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lo1k-diamonds · 3 months

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Seeking the Sunrise 💜 Chapter 1

PAIRING: idol!Hoseok x OC

SUMMARY: Haesun was adrift, her life was happening but she had no idea where she was going. Finding her soulmate was on the wishlist, but it was by no means a priority. Cue in the cutest guy that happens to be a household name in the music industry with his whole life figured out. He's her soulmate, isn't that great? If only he wanted to find love like she did...

WORD COUNT: 4.3k (Total: 32k)

GENRE: Soulmate AU, s2l

RATING: Explicit (for the sexual content in the last chapter)

WARNINGS: angst, tragedy, comfort, minor character death, they're both lost really

(You can also read it on AO3, originally posted June 2023)

A.N. I have this poll I've been meaning to do about my soulmate series and to do so, I thought I should probably introduce those stories first 😅😋Hobi's story is the second of the Soul Palette Series and it serves as the second prequel to Call You Mine. I'm uploading each story's 1st chapter here to give you all a taste 😋

Masterlist | Scroll my stories on Tumblr | Schedule and WIPs

The girls burst out laughing and giggling at the boys trying to jump around the classroom while playing some sort of catch game with someone’s pencil case. The guy chasing it was laughing in embarrassment and even some girls entered the game.

“Are you afraid?”

“Wait until Eusun gets here.”

“We’re so going to tell her.”

“Tell her what?” Haesun asked in a whisper to her best friend, Sunyi, who was sitting at the desk behind her.

She leaned in to whisper back, “He wrote a confession on a piece of paper and was going to give it to her.”

Haesun smiled, “Eusun would say no…”

“He doesn’t care. She’s just too pretty,” she shrugged and Haesun kept her soft eyes as she eyed the game.

She could understand that, although it defeated the purpose. “If they’re not soulmates, then what is the use?” She asked rhetorically, preparing her notebooks for class.

Sunyi leaned on Haesun’s table, “You know the likelihood of actually finding a soulmate?”

“We’re too young to worry about it,” she scoffed.

“But not too young to date and have fun.”

Haesun nodded, “Sure, I’m just saying that it feels like a waste of time.”

Sunyi pursed her lips, “Hmm… dating someone who is not your soulmate… can still teach you valuable skills.”

“Shouldn’t all your firsts be with your soulmate?”

The girls turned to see Eusun sitting beside Haesun while adjusting her uniform ribbon. Haesun looked around; the boy had managed to get his pencil case back and everyone was talking quietly in a corner, so of course Eusun didn’t suspect a thing.

Sunyi sighed, “Again, the odds. Are you saying you’re saving your firsts for him?”

“Of course,” Eusun answered softly, brushing her long-styled hair behind her back.

“Your first date? First holding hands? First kiss?”

Eusun nodded to all questions and then smiled at Haesun for support, who just smiled back.

Sunyi groaned, “Imagine that! Seriously, what if you have to wait until you're twenty? Thirty? Forty? What if it never happens?!”

“Then it wasn’t meant to be,” Eusun answered, almost with a dreamlike sigh.

Their homeroom teacher entered the room while saying good morning and they all sat properly, ready to start their lesson. Eusun suddenly gasped and sat up very straight and Haesun looked at her in surprise.

“Is everything okay?” She whispered to the side, yet the teacher spoke immediately.

“Listen everyone. We have a transfer student, be sure to be welcoming. Come on in,” she said louder.

Their classroom door slid open and a tall boy entered with their school’s uniform, white earphones around his neck as if he had just put them down, and widened eyes. Haesun thought he looked pretty normal, so she couldn’t understand Eusun’s reaction: she was staring at him like a deer caught in headlights.

“Well, present yourself to class.”

The boy glanced at the teacher before his eyes fell right on Eusun again. “Hello. I’m Ji Sung-hyun. I hope we all get along.”

“You can sit down.”

The teacher was ready to move on to other things, but the boy stopped right in front of Haesun and Eusun, making the latter look up at him as if she was staring at an angel. Haesun was just frowning, what the hell was he doing?

“Hi,” he said, and from that close Haesun could see he was blushing and that his hands were twitching.

“Hi.”

Haesun raised her eyebrows, Eusun was blushing too! What were those two morons doing?!

“Ji Sung-hyun-ssi—”

Haesun didn’t hear what the teacher said and probably nobody else did either. Sung-hyun extended his hand to Eusun and they both gasped when their hands touched. The whole class entered an uproar then, with gasps and yells, and the teacher tried to keep the order as Eusun got up to stare into his eyes as if nothing else existed.

“Holy shit…” Sunyi gasped from behind Haesun, who turned to her. “They’re soulmates!”

December 17th 2018

Haesun finished typing on the computer right on time as the teacher announced the end of the class and everyone in the auditorium got up.

“Ahh! I thought it would never end!”

She smiled at the boredom overflowing from Sunyi’s voice, who was stretching without a care in the world now that the professor had left.

“I thought it was interesting…”

Sunyi scoffed and leaped to check what she was writing, “Yeah, right. Who are you talking to?”

Haesun grinned and closed her laptop, “No one much.” Sunyi rolled her eyes and turned to get her things in her bag, Haesun did the same. “But there’s a soulmating party next Friday at the Club M2 in Hongdae.”

Sunyi scoffed as they made their way out of the auditorium. “I thought you were dating… oh what’s his name…”

Haesun shrugged and brushed her long black hair that was starting to curl with the humidity of December. “We’re talking and we had lunch once. Besides, he’s not my soulmate so we’re going.”

Sunyi sighed as they exited the faculty, “What’s the use?” Haesun froze and raised an eyebrow. “It’s not like it’s going to happen…”

“It might,” Haesun argued easily with a smile. “If Eusun found hers—”

“So what? She was just lucky!” Sunyi frowned, looking down. “From our class back in high school, how many found theirs by now? Three? Four?”

“So?”

“And now in college, how many in our class have found them? Ten? Fifteen?”

Haesun sighed and turned around, unwilling to miss the bus over Sunyi’s doubts. “Numbers don’t matter.”

“Of course they do—”

“Having fun is what matters. Finding companionship, admiration, support, and love. That’s what matters. That’s what Eusun has, and that you can find with anyone, he doesn’t have to be your soulmate.”

Sunyi looked down as she followed Haesun to the bus stop. “Eusun…”

Haesun turned back once they reached the post with the right number and smiled, “Eusun was lucky, yes, but we have to live too, right? And we won’t find them by staying at home watching soap operas or dramas.”

Sunyi’s eyes were tearing up and Haesun moved closer to rub her arms. “What if we never find them?”

“Then we don’t! But we might find someone else that we like spending time with. My parents aren’t bonded and neither are yours.”

Sunyi heaved a deep breath, “I just hate it… I hate that people are searching for something that seems impossible to find and that by doing so, they don’t give a real opportunity to other relationships.” Their bus stopped and they got in as Haesun nodded her agreement. “It’s like, my parents met in high school, they were friends for many years and then decided that they wanted to be together. Nowadays it’s like ‘Oh, but I might meet them just around the corner, so I’m not going to commit’. If they were just around the corner, you would have met them already!”

She sat down with a plop and Haesun laced an arm under hers and dropped her head on her best friend’s shoulder. “That’s true… it’s so hard.” She sighed deeply, “But then, what are we supposed to do? If we can’t find our soulmates and we can’t find another person to love, then what? We stay single and die alone?”

Sunyi grabbed her hand to pull their arms closer together, “You’ll never die alone, Haesun. No matter what, we’ll be friends forever.”

Haesun grinned happily, hugging Sunyi’s arm tight, “We’ll be grannies together.”

“Obviously.”

Haesun smiled and they chatted about all sorts of things, from how dumb it was to have classes so close to Christmas, to how cold it was, to wishing there was a first snow soon though they had no one to kiss at the moment, and then to how Haesun would have to work during the break.

“No! Really?”

“Yap, Yeeun is sick, so I’ll cover her shifts for this week and the week of Christmas.”

“That’s insane!” Sunyi gasped as they stepped out of the bus.

“Yeah, but it will pay well.”

Sunyi pursed her lips, “You know, I’m sure your parents, even your aunt would help out if they knew you—”

“I know, but I don't want them to. I’m going home, I need to take tonight to sleep well before the next two weeks of work.”

She waved at Sunyi and turned in the opposite direction. As she walked down the residential street on the outskirts of Seoul, she wondered about Sunyi’s words.

She always thought that at twenty-one years old she would have her life figured out: her soulmate, a pet, a degree, and her own place. She was twenty and none of those things were true.

After Eusun found her soulmate all those years back in high school, Haesun had actually fallen into the trap of believing the exact same would happen to her and Sunyi. Because why not? They were the trio of best friends, it made perfect sense.

But life didn’t work that way. Eusun grew up faster than them — at seventeen she was going through things most people they knew never fully understood or experienced. She was maturing faster, seeing things as an adult, and she was with her soulmate all the time. Soon, their trio became a duo and Haesun was forced to admit something she only ever thought happened in dramas was real: society did separate between mated and unmated people.

Not out of malice, but naturally because one side envied or didn’t understand the other. No one shunned anyone, obviously, but there was a rift between them. After all, how could Haesun comprehend the depths of Eusun’s feelings if she had never felt something quite like it?

She kicked a pebble on the road at the memory of Eusun’s words. Pathetic, ridiculous. She had cried so much after that, at losing her best friend, when in reality it was all bullshit. She didn’t have to be bonded to be in love, to experience happiness, passion, companionship, or empathy. And it did look a lot like bonded people lost the ability to empathize with those who weren't.

But Eusun’s attitudes were not enough to give soulmating a bad name. Haesun had read a lot on the subject with her aunt, who was utterly obsessed with the topic, and realized that indeed it was a state of grace. Eusun was just a bad apple she had once called her best friend. Big deal.

No, it was still a nice idea, but at twenty years old she was done waiting. She had started dating the year before and decided to have fun. Odds were she would be unmated anyway, so there was no point in not getting to know a few men and seeing if anyone clicked.

The pet wasn’t a reality yet because Auntie was taking medication that made her sick to almost everything, so she was not risking her health. She had her whole life to have a pet, no big deal.

She would have a degree in nine months, she just wasn’t excited about it. She wasn’t eager to tell her parents, who busted their asses off working in a shoe factory so she could study, that Literature wasn’t the most employable degree and that after almost three years she was finding that she didn’t enjoy it. Not only that, but the perspective of going into journalism or something else also didn’t excite her. She felt incredibly lost.

And she would never have her own place. She typed the password of the apartment building on the keyboard by the front door with a small smile. She was happy to have the chance to live with Auntie so she got to be in Seoul and study there, but she wasn’t delusional: having an apartment in Seoul was a luxury someone like her would never afford. Especially now that every penny she earned went to paying the tuition of a course she didn’t like so her parents didn’t have to do it and make her guilty out of her mind.

“Sunnie, you home?”

“Yeah!”

She took off her shoes and jacket and quickly went to the kitchen to help her aunt.

“Woah, it smells so good!” She rubbed Auntie’s arms in support and not even the woolen coat and layers of clothes could hide her thinness. “Let me help you.”

Her aunt was joyous as ever to have her niece spend the evening with her, but her smile disappeared fast when Haesun told her about her shifts.

She frowned as they sat down on the low table to eat. “You don’t have to kill yourself working.”

Haesun smiled, “I know. And I’m not, I’ll be on vacation anyway.”

She served them both as the eldest shook her head. “We should visit your parents for Christmas…”

“And we will, the restaurant closes on Christmas.”

She sighed, “You know that is not what I mean.” Haesun just smiled because that was the way to get away with it. Auntie sighed again, “You should tell them.”

“What?”

“That you want to study something else.”

“And tell them their hard-earned five million won went to the trash? No.”

“They want you to be happy, they don’t care about that. They only paid for one year, anyway—”

“They paid for everything up to that point too and I’m not sure I’ll ever repay them.”

“Hey,” Auntie stopped, giving Haesun a firm look. “Are children supposed to repay their parents? Did you ask to be born? Do you think they do it out of obligation? Or out of love? Because you’re the sun in their eyes? Stop saying nonsense.”

“I’m sorry, Auntie.”

“If only, missie,” she puffed and reached for the water. “Unfortunately, you’re as stubborn as my brother.”

“And you,” she grinned again and her aunt stifled a laugh.

They chatted throughout dinner and cleaned the kitchen together.

“How’s the boy… What's his name…”

Haesun puffed her hair out of her face because her hands were wet with the soap as she did the dishes. “Seriously, we’re just talking, it’s not a big deal.”

Her aunt shrugged as she dried the dishes, “Well, alright. If he’s your friend, I see no reason for not asking about him.”

Haesun shook her head with a smirk, “We’re not really friends.”

Auntie sighed and grabbed the next dish, “You know how I feel about that.”

“And I’ve told you it's a different generation…”

“I understand that, but you’re not settling down with a partner like my brother did. You’re just talking around, dancing around, doing who knows what—”

“Auntie!” Haesun gasped in shock.

“I know, I know! I’m not shaming! I’m saying you should, I don’t know, do something outside of your comfort zone!” Haesun took a deep breath. “Maybe then you’d activate your thread of fate and finally cross his path.”

“Or maybe that’s dumb and I’ll meet him on the bus tomorrow, the same one I always take to school and back home,” she argued with a shrug. Her aunt was pursing her lips in annoyance, yet Haesun just sighed and decided to keep going with the dishes. “You know I dislike the thought that I need to wait or activate my fate. As if my life only starts or becomes valuable if I meet him. I want to live on my own too. What if I never find him? Will my life be worthless then?”

“Of course not! Sunnie!”

“I know, of course not!” She nodded vehemently as she gave her aunt the last plate. “Look at your life, auntie, as an established author who traveled the world and met so many people. Maybe that’s the life I want one day, hm? A life lived for me, not waiting for someone else.”

Auntie dried the plate and placed it on a pile before putting her hands on her niece’s shoulders.

“My life was filled with adventure, I surely had a lot of fun. I don’t regret much, but I do regret not ever feeling that deep love and connection. The soul that would have matched mine. I’m not saying I would have sacrificed everything I have experienced, but it would have certainly been even more fun and meaningful with him. Not to mention…” her hands went to adjust her headscarf. “Not even for myself, but… chances are he is or is going to be sick too. I wish… that wouldn’t happen, even if I never meet him.” Haesun reached to hug her immediately and she smiled. “I wish no one would feel this pain. Ever.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Auntie smiled and petted Haesun’s hair. Whenever she did that, Haesun always had the impression that Auntie was consoling her, not being consoled herself. Maybe it was because she knew Haesun was so scared of losing someone so important to her.

“Nothing to be sorry for, life happens. This included.” She hugged her for a silent moment before pulling away. “Now enough babbling, you need to rest if you’re meant to work so many days in a row.”

Tuesdays are not the worst. Tuesdays are fine.

Haesun kept repeating that to herself as a smile was plastered on her face trying to deal with semi-drunk overbearing people. And she wasn’t wrong; usually, Tuesdays were not the worst dinner shifts at all. But maybe because it was the week before Christmas, everyone was out. Every freaking one.

From students to families to workers, to whoever, it seemed that everyone had decided tonight was the night to go out for dinner. And as she held onto her tray and sought a moment to breathe before taking on the last group, she wondered how she would deal with that chaos for the rest of the week.

Yet as soon as she lifted her head, she felt dizzy. She frowned and pressed her temples, What the hell?

“Haesun, all good?” Screamed the chef and owner from the kitchen, seeing her through the pass.

“Yeah!” She yelled back, surprised he had noticed. She must have stayed like that for a while. “Yeah, I’m… going.”

Of course, she had to move, her boss was watching, but that wasn’t why her feet were guiding her to the last room of the restaurant, the one where the group had been settled in by the host. She was frowning because she felt really lightheaded, but her body was moving on its own because she had somewhere to be. Somewhere that wasn’t the bathroom, in case she needed to barf, or the kitchen to get something with sugar, but somehow… something better.

“Haesun, are you okay?”

She glanced up right before she slid the door to the room. Her hand twitched.

The host continued, “Do you want me to handle this? It’s late and you’ve had a long day, it’s a big group—”

“No! No, no, of course not. I got this. Just… this one.”

She tried smiling, but she had no idea if it worked because her fingers were already hooked on the handle of the door to slide it open. Her eyes fell immediately on a random guy with a green beanie and a gray sweater and he got up, so pale she would think he had seen a ghost. Maybe she was pale too?

But… Why was his nose so perfect? His cheeks were high but framed a beautifully round and perked-up nose. And his lips were so full, how?

Wait… Was she staring?

“Haesun?”

She turned to the host whispering her name, but she couldn’t think. All around her, the group of people seemed worried not about her but about the man with the green hoodie standing up.

“Are you okay?”

“Is something wrong?”

His eyes were so wide she feared that maybe she was being an eyesore or something. What the hell was she doing? Why couldn’t she think? Why would she think that? It was because she couldn’t think.

She hugged the tray and bowed to the group, slowly backing away out of sight.

“I think I need a moment,” she confessed to the host, swallowing dryly.

“Of course you do, take a break, I’ll take their order.”

He entered the room to meet the guests so that should have been her cue, but her feet weren’t moving. Her heart was speeding so fast she could have collapsed, but somehow it was building up to something she did not know what.

A second later someone passed the doorway and stopped right in front of her, as if searching for something. There was no one to the right, but there she was on his left. She thought she should get out of the way but as soon as she saw his eyes, she froze again. No way she could move now.

He turned to her, still pale, still wide-eyed, but this time his chin was dropped a little. He heard the commotion from the room and raised his hands before taking two steps forward. And wouldn’t you know, suddenly her feet moved on their own because her brain surely wasn’t capable of that level of awareness. Her body moved in his tempo as if by just raising his hands she knew exactly what he wanted.

She swallowed dryly again, nearly deafened by the beating of her heart pumping blood too fast through her brain, so fast it probably wasn’t reaching it at all. That’s it. She had no blood, that’s why she couldn’t think straight.

Wait, what?

He suddenly grinned and clasped his hands as if to contain his excitement, “Ahhh, I can’t really believe this is happening. Right? It’s happening, right? It has to be.”

She nodded. Whatever it was, it was surely happening.

“I’ve never felt like this, so it has to be… right? Ahhh, seriously, woah,” he rubbed his face, then adjusted his green beanie, smoothed his gray sweater, then extended his right hand to her politely, “Nice to meet you.”

She blinked, she was staring at his hands. Totally, from the start, from the moment he touched his face. He was tall, clearly thin despite all those layers of clothes, and his hands looked delicate. He moved delicately, in fact. She wasn’t delicate, she didn’t move like that. Weren’t they supposed to be the same?

“Miss?”

Her eyes moved from his chest to his eyes and blinked. His lips twitched as if he debated on whether to say something else and she huffed in a breath.

“Right! Me, right? Yes!” Her cheeks blushed instantly, but at least she was breathing. At least she had blood again. “I’m Haesun. Shin Haesun.”

She took his hand and bowed deeply, and her whole body tensed like a wire being overcharged. She gasped quietly and looked up with descended eyebrows while he made sure to use both hands to hold hers, making that sensation even more intense.

His joyful smile vanished slowly as his eyes lingered on her and those feelings treaded to their chests. Her heart was beating so happily, now fully with the only reason that mattered, that her whole body warmed and relaxed in successive waves. It wasn’t really a pleasure as one would receive in a massage for example, but it was definitely pleasurable. She would have melted into his arms if there wasn’t a burst of energy that almost had her hopping around, and preferably into his arms too.

“Hobi, we’re waiting for your order!”

Hobi? She furrowed her brow, where had she heard that name before?

“I’ll be there in a minute!” He answered dismissively before turning to her again. She was already too hot and the more he looked at her, the more she was convinced her legs would give in. “We… I have to go back, it’s our Christmas dinner.”

She blinked with a nod, of course. She, uh… she could… do something else other than hold his hand and stare at him. Surely.

“But you… I need to know all about you.” His thumb brushed her skin absentmindedly and she blinked yet again. Then why not right now? She wanted it right now, she didn’t want to be separated from him now. He reached for his phone in his pocket, “Please, give me your number. Let’s meet again tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes. Please.”

“When?”

“I don’t know, I…” She had to split their hands to take the phone, which was not pleasant at all. She felt like a battery that just got disconnected from the grid. “First thing in the morning?”

“I have classes.”

“Oh, okay, ahm…” She was typing as he hummed. “Tell me when you could make it.”

“Between class and work, so around four to like five thirty… six if I ask for it.”

She extended his phone back respectfully with both hands and he wrapped his around them, not that concerned about the phone. They stayed just like that.

“Hobi!”

“Sir,” a polite male voice called from the entryway and he let go of her immediately. “Should I order ahead without you?”

“Yeah, I will need a minute. Please,” he asked with a bow and the host bowed back. He gave a glance to Haesun with an implicit question and she smiled at him in reassurance. Hobi turned back to her once the host left and took his phone gently from between her fingers. “I’ll text you the address so meet me tomorrow, okay?” She nodded. “It’s a promise.” His tone almost spoke of relief and she smiled. “Can I… can I take your photo? I— All my contacts have their photos, so…”

“Sure!”

She tried rearranging her messy black hair falling off the ponytail, then her black turtleneck that was surely out of place. Her makeup was very bland, but there was nothing to do there. She probably did not look good but that didn’t even cross her mind — her soulmate was aiming his phone camera to take her picture. Her lips curved.

You can go here to keep reading [ao3] (this story is finished) 💜

#Soul Palette - Soulmate AU Series #bts fanfic #bts #bts imagines #ao3 fanfic #bangtan sonyeondan #bts fanfiction seeking the sunrise #bts angst #bts soulmate au #soulmates #bts hoseok #bts hobi #jung hoseok #hoseok fluff #hobi bts #j-hope fanfic #hoseok smut #hoseok fanfic #lo1k-diamonds writes 💎

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gruncho · 11 months

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Sometime, like a decade ago, I had a dream about watching TV that was so impactful that I regularly reference it like it is a shared piece of cultural media.

In my dream, I was watching TV and there's breaking news. It's Mitt and Anne Romney (is Mitt Romney's wife's name even Anne?) They are holding a press conference. Anne Romney is sitting and looking so brave and Mitt has his hand on her shoulder supportively. They ask for the public to respect their privacy during this trying time as Anne battles with her diagnosis of Ersette's Syndrome. The Romneys thank the American public for their prayers and whatever, don't answer any reporter questions, then end the press conference.

Cut back to the studio, the newscasters are like "Anne Romney speaking publicly for the first time about her battle with Ersette's Syndrome. We'll keep you updated as the story unfolds."

That's all that's on the news that night.. Tonight's top story, Anne Romney has Ersette's Syndrome but she's fighting it. Our hearts go out to her and her family.

Further on in the news cycle, people are starting to go "wait wtf is Ersette's syndrome?" News programs are interviewing doctors asking about Anne Romney's prognosis and all the doctors are going "beats me. It must be rare, I've never heard of it."

Finally, one nightly news program has cracked the mystery of Ersette's syndrome. They are interviewing an anthropologist who explains...

Ersette's Syndrome is the acute malaise suffered exclusively by extremely wealthy individuals. The onset of Ersette's syndrome is marked by the sudden realization that there are no thrills left on the world, that the patient has seen everything there is to see, and done everything there is to do up to and including hunting humans for sport.

Romneys host another press conference exactly like before. Anne is looking so brave, and Mitt is standing behind her with his hand supportively on her shoulder, but the atmosphere of press conference is different. Reporters are shouting questions and accusations. Mitt Romney speaks with a very defensive tone.

"We didn't mislead anyone! We were very forthcoming, I don't understand why everyone is so upset. We told you she has Ersette's Syndrome. She has Ersette's Syndrome, just like we said." Reporters are asking if Anne Romney has ever hunted humans for sport, if Mitt hunted humans for sport. Anne Romney bravely dabs a tear from her eye.

Then I woke myself up laughing, and immediately texted every single detail to my bestie so I wouldn't forget.

I'm furious that I'll never write anything as apt as Ersette's Syndrome while I'm awake.

Anyways, when a bunch of rich morons managed to die on the titanic because they needed to be extra special or whatever, I told people that Ersette's Syndrome claimed more lives, and only like 2 people knew what I meant but those two people were like "damn straight."

#Ersette's #dreams

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cornholio4 · 3 years

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Scarlet Lady Au: Two Halves of Marinette’s Heart

Author’s Note: Based on Zoe-Oneesama's Tumblr comic Scarlet Lady which is my fave Ladybug fan content or tied along with LadyBugOut. Only there and the amnesiac Adrien in the episode Oblivion do I ship Adrienette. Also happy birthday to Zoe.

@zoe-oneesama

Marinette Dupain-Cheng was smiling as he was riding on the back of one of her boyfriends Luka Couffaine's bike as he had insisted on giving her a ride to school. He and Adrien Agreste had recently revealed their feelings to her and she was torn between them: the cute and nice Adrien and the cool but also dorky like her Luka. It was tough to think it through even after they had both assured her that they don't want to hurt their friendship with her no matter what she choose. It was Alya who stepped in after healing her dilemma had said that she can just date them both since she had two hands for the each of them. Luka and Adrien were fine with this as long as Marinette was happy and it was then their relationship happened over the weekend.

They had let their family know and they accepted it well: Anarka was quite over the top in her excitement, Marinette's parents and embarrassed her by saying that she had got them 2 sons in law; Juleka had likewise already claimed Marinette as her sister in law and Adrien's father... Marinette and Luka looked at him in sympathy when he just shook his head saying that he was too busy to get a chance to tell him. Marinette comforted him with a hug not really liking how her favourite designer was so cold to his own son. Pollen was more than happy about his Miraculous' owner's new relationship and said his queen deserved all the love that she gets.

Marinette kissed Luka on the cheek after she got off and Adrien was there to greet them as they posed together for a picture smiling which Juleka took with Adrien's photo. Luka and Adrien showed off their custom necklaces around their necks made by Marinette of two halves of a heart with "Marinette's heart" inscribed on them.

"Are you sure that you are ready for everyone to know about you three?" Juleka asked giving Adrien back his phone and they nodded without hesitation.

"I don't really care as much for father's opinion but he seems to like Marinette as an up and coming designer so I think he will give approval." Adrien said with a huffed voice which had them silent.

"I wouldn't want to hide being with Marinette at all; I would sing it with my soul." Luka said Adrien posted the picture on social media with the caption:

Me with Luka Couffaine and our amazing new girlfriend Marinette Dupain-Cheng!

They got in and as students saw the notice they began crowding Marinette and Adrien as they came in holding hands as they went to their classroom. There were students wanting to get a look at 2 3rds of the new couple as they heard the comments:

"Marinette scored herself with 2 cute guys!"

"Are you going to be modelling Marinette's designs now Adrien?"

"So are you going to be Marinette Dupain-Cheng-Agreste-Couffaine in the future?"

They ignored them and walked into class with Juleka not far behind them to see their excited classmates wanting to know the details.

"So Adrien, will you and Luka be fighting eachother to get the most out of Marinette's time?" Alix asked as Marinette glared at her while Rose was squealing about how romantic it was. Marinette was taken aback when she noticed Lila and Sabrina glaring at their direction while looking quite jealous.

She was shocked by this thinking that she was getting along with Lila and Sabrina was forming a good friendship with her while helping her start over from her toxic so called 'friendship' that she had with Chloe. Marinette's eyes widened when she noticed that Adrien went to get to his seat and their looks were going to his direction, so it was Adrien they were angry at?

"Can I please ask if Adrien has done something to anger you?" Marinette asked as they both shook their heads and there were laughter.

"Marinette, they are just jealous that Adrien and Luka got to you first!" Alya told her grinning as they ended up nodding slightly a bit embarrassed.

"You helped me be more truthful about myself and I still remember how in love that I felt when I heard you badmouth that terrible Scarlet Lady!" Lila said as Marinette was open mouthed wondering just could she possibly remember that since she was Volpina at the time. Marinette did remember that while she was telling the love struck Volpina that she hated Hawk Moth more than Scarlet Lady, that she a bit scared that Volpina was going to kidnap her as a bride for her comment alone.

"You've always been so nice to me Marinette and never held what I did for Chloe against me, even when I tried to steal your diary for her and lied my way into your room. You've been more of a friend to me than Chloe ever was and you are so amazing." Sabrina told her as Marinette didn't know what to say.

"I bet Luka and Adrien wouldn't mind if you wanted to date Marinette as well, if Marc is alright with Nathaniel wanting to go after Marinette as well." Rose suggested as Marinette, Sabrina, Lila and Nathaniel were now red in the face.

"Dupain-Cheng!" screamed an unwelcome voice as the entire class groaned in unison as they should have dreaded this reaction as Chloe came in looking angrier than they had ever saw her which was quite an accomplishment for her. "How dare you steal my Adrikins away from me! I could care less if you wanted to waste your time with that loser with the guitar as losers belong together, that do you think that I was going to sit back and let you keep them both for yourself when Adrien is mine!" Chloe thundered as the class glared at her.

"Watch what you say about Marinette or my brother!" Juleka said speaking up using courage that almost never comes to her.

"Adrien is not a prize to be won or yours to claim Chloe; it's his choice who he wants to be with!" Marinette told her as Chloe smirked getting out her phone.

"Managed to get a picture of your little notebook when you had it open and wasn't looking Dupain-Cheng." Chloe said showing off a drawing of a love heart around Chat Noir as Marinette was open mouthed at that picture being shown to the class and red in her face but while angry at Chloe, Adrien couldn't help but smile a bit at the picture. "So do you want to claim the mangy cat as well Dupain-Cheng with how pathetic you are?" Chloe snarked looking victorious but Adrien spoke up.

"Nothing wrong with having a celebrity crush Chloe, I have one on Marigold myself." Adrien said taking out his notebook and showing that it had a photo of the Bee heroine Marigold with a heart drawing around it as Marinette was redder in the face while Chloe was open mouthed.

"Nothing wrong with that dude, she is pretty much the best hero that Paris has now!" Nino said with everyone smiling and nodding in agreement besides Chloe and Marinette. Marigold has with her fighting tenacity, warm comforting words to Akuma victims after they were being freed and happy to help civilians in need made her a more popular hero. She had given interviews and how valued Chat Noir was as a partner and helped Paris realise how hard he had to fight against the Akumas.

"Excuse me but Scarlet Lady is by far Paris' best hero!" Chloe retorted by Alya got out her phone and showed the poll that the news station had made asking Paris citizens who they liked the best.

Marigold was in the lead followed by Chat Noir, Maotif the one time temporary Chat Noir was in 3rd place and in a very distant 4th place with barely 1% vote was Scarlet Lady. "Paris disagrees Chloe." Alya told her and Chloe was furious. People were being interviewed and the stories of people's interactions with Scarlet Lady were now circulating.

"Adrien, you can't seriously be okay with this! I'm your friend and we would be much better than stupid Dupain-Cheng!" Chloe told Adrien but he shook his head.

"'Were' your friend Chloe, 'were' as in we used to be and haven't really been friends for a long time but I am just making it official!" Adrien thundered and Chloe was open mouthed and this surprised the class. "Sorry Chloe, I have tried to give you some time to better yourself but you keep pulling these stunts while being a cruel bully to our classmates and treating me like a possession of yours. Calling my girlfriend and my new bro losers was me losing all patience and I can't pretend anymore. I am sorry Chloe but I can't be friends with you anymore, you are different from the friend that I used to have." Adrien said and Chloe furiously charged at Marinette.

Adrien caught her hand and glared at her hard before letting go, Chloe began ranting and shouting on the spot while kicking the desk and Ms Bustier had to tell her off and send her to the principal's office.

"Sorry about that Adrien..." Marinette said since as much bad blood as there was between her and Chloe, the bully did used to be a friend to Adrien.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, just keep being the girl that I love." Adrien told her and she smiled back.

Later in the week, after school they were at a park bench as Marinette was at Luka's lap and Adrien was in Marinette's as the three relaxed together. However they heard screaming and saw an Akuma attacking people in the streets.

Marinette jumped out of Luka's lap and helped Adrien up who was in a similar panic as her's. "Sorry guys, I hate to break up a perfect moment but... I have to get a cake to Nadja and I don't want to be earlier than I was last time since it didn't go so well..." Marinette said thinking on the spot.

"Don't worry... I just remembered an event that my dad would want me to be at..." Adrien said as they both ran off in separate directions.

Luka smiled as she dusted himself off and went home chuckling at them, after a few days of this did they really think that he would not pierce it together? No matter, this means that he could talk to Adrien about Marigold and bond over them crushing on her.

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genesisrose74 · 3 years

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Christmas With the Karasuno Boys (HC’s)!!

Part 2: Kageyama, Hinata, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Kinoshita, & Narita

Part 1 (Daichi, Suga, Asahi, Nishinoya, Tanaka, & Ennoshita) here!

A/n: Tumblr said my word count was too much so I’m splitting this bad boi up into two parts :p Enjoy!!

*****

Kageyama

This boy has a secret soft side for Christmas istg

He HATES showing it to other people on his team and shit

But holy bejeezus he is mesmerized by the holiday in every way possible

Lights, sweets, snow, just like,,, the general magic of December is the most awe-inspiring thing to him

Since he is still a sporty and pretty active mofo, you decided to fuel that on your holiday-themed date as Kags had noted that he’d never gone sledding before

Your jaw was on the FLOOR when he first told you because he would 10000% enjoy the hell out of it

And so you dragged him out to this popular sledding hill that you frequented as a child and taught him what to do

Not gonna lie, he was kind of nervous

“Well you’re experienced at it. I don’t wanna mess up”

🥺🥺🥺 bubby

“You won’t, Tobio! I can already tell you’re gonna be a sledding pro”

Feels a little better after that, but he asks you to help him out for his first run down the hill

He sits behind you with his arms secured snugly around your waist and his head nestled on top of your shoulder

Which would probably seem really funny to passerby because this boy is tol and intimidating in most other situations

As soon as the sled started down, Kags tightened his grip and made this cute little yelp of surprise

But you were laughing insanely hard at the combination of going really fast downhill whilst also having your boyfriend cling to you for dear life

And then when the sled stopped safely at the bottom he started to chuckle

FULL ON, GENUINE SOUND OF ENJOYMENT

That shit is rare

Y’all stayed at that hill for half the day because it was so fun

You got him a new, very high quality athletic roller for Christmas because his old one was just not cutting it anymore

And you also gave him this really cute bracelet with a volleyball, his jersey number, and a little strawberry milk set of charms attached to it

It matched this really pretty and subtle chain he’d bought for your birthday

His blueberry eyes got all wide with affection dfjdskfjsdk—

Got super blushy and couldn’t get a handle on his speech for a fat minute

He thinks you’re the coolest person ever no I do not take criticism

Geez you’re both adorable together, ideal “stoic boy becomes warmer during the holidays around his love” movie plot and I love it

Hinata

He is all in on Christmas. Not a chance this boy doesn’t get excited as hell

Will openly go into holiday mode as soon as November is over

Was secretly already listening to his Christmas playlist before then

He is one of the sweetest gift givers, that is FACTUAL

If you want something really badly, he will take notice and get it as your present immediately

He’ll also gift you an extra thing that’s handmade 🥺

Like some pastries that his mom helped him make, or a specially made basket of soaps with your favorite scents in it

It’s absolutely adorable and you cherish those ones especially

Is happy if you simply get him something; mans doesn’t care what it is

New practice volleyball? A brand new sweatshirt? Elated either way

You had seen an advertisement for a friendly match between Japan and Poland’s men’s volleyball teams, so you waited online on the ticket sales website until the minute it opened

Spoiler alert: you got some banger seats 😌✨

Shoyo may or may not have tackled you when he read the ticket details, letting out his excited giggle (you know the one)

“I can’t believe you got these, angel! You’re coming with me, right? You’ve gotta! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

Gives you sweet little kisses between each individual ‘thank you’

“Of course I’ll go with you, Sho! I’m really glad you like it!”

He will give you the brightest smile of all time — that shit makes Christmas lights pale in comparison

“Have I told you how much I love you?”

RIGHT BACK AT YOU BBY

Hold his hands to warm up together when temperatures drop pls :)))

It’s become a weekly December tradition to watch a Christmas movie with Natsu at the Hinata household

She’ll sit in your lap while the three of you are cuddled under a blanket together, and Shoyo will lace his fingers with yours all discreetly

In conclusion, I am a sucker for holiday Hinata 🥺🥺🥺

Tsukishima

His room is decorated to the very minimum simply because his mom and brother had insisted on him being festive

You know those holiday instrumentals that are really calming and jazzy and stuff? Yeah, that’s the only Christmas music he will tolerate in his house

While he’s still got his usual icy demeanor, this blond bitch does get slightly less snippy with the Karasuno boys

Is always on the nose with getting you the exact thing you wanted for a present

Like,,, TO THE SMALLEST DETAIL

You don’t even have to bring that shit up beforehand, he just KNOWS

“Tsukki, how did you—?”

“It’s pretty obvious, with the way that one ad kept showing up on your phone.”

b r u h

How does he pay such good attention without even letting on??

As for his own present, you’ll usually get him two: one gag gift and one more serious gift

His dino plush collection size is partly due to the former’s contributions this time of year

Yes the dinos have names

You exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve with all the team (you made him go) and he saved your more serious one for last

It was a scarf that you’d gotten custom made, which had a Spotify code knitted into the fabric

Scanning the code opened the app to a playlist you’d created especially for him

He got pretty quiet when figuring it out and scrolling through the playlist

Would let out a certified Tsukki Nose Exhale™ when he came across certain songs

The more subdued reaction was expected because it’s Tsukishima

His little chuckles and warmer eyes were enough of a giveaway to tell you he very much enjoyed your gift

But on the walk home, he took the scarf and wrapped it around you both, and then brought his arm around your waist

“Thank you.”

You deadass almost combusted because it was so unexpected??

“You’re welcome. Merry Christmas, Kei”

Way to respond calm and collected 😌👍

But on the inside your body was in freak out mode

He wears the scarf all the time jdfsklfjdsk

Yamaguchi

Take the most tooth rotting fluff you could imagine

And then double that and put a fucking cherry on top

That’s the equivalent of what Christmas is like with Yama Yama

Y’all are like kids in a candy store — literally

For your Christmas dates it’s all about sweets and shared giggles, so frequent trips to the candy and baking isles of the grocery store is a must

Making gingerbread houses, peppermint tasting (mostly trying those different and wild ass candy cane flavors), you name it and it’s there

Stomach aches? I don’t know her

Yeah you do but they go away with enough butterfly kisses 🥰

Tadashi is exceptionally good at decorating gingerbread houses for whatever reason

He put a poll on his instagram between yours and his final products and he won by a landslide

It’s not like yours was necessarily bad, more like he’s just an icing master

You also might have eaten too many gumdrops which left your rooftop lacking in ✨spice✨

But it’s okay because Tadashi donated some of his leftovers to you

He’s such a sweetheart uwu

Please for the love of everything get him something heartfelt as his present

You know those long distance bracelets for couples?

Basically if your s/o taps the icon on the bracelet it’ll send a little vibration to the other person’s as a notice that you’re thinking about them

This boy seeks constant reassurance, and you love to give him his deserved love and validation, so it was the perfect present

It takes a second for him to figure out what it is, but after reading the directions and testing it out, the most adorable smile erupted on his face

And then since you already had yours on, he tapped the little icon again with a giggle

“Hey there”

It becomes common habit to tap it at least once every couple hours

GOD HE IS SO CUTE

He is just so soft this time of year, give him all the love and he will return it tenfold ☺️

Kinoshita

This boy is absolutely an awkward cutie and an avid romantic

Give him the cliches and he will eat em up, no doubt

It naturally gets more apparent around the holidays

He’ll take you on pretty winter walks, give you lots of little gifts (while blushing a hell of a lot), and is just a professional at stumbling upon some mistletoe

Wow wonder how it got there, Hisashi

He’s quite a bit more confident when simply alone with you than in a crowded space

And that definitely shows when he takes you out on a secluded sleigh ride around town

Yeah you heard me

A fuckin’ sleigh ride

Horses and blankets and everything

Don’t even ask how he managed to pull it off, because he loves watching the cogs turn in your head and simply will not give you a straight answer

Of course there’s the nice driver guy who’s there, but in the back alone Kinoshita’s confidence goes 📈📈

Lots of flirting, tons of skimmed touches and shared giggles throughout the ride

I legitimately simp really hard for him

Anyways it was a gorgeous ride through town and super fun

On Christmas Eve you both exchange gifts together and tbh whatever you got him will leave him happy and flustered regardless

But when he opens the wrapping paper to find an entire set of vintage VHS tapes, he’s stunned

He owns a VHS (actually canon!) and honestly loves it to death, and the fact that you’d get him tapes of pretty high quality for his collection meant a lot

Gosh he’s so underrated but a definite sweetheart, give him all the holiday love

Narita

Another underrated bby 🥺

He’s so chill and is pretty open to anything during the holidays, so long as he gets to spend ample time with you, his friends, and his family

Definitely more of an indoor person despite being accepting of most situations

Hence why you thought a cute little indoor winter picnic would be right up his alley

Which it absolutely was 😌✨ nice work

You’d made plans while in secret communications with his family members about the whole thing

He’d been pretty stressed lately with trying to handle his schoolwork, while also helping out others with theirs

Despite being a wonderful tutor, it was clearly becoming a bit overwhelming as he tried to grapple with so much at once

So when he came home one day to find a pristine house with you settled on a blanket in his living room, he was quite surprised

There’s a cheese plate, soda cans in a cute ice box, sandwiches, snacks, a presparked fireplace — you and his family went all out

Really adorable I cannot lie

“I thought you said you were going gift shopping today?”

“I might have maybe lied :P”

So he gives the sweetest little smile and sits across from you

Y’all stay there and talk for hours

After finally getting through everything previously laid out on the blanket spread, you slid him a little rectangular box that he looked at curiously

“Already? I haven’t wrapped yours yet!”

“Mine can wait a bit! Just open yours”

And so he does, and you watch with a face-splitting grin as he looks down in awe

You got tickets to see his favorite rock band in concert while they were on tour

He sprung onto you and pulled you into the tightest hug ever

“Holy shit you’re the best I love you so much how do you get even more loveable every day—!?!l”

It’s a jumble of words but you’re able to put it together and it makes you giggle

He deadass sprints upstairs to go get your gift and make sure that you feel as equally appreciated as he does

In simple words: wholesome holiday sweetness 🥰

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makeste · 4 years

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BnHA 6th Popularity Poll Reaction Post - Risky Spoiler-Dodging Edition

hey guys, so seeing as the results from the 6th popularity poll were leaked today, I figured I would do a separate reaction + analysis post this year, rather than piling it in as an extra on top of the chapter reaction post tomorrow. I figure this makes more sense anyway, since they’re really two completely different things. also this way I can write as much as I want lol.

also, just fyi, I am still completely unspoiled for chapter 293. and probably the smart thing to do to keep it that way would be to log off tumblr and hold off posting this until tomorrow, but I apparently have no impulse control today so oh well. anyway, so I’m hoping you guys will keep this spoiler-free if you don’t mind! as always, I would prefer to just jump right in completely unaware tomorrow like Troy returning to the study room with the pizza boxes lol.

okay so this first part is just going to be my predictions. fyi I am writing this part on Wednesday night, and then I’ll add on the results part on Thursday or Friday (ETA: Thursday, apparently, since I am impatient.)

okay so first of all, just as a refresher, this poll was open to Japanese voters from Aug 3 to Sep 30. meaning chapters 279 through 285. meanwhile last year’s poll took place around the tail end of the MVA arc. so between then and now we had Heroes Rising, the Endeavor Agency arc, and the War arc up to the part where the 1-A kids took on Gigantomachia in Gunga, and started battling Tomura in Jakku. so technically only a couple of arcs, but a LOT of stuff going down in them. oh and season 4 of the anime as well

so! firstly, I predict that my truculent africanized honeybee son will hold on to his crown at #1, coming off a year in which he did some internship-boosted soul searching, borrowed OFA in movie canon, and finished out the voting period as the my-body-moved-on-its-own character development MVP. like CALL ME CRAZY lol, but I’m pretty sure his title is safe. and then after him will be Deku and Shouto as usual

Aizawa should hopefully also have a strong showing because the dude had a banner fucking year. reunited with his old dead friend, took on Tomura with his hopelessly inept hero pals, and then chopped his fucking leg off. he had better be in the top 10. his fucking leg died for this, idk what else he has to do

Endeavor also stands a decent chance of doing well given the internship arc and the final episode of season 4. which I’m sure will go down just swimmingly if that does happen lmao. especially if he somehow manages to rank higher than...

Dabi, which I don’t think he will btw, but you never know. anyways though, but I’m thinking Dabi’s going to have a stronger showing than in past years (in the last poll he only got 367 votes and was ranked 19th). mostly because of his fight in the Gunga mansion, and his cheekily censored name reveal to...

Hawks, who is also going to rank pretty high here, I think. might be he loses some points for killing off Twice, but his back was basically to the wall there. and he has always been very popular, and I think season 4 will also give him a boost, along with his heavy involvement in the first half of the War arc

Tomura was already in 6th place last year and I think he cracks the top 5 this year. he’s gotten exponentially more popular since the MVA arc, and got a boost in the last poll even though his flashback had only just barely happened, and he hadn’t finished Awakening yet and all that stuff. anyway, so he’s only gotten cooler and more tragic since then so I think he makes a big play here

Kirishima, Momo, Tokoyami, and Mina should also hopefully do well, since the poll opened right in the middle of all that Gigantomachia action, and Toko had just got done being an absolute badass and protecting his birb dad. I don’t think he’ll quite make it to the top ten, but he should

and last but not least, I’m hoping that Mirko will come out and take the polls by storm, although I have no clue how popular she is in Japan lol. she’s clearly Horikoshi’s favorite though. she SHOULD be everyone’s favorite, but I mean, we’ll see how it goes

anyway that’s it as far as predictions! and so now, through the magic of writing stuff at different times, we will fast-forward to the part where we actually find out the results!

OH MY GOD YES, STEAMPUNK KHLKSLLKL. HERE FOR IT. JOLLY GOOD SHOW. 5 STARS

Kacchan looks SO COCKY and SO HAPPY and SO ADORABLE, YES I SAID IT. he is adorable as FUCK. I don’t quite know what it is about this particular Kacchan that just screams “LOOK HOW FUCKING CUTE MY STUPID, LOUD SON IS WITH HIS BIZARRE WINDOWPANE-LOOKING CONVERTIBLE SUNGLASS GOGGLES and his POORLY TIED CRAVAT”, but I think it’s because he looks like if a Digimon character and a FMA character had a baby

anyway, so it looks like most of the people present here are more or less who we expected to see. except that I can’t tell for sure if that’s Dabi or Shindou, and if it’s Shindou I’m going to punch somebody in the face so you will have to excuse me

Iida wearing a TRENCHCOAT and a TOP HAT with ENGINE EXHAUST GOGGLE ACCENTS is my new favorite Iida of all time. take note how there is no possible way he can wear those goggles with them sitting on top of his hat like that. plus he’s already got glasses on. these are just purely for aesthetic and IF THAT AIN’T JUST THE STEAMPUNK WAY

Deku out here speaking softly and carrying a lead pipe. Kacchan you best look out. seems like he’s done watching you take first place year after year while he languishes in the number two spot. your only hope is that he trips while attacking you because his boots are unbuckled

Shouto’s standing over there with the rest of the non-first-and-second-place characters, but what are the odds his results are actually within spitting distance of Deku’s same as always. anyway he doesn’t mind, though. also his outfit is by far the most sensible one here, but if you look closely he’s got some sort of fire extinguisher/jet pack thing strapped to his back that’s got a control switch on his belt. Shouto are you jetpacking or putting out fires

Kirishima out here all “I’m not sure what steampunk is so I’m just going to take off my shirt and pose”

AIZAWA WITH THE EYEPATCH SKLKSDLKFJLSKJLDFKJSLDFFJLDKSJFL:KS. SIR. SIR. also, lowkey furious that Horikoshi refuses to show us the automail leg that he is clearly sporting here but which we just can’t see, SHOUTO MOVE GODDAMMIT

Endeavor has TWO fire extinguisher-slash-jetpacks. THE BETTER TO... WHATEVER. look at you here in the top ten again. you really live for that controversy

HAWKS OUT HERE WITH HIS STEAMPUNK BEATS BY DRE AND HIS WEARING A RING ON EVERY FINGER. nice to see you’ve still got your wings there, kiddo. then again Deku still has both of his arms too so who even knows what is going on

BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH, IS THIS DABI OR SHINDOU. as if I don’t know the truth deep down in my heart. y’all I am gonna flip lmao. it’s not that I dislike Shindou, strictly speaking. but just... I can’t explain what it is, but if you put him and AFO next to each other and told me “you can only punch one”, I would be having a serious crisis. just, THIS FUCKING GUY, idek. STOP SMILING

Tomura looks like he just wandered onto the set here by mistake and has no idea where he is or what is going on. it’s because you’re wearing a bigass severed hand that’s blocking your entire view, Tomura. just take the hand off your face my sweet murder dumpling

anyway! so I managed to also find a link to the full poll results while somehow managing to avoid spoilers, and then I wanted to compare the results to last year’s poll, and so I made... this

hopefully you can all see this. if you’re on desktop you might be screwed, but on mobile you should be able to click and enlarge it. I mean, assuming you actually give a fuck about boring poll analysis spreadsheets lmao

anyway, so there were actually 13k fewer votes cast this year which is a bit of a surprise. is the series not still growing in popularity? do people apparently have better things to do during their quarantine lol

anyways but despite this, and despite getting 8k fewer votes overall, Kacchan still managed almost twice as many as his closest competitor. well fought, Deku. please put down that pipe

I somehow always underestimate the power of ship popularity to influence these things. but for example, it looks like Present Mic got that Vigilantes Trio bump. ride that wave for all it’s worth my man! hell, you got me on board

Iida fucking Tenya somehow got some sort of POWER BOOST out of NOWHERE which I can’t explain at all lmao, but I’m here for it. NOT BAD FOR AN OLD MAN

Sero managed to get the exact same number of votes in both 2019 and 2020. clearly the most loyal fans in the business

Mirko being all the way down at #20 is, of course, a travesty, and I hereby nominate her to be the one to punch Shindou in the face

ngl though, the lack of a single female character in the top ten hurts just a bit. it’s not overly surprising, but still. the worst part of it is that even if you kicked Shindou to the curb and moved everyone else up one slot, it would still be all dudes since Mic beat out Momo by a margin of a little more than a hundred votes. hard to stay mad at Mic for too long, though. ah well

Tomura actually lost a bunch of votes which is a genuine surprise to me. I know the villain standom isn’t as dominant in Japan as it is in Western fandom, but still. you can go ahead and punch Shindou too I guess

Tokoyami lowkey doubled his vote count over the past year while hiding down there at #18. he is slowly becoming more powerful. biding his time

anyway so I think that’s it! I mean not really, but I’m getting kind of tired lol. so just, you know, insert the usual gripes at Overhaul’s ranking here, although we can be happy about Magne making her way onto the list (r.i.p.), and Mineta and AFO taking a very satisfying slide down (all the way out, in AFO’s case; good riddance you bum). Hadou also got a huge boost which is awesome. Mustard’s persistent ownership of the #36 spot will forever remain a mystery to me, but oh well

anyways, this was fun. and I really do feel like everyone is looking away on purpose so that when Deku brains Kacchan with that pipe in about two seconds from now, there will be no witnesses, oh my fucking god

#bnha 293 #bnha popularity poll #bakugou katsuki #midoriya izuku #todoroki shouto #aizawa shouta #shigaraki tomura #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha

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lovelylogans · 4 years

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paper rings

i like shiny things, but i'd marry you with paper rings uh huh, that's right, darling you're the one I want i hate accidents except when we went from friends to this uh huh, darling, you're the one I want

part of the wyliwf verse.

ao3 | other fics on tumblr | coffee?

warnings: food mentions, underage drinking, drinking, slightly tipsy/drunk adults, proposal, complicated parental relationship, this one is really mostly just fluff y’all but please let me know if i’ve missed any!!!

pairings: moxiety, logince

words: 9,924

notes: okay. so, SOMEHOW, it is the first anniversary of me uploading the first chapter of where you lead, i will follow!!!!! i remember where i was when i uploaded the first chapter; i was studying abroad, and i thought that i may as well keep on writing during the trip, since i always keep writing, and this was the project i felt most passionate about, at the time. and now, a year later, the world certainly looks very different, and my life does, too. but this project is still going. i love this little universe, so much, and i’m so happy and proud and grateful that all of you keep reading it, and you’re cheering these characters along right beside me. so, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so very much for reading. and happy birthday to this little universe.

patton’s been basically vibrating with excitement since monday, and now that it’s actually friday michel’s banished him to his office because “your happiness is scaring the customers,” but patton can’t help it!!!!

it’s labor day weekend, starting today, which means at any minute logan’s going to be coming into town, straight from yale, his first time being home since he moved into his dorm about three weeks ago now, which means logan’s gonna be home!!!!!!!!!!!

he’s due back in town any minute!!!!!! he’s going to be here for about four days!!!!! logan and roman are going to be in town for four! entire! days!

sure, patton has seen him at friday night dinners, but that’s not the same as him being home! patton can pester him about classes and how frequently he’s taking breaks and ask questions about how he’s settling in and any potential new friends, because sure, he and dee are roommates, but patton wants to ask questions about his other dorm roommates (suitemates? it’s technically suitemates, isn’t it?) because patton only got to see just a glimpse of them on move-in day, so he doesn’t really know much about them, and—

and patton has a lot of questions and a lot of things he wants to know, generally, and also, logan’s going to be here!!!!!

patton looks down at the paperwork on his desk, considering it.

yep. he cannot focus on this at all. it’s basically a lost workday, at this point. goodbye productivity, he hardly knew thee. it’s time to go and sneak downstairs under the guise of checking in on the guest’s dining room, but really to sneak a cup of coffee and maybe also a cookie.

he descends the stairs.

“no,” michel says, without looking up from the guestbook.

“i’m just checking on the dining room!” patton protests. “i’ll be out of your hair, in and out, you’ll barely even notice me.”

“too late,” michel says, then, “stop making that facial expression.”

“i’m smiling, michel,” patton teases. “i’m happy.”

michel grumbles something in french, and patton’s about to ask what he’s saying, when he hears the door open. he swivels to see—

logan.

he’s wearing the navy blue yale sweatshirt patton bought him when he made his college decision, part of the pack of “yay yale, go yale!” stuff patton had kind of went nuts on—he can see an unbuttoned shirt and a loosened tie underneath it, along with a pair of jeans and sneakers that host a couple of roman-penned doodles. he’s got cocoa’s leash wrapped around one hand, cocoa panting happily at his feet, and he’s holding onto the strap of his backpack with the other.

patton’s moving before he can even think about it; logan drops his backpack to the ground, and patton’s wrapping his son up in the biggest bear hug he can manage.

logan’s done growing now, and is still firmly stuck at taller than him, something that when he thinks about it too much still strikes him as strange and still makes him a little bit emotional. logan smells like the laundry detergent he and virgil bought in bulk for him, and something patton can’t quite pin down, maybe something Inherently Yale, and maybe he’ll never be able to pin it down, but patton crams down the wave of sadness at the idea of him and logan growing apart; kids grow up, that’s what they’re supposed to do, he reminds himself.

still. all of those complicated feelings aren’t quite enough to quell the wave of my baby’s home, my baby’s home!!!!!!! happiness and excitement that’s been building since logan mentioned over phone that he was going to come back to sideshire as soon as his friday class was over.

patton draws back, hands on logan’s shoulders, beaming.

“there’s my college-goin’ boy,” he teases. “how’ve you been, kiddo?!”

logan’s lips twitch up into a smile, and patton feels his heart swell up with fondness at the sight of it.

“good,” he says, then, “i have eaten basically nothing but dining hall pizza for three straight days.”

patton laughs, and claps him on the back.

“very collegiate,” he quips. “i’ll keep the secret from virge, if you want. i’m assuming you’re probably not going to want pizza, then?”

“like grandma and grandpa will serve us pizza tonight,” he says, adjusting his grip on cocoa’s leash; patton reaches out a hand, and logan hands it over as he picks up his backpack.

“true, true,” he says, and reaches down to pet cocoa, because she’s butting up against his shins in a clear ploy for attention. “i know, yes, you’re a very good girl—well, clearly you’ve been by the house, do you want to hang out here or—?”

“please get him out of here,” michel shouts from the front desk, and patton pivots, holding up the leash.

“but cocoa is here!” patton says teasingly. “you don’t wanna kick out cocoa, do you?”

cocoa wags her tail at the mention of her name. she loves michel; patton really doesn’t know why, but ever since patton had taken her to work for the first time, back when they were training her as a puppy and didn’t think she’d do well shut up at home all day, she’s always made a beeline straight for michel.

michel, also, is very much a dog person. he watches the westminster dog show religiously each year, and his two chows, paw-paw and chin-chin, probably eat better-quality food than patton’s parents. and ever since he’d discovered that cocoa’s part chow, well...

it’s moved him to look at least tempted to take back his continual askings for patton to get out.

“no, that’s okay,” logan says. “i was going to ask if we could stop by the diner, anyway?”

“hungry?” patton guesses, and smiles a bit when logan nods.

“didn’t have time to stop for lunch,” he admits sheepishly, and patton gasps, only a little jokingly.

“oh, well, we definitely have to get you right to virgil, then,” he says. “he’ll get you something nice and healthy and not dining hall pizza—we’re going now!” he calls to michel.

“good riddance,” michel says, perhaps a bit less enthusiastically than he would have if it was just patton and logan, and if cocoa wasn’t part of the deal.

patton’s about to head over to the inn’s parking lot, but logan says, “can we walk?”

“oh! yeah, sure!” he says. “wanna see the town, huh?”

“just—cocoa,” logan says awkwardly, and moves to take back cocoa’s leash. “and it’s, um. nice out today. have you taken your allergy medicine?”

“yes, no sneezing because of pollen from me,” patton says, not to be deterred, “and you missed the town?”

logan grumbles something, and then moves to check his phone, and patton directs his grin out toward the inn’s grounds.

it’s that sweet point between summer and fall, where all the sweltering heat and humidity has died down, but the fall chill hasn’t quite crept in yet; the leaves and grass are all still green, the sky still a perfect shade of cloudless blue, but there’s a slight breeze that tempers any of the heat of the bright sunshine.

it is very nice out today.

it’s the perfect backdrop for a walk with his son and his dog; cocoa eagerly plants her nose against the ground and spends most of the walk sniffing every little plant, weed, and patch of grass she can find, while he asks logan all about classes and dorm life and how his first quizzes and papers went; he knows most of this, from their daily phone calls, but it’s still very nice to hear logan say it without the distortion of the phone’s speaker.

it’s probably good that they’re treading old ground, conversation-wise, because people keep stopping them on the sidewalk.

dot and larry beam at logan and patton. babette and morey stop in the middle of a walk to enthuse over the pair of them. emile’s walking toward remy aserinsky’s café, and clasps his hands together and gushes over them. mrs. torres nearly starts crying at the sight of the pair of them.

patton guesses people are really happy to have logan back in town? which, like, fair, he doesn’t blame them, not one bit. logan’s the best, and his absence has been keenly felt during all sorts of town activities; mayor porter had even stopped him after the last town meeting, bemused, holding out a paper of pr-perfected answers that always frustrated logan about needing to include, asking where on earth logan was, he’d usually emailed the mayor’s office three times to get these answers.

except the occasional visitor seems like it’s almost nothing, when they approach the main square of town; there’s a veritable crowd.

patton, bemused, looks around at them: his neighbors, the business-owners in town, even a few of his workers—it’s like half the town has turned out, and patton turns to logan.

“is it a holiday or something?”

“hm?” logan asks, distracted by making sure cocoa doesn’t tangle her leash around a telephone poll.

“it’s just,” patton says, and jerks his chin out toward the crowd. logan seems to catch sight of all of them, and his eyes narrow, just for a moment, before his facial expression smooths back over into indifference.

“it’s not a holiday, to my knowledge,” logan says. “but who knows, with taylor involved?”

patton acknowledges this with a slight laugh. “i bet it’s double-coupon day at the store, or something. i can never keep track of all the promotional deals that he puts on. i haven’t seen any posters for festivals or anything.”

“that’s probably it,” logan agrees, still somehow distracted by cocoa, who has long since freed herself.

they draw closer to the diner, and his son lets out a laugh, and surges forward, and runs to hug a familiar face, also grinning from ear to ear.

“roman!”

patton watches roman rush forward, wrapping his arms around logan’s waist and picking him up off the ground, spinning him around with the force of his hug, and he can’t help but smile when he hears logan laugh; to patton’s knowledge, this is the first time they’ve seen each other since they went off to school.

“my love!” roman enthuses, setting logan on the ground but keeping his hands wrapped around his waist, “mi querido, my beloved, oh, i have missed you—”

“i’ve missed you too,” logan admits, barely above a whisper, and as patton’s politely averting his eyes from them kissing, that’s when he notices something strange.

the curtains are drawn.

virgil never draws the curtains, not even when they’re closing at night. the last time patton can remember that happening is when they painted the diner, nearly two years ago.

and there’s a CLOSED FOR BUSINESS, ONLY OPEN FOR DANES, SANDERS’, AND PRINCES on the door.

“do you think virgil’s doing something at the diner?” patton asks logan and roman, who have stopped kissing, but they’re holding hands.

“what?” he says.

patton gestures to the curtains.

“oh,” logan says. “maybe you should go in and check.”

“if he’s doing something—”

“he would have deliberated it for months at a time and argued the pros and cons with you,” logan says pointedly. “i barely managed to convince him to re-upholster the seats a couple summers ago, remember?”

patton does. “but still—”

“he specified that it’s open for us, go check,” roman insists, at a pitch barely below a squeal, and so patton slowly opens the door to the cheerful jangle of the bell.

and he’s overwhelmed by yellow.

there are bundles, heaps, mountains of yellow daisies; crowded in every booth, sitting at the center of every table, fighting for space among candles that definitely weren’t there before, clustered around the feet of the table. there’s the biggest daisy chains that patton’s ever seen, ringing the diner’s ceiling, brushing against the pride flags behind the counter, and pots of daisies sitting in every chair, every booth.

patton pivots slowly, trying to take it all in—daisies bundled up in mugs, daisies twining pillars, bouquets of daisies tucked into every spare surface, every spare nook or cranny, soft instrumental music that patton definitely knows, even if he’s never heard this particular version of it—and he knows, he knows something big is going on here, hovering just at the edge of his brain but refusing to click, and he hears footsteps, turning to see.

virgil’s stepped out of the kitchen, through a clearly designated path from all the daises, there’s so many daisies, and smiles at patton.

“hey,” he says softly.

“hey,” patton breathes out. “what’s—” he struggles for a word, still trying to search for what this is, what the sense of déjà vu is—“all this?”

virgil smiles at him. there’s something nervous, in his face, making his smile a little awkward, and virgil wipes his hands on his jeans. he’s wearing the homemade hoodie, the one virgil wears most often, the one patton loves best, and his dark outfit looks strangely out of place in all this brightness, these florals, all this cheerful yellow.

he has That Look on his face, the soft one, the loving one, that always makes patton feel like he’s melting into a sentimental, happy little puddle of goo.

“so, turns out,” virgil says, “a thousand yellow daisies sounds super impressive, but once i got them all piled in here i decided i needed, like, way more, so i’m pretty sure i’ve bankrupted the east coast out of all the yellow daisies it’s got.”

“i’m sure you did,” patton says breathlessly.

virgil’s smile quirks at the edges. “you don’t remember?”

“i—”

“i mean, you were pretty specific, but i don’t blame you, it was eighteen years ago,” he says. “and you were kind of preoccupied with a lot of other things, it being logan’s first christmas eve and all the rest of everything going on, back then.”

and then, very suddenly, it clicks.

“ but proposals… that’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, right? it should be planned. it should be magical... it should be—it should be more. there should be music playing and romantic lighting and a subtle buildup to the popping of the questions. there should be a—a thousand yellow daisies, and candles, and—and more than just an oh, i guess.”

“oh,” patton breathes. all of a sudden, he feels very dizzy, and very warm, and the thoughts in his head could really only be described as the sound a kettle makes when water comes to a boil.

“yeah,” virgil says, “so” and he slowly gets down on one knee. patton is distantly aware of some clicking sounds.

“virgil,” patton says thickly, vision already blurring with tears, even as virgil smiles up at him, removing a small velvet box from his hoodie’s pocket.

virgil clears his throat, but it doesn’t stop his voice from sounding rough as he begins, “when i first thought about us being married—”

patton can’t help but let out a choked noise, somewhere between a sob and a laugh of sheer delight. married. married!!!!!!!!!

“—i thought that maybe this part would happen like how we’d moved in together; we’d slowly come to the realization, and figure out that we’ve basically been married the whole time, and maybe go off and elope, with the kids in tow.

“but then, well, i kind of remembered something you said, and i realized i agree. this—us—it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing. you are a once-in-a-lifetime thing. you and logan and roman—the family that you’ve helped make and bring me into—that’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, one that i cherish, so so much. you let me into your life, you let me be a parent to your son, our son, and i can’t—i can’t thank you enough. for everything that you’ve done for me. i don’t know who i’d be without you in my life, and i don’t ever want to find out.”

patton sniffles, and hastily reaches his fingers to swipe at his eyes under his glasses, because virgil’s going blurry, and he doesn’t want to miss this. he doesn’t want to miss a single second.

“you deserve the—the big romantic gestures, with the daisies, and the candles, and the music, and wedding with cake and cookies and flowers and dancing and—and everything you want, i’ll try my best to give it to you, because you deserve—” virgil’s voice breaks, and he clears his throat.

“you deserve everything, anything, that i can give. you deserve the very best in life. you’ve been through so much, and you’re the strongest person i know, and i just—you deserve everything good in life, everything you want, and, for whatever reason, somehow, you’ve chosen that you want me, and—and i’m so grateful for that, for you, every day, and i want to show you that, and i want to give that to you, because i love you.”

“i love you too,” patton manages to squeak out. his cheeks are wet, and aching.

“so,” virgil says, drawing himself up as straight as possible, cracking open the ring box, and patton lets out another sobbing laugh, like he’s so full of joy he can’t help but let it escape his body somehow, “patton thomas sanders. i adore you. i love you more than anything in the world. i—i am not sure how many times i can communicate i love you, i feel like i don’t have words big enough for how i feel about you, but. i want to spend the rest of our lives trying. will you marry me?”

“yes,” patton bursts out the millisecond the question’s fully out of virgil’s mouth, “oh, my goodness, yes, yes, a thousand-million times yes, virgil—”

virgil breaks into a relieved smile, and he fumblingly removes the ring from the box and catches patton’s hand, his own hand shaking. he holds onto patton’s hand to steady himself—or steady patton, patton thinks he might be shaking too—and carefully slides the ring onto his finger.

it fits perfectly.

patton lets out another sobbing laugh at the sight of it, the ring on his finger, they’re engaged, they’re going to get married, and virgil rises to his feet, smiling the biggest patton’s ever seen him, and—

“oh,” patton sobs out, and pats down his pockets, even if he knows full well he doesn’t have it. “oh, this is so silly, it would be so much more romantic if i had it on me—”

logan clears his throat.

patton had nearly forgotten he was there, but he whirls, and—

and logan’s smiling, just a little, but his eyes are wet enough that patton can tell he’s emotional over this, too; roman’s clasping his hands to his chest, practically bouncing up and down, clearly just barely holding in every comment he could possibly make.

and logan’s holding a camera in one hand, and the black velvet box that patton’s been hiding in his knitting supplies since logan helped him pick it out in the other.

“oh,” patton says, beaming. logan knew, logan knew about this, logan knew and he went by the house to get the ring box for him, and patton loves him, so so much, and he leans in and rocks onto his tip-toes to kiss his son on the forehead before he takes the ringbox from him, and spins to present it to virgil, opening it—

and virgil laughs, and this time he’s the one who’s crying, and patton can’t help but laugh, too, opening the box.

“virgil—”

“yes,” he says immediately, smiling so big, and patton is so in love with him, and patton lets out a messy, sobbing laugh.

"can i ask?”

“oh! sorry, sorry—”

“marry me?” and “yes” leaves virgil’s lips as soon as he asks, and patton manages to slide the ring onto virgil’s finger, and virgil immediately cups patton’s face in his hands and leans down for a kiss.

and cocoa’s barking at their feet, knowing that something’s going on and excited to get in on it, and he can hear the clicking sounds of logan taking pictures, and roman is hollering behind them.

and everything is perfect.

⁂

virgil feels so jittery with happiness that he thinks he might vibrate to another plane of existence.

patton had scooped up a discarded daisy chain fashioned it into a flower crown that’s nestled in the midst of his curls, and every time he looks at virgil he bursts into delighted laughter, eyes crinkling up with a smile, and he’s adorable, and virgil is so lucky, feeling the urge to reach out and touch patton, just to make sure that it’s all real.

they’re engaged. patton said yes. patton had also been planning on proposing.

virgil thumbs the ring on his finger—still new to him, even with the retro look it’s got going for it, still something to get used to, but the metal’s already warm. it’s fairly simple: a gold band with a single diamond inlaid in some kind of silver rectangle, flush set, ‘cause i read that lots of little stones are bad when you work with food, since you don’t wanna get anything lost in the dough and stuff, patton had explained, and then he’d bitten his lip and asked do you like it? as if that was even remotely in the realm of possibility, as if virgil could not like the engagement ring that patton got him to symbolize their commitment to each other for forever.

virgil had tried asking patton the same thing, though, and patton had spun his gold band around his finger—well, it looked more like two gold bands joined around several small diamonds—and said “you silly goose, of course i love it” so virgil figures that their emotions are the same on this particular subject.

they’re alone, just for a bit; roman and logan had dashed off to get the champagne that roman had apparently badgered his mother into buying for them on his behalf, so they’re sitting together on the floor of the diner, surrounded by their thousands of yellow daisies.

“i just,” virgil says, and fiddles with the ring on his finger, before looking at patton. “we’re almost married.”

patton giggles, leaning forward to press their foreheads together. “we are,” he agrees.

“i love you,” virgil says, giddy and almost a little helpless, because he couldn’t think to say anything else, he couldn’t think of words big enough, but—but patton knows that. he’d told him.

patton twines his fingers into virgil’s hair, and pulls him in for a kiss.

patton is an exceptional kisser; virgil has known this for years. but apparently, they get exceptionally clumsy when the pair of them are beaming so widely that they can barely even move their lips together, and they keep trying until patton laughs and virgil breathes it in, lightheaded with the euphoria of all of it, and they break apart.

“we’re so happy we can’t even kiss right,” patton howls with laughter, which gets virgil to start laughing, which means the pair of them are cackling like hyenas at each other as the bell jangles, roman calling out “who wants champaaaagne?!”

virgil tries to explain, but he catches sight of patton, flower crown gone askew from their kissing attempt, which just sets him off again.

logan sighs “dads” at them, which makes virgil even happier, which turns to him grinning even wider which means he’s laughing louder, and roman rolls his eyes at logan, grinning, looping an arm through his.

“they’re happy,” roman says.

“overjoyed,” patton offers, grinning.

“elated,” virgil tacks on.

“ecstatic,” a voice says, which is when he notices ms.—isadora, right, she’d told him to call her isadora, but it took a lot to break eighteen years of habit—and he and patton scramble to their feet.

after a pause, logan adds, reluctantly, because he cannot resist a word association game, “jouissant.”

“ooh, good one,” patton says. “that’s a ten dollar word right there, look at what you’re learning off at college!”

“from the french,” isadora says. she’s holding the champagne bottle awkwardly; virgil had learned on the day after both logan and roman moved to college the amount of times she had drunk alcohol could have been counted on one hand, then, but after that day it was escalated to two. patton moves to take it from her, looking at virgil, clearly about to ask for—

“i don’t have champagne glasses,” virgil realizes.

patton says, “i think mugs’ll work, it’s not like we’re going for class, here.”

virgil acknowledges that with a shrug, and, after checking with isadora, goes to gather five mugs.

patton’s the one to pop the champagne, and virgil quickly moves to put a mug underneath it to catch anything fizzing over—he just mopped these floors, before all the daisies had come in—and patton splashes a generous amount into it.

they end up splitting the bottle among five mugs, and roman lifts his, clearing his throat.

“to virgil and patton!” he declares. “we have seen this coming since i was five—”

patton elbows him jokingly, grinning.

“—and we wish you all the best together,” roman finishes. “salut!”

“salut,” they all echo, clacking their mugs together in a chaotic rendition of cheers, and patton smiles at up at him.

“aren’t we supposed to link arms or something?” virgil asks him an undertone, and patton’s smile widens.

“save it for the wedding,” he says, in the same undertone, with a sly grin that he barely hides with his sip of champagne, and virgil has to hide the silly grin that springs onto his face with his own sip of the bubbly, sweet champagne.

isadora sips at her mug with all the delicate class that he should have expected, but it’s still kind of funny to watch her lift her pinky and sip demurely out of a gaudy SIDESHIRE PRIDE PARADE branded mug, which has more rainbows on it than possibly anything else virgil owns.

roman breaks off with patton to start making his own daisy chain, and they tug logan to join them, too, so that leaves isadora and virgil standing alone together.

“congratulations,” she offers quietly, and virgil smiles at her.

“thank you,” he says, equally soft, touched.

a pause, and then, “remus would be thrilled.”

theres a prick of bittersweetness near his heart; not nearly enough to puncture the happiness, but enough to twist his smile, just a little bit.

“he’d try to pull a carrie at my wedding,” he says, and isadora smiles. it’s a very nice smile, one that he almost never sees.

“part of the reason he’d be thrilled,” isadora agrees. “still. regardless. he should be here congratulating you.” a pause, a sip of champagne, before she says, “he would be proud of you. as am i.”

virgil swallows down the sudden lump in his throat.

remus had, almost always, relentlessly teased him, on the rare occasions he’d had dates as a teenager. the baby’s growing uuuuup! he’d croon, and then proceed to attempt to sabotage him, “lovingly,” with something that virgil could easily undo, but something that would distract him from any mounting anxiety over a date.

he thinks remus and patton would have eventually gotten along. it would have been a rocky road, to be sure, but. they probably would have bonded over fatherhood, over their sons being friends. maybe because virgil cared deeply about both of them. he’ll never know, though.

“thanks, izzy-dory,” he says.

isadora’s smile has its own bitter quirk to it, at the re-emergence of a nickname that no one but remus had had the bravery to use on her; but, somehow, it isn’t sad, even as they’re remembering their own shared grief.

because she’s right. remus would be thrilled.

⁂

patton feels like he’s filled up with helium and he keeps bursting into peals of laughter at absolutely nothing at all.

virgil had taken over driving, like he usually did when he came to friday night dinners. they’re a bit late, patton’s sure, because when he and virgil were changing into their suits patton kept giggling, because they’re almost married, and then he got distracted by trying to kiss virgil again, so—

so, they’re a bit late, but he got engaged today, sue him.

virgil’s holding his hand, the other one on the steering wheel.

“i wonder how they’re gonna react,” patton muses, because, well, it shouldn’t exactly be a surprise, they moved in together a while ago and patton’s been pretty gosh-darn clear that virgil’s gonna be the one he’s spending the rest of his life with. he really hopes they aren’t gonna be too... well. them about it.

virgil says, “i did ask your dad about a family ring, a while ago—”

“oh, shoot,” patton says, turning to face him. “i totally didn’t think to do that!”

“essie got the family ring,” virgil says reassuringly, “so you didn’t miss anything, there isn’t a male family ring, as far as i know, but—but they had some forewarning, at least.”

“well, good,” patton says decisively. “they’re gonna be happy about this, okay? they’re gonna pop open some cristal and say congratulations and they are gonna like it.”

“that’s the spirit,” logan says dryly from the backseat.

“that it is,” patton says, and squeezes virgil’s hand. “anyway, logan, you’re home! do you have anything you wanna do over the weekend?”

logan considers this, before he says, “virgil told me he was planning this for this weekend, so—”

patton turns slightly. “you did?”

virgil shrugs. “i knew you’d want lo to be there.”

patton beams, and presses a kiss to virgil’s knuckles.

“roman was planning on something tomorrow with all of us,” logan continues, “but otherwise—i think the regular things. the bookstore, the press, the diner.”

“roman’s planning something, huh?” virgil says warily.

logan smiles, and doesn’t say anything else. virgil grumbles to himself.

“he’s a journalist, he knows how to keep secrets,” patton says, and, teasingly, “especially if they’re from his boyyyy-frieeeeend.”

logan mumbles something under his breath, turning ever-so-slightly red, and patton grins.

they end up plotting out a loose plan for logan’s weekend: a shopping spree of all the latest books at the bookstore, topping up any school supplies logan might have forgotten at home, doing the laundry logan had hauled back from yale, and an investigation of the library’s most recent shipment, hanging out with roman, and lots of diner food.

they pull up to the sanders’ house, and patton takes a deep breath, squeezing virgil’s hand one last time before he gets out of the car.

as soon as he walks closer, virgil immediately laces their fingers back together, squeezing.

“if you want, if they end up turning on us, we can go,” he says, in a low voice. “this day’s for us, right?”

“right,” patton says, and lets out his breath. “and who even says that they’ll react bad anyway?”

virgil doesn’t answer that—probably a good choice on his part, since he’s most likely already overthinking and patton is nervous enough—and logan knocks on the door.

his mother opens it.

“finally, you’re here,” she says, and they file in after her.

“sorry we’re late,” patton says, smiling, “we got a bit held up.”

she sighs. “well, nothing to do to fix it, then—come in, come on, would you like a drink?”

“um,” patton says, “well—”

“now?” virgil says in an undertone.

they enter the living room, where his dad’s already fixing himself a scotch at the drinks table.

“why not?” patton says, equally quiet; if we don’t, they’ll be upset we didn’t say right away, patton tries to communicate with his eyes, and virgil seems to understand, squeezing his hand.

“hello, logan,” his dad says, turning. “how’s yale?”

“busy,” logan says.

“hey, dad, why don’t you come over and sit down?” patton offers. “we, um, we have some news.”

richard and emily exchange a glance, before they sit on the couch together.

“what?” his mother says, turning to face them.

“it’s, um,” patton says, and makes the mistake of looking over at virgil, who is giving him That Look which makes his heart burst into butterflies and he can’t help but giggle, “well—”

“we, um,” virgil says, trying to help, but he can’t help smiling, too, and patton covers their held hands with his own—hiding his ring from view, coincidentally.

“oh, my god, you didn’t,” his mother says, aghast.

patton blinks, and virgil squeezes his hands harder. “didn’t what?”

“oh, my god, you did,” she says, a look of horror blooming across her face.

“now, emily—” richard says.

“you eloped!” his mother fumes, slamming his hands on the couch cushion and standing, and patton yelps out “mom!”

“i knew it, i knew you’d do anything to keep me out of your wedding!” she rants.

“mom, that’s not—”

“well, that is just cruel, patton,” she continues, overriding his attempt to intervene, moving to begin to pace, “a mother waits and plans for this day, even your mother, and tonight you just waltz in here—”

“we’re engaged,” patton bursts out. “we didn’t elope, i mean—well, we’re going to get married. in the future. since we’re fiancés now.”

his mother stops in her tracks.

“oh.”

she slowly sinks down to the couch.

“mom...?” he prompts, because he can’t really interpret the look on her face right now.

“who proposed?” she says.

“i proposed, but he had a ring too,” virgil says.

“it was very romantic,” patton says, and he can’t help but smile at virgil, all soft and silly.

“i was there, it’s true, he was very romantic,” logan confirms.

“oh,” richard says, attempting to blink off whatever whiplash must come from expecting your son to have eloped only to figure out he’s gone about the thing properly, for once. “well, congratu—”

“when’s the date?”

“oh,” patton says, caught off guard, and looks at virgil. “um—”

“the venue, the florist, the registry?”

“we got engaged today, mom,” patton tries to point out.

“i know that in a million years, you would never let me plan your wedding,” his mother starts, sounding a little wistful, and oh, no.

“um, mom—” patton begins, because. well, he’d expected the “differing social classes,” protest, he’d expected the “he’s not well-educated enough” protest, he’d expected, maybe, the “we revoke every little thing we’ve done to signify approval,” protest, or maybe even “we will start openly attempting to sabotage your relationship now.”

he hadn’t expected the mother-of-the-groom version of bridezilla. mother-in-law-zilla, maybe?

“i gave up on that dream a long time ago,” his mother continues, putting on the full, oh, what could have been, i miss that dream so face. emotional manipulation, emotional manipulation, he chants to himself, trying his best to summon emile’s voice. “yours was going to be a russian winter theme—the romanovs.”

huh. that sounded strangely familiar, but patton couldn’t put a finger on it; his brain’s been doing that a lot today.

“before the firing squad or after?” logan asks, in a blank, studious tone that only barely masks the sarcasm, and virgil just barely manages to stifle his snort. patton elbows him in the side.

“snow white roses, trees with white lights and candles, snow everywhere—”

oh, well, that doesn’t sound too—

“—you arriving in a silver sleigh with white horses...”

aaaaaaaand there it is.

“wow,” patton manages to get out, and she deflates.

“you hate the idea.”

“no, it just—” patton says, and struggles with how to put this delicately. “it doesn’t seem very... us, mom.”

“yes, well, it would have been beautiful,” she sniffs. “what will it be now? burgers and fries for the dinner? you walking down the aisle with a ketchup dispenser in hand?”

“hey,” patton says, a little sterner.

“i dunno, pat, a diner wedding could be cool,” virgil says jokingly.

“what do you think of the romanovs?” his mother says, giving virgil her most withering stare.

“they probably had it coming,” he says, stone-faced, and patton elbows him again, a little harder.

“happy day,” patton says, and looks at his mother. “let’s celebrate the engagement now, and leave all the wedding planning for later.”

frankly, it had probably been kind of naive to assume that his mother wouldn’t try his best to butt her way into wedding planning; she had gone into raptures about the potential of his debutante gowns and future outfits enough when he was younger to ohhhh he’d forgotten about the wedding talks. that’s where he’d heard all the talk about the romanovs.

well. at least it isn’t a bad reaction, he figures.

“yes, yes,” richard says. “ah—champagne?”

“yes!” patton says eagerly, ready to get past his mother attempting to worm her way into wedding planning. “yes, let’s—let’s do champagne!”

“elsa!” his mother calls, then, undeterred, “you know, it’s tradition for parents to help pay and plan for the wedding, and if we could just get in touch with your aunt celine, i bet most of your father’s side of the family—”

“small wedding, mom,” patton says, “we’re probably going to want a small wedding.”

he glances at virgil. “right?” he checks.

“yes, small wedding, absolutely,” he confirms. “my family, your family, the town—”

“the town constitutes a small wedding,” his mother says, doubtfully.

“we were talking about champagne!” patton says quickly, as elsa comes into the room. “um, elsa, can i go help you find champagne flutes, preferably until my mother exhausts this topic of conversation?”

“you’re doomed,” logan says, and patton tries his best to glare at him.

he can’t really manage it, though.

because, well. he can’t really blame his mom. he’s very excited about his wedding, too.

patton decides to take this as a win, even if he knows he’s going to spend the rest of his evening trying to dissuade his mother from throwing money at their wedding.

⁂

“okay, spin, twirl,” roman says.

virgil sighs, but does so, awkwardly; he’s wearing a purple flannel and a pair of black jeans, very regular for him. like, not very fashionably forward of him, but very regular. roman surveys him, squinting.

“since when do you need to do outfit approval for an outing?” virgil grumbles.

“since always,” roman says happily, before he smooths his hands over virgil’s shoulders; he supposes the whole thing is semi-formal—he’s wearing a white top tucked into a red skater skirt, which he guesses passes for cute but semi-casual. “okay, but, hang on, what if—”

“how many times have i told you i don’t want a makeover,” virgil says wearily.

“and how many times have i listened?” roman says. “it’s not even that much, anyway, just—”

he digs out a jacket that pairs well with it, a black one, one that at least takes virgil’s outfit to i threw it on to i at least attempted to plan, which virgil shrugs on with a sigh, and roman immediately sticks his fingers in virgil’s hair.

“hey—”

“i’m not even doing that much,” roman says, correcting virgil’s bangs, before stepping back. “okay, now you’re set.”

“finally,” virgil grumbles. “why don’t you do this to patton and logan?”

“because patton is very set on his sense of dad-fashion and logan at least has some kind of officious-looking thing going for him,” roman says. “you are just helplessly grunge.”

virgil rolls his eyes, but gestures for roman to go ahead. roman skips down the stairs, catching logan’s hand, because they’re together, in the same space, where roman can touch him and not just see his face over grainy video call.

“hi,” roman says, and presses a kiss to his cheek. “ready to go?”

logan smiles at him; unlike patton and virgil, he knows exactly what’s going on.

“we all are,” logan confirms.

“right!” patton says brightly. “what’d you have in mind, kiddo?”

“you’ll see,” roman says, instead of stating an elaborately crafted cover story he’s sure he could come up with on the spot—virgil not knowing what’s going on means he won’t be super surprised when roman leads him to, well. the thing.

he keeps a tight hold on logan’s hand as they walk, swinging it between them. they hadn’t really gotten to spend a lot of time together yesterday, with the engagement and logan’s grandparents and all, so roman is absolutely planning on capitalizing on logan time when everyone else is occupied.

it’s an easy walk, from patton’s house to town; the weather’s still really nice, and the breeze feels nice on his legs, and logan’s hand is cool in his, and the closest thing he has to dads are behind them, trying to be subtle about their reinvigorated lovebird honeymoon phase but failing miserably.

roman squeezes logan’s hand. “so, my big yale man—”

“nickname denied,” logan says.

“all right, eli-logan—”

“slightly better,” logan says, then, “wait, you researched yale nicknames?”

“of course i did, that’s four years worth of new material there,” roman says. “so, anyway, i have news for you.”

“news?” logan says, startled.

“um, yeah,” roman says. “i asked my mom and caught up on all the taylor gossip, i bet you could write an exposé over thanksgiving break. so, i’ve got common knowledge, and town meeting stuff, and apparently my mom’s got some info for you, so i managed to get her to tell me that so you know everything before everyone else—”

a little smile breaks out on logan’s face, and he leans in to press a kiss to roman’s cheek.

roman blinks at him, but smiles. “what was that for?”

“just,” logan says, and he smiles wider. “you look very pretty today.”

roman preens; he did put extra effort into his hair, and he’s wearing a bit of makeup, a fun little glitter look on his eyes, and he usually wears skirts on special occasions, he used to wear them more when he was a kid; he borrowed this one from charlotte.

this skirt would be pretty short on him, if it weren’t for the fact this skirt is too big for her. most ballet women are tiny; charlotte’s 5′5″, and she’s the tallest of his new friends.

“well,” roman says, and preens even more obviously, so that logan will laugh. “obviously.”

logan’s laugh buoys him all the way to the point where they’re nearly to the town square, and he can hear the rush of noise, and music.

“what’s going on?” patton says curiously.

“well,” roman says slyly, and moves aside. “go and see.”

patton breaks into a smile, probably remembering the last time that roman told him to go see something.

“roman,” virgil starts, and they turn just in time to see.

the town square’s decked out with all the yellow daisies that virgil had used to propose, and a banner that says PATTON AND VIRGIL’S ENGAGEMENT PARTY, and the gazebo’s twined with blue and purple ribbons and there’s stacks of presents, and there’s a cheer that comes from people gathered: his mom, and a ton of girls who go to the dance studio, and mrs. torres, and emile and remy, and dot and larry, and babette and morey, and even taylor, all here for—

“what’s all this?” patton says, delighted.

“well,” roman says. “since i’m a poor college student and couldn’t exactly afford an elaborate engagement present, i figured i’d do the next best thing and give you an engagement party.”

“roman,” virgil says.

“i—i made it so that there’s music, and dancing, and food and stuff,” roman says, gesturing vaguely, “so even if it’s a party for you, the attention won’t always be on you, since i know how you feel about—”

he gets cut off, though, because virgil cuffs him gently around the head and pulls him in for a sidehug.

“you’re a good kid, roman,” he says, gruffly, and roman can’t help but smile. he feels like his heart is glowing, from the happy look on patton’s face, to the outward expression of fondness from virgil, to the way logan’s looking at him all proud like he’s doing something super special.

“well, duh,” roman says, like he isn’t grinning so big that he’s sure it’s messing up his makeup. “go on, go, it’s time for the party!”

and so virgil goes to patton, who takes his hand and drags him straight for the throne-like chairs that are set up for them to start opening their presents, and logan bumps up against his shoulder.

“i still can’t believe you did this,” he says quietly; they’ve been facetiming a lot so logan could help plan it, so it’s not like this party is news to him.

roman shrugs, and leans into logan’s side in a blatant ploy; logan obliges him, and wraps an arm around roman’s shoulders.

“well,” he says. “they’re important to me, too. i wanted to do something special.”

logan presses a kiss to his temple, and says, “wanna get some cake?”

“hell yeah,” roman says, and so they go and get in line to get some cake.

⁂

the sun has set, there are twinkling lights on, the music is playing, the party is still going fairly strong, and logan sways to the music.

this mostly has to do with roman dragging him out to dance, and he’s obliged, mostly because of how happy it makes roman, how excited he gets, how beautiful he looks.

roman’s hair is sweaty and has long since become a bit more of a wreck than it originally was. the glitter around his eyes has smeared a little, and his sweat catches the light, making him gleam and glow in a way that is unfairly attractive, for his version of being a sweaty mess.

he’s never, ever going to be as good a dancer as roman—for one, he hasn’t been training for nearly fifteen years—but he’s perfectly content to dance with hm, so long as he can see roman look this great, be this happy.

the song ends, and roman whoops, putting his hands up in the air, before he fans at his face.

“want a breather?”

“yes,” logan says gratefully. he runs fairly frequently, but he also isn’t nearly as in shape with roman (again, training for nearly fifteen years) and his feet ache.

roman grins at him, grabbing his hand so that he could drag logan out of the crowd, and logan follows along, trusting roman’s sense of direction in a crowd far better than his own.

they pop out somewhere near the beverage table, and logan spies, somewhere deeper in the crowd, his dad trying to twirl virgil around and virgil awkwardly ducking his arm, to gales of laughter from his dad.

“they’re happy,” logan notes.

“yeah,” roman says. then, “do you think sookie’ll kill me if i steal this bottle of champagne for us?”

logan glances over at roman, who’s grinning, and holding up a recently-opened and not-very-depleted bottle of champagne.

“it’ll be worth it,” logan decides, and roman giggles, before taking logan by the hand again, dragging him to the exact place that logan expected.

they settle on the steps of the gazebo, stretching out their legs and beholding the crowd. roman sighs, pleased, and logan tries his best not to stare at roman’s tanned thighs and the way they look in that skirt.

he has been doing that quite a bit today.

“champagne, my good sir?” roman says, mockingly officious, and logan blinks.

“we forgot to grab glasses.”

“well,” roman says, and takes a swig directly from the bottle, before offering it to logan. “i’m pretty sure you don’t have cooties, and if we do, we’ve definitely cross-infected each other by now.”

“well, who knows what kind of super-cooties you could have picked up in new york,” logan says, and tries his own swig; he’s less practiced than roman, and he gets a near-painful mouthful of fizz and bubbles that makes him cough, just a little.

“a joke!” roman says, thumping him gently on the back. “college really has taught you things.”

logan rolls his eyes, and bumps his shoulder against roman’s.

they technically both got drunk for the first time at the same time; patton had offered his house for it—you’ll both probably get offered to drink at college, and i want you to try it somewhere where you know you’re safe just in case, all right? patton had said, and so they’d drank candy-flavored drinks in glass bottles and roman had tried to experiment with bartending and they’d kissed a little but logan’s pretty sure that he’d fallen asleep in the middle of it, because the next thing he remembered was waking up with a dry mouth, draped over roman, on the floor of the living room.

he hasn’t drunk very much since; unsurprisingly, roman likes parties more than logan does.

they swap the bottle back and forth in mostly companionable silence, watching the party go on; patton and virgil get champagne flutes clanged at them a few times, making them lean in and kiss each other to cheers from the crowd; the music rumbles on, and roman dances in place, singing along quietly; they watch emile and remy dance, and kirk’s bizarre arm-flailing that might pass as dancing.

logan feels warm, and pleasant, and a little floaty, and he turns to rest his head on roman’s shoulder.

“this is nice,” he says.

“yeah?” roman says, amused.

“i—this is really nice,” he says earnestly, and roman snorts, adjusting so that he can cup logan’s chin in his hand and examine his face.

“are you tipsy?”

“moderately, i think,” logan admits, and roman throws back his head to laugh, before cupping logan’s face in both his hands.

“you’re adorable,” roman teases, and he leans in to kiss him.

logan hums happily into his mouth, leaning into it as much as he can. he’s missed this; he’s missed him, so bad. this is his first time living away from roman, his first time not going to school with roman there, to talk to him at the press or for logan to steal into the studio to watch roman dance. it’s been harder than he thought it would, to be away from him. from home.

but he’s here now, and he’s so happy, and he feels so warm inside.

his dads are getting married, and roman is right here, kissing him, and logan parts from him with a dreamy little sigh.

“i love you so much,” logan tells him, and roman’s face goes soft.

“well, i love you so much too, bulldog-an,” roman says, and brushes some of logan’s sweaty hair out of his face, ignoring the face logan made at the highly questionable bulldog logan pun. “like, so much.”

“oh,” logan says, relieved, “good,” and roman laughs, but not in a mean way, not at all.

“you’re a peach, baby,” roman says, and logan rests his head on roman’s shoulder.

the party’s still going; it’s a slow song playing, and his dads are dancing slowly, eyes closed, completely in their own little world.

“you know,” logan says thoughtfully, “when i propose to you, i wouldn’t mind something like this for us. i think that’d be nice.”

roman laughs, a little nervous, and he says, “what?”

“when i propose to you,” logan repeats. “or when you propose to me, i guess. however. i don’t care which way. but a party like this, then, it’d be pretty—mmph,” because roman’s pressed his lips against logan’s, hushing him.

and oh, logan has missed kissing like this; feeling like he was melting into it, hyperaware of every swipe of roman’s tongue and promising hint of the scrape of teeth and the taste of champagne on both of their tongues, roman’s hand a warm presence he can feel burning through his shirt that’s inching lower and lower, and logan twists his fingers in roman’s shirt in kind, dropping down to squeeze at roman’s bare thigh—

“this skirt,” he growls, “has been distracting me all day.”

“yeah, i know,” roman says, pleased, wiggling into the touch, flexing his muscles on purpose, “that was the goal” and how could logan not lean in to kiss him even more at that, spreading his hand as wide as he could to feel as much of roman’s soft skin as he could, kissing him heated and quick and desperate, and—

and there was the clanging of champagne flutes starting again, someone hooting and hollering, and roman and logan broke apart.

well. logan kept a possessive hand on roman’s thigh. because feeling up roman’s muscles was just very nice.

“we should probably get back to the party,” roman breathes, and he’s still close enough that logan can feel the breath on his face.

“i—yeah,” logan says. “we probably should.”

roman laughs, and leans in to kiss him on the cheek. “i’ll get you some water first, though. stay put, okay?”

“okay,” logan agrees, leaning back; well, as much as he can lean back, when he’s sitting on stairs.

roman giggles, and walks off, with more swaying to his hips than he usually would, looking over his shoulder to give logan an ostentatious wink.

logan can’t help but burst into a smile.

i’m going to marry that man.

⁂

"wait! wait, wait, wait, wait,” virgil says, frowning, wrapping his hand around patton’s wrist to keep him from going into the house, and patton bites his lip to keep himself from laughing.

listen. patton knows he’s a lightweight. he usually plans for these kinds of things, so that he doesn’t end up drunk off his butt from what would usually get other people teetering their way from tipsy into drunk.

with that, it follows that he’s been around virgil drunk more than virgil has been drunk around him.

but the champagne had been flowing, and everyone had been eager to fill up the newly... affianced? newly fiancéd? the engaged couple’s drinks throughout the entire party.

and as such, virgil is frowning, almost over-exaggerated, clearly going through some kind of calculation that must make sense in his drunk brain.

“i gotta do the,” virgil says, and vaguely mimes something. “the carry-you-over thing.”

it clicks in patton’s brain, then.

“you want to carry me over the threshold?” he asks, amused. “honey, that’s what newlyweds do. people do that when they get married.”

“we’re basically almost married,” virgil argues, and patton tilts his head, considering this.

look, he’s not sober either, okay?

“all right,” patton agrees with a laugh, holding out his arms. “carry me over the threshold, darlin’.’

virgil beams at him and, carefully, gets into place.

“ready?” he asks, and, when patton nods, lifts him with a small grunt, and patton squeaks as his feet leave the ground, wrapping his arms tight around virgil’s neck.

virgil slowly ascends the porch stairs, patton beaming at him, until virgil comes to a pause.

“what?” patton asks.

“the door,” virgil says.

“oh, i can get—”

“i’m not putting you down,” virgil says, as if offended by this potential slight to his ability as a good fiancé, and scowls at the door, as if he’ll be able to open it with telekinesis.

“no, virge, i mean—” patton says, with a laugh, then, “hang onto me tighter?”

virgil obliges, and patton reaches over, twisting the doorknob.

“there,” he says, satisfied.

virgil leans ever so slightly to smack a kiss of gratitude to patton’s cheek, before stepping carefully over the threshold, making sure that patton doesn’t bump his feet or his head against the doorframe.

and patton expects that to be it, for virgil to set him down right there, except he keeps going, ignoring cocoa barking excitedly at their feet.

“virgil!” he squeaks.

“night, logan!” virgil calls to logan, who calls out a cheerful “night!” and moves past them, clicking his tongue for cocoa to follow him, for her to go out one last time before bed.

and virgil keeps going, moving up the stairs much more slowly than they usually would, a combination of the pair of them being tipsy and giggly, and virgil climbing the stairs with patton in his arms.

the door’s slightly ajar, and so virgil turns to bump it open with his hip, and carries patton across that threshold, too, and, at last, deposits patton on the bed, patton bouncing ever so slightly with his landing, bursting into laughter.

virgil immediately looms over him, crawling above him, and patton giggles at the sight of him, moving to cradle his cheeks in his hands.

“my big strong man,” patton purrs, “you’re such an amazing almost-husband—”

virgil dips and immediately moves to devour patton, and patton gasps into his mouth, snaking his arms around virgil’s waist. virgil bumps noses with him, and patton laughs, adjusting, before he surges up and kisses him again, and he feels so excited, all of the energy of the party resurging and making his blood heat and patton presses himself closer and nips at his lips and kisses him, and virgil gasps into his mouth, and—

“you’re drunk,” patton groans, and virgil sighs, resting his head on patton’s collarbone.

“but kissing,” he whines into patton’s chest. “and—other things.”

patton snorts, nudging virgil so he rolls off of him, and he does so easily, with no resistance.

“you’ve had to tell me to not get too eager when i’m drunk,” patton says, “and now i’m telling you.”

virgil pouts, and it is awfully difficult to not just dive right back in and kiss him, when he’s all rosy-cheeked, and he’s got kiss-swollen lips.

“nope,” patton says, and swipes a kiss across his cheek. “payback for that one time after my final final exams.”

“you were drunk,” virgil protests.

“and so are you!” patton says, laughing.

virgil lets out a long, weary sigh, and grumbles, “fine,” rolling away from patton.

“aw, lovely,” patton says, and puts his hand on virgil’s side, shaking him a little to get his attention. virgil pretends to mope—or maybe it’s not pretend, virgil can be a sulky drunk, and he usually is, until patton draws him out of whatever corner he decided to brood in, and then he gets all blushy whenever patton kisses him on the cheek or gives him gestures of affection or pays attention to him, generally—“hey, honey, we can still cuddle, n’stuff.”

virgil visibly perks up at that. he rolls back over.

“yeah?” he says hopefully.

“yeah,” patton says, “of course we can cuddle, just—we should get ready for bed, first, and then we can cuddle all you want.”

“mkay,” virgil says, and steals one last kiss before he ambles away to go brush his teeth, even as patton squawks after him, because that’s cheating, they aren’t supposed to kiss and stuff when they’re drunk, those are virgil’s rules!!!

patton ends up butting up against him in the bathroom, bumping his hip against his, and they brush their teeth together, making funny faces at each other in the mirror.

they tumble into bed together, patton letting out a relieved groan.

“the party was very fun,” he sighs. “but i am very tired.”

“seconded,” virgil groans, wrapping an arm over patton gracelessly; it’s like he wants to touch as much of patton as possible, hug him as close as he could, and patton smiles, burrowing closer.

a beat, then, “okay, i know that i’m the one who said we should follow the rules, but—”

“mm-mm,” virgil grunts, and patton sighs.

“yeah, i figured.”

“well,” virgil says, after a beat. “look at it this way. we’ve got the rest of forever to kiss and stuff before bed.”

patton hides his grin at the thought of that in virgil’s chest; he knows their rings are resting side-by-side on their nightstand table, their symbol of their commitment for the rest of time.

virgil’s right. they do have forever.

and that sounds just about perfect to him.

#my post #text #my fic #the sideshire files #sanders sides fanfiction #moxiety #logince

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fantastic-nonsense · 4 years

Text

Winners and Losers of the 6th Democratic Debate

Winners:

Biden: Surprised the hell out of me and actually sounded competent and actually put together tonight. Still had some really weird and skeevy af answers, but overall came out sounding pretty good. Points deducted for unnecessary shouting, being dragged by Bernie a couple of times on his foreign policy, his inability to articulate his record on military policy, and the really odd and awkward segue into the story about the kid with the stutter.

Warren: Liz desperately needed a comeback night after her drop in the polls and god did she deliver. She sounded coherent and put together, was on message, was far more aggressive than she had been in previous debates (but effectively so and not needlessly so), and played as a very effective first round to take out Buttigieg so that Bernie and Yang could take the slam dunk shot and victory laps respectively. She was also able to effectively articulate pretty much everything, including a very well done answer on how she would exercise executive power in a divided Congress.

Bonus points for her responses on corruption/how corruption keeps progressive policies from getting passed and her response to the “are you too old to be president” question with “Well I would be the youngest female president ever elected.” Points deducted for not being able to answer Buttigieg's ‘are you corrupted Senator’ question, the slightly odd repetition of the “selfie line” line, and the slight zone out during the closing statements.

Bernie: also sounded far better and more coherent than he has at the past few debates. Simultaneously played peacemaker/argument-finisher and agitator to great effect. Highlights: getting the slam dunk on Buttigieg after the Warren-Buttigieg fight, shutting the Biden-Klobuchar fight down, and his comments on Israel-Palestine. Multiple points deducted for giving the mods the complete runaround on healthcare and not saying what he would do if he couldn’t get his bills passed in the Senate.

Middle of the Pack/“Almost Winners”:

Yang: I will never be convinced to vote for him, but having fewer candidates on the stage definitely worked to Yang’s advantage. Generally speaking, he had fairly compelling points and was able to articulate his thoughts quite a bit more. However, I’m dinging him significantly for all of those times that he stopped and visibly waited for applause; it came off as very Jeb “please clap” Bush, and I’m not about that life. He also completely missed the point on multiple occasions and reminded me that he’s not a politician with no political experience, and thus no real practical understanding of how to wield political power. I’m glad he’s there for the issues he’s articulating, but I would never vote for him for a federal-level office before he has served at a local, county, or state level.

Amy Klobuchar: okay before I get into her performance can I just say how weird it is that she’s polling at like 2% nationally and has had the most/second most speaking time at 2 debates in a row now??? Anyway Klobuchar was basically…the same, which means that she was kind of obnoxious and inserted herself and her opinions into everything, as usual. Lots of focus on “I can get it done” and “we need a Midwesterner” and obviously forced jokes (like Amy, I get it, you’re the “hello fellow kids” candidate, but you really don’t need to go that hard by name-dropping the “Notorious RBG” on live national television), not a lot of focus on how to actually move us forward into the future. She got some good shots in and sounded forceful, but nothing particularly substantial was said. Highlight of her night was her absolutely ending Buttigieg over the question of his experience. So she did much better than she has in previous debates, but not enough to actually put her into the 'winners' category.

The Losers:

Buttigieg: tonight was Dunk on Buttigieg night and he was obviously not prepared for it. He was able to semi-effectively combat Warren, but he had no response to Bernie and Yang coming after him using the opening provided by her attacks and Klobuchar coming back around to solidly end him. Also the “wine cellar” moment is already meme-ing its way around Tumblr and Twitter, which is not going to help him a bit either. He gave his usual “sound good but incredibly vague with no concrete answers” spiels, and still doesn’t seem to understand why universal public services should be free to everyone and not just poor/middle-class people; I don’t care if I’m paying for a rich kid to go to college or get healthcare, because they in turn are paying for me to go to college and get healthcare. Public services are for everyone to enjoy and profit from, not just poor people. He had multiple good moments, but they were overshadowed by his bad ones.

Tom Steyer: the entire time I just kept thinking “why are you here and peddling your false ‘I am the only one who has done anything’ nonsense???” Steyer imo came off as passionate about the issues and willing to put his money where his mouth is but condescending, pretentious, and dismissive of the work that everyone else on stage has done to advance various issues. Not a good look, but also not terribly surprising.

General Thoughts:

This debate was so much better and far more substantive than previous debates. The moderators weren’t particularly great, but they asked really meaty and tough questions and did hold the candidates accountable when they were giving the runaround. I particularly loved how this debate focused more on foreign policy, the area over which the President traditionally holds the most direct influence. Still waiting on some substantive questions on women’s issues other than abortion and birth control.

I’m so tired of watching Bernie and Biden yell at each other. Someone please save me.

Booker, Castro, and Steyer need to drop now. I'm content to put up with Yang until Iowa (when he obviously needs to drop out), and obviously Buttigieg isn't going anywhere until the first four states (at least) have voted.

As predicted, Biden, Sanders, and Warren are and continue to be the three frontrunners and the race is very likely to end up as either a three-way race to a contested convention or a Biden vs. Sanders or Warren (depending on which progressive candidate can garner more votes). I don't see Buttigieg managing to overtake Biden as the leading moderate in the race after tonight, which dings my original prediction that the race was going to end up as Biden and Buttigieg vs. Sanders and Warren fighting between whether the moderates or progressives were going to win the primary.

What really depresses me about Warren asking for forgiveness for getting too heated over issues is that it's such a female thing to do, especially female politicians, who constantly have to apologize and explain their angry words and confrontational speech where everyone accepts it wholesale from men and male politicians. That wasn't interview-level cringiness, that was a genuine belief that she should apologize for sounding angry.

Also the fact that the two women on stage both asked for forgiveness (and both for “getting too emotional over the issues”) and all of the men shrugged and were like ‘gifts! Buy my book.’ That last question is going to get analyzed quite a bit in the coming days, and it’s hopefully going to spark some conversation about the different standards we hold male and female politicians to

PBS noting in their post-debate discussion that Biden, Sanders, and Warren all came from less money than Buttigieg and that they didn't earn their money until their 40s when discussing the Warren-Buttigieg "you're worth more than I am" moment like lmao go off

#democratic debate #2020 election #personal #politics liveblogging

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differenttriumphdragon · 5 years

Text

WHAT'S UP, EVERYBODY!?

Season 4 has arrived, and with it a multitude of changes to the game's framework.

We can't actually talk about all of 'em cause of the image limit, so check out the in-game announcements for yourself.

First, of course, we need to announce the Showdown results!

You know, the one we couldn't talk about 'cause Tumblr sucks? Anyways, I'm pretty confident that my team'll-

WHAT!? ARE YOU SERIOUS!? We even won the Twitter poll!!!

It pays to not slack off, Devil. You can't waste an early lead. Haven't you ever heard of The Tortoise and the Hare?

Since when do tortoises grow hair!? Aren't they reptiles or something? And what does that have to do with slacking off, anyway?

...

Still, almost 2 and a half billion obstacles, each...I'd kill for the kind of power you'd need for that.

It's definitely impressive to think about. You likely won't run into more than a few hundred obstacles in a run, and yet, you've all managed to break nearly five billion...

It really shows how dedicated both sides are to the game. We really couldn't ask for a better playerbase.

Yeah, so let's make this Season the best one yet!!!

Speaking of, it's time to introduce the new Breakout Episode!

Introducing the far off land of Yogurca: a thriving desert town loomed over by icy mountains and a Yeti rumored to be bent on freezing the continent.

So you're saying...it's a Desert Paradise?

Not if it freezes over, of course. It's said that Yogurca has mountains of hidden treasure waiting on its shores, as well as the secrets of the origin of Alchemy.

...Wait, Alchemist is getting a Magic Candy before ME!? But she's the WORST CHARACTER!!!

I didn't say that.

Hey, Vamp! If you're watching? GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN!!!

Also, so you're aware, Treasures can now only be used once in Breakout, just like Cookies and Pets.

Wait, what!? Even aside from the obvious, the Treasure Gatcha really hates giving you new Treasures! How are we even supposed to get enough!?

Actually, the new event might help!

The Special Treasure Draw has been slightly reworked; Now, you can select five different Epic Treasures to increase the chances of, instead of just one!

Five different Treasures? Kay. So, what if I don't know what I want?

You could always just set ones you haven't maxed. Or, you know, just keep drawing repeats forever.

You also have quadruple the chance of drawing an Epic Treasure. It's much easier to get them all!

So, hey, who's the guy in the corner?

That's Yogurt Cream Cookie! The son of a merchant, he collects vast hordes of treasures with the help of his three spirit companions. His power is similar to Alchemist's; whenever he slides up until his meter is full, the spirit he'll summon changes.

They're genies, right? Can we just call them genies?

His companion is Magic Lamp. No one knows for sure exactly why this Lamp is following him, or what it could be thinking.

I'll bet you a pound of Royal Dough it wants to curse him to be the fourth genie.

Yogurt Cream also has a Costume!

Huh. Is this what Yogurcan fashion is like? It looks like his coat is covered in ninja stars.

I'd assume this outfit is for the icy side of the country. Or at least, for those cold desert nights.

There's also a new Treasure!

...WAIT, I'VE GOT IT!!! If Peach is Sun Wukong, and Plum is Momotaro...Yogurt Cream must be Ali Baba!

Devil, not everyone is a mythological character. We've been over this.

So you want me to be more low-key about it?

*sigh*

By the way, there's one more big update!

Daily Quests have been changed!

By which you mean Cinnamon hijacked them, right?

Er...you're not wrong, per se...each day, he'll give you cards with tasks on them. Completing these tasks gives you valuable prizes, including lots of Rainbow Cubes!

Sweet! I might not have to use all my money on 'em anymore!

Anyway, that's all for-

Hold up!!! You're not even gonna show the new Jelly Set?

Which new Jelly Set, Devil?

My Again Set!!! Put the picture up!

Look at 'em! Look at how cute they are! They're perfect!!! The red one tastes like sweet potato fries, the black one tastes like cola, and the big one's the best ketchup you ever had!!! I top it off with the Red Dragon Bead Basic Jelly for that feeling of power I deserve!

...You don't have your own Basic Jelly yet, do you?

Look, it's weird giving myself virtual gifts, okay!?

Hehe...Well, until next time, everyone...

Heaven or Hell, let's rock!

...So, aside from a Magic Candy, what do you want from this Season, Devil?

Someone at Devsis to give a damn about me.

#cookie run #heaven n' hell #yogurt cream cookie #angel cookie #devil cookie #hero cookie #splatfest

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not-close-to-straight · 6 years

Text

The Stories We Write (Stuckony)(Chapter One)

MASTERLIST

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

“Uh sorry, what?” Bucky leaned further over the podium and narrowed his eyes curiously at the reporter. “What did you call that? Fan fiction?”

“Yes!” The young woman held out her recorder eagerly. “Since you and Captain America--” a nervous glance and a titter in Steve’s direction. “-- are the first openly gay super hero couple, there is a pretty substantial amount of fan fiction written about you, and one of the questions in our reader poll was whether or not--” She checked her notes. “-whether or not Steve and Bucky read the stories under their tag on Tumblr.”

“Uh--Uh--” Bucky’s mouth opened a little awkwardly, and he ran a hand through his hair to push it out of his eyes. “I can’t really say? I mean, I didn’t even know what-- what is fan fiction exactly? What the hell is a tumbler?”

“I’d really rather not say.” The reporter turned pink. “But you should definitely Google it.” A pause, and then she pushed the recorder back towards him and asked, “You do know what Google is, don’t you? Our readers were very interested in exactly how adjusted you are to 21st century life. Are computers something you use often?”

“Uh thank you, Ms. Robinson.” Steve cut in when Bucky started looking a little panicked. “I can assure you that Bucky does know what Google is, and thanks to Tony, he even has his own tablet.”

An impressed murmur from the crowd, and Steve stepped on Bucky’s toe when the big brunette started to scowl. “Be polite.” he whispered, and then louder to the reporter, “Um, I don’t know what fan fiction is, but going back to your original question before that one? We are of course glad to hear that being open with our relationship is encouraging other people to also be open in theirs.”

“Bucky and I spent a long time hiding who we were from the world and being able to do this--” He laced his and Bucky’s fingers together, holding them up for the cameras to see. “-- feels pretty great.”

There was a polite smattering of applause and the next question was more about the team and less about their relationship so Bucky relaxed a fraction, letting Steve take over the answers so he could sit back and breathe.

He hated press conferences and interviews. Hated them. Reporters always wanted to ask if he still felt like the Winter Soldier, if he had a hard time adjusting, if he heard voices in his head after all the brainwashing, if he was always cold because he had been frozen so much. Did his left arm hurt? Was it a weapon? Why didn’t he take it off? So stupid. And then came the questions about his and Steve’s relationship and now whatever the hell fan fiction was?

No thanks. Bucky just wanted to go out and save the world with the rest of the Avengers and climb into bed with Steve at night. He didn’t need cameras and reporters and questions.

A hand at his shoulder startled him, and Bucky realized the conference was finally mercifully over, Steve urging him up so they could leave.

“You alright?” Steve was smiling for the cameras but his voice was quiet and concerned, so Bucky nodded, managing a short, “Just wanna get outta here, Stevie.”

“Yeah.” Steve leaned in to kiss him on the cheek and someone in the audience whistled. “Yeah, me too.”

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

It had taken a long time for the Tower to seem like home for Bucky, had taken a long time for him to feel comfortable with the team and with Tony and with JARVIS, but now walking through the elevator doors and into the living room felt wonderful, felt like relief and Bucky didn’t realize how stressed out he was until he suddenly wasn’t anymore.

“Damn it, it’s good to be away from all those cameras.” He laughed a little and grabbed Steve in for a kiss. “Good to be home.”

Steve made an interested noise before kissing him back, shrugging out of his jacket and pushing Bucky towards the couch. “Better to be home when you start the night off like this, huh? I knew you wanted to kiss me, you can’t resist me in my dress clothes, can you?”

“I can’t resist you out of your dress clothes.” Bucky corrected, twisting so Steve fell onto the couch first, pinning the blonde beneath his bulk. “Sure makes those fuckin’ conferences easier to sit through when I know I can get you naked soon as we get to our room.”

“The important word there being room.” Sam interrupted loudly from somewhere over by the bar. “And by room, I mean a room that’s actually yours because I was planning on watching a movie and I don’t really want to do it on Steve’s ass print.”

“Oh geez! Sam!” Steve bolted upright, and Bucky acked as he fell off Steve’s lap and landed on the floor. “We didn’t know anyone else was home!”

“You didn’t know anyone else was home.” Sam folded his arms. “In a Tower that houses seven people full time and occasionally a demi god, Ms. Pepper Potts in all her glory, a Colonel and whoever else Tony lets in off the streets. You didn’t know anyone else was home? Thought it was safe to just strip down and hump it out? Really?”

Bucky laid a fierce scowl in Sam’s direction from the floor. “You could’a just walked away, Sam. Didn’t have to interrupt us, you know. Then I wouldn’t have bruised my ass on the ground.”

“Your Frosty ass bounced off that floor and you know it.” Sam kicked at Bucky’s foot so he could get to the couch. “But yes, I did have to interrupt you because between you two and Clint and Nat, there isn’t a safe place to sit in this entire Tower and there has to a be a line that we don’t cross when it comes to PDA.”

“The living room couch is that line, huh? Steve motioned for Bucky to move and sit between his knees. “The kitchen table was fine, but the living room couch isn’t?

“I will burn that kitchen to the ground.” Sam said warningly. “Don’t even play like that, Cap.” Bucky rolled his eyes and Sam changed the subject. “How was your press conference? Feel nice and famous?”

“It was a little awkward.” Steve shrugged. “They only asked a few questions about the team, most of it was about me and Bucky and our relationship and we weren’t really expecting that, I guess.”

“Well it’s a big deal, you two.” Sam said over a handful of popcorn, picking up the remote to start flipping through the movie channels. “Couple of boys like you getting married wasn’t even legal up till a few years ago, and all those old religious racist politicians in D.C. just about gave up the ghost when Captain America came out as gay. The ultimate All- American male icon likes to kiss boys? Scandalous. Of course it’s what everyone wants to talk about. No one cares about the Avengers when they could find out if Steve and Bucky use the same shampoo.”

“Thanks for that.” Bucky leaned his head back and closed his eyes as Steve started playing with his hair, sifting his fingers through the dark strandes. “We don’t, for the record.”

“I don’t care.” Sam retorted. “For the record.”

“Anyway.” Steve took over the conversation before Sam and Bucky started sniping at each other. “They asked us a whole bunch of weird questions, like whether or not Bucky used computers and whether our relationship dynamic was messed up because I was the head of the team in public? I don’t really know why they would ask that though.

“They asked you about how being head of the team affects your relationship dynamics?” Sam repeated. “How did you-- how did you answer that question?”

“I told them that I’d follow Stevie anywhere.” Bucky settled a little closer to Steve. “And they sorta laughed and moved on.”

“Oh.” Sam made a show of studying his next handful of popcorn. “Just left it at that, did they?” A burble of laughter and Steve and Bucky looked up in surprise. “That’s uh-- that’s what you said? That you’d follow Steve anywhere?”

“I don’t really see why that’s funny.” Steve frowned over at him. “It was a weird question, why does that even matter? What do team dynamics have to do with our personal relationship?”

“You know?” Sam crammed the popcorn into his mouth and mumbled, “I don’t really know how to answer that question for you.”

“Wait, what--?”

The elevator doors opened just then, and Tony came through, tossing a wave in their direction with one hand, texting as fast as he could with the other one.

“Tony!” Sam called. “Tony wait! Come here, we have a question for you.”

“Uh, sure.” Tony finished his text and jogged over, shoving himself between Sam and the arm rest and snatching the bowl. “What’s going on?”

“Well Cap and Buck here had their press conference today?” Sam started and Tony leaned over to grin down at them. “And Steve was asked if him being head of the team messed with his and Bucky’s relationship dynamics and he doesn’t know why they would ask such a question and I figured you would know how to answer that.”

“Oh I for sure know how to answer that.” Tony crammed a pile of popcorn into his mouth. “Steve, everyone knows you’re a bottom, so they wonder if you giving Bucky orders in the field has translated over to bedroom talk. Like, does Bucky let you get a little bossy with him now? Or does he still control it all?”

There was complete silence in the living room, Bucky and Steve exchanging stunned looks, Sam’s face getting more and more red as he tried not to laugh, Tony chewing his popcorn nonchalantly, his eyes wide and innocent.

“Ya hear that, Stevie?” Bucky finally said. “Everyone knows you’re a bottom.”

“I don’t-- what-- why would they-- how would they--” Steve stammered out a few disjointed sentences before just giving up, exhaling a, “What the fuck is wrong with this century?”

“If it makes you feel better?” Tony scrunched his nose at Steve. “I’m sure they wondered that back in the day, too. It’s not just this century. Everyone has always wanted to know if Captain America was a bottom.”

“That doesn't me feel better, Tony.”

“Well, I tried.” Tony stood and stretched. “I have to finish up a few more things before I can call it a night. Spangles, Bucky-bear, we should catch up huh? Been a few days since we hung out?”

“Yes.” Bucky said quickly, and then a little quieter, “I mean, yeah Tony, yeah we should catch up. That would be-- yeah, let’s do that.”

“That sounds real good.” Steve’s voice was much softer than it had been just a minute before, his blue eyes warming as they traveled over Tony’s frame. “Would love to spend some time with you.”

“Yeah.” Bucky echoed. “Definitely. Just tell us when, alright? We’ll make time for you.”

“Alright.” Tony smiled at them, and if Steve wouldn’t have been so busy melting over the sweetness, he would have felt Bucky melting too.

“Sammy my love, I’m taking this because I haven’t eaten all day.” Tony snatched the popcorn and smacked a kiss on Sam’s cheek. “Thank you. I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

“Jerk took my popcorn.” Sam complained and heaved himself up from the couch to go make more. “I’m going to be gone for three minutes. Literally three minutes. You two better keep your clothes on, you here? If I come back and you’re naked, I’m throwing cold water on you both.”

“Oh and by the way?” he paused at the door to the kitchen. “The way you two are mooning over Tony? Both disgusting and sort of adorable. But he’s the most oblivious person in the world so you’ll have to do more than sigh like a school girl if you want to get anywhere with him.”

“Um--”

“For the record though?” he continued. “You guys are selfish as hell. You get each other and Tony? That seems a little greedy, don’t it? If I wasn’t dating Val, I’d be jealous.”

“Sounds like you’re a little jealous anyway.” Bucky snapped and Sam scratched at his nose, middle finger prominently displayed, before disappearing to make more popcorn.

“Oh wait--” Bucky twisted around towards the kitchen. “Sam!”

“What?!” Sam yelled back.

“Do you know what fan fiction is?”

“Uh--” Sam poked his head back out, brow wrinkled in thought. “I feel like my kid sisters used to write it about Harry Potter?”

Two perfectly blank looks.

“Right.” he sighed. “You guys don’t know what that is. Alright, it’s like ummm like a continuation of a story. Like a sequel I think? Like, you watch a movie, maybe they left something open ended, so then you write what might have happened.”

“Oh.” Bucky nodded and Sam went back to his popcorn, muttering, “Weird ass super soldiers.”

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

It was halfway through their night, when Steve was pinning Bucky down and driving into him, leaving bruises on his waist and sucking hungry kisses down his neck and murmuring, “Fuck, you feel good Buck, you feel--”

--and Bucky got a case of the giggles.

“Are you laughing right now?” Steve stopped mid motion, a little confused and maybe a little offended since he wasn’t exactly used to being laughed at in bed. “Am I tickling you, or--?”

“No. No, ah fuck.” Bucky hid his face in his arm and tried to breathe. “No, Stevie it’s fine, I just--” he started giggling again. “Oh my god, it’s nothing. Keep going. Keep going.”

“Yeah, shockingly enough, my dick doesn’t think laughter is super sexy.” Steve eased out of Bucky, covering his love’s hiss of disapproval with a kiss. “Why are you laughing? What about this is funny?”

“I just--” Bucky shrugged helplessly, a silly grin stretching his face. “Why would anyone think you are a bottom? Have they seen you? You’re like a jackhammer of freedom.”

“A jackhammer of--Oh for fuck’s sake.” Steve rolled his eyes and flipped Bucky over in the bed. “Just for that, you gotta scream into a pillow the rest of the night. I don’t want to look up and see you laughing again.”

“Don’t you threaten me with a good time.” Bucky arched his back and wiggled his hips invitingly, pushing out a satisfied breath when Steve filled him again. “Damn Stevie, don’t stop. Come on.”

“I won’t stop.” Steve’s hands were reverent, tender, for just a split second before they tightened on Bucky’s hips. “But don’t laugh either.” A muffled noise from Bucky and Steve left an opened handed swat on one tempting cheek, punctuating it with a sharp thrust that turned Bucky’s giggle into a moan. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

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

After, when they were collapsed onto the bed and breathing hard, trading lazy kisses and running hands over each other’s bodies, Steve asked, “Is it bad that I can’t wait to hang out with Tony?”

“Nah.” Bucky tucked his head into the crook of Steve’s neck, licking away a bead of sweat and sighing in satisfaction. “Nah, baby I want to hang out with him too.”

“It’s a little weird, maybe.” Hesitantly then, Steve pushing Bucky’s hair away from his forehead so they could kiss. “That we like him like that? Especially since he’s never shown any interest, and we’re together? I mean, relationships with more than one person aren’t exactly mainstream.”

“No, probably not.” Bucky admitted. “But that doesn’t matter if Tony isn’t interested, you know? And I guess we aren’t as subtle as we think if Sam picked up on it. That guy would miss a forest cuz he’s distracted by the trees.”

“I don’t think that’s true.” Endlessly entertained by Sam and Bucky’s feud, Steve just chuckled and kissed Bucky again. “Maybe when we’re with Tony next time we could… hint? At something? See how he feels about it?”

“Maybe.” Bucky said , rolling over so Steve was spooned up against his back. “Couldn’t hurt, right?”

“Right.” They fell into quiet as their breathing slowed and heart beats settled, and it was close to half an hour later when Steve said, “Buck?”

“M’wake.”

“What do you think fanfiction is?”

“I dunno.” A loud yawn. “Sam said it’s a continuation of movies, so maybe it’s just another form of comic books? You know? Stories made up by our fans?”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.”

“Course I’m right. What else would it be?”

“I’m going to look it up tomorrow.”

“Yeah okay.” Another yawn, the cool metal of Bucky’s left hand coming to rest on Steve’s thigh as he drifted towards sleep. “Let me know what you find? Maybe there’s some good adventures or something. Bed time reading, something to put me to sleep.”

“Bed time reading?” Steve grinned and poked him. “I thought I tired you out pretty well. You still need a book to make you sleepy?”

“Shut up, Stevie. It’s too late to stoke your ego. Punk.”

“Jerk.” A sweet kiss at Bucky’s cheek. “I love you.”

“Love you too.”

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

4:00 am

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

“Bucky!”

“Stevie, I swear to god. M’sorry I said the thing about needing bed time reading, but please let me sleep.”

“No, it’s not that.” Steve shook his head. “I uh-- looked up fan fiction.”

“What?” Bucky fumbled for the lamp at the side of the bed and turned to squint at Steve. “Are you on that stupid tablet at four am? What th’ hell are you doing?”

“I couldn’t sleep so I looked up fan fiction.” Steve’s eyes were wide and maybe a little panicked. “It’s not comic books, Buck. It’s not comic books and it’s not a continuation of any movie.”

“Well what is it, then?” Bucky grabbed at the tablet and read through the screen quickly. “Wait. What the hell is a Stucky?”

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

#ncts fics #stuckony #stucky #steve rogers #bucky barnes #tony stark #sam wilson #chapter one

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