#the frosting machine was cool though

[flash-from-the-past]

Cake Mania

[cultven]

Hello! Can I request homelander x human reader? Maybe he has some kind of messed up obsession with a Vought employee that gave him a huge cupcake on his birthday but she is just completely blind to it. Like he's just obsessing constantly like "I swear if someone touches you I'll-" and she's just like "hm, he must be hungry" Id love to see what you do with this plot if you decide to use it. Obsessed x dense is such a funny kind of ship to me.

Strawberry Cupcake

Homelander X Reader

Content: Protective Homelander, Jealousy, he is obsessed! and you adore him too, some threats, lots of touching (in non-sexual ways), semi-harassment from a side character but not really

Word Count: 2.3k

Warnings: Non-graphic threats

a/n: I WILL NEVER GET OVER THIS GIF also I am currently watching The Boys for the first time and have not made it to Homelander’s birthday episode yet so I changed the request a tiny bit, ty

It began with a cupcake—such a small insignificant gesture for the sender, but a brain-rewiring occasion for the receiver. Homelander stood there, dazed, looking at the large treat on the seven-shaped desk, right in front of his chair. He was publicly celebrating “500 crimes prevented” recently, but the majority of it was just a PR stunt. They faked the last crime, making it extra flamboyant so that audiences had something to gawk over. Vought needed more interest so they threw together some tacky event with overpriced merchandise and a speech from Homelander himself. With a tentative hand, Homelander reached out and held the cupcake in his gloved hand. It couldn’t have been an outsider that gave this to him, no one steps into this room besides those he allowed. Examining it further, he noticed a pink slip on the table next to the cupcake. 

‘In celebration of 500 crimes! Thank you for protecting us. -Y/N’

A simple message, a display of gratitude he receives from strangers all of the time. So then why does this feel so different? So personal compared to the other thanks he gets? He licked some frosting. Strawberry, his favorite. He felt a smile grow on his face. Perhaps it was because you were the only employee to thank him for all the fake-heroic work he has done, or because you were observant enough to know his food preferences, but he needed to find just who you were. 

Immediately he went to Ashley and demanded she find who this Y/N person was. The first time he saw you he was instantly drawn to your demeanor. You didn’t seem scared of him, even though as a higher-ranking employee you should be at least aware of his capabilities. Homelander quickly shooed Ashley away and began to make a civil conversation with you, thanking you for the cupcake with a genuine smile. You happily mirrored a smile back, showering him with praise but also trying to make regular conversation. You didn’t want to seem like a fan or anything. 

The time you spent together was refreshing, humanizing. You treated him not as a machine like so many others before you had. You eagerly indulged in whatever topic Homelander brought up, sparking even more interest in the man. As the night concluded he decided to test you. 

“You do realize that the whole ‘500 crimes’ thing is fake, right?” He said it with a tone intended to make you feel stupid for getting the cupcake, despite his undying gratitude for the small gesture. He needed to know what your reasoning was, or if your pretty little face was just not paying attention to the work they do at Vought. 

“I know! But, I dunno. It still seemed like a cool thing to pretend to celebrate. Plus, I’ve been getting into baking and thought, why not make you something? I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?” You said with a soft smile and a sweet expression. You were so fucking oblivious to the fact he could snap you in half without a second thought it was adorable. But it also scared him, were you that dense in the real world to criminals? With even just meeting you he couldn’t bear the thought of you being injured. And thus began Homelander’s mission to be your guard dog in the shadows. 

He was always there, whether you knew or not, keeping an eye on you. He was horrified when he found out you walked home alone from Vought when your shift was over. Were you stupid? No, he knows that’s not the answer. You were just too kind to ever assume that there were people out there who could harm others without a second thought. It was honestly a miracle you’ve made it this far without his protection. But no need to fear now, he’s got your back. 

When he is making himself known he’s constantly obsessing over you, to the point where everyone else in the room can tell but you. One day Homelander brought you along for a promotional event Vought was hosting for a sponsor. He held your hand the entire time backstage, wanting to keep you close. For the moments where he was forced to be somewhere else God forbid anyone else enter your vicinity because they would have a very stern talking to later by America’s favorite superhero. 

“Y/N, just stay here okay? I’ll be back in a bit. If anyone tries to do something tell me, and I’ll fucking blast their heads off sweetheart.” Homelander looks at you with a serious expression, but you only smile at him back. You believe he’s always exaggerating with his threats, despite it being the exact opposite. If anything, the threats are always tamer than the punishment itself. 

“I know, I know. Anybody talks to me, you'll kill them.” You said with a smile, briefly touching Homelander’s nose with your pointer finger. “You’re so cute. Go get ‘em, tiger.” You shoo him away to Ashley, who is waiting with a bored expression. She’s seen this display a million times, of Homelander swooning over you and you not picking up a single hint. The times when he would make Ashley call you into his office just so he could rest his head on your lap at the end of a particularly long day. When you were running late once to a meeting and Homelander searched the entire city in under two minutes because his overactive mind convinced himself you were dead in an alleyway and he had failed you. When he returned disheveled and ready to burn the entire building to the ground he found you were just in the bathroom touching up your makeup and lost track of time. Somehow in his haste of panic, he didn’t think to check the building and immediately assumed the worst. Ever since that incident, Ashley has made sure you were on time for every event now. She was sure he even leveled a mountain for you once after you thought it had the perfect view for a picnic, but no room for a proper picnic blanket. 

Yeah, the dude was obsessed. This brought about some problems at Vought, but anyone would rather jump off a bridge than confront Homelander about his little obsession with you. 

It was another typical day, Vought had just begun filming for a TV show about The Seven. Naturally, they filmed Homelander’s segment first. You sat in said superhero’s dressing room and watched as he perfectly combed his soft blonde hair into place. You had a stupid smile on your face, gawking at the incredible man in front of you. “You’re gonna do great today! I’m so excited to watch your film.” Homelander looked over and saw you practically jumping in your seat with excitement. It warmed his heart to see you so genuinely enjoy him doing simple tasks like mindlessly talking to a camera for hours. 

“Thank you, sweetheart.” Homelander puts down his comb and saunters over to your chair, bringing you into a sudden hug. In truth, he can’t stand physically being away from you for more than an hour. He feels right when he’s with you, he feels like John, not Homelander. It’s such an overwhelming feeling of comfort he feels, he could cry each time you touch. If this is what true love feels like he wishes all his enemies feel it so he can rip it away from them. How excruciatingly painful that must feel shakes him in maniacal ways. 

“John?” You’ve become accustomed to using his real name with him by his request. The simple title shakes him out of his thoughts and brings them back to your shining face. “What’s the hug for? Not that I’m complaining but…” You trail off, arms wrapped around his torso reciprocating the hug. 

“Can’t hug my girl?” He playfully smiles, squeezing your small body with only a percentage of his power. We all know what would happen if he did it with full force. He leads you out into the hallway in front of his dressing room door. The expression he wore was akin to the face a puppy makes when it gets kicked. “I have to go film, but remember if anyone fucking touches you I’ll burn them until their unrecognizable,” Homelander said with a nonchalance that should have horrified you, but you simply smile when he pats your head, kisses your cheek, and leaves the room. As you turn to go your own way you see an intern for the television company standing there, mouth agape. Their expression was almost laughable. 

“He just must be hungry!” You giggle. 

As the day progressed Homelander became increasingly irritated over the fact he hadn’t seen you in hours. The underpaid employees were consistently getting berated and yelled at by the man. “Go find Y/N…” Ashley whispered to an intern after a particularly realistic threat spewed from Homelander’s mouth. 

Looking up from his tiny rampage, it was evident that Homelander had heard the request crystal clear. Deciding he was done with idiots for the rest of today he left with a grumble, “Don’t bother, I’ll find her myself.” 

Finding you wasn’t the problem, it never is with Homelander’s unique abilities, but finding who you were with was something else. Somehow a random D-list superhero had found its way onto the set and decided that you were the lucky girl who deserved his charm today. Unlucky for that man, Homelander’s already sunken mood had just become much more severe. He was clearly making you comfortable, backing you into a corner where you couldn’t escape. He wasn’t quite touching you, but he was only a breath away from being able to. The sigh almost activated Homelander’s eye beams right then and there. He felt animalistic, and territorial over you. 

With the best fake expression he could muster, which wasn’t very good, he casually walked over to the two of you. As the man next to you saw who was approaching his eyes lit up and his body seemed to forget you were there, so enthralled by the man in front of him. Wrong reaction. 

“Homelander, sir! Wow, it’s such an honor to meet you.” His hand stuck out, waiting for a handshake it would never receive. 

“Right,” Homelander’s smile was strained. “And what is going on over here?” 

The man seems taken aback by the question, not quite sure why Homelander was interested in what was happening. “Oh, um, me and girly over here are just chatting. Think I might get to home base tonight, if you know what I mean, haha.” He winked at Homelander, a disgusting and provocative gesture. Gauging your reaction to this comment, a look of fear in your eyes and a pleading look sent John’s way, he almost evaporated the man right then and there. But he kept his cool, he wouldn’t want you to see all the dirty work he has to do after all. 

“I don’t know what you mean,” Homelander said plainly, making the other superhero, if he could even call himself that, cringe at himself. John stood there, eyes now locked on you. You looked so fragile in this position, like something he needed to protect. Sometimes he felt his abilities were given to him for that sole purpose; to protect you from the world. Even if that wasn’t the case he does so anyway. 

“Right, well, um…” The man stuttered out, embarrassed at the exchange. 

“What are you doing here? It’s surprising they’d invite a D-tier superhero to a Vought shooting.” Homelander questioned, changing the subject away from you. This seemed to bring the man’s personality back. 

“Ah! Well, they wanted to include a segment where you were helping smaller heroes, you know, to show you don’t care about status and everyone is equal.” 

“Well isn’t that nice?” Homelander’s grin toward the man only became increasingly artificial, smile lines dancing on either side. He turns to you. “We’ll be right back, sweetheart. Just going to chat about the show a bit.” He winks at you, before ushering the man away out the back. 

It was an hour later when Homelander came back, seemingly much calmer now. Ashley began yelling at him, scolding him for making them wait before he shoved her aside and beelined for his dressing room where he knew you were sitting all pretty waiting for him. 

“There’s my beautiful girl.” He cooed, walking over and taking you in his arms, the scent of your shampoo entering his system. 

You giggled. “Where have you been? Still talking to that one guy? I don’t really like him, he was being weird.” 

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. He wasn’t a good fit for the show anyway.” Homelander wiped a bit of charcoal off his suit. “The team decided to fire him.” 

“Mhm, I don’t disagree with that notion.” You nuzzle into Homelander’s chest before noticing a small box he was hiding behind his back. “What’s that?” 

“Oh, this?” A wide smile played on the man’s lips. He presented the box, a red ribbon sealing the deal. “A present to cheer you up from earlier.” You thanked him before eagerly taking the box into your soft hands. With one fell swoop you managed to untie the ribbon to reveal one strawberry frosted cupcake that you then both shared. 

[m1d-45]

dancing soldiers

summary: meka are infallible. meka do not stray from their path.. except when they do.

word count: ~2k

-> warnings: spoilers for fontaine (name and mechanics of open world boss)

-> gn reader (you/yours) and aether as traveller

taglist: @samarill || @thenyxsky || @valeriele3 || @shizunxie || @boba-is-a-soup || @yuus3n || @esthelily || @turningfrogsgay || @cupandtea24 || @genshin-impacts-me || @chaoticfivesworld || @raaawwwr || @ryuryuryuyurboat || @undrxtxd

< masterlist >

fontaine was known for a wide variety of things, from their ornate fountains to the elaborate clothing it seemed nobody was without. any visitors from other nations were greeted by sweeping architecture and the sound of bubbling fonta, and swimming was a must. but even through the shine of the great lake, their fantastical clockwork meka was definitely the star of the show. every traveller was quickly starstruck by the machines roaming the streets, fitted uniforms not masking the clunking of gears within their chests. even underwater, scanning for raiders and filtering the water, keeping the water clear and cool. faceless, cold, employed both privately and for government work, the perfect tool for their job. they had one job, and they did it well.

meka were designed to protect. to guard. to defend their charge, whether that presented as patrolling a barge of merchants or leading the blind through the winding streets of the city. powered by indemnitium and equipped with efficient charging ports, every meka is intended to outlast their creators. few actually do, whether weakened by arkhe or attacked by those opposing their duty, but it remains a fact that they stick to their orders until the last spark fades from their circuits.

they are perfect workers. they do not disobey, they do not stray from their task. their actions are calculated in a split second, every movement taken to further their given goal.

lead.

support.

shield.

“dance!”

maillardet threw aside the screwdriver in his hand in frustration, kicking at the frost gathering in the arena. behind him, unmoving, were his magnum opus… though they refused to move.

“dance, dance. what’s the point of you?”

they did not dance. they did not move. they stood, hand in hand, one beside the other. coppelius and coppelia, the only signs of life being the frosty wind that would occasionally sweep by. they were in standby, with deflated skirts and unmoving hydraulics. normally, them being still would make maintenance easier, but their plates did not move as they should. he couldn’t even remove coppelius’ hat.

it was convenient, just not for him.

“looks to paimon like might just be the fault of poor design.” you watched from between the hairline gap in coppelia’s skirt, seeing paimon cross her arms. your traveller was stumped as well, merely shrugging.

“theyre infused with opposite arkhe,” aether said simply. “maybe they finally reacted with each other?”

“that’s impossible! the arkhe is held within them, far from where the other could react with it, and only one of them are externally charged at any one time.”

“so… why not reset them? paimon remembers one of the melusines saying that most meka around the city just need to be reset from time to time.”

“in those cases, the meka are given conflicting orders, typically by children. all these two need to do is dance, and-“ his voice choked, aether and paimon moving out of your field of vision to presumable comfort him. you try to shift and see, but coppelia’s skirt twitches inward, keeping you where you are.

you’re sheltered between the two meka, coppelius’ cape-thing making up for the gaps in coppelia’s skirt. you were lucky you hadn’t been seen yet, truthfully… but you didn’t want to stress out maillardet.

“what am i supposed to do?” he asked, words shaky. “i promised the chief justice i’d keep them functional for the divine one, and now- you know what they’re like, and they’re both broken-“

“h-hey, it’s okay! paimon’s certain you’ll get them working again! besides, they still seem to be functional, right?” she flies up, and you flinch at the knock of her hand on metal. it echoes around you, much louder than it should be in your hiding space. “oof, still as cold as ever…

“you should just restart it.”

“are you sure? what if something goes wrong? i can’t even perform maintenance, what if i can’t turn them back on after? you know how they acted last time—if lady furina wasn’t there, then..”

“..it’s better than nothing. besides-“ metal skidded over ice, and you see the flicker of aether’s boot as he kicks the discarded screwdriver back near maillardet’s bag of tools. “-you could always just not put them in stand-by. if they’re broken like this, just leave them dancing. i doubt they’ll notice, and it’ll buy you time until they want to visit again.”

”yeah! you only have a handful of hours until they arrive in fontaine, and it’s not like anything worse can happen!”

“i..” he sighed, and a long moment passed. “i guess trying is worse than doing nothing..”

“that’s the spirit!”

your hands twitch into fists, only partly from the cold. the ‘god’ they spoke of so highly, the one that got you into this mess… who were they, anyway? even you didn’t blame maillardet for needing maintenance between fights, but from his fear it sounded like they’d kill him for a malfunction.

you put those thoughts aside, pressing close to coppelia’s core as the meka were powered down. both of them slumped forward, a shift in their plating allowing a cold wind in. you shivered, and briefly considered praying before deciding against it—what god would answer?

gears clicked and switches flipped, both meka making various hisses. the elemental power seeping from both of them slowly ceased, and your heart picked up. how would this end? after a reset, would they remember to hide you? or would you get crushed beneath their skates as they danced?

“…you two should leave the arena.”

“why?”

“is something wrong?”

“no, but if they begin to dance again, i don’t want you to get hurt.”

“what about you? let me do it, i’m more experienced with combat.”

“it’s alright. in the early stages of their development, they didn’t even have a standby mode, so i’m used to repairing them while they’re dancing. don’t worry, i can get the memory you need unharmed.”

memory?

their memory? when aether had first approached, you’d assumed the ‘sabotage’ maillardet was talking about was the fact that neither of the meka would move. it made sense to want the memory to show which direction the saboteur left in, but that memory would show you, the most hated person in all of teyvat, and the melusine that had helped you hide from the gardes. veleda… you couldn’t let her take the fall for whatever crime you’d committed. she didn’t deserve that.

you take a breath, preparing to make a run over it, when you hear a small click. all at once, coppelia’s skirt snaps back to it’s normal formation, and you catch a glimpse of the traveller’s shocked expression before you’re pulled up and away. coppelius pulls you into his arms, coppelia smoothy following, spinning circles around the two of you like a top. when the two you skid to a stop near the edge of the arena, you quickly get your bearings, only mildly motion sick from the ordeal. maillardet is sitting in the middle of the arena, knocked off his feet beside his tools, and aether and paimon stand on the pathway leading back to the fountain. nobody says anything for a good few moments, the silence tense.

“…at least we know where they went?” paimon asks nervously, and aether draws his sword. coppelia sweeps in front of you and coppelius as he begins to walk towards you, and maillardet quickly gets up. he briefly slips on the icy floor, but quickly intercepts him, his words barely audible.

“traveller, the meka-”

“was tampered with.” his voice is cold, and you shiver at the weight of his glare. “don’t worry, i got it.”

“listen to me, please. coppelius and coppelia follow all the standard guidelines for meka-”

“this isn’t about you!” he shouts, “this is about something much more important then your meka!” his sword points at you, a shining blade despite the name. “this is about a crime too large for your opera house to handle.”

coppelius holds you tighter. the sound of his anger- of his hate makes your heart burn as it sinks, leaving an empty pit. you knew fontaine wasn’t the best at justice, but…

“traveller, have you ever read the machining requirements for battle meka?”

“why is this relevant? why am i talking to you?” he pushes off his hand and begins to walk, leaving paimon behind. after a moment, she gasps loudly, rushing forward to pull on his braid.

“wait! freminet lent paimon his copy of those guidelines once! she knows what maillardet means!”

“so what?”

your twin meka begin to slowly skate away from aether as he nears, ignoring paimon. maillardet is looking through his bag, searching for something, but all you can see are the traveller’s eyes. your traveller’s eyes, all your months of gameplay boiling into his rage.

maybe if the circumstances were different you’d forgive him for being so angry, but as it stands you’re barely convinced you’ll live through the hour.

“one of the clauses was about a special line of code that all the battle-capable mekas had to have- stop walking and listen!”

“how does that connect to this? don’t you care for our god? why are you stopping me?”

“because it’s about our god! don’t you remember? navia told you when we stayed with the spina de rosula!”

he does stop, then, staring paimon down instead. “fine. what is it?”

she lets go of his braid, waving a hand between the icewind suite and maillardet as she talks. “mekas have a special override wired into them in the case that the abyss got ahold of them which shuts down their combat functions when faced with the creator! it’s weaker when triggered through their vessels—which is why their attacks are limited instead of stopped—but is mandatory for every meka that’s combat ready, including coppelia and coppelius!”

aether turns to you, conflicted. you still carried in coppelius’ arms, you hidden under the plating of coppelia’s skirt, you who made the meka disobey their creator. you, the creator of those that made them.

“…maillardet?”

“it’s true, cease your fire.” he lifts a plain notebook from his bag, not that aether turns to see it. “i have my maintenance notes here. that override was the first thing i added, even before i gave them their weaponry. let’s bring our findings to the iudex and let our lord relax. please.”

aether’s sword dissolves into dust, a mix of shock and confusion still lingering on his face as he’s pulled away by paimon’s hand on his shoulder. maillardet packs his things and follows, taking some time to pick his way through the frosted floor. once the arena is cleared, coppelius skates to the center, setting you down carefully. then, he takes coppelia’s hand in his, leading her away. they begin their dance around you, gears clicking with elaborate pirouettes, leaving you in the middle of it all to wonder what just happened.

[sannasruins]

never enough

hitoshi shinso x reader

type: angst

warnings: abandonment/ghosting, disappointment, femmenine compliments but gn!reader

a/n: first post in 10 months, this is loosely based on a romance i had last year, it always sucks to be left behind, doesn't it?

word count: 2k

He left.

You weren’t enough for him, or maybe you were too much. You couldn’t help yourself though, it was adoration at first sight with his stark gaze and shockingly deep violet hair.

Maybe he never even liked you in the first place, because if he did, why would he do this?

It was a cold winter day when he approached you, frost creeped at the corner of windows, and small snowflakes drifted down from the dark grey sky. It was probably the coldest it had been that whole season.

Christmas was coming soon. In your college days that meant going out with friends and drinking parties, but now all your friends were dating or married, spending their day off with their loved one. Leaving you, a newly graduated office worker at a top 10 hero’s company, to come in on your day off so that you didn’t spend your night alone in a cold empty apartment.

That was where you first saw him, Hitoshi Shinso, in person at least. Of course you had heard of him, the brainwashing hero, the hero with a villain’s quirk.

You had seen him on TV, on newspapers, in magazines and on social media. Despite having only graduated 4 years prior and only recently advancing from sidekick to hero, he was rising through the hero ranks while being employed at another, bigger and more popular, hero’s company.

He had also come into the office on Christmas, though it wasn’t as sad when he did it, you thought to yourself, crime doesn’t stop for holidays. Your paperwork could have though.

Hitoshi noticed you when he walked into the small office space you occupied that you were occupying, making eye contact with you, before walking into the breakroom that was connected to the office.  You felt heat rise from your shoulders, up your neck and into your cheeks, and you knew that your face must be brightly flushed.

But how could you have helped yourself, when those piercing purple eyes looked right into you, past what felt like every boarder you had up, past every lie you told yourself, and saw you. You felt exposed, and bare, in a way that not even nakedness could compare to.

You rationalized to yourself as you see his figure retreat into the breakroom, the door closing behind him, that it was just all in your mind, he had just glanced at you, that was all. You still couldn’t help but feel your heated face, sighing and putting your face in your hands for a moment before focusing back on your computer and work.

You heard the door to the breakroom open and close again, signaling that he had exited, but you decided to not look up, because your face had just started to cool down from the last time he looked at you with his pretty pretty face and his pretty pretty eyes.

So, you were surprised when something, a chip bag, was plopped down onto your desk Infront of you, with a small jump, you looked up at and saw that Hitoshi Shinsou had just placed a bag of chips from the vending machine in the breakroom on your desk.

“Its cold,” he murmured, and his voice was like velvet and melted chocolate to your ears, sweet and smooth and everything you ever needed. He leaned on the desk opposite you, “the heat isn’t on today, no one was supposed to come in.” he explained further.

You looked at him with a question on your face, it was cold in the office, that’s why you were wearing your coat and scarf still, but it didn’t explain why he had come over and why he had put a bag of chips on your desk.

“Eating helps keep you warm, replenishes your energy.” He answered your unasked question.

You nodded; your ears hot with a blush you thought he could for sure see all over your face.

“Thank you,” you grabbed the bag from in front of you and put it in one of your desk drawers, “I appreciate it Mister Hitoshi.”

He nodded at you, a small smile graced his lips, before he pushed himself off the desk, and left the room, leaving you in a face splitting smile the second you heard the door close behind him.

You squeezed your eyes shut and told yourself to breathe, to calm down, it couldn’t have meant that much, that it didn’t mean that much. And that just because he was so beautiful, heroic and it seemed kind to boot, that you couldn’t get a crush on him, he was just being a nice person, right?

It seemed like Hitoshi Shinsou wanted nothing more than to have you not be rational though.

After that Christmas day where he gifted you a bag of chips in a cold office, he began to be the places you were more often. Smiling at you as you passed each other in the hallway, asking you how your day was going.

It slowly became more, he soon started seeking you out at your desk, talking to you on his breaks when he wasn’t on patrol, it didn’t really matter if you were working, it wasn’t his company but he was still your superior, so he could do as he saw fit. That didn’t stop your coworkers from starting to whisper though.

Hitoshi Shinso would notice things on your desk, knick-nacks or books, and surprisingly to you, he was a fan of some of those things as well, and it felt almost like fate to you. Your similar hobbies, your taste in music, your taste in coffee, it was all so close to his, how could it not be meant to be?

It didn’t take long after his desk visits started for him to get your phone number, and the two of you would call, only on his schedule though, he was the busy hero who had to work odd hours, so it wasn’t surprising and quickly became normal for you to be awoken at 3 am from a call by him, asking to talk. It wasn’t his fault you were tired in the mornings and it started to affect your work, you didn’t mind if it meant you could spend time with him.

You finally one day, after getting home from the office, worked up the courage to ask him if he would like to hang out on his next night off, maybe to go out to the movies, to dinner, anything would be fine with you, as long as he was there. And to your pleasant surprise, he agreed, but then told you he had tonight off, and to give him your address, he would be there in 30 minutes.

You panicked, this amazingly beautiful man who you thought was so out of your league was coming over to your apartment? In 30 minutes? You weren’t ready, you looked frazzled and tried after a long day working, and your apartment was messy. How could you make both yourself and your apartment presentable in that little of time?

You texted him back, “okay, that sounds great! I live at XXX, apartment number XXX :).”

You rushed to pretty yourself up, putting on nicer clothes in comparison to the office clothes that he has only ever seen you in, and quickly tried to tidy your apartment.

You were shoving clothes and boxes into a closet when you heard the doorbell ring, and with one last push you got them in and quickly closed the door behind it before it could all come tumbling back out onto you. With a quick brush of your palms down your clothes to smooth out any wrinkles from your outfit, you went to the door excitedly.

There he was, the tall man with tired eyes, and he was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt. His socks didn’t match.  It didn’t look like he was planning on going out with you tonight, but that’s okay, it wasn’t a date, you had asked him to hang out, not to go on a date, so its fine.

You invited him in, he complimented you.

“You look pretty tonight.” His voice was like honey and salve, soothing away all your mental pains, “you look really nice outside of those florescent office lights.”

He smiled at you, a dimple in one of his cheeks, and his tired eyes crinkled at the edges. Your heart melted. How could a man this perfect ever exist?

The two of you played board games that night, him beating you badly at all of them, all the while, smiling at you and telling you that you were lucky you were so pretty. You didn’t mind him insulting your intelligence like you would have when most people do it, all it did was make you bush and look down, because you were happy, he called you pretty.

He left that night with a parting hug, you had told him to get home safe and he thanked you for having you, and then pulled you into a hug. You were so startled you almost didn’t hug him back, but you gave him a quick squeeze before seeing him out the door and closing it behind him.

You were obsessed, he was all you could think about, your friends got tired over how often you would text them about him but you didn’t care because you were so happy that his attention was yours, that he had set his sights on you.

He came over to your apartment a few more times, and the two of you even started watching a tv show together, he had recommended it and told you he wanted to watch it with you.

He sat on your couch, and when you sat further away than where he wanted, he pulled you to him, and put his arm around your shoulder.  

He smelt like cigarettes and it made your nose scrunch but you tried to not let it bother you too much, he was perfect in literally every way, and he liked you, he liked you enough to call you, to flirt with you, to cuddle with you on your couch and watch a tv show together. You could deal with a little cigarette smell.

And you started to get hopeful, hopeful for something more, that maybe you could join your college friends and by next Christmas, not be spending it alone but be spending it with a rising hero, someone so amazing had made time for you, had noticed you, thought you were pretty, beautiful, desirable.

He kissed you good bye when he left that night, just a quick peck, but it had you on cloud nine for the entire next day.

As quickly as his attention came, it left.

At first you tried to tell yourself that he is a pro hero, that he is busy, that he doesn’t always have time to text you, to call you. But the spaces in between texts grew longer and longer, hours turned to days, and days to weeks.

You were watching him slip between your fingers and no matter what you said, no matter what invitations you made, or witty jokes you told, he simply was non-responsive.

You didn’t see him at work anymore either, besides occasionally seeing a glance of him in the first-floor entrance, he never came to your branch of the building anymore. Those glances hurt so bad, but you couldn’t help but look, he was still so perfect, and you don’t know what you did wrong, no matter how hard you wracked your brain for an answer.

Your friends told you he used you, or at least tried to. And the whispers at work didn’t stop for quite a while, poor you, not too long ago you were going around telling everyone about how much you like him and how sweet he is. How could you never notice that he didn’t talk about you the same way.

You weren’t enough, and you were too much.

He didn’t like you.

And he left.

[miss-oranje-disco-dancer]

take your fast car and keep on driving

pairing: fem! leon kennedy (aka leah) x reader

cw: wlw, use of homophobic slurs, obscure resident evil characters (no, i did not just make all of those names up), angst, light smut, forbidden love, secret relationship.

summary: you are a rookie in the rpd, and so is leah (re2r leon but as a woman). you like her but you know you shouldn't pursue a relationship because this is 1998 and you're the cops.

a/n: this is a commission for @porcelainseashore! also, the title is a line from fast car by tracy chapman bc i like to cry to that song (and she's a (presumed to be) queer woman so it seemed to fit).

wc: 5.3k

taglist:

@rigorwhoring

@dilfprayers

@porcelainseashore

@dollita-fawn

@xoxoloveless

@admirxation

@pawrincss

Leah. You've never met anyone quite like her before.

Like you, she's new to the force, fresh out of the police academy. It's the first thing you bond over.

In the break room, she gives you a soft smile while she lingers by the kitchen counter, waiting for her instant coffee to finish brewing. The gurgling of the machine fills the brief silence between you.

"It's your first day too, right?" she says after you attempt a "hey" that comes out as nothing but a heavy exhale.

"Yep." It's all you can come up with.

"You seem nervous."

"A little. You know, don't wanna fuck anything up on my first day." Like this conversation. You keep the last part to yourself.

"Don't worry. It took me like three tries to get the buttons straight on this shirt. Jill- Officer Valentine had to help me fix it."

And somehow you're jealous. Leah seems to have no trouble making friends since she's already getting chummy with a STARS member. You'll be relegated to the losers club while she gets to sit at the cool girls table - if there is such a thing.

Most of your colleagues are men. Lieutenant Marvin Branaugh, your direct superior seems nice enough, Chief Brian Irons is a bit off-putting, though. And the STARS members: Officers Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Brad Vickers, Richard Aiken, Rebecca Chambers - and of course, Captain Wesker, who reminds you of a cartoon villain in the way he carries himself. Most of them are relatively nice to you. Jill has a hardened exterior but a soft heart; Chris is a typical jock and a natural leader; Brad is a bit of a knucklehead; Richard is his slightly smarter counterpart; and Rebecca, who's even younger than you, is an absolute sweetheart. Not to mention, Forest Speyer, Joseph Frost, Enrico Marini, and Barry Burton. You consider putting pictures of them on flashcards with their names on the back so you can learn them all.

Then, there's Leah who has a certain je ne sais quoi that makes her name stick firmly in your mind.

She walks gracefully, steadily in combat boots identical to yours and her blonde hair sways in time with her steps. Her pants fit perfectly, especially around the ass. But you try not to stare - you feel gross doing so when you catch the guys ogling her when she turns her back to them.

You wonder if they stare at you too when you're training in the gym. Lieutenant Branaugh puts an emphasis on staying fit in case the day comes where you need to chase down criminals or dodge gunshots during a shootout. A significant amount of your day is spent doing paperwork.

But for an hour a day, you do push ups and curl ups and pull ups (in that order) to 98.6 FM or a CD if Chris remembers to bring one down with him.

"Chris," you hear Wesker snap at him, "This music is atrocious. Go get a CD, a good one."

And with an exaggerated huff and the sound of metal weights hitting the hard floor, he does as he's told.

"He's kinda hot," Leah says from next to you while she stretches her calves.

"Who? Chris?"

"Yeah," she says, decidedly.

"You can have him. I'm not into meatheads."

"I'd like to see the head of his meat."

"That's disgusting!"

"Are you going to sit there chatting all day?" Marvin asks. "Or are you going to get in the ring?"

You both shut up and stand up.

There's nothing to fight over, but you can be competitive when you want to be. Leah seems intent on impressing Chris who's half-assing his workout both to stick it to Wesker, who is satisfied by his choosing Made In Heaven, and to watch you and Leah duke it out.

Nobody can resist a little girl-on-girl action. Leah has many things over you - her charm, her beauty, her laugh, and her body when she pins you to the mat. It's one, two, three slaps of her palm against the mat to crown you the loser, but she gets distracted, and only you can see the mask slip because you're staring into her eyes when it happens. You want to drown in her ocean blue eyes. Her pupils widen and then her eyes themselves in response, like she's shocked by her own feelings. And then she shakes herself out of it.

You blink and she's standing again, holding out her hand to help you up. And then, like she was never even there, she's gone, rushing in and out of the locker room so quickly that you don't cross paths despite your lockers being two apart. You, on the other hand, take extra time to consider the possibility that you've hallucinated her existence entirely.

But, does it even matter? 

Leah starts showing up in your dreams. She's the intermission between being completely flunking your math exam and missing your flight to Paris (the recurring stress dreams). One night, you're eating lunch in a cafeteria and she sits across from you. The next, you're at a Halloween party and she wears a sexy cop costume, which is not that far off from her real uniform. It's the third time she shows up that you kiss. It doesn't go any further than that because you wake up to your 7:45 alarm.

What the fuck was that? 

You have a book called The Secret Meanings Behind Your Dreams which was a gag gift from a friend. You flip through the pages and find explanations for dreams about falling, teeth falling out, pregnancy, but none about kissing your coworker. You decide it's better not to dwell on it.

You file the thoughts of her under the category of things that you don’t have the qualifications or the time to psychoanalyze. There’s probably some sort of bullshit Freudian explanation but you have crime to fight (aka paperwork to do).

You’re grateful for the distraction when it approaches you in the Main Hall of the RPD. It's almost the end of your shift when Richard approaches you. Out of all the RPD members, you feel like he's the closest thing to a friend you've got here.

"Do you have any plans this Friday?"

"Work, per usual."

"Well, yeah," he half-laughs, "I do too. But, uh, what about after work?"

"After work, nothing."

"Cool. Brad and I were thinking about seeing a movie and maybe getting drinks, and he also invited Leah, so I think she's coming too."

The mention of Leah makes you perk up. You could give or take the whole going out on the town after a long week of work.

Leah, speaking of Leah, you spot her across the hall, chatting and laughing with Brad and Chris.

"Cool," you say, staring right past Richard.

"So, uh, do you wanna come with?"

"Yeah, sure. Sounds good." It's less an acceptance to his invitation and more giving minimal responses.

Richard says some combination of "cool", "okay", and "see you tomorrow". Or something like that. You wouldn't know because you're barely paying attention to him.

You realize it's a double date when Richard puts his arm around you. You're enthralled with Saving Private Ryan. "It should win Best Picture," you remark later. But it doesn’t. But right now, you try to play off the fact that he startled you with an awkward laugh. The theater is too dark for you to tell if he's blushing or not, but his embarrassed "sorry" says he is. But before he moves away from you, you lean into him, and you swear you can hear him sigh in relief. He's nice. This is nice.

But more importantly, you watched Leah do the same with Brad and she's your leader just as Brad is Richard's.

No, for you, she's your muse. She's the goddess that you pray to. 

When they kiss, you follow suit. He tastes like the buttery popcorn you've both devoured, but it's not bad. It could be worse.

It’s forgettable, washed away by the beer you drink at the dive bar two doors down from the theater. 

"Do you wanna take this back to my place?" Richard asks.

"I would but I have to get up early for church" is the first excuse you can come up with.

Richard seems to believe you, which is most likely because he wants to believe this isn't rejection. "Oh! I didn't know you were religious."

"I am, yeah," you say, and hope the rubber chicken test prepared you for the difficult task of keeping a straight face in a moment like this. You think you notice Leah stifling a laugh across the table because she knows.

But her eyes only flit to yours for a second before Brad asks her the same question.

"I actually have a date to church tomorrow morning," she says, smiling at you.

Brad believes her because he's not the brightest bulb in the bunch. Before the awkwardness permeates too far, they leave together.

"So, church on a Saturday, huh?" Leah asks with a knowing smirk.

Finally, you both exhale the giggles you've been holding in together.

"God," you say, putting your head in your hands, though still laughing, "How long do you think it'll take for them to realize?"

"I dunno." She shrugs and sips her beer. "But hopefully sooner rather than later so I don't have to make up an excuse not to go on a second date."

"No second date for you guys? You seemed to be having a good time back in the movie theater."

She shakes her head. "I was until he started kissing me."

"Bad kisser?"

"Awful. Tongue down my throat and all."

"Ew."

"How about you and Richard?"

You shrug. "He's nice. And his tongue was not down my throat."

"That's good." She leans a little closer, like she's going to reveal a secret to you. "But you don't seem like you like him that much."

"I mean, I like him as a friend."

But nothing more. "Well, I should be going," you say, picking up your purse. "It's getting late, and, as you know, I have church."

"No, you don't." She rolls her eyes. "But you do have brunch."

"I do?"

"Yeah, I'll pick you up around 10:15-10:30? Depending on my hangover."

"Sounds perfect."

You and Leah each devour a plate of waffles in a diner voted Raccoon City's #1 Breakfast Destination '97 according to a poster outside.

"Mm," she ponders the taste of her coffee. "Way better than what the RPD has."

"I'm beginning to think they might just be giving us packets of dirt instead of coffee grounds."

"Where else are they going to put all the dirt they dig up outside?"

"It's so goddamn weird that they have a cemetery. It's like they're expecting us to die."

"I feel like I'm already dead. My head is killing me."

"Mine too. I don't even think I had that much to drink."

"Me neither, and thank god - I wouldn't want to end up in bed with Brad."

"You think you would've gone home with him if you were drunker?"

"Maybe. I tend to make stupid decisions when I'm drunk."

But, so do you - one of which includes playing spin the bottle with the RPD's finest.

"We used to play Kings mostly 'cause no one had a table that we could play beer pong on," Brad says when Chris asks him about high school parties back in his hometown.

"We can play Kings if I can find a deck of cards."

"No, we can't, dumbass, unless you have cans hiding in the back of your fridge," says Forest.

"What do you wanna play, Forest? Spin the bottle?" Chris asks sarcastically.

"I thought spin the bottle was a game made up for movies. I didn't know anyone actually played it," Rebecca chimes in from the corner, holding a soda rather than a beer because she 'felt bad drinking underage' even though Chris offered her one.

"You bet your ass people actually play it," Chris says. "How else would you kiss your crush when you're an awkward 15 year old?"

"Truth or dare," she says with a roll of her eyes to say it should be obvious.

"We could play truth or dare," Brad suggests.

"No, we should play spin the bottle," says Forest.

"If you wanna kiss me that bad you can just ask," Chris says.

"Why don't we play both? Then, if the bottle doesn't decide in Forest's favor, he can dare Chris to kiss him," Jill says.

"I'll remember to pick truth in that case."

You play spin the bottle first, which results in Forest giving Richard a peck on the lips, Richard passing it on to Brad, who goes for more than a peck with Jill, and Jill, pulling swiftly away from him, kisses Leah.

And it comes to Leah who lands on you. Of course she does. The first kiss is chaste, but when you take your turn and the bottle lands on her, it barely falls short of passionate.

The bottle is Leah's again and if it were possible to rig this game you might've believed someone had because it points in your direction.

A collective - and juvenile - "ooh" comes from the group. It's the same one you hear from a classroom of 7th graders when a teacher tells a student they need to "speak to them".

Rebecca, clueless, asks, "What?"

"They have to play 7 minutes in heaven."

"What's 7 minutes in heaven?"

"The two people have to go into a separate room for 7 minutes and they can do whatever they want."

Leah looks at you, you look at her. Hesitant, nervous, and curious.

"My bedroom's down the hall," Chris says, pointing towards it. "No snooping, no stealing, and if you break it, you replace it. Got it?"

"Yes, Officer Redfield," you say sarcastically.

Leah stands up, giving Chris an exaggerated eye roll, and you follow her down the hall. You can hear them whispering their predictions and fantasies about what you'll get up to behind closed doors.

But eventually, the games go on in your absence. You remain unaware as you sit on the edge of Chris' unmade bed next to Leah.

It’s just you and Leah Kennedy in Chris Redfield’s bedroom, the world is still and the lights are low, but you watch a decade fly before your eyes in a single moment. It’s fancy dinners and home-cooked meals, an apartment in the city and a house in the suburbs, the balcony, the backyard, the wedding, the honeymoon, the family portrait. 

"So…" you begin, expecting her to set some sort of ground rules, expecting you'll end up conversing for the duration, maybe giving each other a friendly peck on the cheek. But, she looks at you, her eyes flicker as they quickly run up and down your body, and she takes the leap.

Her lips are soft and sweet with cherry-flavored chapstick, and like Katy Perry, you liked kissing a girl. But, there are no boyfriends to mind, and despite being tipsy and technically still playing by the rules of a game, there is something real about the way she kisses you. It's heated and hungry, urgent due to time constraints. You can't stay in this room all night - not because it's Chris', but because no one can know about this. You can't tell them that when her tongue meets yours it's the first time you enjoy the taste of beer. You can't tell them about how she tucks her bangs behind her ear so they don’t obstruct her view of you when she pushes you onto your back and her hands travel from your waist to your bra and stop when Chris opens the door. Leah is quick to sit back up, to pretend, but not quick enough. He knows, but for whatever reason, he keeps his lips sealed.

When you return with your head down to hide your reddened cheeks, Brad says, "You two must've been having a lot of fun in there since you missed the timer on the microwave going off."

"We just talked," Leah says.

"Uh-huh," he says, "Talked."

"You guys were totally getting it on in there," Forest says.

"I would've paid to see that," Brad says.

"You can admit it," Richard says. "We won't judge."

"There's nothing to admit," you say.

Jill throws you a sympathetic save by announcing, "You missed Rebecca having her first kiss."

"It's not that big of a deal," Rebecca says, timidly.

"Are you saying I'm a bad kisser?" Chris asks.

"I didn't say that."

The group decides to transition to truth or dare, and you're relieved to have the attention taken off of you and Leah. The boys become distracted by the sight of Jill's tits when Brad dares her to flash everyone. You decide to leave before you end up naked.

While you wait for a cab outside, Leah turns to you. "Can you keep what happened between us a secret?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Thanks," she says. "You're a great friend."

A friend. You longed to be accepted for so long, but now the word sounds like rejection. The word taunts you while you struggle to fall asleep.

Just friends. The way you told Leah you felt about Richard after you made up an excuse to not go home with him. 

Leah avoids you at work the next week. No one seems to care except Chris, who asks you privately, "What is up with the two of you? You were going at it in my bed last weekend and now you won't get within 20 feet of each other."

"Nothing. We were just drunk on Saturday, so that whole thing happened, and we've just been busy with separate work this week."

"Uh-huh. You were just drunk? Nothing else going on between you two?"

"That's like asking if you and Rebecca have something going on. We just kissed because we were playing a kissing game."

He doesn't press further, though when he turns to walk away, you call after him, "Wait, Chris…"

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell anyone, though. I don't want them making a big deal out of it."

"I won't."

He keeps his word.

Leah used to eat her lunches with you, you'd both meet in the break room at 12:30 sharp, but now, you sit by yourself. Until Friday, 12:20, you find her sitting across from Jill, talking and laughing.

"Alright, I've gotta get back to work," you hear Jill say before she leaves the room. There's only one exit, so she inevitably crosses paths with you. She's the first person to give you a warm, genuine smile that week. It makes you feel human and real, and it gives you the confidence to talk to Leah.

When she spots you, she hurries to pack her things up and leave.

"Leah," you say. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, of course not."

And you didn't. That's not why she avoids you.

"Then why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you." Her shifty eyes and wavering tone give her away - not that it wasn't already obvious.

"Yes, you are."

She looks around the empty room before lowering her voice, "Fine. If I admit it, will you let it go?"

"How can I 'let it go'? We went from making out on Saturday to-"

"I told you not to talk about it."

"You told me not to tell anyone else."

"Same thing. You're just making it worse."

"How?"

"You're reminding me of it, and I don't want to think about it."

"Why? I thought you liked it."

"I did. I like you."

"I like you too."

Her face softens for a second, going from forced agitation to poorly-hidden bashfulness, but ultimately, she looks disheartened. Because you both know this can't happen.

"I wish it were different."

"You wish I didn't like you back?"

"No, I wish this world was different. I wish Raccoon City was different."

"Me too, but why should we let it stop us?"

She sighs, purses her lips, and turns her head. Finally, after a moment of contemplation, she says, "Okay, but we have to keep it quiet. When we're at work, we're just friends." She pauses and her lips curve into a smile. "And tonight, after work, when I take you out to dinner, we can be something more than friends."

"Deal."

She glances towards the door to make sure you're alone and gives you a grin that's almost conspiratorial before kissing you on the cheek.

"That's against the rules!"

"Oops," she says with a shrug.

You sneak a kiss on her cheek to 'get even' and she walks out of the room with an extra pep in her step. You notice her trip on the laces of her combat boots, too far away to hear you stifle a laugh, but you see her shake her head, feeling embarrassed by her stupid mistake despite being alone in the hall. She's not used to being lost in thought like this, not used to liking someone in this way.

That night, you play a mixtape you and a friend made together back in high school when your only problems were silly crushes on boys. You remember her gushing over a guy you thought was mediocre at best while the sound of Kiss Me amplified her giddiness, and you remember how you comforted her when he broke her heart while Linger covered up the sounds of her crying. 

You wish you could call and gush over your date and have her calm your nerves over the phone, but you know you shouldn’t. You could say you were seeing a boy but a lie like that would violate the rules of girl talk. You decide to keep yourself company. 

You drive separately and meet at the restaurant. It's relatively crowded with the typical hustle and bustle of Friday evening downtown.

You split two dishes and Leah pays. Like you, the waiter seems allured by her.

"Before you leave," he says to Leah in a hushed voice as if you can't hear what he's saying from across the table. "I just wanted to let you know that you're very beautiful."

"Thanks," she mumbles with a half-smile. Polite, but nothing else lies behind it. No desire.

"And," he continues. "I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime."

"No thanks, I'm unavailable."

"Oh? Where's your boyfriend on this fine Friday night?"

"No boyfriend."

He doesn't quite get it. Not until she reaches for your hand, giving it a squeeze when she takes it in hers. She smiles at you, warm, and then at him, proud.

"Oh, so that's how it is," he says, and you can almost hear the roll of his eyes. "Well, I left my number on the check, so you can call me once you're done 'experimenting'."

Her face turns sour while her eyes remain on him, softening when she meets yours. You walk out hand-in-hand now that you're beyond the point of hiding. Most people pay no mind, thoroughly absorbed in themselves and their dinners.

You take the bottle of wine to go, since you each had only a glass at dinner as neither of you planned to drive home drunk on anything but each other. You're grateful that Leah invites you to share the rest at her apartment since you didn't bother tidying yours. It's better she comes over when the floor of your bedroom is visible, and not covered in a layer of dirty clothes.

Her house is neat and minimalist to a degree that makes you think it's always this way. Her wardrobe, which mainly consists of multi-purpose basics - white t-shirts, blue jeans, and an array of leather jackets - lives on a single-rod stand-alone clothing rack. With her level of organization, she doesn't need to hide all of her things behind a closet door.

You are the only thing she hides. 

But when you enter her bedroom together, she keeps the lights on. She wants to see all of you, to know you. She wants to put your picture in a locket and let you dangle around her neck, swinging like the pendulum of a clock in time with her heartbeat.

You unravel under her touch slowly and then all at once. She kisses you from your lips to your core with meticulous reverence and savors your taste. When you struggle to catch your breath, she holds you like you're bleeding out and your dying words are sacred to her.

Leah teaches you how to return the favor by letting you practice. It is a hands-on lesson. By the time you fall asleep, your lips are wine-dark and barely tired. She holds you close to her heart like a rosary while you sleep soundly.

You roll out of bed stealthily and search her kitchen for breakfast. There isn't much. She seems regimented in most areas of her life and health-conscious. There is a disappointing lack of Lucky Charms cereal in her cupboards. There is a carton of eggs, so you scramble a few for you both. You brew coffee too.

"Something smells good." You hear Leah's voice from the hallway before she appears in the kitchen. She wraps her arms around you, hugging you from behind.

"I took the liberty of making us both breakfast. I hope you don't mind."

"No, of course not. In fact, I could get used to this."

You take a sip of your coffee before you decide, "It's better than the kind they keep in the RPD break room."

"I think anything is."

You try to kiss her and she turns her head. You fear she'll claim the night before was a drunken mistake - it would be the same lie you told to Chris. Obvious in a way that makes it more infuriating than saddening. But she doesn't.

"Mm-mm," she says, shaking her head. "When I said anything is better than the RPD coffee, I didn't mean my morning breath."

"I don't care," you say with a smile and lean in again to kiss her.

She laughs when she playfully pushes you away. "At least let me brush my teeth before you kiss me."

"Fine," you concede and settle for kissing her on the cheek the way you do when no one is looking at work. Even in locker rooms you have to be vigilant. You doubt Jill or Rebecca would say anything unless you were doing something truly salacious. But it isn't unheard of for one of the guys to take a trip through the women's locker room under the guise of "hearing something suspicious" or "accidentally walking in there", sometimes without any excuse at all if it's Irons who has done this on multiple occasions.

Your secret relationship makes you feel like teenagers sneaking around behind their parents' backs. And like teenagers, you both can't wait to grow up and break free of the rules that hold you back from being together. But, you live under the tyranny of societal norms that you can't outgrow on your own.

Not when you have Brad and Richard who find you in the previously-unoccupied hallway.

"It's only a kiss. It's not a big deal."

"Not here."

"No one's going to see us."

But they do.

"I should've known you two were a couple," Brad says.

"Yeah, a couple of dykes," Richard says.

They laugh like bullies on a playground. You thought they would have learned by now. Aren't you supposed to get wiser with age? You're too stunned to say anything for a moment, but you make a conscious effort not to look at Leah. Not yet.

"What's going on over here?" Forest says, peeking around the corner.

"We just discovered there have been two queers hiding among us," Richard says as if he's speaking about foreign spies or ghosts.

"Yeah, they were totally getting it on out here," Brad says.

"Aw, I can't believe I missed the action. Could you give us a little replay?" Forest points at you two like he's the director of a porno.

"Go take your sorry ass to the video rental across the street if you want something to watch," Leah says with unwavering confidence.

Yours wavers. You never got the thick skin they promised you. You put all your strength into holding back tears. Something else burns behind Leah's eyes, though, you can see it. Her icy blue eyes somehow hold fire. 

"Wow, a feisty bitch," Forest says, "or should I say butch?"

All her training led to this moment, but you step out of the ring in fear.

"Sorry I get more pussy than you, Forest," Leah says. She wouldn't normally engage them like this. It's personal. It's you.

"Shit. Pretty good one," says Brad.

"Ugly bitches usually have some brains, so it makes sense," says Forest.

It feels like middle school until it becomes physical. Richard pushes Leah, so she hits him in the nose hard enough to make him bleed. Forest lays his hands on her and likely knowing that she can't take all of them at once, especially when you're standing by in shock rather than fighting beside her like you should be (a thought you only have later), she pulls her gun on him.

Chris, who has won every sharpshooting contest STARS has held since he joined, hears the commotion and runs in with his own gun trained on Leah.

"Put the gun down now," he says.

And terrified, she points it at him.

They both stare each other down for long enough for you to draw yours and fire it because you know if he shoots her, he won't miss. 

You would kill for Leah. 

The bullet hits no one but the picture of Brad on a poster that hangs on various walls of the RPD. Which would be kind of funny if that's what you meant to hit.

Leah turns to you in shock which allows Chris to easily disarm her, knocking her gun out of her hand and kicking it out of her reach. His gun is aimed at you now. He can shoot you and get away with it, and he knows it. His finger hovers over the trigger but something in him holds him back.

"Put the gun on the ground or I will shoot you," he warns you instead.

You put it down and hold your arms above your head. All five of you are placed in separate rooms. There are not enough interrogation rooms to hold you all, nor are there enough cops that are not involved in the situation. Each of you is placed in handcuffs, but you are first. You never thought your handcuffs would end up around your own wrists.

You should be arrested. For once, you are grateful for the way Chris pities you.

"I wasn't going to shoot," is the first thing he says when he walks in. The second is, "you're lucky your aim sucks".

"I really thought you were going to kill her, and I was just scared. I swear, I'm not like that, usually."

"I know. And that's why you're not going to jail." He pauses before adding, "But you're handing in your gun and badge."

Everyone else gets a slap on the wrist. You wonder if it's a literal slap when you see Brad walk out of the interrogation room looking like he's on the verge of tears, but you find out from Leah that the combined interrogation of Chris and Jill will scare you straight.

"Pun intended?" you ask.

"No," she says, but a hint of a smile peeks through.

She tells you that she hates goodbyes before she hugs you. You open your driver's side door and she stops you.

"Wait," she says, and you turn to face her one last time. "Before you go, I wanted to tell you that I… I lo-"

"I know," you say, cutting her off. "Don't say it."

You climb into your car, but before closing the door, you say, "but just so you know, I would've said it back."

The sunset doesn't look as beautiful when you drive off into it alone.

[bmyvalentin3]

holiday party

a/n" first tumblr fanfic! i'm originally from wattpad so bare with meeeee---also not really edited so yeah

details" au, no apocalypse, fluff, kissing, ... . .

pairing" customer!ellie x fem!reader

synopsis" after moving to colorado at the beginning of winter, you start a new job to pay all the new expenses. even though you were a newly hire, you settled quick at your job at the local coffee shop. turns out pretty women also came with the job.

¸.·✩·.¸¸.·¯⍣✩ let's begin ✩⍣¯·.¸¸.·✩·.¸

your sleep was rudely interrupted by your buzzing alarm as you blinked sleep away. your eyelids weighed down, tempting you to just... rest...

you jutted awake as a message buzzed through your phone. groaning mentally, you turned over, unlocking your phone. it was from your friend.

sarah ❤

good morning, work bestie! 6:32 am

girl get up your new job is on the line 6:35 am

you smiled as you slowly typed a response

(y/n)

im up 6:37 am

thanks <333 6:37 am

the winter air bit at your exposed skin as you mustered the strength to slip out of your bed. you walked into the kitchen, pouring some cereal for yourself. continuing your routine, you got a message from your manager, abby.

abby (work)

if no one informed you, you're opening the store. dina is opening with you. she has the keys. i'll be there around noon. 7:01 am

you frowned slightly. you were hoping for... well, you didn't exactly know what you were hoping for. maybe a manager a bit less dry?

(y/n)

thanks, abby. 7:05 am

you finished up your mascara and grabbed your keys. you locked your door, walked down the hallway, took the stairs, and got into your car in the apartment parking garage. the whole way you were shivering. by now the sun was up as you pulled into the back lot of the cafe.

the snow stuck to your boots the whole way, getting it in your car. you didn't care much, just rolled your eyes. you took the keys out of the car and took a deep breath, touching up your lip gloss. you pulled the handle and stepped out of your car, shutting the door, and locking it. dina was in her car next to yours, and you stepping towards her passenger side, tapping on her window gently. you smiled.

dina smiled, rolling down the window.

"hey! sorry, i'm in a bit of a hassle, do you mind opening the store?" she asked.

"yeah, no problem." you responded, taking the store keys from her outstretched hand.

your breath puffed like a cloud of smoke in front of you. you walked around the side of the shop, and made it to the employee side door. you unlocked it, turned off the alarm, shut the door behind you, and began setting up the small shop. frost edged the windows from the outside, adding a cool effect. you turned the hanging sign on the door to "open" and unlocked it.

dina stepped in the side door, walking to the employee's room. appearing a few minutes later in full shoppe attire. she smiled and you smiled back.

"okay, today is a slow day. good luck, y/n." she joked, preparing the machines.

"thanks, you'll need some too." i sighed contently as i wiped down the tables.

.·✩·.

"hey, welcome in." you say without looking up from the register. when you did, you were met with beautiful layered green eyes. damn, she's hot as fuck! you thought. you blinked nervously and looked down slightly.

"what can i getcha'?" speaking quietly, you slowly look back up at her eyes. she was looking at the menu. freckles littered her face. a scar on her right eyebrow was badass.

"i'll take a caramel latte." she spoke. her voice was raspy yet smooth, somehow. she looked back at your eyes and your heart skipped a beat. you clicked in the buttons on the machine.

"size?" you asked.

"small, please."

again, you clicked in the button and rang her up.

"$2.48 is your total today." you patiently watched her grab a card out of her wallet.

your fingers brushed as you pinched the debit card from her hand. ignoring the butterflies, you inserted it. the buzzing of the receipt printing filled the quiet cafe. you wrapped the receipt around her debit card and handed it back to her. you grabbed a size small cup and retrieved a sharpie from your apron.

"what's a good name for you?" you smiled.

"ellie." she responded.

your fingers felt warm as you wrote her name in your best handwriting, daring to put a little heart by it. shit, why did i do that?

"okay, i'll call your name when the drink is ready."

ellie nodded and went to go sit down and scroll on her phone.

i think i like her.

her eyes...

that half bun is sooo hot.

is she even into girls?

many thoughts swarmed your head as you finished her drink with whipped cream and some grid-patterned caramel topping. capping the drink, you placed it gently on the granite counter slightly higher than your working counter.

"ellie!" you called, hoping your voice wasn't weird or unattractive.

"thank you." she grabbed her drink, acknowledged the heart and smiled, glancing at you. when you made eye contact, she winked. the bell jingled as she left the shoppe.

she winked. oh my god!

before you could get too happy, your manager walked in. dina walked behind you and whispered in your ear.

"boss's here." she continued walking into the back.

turning around timidly, you were met with your manager, abby. she was taller than you and way, way stronger. looking up into the blonde's eyes, you quickly glanced away and turned back around to face the future customers.

"good morning, abby." you said nervously.

what you missed was a sly smirk from your manager.

"good morning. how has your first week been?" she walked closer.

you didn't dare to look back.

"it's been... eventful. i've settled well, though." you sputtered out. obviously, you didn't bring up ellie.

"good...good." abby spoke slowly. she walked behind and past you to the employee's room, brushing you slightly. you got the butterflies from the slight touch.

.·✩·.

days blurred into the next... they all seemed to be the same. wake up, go to work, pray that ellie would come back, avoid abby, finish the day, go home, relax. repeat. repeat. repeat.

today was different, however. tonight, starting at 5:30 pm, was the small town's holiday celebration. they place a tree in the middle, light it, sell hot chocolate, and there's an ice skating rink.

basically, the perfect winter date.

to backtrack, ellie came in twice over the past couple weeks of working. thanksgiving ended and it's around the 1st of december. over those two precious days, you managed to talk to her. and she talked to you. and you couldn't stop; nor her. seeing how she watched and listened to you... the way she talked, got slightly embarrassed about small little things... she's so cute.

on the second day she visited, she said something that would repeat in your head every night.

"y/n, do you want to go with me to the holiday kick off? it's our community's tradition. and, it's okay if you don't want to, it won't hurt my feelings, i-"

you smiled seeing her get all blushy and embarrassed.

"yeah, i'll go. with you." as these words left your mouth, she started smiling.

"then we'll call it a date." she smirked.

now it was your turn to get all red.

...

fast forward to you closing the coffee shop early for the celebration, ellie would pick you up. she wanted to drive around early to look at rich people's christmas lights and decorations.

just as you were going to pick up your phone, a car pulled up. you saw ellie smiling gently and waving you in. placing your little work bag by your feet, you got in the passenger seat.

"hi, ellie. again, thank you for doing this. it's sweet of you."

you were a little nervous getting into her car after only talking deeply once, but you felt safe with her.

"hey, you look great. festive." she pointed to your dangly earrings.

"awe, thanks. I got them back in my old home." you sighed contently. she glanced over at you as she pulled away.

"okay, so," she began speaking at a red light, "i'm taking you to the richest neighborhood here. you're going to love it." she had a soft smile. the sun had set already since it's winter, so darkness was spreading quickly.

"you look pretty today." she spoke softly, looking ahead at the road. you blushed immediately.

"thank you ellie. by the way, i only let hot girls take me out, so..." you were suddenly interested in your nails. she blushed.

.·✩·.

"here we are." she slowed down as she pulled on the street. houses glowed magically. many had the moving lights that projected snowflakes and santa hats.

"it gorgeous." you whispered. she drove slowly, letting you look around.

"how can they afford all this?"

"no clue." she sighed.

as the pulled out of the neighborhood, she drove towards the square.

"have you ice skated before?" you look at her. she glances at you, then stares back on the road.

"i have. you?"

"damn, i haven't. maybe we can just... skip that event.." you smiled nervously.

"i'll make sure you're okay. okay?" she looked over at you full on, placing her hand on your thigh gently. you internally freaked out, heat pooling at the bottom of your torso.

"k." you said breathlessly. she smirked, turning to the road, knowing she made you slip up. to push you even farther, she started rubbing gently and slowly up and down your thigh. your cheeks blushed and tingles were left where she touched.

.·✩·.

"come on! we're going to be late for the tree lighting!" she hurried you along as she opened the passenger door for you.

"thanks, gentleman." you smirked, stepping out of the car.

"anytime, pretty woman." she smirked back, winking.

you let ellie drag you to the town square where the large tree was being lit. many other people were already. your nose and cheeks were red and your breath came out as smoke in the frosty air. ellie mirrored your cold looks.

"let me buy you some hot cocoa, yeah?" she brushed a piece of your cold hair behind your reddening ear. you blushed, but the frost camouflaged you.

"yeah, that'd be nice." you giggled quietly. christmas music sang from the multiple speakers around the gathering. she snuck her hand around your waist as you walked together. you were flustered, to say the least.

"hey, what can i getcha?" the employee asked you two as you arrived the stand.

"two hot cocoas, please." ellie smiled, her hand placement on you signaling you were hers tonight. and ellie hopes she can make you hers forever on.

ellie payed and soon the burning hot cocoa was in your hands. you bathed in the warmth. sipping it, you sighed.

"that's good. thank you so much, ellie. for everything." you thanked her.

"it's no problem, really. i was lucky enough to even get you free tonight. i wouldn't be surprised if you had girls in your dms, pretty lady." she smirked, looking straight on at you. you reddened, looking away while sipping your cocoa.

"no, i actually don't have any girls in my dms, much to your disappointment. i haven't gone on a date in a little bit, actually." you said quietly. her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"really? you're lying."

"no, i'm not lying." i responded.

"oooookay then..." she said in a jokingly distrusting voice.

"ho, ho, ho! look at these lovely girls over here! merry christmas!" a jolly person dressed in a santa costume boomed. he was old, but was a cute little guy. you giggled, smiling.

"so festive here." you look back over to ellie, and she's watching you.

"goddamn, you're so cute." she kissed your cheek, leaving you blushy and giggley.

"ladies and gentlemen, if you have children who would like to meet santa, his booth is open! these nice elves over here will show you through the process. thank you." a person on the speakers spoke happily.

"what next?" you yawned, covering your mouth. ellie brushed a piece of your hair behind your ear.

"don't get too tired, cutie. come over here, i wanna show you something..."

.·✩·.

"thank you ellie. this has been the best night since i moved here." you stood with ellie at the entrance to the event. she looked deeply into your eyes.

"of course. thanks for giving me a chance. now let's get in my car, i'm cold." she smirked. you nodded, shivering.

"yes, please."

the heat took a few minutes to warm up, but when it did, both you and ellie sighed in relief.

"want me to take you home?" she looked at you, glancing at your lips.

"i mean, yeah..." you say reluctantly.

"you look so..." she trailed off.

you looked up at her, confused.

"i look...?" you started getting a little self-conscious.

"kissable. can i?" she was practically burning holes into your lips.

you nodded slowly.

"please."

ellie leaned in, capturing your lips perfectly. she laid her hands on the sides of your head, guiding you gently. you both got in sync, letting your bodies take the lead. she licked your bottom lip, asking silently for access. you open your mouth a crack desperately. she tangled her tongue with yours, eventually taking dominance. she pushed into you slightly, exploring your mouth.

after a while of kissing and quiet noises, ellie broke away, smirking.

"you taste delicious." she licked your lipgloss from her own lips. you were trying not to take ellie's comment in a dirty way.

"cat got your tongue?" she held eye contact with you.

"uh, no." you blinked finally, a blush coming across your face as you touched your lips.

"that was.. really nice." you avoided eye contact with ellie. she just had a cocky smirk on her face.

"yeah, i know. now let's get you home, baby."

[rei-ismyname]

New X-FORCE #1 is FIRE 🔥🔥🔥

Keeping it spoiler free for now, but if the book stays good I'll write on it regularly. Issue one was excellent! Really really cool. Forge and Sage were two of my favourite characters from the Krakoan era - they got a lot of page time and solid development but they were always supporting players. That dynamic is flipped here, as well as the attitude to war crimes and the mission statement, it seems. Percy's X-FORCE this is not. As Forge is the leader (assumption based on his narrative prominence and driving the plot) expect wondrous machines and ingenious upgrades to current tech. It looks like the solicited character of Tank is named quite literally - not a mutant at all but the non-biological equivalent of calling in heavy support. That's the impression I get from #1, though they could be a person in a suit or who knows? That's the beauty of having Forge around his limits are undefined and there's hints of his gift getting a serious level up at a cost. He did jack shit in Heir of Apocalypse except get a confusing compliment from Big Blue, it's nice to put that travesty behind us and see what the man can do.

When I think about Sage and Forge's mutant gifts and what they're capable of, especially when working together, I can't help but get excited for a book where the promise is exploring that potential in service of saving the world. Add Askani to that and it feels like miracles are in the future, or at least some Krakoa-style mutant circuits with Technopathy, Computer Brain, Chronokinesis, Chronoskimming, Telekinesis, Telepathy, and whatever machines Forge has on hand. Marvel's new(ish) power couple of Rachel and Betsy are the big guns, but everyone goes into the field. I love both characters and enjoy them even more as a couple but I get the feeling they're coming out of a long honeymoon phase. It'll be exciting to see what drama is born of their different values, experiences and motivations.

The other From The Ashes teams have been in Krakoa's long shadow, and the shadow of X-FORCE is longer than most. I'm not sure if they're trying to redeem the name or what, because the name of the brand isn't good for much except perhaps intimidating people. It's spent the last few years in-universe as Krakoa's CIA, complete with a LOT of assassinations, toppling regimes, a cheeky genocide, torture, mind controlling people, running a black site prison where people were held without charge or even having done anything wrong (by Krakoa - a foreign nation to all of them,) surveiling their own people, and so much more. Before that it was more decentralised black ops - preemptive strikes, often lethal, on enemies of mutantkind. It is discussed in the issue, but very briefly and not explained. It doesn't seem to be Forge's primary motivation, but he built a lot of the weaponry and gadgets X-FORCE used so he may be seeking some personal redemption as well. Any degree of complicity in War Crimes is too much for most, especially someone who's as altruistic as Forge. He has his own military history, having been drafted for Vietnam at a young age and working as a military contractor until fairly recently. The 'worst thing he ever made' was a gun that depowers mutants. It was originally built to take down Rogue but ended up hitting Storm instead (see Lifedeath 1 & 2 from Uncanny X-Men.) She's clearly on his mind at the start of the issue so it's a valid read IMO. More recently it's been reproduced by an old coworker with a photographic memory - enslaved by a mutant hate group and then memory wiped once freed. He willingly gave/traded it to Emma Frost in Inferno, who then gave it to Mystique and Destiny to depower Moira. Whether it's all of that or none of it, Forge is certainly the loss of Krakoa like everyone else.

Betsy Braddock has the most X-FORCE experience of anyone on the team, though her membership has generally coincided with times of self loathing and unhealthy codependent relationships. New Betsy, new body, new title - I'm hoping she can keep it together and be happy. It's certainly a healthier team to be on at first glance, but it feels like she only joined bc Rachel did. Less/no murder should help, but we can hope this isn't another phase like that. Bets has had a tough few decades and she deserves some happiness. It definitely feels like her participation is highly conditional, though all the characters have been the conscience of a team before - so if there's moral decay we can expect a very good reason for it. I don't think it's That Kind of Book, though.

A good first issue is often a mission statement and a taste of things to come, and X-FORCE #1 knocks it out of the park, answering every question you could want from the solicits while posing many new ones and hooking the reader. It hits the ground running and doesn't stop until the last page, expertly showing us where everyone is mentally and establishing a team dynamic with promise. I predict internal compromise and growth while they're running from problem to problem. The central mystery especially is fascinating, and something is going on with Forge. We're given hints, but it's been content to show not tell and take its time with information.

It's very clear that the fall of Krakoa affected everyone and made the world a far more dangerous place for mutants. A certain disrespect for borders and governments is necessary, an asset, and a lurking danger - even for a team whose goals are above all that. I heavily recommend it!

Also Forge has a holodeck! It's no danger room but it's super cool that he built it himself. See what I mean that something is going on with him?

[iconuk01]

Doug's first appearance in New Mutants 13 was, fun what with accidentally blowing up a Sentinel, but his second appearance is also worth mentioning.

X-Men 180 is perhaps better known for A) the scene where Kitty and Storm discuss Kitty's issues with Storm adopting a new appearance and attitude (Her leather jacket and mohawk punk phase) and B) The lead in to the X-Men going to be part of the Secret Wars maxi series, but there's

This scene is before Doug was revealed to be a mutant. He was just the kid from Salem Centre Kitty was spending a LOT of her free time with, and what would these two computer nerds be doing in the mid 80's? Yup, going to the mall!

Specifcially, the arcade!!

That is THE most spaciously laid out arcade I have ever seen, but that's not really the important bit here.

Though I'm pretty sure you can't actually DO that with arcade games just by scoring too high, I can easily believe these two being the bane of anyone trying to crank out a buck from video game addled teenagers with rolls of quarters!

And this is a slightly earlier version of Doug, since he doesn't know he or Kitty are mutants, he's cockier than we would see him once his inferiority complex kicks into high gear as Cypher. Here, he's Doug Ramsey, computer software genius, nerd and video game ace who is out having fun with the most amazing girl he's ever met before.

...but first and foremost, he's a good friend. (He'd have to be to deal with this level of emotional baggage infodumping. Good grief Kitty!)

Awww! These two are so sweet together!

Meanwhile, someone else is brooding, this time over Kitty and Doug... and not in an especially wholesome way

I should point out that at this point in time, Kitty is fourteen (confirmed in the previous issue where Storm specifically notes that Kitty was not yet fifteen), and Piotr is somewhere in that vague are of late teens/early twenties.

I believe, at the time that it was possible for 14 year olds to marry in the USSR, but it was far from the norm.

I should also add, in the interest of fairness, that during the slightly earlier BroodWar arc, thinking they were both going to die, Kitty asked if Piotr would become her first sexual partner, and Piotr gently turned her down (I know that's a very, VERY low bar to clear, but it should be mentioned)

This is setting the scene for Piotr falling for someone else during Secret Wars, an alien woman named Zsaji, who is a sort of walking, healing, plot device rather than a character with any agency, who is regretably fridged to give Piotr some angst, and also to confirm the breaking up of Piotr and Kitty as a possible couple and being anything other than team-mates for a great many years. There's an interesting article on Zsaji's story here, if you're interested.

So Piotr does seem to have some resentment towards Doug for taking HIS Katya (Even Wolverine, rarely the world's best agony uncle, tell's him that if that's how he views the situation, he's already lost Kitty and that's definitely for the best)

Later, as Doug has recently been invited to become a student of the Massachussetts Academy, a school the X-Men know is run by Emma Frost of the Hellfire Club, even if she is currently believed to be comatose (long story), the X-Men consider a course of action, and Chuck Xavier once against shows us that to him, "Ethics" is something for other people...

Now look, if Chuck knows that Doug is a mutant, that's one thing, he has a mutant detecting machine in the basement after all. But to casually "out" someone else was a mutant, without having any intent of ever telling the person themselves, that's just... not cool.

And yes, it may be a "quiet" power, but I don't think a Sentinel will give a rats ass about that, Doug has just as large a target on his back as anyone else.

Also, this is some years before the World Wide Web was a thing, though Doug was already established as a superbly skilled hacker on the still new and shiny thing called "The internet", thanks to his powers, so you'd have thought SOMEONE on the X-Men would have considered that a viable talent to develop, even if only as a support operative.

Kitty's comment does reference the precsse situation when Doug actually WAS inducted into the wild and wacky world of mutant-dom... When Warlock crashed on Earth, Xavier was out of town and the New Mutants REALLY needed someone to be able to talk to the confused and desperate alien (and ironically, as it turns out, Xavier would have done no good, as Warlock is telepath-proof)

But it does allow me to post these amazing bits from New Mutants #21, as Sam rockets off to break the news to Doug about, well... his entire life... whilst wearing only a towel.

Whilst allows for Doug's gloriously snarky introduction to X-plots.

He DOES have a point!

Oh, and as for the resentment towards Doug from Piotr I mentioned earlier? You might be asking if that lingers?

Well, one has to wonder, as in a much later story, Uncanny X-Men Annual #10, where the X-Men are de-aged by Mojo, and the New Mutants have to step up as temporary X-Men, the first time they meet in combat, what's the first thing mini-Colossus does?

Yup, punches Doug right in the crotch!

Methinks the Russian lad has some unresolved issues about our little omniglot.... LOTS of issues!

[isolaradiale]

Another year can the gentle winds of winter be felt across the island. Snowfall accompanies it soon after, blanketing much of the island in glistening shades of monochrome. Breathes unfurl into wispy puffs of white, steam rising up from the hot cocoa that sits in the cool air that keep your hands and body warm with each sip. Winter has come and, with it, another time for activities that promote holiday cheer...

As a note: these activities are separate from any ongoing or upcoming events and you are free to participate in both! Just keep in mind that WinterFES activities do not count towards ranking up because this is not an event.

WinterFES activities are available until January 31st! We will be adding additional activities at some point during this two month period as well!

FIBONACCI WARD

BUILD-A-GINGERBREAD MAN High-tech meets sweet treats in this customized kitchen. For a price of (dust), citizens of Spirale can use screens to design a gingerbread cookie to their likeness. You can watch machines behind the glass cut, bake, and decorate your cookie as you command. You could make a gift for your friend… or make a cookie that looks like your worst enemy, and bite off their face. There’s something for everyone!

SOUPS UP For the duration of December a giant pot of soup can be found in the center of Fibonacci. The type of soup changes from day to day, and how it replenishes nobody is quite sure! Regardless it is free for the taking and never dries out. Could this be the work of our goddess Ofiuco? Or could it be something more sinister? (It isn’t more sinister, it’s free soup.)

ICE TO MEET YOU A station has been set up in Fibonacci where you can come to view and sculpt ice sculptures. If you destroy any creations that are not your own, expect to have all of the Dust emptied from your account you jerk. All sculptures must be safe for work.

COTES WARD

QUID PRO SNOW Wandering in Cotes, it’s not foreign to see pixies, especially in their playground. However, it seems they’ve invited their frosty little cousins known as frost fairies over to play a few games with them… and you! Making your way into here can land you a pretty sweet reward, given the price you pay. That is, these fairies will be more than happy to make you anything you wish out of the snow and ice were you to give them a small treat or a gift of their liking.

I’M GOING GHOST… INTERACTING! Traveling through the Forest of Airaisal, one can find a passageway that mysteriously opens up on its own, leading to a path less traveled. Whether you choose to take it or not is entirely up to you. Electing to traverse it, you’ll find yourself in a small, private glen where you will encounter the ghost of your past, present, or future self. Whichever appears is up to you, though once it appears you’re welcome to interact with it as you deem fit. Maybe you want to console your past self that everything will be alright? Or perhaps you’d like to reflect on your present self, or at least the one that exists before you arrived here in Spirale. There’s also the option to speak to your future self, on what they think of you now, or maybe guidance on what might come. The possibilities are endless…

NOM RANCHING Visitors to the ward, especially around the Eternal Tree, will come to find magical marshmallow treats that appears to be causing chaos due to magical means! Whether it’s pelting themselves against passing visitors, knocking precious things over, or merely just circling about as a chaotic distraction, it’s clear the only way to keep them in check is to capture them and have a sweet treat so they don’t overwhelm  the area. Hopefully you came with an empty stomach and a sweet tooth, to boot!

GOLDEN WARD

SNOWFLAKE SCAVENGER The Mermaid Cove Mall planned on having dancing snowflakes as an attraction, but it seems the snowflakes formed a mind of their own and… danced right off of their displays! Deciding to salvage the situation, the mall is now making a game out of it–find five of them and bring them back to the desk, and you win a gift card! Watch out, though. The snowflakes are notoriously hard to capture, and seem to take your own strengths into account… This won’t be an easy task!

XTREME ICE CHALLENGE The ocean shores of the boardwalk have become completely frozen and boating is no longer possible nearby. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t fun to be had there! An obstacle course has been made for the daring complete with icy ramps, jumps, and obstacles.. Come with skates or without, but the organizers take no responsibility if you slip and break your nose.

SILVER-WHITE WINTERS For the duration of WinterFES, Spirale University is offering a different selection of classes related to the season. There are knitting classes where you can learn to make mittens and scarves, latte art classes to help you decorate your warm drinks for the season, and general classes to help you learn to wrap presents like a pro!

ARCHIMEDES WARD

CAROLS OF THE BELLES On evenings in the Archimedes ward, ringing through the streets from the Calliope Theater courtyard, you’ll hear voices as lovely as the singers using them. A chorus known as the Winter Belles begin their lovely lyrical lineup, and the concerts are free to attend. There are also a few open slots to join them, as long as you attend chorus practice.

CRYSTAL FUNHOUSE This large palace is made entirely of ice, and from the inside, one can hear chimes through its halls. Inside are several attractions: a mirror room, a hall full of beautiful ice sculptures, a complementary shaved ice bar for those crazy enough to eat them in this weather… But follow the chimes, and you’ll enter the ballroom, which is completely dark save for the tile floor. Each step you take makes a note that sounds most like you, and the ballroom lights up to the tune of your very soul as you dance across the floor… …What would happen if two people danced together?

YOU BAKE IT YOU BUY IT Throughout the Star Trail, many stalls have been shifted around in order to make a large area for those who wish to put their skills to the test in what seems a continuous bake off. Not only that, but it seems they require volunteers to be the judges of the savory sweets that are gonna be pumped out throughout the days. Fancy yourself an excellent baker who can blow the socks off of any taster who tries your dish or those who wish to place their palettes to the test? Well, have a seat and be served… quite literally!

MISTWOOD

TERRES-TREE-AL DECORATING Once more, a safe passage has been made into the Mistwood, leading to an area called the Traveler’s Garden. Some might remember the need to plant more trees and won’t be surprised to find that those planted back in Spring have now sprouted rapidly and is ready for decorating! Those who planted them can find them in the same spots with several boxes around them full of holiday decorations to get them decorated and ready to shine bright for the snowy season. Oh, and no worries, even if you weren’t able to plant one back in Spring, you’re still more than welcome to help decorate them!

TIS THE SKI-SON In a clearing that breaks off from the decorating, various large hills of snow have sprung up from out of nowhere. Trekking up to the top or taking a ride on a few snowmobiles manned by some island residents will reveal that it’s a makeshift ski and snowboarding attraction! Once fitted with one of your preference, as well as given a safety helmet and goggles, you’re free to slide down those slippery slopes and show off to your pals. Or maybe you’ll just biff it as you catch sight of that rumored dragon in the distance as you ski on down!

SWIRLING GULF

SOMETHING SEEMS ICE-FISHY While the Swirling Gulf can still be accessed, it would seem that a large portion of the waters nearby has been magically frozen over in a thick sheet of ice that can be reached with their submarine transportation system, allowing many people to walk with ease across it. Several holes have been drilled into it as well, allowing people to partake in ice fishing! Though a various amount of fish can be caught, there is also the risk of danger that you may be (un?)lucky to find a murderous large fish at the end of your line. But that could just be a rumor, right? No way there’s some large ghost fish or dangerous sea creature that you could reel in, right…

SNOWMANNING THE FORT Deep below, found in various areas of the sunken city such as the Mainland, Coral Bay, and even near the Kelp Forest, snow that never melts has been brought down and packed into areas where many can build snowmen to their liking. Laced with bioluminescent qualities that offer you any type of color, you can make colorful creations come to life with ease. Not only that, but once completed, the snowman will imprint the emotion belonging to its creator, expressing itself in an exaggerated display on how they currently feel. Whether they’re the happiest they’ve ever been or happen to be a little Scrooge-y at the time, these snowmen are ways to express yourself from the bottom of your heart.

THE CITY OF GLASS

ONSEN AND OFFSEN Recently, there’s been some magmatic activity closer to the surface on the back side of the volcano… suspected Nuee Ardente Society activity. Nothing (too) dangerous, though, and in fact, it happens to be below a spring source, turning the small ponds and water pools around the area into hot springs! Despite the snow blanketing most of the rest of the island, the areas immediately surrounding the pools are kept clear, mainly by the hot cocoa vendors who are taking advantage of this sales opportunity. Be careful, though, because the magma flow isn’t constant, and the temperature of the water can fluctuate in either direction, for better or for worse.

JUST THE WAY YOU LIGHT IT Leading up to the natural tunnel that gives access to the renown Garden of Ash, many might take note of a beautiful array of lights and colorful flowers that are laid out like a path into the garden itself. It’s highly encouraged to take this path at night, where many hand strewn designs light up in the dwindling hours, also illuminating the various plants which grow in the ashen soils, all while making the already falling ash even more snow-like to fit the snowy landscape the island has become. Some of the lights can even reflect of any glass in the vicinity, creating an almost kaleidoscope effect that can take the breath away of onlookers.

SUNSET CIRCUIT

RINK AROUND THE CIRCUITS While more daring skaters might take fun in Golden Ward, more casual goers might find a bit more joy in the ice skating rink set up on the shores of Moon Beach where the waters have been frozen over and smoothed out. Even more alluring, the ice beneath seems to have a mesmerizing array of glowing colors that light up and forms into playful patterns beneath the ice to the beat of the current playlist. Whether you bring your own ice skates or have them provided, you’ll be sure to have a blast gliding along the top of the neon colors!

SNOW FUN ALLOWED There’s a designated arena, full to the brim with snow that never seems to run out, dirty, or melt. Events take place not only throughout the day but also well into the night, with the arena being well-illuminated even at the darkest of hours. A good portion of the arena has been set up with barricades and obstacles for the ideal snowball fight zone, with regular switches between free-for-all or team games; the remainder has been sectioned off to protect any poor bystanders from errant deckings in the face, and is much more for making snowmen, snow angels, or any other sorts of snow activities you can think of.

SKY-STREWN ISLES

AN UPLIFTING WINTER FAIR Life has gathered from far and wide to partake in a wintery celebration that spans the entirety of The Uplift. Snow falls from the sky and gathers on the area's many steps, and it would be quite a tumble if you were to slip and fall down them. You can find all manners of stalls, selling things from warm treats to winter clothes and toys. The perfect place to take a partner or friend to in order to enjoy some hot cocoa!

DON'T LOOK OUT BELO(H NO!) Because of the colder, snowy weather, steep slopes and ramps have formed between the isles and have been repurposed for the Ultimate Skiing Experience. Just keep in mind that you are jumping between flying islands, and there is absolutely no service available to save you if you fall. That means it's best you have wings, levitation, or know someone who does to come with you!

THE ECHO

CAROL OF THE (C)OLD ONES Even the Abyssal denizens in the Echo seem to be in the festive spirit. Taking the new crystal elevator in the museum lobby leads visitors down to the depths of Abyss, letting them out in a place that looks like a banquet. In this 360 degree crystal dome, the shadowy monstrosities outside the barrier begin to manifest... except they all seem to form a choir of beautiful, ethereal voices. As guests have dinner in the dome, they may see the shadows put on spectacular light shows in the darkness, like stars in an ever-present void. This is a formal event, dress for the occasion!

[bitchyfoxymama]

Christmas With The Avengers

Warnings: Christmas, family time, self indulgent

A/n: this one has been in my docs for years waiting for a time and place to post it, it’s very self indulgent because this is some thing my family would do when I was a kid. Enjoy

********

It was Christmas Eve! You were with the rest of the Avengers, decorating the compound's living room area. Tony had gone out and bought the biggest freaking tree ever, and at the moment you were trying to figure out how to reach the very top of the tree.

“I could throw Nat up there?” Clint said.

“Like hell you are Barton.” she said while crossing her arms.

“I could use one of my iron man suits to reach the top” Tony said while walking towards the elevator leading to said suits.

“And risk you burning the entire tree down? No, it's not gonna happen.” Steve says making the Genius billionaire slump on the couch.

While the others began to argue about what to do, you slipped back with Pietro and Wanda.

“It's as though they have forgotten the fact that I can move things with my mind.” Wanda says with an eye roll.

“Well they're all still arguing so why don't you two finish the tree?” Pietro says while putting his hand on my shoulder.

Wanda and I share a look before we quietly grab ornaments as she lifts me in the air while you place them all over the top portion of the tree. You and Wanda were working like a well oiled machine, she would use her powers to send you up in the air since having electrical powers didn’t really help with decorating a tree. When you had finished and the only item left to put on the tree was the angel, you coughed to gain their attention but it fell on silent ears as they continued to argue.

“Alright guys!” you yelled while still in the air, “Who would like to do the honors of putting the angel on the tree?”

“You finished the tree?” Tony says while eyeing it closely.

“Yeah, Wanda and I finished because it seems that you've all forgotten that Wanda and I have powers?” I say with a smile.

“Well I think Stark should put the angel on the tree.” Steve says having his hand outstretched.

“I second that,” Bruce says with a gentle smile.

“Third,” I say.

“I think we all agree that's a great idea” Nat says while sipping her eggnog. After she says that a chorus of yeses is heard.

“Alright stark hang on” you say while lifting him gently in the air.

He gently places the Angel on top of the tree. I bring us down on the ground. We all stepped back and looked at the massive 40ft fern.

“Pietro, mind turning the Christmas lights on?” you say as he zooms by and the tree ignites in a beautiful array of colors.

“Wow.” was all you could say as Pietro came by your side.

“Yeah” he said.

*****

“Ok this should be the last batch!” you say while pulling the tray of freshly baked cookies out of the oven. Light of Christmas gently played softly on the radio in the kitchen.

“Alright so now we just wait until those are cooled until we take them off of the rack right, (y/n) and then we can decorate them?” Thor asked while he watched Bruce and Tony decorating cookies.

“Yes!” you say while going over to the slow cooker and checking on the Tamales that Natasha and Wanda along with yourself made earlier in the morning. Almost done, you say to yourself.

You use a cooling fan to cool the cookies quicker and move them to a wax paper covered tray.

“Alright Thor, you can decorate the cookies now if you’d like.” you say while placing more frosting over towards him. He sure did act like a child at times but it was cute. You looked over at all the done cookies, they were all beautifully done. Everyone decorated a dozen to their liking.

You grab your cup of eggnog and walk towards the long table and sit down and talk with loki.

“You’ve done an excellent job planning this celebration.” he says while munching on some cheese and crackers.

You blush “Thank you, i know if tony had planned it, he’d have made it some huge party, but that's not what christmas is about. It's about spending time with family and since you are all my family while my mom and sister are out of the country this time of year, I thought it would be nice to have some family time with y’all and show you and Thor all about this midgardian holiday,” you ramble while stealing a cracker from him.

“Yes, so the point of this holiday is waiting for a fat man in a red suit to break into your house and give you presents?” Loki says while looking at me through his wine glass.

You giggle “No well his name is Santa Claus, and he knows when you've been sleeping and he knows when you've been bad.” you say with a smirk.

My phone buzzes, you check and see that it's Pietro saying that he, Wanda, Bucky, and steve back with the ham and other wine. “Well if excuse me I have to get the door for others.”

“Where did Agent Barton and Romanoff go off too?” he asks me as you get up from my seat.

“Oh they went to pick up a few other guests” you say walking towards the door.

****

“(y/n), do you mind passing the tamales over here?” Bucky asks, while everyone passes food back and forth.

“This food is so delicious,” Fury says while swallowing his bite of tamale.

“Thanks, Nat, Wanda and I woke up pretty early to make them.” you say smiling. For the first time you looked around the table and smiled because this is your family.

“How's the Food everyone?” you ask.

“Delicious”

“Wonderful”

“Amazing”

“Superb”

“Perfect”

*****

“Alright! Time for presents!” You say while running to the closet and grabbing three presents. “Now I hope you like these” you say while handing a present to Lila and Cooper.

They both open them, Lila’s eyes widening as she sees a giant coloring book with a set of 150 colored pencils and Cooper messing with his new Nerf gun.

“Thank you Aunt (y/n)!” they say in unison and tackle you in hugs.

“You're very welcome kiddos,” you say with a smile.

“Thanks (y/n),” Laura says while holding up the custom onesie i got for Nathaniel saying “My Aunt is a Superhero how about yours”.

“Alright guys! Time for the gift exchange!” you say while sitting back on the couch in between Pietro and Wanda. “Who would like to go first?”

“Uh, I would like to go first,” Pietro said while reaching under the tree for a small black box. You look at him as he turns towards you. “Merry christmas (y/n)”

You take the box and open it to see a gorgeous sapphire pendant. “Pietro, you shouldn't have” you say gently.

“I know you’ve been eyeing it so I thought I might as well get it for you. Here let me put it on you.”

You hand him the necklace and move your hair to one side, the feeling of his fingers against your neck sends a chill down your spine. “I love it, thank you.”

You get up and grab your gift next. “Loki, I know how you always say how you're needing another book to add to your collection so I bought you this.” you say while handing him a brand new copy of ‘Of Mice and Men’

“Thank you very much.” he says with a kind smile.

“If you'll excuse me while I go and grab the cookies, you can continue.” you say while getting up from your seat. You feel a whoosh go past you and standing in the doorway of the kitchen is Pietro.

“I love this necklace so much, pietro, i don't know what to say.”

“Well you don't have to say anything, instead you can kiss me.” he says with a smirk on his lips.

You look at him “Uh what do you mean?”

He just simply points up and that's when you notice the mistletoe. Sneaky bastard. You walk towards him and give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Come on now (y/n), you know that's not what I mean-” he's cut off by your lips gently being placed on his.

You only break the kiss due to cheering in the background and a subtle Finally from Wanda.

BEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER

[0oolookitsme]

Best Gift and Waffles

Type- One Shot

Verse- @sunandherflores 's Harry and Y/n with their cutie of a baby, Arjun.

Warnings- None! Just fluff.

Word Count- 2.8k

A/N- Here's your birthday gift, Pyari. I love you so much <33 (I hope I did your verse justice)

Description- It's y/n's birthday, Harry ends up being assigned the duty of making waffles every time they'll be planned to be made, and Juno's gift is termed as the best she's ever received.

Arjun was the one most excited for this day and there’s no bluff in that.

As soon Harry’s eyes open and he relives a few moments of his life, he comes to the conclusion that it’s his wife’s birthday today and that he’s going to do his best to make it happier than the last one. He’s sure that his son will help him make that decision become obliviously possible.

As he turns on his side to take a look at y/n, he immediately huffs when he sees Arjun clinging onto her abdomen like a koala bear. Did he even sleep last night or stayed awake in the worry that Harry will surely forget to wake him up so that he’d be the first one to wish her? Well… he did almost forget that but still. Going back onto his back, he starts wondering what should he make for breakfast.

Not sure if he should wake Arjun up, he gets up making little to no movements and curses in surprise when his feet meet the cold floor, wondering if should take out those fuzzy socks for his son already.

With slight moisty-padding sounds of his feet, he exits the room while making sure he doesn’t shut the door- just in case that little munchkin decides to join him. That’d be very pleasant actually, but he can only hope that both of his loves get their full sleep. Did y/n think what the day ahead of her would look like while she was awake? He’ll make sure to ask what she guessed if she did.

It’s raining outside, or maybe it rained not so long ago as the raindrops on the window race with each other to reach the bottom. Opening them, he sees that it’s indeed raining and although Y/n does like a cool dark day, she loves a sunny day. He can only hope that the clouds would tear apart from each other and let at least a tad bit of sun shine fall onto the land which surely has water puddles on it here and there.

He pours a glass of fresh water into the water boiling machine placed at the corner of the slab, and shuts its lid, switching it on. Proceeding his walk towards the fridge, he looks into it to see if he can find anything that could make a good breakfast along with the cut up slice of lemon he had put in yesterday.

Before his eyes can search any further for lemons in lost hopes for any breakfast inspiration, his eyes land on the box in which Y/n had stored the waffle batter. Though he feels a little guilty for not putting in efforts which all belong to him, he cuts himself some slack and moves onto taking out the waffle maker from the lower cupboards and cooking spray from the cupboards above. He’s supposed to leave the batter to come to a normal temperature, so he pours in the hot water in his mug and drops that slice of lemon he found in the door of the fridge.

He isn’t much of a person to drink these kind of things but due to humidity and sweat from his practice sessions, pimples have been popping up on his skin and he hadn’t been hydrating very well as of lately either, resulting in chapped lips. It was y/n who had lectured him into starting to drink a cup of lemon water, guaranteeing that his skin would go back to being clear and to put two drops of mustard oil in his belly button to get rid of those cracked lips.  

Jumping down from the kitchen counter, he puts the mug beside the sink and starts to spray the cooking oil onto the waffle maker. Making sure to preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

As the waffle bakes until it turns golden brown, he prepares the frosting, but not before struggling to find that tiny bottle of vanilla essence. Adding some milk for the consistency he had desired, he finally stepped back at the sound of oven’s ‘ding’ and smiles when he sees the waffle through the blurry glass.  

He takes it out with a gloved hand and then takes out a spoon to spread the frosting over it. And, he’s doing just that when turns on his heels, grabbing onto the slab with all his might upon hearing a light weird sound. But just as immediately, he realizes that it was his son yawning soundly and lets out a deep sigh of relief, shaking his head while Arjun tries his very best to lower the sound of his hearty laughter.

“Shh,” Harry cautions, while his sheepish smile gives away that he’s embarrassed.

“Good morning, daddy,” Arjun laughs out, climbing up onto the counter to press a kiss on both of his cheeks. Harry greets back and repeats his actions, hugging his frame.

Helping the boy down as per his request, he continues to spread the frosting before asking him to help him with clearing the things out. The boy does oblige, but not before yawning again.

Arjun puts all the containers Harry hands him one by one quietly- not being much of a speaker in the mornings and especially not today, when he’s trying to not wake his mum up.

“That should be it for you, love. And hey, did you finish making your gift?” Harry asks with giddiness, crouching down a little so that he could hear whatever the answer is in a secretive way.  

“Yeah I did!”

The enthusiasm definitely caused Harry to back off a little. “You told me you’d tell me once it’s prepared, so… ?”

“Well, it’s made by me and I made it… You can know the rest once mumma sees it!”

“You little-“ and he’s cut off before he can finish his complain by Arjun giggling and running away upstairs, most likely to brush his teeth and shower.

Huffing once again, he decides on putting some sprinkles on the frosting and soon enough he’s stacking up a piece of waffle above the other to give it an appearance of a cake. The problem is, it isn’t giving celebratory yet, leaving him thinking very hard onto what else could be added. It does take time, but he steadies a candle atop the stack and finally feels satisfied.

Time to get ready for the day now.

Though he doesn’t proceed to do that until he’s covered the treat with a glass lid.  

Still steadying himself from climbing up the chairs in too much speed, he pushes open the door to Arjun’s room. Though when he’s met with a shut bathroom door and sound of water running inside, he walks right out. He’s sure he isn’t very pleasant to look at right now.

When he enters his and his lovely wife’s room, he’s surprised to see that she’s still asleep. Is she pretending to be asleep? He hopes that’s not the case as he takes out a pair of beige pants and a brown striped tee to wear over it. Maybe he’ll wear some sort of jacket immediately after getting a taste pf cool air, but he couldn’t care less right now- feeling too proud of himself for setting up his outfit beforehand.  

Once he hears Arjun’s room door being closed, he’s grabbing for his towel and jumping inside the shower. Perhaps, Arjun could wake up Y/n while his father showers and gets ready inside the bathroom itself.

Y/n on the other hand, stirs in her sleep before cracking open her eyes. Smell of vanilla remains heavy in air as she realizes that the breakfast is ready and it’s something tasty, making her smile with excitement. Though it falters when she finds no one beside her- neither Harry nor Arjun. What is she supposed to do? Go back to sleep? She sure as hell doesn’t wanna do that, so instead she rises up and switches on her phone to maybe reply to some texts, if she’s even gotten any this early.

It’s when her phone’s screen light up does she realize that it’s not so early anymore. It’s literally nine in the morning, the weather had her fooled. As soon as her phone connects with the wi-fi, messages start bombarding her notification bar. Most of the people she knows are morning birds, so she isn’t surprised to see a badge in red marked over the Whatsapp icon telling her there are 20 messages.

Slowly but surely, she opens and replies to all of them. Smiling over the status people put her photo in, especially the one her dad put- a photo of her as a child, looking at the cake on the table with the greediest eyes ever. Last but not the least, she opens the text message she’s received form Harry, opening it to find a video of them celebrating her birthday during the early months of their relationship, under it written a sappy poem he probably copied from google.

It feels like her heart’s smiling as she shuts off her phone and stretches. Just in the meantime, her bedroom is opening and peeks in the head of freshly showered Arjun, grinning from ear to ear as he walks with fast paced steps towards the bed once he sees that she’s awake.

“Happy birthday once again, mumma!” Geedily, he wishes her before leaning in to press a kiss onto her perked up lips, happily wrapped in her arms.

“Thank you, once again my lovely Juno,” She smiles, brushing her nose against his. “See, you wished me twice and your daddy hasn’t even come in front of me yet!” She complains to him, laughing when he shrieks, “boycott daddy!”

As she’s roughly combing out his hair with her fingers, the bathroom door opens and a rush of steam rushes out with a smell of strong men’s soap.

“There she is! There’s my darling wife!” Harry exclaims loudly, grinning with an open mouth before walking towards her with open arms. Leaning down, he hugs her tightly before pecking her lips twice. “Happy birthday,” he says rather peacefully, pecking her nose.

Smiling gently, she also pecks his nose and mumbles back, “thank you.”

“Me too, me too!” Voice of an excited Juno interrupts them.

It’s only a matter of seconds before they both share a look and tackle the little boy with kisses on either of his cheeks with obnoxious kissing sounds, making him laugh out loud. Just a hiccup and they leave his cheeks alone but not before kissing them one more time while making a loud ‘mwah!’ noise.

Getting up on his knees, he also presses a kiss on both their cheeks before Harry is grabbing him from Y/n’s arms, and pushing her to go shower already so that they can proceed to further plans.  

Moving to Arjun’s room, Harry places him onto the bed and crouches down to his level.

“Are you ready to give your gift to mumma?”

“Yes daddy, I’ve got the best gift ever!”

“Well well well, that’s awesome! Come downstairs with it and we’ll see where to place it, yeah?”

Arjun just nods vigorously and climbs down the bed, moving toward his clothing drawer as Harry exits the room and flees down the stairs, into the kitchen.

Removing the lid, he also removes the candle and put the meal inside the oven to heat it a little. He should’ve left it in the oven itself, but oh well. He anyways moves onto taking the flower bouquet of yellow and red roses out of the lower basket in the fridge and places it atop the dining table, in the vey middle. Then, places all the plates and glasses on their places, before shutting off the oven.

This time, he leaves the waffles in the oven, planning on taking it out once she reaches downstairs- considering the weather is still cold.

Jumping down the stairs comes Arjun, with something like a notebook covered in black sheet with a red ribbon tied messily, but it still looks so pretty that Harry is almost embarrassed of the fact that he learned how to tie his shoe laces when in 5th grade.

“Here!” Arjun hands the notebook-ish thingy to Harry, who replaces y/n’s plate with the gift. Arjun appreciates Harry’s decoration and then they hear a ‘ta-da!’ from the stairs, and everything goes still for both of them when they turn around.

It felt like everything went in slo-mo as she laughed, probably upon seeing their surprised facial expression before making her way to them.

“Do I not look good?” Y/n teases them, grinning widely.

She’s dressed in a brown saree, which somewhat matches Harry’s outfit. The clothing wrapped around her body as if it were made to be fitted on her body with perfect creases at just the right spots. She has pulled her hair in a low-sleek bun, a pair of complicatedly designed gold earrings hanging down from her ear lobule and a few bangles in her hands. A brown bindi sits in the midst of her brows and if you scan just a little bit down, you see black eyeliner on her eye lids, and black eye pencil used on her lower waterline.

If this isn’t what a goddess looks like, then Harry isn’t sure he can believe that.

“You look truly like a goddess,” he babbles out without filter, causing her to look down blushing and laugh at the same time.

“Why thank you,” she replies bashfully.

“You really are looking very pretty mumma!” Arjun chimes in, stretching out his arms while saying ‘very’.

“Not better than you, though.” She pouts, again laughing when his cheeks go red.

Gasping when her eyes land on the dining table, she lightly pushes harry to the side and moves towards it, lips apart in delight. “All of this looks so beautiful!” She unknowingly affirms Harry, moving to pick up the bouquet to smell it once and put it back down.

“This is so nice, thank you!”

“Mum, look! There’s my gift for you!” Arjun chimes in before Harry can affirm her.

With utter delight, y/n moves forward to pick up the gift. From behind her, Harry pulls out her chair for her to sit down as he watches over her shoulder with just as much curousity.

When she unties the ribbon, the folder of black paper pops open, and a scrapbook is revealed. While she’s adoring the cover and the tracing her fingers over the birthday wish written in Juno’s handwriting, Harry is thinking back to day before yesterday when Arjun had gone over to Gemma’s for a day but had took his scrapbook and sketch pens with him. So this is why.

Turning over the hardcover of the notebook, y/n realized there was no stopping now. Each page had a picture of every one of the family members Arjun is aware of, all of them holding a piece of paper or cardboard on which they had wished her a happy birthday with multiple blessings and all of the love they could give.

“Holy- oh my god, Juno,” she turns to look at him, seeming as if left breathless. “Did you do all of this bubba?” She asks him, placing him on her lap.

“Yeah I did, but Aunt Gemma also helped me,” he admits shyly, his nose a shade of blush pink.

“This is so very lovely, thank you very much Juno. Might be the best gift I’ve ever received!” She cried out in joy, kissing him all over his face.

From behind her a loud gasp. “What do you mean by ‘the best’!?” Harry asks her, coming in front of her with an offended expression and hands resting on his hips, seeming like asking for an explanation which can’t be made out of the rubbish statement she made. He steals a peek at Juno and sees him show him his tongue, causing him dramatically gasp again.

Pretending to wipe away faux tears, he stands up and starts to leave. “I’m heartbroken. No one even asked for breakfast. My heart’s aching so much,” he confesses in a gloomy voice, hanging his head low while he continues to walk like a skeleton in those spooky movies.

“I am starving though. Aren’t you too, Juno?”

“Mhm, I am. Elephants are jumping around in my stomach.”

“Oh shut it, I’m not going anywhere.” Harry turns around, instantly going over to the oven and taking out the waffles, which are still warm.

To say that y/n liked it would be an understatement. But to truly describe how much she freaking loved it, the words ‘These are the best waffles I’ve ever had, H. It’s always gonna be you who’ll make waffles from now on. I mean that, literally,’ should do the work

[rychlostthespacewizard]

So my worlds all have in common the fact that the magic is comprised of many magical elements, and bcs a single person asked and im trigger happy to loredump here it is

The elements are divided in tiers that the players gain access to as they gain levels, though overusing an element can cause specific afflictions and elements in higher tiers are harder to control and can cause real problems if they go out of control

Naturaly each element also has their elemental beings, genasis, elemental planes and whatnot

Elements and Their Capabilities

Tier 1 | Elements

- Water: Control and generate water, shape it, and manipulate large bodies of water.

- Earth: Manipulate earth, sand, crystals; create earthquakes.

- Fire: Control flames and heat; create intense fire.

- Air: Manipulate air and wind; create storms and vortexes.

Tier 2 | Elements

- Metal: Manipulate metals and metallic objects; control clockwork machines.

- Acid: Create and manipulate acids; corrode materials.

- Poison: Create and control poisons; remove poisons from bodies.

- Electricity: Control electric currents and lightning; control magnetism.

- Cold: Create cooling effects and freeze objects; cause frost.

- Energy: Create light constructs; bend spells; excite reality and other elements.

Tier 3 | Elements

- Life: Heal wounds; control plants and fungi; revive dead.

- Necromancy: Inflict decay; raise undead as servants.

- Transmutation: Alter object shapes; transmute substances.

- Divination: See future events; understand intentions.

- Conjuration: Summon beings and objects; create portals.

- Abjuration: Create energy shields; repel spells and entities.

- Divine: Grant blessings; heal divine beings; break curses.

- Corruption: Cast curses; corrupt divine beings and objects.

- Mind: Influence minds; create illusions; impart intelligence.

Tier 4 | Elements

- Gravity: Manipulate gravitational forces; levitate objects.

- Void: Create voids; nullify magic; consume spells.

- Darkness: Manipulate shadows and dark smoke; harden shadows; control people through shadows.

Tier 5 | Elements

- Chaos: Create random effects; break existing patterns; generate chaotic explosions.

- Order: Impose order; create complex structures; stabilize reality.

- Time: Alter time flow; time travel; create temporal distortions.

Tier 6 | Element

- Creation: Create objects and structures from bursts of light; shape reality to limited extents.

Many are basic and divisions of one another but it helped make the world more arganized at least for me

[moonlarked]

More incorrect quotes from the quote generator

Wylie: Let's just agree to both say we're sorry on the count of three.

Wylie: One... two... three.

Maruca: ...

Wylie: ...

Wylie: See, now I'm just disappointed in both of us.

Sophie: Are you a cuddler?

Dex: I'm a machine of death and destruction.

Sophie:

Dex: ...Yeah, I'm a cuddler.

*While the Squad is in a battle*

Dex, trying to warn about the location of an enemy: To the left!

Biana: Take it back now y'all!

Marella: A fistfight CAN be romantic.

Keefe: Hi, who's this? Sophie changed all of my contacts to mythical creatures.

Marella: What's mine?

Keefe: Dwarf.

Marella: THEY'RE SO MEAN, I'M NOT THAT SHORT!

Keefe: Oh, hey Marella.

Marella: FUCK!

Wylie: Are you ready to commit?

Rayni: Like, a crime or a relationship?

Jensi: Where's Sophie, Linh, and Tam?

Biana: They're playing hide and seek.

Jensi: Where?

Biana: I don't think you get how this game works.

Jensi: Why are Sophie and Keefe sitting with their backs to each other?

Tam: They had a fight.

Jensi: Then why are they holding hands?

Tam: They get sad when they fight.

Maruca: Pose as a team because SHIT JUST GOT REAL!

Marella: Would it be discrimination to only hire employees at my doughnut shop who have the same name?

Sophie: Legally, I don't believe that breaches any discrimination laws. Morally though... I don't know.

Marella: I believe god is on my side when it comes to Duncans' Doughnuts.

Stina: What? I'm not aggressive!

Marella: Last Tuesday, you wacked me with a pair of crocs and stole my chocolate chips?

Stina: Survival of the fittest, bitch.

Rayni: The only thing keeping me from running away and hiding from society for the rest of my life is spite. I could disappear forever, but there are some bitches whose downfalls I have yet to witness, and I wanna be around when that happens.

Sophie: Wakey Wakey Eggs and Bakey!

Fitz: But I'm a vegan.

Sophie: Wakey Wakey Vegetables and Sadness.

Marella: What the fuck? People actually tell their crushes they like them??

Dex: What the hell do you do?

Marella: I die? What kinda question...

Linh: I'm never having a debate with Dex again, they literally started their argument with "Riddle me this."

Sophie: Like, no offense to myself and all, but what the fuck am I actually doing?

Fitz: Advice of the day kids, if you ever meet someone who calls Gatorade flavors the actual name of the flavor instead of just the color then they are a certified nerd.

Wylie: Yeah but you have to specify, frost glacier or cool blue? You can’t just say blue because there’s more than one blue.

Fitz: Blue and light blue, nice try nerd.

*Linh and Biana are in a car teetering on the edge of a cliff*

Linh: oh my god, Biana, backwards!

Biana: Really, Linh? I thought I might go forwards into the river, I thought that would be a fun thing to do.

Jensi: Marella's refusing to wear their glasses!

Marella: Jensi, look, I wore the glasses for a day. My eyes are much better now. Watch.

Marella: *points to Dex* Dex.

Marella: *points to Wylie* Wylie.

Marella: *points to Stina* Sasquatch.

Jensi: *eating a cinnamon roll*

Maruca: Cannibalism.

Jensi: *confused chewing noises*

Tam: Why is Keefe crying on the floor?

Stina: They're drunk.

Tam: And?

Stina: They saw a picture of Sophie's spouse.

Tam: But they're Sophie's spouse.

Stina: I know.

Rayni: You remind me of the ocean.

Tam: Because I'm deep and mysterious?

Rayni: No, because you're full of salt and you scare people.

Linh: You’re alive.

Rayni: No need to sound so disappointed.

[mumbledramblings]

Alright, so in the last post I spoke about the general setting of the trigun au in my head (name pending), and in this post im going to talk about some of the major characters:

The Winter King

Who is the Winter King? The Winter King is you! :D A little unusual but let me cook, I promise to make you cool

So as I mentioned in the previous post, the Winter King (you) are a spirit of Winter. I imagine you covered head-to-toe in furs and armour, all rimed with frost and cold as ice. (I've played a lot of FFXIV and was greatly inspired by the lvl 50 Warrior aesthetic, but the world is your oyster, think up your own outfit if you want.) Also huge. Like, 8-feet-tall huge. You are a god. You are surrounded by a blizzard where ever you go, but lately you have not been going anywhere, so the storm as slowed to a gentle snowfall, if it is there at all.

I mentioned you are a spirit of Winter, but you are also the only spirit of Winter, which makes you rather unusual (post-Summer Lord era, at least) with the hundreds of Summer-harnessing Plants, and the innumerable Spring and Autumn spirits. This means, of course, that you are very lonely; and, after the death of the Summer Lord, very sad.

So lonely and sad, that you've locked yourself away in your castle, on an island surrounded by a lake, frozen halfway, in the center of the realm of spirits. None, not even the spirits that inhabit that land surrounding your domain, have seen you leave it in centuries. Not that humans know where the realm of spirits is, much less entered it, but the point is, though the Spring and Autumn spirits may have followed you into isolation, neither humans nor spirits have seen you since the death of the Summer Lord. Even spirits who consider themselves your friends are turned away at the gates of your fortress.

You are alone, and lonely, and free to morn your former rival.

And yet, recently, you find yourself receiving visitors you did not invite, nor welcome into your home. One in particular, grows increasingly insistent of your company.

And yet, you cannot bring yourself to turn them away.

Vash the Stampede

For the purposes of this au, Vash is a genetically engineered human-Plant hybrid made in an attempt to create a new Summer god. He is also considered a failure, in that aspect, and has spent most his life living as a normal human being. He is the youngest of the hybrids, and while aware of his true nature, he does not remember a lot from the time before the project was shut down. What he does remember mostly consists of time spent with Rem and Nai.

Speaking of Nai, the two of them grew up in separate households, though they stayed in contact and hung out regularly. Or they did, in any case. Recently, their relationship has become quite strained, as Nai has been trying to push Vash into joining some weird little Summer Lord cult, and Vash already has enough trouble trying to make friends in college, thank you very much.

(I want to say he's normal human aged. One, Plants in this au aren't quite the miracle machines they are in the source material, crippled as they are by the limits of human understanding. Plus, he's a hybrid, not a full Plant. Two, I already have one sad immortal in this au, so like as much as Vash's century-and-a-half long misery contributes to his character in the source material, I think it would not hit as hard in this au. Three, I think Vash being in his mid-to-late 20s simply adds to some of the shenanery I put him through.)

"Does Vash have powers?" Not really??? None that he is aware of, at least. He's spent his life so far trying desperately to fit in, and hide away everything that makes him not normal. Any of his "powers" worth mentioning would have been so deeply repressed, he wouldn't know how to call on them, if they even existed.

The only unusual abilities he has is a strong affinity to spirits and Summer, and strange dreams about the Winter King. Not the type of dreams your thinking about!!! Totally normal and not-weird dreams about the Winter King all alone and sad in a frozen palace and they're really tall and hot and of course he has to keep them company and cheer them up, right?! Wait that sounds worse, just forget it!! Why are you looking at him like that?! Don't leave, he was just being ironic!!!

Millions Knives

Knives, like his brother, is another human-Plant hybrid made to become a Summer god, was deemed a failure, and then discarded. Unlike his brother, however, Knives remembers his early life and the events that lead to its sudden change much more vividly.

After the Summer god project was shut down, Knives was adopted into a devout, rich family, and such spent a large portion of his childhood sitting in the pews of one of the more influential churches dedicated to the splendour of Summer. Rest in piece, kid. While he doesn't necessarily believe most of what the Church preaches, there is one thing the overzealous-pastor has said that resonated with him: humans killed the Summer Lord to steal his power.

In Knives's opinion, there is no sentence that better encapsulates the vanity and hubris of humanity. Compounded by all he witnessed in the Summer god project, and the knowledge of his own nature, he comes to believe that humans are not worthy of the power of the Summer Lord. Firm in his belief, Knives spent most of his teenage years vandalizing local Plant facilities with a group of like-minded friends.

Fortunately for him, he's never really had to suffer the consequences of his rebellion, as his family was more than happy to use their wealth to keep him out of trouble, and the public unaware of his involvement. Frankly, his family seemed almost supportive of his actions. In fact, once they thought him old enough, they revealed to him that there is a whole organization that believed just as he does-- that humanity was wrong to kill the Summer Lord-- and they were striving to right that wrong by reviving the fallen god.

Knives had an even better idea. As Plant hybrids specifically designed to replace the Summer Lord, wouldn't that make Knives and Vash inheritors of His power? Summer Princes, if you will. Demi-gods with all the potential, but lacking in a means to ascend?

He has no interest in human absolution-- they are undeserving of it-- but that does not mean it could not be put to good use. How fortunate that he was adopted by a family who had already laid the groundwork.

[boombrothersasks]

(A pie falls on Sticks face)

(A burrito falls on Eclipse's face)

(A pizza falls on Omega's face)

(A cupcake falls on Rouge)

(A meteor falls on Tails' house)

"Hey guys!" Tails greeted the group as he was headed out the front door. "What brings you-oh. Um...why is Shadow a baby? I said I WOULDN'T use my machine to do it...!"

"What."

"Nothing important. And...Rouge is tiny? Is this the same thing that happened to you, or...?"

"Giant beam of light from the abyss." Rouge responded.

"Ah. I see. Well, I'm guessing you all came here so I could help you fix these situations?"

"Hmmm..." the Darkling muttered in reply.

"No problem! I've been working on adjustments lately, so it should all go pretty smoothly compared to last-!"

"WARNING : I AM DETECTING A LARGE ROCK IN THE SKY. IT IS APPROACHING RAPIDLY."

"Cool! Shadow, here you'll get your first glimpse as to the true glory of your kind!" Eclipse removed the hoglet from his wrongly-worn carrier. "Well, I mean, aside from me, of course. You've already seen that, HA!"

"THE DANGER!! ITS HERE!!" Sticks pointed up at the sky, where a meteor was headed their way. "ITS A GEOGRAPHICAL ALIEN ATTACK!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!"

"Oh, that. What is it with this island and meteors...?"

"Eh." Baby Shadow replied.

Though for a different reason than Sticks', the group made their way far back from Tails' home and bared witness to a giant rock crashing onto the roof. After that, food fell on them. All but Tails. Odd thing to fall out of the sky, really.

"Hey!! Free food, Shadow!" Eclipse exclaimed. "This should probably be better for you than coffee beans...never again."

"THIS IS NOT A GOOD THING!!" The tiny cupcake frosting-covered bat shouted. "DID YOU NOT SEE THAT METEOR?! WE'RE NEVER GETTING BACK TO NORMAL!!"

"MY MACHINES!! MY INVENTIONS!! EVERYTHING IS BROKEN!!" Tails looked down in pure disappointment.

"I WAS FAR MORE SUPERIOR THAN ANY OF THEM. THIS IS JUST A FACT." Omega unnecessarily added.

"Oh nooooooo...guess we can't turn Shadow back into an adult ever now, huh?" Eclipse put up a facade of shared disappointment. "It'll be tough, but I'll just have to get by and raise him all over again myself...a challenge I'm more than willing to rise up to..."

"Don't worry, Eclipse, I'm sure we can still find some way to fix everything!" Tails tried to cheer him up. "Even if all my hard work is gone. And my house. I'm literally homeless right now. But we can fix that too!"

"Greaaaaaaat..."

"Something's fishy about all this," Sticks said, eyes narrow in thought. "THAT...was not the danger."

"Remind me why you brought her again?" Rouge turned to Eclipse.

"Friendship! Or something."

[middle-school-honami]

[ INTRO POST ]

I am NOT affiliated with Sega, Colorful Palette, or the PJSK team! This is an Unofficial RP account!

Hello, I'm Honami Mochizuki. I had some friends recommend I get Tumblr.. Yeah, they recommended it.

[ Everything from here on is Out of Character ]

;; hello!!!! im the runner of the account, feel free to call me firebug :D i use they/it + neos!! (just they/them is cool though!!) im also a minor, so keep that in mind!!!

;; i'll refer to honami with she/they! but refer to her how you feel comfortable!!

;; if you're wondering how this happened, blame rui and his time machine

;; i also run :

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DNI

@minori-hanasato-mmj

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;; my general boundaries are just common sense, don't do weird (the bad kind) stuff around me! also basic dni criteria!!

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Tag Info

#honami says - In Character Posts

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Headcanons

;; she's transfem!

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