#was initially meant to be a lot more tame but. ah well.

[hyperfixationtimego]

"Honestly, sweetheart? I'm just too damn tired."

_______________________

Commission Info

[perfinn]

let neptune strike ye dead

merman!din djarin x lighthouse keeper!reader - chapter two

wc: 4.4k

summary: you confront the inevitability of your insanity, and finally meet the elusive entity that's been leaving you gifts

cw: nsfw, female reader, DUBCON based purely on lack of communication, paranoia, isolation, oral (f receiving), once again lighthouse keeping inaccuracies, biting, ummmm... monsterfucking?

chapter one, read on ao3, divider by cafekitsune

You hadn't thought too much about the mythosaur since Captain Fett had told you about it. It had been a short conversation, really, something easy to forget. But you remembered it, always clinging to his stories to think back on later when you truly have nothing to do. 

“That? That’s pounamu,” he’d said initially, gently picking it up to show it to you. “Greenstone, if you like. It was my father’s.”

“Ah,” you’d responded, not disinterested in the material but more focused on the carving itself. “What's the symbol?”

Captain Fett had given you a vague huff of amusement. He handed it to you, and you’d gently trailed the calloused pad of your thumb over the surface. “It’s a mythosaur.”

“A mythosaur? That's creative.”

“A great sea beast,” he’d continued on. “Said to be extinct. But the story goes that when they were running amok, it was merfolk that tamed them, or culled them to extinction. Spared both the land and the ocean of their dominion either way. The skulls are supposed to be their symbol now.”

“Merfolk?” You’d echoed with a chuckle, handing the mythosaur back to him. “So it’s not real then?”

“Well, now, I wouldn’t rule it out completely. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a mythosaur myself, but then they’re meant to be extinct.”

“What then? You’ve seen a mermaid, captain?”

He had smiled, that mirthful chuckle that had been plaguing your late night fantasies rumbling in his chest. “Never can be quite sure what it is you’ve seen out there. Sailors are a mad lot.”

You remember blithely telling him that you must be a sailor too, then. 

You stare intently at the cowrie shell cradled in your hands, trying to force yourself out of what surely must be some sort of hallucination. But you can feel it, you can trail your fingers over the carving and feel every little notch that seems to have been etched with such care. 

(You think tactile hallucinations are a thing, aren’t they? But you’re not certain they're meant to manifest like this.)

There’s obviously the potential that it belonged to another sailor, that it had dropped off their ship and washed up onto your dock in the chaos of the storm. That’s perfectly reasonable. Maybe it’s the answer you would settle for if not for the seaglass and the fish and that tail you’d seen in the water.

With all that in mind, and the echo of Fett’s words in your head, you know there’s only one answer. 

You don’t know if you can let yourself accept that, though. It would be an irreversible acceptance of your complete insanity. There’d be no calling your mother to trick your brain into believing you have company. No satiating the lonely ache with Captain Fett’s occasional company. You’d be well and truly cracked.

But even so, even if you accept that there may be some degree of merperson out there, that doesn’t explain the offerings. You’re not exactly an expert on the extensive lore regarding merfolk, but from what you can tell they’re elusive and solitary creatures. It doesn't seem exactly in their nature to leave gifts to a human. You briefly consider the option of some sort of siren– but then why not just sing to you, drag you to your watery death and be done with it? 

No, it feels like… you’re being wooed. 

This doesn't feel at all like a creature baiting you into a horrible death so they can store you away in their lair and eat you. It feels borderline romantic. Pretty gifts to decorate your home, fish to feed you. 

(The cowrie shell feels a bit like a proposal, doesn't it? Or is that your fractured mind, making sense of the senseless?)

The morning after the storm, the weather isn't much improved. Though the wind has died down some, it still rains lightly and the sky remains overcast. It’ll be clear enough for the fishing boats to go back out, so it's clear enough for you to get to work. No doubt the storm has wreaked some havoc, and you’ll need to tidy up and ensure everything is still in working order. 

So you tuck the shell into the pocket of your raincoat, pull on the matching hat that always makes you feel a bit like a toddler, and head out into the pattering rain. 

You wander through the mud and down the hill that the wretched tower sits on, watching as your boots get covered in the muck. Sometimes there are puddles, and you indulge yourself by jumping in them. But today it's all just sludge, begging for you to step wrong and slip right onto your backside. 

You make your way along as carefully as you can bear, feet carrying you to one of the cliffs at the edge of the island. One of the shorter ones, short enough that you could probably jump and the only risk would be rolling your ankle if your foot landed wrong between the rocks. It's the same cliff the seaglass had been on. 

You gaze out at the watery horizon, hoping to catch sight of any passing ships. A fishing boat, maybe. None would be so close as to be able to see the people aboard, but the implication of their presence would be enough.

At this point, just the notion of other people existing would ease your mind. 

You don't find anything but the empty horizon and the somewhat tumultuous waves and you sigh, lowering your gaze to the bank of water beaten rocks below you.

Sometimes there are seals there. You like to throw fish to them, enticing them to come back and entertain you with their ridiculous little behaviours. You’d like to start naming them, and you would if you could get close enough to tell them apart. 

You think that's something that people on the mainland would call crazy in a quirky way. In an ‘I’m so crazy, I talk to my cats!’ way, a way that indicates they have no understanding of what it actually is to descend into complete and utter madness. 

You can be assured that you know exactly what an actual descent into madness is, because there's no seals on the rocks today. 

There's a merman.

You’d be inclined to think he hasn’t noticed you, or else he’d have disappeared back into the waves to avoid detection, if he weren’t looking right at you. He’s staring, eyes intent and boring right into yours. 

He’s gorgeous, mind you. His skin is tan and his wet brown hair is slicked back by the rain – and presumably the ocean. Though you hadn't been able to make out a face from high up in the lighthouse, he’s almost certainly the head and shoulders you’d seen last night in the water. His tail, huge and strong, lays against the rocks, and as your gaze trails down to his tailfin, you recognise it as the very same one you had thought you’d hallucinated off the dock. His body of his tail is massive, about three times the length of his upper half. The whole thing might even be longer than you. It’s a dark, teal colour– it’s really no wonder you were hardly able to spot it in the waves. His top half looks almost entirely human, the only deviation being the gills that cut along his ribcage.

Slowly, on the edge of the cliff, you crouch, closing the distance between you both by a few meagre feet. It feels too close, and at the same time it feels like miles apart. You move slowly, wary of spooking him and scaring him away. Even as you inch into a crouch, he shifts, looking as though he’s about to make a break for the waves. 

(You’re not certain why he’s so shy if he’s the one that’s been offering you all these gifts for so long. Though, you suppose you’re much the same when it comes to flirting. And generally, you don’t flirt so much with species that have a mythology of hunting and killing your own either.)

You still when you’ve fully crouched above him. He’s close enough to touch now, if both of you were to reach out. You’d like to. To touch him, to know that he’s real. 

(Tactile hallucinations, you remind yourself. It would feel just as real as any visual and auditory hallucination might.)

The two of you stare at one another in silence for a while longer, and you assume that he’s trying to take in the sight of you up close as much as you are to him. You feel a bit jealous, knowing that he must have been watching you so long, getting to enjoy the sight of you when you didn’t even know he was there.

If this had happened maybe six months ago, you’d still have been sane enough to be frightened by this prospect of a silent watcher, leaving you dead fish and most certainly hearing you pleasure yourself loudly at night. Now, the horror you should probably feel doesn’t even occur to you.

“You’re the one who’s been leaving me gifts,” you say, quiet as you can manage in the pattering rain, wanting to be heard but not wanting to startle him. “Right?”

The merman gazes up at you, and there’s only a slight incline of his head in response. You’re not sure how to take it, but it’s not really a question you needed much answer to. More of a conversation starter than anything. Otherwise, he doesn't reply. You wonder if he even speaks your language, if he’s even capable.

You reach into your pocket, movements slow and cautious. You’re petrified of startling him as you take the cowrie shell from your pocket, turning it over in your hands before holding it out to him. He seems to perk up at the sight of it, shifting slightly so he’s propping himself up on his arms. You look down at the shell again, running your thumb over the mythosaur, before stretching your arm out, offering it to him.

His expression shifts minutely, into a frown. His dark eyebrows pull together, and he reaches up a hand. You think he’s going to take it back from you, but when his webbed fingers touch yours – he’s so warm, part of you expected him to be cold blooded – he closes your fingers back around the shell. You meet his eyes, and his intent gaze has never left you. His hand lingers on yours, and for a moment his thumb rubs over the side of your hand. His gaze finally drops, taking in the size of your hand cradled in his. His fingers are tipped off with dark talons that brush over the calloused skin of your hands.

He feels so real. Something so real, so warm and wet and rough and perfect, your brain couldn't make that up. He’s here, in front of you, touching you. It has to be real. 

Then, he murmurs something so quietly that you almost don’t catch it over the soft patter of the rain.

 “Mesh’la.”

Your eyes dart to his mouth, you catch a glint of sharp teeth behind soft lips before they pull into a smile. And his smile… God, unsurprisingly it’s made him even more gorgeous. It may be the most beautiful smile you’ve ever seen. 

Mesh’la. It’s certainly not any language you know, but it’s a sound you could make. So he is capable of speaking human tongues, maybe he just doesn’t know any of yours. You think briefly that mesh’la might be his name, but the way he said it doesn’t seem that way. It seemed like he was saying it to you, about you. On his tongue, it must mean something. 

“Mesh’la?” you say back to him, unsure of how to convey your confusion without overwhelming him with words he doesn’t know. 

He only offers you a hum in response, still trailing his fingers over your skin, as though he fears the thought of pulling away. 

“What’s your name?” You ask him softly, clearly as you can manage. You place a hand to your chest and slowly recite your own name, hoping he’ll understand. 

(You think, if it turns out he’s perfectly able to understand you, you probably look like a complete idiot. But then, with how long you’re certain he’s been watching you, he’s likely watched you make a fool of yourself several dozen times.)

He seems to catch the hint you’re throwing and after a moment’s hesitation, he speaks again, “Din.”

You breathe the name in a murmured echo, adoring the taste of it on your tongue. You dart your tongue out to wet your lips as though you might catch a lingering taste of the syllable. Part of you had expected something difficult to pronounce, using sounds you’re not even able to make, but Din is simple. It’s beautiful.

You think you hear a soft rumble from his chest, but it’s hard to tell over the rain. He lowers his hand, leaving droplets of water on your skin. Instinctively, you go to follow him, tilting forward a bit and losing your balance. You yelp, and wave your arms around as you desperately try to avoid toppling onto the rocks below. 

You manage to regain your balance and fall onto your backside, but when you look back down Din is backing away, slithering across the rocks and toward the water. You startled him, just as you had so desperately hoped you wouldn't. Foiled by your own centre of balance. You scramble to get back on your feet as he pulls himself away, eyes wide. 

“Wait!”

He glances back at you just once before he disappears into the foamy waves, leaving you alone on the edge of the cliff. Leaving you reeling, and suddenly desperate for his return. Din, the merman.

Part of you is imagining telling Captain Fett what you’ve seen, but a bigger part of you knows that you can never tell a soul, lest they think you a madwoman. 

(Which you most certainly are, but they don't need to think it.)

You stand back up as the waves crash over the rocks, erasing all traces of Din except for the droplets on your hand and the memory of him that you’re sure is reflected in your eyes. You’d love to dwell on it, to wish him back and stare out at the waves forever, but there’s still work to be done. So you have to go about your day as though you haven't just met a merman. 

Din makes no more appearances for a week. He leaves you no gifts, and drops no hints that he’s there at all. It’s devastatingly lonely, even with a phone call to your mother. It only lasts fifteen minutes this time, as you have nothing to update her on and the drama with your aunt has simmered to a cool cold shoulder stage.

(Of course, you could update your mother on the merman, but you would like for her to think you’re only slightly unhinged at most.)

You’ve completely integrated Din into your fantasies, at least, and that's added an impeccable spice to your nights. There was even one night, when you were fighting particularly hard to reach a new record for amount of orgasms, when you included both Din and Captain Fett. You went blind that night with how hard you came. 

Funnily enough, it's the next day when Din finally makes another appearance. You’ve got a spool of rope heaved over your shoulder and you’re trudging up to the shed when you spot his head at the end of the dock. It takes all the dignity and sense you have not to drop the rope and sprint toward him like he’s your long lost lover. No, this time you won't startle him. So instead, you wave to him and calmly make your way down the old dock. 

He seems to hesitate before he waves back, as though he’s unfamiliar with the gesture. You surmise that he’s seen it before and guessed that it's a human greeting, but he’s simply never had the need or opportunity to use it. 

“Din,” you greet as you make it to the end of the dock. Today’s a clear day, the clouds are sparse and the sun is blessing the both of you with its warm shine even in the frigid salty air. 

He murmurs your name, webbed hand resting on the dock. He looks infinitely more stunning in the clear sunlight, his skin somehow sunkissed, despite his dwelling somewhere with so little sunshine. You crouch slowly and set down the rope, smiling at him. 

“You disappeared,” you say, thankful when your sudden proximity doesn't make him retreat. “I’m sorry I scared you last week. I guess I got excited, and… you can't understand me, can you?”

Din smiles at you again, giving you a full view of his sharp and pointed teeth. They’re almost sharklike. He reaches up, taking your hand carefully, like he’s nervous. 

You think he might be– you think that might be the explanation for his strange behaviour. Maybe it isn't just the nature of merfolk, maybe Din is just shy. The thought makes you smile, the idea that this gorgeous, dangerous creature could be shy or nervous. It's more than a bit endearing.

Then he speaks again, and even the rough timbre of his voice can’t ease the shock at the word coming from his soft lips, “Fuck.”

Your brows knit together as you tilt your ear toward him, certain you’ve misheard. “Sorry?”

He says it again, seeming insistent. He gently grabs your ankle, guiding you to sit down on the dock. You’re still reeling from his sudden cursing, too shocked to stop him as he moves you so your legs are dangling off the edge of the dock. 

“Where did you learn that?”

(He probably learned it from you, shouting it late at night while you touch yourself, but you don't really have the brain function to piece that together while you're still reeling from the fact he's learned it at all.)

He says it again, and as he begins to tug your shoes off you begin to think he may know exactly what it means. He sets your boots down on the dock and looks intently at you, resting his hands on your clothed thighs. For a creature you’ve decided is shy, he’s being awfully bold. You stare at him with wide eyes and parted lips, willing him to suddenly know your language so he can confirm your suspicions. 

“Yes?” He prompts, and it's well enough. 

And really, you should probably say no. You don't know him. You don't know where he’s been. You don't know his actual intentions. He could be asking permission to drag you under and eat you. But it's obvious what he’s asking, right?

And god you want it, you want it bad. It's been so long since anyone else touched you, and at this point you’d take it even if it meant drowning. Especially coming from such a gorgeous creature. There are worse ways to go. 

So you nod, hurriedly undoing the clasps on your overalls and shifting away from him so you can take them off, leaving you only in your t-shirt and panties. They’re not exactly sexy, but judging by the lust darkening Din’s eyes, your fishy partner doesn't much mind. 

He trails his wet hands over the expanse of your thighs, taking in every inch of them. It takes you a moment to realise that he's probably never been this close to any legs before. He’s admiring them and amazed by them, and you shiver when he drags his tongue over the skin. 

(Or, he’s seen plenty of legs before from drowning and eating people, and he’s savouring the taste of them before he bites a chunk out of you. He’s got those sharp jaws for a reason. Still, you somehow don't mind if that's your fate.)

His tongue is long and wet, noticeably longer than any human tongue. It would be easy, from this angle, to forget that he has the bottom half of a fish until he opens his mouth. But his tongue laving over your thighs and the slight scrape of his teeth wrenches you back to the reality that you may be about to let this supposedly-mythical beast eat you out.

Or… maybe you’re just letting him lick your thighs. He doesn’t seem to be paying much mind to your pussy at all, actually. You think it’s possible he may be fooled by the concept of underwear. So as he damn near gnaws at your thigh, you shift slightly to tug them aside. Din sees your movement and pulls away from your leg, brown eyes filling with lusting curiosity. 

His eyes are on your fingers as you pull your panties aside and tuck the crotch of them between your pussy and your thigh. Din’s eyes dilate, and you can tell he recognises just what it is. It's just what he was after, to eat in one way or another. 

Before you can do much else Din grabs your legs, talons digging ever so slightly into your thighs but not breaking skin, and tugs. 

You yelp, scrambling for purchase as he yanks you off the edge of the dock– this is it, you think, you’ve just invited this creature to drag you to the depths to your unfortunate wet death. 

As you begin to come to terms with your imminent end, though, he stops, leaving your top half still above the surface. You’re distantly thankful that it's a somewhat warm day so you won't get hypothermia from the water if you end up surviving this. 

With more careful hands, like he heard your frightened yelp, Din turns you around so you can brace your arms comfortably on the surface of the dock. 

Oh, you realise. He wasn't trying to drown you. He was only trying to do this in his domain. If you had the brain for it you might think it were some territorial thing, which it is, but any thoughts in your head are melted away by the sudden drag of his lengthy tongue through your folds. 

A strangled sort of noise leaves your throat, and your eyes pop open at the hot muscle dragging appreciatively along your pussy. Even if he hasn't ever seen a human pussy before, it evidently can't be much different from a mermaid’s from the way he seems to know what to do with it. His arms wrap around your thighs to hold you in place, and you’re left digging your nails into the worn down wood to hold you up. 

Because you’ve forgotten how to be, you’re far from quiet. You cry out when his tongue brushes over your clit, the strange feeling of it being played with underwater like this heightening the feeling. 

(Somehow it's so much more than when you touch yourself in the bath, maybe because the water is cold, or because it's a foreign body, or maybe because the man doing it is used to doing it underwater.)

His tongue is rough, like wet sandpaper (but of a low, worn-down grit), and it laps reverently at your clit. Din’s mouth refuses to leave your pussy, and the delighted shouts of pleasure refuse to stay in your mouth. You think that he can probably hear it beneath the current, because he only begins to suck at it more fervently. 

“Fuck!” You hear yourself scream, before Din finally leaves your clit so just his nose bumps against it. He gives you barely a second of soft licks at your hole before he’s plunging his tongue into it. Your nails drag against the dock as your scream of delight is trapped in your throat. 

How is it that Din’s tongue delves so much deeper than your fingers ever have? It prods deeper than anything that's gone in there in months, fills you more perfectly than several of your fingers ever have. It’s like his tongue was made just to fit in your pussy, to find the spot that drives you insane with such little effort. You can't even begin to wonder about his cock. 

He laps at your hole, his large nose prodding against your clit as your entire body goes tight. Your thighs clamp around his head and you sob his name. 

“Din!” You scream, body trembling. “I’m-”

There’s no sense in warning him when it hits you so suddenly, probably more surprising to you than it is to him. Your vision goes white and you let out a guttural groan, forehead banging down against the wood as you writhe in pleasure, pussy trying to milk Din’s tongue. 

(You won’t have the cognitive function to realise it until hours later, but his tongue has stopped moving for how hard your cunt is clamped down on it.)

When your vision returns in spots and you find the ability to breathe again, Din’s tongue continues. You whine, scrambling against the dock to pull your oversensitive cunt away from his mouth. His arms only clamp down harder on your thighs, holding you in place. 

You gasp, tears blurring your vision as you manage to reach down into the water and tug harshly on his hair. That seems to give him the hint he needs to give your poor pussy a moment to breathe. In a second, his mouth has pulled away and left you dreadfully empty. With gentle hands and strong arms, he lifts your body back onto the dock and rolls you onto your back. 

You stare at the blue sky, panting. His hands trail gently over your thighs again, rubbing them in soothing circles. You lift your head just in time to see him press a kiss to your sensitive pussy, like a kiss to a lover. You can't help but feel a bit charmed by the gesture, until he suddenly clamps his jaw down on your inner thigh. You yelp in an odd mix of pain and offence, but before you can say anything, he’s slithering off the dock and back into the water.

You want to scramble after him, but your limbs feel like lead– which is quite the accomplishment considering you’ve built up the stamina for several orgasms in one go. So, instead of fruitlessly trying to draw him back to the surface to tell him off, you flop onto your back and close your eyes, too pleased to really process that you just came on a merman’s tongue.

[mochikeiji]

Sleepy

Request: "Hihi! Prompt no. 49 for inumaki toge pretty please? 🥰"

49. "Mine." "I know but can you let me go?"

↠ Pairing: Inumaki Toge x Reader

↠ Warning: none! Simply fluff, mention of Yuta!

↬ Word Count: 1k

↠ a/n: this is actually my first time writing about Inumaki and I gotta say, he fits the fluff content uwu

↳ from Go! Go! Gogatsu Event

"Tuna."

The used to be tamed, white ball of fluff— now wild upon waking up from his dream land. Inumaki wasn't really a morning person to begin with during his weekend breaks. Usually Panda would be the one to pull him out of bed alongside with Maki (and if Yuta were present, he'd be laughing from the back ground instead of helping the poor guy), luckily all second years were given some days to enjoy themselves and for once, they had agreed to postpone training since it was their routine even at breaks.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the lad was practically jumping in glee yesterday as he tugs onto your shirt. Wiggling his brows in excitement to have you sleep with him longer without further interruptions from the two and his teacher. Much like every one except Maki, they've gone back to their respective homes during these times rather than being cramped up in the dorms. Too many prying eyes to witness all of your private moments anyways. Pretty much explains how you and Inumaki slept back in your apartment which was still surprisingly clean as you left it.

Being the nonchalant looking guy and being the quiet one, Inumaki was not far from resembling to a feline animal. His head kept on nuzzling against your chest deeper in plead and comfort when you stopped scratching his scalp. Whenever you'd do that you catch a faint sigh and the arms wrapped around you squeezing. The little languages you've learned that meant gratitude and a silent whisper of love.

If only you could just see the annoyed mark on his forehead as he listens to you and your long time friend and comrade, Yuta. It was a real shocker to have him call you so sudden. Thinking it may be serious, you didn't hesitate to answer only to have Yuta just asking how things were in a cheery tone. That had led to a longer conversation though. Long enough for Inumaki to groan and whine gradually louder in hopes you'd just return back to sleep with him.

Oh you're mistaken. Yuta knows exactly what he's doing to push his buttons off. The used to be timid male now bold enough to ruin his friend's routine. Credits to Panda for initiating the idea and Maki, not wanting to deal with any of this, walks away from the conversation.

"Was that Inumaki? Hey man!"

"Okaka.."

Scoffing, his hands slid underneath your shirt, placing them on your sides. You glared at him softly as a warning before continuing your talk with Yuta. "Yeah, he just woke up. Not a morning person remember?"

"I'll say. Wait, am I interrupting something?"

His head shot up, nodding profusely while lightly shaking your body. It tickled your sides to be honest, you thought he was just playing around when in fact he desperately wants you off the phone this instant.

"Ah, no! He's just tickling me." coughing out a giggle. "Stop that." you whispered, covering your phone to avoid Yuta from hearing. Inumaki then pouts in defeat. Gently thumping his head on your chest trying to find the comfort he's lost on his spot. Squirming in discomfort, Inumaki whines once more. It was literally only 7 am, he still needes much more sleep after having a late movie marathon with you last night. He can get cranky if he needed to just to get what he wants. It worked on Maki a lot though it does earn him a smack on the head.

"Well, I can hear the guy's getting worked up."

"You sly little boy. You knew exactly what you were starting, didn't you?" whispering against the phone with your hand cupped over your mouth. Making sure your boyfriend wasn't listening, Yuta simply laughs and bids his goodbye to continue on his tasks.

And finally— finally you put your phone away. Ready to receive the much needed affection, but soon confusion was written all over his face when you attempted to get up. "Tuna?"  peeping his eyes from below you. Asking why you were getting up. "It's morning, silly. We have to get up eventually you know." you say after giving him an eskimo kiss.

His brows visibly furrow as he tangles his legs with yours. He may not seem like it, but his arms are quite built enough to be able to hold you down. Inumaki was strong, and you know better than to underestimate or try the guy.

"Babe, aren't you hungry?"

"Okaka!"

He claims as he huddles himself close to you like a ball. He was at the verge of sleeping, why can't you read that? "Oh, poor thing. Alright, you sleep in while I go cook us up something for later, k?" still he doesn't budge from his position nor his hold wavering even as you pry him away. You bit back an adoring smile to see him like this. Maybe you should have Yuta annoy him again. You knew about his irritation whenever your friends would come around during your time alone. It was fun riling Inumaki up if it gets him clinging onto you.

"Okaka!"

"I know, i know, but can you let me go? I promise I'll be quick."

"No"

The room went silent. You didn't realize you were holding your breath and had already been squeezed tighter in his arms. That was the first time Inumaki spoke something out of his vocabulary. Much to your relief, nothing seemed to happened. Inumaki was still in the same status as he was now, even snickering a bit from your reaction before pushing his head up away from your chest to meet with your lips.

There were shivers that ran down your spine when his hand came up to rub you from behind. Coming to a stop on the back of your head to pull you in deeper. Though the kiss was short, his actions seemed to dawn on you more than he expected, seeing as you were speechless still.

"Mine."

He whispers lowly, you worry about the fact that he's said two things out of his language. It was a miracle nothing happened. And he wasn't coughing blood or something, no. He remains the same as ever, feeling ever so at bliss before closing his eyes at the feeling of your fingertips running through his hair soothingly. "I have got to tell Yuta about this." giggling madly at how flustered and light your heart was, you were only met with light snores before slowly closing your eyes in the arms of your sleeping lover.

Oh well, breakfast can wait.

© all content belongs to mochikeiji. Please do not repost or copy, ありがとうございました!! (=^･^=)

[hanazuma-inactive]

defrost (nsfw) kaeya x top!male reader

pronouns: he/him

warnings: ice play!! slight degradation, orgasm denial/ edging, top male reader, bottom kaeya

a/n: this was edited by @kamihara, she really outdone herself in this one, professional kaeya simp lol

_____

“to think such an honourable knight such as you, the cavalry captain of mondstat, is now begging to cum. how shameful of you,” you let out a low chuckle as a provocative smile broke out on your lips, “i wonder what citizens would say if they saw their beloved and oh so admirable kaeya in this position?”

as a captain of the ordo favonius, you were a bright figure to the people of mondstat. a person who aided in saving the city from destruction, one of the heroes that defeated storm terror. of course, other knights had nothing but respect for you as your skill and talent was nothing short of impressive. many looked at you with a high regard due to your strength and position, this meant that many were intimidated by your presence and therefore fear approaching you.

however, there was one person who disregarded this and stuck by you anyways, kaeya alberich, the cavalry captain. out of everyone in the knights of favonius, you were the closest with kaeya. you enjoyed his company a lot, he was an interesting person who knew how to keep a conversation going, and while you're with him you could never find yourself feeling bored. he was as charming as he was cunning.

kaeya found himself enjoying your company too. the two of you have done lots of things together. going on missions, getting away with “knighty” duty, babysitting klee, and drinking at angels share. you know, all the fun things in life.

kaeya was a secretive person, and while you were curious about him, you respected his boundaries. perhaps this was the reason why he drew you in, besides his blaringly good looks of course.

there was no doubt that the man was attractive from head to toe. his silky navy blue hair fell down his shoulder with grace, his fringe complemented his smooth, flawless sepia toned face. his periwinkle eye held the sheen of a crystal, glistening as his long eyelashes framed it with poise. the diamond shaped pupils his eyes possessed could leave you in a trance forever. his open white shirt left his cleavage on display, contrasted with the black corset around his slim, slim waist. his slender legs brought him around with confidence and charisma.additionally, the intricate accessories he wore suited his personality well. all in all, kaeya was a pretty little thing.

all of this lead up to you harbouring romantic feelings for the cavalry caption. how could you not feel anything? he was perfect in every way.

the sound of kaeya’s voice snapped you out of your thinking. “y/n, any missions today?”

“nothing for you i don’t think, i gotta help jean with the paperworks though.” you sighed at the thought of a mountain of paperwork.

“great, well i’m off then you have fun doing whatever.” kaeya smirked at you, poking fun at your dread.

he started to turn around and walk off but you had other plans.

“wait. kaeya-” you speak quickly.

“hm?” he hummed out.

“angels share? 9pm?”

a quizzical look washed over his face before he masked it with one of his cunning smiles.

“alright.”

little did kaeya know you had more in mind than just drinking with him tonight. today would be the day when you finally told him about your little crush on him.

night quickly arrived after a day of working with jean. you were pretty exhausted but still excited about what's about to happen later tonight. when you entered the bar, Kaeya was already waiting for you at the counter talking with the bartender, charles.

“ah, i see mr.l/n is here too. Your usual today as well sir?”

“yah that’d be nice, thanks charles.” you said as you took a seat next to kaeya

“you got it.” charles said as he left to go get your drink.

angel's share was the place you and kaeya loved the most. the kind of noisy background with people chatting. cyrus and jack talking about their gains for today, six-fingered jose still playing his lyre, the song was getting a little old but you didn’t mind, in fact if he changed the song you probably wouldn’t be used to it.

“so, what’s the special occasion for today? you usually don’t invite me to drink on weekdays.” kaeya said while swirling his drink and glancing over at you.

kaeya’s eyes always amazed you. you didn’t know the name of the grey-ish color but you could gaze into them forever. his smooth skin glowed under the dim lighting in the bar. you loved everything about the man, his dark blue hair, his perfectly shaped body, and the fact that you could see a little bit of his clothing. what kaeya said on the first day when you guys met was true, you did feel something for him.

“hm? can i not invite fellow knights to share a drink once in while without a special occasion.”

“well, not wrong there but…you seem like you have ulterior motives for tonight from the way you’re dressing.” kaeya said, smirking at you.

it was true, you purposely chose one of your best outfits today for kaeya, you wanted to impress the man not only from your combat skills, but also your looks. there was no secret you could hide from kaeya. he knew you too well and he always looked right through you. it could have just been kaeya’s observant nature but you like to hope it was something more than that.

“you’re right there, you really do know me too well, maybe i need to start hiding things from you a little huh?”

“you can try but i highly doubt it’ll work in your favour, mr.honorary knight.”

both of you looked at each other with a slight smirk as charles arrived with your drink. after drinking for a good while you could tell kaeya was getting a little tipsy. his movements were unstable, he shaked a little while walking and his eyes started to become hazy. what better time than right now to reveal your true plans for tonight, you were gonna fuck the shit out of the beautiful man. you wanted to hear him scream your name in pleasure as you break him, over and over again.

“why don’t we go somewhere else? y’know, somewhere more, quiet” you suggested while scooting closer to kaeya.

“i wouldn’t mind that.”

as soon as you heard those words you immediately got up and left with kaeya. your plan was going perfectly and the best part is about to come soon. kaeya wasn’t stupid, he was an adult afterall and he knew what you were trying to do. dressing up all sexy like that, getting drinks, going somewhere more “private”, what else could it have been.

the two of you arrived in your house and headed straight for your bedroom. kaeya has been to your house many times for many reasons and he knew where everything was so he didn’t trip or fall.

you placed a light kiss on kaeya’s lips while he laid on your bed.

“wait here~ i’ll be right back.”

this was where things would get, interesting

you opened your fridge to grab a small wooden bowl. the content inside was covered by a small white cloth. after grabbing that you went to grab some rope from a drawer you hid them in because you didn’t know what to say if someone saw those items in your house.

after bringing the items back you put them on the side and pushed kaeya down.

“what’re those?” he asked

(its a surprise tool that’ll help us later.)

“don’t worry about it sweetheart, just lay back and let me do the work alright?”

you brought a blush to kaeya’s face with your flirty words as he gave you a small nod, signalling you consent and approval. you kept invading kaeya’s mouth over and over again, you’re tongue so skillful kaeya was sure this definitely wasn’t your first time. the kisses ended after a while leaving both of you panting and a half an erection in your pants. wanting more, you began to take off kaeya’s uniform. his skin is so beautiful, you could also see his well defined body, just the perfect amount, not too buff, not too skinny. you licked your lips a little bit and looked up at kaeya with a smirk. when you put your mouth onto kaeya’s pink nipples, he squealed a little out of surprise but soft moans soon began to escape from his mouth.

“a-ah~ didn’t know you had this in you, honorary knight.”

“oh i know a lot more tricks that can make you feel good~” you teased.

as you continued to suck on kaeya’s smooth skin, you decided to spice things up a little bit. kaeya yelped as he felt a slight pain around his nipples. you remove your mouth to see a bite mark around it.

“to mark you as mine~”

“tch, you cocky little bastard.”

seeing the tent building up in kaeya’s pants, you decided to take them off and grant it some release. after you took off kaeya’s jeans you saw a small stain at the top of his boxers, showing that he felt good earlier.

“alright... this is where the fun part begins.” you said as you grabbed the ropes you initially put on the floor.

“restraining me? go ahead, let’s see if the honorary knight is all talk or he actually has something up his sleeve.” kaeya taunted

not liking his attitude, you forcefully tied kaeya’s hands behind his back and pushed him to the end of the bed facing you with nothing on but his boxers. now, the mighty kaeya alberich, is at your mercy.

“alright, we can do this in two ways. one, you listen to me, second, i don’t think you’ll like what’ll happen,”

kaeya raised his head a little and looked you dead in the eyes.

“i choose the second option”

you knew kaeya was the bratty type and it’ll only add to the fun to tame him. after hearing his choice you pushed kaeya back to where he was before and uncovered the bowl you had prepared earlier on the side. the bow was filled with medium sized ice cubes and it was till now that kaeya finally realized what you were trying to do.

“ice cubes huh? bring it on.”

“you asked for it~”

you grabbed one of the ice cubes and started to rub it on kaeya’s pecs, making circular motions and slowing moving towards the center where his nipples are.

“f-fuck that’s cold.”

you saw kaeya’s cock twitch a little when you first reached his nipples and you knew he was feeling good. moving on with your plan, you rested the ice cube on kaeya’s nipples and lifted his boxers where his cock is still covered but his asshole is exposed to you. right after that, you grabbed the lube that has been sitting in your nightstand and spread them on your fingers. without mercy you put 2 fingers into kaeya, trying to find his pleasure spot. sooner or later when kaeya started to let out tiny moans you knew you hit your target.

“feels good huh baby boy~”

“y-yah, and so what o-oh fuck~”

kaeya was sure feeling it, to a point where he started stuttering.

the constant teasing got kaeya close to his limit. he couldn’t hold it any longer. but you’re not gonna let him cum that easy are you? of course not, he needed to be punished for what he did earlier.

“a-ah y/n i’m gonna cum i’m gonna cum so hard- wait why'd you s-stop?” kaeya asked

“you decided to be a brat earlier didn’t you~? bad boys get punishment.” you said with a smirk on your face.

kaeya stayed silent, not a word coming out of his mouth, head hung low feeling embarrassed.

“to think such an honourable knight such as you, the cavalry captain of mondstat, is now begging to cum. how shameful of you,” you let out a low chuckle as a provocative smile broke out on your lips, “i wonder what citizens would say if they saw their beloved and oh so admirable kaeya in this position?”

“maybe~ if you begged a little i might reconsider, don’t you think so, pretty boy?”

kaeya finally lost his composure at this point, all he wanted was to cum from your touch.

“fine... i don’t care anymore.” kaeya growled.

“p-please y/n.” kaeya looked up at you with pleading eyes. “i want to c-cum, i want to cum so bad. i should’ve been a good boy from the beginning… i promise i’ll be obedient from now on, j-just please, let me cum…” kaeya begged

“that’s what i thought.”

satisfied with kaeya’s begging, you decided to grant him his release. you added another ice cube to the other side of kaeya’s chest while stroking his dick through his boxers. of course you didn’t forget to keep teasing kaeya’s prostate while you were at it. all these different stimulations made kaeya lose his mind. the male came through his boxers all over the place. semen spilled on his own stomach and chest followed with moans so loud the entire mondstat could hear him.

after he settled himself down a little, kaeya waited for you to untie him. you exchanged a kiss with him while you were doing so, smiling at each other thinking about what just happened. neither of you cared about the mess that you made because you guys were tired. listening to the birds chirp, you fell asleep with the dark blue haired male on your bed.

the two of you woke up in the afternoon to the noises of mondstat. you woke up a little before kaeya and from your point of view he was literally a sleeping beauty. you stroked his hair a little bit, causing him to wake up.

"y/n…good morning handsome."

"right back at you."

both of you giggled a little while holding hands.

"hey kaeya?"

"yes y/n."

"i've been meaning to get this off my chest and i don't think there will be a better time to say it than now."

"well go ahead, i'm all ears."

"you were the only one that ever stuck with me in the knights, everyone was afraid of me due to my strength except for you. you listened to me, you talked to me, and if it weren't for you i probably would've quit the job at the knights already." you took a deep breath and let out the words kaeya were waiting for.

"kaeya alberich... will you he my boyfriend?"

kaeya gave you a small scoff as a reaction and a light kiss to your lips.

"what reason do i have to refuse such a perfect man?."

[kuroos-moon]

『 Sugawara Koushi Takes Proper Care of You 』

➪ a/n: thanks for this req this had me flustered tbh, hope u like it!! 🥺

➪ warning/s: NSFW 

➪ smut starts after the cut

wc: 2k words

The weight of today’s workload took so much of a toll on you, your eyes were tired and your back ached terribly. There was simply too much to stress about and fatigue was so harsh on you that you just wanted to collapse the moment you enter your shared apartment with Suga. 

“Y/n? You’re home really late today,” he pops up from the kitchen, still wearing an apron. 

“I know, I’m sorry, I- there was just lots of things to do,” you frown as you make your way before him, and he automatically presses a kiss on your forehead as you do so. 

“It’s alright, come and have dinner with me then,” he smiles at you with warm eyes, a full-on plan to run you a nice warm bath and give you a soothing massage already wired to the back of his mind. 

“I’m sorry, Koushi,” you smile apologetically, “I’m just really stressed out right now, I don’t have the appetite.” 

Of course he’d be worried, looking at you as you enter your bedroom without another word. Screw dinner, he thinks to himself as he removes his apron and follows you inside. 

“Let me give you a massage, love,” he whispers as he hugged you from behind. “No it’s f-

“Y/n let me take care of you,” he gives you a sad and worried smile, making you give in. He turns you around to face him before he starts to undress you, and you raise a brow. 

“I’m applying oil,” he explains with a small chuckle. You just stare at the lovable doting man before you as he slips your buttoned shirt off, planting a soft lingering kiss on your collarbone in an attempt to make you feel relaxed, but it did the opposite. 

It made your breath hitch and your thighs unconsciously press together, and this wouldn’t go unnoticed at all by the ever so observant former setter who could read you like the back of his hand. 

Maybe it wasn’t what you wanted right now, although it was another effective way to rid you off your stress, but he decided to test the waters first. His gentle touch on your waist slowly and draggingly travels up to the hook of your bra before he strips you off of them as well. 

He notices you gasp almost inaudibly when he ‘unintentionally’ brushes a finger at the side of your breasts, and the look in your eyes told him you wanted it, you wanted him. 

“Perhaps the massage can wait,” he says in a soft tone before he pushes you down the bed with one hand now loosely around your neck, the other resting beside your head to support his weight. 

He didn’t have any plan at all to be rough with you, but he knew how much you liked it when he held you by your throat like that. 

“Koushi,” you mutter in surprise, and he gives you yet another warm smile. “Do you want me tonight, y/n?” He asks, and you gulp, your chest starting to heave at how hot he was. 

Sugawara Koushi is the CEO of asking consent, I take no criticism. 

“Do you?” He repeats, leaning down with his mouth beside your ear as his breath tickles your skin. You whimper in response when his thigh brushes against your core, but he needed your ‘yes.’ 

“Please,” is all you get to say, your head clouded with desire as he starts leaving open-mouthed kisses at the side of your neck. He hums, “please what, y/n?” 

“Take care of me,” you breathlessly say, and he smiles, leaning away to look at you. “I’ll take good care of you,” he softly says, a glimmer of affection in his eyes as he leans in to kiss you. 

He definitely drove you wild and crazy, making you forget all the care for the world as he tantalized you with his warm stare and soft sinful lips, not to mention his gentle and slender fingers that started to travel south across your smooth and sensitive skin. 

You let out a soft moan when his mouth moves down to your breasts, and unlike the initial kisses, he was sucking harshly, running his tongue over your mound as his hand squeezes your other breast. 

“Koushii,” you whine, squeezing your thighs together more desperately in an attempt to relieve your needy and dripping cunt, and he knew all too well how worked up you were by now, you’ve always lost to him in foreplay. 

You run your hands over his clothed back and whine at the insufficient skin to skin contact; making him chuckle at you before pulling away to remove his blue sweater but leaving his shorts on, “shall I take it all off?” He asks, both arms on either of your sides to support himself. 

Your eyes fall to look at his now bare stomach, his toned build and bulging cock which was beyond evident in his shorts making you wetter to the point wherein your underwear’s soaked. 

Filled with desperation, you push him off of you and straddle him, your head falling back at the feeling of his cock pressing against you. He observes you as you grind against him so desperately like you’re in your heat, but the last thing he wanted tonight was for you to be on top and do the work. 

He should be the one to work on you. Channeling his inner soft dom, he flips you over, pinning your limbs with his. “Koushi, please,” you beg, feeling miserable as you can’t even do as much as squeeze your thighs together. 

“You’ve been really tired y/n,” he says in a low voice, tightening his hold on your wrists and inching closer to you until his lips brushed against yours as he spoke, “so I’ll be the one to take care of you and drive you over your edge tonight,” he breathes. 

He had you tamed this easily, no longer resisting his hold, and he took that as a sign that it was okay for him to let go. “You could only be patient,” he mutters, not at all self-aware that he probably took pleasure in seeing you whimper as he squeezes your throat, before he slowly runs his hand down all the way your lower stomach and finally tracing a finger against the waistband of your panties.

“Koushi, please, touch me,” you grip his hand, making him draw his gaze from the wet patch on your undies. “Already?” He teases, but not at all meaning to draw this on for long. 

“Too cruel,” you mutter, and he stops running his fingers against your inner thighs. “Cruel?” He repeats in surprise, he never meant for you to feel as if he won’t give all of himself to you then and there, he simply had in mind how your orgasm satisfies you more and more the longer he had kept you waiting. 

He doesn’t say anything more before slipping two digits inside your underwear, feeling up how wet you were. You gasp when he runs his finger through your slit, and the moment you’ve opened your mouth, he slips his tongue inside, your hands quick to wrap around his neck. 

You moan into the kiss, his middle finger starting to rub circles against your clit as his tongue wrestles with yours aggressively, making it hard for you to breathe with the sudden pleasure of it all. Another loud moan escapes your lips when he inserts two digits inside you, his long fingers hitting your spot in an instant. 

“Koushi,” you gasp, the pace of his fingers moving in and out of you was still slow but it hit just the perfect spot so well that you become a whimpering mess, desperate for him to go faster. He looks at you as you fist the bedsheets, leaving your hole empty as he plays with your clit again. 

It was obvious that he took confidence on the magic his fingers did to you, and although the night was all about you he can’t help but palm himself through his shorts as you cry for his name, his thumb abusing your clit so much that you’re quivering underneath his touch. 

He groans before sinking down between your legs, his hand he used to palm himself with now holding your leg still while he used his elbow to restrain the other to keep your legs wide open for his feast, all the while fucking you senseless with his mere fingers. 

“Koushi- ah- I’m cumming,” you manage to say, and he speeds up the pace of his fingers, splotchy noises filling the room along with your moans. Your walls start to spasm and your nails now dug on the skin of his wrist, he knew you were really about to cum. 

He pulls his fingers out of you just a second before your release, “no!” You cry, tears blurring your vision. “Koushi, no,” you plead, but your cunt was clenching around nothing anymore as he brought his fingers inside his mouth to taste you. 

“Koushi,” you’re crying now, about to touch yourself but he stops you. 

“Be still,” he says, before sinking your underwear further downwards. “Koushi why, you- you said you were going to take care of me,” you sob, and he coos at you from between your legs. 

Sugawara Koushi knew just how to take care of you, he’ll redeem himself of your rejected orgasm later on when he pounds mercilessly inside of you and gives you what you deserve. 

He may have seemed sadistic to you, he knew that, but what he also knew was that he was going to make this the best night of your life after days of tiring workloads, so your crying now would all be worth it in the end, he’ll make sure of it. 

He lifts your leg up over his shoulder before he kisses your cunt open-mouthedly, your clit twitching against the inside of his lips and your toes curl. You were up for the real deal though the moment he started using his tongue, pressing the wet muscle flat against your hole before running it all the way up your clit. 

You whimper as you grip on his hair, your legs fighting to tightly wrap themselves around his head but he has them remained wide open, his tongue mercilessly flicking your clit over and over again and applying more pressure every second. 

He sucks on every inch of your folds, collecting your wetness at the tip of his tongue before swallowing them. An especially loud moan fills his ears the moment he slides his tongue inside of you, so he continues to thrust his tongue in and out, occasionally lapping on your folds before inserting his tongue inside all over again. 

The knot on your stomach grew tighter as he draws his thumb to rub your clit frantically, your walls clenching around his tongue and your ankles coming to lock around his waist. “I’m close, ah, Koushi, I’m close, it feels so good,” you moan, tightening your grip on his hair to the point that it hurt him. 

With one last flick on your clit and the curling of his tongue inside you, you finally get to cum, Suga making sure to prolong your orgasm for as long as he can by rubbing your clit harder while he sucked on your release that dirtied the sheets and the corners of his lips. 

Once he got you all cleaned up with his mouth, he lifts himself up and hovers over you, “good girl,” he smiles, before leaning in to kiss you. 

He groans into the kiss when you palm him, and just as you expected, he pulls away and holds your hand to stop you. “Isn’t it about time we took care of that, Koushi?” You smile up at him, and at the sound of your worn out voice from all the moaning and sobbing, his cock twitches. 

He couldn’t even stop himself as he grinds himself against your thigh, resting his forehead against yours. “Fill me up with that pretty cock of yours, Koushi,” you whisper, and you don’t have to say anything more before he pushes your legs wide open once more. 

“Of course, I’ll take care of you until the sun comes up.”  

Thank the heavens it was the weekend after that. 

________________________________

General Taglist [Open]: @noyasbitchh​ 

[aurora077]

The Irwin Agenda Chapter 1

Summary:

Lan Wangji is pleased that his brother and Wei Ying seem to be getting along like a house on fire. Lan Xichen is most grateful for Master Wei’s help. Lan Qiren is just happy that for once it seems like Wei Wuxian is keeping out of trouble and is optimistic that Gusu Lan has finally managed to tame the beast. Unfortunately, he should have learned not to count his chickens before they hatched… and he really should have been focusing on taming a very different sort of beast. https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13942581/1/The-Irwin-Agenda

Chapter 1 - Lan Xichen starts a project.

Disclaimer: I do not own MDZS/The Untamed.

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“Ah Wangji, there you are.”

“Xiongzhang. 😲 What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”

“No no, nothing at all other than, you know, the obvious. I’m sure you don’t need to hear all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down.”

“What?”

“Nevermind.”

He cleared his throat, “Anyway I really came here to look for Wei Wuxian.”

Wangji blinked, indicating surprise.

“What does brother need with Wei Ying?”

“Hmm let’s just say I need his… expertise.”

Wangji’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly. “Brother isn’t thinking of….”

“Don’t be silly Wangji. I would never.” He’d leave the demonic cultivation and zombie best friends to Wei Wuxian, thank you very much. No, Lan Xichen needed him for a different type of expertise.

“Sect Leader Jiang visited the other day with Sect Leader Jin. He mentioned something to me and I need Wei Wuxian’s expert opinion.”

“You saw Sect Leader Jiang?” Wangji said, surprised once more.

“Indeed. We had tea while the kids were out doing whatever kids do when the adults aren’t watching. ” Technically they were young adults but, semantics.

Wangji’s mouth pursed slightly. He always looked like he’d bitten into a lemon whenever Sect Leader Jiang was mentioned (or present).

“Does Jiang Wanyin not know that brother is in seclusion?”

He frowned, “Wangji, you may not like him, but he is a sect leader. You ought to show due courtesy. Besides, I invited him.”

Lan Wangji was stunned. Why would his brother, who made it a point these days to avoid as many people as possible, take time from seclusion to have tea with Jiang Wanyin? He knew Xichen wasn’t in full seclusion, he’d come out for the banquet and other events important to the clan, but on a day to day basis the seclusion still stood. Which was why he was surprised Xichen was in the Jingshi to begin with, let alone looking for Wei Ying. Now he hears he’s been having tea with Wei Ying’s insufferable ex-shidi? What was the world coming to?

“Don’t look at me like that,” said Lan Xichen, “I’m perfectly capable of taking guests if I want to. And not all of us share your feelings about Sect Leader Jiang.”

Well, he could acknowledge that as true so he said nothing.

“Anyway, do you know where I might find Wei Wuxian?” continued Lan Xichen.

“Wei Ying is probably with the rabbits,” answered Lan Wangji. It was normal when he was busy with paperwork that Wei Ying would find other ways to amuse himself. The juniors were away on a night-hunt so the next best bet was the rabbits as Wei Ying was not currently occupied with any inventions.

“Thank you Wangji, I’ll see myself out.”

------------

Wei Wuxian was indeed with the rabbits. His stubborn donkey was unhappily chewing at a patch of grass next to him while the rabbits cowered away from the both of them.

He perked up upon spotting Lan Xichen. “Brother in law, what brings you here!”

“Well,” he said amused, “I might be here to relieve your boredom.”

Wei Wuxian sprung up excitedly. “What do you have planned?”

“A-Yuan said that you once managed to raise lotuses in the Burial Mounds.” “Yes, did you want me to help you grow some here?” It would make sense that Lan Xichen needed his help. Neither the Burial Mounds nor Cloud Recesses had the right environment for lotuses to grow. What Wei Wuxian did was ingenious and altogether unheard of. The Burial Mounds was inhospitable to life in general although, even if it wasn’t, lotuses wouldn’t have grown there; but Wei Wuxian made it happen. He could certainly make it happen here too in the cold, mountainous Cloud Recesses.

“Well you’re on the right track! But...not exactly, ” said Lan Xichen.

----------

“Right well, I understand what it is you mean now,” said Wei Wuxian. He inspected the drawing. Lan Xichen had worked diligently to capture what he envisioned on paper. The problem now was making it happen.

“Do you have a place where we could do this?” enquired Wei Wuxian. He was so intrigued. If he could pull this off he would be impressed with himself. It would take a large area and it would be a lot of hard work.

“Yes, I believe I do. The back of the Hanshi has a lot of forest. I was thinking I could clear a big enough space. Nothing will go to waste either because we can use the wood from the trees to fence off the area.”

“Great,” Wei Wuxian said, clapping his hands decisively, “Let’s get to work then!”

--------

Lan Qiren was pleased. It had been a whole five months since Wei Wuxian had caused any sort of disturbance. And he was actually rising in the morning with the Lans now! And eating their food! Wonder of wonders!

He still was unabashedly clingy towards Lan Wangji but that made Wangji happy so, as much as it irked Lan Qiren to see their shameless displays, he would tolerate it...as long as the other rules were followed.

Lan Qiren always suspected his nephew was slipping alcohol to Wei Wuxian, though he could never prove it, but these days it appeared that Wei Wuxian was surprisingly sober most of the time. Lan Qiren didn’t even get a whiff of alcohol! For the first few weeks of this newfound adherence to the rules he was in a state of heightened panic. He kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with each day that passed without any of Wei Wuxian’s shenanigans. But as the days went by he started to relax.

He attributed this change of behaviour to his first nephew, who Wei Wuxian had been spending a lot of time with lately. Wangji was blinded by love and so he indulged Wei Wuxian too much, but Xichen had a clear head. He must be acting as a good influence on Wei Wuxian. He hoped this behaviour continued. It was a sign that finally, finally his days of peace might return permanently.

Xichen was interacting with people again (well, only his immediate family and for some reason, Sect Leaders Jiang and Jin… but still, it was more progress than some people made in an entire lifetime --looking at you Qingheng-Jun 😒-- and no, he was not bitter at all, whatever would give you that idea?). Wangji  seemed happy in general (as opposed to him moping around for the past 13 years in mourning clothes). And Wei Wuxian, that feral little gremlin, was actually following the rules!

Oh happy day!

He went to class with a pep in his step.

His students were noticeably happier as well because Lan Qiren in a good mood could only benefit them. He even removed the no interacting with Wei Wuxian rule from the wall, which is the one most of them broke constantly! The students rejoiced. Things were peaceful in the Cloud Recesses. Life was good.

----------

Lan Wangji was a happy man. He was married to the love of his life. His brother was getting better day by day, and got along well with his husband. And his uncle seemed like he’d finally come around to Wei Ying. He felt touched the day Uncle removed the rule forbidding interaction with Wei Ying. He knew that his uncle did not like him, even before the whole Yiling Patriarch thing. But he didn’t forbid them from living in Cloud Recesses. Sure he was not pleased that Uncle wrote a rule against Wei Ying on the wall, but it didn’t stop the juniors from interacting with him anyway and really only served to give Uncle some peace of mind that he did what he could to stop Wei Wuxian from “corrupting” the kids. Uncle needed to feel like he had some semblance of control so, aside from his initial protests, Lan Wangji did not fight him down on it. It wouldn’t stop him from giving Wei Ying a happy life anyway, so let Uncle have his rules.

Lan Wangji knew that his brother supported his relationship and that was enough. He couldn’t help but admit though that Uncle’s support meant a lot to him. He wondered what prompted the change of heart, since Uncle had had a grudge against Wei Ying since their school days and wasn’t the type of man to change his opinions that easily. He wasn’t so brave yet to ask him about it though for fear of ruining things, so he just accepted it.

Wei Ying himself had not noticed a thing. He was busy helping xiongzhang with his project. It was taking a long time because they had to do everything from scratch. Wei Ying didn’t have time to spare. He was matching brother’s schedule so that they could work together more efficiently. He didn’t even drink his favourite Emperor’s Smile these days because he didn’t want to lose focus. Even the food! Usually Lan Wangji would have enough time to make Wei Ying breakfast because...breakfast was usually lunch . But now Wei Ying got up to match the Lans and so he ended up eating breakfast with them too so as not to wait for a meal to be cooked and waste time. He was so tired at the end of the day he didn’t even complain about it, he just fell into bed at 9pm and that was that.

It really cut into the time they had together since they were both so busy but it was for his brother, who had stood by him after Wei Ying’s death for all those years and allowed him his freedom to go ‘where the chaos was’ as they said. He even helped him hide Wei Ying even though he thought Wei Ying was guilty. If this was what would help brother recover his spirits then Lan Wangji would not protest.

In fact, this little project of theirs helped his brother and Wei Ying to become closer. Rather than just accepting Wei Ying, his brother was actually forming a friendship with him. He even told him to call him Xichen-ge. He was impressed with Wei Ying’s ingenuity and grateful that he was going out of his way to help him when he really didn’t have to.

And as much as Lan Wangji loved Wei Ying, he still wasn’t much of a conversationalist, with Wei Ying doing most of the talking and himself, the listening. But with xiongzhang, Wei Ying found someone who was willing to debate with him and could easily carry a conversation. And brother found a friend who he could rely on. After Jin Guangyao’s betrayal, he thought that brother would never befriend anyone again. He may not ever be as close to Wei Ying as he was with Jin Guangyao, but it was a start.

Unfortunately, there was one downside to the project.

Somehow, the person who gave Lan Xichen the idea was *ugh* Sect Leader Jiang. What this meant was that the man in question would make frequent visits to see how it was coming along, providing them with insights as well. It irked him because Wei Ying and xiongzhang had insisted that the project was a secret. They promised they’d tell him before anyone else when it was completed and they’d asked him to cover for them and not let anyone on to what they were doing in the meantime.

Being a dutiful husband and brother he respected their wishes. It would have been fine if Jiang Wanyin had not been in on it. It chafed that he could not be there helping Wei Ying but instead it was Jiang Wanyin. He did not protest because Wei Ying still valued Jiang Wanyin and he would not do anything to upset Wei Ying, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. And since the project seemed to have helped Jiang Wanyin and Wei Ying reconcile, he was sure once all the work was done and Wei Ying wasn’t too tired to socialise, that he’d be forced to interact even more with the man, which he was dreading.

But of course he would endure it for Wei Ying. Sect Leader Jin was also involved somehow but the days when he visited made Wei Ying so happy that Lan Wangji could not begrudge his involvement in the project. Lan Jingyi and Lan Sizhui were also happy to meet with the young sect leader. Lan Wangji could not be upset when it made his family so happy. No, he would stay unaware for as long as they needed him to. Wei Ying was right after all, he would not be able to lie if uncle asked him directly about what they were doing. So he had to stay in the dark.

(But still, damn you Sect Leader Jiang! Why did it have to be you?.. No, he was not sulking!)

[sunsetinmyvein]

The Radio Station - Chapter Four - That’s All I Have to Say

8th of October, 2015

  Despite their best attempts to stay in touch, eventually busy schedules got the better of the both of them. They’d texted a bit initially after their night at the bar, but as soon as Matty was on tour, time differences made it difficult to keep up any form of routine. However, she knew that he’d be back in London soon enough. Surely that would be their time to catch up. She reached out to him in January when she knew he was back, hoping for the best, but his schedule was too packed between press for the album, shows and trying to see family and friends that he was obligated to catch up with whenever he was at home. So, she dropped it. And eventually, communication stopped. Her career started escalating at a much quicker pace than what it had before. The two guys who ran the usual morning peak hour shift went on to do their own thing, which left the prime-time slot open for application. She had considered applying, but before she’d even filled out the forms the station asked her directly if she wanted the position. They’d seen how much of a positive reaction she was getting on her show, it would make sense for her to fill that spot. Of course, she took it - it would be insane not to. The pay was much the same as what she was already on, but the chances for bigger and better shows at that hour were endless.

 Matty was also on his own rollercoaster of a career. The 1975 was only getting more and more popular as their debut album began reaching all corners of the planet. What they had expected wasn’t going to go much further than their circle of close friends, was suddenly spreading to places they couldn’t have even dreamed. They toured and interviewed and did meet and greets non-stop to try and keep the hype going. It wasn’t until they started properly discussing a second album release that Matty finally had to stop for a moment and take a (small) breather. He needed the time to work out what he wanted their next step to be. Once the band had the majority of the album planned out, and a few songs properly sorted, they figured it was time to start releasing some material. And in an incredibly convenient turn of events, they found themselves back at home while they were looking for a way to debut their lead track. So, what better way to get their new material out there than to broadcast it live across national radio? Of course, Matty had been pretty quick to suggest where they should do that.

  It had been over two years since he’d last been on her show. Both of them were acutely aware of that as he knocked on the glass door the morning of the interview. She hadn’t been keeping up with the band’s trajectory as much as what she had in the past, mainly for simply not having the time to. Which meant that his new look came as a slight surprise. His hair looked like he’d been letting it grow out much longer than what she’d seen on him previously. He was currently trying to tame this mop of unruly curls by having them tied back in a bun. His jeans had a big enough chunk of denim missing from them that she would’ve thought they’d deserve to be discounted for how much fabric was missing. He was wearing a floral button-up shirt, but she suspected that the buttons clearly didn’t get much use for how few of them he had done up now, his chest tattoo almost on full display. And this seemed to be in contradiction to the obscenely heavy woollen coat that was over the top of it. As he pulled her in for a tight hug, she found herself suddenly overwhelmed by the smell of stale cigarettes and wine. She hesitantly hugged him back, hoping that the scent wouldn’t linger on her own clothes.

“What’s with the shades?” She asked as he moved back, eyeing the sunglasses still perched on the bridge of his nose. It made sense for him to wear them on his way here, but she wasn’t sure if he was aware that he was still wearing them inside the studio.

“Hungover.” He answered with a shrug. She just nodded, supposing that it was a Saturday, it would make sense for him to have been out last night.

  “I can’t believe it’s been over two years!” He said as he plopped himself down across from her, setting an opaque water bottle down on the desk.

“Yeah, I think we’ve both been pretty busy.” She nodded in agreement.

“Told you that you’d get bumped up to a peak hour slot eventually.” He grinned. His smile forced an uncomfortable flutter through her chest, but she couldn’t deny that she was incredibly proud of that accomplishment.

“You did.” She smiled back. “The early mornings have been a rough routine to get into, but it’s been nice having new goals to work towards.” She nodded, thinking back for a second on all the things she’d manage to accomplish in the short time she’d been in her new role. “I’m sure you’ve got many stories of your own.”

He chuckled lightly, “Yeah, a few.” He scratched at the back of his neck as he glanced down at the table. “I’ll save them for the interview.”                                      

 Now that she had a more structured show, she had a bit more of a routine to adhere to with her interviews. Which definitely made things a lot easier. It meant that she didn’t have to wing it as much knowing each interview would have the same intros. “So, you guys played two shows at Alexandra Palace this week-” She started as the intros finished up, before Matty cut her off.

“Yeah, we’ve been in London for the last week or so for those shows.” He confirmed.

“Oh.” She said, suddenly finding a million thoughts running through her head. He’d been in London for a week already and he’d not tried to catch up? She knew he was a busy guy but a week was a long time to be stuck in a part of the country that wasn’t where you actually lived. Trying to ignore the pang of hurt in her chest, she continued, “Are you keeping busy?”

“Just trying to keep writing and recording for the new album, seeing my girlfriend when I can.” He said with a nod. Ah. Girlfriend. Suddenly not trying to get in touch made a lot more sense.

She cleared her throat before continuing, “How’s that going?” Things already felt like they didn’t flow as well as what they had the last time that they saw each other. Too much time had passed to just pick up and act like nothing had happened in that gap. She felt almost like she was back at square one, meeting this man for the first time.

“I’d rather not talk about it.” He shot back. She frowned in response. “I’m sorry, I just… don’t like discussing that stuff in interviews. Relationship problems shouldn’t be hashed out through headlines.” He explained.

  There was a pause as she tried to catch up to the path his brain had decided to take, rather than what she had intended. “I meant the album.” She corrected him.

“Ah, yeah! That’s going well.” He laughed. “We’ve been getting heaps of material recorded while we’ve been up here.”

“When will it be out?”

He hummed thoughtfully as he pushed his sunglasses back up his nose, “In about six months, I reckon. We’re thinking sometime around February.”

“That’s not too far away. I’ve heard the album described as ‘a bunch of eclectic sounds’, do you think that’s an accurate way to define it?” She questioned.

“We didn’t know what to do after the first album. I think that we made a decision that we just wanted to be truly expressive and for it to be in pursuit of the truth. That’s why the album is called I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful, Yet So Unaware Of It, because we were scared about making a new record. And I thought ‘you know what? I’m gonna – it’s just about making decisions. About making bold decisions.’ “ He had a look of conviction as he said this, “The record is kind of comprised of that attitude. It was called that before we’d even written any of it.”

  “That’s a very dramatic album title.” She pointed out.

“Well… we’re very dramatic boys.” He said with a grin.

“It’s definitely going to be a mouthful for anyone asking about it.”

“It was just something I said to a girlfriend of mine, at the time. It kind of laid the foundations for the bold decisions thing. If it’s called that, then there’s no rules as to what it could be. But it’s subjective, it could be perceived as quite sweet, it could be perceived as quite voyeuristic.” He answered with a shrug.

“If people weren’t aware of you guys before, having an album title like that and making bold decisions,” She emphasised the words as she quoted him, “is for sure going to get you on the map.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Yeah, that does seem to be the direction we’re headed in…” He agreed. “You know, sometimes I think about toning it down, but then I remember who I am and think… nah.” He dwelled on this for a moment, before pulling himself back on track. “The first record, the idea of being judged just wasn’t there, because nobody had heard it or was potentially gonna hear it. The preservation of that idea, and the cultivation of it in the face of this knowing of how many people are gonna hear it – that was the most important thing to the record. Writing from the purest place.”

  “It’s sounding like it will be very different from your last album.”

“Mmhm.”

“And even from what you’re saying, it sounds like this album, much like the last, will be very different within itself. In light of that, would you say the concept of genre is dead?” She asked, leaning back in her seat as she watched him process his answer.

“Yeah.” He eventually said. “They’ve never really mattered. Genres, I mean. Imagine if you woke up one morning right, and you had your record collection, and the concept of genre just didn’t exist. The purity of that experience, of listening to music without those rules, it’s like a blissful idea.” He let out a sigh before shaking his head. “I really don’t care, to be honest with you. It’s so irrelevant to me.”

She figured that was as good a time as any to segue into her next line of questioning, “It’s been a while since we had you in the studio. The last time was right after your debut self-titled album came out. But you have released the track Medicine since then.”

“Yep.”

“I feel it’s a very…” She searched for a second for the right word to describe it, “minimalistic track?”

He nodded slightly before speaking, “We wanted it to sound like Velvet Underground produced by Trevor Horn, you know? That was kind of the vibe.” He made a vague hand gesture at this. “But I wouldn’t say it’s very representative of our next record. It’s kind of a return to the sound of our EPs. It was weird with us, because for a lot of people the first thing they heard was the album. But we released that after a year of releasing EPs, which really embedded us in the musical culture we wanted to be in. We kind of came from the left field and moved slightly to the middle. But a lot of people saw us immediately with Chocolate and Girls and misinterpreted the irony of some of the kind of pop elements of that.”

  “The 1975 have definitely had their fair share of poppy radio hits.” She concurred.

“Yeah, you guys are playing us non-stop.” He chuckled.

“All of that attention on the airwaves has gotten you a few pretty awesome gigs, too. Have you got a favourite festival that you’ve played across the last few summers?” She asked as he took a swig from his water bottle.

“Glastonbury.” He answered instantly, before feeling the need to elaborate. “Uh, Glastonbury’s kind of… It’s Glastonbury. If you’re from the UK it’s kind of the festival.” He said with a pointed look. “And Glastonbury is one of the only festivals where we can walk around, because it’s so enormous. They leave you alone a little bit there. I managed to walk around kind of… freely… But we did like… pfft,” He looked like he was counting in his head for a split second, “three festivals a weekend all summer or something like that. We’ve been everywhere from Finland to Latvia to Singapore.”

“Playing so many shows now, and meeting so many people, are you finding the fans are getting kind of crazy? You guys must nearly be at boyband status in some parts of the world.”

“The shows are very intense. It’s weird because there’s a lot of young… well, you know I don’t mean young,” He scrunched his face up as he corrected himself, “when I say the main core audience is say sixteen to nineteen. But it’s a lot of young kid’s first shows. So, the first twenty-five minutes of the show is just…” He tried to find the right words, before letting out a laugh, “It’s a shit show. Just people getting pulled out, fighting, passing out… There’s so much fainting.” He answered as he began trying to pluck a hair off the microphone that was stuck to it.

  “Well, you guys might be about to cause even more passing out now.” She began, taking a glance at the clock and seeing that it was nearly halfway through their allotted interview time.

“Oh?” He mumbled in confusion.

“Because right now, we are going to give people the first listen of a brand-new track from your upcoming album.” She clarified, mostly for the sake of listeners but it seemed that Matty himself had forgotten the reason he was here.

“Oh! That’s right.”

“You heard right, folks. Coming up right now is going to be the live debut of The 1975’s new track, Love Me. Any final words Matty before it’s out there in the world?” She asked as her finger hovered over the switch to fade their audio out and switch to the music.

He thought for a second. “Nah, not really. Enjoy it, I suppose.”

  She switched off the interview track and pressed play on the new song, instantly seeing the text line overflowing with incoming messages from fans. For a second, she tried to read a few, before eventually minimising the window for now to avoid giving herself a headache. Looking back to the man sitting across from her, she had expected him to have been waiting to say something, or for him to have already been halfway through a story, but he was just staring at his phone, his headset still sitting on his head. Considering how hard it seemed to be to get in touch, she felt it would’ve been nice to have at least, you know, three minutes to try and catch up. This suddenly made the fact that he had been in London for a week without dropping a message make more sense, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. Their breaks between songs had previously been filled with light hearted conversation, and now the silence just felt suffocating. Had he really changed that much in two years to not even wanna talk? She let the song play through, then played a few snippets of interview introduction to segue back into them talking before switching the microphones back on.

  “You just heard The 1975’s new song, Love Me, for the very first time. A special live debut off their new album for all of you lovely listeners. We had a lot of messages coming in from fans telling us their thoughts.” She spoke, before Matty chimed in.

“What did you think?” He asked as he leaned forward in his seat to rest his elbows on the desk.

“I liked it.” She answered truthfully.

“Did you listen to it prior to hearing it now?” He asked in curiosity.

“Yeah, I listened when it was emailed to me this morning, in case I happened to miss it this time around.” She nodded. He just let out a noise of appreciation before leaning back into his seat. “You were right, it’s very different to what you’ve done in the past.”

“We’ve made a record where every song sounds different from the other ones. Back to the concept of genre, we don’t listen to just once genre anymore. We consume whatever sounds good. So, we want to create in that same way that we consume. And we just thought that, er, our choices of songs that we put out had to be based on confidence. Bold decisions, as I said before.” He said with a dismissive wave. “I think this first track is... quite bombastic? George said to me once that ‘if we don’t go with it now, when are we going to go with it?’ And he was right. It’s a bit of a big ballsy song.”

  “That’s a pretty good way to describe it.” She agreed with a nod. “I’ve heard that there are quite a few songs on this album where, lyrically, you’re exploring a few new concepts? Like ego and sexuality. Can you elaborate on that?” She questioned.

“I think if I elaborated on a lot of stuff, it wouldn’t symbolise things in a certain way. You know, if everything was laid open. Like Medicine isn’t a love song about a girl for example,” He said that offhandedly, but suddenly she found herself thinking on what the song is about, if not that. But he continued talking over her thoughts. “but I don’t talk about those things. I like to let the music speak for itself. Erm… well, yeah. I think the idea of a conflicted sexuality is something loads of people go through. The shared experiences that loads of people go through, the shared fears of humanity like love, death. I don’t think there’s any question for anyone who knows my band that I’m slightly odd in a sexual way.” He made a face as he said this before laughing at himself. “I’m not exactly the most manly man in the world. But there’s just… stuff about sexuality and the superficiality of it and what it really means. But I’m still writing parts of it at the moment. It’s a bit of a weird time doing press right now.”

  “You always seem to have a hell of a vocabulary in your lyrics, so I’m sure whatever themes you end up writing about, you’ll end up doing it in some kind of poetic way.” She prompted, but he just continued on his own tangent.

“It’s erm… The whole point of this was…” It looked like he was struggling to find the right words as he adjusted his sunnies. “It goes back to identity, and it goes back to… there’s a lot of stuff on this record, where I’m answering questions from the first album, and I’m making references to the first album. And I’m talking about y’know, being wiser now and more naïve then. And there’s this back and forth between the album that preceded this album and this album that our fans will really, really understand the subtext of.” He said, before figuring he should probably round back to what she had said. “So, I suppose that is kind of poetic, yeah.”

“And you have that knack for imagery and storytelling through you as the main focus of the lyrics that people latch onto.”

“One of the things that I always want people to be aware of, is if I’m talking with a sense of kind of… dissatisfaction about behaviour in my songs? Is that I’m normally talking about me. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m saying those things. It’s often my reactions to those things being said.” He explained.

  “A few more light-hearted questions before we round out this interview.” She said as she stretched her arms above her head. Trying to maintain the same sense of chemistry that had existed in their last interview was taking its toll, she was eager for this to be over. “I’ve seen that there’s a petition going around about you guys.” Matty instantly groaned. “Will you ever play Antichrist live?” She asked.

He let out a dry laugh. “I like it lyrically, but it so doesn’t sound like us.” He huffed, before frowning. “We might play it.” He said eventually.

“I’m sure a lot of fans will be excited to hear that it’s not off the table just yet. Next one, in your travels in the last couple of years, have you met any celebrities that you’ve been starstruck by?”

“Not really… There’s been a few, but nobody I’ve been properly starstruck by.” The gears were visibly turning in his head as you could see him running through people in his mind. “I wanna meet Miley Cyrus…” He said under his breath, before looking across the desk to her. “I wanna meet her so much. Why’ve I not met her yet? I’ve met loads of people in that world that I’m not that impressed with.”

“One last question that I saw come up on the text line, if you had a biography written about yourself, what would you title it?”

“FUCKING LEGEND.” He shouted without a second thought. Eventually, once he stopped laughing, he considered the question seriously. “What would I call it..? Probably something to do with my hair. The only thing people care about is my fuckin’ hair.” He resigned as he absentmindedly brought his hand up to said hair.

  “That’s all we’ve got time for, Matty.” She said as she let out a relieved breath.

“Aw, shame.” He pouted.

“I’m sure you’ll be off to your next great adventure in no time.” She assured him, putting on the interview charisma. “But for now, it was lovely to have you on.”

“Always great to be on.” He beamed.

“All the best with recording the new album.”

“I’m sure we’ll be back out here soon.” He said with a nod, but given their track record she had a feeling that he didn’t mean that.

“That was Matthew Healy of The 1975, on the show here this morning to debut their new song Love Me off their upcoming album, I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful, Yet So Unaware Of It.” As she spoke, she watched out of the corner of her eye as Matty began getting up and gathering his things. “We’ll be playing it for you again in the next hour, so keep listening out if you want that replay.” She said as she queued up the next set of tracks and faded her audio out.

  Once she had taken her headset off, Matty came around to her side of the desk. He didn’t seem to dawdle as much this time waiting for her to be free to speak to him, but he also didn’t seem entirely at ease as he tried to casually sit against it. “Come out for a drink with me.” He suggested as he stole a glance at her over the rim of his sunglasses.

The abrupt offer caught her off guard and she had to think for a moment about what to say. “It’s mid-morning?” She asked in confusion. “And I’m at work?”

“After that.” He shrugged casually.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend?” She questioned, suddenly finding herself feeling like she knew less and less about this Matty the more he spoke today.

“What does that have to do with anything?” He asked with a frown.

That was the final straw. He’d done more than enough in the half-hour he’d been here to make her grateful that they hadn’t stayed in touch. “Look, I know you’re an attractive guy and all but that doesn’t mean you can just get away with whatever you want.” She shot back.

He suddenly had a look of surprise on his face as he tried to backpedal, “Hang on, that’s not-“

“And I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression before.” She added.

“That isn’t-“

“The interview’s over. I think you should get going.” She said finally, watching as his face fell. She expected him to look angry or defiant, to want to argue the point, but instead he just seemed… disappointed?

“Yeah... Sounds like I should.” He mumbled as he left the studio.

Taglist:  @imagine-that-100 @dot-writes @tooshhhy @robinrunsfiction @approved-by-dentists

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[mackinmacki]

Short Cool Woman in a Black Dress

Rating: K+

Word Count: 5997

Summary: Weiss is an undercover detective, exploring the seedy underbelly of speakeasies and bootlegging during Prohibition. While working, she hears a beautiful voice coming from the prettiest woman she's ever seen. Job performance may slack during those times.

Pairing: White Rose

Notes: This is for day three of White Rose Week. Topic: Breathless

Link: (FFN) | (AO3)

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Another drink down. Weiss hated the taste, but she wouldn't let it show. The men and women around her didn't need to pretend, though. They likely wouldn't be in the bootlegging business if it wasn't for their own personal enjoyment of the substance. Though alcohol had been banned from sale for several years now, speakeasies like these kept popping up left and right. For every one the government shut down, it felt like two more would pop up in their place. It was like fighting an intoxicated hydra. That's why she was there, though: to try and put a stop to their illegal activities.

As a member of the highest authority in the region of Atlas, agent Weiss Schnee had been sent undercover into the belly of the beast. She was tasked with finding the epicenter of these illegal businesses and shut them down permanently. The more lushes they threw behind bars, the better. Of course, going undercover meant she needed to blend in with the sorts of rapscallions she would be consorting with. Unfortunately, she'd never acquired the taste for whiskey that her mother had. Still, she needed to down the foul substance and ignore the fire burning in her throat. Such vile swill. She was shocked that anyone would willingly put a bottle with it between their lips.

It would be bad enough if this was the first time she'd experienced this, but she'd been undercover in this area for two weeks now. She'd had enough alcohol to last her a lifetime, but it was starting to become worth it. Her no-nonsense attitude had ingratiated her with some of the bartenders, and slowly but surely she'd ended up sitting at the tables of more important people. Specifically, some of the runners and financiers. Their identities stayed locked in her mind until she was able to get home and jot them down. By now, she had quite a lot of juicy information to hand over to the authorities. Still, she wasn't done yet. Not after just two weeks.

Though these were all criminals who deserved to be thrown in the slammer, they were just small potatoes. There were bigger fish to fry, and these metaphors were kind of making her hungry. She slapped her hand on the table and ordered a basket of fries, which was seconded and then third...ed by others around the table. Err, anyway, these were just two-bit thugs compared to the true financiers hiding in the shadows. She had yet to meet any of them in person, but she knew they existed. It was part of her briefing when she'd initially been given her assignment. They were bootleggers and fixers, which were actually some of the more tame things they'd been accused of. No matter the risk, she wasn't willing to leave until she'd nailed those scumbags.

"Look lively, boys and girls! The entertainer's here!" Weiss quirked an eyebrow, having been in the process of getting out of her seat to leave. There wasn't any new information being passed around the table, and she didn't like to stay in these bars any longer than her job required her to. However, the promise of an entertainer was new. She had her doubts that whatever 'entertainment' was coming up on stage would help her in any way with her investigation, but it was enough to put her butt back in her seat. Might as well see what was going to happen.

From behind the scarlet curtain came a young woman with a microphone in her hand. Her silver eyes glowed beneath the dim lights that hung over the stage, making Weiss feel as if she was being pulled into a thermometer. The temperature was certainly rising in the room, so that at least made sense. She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes, walking confidently towards the middle of the stage. Each step was followed closely by Weiss, who was glad she had sat down before her appearance. Otherwise she would've crashed down to the ground in shock and looked like a complete idiot.

Whoever this woman was, she was absolutely stunning. Her body was hugged so perfectly in a little black dress, looking as if it had been tailor-made just for her. She could hardly believe that someone as beautiful as her would even take a second glance at a ragtag place like this. What circumstances must have befallen this young lady to make her come in here to entertain layabouts like these? At the same time, she felt incredibly lucky that she had, for she was completely smitten. She tried to make herself appear impassive about the whole situation, but she had a feeling she was failing.

When she started to sing, Weiss knew she could not appear impassive. No way, no how. With her short, fluffy-looking hair, the woman looked like one of those flappers that her father always railed against as destroyers of the decency women once had. However, her voice didn't sound like that of a carefree tart. She sounded like an angel who had descended down from the Heavens to grace these poor heathen ears with her song. It was a voice that would've knocked her right off her feet if she'd been standing. The fries she'd ordered were dropped in front of her, but she didn't even notice them. All of her attention was focused on this incredible woman.

Her singing was so captivating that time passed by without her noticing. More people slipped into the speakeasy to have a drink and take in the show, but she was too distracted to think about working information out of them. As far as she was concerned, nobody else in the bar existed. Every seat was empty, and this woman was performing for her personally. This was her own private concert, and she was willing to scream for encore after encore.

Sadly, it had to end at some point. Before she was ready for the woman to go, she was waving to the audience and disappearing behind the same curtain she'd come out from. The stage was now empty, and Weiss felt the same way. She kept staring at the curtain, concentrating hard on the spot where she had disappeared. Maybe if she stared long enough, she'd come back out and sing again. That, of course, did not happen, and she finally stopped looking when she realized that she must've looked really stupid.

Looking down at the table, she finally realized that her fries had been brought to her. When had that happened? With a longing sigh, she picked up one and ate it, immediately sticking her tongue out in disgust. 'Ugh, they're cold.'

—————————————————————��—————————————–

Over the next week, she spent more time in that particular speakeasy than any others. She was supposed to be working her way up the ladder to schmooze with the bigwigs who ran these operations, but that no longer felt like her primary goal. As much as she tried to concentrate on her job, she always found herself tapping her fingers on the table, her eyes glancing towards the stage as she impatiently waited for the mysterious singer to show up. When she didn't, she was inevitably disappointed. However, when she did show up, then her thoughts were consumed by nothing but her for the rest of her night. This ended up making her a complete waste at her job.

Not that she minded too much, though. Her badge came second to her falling in love with this complete stranger. It was silly for her to feel that way: to even invoke the word 'love' for a person she only knew for her looks and her voice. Ah, but the heart never really listened to the brain all that often. Her sister had once told her that, but she'd paid no heed to it until now. Those looks and that voice... they were better than anyone else on this planet, she was sure of it. And maybe it was in her head, but she was sure that one time, when she had winked at the crowd, she had specifically winked at her.

A week after she'd first laid eyes on her silver-eyed seductress, she was expecting nothing more than what happened every day she saw this woman. She would come on stage, sing for a crowd that certainly didn't deserve her, then leave with a wave, as if she'd never been there at all. Today was different, though. When she was finished singing, she didn't go back into the curtain from whence she came. Instead, she set down the mic on stage and stepped onto the dirty floor. She started walking forward, past table after table. Her eyes seemed to be focused on one particular table... the one Weiss was sitting at.

That immediately sent her heart into panic mode. Her brain soon followed suit, and she nearly jumped right out of her chair and beat it to the bathroom to hide. However, if she did that, then the singer might think that she was responsible for her quick exit. Which she would've been, but not for the reasons she may think. Therefore, she stayed sitting, her muscles locking up on her as she made a good impression of a statue.

"Careful with that broad, Whitey." She flinched at the sound of someone speaking in her ear, turning to look in the face of her 'compatriot' Chip-Tooth Charlie. They called him that on account of his chipped tooth. Go figure. "I see you makin' eyes at her, but be warned. She knows where it's at. Don't get too attached, bud." Well, that was ominously vague. Weiss didn't have much time to ruminate on that advice when 'the broad' came over to the table, a little sway to her hips that emptied Weiss's mind.

"Heya, fellas! Havin' a good time?" Everybody gave their assent except for Weiss, who found that her vocal chords didn't want to work properly. Really, anything in that area of her body had just completely shut down. Staring at the beauty before her was suffocating her in the best possible way. This person was so damn unbelievable that they had completely taken her breath away, and she didn't even know her name. She had to know it, though. The unknown was killing her, with the whole 'suffocation' thing and all.

"What's your name?" She blurted out her question, with the rest of the table chuckling at her. Shrinking in her seat, she scowled in embarrassment, but the singer didn't appear to be laughing at her. She had such a good-natured smile on her face that once again, Weiss couldn't believe that she would be spending her time here. The more she was falling for this woman, the more she had worried about that fact. Being here was at the very least being complicit with illegal activities. Even if she wasn't running or mixing herself, she could still get a slap on the wrist. She didn't want any legal repercussions falling upon her. Not on her watch.

"My name's Ruby Rose. And may I ask yours?" Ohh, she asked it so sweetly. Her speaking voice was high-pitched but unbelievably adorable. It sent her heart racing, and she was sure everyone at the table could hear it. They were all staring at her, knowing grins on their faces. Those stupid buffoons weren't stupid enough to ignore her obvious feelings for Ruby Rose. Stupid gay heart making her feel this way.

"Uh, Whitey Morton." She internally cringed at the fake name she was forced to give her. There was no way she could go undercover using her actual name, even more so when her family name was very well known. She'd come up with the Whitey Morton moniker to avoid suspicion, and thankfully it had seemed to work. Nobody had questioned her or put any theories out there that she was related in any way to the Schnees. She didn't want this goddess upon the Earth to know her as Whitey Morton, two-bit boozerunner. She wanted her to know her as Weiss Schnee, rich heiress who was very much wanting to take her out on a Sunday stroll. Nobody went out on Sunday strolls with gals like Whitey Morton.

"Well, glad to finally speak to you, Ms. Morton." Ruby winked at her, and Weiss was sure her heart had stopped. Her eyes actually widened for a moment, afraid that a mere wink from this woman had sent her into cardiac arrest. What a way to go, huh? After a few seconds of not being dead, she tried to resume her normal air of coolness. From the way Ruby was looking at her, she had a feeling that it wasn't working.

"Cripes! It's the feds!" Weiss reluctantly broke eye contact with Ruby to look over towards the front, where the doorman was rushing towards the center of the room. He was wild-eyed, like a jack-in-the-box about to pop out at any second. "Beat it, cats! The cops are here!" No sooner had he said that when the sound of sirens outside could be heard. He hadn't been kidding: the cops really were there.

Immediately a panic set in. Patrons toppled over chairs in their haste to get up and escape through the back door. There was only one exit, however, which meant a lot of crowding. People who had just been drinking together were shoving each other out of the way in an attempt to get down the hallway first. Weiss's table quickly dispersed, and by the time she got herself on her feet, her fellow small-timers had already fled. Without thinking, she rushed around the table, grabbed Ruby's hand, and pulled her towards the exit.

"Ah, wait! Ms. Morton!" Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the bartender shutting cabinets in a vain attempt to hide the truth before he too made a break for it. She couldn't believe the police were already raiding this place, though. Her report hadn't even been completed yet! They were jumping the gun too early. If the bigshots got wind of what happened, they might go underground for awhile. Then she'd have to wait a very long time to get another shot at them. She cursed her luck under her breath while she headed for the exit.

Now, the exit wasn't exactly cut and dry. The hallway everybody had raced down led to two separate paths. She already knew from sneaking around the joint that the left side led to a dead end door, so she yanked Ruby to the right. There were several doors on the right side, but one was for the bathroom and the other was a storage closet. As for the third one, it may have looked like a regular junk room on the inside, but hidden behind an unassuming shelf was a near-invisible trapdoor that led into a small tunnel. That tunnel, in turn led into the building next door: an enabler whom she had hoped to pin as well. Now those plans were scuttled for the moment.

The sound of the door bursting open reached her ears, letting her know that there wasn't a lot of time left. They could filter into the hall at any moment, and the two of them needed to make themselves scarce. Particularly Ruby. Though she could eventually pull up the proof of who she was, she had no idea about Ruby's past. She could've been a criminal mastermind for all she knew, or she could've been an innocent girl thrown in over her head. Either way, she wanted to make sure she specifically got out of there safely.

The door to the room with the trapdoor was already open, so she didn't need to waste any time opening it. Obviously the escaping patrons didn't bother with closing it back up, but she didn't have time to do it either. Besides, she knew the bartender would be on her trail, and he'd likely do it. If they didn't catch him, anyway. She hurried to the corner of the room, where the trapdoor had also been left open. Secrecy knew no bounds with these people, clearly.

"I didn't know this was here." Ruby gazed in amazement at the trapdoor, but she didn't have much time to admire its existence. Weiss was already pulling her down, and she had to do it herself or end up falling down. They went through the tunnel without a sound, having to crawl to actually get through it. While she'd known it existed, Weiss had never gone through it herself. She could only hope that the cops didn't know of it yet and had someone on the other side.

Pushing open the door on the other side, she breathed a sigh of relief when she was met with an empty room. She helped Ruby out of the tunnel and took her hand again, still focused on getting the two of them out of there safely. The store they had entered had a back door, which the patrons of the bar could all escape from without gaining the notice of the cops. If they'd all gone out the front door, then the jig would surely be up. Through the back, and nobody would be the wiser. That's where the two of them headed.

She never came to the bar in a car, trusting herself on her feet more than the time it would take to start up her vehicle. Plus, she didn't want anyone to find her in the same car when she was in her regular life. If they put two and two together, then her cover would be completely blown. There would be times when she'd need a car for her missions, but for this one, they were walking. And they kept walking until there was enough distance between themselves and the bar. Only then did Weiss realize that she'd been holding Ruby's hand the entire time.

"We should be safe now." She let go of Ruby's hand, a light blush on her cheeks. "But we should keep going, just in case they start looking around the area." Ruby nodded, looking a lot meeker than the more confident young lady that had approached her at the table. This must've been her first time experiencing something like this, so she was naturally deferring to Weiss, who appeared to know what she was doing. At least a walk would allow her a chance to breathe and figure out what she was going to do next. "So what's a pretty lady like yourself singing in a place like that?"

"I needed money for my family, and not many great working environments hire people without higher education." She laughed quietly, and Weiss turned just in time to see a slight blush on her face. It made her heart skip a beat seeing Ruby's cheeks turn pink, and she wondered if it was her 'pretty lady' comment that had done that. "It was either that or work as a secretary at some business. That's not really my thing, you know?"

"Well, a job as a secretary would be safer. Singing in a place like that is way beneath someone like you, plus you could get arrested at any moment. Your family wouldn't get much use out of your money if you were behind bars." She had a feeling that she could put Ruby on the path of the straight and narrow. Not that she'd been doing anything illegal, but the kind of pressure a place like that could put on someone like her would be immense. She needed to be in a better environment, where she didn't have to worry about the cops busting in.

"Yeah, but I don't think I'd feel very comfortable in that environment. My sister worked as a secretary after high school and... well, it wasn't really for her." She laughed awkwardly, clearly holding something back that she didn't want to say out loud. That instantly got Weiss's detective senses tingling, but she refused to pursue it any further. She figured trying to find out if Ruby had something to hide concerning her family wasn't going to get her in her good graces. These were the kind of things she could find out later. Right now, she wanted to know more about the lady herself.

"If you're hellbent on singing, then perhaps there's a different place you could use your talents. I know of a nice place that could always use a lovely voice like yours for enhanced ambiance. I'll pull a few strings here or there and I'm sure they can find a spot for you." She smiled to herself, rather proud of the way she had already thought of a solution to Ruby's problems. As long as her last name was still Schnee, she always had some clout when it came to her family's businesses and the businesses that were aligned with them. Even if she wasn't exactly daddy's little girl anymore, she hadn't been booted out of the family yet. There were still advantages there.

"Well, uh, that's mighty kind of you." Ruby blushed further, embarrassed by the compliments Weiss kept offhandedly giving her. Honestly, Weiss wasn't even sure how she could say those things without turning into a stuttering mess. She figured it was likely because she was in work mode, and she had a better grip on herself in those moments than in her private life. Not that her private life involved a lot of pretty singers in it. "But if I may ask, how can you pull those kinds of strings? Are you, uh..." She fiddled with her hands, unable to look at Weiss anymore. "Are you with the mob?" She whispered her question, looking left and right in case there was anyone who could hear her.

"Hardly. I'm..." She bit her tongue, almost giving her identity away to this complete stranger. Was she really so strung along by a pretty girl who winked at her one time? ... Yes. Yes she was. With a sigh, she knew that she was going to give away the game. It made sense, though. How else was she going to explain how she could get her a job with a Schnee affiliate? There was no coincidence on Earth that could explain it. "Alright, look, I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise that you won't tell anyone what I'm going to tell you." Could she trust this woman? Honestly, probably not, but dammit, she was going to do it. Stupid, stupid heart...

"Oh God, you are part of the mob..."

"I'm not part of the mob!" Weiss sighed deeply and rubbed her temples. This was obviously going to be more difficult than she initially thought. "My name's not actually Whitey Morton. It's Weiss Schnee. Yes, that Schnee. I've been undercover in this area for a couple weeks now, trying to get intel on these speakeasies that have been cropping up. Which is why you can't tell anyone what I just told you." She whirled around and stared down Ruby, who jumped as she nearly ran into her. "It's imperative that I remain undiscovered so I can continue doing my job." She searched Ruby's eyes, hoping against hope that she wasn't going to turn around and tell people right away.

"Okay, so you're Weiss Schnee, of the Schnee family, and not Whitey Morton?" Weiss nodded. "And you're not a random drunk at the bar, but a cop?" Again, Weiss nodded. "Okay, so you're a narc- Uh, an officer of the law." She gulped at the sour look on Weiss's face, feeling as if she was shrinking down to the ground. "I, uh... Why, though? Why would you help me get a different job? I'm not rich or important. I don't understand."

"I..." She didn't really understand it either. The only explanation that came to mind was because she had fallen for Ruby and wanted to do something overly nice to impress her. She didn't like that explanation, though, and she chose to forcibly repress it in her mind. "Well, it's... because I feel bad that you have to spend all your time in that bar when you deserve so much more. Like I said, a voice like yours deserves to be heard by people more refined than Chip-Tooth Charlie. Being in there is illegal as well, and I don't want you to get in trouble with the law when you've done nothing wrong."

"Well..." Ruby bit her lower lip, thinking on the offer being presented to her. It was a bit vague, since she didn't know where she was going to be working. There were quite a few Schnee properties, and she didn't even know if Weiss could deliver. Then again, if she was a Schnee, then she'd definitely have pull in these matters. It'd probably get her better pay too, though she didn't know what kind of money she'd be making. It'd be better than singing in underground bars too. Was she really in a position to reject such an offer? "... Okay, I accept."

"Excellent!" Weiss beamed as she squeezed Ruby's hand again, looking at her with pure joy. Having Ruby work at one of her father's companies meant multiple things. She was going to keep her from getting arrested one day, for one. She could also have her in an easy location to reach, so that she could see her whenever she wanted. Unfortunately, her ears would no longer be gifted by that lovely voice whenever she was undercover, but that scene at the bar probably irrevocably hurt her mission there anyway. Besides, getting to stay in one of the Schnee businesses, kick up her feet, and listen to Ruby sing without worrying about the cops busted in was an even better substitute. "Now, we should go our separate ways for now. I will go and find a job for you right away. You should meet me at the La Blanca coffeeshop tomorrow morning at ten. We can discuss the details of your future employment there."

"Okay. Thank you." Ruby didn't know what else to say. Her mind was still swirling trying to take this all in. Everything about her life had been swept up in a whirlwind within the last twenty or so minutes. She'd never had anyone looking out for her like this that wasn't her immediate family. It made her suspicious, but at the same time, she felt like she could trust Weiss. She wasn't sure what exactly was so trustworthy about her, but it was making her agree to take whatever job was being offered to her. Maybe it was because she had just helped her escape the cops back there, even if she was one herself. Or it could've been the way she'd always looked at her every time she got on stage to perform. So focused, so wanting...

Shaking her head, Ruby walked back towards the car, where her car was still parked. Now she just had to avoid the cops on her way home. What fun.

———————————————————————————————————–

Several weeks later, Weiss walked into the office in her finest suit. She only broke out this particular suit for special occasions, and this qualified for that. Thankfully, the surprise raid on that speakeasy hadn't set her too far back, and she had ended up taking down one of the big bosses of the city's underground alcohol distribution. There was still work to be done, but it was a big deal nonetheless. At the office, she was going to be congratulated by the DA, and she wouldn't say no to the recognition. It was sure to propel her career even farther

"I must say, that was a fantastic job, Weiss." The DA shook her hand hard, pumping it up and down. He always did have a lot of energy, something that their line of work hadn't stamped out yet. "These streets are a little bit safer thanks to your work."

"Thank you, sir. I was just doing my job." She smiled, feeling that the praise was worth nearly getting her arm taken off. There was one person whom she wanted to hear praise her above all others, though. As far as she knew, Ruby had kept her word to not tell anyone about her undercover work, and she'd taken to her new job pretty well too. She'd gotten her a gig as the singer at a nearby hotel that the Schnees owned. Her singing was good enough to get her signed on the spot, and it hadn't hurt that she had Weiss vouching for her as well.

It had become routine for Weiss to stop at the hotel whenever she had time off that aligned with when Ruby was going to be singing. She'd sit down and listen to that beautiful voice, then spend time with Ruby afterwards. They would take about lots of different things, though Weiss wasn't always so forthcoming about her own job. She'd already risked a lot telling Ruby that she was an undercover agent. Saying too much more would probably get her in front of a committee. She was also pretty quiet when it came to her family life, but everything else was fair game.

Before, she'd worried that her affections for Ruby were misplaced. They didn't even know each other: they just happened to be in the same bar at the same time. As they continued to learn more about each other, her worries dissipated. Ruby was a really nice person to talk to. Somewhat excitable, but a really genuine and nice woman. Growing up, she dealt with a lot of lying and double talk. It was expected of her, even encouraged, and she'd never felt comfortable with it. She'd just fallen into it because it was what was expected of her within her family. Getting to talk with Ruby was like a breath of fresh air, though. She wanted to do this more.

So naturally, she headed right for the hotel as soon as she was done at the office. She had a bit of time before Ruby went on stage, but she had to see her and tell her the good news. Or at least the decent news. She was brimming with excitement, which was a rarity for her. Growing up, she'd always felt compelled to keep her emotions under wraps. Showing too much was beneath her, and that mindset was still with her to this day. Sometimes she couldn't contain herself, though. Knowing that she had someone like Ruby to tell this to, who would be legitimately happy for her success, was a big reason for that.

When she got to the hotel, it was about the time where Ruby would be getting ready in the employees' quarters. Weiss headed right for it, opening the door and walking inside. Several waitstaff stared at her in surprise, as nobody ever saw her walk among the help like this. She gave them a nod of acknowledgement, which was further surprising. Alas, she didn't have time for chit-chat. There was one specific employee that she was searching for.

It didn't take long to find her. She was sitting in the back, already turning around before Weiss had approached her. It helped that she'd shown up in the mirror she'd been looking at. "Weiss? What are you doing here?" She stood up, only to nearly lose her balance when Weiss hugged her. An overt show of affection in front of the other staff? That was new. "I haven't even gone on stage yet." She awkwardly put her arms around Weiss, confused as to what had brought this on.

"I stopped one of those big bootleggers I was talking about, Ruby." She dropped her voice to a whisper, not wanting anyone else to get word on what her work really entailed. "The DA congratulated me today, and I really think this is going to help me get promoted." She had a big, genuine smile on her face, which surprised Ruby. Getting to know Weiss had shown that smiles were not easy to come by. She'd learned to tell which were genuine and which were forced, and this was no doubt a legitimate one. It made her seem so much more approachable, and undeniably cute as well.

"That's great, Weiss! Congratulations!" Ruby smiled just as brightly, hugging Weiss again with more excitement. She knew how important this had been to Weiss, and how frustrated she'd been that the local police had scuttled her plans. It seemed to have all gone well in the end, though, which was awesome. They pulled away from the hug, their hands still on each other's arms. And then Weiss leaned forward and kissed Ruby, making her hands drop like a shot.

"I just had to rush straight here and tell you! You're the one person who cares the most, and-" She stopped, as if the words had suddenly been yanked from her mouth. With reddening cheeks, Ruby watched as Weiss just stared at her blankly. She was worried for a moment that she was having a medical emergency, but then she suddenly came back to life. Her cheeks went just as red as Ruby's, but it was much more apparent due to her ghost-pale skin. "I, uh..." She stammered out, dropping her arms lifelessly at her sides. "Did I just kiss you?"

"Um..." Ruby slowly brought her fingers up to her lips, touching them to feel the tingling chill. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure you did." She laughed, but her embarrassment was still evident. Both of theirs were. That had definitely not been planned nor expected. At the same time, it had felt really nice. The tingling sensation was an incredible buzz that one couldn't get in the bowels of a sleazy speakeasy. "And I, uh... I would be alright with you doing it again."

"Really?" Weiss's eyes widened, wondering if she'd heard that right. Ruby nodded her head shyly, silently backing up her prior statement. Well, if she was so willing... Weiss closed her eyes and leaned back in, kissing Ruby again. This time she was aware of her actions, and kept their lips locked longer to better enjoy it. She felt like she could get drunk off the taste of Ruby's lips, and that was one Prohibition she could no longer abide by. If only they could do this forever...

Alas, Ruby had a show to put on, and it wasn't the one they were conducting right in front of the other staff. They both broke away from the kiss at the same time, their cheeks remaining flushed with embarrassment, but also excitement. There was definitely something there between the two of them now. They just needed to figure out together what exactly it was. For now, though, there was still that job Ruby had.

"You'd better get on stage, Ruby." Weiss pulled away from her, still smiling. "I'll see you after the show." She started to walk away, then stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Maybe you can come over to my place afterwards and we can celebrate a bit more properly." Then she turned around and walked out of the room, ignoring the stares from the rest of the staff as she walked past. As for Ruby, she just stared after her, completely slackjawed. She kept staring at the door as it closed, until she finally remembered she was supposed to be doing something.

"Crap, I gotta go sing!" She ran from the vanity, hustling over to the door. Halfway there, she skidded to a stop and ran right back. "Forgot the microphone..." She held it tight as she ran back again towards the door. It wasn't that she ever sandbagged it with her singing, but she knew that there was extra incentive to do well today. With a smile, she left the room and headed for the lounge area of the hotel. Her special audience was waiting.

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day One Hundred Ninety-Five: A New Spatula ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ] [ AO3 Link ]

There’s a lot of things he has to get used to again. One of them is how to make friends.

Sasuke wasn’t exactly an expert at that, even as a child. He, like many clan children, was kept mostly within his clan’s compound when young, and there hadn’t been many others his age. Most of his time, therefore, was spent with his brother Itachi, and his cousin Shisui.

…ironic how now, they still make up most of his social circle.

The first time he truly met new children his age was his introduction into the shinobi Academy. Though a bright and friendly boy at that age, he was also shy to a degree: meeting new people was a bit daunting. But he did his best to be friendly...ish, but also focus on his studies, rushing home right after classes to then go train. That left little time for making friends.

And then, after only a brief stint in his scholarly career...the massacre took place. Any notion of making friends was lost in a sea of mourning and reclusion. There was no one in his class to turn to...no one knew how he was feeling. No one could understand, could comprehend…!

Even Naruto, in his proclamations of understanding loneliness, knew it to this degree. They were alone...but in vastly different ways. Naruto had no one to miss, no memories to haunt him, no recollection of his family’s death. It was something he would never fully know.

And so...Sasuke withdrew. Became obsessed with his studies, his training...all in an effort to one day kill one of the few people he’d ever fully entrusted his heart to: his brother. Sasuke missed so many milestones of socialization as a child, too bound and focused on his goals. Being assigned a team had been...awkward. Even more so given who they were: a boy that never gave him peace, and a girl who insisted she was in love with someone she’d hardly spoken to, could never understand.

So he did his best to ignore them. Complete what was necessary. Sure, they’d drag him around...and at times, his loneliness meant clinging to them, if only because he had no other option. They weren’t exactly his best-suited company. But in the end...he did his best to stay distant. He didn’t need them. They were distractions. Roadblocks. They’d only drag him down…!

And then he left.

Orochimaru’s was no place to make friends, let alone expect any semblance of normalcy. Taka were necessities. Pieces in his game. Karin was just as bad as Sakura, if not worse. Suigetsu was obnoxious...if not at times witty. Jūgo was tolerable. Quiet, unobtrusive...except for his blind fits of rage. But none of them were his friends. Nor did he want them to be. Need them to be.

The war saw him reunited with team seven. In a way...it was nostalgic. But there was little forgetting - or forgiving - their crimes against him. Ignoring his wishes. His clan’s genocide. The reasons behind it, even when they learned of it. Still they worshiped Konoha, still they thought it the only place he could ever call home. There was so much he wanted to throw away, burn, start over…

But in the end, he was denied.

And now here he is, back in that very village...but things are, admittedly, different. His brother is alive. His cousin never truly died. He has a niece and nephew now. And with his classmates’ help, and the Hyūgas’, they’ve rid the last few orchestrators - the previous council - of their power. Never again can they bring a tragedy like the massacre to fruition.

It’s not everything he wanted...but it’s a start.

He has a few key pieces of his family.

In truth...that’s all he needs.

But that same family has been...gently urging him to try to branch back out. To meet his classmates and start again. Thankfully they all know and understand his apprehensions. None of them expect him to forgive and forget that easily...but nor will they let him simply give up.

The easiest place to start, as it turns out...is someone he haa little to no memory of ever speaking to before defecting.

And that is Hyūga Hinata.

But, in a way, that plays to her advantage. He has no grudge against her. She never did him wrong. And with her in the know of his past, along with her unique perspective...she’s also been the forefront of welcoming him back into their fold.

...it’s been, though he won’t admit it...rather nice.

With the Hyūga allied to their few remaining Uchiha cousins, they see each other plenty. Add in the fact that Sakura and Naruto have paired up, and...well, they’ve been a bit designated to follow them around. Sasuke as their teammate, and Hinata as a...friend.

So, with all of that in place, and making the most logical sense...he’s decided to start here.

“...got any hobbies?”

Perking up as he addresses her, Hinata glances to Sasuke. At the moment, they’re tagging along with Naruto and Sakura - as well as Sai and Ino - on a random little excursion through the village. The girls are yammering over clothes, and...the boys are waiting in apparent agony. Hinata, being frugal, has taken to just sort of...watching. Sasuke, with neither a need to shop nor an inclination to commiserate with Sai or Naruto...does the same.

So, they make small talk.

“Um...I do!” She offers a small smile, heartened to have him initiate a conversation. “I have a small garden in the Hyūga compound...and I pressed the flowers I grow in it. I have a w-whole collection.”

“Flowers, huh?” What a tame, typical, feminine thing. But it suits her, he thinks.

“Mhm! My mother loved them, and...I guess I inherited that.”

Ah, her mother...they haven’t really branched into that part of her past yet, so he carefully skirts it. “...anything else?”

“Well, I love to bake.”

“Oh?”

“Mhm! Cinnamon buns in particular,” Hinata admits, taking a moment to smile behind a hand. “There’s something very...relaxing about it. And I get a treat when it’s done!”

“...mm.” He’s never been big into sweets. But both Itachi and his wife are fans of them, so it’s rather common to see them around. “Good point.”

Okay...he has some ammunition. He can work with that.

A while back, when it was still cold, she’d knitted him a scarf. He’s been waiting for an opportunity to repay her for far too long now. And with a few of her interests in mind, he decides to go shopping.

...but he can’t do that alone. It would be weird. So, he drags his sister-in-law along.

“I don’t want anything too fancy,” he admits, perusing the current shop they’ve peeked into. “But not something too simple, either.”

Thinking that over, she admits the simple is often the best route. After all, you can never have too many of the basics in a hobby like cooking. Directing him to a rack of cooking tools, she lets him browse...and goes off to do her own.

Sasuke stares at all the little gadgets and doodads. In all honesty...he knows very little about cooking. He rarely does anything beyond the absolute basics himself. So, hand hovering, he contemplates them all before just...grabbing one.

A spatula.

Because it’s purple.

And purple reminds him of Hinata.

There...mission accomplished! Getting a little gift bag for it, he parts ways with his sister and instead goes to find Hinata. He’s not about wasting time!

She’s nearby, by some luck, browsing a window while her teammates argue nearby. Apparently she’s tuning them out.

“Hyūga.”

Glancing over, there’s a perk as she spots him. “Sasuke-kun!”

Without a word, he just...hands over the bag.

“...um…?”

“For you. For the scarf you made me.”

“...oh! You didn’t have to…?” Realizing there’s little point in arguing, she accepts, digging through the paper and finding a new spatula.

“...for your, uh...baking,” he offers awkwardly.

A blink, and then...she laughs? Cheeks go a merry pink. “This is perfect! Thank you!”

“You...like it that much?”

“You won’t b-believe this, but…” Another chuckle. “I just broke the handle of my favorite spatula a few days ago! But I’ve been too busy to replace it yet!”

...you’ve got to be kidding. “...well...glad it’ll be useful.”

She gives him a warm smile, cheeks still flushed. “...thank you very much, Sasuke-kun. It’s a very t-thoughtful gift.”

Something warms in his chest at the praise. “...you’re welcome.”

“Now I’ll have to make you something with it, ne?”

Aw, jeez...now he’ll owe her again! “...just nothing too sweet, all right?”

“Deal!”

                                                                .oOo.

     Woo, more random ALAS fluff xD This prompt is...very random, but as Sasuke now knows, also very relevant to a certain new friend!      Not too much else to say, honestly...? Fluff is fluff! But I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!

[tea-and-cardigans]

can you keep a secret?

This is just a fluffy little one shot set between ep 3x03 and 3x04. Based partially on needing some more cuteness between these two and how no one in the house seems to ask any questions.

Summary: Mattie needs to get Sophie to school, however she finds herself distracted by their newest house guest Leo.

Mattie sits at the breakfast table much like she has the last few mornings since returning  home from the synth compound. Toby sits to the side of her chewing his cereal so loud, she can feel a chill run up her back at the sound. Meanwhile, Sophie is eagerly telling Leo about the movies he has missed since he was last in the home as well as sharing her latest reason, or more like excuse, as to why she doesn’t need to go to school that day, which earns a chuckle from both him and Toby.

She catches Leo’s gaze from across the table, willing herself not to blush when he gives her a small smile before focusing his attention back to Sophie.

Mattie keeps waiting for someone to say something. To ask the question that she has been anticipating since that night, when she woke in her own bed with his arms wrapped around her wondering herself what it meant.

She hasn’t been blind to the sideways glances from her brother when they sit together at the dining table for dinner and Leo pulls up the chair to the side of her, every time.

Or the raised eyebrow from her mum when she tells them they are heading out in the afterwards. She's thankful that her mum has her hands full with the Dryden Committee that she doesn't have the time to question Mattie more comprehensively like she would have before the synths became a part of their day to day lives.

She tries to ignore that and the fact that Leo’s eyes follow her around the room as she tidies up the empty dishes, placing them in the sink to soak. She announces to the room that she’s going upstairs to get ready before trying to leave the room without meeting his eyes again, acutely aware of the clush that has already begun to creep up her neck.

When she looks at herself in the bathroom mirror and isn't sure of the girl staring back at her. Although facing herself in the mirror has become easier and easier. The first few days after, that day, she couldn't even bear to meet her own gaze the gravity of what she weighing too heavily on her, making her disgusted with her own reflection.

Now when she looks at the person staring back at her she can almost recognise the old her in there, staring back at her.

She pushes her hair behind her ears, leaves it for a moment, deliberates holding it back away from her face before brushing it forward again. She gives a frustrated groan as her hair continues to rebel against her efforts to tame it. She allows it to fall over her face partially, telling herself, good enough, leaving the small bathroom to make her way downstairs to collect her sister.

However as she moves past her room, a hand grabs her wrist and pulls her in, the door being shut behind her.

She's stunned until strong arms wrap around her and she lets herself relax back against his chest.

“Leo,” she warns as he brushes her hair back away from her neck and she find the logical part of her brain that reminds her that they could get caught at any moment to the part of her that craves this touch, this comfort.

She spins around to face him and is caught by the broad smile on his face, one so genuine that she can’t help but wrap her own arms around his torso and smile herself.

These moments of playfulness, seem to be becoming more and more frequent with Leo. As if the physical changes within him that made him human are starting to affect his behaviour more and more. He is less stoic, less pragmatic with each day, and Mattie can’t help but find herself falling more and more for him.

There is a type of respite that she finds in these moments, perhaps that is why she wants to keep them between just them. Their own private escape.

“You are going to get us in a lot of trouble,” she says with her index finger pointing into his chest, the sternness in her voice undermined by the grin on her face.

“You mean Laura,” he muses as he bends down to press his lips against her neck.

It lasts a moment, the pressure of his lips against her bare skin, but Mattie feels the touch reverberate through her whole body.

“I mean everyone,” his fingers are now moving underneath the material of her sweater, and any resolve she had left disappears. But the movement of his fingers stops and she can feel a tension in his body.

“You think they’ll be mad?” he asks, clear concern in his voice.

She hasn’t really thought about what her family would think, beyond the initial reaction of what she would imagine is shock and surprise.

Would they be mad? Concerned?

Leo was a good man, he had tried to save Laura before Hester drove a knife into the back of his head and he had protected his brothers and sisters for so many years on his own.

“No, just, surprised I guess.” Leo, seems relieved and she wraps her arms tighter around him her voice lowering  “But then there would be questions, and no more sneaking into each others rooms at night.”

“Ah,” Leo says slowly as a realisation seems to wash over him. “That would be a shame.” A mischievous glint in his eyes as his fingers continue to creep up the smooth bare skin of her back and Mattie feels her body subconsciously arch into his at the sensation.

“Yeah,” Mattie replies, thinking over the past week and the numerous nights they have found one another. Sometimes just laying in his bed in the loft staring at the glow in the dark stars Mattie and Sophie put up there one afternoon, creating their own place to escape.

They can stare at those stars for hours, hands clasped, or her head against his shoulder until sleep takes them before the vibration of her alarm wakes them again and they part ways to maintain their secret. Mattie doesn’t want that to stop.

She pulls him down for a kiss, his lips moving against hers in a way that still leaves her wanting a bit more.

“Do you have to go again today?” he mumbles against her lips as his fingers continue their path up her back.

Her heart drops a little. She had started back at university earlier in the week in some kind of attempt to return to normality.

Leo had stayed in the safety of the Hawkins home, not feeling quite ready to brave the town on his own. Toby had eagerly offered to take him out on one occasion, to which Mattie had responded with a quick ‘No’ earning herself a very put upon look from her brother, before she shrugged her shoulders explaining that Leo was still healing, he had been in a coma for a year.

“I do,” his fingers halted and his lips moved to the juncture of her neck and shoulder, sucking the skin there, making her gasp out loud . “Unfortunately.” she half whispers to herself, earning a small chuckle from Leo.

She pulls back to look him in the eyes, “You could come with me,” she pauses trying to decode his reaction, but gets nothing. “If you wanted to.”

His hand reaches up to cup her cheek, “Would you like that?”

Mattie paused for a moment. Isn’t that what normal people do, show off their boyfriend, because even though they haven’t had anything even resembling ‘the talk’ she knows that that is what he is to her.

“Yeah, I think I would.”

He pauses again and she can almost see the cogs turning in his head, weighing up the pros and cons.

“Okay,” he says with a smile and Mattie gives him a quick peck on the cheek, allowing herself to feel a little excited that she gets to bring him into another part of her world, at the prospect of being even a little bit normal.

A sharp knock on the door which makes the two of them jump, Mattie clutching her hand to her chest, “What?!” she shouts out, ignoring the grin on Leo’s face.

“Sophie is going to be late,” Toby’s voice shouts back through the closed door. Mattie reaches into her pocket, checking the time and sighs as she realises he’s right.

“Okay, I’m coming,” she shouts back.

“Also have you seen Leo? He’s not in his room and I wanted to ask him something,” Mattie’s eyes fly to Leo, whose grin has now disappeared. “Synth related.” Toby adds.

“He might be in the garden,” Mattie says quickly, while Leo mouths ‘Garden?’ back at her. She shrugs her shoulders before whispering, “It will give you time to sneak out.”

“What is he-? It’s bloody freezing out there.” Toby replies, and before Mattie can continue to convince him through the door they hear the squeaking of footsteps on the stairs.

She takes a deep breath, her heart still thudding in her chest, “You need to go now, I’ll meet you downstairs.”

He pulls opens the door and Mattie runs a hand through her hair, her heart returning to normal, before he pulls her in for one more kiss, Mattie half heartedly swatting him away, before he makes his way down the stairs, the tell tale squeak as he descends.

And she knows it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the house knows, but for now she lets herself enjoy this secret between them.

Just the two of them.

[littlemisswolfie]

Day Four: Selfishness

AO3

For all her talk about “not all the time” and “just every once in awhile,” Pidge found herself sleeping in Lotor’s bed more often than her own.

It was becoming habit, now; she’d eat dinner, take a bath, change into her pajamas, and head to his chambers. The guards always let her right in, even when Lotor was still working, and she’d slip into his bed and go to sleep. Most nights he would come to bed late and wake up early, though he always stayed to tell Pidge good morning before he left to attend to his duties.

She would have been content with this for a while longer had the Achuiwei not come visiting.

X

Pidge knew something was up when Lotor didn’t come to the garden that day. He usually arrived not long after her, and she was almost finished with her daily pruning. Concerned, she wiped her hands off on her shorts and left the garden to look for one of his generals.

It didn’t take her long to find one of them—or, well, one’s cat. She still wasn’t quite sure what Narti’s cat’s name was, but she knew Narti was never far behind. Sure enough, the cat led her to its owner, hopping up onto her shoulders and rubbing its face against her. “Hello, Narti,” Pidge said. “Is Lotor busy with something? He never came to the garden today.”

Narti made a gesture with her hands Pidge had learned to come meant “Lotor is busy.”

“Well, can you take me to him? If he’s so busy he couldn’t come to the garden with me today, it must be serious.”

Narti gave  her a once-over and mimed washing her face. Pidge felt her cheeks heat up. “Yeah, ‘course. I’ll go get cleaned up first.”

Narti followed her back to her rooms so she could wash her face and get changed into something more suited to a formal endeavor. When she deemed herself presentable, she had Narti lead her to—surprise, surprise—the meeting room. Pidge took a deep breath to steel herself and nodded to Narti, who opened the door for her and allowed her to step into the room.

Lotor was already facing the door, and when he saw Pidge his face visibly brightened just a little bit. “Katelyn!” he said, standing up out of his chair to come greet her. One of his hands came to rest on the small of her back when he got to her; it wasn’t quite an embrace, but her skin tingled anyway. “I’m sorry I didn’t come to the garden today. We received a party of diplomats from the planet Achuiwei just after breakfast and negotiations have taken away my time.”

Pidge surreptitiously surveyed the “party” Lotor was referring to. There were a variety of the normal guards, and the two actual diplomats were, what Pidge assumed, siblings; aside from the more feminine one’s longer yellow hair and subtle curves under her blue robes, they were nearly identical; pale green skin, strangely long arms with three fingers on each hand, and eyes missing pupils. “Is there any way I could help?”

“Yes, I do believe there is.” He kept his hand on her back and led her to the chair next to his, inviting her to sit. “Princess Qeegan, Prince Agomshin, I’m pleased to introduce you to my wife, Queen Katelyn. Katelyn, this is Princess Qeegan and Prince Agomshin, the children of the current king of Achuiwei. Their galaxy is near yours, I believe.”

Pidge smiled as politely as she could. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Princess Qeegan lifted the flesh above her eye where her eyebrow should be. “I didn’t believe the rumors, King Lotor. Who would have thought the great womanizer of the universe would ever get married?”

The title wasn’t exactly news to Pidge; she’d heard several rumors about Lotor’s promiscuity over the years they were fighting against each other. But now, hearing about it when they were married, rubbed her the wrong way. Lotor, however, laughed this off. “Love can change a person in strange ways, Princess. I’ve devoted myself entirely to Katelyn now.”

The princess shot Pidge a look that said We’ll see about that.

X

Whatever treaty they’d been negotiation gained no progress that afternoon, as Lotor was called away for domestic affairs. Pidge decided she didn’t want much to do with the prince and princess after their initial meeting and instead spent the rest of the day teaching herself more about the Galran language. By her estimates, she had the vocabulary of a prepubescent teenager at this point, which she thought was pretty good for only dedicating herself to the language near the end of the war.

She was surprised to find Lotor already in his room when she entered to go to bed. He was reclined on the numerous pillows, nose buried in a stack of reports, though he looked up when the guard opened the door for her. “Ah, hello, Katelyn.”

“It’s weird to see you in bed before me,” she said teasingly. She slipped into the bed with an ease that comes with habit, and, feeling a little brave, pressed herself up against his side and rested her head on his chest. He hummed contently, so she figured he didn’t mind. “Any particular reason to bring your work here?”

Lotor sighed. “If I’m being honest, I’m trying to avoid being alone with Princess Qeegan.” He set the reports aside. “Katelyn, I want to be honest with you: I’ve had… relations with the princess in the past.”

Disappointing, but not unexpected. “I kind of figured that.”

“But that was years ago. I haven’t even spoken to her since I met you for the first time in battle. I swear to you, Katelyn, I only have eyes for you now.”

“I believe you,” she mumbled into the fabric of his sleeping shirt.  Then, she added, “That doesn’t make it any easier to see the way she looks at you.”

“Say the word and I’ll ask to meet exclusively with Prince Agomshin.”

Pidge sat up at that, staring at him with wide eyes. “I can’t do that! It could jeopardize the negotiations!”

His hand reached up to cup her cheek, and she followed his touch back down until she had resumed her previous position. “You’re allowed to be selfish every once in awhile,” he told her. “Your father told me a lot about you while we were visiting your home. He told me how much of a, what did he say? Oh, yes, a brat!” She forced a laugh and slapped him lightly in the chest. “He said you used to be very demanding of your brother’s time as a child, and how surprised he was to see how much you’d grown.” She felt his hand start stroking her hair and she nuzzled a little further into him. “War changes people. You and I both know that. You’ve had to be mature and responsible for a lot more than you should have been since you were still a child in your culture. And now, after your duties have finished, you’re on an unfamiliar planet and tasked with ruling a people you know nothing about. It would be unreasonable of me to expect you to be entirely selfless.”

Pidge was silent for a moment, considering his words. Then, she said, “You really won’t get mad if I ask you not to see her?”

He chuckled, and she could feel it reverberate in his chest. “If anything, I would be flattered my darling wife cares enough about me to be jealous.”

She went red and abruptly flipped over, cocooning herself in the blankets and staring resolutely at the wall.

X

(Negotiations eventually concluded satisfactorily on both sides, regardless of what Princess Qeegan said. After all, who would ever believe a lie like the one she told? No woman King Lotor could tame into marriage would ever lock a person in a garden with giant, humanoid-eating plants that hadn’t been fed in a while. Those bite marks on her neck and waist must have been from one of her many lovers. She was known to be jealous, after all, and everyone who knew her knew she was prone to making up tall tales. Why would this one be any different?)

[harinezumiko]

Side Job: Reunion 1/?

Guess who needed Peridot and Ames to reunite, hint it was me and @drawbauchery. 8]

Warnings for mention of sexual assault and past abuse, but this part is pretty tame. Also @anditwasjustathought‘s glorious Gemsonas!

It turned out “booked for a decade” was a very liberal estimate. The Crystal Arena was headed by a renowned war hero, had a spotless reputation, and had been opened some centuries prior with all three remaining Diamonds in attendance, which was unheard of for a Level Three Arena. That Yellow Diamond was a frequent visitor made it all the more absurdly luxurious for a stupid gladiatorial arena where the matches were fixed and nobody died.

Peridot couldn’t get tickets for nearly a century.

Her numerous jobs, transfers, and surprise restraining order-related relocations were emotionally draining. Peridot 5xG almost looked forward to the Arena trip, just for a chance to unwind without looking constantly over her shoulder. The facet the Crystal Arena was located in was highly developed, and Peridot had actually done some work there fairly recently; there were outposts that needed tech upgrades within her skill set, and a few retired Era One Gems with enough creds to call in technicians of her caliber.

She’d had the sense to make certain that 2xS was actually competing, and was glad of it; the Arena Second, a brittle milky quartz had informed her a little too cheerily that 2xS was very popular, but hadn’t been around much lately. Peridot didn’t know that she wanted her rescuer to know she was in the stands, but the Arena Second had been very insistent about passing her designation along, and she seemed…

Unsurprised? When she gave her cut and facet.

Peridot didn’t know that she liked that much.

There was no possible way for Zircon to come along on this trip, but Peridot could contend with that. She didn’t need her lawyer with her when she was supposed to be having fun. It was a frivolous, embarrassing idea.

Peridot’s shuttle docked without incident. She was more accustomed to traveling like this now; public transport was strange and unusual. It was cramped, and Peridot didn’t like that other Gems could touch her.

But they didn’t.

Most Gems kept their hands to themselves, and the ones that didn’t seemed genuinely repentant. There were quartzes to contend with, but they weren’t like 8xA. Elbows in her face weren’t ideal, but they weren’t invasive. Growling usually worked.

The Crystal Arena was big. Peridot hadn’t been sure of what to expect, but there were guards at the entrance that checked her pass and directed her toward the stands, and she merrily ignored those directions. The stands were easy to find, but Ames wasn’t scheduled right away, and Peridot was resolutely disinterested in the Arena’s purpose.

She wandered, pulled up a map on one of her portable screens, and tried to guess at where, exactly, the contestants would be during preparations.

It wasn’t totally surprising that she got well and truly lost in the process.

The more hallways she turned down, the worse things got. Every pillar looked the same under fluorescent lighting, and at least two stairways ago windows were a thing of the past. Doors were becoming a thing of the past, too, and as unease settled in her belly, Peridot considered her dwindling options. She didn’t have the authority to be down here, and knew it. She was fairly certain that her century long wait to see Ames again would be put off if she admitted to snooping around a Level Three Arena looking for a Gem she barely even knew.

Peridot scowled, absently chewing a finger without thinking on it. She hadn’t even gotten a good look at Ames, and it had been a hundred years. Who was to say that she even remembered her?

Did she want to be remembered, hiding in the back of a malformed exit hole, crying over one of 8xA’s many trespasses against her? It wasn’t like it had been the first time, or the last. It wasn’t even the worst, but she supposed that was mostly thanks to Ames.

“Hey!”

The chill that traveled up Peridot’s spine shouldn’t have been possible. She froze, bit down so hard on her finger that it sparked, and turned in time to see a quartz jogging toward her—shoulder-length white hair, standard uniform, a Gem that was mercifully set on the opposite shoulder from 8xA’s, but definitely an Era Two quartz.

For a moment, panic seized the core of Peridot’s being. She couldn’t be sure of what she was seeing, but instinct warred within her, and as happened too often, the urge to raise her canon in self-defense came too late. She always hesitated now, always flinched away from self-preservation, and instead, she scrunched her eyes shut, prepared for the worst—

“Um… You okay?”

Peridot forced her eyes open and was met with strikingly soft features, wide, pale yellow eyes, and brows furrowed in concern that was impossible to miss. The technician jumped back, feeling color flood her cheeks.

If 2xO hadn’t been an oddly-hued amethyst with her Gem at her naval, Peridot would have sworn she was faced with her twin. Of course, a few extra inches of distance helped prove otherwise; it was the Arena Second, the milky quartz she’d spoken to on vid call when she was trying to book tickets, but the resemblance was uncanny.

“Don’t sneak up on me!” Peridot snapped, looking askance and painfully aware that she wasn’t in a position to be making demands. Still, it was hard to feel dread around this quartz, once the initial wave of fear had passed.

Milky regarded her cautiously, then shrugged shoulders that Peridot noted were too narrow for her caste; she almost reevaluated her guess about where and when she’d been made, before it dawned on her.

The Arena Second at the Crystal Arena was known to be brittle.

Brittle and small and unfit for the frontlines. She remembered reading that, recalled how odd it was that one of the top gladiatorial Arenas would employ someone who needed light armor to participate. It hadn’t been very apparent in the few vid calls where she had spoken to her, but it was impossible to miss when she only had to crane her neck half way to look her in the eye.

“I got lost,” Peridot grumbled, voice sour and fingers curled tightly. “I was looking for someone I know here.”

“Um…” Milky looked conflicted, if a little confused. She shook her head. “It’s Ames you’re looking for, right? You’re, uh, way, way beyond anywhere a guest should be. Like… you need special clearance to be down here.”

“I didn’t pass any signs.”

It wasn’t a lie, technically. Peridot had been careful to turn before passing signs that didn’t interest her.

“Yeah… there’s no signs this far down,” Milky said, pursing her lips in a frown. “But I guess we also don’t have doors you’d have to access with a code, either.”

“I got lost,” Peridot said again, louder this time, and her voice squeaked, just a little. She hated how often that happened, how completely, utterly unintimidating everything about her was.

It wasn’t a good excuse, and they both knew it. But Milky’s frown gave way to a sympathetic smile, and she nodded toward the hallway she had come down. “I can escort you back,” she said, “Ames was really excited to hear you were coming. She thought you forgot.”

Peridot’s nose wrinkled in distaste. She didn’t much like the idea that Ames had told who-knew-who about her. “I wouldn’t forget,” she insisted, earning a nod from the quartz.

“Peridots have good memories, right? Since you do tech stuff?” Milky asked, and it seemed genuine enough. Peridot’s stiff nod didn’t seem to put her off in the least. “We don’t have a full time tech yet, but there’ve been a lot of applicants.”

“I’m a Kindergartener.”

“Ah,” Milky said, in what had to be the least authoritative tone Peridot had heard yet. No wonder she wasn’t a soldier. “I guess it wouldn’t be your style, then.”

They lapsed into silence for some time. Peridot knew, vaguely, that they were going back up somewhere, but the route Milky took was different from the one she’d gone down, and there were definitely doors involved. A small, appropriately paranoid part of her wondered if this quartz was going to toss her out the back for snooping around, and the pragmatic part of her mind wondered next if she could demand a refund if that happened.

“Milky!!”

Milky jumped to attention, looking briefly panicked, and Peridot wondered if she were about to be faced with another, bigger, more quartz-like soldier. Maybe the fabled Arena Head. That was exactly what she didn’t need; an oversized jasper yelling at her for breaking rules that easily could have been not broken if the Arena weren’t a giant maze, or if the map had actually been of any reasonable use.

Instead, upon turning, she was faced with a very angry pearl, and truth be told, Peridot couldn’t begin to guess what to do with that.

Copper Pearl had taken a few of her calls during her failed attempts to book tickets. She wore the same dipped collar that Milky did—a ruddy brown and black uniform that suited her color scheme far better than the Arena Second’s—and sported a short gauzy skirt with a split up the side that showed her Gem. Peridot didn’t know much about pearls, and had no reason to, but she knew the translucent skirt likely meant she was expensive. She wondered with cursory interest why a fancy pearl would be working in a place like this, and then, more appropriately, wondered if she should be afraid of the murderous look on her pretty face.

“Copper!” Milky squeaked, and somewhere deep down, Peridot felt a little better about the way her voice sometimes wavered, knowing that soldiers did the same, even if Milky was brittle and unfit for battle. “We were, uh… See, she got lost, so…”

“Lost?” Copper echoed, and she didn’t sound like she believed it for a second. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and Peridot wondered if she’d belonged to an agate. “Milky, how could you believe—it’s impossible to get ‘lost’ this far from the guest area without a map!”

Color flooded Peridot’s face, knowing she’d been caught. “I was looking for someone!” she snapped back defensively, crossing her arms. The weight of her limb enhancers was comforting, in a way. They were a good barrier. Not that she was afraid of a pearl.

“She’s the peridot who wanted to see Ames, remember?” Milky tried helpfully, spreading her hands placatingly. “She called a bunch of times—“

“Then she should be in her seat, in the stands, where she belongs,” Copper growled, “Not snooping behind the scenes where she can—and will—get hurt!”

From the looks of things, Milky either wasn’t the sort to win an argument against the Arena Pearl, or she might have secretly agreed with her. Peridot scowled at the very idea.

“I’m not dumb,” she snapped, “I know how to handle myself.”

The look Copper cast her way was absolutely scathing. Conversely, Milky looked sheepish. The latter suggested that they hurry along, back to the Arena proper, and Peridot would have argued if she didn’t think that Copper looked like the type of Gem to revoke her ticket and deny her a refund.

Milky ended up walking between them and generally tried to keep things cheerful, while Copper acted nothing like a Gem of her caste and everything like she owned the place. Peridot wondered without asking if they were aware that their personalities were completely backwards, but decided that she preferred a meek quartz she didn’t know over the prospect of an angry and possibly volatile one.

Returning to the main Arena, to halls that now had Gems wandering about before the first match, Peridot was increasingly uncomfortably aware of how many quartzes were here.

She hadn’t thought of that.

Peridot crowded a little closer to Milky, looking around with a frantic air as they moved. The quartz peered down at her, raising an eyebrow. “Ames isn’t in the first match,” she said gently, “I could get you down to see her, if you want?”

“That’s not following protocol…” Copper grumbled under her breath, but she cast a sidelong glance at Peridot and heaved a sigh, waving a hand. “I’m not covering for you if Jasper gets upset. I need to start rolling out terrains.”

Milky looked ready to protest, but Copper was already moving away from her, marching with purpose in the opposite direction.

“Is she always like that?” Peridot asked, deliberately avoiding both Milky’s question and her gaze. “Seems abrasive for a pearl.”

Milky elected not to comment on the technician’s inappropriate tone, instead motioning for her to follow her down another hallway. She seemed to know an awful lot of visitors, and greeted them accordingly. Quartzes and spectators alike seemed to both know and like her—and Peridot supposed she could see why. She was warm and friendly, and perhaps more importantly, harmless.

Which was exactly none of what a quartz should be, but then, Peridot didn’t really like quartzes.

And that begged the question of what she was doing here, in what had to be the second most quartz-filled place after an active Kindergarten. There were other castes too, but Peridot suspected that they had been able to afford tickets for better seating, and likely weren’t going to be caught ambling about in the lobby or hallways. Peridot felt the hair at the nape of her neck prickle and wondered if she were imagining things when her gaze darted toward the crowd, just in case, because she could never be too sure…

8xA would surely regret it if she’d stalked her out here today, Peridot thought, but that didn’t mean she wanted to see her assailant again. It had only been a few weeks since the last close call—mercifully cut short by her shuttle pulling away from the station before the amethyst could cut through the crowd, but not before making eye contact.

That was the worst of it; that 8xA knew she didn’t even have to get her hands on her anymore. She still seemed to derive sick pleasure from it, but she could get the same reaction across a room. Peridot still had to file a complaint once she’d been discovered, and several supervisors complained. It was hard to find work, harder to keep work, hard to maintain a good reputation. Peridot was tired, worn down, and 8xA seemed to have a limitless supply of both time and energy that she could devote to ruining her life.

Ames was something of a last resort, and Peridot knew it. Zircon had told her that her involvement at the Kindergarten was almost entirely luck; 2xS owed her a favor and had been in the area. As a Gem of White Diamond’s quadrant, she didn’t actually have the legal precedence to take on Peridot’s case, and Zircon wasn’t sure she was reliable, anyway.

But Ames had deterred 8xA, just for a little while. Peridot thought of how short she was on creds and wondered what she would have to offer in exchange for protection, but by now, there wasn’t much that was off the table.

“5xG? 5xG, right?” Milky’s voice was soft, but startled her so badly that she nearly jumped out of her enhancers. Peridot jolted, looked ready to run, and the Arena Second smiled disarmingly at her. “We’re at the showers. I can’t let you in there, but I can go get Ames. I wanted to let you know.”

“Oh.”

Thanks was probably the right thing to say, but Milky had keyed in a code and slipped through a sliding door and abandoned her in the deserted hallway before she thought of it. Without really thinking, Peridot took to pacing, and the cracked finger from earlier zapped her when she absently put it in her mouth. With a muttered curse, she rotated the digits and chewed at another one instead.

She heard the doors slide open with a mechanical hum while her back was turned and froze. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Milky jog off, functionally abandoning her, and she almost ran after her. This was a terrible idea, Ames had no reason to remember her, even less reason to help her, and oh stars she hadn’t thought this through at all—

Peridot turned almost mechanically, voice caught in her throat, and was faced with exactly who she’d been looking for—only it was the first time she’d ever seen Ames from the front, in halfway decent lighting. The amethyst was heads taller than her at a slouch—and she was definitely slouching—and her long white hair was tied up in a messy knot at the back of her skull. Peridot thought it was safe to assume that it was wet from showering, and wrinkled her nose a little in distaste. It seemed foolish to go to the trouble of a wet shower before engaging in something physical like—whatever these matches entailed.

She tipped her head back, bound and determined not to back down, not when she was cornered. Wide blue eyes met hers—oddly bright, she noted; most amethysts had darker eyes—and Peridot didn’t know what to say when Ames’ entire face broke out in a grin.

“Peridot 5xG! You finally came to see me,” she teased, with the sort of familiarity that Peridot normally detested. Somehow, instead, this time it pulled the tension from her shoulders. “Lucky me, I’m not set to lose today! That’d be an embarrassing reunion, huh? Wouldn’t be worth your ticket to see me lose.”

“You remember me,” Peridot said stiffly.

Ames nodded easily, leaning against the door in the most precarious possible manner; if someone opened it from the inside, she would tumble right in. “Shouldn’t I? I’m surprised you remember me; you’ve gotta run into way more amethysts than I do peridots.”

“You helped me,” Peridot said, wishing she’d rehearsed this better in her head instead of focusing on trying to download dated, blatantly incomplete maps that had only gotten her lost.

“Of course,” Ames’ smile dropped, just a fraction. Her brows creased in concern. “You needed it.”

“I need it again.”

[tumblunni]

BUNNI WATCHES RANDOM OUT OF ORDER SINNOH EPISODES THAT WERE LEFT ON THIS HARD DRIVE I GUESS

Today is diamond and pearl season one episode 28 "Drifloon On The Wind!"

Huh this one had a cold open showing the climactic moment from the end of the episode before it actually happened. Thats the first time i recall the anime doing that? I thougjt initially it was a flashback and i missed the first of a two parter.

Such a cool neat weird premise! A traditional pokemon centre out in the countryside! That adds so much worldbuilding to the setting! They never state it in the english dub but it seems to be a joke on a japanese onsen? (An inn built around hot springs) the archetecture just seems to be very similar, and from what i've seen in anime the "my mum and my mum's mum and my mum's mum's mum worked here" thing is a common trope. The nurse joy family is probably a joke to exaggerate it? Also i loved the scene where Brock is like "wait what the fuck this identical nurse joy is actually old enough to have a daughter ash's age and also OH NO A WEDDING RIIIIIING" And then he thankfully,blissfully GAVE UP and we had one nurse joy centric episode without him being a fuckboi. Seriously, the older you get the less funny you find brock, it sucks that the stuff that's meant to be over the top jokes is now barely more exaggerated than how some dudes act in real life. All you real life brocks, nobody finds you as charming as a fictional goofball! You're just rude! AND REAL BROCKS DONT HAVE A CROAGUNK TO STOP THEM

Anyway i LOVE the cute cottagey aesthetic pokemon center/hotel place! It seems the family mostly treats wild pokemon in the forest and they were actually so surprised to see customers that they thought they were burglars at first! And then daww ash and co help out doing chores to pay them back for the meal and bed even though the family is like 'no dude thats the duty of a pokemon centre'. I think that was a really mature moment for ash? He realized that this pokemon center gets less business than usual ones and figured he should give them a hand. And its so nice to see him being so super excited and wowed by the chores?? Like i mean its CHORES but for him its all so new cos its learning how to work in a pokemon center. Ash's best characrer trait is how his enthusiasm really has no limits, he'll go 100% be the best choremon master ever! Or maybe he was intentionalky being all THIS IS SO FUN because the joy daughters were fighting and he wanted to help cheer them up? In a lot of ways i prefer season 1's bratty egotistical sarcasm ash just cos he had more of a visible personality and you didnt have to sorta sleuth it out like this and always be left wondering whether they really meant to write nice-Ash this way or you're just imagining it. But when nice-Ash has monents like this he's way better and i just wish it hapoened more often and was 100% confirmed, yknow? Most of the time in sinnoh he feels less like nice-ash and more like nothing-ash or changes-every-day-into-whatever-the-plot-requires-him-to-be-ash. But in sun and moon season they have all those more slice of lifey and emltional plots and he's the more nicer ash that i always wanted, and i love it!

Anyway lol im going wildly off topic. Also fun fact i spell "the" wrong so much that "tge" is the first result in my autocorrect now...

Another thing i like is that these Joys seem to be a ghost type specialist family? The kids have a big pile of drifloon cuties and when the gang first arrived they saw a bunch of happy gastlys enjoying their stay at the inn. I like to think maybe all the ghosts they have are "drifty" types like that? I feel that the writers ppicked gastly cos the pokedex entry saying they blow away on the wind like drifloon. Cos this is actually the valley windworks adaptation episode! That was such a nice surprise when it turned out momma joy's husband was the windmill electrician guy!! He looks SO cute in the anime too! He's really chubby and has such a nice round face with a button nose and big anime eyes and a cute turquoise jacket electrician uniforn thing. And he's funny and goofy with his kids and very caribg and cautious about letting them ride home alone in the bad weather, and also he's a GIANT BADASS with an ampharos that thunderpunches the shit out of team rocket and defeats them before ash can even get there lol! Actually they never show what momma joy's main pokemon is? I like to think maybe its a gengar cos thats the most chansey-ish ghost type. And also itd mean the chubby guy has a tall and thin pokemon and his tall and thin wife has a chubby pokemon. Theyre such a cute couple so itd be even cuter!

Oh and i forgot to mention that everyone travels around via drifloon??? Thats so surreal when you consider their pokedex entries saying them carrying children is a bad thing that means theyre kidnapoing them. Like, they domesticated a very dangerous pokemon and now it uses its dangerousness for the powers of good instead! Maybe its just the anime censoring a scary thing or maybe it was intentional to show how badass this momma joy is that she could tame so many spoopy ghosts that everyone thinks are pure evil? Seriously i LOVE how they show this family working to protect and heal the local wild pokemon and them all being super friendly to humans because of it. And it makes sense theyd be ghost tyoe trainers cos if youre befriending all the pokemon in a forest youre bound to find a few lost souls. Mountains and forests are like the deadliest areas for travellers so mountain forests especially so! Everyone's lucky they have this badass family team watching over the area like guardian spirits~

OH SPEAKING OF WHICH

I forgot to mention that the main conflict of the episode is that the joy sisters have a fight because the older sister is a bit overprotective and dismissive of her little sister, causing her to be reckless and get lost trying to "be grown up and help mommy". And in the end the big sister rescues her with the help of the guardian spirit of the hot springs and they reconcile their differences and have big cute hugs! Its all very well written and dramatic actually.i really felt for the older sister's determination to save her, and i felt it was a good case of a conflict where both of them were wrong and both made mistakes and it was just like they coulda avoided those mistakes if they talked it out better. And both of them had a point at the same time, yknow? So it didnt end with either of them losing the argument or anything, it was more like the lesson is just to appreciate your siblings while theyre there and also talk about your problems in clear language with younger kids instead of using excuses like "you just cant, cos im older and i said so".

Oh also SUICUNE!

The super onsen spirit is suicune?? The little sister just casually mentions her biggest best friend in the forest is suicune and is surprised when ash says its a legendary! Wow thats actually a really cool idea? You wouldnt necessarily think of it cos you kinda think of hot springs for the hot part but theyre also a sort of super clean water like how suicune is meant to be able to purify polluted lakes. Maybe it came here to make its nest cos places that are already purified are comforting to someone who wanders the earth blasting stinky water with its powers every day. I like to think maybe this is the same suicune from Generations where they said the legendary beasts are roaming legendaries because humans treated them as demons when they first walked out of the ashes, and now theyre still scared of us even centuries later. Itd be sad if they literally kept running forever, so i like to think they all have a comforting spot to sleep in, somewhere. And for suicune its this little isolated lake in the sinnoh region which used to be super far away from human civilization. But then this family's ancestors built this hospital here and suicune was initially like "oh no my house is ruined" but then it saw that these humans were helping protect tge forest pokemon too. So its like "ah fellow coworkers" and theyre the only humans it trusts. And whenever theyre in trouble it sneakily helps them and dashes away before it can be seen, but one day it got unlucky and the kids saw it and now OH NO it is stuck havibg CUTE TINY FRIENDS! I bet the littlest joy just treats suicune like a big puppy, and this great noble beast of legend plays along because it loves her so much. But if anyone else sees it demeaning itself with a game of fetch, it would be Total Social Death In The Legendaries Club

Anyway there's some cute moments of Emotionally Wise Kind Ash The Best Of All Ashes where he finds the lost little-joy and he tries to cheer her up when she's scared by the storm and keep her dry from the rain. And he has absolute faith that his friends will come to save them both! The only thing i think coukd have maybe made it better is if the big sister joy didnt beleive in suicune? Cos it just ends with her going to ask suicune for help and then suicune helps. There's a lack of tension cos you know suicune could easily resolve all this and you already know suicune is real cos the lil sis says that big sis told her to keep it a secret cos its a Big Deal and Bad People Could Take Suicune Away and stuff. Like it might have worked better if the big sis thought that little sis was just making up rumours to be all boastful, or playing with an imaginary friend. Then her going to ask suicune for help would have symbolized something, yknow? And the audience might have been tense about whether it was real or not.

But even without that added suggestion it was still a great episode! Lots of cuteness, emotionalness, familyness and a few great jokes along the way! Also i just loved them giving unique character designs and a full backstory to these minor npcs from the game. Whenever i play it now i'm totally gonna headcanon this all as true! I mean all we know about the daughter character in the game is that she says "papa youre stinky but i still love you" and that feels very in character for the slightly mischievious little sis joy that we meet in this episode. Though you only see the one daughter and she acts like she hasnt caught a drifloon yet and dreams of seeing it if you can fix the windmill problems so it'll come back. So maybe the game version takes place a little before the anime? Like, that daughter is the engineer dad's daughter from a previous relationship and the older daughter is joy's daughter from a previous relationship. And i dunno maybe lil daughter's hair colour actually is the generic npc brown from the games but she begged her momma to dye it so she could match. Like she just loves her new momma and sister so much!! And now the struggling mountain poke-center is doing better because both parents work difderent jobs now and have enough money combined to be able to keep the family in a better quality of life. And maybe the team galactic incident at the valley windworks got it a bit of publicity as a tourist destination? and after the daughter caught that drifloon everyone who visited was like GOSH ITS SO CUTIE and the dad was like "yes our special windmill attracts these pokemon that are normally only found high up on the mountains, speaking of which my wife runs an inn up there and you can go on pokemon wildlife tours to see them in their natural habitat!" And just I LOVE THESE GUYS AND I WANT THEM TO HAVE ALL THE SUCCESS IN THEIR LIFE!! There is NOTHING better than "hey we're adapting this gane what should we do?" "Add MORE FAMBLY" Like oh my god whoever had that wonderful idea should be promoted!

Thus ends bunni's disjointed review of FAMBLY EPISODE

[ssadag]

Rant

Today was a long day in office. It just felt that way. I was just too low to do anything. On top of that I got angry, very angry today. I reached office as usual and finished up certain emails that I had to send. At around ten I took my regular coffee break and went into the break room to find both coffee pots empty. My friend was also there and we starting talking in general about how things were going. She mentioned how hurt she was by the way “we” were treated at our work. She went as far as to say that this is racism and I totally agreed with. We were not even treated like humans in this place. We were just integration producing machines that needed to run non-stop. As we were talking more about this I remembered an incident at Blackberry that I thought I will write about. I don’t think I have ever mentioned this to anyone. My team at Blackberry had a mix of people from different cultures. We had a Bulgarian, a Canadian, 2 Chinese and the rest were Americans or Indians. My routine was very different back then. I was living alone in a 1BHK apartment and went into work at around 9.30 everyday and stayed back until 7. I wouldn’t talk to anyone back then (I have improved a lot on that skill now) and I did not find someone who could initiate contact and engage with me. I purely had a professional relationship with everyone there. I used to have breakfast everyday at the canteen at around 10 because of which my lunch was always around 2.30 or 3 which meant I could never go to lunch with my team mates who would have lunch by 11.30. There went another chance of me socializing. One day I had skipped breakfast and was really hungry by 11.30 and I joined 3 other team mates for lunch. The Bulgarian, 2 Americans and me went to a BBQ place nearby. I did not have to look at the menu because the only thing I was going to get there was a salad. We finished our meal and as we walked out one American guy said to me “Hey Srihari, here are the keys go get the car (It was his car, implying I was a driver)” for which the other American said “So, you are saying that because he is brown?” and then both of them burst out laughing. As usual I did not know what to say or react. The Bulgarian said “Hey guys, that’s really uncalled for” for which the American said “Ah, Sri’s cool with that” for which the correct response should have been “IT’S F**KING NOT COOL” but all I did was give a wry smile and walk on. Rejections are very bitter pills to swallow. Everybody faces rejections in life so generally it is not a big deal to get rejected. You get rejected in a job interview because they feel you are not qualified enough for the job. Fair enough. A girl you really like rejects you because you are not her type. Fair enough. You get rejected because your skin color is brown. How is that fair? I can prepare better for the interview and land the job next time, I can also find a girl who likes me. How can I change the color of my skin? Why am I being rejected for something on which I have absolutely no control? I was born this way and I cannot change anything about it now. That day when the incident happened I just thought to myself, what am I doing with my life in this shithole of a country? I did not sleep well for over a month. I was just a click away from going back home once for all. I had certain responsibilities at that time which stopped me from doing that. It hurts a lot, so I really understood where my friend was coming from when she said about it. I am fed up with the looks of derision and disgust that I sometimes get when I go out in the public. Hey average American here’s some news to you, WE F**KING DESERVE TO BE HERE and we are not free riders. We toiled hard enough to earn our way into this country. Took a loan, started a new life in a country where we knew no one. Stayed and still staying away from the people who love us. Earned a degree and applied for a gazillion jobs before I landed one, which also doesn’t go through because I do not have a green card. We have learnt to survive and have adapted to a completely new environment in quite a short span of time unlike you guys who complain that Illinois is so bad to cope with since you are from Texas. I agree that I do not speak English the way you do, but I work freaking hard on my job. If speaking English the “American” way is your sole yardstick of measurement then I am sorry to say you have failed as a system. A guy in my office who has been here for a little over 6 months gets a technical lead role because he is white and can yap better than me. I am not an evil guy in general but I am secretly praying that this new technical lead thing in my office fails spectacularly even if it means I also fail with the organization. I and few other people who definitely deserved a shout out were not even considered for the role. We were indirectly deemed not fit enough to face the customer. This is something that has been bothering me for a while and today I was just raging. If this is the treatment I am going to receive then how would I get motivation to excel and go the extra yard? I used to think maybe all this is all because I come across as tame and timid. I decided that I will be more assertive at work from now on and more importantly learn to say no the next time there is something that I cannot do. I know I am barking up the wrong tree but I needed to get this out. Expecting respect, dignity and humane treatment in my office is akin to going to a Farah Khan movie and expecting logic. Rant over (Ah, that felt good).