#was supposed to be a quick doodle but i passed out and woke up days later with a fully shaded piece saved in my art folder

[fatbiscuit]

Lunar Plush AU Bonus Part. This is a mini story for the collaborative AU with Ultimawolffox.

Mini Story: A Day with Lunar

I start to wake up to the sound of Lunar moving around to get ready for the day. It has been a few days since I first met Lunar, so far every day seems rather relaxed if not monotonous. 

After a few more minutes pass I sit up. 

Lunar notices that I woke up and says, “Good morning Luna.”

“Good morning,” I replied. “Do you have any plans for today?” 

“Not really, except for the fact that Earth wanted to teach me to bake something,” Lunar answered. “I will have to save you some of whatever we bake if it turns out okay.”

“That sounds fun,” I say and after a moment of thinking I add the request, “Can I watch?”

Lunar seems to be unsure about introducing me to the others. I am not quite certain about his reasons, but I think it has something to do about how he thinks they might react. 

“I don’t know…,” Lunar said unsure.

“I promise I won’t cause any trouble,” I add.

“Okay, it should be fine,” Lunar relented. “What do you think we should make?” 

“Umm, I honestly have no idea?” I replied. “I don’t really know that many kinds of food yet, but I like things that are sweet.”

“Alright, I’ll just ask Earth what kind of dessert would be the easiest to make,” Lunar decided. “I will come get you after work when the kids leave.” 

Lunar set aside some food for me before heading off to help Earth with the daycare saying, “Goodbye Luna!” 

“Goodbye Lunar,” I say as I watch him leave. 

Now I have to wait. Lunar often leaves during the afternoon to help Earth with the kids. It sounds fun, but also like a lot of work.

Lunar is an interesting individual, to be frank I do not have many individuals to compare him with, but he seems nice. I was a bit nervous when I first met him, but he gives me food and likes to talk about all sorts of things. He is a bit anxious about things, though. It is a bit boring while he is helping Earth, but he tells me all about it afterwards and it is time I can just do what I want to do without any worry. 

It is not too bad though, Lunar left me some coloring books and toys. The toys were some foam shapes, a couple of balls, and a barrel for some reason? Anyway, personally, I prefer to pass my time using the coloring book. 

I had time to draw a decent amount of pictures before Lunar returned, one of Lunar in a spaceship (Lunar seems to like space.), one of Sun and Moon fighting over barrels, one of Earth holding a flower, and one of Earth and Lunar baking something with me, and a couple of random doodles. I was working on figuring out what to draw for another picture when Lunar returned.

“Hi, Luna!” Lunar said as he greeted me.

“Hi, Lunar,” I answered. “How did work with Earth go?”

“It went well,” Lunar replied casually. “Earth said-” he cut himself off as he noticed my pile of pictures. “Did you draw all of these while I was gone? You have been busy.”

He seemed interested, so I started to show him my pictures. He was enjoying hearing me explain each of my pictures until I showed the picture of us baking.

“Oh right! Earth said she was ready to start baking, so I told her I wanted to go grab something real quick. She is probably still waiting for us!” Lunar said as he set my papers on the table, picked me up, and started to head back to Earth.

He pauses before entering the kitchen, looks at me, smiles nervously “Alright, we are about to go in. Are you ready?” 

I nod confidently and Lunar opens the door.

“Hi Earth, sorry I took so long!” Lunar says as he enters the kitchen with Earth.

“Hi there Lunar, I was beginning to wonder. Did anything interesting distract you?” Earth asked.

“I guess, I got distracted looking at some pictures, then remembered what I was supposed to be doing,” he replied as he sat me down on the counter.

“I like your toy, it looks rather nice,” Earth says, as she notices me on the table.

“Yeah, it is,” Lunar replied with a smirk. “So, what are we making?”

“Well, I was thinking that chocolate chip cookies would be an easy recipe to start learning,” Earth reasoned. “What do you think, though?”

“That sounds neat!” Lunar agreed. “What can I do?”

“Well, the first step to baking is always to get out the ingredients to make sure we have everything we need,” Earth explains.

I watch as Earth and Lunar get out the supplies and measure out ingredients. I kinda wish I could be helping, but I do my best to pay attention to what they are doing. I may want to know how to replicate the process someday by myself if it turns out well. At any rate, it would be good to know how to make food, just in case. 

As Lunar measures out the chocolate chips he slides a few onto my counter before mixing them into the batter. 

When they put the cookies in the oven they started to talk about things that happened during work,but they did not set a timer. I can see on the instructions that there was supposed to be one. I look at Lunar, but he is too caught up in the conversation to notice. A watch the clock as the minutes go by, but the time for the cookies to be removed arrives while they are still in conversation. I should let them know about the cookies, but I am not really supposed to be talking. 

I have an idea, I could fall over without arousing suspicion easily enough. That would at least distract the conversation. I do my best to knock into the mixing bowl as I land in order to make enough noise to gather attention.

“So anyway, then I said-” Earth was part way through saying when they heard a crash. 

Earth and Lunar looked over and noticed what had happened. 

“Oh no, your poor toy fell over? How did that happen?” Earth asked.

Lunar picked me up and began to wipe off the flour that got on me during the collision with the mixing bowl. He gives me a look over to make sure I was alright and I make a quick glance towards the oven.

Lunar seems to catch on because he asks, “When will the cookies be done?”

“Oh, well, wait. Did we forget to set the timer?” Earth asked, looking at the distinct lack of timer on the oven clock.

“We were supposed to set a timer?” Lunar asked.

“Well, yes, but I suppose I got a bit distracted,” Earth answered. “No worries though, I will just check to see if they are ready now.”

They were ready so Earth got them out of the oven and gave one to herself and Lunar. Lunar asked if he could take another cookie for later and she agreed. After a little longer of talking, she said goodnight and Lunar took me back to the room.

“That was fun, wasn’t it Luna?” Lunar asks as we enter the room.

I nod in agreement.

“What made you fall down earlier though, are you okay?” he asks.

“Oh, well I wanted to get your attention because the cookies were supposed to be done,” I explain, “but there was no timer. So I decided to improvise a way to get attention back to the oven.”

“So, do you know anything about before we met?” Lunar asks.

I really don’t know much about anything before, I wonder if there even is anything much to be remembered. 

“Not really…I wonder about it sometimes. Why was I even made or sent here in the first place?” Whatever the case may be, I do not know much of anything…Honestly-

“Well, I don’t know,” he replies, “but I am glad that you are here.”

Wait, what? Why? “Really?” I ask, a little surprised. I know he seems nice, but I really just showed up out of nowhere and am causing him a lot of extra work.

“Of course!” Lunar insisted. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, I cause you a lot of work finding food and answering questions,” I replied truthfully.

“You think I would mind needing to give you food and answering questions?” Lunar asked incredulously. “One, it really takes hardly any time to get you food. Two, I enjoy talking with you and questions are just another part of conversation.”

He really does seem to mean what he says. It is strange how relieved I feel just by hearing him say that, “Well in that case, I’m glad too.”

It is strange how relieved I feel just by hearing him say that. I suppose, self consciously, I was worried about what would happen if, for one reason or another, I was no longer here with Lunar to take care of me. Now, I suppose, I don’t have to worry about that anymore.

Lunar and I continue to talk about whatever random thing comes to mind. I usually let him lead the conversation, except when I have a question, which, admittedly, is a common occurrence. The main reason I find talking before bed fun is because we can finally just hang out together normally. However, I can feel myself starting to drift to sleep…

“Do you ever think about space, or is it just me?” Lunar asked, but he received no response. 

“I suppose it seems like you are asleep now,” Lunar says quietly as he puts Luna’s blanket on her and begins to think.

She seems to be getting restless staying hidden, but I do not want other people to know that she exists. The world is honestly full of dangerous and crazy people, like Bloodmoon or Ruin for example. As soon as people knew I existed all sorts of dangerous things started to happen, I even died for goodness sake! I want to keep her safe from all the chaos, but she seems to want to experience more.

He remembers what he felt when only a handful of people knew that he existed and all Luna has is one person.

Luna might not be complaining, but I can tell that she wants to be able to actually interact with the world and meet people. Maybe I should try introducing her to at least my siblings. I suppose I will try introducing her to the others properly tomorrow after work.

Unbeknownst to Lunar, “tomorrow” is going to be the day that Bloodmoon pays his visit.

[aquilaaktuk]

deathstar puss in boots last wish au? deathstar puss in boots last wish au.

hastily doodled in a starbucks and everything. theres like way more tho

’why is this written like a shitpo-’ I WRITE LIKE I THINK AND HOW I THINK MADE ONE OF MY TEACHERS PUT ME IN LEARNING ENHANCEMENT IM NOT KIDDING

anyway i had an idea for this but it came to me at 6am after i just woke up so it’s probably REALLY eh. anyway kid is death because thats like the logical jump and blackstar is puss and tsubaki is kitty but not romantically involved at all because tsustar is. vile. anyway, they’re cat robin-hoods, steal from the rich give to the poor. one day blackstar steals something thats supposed to grant immortality and he’s like “theres no way this is real but lemme test it out anyway for personal reasons.” and then it ends up being real. and he’s totally chilling with that because this could be his shot at surpassing god ‘cept death and death jr are not okay with that at all and he looses in a really funny way to dtk and gets pretty pissed. his day is ruined more when tsubaki says she’s on her last life and wants to retire and blackstar properly freaks out. in my head i steal from the sandman a little and the thompsons are two regular twins who got killed during a robbery gone wrong and then get the chance to keep ‘living’ as presumably servants of death and they’re like ‘yeah sure whatever’ and then get passed off to his neurotic nervous wreck of a son and then also belatedly realise theyre ravens and definitely not human. they chill though theyre his literal wing-sisters. *flicks wrist*

anyway because big daddy death is totally not chill with the idea of immortal cats wandering around he tells dtk to go and Git Him because its good training for when he succeeds him or whatever. anyway dtk goes and tries to do that and even though every time they fight he absolutely claps blackstar, b*star always gets away and its getting kinda really frustrating, so he just watches him trying to find a moment where his guard is down enough for a quick stab n go. doesnt really happen instead he just gets feelings which is really gay and lame of him everyone point and laugh. anyway eventually he goes from ‘i must kill this guy because dad said so’ to ‘i wanna be his friend and maybe also kiss him idk’ hes not very good at emotions. its just as well the thompsons are there. anyway eventually theyre on speaking terms and after much preamble they have a lil heart to heart and its very sweet.

i imagine if ass*star was a cat he’d be a maine coon not because they’re large or particularly menacing, but because theyre one of the few breeds with enough fur to maintain that absolutely batshit hairstyle that hes got going

anway kid is like totally freaking out because big daddy death told him to go and kill this guy and he’s absolutely not done that at all, in fact he’s done the polar opposite and romanced him instead so they’re running around trying to figure out what to do and liz is like ‘dude your dad would kill and die for you why not just be out with it’ so they do that and lo and behold, big daddy death is like. totally chill about it.

anyway death dies and that really sucks but i also havent thought up to that point, all i know is that ass*star wont be allowed to run around like that forever and hes definitely not off the hook for becoming some fucked up god of accidentally gaining immortality. 

‘but what about the lines of sa-’ i dont care. 

[huebris808]

Dr. Hofnarr’s Horrible, No-Good, Very Weird 15 Years Of Being Dead.

a tribute to fanon interpretations/character study(?) that was going to be a bonus chapter in a post-canon/au comedy fic im working on! might come back to expand on this when i do start posting it (or if mpn gives him more background story lore that i’ll have to work with aoAHGHOAUGH)

happy madness day! :o)

“Where should I begin… Perhaps at the very beginning? OH! Christoff and I first met years before our Nexus days! Back in our freshman years of college, to be precise! You know, I was actually a theater major before switching to- ... A-Aah, too far back. Much too far... Let’s start from the point where the notes I supplied to you ended then, shall we? After our dissension...”

.. “Good luck, old friend...” ..

The first years on the run from Nexus was stressful to say the least. Hofnarr and Christoff had split up to better their chances of survival. He knew the process would be grueling, having talked to Christoff almost every night about it to calm his nerves. While he played calm for the cameras, Hofnarr truly wished he could have held him close one last time. No communications. No physical contact. Day after day, month after month, nothing. He would be separated from his husband for a very long time…

It wasn’t all bad after a while. He had a comfortable new apartment, went under a new alias, and his questionable new job paid him enough to buy food. His apartment even had cable! He could watch marathons of Slaughter Time whenever he got home! In hindsight, he wondered if that had an effect on his mental state at the time...

Hofnarr had taken the last of his S3LF regulator with him, having shipped them out to an undisclosed location prior to dissension. Dissonance exposure did a number on him and his research team, leaving them to track their “normality” through daily blood tests and injections. While they met their fates early on, Hofnarr had gotten lucky. That is, until the doses began to run out.

Stressful as it was, he knew what he had to do. Hofnarr rushed back to what remained of the labs, knowing it had been abandoned by now. It was ironic, he and Christoff’s work, the work that was turned against them, was the one thing keeping him alive. For days, he worked to make more doses from the materials he brought with him. But there was only so much he could do with limited supplies… Hofnarr made many attempts to prolong the inevitable, lowering his dosage amount, injecting it weekly rather than daily, but he eventually ran dry. 

Refusing to turn to darker alternatives, he felt the only thing he could do at this point is record his final findings through video logs.

“It was… interesting revisiting the footage, to put it nicely. Christoff had actually kept the video files on a drive after he originally found all my things in the lab! I barely remembered what happened back then, so I rewatched them out of curiosity.”

On the first night, Hofnarr recorded a message for Christoff. One filled with sorrow, but also with gratitude. For the time that they spent together. How special he made him feel. All the memories they made together...

On the next, he recorded a log detailing his findings during Project Nexus. The effects of dissonance, the Other Place, what it did to him and his colleagues, everything and anything he could.

The next, he reported on the progression of his symptoms. Fever, brain fog, insomnia, joint pain. He felt like his organs were melting, his skin bursting at the seams.

The next night he saw something and remembered. Scars. The scars on his head. That week he was in the staff hospital. He thought it was a dream but the scars were there. Phobos. Director Phobos brought him somewhere that week. He knew he felt off when he woke up in the office that night. He knew something was off when Christoff asked him where he was. He thought he passed out from over-working. That bastard Phobos. Nausea was replaced with rage as he began to scream, his throat becoming raw. What did he put in him? What the hell did he put inside him!?

On the last recorded log, he was face-down on the ground. Groaning as his body occasionally convulsed. Until the video feed eventually cut off.

His body would lay there dormant, dead, for fifteen years. 

But to Hofnarr, he felt like he was dreaming.

.. “LET’S GIVE IT UP FOR OUR NEXT CONTESTANT!” ..

“Huh?” The doctor sat up and looked around, the area around him pitch black. Wasn’t he sleeping just a moment ago? He got up and took a step forward in the seemingly endless void. “H-Hello? Who’s out there?”

“AWW, DON’T BE SHY NOW! ESTEEMED AUDIENCE, A BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR GUEST; THE UNFORTUNATE DOCTOR HOFNARR!”

A light shined down on him from above. A crowd seemingly began to cheer all around him. He was in the center of what looked like a talk show set. Hofnarr awkwardly scratched the corner of his face. “‘Unfortunate’? W-What do you mean? W-Who are you?”

“FIGHT FIRST, ASK QUESTIONS LATER!” The voice above him called out again. “AFTER ALL, IT’S…!” Hofnarr drowned out the noise while trying to think. It sounded familiar. Like it came from…

Hofnarr’s thoughts were cut short. He looked down at his torso. Terror set in as he recognized an entire stop sign had been lodged through his chest.

“DON’T GET COLD FEET NOW! THE SHOW’S ONLY JUST BEGUN!” 

The words echoed in Hofnarr’s mind as he frantically tried to pull it out, his vision growing muddled, his hands slipping with blood until…

He blinked.

No stage. No sound. No pain.

Nothing around except for a single white door in front of him.

He stood up again, cautiously reaching for the doorknob.

When he entered he seemed to be in a vintage styled home. It was a kitchen with checkerboard flooring, a table with two chairs, and cheerful music playing through a small radio. It smelled of pastry and medical equipment. Suddenly, there was a knock coming from the door. A familiar voice called from behind it.

“I’m home, dear.” “J-Jeb?!”

Hofnarr rushed towards the front door. Christoff wasn’t trapped here too, was he? “Jeb! W-where are we!? What is this place? What happened to-”

As he opened the door, the clapping returned.

His husband was there, briefcase in hand, his face replaced with a black hole dripping with an unknown inky substance.

He slowly began to back away as “Jeb” moved closer.

The applause, the laughter, was deafening.

Before he could question or run away, Hofnarr was hit by something. His vision blurred, but refocused to be face-to-face with something. It seemed to be a shadow of himself. He tried to run again, but was pinned down by his doppelganger. The clone raised a clawed hand above him and then...

Like waking from a nightmare, Hofnarr quickly sat up once again. He gasped for air, dripping with cold sweat.

Was this really happening? Was it finally over? Was he free?

And then the spotlight focused on him again.

“It… got very surreal. Despite fight after fight, death after painful death... I would suddenly be somewhere else! There was a gameshow, our old apartment, a cat cafe, a... strip club of sorts, a tea room filled with these small armless doodles I used to draw on my research notes trying to offer me snacks… One time there was a sort of singing contest, but I won’t bore you with the details of that one. But when I wasn’t in those places, I felt like I was fighting for my life. It felt like an eternity! And the strangest part of it all? It… it became addicting.”

At first, he felt as if Hofnarr used all of his energy, physical and emotional, to fight back. It reminded him too much of his escape from Nexus. But as time went on, he focused less on escaping and more on surviving. The more he fought, the more he began to lose himself. He was anticipating what sudden whiplash of combat would be thrown at him next. He chuckled at the thought of what excitement would be heading his way. He wanted more. The fights became too slow. Too predictable. Too boring. He began toying with whatever was thrown at him. Turning his shadowy hunters into the hunted. Why let his audience watch the same old fights all the time?

Suddenly, the fighting stopped.

Why? 

He was having fun, wasn’t he? He grew impatient.

“WHAT’S THE HOLD UP!” He yelled into the void, seething with anger. “AREN’T WE SUPPOSED TO BE FIGHTING? ISN’T THAT WHAT I’M HERE FOR?!”

He stomped his foot down, lodging something out of the ground.

The stop sign.

He looked over it curiously. How familiar…

Grabbing hold of it, quick flashes of memories appeared to him.

Nexus, the Science Tower, Phobos, the Other Place… 

A man with long hair standing next to...

Hofnarr… 

Who was that? Was that him?

No…

Only Tricky remained.

Footsteps echoed throughout the halls of the abandoned lab. Heels quickly clicking, cautiously stopping every so often. A lone Nexus Core agent entered through one of the doors.

Perfect timing.

“HAY! YOU THERE!!” A voice stuttered and glitched out, reverberating through the emptiness of the lab. The quickly soldier whipped their head around. “YEAH! YOU, STUPID. PLAY WITH ME!!”

“Who’s there?” The agent pointed their magnum towards the noise. “Show yourself!”

Gladly. The cackling figure emerged from the shadows, posing with a peace-sign, causing the agent to recoil. He grinned, slowly moving towards the cowering goon on the ground. They wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Who are you!?”

They couldn’t kill him.

“FIGHT FIRST. ASK QUESTIONS LATER! AFTER ALL…” 

CAN’T KILL CLOWN.

“IT’S MURDER TIME!”

..

“My body had been there, regenerating and repeating the enmeshment process for years. And by the time I woke up, I was a completely different person. I became a creature of unfiltered impulse… A personification of chaos itself.”

The room grew silent before Hofnarr spoke up again.

“I-Is it horrible to say it was… kind of cool?” He said with a nervous chuckle, twiddling his fingers.

2BDamned was quiet for a moment. They recalled the many times they had to stitch their comrades back together due to Clown Moments. They placed their head in their palms and let out a sigh.

“... You have the right to your own opinion.”

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

BONUS: songs i was listening to on loop while working on this instead of doing my damned writing assignment. Enjoy

lady gaga ft. dorian electra - replay

vestik - tricky's vengeance ft. monocronic

[kanene-yaaay-o-retorno]

Caffeinated drinks, black dots and I should’ve stayed at home

Kanene’s Notes: Heya, heya awesome beans! Howz you are all doing?!

I am very glad that I finally finished this idea dfghjkderty. Shinsou was the second character that my mind screamed that I NEEDED to put in a cat cafe and kjhgtrertyu I think that one is a litol more funny and fluff than hurt/comfort, like the one with Midoriya, but worry not! In the end of the day one more kid is adopted :D

Warnings, fun facts, random things and stuff:

* That fanfic has Dadzawa and Yamadad and their relatonship can be seen as romantic, if you wish.

* This happens in the same universe as This Fanfic Here and you can also find it on AO3.

* There is passing out due exhaustion, sleep deprivation and cursing, but besides that i don’t think that there are any more warnings. This is more funny and fluff.

* This characters do not belongs to me. They all belongs to the amazing the manga/anime Boku no Hero.

* Something around 2.500 words. -w-)b.

* Sorry for any spelling, pontuation and grammar mistakes! Any advice is very very welcome!

* Tô com preguiça de postar a versão em português brasileiro aaaa! Oh!! If you have an idea for another scenario in this universe, hmu! I would love to hear it !!Thankys so much for reading this. Take care! Drink water! Eat well!! Pet a cute animal today!! And please sleep a bit, okie? <3 Byeioo!~

                         [~*~]

Shinsou blinked for what it felt the fifth time on the last minutes, which was probably the same amount a normal human being was supposed to blink but right now it just felt wrong. He rubbed his stinging eyes again, suppressing another yawn, firm on his purpose to concentrate his brain enough on the task of remembering his order, an almost impossible action by the way a growing headache involved his mind since he woke up.

The teenager focused again on the colorful, full of doodles of paws and whiskers menu, wishing for the first time in nearly two months attending the place that the drinks’ names were objective and direct, and not awful cat puns that made his braincells prefer to combust themselves instead of gathering the necessary information to remind him of the beverage he should ask.

 He squinted his eyes, dots appearing in the air. Hm. Definitely not a good sign. Maybe he should order two of the most caffeinated drinks instead of just one? He stared the menu again, frustration flaming on his veins as the words blurred and lost their signification, dancing together with the café’s lights.

 And it was only 7 AM.

Perhaps he should have stayed home, on the safety of his bed and the darkness of his room. He knew he should have cancelled his training.

 And yet, even thinking about that possibility made Hitoshi’s stomach be consumed by anxious tugs and knots, leaving an unpleasant taste of displeasure on his mouth. His trainings were one of the best moments on his entire week. They were events he would catch himself smiling as he thought about a newest move he learned or how his body seemed to recover quicker from the lessons. Or even how good, how right and free he felt on the gym, tired and sore, in the moment that his mentor nodded, proudness flicking in his eyes.

 … How amazing it felt to look at the mirror and see that same feeling reflected on his own gaze.

 He couldn’t deprive himself of that sensation, even if dealing with the painful consequences of his sleep deprivation and probably a lecture if his mentor caught him was the only other options.

 “Just one more. Just one more person and then I can ask for the strongest caffeinated shit here.” Yeah. This time those cups would be enough to make him endure at least his afternoon classes, he repeated to himself in mumbles. Two cups. Two cups and some minutes petting a cat and he would be ready. He would be ready for the world and society and the whole being a functional human being thing. And then he would get on the metro and nap until he gets home where he would have the real opportunity to properly sleep. Almost there. Just two cups. Two. Two cups.

 Gosh, he probably sounded like Midoriya, mumbling non stop like this. A mental image of the energetic teen looking as tired as Shinsou and drinking coffee as if his life depended on it popped on his brain, leading to a sudden urge to giggle manically take over the purple haired boy, and for the way some other customers eyed him warily he possible vocalized that impulse as well, limbs feeling at the same time too much heavy and too much light.

 He was so fucking tired.

 “Next one!” Loud. So loud. Shinsou obligated his body to step closer, opening his eyes enough to realize that dark spots still painted his vision. Huh. When did he close his eyes, again? “Good morning, little customer! How can I help you today?”

 Hitoshi stared at the figure in front of him, senses slow like he was under water, trying to understand the distorted sentences being directed at him, the dots growing and twinkling. Black dots were supposed to be able to do that?

 The world swayed a bit under his feet. He tried to move his lips but they didn’t obey him.

 “Little customer?” The voice sounded worried, and maybe that is what compelled the boy to take a deep breath, putting all his will in forming word after word when a nauseating wave of tiredness hit him, leading his conscience’s grip in reality weaken.

 “I am going to pass out.”

 And then the world got completely black, his senses disappearing together with a background screech.

 Well, fuck.

 […]

 Yamada had seen a lot of crazy, strange things while working at the cat café.

 As example that one shift when an adult of blue hair, strict pose and clear exhaustion dripping in waterfalls from his form was convinced that he was in a library and fiercely tried to return a book to them, doesn’t taking a ‘no’ as answer until the blond was left stupefied with a book of “The Secrets Hidden in The Bottom of The Ocean” on his arms.

 Or that occasion when a boy with a blank expression wearing Victorian clothes and completely surrounded by crows opened their door, looked from a side to another, stared at the deepest parts of Yamada’s soul, analyzing all his dark fears and secrets before slowly blink and say “Wrong store, my apologies” walking back and calmly ignoring the hissing and battle yowling of dozens of cats and crows.

 Or the day a green haired woman with a kind, calm aura just walked behind the counter completely unphazed by Hizashi and Aizawa’s unbelieved looks, made two healthy snacks, patted their cheeks saying ‘You two need to eat more, dears’ and then disappeared as if nothing had happened.

 However, none of those events ever prepared him for the moment which purple eyes would stare his in an unfocused state, not really looking at anything and a wobbly smirk – if he wasn’t accustomed with Shouta’s grin, he would easily call it ‘creepy’ – would paint his customer’s pale face, the silence ringing alarmingly on his ears.

 “Are you okay, little listener? Do you want to sit for a minute? You look extremely tired.”

 As the words came out of his lips, a spell seemed to break, the other’s face getting even paler, smile falling and eyes widening leaded his body to stumble forward instinctively, something on his guts screaming for him to get ready. A few other customers on the line grumbled in impatience, looking at their watch and protesting. Somewhere, in the deep part of his brain, Yamada wondered why those things only happened when Aizawa was out and no procedures for those kinds of situations were previously discussed on their contract.

 “Hey, guy,” a blonde teenager behind the paralyzed one said, tipping forward in an attempt to catch the other’s expression, his kimono following each move, “are you… here with us?”

 “Little listener?”

 A hesitant poke on his cheeks, two pair of eyes warily watching a third.

 His mouth finally moved.

 “I am going to pass out.” His voice was light, stitched together by certain. His legs trembled under his own weight, body collapsing.

 “You WHAT?” A terrified shriek mixed itself between Hizashi’s words, flying across the whole store.

 “Oh, shi-”

 His blonde client didn’t waste a second before holding the other, arms locking under his armpits in a strange kind of hug, knees weakening with the sudden, unexpected effort, the limp teenager not even flinching with the touch, laying there completely motionless.

 Hizashi blinked, gulping, adrenaline exploding on each one of his fibers, color slightly draining from his own face, a piece of his conscience wishing with all its strength for this to be only a dream. When his eyes opened, everything would be the same.

 He blinked, the deafening silence still crushing the room, one set of black eyes staring at him in confusion and growing panic, another set closed, heavy, dark circles under it.

 Right. He didn’t have time for this.

 So, he blinked again, finding himself in front of them both, pushing his feelings under a mask of a calm, an easy reassuring smile already slipping on his face, crouching to get the legs of his customer, catching the gaze the other and winking, “let’s get him on a more comfortable position, right?”

 A determined nod, quick, careful steps as they both laid the purple haired one on a small couch placed under some shelves, having to gently dislodge three sleeping cats, who hissed in irritation. The voice of Nemuri, attending the rest of the line filling the space and being acknowledged in the back of his mind, serving as a firm ground and helping his muscles to relax, even if just a little bit.

 Hizashi stared the young boy in front of him, looking somewhat peaceful, a bit of color having already returned to his face, soft snores coming out from him.

 … Hitoshi. That is his name, right? He wasn’t a new client, always coming at every fifteen days, always by morning and always caffeinated drinks that only Yamada - on his most delirious moments - ever thought in trying, quick to go to play with any feline who appeared in front of him. Although, he never stayed more than ten minutes, the quiets ‘bye’s he gave to the felines never failing to melt Yamada’s weak, bleeding heart.

 A childish voice pulled him right out of his thoughts.

 “Mom, is he dead?”

A snort escaped his lips before he could help it. Kids.

 “Sir?” The teenager shook a small device with a shiny screen in front of him, the logo of a new rock band he hadn’t a chance to listen to yet on the background “I found his phone, I think we should call his emergency contact…?”

 “Of course! Thank you, little helper!” He ruffles his hair, flashing a smile and thumbs up as his finger quickly clicked on the call button, listening, not trying to show his impatience as it ringed.

 “You’re late.” A tired voice answered him, and Hizashi felt his entire body relax completely, right before the surprise shook its frame, too much pieces clicking together in a puzzle he didn’t even know he was solving.

 “SHOU?”

 [~*~]

 “I am sorry.”

 “You will be writing a formal letter apologizing to Hizashi, Nemuri and to me, our classes will be cancelled for this week and, if I notice you didn’t recover properly on this free time, for the next week as well. I am not going to stand by and watch you running yourself to the ground, damaging your potential because you lack of some sense of self preservation, do I make myself clear?” Shinsou tried to not visibly flinch at his sensei’s words. He almost forgot how much intimidating Aizawa could be when totally serious. They stopped by the Cat Café’s door, the black eyes staring at him.

 “Yes, sir.” He answered, lowering his gaze. Shouta sighed, his worry stopping to come out as harsh and necessary words to materialize itself in the form of him patting the boy’s head, messing his hair for a few seconds before opening the door and getting into the establishment.

 “Good. Now come in, Hizashi has been worried and he won’t stop pestering me until he sees with his own eyes how you are.”

 Hitoshi didn’t had time to question how someone that he just met – if you consider passing out in front of him a proper meeting – could be worried about his well-being when, as the door clicked behind him, an excited screech filled the room, forging the realization that maybe that weird high sound before his faint wasn’t just the ring of his ears.

 “SHINSOU!!” And, in a blink of eyes, the blonde was in front of him, hands on his face, turning it from a side to another, up and downwards, “You look so much better with some color on your face! I am glad that you finally took some necessary rest, huh? Your eyeshadows even got lighter, which, phew, is such a relief! For a very terrifying moment there I almost thought you would be as bad as this guy right here.” Yamada locked his arms around Aizawa’s shoulder, using the time to take a breather and smile, gladly giving the younger some time to process the flow of words thrown at him. “You gave us both quite a scare, kiddo.”

 “I am deeply sorry for inconveniencing you and interrupting your work, Yamada-san.” He bowed, a slight embarrassed blush dusting his cheeks.

 “Just please don’t do that again and you will be fine, little customer.” Hizashi then squinted his eyes on his direction as Hioshi brought himself back to his previous position, shoulders tense and straightened back, much different from his previous more slouched pose. Yamada’s eyes got a few inches wider. “You gave him The Talk!” He turned himself to Shouta, his excited sentence, loud enough to probably making his friend deaf, if the black haired adult wasn’t already used with the other’s attics, previously covering his ears before the outburst.

 His response was a grunt, Aizawa dislodging himself from his touch with scoff and half heartedly mumbles, ignoring the confusion on his pupil’s gaze. “Maybe he looks like that because of your total disregarding of personal space.”

 “Don’t worry,” Hizashi put his hand at the side of his mouth, as if he was confiding Shinsou’s a secret. “He only does that because he is worried about you, too. Don’t let yourself to be fooled by his grumpy façade. He is a mother hen at heart.”

 “I am going to lock you outside and give all your CD’s to the kittens a their new toys.” The other threatened, going behind the balcony and turning the coffee machines on, preparing the store to open. The few cats who were already wandering around the place yowled and meowed in despair, as if the blonde hadn’t feed them fifteen minutes ago and they were starving under the hands of such unloving and uncaring creature. Aizawa crouched and distributed the treats hidden on his pockets for everyone of them, nevertheless. His friend used the distraction to mouth a ‘see?’ at the younger’s direction, eliciting a snicker from him, his body language more relaxed.

 “Feel free to do whatever,” Aizawa proclaimed, not staring at the boy, who felt a flower of warmth blossom on his chest. “Just be sure that all your homework is completed by lunch time or the moment you decide to go. Sushi is probably napping now, but when she wakes up, I will warn you.”

 “But first,” Hizashi clapped, capturing the attention as he walked with a dance on his step to the bakeries, taking two plate on his way. “breakfast! For you both. And that means something substantial and not just a cup of coffee.”

 Shinsou startled from the table he decided to place himself, shaking his head. “Yamada-san, it’s okay, you don’t need to-”

 “Nonsense, nonsense! I want to. Eating breakfast alone is just sooo boring, you know?” Hizashi spun on the place, almost throwing the muffins and breads around as Ochaco used his distraction to attack his shoelaces. “Uravity, stop, I need those.”

“Her name isn’t Uravity.” Shouta appeared again, bringing drinks and yawning, his focus changed to the boy’s. “Better give up. I’ve been fighting against him for years now.”

 “Also, her name is Ochaco Uravity Fluffy Second and you just refuse to call her that because you’re just jealous of how much genius I am.”

 “I refuse to call her that because I care for her sanity.”

 “Lies, lies.”

 Hitoshi snorted, hiding his smirk behind his hand. “I prefer his name better, sensei.”

 Aizawa watched them high five between the cheers of the blonde with an unimpressed expression. “Cheeky brat.”

 “You’re just grumpy because he has a good taste. Friendship ended with Shouta, now Shinsou is my new best friend.”

"I am truly devasted." Aizawa deadpanned, taking a long sip of his beverage, hiding his smirk as Shinsou snorted, Yamada's dramatic wailing in the background.

 And, as the playful bickering engulfed them between the warm food and purrs, Hitoshi decided that maybe losing his weekly training wasn’t so bad if that was what waited for him.  

[midnightartemis]

Chapter Three Up Now ~

Read Me Here

He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about her every second of every day since he first saw her. It was beginning to turn into a waking nightmare almost. One fucking conversation with this girl and he was gone. She didn’t even give him her last name. She had fallen asleep on the couch not long after she stopped giggling about his tax evasion quip. He wasn’t surprised; she had finished off the rest of the joint on her own. He could watch the smoke pour from her lips for eternity. He was usually an adamant follower of the puff puff pass rule.

Rey from Jakku was going to be the death of him.

When he went to put a blanket over her again, she barely even moved.

The only thing that did distract Ben from her was the impending showdown between him and Kuruk. The man almost matched him in height, though he was much skinnier. That just made him a little bit faster. And Rey taking a liking to Ben has only pissed Kuruk off.

Much to his disappointment, Rey left before anyone else in the loft woke up. No one woke up before two anyway.

Ben rolled a joint as the coffee brewed. The smell eventually woke everyone else up and soon the couch was full, the room smelled of freshly ground sour diesel, and Saturday morning cartoons played on the projector. After a cup of coffee, AP pulled out a wad of cash and divided it out into piles. The largest went to Ben for supplying, the second largest to AP for manufacturing and delivery, and The rest was split between Kuruk, Trudge, Ushar, and… Ben frowned. He hadn’t seen Cardo or Vik and there was one last pile. AP saw him eyeing it. “It’s for Rey.”

“Rey?”

“Yeah, got a problem?” Kuruk was already starting to dig in. Push the issue until it came to a breaking point.

“Thought it took a unanimous vote to let someone in.” Ben eyed each of the guys.

AP, ever the peacemaker, stepped in. “She’s not in.”

Ben relaxed a little. They hadn’t forced her through initiation.

“If she was, Kuruk would not be left standing.” Trudge chuckled.

“Yeah, how’s your nose doing fucker?” Kuruk seethed.

Trudge threw his meaty hands in the air. “Hey, I learned my lesson. She could tell me to eat shit and I’d listen.”

How had a girl that tiny instilled so much fear and reverence into this tiny fucked up group?

“She helps me with the books sometimes. That’s why she gets a share.” AP finally supplied. “We trust her.”

Ben gave a shallow nod. “And Cardo. Vik?”

“Vik’s been MIA since the baby. Cardo will show up when he feels like it.”

Ben let his face drop into his mask. Unfazed from the outside. Warring on the inside. He hadn’t even known Vik was having a kid.

The impromptu meeting ended as quickly as it had begun. Trudge and Ushar settled into their cartoons. At least that much hadn’t changed. Kuruk fucked off to somewhere else and AP sat on the couch looking conflicted. After a few minutes, the quiet guy seemed to resign himself to an answer. He stood, his face dead serious as he looked Ben in the eye. “We should talk.”

That was one of the many things Ben secretly admired about AP. He was one of the originals and in the ten years Ben had known him, the man had barely changed. He didn’t sugarcoat. Didn’t play games. Though he could be a bit cryptic, everything was always dead serious with AP.

Ben nodded and followed the dude out the door and onto the small patio. The dry heat of the afternoon hit him in full force as they stepped out. He lit his joint and didn’t offer it to AP knowing the dude would just say no anyway.

“What the fuck are your intentions here, Ben?”

Ben stilled as he brought the joint to his lips. No one in the Knights ever called him Ben. He was pretty sure Trudge and Ushar didn’t even know his name wasn’t actually Kylo. And AP- AP only used it when he was beyond dead serious.

“You know what my intentions are.”

“You were supposed to get out of this. You were supposed to leave and never come back.”

“Yeah well that didn’t fucking work out, did it?” Ben growled and smashed the lit end of the joint into the metal railing.

“You can’t just come waltzing back expecting to throw a few punches and make everything magically the same as before. It’s not the same, Ben. Why the fuck did you come back?”

Ben huffed a laugh. “Where else would I go?”

“Did you even call your mom? Have you even told her you dropped out?”

“I never said I dropped out.”

“You didn’t have to.” AP scowled and he dropped his gaze to the dead fields of grass. “I would have heard about it if the chemistry lab purposefully got blown up.”

Ben narrowed his eyes and gave AP a long side glance. “You’re still seeing that TA?”

“He’s an adjunct Professor now.” AP sighs. It’s the happiest thing Ben thinks the guy’s ever done. “I know she’ll kill you herself if you hurt her but just know that the rest of us will help bury the body.”

Ben laughs a little and AP turns sharply to face him. “I’m fucking serious. You hurt her even just a little bit and I will wipe you off the face of this planet. She’s been through enough. So if you think she’s just some sick game to piss off Kuruk or a quick lay you back the fuck off and leave her alone.”

AP’s dark eyes are enough to tell Ben that if Rey didn’t kill him, he would. “She’s not. I don’t want to hurt her.”

AP smiles sadly. “You don’t want to. But you will.”

By the time Friday comes around, Ben is looking for a fight. He and Kuruk have steadily been pushing buttons and digging under each other’s skin for days now. It was only a matter of time before the party was set in motion. AP was noticeably absent first thing in the morning. It only takes Ben seeing the look on Kuruk’s face to know that time is up. They’re nearing breaking point and only one will come out victorious. It calls for a party the likes of which hadn’t been seen since Kylo took on Ren himself.

AP was out gathering the more illicit provisions while Trudge and Ushar carried a nearly endless chain of kegs and tubs and ice into the recently ‘unlocked’ basement of the warehouse. Ben and Kuruk were left to simmer. Ben poured himself a drink and set down to rolling the last of the weed to sell or smoke tonight. Rolling was one of the few things that calmed him- even when he could feel Kuruk’s pissed of stare burrowing into the back of his head. Even when AP’s words had been rattling around in there for days now, mixing with the images of her soft smile he held tightly onto. The one she tried to hide from him. And those hazel eyes that looked right at him and kept on digging. Everything about her drew him in. He couldn’t resist the chance for one touch of the light.

He hoped she wasn’t there tonight. He hoped she never saw what he really was. What he could do.

All hope of that was lost when she turned up beside AP a few hours deep into the party. His eyes latched onto her the moment he spotted her hair, up in three little buns. Her eyes were dark as bruises and anger boiled in him until he got a better view in the dim red right and realized that it was makeup. It was only wearing makeup. She wore a black holy t-shirt with a band logo on it so faded it was almost beyond recognition. Her jeans were covered in black sharpie doodles. Flowers, he thought. She had that scowl on her face not at all dissimilar to the one she first gave him. Within seconds AP had a drink in her hand.

Her eyes drank in the crowd, scanning the room until they landed on his. And stayed. A flash of pain danced across her eyes. There and hidden in an instant.

What did he do?

What-

“Are you even fucking listening to me?”

Ben looked back down at the tiny brunette clinging to his side. The woman had been incredibly persistent for the past hour, even going so far as trying to force him into an old, musty janitor's closet.

“Not particularly. No.” Ben barely spared her a glance.

“God, you’re a fucking asshole.” The woman stormed away, finally taking his hints. When he searched the crowd again, Rey was gone.

He knew he was an asshole. He knew it and he went off in Rey’s direction anyway. He needed to explain. He needed to know why she looked so hurt when she saw him. He found AP first.

“Where’d she go?”

“It’s almost midnight.”

Ben could give two fucks about Kuruk and midnight. “Where’d she go?”

AP sighed and shrugged. “I’m not her keeper. She can handle herself.”

“You’re a dick you know that, Finn?”

The dude shrugged and went back to fucking off. Ben pushed through the crowd. Most people parted automatically for him mostly thanks to his size and his ability to not give a fuck about anyone. Anyone but her. He couldn’t explain why now at this moment he felt like the entire world rode on his ability to get to her, to find her, to explain himself when there was nothing yet to explain.

He pushed through a rather large group of people and stumbled into an open pocket in the middle of the crowded room. Music screamed through every inch of the room- the bass shaking the foundations.

His eyes searched the room until they landed on the messy row of three buns, the faded black tee. The hand gripping her waist. The anger in her eyes. The smirk on Kuruk’s lips as he turned to look at Ben.

Ben felt the dark thing inside him snap. Kuruk has found the breaking point. Ben grabbed the nearest glass bottle and slammed it on the ground.

He comes to when he feels her touch burning hot against the skin of his wrist. So feather-light he shouldn’t have been able to feel it but it stops him like a live wire. The room around him has gone deadly quiet and it takes a moment for him to feel the stares of dozens of silent people. There’s a groan from underneath him and he looks down to see what’s left of Kuruk’s bloody face. The man is completely slack underneath him, not even trying to fight back.

“Ben. That’s enough.” Rey says quietly, her voice firm. He lets her pull him away with gentle tugs. His mind wars between

She’s touching me she’s touching me she’s touching me

And

Is he dead is he dead is he dead

AP, Trudge, and Ushar emerge from the crowd to haul Kuruk away. He’d gone too far. Way too far. He could tell by the terrified looks he got as he passed through the crowd.

She’s touching me she’s touching me she’s touching me

Outside that small basement room, the party is still in full swing, blissfully unaware of the night's main event. He doesn’t feel a thing but the touch of her skin around his wrist. She leads him deftly through the crowd and up the narrow staircase to the loft. Vik steps away from the lofts' entrance, letting them by. Door duty . Kylo thinks stupidly. He used to hate door duty.

Rey’s touch left him as she sat him down on the couch. He let out a small pitiful whimper at its loss.

“Relax. I’m only going to get the first aid shit.” He might have been imagining it but he thought he saw her smile.

Rey disappeared into the bathroom and emerged a minute later with a giant box of medical supplies. It was even labeled medical supplies in handwriting he didn’t recognize. Her handwriting.

She took out a white bottle and a piece of cloth to wet with the liquid. Ben shuddered and forced himself to stay still as she brought the cloth to his bloody knuckles and began dabbing at them. He dared not to speak as she took her hand in his and turned it this way and that to clean away his skin. The cloth came away bright red. She moved to his other hand and added more of the clear liquid to the cloth. He sucked in a breath as she ran the cloth across his knuckles. Her hands worked quickly then to wrap his hand in gauze.

When he thought she was done she grabbed a fresh cloth and sat close to him. Closer than she ever had before. He could count her freckles against her tan skin, smell the warm earthy scent coming off of her, feel the heat of her against him. He was too dumbstruck to move and was fighting a losing battle against his desire to look at her lips. To taste her just one time. Rey brought the cloth to his lips. Her fingers gently guided him to look at her, to tilt his chin down to her reach. The throbbing in his face slowly came to the front of his mind. It seemed Kuruk had gotten a couple hits in after all.

She cleaned his skin carefully, working up the side of his face. He closes his eyes as she gets to his brow, letting her soft touch consume him. She had seen him at his worst and yet she was still here. She wasn’t flinching away.

“Rey.” Her name came out as a soft whisper that hung in the air between them. She had to come to him, he knew that much. He couldn’t open his eyes. He could only hope that she understood. The cloth dropped away from his eye. Soft lips pressed against the corner of his own. Ben opened his eyes to see her looking up at him. Hopeful. Hungry.

The door to the apartment swung open and the rest of the knights piled into the apartment. Trudge carried a half-conscious Kuruk over his shoulders. Ben cursed under his breath as Rey moved away from him and made room for Trudge to set Kuruk on the couch. The man moaned pitifully and Ben bit back a smirk.

“Cops got called.” AP moved through the room quickly, clearing off the coffee table and locking everything away in the safe built into the wall.

“Warrant?” Ben asked.

“Not likely. Unless they’ve been sitting on it.” Vik shut the door after Cardo slipped in and locked it. Cardo had been at the front door taking entrance fees. He was probably the one to sound the alarm.

“You need to take off?” Ben asked Vik. The dude had a kid now. He couldn’t get caught up in petty shit.

Vik shrugged and moved through the room, picking up a warm, unopened beer. “I’ll just hide in the back. Jenny and Ambrose weren’t expecting me.”

The man tossed him the lock's key and disappeared through the hole in the wall. Trudge and Ushar moved the one giant bookcase over the hole.

“You shouldn’t be here either.” Ben turned his focus back to Rey. She was kneeling beside Kuruk and cleaning him up with a fresh cloth, though she wasn’t being half as gentle with Kuruk as she had with him.

“I’ll just hide under the spare bed. The cops don’t give two shits about me.”

Spare bed?

Ben was about to argue the point until he saw the look AP gave him. Rey could take care of herself.

Ben let it go. “Take Kuruk to his room. Don’t need cops coming in ‘cause there’s a half-dead dude on the couch.”

Trudge and Ushar pull Kuruk off the couch and Rey packs up the medical supplies. A few minutes later, the loft looked like almost any other night. Trudge and Ushar argued over what game to play and AP took up his spot on the couch, scrolling on his phone. Rey, however, was the one to go back to the projector to turn it on. He watched as she opened up the projector and blew inside. The projector came seamlessly to life. She turned on the Wii and tossed two of the remotes to the twins. “Mario Kart.”

They groaned as she smiled wickedly.

“Fucking fine. I want Moo Moo Meadows this time though.” Ushar pouted. Rey hesitated as she picked up the fourth remote. He guessed that was the one Kuruk usually got. Her hesitation only lasted a second before she lobbed it across the room to his hands. Ben caught it and held his breath as she slipped over the back of the couch to sit beside him. She was careful to not touch him and he was careful to do the same.

She picked out Moo Moo Meadows, Wario’s Gold Mine, and Rainbow Road. Ben barely tried as he watched her easily beat them as Daisy. Trudge always gave up halfway through and would start going the wrong way for fun. Ushar spent more time dying than racing. Ben managed to finish in a solid sixth place twice. She had no competition here. As she crossed the rainbow road finish line in first (a feat even he considered almost impossible), there was a loud knock at the door.

“CPD! Open up.”

Rey was gone before Ben could say anything. The door to his old room swung shut. So, that was the spare bedroom. He spared a glance at AP before standing up to open the door. He held his hand on the lock.

“This is a private residence. You got a warrant?”

“No, sir. Just a few questions.” Ben undid the heavy U lock and slid the heavy metal door open slowly. Two uniforms stood in the hall, their eyes hard and their hands near the guns on their hips. He didn’t recognize either of them. Newbies. Ben placed his hand against the door frame and the door, his body blocking most of the view inside.

“What’d you want?”

The guy cop's eyes went wide as he looked up and down Ben. “Are you in need of medical attention, sir?”

Ben glanced at the bandages on his hands. “Nah, I’m good. Just took a tumble down the stairs. Bit of a clutz.”

Neither of them believed him but that didn’t matter.

“Is there anyone in the house with you?”

Ben shrugged as the sounds of Mario Kart started up again. “Just my roommates.”

“Were you aware that there was an illegal event happening in the basement of this building?” The woman cop took over. She gave him a look like she would never believe anything that came out of his mouth.

“Illegal Event? No. I’ve been kicking their asses at Mario Kart all night.”

“Mario Kart.” The woman raised her eyebrows.

“That it?”

The cops didn’t reply.

“Great.” He said gruffly. “Have a good night officers.”

Ben slid the door shut and snapped the lock back on. He waited for another knock but it never came. He went to the kitchen to make an old-fashioned. It wasn’t as smooth as usual with bandaged hands that were beginning to shake. The fresh cut on his face was beginning to burn and tingle against the open air.

The twins moved the bookshelf away from the hole in the wall to let Vik back in. They switched from Mario Kart to COD. The door to his room stayed shut. Ben crossed the room and knocked softly. No reply. He pushed the door open slowly, letting the light shine in but not entering himself. The light landed on the black sheets of his old bed. Rey had curled in a ball in the center of it underneath the comforter. Her ribs moved up and down ever so slightly. She had fallen asleep. Ben shut the door softly.

He guessed he’d be sleeping on the couch tonight.

AP retired to take care of Kuruk not long after Ben sat down, drink in hand. He mindlessly watched the twins play COD. Vik took off once the cops had cleared out and Cardo followed soon after. Ben couldn’t fall asleep even with the pull of alcohol and his mindless staring. The twins cleared out, disappearing to their rooms in the back. Ben shifted out of his shoes and jeans. His shirt had turned almost solid with dried blood at the neck so he shed that too. Ben turned on the Wii. Alone in the glow of the projector, he thought about the touch of her lips against his skin. What would it feel like if she dared to touch him? What he would do to her if she let him touch her back? He was going to need to take a very very very cold shower. He tried to focus on Mario Kart instead.

Night passed into the wee hours of the morning. A cry echoed through the loft and Ben paused his failed attempt at Rainbow Road.

“No!”

The cry came from his room. Rey. Ben’s heart pounded as he leaped over the couch and opened the door to his room. Rey laid where he had left her, still curled up in a ball in the middle of the bed. She twitched, her head rolling back and forth as if she were trying to escape from something invisible. She cried out again at her nightmare.

“Rey.” His voice was hoarse from not speaking for hours. She twitched again, not waking up. “Rey- Rey, wake up. It’s only a nightmare.”

She whimpered and Ben crossed the room. He’d have to touch her to wake her up. He tried again. “Rey, wake up.”

She cried out again, a painful whimper that sent an ache shooting through his chest. He reached his hand out, prepared to snatch it away the moment he touched her. He touched her shoulder and she sprung awake, pushing herself to the far side of the bed so her back was against the wall. Ben backed up two steps, his hands in the air. “It’s just me. You were having a nightmare.”

“Ben?” Rey swallowed trying to hide the panic in her voice.

“Yeah. Just me. I tried calling your name but it didn’t work.”

Rey nodded slowly as she caught her breath. “I heard you. I think. I just couldn’t… get out of it. Did I wake you up?”

Ben shook his head. “Nah. I was practicing Mario Kart so you can have some actual competition.”

Her lips quirked up in an actual smile. “Well, at least someone has the balls to challenge me.”

Rey’s hair had fallen half-way out of her three buns. Her eyes were soft with sleep and there was an imprint of his pillow across her face. Her mind drifted to something else and she frowned. “Are you sleeping on the couch?”

“You were in my bed.” Ben shrugged. “Didn’t want to wake you up. Seemed like you needed it more than I did.”

“I can move to the couch.” Rey offered sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to steal your bed.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ben moved to go back out to the living room.

“Wait.”

Ben froze in his tracks trying not to get his hopes up too high. He turned back to her and found her eyes unabashedly looking over his bare chest.

“There’s room for two.”

“Are you sure?” He asked slowly.

The girl nodded. “Yeah.”

She shifted as he crossed the room and laid down on his back across the edge farthest from her. He risked a glance at her. She hadn’t moved from her spot against the wall. He said nothing beyond his silent plea.

Come to me. Before I break. Before I redesign myself to loneliness for the rest of my life.

He could feel her watching him. Evaluating. Fighting. She slowly lowered herself away from the wall and curled up beside him, not quite touching him but close enough that she might. Ben closed his eyes and let a new calm darkness wash over him.

I know it's warmer where you are And it's safer by your side But right now I can't be what you want Just give it time...

Well it's cold when we're apart And I hate to feel this die But you can't give me what I want Just give it time...

But for now we stay so far 'Til our lonely limbs connect I can't keep you in these arms So I'll keep you in my mind...

Can we meet in the middle Bodies and souls collide Dance in the moonlight Where all the stars align Oh you and I, oh you and I, oh

- You and I, PVRIS

[chibi-pix]

VLD AU - Dark Water

Another piece to the mermaid!Pidge AU, this one being mainly focused around Shiro.  At the end, there will be a picture, but it does not fully match up to the story; the two were started around the same time but put off; as the story showed things slightly different, the picture kept its original state and I didn’t want to alter either.  Anyway! Enjoy this 1600 word ficlet in the “keep reading” below.

“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! I’m going down! Nav system is NOT working!”

“What’s your checkpoint, Shiro?!”

“Last check over AARC!”

Takashi “Shiro” Shirogane opened his eyes. Water was filling into his little plane at an alarmingly quick and steady pace. Crap. Not good at all. He went for the belt keeping him in place, working at it with his left hand. His right arm had been caught in part of his plane, the impact it made with the ocean crushing in the side and pinning him.

Shit. Even worse. If he could get the buckle undone, which he was almost too panicked to do, how could he get out? He had to try and find a way to free himself. But his arm was caught and he didn’t even think he could twitch his fingers.

Fuck.

And the plane had filled up completely, barely giving the pilot time to take a deep breath to try and prolong his survival. In his state, he felt he had about three minutes to get out of there before he needed to breathe again… or ultimately end up giving in and letting the dart, salty waters overtake him. He had to be quick.

He was both thankful and concerned that the light was still working in his plane, illuminating the area around him. This let him see the buckle, which he thankfully got undone in about half a minute since holding his breath, as well as his pinned arm. The worst part of being able to see, though, was what was around him. He could hear something that he could explain as a deep, sonance, melodic and ominous at the same time. Was it a creature? Was it just ambiance? No. Shiro couldn’t focus on that; he had to escape, even if his arm was starting to hurt further up.

Shiro was losing his battle. He was struggling to keep his breath held as he pushed past his three minute mark. The lights remained, but he could hardly notice them anymore. It was hard seeing in the water to begin with, the its natural salinity levels made it even harder… but his condition, everything was blurring further.

And then he saw movement. It startled him, but he managed to not give up on his breath holding competition with Fate. The movement seemed to circle him. Quick? No. Massive. It came around again and he saw them illuminated by the lights of his aircraft. Large, round eyes, clearly meant to see in the darkness of the ocean. But this thing… it wasn’t just his off perspective, right? His possible delirious state of being in pain and on the verge of dying in a watery grave? He didn’t know… but he could have sworn this thing that pulled its hands up around his plane was a giant mermaid.

He reached out with his good hand, mentally praying that this creature was real and perhaps sought to be merciful. But it couldn’t be, right? If it was real, logic said it could eat him. But it couldn’t be real… either way, he would die in the end.

-+-+-+-

“Over here!” came a very familiar call. He opened his eyes, seeing through the bleariness the best he could. “I found him! He’s still breathing!” the figure called. He could make out some defining features. Something was familiar about this person. “He’s badly hurt!”

He coughed. Did he survive? What happened? How did…

“Shiro? Shiro, it’s okay, I know it hurts.” The figure looked to him. Yes, this person was definitely someone he knew. “Just try to stay awake. They’re on their way. Just stay awake.”

-+-+-+-

Shiro woke up. He didn’t realize he passed out. He looked around to see himself in a hospital room of sorts. Looking to see a recognizable, framed image, he realized he was at AARC, Atlean Aquatic Research Center. It must have been the closest place to take him for… whatever. He then looked to his side, someone holding his left hand. Keith. A good friend. He was like a little brother to the pilot. Keith had appeared to have fallen asleep there.

Smiling softly, Shiro didn’t want to disturb him. He left his hand in place, letting Keith continue to hold onto it. He then tried to move his right hand, feeling for a button to let the doctor know he was up and would like assistance. Nothing. Not that there wasn’t a button, he didn’t know. He couldn’t feel anything.

Shiro dared to look over to his right. Bandaged up was his shoulder, the arm that was supposed to be connected to it was gone. He looked up when he heard the muffled sound of soft shoes hit tile floor before entering his room. An albino with a Mohawk and intricate, dark tattoos entered. He had been to AARC enough times to know this as Ulaz, the resident doctor. Sure, he was mainly on site for veterinary purposes, but he trained to work with humans, too.

“Hey.” Shiro rasped out, realizing his throat was dry.

“Glad to know you’re awake.” Ulaz said, going to a small fridge in the room and pulling out a pitcher of water. He poured it into a cup and put in a straw before taking it over for Shiro to sip on.

“Thanks.” Shiro said after a few long sips. “Oh, that’s nice.”

“How do you feel?” Ulaz inquired, setting the cup on the bedside table. He brought up a chair and sat down.

“Surprisingly fine, groggy. Hungry.” Shiro admitted. “Must be the pain killers.”

“We had you properly dosed; you’ve been in and out of consciousness for a few days now.” Ulaz explained. “Do you recall what happened?”

“I… I don’t know.” Shiro sighed. “My plane went down… hell if I knew why...”

“Indeed it did; thankfully what could be found was brought back so it could be combed over and see if there were any malfunctions.” Ulaz stated. “You were found not far from it. How you and your plane got to shore, well, hopefully the team can figure it out.” He showed the tablet in his hand, a design for a prosthetic on the screen. “We’re already looking into a new arm for you; due to the damage and time frame, we could not have your original arm reattached.”

Shiro smiled. “Looks like I’ll still get an arm. And months of rehabilitation.” he nodded. “Has… anyone contacted Adam?”

“He flew out the first day to help with the search; he’s in another building helping with the examination of your plane; he’s certain it has nothing to do with pilot error as some have questioned.” he informed. “Kolivan is leading the investigation. Surprisingly there isn’t much missing.”

“You mentioned my arm… it was...”

“Found in the wreckage.” Ulaz nodded. “Shiro, oddly enough, it was removed almost cleanly. And not in a way the wreck should have removed it.”

Shiro closed his eyes, thinking of the crash, his arm pinned. “My arm… it was… it was being crushed in the plane. I couldn’t pull it free.” He did his best to recall the facts. “But something… there was something there. In the water.” He opened his eyes again. “Maybe I was hallucinating. I was in pain… losing oxygen in my lungs… scared.”

“Something?” Ulaz questioned. “What do you think?”

“It was giant… face like a human but not… I can’t tell… even the lights in my ship couldn’t penetrate the darkness that much, right?” Shiro asked. “I had prayed, though, that whatever it was, it would show mercy… but… like I said, I could have been hallucinating.”

“You could have. Or there really was something out there looking out for you.” Ulaz stated. “There are a number of mysteries out there and the ocean is often the most mysterious.”

“So something could be out there?” Shiro asked.

“It’s probable.” Ulaz nodded.

“Nng...” Keith lifted his head. “Huh? Shiro?” He looked over. “Shiro, you’re awake.”

���So are you.” Shiro slipped his hand free and ruffled Keith’s hair. “Hey, buddy.”

“Hey.” Keith smiled. “How you feelin’?”

“Hungry.” Shiro admitted.

“I’ll go fetch some food.” Keith perked up, ready to help.

“Maybe we can walk together to get food. If the doc permits.” Shiro looked to Ulaz.

“Take it easy, you’re still a bit groggy from the meds, but your legs are fine and work.” Ulaz chuckled. “If you need to, use a wheel chair. Your arm should be ready in less than a week, then onto rehabilitation.”

“Hey, as long as I can fly again, one or two arms, I’m good.”

“You crashed and you still wanna fly? Adam’s gonna give you an earful.” Keith sighed, shaking his head. He got up and helped Shiro to his feet, the older man a bit wobbly at first, but soon able to hold his own. “You okay?”

“Just gotta take it slow and easy to start.” Shiro nodded. “But yeah, I’m fine.” He then walked out of the room, looking to see Lance seem to walk past. “Oh, Lance, good… afternoon?”

“Almost.” Lance confirmed. “Glad to see you feeling better and on your feet.” He then walked off.

“Well, he didn’t stay to chat long.” Shiro commented. “That’s odd.”

“Looks like he wants to get somewhere.” Keith admitted as he shrugged. “Anyway, let’s get you fed.” Shiro’s stomach audibly rumbled. “Yup, your stomach agrees.”

“Knowing him, probably to catch some waves.” Shiro chuckled, knowing Lance loved to surf. “My mind agrees with my stomach, food would be great.” He nodded and walked with Keith supporting him, Ulaz slowly moving behind them to keep an eye on the pilot.

Well! I hope you all enjoyed this one.  It was actually the first of the mermaid au stories to be written/started, but I didn’t finish it until last night; I almost forgot I had it started until I was going through unfinished doodles. 

Well! Until next time!

[hetalialoverwrites]

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Part 5

First  -  Previous  -  Next

        You woke up on your bed, the two mattresses laid on the floor and opened your eyes to see Mal. Sitting up, you looked over to your nightstand to see the letter you were supposed to send last night to Aurora. It reminded you of last night. Everything seemed to go wrong. Once you found out where the wand was with Evie's magic mirror, which her mother had surprisingly given to her before you all left, you found out it was in a library. Once you got there, there was an issue with the security guard needing to fall asleep and the door opening. Luckily it was just a few spells and another minute for you and Mal to make everyone invisible. But then it took ages to find where the wand was, it was also protected by a magic barrier which Jay just had to touch, and then the alarms went off. Luckily Carlos managed to soothe the authorities with a convincing lie, but then you also found out that the mailboxes were locked up at night for some reason. So obviously, nothing went right last night. Sighing to yourself, you got ready for school. 

        In Remedial Goodness 101, you spent your time taking no notes and drawing in your notebook. Mal was doing the same but was much better than you at doing realistic artwork. You, on the other hand, were better at doodles or pretty designs that you would decorate your paper with. Less realistic and more... Animated. So, while Mal was answering all the questions Fairy Godmother asked for the class, you were drawing your friends as patterns. You had Carlos as a spikey and fiery pattern of lines, Jay as smooth and masculine lines, Evie as fluid and feminine flowers, and Mal as sharp scales and fire. A girlish squeak caught your attention and you looked up from your doodling to see Fairy Godmother's daughter, Jane in an old and plain looking pastel blue outfit. Her hair was a straight bob that wasn't very flattering on her. She glanced back at you and your friends with a frightened look and handed her mother a clipboard, "Oh, hello dear one." Fairy Godmother greeted warmly.

        "Hi. You need to sign off on the early dismissal for the coronation." Jane stared at you all cautiously as Fairy Godmother signed the paper. "Everyone here remembers my daughter Jane." Fairy Godmother said causally to the 'class', much to her daughter's displeasure. "Mom, no!" Jane whispered. "It's okay!" Her mother reassured her brightly, "Jane, this is everyone!" Fairy Godmother introduced, gently nudging Jane towards you five. "Hi..." Jane almost whimpered out, a frightened look on her face once again. She was surprised to see small smiles on everyone's faces, all a little different from the others. Evie's was gentle, yours was soothing, Mal's was polite, Jay's was causal, and Carlos' was friendly. She was a little confused as she passed once again, still just as quick but she didn't squeal in fright this time. The class continued with Evie and Mal making plans silently through only eye contact. Once the boys were fighting loudly on top of their desks for something you didn't care enough to pay attention to, the class was dismissed.

        You went outside with Mal and Evie and after a few minutes, you broke off from them to find out how to mail the letter to Aurora. Wandering around the school, looking for a mailbox, you were surprised when a raven flew in front of you. It landed in front of you and looked around, noticing you two were alone. You looked at it oddly before it changed into Diaval. You gasped in delight and hugged him, "Diaval!! You made it through the barrier in time!" You squealed, feeling him hug you back. You both pulled away enough to look at each other and grinned at one another, "Of course! Did you think I was going to leave you all to yourselves on this journey?" He questioned, his giant grin never faltering. You laughed happily, "Thank you! And I can see you're ecstatic to be able to change into your true form now." You observed with an amused grin. Diaval just changed into his raven form and cawed loudly in what you could only guess was a delighted yell.

        You laughed as he turned back and hugged you tightly, lifting you up and spinning before letting you back down. Suddenly, you got an idea, "Uncle Diaval!" You exclaimed, making a delighted and touched look come over the man's face. "Yes?" "Would you mind sending mom's letter to Aurora? It would give you a chance to fly some more. That and I really can't find a mailbox anywhere in the school to mail the letter." You paused a moment, thinking aloud, "And it would probably be a little suspicious if a VK decided to send a letter anyway..." You realized. Diaval nodded, "No problem, little one. I'll take it straight to Aurora, promise! And I will let the faeries know to expect you, your sister, friends, and your Mother soon." You smiled thankfully and watched as he turned back into a bird. You took out the letter and rolled it up before tying it to his leg. He nodded to you and flew off to deliver the letter, making you sigh happily. Now that was done, you could focus on getting the magic wand.

        You checked the time on the clock tower and realized you had awhile till the bell rang and your next class began, so you went to find Mal. After looking around for a bit you spotted her purple hair by your lockers. Jogging over, you grinned, "Mal!" You called, catching her attention. She stopped spraying her locked and looked at you, smiling as she saw you and catching you in her arms as you jumped into them, hugging her tightly. "Mal!" You exclaimed happily, making her laugh. "Hey (Y/n), what's up?" Mal asked curiously, hugging you back before pulling away to look at you. You whispered excitedly, "Diaval got off the isle! He's taking Mom's letter to Aurora right now!" You were practically shaking in her arms from excitement as you told her. Mal could feel a weight lift off her shoulders and she sighed in relief, grinning brighter, "That's great! Good job sis!" She praised before hugging you again. After a moment, you both pulled away and the sight of her locker caught your attention, "Are you spray painting your logo onto your locker?" You asked curiously, looking at it closer. "Yeah, figured I might as well. Brings back a bit of home, you know?" Mal looked at the locker as well. You hummed, glancing at yours just a locker away, "Mind if I borrow some?" mal glanced at you curiously for a moment but realized quickly what you meant as you studied your blank blue locker. Smirking, Mal nudged the bag of cans towards you, "Go for it." 

        A few minutes before the bell rang, you and Mal packed the cans away and threw away the empty ones. Using magic, you both dried the paint so you could touch your lockers and open them to get your books for your next class. Once you both were done, you closed your locker and were shocked to see Ben standing super close to you, leaning against the lockers. You could feel the heat radiating off him against your wing and you pulled it away. "Hey." Ben greeted, his voice smooth as he stared into your eyes. You ignored a small feeling in your chest as you and Mal replied in unison, "Hey." "How was your first day?" He asked with a twinge of playfulness in his voice, glancing at Mal to let her know the question was towards her as well. You couldn't help the slight smile that came onto your face, "Great." "Super," Mal said sarcastically. He studied the lockers for a moment, Mal's decorated with 'Long Live Evil' written on a figure that looked like Mom, green flames around the whole thing. Yours looked a lot like what most people assumed magic to look like. Sparkly, ethereal, and warm. It was gold just like your magic and in the background looked to be a forest. "You know, you should really take this talent off the lockers and into art class. I could, uh, sign you two up if you want." Ben said, his eyes flicking towards Mal before landing on you once again. 

        Mal opened her mouth to respond before catching sight of Fairy Godmother's daughter Jane. "...Way to take all the fun out of it. See you later (Y/n)." She waited a moment for your reply before following Jane. "Oh. What about you, (Y/n)?" Ben asked, focusing all his attention on you as he awaited your response. "Sorry, I don't like being graded on my art. Makes my hobby a job, you know?" You asked, leaning against your locker, mimicking his stance. You watched a small smile creep onto his face, and he dropped his head a little, laughing quietly, "Yeah, yeah I can see that." He agreed, lifting his head once again to look at you. You felt your cheeks heat up slightly and you cleared your throat, "Uh, is that all?" You asked, stepping back to put more distance between you two. "Oh! Yeah, sorry." Ben apologized sheepishly, though he didn't seem to look all that sorry. You shifted your weight on your feet for a moment before nodding, "Okay, well I have to get to class. See you." You said, leaving before he could manage a reply. Ben stared after you with a small grin on his face before looking down to his feet, grinning wider, glancing at your locker, and turning for his back to rest against the locker fully. He leaned on them, looking out into the yard, "...Huh."

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Thank you so much to fanfiction.net user DOAWOTA for asking "where is hades during this time?" You helped me out a lot, making me realize that I had a lot more story to plan out. I really appreciate questions and comments like this or even ones that are just about how you feel towards the story. To answer the question, more information about Hades and how he relates to the story and to the girls will be released gradually into the story until he is introduced. Thanks so much for the question!

[stingerpicnic]

bottle me up (take me everywhere) chapter 2/2

Read on ao3

Based on this post

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationship: Mumintrollet | Moomintroll/Snusmumriken | Snufkin

Characters: Mumintrollet | Moomintroll, Snusmumriken | Snufkin

Additional Tags: Fluff, Established Relationship, Cuddling & Snuggling, Feelings, Purring, Gift Giving, y'all they're so in love it's ridiculous, Moomintroll continues to be sweetest creature on the planet, flustered snufkin, cat Snufkin rights babey, soft

Moomin doesn’t get that much work done on his gift in the morning.

Instead, he spends the early morning hours lazing around with Snufkin. The world feels fuzzy and soft. He feels fuzzy and soft, heart full of the kind of warm and gentle love that usually only appears sparingly and in quick flashes. The kind that strikes quickly and sharply for all its blunt edges and squishiness, in quiet moments when he looks up at just the right time to catch the edge of Snufkin’s smile, or his adorable look of concentration, or the tranquility that steals over his face when they’re just sitting alone, enjoying each other’s presence. The kind of love that would normally fill his chest so suddenly and so fully he’d be sure he would explode from the sheer size of it.

But he doesn’t feel like he would explode right then. There’s the good kind of ache settled right over his heart, but he doesn’t feel like he’s too small a container for the amount of love he has to give. He feels vast and unending, like the ocean Snufkin loves so much.

The early morning light is dim, casting soft gray shadows and granting the moment a sort of timelessness, a sort of intangibility. They’re alone and together and nothing can touch them.

It’s so easy to run his fingers through Snufkin’s soft curls, to seek out his paw with his own and entwine them, to press soft kisses into skin and hair and fur, to snuggle just a little closer.

There’s nothing better than the sound of Snufkin’s quiet breaths, Moomin thinks. The weight of his body draped around his own, soft and warm and there. The quiet sound of their soft, sleepy purring echoing around the fabric walls of the tent, an ever present reminder that they both feel relaxed, content, and safe. The barely there mumbled words they share between bouts of consciousness, almost too quiet to hear, like they’re both speaking something fragile, something that must be handled with care, something too precious to ever truly see the light of day.

Outside, he can just barely hear the gentle autumn breeze and the rustle of leaves. Inside, he catches Snufkin’s sleepy gaze. They both smile, silently agreeing that right now, everything is perfect.

Neither of them want to get up quite yet, and there’s nothing wrong with some lazy early morning snuggle time. They won’t be needed for some time yet.

….

Eventually, they do have to get up.

It takes them until they can no longer pretend that the sun hasn’t climbed high in the sky and that they’re not hungry. But they do, eventually, admit that it’s time to get up and crawl out of the tent to greet the late morning sun.

Moomin sees Snufkin start to stretch, arms reaching high into the air. He’s all rumpled clothes and messy hair, a red spot pressed into his cheek where he’d been sleeping on it. His mouth opens wide in a yawn, exposing his fangs. It’s adorable.

“I love you,” he says, because it’s true and he wants to say it. He’s sure he’s said it many times in past hour or two, mumbled against the top of Snufkin’s head and whispered into the slight space between them. But reality has finally gone back to feeling real and he finds he wants to say it again.

Snufkin pauses. “I love you too,” he says, with pink dusting his cheeks and a smile playing on his lips.

“You’re especially cute in the mornings. Did you know that, Snufkin?” he says, because it’s true as well and he wants to say it. The pink deepens to red.

“...I think I’ll make breakfast. Or lunch, now, I suppose,” he says too loudly after a moment. He moves to do just that, but not before grabbing his hat from where he’d left it and pulling it low over his eyes.

Their meal is good. After, they hike through the forest for a while and enjoy the beautiful colors of a forest in the full-swing of autumn and their own conversation.

That night, he kisses Snufkin goodnight and makes the short walk back to Moominhouse. Snufkin wants to be alone tonight. He’s had a lot of emotions recently and as much as he loves spending time with Moomin, he still needs some time alone to recharge. Moomin refuses begrudge him his time.

He eats dinner with Mamma and Papa and Little My. It’s good, too. He loves eating meals alone with Snufkin, he loves it when Snufkin decides to eat dinner with the rest of them, but there’s still something to be said for times like this.

Afterwords, he’s sitting in his room, staring at blank paper and resisting the urge to give up before he’s even started.

He wants to give Snufkin everything he could ever want. And what Snufkin wants is a reminder of reality, of the fact that he thinks about him all the time, of the space he’s claimed in his heart.

It shouldn’t be hard to give that to him. It isn’t, not really. He could write the length of Papa’s memoirs twice over just talking about how much he loves him. He’s already got so many words bouncing around in his head that he wants to spill out onto the page.

It’s just--he wants it to be perfect. He wants to capture the exact feeling that blooms in his chest every time he hears Snufkin’s rare laugh. He wants to describe the love he feels so accurately, so earnestly, that Snufkin would be able to feel it himself and be reassured. He wants to quantify something infinite, something precious, something priceless.

He’s scared that he’ll fall short. He’s scared he can’t not fall short.

Look at me, he thinks, just a bit ago I was so confident, telling Snufkin he’s cute just to see him blush and confessing that he’s my whole world. Where has my nerve gone?

He has to do this. He made a promise that he’d try. Even if Snufkin hadn’t heard it in his voice, a promise was still what he had meant.

So he takes a deep breath and thinks of Snufkin. Snufkin is messy and tattered around the edges and half the time he’s coated in dirt and mud. All his clothes are ragged and worn and wrinkled. He has sharp edges, though Moomin has always found them blunted whenever they concern himself. Nobody would call him perfect and yet Moomin thinks he is.

Maybe he’s not perfect in the traditional sense. He has faults and there are things about him that can annoy even him, but still. Still, Moomin looks at him and he can’t imagine anyone better. He wouldn’t trade him for anything in the whole world, not unless he wanted to be let go.

Out of the corner of his eye, he catches sight of the quilt on his bed. Mamma had made it for him and he loves it to pieces. Still, if he looks carefully he can see small imperfections. Misplaced stitches, lines that aren’t perfectly straight. But none of those things make him love it any less. If anything, he loves it more, because there’s only the one that’s exactly like it and Mama made it for him.

Maybe it doesn’t matter if his gift is perfect. Maybe it doesn’t matter if there’s ink spots on some of the pages or if he feels like he’s repeated himself a thousand times. Maybe it shouldn't even try to be perfect. Maybe it should be messy and erratic and real. Maybe all that matters is that he pours all his love into it.

He fixes those thoughts in his mind, takes another deep breath to steady himself, and begins writing the first entry of many.

Snufkin, have I ever told you how much I love our mornings together? Today we did nothing but cuddle for hours before getting up. I wanted to stay in that moment forever. It was so incredibly nice and the love for you that filled my chest felt like….

….

It isn’t ready by the time Snufkin leaves for winter. But that’s alright, he hadn’t expected it to be. He has too much to say, too much love to express for it to be done so soon. And while he had accepted that it wasn’t going to be absolutely perfect, Snufkin deserved more than whatever rushed thing he would have produced had he tried to have it done by then.

Instead, he gives Snufkin a single letter to see him off. It wasn’t as detailed as his full gift, but it was sincere and full of love and he’d doodled little leaves and flowers and hearts in the corners and along the margins. Snufkin looked more than happy to have it, in any case, a tinge of relief making its way into the smile alongside the joy, so he's satisfied that it’s a good hold over gift.

Snufkin would come back in the spring and his gift would be done by the time he was ready to leave again. That’s as long as Moomin was going to allow him to wait.

In the meantime, Moomin continued to write whatever he lovely things could think of until it was time for him to enter hibernation. The few times he woke from hibernation, he wrote more. He wrote about the dreams he had and how much he missed him, how he was special and irreplaceable and good. He even wrote about how he had worked himself into a right fluster just thinking about how much he loved him. It was a little embarrassing, but Snufkin would probably like to knowing about it.

Then, Snufkin returned. The overflowing happiness he felt was nearly intoxicating. He scarcely wanted to think about anything else, not when his mind was just an endless loop of the words “Snufkin’s back!!!” But he forced himself to take a step back, just for a second before he succumbed again, to take in exactly what he was feeling in that moment, engraving it into his mind so he could copy it down later.

Spring, summer, and most of autumn passed in much the same way it had in all the years previous. The only exception was that now he had something specific to do with his time alone and he was making more of an effort to pay attention to every moment he spent with Snufkin so he could write about it later.

It was… a good feeling, to be working on a project he enjoyed. And it turned out that paying specific attention to the time he spent with Snufkin only made him love the mumrik even more, which shouldn't have been possible.

….

It was another cool late autumn day, just like last year, when Moomin knew it was time.

They had been sitting together in the yellowed grass near Snufkin’s tent, just enjoying each other’s company and conversation when he'd started to feel it. The soft line of pressure against his side getting harder, the twitch of the tail looped around his own, the change in his purr.

“Winter's almost here,” He says. Last year, he'd let Snufkin work himself up too much, thinking he would say something before it got too bad. This year he's bringing it up himself.

“Uh--yeah.” He feels Snufkin go fully tense against him before he sigh and relaxes again. “It is,” he says quietly.

“I have a gift for you,” he says, not bothering to hide the anxious excitement he's feeling.

“A gift?” he says, sounding far too cautious. Moomin sees his face color pink, “What sort of a gift?”

“Snufkin, it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?” he laughs. “I had planned to wait a bit longer to give it to you, but it wouldn't hurt to do it now. You stay here, it won’t take me a second,” he says, already getting up.

It's not a minute before he's across the bridge to Moominhouse and up to his room. He pulls out the big green book that had become of the paper he had been using. He'd bound it himself, with the help of Papa, not too long ago and he's rather proud of how it came out. It's simple, but he thinks Snufkin would prefer it that way.

Quickly, but still carefully, he flips through the pages one final time. The first page is a dedication, “For Snufkin, I love you so much it's indescribable, but I'll try anyways.” He'd thought hard about what to put for it, but he's eventually settled on something simple that he thought captured what he was trying to do. Further in, he catches sight of a lot of his own handwriting and all the small drawings he'd scrunched into corners and along margins. He paused for a second on the page where he'd attempted to draw Snufkin himself--it wasn't very good, but he'd still included it and drawn hearts all around it for good measure. He's glad, now, that he'd decided to keep it. It's sweet, he thinks.

On the last page he spies his final entry, written not too long ago, “Snufkin, if you've read any of this you probably already know that I love you so much that sometimes I can barely breathe around the size of it. Still, though, I think I love you even more now than I did before. Writing this, paying attention to every moment we spent together and every feeling I felt around you, was enlightening for me. It enlightened me to the very likely possibility that I'll never stop falling in love with you. I didn't think I could be any deeper in love than I already was at the start of this, but I've never been happier to be proved wrong. I love you. I'll never stop.”

He'd signed it at the bottom of the page, like this was just some very, very long letter. And he supposed it was, sort of. A love letter to Snufkin.

He's almost embarrassed to give this away. He'd poured his heart out onto these pages and he hadn't held anything back. It was all… him, his thoughts, his feelings, everything, and giving it away was a scary thought.

But he knows Snufkin will take care of it. He's sure of it. He never would have even started if he wasn't.

Snufkin has never intentionally done anything to hurt him.

He takes a deep breath to steady himself, closes the book, and takes it down to Snufkin.

Snufkin, for his part, looks relieved when he sees him coming toward him carrying a book. Moomin notices the red leaving his face even before he crosses the bridge. Moomin isn't sure what that's about, he hadn't been gone that long and he hasn't even done anything worth him getting flustered over yet. But he lets it go, he has something he needs to do.

“Is that the manuscript you were working on all year? Are you finally going to let me read it?” he asks, sounding genuinely curious.

That's right, he had told Snufkin he was working on a manuscript, just like Papa, when he'd been caught writing. It hadn't technically been a lie, he supposes that what he was writing could be called a manuscript if looked at a certain way. Still, he was lucky that Snufkin had dropped it after being told it was a surprise he was trying to keep secret.

“We'll, I did write it for you, specifically, to read,” he says, holding the book out for Snufkin to take.

“Oh,” he gasps. “You didn't have to do that, dove,” he says softly, like someone who's been given something priceless they never asked for and don't know how to handle without breaking, but he still reaches out to take the book.

“I was hoping you would take it with you on your travels this year,” he says, watching Snufkin open it to the front page, “but if you want I can keep it safe for you here until you get back.” He doesn't want to say that last bit, because he knows Snufkin leaving it with him would feel like a rejection, even if it wasn't meant as one. But he knows Snufkin's feelings on material possessions and traveling with only the essentials and he knows that books aren't really essential even if he thinks that this one should be, so he forces himself to say it anyways.

He's not sure if he ought to have bothered, though, because he's not even sure that Snufkin heard him. He'd frozen when he'd opened the book to the dedication, red beginning to creep its way back onto his face nearly instantly. The only movement he'd made since was a jerk of his arm to move the page. Moomin could see he was on the page of the very first entry, now.

Moomin watched him turn the page again. And again. And again. His face was getting steadily redder and redder as the seconds ticked by. He was worryingly silent. Moomin wasn't even sure he was breathing.

He felt his nerves rise within him again. Did he not like it?

“Um… Snufkin?” he says to what is apparently his statue significant other, reaching out to touch his shoulder. Snufkin jerks back, a ragged gasp tearing out of his throat. A loud purr violently erupts out of his chest, but he's also breathing irregularly, every other breath catching on the back of throat, and there's a shine to his eyes like he's about to cry, so Moomin doesn't quite know what to think.

Oh, this was not the outcome he'd been hoping for. How had he actually managed to make Snufkin cry with his gift?! He had to try to salvage this somehow.

“Is It really--I thought--well, I thought to give you something to show you how much you mean to me,” he stammers, sounding desperate and disappointed and shocked. He doesn't know what to say to fix this, and Snufkin is still staring at him with wet eyes. “Last year you told me you wished you could bottle me up and take my love with you to keep you warm in the winter and I thought, why don't I see what I can do? And well, you liked last year's letter enough so I thought that maybe this idea did have some merit, after all,” he's rambling now, he knows he is and it sounds pathetic and desperate to his own ears. He feels the beginnings of tears start to prick at his own eyes, but he refuses to start crying. “But if you really don't like it I suppose I can--” get rid of it, or burn it, or tear it apart, or something, he was going to say but doesn't get to. Instead he feels something slam into him, hard, a band of pressure closing around him.

A glance down tells him that the “something” was Snufkin and the “band of pressure” is the tight hug he's currently receiving. Snufkin has his face buried in his shoulder, his own shoulders shaking like he's sobbing and Moomin feels his fur start to get wet. But, Snufkin is also still purring up a storm and he did initiate the hug, so maybe he's not too terribly upset with him? Moomin hopes he's not. For now, though, he doesn't know what else to do but bring his arms up around him and rub circles into his back while he whispers assurances into his ear, so that is what he does.

He doesn't know how long they stand there, but eventually he hears Snufkin break the not quite silence they had settled into.

“Is it--the whole thing? Really?” he says, his voice, thick with emotion and raw from the tears still sounding so much like a child. A child with stars in his eyes who had just been told their impossible dreams were coming true. Excited and happy beyond belief but not quite willing to believe it's really his for the taking.

“Yes, the whole thing. I've been writing it since around this time last year,” he says, because there's really no point in trying to lie about it. He feels Snufkin press his face into his shoulder again, but this time he can feel his smile through his fur. “You're really not upset?” he asks, voice wavering, because he needs to know for sure.

Snufkin pulls back, face red and eyes shining, but the wide smile splitting his face in two is real, even if it is a bit watery. He's the most beautiful thing Moomin has ever seen.

“Moomin--dove--I-I can't tell you how happy you've made me. This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I think it might be the sweetest thing I've ever seen be done for anyone,” he says, one of his paws coming up to cup Moomin's face. “Of course I'm not upset. I love it.”

“I thought you didn't care for material possessions?” he says, humor coloring his words. He feels a little silly now for ever letting himself think Snufkin didn't like his gift. It was just himself put to paper after all, and Snufkin seemed to like him just fine, loved him even.

Snufkin laughed. “I think I can make an exception, just this once.”

[rosy-roulette]

Baekhyun: Uncharted {Part 3}

Characters: Baekhyun x female OC (feat. EXO)

Genre/series warnings: werewolf au, vampire au, angst, fluff, eventual smut so uh this will be 18+, mentions of blood (should be implied), sexual themes and seduction, swearing, violence/mention of violence, stalking(?) kinda?

Summary: After being turned into a vampire over 100 years ago, Chu Aejung has seen how terrible humans can truly be. She’s lost enough in her life time and makes the decision to not put herself in a position to lose anymore. Secluding herself in the forest around a bustling city, she thought she succeeded. But when a particular werewolf reveals to be anything but an enemy, they both step into uncharted territory.

a/n: I’m finally out with chapter 3. It’s… been a while. Alot has been going on this summer and even though I thought I would get more out I was wrong sadly. Hope you like it though.

Previous ~ Next

Aejung woke up the following day to knocking on her bedroom door. Annoyed for being woken up earlier than she wanted, she flung open her door to a concerned looking Baekhyun.

“What.” She spat.

Baekhyun blinked for a moment. “It’s 1pm.”

Aejung gestured with her hand. “Ok? Your point is?”

Baekhyun mimicked her hand movement. “Shouldn’t you be up and at least doing something? Like spending time me?”

Aejung let her hand drop heavily at her side. “I technically don’t have to do anything until sun down. I’m not suddenly going to change the way I live just because you’re here temporarily.”

“Wait you actually sle-”

“I’m going back to bed, wake me up before 7 and you will be sleeping outside.” Aejung cut him off before by closed the door in Baekhyun’s face before he could finish.

                                                          ~~~

Baekhyun spent the rest of the day drifting between playing games on his laptop, talking to his pack, and exploring the small cabin. He knew he shouldn’t be snooping around his mate’s belongings, but he wanted to know other things about her. When he spotted a small, fraying old book in a small book shelf in the corner of the living room he couldn’t suppress is urge to look at what could be in it.

Sitting in front of the bookshelf, he leafed through the pages of the book. From the looks of it, it seemed to be a diary of some sort; faded words from age, changing from ink to pen to pencil and colored pens. Dates lining the tops of pages. Doodles lined the margins of the pages of some of the pages, making him smile thinking of the blunt and mysterious Aejung doodling in her diary. Looking through more of the pages, a photo slips out from in between the pages into his lap. Picking it up, he notices it’s dated from 16 years ago. A smiling image of Aejung with a happy little girl looked back at him.

‘Who is that?’ Baekhyun wonders as he takes one more look at the photo before placing it back into the diary. He didn’t expect Aejung to spill her entire life story to him the second they were alone but seeing a small snapshot of her happiness, he wanted to bring that light back.

Placing the book back in it’s spot on the shelf, he went back to looking around the rest of the house. It wasn’t long before he had seen everything and stood in front of Aejung’s bedroom door again. He sighed before turning back down the hall for the living room. It was still another few hours before Aejung had said she would be awake and he did not want to be on her bad side. He opted to go back to playing games and eating whatever they had bought last night, hoping time would go by faster.

Aejung pulled her eyelids open as her phone went off besides her. Sluggishly turning it off, her sat up in bed. Her room was noticeably darker than it was a few hours ago. Getting out of bed, she grabbed a towel from the end of her bed and her work clothes before peeking out of her room.

“Good evening sunshine!” She heard Baekhyun call from the living room. She rolled her eyes before moving across the hall into the bathroom. After a quick shower and getting dressed she emerged into the living room to find Baekhyun sprawled out on the couch with his laptop in his lap and a few of the bags of chips on the table.

“Where are you off to?” He asks, eyeing her fitted button down tucked into a simple black pencil skirt.

“My work. I have the night shift during the week.” Aejung said as she briskly walked over to the counter to grab her bag. Baekhyun stays quiet for a moment.

“So that’s why you slept for so long.” He said, realization dawning on him. “I thought it was just a vampire thing.”

“Yes and no. Yes that’s the main reason I sleep so late, but also it’s just because I tend to stay up really late into the night anyways and I need to catch up on sleep.”

Baekhyun raised an eyebrow. “What do you have insomnia? Or are you nocturnal because you’re a vampire like all the legends say?” He waves his hands above his head and changes his voice at the implication.

“Yes.” Aejung says in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Yes to what?”

“Just. Yes.”

Baekhyun stares at a spot in the corner of the room with a dumbfounded look on his face for a second. Aejung leans against the counter amused at the boy’s confusion.

He takes a breath before speaking again. “Ok good to know for the future. Sleeping in the same bed will not work, noted.” His attention went back to his laptop. Now Aejung was confused.

“Hey I can share a bed with someone if I wanted to! My weird sleep schedule wouldn’t interfere with anyone, even yours.” She protested, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Really? Then prove it, lets share a bed tonight. I’ll let you know.” A smirk tugged at the corners of his lips. Aejung rolled her eyes and groaned in annoyance and quickly collected her things.

“I’m going to work. I’ll be back late so don’t stay up for me.”

“What am I supposed to do while you’re not here!” Baekhyun protested, looking over the couch at her as she slipped on her heels.

“That’s not really my problem. When I get back we can figure it out for the week I guess.”

“Let me come with you then. I’ll just shop around until you get off work.”

Aejung sighed and thought for a second.

“Fine. Please don’t make me regret this.”

Baekhyun jumped up from the couch and quickly grabbed from clothes from his bag before running to the bathroom. He came back out a few minutes later and the pair left out the door, one happier than the other.

                                                    ~~~

Leaving Baekhyun in the main square of the shopping district with the instructions to meet her at the boutique she worked when her shift ended, she quickly clocked in.

“Aejung! You’re on register tonight.” Her manager Chaesoo told her in passing. She quickly nodded before taking up her position and got ready for the evening crowd. It was never too busy in the evening since the nightlife tended to gravitate more towards the clubs and the resturants but the store still saw it’s fair share of customers at night. Aejung’s two other co-workers for the night, a middle aged woman named Seojun and a college student named Youngmi came into the store not too long after.

‘Guess they got the short end of the stick tonight huh.’ she thought, taking note at the sour look on the older woman’s face and the large coffee in the younger girl’s hand. The got to their stations without a word and the store opened for the night.

It was only an hour into her shift before Aejung looks up to the door ringing to see the ash brown hair she’s oh so familiar with. Baekhyun casually strolls into the store, looking at the clothes on the racks, stopping briefly to flip through a few button downs on display. Aejung focused on the customer before her, fighting to keep the light smile of her customer service persona on her face. Of course it fell as soon as she sent the customer on their way. She sent daggers at the wolf. She watched as he looked through everything they had on display. Every single jacket, shirt, pair of pants, shoes, accessories, nicnak they sold he looked at with phaned interest. At least she suspected as much. Another customer came to Aejung with their items, their smile snapping her away from Baekhyun. She greeted them with a small smile of her own.

“Did you find everything alright?” She asked the woman, scanning her items.

“Yes I did thank you.” the woman hesitates for a second before looking back for a second and leaning a bit closer to Aejung.

“Now I know this may sound a bit odd, but I saw you looking at that young man over there, he’s quite handsome isn’t he?”

Aejung’s hand slipped while putting the woman’s items in her bag, causing the bag to fall off the counter. Aejung quickly picked up the items and worked as fast as she could to get her out of the store. She was mortified someone caught her staring at Baekhyun. Was she that obvious? She could feel the heat from blush creep up her face to the tip of her ears as she finished ringing the woman up.

“Um-yeah he’s ok looking I guess. I’ve seen other guys that look just as nice though. He just looked familiar and I was trying to place where I’ve seen him” Aejung rambled, spitting out whatever lie she could come up with at the moment to make this exchange any less awkward.

The woman only chuckled at Aejung’s flustered state. “You don’t need to explain yourself to me dear. Have a good night.” Flashing her a knowing smile, she paid and left the store without another word, leaving Aejung at a loss of words at the strange exchange.

“I’m hurt that you don’t find me utterly handsome, love.” Aejung heard a voice from beside her. Whirling around, Baekhyun is now leaned against the counter with a smirk gracing his pink lips. She frowns.

“What the fuck are you doing here? I told you to come at closing time!” She hissed at him.

“You didn’t say I couldn’t come in during hours. Also I was curious where you worked.” He looked around at the minimalistic displays and trendy clothes. “Didn’t quite expect you to work at a place like this. Kinda expected a place like. Hot Topic or something.”

Aejung laughed.

“Hot Topic? Really?”

“What it’s edgy! You’re edgy!”

“Sure okay.” She rolled her eyes.

“So you really have seen other guys more attractive than me?” Baekhyun asked, pouting slightly.

“Yeah. One of your pack mates, ah what was his name? Junmyeon I think it was. Very good looking man I have to say.” Aejung said. She expected a snarky comeback from Baekhyun or a mocking gasp. Silence. She glanced over at the wolf. The look in Baekhyun’s eyes was unreadable. He scowled, staring at her with a blank expression, but so many emotions swimming within those dark brown eyes of his. All traces of the teasing conversation they had a few seconds before were gone. A strange feeling settled in Aejung’s chest.

“I’m kidding you know that.” She said, knitting her eyebrows together.

“Yeah, I know.” Baekhyun’s voice sounded empty. She definitely crossed a line. Fuck.

“Well have fun on your shift, see you later.” He turned on his heel and left the store before Aejung could say anything.

[littlemonstersau-blog]

The Feels Awaken, Part 3: A New Hope (for Friendship)

Written by @jkl-fff, illustrated by me

PART I - PART II [Interlude] - PART III - PART IV [Interlude] - PART V [FINAL] (you are here)

——————————————————————————————–

A new day dawned then waxed then began to wane, but Ford and Bill hardly noticed. A manic, obsessive energy (plus an unhealthy amount of coffee and sugar) kept them focused throughout their self-appointed task. Such is often the case for the kind of people who feel the need to write to right a wrong in the world. Not all heroes wear capes, after all; some wear turtlenecks and trenchcoats, some wear paper-based clones of teenage boys produced through unholy abominations of SCIENCE!.

… For that matter, not all heroes are particularly heroic; some are morally ambiguous straddlers of the line between antihero and antivillain, some are demonic chaos gods who (quite frankly) still wonder how in the 79 Hells they found themselves in this position.

In the end, though it did take more than the one night, they still finished in just over 16 hours. The plot outline came in at just over 18 pages, which they tidily stacked together on the table and declared to be more than adequate … before passing out on the carpet. Facefirst.

When Bill next regained consciousness, he was in his attic bed and morning light was streaming through the window. His mouth tasted like an abandoned prison for criminally insane chalk and his head felt like the internal turmoil of a buzzsaw having an existential crisis. It was a pain that was anything but hilarious; it was the sugared caffeine hangover equivalent of nuclear fallout … Mouthwash fixed the first problem. The second took an adult dosage of aspirin, a lot of water, and deliberate manipulation of many of the clonesuit’s normally automatic processes for a full eight minutes. And even then, not completely.

“Guess I can’t pilot one of these things through 36+ hours of no sleep on a gallon of coffee … Not if I wanna be able to still maneuver it the next day without crashing every ten feet into a wall or the floor, at least,” he grumbled to himself. “Major design flaw … Can’t believe they got evolutionarily approved for mass production with such weak durability …”

Downstairs in the kitchen, Stan greeted him jovially enough. “Stancakes are up, and so are you, it seems. How you feelin’ today?”

“Honestly, confused,” Bill graveled, his clonesuit throat still raw. “I can get longterm possession of a meatbag leading to me—y’know, the real me—developing emotions and physical cravings and other … gross, brain-mush junk like that. Neurochemistry is basically just an addictive habit, like how people respond to hearing the question ‘What is love?’—”

“Baby, don’t hurt me. Don’t hurt me no more,” Stan mumbled automatically.

“Exactly. But what I don’t get is why the real me is also feeling this coffee and sugar hangover. No joke: I tried leaving my clonesuit to get away from it, but it followed me. How is that fair? And, yeah, existence isn’t fair,” Bill interjected before Stan automatically could. “But still …”

Like the benevolent and experienced sage he was (more or less), Stan chuckled to himself. Then, laying a companionable arm around Bill’s shoulders, he leaned in and whispered the truth as grimly as Death itself, “You can outrun your sins, but you can never outrun a hangover.”

“W-wha?”

“Some say if you never stop drinkin’, it’ll never catch up with you. But they are fools. Sooner or later, all things must sleep—sooner or later, all who drink must suffer.”

“Uh … K-kinda freakin’ me out here.” Bill tried to lean away, but Stan’s hold was inescapable. “And, just sayin’, I’m kinda responsible for making most of the 79 Hells as freaky as they are.”

“Heed my warning, child.”

“I’m heeding! I’m heeding! Elder Gods, Stan, the only one who’s supposed to give people nightmares around here is me …”

Straightening up, Stan went back to the stove to continue what passed for cooking with him. “Once you’re done eatin’, by the way, I gotta plate for you to take down to Ford. He prob’ly needs some food and water more ‘n you do.”

Between mouthfuls of food, Bill said, “Yeah, sure … You seen what we wrote, by the way?”

“Yeah. It’s not bad at all. I’d def’nitely go see movies like that. Might even pay my own money for it, too. Heh … Even Soos admitted the storylines are better. Haven’t seen him that downcast ‘bout anything in a while, either. Looked as painful for him as cutting out his own kidney. Might have to do something nice for him soon just to make up for it,” Stan added to himself.

“Huh … Yeah, maybe …” Bill chewed on his breakfast, almost starting to maybe feel guilty. Then, when he finished, he put his dishes in the sink, picked up what was meant for Ford, and took it down to the lab.

Ford, as usual, was at his desk. He was hunched over with a pen, which was also fairly usual. However, and this was very unusual, all his notes and Journals had been pushed into a corner—neatly stacked, but well out of the way. Close to hand, as if for quick reference, was actually their Cosmos Conflicts storyline.

Bill cleared his throat. “Brought some breakfast for ya from Stan.” He set it on the desk, but away from any of the papers (just in case). “How you feeling? I woke up with a caffeine hangover I couldn’t escape even when I left my body. Er, clonsuit. Whatever. Same dif.”

“… I didn’t really sleep very deeply,” Ford eventually replied, his voice as hoarse as Bill’s. “Ergo, I can’t really say I woke up with such a hangover, but I’m suffering one all the same.”

“Yeesh, that sucks. Taken anything? Had some water and some food? That helped me.”

“Some water and aspirin, yes, though I’m not sure I could keep much food down … I suppose I ought to try, anyway.”

“If you feel more rotten than a two-week-old apple core, why are you working?” Bill asked, sliding the plate closer.

“I’m not really working, per se,” Ford answered guiltily. “Just … sketching. Some stuff. For what we came up with.”

Bill’s eyes lit up with interest. “Ooo! Really? Can I see? Please?”

For a moment, Ford’s jaw worked. As though trying to control himself.

“It’s okay,” Bill said hurriedly, though unable to fully contain his disappointment. “I get it. I’ll leave you al—”

A couple pages’ worth of images (some rough sketches, some little more than absent doodles, and some rather intricate and detailed) were thrust at the Demon. “Here. Can’t see any harm in you looking at them, anyway, so …” Ford mumbled. Without looking up, he cut in to his food. “Was just doing this since I’m too awake and restless to just not do anything, but too … wooly in the head, I suppose you could say, to do any productive work.”

Bill poured over them, delighting in the imaginative whimsy of them. Most were of characters from the prequels, though with distinctive touches—touches reflecting their own collaboration (such as Otherkin in a stained pilot’s attire, Imdolledupa aiming ruthlessly with a blaster, and Jelived Knights wearing a different style of clothing from Jelived Sentinels or Jelived Healers). But some were very different, especially among the doodles. “Ha! You made a Soos Wookie!”

Ford couldn’t resist smiling. “Soosbacca. Co-pilot to Stan Solo.”

“In their spaceship, the Mystery Falcon, right? Is Melody a Wookie, too?”

“Huh … That’s not a bad idea, actually. I was having a hard time seeing how to fit her in, since she isn’t really the Princess Leia type.”

“But Mabel and—pff!—Dipper are?” Bill snorted, pointing to where they were both sketched with the iconic braids wrapping around their ears. “Both of them together?”

“Well, they’re also both Luke, since I couldn’t really pick who fit which roll better.”

“Two sets of the twins running around, huh?” Bill murmured, though he was really thinking about two Dippers (and they weren’t running around, either—they were very much not running). “… And Wendy’s Lando, I see. Am I Yoda, since I’m the most triangular or everybody, and the right size?”

“Uh …” Ford hesitated.

“Pff, it’s alright, I can already see 3PO and R2 are both me.”

Lamely, the Weirdologist explained, “Because you’re shiny. That’s the extent of the logic.”

“You gonna do any more sketches?”

“Assuming I can keep breakfast down, probably,” Ford said around a mouthful. “It’s … distracting. And fun. And relaxing, too. Helps to pass the time on a down day like this.”

“Um … M-mind if I stay and watch? Please?” Bill almost begged. “Y’know how much I love watching you meatbags make art.”

“… Oh, fine,” Ford relented. Because what was the harm in being nice to the Demon? Ford didn’t have to trust him for that. “Just don’t make any noise. My head aches enough as it is.”

Bill mimed zipping his lips and throwing away the key before pulling up a chair and settling himself comfortably beside Ford. The only time he broke his silence after that was to ask Ford if he wanted more water, and to assert that the others would get a kick out of seeing these sketches (“especially Soos … the Twins, too, though we’d have to text ‘em a photo of ‘em, or mail the whole project to ‘em to see …”).

All in all, it turned out to be a rather nice day for both of them together.

[potions-and-potters]

9! Snarry of course ~

Prompt: 9. “I’m not gonna lie, I’m really turned on by that”

Word count: 1,704

Warnings: language

Tags: fluff, established relationship, Professor!Harry, Post-Hogwarts, implied smut 

Author’s note:  Sorry for the delay. My laptop’s internet is finally fixed! Here’s hoping it stays that way! I hope you like it!!!

Fic:

August was fast approaching and soon enough the peace of a student-free castle would be gone. Not that it was so bad. Severus’s quarters were pretty quiet. Harry’s mouth twitched in thought. He supposed he ought to start referring to them as their quarters.

This was year two of their relationship and he still couldn’t quite believe it himself. He was sure Severus was waiting for it to crash and burn. It was like every morning they woke up, Harry would find Severus’s eyes on him like he was surprised to find him laying next to him. He assured him that he wasn’t going anywhere with a kiss and a mumbled “good morning.”

The students couldn’t quite believe it either, mind. They’d kept their relationship a secret for the first year but it was hard when they were still in the throws of a new relationship. Harry blamed the remains of his raging teenage hormones. He wasn’t sure what Severus’s excuse was. It wasn’t all that surprising that a second year Gryffindor walked into Severus’s office after hours, thinking he’d bravely try asking a quick question about their essay due the next day, and instead found his Potions professor with his tongue down his Defence professor’s throat, while said Defence professor straddled the Potions Master on the very chair the man usually sat in while throwing detentions about. Or if you were like second-year Harry, threatening expulsion.

By the second year, Harry hoped it was normalized enough to at least keep the jokes to a minimum. If Harry had to confiscate one more doodle of himself and Severus in compromising, and at times slightly disconcertingly flexible, positions again, he’d hex the bloody student out the room. It also annoyed him that in order to keep the students from running away with their hormone-driven imaginations, he and Severus had to keep public displays of affection to a minimum. Severus didn’t seem to have any issue with it. He once told Harry that he could deal with going all day without laying a finger on him because he knew that night when they were hidden away in their rooms and away from irritating students he could bugger Harry’s brains out until daybreak if he wanted to.

Charming.

Harry found it much more difficult. He liked being able to touch Severus whenever he wanted. A casual brush of his hand across his back. A soft kiss pressed onto his temple or cheek as he passed by. Affection was important to him and he wished he could simply hold the man’s hand if he damn well wanted to without causing such a scene.

It was why Harry tried to cherish these last couple of weeks before the students arrived. The other professors were busy preparing for the year as well, so it was sort of like having the castle to themselves at times. He liked being able to help Severus prepare his classroom and Severus help him in return. And, if they happened to take a quick break to test how sturdy Harry’s new office desk was or if the smallest supply closet in the back of Severus’s classroom could fit two people in it, well. What was the harm in that?

Harry looked up from where he was leaning against the doorframe of Severus’s personal supply closet. Poppy had requested some potions to be ready for the start of term as she had the feeling there would be an outbreak this year. Of what she wasn’t sure. Severus had recruited Harry into helping prepare the long list of potions that covered the most common back-to-school outbreaks.

“I still can’t believe you’re letting me help you with your potions,” Harry joked, smiling up at Severus.

Severus, standing on the first rung of the ladder, scanned the shelf for the ingredient he was searching for. “I said you could bottle. I said nothing about touching anything,” he drawled. He found the little phial that he wanted and plucked it off the shelf. He handed it blindly to Harry.

“Don’t you trust your own teaching?” Harry grinned cheekily.

“Of course.”

Severus climbed another rung and frowned. He climbed another one and reached over to pick up a jar. Harry walked forward and took it from his hand, adding it to the little pile of ingredients at his feet.

“So why can’t I help?”

“My teaching isn’t the problem. Your thick skull on the other hand…”

“Oi! I got an E on my NEWT!” Harry defended himself.

“You say that like it’s something to be proud of,” Severus mumbled as he continued his search. He turned around, looking at the shelves opposite the ladder.

The storeroom was huge and there was not a single space that was unoccupied by shelves and ingredients. Harry was always amazed that Severus knew (at least roughly) where everything was. He watched as the man climbed down a run and narrowed his eyes at the shelf like it was hiding something.

“Everything alright?” Harry asked.

“I can’t find…” Severus trailed off and then started climbing the ladder.

Harry stepped forward and watched him. The ceiling was high up and it always made him a little nervous when Severus climbed too far up. Severus, on the other hand, had no worries. He climbed and climbed before letting out an irritated huff. Apparently, he’d gone too far. He quickly climbed back down a bit, making Harry hold his breath, terrified he’d miss a step and fall.

“Ah,” Severus said, finding what he wanted.

He reached over, trying to get whatever he was after. It was too far. Harry told him he shouldn’t have altered the shelves to make them longer. Severus and his ingredients, honestly. It was borderline hoarding at this point. God forbid Harry say anything, though. He was very attached to his jars.

Severus tried stretching his arm out further to reach the ingredient, but it was simply too far away. Harry wondered why he didn’t just use a spell. Not that he’d ask Severus that because he’d probably get a lecture of some type. Either that or the man simply wouldn’t want to admit he couldn’t reach it. Stubborn to a fault, he was.

Harry watched in amusement as Severus climbed up a rung and bent down, sticking his torso between the rungs. He really wished he had a camera right now. Severus stuck his arm out, a deep frown on his face as he stretched and twisted to try and reach the thing. The buttons on his jacket caught on the shelf and almost knocked some phials. Grunting in annoyance he detangled himself and stood up straight.

He quickly undid the buttons and shrugged out of his jacket. Before Harry could say anything, Severus unceremoniously dropped the jacket onto Harry’s head. Harry pulled it off and folded it over his arm, sending a glare up to Severus.

The man was back at trying to fit himself between the rungs and reach the ingredient again, but Harry could see the edges of a smirk on his face. And he called Harry childish.

Harry eyed the man from below and a smirk of his own came to his lips. Severus was standing in just his trousers, shirt, and waistcoat. It was probably the most undressed he ever was when not in his quarters. Due to the angle, he was standing and how he was still trying to balance on the ladder, his knees were bent and his arse was stuck out. Not the most elegant position.

“I’m not gonna lie, I’m really turned on by that,” Harry said, his eyes on said arse.

Severus glanced down at Harry. Upon seeing his smirk, his eyes narrowed before he realised what he was referring to. He rolled his eyes and went back to his task. Harry watched, biting his lip as his libido kindly reminded him that there wasn’t another person in this area of the castle for ages.

“Got it,” Severus said in victory.

He climbed back down and handed Harry the ingredient. It was a tiny little phial with a little piece of what looked to be wood. Harry didn’t ask. A house elf appeared to take the ingredients to Severus’s private lab. Harry nodded in thanks and handed the little phial over as well. Suddenly, Severus pulled at his jacket and Harry looked up at him.

“If you wouldn’t mind,” Severus said, arching an eyebrow.

Harry grinned. “I think I’ll keep it.”

Severus gave him an unamused look.

“Don’t we have potions to brew?” Harry asked innocently, enjoying Severus without his jacket on too much to give it back.

“I have potions to brew,” Severus replied and tried to grab for his jacket again. Harry pulled it away before he could. Severus huffed. “Fine. You brat.”

He turned to walk out the door and as Harry passed he slapped his arse. Severus came to an abrupt stop and turned to glare at a grinning Harry.

“What?” Harry asked innocently while unable to hide his cheeky grin.

He suddenly found himself pressed against the door of the supply closet. Severus’s lips on his, kissing him hard. When Severus pulled back, giving Harry a smug smirk, Harry was breathless. Immediately, Harry’s hands lowered to grab at Severus’s arse and pull him closer against him.

Arching both brows at him, Severus slowly took hold of a grinning and hooded-eyed Harry’s hands. He pried them off his bottom and stared into Harry’s eyes for a second with a blank expression.

“Don’t we have potions to brew?” he echoed Harry’s earlier statement.

Harry pouted.

Severus stepped away and spun on the spot, marching off in the direction of his lab. Sighing, Harry watched his lover as he walked away. He really did have a nice arse.

“I assure you it’ll still be there for you to grab after we get these potions done,” Severus said as he didn’t slow down his pace. Harry sighed again. He didn’t want to wait that long. “Though I suppose the several of the potions will need to sit before we complete them…” Severus mused, trailing off suggestively.

Harry perked up, as did other parts of him.

“Coming!” he called after him.

[afangirlwashere]

Risk pt.1 (Peter Parker x superhero!reader)

Summary: (Y/N) starts attending the Midtown School of Science and Technology and her first day does not go so well. How does she deal with the aftermaths of Thanos?

A/N: Okay this is another attempt. The Bucky fanfic is kinda.. not.. doing.. well... But whatever! I had an idea so I put it into words! And it’s here! I just want you all to know that some things are changed a little. The timeline is a bit different! Here’s how: Peter, Ned and Michelle are still sophomores and this whole thing is kinda like - Homecoming happens - Thanos happens almost immediately. Just a little explanation for all of you.

Warnings: INFINITY WAR SPOILERS!!! a little sad (only at the beginning tho), and there’s like one part I’m a little insecure about but I think it’s fine  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

part 2  part 3  part 4

________________________________________________________________

Midtown School of Science and Technology.  Does it sound nice? Not at all. Is it necessary? According to Mr. Stark, it is. (Y/N) just helped saving half of the population and a few days after she has to start attending a new high school. No pressure right? 

New York is amazing though.  Mr. Stark got her an apartment in Queens not too far from Peter’s. He had his reasons to do so. She doesn’t know that yet though. 

(Y/N)’s interaction with Peter was short. She barely knew him.  But she very clearly remembered the fear in his face when she found him in that weird nothingness of... white. Surrounded in this color it looked like the boy was in heaven. 

How uncertain he was if this girl was really even there. If she wasn’t another one of his hallucinations. He was so alone it tortured him almost making him go bonkers. 

She remembered how hesitantly Peter approached her but once he was sure she’s real he threw himself onto her hugging her hips as tight as possible like a little kid that lost his mom in the shop and finally found her.

He was kneeling and embracing her so tightly she almost couldn’t breathe. 

“Don’t leave me here alone, please! Please don’t leave! I don’t want to be alone anymore, please, please...” his cries and sobs seemed to echo in the nothingness. 

Seeing him so desperate and terrified broke (Y/N)’s heart into million pieces. 

Remembering how she kneeled to him and hugged him as tightly as possible filled her with a tiny bit of hope. She’ll get him out of this miserable place. He was still crushing her hips and crying. 

It was only a week since Thanos snapped his ugly purple fingers but it seemed as if time passed differently here. There was nothing to do which must have been eating him alive. 

After a few more minutes of this (Y/N) finally managed to calm Peter down a bit and make him cooperate.  Frying his brain wasn’t particularly the best experience but it was the only way she knew how to bring him back among the living, bring him back to his aunt and Mr. Stark. 

She only saw Peter’s aunt once and it wasn’t the best first encounter. They didn’t interact and (Y/N) was pretty sure the woman didn’t even know she was there.  Mr. Stark on the other hand... He told her about Peter. It hurt him but he still did it. And he was the reason number one when it came to deciding who she’ll try to bring back first.

Hearing him scream in agony was another war sound that’s going to hunt her in her dreams. 

He woke up lying flat on the ground and (Y/N) was leaning over him.

“Hi.” she smiled.

“Are you an angel?” he exhaled with amazement.

That was their whole interaction.  Since then they saw each other only on the battlefield. No time to chit-chat there, unfortunately. 

(Y/N) isn’t even sure if he’s going to be in school today.  She nervously fiddles with the massive ring on her hand which had the letter W on it. A very nice lady welcomes her at the secretariat and gives her some papers. 

The hardest thing to do is finding her locker. She looked for it every break that they got. She considered asking someone if they could help her but for some reason, everyone in the hall seemed so... distant and mean. Their looks were judging or maybe analyzing her.  She even found herself looking for the Parker kid. He would have helped her. 

In the end, she decides to look for her locker at lunch break. Not eating at the time she’s supposed to isn’t something to be happy about though.  The halls are completely empty only a few noises from the cafeteria or the squeaking of boot soles from the gym can be heard.

(Y/N) is going around and checking the numbers. This is the third time she walked around the whole school and still nothing. It’s like her locker disappeared.  She was about to try for the fourth time when a girl with darker skin came out of the cafeteria. Her hair is black and it neatly curls at the ends. She’s very pretty and looks like a nice person in general which is a pleasant change after today. 

But there’s something off about her. The moment she walked out of the cafeteria her expression changed. She looked upset. But she also looked like a senior so she must know this school like the palm of her hand. Well... here goes nothing!

“Hey! Um.. hi! I wanted to ask if you could help with-” the girl interrupts her.

“I’m sorry but I’m kind of in a rush.” she points to the exit but smiles politely. 

“Oh... Okay. I’m new here so I have no clue where to find....stuff.” (Y/N) laughs at herself, hoping the awkwardness will fade away a little. 

“Good luck.” the unknown senior smiles as politely as before. 

“Well, I guess I’ll see you around?” 

The unknown girl whispers “I don’t think so...” and leaves.

Okay... That was strange.

(Y/N) grips the paper with her lockers number tightly and finally decides to eat some lunch. 

Enough locker searching for today. She’ll try again tomorrow with more luck hopefully. 

There’s a girl sitting and leaning against the wall a few meters from the door to the cafeteria. Her hair is in a low ponytail just like (Y/N)’s.  Her lunch tray is next to her meanwhile she draws something in her sketchbook. 

(Y/N) completely understands how this girl feels. 

She gets her lunch just like everyone else. There’s not much left but a cheese sandwich and an apple should be enough. When her eyes land on a small orange juicebox her mood instantly improves. They had the same juice boxes at her old school. Seeing it here sends a painful nostalgy but at the same time, it fills her with happiness. 

When everything is on her lunch tray she heads out of the cafeteria.  There were a few eyes watching her “Where’s the new girl going?” kids from Flash's table start whispering. 

Flash looks around to find who are his friends talking about but he only gets to see her back. 

(Y/N) is relieved to find the girl in the same spot as before. The only difference is that her sketchbook is now closed lying next to her and she’s eating some pasta with vegetable sauce. 

(Y/N) sits next to the girl and puts the tray on her long legs. 

The girl sounds suspicious “Did Flash send you?” 

“Who?” (Y/N) frowns in confusion “No. No one sent me. I’m new here.” 

Her response is a subtle “Oh...”

They’re both silent for a minute. 

“I’m Michelle by the way. But my friends call me MJ.” she introduces herself.

“I’m (Y/N).”

“Are you new in New York? I haven’t seen any students transferring to our school in the middle of the school year.” Michelle asks.

Alright. We trained this. Just don’t panic. Be natural.

“It’s kind of a boarding school deal but... Not really. My parents live in L.A. they work in film. Not that they’re famous or anything they’re both cameramans. We don’t have much time for each other and their way of dealing with it is to send me away.” Lies, lies and more lies. 

Awkward and unclear. Perfect.

Michelle just nods. It looks like she believes her. 

“Is this your first day?”

“Yep.”

“Did you have Mr. Conner?” Michelle squints her eyes at (Y/N).

She’s a little lost in all the names of the teachers “Is it the one with the billy-goat beard or the one that smells like eggs?” 

“The one with the beard. The egg smelling one is Mr. Cooper. He makes us call him Steve because his childhood superhero and role model was Captain America. He’s trying to relate to us and be cool but he’s just making a fool out of himself.” Michelle shrugs. 

“Yeah, I had Mr. Conner. He seemed like a great math teacher. His beard is attractive to every girl in my class except me.” (Y/N) gives a little rundown of her thought.

“Great. You passed the test. We can be friends.” MJ nods to herself. 

This brings a smile on (Y/N)’s face. Weird friendship test but as long as she passed it she didn’t mind.

“Hey what were you drawing in that sketchbook?” it’s her time to ask questions. 

MJ isn’t very keen about sharing something with her. 

“Oh come on I answered all your questions. Plus I’m immune to the beard-beauty of Mr. Conner!” she makes MJ laugh a little.

“I just doodle people I see around me,” she says as she hands her the sketchbook. 

There’s a lot of doodles of students and teachers.  Happy, sad, stressed, angry, laughing, sleepy, concentrated. All the emotions you could possibly have in school. They’re there. 

Some of her works are just quick sketches and some look very elaborate.  There are two faces that look familiar to her but she stays silent. She’s not supposed to know anyone from here right? Let’s not put any doubts in MJ’s head. 

There are two pages devoted to superheroes. There’s Mr. Cooper as Captain America in all sorts of different poses.  The other page is devoted to Spider-Man. There are some good drawings of him swinging on his webs but there’s also one where he has the mask pulled off. It reveals a very very very masculine man with sharp cheekbones and longish dirty blonde hair. (Y/N) almost chokes on the juice she’s sipping. She wants to laugh so bad.

Oh wow. So this is what they imagine him to look like. 

The last drawing is a girl with a piece of paper in her hand. She looks very focused on what’s written on it but also.. confused. 

“Is that me?” (Y/N) turns to her new friend.

MJ smirks on the sketch “Yeah I couldn’t help but notice that you’re walking around the school for the third time with that same expression.” she comments. 

“Wow... You really do have a talent.” 

It’s nice to hear some recognition for once “Thanks.” 

For the rest of the lunch break, they talk about different things. School, hobbies or memes.  MJ even gave her her juicebox. (Y/N) is excited that she found a friend she can spend lunch breaks with.

________________________________________________________________

Day two and locker is still not found. 

This time (Y/N) didn’t walk through the whole school building three times but only once because she got so angry when locker B215 wasn’t next to B214 she made all of the trash from the small waste bins fly out.

Michelle sat on the same place as yesterday. She exchanged drawing for reading today. It seems that she’s really into this story.

(Y/N) stands before the cantine and looks at her options. She picks fish fingers and mashed potatoes. They don’t look appealing but they smell good which is hopefully a good sign.  To her delight, there are the same juice boxes as yesterday. 

With all her food and juicebox in place, she happily starts walking to the exit to go sit next to MJ. Before she can get to the doors some guy steps in her way. 

His clothes look starched and expensive. He’s definitely a nerd but the way he walks and holds his head high... A cocky, bigheaded, rich nerd. What a combination. This won’t end well.

“You’re (Y/N) right? You’re new here... I’m Flash Thompson.” he points a finger at her as he’s walking closer.

(Y/N) shifts her weight from foot to foot and waits for what’s going to happen.

“Look, you can sit at my table. You don’t have to be friends with losers that eat in the hallway. I can find a spot at my table for you. And maybe if you even ask nicely it can be right next to me.” Flash smirks.

All of a sudden (Y/N) isn’t as hungry as she thought. Her stomach is doing flips because of how disgusted she feels by that guy. Who the hell does he think he is to try and tell her where to sit?

“It’s fine. MJ gives me her juice boxes and draws me porn. I think I’m okay with her.” (Y/N) walks past him but Flash has the audacity to start speaking again and even catch her arm. 

“There was enough charity yesterday. A lot of people would give anything for the chance I’m giving you right now.” 

(Y/N) starts seeing red. She feels her powers slipping out of her control. Her blood is boiling.

Why does this Flash guy act like he’s giving her the opportunity of a lifetime? 

“Touch me one more time and I’ll break both your hands.” (Y/N) growls silently but pretty much everyone could hear because the cafeteria was drowning in silence. 

Everyone is watching them.

Out of nowhere, a familiar boy runs to them. 

It’s Peter Parker. 

“Woah woah guys let’s calm down before someone overthrows the water tank.” he makes unsubtle eye contact with the girl whos still surprised by his presence. 

“Bugger off Parker.” Flash wawes at him as if he was an annoying fly. 

(Y/N) finally turns around and walks out of the cafeteria not looking back. 

“What took you so long?” Michelle doesn’t look like she cares at all but there’s that something in her tone of voice which tells otherwise. 

“Some Flash guy was forcing me to sit at his privileged table,” she explains.

MJ starts to falsely choke which makes her new friend laugh.

The doors to the cafeteria open again. Both girls quickly redirect their attention to whoever wants to mock them again.

Peter’s standing there with another guy who’s shyly looking at the floor.

(Y/N) almost unnoticeably shakes her head to stop him. The further they stay away from each other the better. No one will even think they could have anything in common. The less attention the better. If someone reveals their superhero identities it’s over. 

Peter swiftly walks over to them and sits down right next to (Y/N). His friend follows. 

“What are you doing here?” (Y/N) asks as calmly as possible. 

“Well... I heard this is the place where losers eat. That’s exactly where we belong so we're here. And MJ is our friend too so if she sits in the hall we sit there too.” Peter announces with a proud smile waiting for Michelle's reaction.

She just shrugs “I don’t care do whatever you want.” 

Peter looks reconciled with his friend's behavior. 

“Oh by the way, I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Peter Parker and that’s Ned Leeds.” he points at his friend who smiles a bit and nods but then continues to shyly look at the floor. 

“(Y/N)” she nods at them too .

Her and Peter exchange a look that says Well played.

They have to make it believable. 

“Miss Jones?” an unknown teacher walks around the corner “Kids why aren’t you sitting at a table in the cafeteria like the others?” he looks surprised. 

None of them answer until MJ takes it in her hands “Because we’re losers...” 

The teacher just stands there for a second and looks at them and they look back at him. He obviously doesn’t know how to respond to this. 

“Um.. Well.. Miss Jones can you come with me for a second I need to speak with you.” 

Michelle slowly gets up looking annoyed and disappears around the corner. 

The moment she’s gone Peter starts screaming in an undertone “What was that supposed to be?! What are you doing here?! Mr. Stark didn’t tell me about this and I thought you were going bac-”

“Woah woah can you calm down a bit? We still have company here.” (Y/N) looks directly at Peter’s friend who looks like he’s watching his favorite tv show and he’s on the edge to see what happens next. 

“What? Ned? He knows about everything.” 

“What?!!” (Y/N) shouts. 

“You don’t have to worry I won’t tell anyone. I’m like a locked vault.” Ned tries to reassure her. 

“Apart from that one time in gym class right...?” Peter frowns at his friend.

Ned looks ashamed. He backs off as if he wanted to disappear. 

“So he knows about everything that happened? He knows about me?” she asks.

“Yep. He knows everything.” Peter nods.

“Absolutely everything?” 

“Absolutely everything.” 

“Great.” (Y/N) rests against the wall again and closes her eyes to calm herself. 

Closing her eyes doesn’t really help because all she sees is that white nothingness with a terrified Peter in the middle. Talk about trauma. 

“You have to learn to control your powers my soda almost jumped out of the can.” Peter worries.

“You think it’s that easy? My powers aren’t controllable like yours. They’re like a ticking bomb!” she tries to explain.

“Why did Mr. Stark send you here then?”

(Y/N) lets out a sigh “He said I’ll have reasons to control it here. It’s supposed to be motivation. It’ll either work or end in a catastrophe.” she starts slurping her juice. 

Peter is nervously tapping his fingers on the food tray “Yeah that sounds like Mr. Stark.” 

He’s thinking how he could solve this situation. How to minimalize the risks?

Tag list: @royalestrellas

[killingxrangers]

It Start with a Like- Chapter Two

Trini had ended up showering before she went to bed, and attempted to push all thoughts about Kimberly Hart from her mind. There was no reason for the top girl in their grade to like or comment on a photo of someone as unknown as Trini, and it definitely had nothing to do with Kimberly being into girls. Kimberly and her boyfriend were affectionate enough in the hallways (to the point of frequently being warned by various teachers) for anyone to question their commitment to one another. And even if Kimberly was into girls, which Trini does not believe, why would Kimberly go for Trini when she could be with her gorgeous best friend? None of it made any sense and Trini wanted to sleep and forget about any interaction with Kimberly Hart. She was just about to close her eyes and try to sleep when her phone vibrated just once, signaling something from Instagram. Most likely Zack sending her memes, but she checked nonetheless. 

She nearly choked when she saw she had a message from k.harteyes. 

Hi. It’s Kim Hart 

Trini blinked a few times as she read the message once, twice, three times before hovering over the keypad. Should she respond? Did she even want to respond? She originally wanted to sleep and pretend Kimberly never acknowledged her, but that seemed to be impossible now. Besides, Kimberly would be able to tell that Trini had read the message and was promptly ignored if she didn’t respond, so now she doesn’t have much of a choice. 

She typed a quick and simple hello, and wasn't expecting the message to immediately be read, but then she saw Kimberly was typing back and now Trini definitely didn’t know what to do. Fucking Kimberly Hart was clearly trying to have some type of conversation with Trini, what the hell should she do? Text back? About what?

k.harteyes: Just wanted to let you know the pic you posted was very nice. You’re really gorgeous

Trini_Gomez: Uuuh thanks 

k.harteyes: Sorry if I woke you up. Having a shit night but your pic made me smile 

Trini stared down at her phone for a minute wondering how she was supposed to reply to that message. She didn’t know Kimberly. They weren’t friends. Trini didn’t know how to socialize or console. What was she supposed to do?

Trini_Gomez: I was awake. Sorry to hear you’re not having a good night 

That didn’t sound right and Trini frowned at her screen, knowing her message was too apathetic. Kimberly was clearly reaching out for a reason and Trini should probably try to sound like a normal human being. 

Trini_Gomez: Wanna talk about it?

Whenever Zack was upset over something regarding his sick mother, Trini always tried to get him to talk about it, and while he rarely did he always appreciated the effort. The least Trini could do was offer the same to Kimberly, especially after the girl went out of her way to call Trini gorgeous, something no one besides Zack had ever done before. And Zack had never called her gorgeous, but pretty and attractive to boost her confidence and hot when he was drunk. In the beginning of their friendship Zack didn't try to hide his interest in Trini, which makes Trini now highly doubt the guy’s gaydar, but he flirted relentlessly until Trini said she was gay. Zack dropped his flirting and moved on to trying to be Trini’s wingman (he sucked) and wanted to help score girls (he couldn’t). Not that he had much of a chance to truly try, seeing as he was the only person who Trini had openly come out to. She’d sooner die than confess to her overbearing mother that she was a lesbian. Her mother would never understand, or worse, would consider it a phase. 

k.harteyes: Its ok I’m not trying to bother you 

Trini_Gomez: I can listen if you wanna vent 

k.harteyes: Another time maybe 

k.harteyes: I have to get to sleep sorry for bothering youu really 

k.harteyes: You’re just super pretty and I wanted you to know that 

k.harteyes: A girl should always be told when she’s pretty like you 

Trini_Gomez: Well in that case you’re beautiful 

k.harteyes: Goodnight Trini Gomez

Trini_Gomez: Goodnight Kimberly Hart 

“I expect you home immediately after school.” Roger Hart was already standing at the base of the stairs when Kim came down the next morning, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. “Your actions last night were reprehensible. Until I say otherwise you will come straight home from school every day and will not be going out on the weekends. Say goodbye to Tyler and Amanda for some time.” 

Kim grabbed a banana and a shake from the fridge, barely acknowledging her father following her every move from the archway separating the kitchen from the dinning room. “You know I have cheerleading practice after school every day.” With her back turned to him she rolled her eyes, wanting nothing more than to be able to leave this house and never have to come back. “That doesn’t end until four.” 

“Then I expect you home by four-fifteen. Is that understood, Kimberly? And do not speak to me with that attitude again.” The fridge opened and slammed as Roger grabbed the milk to add to the coffee he was about to start brewing, and though he couldn’t see her, he somehow knew she was trying to sneak out. “Do not just walk away from me, Kimberly. For fucks sake have I taught you no manners?” 

Thankfully, the sound of a horn beeping outside saved Kim from surely saying something else that would get her into further trouble. She's not quite sure how she manages to piss her father off consistently every day, but it seems he's hated her all her life. Her mother was no better, really, though Ali’s annoyance with Kim started a few years ago, same as the heavy drinking. It seemed as if one day Ali picked up the wine bottle and just never managed to set it down again. Kim wasn’t sure if that made her own life better or worse: better in the sense that for the most part Ali tended to leave Kim alone, but worse as her own mother was of no help against Roger. 

“That’s my ride. I have to get to school before I’m late.” Roger said nothing more to her and Kim quickly grabbed her keys and bag before fleeing from the house. Surprisingly enough, this was a rather tame morning in the Hart house and she wanted to leave before something made Roger go off again. 

Amanda was out front in her convertible, music loudly playing as the girl scrolled through her phone waiting for Kim to come out. She didn’t look up as Kim dropped her bag in the back seat and hopped in the front, not questioning the sigh from Kim and how she rested her head on her hand on the door.  

“Mark is throwing a party tonight- what time do you want to show up?” Amanda asked as she pulled away from the curb, starting the short ten minute drive from their neighborhood to school, passing a few other of their class members driving as well, and underclassmen waiting on the bus stops.  

Mark was a close friend of Ty’s, another member of the football team and someone Kim could barley tolerate. He was a sexist pig who would get too handsy when he was drinking (he kind of got handsy when he wasn’t drinking either) and Ty would never tell him to leave Kim alone. Frequently she found herself having to shove him away only for him to come back a few moments later, reeking of sweat and beer. All of his parties took place in the woods about a mile behind his house, far enough away for no neighbors to hear the noises from the teens and any pounding base. Not to mention there was a lake at the base of one of the mountains right where he tended to throw his parties, meaning most of the people got half naked and would drunkenly jump into the freezing cold water. 

Kim was not a fan in the slightest of these parties, yet Ty and Amanda continued to drag her to them each and every time. “My father is ridiculously pissed at me and I’m grounded. I don't think I’ll be able to sneak out tonight.” Usually she’d be furious at her father for overreacting to the smallest of things, but tonight she finally had an excuse to stay in. 

“Your father needs to pull that stick out of his ass once and for all.” Amanda shrugged with a laugh as she pulled into one of the many spots at Angel Grove High, finding a few of their friends hanging out around some cars. “Sneak out when they go to sleep- you know they won’t notice. Your mom will be too drunk and your dad will fall asleep early anyway.” 

“Real nice, Amanda.” Kim jerked her bag from the back and slammed the car door closed, suddenly just as mad at Amanda as she was at her parents. Amanda didn’t understand anything and she never would. Her mother adored her and her father gave her anything she asked for. As many times as Kim’s been to Amanda’s house she’s never even heard Amanda’s father so much as yell at the TV. 

If they hadn’t been friends for as long as they have, Kim isn’t sure her and Amanda would last much longer. They first met in kindergarten when Kim comforted a crying Amanda after they were dropped off in the morning, and it seemed their friendship had been solidified ever since. Despite a few fights over guys and both girls being rude to one another throughout the years they have stayed together. The older Kim got the more she questioned the sanity of that decision. 

Deciding that her day was already ruined before it even started, Kim went through the first two periods of her day in relative silence, not bothering to focus in her classes and choosing instead to doodling in her notebook. She had no interest in school today and wanted nothing more than to leave. She isn’t quite sure where she’d be going given that her house was out of the option, but she knew she needed to be somewhere else besides here. 

It wasn’t until the end of biology did Kim run into someone else and be forced to socialize. The lecture for the day had been incredibly boring, so far the worst class of the day, and Kim was just looking for an easy thirty minute lunch break when she quite literally knocked someone to the ground. With the mood she was in Kim hadn’t decided if she was going to apologize or just stomp away, until she looked to the ground and saw it was the girl from last night. 

Like in the picture Trini had posted, she had one side of her hair braided back in three tight braids, her entire head mostly covered by a grey beanie. She was wearing tight jeans with some rips that Kim couldn’t figure out if were bought that way or were old enough the rips came naturally, and a loose white t-shirt. A yellow and black flannel was dropped next to her on the ground and she stared up at Kim with a frown. 

“What the hell?” Trini moved to pick herself up, Kim too stunned to make a move to help as she kept staring at Trini. The girl was beautiful in pictures but holy fuck was she perfect in real life. Kim doesn’t think she’s seen anyone quite as breath taking as the girl now standing before her with a look of complete distaste on her face. “Watch where you’re going, Kimberly.” 

Kim couldn't manage to find any words to respond, especially given that Trini seemed very angry- more angry then was was reasonable over an accident. But more than that, Kim started to frown because since when was Trini in her biology class? 

“Uh- I’m, uh, I’m sorry,” Kim winced at the lame apology, her frown matching Trini’s as the two girls continued to stare at one another. It seemed Kim’s heart was beating much too fast for unknown reasons, and when Trini turned to try and leave Kim found herself not wanting the girl to go. “Wait!” She jerked out to grab Trini’s arm, keeping her in place. Trini raised an eyebrow at the unexpected touch as she looked back to Kim, who said, “I, uh, I appreciate you talking to me last night.” 

“Yeah, well,” Trini shrugged and clearly wanted to leave as she kept looking between Kim and the exit, but Kim couldn’t let her go, not yet. “I should get to lunch.” 

“Um, I can walk you!” Internally Kim flinched. She sounded so needy and desperate and she wasn’t sure why. Trini was just another girl in Kim’s class, so why did Kim feel the need to continue to force a conversation. Especially given that Trini looked like she wanted to do the complete opposite than walk with Kim, but said nothing as the two started the short journey to the cafeteria. Taking a deep breath to hopefully make her voice more steady, Kim continued and said,“I meant what I said about appreciating you talking to me. You had no reason to you but.. it was a bad night so thank you.” 

“Not a problem.” Trini made no effort to hide uncomfortable she was, and part of Kim felt horrible and embarrassed for continuing a relatively one sided conversation, but a larger, more selfish part of her craved it. She had no idea why that part of herself was there at all, but couldn’t find it in herself to question it. 

The two girls finally made it to the cafeteria, and it was obvious they would be heading in opposite directions. Kim’s friend were to the left, Amanda and the rest of the cheerleaders as well as most of the football team, while the boy Trini had on her instagram was hanging out by the door leading outside. 

Trini motioned to the boy clearly waiting for her. “Well, uh, see you.” 

As Trini went to leave Kim couldn’t keep the comment to herself as she said, “I also meant what I said last night. That I think you’re very gorgeous.” 

There was no response as Trini turned rather quickly, almost too quickly, but Kim could have sworn she saw light blush on the other girl’s face. With a smile, Kim started walking towards her friends table. It seemed none of them noticed the interaction between Kim and Trini, and that’s how Kim preferred it. She knew none of her friends would understand, because hell, Kim didn’t really understand it much herself. 

But she knew without a doubt there was something about Trini Gomez that pulled Kim Hart to her. And Kim would be damned if she didn't find out what that something was. 

[roses-and-oceans]

Convergence.

A/N: I’d like to thank @ubeshibe @wolfyfloofs @gladiolus-mamacitia for keeping my Twin AU alive with their love. So here’s a fic where all the twins exist in the same universe. This is based off Doodle’s comic ahhhAAHHHHHH.

Also, if you’re not familiar with my Twin AUs, Here are the headcanons; more info and doodles can be found on my masterlist~

also, tagging: @chemicalkiddo, @nemo-ne-impune-lacessit, thank you guys for your support for my au <3

I listened to La Vie en Rose by Pomplamoose over and over while writing this it seemed to fit it somehow lol. 

Caelum Twins | Argentum Twins

Scientia Twins | Amicitia Twins

It all began with a cough from a passing councilman. Or it could have been a sneeze. Aurelio found himself sneezing up a storm as he put books away for that evening; the Citadel library was empty except for his echoing sneeze. With that, he prayed to the stars and Gods above to spare him the from the flu.

The brothers and sister group of the Caelums, Scientias, Amicitias and Argentums were out enjoying a night out together. It was a rarity; Vega was home for the winter break and staying with her brother, Noctis. Aster was back home from guarding the Wall, which was a relief for Gladio and both Ignis and Aurelio were not working late tonight. No doubt, Noctis would have pulled strings to get them all to come out. With the eight of them, they were all able to fill a lazy susan table. As everyone was eating fried rice, noodles, flanks of barbequed pork, sweet and sour chicken, and sauteed veggies (except Noctis), Aurelio felt the beginnings of a headache. Vega was spooning chicken onto her plate in great quantities when she noticed Aurelio massage his forehead, “You alright?”

Aurelio winced at the volume of Aster’s and Gladio’s guffaws and sniffled, “Yes, I think so. Just a headache, I’m afraid.”

Vega gave him a knowing look and said, “I’ve got you covered.”

From her purse, she pulled out a small bottle of naproxen sodium, and shook out two tablets, “That should do it. Let me know if you need more.”

Aurelio thanked her. The pills were like rough stone going down.

The pills weren’t enough; Aurelio woke up the next day with a fever, sore throat and a plugged up nose. He wrapped himself up in his comforter and set himself on the couch. His little black cat Fish hopped up on his lap and started rubbing up against him. He gave her a quick cuddle and set her down on his lap. He reached for his phone and as he clicked the screen to life, he immediately put it back down. The screen was far too bright to handle. Fish purred next to his ear and rubbed against him again purring loudly.

“Can you tell Ignis that I’m sick, Fishie?” He asked pitifully. She gave a little mew and sneezed herself, spraying Aurelio’s ear.

He scribbled note hastily and tucked it into Fish’s collar and let her out onto the fire escape. She climbed up to the floor above and started meowing right at Ignis’s window. She meowed and meowed until Ignis plucked her from the windowsill and plopped her right on the couch, “Alright! I heard you the first few times, whats the matter?”

He saw the note on her collar and he unfurled it.

“Oh, bother, dear brother…”

Ignis sighed and Fish blinked at him with her deep blue eyes. “What a fool, my master is,” her eyes said.

Ignis nodded in agreement. As Ignis gathered his things, Aurelio wailed in his apartment, “Igniiiisss, I’m out of tissues, I can’t breaathee!”

Ignis found Aurelio in his apartment buried deep in his blanket, a bag of used tissues at his side. His cheeks had taken a ruddy hue and he was half asleep.

Ignis touched his twin’s forehead and it was just as he feared; Aurelio’s fever was running high. He sighed and tried shaking Aurelio awake.

Aurelio groaned weakly, “I think I’m a bit ill.”

“A bit ill? I could fry an egg on your forehead.”

Aurelio groaned again and settled back on his couch. His face was just peaking out of the pile of blankets. He looked at Ignis dejectedly and Ignis got up to make a phone call.

“Hello Aster. Might you be able to do me a favor?”

**

Aurelio was still covered in blankets when he and Ignis had arrived at Aster Amicitia’s apartment. Aurelio had started to shake, “W-why can’t you take, take care of me today, Ignis?”

“I’m very sorry, the prince needs me today, I can’t stay with you. And if I remember, we agreed that we would stay away from one another, to isolate the illness.”

Aurelio slumped into Ignis’ shoulder with a whine, “I don't remember such a silly thing. And just call Nooctt, pleaasee.”

Ignis rolled his eyes and sighed; Aurelio always got needy when he was ill. It was worsened with his delirium the fever had brought on.

“No, I can’t. And you promised!”

Aurelio had started kicking up such a fuss that Ignis had to pick him and carry him bridal-style all the way to Aster’s door. By the time Aster had answered the door, Ignis was struggling under the deadweight that Aurelio had set. He practically threw his brother into Aster’s arms with a, “Be strong for mother, Aurelio.”

“Ignis, what the hell?”

“You’ve got this covered right?” Ignis didn’t even wait for Aster to reply, he was practically sprinting out of the apartment complex.

“Hey! IGNIS?! YOU CAN’T JUST LEAVE ME WITH YOUR SICK BROTHER!”

Aurelio peered up at Aster with watery eyes, “Gladio?? Aster?? I can’t see, I don’t have my glasses.”

Aurelio decided that maybe he could tell by the scent of his cologne. He sniffed, “… I can’t smell, my nose is too clogged…”

Aster grumbled under his breath and set Aurelio down on his futon and asked, “Have you taken any medicine yet?”

“Cough syrup… Ignis ran out of medicine and I didn’t have any.”

Aster hummed, “I don’t have anything for what you’ve got, bud. I’ll make a quick call, though, don’t you worry.”

“Thank you,” Aurelio said, his voice quivering.

Aster couldn’t help but laugh at his poor friend’s misfortune. Aster reached for his phone and as he unlocked it, his apartment buzzer went off. He went to answer, “Yeah?”

“Aster, dude, open up! Hands are kinda full!”

Aster was taken back, “Cassiel? Don’t you have the key?”

“Like I said hands are full, I’m using my forehead to press the button.”

He buzzed Cassiel in and a minute later, the door burst open. Prompto and Cassiel came in, looking as identical as ever down to the last freckle. They each had bags and bags full of things.

“We heard Aurelio was sick,” they chimed together.

“We brought stuff!” Prompto waved a bag cheerfully.

Aster waved them in, a hand clapping each Argentum on the shoulder, “Great timing! I’ve been gone for months, I don’t have anything in my place.”

Aurelio greeted Prompto and Cassiel as enthusiastically as he could. Cassiel set about making cups of tea, walking around the apartment as if it was his own home.

“How do you like your tea? Sweet, unsweetened?”

Aurelio made to answer, but was overcome with a coughing fit and he retreated into his comforter. He didn’t come out until his face was red and he wiped a bit of spittle from the corner of his mouth.

“Honey, if you please.”

Cassiel nodded and Prompto sat down next to him. He held a thermometer in his hand, “Open the hatch.”

Aurelio held the thermometer under his tongue and winced at the pounding in his head.

“Can I ge-”

“Minutes almost done, hold tight.”

Aster sat down next to Aurelio and the sick man slumped against him. All Aster could do was give him a sympathetic pat.

When the thermometer beeped, announcing Aurelio’s 102°F fever, Aster said, “Wonder what got Ignis so busy today.”

As Aurelio gulped down his tea and cold pills, he rasped, “He’s been working late for the last few weeks. I think it’s in preparation for something in Niflheim. It’s months away from being complete, should be in the summer that it should pop up again.”

Aster nodded, “I would hope it’s something good then.”

**

Vega poured herself a cup of tea while waiting in the Citadel garden for Ignis and Noctis. She picked at her nails, eager and sort of anxious to tell them something that had been troubling her. She wished her hair was longer; she had cut it short to stand in for Noctis at a gala the last time she was on school break. She missed toying with the long strands.

She heard echoing footsteps, so she stood. Noctis came first, followed by Ignis and Gladio. Noctis ruffled her short hair as he sat down, Ignis gave her a little bow and Gladio said, “How are you, Royal Princess?”

“I’m good, nice to be home.”

“Training tomorrow at 7pm, sharp.

Vega rolled her eyes, "Good, I get to kick your ass again.”

Gladio gave a hearty laugh as he stood against the wall and she smiled as she took her seat.

“Thank you for organizing this tea for us, Vega,” Ignis said, “But I’m afraid we might have to cut it shorter than anticipated, I have a meeting and Noctis has his training.”

Noctis sighed and frowned, “Oh, c'mon Specs, Vega’s here, I just wanna relax-”

“Tomorrow, your highness, you should be free.”

Noctis relented with a “bah,” and reached for a slice of cake.

“Cake before training?” Vega tried stealing some off Noctis’ plate, “You’re gonna make yourself sick.”

Vega was successful in taking a piece with her force, much to Noctis’ chagrin. She paused in thought as she licked the frosting off her fork.

“Ah, I suppose you’re old enough, just aim for Gladio when you puke.”

Ignis managed to stop himself from snorting into his tea, “No, I don’t think that’ll be good for either of them. They’ll end up worse than my poor brother.”

Vega had been ready to sip from her tea but she placed the cup back down, saucer and all, “What happened with Aurelio?”

“He’s indisposed, nasty bout of flu.”

Vega raised her eyebrows, “Is he okay?”

“He’s a grown man, he can take care of himself.”

“He’s Aurelio; He’s alot like you but you know how he gets.”

“That’s precisely why I left him with Aster.”

“You left him- you do realize you left him with someone who doesn’t even have crumbs in his fridge? He’s been gone for months!”

Ignis sighed, “I’m not a fool; I sent Cassiel and Prompto with supplies.”

Vega propped her chin in her hand and her elbow against the table, “Lords almighty, Igs. I know things are tough with the councilmen right now- mind you, Noct’s been talking my ear off.”

“Aurelio does get rather difficult when he’s ill,” Ignis had the tiniest bit of grace to look slightly ashamed, “Which is why we agreed on not caring for one another while ill. I’d rather not say something too brash by accident and offend him.”

Vega sighed and nodded. She got up and said, “I’m gonna go check up on him, just in case.”

Noctis tugged at her sleeve, “Hold up, you said you wanted to tell us something.”

She had almost forgotten.

“Ahh, its not that important, it can wait.”

“Nonsense,” Ignis said and he finished his tea, “Pray tell. We might not get a chance to talk later.”

Reluctantly, Vega sat back down. She took a deep breath to calm herself but she felt her heart pound heavier.

“I’m not going back to school after break.”

Ignis dropped his fork, “Y-You’re dropping out? What ever for? Are you failing?”

Vega could feel Noctis’ eyes bore into her and an uncomfortable heat went through her, “It won’t be forever, its just a gap year! I still haven’t chosen my major…”

“Vega, I thought we discussed this-,” Ignis began but Vega interrupted, “You know my heart isn’t in government. You’ve known that! Medicine is good and all, but that’ll take years and I’ll be stuck, an-and I don’t want that.”

“Well, what do you want to do, Vega?”

She hated that question so much. She never had an answer.

“I don’t know…”

Ignis sighed and she could tell he was trying to collect his remaining patience.

“Why don’t you stick out the remainder of the semester? Maybe by then you’ll figure out whatever you want to do?”

“Ignis, I’m going crazy there. I like school enough but I’m not going anywhere with it. It’s like being stuck-”

“Stuck in a cage with no where to go,” Noctis finished for her. She looked at him, and he held a somber look.

“What do you think Dad’ll say?” Her throat had gone dry.

Noctis looked away and his eyes settled on the table, “I dunno… You’re gonna need to talk to him yourself.”

Vega shut her eyes and let out all the air she had been holding in.

She didn’t look at either them for fear of seeing disappointment in their eyes. She got her motorcycle helmet from under her chair and she started walking out.

“Hey, Vey,” Noctis called out. Vega spun just in time to catch his keys. It was a new set of keys. He had talked about driving around with her, to hit up their old haunts, places she hadn’t been to in a while.She

Vega shook her head and tossed his keys back.

**

The ride from the Citadel to Aster’s apartment was enough to relax Vega enough. She was buzzed in with a “Holy Crap...” from Aster and right when she entered the hallway, she smelled burnt rice. She practically sprinted down to Aster's door and started pounding on it.

Cassiel answered the door and the burnt stench followed. Vega covered her nose with her sleeve. He greeted as casually as he could, “Hey Vega! How are you?”

“What in the gods are you guys doing?” She pushed past him and found Prompto opening the window in the kitchen and Aster trying to scrape the rice off the pot. Vega couldn't have come at a better time.

She spotted a very sorry looking Aurelio on the futon, lying back with his eyes half open. Vega shook him gently, “Hey, how are you?”

“Vega? What's that smell?”

“Someone other than your brother trying to cook,” she said with a smile. Aurelio chuckles turned into coughs and she touched his forehead. His fever was still burning on and he said, “Gods above, I feel awful.”

“You don't look too good, either, sorry to say.”

“I just want to go to bed...”

Vega started to kick herself for not taking Noct's car. She said, “Let me see what I can do.”

She went over to Aster, who was soaking the pot in hot water. Prompto and Cassiel were trying to read out a recipe from their phones. They were arguing over whether they could feed it to Aurelio or if they would be able to make it in the first place. She said to the three men, “You guys mind if I take Aurelio back to his place? I think it'll be better...”

“Aww but we wanna help!!” Prompto and Cassiel cried. Aster pouted at them, “Yeah and you guys almost burnt down my kitchen. I was supposed to hang out with Nyx tonight but I gotta stay and clean up.”

Cassiel frowned, “I'm sorry, big guy.”

Vega took out her phone, “Alright, how about a game plan? I'll take Aurelio home, you three clean up, yeah? Team Argentum can take over cleaning when you need to get going, Aster.”

“Will you be okay with Aurelio?” Aster asked as he took out cleaning sprays from under the sink.

“Yeah! I'm in college, I get sick all the time. I can handle it from here. Can you guys watch my bike while I get Aurelio settled?”

Cassiel and Prompto gave salutes.Vega called a taxi.

**

Immediately after arriving (and after Vega had to break in to collect Aurelio's forgotten keys and glasses), Aurelio crashed onto his bed. Vega was able to coax some toast and juice with medicine into him before he passed out. She left a note next to his pillow saying that she would be at the store and called a taxi to take her back to Aster's to pick up her motorcycle.

She picked up a bit of fruit and some chicken to stew, if Aurelio felt he was up to it. She also picked up some tissues, frankincense oil, some honey and lemon. These were her staples for survival back at school when flu season hit the campus. She'd pick up more later if need be.

She was setting a pot to boil and looking for a cutting board when Aurelio shuffled into the kitchen. His hair was mussed up and he rasped out, “I think my head might explode.”

“That's not good,” Vega said as she reached out for a mug, “Want a cup of tea?”

“Yes, please.”

She prepared his tea and he perched himself right at the counter. He was in his scruffiest cardigan and shivering. Vega stuck a thermometer in his mouth before he could take a sip of his tea.

She laughed at his pout and when she finally found the cutting board, the thermometer went off. She plucked it from his mouth.

“Hmn, 101.5. What was it the last time your temp was taken?”

“I dunno, I think I was dead.”

Vega laughed and handed him his mug, “How so do you feel about having a bit of chicken stew?”

“That would be great, thank you.”

Vega sent him to the couch to settle with a movie and set herself to dicing carrots and onion. She set the chicken, veggies and some herbs to boil then simmer. She set a timer to an hour and she sat next to Aurelio. He looked about ready to doze off again. He shifted when she sat and said, “Wont be for another hour, sorry.”

“No hurry, I'm not all that hungry yet.”

She nodded and pulled her knees to her chest. They sat and watched the movie in silence for a minute and Aurelio said, “I can't thank you enough for being here. But why?”

“I'm not up to much most days,” Vega yawned. She looked at him, “Honestly, I don't mind, it gives me something to do.”

“How kind of you. Really, I-”

“Don't mention it, its no big deal.”

Vega turned to watch the movie. Aurelio asked with a light air, “How has school been?”

Vega shook her head, “I'm dropping out. Or well, taking a break for a year.”

“Has it been that tough?”

She sighed, “I'm just tired... I don't know what I'm doing there, to be completely honest.”

Aurelio scooted to face her. She looked at her knees, “My grades are fine... I just don't think I'm all that passionate enough about anything to pursue a degree.”

“Hmn.”

“Ignis wasn't too happy to hear.”

“Well, that's Ignis, dear. He's already got things figured out, he's always finding more things to figure out.” He paused to blow his nose.

Once the trumpeting petered out, he said, “You just focus on what you want to do. You're still young and though you may be royalty, you're human.”

Vega felt her eyes sting slightly and her voice was small, “What if my father is disappointed in me?”

Aurelio took her hand, “Now, I know that to be impossible. He'd want what's best for you. Understand?”

Vega nodded and whispered, “Thanks.”

They continued watching the movie until Vega's timer went off and she went back to fixing up the stew. Aurelio had dozed off while she finished and she brought him a bowl. He downed some medicine and fell asleep again. Vega picked another movie to play and found her thoughts drifting back to this afternoon. She knew Ignis meant well; he'd been a great help though the past few semesters when she felt herself close to losing her mind. They'd all talk about it more later. She'd talk to her father when she got the chance.

For now, she closed her eyes and let the movie lull her to sleep.

[thirstyfortom]

This is probably obvious now, but I love high school themes LOL. So hope you like this^^

RFA and MC meeting in high school/college before RFA

Zen

He was determined, this was going to be his last day in school

What was the point? It’s not like he was going to college and getting a job at an office like… like his brother… ugh…

And since it was last day, he wouldn’t give any fucks and hide in the library to get some eye shut

Zen grabbed some books and piled them to use as support for his head.

 But his nap got disturbed by someone tapping his shoulder. Ugh… if this was a teacher, he would yell, no fucks given, this is his last day anyway…

Oh no… it’s a girl… and a very cute one, by the way.

“Excuse me, uhm… sorry to interrupt you, but uhm… are you going to read this book?” you pointed “There aren’t other copies of it, and… since you’re not really reading it…”

 “Oh… yeah, sure! Here!” he snapped out of his sleepy state to take a better look at you, how come he never saw you around? “Do we know each other?” he asked knowing it would sound like he was hitting on you. So what if he was?

“Me? I don’t think so… I’m new here, it’s my first day…” oh… maybe that’s why you look so shy… he finds himself smiling “So, thank you. See you around.” You wave at him and walk away.

“Yes… see you…”

You actually saw each other, but it was years later when you showed up at his place to make him feel better about his leg.

 Yoosung

Yoosung spent the night, guess, pulling an all nighter to play LOLOL

He managed to get awake for most of this class, but ended up dozing off when it was close to the end

So he barely noticed people getting up and leaving the class

Like, he was listening to some muffled sounds, but it sounded so distant, even these girls talking and giggling felt like it wasn’t real

“Come on, MC! I want to introduce you to that guy I was talking about! Let’s lunch with him!” “Alright, I’m coming…”

He finally woke up when felt this little whoosh provoked by the girl rushing out next to him. Ugh… better get out of here…

Yoosung grabs his backpack and opens to place the books, but… wait, that’s not his backpack… he’s pretty sure he never keeps lipstick on his backpack… ohhh, it must be that girl’s who passed by him.

He opens the door to go to the hallway and see if he can reach you, but… there’s no need, you were about to open the door and widen your eyes in surprise.

“Hi! This must be yours. I’m sorry, I was such in a rush to get out, biology with professor Kyun always lets me a little crazy, you know how it is, right?” he would if he paid attention to class… he just nods, unable to stare at your adorable grin.

“MC, come on!” “I’m coming! See you, Yoosung!” he waves, but you’re already running towards your friend. He grabs his backpack and notices there isn’t a tag or anything with his name on it… so how do you know his name?

 This was something he would ask you after the RFA party.

 Jaehee

She rarely went to parties in college, but decided to give a shot that night

And it was fine, she was drinking some beer, risking on talking to people she’d never seen before.

 Including this tipsy girl who proposed a toast out of nowhere and disappeared right after.

She was feeling a little dizzy, but the scene she saw sobered her up immediately and her blood boiled in angry.

The girl who made a toast with her was visibly uncomfortable with this guy groping and dragging her back everytime she tried to leave.

“There you are, Seyeon! I was looking all over for you! Let’s go, there’s someone I want you to meet!” she grabs your hand and pulls you away from there.

 “T-thank you… but you didn’t have to do that, the guy could get mad and do something awful to both of us…” “In that case, I would have to show what my black belt in judo is made of.”

You smile and now it’s her turn to make her cup touch yours as in a toast, you raise your cup and take a chug.

And she was about to start a real talk, ask for your real name so she wouldn’t keep calling you by the name she invented to get you away from the douchebag

But… the police showed up and shut down the party due to a noise complaint. And it was dark in there, so even if you had stumbled into each other on college, neither of you realized.

But as soon as she heard your voice on the phone, she knew.

 Jumin

 He was busy and stressed, studying for this test that was coming. But V insisted on going to watch the female volleyball team’s trainning.

He knew V had an eye on one of those girls and didn’t want to stay there by himself, so Jumin agreed on going with him, as long as he could keep studying.

“There she is, number 3. She’s cute, right?” “I suppose…” Jumin shrugged, he really didn’t care, he just wanted to do well in this physics test.

 “Uhm… Jumin…” V nudged him “Jumin?” ugh… what now? He looked at Jihyun… and felt something hitting his head.

He raised his head, a little dizzy and looked forward, only to find a pair of worried and shiny eyes staring at him.

 “Are you okay? Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I think I added too much strength… I…”  “It was nothing, don’t worry.” “Are you sure? I hit your head…”

You climbed the bleachers and went to him, messing with his hair. “I knew it, there’s a bump, I’m so so sorry… let me walk you to the nurse office.”

Usually, this much invasion of his private space would annoy him, but he shivered when you messed with his hair and… you looked genuinely concerned, he couldn’t get angry with you making that face.

“Don’t worry, I can take him.” V offered “Are you sure?” “Yes, I’m okay, just stay here and keep practicing, don’t worry about me.” He rushed out of there before you would follow him, he didn’t want you to stay concerned.

V took him to the nurse and everything was fine. “So you’re good to go, let’s get back there?” “Oh, so you can keep watching number 3 like a stalker?” “No, so you can see number 6 again.”

And he really went, just giving his thumbs up stoically so you’d know he was fine, but you looked too guilty and kept avoiding him until the end of the year, and you never talked again… well, you did a few years later.

 Saeyoung

There were some days he would study so much in college he would even forget to eat

 It was almost midnight and he realized he was hungry

So he went on an errand trying to find some convenience store open, and after a while, he found it.

Oh, how lucky! There was one package of Honey Buddha Chips left, gahhh, he was so hungry it felt like the chips were calling his name…

He barely noticed when someone grabbed the package at the same moment he did.

“Oh… sorry…” you chuckled nervously. “It’s fine, I’m sorry too.” And you two kept apologizing, but neither of you let the package go.

“I think… there’s only one mature and wise way to solve this…” he said, adjusting his glasses. “I agree.” You said solemnly.

Silence, and then you said at the same time: “Rock. Paper. Scissors!” he chose paper, you chose rock.

“A good player must recognize a defeat. Bon appétit!” you beamed as you walked away, and he couldn’t help but smile.

Actually, there was a wiser and simpler solution: sharing. But… he couldn’t, no, he needed to go back and study, and there was also the training with the agency in the morning… well, you weren’t the first pretty girl he avoided initiating a conversation because of his messy life, anyway.

But you would be the last, and his life wouldn’t be that messy thanks to you.

 V

He was bored to death in that class

So he started doodling nonsense, until…

 He saw that girl sitting diagonally from him, and she was… really cute.

It was like his hands were moving by themselves, drawing her.

 “Mr. Kim, mind to share with the class what you’re working on? It must be important to keep your attention like this…” the professor said ironically.

He blushed and put his sketches away. What was he going to do with that, anyway? It’s not like he would… give it to you…

Gosh… he was being such a stalker finding out which one was you locker to put the draw there.

And it was even weirder when he stayed to see you finding the draw.

 “Uhhh, MC… looks like you’ve got a present, who gave you this?” “I… I don’t know, it’s not signed, there’s only a ‘V’ here…”

You were looking at the draw, visibly impressed, gosh… he wanted to draw your expression in that moment… he blushed even harder when your eyes locked with his. Oh… he’d been staring too much and now you would know how much of a creep he was.

He quit drawing and started photographing… he met Rika, and he thought he would never paint again… well, he also thought he would never see that girl he had a quick crush on, he was so glad for being that wrong.

[lairde-lampblack]

Chapter 2: Almuerzo

The drive home was fairly uneventful, Bendy thought.  The lady that they’d asked to help them was nice enough despite Bendy’s own skepticism of her kindness.  After a few moments of silence aside from the electro swing song bopping out of the radio, she started asking them questions.  “So, what’re all of your names?”

“I’m Alice,” the angel started. “Boris is the one sitting next to you in front, Bendy is the one wearing the coat, and Buddy is the one you almost ran over.” At the mention of her blunder, the lady winced. “Sorry again ‘bout that,” she repeated.  “Whatcha guys need help with again?”

“Just somewhere to stay, really.” Boris supplied.  Buddy tapped Bendy on the shoulder and showed him a quick doodle of the woman driving.  Bendy gave Buddy a small smile and a small pat on the head.  His understudy beamed up at him and went back to doodling on some of the busier pages in the notebook.  

Bendy stared out of the window in mild boredom, listening to the lady babble about something.  Her voice was lilted with scattered shorthands and enunciations, speaking quickly regardless of topic, and fluctuating between too loud and a mumble.  Her tone had a certain timbre and cadence of genuineness, slightly reedy like his own with the richer undertones of a singer.  Buddy was enraptured by her, fascinated with whatever she was saying.  Her eyes and nose crinkled oddly every time she looked into the rearview mirror to check on them, and the more pessimistic side of him thought she was sneering in disgust the first few times she did it; as she did it more, Bendy realized that she was smiling.

Bendy tuned back into the conversation in time to catch the tail end of some story. “ - and when I woke up, I was so sad when I figured out it was just a dream.  That dream made me so happy all day.”  the driver beamed back at them, icy blue eyes full of a strange, protective fondness.  Bendy got suspicious again, because no one got protective or fond of anyone within minutes of meeting them for the first time.

They arrived at a small, suburban house before long, and she stopped the car.  “Welcome to La Casa de Mango.” she announced semi sarcastically as she popped the trunk with a small flourish.  She stepped out of the car and around the back, where plastic started rustling.  Boris climbed out too and offered to help their new caretaker; she let him grab a couple bags and chattered about how carrying the shopping bags in with her is a contest to see how many she can carry at once.  Bendy helped unbuckle Buddy and helped him climb out of the car.  

Inside, she was already in the kitchen, unloading all of the bags next to the fridge and sorting through them to put them away.  “Hey, any’a ya want somethin’ to drink or eat? I could getcha guys some hot cocoa if you want.” Buddy dashed over to her and jotted something down.  Reading it, she chuckled.  “I dunno if coffee is such a good idea for a li’l guy like you.  I’ll still make ya some, though, since you were polite.”  Alice called in response to the original question, drifting towards the couch, “I’d like some tea please, Miss Mango.”

Bendy suppressed the urge to snicker at the bizarre name. “Come into the kitchen and pick a kind then, I have a lotta tea.”  Miss Mango responded cheerfully, opening a cupboard door to place a couple boxes inside.  “Hey, Bendy,” the wolf started quietly. The demon responded by turning to Boris.  “Do ya want anything?” the wolf asked.  “Some hot chocolate, I guess,” Bendy answered, trying his best to stay aloof.

“Oh!  Speakin’a hot cocoa, is it safe for you to be havin’ chocolate, Boris? ‘Cause real life wolves can’t digest it properly so its poisonous to them,” the squat woman asked, popping her bobbed blond head out of the kitchen.  “I’ve had chocolate before, so it’s probably safe.” Boris responded, slightly confused at the sudden question.  With a nod, she disappeared back into the kitchen and the sound of water running started dancing out.  

About twenty minutes later, she came back out of the kitchen with a tray of their drinks and a plate of sandwiches.  Boris snatched up a sandwich the second the plate met the surface of the coffee table and started chewing away.  Buddy took a sandwich and took a big bite as well but screwed up his face a bit at the flavor, causing Miss Mango to laugh. “Not a fan of peanut butter?”  Buddy shook his head no and set down the food, making strange faces as he tried to unstick the thick substance from the roof of his mouth before eventually just shoving his hand in to dislodge the bread manually.  “I hate it too, the way it sticks to my mouth is annoying.” she continued with a humored tone, pulling a different sandwich from the pile.  “This one might be more your style.  Lunchmeat instead of mouth glue.”

Buddy accepted the ham sandwich and hazarded a bite.  He gave a crackle of enjoyment and scarfed down the rest of the sandwich in surprisingly large bites for one his size as Boris claimed what remained of his peanut butter.  Alice daintily pulled some food of her own from the pile and settled into her seat better.  Finally deciding to chance it, Bendy grabbed some food for himself and took a tentative bite.  He’d gotten some simple tuna fish, which was alright he supposed, certainly no bacon soup that was for sure.  Whether it was a good or bad thing it wasn’t bacon soup was up for debate.  While they all ate, Miss Mango distributed their drinks and disappeared back into the kitchen to grab the sugar and creamer for the coffee and tea.  Setting them on the table, she settled sideways into the big lumpy armchair across from the couch while nursing an enormous mug of tea for herself.  “Lemme know if any of ya need anything.” she practically murmurs to them as she pulls a strange device (Bendy thinks it’s a phone?  He’s not sure) out of her bulky sweater pocket and stares at the screen, presumably reading something.  Bendy took another bite of the tuna fish, relishing the flavor.

An awkward but comfortable silence settled over the room as the toons slowly emptied the plate of sandwiches and the human read whatever on her phone.  It was a complete 180 from the car ride here, which made it a bit disorienting.  But it was peaceful and safe -- truly safe and not the foreboding, fake “safe" the studio offered, where an attack from some ink monster was due around the corner at any given moment.  A good forty minutes passed like this, the final remaining sandwich having sat on the plate for about 10 minutes, the toons all hesitant to just take it - even Boris, who normally wouldn't mind taking it for himself.  Miss Mango hadn’t taken any sandwiches to eat either, causing the toons to silently debate with one another about who would try to give it to her.

The toons all sat in perplexity over the issue, sending each other looks, before Buddy finally decided to do it himself and hopped off the couch to bring the sandwich to their hostess, who was so lost in her reading that her tea sat forgotten and cold.  Hesitantly tapping her on the foot (the highest he could reach) caught her attention.  She seemed startled for a moment, almost as if she’d forgotten what had happened, but quickly got over it upon spotting Buddy.  “Wachu need there, dooder?” she asked with a friendly smile and level tone.  Buddy quickly scribbled something down onto a ripped scrap of paper on hand and handed her the paper and the plate.  “Sorry, kiddo, I made the sandwiches for you guys, so --" she started, smiling sheepishly at him before he climbed up on her like a monkey and shoved the sandwich in her mouth before nimbly hopping off the chair and dashing away to hide behind the couch as Bendy, Alice, and Boris all tensed in expectation of some form of retaliation.

She choked on the food briefly, laughing between gagging on the chunk in her mouth.  After successfully clearing her throat of bread and roast beef she took a deep breath before saying, “I guess that settles that! You drive a hard bargain!” with a huge grin in her face, eyes tearing from coughing so hard.  Bendy relaxed once he heard the laughter, but Buddy, Boris, and Alice all remained tense.  They just didn't know how to react to the lack of anger.  Whether or not it was Joey’s fault certainly isn't up for debate.