#this is very possibly what led to orla lol

[babyitsmagic]

@heartfullofxfright​​ sent: “but you're here. so stay.” for max from eli!!

they’ve had this conversation so many times over the years. all the reasons it won’t work, can’t work, doesn’t work. all the obligations that kept them apart. but so many of those things have changed. they’re not pirates anymore, not so much rivals. they could be-- might be again. but right now? they’re just old flames. they have a history-- of trust and betrayal and doubt and competition. she could leave. maybe she should. but like he said, she’s here. so why not stay?

her lips draw into a soft smile. “i think you’re goin’ soft on me, lambert.” and she can’t bring herself to be upset about it. “but y’know... i could stick around.” there’s a pause before she admits, “for a while.” it’s an invitation. if he wants more than one night, for once, she’s willing to try it. maybe eli’s not the only one going soft.

[sugasugachoochoo]

United by a String

Small surprise fic I made for @tetshoyou for her husband Dadchi from Haikyuu!! I used the ‘Red String’ soulmate au for this, which I still don’t quite understand fully lol, but I hope you enjoy!]

—————

Daichi wasn’t entirely certain about how the whole thing worked. From what he had learned from multiple romance movies and friends, when someone meet the person he or she is supposed to be with eternally, a red string supposedly wraps around both of their pinky fingers. He had viewed it before his very eyes as well; the rosy thread neatly tied round a couple’s fingers as they walked through the park or sat together at a cafe. It was most certainly a reality—a fact of life, at that.

What Daichi couldn’t quite grasp was how some of his friends already had a red string tied loosely around their pinky in anticipation of their potential soulmate. He didn’t have one. Maybe they did it deliberately, he reasoned. They could easily have just tied it on themselves.

But still, Daichi couldn’t help but wonder.

Was it possible that he didn’t have a soulmate? He had met many people in his lifetime thus far, either from his academic career or sports. Thinking upon that fact a little further, he emerged with a renewed sense of hope. That’s right, he had only communicated with people in his immediate life! Maybe he just had to get out there more!

This led to him visiting a museum on the outskirts of his town. It was relatively new, and Daichi had never been there before. It was the perfect place to meet new people!

Brown eyes widened upon entering the building; Daichi hadn’t been expecting it to be so fanciful. It was much more simply decorated on the exterior, leading to the illusion of it being that way overall. That mirage was quickly proven wrong once one took a single step inside of the museum. Beautifully carved pillars of white marble stabilized the structure, and every square yard of every wall was adorned with artifacts of various sorts. There was a new piece everywhere one would turn, yet no room seemed overly crowded. It was breathtaking.

Realizing he had been lingering in only one of the exhibits, Daichi decided to see what else this museum had to offer. He made his way over to the astronomy exhibit, spotting a group of about six others crowding around a model Land Rover. Ah, a tour. It seemed to be free of charge, so Daichi simply merged into the batch of people.

The guide eventually led them into a planetarium, telling everyone to pick a seat and that the presentation would begin shortly. The seats were arranged in a circle around an inflated sphere, a rotating cycle of planets being projected onto its blank surface. The red plastic seats protruded back five rows, providing more than enough room to accommodate for the swell of people in the tour. Daichi chose a seat in the third row; just far away from the center to not catch attention, but just close enough to see everything properly.

She’s cute. That was Daichi’s initial thought upon seeing the speaker come out to commence the presentation on planets. She introduced herself to the small crowd as Orla, and he did his best to engrave the name into his memory. He watched her in quiet admiration as she educated them in astronomy. With each planet she explained, her hazel eyes illuminated with a fascinated excitement. He was certain she could convince any given person into liking astronomy just by her own interest in it.

The lights of the projector clicked off, signaling the end of the twenty-minute presentation (which whizzed by much too quickly for him to consider it twenty minutes). He rose from his seat, his eyes following Orla as she walked away from the center. He obviously wanted to get to know her, who wouldn’t?

As Daichi approached her from behind, he extended his arm to tap her on the shoulder. As he did so, a ruby-colored thread that had been loose from his jacket for days further unraveled itself, climbing up his torso to his outstretched arm. It promptly fastened itself around his pinky, then zipped forward to Orla. The string wrapped around her pinky finger, neatly tying a bow on the short digit.

The two glanced in stunned unison first at their fingers connected by the string, then trailing up to the other’s face. Orla was wearing that brilliant smile of hers, Daichi’s soon mirroring it.

“Hi, I’m Daichi Sawamura.”