#was it just a catch all verse to make it easier to interact with other fandoms/characters in DC

[dpmultibitches]

Verse: Escape

Jazz and Danny both get emancipated because of the borderline neglect from the Fentons, whether intentional or not. Afterwards they move out of Amity to get a fresh start to make Danny feels safer being himself, they have the blueprints for the Fenton portal and they build it with some alterations to make it safer. After they finish the new portal Danny goes back to disable the one his parents made for safety reason, also because he doesn't want the ghosts going into Amity Park when he's not there to make sure them and humans are okay during attacks. As far as he's aware of Jack and Maddie don't know about him being Phantom, and he doesn't exactly have any plans to tell them himself.

[scented-morker]

Enhypen when you’re their Bite Me dance partner

Idol!enha x background dancer reader (they’re female, but I didn’t use any pronouns so can be read as gn) 945 words. ⚠️PSA: just bc idols interact with the other gender doesn’t mean it’s romantic and I am in no way trying to imply that!! This is fanfiction and shouldn’t be taken too seriously!! ⚠️

Heeseung

No because when you first meet him he seems so calm and polite and you’re like “wow this is gonna work out so well”

Because even tho he’s super hot (hello?) He’s not trying to use it on you

But we’re all very familiar with the switch up when he starts performing

suddenly he’s smirking and holding eye contact and just 😳

You feel like you might need to go take a lap and cool off

HAVE YOU SEEN THAT PART IN THE SECOND VERSE WHERE LIKE HE GRABS HIS DANCERS HANDS DOWN HIS CHEST??? (1:39 in the 230602 mubank performance 🫣)

He chills out eventually but the first time he literally made you run your hands down his chest 🫠🫠🫠

“You know you can touch me right?”

He notices your hesitant movements and literally grabs your hands to put them on his neck 🥵

“See that wasn’t so hard was it?” bark bark bark bark bark

Jay

Literally SO respectful

When you guys meet for the first time he goes out of his way to get to know you because he doesn’t want it to be awkward when you start dancing

He keeps it up later too, he always asks “is this okay?” before putting his hands on your back or anything (even when you’ve run the song fifty times)

Every time you come back on stage he gives you a little wink 🫠

And everytime you do the like dip/lean back thing he makes silly faces at you when you come back up 😭

So all the fancams are trying to figure out why you’re laughing in the middle of the dance 😔

Jake

Okay because he’s a flirt and he knows that he should keep it professional with you but you’re just so pretty 🥹 he can’t help it

You notice how he always seems to be touching you a little longer than everyone else

Like Jake the choreographer stopped everyone five minutes ago why are you still holding on 🤨

Always acts like he’s gonna drop you when you lean back in that one part (I hope you know what I’m talking about)

Like he’ll have his hands on your waist and then let go just to watch you drop and then catch you again

(He thinks your angry face is cute when the song ends and you smack him for it)

Bites his lip EVERYTIME on the part where you touch his chin 🫣

Sunghoon

He’s so awkward I’m sorry 😭😭

Like you’re ready to start dancing and make your choreographer proud but he’s really making it hard

You can tell he doesn’t love the idea of touching you (rude 😐) so you try to go a little easier on him

You just lay your hands on him instead of grabbing or anything, and you don’t lean as far back bc he’s not actually holding your waist he’s just putting his hand in front of it 😭

But then the choreographer yells at him because he’s gonna end up dropping you so he has to actually touch you

“Uh is this okay? Where- where should I?”

You try not to laugh at his bashfulness, grabbing his hand and putting it on your waist

“You have to support my back right here okay? Don’t let me fall.”

BUT HES THE ONE WHO FELL (for you) 🤭🤪🤩

Sunoo

Literally made you feel instantly comfortable, he has the least threatening aura ever

He was all “hi! I’m sunoo!! I can’t wait to dance with you 🥰😁”

And you were like ☺️

At one point when you guys had marked it a few times, not actually doing the partner stuff you looked at him and went “are you sure you can hold me up?”

It’s not like he had to hold all of your body weight but like dang you needed some support ya know, and he just moved so gently that you were a little suspicious

This offended him immensely of course, and he picked you up right then and there

Just threw you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes

“Yeah, I’ll be okay”

okayyyyyyyyyy 🥵

Jungwon

Slow burn x100 bc he’s a responsible and professional leader 👏

He asked Niki about how to better dance with a partner because he didn’t have any experience with it and wants to make sure he does a good job 🥹 (my baby)

He is DETERMINED to make this choreography perfect, and is not afraid to correct you

“Make sure you actually touch my chest when you do that, it doesn’t look as good when you just pretend.”

Okay Jungwon 🤭 I’m sure that’s why 🤭

When he starts really performing with facials and everything you’re literally losing it 😭

Like face burning bright red, what happened to the cute guy you were dancing with for the last month why is he staring into your soul mid dance

One time he touched your knee while you did the like drag up by their chin move and you literally had to take a walk

Riki

He knows what he’s doing okay?

Like I said previously, he’s the only one with experience in partner dancing

So you were worried at first that he’d be shy because you knew he was the youngest one

But then the first time you ran the song together he grabbed your waist and dropped you so low your ponytail wiped the floor 😭😭

He makes SO MUCH eye contact you literally are on the verge of combusting

When the boys point it out he says it’s because he has to watch you to make sure you don’t need anything because that’s what good observant partners do (boys a liarrr)

Since you’re one of the ones that has to start on the ground he always put his jacket on the ground during practice so you wouldn’t hurt your back/shoulders 😭😭

[theallblue]

GET TO KNOW YOUR ADMIN !!

name — Mkay

pronouns — she/her

preferred comms — I'm not too picky when it comes to anyone wanting to talk to me, but I do tend to favor discord.

name of muse - Sanji Vinsmoke. experience in RP — I've been roleplaying since high school more or less starting off on facebook before I moved to tumblr/discord so I've been doing it for awhile. I can't remember exactly how long it has been but its been like 10+ years pretty much.

best experiences —That would have to be the people who I have met through roleplaying especially the ones who tend to stick around the most. My oldest roleplaying buddies are @changeandmovingon @battleguqin and @bringxthexfirexmultimusesx who I mostly interact with through my sideblog. But they have been here since we first met in our fandoms and I love everything about those three. Adding @kaizokugaris as well since I just randomly yell at her whenever I get ideas xd.

pet peeves / dealbreakers — I have a few that tends to bug me a bit especially when it is stated in my rules. Being used as a meme source only despite following one another which tends to cause me to soft block them. Blogs that don't have rules, I won't follow them since that makes it difficult to tell about the person who is the owner of the blog. Blogs that try to force me to answer their threads/asks asap, I had an issue with that in another fandom that I'm in which caused me to block that person. And drama in general, I had enough of that when I was in the Voltron fandom.

muse preference ( fluff, angst, smut ) — Fluff and angst are the type of threads that I tend to lean toward the most since I'm not much of a smut roleplayer. Smut threads I usually have reserved for the blogs that I ship with the most because of the pairing that we created together. My muses are from around 15 years and up including the ones on my sideblog even though I don't have many pairings on @soundingstars right now.

plot or memes — I tend to do both especially if it is with someone that I haven't interacted with before since I like to see if there are any verses/ideas that catch their interest or something they've been wanting to do. I don't favor one over the other since it just depends on if inspiration hits for plotting or not.

long or short replies — I favor paragraph type threads the most since I like to put a lot of details in my threads, habit of being a fanfic writer. I don't mind doing short threads, but I just work better when it comes to the multi-paragraph type threads since it helps keep my interest about the roleplay. I am able to keep it going easier when it comes to the longer threads.

best time to write — I write whenever usually but probably evenings/nights when I don't have much to disturb me from my writing process unless I am working on a fanfic first. And my dogs will be asleep even though they can get a bit rowdy in the evening because they want to play together. Or when I'm not invested in watching one of the many K or C dramas that I am addicted to xd.

are you like your muse — Yeah probably, there most likely is something that I have similar with my muses. I have 22 muses all together when counting the ones from my sideblog. I usually pick them because there is something I like about them or OTP reasons even though most on my sideblog are from smaller fandoms. There are some on my sideblog where the RP side doesn't even exist so crossovers usually for those.

Tagged by: @graytxrminal Tagging: @kaizokugaris @changeandmovingon @battleguqin @bringxthexfirexmultimusesx @king-and-his-consorts @pxison @sillygum @whiskeysmulti and anyone else who reads this!

[streetslost]

What would be the best way to start an interaction with you if we’ve never written before?

hello, lovely nonnie! thank you for the inquiry! i've been a bit slow/busy lately, so two of my go-to suggestions for me are a bit awol at the moment... which is i love to like starter calls and also i tend to make them! but since i've been trying to catch up, i've not been doing either lately ajsdfkl;jaf the best way to start things with me these days is just to message me if you have something in mind! doesn't need to be a full plot, but if you have a barebones idea or a relationship you'd like to explore, just slide into my askbox or ims or hmu for d.isco. i'm a bit slow depending on work but plotting/chatting through things helps a lot and will make it easier for me to write when i can get to it! i also think establishing a basic reaction with cat is super nice because it helps dodge some of the awkward intro stage. another way is to send memes! i don't have a lot on my blog but i got a few i like. i feel like memes are easier to set up an intriguing situation without necessarily having to plot or the like. but if you do have a verse preference or interaction preference, just include that in the ask! random ask interactions in general also work just as well if not better at times tbh. lastly... honestly if we're mutuals, just ask/let me know you'd like to make me a starter and pretty much 99% of the time i'll say yes! as long as you understand i'm as slow as molasses right now ( work is in crunch mode for a bit ) ajfskl;ja and if you don't have plots or ideas or anything yet, you can always just message me to chat, get to know each other, ask questions about our muses, yatta yatta! sometimes my ability to converse is low because work takes a lot out of me and so i apologize in advance for that at times but. despite what it may seem, i adore chatting/connecting with others. my focus just doesn't always lol. i hope that helps any? long story short. i'm a slow, busy bean, but i love people and writing and am trying to get back in the zone so just give me some patience is all!

[outoutdamnspark]

(Shipping meme template from here; OC image made using this picrew)

GardenShipping meme with Emmet and my OC Reina Kageyama. I’m working on a full introductory post for Reina, but in the meantime, have this~

(More info under the cut.)

Normal Verse (”Free Cookies”)

Reina and Emmet meet during one of Reina’s closing shifts at the battle cafe she works at, roughly six months to a year after Ingo’s disappearance.

Emmet works himself to death after his brother goes missing, holding Gear Station together by day and then going home late at night to do research leads until he passes out. One night, in desperate need of caffeine, he stops by the only place he can find still open on his way home: a quaint, relatively new little battle cafe with a pretty, blue-haired barista. 

Reina, (originally from Kanto) has lived a mostly-nomadic lifestyle for the past near-decade, having only just recently moved to Nimbasa. As such, she doesn’t recognize Emmet as anyone famous; all she knows is that he looks exhausted.

Before he leaves, Reina gives him a bag with the last remaining baked goods from the counter display free of charge, telling him, “Everyone needs a free cookie sometimes. You look like you could use one right now.”

Reina treats him kindly, without any of the pity or invasive-ness Emmet has grown so sick of over the past year; her smiles are genuine - albeit a little weary - and she doesn’t fawn over him. She simply treats him like a person, and it’s the most refreshing interaction Emmet has had in far too long. 

He keeps coming back almost every night after he leaves work. He even catches her on a shift where she’s working as the trainer for the day instead of as a barista, and they get to battle for the first time. (She doesn’t win, but it’s damn close.)

Eventually she learns who he is and what happened to Ingo, but instead of pity like Emmet fears, she offers empathy; Reina once had two sisters, who disappeared over a decade ago - first one, and then the other a few years later on the same day. She’s lost her own hope, so she tries to keep Emmet from losing his. She doesn’t try to convince him to let his brother go - rather, she truly believes that Ingo is still out there for him to find.

(Despite them helping each other through their similar grief, Reina and Emmet likely don’t get together

officially

until Ingo returns, when Emmet finally feels stable enough to be in a relationship and Reina faces her fear of letting anyone close.)

===

Gear Station AU Version (”Age Gap”)

(inspired heavily by the SilverFox!Emmet AU over on leggerefiore’s blog)

Emmet is nearly 40 after Ingo’s been missing for a decade, so there’s a wider age gap between he and Reina in this one. The pair are also slightly more jaded here, and together they re-learn how to love after their respective losses make them push everyone away.

Reina arrives in Nimbasa and lives in a tent or at the pokemon center for a bit while looking for a job and a place to rent. She applies for an assistant position at Gear Station on a whim, and, not knowing who Emmet is, is the first applicant to not offer flattery or bullshit; she’s hired on the spot.

Emmet staying late gives her an excuse not to go back to a tent in the woods, so she starts staying at the station with him and they wind up bonding. Like in normal verse, she treats him like a person - and then later, like a friend. She makes it a point to try and make his job easier, and once she’s housed she starts bringing him food.

On the anniversary of her sisters’ disappearance, Reina gets utterly shitfaced and calls Emmet so she doesn’t have to be alone with her thoughts. She drunkenly confesses her feelings to him because the anniversary makes her terrified she’ll lose another person she loves.

The next day at work, Emmet pulls her aside and confesses in return, leading them to timidly start a relationship - and then slowly grow more (somewhat questionably healthily) obsessed with one another as their respective abandonment issues combine.

===

General Relationship Stuff

Clingy: In both verses, Reina is wholly unused to affection, so she’s a little oblivious at first. After she gets used to it and she finally lets herself love him, her unprocessed trauma surfaces, mixes with Emmet’s own, and they both slowly learn how to not feel so alone. She adores him, but is admittedly almost just as needy as he is.

Horny: She’s demisexual but also incredibly touch/affection starved, which means that once the relationship has progressed enough emotionally to where she finds herself sexually attracted to Emmet, all bets are off. Her libido almost perfectly matches his.

Trust/Jealousy: Emmet and Reina trust one another implicitly. For Reina, she’s more likely to be insecure and self-depreciating than she is jealous. Occasionally she’ll get annoyed instead, - usually when someone is blatantly throwing themselves at Emmet or making him uncomfortable by refusing to take no for an answer. Emmet gets jealous a bit more easily, but it’s never directed at Reina; it’s more super overprotective than anything.

(In the Age Gap verse, he worries she’ll get bored with him and leave once she ‘realizes she doesn’t want an older man slowing her down.’ She never does.)

[shiiikigami]

RULES / ABOUT !

ABOUT: this is a private multi-muse blog featuring muses from JUJUTSU KAISEN, managed by ammonia. mature themes may be found here, and i do not interact with writers under 18. activity is relaxed, and muses may change. i may not follow everyone back due to private status.

ACTIVITY: writing is a hobby of mine, and i may not always be here as often as i’d like. please respect my activity level and do not pressure me for quick replies. i have a chronic illness that leads me to not get to replies some days and i expect you to be understanding. this is my only blog, and there are days when i only want to write certain muses, so some replies may take longer than others.

DRAMA: this is the most important rule! i am an easy-going writer with an open mind, however i will not tolerate abuse of any kind. if i am harassed or pressured, or if i am being drawn into any kind of drama, i will no longer interact with you. i write for the joy of it, and i like to blow off steam delving into threads. i’m not here to be stressed out over a hobby. i don’t vague blog, and if i see you making vagueblogs or callout posts about other writers, i am going to block you without a prior warning. i don’t engage in rpc drama and prefer to stay out of it.

DISCORD: i do a good deal of writing over discord as it’s slightly easier. if you want to write on discord, drop me a message. 18+: i don’t interact with writers who are minors. period. this blog may contain adult themes. i am currently not writing smut scenes and prefer to fade to black or skip over it. GODMODDING: don’t do it. you should not write my character’s actions for me, nor should your character know mine’s inner thoughts/feelings or history. TRIGGERS: i have no triggers that i request that you tag. i do my best to tag what i can in all posts. however, as this blog deals with mature themes on occasion, follow at your own risk.

SPOILERS: i will tag spoilers for new episodes up to 1 week after airing. i will tag manga spoilers until the anime catches up. they will be tagged as the following example: #jjk spoilers. i am up to date on manga & episodes. i would love to write plots that are ahead of the anime!

TRANSLATIONS: as i’m a native english speaker who can’t read japanese, the manga and anime i reference from are the official english translations. while i know they’re likely not as accurate, it’s what i have to work from.

PLOTS: i will be writing various plotlines, however i will not be writing adultery, or sexual assault as i choose not to. i prefer to write battle scenes if we have pre-plotted it in advance. i am open to writing with just about any character/verse. if it’s from media i haven’t read/seen/played i will ask you for a wiki so i can read up a little and become familiar, but i am open to it all. i like to focus on interpersonal relationships, not just romantic but familial, friends, enemies and anything in between. i am accepting of all oc's as long as i can find your character's info on your blog easily - and i am open to ship with oc's too if there is chemistry between the characters.

NOTICE: many of my muses have sustained injuries that resulted in disabilities. i will be portraying this with respect as well as realistically, and i don’t write plots that erase those disabilities.

SHIPPING: i love to write relationships, whether it is deep friendship, enemies or lovers. if you want to write a ship of any kind with me, drop me a DM! i usually ship by chemistry.

[apompkwrites]

love in their own way || albedo, childe, xiao, zhongli

masterlist characters: albedo, childe, xiao, zhongli genre: fluff summary: in which their s/o's aren't as forward about their emotions, but still manage to have their little tells that express their love. notes: i hope this meets the request! i had a lot of fun writing this! i just want the boys to be happy :)

albedo -

i like to think albedo is secretly clingy but doesn't allow himself to show it to anyone.

naturally, it's just because he's always holed up with his work.

when he consciously does it... it's because he's nervous.

remember the end of his quest when he's talking to himself at dragonspine?

that's why he's nervous.

anyway!!

he's not too bothered by the fact that you're more reserved.

he has a lot of work so he can't really dwell on the idea for too long.

just you being there when he's working is good enough for him :D

as we all know, this boy is very into experimentation and learning.

so trying to decipher your minuscule facial changes is actually really interesting to him!

he has a bunch of notes just on the little details he can find about you.

and since he's so observant, it doesn't take him long to realize that there are certain signs that only appear around him.

he'll notice them when he's painting you.

whenever he's waiting for results, he'll use the time to draw you <3

because he's done this, he practically has you memorized.

so imagine his surprise when he sees your expression change whenever he leaves your sight.

it takes him a while to actually be able to see this, but i'm sure it's because of timaeus and sucrose.

after all, they're around you a lot whenever albedo is busy.

they probably take a picture to show him something they did while he was gone and that's when he notices.

he doesn't even have to look at a different picture of you.

he can just tell you look different.

the little crinkle next to your eyes was gone.

your lips were more pursed than usual.

you now had a crease in between your brows you didn't have before.

the next time he sees you, he'll hold up the picture next to your face to confirm they're different.

he wants to ask why there's a "clear" difference in your appearance but he already knows why.

he'll ask you just to be sure, though--

your cheeks get a tiny tiny bit darker when you answer wholeheartedly.

it does make him chuckle when he hears that you're so smitten for him in your monotonous voice.

the picture sucrose and timaeus took isn't his favorite of you, so he ends up taking a new one when you two are both exploring dragonspine.

it's a reminder of how much you really love him <3

childe -

out of the four boys here, he's definitely (in my opinion) the most affectionate.

like, this boy will take whatever he can get to just hold you for a second.

especially if you're also from snezhnaya but came all the way to liyue to keep him company.

he's very family-oriented as we've seen, so he treasures these relationships.

now, with an unaffectionate s/o?

honestly, i don't think he'd be too upset about it.

like i said, he really treasures these familial relationships.

because of this, it's his top priority to make sure you feel comfortable in the relationship.

he won't necessarily keep his distance, but he won't be too clingy either.

he'll stand right beside you, enough to where you can almost feel his skin touching yours.

as for your expressionlessness...

it'll take him a bit to really understand how you're feeling.

it's a lot of communication because he doesn't want to mess anything up.

near the beginning of the relationship, he'd ask how you're feeling and if there's anything bothering you.

but once he finally notices the subtle differences in your face, such as a slight eyebrow raise or a tilt of the head, he'll be able to read you easier.

nothing too complex, but just enough for him to tell your emotions.

there is one subtle change that he always looks for, however.

he's realized, with the help of zhongli of course, that there is a specific characteristic that only happens when he's in your line of sight.

your lips are normally pressed in a fine line.

however, around him, the corners lift up ever-so-slightly.

the only reason he's able to see it is that he'll catch himself staring at your lips because he wants a kiss :)

once he sees that, he starts noticing your little quirks whenever you're around him.

you'll lean closer to him as you're walking through liyue harbor.

your eyes start to soften as he talks on and on about his day (and complains about scaramouche--).

he loves the idea that all of these little details about you only happen around him,

it makes him feel... important.

and loved.

even if he holds back from touching you, he'll settle for seeing your cold exterior melt around him.

xiao -

he's not too well versed in affection...

i mean, he's the vigilant yaksha that is known for being stoic just like you are.

you two are basically carbon copies of each other.

no affection and no clear expressions of love.

people (who know both you and xiao) often forget that you two are actually together.

like, they just think you two sit in silence when you're both tired of dealing with people.

they... aren't necessarily wrong.

the two of you are often found sitting at the balcony looking over liyue.

sometimes you bring him almond tofu to share :)

it's very rare for the two of you to actively show your love for each other, mainly because you both know your feelings.

although... xiao does have those moments.

it's not like he's completely oblivious to the whispers about you two.

and on the days where his karma acts up, he gets insecure.

he's... really scared that one day you'll leave just like the others.

it doesn't matter if you're a mortal or an adeptus, he's scared that one day he'll wake up and you'll be gone.

and if that ever comes, he's scared you'll pass on either doubting your feelings or his.

it doesn't help when he notices the difference in your attitude and appearance when he's around.

his first instinct is that he's doing something bad.

either you're angry or upset at his mere existence...

verr goldet's the one who has to explain why you seem different.

she's quite observant on her own, especially because you're the first person that xiao actively enjoys being around.

she'll be the one to tell him that it isn't because you're mad at him.

you have minuscule changes because that's how xiao makes you feel.

you're so soft around him and she can tell just from the small interactions she's seen of you.

for example, when you're talking to the chef downstairs, you have the same expression that xiao has when he's talking to people.

you're annoyed but you know how to handle it.

but when you're around xiao, it's like everything that bothers you disappears.

it's like you're in your own domain whenever he's around.

nothing else matters except for him.

and even if she's relying on small observations and pure intuition, she can tell that the changes are good.

your eyes that seem to look anywhere besides the person you are talking to are completely different from the ones that seem to only focus on xiao.

your normally stiff body relaxes every time you summon xiao at the balcony.

the tiny smile that graces your lips when you disappear to the top of the inn for hours on end.

verr goldet's explanation calms his heart.

his worries seem to disappear and the next time he sees you...

this is the one thing his karma can't take away. he'll be sure of it.

zhongli -

zhongli is also another person who isn't well versed in relationships.

although he isn't as inexperienced as xiao, it'll take some time for him to figure it out.

he's not someone who craves affection like it's the only thing keeping him alive.

he definitely would appreciate it but he completely understands that it isn't something you tend to give.

so instead, he'll show his love in the smaller things.

such as telling you stories, sharing tea, going out on walks, etc.

he's another person who is very observant, especially in people close to him.

his storytelling friends often ask him about your relationship with one another.

they try to bring it to his attention that you may not be as interested as he thinks you are.

of course, he'll simply laugh them off and tell them that they should listen to the person who knows you best.

he'll turn those questions into a big story and explain how they're mistaken about you.

he's never actively told anyone this, save for hu tao who tries to bug him into telling her, but he'll tell them about all of the tiny details that tell him your feelings.

when you're feeling upset, you puff out your cheeks a small bit.

when you're angry, your glare hardens at whatever is making you mad.

when you're happy, your lips part slightly.

when you're in love... well, that's a detail he'll keep for himself.

he's quick to say goodbye to his peers, practically rushing back to your shared home.

he's greeted by you as soon as he opens the door.

your stoic expressions... would be exactly the same to anyone else.

but to him, it's like you've lit up like a small puppy seeing their human parents come home after years.

you don't run up to him, but you turn to look at him and away from the book on the table.

he'll greet you with a quiet nod, pulling out the chair and sitting next to you.

he'll take the book from you, taking in your appearance for a moment.

your shoulders relax by a hair and you move your chair an inch closer to his.

you don't lean your head on his shoulder but you lean towards him as if you were about to.

it's these moments that make everything worth it to zhongli.

here, in your home and in your life, he's simply zhongli.

the man you fell in love with and allowed your reserved self to open up to.

and he would trade anything just to have these moments with you.

[cursedbcrn]

VERSE: FIRST KILL

This is a catch-all verse for interactions in the First Kill verse/lore.  I tried my best to fit things in as they made sense for Hope without dictating too much what’s going on.  It is super vague in order to open up for plotting with others. As always, I’m flexible to tweaks to adjust and adapt to other muns and muses’ preferences. 

Legacy vampires are an urban myth, as far as most people are concerned.  When they think of vampires, they think of ghoulish monsters of the night who disintegrate into ash and dust when they are staked through the heart. They are misled by popular culture and its adoration of vampire lore. The Mikaelsons lean into this idea of an urban myth more than other Legacy families do, letting the ideas of vampires and wolves and witches flourish in the French Quarter.  It helps with the tourism, and they could hardly deny enjoying the slight bit of fear that is instilled the general populace when their names are brought up. Hiding in plain sight made easier by flooding the streets with a truth so absurd that most humans prefer to treat it as a folly.

Hope’s status as a Legacy is tenuous at best, largely because she was born out of wedlock.  Her parents’ affair created a scandal within the city. While it was a testament to the power that the Mikaelsons already had that they were able to maintain their status after her birth, it was only the revelation of Hayley as a Legacy of the Labonair line that saved their reputations.  After all, Legacy vampires are a matriarchal society, and there is no denying that Hope is her mother’s daughter.

Still, Hope never quite saw her family at the height of their power as a result of the scandal. The Mikaelsons’ status within the Legacy family hierarchy is mid to upper-tier at best, perhaps half a step down from the Davenports or the Sugimotos. They have been trying to rebuild their family’s reputation over the last two decades, with the help of witches (cough cough Freya) and other, non-Legacy sources, and the Mikaelsons are finally ready to debut Hope to the world of Legacies and the expectations that come with it.

NOTES

The Labonair Legacy line was supposedly hunted to extinction in the 1980s, with Hayley Marshall (aka Andrea Labonair) as the sole survivor. Even Hayley didn’t know her heritage, and it’s not until she is pregnant with Hope that she and the Mikaelsons learn the truth. 

Hope’s “unique” status is just that she was born out of wedlock from an affair between a Legacy and a “nobody”. However, being the sole heir to the Labonair line (and a girl to boot) makes her a hot commodity within the Legacy community, even if a lot of them turn up their noses at the Mikaelsons and the fact that she wasn’t born out of an arranged marriage.

As mentioned above, I’m open to tweaking pretty much anything other than the fact that it is Hayley’s line and heritage that grants Hope legitimacy within the highbrow Legacy community. I’m not open to changing that bit because it’s crucial for setting up the family history. 

[fostersffff]

do you have a guide into getting into vtubers?

I can certainly make one up!

Much like any other kind of streamer/LPer/“content creator”, the most important thing is just finding one (or several) that you enjoy watching and- if you’re into stream chat- interacting with. The only thing you may want to be versed in ahead of time are in-jokes and memes (which you’ll catch onto over time by lurking, which should always be your first move when joining a new community) and basic etiquette, ranging from normal stuff like “don’t spam chat, don’t talk about other streams/streamers unless they’re brought up first, especially in the name of DRAMA, you are not friends with the streamer no matter how much/often you participate and/or donate” to more vtuber specific stuff like “don’t doxx them”, which is The Big One™ and ranges from “don’t literally doxx them” to “don’t bring up past handles/identities unless they bring it up first”. If you’re looking for suggestions on who to check out, or what you should be looking for, here’s a very wide scattershot recommendation (bolded text is searchable names):

Being affiliated with a big brand name isn’t an objective measure of quality, but by nature of how networks function there’s way more readily accessible content of vtubers affiliated with those brands. If you go to YouTube and search “Hololive clips” or “Nijisani clips” you’ll get infinitely varied results, but if you’ve never seen a vtuber and are looking for something specific to start with, I’m really partial to Inugame Korone’s English-only Super Mario Bros. playthrough. And if you want to narrow down the search to specific vtubers, try searching for clips of Korone, Usada Pekora, Kiryu Coco, Houshou Marine, Oozora Subaru, Sakura Miko, Omaru Polka, Momosuzu Nene, and Amano Pikamee; all of them tend to have a lot of clips made and a huge backlog of streams.

Speaking of English-only, if you want to actively be engaged with streams and can’t understand Japanese, there are also plenty of English speaking vtubers. The most popular ones far and away are the English branch of Hololive (aka HoloEN or HoloMyth, made up of Amelia Watson, Gawr Gura, Calliope Mori, Ninomae Ina’nis, and Takanashi Kiara), and as well as a number of Indonesian Vtubers, who tend to be extremely fluent in English (Hana Macchia of Nijisani, and Ayunda Risu, Moona Hoshinova, Kureiji Ollie, and the rest of the Indonesian branch of Hololive, aka HoloID). However, if you’re looking more distinctly Western/American vtubers (less of a wholesome/idol-like presentation and more chaotic chat), you should check out one any of VShojo’s members (made up of Nyatasha Nyanners, Ironmouse, Froot, Projekt Melody, Zentreya, Silvervale, Hime Hajime, and Veibae). I’ve become particularly fond of Zentreya, who uses a speech-to-text-to-speech program and an absolute ton of chat interaction gimmicks, but they’re all good people. Also worth noting that most Western/American vtubers stream on Twitch instead of YouTube, but they also usually maintain some kind of YouTube presence, as well as Twitter accounts to keep people notified of where they’re going to be and when.

Past those groups, there are literally thousands upon thousands of much smaller groups and independent vtubers to recommend. As I said before, their relative audience size or independent status isn’t an objective measure of quality, and in fact, one of the nicer things about less immensely popular streamer is that you’ll get the benefit of a less chaotic/more intimate chat experience, but in exchange making sure you’re observing good etiquette is even more important since it’s easier to be disruptive to the chat. Off the top of my head:

The Tsunderia group, spearheaded by Hoshino Charlotte (Char Aznable-themed vtuber who does a lot of figure building on stream and makes/eats horrible food) and Umiushi Urara (Urara is especially fascinating, because she’s the real life manager of the company, and her streams are often more focused on behind the scenes and business-oriented facets of the vtuber industry, but that’s also maybe not the best place to jump in if you’re new)

Artemis of the Blue (a shark vtuber who’s perhaps best known for constantly simping for other vtubers)

Bao (a whale vtuber who also dabbles in making music)

Lady Hatsuu (a English localizer who’s worked on games like Trails in the Sky and takes donations for her local cat shelter)

JiBo (aka Great Black Otaku, aka former NFL player Brennan Williams, aka current WWE superstar Dio Maddin/Mace)

Mimika Morph (a Japanese vtuber who tries to incorporate as much English translation as she can and is literally an eldritch abomination)

Valerie Valkyrie (professional wrestler-themed vtuber who’s appropriately collabed with JiBo a few times)

Go Ria (gorilla (!!!) vtuber)

and Tsukimiya Mai, who actually has a presence on Tumblr, although at the moment I believe she’s on a wellness break.

If you’re not into watching streams at all and want Just The Good Parts, there are tons of channels that exist solely to make (and subtitle) clips, and almost always of already popular vtubers. The most annoying thing with them is that they’ll occasionally get aggressively clickbait-y, but such is the nature of the YouTube algorithm. I personally subscribe to Vtube Tengoku, Sushi [Hololive and Vtubers], CMT, JShay Translations, Aru Azumaya’s Pikamee Things, and Cooksie. The first four tend to focus on Hololive, Aru Azumaya of course is pretty exclusively dedicated to Pikamee, and Cooksie covers VShojo and a smattering of other English vtubers.

Last but not least, there are dedicated fan creators who make animations, usually either of whole clips or by stitching unrelated clips together. My recommendations include 2Snacks, tian nya, Kanauru, and Caroline Director. Just note that especially for these folks and other fan creators, content comes out much slower because of the nature of the work, but it’s always quality.

[songsformonkeys]

So um... What's gonna happen to reader and Dave on Valentines day? It would be so cute they finally slept in the same bed or if they kissed for the first time. Or maybe they cuddle at least? 🥺️🥺️🥺️ (i totally headcanon that Dave would remember at least some things after sleeping in the same bed but that's up to you)

VALENTINE’S DAY (dave york x reader)

Part of the Sturdy Home verse. Unbeta’d

You had gotten halfway through the day before you realized just what day it was today. Valentine's Day. It had never been the most celebrated holiday in the York household. But like so many things after the accident, you couldn't help but see it in a slightly different light this year. You'd never felt the need to celebrate Valentine's Day before, because it had just seemed silly with a dedicated day for showing your love for each other when the evidence of that love had always been there. Now, you would have given anything for a day with your husband, to get to love him and spend time with him again. But that was impossible. 

If Dave had realized what day it was, he'd made no show of it, for which you were very grateful. You didn't think you would be able to handle being a spectator to Dave's internal struggle to figure out whether he was expected to get a Valentine's Day gift for the wife he didn't remember loving.

He'd made you breakfast, but that was nothing new. He always did on the mornings when he woke up before you. ”Makes me feel useful,” he'd said when you'd told him that it really wasn't his job to feed you all breakfast or to pack the girls' lunches for school. And there had been such desperation in his eyes to let him do something, that you hadn't had the heart to tell him no.

It was Sunday, but you had still decided to get a couple of hours of work done. Your energy was a fickle mistress these days and you had to catch her whenever she appeared, regardless of whether or not that was on a Saturday or Sunday. It still didn't make up for all the weekdays you'd spent crying and getting absolutely no work done.

The girls were playing nicely upstairs and you could hear the muffled sound of the TV in the other room. Dave was probably watching something.

”Hey.”

Or not. You jumped at the sound of his voice behind you and almost knocked over your mug of coffee.

”Jesus, Dave!”

”Sorry...sorry. I just wanted to see if you needed a refill,” he said with a small smile and nodded towards your mug.

”You're not my butler, Dave,” you said and immediately felt like shit as the smile slipped from his face.

”I know. I just... I'll leave you to it, then.”

He’d disappeared the way he'd come before you could figure out how to apologize.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

A few hours later, you and Dave were standing in the hallway and if he had been upset with you earlier he seemed to have gotten over it because now he was smiling again - that soft smile that made your entire insides twist up in painful knots.

”Are you sure you don't mind doing this?” you asked him, not for the first time.

”I don't mind doing this,” he repeated, just like he had the other times you'd asked.

”Because I can cancel if...”

”I have watched them before, you know,” Dave interrupted you. He was right. Dave had looked after the girls plenty of times when you had gone running errands or visited your parents. He was great with them and you knew that you had zero reasons to worry about his babysitting abilities. Yet, there was this tightness across your chest and an unreasonable urge to lock the doors and windows around the safety bubble that was your home. If you were completely honest with yourself, this whole thing might be more about you doubting yourself rather than you doubting Dave.

This thing you were going to would require you to be a normal person for a few hours, and you were terrified that you had completely forgotten how to be just that. Normal. You could fake it, for the amount of time it took to go grocery shopping, but this was for much longer and would require you to actually interact with people.

”Yes, but not for bedtime,” you continued, fully aware you were grasping for straws. Dave was aware too and he reached out to place a hand on your shoulder. You froze and he pulled it back, but let the assuring smile linger.

”You've left us enough money to order pizza for the whole block, and I know where their pajamas and toothbrushes are. They've already picked what movie we're gonna watch, and Full Metal Jacket is a great movie!”

”Dave...” you sighed, feeling a slight tug at the corners of your mouth, despite yourself.

”We'll be fine,” Dave said, and even in his sweatpants and worn t-shirt, there was a certain air of authority about him. That was something you recognized from before. ”And I have your number if I need to contact you. Now go.”

He pulled your coat down and helped you into it. He didn't actually push you out the door but you suspected that was only because you stepped outside on your own.

As you walked towards the taxi waiting on the road, you felt like there was a rubber band attached to your back, straining and wanting to pull you back into the house and back to Dave and the girls.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you returned home a few hours later, the house was dark, save for the lights in your bedroom. You must have forgotten to turn them off before you left earlier. 

It was later than you had planned to be home, but once the worry had finally settled after leaving, you had actually been able to breathe easier. Pretending to be normal hadn't felt as suffocating as you thought it would.

It was completely quiet inside the house when you stepped through the door. It seemed Dave had gone to bed as well. You hung up your coat and took your shoes off before silently tiptoeing upstairs.

You were on your way to the girls' bedroom, to give them each a kiss goodnight when a soft cough came from inside your bedroom. You frowned slightly and made your way over to the doorway where the dim, warm, light spilled out into the hallway.

What you saw when you looked inside, had your breath catching in your throat.

The girls were both asleep in your bed, hugging a plush toy each, and curled up on either side of an equally fast asleep Dave. He was fully dressed, sitting half-propped up against the headboard, with his chin resting against his chest and his legs crossed at the ankles. There was an open book resting on his stomach.

Seeing them like this was a first but at the same time it was not a first and as the memories assaulted you like daggers thrown at your heart, you had to grip the door to steady yourself.

You hadn't seen him properly asleep since he came back, but now... when he looked like this, he could have been your husband. And you wanted it so badly that it felt like the pain was eating you up from the inside.

You should wake him up and get him to help carry the girls back to their beds, or at least leave them alone and go sleep in Molly's bed for the night. But you were weak and so so tired, and right at this moment, you didn't care if it wasn't real. You wanted your family.

So when you moved, it was towards the bed and not away from it.

There was an open spot next to Alice, where you fit perfectly. She stirred only slightly and turned to hug you when you lied down next to her. The movement set off a small chain reaction and, as Alice curled up against you, Dave's head snapped up with a sharp intake of breath. He looked around but stilled as his eyes landed on you. You watched each other in complete silence, both frozen still, like a human that had just come across a deer in the woods and was afraid to scare it away. Except you weren't sure who was the deer and who was the human in this scenario.

In the end, you were the first one to move, perhaps aided by the two glasses of wine you'd had tonight. Slowly, you reached out to take his hand, where it was resting heavily on the open pages of the book he'd been reading to the girls earlier. Your touch was tentative but Dave didn't pull away, instead spread his fingers so you could slide yours between them. You ran your thumb along his, and he mimicked the movement. His hand felt just as warm and strong as you remembered.

”Will you stay with us?” you asked and you knew, as the words left your mouth, that you weren't just asking about tonight or about the bed.

Dave watched you and his eyes were unreadable in the dim yellow light. This was not the first time you'd asked him to stay and as the seconds ticked by, you braced yourself for the same kind of rejection you had gotten the last time you asked.

When Dave let go of your hand, it took all your willpower to hold back the sob that clawed its way up your throat. But despite no longer holding onto you, Dave didn't move away. Instead, he reached above his head to turn off the light. In the sudden darkness, you heard rather than saw, him shift and move down from the headboard to lie down properly.

There was a moment or two of complete stillness before you felt his fingers brush over your knuckles, as he took your hand again.

He didn't say anything, but as his hand tightened around yours and placed it over his heart, you felt that was answer enough. At least for tonight.

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

Taglist:  @yespolkadotkitty @agirllovespancakes @pedropascallion @pedropascalito @ohpedromypedro @knittingqueen13 @synystersilenceinblacknwhite @mourningbirds1 @alwaysbethewest @heatherbel @larakazzer @fromthedeskoftheraven @seawhisperer @ahopelessromanticwritersworld @mrschiltoncat @pajamasecrets @phoenixhalliwell @ilikechocolatemilkh @dornish-queen @holographic-carmen @thirstworldproblemss @windfallss @thegreenkid @maxlordsgf @sarahjkl82-blog @magikfanatic @astroboots @mouthymandalorian @pedro-pascal-love

[whitherliliesbloom]

You follow the scent trail of sweet flowers...until you bump into a mysterious bijou girl with starspun hair and lustrous lavender eyes. Mysterious girl far from home: “O-oh- I’m sorry... The way you’re looking at me as if you want to d-duel... W-well, i-if you in-insist..”

@windupnamazu​‘s Pokemon!AU Illya headcanons under the cut! It’s very long, so hang tight! Note the headcanons may be subject to change or updates in the future ;w; Drawings and designs of Illya’s outfits by @rosepinkwol​.

Illya’s personality is about similar with her ffxiv canon verse. Shy, reserved, very sweet and gentle. But she’s considerably more cheerful in her pokemon au form and less emotionally volatile / depressed. She still does have some lingering emotional and mental health issues though, which will be covered later. 

She became a pokemon trainer primarily to explore the world and meet more pokemon. Dueling and beating others isn’t a real priority for her, though she still does it to earn money. 

While Illya bets pokemon dollars in normal battles with trainers she is unfamiliar with or in official tournaments, she doesn’t like gambling real money when battling with friends. Instead, she’d often suggest that the loser has to treat the winner to a meal.

Extremely good cook. You’ll never go hungry or be unsatisfied in the tummy if you go camping with her. Just don’t mention that you like spicy foods or she’ll almost always assume that you’d be able to handle the same level of spice as she does (pro-tip: you probably can’t). 

She smells like the most gorgeous mix of flowers - no thanks to her Comfey often playing with her hair and wrapping flowers around her. 

She takes pokemon welfare very seriously due to her upbringing and background. She thus has a habit of releasing pokemon she captured that she feels would either be happier out in the wild or are showing signs of stress in her care. That seldom happens though, due to how loving and caring she is towards all her pokemon - most of them end up becoming very attached and even protective of her.

In the same way, she never forces a pokemon to battle, evolve or do anything they don’t want to, even if they are strong. 

Illya knows a lot about pokemon care and the likes / dislikes / proper way to take care of different types of pokemon. Thus, she makes friends with pokemon a lot easier than she does humans.

The very definition of ‘gotta catch em all!’..... but only if the pokemon wants to be with her. She loves all pokemon, regardless of her personal tastes and will treat any pokemon she comes across with respect and care as long as they mean no harm to her. 

Knows basic first aid for both humans and pokemon. And much like in canon, her pain tolerance is incredibly high.

She’s very particular about money. Short-change her, and she’ll be very very cross. After all, less money means less treats she can buy for her pokemon. 

In general, she’s dainty and graceful... however she is a tad more clumsy in her pokemon au form compared to canon. 

Illya is the definition of gap moe: her sweet, cute and angelic demeanor causes a lot of people to underestimate her. When they challenge her to a battle, they are later shocked by just how ferocious and skilled she is as a trainer. 

Illya has become quite famous everywhere she travels - owing to her infectiously sweet, genuine and kind nature contrasting her ferocity and skill in pokemon battles. 

She’s extremely intelligent, observant and intuitive. She often stays on the defensive for long periods of time before she works out a strategy or her opponent pokemon’s weak points before going in for the (metaphorical) kill. Reckless trainers who don’t plan accordingly are the quickest to lose to her. 

She WILL order her pokemon to use stun debuffs on your pokemon (sleep, charm etc). And she won’t apologize for it.... until the battle is over. 

As stated, since Illya doesn’t especially care about dueling or becoming known as the best pokemon trainer, she often doesn’t see the need to challenge gym leaders to duels unless her friends urge her to, or if beating a gym leader is required for her to be able to advance in her journey. 

Illya’s an extremely good sport. She’ll congratulate you wholeheartedly if you defeat her, and will also wish you ‘good fight!’ if she beats you.

Gives the best hugs - especially to her pokemon. It’s not uncommon for people to see her giving group hugs to her pokemon after a particularly tough or difficult duel.  

Illya actually has a lot of pokemon, many captured but also many that she befriended and didn’t officially ‘catch’ until they decided to follow her home. She carries a fair bunch around with her, but also left a good number of her pokemon at home to live peacefull with her father. Of course, she only enters battle with 6 pokemon at maximum, as per usual pokemon battle rules. Relationships with her main pokemon team and other notable pokemon detailed below!

While Illya is generally not one to fuss too much about her appearance or fashion, she does care about making presentable. As such, she has a more colorful and varied self-made wardrobe in her pokemon au form than she does in canon. She does however, have a favorite outfit that has become trademark to her:

A loose cloak that is fastened either with a pin or buckle, and a long flowing scarf that sways freely in the wind as she walks. Underneath her cloak, she wears a knee-length dress with a sailor collar and elbow-length sleeves and black fingerless gloves. She often switches between various hair accessories such as flower corsages, ribbons and pins. However, her brightly colored hairbands are perhaps the most well remembered to those who meet her.

Some people speculate that her scarves were sewn from the fur that was shed from her Cinccino, hence how warm and fluffy that look. Her hip length pure white hair is wrapped against her neck when she wears her scarf. 

Illya’s trademark outfit in the pokemon au has two different versions: one that she wears in the spring and summer, while the other is worn in autumn and winter. 

Her spring / summer attire is lighter- both in color and fabric. Her baby pink cloak is fastened with a flower pin atop her pink and purple dress. Intricate flower patterns adorns her skirt, and she wears ankle-length socks and purple flats. She also wears flower earrings 

Her autumn / winter attire is made of thicker, warmer material - specifically her purple cloak which has a star print and is fastened with a buckle. Her dress is a darker blue in color, with constellation and star patterning around the edge of her skirt. There are rumors that the underside of her skirt shimmers like a starry night sky... but you’d have to be out of your mind to want to look up it to confirm said rumor. Instead of socks, she wears white tights and dark blue shoes. She also wears a star hairclip and earrings to go with her blue hairband. 

Illya does not like feeling cold, and thus usually travels around wearing her cloak and scarf... however, she will on occasion take them off indoors out of respect - such as when she’s eating a meal at somebody’s house as a guest. 

Illya was born to two loving parents - Cocona, a lalafellin woman who worked as a nurse at the nearest pokemon center to their home in a small, quaint town and Lachlan, an ex-pokemon trainer who retired shortly after having his name entered into the hall of fame, now settled down to live with his wife and daughter.

Cocona’s job as a nurse gave her a lot of knowledge on how to take care of pokemon, and together with her husband set up a daycare / nursery for both young and old pokemon alike, where they spent their days taking care of many different species of pokemom. 

Born under those circumstances, Illya was exposed to pokemon since a very young age, and began playing with and interacting with pokemon as a toddler. She also quickly learned to help around the daycare, learning more about each different type of pokemon and how to best take care of each of their needs. 

At age 9, her mother fell ill with a life-threatening disease, and in order to allow his wife to see the world before she passed on, Lachlan took Cocona away on a one year journey outside their hometown, leaving Illya alone with her aunt (Cocona’s younger sister) to take care of the pokemon daycare in their absence. Unfortunately, Illya’s aunt had a somewhat sour relationship with her sister, and was neglectful towards Illya, often leaving her unattended for extended periods of time.

Illya sought refuge and comfort from the pokemon she was tasked to take of, and for a long time, they were the only ones Illya talked to. She’d take the pokemon out flower picking, stargazing. She ate with them, slept with them and vowed to take care of them to the best of her abilities for the sake of her parents.

On a particularly terrible stormy night, the land surrounding her home became flooded with rainwater and seeped into her house. While Illya scrambled to keep the water out, her pokemon were thrown into a panic, and eventually one of the baby pidoves flew out and away from her home. Illya chased after the pidove into the woods despite the rain, the wind so strong that it caused her umbrella to be carried away into the wind. 

As she ran after the pidove, she slipped and tumbled down a hill, breaking her leg. Now injured, scared and alone in the middle of the forest, the young Illya cried for help, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of the pouring rain and thunder. With nothing but the darkness of the night staring back at her and fearing that a wild animal or hostile pokemon may be lurking about and attack her, Illya attempted to crawl her way back home, but the pain from attempting to stand up only causes her to collapse once more.

It felt like the entire world had abandoned her, and just as she heard a strange noise from the shadows and feared the worse, a mimikyu approaches her from the dark and sat by her, watching over her and shielding her with its appendages, as if to reassure her that it won’t let any harm come to her. 

She was found later in the morning by the people from the nearest town, who had gone over to her house to check on her only to find she wasn’t in, her pokemon panicking and gesturing towards the forest for the townspeople to look for her. The pidove was hold safely afterwards too, trembling as it took shelter in a tree. 

The incident left Illya well traumatized, and stemmed her own growing self-hatred and anxiety which would only grow worse as she grew to become a teenager. 

She doesn’t like talking much about what happened to her as a child, and she only ever mentions the incident to people she truly cares about and trusts. And if anybody were to ever upset her by being pushy and asking her about it when she doesn’t want to share, her Mimikyu would be the first to smack the offender in the head. 

Her main pokemon team underwent a few changes over the years, but for the most part now, it’s fixed and she rarely switches members of her party out for another pokemon unless she thinks it’s really necessary.

One of the first and oldest member of her current pokemon party. Illya and her Mimikyu are inseparable. 

Mimikyu had in truth been watching her since she was but a child, enviously admiring how happy her family and her pokemon in their daycare had been together. He had, on multiple occasions, attempted to show himself in order to be part of their family, but was always too cowardly to do so. He would always scurry away whenever Illya or her parents would approach, hiding in the shadows and only ever watching from a distance. He watched her even as she was left alone, and on the fateful night of that storm where Illya would find herself lost and injured in the forest, Mimikyu folllowed her.

Watching Illya cry alone in the rain, he felt a surge of protectiveness and compelled him to finally step out of the shadow to comfort and protect her through the night. Perhaps in that instance, he saw himself in Illya, someone who was scared, alone and just wanted to be loved. He could relate to Illya’s loneliness, and loved her for the way she would love and accept any pokemon, regardless of their appearance or strength.

Since that day, Mimikyu hasn’t left Illya’s side and is one of the most protective pokemon of her. 

Mimikyu can often be found sitting on Illya’s head when he’s out of his pokeball and traveling around with her. He will extend his appendage out to grab any food that she offers him, or even to swat away anyone who gets too close to Illya.

Compared to other Mimikyu, Illya’s Mimikyu isn’t at all aggressive towards Pikachu. It is however, very shy and embarrassed and will attempt to hide if it spots one. 

As Mimikyu only really cares about what Illya thinks, he won’t attack anyone who catches a glimpse of him under his disguise. But he will be very, very grouchy.

He gets along decently well with all her other pokemon, though it is sometimes jealous of how big and strong Corviknight is.

From a distance or as a shadow, Illya’s scarf often resembles the appendage Mimikyu extends out. Once, while the pair were out in the woods and Mimikyu was sitting on Illya’s head, it extended its appendage to grab hold of a treat Illya was offering it. A distant passerby who could not see clearly in the dark of the night mistook their silhouetted figure as being a monster - or a near and frightening mythical pokemon. The myth is still circulating to this day, and Illya has no idea that it had been caused by her and her Mimikyu.  

Mimikyu doesn’t like going inside his pokeball - not that Illya would force him to. He’d of course, prefer to spend time outside with Illya. He especially never leaves her sight while she sleeps, often snuggling up to her beneath the covers or otherwise making himself comfortable in her scarf that she set aside. 

He’s surprisingly, and scarily very physically strong - able to grab hold of other pokemon and even other people several hundred times larger than itself. He uses this to his advantage by grabbing people who get too close to Illya and shoving them away - and he’s not at all gentle about it. 

Comfey shares Illya’s love and passion for flowers and it’s not uncommon to see her Comfey drifting around her, weaving flowers into her hair as she walked. The scent of the flower crowns Comfey weaves makes people who wear them feel relaxed, so she often wraps Illya in flowers whenever the girl is feeling particularly stressed or uncomfortable. 

Comfey loves decorating hotel rooms and campsites with flowers she picks from the wild, and she seems to be particularly generous when it comes to giving out her flowers to others. Friendly, sweet and kind - it’s almost as if Comfey was an extension of Illya herself sometimes. 

Comfey is the resident healer of Illya’s pokemon roster, able to not only heal the ailments of humans but also the other pokemon. She is especially active when Illya is helping out at pokemon centers or giving first aid to others. When Illya is in pain, Comfey often goes into a tearful panic. 

Corviknight’s appearance almost always gives other people a heart attack. Nobody ever expects someone as small, cute and demure as Illya to have such an intimidating looking pokemon. But she does, and she is just as affectionate to him as she is with her other pokemon. Strangely, Corviknight seems to be very uncooperative to everyone except her.

Once lacking a flying type pokemon, Illya almost fell to her death after being pushed off a cliff. Corviknight caught her in midair and hid her under his wings after he landed, guarding her with a ferocious glare even as other humans attempted to check on her. Ever since, he’s ever a watchful guardian to her, glaring from behind her back even as she smiles sweetly at others. 

Corviknight also serves as Illya’s main mode of transportation when she isn’t able to walk herself. As Illya loves taking her time to explore on her own two feet, she tries to not overly rely on Corviknight... sometimes, it can’t be helped however - such as when she needs to cross large bodies of water.

Interestingly, Corviknight bears a striking resemblance in both his aesthetic and personality to a hyuran pokemon trainer of dark skin and black hair who has secret romantic feelings for Illya. 

Bellossom met Illya while the girl was traveling through a tropical area that has been haunted by rain clouds and dark skies for the past several days. Illya was first attracted to bellossom because of the flowers on her head, and had watched as the Bellossom danced and chanted, mesmerized when the rainclouds pulled apart and sunlight began to shine through.

The two quickly bonded, with Bellossom teaching Illya her sun summoning dance before finally, she decided to join Illya together on her journey.

She wasn’t exactly meant to be a part of Illya’s team, and for a while, she was but a mere travel companion. However, Illya noticed just how active and enthusiastic Bellossom was to battle - or perhaps she saw it as an opportunity to show off her dance to more people. Regardless, bellossom hence became a new member of Illya’s pokemon team replacing Cincinno. 

If it wasn’t obvious enough, Bellossom loves to dance. She is rarely ever seen not at least swaying to its own beat while she’s outside her pokeball, and she becomes very eager when other pokemon or humans show an interest in learning her dance. 

Evolved from an eevee that Illya had taken care of since she was a child, it alongside Mimikyu are the two most senior members of her current pokemon team and also the longest to have known her. 

Sylveon is a free spirit, much like he had been when he was still a baby eevee. He enjoys roaming about a fair bit, though he takes care to not stray too far from Illya. 

He’s very attached to Illya and much like other sylveons, understands his trainer’s emotional state well by wrapping his feelers around her hand while walking with her. Whenever Illya gets sad or upset, he often likes sitting in her lap, purring and nuzzling himself against her in an attempt to make her feel better. He also wraps his feelers around her in an attempt to soothe and calm her down whenever she cries.

Despite his adorable appearance, he’s actually very daring and fearless, never once backing down from a confrontation or fight with other pokemon even if they are multiple times his size or even if they are a type that holds an advantage against him. 

Illya’s Sylveon is also very attached to Alphinaud’s Espeon, nuzzling himself to espeon whenever Alphinaud has it out. 

Gardevoir was one of the latest pokemon to have joined Illya’s team. She is an extremely elegant, regal but also stoic member of the party. 

Like other Gardevoir, she is able to read the future - and it was through her prediction that she foresaw her meeting with Illya and prematurely approached her. She is also able to distort dimensions and create black holes, though she rarely ever does the latter. 

Much like Mimikyu and Corviknight, Gardevoir is extremely protective of Illya despite not having known her for as long as the others have and would not hesitate to expand her own psychic powers to her fullest if she feels like Illya may be in any sort of danger.

Though powerful, she doesn’t tend to like roaming about much and mostly stays within her pokeball unless Illya calls her out for food or battle. 

Gardevoir’s demeanor and headstrong personality reminds Illya a lot of her late mother, and perhaps there is some deeper reason for why Gardevoir herself feels such a strong need to protect Illya as if she were her own kin. 

Some of her pokemon are carried around with her as travel companions, only occasionally taking part in battles, while others are left at home to be cared for by her father.

TRAVEL COMPANIONS [to be updated as au is expanded on]

Vulpix: A male vulpix that Illya carries around and cuddles with during the winter or when she’s traveling through locations with colder climates. Out of all her pokemon who are not part of her main party of 6, vulpix is probably one of the most active and frequently called forth in battles that aren’t official tournament leagues or competitions. Illya also calls her vulpix out whenever fire is needed. He is brave and enthusiastic and hopes to one day evolve himself into Ninetales. 

Dragonair: A gentle male dragonair that Illya caught near a lake one day during clear skies. It had dragged her into the sky and allowed her to ride on his back, soaring high into the clouds before dipping back down towards the waters. However, Illya lost her balance and fell into the water. He still feels bad about it to this day. He likes to curl around her to sleep.

Cinccino: A playful female cinccino who evolved from one of Illya’s minccino that she has been caring for as a child. She was once an active member of Illya’s party, but now is more of a travel companion who rarely ever battles now. Some people believe that Illya used the fur shed from Cinccino’s scarf to sew her own trademark scarf that she’s seen traveling around with now. 

Rowlet: Though Illya gets along with many pokemon in general, birds in particular seem to be very fond of her. This male rowlet followed Illya as she was traveling through the woods and eventually became a part of travel party. He doesn’t see very many fights but he does love to cuddle and is very affectionate towards not just Illya but other pokemon and trainers.

Alcremie: A shy female Alcremie who offers sweets to new friends she meets. Illya often has reservations about eating the cream and berries secreted from her, but after being assured that it doesn’t at all hurt her Alcremie and that it’s offering of sweets is a sign of affection, Illya has started learning to indulge more in sweet foods more and more. Illya doesn’t have the heart to tell Alcremie she prefers spicy food, though. 

Trevenant: A female trevenant that attacked a woodcutter that Illya saved while traversing through the forest. Convinced at first that Illya intended on harming the forest, it proceeded to trap her in a cage of trees until she was finally convinced to release Illya after witnessing the way Illya refused to let her vulpix burn the trees down just to escape. She follows Illya around and holds a lot of respect for the way Illya cared for nature and the environment. 

Hatterene: A reclusive Hatterene Illya met during her travel. She once hated Illya, chasing her by emiting a strong psychic aura much like she does with other strangers. Upon sensing Illya’s lack of hostility and own gentle soul however, she eventually calmed down enough to allow Illya to approach. She is very moody and temperamental.

NOTABLE POKEMONS AT HOME [not including pokemon that belong to Lachlan or pokemon that belong to other people being taken care of]. List is NOT exhaustive!

Cleffa: A female cleffa born from Cocona’s retired Clefairy. As Cocona passed away shortly before cleffa was hatched, Illya became her owner / trainer instead. Though cleffa wishes to someday be a part of Illya’s team, grow stronger and evolve herself, Illya hasn’t quite allowed herself to let go of her mother’s death, and hence prefers to keep cleffa safe at home. It’s one of the rare instances where Illya has explicitly gone against a pokemon’s wishes, even if out of a genuine love and protectiveness of it.

Musharna: A female Musharna that eats the nightmares of Lachlan and any guests who come to stay over at their house. She sleeps a lot and frankly cannot care any less about battling. 

Chimecho: A male Chimecho that Illya caught and took along with her on her journey for a while, before leaving him at home with Lachlan. He likes hanging himself to the roof of the house and swinging in the breeze. Not hearing chimecho’s wind chimes tells Lachlan and Illya that something is wrong. 

Azurill: A male baby Azurill that Illya rescued. He is very timid and lacks a lot of confidence. He wants to get better at doing battle, but still has a lot of training to do before it can get to that point. 

Beedrill: A male beedrill that was evolved from a weedle - the very first pokemon Illya ever caught in the wild on her own. She’s trained him personally as she grew up, and he saw many of her clumsy behavior and less experienced days. He’s sort of retired now, spending his days keeping the more rowdy pokemon in the daycare in check. 

Theme songs

If pokemon au illya were to have a theme / ost track, it’d be this lovely re-orchestrated track of the Lacunosa Town Theme! It’s soft, peaceful and has a touch of melancholy which suits her perfectly. This, this and this remix also fits her and may double as her battle theme?

Illyanaud track mayyyybe? 

Legendaries / Mythicals??

I didn’t include any legendaries or mythical pokemons into her roster because lore regarding those are that they’re very very rare BUT if Illya were allowed to have a legendary and a mythical pokemon, she’d probably own a Cresselia and a Celebi! 

Cresselia, the Lunar Pokémon. Shiny particles are released from its wings like a veil. It is said to represent the crescent moon. On nights around the quarter moon, the aurora from its tail extends and undulates beautifully.

Celebi, the Time Travel Pokémon. This Pokémon wanders across time. Grass and trees flourish in the forests in which it has appeared. When Celebi disappears deep in a forest, it is said to leave behind an egg it brought from the future.

Shout out to Diancie, who is a close second choice solely based on the fact it’s design looks like what Illya would be if she herself were a pokemon. 

Relationships with other OCs / NPCs

To be added!

[incorrectshantaequotes]

Shantae Headcanons - The Half-Genies

This is a bit of a weird one for me, not gonna lie. Mostly because, well...you've kinda seen some of my headcanons already! Aside from Harmony, the half-genies don't really get that much screentime (well, Shantae does, but she's in a different post), so I've had to figure out their characterization myself for their quotes. Don't worry, though, that's not all I'm covering here. In any case - onto the headcanons!

Harmony

Harmony is a lot of things. A mentor figure, a guide, a gentle hand - she does great in a crisis, and does wonders helping others through their own. It's no wonder the other half-genies looked up to her. She does have one glaring weakness, though...she cannot do casual social interactions. At all. The other half-genies figured this out rather quickly when they went into the Half-Genie Festival; she did spectacularly with her performance, but during the afterparty? Harmony was doing her best to either not be seen, and what conversation was sparked between her and the partygoers was rather stilted and awkward. The reason for this? Well, it actually ties back to how well she does as a calm and collected leader...

Harmony's mother was well aware of the dangers of Quake Magic. Used without thought or care, it can cause mass devastation, as Shantae herself can attest to. So, to help Harmony when she was gone, she slipped in some instructions into the scrapbook to tell Harmony how to train herself. The catch was, she had to completely isolate herself from civilization first, to avoid any potential harm to innocents while she was still learning to control her magic. Harmony followed said instructions to the letter, only coming out of her training when she felt she was ready to fulfill her role as Guardian Genie. As a result of this nomadic lifestyle, Harmony's calm, disciplined, and can use her magic incredibly well, but it doesn't really make for a good social life.

Thankfully, the other half-genies have been able to help with that, letting Harmony loosen up and enjoy herself. She's still more naturally introverted, but she is rather open around the other half-genies. She has a lot of time on her hands, as very few actually want to be on the other end of her Quake Magic, so Harmony rarely has to actually step up to defend her town. That's not to say it doesn't happen, of course...

Harmony's town is completely landlocked, so she hasn't had to deal with Risky Boots. Instead, the main threat she deals with is Ammo Baron and his army. See, Harmony's town is in a similar position to Scuttle Town in that it's a great tactical position to launch an assault on the palace of Sequin Land. Unlike Scuttle Town, however, Harmony's town has a mayor who's never even considered firing Harmony, meaning that it's never been in the vulnerable position that let Ammo Baron take over Scuttle Town. As a result, 85% of Harmony's job has mostly consisted of dealing with Ammo Baron's plan B: brute force. Thankfully, her Quake Magic helps tremendously in this effort, frustrating Ammo Baron to no end. It's why he switched targets to Scuttle Town in the first place, and why he was investing in a flying armada in Half-Genie Hero. Easier to deal with earthquakes if you're not touching the ground!

Zapple

Zapple is very impulsive. You'd think that her paranoid streak might make her a little more cautious, but no. If anything, a common reason for her to head off on some crazy quest is whatever conspiracy happens to be in her mind. Thankfully, Vera's always been there to help bail her out when she gets in over her head, with the other half-genies helping in this endeavor as they've gotten to know Zapple better.

As the Guardian Genie of Armor Town, Zapple is an expert blacksmith. Who do you think made that armor? She actually ended up forming an unexpected friendship with Bolo because of this, thanks to their similar backgrounds. She also managed to figure out that Bolo's mom is the Squidsmith (more on that in the post I linked earlier) thanks to her spending some time on Siren Island for the Half-Genie Festival, and thinks it's absolutely hilarious that Shantae hasn't connected the dots yet. She's definitely not telling anytime soon, that's for sure.

After the whole Empress Siren thing, Zapple's relationship with Shantae ended up becoming...something between inspiration and friendly rivalry. Like everyone else, Zapple saw the fight between Shantae and Empress Siren's giant form. Like everyone else, Zapple agreed that it was impressive. So much, in fact, that it made her think, "Well, damn, I better step up." And soon after the dust settled, Zapple started training herself and her magic, hoping to do just as well defending her hometown someday. This also lead to challenging Shantae whenever she visited, as a benchmark of how far she'd come since they first met. Shantae was fine with this, knowing it was all in good fun...even if it was a bit unnerving how intense Zapple could get about it. However, after the return of the remaining Sirens (read here), Zapple's need to prove herself significantly died down, so the "rivalry" part of their friendly rivalry has been kinda phased out.

Vera

As the other resident half-genie on Siren Island, she and Zapple have been friends since childhood. Though from completely different walks of life, they get along very well, with Vera helping to ground Zapple's more manic moments, and Zapple always being there to cheer Vera on with her electric pep. Though Vera's been relieved to have some relatively subdued people in her life with the other half-genies, she does still gets along best with Zapple - even if her spontaneous plans and adventures can be a bit much. Someone has to be there to pull her out of the way of angry Bonk Tortoise, after all.

Beyond Zapple, though, Vera gets along very well with Lobster Siren, helping her understand the surface world better and come out of her (metaphorical) shell. This may have something to do with her Refresh Magic and connection to life making her one of the best at understanding Siren, second to only Shantae herself. She serves as a great translator for Zapple and Harmony, as their Spark Magic and Quake Magic provide little or no help understanding Lobster Siren.

Vera is an excellent dancer, knowing all the traditional dances from Tree Town and beyond. She and Shantae actually had a dance-off during the Half-Genie Festival when Vera saw how good Shantae was at it. Though, at the end, both were so impressed with the other that they couldn't decide a winner, and ended up calling it a tie (although a certain zombie and a certain electric genie were a bit vocal on who they thought won).They agreed to send each other tips when they had the time.

Plink

With her psychic powers, the threats Plink protects her town from tend to be ones they can't see. Specters, wraiths, curses - her Seer Magic gives her a better view on all of them, and she combats it by either seeing if she can talk to the haunting entity or warding off the area to ensure no one goes in by accident and causes something they might regret. It's not really flashy or spectacular, but Plink does her job well, and is one of the best people to talk to regarding the supernatural.

Runs a fortune telling booth in her spare time. She doesn't use her magic or anything, she's just well-versed in the world of fortune telling and thinks it's fun, even if she can't exactly predict the future. Plink does try to make it explicitly clear that she's not an actual fortune teller to those who come by, though, as she doesn't want people to come based on false advertising. It's definitely made for a fun party trick to show the other half-genies, though.

Plink knows Poe and Abner, running into each other when the latter two briefly rejoined the zombie caravan. The zombie brothers were a bit surprised to see another half-genie, to say the least, but were able to laugh it off. They talked a bit, ended up exchanging notes regarding what they knew about the supernatural, and going their separate ways. Ironically, though, Plink didn't connect the dots between Rottytops and the little sister the two mentioned until the Half-Genie Festival was nearly over. She really felt compelled to indulge in a facepalm when she did.

[amythecinnabunny]

38 66 Jukebox. Muhahahah!!!

38. Grief Fic  

66. It’s Not You, It’s My Enemies  

🚨 ANGST WARNING 🚨

I wanted to do it canon-verse but then I remembered an old arc I had planned for the hold on au and since I've completely scrapped it and it fits these two, I figured I could beat you to tears with it :>

Okay so for those of you who aren't aware of the hold on au, it's a Julie Dies au and the general consensus is that it's way more hurtful and angsty than it needs to be. I concur. The true angst, however, can be found in the several things I've scrapped, such as this next bit.

It'll be set in Come Back, I Still Want You, after they rescue the boys from Caleb.

So unlike the ridiculously long slow burn in the fic, Julie and Luke actually act on their very obvious feelings and I mean since they're both dead and none of them know what any of their unfinished business is, there's nothing stopping them, right? WRONG

Julie trades places with the boys but that's not all Caleb wants. Caleb wants to actually fully properly get rid of Julie and if he can't get her to cross over, he'll find other ways to get rid of her . . .

Given that I scrapped this idea early, I never quiet figured out how Caleb would accomplish this. I just knew he would and I'd deal with that issue later.

They're trying, and I mean they're really trying hard to make it work but Caleb is relentless. If he can't have the boys, Julie can't either.

Everyone's scrambling to find a way to save Julie but there's nothing. They even out the existence of ghosts to the world, but no one can offer a solution. (Carrie has several nervous breakdowns, not unlike the one she had the day Julie died)

Julie tries to end things with Luke. Maybe he'll take it easier if they're not together when it happens, right? I mean, WE know that's not true, but SHE doesn't. She tries to say that Caleb will go after Luke just to hurt her even more but Luke isn't buying it. Still, it hurts like a bitch when that's almost the last interaction they ever had. Lots of angst about this, trust me.

Julie gets one last interaction with everyone, in the studio, and they all leave her alone with Luke in the end. The whole thing is reminiscent of the day Julie died and even though she's a ghost and she was with him since then, the day has always haunted him. If he slept, he was sure he'd have nightmares about it.

The fact that it's so similar is tearing at his heart. Julie's not sickly and confined to a bed with heart monitors and respirators, but he can tell she doesn't have the energy she used to. She's fading away. Again.

And just like last time, Luke reminds her that she's loved, by him most of all.

They lean in for a kiss, just one last kiss, but their lips never meet. And just like that, Luke is alone in th dark room. Julie's left him for the second time and there's not a single chance she's coming back now.

Both of her deaths because of Caleb, and both of them unable to be stopped.

Luke breaks down completely when Alex and Reggie return, sitting on either side of him, Reggie where Julie was just a moment ago.

They sit together like that for hours maybe. The rest of them want to rush in and soothe the boys, but Willie's the only one who can see them. Without her, they're just ghosts. Ordinary phantoms without Julie.

Luke doesn't pick up his pen for months, at least. It's a further few months before he even touches his guitar. Maybe Echo of You, wink wink

They don't perform again, but they do strike against Caleb. The whole thing set in motion almost a year ago by Julie herself, from the first time she visited the Hollywood Ghost Club. It doesn't take much to convince the club to rise against Caleb.

Julie was beloved by all who had ever met her, lifer and ghost alike. To stand by and accept what Caleb has done doesn't sit right with them.

So they strike against Caleb. They strike hard and fast, without any warning. In all his arrogance, Caleb never saw it coming. They free the club, rendering Caleb powerless. And without his magic from stolen and trapped souls, Caleb doesn't survive Reggie.

For a while, after the drive of destroying Caleb leaves, the boys become empty shells of themselves. Willie brings Alex back to himself first. Flynn, Carlos and Ray eventually return Reggie. But Luke? Luke's lifeline was pretty much Julie.

Luke spends his days wandering Hollywood, meeting ghosts who are now enjoying their afterlife, ghots who are free to search for their unfinished business, ghosts who are eager to finally cross over. He smiles at them and chats with them. But Luke spends his nights in Julie's room or the studio. Reggie and Alex never stop trying to engage him, but nothing really seems to pique Luke's interest.

He plays the songs he wrote for her. He teaches himself to play the piano, just to hear her sound again. He listens to their recorded songs, just to heatlr her voice again.

And then one day, Luke accepts the fact that Julie's never coming back. Never. And that night, Luke lays his head on Julie's pillow and for the first time since he died, Luke falls asleep. And quietly, alone in her bedroom, he crosses over.

They spend weeks searching for Luke, refusing to accept what they all know to be true. Even on days when Luke wasn't seen at all, they could always soon hear the guitar, or the piano, or the band's songs. But for weeks, the studio has been silent. Luke didn't just uo and leave. Even if he could somehow turn his back on them, he would never turn his back on the notebooks filled with his and Julie's overlapping handwriting. He would never turn his back on Julie. So, with hearts heavier than on the days of Julie's deaths, they visit Luke's grave. He's really gone now. Alex and Reggie cry the most.

A month or so after, Ray gets to cleaning out the studio. It's collected far too much dust. He's thinking of renting the space out. There's a couple of young kids putting up posters, looking for a space to keep their instruments and host band practice.

Ray struggles and it takes him weeks to even clean out one area of the studio. This was where Rose and Julie spent most of their time and now, within nearly two and half years of each other, he'd lost them both.

When he finally gets to the loft, it's somehow worse. Sunset Curve things are coated in even more dust. Ray trips and sends several items falling to the ground below. He heads back down and starts picking the various items up. He drops them all when he catches sight of one of Luke's notebooks.

Their handwriting is all over it, like passing notes in class, song lyrics in between.

We're okay, right?

We're together, aren't we?

Ray hugs the open notebook to his chest and he cries, but it's not the exhausted tears of the family left behind. It's relieved tears of finally having a sign that everything is okay. Or it will be. It'll never hurt less. Never. But that's okay. They're okay. They're together.

And that's all either of them ever wanted. Right?

[godkilller]

@shirenui144

A more sombre question, but had me wondering... Has Gin ever cried / what would it take to make him cry? I imagine it would be verse dependent, but could a man this guarded ever visibly show such emotional hurt?

          out of character.  Why must you hurt me.

          But it’s an excellent question, and as you say too -- Gin has become such a guarded, numbed, and twisted man. He has, for lack of better wording, killed off that part of himself long ago. He is also one of the topmost guarded characters in Bleach, even Ichigo’s little trick of ‘reading his opponent’s heart’ during battle did not work on Gin. Gin was empty. Gin wasn’t even ‘looking at Ichigo’ with his heart when fighting. They did not reach each other. Gin is so utterly closed off from others and himself that there’s an eerie absence of self present in him, a swallowing abyss, intimidating and oppressive. Gin has also spent his entire existence isolated, he joined Aizen extremely young and thus his centuries-long otherness began. He cannot show emotions akin to Toshiro, who is often used in ways alongside Gin to show what happens if one shows emotions and weakness to Aizen Sousuke via childhood friends. Renji and Rukia, too, are used in ways that contrast Gin and Rangiku subtly in the background. Gin’s interactions with Rukia about Renji, and his interactions with Toshiro about Momo are to make Gin more of an other. He is removed, unlike them.

          So Gin does not despair openly like they do. He doesn’t shout or cry for the audience to see. He’s a villainous cold-hearted bastard.

          This is on top of the potent sense of cultural toxic masculinity and military way of avoiding / “dealing with” emotionally charged moments, not speaking of trauma, and the whole nine yards of suppression which channels into self-worth issues and a tendency for violence. Most characters in Bleach, and especially male characters, aren’t allowed to really stop and think about what they’re feeling, doing -- Ichigo being able to do a decent amount of that, yes, with his protagonist badge, but even then ?  It’s pathetically insufficient, barely a taste of what Ichigo actually should be experiencing, and no other characters are allowed to mourn losses or suffer long-lasting consequences for their actions, for injuries, for mistakes, for harmful words or acts. It’s an action / fighting series, the audience is here for big flashy swordfights and cool abilities, not emotions. Certainly not darker topics of PTSD and the like.

          You can slice it any which way, but Gin grew up as a child soldier. It can be contrasted by the fact that the majority of the Gotei 13 / Shinigami characters are shown, in flashbacks, as entering the Academy whilst in adulthood, becoming Shinigami once adults, with the exception of people like Toshiro, Momo, Hiyori, who all look / are perpetually young.

          Gin is a little older than Toshiro, for context, by the way -- and he is younger than Byakuya. Because Tite doesn’t know how the ages of his own characters work, it can be argued that Gin and Hiyori are possibly within the same ballpark in terms of ages. But like. Look at her. What the fuck. ANYWAYS, the point is ?  Gin’s young, and his trauma is fairly fresh. From the Winter War -- and then 110 years into the past to the Turn Back the Pendulum arc -- Gin spends the majority of his childhood either playing caretaker for Rangiku, who is actually a little older than him, and then killing; first, the three Shinigami that attacked Rangiku, then the Third Seat of the Fifth Division, and then many more likely during his career of observing failed projects at Aizen’s side, witnessing horrific Hollowification experimentations, and many more things. The crucial period of development for things like higher level empathy  ( Gin showcases it by sharing his food with Rangiku, a stranger, and then we see the absolute absence of it from then on )  and Gin swiftly enters into the midst of Erikson’s industry vs. inferiority stage of development; what does he have to offer the world ?  What can he become ?  Will he be good enough ?  This is the stage in which Gin makes the connection as well as makes peace with becoming a monster; this is what I’m offering, this is what I’m becoming, this will be good enough.

          He flipped a switch. It’s questionable whether or not Gin has the ability to cry once he’s an established Third Seat. It’s gone, it’s been swallowed down a hole so deep and dark Gin doesn’t want to go searching for it. He doesn’t want to cry. Gin already has a negative connotation connected to crying given his quote “I’m gonna become a Shinigami, change things for ya, so that you don’t have to cry anymore, Rangiku.” Not crying = good. Not crying means better. Rangiku crying over what was done to her was what embedded into Gin that he needed to be stronger. No crying allowed. None. In his mind, obviously, Gin doesn’t actually make that connection that ‘because Rangiku did this, I’ll do this’ no, he’s not so meticulously aware yet, but there’s certainly an imprint left on him from those earlier years in the Rukongai, dreading her tears, hating them, hating those men, and so crying = murderous intent. Crying = anger.

          If Gin cried as a child, he didn’t realize he was doing so. I can see him crying in his sleep from a dream, a nightmare, a jam-packed series of emotions hitting him whilst vulnerable, whilst unable to smile and swallow it all down. I can see him waking from it and wiping at his face, feeling utter detachment like an ache in his chest, an otherness, like that wasn’t even him crying, that wasn’t him. Gin wouldn’t think more of it, he wouldn’t dare linger on the thoughts. Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know.mp4 and all that jazz.

          Gin is more likely to lash out in anger than let himself cry. I have a headcanon / drabble somewhere of Gin screaming into his inner world, clutching at his hair, feeling so terribly close to crying but he can’t, it literally will not happen. He’s too bottled up and frustrated from that that when he actually has an opportunity to cry and it doesn’t naturally happen because he’s become so suppressed, it just outright angers him. Because he has latched everything up, lock and key, by the time Gin’s an adult -- if he were to cry as an adult, it’d be during a flurry of explosive emotions. He cannot just casually let loose, no, that door’s jammed shut, it’s been coiled tight in him. A pit of despair by the time the Winter War rolls by. Gin admits to feeling anxiety, dread, during that conflict -- a sign of slowly coming undone, no longer able to keep himself from hesitance, doubt, insecurity, and anticipation hovering around him like a dark cloud. Gin cannot cry, though, not now. Not when he’s so close to making all the pain worth something...

          So it’s no surprise that Gin really only starts getting the actual opening to properly cry in my canon divergent verses. But the catch !!!!  Gin has failed so thoroughly and so brutally that he feels he doesn’t deserve to weep about it. That this is merely a fraction of the karma he deserves. He experiences suicidal ideation, daydreaming of how it’d simply be easier if he hadn’t survived at all. He feels too hollow to cry, then, at the start. He feels too heavy, too much, it’s too much to cry about. He ruined himself and Rangiku for nothing. He did all of this for nothing. And now Rangiku wants answers, still waiting, watching him, and he can’t cry in front of her. IT’S STILL INGRAINED IN HIM FROM CHILDHOOD: she’s the one who cries and he’s the one who comforts. The audacity of him to cry in front of her after everything he put her through, as though he were the victim and her the one needing to comfort him. Gin may be morally gray, but at times he truly sees the world in black and white. No moderation, no give and take.

          It’d hit him later, when he’s learning to become more vulnerable. When he’s trying to open up to Rangiku about something he has to rip from himself, his heart holding onto this sorrow for so long Gin has to surgically remove the truth from himself. AS A CHILD, WITNESSING WHAT HAPPENED TO RANGIKU COUNTS AS A TRAUMATIC EVENT. Not talking about it for 110+ years does a number or two on you when you at last, FINALLY, tell her the fucking scoop. Gin repressed what happened to Rangiku because he recognized that Rangiku did not fully and properly remember, recollect, what happened to her. He knew. Gin saw.

          Compartmentalizing her trauma on top of his own, as though a keeper of it, a sin-eater, Gin would feel absolute despairing relief at finally telling her. Despairing because he’ll be inflicting upon her something he’s been holding back, holding that door shut, for the entirety of their knowing of one another, and to finally let go of the door and let that beast of trauma go charging at her undeterred ?  There’s immense guilt attached to this entire affair. Gin feels childlike guilt; why her, and not me ?  I wish it could’ve been me, we could’ve traded places and I’d be fine, I’d live, we could live happy together.  Akin to survivor’s guilt, Gin wishes those men had found him and taken a piece of his soul rather than Rangiku’s. The ‘why’ of it haunts him. Why her. Why didn’t I stop them. Why didn’t I show up sooner. I could’ve bitten at them, kicked and hit, we could have escaped together -- or at least you could have. Gin also feels guilt at a base adult level: why am I keeping this from her ? No, it’s too late to tell her, she’s happier now, there will never be a good time to tell her.

          There are so many things, feelings, thoughts, that Gin has never shared with Rangiku due to it all being tied to the unspoken secret he’s let fester inside of him.

          SO WHEN GIN FINALLY TELLS RANGIKU WHY HE JOINED AIZEN, WHY HE TRIED TO KILL AIZEN, WHY HE SAID THOSE WORDS TO HER DURING THAT BLIZZARD AND BECAME A SHINIGAMI ... GIN’S GOING TO BREAK DOWN.

          The truth is tied to vulnerability in Gin’s mind. Telling it means ripping himself apart at the seams. Everything he crafted himself out to be was made around this secret. It’s going to be bloody, it’s going to hit him like a fucking train. Gin’s going to feel it coming, rumbling on the tracks, he’ll hear it even, that approaching storm, he’ll know by the prickle at his eyes and the closing of his throat, but still nothing’s ever prepared him for the absolute choked finality of the truth, and he’s going to do his best to hold it back -- it’s instinctive, it’s in his blood by now to mask it, stop it, divert and drawl his way out of it. But this time he can’t just stop halfway and distract her, talk about something else. No, Gin’s cornered himself and it’s high time Rangiku got the truth from him, he can’t run away any more. He’ll have to grit his teeth and talk through it, swallow it back just enough to speak, to tell her what he’s done to them both and for what, for why, it’s the worst possible conversation they could ever have, but one they need. And Gin’s going to find himself incapable of holding back a sob the more he discloses, the more that slips out and escapes him the more the emotions tied to that sunken anchor come up too. He will feel simultaneously lighter and heavier for it.

          There are numerous ways Gin’s thought about wording it. He’s thought about the numbed approach, MISSION REPORT style: Aizen Sousuke harvested souls from the 64th Rukongai District, they took a piece from you. Perhaps not, no, not like that. Maybe... back when y’were a kid, there were three Shinigami assigned to the 64th District to collect souls to fuel Aizen Sousuke’s Hogyoku. They took somethin’ from you. I saw it. I saw them hoverin’ over you, I saw it in their hands. I saw’em offer it up to Aizen in the forest, collectin’ firewood. I saw him.

          WHY DIDN’T I STOP HIM, WHY DIDN’T I ATTACK THOSE THREE MEN THEN AND THERE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT WITH YOUR COLLAPSED FORM A FEW FEET AWAY, MAYBE I COULD HAVE TAKEN THEM ON AFTER ALL. I COULD HAVE CRUSHED A SKULL IN WITH STONE, I COULD’VE STOLEN HIS SWORD BEFORE THE LIFE FULLY FADED FROM HIM AND MADE IT VANISH, I COULD’VE CARVED THROUGH THE SECOND, SLICE THE TENDON AT THE THIRD’S ANKLE AS HE ATTEMPTED TO FLEE, WARN OTHERS. SLIT HIS THROAT AS HE CRAWLED AWAY. YOU’D HEAR IT, OFF TO THE SIDE. YOU’D SEE ME COME UP TO YOU WITH BLOOD SPLATTERS. YOU’D SEE ME LEAN OVER YOU WITH NOT A PERSIMMON OFFERED, NO, YOUR OWN FUCKING SOUL THEY PLUCKED FROM YOU. SHAKY HAND. BLOODIED HAND. TAKE IT, TAKE IT BACK. I FIXED IT --

          Just tell her. JUST TELL HER.

          DO YOU REMEMBER THE DAY WE MET, RANGIKU ... ?

[elmidol]

Strange Attraction (NSFW)

Reyux (Rey x Hux) PWP

Originally written in 2019 for kylomademedoit on AO3

Word count: 1.7k

Far more confusing and intriguing than the fact that Kylo Ren, as the self-appointed new Supreme Leader of the First Order, had joined forces with the girl was Rey herself. She had managed to convince Kylo Ren to allow the remnant of the Resistance to live. This was something that initially General Hux had found to be intolerable. It had grown on him. Or, rather, Rey had grown on him. He did not know how he felt about her exactly. She could wield the Force the same as Ren could. This had left a somewhat sour taste in Armitage’s mouth, which had faded away when she refused to use it against him. Then she had been skilled in aiding repairs to the vessels. Ensuring Supreme Leader Ren was not foolish as he pulled back some of their fighting forces. The takeover of the galaxy would be less hostile.

 This was something that he had still not yet come to terms with. Which was, when one took the time to think about it, rather odd given their interactions. It had taken one month of stolen glances and flushed cheeks before they had managed to forgo the business talk in favor of being more personable. Another two weeks until Armitage decided to take a chance by brushing his hand along hers. Her eyes had flown to his face. At first, he had believed himself to have just made a rather foolish mistake. And then she smiled.

 He had not been taught to be affectionate by his late father, which was one of the main reasons that he struggled with understanding his feelings for her. He did not dislike her; General Hux was well-versed with hatred and resentment, and this was not it. She intrigued him. More than that, he found himself drawn to her. The passionate way with which she spoke of both the Force and technical matters threatened to steal his heart —except that he was in denial that he had one.

 It was so much easier to attributed what he felt to desire. That had initially left him stained with guilt. Even still, Armitage had wrapped his hand around his cock that night in his private quarters. He thought of how the young woman had looked as she had trained with the Knights of Ren. Covered in sweat. The ferocity in her eyes, in her mannerisms, that so contrasted with the shyness she exhibited whenever she knew that he was observing her. His throat undulated as he swallowed. His thumb sliding along the top of his shaft while his fingers danced along its underside. The vein pulsed underneath.

 He grabbed for the lotion, lubricating his hand and returning it to his erection. His feet pressed flat on the mattress. His eyes closed, picturing her. When she was panting. It was so simple for him to imagine her underneath him. Releasing those low growls she had a tendency to make. The gasps —

 “Kriff.” His cock twitched in his hand, and he picked up the pace. His cum stained the sheets, which he used to wipe off his limb and lap. He balled them up and had a droid take them away.

 The next time he saw her, it was like she knew what he had done. Her blush was deeper than it had been in some time. This contrasted greatly with the tentative brushes. The accidental contact that he realized was not accidental. He did not think she would be completely ignorant to sex —she had grown up on Jakku, and had to have endured more than her fair share of propositions and sexual harassment —but that did not mean he believed her to be experienced.

 “You can kiss me.”

 She sounded hopeful, determined. There was a level of confidence to her that endeared him, and a hesitancy, a shyness, that made him feel guilty all over again. Rey mistook his lack of a response for something that it wasn’t.

 She turned her head away. “I’m not too young, you know.”

 It was the first time he considered their age difference. Armitage stepped away from her, walking away and leaving her there.

 They did not see one another for three weeks. The new Supreme Leader had the young woman training and away on missions with the Knights of Ren. General Hux was promoted to Grand Marshal. He wore that rank with pride. But he wasn’t too prideful that he would pull away from her when, after those three weeks elapsed, she caught sight of him in a hallway. Rey blocked his path. She never, not once, used the Force to stop him. This was one reason he respected her, and it earned his attention.

 “You still think about me when you…touch yourself.” This time his face was the one to sport a hot blush. Rey stepped nearer to him, her head tilted back. He could feel her breath on his lips. It made him wonder what her lips would taste like. What she would taste like. “I think about you, too, when I cum.”

 Maker, he never knew breathing could be such a hard thing to do.

 She did not wait for him to respond. With a smile, she crossed her arms behind her back, twisted on her heel, and walked away. Grand Marshal Hux unashamedly stared at her rear the entire time. She knew it too. Rey waggled her fingers at him in a sort of wave, sort of I-hope-you’re-watching-me.

 In some respects, she was just as inexperienced as he had thought she might be. Her fingers were not the same as someone else touching her. Rey squirmed, giggling when he slipped his hands up her sides and toyed with her breasts. He found this adorable. Armitage leaned forward to kiss her, and did not object to her raking her fingers through his hair. She pulled so many strands out of place, yet he did not care. If it brought forth more laughter, which it did, he wanted her to indulge.

 His mouth moved with hers, his tongue delving inside. She was a quick learner. Though to start with she did not know what to do with her tongue, she soon began to mimic the actions of his. Armitage swallowed her moan when he teased the roof of her mouth. Rey pressed her hips against his in want.

 If she wanted to, she would be able to flip them over and take control. She let him have full reign of her body. He laid her head upon the pillow, nibbled at her jawline, and hushed her gently when she moaned at the loss of contact. Armitage kissed her breasts. He pinched the nipple of her right breast whilst suckling on that of the left. Then switched, rolling one bud with his tongue and the other with his thumb. Her fingers were under the waistband of her pants. She was wet, the slick sound of her juices make him harder.

 The redhead grabbed at the young woman’s wrist, and dragged it up out from underneath the pants. He sealed his lips around those wet digits then started to suck on them.

 It was delicious, how she tasted and how she suddenly seemed to become shy. Once more she squirmed, blushed, and giggled. She threw her head back when he settled between her legs and tasted her more fully. Armitage swirled his tongue inside of her. Replacing his tongue with one then two then three fingers, he scissored her open. All the while he nibbled and lapped at her clitoris. His name spilled from her lips as she came. That moan was no less beautiful than her laughter.

 But it was nothing in comparison to the look on her face as he eased his cock inside of her. Her eyes grew wide, her chest rising and falling heavily. “Lovely,” he whispered, not sure if she heard him and not caring even if she hadn’t.

 Later, he had to wonder if he had had that same look on his face as she did the fourth time they were together. The confident smirk as she pushed him down onto the bed and promised him that he would be just fine, that he simply needed to just trust her. Her eyes pinched a little as she spoke. Her small frame belied the strength that she possessed. Armitage could feel her muscles every time that they were together, but moreso now that she was using them to situate his body how she wanted it.

 Rey lowered herself onto his cock and took her bottom lip into her mouth. He loved how she chewed it in that moment. Not shy. It was pure ecstasy. “I—“

 Her finger on his lips, silencing him. “Shh. Don’t talk.” This was not the giggling Rey that squirmed underneath him. This was the Rey who took control on the battlefield and, now, in bed. She rolled and swerved her hips, grinding against him. “It’s my turn to lead.” Armitage could only nod, his mind trying to manage through the fog of confusion that was soon consumed by pleasure.

 This was something she had known how to do all along, he realized. She baffled him. Rey was a set of contradictions. Armitage had been taught that emotions would make one weak, yet it was her feelings that made her stronger. She was so Light yet able to control the Dark as well. Naïve but wise. Gentle and rough. He did not know how he felt about her. It was far too strange, too foreign, this attraction that he felt. How was he to describe all of those emotions, the ones that he had shut away as a means of surviving. Even now as she controlled him, she made him feel empowered.

 Armitage stopped trying to think, and let himself focus instead on the feel of her on his cock. Her inner walls clutched at him. Rey used the muscles in her legs to raise herself. His stomach swooped in anticipation. As she slammed down, he bucked up. They met one another halfway every time. Each thrust bringing both of them closer to climax.

 “Armitage!” she said breathessly. He called out her name in turn, catching her in his arms as she collapsed against him. The pair of them laid there in the bed entwined.

 When he recovered, he kissed her neck—and she giggled.

[harrysgoldenline]

Can’t Help but Love Him - Part 2

Hi!!! I’m so glad you all liked the first part of this story! Here is the second :) Sorry if it’s kinda messy, I didn’t fully proof read because I just really really wanted to get it out to you guys! Let me know what you think! <3

Part 1

Tags: @harriemelonsugar 

WORD COUNT: 4,235 

“How was staying at Harry’s last night?” Sarah teased once Y/N sat down across from her in the booth of the tiny cafe, “Did you guys cuddle?”

“Shut up.” Y/N groaned, rolling her eyes, “this whole getting over him thing is not working, the party should have made it easier but then he took me home instead of that girl, and to answer your question, no we didn’t. He slept on the couch.”

Sarah let out a long coo, causing Y/N’s cheeks to turn bright red covering her face with her hands, her friends hands coming across the table and playfully hitting them away, giggling as she sees Y/N’s rosy cheeks.

Sarah was the only person who knew about her crush on Harry, of course not on purpose. Sarah found it on her own, after seeing the two interact she thought that something was already happening between the two after closing observing their behavior when she came to visit Harry on tour. Sarah would always see the two laughing, Harry leaning into her ear and whispering different jokes and stories, as well as the two messing around on the stage together before and after the show.

Harry and Y/N met awhile back, running into each other in the studio back when Y/N was just starting her own career as a singer. She of course, then and now, still has not reached his level of fame, but she was currently in the works of planning her first solo world tour, something Harry has really helped with and supported, which she of course really appreciated, but she often felt guilty by. With his high profile reputation, just going out with Sarah can cause headlines and she never wants any of them to feel like she is using them for her own benefit, which leads them to this moment of going to small hole in the wall places. Y/N, also like Harry, preferred to be more private, working around personal interview questions and posting any kind of photos having to do relationships.  

“You two are the cutest.” Sarah giggles, both of them thanking the waitress as she comes by and drops off their drinks and takes their orders, “Seriously though, I wouldn’t worry about that girl from the party. It was random and like you said, he took you home and took care of you. Clearly cares about you a lot more.”

“He just felt guilty” Y/N laughed, “that girl literally dragged him away right in front of me and he ignored me all night until Nick showed up.”

“Oh yeah! He was so cute!” Sarah exclaimed, the thought also being a forgotten memory from that blurry night of too many drinks, “like really, REALLY cute. Mitch said you guys exchanged numbers, have you texted him?”

“No, I’m so embarrassed.” Y/N grumbled, covering her face with her hands again, “he came up to me because he saw me sitting alone, blankly staring at Harry as that girl was practically on top of him, he profanely just felt bad for me.”

“Oh stop.” Sarah demanded, slapping her friends wrist, “why are so convinced that no guy could actually like you? You’re hot, you’re sweet, you’re talented, you’re the whole package!”

Y/N shakes her head, staring down at her drink, swirling the straw around her cup, watching the ice spin, “I just… I don’t know. I mean… Nobody’s ever liked me before.”

“Oh c’mon, that’s not true.”

“It is, Sarah…” She softly admitted, shyly looking up at her older friend, her fingers still stirring the ice with her straw, “I’ve never been in a relationship, like ever.”

“What? But what about Be-“

“Nope… nothing happened… just can this stay between us? It’s so embarrassing.”

“That is nothing to be embarrassed about, sweetheart.” She frowned, reaching across the table and squeezing her friends hand, “And yes of course! Does Harry not know? I thought you told each other everything?”

“He doesn’t know this and the… more obvious secret.”

“Of course, but please don’t feel bad about this how about you and I-“ Sarah explains, stopping once her phone goes off, pulling out and talking a bit before putting back and her purse and smirking at her, leaning closer to her friend, “Let’s text Nick.”

***

“Fuck, that was really good. Can we run that again?” Harry asks, standing in the middle of the studio with Mitch, whom he gets a chuckle and a nod from, starting the new song from scratch.  

The sounds of Mitch’s guitar fills the room, Harry closing his eyes as he drums away on his lap, humming a tune to himself, scribbling some words messily onto the notepad in front of him.

The two have been working on a new song, Harry calling him to get over to the studio as soon as possible after Harry had a sudden spark of inspiration, so for the past few hours they have been working on that.

“I’m hoping they go just as crazy for this one as they did for Medicine.” He smirks, loving how crazy he can make his fans go. He knows just how to mess with them, loving to rile them up by preforming unreleased songs.

“Based on these lyrics” Mitch chuckled, looking over the explicit lyrics and setting the instrument next to him and slowly rising, going to the mini fridge in the studio, “They’re gonna lose their minds.”

Harry arrogantly smirks, catching the water bottle Mitch throws at him and giving him a quick thank you, taking a quick drink before scribbling more on the paper, crossing things out, drawing arrows, trying to make his vision clear as it all comes together. When Harry starts writing, all he can think about is writing and hardly anything can pull him out of his trance as he transforms himself into a new word. So much that Harry didn’t even his phone ring, Mitch watching comically as it rang out, neither of them reaching for it and the mystery person being eventually being sent to voicemail as Harry never sets down his pen, his other hand rubbing at his bottom lip and pinching it together as he sat in focus.

So focused in fact, he doesn’t notice the phone ringing again, only after a few brief moments of silence. Harry still scribbles away, pulling back and rubbing at his temple as his eyes scan the contexts of his paper and Mitch things he notices the ring as he looks away and to the side, only to grab the water and take a quick drink, scribbling away for a few more moments, the phone going back off as the mystery person is sent to voicemail, causing Mitch to let out a laugh.

“Wha’ you laughing at me for?” Harry chuckled, throwing one of his pencils at Mitch who quickly swats it away.

“Your phone rang twice, Rockstar. Didn’t even flinch. Whose calling you up?” Mitch taunted, trying to peak over at the screen and see the name, “Is it that girl from last night? Mallory?”

Harry looks over at his phone, clicking the side button and the screen light up and he reads the name, “Yes, actually.” He nods, raising the phone to his ear and listening to the voicemails she had left for him, hearing her request for the two to meet up tonight.

Mitch sits quietly, observing his friends behavior and he tries to carefully listen in to what the message the girl left behind. Mitch was also torn, of course wanting Harry to find the person of his dreams. Yet, he wanted Y/N to be with Harry. He didn’t know ‘officially’ about Y/N’s feelings for Harry, but he caught on quickly, not needing a word from her or Sarah… but he had listened in to some of their conversations when Y/N had come over to their place, thanking the stars he had never been caught, yet he sometimes (all the times), wishes he could be invited into girl talk… just once.

He watched as Harry takes the phone away from his ear and back down into his hands, typing away for a few moments before he set the phone back down, his focus going directly back to his pad of paper, a pen going between the man’s pink lips as he stares at the page blankly, his focus seeming to have evaporated and Mitch isn’t sure which of his friends that reaction is better for.

“What’s going on with you two?” Mitch asks, trying to act casual by picking up his guitar and strumming at random chords, “You two like a thing?”

“Hm? Oh, uh… Not sure, what we are right now.” He shrugs, “asked me if I wanted to get together tonight.”

“Well? Are you going to?”

“Just texted her if you and Sarah could come, make it a lil double date” He shrugged, making eye contact with Mitch as he sits across from them, “if you want of course, just casual. We could just hang out at my place.”

“Sounds fun, I can call Sarah right now. She’s with Y/N- You wanna ask if Y/N wants to come?” Mitch suggested, already digging through his phone and going to favorite contacts, ready to press on Sarah’s number.

“That would be really fun…” Harry nodded, scratching the back of his neck, “I just don’t want her to feel left out, ya know?”

“She could ask that Nick guy if he wants to come. She got his number, right? Before you swept her away from him back to your place.” Mitch teased, throwing his pencil back to him and hitting Harry square in the chest.

“She needed to get home, she drank too much, anymore and she would’ve been puking all night. I was just taking care of her.” He nonchalantly explained, “Needed to make sure she got home safe.”

“How’d Mallory feel about that? You two disappeared for a while.” Mitch smirked, raising his eyebrows at Harry, causing him to laugh, “What were you youngsters up to?

“Shut up.” Harry spoke, cheeks turning a bit red, “Don’t worry about it, can we finish up this last verse please?”

“Alright, alright.” Mitch laughed, “Let me call Sarah first and then we can, when should they come to your place?”

***

“Thanks again for coming, sorry it was kinda last minute.” Y/N started, smiling up at Nick as they both walked into Harry’s house, “And once again, I am so sorry about the other night. You made some really good drinks and I guess you I didn’t eat enough.”

“Don’t worry about, Y/N.” He laughed, his arm resting on her hip as they walked in the front door, “I have seen a lot worse, trust me. You’re not even a bad drunk, just a good dancer.”

“Oh god!” She giggled, covering her face with her hands, which he quickly pried away, “That is so embarrassing, I am so sorry you had to see that.”

“I enjoyed it.” He teased, “but to make it up to you… I will show you my dance moves tonight if you want me to.”

“Yes please!”

The pair laughed, entering the living room seeing the other couples sitting around laughing together. Sarah and Mitch sitting next to each other on the loveseat as Harry and Mallory sitting across from them on an armrest, Mallory wearing a tight black dress as she sat on Harry’s lap, an arm around his neck and making her feel extremely underdressed, even though she was the only one dressed for the occasion. Everyone else wearing a variation of jeans or joggers and different graphic tees and band shirts.

“Y/N!” Sarah smiled, seeing the pair walk in the room, kicking the couch next to her and signaling them to sit, “Hi Nick! What’s up guys?”

Harry looks up, squirming a bit in his seat and moving Mallory to the side and he quickly stands, walking over to his friend and pulling her into a tight hug, “Y/N, I’m so glad you could make it!” He smiles pulling back before looking over at Nick holding his hand out to him which Nick takes, “Nice to see you again Nick, thanks for coming, would you two like a drink?”

“Thanks for having me!” Nick smiles saying his hellos to the others, “and yeah that’d be great!”

Y/N agrees, both of them giving their orders to Harry and he nods, giving them their orders before he gives them a thumbs up, going back to the kitchen, “Can I have another, babe?” Mallory calls for him, “Same thing please!”

“Sure thing!” He calls out, and she smirks towards the kitchen, her plump, deep red bottom lip between her perfectly white teeth, “anyways, hi you two! We were just talking about Harry’s album and tour!”

Sarah hides behind Mitch’s back, making eye contact with Y/N and rolling her eyes before taking a long drink before turning back toward Mallory. Both her and Nick notice and they giggle to themselves, his arm going around her shoulder as they both relax into the couch, his other hand softly resting on her knee.

He leans into her, using his arm around her shoulder to pull her closer, “Was I supposed to dress black tie?” He chuckled softly into her ear, and she blushes playfully slapping his arm and gigging, her eyes widening after hearing a throat clear above her.

“Oh sorry.” Y/N blushed, “thank you for the drinks.” She added, looking up at Harry and giving him a soft smile, Nick also giving him a quick thank you.

He nods and smiles, walking back over and sliding back onto the armchair, Mallory crawling quickly back into his lap and pressing a kiss onto his cheek, arms going back around him as she continued to talk about Harry’s tour and all the places going to be, telling stories of some places that stuck out to her from previous modeling shoots.

He smiled and laughed along, nodding when she would turn to look at him, but then he would turn his attention back to Y/N, watching as he sat diagonally from him as she looked up at Nick laughing at a story he was telling her and he could almost see the star in her eyes, but he couldn’t help but feel the looks coming from across him. Sarah was staring deep at Y/N watching her friend and now being invited into the conversation with her and Nick. Mitch, although was staring at Harry, pretending also to listen to the conversation as he gave Harry a weird look, trying to read his friends mind.

“So, Nick! Tell us about yourself!” Harry explained the second Mallory paused, his eyes glued on Nicks hand who he swore was an inch or two higher on her leg then it was now, “You bartend right?”

“Yep!” Nick smiles, “Bartender at night and an actor during the day, mainly doing commercials and smaller TV roles right now, nothing as exciting as a world tour.”

He adds, subtly making fun of Mallory causing everyone to let out a laugh, except for Mallory who she thought was praising her and Harry, and Harry who also didn’t laugh, trying more to analyze his every word.

“No, that is exciting!” Sarah encourages, wanting the new man of the group to feel more comfortable, especially after noticing Harry’s intense stare, “Really cool actually, I think acting is so cool, you get to be so many people! Do you have a favorite kind of role?

She looked up at him as he explained, a smile covering her face and her heart skips a beat, a feeling she hasn’t felt in a while with someone other than Harry and she looks down at her lap, biting her lip and trying to hold back her smile as she sees his hand on her thigh. She slowly looks up, being met with Sarah’s wide smirk and wiggling eyebrows and Y/N rolls her eyes back at her before continuing to listen to Nick explain.

Conversation goes on from there, bouncing from person to person as each start sharing different stories and experiences that they’ve all gained throughout knowing each other, trying to get Mallory and Nick more familiar with their dates friends.

“Harry, baby, can you help me get another drink please?” Mallory smiles, batting her eyelashes up at him, thumb running over his cheek.

“Sure thing, let’s go.” Harry nodded, soon standing and she quickly grabs his hand, intertwining their fingers and giggling as she begins dragging him through the door and into the kitchen.  

The pair soon disappear and the remaining four all release a sigh of relief, the room feeling much more light now and the four begin a much more casual conversation, feeling much more comfortable as they start telling funny stories and jokes, being able to poke fun at one another, soon turning up the music in the room as they all begin messing around.

“Can I see those dance moves now?” Y/N smirked as they both stood up, downing their drinks and giggling, “please please?”

“I guess.” He chuckled, hands falling on her hips before moving a hair out of her face, “Just because you’re cute.”

Her face turned bright red, heart rate picking up as he leaned in a bit, winking before pulling back pressing a kiss in her cheek before jumping backwards and suddenly dancing wildly. Y/N, Sarah and Mitch all laughed, watching the man jump around and do a very over dramatic air guitar, Mitch jumping in and doing the same.

“C’mere!” Nick shouted over the loud music, reaching out his hand and quickly grabbing Y/N’s quickly spinning her into him and rocking them back and forth before spinning out again, “Don’t worry, I know I’m very advanced, just follow my lead.” He joked, doing childlike dance moves as he finished the last drink of his beer.

“You want another? I’m out too, I’ll grab us both another and then you can teach me some moves.” She giggled, grabbing her empty cup along with is bottle, “Be right back.”

“You sure Harry won’t mind? Feel bad taking all of his alcohol.”

“He’ll be fine.” She giggled, “Be right back.”

She blushed as she flashed him a smile, turning back and giggling as she watches Mitch and Sarah start copying his moves, her heartwarming at the idea of the four of them hanging out again. She forces herself to turn away, and ignore her heartbeat picking up speed as she wonders where this night will all take her with Nick, especially considering they’ve only known each other a couple of days at this point but she really thinks she’s starting to really like him.

She smiles to herself, looking at the floor as she pushes the door into the kitchen, opening a garage door and recycling Nicks bottle before going back to the bar area, taking her cup with her to refill. She quickly pushes the door open, turning up the dimmed lights and squinting as her eyes adjust, not expecting her heart having to.

She lets out a gasp, seeing before her Harry sitting on the couch in lounge, Mallory straddling him as she can practically see her tongue going down his throat as she grinded her hips into him, her dress seeming to ride up farther, before both of them adjust to the light. The pair jumps, Mallory quickly trying to fix her hair before sending an innocent, yet devious smile towards Y/N as Harry clears his throat, sliding the model off his lap.

“I-I’m sorry I didn’t mean to, um I didn’t know you guys were-“ Y/N stuttered, both her heart and mind going a million miles a minute, “I didn’t mean to intrude, I was just t-trying to get Nick and I another drink.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart!” Mallory smiled at her, “Would you mind making me a rum and coke?”

“Sure” Y/N replies, scurrying off to the bar behind them, letting out a quiet shaky breath that thankfully was drowned out by the sound of Mallory telling Harry another story.

Y/N tried to ignore, staring at the back of her head and making awkward eye contact with Harry as he kept staring back at her, the uncomfortable tension filling the air that only 2 out of the 3 people in the room could feel.

That’s when she hears Harry stop her, asking if they could rejoin the party outside as he was going to help make more drinks, feeling bad that they left everyone. She lets out a whine before agreeing, giving him another hard, long kiss, making Y/N grimace and force her eyes away, looking down at the drink she was making herself causing nausea to fill her.  She soon hears Mallory’s heels click away and soon she felt the strong presence beside her, Harry standing shyly off to the side as he watches Y/N grab another beer and a can of coke.

“Here let me.” He muttered, taking the coke from her hand causing they’re fingers to brush, making the drink for Mallory himself, “I’m sorry, Y/N, I didn’t mean to um... sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize for kissing your girlfriend.” Y/N deadpans, avoiding eye contact focusing on making a drink for Sarah she knows she will want, “I’m sorry I walked in, I figured you went upstairs.”

“Are we still on for tomorrow?” He softly asks, referring to the studio session they’ve had planned together.

Y/N and Harry have always loved writing and recording together. Of course, they’ve never released a song together, but they have always found a great deal of comfort of having the other person there when recording on a new project, especially Y/N. She felt like Harry had been there for her throughout so much of her career, helping her record, write, with interviews, red carpets, everything. Harry taught her everything she needed to know, he was the one that helped her learn how to come into her sound and truly become the artist she has always dreamed she would be.

“I don’t know…” She started, trying hard to think of an excuse, “I might go see that new movie with Nick.”

“Are you serious?” Harry bitterly chuckles, “You’ve known me for how long and you’re just going to ditch me for this random guy you hardly know?’

“That’s awfully rich coming from you, Harry.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Y/N slammed down the cup, a few drops spilling on the counter and she finally looked up at him. She could feel her hands shaking and she clenched her jaw tight, squeezing her eyes shut to hold back from releasing too much emotion.

“I came here to New York on my time off to hang out with you and the first thing you do is-“ She started; each word spoken more bitterly then before.

“You love New York.” He interrupts, his face softening, “I thought you would want to come and explore with me like we used to me.”

“Let me finish!” She desperately cries out, “Please… And the first thing you do is talk to me for 5 minutes before you literally let her drag you away from me. I met Nick because I was sitting all alone at that party, if it wasn’t for him, I would’ve been alone all night. So, don’t talk to me about ditching a friend.”

“Y/N, please. I’m sorry-“

“I think I’m going to go home.” She whispers, setting the drinks down on the counter and sniffling a bit, forcing herself to keep it together as he was still around.

Harry quickly stops her, grabbing her arm and turning her to look back at him, “Y/N please, I am so sorry. I just got so caught up in the moment and the party… Please, how can I make it up to you? Do you want me to tell everyone to leave? We can order a pizza and I got Disney Plus because I knew you would want to watch it… It can be just us if you want.”

All she wanted to do was say yes.

In her wildest dreams she would on him, pressing kisses all over his face and tell Mallory to leave, tell Nick she’s sorry and tell Sarah how much she really, really likes Harry and how excited she was to spend the night with just him. Just the two of them.

But she couldn’t.

If this did happen, he would tell everyone to go, making her feel guilty. Then they would stay up just the two of them and she knows, although nothing was going to happen between the two of them, that she would cherish every single moment and think about it as she lays awake at night. How she would call Sarah the next day and tell her everything, and then they could go to the studio together and write a beautiful song.

But all of these things will only get her worse. She would only fall in love with him more, ruining her for any kind of future relationship will come her way. She knew Harry was just being friendly, not asking her to stay because he was interested, but because he felt guilty for what he did and since he was such a people pleaser, there was no way he wouldn’t offer.

So, she knows what she has to do.

“Goodnight, Harry.”