#retain what words mean and to not forget everything ya know?

[secretlytranced]

I don't know how it actually feels to dumb down. I mean, I still win at chess and other games often, I can still work and think of nice new ideas and feel pretty normal in general.

But! It's also true that I was great at learning languages and now I forget every single new word forever just SECONDS after trying to memorize it... which is a bit frustrating, but then I come here and scroll with one hand and I forget about it for a while.

Also I used to be super focused on conversations and movies and stuff and actually payed attention and retained the information like, forever and now I'm lucky if half of what they say sticks.

Am I really getting affected by all this?? I even left for like, 5 months and now kinda relapsed, and I don't know if it's good for me 🥺

What made me write to you was a silly incident today, not even a sexy one, where I tried pouring myself some soda into a glass and made a mess. I got a bit estranged but cleaned up and forgot about it, and right after that, while trying to take a sip of my glass, everything umm... forgot the word... didn't go to my mouth and my face got all wet and sticky.

Should I be scared? 😭

Hehe don't be scared!! Thinking can be like super hard so when you can get a chance to be dumb and not think, it's just so much better. And you can always get your smarts back when you need when but like you don't always need them, ya know? Just don't worry and don't think and it'll all be OK! 😇💜😇💜😇

[silverynight]

I've been sitting on this idea for awhile now, but a BNHA!KNY!Modern!AU! IDK how, but that one doctor guy under AFO manages to get a hold of a blue spider Lily and makes the demon making medicine. And, Izuku, being quirkless, so less people deciding to look for him, get abducted at given the serum.

However, he's like an advanced Nezuko! He retains a lot more memories of himself, and distinctly two other people: his mom, Inko, and Kacchan! He ends up escaping, (because, demon, ya know?) and goes to Katsuki's home, (who has actually started to shut down, because uh...he didn't want bad things to happen to his estranged friend...and he feels super bad, cause literally the last words to him were mean, thou not the famous "swan dive" line), and freaks out seeing a smiling Deku with glowing, cat-like emerald eyes and fangs.

"Ka-cchan! Ka-cchan! I...I back!"

"Holy shit, Deku!? What the Fuck!? You...how did you even get up here!?"

(The last time he saw his friend was with noodle arms that could barely lift ten pounds, and now he suddenly has muscle s!).

After that, Katsuki first hides him in their basement, (because Izuku does have a weakness for sunlight, for now), and later, an old, abandoned building, (yet still has functioning light and water? what the hell, city inspectors?), and he visits him every single day, (he stopped hanging out with the extras that called themselves his friends, when Izuku when missing), and, kinda treating his demonism as a quirk, he figured fangs = meat in someway, probably raw.

It works, for the most part, but Katsuki is quick to notice that Izuku still is very hungry, even after eating many pounds of bloody pork and beef so...he just gives it a shot in the dark and gives Izuku some of his blood, and the very content look of relief on Izuku's face!

So Katsuki, for awhile, gives Izuku his blood, if not donated blood he manages to get from various clinics that actually cator to blood quirks, and Izuku becomes more and more aware and literate with each feeding. Of course, his family, Inko and Tsukauchi, who never gave up on Izuku's case, and Eraserhead are suddenly sus of his weird schedule and habits now. They are especially worried about the bandages around his wrists. And while his insisted "I'm fucking fine! Christ..." is picked up as true, they still follow him one day to see what is going on.

So imagine their surprise when they find a Demonized!Izuku, drinking from Katsuki's wrist, as said boy simply eats a very iron-filled meal. Afterwards, as soon as Katsuki bandages his wrist up again, it almost all goes to shit as Eraserhead shows himself, (his goggles on and quirk activated), and Izuku growls at the hero. Katsuki is pissed that he followed him, saying this was none of his business and he knew what he was doing! Eraser says he should have said Izuku was fine, and brought him back home. And, he is debunked, Katsuki saying no! There is a reason Nerdy Deku came to me, and that's cause his mom, who always means well, would have tried to probably pretend everything was normal and ignore the (very much assumed) stress induced quirk that requires, at the very least, bloody animal meat, at the very most, human blood. Because she would want to forget anything bad happened to her quirkless child!

And it definitely doesn't help that, in exchange for giving him enhanced strength, agility and what not, that he is suddenly very much allergic to the sun. As in, he literally turns to ash and actually catches on fire! (Katsuki freaked out over that discovery and that's why he quickly put Izuku into the basement). At this, Izuku finally talks, still kinda in parts, but more understandable, saying he better now!

And he goes and promptly rips the curtains covering his darkened hiding space, freaking Katsuki out, ("Shitty nerd, what the Fuck are you doing!?") and Eraser, Katsuki and Tsukauchi, (who was still hidden, and his quirk picking up truth in everything Katsuki said), are surprised that Izuku simply stands in the sun and does not burn. He gives them a matching, bright smile, fangs and all! :)

(And at the moment, Katsuki realizes he has it very, very bad for his childhood friend.)

Asvsgskn! Sorry, this got so long! Like I said, I have been sitting on this for awhile now, and I decided to share it with you! Um, everything is kinda canon, Izuku does go become a hero! With his cool demon powers! (He knows what he actually is, but doesn't decide to correct anyone. He doesn't want to be carted off and studied by a certain HPSC). Katsuki, while treating it as a quirk, has his suspicions that it is, in fact, not. And somewhere during the camp arc or the dorms, Izuku confirms it to him. Even explaining he has a feeling he...might be able to die, ever.

Dunno if Izuku turns people who are meant to die into demons, too, and if they become sun-immune like him and if this makes him a demon king. But he 1000% does gets a blood demon art, unknown still. I don't wanna be generic and make it like OFA, so do what you want with that. :/

Izuku would make an adorable yet very powerful demon for sure. And he's very protective of Katsuki.

[videostak]

am considering getting an english  rom of portopia serial murder case cause it looks like smthn i’d like. the gfx look really really cute and ive never really played any games in that genre b4!

[tomsrebeleyebrow]

grab it hard | th x fem!reader

credits gif by @tomhollandd

Summary: What could go wrong when Tom decide to post a video on his Instragram story? Pretty much everything. And now, one single thought runs into your head: taking advantage of it fully.

Warnings:  SMUT including unprotected sex (wrap it up kids), reader having a dom moment, dirty talk/language, a lot of grabbing, muscles appreciation (or general muscle kink i guess)

Word Count: 2.3k

A/N: okay well- let’s say that tom’s IG story... brought the worst in us all and by that i mean we may have lost our sanity as our hormones took complete control of ourselves 😂 *cough* damn that brit boy and his attractive body 🥵🥵🥵 *cough* ANYWAY! my dear @thollandss​ got the idea yesterday and well, I said I would write it so here it is! enjoy, dear sinful beauts 😏🙊🔥

masterlist | tag list

The evening is going quite slowly compared to the rest of the day. Everyone in the house has been up to something, such as Tom and Harry going to the nearest park to play with Tessa, Harrison visiting his mum and sister Charlotte and Tuwaine out to buy some groceries.

And here you are now laying on the couch in the living room, watching whatever Netflix has suggested you and by yourself. The boys are in the house too, but doing their own things.

But out of nowhere, your ears catch a weird noise coming from the back of the house. At first, you don’t pay too much attention to it and go back to lazily stare at the tv. But then it starts again, going for a bit longer. Intrigued, you mute the tv and listen carefully to identify the origin of this sound. 

And a smirk makes its way to your face. As you quietly stand from the couch, you walk to the hallway that leads to the different bedrooms, and wait at the entrance of it. And listen. What you at first thought were “noises” seem to be groans and breathing, and all coming from Tom’s bedroom.

Someone’s horny, uh?

After only three minutes, silence comes back so you decide to go sit again on the couch, acting like nothing happened, and tease the hell out of your boyfriend once he will exist his bedroom. 

Back in the comfort of the couch, your phone dings as you see an Instagram’s notification on the screen. But when you open it, your jaw just drops while staring at the screen: your boyfriend half shirtless crouching against the wall, panting and groaning so loudly your brain makes a flip. 

What is that ten seconds videos, out of nowhere, and without any context to it?! Your face is now a deep red and you feel drops of sweat forming everywhere on your body, pressing your thighs together to get some relieve. So many obscene thoughts come through your mind and you can’t stop them at all, not after watching this much display of... everything your boyfriend has. 

Guess you are the horny one now.

* * * *

At some point Harrison, Harry and Tuwaine enter in the living room, chatting vividly as they make their way to the kitchen. Tom soon follows them as his friends laugh at him, the boy grumbling at his phone.

You are still on the couch and just listen, not making a single sound.

“Mate, you’re definitely sooooooo bad with Instagram!” Harrison laughs while opening the fridge.

“I bet ya he broke the entire app!” Tuwaine soon follows, thanking Harrison as he takes a bottle of beer.

“Oh come on, now” growls Tom, “This app is so weird, ‘not my fault it doesn’t upload normally!”

“Yeah right, as if” Harry mumbles, trying to not laugh at his older brother.

The conversation goes on for a bit when Tom finally notices you on the couch. So the boy takes this opportunity to walk towards you, leaving his friends making fun of him even more.

“Hi babe” Tom says behind you, bending slightly to kiss your temple, “Want something to drink? ‘m gonna cook soon if you wanna join.”

“I’m waiting a little bit” you simply reply, not daring to look at him.

Tom nods and leaves another kiss on your cheek before joining the boys again, all of them standing around the kitchen island while drinking and munching some snacks. Later they all disappear in their bedroom again, ready to play some “Warzone” or whatever that thing is.

You slowly turn your head towards the kitchen and notice Tom by himself, looking inside the fridge while drinking his beer. You recognise the shirt and shorts from the video, these clothes tight on every muscle of his body.

Taking a deep breath, you stand up and causally walk and sit on one of the high chairs around the kitchen island. Your eyes gladly run along Tom’s back and lower, appreciating every single one as they tense and relax when your boyfriend moves. You feel hot again, eyes full of want and so much more. Your head leans on one hand as you start thinking, quick and fast, while Tom puts some vegetables on the counter to cook them.

Now determined, you stand again and slowly walk towards Tom, now standing behind him as he still doesn’t notice you. And out of nowhere, you shamelessly slap both hands on his ass, snatching a high squeal from him before firmly grabbing his butt cheeks and making him whimper.

“So pretty boy, enjoyed showing off and being all grunting for the internet?” you mewl in his ear, your chest pressing against his muscled back. 

Tom whimpers again, feeling your nails through the fabric of his shorts and pressing onto the skin. You run your lips on his nape, your teeth slightly brushing the thin skin there.

“This ass here is mine, you know that right? Like all your body is” you now grunt smoothly and biting into his lobe. You press against Tom’s frame more, your hips perfectly flat onto his ass while you keep massaging it.

Tom tightens his grip on the counter, his breathing getting louder as he feels his shorts being too tight against his cock.

“F-fuck (Y/N), wait-”

You interrupt him by sliding one hand to his front, first appreciating his abs throughout the shirt and slowly going lower to rest on his growing bulge. Now Tom doesn’t retain his groaning anymore and grabs your hand to press it harder against his cock.

“You horny pretty girl, you’d be the death of me” Toms breaths out, stretching his head behind to make contact with your face.

“I swear you better fuck me hard right now before I fucking lose it, Thomas.”

And that was what Tom needed. In no time the boy turns around to face you, now his broad body towering over yours and with eyes that could tear off your clothes off in a second. Almost savagely Tom smashes his lips on yours, the kiss being mainly tongue and teeth as his arms lift you up. You instantly wrap your legs around his waist and arms around his neck, your fingers messing with his hair and scratching his scalp. Your clothed core brushes over his hard on, making you moan in his mouth but still grind more against it.

“Fuck me, Tom, now!” you whine almost desperately.

“I’m gonna destroy you, ‘gonna make ya scream my name so loud you’ll forget yours for weeks, baby girl” Tom groans, tugging your bottom lip with his teeth before sucking it. 

With his ounce of composure left - to not take you right on top of the counter -, Tom starts walking towards his bedroom while he still appreciates your thighs with his strong hands. Both of you are just moaning messes by now, not even caring about walking past the other boys’ bedrooms.

Once in Tom’s bedroom, he simply slams it shut with his foot before also slamming you onto it. The kisses are getting more sloppier, saliva making its way in the corner of your mouth and just licking it back as you kiss again. Your hands cup Tom’s face, slightly pressing your nails onto his cheek to wrest beautiful whimpers out of him. 

But when you suddenly detach from him, Tom nearly moans and desperately moves his hips back and forth against yours. Getting too hot you hurry and take your hoodie off, throwing it somewhere in the room. And Tom can’t help but drink into this gorgeous view of you in a lace bra, all flushed and panting with need and desire.

Licking his lips, Tom almost runs to his bed and throws you on top of the mattress. Not losing another second, he undresses himself in a time record, his clothes soon joining yours on the floor but then, he catches your gaze and smirks.

“Enjoying the view, gorgeous?” he cheekily asks, perfectly knowing the answer already. 

As he stands in his boxer, you eye up his almost exposed body and how much you want to touch, kiss, lick and bite any inch of it. Tom never really liked the build he got for ‘Far From Home’, saying he looked way too buff for his heigh. And ironically, he had to go back in this shape for ‘Uncharted’ and you never felt this pleased.

“Can’t help it, your groaning are arousing as fuck. And...” you soothe, seductively biting your bottom lip. You run your hands over your body before sliding off your shorts slowly along your legs, leaving you in your underwear, on total display for his coffee eyes. “... I love it when you’re being vocal.’

“Fuckin’ shit, you’re gonna get it hard (Y/N)...”

True to his words, Tom growls as he joins you on the bed, his body in between your legs and his upper body caging you with his arms on both side your head. He aggressively goes back at kissing you, his hands petting over the plush curvature of your breast before he gets rid of the bra. He doesn’t lose time by soon taking off your lace panties, almost ripping them up with his strength. As excited as him, your thighs press more around his waist, bringing him closer against you while you try to push his boxer off.

Now both equally naked, Tom presses himself more onto you, chest to chest and his hard cock rubbing against your wet core, the feeling tearing a moan out of him. Having him at your mercy, your hands wander on his back muscles, tracing them with your fingers as if remembering them by heart is your final goal. You also worship his biceps, strong and hard as you squeeze them at times, his broad shoulders and beautiful neck, that you soon attack both with hickeys and nibbles.

Heavy breathing and groaning submerge the entire room,Tom’s one being way louder than yours. And him being at his limits, he grabs your hips firmly before sliding his girth deep between your tight folds. You both moan sharply into each other’s mouth, feeling his saliva pool at the back of your throat as he gives you a passionate and rough french kiss. Both of his hands squeeze at your warm hips before gripping your skin tightly as he starts a very deep and incredible pace.

Instantly you cling to his skin which is a combination of warm, smooth and sweaty. An intoxicatingly sweet aroma wafting into your nose that makes him all the more addicting. Even the thrust of his hips slapping against your own send desire filled tingles all over your body, the incredible sway of heat singeing off your skin.

“Oh m-my God, T-Tom!” you moan completely unhinged all of your praise directly into the rim of his ear, before biting and nibbling it. He growls from the incredibly grip your folds has on his cock, driving him insane with desire to fuck you as hard and deep as possible.

"O-oh fuck, you're completely soaking my cock already..." Tom rasps, hot and heavy lascivious words about how wet your pussy is making his cock. Telling you in naughty detail how it was making it easier for him to slide back and forth, and even the pulse of your folds against his manhood telling him just how close you are.

Both of your hands grip at his back tightly, digging your nails into the skin and leaving him a few feint scratches, trembling from the overwhelming build of pleasure as he presses against all the right pleasure zones inside your body. And as your nails slide along his back, you take advantage of it and slam the palm of your hands on his butt cheeks with all your might. 

This sudden move wrests the loudest whine from Tom’s lips, being breathless for at least two seconds because of the impact. You feel his cock throb between your walls, making you clench against him as you are overwhelmed by so many sensations.  

“C-Come on Tom, I w-wanna hear you more baby!” you gasp, pressing your nose against the skin of his neck when he starts hitting that overwhelming pleasure zone inside your body again.

And Tom can only comply to your demand, letting more erotic sounds leave his mouth. Both of his rough hands slide from your hips to the bottom of your ass, where he now copies your moves to push and pull your body to meet with his deep thrusts. 

From the way your body shakes and twitches you are close, making him pound into your core faster and deeper till he finally feels the warm sensation of your arousal coating his cock and dripping down his thighs. Tom moans against your lips while he continues to thrust sloshing your juices, until he abruptly pull away warming a bit of your stomach and inner thighs with his arousal.

Out of stamina, Tom let himself falls on top of you, out of breath but mostly swimming into a pure state of bliss. While watching you try to steady the heavy breathing and pound of your heart, his glazed eyes find yours before meeting your lips in a sloppy but lazy kiss.

“From now on, those type of videos are only for me. Not for the Internet, understand?” you mumble into the kiss, your hands still wandering on top of his ass, massaging it.

“Can’t promise you anything, darlin’...”

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[shyficwriter]

Who's Tougher part 2

Guardians of the Galaxy fanfic | Reader x Guardians (With Yondu and Kraglin!) Guest starring Thor

Summary: So the Guardians now know you aren't Terran. That makes things awkward, but things only get more awkward when they find out what you are.

Author’s Note: Part 1 here.

Word Count: 3,337

"Any chance we can just forget that happened?" you ask, nervously chuckling as you wring your hands. "I promise I'll fix that-" you stand up and look again at the ruined metal that was once the arm of a chair, "or uh... replace it?" You grin hopefully, though you were sure it came out more like a grimace.

"No! Of course we're not just gonna forget that happened!" Peter cried, his face a mix of startled amazement and incredulity, like he couldn't quite believe what he had just witnessed from his friend. "Are you crazy!? What are you!?"

You shrank back a bit, his words stung a little, whether he intended them to or not. "Ok, I had a feeling that wouldn't fly..." Your gaze dropped to the table. What were you? You were his friend... right?

"Why did you lie?" Gamora asked, not nearly as harshly as Peter, but it hurt more regardless.

You furrow your brows as you look up to her, insulted. "Hey! I didn't lie!"

"You said you was from Terra." Kraglin interjected. "An' you ain't a Terran. Think that counts as lyin'." He sat back in his chair, eyeing you. Yondu still stood next to him, doing the same.

Drax, still sat in his chair but removing his electrode leads, then threw in a, "Friends shouldn't lie," with Groot nodding in agreement as well as Mantis, but you ignored them.

"I was born there- Pretty sure that counts as 'being from' someplace." You suppressed the urge to call him a jerk and crossed your arms in front of you with a hurt expression. "Not my fault you filled in the blanks yourselves."

Yondu spoke up now. "Ya didn't exactly tell us otherwise, either." He doesn't sound angry or as confused or suspicious like the others, his statement was more matter-of-fact. You had been with the team longer than he had, but in the time that he had known you, you had never given an inclining that you were anything other than a normal Terran like Quill- or well, maybe that's a bad example... but now that Ego is dead that probably makes him a normal Terran, right?

You merely responded to him with, "You didn't ask." You had a feeling that likely wouldn't go over well, but you were too busy being offended for being called a liar to give it much thought before it was out of your mouth.

Peter made noises that couldn't be classified as words as he waved his hands around in exasperation. "Wha- You- HOW- Were we really just supposed to ask, 'Hey, do you have any cool or weird powers you haven't told us about? Like glowing eyes or the ability to crush metal with your bare freaking hands?!'"

You don't respond, just stare off into a corner.

"I think you better start talking. Or, ya know, we can always hook you back up to this thing you hated so much until you spill the goods." Rocket said with a chuckle, holding up what you now mentally dubbed as a torture device. You couldn't quite tell if he was trying to lighten the mood or not, but either way it didn't work.

You blush and instinctively wrap your arms protectively around your middle. "You don't have to be mean about it..." you say, not making eye contact with anyone.

"Ok," says Gamora, trying to calm the situation down, holding her hands up in a placating gesture. "I think what Peter means is why didn't you say anything? Why didn't you feel you could trust us?"

That hurt. You didn't want them to think you thought so little of them. You sigh, "It's not like that. I just- I dunno."

"You don't know?" Gamora repeated, an eyebrow raised.

"Look, I'm sorry. Ok? It's not that I didn't trust you, I trust you guys with my life! I do! I- I just couldn't. I don't have a better answer." You did actually, but it was too complicated. You wanted to melt into the floor.

"Hey, I got a question." Kraglin spoke back up when everyone else seemed to be at a loss for words. "'While back, when Thor was here, he told you he thought ya looked familiar, and you got all nervous-like when you told him he was mistaken. Now, at the time I thought you was just crushin' on him mighty hard, but now you've got me thinking maybe you didn't wanna be recognized."

You cringed. You knew what he was referring to. When Thor had briefly been with the Guardians he came up to you, stating he swore he knew you from somewhere. You had replied that you merely had 'one of those faces' and that he was mistaking you for someone else before scurrying off to talk to Gamora.

You had lied.

Kraglin continued. "Cuz now that I think about it, you're kinda like him... Kinda like a-"

You knew what he was about to say, and you hated it. "Please don't-"

He finished the sentence anyway, "-god."

Something seemed to click for the rest of the team and they now stared at you wide-eyed. Little Groot's mouth dropped open, while Mantis covered hers. Peter and Gamora exchanged stunned glances with Drax. Yondu and Rocket each raised an eyebrow while Kraglin just looked at you expectantly for an answer.

You pinched the bridge of your nose. "Please don't call me that."

Peter stared at you. "You're a god?!" All this time... All this freaking time one of his friends had been a god and never told him?? Were you a celestial like Ego? Were you another Asgardian like Thor? He had so many questions, but couldn't verbalize any of them in his shock.

You shoot Kraglin a pained look. "Dammit! You've gone and made it all weird!" You turn back to Peter. "No! I'm not a god!" This seemed to relax the others some, but not much. Yeah, you seemed cool, but why hide you could do what you just did to the chair? What else were you hiding?

"But ya are, aren't ya? Like Thor, I mean." Kraglin pressed.

You scrambled for the right words. "I- No- Well, not exactly..." You hated this. Everything was so simple ten minutes ago, couldn't you just go back to that?

"I'm calling him." Rocket says, pulling out his media pad and beginning to dial.

"Wait! No no no no no!" you exclaim, stepping forward with your hands raised. You realized you shouldn't have done that, it looked suspicious as hell, but you panicked.

Rocket looked up at you, smirking, "Why? Is it because he'll recognize you and confirm you're like him? Or... wait..." He thought for a second. "Are you some kind of fugitive?"

"No!" you say, wincing. "I mean-" You brush a hand over your face. "Ok. I did know him," you admitted, making Kraglin laugh out a "Knew it!" You shoot him a look before returning to Rocket. "I'm not a god- or a fugitive- I would just rather he -uh- didn't remember me." Truthfully, it wasn't Thor you were worried about, it was his brother, and if Thor remembered you there was a chance he'd bring it up to Loki. But, that was another story for another day. Or never. Never was good.

The rest of the team gave you a weird look for a moment. Eventually Gamora asked suspiciously, "Why?" You being vague wasn't exactly helping you right now, but you couldn't help it.

"Just... personal reasons." you reply, hoping it would be enough.

Spoiler: it wasn't.

"Yeah, no, I'm calling him." Rocket said, he had already dialed and it was ringing. If there was one thing Rocket liked, it was uncovering other people's secrets, usually to hold them over there heads, and Thor was clearly a lead to figuring out yours.

Your eyes went wide in panic again and you tried to stop him, but before you could do anything Thor's face appeared in the screen and you muttered an, "Aw, fuck."

"Rabbit! Hi! It's been a bit, what brings you to call me?" Thor said cheerfully. "And everyone else is there, too! Hello!"

Mantis waved cutely at the screen and the others verbalized their greetings. Well, aside from Yondu and Kraglin, who just gave a nod to be polite.

"Hey Thor," Rocket started, "I was hoping you could settle something. You remember our friend here, right?" He turned the screen to you and you quickly changed your expression from exasperated pleading as you mouthed the word "No!" over and over with a wave of your hands into to a forced smile as you waved and awkwardly said "Hi, Thor..."

Rocket grinned, taking glee in watching you squirm. Yes, partially because he was a dick, but also because he was actually offended that you, his pranking buddy, had kept something like this from him. It hurt, and this was how he was choosing to deal with that.

"You know, I thought I did, but I was told it was a misunderstanding... although..." Thor said thoughtfully, squinting his eyes.

Your stomach sank.

Thors face lit up. "Oh yes! I knew I recognized you! You were one of mine and Loki's playmates when Mother and Father would visit old friends on Earth!"

You winced but retained your forced smile, but it immediately fell with what he said next.

"You were the lovely Nephilim girl that Loki would get into so much trouble with!" Thor laughed heartily. "My, it's been a long time. I don't really remember why we didn't keep in touch..."

Your eyes grew wide, you didn't expect him to just blurt out what you were right there and then. Part of you had still been naive enough to think it could have been avoided altogether. However, you didn't have much time to dwell on it before the other shoe dropped. Your stomach jumped into your throat when he asked, "Loki's around here somewhere... Would you like me to fetch him?"

"No!" you say, a little too loudly, before trying to cover, "No, that's fine Thor. I- I don't think that's the best idea!"

Thor didn't hear you, he was already too busy calling for Loki.

The others could see you were real nervous about Thor putting Loki on the call. Yondu and Kraglin exchanged a look that was a mix of suspicion and amusement. It was evident now you had been telling the truth about not being a fugitive, but why were you so nervous? Was this Loki fella an ex-boyfriend or something? And what even was a Nephlilim?

The question on Gamora's mind was why were you avoiding what were apparently your childhood friends if they didn't seem to be angry with you?

Rocket just grinned a shit-eating grin, clearly thinking he was about to see something very funny -- meaning completely embarrassing for you-- happen.

He wouldn't get to see that happen, however, because with a quick, "Goodbye, Thor!" you lunged forward to push the button that would end the call just before Rocket could pull away.

"Hey!" Rocket complained, "You know I can just call him back, right?"

"Later, Rat." Yondu said, looking at you inquisitively. "He said ya were a Nephilim, what's that?" He didn't think you were dangerous from what he'd seen of you before today. You were about as damn goofy as Peter was... but what if that had been a cover this whole time? He did just see you destroy that chair arm without even realizing, like it was nothing. Why else would you have hidden who/what you were from the team? He had to be cautious.

Peter spoke up. "I've heard of those. My grandparents made me go to Sunday school. It's like the baby of an angel and a human... and they're like... super powerful... but- but you're not supposed to be real!" he said, amazement in his eyes. "I thought that was all religious bullcrap! Does this mean that God, like thee God is real??" He was asking out of utter disbelief rather than anything, having never actually believed in any of that stuff, especially after being taken by Yondu when he was a boy.

You cringed so hard. "Peter please. You're being so embarrassing right now!" You covered your face before letting your hands fall again. The rest of the team just kind of stared at each other, not really sure what to do with all this information. "Look, if the dude exists, I've never met him, and that Terran religion stuff made things so awkward for people like me. And you wonder why I didn't tell!"

Now Peter looked a little sorry, and to your surprise he actually apologized. "Look, ok, I'm sorry. You're right, but can you blame us?"

Your shoulders fell and you sighed, breaking your gaze from his. "I get it, I do. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but why does it matter what I am? I'm still me. I'm still the same person."

Drax spoke up for the first time in a while, standing up from his chair to stand with you as he patted you on the shoulder. "This small neffle-thing is right. We are family. It shouldn't matter what anyone is."

You awkwardly pat his hand on your shoulder, honestly not expecting the sudden solidarity. "Thanks, buddy."

"I do have a question though." he added, removing his hand.

You dropped your head, muttering, "Dammit."

"Peter said your kind are very powerful, does that mean this whole time you've been holding back on missions?"

The realization of what Drax had asked put strange expressions on half the faces of your team. The kinda look that says, "Hey! You've been holding out on us! What the hell?!" Rocket nearly verbalized this sentiment as such with a, "Hey! He's right! How many jobs could we have just been in and out of with a snap of your fingers?! Rude, is what that is."

"Ok, first off, I can't make anything happen 'with the snap of my fingers,' ok? I just want to make that clear," you scolded. Your cheeks began to grow hot as you continued, "and secondly... um... none."

"None!? Quill just said you were some super powerful being, and you're really gonna tell us that none of your powers could have helped us on any of those missions?" Rocket stood staring at you in disbelief, his hands on his hips in a way that would have been super adorable if you weren't so uncomfortable right now.

"Yeah, I'm not exactly great at... controlling them." you admitted, rubbing your arm.

"You can't control them?" Gamora asked, sounding a bit surprised, and maybe a little sympathetic too.

"No." You admitted again, begrudgingly. You saw they were looking at you like they wanted some sort of explanation, so you sighed before making wildish gestures with your hands at the ruined chair arm, saying sarcastically, "Exhibit A! I broke the damn chair just because the damn trash panda... tickled me too hard with his electrocution-torture- thingy..." your sentence trailed off in a mix of bitterness and embarrassment, your face flushed a decent shade of scarlet as you crossed your arms. "You know, if you ask me this is all his fault. We wouldn't be having this conversation if it weren't for him."

"You can't blame me! It was supposed to hurt! Not my fault you didn't tell us you're some weird-god thing." Rocket then proceeded to mock you. "oH No! NoT AN elEcTRiC SHOCK! IT TiCkLES TOO mUcH! i'm GOnnA bEg ROCkEt FOR MERCY And BreAK A ChAIR BeCAUsE eVEn ThOUgh I'm a GOD i'm StiLL a Big bABy!"

"I hate you," you say flatly, glaring at him before looking up at the ceiling in frustration as you said, "and stop calling me a god, I'm not a god!"

The sound of laughter brought your gaze back to the team. It was Rocket, of course. Yondu and Kraglin were also snickering, mostly due to your pouty expression, but Rocket was definitely the loudest. You frowned. "It's not funny."

"The hell if it ain't," Yondu laughed. Everyone had been so surprised by what you had done to the chair that they actually had forgotten what had made you do it in the first place.

"Aw, don't give us that long face," Kraglin teased, still laughing. "It could've been worse. Getting tickled til ya break a chair is a whole lot less embarrasin' than gettin' tickled til yer pissin' yer pants."

You gave Kraglin a scandalized look as his comment earned snickers from more of the team. He might have been trying to make you feel better, but he had actually only embarrassed you more. The only one not actually laughing was Gamora, and she looked like she was going to tell the others off for you, but she was cut off by Rocket.

"Oh cheer up, or I'll do it again!" Rocket laughed, giving you a mischievous look. "That'll teach you to blame me! If you and Quill hadn't been bickering all the time I wouldn't have made this thing to shut you up!"

You glared at him. "Threaten me with that again and I'm taking it," you warned.

To your surprise, Yondu took that moment and actually snatched the device from Rocket himself. This surprised Rocket too, and he looked up at Yondu with a dejected, "Hey!"

"Sorry there, Rat, but we don't need anymore broken chairs." He chuckled and slipped you a wink as he slipped the device into one of the inside pockets of his duster. He might have been making a joke at your expense as he did it, but you were grateful for the gesture nonetheless. You didn't need Rocket threatening you with it every time he wanted something from you- and you know he would have. As did Yondu, hence why he snatched it. You may have been a goofy little shit like Peter, and you may have hidden powers (and don't get him wrong, he was still going to keep an eye on you), but he still liked ya well enough to save you from a sadistic raccoon, for now.

Rocket pouted, muttering something about "Never let me have any fun!" as he collected Groot and sulked off.

You smiled at Yondu in return, glad the mood had been somewhat lifted, even if it was at your own expense. After a beat you look back to Peter. "Are we good?" you asked, with so much more meaning behind those three words than just asking if you two were good. Peter could see that you were desperately asking not only for forgiveness, but acceptance. There was thinly veiled fear and nervousness in your eyes that he might cast you out for keeping this secret from the team, from him. It made him feel a little guilty.

He looked at you softly. "Yeah. I mean, I still have a lot of questions, but yeah, we're good."

"I guess that's fair," you say, a relieved grin cracking your face. "But another day, ok? It's late and I'm tired." With that you excused yourself for bed, barely waiting for an acknowledgment of what you said before you were walking away, eager to just get away from this conversation for now. You did smirk a little, however, when you heard Drax ask Peter if you being a "Neffleling" meant you were the tougher one, only for Peter to sigh irritably and say, "No, Drax," and Kraglin to laugh in response and say to Peter, "Nah, I think it does," just to rile him up.

Once you were gone Kraglin spoke again, wondering out loud what had happened with Loki that made you so nervous when Rocket called Thor.

This made Peter look back and share a look with the rest of the team. Kraglin was right. You were nervous enough to hang up the phone when Thor called for Loki to join the conversation. Nervous enough to wish Thor didn't remember your face.

What had happened?

[twiistedgalaxies]

Three Times Jaskier Didn’t Seem Quite Human

(And one time Geralt asked too many questions.)

      “Jaskier isn’t human,” Yennefer stated bluntly, swishing a wine glass in her right hand.

      Geralt blinked, “What?”  This gave Yennefer pause. She knew that her on and off again lover was oblivious, but she hadn’t realized it was quite to this extent. Jaskier gave her a pained, pleading look from the other end of the table. She ignored him.

      “You seriously haven’t noticed?” she continued with a huff.

      “...No?” Geralt’s brows furrowed together in confusion. The nerve of these idiots. Yennefer had half a mind to just state the obvious, to keep these two from continuing to dance around the subject, possibly until the end of time.

      But it was much more fun to gently direct Geralt to the answer and watch his bard squirm. Yennefer took a sip of her wine, mentally cursing her high alcohol tolerance, “You’ve been travelling with the man for decades,” Geralt’s face was blank, the puzzle pieces not fitting into place, “He hasn’t aged, Geralt.”

      “That doesn’t mean anything,” he protested, though from the way his eyes shifted towards his companion he was clearly thinking it over. If they were not at such a high profile party Yennefer would have strangled him. He opened his mouth to say something else, but it was at that exact moment that Jaskier decided to pick up his lute and perform for the crowd - granted, it was what he had been invited to do, but Yennefer sent him a withering glare anyways. She was met with a cheeky wink. Oh if looks could kill. 

      “I could prove it to you, you know? A few well placed detection spells and-”

      Geralt shook his head, “He’ll tell me when he’s ready.”

      “You two are hopeless,” Yennefer sighed.

-@~*^*~@-

      It had been after a particularly difficult hunt, when Jaskier had to dress his companion’s wounds for the umpteenth time. Geralt sat upon a stool in the center of their tiny room at the inn. He looked more irritated than usual as Jaskier gave him what was essentially a sponge bath around where a kikimore had stabbed his shoulder with one of it’s spindly arms. Jaskier winced, it was too close to important organs for comfort. Humming as he worked, Jaskier tried to stitch shut what he could and thoroughly bandage the rest. The wolf medallion on Geralt’s chest thrummed contentedly each time the bard’s delicate hands drew near.

      “Where did you learn?” he asked suddenly, his gruff voice cutting through the peaceful quiet.

      “Hm?” Jaskier hummed, ignoring the Witcher’s grunt of pain as he applied one of his many salves to his shoulder, “You’re going to have to be more specific than that, dear.”

      “The salves, the stitching, all of it,” Jaskier raised an eyebrow at that, but Geralt continued, “It’s a very odd skill for a bard to have.”

      A laugh, Geralt had to bite back a hiss as Jaskier’s touches grew less gentle. He clearly wanted him to drop it. “What? Do you think that I was helpless before you came along with your bulging muscles and witchery glares?”

      The witcher shook his head, silver hair sending droplets of water in the air, “No it’s not that,” the bard had certainly proved capable and skilled many times over, “It’s just, were you a healer before you became a bard?”

      Jaskier froze, seemingly caught in a memory, “Something like that,” he began to bandage Geralt’s shoulder, “This kikimore did quite the number on you, didn’t it?”

      Geralt gave him a look of disbelief because obviously.

      “Come on, come on, give me the details, I can’t write my ballads off of just grunts and intrusive questions now can I?”

-@~*^*~@-

      Jaskier had tagged along on what was supposed to be a minor contract. Nilfgaard had stormed a small town, leaving destruction and countless corpses in their wake. Corpses that were perfect for every Alghoul in a three mile radius. 

      He and Geralt were engaged in their usual banter (which consisted mostly of Jaskier rambling about whatever was on his mind, punctuated with the occasional grunt from his witcher), when a sudden, piercing screech rang through the air. It was high pitched, shrill, and caused Jaskier to clutch his head as he let out a groan of pain. 

      Meanwhile, Geralt immediately leapt into action, drawing his silver sword as a pack of the necrophages surrounded them. He was able to take out several, his sword and the ghouls creating a smooth, gory dance. It all seemed to be going well before an Alghoul caught Geralt off guard, leaping onto his back while extending its spines. This sent Geralt off balance, and he was quickly overwhelmed. His sword got knocked out of his hands in the scuffle and he thought that this, however stupid it may be, would be what would kill him. 

      A cry of rage. Slashing, tearing. Suddenly the weight that was dragging Geralt to the ground grew lighter. He felt something wet and sticky. Geralt looked up to see Jaskier standing over him, holding Geralt’s silver sword, out of breath, and covered in Alghoul viscera.

      The bard looked down at himself, annoyance on his admittedly handsome features, “That was my favorite tunic too!” The tunic in question, once baby blue (like his eyes which were now flashing gold, what the fuck?) was now stained red and black. Jaskier brushed a bit of entrails off his shoulder, visibly disgusted.

      “Huh?” Geralt said, intelligently.

-@~*^*~@-

      The pair was making their way north, Jaskier strumming on his lute and Geralt sat atop Roach. The dirt road was a tunnel bordered by a wall of towering trees, whose orange and red canopies blocked out the sun, casting the duo in dappled shade. 

      Jaskier strummed a few chords in the major key, before he spoke, “Geralt, are you doing alright?” His face was soft and forget-me-not eyes distant like they often grew when he was lost in thought. Geralt shot him a confused look. “It’s just that, you’ve seemed rather distracted lately.”

      “Hm?”

      “I,” Jaskier sighed, collecting himself, “It’s just with the kikimore and the alghouls, and just last week when you forgot your potions in Roach’s saddlebags. I’ve never seen you get like this before, what’s going on?”

      “It’s nothing.” Geralt replied, gaze sliding to anywhere but his bard.

      Jaskier reached up, intertwining his lithe fingers with Geralt’s own, “I’m worried about you, Love.”

      Geralt huffed, he could never resist the man’s pouting lips and puppy-dog eyes, “Yen and I had a conversation at that party a few months ago.”

      He felt the bard tense, “Is that so?” There was a long, uncomfortable silence between them. Jaskier must have realized Geralt, man of few words that he is, wasn’t going to elaborate any further, so he spoke, “What did you two talk about?”

      “She said you aren’t human and I just thought about it more and… it makes too much sense,” Geralt began, feeling awkward as he tried to find the words to explain, “The way you don’t age, your medical knowledge (even of witcher potions!), how you know your way around a sword and how your eyes gleamed-”

      “Geralt, as you know I have an impeccable skincare routine and-”

      He frowned, “Don’t give me that shit, bard.”

      Jaskier sighed, “You really want to know?” A nod. “Okay, well, here goes nothing.” The bard let go of the witcher’s hand, and pulled off a golden ring that, now that Geralt thought about it, he had never seen the man without. A shimmer fell over the bard’s body, like a statue being unveiled. The first thing Geralt noticed was his eyes, they were a sickening, piercing yellow. His face was marred by countless scars, from claws, burns, knives, and magic. Jaskier’s build underneath the glamour more closely resembled Geralt’s, though he retained his shorter stature. The bard smiled sardonically at the witcher’s shocked expression, “Like what you see?”

      Geralt’s mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again, “How?”

      “You’d probably know me better as Julian,” Jaskier’s eyes got that distant look to them again, his face was downcast, an unusual expression for someone who typically embodied sunshine, “I was in the Griffin school, before we were attacked,” a joyless laugh, “I had never wanted to be a witcher, ya know? Wasn’t cut out for it. But my father, Viscount Pankratz himself, couldn’t pay a witcher for his contract, so he offered me up instead. I failed as a noble, so maybe I wouldn’t fail as a witcher. He was wrong, of course, I spent most of my time writing poems instead of studying Signs. Singing instead of sparring. After the trials I spent a few years on the path before I grew sick of it and returned to Kaer Seren.”

      Geralt hummed, encouraging Jaskier to continue.

      “I was made to look after the students, I had to patch up their wounds and keep them from blowing themselves up with alchemy. I loved the little rascals, which is why..” Jaskier trailed off, fingers tracing the grooves in his lute.

      “It’s okay,” Geralt said, “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

      He shook his head hurriedly, “No, no I want to, I have to,” his voice cracked, “I left after the trials killed them. All of them. I couldn’t bear to be a part of it. A part of everything. So I ran, like a coward,” He spat out that last word like a curse.

      The pair stopped. Geralt placed his gloved hand on the bard’s shoulder, a rare gesture of affection and reassurance.

      “Eventually, I found a mage and spent my life’s savings on a well-made glamour and the lute the elves at Posada so lovingly destroyed. It wasn’t until I had graduated from Oxenfurt that I found out what happened in Kaer Seren.”

      “Why didn’t you tell me?” Geralt asked, his voice gentle.

      Jaskier’s face flushed red with shame, “I was afraid. Afraid of what you would think of me. That you’d hate me.”

      Geralt frowned, “I don’t hate you. I could never hate you.”

      At that, Jaskier laughed, “Just look at me! I’m an ugly fuck-up.”

      “No,” Geralt said resolutely.

      “Huh?”

      “I said no. Do you know how many times you’ve saved my life? Made long nights on the path easier to bear? I wouldn’t be here right now if it weren’t for you,” Geralt continued, looking Jaskier directly in the eyes. He didn’t reply to that, just slipped his ring back on and hugged his arms to his chest.

      The rest of the day’s journey was spent in silence.

A/N:  I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to leave a comment, I love hearing feedback. I had one hell of a time writing this, I originally had only written the first scene, and it took a few months for my single window's screensaver brain cell to finally hit a corner and figure out how to continue and finish the story.

Ao3

[marigoldsandbuttercups]

Hey your blog looks pretty good so far! Can we maybe get some general hcs on each guys personality?

Why thank you! I really appreciate that ❤❤

Personality Headcanons

Sans :

- Is more likely to sit back and observe rather than be actively involved in it.

- Is that one friend who randomly messages you once every 3 months with a meme.

- He's not very good with words, so he prefers to show he cares by doing things or spending time with people.

- Doesn't trust easily but is more willing to than some of the others.

- he's touch starved but it's not obvious, though you'll notice how his shoulders always brushing against yours.

- Seems like a social butterfly, isn't. If he's faced with new people, he can come off as a little aloof but break a joke in front of him and he'll begin to ease up.

- He's incredibly passive aggressive when he needs to be.

- He seems quiet, but he doesn't take shit. I feel like this becomes more apparent after he gets some therapy and learns to not beat himself up so much or allow people to step all over him.

Papyrus:

- He's painfully aware of how people see him and tends to use it to mess with them.

- His cooking has improved but sometimes, just sometimes he will serve them food that tastes odd to see if they're honest with him.

- He loves dancing! He has a radio in his kitchen and is always blasting pop music to dance to, often waking Sans up even though he's upstairs, it's effective!

- Papyrus can be very, very sarcastic. It's just the way he says it is so subtle you wouldn't even realize he's low-key shading you.

- Heard the term "Soft Boi", lives by it. Though he calls himself a Soft Cool Dude™.

- Is the most patient out of them all, Wine coming in a close second.

- He sometimes forgets that he's incredibly strong. Like sometimes he'll be walking down the street and hear a cat hiding under a car and.... He just lifts the car up like nothing-

- Speaking of this, although he forgets that one aspect, he remembers everything. You said you liked green mangos a few months ago on a whim? He's bringing you some from the market today cause he saw that they were on sale.

- It's hard for him to read the room sometimes, so he depends on seeing people's expressions to see what is going on.

- He uses internet lingo ironically, yes, he knows all of them and he low-key gets excited when someone is able to catch on to what he's doing.

Blue:

- Yes, he knows he looks cute, he knows he looks babey, stop shoving it in his face or he'll prove otherwise, Kelly.

- You thought Sans was passive aggressive, you thought wrong, meet Blue.

- Him and Edge like to team up and harass the Karen's at PTA meetings. It's a fun hobby.

- He loves to workout, but he also loves to pig out on junk food. You'll only find out if you're his best friend and he'll make you swear to secrecy.

- He loves makeup! He especially loves bright shades that make his eyelights pop.

- Blue isn't as trusting as he seems either. You have to remember, he is still a sans underneath that bold exterior. He knows who to trust and who to be wary of, those cute looks aren't there for nothing!

- The second flirtiest of the bunch, he knows how to charm people easily with just his words, it's just that sometimes he can't be taken seriously because of his height and it pisses him off to no end.

- He doesn't get attached easily, it takes a while for him to really think of you as someone who he will be there for everything and anything.

- He has no filter. He will absolutely tell it to your face like it is, why hide when you can just get it over with?

- He is someone who can dish it and can take it, he enjoys some good banter and teasing.

Stretch:

- An Ass. Sgshjssj okay but seriously he likes to use his magic abilities to mess with people, usually it's for little harmless pranks. Like when he formed ghouls with his magic and proceeded to "haunt" his brother the whole day.

- He can and absolutely will spam you with memes at random times, it's his hobby and that's your bonus as a friend!

- He can't have a resting bitch face, it's just too hard for him cause he can't help but have a small smile on his face, even when he's relaxing.

- Likes to say he listens to unique music but BTS is blasting in his headphones.

- He calls anyone he's close with "honey" it's just nice to him, ya know?

- But with a lover, he calls them his little "bumblebee"

- Is the least trusting of the bunch, he's just too anxious and is scared of the possibility of being betrayed, even if the chances are painfully low.

- He's the friend that is just so weird he's unique in his own little way.

- He likes to talk to bees when he sees them. Blue is low-key concerned when he hears him having full on conversations with them.

- He tends to mutter to himself a lot, it's a habit of his. He's mostly making jokes about himself.

Red:

- Chugs his respect women juice everyday. He doesn't play around.

- He's a huge flirt, but even he gets a little shy, it's just not obvious. But if you look close enough, you can't see a faint red hue on his cheeks, it's adorable.

- He's a big softie, but he's just so awkward with his emotions after all he's been through.

- After getting over that initial awkwardness, he's a romantic, but he tends to go for the less cheesy routes.

- He's the most easygoing of the bunch but he still has his tough shell on, he's used to fleeting relationships already.

- He's quite rowdy, too. Sure, he's not the most active but man, he would love to get in some trouble or do a ridiculous prank.

- He usually has a reason for when he does things, just saying he's doing it for no reason is something he does.

- His anger is explosive, but that's only when he really lashes out. Most of the time it's just him being annoyed.

- He can easily sense a person's intent just from their stance, it's what he had to do to survive in the underground, it's just something that stuck with him.

Edge:

- An Ass, Part 2.

- Unlike Stretch, Edge is haughty, he worked his bony ass off to get to where he is and he will gladly own it.

- He also lacks any sort of filter, but his words come out a lot more scathing and harsher.

- He keeps everyone at arm's length and doesn't really bother to get close to them unless they make an effort .

- He's very sassy and can go on for hours debating against anyone, his favourite is Jill with the pathetic excuse for fruit pizza. She's dumb, but she has fire, it's almost respectable. Almost.

- He's snobby and very prickly but it's more so to protect himself from giving into his emotions.

- If by some luck you happen to be his friend, he will absolutely make sure you leave his house feeling stuffed.

- He loves tiny animals, something about them reminds him of simpler times before his life went to shit.

- He also doesn't give a fuck about anyone's opinions but his own... And maybe someone he cares about, big maybe tho.

Black:

- Man, this is the third installment for Another Ass™.

- He actually has the potential to be the smoothest of them all, but he's just so prickly and a butt that it's almost a shame.

- He's very, very competitive. If you offer to play against you... Godspeed. You can almost see the fire in his eyes and he just becomes an entirely different person.

- Though, most of the time, he is pretty level headed. He also is perfect if you want to come to him for advice, he's honest about it but he's not too harsh like Edge.

- He doesn't really have to yell to have people's attention, he's incredibly intimidating.

- He also doesn't really care for romantic relationships all that much. He barely had any relationship in his universe except for a familial one with his brother.

Rus:

- Stoner vibes, but he's not really a stoner lmao.

- He's very relaxed and usually likes to lay down, staring off into nothing.

- The reason why he's so quiet is because he's usually thinking about a lot of things, it's how he expresses himself.

- Likes to call himself an e-boy for the memes. Has the potential for it, though.

- He also likes to go out a lot, doesn't matter for what, he just likes being outside.

- He's less of an ass than Stretch is, but that doesn't mean he won't bully you.

Wine:

- The flirtiest and the smoothest of them all.

- Also probably has an ego that could rival Edge's.

- He has a lot of hobbies as he loves to throw himself into a lot of work only to go on a long, self indulgent break.

- He plays a father figure to all of them and has schedules set for all of them, he is the only one who can wake them up without getting yelled at.. Sometimes.

- He loves to have many talents and will constantly improve on himself.

- What do you mean he's passive aggressive? He's just being honest.

- He is the wisest of them though, and knows how to handle almost every situation perfectly.

- He misuses memes to mess with the others. Truth is, he knows that they are, he just likes embarrassing the boys.

- Also will call them his kids to really mess with them.

Coffee:

- He's quiet, and his facial expression does give off a vibe You'd expect someone like Rus or Black to have.

- It's easy to get him to break out of his shell though, but he's the least emotional of the bunch, so his reactions aren't always going to be what you want.

- He knows he looks innocent, and uses it. More for the fact that he can ask people to give him an offer on this drink or whatever, and they'd do it.

- He loves his games, an absolute gamer god omg.

- He's very impatient and gets pouty sometimes just to really annoy the others as well.

- He also likes making stuff and will gift them to people he cares about, it's all usually woodwork tho.

Thistle:

- He's very soft-spoken, but he can be rather cheeky when he wants to be.

- He's very protective of his brother and it takes time to even have him refer to you as a friend.

- He still retains that laid back attitude that Sans normally has, but Thistle is much, much more observant of all that happens around him.

- He's very generous to those that he cares about, and only those that are close to him.

- He's also a big cat to those that are close to him, usually hanging onto them as they struggle to carry him around, low runbles or laughter leaving him.

- He doesn't really like dark humor after reaching the surface, noticing how some people use it for the wrong reasons. He's more into cheesy puns and lighthearted jokes.

- He likes to tease and have fun, friendly banter every now and then. He finds it a nice break from the stress!

- He loves visually stimulating things, especially the cooking process, there's something about it that just puts his mind at ease.

Chestnut:

- He's very anxious about a lot of things, especially if people look at him for little too long. He's aware why, and he hates it.

- Though, he has been a bit more forgiving to himself, learning to be subtle with his insults.. .well, subtle is a bit of a generous word but stars, his insults can leave you stunned.

- He's very independent, and likes to do things by himself. It fills him with a sense of accomplishment as he does something.

- Chestnut is a no nonsense skeleton. He relies on communication and isn't as forgiving as he seems.

- He's not an ass, but he has no tolerance for people who take advantage of others or hurt others for no reason.

- He's a very tender skeleton, too. He loves to have walks during the autumn season and take photographs of the beautiful scenery. He takes lessons with Rus.

- After all that he's been through, it's kind of hard for him to get attached easily as well, as he's more focused on his needs and well-being first.

[novantinuum]

Contact (Ch. 3/4)

Fandom: Steven Universe

Rating: T (No TW this chapter, but keep in mind this involves major character injury)

Words: 3.0K~

Summary: The first (and with any luck, only) time it happens, he’s almost 16.

Chapter Summary: Amethyst, Greg, and Pearl struggle to keep it together.

So this fic is Steven and Amethyst centric, set during the 2 year time skip. It’s also kinda in conversation with An Indirect Kiss, and explores the idea of what could happen to a hybrid with a cracked gem. This chapter has no specific trigger warnings. 

If you read this and enjoy, I’d greatly appreciate your support through reblogs here, or kudos/comments on AO3 as well. AO3 link will be provided in the reblogs. Thank you! <3

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Chapter 3: The Fountain

Discounting extreme circumstances, (such as diamond mind control or flaws in incubation), Gems are designed to have perfect memory.

It’s one of the many aspects of their culture that surprises humans, and all too often one that makes them jealous. But Amethyst doesn’t understand why there’s anything to be jealous about. Sure, maybe it means she can learn a skill once and be done with it, or hold on to cherished moments in crystal clear recollection, but it also means that in some part she’ll always be haunted by everything boring, everything bad. It’s an unavoidable facet of her life: that every passing second of all those years she spent alone in the Kindergarten waiting for orders she’d never receive is forever etched into the baseline circuitry of her gem like ink on a human’s skin, that she can remember every rotten fight she and Pearl ever had with picture perfect clarity, each instance ending with her feeling like absolute garbage for days and days. That... no matter how hard she tries to escape the untimely reminders... deep down, all those selfish, immature versions of herself she wishes she could dump in the past forever are still a part of her coding.

In comparison, humanity has it lucky. In time, they forget. They move on. Even the most traumatizing memories seem to eventually fade by the end of a life, leaving behind only feelings... only scars... just whispering impressions of those experiences.

She desperately hopes Steven takes after his dad and not Rose in this aspect.

The four of them exit the ship in a hurry, Amethyst still helping Greg carry his son, and Pearl advancing ahead to check on the state of the water supply.

As always, Rose’s fountain is a time capsule. The shrubs and trees surrounding the inner pool are tame now, a stark difference from the first time she had the untimely pleasure of visiting, but the cold, staticky sensation rising within her as she steps off the boarding ramp of the Roaming Eye with Steven’s legs secure in her grasp is the same. Amethyst only barely holds back a shudder. She recalls the disorientation she felt in this place so vividly she may as well be cracked all over again.

The world glitches violently within her sights, ashen sky and charcoal stone phasing into each other. Left is right and up is down, hard light stretching out from her broken gemstone like clawing, yearning fingers... forming and reforming, taut at one moment and pliable at the next, and her words are jumbled and backwards, and deep within she knows this with an intense clarity but she can’t help it, she can barely even think, she ca—

“Amethyst, no more roughhousing, you'll exacerbate your crack!”

“Doog m’I, gnihtyna ro yrrow t’nod.”

“This isn't right... the fountain isn’t running.”

“WHY CAN’T I CRY?!”

The thin little circuits of light running throughout her projected body jolt in remembrance of that afternoon, indelible phantom pangs of a sliver of time she can never forget for anything. With a dull huff and a grimace, she adjusts her hold on the boy she’s long come to see as her baby brother. Best to not become lost in the flood of the past when she’s got a mission to uphold. That’s... that’s all this is, ch’yeah? A mission. Just a mission. Retrace your steps, meet your goal, get it done. Easy-peasy. No problem.

Ignore the stakes. Ignore everything that isn’t right here and right now. Ignore the sharp cries of pain that escape his lips intermittently, that stab at you so deep you feel like you should be poofing.

“Amethyst?” a voice comes to her softly. “You okay?”

But don’t ignore Greg. Whatever you do, don’t ignore the people around you, don’t lose yourself to that awful disorientation again, don’t make everything worse, don’t push, don’t roughhouse, don’t—

“She’s been cracked like this before,” Pearl explains as she walks in a frantic pace ahead of them. “And we Gems, well... we remember things vividly, shall we say.”

She scoffs, still inwardly cradling her gem in response to what happened in the Roaming Eye. Sheesh. It’s so typical of her to launch headfirst into other people’s business before she can open her own dumb mouth to explain on her own, huh?

“Wow,” she bites back on jerk instinct, “thanks for the announcement, Pearl. ‘S not like I could’ve said it better myself, or anything.”

The slender Gem snaps upon her bait with a piercing, annoyance-filled gaze, and frankly, Amethyst would’ve doled out another snide comment in return had Steven’s hoarse voice not chosen that moment to hitch in panic, derailing all other thoughts in an instant. Her arms grow just as stiff and locked as the muscles in his calves, be it from sympathy or as a mirror into the bitter past, to a time where she suffered just as much as he is now.

The weight of this realization settles like lead at her core. Her favorite guy in the whole galaxy is in earth-shattering pain, and she’s wasting precious seconds of his life taking cheep shots at Pearl?

Not the time, she growls at herself, shedding her petty feud to the wind. Focus!

“Uh, y’guys? I-I think it’s happening again!” his father says, exhausted arms quivering under the strain of carrying the boy for so long.

“Damnit,” she hisses, and follows Greg’s lead on easing his body closer to the ground before the worst of his fits arrive. This time, Steven lacks the energy to mask his broken sobs, split between desperate gasps for breath. Nothing, not gentle whispers or even his father’s calloused hand delicately brushing through his curls, seems to soothe his anguish now. She doesn’t consider herself much of a crier, but she’s close to tears herself just watching him. As she glances up to check how far they are from their destination, she catches a flash of ivory and blue disappearing between the shrubbery. “Pearl!” she bellows, her shout echoing across the entire garden. “Slow down, would ‘ya? He’s seizing again!”

Her features contort as she whirls around to glance back, unmaskable stress now nearly tearing her apart at the seems. She jabs her finger at the narrow path between the shrubs. “But we’re almost—“

“Fine, fine, never mind! You’re right!” Amethyst blurts, waving her off. “You go run ahead. Just...”

Her voice grows thick as she roughly wipes away the moisture accumulating at the corner of her eyes. She forces herself to drink in the stark reality of their immediate situation, taking note of the injured teen’s hiccuping cries as he recovers from his latest seizing episode, as he continues to ride through the unimaginable torment of a cracked gem left too long without healing... his dad, kneeling amongst dirt and stone, no doubt pressing harsh indents into his knees as he freely offers his lap as a headrest, panting with exhaustion, absolutely wrecked with anxiety and terror despite doing everything within his power to mask it for his son’s sake... and her. Her. Amethyst, Facet-5 Cut-8XM, a Gem who’s become downright traumatized by this place, by this precise scenario, barely able to retain a handle on her own emotions and eidetic recollections to where she actually feels she can be of reliable help.

“I don’t think we can’t follow you anymore, ‘kay?” she says, hoarse. “Greg’s tired, Steven’s flat-up in tears, and... an’ this place is startin’ to really mess me up, y’know? S-so...”

She tugs at thick clumps of her hair as the thought trails off, fingers fruitlessly searching for a clue that might direct her out of these darkened, murky waters and back to shore.

But as always, if you put in the work to look for them, there’s leading lights scattered amongst the mist in places you’d never expect.

“Bring the fountain to you,” Pearl completes, gaze softening within that moment. She nods in wholehearted acceptance of her duty. “I’m on it.”

Thank you, she mouths in earnest, the dull buzzing running throughout her form dropping to a blessed minimum as she— lips parted— watches her longtime friend disappear between the shrubs and vibes, every arc of her movement accentuated by unerring grace. Amethyst flushes, and mentally pushes such sentimental distraction away.

Right. Okay. One problem solved. Back to Steven.

The hybrid in question is cradled in Greg’s care, his head laying in the man’s lap and his limbs twitching without repose. She hasn’t checked the state of his gemstone recently, but given the minutes ticking away since his injury and his steadily deteriorating state, she’s almost too scared to look. Greg continues to whisper thin reassurances to him, wiping the sweat off his dampened forehead.

“He’s getting really warm,” he comments, stress coating his tone, and damn does she wish she could do something, anything, to help, but there’s simply nothing they can do without that healing water.

As the trio waits for word from Pearl, inevitable waves of dread collapsing upon them heavier and heavier with each uneven heartbeat that passes, Steven’s wobbly gaze falls upon her.

“Ah... Amethyst,” he gasps, barely able to attain a full breath.

She snaps to attention, clasping his hand tight in hers. “Yeah? I’m here, buddy, I’m here! Whatever you need.”

“I’m- I’m s-suh—“

Sorry, she realizes he’s trying to say, remembering how he struggled earlier trying not to stumble over the ‘s.’ She swallows hard.

“You don’t gotta be sorry for anything, ‘kay?” she says, rhythmically rubbing the back of his palm with her thumb. “It’s my fault, this is just- I should’ve been looking out for you, I should’ve protected you and I failed. All this is on me.”

“B-but I—“

To her utter horror, his next words are so slurred in his disorientation they’re all but unintelligible. All attempts on his part to communicate are then broken as he gnashes his teeth together and writhes in his father’s arms. Greg’s brokenly calling his name as he loosens his hold, vying with every slice of will he has left to help him not hurt himself further, help him find any shred of relief, but it’s of little use. The boy is all but unresponsive right now. She tries her best not to internalize the sound of his broken wails, least they be carved upon on her gem forever. Her form flickers in the height of her distress, hard light veins pulsing with unparalleled intensity.

The memories are impossible to dodge now. Those fragments strike like barbed arrows.

The cliffside. The fall. The rock. The audible crack as her fate is sealed. The immediate static rising in her mind as she stands up, only halfway alert, feigning casual indifference as her body quite literally begins to fall apart. I’m fine. I’m fine. The worry, the brambles, the panic, the fountain, the strained tears, c-can’t think can’t feel, can’t —

“It’s empty!” Pearl cries from the distance, voice shrill and laced with panic.

Her eyes split wide as she snaps her head towards the ivory Gem’s call, dread clasping ahold of her like a physical hand to her gem. “What??”

She emerges from between the shrubbery to enter the clearing again, emphasizing her doom-spelling news with a sharp flourish:

“I said, the main fountain is empty!”

“Empty?" Greg repeats, all the blood draining from his face. He squeezes his injured son’s hand with the grip of a man lost at sea, clutching to a life preserver.

But while he freezes upon processing this information, Pearl can’t seem to stop pacing. Her lithe fingers twitch rapid fire as she passes back and forth in front of them, brimming with an infinite supply of nervous energy that’s befitting of their perilous situation.

“Stars, the water we left behind after healing all those corrupted Gems must have completely evaporated...” she mutters to herself, clutching at the lapels of her jacket as if this garment is the last tangible thing holding her form together. “I knew we shouldn’t have left it open to the elements!”

“But then- what the hell are we supposed to do now?!” he says, voice breaking in all his fearful anguish. His gaze snaps from her to Steven laying prone in his lap. “My only son is in agonizing pain! He’s- he’s got a high fever! We can’t just give up! There has to be something!”

“I- I’ll check in the inner chambers!” Pearl says with dawning realization, one last ray of hope penetrating the glossy surface of her gemstone as she jabs her index finger into the air. “Surely there has to be some remnant of Rose’s healing magic left, right?”

Steven shudders in his dad’s arms, sloppy tears streaming down his pale cheeks.

“Tluaf ym lla si siht...” he blubbers, and for whatever reason something about his unintelligible speech seems... different from before. Her brow creases as she searches the infinite wilds of her stored memory for answers, for patterns, anything that might provide the slightest hint of clarity in this fraught situation, and sure enough...

Dawning truth stings like a fist to the jaw as she recalls her own experience and realizes his slurred words are far more than unintelligible; this injury has scrambled his mental processes to such a degree that his speech has slipped backwards. And that can only mean... Lip quivering, Amethyst pushes through the dread tugging at her soul and yanks up the hem of the teen’s shirt. The deep gouge running diagonal across his gemstone has lengthened— edging ever closer to the edges of the pentagon— and threatens to partition it in half. Pearl’s soft “oh no” and Greg’s strained sob tell her everything she needs to know. The consensus is clear: time is not their ally anymore.

“Pearl, HURRY!” she yells, pointing towards the fountain’s heart.

Her fellow Crystal Gem doesn’t even pause to comment on the matter, and instead, water brimming at the corner of her eyes as she spends her last second in their company lovingly gazing upon the boy as only a surrogate mother could, hurriedly disappears between the shrubs to seek out Steven’s last chance of salvation. Left alone in the throes of their mutual panic, Amethyst and Greg place comforting hands upon his head as— huddled together on the cold stone of the fountain’s doorstep— they’re assailed by the terrifying possibility that his life may very well slip between their fingers before Pearl can ever hope to return. Gone, in an instant.

Shattered.

Her shapeshifted stomach churns at the mere thought, like she’s finally eaten something her hard light system refuses to break down. She clutches tight at her own gem, gasping as she rides the sharp wave of distress. In all these years, though every fight and struggle... she’s never seen someone shatter before. Fresh, hopeless tears cut a raw path across her cheeks as her hand trails across his overheated forehead.

Stars, not today. Not him, please not him.

The teen barely restrains a hiccuping sob as he cries out again. “Thgir gnihtyna... od t’nac I, syug yrros m’I!”

Greg’s breath hitches, gaze briefly trailing from his son’s strained face to his still-exposed gem. Whirling to face her, he roughly grabs ahold of her shoulders, his expression downright pleading now. “Pearl... Amethyst, if she doesn’t find anything, if the fountain’s empty, please tell me there’s somewhere else we can go, something else we can do...!”

She frantically shakes her head. “I- I don’t know, we—“

Desperately, she wishes she could give him reassurance. Desperately, she wishes Rose had thought ahead, secured a sum of her essence in another location for redundancy’s sake, but the truth is a bitter pill: they’re all but useless in this place, stripped of their agency and forced to rely on the mercy of the dead. If they can’t find any remnants of Rose’s healing tears here, then Steven’s gem will splinter into shards and he will die. She clenches her teeth together, once again feeling those phantom pains rip through her form, faint impressions of a near-tragedy long abandoned to the past, it’s over, it’s over, get a hold of yourself, keep it together, keep it together, keep it to—

“Yaw siht leef annaw t’nod I- I, deracs os, os m’I, Dad, deracs os m’I... I!”

The boy’s father clutches his hand in his, arm trembling just like Steven’s frail body as— after his long, valiant attempt to mask it for everyone else’s sake— he finally crumbles, failing to swallow his fear.

“Oh- oh god,” he chokes over his words, eyes puffy and red, “I’m... I’m gonna lose him, aren't I? He’s gonna—“

“Eid annaw t’nod I—!”

And then, at the apex of the storm, Amethyst finds what she’s always been searching for: their leading light, burning faithfully through the dark.

“I’ve got it, I’ve got it!!” Pearl cries from the near distance, voice growing louder with each and every syllable. “I’m coming!”

She emerges from between the shrubbery like the first ray of light breaking an eclipse's totality, clutching a thin vial in her grasp. At first glimpse the vial almost looks empty, but after the ivory Gem drops to her knees beside them in the clearing and pops the cork stopper out, sure enough— it holds a few pink-tinged drops of fluid, Rose’s coveted magic. And all they need is one.

They all watch expectantly, blood and hard light alike pulsing through their forms at a unified pace as Pearl tips the vial, allowing the tears to careen downward towards its mouth.

When the single droplet finally slips from the edge of the glass, it hangs in the air right above his cracked gem for what feels like hours, scattering the ambient sunlight across their tear-stained, expectant faces like the dizzying patterns of a kaleidoscope. In an intentional echo of all the once-alien experiences she’s long come to cherish and genuinely respect, Amethyst— despite having no lungs of her own— takes a deep, anticipating breath, her mind running through every what-if as she waits. The futures where he dies. The futures where he lives. The futures where... where she still has a chance to tell him how much he means to her. Where she’s not too late. Not a failure. Futures where they can laugh again, where they can finally begin to move on.

Time creeps forward. The healing tear plummets downward, directly towards his center facet. She exhales.

Contact.

[i-will-physically-fight-you]

for the one word prompt— butterflies

Title: through murky waters and twisted paths

Summary: Only fools with a death wish enter the Forgotten Forest. Everyone knows trickster spirits lived there that would love nothing more than to make a quick meal or gain amusement out of a human. Virgil knows all the stories–he’s told them to the village children himself. None of that matters to him any longer.

Pairings: platonic intruxiety

Word-Count: 1.5k

Warnings: G/T, morally grey Remus, fantasy racism, body horror, ostracization, self-hatred & deprecation, suicidal ideations, hunger, death mention, blood mention, non-graphic references to violence, angst with a happy ending

hi I spent way more research on this fic than intended. I also forgot about this for like two months, opps. pls enjoy :)

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As the sun sinks low into its’ grave Virgil ventures deeper into the Forgotten Forest, where the trees grow as tall as giants and the moss grows thick. Spirits live in the forest. Trickster spirits, ones that view humans as nothing more than amusement or an easy meal. He’s heard all the stories, he’s told them to the village children himself. None of that matters now.

(First came the cravings. He devoured everything in sight–his stomach never satisfied. At night he’d clutch his stomach as it growled. Always growling, wanting more, more, more)

With each step, he fights against the fear building with each heartbeat. It is quiet in the woods. Too quiet. Where are the bustling of the squirrels and chirping of the birds? Have they been eaten? Will that be his fate as well? As if to answer him, the earth trembles beneath his feet. Virgil stumbles, grasping a tree trunk for support. A choked cry escapes his lips.

(Then, as quickly as the cravings came, they stopped. He had little time to ponder this as exhaustion seeped into his bones. Sleep, he needed sleep. He pulled a blanket over his head, enclosing himself into a husk of darkness.)

“Whoa! You okay, little fella?”

Virgil’s breath seizes. The voice. It’s big and booming like thunder during a fierce storm. Quivering, he tilts his head up, up, up to a figure as tall as the trees themselves. A figure with pale-green skin and dressed in earthy colors. A crown of leaves rests atop their head. A spirit–a giant to be exact.

Virgil tries screaming. All that comes out is a pitiful squeaky click of his teeth.

(He awoke thrashing, constrained in an impossibly tight space. His first immediate thought was that he’d been buried alive. He needed to break out of the coffin. Out, out, out! He scratched and clawed to no avail. Fluid oozed out of him–blood? It had to be blood.)

“Whoa! Aggressive, I like it! Hiya, my name’s Remus, what’s yours?” The giant crouches down, his movements shaking the forest floor. Virgil barely manages to keep a hold on the tree trunk.

“V-virgil.” He tells the giant. He really shouldn’t give his name away just like that. Everybody knows you don’t give spirits that type of power. But he can hardly bring himself to care. 

“Virgil? Ooh what a juicy name,” Remus smacks his lips, “You know I could totally squash you with one finger!”

“Do it.”

“What?” The giant blinks, mouth agape. 

“Did I stutter?” Virgil asks, jaw clenching, “Do it–kill me, put me out my misery. I’m a monstrosity–I shouldn’t exist anyways.”

(His coffin cracked open. Except dirt didn’t come pouring in–sunlight did. He clung to the edge of it and froze. Something was wrong. His breathing–he couldn’t breathe! At least not in the way he was most intimately familiar with. Oxygen seeped through passageways. Not his nose or mouth but elsewhere. He looked down at not one, but two pairs of hands. He screamed. His skin no longer a pale complexion but an unnatural shade of purple. A pair of hands frantically clutched his face. He felt two normal ears, two normal eyes and two long strands of…hair?)

The giant’s grin vanishes as anger seeps onto his very large face. Virgil shudders, his instincts urging him to flee. He can feel air rushing behind him, his feet leaving the forest ground. Nothing happens because the giant snatches him up faster than he can blink. 

(It wasn’t hair. It twitched out of its own volition, smelling his very sweaty palms. With a shriek, he leapt backwards as the spot between his shoulder blades burned. Two brightly-colored appendages flare out from the corner of his eye–surely something horrid like another set of arms. He kept scrambling backwards, as if he could run away from himself. He never stood a chance against that rock. His foot caught the edge of it and Virgil went tumbling down.)

“Hey! Who says you shouldn’t exist?” Remus demands, lips curling backwards to reveal sharp teeth. He holds Virgil in a grip much looser than he expects. It still doesn’t stop Virgil’s heart rate from accelerating.

“I–I do.”

 “Well, I’ll mash up their insides and feed it to the–wait, you do?” Remus blinks, “why?” 

(He woke up to voices. Angry voices. Voices that once familiar and warm now bent with vitriol and disgust. Voices of people he’d called friends and neighbors. Voices of people that called him a demon and a monster. Voices that welcomed him in, gave him food and a honest living. Voices that drove him out, casting charms and wards against him.)

“Just–just look at me!” Virgil says, swallowing nervously, “I’m a demon, I’ll–I’ll possess your soul if you don’t kill me.”

“A demon?” Remus asks, before bellowing with laughter, “I’ve seen plenty of demons before. Best friends with one, lemme tell ya. I know them when I see ‘em and you ain’t a demon.”

“Then…what do you think I am?” 

(He found himself on the edge of the Forgotten Woods. Forgotten because it was so ancient. Forgotten because it was best to forget about it. Long before he was born, spirits took hold of the forest. Killing or thralling any humans who dared enter their domain. But he wasn’t quite human now, was he?)

Remus doesn’t directly answer Virgil. He summons something with his other hand. An oval-shaped object, with wooden trim and vines growing around it. A mirror. One that looms enormous over Virgil, but scaled to the giant is a hand-mirror. Remus’ grip on Virgil releases, causing him to fall back onto the giant’s  palm. Virgil’s teeth click again as he stands on shaky legs. His eyes trail upwards, into the face of his reflection.

(Black horns. Glowing eyes. A long forked tongue. These were the details he could make out in the murky puddle he came across)

Black antennas poking out of plum-colored locks. Watery, lilac-tinged spotted eyes. A thin long curled tongue between fangs. Violet skin smooth and hardened. Four arms entangle together in a tight embrace. His shoulder blades twinges as slightly crumpled wings emerge from behind his back. Dark velvet wings reminiscent of butterflies.

“See!” Remus asks, almost bouncing in place, “You’re a bruise-colored nightmare of a changeling! Why shouldn’t you exist?”

“Changeling?” 

“Yeah changeling–” Remus’ eyes widen, “Ooohhh. You didn’t know, did ya? What was it like? The hunger, I mean? What weird shit did you eat to satiate it? Or the chrysalis! Did you retain any memory inside of it while you turned into a gooey liquid? I bet it was cool–”

“I can’t be a changeling,” Virgil interrupts, a hand gripping at his hair, “I wasn’t super smart, or–or sickly. I was–”

“–a child,” Remus says, his voice suddenly calm and serious, “just a child no different than a human’s young no matter what those hypocritical bastards believe.”

(A few months ago he stood in the middle of the village, Mable’s and Urtha’s children swarming him. ‘Please Virgil,’ they chanted, ‘one more story! One more story!’ ‘Alright,’ he said laughing, ‘alright but just one more okay? I got work to do.

‘One day a mother checked on her child’s crib and cried out in anguish. For her child sported a beard and had long thin teeth. Sharp and spindly, good at tearing through flesh. The child’s grey eyes held a spark too wise. Its head was too small, disproportionate from its body. For it was not her child in the crib. It was a changeling.’)

“I don’t want this, please.” Virgil begs, slumping his head downwards.

The giant’s eyes, more than twice the size of him, regard him. With a flick, the mirror disappears. He reaches out with his other hand. Virgil tenses, waiting for the spirit to crush him. A single finger raises his chin up gently.

“I won’t kill you,” Remus says and with it Virgil’s heart plummets, “I mean, killing is fun. But this wouldn’t be fun for me or you, I promise. Ya know what’d be fun?”

“What?” Virgil asks. He wonders if he’s about to become Remus’ servant. Or worse, a plaything. Something for the giant to screw around with until he played too rough. There’s nothing Virgil could do to stop him. He’s too small to fight back even if he wanted to. 

“If we became friends.”

“Friends? What? Why?!”

“Why not?” The giant grins crookedly, “does there have to be a reason?”

“…I guess not.”

“Sooo?”

“Okay, fine, it’s whatever.” Virgil concedes, body drooping with exhaustion. He hasn’t eaten since he woke up changed and disoriented. He yelps, a jolt of adrenaline pumping through his veins as the giant presses him against his chest in a hug of some sort.

“Great! You won’t regret this!” 

“I think I do.”

“That’s the spirit!” Remus cheers, oddly unfazed as he still holds Virgil close to his chest, “now woulda like to meet my demon friend? Half his face is a snake!”

“Sure,” Virgil yawns. He can’t help it–Remus is warm and for the moment, doesn’t seem interested in maiming him. He falls asleep to the rhythmic stomps of Remus as he traverses through the woods, rambling all the way.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Icy Is The Avatar Of High School; The Essay

I would like to begin this essay with a song. While reading this essay keep in mind that Icy has the exact same energy as this song which (imo) embodies prep & jock with a touch of nerd. No goth tho, press f in the chat.

Wow I put way too much into this. I hope y’all love it.

Okay so lets get into this! We will begin with the obvious one, goth:

*Gestures to all of the snow*

Edit: that was supposed to say show but snow works too.

Next we will talk about Jock.

So think of your typical jock. A stereotypical jock has a few qualities; reckless bravery and determination, large ego, usually at least kind of an asshole, doesn’t know when to quit, craves them gainz, and makes impulse decisions. 

Icy is definitely a very brazen person. It takes balls (and a large ego) to get banned from your campus and then very boldly strut back onto said campus in the middle of dinner while the whole school is assembled. She looked at Lord Darkar, shadow phoenix of the underworld and was straight up like, “yeah, whatever dude.”  Dude is such a jock word. 

So onto determination! Okay look, we have like 7 whole seasons of her trying to take over the world. She was arrested, what? 5 times? She literally doesn’t know when to stop. Give up??? Who’s that??? 

I feel like the large ego thing also speaks for itself she is constantly talking about how she deserves to be Darkar & Valtor’s main witch. She is well aware that her plans are usually fantastic. She just exudes an I’m better than you energy. It’s in her posture, her gestures, her tone of voice. Icy is absolutely certain that she is the shit and in the 4kids version one of her demands to the professors was to stand before the student body and say, “Icy rules, Icy’s the greatest.” *Spoiler alert* she is. I promise that she is not holding me hostage. 

Which brings me to the next point, getting dem gainz! Your average jock is at the gym, drinking protine shakes, and building muscle! While Icy is not in a gym trying to get 6 pack abs, she 100% chases them magical gainz! The dragon fire is just a really hot protine shake.  

In the 4kids version, upon overrunning Cloud Tower, she addressed the student body by welcoming them to her pep assembly. Ya know who else likes pep assemblies? Football jocks. 

Also that whole scene in episode nine (Spelled) where she rallies up the witches and they all chase Musa. That’s like the goth equivalent of getting the entire football team to chase after the nerd (or a member of the rivaling team).

And let’s not forget the ‘nerd run’ from season two where she rode this dinosaur thing and chased Timmy, the stereotypical nerd type. (It’s funny because she doesn’t know that she’s a nerd too). 

Okay so now that we dug deep into jock, it is time to discuss Prep!

I tend to use prep & always wears pink, blonde, mean girl interchangeably. But wiki says; Characteristics of preps in the past include a particular subcultural speech, vocabulary, dress, mannerisms and etiquette, reflective of an upper-class upbringing. Both definitions hold up in my book. 

So we’ll start with wiki’s. Icy (depending on whether or not we’re going with the season 8 retcon) is from an upper-class upbringing. Tbh she’s like Stella but a witch.  Icy is Stella’s goth phase and that’s why Stella fears Icy because she knows that that’s what she could be. I feel like Icy also has the most preppy dress style of her sisters.  Also pretty sure preps are known for being over-achieving perfectionists. Icy was actually pretty good with her academics. 

As for the Regina Gorge type prep; Icy is totally your classic mean girl bully, but make it witchy. I really think that this speaks for itself. It sings for itself too in 4kids OST. One of the lyrics in the Mean Girls song is that they will steal your boyfriend and trash your makeup. If that doesn’t scream prep, Idk what does. 

She reads them magazines. I don’t remember which one but I do remember her mentioning that there was a question posed in said magazine about ‘what would you do if you took over the world’ and apparently she wrote, ‘you’ll find out soon enough, loser’ and sent it in. 

Loser, pixies, nerds, dweebs. Icy has a whole list of mean and petty insults to put in her burn book. Like bye girl. 

Literally all of the Miss Magix contest. That is peak mean girl shit. The Trix literally went to a beauty pageant for the sole sake of making everyone look stupid and to trash on everyone’s fashion and makeup. On top of all of that she did that just because Lucy agreed to do their homework for ???? amount of time. Let’s be real, it was a life sentence.  

Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for! Nerd!

Literally every time she calls anyone a nerd or a loser I wheeze because, girl, check yourself! Prior to getting kicked out (for being a dumb jock), it is heavily implied that Icy, Darcy, and Stormy were at the top of their classes. Like these three were Griffin’s best students. And I am inclined to believe that Icy was thee top student. This woman was an overachiever whether she wants to admit it or not. 

Icy is the plan person. She’s the one who keeps the Trix on task. Though Darcy exudes ‘group mom’ energy, Icy is usually the one to snap at them to stay focused. She’s the organized one  and the one who seems to do most of the scheming. That takes some deep thinking and brain power. She knows how to summon monitors, banish trolls into oblivion, astral project into virtual reality using voodoo dolls, summon nightmare monsters, and summon an army of rot. Like how does she know all of this?  Studying. I almost said that I have no proof except in the Winx comics (this one) she is seen venturing to the library to research dark magic and spells. 90% she has done some extensive research and reading into all of these things because I highly doubt that Cloud Tower teaches things like summoning the army of decay. That was all down time research because this nerd enjoys learning about dark magic. Ya know who else enjoys reading and learning? Nerds. I know, I’m a nerd who loves reading and learning. Just because she likes learning about ~cool~ thinks like dark armies, doesn’t mean it’s not a nerdy quest to know everything about the subject she knows. 

Speaking of which (lol get it, witch), Icy also knows about history. She was the one who told Bloom all about what happened to Sparks and all about the coven. Why? Because that knowledge is floating around in her brain and she chose to retain it. I have a feeling her knowledge of history goes beyond the coven and Sparks too because she also knew that the Ring Of Solaria had fragments of the dragon fire.  She knows too much about this shit. 

I think that her nerdiest moment though, had to be when she solved that riddle at Red Fountain to get the codex. Like you have to have brain power to solve a riddle with the added pressure of being surrounded by your foes on enemy territory. In general her nerdiness just bled through in that season because she was snatching those codexes left and right. 

Also lets get into the fact that she (especially in the comics) has a tendency to humiliate herself, whoops. She managed to get her own (and Darcy & Stormy’s) memories erased, she got them trapped in an avalanche (and then dated a fellow nerd for two seconds and pretended like she didn’t hate it), and she is constantly pulling ‘we’ll be back’ speeches every time she gets defeated. Like seriously this is the evil equivalent of ‘lol I meant to do that’ or ‘haha, that didn’t happen, you didn’t see anything.’ And then she will make her next attempt as if she had never gotten defeated at all. Because losing is for losers and Icy ‘totally isn’t’ a loser. 

And honestly what’s more nerdy then prattling off your entire evil plan? Like this is her trying to flex her intelligence. 

Let’s not forget how she had her nerdy fangirl moment. She simped for Darko for like two or three whole comics. Like full on simping over here. If she could have bought a T-shirt with Darko’s face on it, she would have. Bonus, he was her childhood crush.

And finally, I am also very  inclined to believe that Icy is the fake it until you make is sort. With her it’s all about presentation. The only thing that saves her from being an obvious nerd is confidence. I touched on this with the whole ‘you didn’t see anything’ bit. But legit, pretty much everything she does would be kinda nerdy if she didn’t make it look good. 

Please feel free to add if you think that you have more examples of Icy being a nerd. 

[madpanda75]

“Taking Chances Part 7: All in the Family”

I’m back with the latest chapter where Rafael spends a Sunday with the Carisi family. So sorry it took me so long to get this out. Thank you so much for your patience and thanks for all of your sweet comments. Stay tuned for the next part ❤️

The clang of the bells of St. Thomas pierced through the Staten Island spring air, their melodic rings beckoning churchgoers for Mass. Rafael watched people dressed in their Sunday best walk through the red double doors of the stone cathedral as you drove the car into the church parking lot.

Turning off the ignition, you looked towards Rafael and gave him an expectant smile. “Ok, you ready?”

A sigh below past his lips. “Ready.”

“Are ya’ nervous?” you teased with a playful nudge to his shoulder.

“Me? Nervous?” Rafael scoffed. “Please, I do not get nervous,” he lied when in reality, he was a bundle of nerves. In his nearly twenty years as an ADA, Rafael had faced down cold-blooded murderers and rapists in the courtroom and yet he had never been more nervous than he was at that moment.

Ever since the unfortunate encounter in his office, he had been unable to shake Sonny’s voice from his head, a terrifying thought under any circumstance. What if your family shared his sentiments about the two of you dating? He could envision it now—a large Italian family shooting daggers at him as he walked arm in arm with you. It would be like re-enacting a scene from The Godfather.

You arched a brow at him, not falling for his cool facade. “Everything will be fine,” you reassured him. “Anyways, it's not my family you should be worried about. You should be more worried about bursting into flames when you step into the church.” You leaned towards him and whispered in his ear, “Especially after what we did last night.”

“How could I forget,” he purred. The image of you tied up and blindfolded to the bed, writhing in ecstasy as he licked whipped cream off your nipples was forever seared into his brain. He cupped your face and captured your lips with his, tracing the seam of your mouth with his tongue. You softly moaned and tilted your head, deepening the kiss when a tap on your driver side window caused you both to jump and split apart.

There was your older sister, Gina, standing outside your car with a smirk firmly planted on her face. “You might wanna watch where ya’ suck face, lil’ sis. Father Betino just walked past. See ya’ inside,” she said with a wink and headed towards the church.

You rolled your eyes and stepped out of the car with Rafael. “So which sister is that again?” he asked.

“That’s Gina. She just got engaged for the 11th time to a Wall Street broker. She claims this time it’s for real that he’s ‘the one’,” you explained, using air quotes before winding your arm around his as you walked up the stone steps. “Teresa, my other sister, strictly dates men who make six figures and above. I swear she considers Forbes to be her own personal dating ad. Ya’ already know Bella and Tommy, and of course there’s Sonny. Any questions?”

“Gina, Teresa, Bella, Tommy, and Sonny,” he softly repeated, trying to retain the information you had just thrown at him. “I think I got it.”

He opened the door, stepping inside after you to find your family waiting in the vestibule, their loud conversations echoing against the walls. Several children, who Rafael assumed to be your nieces and nephews, ran around the giant holy water font, laughing and squealing in delight. The door closed behind you with a deafening thud and the family chatter came to a halt, their attention now turned towards you and Rafael.

“Hi everyone.” You smiled and waved, being preoccupied with Rafael and work it had been ages since you had seen everyone. Your family swarmed you, sweeping you up in hugs and kisses. Spotting Rafael awkwardly standing off to the side, you reached out and grabbed his hand, leading him to your parents. “Ma, Pops, this is Rafael Barba.”

“Hi Mr. and Mrs. Carisi. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” he said and extended his hand to your mother.

“Please, call me, Julia,” your mom replied and shooed his hand away, pulling him into a tight hug. “It’s so nice to finally meet you, Rafael. We’ve heard so much about you.”

You tapped her on the back.“Ok, Ma. Please do not crush my boyfriend to death,” you joked.

When she let go, Rafael noticed how much you looked like your mother—the same warm eyes, same brilliant smile, same delicate nose. He briefly imagined what you would look like when you grew older and his heart fluttered at the thought of standing by your side in the years to come, surrounded by children and grandchildren.

Unfortunately that thought was quickly dashed when he noticed your father. Dominick Carisi, Sr. stood with his arms crossed, tilting his head as he inspected Rafael with a slight frown. It was the same look that Sonny had whenever he was eyeing a potential suspect. A look Rafael recognized all too well. Standing his ground under your father’s steely stare, he held out his hand.

After a pregnant pause, your father finally shook his hand. “You can call me, Mr. Carisi.” He wrapped a protective arm around you. “So, you’re the one my little patatina has been dating.”

“Pops,” you said in a warning tone.

“Oh Dom, relax.” Your mom waved him off, turning her attention back to your boyfriend. “So are you Catholic, Rafael?

“Ma, please,” you whined and gave Rafael an apologetic look.

“It’s ok, Y/N.” Rafael smiled. He knew all too well what it was like to have a prying parent. “I was raised Catholic. I used to go to St. Rita’s with my mother in the Bronx.”

“How nice. Maybe she can join us sometime,” Julia said.

“Ok, Ma. Why don’t you and Pops go grab our pew before the Marchese clan steals it from us again.” You gently lead your parents into the church. “We’ll see you in there.”

Your sisters walked past you both, greeting Rafael on their way inside to join your parents. Teresa gave you a subtle thumbs up and mouthed, “He’s hot,” before she ran to catch up with Bella and Tommy.

You stayed in the vestibule with Rafael, knowing he would need a minute or two to recover after meeting your family. “See that wasn’t so bad.”

Rafael let out a long breath. It was only 10:15 and he felt as if he had just ran a marathon. “They’re great,” he replied. “Hey, what does patatina mean?”

“My little potato,” you mumbled, your cheeks turning bright pink. “Apparently, I resembled a lumpy spud at birth.”

He laughed and took your hand, leading you into the church when Sonny burst in. “Sorry I’m late. I couldn’t find a parkin’ spot,” he said a little out of breath. Giving you a big hug, he then turned and noticed Rafael. His face instantly fell as soon as he locked eyes with the ADA. “Barba.”

“Carisi.” Rafael gave a curt nod of acknowledgement.

Your eyes darted between the two men like you were witnessing a tennis match. “You know this may seem like a crazy idea, but while you’re out of work, why don’t you call each other by your first name?”

“Fine,” Sonny conceded and opened the door to the church as the choir began to sing. “After you, Rafael.

Rafael shook his head. “Oh no. After you, Sonny.”

Sonny feigned sincerity and placed his hand over his heart. “Oh no, I insist.”

“No, I insist,” Rafael retorted.

By this point, Mass would be over and Rafael and Sonny would still be arguing about who goes first. “Hey Abbott and Costello, how about I go first.” You walked between the two men and grabbed Rafael by the arm. “What am I gonna do with you two?” you whispered, leading him down the aisle to the front pew where your family was sitting.

*****

Rafael was a lapsed Catholic. He hadn’t stepped foot inside a church since the SVU squad arrested Monsignor Mulregan for an underage sex trafficking ring. The lack of humanity he had witnessed over the years combined with his turbulent childhood had made his relationship with faith complicated.

But on this particular morning with you by his side, all the cynicism and doubt he had towards a higher being seemed to wash away. Rafael focused on the words being spoken. The words forever etched into every Catholic’s memory; no matter how long it’s been since they attended Mass. The same words he would speak every Sunday as a child sitting next to his abuelita. Stealing a glance at you, he softly smiled and wrapped his arm around your shoulders, feeling completely at peace.

After the service, everyone caravanned over to the Carisi home for lunch. Hearing stories of your childhood and working with Sonny over the years had made Rafael curious about your parents’ home. As you parked in front of 193 Sycamore Avenue, he was pleasantly surprised to find a red brick Victorian home with a front porch and bay windows. It was like a Norman Rockwell painting come to life. There was even a white picket fence.

As you walked up the steps with Rafael, hand in hand, you overheard your sisters talking and kids screaming, creating a cacophony at a dangerously high decibel. “Ok. Easy part is over. Now we have to go to lunch.” You let out a long breath. “Brace yourself, Barba.”

Before you could pull your key out, Teresa beat you to the punch and flung open the door. “Come on in, baby sis and Mr. ADA.” She winked at Rafael and took his coat, placing it in the entryway closet. “Hey, uh...Mr. ADA?”

Rafael blushed. “You can call me Rafael.”

“Ok, Rafael.” Teresa furrowed her brow as she took in his state of dress. “I couldn’t help but notice your Tom Ford designer suit. Tell me how much does an ADA have to make in order to afford that type of fashion?”

You glared at your sister, stepping between her and Rafael, who was still stunned at the intrusive question. “Mind your own beeswax, Teresa Emilia Carisi.”

“Break it up, ladies. Don’t make me get the hose,” your mom warned, popping her head out from the kitchen before turning to Rafael. “Make yourself at home.”

“Do you need any help?” he asked, finally finding his voice.

“Absolutely not. You’re our guest.” She smiled and went back to work.

“Come on, Rafi. Let’s get out of here before Teresa asks for your pin number.” Teresa stuck her tongue out as you led him into the living room.

Your father came bounding down the stairs with a newspaper in hand. He observed how you giggled and wrapped your arms around Rafael. Just as he was about to step into the living room and tell the older man to watch where he put his paws on his angel of a daughter, Mrs. Carisi called him. “Dom, I need your help!”

“Coming, honey,” Dom grumbled and gave Rafael a stern look. “Behave yourself in here. Remember to leave room for the Holy Spirit.”

You rolled your eyes as soon as your father left. “I’m sorry about my family. I know they can be a little much.” Taking his hand, you traced a prominent vein, following its path up to his wrist. It’s not that you were ashamed of your family. It’s just that you knew how they could be. Overprotective. Nosy. Overbearing. There was a reason why you had only brought one other boyfriend home, apart from Rafael.

“It’s fine, hermosa,” he reassured you before wandering around the living room, taking in the fireplace, the cozy furniture, walls filled with family photos, and a large sign that read “La Dolce Vita.” There were also enough statues of saints and the Virgin Mary that Rafael was sure that Mr. and Mrs. Carisi could start their own church.

Rafael spied a picture of you as an enthusiastic twelve year old with braces and butterfly clips in your hair. “That was taken at a Backstreet Boys concert,” you said with a sheepish grin.

A smirk tugged at his lips, noticing a family photo hanging over the mantle. A large picture that appeared to have been taken at JCPenney during the height of Olan Mills. You were a happy chubby baby being held by your mom surrounded by your siblings and father. “Huh, you really did look like a potato when you were little.”

“Jerk.” You playfully smacked him on the shoulder. “Can I get you something to drink?”

“Sure, what do you have?”

“Well we have water.” Winding your arms around his neck, you tugged him down for a slow tantalizing kiss. “Wine?” You kissed him once more. “An assortment of products made by the Coca Cola Company?” With a flirty giggle, you captured his lips again, fingering the hair on the nape of his neck.

He pulled away and tucked a strand of hair behind your ear. “Water will be fine.”

“Coming right up.” You teasingly nipped his bottom lip and went into the kitchen.

Rafael sat on the floral printed couch and looked over at the picture of you at the Backstreet Boys concert perched on the end table. The longer he stared at that photo of you as a tween, the more apparent the age difference between you became. While you were fangirling over boy bands, he had already been working as a lawyer, making grown men cry on the witness stand.

He turned away from the photo only to find all of your nieces and nephews, some of which had suspicious sticky-like substances on their hands and faces, standing in the living room, staring at him like a pack of meerkats.

Rafael audibly gulped but tried to play it cool, remembering that children could smell fear.

A young boy, who looked about 8, with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes spoke first. “Are you Aunt Y/N’s friend?”

“Uh, yes I am,” he replied.

One of your nieces giggled. “Are you her boyfriend?”

“What’s a boyfriend?” asked another little girl with pigtails, who couldn’t have been more than four.

“That’s when a boy is friends with a girl but they kiss a lot,” explained the sandy blonde haired boy. From there it was an interrogation that would’ve put the FBI to shame with each of the kids asking him question after question.

“Do you kiss Aunt Y/N?”

“Are you gonna marry Aunt Y/N?”

“Are you gonna have kids?”

“Can I be in the wedding?!”

“Me too! Me too!”

“I wanna be a flower girl!”

“No me first! I wanna be the flower girl!”

“I can talk to dogs!”

Rafael’s head was spinning. He couldn’t get a word in edgewise over the kids and that dog comment left him completely stunned. Thankfully you and your father came in right before Rafael was sure the children were about to re-enact a scene from Lord of the Flies.

“Woah, what’s going on here?” You gave Rafael a sympathetic smile and handed over his glass of water while balancing a drooling baby on your hip. “Hey kids, why don’t we give Auntie Y/N’s friend a break. Uncle Sonny’s in the backyard and he has chocolate!”

“Chocolate!” The kids screamed and ran out of the room to go maul their uncle.

Rafael looked at you as if you had just offered him a seat on the last lifeboat during the sinking of the Titanic. You were about to sit down when you made a face and sniffed the air. Hoisting the baby in your arms up, you took a whiff of his diaper. “Phew, little man. Your diapers smell worse than the bathroom after your Uncle Sonny uses it.” The baby laughed in response. “I’ll be right back, Rafi. Bella, I’m going to change your offspring,” you shouted, heading up the stairs.

Dom Sr. placed a crudités platter on the coffee table and sat down in his usual chair in the corner of the living room. “So, I understand you work with Sonny.”

“Yes, sir,” Rafael said, reaching for a carrot stick.

“You know, Sonny was a big fan of yours. That is until you started dating Y/N.” He crossed his arms and fixed Rafael with an icy blue stare.

Rafael returned his gaze, refusing to back down. “This isn’t just a fling, Mr. Carisi. Y/N is very special to me. She’s my world.”

The older man was slightly stunned by Rafael’s admission. Before he could come up with a response, Sonny stumbled into the living room with a squealing little girl clinging to his leg. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair was a mess. The man looked as if he was coming back from fighting a war and he was on the losing side.

“Ok, Y/N. You win,” Sonny said, completely out of breath. “Go play with Nonni for a little bit. Uncle Sonny needs a break.” He set his niece down and ruffled her hair as he left to go help his sisters set the table.

The little girl ran up to Rafael and gave him a bright smile, climbing up on the couch next to him. “Hi, I’m Y/N.”

“Your name is Y/N too?” Rafael asked.

She nodded her head enthusiastically causing her pigtails to bounce up and down. “Yep. Mommy named me after my favo-wite aunt! What’s your name?”

“I’m your aunt’s friend, Mr. Barba.”

“Mista Bawba.” Little Y/N tested the name on her tongue.

Rafael bit his cheek to keep from laughing at the precocious child. “You can call me Rafi if you like.”

“Ok, Wafi!” She hopped off the couch and ran out of the room, returning in a matter of seconds with a book that was almost as big as she was. “Can you wead?”

Rafael chuckled a bit. “I think I can manage.” Y/N climbed back on the couch and made herself comfortable on his lap, ready for him to start. Glancing up, he saw Dom Sr. with a pleasantly surprised look on his face. He gestured for Rafael to go ahead. Clearing his throat, Rafael cracked open the book and began to read the story.

You came bounding down the stairs with a freshly changed baby only to stop in your tracks when you came upon a sight that made your heart flutter, soar, and anything else that might require a trip to the cardiologist. There in the living room was your boyfriend with your little niece sitting on his lap, making her giggle as he did funny voices while reading her “The Day the Crayons Quit.” The book you had gotten her this past Christmas.

Sensing your presence, he stopped mid-sentence and caught you staring at him. “Don’t stop now. This is the good part.” You immediately plopped down on the couch next to him and little Y/N. His expression softened and he paused, committing this moment to memory: you sitting by his side with a baby nestled in your arms. Locking eyes, you simultaneously knew that this was what you both wanted—a family. It never felt right with anyone else. But having a family with Rafael, there was no other way to describe it other than perfect. And he felt the exact same way.

*****

“How cute is that?” Gina cooed.

Teresa set the placemats down on the dining room table and went over to her sister. “I know. I think my ovaries just exploded.”

Bella nodded as she laid out the silverware. “Ma needs to get a mop cause I’m a puddle right now.”

Sonny walked in from the kitchen with an armful of plates, furrowing his brow when he saw his three sisters practically drooling. “What’s goin’ on in here?”

“Oh nothin’. Just watching the sexy Cuban man in the living room entertaining our children,” Bella said.

Sonny followed his sister’s gaze to find you and Rafael, surrounded by all of your nieces and nephews playing Candy Land, even your father had joined the game. “Rafael? Please,” he scoffed. “If you find uptight tiny men with overly coiffed hair attractive.”

Gina made a face. “What’s with you?”

“Yeah,” Bella chimed in, taking the plates from her brother and placing them on the table. “I thought you worshipped the ground this guy walks on.”

Sonny snorted. “That was before I caught them on Nonna’s table.”

“Oh yeah, Y/N told me about how ya’ cock blocked her.” Gina smirked and nudged her brother. “Sounds like our lil’ sis is getting satisfied.”

“I wonder if he has a brother,” Teresa mused.

Sonny groaned and plopped down on the dining room chair. “Not you guys too. Anyways, don’t start planning Y/N’s bachelorette party just yet. After tonight, I predict this relationship will start to fizzle out pretty fast.” He stood up and finished setting the table.

“Sonny, what did ya’ do?” Teresa put her hands on her hips and gave her brother a warning glare.

“Why are ya’ pointin’ the finger at me. I’m just sayin’ don’t expect those two to work out. There may be someone else out there for Y/N.” Sonny shrugged and grabbed a piece of garlic bread, taking a bite. “Someone more appropriate. Someone who’s not about to enter their twilight years,” he muttered.

All three of his sisters swooped in and surrounded him. There was no place to escape. He was trapped. Teresa narrowed her eyes. Gina smacked the bread out his hand.

“You better not fuck this up for her. I mean it. She’s happy.” Bella punched him in the shoulder.

“What’s going on in here?” Julia arched her brow, setting a large platter of ragu tagliatelle on the table.

“Nothing,” all of the Carisi children simultaneously said with innocent smiles plastered on their faces.

Knowing her children, Mrs. Carisi was not buying their act. “Uh-huh. Last time you said ‘nothing’. I caught you all fingerpainting the living room walls with chocolate syrup. Whatever you’re doing, stop. It’s time to eat.”

*****

“More parmigiana, Rafael?” Julia asked with a warm smile as the ADA devoured his food.

“Yes, please.” Rafael happily accepted the platter and took his second serving. “Everything is delicious.”

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it,” she replied. Mrs. Carisi had outdone herself. The dining room table was laden with various pastas, lasagna, mussels in a simmering broth, and bread. With each bite, Rafael could feel his stomach expand and yet he couldn’t stop himself from eating. By the end of the night, he was sure one of his buttons would pop.

Taking a sip of his wine, he noticed a painting of what looked to be a street market in Italy on the wall. Vibrant colors depicted vendors selling fruits, vegetables, and various wares on a cobblestone alley. Rafael lost himself in the artwork for a moment. He could practically hear the Italian women barter and bicker over the best price for tomatoes. “That’s a beautiful painting.” He turned to you. “Let me guess. One of yours?”

“Actually that was painted by my grandmother. It’s a market in Naples. My great-grandfather used to sell fish there every week and Nonna Carisi would go with him. She would paint to pass the time,” you remarked.

“You never told me that before,” Rafael said with a smirk.

“Nonna Carisi was an amazing painter,” Julia added. “She used to babysit Y/N. I would come home from work and find them both painting their next masterpieces.”

“Guess it runs in the family then.” Rafael gave you a sly wink.

Mr. Carisi softly chuckled. “I remember when I came home from the hospital after having my heart attack and Y/N announced at dinner one night that she decided to quit the MBA program at NYU so that she can devote her life to art. I swear, I almost had another heart attack right here at this table.”

You sighed, having heard this story countless times before. “Life is short, Pops. I would rather spend my time doing what I love and pursuing my dreams than being bored and miserable reviewing portfolio investments and marketing strategies, slaving away for the almighty dollar. Besides, aren’t you always saying that all you want in life is for your patatina to be happy?”

Mr. Carisi nodded and softly smiled. “Yes, I did and I’m proud of you and what you’ve accomplished.”

“I think Y/N is an incredible artist,” Rafael said. “When we first met, it was her passion for art that really struck me. Her paintings are absolutely captivating. She’s one of the most talented people I know.” He took hold of your hand under the table, running his thumb across your knuckles. Your sisters gave each other a knowing look, wiggling their eyebrows while your brother rolled his eyes. You blushed at his compliment and took a sip of your wine, never letting go of his hand.

“So, when do you two plan on tying the knot?” Gina asked.

You whipped your head around. “Gina?!”

Your sister feigned innocence. “What? I was just askin’. And anyways, time’s a wastin’, lil sis.” She held up her hand and showed off her 3.5 carat pear shaped yellow diamond engagement ring. “Tick Tock.”

Your mom’s eyes lit up. “You know, Nonna Carisi’s wedding dress is in the attic. We can head up there after lunch and try it on.”

“Just as long as you have the wedding in the fall,” Bella said and rubbed her belly. “It’ll give me time to lose the rest of the baby weight.”

Teresa shook her head. “No way. She should have a summer wedding. I bet my firm can book the Plaza for August.” She immediately took out her phone and started to shoot off a text to her assistant.

As your sisters argued over your wedding date, your mom continued, “Of course, we’d have to alter the dress. Nonna Carisi was a little hippy. God bless her.”

You turned beet red. The last time you were this mortified was when you were 16 and got busted making out in the movie theater by your parents. “Can we please stop this crazy conversation and come back from whatever insane alternate reality you ladies are living in and just enjoy our meal. Not another word about the Plaza, wedding dresses, or anything about my or Rafael’s future for the rest of the evening. Thank you.”

Everyone around the table was quiet and focused on their food until Rafael cut through the silence. “Just as long as our kids don’t look like a sack of potatoes, I’m good.”

Rafael’s surprise joke caused you to choke on your wine. He patted your back as you coughed and sputtered. Surprisingly, your father snorted a laugh. As the day progressed, he began to grow fond of Rafael. The laughter became infectious and soon everyone joined in. Well, everyone except for Sonny.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Sonny shot right up with a smug smile on his face. “I’ll get it.”

Your mom and dad eyed each other curiously from across the table. “Were you expecting someone? Dom asked his wife. Julia shook her head no.

You dropped your fork with a clang, instantly recognizing the voice of the person Sonny was greeting at the door. “Hey everyone! Look who’s here!” Sonny announced as he led Theo into the dining room.

All the color drained from your face, you looked as if you had seen a ghost. The shock of seeing your ex quickly began to wear off and was replaced with rage. White hot, explosive rage. As your blood began to boil, you silently debated who to kill first—your brother or ex-fiance.

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Choking On Sapphires 90

Characters: Alfie Solomons x Genevieve (OFC)

Title & Song: Right Back Where We Started From

Summary: Genevieve has her Bat Mitzah, a grand celebration with everyone important to her. But Alfie uses the opportunity to turn the already memorable night into something she'll never forget. Song is Maxine Nightingale - Right Back Where We Started From

Warnings/Tags: FLUFF. Bat Mitzvah. LOTS OF FEELINGS. A LOOOOONG awaited chapter. 

Click on my icon then go to my Mobile Masterlist in my bio for my other works and chapters. (Had to do this since Tumblr killed links, sorry.) Please like, comment and reblog if you enjoyed it! It helps out us writers A LOT!

Another Shabbat passes and Genevieve finds herself becoming more and more preoccupied with the planning of her bat mitzvah ceremony. Although simple compared to a traditional bar mitzvah, as she didn’t want to ruffle any feathers with the orthodox and read from the Torah, she still had plenty to plan and worry about. Currently, the location being the biggest concern.

another sigh escapes her, Alfie had lost count of how many now. She hurriedly flipped through the notebook she’d been using to lay out her plans. The little leather-bound book hadn’t left her side for weeks. It was full of speech bullet points and notes for her chosen subject to speak about but she was currently stuck on the list of places left she could choose from. The options were dwindling by the day as they became booked. Every night Alfie would watch her tap her pen on the top line, a sad limp mark through her first pick for where to have her ceremony and party, but she’d been declined.

But he was always the close observer and decided to try his hand at giving her an early bat mitzvah gift. The first of many to come.

“Ya gonna bore a hole in ‘at if ya keep tappin' at it so.” He remarks with glasses sliding down his nose as he side-eyed her from his reclined position.

“I’m feeling so very indecisive about the location.” She sighed out frantically for the umpteenth time that evening. “I have everything else I want but...nothing feels RIGHT.” She clenches a theatrical fist in her conviction.

“You aren’t used to being told no.” He states it as the fact it is.

“I’m afraid I am entirely serious.” She retorts with a frown. “I have full power to customize this but the one thing I want I cannot have. It’s frustrating when this means so much to me.” Her face was round and pouting, pursed lips he thought were rather soft and precious when she was angry.

“I know love, I know. But ya can have whatever you like really. Just gotta know how to get it.” He gives her a pat to her knee in support.

“You would think with how much I’m paying for all this.” She huffs. “This is on par with one of my birthday parties.” She reflects. “Good thing we skipped that this year.” She grumbles. “I’m so perplexed. I’m paying for all this to not get what I actually want.”

“You’re paying for everythin'?” He challenges with an out of place smile.

Gen gives him a look that judges his intellect. “Yes, clearly. I haven’t asked you for so much as a pound have I?”

“I wish someone had told me this before I went and paid for the venue then. Shame, that.” He shakes his head.

“Alfie. I haven’t chosen. My word, have you not been listening at all?”

“You have chosen though. You wanted the museum.”

“And they told me no.” She responds with flushed cheeks. “Repeatedly.” she lets out a frustrated whine.

“Well, I wish someone had informed me of that before I paid for the bloody thing.” He responds to her blustery rant with a confusing indifference.

“Alfie? Are you okay? Are you smelling oranges dear because you are making no sense.” She places the back of her hand to his head.

“I’m makin' perfect sense if you’d just calm down and listen.” He chuckles.

“You said for the museum.” She states again. “But it’s not available.” She insists.

“Say that first part again. Forget the last.” He instructs with high brows as he sets his book aside. The poor thing was so distraught over her rejection she couldn’t see he was handing her the answer to her problems.

“You paid for the museum.” She rushes out.

“Yeah. And again. Slow it down pet, think of the words.” He keeps a fully amused look on his face.

“You paid for the museum.” She repeats slowly. “But…?” Her brows furrowed in question.

“I paid for the museum. For you to have the bat mitzvah ceremony there, love. I asked them and with a bit of persuasion, they said yes. You’re gonna have the museum.” He has to clarify in basic terms for her rapid-fire brain to grasp onto.

She blinks in a rush of realization. “You got the..?” She stammers.

“You have your heart set on it and I was tired of watching you lament every night about not getting it. This is important and I want it to be as close to perfect as it can for ya.”

“You…?” She whispers.

“Yes. With some exhortation, I managed to talk them into it.”

“You…?” She stammers again.

“Oui.” He lets out a laugh this time. “dois-je le dire en français pour que vous compreniez?”

“Oh Alfie, darling.” She coos, one hand to her chest and the other to his cheek.

“That’s more like it.” He smirks, reaching to hold her hand and kiss it.

“Oh bless you Alfie, you thoughtful man.”

“Nah. I just pay attention’s all. Not gonna let me own woman not have the bat mitzvah she wants. What sort of man would I be?”

“You wouldn’t be Alfie Solomons.” She smirks softly and kisses his cheek.

“Fuckin right love” he grunts and nods.

She chuckles against his cheek. “Oh, darling you’ve made me so happy.” She coos and nuzzles her nose into his ear. “Shall have to start calling you, Sweet Solomons.” She grins and kisses his cheek.

“Oh go on Genny.” He puts on a mean face but soaks up the affection. With her hands in his beard and hair, she turns his face to hers.

“Thank you. I love you. This means the world to me, darling.”

“I’m glad you’re happy.”

“And all because of you.”

“Was nothin'.”

“And modest! My goodness!” She chuckles and squeezes his cheeks, giving him a soft and affectionate kiss to his pouted lips.

“Man's gotta have his values.”

“Even a man like you.” She kisses him again and speaks softly.

“Even me.” He answers in a muffled voice before she takes her time, slow kisses to his plush lips that make him hum with content.

————-

Gen stood tall on her pedestal in her closet, Freddie tending to the last minute adjustments for the embellished gown he’d created for her.

“These stones are being little buggers.” He mutters, keeping his thin face focused on the hem of the silk and beaded gown. It fell to the floor in a pearlescent puddle around her feet, Sheer little sleeves and a silver hue throughout that made her skin and hair stand out against its paleness.

“I can’t say enough good fings bout it, Fred.” Alfie captures their attention as he comes in freshly showered, slicked and perfumed with his trousers and white shirt on.

“You could try.” He smirks and Alfies face is kind and amused. The dress fit her like a glove, a band of embellishment around her waist and everything loose and flowing around her, she looked like an angel. He wasn’t one to get emotional about such things but perhaps the significance of the occasion was wearing the old boy down. He’d heard Gen practicing her speech, speaking of growth and change and finding meaning in the chaos of life and perhaps he was swayed to reflect himself. Tonight was a rather important night for both of them.

“Would you think it brash of me to suggest some pieces for you to wear with this, Chanah?” Her only been calling her by her given name all day and Gen couldn’t find it in herself to mind. She watches him looking through the glass-topped drawers at her collection of jewels.

“As long as I retain the right to turn them down, Certainly no.” She gives him a warm smile as she stays still for the sake of Fred’s sanity.

“‘Course.” He says obviously with his usually gruff tone. “I only had suggestions. I saw that dress and thought of certain pieces as soon as my eyes took it in.” He elaborates with a shaking hand as he moves about the circular space and collects pieces in his hands.

“I think that has it for now. I’ll have my kit with me all night. Won't have you looking a bead out of place if I can help it. Tonight’s too important. You’ll have photographs and I refuse to have you look anything short of angelic.” Freddie speaks with a pointed finger as he gathers a small satchel with beads, stones, and thread.

“It is gorgeous and it will be perfect. Thank you, Cheri.”

“Don’t make me cry just yet.” He protests with an exasperated voice as she takes his hand and kisses it.

“Not yet.” She shakes her head and pats his hand before releasing it.

“I’m off to change. I’ll be at the door waiting for you for the last check before your entry.”

“Lovely.” She says softly as she runs her hands down the textured surface of the gown.

Distracted, Fred has a whirling list of things to do in a short amount of time and is muttering to himself as he leaves.

“He’s a mess, bless him. He doesn’t handle sentimental occasions very gracefully.” Gen observes with a fond by pitying expression.

“He has a lot of heart, that Fred.” Alfie nods and agrees. “But I wanted to speak of yours while we had a moment, love.” His voice is cool and even, demanding her to him as he holds out his hand and she steps off the raised platform.

“What of it Ari?” She implores with inquisitive eyes.

“I wanted to give some significance tonight to what you wore. Jewels wise. I wanted to bring a bit of me into the ensemble. Even if it is a bit of a prick thing to say on such an occasion now that I say it out loud.”

Genevieve smiles and insists he’s incorrect with a shaking head, her long hair cascading down her shoulders. “Don’t be silly. You were so crucial in getting to this point. I value your input so please share.” She holds both his hands in hers and gives them a squeeze.

“As you wish, my love.” He gives her a rather formal nod and turns to start with one piece. “I would like to first recommend Sapphires for such an occasion.” Be announces loudly as if he were presenting to a group, But only Genevieve was in his company. “I believe your favorite stone, Yeah?” She nods with a gentle smile as he brings forth a ring she knows well. “I would suggest this first.” He puts the ring onto her finger and holds her hand, the warmth was felt not only through his skin but in the mild crinkle around his eyes as he spoke. “You wore this the first night you accompanied me out. I couldn’t make up me mind if I wanted to stare at you or your jewels and that is sayin’ somethin’ Both for your taste and your beauty, love.”

She leans forward to kiss his cheek and gives him a smile that disarms him as her soft hands rub against his hardened ones. “I’ll always remember that night.” She speaks softly. “Lovely choice.” She praises.

“And ‘is. A bit farther down the line.” He holds the long and weighted large sapphire stone encased in a halo of tiny diamonds. “You wore this the night I took you to the opera.”

“The night I cried like a baby at the show.” She huffs out a laugh to herself.

“The night I found myself truly mesmerized by you, love. Such softness under that wild exterior. Like a weeping angel, you were, yeah?” He gives a gentle pat to her cheek and she nuzzles into it with a soft kiss. “The last. So far the most important.” He begins with the teardrop Sapphires earrings that dangle from Diamond studs. “Our trip to Paris.” He says with a fond nostalgia in his voice. He puts them on her with strong and steady hands. “My promise to never make you cry real tears, only those of stone.” He pauses and takes her hands again. “I’ve not kept that promise I’m afraid.” He frowns.

“We cannot know the future Ari. As badly as we might want to. You know anything that caused me to shed tears that you caused is forgiven. You’ve only ever had my best interests at heart. That’s worth more than the mere falling of tears.” She squeezes his hands and he nods, not fighting her on it and deeply Proud of her understanding of him and their life together. “I recall it as the best time I’ve ever had with a man in Paris. When we told one another we loved the other.” She speaks softly from the heart and puts her hand to his cheek. “Where we danced by the Seine and played pretend like children to be married.” She sighs, her eyes misty at the fond memories.

“Oi, I recall. You becomin' my real-life fantasy of Lily Lafitte.” He gives her a soft smile.

“The only man I’ve ever introduced to uncle as well.” She adds with a nod of her chin.

“Speak of the Devil,” He smirks, “He and your mum will be there today.”

“Really?” Her band drops to his chest and her eyes go wide. “Mother wasn’t sure if she’d be able to, What with George being difficult with her leaving.”

“I believe a promise from Altar Lafitte when I hear it. He and Alma will be here this evening.”

“Oh, Ari.”She tears up and wraps her arms around his neck. “You’ve made everything so perfect already. I’ll be owing you after tonight.” She teases and kisses his cheek.

“It’s nothin if it’s to make you happy Chanah. You know within reason and reality I’d do anyfin' to make you so, yeah?”

“You lovey gentleman. You absolute mensch.” She nuzzles her nose against his. “I couldn’t think of a single thing you could do to make me happier tonight.” She whispers as she kisses him gently.

“There’s always somethin', Chanah.” He smiles and kisses her cheek innocently. “Always more I can do for a woman like you.”

—————

Her entrance was dramatic with musical accompaniment in the grand style she was known for. The lights hitting her gown just right in the golden hour as she ascended the decorated stone steps.  Alfie stood in her shadow and watched as she was received by every sort of Jewish folk in London. Altar brought a few of the French family members and the east end roughians that worked for Alfie got to stay as long as they behaved. The posh wealth were in attendance as well, some out of good wishes and some to see if things would fall apart, either was fine with Alfie if they were giving her money.

Her art of religious text was spotted throughout the room, some for sale and others just for show. Flowers cascaded over columns and tables as the smell of lavender filled the air with their pastel palette warmed by late summer heat. The tall room with its giant windows and painted ceiling were a perfect setting to the important ceremony, stained glass cascading down jewel-toned light as the sun set and Genevieve became a woman.

After being greeted with loud hugs and kisses by some she hadn’t seen since she was a child.  A beaming Altar and a weeping with joy Alma allow her to be pried from their grasp by Alfie who adjusts her jewels and tenderly asks if she’s ready.

Genevieve Chanah Lafitte was formally inducted into the community with a short but praising introduction by her mentor Rabbi Gold. She gave a beautiful speech, all tying back to her studies and Rabbi Golds teachings over the past year or so. She spoke of growth and change, of tradition and finding one’s place in the world. She ghosts over the bad, only mentioning she hasn’t had an easy sort of life. She tells tales of the good with a charming smile. She chooses to focus on her mitzvah project and how they would be continuing after tonight. The teaching of all religions, the scholarships for Jewish girls, the importance of health and education among the youth and women of the community that she was choosing to focus her efforts on. She told of when she was a young girl, lost and lonely, and how the Jewish community embraced her and gave her a life. Altar pretended he wasn’t crying but Alma fully embraces the emotion of the night. Genevieve ends with mentions of donating to her scholarship and the charities she works with, as well as thanking her closest friends and colleges, Freddie, Claire, Aggie and Alfie among them.

Then came the other speeches as she took her seat at the table with those loved ones she’d just thanked on the stage.

Altar boomed and demanded cheers, telling of knowing she was special from the moment he held her. How he could not be more proud of the woman she had become. Alma confesses this night was her most wild dreams coming true as she had always wanted her most special daughter to find her place in the world and know her people and where she came from. She cries and so does her daughter, emotional tears run in the family. Aggie gives a very short speech sharing the same sentiment as Alma, how she thought of her as her own daughter and as everyone else had, she expresses how proud she is. Claire, much to Gens surprise also speaks and keeps it brief as is her way of doing things. She gets as sentimental as Claire can, calling Gen not only a business partner but a life long friend and sister to her, and that she was looking forward to what the next thirty years brought for them. Fred threatens stories of her wild youth but refrains with a laugh. Calling her a friend and confidant and even if he wasn’t Jewish, he was glad to know there was a warm community to keep her while they lived so far apart. Then came Alfie.  

He had been preparing for this night for some time, a lifetime it felt now. He was so gifted at demanding the attention of a room he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a show of it all.  He stood straight, hands accompanying his endearment and his voice rich and deep and full of affection for the woman of the hour. “I know, as a man, that I am lucky to have a woman like Chanah. And I want you to know that us, as a people, are lucky to call her our own. She has the capacity for tenderness which astounds me every day. Especially with some of the lot she has to work with. I include myself in that. She is brilliant. Smart, fierce, funny and not as important but it is worth mentioning that she is rather easy on the eyes. I have no doubt she will be a pillar for our community. Through her words and actions she is everything a Jewish woman should aspire to be, educated, charitable and strong. A survivor, as we all are and continue to be. I am honored to have a part in her story that brought her to us. Although I will take no credit for any of her achievements. She was already successful when I met her and since she has only grown in leaps and bounds both personally and professionally. We are proud to call you ours, love. And I am even more proud to call a woman like you mine.”

Gen was holding it together, crying but not weeping as Alma currently was into Aggie's shoulder. Altar sat proud and impressed, watching Alfie kiss her cheek and her beam at him with love and admiration. With his hand in hers, he closes out with telling the room to donate, give gifts and eat and be merry. It was a joyous occasion and they’d paid enough for everything so make good use of it. His humor as always comes through and the crowd chuckles and moves, conversations floating about and food being eaten, wine drinking and money changing hands. Gen is embraced with warmth and love, hugs and kisses, thanks and congratulations from all who came across her. She was lost in a whirlwind of praises in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish and was proud to understand each one. Altar networks, as is his way and the women closest to her all huddle like hens and reflect on the hard work they all put in to make Gen who she is. The room is full of life and love and Gen feels full in a way she never had before. A feeling of belonging, of completion and family that made her heart so full it ached in her chest. As the crowd settles into its groups, laughter, and discussions all weaving in and out as she moved about the space, Alfie finds her and takes her hand to pull her from the praising current she was swept away in.

“Might I have ya back now?” He smiles. “I surrendered you to the mob and it seems they’ve all feasted on you enough for now.”

“When the wine kicks in it’ll start back up.” She chuckles and moves to his side without hesitation.

“How about we let them marinate in it then eh? We’ve got plenty to see away from them yeah? And I’d like a moment with you on a night like this. Call me greedy but I rather like Keeping you to myself.” He teases as they lock arms and move to the edge of the room towards some hard looking lads by a velvet rope. “Boys.” Alfie nods and one pulls the rope back.

“Are we allowed back here?” She whispers and looks over her shoulder.

“I got the whole bloody museum love. Just didn’t want no one wandering about, wanted you to have all the attention and have the whole place to yourself. Which is what those rather rough lads were doin' there.” He motions back with his hand as they walk into a dim hallway.

“Never been here with everything so dark. Almost spooky.” She gives a small giggle as her hands rest on his arm.

“I had them light candles for ya love. I thought it’d be interesting to see it in a different light.”

“It’s lovely daring thank you.” She coos at him softly.

“How’s about we go to France eh? Your favorite?”

“Yes please.” She nods enthusiastically.

Only their footsteps echoed as he guided her through the flickering light in the hallways, towards a brighter room that housed the paintings she loved most.

“Monet is the one you like so much innit? The one you’re always on about when you’re out by the pond painting?”

“Yes, I love his work. So dreamy.” She sighs as they round the corner to the room and she stops and stares at the state of the room. “Oh my God.” Alfie stops and lets her take it in. The entirety of Monet's Water Lillie’s in its massive form. But it wasn’t only that that caused her to blink with disbelief. “Alfie.” She exhales softly as her eyes widen and dilate at the splendor of the view around her. The long and tall Water Lillie’s sit center as smaller paintings take up the rest of the space on the walls, but what covered the rest of the usually white space were flowers. Of every pastel color and variation, all surrounding paintings of similar tones as if the colors were bleeding off the canvas and onto the floor.

“I wanted something special for you tonight love.” He spews softly as her eyes flutter shut and she breathes in the floral perfume that filled the space.

“You’ve already done so much.” Her voice breaks, weak and breathy praise as she grips his arm in her hands unconsciously.

“Always more to be done. Like I said.” He fusses back as he moves her slowly into the room as she looked rather overwhelmed. “I told the florists I wanted the whole room covered, wanted it to look like they were coming to life for you.”

“It does. It is. It’s...breathtaking I don’t even know what to say.”

“That you love it and I kept it a surprise.” He smirks and she gives him a huge smile.

“I love it. Adore it. I had...no clue. Not even an inkling.” She enthuses, impressed. “It’s...like a dream. And such a beautiful and artistic take on an installation Alfie, you brilliant man.”

“I wanted tonight to be about your dreams comin' true. You talk about wantin' to get lost in those paintin’s, and I wanted to give ya that.”

She shakes her head and her mouth stays open and stutters. “I don’t...I just.” She stands dumbfounded. “It’s brilliant. Genius. Perfect.” She holds a hand to her chest now to steady her heart. She had been so caught up in her work and planning she had given Alfie room to plan something himself in her whirlwind of plans and appointments. She stood awe struck and speechless in the glowing light of hundreds of blooms. She recalled no other time in her life she had ever been.

“Since I finally have you alone. I did want to say a few things I couldn’t earlier. Or rather I don't fink you’d want me too.” He chuckles and takes both her hands into his as he holds her attention in the center of an artificial field of flowers. “The first time I had to make an apology to you, I used flowers.”

“I’ll never forget it. Just as I’ll never forget this.” She speaks so sweetly, squeezing his hands. “I remember feeling so much when I kissed you. How I didn’t want to stop.” She sighs and swoons and puts her hand to his cheek. “I do wonder often in my moments of reflection of how we came to be how long it truly has been that I’ve loved you. Ari.” She tiptoes and kisses his lips softly. “Sometimes it feels like I always did. I can’t recall a time in which I didn’t at least find you special.”

“From that first night I met you. In that gaudy golden club sitting next to Tommy. You are even more beautiful to me now than you were then, and I would’ve said that was impossible.”

“You were so handsome. So funny and cheeky.”

“You were full of clever wit and a smart mouth. Bold and fearless to put me down.”

“The brown was fucking awful.” She says with a low turn of her voice and he laughs out loud at her.

“And you’ve never shied from telling me a truthful opinion.”

“You’re a strong man. You can take it. Easy to see from the beginning.”

“Aye, but you are stronger, love.” He kisses her forehead. “And of the things you’ve had to face that prove time and time again that you are tougher and more resilient than I could ever claim to be… I wanted this tonight to act as another apology. For all the bad I’ve brought into your life, whether my own doin' or by relation.”

“We’re here now. We don’t have to dwell on it. Always forward.” She insists. “If it means having you and what we have I know I will always find it in me to forgive you.”

“I’m not worthy of your lovely heart.” He speaks softly.

“Luckily for me that isn’t up to you to decide.” She smiles.

“I am so proud of you. For tonight. For tomorrow and yesterday. In all the company I’ve kept in my life, I have never met someone like you before. No one has your spark, your imagination, and cleverness. Of all the minds I’ve known, yours is my favorite and I never tire of knowing you. I’m always left wanting more.”

She flushes in her cheeks and gets an almost bashful look on her face.

“There’s no one else on this fuckin miserable earth that I love as much as you. No one id rather work with or be with. No one else that keeps me interested and always wanting more from them. You are one of a kind, I truly believe that.”

“Ari.” He voices cracks as she wipes at her eyes with both hands and he shifts his weight.

“Which is why I have an offer to make you.”

“An offer?” She asks with soft eyes and an inquisitive voice as she expects papers to come from his pockets, but only a flat and rectangular box held out and presented.

“This.” He opens the box, inside, a bracelet that completes the set of jewels she wears. A row of round and shining Sapphires and diamonds.

She covers her mouth and the stones catch the light and reflect in her eyes.

“An offer of this for a commitment.”

He sees it in her eyes she’s still unsure of everything he was leading up to.

“Genevieve Chanah Lafitte.” He begins with a clearing of his throat. “Would you accept this gift and in return make the commitment to me, Alfred Ari Solomons in the form of marriage?”

He could swear he saw her heart stop for a moment. She choked with surprise. Which admittedly he’d wanted it to be. She blinks rapidly and he sees her mind working behind her eyes in frantic and unexpected chaos. “Y-Yes.” She manages to force out, heart in her throat and frozen there. “Yes. Yes! Of course I would I-YES!” She lets out in an ecstatic expression of joy and laughter as the tears gather in her eyes.

“Then with this,” He puts the heavy stones around her wrist. “You will be Mrs. Alfie Solomons. The other half to my soul, with my promise to love and cherish, to provide for and support you for the rest of our lives.”

She stares in disbelief still. Finally meeting his eyes and looking away from the stones. “Alfie I... this is...it's perfect. I love you. It would be a blessing to be able to join my soul to yours. A pairing no one except God Could tear apart.” Her heart was overflowing, as were her eyes, bless her.  She cries and he holds her, feeling her against him in this perfect moment, acceptance and peace fill his mind. A promise to be joined as one, a partnership that could not be broken, something solid and stable in the life of his that was anything but. She was a constant, a confidant, a friend, and lover and now soon to be officially his other half to complete himself in the eyes of his peers and God. She had him feeling things he hadn’t since he was a boy as she kissed his face and thanked him, whispered of how happy he made her, how perfect the night was.

He dries her tears, a warm smile as she sniffles and gazed up at him with love in her eyes. “Would you like to announce it?”

“It would be a good time to.” She nods. “But could you, I’m a mess.” She laughs and puts her forehead on his chest.

“Nothing would make me happier.” He kisses her head and rubs her back before calming her and heading back toward the stage.

“A final announcement to close out the evening.” His voice books over the room as the happy and mostly tipsy group swung their heads his way. “I must admit my loves bat mitzvah was not the only thing I had planned tonight. And I, or I should say WE now, are very happy and I am very proud once again to announce, that our woman of the evening, Miss Genevieve Chanah here has accepted my proposal and will soon be my wife.” The cheers make her cry all over again. Altar slams his fists on the table he sits and yells in excitement, Aggie and Alma sob into each other’s blouses.  Another wave of love and support wash across the room. “So as we wind down to a close tonight, I would like to thank you all for coming, Thank Genevieve for accepting and being exactly what a man like me needs in a wife and we will be seeing you at the wedding. L'CHaim He raises a glass left on the table and a reply of the same and various mazle tov's jumble in the air.

They are both embraced and congratulated, Altar squeezing Alfie and patting his back so hard he coughed before kissing his head. Gen was certain in that moment, surrounded by happiness and well wishes and those she loved the most that every bad thing in her life had been worth it for this feeling. She’d never known such contentment, such love. And it had all brought her to where she was now, and she felt thankful and hopeful. Knowing this feeling, this love existed made her certain that no matter what life threw her way that she could overcome it. Especially now that she wouldn’t ever be alone again.

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[lovelytonys]

100 great things about megamind

basically i just watched megamind and wrote down everything that made me go “hey that’s good”

1. The opening monologue slaps I literally do not care about your “cliches” it’s GOOD

2. “8 days old and still living with my parents...pathetic right?”

3. The idea that Megamind is inherently good since his origin story should have been his dad saying he’s destined for “greatness” but the greatness got cut off uwu

4. Literally just the fact that Megamind was about to go to the Rich Nice House and his destiny changed at the last second,,,everything about this movie makes it a cinematic masterpiece

5. “A baby! How thoughtful!” “yes yes I saw it and thought of you”

6. “While they were learning the itsy bitsy spider I was learning how to dehydrate objects and rehydrate them at will”

7. When you hear the Bad to the Bone guitar riff kick in,,,,,,heck yeah babey!!

8. J.K Simmons is here! yeah!

9. Will Ferrell’s voice acting is literally SO darn good like even just from the beginning,,, the funny affectation of whatever kind of accent that is,,,,,the expressiveness of literally everything he says,,,,,I’m not actively a fan of Will Ferrell or anything but he just did a good job ok

10. “His heart is an ocean inside a bigger ocean”

11. Idk why but I just love the phrase “you fantastic fish you”

12. Metro Man is such a fun character. Like. A hero who shouldn’t be a hero, but he just….is one? Someone who’s idol-worshipped and, despite his grandeur, doesn’t exactly deserve it?

13. MEGAMIND’S CHARACTER DESIGN IS LITERALLY SO GOOD like the vivid colors of his skin and eyes? His COSTUME? His hilarious proportions, between the giant head and the skinny & scrawny everything else? Superb, you funky little alien

14. All dialogue between Megamind and Minion is god tier by default

15. The twist on “damsel in distress” where yeah the girl gets kidnapped but she is so not distressed and has the intellectual power in the situation as she roasts Megamind at every turn and he can’t combat anything she says

16. “Oh potato tomato potato tomato”

17. “I’m shaking in my BABY SEAL LEATHER BOOTS”

18. THE ENTIRE EXCHANGE BETWEEN MEGAMIND AND METRO MAN ABOUT JUSTICE AND REVENGE AND THE MICROWAVE OF EVIL AND WARRANTIES

19. “Can someone stamp my frequent kidnapping card” “You of all people know that we discontinued that”

20. The way this movie manages to SO effectively establish character while diving right into the action and keeping with a fun, fast pace? The world & characters are set up incredibly well AND the start of the journey/ “break into the new world” hits at a brisk 20 minutes? Lovely work, Dreamworks

21. When Highway to Hell kicks in with the lasers and Megamind dancing at the police,,,,,this is nothing short of priceless

22. “Imagine the most horrible terrifying evil thing you could possibly think of and multiply it…..BY SIX”

23. When you’re a supervillain who takes over the city and you say “let’s just have fun with this” to the citizens

24. *whispering behind the door* “now slam the door really hard!” *snickering like a 12 year old girl* “move they can still see you”

25. “Did you think this day would come?” “No, no not in a million years, not ever...I mean yes”

26. “That’s called a window, sir. All the kids are looking through them”

27. Crazy Train is SUCH a nice touch, the fade into Alone Again Naturally is great. The use of music in this movie is absolutely A+, MEGAMIND DID IT FIRST AND GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY AIN’T SPECIAL (jk gotg you’re so special ily)

28. The images of Megamind’s destruction & deterioration of the city are so creative and funny

29. *to a desk toy bird* “What’s your vacuum like?”  

30. “GOING OFF THE RAILS ON A CRAZY TRAIN SIR”

31. Haven’t yet mentioned how lovely the animation of Megamind’s face is! Every single frame, he’s so expressive

32. Mispronunciation of words like “school”, “Metro City”, and “melancholy”

33. This voice cast in general is so good like it’s not just big names phoning it in for an animated movie, they’re fully into it

34. Real Bernard doesn’t get much screen time but he’s hilarious

35. “Typhoon Cheese”, whatever that was gonna be

36. The juxtaposition in body language & facial expression between Real Bernard and Megamind Bernard,,,,,actually just the way Megamind’s physicality is transferred to the other characters he disguises himself as. Great stuff

37. Megamind’s off-the-walls high energy is so fun and electric

38. “This is a bad idea” “yes, a good idea for the greater good of bad” “maybe it seems good from your bad perception but from a good perception it’s just plain bad” “oh you don’t know what’s good for bad”

39. Ollo? Oh, hello

40. “I’m just yelling at my…..mother’s urn”

41. Megamind and Minion just saying “code” before things that aren’t in code. This movie is so good with its running gags, they don’t feel like “oh haha they used that joke again!” they feel like inside jokes between the characters I love it

42. Megamind fighting himself as Bernard while complimenting himself, COMEDY GOLD

43. The various occurrences of random life-altering things happening on a whim to the wrong people, like Hal getting the superpowers and earlier Metro Man being molded into a hero and Megamind landing in prison as a baby

44. The forget me stick

45. Space Dad and Space Stepmom

46. Every character Megamind inhabits always retains Megamind’s eyes

47. MR BLUE SKY PLAYING OVER HAL’S DISASTROUS TRAINING SEQUENCE AND THE FALLING IN LOVE SEQUENCE THAT INCLUDES DONKEY KONG AND MEGAMIND WEIRDLY TEXTING ON A FLIP PHONE (gotgv2 who? Don’t know her)

48. Roxanne’s positive influence making Megamind genuinely want to make the city better uwu

49. ROXANNE AND METRO MAN WERE NEVER A COUPLE! Lovely trope subversion

50. Tropes in this movie in general are so fun. This isn’t some uninspired genre parody. They don’t just subvert tropes in the exact way that you’d expect. I feel like the way that this movie plays with the superhero genre often feels unique and creative

51. Bernard’s character design kind of slaps tbh. The turtleneck, the hair, the glasses, all very nice

52. When Hal calls Roxanne “a really good looking one I’ve got my eye on” like she’s meat or something as opposed to Megamind valuing her personality…..makes ya think u know

53. T h e  b l a c k  m a m b a a a a a

54. “Maybe I don’t want to be the bad guy anymore!” and Megamind & Minion’s subsequent falling out that served as a precursor to the disastrous date with Roxanne- it happens pretty much exactly halfway through the movie. Some people look down upon following structure to a T, but sometimes it’s satisfying when a movie perfectly follows structure and this movie’s structure is flawless

55. “Good luck on your date” “I will” “That doesn’t even make any sense” “I know”

56. Right after fighting w Minion when Megamind looks in a cracked mirror and frowns at his reflection but then changes into someone else, into Bernard, and then smiles? THE CINNAMON TOGROPHY, THE STORYTELLING

57. When Hal is just an incel whose feeling of entitlement is framed as disgusting and he’s not supposed to be sympathetic and Roxanne’s rejection of him is not framed as evil but rather completely justified? VERY epic of them, this movie would have SMASHED the pop culture scene if it came out today

58. The GRAVITY of the part when Roxanne accidentally reveals Megamind in the restaurant is so powerful that I can STILL barely watch it even though I’ve seen it so many times

59. The part that immediately follows where Roxanne shuts down Megamind is SO well done. Roxanne is giving out some harsh words to our dear protagonist, but she is not framed as the bad guy. The great thing about this scene is that they let Roxanne call out Megamind on how he’s been a jerk and she gets to be RIGHT. How very cash money of them! The emotion here isn’t anger at Roxanne because she’s ~being mean~ to Megamind. It’s a sting over the fact that she’s right, and the heartbreak over the dramatic irony of us knowing that Megamind is becoming a better person and Roxanne having no idea. Now Megamind is left with a decision that will show who he truly is on the inside: he could either retreat back into safe, evil ways for the rest of time because it’s easier to be bad because then no one expects anything from him and rejection is easier to handle, or he could ultimately choose to grow from this and recognize how he was wrong and how he has to change. The execution of this midpoint is exemplary.

60. “Do you really think I’d ever be with you?” “....no” the delivery of those lines is so good

61. “You were right! I was….less right!”

62. The Black Mamba is a god tier costume and the fact that it has its own theme song in the score makes it at least 6x better

63. WHEN BACK IN BLACK KICKS IN YEAAAHHHH (Iron Man who? Don’t know her) (Iron Man was already out at this point but how fun is it that this movie used TWO iconic mcu songs)

64. Megamind in the giant suit playing with cars

65. Hal SUCKS I love how much the movie wants you to hate him

66. The difference between Megamind and Hal/Titan/Tighten is so interesting to watch. How Megamind is the self-proclaimed “bad guy” but he’s not even out to do serious damage & it’s just a game to him, while Hal is out for blood but was created to be a hero

67. “Now it’s time for witty banter” “AAAAAAAAA” “I’m not really sure where to go with that”

68. “I’M CALLING A TIME OUT”

69. Twisting the Kryptonite trope by having Metro Man make up the copper weakness

70. “Does he have a hideout? A cave? A solitary fortress?” lol I understood that reference

71. “OW! MY GIANT BLUE HEAD!”

72. Metro Man’s confession scene is so good. Really, how often do you get a hero who feels that he was forced into being a hero? That’s usually a villain trope. Does the hero ever realize he doesn’t want to be a hero….and actually quit FOR GOOD? Again, the trope subversion is awesome

73. “I have eyes that can see right through leaaaaaaaad” that’s my favorite song

74. “You left the city to HIM! No offense” “no I’m with you”

75. “There’s a yin for every yang. If there’s bad, good will rise up against it.”

76. “I say we just go all GANGSTA on him” ms tina fey i would die for you

77. Megamind turns himself in to the police, the fact that he willingly submits himself to the punishment of being a villain at this point is a lovely and stirring way of showing the sense of justice he has deep down and showing his character development

78. When Roxanne gives Megamind a desperate & compassionate pep talk over live tv no matter what it means for her reputation :*))

79. When Megamind has 88 life sentences

80. “I. Am. Sorry!” *dramatically slides down door*

81. Megamind’s heartfelt and regretful admission of all his mistakes that brings his character arc to a head? Lovely

82. “Good luck” “WE’RE GONNA D I E! Hahahaha!”

83. “There is no Easter bunny, there is no tooth fairy, and there is no queen of England.”

84. MEGAMIND’S EPIC ENTRANCE BY COMING OUT OF HIS OWN MOUTH

85. “Oh you’re a villain alright. Just not a super one.” “Oh yeah? What’s the difference?”

86. P R E S E N T A T I O N

87. METRO MAN THUNDER CALVES

88. Again with the green eyes continuity! Love that!

89. “Going somewhere? Besides jail?” *flies in a fancy pose*

90. When Megamind is ready to let everyone think Metro Man is back but Roxanne wants to see the real hero :*))

91. “This is the last time you make a fool out of me!” “I made you a hero, you did the fool thing all by yourself” SICK BURN

92. “There’s a benefit to losing. You get to learn from your mistakes”

93. WHEN THE DEHYDRATION GUN COMES IN CLUTCH

94. Minion being a drama queen lol comedy peaked in 2010

95. Minion’s Little Face

96. “GET BACK YOU SAVAGES” “Sorry he’s just not used to positive feedback!”

97. “Destiny is not the path given to us but the path we choose for ourselves”

98. When Megamind gets to parallel Metro Man’s entrance from the beginning of the movie and everyone cheers for him :*)) and he adds his own fun little twist by making a villain joke

99. “Megamind, defender of Metro City” “you know? I like the sound of that!”

100. Name a better villain to hero story. YOU CANNOT. Cinematic excellence. I am never disappointed.

[jokertrap-ran]

BAD MEDICINE ~Infectious teachers~ [PC GAME] Tojo Kairi (Art) Route Translations (Part 17)

MC’s name is retained as the original MC name Kawana Hina.

* Words within ‘   ‘ are spoken in English – *Spoiler free : Translations under cut!

Prologue / Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4/ Part 5 / Part 6/ Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16 / Part 17 / Part 18 / Doll END / Good END / Bad END / True END / Ruin END

Hina: (I wonder how long it’s been since I started taking special lessons from Tojo-sensei?)

Hina: (I’m going crazy from how every day seems like a repetition of the day before.)

Hina: (Why am I taking these lessons, again?)

Hina: (How did things end up like this?)

Tojo: Your word use, behaviors and mannerisms. You’ve now perfectly mastered everything.

Tojo: I must say that I’m impressed with your tremendous growth during the lessons. You are a truly talented, and impressive student.

Hina: Thank you.

Tojo: ...Although,

Tojo: I realized that you’ve recently come to be a person of few words.

Hina: Really?

Tojo: And...

Tojo: ………...

Hina: There’s more?

Tojo: ...No. I just feel like something's been a little off about you lately. Almost as if something’s missing.

Hina: (Something I’m missing?)

Hina: (I wonder what I’m missing?)

Hina: (He doesn't seem satisfied at all. And the fact that he feels like something's missing means that I'm still far from attaining his desired perfection.)

Hina: What am I missing? Am I doing something wrong?

Tojo: ...I do not know, myself. It's just another step more, in any case.

Hina: ………...

Tojo: Let's end here since it's about time for the school's closure today.

Hina: Alright.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Hina: (Something that I'm missing…)

Hina: (I still have no idea what it is despite having thought about it for so long...)

Hina: (And to think that I had put in all this effort to meet the expectations Tojo-sensei had for me...)

Hina: (I’m always, always…)

Hina: (............)

Female Student A: There’s a storm coming, according to the weather forecast. I think you should hurry and head home too.

Female Student B: The wind’s getting stronger too. Looks like it’s gonna be rough. I’ll head home first, okay? See ya!

Friend A: Aren’t you going to head home, Kawana-san?

Hina: ...Oh, right. Of course.

Hina: (I see, so class has already ended for the day.)

Friend A: You look pretty upset lately. Something up?

Hina: What?

Friend A: You look like you’re pretty down in the dumps. I’ll gladly hear you out if you’re willing to share your troubles.

Hina: Thank you, but I’ll be fine.

Hina: (So I look depressed, huh. Tojo-sensei will tell me off again if he catches me sporting such a glum look, I’m sure.)

Hina: (I have to be careful.)

Friend A: I’ll be heading back then! You should head home before it really starts pouring out. See you tomorrow!

Hina: (It’s going to rain?)

Hina: (Oh! How could I forget! I have to go to the blue rose garden to ensure that the flowering bud doesn’t get soaked by the rain!)

Hina: (I’ve got an umbrella on me today so this works out perfectly!)

Hina: (Thank god I made it here before it started raining.)

Hina: (The flowering bud would be destroyed if it was exposed to such heavy rain.)

Hina: (I wonder if setting this umbrella up over here will help shield it from the heavy rain and wind…?)

Hina: (I have to secure it firmly so that it doesn’t get blown away by the wind.)

Tojo: Kawana-san.

Hina: Tojo-sensei...

Tojo: I saw you back in the corridor, running off with your umbrella in hand. I was curious, so I followed you here.

Hina: The weather seems to be rather bad today so I was about to take some counter-measures to ensure that the flower buds aren’t damaged by it.

Hina: I’ve gone through all the effort of fixing it up and it’s even about to bloom! It’d be a waste if it was to be destroyed…

Tojo: And so, what were you planning to do with it starts raining while you’re at it?

Hina: (I didn’t think that far…)

Hina: (Tojo-sensei would definitely disapprove if I were to return soaked to the bone.)

Hina: (He’d say that it wasn’t a beautiful thing at all.)

Hina: I apologize...

Tojo: I’m not scolding you or anything.

Tojo: Look. Here comes the rain.

Tojo: Come then, let us return to the school building. You can come under the shade of my umbrella.

Hina: R-Right.

Tojo: You don’t have to stay that far away, come closer. Your shoulders are getting wet like this, no?

Hina: Ugh...

Hina: (I feel increasingly self-conscious the closer I get to him.)

Tojo: The rain seems to be getting stronger now… Let’s hurry.

Hina: Okay. Um...

Tojo: What’s the matter?

Hina: Thank you, for all this.

Tojo: Courteous, aren’t you?

Hina: Hm?

Tojo: No, it’s nothing.

Tojo: ...What you’re lacking is...

Tojo: ………...

Xxxxxxxxx

I was unable to hear what Tojo-sensei muttered under his breath due to how loud the rain was.

Looking up at him, I couldn’t help but to have my breath taken away.

He looked beautiful and put-together even as he was lost in thought. 

Someone beautiful, a person of perfection.

Someone unlike me...

He’s the true embodiment of beauty. That was what I thought, from the bottom of my heart.

[prcmctheus]

beep beep y’all ur resident dumpster dweller kay here in action and ready 2 introduce u all to my Fave Boy misha who uhHHhh p much has rbf and a Thicc ukrainian accent. will this contain anything of substance other than immense rambling ?? whO KNOWS but we’ll go on this journey together but feel free to drop a like if u wanna plot and i’ll pop over to ur dm’s !!

potential triggers: death + mob activity

! ✰ ° — [ CHRIS PINE, CISMALE, HE/HIM ] mykhailo “misha” chernenko, aka agent prometheus is a thirty-five year old tactical agent that has been loyal to mercy twelve years. during that time they were injected with the gamma serum and earned regenerative healing they have a reputation of being the sagacious because they can be pragmatic & diligent. but let’s not forget they’re pretty acerbic & reticent. if you listen closely you can hear another one bites the dust by queen whenever they walk past.

okie to start off ya boy was brought into the world as михайло оландрович черненко ( aka mykhailo oleksandrovych chernenko ) but typically goes by the nickname of misha bc it’s easier and was born in kharkiv, ukraine ,,, he is a proud ukrainian and v much dislikes being deemed a russian ,, don’t do him dirty y’all . . it’s a struggle and one he will never forget n have u on his shit list ,, especially since his accent is still Thicc so any jokes will get u a side eye

his father oleksandr had strong nationalistic views , especially so when ukraine was still under soviet control and following the death of his first wife yulia ( they were visiting her family in moscow when she was caught in the crossfire of russian mob activity on her way home from the store and ultimately died from gunshot wounds ) he became heavily involved anti-russia groups back in ukraine

in 1983 when misha was born, he uHHhhHHhh wasn’t really wanted per say ?? like ,, his dad was hooking up with his mother kateryna and it was a surprise to them both that kateryna was pregnant ?? so oleksandr did the noble thing ( arguable bc he ain’t so noble ) and put a ring on her ,, mainly bc it was expected and kateryna gave him hell so u go kateryna

misha’s childhood wasn’t the best considering his parents argued more than they got along and kateryna really despised her husband from his life of crime ?? definitely didn’t agree with his ties to the ukrainian mob bc of the threat it brought to the family and especially the dirty money so she often put her sewing skills to use and made little of her own money ,, then wOP ,, four years down the line kateryna surprises oleksandr with the fact that she’s pregnant again but this time it ends up being a daughter that they name nadezhda but call nadia

it was an odd thing for misha bc for as harsh and distant as his father was to him, he had put him on this pedestal with a strong sense of idealism of what his father was like if he managed to do something to make him proud ,, despite not fully knowing in depth what his father did in the mob ( aka not good things like murder, drug trafficking and human trafficking ) so essentially that became misha’s goal in his v young life ,, he mimicked his father’s anti-russian views and showed interest in what he did for a living ,, rip 2 misha’s mom bc she nearly had a heart attack when she heard her son acting like everything she didn't want him to end up being

but with kateryna’s dismay came the affection from his father that misha had so desperately wanted and it became some weird take ur child to work day thing ,, this started when misha was around 6 years old and lasted up until he was 13 ( for reasons i’ll get into soon jndsjksd ) where oleksandr would often bring misha after school or even take him our during school ,, as some weird initiation thing of another generation of chernenko dedicating themselves to the cause of ukrainian independence

misha himself is an intelligent boy with a quick witted mind and ability to retain information and was quick to pick up on the russian language around him in kharkiv as well english ,, generally v good at learning languages and i just !!! get a lil emo thinking about the life misha could have had bc of his smarts if he didn’t get himself involved in this spy shit

his father finds it useful to start teaching misha how to properly fight bc #fambonding am i rite ,, also bc oleksandr is a shite dad who was gonna bring misha along to some  attack they were planning near the russian border from tensions between the ukrainian mob n the russian mob that was starting to infiltrate in ,, just dudes being dudes n getting territorial

let’s pray 4 kateryna when she finds out bc it’s when misha is 13 and tags along with his father to this smackdown which ?? ukraine is independent at this point by 5 years so oleksandr is trash n still chilling with the mob and when shit hits the fan and long story short, oleksandr ( along with many others ) gets killed, misha ends up severely hurt and it’s not a good time ,, but things shift bc when misha comes to he’s in a hospital bed and o shIT ,, he’s chilling with the security service of ukraine which deals with counterintelligence activity and terrorism

chilling ain’t really the term but yA KNOW ,, turns out they’ve been keeping eyes on the mob movements and misha attracted the attention of ukrainian intelligence “offered” him a role as a spy with the promise of training and serving his country proudly ,, u know ,, offered is in quotes bc hoe didn’t really have a choice but it wasn’t a hard choice bc misha was eager to help out his homeland

he didn’t officially go out into the field until he was 17 bc of extensive training in combat and espionage to help defend the still young foundation of the ukrainian government especially since it was rocky from the poor economic conditions ,, and after proving both his worth and abilities in several missions, he was activated as a sleeper agent in the russian government to get a hold of information regarding russian intelligence ,, more importantly such impacting ukraine

ya boy excelled in his position, given it wasn’t the most exciting bc it involved a lot of blending in and upholding this russian persona ,, gone was mykhailo chernenko for those three years up until he was 23 since he went by the alias of konstantin vasiliev ,, and he did well !! as someone who excelled in linguistics, his was v fluent in the russian language with a believable accent to match ( one of his best qualities in his ability to take on accents easily and rn he’s fluent in french, german, italian and spanish outside of his ukrainian, russian, and english )

things went well for the three years acting as a secretary for a high ranking russian government official and uh,, u know it helped that misha was attractive and knew how to use it to his advantage and successfully infiltrated into classified information since his superior viewed misha as just a pretty face with minimal understanding of how politics worked ,, meanwhile he was the one who spilled shit during sex so who was the real weenie

due to unfortunate events, misha’s cover was blown and barely made it out of russia alive and it was around his 23rd/24th that mercy got into contact with him and for as much as misha loved his country, he figured for his own safety it would be best to leave the area since lowkey the russian government still had it out for him ,, so he joined the mercy division as a field agent and AGENT PROMETHEUS was born ,, a couple of years into it he was convicted into taking the gamma serum which gave him regenerative healing which helps out v much when he gets shot at or generally hurt

so yeah p much ya boy has been chilling at mercy as a field agent for eleven years and generally enjoying his time here given things can’t ever really get normal as a spy ,, but it was last year that bc of numerous influences, misha decided to accept the offer of joining the tactical agents and retire his days as a field agent.

personality wise ,, misha is v devoted to his job and does this hoe ever genuinely laugh or smile ?? who knows ,, i think there’s a rumor somewhere that he’s actually a robot. def gives into the slavic stereotype where ukrainian’s never smile ,, not to mention his father ingrained into him the ukrainian saying of Сміх без причини є ознакою тупості aka “laughter without a reason is a sign of stupidity” soooOOoo he’s just a bit stoic and has resting bitch face

doesn’t really realize he’s v blunt and forthright in his speak so he can come off as an asshole ( which 67% of the time he doesn’t mean ) ,, has the patience of a saint but if u push hard enough he’ll crack ,, a bit dry on the humor but can def be an asshole when he wants to. doesn’t trust a lot of ppl and it’s hard to earn his trust ,, word the only major ppl he’s trusted was a) his dad b) the security service of ukraine and c) now mercy so kudos on getting on his good side

has no contact whatsoever with his mother kateryna or his sister nadia ,, partially bc couldn’t keep up for security n safety reasons but also bc misha is p much dead to kateryna after following his father’s footsteps, getting involved in the whole mess of ukrainian / russian political n governmental affairs and also dropping his v tiny attempt of college before becoming a sleeper agent for ukraine ,, so ya boy is on his own so u can expect wALLS around him ,, bc u know ,, he don’t do emotional vulnerability or relationships  

[jos-corner-of-the-world]

The Assignment - {7}

{6} | Master List

Wonho was floored. He stood in the bathroom absolutely too surprised to move, even after hearing Jooheon leave moments before.

He'd known there'd been something between the two of them, but didn't know the extent.  He understood more of Alex’s anger now than he had before.  And as close as him and Jooheon were, he wasn't sure how to feel about this new information.  He felt betrayed for Alex.  For some reason, this information made him feel even worse for his part in it all.

He was vaguely aware of Alex’s presence in the bathroom, but made no move to say anything.

“Sorry you had to hear all that. Not my finest moment I'll admit, but I needed to say it.”

“I understand. I'm really sorry Alex. I'm sorry you're so hurt by our deceit. I can promise you I only meant to protect you. Becoming your friend was just an added bonus. But that friendship is bringing you pain and I'm so sorry.”

“Please don't. I was honest with Jooheon. I can forgive you. When you left and told me you loved me, I knew what you meant. I love you too. You're one the closest friends I had.  That I can still have. But the deceit was way too much from Jooheon. He… He used me. Used my heart and used my body for his job. I can never forgive that, and I shouldn't have to. Am I hurt? Absolutely. I feel like I'm dying inside. But that's not because of you. You made me no promises other than to keep in touch, which technically you've done. The promises he made me, the things he said and did, I hate him for it because I believed him. I believed it all.”

The sound of Alex crying is what finally broke Wonho from his statue like stance.

He carefully walked over to her and pulled her into his chest, letting her cry her emotions out.

“I'm gonna be real with you for a minute Alex. As hard as it is, I'm afraid you're simplifying it. It's much more difficult than you realize. There are more things at play and more history that you're just forgetting about in your anger. I know how hurt you are and I'm sorry for everything. But you have to know that Jooheon is in a really tough spot right now. You're his first priority.”

Wonho almost couldn't believe his own words, but he knew them to be true. Alex was looking at things only on the surface, but there were many layers that she was just disregarding. Many things that she just didn't want to our couldn't understand.

“I don't care.” Alex said defiantly.  “I've never felt so hurt in my life. He says one thing, then says another. I get this is his job, but why does it have to be? Why couldn't you guys have come home to Korea, contacted me at some point and told me the truth. Why did I have to find out this way? It's not fair!”

“I'm sorry. I know that's not what you want to hear but I am so sorry.”

“I think I'd like to be alone right now.” Alex said after taking a moment to collect herself.

“Of course. I'll be around if you need me.”

Alex had a lot to think about, but didn't have the time. She was reminded later by Shownu that she would be starting work the following day at the American embassy in Seoul.

“Your boss, Hyungwon, had been informed of the situation. While sympathetic and understanding of your security needs, he's given no leeway to have any of us in the embassy. His reasoning is justified, but frustrating no less. The embassy has its own security installation and everyone is identified before gaining access to the building. He has been understanding in that if you leave for assignment, lunch, or for any other reason, you will be transported by us. We will be on Embassy grounds at all times, just not in the building. There are more details I need to give you but I'll wait until they are more relevant because I do not believe you're even listening to me.”

“Will do Shownu, thanks.” Alex said walking back into her bedroom.

Alex had almost completely forgotten that she'd gotten a job. With everything else happening this week, it had all but slipped her mind.

She'd graduated with a degree in political science and an undergrad in journalism.  She was starting her career off as a translator and liason for foreign correspondence at the American Embassy. The same one her father used to work for.

It wasn't her dream job by any means, but it was a foot in the door that she'd need to further her career down the road.

She went to bed that night shrouded in thoughts of Jooheon, Ramsey, and the new job.  It was a sad attempt at sleep, but it'd have to do.

“Oh, good morning Miss Alex!” A cheery voice spoke from the kitchen the next morning.

“Who the hell are you?”

“I'm Minhyuk! I'm your assistant.”

“Assistant? What the hell do I need an assistant for?”

“Your job silly. Why else? It's not like you have a banging social life or anything.”

“Listen here, you've been in my presence for fifteen seconds and I already thought of ten different ways to break all your limbs.”

“Well, you've got a quick mind I'll give you that. Now, what do ya say after breakfast we hash this all out.” Minhyuk offered.

“Hash all of what out? I still don't know who you are and what you're doing here.”

“Well okay...I didn't think I'd have to spell it out for you, you being smart and all.  I'm your assistant from the Embassy. I'm here to help you coordinate, schedule and manage your time. Hyungwon sent me over this morning to get introductions out of the way and get a semi plan in place before starting our day. So...here I am!”

“Here you are.” Alex mumbled, none too pleased with the new addition to her daily life.  She could already tell she was going to have a hard time adjusting to this new life she was starting.

“Now. Get some breakfast, get dressed and meet me outside as soon as you can. We can discuss things on the way to the Embassy. Changkyun will be here at 8:15 sharp.”

“Okay. Wait...who the hell is Changkyun?”

“Wow, do they not tell you anything or do you not retain information well?”

“Bit of both most of the time. Now...who is Changkyun?” Alex asked.  It wasn't even 7 yet and she already felt a migraine forming. Minhyuk was not going to be her favorite person in the world.

“Okay well Changkyun is a new addition to your security I've been told. He’ll be the one responsible for all transportation as well as one other agent.”

“Perfect. Can't fucking wait.” Alex grumbled.

“That's the spirit! Eat up, you'll be less grumpy.” Minhyuk said, smile never leaving his face.

He turned to leave just as Alex had picked up a fork to throw at him, missing him by nearly a foot.

“Oh, nice try. Your aim sucks though! Bye.” And he was gone.

“I'm going to kill him. I'm actually going to kill him.” Alex said to herself as she sat down at the table.

{8}

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