#the ponytail is cool sure but the rest is just too.... normal prince come to ball....

[magnusbae]

like not to be petty or anything but is it me or the new chaos design is extra underwhelming in comparison to the previous one...?

they used to hold whole ass earth between their fingers and now they're what... wearing romance novella modern suit....

[13tinysocks]

Mini Mart Massacre

Nine Jeff X Reader One shot (3206K words)

Content warning for graphic gore, murder, mentions of vomit.

You’re covering for your shitty coworker’s shift again. Late night, it’s slow. A mysterious man comes in and starts killing your friends left and right. Will you live to see the end of the night?

Nine Jeff belongs to @killersnarl / @carnalhaus

“God, I can’t believe him.” You grumbled to your co-worker, putting twenty-ounce cokes in their place. 

“I know right.” Ricky mindlessly agreed. Understandable after hearing this sort of frustrated dribble from you for the fifth time this week. But you just couldn’t let it go, Shaun was really starting to piss you off. Didn’t even have the courtesy to call out of work or even ask for you to cover his shift. He just didn’t show up. Hardly had been for the past two weeks but the past few days he’d nearly dropped off the face of the earth.

Gabe said he got a text from the deserter, with a smile he told you that Shaun was in love. Good for him but if he wanted to run off with some prince charming then he better quit first so your personal time wouldn’t continuously be uprooted. Money was cool and all, you needed it to live but having to constantly cover the guy’s ass was fucking awful. You’d always gotten a weird vibe from Shaun, quiet, reserved, always stared so creepily at other people. If you didn’t know any better then you’d think he knew something about you and everyone else. Something bad. 

“Dude,” Tara called from the aisle behind you, “He’s happy. Give it a rest.”

“Well, I’m not. It’s annoying. I was gonna watch trash TV tonight but no, I gotta close with y’all. No offense.” The shift really wasn’t as bad as you made it sound. All you had to do was stock up the frozen food section with Ricky, sweep, and go home in fifteen. Tara would take care of the shelving in the aisles as there were only three that were mostly full. The Mini Mart only got enough business to stay afloat after all. Out in front was Gabe, last you saw he was leaning on the register counter and smiling at his phone.

“Some taken.” She snickered, “Really though, can you just stop being such a player hater?” 

“Yea,” Gabe called from out front, “Makes you seem bitter.”

“I am not- Whatever.” You just wanted to get home already, didn’t wanna argue about stupid shit. You could foresee yourself being short with your friends for the next few days since they were so adamant about being on Shaun’s side.

Ding-dong!

The cheerful robotic bell alerted of an unwanted customer.  From your position in the back, you couldn’t see them. A hush fell over the store, the place was closed. Little red and white sign hanging from the front door's handle said so. Guess they didn’t read it.

You could have sworn the blue fluorescents overhead started to burn a little brighter, buzz a little louder. The familiar pale blue tint only grew more saturated, the air felt thick. Dust discordantly floating about in the blue otherworldly shine. Owners really had to buy themselves better lights because this shit happened like clockwork. Every hour on the hour for nine minutes. 

“Hey, sorry man,” Gabe started at the thing that cast a long shadow across the floor, “We’re closing up shop right now. You can come back tomorrow.” 

There was no booming footstep, no quiet approach. Just a normal everyday sound of someone walking. 

“Hey dude, seriously. We’re closed. Put that down.” Gabe’s voice started to waver, hints of apparent fear bleeding through his stern intonation. 

“Would you have if they could have pleaded?” Deep and raspy, there was something about the way that man spoke. Something that didn’t sound annoyed or defensive but paralyzing instead. You could feel it deep in your gut, on the hairs standing up the back of your neck, on the goosebumps that’d risen from your forearms; He meant harm. Bodily. Psychologically. 

“What?” Gabe scoffed, “Ya’know what? I don’t care. I’m calling the cops.”

“You like that they trusted you, that they never thought to fight back. You like to watch them die.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!” Gabe bleated back. The footsteps didn’t stop. You and Ricky glanced confusedly worried at one another. 

He started to pull out his phone when the mystery intruder spoke once more, “Why are you backing away then? Is it because you don’t want to drink like a thirsty dog?” 

“I- WHAT!?” A screech ripped from the front of the store. Morbid curiosity pulled you to crawl toward the nearest aisle and peak around it. Tera was staring, frozen and shaking at the sight. 

“PUT THE ME THE FUCK DOWN! FUCKING SQUARE HEAD!”

That man, that thing, was huge. Tall, broad, imposing. Only his side profile was available for viewing. Mostly obscured by long black hair, most of which had been tied into a loose ponytail. Stern browed, nose downturned, teeth showing through a tight smile. One hand about Gabe’s neck was all it took to lift the fully grown man two feet off the floor. Thumb jammed in the soft flesh where his jaw and neck met, forcing his head back. Gabe wiggled about, holding onto the man’s thick forearm for some stability but he still looked like a fish on a hook.

“SOMEONE! HELP!” Bulging brown snapped to you and the woman. No way that you were going to play hero against that fucking behemoth. Still, there was a slew of emotions kicked up by seeing a friend in that position. 

The man held a fat bottle of Bleach. Mostly used to clean out the nasty bathroom, sometimes the floor. Uncapped, tilting toward Gabe’s face. Getting what was about to happen, he twisted his lips into his mouth.

“You don’t want it?” His attacker cooed, "Aren't you thirsty after a day of hard work?"

Gabe vigorously shook his head, whining and struggling. All the three of you could do was watch. Ricky was on the phone with an operator, hopefully, help would be arriving soon but none of you wanted to brave running out the front door he was only feet away from. 

A yellowish liquid dribbled over the bottle's opening, right onto Gabe’s wide open eyes. You don’t think you’d ever forget the shrill, animal-like way he screeched. Mouth open, the man took his opportunity to jam the opening between his teeth. Gabe’s body violently revolted against the product cleaning the mucus from his esophagus. Another fat hand slapped onto Gabe’s flesh, this one squeezing his lips around the neck of the bottle. Forcing him to keep in a reactionary stream of vomit. Not without thumb and pointer pinching his nostrils shut.

"Honestly," The man started evenly, "This is so much faster than diluting it with water." Gabe violently twitched, no longer holding onto his attacker's arm but instead trying to pry to bottle away from his mouth. Nothing he did had any effect. "Hurts worse too, huh?" 

You jolted, nearly letting out a shriek when someone tapped you on the shoulder. Ricky had crawled up behind you, phone pressed between his ear and shoulder. Head jerking in the direction of a gray door. Backroom, concrete floors, ceiling hight storage shelves, always smelled vaguely if cheese. 

You caught his drift easily enough but Tera wasn't looking at either of you. Completely entranced with the two in front. As much as you wanted to bolt, you had to get her attention and get her to leave. 

Calling her over would get unwanted attention. You held up a finger to Ricky, no minimum wage worker with no healthcare benefits left behind. 

Slow and steady you got yourself off the ground. Step by step, closer and closer. Hands raising to give her a little tap while your eyes didn't leave his face. With your approach, you only got to see more and more of his face. It was something of the likes you'd never seen. 

He looked like he didn't know what moisturizer was at first. Skin warped, texture looking uneven and off-color. But it wasn't a bad case of extreme and crust from not showering. His skin shone too little in the bright light. Flesh stretched and shifted when his lips curled back into a wider, toothy grin. With the movement the indent of irritated flesh running across either cheek shifted, top and bottom moving slightly different from the other as tectonic plates of scar tissue.

Beady eyes focused on Gabe, twinkling softly hateful. You couldn't tell if all he had was a pupil or if his irises were that pale.

Please, you internally begged, don't stop looking at that shuddering body.

One finger was all it took to place a gentle tap on Tera's shoulder. 

Gasp.

She jumped and turned, unfrozen and wide eyed. So did he.

The wicked wretch drawled, “Oh, hey you.” You didn’t think someone could smile that wide. “It’s nice to see you again.”

His dubiously friendly gaze locked Tera in place. You were pretty sure she was about to piss herself. All she had to say was, “Jeff.” Applying such a human title to that thing felt very, very wrong.

“I wanna say the one and only but ya’know, common name.” Jeff flatly joked.

“I- I- I haven’t done anything else. I swear. Please-”

Jeff wheezed, fully whipping around, Gabe’s body sickly swinging in his grip. “Come on now Tera. You don’t think I haven’t been checkin’ in you? You really do think you're clever.”

THUD.

Gabe’s body lay forgotten on the floor. Bottle finally rolling away from his open mouth but it was too late. Consciousness had already slipped and judging from how hollow the container sounded as it nonchalantly rolled away, he was gonna be dead soon.

“If it wasn’t for me he would have suffered for hours. Was it the guilt you felt with yourself? Was that why you didn’t kill that poor vagrant? Or are you that pathetic to the point where you try to kill an unmoving target and fail?”

You didn’t know what he was talking about. Either way, you wanted out of there. Since you didn’t want to be guilt ridden for the loss of another, you tightly gripped her and tugged. Her shoulder was like pulling on the start of a chainsaw, after you did so, things were set into violent motion. 

Jeff lurched forward, brandishing a hunting knife that'd been yanked from it's sheath. Survival instinct kicked in fully and you let go of Tera, bolting away from the ground-shaking behemoth. She just watched him come.

Nothing was like the sound she made when the knife buried itself in her soft belly. Her body crumpled in on itself. People compared a car crash to something they couldn't peel their eyes from but this was more like a burning, three lane pile up.

You’d completely forgotten about Ricky until he grabbed you by the forearm and screamed, “Come on!” 

Jeff’s head robotically snapped up to meet your eye as you were being dragged toward the storage room door. “Hey, wait up!”

“No!” You screeched, stumbling behind Rickey, “You sick fuck!”

He sighed, exasperated by your rejection, “Your friend and I are the same, you know. You'd be better off with me.” 

Romantic implications and the sound of someone groaning in agony were never the best combo. A taste sweet yet vile like milk a few days past it’s expiration settled over your tongue. You’d never felt so disgusted and you just wanted him to, “Go away!”

Whatever Jeff was doing to her sounded distinctly wet. Mac n’ cheese that squelched so loudly that it could be compared to good pussy. But when he came around the corner to give chase, you found that he’d rearranged her guts in the worst way possible.

Balled tight in his massive fists were slimy pink ribbons. Sticking out between his fingers, tightly pulled over his knuckles. All leading back to a fat slit in Tera’s belly. Screaming and sobbing, she clutched desperately onto her own small intestine to try to pull it back. Nothing worked and she continued to be dragged along the floor like a dog on a leash.

“No,” He wouldn’t stop smiling, “I don’t think I will.”

Ricky burst through the storage room door, you in tow. You’d been back here more than a few times but what you hadn’t done was load stock into the room. It wasn’t like you hadn’t seen the doors before you sort of forgot in your piss-pants state of mortal terror. 

The shelves towered far over your head, compensating for the tiny space area. No sign of the exit was in immediate view. Ricky better hurry up and pick one of three possible paths or you’re dead meat.

If this was a badly directed horror movie, Ricky wouldn’t have known where to go. He hurriedly dragged you down a narrow pathway lined with half unpacked boxes. 

Tera and the backroom door screeched with Jeff’s entrance. His footsteps heavy and floor shaking. “The door's not going to work.” 

Ricky went to shove the door open with his side, it opened only half an inch. Again he rammed his body into the thing only for it not to budge. “Oh, no, no, no, no.” He kept at it while you looked for an odd lock or something obvious jamming the door. 

Tera finally stopped screaming. Passed out from shock, poor thing.

 The giant of a man cast a long shadow over the thin passage, backlit by pale blue. Giant hand relaxing, letting Tera’s stretched guts wetly flop onto the floor.

“There’s a way out for you, butcher.” Jeff spat out the title between grinding teeth. He was smiling so tender but his eyes didn’t reflect the sentiment.

“There is?” 

Wider. More teeth. “Look at you, hopeful little thing. Of course there is.” One step, slow, barely closing the distance. “An easy, free way out for someone who takes, and takes, and takes.” Two, three, four, faster. Knife bloody but not satiated.

You knew Ricky to steal chips from time to time but that's really it. 

Ricky quaked against the door. “No I- I donate to charities,” His eyes landed on the rosary idly hanging out of the pocket of his pants. “To the church! Thou shalt forgive or something, right?”

“Thou shall not kill.” 

“Yeah, that-”

“You haven’t been a very good boy, Ricky. God wouldn’t be happy with the bodies buried underneath your basement.” Five, six, seven.

You desperately looked around for something to defend yourself with. A pack of pudding cups within your immediate reach was snatched and thrown at the beast. “Shut the fuck up!”

Caught. “Thank you.”

Eight. Closing in. You pressed yourself into a corner and looked for an escape. There was none. All you had to cut him with was fear filled shouts, “That was meant to hit you, fucking hypocrite!”

Hand over his heart he sincerely sneered, “I am a hypocrite and I deserve to rot in hell. What does that change (Y/n)?” Morals did nothing for corpses.

Dread. Stone cold and heavy in your stomach. “You know my name?”

Jeff smiled fakely docile, “I know that you steal candy from isle two. I know that you’ve been working more hours lately.” 

All things Shaun would’ve known. Wait a second. “Are you Shaun’s boyfriend!? Did he send you to fucking kill us? I didn’t think we sucked that much dick!" You sobbed.

Jeff scratched the back of his neck, “Boyfriend is a strong word.” Ouch, poor Shaun.

The giant snapped back into his imposing demeanor, “I came to cleanse.”

Ricky quaked, “Okay, uh, fine, I can do forty-five Hail Mary’s! I can atone!” 

You didn’t understand. 

Nine.

Hot, heavy, chest heaving breaths wracked Jeff’s giant body. Icily staring down his prey/ Body so wide you didn’t have a hope of slithering passed. 

You don’t know how long you all stood in that tense limbo of inaction. Eventually, Jeff moved, slow and steady he tucked away his knife. It’s over. 

Ricky was off the ground in the blink of an eye. One of Jeff’s hand’s on either side of his head, thumbs pressing into his open eyes. Ricky kicked, screamed, and begged for mercy but judgment had already been decided.

Crraaaaccck!

Ricky’s head molded into Jeff’s fingers like cracking clay.

Yank!

Hot blood splashed onto your face, your work uniform, everywhere. Ricky wasn’t begging anymore. His voice box was ripped messily in half along with his head and upper torso. Pink and red squishy bits of gore started to slide out of place. Jeff toothily smiled at you from between the two foot gap in Ricky’s front teeth. 

Yank!

Ricky’s body flopped apart. One side hogged all his vertebrae, while the other had most of the brains.

Pleased, Jeff ran his tongue over his reddened lips. Loudly slurping as he sucked in an unidentified piece of gore. 

You vomited in your mouth, pounded your fists fruitlessly against the back door and sobbed. 

The two halves of human dropped from his hands. Landing with a sound like an egg breaking on tile floor. 

Jeff stepped over the body. You pressed yourself harder into the wall, hysterically shaking your head. 

His body heat radiated powerfully from his chest, few inches away at most. “You.”

Instead of playing the useless sole survivor, you decided to attempt to go with a fight. “Fuck off!” 

Your totally kick ass, defiant attempt to punch him in the face actually worked. He just took it. Didn’t stagger back or even yelp. Stare unbreaking.

“Eat shit!” Another punch. “Die!” Another.

The beast jerked forward with a throat-tearing roar, bloody hands coming straight for your face. You screwed your eyes shut and waited for a horrible death.

It never came. 

You popped an eyelid open to find him still as a statue. Hunched over, face so close you could smell the blood on his breath. He pinched your chin between his pointer and his thumb, tilting your head back and luring your eyes to meet his. Baby blue, sparkling with mischievous delight. 

Vile. 

You gathered all the spit you could and pelted him in the cheek with a soft slap. Clear-ish ooze dribbled down his skin, picking up a red hue as it went. 

Sirens distantly wailed. 

Jeff beamed almost affectionately at you, patted the top of your head, then kissed your forehead as you uselessly gnashed your teeth at him. “Be good.” Hands dragged off of your stained body with a sense of lingering desire, almost as if he didn’t want to leave the poor, broken, thing behind. Alas, the police were closing in and he couldn’t have you screeching like a banshee as he tried to get away. 

Mercy.

The wannabe angel began to lumber away. You didn’t hold your breath, waiting for the fake-out to end. He stopped. Here it comes. 

“Oh and (Y/n)?” Tender and kind he sounded like an old friend.

You raised shaking fists, “What?”

With one last lovely look, Jeff sweetly told you to, “Have a good night.”

Mental auto-pilot had you reply with a, “Thanks, you too.”

Nine steps and he was out of view. Three more and he was out the backroom door.

Traumatized, confused, out of friends, and caked in their blood you made a promise to yourself. Next time your paths would cross you’d have a better weapon than pudding cups.

[phantom-curve]

double vision in a rose blush pt. 1

I...don’t know what this is. it was meant to be part of a Flarrie fic, but it somehow turned into a character study on Carrie/Bobby|Trevor. when I know where this fits in the Flarrie anthology I’ll post the completed thing on AO3, but until then, it’s just gonna be it’s own thing on my tumblr. there are multiple parts so let me know if you want to be tagged the next time I add to it!

One of the oldest memories Carrie had was the first time she had ever gone on her father’s yacht. 

The boat had felt like a home on water. She had only been four at the time, small limbs still clumsy, the world still a little too big. Her mother had forced her into a bright pink life vest that was hot and itchy. She had whined and whined until her nanny had been ordered to take her off of the deck of the ship. Inside, down some steps, and it was like she was back in her living room at home. Cool air, giant squishy couches, and a plate full of snacks. Vannah, her nanny, even let her take the uncomfortable life vest off. Carrie hadn’t gone back to the top deck the rest of the day. Not until night had fallen, and her mom was already asleep, and Daddy was telling Vannah he would take over for the night. He slipped the scratchy vest back on, hushing her when she complained.

“C’mon, Care, I have a story to tell you.”

Carrie quieted instantly. Daddy always had the best stories. He carried her up the steps and back out on the top deck. The night air was a lot cooler than before, the smell of salt tickling her nose. Wind blew her hair around, making her giggle. Daddy’s rough fingers attempted to brush it off her face, before he growled and snatched a thin hairband off of his wrist. Once he had wrangled her blonde locks into a small ponytail, she could finally see the world again.

“Woah.”

Daddy laughed, looking at her with a smile on his face. Above them, a million twinkling lights. Stars.Way more than she could ever see from their backyard. Around them was endless black, Carrie unable to tell the difference between the sea and the sky. Her head whipped side to side, trying to figure out where they were.

“Daddy,” her whisper was soft, almost scared, “are we in space?”

Daddy laughed again, louder this time. Carrie frowned. She might only be four, but she knew about space. Vannah had been teaching her planets and stars and con-stell-ations. She wasn’t stupid.

“No, Care-Bear. We’re still in the ocean. Look.”

His arm that wasn’t holding her raised so he could point into the distance. Carrie followed the line of his arm down to his outstretched finger. She saw it then. A faint line of twinkling lights on the horizon, creating a clear barrier between the stars above and the inky black below. Carrie didn’t fully understand though. She knew about the sun and the moon and the stars, but she didn’t know what this light was. Her pout deepened. Carrie didn’t like not knowing. It felt like Daddy was keeping a secret from her, and secrets were even worse than not knowing something.

“It’s the marina. Remember, where we got on the ship?”

Carrie thought back to the hot sun and her tight life vest. Mommy and Daddy walking in front, Vannah holding her hand so tight it almost hurt. Water slapping against the wooden boards under her feet, and endless rows of ships so big she didn’t know how they were able to float. She faced her daddy and nodded.

“That’s what those lights are. All the other ships and the dock waiting to welcome us home after the weekend is over. Two sleeps out here, babygirl. Whaddya think?”

Carrie scrunched her nose. Two sleeps away from all her stuffies and baby dolls? Who was gonna tuck them in and make sure they got clean outfits in the morning? Two more days of being hot and scratchy or stuck inside with Vannah? That didn’t really sound like a very fun time. Daddy spoke before she could start her tantrum.

“What if we come out here every night and I tell you space stories?”

“Vannah already tells me space stories.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, just like Mommy did when she wasn’t happy. Daddy’s stories were better than Vannah’s, but this boat wasn’t better than being home. He could tell her stories in her bed with all her babies, too. She felt it when he sighed, walking over to a couch and sitting her down on his lap. She stared behind his head at the long line of sparkling lights she could still see in the distance. They looked like fairies.

“Do you know a fairy story?”

The question was serious in only the way a four-year-old could make it. Daddy’s eyebrows rose, eyes wide as he stared at her.  She made the same face back at him.

“You sure you don’t want a space story?”

She shook her head sharply. She knew about space already. What she didn’t know about was lights dancing in the darkness that looked like fairies. Daddy said it was the marina, but the marina hadn’t been pretty. She was pretty sure those were fairies. She wondered if they were following them to make sure she stayed safe. Cinderella had a fairy godmother that showed up when she was sad and scared and made it better. Maybe Carrie did too. It was a comforting thought.

“Do I have a fairy godmother?”

Daddy made another face and Carrie copied it again. He could never keep up with her when she was thinking. Sometimes she thought maybe she was too smart for him. She stared at him, waiting for an answer.

“Do you...want a fairy godmother?”

Carrie rolled her eyes. Of course, he didn’t get it. He was a boy, so he probably didn’t know about Cinderella. Boys were the worst.

“Yes! Cinderella has one. I want one too. Her mommy is mean just like mine so I should get one too!”

If she wasn’t sitting she would have stomped her foot. Daddy gave her everything, surely he could give her a fairy godmother. His face changed again, but Carrie couldn’t copy that look. It was too sad and soft and grown-up. She felt like she must have said something wrong because he didn’t usually look like this when they were having their alone time after Mommy went to bed. He pulled her close, lips hard on her head for a moment until she protested and pushed backwards.

“You have three fairy godmothers. Well, ‘godmothers’ probably isn’t the right word, but if you want them to be that they can be.”

Carrie stopped fighting immediately. She stared at him with huge eyes, mouth falling open. Three?? Stupid Cinderella only had one, but she got to have three.

“Really? Three fairies? What do they look like?”

Daddy was studying her in a different way than normal. Like he had forgotten that she was a big girl now instead of a baby. She could tell when the story was about to start because he propped his feet up on the table in front of him and snuggled her close into his side. He got that faraway look that told her he was entering storyland and she immediately settled into the couch cushions. This was gonna be good.

“Once upon a time there were four boys who loved each other very much.”

Carrie let out a noise of disgust and pushed against Daddy’s side so she could sit up and stare him in his lying face. Her cheeks puffed out, arms crossing again.

“You said a fairy story! Boys aren’t fairies and I don’t like them.”

Daddy’s eyes closed and Carrie’s heart suddenly felt like the time Mommy had forgotten about her in the mall. Cold and alone and like she must have done something wrong. She uncurled her arms, reaching up with tiny fingers to trace over Daddy’s face. Slowly, his eyes opened. They looked wet, something she hadn’t ever seen before. Shame rolled over her and she smashed her face into his chest.

“I’m sorry, Daddy! Please, don’t leave me. I’ll listen to the boy story, I promise!”

She felt her hair move in the wind of his exhale. Big hands cradled her back, warmth seeping through the life vest to unfreeze her chest. When he spoke again, his words rumbled through her.

“Once upon a time there were four boys who loved each other very much. Not the kind of love that princes have for princesses, but the kind of love that makes a family. A real family stitched together from different pieces to make a perfect patchwork. They were very happy, until one day, three of the boys went to sleep and woke up as fairies. The fourth boy wasn’t allowed to become a fairy, and it made him so sad that he cried until the whole world was made up of nothing but tears...”

Carrie felt her eyes growing heavy. Wrapped in Daddy’s arms while he told her about the fourth boy growing and trying to find the fairies wherever he could, she had never felt more loved or secure. Carrie didn’t have a very nice mom or a lot of friends to build a family from, but she had Daddy and she had her fairies. For tonight, that was enough. She fell asleep before he could tell her the end of the fairytale. Her last thought was to remember to ask Daddy to tell this story again the next night. Then, it was nothing but dreams of boys with wings and a world made up of tears.

[soopersara]

Day 6: Found

Read it on FFN | AO3

@zutaraweek

When Sokka comes up with an idea to get rid of Joo Dee, Katara finds herself in the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se with a tea server she did not expect to meet.

Toph was right about Ba Sing Se. This place was really the worst. It wasn't that Katara didn't enjoy having a soft bed and ample food and an allowance from the royal treasury-that was all nice. The cleanliness and manners that Toph railed so hard against didn't bother Katara either. But Ba Sing Se had Joo Dee. And Joo Dee was terrible.

No matter where they went, Joo Dee managed to be two steps behind them all the way, smiling that creepy, unflappable smile, and scaring away anyone they tried to speak to. It was bad enough when they approached that shady-looking ostrich horse dealer and he slammed the door in their faces. That made sense. He acted like he had something to hide even before he saw Joo Dee. But when a pastry shop turned them away at the sight of Joo Dee's unnaturally wide smile, they had all had enough.

It was Sokka's idea to turn it into a game. There were four of them and only one of Joo Dee-logically, if they were to split up, Joo Dee could only ruin the day for one of them.

Since Sokka was the only nonbender, they agreed to give him one advantage—while Katara, Aang, and Toph could use their bending however they saw fit ("Without getting arrested, guys," Katara cautioned them. "You lose if Joo Dee catches you or if you get arrested"), only Sokka was allowed to wear Earth Kingdom clothes. If Katara or Aang could conjure fog to hide in, and Toph could choose to hide underground, it was only fair that Sokka be able to blend into a crowd.

So when they left the house the next morning, Sokka wearing a nondescript green tunic and Toph in one of Katara's spare Water Tribe dresses, Joo Dee looked surprised—or as close to surprised as she could possibly look without breaking her smile. They let themselves be escorted as far as the first busy street before Sokka gave Katara, then Aang a pointed look and nudged Toph with his elbow.

"Remember, the game ends at sunset," he whispered. "Ready? On three. One—" he glanced back to make sure Joo Dee wasn't too close. "—two, three. Run!"

Katara summoned a dense fog from the nearest fountain and broke into a sprint. She didn't really know where she was going—Sokka had spent most of last night plotting routes through the city and strategizing, but she preferred to improvise. So she ran west, smirking when she heard Joo Dee calling after them. Not yelling, though. Joo Dee wouldn't yell, that would be undignified and unsuited to the refined atmosphere of the Upper Ring.

She ran until she could no longer hear Joo Dee's voice, shrill with agitation, then ran further, until her lungs protested and her knees felt wobbly. Slowing to a walk, she turned down a street lined with fancy shops. A whole day without Joo Dee. This would be nice. Of course, it would be more fun if she weren't alone, but a day without that creepy smile and those wide, expressionless eyes constantly hovering over her shoulder was more than worth it.

Katara wandered into a clothing shop, then a shop that seemed to specialize in utterly impractical silk slippers. The kind that Toph and her mother wore in Gaoling—the kind that were too delicate to be worn outside. Katara wrinkled her nose. She didn't hate shopping, but she didn't have Sokka's enthusiasm for it. Especially when she was alone.

She meandered down one quiet street after another, farther and farther from the center of the Upper Ring. The Middle Ring felt more comfortable to her—it always had. But today, she had no interest in stopping. She hadn't had much chance to explore the Lower Ring, and today, armed with her waterskins and unhindered by Joo Dee, seemed like the perfect opportunity.

It was nearly midday when Katara realized she was hungry. The taverns in the Lower Ring looked a little shady for her tastes—if Sokka were here, he'd scold her for even considering going in alone. Truthfully, he might scold her for coming to the Lower Ring in the first place, but that didn't bother her. The drunken shouts from inside the taverns were another matter entirely. Luckily, there was a tea shop on the corner—a sleepy little place, not exactly quaint or charming, but it seemed quiet. Quiet suited her today.

She chose a table in the corner where she could look out the window and settled in.

"Welcome to the Pao Family Tea House," a weary-sounding voice said. "My name is Lee, and—"

Katara looked at the server and froze. And he froze. And for what seemed like a very long time, she stared into the very surprised golden eyes of Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation.

He recovered from the surprise first and spun toward the kitchen. "Uncle!"

Jaw hanging open, Katara turned slowly, eyes trailing after Zuko as he retreated behind the counter. Sure enough, there was his uncle, round and pleasant-faced as ever. And Zuko. Prince Zuko. In a teashop. In the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se. In an apron. She wasn't sure what part of the image was strangest to her.

She pinched her arm, and it hurt. Not dreaming, then. Maybe this wasn't a dream, though. Maybe she had hit her head or something and it was a hallucination. Yeah. That made sense. Or at least more sense than—whatever this was.

Zuko was staring at her like she was a Foggy Swamp apparition as he whispered to his uncle in a voice that carried clear across the room. Katara snapped her gaping jaw shut. That was Zuko, all right. And spirits, he really needed to learn how to keep his voice down if he ever wanted to keep a secret. He was worse than Sokka, and that was saying a lot.

"What am I supposed to do?" Zuko hissed. His uncle mumbled something in reply. "No. No, Uncle. Absolutely not. No!" The old man glanced in Katara's direction and waggled his bushy gray eyebrows. "Uncle, I'm not serving her tea! For all we know, she's here to—" Zuko cut himself off and flushed a deep shade of red.

The old man clasped Zuko's shoulder and went off into a low, rumbling lecture that Katara couldn't understand from her seat. From time to time, Zuko glanced her direction, then turned back to his uncle, shamefaced. What was that about? It almost made Zuko seem—normal.

At last the lecture ended, and the old man patted Zuko's shoulder with an affectionate smile. Zuko made a show of throwing himself over the counter so his head thumped lightly against the wood and let out a prolonged groan. His uncle poked him in the side and offered an order pad. Zuko rolled his head to the side and glared up at his uncle for a second, then grumbled a string of wildly creative curses and snatched the order pad out of the old man's hand.

"Welcome to the Pao Family Tea House," Zuko began before he was even halfway to her table. The look on his face might have been an attempt at forcing a smile, but he just looked constipated. "My name is Lee—"

"You have to be kidding me," Katara interrupted.

Zuko's ears reddened. Or ear—it was difficult to see whether the scarred one changed color or not. "My name is Lee," he tried again, voice taut enough to crack. "And I will be your server today."

"What are you doing?"

His shoulders visibly tensed, and he held up his order pad as if it were a shield. "My job." He tried to smile and managed to look nauseated this time. Katara couldn't decide if that was better or worse than his constipated face. "Our special today is—"

She shook her head. "That's not what I meant. Why are you here?"

He threw his hands up. "I just am, okay?"

"And you work in a teashop?" Katara asked, still unable to fully wrap her mind around the concept.

"No, I just think the apron makes me look cool." He crossed his arms. "Are you going to order anything, or can I throw you out?"

Across the room, Zuko's uncle looked up. "Nephew," he warned.

Zuko stared up at the ceiling and gave a long sigh. "I mean," he said through clenched teeth, "What can I get for you today?"

A second of silence passed before Katara remembered why she had come in the first place. Lunch. Right. She was hungry. "Uh—do you have food here? Not just tea?"

"We have a small selection of fruit pastries." The reply came automatically, as if he'd repeated those exact words hundreds of times before. Zuko looked briefly startled by his own answer but settled back into an expression of annoyance.

"Okay." Fruit pastries weren't an ideal lunch, but it had to be better than braving the taverns. "I like everything but papaya."

"Papaya's all we have," Zuko snapped.

Okay, that response was far too quick. Katara glanced back toward Zuko's uncle.

"Nephew, I believe you misunderstood me earlier," the old man called across to them. "Papaya is the only thing we're out of."

Katara found herself smiling in triumph. "In that case, I would like a peach tart. Please. And a cup of tea."

Zuko grumbled, but he scribbled her order down—which probably wasn't necessary, considering the fact that the rest of the shop was empty—and stomped off to fetch her food.

He dropped the plate in front of her and thumped her teacup down. He folded his arms again. "Will there be anything else?"

Katara frowned up at him. "Actually, yes." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table. "I want to know the truth. What are you doing here?"

"I, uh—" He ran a hand through his hair. The motion made it stick out in several directions at once, but she had to admit that it still looked better than that stupid bald ponytail thing he used to have. "Excuse me, I have to get back to work."

"Take your time, Nephew," the old man said brightly as he bustled to clear the dishes and crumbs off the counter. "See? All cleaned up. And our busy time isn't for a few hours yet."

Zuko's mouth opened and closed a few times, and Katara smirked. "Sounds to me like you've got time to answer my question."

He glared at her.

"What are you doing in Ba Sing Se?"

"I—" He let out a puff of air. "I can't talk about it."

"Why?"

"Because—" He fidgeted with the edge of his apron. "People can't know where I'm from."

Her first impulse was to jump up and yell, Ha! I knew you were here to do something evil! But he didn't look like he was plotting anything. He just looked—embarrassed. And frustrated. And maybe a little bit frightened. And—it was stupid, but Katara wanted to hear what he had to say. She leaned back. "Well, there's nobody else here, and I already know where you're from. So your secret's out. I could go to the Dai Li right now and turn you in—"

His eyes widened, and the color drained from his face.

"Or," she continued, "I could stay here and eat my lunch while you tell me the truth."

He clenched his jaw and looked down. "What, so you can turn me in as soon as you leave?" Surprisingly, there wasn't any anger in his voice. Just weariness and defeat.

She shrugged. "Your chances are a lot better if you explain. Why are you here?"

Zuko rubbed the back of his neck. "My sister is insane. Next question."

"Are you just going to keep standing there? You're making me nervous."

With a sigh, Zuko glanced back at his uncle, but he pulled out the chair across from her and perched on the edge, ready to bolt out of his seat at any time. Okay, this really wasn't any better than his hovering. It should be impossible for a person to be that awkward.

"Happy now?" he asked.

Katara frowned. "Not really." She tore off a bit of the tart and popped it into her mouth. It tasted better than she'd expected. Actually, it was good. Really good. She tried not to let it show. "So—are you still looking for Aang?"

Zuko scrunched up his nose. "What's an Aang?"

She paused, mid-chew. "Seriously?"

"What? I've never heard of—" Realization washed over his face. "Oh. Is that—" He looked around and leaned forward to mouth the last few words, —the Avatar's name?

Katara flicked a few crumbs at him. "You have to be kidding."

"Hey!" He brushed the crumbs off of his apron, scowling. "Excuse me for having other things to worry about."

Rolling her eyes, Katara shook her head. "Yeah, well we had plenty to worry about too, and I still managed to learn your name." She took a sip of her tea. "Answer the question. Are you still hunting Aang or not?"

"I don't know." Zuko scratched at a stain on the tabletop. His good eyebrow crept downward, and his voice lowered. "I don't know if it even makes a difference anymore."

"What is that supposed to mean?" She crossed her arms. "It makes a difference to me if you're going to show up someday and try to kidnap my friend."

"No! I can't go home without the—without Aang, but I don't know if that would be enough anymore." He stared at the table. "My father sent my sister to bring me back, but I got the impression that she wasn't too concerned about keeping me in one piece for the trip. And she always does what my father expects of her, so—"

Katara almost shuddered at the memory of the fight back in that abandoned village. Azula was practically unstoppable. Maybe the fight would have gone differently if Katara's water supply hadn't been dangerously low, if they hadn't all been sleep-deprived, but she didn't savor the idea of meeting the princess again. "I'm glad you and your uncle are okay." Zuko looked up at her in surprise. "I mean—" she faltered. "He got hurt pretty badly, and I would have healed him. We never could have won that fight without the two of you. I would have helped if you'd let me."

His mouth hung open a fraction as he studied her, his golden eyes peering deep into hers, searching. For what, she wasn't certain. Katara felt her face heat and she hastily shoved a too-large piece of the tart into her mouth. She wasn't blushing. Zuko's lips parted a little wider—no. She wasn't looking at his mouth either. His awkwardness must just be contagious.

"Why are you here?" he asked after a pause. "You're travelling with—" He waved a hand, apparently unable to decide whether to say Aang or the Avatar. "Doesn't that basically put you in the Earth King's lap?"

"Gross." Katara wrinkled her nose.

"No, not like—" he sighed and rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. "Aren't you staying in the palace or something?"

She shook her head. "A house in the Upper Ring. We've been trying to get a meeting with the Earth King, but they won't let us anywhere near the palace." She stopped herself. She was dangerously close to revealing Sokka's plans for the eclipse. She shouldn't be telling Zuko things like this, but it was just too easy to keep talking.

"So why are you in the Lower Ring? I'm sure the teashops are a lot nicer where you live."

Okay, now she was blushing. "We were playing a game."

It was Zuko's turn to gape. "A game? What kind of game is it?"

"Ditch Joo Dee. It was my brother's idea."

He nodded slowly, looking as confused as ever. "And Joo Dee is?"

"The creepy lady who follows us around to make sure we don't cause trouble." Katara ran her finger around the rim of her teacup. "We split up so she couldn't ruin the day for all of us."

Zuko nodded as if he understood. He probably did, Katara realized. He was royalty. The Fire Nation might be different than Ba Sing Se, but if anyone there had to deal with overbearing glorified babysitters like Joo Dee, it was probably the crown prince. But before he could respond, his stomach growled loudly and he flushed, crossing his arms over his stomach.

"Impressive," Katara said, smiling.

Zuko scowled. "Shut up." He turned his face away, but not before she caught him glancing at her plate. He stared deliberately out the window and she saw him swallow.

"When was the last time you ate?" She didn't really mean to say it aloud, but now that she was paying attention, she couldn't help but notice how lean his face had become.

"This morning," he snapped.

From the corner of her eye, Katara saw the old man shake his head, and she raised an eyebrow at Zuko.

"Fine. Last night. I overslept this morning." His scowl remained fixed on his face and he turned his attention to the stain on the table again.

Or you deliberately slept in because there wasn't enough food for breakfast. She and Sokka had done the same a few times on their trip across the Earth Kingdom. They were older than Aang and Toph—it was their responsibility to take care of the younger kids. Most of the time, that meant the two of them doing most of the work to set up camp, Sokka hunting and fishing for their meals, and Katara doing the cooking and the washing. Toph rarely contributed more than her own earth tent, and Aang tried to help, he really did, but he had a tendency to wander off and play with Momo midway through chores. But there had been a few times when there was only enough rice left to feed Aang and only enough meat for Toph—it was just easier if she and Sokka pretended to sleep through breakfast so the other two could help themselves to the leftovers.

She frowned down at her plate. "You know—I think I'd like to try another kind of tart." She heard Zuko let out an irritated sigh. "Do you have anything with mango or cherry?"

He ran a hand down the side of his face as he stood. "Yes," he grumbled.

Katara smiled and Zuko's uncle gave her a curious look as she carefully cut off the untouched half of her peach tart. She tried to rearrange her expression into something like neutrality before Zuko returned with the second plate. She wasn't sure if she succeeded or not, but Zuko didn't seem to notice.

"Will that be all?" His voice was tight again and he refused to meet her eyes.

"Not quite." She sliced the second pastry in half and divided it so that she had the mostly-eaten half of the peach tart and half of the cherry tart on one plate and an untouched half of each on the other.

Zuko's brow furrowed. "What are you doing?"

Katara slid the second plate across the table and gave a crooked smile. "I said I wanted to try another kind. I didn't say I could eat all of this on my own."

A closed-off look came over his face. "Don't."

"Don't what?" She took a bite.

He ran a hand through his hair. "Don't—act like we're friends." He shifted uncomfortably.

Katara looked up, studying him. There was that defeat in his eyes again, though he was clearly trying to hide it. She rested her elbows on the table. "Why not?" The words came out almost as a challenge.

Zuko frowned, but his uncle cleared his throat. Zuko glanced back at the old man, then took a deep breath and eased back into the seat across from her.

It was strange, and for a while, Zuko sat stiff on the edge of his chair, answering in monosyllables. But one sarcastic remark made Katara smile, and Zuko relaxed a little. Talking to him was easy. And comfortable. And natural. And it was weird, but Zuko listened to her talk, unsmiling and gaze steady, and that felt nice too. Even if he didn't smile, even if that guarded look didn't quite disappear from this face, his eyes were warm.

She found herself wondering if she should ask again—Are you still chasing Aang? Can I trust you not to hurt him? Because she wanted to trust Zuko. It would be easy. If he had really given up on the idea, maybe she could stop acting like they were friends. Maybe they could be friends.

He said something that made her laugh—When did Zuko develop a sense of humor?—and a small smile flashed across his face. It was fleeting, gone as quickly as it had appeared, but for the instant it was there, his eyes lit up and Katara's stomach fluttered. Okay, so he had a nice smile. But Katara wasn't blushing, and a little stomach flip didn't mean anything. It was just—surprise, probably. Zuko smiled so seldom that a little surprise was only natural.

There was a commotion outside and they both started, turning toward the window.

A woman's voice, shrill and piercing, rang through the street, and Katara groaned. "That's Joo Dee." She dropped her face into her hands so that her elbows thumped on the table. "Sokka's never going to let me hear the end of this. I lost the game."

Zuko peered out through the blinds a second longer. "No, you didn't."

Katara raised her head enough to see him smile. A real, proper smile this time. Her stomach went wild with butterflies, and Zuko grabbed her by the hand.

"Come on," he whispered, pulling her out of her seat.

Trotting to keep up with his long stride, Katara hissed, "What are we doing?"

He led her back behind the counter, past his uncle, who shot them an amused smile, and pulled a serving cart out from under the counter. "Hiding." He pointed at the open space where the cart used to be.

Katara gave him a skeptical look, but then Joo Dee's voice came nearer and there were footsteps just outside the door. Taking a deep breath, she ducked under the counter and pulled her knees to her chest. Zuko crouched to make sure she was hidden, and the front door opened. Before Zuko could stand back up, his uncle shoved him out of sight and pushed the serving cart in front of their hiding place.

"Good afternoon my dear lady, and welcome to the Pao Family Tea House."

The loud greeting masked both Zuko's grunt and Katara's surprised squeak as his face collided with her shoulder. Zuko jerked back as quickly as possible, his head thumping against the counter in his haste. He winced, and Katara pressed a finger to her lips.

Sorry, he mouthed, face flushing scarlet. Bracing his hands against the sides of the little compartment, he pushed himself off to the side.

It's okay, she mouthed in reply and squeezed farther into the corner to make room for him.

"What may I do for you on this lovely day?" The old man clattered around over them, noisier than necessary, sounding pleased with himself. "We have an exquisite selection of teas from all regions of the Earth Kingdom—" He went on, chattering about a rare oolong that was rumored to be a favorite of the great King Bumi of Omashu.

Katara tried to ignore the heat gathering in her cheeks while Zuko's face hovered only inches away from hers. The space under the counter was scarcely large enough for both of them, and she could feel the gentle warmth radiating off him as he tried to twist himself around to sit. When he finally succeeded, she let out a small breath of relief. Their shoulders were wedged uncomfortably tight, and their hands were nearly touching, but at least now she could look away and pretend that her heart wasn't racing, that his piercing golden gaze wasn't making her stomach do strange fluttery things.

"Excuse me," Joo Dee interrupted. "I am sure that your shop is the pride of Ba Sing Se, but I have no time for tea. Four of the Earth King's young guests have gone missing. I believe that one of them may have come into your shop."

"Oh dear." The old man made a thoughtful noise.

"I believe either Lady Toph Beifong or Master Katara of the Water Tribe was seen heading this way," Joo Dee pressed.

"Mmmm." The old man stopped his clattering. "May I ask what these young ladies look like?"

Katara tensed. He couldn't. It would be bad enough losing the game, but being caught hiding under a teashop counter with Zuko would be downright humiliating, to say nothing of the danger for Zuko. She didn't want to see him caught. It felt strange, but she cared. If Katara was caught, it would be embarrassing. She would have to face teasing and questions from Sokka and the others, but Zuko—he could be arrested. Or worse. She started to squirm forward as Joo Dee described her and Toph.

Zuko's hand landed on her arm and he shook his head. Wait, he mouthed.

"I'm afraid I haven't seen any young ladies wearing blue today," the old man said. "Business has been very slow."

"Perhaps they changed their clothes?" Joo Dee demanded. There was a pause, then Joo Dee added, "If business has been slow, what is this?"

Oops. They'd left their plates at the table. Zuko's eyes widened, and Katara pressed her hands over her mouth.

"The scoundrel!" There was an edge of amusement in the old man's voice despite his apparent effort to sound serious. "I apologize, my good lady. It seems a customer left without paying."

"I shall alert the patrol on your behalf."

"Oh, don't trouble yourself," the old man answered jovially. "I know the young man well. Rest assured, I will have a very stern conversation with the boy's uncle."

[hidden-behind-the-fourth-wall]

The Smile - Chapter 1/7

APairing: Loki x OFC

Summary of the story: She was a mutant with healing powers. Avengers were her family and she did all she could to protect them. She always tried to see the good in others. The smile. Beautiful and unique one was something she noticed in Loki and fell in love with. But not every love story ends the same way, and not every prince comes on his white horse and the story ends with a happy ending... Or maybe?

Story Warnings: Angst, a bit of violence, psychological issues like low self-esteem, depression, anxiety; swearing, eventual fluff and smut - maybe.

Summer of the chapter: The relationship between Loki and Anna is not good. As much as the girl tries her best to befriend him, he seems to hate her. So she decides to bake him a cake for his birthday. To make the best one, she makes some tests on the cupcakes.

Chapter Warnings: Angst, A bit of violence, psychological issues.

A/N: This is my first Loki story I have written, so I am quite excited. I planned to post it as a two-chapter story, each with around 10 000 words but assumed it was too much, so I will divide into 7 parts. I portray Loki as a bit of a dick here, so I hope you will bear with me and despite all this will enjoy reading this story, as much as I do writing it :) 

If you want to be tagged to this or any other of my stories, please send me an ask <3

Words: 3815

Love, friendship, kindness. It was not something Loki was familiar with, not something he has ever felt to anyone except his own mother. After her death, the God of Mischief decided to lock his heart and never let anyone get close to him. Especially now, when his stupid brother decided to make everything right and brought him back to Earth and made him join the Avengers. Thor's stupid belief that Loki can change was always laughable for him but here he was, in compound with all the people he tried to kill all the years ago. All except one.

He gazed at the girl in the kitchen who was happily humming under the nose to some song, blasting in her headphones. No worries in her. The small smile crept on her lips when she was slowly decorating the cupcakes she just made. Her free personality annoyed Loki. She was nice, kind-hearted and smiley. She was like a dame, happier version of this damn Captain America.

What annoyed him, even more, was the fact, that she wasn't even a part of the Avengers. With her mutant powers, she was nothing but a mere healer. An invisible person, who became needed only occasionally. She was so weak, that she always lost conscious and energy whenever she healed them. Yet she was always happy to help.

No one from this damn superhero group knew about her weakness. She always left the room before they would be able to see her fainting on the bed or falling asleep on the desk. They called her a doctor, but he saw her as nothing but an annoyance. A pathetic Midgardian that was too stupid to know her own limits. Too stupid to stay away from him.

He was annoyed with her stubbornness when it came to be healing and helping the team, but what he hated the most about her was this smile and look she was always giving him. Whether as a welcome, goodbye or just whenever he was unlucky enough to end up in the same room as her.

He grimaced not understanding why his brother was so fond of her. She was nothing special, not even to look at. Being on Earth for a while now he has seen some really beautiful women. Romanoff and Maximoff could be added to that list. But her? Her body was not as slim as the other women on the team. He could see some of the body folds whenever she decided to put a T-shirt that was more into the body. No. She wasn't fat, maybe just more rounded than the other two. Her face was decent. Yes, this would be a word he would use to describe it. A nose that was a bit bigger than at other girls, cheeks a little plum, making her face more round than oval, something he found himself to be attracted to. Her blonde hair was semi-long, normally kept in a ponytail or a half-bun. She never wore makeup. The only thing he was mesmerised by her were her eyes. Green, not too big, not too small. He was mad that those beautiful eyes could not be accompanied by a better-looking face.

He huffed with annoyance when he caught her eyes and her smiling at him in a friendly way. He was a God of Mischief, the same one who once attacked earth and NY. Was she really that stupid to not fear him? Or her idiotic run so deep that she just didn't care?

Without a word he got up from the couch, and without a word he left the room, not wanting to waste any more time to look at the woman he despised.

**

Baking and cooking were always something she enjoyed. Being better at the latter one, she was always super satisfied whenever her baking came out as she wanted it to. And now it looked like it would actually work. She smiled, putting the decoration on one of the cupcakes. She wished the cake she was planning on making in few days from today would come out as pretty as this.

She blushed thinking of the occasion. She was able to gather the information about Loki's birthday from Thor and was now making a mini version of the cake that she planning to make for him. What Thor said, Loki hadn't had a cake since was a kid. Their mother used to make sure they have one when they were kids, but when they grew up, the birthdays were not as celebrated anymore. Too much hassle.

But she didn't think about it as a hassle. Loki has been here for half a year now. He seemed to be getting a bit closer to the Avengers, but she felt like he was always keeping a cold, almost freezing distance from her. Therefore, she decided to make him a birthday cake as a warm-up.

She was quite pathetic she knew. There she was, having a stupid crush on a man who didn't even want to spend time with her in the same room. But she saw him not as a God of Mischief, but as Loki. A part of a team. She always wondered if there would ever be a day, she would bring the beautiful smile she only saw a couple of time, to his lips. She hoped that once she would be able to erase this anger and intimidated hatred from his eyes. And one day, she would be able to just sit with him on a coach and have a semi-formal conversion with him, just like Bucky and Sam had.

Both boys seemed to become quite good friends with God, to everyone's surprise. Maybe because they were not a part of the NY fight. But to her happiness, she has noticed that the rest of the team did not seem to be so much against him anymore. She was happy for him. Even if he hated her.

The smile disappeared from her lips when he stood up abruptly and sending her an annoyed look, left the room.

Who was she kidding? He hated her. And she knew that. She wasn't stupid. Because of her anti-social behaviour, anxiety and low self-esteem, she learned to read people better than anyone else. Keeping to herself, away from the spotlight, hidden in the shadow, it was the only thing she could do.

She wasn't blind as well. She wasn't a goddess and being in the same room as Natasha and Wanda did not help her with her low self-esteem. But she did not expect Loki to fall in love with her. All she wanted was for him to just look at her without this hatred and disgust in his eyes.

She bit her lip, to stop the tears from flowing. For the Avengers, she was this strong, kind-hearted healer. But deep down inside she was weak, she was evaluating her every move, every word ever spoken to anyone. And she has swooped herself to sleep with crying more times than it was humanly possible. But in the morning, she raised her face with cold water and smiled at all the mainland again. They were the only people she dared to call friends in her life, and she feared that if she would ever show them her weakness, they would just turn their backs at her. Because she was their healer. She needed to be strong and if not for herself then for them.

"This looks amazing, doll!" She jumped surprised to hear a low, husky voice behind her. She turned around and put her most beautiful fake smile to the man.

"If you wait 3 more minutes till it cools down, you can have one, Bucky" the man smiled and leaned behind not leaving his eyes off the girl.

"Is this the sample for Loki's birthday gift?" She blushed and nodded. Bucky was not the only one who knew about her little, stupid crush. It seemed like Loki himself was the only who didn't know. And maybe Thor... but well, she was not surprised by this. Thor was... just Thor. "It does look lovely" she beamed at him from complement and took one of the mini-cakes and handed it to him.

She felt pride rising inside her when the ex-Winter Soldier hummed in appreciation, taking another bigger bite.

"If your heart did not belong to this idiot, I would have already courted you!" She laughed at his remark, happy to see him enjoy your cooking as much.

"Here. You can take mine as well", he raised his brow at you not sure if you were serious. "I don't feel like having anything sweet today." If you were being serious you were trying to lose some of that fat from your stomach. You stopped eating so much, gave up on sweets and started to wake up early (even before Steve) to go for a run. You already lost a couple of kilos and you were finally able to not look at yourself with disgrace. It has been more than a month. No one, of course, noticed, as you were wearing baggy clothes. You decided to show off when you would finally come to the body image you liked. You were forcing yourself to believe that it was for your own self-esteem, but deep down you knew that you did that, hoping Loki would enjoy your new image... "I'm going to leave the others in the fridge. Make sure not to eat them all. There is one for everyone." She smiled and took one of the cupcakes into the plate.

"And this one is for?" Barnes asked, smirking at the girl mischievously.

"Don't ask questions you know the answer to, Sergeant" she winked at him playfully and left the kitchen, heading straight to HIS room.

**

She was so nervous when she knocked at his doors. Almost as nervous as the time she asked a guy out to the prom. It did not end well. He laughed at her face and closed the doors in front of her face. This time she hoped it will end better.

With a plate in the hand, she sent him a big smile when he appeared on the other side of the doors. He looked taken back by her little visit but didn't say anything, just kept staring at her.

"I made some cupcakes if you'd like to try?" She was telling herself that the only reason she came here was that she needed to know whether he liked it or not. There was still some time to change something. Some more days to practice something new.

He looked at the plate and frowned, and then his eyes travelled back at her. Did he look... annoyed?

"I'm not hungry" he stated lazily, his voice full of venom, which made her shrink inside.

"That's... that's ok, you can always eat it later. Just let me know what you think ok?" She answered happily, which made him even angrier.

"I said I'm not hungry!" He raised his voice just a bit, sending a shiver down her spine. "Plus, I'm not a fan of sweets! You can just eat it yourself!" And with that he closed the doors right near her nose, making the plate with the cupcake fall right onto the floor.

She just stood there looking down at the mess. Of course, the plate needed to fall upside down so the whole cupcake was now on the carpet... she bit her lip hard, feeling the tears creeping in her eyes. She crouched and started to clean that up before anyone would be able to see her pathetic state. Of course, with her luck in life, she tensed hearing a familiar, beaming voice behind her.

"Hello, little one!" Thor said happily. "I tried the cupcakes. Wonderful job" he then got a bit quiet and a small smirk appeared on his lips. "I'm sure my brother will find them enduring", she swallowed hard and got up with the plate. "What happened, little one?" He asked with concern in his eyes. He looked at the plate with widened eyes.

"It's ok I dropped the cupcake by accident" she answered smiling to him, hoping he would not be able to read through the fake gesture. "Plus, I don't think Loki would be happy to have a cake... he told me he hates sweets." You sent him one more smile and walked away to the elevator to ride to your room. You needed to hide, from Thor, Loki, from everyone.

It was like high school once again. No, it was much worse now. Because you just realised that the fear you had in your head has become true. He really hated you. The man you were falling in love with, hated her.

**

Thor was looking at her back, and he was sure he saw tears in her beautiful eyes. Loki hated sweets. Since when?

He knocked on the door and waited for his brother to answer. He had some questions he needed answers and his brother seemed like the man to ask.

"I told you I don't want your..." Loki stopped seeing his brother on the other side. "Oh, it's only you."

"Since when do you not like sweets?" Thor asked with a raised brow and arms crossed at his chest. His younger brother's eye twitched in an annoyance.

"Did she tattle on me?" He asked sarcastically, leaning on the door frame, the mischievous smirk on his lips. The blonde looked at his younger brother and sighed.

"Do you not like the little one?" Loki frowned seeing this stupid frown on his brother's face. Despite the strength and the great position, he has always been an idiot, which annoyed Loki even more.

"What not to like? The annoying smile or the pathetic will to be seen stronger than she really was?" He answered with irritation, clenching his jaw. "She annoys me, truly. I do not see what you the Avengers see in her. She is a pitiful example of everything that is wrong with Midgardians." He snorted unamused, seeing the anger in his brother's face. "She's always around, sending these exasperated smiles. Her body is too weak for her to use the power, but she's too proud to show you guys, that she is indeed just a mere, wretched human, so she pushes herself to the limits until she loses her conscious. Really moving! I can really see why you love this kind so much, brother of mine!" The smirk never left Loki's lips, until Thor threw a punch to his face, sending him to the floor.

"I have brought you here with me, to this place I call home. I brought you here, because I believed you can change, and we can be a family once again. I was so happy seeing you opening up to the Avengers... I was pleased to see the little one taking an interest in you. Do you know why?" He took a dangerous step towards, the now standing, God. "She has saved our lives more times than I can count. And I am not only talking about her powers. She sees us all. The way we are, the way no one else sees us." His voice was low and filled with Venom. Something Loki has found to be used by his older brother only towards his enemies. "She was the first one to see Steve and not Captain America. She was the one who spent nights to learn the sign language for Barton. She went through all the struggle to get Natasha to see the ballet. Something she hated and loved at the same time. She was also the one, that helped Tony and Bucky to communicate. She was the one that stayed near Barnes' bed, whenever he had nightmares. She was also the one that made me believe that I do not have to be what everyone expects of me. That I am who I am, and I should not live up to anyone's expectations. And you know what else?" He pushed the man into the wall, hovering over him with anger in his eyes. "She was the one that talked me into bringing you here. The one to talk to the Avengers saying that everyone deserved a second chance. You are here because everyone owes her something. You are here because she believed in you when no – one did. Even me." Thor took a step away and turned to the doors, his fists clenched in a fit of anger. "You are wrong about her, Loki. She is not weak. She is the strongest person I know!"

**

Her encounter with Loki has left her in a state of complete anxiety. Her low self-esteem was kicked even more, and she wasn't sure anymore what she hated about herself more. The way she looked, her voice, her thoughts, the smile, or the cooking that seemed to not bring her any more happiness. It has become some kind of a routine, that she didn't enjoy. There was nothing she truly enjoyed anymore. It wasn't just a case of a stupid heartbreak. She started to see herself with Loki's eyes. She once again started to analyse her every word, every move, which led her to speak less and less, and only answering when she was asked a question.

Her running has become a sad routine as well. She has become more aware of anyone seeing her, so she made sure that she woke up early enough to not see Steve on his way to his morning jogs.

She worked more, staying overnight more times than it was necessary. She found herself taking extra hours almost every day, only not to go home.

Home. This word seemed so distant. She never had one. Her mother gave her away to the shelter when she was just an infant. She was moving from a family to a family. Never staying with anyone longer than a year. When she finished 18 years old S.H.I.E.L.D found her and gave her a proposition to become a medic. They paid for her medic school and gave her new life. But she did not feel it like home. Until she met the Avengers. This misfunctioning group of superheroes seemed to be as lost in this world as she was, and it made her become close to all of them. She enjoyed their every smile and conversations. She felt needed, she felt like... Loved in a most platonic, but beautiful way. She felt like home.

When Thor told her about his brother being locked up in the cell once again, she wanted to make things right for him. When proposed to bring him in and make him a part of the Avengers, she did not know this would become one of the most painful decisions in her life.

His sarcastic humour, the smirking and witty comments made her always smile under her nose. She always wanted to have the same confidence as he had. The spark in his eyes, whenever he defeated someone with his comeback, made her feel a bit warmer inside. A bit stronger. With the time she was able to hear his soft laugh and occasional chuckles and she found herself hoping one day it will be her that would bring this out of him.

But this has never happened. For a reason, she did not understand why he omitted her. He looked at her with a disgrace, hate and disgust. He left the room whenever she walked in. Scoffed whenever she smiled or said good morning. His stories always stopped whenever he caught her listening. For all the months she thought that she was just seeing things. But she finally grew up and realised that she must stop kidding herself. The man hated her. And she was stupid enough to fall in love with him.

He made her feel not only worthless but made her doubt whether the home she believed she had, was real. It was only now, she understood that there was no way or a good reason for people like the Avengers to hang up with her. She was just one of the agents. Occasionally healing their scars, after they came back from saving the world. She was just one of many. So, she has decided to hide in the shadows again, and become as invincible as she could.

And here she was, doing paperwork on a Saturday night. As pathetic as it was, she did not even feel like going back home, to the lonely and cold bed. She felt alone and unwanted again. The same odd feeling she had whenever personnel from the shelter told her about another month, she needed to spend there, because no one wanted her.

**

Loki hasn't seen the girl in their level since their cupcake encounter. It looked like she just disappeared from the compound. There was still the smell of the dinner or the cookies and other bakeries, but she was nowhere to be seen. She hasn't even encountered any of the Avengers dinners, that Stark normally invited her to. She always used an excuse of 'filled with too much paperwork' whenever anyone from the team tried to get her to join.

There was once a time in a cafeteria that he noticed her. She had her headphones on and was waiting to pay for an awfully looking salad. He remembered her always joking about 'not being a horse to eat a salad'. And there she was with something that probably should not even be called one. He did not understand how someone who cooked so well for the team, could be eating something so disgraceful.

There was something different about her as well. She was always smiling at the workers or trying to engage in the small talk. But not that day. She was quite sending the woman over the counter a fake smile. He grimaced at the black bags under her eyes, which did not have the light they always had. Her oval face has lost some weight and looked a bit hollow. She looked unhealthy and very unhappy.

He didn't understand why he kept his eyes on her for so long, but something twitched at him when she looked around and met his eyes. It was just for a couple of seconds. He expected a smile, and maybe a wave of a hand, but she lowered her head, in an almost bow, and without any other gestured, left the cafeteria. Probably coming back to her work.

The words spoken by his older brother were still stuck to him. Would he still believe that this girl was strong if he saw her today? He scoffed annoyed and left the place as well, feeling more and more eyes on his figure. He was still, after all the topic of discussion.

Master list

[zackattack2995]

School Reunion: a Hogwarts Mystery story

Word Count: 4,268 words

Zack and his band, The Motionless Witch, had just finished playing their last show of the tour they were on with Weird Sisters- who had personally invited Zack’s band when they found out it was the same kid they played a gig with at Hogwarts. “I knew Rock and Roll was in yer blood- kid!” Myron, the lead singer exclaimed to Zack while the two bands were hanging out in between shows. “Yea, I got kinda burnt out from Curse Breaking when I was in Hogwarts, and I needed an outlet.” Zack confessed. “I remembered playing with you guys at Hogwarts and I realized I wanted to start a band of my own.” “Hell, I’d say you’re close to surpassing us-mate!” Kirley, the lead guitarist told Zack. “Ah, you’re too kind.” Zack replied. “We’re just having fun, and we wanna do this until we can’t anymore.” Zack was exhausted after the show, and after saying goodbye to his bandmates: Matt on lead guitar, Tyler on drums, Ricky on rhythm guitar, and Kyle, the new bass guitarist, Zack picked up his black suitcase with skulls painted on it that held his spare clothes during the tour and apparated home.

           Zack was wearing a black Weird Sisters shirt with a long sleeve fishnet top underneath, black shiny skinny jeans that had some holes in them, combat boots, and a black beanie he had thrown on. Zack’s hair was considerably longer than he had it during his time in Hogwarts and it was parted to the left side of his face, completely covering it. Zack had the right side of his hair tucked behind his ear. He had both his ears pierced with an earring that had a spiderweb design, and he had a black nose ring on the right side of his nose. He kept his trademark black eye make-up that enhanced his green eyes, and black lipstick that he started doing in his Sixth Year of Hogwarts. Zack could finally relax at home with the people he missed so incredibly much. Zack entered the house and saw his beautiful wife, Carmilla writing a manuscript for her new horror novel in the living room. “Hey DeathDoll, I’m home.” Carmilla put down her manuscript to focus her attention on the man she loved more than life itself. “Hi, babe! Welcome home!” Carmilla had decided after five years of touring as the bass player of Zack’s band, The Motionless Witch, that she wanted to become a horror novelist instead. Carmilla now had her blue hair tied in a ponytail by a black barbed wire hairband while still keeping the bangs that covered one of her silver eyes. She was wearing her black square thick rimmed glasses that she wore so that she could feel like an actual author when she writes. Carmilla got up from the coach and rushed over to Zack, she gave him a big hug and started kissing her Goth Prince. Zack embraced his vampire wife and kissed her back. “Daddy is that you?” a small voice asked. Zack looked and saw his daughter, Lilith, walking down the stairs. Lilith had black hair, like her father with blue streaks that appeared at the age of five, which her mother found to be adorable. She had heterochromia, with one eye that was green and one eye that was silver. Lilith was ten years old and would attend Hogwarts soon. “There’s my little demon!” Zack exclaimed as he picked up Lilith and did one quick spin before putting her back down. “I know you just got back, hon, but we both got a letter from Hogwarts today.” Carmilla said. “Oh? Really?” Zack asked surprised. “Yea I haven’t opened them yet, I wanted to wait for you to get home.” “Well I’m here now, let’s open them.” Zack and Carmilla both dug their black painted fingers into the wax stamped Hogwarts crest that sealed their letters and silently read its contents. “A school reunion, huh.” Zack remarked after reading his letter. “I guess that could be fun. It would be a way to check up on the gang and see what they’ve been up to for the last ten years.” “We should bring Lilith that way she can check out her school.” Carmilla said. “That’s a great idea, you’re so smart!” Zack told his wife. “Let’s go to bed, we have a big day tomorrow.” Carmilla instructed. “Alright, head to bed Lilith. Daddy and Mommy are gonna show you your school tomorrow and you’ll be able to meet our friends.” “Ok, Dad.” Lilith said, heading upstairs. “I know you’re tired from the show…” Carmilla whispered in Zack’s ear. “But how about a little encore with your biggest fan? I haven’t seen you in two weeks and I’ve been getting hot and bothered without you here.” “I think I can do three or five encores, just for you.” Zack said coyly. Carmilla purred and playfully bit Zack’s ear, Zack chased after his wife who started giggling as she ran upstairs into the bedroom. Zack furiously kissed Carmilla while she started playfully biting his neck, and Zack closed the door, locking it so that they couldn’t be disturbed.

*******************************************************

It was morning, and Zack’s black cat Jinx, was waking up the sleeping couple. It took a few nudges, but Jinx finally accomplished his job. “Morning to you too, buddy.” Zack murmured, Jinx gave a quick meow and hopped down off the bed. Zack rolled next to his sleeping wife and gave Carmilla a quick kiss. “I’ll be up in a minute, babe.” Carmilla whispered. Zack put on his Nightmare Before Christmas pajama bottoms and threw on a black hoodie and headed downstairs to make something to eat. Lilith was already at the table eating cereal. “Morning, dad.” Lilith said softly. “Morning, sweetie. Did you get enough rest?” “Yea.” “Ok, then.” Zack made himself buffalo wings to eat with ranch dipping sauce. Zack normally skipped breakfast, but he didn’t know when they would eat at the reunion- so he wanted to at least eat something before they left. “Alright guys, we gotta get changed soon.” Carmilla yawned, exposing her pointy incisor teeth, after coming downstairs. “Yea, yea, I know.” Zack replied. After he finished eating, Zack went upstairs to grab his outfit for the reunion. Zack grabbed one of his band shirts from his suitcase and threw it on. He put on a different pair of leather pants that weren’t quiet as distressed as the pair he wears on stage. Finally, Zack threw on a pair of black combat boots and a black leather jacket with spikes on it. Carmilla came into the room and started putting her outfit together. Carmilla put on a black leather corset with a long sleeve fishnet top. She had a black gothic Lolita skirt with white skulls on it. Carmilla put on a pair of black and white stripped leggings, and finished it off with black platformers. Finally, Carmilla put on her black spiky bracelets and put on her signature black choker with a silver bat attached. Zack and Carmilla head to the bathroom so that they can do their nails, makeup and hair together. Zack has both sides of his dark hair tucked behind his ears and has his black eyeliner added. Carmilla has her hair tied in her usual twintails with bangs that cover her left eye. Finally, she has her red eyeliner applied. “Alright, we’re ready to go.” Zack tells Lilith as he and Carmilla descend the stairs. Lilith is wearing a black long sleeve top with a white upside-down cross on it, a black skirt, and black combat boots. “You look so adorable!” Carmilla gushed. “You’re gonna make so many friends.” “You sure?” Lilith asked quietly. “Of course, you will.” Zack said enthusiastically. “I remember meeting my best friend, Rowan, before I even got to Hogwarts.” Zack recalled. “But don’t feel too pressured.” Carmilla explained. “I didn’t meet my best friend, Chiara, until my Fifth Year at Hogwarts. And I didn’t meet your dad until my Sixth Year.” “Yea, just go at your own pace.” Zack finished. And with that, the Ropers were off to Hogwarts.

           The Ropers finally arrived at Hogwarts, and it seemed more crowded than usual. Carmilla was shaking like a leaf as she tried to navigate the different people crowding the West Lower Floor. Zack wrapped his arm around Carmilla and kissed her on the neck to calm her down. “I didn’t think there was gonna be this much people here.” Carmilla whispered. “Yea, I don’t remember this much people here when we attended.” Everyone gathered at the Great Hall and sat at the tables. “Oh my god! Zack is that you?!” a girl’s voice shrieked excitedly. Zack turned around and saw one of his oldest friends, Penny, race over to him. Penny was wearing a one-piece suit, had on a pair of red circled rimmed glasses, with her golden hair in a ponytail and has her usual braided parts of her hair tucked behind her ears. Zack stood up and hugged Penny. “Hey, how have you been?” Zack asked. “Oh, I’ve been great!” Penny retorted. “I’m the head journalist of Romours!” “Sounds very important.” “Nah it’s no big deal. I heard you’re in a rock band though… that’s pretty cool!” “Yea, The Motionless Witch. We just finished our tour with Weird Sisters.” Zack stopped his train of thought. “Oh, I almost forgot- Penny, this is my wife, Carmilla.” “Nice to meet you.” Penny said, shaking Carmilla’s pale hand. “pleasure’s all mine.” “And who’s this little one?” “That’s our daughter, Lilith.” Zack answered. “Hi, Lilith. I’m Penny… I was a friend of your Dad’s here.” Penny explained to Lilith. Penny turned around. “Oh, hey sweet pea!” Penny exclaimed. Rowan, who appeared to have not changed at all and seen carrying a little girl that matched his appearance, approached Penny and gave her a quick kiss. “Sorry, I’m late. Dumbledore wanted to talk with me about a couple things this year, and this little one started getting aggravated.” Rowan turned around to face his best friend. “How are you doing, man?” “I’m great. It’s good to see you again.” “Same to you.” “Oh, Rowan- this is my wife, Carmilla and my daughter, Lilith.” “It’s nice to meet you guys.” Rowan said as he smiled. “This one is Kisa, she’s very outgoing- much like her mother.” Rowan put Kisa down and she approached Lilith, who was hiding behind Carmilla, staring intently at Kisa. “I’m Kisa, it’s very nice to meet you!” Kisa stuck out her hand. Lilith looked up at her mother and father. “It’s ok, you can introduce yourself.” Zack told Lilith. Zack looked at Kisa. “Sorry, she’s very shy- much like her mother.” “I’m… Lilith.” Lilith said softly. Lilith slowly crept in front of her mother and shook Kisa’s hand. “Looks like you guys are already friends.” Rowan exclaimed. “Reminds me of when I first met you before we attended Hogwarts, Zack.” “Yea, I was just telling Lilith about that before we left the house.” “Well, we should probably sit down, Dumbledore is about to give his opening ceremony speech.” With that… Zack, Carmilla, Lilith, Penny, Rowan, and Kisa sat next to each other as Dumbledore approached the podium of The Great Hall.

“It’s great to see so many new and familiar faces today, as we celebrate a time of remembrance and strengthen the bonds we first developed while walking these halls.” Dumbledore exclaimed; his booming voice reverberated the room as he spoke. “I know some were unable to attend, but those of you who were able to, I’m happy to see once again. I don’t want to take up too much of your time, so with that being said… for one last time, let the feast begin!” Dumbledore raised his arms in the air, and suddenly food appeared in front of everyone at the table. The sound of eating echoed the room and Zack started eating the country fried steak that appeared in front of him. In front of Carmilla was a steak done bloody. Zack, Carmilla, Penny, and Rowan talked amongst each other while they ate, and Zack noticed Lilith was starting to talk to Kisa more… although Kisa had to start the conversation. “There you guys are!” a voice boomed behind Zack. It was another one of his friends from Hogwarts. It was an imposing figure, but Zack knew this person had a softer side. It was Barnaby Lee, a fellow Slytherin classmate of his. Barnaby hadn’t changed one bit- except now his hair was slightly longer and was messy looking. Barnaby was carrying his plates full of food while his wife trailed behind with a bored expression on her face. “Oh my god, how are you doing Barnaby!” Penny asked excitedly. “I’m doing great.” Barnaby said with a smile on his face. “Hey, be careful babe. You’re gonna drop your food.” Barnaby’s wife, Ismelda warned. Ismelda wore a black dress with cobwebs on it, she had blood red lipstick, and her black hair was longer than when she was in Hogwarts, but kept it parted to the left side of her face. “Oh, right- sorry babe.” Barnaby apologized to his wife. “I swear babe, you can be such a handful.” Ismelda muttered. “But that’s what I love about you.” Ismelda pinched Barnaby’s cheek, and he grinned from ear to ear. “Hey, isn’t that Chiara and Jae?” Rowan asked. Sure enough, Chiara and Jae were approaching the group hand in hand. “Oh, my goodness, Carmi! You look absolutely gorgeous!” Chiara complemented Carmilla. “Oh, thanks Chi!” Carmilla beamed. “Do you know where the others are?” Zack asked Jae, who wore a dirty suit and robe, and a gold scarf. “I know Tonks is here somewhere. Bill and Charlie couldn’t make it. Not sure about Merula. Diego- Mr. Bachelor is throwing a party at his place, and I believe Ben and Badeea said they’d be unable to attend. Something about presenting art pieces to muggles.” “That does sound like them.” Barnaby responded with food in his mouth. “Wotcher! How’s the gang doing?!” Tonks asked, pushing someone aside to their annoyance, to sit next to Zack. Tonk’s pink hair was longer and down to her shoulders. But her wicked smile was unmistakable. Tonks was joined by Tulip who had her red hair cut shorter with small bangs parted to the right. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the big rock star in our group of misfits.” Tonks said, greeting Zack. “C’mon, I’m not that big of a deal.” “Modest as ever.” Tulip remarked, shaking her head. “Don’t mind her- she’s become all Miss Serious Assistant Manager.” Tonks told Zack. “I’ll have you know, I’m Assistant Manager of Zonkos! So, I can still have some fun.” Tulip argued. “Let’s go around and tell each other what we’ve been up to for the past ten years.” Rowan instructed the group. Zack explained that he was the lead singer of his band, The Motionless Witch. Carmilla explained that she wrote horror novels now. Tonks explained that she got the job as an Auror. Barnaby excitedly explained that he became a magizoologist. Ismelda told the group she became an executioner. Chiara explained that she was a healer who specializes in werewolf needs. Finally, Jae explained that he works as salesman that sells contraband items in Knockturn Alley. “What about you?” Zack asked Rowan. “Oh, I took up the position of teaching History of Magic here.” Rowan explained. “No way!” Barnaby exclaimed. “Wasn’t it your dream to be a Professor here?” Tonks inquired. “Yea, Dumbledore said that Professor Binns wasn’t quite garnering the student’s attention, so he wanted me to teach during Summer Break as a test run, and he liked the results.” “I couldn’t be prouder of him.” Penny retorted. “That means you’ll be teaching Lilith this year.” Carmilla noted. “Yea, you’ll be the best teacher ever- I know you will!” Barnaby shouted excitedly. “What about you, Penny? Didn’t you say you were a Head Journalist, or something?” Zack asked. “Well, it’s kinda complicated.” Penny started, before she could give an answer, an ominous dark shape appeared before her… it was Severus Snape. “A pleasure to see you again, Miss Haywood.” Snape remarked. “Actually, it’s Miss Khana now, Professor.” Penny corrected. “Please, as one of my best students- you don’t need to call me Professor anymore, Miss Khana.” Snape retorted. “I wondered… why is it that you didn’t pursue the field of Potions further, outside of your time in Hogwarts?” Snape asked Penny. Penny blushed, this is what she was about to tell the group, but now she’d have to explain it to her favorite Professor. “Well, you see… I was originally going to work in the Potions field, but there wasn’t any room in that field to grow- so I worked at Rumours! instead. I became a head journalist, but I still craft some potions on the side.” “Ahh, I see.” Snape murmured. Snape glanced at Zack and frowned. “Is that a picture of me on your shirt, Mr. Roper?” Snape asked Zack. Zack looked down at the shirt from his suitcase he threw on and looked back at his former Professor. “Why yes, it is, Professor. It’s one of my band’s merch and the kids have been loving it. You like it?” “Mr. Roper, I’ve always had a mixed relationship with you. There’s been times where I could see your full potential, and other times where I couldn’t think any lower of you. You’ve always wondered why I’ve been so tough on you… wonder no more. You never cease to astound me.” With that, Snape left the group to join the other Professors at the front of the Great Hall. “Well, that went well.” Tulip joked. Tonks started giggling, and the whole group followed.

           After finishing their food, the group decided they wanted to explore the castle one last time. “Wait, honey- perhaps we should have someone watch after the kids.” Carmilla told Zack, referring to Lilith and Kisa. “Don’t worry, I got this.” Rowan explained. “Excuse me, Professor!” Rowan caught the attention of the Charms Professor and Frog Choir Instructor, Professor Flitwick- who looked as jolly as ever. “Yes, Mr. Khana?” “We were thinking about exploring the castle one last time, and was wondering if you could watch over Kisa and Lilith?” “As one of my fellow colleagues, and former star pupils, I’d love to!” “Thanks, Professor!” “Please, call me Filius.” With that, the group were off. The group chuckled and laughed as they raced across the halls, memories of their former exploits circled back as if it had only happened yesterday. Finally, Zack and Carmilla would give the group a look into a world only they knew: The Astronomy Tower’s observation deck. “This is where it happened.” Zack explained to the group. “This is where my life changed forever. This was right after I hung out with Tonks, Tulip, and Penny after Merula dumped me for Jacob- and I met the love of my life.” “I still replay that moment in my head.” Carmilla added. “along with other memories we shared here.” “Oh really? Like what?” Penny asked curiously. “Well…” Zack began. “This was the spot where I finally asked Carmilla out, because I knew she was the one for me. We danced here and had our first kiss.” “That’s so sweet!” Chiara cooed. “Jeez, well if it’s that romantic of a spot, then I guess this is where y’all had sex for the first time too- ain’t it?” Tonks asked jokingly. However, both Zack and Carmilla immediately blushed and looked away from the group. “We... didn’t…” Carmilla whispered. “We totally did not.” Zack stammered. “They totally did.” Ismelda whispered to Barnaby. “Blimey! That must’ve been really uncomfortable, Zack!” Barnaby exclaimed. “Would you guys just shut up?!” Zack scolded the group as they laughed at him. “Ok guys, I think we picked on them enough.” Tulip said. “We should probably head back to The Great Hall.” Rowan added. With that, the group navigated the spiraling stairs of the Astronomy Tower back to the Castle Grounds. “I can’t wait for our kids to start attending classes together.” Penny exclaimed. Before Zack could answer, a dark cloud shot down from the sky and struck Zack, pinning him against the brick wall of the castle. “Babe!” Carmilla shouted. The dark cloud cleared to reveal a woman clad in a black cloak. She had long messy brown hair with a blonde streak in the front of her hair. Her violet eyes filled with hate as she glared at Zack. “Nice, to see you- Merula. It’s been a while.” “I wish I could say the same about you, Roper.” Merula pulled out her wand and pointed it to Zack’s throat. The group all pulled out their wands and pointed it at Merula. “This doesn’t involve any of you!” Merula snarled at the group. “Just him!” “I see the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Merula. How is it following in your parent’s footstep, and becoming a Death Eater?” “Well, well, well, Mr. Rock Star- I’m flattered you kept tabs on me.”  “kinda hard not to, you’re pretty sloppy compared to your folks.” “Well, none of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t made that choice.” Merula fired back. Zack became pale. Zack knew what she was referring to, but he couldn’t believe that it had that kind of domino effect. “You think I would’ve forgotten, but I didn’t.” Merula hissed. “And I’ll never forgive you. You took the one thing I had going in my life away from me!” “Merula enough!” Zack and Merula turned to see an unusual sight: Ismelda was in front of the group standing up to Merula. Ismelda had a serious look on her face and her fists were clenched. Ismelda’s whole time she was in Hogwarts, she let Merula push her around- but they weren’t in Hogwarts anymore, and Ismelda had enough of Merula. Merula cackled at the sight of her old friend defying her. “Look at you! Ever since you got attatched to Puffskein Brains, you’ve gotten soft.” “No, I just got tired of your bullshit.” “Whatever, not like you weren’t the first friend of mine to stab me in the back. Right, Lee? Karasu?” Merula looked back at Zack. “This isn’t over… next time we meet, you’re dead.” Merula warned Zack. With that, Merula turned into a black cloud and shot back up to the sky. Carmilla ran up to Zack. “Oh my god, honey are you ok?!” “Yea, I’m fine.” Zack told his wife. “I love it when you get all feisty, Izzy!” Barnaby exclaimed, hugging his wife. “I told you not to call me that in front of anyone!” Ismelda scolded Barnaby as she blushed. “Guys, I have to tell you something.” Zack told the group. He knew it wouldn’t be right to keep his friends in the dark, they’d be wondering what Merula was talking about and he wanted to be the one to tell them. “In the last Cursed Vault… R held you guys and Jacob hostage.” Zack explained. “I was forced to make a choice. I had to choose who got to leave the Vault, you guys or my brother.” Zack was getting choked up. This was the first time he had told anyone since he told his wife after Hogwarts. The group looked at him intently. “My brother looked me in the eyes and apologized because he knew. He told me the one regret he had was the fact that he couldn’t be the brother I needed him to be. I killed him by choosing to spare you guys!” Zack burst into tears. The pain of reliving this moment was killing him. Carmilla hung onto Zack and comforted him by resting her head against his chest. “I’m so sorry guys! I should’ve told you! I wanted to act like everything was fine- but it’s not… it’s been Hell! All the songs I’ve written have been about him in some compacity!” Penny walked over to her weeping best friend. “We don’t blame you, Zack. You were presented with an impossible choice, and you chose the best one you could.” The group followed and gave Zack a group hug. “Hang in there, Zack. Merula is just trying to play mind games with you.” Ismelda advised Zack. Zack wiped the tears from his face and smiled at his friends. “I don’t know what I’d do without you guys!” The group returned to The Great Hall and all said their goodbyes. “Let me know when your next book is out, Carmi! I’d love to buy it!” Chiara told her vampire friend. “You’ll be the first to know.” Carmilla smiled back at her werewolf friend. Zack and Carmilla grabbed Lilith and waved goodbye to Rowan, Penny, and Kisa. “So, you excited to start taking classes with your new friend?” Carmilla asked her daughter. “Yea, she’s nice.” Lilith answered softly. “We’re both so proud of you, Lilith.” Zack told his daughter. “At least we don’t have to worry about Merula having a kid- Lilith definitely wouldn’t have gotten along with them.” Carmilla told her husband. “I wouldn’t quiet rule that out yet. I had my own share of enemies at Hogwarts. But if Lilith surrounds herself with great, positive friends- she won’t have to worry too much about that.” Zack mused.  For the first time, Zack and Carmilla were looking straight to the future- not for themselves, but for their daughter. And the future was as bright as the stars they saw when they stargazed together for the fist time.

END

[mama-m1na]

The Kiss of Death: Chapter 2

~~~II~~~

Two months had passed since the prince had begun courting the young Lemurian girl, and in those two months they had grown much closer much to the disappointment of the king.

Ten years prior to this, the King of Ukaidia had waged war against the small archipelago country of Lemuria in hopes of not only gaining more land, but also to destroy all of her people.

He viewed the Lemurians as uncultured monkeys who were only wasting the potential of their land, living in the way they did.

Following this train of thought, the almighty King Armedeyus III of Ukaidia waged a war against these island peoples that lasted two years, with heavy casualties to both sides.

The war ended with a peace treaty that stated both sides would end the war and become mutual trade partners, allowing safe immigration through both countries, but evidently one country followed through on the treaty much better than the other.

In present day Ukaidia, pure blood Lemurians are allowed in the kingdom; however, the hate for them from the Ukaidians still existed, especially from their king.

So when he found out that Prince Umi, his second son and own blood, was courting the wretched Lemurian woman who had wormed her way into living in the capital, to say he was angry would be a massive understatement.

“My Father, My King,” Umi addressed as he knelt before the throne upon which his father sat, “I have said this before and I will say this again, I will continue to love Rhamina as long as she allows me to and nothing will sway my decision.”

 “Umi, listen to the nonsense you speak, my son,” the older king bellowed from his spot, “She is not worthy of your attention! You are a proud prince of Ukaidia! You should be marrying a princess, or a noblewoman at least! Not some monkey from the jungles of that hell on earth.”

“Father, that war was and has been over for years now,” the prince spoke as he rose to stand with hazel eyes narrowed at his father, “Your people have moved on, I have moved on, my siblings have moved on, I believe it’s time that you do the same.”

With that statement, the teen turned around and walked out of the throne room, passing his mother, Queen Meiko, who was just on her way in.

Upon seeing the expression her son wore added to his aggravated state, the brown-haired woman immediately knew what had just been spoken between the father and son.

“Darling, let’s just calm down a little now,” the queen spoke in a soothing tone as she rest one of her hands on the king’s shoulder.

In response, the king slammed his gauntlet covered hand down on the armrest of his throne, the sound reverberating throughout the almost empty throne room.

“Calm down?! How can I calm down, Meiko, when our own son believes that he’s in love with that wench?!” the male exclaimed, face turning red from anger and frustration as his grey hairs stood up on edge, “Can’t you see that our beloved umi has been bewitched by that damned Lemurian succubus?!”

“Dear, he has not been bewitched by anyone,” Meiko spoke with a small frown as she looked to the old man, “Why can’t you just leave our son to love as he wishes?”

“Plus, you’ve known the girl for,” the queen continued, trying to reason with her husband, “Surely you know she is no threat to our son or this kingdom.”

“Though it is true that I let you bring back a pet to humor you all those years ago, I now see that was a mistake,” the king growled causing his wife to gasp in surprise before her gaze hardened into a glare.

“I don’t know what happened to you all those years ago, Armadeyeus, but this is not the man I fell in love with,” hissed Meiko before she stormed out of the room, much like her son had minutes prior.

 Stopping in front of her son’s room, the queen lightly knocked on the door before hearing a faint, “Come in,” from her second son and child.

She opened the door to see the silver-haired male holding a blue velvet box in his hands as he sat on his bed, deep in thought.

“Are you finally going to give that to her?” Meiko asked as she sat down on the bed next to him.

“Yes, but I can only hope she isn’t too upset with me for keeping it from her for this long,” the male sighed as he turned the box over in his right hand, the left running through the hair that he had just taken out of it’s usual ponytail.

“Umi, I have no doubt in my mind that this will change almost nothing between you two. It might even make you two come closer than you already are. The both of you are in love with each other and that’s obvious,” Meiko spoke as she placed her hands over the ones still fiddling with the small box, “Plus, this needs to come from you, my son, she trusts you the most.”

“That’s not true,” the prince retorted as he let out a huff, “she trusts her sisters more than she trusts anyone else.”

“That’s to be expected, Dear, but you carry something that they do not have and you are the only one who can give this to her,” Meio explained with an encouraging smile.

“Alright,” Umi resolved as his gaze never left the small blue box he held, “I’ll give it to her.”

The next day was the fifth of March, otherwise known to the majority of the castle inhabitants as a certain ravenette’s birthday, and a special one at that. It was the day she became an official adult in society.

Rhamina walked up to the castle ready for a normal day full of practice as she did every few days.

As soon as she walked into the large music room, she was met by the wide eyes of those in the Royal Ukaidian Band who did not have their instruments out nor did they have their music or stands, or anything really.

They all just looked up at her with frantic looks as if they had been caught doing some heinous crime punishable by law.

“Mina, what the fuck are you doing here?” a taller male with short, black hair asked as others began looking at each other nervously.

“What do you mean?” the ravenette blinked in pure confusion as the band director walked out of her office, “It’s Thursday, right?” Don’t we have practice today?”

“Mina what’s the date today?” a female named Sierra asked as she waved people down behind her back.

“I don’t know,” Rhamina replied after a moment of thinking, not noticing the multiple teenagers going to hide in the various practice rooms, “But why does that matter?”

“It’s March fifth you dumbass!” Sam exclaimed as she peaked her head out of the locker that held her string bass.

“Oh, it’s my birthday today,” she spoke in realization as her eyes widened, “Oh my god, I turn eighteen today!”

“Aren’t you supposed to be with your boyfriend right now?” Tijarah asked, everyone mentally thanking the teen.

“Oh, shoot, I amn! Bye guys!” rhamina exclaimed as she frantically dashed out of the door.

As soon as the door had slammed behind her, everyone let out an audible sigh of relief as the dark skinned female huffed.

“You’re welcome,” Tijarah spoke before munching on some cookies she definitely was not supposed to be eating into the band room.

Meanwhile, Rhamina ran all the way to where she was supposed to meet up with Umi; which, was by the lake some way behind the castle.

It was sectioned off as a place where only royals and nobility could go, so it was relatively empty, but that only added to its natural beauty as it meant that there were less people to disturb it.

“Umi!” she called upon seeing the familiar form of her prince standing by the edge of the water before slowing to a walk.

“I’m sorry,” she panted, brushing her hair out of her face while trying to slow her breathing, “I completely forgot what day it was!”

“Rhamina, sometimes I worry about you,” the male spoke as he took the ravenette’s hands in his own and rubbed them with his thumbs, “The same thing happened last year. You really should take a break.”

“Nah,” I’m fine as long as I have you and all of my friends, then I’ll live forever!” the ravenette chirped as she engulfed the male in a large hug, almost knocking the taller male off of his feet.

The male only chuckled in response as he wrapped his arms around the female’s smaller form and whispered, “Happy birthday, Rhamina.”

They stayed like that for a few moments, just relishing in each other’s presence as a cool breeze blew ripples across the lake’s surface.

“Did you bring them?” the ravenette asked as she pulled away from the hug.

“Yes, but I don’t know why you would ask for ice skates when there’s no ice,” Umi replied as he gestured to a brown bag lying a few feet away from the pair.

“Oh there will be,” Rhamina chirped excitedly as she knelt at the edge of the water, “Just you wait and see, my dear Umi.”

Placing her hands palm down on the surface of the water, Rhamina took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and let her energy channel in her hands, the familiar feeling of magic running through her entire form.

As the ravenette’s eyes were closed, Umi watched as her hair began floating as if she were submerged underwater and as a light purple aura enveloped her form.

Soon enough, the water underneath her hands turned into ice before it spread across the entire lake.

Opening her eyes, Rhamina allowed the flow of magic to slow back to its normal rate as the aura surrounding her disappeared and her hair gave back in to the force of gravity.

Umi stood speechless as the ravenette just smiled up at him.

The prince had seen her perform feats with magic before, but that was a while ago and it had never been to the extent of what the female had just demonstrated.

“Are you just going to stand there, Umi?” he heard Rhamina ask as she pulled out the pair of skates that fit her and put them on before lacing them securely, “I told you there would be ice, didn’t I?”

“That you did,” the male replied with a proud smirk before following the ravenette’s lead and exchanging his boots for a pair of ice skates in his size.

Rhamina was the first to set foot on the ice and as soon as she was stable, the ravenette took off, zipping around the lake and having fun before stopping in front of Umi who was still getting used to the ice after having not done this in a long time.

The pair spent a majority of the morning just skating on the frozen surface of the lake before they took a break for lunch; which, Umi so graciously brought with him.

“It’s nice to actually have a partner to share this day with,” Rhamina spoke as she sat next to the prince, resting her head on his shoulder, “Don’t get me wrong, I love hanging out with everyone else, but this feels different… a bit more special, you know?”

“I do,” Umi replied with a smile as he looked down at the girls he held to side side, “You have no idea how long I’ve wished to hold you like this.”

“Can you give me an idea?” the female hummed as she closed her eyes, relaxing into the warmth from her partner with the simultaneous chill of the breeze.

“I believe I realized my feelings for you around the time when you were almost taken by slave traders,” the prince replied, thinking back to a time when the pair were much younger and so much different from who they were in the present.

“Are you serious?” Rhamina realized with wide eyes as she looked up to the younger male, “Umi, that was barely a year  after I came to Lemuria.”

“Yes, I am perfectly serious,” the male stated as he brought a hand up to cup her cheek, looking her right in the eyes, “When you were missing, I was thrown into a complete state of panic and I couldn't stop thinking of all the worst things that could have happened to you. So, when we found you, the amount of relief I felt, paired with the way my heart sped up upon seeing your smile again, led me to the answer.”

“I’m sorry, Umi,” the ravenette apologized as she wrapped her arms around both of his shoulders, nuzzling her face into the male’s neck, “you’ve been holding those feelings for so long and I just never noticed.”

“Yes and as soon as I realized and came to accept these feelings I held for you, I just kept finding more reasons to fall in love with you,” the prince continued, earning a whine from the female.

“Stop” she whined with a pout as she hid her face in her hands, “you’re just making me feel super guilty!”

“I’m sorry,” the male chuckled into the top of the ravenette’s head before reaching into his nearby bag to pull out a blue, velvet box.

“Rhamina, before I give this to you, I just want to apologize for keeping it from you for so long. I just didn’t know how you’d react,” Umi said, bringing the box into the ravenette’s view, “But I know this needs to fall in your hands, otherwise it would never be returned home.”

The girl raised a brow at the male’s strange behavior before opening the box given to her, finding an embossed, gold ring sitting in the plush, black cushion in the box.

Rhamina sat in wide eyed silence for a few moments before her eyes started watering and her lips began to quiver.

She quickly hugged the item to her chest as tears began to fall freely from her eyes and as whimpers left her mouth.

“Rhamina?” I’m sorry I just-” “No, don’t be,” the ravenette spoke through her tears, “please. I’m just so happy. All this time I thought they destroyed this and that it was my all my fault.

The silver-haired prince was confused before the ravenette brought the ring forward and once again began channeling her magic, this time through the ring.

Almost immediately, the piece began to levitate, just above her open palms, and opened revealing multiple layers of smaller rings within the initial band, all inscribed with astronomical symbols the prince did not understand the meanings of.

While all this was happening, a figure hidden in the shadows gasped as the ringed orb opened itself up.

Soon enough the confusion on the figure’s face morphed into a sadistic smirk as they channeled their own magic in a black aura.

Now sitting in their hand was a coin-sized red spider with large black eyes and even larger black fangs.

Setting the spider on the ground the figure turned around and fled in the opposite direction of the teenagers, not making a sound.

“This relic has no name, but it it my people’s most important treasure,” Rhamina explained as she smiled fondly at the glowing piece, “It’s said to have the power to awaken gods of great power.”

“One family was given the responsibility of protecting the relic,” the continued as she let the glow dissipate, letting it return to its original form before slipping it onto her right ring finger, “but after my parents died in the war to protect our country, I just couldn’t protect it properly on my own.”

“So you were the one who was guarding the stone temple on the last day of the war?” Umi asked with wide eyes as he could only stare at Rhamina in shock.

“Yes, my guardian or true name is ‘Kitsami Verum Princeps Ibadora,’ but it’s been so long since I’ve been able to safely even say it out loud. I barely used it back in the temple too, since it was normally only used for rituals or really formal gatherings,” she spoke with a sad smile as she reminisced about her younger childhood, the golden eyes once again flashing through her head.

“Thank you Umi,” the ravenette said softly, “I can at least get some closure about one of my failures now.”

“I know you must have resented me when I first came off the boat, but I’m so glad things ended up this way,” Rhamina continued as she latched herself to Umi’s waist, voice cracking as more tears streamed down her face, “Even back in Lemuria so many looked down on and criticized me for the way I acted, the way I lived, and who I spent my time with. Even my parents looked down on me and kept pushing me away whenever I was vulnerable in front of them! But, you were one of the first people who even bothered to try to understand me.”

The prince let Rhamina get her tears out as he ran his, for once, non-gloved fingers through her long, black locks before saying, “It’s unfortunate for me to say this, but you were right about me resenting you in the beginning.”

“Ever since I was born, I was raised with the idea that Lemurians were all savages, monsters who ravaged the lands and slayed anyone who came near them,” Umi spoke with a frown on his face, “but when you arrived as a shy, quiet, little girl with massive amounts of physical and magical power, it frustrated me. That paired with the fact my mother constantly doted on you… I guess I was just jealous.”

“I’m sorry.”

 “Let me finish speaking please.”

“...”

“Thank you,” the prince sighed running a hand through the bangs that fell over his forehead.

“I kept this hate for you until your birthday that year,” he continued, briefly clenching his free hand as owlish eyes watched his form before he relaxed, “I was taking a walk behind the caste when I heard someone getting beat,. I peaked around a tree to see that it was a group of castle servants kicking and berating a child who was curled up on the ground. Once I realized that it was you, I started to walk away until I heard the most broken voice apologize to them. It wasn’t mocking or cocky in any way, the child was genuinely apologizing just for existing, just for being born into this world.”

“I remember that day!” You pulled out Mjolnir and sent an arrow past us. I remember crying out of both fear and gratitude,” the ravenette chuckled, “But regarding your statements about Lemurians, they aren’t necessarily false, you know? I’ve killed a lot of people during the war.”

“Don’t forget that I too have spilled blood on the battlefield, my love,” Umi spoke as he tilted the female’s head up to look her in the eyes once again, “and you did it to protect yourself and your people, that’s how war or battle in general goes.”

“Neither of us have our hands clean but at least we have each other,” the prince whispered, leaning closer to lay a gentle kiss on the female’s lips that she was quick to return.

After their lunch, Rhamina unfroze the lake and they dropped off their picnic supplies to the castle before walking to the ravenette’s small home.

“Shit, I’m running low,” Rhamina huffed upon pulling out an almost empty bottle of her lip gloss, “I’ll have to make some more soon.”

“You make it?” Umi asked as he sat on the female’s bed as she removed her coat and boots, placing them in their appropriate spots in her closet.

“Yes, but to be honest I have to be really careful when I wear it and when I make it, I have to make sure to make only exact portions for a single tube,” sighed Rhamina as she sat down at the desk across the bed, pulled out her journal and a fountain pen, which had been gifted to her by the silver-haired prince, before letting it glide across the pages once again, “Things could go to literal shit if I’m not actively thinking.”

“Care to elaborate?” the male teen asked as he laid back into Rhamina’s plush mattress.

“Well, have you heard of the ‘Kiss of Death’?” the ravenette asked, not looking back lest she lose her flow of writing, “I’m almost 100 percent sure you have.”

“You mean that tradition that killed hundreds of your own people?” Umi asked in concern, “Are you meaning to tell me you repeatedly make and use a concoction of deadly poisons to wear on your lips?”

“Yes,” she replied automatically, “Pure blooded Lemurian woman are completely immune to the poisons and toxins we create these days and plus only really traditional families still use it, including my own.”

“Don’t worry though,” chirped the ravenette as she turned over her shoulder, “I make sure to take it off completely when we kiss.”

The male’s face immediately turned a bright red in response to the girl’s blunt statement, causing her to burst out laughing at the sight of her flustered, non-functioning, partner.

“What?” she asked through her fit as Umi glared at her, “What’s wrong, Dear? I’m only telling the truth.”

“You are impossible to understand,” Umi glared as he covered his mouth and nose with one of his hands, “One minute you’re acting like a delicate young woman and the next you’re a complete cocky brat.”

“Well doesn’t that say something about you when you’re so attracted to me?” Rhamina teased with a large smirk on her face and mischief in her eyes before that facade shattered completely.

“I’m sorry!” she cried, flinning herself into the male’s form, “I was just teasing! I couldn’t help myself, you looked so adorable all red and flustered!”

“Please don’t be upset with me,” she pleaded silently, looking into Umi’s eyes with her own large, innocent orbs.

“You’re lucky it’s your birthday,” the male scoffed, petting the girl’s head as they just laid there with their legs tangled together and relishing in each other’s presence.

A few hours passed before the pair decided to return to the castle so the ravenette could spend some time with her other friends.

Upon entering the band room, it was empty and completely dark; which was strange since drumline was supposed to have a scheduled practice that afternoon.

Or even if the practice was cancelled, there were always some lingering members of any of the instrumental music groups just hanging out in the room until nightfall.

Rhamina raised a brow and snapped, the magical tools in the ceiling turning on so light could flood the spacious room.

“Surprise!” a chorus of voices cheered as the ravenette looked around to see balloons and streamers covering almost every part of the familiar space.

Written on the moveable whiteboard on wheels was ‘Happy Birthday Mina!’ along with a chibi drawing of the ravenette right under it.

“Is this why y’all looked freaked out when I showed up this morning?” she chuckled as many of the younger teenagers ran up to engulf her in a giant hug.

“Yes,” laughed a girl with blonde hair and glasses, “We all saw you open the door and were like ‘Oh shit!’”

“Yeah, Mina, when you came in I was carrying something in from the backyard when you walked in and I couldn’t come back in until you left!” a half-Lemurian male exclaimed as he stood next to his partner, “It was fucking cold outside!”

Most of the large group of the ravenette’s friends burst out into laughter as another half-Lemurian male exclaimed, “Shut up, Joel!”

“I’m sorry, Joel,” chuckled the ravenette as the shorter male attempted to walk over to fight his much, much taller friend before she walked to the center of the group and said, “Guys, thank you all so much, you really didn’t have to do this.”

“Yes the fuck we did!” exclaimed Kerstin from her spot next to her own partner, “You’re the only one in this band that we haven’t been able to throw a surprise party for until today and that was still difficult even with Umi’s help!”

“Yeah, Mina, we’ve been trying to plan this out for years,” Sam chuckled as she held a cup of… suspicious… liquid, “But you’re literally everywhere!”

“Do you know how hard it is to plan and organize a surprise party for someone who sees and hears everything?” Tijarah asked as she wrapped an arm around the ravenette’s shoulder, “Love you, Mina.”

“Love you too, Tijarah,” the female chuckled as the party kicked itself off with a literal bang as someone thought it would be a good idea to give all of the trumpets and drummers all of the confetti poppers.

About an hour into the celebration, the people from the jazz ensemble got their instruments and music out and set up towards the front of the room.

As soon as her friends began playing, Rhamina turned her head towards the group, earning a wink from the lead saxophone, Sierra.

“When marimba rhythms start to play, dance with me, make me sway,” the ravnette sung as she sauntered her way up to the musicians, “Like a lazy ocean hugs the shore, hold me close, make me sway.”

“Like a flower bending in the breeze, bend with me, sway with ease,” she continued, sitting up on the front counter before dramatically crossing her legs, “When we dance you have a way with me, stay with me, sway with me.”

“Other dancers may be on the floor, Dear, but my eyes will see only you,” Rhamina sung, grabbing people to dance with before pairing them with each other, “Only you have that magic technique, when we sway I go weak.”

“I can hear the sound of violins, long before, it begins,” she sang finally pulling Umi towards her, “Make me thrill as only you know how, sway me smooth, sway me now.”

“When marimba rhythm starts to play, dance with me, make me sway. Like an ocean hugs the shore, hold me close, make me sway.”

 It was as if time had slowed down for the two teenagers.

“Like a flower bending in the breeze, bend with me, sway with ease. When we dance you have a way with me, stay with me, sway with me.”

As the two danced together, both of their magic started to flow freely.

“When marimba rhythms start to play, hold me close, make me sway. Like an ocean hugs the shore, hold me close, sway me more.”

When bother aura’s met, they fused together, creating a larger, white aura that was felt by everyone in the castle.

“Like a flower bending in the breeze, bend with me, sway with ease. When we dance you have a way with me, stay with me, sway with me!”

When the song was over, Rhamina and Umi just stood there looking into each other’s eyes as they tried to catch their breaths.

“Kiss already you fools!” Tijarah screamed as she casually stole someone’s food right off of their plate.

Quickly the ravenette wiped off her lips before reaching up to give Umi a quick peck on the cheek only for the male to turn and give her a full kiss on the lips.

Cheers erupted from the crowd and one specific trumpet player exclaimed, “Yeah! Go Ramen!”

Meanwhile, a certain female stood in the shadow of the whiteboard, glaring down the seventeen-year-old male, causing a shiver to run down his spine.

“It seems that my little brother has gotten much bolder since I left,” chuckled a familiar deep voice.

“Older brother!” the prince called as a taller male with short brown hair and silver armor walked up to the couple, “When did you return?”

“This morning,” the first prince of Ukaidia replied before turning to the ravenette, “Happy birthday, Lady Rhamina, it seems you and my brother have finally gotten together, huh?”

“Thank you, Prince Ryoto,” Rhamina chuckled, bowing her head slightly, “and yes. Although it did come as a bit of a surprise when Umi started courting me.”

“Did it?” Ryoto asked, running a hand through his hair, “well, then I guess I owe Haru a new halberd.”

“Yeah, you do!” chirped the said princess as she appeared into the conversation from seemingly nowhere, “Make sure it’s made of light silver!”

“Yes, yes of course,” the older prince sighed as he shook his head.

“Wait just a second,” Umi spoke with narrowed eyes towards his siblings, “Are you meaning to say that you’ve made a wager on this?”

“Yep,” Haru replied, “Ryo-chan bet that Rhamina would confess her feelings to you first and I bet that you would be the one confessing first.”

Umi’s eyebrow twitched in irritation as Rhamina stood next to him, only blinking while feeling slightly offended.

“Relax, Umi, we’re not the only ones who made a bet like this, watch,” Haru said before turning to the crowd, “Anyone who made some kind of bet about Umi and Rhamina’s relationship, raise your hands!”

Simultaneously, everyone’s hand in the room went up causing a fake smile to creep onto the ravenette’s face face as she clasped both of her hands together, eyebrow twitching.

“See?” Haru asked with a shrug, “Told you we weren’t the only ones.”

“Alright, since it’s my birthday, I’ll be merciful and give y’all two days to apologize to either me or Umi,” Rhamina announced through gritted teeth, “if you don’t apologize by then… Well good luck.”

The celebration continued on for a few more hours and towards the end, they all gathered around a large cake with eighteen candles lit around the edge.

“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Rhamina. Happy birthday to you.”

‘I wish that this happiness of mine will last forever,’ the ravenette thought to herself before she took a deep breath and blew out all eighteen candles in one go.

As cheers once again erupted around the female, she was embraced by everyone and a light feeling fluttered in her chest.

After helping clean to an extent, Umi accompanied Rhamina to the gate in order to walk her home; however, just before they could leave, a familiar voice stopped them.

“Rhamina!” called a woman’s voice, causing both teens to stop in their tracks and turn around to face the owner of the voice.

“Mom,” the ravenette whispered as the form of Queen Meiko approached the two teens with the light of the full moon shining down on them.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to you party, Rhamina,” the brunette apologized, “But I wanted to let you know how proud of you I am.”

“You’ve grown into such a wonderful woman and I’m so glad I was able to see it,” she continued placing a gentle hand on the ravenette’s cheek, “I only wish that your real family were here to see it.”

“Thank you, mother,” Rhamina smiled, tears forming in her eyes once more.

“Now,” Meiko said to both of the teenagers, “Both of you make sure to take care of each other, alright?”

“Yes, mother,” the bother of them replied at the same time, reaching out to hold hands.

When the ravenette got home, she couldn’t stop smiling as she got ready to go to bed and as she fell asleep, her thoughts went back to her wish.

‘I wish that this happiness of mine will last forever.”

The next morning, the sunlight hit the ravenette’s eyes through a gap in her curtains, but that wasn’t what woke her up.

It was the loud pounding that came from her front door.

Upon opening it, she was greeted with several knights, all aiming their halberds at her with glares in their eyes.

“Rhamina Miu, Withc of lemuria, you are hereby under arrest for the murder of our Queen meiko!”

~~~Fin, Chapter 2~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Song Used: “Sway” Micheal Buble

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[thinkingaboutblog]

Meiji Tokyo Renka:  Ep. 1 The Unexpected Strawberry Moon

Anti-climatic kidnapping, unflattering pet names and the most unbelievable high school kids I’ve ever seen. 

Series: Meiji Tokyo Renka Platform: Crunchyroll

So here we are, the start of the project, the start of the series. And I realized while I was browsing Crunchyroll that this series is currently ongoing. So I’ll probably add another series to my watch list once I’ve caught up to this one... 

Anyways, what were my thoughts on this first episode? Well, it’s not the worst episode I’ve seen... but it’s not the best. It’s at best laughably rough.  So what happened? 

After a bumbin’ OP (though not even the most stylish or best ones I’ve heard/seen in this genre alone) we are shown a man in silhouette with a young woman running past him.

Nyoom! 

Our guy in the cape appears to say goodbye, though his lips never move so it’s possible we’re being duped. The next shot is of the same girl in the embrace of another man, for some reason we’re allowed to see him clearly. 

He pats her head and says goodbye as well. The music swells and we get a glimpse of our protagonist... making the dopiest sad face. 

Hold on both my contacts slipped out and I’m not sure who I’m talking to, are you the one with the dead mom ponytail or the one with only one sideburn? 

It’s at this point I realized all the dudes introduced in the OP that weren’t these two guys stood no chance. Which sucks because best boy is neither of these guys. 

Then we wake from the dream and are introduced to our protagonist  Mei Ayazuki, whose entire personality seems to be: sad and alone. But at least she has a personality. The entire scene of her walking home was giving me Magical Girl Site flashbacks and I already wanted off this ride. 

We’re treated to a flashback to some birthday she had as a child. It’s introduced here that Mei loves roast beef, trust me that’s important. It’s also established that Mei has been able to see ghosts for a while. All of her friends think this is weird and shun her despite the fact they are all still of an age to have imaginary friends. 

Why are you weirded out? You’re six, you all still have imaginary friends!

Apparently no one ever in the last ten or so years has found the fact she can talk to spirits cool or interesting and she’s been made into a social pariah... which just strikes me as odd because you’re telling me no one at all would think that was cool? Except for one girl: 

Rest in peace random Background girl, you were the best character in the whole episode.  Anyways Mei continues to be sad and alone for who knows how long, drowning out the sounds of a ghost calling her name over and over again but not saying anything else useful at all. This again will be important later.

Mei wanders into a random street festival in a park for some reason, as far as I can tell Mei is not going anywhere at all. And we’re introduced to this mother fucker: 

This man scalped the gravedigger from Black Butler and is wearing his hair like a wig! 

Monocle man over here basically harasses Mei into getting into his magic box to perform a kidnapping live in front of an enraptured audience. Seriously, as far as we know, Mei never reappears in front of these people this guy is doing a magic show for. I suppose you could assume that she was a plant but that’s a bold assumption to make considering the magician is saying some vaguely ominous things and coerces a girl who clearly is uncomfortable with this into his magic teleportation box.  It’s one episode in and I already hate this guy.  So Mei gets into his box, blacks out and wakes up (after being touched by the ghost hand of mr. kidnapper) in the park, but the festival is all gone and the modern street lamps are replaced with oil lamps, with like real burning fire in them. Totally normal and not at all something she should have noticed. Also her phone simply ceases to function at all, like glitches out and shuts down. If that wasn’t obvious enough Mei then nearly gets killed by a horse-drawn carriage. Out comes red hair from the opening scene and he immediately begins putting his hands all over Mei, like touches her face, her shoulder, her knee... that last one causing her to freak out. He’s confused by her headphones and Mei is still to dumb to understand what happened. 

Then dead mom ponytail guy comes out too. 

We are nine minutes into the episode and this guy is already done with everything. Mei’s heart goes doki doki at the sight of him but this anime can't-fool me, I already know she chooses the guy with Loki from Kamigami’s hair. You showed it to me in the opening scene anime! This shot happens and I lose my fucking shit: 

Thirdwheeling much?

Then Mei just gets into the carriage with these two total strangers, and they also kidnap her. This girl is 2/2 for just getting into random people’s forms of transportation. Also green hair refers to red hair’d guy as Ougai-san. 

So as it turns out Mei hasn’t just been transported to a historical time period (something surprisingly common in this genre) but also has the other genre staple of being amnesiac. The guys decide the best way to help her is to introduce themselves: 

So Red hair guy says he’s Mori Rintaro but we already heard him get called Ousai-san by the other dude so I’m onto him! He says he’s an Army Sugreon. A likely story. 

The other guy is Hishida Syunso and he would be the best character in this anime if we weren’t introduced to a few more characters later on. Also if I had any knowledge of Japanese history these names would probably start clicking. 

Anyways as it turns out the ghost that’s been doing nothing but calling Mei’s name tells her name and she tells the guys. How convenient! 

So the guys take Mei to a ball held in the honor of the Russian prince, which definitely sounds like a good idea, considering what she’s wearing. Her knees are even showing! We’re given a shot of the Russian prince who is definetly in on this harem of dudes but doesn’t get properly introduced this episode. 

Then some of the worst Dialogue I’ve had the misfortune of hearing is spoken aloud. Mori calls Mei, little Squirrel. And here’s where I die again. It’s the most unflattering pet name I think I’ve ever heard. Mei has done nothing to earn it. Flower or princess or kitten all would have worked to endear me to this princely type character, that’s my usual preferred archetype in this genre after all, but little squirrel? 

Anyways a waiter walks past with a plate of roast beef and Mei being weirdly obsessed causes hijinks to ensue, which is how our cast of secondary dudes get’s introduced. Mei knocks the plate out of the waiter’s hand, which is then caught by Kyouka Izumi:

I promise you the bunny is important, no I am not kidding. 

Who then immediately tosses it away because it turns out he’s a massive germaphobe and also an asshole.  The plate is then caught by Otojirou Kawakami, who I literally do not remember a single thing about aside from the fact he’s a stage actor: 

Mei mentions the rabbit on Izumi’s shoulders and we learn that not everyone can see it, which somehow means she gets roped into discussing ghosts which brings the best boy out of the woodwork.

You can’t tell in this image but this man has heterochromia and it is glorious.

Yakumo Koizumi, as it turns out, has a special fascination with ghosts and he gets so very very excited when people bring it up. He’s also an author and secretly princely. He is a dork and I love him. 

Mei spots Gravedigger hair in the crowd and runs after him. Then he exposits the plot of the show to her. God I hate him. 

Then he magics the lights out and a fox ghost shows up, Mei chases it through the ball as it wreaks terror and bunny boy Izumi also goes after it and we’re introduced to the most ridiculous boy yet. 

This man is pointing his corporeal real world sword at a small adorable fox ghost and I wish I were kidding.  This man is Gorou Fujita and he threatens the fox. Mei jumps in front of his sword, the lights turn back on, everyone is confused and Gorou then points his sword at Mei because he’s just that guy.  Then Mori grabs hold of Mei, lifts her to her feet and Gourou calls him Mori Ougai... so I guess that mystery is solved. Then he tells Gorou not to threaten his fiancee, Mei. And I am screaming at my monitor about how he’s known her for literally 2 hours. 

So that’s a good sign. She says sarcastically, already regretting the life choices that brought her to watching a pretty anime boy claim a young high school girl against her will. 

And it pretty much ends there. Mori has just claimed Mei as his own in front of a ballroom full of people and Mei has been left flabbergasted by his declaration and I silently plead that this anime doesn’t have one of the characters lock her in a cage “for her protection” because I can already see it heading that direction. 

[studpuffin]

The Richie Diaries: Ch 1 

read on AO3

Richie Tozier was a grade A nerd. Thick-lensed, coke bottle glasses covered most of his face, his curly hair stuck out in a million different directions no matter how much he attempted to tame it, and the cherry on top was his braces.

One of those things alone would have made me a target for bullies, but somehow I won the loser lottery and ended up with all of them.

He rolled these unfortunate thoughts around in his head as he rode his bike down the busy streets of New York City towards St. Ann’s. Rounding the corner, he fell into pedaling next to his best friend Beverly Marsh.

“Hey Red,” he grinned, at her neon blue eye-shadow, “You know Principle Marcus is never gonna let you get away with wearing that color.”

Bev grinned, “Fuck the man Richie,” she adjusted her backpack strap as the pulled up to the bike rack, “Fuck these stupid skirts too,” she grumbled, pulling on the hem. They headed up the stairs, toward the looming wooden doors. Richie grinned seeing a small boy leaning against the marble column.

“Eddie!” he called out, waving excitedly. Eddie looked up and grinned, waving back. All three teenagers fell into step together as they wandered the massive halls of St. Ann’s. Suddenly Richie slammed into a looker and looked up in shock as Audra Phillips pushed past him.

She stopped, flipping her long blonde ponytail over her shoulder, “Guess they forgot to take out the trash over the summer,” she sneered, sauntering away to catch up with her boyfriend, Bill Denbrough. Richie slumped on the floor next to his locker and rested his forehead on his knees.

So much for suddenly getting cool for senior year. And so much for Bill breaking up with Audra and realizing he likes boys.

Eddie sat down next to Richie, “I hate them both.”

Bev nodded, “Major airhead assholes,” she sat down on his other side and put her arm around his shoulders.

Richie shrugged, “Bill isn’t so bad…”

“Bullshit Bill’s not so bad,” Eddie rolled his eyes, “And your crush on him is only making you feel like crap.”

“Whatever,” Richie mumbled, “You guys both liked him too.”

“Yeah in the third grade!” Bev shoved him playfully, “And Eddie liked him when we were like in kindergarten. That doesn’t count.”

Richie opened his mouth to counter, but the bell rang effectively silencing him.

“Come on,” Bev held out her hand to him, “Let’s get to class. We’ll hang out later ok? You gotta help me work on my proposition for the GSA meeting next week,” She threw her arm around him, “Were meeting at your place tonight.”  

Richie dragged himself home at the end of the day, wheeling his bike into the garage of their apartment building. He quickly climbed the fire escape ladder and pushed open his window, dropping his backpack onto his bed and collapsing face first into his pillow. Mochi, his ridiculously chubby munchkin cat, crawled up on to his bed and curled up next to him.

“He Mo…” he sighed, “You are so lucky you don’t have to be in high school,” Richie pulled the cat closer to him and sighed, burying his face in the fluffy fur, dozing off into a fitful sleep.

A few hours later there was a knock on his door that pulled him from his nap. He looked up, adjusting his glasses, “Come in.”

Wentworth Tozier pushed his son’s door open and came in, sitting on the edge of his bed, “Hey kiddo.”

“Hey…” he pushed himself to sit up.

“Rough day kid?” Wentworth asked, ruffling Richie’s curls.

Richie shrugged, “No worse than any other day I guess.” He stretched, “Is it ok if Eds and Bev come over tonight?”

Went nodded, “Sure kid. Want pizza? I’ll get pepperoni.”

Richie grinned, “Yeah thanks,” he shrugged off his uniform jacket, tossing it on to the ever-growing pile of laundry on his floor, “I’ll be down in a minute ok?”

Went nodded, rising from the bed, “Your grandmother called.”

Richie stopped in the middle of pulling off his beat-up high tops, tripping and falling on his face, “I’m sorry what? She’s been dead for like three years!”

“No…no kid the alive one,” he gave Richie a tight smile, “She um…she wants to have tea with you on Saturday. She has something important to talk to you about. About your mother.”

Richie snorted, “Why? She’s never talked to me once in 17 years and now she suddenly wants to have fucking tea with me? And what does she wanna tell me about mom? What’s mom got to do with fucking anything anymore? I haven’t seen her since I was fucking three years old!”

“Language Richard.”

“Sorry,” he mumbled, “I just..agh!” he hurled his shoe into his closet, “What does she even want?!”

Went ruffled his hair gently, “Go have tea with her. See for yourself kiddo.”

“Wait so she just showed up out of nowhere after 17 years and now she’s inviting you to high tea at the Plaza Hotel?” Bev asked, shoving a handful of M&Ms into her mouth and pulling Mochi into her lap.

“Yeah basically,” Richie didn’t look up from painting his black nail polish on his nails, “Dad said she has something important to talk to me about. Something about Maggie,” he poked his tongue out in concentration as he attempted to paint his right hand, “Oh fuck me,” he groaned, “Eds can you do my right hand?” he looked up at Eddie who was laying with his feet up on the wall flipping through Richie’s record collection, “You always do a better job of it than I do.”

Eddie leaned his head back to look upside down at Richie, a soft smile on his face, “Sure. Just let me change the record.”

Eddie stood, moving to the record player to change the song, the light from Richie’s fairy lights making the natural highlights of his hair glow. He swayed to the music pouring out of Richie’s record player, “I don’t know why you don’t just switch to MP3s like a normal person,” he teased.

Richie didn’t hear him. He was zoning out, watching Eddie sway to the soft sounds of Fleetwood Mac. He was suddenly insanely distracted by Eddie dancing, the way his skin seemed to glow under the lights, how his eyes sparkled when he looked at Richie. Richie felt heat rush to his cheeks as his stomach tightened as Eddie looked at him again, the same soft smile on his face.

When the fuck did Eds get hot? Jesus has his hair always looked so soft? And shiny holy crap. Since when does Eddie have such pretty shiny hair? His eyes are so bright too. What the actual fuck? Who let Eddie get so hot all of a sudden?

WOah pull it together Richie. Where the fuck did that come from?

Richie shook his head slightly and noticed Eddie was staring at him with a curious look on his face.

“Hello? Earth to Richie. Do you have the new Lana album?”

Richie nodded, “It’s next to the camera,” he nodded in its general direction. Eddie nodded and set it on the turntable, fixing Richie with the same bemused look on his face. Richie blushed, not breaking eye contact with his petite friend.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” Richie teased.

Eddie smiled and shook his head, “Nothing. Just give me your hand,” he sat down in front of Richie and pulled his hand into his lap.

Richie raised an eyebrow curiously as Eddie started painting his nails, reaching for a slice of pizza with his dry hand, “You’re weird Eddie Spaghetti.”

Eddie looked up and grinned, “Not as weird as you Trashmouth,” he poked his tongue out, redipping his nail brush. Richie smiled to himself, looking at his two best friends

Yeah, he thought to himself, Life doesn’t get any better than this.

Richie stood in front of the hotel, looking up at the impressive doors. He took a deep breath and pushed the door open talking up the front desk.

The young woman behind the desk didn’t look up from her computer, “Staff entrance is around the corner.”

Richie blushed, “Oh uh…No I’m supposed to meet my grandmother. She’s staying here.”

“Name?”

“Claira Bernardi?” It came out like a question like he wasn’t quite sure who she was.

The girl’s eyes widened, “Oh yes of course! Follow me.” She lead Richie down the hallway and into the grand dining room and into a private booth in the back. Sitting there was a beautiful older woman with long black hair, tied in a graceful bun. She was wearing a navy blue pants suit and gorgeous gold jewelry. Richie instantly didn’t trust her. As Richie approached, she looked up, eyes narrowing.

“You’re late.”

Richie titled his head down and laughed nervously, “Yeah sorry…I had school.”

“It’s not polite to be late Richard,” she gestured to the seat across from here and Richie sat, scrunching up his nose.

“Richie. Everyone calls me Richie,” He shifted uncomfortably as she stared at him, “So…why are you…What do you want?”

“I wanted to meet you. To talk to you. I have some news for you that’s going to change your life.”

Richie snorted and grinned, “I already have braces, Grandma. Can’t get more life-changing than that.”

Her eyes widened, “This is far bigger than your orthodontic work Richard. Do you know who Margaret Amelia Genevieve Bernardi is?”

“No…Should I?” He stuck a straw in his iced tea and sucked loudly grinning internally as she flinched.

She didn’t call me Richie. And she hates when I suck ice apparently.

“She was a princess in Genovia.”

“Oh,” he picked at his nails, “Cool I guess. What’s that got to do with me?” He looked up at her, pushing his glasses up his nose.

Claria Gave him a small smile, “She was your mother Richard.”

Richie laughed, “Maggie? Maggie was a princess?” he shook his head, “No way. My dad said they met in college and after I was born she got her dream job somewhere in Europe. She sends me cards on my birthday. She paid for my school tuition…she’s great I guess. But she can’t be a princess.” He laughed again nervously, “Because if she was a princess…that…that would make me a-”

Claira nodded, “A prince. And so you are,” she placed her hands gently on top of his, “You, Richard Simon Bernardi Tozier, my grandson, and my daughter’s only son, are the crown prince of Genovia.”

Tag List: @tinyarmedtrex@richietoaster @dyslexictozier @sunflowertozier @richietoaster @jem-carstairs-is-perfection @totaltozier @richardxtozier @reddie-for-anything @aizeninlefox @reddiepop

[keepingupwithlinmanuel]

Lin-Manuel Miranda: ‘Hamilton is an insane idea, but the story works’

“Helen Mirren was one of the first people to see Hamilton,” recalls the 37-year-old Miranda, his voice urgent, conspiratorial. “She saw it very early and I said, ‘If we’re lucky enough to go to London, are they going to be bothered by King George?’ And she said, ‘Nahhh! We love it when you take the piss!’”

Miranda cracks up. “So I’m not worried,” he goes on. “I’m excited.”

...

If Miranda is feeling any pressure about the transfer, he isn’t showing it. On the morning we meet, in the offices of theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh in Bloomsbury, he bounces into the room, wearing a T-shirt, jeans and running shoes, all blue. The ponytail and goatee he had on stage in New York have been clipped and it has the effect of making him look two centuries younger. Miranda is a prolific tweeter and he has provided regular updates on the new production since arriving in the UK in late November. After the first run-through, he wrote: “London, gird your heart. This company is not playing around.” A couple of days earlier, he gushed: “This company is so fuhuuucking good.”

None of the cast is a household name: Jamael Westman, one of a pair of Alexander Hamiltons, graduated from Rada last year and this is just his fourth credit. “It’s a similar mix of vets and newcomers as we had in our original company on Broadway,” says Miranda, who has no plans to step into Hamilton’s blouse and breeches in this run. “I can’t wait for London audiences to get in front of this show. I’m curious how certain things will play: there’s a couple of New Jersey jokes and I’m like, ‘That’s going to be huge…’” Miranda rolls his eyes.

...

From the beginning, Hamilton has had a political agenda if you scratch the surface. The first time Miranda performed any material from the musical in public was in May 2009, when he was asked by the Obamas to participate in an evening celebrating “the American experience” at the White House. When the approach was made, the expectation was that Miranda would sing something from his debut musical, In the Heights. This was a semi-autobiographical tale of growing up on a multicultural block in New York that had won four Tony awards, best musical among them.

Instead, Miranda tried out “16 hot bars about Alexander Hamilton”. There’s YouTube evidence of the performance and it’s clear that Miranda, who’d never met the president before, is nervous; well, as nervous as Miranda ever gets, which is not especially. Still, in his introduction to the song, there’s more “ums” than usual and even a little stammering. When he explains the concept, people, including the Obamas, giggle, not sure if they should take him seriously.

“Yeah, it was really scary and it’s a little bit like showing the ultrasound at five weeks,” says Miranda. “I had a lot of people look at me like I was crazy for a very long time. I mean, you can kind of see the reaction in miniature at the White House. I state what I’m going to do and everyone just laughs at me. And I go, ‘You laugh but it’s true!’ Just trying to keep my cool, because I’m also performing in front of the leader of the free world for the first time in my life. And then you see people get sucked into the story. Then their heads start bobbing. And that’s been the story of Hamilton: it’s been an insane idea but the story works. The story is compelling, it’s a human one. And yeah, that’s that.”

For a piece of art that was “the musical of the Obama era”, according to the New Yorker, the Trump years were always going to present some challenges. The aftermath of the statement to Mike Pence was especially uncomfortable. “When the president sends a tweet he’s also sending trolls and bots your way,” says Miranda. “It is a way of targeting, so we had to deal with death threats for several weeks and we had to wait for that kerfuffle to blow over. So we lived through it. There was a bit of a pendulum swing, right; we were beloved by the Obama administration; we’re really not beloved by the current administration.”

Did Miranda consider putting “Highly overrated: Donald Trump” on the Hamilton poster? “Haha!” he replies. “There are certainly those who would wear that with a badge of pride, but I would not trade it for the stress of those weeks. These are just not normal times. We have a president who targets people and goes after them and that’s really without precedent and scary, but that’s where we are.”

Miranda, though, does not shy away from a fight, either. When Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September, killing at least 500 people and destroying the electrical grid, he was furious at Trump for his inaction. While the president quickly offered reassurance and funds to Texas and Florida after the natural disasters that affected those states, he was much quieter about Puerto Rico, which is an unincorporated US territory. Nearly three months on, a third of the island remains without power. Miranda’s response was to tweet Trump: “You’re going straight to hell.”

“What does that tell the people of Puerto Rico about the person who is supposedly in charge?” he asks. “Those are 3.5m American citizens. So that’s when the rhetoric is heartbreaking: you know relief could come with one signing of the pen and it’s just not. Because he doesn’t care.”

Miranda, who has raised $2.5m for the relief effort from a charity song, also recently announced that he would be taking a production of Hamilton to Puerto Rico in early 2019. He did a similar tour in 2010 with In the Heights and it remains one of his proudest achievements. “I find it hard to talk about it without tearing up,” he says and it’s true, he looks like he might cry. “Growing up, I’d get sent to Puerto Rico for a month a year where I was the kid with a fucked-up Spanish accent who couldn’t really speak it well enough to hang with kids my age. I was like the weird exchange kid. I loved Puerto Rico, but I never felt at home with it. Then to have In the Heights be embraced in English, the way I wrote it, it closed some hole in me that I didn’t know was open.”

These are manic, sometimes confounding times for Miranda. Hamilton took the best part of six years to write but now life seems to be happening in fast-forward. So far, he has only been accepting offers “that are just so bonkers that you’d kick yourself for ever if you didn’t jump at the chance to do them”. These have included a pivotal cameo in the new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm and a six-month spell in London to shoot a lead role in Mary Poppins Returns, which will be released Christmas next year. The film is directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago) and stars Emily Blunt as the umbrella-wielding hero, as well as Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Ben Whishaw and Emily Mortimer.

“Poppins was both incredibly hard work and sort of this joyous vacation,” says Miranda. “Because I had just been in Hamilton-mania in the States, it was starting to get to the point where I couldn’t ride the train without having a conversation about Hamilton. So the only sane response is to chop off all your hair and leave the country. I was really very anonymous here and that was a wonderful thing to reclaim, to ride the tube around and take my kid to Lady Di park. To sort of do normal things was wonderful, because it was getting weird. Like, famous-person weird.”

This is just the tip of it. The Weinstein Company had optioned the film rights to In the Heights, so Miranda is endeavouring to extricate himself from that. (“So monstrous,” he says. “I met Harvey several times. I knew he was never going to win a nice-guy competition, but I didn’t know about all of this other stuff.”) Miranda’s first child, Sebastian, was born two weeks before rehearsals for Hamilton started in 2014 and he revealed last week that his wife Vanessa Nadal, a corporate lawyer, is expecting their second. He would also like to start work on a new musical, but he probably just needs to lie in a pool to figure out what the subject is.

“You’re right,” he exclaims, “I should take more vacations, thank you! Yeah, that is the hardest lesson to take hold of: the good idea comes when you are walking your dog or in the shower or resting. And waking up from sleep. I don’t believe it’s an accident that on my first vacation from In the Heights, the best idea of my life shows up. So I have a couple of ideas, but I’m waiting to see which one grabs hold and doesn’t let go.”

Until then, Miranda will keep on doing what he’s done every day since Hamilton opened in New York in early 2015: field requests for tickets for the show. In London, it is sure not to be any different. Miranda made some good friends here when he was filming Mary Poppins Returns –Whishaw and the chef Yotam Ottolenghi among them – and he is excited for them to see the show. Otherwise, there’s only so much he can do. “People tweeting me, ‘I can’t believe I paid $2,000,’” he says. “I didn’t charge you $2,000! I don’t know why you paid that.”

What about the royal family? “Oh, I’ll give Prince Harry some engagement tickets, that would be an absolute treat,” Miranda smiles. “Obviously that would be an honour for us.” Let’s just hope he isn’t too offended by the portrayal of his great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather.

[minishawmd]

Birthday Boy (Tobi)

Requested?: Yes, thank you Warnings: None Pairing: Tobi and Reader

Sorry this is such a late post on. But I had to get this out while it is still his birthday. I made it just in time.(it’s 10pm where I live) but…

Happy Birthday Tobi! Hope it was a great day!

______________________

Y/N POV

I’m up super early today. Earlier than normal, but for a good reason.  That reason? It’s my boyfriends birthday. He’s turning twenty-four today.

So I have decided to get up and make him a birthday breakfast.

As I am just putting the last few pancakes on to cool, I feel two arms wrap around my waist, which belong to my boyfriend. I naturally lean back into his chest, but this time I sigh.

“What’s wrong, princess?”

“You were supposed to stay in bed,” I say softly “I was going to bring you a plate. That way you could eat breakfast in bed on your birthday.”

“I’d rather eat breakfast in here with you.” He says kissing my cheek

“I’ve had an entire day planned out,” I say pushing his arms off of me “Starting with you eating breakfast in bed.”

He sighs “Fine, I will go back to bed. But only if you eat with me.”

“Okay, I will eat with you.”

He smiles and then turns on his heel, walking back to his bedroom.

I smile and turn back around to finish off cooking.

Once I am finished I load up two plates with everything I had made. Pancakes, bacon and a little bit of fruit. Grabbing two glasses of orange juice, I walk towards the bedroom.

“Breakfast is served.” I say, setting the tray down on the bed

“It looks delicious babe.” Tobi says as I hand him his plate and orange juice.

I smile as he begins to eat, as do I. The entire time, we eat on silence. Not an awkward silence, but a comfortable one. This is how most mornings go around here. That is until the work starts outside the windows, which can get annoying.

“They seem to not be working today.” He says

“Yeah, it does seem unusually quiet.”

“Maybe we can finally stay in bed and just watch Netflix. Without getting interrupted.”

“We very well could. Would you rather do that, then what I have planned?”

“Well that depends on what you have planned?”

“Well I had rented out a pitch for us to go to, just to shoot around. Nothing special. Then come back here to get ready for a dinner reservation with the rest of the guys.”

“What time is the pitch rented out for?”

“In about four hours.” I say looking at the clock

Tobi then grabs his remote to his tv and turns to me.

“Then we can watch Netflix for a few hours then.”

I nod “Sounds like a plan.”

He smiles as I move the plates and glasses from the bed. Then cuddling into his side, as he turns on Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

For the next three hours we are watching tv and cuddling. Which is two of my favorite things to do, especially with my favorite boy. It’s not too often that we do this, so I definitely cherish these times.

“Alright, before we go to the pitch. I’ve got to give you your birthday present.” I say getting up from the bed and going over to the closet.

“Here.” I say handing him the present

“Y/N, I told you not to get me anything.” He says taking the box from me

“I know, but I couldn’t resist. Now open it.”

He then tears the paper away, looking up at me shocked.

“No you did not.” He says, opening the box

I had gotten him the football boots that he was talking about getting. Though he would splurge and buy them.

“You were really wanting them, so I got them.” I say shrugging “Now we have matching boots.” I say pulling the same pair out, but in my size. “Now shall we head to the pitch? Our time starts soon.”

He nods and gets up from the bed, grabbing his reflexive Adidas tracksuit. I grab my sidemen tracksuit and a white sdmn shirt, throwing my hair up in a ponytail.

-At The Pitch-

“Do you want to play a game, or just shoot around?” I ask as we set the footballs down

“How about we just shoot around. Get some practice in for the charity match.”

I nod my head, as I go to kick the ball. I send the ball flying towards the back of the net, right in the top right corner.

“Alright can someone has gotten better.” He says shocked

“Well I have to in order to play and won with you around.” I say as I walk back with my ball

He smiles “I’d always let you win, no matter what.”

I smile and line my shot back up.

The next two hours are filled with us kicking the ball around. Him trying to mess me up and vise versa. Cracking jokes and making up all kinds of puns.

“Alright since we have about ten minutes left here. Why don’t we have a little game?” Tobi says

“What do you have in mind?” I ask, rolling the ball with my foot

“Crossbar challenge. Five shots each. Whoever makes the most out of those, wins.”

“What is the prize?”

“Well if I win, when we get back home you will record a video with me.”

“And if I win?”

“We will do whatever you want to when we get home.”

I nod “Alright you are on.”

He smiles “Ladies first.”

I jokingly curtesy, before lining up my shot.

I end up only hitting three out of the five.

“Alright, beat that.”

He nods, going and lining up his shot. Hitting four out of five.

“Looks like you will be filming a video with me when we get back home.”

I nod “Alright, you won fair and square. But we have a dinner to get to.”

-At The Restaurant-

“Happy Birthday Dear Tobi. Happy Birthday to you.” We all sang

Throughout the song Tobi is smiling and looking around at all his friends. I’m sure that he couldn’t ask for anything more.

He’s always telling me about how much he loves being around these people. Which is exactly why I set up this dinner. So he would be surrounded by his friends.

The dinner itself took around three hours to finish, but that doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that he had a good birthday. Which I’m hoping he did.

-Back at Tobi’s Flat-

“Alright you ready to film a video?” He asks as we get into our room

I nod “Yeah, what game are we playing?”

“I decided not to play a game, but to film a q and a.” He says, sitting down in his chair “As log as that’s okay with you.”

I nod “It’s perfectly fine with me.”

He smiles as I sit down in the chair next to him.

Halfway through the video, he tells he that he has to grab something from his closet. Once he comes back, I can tell he has something in his hand, but I can’t tell what.

“Alright, last question is from me.” Tobi says “And you have to answer truthfully.”

“Okay.” I say, nodding

“Y/F/N Y/M/N Y/L/N, this is probably something you weren’t expecting to be asked. Especially on my birthday. But it’s something that cannot wait any longer.” He starts

“I knew from the moment I first met you, that you were the one. Everything about you is perfect. From the way you dance around this flat like no one is watching, to when you are just being lazy with me in bed. I love it all.”

Just from those few words, I knew what was happening.

“So Y/N.” He says, dropping to one knee and opening the box to reveal a beautiful diamond ring “Would you marry me?”

I nod my head, tears falling from my eyes “Yes.” I whisper

“A million times yes.” I say louder this time.

He smiles and slides the ring onto my finger. Leaning up to kiss me.

I can’t believe that I am going to be spending the rest of my life with the man I love.

This is not how I expected or planned this day to go. But I guess since he is the birthday boy, he gets to choose how the day goes.

[katrani]

Miracle Romance Chapter 1: Meeting

((A TI reincarnation AU, focusing on Markus/Ashe, Markus/Kyr, and Ashe/Firi, maybe eventually with some polyshipping.))

The room was lit only by candles, their smoke rising in aimless tendrils, filling the room just as much as their light. A girl knelt before an altar, chanting in a steady but quiet voice. He watched her, entranced, his fingers drumming against the blade of his sword in time with her words. She raised her arms, her voice suddenly growing louder. Blue light pulsed from the lines covering her body, shining across the jewels that were her only apparel. Her chanting grew louder still as she stood, and turned, and held her hand out to him, beckoning him to her.

He took her hand, let her pull him into her dance, joined his voice with hers as the cadence of her words shifted into a song. He looked down at her, never wanting to forget those golden eyes, or the starlight shining in her hair.

All too soon, the dance was done. She spun him to the altar, placing her hands on his shoulders to stop him before the statue of a giant serpentine beast. Its mouth opened, and-

The buzzing of Markus Velafi’s alarm interrupted his dream. He blinked, then rolled over and grabbed blindly for his phone. He managed to hit the button to stop the alarm, but heard his glasses clatter to the floor as he did. He groaned, knowing that it would take a good five minutes to find them in the various piles of clothes and pillows that was his floor. He sat on his knees on the bed, squinting as he tried to examine the mess of colors from up here.

“Lose something?”

He looked up, grinning despite his annoyance at how his morning started. “Kyr! I thought you had class already.”

The blur standing in the doorway made a motion that could’ve been a shrug, though Markus couldn’t be sure at the moment. “I guess Professor Colfus’ kids are sick. He canceled.” The redhead walked over, stopping once he reached the foot of the bed. He stared at the floor for a minute, then knelt and plucked Markus’ glasses from the scarf that they’d landed on. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Markus put them on, relaxing as the world settled into clarity. “You’re the best.”

Kyr’s face turned bright red. He half-stood, then wrapped his arms around Markus and smooched his cheek as he pulled him back down onto the bed. “No, you are!” he insisted.

Markus chuckled, relaxing into his boyfriend’s arms. “I had one of those dreams again,” he said, once they’d spent a few minutes cuddling.

“About the blue-light girl?” Kyr let go of him and sat up, his brow furrowing in thought. “That’s what, the fifth time this month?”

“Yeah. They’re getting more frequent.”

“Maybe you should write about her, then.”

Markus pursed his lips, thinking that over. He had considered it, a few times, except- “It feels too personal,” he admitted. “Somehow, I think I’d be betraying something, if I did that.” He stretched his arms above his head as he sat up too. “That probably sounds weird.”

Kyr hugged him again, gently nuzzling the side of Markus’ neck. “Not at all. There’s a few things that I never want to show anyone until they’re done, even you.” He sighed, then let go and got to his feet. “It was just an idea. Come on, I made breakfast, it’s going to get cold.”

“Well why didn’t you say so!” Markus scrambled to his feet, following Kyr towards the kitchen.

---------

“Ashe, are you even listening to me? Hey, numbskull!”

She blinked, startled out of her thoughts. “Huh? Sorry, Inien. What were you saying?”

Her dark-haired roommate was glaring at her, a chipped mug hanging off her finger. “I said, you need to be more careful. Your pans wound up on top of my cup, and it’s busted now.”

“Oh!” Ashe at least looked contrite, for a second. “Well, maybe if you would wash stuff more often than once a week, it wouldn’t be a problem.”

Inien stuck her tongue out, then plopped down on the couch next to her; it was too early in the morning to be really angry, and it had been an ugly mug anyways. “So, what’re you up to today? Are you seeing your mysterious new catch again?”

“Her name is Firi,” Ashe said, defensive as a blush crept across her face. “And yeah, I am. We’re going to dinner.”

“Oooooh, where at?” Inien leaned over, trying to look at Ashe’s computer as she takked away on her keyboard.

Ashe moved to the other end of the couch, placing her back against the armrest so Inien couldn’t peek without getting up. “None of your business! And besides, I’m not talking to her right now.”

“Uh-huh.” Inien didn’t sound convinced. She rested her elbow on her knee and her head in her palm as she stared the redhead down. “How am I supposed to help you pick an outfit if I don’t know the fanciness of the place you’re going?”

She raised an eyebrow at Inien, gestured around at their surroundings: bubbled paint in the leaky roof, duct tape over a hole near one window where ants kept trying to come in, a kitchen window that wouldn’t shut all the way, a baseboard coming loose from the wall. “Yes, clearly I’ll be going to the swankiest place in the city.”

Inien stuck her tongue out. “No need to be rude. I’m just trying to help.”

“Sure you are.” Ashe rolled her eyes, going back to her typed conversations. Someone was wrong on the forums for her favorite books, and she just could not leave it alone. She wondered if she should enlist Inien’s help, and glanced up, only to jump as the other woman’s voice sounded from just behind her.

“So what were you thinking about?”

“Don’t do that!” Ashe shouted, twisting about as she slammed her laptop shut. “Stars and stones, Inien, I thought we’ve been over that!”

She laughed, short and snide. “We have, but it’s so fun to torment you sometimes. Anyways, what were you thinking about earlier?”

“When?”

“When you zoned out while I was yelling at you.”

“Oh.” Ashe shook her head, sighing. “I keep having these weird dreams, about a guy in armor.” She bit her lip, looking out the window, to the busy road down below. It was easier to talk about weird things, if she didn’t look at anyone else in the room. “I think some kind of prince? He always looks handsome, and there’s another guy that looks like him sometimes, wearing a crown. He’ll come to me, and tell me how important I am, and how important it is that we keep things a secret.”

“How romantic,” Inien commented, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “How long have you been having these dreams?”

“Since I was in middle school, actually,” Ashe admitted. “Maybe even earlier? But they’ve been way more often lately. Like two or three times a week.”

“Well, then it sounds like something completely normal for you, and nothing at all to worry about.” Inien got to her feet, and held out her hand to pull Ashe up. “Anyways, just tell me where you’re taking your gal to tonight, so I can help you get ready.”

“I don’t need your help, Inien.”

“Of course you don’t, Ashy, but let’s try anyways.”

--------

The restaurant’s lot was empty as they pulled up. Markus let out a low whistle. “Damn, it’s never been this slow. What happened?”

“Some kind of tasting event on the other side of Fifth,” Kyr answered. “Most people probably went to that instead of going out to eat tonight.”

Markus nodded. “That makes sense, I guess.” He still wasn’t used to big cities and the rate of events that happened here. He squeezed Kyr’s hand once before letting go so they could get out of the truck. “You sure you got the bill tonight?”

Kyr nodded. “Of course! I can’t let you handle everything all the time, and I managed to actually save some money this month, so I wanted to treat you.”

“Fine.” Markus grinned up at him, following him inside. The aroma of fresh bread and pasta and tomatoes hit them instantly, and his mouth started to water. “I really shouldn’t have skipped lunch.”

The hostess hurriedly put away her phone as they entered, straightening at her podium. “Hi, welcome to Fennecci’s,” she said, giving them both a smile. “Table for two?”

“If it’s not any trouble,” Kyr answered, with a glance around the empty restaurant, and to the employees rushing to look busy over in the kitchen.

“Of course.” The hostess grabbed two menus, but paused, looking around. “You know what? Why don’t you two choose where you want to sit.” She handed them the menus. “And I’ll send Narnie over to take your orders.”

“Really? Thanks a lot!” Kyr started walking towards a booth in the corner, where it would be easy for them to hold hands under the table, but paused when he realized his boyfriend wasn’t following him. “Markus?”

The blonde blinked, shook his head, and followed Kyr. “Sorry. I was a little distracted, I guess,” he said, glancing over his shoulder.

“Is she your dream girl?” Kyr teased, sliding into his seat. He frowned at Markus’ confused expression, and tapped his cheek. “Her tattoos?”

“Oh! No.” Markus sat next to him, laying his hand over Kyr’s and entwining their fingers. He took a moment to appreciate the feeling, closing his eyes as he leaned his head back on the seat. “Hers are more purple than blue, aren’t they? And the girl in my dreams doesn’t have any on her face, I don’t think. I was more curious about her heterochromia.”

Kyr sighed heavily. “I know, my eyes could never be that cool.”

Markus rolled his eyes, and leaned forward with his elbow on the table so he could turn and look Kyr in the eyes. “I promise, there’s no one besides you that I can spend hours staring at, even if she does have two different colors.”

Kyr brightened and kissed him briefly. That settled, the two of them opened their menus, talking back and forth about what they wanted since they both knew they’d wind up splitting their meals anyways.

The bell on the door chimed, making Markus look up. A girl in a dark green flannel walked in, her fluffy red hair threatening to burst out of its ponytail. Instead of waiting near the door, she walked straight up to the short wall that divided the kitchen from the dining room. “Firi, I’m here!” she called.

“Ashe!” The hostess came back into view, pushing a very tall, gangly-looking person ahead of her. “I’ll be right there, I just have to make sure Narnie actually gets some work done.”

“Why not take their order yourself?” the other grumbled, running a long-fingered hand through their stringy black hair.

“‘Cause you have to earn your paycheck,” Firi insisted. “Just- give me five minutes, Ashe, okay?”

“No problem. I’ll just be waiting in my car.” The redheaded girl waved cheerily, then turned and left as quickly as she’d came.

“Hi, I’m Narn,” the tall server rasped as they approached Kyr and Markus’ table. “What can I get for you today?”

Markus barely registered the question, staring after the redhead. “Excuse me,” he said, sliding out of the booth. He ignored Kyr’s confused questions as he hurried outside, casting about for the girl. She has red hair, and green eyes, but her face is- I know I’ve seen her before!

He spotted her, across the parking lot, leaning against a car that was covered in rust spots, with a window that didn’t seem to be in its track properly, from how it leaned forward in the doorframe. She had her phone out, but looked up as he approached.

“Who are y…” she started, the question drifting off as she looked up. She tensed, her eyes narrowing angrily. “Who are you?” she repeated, her voice firm but strained.

He swallowed nervously, staring into her eyes. He could practically see himself reflected there, and everything he felt- the shock, the fear, the curiosity, the awe. “I’m Markus Velafi,” he said, quietly, not wanting to break the spell. “And I think I know you.”

She straightened, never breaking eye contact with him. “I know you, too,” she whispered. “And you…” “You’re the one I’ve been searching for,” they both said, and before he knew it had happened, Markus had wrapped his arms around her, and she was burying her face against his chest, clinging to him like she would never let go.

[sadspottedpanda]

Swipe Right for Awkwardness (FFXV FANFIC) - ch 3

It was actually happening. Noctis can't help but stare at Prompto as he takes off his shirt, his best friend's freckled cheeks red with a bit of embarrassment. They're on Noctis' bed with Prompto straddling Noctis' hips and a naughty grin forms on Noctis' face as he reaches out to touch the object of his affection. He bends up and pulls Prompto on top of him, his lips making a beeline for Prompto's, and they kiss. It's an awkward, messy kiss, but Noctis doesn't mind. His hands move down to Prompto's boxers and he lowers them down to his knees while Prompto reaches for Noctis' rapidly stiffening cock, eventually pulling the thick sausage from under the wristband of his best friend's tight, black briefs. Prompto breaks off the kiss and his lips head staright for the throbbing dick awaiting the warm embrace of his mouth. Noctis can feel Prompto's warm breath and he moans, eagerly awaiting the wet sensation. The fantasy is broken as Noctis' alarm blares out for the tenth time, but this time, it's loud enough to actually have an effect on the prince of sleep. Noctis stirs as the scene he's made up in his mind dissolves into the plain ceiling of his room. "For fuck's sake..." Of all the times his body chooses to react to his alarm, it had to be then. He kicks the sheets off and just lies there, angry at the interrupted fantasy, when he feels wetness in his crotch. He cranes his head to see what the fuck was wrong and sees a large, dark patch on his tight briefs right where the head of his semi-hard dick was. He grunts and pulls his briefs off and rubs the wet spot with his fingers before bringing them to his lips. Despite all the kinky shit he was into, he's never actually tasted his own cum. Moments later, he sticks his tongue out and licks the rest of the cum off his underwear. "Hm. Not bad." He throws the briefs across the room into the basket of other dity clothes and heads for the bathroom. Downstairs, Prompto's leaning on the railing of the balcony. Having just arrived home from his daily morning run, he thought he could use a few minutes of rest before taking a shower. Meanwhile, Noctis finishes his own shower and heads downstairs with nothing but a towel over him. He hasn't realized Prompto's returned until he sees his best friend outside. He spends a few minutes admiring the view. Prompto was dripping with sweat and his tank top was clinging to his body rather tightly, showing off his great figure. His running shorts left little to the imagination as it perfectly followed the curves of of his nicely-toned ass and sharp hips. Prompto may be scrawny compared to a lot of guys Noctis has taken an interest in in the past, but he was toned and firm. Finally deciding to stop thinking of his best friend in such lews terms so he wouldn't develop a boner in the middle of the living room, he walks to Prompto and playfully slaps his ass. "Mornin'" Prompto yelps a little, not expecting Noctis to suddenly appear there as he was admiring the view of the boats out on the harbor. "Dude! Don't sneak up on me like that! You know I - oh - you're naked..." Prompto blushes a little. "Like the view?" Noctis says teasingly, gripping his towel. He has half a mind to just let it drop to the floor just to see Prompto's reaction, but decides against it. Prompto wasn't exactly great at handling stressful situations and he was already sweating again." "Yeah. Wait, no! Not you! I mean the boats! I...uhhh..." "Did you just call me ugly?" "No dude! You look great! Aw man. Sorry, you know how I am with surprises." "Hope that was a good one." "Ugh." Prompto lets out a groan of exasperation and rolls his eyes. "Anyway, you ready for today? I'll just go take a shower and grab my gear, then we can go." "How about getting dressed?" Prompto groans again and grins. "Speak for yourself, hot stuff. Since when did you become such a joker? Anyway, be back in a few minutes." He heads upstairs and Noctis follows shortly. His balls have already retreated because of the cold air blowing in from the open balcony door and he'd rather have them hanging loose. They meet back up in the living room around 20 minutes later, fully dressed, and head for the garage where Noctis' car was. It was fancy, balck model his dad had bought for him and Noctis was eternally grateful for it. It also had plenty of room in both the back and front, perfect for roadtrips with friends, Prompto's gear, and hot sex with random men. Noctis puts the key in the ignition, retracts the top, and drives out onto the streets of Insomnia. It was a clear day with a beautiful blue sky. The sun was shining and a cool breeze was blowing on them. Prompto had his digital camera out, excitedly snapping away at anything the passed that was interesting to him. Noct was wishing he was back in bed with the curtains drawn. Despite his apprehension of going out on such a perfect day to stay indoors, he did it out of support for Prompto's photography gigs. Today, they were heading out to Galdin Quay to meet up with some girls from school who were trying to build up their modeling portfolio. Two hours later, they're at a beautiful resort facing the clear, blue waters of the Lucian coastline. Noctis parks the car and was helping Prompto's gear from the backseat when two ladies approach them. "There y'all are!" The cheery voice was coming from a pretty girl with short, wavy blond hair. She had a body any boy would drool over, with her rounded hips and large, succulent breasts. "Sorry for dragging you all the way out here, sweeties, but thanks for coming anyway. We mighty 'ppreciate it." "I agree. This place is the perfect backdrop for our portfolio." Next to the blond bombshell was a statuesque girl with soft, gentle features. She exuded an aura of high class, yet seemed to have a defiant side to her. Her hair was made up in a complex ponytail, further accentuating her overall regal look. "Now, it's up to our photographer to make it work for us!" "Hey Cindy, Luna! Sorry to keep you waiting. We hit some traffic on the way!" Prompto grins in the presence of the two ladies. "Oh, I know, I know hun' We just got here ourselves! We ran out of gas just outside of Hammerhead and I told Luna to push the car as a joke, but she did! She's stronger than she looks! Ya'll better be careful 'round this one, she's got some muscle!" "Oh stop, Cindy. You make it seem like I pushed the car for miles!" Luna laughs sweetly. "Really, I just pushed it into the garage with the help of Cid, the mechanic, and he did most of the pushing! Maybe next time, a certain someone should remember to fill the tank before heading out." The girls exchange a few words of banter related to gasoline as they walk to the resort. For once, Noctis was comfortable being around people other than Prompto. He first met Cindy and Luna in high school when their class split up into groups for a dumb project involving nature. The two girls became quick friends with the normally introverted boy and were effortless in breaking him out of his shell. They were genuine, down to earth, and were more interested in Noctis as a person than his wealthy background. He wasn't as close to them as he was to Prompto, but they were alright. Eventually, he introduced Prompto to the two girls and they became a weird circle of friends they called "Three Blondes and a Raven." They reach the lobby and the girls head up to their room to change into their outfits while Prompto and Noctis wait at the cafe with a great view of the ocean. They arrive minutes later - Luna in a white, flowing dress and Cindy in a tight, yellow bikini. "Alrighty! We're ready!" Cindy chirps. Prompto grabs his gear "Great! Alright, lets go do Cindy's shoot on the beach first, then we'll do yours, Luna! Do you guys want to join us, or do you want to wait here in the shade?" "I'll wait here, thanks." Luna says. "Join me, Noct?" "Sure, Luna. See you guys later." Prompto and Cindy head out onto the beach while Luna takes her place in the seat beside Noctis. "Ok, spill, Noct." "Huh? Spill what?" Luna gives him a knowing look. "You know...Prompto?" "What about him?" Noctis looks confused. "It's quite obvious you're attracted to him, you know?" Noct freezes. Was he that obvious or was Luna just frighteningly perceptive? "He's my best friend. Sure we get close and stuff but...attracted?" "Noctis Caelum, in all the years I've known you and with my own personal experiences, I know when a man is in love with another man." Luna nudges Noctis' shoulder and laughs. "After all, I'm a girl AND Cindy's girlfriend, remember? My gaydar is pretty strong!" "Oh, that's right." Noctis remembers the day Luna and Cindy came to them, revealing that they were in a relationship, then looking like a great weight was lifted off their shoulders. He remembers when they threw a party at the boys' place to celebrate, ending in Prompto and Cindy drunk and Luna drawing silly pictures on their faces with her lipstick. "Y'know Luna, I don't know. I admit I like Prompto, but I don't know if he likes me back. I don't want to make things awkward between us if he doesn't feel the same way about me. He thinks that all the cuddling, holding hands, and cute stuff we do is just normal for best friends. I mean, we've only had each other to cling onto for the longest time and I don't want to mess up." Noctis sighs, looking a little bummed out. Luna puts her hand on Noctis' shoulder and smiles comfortingly. "Noct, if it makes you feel any better, I felt the same way about Cindy. I valued our friendship and wanted us to be more than friends, but I was scared too. Lucky for me, she said yes, but it took a while. Try showing your feelings for Prompto by doing little things for him and seeing how he reacts. You know what else? You two remind me so much of Cindy and me." "We do?" Luna nods. "You and Prompto are so different, but you complement each other so well. It's a great balance of personalities, and I think that helps in forming a deeper relationship. You just have to be brave and observant of Prompto, especially observant, since you have a tendency to shut yourself in and focus on tthe things right in front of you while ignoring everything else around." The statement stings a little, but Luna was right. "Thanks for the advice, Luna." "Look, if you need help, let me know. We have more in common than you think and Cindy and Prompto are also almost like exact mirror images of each other." Noct smiles and nods gratefully. "Speaking of Cindy and Prompto, where are they?" Luna walks to one of the cafe's windows and sighs. "The water's taken them both, I'm afraid." Noct jumps from his seat and runs to Luna, expecting to see Prompto and Cindy lying on the sand and surrounded by lifeguards. Thankfully, he sees the two just mere feet from the shore, splashing each other with water and laughing. Prompto has pulled off his shirt, kicked off his sandals, and was losing against Cindy, who's made it her mission to drench Prompto's meticulously-styled hair. He shakes his head, silently kicking himself for having a worst-case-scenario instinct. "We better go get them. I want to get out of this dress and get my swimsuit out too." Luna says longingly. She then turns to Noctis with a scary expression on her face. "After that, be on your guard. I warn you that you won't be able to defend your hair from me." Noct raises and eyebrow and eyes Luna's own styled up hair, "Oh, is that a challenge? I'll take it." Luna smiles and grab Noctis' hand, pulling him with her to the beach. "Ahem...AHEM!" Luna feigns anger as she approaches the edge of the shore. "Mr. Argentum, I believe we had an arrangement for a certain photoshoot?" Prompto emerges from the water with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, Luna. Cindy pulled me in and I just couldn't escape!" Luna turns and walks towards the garden, stopping to say, "Yes. Cindy pulled you in so suddenly that you had the time to take off your top and sandals" before leaving with a mock huff. "Oooooooh, you unleashed the hydrean in her, hun. Better go after her." Cindy taunts. Prompto grabs his camera and runs after Luna, all the while shouting for mercy, while Cindy and Noct laugh. "Your boyfriend is just a cute, bundle of sunshine, ain't he?" Cindy says. "Yeah...he is..." Noct says absentmindedly. "AHA! I knew it! Y'all a couple!" Cindy is squealing with delight. "Oh gods, with the way you look at the boy, I had a gut feeling y'all were in love!" "Wait...what? No!" Cindy taps her head with her finger and grins. "I can tell, hun. I knooooow. I can sense it." "Oh, c'mon, you too? Is this gaydar thing something all girls have?!" Noctis groans Cindy laughs. "Sounds like you talked to Luna already. Don't worry about it hun. I ain't gonna tell Prompto nuthin'. It's all up to you when you wanna say you love the cute thing." Noctis sighs in relief. He kicks off his own sandals, strips down to his shorts, and enjoys a nice chat with Cindy about love and Prompto when Prompto returns, followed shortly by Luna, who's changed into her own bikini. Prompto is visibly excited. "Alright! You girls are gonna have agencies calling you from all directions once they see the pics we've taken today! Awesome work today!" "Perfect! Thanks a bunch, Prom! You're the best!" Cindy says thankfully. Luna walks toward Noctis, stands in front of him, and looks him right in the eye. "Now, Noctis. About that challenge..." Noctis stands and bows. "As you wish Lady Lunafreya. I pray you don't harm my hair too much," he says in a bad immitation of Luna's noble accent. Laughing, Luna chases Noctis to the water, furiously pawing at the water and trying to drench Noctis hair. Cindy and Prompto watch them from the beach and utter an "awww" together. "Y'know, if Luna liked boys, she and Noctis would be a great couple," Cindy says. "But you know who else might be a great couple?" "You and me?" Prompto jokes. "Uh, no. You and Noctis!" "Hahaha. I mean we already live together, so aren't we already a couple?" "No dummy! Like a real thing like me and Luna!" Prompto tries to think of a good response "Well, Noctis...he's my best friend. I'm just not sure about us being a couple." "You mean you haven't thought about it after all these years?" Prompto falls silent, seemingly lost in thought, before replying in a low voice. "I have, but...it's complicated." He shakes his head and smiles. "Ok, enough with the heavy talk. Noct looks like he could use some help defending his hair!" Prompto runs into the water, then trips, sending a huge splash over both Noctis and Luna. He emerges from the water with the two angrily looking down at him, their hair falling limp and dripping wet down the sides of their faces. Noctis shouts "Prompto, you're dead!" followed by Luna's screams of "How could you?!" Cindy watches as her girlfriend and Noctis assault Prompto with vengeful splashes of water and sighs. Her eyes focus on poor Prompto who might as well be drowning from the water coming at him from left and right. "So you're scared too, huh? He's scared too, y'know," she whispers to herself before pulling herself up and joining the fray.