#unfortunately I found a recipe after I made mine that called for about half the water

[musicaldeductions]

We had to cut down the lilac tree at my nana’s grave today which is a bummer but! I’ve been wanting to try making stuff out of lilac flowers so I’m attempting two different attempts at simple syrup and an infused honey. I’m not sure making seven cups of syrup on my first go was exactly uh. The most wise decision however I had a lot of flower and not a lot of time to experiment

I’ve also got several sprigs in water, several drying on some strung up string, and a bunch sitting in the bag that I brought them home in because I couldn’t get around to doing anything with them. Rip. At least they smell good

[goldeneyedgirl]

Ficmas22: Day 5: Hybrid Smut

Happy holidays, I hope everyone is having a good time.

This is something I wrote for Enimia a hot minute ago, but I thought why not. Something spicy to round out the week.

This is for those 18 and older, if you're underage please keep scrolling!

Also, this might be the only first-person smut because wow, that's impossible. Do I regret first-person? Always.

I hadn’t realised that sleeping with Jasper would change our relationship so much, honestly. And Mommy Dearest had told me so many lies and half-truths about vampires, I wasn’t going to rely on half-remembered conversations designed to scare me to guide me through this.

After that first night, Jasper had appeared that afternoon, pressing a soft kiss to my cheek as he sat next to be at the kitchen bench, as Cynthia and I ate lunch. I felt very obvious, like I had a neon sign over my head, and also warm and wondering if it was inappropriate to drag my boyfriend upstairs and into my bed with the entire family home.

Catching the tone of my emotions, Jasper just smirked at me and then asked Cynthia how school was. Cynthia was still riding the high of knowing her sister was dating one of the Cullens; as far as I could tell, my romance with Jasper had increased her social standing, which both Simon and I found hysterically funny.

The closest we got to each other for the next week and a half was a few scorching kisses in my bedroom, Jasper’s hand fumbling under my top and bra to stroke the bite-mark he’d left, something that made me gasp and, unfortunately, alert my father to the fact that we were alone in a room with a bed and the door closed. He and Simon were still determined to slow the pace of my relationship with Jasper, as if that ship hadn’t sailed the second we’d kissed.

I truly wished I could explain everything to them, between my dreams and Jasper’s gift, our relationship, the pace, everything about us was never going to look right to other people. And whilst that didn’t bother me, I wished Dad and Simon would stop trying to get me to confide in them, confess fears to them I didn’t even have. Jasper was and always would be my resting point, my sanctuary. It was how it was always supposed to be.

After Dad banished Jasper and I to the communal areas of the house, we had planned to go to the Cullens; Jasper assured me that most of the rooms were sound-proofed so that they didn’t drive each other nuts, and that no one would question my appearance or our activities.

Except it didn’t go to plan. Everything had gone sour when one of Jasper’s old friends called, needing help. Which had resulted in Jasper and Emmett heading off into the unknown for a week and a half, with only a whispered promise that he’d be back soon to keep me company.

//

“We’ve got forty five minutes,” I said, as I kicked off my shoes and peeled off my sweater. “Until Dad and Simon get home.”

“Only forty five?” Jasper teased, as he pulled off his shirt and I stopped dead. The boy really was the most delicious thing I’d ever seen, and I was still struck dumb at how handsome he was, and that he was mine.

His chuckle broke my train of thoughts - mostly me picturing all the things I wanted to try out on him - and I looked up into his smug face.

“Enjoying yourself?” he said, pulling me against him. Even though my camisole and bra, I could feel the cool of his skin, and it was making me feel warm. The sensation of skin on skin was intoxicating, and I wanted it again, even if the rational side of my brain was telling me that we were on the clock, and getting completely naked was not the recipe for an efficient encounter.

“I’m going to,” I said as he snagged the hem of my camisole and pulled it up, and over my head.

“I’m sorry we haven’t got longer,” he said, pulling me with him as he sat on my bed, guiding me to straddle his lap. We were both still wearing jeans, but that seemed like a minor issue that would be dealt with later. “I’ve been looking forward to lingering over you.”

“We’ll get time,” I promised, though I had no idea how. “We’ll figure it out.” My hands dropped to his belt, and I felt his hands fumbling at my bra clasp; I smirked when I realised even vampires - specifically mostly-celibate Southern ones - had trouble getting a bra undone.

He tossed my bra aside and then jerked against me as I cupped him through his jeans, and he immediately had me back on my feet to strip my jeans and panties off in one smooth action, before scooping me up and depositing me back amongst the pillows, his eyes dark and laser focused on me as he unzipped his jeans.

I suddenly felt nervous; maybe because it was still afternoon, there was still sunlight filtering through my bedroom window and I felt more aware, more alert in the harsh light of day than I had, cocooned here in my room with Jasper my first time. Or maybe because I knew exactly what was going to happen, how it was going to feel. Somehow anticipation was more nerve wracking than ignorance. Looming over me, Jasper smiled and pressed a soft kiss to my lips.

“You’re a maelstrom of emotions right now,” he murmured. “You know we don’t have to...”

“I want to,” I interrupted, staring up into his eyes. Everything about him was safe, was good, and what I wanted. I just had to get out of my own head. “God, I’ve been thinking about this since you left, I’m just a mess.”

“You’re perfect,” Jasper kissed me again and I sighed and leant into it, my hands running through his hair as he began kissing a path down my throat to shoulder and to my breasts. “God, darlin’, I want time to savour you,” he murmured against my skin as his hands grazed over my body; I knew what he wanted, and I was ready and willing. I’d been picturing this since he’d left, imagining how it would feel.

His lips grazed the inside of my thigh suddenly, and I jumped but somehow managed to press closer to his mouth. It felt like nothing else in this world - the grip he had on my thighs, the feeling of his breath and mouth against me, the fact I knew what came next...

It felt wrong in an entirely delicious way, but I wanted him to touch me, to lick me, and to bite into my thigh hard. I wanted him to make me scream, even though that was a terrible idea right now. We needed privacy and time, two things that were elusive right now.

I know I moaned when his fingers filled me, a kiss to my hip as my head fell back into the pillows. My legs were spread obscenely wide, and I could almost make out the murmurs he was muttering into my skin, telling me how much he loved me, how good he wanted me to feel. His thumb brushed against my clit, and I cried out, raising my hips to get closer. I was so close, and it happened so fast.

Without warning, Jasper slid away from me moving up the bed over me, and I whined in protest as he pulled me flush against him, kissing me hard. “I had a thought,” he managed to tell me between kisses.

“A whole one?” I asked, half-panting as Jasper wrapped his arms around me and rolled us over, so I was sprawled out on top of him.

“I want to see you like this,” he said, his voice rough. “It might be... easier for both of us.”

I gaped at him for a moment; the idea of being astride him was a lot but my mind had already run with the idea - how it would feel, the idea of me being bare and exposed to him, how he would look beneath me, and I felt myself nodding as I sat up, Jasper’s eyes focused on me as I knelt up, slowly sinking down on him, my eyes falling closed.

I felt a little punch drunk as I settled against him - I was so goddamn small, and he was big, and felt huge in this position, and it was an intense feeling. His hands stroked over my thighs, before moving to my hips. As soon as I moved against him, I was whimpering; it was like sparks travelling down all my limbs, it was like our first time except magnified. I was already declaring this his very best idea, having me ride him like this.

The pace I set was rough enough for my bed to start rocking, and I knew I’d be feeling this tomorrow, but it was so good, I couldn’t stop myself from rocking against Jasper harder, panting and gasping and begging him. Jasper was holding me tight against him, egging me on and praising me, spitting out filthy suggestions of things we could do with each other.

When Jasper’s hand slipped between my legs to stroke, I cried out, grinding down on him hard as I rode out the wave, before half collapsing on him, letting him thrust into me hard, once, twice, before he clutched at me, half gasping out my name.

Carefully settling me in the bed next to him, Jasper pulled me close, letting me curl up half on him. “That was...” he began. “Fun,” I said, looking up at him. “Your best idea.” “Fun?” he repeated, with a strange look on his face.

“Well, it would have been more fun if you’d gone down on me and bitten me first, but we can workshop it,” I shrugged, trying not to giggle at the look on his face. “You are...” he began, covering his face with his hand, “an absolute terror.” “Perfect, you said earlier. You said I was perfect,” I poked him.

We lay together for a little while; I could easily have dozen off, but that was a recipe for disaster. It wasn’t very long before we heard the backdoor open, and we both rolled out of bed to find our clothes. It was one thing to be caught in my bedroom with my boyfriend, another entirely to be caught naked in bed with him. As Jasper went to kiss me again, he froze, his eyes wide. “What?”

Jasper shook his head, and looked like he simultaneously wanted to laugh and die.

“Cynthia’s training was cancelled this afternoon,” he managed, dragging me out of my bedroom and onto the landing, as my stomach sank.

“...I got home about four,” I could hear Cynthia saying. The girl had been born with a voice that could function as an efficient public-address system. “Alice was definitely having sex with Jasper in her bedroom all afternoon.”

Shit.

[breannasfluff]

Healing (2): Encantober 15

Julieta sighs and rubs the paper list in front of her. She writes a new one every week. Some of the items don’t change, but after thousands and thousands of meals; it all blurs together. Is it age that leads to forgetfulness? Or repetition? Will she wake up one day and forget a recipe?

What happens when she’s too tired and broken down to cook anymore? Who will keep the town healthy? Julieta won’t live forever even on her cooking. Someday, the Encanto will be left dependent and helpless.

At least when she’s dead, she can rest.

But the Guzmán’s are coming for dinner and the chances of her expiring on the spot are slim. Time to peel some potatoes.

“Who wants an elephant ear?”

Julieta’s call elicits a shriek from Antonio and curious questions from Isabela and Luisa.

“Tía, did you KILL an elephant?” Antonio’s shoes skid on the tile as he slides into the kitchen.

“Kill an—of course not, Toñito!” She reaches out to pat his head before realizing her hands are covered in flour. “I don’t kill animals!”

His eyes narrow. “Didn’t we eat chicken in the soup last night?”

“That was…” Shoot, what should she say? “Um, chicken from the market. I’m not killing elephants. Have you ever seen an elephant in the Encanto?”

Luisa and Isabela enter, arm in arm. “Do you think I could lift an elephant?” Luisa asks.

“Do you want to lift an elephant?” Isabela counters. “Aren’t they, like, dirty?”

“You’re thinking of hippos.”

Appeased that no elephants were being harmed, Antonio plops down at the table. “I learned something really interesting about how hippos mate! Want to hear?”

“NO!” Isabela slaps a hand over Antonio’s mouth. “No one needs to hear—ew! Did you lick me?” She yanks her hand away and wipes it on Luisa’s shirt. Luisa ignores her to pull out a chair.

Free from silence, Antonio starts again. “So when a boy hippo wants to get a girl’s attention, he poops—”

“Antonio,” Julieta breaks in with a stern look. “We don’t say ‘poop’.”

His face scrunches in consideration. “The hippo…puts doo-doo in the water. And if he really likes the girl, he—”

Julieta cuts him off with a slice of fruit before she loses all interest in cooking. “That’s…fascinating, Antonio, but don’t you want to hear about the elephant ears?”

Easily distracted, he nods through the mouthful of fruit.

“I found a recipe in an old cookbook and thought I’d try it out. An elephant ear is a sort of thin fried bread that you top with sweets.”

Isabela leaves off from putting flowers in Luisa’s hair at the word. “Sweets? What kind?” She has the biggest sweet tooth in the family, save perhaps Bruno.

Julieta gestures at the supplies on the counter. “Butter, cinnamon and sugar, fruit, thick cream; really anything you want.”

“I want chocolate shavings and ice cream!” Antonio’s standing in his chair, waving both arms for attention.

Ignoring the fact that neither of those are items out, Julieta nods and reaches for chocolate to shave. “Luisa? What about you?”

“Just…butter, cinnamon, and sugar, please!”

“So plain!” Isabela nudges her shoulder. “Live a little!”

Luisa gives a prim sniff. “I’ll stick to classical food, thank you very much. You’re always eating weird things now.”

It is, unfortunately, true. Free from the structure of perfection, Isabela embraces a much wider palette. She’s already up and rifling through cabinets. “Peanut butter and…jalapenos! Aha, I knew we had some.”

Julieta considers if her daughter really came from her womb, or if maybe she was switched at birth. Still, she holds her tongue and turns to roll out the dough. “I’ll try mine with some mangos in the sauce I made but, ah, you go for it.”

“Mangos?” Isabela pauses to look in the bowls. “I want to add some of those, too.”

By the time the elephant ears are done and prepped, Isabela’s is piled high with questionable choices. In addition to peanut butter, peppers, and mango, she added chili powder and coconut. “For crunch!”

Antonio adds half a bar of chocolate into the middle of his ice cream like he hasn’t already coated it in shavings. Ah, well, Pepa will have to deal with him later. Julieta and Luisa’s at least are edible.

“Tía?” Camilo comes into the kitchen, frowning at his arm. “I got a pretty bad scrape, got anything that will help—“ he cuts off, eyes widening at the snacks on the table. “What are those, can I have one, and why didn’t you invite me?”

“They’re—” 

 “Quick, open up!” Isabela cuts Julieta off and shoves a bit at Camilo. He eats it on instinct. Since Julieta made the dough, it heals like any of her other food. It does not, however, counteract the topping choices.

“Isabela! What did you make me eat? That's disgusting!”

“It’s avant-garde!” Isabela darts around the table as Camilo chases her.

He makes a face. “My taste buds are confused! This is torture, why would you ruin perfectly good food?”

Unnoticed, Luisa slides another slice of chocolate to Antonio. He passes back a shiny pebble in payment.

“Why is my mouth burning?” Camilo throws himself at Isabela, who squeals and uses her vines to escape.

“Aren’t you always saying how spicy you are when you flirt?”

With an inarticulate howl, Camilo transforms and tackles Isabela to the floor.

AO3 Here

[amive2567]

Snowy sneezes

Class 1a x GN! Reader

Quirk: Snowman ~ can produce snowmen with everything that includes water. They can't melt (only by other quirks, not through natural causes), and they do whatever the host wants. If the host doesn't give any tasks immediately, the snowman becomes a body of its own forever. Unfortunately, they can't speak :( The more water there is in the air, (or any other source of water), the bigger the snowman gets. 

Warning: Crack, Fluff, mention of sexual content (because Mineta), swearing (because Bakugou), a bit OOC Midoriya

Summary: Y/n is sick, and every time they sneeze, little snowmen appear in their dorm. They are listening to music and study. Because of that, they didn't even notice that the snowmen disappeared and caused trouble. 

Disclaimer: My hero academia and the characters belong to Kohei Horikoshi.

Words: about 2.489

Masterlist

Inspiration by Frozen Fever

Your head pouted, and you barely could keep your eyes open. You had a quirk about snow, so why did you get sick from a snowball fight. "L/N-san, could you please lift your head from the desk and focus on the lesson." admonished you Cementos. "I am sorry, Ishiyama-sensei." you apologized. He continued to teach, but you couldn't focus on a word he said. The lesson dragged on like forever. 

After the day ended, you went straight to your dorm room to replicate the knowledge you got taught today. 

After some time, the headache disappeared, and you could finally focus on your unfinished notes. Your nose started to tingle, and with a loud achoo, you sneezed.  A cold shiver went down your spine, but you didn't think much of it. You were so caught up in the work that you didn't notice how a small snowman waddled quietly around the room. Since listening to music helped you while studying, you didn't hear the rustling steps on your carpet.  The cute snowman watched your back and looked around your room. He investigated your plant in front of your bed. His tiny form tried to stroke the plant, but his short snowy arm couldn't reach the plant. The small snowman was determined to stroke the plant, so he tried to climb up at the plant pot. Since he didn't think about the consequences, the plant pot fell over and covered him with the potting soil. Anxiously he watched if you had seen his plight. You didn't seem to notice it. So he tried to clean himself with his tiny arms. 

Another sneeze shook your body, and another tiny snowman appeared. He looked around the room and found his buddy. The two jumped happily around, and the new snowman helped to clean up his pal. The two snowmen happily discovered your room, as quiet as they could. After they were done, your room looked like you had a fight in it.  They also tried to open the door, but they were too tiny. Exhausted, the two snowmen settled in front of the door. 

A sneezing fit hit you, and about five snowmen developed in your room. The two snowmen got right up and wobbled to the new snowmen. They hugged each other like they were old friends. Silently the two older snowmen convinced the younger ones to open the door together. They built a ladder out of snowmen by stacking themself on their shoulders. With a soft click, the door opened, and they left your messy room.

Your classmates were occupied with their interests and tasks. Some were reading, training, baking, showering, or learning. So they were either outside, in their rooms, or in the common room area. This meant that the hallway in front of your room was empty. The snowmen waddled quietly around the enormous building. 

Since they discovered their new skill, they opened another door. In the room was a blond boy, who laid on his back with a manga in his hand, called Snow white with the Red Hair. He was completely caught up in the book, so he didn't even notice that someone entered his room. The snowmen inspected his room. It has the theme of yellow and blue, and on his shelf were tons of All Might figures. One snowman got his snowy hand on a manga and tried to read it. He failed because snowmen can't read, but the pictures were interesting. He wanted to read it later, so he took it with him. 

The gang of snowmen went downstairs to explore the other parts of the dorms. Loud singing caught their attention. They followed the singing and landed in a steaming environment or, to call it something more simple, the bathroom. It was hot in there, and the snowmen were happy that they couldn't melt by natural causes. Since the bathroom was really a boring place to be, they climbed on the shelves and searched through the products. After the other snowmen had left the room, the last one of them was mesmerized by a big red bottle with the label: red hair dye. He took the bottle with him and followed the other snowmen fast. 

The next stop of the seven snowy figures was another room. They used their secret method again and opened the door. The room was cramped with bookshelves that reached the ceiling. Another weird thing was that there was a shelf only for tons of glasses. No one was there. The snowmen wandered around the room like it was an old museum. The two snowmen that stole something hid in the corners of the room, so their misbehavior wasn't noticed. The smallest of the snowmen looked around and climbed up on the shelf with the glasses. Unfortunately, one of the spectacles fell on the ground and broke. No one seemed to witness it, so the tiny snowman grabbed them and hid them behind his back from the others to see. After they discovered every inch of the room, they made their way to the next one. 

The room wasn't much different from the first one, but it had a more pleasant atmosphere. It was bright and happy. Some snowmen were bored because of the All Might figures they had already seen, but one of them got interested by the rarest of all time. The bronze age All Might figure. Only fifty got produced, and the owner of the room had one. The snowman needed this figure, so when no one watched him, he took the opportunity and stole it. 

They went into two other rooms before they finally got to the common-room kitchen. There stood a tall brown-haired boy with a tart pan. He studied a recipe and was so caught up in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice how a snowman stole his eggs. After the boy wanted to reach for them, they were gone, and he questioned himself if he forgot to lay the eggs on the kitchen counter. He opened the fridge and saw no eggs. But he was sure that he bought them with Koda yesterday. They couldn't be gone, only if someone used them. And he was sure who it was. With angry steps, he walked to the room of a certain angry pomeranian. 

In the meantime, the snowmen discovered that everyone had stolen something. They laid their stolen objects in the middle of their circle. The items they had stolen were a romance manga, red hair dye, a pair of glasses, a rare All Might figure, eggs, lipstick, and a book. All of the snowmen had a panicked expression on their snowy faces. The humans aren't dumb they would soon find out, so they have to hide their items somewhere. Fearfully they collected the things and quickly set about hiding with the stuff in a nearby room. 

It was a dark room, and it got lit by a small source of light. Unearthly sounds could be heard from the computer screen in front of a short, purple boy. The older snowmen tried to cover the eyes of the younger ones. So they couldn't see the horrific show that played on the screen. It was dangerous to be in such a gross environment with young snowmen, but it was better than getting caught. 

"I didn't steal your lame eggs. Now leave me alone fat lips." cursed Bakugou as Sato confronted him. "But I am sure you know where my manga is, don't you?" Bakugou questioned harshly with a raised eyebrow. "Why would I want a manga from you?" Sato asked him. The blond one scoffed and pushed Sato out of the way. "I bet shitty Deku got it," he grumbled and stamped in the direction of his room. Without knocking, he kicked the door open. "Oi, shitty nerd. Give it back," he yelled. But what he didn't notice that the room was messy as hell. "Ah, Bakugou, I wanted to talk to you," Midoriya spoke slowly. His expression was horrifying. Even when Bakugou wouldn't admit it, he was scared of the shorter green-haired boy. "Now, where do you have it?" Bakugou asked, unimpressed. "What should I have? I wouldn't even give it to you. You stole my All Might bronze age figure." Midoriya yelled. He activated his quirk, and before he could Detroit Smash Bakugou into nirvana, Kirishima intervened. "Wait, that's not really manly of you, bro. My hair dye also went missing. I think someone is stealing from us." Sato followed the red-haired. "I think he's right," he said. "Let's meet up with the other ones and think about it before we hurt each other." mediated Kirishima. Still, with rage in his eyes, Midoriya let got of his powerful quirk and noded. "Alright, but I am not done with you, Kacchan." proposed Midoriya. "Whatever you say, shitty nerd." scoffed Bakugou.

As they got everyone except two persons in the common room area, the yelling began. "My lipstick went missing. How can I be able to rock my hero costume." Mina cried and hugged Uraraka desperately. The short brunette patted her back, comforting. "A book of mine also went missing," noted Momo. "Did someone saw my pair of glasses? I need to find Marry the third. Without her, my collection is incomplete." Iida yelled and made his typical hand gesture. At his comment, more than half of class 1a had to suppress a burst of laughter.  "My hair product also went missing," said Kirishima. "My limited All Might figure in his bronze age is missing," said Midoriya grumpily. "You look a bit scary, Midoriya. Is everything ok?" Todoroki asked. "Yeah, of course. I didn't need my All Might figure anyway." he sarcastically answered. "It's just a figure," Todoroki mentioned, and every chatter died down. "Dude, does he have a death wish?" asked Kaminari quietly. "Maybe," answered Sero noiselessly. "A figure... A figure..." Midoriya yelled and wanted to charge for a punch, but a frustrated screech interrupted the argument. 

You finished the last sentence of your work. So you turned around and stretched yourself with closed eyes, but as soon as you opened them, you were met with a tremendous mess. "The sneezes and the...oh shit," you yelled out in frustration. You were so occupied with work that you didn't even notice that you let go of a bunch of snowmen. Your steps stormed to the common-room to start the search for the tiny, snowy trouble makers. The yells in the common-room got louder and louder as you got nearer. "Guys," you yelled over the screeches of Midoriya. "I let go of my quirk, and some snowmen are probably starting some trouble. We need to find them." you got straight to the point. Everyone looked at you with expressionless faces. "Why is even every one of you here?" you asked now, confused. "Your tiny snow fuckers stole our stuff," Bakugou grumbled. "What was actually stolen from you, Kacchan ?" Kaminari asked.  "A manga," answered Bukugou grouchily. "Uh, which genre?" questioned Kaminary. "Shut it, dunce face," Bakugou yelled. "Just asking." waved Kaminari away. 

"Do you know where they possibly went, or how we can get rid of them?" asked Momo calmly. "I don't know where they could be," you answered, a bit disappointed. "If we find them and want to get rid of them, we need to destroy them with fire quirks. They don't melt of natural causes," you explained. "Alright, I think we build two teams. One team goes with Bakugou and the other one with Todoroki," suggested Momo. "Why do I need to be in one team. I can do this on my own." Bakugou protested. "Do you want your manga back asap?" Momo asked after that the ash-blond boy was quiet but still grumpy. "I am not going with Kacchan." Midoriya angrily said. "I don't want to go with you either," shouted Bakugou. "Just like an old married couple." laughed Kaminari. "Shut it, dunce face." yelled the blond boy. 

After you build up the teams, you started to search for the cold troublemakers. The team of yours consisted of Todoroki, Aoyama, Tsuyu, Iida, Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, a grumpy Midoriya, Tokoyami, Shoji, Ojiro, and you, of course. The other ones had fewer patient people in their team. Bakugou got Sero, Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, Jiro, Sato, Koda and Hagakure in his team. Your team searched on the second and third floor for the stolen things and your snowmen. 

The third floor was clear now you searched on the second floor. "Waa, how did snowmen came into my room?" a high-pitched yell caught the attention of your team. You neared the room and opened the door. Mineta was standing in front of a bunch of tiny snowmen. Everyone in the room turned, slowly their hats to the door. "Yeah, gotcha," you shouted happily. The snowmen suddenly let go of the stuff they hoarded and ran in different directions. "We need to catch them. Todoroki, Tsuyu, Iida, Momo, and I are catching them, and the rest of you secure the missing stuff," you ordered. During this time, Momo produced earpieces for communication. The people named ran with you to catch the snowmen.

Since the snowmen were fast and not as dumb as you wished they were, you had to separate. The snowman in front of you ran fast, and you yelled after him. As the snowman had to take the elevator, you could easily catch him. "I got one. Does someone else has one?" you asked in your earpiece. "I've got one too." answered Iida "Me too," said Tsuyu. "I have already burned two," said Todoroki in his calm demeanor.  "I am currently trying to catch one," yelled Momo hectically. "Thanks, guys, that means only one is missing," you said. A loud explosion roared through the dorm-building. "Now, I think only one is left." you corrected yourself. "I got the penultimate snowman," said Momo proudly. "Great." you cheered. As the elevator stopped at the ground floor, the snowman in your arms tried to wiggle himself free. "We need to met up in the common room, so we can get rid of the captured snowmen," you said to the others. 

After you got rid of the captured snowmen. Bakugou stormed into the common room area. "We found only one, are all gone?" he asked grumpily. "Only one is missing," you answered as you watched the penultimate snowman melt. "I got the last one he was hiding in the fridge," said Sato and brought you the last one. 

"Thanks, guys, for helping. I am so sorry that my quirk got out of hand and caused such trouble," you apologized to your classmates. "No problem, that could happen to every one of us. You don't need to apologize." Midoriya said reassuringly. A small smile spread across your face, and you were relieved that everyone agreed and wasn't angry with you. Except for Bakugou, but that was to be foreseen. 

[fortisfiliae]

Promised Part 11 - Tom Riddle x reader

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Masterpost | Masterlist

Summary: In this story, Tom didn’t grow up as an orphan, but with his grandfather and uncle. Reader’s sister got very sick and the Gaunts offer their help. But not without asking for something in return.

Disclaimer: Please be aware that I don’t condone any of this in real life. (GIF is not mine)

Warnings: Arranged marriage, an unholy amount of fluff

Word count: 2.5k

A/n: This chapter is written partially from Tom’s POV and the reader will be addressed in third person. The POV shift starts in the second half, after the divider, just so you know :)

Part 11 - The Earth’s Centre

Starting to brew the antidote for Mors Grano happened to be easier than you had anticipated. The potion’s base was quite similar to any other healing draught, and so was its production. You had decided to begin the laborious process, even though the Banshee tears were missing. According to the recipe, they were the last ingredient to be added, so you still had a lot of time to find them, even if you still didn’t quite know how.

For the first few weeks, there was nothing more to do than letting the Moondew cook and stir it frequently. The cauldron stood in Tom’s room, its content simmering steadily, ready to be examined at any given moment by one of you. 

Professor Beery had denied you the bonus points for the N.E.W.T.s after you had told him that the Moly had unfortunately died. Those points were the least of your problems, however.

The plant had, in fact, bloomed beautifully, ready to be added to the potion.

And that was when the difficulties began. As soon as you let the blossoms fall into the cauldron, the potion started to smell. Very strongly. The mixture reacted in a way that wasn’t described in the book and started to produce yellow steam, as well as a sour, headache-inducing scent, which reached beyond the walls of Tom’s room. The fume filled up every last inch of his dorm and even seemed to creep out into the Slytherin common room. Other students had started mentioning the weird smell and even Dippet, who had paid Tom a number of unfortunate surprise visits, started to get suspicious.

You had sent your parents an owl to inform them that you wouldn’t come home during your semester break. They weren’t exactly happy about it; you had never stayed at Hogwarts during the holidays after all. But you had insisted, telling them there was so much studying to do until they finally let go. That wasn’t even a lie. There was a bunch of work to do. Granted, not all of it was related to school, but you still had a lot on your plate. 

Tom stayed in Hogwarts for the week as well. You weren’t sure but highly doubted that he had notified his own family about it. And to be fair, they wouldn’t really care about that, would they?

Even though the school was practically empty and only a mere fraction of students stayed along with you, those who did stay complained about the biting smell in all of Slytherin’s dormitories. On Sunday evening you heard that the housekeeper had been sent to seek out the source and Tom was informed that Mr Carpe would start his search the next morning.

So there you were, worrying about what to do, stirring the cauldron for the twentieth time within the last minutes, hoping it would steam less, the more you whisked through it. No matter how hard you concentrated, how many options you took into account, there was nowhere you could possibly drag the cauldron to, where its scent would go unnoticed. 

The Potions classroom was off-limits, even though it was much better equipped for the fumes. Slughorn would spend a lot of his time there, to prepare tasks for the upcoming semester. You had even considered taking it home and telling your parents about it. But using the Floo-Network with an item this heavy wasn’t possible, and taking the train with a simmering cauldron seemed ridiculous. Besides that, the antidote still took months to finish, so you would have to take it back to Hogwarts a week later anyway.

Hell, you had even thought about taking that damned kettle out onto the Quidditch pitch or into the forest, so no one would smell it anymore. But you couldn’t leave it out in the open, of course.

The moment you had given up all hope and realised that you couldn’t go on brewing the potion in Tom’s room, or anywhere else, he had told you about another possibility. There was this room on the seventh floor he had discovered in fifth grade. He called it the Come and Go Room and he was positive that no one besides him, not even the teachers, knew of its existence. The room must have been enchanted, according to Tom, and only appeared when you were in dire need.

So the two of you went there the same night, in a cloak and dagger operation, levitating the cauldron behind you. You had covered it with a white sheet so that if someone saw you, they at least wouldn’t know initially what you were doing. The disguise was weak and you knew if Dippet or any other teacher would spot you, you would be screwed.

Luckily none of them was there when you rushed through the halls, aside from Warren O’Connor, a Ravenclaw fifth year, who patrolled on a corridor next to their tower. He was too far away to detect the poorly hidden cauldron and didn’t even seem to look at you after he had recognised Tom. 

When you had finally arrived, chest heaving, thoughts rushing from relief and tension, Tom instructed you how to summon the Come and Go Room. You walked past the stone wall three times and imagined, very carefully, what you needed. An airtight room that allowed you to keep on brewing your potion in peace, that no one would be able to find unless you wanted them to. Suddenly, a door appeared. You looked at Tom and he nodded before you took the handle and opened it.

The small room behind the door was, simply put, perfect. Your very own Potions laboratory. Dark and nifty, it offered enough little cabinets to store all the ingredients for the antidote, as well as a worktop to put the cauldron on. Everything looked as if it had been custom made, just for this purpose. Which it was, you had just created it all yourself. 

Now that the cauldron was in a safe place Tom felt more at ease and actually thought that the semester break could turn out to be enjoyable. Why did that relax him, though? A question he had asked himself more than once. He didn’t have to care, nor did he have to help his fiancée to save her sister. Then why had he done it? 

He didn’t have a logical answer to that question, even though the illogical one seemed to wave at him from the back of his head. He shrugged it off. But there were so many questions of the same kind running through his mind. Why did he care? He had never cared before. For anyone. That girl wouldn’t bring him where he wanted to be just by marrying him. Sure, her family was respected. Of course, they were purebloods, which was why his Grandfather had taken notice of them. But it had never been Tom’s wish to marry her. So why didn’t he mind the thought anymore? The idea of seeing her walking down the aisle had repelled him immensely when he had found out what Marvolo’s plan had been. And now it didn’t. He had gotten used to the idea. It even bugged him to think about the fact that the marriage wouldn’t happen by chance if the antidote was finished soon enough. Then why did he help her?

There was something inside of him, something that he couldn’t just pinpoint yet. Something that made him do the things he had done, even when it had gone against his own benefit. Something that made him care less and less about himself. It must have turned all of his morals upside down, because somehow, and he couldn’t explain why, the most important thing was seeing her happy. He didn’t even know when his priorities had changed. When he had stopped putting himself first. But it had happened. And that irritated him beyond belief.

She had been so easy to dislike. Back then, when they were sitting in her dining room alone. When she had stared at him, eagerly waiting for him to feel sorry for her. So conceited. Desperate for his attention. But then again, she had been so easy to like. When had he started giving in? At first, he had been nothing more than disgusted. Appalled of the uproar that had gone on inside his head. That nasty feeling in his chest and his weak knees. But once he had surrendered, it had begun to feel good.

All he wanted - no - all he needed now, was to make sure she was safe. Protect her. Help her. That wasn’t just an act of kindness though. He had figured out that apparently, he mirrored her emotions. When she was pleased, he was too. When she was angry, he couldn’t help but feel furious as well. When she was sad, his chest stung with her. It felt like a purpose. Like she was the earth’s centre and everyone else, even himself, merely spun around her. She had his full attention now and he didn’t plan on taking it from her anytime soon. 

If someone were to ask him why, he wouldn’t even know where to begin. How does one describe the meaning of everything? He could start with her glow. That devotion she seemed to radiate anywhere she was. Her relentless spirit and how ready she was to combat anyone with it. How tender she was with people that deserved it. And how ruthless she could be with the ones who didn’t. The way she moved in her sleep, slowly and gently, turning over and unknowingly stealing his blanket at least twice a night. The way her chest moved up and down when she lay next to him. How her eyes seemed to light up when she awoke and looked at him. The hours he had watched her. Held her. Felt her skin brushing against his own, just like in this moment. How could anyone experience that and not have the urge to keep it? To freeze those moments in time and lock them up, safely, for nobody to see. 

Tom wasn’t sure if she was aware of how nervous she made him. He knew how to hide it, but was ever so annoyed at how much he depended on being close to her. And he usually wasn’t the one to become jittery. That was the response he normally got. Freda Morris, for example, couldn’t seem to think straight when he had taken her out once, during their sixth year. Merlin’s beard, that lass was nerve wrenching. 

Quite contrary to her. No one had ever done that to him. She had crawled under his skin and into his head, drugging his mind until almost every single thought he produced revolved around her. But he knew his place. She hadn’t befuddled him just to make him her pawn. He knew because that was what his family had done ever since he could remember. She had never done him wrong. Maybe that was why he had helped her. And why he was willing to do anything for her, even if it meant for him to suffer. He was the antagonist in their story. And if he was poison, she was the remedy. If he was the villain, she was the treasure worth saving. 

Tom’s pitiful monologue was interrupted when she woke up, opened her eyes and looked at him.

“Morning,” she said quietly and smiled.

He looked at her for a moment. If only she knew. 

“Morning,” he replied.

She stretched her arms in the air and yawned, then turned towards him and ran her fingers along his jawline. Bliss.

“How long have you been awake?” she asked, staring at the stubble on his chin that her thumb had just touched.

“Not long,” he lied. “Just a few minutes.”

She grinned and placed a kiss onto the left end of his lips. “I have to get up and stir the potion. Care to join me?”

“Sure,” he nodded.

“Good. Oh, and I think I’m going to go to Diagon Alley in the afternoon. To buy the Foxgloves. I have to add them next week.”

“I’ll come.”

She exhaled and pulled him in, nuzzling into his neck. 

“Do you think we should go to Knockturn Alley as well?” she asked, her voice muffled. “While we’re there. I want to see if any store offers Banshee tears.”

“I don’t think they do,” Tom said and she lifted her head to look at him.

“But where else then?”

“I think I know where we could get some.”

She nodded, urging him to tell her.

“Well, I’m sure Morfin owns a flask. He had to get it if he wanted to brew the antidote, didn’t he?”

“But if they never planned on curing Elsie entirely, I don’t think he would have gotten them.”

“Marvolo never planned on curing her,” Tom said. “Morfin did. He’s a Potions master. One that doesn’t care about legality. He knows every last person that deals with ingredients like that. Even if he never intended to free her, I’m sure he got them just in case he ever needed them for himself.”

Her eyes roamed his face while she thought about it. “So what can we do now? Go to your house, search his chamber and steal the flask?”

Tom shook his head. “That won’t be as easy. They’re always home, Marvolo has his eyes everywhere. Even the house-elves would alarm him.”

She frowned, brows furrowed while she lightly tugged on his hair.

“They’ll be gone,” Tom went on. “In late March. The Order of Merlin gets honoured and they are both invited. We could go then and try to find it.”

There it was again. That spark in her eyes. 

“Okay,” she answered. “Let’s do it then. But for now, let’s stay in bed for five more minutes.”

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Masterpost | Masterlist

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[kjhmyg]

christmas/ny (drabble)

pairing: jungkook x reader | jungkook x oc

genre: fluff, steamy at the end

words: 1.7k

summary: re!couple celebrating christmas and ny with jungkook after the holidays

a/n: um first of all, sorry. this is so bad im cry but also it’s kinda ok? idk. sorry anon if this isn’t what u wanted. i’ll try again next year 2022 lmao

𝄖

As patient as he is Jungkook can’t wait for your nightly call. You try to stay off your phone for the most part being back home, leaving time to talk to Jungkook only when it’s dark out. Of course, some days you miss him so much that you break that rule to sneak in a couple of texts or photos. Today’s not one of them. 

Unfortunately, he had missed your earlier call. Horrified seeing two notifications of your failed attempts to reach him, he’s decided not to do anything else till he hears your voice. 

Jungkook shoves a spoonful of Suga’s homemade microwave spaghetti into his mouth, eyes not leaving his phone.

“You’re staring at that thing so hard the screen’s going to crack.” Suga judges him from across the table. 

“I’m expecting a call.” 

“Yeah, I know.” He sighs, “But it’s not like your phone’s on silent. It’ll ring once she⎼”

Jungkook jumps within the first few seconds of his phone lighting up, your name flashing across the screen. Leaving Suga to himself, he rushes into the room and takes a deep breath before accepting the call. “Hi.”

“Hey you.” Your chirpy voice makes him smile. “Missed you earlier.” 

“I know, sorry. Was busy. Did you have fun today?” 

“It was okay. We got a cute little tree and I managed to do some really last minute shopping because I just found out my cousins will be here tomorrow night.” You sigh. “Did you miss me?” 

“So much. I hate being apart, you know that.” 

“Well I did offer you to come home with me.”  

Jungkook had declined again. He doesn’t think it’s the best time to introduce himself to your family yet. Though, he had no qualms about letting your dad know. Funny enough, you decided not to. But you’re certain you heard your grandmother telling him about the couple photo you have as your homescreen. 

“Maybe next time.” He hums, thinking about the possible future. 

“I think my dad will like you.” The sound of your giggles has him cheesing so hard. 

“Is that why you chickened out on telling him about us?” 

“I did not! The timing isn't right.” 

“Sure baby.” He laughs. “You’re not embarrassed of me are you?” 

“I’m embarrassed someone like you is even interested in me.” You both laugh and let the silence engulf you. “You know I love you right? I hope we can spend the holidays together next year.” 

“I hope so too.” There’s a tiny amount of sadness in there if you’re listening right. 

“I might not be able to call you the next few nights. Since my cousins will be over. I promise to text though.” You say. 

“That’s okay.” You hear the smile in his voice. “Just have fun okay? I’ll be here when you get back.”

“One more week.”

“Right. One week. Seven days. I’m sure I can handle being without you till then.” 

“Merry christmas my love.” You send him a kiss over the phone.

“Merry christmas to you too.” 

When the call ends ten minutes later, he trots back outside, face looking even worse than before. Suga, now done with his food, shakes his head disapprovingly as Jungkook takes his seat and goes back to the sad, cold dish in front of him. “You’re pathetic.” 

𝄖

Jungkook holds his breath as the train slowly comes to a stop at the platform. Yesterday was the first day of the new year, which means today’s the day you come back. He’d planned out his route. First he’d get coffee and bagels to-go with chocolate danishes for you, in case you hadn’t had anything during the long trip. Then a short stop at the florist to get you a single rose before going off to the station.

It gets messy as everyone starts alighting and he struggles to catch you among the crowd. That’s when you come into view, head popping out between other random faces, wrapped in a beanie and scarf. Your face lights up when you see him, making hurried steps and dragging your luggage behind you. 

“Jungkook!” You squeal, running into his arms. 

He kisses the side of your face. “Hey stranger.” 

“I’m so happy to see you.” You say, squeezing him tight. “How are you?”

“You’re asking me that as if we aren’t constantly texting each other.” He laughs, handing you the rose and letting you cling onto his arm with your luggage in his other hand, headed for the car. 

“I know I’m just trying to break the ice.” 

Inside the comfort and warmth of the car, he kisses you deeply. Something he’s been looking forward to for the last three weeks. “How’s that for breaking the ice?” 

You roll your eyes but a smile plays at your lips as you properly adjust the seat belt. Gasping when you’re handed chocolate danishes, you pout at him, “You’re so sweet. Come here.” It earns him more kisses which he happily accepts. 

In the back seat you notice an odd shaped item, in purple wrapping, done quite messily. “What’s that?” You ask knowingly. 

“A surprise.”

“I have one for you too.” You smile smugly. 

 “Yeah? Can’t wait.” 

On the way back, you give him a run down of what went on back home. When he ended up confessing that he hadn’t done anything special for the holidays, not even with Suga, it made you feel bad. Even though he tries to assure you he didn’t want to celebrate it anyway. 

Back home, you lug your baggage into the room and dig something out of your bag. A packet of cookies lands on Jungkook’s lap as he takes a seat on the floor in front of the couch. “For me?” 

“Mmhm.” Nodding, you tear open the paper bag, behaving more excited than he is. “My grandma said she packed this for my friend. She winked when she told me that. And I’d already brought some back for Hana. I think she knows.” 

“About us? How?” 

“She’s always been nosy.” You giggle. “I guess she doesn’t want you to get left out.”

“Aw. She’s kind just like you.” 

“Wait!” He pauses, startled by your hand on his, stopping him from pulling one of the cookies out of the bag. “Hold on.” 

You get up and run to the room. Carrying as many pillows as you can with a comfy blanket somewhere in between, Jungkook watches as you make a barrier with the pillows and spread the blanket over him. Then, you’re off to the kitchen. 

After a minute of cabinet doors opening and closing and the clinking of glasses, you come back with two mugs of hot cocoa, marshmallows on top of course. Just the way your dad makes them. You place it right next to him then push the coffee table all the way forward to make more room to spread your legs. You put on a lame christmas movie on netflix, then snuggle up next to him. 

“Now it’s a real christmas party.” 

Jungkook laughs, holding you close and kissing the top of your head. You do the most unexpected things at the most random times. But he appreciates the way you always try to make sure he’s not left out. “Thank you baby.” 

You grin up at him and watch carefully as he takes the first bite of the cookies. His eyes go wide and you nod knowingly. It’s your grandmother’s famous recipe. One even if you had, wouldn’t even be able to replicate its taste. He hums in delight, stuffing his mouth with one cookie after the other. 

“So. Let me guess what happens after cookies and cocoa.” He says after finishing almost half the packet. 

“What?” You ask, eyeing him. 

He reaches round the side of the couch and pulls out the odd package you had seen in the car. “Presents?”

“Presents!”  

You run back to your room and appear with a small wrapped box. The rule was not to buy anything that costs more than your monthly rent. You both had agreed to this a while back. Which was difficult for Jungkook because all he wanted to do was to spoil you with expensive gifts. 

“What is this?” Jungkook holds the box to his ear and shakes lightly. “Hm.” 

“Wait I think I can guess what mine is.” You giggle, pressing into the soft parts of the wrapping. 

“Okay then you go first.” 

“Okay.” Tearing away the wrapping carefully, you find inside a soft, pink bunny with funky eyebrows. On the bottom of its little feet, there are hearts and in those hearts are both your names embroidered with a plus sign in between. “Aww no this is so adorable. I love it so much.”

“It’s not a diamond necklace but⎼”

“No this is so much better. Thank you.” You give him a hug with the bunny squished between your bodies. “It strangely reminds me of you.” 

“Really?” 

“Yeah it’s weird and I like it.” You giggle, pinching his cheek. “Now open yours.” 

The wrapping comes off easy and he immediately realises what it is as the box comes into view. He looks at you for a second before unboxing it and pulling out a matte black polaroid camera. Jungkook takes his time with it, carefully looking at it from each side. 

“Do you like it?” You ask. “I know you like taking photos so I thought you might like this.” 

“Y/N I love it.” He smiles, bringing the viewfinder to his eye and getting a feel of it, then putting it down to focus on you. “Let’s take one together.” 

You scoot next to him as he loads the film cassette. Then hugging his middle, he hooks his arm around your shoulders and your faces press against each other. He clicks the shutter and you both wait for the film to develop. 

It comes out perfect, both your smiling faces perfectly in frame and even bunny made it in which makes Jungkook laugh. He can’t stop staring at it, holding it by the edges so carefully like he’s afraid he’s going to ruin it. 

“I love you.” He says, looking at you when he finally sets it down.

“I love you too.” 

He kisses you, tasting of hot cocoa and love. You’re being pushed onto the pillows with the blanket beneath as Jungkook hovers over you, pushing the hair out of your face. As Jungkook removes his sweater, you pull your shirt over your head. Jungkook smiles down at you, kisses you, then reaches for the camera. “Merry fucking christmas to me.” 

You shimmy out of your jeans and hook your ankle over his shoulder. Snap. “And happy new year baby.” 

[the-hilda-librarians-wife]

A familiar Soul - Chapter Nine

Summary: Hilda decides to be completely honest with her mother, surprised when she seems to be a lot more in on magic than Hilda had expected her to be.

With her daughter’s association with witches, Johanna is forced to face some secrets of her own, bringing her back to feelings and people she’d rather have left behind

Dealing with insecurities and inner demons of her own, Kaisa finds herself face to face with the very issues that brought her to be so displeased with her own abilities

Or: the one where Johanna is Kaisa’s familiar

Notes: I suppose this is more of a filler chapter, but I hope you could enjoy some shippy fluff anyways. And look! We’re over the half way mark now :D

Read it on ao3: (chpt1) (chpt2) (chpt3) (chpt4) (chpt5) (chpt6) (chpt7) (chpt8) (chpt9)

The second time Matilda hears that story, the atmosphere is astoundingly different.

She pretends to never have heard about the recent happenings in the sewers, of course, because Frida sounded so excited about her success that she wanted to give the girl an opportunity to ramble about it all she wanted, without leaving any detail out. Tildy would be the first to admit she was no actress, but she thought she did quite well with making exclamations of surprise, worry and wonder at just the right times, all the while feeling the warmth of pride fill her chest.

Hilda had come with her that day, and even though she wasn’t as thrilled with the recent adventure as her witch, it was stark clear that she wasn’t traumatized or scarred from it like any other person would be. If there was anything bothering her, it seemed to have been her mother’s attitude, but she hadn’t talked much about it and Tildy hadn’t pressed her. Still, the sorceress couldn’t deny that the outcome could have easily been tragic had her apprentices taken any longer to arrive, and as someone who cared about Hilda that truly didn’t sit well with her. Besides, she had made a promise to Johanna, after all.

Having been told that story by Kaisa right after it had happened, she had had enough time to prepare for the girls’s next visit. On top of the small table by the door, there were two miniature drawstring velvet bags, the sort that was used to carry crystals when a witch wished to take them on a trip. Inside those two, however, there were no precious stones, and Tildy picked them up when she had finished congratulating Frida for her magic feat.

“Only one thing worries me.” As nonchalantly as she could, Tildy weighed the two bags on her hands, making sure they felt the same. “If something of the sort happens again, you might not be as close to Hilda, or vice versa. I made some of this for both of you, and it would make this old woman a lot calmer if you could promise to keep it with yourselves at all times.”

Frida took the bags from her hands and passed one on to Hilda, whose curiosity immediately led her to opening it. A bluish glow lit up the underside of her face as she stared inside, amazed. It looked like Tildy had captured all of the stars in the sky and trapped them in that tiny satchel.

“What is this?” Frida asked as she looked over Hiilda’s shoulder and into her friend’s bag. The scent of seawater tickled her nose, and traveled down to her lungs making her feel like she was on the beach on a stormy day.

“Enchanted kraken shell powder.”

Hilda gasped “Kraken shell?!”

“Enchanted powdered kraken shell. Should one of you ever be in danger, the other needs only to step on some amount of the powder and find themselves instantly by their side. Crafty, isn’t it?”

Blinking, Frida tried to get past her surprise. Yes, it was crafty, but most of all it was impossible. Wasn’t it?

“Tildy, how on earth did you get this?”

Her mentor shrugged. “I know people. And the kraken was already dead, so worry not for that.”

While Frida tried to comb her mind for any spell that had a similar end and could be manipulated to have that same result, attempting to figure out how such an awe inspiring feat was done, Hilda’s head was already filled with ideas of how useful that could come in the future.

“That’s so cool!” She exclaimed. “Could it work with other people too?”

Dialing Hilda’s excitement down, Tildy moved her head left to right in a negative gesture. “This powder only works between witch and familiar. That’s why it's so rare. Familiars are usually treated as pets, so they rarely stay away from their witch at all.”

“But how are we supposed to know when the other will need help if we’re not close by?’

“But that’s the exciting part!” Tildy clasped her hands together in glee. “I think it’s time for you two to learn about the call!”

Though she herself didn’t know what that was about, Hilda noticed Frida gasp softly; no doubt her witch had already read about that.

“That’s really true? I tried to send the call to Hilda one day to test it but… I don’t think it worked.”

“Wait, what?” Hilda turned to her friend while her mentor watched them with amusement. “I never got any call from you.”

“That’s why I’m saying it didn’t work, Hilda.”

“The call isn’t something you get, darling.” Moving past them, Tildy began walking in the direction of the room where they did their magic training. It was the girls’ cue to follow her. “It is something you feel. The bond between witch and familiar is so strong that you are able to send a signal of sorts to each other, but you have to properly learn how to do it first. Once this ability is activated, you never lose it.”

“So cool!” Both of them gasped at the same time as they followed on the sorceress’s tail.

Turning the brass knob clockwisely and sending a jolt of magic through it (after all, what kind of witch would she be if her spell room was protected only by mundane ways?), Tildy opened the door to allow them in.

“It’s good to see your excitement! Shall we begin?”

_#_#_#_

Even though Kaisa would be the first to say that rainy days were her favourite, she had to admit to being glad for the sun shining brightly that afternoon. The event would be ruined otherwise, and that would make Johanna terribly upset.

Children of different ages ran excitedly through the stands that were put up in the field near the Sparrow Scouts Hall, playing games which Kaisa couldn’t recognize or gathering close to said stands. The Raven Leader had had the idea of introducing the children to different crafts, in order to try and make them interested in parts of their culture that weren’t given much attention. Being one of the senior Sparrow Scouts, Johanna had taken upon herself great part of the responsibility for organizing that event, and Kaisa even had accompanied her to those professionals’ houses to be with her when she made the invitation. Artisans with a wide range of different abilities now showed their skills to the children, and Kaisa was sure her girlfriend must be feeling really proud of the result of her work.

As she looked for Johanna among the swarm of similarly dressed scouts, Kaisa could only imagine how livid Henrietta would be if she learned that a witch so close to being fully trained was attending such a human event; mingling with non witches was not something she was encouraged to do, and the feeling of rebellion made being there even more worth it. Of course, that still couldn’t compare to the chance of seeing her girlfriend doing something she felt comfortable with.

Kaisa found her in the middle of the crowd, giving information to a trio of children who didn’t know where to begin exploring the event. After sending them on their way to a woman who was demonstrating the making of julehjerters, little decorative hearts of weaved paper, Johanna lifted her gaze and noticed the witch observing her. With a smile on her face, she beckoned Kaisa closer and closed her in a tight hug.

“I’m so glad to see you here!” She chirped into Kaisa’s cardigan, both of them taking a couple of seconds to just hold each other.

“The pleasure is all mine.” Answered Kaisa, looking around without dislodging herself from the embrace. “Are you sure I can be here, though? I only see other scouts around.”

Granted, the witch knew she wasn't the best of influences when it came to following rules, but she still wouldn’t want Johanna to get into any kind of trouble because of her. There were no other outsiders around her, and Kaisa didn’t think stealing a sash from some random kid would be a good solution.

Johanna took a step back, though she kept herself close enough that they were still holding each other’s waits, and smiled. “Don’t worry about it! We were encouraged to call people for the event. I just asked you to come earlier so we could make the most out of it, but people will begin arriving soon enough.”

“‘The most of it?’” Kaisa lifted an eyebrow.

“Of course!” Johanna’s eyes glittered as she tugged on her hand, guiding her girlfriend through the gathering. Kaisa didn’t resist, trusting her girlfriend knew where she was going as she began feeling a scent of flour and hearth in the air, which got stronger with every step they took. “There are things we must try before there are queues! Have you ever eaten a traditional lefse?”

_#_#_#_

Johanna had been right; it didn’t take long before a crowd began gathering on the field, both people who seemed to be there for their Sparrow Scout loved ones or those who only happened to hear about the event and showed up to enjoy the activities. As she’d already worked hard to make that event happen, not much else was expected from her except helping a confused younger scout every now and then, leaving her with time to spend with Kaisa.

Already eating their second serving of lefse with butter, they were discussing a way to find the recipe (Kaisa had offered to use a spell to steal a copy from the stallman, but unfortunately Johanna had stopped her before she had the chance) when one of the faces among the ones surrounding them caught their attention. Not because it was familiar to them in any way, but because there was something unquestionably strange about it. Framed by eerily red bangs, the girl’s eyes seemed to reflect no light at all. Johanna tried to point her out subtly.

“There’s something weird about that girl.” She said, watching Kaisa’s eyes narrow as if she was staring right through the other teenager.

“She’s a marra.” The witch stated with not an inkling of doubt in her voice, even though Johanna couldn’t tell what kind of magic she might have used to reach that conclusion, and turned to her with a sly smile in the corner of her mouth. “Should we do something about it?”

“No, I don’t think we should. Let’s not ruin our lovely day.”

“Anna, where is your sense of adventure?” Kaisa lifted an eyebrow, only half joking. She had noticed that with each passing day her girlfriend became less and less excited about the things they used to do together. It didn't mean that they were drawing apart, since they still always enjoyed simply being together, but sometimes Kaisa worried that things were changing too fast; while Johanna got more mature, she still felt moved by the same things she did as a child. She could only hope Johanna would never outgrow magic. It’s not like Kaisa had anything else to offer her.

“Right here, as always.” Johanna tapped her chest playfully, making Kaisa giggle, and then slid her arm across her girlfriend’s back to keep her close. “But the only adventure I’m interested in right now is being with you.”

Rolling her eyes, Kaisa leaned her head against Johanna’s shoulder and resigned herself to not doing anything. She watched the bustling event with little interest, focusing only on Johanna’s comments about school, her family, the Sparrow Scouts and all the other things happening in her life. Adventurous or not, she would have loved to spend the whole evening like that. Soon, however, Johanna took her arm away from around her witch, which made her look up questioningly.

Johanna was wearing an apologetic expression, trying her best to not look away from Kaisa’s face. The few strands of curly copper hair falling in front of her eyes made her seem disheveled for a moment. “We should probably get going. People are leaving, the place will be deserted soon.”

“Right.” Kaisa sat upright on the bench. “Want to come over for dinner? Tildy said she was making stew.”

The smile that Johanna had managed to put up wavered. “I’d love to, but… not today.”

After so many years, Kaisa recognized that tone of voice, and her own happiness faltered. “Your parents?”

“Yeah.” As a cooler breeze brushed against their skins, Johanna shivered. “They don’t like it that I seem to be out more often than before.”

It took Kaisa effort not to huff. Of course Johanna was going out more; she was trying to get extracurriculars under her belt for when the time came to send out college applications, not to mention how she had taken to helping some of her friends with their studying. How it escaped Johanna’s parents' notice that they were lucky to have a daughter like Johanna, Kaisa didn’t know, but she did take them for fools for it. Though Kaisa had to admit that their wariness of her didn’t get them any points with her either.

She did, of course, know that Johanna was certainly more upset with this than she could be. It was her problem to deal with, after all, and Kaisa wouldn’t make it worse by protesting. As they lifted themselves up to their feet, she tried to smile reassuringly.

“You could come over some other day, then. Don’t worry about it.”

Despite her mood, Johanna’s spirits were lifted by Kaisa’s thoughtfulness, and she leaned in to kiss her girlfriend sweetly on her lips, uncaring of who could see them. She tasted of coffee and of the lefse they’d had some time before, leaving Johanna slightly breathless when she drew back. Their hands interlaced between them as their foreheads touched, they had to make an enormous amount of effort to let go.

“Good evening, then.” Kaisa whispered, wondering how on earth the day had passed by so fast. If she thought such magic even existed, she would have suspected of some wicked witch casting a spell to steal their time from them. “And good luck.”

[remywrites5]

For @casualmaraudering who is having a bad day. Have some artist!Remus schmoop. 

***

           Remus sat with his legs crossed in the center of his art studio, an unknown streak of blue paint on his cheek. He scratched his cheek with the back of his paintbrush, unsure why it was itchy to begin with. Sticking his tongue out in concentration, he smudged his thumb over one of the lines to soften it slightly.

           The sounds of a motorbike pulled his attention from his canvas just as it always did at 5:15 pm when Sirius Black returned from work. Remus glanced out the slightly ajar window, his head just barely poking over the sill from his place on the floor. Sirius was whistling what appeared to be Another One Bites the Dust as he made his way up the driveway to his front door.

           Feeling inspired, Remus grabbed his phone and pulled up Spotify, letting a playlist of Queen fill the room. He lost himself back in his art for a while until what sounded like hail on his window made him jump. He found a few small pebbles by his feet and went to the window to find Sirius Black standing underneath it.

           Remus put his hands up the bottom of the window and yanked it upwards. Sticking his head out, he found Sirius beaming up at him from his front yard. “Care for a walk?” Sirius asked, shoving his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket.

           Remus blinked a few times in surprise. Never mind that Sirius Black was unfairly attractive but they had never spoken more then ten words to each other despite being neighbors for the past two years.

           “Why?”

           Sirius shrugged in response. “You coming or not?”

           Remus considered for a moment and then spent another few moments wondering what the hell was wrong with him. Gorgeous blokes didn’t show up at your window every night for moonlit strolls.

           “Be right down!”

           Remus turned the music off on his phone and shoved it into his pocket. By the front door he crammed his feet into his sneakers before grabbing his wallet and keys. When he opened his front door, Sirius was standing on his front stoop waiting for him.

           “Overalls?” Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement. “Really?”

           “Shut up,” Remus said, rolling his eyes. He stepped outside and made sure his front door was locked. “They’re comfortable and I don’t care if I get paint on them.”

           Sirius walked backwards down the steps in a manner so smooth Remus would have thought it had been rehearsed, however he doubted Sirius Black was practicing on Remus’ front porch. He looked up at Remus expectantly from the few steps the separated them. Remus chewed his bottom lip for a moment and then joined Sirius on the sidewalk.

           “So…” Remus said, breaking the silence as they fell into step with each other.

           “So,” Sirius echoed, grinning mischievously. “Hi. I’m Sirius.”

           “I know that,” Remus said, playing with one of his longer curls by his temple. He really needed to get a haircut. “Is there a point to this?”

           “Does there have to be?”

           “Two years of pleasant greetings and suddenly you want to go for a walk.” Remus sighed and kicked as a rock. “Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”

           Sirius turned and stepped in front of Remus, blocking his path. “Would you ever consider painting me?”

           Remus managed to keep his jaw from dropping but it was a near thing. “If that sentence ends with like one of your French girls I will hit you.”

           Sirius snorted. “I am actually French but we don’t have to go full nude on the first portrait.”

           “Oh you imagine there will be many, do you?” Remus sidestepped Sirius and continued walking. It felt a bit like running away from the handsome man who had just offered to pose nude for him.

           “Don’t you want to know why I want my portrait done?” Sirius asked, following after Remus.

           “Probably so the portrait can grow old for you and you can stay youthful for the rest of time?” Remus quipped over his shoulder.

           “You know,” Sirius said, catching up to Remus. “Oscar Wilde believed art showed more about the artist than the subject. What would you reveal, Remus?”

           Remus swallowed thickly and picked up the pace of his walking. “I want a milkshake,” he said, changing the subject entirely. “Would you like a milkshake?”

           “Remus!” Sirius called out, hurrying to keep up with him. “What’s the rush?”

           Remus didn’t slow down until they’d reached the little diner on the corner. Remus sat down at the counter, as sitting in a booth across from Sirius felt too intimate. Sirius sat backwards on the rotating stool next to him, his elbows on the counter as he lounged back, his legs crossed at the ankles.

           Remus ordered a chocolate milkshake for himself while Sirius got a strawberry one and a plate of chips.

           “You’re a strange one, Remus,” Sirius said as they waited for their order.

           “Am I?” Remus asked, pulling a napkin from the holder and beginning to doodle on it. Before he knew it he’d drawn Sirius’ mouth. He quickly sketched his eyes and nose so it wouldn’t be quite so weird. He always doodled when he was nervous.

           “You know you’ve got paint on your cheek,” Sirius said, grinning that same wicked grin. Remus found himself pulling out another napkin so he could attempt to capture it. “And it hasn’t bothered you in the twenty minutes we’ve been together. Not once.”

           “Shit,” Remus said, licking his palm and attempting to clean his cheek. “Hazard of the trade, unfortunately.”

           “Let me,” Sirius said softly. He dipped a napkin into his glass of water and gently began to rub at Remus’ cheek. “May I tell you why I want my picture done now?”

           Remus nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

           “When I was little my mother had our portraits done, it was a family tradition. Your portrait went on this wall that formed a family tree. Well when I was sixteen I came out to my parents and my mother proceeded to take my portrait off the wall and throw it into the fireplace. Symbolic gesture, right?”

           “Sirius –“

           “Last year my brother went into rehab and guess what? His portrait also ended up in the fire. She’s got high standards, that mother of mine, and unfortunately neither of her sons quite lived up to them. He’s getting out soon and he’s going to come stay with me until he feels like he can be on his own. I thought I would start a new tree, you know? Turn a negative into a positive. Start with my portrait and then his, if you’d be up for it. Then maybe my best friend Jamie, his wife Lily and my godson Harry. New family, new life, you know?”

           “Sirius,” Remus said, wrapping his fingers around Sirius’ wrist to still his hand. He didn’t know if the blue was off his face but he didn’t care. “Fuck, of course. I’d be honored.”

           “Really?” Sirius asked, his smile so bright and wide it made Remus’ heart clench. “It’s not a whim, by the way, although it might seem like it to you. I’ve been trying to gather up the courage to ask you for months.”

           “Why?” Remus asked, shaking his head in confusion. “I’m not exactly intimidating.” Remus gestured with his free hand to his paint splattered overalls.

           Sirius huffed out a laugh and broke eye contact. It was only at that moment Remus realized they had been staring at each other quite intently. “You know when you first moved into the neighborhood I was going to make you a cobbler. It was Jamie’s mum’s recipe and I tried so hard to get it right because it reminded me of home. But it was rubbish. I went wrong somewhere, I’m not sure where but I’m not great at baking. All that measuring, bleh.”

           “You were going to make me a cobbler…” Remus said, his brow furrowing in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

           “I wanted you to feel at home,” Sirius said, tucking his hair behind his ear. “I wanted you to stay, I wanted…”

           “Sirius?” Remus said softly, barely audible even to his own ears as his heart threatened to beat out of his chest.

           “I wanted to be your home, eventually. You were so cute and fuck I’m so gay and I left it too long. It got to the point where I didn’t even know how to say hi to you without getting fucking lost in my feelings.”

           Remus opened his mouth to respond but the waitress interrupted them by bringing their order. Sirius let his hand drop and quickly spun around to face the counter, his head ducked down as if embarrassed. He shoveled a handful of chips into his mouth as if he was trying to get himself to stop talking.

           Remus watched him for a moment with a bemused smile on his face. Sirius Black, the unattainable gorgeous bloke that liked to cut his lawn shirtless had been…pining for Remus all this time. “So what kind of cobbler was it?”

           Sirius began to choke in surprise at the question, thumping his fist against his chest. Eventually he managed to swallow, bypassing the straw to take a large gulp from his milkshake. “Blueberry.”

           “Maybe you should try again,” Remus said, playing with his own straw, dipping it in and out of his milkshake.

           “I did,” Sirius said grumpily. “They never came out right.”

           Remus bit his lip to keep from laughing. “So there were several cobblers.”

           Sirius made a funny noise in the back of his throat and then mumbled something that Remus couldn’t understand.

           “What was that?”

           “I said eleven!” Sirius snapped, biting a chip roughly. “I drew the line at an even dozen.”

           Remus turned to the side so he could look at Sirius. He rested his cheek in his hand and just stared at him in a mix of flattered and bewildered. “You made eleven cobblers that all turned out wrong?”

           Sirius shot him a look and then drained half his milkshake in one go, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “They weren’t good enough, okay? Sure they were edible but when has that ever impressed anybody? When Mrs. Potter made them they were amazing. I never quite got to amazing.”

           Remus took a chip and dunked it into his milkshake before popping it into his mouth. “What did you end up doing with eleven edible cobblers?”

           “I’d take them up with me whenever I visited my brother Reg,” Sirius confessed, taking a napkin and beginning to shred it with his fingers. “Do me a favor and let me wallow here for a while alone in how pathetic I am. I’ll pay for this.”

           “I don’t think you’re pathetic.”

           Sirius gave Remus a wary glance. “You don’t?”

           “A little misguided, perhaps,” Remus said, taking a pensive sip of his milkshake. “Maybe you just need a little help, not that I’m that good at baking myself, but two heads and all that.”

           Sirius stared at him in awe. “You want to come back to my place?”

           “For cobbler.” Remus said sternly, poking Sirius in the chest. “Don’t get any funny ideas.”

           “Of course,” Sirius said, slipping off his stool and going to the register to pay for them. Remus finished off his milkshake and went to the door to wait for Sirius. A few moments later, Sirius joined him, bounding over like an excited puppy. “Ready to be amazed?”

           Remus considered it for a moment and then laced his fingers through Sirius’. His face broke out into a wide smile matching Sirius’ own. “I’m ready.”

[hazbincalifornia]

Sip

Chapter 14: Blitzo tells Stolas something new.

Likes, replies, and reblogs are all appreciated, both here and on ao3!

Warnings: Mpreg

Ao3 link

Blitzo flopped back on his bed with an annoyed grunt as his shirt refused to tug down far enough to cover his stomach. The only things that actually fit properly were his hoodies, actually- everything else was too damn tight. Curse his fashionable sensibilities!

Stolas had insisted on meeting in person again for today. Unfortunately, Blitzo had only fully realized that he was starting to get too big for his closet when one of the buttons had popped on his jacket, and Millie had pointed out that his turtleneck had started riding up. He couldn’t really tug his pants up to cover it without looking like a dweeb, so…

Blitzo sighed, sorting through his hoodies before settling on the pink off-shoulder sweater. It was loose enough to make the bump much less obvious, without having to draw too much attention to himself or wear something Stolas gave him. It was a Wednesday, so hopefully, the café wouldn’t be too busy.

_________________

“Ah, there you are!” Stolas waved, grinning as Blitzo nodded back at him.

“Hey.”

“So, any news?” He lifted a small fabric bag. “I brought some teas, to help with nausea.”

Blitzo snatched the bag, peering inside. “Considering the coffee I can drink has been watered down to piss, I might as well give it a try to have something.”

“That’s the spirit!” Stolas dropped down into a booth in the back corner. There was a general bustle around them, but other than a few glances at Stolas, nobody really seemed to be paying them that much attention. Blitzo had a pair of handguns in holsters just in case anybody got any funny ideas, though. “Now, what’s the news?”

“Well…” Blitzo glanced around before tugging on the bottom of his sweater. “The kid’s started getting weird-ass cravings.”

“Oh? What kind?” Stolas waved over to an employee.

“Flesh, mostly,” Blitzo said, picking at the dirt under his nails and flicking it under the table as a teenager in a stained apron came over. Stolas ordered some fancy-sounding drink for both of them, and when the employee started to say something about how they were supposed to order at the front, Stolas waved a fistful of bills. He grabbed them and stuffed them in the apron pocket, hurrying over to the counter.

“Flesh? Interesting… well, tell me if you need any recipes, the chefs have some fascinating ways to cook meat. What kind of flesh?”

“Any, but human especially.”

Stolas couldn’t help a little laugh. “I take it you take care of those urges after you finish a job?”

Blitzo’s fingers tightened into a fist, and a low growl started in his chest. “It’s not like-”

“No, no, I’m not insulting you- it’s quite lucky you have the job that you do if that’s what they want, that’s all!” Stolas looked down at Blitzo. “I’d love to see those humans scream if you chose to just rip their throat out instead of taking them out how you usually do.” His eyes flashed. “You can get quite wild when so inclined.”

“Yeah, tell me something I don’t already know.”

“Why don’t you?”

“Why don’t I what?” Blitzo raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms, and Stolas tapped his forehead right on the symbol with a slender finger.

“Tell me something that I don’t already know,” Stolas replied, bemused. “That’s what these meetings are for, aren’t they?”

“Oh, right. Right!” Blitzo cleared his throat. “Well-”

“Here you go!” The employee set down two lidded cups, and Stolas shooed him away.

“You were saying?” He raised the cup to his beak.

“Before that pimple-faced puberty bomb interrupted us, I was going to say that the kid started moving.”

Stolas spat the scalding-hot tea directly into Blitzo’s face, slamming the cup down on the table. “They what?”

Blitzo scrubbed at it, tongue slithering out as it soaked the pink fabric of the sleeve. Peachy. “Give a guy some fucking warning, won’t you? I don’t need your birdy backwash!”

“They- they moved?” All four of Stolas’s eyes were blown wide open and he shifted in the booth, feathery ass squeaking as he scooted down the shiny seat until Blitzo was about to be squeezed off the edge. Considering he’d started sweating again, his slippery ass just might have if Stolas hadn’t managed to stop himself in time.

“Personal space, much?”

“I- I assumed they’d be an egg, but of course, imps are live births, aren’t they?” Blitzo wasn’t sure if there was any disappointment in Stolas’s tone, but his hands were shaking before wrapping around the bump, pressing the pink fabric firmly around it to mold to the shape. Not for the first time, Blitzo realized just how big those hands were- everything about the guy was huge, including the manic grin spreading across his face as Stolas bent over him. “Can you make them do it again?”

“They do whatever the hell they want, I can’t control- oh, huh.” As if summoned, the little squirt nudged outwards, and Stolas’s fingers tightened. “Don’t pop ‘em, I am not making another one.”

“They’re moving… that’s incredible,”  Stolas breathed. Blitzo glanced around- people were definitely staring now, and he reached around Stolas’s stick arms for one of the guns, waving it at anyone who ogled for too long.

“Don’t you all have your own fuckin’ lives to ruin?”

“Oh, Blitzy, don’t be so melodramatic, this is good! It means they’re healthy!” Stolas’s grin turned cheeky. “I notice you’re in a new outfit. Are your old clothes not fitting? I do like seeing you in something fresh…”

“Yeah, well, I have a specific fashion taste and baby gut doesn’t exactly play nice with clothes that show off my bod.”

“I think it looks darling,” Stolas said, snapping the strap of the black tank peeking out from underneath.

“Stolas!” Blitzo hissed.

“Blitz,” Stolas replied, setting his chin in his hand. “Is there anything else you’ve been keeping from me, my little imp?”

Blitzo furiously re-adjusted the strap. The tank rode the hell up now, but it just felt too weird to wear the sweater without it. “That was the big one.” After Stolas had offered tea for the nausea, there was no real need to bring up the vomiting. He tried to think of it as little as possible the second after it ended anyway.

“Why didn’t you tell me on one of our calls?”

“Figured you’d want to hear the ‘big news’,” (here Blitzo waggled his fingers) “In person.”

“Oh, Blitzy...” His smile melted a little, earnest.

Blitzo grabbed his cup, chugging about half of it in one go before sputtering. “What is this?”

“Oh, it’s a favorite of mine! Do you like it?”

Swallowing down the rest of it in his throat, Blitzo swished saliva around in his mouth before taking another tentative sip. “Well, it tastes better the second time.”

“You’re not supposed to drink it all at once.”

“I don’t need a fussy-ass drink.”

“Some things are more rewarding if you’re willing to wait,” Stolas said, taking a sip of his own. “How goes your job otherwise? Anything interesting besides cannibalizing your kills?”

“There was this one guy who ended up slipping in a puddle of his own piss…”

The rest of the meeting ended up being Blitzo just laughing about particularly idiotic targets and how IMP took them out, but at least Stolas was a half-decent listener. Blitzo already knew that he was a regular client sometimes, but he really seemed invested in the nitty-gritties of just how they went through the process of elimination. Stolas ended up scribbling the drink order down on a napkin ‘in case you ever decide you want some while thinking of me, Blitzy’, and the kid didn’t kick at all on the walk home.

By the time Blitzo was settled back on his bed, they made a single little push outwards, and he found himself absently rubbing his side next to the bump. “Yeah, yeah. I hear you, kid. We’ll get some popcorn later.”

A smile twitched at his face as he imagined the movement afterward was from their hand and they were giving him a little high-five.

[kieraswriting]

Patton Needs a Break Sometimes Too

More Than The Sum Of Our Parts

Previous  Next

Masterpost

“Listen, we are on a time limit. This must be done before the end of the week, no matter what else we may want to do. There is no place for emotions in this, Patton!” Logan said, turning back to his work. 

Virgil looked away from the hurt expression on Patton’s face. 

“Y-yeah, ok. I’ll be, in my room if you need me.” 

Virgil looked at Roman, who was engrossed in the book Patton had given him, and didn’t seem to have noticed the outburst. 

“Roman,” he whispered loudly, staring directly at the side of his face.  

A few seconds later Roman’s head popped up as he registered the intense stare. “What?” 

Virgil beckoned him over. “Logan is going to need my help, but Patton needs you. I also want you to do something for me.” He explained his plan to Roman, and then relayed the outburst. 

“Of course I’ll help. Come join us when you can.”

Then Roman left. Virgil waited a good while, until Thomas had reached a milestone in the work they were doing and decided to take a break. Unfortunately, this just gave him more time to think about and get more anxious about what he had to do. 

“Logan,” he said, surprised that his voice didn’t shake. 

“Yes?”

“Even for now… you shouldn’t have said that to Patton.” 

Logan sighed. “I wasn’t wrong.”

“It’s true that Thomas needs to do this work by the end of the week, and that he needs to focus on it or it won’t be done in time. But it’s not fair to say that he doesn’t need Patton.”

Logan clenched his jaw, but otherwise ignored Virgil. 

It was hours later when Logan said, “You’re right. I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Once Thomas goes to sleep, we could go talk to him.”

“That does seem to be the correct course of action.”

••^*^••

Roman knocked on Patton’s door. “Can I come in?”

There was a moment of hesitation before Patton opened the door, a smile on his face, but his eyes red. “Sure, what do you need, kiddo?”

Roman held out his arms, and after a second Patton collapsed into them. 

“I’m sorry, I’m just not feeling so hot right now.”

“It’s alright,” Roman murmured, rubbing Patton’s back and rocking softly. He waited until Patton seemed like he was about to pull away before continuing. “You know, your dark son had an idea.”

“Oh?” Patton said, his voice full of tears. 

“Mhmm. He thinks that you’ve been in dad mode a bit too long. That you need a bit of rest where we take care of you for a change.” 

Patton chuckled. “That’s sweet, but I’m really fine. I’ll be right as rain by morning.”

“Would it help if I said I really like his idea? That I really want to do it?”

Patton pulled away enough to look up at him. “Really?”

Roman gave Patton one of his signature hero smiles. “Yes.”

Patton gave him a watery smile back. “What was his idea?”

Roman led Patton to his room and into Virgil’s corner of the imagination. 

It was small, only about half the size of a soccer field, and all around the outside in a circle were large stones covered in soft moss. It was perpetually just beginning to be twilight. The sky was all reds and purples, with just enough light that you didn’t have to squint to see. The grass was thick and soft, and covered every inch of ground except for a perfectly round pool in the middle. The pool was also perfectly still, and reflected back the moon that was already beginning to show. 

“Virgil said that when you want to take it easy, and not have to think about difficult things, that you like to shapeshift into your animal. He said it can calm your worries.”

“That can be fun, yes, but I sometimes have a hard time turning back afterward.” 

“Well, whether you do or not, I’ll be here to help. We can either stay here, or if you want to run around I know of a large field we can go to. Whatever you want to do! I can even shift with you if you want.”

“You would?”

“Of course! There’s very few things that any of us wouldn’t do if it would help you, Padre.” 

Roman barely blinked before he was being tackled by a massive golden retriever. At first Patton was wiggling all over and trying to lick his face, but after a minute he just laid down on top of him. Roman lay still, scratching softly behind Patton’s ears, while the dim light made him sleepy. 

“It’ll be alright,” he promised. “We may be all wound up now, but things always calm down again, and we’ll all be there for each other like always.”

Patton’s head on Roman’s chest shifted, and he licked Roman’s chin. 

••^*^••

It was late, well after midnight before Logan and Virgil gave in to Remy’s insistence that ‘Thomas is mine now, go away.’ 

Logan went immediately to his room, despite his previous words. “At this time of night, Patton is surely asleep. I will be sure to speak with him in the morning.”

Virgil peeked into Patton’s room, and then Roman’s, but they weren’t there. He would check his area of the imagination. Hopefully they were there, and if not he’d call Roman, who would be waking up in a few hours anyway. He didn’t need to use the door anymore, and sunk into the imagination. 

Roman was asleep on the ground, snoring lightly, with Patton on top of him. Patton’s eyes shot open moments after Virgil appeared, and his tail wagged off to the side, where it wouldn’t wake up Roman. Virgil waved at Patton, and crouched by one of the rocks. He lifted the heavy curtain of moss, and pulled out several blankets from a storage place in the rock. 

Patton slid off Roman, and grabbed one corner of the blanket to help spread it over him. 

Virgil wrapped another blanket around his shoulders, and laid the last on top of Patton. If he didn’t like it, he could easily shake it off. Which he did. 

Virgil sat down and held out his arms. Patton rushed in, resting his head on Virgil’s shoulder as Virgil hugged him.

“Are you feeling any better?” Virgil whispered, making long, soft strokes down Patton’s back.

Patton wagged his tail. After a few minutes he nosed at Virgil’s chest. 

“What?”

Patton butted Virgil with his head to push him down, and laid on his chest like he had been on Roman. 

“Oh, ok, I’ll go to sleep. But you need sleep too, Popstar. This is supposed to be us taking care of you, and you’re still taking care of us.”

Patton gave a surprisingly convincing eye roll, but laid his head down and closed his eyes.

Virgil stroked down Patton’s neck and back. Having a weight on his chest and stomach was surprisingly relaxing, and soon he fell asleep.

••^*^••

It was hard to gauge time when the sun never moved, but Patton was decently certain that it was morning when he woke up. Roman was gone, probably working on dreams, and Virgil was sleeping soundly. 

He tried to carefully get up without waking Virgil. Virgil’s eyes fluttered, and he mumbled something unintelligible, but he didn’t get up. Patton pulled the blanket up over him. 

He trotted away a bit, and tried to shift back. He was pleasantly surprised to find that it was easy this time. Perhaps, if Logan wasn’t still mad at him, he’d be willing to help figure out what made the difference between an easy and a difficult shift. Maybe he’d ask in a few days. For now, he was going to make a fantastic breakfast! He wanted to pay back Roman and Virgil at least a little, and maybe it’d cheer up Logan too. 

He couldn’t yet sink out of Virgil’s part of the imagination accurately, so he found the door and walked into Roman’s bedroom. Roman wasn’t there, but he usually wasn’t at this time of morning. 

Patton detoured to his room to take a quick shower and change his clothes, then he went down to the kitchen. 

He had plenty of time to decide what he wanted to make. Virgil wouldn’t be awake for several hours, and Roman would be busy dream making for a while yet, unless Thomas needed to get up earlier. Logan would probably be awake soon, but he didn’t like to eat as soon as he got up, normally just getting a coffee and waiting for the family breakfast. 

The question was still what to make. Patton knew that he and Roman liked sweeter breakfasts, like pancakes, waffles, or french toast, but Virgil and Logan liked eggs, sausage, bacon, and things made of them, like quiche. 

Finally he had decided. He was going to scramble eggs, and make sausage, but also he would make toast and cinnamon rolls. 

First of all, he made a pot of coffee. All the other sides liked coffee, but he had found he really only liked it with loads of cream and sugar, and also that Roman made it that way the best. Somehow, even with being the best cook, he could only make alright cups of coffee, but Roman was brilliant. He could make everyone’s favorite coffee perfectly. 

Next was going to be cinnamon rolls. With so much time, he could make them from scratch. He was going to make these be his best cinnamon rolls yet! 

A sound drew his attention, and he looked up to see Logan coming down the stairs. Logan froze at the bottom of the stairs, his expression unreadable. When he didn’t move or say anything, Patton looked away, back to his recipe. He continued pulling out ingredients silently. The argument they had had yesterday ran through his head, and he bit his lip. 

Logan cleared his throat, and Patton looked up at him again. He was standing even more stiffly than normal, and his face was set into… an expression. Patton wasn’t sure what kind the expression was supposed to be. 

“I need to apologize to you, Patton.” Logan began. “I said things yesterday that I shouldn’t have, and I hurt you. I don’t want to hurt you, Patton. I’m sorry.”

Patton rushed forward, only hesitating slightly before hugging Logan. “I forgive you. And I’m sorry too, now really isn’t the time for arguing, and I’m really the one who started it.”

Logan hugged him back and let out a sigh of relief. “You brought up valid points. I can focus too specifically on issues, and you were trying to make me see the whole picture. I still think that we should be putting all of our energy into this project this week, but next week would be a good time for a ‘self care day’ as you put it.”

Patton pulled back to smile at him. “That sounds good.”

Logan looked around. “Can I… assist in preparing breakfast?”

“Sure! I’d love the help, kiddo!”

••^*^••

Roman came downstairs to see Patton giggling over the truly horrendous amount of jam Logan was putting on his toast. The table was covered with delicious smelling foods. 

“This looks amazing!” He said. 

“Roman! Good morning!” Patton said cheerfully, waving. 

“Would you wake Virgil?” Logan asked. “Breakfast is minutes away from being ready.”

Roman got Virgil, who was already awake, and brought him downstairs. They were both glad to have a family breakfast. Especially such a happy one. 

[arthurjdrake]

Final Steps

PARTIES: Arthur & @eldonash

PLACE: Drake residence

TIMING: Prior to Carrington’s discovery.

SUMMARY: In search of clarity into the mysterious ways of the pie, Orobas makes a trip to the Drake residence in search of assistance and just so happens to make a new acquaintance in the process. 

Orobas pressed his face into the window of a particular house, causing a defined smudge on the pane of glass. It was pretty early in the night, he had actually darted around the city during those strange, ‘blinks’ of darkness that happened now, lucky for him. He made it here without major injury because of it. Though the slightest burns on his hands and cheeks weren’t predominate, they did ache a little for spending hours out. Now the moon was up, and he stared in the window believing this was the correct place. In his hand was a wicker basket filled with all the supplies, and Orobas-- he was determined to speak to this Arthur person for two very important reasons. One; pie help. Since it was his pie Orobas had to make for Lydia. Two: Arthur knew Carrington, and he had to know if he was here. When he saw he was in there he quickly walked around and knocked on the door.

All in all the evening had been relatively quiet. The tortoises were fed and the vivarium cleaned out, dinner was done and it left Arthur with some time to himself. He was in the process of putting on a documentary when a knock at the door caused him to frown, check his watch and pause the intro. “Weird time for cold callers,” he murmured as he padded over to the door and pulled it open to look at the man that stood outside. “Uh, hey- can I help you?”

“Evening,” Orobas recognized him as the right person, and relief actually settled strangely in the hallow points of his dead body. Carrington would befriend someone like Arthur, if by looks alone, their gentle features, and sleepy disposition was something easy to enjoy. “Is Carrington with you?” He blurted out without any filter, surprising himself when he had wanted to say, ‘will you help me make your pie’. Orobas’ dead muscles in his face gave nothing away to the clear mental crosswire of thoughts and with the picnic basket in hand simply continued. “I’m Eldon,” he offered, voice calm and with the softest tone that made it almost sweet to the ears. “I haven’t seen him in days. He’s not posting on social media. Is he with you?”

Arthur was half expecting someone else to be selling off eyeballs, it wasn’t the first person to come cold calling in the last week - everyone seemed to be out to profit. What he wasn’t expecting was for a man to introduce himself and promptly ask after someone he hadn’t admittedly seen in a while. A frown marred the warm expression that had previously been on his features. “Cari?” the nickname betrayed his fondness for the man, “no… I sent him a message the other day but I didn’t hear back.” Which was strange considering the man always seemed to respond rather promptly when he did message. “Arthur…” he introduced but the frown remained, “uh, come in. But no, he’s not here admittedly I haven’t seen him in a few weeks… When was the last time you spoke to him?”

The only time Orobas felt a shiver was when anyone gave him permission to enter their house. He savored it, even if feeding and domineering wasn’t on his mind tonight, and stepped through the front door with a gentle elegance. “Me either. I’ve actually come to also inquire about your pie that won second place,” gesturing to the basket which he set on the floor. “But, it seems Carrington is taking over my thoughts for four night in a row now. I have looked all over White Crest. In every little nook and cranny. I was hoping he was with someone, maybe stepping away for a small vacation, but you were the only person I believed he’d be with based off his social media and you say no as well.” Orobas clenched his fist lightly, “Something happened then--”

“My pie? Uh, sure - what about it?” Something about the way this man moved - effortlessly graceful like a predator yet without the intent reminded Arthur of Carrington. “Are you part of a clan or?” it seemed the most logical reasoning as to why this man that he suspected was like Carrington would be looking for him. The concern seemed genuine and in that regard it made Arthur a little less cautious than he might otherwise have been. “That would make sense, but he’d answer if he was going away wouldn’t he? He doesn’t strike me as the type to vanish…” which meant something had to have gone wrong. “You wouldn’t happen to know any witches would you? Maybe one of them could perform a tracking spell on him?” He couldn’t say whether it would work, but he wasn’t sure how else they might find him.

The pie seemed so unimportant right now, which, it technically wasn’t, he was promise bound to make this pie perfect, and he really wanted Arthur to taste the one he made to be sure it was exactly to a tee, how he made it. But Carrington was on his mind, has been for days on end, and he wasn’t any closer to finding him. “I actually just needed you to taste it and be sure its one hundred percent how you made it, taste, look everything.” Orobas opened the small basket and pulled out two pies, setting them on the counter in the kitchen. “We are at the beginning of a friendship actually. When I met him I felt like the universe had decided to place us together for a reason. Poetic I know, but I’m not often caught off guard by such a connection right away, it’s very rare. I am not quite ready to say goodbye.” Orobas tucked his palms together and behind his back. Standing still, without breath even with his clear distress, it was difficult to decipher on his unmoving muscles. “I’m reluctant to involve other species in our business if I am honest. People love favors, and having you owe them in ways you might not pick up on. I’m--” he frowned. “Actually, I’m not sure what to do. Perhaps, I’ll have a group go door to door and ask-- well, ask nicely.”

“Taste it? Oh, well sure I can do that.” Considering the time, Arthur wasn’t really sure if he was in the mood for making pie but he’d never turn down an opportunity to try some. “Who asked you to make mine anyway?” it was a curious request, and didn’t really make sense in his mind unless someone really wanted to try his pie… He’d happily make another if they wanted it. Still, talk revolved around Carrington and a wash of ice settled in his bones, the bottomless pit of uncertainty opening up regarding his friend’s welfare, a far more pressing concern. “Sometimes you just meet people like that, he’s quite an alluring individual.” Unfortunately, if normal methods didn’t work sometimes you had to resort to unfavourable acts to achieve your ends. “And if that doesn’t work?” he questioned “I’d rather expedite the process if possible and if it’s in their wheelhouse of skill I don’t mind owing a favour… I know a couple of witches.” He’d make a point to reach out in the morning.

Orobas pulled a knife from the block and carefully sliced one of the two pies. “It’s important that it looks exactly right and tastes exactly the same, please tell me..” Was all he said on it. The idea of involving witches in the past would have excited him. Orobas loved magic, he found it extremely interesting and the unsavory people who used it for their own benefits earned quite an enjoyment filled emotion from the old vampire. But for some reason, knowing that such a spell existed, and could possibly find them so easily made Orobas question that power and the invasiveness to their privacy. “Mhm,” Orobas’ eyes burned red subtly as he pondered, not realizing that he was just staring off without blinking, and stone still while he did it. “Okay,” he finally answered after an awkward stretch of time. “Have them give me the closest area, and I’ll go get him. If hes to ashes I imagine that it wouldn’t tell us that.”

Arthur stood by and watched Orobas cut the slice of pie, moving to fetch a plate from one of the cupboards and slide it over so the slice could be put on it. “Was it the sweet one you were trying to make?” he asked but judging from the decorations he figured it probably was but it didn’t hurt to ask just in case. “What recipe were you working to?“ he hadn’t published it anywhere so how Orobas or anyone else for that matter would even knew what it should taste like was a little bit of a curiosity in Arthur’s mind. The silence stretched on while Orobas considered the options but the more he pondered it, Arthur couldn’t see any other possibility if they wanted to find Carrington. “I’ll see what I can do. I’m not sure the spell would work if he is ashes… But here’s hoping he isn’t.”

“Weeks of trial and error. I found one of the judges and questioned them, mhm, I’m sure it’s wrong. At this point, that is the nonsense side of it. It’s taken me some time to find you,” he shrugged. “But I do need it perfect. So any help to it will be greatly appreciated or if you can point out what’s wrong. The recipe we’re roughly using is in the basket based on what the judge suggested.” Orobas wasn’t normally so bland with this type of conversation, but this week has been exhausting for him. He left the pie and the basket on the counter, settling on pacing lightly in the kitchen. “If you do, do this. I will only be able to give it tonight. Then-- well. Then other avenues will happen. Which is fine, both should transpire anyway. Have you experienced this before? Someone disappearing like this? You seem calm about it. Has Carrington done this before?”

“I see, and I’m curious - who put you up to this uh… nonsense?” It was easier to use Orobas’ own words than to try and come up with something else, clearly there was a separate instigator but Arthur couldn’t claim to have any idea who it might be or their reason for wanting his pie. “Well, the patterning isn’t bad on the crust” he admitted as he eyed the top though several lines were wonky. “Hm,” he used a fork to cut off a piece before testing it, his features growing thoughtful “it’s not bad but there’s something missing… Honey? Maybe some lemon… Hm.” Moving to the fridge Arthur pulled out a couple of boxes of berries he always kept stocked considering his habit to snack on them at all times. He spoke while he sifted through for the things he used and once he had them moved over to the hob. “Is there a reason for that?” he inquired looking over to Orobas wondering why there might be a timeframe all of a sudden. “Plenty of times, unfortunately I find panic only serves to further fog an already misty situation, a calm head often finds more answers” he admitted. “But Carrington? Not in the time I’ve known him no.”

“Mhm, someone,” Orobas smirked. “They can have their fun. I believe they thought your pie was the hardest on the winners list. Which, probably, yes it seems so. Challenge me with something I probably can’t do since I don’t eat nor taste.” He rolled his eyes. Lydia Griffin and her games, so delightful and worth it when it’s his turn. Orobas didn’t often give all his hands out but Arthur wasn’t a threatening person. “I have intel he was in a fight.” Orobas’ words were haunting in sound, his eyes distant again. “I’m not going to play around with my words and assume you can understand. But such a fight usually leaves us injured beyond your imagination. It’s never an easy thing, not once. I’ve been cut in half, barely able to stand in the past from such moments. If he is alive, and he passed out from the injury, urgency comes from making sure he can feed or he will be stuck. Or worse, if he’s in a place that can have him caught in the sun. I've seen such things as well. Staking us just right so we get to watch the sunrise.” Orobas glanced over. “I don’t trust the outcomes. Never have. I have to find him swiftly. I have the means to do it. It does get messy, but it will work. Oh, how I had hoped he was lounging on your couch.”

“I see.” Arthur didn’t really see, but if this person wanted to put someone through the ordeal of making his pie the least he could try and do was help ease the struggle. “That’s fair enough, well, how about I make the filling - the actual pie itself you’ve got pretty down I’d say. So I think it’s just a matter of fixing the filling and you’d be in a good place.” He wasn’t sure that he’d be much help when it came to hunting down Carrington, “but if he’s been gone as long as he has… Then surely that would’ve happened by now?” But either outcome wasn’t positive, he worried his lip. “I’d rather find him with as little bloodshed as possible. Let me see what I can do.”

“Okay,” Orobas didn’t concede often, but with the pie, he had too. Which could have been the entire reason why he was tasked with it. “Thank you.” Orobas leaned against the counter to watch and help, he had to get this pie done eventually, and even with all present concerns this wouldn’t go away either. “Maybe. Carrington is stubborn and old, we can endure it for a bit. But it’s painful.” At the final comment Orobas glanced over, watching the other closely, and the gentle worry to his lips. “Mhm, I give such a vibe?” There was an inquiry in there but it didn’t translate well with his dead expression and unblinking eyes. “We’ll see... tell me Arthur, what would you do for someone you felt bound too? How far have you taken something?”

“No worries,” Arthur started setting out three bowls before instructing “fill each one of those with berries, one of each kind.” In the meantime, he went to fetch a saucer from the cabinet which he set on the gas to heat up. It wouldn’t take too long to finish up with the two of them working on it. “Perhaps. Something gives me the impression he’s survived worse though,” he couldn’t say what exactly, but something about him struck Arthur as a survivor of worse odds. “Not you specifically - your choice of wording though. Messy implies risks being taken that I’d rather not see come to pass.” There was a moment of silence that followed, “we’re not talking about me. You’re the one intent on finding him,” an evasive answer of choice. In all honesty, Arthur didn’t want to open up that can of worms, the truth of it making for an uncomfortable reality he didn’t wish to delve into too deeply especially with a stranger. There were lengths and darkness he’d succumbed to long ago that were not things that warranted further conversation.

Orobas chuckled at the evasive answer, and didn’t mind in the least. He was known to enjoy asking those uncomfortable questions and getting some form of answer even without them answering it directly. Everyone had a line with certain people, where the consequences of actions didn’t matter anymore. Had Carrington put himself on that side already with Orobas? Perhaps. Orobas walked over to stand by the Arthur’s side, determined to remember everything. Already seeing where they went wrong, but in the grand sense it was probably best he had handled it all this way. Never having made anything like this before, human food foreign to him for centuries. Messing up a lot for the passing weeks got a lot of the basics out of the way, and currently allowed him to understand these steps clearly. “Have you ever won a contest before?”

Arthur had made his choices in life, that didn’t mean he was planning to discuss them with a stranger. So he opted instead to direct attention to the filling of the pie. “So what you need to do is put all of the in a large saucepan - heat them up until they start to burst and get their juices out of them” he explained turning the gas on and gesturing for Orobas to add the berries. Once they’d gotten past that step, Arthur took a hand mixer with whisks attacked and plugged it into the power. “Then you blend it to smooth it out,” he instructed. Baking wasn’t hard so long as you could get the right measure of ingredients together in a bowl. “A contest? Sure. A cooking contest? This would be my first… Cooking contests weren’t really a thing people do back home. Have you?”

“My blood dolls made a pie for Walter and TaeTae-- they are my pet watermelon vampires and live in my garden,” he further explained as if that entire sentence made perfect sense. He took his phone out and typed quickly what Arthur was saying so he could show the dolls later and they could help him with it more. “I heard they submitted it for me, but I didn’t actually make anything food related until the request to make your pie.” Orobas shook his head, no, to the inquiry of winning a contest. “I’ve never cared about such things. I still don’t actually-- I am quite simple in my life. Lately, however, everyone is in need of me. It’s a very different thing-- worrying about others.” He compared what Arthur had in his bowl to previous pictures in his phone when they were baking and noticed the details missing. Good. If he could just get this done, it would be one more thing off his mind. “Thank you for this. How long did you cook it for?”

Arthur quelled the look of distaste that almost made it to his features at the mention of blood-dolls. He’d never understood the concept nor did he rightly agree with it, but he wasn’t typically the sort to voice such displeasure aloud; preferring to internalise and process it after the fact. “Do you have any idea where watermelon vampires originated? I’ve always wondered…” Arthur mused as they continued to work sieving the berries into another bowl and adding the lemon juice “next we make a bain-marie, melt the butter and sugar in that.” While the ingredients cooked through he took the time to study Orobas a little more closely, “it’s taxing, but the end result of keeping people safe is what matters in the grand scheme of things. That’s all the reward you really need in life,” it just sucked when it didn’t go to plan. “All good, and you blind-bake the crust first for about fifteen minutes then put the filling in and the lid on top. So in total about forty-five minutes in the oven should get you the result you’re after.”

“I don’t, but they are delightful. A good friend of mine gave me one from the market,” Orobas made a few more notes, making sure he didn’t miss any small thing Arthur added. ‘Keeping people safe’ Arthur suddenly spoke, and Orobas internally felt nothing over such a sentence. What did it even mean to him? How did that apply to this part of his life and existence now? He’s never had to worry about anyone or anything. Why now, was it that he felt those he wanted to be safe-- weren’t? Was he not strong enough to protect them? “Hm,” was all he could say on it. Maybe he couldn’t being this version of himself. “Alright,” he finished taking it down, and sent the text document to one of his dolls to get them to start pulling the correct ingredients. “I must leave, now,” he glanced up at Arthur, putting his phone away and tucking his hands behind his back with a gentle squaring of his shoulders. “I will be sure to repay you properly. I appreciate your assistance. Should you need me for anything, I will try to make myself available to you in the future.” He set a business card on the table with the name Eldon Ash on it and his cell number.

“Hm,” was a similar response Arthur gave regarding the watermelon vampires. They were curious things and he wanted to learn more about them. Perhaps he’d ask Orobas to study his … pets? “Wait,” he said when Orobas mentioned leaving holding up a hand. Taking the mixture off the hob he poured it into a mason jar and popped the lid closed. “Here” he offered the glass jar for the vampire to take, “it’ll save you having to make it yourself, then all you need to do is remake the pastry and you’ll have the pie sorted...“ But the favour, well, he’d take one of those any day of the week. “Alright, hopefully I won’t need to take you up on that but I appreciate the offer regardless.”

[overshadowedprojects]

Unfortunately... I lost this post right as I was finishing it... and I’ve been working on it with really long explanations and suggestions regarding how I made that Reese’s Cake during Easter since I’ve been asked by a few folks to share a recipe.

... so here is a condensed and hopefully less wordy version??

But if you do have any questions regarding this post in particular, or general cake baking/decorating stuff do not hesitate to ask and if it’s within my knowledge/experience I can try to help you!!

Homemade Reese’s Cake! You can click here to see the original post. 

The rest will be under the cut so I don’t busy up everyone’s Tumblr Dash! 

God I’m still so frustrated that I lost the original post, eugh. That’s what I get for wanted to draw a little “thank you!” picture for the end. 

The Chocolate Cake recipe I used is by Robyn Stone and can be found here!

This is the chocolate cake recipe I use as the base for many of the cakes I make! It’s a very delicious and pretty straight forward recipe and easy to adapt and infuse for various projects! 

A few notes from me:

Like many cakes, especially because this is a moist cake; I would suggest you make and allow this cake to sit in the fridge overnight before any event you may have prepared this for (A Birthday, a get together, what have you). The reason for this is it gives the cake time to take on some of the flavour of the icing and I find the texture is nicer and easier to cut. 

That being said, it’s mighty tasty the day of. But I find it much tastier the day after.

The recipe calls for Espresso Powder, which is which is just finely grounded, roasted, Espresso beans. I personally do not have any and just grind some Instant Coffee that I keep specifically for baking. The cake does not NEED the coffee, but the bitterness helps elevate the sweetness of the chocolate nicely and I would recommend it.

If you have neither and want to attempt to use brewed coffee, my suggestion would be to replace half of the boiled water with very hot and strong coffee. Keep in mind that I have not tested this personally. 

Because of the amount of milk and hot water, it is easy to infuse various flavours such as tea! 

Keep in mind this is a moist cake recipe. When testing the done-ness at baking, there may be some residue on your toothpick. That doesn’t mean raw batter, but your toothpick may not necessarily come out as ‘clean’. 

When the cakes are cooling is when I prepared my icing. 

Peanut Butter Buttercream Icing:

I do not have a specific recipe to share for this because I do not use a recipe for American Buttercream. Unlike European Buttercream (which is quite complex), American buttercream is basically butter, vanilla, icing sugar. I do not use a recipe because I use much less icing sugar than most would have due to preference, and I will share below what I did... but I would recommend looking up a recipe if you aren’t comfortable with mine. 

One cup of Salted, cold, cubed Butter. I use a food processor, but if you are using a hand mixer I would suggest room temperature butter. Salted is a preference. Blend until smooth with vanilla and a touch of icing sugar to help it mix. Keep tabs of how much icing sugar you incorporate.

One cup of creamy Peanut Butter. If you are looking to use a piping bag to decorate your cake, avoid crunchy peanut butter. Add this into the mix once your butter no longer has any chunks.

Two to Three cups of Icing sugar. Add into the mix 1/3rd of a cup at a time to ensure a smooth finish. 

This is much less than most Buttercream Icings, again; A preference because I don’t like super sweet things. But if you are planning to add the Reese’s, maybe be wary of the amount of icing sugar you are adding if sweetness is a concern.

The reason for cold butter is, while mixing your icing, the friction will slowly start to melt your butter... which you want to avoid. It takes a fair amount of mixing and time to make Buttercream, so just keep an eye on it as you go! 

Homemade Reese’s Recipe belongs to Alyssa Rivers and be found here!

Now unlike the cake recipe, this was the first time attempting to make Reese’s Peanut Butter anythings. And I will say, this hit very close to home. 

Unlike the Buttercream (where I used typical store bought ‘Smooth’ PB) I had a jar of Organic Peanut Butter that I used for the Reese’s. It was ‘smooth’, but had a thicker and almost grainy texture in comparison. 

It’s absolutely not necessary by any means, but that’s what I used and I felt it worked very well! Really, either will work. Heck, Crunchy Peanut Butter could add a bunch texture to them!

My notes on the Reese’s Recipe and suggestions:

This yields/makes quite a number of Reese’s depending on the size of your cutter. I used barely 1/3rd of my Reese’s for the entire cake, which had them all around the bottom and on top for decoration. 

The recipe says prep takes 20 minutes, and the total time to make these is 20 minutes. And anytime I make a new recipe, I gauge it will take twice as long as actually prepare... but I feel 20 minutes is super unrealistic. From starts to letting the chocolate set, took over an hour and a half for me. I had to set the chocolate on my counter overnight, but you can likely do so in your fridge (if space permits) in about an hour. 

Because I like to leave my cake/icing in the fridge overnight, honestly the Reese’s needing to set overnight wasn’t an issue, just something to be aware of.

Dunking/preparing the chocolate is very, very messy. I also had to take the Peanut Butter shapes out in small batches because they became soft fairly quickly, making dunking them even more difficult. 

I used bakers chocolate and not chocolate chips... mostly because that’s my preference working with chocolate (Chocolate Chips has little to no ‘fat’ in them, thus why you would need Shortening). 

I also don’t trust microwaving chocolate. A preference from working in a professional kitchen and also it just weirds me out. You can do that if you are comfortable, but a double boiler is the way to go!! 

My entire apartment smelt heavily of chocolate and peanut butter for a day and a bit; Which, sounds great, but caused headaches after a while. Just a warning if super sweet smells cause distress of any kind.

I will be honest, the entire process of making this I found very frustrating and lost patience with very quickly. 

That being said, very tasty end product! 

In my first attempt of this post (before Tumblr ate it) I went into details about how I decorated the cake, the steps and suggestions to cake making; But, I won’t go into that again and make this post even longer than it has to be. 

But if you have any further questions regarding the process or cake making in general, I have no issues answering if it’s within my experience and/or knowledge!! 

[euphoriacrossing]

So while I sit here trying to get normal balloon spawns...

I may as well write a blog. I am using a guide post on how to catch normal balloon spawns to try and get more cherry blossom recipes. Well I am only half using it.. I am camping on the beach waiting for normal balloon spawns instead of going there every 0/5 ending minute. I'll share the guide on here after this if I remember, but I already got one new cherry blossom recipe just by camping on the side of the beach that balloon spawns are coming from and ignoring the bunny day balloons, so I think this could work, too.

Anyway, now story mode is over, but I still have so, so much to do that it's not even funny. I am making it my main priority to save miles up to buy all the different paths and stuff. I think I have three left to buy so roughly 6,000 miles to earn. But saving miles means making less bells as Nook mile trips are where I made the most, I think. And now I can't take them because I have no miles/am saving miles and so I don't have the bells to pay off my house or to build a new bridge or any of the things I am saving for. But in part the fact it is harder to save bells just makes it feel like I have more to do and that is comforting in a way. I want the appeal of this game to last forever but I know my brain doesn't work like that. Still for now it's the best distraction I have and I'm grateful for it.

Having the ability to make paths is tough because it's just another million decisions to make and hope I get it right or can redo it better or whatever, so that Euphoria becomes the island I dreamed it could be. Right now I have a lot of dirt paths and I think they look okay. But I plan on redoing them someday with either custom paths or maybe just the arched tile ones... I like that path style. Still I started when I just had dirt so I just kind of kept going that way.

It looks alright, I think, especially at the entrance. I haven't finished a lot of the paths on either the right (residential) side or the left (wooded area/orchard) but I have mostly finished the center which is shops and such.

(So far I've gotten a normal balloon spawn every 5 minutes! So it works to just hang around the beach and then look for the spawns at every 0 and 5 ending minute. Edit: Aw, nope just didn't get that last one... I am probably doing something wrong then. Oops Edit2: Definitely doing something wrong. Didn't get a spawn again. Oh well I'll check the guide again once I finish this post. I am also watching for wishing stars so it won't be a total waste.. though I haven't seen any of those either. Last edit: Guide said spawns don't happen every time AND I just got another regular balloon, so maybe I'm fine? I hope I am not just wasting time.)

I am moving most of the houses before I do the paths on that side which is ANOTHER expense for sure, but after seeing a couple of my friend's islands, I knew I could make the houses probably a bit straighter and I decided I want them not quite as closer together as I want everyone to be able to have a yard. One of my friends has houses that are PIN straight and have little yards to them. I don't think I can accomplish that. But I do think I can space them out far enough to fence them in and have little yards.

So I started with the last to move in which was Marina. I put her in a space both by the beach, and by my house because even though she just moved in we're absolute besties. No but honestly, I love her. She sings like everywhere she goes and it's adorable.

I would move Beau next but I think he might stay close to where he is. Unfortunately if I have to move him a little bit I first have to move his house out of the way and then move it back because you can't move buildings just a tad, you have to find a whole new spot. This is why I had to move the whole museum to a new spot as it was slightly out of line and i couldn't just move it to where it lined up. I wish i had known this when i put things there. I didn't take care placing anything because I knew it could be moved. I only ASSUMED it could be moved a small amount as well especially since I assumed correctly that you were paying for it. But no, so oh well, now I have to come up with new spots for things, that's fine. Luckily both Nook's Cranny and the Able Sisters I got in perfect alignment with resident services like I wanted to so they're all on one straight path.

Anyway, I hope I can get it looking like i want it to. I thought that decorating it how I wanted would be the hardest because I still need to find all the furniture. But the paths might give that a run for it's money when we talk about difficulty level if you include trying to get all the houses in the right position and such.

But as hard as I've been "working" (it's definitely still fun or I wouldn't do it) I have found plenty of time for play as well. Yesterday morning I visited a friend for her KK Slider concert. I luckily have a good group of friends from a discord I'm part of and a lot of them are from other countries so they experience stuff before I do and things like that. So a bunch of us visited her for her KK concert and we did some of that...

And then things got a little wild...

Lol, it was fun. I thought for a second about the state of the world but I didn't panic thankfully. I just saw a bunch of us coming together from across the globe, some of us in quaratine, almost all of us at least ADVISED not to go out unless necessary. The world is a scary place right now, but the fact we could still come together from across the globe to be silly and enjoy a game together makes me feel like everything might be alright. I mean, it would still be cool even if these things weren't going on, but the fact they are abd socialization is becoming more difficult than ever, it's cool to see an alternate means of that in action.

I can't believe I took no pictures of her super straight houses, ugh, if I go again, I will have to, they are literally perfect.

And the weirdest thing about all of this to me is how included i feel in all of this. We're all on a small AC discord together and it seems like a lot of them have maybe known each other a while. But unlike a lot of other places it doesn't feel cliquey to me. I've always been welcome to come to their islands, and they have always been very courteous when any of them have come to mine. They act as happy to see me as they do anyone else. And I've only known them a short time so it would usually feel strange to call them "friends" but it doesn't. Now obviously they could feel differently but if they do they don't show it. I am incredibly grateful to have found them. I really couldn't ask for a better group of people to play with.

I actually was invited from this tumblr. Likely after I made some kind of post about not feeling like I belonged in the AC community or something similarly emo and whiny, I'm sure. So I am surprised I was invited at all, but I am so thankful I was. It was just what i was looking for in the AC community.

(Yes! I learned cherry blossom umbrella! Balloon hunting is going fairly well considering I only had like two of the cherry blossom DIYs total before I started and now in about an hour I've doubled that.)

I do have some facebook friends and such I have play AC with, and I am also grateful for them as well of course. It has brought us closer together and I am thankful for that. I have one friend who we constantly send each other gifts like if we accidentally got two of something or a DIY we already have or just if we think something is cool, it's really fun. I enjoy mail as much in game as I do in real life.

But yeah, I was nervous when this game first came out that I would be stuck playing just with my sister. And don't get me wrong I love playing the game with her, we always have a good time. But sometimes you need socialization beyond your own family and I really saw this as my one chance to connect since I'm not very social, I am very anxious, and I just struggle with these things. I may have been right about it being my best chance at connection because I can hide a lot of the awkwardness in game. Very thankfully though, I found people who accept what I can't hide in game. And who accept me. For some reason that's just been really hard to do. Every community I am a part of I feel like an outsider until now. But yeah, I am looking forward to a continued friendship with these people and continuing to enjoy the game moving forward.

I guess I've rambled enough. I still need to get more balloons, but I can't write here forever. Though... I frequently do write far too much here and I wonder if it get read. If it doesn't I don't blame ya. But yeah. I will leave you with this adorable pic I took while Marina was singing... you can't really tell she was singing, but still, she's adorable either way.

(And don't you love this dress? I have it in I think 4 different colors, I just love it.)

[shijiujun]

[ENG] History3: Trapped Novel - Chapter Two

~6,500 words (proofread by @weilongfu​)

Translation Masterpost can be found here

Disclaimer: Translations are entirely mine - these are not official translations and some phrases have been changed for better English interpretation so you’ll definitely see better/different translations elsewhere. Also keeping in mind when we translated this we aren’t exactly thinking about the style of writing and this translation is as close to the novel as we can make it XD So yes, some parts may be a little awkward to read. And yes some teeny weeny details and words may not turn up in the translation because the Chi to Eng mind acrobatics didn’t work out. If you see asterisks, scroll all the way to the bottom for notes!

Full chapter below the cut

Chapter Two

The sound of a gun’s silencer echoes from inside a black sedan, and both Wang Kun Cheng and his driver are found dead inside with bullet wounds through their right temple, just hours after their meeting with Xing Tian Meng.

Time of death, 9pm.

Meng Shao Fei lies on his bed, thinking back to the meeting with Interpol during the day, where Team 3 and Interpol exchanged information on this case. Although Wang Kun Cheng’s men insist that the person who murdered their leader was Tang Yi, but as seen from Team 3 and Interpol’s investigation, there were no signs of struggle and fights inside the club where both parties met, and   moreover, Tang Yi has a perfect alibi.

As Wang Kun Cheng was shot at close range after he left the club, it is impossible that Tang Yi, who was at another location attending an evening gala dinner — they have CCTV footage to prove that he entered the hotel at 8.30pm and left only at 1am in the morning —  was the culprit for the murder. They aren’t ruling out the possibility of a third party committing the murder at Tang Yi’s orders, but the surveillance cameras in the area were tampered with and damaged before the murder happened, so before they can find further evidence and witnesses, Tang Yi is definitely not the culprit. However, he is curious about one thing… in the 48 hours after news of Wang Kun Cheng’s death was made known, Cambodia’s drug syndicate’s leader Chen Wen Hao immediately returned to Taiwan. Both Chen Wen Hao and Wang Kun Cheng used to be members of Xing Tian Meng, especially Chen Wen Hao. Xing Tian Meng is able to grow to its scale today because it was he and Tang Guo Dong who built the organisation up from scratch.

Even after Chen Wen Hao was sentenced to prison for 24 years due to the skirmish with Si He Hui, but during this time, the person who visited him most frequently was Tang Guo Dong. From this, it is obvious that they were very close to each other and had a deep relationship. If this was so, what reason would Tang Yi, who took over Xing Tian Meng in Tang Guo Dong’s place, have to go create trouble with Chen Wen Hao’s men, and even going so far as to kill the man?

Unable to sleep no matter what he does, Shao Fei finds himself leaving the bed and walking over to his bulletin board, filled entirely with profiles of people and information related to Xing Tian Meng. Staring at the drawing he made, he mumbles, “Four years ago…”

Four years ago, Chen Wen Hao immediately fled for Southeast Asia the moment he was released from prison, and his whereabouts have been unknown ever since until now with his return to Taiwan. Four years ago, Tang Guo Dong and Li Zhen both died on that hill, and no one knew why they met in secret, and there were so many rumors about Li Zhen illegally colluding with the mob. Four years ago, Tang Yi was shot at the scene and managed to live after many attempts at trying to resuscitate him. He became the only survivor of the incident, the only witness who possibly knows what happened on that day.

Meng Shao Fei looks at Tang Yi’s portrait sketch again, and asks it, as if he’s speaking directly to Tang Yi himself, “Aren’t you going clean with the mob? Aren’t you staying away from drugs? And didn’t you say you would never kill a person? Why are you giving up on your principles NOW? Why did you go touch Chen Wen Hao’s people?”

Shao Fei cannot think of any possible answer, and scratches at his head in frustration, pacing back and forth in his apartment.

The Tang Household

Standing at the balcony and looking into the night view in the distance, in Tang Yi’s hand lies a black, metallic lighter. He recalls what Boss Tang said to him eight years ago…

“Drizzle olive oil in the wok and circle it for two rounds? Can we do three rounds?”

At that time, Tang Yi had just turned 20 years old, and the thing he liked to do most was to bother Boss Tang in his space when he could, asking him to pass his cooking skills on to him.

“That’s fine too. The point is you have to make sure the entire wok gets the same amount of heat, that’s why we circle it,” Tang Guo Dong stands next to the stove, an apron tied around his own waist and guides Tang Yi to pay more attention to cooking as he smokes.

People always say that the lines on one’s foreheads represent the passing of time and age, as it catches up with you, and with every horizontal line therein lies a story that belongs to it, but in Tang Yi’s eyes, every mark on Boss Tang’s face is the culmination of both wisdom and duty. No matter how severe the problem is, once it lands in Boss Tang’s hands, the problem can be solved easily, just like no matter how complicated the cooking and recipes are, he is always able to handle it, all the while smoking at the same time.

In comparison Tang Yi is impatient in both his personality and cooking and thus, he deeply respects this man who is both like a father and teacher to him. He wonders if there ever will be a day, where he’s able to catch up to Boss Tang and this 30 year age gap, and from Boss Tang’s mouth hear-

I feel at ease leaving everything to you.

“Don’t smoke when you’re cooking,” Tang Yi says, immediately dropping the garlic and bell peppers he’s holding and snatches the cigarette pressed between Boss Tang’s lips.

The man whose cigarette was snatched away smiles a little helplessly, then crosses his arms and continues guiding Tang Yi, “After you put in the noodles, you need to stir it in the wok, otherwise it’ll stick to the base.”

Tang Yi looks at the food cooking in his wok and says, delighted, “It looks just like yours!”

“We’ll have to try the dish to know.”

Tang Yi tastes a spoonful of the food from the wok, frowns, then picks up the spicy sauce next to him and adds another half a spoon in, “Not spicy enough.”

Tang Guo Dong, who tried the dish at the same time, is frowning on the other hand, because of the spiciness he is tasting in his mouth. “Xiao Tang, you’re eating this so spicy?”

“Strange, why is it that no matter how I cook I just cook it the same way you do?”

“To govern a country is like cooking, have you ever heard of this?”

“No.

Tang Guo Dong smiles, then opens his mouth to explain, “All these years from handling and dealing with the gang’s every single matter no matter how big or small, I felt that, when we do things, we cannot be overly impulsive and rush into things, nor can we be complacent and passive. we have to think through each detail carefully in order to do things well. Take cooking for example, every brother is like an ingredient, you need to understand each ingredient’s taste to be able to put it in a dish, and then the taste of the finished dish will be the best.”

Tang Yi is intrigued by this analogy, and also curious about how Boss Tang sees him, he asks, “So which ingredient am I?”

“Lotus root.”

“Lotus root? Why a lotus root?”

“Did you forget the first time we met, how much dirt you had all over your body? Isn’t it just like the lotus root that’s just been harvested and pulled out from the soil?”

“Oh, so you detested me this much actually,” Tang Yi says, sulking as he brings the wok over to the person who’s plating dishes at his side.

The person most important to him just called him a dirty little runt, how could anyone be happy?

Tang Guo Dong laughs and takes out his cigarette box again. “Hey, Xiao Tang, you were born into unfortunate circumstances and grew up in a terrible environment, you managed to keep your spirit and character pure. I hope you never forget this, and that you don’t ever change.”

At this, Tang Yi returns Tang Guo Dong’s smile and replies, “I got it, Lao Tang. I will keep being like this.”

As long as Tang Guo Dong likes him like this, then Tang Yi will become the person that he likes, because to him, there’s no one else in the world who’s more important to him, more important than Tang Guo Dong.

“Actually, there’s another reason in persevering in cooking,” Tang Guo Dong adds somberly, taking off his apron and walking over to Tang Yi’s side, opening a wine bottle and pouring a glass for himself.

“What is it?”

“People like us who face death every day and are used to it, we don’t even know when we’ll die and go to meet our makers. If we can’t even deal with the basic necessity and function of eating in our lives, then what more fun in our lives can we have? So we have to be serious towards every meal, and that means also that we have to live our lives seriously.

“I understand. So when I’m done learning cooking from you, I’ll let you taste my cooking.”

“Done learning? You little shit, you only just learnt this little bit and you want to represent the Tang family and con people outside already?”

“I have confidence that I don’t need too much time to learn your ways.”

Tang Guo Dong puts up his thumb and praises, “Okay, you’ve got ambition. But if you want to take the wok and metals away from me, it’s not that easy!”

“I won’t disappoint you… although-“ Tang Yi looks at the failed finished product in the wok today, and laughs, “It looks like we still have to eat this not so delicious dish, let’s hope when we are done we won’t need a trip to emergency.”

Watching Tang Yi’s back as he picks up the plate and walk towards the dining room, Tang Guo Dong, who’s lived more than half a century, stops smiling, and in his heart, he makes a decision.

At a Japanese restaurant

The various members of Team 3 are gathered at a restaurant undercover as guests and wait staff for the ongoing investigation on Wang Kun Cheng’s death. They are currently surveilling a particular guest, who’s discussing business with another person.

Suddenly, a tall figure walks into the store, and once Shao Fei, who’s seated right at the entrance of the restaurant sees him, he stands up and brings the other person to a corner in the restaurant.

“Why are you here?”

Walking into the restaurant and stunned at seeing Shao Fei, Tang Yi abandons his original intentions for coming here and turns to leave.

“Since the police are investigating a case, I will not disturb.”

On the other side of the restaurant, Zhao Li An, who’s dressed as a waiter, is just about to run over to stop Shao Fei, but Zhou Guan Zhi stops him by holding onto his arm. He eyes Zhao Zi, indicating that they should continue as planned, or they will risk ruining the mission this time.

Shao Fei grabs onto Tang Yi’s elbow, staring right into his eyes and asks, “Since you’re already here, you might as well assist us on our investigation. Do you know a person called ‘Chen Wen Hao’?”

Tang Yi’s expression suddenly becomes stiff, and this does not go unnoticed by the cop who’s been hounding him for the past four years.

“Looks like we have the same goal, we’re here for the same person,” Shao Fei continues, his eyebrows raised.

“So you killed Wang Kun Cheng just to lure Chen Wen Hao back here. And for you, Xing Tian Meng’s leader who’s also trying to wash everything clean at the moment, to care so much about a Cambodian drug syndicate leader, there can only be two reasons. Firstly, you’ve made him come back because this was Tang Guo Dong’s mission for you.Or two, Chen Wen Hao has something to do with the double homicide from four years ago.”

Shao Fei’s guesses are so close to the truth, that in that moment, Tang Yi’s repressed rage emerges again — these four years, he has wanted to kill this person who’s only ever ruined all his plans countless of times, but countless of times, Tang Yi has also had to end his murderous thoughts towards this police officer.

Such action is out of character for Tang Yi — if Hong Ye and Ah De are unable to comprehend why he’s doing this, Tang Yi himself has no idea either.

“Have I hit the nail on the head, is that why you want to run?”

“I have nothing to say to Officer Meng,” Tang Yi snaps, gritting his teeth and turning away to leave the store.

He follows the stairs outside the restaurant to where he parked his car. His tone filled with anger, Shao Fei who’s only ever seen Tang Yi’s two sarcastic and cold expressions, is momentarily stunned. He breaks out of his trance, then rushes out of the restaurant to chase Tang Yi, his hand pressing against Tang Yi’s chest and stopping him from moving forward, his eyes incredibly sharp.

“I’m getting closer to the truth, correct?”

If he isn’t getting closer to the truth, why would Xing Tian Meng’s poker-faced leader make the effort of snapping at him?

“Officer Meng has his own mission that he’s not carrying out, and instead he’s here to obstruct my freedom again?”

“If my hypothesis is correct, then following you is the only way I can find out the truth.”

Tang Yi pushes Shao Fei’s hand away and walks over to the driver’s side to open the door, but Shao Fei grabs onto his wrist instead, slamming shut the door that’s just been opened.

“I’m asking you to leave, did you not hear me? These four years my tolerance towards you has reached a tipping point. Meng. Shao. Fei! Don’t test my patience!”

He pushes Shao Fei away, hard, and settles in the driver’s seat, shutting the door behind him securely. Unexpectedly, Shao Fei circles the car to the passenger side and unceremoniously sits inside the car, holding onto the brake.

“Tang Yi, if I don’t get my answers today I’m not letting you leave!”

Tang Yi points outside and shouts, “I’m warning you for the last time, get out of my car.”

“Hmph!”

Shao Fei turns to grab for the seatbelt, obviously having no intention to leave.

“You!”

Angrily, Tang Yi swings his right fist out to restrain both of Shao Fei’s hands, reaching to his back and grabbing the young police officer’s gun, that Tang Yi knows he has usually stuffed into the back of his waist, then pressing the muzzle of the gun to Shao Fei’s temple.

Just as Tang Yi is about to throw Shao Fei out of the car, the driver’s seat door is flung open from the outside, and reflex has Tang Yi moving the hand holding onto the gun towards the person outside, but his opponent quickly strikes at his hand, the gun falling to the ground.

Losing his most useful weapon hardly means that he has no other way to defend himself. He rushes out of the car with tight fists and immediately starts to land repeated blows on his attacker, who’s clad in a black suit. Shao Fei on the other hand is also facing a similar attack by a person wearing a black baseball cap and fighting him intensely.

Eventually, both Tang Yi and Shao Fei are forced into a corner by their attackers, pressed back to back. Unconsciously, they leave their vulnerable backs to one another, exchange a glance and then simultaneously attack. Punches and kicks going against the two men with retractable batons and knives, they are soon overpowered by the weapons.

“Boss wants you to meet him,” says the man attacking Tang Yi, pushing him to the floor and pressing a knife at his jugular.

===

As the black van follows along the left and right curves of the mountainous road, the occupants of the vehicle find themselves swaying from left to right as well.

“I can’t believe I’m handcuffed by my own handcuffs.”

Tang Yi side-eyes the man next to him, and scoffs, “It’s not like this is the first time.”

“Hey do you have to speak like this? If you didn’t take away my gun, would we be in this situation?” Shao Fei retorts, holding up his right hand that is currently attached to Tang Yi’s.

“Shut up!” warns the man seated in the third row of the car, one hand holding up a knife.

Tang Yi turns around to look at the man in black seated right behind them, and says, “Kidnapping a police officer is going to get troublesome for you guys.”

The man ignores Tang Yi; instead, it is the man seated in front driving the van that shoots both hostages a look through the rearview mirror, and smiles icily, “You should worry about yourself first!”

Their hands handcuffed together, Tang Yi taps Shao Fei’s pinky finger with his own, and once their gazes meet, Tang Yi gestures at Shao Fei. Shao Fei nods in understanding, then in an irritated tone, laments, “Why is it that when you guys do bad things you always run towards the mountains? It’s not that I want to comment, but this method lacks so much creativity that it really isn’t OK-“

Shao Fei yells immediately, after ensuring that Tang Yi’s right hand is creeping towards the handbrake of the van, “NOW!”

Bam!

Tang Yi kicks at the driver’s right arm, sending the man forward against the steering wheel, and at the same time Shao Fei leans forward to pull the handbrake up. The van strikes against the walls of the mountain and the impact stops the van immediately. Before the driver can react, Shao Fei has already moved into the passenger seat and with a kick, knocks the driver out.

He sees Tang Yi getting punched in the face by the other guy in the back, and Tang Yi, with his hand movement restricted, can barely defend himself against the attack. Seeing that the other guy is rushing towards Tang Yi with a knife in his hands, Shao Fei moves back to his seat and stands between Tang Yi and his attacker, getting a slash across his arm for his trouble. Then, they use the handcuff chains between them to trap their attacker’s wrists, and Tang Yi strikes the knife in his hands to the ground.

In the chaos, Tang Yi sees Shao Fei’s wound on his right arm, bleeding profusely.

And right in that moment, Tang Yi loses all composure and logic that he is so proud of. He swings his fist repeatedly at his attacker, and doesn’t stop even when his face is all bloodied from the impact of his punches.

“We have to go!”

Shao Fei is afraid that Tang Yi will just kill the man, so he opens the door and pulls Tang Yi, who has lost all control, out of the car. They give up on moving along the visible and easily trackable roads and instead choose to head inside the dense forest to escape.

In between the trees, four other men — their attackers’ accomplices who were travelling behind them in another van — split up to look through every nook and cranny of the forest.

“Damn it, they can really hide huh?”

“Did you find them on your side?”

“No.”

“You, and you, go that side and look.”

“Yes.”

They continue their search for an hour to no avail, and they do not realise that the Xing Tian Meng leader they’re trying to find is actually hiding behind a big rock, covered in green moss.

Tang Yi is using his entire body to protect and shield Shao Fei, until the noise grows faint and more distant from their hiding spot, only then does Tang Yi heave a sigh of relief. He turns around and crouches low to the ground, using the rock as a backrest.

Maybe it’s because fleeing for their lives is an intense sport, or maybe it’s because the both of them were suddenly so close to each other earlier, so close that Shao Fei can even catch a hint of Tang Yi’s cologne, Shao Fei feels his face heating up strangely. All he can do is raise their hands up, still cuffed to each other, to distract himself.

“If only we didn’t have this.”

“Who brought it here?”

Having just experienced a life or death situation, Tang Yi’s tone as he speaks to Shao Fei has changed somewhat from before. From being ice cold and distant, Tang Yi is now talking as if he would make fun of a friend.

Unable to retort, Shao Fei rolls his eyes instead, but in the next second see Tang Yi using his right hand to pinch at this left thumb, and just as he’s about to ask, he hears the sound of a bone being dislocated.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

With his left thumb dislocated successfully, Tang Yi’s hand leaves the restraints of the handcuffs, and then easily snaps his dislocated thumb back into its original place. Shao Fei can feel how painful that action just was just by looking, but Tang Yi just did it with barely a sound and a frown.

“This can also work?”

Shao Fei, with wide eyes, watches as Tang Yi just walks off with a shake of his hands, then follows the man to hopefully somewhere more suitable to hide at, a hand covering his own wound.

===

Ding dong ding dong!

“Ah Fei!!! Ah Fei are you inside?” Zhao Zi stands outside Shao Fei’s apartment door, one hand pressing at the doorbell and the other dialling Shao Fei’s number, but all he gets is Shao Fei’s voice message.

“This is Meng Shao Fei, if there’s anything urgent, please leave a message.”

“Ah Fei if you don’t pick up the phone, Boss is really going to throw me out!”

Zhao Zi’s pitiful complaint echoes down the empty stairway. After half an hour of no reply, all he can do is give up. He walks down the stairs, worried.

“I’m at the alley near Ah Fei’s house. He’s not at home and I can’t get through to him on his phone. Oh, okay. We’ll keep in touch. I’ll contact you guys after I find him. Okay, bye.”

Hanging up on the call with his team’s colleagues, Zhao Zi recalls how Boss always scolds him for not using his brains, and at the spur of the moment, he leaves his phone in his jacket’s pocket and pulls up the zip, then does a handstand and begins walking on the ground on his hands.

He giggles. He’s actually still pretty smart, as long as he make all the blood rush into the top of his head, and when that happens, his brain will begin to work at a higher capacity. Maybe he’ll be able to find a way to find Shao Fei like this even! Just as Zhao Zi smiles gleefully to himself, a pair of cool blue leather shoes step into his line of vision, and as his eyes follow along those long legs all the way up to see who this person is, he sees the man who he brought to the station previously. Tang Yi’s bodyguard, the man called Jack.

“Are you looking for me?”

Zhao Zi puts both his legs down and dusts his hands off, but Jack grabs him by the back of his shirt collar around his neck, and picks him up. “Let’s go!”

“Huh? What are you doing? Where are you bringing me to?”

Like a rabbit whose neck was just bitten by a wolf in the wild, Zhao Zi follows the man called Jack helpless, leaving the alley at Shao Fei’s house.

“What are you catching me for?” asks Zhao Zi later.

He doesn’t know when he was struck unconscious. All he knows is that when he woke up earlier, he found himself incarcerated in a dark room. In the room sits only a single lamp and the big bad wolf who caught him, and brought him here.

“Where did Meng Shao Fei bring my boss?”

Zhao Zi opens his mouth wide, surprised, and asks, “Ah Fei is really with Tang Yi then?”

“Are you pretending to be stupid?”

Jack, with a whole head of red hair, glares at the rookie police officer, his eyes tinged with a glint of danger and sharpness. Jack doesn’t know what tricks Zhao Zi is playing here, but he takes out his phone, and plays the surveillance footage from the camera at the Japanese restaurant’s entrance for Zhao Zi to see.

“They’re really together! I’m looking for Ah Fei urgently, do you know where they went?” He sighs. “Forget it. You definitely don’t know either, otherwise you wouldn’t have brought me here… Damn it, if we don’t find Ah Fei soon, it’ll be my turn to write 3000 words in my apology letter,” Zhao mumbles, standing up from the chair.

“Call him!” Jack commands, taking out his phone and presenting it to his ‘hostage’.

“I tried, but his phone is switched off.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“I said, if I can’t get through to him, I really can’t get through to him.”

Jack holds onto his own phone, and coldly says, “Then give me his number, I’ll call.”

“I’m not going to give it to you! I’m a police officer and at the very least I need to ensure that my colleague is protected and safe, so I won’t give you Ah Fei’s number. I absolutely will not!”

Intrigued suddenly by this fearless boy, Jack circles around Zhao Zi, then stares at him head on, unnervingly.

“Even if you glare at me I won’t.”

Jack takes a step forward, approaching the boy who’s hugging his knees and curling into a ball on the couch.

“Even if you beat me to death I won’t.”

Bam!

Wrapped in fingerless leather gloves, that fist suddenly slams against the back of the couch, and the sound of something being hit echoes in the room.

“No matter what you do, I won’t!”

Zhao Zi is so afraid that he’s already covering his own ears, his entire body shaking in fear, and yet he still refuses Jack in a clear, loud voice.

Jack’s lips curve in a smile. He turns around and walks out of the dark room, and locks the door from the outside.

“Hey! Open the door! Open the door!! Don’t leave me here alone! Hey!” shouts the rookie cop at the top of his lungs as he strikes at the door, the rookie cop who’s not afraid of threats but is apparently, afraid of the dark.

On the mountains, in an abandoned structure

In order to hide from either Wang Kun Cheng or Chen Wen Hao’s men, both Tang Yi and Shao Fei chose to take temporary refuge at this abandoned house first. They started a fire earlier with the wood that Tang Yi found to keep warm, and it is the only source of light in the dark place.

“Can you really not help me open this?” Shao Fei asks, shaking the handcuff still attached to his right wrist.

Tang Yi sends Shao Fei a look, then stresses, “It will hurt!”

“Please, I, Meng Shao Fei, have survived even bullet wounds, will I be scared of this pain?”

Carelessly, Shao Fei reaches his hand over, but the moment Tang Yi grabs onto his thumb and starts to twist it, Shao Fei begins to yell out in pain, “It hurts! It seriously hurts!!”

“I thought you aren’t afraid of pain?”

“Stop twisting it!! Okay okay, I’ll just keep on wearing it then!” Shao Fei implores, his face entirely pale as he hits at Tang Yi’s arm to let him go.

Tang Yi smiles knowingly, as if expecting this outcome all along, and returns to his position by the fire. At this, Shao Fei steals glances at Tang Yi with astonishment, and mumbles, “Fuck. How can this not hurt? Does that guy have any pain nerves in the first place?”

Leaning against the wall, Tang Yi watches as Shao Fei picks up the unused wood and head towards the inside of the house, and he asks, “What are you doing?”

“The weather is so cold, I’m going to start a fire inside and at night we’ll sleep in there.”

“I’m going to take the first watch,” refuses Tang Yi.

It’s as if his rejection just erected a tall and cold wall between them both, but Shao Fei is already used to the way Tang Yi is, so he merely shrugs. He picks up the lighter sitting next to the wood, and says, “Up to you. If you’re not afraid of the cold you can sleep here by yourself, I’m going inside, and lend me this-“

“Don’t touch that!”

Suddenly, Tang Yi who was just a few seconds ago sitting next to the fire, snatches the lighter back from Shao Fei’s hands.

“Why are you so fierce? If you don’t give me the lighter how am I going to start a fire?”

Tang Yi does not reply, only picking up glowing branch from the fire and passing it to Shao Fei. He listens as Shao Fei’s mumbles return to where he was earlier, and as he looks at the lighter sitting in his palm, Tang Yi recalls…

Four years ago

“Here.”

After lighting a cigarette, Tang Guo Dong passes the lighter in his hand to the young man standing next to him.

“Why?”

“I thought you liked it?”

“No work, no reward,” Tang Yi places the lighter back in Tang Guo Dong’s hand, and seriously looks at the man. “What do you want me to help you with?”

Tang Guo Dong is stunned for a moment, and then he laughs, “”Xiao Tang, it’s really so hard to lie to you! I think you, too, know the answer to this question. Help to dismantle Xing Tian Meng, and start to move everything into legal businesses.”

“Aren’t you already doing that?”

“I need someone to continue doing it for me.”

Tang Yi frowns, and once again snatches the cigarette away from Tang Guo Dong’s mouth. “Don’t say that as if you’re going to die soon.”

“When you’re in this line of business, you must always be prepared for death.”

Tang Guo Dong exhales, then opens his left hand where the lighter rests in his palm. He asks, “So what is it? Do you dare take it?”

“Hmph. You failed at your request, so you’ve switched to challenging me instead?”

Tang Guo Dong laughs, taking the cigarette back from Tang Yi, and replies, “You’ll accept it, because you hate drugs more than anyone else. But to make sure you take care of everyone, you need to have money, that’s why no gang in the world will stay away from drugs. Since we’ve decided to call a halt to it, we must be prepared.”

“The person you’re meeting tomorrow… is there a problem?”

“No.. it’s just,” Tang Guo Dong shakes his head, then reaches out with his left arm and hooks it around Tang Yi, “Just treat it as a back up plan. Please. If one day I’m not here anymore, you have to continue with the work of washing Xing Tian Meng clean.”

Hesitantly, Tang Yi looks at Tang Guo Dong who’s speaking with so much emotion. Tang Guo Dong, who is both his father and teacher.

“Xiao Tang! Humans are really too weak, we’re always looking for excuses so we can escape, finding excuses so we can make mistakes, and even blaming our failures on fate, but we forget that for every decision and action we make, we have to pay its price. After all, the money we made from drugs is dirty money, and even if we survived long enough to earn the money, we wouldn’t get to spend it. I don’t want our brothers to live a life standing at the edge of death. I’m not afraid to be laughed at, but it took me a few decades to realise that the best life is one where we live normally.”

“What’s good about a normal life? We’ll only get bullied.”

Just like that year’s 12-year old Tang Yi and 10-year old Hong Ye, two children stranded on the streets, homeless — that was normal enough a life, was it not? But ‘normal’ didn’t feed them, and it would only ensure that they get bullied by children older than they, and if they didn’t meet Tang Guo Dong then, they probably wouldn’t have made it to adulthood. They definitely would not be like this now, having experienced the happiness of being doted on by someone.

Tang Guo Dong turns around, leaning against the railings behind him and thinks about the past. “Maybe the you right now won’t be able to understand, but some people, because of me, were robbed of the ‘normal life’ he should have had. I owe him too much, and in this life, I am unable to make amends.”

“Who? A woman?” Tang Yi asks curiously, looking at the man who, with every sentence, is becoming even more serious.

However, Tang Guo Dong has no intentions of answering that question, and instead just smiles. “One day there’ll be a certain someone who will make you understand what it means to lead a normal life, and what a beautiful feeling it is, to be able to lead this life. So, do you accept?”

The lighter is once against thrust under his nose, and this time, as Tang Yi looks at the wisps of white smoke in the air, he promises, “I promise you. If you’re not around anymore, I will still make sure Xing Tian Meng is washed clean, even if I die-“

“Hey hey hey! You’ve only got one life, don’t waste it.”

Tang Guo Dong tries to stop Tang Yi from saying such inauspicious words, but the 24-year old merely looks into the sky and repeats what the man just told him, “When you’re in this line of business, you must always be prepared for death.”

“You!”

Lines pulling at the edges of his mouth as he smiles, Tang Guo Dong looks at Tang Yi, doting.

“Lao Tang.”

“Hmm?”

Tang Guo Dong throws the butt of his cigarette on the ground and steps on it, then proceeds to light up a second stick.

“I want to ask you a question.”

“Nnn!”

“Why did you pick me? Xing Tian Meng has so many other uncles, and brothers, no? Even if you wanted to find someone younger, there’s still-“

“It can only be you.”

“Why?”

“Because only if I hand it over to you will I be at ease.”

Tears quickly fill his eyes and his vision blurs. Tang Yi looks away, because finally, he’s hearing the words he wanted to hear most.

I’ll be at ease, handing everything over to you.

On the mountains, in an abandoned structure

Tang Yi returns back to the present from his thoughts, only to see that Shao Fei is already lying on the wooden boards, prepared to sleep.

“I really envy you, you can sleep anywhere.”

Lying on the boards, Shao Fei covers his own body with his olive green jacket, as he removed the jacket earlier to treat his own wound, and says, “As human beings we need to be adaptable and take whatever comes, a young, rich master like you who can’t sleep without a bed will never understand.”

“Do you know how to train, to escape?”

Shao Fei looks at Tang Yi at his sudden, seemingly irrelevant question, not understanding why he’s bringing this up at all.

“You have to train when you’re young. First, you twist the thumb inwards. Wait for the bone to grow again and then twist it broken again. Grow, then break. You practice it repeatedly until you’re able to do it. I ask you, which rich master from any family grows up like that?”

Shao Fei looks at this man, who now seems so different from the man he imagined in his head, and asks, “Who forced you to?”

“No one forced me to, I wanted to do it myself. Being part of any gang… we are closer to death, and when you want to survive, you’ll force yourself to do a lot of things.”

“So it’s not that you can’t sleep… but you don’t dare to sleep?”

So when Tang Yi said that he would keep watch earlier, it wasn’t because he was distancing himself, or putting a wall back up in between the both of them, but because the man before his eyes doesn’t feel that he has a person he can truly rely on and trust.

At this sudden display of sensitivity from the usually impulsive and fiery character that is Shao Fei, Tang Yi is speechless. He then laughs wistfully, walking to where there should have been windows installed in this entire building. Leaning against the rusty surface and looking at the clear sky and moon, he says, “I’m only pretending to go legal with Xing Tian Meng, actually I am-“

Shao Fei gets up from where he’s seated and interrupts Tang Yi’s sarcastic monologue. Bowing, he apologises, “It’s my fault! I was wrong. I was too full of myself, to be so sure that it was you… Tang Yi, I’m sorry!”

Tang Yi looks at the man before him, and somewhere deep inside his heart, he is moved by Shao Fei’s words.

“Hey, I’ve already said so much, you should at least give me a response!”

“This is my first time seeing a monkey who knows how to reflect on himself.”

“Hey! Who are you calling a monkey? Let me tell you, even if you’re sincere in trying to wash Xing Tian Meng clean, I will be keeping my eyes on you. The moment you do anything illegal, I’ll still arrest you!”

“Keep your eyes on me?”

“Yes! Keep my eyes on you. Both eyes!” Shao Fei points his fingers at Tang Yi.

In that moment, Tang Yi’s mouth curves into a smile that Shao Fei has never seen before, and says, “Okay. Then I’ll keep on letting you keep your eyes on me.”

“Then I- I’m going to sleep. Good- good night…”

Suddenly, Shao Fei can feel his cheeks heating up again. He flees back to the corner he was lying at earlier, pulls his jacket over himself and pretends to sleep.

[a-diary-for-seoulmates]

hii can i request for a monsta x (kihyun or jooheon) fluff?? they reacting to reader wanting to make doughnuts in the middle of the night fem!reader x boyfriend!

I know you requested kihyun or Jooheon, but I loved this so much I wanted to do one for each of them! Also this is kind of my first time doing a reaction so…

here goes nothing I guess.

(using a keep reading link to save a dash)

Shownu:

Having just gotten home from seeing End Game with the other members, there was still a bit of excitement flowing through you, so neither of you were quite ready for bed just yet. Shownu was standing at the counter, scrolling through Twitter when you presented him with the pot in which you’d stacked all the ingredients inside.

“What are you planning to do with that?” He asked as his attention shifted from the phone to you.

“I thought we could make doughnuts.”

He looked at you like you’d grown a second head as you continued prepping the kitchen. As with most things however, Shownu decided to roll with it, and by the end he was enjoying the activity more than you were.

You taught him how to shape each one and how to make different kinds of doughnuts. It was honestly cute to watch him make each one, his tongue poked out in concentration. After they were finished, you let him place them in the oven to proof for a bit before setting out to make the different icings and toppings for decorating them. Shownu hadn’t been too interested in this part, but he still helped out, already thinking of the designs he wanted to attempt.

Once the doughnuts were fried and cooled, both of your attentions were focused on icing and decorating your creations. Considering you hadn’t done most of the frying (Shownu insisted on frying them once you showed him how), you still hadn’t gotten to see any of the doughnuts he’d made. You curiously peaked over at him to see him struggling to add black details to a small, white, bear shaped sweet. You nearly chuckled before you noticed the others he’d made. There was a bigger bear, a few heart shapes, and what looked liked an attempts to make the other animal counterparts of his members.

Shownu was sweeter than any pastry you could ever make.

Wonho:

It wasn’t a rare occurrence to come home to you baking at odd hours; owning a bakery meant that you were always experimenting with new recipes. Wonho was always more than happy to be your guinea pig and help you with whatever you needed. Tonight, he was helping you make doughnuts.

Considering neither of you had ever made doughnuts before, you had to admit it was going pretty well. The two of you managed to keep your flour fight to a minimum (although your hair and apron was still covered), and only a few of them had been burnt by in the deep-fryer — hell by the end you’d even managed to make quite a few of the pretty twisted kind. So yeah, making the doughnuts was easy; it was the icing and decorating process that proved to be difficult.

It wasn’t the decorating itself that was difficult really, it was your boyfriend constantly eating your decorations and fillings that made it difficult. You’d left him in the kitchen unattended (mistake number 1) surrounded by large bowls of his favorite fillings and toppings (mistake number 2) and by the time you’d gotten back, you would’ve considered yourself lucky to have enough left to finish half of your creations. As much as you wanted to be upset with him, you couldn’t be. Wonho was simply too cute with his red little ears and cheeks when you caught him red handed, a spoonful of sweet cream and jam still in his mouth. You quickly shooed him away while inspecting the damage, eyes going wide as you realized just how much he’d eaten in such a short amount of time.

“Wonho, baby, you’re going to be sick!” You teased as you watched him walked away. He simply shook his head in return and sat at the counter, feeling slightly guilty as he watched you try and salvage what was left.

You ended up having to make more, and Wonho snuck his arms around you as you did, partially out of his general need to constantly be touching you, and partially because he’d begun to feel sick from the amount of sugar he’d ingested. As soon as you were done you had to help your bunny to bed where he secured you to his chest with his arms while you carded your fingers through his hair to soothe him. Just before he fell asleep you heard him mumbling something that made you smile.

“No more doughnuts for a while.”

Minhyuk:

You were trying your best to be quiet but being the quiet person you are, it was no surprise when you managed to knock over the stack of pots and pans in the cabinet while trying to find a pot deep enough for deep-frying. Even though you were down in the kitchen, the sound was loud enough to be heard all over the house, including the bedroom upstairs where it woke an exhausted Minhyuk. Upon finding your side of the bed empty, he considered the loud crash downstairs and put two and two together and the small bit of panic that had rose within him began to dissipate. Still partially asleep, he stumbled out of the bed and made his way downstairs, stopping in the doorway to the kitchen when he found you laying in the center of the mess you’d made. 

“Care to tell me what happened here?” Minhyuk asked as he stood above you, lazily raising an eyebrow.

“I was craving something sweet, so I was trying to make doughnuts.” The way you said it, shrugging like it was the most normal thing to be doing at midnight, made him smile. Minhyuk carfully stepped over the cookware in the floor and turned the oven off before helping you up. 

“Let’s do this in the morning.” he suggested as his arms wrapped around your waist, “At least then I can make sure you don’t burn the house down.” 

Before you could whine or protest Minhyuk’s teasing, he was dragging you back to bed, the mess in the kitchen left for a later time. 

Kihyun:

Every Saturday evening was dedicated to cooking together. Both of you enjoyed the activity and almost always agreed on recipes and techniques; however, there were times that the two of you disagreed about things in the kitchen. When this happened, both of your stubborn sides bubbled to the surface and made it nearly impossible to get any sort of cooking done. if you had managed to start cooking, it usually would end up burning or getting thrown out in frustration, so the two of you almost always ended up having food delivered and calling it a night. 

Tonight had turned out to be one of those nights– you wanted to make doughnuts, Kihyun was in the mood for churros– but after hours of bickering you were both determined to make things work as it was now well passed midnight and all the shops were closed. Since both of you were too stubborn to give in to the others idea, you reached a compromise and decided to combine the two desserts. Though both of you had calmed a bit, things were still a work in progress. 

“I’m telling you, Y/n, if you want them to turn out right, we have to deep-fry them.” Kihyun repeated for the fifth time since you’d started piping the hybrid mixture into rings. It was beginning to sound as though he was chanting the words, rather than speaking them, and it quickly became annoying. 

“And I’m tellling you, Kihyun, if we deep-fry them, they’ll be too crispy for that glaze you’re making.” You finally snapped, whipping around to face him and slinging some of the batter on him in the process. You really couldn’t help but stifle a little laugh as you looked at the pure shock on his face. As soon as you did that, though, all of the banking (and the bickering) ended once and for all. Kihyun prompty retaliated by chasing you around the apartment as he tried to smear icing on you.

Evading him was rather easy as you dashed around the house, but unfortunately the game ran short as he trapped you in the kitchen where you started, backing you against the counter as the spoon of melting icing was raised above your head, threatening to be spilled on you if you didn’t submit.

“Apologize and no one get’s hurt.” your boyfriend threatened, a playful smirk gracing his lips as you both moved in a little bit closer. Just before your lips met his you paused and whispered a soft ‘never’ before pulling away and wiping some of the batter off his nose with a giggle. That same giggle turned into a gasp onoly seconds later when you felt the warm, sticky liquid landed on your own face. This time it was his turn to laugh as he finally pulled you in for a light kiss. 

“Now we’re even.”

Hyungwon:

(gif is mine – please use with credit)

Hyungwon claimed that he wasn’t a clingy person, yet, somehow, every night he practically pinned you to the bed underneath him. Normally it would’t bother you as you’d be asleep as well, but having napped earlier, you weren’t exactly in the mood to sleep. In fact, all you really wanted was something sweet and gooey: a delicious, fresh doughnut. Once the thought drifted into your mind, it was near impossible to get out. 

You contemplated your options: you could torture yourself by continuing to stare at the dark ceiling and listening to your boyfriends soft snores, or you could get up and try making the doughnuts yourself. your decision was ultimately reached as you lulled your head over to the side to check the clock on the nightstand, barely making out a fuzzy 12:02 from the red symbols. It felt like you’d been laying there much longer than two hours, and you knew that there was no possible way you’d make it through the entire night. But now that you knew what you wanted to do, the task of getting up was the biggest challenge you were facing.

Moving with extreme caution , you attempted to get up from the mess of long, tangled-up limbs that were confining you. Just as you thought you’d successfully made it out without waking Hyungwon, your phone fell off the nightstand as you tried to grab it up. While the sound made you jump like a startled kitten, it hardly woke your boyfriend, who began searching for you with his hands. His eyes only opened when he couldn’t find you and they were filled with panic as they met your own. 

“Where’re you going?” he asked softly, voice still thick with sleep yet simultaneously laced with fear. You’d forgotten how sensitive he could be, and you quickly realized that your actions may have been mistaken. You quickly explained yourself and watched as the fear was quickly replaced by amusement as he shook his head at you. 

Hyungwon used one hand to grab his phone while the other one hooked around your waist and pulled you back down beside him. Just as you were about to ask him who he was calling, the other end of the line picked up as and he began placing an order for two boxes of your favorite doughnuts from a late night bakery nearby. Once he finished the order and hung up the phone, he grabbed the remote and turned on the television before laying back down, eyes already closed. “They’ll be here in half an hour.” He mumbled just before falling asleep again. You had to admit, you often wished you could fall asleep with the ease that your boyfriend could. 

You slowly shuffled down to lay beside him as you picked out a movie to watch on Netflix. You were about 15 minutes in when you felt those familiar, long limbs wrapping around you and tangling themselves in your own once more. This time, they tugged you even closer as Hyungwon buried his face in your neck, softly mumbling as he dreamed. When the doorbell rang only minutes later, you didn’t even attempt to get up.

Your sweet boy somehow cured your sweet tooth, and suddenly you weren’t craving the doughnuts anymore. 

Jooheon:

Jooheon was not all that phased when you asked him to help you make twisted doughnuts so late at night, but he had to admit that he’d rather be watching you than helping. Don’t take it the wrong way, he loved helping you cook and was more than happy to do it, but he loved watching you perform the task a little bit more. He found you absolutely adorable, yet simultaneously hot when you cooked. 

It was about halfway into prepping the dough for the sweets when your assistant abandoned you to do what he’d been dying to do since the whole thing started. Jooheon quickly wrapped himself around you from behind, tucking his face into the space where your neck met your shoulders and pressing kisses against the soft skin there. Normally you’d be extremely turned on by such actions, but in the moment you found them more sweet and innocent than anything, and a playful smirk came over your lips as he continued.

“You know, I’m beginning to think that you are clingier than this dough.”

Jooheon giggled and gave you a cheesy grin, “But it’s a-dough-rable, right?” he spoke, finishing his sentence with a kiss to your cheek.

As cute as he was, you couldn’t help but let out a playful groan. “ I swear, Honey, one of these days you and your puns are going to drive me glazy.”

Thus started the small pun war between the two of you. It continued throughout the entirety of the remainder of your baking, and you traded countless, terrible doughnut and baking related jokes. It only ended as the two of you ran out of lines to say, but that was okay because your boyfriend had saved the best one for last. He only let it fall from his lips as you sat down to enjoy your creations. 

“You just doughnut know how much I love you.”

Changkyun:

Changkyun had gotten used to going to bed without you. For the entirety of this past semester you had been beyond busy; most nights you weren’t even able to think about sleeping until 3 a.m. as all of your projects and assignments constantly stacked up on top of on another. Tonight didn’t seem to be going any different as you sat up trying to study for your upcoming finals. While you strained yourself attempting to stay focused, your body had a different idea as exhaustion began to take over, distracting you with thoughts of your sweet, doting boyfriend curled up alone in a comfy bed only a few rooms away. It didn’t take long for you to grow aggravated with the distractions, deciding to take a break from studying and do something else to wake yourself up and reset your focus. On a whim, you decided to make doughnuts; something you’d never made before but sounded like a great idea in your current state. 

It was the smell of burning dough that woke him. Confused but somewhat alert and panicked, Changkyun was quick follow the offending scent to the kitchen where he found the source: doughnuts burning in pot of hot oil. As he looked around a bit more he found you passed out at the table. The sight of you passed out on top of your strewn-about notes and multitude of opened textbooks, exhaustion evident in your features, broke his heart. Not wanting to wake you, he quietly decided to clean up your mess on his own. 

He started by taking the pot off of the heat and turning off the stove before opening the windows to clear the apartment of both the smoke and the smell. Once he’d finished cleaning up the remainder of the mess, or rather most of it, he took a step back to admire you before attempting to move you. As much as you broke his heart by torturing yourself like this, Changkyun couldn’t help but smile at how cute you looked in your sleep, nose lightly scrunched up with flour still on your cheek and in your hair. He tried very carefully to lift you from your seat without waking you, but he had no such luck. Almost as soon as he touched you, your head shot up, nearly headbutting him. 

“What time is it?” Panic washed over your face as your sleepy, strained eyes met your boyfriend’s, fearing that you’d over slept. Changkyun simply gave you a soft smile as he answered.

“It’s nearly one in the morning. I think you passed out trying to cook.” As soon as the words left his lips embarrassment washed over you, making your cheeks redden as you glanced at the stack of dishes now in the sink. 

You didn’t say anything in return, but you knew you didn’t have to, you knew you didn’t have to explain yourself to him. Instead, you let Changkyun lift you from your chair before wrapping yourself around him and resting your head against his shoulder. He stood still for a moment and began rubbing your back in a soothing manner. The small action effected you more than you thought it would and in a matter of seconds you felt your eyes growing heavy once more as you were lulled back to sleep, softly and incoherently mumbling about your abandoned studies and cooking. Listening to you made your boyfriend smile as he tucked you in, and as he himself climbed in beside you, he pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead and made a mental note to make you rest the next few days. 

“Sleep now, baby. We can always finish those things tomorrow.”

[daydream-in-a-dream]

Runway (NCT Lucas)

Genre: Angst with a tinge of fluff, model!Lucas X photographer!reader

Word count:  approx. 7k

Warning(s): Swearing

(2013)

Photography has always been your passion, and without a doubt, you took it as a major when you had the chance. As the second year approached, you doubted whether the subject was really your passion or just a fleeting interest at that point in time.

It wasn't that you hate photography per se. You did enjoy taking shots on inanimate objects but when it comes to human models, you have to deal with the unnecessary troubles on top of having them to meet your expectations. Some models failed terribly in recreating your impression, while very few people were able to portray the picture that you have in mind. Fortunately, there was one particular guy who exceeds your expectation, to the point where he could improvise on the spot and allow you to be open to new perspectives.

Yukhei was the guy you go to when your projects involved human beings. Johnny introduced him to you when you were unable to find a suitable model and you only had a week left before you had to submit your final project in the first year. Since then, you never look elsewhere. You were glad that Yukhei accepted your requests in a heartbeat, in which Johnny would often whine about how you practically stole his life saviour.

"You can't do this to me!" He cried during lunch. "And you, Yukhei! How could you accept her offer and not mine?"

"Your ideas are too hard for me to work with, and she usually treats me afterwards," the younger man reasoned before he nonchalantly chewed on his food. Once in a while, his eyes widened before he hummed in appreciation as he savoured his meal. On the other hand, Johnny whipped his head to face you before his eyes narrowed.

"I can't believe you bribed him! I shouldn't have introduced him in the first place if I knew you would do such a thing!" Pouting like a baby, he crossed his arms as he looked away from you. In all honesty, you knew Johnny wasn't being serious and that alone made you chuckle.

"Come on, Johnny! I know you just want to have female models for your work. Don't worry, I'll contact my friends if any of them are interested." Of course, the said man was all smiles again as he faced you again.

"Now that's what I want to hear!" He then glanced at his watch. "Okay, I need to go now. Call me when you already found one!"

Johnny jogged away from the area as he waved to you and Yukhei. It was only half past twelve when you and Yukhei had finished eating, leaving you with a few hours to spare before your next class while Yukhei could just head his way home. Planning to use your time productively, you proposed to work on your project immediately. As expected, Yukhei agreed before you led the way to the ideal location for the photoshoot.

"Wait, no need for a change of clothes?" Yukhei inquired, in which you replied by shaking your head as you elaborated on the ideas you wished he could depict later on the set. As usual, he pitched in some ideas too and honestly speaking, you wouldn't ask for a better model.

"Well, who needs a change of clothes when the model himself is enough to get you an A." You had grown accustomed to his overflowing confidence on himself, yet you couldn't help yourself as you chuckled in delight before getting serious with work.

It was a typical day spent with Yukhei. However, it was unfortunate that you started to miss the time spent with him when both of you went separate ways after graduation and all contacts were ceased ever since.

~~~

(Present day)

You were pretty much established in the photography scene now. Back then, you couldn't imagine yourself being invited to major events often for your service, but somehow you made it. However, you couldn't deny that you felt guilty for not checking up on your friends when you were piled with your seemingly endless work. Calls from clients were made every now and then, impromptu photoshoots happened once in a while to cover for your sick colleagues. You couldn't recall the last time you contacted your friends. It wasn't until Johnny attended the same event as you when you were reminded about the lack of contact you made with your friends.

"Oh my god! Johnny, is that really you?" You couldn't hide your elation upon spotting Johnny at the entrance a few hours before the event started.

"Oh lord, you! How long has it been since you last called me?" His eyebrows were furrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest, huffing with mock anger while he waited for your reply.

"Uhm, I might have lost your number when I changed my contact number." You sheepishly grinned, leaving the tall man baffled.

"Are you serious?! Why don't you just ask me? Dude, social media exists for a reason." Looking deadpanned, he was unimpressed with your excuse.

"I'm sorry, I just got caught up with work." Johnny was about to argue when a group of photographers made their way to the venue, bringing both of you back to reality. He clicked his tongue in annoyance when he realised that there was barely any time left before the event would commence.

"Give me your phone." His sudden demand caused you to hand him the device almost instantaneously, and it wasn't until your phone left your grasp did you realise what was bound to happen.

"Johnny, you can just write your number on paper and just pass it to me you know." Your fingers reached for your phone restlessly but he retracted his hand before you could even touch it.

"Shush." He attempted to unlock your phone, only to be shooting you an unamused look when you had been using the same PIN since your college days. He then dialled his number on your phone before he passed it back to you. "There. All done."

Your lips quirked awkwardly as you tried to show a genuine smile. It wasn't that you were unhappy about it. You really did want to keep his number just in case, but the fact he got your number would mean that he would be pestering you on your off days. And the thought alone bothered you. Those days were meant for you to laze around in your home, and there was no way you would let him drag you out of your apartment when you just need time to yourself before you were ready to face the hectic week ahead.

However, you knew that was just an excuse when Johnny had a wide circle of friends to hang out with. In reality, you were just afraid that Johnny would readily give your phone number to Yukhei, and you weren't prepared for it. You couldn't deny that you cut Yukhei off rather abruptly, but it was for the best. It was unfair for him, considering how he had been calling you non-stop ever since you left the town to venture for your career opportunities without bidding farewell to your friends, and it came to the point where you had resorted to changing your mobile number just so he wouldn't hinder with your quest to find your dream job. You would only be preparing a recipe for disaster if you were to allow your affections for him to grow.

The seats were already occupied with notable public figures in the fashion industry, but you couldn't care less. You only hoped that you could get this done and over with so that you could return to your comfortable cocoon with a bowl of popcorn in your hand while you binge-watched the latest drama series you had been anticipating for days. You would have done so if your dear colleague wouldn't drop the news at the very last minute, and somehow, she knew that you wouldn't reject the job which was why you ended up in this place unwillingly.

A round of applause erupted as the models made an appearance in the runway with the latest fall collection. It was your cue to take the shots as the models strutted their way to the front of the platform before walking confidently to the backstage. Johnny wasn't far off from your position as he too was immersed in capturing the best pictures he could take in the fashion show.

Monotonously clicking on the shutter, you were growing bored as the digital clock at the back of the room displayed 21:00. It has been already an hour since you were stuck in this event and you were very tempted to get out of this place before the boredom kills you. When he made an appearance in the runway, however, your temptation to flee might just come to reality if it wasn't for you being trapped in the middle of a large group of cameramen in front of the platform. You couldn't tell if he saw you in the crowd when his piercing gaze was at the front, and not once did his eyes travelled down to see you in your crouch position with your camera as a perfect hiding spot for your face. Yet, your fingers were getting jittery at the thought of him spotting you and you were definitely not ready to meet him. Not just yet.

"Now let's welcome the fashion designer, Nakamoto Yuta, into the house together with our rising model, Lucas Wong, who'll be donning the highlight of this year's fall collection. Let's welcome them with a round of applause!" Yukhei made his way to the front of the platform again. This time around, he had a long beige coat on him together with a cream turtleneck and black khakis to complete the look, accentuating the theme of the fall collection ㅡ simplicity.

Yuta made his way next, with his immaculate white suit, as his suave gait didn't go unnoticed. Nonetheless, he still walked with a gummy smile on his face while he fixed his blazer. After he bowed slightly to the audience, he introduced his fashion line while resting his arm on Yukhei's shoulder, in which the latter relaxed a bit when Yuta lightly tapped on his bicep with Yuta's smile being the driving factor for Yukhei to loosen up. The non-verbal communication between the two men was enough for you to conclude that they must have been close.

You couldn't help getting distracted with your work when the man you had been avoiding thus far was suddenly appearing in front of you. Of course, your absent-minded self didn't notice Yukhei staring straight at you when your camera was lowered to your chin level. It was only when a photographer next to you accidentally knocked on you, causing you to falter from your crouch position and caught Yukhei’s intense gaze on you. Too stupefied to do anything afterwards, your body turned numb. You could only exhale the air which you had been keeping for a while when both Yuta and Yukhei returned backstage. As the guests rose from their seats, you immediately dashed to your car, not bothering to turn back when Johnny called you.

You were glad that your car was passing the electronic gantry when Yukhei was turning left and right at the exit, looking slightly dishevelled. You were just not ready to face him. At least not now.

~~~

(2014)

The days leading to graduation were hectic. You weren't given the time to be anxious about your graduation when you were in the midst of helping your parents to pack their belongings. On top of that, you were also contemplating the job offer you received recently and as much as it sounded enticing, you had to think things through before accepting it wholeheartedly. It was unfortunate that you didn't have the time to sit down and ponder over the offer when there were so many things to clear at the moment.

It was already two days before graduation when the movers had arrived in your doorsteps to help in transporting some of your parents' treasured furniture. You did your part by carrying the boxes containing their clothes to the truck.

"Honey, are you sure you don't want to come with us?" Your mom questioned again when all the necessary items were on the way to your parents' new residence.

"It's okay. I still need to attend the graduation ceremony and the university's not far from here anyway." The corners of her mouth were pulled to the side as she nodded, assuring you that you were always welcomed anytime. She didn't say much afterwards as she headed to the car where her husband was waiting before she slammed the door shut when she got inside. Nonetheless, she did wave at you before the car sped off.

As the red Mini Cooper diminished from your view, you couldn't help but wonder if your parents were still disappointed with you choosing photography as your major when they had dearly hoped you would choose business so that you, being the only child in the family, could inherit their firm one day. They didn't resist much when you first announced it, but they did give you a cold shoulder once in a while when you talked about your university life. You wouldn't be surprised that they won't make it for the graduation ceremony, considering how your workaholic parents had opted to buy a house closer to their office which made them even more absorbed in their occupation since they could go to work anytime they pleased.

The vibration from your jeans broke your reverie, in which you quickly fished the device out from the pocket as you went back inside when the afternoon rays came off rather strongly, making you uncomfortable in your drenched white tee.

"I'm surprised that you decided to accept my video call this time round. What happened to your 'strictly calls only'?" One of his eyebrows were raised as his head was tilted, pleasantly surprised by your change.

"I don't want my phone to be dirtied by my sweaty ears." Grabbing the remote control to set the highest setting for your ceiling fan, you soon plopped on the couch, not bothering to change your clothes since there were no adults to nag at you for ruining the leather seats.

"I see. You look good when you're wet anyway." You rolled your eyes at the innuendo, especially when Yukhei repeatedly raised his eyebrows in a coy manner before you spoke. "Anyway, why are you calling me?"

Looking away for a moment, he bit his lower lip as he struggled to voice his main agenda for the call. You were about to open your mouth to ask him again when he beat you to it.

"I don't want to force you or anything, but do you want to go out with me tomorrow night? Just you and me." The invitation did come as a surprise for you when your pupils dilated.

"Aren't you going to the party tomorrow?" You knew a graduands' party was going to take place on the day before the ceremony, and Yukhei wasn't one to shy away from such social gatherings. When there's free food, there's Yukhei. That was one thing for sure.

"Nah, I'm too old for parties anyway." At this moment, you couldn't hide your bewilderment when your eyes were wide opened before they were narrowed to slits as you eyed him suspiciously. Yukhei, the Wong Yukhei, rejecting parties? That was something you couldn't fathom for a while.

"Oh, come on! It's been a while since we last hang out anyway! Please? I'll definitely treat you tomorrow! You don't have to bring even a single cent!" A smirk was formed on your face when you decided to play with him.

"Oh really? Will you buy for me a building then?" 

"Definitely! I'll even bribe NASA if you want to travel to the moon!" Of course, Yukhei went along with it before waves of laughter soon erupted. You rarely cracked jokes among your friends but years of friendship with the man on the screen made it possible for you to be comfortable to engage in playful banters with him.

Eventually, you yielded to his request, in which Yukhei reacted by pumping his fist to the air while exclaiming a loud 'yes!' which echoed around his room. The wrinkles formed near his eyes were as clear as day while his wide smile spurred you to do the same. It wasn't long before he had to cut the conversation short, claiming that he had an errand to run.

Tomorrow came faster than you expected. There was a sense of giddiness coursing through your body as you waited for the sun to set. Yukhei had called you earlier this morning that he would be picking you up, and you were given no time to decline the offer when he immediately hung up since he was merely informing you. You could only chuckle to yourself as you got dressed an hour before he arrived.

Despite being in the middle of finding your pair of jeans, you didn't hesitate to pick up the call when the ringtone had resonated around your bedroom for quite some time.

"Hey Yukhei, could you give me a sec-"

"Sorry, but we're calling from Pixel Studios." You immediately retracted your hand to see the caller, only to curse silently before you placed your phone back to your ear.

"We just want to confirm whether you'll be taking up the job. We really admire your work and it'll be appreciated if you could decide as soon as possible so that we can contact other potential candidates if you plan to reject the offer." Your heart felt heavy as those words were uttered to you. You knew you shouldn't be reluctant to accept the offer straight away, but something was stopping you. And the fact that you didn't know what that 'something' could be added on to your frustration.

"Is it okay if I reply tomorrow?" A sigh could be heard from the end of the call before he finally agreed. You didn't forget to thank the person before he ended the call. Somehow, the excitement which bubbled within you had dissipated. You didn't manage to dwell on the topic further when you heard the sound of the car honking thrice. You quickly rummaged your closet before your eyes finally landed on the pair of jeans you were looking for. There was no time to waste as you instantly put it on, and at the same time, praising yourself for doing your makeup earlier on.

"Sorry, I'm late!" You barely breathed once you jogged your way to stand in front of him, who all this while had been leaning on his Hyundai. He waved his hand dismissively, convincing you that it was fine after all even though he didn't miss the opportunity to tease you about how you reject his ride earlier this morning.

"Shall we go now, my lady?" Opening the door to the passenger seat, he ushered you in like a fine gentleman. While the act could cause women to have their hearts racing, you could only laugh in embarrassment when the action was uncalled for, especially when both of you were wearing casual outfits.

Yukhei might have called this a hangout, but you felt that this was a date instead. How could you not think that way when he had been acting so nice to you? And with the way he held you close almost all the time, you wouldn't be surprised if outsiders were to mistake both of you as a couple. You didn't mind though, but it did raise questions in your head as to what Yukhei was hiding.

His hand felt clammy whenever you interlocked your fingers with his, and you did spot his long legs growing restless under the table when you had dinner with him at the restaurant situated by the river. Well, it could be due to the night breeze but you highly doubted that. Especially when his eyes darted sideways once in a while ㅡ a telltale sign that he was obviously nervous over something.

After the palatable meal, Yukhei suggested taking a walk by the river. You agreed nevertheless, even though you couldn't shake off the nagging feeling that kept reminding you that he was trying to buy time to alleviate his anxiety. As such, both of you didn't walk far before you spun around and stopped in front of him. His chest would have been knocking on your face if it wasn't for his quick reflexes due to your sudden movement. He might seem intimidating to you with his towering height, but when his eyes widened like a deer caught in headlights, he only resembled a very big baby.

"What's wrong?" Yukhei asked.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that question? You're not being yourself tonight. Is there something you're hiding from me?" You playfully pointed your index finger at him, in which he responded by rubbing his nape in an attempt to relieve his nerves.

"Is it that obvious?" The incandescent lamp above the two of you highlighted his crimson red cheeks, but that didn't stop him from reaching for your hands before holding it firmly. It would be a lie to say that your heart didn't palpitate wildly as you were mildly worried about what was he planning to say. 

"I like you." Your mouth went agape with incredulity at the declaration, but he didn't let you say anything as he quickly continued.

"I can't deny that I've been attracted to you since the day we first met. And it only seems to grow the more I spend time with you. It was hard for me to contain these feelings every time I'm with you. I don't expect an answer from you yet, but I hope our friendship doesn't change." After the confession, he couldn't bear to look at you any longer as his eyes were averted to the ground instead. 

You were at a loss of words. Although you did wonder about it, you didn't expect that he would express his feelings up front. And you weren't prepared for it. Somehow, you felt bad for probing him when he seemed to be on his toes after professing his attraction towards you.

The ride to your home was uncomfortable, absolutely. No one initiated any conversation as the radio filled the silence instead. You tried to think of other things to distract yourself, only to remember about the company who had been waiting for your response. You cursed inwardly as you could feel your shoulders being weighed down further by the job offer, on top of Yukhei's confession earlier. Even as both of you exited the car, the awkward tension still lingered in the air.

"See you tomorrow in the ceremony." You could feel the cringe on your fingertips at how strained the conversation had become. Nonetheless, you still bade him farewell as you watched his car disappear into nothingness.

Taking a quick shower, you shuffled to your bed before your limbs were splayed across the soft mattress. Even when the clock struck two in the morning, you couldn't sleep. It was difficult trying to formulate a response for the company when Yukhei's confession still floated in your head. The job was what you could ever dream of, and now that he professed his feelings for you, you were hesitant to take up the job. Even though you could imagine yourself being his significant other, you were well aware that the opportunity which was being thrust upon you was hard to come by. Moreover, you weren't even committed to him yet so it should be easy to reject his feelings and focus on your career first, right?

Wrong! You screamed at your idiocy because you knew damn well that your feelings were in too deep as well. However, you also knew that you had to think with your head and not your heart if you didn't want your future to be bleak. Plus, how sure were you that your relationship with Yukhei was going to last?

By the time the sun had risen, you already made up your mind. You decided to keep your feelings dormant for now so that you can start your career with ease. Moreover, you didn't want to disappoint your parents any further by not working in a field you had been studying for years. There was no going back as you went to the bathroom, not bothering to take a quick nap in spite of the commencement of the ceremony being in the late afternoon.

You already texted your parents about the ceremony, and as unsurprisingly as ever, they replied with a typical excuse of why they won't be able to make it for the event. At this point, you didn't even know whether they were lying or not, but you couldn't care less anyway. However, you did inform them that you were planning to stay with them after the ceremony and your mother was more than happy to receive you after the ceremony, which was also in line with the end of office hours. Your father, on the other hand, was planning to rent the house the moment he heard about the news even though you were still unsure as to how long you would be occupying your parents' home. You had already packed your essentials in your duffle bag when Johnny texted you to come early, stating that there was going to be a photo-taking among the photography majors before the start of the graduation ceremony.

Boisterous cheers were heard even before you stepped in the school grounds. Despite the overwhelming crowd in your university, you could easily spot the long-legged man from afar before you brisk-walked your way towards him and landed a punch lightly on his bicep, earning a yelp from him.

"Seriously?" You guffawed at his mock hurt when his face was scrunched upon receiving the blow, causing you to slap the same bicep even harder which resulted in Johnny to actually cry in pain before he rubbed the spot soothingly. "You're mean!"

"Well, you're being dramatic Johnny." His pupils reached for the skies before he pulled you to the rest of the photography majors when one of them had called for a photo-taking. The gods must have loved you a lot when the same guy handed his phone to Yukhei who happened to be within the vicinity. Yukhei obliged, not noticing your presence just yet.

"Alright, I'm going to take one now." The sizeable cohort quickly scurried into their places, and you quickly rushed towards Johnny's side. Johnny, however, had other plans when he firmly grabbed your shoulders such that you were in front of him so that he can rest his head on top of yours. You were about to look up when the people around you started to disperse.

"Johnny!" You didn't hesitate to smack his chest hard, loud enough for Yukhei to wince as he approached the two of you.

"You wouldn't want to get on her bad side, Johnny," Yukhei mused, only to raise his arms up defensively when you glared at him.

"I swear, what did I do in my past life for me to deserve such idiots..." Your groans were left unheard when both men were exchanging high-fives in front of you. Being the shortest among the three, you could predict that both of them wouldn't even realise that you were gone even if you happen to flee hours ago.

"Ehem! I'm right here, you know." You made your presence known when Yukhei and Johnny showed no signs of stopping the conversation.

"Aww... are you upset that we're leaving you out?" Yukhei swung his arm before he pulled you closer. You were glad that he was being his goofy self because you wouldn't know how to act around him when the confession just happened yesterday.

"We should have dinner together later!" Johnny suggested, but you were quick to raise your index finger.

"Uhm, about that... I don't think I'll be joining you guys. I'll be with my parents tonight." You subconsciously scratched your head as you smiled sheepishly.

"Now who's the one leaving?" Yukhei hinted. You shot him an apologetic look, but you knew deep down this was all for the best. Now that you chose to stay with your parents, you were determined to give yourself space for you to focus on photography, and photography alone. You couldn't risk yourself losing the opportunity to develop your portfolio at the expense of your friends ㅡ more like your potential infatuation with Yukhei.

There was no going back.

~~~

(Present day)

"What is it, Johnny? I'm in the middle of work," you grumbled upon answering the call when the vibration in your pocket became too much to handle.

"Are you serious? It's lunch hour now! I was just about to call you out to eat together with me."

"I'll pass for now. I can eat later after I'm done with my job." You turned down his offer, but Johnny had been adamant to have you eating with him.

"You've been rejecting our lunch dates for too long! That's it, I'm buying lunch over so that we can eat together. It's Pixel Studios right?"

"Yeah," you confirmed absent-mindedly before you processed his words once again. "Wait, how do you know that's where I work?"

"I saw your pass during the event. Okay, see you later!" You didn't have the time to dissuade him from coming to your workplace when he immediately hung up. You could only click your tongue in annoyance before the director's voice was booming within the four walls.

"Come on guys! The models are entering the studio any minute!" At his command, your colleagues who were still in the midst of arranging the props soon quickened their pace. You could sense that it was going to be a rough day today, considering how his voice becoming hoarse as the clock ticked by. Thank goodness your camera crew had already set up the necessary equipment when your senior approached you.

"I need your help." Well, what's new. You thought.

"I need you to record the interview later after the photoshoot. I've been contacting Donghoon for the past hour and he's not picking up!" You knew Donghoon wasn’t going to make it, especially when his social media was flooded with photos of him downing shots at the club last night.

"Alright," you agreed reluctantly. "Are we interviewing all three models?"

"Oh no! It'll just be Lucas Wong. It won't take long, I can assure you." The mention of his name had you frozen on your feet. You knew he was coming for the photoshoot, and you actually contemplated whether or not you should report for work. Nevertheless, you still came, with hopes that you could escape once it was over. Bold of you to assume so when there was no way you could run away this time.

"Are you okay?" Your senior placed her hand on your shoulder when she noticed your body stiffened. You quickly reassured her that you were fine, although she was hardly convinced when your eyes were directed at the exit. Eventually, she left you alone when the director clapped his hands loudly to signal the crew to get in position.

Yukhei's powerful gait was hard to miss despite being at the back when the models walked in. You anticipated him to be all smug as he made his way to the set, but he proved you wrong as he greeted the staff with his wide smile. You swore you could see those heart-eyes forming on your female colleagues as they gushed about his mannerisms. Somehow, you were glad that he didn't let the fame get into him. Unlike the stoic face which he displayed back then during the fashion show, he was showcasing his teeth upon spotting you as his eyes momentarily disappeared when he smiled. It felt like your university days again where he would often model for you in your projects.

You weren't surprised when Yukhei followed your instructions well as you took the shots. He could grasp the idea that you wished to portray after explaining only once while the other two models required more directing from you. For once, you weren't anxious about Yukhei's presence as you immersed yourself fully in the job. Even when he came close to you to monitor the pictures, you could cast your worries aside as you interacted with him in a strictly professional way.

"Okay, it's a wrap!" You announced before everyone involved clapped their hands together as they praised each other for the good work while packing the pieces of equipment. For a moment, you relished in the feeling of finally being free from work as you stretched your arms. The relief was short-lived though when you saw your senior approaching Yukhei, the sight reminding of the extra task which you had to complete before you could treat yourself for a meal. Your thoughts flew to Johnny as you had yet to notice his presence. Quickly checking your phone, there was no incoming calls or texts from the young man. Well, there was nothing much you could do anyway. He would appear when he arrived later.

Carrying the camcorder in one hand and the tripod stand in another, you dragged yourself to where Yukhei and your senior were situated. However, it wasn't long before Yukhei came to the rescue by helping you carry the burdensome tripod stand. You couldn't even protest when he wordlessly took it away from you so you only pointed him where it was supposed to be and muttered a soft thank you before he returned to the seat beside your senior. Once you had finished setting up, you gave your senior a thumbs up ㅡ a cue for her to conduct the interview.

"I'm glad you could join today for our interview! I swear, it's hard to have your time these days!" Your senior started off as she set a comfortable atmosphere for the session, in which he waved his hand off while chuckling in delight. "As a start, why not you tell me about yourself?"

The words that came afterwards became a buzzing noise in your head as you watched Yukhei conversed candidly with her through the LCD screen. The sight painfully reminded you of the good times you had with him previously, and it would have stayed the same if you weren't a coward to run away and dealt your relationship with him. Till this day, you felt the guilt gnawing on your existence as you left him hanging. Now that he was right in front of you, you were afraid of the imminent confrontation ㅡ if he wished to talk about it, that is.

Your thoughts were disrupted when you heard a peal of high-pitched laughter coming from your senior, probably laughing over a funny incident which Yukhei shared with her. She was so smitten, and you couldn't blame her for falling for his charms though. You were once in her spot as well. Yet, you couldn't ignore the jealousy that was brewing within you when you witnessed Yukhei burst out laughing too. Come on, it's just an interview. You're not his girlfriend anyway.

"Wow, what a childhood you had." Your senior wiped away the stray tear due to the laughter before she continued. "Now, I'm sure fans are curious about your love life. Is there anyone who has managed to capture your heart recently?"

Despite your poised position from your seat, your hands kept wringing to ease the nerves. Her question shouldn't affect you as much if you didn't have feelings for him, and yet here you were secretly hoping that you have a chance with him. Yes, you were selfish. But how could you not when he had been invading your mind for the past years when you and Yukhei were apart?

"Uhm... how should I say this?" He paused, his finger touching on his cheek repeatedly as he considered his response. "I did confess to the girl that I like a few years back, and I'm still waiting for her response honestly."

"She's definitely lucky to have someone as loyal as you. Do you have something to say to her? You can face the camera if you like." Your senior ushered to the device and you swore your breath hitched when he looked at the camera as if he was staring directly at your soul instead. Nevertheless, you adjusted the camcorder in such a way where it would focus solely on him before he cleared his throat. 

"Hey... it's been a while since we last spoke to each other. I probably scared you away with the confession, and I'm sorry about that. To be honest, I miss you so much. It definitely felt different when you left. There are so many things to talk about. Let's meet soon, shall we? My number's still the same." He decided to cut short the message before his emotions caught in his throat.

Despite avoiding eye contact, Yukhei noticed how you were hastily packing up once the interview had come to an end. You only turned your head when your senior gave you further instructions before she headed to the exit, leaving Yukhei and you alone in the spacious studio. He was quick to take the tripod stand once again, and you knew how stubborn Yukhei could be from the years of friendship, so you let him follow you to the back of the studio where most of the items were stored.

"Don't you miss me?"

"You can place it there." You deflected his question by pointing to where it was supposed to be. His eyebrow was slightly raised at your obvious attempt to avoid the discussion, yet he still followed your order in the end before he turned around to face you and had his hands resting on his hips.

"Don't you have anything to say to me?"

"Look, your job here is done. What am I suppose to say anyway?" You finally held eye contact with him after so long, but your critical tone set him off.

"Well, I don't know! Anything!" He lifted both of his hands in exasperation. "Oh, why not we start with why the fuck did you leave without saying goodbye? Heck, you're even uncontactable ever since!"

"Yukhei, please. Can we have this conversation next time? I still have my work to do." It was just the beginning, yet you felt your energy draining before he harshly grabbed your shoulders.

"When? The next thing I knew, you'll run off again. I'm not going to let it happen this time. Not under my watch." He spat before he inhaled deeply and ended it off with a heavy sigh. "Can't we just go back to being friends again? Is it too much to ask for?"

His eyes were full of emotions, whirling aimlessly within his pupils. Yet, all he could see was how hollow your eyes were all this time ㅡ a black hole void of emotions. The hands which held you captive soon returned to his side when Johnny's voice reverberated as he shouted for your name.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?" Johnny stopped his tracks at the doorway, feeling wary of his next movements.

"Nah. He's leaving now anyway." Yukhei was mildly taken aback by your sudden change in demeanour as you smiled sweetly at Johnny, but he didn't let his emotion show.

"Come join us as well. It's been a while since we all gather together," Johnny invited Yukhei as the former approached closer to the both of you.

"It's okay. I've to get back to work." With a wave, Yukhei turned down the offer nicely before he patted Johnny on the shoulder as he left the place, not forgetting to assure the older man that Yukhei would catch up with them next time.

It was only a few seconds after Yukhei took his leave when you followed suit, heading to the lounge room while Johnny trailed behind you with no words being exchanged upon sensing your sour mood.

Without a word, Johnny set up the lunch on the glossy white table while still keeping an eye on your expression. You remained impassive as you thanked for the meal before consuming your food silently. It was barely a few bites when Johnny couldn't take the deafening silence anymore.

"I overheard the conversation." You frowned at the revelation. You placed your chopsticks down and wiped your mouth with a napkin, ready to retort. However, Johnny didn't let you when his hand was shoved close to your mouth.

"Yukhei didn't deserve that, you know." Once again, you were ready to snap when he shushed you sharply, mildly irritated by your need to fight back.

"He talked about it. About how you left him, left us, without a word. You shouldn't give him a cold treatment when all this while he's been blaming himself for ruining the friendship between the two of you." If Johnny wanted you to feel guilty, he did a great job. You were unable to meet him in the eye as a sigh escaped from your lips.

"I was scared, Johnny. Scared of the commitments I have to bear if I were to accept both his feelings and the job offer back then. I'm trying to prevent ourselves from getting hurt any further."

"Well, you hurt him nonetheless." He cut in, earning a scowl from you before your features softened, knowing deep down that he was right.

"You can't just push him away just because you are scared. You should've discussed it to him. I'm sure you guys can work things out." You lost your appetite by the time the waterworks started, and you were thankful that Johnny was there with you as he consoled you with a warm embrace.

"I've fucked things up real bad, right?" You managed to utter in between your sobs.

"No, sweetheart. He's still waiting for you, you know. Just talk to him, alright? I don't want to see my friends hurt anymore."

You knew you couldn't evade from the inevitable. Yukhei needed this. You needed this. No point distancing yourself from him when you wanted him as much as he did.

There is no way you are running away this time.