his shoulders. 

You said nothing, squeezing your eyes shut and willing this to be a nasty dream. The booze had loosened you up and made you forget about Eren for the night, comforted in the thought of him not showing up. Now it was coaxing out your fears and your innermost conflicts. Drunk you wanted to lash out, to bring up those painful topics, but the tiniest sliver of the sober you was still screaming and fighting for your silence. It worked; Eren waited for you to speak, to say something, anything, but spoke up again when he realized you wouldn’t. 

“I’m probably the last person you want to be around, but just let me stay and make sure you don’t choke on your own puke,” he mumbled. The words made you sit up again and glare at him, though the glassy look in your eyes didn’t do well to intimidate him. In fact, it made him smile at you. “What, you think I don’t remember how you get when you drink too much? I’m surprised you haven’t been barfing your guts out this entire time.” 

“I’m not going to barf,” you growled, trying feebly to kick him away. Was the alcohol fucking you up even more than it already had? You felt more intoxicated now. Your senses were going wild and you felt bleary, heavy, like your center of gravity was changing, like your orbit was off. Instead of being focused at your core, it had seeped out elsewhere, making you lean away from the wall and closer to...

No. Drunk you was going to be the death of sober you. 

“Eren, I’m fine. Go have fun,” you whispered, not daring to look at him. In fact, you hadn’t looked directly at him this whole time. You recoiled from him and slumped against the wall, finally chancing a look his way. 

He was beautiful. Always beautiful, but especially tonight. He hadn’t given a damn about dressing up like everyone else, which was classic Eren, and that’s what made him look perfect. The careless bun at the nape of his neck, the ripped jeans, his favorite tattered sweatshirt with his band’s name stamped on it. Purposefully unkempt, as you’d often told him in the past. The past...where you’d once been together. 

“It’s not much better out there. I saw you run in here when I was walking in and wanted to make sure you were doing better than Connie. He’s outside throwing up over the porch, and don’t even get me started on Sasha,” Eren said, rolling his eyes. His gaze was gentle when he looked back at you. “I’ll have a better time in here with you.” 

Your breath hitched at the words. This wasn’t actually happening. You weren’t going to let yourself believe it. 

“You don’t have to be nice to me. I don’t know why you’re being so nice to me,” you blurted out. Finally, the words that had been dying to come out. Drunk you was absolutely going to be the death of sober you.

This made Eren speechless, for once. His eyes widened for a moment and you could tell the wheels were turning in his head.

“You’re too wasted for me to have an actual conversation with you,” he decided with a sigh, tucking a stray lock of hair behind his ear. Both of you remembered at that moment when it was you fixing his hair, pushing it out of his face. 

“Am not!” you tried to argue, flinging the nostalgia away and replacing it with your haughty attitude. Eren remembered that too well, the attitude always coming out after too many drinks. “If you have something to say to me, I suggest you say it.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

The words hung in the air between you. Two throats choked up, two pairs of eyes locked, and two hearts ached and called out for each other. 

Your bottom lip trembled when the shame overcame you, pushing you back against the wall to put distance between yourself and Eren. All those months of being good, of avoiding him, of blocking him everywhere, of doing everything to keep moving on...it couldn’t crumble like this. 

“Why did you do it?” you asked meekly, praying the tears that burned your eyes would go away. You looked at your lap, feeling dead sober now. 

Eren didn’t know how to answer the question. How could he tell you that he had done it to save you from the heaviness in him after everything that had happened with his family? He was broken and refused to drag you down with him. He wasn’t good enough. He had needed to find the strength to get better without you, because that wasn’t fair to you to have to shoulder the burden. He’d never ask that of you. 

And now you were in front of him, but you were too drunk to comprehend anything he’d try to voice out. 

“I didn’t do it because I stopped...loving you,” was all he could say, “I just thought that hurting you like that was better than hurting you like I would have if I’d been selfish enough to put you through all my heavy shit. And when I realized you had cut me off and that you were avoiding me, I wanted to give you space.” 

You began to speak, reaching out for him, a blaze of fire in your eyes, and Eren knew what was coming. He stopped you by cupping his hand over your mouth, chuckling when you froze in surprise. 

“If I promise I’ll be right there next to you tomorrow morning so we can talk, will you promise to wait to yell at me until then?” he whispered. 

You slumped your shoulders in silent resignation and nodded, the feeling of his touch overwhelming your senses. You had missed him. Even just the playful touch of his hand on your mouth to silence you was enough to make your body heat up. When he took it away, you felt cold. 

“There’s just about two minutes left until midnight…” Eren started, rubbing the back of his neck shyly. His gaze was averted, but you saw the way he kept looking at you out of the corner of his eye as you both got up, him helping you get back on your feet. 

You smiled and tried to fight the blush that crept onto your cheeks as your hand found his, the warmth spreading over you again when he squeezed your fingers. Neither of you let go. 

“You’re not gonna make me start the new year alone, are you?” you teased him, and the familiar glint in those green eyes made your heart swell. 

“You’re not gonna puke on me, right?” he countered, laughing quietly when you hit his chest. He let you lean on him for support after sitting down for so long, but you refused to believe you were still a little tipsy. Walking out of the bathroom, your eyes blinked to adjust from the difference of lighting from the harsh fluorescents of the bathroom to the dim fairy lights adorning the hallway. 

“There’s gonna be fireworks outside at midnight. Wanna watch with me?” you asked, fighting back the shyness that made you fumble your words. Eren nodded almost immediately, an arm locked around your waist as you guided him to Sasha’s bedroom where all the coats were sprawled out on her bed. The lights were off but you didn’t turn them on, in too much of a hurry and too distracted by Eren’s presence behind you. You grabbed which one you thought was yours and started pulling it on, but perked up with Eren when the drunken chorus of your friends’ voices rang out. 

“TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN…”

You didn’t want to leave Eren behind. You wanted him next to you when the morning rose for the first day of a new year. You wanted to get closer and closer to him as your friends counted down the seconds from the living room. You wanted your lips on his at midnight. 

He wanted the same. 

His breath was warm on your face as you pressed up against him, the familiarity of your stance no longer bruising your heart, but balming it. Your hands were on his shoulders, fingers dancing up to caress his jaw, to subtly pull his face closer to yours. His hands glided down your sides until they found their favorite place at the small of your back. Your noses touched and he nudged yours playfully with his to get a smile out of you, your hearts both beating frantically. Even in the dark, hardly any light coming in, your bodies had found each other naturally, like nothing had changed. 

“TWO, ONE...HAPPY NEW YEAR!!” 

You could hear phone alarms going off, then fireworks, as your lips pressed to Eren’s. It wasn’t the booze making you feel lightheaded anymore. It was the softness of the boy’s lips, and the way he automatically pulled you in closer. The hair that had fallen out of his bun tickled your face and made you smile into the kiss, which made him mirror your actions. The fireworks outside boomed and crackled as Eren deepened your kiss, a hand moving up to cup your cheek gingerly. Your hands moved to push his hair away from his face, an action that was so familiar to the both of you that it left both of you breathless, and only then did you pull away from the kiss. 

“Happy new year,” you whispered in his ear, a dreamy smile playing on your lips as Eren’s continued to find your skin, not even close to being done kissing you. He wanted to memorize every inch of you all over again. The curve of your neck, the softness of your cheek, the tip of your nose. How he’d survived all this time without you was a fluke, a stroke of luck. It was impossible to go another day without at least seeing your face. He’d needed to see you and he was glad he’d come even if just out of hope that you might have been at the party too. 

“Happy new year,” Eren whispered into the crook of your neck, your name mumbled into your skin. When you both eventually pulled away from each other, he took your hand in his to guide you out, mumbling something about not wanting to miss the fireworks. You knew that him proudly holding your hand in front of your friends may have been a contributing factor in rushing you out. 

“Hey,” you said as you made your way to the front door, a devilish grin on your lips. “Did you say that Connie was losing it on the porch?” 

Eren nodded with a roll of his eyes, pulling you into his side. “Yep. Careful, his splash zone’s pretty gnarly.” 

You laughed loudly, almost a cackle, a glint in your eye as you tugged Eren outside with you. Connie was still slumped over the porch railing, looking delirious. 

“Hey, Connie! I won this time! And you say you can always drink me under the table, but I didn’t even throw up!” 

“Shut the hell up or else I’ll puke all over you.” 

“Whatever. Happy new year! Wait, is that Sasha eating snow?”

[pterodactylterrace]

Guys Like You Chapter 12

Title: Guys Like You

Chapter: 12

Chapter Summary:  When two hearts are meant for each other, distance isn’t an issue... right?

Rating: 18+

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol consumption. Angsty. 

Chapters:  {Prologue} {Chapter 1} {Chapter 2} {Chapter 3} {Chapter 4} {Chapter 5} {Chapter 6} {Chapter 7} {Chapter 8} {Chapter 9} {Chapter 10} {Chapter 11}

Wrapping up filming was a bittersweet event. Mostly bitter to be perfectly honest. While Faye was happy that she had completed her first big contract, she was going to miss the people she had grown close to while working there. She was casual acquaintances with a few people, but the biggest loss was going to be Henry.

You see, now that filming was over and his lease was up at his current rental property, he was moving back to his house in South Kensington. Briar was near hysterical when she found 'her room' at his house packed up. Henry spent most of that day with the little girl either in his arms, or dragging her as she clung to his leg. Not much packing was accomplished on that day.

When it was time for Henry to actually leave for his home, was the worst part of the entire ordeal. Briar had planted herself in the passenger seat and screamed every time someone tried to move her. Faye could almost swear she saw Henry tearing up when he drove away, Briar still screaming in her mother's arms.

He was loyal with his FaceTiming and phone calls, texting her as much as he could throughout the day. Not long after he had gotten home, he had to leave again for another project. This one was only supposed to take four months, but it didn't make it suck any less for Faye. Whenever Henry would FaceTime, she would slap on a happy face, delighted to see his goofy grin as he tried to show her some 'secrets' behind the scenes. Mostly the snack table, and occasionally Kal sleeping at his feet. He was so happy with what he did. Truly, genuinely happy.

While he was away, Faye had taken up a contract with some fashion designer, doing makeup for models before photoshoots and for the runway. She loved what she did, but she found doing beauty makeup was becoming boring and repetitive very quickly. She could barely remember the last time she had applied a prosthetic.

That was the biggest strain on their relationship so far. Yes, the distance was awful, but that was nothing compared to the arguments they had over Faye's job. Henry kept insisting she not renew her contract when it came back around. Faye continuously told him that she didn't have much of an option, she was in England on a work visa. If she didn't work, she couldn't stay in the country. Then Henry would suggest she take another job, and she would tell him that every offer he had was just for beauty makeup. She had had absolutely no offers for special effect makeup, like she wanted, so right back to square one.

After their latest 'disagreement' Henry had told her he was coming to visit. He cited the distance as the reason behind their animosity towards each other. Faye had a feeling it was because they were past the honeymoon phase and starting to notice all the flaws in each other. Like how he lacked detailed planning for anything, and just made general ideas like that would solve everything. Or how she would always get irritated every time he would try to help, insisting she could do everything on her own. He was stubborn and she was obstinate, neither one willing to bend when they thought they knew best.

Faye always made sure to hide her tears until after they had hung up. It wasn't because she didn't want him to see her upset. It was a matter of pride for her. She refused to let him know she shed any tears over him.

Henry would usually round his night out with either a couple shots of whiskey or an intense workout, but he made sure to never raise his voice with her. He wouldn't do that, he wouldn't act aggressively towards her, no matter how frustrated he got. She could interrupt him when he was trying to make a point all she wanted to, he refused to do anything to intimidate her or make her afraid of him.

Briar was blissfully unaware of everything going on. Henry still called her every evening to say goodnight; he had an alarm set on his phone to remind him and everything. She would even sometimes con a bedtime story out of him if he wasn't busy on set. Every time she spoke to him, she asked him when he was coming home, Henry's heart breaking even more each time she asked.

She never asked when he was coming back. She never asked when she would see him again. She always asked the same question, every single day.

"When you come home?"

It was that simple phrasing that tore him apart. She considered him a part of her home. He hadn't known her for a full year yet, but she could still get him to do just about anything she wanted just by poking out her lower lip and batting her eyelashes.

Now, standing at Faye's door for the first time in months, he didn't feel at all like he was coming home. Should he knock? Before he'd left, they had gotten to where they both just walked in to each other's homes. They gave each other spare keys and everything. He still had hers on his keychain, but she had returned hers when his lease expired and he'd just never gotten around to giving her a key to his Kensington home.

Finally he settled for knocking on the door, counting the seconds until he heard the deadbolt slide free and the door swung open.

Faye wasn't sure exactly what kind of greeting she was in for. She expected a cold one, none the less. Maybe a tight smile and a nod; perhaps avoiding looking at her and coming inside, not the giant bear hug she suddenly found herself trapped in.

"I missed you." Henry mumbled into her neck, holding her as tight as he dared, afraid she might vanish if he released her.

"I missed you too." Faye finally whispered, taking a step back to let him in when she was released from his embrace. Henry didn't make it two steps in the house before a tiny human firecracker was launched at him, barreling into him at full speed while screaming excitedly.

"And I missed you too!" Henry told the little girl, snatching her up for a hug.

"I made for you! I go get it!" Briar excitedly announced, squirming down to sprint back to her room.

"She filled out an entire coloring book for you." Faye explained, nodding him to the living room. Nothing had changed, and yet it all felt so different to him. Sitting down on the same couch he'd first kissed Faye on was now so foreign to him. He didn't even have time to speak before Briar was back, leaping into his lap and showing him her well loved coloring book. Looked like adult conversation was going to have to wait until after bedtime, which ended up taking much longer than it should have.

Faye had thankfully managed to get Briar dressed after her bath before she went running at top speed to her room, grabbing the biggest storybook she could find and dragging it out to Henry.

"This one!"

"That one?" Henry gasped, pretending to have trouble lifting the book. "Ugh, but it's so big!"

"That one, that one!" Briar insisted, grabbing his little finger and dragging him back to her room where she demanded he read no less than four of them before she ended up falling asleep in the middle of Rapunzel, giving Henry the chance to slip out unnoticed to go in search of the little girl's mother.

He found Faye sitting cross legged on her bed, working on something in her sketchbook. He cleared his throat to not startle her too much with his presence, the woman giving a small sigh before closing her book and setting it down. Now, one problem remained. How to start this conversation. Ultimately Henry just blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"So, what are you going to wear to the season two premiere?" As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. There he went being a dork again.

"Uhh... probably my black cocktail dress. Hopefully I still fit in it. It was from before I had Briar." Faye responded after a pregnant pause.

"Seems a little simple, doesn't it?" Henry asked with a cock of his head.

"Well, I'm not part of the main cast. I get to go to the premiere because I was a member of the crew, but no one gives a shit about the crew. As long as I don't show up in a pair of sweats, no one is really going to care. We're not the ones getting our pictures taken, after all."

"You're not... going with me?" Henry asked, his brow furrowing as the corner of his lips tugged down.

"Henry I... no." Faye sighed, running her hands through her hair in frustration. Best to just get it out of the way and see where they stood once the dust settled. "You really don't understand, do you? I'm not the kind of girl you take out on dates where you might get photographed. I'm not the girl you introduce to your friends. I'm not the girl you want on your arm at some big event. I'm not the girl you take home to meet your family. I'm a fuck up and a loser. I'm a nobody." Faye paused, taking a slow breath, forcing herself to keep the tears at bay for just a little longer.

"Henry, guys like you just don't fall for girls like me."

Taglist: @Xxxkatxo @Weallhaveadestiny @lunedelorient

[asa-sauce]

those forgotten things

❀ haikyuu!! x (ukai’s kid!) reader

flavor: honey mustard  

warnings: none!

a/n: hi, sorry for the long wait! if you're coming from my tiktok, thank you for the continued support! i don’t know who the specific love interest is going to be, so for now it’s basically the entire karasuno team x reader.

note: ukai is your adoptive father. and this takes place at very very end of season 1/very beginning of season 2. you are 16.

+ Your dad, Ukai Keishin, forgets his water bottle at the convenience store before practice. You decide to bring it to him... Big mistake.

The bell on the door announces your presence with a gentle chime, and the cool air coming from the ancient air conditioner hits your face.  It's a heavenly relief from the sizzling heat, and you thank heaven for the store being so close to school.

"Hi dad! I'm home!" You call out, but no answer comes.

"Where is he?" Misaki asks, head bobbing up and out like a buoy. There's a prep in her voice now, like a child at an amusement park.

"He's probably in the back or something, I don't know." There's no one else in the store.

She sets her heavy, multi-key chained school bag next to the chair, and you notice that the normally happy face of the plush bunny keychain is smushed against the table leg, smile distorted into a frown.

She starts her jaunty browsing around the store, weaving in and out of each aisle. You do the same, not knowing what you're in the mood for, and meet her at the candies and gum.

"Seriously, Y/n, how do you not find your dad attractive?" The question catches you off guard, and you find yourself quickly scanning the front of the store for any customer that might have just walked in. Did she really just ask that?

You swivel around in a slow, dramatic way, giving her an incredulous look that just about asks that question. She looks at you with that casual—but all too serious—charm, as if she had simply asked what the weather is going to be like tomorrow.

"'Cause he's my dad." She rolls her eyes, dissatisfied with the answer, then juts her head forward just enough to add more emphasis on her next words.

"But he adopted you. You aren't blood-related."

You stare at her. She can't be completely serious, right?

You and Misaki met last year on the first day of school. Meeting her was like something out of an anime. The rambunctious airhead meets the quiet, down-to-earth girl who just can't say no to people.

She literally proclaimed your friendship to the world on that first day of school.

So this: her apparent infatuation for your dad, is very far out there, yes. Yet in retrospect, it's nothing beyond her character.

"Jeez, you're weird," you say, deciding to smile it off. You turn to grab a neon blue bag of chips from the shelf beside you. Misaki laughs, head thrown back, in a maniacal way, and disappears behind the aisle end. "Did you get your food yet?"

"Yeah." She's chosen a popsicle today, already unwrapping it while she continues to peruse the aisles more, just for fun. Her fingers drag along the underside of each plastic price tag, making a clackclackclackclackclak sound that's almost ominous.

"How much is it?" You ask, to which she tells you. You go over to the cash register and take out the appropriate change from your wallet, placing each bill and coin into the correct spaces. Even though you're a member of the family-owned store, a business is still a business, and the small ones like this especially need anything and everything they can get to thrive.

Misaki sits at the table for a few minutes, and you guess that she's waiting for your dad to come back out. She's slouched over her brightly lit cellphone screen, her thumbs continually pattering as she responds to all her messages.

It's awkward.

Even though you and Misaki have gotten pretty close since meeting each other, those uncomfortable silences still sometimes appear.

But then she begins talking about a boy she's been texting these past few weeks, mostly talking it out with herself then seeking your advice. You give simple reactions, and comment when she expects it. A simple 'he did not!' or 'ugh!' will satisfy her.

Of course it's not all that one-sided. She talks, you listen; you talk, she responds. And quite frankly, you don't mind it.

But then the silence emerges once again, until she lets out a big, audible, intentional sigh and stands up.

"Well, I gotta head home, my mom's getting fussy about something again." She shoves her phone in the side pocket of her bag, short hair whipping around as she hoists her bag over her shoulder.

"Okay, see you tomorrow, Misaki." You can feel the breath of relief beginning to grow inside your lungs as she collects her things and heads for the door.

"Yup. Tell your dad I said hello!"

"I will."  

No you won't.

And with a final automated jingle of the door chime, she leaves. You wait until the white bunny keychain on her bag is no longer in view to release that breath of relief.

And then, you smile.

"Alright, dad! You can come out now!" you announce, your head tipped back towards the blue curtains. In a comical way, just the face of your father appears, with tufts of yellow hair sneaking out behind him. With his eyes wide he scans the room, side to side, searching for any trace of your friend.

"Is she gone?"

"Yeah, she is."

The rest of him appears then.

Ukai sits himself on the slanting, rickety stool behind the counter that is literally almost on its last legs, with his feet propped up. It's his way of "intimidating" all the "shitheads" that come through after school—is what he says.

You hop onto the counter, splitting open the chip bag. A puff of flavored air travels up into your nose.

"How was that English quiz today?" Ukai asks, catching a whiff as well while you pop the first chip into your mouth.

"Good. I got a 97." you reply after swallowing.

"That's my girl."

You hum in response, munching on another chip. Looking into the bag, you spot a wider, saltier chip that curls at one end. It takes up half the amount of chips, you realize as you take it. It should be a crime, you think, to fill up more than half of the bag with air.

"I'm gonna leave here a little earlier for practice tonight. A few of the boys wanted me to help them with a couple new combinations."

He swings his legs off the counter and sits up, mumbling something about wishing he had taken a nap before walking back into the house to change.

You go through the motions of unpacking your school bag, decideding to work on math first.

You spread your textbooks and papers out on the counter, an organized mess as you like to say, of calculus.

Your pencil moves rapidly across the page, the little flower charm on dangling back and forth with each squiggle.

Your dad leaves around ten minutes later, but not before giving you a quick kiss on the head. The sun is still high and proud, and has no intention to descend until an hour or more later.

It's your favorite time of day. The sun falls through the glass doors in a way that makes the entire world seem just a little more fanciful. It's usually quiet in the store, and after an entire day of constant conversations from you and those around, you can't help but yearn for these peaceful moments. It's entirely why you agreed to take over Ukai's shifts ever since he began coaching Karasuno's male volleyball team.

If anyone comes in at this hour though, they're likely to be a student from Karasuno, but in about five minutes the store's most frequent customer, Etsu, will stop by, and will no doubt be mewling for a meat bun.

You plop down on the seat behind the counter, taking a moment to your self to breathe. You tug at the base of your long ponytail, releasing your unruly hair from the confines of your hair tie. Although you aren't directly related to Ukai, over the years you've inherited parts of his look. One of those being your 'lion's mane' (as your grandmother calls it).

Ukai had adopted you when you were ten, but the six years you've known each other feel like sixteen. You don't remember much about your biological family, and for privacy reasons Ukai doesn't know any more than you do.

You have no harsh feelings towards them--no contempt or ill-wishes for leaving their own daughter. Of course, there are days when you wondered where they are, and what life might be like if they kept you.

Perhaps it is for the best, you always came to. Maybe it is meant to be this way, because at least the life you are living now with just your dad and grandparents is good. It's good—

You hear a dull chip as the lead snaps. It flies off to the side, leaving a small pencil marking etched into your paper. It's minor, but still an annoyance when deep in thought or concentration. Still, it's nothing that can't fixed with two pumps at the end of the pencil. You start over again, scribbling out the final numbers when familiar happy mewl grabs your attention. Before you can even look over, your cheeks lift into a smile.

"Hi, Etsu!"

It's a reaction that happens as soon as the sound reaches your ears. You set your pencil on your paper, math equations and theories slipping from your mind.

Etsu hops onto the counter, his blazing orange fur shimmering in the sunlight. Despite him being a stray, his fur is the softest thing on the planet. You hope he is a stray, because that's how you connected to him in the first place. Sometimes you wonder if he's had those long, quiet nights alone.

"You ready for a meat bun?" You say, sliding a hand back from his head to mid back. He anticipates your touch, always tilting his head up before you caress him again. The mewl he gives, so meek and mild, is what you understand to be a 'yes'.

And so you go over to the pork bun warmer and carefully pluck a bun from the middle shelf, trying your hardest not to touch the metal racks in between. There's still a little splotch of red on your hand from the last time you burned yourself.

The doughy flesh of the bun is warm under your fingertips, and droops slightly, heavy with pork. Steam escapes from every pore, and then, as you slice the bun open, it billows out.

The soft sounds of Estu enjoying his meal brings you a gratification that only comes on—again—during peaceful moments like these.

But as you watch him, you notice your dad's tall, black water bottle and cellphone sitting next to the rotary.

I should probably go and give it to him, you think, watching the bottle now instead of Etsu.

It's about four minutes walking distance from the store.

It wouldn't hurt.

"Nana! Dad left his water here. I'll be right back!"

You wait until you hear the warm, candied voice of your grandmother to leave the store. For a moment, a part of you misses the cool air conditioning.

****

As you enter the breezeway leading to the gym, you realize that you've never been here after school. There's a different vibe, you immediately notice; one that has your steps slowing.

You have never seen the boys your dad coaches. It's not like he forbade you from going to games; and it's not like didn't have any interest in the sport. It's just that you...never.. saw them practice.

You can hear the shoes squeaking and the ball slamming against the waxed floor. It's starts to sound like a horror movie soundtrack, in a weird way.

You peep your head in, carefully clutching the metal door frame.

Five boys, the ones your dad mentioned about earlier, are the first things to catch your eye. One of them, with hair as orange and fiery as Etsu's, is mid-air.

You spot your dad fifteen feet away to the left, arms crossed over one another, head tilted down and eyes wound up--his Focus Face, as you liked to call it. He's deep in his concentration, watching every move of the players on the court. You don't want to interrupt him, so you wait till one of the sides makes a point.

That point comes no sooner after you decide, and after it does, the boisterous cheers of the side closest to you fill the room. You take one step in, more confident, then another, till you're past the metal threshold.

"Dad?"

The man in question turns on instinct. He knows that voice. For fifteen years he's heard the sound of that word, the specific pitch and inflection. So he turns, void of any hesitation or forethought, only wondering why you're here a good few seconds after he sees your face.

Everyone else turns too. The word is so foreign in that environment it feels like slime against skin. The cheers stop. Even the ball stops rolling, and all eyes are on you.

"(Y/n)? What are you--" your father begins, still wide-eyed and surprised. They stay like that for only that moment, however, before returning to their sharp gaze. He turns to the boys, and says, "Excuse me for a second."

You meet him halfway as he walks towards you, neverminding the boys' stares. Haven't they ever seen a girl before? Wasn't that a girl standing right beside your dad?

"You forgot your water bottle," you half-whisper. The stares are getting to you, and you start to feel like you're being cooked alive. "I thought you might need it."

Behind him, a soft murmur lays low in the air. You're hyper-aware of it. What are they saying?

"Thanks, sugarplum." Your dad smiles, something that you know others rarely see, and takes the bottle.

You follow the same path back towards the doors, every now and then peaking glances back at the curious boys. They look kinda goofy, you think, just standing there like they had just witnessed a miracle, like the Lord Jesus Christ himself had come down from the heavens.

But as you turn the corner, a wall that wasn't there before blocks your path. It takes two seconds to register this, but in that first second, you're already colliding into it.

You stumble back, and so does the wall, giving you enough space to look up and see two eyes staring down at you. They're brown and wide with fear, as if had just broken an ancient artifact and was about to be executed.

A squeaky sorry tumbles from your lips at the same time he apologizes.

"Are you okay?" The wall--boy...man?--says. You're still in a daze, but lucid enough to give him a reassuring smile. You've seen him around before. You've never talked to him, but always feel bad that others perceived him as villainous or criminal. Deep down you he know has a kind soul... and a cute face.

"I'm fine! Don't worry about it."

"(Y/n)! You alright?" Your dad calls out from where he is, leaning over to see who you bumped into.

"Yeah! Everything's good!" You pip.

The wall in front of you shifts to the side, clearing the way for you to exit.

You walk with your head down all the way back home, afraid that anyone and everyone could see how red your face was.

God, that was embarrassing.

****

"Coach, was that your daughter?!" Tanaka says, almost teasingly. He's the first to break the silence, and has an apparent death wish.

Soft eyes go razor sharp again. No way was he going to let any one of those hormonal teenage boys near his precious daughter.

"Get back to work, Tanaka!" Ukai barks. All the color drains from Asahi's face, who is still standing by the doors.

"Wait, you mean... I just ran into your daughter?"

"It's okay, Asahi, don't worry about it."

"But...but..."

"Does she go to Karasuno?" Hinata asks over Asahi's blubbering, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"Yes, but don't you dare even think about--

"Is she a first year?"

"SHE'S A SECOND YEAR, FIRST YEAR, NOW GO GET READY FOR PRACTICE."

"Y-yes sir!"

[lazuliquetzal]

Don't Take It Personally, Asshole!

@snowlikestardust

BY POPULAR REQUEST: This is a (cleaned up) version of an early draft of CH11 of AA Batteries, which is in Akira’s POV instead of Miyuki’s! You’ll probably recognize a lot of turns of phrase because I’m unoriginal and like, 80% of what I cut gets recycled. This scene got cut up and Frankensteined a LOT into later chapters haha.

So this takes place during the Yakushi practice match, right after Eijun throws wild and Miyuki talks to Kataoka about his inability to throw to the inside.

“Akira.” Akira stiffens and turns his gaze away from the mound. Coach is standing on the sidelines, and he makes a ‘come here’ gesture. Akira jogs over. He tries to ignore the flicker of hope in his chest, but he can’t stop the way his heart is pounding out of control, leaving him barely able to hear. “Coach,” Akira dips his head in respect and clenches his jaw. His eyes fix upon the ground below. “Can you fix this?” ‘This’ being the obvious — the fact that Eijun can’t throw to the inside. He looks back to the mound. Eijun is stiff and pale, his left hand clenching and unclenching in unconscious denial. He looks a little scared, yes, but mostly, he looks confused. And — this is the important thing — he hasn’t given up. This Eijun won’t shuffle back to the dugout, defeated. This Eijun will go down kicking and screaming. Eijun still wants to pitch. Maybe he can’t pitch. But he wants to. Yeah, Akira thinks. I’ll take those odds.

He looks back at the coach and nods his head.

Kataoka breaks his gaze and looks to the outfield. “Asou!”

Their left fielder jogs in, mouth pulled into a firm line.

“Miyuki, you’re playing left field. Akira, you’re in.”

You’re in.

The words echo around Akira’s brain. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

While Kataoka sorts out the substitution with the umpires, Akira exhales. He drops down onto the bench and adjusts the straps on his leg guards, making sure they’re not too tight or too loose. Beside him, Furuya hovers, eyes narrowed.

Are you going to be okay?

Akira nods.

The truth is: he’d thought about the Inajitsu thing for a long time. And after the initial anger and grief and shame, he’d come to the following conclusion:

Coach Kataoka was right. Akira probably would not have survived that inning.

It wasn’t nerves. Akira had never been nervous in his life.

(Okay, he had been nervous, of course he had. But not for a baseball game.)

And it wasn’t lack of skill or experience, though that probably played a big role in the coach’s decision.

(Okay, definitely played a big role in the coach’s decision. Let’s be honest: Akira was not the best catcher in the dugout that day.)

The truth is this: Akira was scared, too.

For good or ill, better or worse, Eijun and Akira have always fed off each other like a chemical reaction. If Eijun got excited, Akira got excited. If Akira got competitive, Eijun got competitive. Having them play while they were both out of their minds would not have ended well.

Today is a different story.

He’s not going to lie: it is weird seeing Eijun unable to pitch to the inside. It’s practically unthinkable. Eijun and Akira lived and died by the inside pitch. It pretty much defined their entire middle school career.

But right now? Akira’s not scared. And as long as he can hold onto that, he can fix this.

Kataoka gestures for him to get out on the field, and Akira steps out of the dugout.

“Do your best,” Miyuki says, from behind him.

Akira resists the urge to roll his eyes. As if I’d do anything less.

They split off: Miyuki to the outfield, and Akira to the mound. He jogs up to where Eijun is standing. When he arrives, he stops just an arm’s length away from his brother.

Eijun stares at him for a moment, and Akira stares back.

“Hey,” Akira says. “What sign does Miyuki-senpai use for the cutter kai?”

Eijun blinks, caught off guard by the question. He shakes his head and answers the question. “Ah, he uses a ‘four,’” he says, and he makes the sign with his hand.

“Cool,” Akira says. “I’m gonna use a seven.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

Eijun makes a face. “You’re doing this just to be annoying, aren’t you.”

“Yep.”

“And even if I argue, you’re going to use it anyway.”

“Absolutely.”

“I hate you so much.”

“Great,” Akira says, in the flat voice that he knows Eijun finds irritating. “Good talk.”

He steps away and turns to the rest of the field. “So, uh, they’re probably gonna get a lot of hits,” Akira yells out. “Like, a lot. Sorry about the workout. Thanks for your cooperation.”

“You’re saying it wrong!” Eijun hisses at him. “And they are not gonna get a lot of hits!”

“I dunno, Ei,” Akira says, rolling his eyes. “You’re not exactly on top of your game, are you?”

“I’ll kick your ass if you make bad calls.”

“So shake them.” Akira glares at Eijun, daring him.

Eijun agitatedly waves his arms around. “You know I — ugh! Shut up! Get off my mound!”

Akira waves good-bye, as annoyingly as he can, and he walks down to home plate. He sketches a quick bow to the batter and the umpire, and then he crouches down.

The game resumes.

Akira takes a quick look around, the way Chris-senpai taught him to. The runners are at ease, barely paying attention to him. The guy on first base looks especially relaxed.

Hm. He’s never done a pickoff before. That would be pretty cool.

Akira turns his attention back to the mound, and he’s about to make a call —

And then he frowns.

He wants to tell Eijun to throw to the inside. And he knows, by the expression on his brother’s face, that it’s what Eijun wants to do, too.

But there’s something else in Eijun’s gaze. His eyes keep darting around — not to the runners, but to the batter.

Akira glances over at Todoroki Raichi. Yakushi’s monster first-year, a batter who can crush an ace in a single hit. Logic says to be careful; logic says to keep their guard up against the best batter in West Tokyo.

Well, fuck that, Akira decides. If Eijun really can’t pitch to the inside, then every batter might as well be Todoroki Raichi. It’s like middle school all over again.

He spreads his arms wide.

Eijun blinks.

Ignore him, Eijun. Just pitch whatever.

You’re joking, right?

Akira smirks. What, you think I can’t catch it?

Eijun sticks his tongue out — petty and dramatic as always. Akira rolls his eyes, and he knows that his brother can see it because he rolls his eyes back.

Eijun throws the ball.

It's instinctual, at this point, to move his feet and stretch his arm, catching the ball before it can fly out of reach. It slams into the back of his mitt, his vision tunnels — and before his brain can catch up with his body, he chucks the ball down to first base.

Wait, shit —

Thankfully, Zono-senpai catches the ball and tags out the runner. Pickoff.

"Out," says the umpire, looking just as surprised as Akira feels.

Holy crap! Akira thinks, in the safety of his own mind. That actually worked?

Zono tosses the ball back to Eijun, and then sends Akira a fiercely enraged expression.

Akira winces and ducks his head. He can hear Chris-senpai’s voice in his mind: baseball is a team sport.

Oops.

But they got the out, so at least he didn’t fuck up his very first play in the game.

Akira looks back to Eijun. Judging by the wild course of his last pitch, he’s still overly aware of the batter.

Akira spreads his arms, again.

Eijun grits his teeth. He steps onto the rubber and winds up.

It comes. Low. It hits dirt, and Akira stops it. Then he tosses it back.

Throw what you want.

“Are you leading me, or not?” Eijun yells, finally cracking.

“Depends!” Akira yells back.

Eijun crosses his arms. On what?

Akira mimes the motion of a ball hitting him in the face, and then flaps his hand around.

Eijun stares at him incredulously. Excuse me?

It’s a valid concern!

Eijun groans in frustration. I’m not gonna hit you in the face!

Aw, you do care! Akira grins and fires off a sarcastic thumbs up, just rile up his brother a little bit more.

It works, because Eijun’s eyes flash, bubbling up with barely contained fury.

Get mad. It’s better than being scared.

Eijun steps back onto the rubber and tightens his grip on the ball, daring Akira to make the call.

Akira places his mitt. Fastball to the outside.

Eijun throws. Todoroki swings. Foul.

Akira barely registers the hit — as soon as he realized it was a foul, he’d already started planning the next move. Another outside pitch, again, but a four-seamer this time.

Eijun throws.

Foul.

Okay, Akira thinks. He looks back at his brother and studies his expression.

He still looks annoyed and irritated. And even better — he’s not looking at Todoroki Raichi anymore.

Good.

He makes the call. And Eijun follows.

It’s like déjà vu, Akira thinks, as the ball makes its way toward him. A fastball to the inside corner, a sight he’s seen thousands of times. The batter tenses, squares his hips, and swings the bat.

Clang.

Like lightning, a sudden stab of oh shit flashes across Akira’s chest. That was a good hit — firm and loud and solid.

Oops, Akira thinks, as Todoroki takes off running and the runners start trickling in. In retrospect? It was probably obvious that they were gunning for an inside pitch. Most batters are pretty comfortable with the gambler’s fallacy —

Someone clicks their tongue, and Akira blinks, crashing back into the present. Eijun’s glaring at him, again.

Deal with that later, dumbass.

Akira rolls his eyes, but Eijun’s right. Unfortunately.

They’re in the middle of a game right now. He can reflect upon his baseball sins at two in the morning.

The moment the next batter steps up to the plate, Akira calls for another inside pitch. And Eijun delivers.

The ball slams into the back of his mitt, and it’s like a gear clicking into place. How long has it been since he caught for his brother outside of mandatory practice? How long has it been since they formed a battery on the field?

The familiar sensation doesn’t wipe away the anger, but it does drown it out. Who needs feelings? They have baseball.

“Nice pitch,” Akira calls out, and he tosses the ball back to the mound. Truce?

Eijun receives the toss. He nods and straightens his back. Truce.

The rest of their play time blurs by after that.

[nickiewrites]

Perfect. (Chris Evans)

Type: Smut

Warnings: Swearing, sex

Words: 2,117

Pairing: Cevans x reader

Standing looking in the large mirror in the bedroom, smoothing out the dress on my body, wondering if it looked good or not. Tonight was a big night and I wanted to look perfect. I looked up and down a few times, thinking maybe my hair wasn’t put together right, my shoes didn’t match. All the thoughts about what could go wrong were mostly focused on the way I looked. Not a very good thought to have, but I couldn’t help it. I was about to change when I felt hands being placed at my sides from behind and lips being attached to my neck.

“You look amazing, angel.” Chris whispered, softly kissing the shell of my ear. I closed my eyes and shivered. “Absolutely perfect. Nothing less.”

“Thank you, love.” I said faintly. “I guess I look fine. I was going to go change but we don’t have time now.”

“Baby, why would you change? That’s my favorite dress on you! And it’s my big night, you want me to be sad on my big night?” He pouted. I turned around to face him, looking at how amazing he looked compared to me. He was effortlessly beautiful.

“No, no I don’t, I just want tonight to be perfect. But if you like this dress on me, I want you to be happy and i’ll stick with it.” I smiled, leaning up and pressing a deep kiss on his lips. I felt Chris deepen it, his hands cupping my cheeks to keep me there. I kissed him for a few more seconds, before trying to pull away. When I wasn’t released, I started to giggle against him, which made him pull back.

“What?” He smiled at me. “Come on, we gotta leave. Nothings going wrong tonight, remember?” I insisted. “Fine. But you’re getting it when we get home.” He eyed me up and down, before grabbing my hand and leading me to the car that was waiting outside.

-----

The car pulled up to the purple carpet, people, cameras, celebrities everywhere. I felt myself starting to be nauseous, just from being nervous. The car stopped and Chris opened the door, helping me out and grabbing my hand. Soon enough, cameras were snapping pictures and interviewers were pulling Chris away.

“I’m sorry angel, I have to go do this.” He said, looking at me with puppy dog eyes. “It’s okay love, I understand.” He smiled brightly and gave me a big kiss on the cheek. “Okay, baby. I’ll see you when we get ready to go inside.” He said, before jetting off. I smiled and turned to Scott and Zach, being thankful that Chris’ entire family was there.

It was about an hour and a half later when they started calling all of the stars to be seated inside the theater first. We made our way in the ginormous crowd, flooding towards the theater. Soon enough, I saw the bright blue suit and smiled. He pushed past a few people to make his way to us.

“Hi love, how were your interviews?” I said, wrapping my arms around his waist as he presses a kiss to my forehead. “They were good, sad that this is gonna be one of the last times we’re all together.” He said. “Awe, baby. It’ll be okay, I’m sure that you guys are all close enough, you’ll have plenty of more time together.” I insisted. He nodded at me. “Yeah, I guess you’re right, just don’t like change. Everything going perfect as you anticipated?” He questioned. “Yes, sir.” I laughed. He turned to me and lifted an eyebrow. “Sir?” He started to wiggle his eyebrows and I laughed more.

“Okay, and Mr. Evans, your family is being seated here.” The lady inside the theater walked us to our seats. “You’ll be here, right on the end, so that when we call you up, you’ll be right there. Next to you, mom and dad.” She gestured, everyone sitting down, both of Chris’ sisters sitting next to their parents, Zach following with Scott. “And next to Scott, will be you.” She pointed to me, not even saying my name, clearly printed on the sheet she was holding. I sighed, sitting down. Not that I minded sitting next to Scott, we were very close and I loved him like my own brother. And I was happy Chris was next to his parents. But being six people down from him, not even being able to communicate…

This was NOT how I imagined tonight going.

I felt Chris trying to lock eyes with me, leaning back and forth but I ignored it, pretending to look around and see everyone and their families fill the auditorium. Scott tried to have a conversation with me but my mind was just somewhere else. I felt my phone buzz in my lap.

Chris: I’m sorry, angel, I didn’t know they would do this.

Me: It’s fine, I know it wasn’t you.

Chris: Then why won’t you even look at me?

Me: Because what’s the point, we can’t even talk, are we just going to stare at each other and use telepathy??

Chris: Oh stop, no but I would at least like to look at your beautiful face🥰

Me: Well that’s too bad, because it probably won’t look too pretty with a frown on it.

I dropped my phone in my lap and felt it vibrate about a hundred more times but continued to ignore it. It didn’t stop until everyone was called up before the movie started. I leaned my head in my hand and sighed, just wanting this ruined night to be over. Soon enough tho, the movie started. It was going to be a long 3 hours.

I had actually gotten really into the movie that I hadn’t even noticed that Chris had gotten up from his seat, until I felt another vibrate from my phone. Without pulling my eyes away from the screen, I pulled it up and unlocked it. My eyes finally dropped down to the screen.

Chris: Tell Scott you’re going to the bathroom and go to the family bathroom on the opposite side.

I scrunch my face at the text, looking around. I locked my phone and tapped Scott on the shoulder, letting him know where I was going to. I snuck past everyone and ran down the stairs. I walked quickly through the hall, searching for the bathroom from the text. I turned the hard corner and found the door. I barely knocked on it when the door flung open and Chris pulled me in, locking the door behind me.

He quickly attached his lips to mine, his hands digging into my sides. I stumbled back a little, realizing where we were. I started to break away from the kiss, trying to speak.

“Baby- uh, Chris.. We… we can’t- love, we’re in the bathroom.” I whimpered out, hickies being sucked into my neck. As they got harder and further down my body, I lost my sense of my surroundings. I started to give into the pleasure my body was receiving.

“It’s okay, angel. No one’s going to find us.” He whispers in my ear, biting my lobe and sucking it into his mouth. A loud moan escapes my mouth, Chris smirks and reaches for my back, unzipping my dress and letting it fall to the floor.

“We don’t have much time for foreplay baby, i’m sorry, i’ll make-” “I don’t care.” I interrupt him and crash my lips into his, pushing him back to the opposite wall. He smiles into the kiss and removes his jacket, throwing it on top of my dress. He unbuttons his shirt but doesn’t take it totally off, pulling his tie to the side so I can at least feel his skin. I run my hands up his hairy chest and look up at him, smiling.

“I love you angel, i’m sorry tonight didn’t go how you planned.” Chris whispered. “Well, it’s looking up now… among other things.” I smirked and looked down at his erection. I undid his belt and pants as fast as possible and pulled them to the floor. I palmed him through his boxers. He groaned as his head fell back and his eyes rolled. “Fuck, princess, c’mon, no foreplay, rememeber?” I giggled, kissing him again. He used it as an opportunity to flip us around, my back landing on the cool wall. Chris pulled his boxers down just below his dick and grabbed onto my hips, keeping me steady as he lowered himself just enough to slip inside me. We groaned at the same time.

“I forget how tight you are, baby, almost like you get tighter and tighter everyday.” Chris moans and lowers his head into my neck, sucking lightly but biting hard every so often. I grab onto the back of his neck as he picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist, pumping faster and faster inside me.

“Chris, baby- harder. I need you deeper.” I mumbled in his ear. His grip on my waist got harder as he pumped faster, knocking me against the wall. It wasn’t comfortable but I didn’t care at the moment. “Anything you want, princess, but i’ll warn you, I won’t last long.” He said, kissing my cheek. He went slow a few times before speeding up again, which made my pussy ecstatic. I moaned so loud, I was pretty sure the entire building could hear. “I don’t care, love. Fill me up with your cum, so far up my puss. Send me back to your family and friends, with your cum dripping out of me, just like the little slut I am, just for you baby.” I moaned in his ear. I knew that got him going, feeling his thrusts start to get almost sloppy as he tried to near the end. His hand slipped down between my legs and started scissoring my clit in between his fingers. “Is that helping, sweetheart?” He asked softly and I nodded vigorously. “No princess, use your words.” Chris egged me on. “Yes, Chris, it’s helping.. a lot” I moan, his hands resituating themselves in my pants, his thumb landing on my small bundle of nerves, rubbing it in a circle.

“Ah ah ah, yes, who?”

“Daddy…” I moan, feeling the burning in my stomach.

“That’s it. Are you almost there, babygirl? Are you gonna cum with my big, fat, cock inside you?” He hissed. “Ugh, fuck yes, daddy, i’m gonna cum, please, cum with me.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and started biting and sucking his ear, knowing it drives him nuts. “Oh fuck, jesus, baby girl. Ready?” “Yes, daddy.” Chris came a little before I did but I followed suit shortly. Chris continued to pump lightly into me, making sure nothing came out. After about 2 minutes, he finally pulled out, quickly replacing it with his fingers as I whined at the loss of him. He gave me a soft kiss on the lips, before moving to my cheeks and repeatedly kissing them. I giggled and pulled his hands out of my panties.

“Come on, silly. We’ve been gone for at least 10 minutes, they probably know we weren’t just going to the bathroom.” I grabbed his jacket off my dress and handed it to him as he situated his pants. I grabbed the large gown off the germ infested ground and pulled it up my body. I waited until Chris was done and turned so he could zip me back up.

“This is now doubly my favorite on you and it should be yours as well.” He said while zipping me up, kissing my shoulder blades. I smiled and turned around. “Always, love. Now come on, let’s go.” I said, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him out of the bathroom and down the hall back to the theater. We walked up the stairs, Chris helping me. I turned to look at him, smiling slightly, knowing we were going to be separated again. I shuffled past everyone to my seat next to Scott but when I turned around to sit down, Chris was right behind me, gesturing for his family to shuffle down so he could be next to me.

We plopped down and I turned to whisper to him, “You didn’t have to do that, make your family go through all the trouble, I'm okay now.”

“No, angel, it’s okay. It’s my night and I wanna be with my girl. It’s no trouble.” He smiled, wrapping his arm around me. I leaned in, conforming to his side. He leaned into my ear. 

“Remember thought, princes, you’re still getting more tonight.”

[nerdypanda3126]

for your hundred follower celebration (congrats!) 51: “A bull in a China shop has more grace than you.” with marichat please!!

Oooooh this was an interesting one! Thank you so much for the prompt! I hope you like it ^^

Also, huge thanks to @mermaidyarn for helping me brainstorm and giving this a readthrough! 

Don’t Know What Hit Him

Read on Ao3 | Next Chapter

Chat chuckled as Marinette trod on his toes. Again. She broke away from him and hid her face in her hands.

“Ugh! I’m never going to get this!”

“You can always hope whoever you’re learning to dance for wears steel-toed boots.” He waved his boot to demonstrate his point. No harm done. Marinette was blushing a deep red behind her hands.

He held his hands out for her. “Come on, let’s give it another go.”

She sighed as she dropped her hands from her face and stepped back into his frame.

“Ready?”

She stared down at her feet as she nodded.

“And… One, two, three…” he pulled her into the waltz they’d been practicing, leading her confidently but slowly so she could get the hang of it.

After a few rounds of the steps, she brought her head up, probably to tell him something, but the top of her head collided with the bottom of his jaw and made him bite his tongue—hard—as his teeth jammed against each other. He let go of her and backed away to sit on her chaise, holding his jaw and trying not to laugh.

“Oh, Chat, I’m so so sorry, are you hurt?”

He waved her off. “Don’t worry about me, I’m practically indestructible. Which comes in handy when a bull in a china shop has more grace than you.” He smirked, hoping to goad her out of her embarrassment.

He was expecting her to roll her eyes and smack his shoulder, but instead she groaned and sank to the chaise next to him before her face disappeared behind her hands again.

“You’re right, I’m such a disaster zone. Maybe I shouldn’t go anywhere near the dance floor.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” He bumped his shoulder against hers playfully. “I’m sure when you’re not so anxious you’re a great dancer.” He’d just leave out how he knew that. “And it’d be a shame if this guy you’re hoping to impress doesn’t get to see all your hard work.”

“I don’t think Adrien would thank me very much for stepping all over his feet,” she muttered.

“Adrien?”

She nodded before she brought her knees up to her chin and hugged them to her.

“Adrien Agreste?” he asked incredulously. But she’d already danced with him and she was wonderful. What had her so wound up now?

“The more you say it the more ridiculous it sounds.” She bumped his shoulder back, finally, although it seemed more out of habit than anything else.

An idea struck him then. “I bet he’s probably had like, training, or something. Ballroom since he was four, that kind of thing.” Thank his little black kwami his father had actually insisted on him learning something useful for once.

“Don’t remind me,” she grumbled into her knees. “He’s a great dancer. And I’m… me.”  

“You know, the thing about dancing is–” he stood and offered her his hand again– “finding a partner who knows what they’re doing.” He motioned her up and she sighed as she uncurled.

As soon as he had her hand, he pulled her up into a tight frame and smirked. “Then all you have to do is follow.”

Without any warning, he pulled her into the waltz he’d been trying to teach her all night. He didn’t even let her start counting. Her eyes stayed on his as he twirled them around her room effortlessly. No feet stepping, no tongue-biting. Just as he thought. When she wasn’t anxious and tense, she was a perfect dance partner. He even dared to twirl her and she laughed as she came back to him.

Boldly, he dropped his hands to her hips and pulled her closer. She followed his lead and adjusted her grip so her hands were clasped around his neck.

“See? Easy.” He smirked at her.

“That’s because it’s you,” she mumbled as a blush started to creep up her cheeks. “We’re friends.”

“You’re friends with Adrien, too, aren’t you?”

“Mhmm. Just friends.” She dropped her eyes and a crease formed between her eyebrows as she started to frown. He twirled her again to distract her. When she came back around, the crease was still firmly in place.

“Then what’s the problem?” He leaned his head against hers so she didn’t have to look at him when she answered. Her hands slid down from his neck to rest on his shoulders instead and he couldn’t hide the shiver that it caused.

“I wanted to talk to him about something at the dance.”

“Nothing bad, I hope.”

“No, nothing bad. Actually…” she sighed and hid her face in his shoulder. “I guess it depends on how he takes it whether it’s bad or not.”

“What do you mean?” He was barely swaying with her anymore, mostly just holding her close. His heart was pounding uncomfortably and he hoped she couldn’t feel it through his suit. She thunked her forehead against his shoulder gently.

“I want to tell him I love him.” He felt her face scrunch in a wince before she sighed and pulled away to look up at him. “But it’s probably going to go horribly wrong. All my plans have gone wrong before, why should this one be any different? I might as well not say anything and not embarrass myself because he always says we’re friends and I don’t want to ruin that and… Chat?”

He blinked back at her. She waved her hand in front of his face. He couldn’t feel his feet anymore so he couldn’t tell if they were still swaying together or if they had stopped or if they were floating instead. He cleared his throat.

“Can you just… can you repeat that?” he asked when he found his voice again.

“I’m going to embarrass myself?”

“No, not that. The… the first thing.” His hands tightened on her hips unconsciously and he took a step back, suddenly very aware of how close they’d been standing. She was watching him curiously as her arms dropped to her sides.

“I love him?”

“Yeah, that.”

He braced himself with his hands on her vanity behind him and his tail tried to wrap around him like it always did when he was nervous. Instead it ended up swiping everything on her vanity onto the floor. He jumped as several objects clattered. With an apologetic wince to Marinette, he crouched down and turned to try to pick everything up, but as he went to stand, his head banged against the underside of the small desk. He hissed as he clapped a hand to his head and backed out carefully, only for his tail to wrap around his ankles at the worst time.

He crashed to the floor. His tailbone hit first, knocking the wind out of him, and then his head fell backwards and bounced once before his momentum was spent. He was staring up at Marinette from the flat of his back, surrounded by the mess he’d made of her vanity, and the light of her room haloed around her and made her look like an angel.

Marinette had been frozen the entire time, watching him self-destruct helplessly. A laugh was startled out of her at whatever expression he must’ve been making, and then she was offering him a hand back up.

“Now who’s the bull in the china shop?” She giggled, and it sounded like bells tinkling. Or maybe that was the bell at his neck jingling as he moved.

When he was sitting up again, he held a hand to his head.

“Are you hurt?” The laughter in her voice had shifted to concern. She crouched next to him and checked his eyes carefully.

Had her eyes always been that clear, sweet blue? Had he noticed before? Surely he had. And what about her freckles? A cute smattering across the bridge of her nose. He’d seen those before, but he’d never been close enough to see that they followed the same contour as Ladybug’s mask. Her lips, strawberry pink and curved into a worried frown. Those he definitely hadn’t noticed before. Now he couldn’t seem to stop noticing them. He wondered if they tasted like strawberries, too.

“Anything broken?” She laid a hand over his on his head, and pulled it away gently, looking for any sign he was hurt.

“My pride,” he said weakly. He managed a smirk and she giggled again. The sound made a flush of heat creep up his cheeks. He wanted to hear it again. As soon as possible. All the time.  

She helped him to his feet, but his knees were wobbly and he had to lean on her before he could right himself. Her arm slipped under his to support him and he knew she could definitely feel his heart racing this time. She sat him down on her chaise easily and he realized he had never noticed how strong she was either. She’d practically carried him.

“I think we might be done with dancing today, kitty.”

“That’s okay. I think you’ve got the hang of it,” he admitted breathlessly.

“You think so?”

“Definitely.” He rubbed at his head again. “Adrien won’t know what hit him.”

[friccinfricks]

Ben Hardy x Reader Headcannons, LONG.

This was originally titled “Ben x American!Reader” but idk how I feel about that, America’s lame. So, if you’re not an American, sorry, there are still some references to that, but otherwise it’s pretty generalized. Sorry! Nobody asked for this butttttt

- You probably met through Joe during Bohemian Rhapsody - When Joe met Ben, he just knew you two would get along - So he called you and insisted you visit him in London - “What?? Why??” - “There’s someone here I need you to meet” - He flew you out a week later, when they were doing the farm/Love of My Life/Bohemian Rhapsody scenes - He was so excited to see you, he rushed off the set to pick you up and twirl you around in a hug - “Y/N! You’re here!” - “Of course I’m here, I wouldn’t miss an opportunity to see Europe with you old friend!” - You catch Ben’s eye immediately - Joe introduces you to the rest of the cast, saving him for last - When you’re finally formally introduced, he can’t take his eyes off you - He’s in his wig and the blue button up, which is surprisingly silky - You find this out when you greet him with a hug, it’s warm and inviting - He smells lightly of cigarettes, but also of cologne - When you pull back, his arm lingers on your shoulder, a shy smile on his face - You come to the set everyday with Joe, for “encouragement” - But it’s really just so you can keep his chair warm (but it’s ineffective because the UK do be cold) - Ben notices this as the shooting goes on, and starts bringing an extra hoodie or jacket everyday, even when they move locations - He smiles when he sees your face light up - “You brought this, for me?” - “I saw you shivering yesterday, and since Joe is making you sit here all day, I thought I might as well try to make you less miserable.” - “Aw, thank you!” - He likes when you give it back to him at the end of the day, because by then it smells like you - You take turns bringing each other tea/coffee/hot chocolate (although it’s mostly you bringing it) - The rest of the BoRhap Boys make fun of you two alllll the time -Lucy’s kind of your closest confidante - One day towards the end of shooting, you run into her trailer where she’s packing up her bags - You’re wearing one of Ben’s navy blue hoodies - It’s way too big for you, but you’re so warm and toasty you don’t even care - “Lucy!” - “What?! Is something wrong?”

- You’re giggling like a fiend - “I need you to hide me” - “What?” - “I stole something from Joe and now he’s after me” - “What did you take?” - She’s asking you questions but she’s already moving things around so you can hide behind the small couch in the trailer - It doesn’t take long for Joe to come pounding on the door - “I know she’s in there! Let me in!” - “Whom? I don’t know who you’re talking about.” - “Y/N!!!” - Eventually he makes it into the trailer, immediately moving things around trying to find you - You’re trying super hard not to giggle - Ben sees Lucy standing in the doorway of the trailer and hears Joe’s yelling - “What’s going on?” He asks as he walks up to her - “Joe’s mad at Y/N because she took his picture of him and you from his make up station.” - Ben smirks and walks into the trailer, watching Joe tickle you while you’re squealing on the couch - “Give it back!” - “But... ah!... but you both look so cute in it! Please!” - “No! Get your own cute picture with Ben!” - Ben starts cracking up, approaching you two - Joe looks up at him, knowing about both of you and your feelings for each other - “We can take a cute picture if you want, Y/N” - You calm down your breathing, sit up, sigh, and reach into the pocket of the hoodie - “Fine, here” You say, feigning defeat - Joe takes it and victoriously kisses it, patting Ben’s shoulder - “I’m gonna get that fucking picture...” You mutter - And you do, eventually - You get many, many cute pictures and polaroids - At the wrap party after the last day of shooting, Ben asks if you’ll be going back to America soon - You tell him that you don’t have a return flight set up yet, but that you’ll probably have to go sometime soon - He asks you on a few dates, and it goes really well - But unfortunately you have to go back home - It’s a sad goodbye, but Ben insists that he’s going to call you everyday - And he does - Once a month he sends you a bouquet of your favorite flowers, always around the time of your period - He leaves little notes/cards with them, usually along the lines of        a. “Hello love, hope you’re doing alright this week, I know it’s not the best.”        b. “I’m thinking of you! Stay warm, let me know if you want another sweater.” - Among other cute things.  - When award show season comes around, he doesn’t even pretend to get a hotel room - “So, is your apartment ready for me?” - “It’s been ready for you! For months!” - The only downside is that he wasn’t able to bring Frankie - You guys rock the red carpet together - He can’t keep his hands off you, constant compliments - He’s v protective of you, holding/covering your drink when you go to the bathroom - You know that video of him and Joe at the 7/11??? - Yeah, you’re sitting in the car with Lucy, Rami, and Gwilym waiting for Ben to bring you out a fresh cup of coffee - “You two took forever. You’re not allowed to go on food runs anymore!” - The entire cast and you probably get drunk off your asses at Rami’s house, the ultimate after party. - You probably wake up in a spare bedroom in his button down - He’s next to you, breathing softly - His hair’s a mess and yours is too (not like a, “we fucked last night” but more of a, “we did some dumb shit last night”) - You get up before him and bring him a cup of coffee with just the right amount of cream - When you go downstairs, you see the rest of the cast, sprawled out on couches, making you smile - Everyone complains about the noise, but they quiet down when you distribute cups of coffee and aspirin. - Joe doesn’t even open his eyes when you set his down on the coffee table in front of him, he just says, “thank you Mom” - Once you get back to the room Ben and you shared last night he’s stirring - “Oh, there you are, beautiful” - You softly tell him to shut up and hand him his coffee - You run a hand through his hair when he groans about the sunlight coming through the blinds - He kisses your knuckles after a few sips and complains about his pounding head - Eventually you say goodbye to everyone and catch an uber back to your apartment - He falls asleep on your shoulder on the way back - He leaves a few days later to start shooting for Six Underground - It’s a sad goodbye (again) but you get through it - He does his best to call you when possible, and even introduces you to Ryan Reynolds, who makes fun of how he talks about you all the time - He flies you out to Italy, where you scold him the entire time and tell him to be careful during all of his stunts - “Stop it! sLOW DOWN!” - “Babe I gotta do it for the shot, let me practice before we film” - “Be careful though!” - He’s an utter dork about it and winks at you while he’s practicing - He even winks at you and sticks his tongue out during one of the shots, which makes the editors in post roll their eyes months later when they’re going through the footage - Somehow you wind up rolling your ankle ??? - You’re sight-seeing with him and you’re walking down some steps and ?? - He catches you and pouts when you insist that you’re fine while also hissing in pain when you walk on it - So he carries you back to his hotel and makes you lay down on the bed - You huff and complain but he kisses your forehead and you watch Netflix with him the rest of the day - He takes good care of you, propping it up on a pillow while wrapping you in blankets - He doesn’t even roll his eyes or smirk that much when you complain about the ice being too cold on your foot - You order his favorite (spaghetti carbonara) and you make him watch The Office, the American version - “No! I hate this! The British version came out first, that’s the original!” - “Yeah but this one is better, also, I’m INJURED” - He chuckles and boops your nose and says, “you’re lucky I love you so much” - And that’s the first time he tells you he loves you !!! - You stop mid noodle slurp with wide eyes and turn to him - You blink a couple times, swallow, and tell him you love him too - He smiles and puts an arm around you - A few months after you go back home, you get a call from your boss - They ask you if you’d like to work from home - You mull it over, then ask them if working from home could be done from another country - ... or continent.... - They tell you yes, and you call Ben nearly immediately - “Heyyy baby, remember how you told me you loved me and would support me no matter what?” - “Of course darling, what’s up?” - “How would you feel if I... maybe... moved to London...?” - He doesn’t even answer the question - His voice gets super high and he flips out - “Oh my god, really?!” - “Do you want to stay with me? I promise, my flat’s clean” - “Babe, Frankie misses you so much, when will you be here?” - You chuckle and thank your bosses for the opportunity - Your family isn’t in love with this decision, but they support you - And they like/trust Ben enough to be okay with this - Two months later you’re in London, luggage in hand - You’re looking around the airport, kinda freaked out - He finds you in baggage claim, taking you into a bigggg hug - He won’t stop kissing you !! - “You’re *kisses* so *kisses* beautiful!”  - “Ugh babe stop I just got off a plane, I know I look like crap” - “No. You’re absolutely radiant.” - He helps you with your bags and takes them out to his car - The entire times he’s holding your hand and telling you how excited he is - Your first night there he insists on taking you to his favorite takeout restaurant - It becomes a weekly tradition; takeout every tuesday - Months go by and the pandemic hits - Luckily his shooting for Pixie is done by then - But he’s still bored and on edge - You guys watch the news, but after a while it just becomes too depressing - You sleep in a LOT together - normally he’s not a morning person anyways, but any semblance of a schedule is now gone - One time you see an ad on the tele about animals more in need - Frankie’s sitting on your lap and you’re rubbing her ears - “Do you want a friend, Frank?” - She just looks up at you with big eyes - “We should get a cat.” You announce - “A cat? Are you crazy?” - “I dunno, I kind of want a cat.” - He just sort of nods slowly, averting his eyes back to the tv - A couple days later when you come back from the store you can’t find him - “Hon? Where’d you go?” - You hear some shuffling and moving around coming from your shared bedroom - “Shh shh no, hush, don’t chew on that, your mum will be so mad if you ruin her lamp” - “Ben?” - “Y/N! Hi love, come in, come in!” - You open the door and you see him sitting on the floor with a little black and white kitten on the floor in front of him - You squeal and drop to your knees - The kitten immediately takes to you, purring while you pet it - “What should we name her?” - It takes the two of you a couple of hours to figure out a name - But you settle on Mariposa, because it almost looks like she’s got butterfly wings on her back - Mariposa and Frankie actually get along really well !! - At first they were afraid of each other, but after having them both for two weeks Mariposa is more than comfortable cuddling with Frankie on one of her doggy beds - Ben complains every now and then about “all the estrogen” in his flat, but you just throw a pillow at him - “You chose Mari! And Frankie! AND ME!”  - Speaking of throwing pillows - That’s kind of your thing when there’s not any hot tea or coffee around - When one of you says something inherently stupid,  - BOOM - Pillow’s thrown at the other - Sometimes this leads to pillow and tickle fights (which somehow he always wins) - And yeah, that’s kind of the only two kinds of fights you guys have - Sometimes there are definitely cultural differences or perspectives, but you usually are able to contain those disputes enough to where no one’s voice is raised and there isn’t any lingering animosity - Ben is aware that you two are different people from different upbringings, and is mature enough to realize that you won’t agree on everything - BUT that is a great way to push each of you out of your comfort zones - Your relationship is by no means perfect - Especially in the beginning when it was rare for you to see each other when you weren’t on Face Time. - There were ups and downs and very hard times of just... missing him -  But through that entire journey, you never felt as if you weren’t meant to be - You knew that Ben was a hot commodity and as a growing actor he would be getting a lot of attention for how talented and attractive he is - And he knows you get a little worried/insecure/jealous sometimes, so he goes out of his way to show a little bit of extra PDA towards you when he feels it’s appropriate - All in all, he just wants you to know that he thinks you’re the real star of the relationship - His star, anyways - And while he’s done his best to take it slow, holding off on saying “I love you” too soon because he wanted it to mean a lot - He’s got something in the works - A little velvet box that he puts in every pair of pants, because you never know when the right moment arrives - He’s so nervous, too - There have been so so so so many times during quarantine that he’s wanted to just pop the question - But he knows he’s got to have just a little bit of patience - Then, one day, it comes - You’re nauseous as you look at the two parallel lines on the test - You’re freaking out, you have no idea what to do - If Ben even wants kids - If you even want to keep it - You slide down against the bathroom wall, feeling v clammy - After ten minutes, Ben knocks on the door - “Love? You alright?” - “I-um, yeah, one second!” - You stand up, hands trembling and open the door - He’s standing there, a worried look on his face - “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” - You hand him the test - “Sorry, it’s kind of unsanitary.” - This gets a chuckle out of him - It’s hard to read his expression, but you can see he’s trying to hide a smile - “Hold on, stay right there princess” - He disappears into your bedroom and you’re just standing in the doorway like ??? what is he up to ??? - A moment later he comes back and gets on one knee and you’re just... flabbergasted - It takes you a second to comprehend what just happened, but you say yes (duh) - He’s so excited - He kisses your forehead and then your tummy - He insists, and nearly begs to go with you to every OB/GYN appointment - You let him drive you there, and even in the earliest stages of the pregnancy, he’s got an arm on your womb the wholeeee time - At first you told the doctor you didn’t want to know the gender - But then she told you that you’d be having twins - TWINS - So you were like, “fine okay just tell us” - Ben looks like he’s about to faint when the doctor tells you they’re girls - On the car ride back he’s joking the whole time - “Oh my god the amount of ESTROGEN I’ll be dealing with is ASTRONOMICAL”  - The two of you have no idea what to name them - You ask Lucy and Rami, who are trying to conceive - The entire BoRhap cast is sending you suggestions alllllll the time, at any hour of the day - Joe wants you to name them Josefina and Frances since he’s the one who brought you two together - But you’re also planning a wedding simultaneously - You decide it’s going to be a very, very small and soon ceremony - The only people there are your very closest friends and family - Tbh the most expensive element was probably your dress - You get married two months after your engagement - And go through a very rigorous pregnancy - The twins are born with slight complications, which makes Ben worry about you the whole time - You end up naming them Ilsa and Delia, both beautiful and healthy - They for sure have Ben’s green eyes and your hair - And yeah - Life isn’t perfect, but it’s pretty damn close - Ben loves you and all his girls - Because you’re his girls - He’s a good and compassionate father, and his parents love to babysit for you - And if there’s such thing as a happily ever after, - This is it.

[365days365movies]

May 6, 2021: The Martian (2015) (Recap: Part One)

We’re leaving lo-fi sci-fi, people. Kind of.

I mentioned before that films like Her are what I define as “lo-fi sci-fi”, which is a category that I’ve kind of made up. Basically, it’s the science fiction version of low fantasy, meaning it contains science fiction themes contained within an otherwise contemporary setting. In the case of Her, Joaquin Phoenix’s character, along with many others, live in a world and setting basically like ours, but with technology advanced enough to generate AIs (like Siri) that are intelligent enough to actually ascend our reality. Because we live in a society.

You give me Joaquin Phoenix, I’m gonna make a Joker reference; it’s in the contract of my existence. Anyway, that is admittedly kind of broad, right? I mean, that has the capability of crossing over with a BUNCH of sci-fi genres and themes. And, considering that we’ve already seen magic, speculative technology, time travel, monsters, and artificial intelligence, we’ve already touched on quite a bit.

And with science fiction, the sky’s the limit. Literally. So, I think it behooves us to re-examine lo-fi sci-fi a little bit. Specifically, we should note that it can also be defined as an extension of currently existing technologies and possibilities. Writers would call this “speculative sci-fi”, assuming in this case that it’s set within the present or a near and attainable future. Her definitely fits in this category, as does Westworld. But, let’s crossover to another genre by speculating upon another possibility. And it begins with this man. Probably.

Hey, Elon, what’s up? Now, Mr. Musk here is a...controversial figure, for COMPLETELY understandable reasons. Instead of touch upon the man himself, I feel like touching upon one of his recent focuses: space travel. With SpaceX and the various upcoming space trips and journeys that they’re planning, Musk has made it clear that he plans to shoot to the Moon. Again, literally.

In fact, this full plan is to go even further than that, and to fuel potential commercial space flights in the future, which is admittedly very cool. And of course, if you’re going to shoot for the Moon...

Guys...guys, that’s Mars. THAT’S FUCKING MARS

Is that not amazing? We have sound and pictures from FUCKING MARS! THAT’S A DIFFERENT PLANET, GODDAMN IT! It’s cooler than I have the ability to properly express, but it IS goddamn cool. And this means that, easily within my lifetime, we could (and likely will) land on Mars. Which is amazing. God, I really want to see that happen.

And so, landing on Mars is BARELY science fiction, but since we haven’t yet done so...yeah, it’s fictional at the moment. And so, any film about landing on Mars falls within this category. Well...to an extent.

2000′s Mission to Mars, for example, was a Disney-funded film (to my IMMENSE surprise; and it’s based off of an old Disney World ride, WHAT), and a movie that I saw a LOT when I was a kid. I also barely remember it, to be honest. But that film is straight-up science fiction because of, well...aliens. The idea of Martians is, as far as we know it, fictional. And most fiction involving Mars includes these aliens somehow. Whether it’s DC Comics’ entire civilization of Martians, as seen in Justice League, Supergirl, or Young Justice...

...Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s heavily mythologized civilization, as seen in the Barsoom series of novels (and another Disney film)...

...Or one of the best Looney Tunes characters.

Mmm. Yes. Isn’t that lovely?

But, yeah, Mars and aliens go hand-in-hand in our media. So, to properly look at lo-fi science and speculative science fiction in relation to the Red Planet, we’ll need a movie that goes to the planet, and doesn’t touch upon the concept of aliens AT ALL.

Enter...Ridley Scott?

Yeah, the director of Legend, Alien, Thelma and Louise, Blade Runner, Gladiator. Also the director of Kingdom of Heaven, Prometheus, Exodus: Gods and Kings, and...ugh, 1492: Conquest of Paradise. I’ve talked about his mixed record before, in my Recap of Legend right here.

In 2014, he was brought on to adapt a book by Andy Weir called The Martian, which is a great book! I’ve listened to the audio book, and I whole-heartedly recommend doing that. And because of that, I am VERY MUCH looking forward to watching this film, especially seeing as it’s often called one of the best science fiction films made during that year, and was critically acclaimed then and now. It got seven Oscar nominations (although it won none of them), amongst other awards. So, enough navel-gazing, huh? The Martian!

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap (1/2)

On Acidalia Plantitia, at the landing site of the Ares III mission, a group of scientists are gathering samples. These scientists are commander and geologist Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain), pilot Rick Martinez (Michael Pena), systems operator Beth Johanssen (Kate Mara), surgeon Chris Beck (Sebastian Stan), German chemist Alex Vogel (Aksel Hennie), and overly talkative botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon). 

The group seems to have a good dynamic, but that dynamic is interrupted by a massive dust storm, which is large enough to cause the entire crew to evacuate. However, in the chaos of the dust storm, Mark is hit by debris and lost in the shuffle. Although Lewis goes back to find him, she can’t get to him before they need to leave, and Mark is believed dead. This is reported (pretty callously) by NASA Director Teddy Sanders (Jeff Daniels) to the press soon afterwards.

But of course, that wouldn’t be much of a movie, now would it? Mark’s alive! And Mark’s alone. With his suit damaged, and low on oxygen, he trudges back to headquarters, which is intact and still contains breathable oxygen. He gets inside, and realizes that he’s been stabbed in the abdomen by some debris. He removes it, and stitches up his own wound. Which is...god, it’s fucking BRUTAL just to think about, nevertheless watch.

Once he’s finished, he records a log for the future, if he doesn’t make it. It’s day 19 of the 31-day mission at this point, and Mark’s basically screwed. He needs lasting oxygen, water, and food, and he might need that for 4 years, when the next manned mission can come to the red planet. Additionally, he has absolutely no way to contact NASA, leaving him completely stranded. Another dust storm rolls in that night, and Mark looks over the belongings of his colleagues, packing them up for their eventual return. It’s somber, to say the least. However, Mark affirms that he’s determined not to die on the planet.

After doing the math, Mark should have enough food to last him for about 300 days, especially if he rations it. Until then, he’ll need to figure out how to grow his own food, on a planet where nothing grows. Which is, of course, going to be a difficult feat to accomplish. But Mark Watney’s a botanist with botany powers, and he’s gonna do it.

It’s day 31, and Mark’s brought in dirt from the outside, and uses the bio-waste from the crew’s stay there for a form of compost. After 5 days, mostly full of him watching Happy Days on TV and trying to farm, he realizes that he needs water, both for himself and for the soil. To do that, he goes chemical and decides to use hydrogen-laden rocket fuel, wood from Martinez’s belongings, and good old-fashioned fire to make water! And since hydrogen + oxygen = water, it should work. With a minor side-effect.

So, yeah, he blew himself up. As as he records a video log, the sound mixing makes itself impressively known by subtly and realistically generating a tinnitus sound. It’s VERY well-done, holy shit. Anyway, he makes a stable fire, and the place is soon covered in condensation, moistening the room and the soil successfully.

We get to day 54, and Mark’s planted leftover potatoes from the crew in order to grow them. And while he’s being mourned at a funeral on Earth, and in NASA, he’s seeing the fruits (or shoots) of his efforts.

Back on Earth, Mars Mission Director Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) is trying to convince Director Teddy to let him lobby for another Ares mission, despite the risk of bad press for the callousness of the proximity to Watney’s death. Meanwhile, satellite technician Mindy Park (Mackenzie Davis) looks down at the Ares III site, and realizes that the site has changed visually, meaning that Mark may actually be alive.

Shocked by this, she tells Kapoor, Teddy, and media director Annie Montrose (Kristen Wiig) about this, and they realize the absolute clusterfuck that this whole thing is. They can’t tell the other members of the Ares III crew about it, because it’d devastate them for the 10 months they have to get back to Earth, at the VERY least. They can’t tell the WORLD about this, because they just had a funeral for the guy, and they’d reveal that they left him stranded on Mars accidentally, destroying faith in the Mars Missions Program. And they can’t save Mark, who they’re sure will starve eventually. It’s a mess. And Kapoor also wonders what’s happening to Mark psychologically through all of this.

And yet, they reveal this to the world regardless, causing the clusterfuck reaction that they think it’s going to cause. But Mark’s busy on Mars, figuring out how to get to the site of the next Ares IV mission in 4 years, at the Schiaparelli crater about 50 days travel away. This is a struggle, as his Rover has only so much power and fuel, and he can only get more power by cutting out the heater is risking death by freezing. So, problems. However, he figures out a potential solution: radioactive isotopes! In a move that is, let’s face it, COMPLETELY INSANE, he digs up a radioactive generator from the ship in order to heat the ship.

On Earth, they try to figure out Mark’s moves, as well as how to resupply Ares IV sooner for Mark’s benefit. This is with the director of JPL, Bruce Ng (Benedict Wong), and the flight director of the ship Hermes, Mitch Henderson (Sean Bean), who insists that they tell the Ares II crew. They continue to monitor Mark, and note that he’s been travelling for 17 days in his Rover towards something. Kapoor figures it out, and flies to California.

See, Mark needs a way to contact NASA, and he believes that the way to do so is through Pathfinder, the first probe ever sent to Mars in 1997, lasting for 9 months since landing until they lost contact. Mark digs it up, and the people at JPL in California start their own efforts for contact. And despite communication being extremely rudimentary, initially limited to yes/no questions that use a still-frame camera, it fucking WORKS! WHOO!

To boost this communication hurdle, the two camps figure out a hexadecimal system for communication, allowing them to communicate using a circular table of numbers that represent an alphabet. That allows them to teach Mark to hack into the Rover, allowing it to piggyback off of its broadcast signal and send them messages via keyboard. Nice! Now that communication is reasonably possible, Mark’s able to ask how the crew is handling his death. But upon learning that they haven’t told him. He’s understandably a little goddamn enraged. And so, they FINALLY tell the Ares III crew about this.

The news breaks the crew, even though Mark continues to stress that he’s all right, and that it wasn’t their fault. Meanwhile, Mark’s able to survive for 912 days with his potato plants, and things improve with the help of technicians on Earth. They plan to launch a supply rocket to him in the next year, and things are looking fine! Unless, of course...something goes horribly HORRIBLY wrong.

Well...fuck. Good place to pause for Part Two, then?

[maxdark158]

Daminette Soulmate AU

Okay so when I talked about this with @chloe-bourgeois-is-big-gay @mindfulmagics and @2sunchild2 yesterday we went through a scenario where Marinette went to Gotham so I thought WELL WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER WAY AROUND which was mostly inspired by @let-me-perish ‘s Alternate Beginnings au

I am NOT writing more of this, but anyone else is open to continuing it for me in whatever way they want! Make it a collab!

@realrandomposts @ozmav

Enjoy

oooOOOooo

Soulmates are a thing in this world! Damian isn’t sure why that has to be a stated fact, but they are real. The majority of people have soulmates and that is as much of a fact as is the fact that he doesn’t have one.

Well, Grayson says not to lose hope but Damian doesn’t think he’s missing out on anything anyway. He doesn’t care that he doesn’t have some random stranger’s name on his body Grayson does, and he couldn’t understand it until he met the Tamaranean himself, he is not colorblind Todd is, but he hates it writing on his skin bears no results Drake is always writing on his skin, he and his soulmate good friends despite never meeting, he has no marks that will light up when he and a soulmate would first touch Father’s was on his chest somewhere and it lit up before Damian knew of him, he sometimes wonders who else shares it and he doesn’t feel any pain belonging to another person he and his father had been battling Poison Ivy when her soulbond was revealed by a bloody nose neither of them gave her, though he noticed how her and Harley’s injuries always matched the other after that.

Given that the only other soulbond is incredibly rare, Damian feels safe to assume that he simply does not have one. After all, hearing the thoughts of his soulmate would be a headache – both literally and metaphorically.

oooOOOooo

His class was on a trip to France. Paris, France to be more specific. A plagued with supervillains, much like Gotham. Of course, the mayor made sure to remind everyone that the villains were harmless – he likely didn’t want tourists to stop going.

Which is what, Damian realized, he and his classmates were. Tourists.

Well, sort of. They were actually part of an exchange program that all students who spoke French got to participate in. For one month, they would go to the highest-ranking high school in the area – the same one the Mayor’s daughter went to. Then they’d return to Gotham and write essays in French, and depending on the score they could opt out of finals for any other language classes they took.

Damian didn’t really care for the skipping finals part, and was originally planning to sit it out the trip. But Father insisted he go. Something about living life. And monitoring the situation in Paris to see if it needed any intervention. But living life too. For a month.

They had recently landed in the city of love ugh, gross and he and his classmates were at the hotel now. It was the mayor’s hotel, a lavish one at that. Well, appearing to be lavish, but Damian knew enough to know what was a good knock off and what was real when it came to expensive things. He’s a Wayne after all.

“We get our own rooms?” His classmate Charlette “Scar” Gamble sounded surprised. Damian was too. Their trip may only have fourteen students but even he expected to share rooms.

“Well we have three young men and eleven young women on this trip, and we wouldn’t be able to evenly have roommates, so single-use rooms were the best option.”

Damian saw Scar’s shoulders relax. He was glad their school was open to her situation and didn’t make her share with one of the boys. They weren’t friends exactly, but he didn’t hate her company.

Suddenly, a white-hot and burning pain hit him. He grabbed his head, lips pressed tightly together so he didn’t scream. All he could hear was ringing, high pitched like when someone dropped a microphone on full volume. His vision was spotty.

Oh kwami, that hurt. Ugh. I need to focus on this akuma!

What the hell was going on? Why was there a voice in his head? And why was it French?

Focus on the akuma! It’s probably doing this to you, it’ll go away as soon as you’re done, then you can finish your homewor-

Whatever just happened, it fizzled out. Damian blinked, the pain was gone just as quickly as it had arrived.

“Damian?” He looked up to see Scar holding him by the shoulders. “You okay?”

It struck him suddenly when his frie- acquaintance was shaking him down for an answer. The girl he heard in his head – those were thoughts.

He was part of the 3% that had a thought sharing soulmate.

oooOOOooo

“So are you going to lie to me like you lied to Miss Olivander?” Scar and Damian were sitting in the lobby, away from the mess of excited classmates that had taken over their section of rooms.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Damian replied, trying not to sound too stiff. He was on google, searching for everything he could about thought sharing soulmates. Apparently, there was always a distance limit, usually around 20 feet.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Scar roll hers. “You’re my friend Damian. You can tell me! Though if you want me to butt out, say the word and I will.”

Damian turned to her. “Friend? I didn’t know we were friends.”

He panicked for a moment, worried he upset Scar but she just scoffed. “You’re the first person I told that I was a girl and you think we aren’t friends?”

“I thought it was just because I can keep secrets,” Damian grumbled back. So he’s a little socially inept, sue him!

“We eat lunch together often.”

“I thought it was because the asshats wouldn’t mess with you when you sat with me!”

“You helped me dye my hair and found hair dye that matched the trans and lesbian flag.”

Damian paused. “Okay so I probably should have connected the dots.”

“Yeah,” Scar was grinning. “You should have.”

Damian rolled his eyes.

“That doesn’t answer my question though,” Scar poked him in the shoulder. “What happened to you? Everyone was super freaked out.”

He pursed his lips. “My soulmate connection formed.”

Scar’s mouth dropped open. “Really? You have a thought share connection? I thought you didn’t have a soulmate!”

“I thought so too,” he replied dryly. “But it appears I was wrong.”

“Your soulmate is in Paris,” Scar giggled. “Literally the city of love!”

Damian made a face at that, and Scarlett laughed more.

oooOOOooo

Damian didn’t tell his father about his soulmate connection, resolving to figure it out on his own or leaving it alone. He didn’t want to have attachments like a soulmate connection to weighing him down, the thought scared him. But he couldn’t deny his curiosity.

If he heard her thoughts again, Damian would investigate.

Unfortunately, his fri- acqu- friend Scar declared that she wanted him to be happy and she would help him search for his mystery soulmate.

Damian was just glad she didn’t declare that in front of his other classmates.

Today they were heading to Lycee Francois Dupont. Seven of them would join one class, and seven of them would join the other. He and Scar both got Mlle Bustier.

When they arrived, Damian noticed that an Italian girl was outside the in the courtyard surrounded by her peers. She seemed to be crying about something, but Damian didn’t really care.

They went to the class early, the teacher settling them into their seats. There were a lot more than a typical French room, she explained, to accommodate all of them.

Damian was caring less and less as time went on.

Soon other students, this time ones who went to the school full-time, began to trickle in. A girl with curly red hair was showing a boy with a red baseball cap a video on her phone. A small blonde girl and a tall dark-haired girl were talking quietly to a large boy and another small blonde girl. And the Italian girl from earlier was approaching them-

Wait why was she approaching them?

“Hello,” her voice sounded sickly sweet, and Damian pursed his lips, “I was wondering if any of you could tell me about my Damiboo? He leaves so much out of his letters to me and I know you go to school with him!”

He blinked. He opened his mouth to say something. Scar beat him to it.

“What do you mean, Damiboo?” She asked.

“Oh, did he not tell you?” she put a hand to her mouth in surprise. “My name is Lila Rossi. Damian Wayne is my soulmate! His name is along my spine and mine on his thigh.”

Scarlett narrowed her eyes. “Bull.”

Rossi blinked. “Wh-what?”

“Bull,” Damian repeated. “Don’t you know? Damian Wayne doesn’t have a soulmate. He’s said so in many interviews.”

The girl did a dramatic sigh. “He must be lying to protect my identity! I can understand, but it still hurts.” She looked at them, the fakest of fake tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry for bothering you. I just wanted to know how my darling is doing.”

“You should be sorry,” Scar bit out.

The girl seemed shocked that her tearful act didn’t work. Before she could attempt to further guilt trip them, Mlle Bustier asked them all to go to their seats for roll call.

“She’s a liar,” Scar hissed once Rossi was out of earshot.

“No kidding,” Damian grumbled. “She attempted to lie about me but didn’t even recognize me?”

“Stupid, truly, she is,” Scar snickered.

“It appears Marinette is late again,” Mlle. Bustier sighed.

The French class seemed to mumble among themselves. The things they said were all derogatory and rude. Damian wondered why an entire class was ganged up on a single student.

It was then that Damian felt... Something. It was like a warmness in his head without any physical heat. It was… odd, to say the least. But at least there was no pain this time.

-late I’m late I’m so late! Ugh, I should have just not done some homework and slept more, I’m so-

Late?

Yeah! Wait who are you?

I could ask you the same question, person in my head

YOU’RE in MY head tho- wait are you my soulmate?

It would appear so. You’re still late.

AAAAAAH I’M LATE

Damian winced at the yelling, which made Scar turn to him. She saw him rubbing his temple, the slight squint, and grinned.

“Is it your soulmate?” she whispered.

Suddenly the door burst open, a girl with blue pigtails and bluer eyes having run through it, though she didn’t seem out of breath.

“Sorry I’m late Mlle!” She exclaimed.

She’s going to hate me if she already doesn’t like the rest of them hate me.

Why do they hate you?

Not important. How are you still within six meters of me?

20 feet

Shut up American- wait you’re American

“Marinette,” Mlle Bustier sighed. “In case you haven’t paid attention in my class,” giggled erupted from the French students.

As usual, they all hate me

I’m not laughing

Wait you’re seeing this? Ugh that’s worse

“In case you haven’t paid attention in my class,” Mlle Bustier repeated herself. “Students from Gotham Academy are spending a month at this school as an exchange program. Please take your seat.”

So I guess you’re one of the Gotham students?

Yes. I assume you’re the late girl, Marinette?

Gee, how’d you figure that out. But seriously I can tell you’re a guy from your voice and they’re only two guys in here that are American-

“Is your soulmate the cutie with pigtails?” Scar asked. “Because if not, dibs.”

Wait no you can’t call dibs on my soulmate

Who’s calling dibs on me?

Nothing. Stop listening.

No, you.

“You can’t,” he mumbled, and Scar lit up.

“I am going to be the best wing woman on this planet and possibly other ones too!” Scar said just a bit too loudly.

Wait no too loud Scarlett!

So I’m guessing that’s you then?

He looked at Marinette, who met his eyes. She smirked.

Found you.

[heywardsarchive]

a beautiful dream

Remus Lupin x reader                                                                                Remus is my absolute favourite marauder and he doesn’t get enough love. So in his honour, enjoy this oneshot.

warning: fluff to angst, remus being pessimistic and a few swear words

gif not mine credits to the owner

this is for Ria’s 2k writing challenge. @im-a-writer-right​

word count 4k words

lets begin~

Magic had made many things possible. It made many things easier as well. But there were some stupid things that in my opinion were stupid. One of those things was the idea of soulmates. Who gave the ministry of magic the right to decide who i was meant for? Well, if i’m being honest at first the thought of having a soulmate fascinated  me. I was so happy to know i had someone out there for me. Well, that was until i developed a crush on none other than Remus Lupin.

We met on the hogwarts express before first year started. I was sitting in a carriage with my oldest and most annoying best friend- James Potter. James was like a brother to me, a very annoying possessive brother. He made sure to sit with me on the carriage and make me part of his group. Basically what was his was mine as well. Anyway I became the fifth marauder. The  mom of the group. It was upon me to look after them (mostly James and Sirius because they were both big babies who needed loads of attention.) and make sure they didn’t do anything too stupid (I obviously failed most of the time and they always ended up in detention) Some people even called me their mom. 

I’m getting off track. Where was i? Ah, yes. The whole soulmate thing. Basically on your 16th birthday you develop a connection with your soulmate and can hear their thoughts and feel their emotions. Isn’t that like an invasion of privacy?My friends say that I’m just being difficult because i have a crush on someone else and cannot accept the prospect of him dating another person. I hate to admit it but they are right. 

my 16th birthday was in a few weeks and James decided that i needed a huge birthday party and there was no way he was taking  no for an answer. After a lot of protest from me and a lot of bribing from James and the occasional puppy dog eyes from Sirius I gave in. They started giving out duties to everyone. I while on my prefect rounds had to help Sirius sneak out to Hogsmeade where he would buy drinks. I made him promise not to get any alcohol but was he going to listen to me? No. The days flew by very quickly and i was not happy. I made my unhappiness very vocal among my friends. They were surprised because i was one of the few who hated the soulmate system. To get to the bottom of the whole situation, the night before my birthday, they surrounded me asked  no demanded I tell them why i suddenly hated the whole soulmate thing. After beating around the bush for i long time i sighed and said,” I have a crush on Remus okay? I can’t bare the thought of someone else being his soulmate.” “Aw honey, don’t be sad. What if Remus is your soulmate?” Lily said, trying to lift my spirits. It was a good effort but i was still dejected. They saw my sad state and dropped the subject. I was grateful for that.

We chatted a bit more after that but i was tired so i went to bed. I could have slept in but no, at 8am Lily, Alice and Marlene blew a party horn so loudly near my ear that i thought there was fire and woke up frantically. My face must have been a sight to see because they burst out laughing. Meanies. To make my morning even more eventful, the boys were waiting at the foot of the staircase waiting for me to arrive just so they could wish me so loudly that the entire gryffindor tower woke up. “That was unnecessary.” I scolded them. “Yes mummy.” said Sirius and i shot him a glare. “So y/n any plans of finding your soulmate today?” James asked throwing an arm around me. I had totally forgotten that from today onward i could another person’s thoughts. Ugh. 

“Well?” Said James looking hopefully at me. “I don’t like the whole idea of soulmates anymore, you know that James.” I said looking at him. For some odd reason, i felt a wave of sadness wash over me. Weird. I ignored it and threw my arm around the Sirius’ shoulder. “So Pads what do you have planned for yours truly today.” He put his arm around my waist and head on my shoulder. Jealousy washed over me. Why was my soulmate feeling all negative emotions? It wasn't wierd to me because sirius was like the brother I never had. "Well love, we have planned something extra special for you." "Tell me what it is." I have him puppy dog eyes. "You'll get to know soon enough." I gave him one more pout before giving up. "Ok that's enough." Came a voice. Remus. "Let's go eat breakfast." I nodded and followed him and the marauders to the Great Hall. Lily, Alice and Marlene had already been seated there and saved me place. I sat down across Remus who was picking at his food. The full moon was close so he probably was unhappy. "Remus are you alright?" I asked. "Yeah, just peachy." I decided not to press further and let it go.

I chatted with the girls for a while before telling them I'm going for a walk. They seemed happy to see me leave probably because I knew they had a surprise planned for me before my party. Anyway, I sat under a tree near the Black lake and thought that I might as well contact my soulmate since we're stuck together anyway. I closed my eyes. "Hello?" No reply. I tried again. "Hello? Soulmate, you there?" Maybe they weren't 16 yet. (Remus' birthday is in march so if your birthday is before March 10 just pretend it's not)But wait, that's not possible. I could feel their emotions just a few hours back. Was my soulmate ignoring me? Uh, rude. "Ok mr soulmate if you don't want to talk to me that's fine. I'm as unhappy about this soulmate rubbish as you are since you're clearly ignoring me." Guilt. Aha caught him.

"I wasn't ignoring you. I was busy." Oh so now he replies. "Well that was rude." "I'm sorry." Atleast he apologized. "So what year are you in?" Wait that was a dumb question. He's probably in his sixth or seventh year like me. "I'm in my sixth year." "Oh! Me too! Which house are you in? Im a gryffindor." "Yeah, I'm a gryffindor too." Okay. So a gryffindor sixth year. I probably know him. "Do I know you?" "Probably. What's your name?" "Y/n." I felt shock wash over me. After that there was no reply just a series of shit shit shit. The cursing stopped abruptly when he probably realised I could hear him. He started singing dance like a hippogriff to cover up his thoughts, I think. I guess my soulmate likes someone else too. I decided to return back to my dorm until the girls decided to take me to my surprise.

When I walked into the dorm I expected it to be empty and not filled to the brim with balloons? Why were there a million balloons in my dorm. "It's for your surprise. Crap." Ah so he is one of the marauders. Oh dear god please not James. I can't see him in that way. This is bad. Then again maybe it isn't the marauders. They could have told the other boys what they were doing. You never know with those boys. They covered my eyes with a cloth and then sirius picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. Dear god what is happening? I was carried a long distance before I was set down on the grass. "Can I take off the cloth now?" "Not yet, not untill Lily and the others arrive." I waited for about five minutes I think when the cloth was removed. "Happy Birthday!" They all cheered. They had brought to me to my favourite spot on the courtyard near the Black Lake. Lily had brought a birthday cake that was frosted with (f/c) frosting. "Aw guys that's so sweet of you! You didn't need to do all this for me!" "Come off it (y/n/n)! You do this for us every year! You deserve it!" I smiled at them. How did I get so lucky?

"you deserve the world" Thank you soulmate I appreciate that. But that comment made my suspicion that my soulmate was one of the marauders stronger. I was determined to find out who it was.

Remus' pov

After we gave y/n her cake and gifts the girls dragged her to their dorm for some girl time and to get ready for her birthday party. When we returned to our dorm, I shut the door and sausy. "Guys. I have a problem." "What's up dear moony? " Sirius said. "I found my soulmate." I told them. "Finally! I guess they turned 16 recently. But why is it a problem." "It's y/n." Sirius smirked and James snickered. "So our darling star (your nickname cuz of your animagus being a wolf.) Is your soulmate. And that is a problem why?" "I can't date her. Im a monster what if she hates me?" James sighed. "Remus, if she hated you she wouldn't have become an animagus for you, she wouldn't hang out with us and she's have stopped talking to us a long time ago." "He's right you know, and besides y/n has a crush on you." Peter piped in. She likes me? Y/n likes me? I thought.

"woah there soulmate I don't even know you. You mustn't always listen to rumours." Oops I forgot she could hear my thoughts. Dang it. "Also soulmate please stop feeling 5 emotions at the same time because it's very confusing." Yep it was our sassy y/n alright. "Sorry." No reply. I started to get ready for the party. I dressed up in a simple shirt and pant. I read a book while waiting for the boys to get dressed. "Nice book. Whatcha reading?" Came her voice. "Little women. It's a great book." "I must read it one day then. Or maybe I can just hear you read it." I smiled at her. She was so sweet. "Yes I know I'm sweet." She commented sarcastically. I laughed and shook my head. "So soulmate when will I know who you are?" "You won't like me if you know me." "Don't be so pessimistic, you're just like my friend... REMUS? IS THIS YOU?" Shit shit shit "no it's not Remus." "I don't believe it. Remus, what are you so scared of?" "Look I'm not Remus and i dont have time for this right now. Goodbye."  How could i be so stupid? Before i could think anything else, the boys had gotten dressed and were ready to head downstairs. 

y/n was waiting in her gryffindor robes for Sirius at the portrait hole so he could go and get the required supplies while y/n did her prefect rounds. Luckily for me i didn’t have rounds today. I would have to deal with the consequences later. She saw me and looked like she wanted to say something but Sirius dragged her out saying that if it got too late they would get caught. She sighed and reluctantly followed him out. “Okay, what’s going on between you two?” “She figured out i was her soulmate and i got frantic and told her i wasn’t.” “Why would you do that?” “I don’t know, i got scared.” James just shook his head and patted my back before returning to charming the room to be soundproof and putting the decoration up. Not long after, the party had started. Sirius and y/n had returned. she went up to get dressed. She returned wearing the most beautiful (f/c) sundress and I think my heart just stopped.

"take a picture it will last longer" "what? I wasn't staring at you. I don't even know where you are." "Don't lie Remus we both know it's you." I didn't reply. The party started and it was loads of fun. Everyone was dancing and having a gala time, but I couldn't take my eyes off y/n. She danced with her friends and laughed with others. The party went on untill midnight when everyone retired to their respective dorms. I knew I was going to have to face y/n in the morning and I was scared. But I put my thoughts aside annd went to bed. I couldn't sleep much that night. I ended up waking up at 6 and decided to read in the common room. I sat by the fire side and started reading.

'I want to do something splendid...something heroic or wonderful that won't be forgotten after I'm dead.'

"I don't know what, but I'm on the watch for it and mean to astonish you all someday." Said a voice. One I know very well. Y/n. "I read the book you know, after you said that I was good. I finished it in a day." I avoided her eyes feeling embarassed. I felt betrayal wash over me. She was definitely hurt. "Why did you lie Remus? I thought we were friends?" "I'm sorry. I couldn't bring myself to believe that someone like you is my soulmate." "What do you mean?" The hurt in her eyes was replaced by concern. "You know what I am y/n. I can hurt you in so many ways. You deserve someone who will be able to take care of you. Someone who doesn't need to go running every full moon." "And yet we're soulmates. Remus, if we were not good for each other we wouldn't be soulmates." "You were the one who didn't like the soulmate system." "That was because my heart belonged to someone else, you. I had a crush on you since 4th year. I couldn't accept that maybe we were just destined to be friends." "I liked you since third year too." "Then why won't you just let me love you? I accept you Rem. If I didn't I wouldn't have become an animagus for you. I wouldn't be friends with you. I love you and I care for you. Accept that." She smiled at me and held my hand. I could feel all the adoration she had for me. "If you're sure." I told her and closed the gap between us. I could feel fireworks and my heart felt complete. All I felt was her lips moving against mine and how happy I felt. I pulled away and smiled at her. "I love you too."

Just as the words escaped my lips I heard wolf whistles and cheering in the background. "Our moony has finally grown up." Said James wiping a fame tear and sirius laughed. I looked at y/n and she hugged me. "Im still pissed at you for earlier but I can't stay mad at you for long can I?" I laughed and pecked her lips. I was finally happy.

*****

We were sitting in the common room a few moths later when James and Sirius ran inside yelling at each other. Lily sighing as she walked behind them. "Y/n your children are fighting again." Y/n glared at Lily and I snickered. She elbowed me hard. "Firstly I am not their mother during the school term. Secondly why are you two bickering again?" "You clearly act like it." Marlene muttered and y/n just ignored her. "James hexed snivellus and blamed it on me and now Minnie is behind my life!" "James! That was wrong. When will you ever act your age?" "See?" Marlene yelled. Once again she was ignored. Sirius and James kept bickering when all of a sudden sirius looked at me all seriously. "If y/n is our mother does that mean you are our father?" Marlene and James burst out laughing and y/n looked like she wanted to strangle Sirius. "SIRIUS BLACK FOR THE LAST TIME I AM NOT YOUR MOTHER IN SCHOOL!" The whole room fell silent for a few seconds before laughter filled it again. This time y/n joined in too. I love her. "I love you too you know." She turned around and winked and I felt my cheeks heat up.

Seventh year came and went by quickly. We were on our way home for the last time on the Hogwarts express. Everyone was discussing their future plans. I stayed silent. Who would employ a werewolf? Y/n literally sensing my discomfort came closer to me and held my hand. She shot me a small smile and I instantly felt better. I studied her profile and realised how much she meant to me. The train came to half. We walked out slowly taking in the feeling of the train. We stepped out of the carriage and hugged each other goodbye. "We must meet up often." Said James who had an arm wrapped around Lily's waist. (They were soulmates. Big shocker am I right?) Everyone nodded in agreement. Everyone started to walk away in their respective directions. I held y/n's hand and told her to wait a bit. She looked at me questioningly. "I've been thinking-" "uh oh." She snickered a bit. "The last time you were thinking you thought I would not want to be with you." I glared at her a bit and she suppressed her laughter. "Marry me." "What?" "You heard me. Let's get married. I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." I felt various emotions wash over me. Shock , fear, love and finally pity. "Remus I love you too but aren't we tok young? We just finished Hogwarts. I would love to marry you. Just, not yet." "Alright thats fine." She could tell I was hurt but made no comment.

A few days passed we barely spoke to each other. Suddenly out of the blue she aparated into my apartment. "Ok, let's do it. Let's get married." "Wait. Seriously?" "Yes." She pulled me in for a kiss. "I thought about it and I want to spend the rest of my life with you too." I was ecstatic! Over the moon! She laughed at my reaction and I fumbled to pull out my mother's ring. "This was mum's before she died. And I want you to have it." "Rem, this is so beautiful. Thankyou." "Let's go tell the others and your parents and my dad." She nodded. We told everyone and they were all happy for us. We got married a few months later in a small ceremony. We moved in together in a cosy apartment which we bought together. A few months after that Lily and James got married. Life was looking better for us. Lily was pregnant. Soon after that a dark lord called voldemort was on the rise. He was killing muggles and wizards alike. Everyone was terrified. On July 31 1980 Harry Potter was born. He was the ray of light in our dark lives.

All of us spent our time together savouring every minute. Then came the prophecy of the chosen one. The child born on the end of July who could kill the dark lord. He had decided that it was Harry and was out for his blood. Lily and James had to go into hiding. A fidelius charm was placed on both sirius and y/n. Only Sirius' name was disclosed. Then Peter was put under the charm as well. Then the dreaded happened. Voldemort had come to know about the Potter's hiding spot and killed them. Baby Harry was alive but lily and James were dead. Sirius was put in azkaban without trial although it was the rat Peter who gave out their location.

Y/n who had been studying to become a lawyer in the wizengamot fought for custody of Harry after he was placed under the care of his horrid aunt. After all, she had the right to do so as she was his godmother and the Potter's will stated that Harry was to be under her or Sirius' care. I saw her come home in tears after our best friends had died. She promised herself to avenge their death. It killed me to see her blaming herself so much. After a long year of her hard work, Harry's custody was finally passed onto us. I was so proud of my wife. The next thing y/n had to do was prove Sirius' innocence which was an easier task. She declared herself as the second secret keeper and after being put under verataseruim Sirius was declared an innocent man and Peter was being searched for. Things started to look up again. Y/n started to laugh again. She spent most of her time with Sirius (who temporarily moved in with us) Harry and me.

"Remus, do you want children?" She asked me one day out of the blue. "Ofcourse I do. But what if they inherit my lycanthropy?" "Then we'll love them as I love you." I hugged her tight. A few months later we got the news that y/n was expecting. I felt immense joy. I had never been happier. Harry was already 7 by then. He lived a happy life surrounded by people who love him. When he started Hogwarts he had a little god sister to look after. We named her Hope after my mother. She loved Harry and Harry loved her. She didn't inherit my lycanthropy which was a relief to me.

Everything seemed fine for many years until voldemort was on the rise again. We fought a battle once, we could do it again. With that thought in mind, y/n and I stood together, holding hands as the death eaters attacked the beautiful castle that I once called home. We stayed together the whole time. When I was duelling a death Eater another one came from behind me. He muttered a curse. "No!" Y/n called jumping in front of me taking the hit of the curse. She fell down on the ground with a deep gash on her chest. She started breathing heavily. "Remus.." "No no you can't die." I sobbed. "Im not worth dying for." "Oh darling, you are worth everything. Don't cry Rem, think of the good times. " "No" I sobbed. "Kiss me one last time, hug me one last time, tell me you love me one last time and tell Hope that she's my world." I sobbed but obliged. I hugged her and kissed her hard. Pouring out all my sadness into it. "I love you y/n. Always." "I love you too my love, always and forever..."

3rd person POV

Just as the words died in her lips, his world had ended. He felt a numbing silence wash over him as the reality of her death hit him. Everything felt around him felt like a blur because all that was left of his beloved was a beautiful dream.

[dollydeez]

“Summin Strange in Them There Hills” Preview

Chapter One: Two Missing, Presumed Dead

This was supposed to be my time off, but “two missing, presumed dead” isn’t the kind of story I can turn down. I was in my apartment, surrounded by bottles, dirty dishes and cigarette butts, when an envelope slid beneath my front door. “Fuck,” I thought, assuming it to be a bill I had forgotten or the harbinger of trouble. It was the latter. A note from my boss, sparse on the explanation: and old friend of his was running an outpost on the frontier, two boys went out and never came back, leave [the contact’s] last name out of the press. If there are those of faint heart among us, my next series of columns will not be for you. Or maybe they will, I’m scribbling the first draft of this while waiting for the train with no intent of changing it. My job is to see the present and past with clear eyes; the future will always remain shrouded in fog. The only other instruction I was given was to hop on the next train available to Darmatilo. I know nothing about it, beside the fact that it lies in the region first settled by our kind when we moved westward. In my frenzy to get down to the station, I packed lightly and walked fast. It seems the line only runs in that direction twice a day, so I’ve had plenty of time to wander about. The ticket counter had a small display of pamphlets next to it, trying to tempt workers to waste their vacation in an arid wasteland, but I was able to scrounge up some information on my destination. Not directly, it was mostly an ad for the luxurious riverfront city of Ladustri, but there was a passing line about the ‘historic’ settlement of Darmatilo, separated by a small ridge from the mining town of Lagerdient. After eighty years it’s suddenly ‘historic’, the absolute gall. The train should be arriving any minute, and only now am I realizing that I could have gone back home to pack more substantively. I’m not used to last minute trips, nor stories with the possibility of more than a few days work. Maybe I’ll be lucky and head home before I run out of clean clothes, but it feels almost vulgar to suggest. My packing playing a role in the length of my stay is fine in the context of a feel-good story, but heading into something more dramatic… Comfort be damned, I’ll stay however long it takes to finish the piece.

Travel is not an unfamiliar aspect of the job, and it comes with a few perks. I don’t often head out of the city, Our City that is, but when I do I travel well. Private cabin with plenty of space, complimentary food service, and unlimited access to the sleeper cars. I spent most of my time glued to a book, but when the trolleys passed by and roused me from my trance I would glance up at the world dashing by. Trees to mountains to nothing desert. Swear to god my ears popped at least three times. Despite the emptiness stretching out before me, the desert is a relief. Something about the mountains, knowing I was so far above everything else, put me off. No matter how much I ate, nothing felt satisfying. I couldn’t concentrate on my book and even my nocturnal excursions provided little relief in the face of knowing how separated from everything I was. The air is too thin up there, no one wants to man an outpost up there. Despite all the complaints I could have about the desert, moving away from that truly dead region into one that seems that way was a relief. The ground was more even and I actually ended up finishing my book. Tragic, finishing a nonsense book in a single sitting, everything wrong with it jumped out much more ferociously. But I wasn’t reading for the plot, I wanted to see characters wriggle through strange situations. It posed this great question of, beyond all the strangeness in normal life, what if there was much more out there in the stars? Automatons indistinguishable from humans, Earth as our homeworld being a long forgotten relic, ‘star ships’ with the ability to jump great distances across the universe… I can’t tell whether the idea of humanity’s faults existing far beyond the bounds of our world is deeply cynical or a profane kind of optimism. If I’ve been keeping track of the stations correctly, I should be getting off soon. This section of my notes, or article if I decide to publish it as is, might be coming to a premature end but I need the last five minutes of any journey to get ready to transition back into work. I may travel for work, but it’s never felt like work. I can’t think of any other moment where I feel so comfortable and justified to fold into myself.

The whine of the whistle felt louder, knowing that I should start gathering my things. I’m a professional and know what I’m doing, so I hung back while everyone else stood up and huddled around the doors as they waited for them to open. Part of me can understand the impulse to get out as quickly as possible, but pragmatically the best option is to stay comfortable and seated until everyone is moving. Filtering out with the last of the passengers, I glanced along the platform for a figure who seemed to be waiting for someone. A man dressed in jeans and a dirty grey shirt was leaning against one of the pillars supporting the station awning, brim of his black hat pulled over his face and cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He looked over to me and gave a little nod upwards in acknowledgment. “Nic?” “And you must be Marcy, mighty nice to meet you,” he said, sticking his hand out. I nodded and kept moving, hoping the horses weren’t in the opposite direction. I would not describe Nic as loquacious, gregarious, or even a minor form of talkative. He was silent down the boardwalk, and was sparse with his words in identifying the black stallion as his and chestnut horse next to it, with a white streak going from its mouth past its chest, as the one I would be using. He focused on the case on the ride over, along with confirming that his first name was fine to use. Franz and James were the lads missing, the first disappearances in a long line of ‘kids’ finding refuge in the outpost, and… I’ll print it because it’s the truth, but I hate it: I was only there to make the remaining residents feel at ease. Not to say I won’t see this assignment to the conclusion, I am still an investigator, but I wasn’t meant to mention I’d only shown up to write for a paper. Something about wanting to keep the ‘kids’ from the brutal truths of our existence, make them think someone cares enough to look into it. Seems I am that someone who cares, although their understanding of my motivation may be a bit skewed. The ridge was surprisingly verdant, lined with trees on either side which were surrounded by pine needles and shrubbery. How they got into the desert I’ll never know, but squirrels rustled through the branches as we passed, spooked by our presence. Nic spent the gallop from the station shouting over his shoulder to get me up to speed, yet in the craggy path, full of sharp turns forcing us to keep our pace slow, he was silent. Why was that? “I wanted to give you a chance to appreciate the scenery.” And after all that time on the train, surrounded by dirt out to the horizon, I did. It reminded me of a certain part of the park about seven kilometers south of my flat. A straight path, but juxtaposed with everything around them[rephrase] both feel like somewhere you could get lost amongst the trees.

We spent at least half an hour winding through the wilderness until we entered a clearing, at the centre of which was a three story house. The wood was weather-beaten and dark from some impossible rain localized in this little area, and it had a covered porch out front next to the hitching post with chairs and a barrel hosting a crowded ashtray. The sound of hooves below us was muffled by grass as we approached the house. Candlelight flickered in the windows and I concentrated on taking in the moment; getting back into the experience of the first night off in a distant place, settling in so I can better take in what it feels like to be here. Following Nic inside, I got the faint whiff of roast beef. The dining room to our left was set up for dinner, but the room was empty. In the living room to the right a fire was blazing next to a man in a suit, who glanced up at us from his book with a look of anger. “You’re late,” he said, setting his book aside to get up. Despite shaking his head solemnly, his lips trembled, fighting to curl upwards, as he held in laughter. “Marcy’s train was late, and-” “Absolutely no excuse! The food’s gone cold, what am I meant to do? Heat it up in the oven like a commoner?” I said nothing while observing this ritual, as he sidled up to Nic and gave him a kiss on the cheek. They laughed and he turned to me. “Jasper,” he said, sticking his hand out for me shake. I introduced myself and, looking to Nic to confirm that I could speak freely, made sure we were on the same page as to why I was there. He wasn’t entirely comfortable talking about it, something about it making him not want to leave the house, and shifted the conversation to getting me settled in.[Ugh rewrite this] “We can save this for tomorrow, no? You’re probably starving, let me get dinner heated back up.” He gave Nic another peck, then disappeared into the kitchen. I went with Nic and took a seat at the table. It’d been mostly travel, but it was still a long day and I started to feel it as I sunk into my seat. Jasper was dashing between the kitchen, dining room and cellar as he brought out a bottle and poured us all a glass. In the middle of proposing a toast, he excused himself for a moment to check the oven. When he came back, he raised his glass and said, “To new friendships and new beginnings.”

Final Notes: I have a small candle resting on the desk in my room, where I’m scribbling this down before going to bed. It feels like a slow start, with little to no new information coming out (beside the ruse I’m meant to carry on with) and I’m fine with that for the moment. It’ll take some getting used to, being out in the middle of nowhere. The constant sounds of the city have been replaced by the buzz of cicadas and chirp of crickets. I’m in a small room, previously belonging to James, with a twin bed set up with an itchy green blanket. Beside the oak armoire and a painting of a dancer hanging on the wall, the room is bare. Despite how late it is and how tired I feel, the prospect of settling in to a new bed feels draining in its own wicked way. It’s an intersection of the trust needed to fall asleep in a strange place, the adjustment to a new environment, and the threat of restlessness. My job demands that I keep daylight hours, but I’ve always been fond of late nights. Not doing anything, but staying up and feeling like the world is my own. One item of concern I brought up over dinner was the absence of the ‘kids’ (it’s an oft enough used colloquialism in this situation that I’ll be removing the apostrophes from here on out) as the pretense for me coming out was putting their minds at ease. It seems their concern was focused on the idea of an unsolved crime rather than their safety. One of the more troubling manifestations of this was their insistence on abducting locals to interview, undermining the separation between residence and feeding grounds. I haven’t looked into how it’s done in the industrialized setting of the city, but from the price I’m guessing there is an assumption that we’d handle it on the individual end. That’s not an option out here, and to compensate they cross county lines for donors in most cases. Thankfully, most of the abductees were taken from their homes and could simply be bitten and returned with no recollection. But this was a corrective course, and at least one was picked up while in transit. If we are dealing with a hunter, which I doubt, they’ve been tossing rocks at the hornets nest. Even if not, one might have been stirred up in this chaos. We’ll just have to see moving forward.

So that’s the start of the [unedited] second draft of my next novel, Summin Strange in Them There Hills. If you read any of the first draft, there’s been a significant shift in the voice which I’m really happy with! My goal with the novels I have planned is to ground the narration in the world of the story, and this draft feels promising.