#the muffin fic

[honestlydarkprincess]

hello my beloved <3 <3 <3 how about pink, bright, flush!!

my love!! hello!!<3

pink

And if he fell asleep that night to thoughts of blue eyes and a pink birthmark, well, that was no one’s business but his own.

bright

“Muffin?” Buck asks, confused before understanding dawned and he turned bright red. How he forgot what they were talking about in the thirty seconds it took him to sit down, he’ll never know. “I-uh, you know what, I don’t actually want a muffin anymore. I have to go, I left my phone in the bunks. Bye!”

flush

“Uh, actually I’d rather be alone.” Eddie blurted out. He flushed pink when Adam looked up a few paces down the bar and raised an eyebrow. Eddie averted his gaze and focused on the phone at his ear and the glass of whiskey in his hand.

wip word guessing game

[touchyluffy]

After a hard fought battle, you were laying in bed your body covered in bandages. It was dark outside, the sun setting several hours ago, you tossed and turned trying to get comfortable in bed. But every position you moved into hit another sore spot on your body. With a frustrated sigh, you figured you'd get no sleep tonight.

Suddenly your door opened and, figuring it was Chopper coming to check on you, you pretended to be asleep so your crewmate wouldn't worry. He had basically barricaded you in your bedroom earlier that night because rest is the best medicine. But the footsteps were louder than Chopper's and when the person spoke you knew it wasn't the reindeer.

"I know you're not asleep." Luffy said, not worried about disrupting the quiet night. His finger tapping your forehead. You open your eyes, adjusting to the darkness to find your captain standing next to your bed.

"Get out, you-" You pulled the covers up around your body and were about to make a sassy remark when you see his eyes looking over your body covered in bandages, his face shrouded in worry.

"Luffy?" You asked, your voice coming out hoarse. It was not common to see his expression so deeply concerned. His name did not disrupt his search. He was so quiet, so observant, so unlike himself you almost thought you were dreaming. You rubbed your eyes and, after still finding him there, said his name again. He eyes met yours.

He finally spoke, "Can I sleep here tonight?"

You stared at him with your mouth hung open. Of the many things you knew about Monkey D. Luffy you can always count on him to be two things - unpredictable and blunt.

Seeing your confused expression, he explained, "You got hurt. I couldn't sleep thinking about it. I thought I could sleep here. With you."

He trailed off, his words seeming to surprise even himself. You searched him now, wondering who this was and who replaced your captain, but all you saw in his brown eyes was concern. Your captain had no perverted intentions.

Eventually, you nodded at him, moving over in the bed to make room for him.

Luffy's relieved smile lit up your dark bedroom and he set his hat down gently on your bedside table. Your heart did a flip when he moved the covers back, slowly stretching out his body in the bed and laying his head down on your second pillow.

He smiled at you, "Thank you." He closed his eyes and almost immediately started snoring.

You laughed quietly and settled yourself under the covers. Somehow your bed seemed more comfortable than it was before, your body feeling lighter and not covered in bruises. You moved your hand over Luffy's and closed your eyes, finally able to sleep.

Bonus: the next morning, Chopper walks into your room his hoofs full of bandages and medicines that all go clattering to the floor when he sees you and the captain in bed together. His shocked scream alerting the rest of the crew and waking you up, Luffy sleeps through your nervous, overexplaining of the scene.

part two

[bearambles]

ARUGUMENT FIC W HAMZAH PLEASE like gets into an argument and you need to cool off and leave and he won’t let you jus angst 👅👅

jealous

(hamzahthefantastic)

words: 1.9k

warnings: established relationship, angst, arguing, swearing, hamzah is kinda a pos, happy ending

note: i hope this is what you were hoping for! i could also 100% write a part 2. also, i think another anon recently requested an argument fic, so there might be another one coming bc it was honestly fun to write. love u all, more fics coming soon

hamzah is driving you insane.

he’s usually not the “jealous type”, but for some reason, today is different. he’s grumpy and pissy and you think you know why.

last night you had gone out to dinner with a few friends from your old school. you weren’t out late, and the group was only about ten people, but to his dismay, your ex boyfriend was one of them.

you told him about it as soon as you knew, and he was pretty passive as soon as he heard. still, he didn’t make too big of a deal, even when you wore your skimpy little outfit to the bar. after all, it was high school. besides, he trusts you.

that was until he saw the pictures. your exs hand on your waist. the way he’s next to you in the group photo. it all really pisses him the fuck off, and even when you swear to him it meant nothing and the guy didn’t mean it, he wasn’t so sure.

“y/n, you see this guy after like five years, you look fine as fuck wearing that tiny fucking skirt, and you think he won’t be into you?”

you scoff, your chest now rising and falling. you really never pegged hamzah as the type of guy to act like this. yet here he was, standing in your bedroom, a few feet away from you with his arms crossed over his chest.

you’d crawled into bed last night to him asleep, and the two of you had been completely fine until this morning. he woke up to see your friend post on instagram about the night prior. he scrolled through her photos before finding the ones of the whole group.

“okay, so it’s my fault if he was?”

“i didn’t say that.”

“you meant it though!” you run your fingers through your hair, frustrated. “listen, i already told you it was nothing. but if it wasn’t, if he was interested, it doesn’t matter, because im dating you.”

he smiles tightly and shakes his head, the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb.

“sure. okay. yeah.”

“you think i’d cheat?”

you stare at him, your blood pressure rising. you can’t believe the way he’s acting. the shit he’s implying you’d do.

“i never fucking said that, y/n. i’m just saying he was touchy, and you won’t admit it.”

“it was one fucking photo! he happened to be next to me! where did you want him to put his hands?”

“anywhere else! not your waist! it’s fucking weird!”

“so you’re mad at me because of the way a guy acted towards me.” you say, sitting down on your bed and mimicking his move of crossing his arms. “that’s really fucking progressive of you.”

“oh my god, you know that’s not true. jesus christ. i’m not mad, im just fucking annoyed. and i don’t like how you acted either.”

“how did i act hamzah. you weren’t even fucking there.” you start to feel tears prick your eyes. you hate crying in front of him, you rarely do. but this was so frustrating, listening to him accuse you when you only love him.

“i still saw.” he mumbles, clearly losing what he was trying to say in the first place. he’s just spitballing stuff at this point.

he isn’t even looking at you any more. his eyes meet the floor and he’s breathing so hard you can hear it just barely. he’s close enough to where you could reach out to his arm and pull him on top of you. you won’t though.

“saw what? my tiny skirt?” you laugh, baffled. “just leave me alone.” you can feel some of the tears start to fall.

he looks up at you when he hears your voice break. his eyes soften their gaze but he stays where he’s standing. it’s silent for a moment before you speak again.

“go away, hamzah.” you say, moving your position to lay down, your face turned away from him.

“no. i wanna talk.”

you’re silent.

“y/n-“

“i said go away.” you mumble between sobs.

you’re stiff for a long moment before you hear him sigh. he turns and leaves your room, and you wait till you hear the door click before really letting yourself sob.

you’d dealt with this in the past - controlling relationships where anything you did around any ex was considered suspicious. in fact, you almost didn’t go last night. but you’d wanted to catch up with your old friends. if it was up to you, you wouldn’t have had your ex there either. he was a total jerk back in the day. but he was, and it was fine. you’d barely spoken outside of taking that group picture.

you don’t want to fight with hamzah. he’s your person. but the way he’s acting is scary.

eventually you decide you need some air. you get dressed, throw on some makeup, and head out the door. you don’t know where you’re going, but you know it needs to be away from here. away from him.

he jumps up from the couch and catches your wrist right before you can turn the knob. you whip your head around, and meet his eyes. he looks just as pissed as before.

“where are you going?” he asks, still gripping you hard

“what, do i need your permission to leave the fucking house now?” you bite back, wriggling our arm free, “get off me. i’ll be back later.”

he starts to protest, but you slam the door before you hear any of it. if you had any fucks left to give, youd tear up again. at this point though, you’ve had enough. if he wanted to be like this, you weren’t gonna entertain it.

the city’s relatively walkable, so that’s what you do. there’s plenty of stuff to do around the area. retail therapy, you think. whatever makes you forget about this argument for a while.

-

it’s late when you walk home. later than the night before, and later than you’d ever been out without calling. you and hamzah had one another’s location, so really, he could see anytime where you were. which was the outdoor mall, and then the local bar. you’d only had a few drinks, but you were there for a good two hours. just talking and talking to the bartender. you guys are friends, and she was a good listener. so she listened.

“he’s just being so mean. and like, he’s never mean. sometimes we argue and stuff, but it’s always over stupid stuff, you know? and like, we make up super quick. but he’s like, so mad at me. and i swear to god, i didn’t even do anything.”

“it’s his first real relationship, right?” she asks, while pouring a drink

“yeah. i guess maybe that’s why. i just like, never thought he’d be like this. all jealous.”

“i think most guys are, honestly. or at least, the insecure ones. either way though, he shouldn’t be acting that way. i’m glad you got out to clear your head.”

you nod and take a sip. you’re tipsy, you realize. it actually feels pretty nice though. letting loose to someone like this. you should be talking to hamzah, but he doesn’t seem to want to listen. you sigh and shake your head like it’ll clear the thoughts away.

when you walk through the door, the house is silent. it’s nearly one am, so you assume at first that hamzah fell asleep. that is until you’re going to hang your jacket up and hear him open the bedroom door. you press your eyes closed, ready for the reprimanding.

“you scared the shit out of me.”

you turn around to face him, and his eyebrows are knit together. he’s in the doorway, his arms crossed and his back against the doorframe. he chews at his lip.

“sorry.” you mumble, going to take your shoes off.

“sorry?” he scoffs, uncrossing his arms and using them as he speaks, “you were out for hours, y/n!”

“i told you i’d be back later.” you don’t look at him, don’t step forward. you stand there, your arms pressed against our chest, holding yourself tight.

“that’s all i get then? not even a text? what the fuck, y/n.” his nostrils flare as he talks, and he starts moving closer to you. “I had no idea if you were safe! you could have gotten fucking killed.”

you laugh, moving your head back like you can’t believe what he’s saying. though honestly - he’s right. the city can be sketchy, especially at night. you seldom went on walks without him this late. especially drunk. which, he hasn’t seemed to notice you are yet.

“killed? come on.”

“don’t act like that’s crazy to say. the streets are dangerous. you know that!” he’s in your face now, motioning with his hands. “seriously, y/n, what the fuck.”

you flinch as he raises his hands in exclamation.

“so you’re mad again, great.” before you know it, you’re crying again.

you hold yourself tighter as tears start to fall. you feel like a little kid, just standing there helpless. the drinks are really getting you now.

hamzah is silent for a minute as you sob. he stands so close to you, but doesn’t dare move. when you finally look up at him, his gaze has softened and his hands are in his pockets. he reaches out slowly to brush your hair out of your face, looking at you like he’s waiting for protest. instead, you lean into his hand on your cheek.

he stares at you for a moment and you can’t tell how he feels. his eyes scan your features, landing on your lips, which are quivering just slightly. after a few moments of just looking at one another, he puts his arms out, offering a hug.

you fall against his chest and start sobbing all over again.

he rubs circles into your back absent-mindly, whispering little “shhs”. you don’t even thin of how angry you were today. how mean he was. you just cry and let him hold you. he pulls you two apart and goes to hold your face in his palms.

“how much did you drink,baby? " he asks, wiping a tear.

“not that much. just like, a few.”

“a few what?”

“mmm seltzers?” you say, more of a question than an answer.

he sighs.

“okay. well, i think you should go to bed, yeah?”

your eyes scan his face, searching for whatever emotion he’s hiding. surely he’s still angry. you hold onto both his arms while you speak.

“hamzah.”

“yeah?”

“i don’t like my high school boyfriend.”

“i know.”

he presses his eyes shut tight. his chest rises and falls slowly and before you can argue that he clearly doesn’t know, he speaks again.

“i was gonna apologize when you got home.”

“but now you’re mad again.” you say, pouting

“not about that. and i’m not mad, y/n, i was worried. you were gone for five hours without a text or anything.”

“m’sorry.” you mumble, pressing your head against his chest again.

“let’s go to bed, okay?”

he strokes your hair as you breath in his scent. he’s warm, and it hits you how tired you are. Ou nod softly against him and before you know it, he’s picking you up and carrying you to bed. giggling, you land with a plop. he joins you and holds you tight.

“we can talk more tomorrow, yeah. you deserve a better apology but i have a feeling you won’t remember much of it if i tell you now.”

you nod, scooting back to press your back against his chest. he kisses your shoulder. you fall asleep.

-

i hope you guys enjoyed >.< requests are open

[deerspherestudios]

Hi there! I just wanted to let you know that I love your games! Mushroom Oasis especially has an especially place in my heart. Mychael is such an interesting character and one of my favorite types of yanderes—not violent towards his object of affection but still manipulative and willing to cross lines even if he feels guilty about it. Thank you so much for the work you have done; it’s obvious this game is a labor of love and I am looking forward to see how the story progresses.

In the meantime, I have to ask, do you think there might be a future option where the player can cook for Mychael? Totally okay if that is a little too specific. Cooking is just a love of mine and I love to cook for people I love and I feel that is something that Mychael would appreciate.

Also—and forgive me if you have answered this already—but I was curious to see where Mychael’s affection lands on the scale you created by the end of day 3. Or would there be more than one answer since it seems actions taken on this day might start to split between the platonic and romantic routes.

Thank you again for your time and for creating this wonderful game. Your art is so lovely and you have a real knack for fun character design.

HELLO!! Thank you so much for the kind words!! For me personally I've never been a fan of "if I can't have you no one can <3" type yanderes so knowing that it's a shared sentiment means a lot!!

I actually have something of an idea where MC does something nice for Mychael for a change in Day 4!

It was closer to buying a gift and the players can choose what they'd get for him but adding a cooking/baking option (or a more diverse set of gifts rather than just shopping for it) seems like a good idea! As usual the script is still cooking so we'll see!

As for the charts, they're answered here and explained here!

Also,,, idk if you'll ever read the addition below but I'm holding back on gushing rn because uh, this is for you personally but it's basically an appreciation post for being one of my fave authors <3!!!:

AAAA A A 11 !! ??

I'm gonna try and articulate myself in the best way I can but I have been a FAN of your writing since??? Gosh, 2015??? I was following your blog back when the pfp was a torchic (and a treecko i think??) and the header was Swiggity swiff Gotta Yiff ?? Idk if you're comfortable with people knowing of your writing but let me know if I should edit anything here!!!

I LOVED your writing so much it was silly and witty but you can do drama and heart and spicy just as well it was a major inspiration!!! I genuinely though it was a little goof when I saw you were following my blog the other day and THEN YOU SEND ME AN ASK??? IM, , , THROUGH THE ROOF, I would mention my fav fics of yours by name but I'd be outing myself but the scope is huge <3

I've been thinking of how to respond to this all DAY and decided to just be honest but but just know I love what you do <3 Admittedly idk if you still write these days but either way I hope you're doing well!!!! <3

[heavenlylimitless]

Where Princesses Eat!

About: girl dad Toji (drabble?)

Rating: fluff sfw

You faintly hear, "Go show Mommy, princess," before the quick patter of feet emerges into the living room. You glance up from your book and see your two-year-old wearing a puffed-sleeved, sparkly blue dress with a bow in the front.

Your daughter twirls in a circle, giggling, "Mommy, Mommy, I'm the most specialist princess in the whole wide world."

"You are?" you chuckle. She nods over and over. Rising from your seat, you run to pick her up, bringing her close and smothering her cheek with kisses. "Of course you are; you're my beautiful princess." You laugh in unison as you continue to pepper her face. Toji watches the scene unfold, leaning against the doorframe. "Where did you get your beautiful dress, Emi?" you ask.

"Daddy got it for me!" she squeals, kicking her rubber princess shoes in the air.

Toji walks in from behind, scratching the back of his head, “Was nothing,”

"We're going somewhere special," she interrupts.

"Oh, really? Where are you two going?" you smirk.

"Daddy is taking me to where princesses eat," she giggles. "You stay with Gumi."

You can't help but laugh, "I'm staying with Gumi, huh? Well, where do princesses eat, Toji?" you can't help but ask.

Your daughter cuts in, "A garden!"

You turn to Toji, visibly confused. "She means Olive Garden," your lips form an 'O' shape. "I'll bring something for you and stinky," You set Emi down, then grab Toji's cheek and lean up to peck it, patting his chest afterward.

"I love you. Have a good time." You smile.

Your daughter hops in the air repeatedly, "You love me! You love me!"

"Of course I love you, Emi," you kiss her forehead and ruffle her hair.

Emi walks near Tojis's side, holding up her hand for him to take. He looks down and cocks an eyebrow, “hm?”

She stomps on his foot, yelling, "Hold my hand, now!" Toji sighs as if he doesn't love every second of this and quietly says, "You get this from your mother." He takes her hand, and they walk out the door.

You watch out the window as they leave and see Toji putting her in the car seat and leaning over to kiss her forehead, which makes you smile. Your six-year-old son's voice jolts you back to reality, "They left without me?”

"Just gonna be me and you tonight... what if we order in and watch a movie?"

"Can it be one sissy can't watch?" You roll your eyes.

~read tags

[nightwingsgirlfriend]

i hate golden child Dick Grayson. everyone ignores how ANGRY this kid actually was. We rarely get accurate dick grayson, all the teen titans shows have been so off on his personality (you cannot tell me they accidentally made the character tim and realised halfway through wrong robin) and the fandom sees him as "oh everyone finds him attractive + he's Bruce's perfect angel and Jason hates him because of that"

no he literally killed the joker.

why do we skim over that he KILLED THE JOKER. He didn't even know Jason; bruce was his father and he not only refused to kill the joker, interfered when someone else tried to but hit jason in the same way after he came back. His SON. But dick felt so strongly about a kid he regretted not getting close to that he killed a man.

and then if you think that was a one off

in that panel where he fully BEATS Bruce's ass in gotham war? served. ate.

people dumb him down way too often like he wasn't the first robin. you cannot out do the doer so they gotta drag him down to bring others up.

not to mention the fanon portrayal ignores the trauma he has from liu, mirage and tarantula. it looks at that and goes "ok! cool but he IS a flirt :3" he isn't allowed to grieve in the comics either because SOMEBODY (devin) won't let him because he "didn't say no"

and give jason his own friends DC please stop giving him handmedowns he deserves more (i do love him and roy i just wish they also maintained the roy dick friendship because it's usually one or the other)

thabk yoau and gooenight

[rambleonwaywardson]

Clegan Olympics AU - Village Shenanigans Collection

Masterpost

Author's Note: Don't worry, I'm working on Event Finals Part 2 and plan to have it out early next week at the latest. But in the process of taking drabble requests, I accidentally combined them all into this little series of drabbles about the boys doing random shit around the Village and Bucky recording it all for TikTok (cause of course he does). I watched a lot of Athlete Village tiktoks for the sole purpose of writing this.

This all takes place before Bucky's event finals.

---

Gale Cleven doesn’t do social media. Not by choice, at least.

He posts on instagram semi-regularly because US Equestrian begs him to and Benny and Marge force him to. Even then, mostly it’s pictures of Whiskey. Many of them include him riding her, decked out in tack and clothing from some sponsor or another. Very very few posts exist, though, of just Gale. It’s not often that people get to see what he looks like or who he is outside of horseback riding.

Tiktok is a whole other beast that he refuses to approach. He has an account, sure. But there’s only a handful of videos on it, almost all of them from at least two years ago, and most of them posted at Marge’s prodding.

This is a problem for the newfound Gale Cleven – ahem, equestrian – fans of the world. After opening ceremonies, seeing Gale in all his beautiful, adorable, humble glory alongside America’s gymnastics darling, John Egan, people wanted to know who this man was. They flocked to his social media accounts, sharing what little they could across platforms and obsessing over every detail. Every hint of his lovely personality and every glimpse of his perfect body. But there’s just not enough Gale Cleven content out there. 

John has made it his personal mission to give that to the world.

For all that Gale doesn’t care for posting about his life on social media, Bucky documents his own Olympic experience like a second job. Everywhere he goes around the Olympic Village, he’s posting to his story or recording a short video, showing them his life as an Olympic athlete or giving tours of the amenities. “It’s my duty, as an athlete,” he tries to explain to Gale.

“To show them everything?” Gale asks skeptically, when he catches Bucky making a video of the food in the dining hall.

“Yes,” Bucky says.

All the gymnasts, really, are like that. Marge and Benny, too. And they’ve ganged up on Gale to the point that he has a social media presence even when he barely posts a thing.

—

One of the things Gale does bother to post on Instagram is the pictures they all take together in front of the giant Olympic rings. There’s a nice shot of Gale alone, looking like a goddamn model with his hair styled all messy, one hand in his pocket and the other rubbing absently at his chin as he poses in black jeans and a thin, navy blue USA sweatshirt. “When did the equestrians get so hot?” people will comment.

Adding fuel to the fire, there’s a sweet one of Gale, Benny, and Marge standing with their arms over each others’ shoulders in front of the rings. They all smile brightly at the camera, three young, attractive equestrians that America is falling in love with.

There’s several of Gale and Bucky together that find their way to the internet via one equestrian or gymnast or another. One of them standing side by side, Bucky’s arm around Gale’s shoulders like they’re just good bros. Then there’s the ones that aren’t very bro-like at all. Like the one where Bucky is kissing Gale on the cheek; the one where Gale is hiding his laughter by burying his face in the crook of Bucky’s neck; and the one where Bucky is holding Gale by the waist and they’re looking dreamily into each other’s eyes because they forgot there was a camera. 

Finally, there’s one of all of them together – three equestrians and all five male gymnasts. The cross-over that America never knew they needed but now can’t get enough of.

Gale simply posts the photos with a vague caption about making friends at the Games. Bucky, on the other hand, posts a whole tiktok documenting the series of events that transpired for each photo.  There’s a clip of Marge directing Gale, once again, like a model, having him put his hands in and out of his pockets, turn this way and that, run a hand through his hair. Gale pouts and tells Marge that this is ridiculous. Marge tells him that people will love it (she’s right). 

Bucky can be heard calling out to him from off screen. “Lookin’ good, Buck!” 

Cue the fangirls freaking out about Bucky calling Gale ‘Buck.’

There’s a clip of Bucky turning to Gale after their little photo session and kissing him right on the mouth, making Gale blush. 

Then there’s several clips of the gymnasts climbing all over the rings in every way possible, standing on them, hanging from them, trying to do different gymnastics holds on them. In one iconic photo that will be shown during their Today Show interviews and circulated across various Team USA accounts, Bucky manages a near perfect Maltese inside the green ring on the right while Curt holds himself up in a straddle on top of the black one in the middle. Croz and Alex hang from the red and blue ones on the ends while Brady does an awkward L sit, having to duck his head, inside the yellow one on the left. In the background of the video, Gale can be heard saying “Please don’t fall!” And Bucky, still in a maltese, yells back, “It’s fine, doll.”

Cue the fangirls freaking out about Bucky calling Gale ‘doll.’

—

Gale watches Bucky with an eyebrow raised as he pans the camera over to him. They’re sitting at one of the tables in the Village dining hall, and Bucky has recorded most of their experience here this morning.

“You got a muffin, Buck?” he exclaims. For a second he’s so excited about it that the camera tilts and Gale goes half out of frame. 

“I did,” Gale says slowly. Bucky pouts behind the camera and Gale stifles a laugh. “I can get you one if you want?”

Bucky shakes his head. “I’m tryin’ to be good.” 

“Have you had one yet?”

“No,” Bucky whines. “I’m waiting until after all my events.” He stares longingly at the muffin over his phone, practically drooling as he zooms in with the camera. The only gymnast on his team who’s had one already is Croz, and he hasn’t shut up about it.

Gale smirks as he slowly, teasingly, unwraps the chocolate muffin. “A shame. They’re really good.”

He bites into it and closes his eyes, making a whole little show of how good it is. When he swallows, there’s a bit of chocolate stuck to his lip, and Bucky leans over to wipe it away with his thumb.

“You gonna post that?” Gale asks.

“You bet, babe. The people deserve to see it.”

Cue fangirls freaking out over Bucky calling Gale ‘babe,’ and Gale moaning over a chocolate muffin.

Gale rolls his eyes, but takes another bite, making eye contact with Bucky as he does so. “Really fuckin’ good,” he insists. Like teasing Bucky is some sort of payback for putting him on TikTok.

Bucky groans. “That’s it.” He leans across the table and grabs the muffin from Gale’s hand. He flips the camera as he bites into it, and practically moans as he gets his first taste of this cake from the fuckin’ gods. “Oh my god.”

Gale can be heard laughing in the background. “You’ve got chocolate on your mouth.”

The video stops right after Bucky says, “Well you better come help me get it off, then.”

—

“Oh look, it’s Mr. Silver Medalist, Buck Cleven.”

Bucky stands over Gale, who is laying on his back on the floor of the bedroom he shares with Benny. Gale looks up, unamused, when he sees Bucky recording. “Everyone’s calling me that ‘cause of you.”

Bucky shrugs innocently. “Don’t know what you’re talkin’ about.”

Gale shifts a little to get more heat on his upper back and grimaces. “You gave me your name,” he grunts.

Bucky waves a hand dismissively. “What are you doing, Mr. Silver Medalist Buck Cleven?”

Gale sighs and looks away from Bucky, back up at the ceiling above him. “Laying on a heating pad.”

“Why?”

Gale works his jaw and looks back at Bucky like a petulant child. “Cause my back is messed up and I can’t move.”

Bucky nods thoughtfully behind the camera. “And why is that?”

“Cause I screwed it up during cross country and then did two rounds of show jumping.”

“And?”

“And then I did a weight workout the next morning anyways.”

Bucky makes a go on motion with his free hand. “And?”

“Went for a run around the village.”

“And?”

Gale’s look turns into a glare, but it doesn’t have any malice behind it. “And you told me not to do any of that.”

“You’re damn right I did,” Bucky says. He flips the camera around so he and Gale are both in the frame. “See, people? Even someone as perfect as Gale Cleven can be an idiot.”

He sets the phone down and props it against the wall so it will continue recording without him holding it. Then he sinks to his knees and crawls over top of Gale, laying on him with his head on his chest. A moment that will be screenshotted and shared a million times over

Gale turns his head and gives a long suffering look to the camera. That moment, on the other hand, of Gale staring, unamused, straight at the camera like he’s on the Office while Bucky clings to him, will become one of the most popular memes from the Games. “This isn’t helping,” he says.

“Shh. It’s fine.”

—

Gale is standing outside the dining hall where Bucky told him to meet them, but they’re a good ten minutes late. Gale would be debating whether or not he should text, but he’s been kept busy. In that time, just standing outside, he has traded pins with four different athletes. He now has Serbia, Great Britain, Ireland, and Austria, which he’s been looking for all week since it’s Whiskey’s birth place. 

He also has the phone number of an Irish diver with a sweet smile who Gale kind of thinks he might’ve flirted back with if he wasn’t already standing around waiting for the most beautiful guy in the world.

He’s waving goodbye to the cute redhead when he sees them approaching: three idiots on bicycles. Bucky is steering with one hand and awkwardly dragging along a spare bike with the other. He’s singing Blue Skies by Frank Sinatra, very off key, and he breaks into a wild grin when he sees Gale looking at him.

“Was starting to think you wouldn’t show up,” Gale says as they approach. “I almost went off with that Irish guy.”

Bucky’s jaw drops and he gasps as he slows to a stop. “You wouldn’t!”

“I’m still here aren’t I?”

Bucky frowns, wondering how serious Gale is being. But he shakes it off when he sees the way Gale is smirking at him. “I got you a bike!” he exclaims. He smoothly hops off his own bike, but the spare one falls over in the process with a loud clatter that gets some looks from the athletes wandering in and out of the dining hall. He rushes around to right it again as Curt, Croz, and Benny come to a stop beside him. “Did you know the Village has bikes?”

Gale nods, eyebrow raised. “I did.”

“Well come on then, we’re exploring.” Bucky shoves the extra bike forward and waits for Gale to take it. Gale shakes his head and chuckles, but he grabs the handlebars and swings his leg over with ease.

They spend a good couple hours biking through what feels like the entire village, past the athlete house of probably every single country. Bucky and Curt call out random things to people they pass just to see who will respond. They yell “USA! USA! USA!” as they pass the USA house, starting up a chant on the sidewalk as athletes walk in and out. They stop here and there to say hi to someone, trade pins, grab snacks, or whatever else one of them deems important enough to pull over for. Even if, on one occasion, Bucky insists that they need to stop to watch two birds fight over a lonely, forgotten potato chip.

Bucky and Curt record periodically, showing their surroundings. Bucky at one point zooms in very close on Gale’s ass, but he’ll never even know because he won’t ever watch the video. From the back, Curt records as Bucky swerves in close to Gale and reaches out to tap him on the hand. Gale glances over at him and Bucky pouts until he lets go of the handlebar to twine their fingers together. They continue on like that down the road, biking hand in hand. 

“You two are gross!” Benny calls out.

“You told me I needed to be social!” Gale yells back, looking over his shoulder with his hair blowing in the breeze and a legitimate smile on his face that will make viewers swoon.

Benny throws a hand up in the air and motions to John. “I didn’t mean for you to get yourself fucked by the hottest guy in the village!”

Curt laughs so hard he falls off his bike, the video showing a rapid and discombobulating tumble to the ground as the phone falls out of his hand and skids across the pavement.

It’ll be one of his most watched TikToks of the week.

—

Giving my boyfriend baguettes until he asks wtf I’m doing

That’s it. That’s the video. 

Gale is sitting on one of the chairs in the living area of Bucky and Curt’s suite, reading some book about the history of space travel because he’s a nerd and Bucky loves him for it. Curt is sitting across the room, trying (probably failing) to be inconspicuous about recording as Bucky hands Gale a whole baguette. 

Gale looks at Bucky with an eyebrow raised, but he hesitantly takes the baguette. Bucky smiles and nods like a puppy bringing their person a stick, and Gale gently sets the baguette on the small coffee table in front of him, eyes still on Bucky with an expression that says are you good? He goes back to his book. 

A few seconds later, Bucky hands him another baguette. 

“John?” Gale gives him a look somewhere between amused and annoyed. 

“Shh,” Bucky says, nudging Gale’s hand with the end of the loaf.

Gale sighs, takes the baguette, rips a small piece off to pop in his mouth, and sets it on the table with the other one. 

By the third baguette, Gale looks up at Bucky, sets down his book, and crosses his arms. “What are you doing?”

“Baguette,” Bucky insists, shoving the bread forward at Gale. 

“You’re not a penguin, hon,” Gale tells him. 

Cue fangirls obsessing over Gale calling John “hon.”

A pause. Bucky stands there, baguette in hand, and squints in confusion. “What?”

Gale motions to the baguettes accumulating on the coffee table. “Quit giving me baguettes like a penguin giving their mate pebbles.”

Bucky blinks, trying to recall when in his life he should have learned about such a thing, but comes up empty. He shakes his head. “Penguins do that?”

Gale nods, and Curt breaks out laughing behind the camera because that’s kind of exactly what Bucky is doing. 

“Why do you have so many baguettes?” Gale asks. 

Bucky points to Curt, and Gale narrows his eyes when he sees Curt recording. He runs a hand through his hair and sighs in acceptance. “Ok… Why do you have so many baguettes?”

Curt shrugs. “Keep buyin’ ‘em from the cafe.”

“You’re supposed to eat them, you know,” Gale deadpans. He’s bought a couple things from the little shop Curt is talking about, which serves fresh-baked bread every day. Because… Paris.

“Why would I eat that many baguettes?” Behind the camera, Curt gives a what the fuck kind of look.

Gale stares at Curt for a long few seconds. Then he asks “Why would you buy that many baguettes?”

“Why not?”

Bucky rips a big bite off the end of the baguette he’s still holding as he watches this interaction.

Gale rubs a hand over his face in exasperation. “So you just buy a baguette from the cafe every day and never eat it?”

Curt nods and motions to the three baguettes that have been offered to Gale. “You can have one if you want. I have more.”

Gale looks up at Bucky and rolls his eyes at the way he’s trying not to laugh, his mouth full of bread. Bucky swallows, leans down, and kisses him on the cheek.

—

So far Bucky has given his followers, and all who care to watch, tours of the dining hall and cafes, his suite, Gale’s suite, the Team USA House, the gym, and much of the Village grounds. Up on the list today, among other amenities, is the mindfulness zone.

“Are you feeling mindful, boys?” He turns the camera to look at Gale and Curt, who are walking beside him. 

“Oh I’m always mindful,” Curt says, nodding thoughtfully.

Gale glances at Curt and scoffs. “You’re the least mindful person I know.” Even when they were in college, Curt was… Curt.

Curt points a finger at Gale. “I’m gonna practice some mindfulness right now and not say somethin’ snarky back.”

The wall outside the mindfulness zone reads “Strength comes from within. Enter here to train your mind.” Bucky pans over it dramatically before shifting the camera to Gale. “Are you feeling the strength from within?”

“No.”

Inside, the mindfulness zone is lit entirely in blue light with large chairs scattered about that look like they’re meant to be comfortable but probably aren’t. Fluffy, tufted things that more than likely are stuffed so full that they’re stiff as a board. Quiet, soothing music is playing, and there’s a few people scattered about. One guy in the corner is just laying on the floor with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled down over his face, dead to the world.

“Look at those wild-ass plants!” Curt exclaims, pointing towards one corner of the room. Big, spiky-looking potted plants sit in between some of the chairs. A village staff member tells Curt to please keep his voice down, but he’s already walking away towards the plants to touch them and all she can do is watch, at a loss. “I wanna know if they’re actually pointy,” he says, quieter this time.

Gale sits down in one of the chairs, which has a seat that’s entirely too deep and a back that’s entirely too short. But he curls up on it like a cat, bringing his feet up and pulling his knees close to his chest. “That can’t be good for your back,” Bucky points out.

Gale flips him off – and the phone he’s recording with. Bucky tells him that that is definitely going in the final video. Gale shoos Bucky away, closing his eyes.

Bucky wanders around for another minute, checking out some of the decor around the room – weird drapes and beads hanging from the ceiling, abstract statues of nothing, more plants. But, inevitably, he stops back in front of Gale again. 

Gale opens his eyes. “Can I help you?”

“I’m bored,” Bucky complains, shoving his phone back in his pocket.

The corner of Gale’s lip quirks up. “We just got here.”

“It’s too quiet,” Bucky insists.

Gale squints at him. “It’s a mindfulness zone, darling.”

Cue fangirls freaking out over Gale calling Bucky ‘darling.’

“Let’s go to the game room or something instead.” Bucky perks up like a literal lightbulb went off in his head “Oh! Or the USA House.”

“We’re going to the USA House later,” Gale reminds him. Just like they went the day before and will likely go the day after. It’s Bucky’s favorite place to meet people, drink, and be generally obnoxiously American.

“Game room then.”

Gale sighs. “I’ve changed my mind. You’re the least mindful person I know.” He motions to Curt, who is still standing next to a plant, mindlessly stroking one of the weird leaves. “At least he’s having a moment with that thing.”

Bucky is bouncing from foot to foot now, buzzing with too much energy for this place. “It’s boring here,” he complains again. 

Gale tilts his head, narrowing his eyes at him. “You take your ADHD meds today?”

Bucky shakes his head and shrugs. “Ran out.”

“John, what the hell?”

Bucky ignores him and instead reaches down to grab Gale’s hand, tugging on it. “Come on, Buck.”

The same staff member from earlier gives them a look and opens her mouth to say something – presumably that they need to be quiet – but Gale puts a hand up. “Don’t worry,” he tells her. “We’ll go.”

Bucky smiles and kisses Gale’s knuckles before pulling him up out of the chair.

—

“What are you doing?” Gale slumps his shoulders with a heavy sigh, watching Bucky with an eyebrow raised as the gymnast shoves his phone into Curt’s waiting hands. Croz and Benny are off to the side, pretending to be Olympic boxers while they wait for whatever is about to happen. 

It’s been a week and a half of Bucky forcing Gale to have an online presence, and he’s resigned himself to being a prop in the social media series of Bucky’s life. He won’t admit that he’s kind of flattered by the attention people seem to be giving him, but he’d be just as fine being a nobody around here. 

“You just stay there and look pretty, angel,” Bucky says dismissively.

Cue fangirls freaking out over Bucky calling Gale ‘angel.’

“Right here?”

Bucky looks over his shoulder. Gale is standing awkwardly in the middle of the broad sidewalk, which is lined with the flags of all the countries represented in the Games, at the front of the village. “Yeah. Put your hand in your pocket or something. Act like you don’t hate life.”

Gale rolls his eyes but straightens up, replacing the scowl on his face with something more relaxed. He shoves one hand into the pocket of his blue jeans. As is protocol, all of them are decked out in red, white, and blue USA wear. Gale is wearing a form-fitting white t-shirt with “USA” printed in red and blue across the chest, showing off shoulders that are broader than anyone would think at first look when they see his slender frame on horseback. Bucky’s barely been able to keep his hands off him all day.

“Better,” Bucky calls out. “Stay like that!”

Gale looks around as other athletes pass, a few sending questioning or flirty looks his way. One comes up to him, congratulates him on his team and individual medals, and asks to trade a pin. Gale smiles and nods, handing over a USA pin in exchange for New Zealand. Bucky gets a little lost in the way Gale blushes a bit and excitedly adds the pin to his lanyard after the other athlete walks away. Gale won’t know until later that that was caught on video, too.

“Go,” Curt says, snapping Bucky out of it.

He jogs away from Curt and the camera, right towards Gale, who looks up in confusion and alarm. He reaches out towards Bucky, but Bucky grabs Gale around the waist and sweeps him off his feet, spinning him around in a circle. Gale can’t help but laugh as he’s swung through the air, eyes locked right on Bucky. When his feet hit the ground again, the gymnast is tugging at his hand, and he follows, stumbling a bit to catch up. They run together, laughing, back towards Curt, and Bucky blows a kiss at the camera before the video cuts off. 

The title is Meeting the love of your life at the Paris Olympics

—

“Buck!” 

Gale looks up from his phone to see Bucky walking up to him, phone in hand and already recording. Last Gale checked, Bucky was going to get a second coffee, but that plan seems to have gone by the wayside somewhere between leaving two minutes ago to stare at the menu and coming back now. 

“The world wants to know what pins you have and what you still need so they can get them to you.”

Gale laughs with a sweet little smile and sips his coffee. They’re sitting at one of the cafes in the village early in the morning, and Gale’s hair is still a bit messy from sleep (Bucky totally started recording now for that very reason – everyone loves it, including him). Gale pulls his lanyard up over his head and lays it down on the table.

“Holy shit, Buck,” Bucky laughs. Bucky, the charismatic and hot-as-hell men’s gymnastics all-around gold medalist, is a popular figure in the village. He talks to just about every single person he comes across and makes friends everywhere he goes, but not even he has as many pins as Gale. “You need another lanyard! How’d you even get this many?”

“Dunno,” Gale shrugs. “People just come up to me.” Bucky is going to point out the fact that it’s because everyone thinks he’s hot and wants to talk to him. But before he can, Gale is proudly showing his favorite pins, including the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Mexico, Costa Rica, Australia, China, and of course, the Beacon the Good Boy pin.

“Oh that one’s nice,” Bucky says, pointing to the pin from Puerto Rico. As he scans over the others, he stops with a finger on one of the most infamous pins of the games. “How the fuck did you get Snoop Dogg’s?”

Gale glances up at him, like it’s obvious. “Bumped into him at dressage finals.”

“Of course you did.”

“He came by the stables after and I introduced him to Whiskey.” Bucky’s speechless. But Gale glosses over that fact like it’s completely not a big deal at all and continues talking about the pins.

“I’m still lookin’ for Sri Lanka, les Seychelles, Hong Kong, Tanzania…”

Bucky shifts the camera to himself. “He really wants the Tanzania one, guys,” he says. “He won’t stop talkin’ about it.”

“It has a giraffe,” Gale mutters, still looking through his pins to identify which he’s missing that he still wants. “Oh, Tonga.”

Bucky laughs. “Hear that, guys? Buck and Tonga Man, the crossover this world needs. Let’s make it happen!”

Somehow, Gale finds himself running into an athlete from each of those countries within the next 24 hours alone, and he proudly adds the pins to his collection. The world even gets a picture of him and Tonga Man together, looking very seriously at the camera as they hold up their pin-filled lanyards.

Afterwards, Bucky grabs the lanyard around Gale’s neck and pulls him close. “Now stop flirting with other hot men and kiss me instead.”

“I’m not flirting,” Gale protests. But Bucky’s lips are on his before he can say anything else.

[therealvinelle]

From what I can tell, in the actual books there's just one line from Sirius saying Alphard left him some gold, and not much other canon mention of him. How did Alphard become such a big character in your fics/Tom Riddle's love interest?

You know, that's a very good question.

The true and full story behind how Alphard Black became an important character in our fics is laden with a lot of spoilers and back-and-forth, though I will say it wouldn't have happened at all if @theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin hadn't already used him in When Harry Met Tom. When we later then needed to add a character for The Man Who Would Be King, Alphard's name lent itself easily and on discussion we found he was the only that really fit the role we needed a character to play. He went on to become a surprisingly large part of secret fic, now we've imprinted on him like baby ducks and he's in everything.

So, what makes Alphard Black so fitting for what we need him to be?

We have little to go on from canon, but compared to some of the other characters fandom has decided on characterisation for, we at least have something to go on when we make stuff up. Oh, we have to conjecture, fabricate, and headcanon away, and for every possible Alphard Black we draft up someone could have used those same clues to create a different Alphard, but we would both be following certain constraints.

By contrast, characters like Alice Longbottom or Abraxas Malfoy have very strong fanon characterizations, a lot read into them, but I'd argue we have just as much, if not slightly more, to go on with Alphard Black.

With that said, here is the information we have on Alphard and how Muffin and I used every bit of it to make up as much as we could.

Teen pregnancy 1.0: Pollux edition

Alphard's sister was born when their father Pollux Black was twelve, and his father married her mother. Going by his young age, I assume this was so Walburga wouldn't be a bastard. Walburga, by her painting's ravings, appears to have spent all her life in 13 Grimmauld Place, she feels a connection to "the house of my fathers" and always had a strong sense of Black identity she tried to pass on to her sons: I think it's a very fair assumption that the Blacks raised the baby, and not her mother's family (as her mother would have been in Hogwarts as well or else a statutory rapist, either case spells a grim homelife for Walburga).

Now, Alphard's birthdate is unknown since he's struck off the family tree, but it was sometime between 1925 and 1938.

Muffin and I have decided that he was born the next year, since this gives Tom a dorm mate, and more importantly it gives Alphard a teen father, one who learned nothing from last year and assumed no responsibility. Tom now has a fucked up dorm mate, and we didn't have to (completely) invent a character.

You now have two kids raised by family members not their parents since their father is a literal thirteen-year-old, and the generational age gap is so narrow that when Walburga starts school her paternal aunt Dorea is canonically a fifth year. They want for nothing materially and the family does step up, but the complete parental absence in their life has an impact.

For the sake of funny, we thought Arcturus Black, who is already raising Lucretia and Orion, is our candidate for raising his cousin's spawn. Now Walburga's marriage to her second cousin is to someone who was raised alongside her, which is funny and so awful. Another feasible candidate is Cygnus Black, Pollux's father and currently raising four kids, but... not as funny.

Teen pregnancy 2.0: Cygnus edition

Cut to 1951. Alphard is a happy bachelor, his father has stopped having kids (legitimate ones anyhow), Walburga's happily married to their cousin, and then... their brother Cygnus does a booboo.

Bellatrix is born, Cygnus is thirteen. Andromeda's birthdate is unknown, but must have been while he was in Hogwarts because Narcissa is born in 1955, while he is still seventeen.

The same problem as with Pollux arises with Bellatrix: who wants baby? And, as with Walburga, I think a fair argument could be made that the Blacks took her in, not the Rosiers.

There are many options here (and can't rule out the Rosiers), but I think it's fair to assume Bellatrix went to live with close family.

Per the Black family, this gives us three options that I find feasible: Walburga, Alphard, and Pollux.

I don't think it was Walburga, I think that would inevitably have come up in canon, either as Walburga lost her shit when Andromeda eloped, handled her grief differently after Regulus died if she had surrogate daughters, or Sirius had a different dynamic with Bellatrix. The Orion-Walburga-Sirius-Regulus family unit doesn't come across at all as having had three nieces raised alongside the boys, so Walburga's a no.

Which leaves us with Alphard, Pollux, someone in the Rosier family, or extended Black family raising Bellatrix.

Pollux, per his wild youth, might not be topping the lists. One could posit that Pollux wants a second shot at parenting and would take in his granddaughter based on this, but he already has Cygnus if he wanted a second shot at parenting. Still, he's a candidate.

So is Alphard, however, who is living alone and has no wife to worry about, no children of his own, and a pile of gold. Per his choice to give Sirius gold after he ran away, one can also assume he's one to come through for family, which fits with taking in his much younger brother's daughter.

TL;DR: we can't prove Alphard Black didn't raise the Black sisters, or at least care for them in their early years, but someone must have and it might as well have been him.

Let there be no pregnancies and no marriages

We then enter the bit that had Muffin go "oh, gay. I will use him in my fic" long before any of the detective nonsense to come up with the above, which is that Alphard did not marry. Now, that could mean anything, perfectly straight people don't marry and gay people do marry.

However, from 1938 through 1960, no Black heirs are born. Which isn't necessarily a long time, on the contrary, Cygnus has been supplying the family with children for years now, luck just had it so they're all daughters who can't pass on the family name.

Still, taking a step back, Orion, Walburga, Alphard, and Lucretia (who married a Prewett) are all adults who are just not having any children. The Orion and Walburga are perhaps not even married, we don't know when they married, and it could be they married specifically because neither of them had found anyone else to marry and there were no sons. Alternatively, they married earlier but then did not have children until they were in their mid-thirties. Considering Lucretia's childless marriage, it might be some Blacks struggled with infertility.

A bit of nerding about why I think Walburga waiting so long to have children is odd

The tldr for Western European demographics is that if you can afford to have children and provide for your family, you will marry and have children early. The upper classes have historically married and had children much younger than the lower classes because of this. The mother's education will also impact when she has children - higher education means having children later.

I think we see this reflected in the wizarding world, in that education is both low (arguably nonexistent, considering the curriculum at Hogwarts) and in magic making material considerations Muggles must make obsolete. And we do see a lot of young parents - Lily and James are both 20 when they have Harry, Andromeda is maximum 24 when she has Nymphadora Tonks, Molly Weasley is 20 when she has Bill, Narcissa is 25 when she has Draco, Fleur would have been 23-25 when she had Victoire, Harry and Ginny are 26 and 25 when they have James Sirius, Hermione and Ron are 26-27 when they have Rose...

Young is the norm.

And with the Blacks, who were lineage obsessed, and where Walburga is never reported to have had a career keeping her busy, I find it very interesting that Walburga doesn't have children until she's 35.

There are three possible explanations I can see:

Walburga and Orion didn't want to have children, and waited for Alphard or Cygnus to get on with it, only for Cygnus to only have daughters and Alphard to have no children at all (bit unlikely since they had two sons, a couple who pointedly did not want children would have called it quits after the first)

They had fertility issues

Walburga and Orion did not instantly marry, but waited for years until it became clear Orion wasn't going to find anybody else, Alphard apparently not either, and Cygnus said "fuck you all, I've contributed three kids already", at which point Walburga and Orion were both single, both cared about the lineage, and went for it.

We've gone for option 2 since it's just funnier to have a pair of cousins all over each other at Hogwarts, "Aren't they-" "Yes and they're very happy together :)", but I think option 3 is pretty feasible too.

Either way, you can read into Walburga and Orion from the late births of their children and you also get free Alphard characterisation, because his choice not to marry starts to look rather pointed.

Back to Alphard

While the Blacks were not dying out at the time, they also weren't swimming in children. Only Cygnus was passing on the family name, and that was exclusively to daughters, and he went on to have no more (legitimate) children after leaving school. Pollux wasn't having any more (legitimate) children, and while there are and grandfathers uncles on the family tree who could do the deed they were quite old, many unmarried, and most importantly they canonically had no children.

We're down to Alphard, Orion, and Cygnus having to pass on the family name, with Orion and Walburga a decade into their marriage with no sons to show for it. Sure, Cygnus could have sons, but that would be placing all their dragon eggs in one dragon basket (and indeed, he had no sons).

Why doesn't Alphard marry?

The family must have brought it up, if not pressured him. Alphard not marrying in a world where arranging a match would have been the easiest thing in the world looks to me like a deliberate refusal.

The giving of the money to the Sirius

This all brings us to the one thing we know for sure that Alphard did in his life: he willed money to Sirius after he'd been disowned.

We know Alphard was not a blood traitor prior to this, or he'd have been burned off earlier.

I frankly take this to mean Alphard most likely subscribed to pureblood supremacy, or at least he did not mind it enough to do anything else to cross his family. Giving money to Sirius isn't a political act, it's an uncle providing for a family member who has suddenly lost everything.

(And, if we assume Alphard himself is gay: it's an uncle who sees his nephew run away from home to be with his best friend, and perhaps drawing a few conclusions of his own about the strength of Sirius's friendship to James. There are many ways to interpret his choice to support Sirius financially, is what I'm saying.)

It also seems a distinct overreaction to me that Walburga would burn him off the family tapestry for something like this, and... it seems very much like one angry, mourning, woman's way of hurting a brother she can no longer confront. If she had been hoping Sirius wouldn't make it out in the wild and be forced to return, then Alphard giving him money would be a betrayal of the highest order.

Walburga putting a cigarette to her wallpaper isn't the same as the entire Black family disowning Alphard posthumously, it's an act of grief and anger.

Where we make things up wholesale

I'll go ahead and assume Alphard was gay, had a good and stable but slightly fucked up family life, and got overly attached to his dorm mate Tom Riddle as a stranger to all of this who perhaps seemed above it all. I also vote he raised Bellatrix, Narcissa, and Andromeda, because it's a more interesting option than Pollux. (In case you didn't notice, Muffin and I subscribe to the Black family being as fucked up as we can reasonably make them.)

Vinelle, what was the point of this?

My point is that we may not have any canon appearances to go on with Alphard Black, but we do have dates, biographical facts, what he did with his will, a few statements from Walburga's insane painting and other characters, and a whole lot of imagination. And an obsessive tendency.

And a willingness to say "Mm, no. Can't read. Sorry, that fact's just wrong." when we don't like things (more specifically, Sirius's phrasing making it sound like Alphard died not too long after Sirius ran away from home, which would make him dead for The Man Who Would Be King, a fic that takes place in 1982. We will assume Sirius meant "gave", not "left".)

Wee.

[saetoru]

just read a drabble where you’re literally gojo’s WIFE and you still call him gojo 😭

[kimis-gloves]

lestappen muffins!

[ruvi-muffin]

So like... what if: dnd wizardry based on linguistics?

* looks at my unfinished linguistics degree w/ trepidation * i could dnd w that probably

Like.. depening on what languages you speak, your spells should be completely different, not just bc of style but bc of learned vocals

[muffinmoonn]

fake dating au i came up with

[buckleylonglegs]

So... I enjoyed writing Big Man Tiny Kitty so much I decided to keep going. And now the first chapter of the BMTK expanded universe has been posted. Want a deeper look into Tommy's life with his cats? Need more Croissant and Muffin in your life? Enjoy weeping at the softness of a lorge man and his very smol cats? This might be the series for you. I'll be updating regularly.

[bearambles]

Okok little request if ur up for it. Just Hamzah x reader (gn if mentioned) where they have a smoke sesh together in his new apartment but reader gets too comfortable and accidentally falls asleep on Hamzah with the cats.

Just pure fluff lmaoo I just can't get the thought out of my head I need to grip his shirt like a child he just looks so comfy :')

Also idc what format it can be headcanon or a small fic, whatever u feel!!

close to you 🎀 (hamzah)

words: 1.1k

warnings: use of weed, making out, fluff, established relationship

note: hi lovelies!! im so sorry for the lack of posts recently - im on vacation and ive had no time or motivation. on the ride home though, im gonna try to catch up to requests!! and im thinking abt writing smut again 🤭

“do you wanna smoke?”

hamzahs head turns from looking at the ceiling to looking at you. he looks almost nervous, his eyes darting across your face like he did the first time he kissed you. you smile at the thought and sit up on his bed.

he’d invited you over to see his new apartment (finally). you’d ended up in his room playing with his new cats, blue and red, who seemed to take a liking to you. blue sits in your lap now, and you scratch behind her ears as you speak.

“like, a blunt?”

he stays laying down, red lying on his chest. he pets her and laughs softly.

“nah, i have a pen. but it’s the same idea.”

he raises an eyebrow, “you have smoked before, right?”

you blush, your face heating up. you look down to the kitty in your lap, and bring both legs up so they’re crossed.

“duh. just like. once or twice in high school, though. and…” you trail off.

“and?” he asks, picking up red in his arms and sitting up next to you.

“i don’t think i did it right. like, i didn’t really feel anything.” you admit

“oh okay. that’s okay. i mean like- if you don’t wanna-“

“no, i do.” you say quickly, “i just - like you’ll have to teach me i guess. that sounds stupid. but the first time was like, a bong and i totally didn’t inhale shit.”

he laughs, and the sound makes you crack a smile, even after embarrassing yourself. he’s wearing his camo hoodie, and his curls are just the perfect amount of messy. one falls into his eyes and he blushes it away with his palm.

“that’s okay, i can show you. though, i don’t know how great a teacher i’ll be.”

he places red in your lap next to blue and gets up from the bed, going to dig through his drawers for his pen. you watch the way he moves, the way his sweatshirt rides up and shows a bit of his back. the way his pants fit. you look away when you catch yourself being a creep.

he finds it and goes to sit in front of you this time, near the end of the bed. he’s closer now, his legs matching yours in a sort of lazy criss-cross. he observes the device in his hands for a second before bringing it to his lips and inhaling.

when he releases the smoke, he tilts his head up and you stare at his neck. the smoke leaves his lips slowly and quickly disappears. he looks back to you and holds it out for you to take.

“it’s gonna die soon so we can just finish it today.” he says as you grab the pen from his hand, “unless you like, go crazy after a few hits.”

you roll your eyes and look at the pen in your hand, before lifting it to your mouth. you look to him for confirmation and he nods, so you deeply inhale like you saw him do.

“okay, now inhale again, and you’ll feel it in the back of your throat.”

you do as he says and feel it - it sort of burns. after a moment you puff out your cheeks and then release the smoke, slow at first. that is until you cough, and the rest comes out.

he laughs and takes the pen from your hand.

“you okay?”

you nod, but keep coughing for a moment. sitting up, you reach your hand out again, wiggling your fingers to ask for the pen back. he raises an eyebrow at you.

“you want it again already.” you nod. “alright, but be careful, for real. don’t do too much just to impress me.”

you give him a look.

“i’m not, i swear. just, lemme try again okay?”

he hands you the pen and you take another hit, this one burning less. you feel it in your head, and you smile as you let out the smoke into his face. he waves his hand to get it away, but he’s laughing.

“thatta girl, hey, you feel good?”

“i feel great.” you say, going in to kiss him. he kisses back and leans forward, wrapping his hands around your waist. you uncross your legs and sit up on your knees.

his mouth is soft and you moan into it as he moves his hands down to the back of your legs, lifting you onto his waist. from there he moves back so he’s up against the bedframe with you in his lap.

it’s like that for the next hour - slow kisses and the pen passed between you two. neither of you suggest anything more despite your closeness (and hamzahs obvious hard-on). there’s a soft sort of feel to the moment.

“i wanna try something.” he says eventually, taking the device from your fingers and moving it to his mouth.

you look at him with curiosity and lean back slightly to watch. he pushes the smoke around in his mouth a bit before taking your face in both of his hands and pulling you close. you open your mouth to kiss him, but he stays just an inch away, and while your lips are parted, blows the smoke into your open mouth.

inhaling it, you smile against his mouth and properly kiss him. you can feel his grin forming too. he deepens the kiss and his hold on your waist tightens.

when he pulls away, his eyes dance across your face and his mouth rests in a lazy smile.

“what?” you ask, regarding his staring problem

“just so…so fuckin pretty.”

you bite your lip to hide your grin and shake your head. your hair is a mess after all that’s happened and your makeup is smeared. still, hamzah seems mesmerized.

you bury your head in his neck for him to hold you. his hoodie smells like the smoke and a bit of his cologne. you breathe in and out repeatedly, smelling him. he smells so good, so safe.

slowly you slump down to lay on his chest. on instinct, his hand reaches to play with your hair, pushing it out of your face.

it’s funny, hamzah never seemed handsy before this. you never considered him someone who likes physical touch - not with friends or even family, mostly. but with you it’s different. he didn’t expect it either, but as soon as he felt your soft skin on his, he never wanted it any other way.

the motion of him stroking your hair makes you sleepy and eventually your eyes drift closed. you sleep for hours - if you had any actual plans for the day you would wake up stressed and anxious. instead, you wake up and see his head above yours, resting against his pillow.

he’s fallen asleep too.

-

i hope you enjoyed! requests are open! >_<

[that-was-anticlimactic]

The only thing that could possibly quell his anxiety, his brain decided, was holding Sokka’s hand again.

Well, they’ve only held hands once before, and that time it was because Sokka was about to fall to his death.

… well…

Uncle once described Zuko as “stupidly impulsive”, so he may as well live up to that description.

[or, zuko likes holding sokka's hand but they only did that when sokka fell off the gondola, so zuko decides to fall to make sokka catch him]

🍃5,287 words | for @zukkabigbang2024 🍃

🍃beta by @beachytablecloth and AMAZING art by @britishmuffin!🍃

you can find the lovely art here!